,,morals ,,in ,,trade ,,and ,,commerce  
,a ,,lecture ,,by ,,frank ,b4 ,,anderson
  ,president of ,the ,bank of           
,california ,national ,association      
,,delivered ,,before ,,the ,,students   
,,of ,,the ,,university ,,of            
,,california ,,berkeley ,february #aeth1
 #aiaa   ,under the ,barbara ,weinstock 
,foundation     ,,morals ,,in ,,trade   
,,and ,,commerce   ,the most beautiful  
thing about youth is its power and      
eagerness to make ideals1 and he is     
unfortunate who goes out into the world 
without some picture of services to be  
rendered1 or of a goal to be attained4  
,there are very few of us who1 at some  
time or another1 have not cherished     
these ideals1 perhaps secretly and half 
ashamed as though to us alone had come  
an inspiration of a career that should  
touch the pulses of the world and leave 
it better than we found it4 ,and in the 
making of youthful ideals we have       
changed very little with the passage of 
the centuries4 ,the character of the    

ideals has changed with changing needs1 
but not we ourselves4 ,our young men    
still see visions2 they still fill the  
future with conflict and with struggle  
and prospectively live out their lives  
with the crown of achievement in the    
distance4 ,it is well that it should be 
so4 ,the ideals of our youth are the    
motive-power of our lives1 and even     
those of us who have lived far into the 
eras of disappointment would not        
willingly wipe from our memories even   
the most extravagant day dreams from    
which we drew energy and hope and       
fortitude and self-reliance4  ,if ideals
 have such a power over our lives1 if   
they energize and direct our first entry
 into the world of affairs--as          
unquestionably they do--they must be    
counted among the real forces of the day
 and as such they are as much a matter  
for our scrutiny and control as         
educational development or physical     
perfection4 ,not1 perhaps1 in the same  
way1 for our ideals belong to that      

private domain wherein we rightly resent
 either dictation or authority from the 
outside4 ,but we can apply both         
dictation and authority for ourselves4  
,with a firm determination to be upon   
the right side of the great issues of   
the day1 to uphold honor and justice in 
public affairs1 to uproot the tares and 
to sow the wheat in the domain of       
national business1 we can apply our     
whole mental strength to a proper       
determination of those issues1 to a     
correct distribution of praise and      
blame1 to a careful adjustment of the   
means to the end and to a precise       
appreciation of the facts4 ,we can      
satisfy ourselves that we have heard    
both sides and that enthusiasm has not  
deadened our ears to all appeals but the
 most noisy4 ,we can see to it that our 
attitude is the judicial one and that   
our minds are so fixed upon the truth   
and upon the whole truth that there is  
no room for prejudice or for passion4   
,all these things can be reared as a    

superstructure upon the groundwork of   
lofty ideals1 for just as there can be  
no progress without ideals so there can 
come nothing but calamity from ideals   
that are not guided by reflection and by
 knowledge4  ,never before has it been  
so hard to know the facts as it is      
to-day4 ,if we must give credit to the  
press for the diffusion of knowledge so 
also must we recognize its equal power  
to diffuse prejudice and bias4 ,the     
newspaper and the magazine of to-day are
 vast and intricate machines that supply
 the great majority of us with          
practically all the data upon which we  
base our judgments4 ,the public mind and
 the popular press act and react upon   
one another1 the press setting its sails
 to catch every wind of public interest 
and the public upon its part demanding  
to be supplied with all those           
departments of news to which at the     
moment it is specially attracted4       
,commercialism and competition have     
barred a large part of the press from   

its rightful office as leader and molder
 of opinion and have reduced it to the  
position of a clamorous applicant for   
public favor4 ,the press1 like          
everything else1 is ruled by majorities1
 and in order to live it must cater to  
the weaknesses of popular majorities1 it
 must reflect their prejudices1 it must 
sustain their ill-formed judgments1 and 
it must so sift and winnow the news of  
the day that the whims and the passions 
of the day shall be sustained4 ,there   
are some newspapers and magazines that  
are honorably willing to represent only 
ripe thought and unbiased judgments1 but
 they are not in the majority4  ,what   
verdict would the historian of the      
future pass upon the civilization of    
to-day if he were restricted to the     
files of our newspapers for his         
material4 ,it must be confessed that we 
of to-day1 in the hurry and tension of  
modern life1 are hardly in a better     
position4 ,whatever we may suppose to be
 our attitude toward the press1 with    

