Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1908-02-14

!: bars with impartial severity, the
: powerful %financier the powerful
I rich contractor-al. no matter :
(; how high their station. against {:
! whom criminal misdeeds can be
(: proved. All their wealth and
; power cannot protect them.
But it often happens that the effort to
imprison a given defendant is certain to
be futile, while II is possible to fine him
or to fine the corporation Of which he Is
head; so that In other words, the only
the corporation, unless we are content to
proceed personally against the minor
agents. The corporation lawyers TO whom
! refer and their employers are the men
and their responsibility is shared with all
who ingeniously oppose the passing Of just
and effective laws, or who fail to execute
them when they have been put on the
statute books.
"~innocent Stockholders"
Much Is said, In these attacks upon the
policy of the present administration, about
the righto of innocent stockholders"
That stakeholder is not innocent who
voluntarily purchases stock in a corpora
ton whose methods and management he
knows to be corrupt; and stockholders are
pound TO try TO secure honest manage
Ing about the proceedings the government
fnds necessary In order to compel the
corporation to obey the law. There has
been In the past grave wrong done limo
stock-watering, stock-jobbing. stock-ma-
nipulation. This we have sought TO pre-
vent, nrst, by exposing the thing done and
Furnishing the offender when any existing
law had been violated; second, by recon-
mending the passage of laws which would
make Unlawful similar practices for the
future. The public men. lawyers. and
editors who loudly proclaim their SYM
pathy for the innocent stockholders"
when a great law-defying corporation Is
punished, are the first TO protest with
frantic vehemence against all efforts by
law to FSt a stop to the practices which
are the real and ultimate sources of the
damage alike to the stockholders and the
public. The a~pologists of successful dis
honesty always declaim against any eff
fort to punish or prevent IL, on the
ground that any such effort will ''unsettle
have unsettled business; and the very
men raising this cry spend hundreds of
thousands of dollars In securing, by
speech, editorial, book, or pamphlet, the
have done; and yet when public servants
correct their mis-statemcnts by telling
breaking silence, lest values be depreci-
ated." They have hurt honest business
men, honest ~workingmen, honest farm
ers;, and now. they clamor against the
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 II is unnatural, unwar-
ranted, and injurious, and that business
panic Is the necessary penalty for such
effort to secure business honesty. The
morality of such a plea is precisely as
great as If made on behalf of the men
taught in a gambling establishment when
that gambling establishment is raided by
the police. If such words mean anything
they mean that those whose sentiments
fhA AsrnnA = NJ Nv fhA q A-F NO
bring about a moral regeneration OF bust
ness which will prevent q repetition OF
the insurance, banking, and street rail
road scandals In New York; a repetition
of the Chicago and Alton deal: a repe-
tition of the combination between certain
professinal politicians, certain profess
sinai Isbor leaders, and certain big finan-
ciers. from the disgrace OF which San
Francisco has just been rescued; a repe-
tition OF the successful effort by the
Standard Oil people tc crush out every
competitor, to overawe the common car
riers, and to establish a monopoly which
treats the public with contempt which the
OF such principles and such sentiments to
avow and act on them with impunity.
honest practices among ~wrungdoers
:swho happen TO be wealthy Is precise
ly similar to the outcry raised
against every effort for cleanliness
and decency in city government, be-
cause. ~.orsooth. 1t will hurt bust
ness. !:
The same cutlery Is made against the
department of justice for prosecuting the
heads OF colossal corporations that has
been made against the men who in San
Francisco have prosecuted with impartial
severity the w~rongdoers among business
men. public officials, and labor leaders
alike. The principle is the same In the
two cases. Just as the blackmaiIer and
bribe giver stand Of the same evil emf
nence OF infamy. so the man who makes
isiatures and municipalities and neecing
his stockholders and the public, stands on
the same moral level with the creature
h fattens on the blood money OF the
over, In the last analysis, both kinds OF
CORRUPTION are far more Intimately con-
nec'ed thar would at first sigh, appear;
Corrupt 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 degree the en-
e-ntes of honest corporation and honest
labor unions; the rebate taker. the fran
chise trafficker, the manipulation of Sc
c%urities. the purveyor and protector Of
vice. the Matchmaking ward boss, the bal
lot-box suffer. the demagogue. the mob
leader, the hired bully, and mankiller--
all alike work at the same web OF cor
ruption. and all alike should be abhorred
by honest men.
Hurts Right Business.
The business which Is hurt by the
movement for honesty is the kline OF bus
mess which, T.. the long run. IL pays the
country to have hurt. II Is the kind of
business which has tended TO make the
very name high finance" a 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. In d~enouncing. the present admin
!stra ton for enforcing the law against
the huge and corrupt corporations which
deied the law, also denounce It for en-
legislation, such as a far-reachtng
Law making employers liable for In
Jdr!es 10 their employees. II Is meet
and ut that the a~pologists for corrupt
wealth should oppose every effort to re-
lieve weak and helpless people from
crushing misfortune brought upon them
by injury In the business from which the
gain a bare livelihood. The burden should
be distributed. IL Is hypocriticai baseness
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