The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-11
NORTH SIDE NEWS
DENTISTS Have Excuse of Rail-
road Rebaters,"
Said McNaaI in Talk at Second
Presbyterian Church.
"WEALTH WORSHIP"
Causes Downfall of Many Young
Men.
Our Standards Constitutes
Grave Danger to Republic.

! Kansas ought to be allowed to run his
! business unmolested. as he can GER
| tainly claim that he has to violate the
law in order to carry on his business "
/ This is the statement made by T. A.
McNeal, state printer, in an address de-
livered at the Rally Day exercises at
the Second Presbyterian church Sun
day morning, when speaking OF the
railroad rebate system practiced by the
railroads.
In his talk on Good Citizenship" Mr..
! McNeal also said that Gould was a
thief on a gigantic scale, that we are a
nation of wealth worshippers and that
| a young man is liable to go wrong
from the example of our standard that
money accommodating constitutes sue
cess. He said that this standard is
wrong and one of the gravest dangers
to the republic. His speech, in part,
follows:
Right here in Kansas is a RAILROAD
| with tracks laid on rotten ties and sup
piled with broken rails. Every time a
the train crew and passengers are en-
dangered. Already on account of this
defective equipment lives have been
sacrificed and other lives will be sac
same time. If a railroad company
deliberately permits its tracks to get in
bad condition, then the managers are
guilty of murder
scores Ra1IrOd0 h1ngS.
Jay Gould was a thief on a gigantic
scale. Hartman and his associates
procured control of the Alton and milk
ed it to the extent of 100000 and
gave no equivalent. If they took that
amount from the pockets of somebody
else and put it into their own without
giving an equivalent they were morally
thieves.
1T is a common statement among
railroad managers that the proper basis
fnr- fr~A
Will bear. That means that at a COM
pet1ng point the common carrier gets
what he can and what competition will
permit his road to charge but when it
comes to non competing point, a
town where there is but a single line,
raises the rate as high as the people
who live there and have to use the road
can pay. and still continue to do bust
ness The whole idea is dishonest and
unfair. 1t is placine the burden of the
weak for the benefit of the strong It
is taking advantage Of the necessities
of people and the same principle car
r1ed to its legitimate conclusion would
justify any sort of extortion or robbery
THE officials of the American Sugar
Trust in addition to the violation of
the antitrust law have been caught
red-handed in robbery. BY false weights
they have swindled the government out
Of millions. They have not gone to
prison and in all probability will not
because they have enough money to
finally defeat justice.
Nation of Wealth Worshippers.
I'VE are nation of wealth Worship
pers. Our standard is wrong and 50
long as 1T remains the standard the
publication of politics is an iridescent
dream.
What is the young man just coming
into his majority to think? Why. his
natural conclusion is that money con-
trolls the courts and that If he can only
accumulate enough money by anv
means. he can break the law with i'm
punity.
:, And SO with that pernicious doctrine
IN mind, young man starts out to get |
money and get it in any way He fails. |
and the law takes him by the neck and
lands him in the penitentiary He de- |
serves the punishment he gets but he |
is not altogether to blame Our system |
is responsible in part for the downfall |
or that young man. He comes out of |
prison, not reformed but embittered |
ana feeing that he has not been given |
a fa1r deal In that frame of mind he |
is as dangerous as a man-eating tiger. |
Good Name More Than Great Riches. |
Young man, don't make a mistake. |
Don't draw the conclusion that money |
can buy the things which are most val |
Table In this world. Wealth may haunt |
itself in the face of poverty. It may cor
rupt legislatures and maybe courts and |
buy immunity of the law but still it is |
as true as it was 5000 years ago that
good name is more to be desired than
great riches.
And believe that the day is com
ng when the dollar will count for less
and less, and the man for more and |
more. The man is vastly more important |
han the money. However, at present
he most important thing is neglected
while million of dollars are spent in
improving animals. Man made in the
mage of God is left to grow at random
Of course the same methods of selection
elimination Ia do in he
case of man as in the case of animals
out society might at least see that the
environment of the, young human ami
mails were such as to bring out the
best rather than the worst
Man has tendency to revert to the
original type. Down in the backwoods
Of Arkansas 1 saw man and his wife |
who had been Kansas school teachers. |
They had been on a claim there two
years and were both barefooted like
the natives. They were conforming to
the social conditions. If they live there
ten years, it will be remarkable if both |
Of them are not snuff-chewers and both |
Of them will be able to squirt tobacco
Juice through their teeth and knock a
bug off of weed at a distance of ten
1eet-like the natives. AS I said, there |
original type.
The American Sovereign.
And so I am here tonight to enter |
4 plea for the American sovereign that |
8 to be- l want to plead for the man
IS against the dollar. want to pro-
claim that the father and mother who
nave reared up an honest, law abiding,
brave and kindly son have
been of more service to the country
han if they had accumulated a vast
,ortune. And I want to impress on
he young man the dignity and import
lnce of the position that he will hold as
me of the uncrowned kings of this
mighty republic. The American sover-
.ign I wish to see will be strong and
,ure, just and reverent, but destitute
# fears. However, it would seem al