whatever scorn we may regard its baser  
features1 it has an effect upon our     
minds far greater than we suppose4 ,it  
is the steady drip of the water upon the
 stone that wears it away4 ,it is the   
steady presentation of one aspect of    
human life1 and that the lowest1 that   
slowly jaundices our view and that      
produces either a rank pessimism or else
 an indignation against evil so strong  
as to efface judgment and to paralyze   
reason4 ,day after day we see human     
nature presented in its worst aspects   
and only in its worst aspects4 ,we see  
fraud1 cupidity1 tyranny1 and violence  
paraded before us as being almost the   
only activities worth reporting4        
,dishonesty is offered to us as the     
prevailing rule of life1 and we are     
asked to believe that the spirit of     
commercial oppression has allied itself 
with the machinery of government for the
 oppression of a nation4 ,it is a dreary
 picture1 a picture that1 if faithfully 
drawn1 would justify almost any remedial

 measures within human power1 a picture 
that by the skill of its presentation   
arrests attention and almost compels    
belief4  ,that we so seldom compare the 
picture with the original is one of the 
anomalies of modern life4 ,and yet the  
original is before us and around us all 
the time1 inviting us to notice that it 
is only the exceptional that is         
reproduced with attractive skill and    
that it is only the abnormal that is    
emphasized with adroit arrangements of  
line and color4 ,day after day we read  
of the sensational divorce cases1 but   
there is not one line of the tens of    
thousands of happy marriages upon which 
no cloud of discord ever falls4 ,day    
after day we read of the scandals of    
municipal government1 but how often do  
we remember the great army of municipal 
officials who do their whole duty       
devotedly1 courageously1 unselfishly8   
,day after day we hear of corporation   
tyranny1 corporation lawlessness1 or    
corporation greed1 but what recognition 

do we give to corporations that obey the
 laws1 whose operations are above       
censure and who add immeasurably to the 
wealth of the country and to the        
prosperity of every citizen in it8 ,with
 this constant presentation of          
depravity1 this incessant harping upon  
the one string of human dishonesty1 what
 wonder that our visions should be      
distorted or that we should exclude from
 our horizon almost everything but the  
sinister features of modern life4 ,what 
wonder that the young men and women     
should look at the career before them   
through an all-pervading fog of         
suspicion or that the days ahead of them
 should seem to be filled with the      
struggle against a universal dishonesty4
  ,it is from such illusions as this    
that we must free our ideals if we would
 do effective work for the world and for
 ourselves4 ,there are real enemies     
enough without erecting imaginary       
windmills to tilt against4 ,frauds1     
depravities1 tragedies surely await us1 

now as ever1 but we shall be doubly     
armed against them if we look upon them 
as the exceptions and not the rule and  
if we draw strength from the great      
background of human virtue and honesty4 
,and there is such a background1        
unchanging1 resistant1 resolute1 even   
though the limelight of publicity be    
persistently directed upon the few      
sinister figures on the front of the    
stage4 ,we cannot afford to lose our    
faith in human nature1 we cannot afford 
to shut out the greater and the best    
part of life or to gaze so persistently 
upon the abnormal that we can no longer 
see the normal and the ordinary4 ,let us
 cultivate our sense of ethical values  
and of ethical perspective rather than  
to crouch behind a shrub until it looks 
like a forest4  ,we are indebted to our 
commercialized newspapers and magazines 
for our distorted views of human life   
and for the cynicism that it is the     
momentary fashion to affect1 but that is
 always disfiguring to the mind that    

harbors it4 ,certainly we can get no    
such views and no such cynicism from our
 own experience or from personal        
knowledge of the men and women who      
surround us4 ,honesty is a more familiar
 sight than dishonesty4 ,all the common 
and familiar processes of our daily life
 are based upon an expectation of       
honesty1 and if you will stop to        
consider for a moment you will see that 
those processes could not go on without 
that expectation4 ,and how seldom is it 
falsified4 ,sometimes of course there   
comes the jar of disappointment1 but the
 fact that there is a jar shows that it 
is the exception and not the rule4      
,however much we may talk of guarantees 
and safeguards and securities1 however  
much we may talk of a business method or
 instinct that takes nothing for        
granted1 it remains a self-evident fact 
that we must take human honesty for     
granted1 that we must assume that the   
man with whom we do business intends to 
do it rightly and honorably1 that he is 

