Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-02-06

curing. by speech. editorial. book. or
ments of what they have done; and
yet when public servants correct their
misstatements by telling the ruth they
declaim against them for breaking
silence, lest values be deprecated
They have hurt honest business men,
honest working men. honest fsrmersi
and now they ciamor against the truth
being told.
upon the effort to secure honesty in
business ana in politics is well ex-
pressed in brazen protests against any
effort for the moral regeneration of the
business world. on the ground that 1t is
unnatural, unwarrantetd and hilarious,
and hat business panic is the neces-
sary penalty for such effort to. secure
business honesty. The morality of
such a plea is precisely as great as IL
made on behalf of the men caught in
a gambling establishment when that
gambling establishment is raided by
the police. If such words mean any
thing they mean that those whose sem
timents they represent stand against
the effort to bring about a moral re-
generation of business, which viii pre-
vent a repetition of the insurance,
banking and street railroad scandals in
New York; n repetition of the Chicago
& Alton deal; a repetition of the com
bination between certain professional
politicians, certain professional labor
| h'AbfA D Allb WI I'LL VI6 =
from the disgrace of which San Fran
cisco has just been rescued; a repett-
ton of the successful effort by the
Standard Oil people to crush out every
competitor. to overawe the common
carriers. and to establish a monopoly
which treats the public with a con-
tempt which the public deserves so
long as 1t permits men of such prin-
ciples and sentiments to avow n act
on them with impunity. The cutlery
against stopping dishonest practices
among wrongdoers who happen to be
wealthy is precisely similar to the out
cry raised against every effort for
cleanliness and decency in city gov
eminent, because, forsooth, it will
hurt business" The same outcry is
made against the department of JUS
tice for prosecuting the heads of colos-
sal corporations that has been made
against the men who in San francisco
have prosecuted with impartial sever
ity the wrongdoers among business
men, public officials and labor leaders
alike. The principle is the same in
the two cases. Just as the blackmail-
er and bride Giver stand on the same
evil eminence of infamy. so the man
who makes an enormous fortune by
corTupting legislatures and municipal
tiles and fleeing his stockholders and
the public, stands on the same moral
level with the creature who fattens on
the blood money of the gambling house
and the saloon. Moreover. in the last
analysis, both kinds of corruption are
far more Intimately connected than
would at first sight appear; the wrong
doing is at bottom the same 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
gree the enemies of honest corpora
lions and honest labor unions; the re-
bate taker, the franchise trafficker,
the manipulation of securities. the pur-
| UpUnTs and nrnfnntnT lnf Woo tho hlqnR-
mailing ward boss, the ballot-boX stuff
err, 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 abhorred by
honest men.
The business" which is hurt by the
movement for honesty is the kind OF
business which. in the long run. it
the kind of business which has tended
to make the very name high finance" a
term of scandal to which all honest
American men of business should join
in putting an end. The special plead.
ers for business dishonesty, in denounc-
ing the present administration for en-
forcing the law against the huge and
corrupt corporations which have defieG
the law, also denounce 1t for endeavor-
ing to secure sadly needed labor legis-
lation, such as a far-reaching law max
ing employers liable for injuries tc
their employees.
"6usiness" Hurt by Movement
for Honesty Should Be Crushed
1t is meet and fit 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 a bare livelihood
The burden should be distributed. II
is hypocritical b%aseness to speak of q
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 anC
limb. She has no alternative but tt
suffer want or else to expose herself tC
such dangers, and when she loses 6
hand or Is otherwise MANNED or disfg'
the whole burden of the risk necessarily
incidental to the business should bt
placed with crushing weight upon hel
weak shoulders, and all who profit by
what opponents of a just employers
liability law advocate; and it is con,
%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 beer
bitterly criticising the two judges re,
ferred to in the accompanying commu'
nlcations from the Standard Oil Com
pany and the Stata Fe railroad for hav,
ing imposed heavy fines on these tive
corporations; and yet these same crit,
les of these two judges exhaust them,
selves in denouncing the. most re.
spectful and cautious discussion o.
the official action of a Judge which re.
suits in immunity to wealth and power.
full w~rongdoers. or which renders nuga,
tory q temperate effort to better the
conditions of life and work amone
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; ant
our judges, as a whole, are brave ant
upright men: Respect for the law
must go hand in hand with respect fol
the judges; and, as a whole. it is true
now as in the past, that the judges
stand in character and service abov
all other men among their fellow.
servants of the public. There is al
the greater need that the few who fai
In this great office, who fall below this
high standard of integrity, of wisdom
of sympathetic understanding and oil
courage, should have their ayes opened
to the needs Of their countrymen. A
judge who on the bench either truckles
to the mob and shrinks from ~sternly
REFRESHING violence and disorder. OF
bows down before a corporation: who
falls to stand up ~valiantly for the
rights Of property on the one hand. o.
of injunction or by his attitude toward
all measures for the betterment of tht
conditions of labor, makes the wage,
worker feel with bitterness hat thu
courts are hostile to him.; or who fail!
to realize that all public servants il
their several stations must strive t.
stop the abuses of the criminal rich
such, a man performs an even worse
service to the body polite than TIL
legislator or executive who goes wrong
The judge who does his full duty wei
stands higher. and renders a better
service to the people, than any othel
public servant; he Is entitled to great
er respect; and If he Is a true seryan
Of the people, If he is upright, wise ant
fearless, he will unhesitatingly disre,
gard even the wishes OF the people 4
they conflict with the eternal princi
pies of right as against wrong. II,
must serve the people: but he mus
serve his w conscience first. AL
| honor to Such a iJ5pa