The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-02-27
LEGISLATIVE cozEUrrIos.

own - Compeutof OF the ssate q ~ an
ington.
LEGISLATIVE CORRUPTIOr.
In this and other states, and in relation
to one and another session Of the national
congress, the reading masses have been fed
to the surfeit point with reports Of lesisla-
tive bribery and corruption. Making gem
erous allowance for exaggeration, and for
liberal drafts on the reportorial imagina-
ton, the impression is firmly fixed in the
public mind that where there has been 30
much smoke there must have been some
FIRE, and that the practice Of debauching
the peoples representatives is common
o6ense.
The ofEenss 10 . most grievous one,
fraught with incalculable evils TO the
political and social structures Of the
period. In all the calendar there is no
crime % far-reaching in destructiveness,
moro degrading to moral standards or
more subversive Of advancement to
higher and nobler civilization In pro-
portion - IN attempt to destroy govern
ment il more heinous than like attempt
against the person or property Of any one
citizen or subject Of thst government, % 10
this offenee of bribing and corrupting .
legislature more heinous offcnse than
any crime against the person or property
Of the individual citizen.
On this point healthy public sentiment
10 unalterably settled. There can be no
confidence in laws, nor respect for them,
whose foundations are poisoned or cor
rupted. There can be no permanently
patriotic regard for government whose
lsw-making department is guilty or reas-
onably suspected of corruption. There
fore, either from moral or political
point Of view, no form Of treason presents
darker aspect, no crime can be more in
famous than that of corrupting or attempt
ing to corrupt the lawmakers Of . govern
ment.
However painful, however shameful, it
cannot be denied that this infamous prsc-
tice is frightfully prevalent. 1t must be
checked or the foundations Of government
will be slapped and the fountains Of law
converted into so many reeking cesspcols.
Is public opinion awake to this fact7
Does it demand-would it approve of re-
medal measures7 Or i it disposed to dis
parage, to belittle, to sheer at honest and
self-sacrificing efforts in this dlrectionf
Recent events and recent report would
seem to indicate that there is room for
serious doubts upon all of these questions.
This infamous and threatening crime
threatening alike to the purity Of our laws,
to the tone Of public morals and to the in
tegrity of our government-cannot be dis
covered, exposed and punished by usual
methods. 1t is perpetrated in secret, with
none to witness except the bribe-taker and
the briber, the corrupted and the corrup-
tor. 1t is not TO be expected that either Of
these will reveal the fact. That it is being
pFacticed, that this most destructive and
reasonable of crimes il being extensively
perpetratsd may be obvious, notorious and
palpable, but not provable.
There is but one practicable means for
exposing and extirpating this monstrous
and most dangerous practice. In recent
case in this state that means was resorted
to. That bribery and corruption were
holding high carnival at our state capital
was matter Of common notoriety and be-
lief. The manner Of its commission
threatened not only to corrupt our legisla-
ture, but also to convey its virus into the
Senate Of the United States. But though
all this was believed with the force of
moral certainty, it was not provable.
man of sound principles and lofty
spirit threw himself into the breach to dis
cover whether this common belief was
well-founded, and, if 50, to expose it and
hold the perpetrators up to public execra-
ton.
Conclusively to every candid and Impair
tial mind in the state, by the only means
possible, by offering to sip the poison if
they had it to administer, he established
as a fact what had been but suspicion.
And how has the disclosure been treated
Has there been apparent disposition to
resent and punish the infamous assault
upon legislative honor and the integrity
of the state? Is the finger of scorn pointed
loathingly at the bribers and corruption
lists? Are they in disgrace, suffering the
just indignation of an outraged commu-
nifty?
On the contrary, there be those who
seem inclined to condemn, not the crime,
but the revelation Of it; not the criminals.
but the devoted man who discovered and
exposed their infamies. But this is not
the public sentiment of the high-minded
citizens of the state. This is not the SEN
timent which the sober second thought
will make practically unanimous through
out the state. That sentiment will ire
sistibly demand q summary stop to this
business of legislative corruption. If there
be, as seems clear, but one means of effect
ing this result, the people will approve and
applaud resort to that means. They will
not by strained inference impute corrupt
motive for resort to that means. And they
will applaud Mr.. Metcalfe for pioneering
the only path which can lead to the extir-