The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-04
Morris Haas, Ex-Felon.

Is there lesson Tn the career oi nhoi ris Haas, the man who attempted the assassination of Francis J. Heney?
 Every good citizen reprobates the foul attempt to kill the man who risked his life and fame and fortune in the pros ecution of the big thieves of San Fran cisco.
 And. while the assassin took his own life, Providence has permitted Heney to recover.
 No one has a good word for Haas.
 And yet
 The tragedy of the latter's life holds a moral He had served a prison sen- tence for the embezzlement of $275. Fol lowing his releace. he had lived an up- right life for IS years His children did not know their father had been con- vict.
 And then
 He was drawn on the Ruef jury. He went to the judge, told his story and begged to be let off in vain. In most dramatic manner, in order to challenge Haas, MT. Heney lifted the curtain on the ex-convicts career. The man col lapsed.
 Put yourself in Haas place.
 He had reformed his life, holding up his head among his fellows. The com munity did not know. Now he was ruined. He brooded. Who wouldn't have brooded? He had a good job. wife and five children Brooding led to drink.
 After he had shot Heneyr he said he did it to avenge the ruin of his life and family.
 You see, this man couldn't appreciate Heney's official duty. He saw only the forceful, relentless lawyer who had made a public exposure of his wretched se- cret.
 He was foul assassin?
 Yes, and we would be the last to try to work up sympathy for the miserable creature who closed his tragedy with self destruction.
 Let us put part of the blame on the people of San Francisco, who permitted the bad conditions that led up to the climax.
 And if the story of Morris Haas could be handled by great novelist, one who analyses human motives, who sympa- thizes with the least and lowest, the story could be made worth while.
 Society is hard on the fallen.
 Once a convict always a convict. Once an abandoned woman, always an aban- doned woman. Society will not forget. It persists and points the slow moving finger of scorn It will always draw it's garments aside from the proved guilty.
 Let us not be too swift to judge. Hav- ing punished the Morris Haas, let us not be too swift to sit on the seat of the scornful.
 Opportunity.
 Is the old adage, which is the theme of Ingalls, poem, that Opportunity knocks but once at every mans door, a true one?
 Or
 Is it true, as one has said, that Oppor- tunity knocks at our doors every day, but that few of us take the trouble to get up and open the door?
 There Is the old illustration of Newton and the falling apple. Newton got up and opened the door of his mind. Oppor- tunity came in in the guise of an idea And that idea changed the worlds think ing.
 Many of us muffle our ears when Op- portunity knocks.
 Napoleon never did that Opportunity never knocked at his door in vain. His thinking was always ahead of his foes thinking, He got up in the morning be- fore the enemy got up-if he had to stay up all night. If the other general had a larger army, Napoleon segregated it into sections and whipped the sections one at a time.
 Opportunity is an early riser.
 Ethan Allen took Ticonderoga while the garrison was asleep and did it in the name of Jehovah and the Continental congress-" He had no authority from either. But he had his opportunity.
 Opportunity is a great friend of us if we recognize it.
 Opportunity changes the battle of Win chester from defeat to victory; it is the Funston that obliterates rivers from the map; 1t puts to routN the armies of the aliens; it turns the flank of the foe by strategem; it controls circumstances and makes a way for itself.
 Young man
 Opportunity is rapping Keep your ears open!
 More than that, young man
 Keep your eyes open. You may be able to see Opportunity before it knocks at your door-while 1t knocks at some other mans door. Let the other man turn over in bed and pay no attention when Opportunity comes a-calling. Let him shut his eyes and go it blind.
 Sheridan never did that.
 Nor Peter Cooper.
 Nor John Wanamaker.
 The successful ones, every time and everywhere, kept eyes and ears both open, everywhere and all the time.
 Opportunity presses the button. You must do the rest.