The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-04-05
THE PHILOSOPHY OF GRAFT.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF GRAFT.
The trial. conviction a1d ~incarcer-
axton Of ex-senator Burton. of Kan
~, has been the subject for many
@smons to be read through the press
- tie country On the question of
uafd1x, as 1t appears in the higher
walks OF life and by men whose posi-
t5ous II pubic life ought to be the
strongest possible barrier against
their doing anything in connection
with their Official capacity that would
lead TO an Investigation. That men,
however, in those positions do not
iced 1t Is shown by the convictions
that have recently taken place, nota-
bly, chat of Senator Mitchell, now de-
ceased, and ex-senator Burton. The
Kansas City Star breaches a very in
oeresting sermon on the philosophy
of grating and shows the lack OF
understanding ON the part of the
grafters to reach the heights of man
hood required. The Star says:
IL you hive taken pains to analyze
the situation and to look at it from
both sides, you cannot blame ex-
Senator Burton, of Kansas, for fail
Ing to grasp the motives of President
Roosevelt in ~contending for equity
and decency in the administration of
the government. 1t would be too
much to expect that the motives of a
man like Roosevelt could be made
clear to the understanding of a nan
like Burton. When you pause to
consider the record of Burton and of
all other politicians of his school;
when you fix in your mind the we'll
attested fact that their sole interest
In politics is limited to individual
gain or to personal reprisal, it ought
to be quite comprehensive that they
al see nothing in the crusade of the
president against public %spoilation
but an ambition to build himself up
or a desire to pull others down.
It is easy to believe that Burton
holds himself to be a deeply injured
person, and-being identified with
administration has declared war
that he is sincere when, he goes to
the absurd length of posing as the
victim OF a conspiracy which the
president has launched against him.
Public life and society, in it's va
rions rami1cations, furnish continual
examples of this sort of self-decep-
ton and misunderstanding. Let the
schemes of any spokesman or special
privilege grabber whom you know be
thwarted or disturbed and he will
forthwith begin to set up accusations
of grab and of corrupt motives. This
sort of play has been enacted any
number of times in Kansas City. 1t
Is a subterfuge that is resorted to
whenever any effort is made to pro-
tect franchises and grants that are
valuable to the city and need safe
guarding. 1t is, in the first place, as
In the cas- of Burton, perfectly nat
ural for persons who are wholly ION
the make themselves to rank all
persons in their class, and when the
moral sensibilities are In a state of
atrophy. either by temperament or
through the influence of continual
inaction, it is quite impossible for
persons SO affected to comprehend in
0Iners any motive or purpose which
is not strictly lllteriDr and sordid.
Burton's tiradHagainst the pres
iaent and the Hbllse he has seen fit
to heap upon him as a "hypocrite''
and "conspirator," merely punctu-
ates a tendency and a condition
which asserts itself wherever and
whenever the gentle game of graft
meets with molestation and interior
nnca