actuated by a settled principle of fair 
conduct that will work automatically1   
and that without this automatically     
working standard of behavior all our    
guarantees and safeguards and securities
 would really have very little value4   
,it is the universal expectation of fair
 dealing that makes business possible   
and1 in fact1 it is this universal      
expectation of good behavior that makes 
its breach sufficiently novel to be     
reported in the newspapers4 ,if fraud   
and chicanery and violence were the     
order of the day1 they would have no    
value as news4 ,after twenty-nine years 
of dealing with human nature in a       
business where it is seen at its        
extremes--at its best and at its        
worst--,i believe that the great        
majority of men and women in business   
are honest and ,i am certain that if    
this were not so1 it would be impossible
 to carry on business4 ,take the        
statistics of the credit insurance      
business1 a business that may be said to

 be based upon an assumption of human   
honesty2 examine the statistics of the  
losses made in business and you will    
find that these are but a small fraction
 of the total amount involved and even  
this small proportion is chiefly due to 
errors of judgment or to causes in which
 dishonesty plays no part4 ,ask any     
banker how much he relies upon human    
honesty as an indispensable background  
to the ordinary precautions and         
safeguards of his business4 ,ask him    
what is his attitude toward a client    
whom he detects in a lie or in sharp    
practice1 and he will tell you that he  
has no use for such a man4 ,he would    
rather be without his business and free 
from all contact with those whose       
natural and innate sense of honesty is  
lacking4 ,go wherever you like1 and you 
will find the same expectation1 the same
 assumption of honesty4 ,you will find  
that no business can be carried on      
without it4 ,whatever high and honorable
 ideals you may have formed you need    

have no apprehension that they will be  
scorned in the business world or that   
you will have to put them away to win   
success4 ,it is in the business world   
that they will be valued1 and even the  
mental equipment that you are now       
seeking will be less important to you1 a
 lesser guarantee of success than your  
sense of honor and truth and probity4   
,when you reach the business world--and 
many of you perhaps will go into the    
great corporations that are now         
ceaselessly paraded before you as wolves
 and as public enemies--you will find   
there the same kind of human nature that
 you find here in college1 the same     
estimation of probity and of fair       
dealing4 ,if you do mean or underhand   
things1 you will find that they are     
branded in the same way there as here4  
,you will find that manliness and       
integrity are the rule and not the      
exception1 and ,i will venture upon the 
prediction that when the time comes for 
you to look back upon your career you   

will see that there has been a steady   
improvement all along the line1 just as 
those who are already able to look      
backward find that there has been an    
improvement since their own college     
days4 ,but that will rest with          
yourselves1 for the future is in your   
own hands4 ,it is for you1 gentlemen1 to
 see that moral and ethical progress is 
unbroken4  ,now let me say a word about 
the corporations of which we hear so    
much in the newspapers and magazines and
 that are so persistently represented as
 enemies of the community and as        
vampires that are sucking the life-blood
 of the nation4 ,i think there may be   
plenty of room here for clarification of
 our views1 and1 indeed1 we should all  
be better for it if we could give more  
precision to our thinking and free      
ourselves from the imputations that have
 been allowed to cluster around certain 
terms4 ,you may be sure that ,i am under
 no inclination to defend criminality or
 wrong-doing or to deny their existence 

wherever they are actually to be found4 
,there are criminal corporations just as
 there are criminal doctors1 and        
lawyers1 and clergymen4 ,wherever men   
are gathered together there you will    
find a certain number who are disposed  
to seek their personal advantage in     
reprehensible ways1 but because some    
doctors and some lawyers and some       
clergymen are criminals we do not attach
 an imputation to their respective      
professions4 ,we are content to say that
 there are black sheep in every flock   
and so pass on4 ,but the newspapers and 
the magazines have seen fit to          
concentrate their attention upon the    
criminal or the illegal acts of certain 
individuals who belong to corporations  
and to explain those acts in a manner   
which often leads their readers to      
assume that the acts are an essential   
part of corporation business4 ,as a     
result1 the very word corporation has   
taken on a sinister meaning1 and we are 
asked to look upon the corporations very

