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The Commoner.
r ( ,. i WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
Vol. 5. No. 26
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Lincoln, Nebraska, July 14, 1905
Whole Number 234
CONTENTS
Ethics in High Finance
A Deserved Rebuke
Good Joke on the Peesident of Tale
The Coming Deluge op Gold
The Roosevelt Stamp Not Sufficient
Work of Democratic Editors
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Helping Along a Good Work
Comment on Current JLopics
The Primary Pledge
News of the Week
A DESERVED REBUKE n
The rebuke administered to Chief Engineer
"Wallace by Secretary Taft was fully deserve!.
Mr. Wallace applied for the position; he was
thca earning $15,000 a year and asked that his
salary be fixed at $25,0 in view of the fact that
he had to reside on the isthmus. The govern
ment complied with his request and he went to
work. But beforo ho had time to more than
acquaint himself with his duties he received an
offer from a New York corporation accompanied
by an advance in salary. Without stopping to
consider his obligation to the government or the
embr.rrassment which his resignation would cause,
he immediately obtained permicsion to return to
Nerr York on "important personal business."
Wn he arrived he laid the matter before Sec
retary Taft and stated that he felt that his own
financial interests demanded that he resign. Sec
retary Taft was so indignant at the purely mer-.
cenary view that Wallace took of t' 3 subject that
he demanded his immediate resignation.
The secretary was right. A public official
vtYo at" a critical time withdraws from a public
work merely because he can make more monoy
elsewhere is not fit to be an official. Mr. Wallace
iray accumulate more wealth in his new posi
tion (although he was drawing from the govern
ment half as large a salary as the president, and
three times as much as members of the cabinet)
but he will never wipe out the stain that his
greed has put upon his good name. Even if he
had no sense of honor, one might expect him to
show some gratitude for the raise from $15,000 to
$25,000, but he seems to have thought of nothing
but money. Good riddance, and may the admin
istration find a man instead of a gold worshipper
to take his place.
And, speaking of resignations, why could not
the trans-continental roads postpone indefinitely
the building of the canal by bribing the canal
officials with higher salaries? It was the railroad
influence, led by, Senator Hanna, that substituted
the Panama route for the Nicaragua route
and it was suspected at the time
that the chief reason was that the voyage
from New York to San Francises was 1,200 miles
longer by way of Panama.' Now, if these same
influences can take away the experts employed
to conduct the work they can keep up trans
continental rates. It would be well for the presi
dent to examine into the antecedents and corpor
ate connections of those who apply for responsible
positions in the construction department of the
canal enterprise
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' THE MAM WHO PAY5THC 0ias;
ETHICS IN HIGH FINANCE
The investigations and exposures of the last
few yearn have enabled the public to take a meas
ure of the ethics of high finance. In 189G it was
assumed by the "sound money" advocates that a
great financier was the very embodiment of
patriotism, honor and business integrity, but this
idol has been widely shattered. First came the
shipbuilding trust investigation. That showed
that a number of money magnates formed a con
spiracy to deceive the public and that a few of
the conspirators formed an inner circle conspir
acy to take advantage of the rest of the con
spirators. Then came the Munroe & Munroe in
vestigation. That showed that the second vice
president of the largest bank in the United States
was in a syndicate formed to fleece the public
through "wash-sales." Then Lawson came for
ward with his story implicating the president of
the largest bank and leading spirit of the Stand
ard Oil trust In a gigantic fraud. Following this
the Equitable squabble brings ' light a riot of
criminal misuse of trust funds which has start
led the country. And during this period of in
vestigation Miss Tarbell has given us a history
of the lawlessness of the oil trust, Mr. Russell
has shown up the methods of the beef trust,
and the interstate commerce commission has
revealed the rebate practices of the railroads.
Here we have bankers, railroad magnates, pro
moters, manufacturers and speculators all vieing
with each other in the use of methods which
offend against both statute and moral law. What
shall we say of the business ethics of these men
who are actually engaged in exploitation or who
lend their names to exploiters and draw salaries
for doing nothing? When one Is condemned his
defense !a that "others do the same" a defense
offered by the president for not punishing one
of his cabinet. Larceny is a comprehensive term
and it applies as much to the respectable thief
who steals a largo amount by indirection as it
does to a professional pickpocket who pilfers on,
a small scale.
Cf all the rascality recently exposed noth'
ing surpasses the conscienceless transactions of
those who were in charge of the Equitable.
Scarcely a day passes but some new form of cm
bezzlement is announced. One day we learn that
a coterie of directors made thousands of dollars
by selling bonds to the company sold to them
selves. This vas in violation of the law, and
they arc now returning the money. The next
day we learn of pensions and salaries that repre
s !2d no service. Then we find that the officlala
raised their own salaries to enormous flgusff
and taxed their personal expenses to the com
pany. What is this but larceny? And now Mr.'
Morton announces a reform, and what Is It?
That directors will no longer be paid $25 per day;
when they do not attend. It seems that till
dummy directors who did nothing when present
but approve of reports which they did not ex
amine, were drawing $25 a day whether preset,
or not. What shall we say of a lot of eminent
business men who thus enriched themselves oUo
of trust funds, supposed to be held sacred fo?
widow and children.
The tbimbieriggero at a street fair are em
gaged in more honorable business for they cheai
those who are foolish enough to risk their mone
on a game known to be dishonest, but thesef
thirablerJggers of high finance rob the helplestj
and the dependents under the guise of doing
an honest business. The directors vho knew whafi
was going on shared in the imes committed
against policy holders the directors who did uot
know what was going on were scarcely less crim
inal because they were sleeping sentinels whose
watchful eyes would have saved the policy
holders.
It is time to establish a higher ethical stand
ard among our financier.
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