New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1900-11-10
MUNICIPAL CORRUPTION.

The following statement, made by
Ernest Howard Crosby to a We"
York Evening Post reporter, sums
up more terseiy and effectively the
cause and only cure Of the social
and political evils Of our great
cities than any other of which we
are cognizant:
"I do not believe that it is pos
sible to secure a serious reform OF
municipal administration here or
elsewhere without overhaualhg the
ethical foundations of our society.
The trouble is dishonesty, aud this
dishonesty corrupts the whole So
cial fabric. 1t shows itself most
frankly and indecently in Tammany
Hall, but it is probably for that
reason less dangerous there than
in our clubs, universities, and
churches. The fundamental dis
honesty is the living upon other
peoples labor, and our society is
diseased becaused almost all its
members either live in that way or
are doing the best to acquire the
privilege
"The successful man is the
man who gets money without earn
ing it, and this successful many is
the ideal of our Good Government
Clubs and Young Mems Christian
Associations even more than it is
that of Tammany Hall. The 'lower
classes are not more dishonest
than the aristocracy; they are
simply less hypocritical. If their
representatives take bribes more
openly, they know that much
that passes by the name of rent,
interest, and profit is just as corrupt,
and that a reform third-party con-
vention is likely to be as unani-
mously dishonest as Tammany
district committee.
"We talk of curing municipal
frauds by the Introduction of 'busi-
ness methods, but it is business it.
self which lies at the root of the evil.
AS we'll might we expect to cure a
cancer by an application of the bad
blood that produced it. 1t is the
business man, the Wall Street man,
with his relentless instinct of
grabbing all he can get, and of Sc
curing in this way an assured posi-
| ton on the shoulders of others,
who sets the pace for Tammany
fHsii. And, insaeg ssansstien
is much more direct than this. 1t
is really such business corporations
as the Metropolitan Traction Com
pany that control our municipality
and this takes us back to the re-
sidents of Fifth avenue, to the
clubs and churches which they fire.
quent, and the colleges in which
their sons are educated, and which
are engaged in scramble after
their accumulations.
.It is the unjust and unequal dis
tribution of wealth which produces
the poverty and riches that are ia.
vorable to vice, and at the same time
renders possible the accumulation
of vast funds in a few hands, the
prolific source of municipal bribery
and corruption. Any reform which
will tend to give to each man his
own earnings and no one else's
would help to correct the evils OF
civic dishonesty at their source
The removal Of all special privi'
leges, such as are created by pro-
teetive tariffs, the taxation of water
out of stocks, and the unearned
increment out of real estate, wOuld
be practical steps in the right di
frection. But with this must 60 {
new standard Of ethics, namely
the recognition Of the fact that j
is dishonorable to live on others
labor, and that no system of book
keeping can make it right. II
short, we must come to see that WI
are suffering more from MammOny
than from Tammany."