Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-28

Written for The Star.
lean man. an American of colonial de-
scent, who had never stepped foot on
Uncle Sans farm. and stocky, rotund
chap of European birth, but American
citizenship, who had recently returned
from business trip through Europe, were
sitting together in the Pullman smoking
room The lean man had been reading a
scare head first page newspaper story
about a newly discovered form of graft.
1T must be fine to deal with Europeans,
he said to the stocky man. Il suppose you
never see any indications of graft on the
other side. 1 should think you'd almost be
ashamed of your nationality over there
after the last few months exposure Oh
graft on this side"
The stocky man threw away his cigar,
slowly selected fresh one from his case
and lighted. Then ne exploded:
Graft, graft" he calculated. why,
bless your heart. Americans don't know
what graft is They haven't mastered its
first principles Let me tell you something.
I've make certain staple article that
has a steady sale in every civilized country
on the face of the globe. Once in two or
three years l go over TO the other size 10
look the field over and nurse our trade
There are four great corporations IN Lon
don that must use goods Of the sort We
make. AS we can make the goods cheaper
than they can be. made on the other side,
thought we might as well have the Dust
ness of these concerns so L went 10 see
the four managers.
II won't bother you with the story of the
endless formalites l had to go through
to get to these men; you have no doubt
heard all about how annoying they are. l
went through them all, patiently enough,
I'm sure. for ! knew l had to- But l was
surprised at the managerial demands
ssrr~t.- al, 10 -Fn l.
spoken for 5 per cent payment of the
amount of the order given to the manager
himself In each case. There was no hest
tation, no beating about the bush, no hint
ing. 1T is customary said each manager,
and of course ! put up with the custom
Yes of course, l added just that much to
the price of the goods, and the managers
knew it, of course. unless they were much
stupider than l took them to be.
Its so all over Great Britain. The
whole system of life there is system or
graft. The entire fabric Of aristocracy and
caste is founded on graft. The substructure,
the walls, the roof. are all graft-graft
from the highest to the lowest.
''But. bless you. nobody says anything
about IT, Nobody rushes into print about
IT. Wouldn't do, It wouldn't be customary,
and the man who should talk or write about
1t wouldn't find it easy to do business In
Great Britain afterward. and whatever So
cial acquaintances he had managed TO pick
up would drop him at once.
British and American Graft.
Now 1 don't pretend for a moment that
graft doesn't have to be paid sometimes
to introduce new goods In this country, but
It Is true that 1. personally, have never
been asked to pay 1t, and the twelve or
fifteen travelling men we have on the road
constantly have never reported half a dozen
demands for graft upon them. Nor nave
| ever heard of any such open, direct, I'M
bIushing demands in THIS country, as these
four managers made upon me.
The mere fact that so much is said about
graft in the American newspapers, and
That the Americans are so indignant when
graft revelations are given out shows that
graft is by no means universal here at
least.
lyon know what news is? 1t is the
unusual Nobody cares to read the details
of ordinary business transactions without
graft such as are going on all day ABOUT
us Nobody speaks of it as interesting that
he has done business with so and so foT
years without the suggestion of graft But