The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-05-15
A Message to Owen D. Young

business Is jealous OF lCS good name,
insists upon protecting its professional status by
maintenance of the highest standards, and intends
scrupuously to discharge its collective responsibilities
Chief among such responsibilities is that of purg-
ing business Of all those who indulge in commercial
and political corruption and through resort to I'M
clean unworthy practices bring business into dis
repute and shock the sensibities of all decent citi
zens"
The above Is from resolutions adopted by the
Chamber Of Commerce of the United States.
Presiding at The meeting was owen D. Young,
chairman of the board of the General Electric Com
pany.
Now it chances that of all men engaged in the
electrical industry in this country Owen D. Young
is the most influential And with the general public
he bears the reputation of being personal exempli-
fcation of the spirit of the resolution quoted.
He symboizes the new business philosophy that
is the antithesis of the old bedamned system of deal
ing with the public.
1t is therefore fitting that this particular message
should be directed to him.
The so-called power trust is under investigation
1t has been revealed that certain utility organi-
cations have been engaged in altogether indefensi
bic invasion of the public schools and colleges and uni
versities; that teachers and textbook authors have
been subsidized; that attempts have been made to
start courses in colleges the purpose of which was
teach at public expense and under the guse of legti
mate education the gories of private and the dangers
of public ownership.
Education is a seeking after truth 1t can have
relationship with subsidized special pleading
and be education. Such attempts as have been made
to camoufage, in the name of education propaganda
for one side in great controversy do not, to put
YoiId1v foil yit tba of hue
conduct.
On the contrary they most fittingy be charac-
terized by the language of the Chamber of Commerce
resolution as "unclean and unworthy practices"
A condition therefore has arisen almost simulta-
neously with the declaration of principles that gives
opportunity for the application thereof-and by
best qualified to speak.
Occupying as he does position Of such great in
fluence in the electrical industry, and having been
chairman of the organization which issued the creed
Owen D. Young now should act in a way that can and
will stop these furtive practices in insidous propa
ganda.
AS John D. Rockefeller Jr. stepped into the oil
situation, Young should address the black sheep
among the utilities. BY doing he will prove that
the resolutions were something more than mere
words; that those who proclaim the new creed of
industrial righteousness intend to practice what they
preach.
Oil has poisoned politics Power must not be per-
mitted to pollute education.
No other industry has such great present and
potential influence on the lives and comfort of human
beings as has power
The question of private or public ownership is
complicated one 1t is debatabe one. If the advo-
Gates OF private ownership can prove their side of the
case to be best, they entitled to win If they
cannot, they should lose.
But the contest should be in the OPEN The cards
should be on the top of the table. There should be
no dealing from the bottom. And that is what has
been going on.