Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-01-31

| ing. by speech. editorial book or
pamphlet. the defense by miscellaneous,
of what they have done; and yet when
public servants correct their nIisstate-
ments by telling the truth they declaim
against them for breaking silence. lest
values be deprecated" They have
hurt honest. business men. honest work
ingmen. honest farmers. and now they
clamor against the truth being told.
The keynote of all these attacks upon
the effort to secure honesty in business
and in politics is well expressed In
brazen protests against any effort for
the moral regeneration of the business
| world on the ground that il is nnnatu-
raj, unwarranted and injurious. and
that business panic is the necessary
penalty for such effort to secure bust
| ness honesty The morality of such
plea is precisely great as if made on
behalf of the men caught in a gambling
establishment when that gambling eS-
esta Enlistment is raided by the police.
If such words mean anything they mean
that those whose sentiments they repre-
sent stand against the effort to bring
about a moral regeneration of business
which Will prevent repetition OF the m
surance. banking and street railroad scan
dals in New York: repetition OF the Chi
cago and Alton deal; a repetition of the
combination between certain professional
| politicians, certain professional labor
| leaders and certain big financiers. from
the disgrace of which San Francisco has
| just been rescued: a repetition of 1.-THE
successful effort by the Standard Oil peo-
pie to crush out every competitor to
overawe the common carriers and to es-
tabliSh a monopoly which treats the pup
| lie with a contempt which the public
deserves so long as it permits men of
such principles and such sentiments to
avow aud act on them with impunity.
| The cutlery against stopping dishonest
practices among wrongdoers who happen
to be wealthy is precisely similar to the
outcry raised against every effort for
cleanliness and decency in city govern
| ment. because, forsooth. it VIII hurt
business" The Same cutlery is made
| against the Department of Justice for
prosecuting the heads OF colossal cor
porations that has been made against
the men who liz San Francisco have pros
ecuted with impartial severity the wrong
doors among business men. public officials
and labor leaders alike. The principle is
( the same in the two. cases. Just as the
Iblackmailer and bride giver stand on the
same evil eminence of infamy. so the
| man who makes an enormous fortune by
colrupting legislatures and municipalities
and fleeing his stockholders and the
public stands the same moral level
with the creature who fattens the
blood money of the gambling house and
| the saloon. Moreover. in the last analy-
sis. both kinds Of corruption are far more
intimately connected than would at first
sight appear: the wrongdoing is at bot
| tom the same.
Corrupt business and corrupt politics
act and react with ever increasing de-
basement. one on the other: the corrupt
head of a corporation and the corrupt la
Dor leader are both in the same degree
the enemies of honest corporations and
honest labor unions: the rebate taker. the
franchise traff1cker. the manipulation of
securities. the purveyor and protector of
vice, the Matchmaking ward boss, the bal
lot box suffer. the dema gogue, the mob
leader. the hired bully and nankiller-all
alike work at the same web OF corruption.
and all alike should be abhorred by hon
est men.
Pays to Have Business Hurt.
The business which is hurt by the
movement for honesty is the kind of bust
ness which, in the long run, it pays the
country to have hurt. 1t is the kind of
business which has tended to make the
very name high finance term of scan
dial to which all honest American men of
business should join in putting an end
The special pleaders for business dishon-
esty. lin denouncing the present admins
tration for enforcing the law against the
huge and corrupt corporations which have
defied the law, also denounce it for en-
deavoring to secure sadly needed labor
legislation. such as far-reaching law
NAL king employers liable for injuries to
their employees 1t is meet and fit that
the apologists for corrupt wealth should
cPIoSS
helpless people from crushing misfortune
brought upon them by injury in the bust
ness from which they gain bare live
lihood. The burden should be distributed
1t is hypocritical baseness to speak of a
girl who works in a 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 dan
gers. and when she loses a hand or is
otherwise manned or disfigured for life
it is moral wrong that The whole bur-
den of the risk necessarily incidental to
the business should be placed with crush
ing 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
consistent 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 bit
teriy cridcising the two judges referred
to In the accompanying communica tons
from the Standard Oil Company and the
Santa Fe railroad for having imposed
heavy fines on these two corpora tons and
yet these same critics of these two judges
| exhaust themselves in denouncing the
most respectful and cautious discussion
OF the official action of judge which re-
suits in immunity to wealthy and power
| full wrongdoers or which renders nugatory
a temperate effort to better the conditions
| of Hfe and work among those of our fell
low countrymen whose need is greatest
Most certainly ii behooves lis all to treat
with the utmost respect the high Office of
| Judge: and our judges, 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 the greater need that
the few who fail in this great office. who
| fall below this high standard of in
tegrity. OF wisdom. of sympathetic un-
derstanding and of courage. should
have their eyes opened to the needs of
their countrymen. A judge who on the
bench either trncSles to the mob and
shrinks from sternly depressing violence
and disorder or bows down before a cor
poration who fails to stand up valiantly
| for the rights of property on the one
hand. or on the other by misuse of tho
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 in their several
stations must strive to stop the abuses of
the criminal rcll-such man performs
an even worse service TO the body polite
than the legislator or executive who goes
wrong The judge who does his full duty
well stands higher. and renders a better
service to the people, than any other pub-
lie servant: he is entitled to greater re-
spect. and if he is a true servant of the
| people if he is upright. wise and fear
| less he will unhesitat ingly disregard even
| the wishes of the people If they conflict
with the eternal principles Of right as
| CT