Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-01

rights of the man of wealth and for
the rights of the wage worker. we
seek to protect the property of every
man who acts honestly, of every cor
poration that represents wealth nom
estly accumulated and honestly used
We seek to stop wrong doing, ana we
desire to punish the wrongdoers oniy
/ so far as is necessary to achieve thls
end.
There are ample material rewards FOR
those who serve with fidelity the mann
mon of unrighteousness; but they are
dearly paid for by the people who per-
nit their representatives, whether IN
public life, OF in the colleges where
young men arc taught to preach ana
TO practice, that there is one law TOT
the rich and another for the poor.
Spend Money Freely
The amount OF money the representa-
lives of certain great moneyed inter-
ests are willing to spend cant be gauged
ly their recent publication broadcast
throughout the papers of this country,
from the Atl6 1itie to the Paclhc, OF
huge advertisements attacking with en-
venome3 bitterness the administra-
tion's policy OF warning against sue
cessful dishonesty, and by their clrcu-
lotion of pamphlets and books prepared
with the Same object; while they ike
wise push the circulation of the writ
ings and speeches of men. whether pc
cause they are misled or whether De
cause, SEEM the light, they yet are
willing to sin against the light, serve
their masters of great wealth TO the
cost of The plain people.
The books and pamphlets, the news
papers, the speeches by public or prl-
sal. r-nfn
and especially in the interests OF the
Standard Oil trust and of certain no>
torious railroad combinations, but they
also defend other individuals ana cor
porations of great wealth that nave
been guilty of wrongdoing. 1t is only
rarely that the men responsible for the
wrongdoing themselves speak or Wrlt9.
Normally they hire others to 40 .nei u
bidding or find others who VIII 10 Il
without hire.
Much is said, in these attacks upol
the present administration, ABOUT INT
rights of innocent stockholders. me
stockholders are not innocent who Vol
unfairly purchase stock in corpora
ton whose methods and management
they know to be corrupt; and STOCK
holders are bound to try TO secure
honest management, or else arr
stopped from complaining ABOUT ths
proceedings the government mas nee
essary in order to compel the corpora
ton to obey the law. There has beer
in the past grave wrong done inno'
cent stockholders by overcapltanza'
ton, stock watering, stock Jopplng
stock manipulation.
This we have sought to prevent, hrst
by exposing the thing and punlshine
the offender when any existing Ia"
had been violated; second, by recon-
mending the passage of laws wh1cf
would make unlawful similar pracuces
for the future.
Public men, lawyers and editors, who
loudly proclaim their sympathy for the
innocent stockholders" when some
great law-defying corporation Is pun
ished, are the first to protest with
frantic vehemence against all efforts
by law to put a stop to the practices
which are the real and ultimate sources
of damage alike to the stockholders
and the public. The apologists
Of successful dishonesty always
proclaim against any effort tc
punish or prevent it on the
ground that any such effort will cause
an unsettled business" period. 1t Is
they. who, by their acts, have unsettled
business, and the very men raising
this cry spend hundreds of thousands
of dollars in securing, by speech, ed
itorial or pamphlet, the defense oy
misstatements of that they have done,
and yet when public servants correct
their misstatements by telling the
truth, they declaim against them foI
breaking silence. lest "values be de-
preciated." They have hurt the hon.
est business men, honest workingmen