Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1908-02-06
business" Hurt by Movement
for Honesty Should Be Crushed

1t Is meet and At 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 bare livelihood.
Is hypocritical baseness to speak of a
girl who works in a factory where the
dangerous machinery Is unprotected as
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 disfig-
ured for life, it is moral wrong that
the whole burden of the risk necessarily
placed with crushing weight upon her
weak shoulders, and all who profit by
her work escape scot-free. This is
VIII what opponents of a Just employers
sistent that they should usually also
advocate immunity for those most dan
gerous members Of the criminal class
the criminals of great wealth.
Our opponents have recently been
bitterly criticising the two judges re-
ferred to in the ACCOMMODATING 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
selves in denouncing the most re-
spectful and cautious discussion Of
the official action of a Judge which re-
full wrongdoers or which renders nuga-
tory a temperate effort to better the
conditions of life and work among
those. Of our fellow countrymen whose
need is greatest. Most certainly it be-
hooves US all to treat with the utmost
respect the high office of Judge; and
upris ht men. Respect for the law
must go hand In hand with respect for
the judges; and. as whole, IL is true
now as in the past, that the judges
oil
all other men among their fellow
servants of the public. There is all
In this great Office, who fail below this
high standard OF integrity of wisdom
of sympathetic understanding and of
sfoutrnage a should have their eyes opened
Judge who on the bench either truckles
to the mob and shrinks from sternry
repressing violence and disorder, or
| fails to stand up valiantly for the
rights OF property on the one hand or
on , rne Other BY misuse Of the process
all measures for the betterment of the
conditions of labor. makes the wage
WORKER feel with bitterness that the
to realize that all public servants in
| their several stations must strive to
stop the abuses of the criminal rich
such man performs an even worse
| service to the body polite than the
legislator or executive who goes wrong
me JUICE VINO does his fdll duty well
stands higher, and renders a better
service to the people, than any other
public servant: he Is entitled to great
| er respect; and IL he Is true serya MT
OF the people, IL he is upright, wise and
FEARLESS, he will unhesitatingly dfsre-
gard even the wishes of the people IL
they conflict with the eternal Drinci-
pies OF right as against wrong He
must serve the people; but he must
serve MS own conscience first All
4 honor to such a Judge.
The opponents OF the measures we
champion single out now one and now
another measure for especial attack, and
speak as IL the movement in which we
are engaged was purely economic, IT has
| a Fargo economic side, but n is funda-
mentally an ethical movement 1t Is not
q movement to be completed I'm one year
| or two or three years; IL Is a movement
which must be presevered In until the
| spirit which lies behind n sinks deep
| INTO the heart and the conscience of the
| whole people. II is always important
/ to choose the right means to achieve our
! purpose, but II is even more important
! to keep this purpose clearly before us;
honesty in business and In politics. We
dishonesty and unfair dealing are essen
! tial to business success, and are to be
I condoned when the success Is moderate
and applauded when the success Is great.
The methods by which the Standard OIL
people and those engaged In the other
combinations of which l have spoken