Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1907-03-11
CRAFT N ENGLAND.
1ss Operation III PshAas Utilities by
pssEas oeelsas mas easesd Them
unssr sssh Tsmstasssas a. Thsy
nsss hsssr Before knsMn-Ahy
TAsy Are Net Expasss.

ThsSe II n0ahing ahMpsai tile visiting
Aaasg4can i'm ERgaaaA a8oww Amusing 10
fhe native talan the Americans ronsie-
ten that there il 80 graft in English
municipal laaatts~-
Fr~irTfck &. Howe. the ~uaasaxtnist
Who writes - mReh In praise II manie
ipal 0wneF~hlp. The British form Of
socialism, admits that there IL graft I'm
Engiand. but says Il Is all practlesi
Dr. the loras aud ~nliIla0nalrts. No
graft. he d~e<aares. has erpfst In through
The municipal ownership aud operation
a. public utilities.
Graft In England may not be- If suph
magnitude IS Ia the United State"
said an EngiislIman who is well known
In public life. but 10 Eeithev a lori nsaF
q mlIlionalFr. but II exists here ~
carried on along similar lines, and. fos-
tsred by the opportunities which the
rising tide II municipal trading affords.
% h rapidly growing In magnitude II
ID owing to our oveFstrict libel laws
aud 10 the fact that immunity may not
b. granted under English Law 10 one
who c0nfesses 10 accepting u brlh' that
The corruption now 40 we'll KNOWN 10
exist In municipal got eruments has
not been effectively exposed long ago.
The new spapers know nii about II.
aud they know who are the grafters.
but they do not dare to expose the sit
uatIon, and until the proper statutes
are enacted II will be almost inpossi-
BILE TO punish grafters through the
courts.
Not Nd very long ago a certain
speech was reported In one Of the
london newspapers. The ~speechmak'
or was indignant for neither the sub
ject matter Of the speech hot the cir.
cunstances under which 1t vas deliy.
cred were creditable 10 him, and he
brought a suit for damages IN the
ground that the libel laws had been
violated. u was not claimed that the
speech was Incorrectly reported: In
deed, II was admitted that the report
was substantially without error. yet
nevertheless heavy damages
awarded ts the plaintiff on the grounds
that the plaintiff reputation had been
injured and that the publisher could
not show that the publication OF the
report was Of benefit To the public.
"A little longer ago Il was suspected
that members OF the council Of London
borough Of Poplar had been accepting
briles from contractors who were fur.
nishing materials and supplies. Detec-
tlves were put upon the cast and the
facts were run down. Certain Of the
contractors and councilmen, confront
cd with these facts. confessed and
promised 10 go upon the stand In court
and testify TO the truth. In due time
one Of the guilty men took the stand
cs promised and told the story az
agreed.
"He was Immediately arrested NJ u
criminal under the law as It's stands
and slated for m early trial. This
chilled the enthusiasm Of tho others
who had promised to confess. aud they
changed their minds promptly and IT.
revocably. As the prosecution was
thus left without witnesses. the inves.
tigatlon was brought to an abrupt
close.
"Sow. the installation and operation
Of tramways. electric light works. gas
works, etc. involves the letting OF
many largo contracts by men who hold
places In the municipal councils, not
because they are fitted by training and
experience to lot such contracts, hut
because they have succeeded through
petty politics in getting elected. They
receive no pay for their services and
IN many cases are men without flnan-
cial resources OF any consequence.
There are contractors In England
m we'll az In America who are not
above getting contracts through brib-
cry, and there are council members OF
the grade | have mentioned who are
no more able to resist the temptation
to 10 hribed In England than they
would he In America. II 1t would not
sound unpatriotic. I might 60 so far as
to say that since municipal trading has
so Increased tho magnitude Of munich
pal contracts Engllshinen In many cit
les have been known to seek election
to the councils In order to have the
chance to be bribed.
We could today make exposures Of
graft In London and more than one
other English city that would startle
American readers even. accustomed as
they are to reading graft stories. II We
could only give immunity to whoever
might he either scared or reasoned into
confessing the truth. In other words.
municipal ownership and operation Of
public utilities In England are rapidly
h~oneycomhing all our municipal gov
ernments with graft.
THE law makes an exception with
regard to election bribery charges. and
immunity may lawfully he promised
to those whose testimony is needed 10
convict the guilty. This has enabled
us TO unearth many election irregular
tiles, al the readers of English news
papers know very well. and eventually
we are going to he able TO unearth the
facts with regard TO bribery and job
berry In English municipal admlnlstra-
ton We are well aware. however,
that II will probably he quite MS diff
chit 10 ioh 90 Il was thirty ,nid rnnrn