The Alaska citizen., 1914-05-11
Phone 262 Phone
ERWiN'S ETHICS.

But few men nowadays can hold responsible public positions unless they are honest in their private dealings. Occasionally. however, some smooth politician steals into an of flee through political misrepGeseuta- tion. in spite of the fact that he cannot command the respect Of his business associates.
 Thus, it is to be expected that L. T. Erwin, United States mars. aI ID Fairbanks. would be Ill danger oI losing his job if the bit Of court eFt dence as published in The Citizen week ago. in which il is proved that Erwin does not pay his honest debts. were made known 10 the de partment of justice in Washington
 In Erwins case. the failure to pay his honest debt to the bank is made more serious from the fact that it is the deposItors of the de funct Washington-Alaska bank, many of whom are widows and people ill poor circumstances, who are the losers. There is nothing 10 show in the court records that the debt was not a moral as well as a leaai obligation on the part of the man who has been entrusted with one of the most responsible federal posi- tions in Alaska.
 It is not the desire of The Citi- zen to dig up the ques lionable his tory of Marshal Erwin, for the oP- position of this paper to the mar shal is of a political nature. buI ja the case of the bank debt there ,5 phase in which the public is muck more interested than i'll Egwin's moral standing. The Citizen believes that Erwin should be forced to pay his debt to the bank.
 In the evidence before the cour, the suggestion was made that ET- win has turned his property over to his wife in order to prevent
 
 debts from him. The Citizen is not prepared at the present tiWe to say if that is really the ease, but it is quite cert in that a man who can pay his moral debts and fails to do so is not any too honorable to resort to the trick of transfer ring title to his property to outWit his creditors
 There are few responsible buzi ness firms today who will retain ;,n employe who does 10; pay h's honest debts, for they find that such man cannot be trusted The gov ernment of the United States IS no exception to this rule, for one of the necessary qualifications for an employee is a record for person al honesty
 With men who obtain their posi- tions through political favor, due to their ability to get the support ot influential men, there is always chance for their dishonest tendencies to be hidden from official view As for Erwin, he gained his appoint ment through the peculiar workings of the political machine. of which he is a tool It would be safe to bet that Erwin would never have been made United States marshal if the department of justice had known that he fails to pay his hon est debts, and also that in a politi- cal way he had dishonesty profes- sed friendship for the Wilson ad- ministration against which he made such hard fight in the convention at Baltimore.
 There are 1,500 depositors who lost their savings in the wrecking of the Washington-Al Alaska bank, and investigation has proved that a very large part of them are people who are now in need of financial assis- tance. There are some dishonest men, who have humanity enough to prompt them to pay people who are really needy while they dodge wealthy creditors. It seems that Erwin does not belong to that class, and that it makes no difference to him how much in need the deposi- tors of the bank may be for the money of which they have been robbed. In an ethical way, man who refuses to pay an honest debt for the benefit of the needy poor is as contemptible as are the bank wreckers.
 In, of thiS lack of narSnnal