 much as the ,rhine peasants used to    
look upon the robber barons who were    
accustomed to swoop down upon them and  
carry off their flocks4 ,a corporation  
is absolutely nothing more than a       
partnership of individuals who prefer to
 do business under certain regulations  
imposed by the government4 ,there is no 
difference between the corporate and the
 individual ways of doing business      
except a piece of stamped paper issued  
by the ,secretary of ,state4 ,the       
corporation is made up of individuals   
who have just the same ideas of honor as
 you have yourselves1 who have just as  
much integrity1 just as great a love of 
fair play4 ,a man does not change his   
nature just because he turns his        
business into a corporation any more    
than he changes his nature because he   
moves from one street to another or from
 the first floor to the second4 ,a      
corporation then is a combination of men
 that has been formed under the sanction
 of law to carry out certain projects   

that it would be difficult or even      
impossible to carry out in any other    
way4 ,the men forming those corporations
 are just such men as we meet in daily  
life1 no better and no worse1 and       
therefore with all those normal         
inclinations toward honesty that we are 
conscious of possessing ourselves and   
that we are in the habit of finding in  
others4 ,the fact that these men have   
formed themselves into a corporation is 
no more significant of evil than a      
combination or a partnership among      
doctors or laborers4 ,it is a part of   
the spirit of the age1 an age that is   
called upon to do great things1 to      
develop vast natural resources1 to feed 
and clothe great centers of population1 
and to undertake a hundred other        
enterprises too large for the strength  
of the individual4 ,i should like you to
 think over the real meaning of this    
term corporation in order that you may  
understand that it has no sinister      
significance whatever1 that it is       

nothing more than a partnership that has
 registered itself under certain legal  
conditions for purposes that are        
laudable and honest4 ,if you will do    
this1 you will understand at once how   
senseless is the outcry against         
corporations as such and how absurd it  
is that any stigma of dishonesty should 
be placed upon a particular form of     
doing business that is exactly like     
other forms of doing business1 with the 
addition of a legal registration4 ,as ,i
 have already said1 there are some      
corporations that break laws1 or rather 
certain individuals who are parts of    
corporations and who break laws1 just as
 there is a certain small proportion of 
law-breakers in every section of every  
community4 ,but that fact carries with  
it no reflection upon corporations as   
such1 and when our sensational          
publications and politicians use the    
word corporation as though it were an   
alternative term for brigand or pirate  
they are simply assuming a public       

ignorance that may exist outside1 but   
that certainly ought not to be found    
within a university4 ,they are taking   
advantage of a nearly universal         
disposition to believe one's self       
injured and are appealing not only to   
ignorance1 but to a low form of cupidity
 and of mob greed4 ,they would have no  
success in their crusade against        
corporations as such if there were any  
general understanding of the meaning of 
terms or if it were generally recognized
 that there are thousands of            
corporations in this ,state1 and        
thousands in every ,state against whom  
no whisper of wrong-doing has ever been 
raised and who are doing a useful work1 
of which every individual among us is a 
beneficiary1 directly or indirectly4    
,now it is not only in our definitions  
that we need to be precise and to think 
clearly4 ,we have already seen the need 
of a better discrimination between the  
very few corporations that are accused  
of breaking the laws and the vastly     

greater number that we never hear of at 
all and that do their business as       
quietly and honestly as the baker or the
 butcher4 ,if lawbreaking is to be found
 in the business of some corporations1  
it is incumbent upon us to determine    
just in what way the law is being       
broken1 why it is being broken1 what    
sort of law it is that is being broken1 
and how much moral turpitude or public  
wrong is involved4 ,all these factors   
would be determined by a judge upon the 
bench before passing sentence upon the  
meanest malefactor1 and yet we find that
 the public is constantly urged by the  
newspapers to pass sentences of ruin and
 confiscation upon corporations as a    
whole1 with their tens of thousands of  
innocent stockholders1 without any kind 
of inquiry and under the influence of   
uninformed passion4  ,there is no       
department of ethics more disputed than 
the meaning of abstract right and wrong1
 and as ,i am not talking either on     
philosophy or ethics ,i will ask you to 

