Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-07
FORBES IS TOLD
WHOLE NATION
SD|SHONEST
Prominent Man, in Interview, Says
Crookedness Begins With
Government.
BY B, C. FORBES,

Are Americans dishonest?
That question was put to me by a
nan of prominence.
He says they are.
Are they?
What do you think--if you have
ever stopped to think about it?
Let me present the case in the
form of a discussion:
Everybody (class) in the country
rs dishonest. starting at the Govern
ment itself"
How do you make out that the
Government is dishonest"
Tn a hundred ways"
specify, please.
Well, the Governments whole
pension system, as everyone knows
Is honeycombed with fraud. Tax
payers are cheated out of millions
of dollars by bogus pension pay
ments every year. That is one in
stance. Then is it not true, as the
railroads have shown, that the Gov
eminent is absolutely dishonest in
new parcel post traffic without prop
ar remuneration? That is another
glaring case. Then the new income
tax compels trust companies and
other institutions to act as tax col
Iectors without compensation, al
though the cost entailed is very great
Isn't that dishonest? Nobody should
be forced to work without reward"
And the railroads. have they been
dishonest?"
Now, don't make me laugh You
know very well they have. They
bought up legislators wholesale, as
every sChoolboy knows. Their sys-
TEN of secret rebates was a species
Of dishonesty. And that only touches
the fringe of their malpractices."
GO on"
Take, next, our trust and other
huge corporations They were con-
ccived in greed and organized with
rank dishonesty. The people were
fooled and cheated at every turn.
Millions of dollars were extracted I'M
fairly from the pockets of the public
by SO called High Financiers low
dnanciers l would call them. The
courts have shown up few of these
gigantic plundering machines, start
ing with the great Havemeyer of the
Sugar Trust.
Amy more?"
81 haven't half finished. l need not
discuss the finn Tanning practiced
Inv 70
gan down. The Stock Exchange has
been used-abused, rather-as mon
ey-maling machine for insiders in
all sorts of corporations. The profits
f1lched by big bankers in question
able congratulations and the like have
made hundreds millionaires."
-
But are the little fellows always
honest?"
Certainly not The little bankers
have robbed the poor quite as sue
cessfully as the big ones did. You
have only to read the newspapers to
learn that"
You seem to be specially down on
bankers and financiers"
I'm not. Other classes are Just
as bad, if not worse The corner
grocer goes in for more cheating than
the big trust. So does the butcher,
the green grocer, the chemist and all
the lot of them. The record of short
weights is awful. The amount of
Impure food foisted upon the helpless
public is deplorable. And watered
milk has not been an unknown guam
tit Adulteration of every imag-
Unable kind has been practiced, as we
all know"
Have you not yet reached the end
Of the line?"
No; | haven't touched labor yet.
1T is as dishonest as the rest. Why,
some of the unions forbid their mem
hers to give a full days work, and
lhey Will stop at nothing to ruin en-
ployers and employees alike who will
not do their bidding. How many
workers delight to get the better of
Inc boss by not working when the
boss isn't around? And how many
OF those who have the chance accept
orlbes from all sorts of tradespeople
10 let them impose upon their en-
ployers? And did you ever stop to
think how many people would steal
ride on a street car if they could
get away with it? AS for swearing
or taxes-whee-y Our multi mil
lonaires set the example and others
follow suit. By reading the tax list