The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-25

public morals all must admit, that the penitentiaries reap an annual harvest of embezzlers from it no one can deny. The transactions that amount to gambling on the rise or fall of the market should be prohibited, and severely punished wherever they may take place, and with them will go one of the greatest evils of our country. The bucket shop is al ready condemned, and if the stock ex- changes do not clean themselves of gam bling they will be cleaned out by the people, for conscience has written that the gamblers must go. Too many men have been seeking wealth without the corresponding inclination to labor for it's achievement. Too many have forgotten the divine injunction, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" The gam bling mania Is the outgrowth of this in ordinate desire for wealth, and with its abolition business and the prosperity that comes from business will be upon more moral, and, therefore, firmer founda- tion.
 Tt has not been long since it was common idea that directors of corpora tions were privileged to do lawless things that as individuals they would not think of doing. The public conscience has awakened to the fact that corporation consists merely of individuals exercising charter powers from a state. The cor pOfdIlOn these l1ulNluudlS cOHuuCl IS no better or worse than the individuals com- posing the corporation. The people are beginning to know that contempt for law is no less reprehensible when plotted over a directors table than when shouted under a red flag at an anachists' 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 con- science demands the same standard of morality for corporations 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 Because they are unjust to the public and compel the public to pay dividends on fictitious values, the public protests against them, and this same conscience, with It's sense of Jus tice, would as readily assert itself to pro test against unfairness toward the indi- vidual aggregated under the form and fc- tion of a corporation as 1t would to pro- test against unfairness toward the indi- vidual citizen. It Is not corporations the public complain of, but the abuses of power on the part of corporations.
 Public Service Corporations.
 Take the case of public service cor porations-railroads, street car companies and lighting companies for instance. few years ago the idea that they had the
 
 was not seriously controverted. Now, it is generally conceded that the public has rights which must be respected. In the case of the ordinary corporation competi- tion fixes its charges upon a reasonable basis Where corporation has a monop- oly of some public utility. as a public service corporation must have, the people must either pay the rate fixed by the monopoly or do without the service. if there Is no regulation by law. In such in- stances the law should step in and sup e ply the regulation which ordinarily is done by competition. It Is trusting hu- man nature too far to expect fair treat ment and just rates where neither compe- tition nor law con1pels them. The right of the public, through law, to regulate upon a reasonable basis the charges of such corporations can no longer be seri- ously questioned; and this regulation should be upon the basis of the cost of the service, not the value of the service.
 Tn this era of conscience the people are realizing that the government of city, state and nation belongs 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 accomplished in applying moral ideas to public and pri- vate acts has been brought about because good people have gotten into politics: and there they must stay, or the duNanlaBeS already gained will be lost, and the peo- pie again succumb to the stupor of an apathy as deadly as corruption itself. Under our system of government every citizen should be politician in the sense that he expresses an opinion, in proper way, on all public questions; but no man in this country should be a politician in the sense that he depends on poli- ties for living. Ours is Q representa- tive form of government. It must either represent the best there Is, or It is likely to represent the worst there is. Cor rupt officials represent the people just as honest officials do. The corrupt official represents the activity of the lawless. and the aggressiveness of special interests. In a word, he stands for the apathy, the negligence, the criminal indifference of the law-abding. Government Is represent tative of the good In proportion as the average morality of the average individ- ual Is aggressive; and representative of the bad in proportion as the average morality is low and lethargic
 As Concerns Liquor.
 'Trhe liquor traffic affords another strik- ing illustration of the growth of the pub lie 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 any one else, such was their political power that they replaced him at the next elec- tion 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 places where they had no option but to obey the law they are protesting a wholesome respect for the law. In some places the lesson has been taught thoroughly, and in others they are still learning it.
 s"rhis public conscience is teaching a respect for law on the part of all. The people have learned that in a republic the government rests entirely upon the law which the people make for them- selves through their representatives. The only sovereign we have in this country is law. If the law is not enforced then the liberty of a majority of the people to make law is taken away to the extent that their will is nullified. Liberty to make laws does not mean license to break laws License is not liberty. Liberty to make our own laws carries with it the duty to observe them. It is a false idea of liberty that would have it imply drunkenness, anarchism and unbridled wickedness One might say that this is not free country because he is not permitted to shoot game out of season. to conduct lotteries. This Is a mistaken view Under our form of government liberty means law properly enforced otherwise each might interpret liberty to suit his own purposes. If after the senti- ment of majority is crystallized into laws those laws could be disregarded by the selfish few the privilege of the few would be greater than the rights of the