accept just such commonsense definitions
 as can be applied to the business world
 and that may be usefully employed as a 
working basis4 ,commercial morality and 
honesty are determined by each community
 for itself in the light of its own     
special needs and point of evolution4   
,to-day we hold many things to be wrong 
that were done by our forefathers with  
clear consciences1 and on the other hand
 we now believe that many things are    
right that were held by our forefathers 
to be wrong4 ,there was a time when     
slavery did not offend the most delicate
 conscience1 and if we go still further 
back1 we shall reach a time when theft  
was almost the only crime recognized and
 when wholesale murder was a virtue4    
,every age had its own standards1 and it
 would be absurd to argue that an act   
was wrong if it received the sanction of
 the whole community4 ,it was the       
communal conscience that determined all 
problems of right or wrong1 and it is   
still the communal conscience that gives

 us our definitions of morality and     
honesty4 ,here1 in my opinion1 is where 
a great part of our trouble arises4 ,the
 communal conscience has changed1 and   
some things regarded right and proper   
twenty years ago are frowned upon       
to-day4 ,but business methods tend to   
become rigid and inelastic1 and a sudden
 evolution of the public conscience     
leaves them in the rear4 ,then comes a  
sudden recognition of the disparity1 and
 laws are passed to prevent the         
practices that formerly went            
unchallenged4 ,usually these laws are   
passed in a hurry and by politicians who
 have no clear grasp of the problem4 ,as
 a result the laws are ineffective4     
,that is to say1 business1 clinging     
conservatively to its familiar ways1    
finds a plan to continue those ways in  
spite of the laws passed to prevent them
 and then public opinion1 finding no    
relief1 is angered1--not at the breaking
 of a law1 but because the law itself   
was ill-designed and ineffective4 ,in   

other words1 public opinion has failed  
in its effort to force the individual to
 set aside his own interests for what   
public opinion considers to be the      
interests of the community4 ,public     
opinion in this country is not a steady 
and persisting force1 as it is in some  
older communities4 ,it moves            
spasmodically and after long periods of 
quiescence and usually under some stress
 of excitement1 which prevents          
deliberation and therefore              
effectiveness4 ,law being more unwieldy 
than conditions1 naturally lags behind  
them1 and what we have to recognize is a
 change in conditions and in laws and   
not an outbreak of lawlessness4 ,another
 evil result from the impetuous way in  
which we make laws is that they are not 
enforced because they are not in harmony
 with the views of the community4 ,the  
statute books of every ,state are       
encumbered with laws passed in moments  
of hysteria and never put into          
operation1 or else allowed to lapse     

after a few months of confusion4 ,every 
newspaper in ,california1 for example1  
breaks the law every day when it prints 
a news item without appending the name  
of the writer1 and probably we are all  
of us breaking laws of which we never   
heard4 ,this sort of thing brings a law 
into contempt and robs it of the        
sacredness that should attach to it4    
,the ,sherman anti-trust law1 for       
example1 would bring the whole business 
of the country to a standstill if it    
were strictly enforced1 and ,i believe  
it is not good to bring large and       
innocent sections of the community      
within the scope of a criminal law      
simply for the purpose of reaching a    
minute proportion whose methods are     
flagrantly bad4 ,if the ,sherman        
anti-trust law were enforced1 it would  
have to be repealed at once1 and ,i     
think honest traders have a right to    
complain of a law that makes them       
technical criminals and is enforced only
 against notorious wrongdoers4 ,the law 

should be so framed as to reach only    
wrongdoers and to leave honest traders  
outside of even its technical scope4    
,president ,roosevelt was emphatic in   
his declaration that he intended to     
enforce the ,sherman anti-trust act1 and
 during the four years beginning with   
#aijb his administration was active in  
that direction4  ,in #aijf he stated3   
,combinations of capital1 like          
combinations of labor1 are a necessary  
element in our present industrial       
system4 ,it is not possible completely  
to prevent them2 and1 if it were        
possible1 such complete prevention would
 do damage to the body politic4 ,it is  
unfortunate that our present laws should
 forbid all combinations1 instead of    
sharply discriminating between those    
combinations which do good and those    
combinations which do evil4  ,it is a   
public evil to have on the statute-books
 a law incapable of full enforcement1   
because both judges and juries realize  
that its full enforcement would destroy 

