The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-01-09
CORRUPTION
N MOROCCO
Is Worst Governed Land in
All the World.
IS ABSOLUTE DESPOTISM
Country Is in Darkness and
viii be Kept So.

| In Morocco, writes A. j. Dawson, all
are obtained quite openly by purchase.
| To purchase the governorship Of a given
province means to acquire the right of
| extorting from the people of that prov
| ince every farthing that can be ground
out Of them, by fair means. by force, or
| by such foul methods as torture and
starvation. Out of this a certain annual
| tribute must be sent to his Shareefian
| majesty, lord of all the faithful, maker
and breaker of all officials. In the same
| way to be a guard or policeman (the
word in use is ASA seen, from which we
naturally derive our assassin) implies not
the holding of a post bringing in a salary
of so much month. but merely that one
is licensed extortioner and rogue with
in the limits of petty larceny. AS, for
example, the pasta of town sends two
of his ASA Seen to arrest a certain citi-
zen who is suspected of the crime of
possessing secreted savings. Those as
saseen may not attempt to force his
treasure from the citizen for themselves.
That is meat for their master. But
usage says they may and will extort
what they can from the mana handful
of silver, say-with threats of rough
treatment or promises of favor That is
their business and its rewards are I'M
derstood to be their sole source OF in
come.
Habeas corpus is, of course. totally I'M
known in Al Moghreb. A judges dictum
usually runs in this wise: Take him to
the prison." or Let him be beaten" In
the latter case the matter is put in hand
forthwith. while the judge takes SNUFF
and turns upon his cushions. a slightly
bored spectator, his nod sufficient 70 de-
eide whether the culprit should be mere
~ bruised, MANNED, half killed or actu-
ally done to death. A deliberate sem
tence, in which a period OF months or
years of imprisonment is named. is never
pronounced. Such a method would never
answer, for the duration of any prison
e. confinement depends entirely upon
the length of time taken by his friends
in scraping together bride which shall
satisfy the responsible official. And this.
whether the crime be the most dastardly
kind of murder or the merest bagatelle.
or nothing at all beyond the misfortune
of being judged a prospecting man Wi
a nest egg worth plundering.
While in prison-and you will bear in
mind that the best and the worst of men
are equally unable to avoid the risk of
imprisonment at any tine-a man is given
nothing whatever by the authorities if
there is friend within reach who can be
induced to supply as much as piece OF
bread per day. If, on the other hand 4
prisoner should prove absolutely FRIEND
less "a state of things fortunately rare
among all primitive people, the authori-
ties allow him one bran loaf the shape
and size of an English bath bun. each
day. And that is all. For water Moorish
prisoners depend upon the keeper OF
their prison, who usually supplies two
skinsful per day paid out of pennies
taken from incoming and outgoing pris-
oners. The doorkeeper being an official. |
is unpaid. and pays in presents to the
official next in rank above him. for the
privilege of making just much as he is
able by extortion. He appoints one pris-
oner as kaid or captain of the whole
number confined. This again is a license
to rob and Cypress, In return for which
the prisoner kaid pays daily tribute TO
his fellows. distributes water, metes out |
corporal punishment. and EFFORTS trib- |
ute in money, food. tobacco and the like |