The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-24
Setting a Bad ExauD,e

-'4i cOFfuDlGQ more
! than the good manners of men lorg be-
! fore the days of the apostles nId will
continue their evil work until Gabriel's
| trumpet announces that the experiment.
| is a failure and viii be permanently
| discontinued. Corruption of this kind
works it's way into public as well as
private life, but in the former, it's adj
vance depends very much upon the
popular conception of the uses of gov
errment. If that tolerates the use of
the united power of the whole, under
| whatsoever plausible pretense, to fur
Their the interests of some at the general
| cost it is inevitable that there will
! ccme demoralized sense of the rela-
tons of the government to those who
| serve it or in it. If a legislator, ma
! tional, state or municipal, finds regnant
| policy of so using governmental
! powers as to add to the wealth
| Of those able to secure their
use, he will very humanity come
! to think that there is an injustice
| in asking him to grant these values and
| get no share himself The boodling of
legislatures of all degree has it's root
in this misuse of governmental powers.
Were these privileges regarded as the
property Of the organization, to be sold
or leased for the highest price, a diff
ferent sense of public obligation would
be felt by legislators.
The effect goes farther and ever far
ther. 1t affects the merely ministerial
| officers, the administrators, the super
intendents, and finally reaches the low
| er rounds, where the effect is seen in
the race for spoils to be had as COM
( pensation for work done for party or
Individual and service to the public is
looked upon as an uncompensated
gratuity, of which the lowest possible
minimum is to be rendered 1t leads to
that view of government which Ran
dolph charged the Federalists with hold
ing, that government is a job; to that
view, otherwise expressed, that public
office is private snap" a thing out Of
| Which something is to be made direct
ly or indirectly, honestly or dishonesty,
| immaterial so that it is made. Two
! pending cases illustrate one phase of
these manipulated effects A commits
SIGN is investigating charges against a
naval officer who had the superinten-
dence of a great public work, and who
| &C. oo with
it's construction, involving several mil
lion dollars. Another is trying to find
out how another officer permitted
frauds in the construction of the Brook
lyn dry dock that render it worthless
almost as soon as completed. A few
years ago we had the armor plate
| frauds involving dereliction on the part
of supervising officers of the navy.
The significance of these events
should strike minds casehardened by
similar exploitation of government by
| civil officers, for corruption has gone
a long way into the body polite when
it has touched officers Of the army and
navy. The school in which these are
trained is one that puts honor and
loyalty first in it's training. When the
rcttenness Of civil agents in the Indian
bureau became so offensive that a.
change was imperiously demanded
army officers were transferred to those
posts, and every one felt that there
would be honest administration of their
affairs. The trust in the integrity of
officers of the army and navy was we'll
founded upon the records made by
them. Have the evil communications Of
civil corruption reached and made fab
by the moral sense Of these branches of
the service? Have some officers of the
army and navy, too, come to 'look
upon government as a job?"
The eyes of the observant are on the
manner in which the restored Democ-
racy administer the affairs Of the great
er city Of New York. The MANAGEMENT
Of the streets Is especially watched.