The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-04-02

S~os<AAAeS
treasury are small in number compared
with the number of those who have
prostituted their positions to private
advantage. This condition of affairs
is really threatening. 1t has passed
the stage of being merely disgraceful.
1t has almost ii not quite reached the
stage where the beneficiaries of the
system openly and without fear of con-
viction or loss of power ply their ne
farious business. Mr.. Steffens in the
April number Of McClure's Magazine
presents facts which ought to awaken
our deadened public conscience. He
shows how corruption pervades every
walk of life. every time" he says,
Il attempted to trace to its sources the
political corruption of city ring, the
stream of pollution branched off in the
most unexpected directions and spread
out in network of veins and arteries
so complex that hardly any part of the
body polite seemed clear of it. 1t flow
ed out of the majority party into the
minority; out of politics into vice and
crime; out of business into politics,
and back into business; from the boss,
down through the police to the prosti-
tute, and up through the practice Of
law, into the courts; and big throbbing
arteries ran out through the country
over the state to the nation-and back
Our political corruption is a system, IL
regularly established custom of the
country, by which our political leaders
are hired, by bribery, by the license to
loot and by quiet moral support, to
conduct the government of city, state,
and nation, not for the common good,
but for the special interests of private
business. Not the politician, then, not
the bribe-taker, but the bribe-giver, the
man we are so proud of, our success
full business mamie is the source and
sustenance of our bad government.
The captain of industry is the man to
catch. He is the trail to follow. We
have struck that trail before. When
ever we followed the successful politi-
clan, his tracks led us into it, but also
they led us out of the cities-from
l'ittsburg to the state legislature at
Harrisburg: from Philadelphia, thro
pennsylvania, to the national legisla-
ture at Washington. To go on was to
90 into state and national politics, and
was after the political corruption Of
the city ring then. Now l know that
these are all one. The trail of the po-
litical leader and the trail of the COM
nercal leader are parallels which mark
the plain, main road that leads off
the dead level of the cities, up through
the states into the United States, out of
the political ring into the system, the
living system of our actual govern
ment. The highway of corruption is
the road to success
That is Il terrible Indictment but who
shall say that it is overdrawn. Why
look for political issues when common
honesty in public life has departed.
10 stop this work challenges the ca
pacity and courage of the strongest
men. 10 reform our public service
so that it will stand the test of hon
esty is enough for any party to do. 1t
was Il task sufficient to engage all the
powers of such men as jackson and
Tilden. There never was Il time when
Il change in party administration was
more needed than now. The rank and
file of the voters of the country do not
approve of present conditions. Can it
he possible that the Democratic party
will fail to take advantage of the sit
uation?