the business of the country2 for the    
result is to make decent men violators  
of the law against their will and to put
 a premium on the behavior of the       
willful wrongdoers4 ,such a result1 in  
turn1 tends to throw the decent man and 
willful wrongdoer into close            
association1 and in the end to drag down
 the former to the latter's level2 for  
the man who becomes a law-breaker in one
 way unhappily tends to lose all respect
 for law and to be willing to break it  
in many ways4 ,the law as construed by  
the ,supreme ,court is such that the    
business of the country cannot be       
conducted without breaking it4  ,but let
 it be admitted that there are cases    
where abuses exist and where methods of 
doing business that were harmless enough
 and even necessary enough a few years  
ago are now working hardship upon the   
public as a result of changed           
conditions4 ,these abuses should be     
corrected2 there is no question about   
that1 and they will be corrected either 

by violent methods that will leave      
behind them a heritage of bitter        
resentments and wrongs or by the way of 
a real statesmanship that will recognize
 only facts and that will do justice by 
methods that are themselves just4 ,for a
 long time to come it must be the       
greatest of all problems confronting the
 statesmanship of our day1 a problem    
that must try our patience and our      
capacity for self-government4 ,do not   
imagine that ,america stands alone on   
this perilous path of reform4 ,all the  
countries of civilization stand in the  
same place4 ,all are confronted with the
 same conflict between new ideals and   
old methods1 between the spirit of      
to-day and the mechanism of yesterday4  
,the problems of other countries arise  
from their own peculiar conditions just 
as our problems arise from our          
conditions1 but their essence1 their    
purport1 is the same4 ,and do not       
imagine that there is any one solution  
that can be applied or that there is any

 virtue in the sovereign cure-alls that 
are clamorously urged upon us by        
demagogues and by reformers who are     
eager to reform everything and everybody
 but themselves4 ,there is no such      
panacea4 ,it is to be found neither in  
municipalization1 nor nationalization1  
nor confiscation1 nor any of the        
nostrums advocated so wearisomely by    
sensation mongers4 ,there is indeed no  
hope for us except by laborious study of
 conditions and by an infinitely        
cautious advance from point to point1 so
 that there may be no injustice1 no     
concessions to prejudice1 no incitements
 of class feeling1 no embittering of    
relations that should be cordial as     
between citizens of the same republic1  
whose differences are infinitely small  
as compared with the well-being of a    
great nation4 ,of all the dangers that  
threaten the path of the reformer that  
of injustice is the greatest4 ,it is    
better even that abuses should continue 
for a time longer than that they should 

be corrected by injustice and by the    
infliction of hardships upon those who  
are wholly innocent4 ,two wrongs can    
never make a right1 and wherever we find
 a so-called reform that is based upon  
injustice be assured that we are only   
substituting one evil for another and   
that our latter end shall be worse than 
the first4 ,it would be impossible for  
one now to indicate the direction in    
which reforms should lie1 and there is  
of course nothing human to which reform 
is impossible4 ,but it is perhaps       
suitable that ,i should indicate some of
 the ways that can end in nothing but   
calamity1 however alluringly and        
speciously they may be advocated4 ,for  
example1 there is neither good sense nor
 honesty in penalizing a corporation    
because some of its officials have done 
wrong4 ,wherever wrong has been done1   
the guilt is with some individual and   
not with the corporation as a whole4    
,find out who that individual is and let
 him answer to the law1 but do not visit

 his misdeeds upon innocent stockholders
 who have had nothing whatever to do    
with the offense1 who knew nothing of   
its commission and could have done      
nothing to prevent it if they had known4
 ,remember1 that a penalty inflicted    
upon a corporation is actually inflicted
 not upon guilty persons but upon       
innocent investors4  ,let me give an    
illustration of the so-called reforms   
that are recklessly urged upon us to-day
 and that are to be found in operation  
here and there throughout the country4  
,i refer to the matter of street        
franchises4 ,now it may be true1 it     
probably is true1 that in many cases    
these franchises have become of great   
value and that they ought not to be     
granted without adequate return4 ,but   
would it not be just to remember that   
when these franchises were originally   
granted they provided a service that was
 absolutely essential to the growth of  
the community and that those who        
obtained the franchises faced a serious 

