The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1908-01-31
CORRUPTION REACTS.

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
labor leader are both in the same degree,
the enemies of honest corporations and
honest labor unions; the rebate taker, the
franchise trafficker, the manipulation of
securities the purveyor and protector of
Vice. the b~lackmailing ward boss, the
ballot-box suffer, the demagogue, the
mob leader, the hired bully. and man
killer-all alike work at the same web of
corruption, and all alike should be alb
horred by honest men.
''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 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 ~denouncing the present admins
tration for enforcing the law against the
huge and corrupt corporations which lave
defied the .aw, also d~enounce It for en-
deavoring to secure sadly needed labor
legislation, such as b fsr-reaching law
making employers liable for injuries TO
their employees.
ut lie meet and Mt that the ~apologists for
corrupt wealth should oppose every effort
to relieve weak and helpless people from
crushing misfortune brought upon them
by injury In the business from which they
gain a bare livelihood. The burden should
be distributed. 1t Is hypocritical baseness
TO speak of a girl who works in a factory
where the dangerous machinery Is unpro-
tected as having the right freely to con-
tract TO expose herself to dangers to life
and limb. She has 10 alternative but to
suffer want or else to expose herself to
such dangers, and when she loses a hand
or is otherwise MANNED or %disigured for
life, il is a moral wrong that the whole
burden of h risk necessarily incidental
to the business should be placed with
crushing weight upon her weak shoulders,
and all who profit by her work escape
scot-free. This is what opponents of a Just
employers liabality law advocate; and 1t s
consistent that they should usually also
advocate immunity for those most danger
Gus members of the criminal class-the
criminals of great wealth.
Dur opponents have recently been Bit
terly criticising the two Judges referred to
In the accompanying communication from
the Standard OIL Company and the Santa
Fe Railroad for having imposed heavy
fines on these two corporations; and yet
these same critics OF these two judges ex-
hause themselves in ~denouncing the most
respectful and cautious discussion of the
official action of a Judge which results In
immunity to wealthy and powerful wrong
doors, or which renders ~nugatory a tenn
perate effort to better the conditions Of life
and work among those Of our fellw-coun-
trymen whose need Is greatest
XMost certainly 1t behooves Us all tc
treat with the utmost respect the high Of
flee Of judge; and our judges. as a whole,
are brave and upright men. Respect for
the law must go hand ine hand with re-
spect for the judges; aud, as a whole, ii
L. true now as in the past that the judges