The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-25
GOVERNOR FOLK ON
 ERA OF CONSCIENCE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE s.)

straints by means of which every man may be protected within prescribed limits The corporation magnate should realize that he must give that respect to the law | regulating the conduct of his corporation that he asks others to give to the law protecting the property of his corpora tion The anarchy of capital breeding contempt for law should no more be tol- erated than the anarchy of labor breed ing riot and disorder. That lawlessness begets anarchy, whether at the top of society or at the bottom of society, is becoming an accepted fact; that men, no matter how great their wealth, must be obedient to law, as well as the poorest or men. and that the greatest corporation in the land must be subject to the stat utes, as well the smallest business, is demand of the new era.
 Work of Conscience.
 "so this public conscience goes on, day by day, correcting some evil. and day after day remedying some wrong. Its energies have been extended from the domain of the public wrong -doer to that of the private wrong -doer, and after probing into the workings of ras- calls of avery kind it has commenced to assail the deeper evil of special privi- lege. Conscience revolts against pri- vilege, whether it be the privilege of lawlessness or the special privilege con ferred by law. It matters not whether that privilege be in the form of tariff, so arranged as to foster monopo- ly, or trust to control the prices of the necessities of life or rebates to favored shippers, or the running of sa- looms or gambling houses contrary to law. These things are prohibited by the moral law.-the law of conscience Behind nnlifipaI ic moral question. Whatever the politi- cal question before us we may safely seek it's solution in the moral law There Is not one law for the church. another for the home; one law for the pulpit, another for the rostrum: one law for the stock exchange and an- other for the pew. Thou shalt not steal;' the Golden Rule-these moral precepts are the foundation of all law of the government of human society They apply to church, to commerce to politics, to the affairs of nation and in- diyidual alike. Is 1t right, or is it wrong that is the question con- science answers. and tn ereby points the way of truth and justice.
 There are some who object to the exposure of wrongdoing on the ground that it hurts the city or state, or in jures business. Civic disease can no HUI . Ot Cuieu Dy HlulDS IL t1dn DlySl- cal disease. There is no secret remedy known for it. No state can be hurt by the enforcement of law; no honest bus mess can be injured by eradicating it's evil. Whenever a class of wrong -doers is attacked they always try to place themselves behind a community or some business interest. Whenever grafters are assailed they claim that the town or city lis being attacked and discredited. When wrong -doers in the business world are prosecuted they set up the cry that business is being in- jured. This view is not shared by those who would do away with evil practices in business. Neyerthless it deceives many good men into opposing the prosecution of wrong -doers. The man who says that the depression in the industrial world is caused by pun ishing crooks argues that there can be no such thing as honest prosperity, and that the prosperity we had was that of the burglar and pickpockct. It would be more accurate to charge depression to the crooks rather than to their pros ecution. The prosperity that rests on wrongdoing is not the right kind of prosperity. If the country shad to choose between great prosperity cou- pied with crook edness, and less pros perity and more honesty, it would un- doubtedly take the latter.
 Urges Conservatism.
 While every wrong in business should be prosecuted, care of course should be taken not to destroy the good with the bad. l do not mean caution in punishing wrong, but care, lest in striking bindly at wrongdoing the innocent be injured with the guilty. The man who would expose and punish no wrongdoing is an eXterm- fat down the good in order the easier to get at the bad 1t takes no judgment. to be an extremist, but to weigh things, and to determine the bad and the gcod, require thought and care. Let us assail not men, but the evil men do; not business, but the eyil-doers iri business The only way to stop evil either public or private, is to turn the light, and let the people know who the rascals are. Publicity is the best remedy for civic wrongs, for through publicity the public conscience Is aroused, and the remedy for malefactor of every kind after all is in the conscience of the people, The penitentiaries might be filled with wrongdoers, but if the peo- pie were indifferent evil would go on just the same. On the other hand, very few violators of law of high degree might wear stripes, yet if the people are aroused wrongdoing can be ended by the mighty power or the pubic consclence. VI llh the national conscience clean, the national life must be clean. No, l do not believe il hurts either state, a nation or business to punish wrongdoing. If things had gone on as they were few years ago, when bribery reigned, when lawlessness was looked upon with indifference, when spe- cfal privilege seemed imperVious 10 at tack then the end of the republic itself might well have been prophesied, for we were going the way other republics have gone that have passed to their death. The republics that have tottered off the stage of the world into oblivion did not die for lack of material wealth, but for want of moral health; they ceased to exist not for lack of money but for lack of morals. First came class privileges, then vice, then decay. Material prosperity cannot be permanent unless accompanied by moral prosperity Every nation that has existed, and this nation today, rests not upon the wealth of the few, but upon the character and integrity of the average man,
 Tn this era of conscience so imporfAnt to the American people, let us be con- servative in charging wronsdolng lesl justice be done In charging where 1t does x,o+ .x;yt Rut once sure of the evil. let ls