The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-21
DEPENDS ON THE POINT OF VIEW


The fortune accumulated in recent
years by Richard Croker, recently a
sciourner in England and a generous
patron of the turf there, but now
again in the land of his adoption to re-
sumo the labors incident to the gov
eminent of a city so expansive as is
Greater New York-his fortune, we say,
was, in it's mysterious source, a mat
ter of frequent conjecture. He neither
toiled in any vocation nor did he spin,
and yet, in a very few years, he rose
from comparative poverty to that de-
gree of wealth that allows a splurge
on English race tracks and 'Obbnob-
bling with the nobility. 'fWhere did
you get it?" was the standing inquiry
Of some of the papers which admired
neither his government nor his per-
s0nality. Other papers proceeded to
specify where he got it. They bluntly
accused him of selling franchises to
corporations, and putting into his
:
as the price of nomination. He was
said to get his slice off all public con-
tracts. Some of the more plainspoken
papers called this stealing, and Henry
George so called it on the stump and
declared that, if he We're elected, he
would have him arrested tried and
-+oo1;oo
Mr.. Croker kept silent under all this
fire, but since election he takes occa-
sion to say, referring to these charges,
that Il know that 1 have suffered as
the scapegOat of these folk CHS ac-
cusers), but as I sit here 1 say that 1
never had dollar on which one spot
of dishonesty rested" This he doubt
less intended as a sweeping denial that
! he had ever made a dollar in the vari-
Gus and devious methods stated. Pos
sibly this is true, though the proba-
bilities are against it, even from a
point of view that is more scrupulous
and differently educated in morals
/
/ life depends upon that point of view.
! So many things look black that from
another appear white Honesty and
dishonesty become merely relative
terms as one gets one or another point
of view. In the forum of pure morals
it would not be considered honest if
| one person should compel another to
| give him of his earnings, no matter
however specious the plea that covered
the eXtortion. and yet we see number
less men doing it every day and not
only justifying their acts to their con-
sciences, but actually deeming them
patriotic.
So it can be that all that is charged
against Mr.. Croker, as the uncrowned
king of his city, may be strictly true;
and yet Mr.. Croker, viewing the things
done from his point, can be quite sim
cere in declaring them all right and
their proceeds honest dollars. Men oc-
cupying such places as his, doing that
! AIIIO VI hOlh, COliiiLS III CO1IlcCI WIN
the associations Of the place, come to
have a moral myopia that obfuscates
the immoralities in things. The profit
that comes from them acts as salve
to mollify conscience and seduce her
from loyalty to herself. We have
heard man who makes those nego-
tiations between legislators and inter
ests affected by legislation say, with
a calmness that betokened an easy
conscience, that he bought legislators
just as he would stocks or cattle We
have seen lawyers, in their capacity Of
legislators, hired to further or oppose
measures helpful or hurtful to corpo-
rate interests. voting for or against
| them themselves and getting others to,