The St. Louis Republic., 1903-07-01
BOOBIES PRACTICAL TREATMENT.

Except It assists to discovery Of the conditions
out Of which booding arose. the inquiry to whether
the brbr givcr is more to blame than the inkcr has
small value. Considerations Of the relative guilt and
thc primary responsibility of small interest In
Themselves compared To tangible facts which will aid
society in diagnosis preparatory to cradicatng the
crime. What society desires is to be put upon work
ing basis.
Concern is more for the crime thnn for the Grim
inals or their moral guilt Socety's attitude is like
that Of the Quaker towards an offender: II do not
hate thee half so much as hate thy dcvsh ways
The law prescrbcs equal punishment for givcrs and
takers of Doodle. In the laws eye there dis
tinctions between them; and society may as well
adopt the laws viewpoint, leaving noralizng a.onc.
AZ this time II has to deal with condition ard not
with ethics
1t doesn't matter much now who furnished the
first incentive between the big corporations, or
Interests" and the bood!rrs The fact is that the
brihc givcrs were. profcssed to be- educated the
necessity of paying for the legislation they required.
while the boodlcrs have learned the value of sand
bagging tactics The situation which confronts the
people is that there accustomed and willing
to drive bargains for that which they other
wise procure, and that there are certain legislators
and men scrambng for legislative places, who are
eager TO profit by the necessities of their customa
The ethics Of the situation largely interests the
bribcSivcrs themselves. The big corporations and
the big interests are commonly supposed to be soul
less. but they are sufficiently interested TO plead
necessity or selfdefense against the indictment of
public opinion, in endcavor to dfercntiate their
moral guilt from that of the sandbnggers But the
sane view-and the laws view-recognizes no such
distinction. The sandhaggcrs not encountered in
the open; they met by stealth, and 1t Is not
render which occurs but corrupt exchange: the
hph
gives, and the result of the transaction is robbery of
the state and a betrayal of the people.
Not which of the robbers is the guier, but how to
put stop to the system of robbery-that is the prob
lem which concerns the people.
vehement expression Of public morality has its
effect but righteous Indignation occasionally mani
tested cannot be depended upon to accomplish the
whole result; nor can the vigorous prosecution of
offenders in the courts under the present system of
laws. EStraditon laws are unsatisfactory the ad-
ministraOn system is imperfect in permitting the
escape of suspects from the States confines without
great difficulty, and the operation of the statute Of
limitation in these cases is thought hamper rather
thnn advance justice. Our criminal laws like the
civil, should, when occasion clearly appears be ad-
justed to criminal conditions and the crime of boo
ding is the just which chiefly threatens pub
lie welfare not alone in this but in other States and
in the nation itself.
The cure for boodllng is threcfold, ms applied to n
situation like that which has prevailed in Missouri:
consisting of a manifestation of strong morality in
the tone of public opinion, rigid application of suit
able laws and n thorough overhauing of politics.
In Missouri public opinion has accomplished much,
and vigorous prosecutions under existing laws have
virtually checked the crime for the time being al
though many of the guilty have escaped The next
step is the publication of politics. After that there
should be calm consideration of the laws as they
bear upon boodng ohenses, looking to their read
justment, should the necessity clearly appear.