New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-06-26
CAN'T ABOUT CORRUPTION.

|
| It is one of the cheapest and most foolish
| tricks of the cheap demagogue to be continually
cantng about the corruption and profigacy of
the opposite party, when it is in power. lnasmuch
| as the Democrats are much in lack of more de-
cent or effective campaign material this year,
one can hardly be surprised that the cheapest
| demagogues among them run riot in their plat
FORMS But the man who imagines that this
mud-slinging does him any good, or strengthens
his party, only shows that he Is q callow poll
tician. 1t would be well for him if he could
hear how his stuff is regarded by the PLAIN peo-
pie, outside of the circle of Office-holding and
Office-seeking partsans. The average voter, to
begin with, does not give the average politician
credit for any extraordinary honesty. lie does
not make much distinction between parties in
that regard according to his impression the
average politician of either party will take any
thing that is not nailed down. There is some
injustice in this. Our National, State and
Municipal Governments would be a great deal
more corrupt and wasteful than they are if the
politicians of both parties were as rule quite
as thorough rascals as the plain people suppose
them to be. But the voter has some excuse. He
sees all sorts of dishonest methods used in get
ting Office, ana infers that no higher code OF
morals governs after offices have been gained.
When politician OF such estimation, believed
by the plain people to be chiefly anxious for a
chance TO steal something, lifts up his voice in
prolonged howl about the dishonesty of the
other fellows who are in Office, the only feel
ing that he awasens is one OF contempt for HIM
sef. 1t is taken for granted that his morals are
not shocked by anything that happens. He is
troubled, the plain people say, only because the
other fellows are getting the swag that he
wants. Until he can learn TO be more decent i'll
his methods, more truthful in his statements,
more self-respectins in his choice of political
tools or associates, the people take it rgranted
that he objects only to the stealing when he
cannot share the plumber.
Year after year, the voters see the same cant
in political platforms, and wonder what the
donkey repeats it for. 1t decevcs none of
them, and does not change n vote, though it
does give them IN idea hat their would-be
leaders are thinner hypOcrtes than they think
themselves. For twenty years and more we
have heard every year about the horrible cor
ruption and Increasing rascality of Republicans
in office, and according to Democrats it has
been getting worse and worse all the while. If
half they have asserted were true, there would
have been nothing left to steal ten years ago.
The fact is, as the plain people know-hav-
ing much more sense than the cheap dema-
gogues who try to impose on them-that our
Government in all its branches is administered
on the whole with fair degree of honesty. |
There are rascals in both parties of course, and
they arc ant to be the very men who work hard |
est to get into Office, municipal, State or Ma |
tional. But the restraints Of Office prove
stronger than they imagine. To steal with |
much success or safety, one needs con federates,
and these are not so often found. Penalties are |
severe. Public sentiment is more watchful and |
sees a great deal moro than it formerly did. |
Many exposures have taken place, in high sta
tons or in low, and men have learned to dread |
them. The Democratic State Treasurcrs who |
ran away last season, and the Democratic city
Official whose populations have recently come to
light are after all exceptions in one party, just
"a the Star Route people are in the other The
plain people take note of the fact that most of
the officials do not run away or get suddenly
rch. Two United States Treasurers, after
handling untold millions, have retired poor;
not single Secretary of the Treasury or Post
General in twenty years has left Office
with more evidence of wealth than he had when
he entered it; and the same may be said of al
most all the officials at Washington who have
had the greatest opportunities to abuse public
trusts.
Now and then an exception occurs Then all
hunt down the rascal with zeal, and great STIR
is made about it, But it is not right to forget
that most of our public officers prove upright
and that the aggregate expenses of the Gov
.rnment are small in view of all the services il
renders. The bowling Democrats cannot find
any Administration since to compare for corrup-
lion with the last Of their own party. Nor can
It be denied that the general tone of tho public
service has steadily improved.