Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1900-06-22
SOUTH FRIDAY JUNE % 1900
PHILOSOPHY OF BRIBERY

PHILOSOPHY OF BRIBERY
If you bribe a man to do thing he
ought not to do, you may convert him
into blackmailer. He is likely to de-
mand pay for doing thing he aught
to do. That is the philosophy of bri:
berry.
The officers Of the Ice Trust, the
Sugar Trust, the Armour Plate Trust
and all other combinations which
thrive on official favoritism can bear
witness that when once you corrupt a
man it is almost impossible to get him
to do anything as matter of duty.
That is the most terrible effect of bri-
berry And it is also true of voters.
Pay a man 10 vote for bad candidate
and he will refuse to vote for a good
candidate unless he is paid again. Mr..
Hanna has corrupted the electorate in
the middle Western States. He has
spent money like Il drunken sailor.
What is the result? The voter de-
mands more and more, and the CAM
paign fund must be measured by mil
lions rs against thousands which
suficed before.
The defense Of bribery in all ages has
been that it is "short cut to good
results. 1t is the defense offered by
the trusts and railway corporation
who maintain agents of corporation in
Washington and the capitals Of the
various States today.
Lord Macaulay in summing up the
character of his great civic hero. Will
J liam Of Orange, admitted that the King
maintained fund for the purpose of
bribing members of Parliament, and
attempted to oextenuate, if mot to justify
! the offence by pleading that His Ma
jesty simply took advantage of an old
system-vicious in itself-to secure the
enactment of wise laws. It is the short
cut" argument Lord Bacon, the Lord
Chief Justice of England, confessed to
the House Of Lords that he has been
guilty of bribe- taking. but sought to
excite the pity of his judges by claim
ing that he was the victim of the pre-
vailing custom of his time. The fact is
that the first man who bribed Lord Ba-
con made HIM blackmailer for life.
For thirty years Jacob Sharp sought
by bribery to secure franchise for a
railway on Broadway. We all know
now that the Broadway railway is a
public blessing, and it would have been
well for New York had the enterprise
been established twenty years ago. But
what was it that caused the delay |!
Mr. Sharp and his friends, having at
tempted to bribe members of the Legis-
lature, at once made themselves the
subject of blackmail. Legislators who
might have voted for the railway bill
on its merits demanded money for their
votes. Mr.. Sharp groaned. He had
aroused spirit which he could not lay
at will The demands on the greedy
legislators were too heavy. The rail-
way promoters consequently delayed
their project until the next session of
the Legislature. But the members of
the succeeding Legislature were aware
tha, their was "money"in the Broad
way railway. The price of votes had
risen. And 80 the scheme dragged on
from year to year until the law was
PASSED.
Then Mr.. Sharp approached the
Board of Aldermen in this city. Bri-
berry was attempted and the usual re-
suit was produced-blackmail. The
''short cut" was straight road to the
prison and the grave.
We have the Broadway railway now
and we could hardly do without it; but
Jacob Sharp went 10 his grave leaving
an inheritance of shame and sorrow to
his family. And he stood upon the
merits of his great and admirable plans
for a Broadway railway. and had he
appealed to the. public in a straight
forward way, he would undoubtedly
have aroused sufficient popular senti-
ment to have carried his ideas through
without reso1ting to bribery, and he
might be living now, an nonored, pros
porous citizen. 1t would have been
cheaper, quicker and safer.
Mr.. Hanna desired seat in the
United States Senate. No man can
say that that was not honorable am
bition. There is but one way TO secure
the seat and The honor that should be-
long to it-an appeal for the support of
the people Of Ohio Mr.. Eanna had
brains, wealth and plenty Of personal
friends. Ohio was decisively Repub-
lican State But Mr.. Hanna chose the
"short cut . To-day his seat is Il seat
of shame. 1t cost him no man knows
how much money. And tomorrow or
next month or next year the witness
who can drag him from the place may
appear.
Which is the greater offender, the
briber or the bribe-taker9 To my mind
he who takes the initiative is the chief