The Dominating Spirit of the Times
The following testimony concerning the spirit of the times comes from a noteworthy source, an official report recently made by the insurance commissioner for Massachusetts, Mr. F. L. Cutting. Speaking of those who conduct the business of the great insurance companies of this day, the report says:— The dominating spirit of the times in which we live was there also, and blurred the moral vision of the officers. They were in a position to see men of highest power and station in the financial and commercial world joining in the mad and utterly selfish race for wealth. They saw all kinds of dubious schemes carried through to the enrichment of their promoters; they saw a Morgan rise from obscurity to a high position in the financial world by manipulations of great corporate interests, without personally earning a dollar; they saw a high official of another insurance company one of his partners; they saw the Amalgamated stock floated, and knew of the fabulous profits for its manipulators; they knew of the sugar trust and its rewards of millions to its promoters; the Standard Oil combination with its forty-five per cent dividends; the beef trust, controlling prices both to producer and consumer; they were cognizant of the rotten canned beef supplies furnished the government, and nobody punished; they knew of railroad rebates in disregard of law and court decrees, and that some of the law breakers were promoted to high positions; they saw “graft” by city officials, state officials, national officials, petty legislators, congressmen, United States senators, and courts subservient to the great Moloch, money; they saw “tainted” money eagerly sought for by the college and pulpit, as well as by institutions with less pretensions of virtue. They not only saw these things, and hundreds of others of which these are but types, but lived and moved and had their being in an atmosphere saturated with this spirit of commercialism—a spirit that has so permeated the whole commercial, financial, and social world that it is impossible to escape its influence. We can well understand how they might have said to themselves or among themselves: “Is it any worse for us to make use of our opportunities for profit than for our neighbor to sell ‘gold bricks’ to the public? Do we do a greater wrong to so manipulate the stock of a trust company in which we have shares, that it will show a handsome profit to our credit, than does the steel trust, or any other trust, when it hood-winks the public into buying its watered shares?” That their moral fiber weakened, that the ethical standard was lowered amid such conditions and surroundings, is an indictment not merely of the accused, who it is true and proper must bear the consequences of their acts, but also an indictment of business and commercial practices which have developed in the last quarter of a century.