The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-06
HE HAD POWERFUL ENEMIES

| Under the above caption, Ed Howe,
| in his Atchison Globe, stated few
facts and expressed few opinions
which are worthy of the attention of
every man who believes in fair play.
They show how unfair many men be-
come in their criticism of persons in
high station whose every act or idea
does not meet with the appreciation
of the professional fault finders with
which this nation is now pestered. Mr..
Howe writes:
I'm the trial of a thief, it is a rule
of law that the defendant have the
benefit of the doubt, and the thief Of
ten escapes punishment when his
| guilt is known.
but how severe the law is with
an industrious. worthy man! How
merciless the tax laws in pursuit of
| the savings of the frugal Not one
thief in ten is punished, whereas nine
out of every ten worthy, useful men
are punished when they do not de-
serve it.
What a clamor there is to punish
the corporations. which benefit thou
sands, and develop the really big
things of the country
I'm Kansas City, recently, a busi-
ness man named DR.. w. s. Woods re-
| tired, after years of usefulness to the
community He was always an hon.
est man; always a useful man. Yet
the newspapers said. in noting his re-
tirement, that he had Powerful Enc
| mics.
ION one occasion, his powerful enc
mics succeeded in wrecking the great
! bank he had spent years in building
up. He was Inundated and ruined.
What had been his offense?
Nothing more than that he had
| been very useful man to the COM
| 111r ha, lx
had been very active in assisting use
| full enterprises. He had never wrong
| ed anyone; on the contrary, he had
helped thousands, and greatly assisted
| in making Kansas City the wonder of
the western world. The result was,
he had powerful enemies, and these
enemies succeeded in humiliating and
running him at the close of his life.
! True, he finally pulled himself to-
gether, and his retirement from bust
ness was triumph, but this worthy,
useful man, everyday of his life, was
compelled to fight powerful enemies.
Should not worthy, useful men in
spire the assistance of good friends
instead of the Gctive opposition of pow
erful enemies? Every man who is in
dustrious, honest and useful has the
consciousness that all his life he is
compelled to fight powerful enemies,
and it ia an outrage.
"A citizen who will pay little atten-
ton to furnishing bad man will show
wonderful energy in trying to ruin
decent man, by means of falsehood,
innuendo and Islander. Everybody is
willing to assist trifling man, and
everybody is willing to injure useful,
well-behaved man.
THE little town of Danville, Ill. has
a citizen who is one of the remark
able men of his time, Joseph G. Can
non, n W in his 74th year. In all re-
spects he is a worthy man, and a man
of more than usual intelligence. He
has been faithful to his state to his
country, and to the community in
which he lives. He has acquired polit-
ical distinction; he is citizen who
should be honOred by all, yet this old
gentleman has been bounded az no
great thief was ever bounded. Thou
sands # newspapers print falsehoods
about him; hundreds of politicians
make statements concerning him that
are libelous and mean. He has pow
erful enemies, yet he is an honest man,
creditable man to his race, and
useful man. We do not know Joseph
G. Cannon; we have never had letter
from him; we know him only as the
people know noted men. Yet we shall
always believe that he has been
abused and lied about in a manner
that is a disgrace to human nature.
The state of Washington has a citi-
zen named Richard A. Ba1linger. He
went to that far country as a young
man, and, by the exercise sof energy,
became so noted locally that he was
| invited to become member of Presi-
dent ,Taft's cabinet President Taft
mad the entire country to choose from,
and was himself an honest man. He
would not have selected a man with
bad reputation; a man who did not
stand we'll in his own state. Had
there been anything wrong with Bal
linger, President Taft or his advisers
would have discovered it when his
name was being considered for the
honorable position of secretary of the
Interior The facts are, Ballinger
was one of the big men of the west;
q man of honor. a man of resources.