New-York tribune., 1900-05-13
HONESTY AND TRUTH IN POLITICS.
overnor Roosevelt in The Outlook

plicable in public life the eighth and ninth
citizen Interested in politics and especially every
wh0 o in nc SE on pos the 6
lie man should remember always that the two
sha not IN and hs not to bear se
witness against thy, neighbor" He should also, of
break the moral law expressed in these two com
on Of he Os Of s aW Ro6
berry and theft, perjury and suoornaion of perjury
man who technically never commits any of
these grimes lis is yet morally quite as guilty as is his
hnitely less dangerous, brother who gets into the
AS regards the eighth commandment while the
remark of one of the founders of our Government,
est. is overstatement. it remains that abso-
ut Is what III Wopd f have we called
afford to differ on the currency the tariff and for
question of honesty if we expect our Republic per-
manenty to endure. No community is healthy
where 1t IS ever necessary to distinguish poll
tcian among his fellows because me is honest"
to ecent Service to he pubc m Un
less man is honest we have no right to keep
capacity hardly matters how great his power of
w m @ I'll agee Rft Wb {s
In the abstract; yet in the concrete there is much
outside of certain we'll known centres of fostering
often comes in insldous ways. There not a
corporations special legislative executive prvi
campaign funds; will permit loose and extravagant
work because a contractor has political influence:
or at any rate, will permit public take
public money without rendering an adequate
of men who protected by prominent party lead
ers Various degrees Of moral guilt are involved
all. directly or indirectly. every such comes
ment which, in forbidding theft certainly by i'm
plicaon forbds the connivance at theft the fail
reformers is devise some method by which big
corporations can be prevented from making heavy
subscriptions tharab Inv
quiring improper influence But the best way
proper purposes is simply to elect as public ser
wants. not professional denouncers of corporations
Qor such men are in practice usually their most
servile tools}. Lut men who say and mean that
from doing them justice by popular clamor.
into doing them more than justice. At the Anti
Trust Conference It last IT. summer m NJ Bryan com
New-fork would not pass law prohibiting con
ing that New-York. while it retains rational civic
habits viii not pass ridiculous legislation which
tended deceive during the campaign the Voters
the slightest need for such legislation if only the
public spirit is sufficiently healthy sufficiently re-
to see that each corporation receives its exact
rights and 5. nothing N aRd this is is exactly what
honest corporat tons dread hundred times more
terror merely to honest Corporations.
1t IS of of course not not enough III that public & 9cia
If he is not also brave and wise. The weakling
saved honesty
but without honesty the brave and able man is
merely civic wild beast who should be hunted
Others can can possibly do his duty by the community
When this truth is accepted automatic in our
politics, then: and not till then, shall we such
instance Tammany rule in Ma as Tammany T
rule now is. more possible than it would be pos
Ages '' '-'l''''
! Great is the danger to our country from the fail
| among public to live up the eighth
! commandment. from the callousness in the pub
exaggeration to say that the danger is quite as
m those mh0 IN bv dnd Gg 4
| ness against the honest man. and who thereby de-
are both the same level The public is quite as
| much harmed in the one case rs In the other bv
is just ugly a word thief" because 1t i'm
as in tn the other If @ man lies nnder W oath oeT or
cures the lie Of another under oath it he perures
aaTe Ga law TndeP he haher aw nGe1 unHer the the
great law OF noraiity and rghteousness, he is pre-
lies IN tS ape o3n or on m the stump and in all
| fnitely more widespread and more perncious. The
| difference between perjury and mendacity is not in
| the least one of morals or ethics It is simply one
| The same man may break both commandments:
] or one group of men may be tempted to break one
| and another group Of men the other. In civic
owe no small part of their Immunity to those who
sin against the law by bearing false witness against
liy cnliariy revolving when coupled with hypocrisy:
| politicians do much harm as the newspaper
editor. the olergyman or the lav reformsr who
| day in and day out. by virulept and untruthfl
| invectve aimed at the uphoders of honesty weak
ems them for the benefit OF the frankly vicious We
need fearless criticism of. dishonest men. and Of
honest men on my point where they go wrong: but
| even more do need criticism which shall he
truthful both IN what II and In what 1t leaves
nnsad: truthful In words and truthful in the i'm
! preston II designs TO leave upon the readers
| hearers minds
| We need absolute honesty in public life: and we
snail not get IT until remember that truth tell
ing, Ing must go hand in hand with it, and that IT is
quite as important not 10 tell untruth about a
decent man as 1t Is to tell the truth about who
! Is not decent.