The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1910-09-02

There are certain lldttf4a AAiNA
should never be treated as party mat
ters: and foremost among these Is the
great and vital virtue Of honesty
Honesty should be treated as a prime
necessity to our success as nation
The minute that a question OF hon
esty as against dishonesty Is involved
tSisu We must all act together as
Americans. without the slightest re
gard to party affiliations. Honesty is
not a party matter: and the first man
to attack a scoundrel OF any party
should be the honest men Of that
party. when in office. always pro
ceeded upon the theory that there
would be no need of my opponents
raising the cry of Turn the rascals
out, because would turn them out
myself Just as soon as. by yigilaut
and intelligent industry, | could dis
cover them. The present Senator Bris-
tow, for instance. vas in the post
office department when information
reached me that convinced me that
there was extensive rascality being
practiced in the department. This
information came to me through the
First Assistant Postmaster General,
Mr.. Wynne-an admirable man whose
honesty knew to be beyond
proof. The active work OF the in
yestigation was done by another post
office official in whose honesty, cour-
age, and energy I had absolute conf
dence--the present Senator Bristow.
When he got through ! knew that all
the rascals whose rascality could be
detected were out of office and that
all OF them that had committed acts
which we could proceed against as
criminal were indicted or imprisoned.
AS we dealt With the crooked public
official. so we dealt with the crooked
private citizen; with the rich swindler
in New York or Chicago as with the
or homicide in Indian Ter
ritorys We never attacked man be-
cause he was 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 any par
ficular church or to any particular
party But ! also wish you especially
to remember that we never hesitated
to shield him and stand up for him
once we we're convinced that he was
improperly attacked. There Is no
greater foe Of honesty than the man
who. for any reason. In any capacity,
attacks, or seeks 10 attack. an honest
man for crime which he has not
committed. Falsely accusing an hon
est man Of dishonesty Is an act which
stands on the same level Of infamy
with that OF the dishonest man him
self; and it is no higher duty to at
tack the dishonest man than it is to
exonerate the honest man falsely ac-
cused; and | should be ashamed TO
hesitate the fraction of a second long
er in one case than in the other
Remember that honesty cannot be
unilateal. Good citizens should cor
daily distrust the man who can never
see dish0ne5ty excepting m men or
the class he dislikes. The reckless
agitator Who invariably singles cut
men OF wealth as furnishing the only
examples of dishonesty; and the equal
ly unscrupulous-but no more unscn.
-reactionary who can see dis
honesty only in a blackmailing politi-
clan or crooked labor leader; both
stand on the same plane of obnoxious
ness. You will never gef honesty from
politicians until you exact honesty
from business men; on the other hand,
you brand yourselves as fools or as
hypocrites If you say that the cor
porati0n owner, or the employer. is
always the dishonest man, and the
poor man never, that is is only the
wealthy man who corrupts the poll
tician and never the politician who
blackmails the corporation.
Any man In his senses knows that
there are plenty Of corporations III
this country who prosper by bribing
legislators just as they prosper By
swindling the public; and any man
In his senses ought to know. in ad.
dition, that there are plenty Of cor.
rupt men Of small means who, in leg.
islative or other bodies, try to black
mail corporations--and try to black.
mail other people as well. II they
doubt this, let them look at the reve-
iations of corruption in my own state
New York-and in yours. my hear.
ers-here in Missouri; let them look
at what occurred In Californsa and
what has occurred in Illinois. In His
nois, for instance, one of the rascali.
ties dQvalonod nv fha reo..,4 t,......