New-York tribune., 1874-07-08


with the methods by which corrupt men
accomplish corrupt purposes, the subtletleS OF
| approach, the ingenious devices, sophst1es,
| and eva5i0ns, and the processes OF casulstTy
| by which conscience is strangled and the PAIN
| allowed to be cOrruptly crossed 1t is impoa-
sible for the steady going, sOber-mindcd citizen
of the rural districts to conceive that his
neigbbor whom he has selected by his vote to
| represent him in the Legislature has become
at once corrupt and bribe-taker upon getting
| into the atmosphere of the State House. They
will credit no such SANDER. What makes the
| bad atmosphere of the Capital is the DISPOSE
| ton to abuse public officers and the dcpraVed
taste for coarse, low scandals; legislators are,
| they say, for the most part honest and upright,
and only they who libel them are false aud
unworthy. .~.--..> -.
Well there might be some force in this line
of thought were there only one method OF
approach. Were bribery only possible by
| abruptly asking men their price and paying
! it down in open market, it is safe to say there
would be but little of it anywhere. Tn
| happily there are thousand approaches to
| the venal and selfish side of men, and it not
| infrequently happens That under some OF the
! subtlest forms of temptation the palm closes
| over the price and the bride is appropriated
| before the victim realizes that he is in market.
| Cash in hand is the cOarsest, crudest, and
most vulgar method of all; your practiced
operator in the lobby never uses it. The cum
mingest of v0te-manipulatOr3 and lobby agents
begins his work back of the Legislature, and
even of the primary meeting; he works up
| III iit,,tu T.. bp
his victim. and contributes handsomely to his
election. Ordinarily the legislator so chosen is
bribcd and bought before he takes his seat, and
before he has the rcmOtest intimatIOn OF
what his purchasers expect to do with him.
There are very few men, in the present con-
dtion of politics, who, having been assisted
in this manner by the active politician and
! lobbyist, can look their creators in the face
when the pinch comes and give a decided
"No.' We say in the present condition of
politics, not because politicians are any worse
now than ever before, but because there are
more of them, and more temptations to cor
| rupt and venal legislation. The paying down
of so much money for vote is too gross
| form OF temptation, unworthy the ingenuity of
| the tempter the position of the tempted, and
| the spirit of the age. To contribute money to
defray the election expenses of the person
whose assistance you shall need by and by, is
a much more refined and gracefully winding
| approach, and it amounts to the same thing in
| the end. There was once case of this kind
| in Iowa. No State is without its instances
and illustrations. If ever the truth were
known hundreds Of Post Offices and Collector
| ships have been sold in the past ten or twelve
| wears by members of Congress who had in
| Cured large expenses in securing their own
| election, and reimbursed themselves by con-
| tributions from Ofiice-seekers, which were
named subscriptions for election expenses.
The indirectiOns of the Credit Mobilier
bribery are too freshly remembered to require
any analysis. Whatever may be said of the
purity of motive and honesty of purpose of
the holders of the stock placed "where it
would do most good" the practical honesty
| and good sense of the people did not hesitate
| to pronounce the whole transaction corrupt,
| and carried on in the spirit and with the un-
mistakable purpose of bribery. That in
cenious scheme had, in addition to its original
| subtlety, another element of strength in the
| fact that the honest men who were approached
with the temptation, but saw through it and
| repeled it, were hindered from denOuncing it
| by the fact that so many men of good repu-
tatjon and honorable standing were concerned
in if. and they did not want to seem phar-
saical in condemning what others saw no
harm in. Legislatures and Congress are full
too of that most indirect and untraceable
form of bribery which is carried on in the
process of swapping votes" Millions of dol
lars have been voted away in appropriations
which would never have been made except as
the abettors of a great number of them COM
bned to carry them through. A member of
| Congress desires TO have public building or
system of derricks'-which is the starting
| point of appropriations-in his district another
wants an appropriation for a harbor or river
in his district; another a nayy-yard, and so
on not one of these schemes would go through
on its merits, but each bribes the other. The
votes are swapDed,' and the whole batch
goes through. What forl Simply that the
member of Congress may strengthen himself
in his district, and 10y the distribution of
| public money secure "a reelection. 1t is only
another form of raising election expenses
But it may be asked, if bribery Is so COM
mon why is it not more often exposed spe-
! ciically instead of being treated at arms
length and in such roundabout fashion The
answer is that what with the ingenious de-
vices of the lobby and the cxpedents by
which it is either entirely concealed or made
! so general that it is aluQst impossible to