Willmar tribune., 1908-02-12

attacks upon all property, upon all men
do well or iii. would sound the death
knell of the republic: and such attacks
become inevitable If decent citizens per-
NIT those rich men whose lives are cor
pride. unchecked and unhindered, over
the destinies of this country. We act in
no vindicttve spirit. and we are no re.
specters Of persons. II labor union
we oppose corporation which does
wrong. and we stand equally stoutly for
the rights Of the man Of wealth and fof
to protect the properly Of every man Who
acts honestly. of every corporation that
represents wealth honestly accumulated
and honestly used. We seek to stop
wrong doers only so far as is necessary
to achieve this end. -''l, - '' 5s'1s - =
Campaign Of Lawbreakers
Against Governments Policy
There are ample material rewards for
those who serve with fidelity the man.
mon. of unrighteousness; but they are
NIT their T representatives, res 4 p Whether in in pub
lie life, in the press. or in the colleges
where their young men are taught, to
preach and to practice that there is one
The amount of money the representatives
of certain great moneyed interests are
willing to spend can be gauged by their
recent publication broadcast throughout
lantic to the Pacific. of huge advertise
ments attacking with envenomed bitter
ness the administration's policy of
ana by their circulaton Of pamphlets and
books prepared with the same object;
while they likewise push the circulation
Of the writings and speeches of men who,
cause. seeing the light. they Yet are e will
ing. to sin against the light. serve these
their masters of great wealth to the cost
the plain gsSP The books and t%d
speeches by public or private men to
in the interest Of the Standard oil Trust
6inations. but they also defend other in
dividuals and corporations of great
wealth that have been guilty Of wrong
doing: 1t is only rarely that the men re-
speak or write. Normally they hire 9TH
ers to do their bidding, or flnd others who
will do it without hire. From the rail-
road-rate law to the pure-food law. every
measure for honesty in business that has
been passed during the last six years has
been opposed by these men on its pas
sage and in Its administration with every
resource % that bitter and unscrupulouss
almost unlimited money secure. But for
the last year the attack has been made
with most bitterness upon the actual ad-
Se CT time ex usees sseseS
also through the Interstate Commerce
Commission and the bureau of corpora
tions: The extraordinary violence Of the
these speeches. editorials. articles, ad-
vertisements. and pamphlets. and the
enormous sums Of money spent in these
measure Of the anger ana terror which
our public actions have caused the cor
rupt men Of vast wealth to feel in the
very marrow Of their being: The attack
enforcing the law. and sometimes with a
certain cunning, for not trying to en-
f.rce, it in some other way than that
O,;e Of the favorite methods of the lat
tcv class of assailant is to attack the adj
mtaistration for not procuring the inn
pri'onment instead Of the fine Of Offend
making this assault Is usually either a
prominent lawyer or an editor who takes
his policy from the financiers and his
former: he has defended and advised
many wealthy malefactors, and he knows
we'll that. thanks to the advice of lawyers
like himself. certain kind Of modern
mirable instrument by which to render it
well..niah impossible to get at the head
OF the corporation. at the man who is
te in a5e 3bs
is what we strive to do; this is what we
have actually done with some very
wealthy criminals. who. moreover, repre-
sented that most baneful Of all alliances,
the alliance between the corruption OF
organized politics and the corruption of
high finance. This is what we have done
in the Fiaynor and Greene case in the
connection with certain great banks in
Chicago. in the land-fraud cases, where.
as in either cases likewise. neither the
sion Of great wealth. has avaiied to save
the offenders. from prison: The federal
government does scourge sin: it does bid
sinners fear: for it has put behind the
tinancier, the powerful politician. the rich
land thief. the rich contractor-all, no
matter how high their station. against
whom criminal misdeeds can be proved.
tect them. But it often happens that the
effort 70 imprison a given defendant is
certain to be futile. while it is possible
which he is head; so that. In other words,
the only way Of Furnishing the wrong is
by fining the corporation. unless we are
%inar to against the
to whom refer and their employers are
the men mainly responsible for this
state OF things. and their responsibility is
the passing of just and effective laws. or
who fail to execute them when they have
been put on the statute books.
Much is said. in these attacks upon
the policy of the present administra-
tion. about the rights of innocent
stockholders" That stockholder is
not innocent who voluntarily purchases
stock in a corporation whose methods
and management he knows to be cor
rupt; and stockholders are bound to
try to secure honest management, or
else are estopped from complaining
about the proceedings the government
RI tho
corporation to obey the law. There has
nocent stockholders by overcapitaiiza-
tion. stock-watering. stock -tobing,
stock manipulation. This we have
sought to prevent. first. by exposing the
thing done and furnishing the offender
when any existing law had been vio-
lated; second. by recommending the pas
sage Of laws which would make uniaw-
full similar practices for the future.
The public men. lawyers and editors
who loudly proclaim their sympathy for
the innocent stockholders" when a
great law-defying corporation is pun
ished, are the first to protest with fran
tic vehemence against all efforts by
law to put a stop to the practices which
are the real and ultimate sources of the
damage. alike to the. stockholders and
the public. The apologists of success
full dishonesty always declaim against
the ground that any such effort will
'unsettle business" 1t is they who
by their acts have unsettled business:
and the very men raising this cry spend
hundreds Of thousands Of dollars in se-