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Show REFORM WAVE. The reform wave which is sweeping over the country from ca st to coast at the present time is different from any of the great reform waves of the past.y Every generation has one or more, and while no two are exactly alike, yet they usually have the same basis, viz., a great moral principle. The: slogan of tho present reform is simply "Stop Thief."' We do not hear the orator thrilling his hearers with high sounding phrases - about the. "rights of man,' as in the revolutionary, or slavery days, or iu upholding the rights of the "downstrod-"den "downstrod-"den laborer" against the "iron-heeled plutocrat"; the burning words of the temperance' orator are ar a discount; the "American-for-Amerieans ' patriot pa-triot 'must-work for his meal tickets, and the evangelist evan-gelist with a new "ism" attracts no more attention than the patent medicine man. There, is simply no disputed moral principle involved. It is simply an awakening of the people to the fact that they have been robbed, and they are all agreed that the thieves should be punished. The reform started in St. Louis a' few years ago, resulting in the conviction for bribery of many of "the most prominent politicians of Missouri. It spread westward and eastward, leaving in its wake the wrecked names of many of the highest in the land. United . States senators and congressmen have been convicted and sentenced like common criminals; political rings have been broken up, and the leaelera sent to prison or out of the. country coun-try as fugitives, millionaires who have been posing as models for young men have been brandetl as thieves, and no amount of political influence or hionr-y seems to have been able to stop it. The people of the country are amazed that such practices could have continued for so many years as is shown, without having been exposed. Heads of big life insurance companies tell with the utmost ut-most coolness of transactions which are nothing less than robbery, and they' justify themselves on the ground that such methods have been followed for so many years that they have become the "custom.' "cus-tom.' Notwithstanding that the basis of this reform is money, it is sure to result in good. The storm which has been aroused shows a healthy state of public opinion on questions of honesty, so far as the mass' of the people are. concerned, and the fearlessness fear-lessness with which the offenders have been exposed and prosecuted speaks, well for-those in public office. of-fice. In shows that corruption in office is the exception ex-ception rather than he. rule. The. exposes will serve as a warning that eUshonesty in high places I will be followed by disgrace, if not by prison stripes, The pitiable spectacle of a United States senator, at the' end of a long public life, apparently apparent-ly above reproach, dying while under prison sentence, sen-tence, and his fellow senators not so much as mentioning men-tioning the fact of his. death in tho senate, nor showing him any of the customary honors, i3 one that might well' deter "every one in the country from dishonesty in public or private life. It is fortunate for the business interests of the country that 'this unheaval comes at a time of, general prosperity. Such an exposure of rottenness rotten-ness would, in shaky times, be very apt to frighten people into a panic which would have very disastrous disas-trous results. The time to remove, an abeess is when the patient is healthy, and as the business of the country is in a healthier condition now than ever before, t&is is the time to expose and remedy the evils. The more of these .evils that are removed now the more permanent will be the prosperity of the country. 'x. |