The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-27
AGE OF "GRAFTs" AND RAKE
OFFS"

true only when honest and worthy men
are elevated to positions of trust. Most
men in public office are honest and capa-
BILE, seeking no gratis" or ''rakeoffs.'
But there is an indisposition upon the
part of many men who ought to be in
public life to enter into contests that
are not agreeable to them The conse-
quence is that more and more men are
chosen who push themselves and get into
office by manipulations'' and the bribery
of corrupt and weak men. In nearly
every case that man gets office by
such methods he proceeds to get enough
.rake-offs'' to reimburse himself. The
scandals of 'graft''-(a new word in
vented to describe a new species of cor
ruption)-are seen too often. st. Louis
officials have convicted the boodlers there,
but Philadelphia has promoted and hon
ored its grafters 1t remains to be seen
what the Roosevelt administration will
do with the army of grafters who have
made the postofhce department a stencil
in the nostrils of the people
timely, a wise, and sensible ed
torial in the Baltimore Sun on this sub
iect is so good that we give it in full
below
'sThe postal scandals that are now
stirring up the government in Washing
ton and elsewhere are striking NANTES
tation of the spirit of the age. And the
spirit of the age is graft or ''rake-oft, =
as it is variously called. 1t pervades every
rank of society The man who has trust
wants to get something out of it. Men
are not satisfied with the legitimate mol
uments of their places. II the butler is
sent to market to buy provisions for the
family the chances are that he will de-
mand rake or from the butcher and
the green grocer. Not long ago it was
shown to be practice in New York for
the grocer to give Christmas presents to
the servants in rich families, for the har-
ness maker and the coachmaker to give
Christmas presents to the coachmaE.
Agents who have orders to give often I'M
prove the opportunity to exact percent
age. But IN dealing with the government
the graft" comes more conspicuously into
use If man invents some appliance
perhaps millions of dollars he may be com
PEELED to pay some official a sum of money
to get him interested. The recent dis |
closures about a mail pouch contract are
an illustration of one method of graft"
A contractor gets so cents for a pouch, but
the government pays a dollar. The diff /
ference represents the graft" which Is
said to go to the man who gives the
order A clerk is illegally promoted to a
place which has larger salary than that
which he has been getting. He pays a
part of the increased salary to the man
who procures the promotion
There is another kind of graft not
considered dishonorable, but which is, per-
haps on that account even more baneful
in It's far reaching effect. 1t is the sys-
tenn which has for years, almost from the
beginning of the government affected
every grade OF offieialdom. 1t is in the
Use of public office for private benefit. |
The man who has an office to bestow
does not ordinarily make his selection
with an eye single to the public good. He |
wants something out of it for himself. |
He wants the political influence of the
man he appoints and he is to appoint the
man who can give him most of that when
he comes up for denomination or re-elee |
SOD. lie IL OibeD IHduS tDdl TIT
appointment is to strengthen the party, |
but the man who uses that plea generally
considers himself the party. 1t was TO
meet this recognized evil that the social |
cd civil service reform movement was
started a number of years ago. The OBJ |
ject of the reformers was to secure the
employment of officials best fitted for the
work they had to do regardless of party
affiliations That movement resulted IN
the enactment of a law which has done
incalculable good. But ever since its en-
aetment politicians have been busy making
breaches in the ramparts IL spread around
The public service, and these efforts have
been attended with some success, as the
recent disclosures of the practices ID the
Postoffice Department seem to show.
a half century ago the practice of
using the patronage of the government
for private benefit had become so pro-
naunced that in the constitution of the
Confederate States the president, who was
to have term OF six years. was not re-
eligible. The intent of this wise provi-
sion was to prevent that high official from
using the vast patronage of his office TO
promote his own denomination"