Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-09-02


never attacked :; man because he was
Il man of one political faith or another.
because he did or did not possess
wealth. and we never shielded. him
because he was poor or rich. because
he belonged to AIRY particular church
or to any particular party. But l also
wish you especially to remember that
we never hesitated to shield him and
stand up for him once we were con-
WINGED that he was improperly at
tackled.
There is no greater foe of honesty
than the man who for any reason, in
any capacity. attacks or seeks to at
tack an honest man for crime which
he has not committed. Falsely accus
ing an honest man of dishonesty is an
act which stands on the same level of
I infamy with that of the dishonest man
himself. and it is no higher duty to at
tack the dishonest man than it is to
exonerate the honest man falsely ac-
cused, and l should be ashamed TO
hesitate the fraction of a second long
er In one case than in the other.
Remember that honesty cannot be
unilateral. Good citizens should cor
daily distrust the man who can never
see dishonesty excepting In men of the
| class he dislikes.
The reckless agitator who invariably
singles out men of wealth as furnish
| ing the only examples of dishonesty
and the equally unscrupulous-but no
more unscrupulous-reactionary who
can see dishonesty only in a black
mailing politician or a crooked labor
| leader, both stand on the same plane
of obnOxiOusness.
Not All Are Dishonest.
| You WI. .I-s,. ~, iOnVsiy rom pol
| iticians until you exact honesty from
| business men. On the other hand, yoa
| brand yourselves as fools or as hypo-
| critics if you say that the corporation
owner or the employer is always the
| dishonest man and the poor man never;
that it is only the wealthy man who
| corrupts the politician and never the
| politician who blackmails the corpora
ton.
| Any man in his senses knows that
| there are plenty of corporations in this
country that prosper by bribing Iegis-
latures just as they prosper by swim
ding the public. and any man in his
senses ought to know, in addition, that
| there are plenty of corrupt men of
small means who in legislative or 9TH
er bodies try to blackmail corporations
and try to blackmail other people as
well.
! If they doubt this let them look at
| the revelations of corruption in my
| own state-New York-and in yours,
my hearers-here in Missouri. Let
them look at what has occurred in Cali
fornia and what has occurred in Hi
nois. In Illinois. for instance. one of
| the rascalities developed by the recent
! investigation was the existence of n
| combination of legislators who black
mailed fishermen along Il certain river,
forcing them to pay to prevent legisla-
ton which would have interfered with
their business.
EVIL Done by Honest Men.
Now. scUuuureis vino du tins kind
of things are. of course the very men
who on the one hand will blackmail
corporation if they get a chance and
on the other hand will cheerfully. If
the chance occurs, sell themselves to
that corporation against the interests
of the public. Their corruption is ne
more due to the action of the corpora
tons than the corruption of the corpo-
rations is due to their action, and evil.
and not good, is done by the honest
but misguided man who would per-
suade you that either fact is true.
Our duty is to war with equal stern
ness against the corrupt man of great
wealth and the small man who makes
a trade of corruption; our fight is
against both the swindling corporation