Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-02-27
NO STATE CAN BE HARMED BY
EXPOSURE OF WRONG
DOING
BROTHERHOOD AND EQUAL RIGHTS
THE IDEAL OF A FREE
PEOPLE

HUI ID the CITY OI SIdIey OF injuries DuSl-
ness. Civic disease can no more be
cured by hiding it than physical dis
ease. There is no secret remedy
known for it. No state can be hurt
by the enforcement Of law; no honest
business can be injured by eradicating
it's evil. Whenever a class of wrong
doors is attacked they always try to
place themselves behind a community
or some business interest. Whenever
grafters are assaiIed they claim that
the town or city is being attacked,
and discredited When wrOng-dOers
in the business world are prosecuted,
they set up the cry that business is
being injured. This view is not
shared by those who would do away
with evil practices in business. Never
theless it deceiVes many good men into
opposing the prosecution Of wrong
doing. The man who says that the
depression in the industrial world is
| caused by furnishing crooks argues
there can be no such thing as hon
est prosperity and that the prosper
ity, we had was that of the burglar
and p!ckpocket. 1t would be more &C
curate to charge depression to the
| crooks rather than to their prosecu-
ton. The prosperity that rests on
| wrong-doing is not the right kind Of
prosperity. If the country had to
choose between great prosperity
coupled with crookedness. and less
prosperity and more honesty, it would
undoubtedly take the latter"
| So spoke Governor John w. Folk OF
Missouri in an address before the
Civic Forum in Carnegie hall last
night His theme was The Era of
| Conscience. and in opening said that
| it has been our good fortune to wit
ness the birth of a new epoch in our
national life, which is now in progress
of development. There have been
great movements along moral lines in
| days gone by, but they were merely
| local, brought On by local conditions,
which died away with the causes that
gave them birth. The vampires of
graft would be driven away to remain
for a season, and then return after the
storms of public Indignation had
spent their fury. To-day presents a
situation of brighter promise to the
vision. The ethical awakening shows
signs of becoming universal and last
ing, instead of local and transitory
/ From the yesterday of six years ago
today is a revolution in the con-
sciences of men.
"A few years ago" said Governor
FOX, Officials, even in states where
the act carried a heavy penalty, made
no COncealment of accepting wree rail
road passes. They had no more moral
right to accept 4 free pass for favorS
past Or prospective than the equiYd-
lent in money. Their conduct was re-
pugnant to moral sense, but they did
not realize it. Today no state Official
can be found who will admit that he
accepts such favors. They have been
touched with live coal from off the
altar of public conscience"
Mr.. Folk directed attention to the
subject of gambling, which he char
acteriZed as one Of the greatest OF
vices. 1T has only been a few years"
he declared, since race-track gamb
ling, and gambling of other kinds were
not considered as involving moral
wrong. The public conscience began
to realize the fact that race-track
gambling is prolific breeder Of
crime, and a cOrrupter Of youth.
When l was a prosecuting attorney OF
st. Louis l saw a constant stream OF
young men passing through the Grim
inal courts on their way to the peni-
Tertiary, made embeZzlers and thieves
by the alluring gambling of the race
track. The state was in partnership
with this gambling and licensed IL,
the proceeds going to the State fair.
One of the first things l did when
became governor was TO recommend
that the State support its fair by pro-
per appropriation, that the law licens-
ing this form Of gambling be repealed,
and in its place law be enacted max
ing the. reg, stratton Of bet on horse
race a fe ony. After a hard fight this
law was enacted, and it has been en-
forced since it became a law three
years ago. The results have been so
satisfactory that no one would dare
attempt to bring back the days of the
State race-track gambling rake-off.'
1T has not neen long since it was
a common idea that directors of cor
porations were privileged 10 do Jaw
less things that as individuals they
would not think OF doing. The public
conscience has awakened to the fact
that a corporation consists merely OF
individuals exercising charter powers
from State. The corporation these
individuals conduct IS no better or
worse than the individuals composing
the corporation. The people are be-
binning TO know that contempt for law
IS no less reprehensible when plotted
over directors table than when
shouted under a red flag at an anar-
chists' meeting. and they frequently
stand related as cause and effect. Cor
porations have been TOO often used as
masks TO conceal the crimes of indi-
v'duals. The era of consc' ence de
roands the sane standard of morality
for corporations as 5 required of the
individuals that compose them. The