The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-02-06
"Business" Hurt by Movement
for Honesty Should Be Crushed

It is meet and fit that the apologists
for corrupt wealth should oppose every
effort to relieve weak and helpless peo-
pie from crushing misfortune brought
upon them by injury in the business
from which they gain a bare livelihood.
The burden should be distributed. 1t
is hypocritical baseness to speak of a
girl who works in factory where the
dangerous machinery is unprotected as
having the right" freely to contract
to expose herself to dangers to life and
limb. She has no alternative but to
suffer want or else to expose herself to
such dangers, and when she loses
hand or is otherwise MANNED or distig-
ured for life. it is a moral wrong that
the whole burden of the risk necessarily
incidental to the business should be
placed with crushing weight upon her
weak shoulders, and all who profit by
her work escape scot-free. This is
what opponents of a just employers
liability law advocate; and it is con-
sistent that they should usually also
advocate immunity for those most dam
gerous members of the criminal class
the criminals of great wealth.
Our opponents have recently been
bitterly criticising the two judges re-
fcrrcd to in the accompanying commu-
nications from the Standard Oil Com
panY and the Stata Fe railroad for hav-
ing imposed heavy fines on these two
corporations; and yet these same crit
les of these two judges exhaust them
selves in denouncing the most re-
/
| the official action of judge which re-
suits in immunity to wea n and power
| full wron%doers or which renders nuga-
| tory a temperate effort to better the
| conditions of life and work among
those of our fellow countrvmen whose
| need is greatest. Most cCrtainly it be-
! hooves 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 whole. it 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
in this great office, who fall below this
| high standard of integrity of wisdom
of sympathetic understanding and OF
| courage. should have their eyes opened
| to the needs Of their countrymen. A
| judge who on the bench either truckles
to the mob and shrinks from sternly
repressin% violence and disorder, OF
| bows down before CORPORATION; who
rights of property on the one hand. oil
| on the other by misuse of the process
| of Injunction or by his attitude toward
all measures for the betterment of the
| conditions of labor, makes the wage.
worker feel with bitterness that the
| courts are hostile to him; or who fails
| to realize that all public servants ii
their several stations must strive tt
stop the abuses of the criminal rich
such a man performs an even worse
service to the body polite than tn,
legislator or executive who goes wrong
The judge who does his full duty wei
| stands higher, and renders q bettel
service to the people than any othel
| public servant; he is entitled to great
er respect; and If he is a true servan
of the people, II he is upright, wise ant
| fearless he will unhesitatingly dsre
gard even the wishes of the people /
they conflict with the eternal princi
pies of right as against wrong. H
must serve the people; but he mus
serve his own conscience first. Al
honor to such q Judge,
The opponents of the measures w
champion single out now one and nov
another measure for especial attack, ant
speak as If the movement in which w
are engaged was purely economic. 1t ha
large economic side, but 1t is funda
mentally an ethical movement. 1t is no
| O. movement to be completed in one year
or two or three years; 1t Is a moVemen
which must be presevered In until tn
spirit which lies behind 1t sinks dee
| into the heart and the conscience of tn
whole people. 1t is always importan
to choose the right means to achieve ou
purpose, but 1t is even more importan
to keep this purpose clearly before us
and this purpose Is to secure nationa
honesty in business and in politics. w
. do not subscribe to the cynical belief tha
dishonesty and unfair dealing are essen
tial to business success, and are to b
| condoned when the success Is moderat
| and applauded when the success is grea
!: The methods by which the Standard o
! neople and those engaged in the othe
. combinations of which 1 have spoke