Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1894 — TOPICS OF THESE TIMES. [ARTICLE]

TOPICS OF THESE TIMES.

MORAL DEPRAVITY. The developments in the Breckim ridge case at Washington, the plea of guilty by Theodore P. Haughey, and the trial of the wreckers of the Indianapolis National Bank, are enough to shake the confidence of the most determined optimist in the inherent honor and virtue of his fellow meh. In the first case we have an example of self-confessed depravity on the part of one who for a lifetime had stood before the country as a living example of all that was honorable, high-minded, chivalrous and eloquent—a religious teacher of great ability and power,—a man whom presbyteries delighted to honor, and political opponents even sought that they "might swell the chorus of approbation that was wont to greet his public appearance in any part of the country. Again we have the pitiful confession of Theodore P. Haughey —who for thirty years stood as a tower of strength in financial circles in the Hoosier capital, who also was conspicuous because of his religious and apparently upright life, and by reason of his position as treasurer of a great benevolent society, an “Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile” —that he is “guilty as charged,” appearing at the bar of justice and throwing himself upon the mercy of the court, willing to suffer the penalty of his monstrous crime, while his co-conspirators—men who for years sustained an unblemished reputation as philanthropic citizens—scions of an honorable name—more brazen, stand a trial that from day to day develops a scheme of premeditated fraud and utterly heartless robbery of innocent depositors —helpless widows and hundreds of dependent children —that has been seldom equalled in the annals of criminal jurisprudence. All of these men satisfied every test that is generally applied to those who desire the public confidence —the most desperate outlaw and the most depraved libertine have not fallen lower. Whom can we trust in the future? By what tests shall we judge men who desire our confidence; or whom, in the course of everyday business and social life it becomes necessary to associate with? Apparently new rules must be devised—the old ones have proved such utter failures.