«4 



TUK HARDWOOD RECORD. 



Inrcoly to a loss of vltiUHy **''' 



liot wt'iUlicr. I Ih'IIovc I'll conic liiu-k (o 



it when frost coiucs. 



I Imvo ht'Ul Drinl.v to tlu< lit'liof tliiit in 

 llio Ions rnn timt wliidi is right pn-viills 

 iinil tlint tlioro is no prolit In evil-iliiin):' 

 I slumlil say. In Justlif to ni.vsvlf. that 

 ortlinarily 1 am vi-ry .staunch In tills bt'llef, 

 :iml it I tlo not at all tinios live ti|> to it. it 

 is lioi-auso or the wi-aknoss of llio lli'sli 

 nnU not from any lack of conviction. Knt 

 even on this matter I have l)ocn groiiiii;; 

 al)oiit in the slouch of uncortalnty for a 

 week or ten days. 1 Itelievc I'll et>nie 

 nroiinil all rislit In a short time, thounh. 

 ns liefoiv statetl. I've been this way l>e- 

 .forv and h:ive pnlletl through without elo- 



ing anything very desiM-rate. 



• • • 



I have held, as stated above, lirnily to 

 Die belief that in the end the right pre- 

 vails, and that there Is no profit in evil- 

 doing, but I have been reading the history 

 of the Standard Dil Company, as pub- 

 lishe<l in Mel "lure's Magazine, and if ever 

 there was an institution erected upon in- 

 justice, bribery and strong-arm methods 

 generally, the Standard Oil Company is 

 "it." The whole history of this corpora- 

 tion is but a record of competition lulled 

 into security by solemn pledges, which 

 later were deliberately broken, and which, 

 indeed, were apparentl.v made with the 

 intent to deceive: of railroads bribed and 

 legislatures intimidated. 



And yet the Standard Oil Company has 

 •prospered and prospered amazingly; and 

 to-day, in spite of the fact that their dis- 

 lionest and vicious practices are well 

 known, there seems no flaw in their pros- 

 perity and it furnishes the rising genera- 

 tion with an eloquent object lesson upon 

 the profits, the results, tlie position and 

 consideration to be secured by dishonesty, 

 trickery and downright thievery, when 

 carried on by men of tirst-class ability. 



And here we have the Chicago I'ni- 

 versity, a magnificent institution erected 

 by a small portion of the ill-got gains, an 

 institution which no young man or young 

 woman can attend without having it 

 forced upon tlieir minds that theivery and 

 ■oppression and extortion pays. And John 

 D. Rockefeller, Jr., the heir to all the ill- 

 got millions, is a leading light in church 

 and Sunday School work; a brazen, shame- 

 less, but generally honored, advocate of 

 tl»e pure and beautiful doctrines of the 

 Christian religion. 



These things look wrong to me at pres- 

 ent, but I expect it is the hot weather. Of 

 course they would look wrong to me at 

 any time, but I believe I would not lie dis- 

 couraged over the outlook were it not the 



summer season. 



* * * 



Another thing which I have been follow- 

 ing in a magazine is the series of articles 

 ■which Lewis Steffens is writing upon mu- 

 nicipal corruption in a number of our 

 large cities. I don't see what a magazine 

 •■wants to publish such stuff in hot weather 



iiake a man uneasy and upxet nil 



his theories. 



For the condltion.s rcveaUHl in those arti- 

 cles are something almost unbelievable. 

 .Vnd that the statements made are true is 

 beyonil ((uestion, for the magazine Is u 

 great and wealthy institution, thoroughly 

 lesponsible for its statements, and which 

 ctuilil be made to ])ay severely for publish- 

 ing an untruth. Itut no denial has been 

 made or even attempted. 



Of coiu'se we have all known, all the 

 time, that there was more or less "funny 

 b\isincss" in the management of city gov- 

 ernments, but that conditions are as bad 

 as Ihcy are, that the thieves divide, in 

 many cases, their profits with the police, 

 and that there is a regularly organized 

 system for making the division — a system 

 having the approval and sanction of men 

 standing liigh in the community; that a 

 miserable tribute is collected from the 

 lowest forms of vice to line the pockets 

 of the dishonest and disreputable crea- 

 tures who rule us; that boodling is carried 

 on so openly and brazenly by men pur- 

 ported to be clean Christian gentlemen; 

 that the votes the people cast are handled 

 so that they had as well not be cast; that 

 the people are robbed and betrayed, openly 

 and boldly, and arc jeered at for their 

 helplessness — all that was news to me — 

 and that's a fact. 



