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The Commoner.
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ONE THING WHICH IS WORSE THAN CORRUPTION
DiLL-BMiC a coecerrad to he tie feasts
of tfc people of Uaited Stales, Bcyce, the
hfeiarfeiav eaergsd 7?itk " waa 6BT aad
eierasfea to aad abo eoadwst f pbBc al
feara a taeafifWIICT ti aWr ac3 sad
ftaer ;aoefiSilttfes of aasfoaal life." Aad
Dedby, aaotLer very fraalc critic, sJd: There
is however, ose tkfas which fe wors tana, aoc
ratdoe. it te aw!Bceie fe ajuaasfoa. No
festare of Ajaericaia We ssrffces a scra-ager so
yrKiMty a a cUraoctoaxr awitfieraace,
Mrttr eyotefew aasi partly good-asrtarev with.
Wfeiefc aotoriosM fraosss sad aotorioa orraocfea
fe tk sphere of poifucs are Tiewd by Amnios
public ptakxu"
Bowwer dSttaeSaed w ssay to acfcaowl
ede the crftidsaw a entirely deferred, we
caraaor. dear that we are at time prone to m-df-Serenee
as to the character of oar pcWfc see--reals
aad tie Bthode tfeey esapfoy fe 8e a
mtefetrasioa of pnbUe affairs.
In. oec faucssccs the charges assise e
several senators aad coBgressBaea. who tare been
indicted hare been saScieat to compel their re-tfa-eateat
from the comsaerdal coeeeras wita
which they were connected; yet it does ao
seem to bave occurred to them that they shoald
retara their oScfal conwaissfoos to the people.
Nor has any considerable demand for their resig
nations been made. Some win aadertake to ex
plain this on the theory that the people have
hecosae jite acenetooied to short-comings on the
pars of pebBc officials, and others may explain
it on the theory that, however guScy of. the things
charged acaJaat them the Burtons, the DepewS
aad the Mltchefe amy havebeea, their offenses
-were saafi compared wislx the offenses of many
other aaea who yet hold their heads high hi
society aad wield ondispGted sway In the cocfi
cfls of 20TeraEC. For instance, the Bwrtoas
aad HfceheHs were charged with: having appeared
before departmeafs of government as the repre
sestatives of private interests. Bot do we aoc
reasmber tats sereral of the most powerfa
United States seaafcors have been, pcbficly and
repeatedly eharged with representlag, en the
Scot of the seaase, great corporations? lies who
appear to be shocked at the discIoeres cc&cera
iae Caaaaeey M. Dpew seeraed not at all dis
tarbed when the Tanderbiit railroad Jnterects
bovgiit ior Depew a seaatorship- Nor have raea
seeawd serkxEly to be disturbed when in offeer
states great corporations have invaded the Icgfe
tetare and costroTied the action of that body in
the selection of United States senators or in the
epactmeat of laws.
It is true that far every instance where ex
posures of actaai bribery have been made the
people have becoae aroased and have given en
coaragenie&t to those pablic officials who ander
toofc to psish the wrong-doers, out is it not
strange that the people in every state do not
more carefally investigate the conditions in their
owr community, and before it is too late hold
their pnMic servants strictly to jwr
keep in check the' special interests wh.
sentatives woaH corrupt oSeiafe aed pt
public- ilen are all too apt to mefet apon
enforcement of the law against petty
sscii as Burton and Mitchell have:" she
. selves to be,, while ignormg the coadar
who do wrong on a mnch: larger sca
qcite a habit of some men, at a tsae w
lic interest has- been, greatly stirred. ,
great to-do over comparativeJy in.
wrongs in order to- win a repecaiSOa ar. !
able them to eonceal the greater wron?"
they have a deep and perhaps a per
terest. And while we bear a great 4ea:
ins r the short-coming3 of some hauHvid
holders, no considerable attention is bein .
the greater wrongs committed in the aa-
repnoucan party policies that threaten
of popular government as they, ht trr
the correctness of that form of governs --,
It s noticeable, also, that afehoczt -ance
company chiefs have confessed " t
instances of wrongdoing there is doc - -termined,
persistent demand for the per. j
of these wrongdoers which one wocld L
right to expect under the circumstaacw.
Do not the American people owe it :? :
selves to so insist upon the enforcec:--"
law and the maintenance of morals t ;
will avoid even the suspicion of r'i
quiescence which Lecky said is the or
worse than corruption.
j
3
TURN ON THE SEARCHLIGHT
George J. GocW, wielding the power be
queathed to him by his father In connection, with,
the Wabesh railroad, cansed to be removed from
the office of president, Joseph Bamsey, Jr. This
action by the Gould interests has cansed great
bitterness and 2n interesting fight is on. Mr.
Ramsey has made a public statement in which
be' says:
I had been railroading twenty-five years
before I met Mr. Gould. In 1001 I was elected
president of the Wabash. For eight years
J seemed to have Mr. Gould '3 full support
and friendship.
As to the differences between Mr. Gonld
and myself, they are exactly the same as are
now agitating the whole corporation world
and are being investigated in the great in
surance companies, namely:
Are corporations private Institutions to
be controlled as private property by a large
or controlling interest, or are they corporate
properties, to be managed and controlled in
the Interest of all stockholders? I will state
the whole proposition In a nutshell, and use
Mr. Gould's words in doing so:
"Ramsey, can't I spend my money and
manage my property as I please?" And my
reply, "Yes, Mr. Gould, you can spend your
money and manage your property as you
please, but this is the money and property
of a corporation, in which millions of other
people's money Is invested, and as its legal
head I must know something about and be
consulted with before such large contracts
are made by outsiders."
