The Jersey City news., 1891-11-23
Presently we will get such bad name
no decent theatrical company will
come here
Corruption in Washinetun.

"In Off ice" has stirred up great dea
of virtuous Indignation in Washing
ton, and incidentally led to the dis
charge of the author, who was de
partment clerk. AS an injudicious bi
of advertising, nothing could exceed
this. The authors wrongs" will
make the book sell, as nothing in i
could possibly do, no matter how ex
cellent it might happen to be. Th'
authors idea was to expose officia
and social corruption, and so brina
about the reformation he considered
necessary.
With or without cause, there are q
| great many persons who believe that
the social corruption the book treats
of actually exists. There are more
reasons why it should than why it
should not. The only way to prevent
such things is to eliminate women
from Office. While temptation exists
on both sides, the natural results must
inevitably follow. Scandals of this
nature are not new to Washington.
| Indeed, they were so rife at one time
that Congress was compelled to make
an investigation. 1t was, however,
merely a concession to public indig-
nation, casual, perfunctory, ineffect-
| i've Its only practical result was a
general direction, don't get found
| out.n
But while the author of I'm Office
was possibly inspired by good motives
his methods were unquestionably bad,
and his work crude. His book is per-
sonal to degree that will defeat its
ostensible purpose 1t invites doubt
as to the authors honesty of inten-
tion and leads to the suspicion that
his sole purpose was to make a boo k
that would sell-a prostitution OF
any evil the author pretends to
correct. To this object paternal ad-
ministration has SO played second
fiddle as almost to suggest, that the
officials concerned, had contingent
interest in the authors profits.
The author denies the charges of
personality and says his characters
are not libels upon actual personages.
Unfortunately he is convicted out of
his own book. One of his characters
-and one who is presented in a par
ticularly unpleasant light, that of a
panderer to the baser passions of his
superiors-is q Congressman who
figures under the name of ''Mr. Fried
eringhaus." Certainly the friends of
Mr.. Niedringhaus have good reason
to claim that he is suggested by the
name. The author says no, but if he
did not mean Mr.. Niedringhaus he
not only lacks inventive genius in the
way of names, but he must also be
deficient in mental perception if he
did not see that every one would con-
clude that he meant Mr.. Niedring-
haus whether he did or not.
Apa rt from its personalities and its
suggestions of vice, the book possesses
little to attract public notice and ha d
it been permitted to die natural
death would probably have done so
with a celerity that would have put
it in the category OF sudden depart
ures from life. But the official notice
given it, followed by the discharge of
the author from Government employ,
probably secured for it sale and
circulation that could not have been
attained for it by paid advertise
ments, even if the United States
Treasury had been placed at the
authors command.
If the evils the book treats OF actu-
ally exist, the administration has
been particularly unfortunate in its
treatment of the book.
For malicious ingenuity, we have
seldom seen anything surpass the New
York Times Trenton letter of this
morning; and yet it is too ingenious.
1t defeats its own purpose. The
malignant perversion of facts to suit
the writer's purpose creates so much
ostility to him that the reader soon
ceases to be affected by his hair-split-
ing arguments. 1t now looks as if
Senator Mcpherson was tine writer's
dearest foe, and not Govern or Albeit.
-
THE Elizabeth Journal sapiently
remarks:-"Howin winconsistent it would
be for the people of Elizabeth to say,
We'll done, good and faithful servant
and then to add, get OUT" Yes. it
would be rather mean. But the SER
want who gets that sort of tip gen.
orally considers himself DONE"
whether we'll or not. 1t is sort of
provocative to Rankin-cense, if the
Journal will excuse the remark. But
it was lucky thing that Mr.. Voor-
hees was kept off the ticket or there
might have been two good and faith
full servants well done together.
PERSONAL.
The Editor of The JERSEY Cry NEWS is much
obliged to Mr.. H. s. Horgan Tor the clipping
closed.