Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1895-06-27
THE COURIER.
Official Paper OF County.
~ w. r. BUCHANAN.
THURSDAY, JUNE q. 1895,
THE NEW YORK WAY.


Tribune OF being wild in its editorials
or inclined to highly colored ideas
fired with an imagination which would
be put in the socialistic category.
Nevertheless the following was taken
from that paper and portrays a con-
dition which all good citizens should
rally to defeat and destroy if the per-
pctuity of the public is desired:
"What gave Mr.. Croker the power by
which as the Tammany leader he
fastened the clutch OF that Organiza-
ton upon the throat OF this town with
SO tenacious grip that it took
popular uprising to release-nO, not
release, but relax-it? Money.
How does he get it. He does not use
his own, and the campaign cOntribu-
tons Of candidates for Office and pub
lic-spirited citizens are not, rs indeed
they ought to be, more than sufficient
to meet the ordinary necessary and
legitimate expenses OF a political can
vass. Where, then, does the money
come from? We are asking a ques-
ton that the merest typo In politics
can .answer out of hand. 1t comes
from the greatest corporations OF this
town-no need to name them-whose
relations with the public are OF such
nature as to make them dependent
for the success OF the business enter
prise in which they are engaged upon
the enactment, on the one hand, OF
favorable legislation or the defeat, on
the other, OF hostile measures ut
Albany. The Tribune has heretofore
called attention to the fact and briefly
described the process. The officers OF
these corporations treat it us purely
business transaction. The principles
or policy of the party or parties to
which they make their contributions
for in most eases they contribute with
certain sort Of impartiality to both
do not enter into the matter at all.
They hand over the money to the boss
with the understanding. express or
implied, that the boss will see to it, so
far us the representatives OF his own
party in the Legislature are concerned,
that the contributing corporation has
protection and peace. In cases where
no positive legislation is sought they
call it paying for peace
This process goes on year after
year. Do We need charatiZe it? Is
there an honest citizen OF ordinary in
telligence in whose mind there is any
doubt as to its effect upon Legislation,
upon the characters Of the Legislators,
upon public and private morals? No
man defends it. The very men who
as officers OF corporations submit to
the extortion-for it is no less-are as
loud rs any, il not loudest, in denuncia-
tioE OF it. Many of them 60 so far as
to say that it is nothing less than a
system Of matchmaking only pnlliated
by precedent and sanctioned by usage
But all the same, when the pressure
comes theypay-pay and look pleasant.
They say they must; that rs trustees
OF great properties or great financial
institutions; as custOdians OF the
material interest OF others. of the
"widOws and orphans" who furnish
the stock argument for this class of
abuses, they have duties and obliga-
tions which they feel bound to dis
charge, irrespective of their own
duties and obligations rs good citi-
Zens or their relations as individuals
to questions Of social ethics or politi-
cal mortality. All OF which when sub
jected to the test. not OF Il well order
ed cOnscience-that may be too high
Il standard for ordinary pOlitics-but
OF reasonable and reasoning common
business sense, is utter rubbish.
There is no excuse for any man to
submit as a trustee for others to ex-
tortion and matchmaking which in his
individual capacity he condemns rs
rs subversive OF morality and most
demcralizing in its tendency and con-
sequences. In another view of it it is
| ffIaNv vnRsn te,r IL
OF trust funds to wholly illcgitimate
purposes. Upon what pretext can
any corporation use the profits OF a
republican stakeholder to pormote the
success OF the democratic party when
the stockholders believe such success
to be inimical to his own business in
terests and may be paving out OF his
own pocket money for contrary
purpose? The case is the
same il the money OF a democratic
stakeholder in the hands OF corpora
ton officials is contributed to n repub-
lican fund, there is neither reason nor
sense in it, and, MS all will agree, the
practice is the most fruitful source of
the worst sort OF political corruption.
Why do we walk around this crying
shame tip-toe and pussy footed? The
men who know the most about it, who
suffer most from it and as private
citizens are )most vigorous and out
spoken in their denunciatiOn OF it, are
the very men who rs officers OF cor
poratiOns and trustees OF great
material interests do most to maintain
it. They are not confined to either
party. They are Of both. And the
cold truth is that they are wasting the,
money Of other people and their own
not only foOlishly, but wickedly, for
they are contributing to the mainten-
ance and perpetuation OF a system Of
boss rule in political management
which Expresses the citizen and tax
payer and corrupts the source Of gov
eminent. They connot afford to con-
tinue 1t. Sooner or later the great
body of common people, the voting
masses, will rise up against not only
against the system itself, but against
the corporations which for their own
selfish purposes have encouraged and
promoted it. Then will come the
whirlwind harvest OF this wild wind
sowing. The Tribune utters now its
word OF warning. Corporations may
have no souls, but the individuals who
compose them do and so do the off,
GERS who conduct their affairs. 10
them we make the appeal in behalf
OF honest politics and good govern
ment and ri tho fvnnnra1 u,nlf0rn that