And those engaged in this work seem 

 strong enough to carry it right along. The 

 people get aroused for a time and make 

 an awful row. When they are in this 

 humor the "grafters" simmer down. But 

 the people got busy in a little while and 

 forget — and then the grafting is resinned 

 just where it was dropped and goes mer- 

 rily on. 



And to the man who believes that in the 

 end the right prevails and that there is no 

 profit in evil-doing, these things are, to 

 say the least, disconcerting. 

 * * * 



\nd with such object lessons of the suc- 

 cess which can be made to attend the 

 violation of all laws both human and 

 divine, and the exemption which the 

 rogues enjoy — nay, more the honor and 

 esteem in which many are held — who is 

 to wonder at tlie contempt for the law 

 which is growing up all about us? What 

 is there in present conditions to instill into 

 the heart of the young man that whole- 

 some reverence for the laws and respect 

 lor those who make, interpret and enforce 

 them — which is so essential to the wel- 

 fare of a nation? 



The young man grooving up to-day 

 knows that many of the laws under which 

 he lives and moves and has his being are 

 evil laws, laws that were bought and paid 

 for with unclean money, and that those 

 who enforce the laws are venal and low — 

 tmutterably low. 



And the question occurs to nio — nay, it 

 weighs upon me and presses me down this 

 hot weather — whether, along with the 



iitomic thi'ory and the theory of gravita- 

 tion and riibrr old-faKhloncd Ihenrles, the 

 theory of the ultimate triumph of the 

 right anil the ultimate confusion of the 

 wicked Is not proven wrong? 



♦ • • 



And. of course, you know I «lon't mean 

 any of It. Not r<-ally. you know. It's the 

 hot wcalhcr more than anything else. For 

 allhonuli man's laws may b<* bought anil 

 sold, t lull's laws ma.v not, and (lod's laws 

 are above the laws of man. The wickeil 

 may triumph for awhile, but In the end 

 they will be overthrown. 



The |ioint that a goiHl many miss is that 

 CihI's law deals with conditions, taking 

 slight iirioiuit of individuals, save in the 

 mass. 1 lemcmber when I was a boy and 

 heard for the lirst time that the "sins of 

 the parents shall be visited upon the chil- 

 dren." it seemed unfair to inc. I5ut such 

 is tlk' law. as we all know. 



A wii-kcd man may, by pin-sulng a dis- 

 honest system, prosper exceedingly and 

 may even live his whole life and die in the 

 midst of his prosperity. But In the end 

 the dishonest system will fail and Its 

 fruits be wasted. Nothing is more certain 

 than that. 



Kockefeller may live his life out and go 

 to his grave with all his schemes prosper- 

 ing; but though he leave all his millions 

 for the purpose of building up the Chicago 

 University, they will not be enough to 

 make it a great and permanently success- 

 ful institution. 



For in the end the law of justice and 

 right must have its way. Law is the force 

 which holds a nation together; and when 

 a nation loses its regard for the law, as 

 this nation is doing, and attempts to pros- 

 per lawlessly, it must either reform itself 

 or pass away. That is one of God's laws, 

 vindicated in the history of all nations. 



And this country will reform itself. It 

 is too young and strong and virile a 

 nation to perish in a sea of lawlessness. 

 And when it sees that it must return to 

 live by the law, or perish, it will return. 

 For no nation can live that does not ven- 

 erate law. 



And when the people return to a proper 

 respect for law and justice and right, tlie 

 Chicago T'niversity will fail, and all the 

 Uockefeller millions will not avail to save 

 it. And I do not care how much business 

 ability be expended in guiding its course — 

 it will fail just the same. For the first 

 lesson it teaches is that if the university 

 succeeds tliiever.v, injustice and rascality 

 can be made permanently successful. And 

 when the people have reformed themselves 

 they will not want .their young men to 

 receive such a lesson. Rather they will 

 want them taught that thievery, injustice 

 and rascality can produce nothing good. 

 And the blight of ill-got money will have 

 to be removed from the university if it is 

 to live — and that seems impossible. 



• * « 



A breeze from the lake has sprung up 



