The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-05-06

pCSh eOoShSo Will q INV SOe~A - 800
off the altar of public conscience.
Look at the subject of gambling,
one of the greatest of vices. 1t has
only been few years since race
track gambling, 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 a prolific
breeder of crime, and corrupter of
youth. When I was prosecuting at
torney of ST. Louis I saw constant
stream of young men passing through
the criminal courts on their way to
the penitentiary, made embezzlers
and thieves by the alluring gambling
of the race-track. The state was IN
partnership with the gambling, and
licensed it, the proceeds going to the
state fair. One of the first things
I did when I became governor was
to recommend that the state support
its fair by proper appropriation; that
the law licensing this form of gam
bling be repealed, and in its place a
law be enacted making the registra-
ton of a bet on a horse-race a fell
ony. After a hard fight this law was
enacted, and it has been enforced
since it became a law three years
ago.
''It has not been long since it was
a common idea that directors of cor
porations were privileged to do law
less things that as individuals they
would not think of doing. The pub
lie conscience has awakened to the
fact that a corporation consists mere
" of individuals exercising charter
powers from a state The corpora
ton these individuals conduct is no
better or worse than the idividuals
composing the corporation. The peo-
pie are beginning to know that con-
tempt for law is no less reprehensible
when plotted over a directors table
than when shouted under a red flag
at an anarchists meeting, and they
frequently stand related as cause
and effect. Corporations have been
too often used as masks to conceal
the crimes of individuals. The era
of conscience demands the same
standard of morality for corpora
tions as is required of the individuals
that compose them. The elimination
of watered stocks and inflated values
is not an unreasonable demand of
the public conscience.
I'm the era of conscience the peo-
pie are realizing that the govern
ment of city, state and nation be-
longs to them, and that they can take
it into their own hands whenever
they wish to do so, and make that
government just as good as they de-
sire, or just as bad as they permit
it to become. What has been accom-
plished in applying moral ideas to
public and private acts has been
brought about because good people
have gotten into politics; AMI there
they must stay, or the advantages
already gained will be lost, and the
people again succumb to the stupOr
of an apathy as deadly as corrup-
ton itself. Under our system of gov
eminent every citizen should be a
politician in the sense that he ex-
presses an opinion, in a proper way,
on all public questions; but no man
in this country should be a politician
in the sense that he depends on poll
tics for a living. Ours is a repre-
sentative form of government. 1t
must either represent the best there
is, or it is likely to represent the
worst there is.
''The liquor traffic affords another
striking illustration of the growth
of the public conscience. Not many
years ago the saloons felt themselves
above law; they defied the authorities
of the city or state, and if an official
became so bold as to demand that
they obey the law like anyone else,
such was their political power that
they replaced him at the next election
with one more subservient to their
will. They are now learning that
they must do business according TO
law or they will not be allowed to
do business at all. In all places
where they had no option but to obey
the law they are protesting a whole
some respect for the law. In some
places the lesson has been taught
thoroughly, and in others they are
still learning it.
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