The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-02-04

ton Of Chicago and Alton deal; 8 re
petition Of the combination between
certain professional! politicians. Ger
tain professional labor. leaders, and
certain Big fnantiers; from the dis
grace Of which San francisco has jus,
been rescued; a repetition Of the sue
cessful effort by the Standard Oil com,
pany people to crush out every com
pany, to overawe the common carriers
and to establish a monopoly, which
treats the public with contempt, which
the public deserves SO long as It per
mits men Of such principles and such
sentiments to avow any act on them
with ippunity.
outcry Against Stopping Dishonesty
The outcry against stopping dis
honest practices among the wrong
doors who happen to be wealthy ID
precisely similar to the outcry raised
against every effort for cleanliness
and decency In city government, be
cause forsooth 1t hurts business.
The same cutlery is made against
the department Of justice for prose
cutting the heads of colossal corpora
lions that has been made against the
men, who in San Francisco have pros
ecuted with impartiality the wrong.
doors alike. The principle is the
same in the two cases. Just as the
blackmailer and %bribegiver stand on
the same evil eminence of infamy, SO
the man, who makes an enormous for
tune by c%orrupting legislators and mu'
inequalities and fleeing his stock
holders and the public stands on the
same moral level with the creature,
who fattens on the blood money Of
gambling houses and the saloon. More
over in the last analysis both kinds OF
corruption are far more intimately
connected than at first sight appears
Corrupt business and corrupt politics
act and react with ever-increasing de-
basement. On the other side the cor
rupt head Of q corporation and the cor
rupt labor leader are both In the Same
degree the nemies OF honest corpora
lions and honest labor unions. The
rebate taker, the franchise traficker.
the manipulation Of such securities
the purveyor and protector Of vice
the blackmailer, ward boss, the ballot
box stufrer, the demagogue, the mob
leader. the hired bully, and the man
killed-all alike work at the same wei
Of corruption, and all alike should be
abhorred by honest men.
High Finance Should Be Stopped.
Business" which Is hurt by the
movement of honesty. is the kind o.
business. in the long run. 1t pays the
country to have hurt. It is the kind o.
business, which has tended to make
the very name High Finance" q tern
Of scandal to. which all honest Ameri
can men Of business should Join II
putting an end.
The special preaders for business
dishonesty. In denouncing the present
administration for enforcing the Law
against the huge and corrupt corpora
tions, which have defled the law, als<
denounce 1t for endeavoring to secure
q sadly needed labor measure. a fal
reaching law, making employers liable
for injuries to their employees.
It IL meet and At that the apologists
for corrupt wealth should oppose
every effort to relieve weak and help
less people from crushing misfortune
brought on them by injury In the bust
! ness from which they gain q bare liv
ing. The burden should be distrib
uted. g s's : q
Hypocrltleai Plea Against Liability
It 10 hypocritical baseness to speal
OF a girl who works In q factory
where dangerous machinery is unpro
tected as having the fright" freely L
! contract to expose herself to the dan
gers Of life and limb. She has nj
alternative but to suffer want or els'
to expose herself to such dangers. ant
when she loses q hand OF is otherwise
NAMED or disfigured for life, It is
I! moral wrong that the whole burden
Of risk, necessarily incidental to thu
business should be placed with crush
ing weight upon her shoulders and al
who profit by her work escape SEQ
free. This Is what opponents OF
just employers liability law advo
cate; and It is consistant that the
should usually also advocate immuntt!
or those. most dangerous members o
the criminal. class-the criminals o
great wealth.
critIclzing Judges.
Our opponents have recently beer
bitterly ~criticizing the two judges re
ferred to In the accompanying ctrcuni
stances from the Standard OIL com
pany and the Santa Fee railroad TO-
having imposed heavy fines on these
two corporations; and yet, these sam'
critics Of these two judges exhans
themselves in denouncing the mos
Iroorao+f,,1 and fcou%}nva d~faeneSlnn n