The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-02-06

curing. by speech. editorial. book. or
pamphlet the defense by misstate-
ments Of what they have done; and
yet when public servants correct their
misstatements by telling the truth they
declaim against them for breaking
silence, lest values be deprectated.
They have hurt honest business men,
honest working men, honest farmers;
end now they clamoI against the truth
being told.
upon the effort to secure honesty in
business and in politics is well eN-
pressed in braZen protests against any
effort for the moral regeneration OF the
business world, on the ground that IL IS
unnatural, unwarrantetd and injurious,
and that business panic is the neces-
saTy penalty for such effort to secure
business honesty. The morality OF
such plea is precisely as great as II
made on behalf of the men caught in
| a gambling establishment when that
| gambling establishment is raided by
| the police. If such words mean any
| thing they mean that those whose SEN
| timents they represent stand against
| the effort to bring about moral re-
| generation of business, which Will pre-
vent a repetition of the insurance,
| banking and street railroad scandals IN
| New York; repetition of the chicago
| q Alton deal; a repetition of the COM
| bination between certain professional
| leaders, and certain big hnanclers
| from the disgrace of which San Fran
| cisco has lust been rescued; a repeti-
| tiOn of the successful effort by the
| Standard Oil people to crush out every
competitor. to overawe the common
carriers, and to establish monopoly
| which treats the public with a con-
| tempt which the public deserves so
long as il permits men of such prin-
| ciples and sentiments to avOw and act
on them with impunity. The outcry
against stopping dishonest practices
among wrongdoers who happen TO pc
wealthy is precisely similar to the out
cry raised against every effort for
cleanliness and decency in city gov,
ernment. because, fOrsooth, 1t will
"hurt business" The same outcry is
| made against the department of JUS
tice for prosecuting the heads of colos-
sal corporations that has been made
against the men who in San Francisco
have prosecuted with impartial sever
ity the wrongdOers among business
men, public officials and labor leaders
alike. The principle is the same in
the two cases. Just as the blackmail-
er and bribe giver stand on the same
evil eminence of infamy. SO the man
who makes an enormous fortune by
cOrrupting legislatures and municipal
tiles 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 mouse
and the saloon. Moreover, in the last
analysis, both kinds of corruption are
far more intimately connected than
would at first sight appear; the wrong
| d
business and corrupt politics act and
react with ever increasing debase-
ment, one on the other; the corrupt
head of a corporation and the corrupt
labor leader are both in the same de-
gree the enemies of honest corpora
tions and honest labor unions; the re-
bate taker, the franchise tratficker
the manipulator of securities. the pur-
VeyOr and protector of vice, the black
mailing ward boss. the ballot-box stuff
er. the demagogue. the mob leader. the
hired bully, and man-killer-all alike
work at the same web of corruption
and all alike should be abhorred by
honest men.
The business" which is hurt by the
movement for honesty is the kind OF
business which, in the long run, II
pays the country to have hurt. 1t Is
the kind of business which has tended
to make the very name high finance" 6
term of scandal to which all honest
American men of business should joir
in putting an end. The special plead
ers for business dishonesty. in denOunc
ing the present administration for en-
forcing the law against the huge anc
corrupt corporations which have detieC
the law, also denounce it for endeavor
ing to secure sadly needed labor leSis
, lation, such as far-reaching law max
ing employers liable for injuries tt
their employees.