The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-01

innate sources of the damage alike =
to the stockholders and the public. =
The apologists of successful dishon- =
= esty always declaim against any eff =
= fort to punish or prevent it. on the =
n ground that any such effort will !
unsett1e business" II Is they who =
= by their acts have unsettled bust =
ness; and the very men raising this =
= cry spend hundreds OF thousands or \
= dollars IN securing, by speech, edi- =
torial, book or pamphlet, the defense
= by miSstatements OF what they have y
y done; and vet when public servants =
y correct their nisstatements by tell y
y ing the truth they declaim against y
= them for breaking silence, lest =
values be deprecated" They have =
y hurt honest business men, honest y
y workingmen. honest farmers. and =
= now they clamor against the truth =
y being told. +
5razen Protests of the Guilty.
The keynote of all these attacks upon
the effort to secure honesty in bust
ness and in politics is well expressed In
brazen protests against any effort for the
moral regeneration of the business world.
on the ground that il is unnatural, IN
warranted and injurious and that business
panic is the necessary penalty for such
morality of such a plea is precisely as
great as if made on behalf of the men
caught in a gambling establishment when
that gambling establishment IS raided by
the police. If such words mean anything
they mean that those whose sentimentst
they represent stand against the effort to
bring about a moral regeneration of bust
ness which will prevent a repetition of the
insurance, banking and street railroad
scandals in New York; a repetition of the
tchicago & Alton deal; a repetition of the
coordination between certain professional
politicians, certain professional labor lead
Sfs. ana certain big financiers. from the
disS: ace or which San Francisco has Just
a NJ no
ful effort by the Standard Oil people to
crush out every competitor. to OveraWe
the common carriers. and to establish a
monopoly which treats the public with 4
contempt which the public deserves so
long as 1t permits men Of such prin-
ciples and such sentiments to avow and
act on them with impunity. The cutlery
against stopping dishonest practices
among the wrongdoers who happen to be
wealthy is precisely similar To the out
cry raised against every effort for clean
illness and deceney in city government, be-
cause. forsooth, 1t will hurt business"
evil Eminence of Infamy."
The same cutlery is made against the
department of Justice for prosecuting the
heads of colossal corporations that has
been made against the men who in San
Francisco have prosecuted with impartial
severity the wrongdoers among business
men. public officials ana labor leaders
alike The principle is the same in the
two cases. Just as the blackmailer and
hribe-giver stand on the same evil emil
neRce of infamy. so the man who makes
an enormous fortune by cOrrupting legis-
latures and municipalities and Fleeing his
stockholders and the public. stands on
the same moral level with the creature
who fattens on the blood money of the
gambling house and the saloon. More
over. in the last analysis. both kinds of
corruption are far more intimately con-
pected than would at first sight appear;
Ne wrongdoing is at bottom the same.
and react with every increasing debase-
ment. one on the other, the corrupt head
of a corporation and the corrupt labor
leader are both in the same degree the
enemies of honest corporations and hon
est labor unions; the rebate taker the
franchise traffickeT. the manipulation of
securities, the purVeyor and protector of
vice, the blackmaiing ward boss the
ballot box suffer. the demagogUe. the
mob leader. the hired bully and mankiller
all alike work at the same web of cor
ruption and all alike should be abhorred
by honest men.
Dishonest Special PIeaders.
The business" which is hurt by the
movement for honesty is the kind of bust
ness which, In the long run, il pays the
count ryto have hurt. 1t is the kind of
business which has tended 10 make the
very name high finance" term of scan
dal to which all honest American men of
business should join in putting an end.
The special pleaders for business dishon-
esty, in denOuncing the present admin
iStratiOn for enforcing the law against the
huge and corrupt corporations which have
defied the law also denOunce il for en-
deavoring to secure sadly needed labor
legislation. such as a far-rea ching law
making employers liable for injuries 10
their employees. 1t is meet and fit that the
apologies Tor corrupt wealth should OPP
pose every effort to relieve weak and
helpless people from crushing misfortune
brought upon them by injury in the bust
ness from which they gain a bare livel-
hood. The burden should be distributed.
1t is hypocTiucal business to speak of a
girl who works in factory where the
dangerous machinery Is unprotected as
having the right freely TO contract 20
expose herself TO dangers TO life and
limb She has no alternative but to suf-
fer want or else to expose herself TO such
dangers. and when she loses a hand or
is otherwise manned or disfigured for life,
il is a moral wrong that the whole bur-
den of the risk necessarily incidental to
the business should be placed with crush
ing weight upon her weak shoulders, and
all who profit by her work escape scot
free. This is what opponents of just
Employers liability law advocate; and il
is consistent that they should usually
also advocate immunity for those most
dangerous members of the criminal class
the criminals Of great wealth.
Criticism of the Courts.
Our opponents have recently been bit
10 in the accompanying communications
from the Standard Oil company and the
Santa Fe railroad for having imposed
heavy fines on these two corporations.
and vet these same critics of these two
judges exhaust themselves in denounc-
ing the most respectful and cautious dis
cussion of the official action of judge
which results in immunity TO wealth and
powerful WrOngdOeTs ''Or which renders
nugatOry a temperate effort to better the
conditions to life and work among those
of our CountTymen whose need is great
est" Most certainly it behOoves us all
to treat with the utmost respect the
high office of judge; and our judges,
as a whole. are brave and upright men.
Respect for the law must go hand in
hand with respect for the judges; and,
as a whole. IL is true now. as in the past.
that the judges stand in character and
service above all other men among their
fellow servants OF the public. There is
all the greater need that the few who
fail in this great office. who fall below
this high standard of integrity. of wis
dom. of sympathetic understanding, and
of courage should have their eyes
opened to the needs Of their countrymen.
A judge who on the bench either truck
les TO the mob and shrinks from sterniy
xMA