risk to their capital and practically   
threw in their lot with the prospective 
welfare of the city8 ,it is hard to     
realize how serious that risk sometimes 
was and how problematical were the      
returns4 ,the shareholders in these     
street traction corporations are spread 
over the population and every class of  
the population is represented in them4  
,they invested their money in good faith
 at a time when no question had ever    
been raised as to the propriety of these
 franchises and at a time when these    
franchises were considered to be for the
 public good and indubitably were for   
the public good4 ,and ,i will ask you if
 it is honest to use all the machinery  
of the government1 all the artifices of 
the politician to depreciate the value  
of those franchises1 to threaten their  
holders with confiscation1 to hamper and
 harass them by all the ways that are   
open to a democratically governed       
people8 ,i say unhesitatingly that it is
 dishonest to do these things1 and ,i   

will go so far as to say--believing as  
,i do in the good faith of the great    
majority--that most of those who noisily
 advocate such measures would be ashamed
 to do so if they would but face the    
facts and understand what it is that    
they are actually doing and the wrong   
that they are inflicting upon innocent  
men and women4 ,if mistakes have been   
made in granting franchises1 then take  
care to avoid such mistakes in the      
future1 but do not enter into a bargain 
that seemed advantageous to yourselves  
and then repudiate it when you find that
 it is not so advantageous as you       
thought4 ,there is no way to reconcile  
such a thing with common honesty1 and it
 is in no way mitigated by the fact that
 it is done by a community and by means 
of a vote rather than by an individual  
and in the ordinary small affairs of    
life4 ,we all know what we should say of
 the man who acted in this way toward   
ourselves personally1 but in advocating 
some of the schemes that are now        

recommended to us by sensational        
politicians1 newspapers1 and magazines  
we are making ourselves responsible for 
a dishonesty far greater than the evils 
that we are trying to remedy4 ,let us by
 all means reform whatever needs to be  
reformed1 but let us do it with clean   
hands4  ,now1 ,i think that ,i have said
 enough to justify my belief that these 
great problems of our social life are   
not of a kind to be settled off-hand by 
violent or radical legislation4 ,they   
are not to be settled by any one scheme 
or by any one plan4 ,the only way to    
approach them is by careful and         
conscientious thought1 a minute         
examination of the facts at first hand  
and a rigid determination to act toward 
corporations and business interests in  
general in the same spirit of unswerving
 honesty that you would wish to display 
to a comrade or to a friend and that you
 would wish to be displayed toward      
yourselves4 ,you will find that honesty 
is the royal road to success in         

commercial life1 and it is also the     
royal road to all reform in our communal
 life4 ,do not go out into the world    
with any expectation that you will be   
required to surrender the ideals that   
you have formed in your youth1 or that  
you will be asked to choose between     
honor and success4 ,those ideals will be
 the greatest capital with which you can
 be endowed4 ,they will attract to you  
everything that makes life desirable and
 without them you can have neither      
self-respect nor the respect of others4 
,and as a last word let me recommend you
 not to be carried away by those gusts  
of prejudice and passion that sweep     
periodically through the community4     
,there is a contagion in these things   
that it is hard to resist1 and so much  
that to-day passes for thought is not   
thought at all1 but merely the          
automatic1 unreflecting acceptance of   
wild theories that are enunciated with  
so much force that they seem to be      
almost axioms4 ,your study of history   

will show you that the world has always 
been subject to these waves of emotion1 
that are sometimes religious1 sometimes 
political1 and seem for the time to     
carry everything before them4 ,we are   
passing through such a period now1 a    
period of intense unrest1 of revolt     
against conditions that we ourselves    
made1 against methods that we ourselves 
created and sanctioned4 ,i advise you to
 look askance upon every movement that  
in the language of the day is called    
popular4 ,do not accept a theory or a   
doctrine because it is popular1 but on  
the other hand do not reject it for that
 reason4 ,do not permit yourselves to be
 carried off your intellectual feet by  
indignation or by protest4 ,demand of   
every political theory that it stand and
 deliver its credentials1 and before you
 allow it to pass into the realm of your
 adoption1 see to it that you understand
 it in all its bearings and that you    
have traced its results so far as is    
possible to your foresight2 let the     

final test be one of human justice and  
of honesty1 and then with courage use   
your power to aid in the formation of   
public opinion1 remembering that public 
opinion is after all the great          
controlling force4     ,transcriber's   
,note4  ,the typographical error        
resistent has been corrected4           
,variations of hyphenation from the     
original document have been retained4