Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-02-18
PUBLIC AND PRI-
NATE.
Manufacturer Thinks it Worse in Pri-
vate Business Than in Public.

"ahulSStu'C CT itinhS u worse IN FRI
Vate Business Than in Public.
Ask the average man whether pri-
vate or public business is more cor
rupt, and he viii at once decide that
public business is the worse. Prob
ably he will point to the post-office
and Indian management scandals. The
reverse is, / believe, the truth when
the business is of equal volume The
management of public business is pub
lie, open to inspection; private bust
ness is private. not open to inspec-
ton. The growth of great corpora
tons has substituted system and man.
agement for the eye of the owner.
The small, coarse frauds. which were
practiced by small traders of short
weights and measures, of substituting
inferior goods for those sold have
been largely done away with; hrt in
stead the evils of dishonesty and in
dolence have grown with the growth
of big corporations until they far ex-
coed those evils in the public business.
1t is the size of the business and the
fact that it is not under its owners
eye and is not public that permit
these noXious growths. | have SOC
goods for over a quartel-century
There are railroads and large COM
panies to which | can not sell becausa
viii not buy the purchasing agents
How 90 | know? BY many little
things which make me morally sure OF
it, so sure that there are large users
whom ! never call on This has cul-
minated in one or two rare instances
by buyers asking ne tor commits
sion | have seen purchasing agents
on salaries of $4,000 and IS 900 grow
very rich.
In the selling of transportation
corruption. Here the buyer brides the
seller to make lower rate. The ris'
of the Standard oil company is mainly
due to special freight rates obtainej
by just such bribery. mixed with bull
doing and blackmail. The interstat
commerce law. with its enforced pub
licity of rates, has stopped some bu'
not all of this. as secret rebates un-
derbiling, etc. still prevail. This coz
ruption extends down to the smallest
details of buying and selling. where
the buyer is not buying for his own
use, but for someone else, Thus, the
milk dealers in New York complain
THAT it is impossible to serve the peo-
pie in flats without bribing the janitor.
If he is not bribed. something always
happens to cause complaints. And it
runs all the way up the gamut to what
Judge Grosscup calls the ''incorpor,
ated dishonesty of the shipbuilding
trust. engineered by a Schwab and 4
Morgan.
How is it with the buying for the
government? Is there an equal amount
of corruption there? For years my
company has sold goods to the United
States government. At times it has
sold more than any other concern
handling like goods, and in some de-
partments more than all others put
together. OF late years / have per.
sonally managed that business, and
during all the time have been con
versant with it, We have never given
brides, never been asked for them
never even had hint of it. Recently
well-known and successful bidder
for the supplies for the New York city
public schools told me that probably
he had more influence with the award
ing committee than any other man