The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-25
Business Men
and Politics
penn" in Philadelphia Bulletin.


Republican in employing the business
interests of the country as political
force. Ten wears ago 1t was the haoit
to plead with the business man 10 tike
an active part in politics ANA not sit IN
his countiug-roOm and allow the pclln-
clans a monopoly of affairs. No man diu
more, less than decade ago, TO cuItiNate
these delightful sentiments than MT.
Quay. There IS a good deal ot truth IN
what he now says. hut the style ot 1t. es-
l,rially coming from him, was somewhat
amusing. Quay's observations OH business
men or mlllionaircS III the senate We're
hardly less amusing in considering tnat
from 1873 To 1891 he has had a principa!
part in keeping at least one of IennSyi.
Nania's senatorial seats in the CUSTODY OF
Simon ANA Don Cameron, each miiliuh-
airD, ana that his last attempt on the
other seat before he took II unto himself
was in the interest of oliver the IRON
magnate of l'ittsburg.
There is good deal of evagee ration
oyer this cry of senatorial mitlionaires so
far as We try to make ii appear that the
senate il worse in this respect than II has
been in the past We have more million
aires there simply because We nave more
wealth and Il senate of ninety members.
Ninety years ago the senate WIS smaller
than our select council. and the wealth
of the whole United States was about
eighteen hundred million dollars, or less
than the wealth of Philadeiphtl tGday.
Vet the rich men of the country were ',s
numerous in the senate in proportion 10
their numbers and riches in general as
they are today. This city alone had Two
miliOnaireS there in the course of Il sin
glr decade There is SO much pious howl
| ing and hypocritical lamentation over
| corruption ana money in politics that I Is
| sometimes refreshing to know that after
| all Wc really are not worse in these Things
! than those who have gone before us. such
remarks as Mr.. Quay has just mad" are
| always accompanied with an immense
| amount Of superficial comment aboit de-
| G,neracy and lapses from the virtue of
! ancestors In truth there has been no
! period Of American politics when they
! did moi go through the same experience.
| when rich men were not asSailed Il proiii-
| gates ana corruptOrS, when mans con-
duct or his principles, if they could not
| he accounted for with any facts that
would discredit him. were explained on the
hypothesis that he had been 'bouSht u2'
| or was buying up others. and when
| some one was not on hand shouting some
| thing about barricades and men in biOls"s
| either SlylY or in honest Zeal. Milion-
| aires. solid business men, corruption fdnds
and the rest have all been the themes OF
| politicians for getting at the popula: ear
| hctOre Mr.. Quay was born, and every time
| they treated the subject as II they had
| just made a new and alarming discovery
| Many time, too, have they yelled Gu
| whip when they have fallen off the
| wagon on which they had front seats OF
| when some one else obtained special ac-
| cess to the lockers.
| Go back to the days wheE John Jay, 4
| model of public purity. was hung in ef-
| iigy here for the negotiation of his IA
| nous commercial treaty with England ol
| when a figure of the patriot was carried
| in procession through the city bearing q
| scroll with the words "Come up to my
| price and | Will sell you my country" and
| committed to the flames in kens!ngton
| That was the time when the land was
| atame with the cry of British gold in
its control of Washington's administra'
! gigantic land speculation1 of Morris. the
| men who were involved in them and the
| e%ecration which was visited on him as
| plutocrat, and y the gibes ana sneers
| which fell upon Bingham, his colleagues
in the senate, whose riches caused Peter
| Markoe to put him in the piliory as
"RapaX.' Remember, also. the chac5c'
| which Adams secretary of state. Tim
ane, in the aurora" caused the popular
| BELIEF that Pickering had purloined eight
million dollars in political or official jobs
| jefferson came into power on the issue o.
| the masses against the "classes,' ant
| Hamitons administration of the treas
| ury was theme against his public honor
| until his weakness for Mrs. Reynolds va.
revealed The New York World raiset
no howl few years ago against Wana
| maker. for example, more heinous thar
| followed Morris for bringing the capito
| from New York to Philadelphia. for sup
| plying Federalists with funds and for pro
| tcctng his own interests at the trcls
| ury. The whole newspaper and pamphle
literature of the day teens with thes'
things.
stephen Girard seldom participated di
| rcrtly in politics: but the negotiation o
! the loans which he and other flnancier
contracted with the Madison administra
, tiOn TO carry on the war of 1872 gave ris
to almost precisely the same scandals a.
| those which attended pierpOnt Morga,
and his syndicate in their dealings will
| Cleveland and Carlisle. The "BrNisi
| gold" cry was long a potent one. Bache
in one of the political "Creeds" which i
was the fashion of the time to circulate
| among the people. must have convinced
| every man who avowed it that the coun
| try was hopelssly ana corruptly enSlave'
by rich Fcdcralists. There is another o
these creeds attributed to General JOIN
Barker, in which that doughty patriot lay
it down as one of his solemn beliefs tina
Ross campaign for governor of Pennsyl
vania was bolstered up with British peli
and that, furthermore million BritisI
guineas were imported into this countr
at every annual election for the debauch
ing of the people. When jefferson en-
forced the celebrated embargo policy, am
cut off all commercial Intercourse vii
| England, there was loud murmuring Owe
the sordiincss of the business interest
in avoiding it, and there were fierce men
aces against every merchant who wou
not come to the support OF the Jeiferso
| administration.
These examples at random might be re
peated a hundred times--the many sean
dals OF the banks. of the war of 1872 an
of some of the early tariffs-but let II
pause "A moment over the tremendous figh
between Jackson and the United State
Bank. Proportionate to resources. II
financial institution of interest in our tim
his ellow-drectors and other allies. wn
/ has been known to use money IN polite
on larger scale than Nicholas Biddle an
sought in vain to destroy Jackson. Mar
Hanna as a business man in politics ha
not raised, and possibly never will raise
such a storm about his head as befell Bid
die, undoubtedly man of the finest per
sonai honor. in trying to save the ban
through the Whig party. Nick Biddle, i
the minds OF the Democratic masses. wa
a synonym for monster moneybaks reek
ing with corruption. The country ha
seen no such uproar on a financial or bus
ness issue as when Jackson sent Samu,
| ID. Ingham and William j. Duane back I
| Philadelphia because they would not tax
| the government deposits out of the banl
and finally found Roger b. Taney ready t
execute the order. The cry was raise
by the Wings that the "Kitchen Cal
met was specializing with the none,
or that 1t was to be used in making Va
Buren the successor of Jackson. Fror
1892 up to 1910 you will find clamor almos
1 llttSSdul lot VI DdnhS,
men and corporations. And yet, by ia
the richest man I'm the country in 1881 wa
Girard. when he died, with seven and
half millions; the income of all the col
porations was not equal to the revenu
last year of the Pennsylvania railroad an
$4,000 would have bought the New Yor
, Herald, perhaps the most profitable c
. newspapers about 1870 Before we arriv
at the conclusion that money In politics
, worse evil than it was sixty years ag,
we must remember that If more of 1t
used, II Is largely because Of the stride
: populations: but l question whether an
well-informed man can prove that relu