Doubtless there are many matters now faith
fully kept secret In corporation circles with which
the public bave the right to become acquainted.
11 the differences between Gould and Ramsey
are, as Mr. Ramsey says, "exactly the same as
are now agitating the whole corporation world
and are being investigated In the great infinrance
companies," then the public may be benefited by
the Gould-Ramsey fight, just as It was benefited
by the quarrel between Hyde and the opposition
in the Equitable management.
AVENUES OF USEFULNESS RAILROADING
With the extension of railroads there Is an
increasing demand for honest, intelligent, steady
and energetic young men for the train service.
It is a skilled labor that requires men of .strength,
quickness and judgment. The lives of millions
arc daily In the hands of the engineer, conductor
and switchmen, and the higher the grade of men
in charge the safer the traveling public. It Is
a servlco in which good habits and good charao
ter count. A dissipated man can ride on a train
but he car not run a train.
Tho various organizations of train men have
dpne much to improve the service and to raise
the standing of the crews. With, the growth, of
interurban lines a new field has opened up be
fore those seeking honorable and remunerative
employment and the city traction lines still fur
ther enlarge the demand for reliable and com
petent young men.
With the extension of public ownership to
li-Fs-e natural rnxjpo1is the rei-5 and condi
tions of the service will lie improved and the
work made more inviting. The grear army cf
men. now employed in steam and electric transportation-
contains some of the very best and
bravest of our citizens, and any parent may well
prefer his son engaged in such wont rather than
an idle consumer of what worthier men. produce.
JJJ
THE CHEW RESOLUTION
When Rev. John M. Chew Introduced to the
New York diocesan convention a resolution con
demning the insurance frauds, Bishop Potter
plainly showed his disapprovaL Later, In ex
plaining his position Bishop Potter said:
"I believe in waiting for results, not in
jumping to conclusions before the evidence
is all In. What would you think of a judge
who would render a .decision in a case before
the case had been submitted to a jury or
sentence a man before the jury had rendered
a verdict? People are so prone to be carried
away by what comes out in print when an
Investigation such as this is being conducted.
They say things and think things and finally
arrive at a conclusion oftentimes far from
being the right one."
But what would Bishop Potter think of a
jury that would fail to return a verdict of guilty
on .the testimony already presented? Upon the
statements made by the Insurance magnates
themselves a verdict of guilty from a jury would
be justified and those statements, entirely apart
from other testimony In abundance warrant con
demnation by public opinion. Take, for instance,
the case of John A. McCall. McCall's confession
is summed up "by the New York World in this
way:
"He has testified that the public state
ments of the New York Life are false. It
is a crime for a life insurance company to
Issue false statements. He has testified
that money was paid to prevent the passage
of undesired legislation. It is a crime to
bribe public officials. He has testified that
the old policyholders' money was taken to
pay the cost of obtaining new policies. That
is larceny. He has testified that the books
of account were cooked. That Is forgery."
The World might have added that in reply
to Governor Culberson's communication Presi
dent McCall caused several of his subordinates
to make affidavit that the New York Life had
not contributed money to the republican cam
paign fund in 1S9S, and then as a witness ---':re
the insurance committee Presicent ICcCil" :r
fessed that his company had contribnted $"
to that campaign fund.
Mr. Chew's resolution declared: Tha z '1
ent for high finance, no useful service to - cct
munity, no benefaction to the church or : ::
jects of philanthropy, can excuse or acn- i ?
dereliction in trust, contempt for the r.zz's cf
others or disregard of the rules of trmzzz
honesty."
That resolution did not even receive a -zir
while Bishop Potter, presiding, showed rti' z
was hostile to IL "The Churchman" coazz-z' zz
upon the action, or non-action, of the cocvica
says: "We cannot believe that either '- con
vention or tiffed bishop 7as conscious of ? a
titude in which the church in New York wcild te
placed by sucH action."
JJJ
CUSTODIAN PERKINS
George W. Perkins, vice president of the N"r"v
York Life Insurance company and also a mmber
of the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co.. sne
some interesting testimony before the New Ycri
legislative committee. This testimony mav cc
vince the "doubting Thomas" why Mr. Percas
was so anxious to preserve "the national bocor
and protect "the business interests" in tfce cam
paign of 1896.
Evidently Mr. PerMns has some very P'i
liar ideas as to morality, and it may be tha' fte
who questioned his right to pose as the custodian
of the national conscience were not able ro rise
to the eminence of bis moral creed.
On December 31, 1903, the insurance -tinu-ner
was about to investigate the affairs cf 'he
New York Life. It wa3 said that the New Yrfc
Life held altogether too large an amouc cf 'he
Mercantile narine Securities, and so on IVc
ber 31, 1903, Mr. Perkins, as vice preb!i-ct of
the New York Life, sold to Mr. Perkins, a mem
ber of the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co.
$800,000 of these securities. Two days lafe- ar'er
the insurance examiner departed, Mr. Pens. ot
J, P. Morgan St Co., resold these spcur4;:
to Mr. Perkins, vice president of the Nw or
Life Insurance company. Can any one do"'-' tnat
the "national honor" is entirely safe in the hanJs
of a man capable of such a transaction?
At one time the New York Life Insurance
company reDresented in the transaction W"
George W. Perkins sold securities to Geonre
Perkins, and then renurchased the same se-r "J
at a loss to the insurance company of SN M
Who will doubt that a man capable of s-:;n a
transaction is the proper -ustodian of the na'iona
conscience?
The government's "conscience fund i
growing. A well patronized "conscience v: -1
insurance circles would soon look like .1 -
tain of money.
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