The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-24
STANDARD OIL MONEY.

m The Standard Oil Company is business institution. It is like Jay Gould It is Democratic in Democratic munes, Republican in Republican territory and neutral where the political power is balanced.
 It buys Republican and Democratic legislators with absolute impartalty and would buy Socialist Prohbi- ton Populst or Bull Moose statesmen if there any and it needed them.
 This does not mean that every man of any party in politics be bought. Most men cannot be bought. The statement that every has his price is sinister There is no way of proving it. When the price which will take is reached he is honest and must be so regarded
 The human soul when it is awake to evil, is for the most part ncorruptibe But there an area in which many men do not realize what damage they doing when they sell their votes They do not the social consequences of their crime
 To make this principle of human conduct planer, let inquire, how many could be hired let say to kill the mother who reared them Not many.
 The sense of the wrong of such thing is too deeply felt in the human heart.
 But the men might sell to Standard Oil, because they would not understand the deep betrayal of society in which they engaged thoroughly know that they committing treason which destroys the state more surely than the efforts of an armed foe.
 Once understands that dickering with Standard Oil for the sale of legislation treason and he will not do
 Benedict Arnolds not numerous.
 We may be certain that Senator Penrose Senator Lorer and the long line of other who took bad money have great imagination They not much posted the lessons of history If they were they would know the enorty of their wrong against the Republic that trusted them.
 They would no more do what they have done, than they would sell the skins of their fathers to make wallets for Sandwich Islanders
 The lesson of the Standard Oil disclosures pretty nearly useless, unless it is understood and applied where it will do good.
 The application is always at home.
 If the big graft the only graft, and the big brib the only bribers not much harm would be done to the state or to the people.
 But the country is honeycombed with graft. The Public Service from the little to the big ones are doing the same thing. When they want some thing that does not belong to them they buy it.
 Connecticut is one of the worst states in the Union for this sort of wrong It's candidates exhibit extraor dinory campaign funds which used to debauch the electorate and which criminally expended i'll ways that honeycomb into the very structure of institutions threatening them with the deadly dry rot that follows upon public niquity. The same phenomena are exhibited upon small scale this city, that exhibited in the and nation
 Lightning has many manifestations, some terrible in intensity, others feeble to be scarcely perceptbe but Ial is lightning, and all spring from the causes
 It is the duty of Bridgeport to study the testimony of Senators Archbod Penrose for the purpose of in terpretng the acts of legislators political bosses and lob bysts at home To clean p at home is the quickest way to clean up at Washington.
 It is easy enough to get rid of Lorimer Penrose after few years.
 But if the soil that produces them remains unchanged other Penroses and other Lorimers will succeed each than his predecessor The in the state, which may be extrpated by the surgeons knife will consume the whole organism unless each community cleans lup itself and cleans out it's Lormers Penroses and their paymasters
 Very vsiby there struggle between privilege and the state to which will devour the other It is plain that state must the monopolies the monopa- lies will own the state.
 
 u =, tabishment celebrated and