The Washington herald., 1907-12-12

New York. Dec. 1l.-William H. Lang
don. the district attorney of San Fran
cisco, who was reelected in November by
majority of nearly 1900 votes, spoke
tonight at Carnegie Hall before the Civic
Forum.
Mr.. Langdon Is the man who said 1T is
as human to be virtuous as it is to be
vicious"
In his speech tonight he said, in part,
speaking Of San Francisco and what he
called The Struggle Between Graft and
Democracy:
This American city Of American men
was the city l loved But there are a
hundred like it in this land, graft-ridden
and cynical of government. the pitifuI
victims of the twin evils. selfish interest
and popular indifference.
When men in office take a bribe and
give away what does not belong TO them,
it is more than the double crime of ex-
torting and stealing: il is treason 1t is
crime against government itself. II is
different from ordinary military treason
in one respect. that it IS the long be-
friended citizens within our own ranks
that accept the betrayal and not some
openly hostile foreign foe. 1t is worse
because the CRATER stays among us and
continues TO corrupt government. while
the traitor goes across the border where
he can do little further harm. Graft. like
parasite. attacks not only the body
polite. but it finally cripples the very
organs OF political repair To be stamped
out it must be viewed as a treason more
horrible than a selling out of arms. for
IL Is a selling out OF the fundamental
ideas Of right and wrong which control
the moral use of arms.
Privilege Of Immunity.
Leadership public opinion. and expert
service-these are adequate to cope with
ordinary forms of crime But the crime
Of graft is a secret crime. Efficiency de-
mands the use Of the privilege Of i'm
munity. Legal evidence is always neces-
sary 10 indictment and conviction Where
crime is secret and only the perpetrators
are present the evidence must be gotten
from criminals. The distinterested are not
present at its commission. Much as we
regret 10 let any criminals go free. IT is
choice between immunity and letting Sc
cret crime eat out the vitals OF democ-
racy.
In deciding where immunity should
fan. circumstance and the necessity for
getting at the very sources OF evil deter
mined where immunity should be granted.
At the beginning Of the governmental IN
vestigation We went 10 the men Of the
public service corporation and asked them
to assist US with whatever knowledge
they had so that We could clean up the
government. But they protested that
there had been no questionable financial
dealings with the government for their
franchises. They kept up this denial for
hve months Since the bribers would not
give the evidence. we got il from the
bribe-takers, both parties being equally
guilty"
Immunity had to be given IN order
that crime might be punished. and ny
force OF circumstances IL was given N
the supervisors that the very tap roots
Of political corruption might be torn from
the soil in which they thrived Without
this extended immunity we could only
nave convicted one obscure supervisor.
After Men Higher Up.
We are after men higher up' because
they are the severest menace to our in
stitutions. the enduring factors that nro-
gramme and bribe each board OF suDer-
visors as they come and go. We ara
after the man higher up so as TO make
criminal acquisition Improbable in terms
OF human desire. We are after the man
higher up so that young men and women
growing up IN this and other communities
will once more believe with ardent fervor
not only that dishonesty does not nav
but that Of all the goods on this earth
the greatest treasure is a straightforward
life"
The Rev. Or. Lyman Abbott was chair
man OF the meeting, and also made an
address. Hundreds Of lawyers. polI-
ticians. office holders, and court workers
reserved seats. District Attorney Jerome
and his staff of assistants arranged n
sit behind the young California orator
while representatives OF the Bar Associa-
ton and many judges of the courts IN
this city also occupied the platform
After the addresses of Dr. Abbott and
Mr.. Langdon, Edwin Markham read q !
poem entitled The Vermin In the Dark >.
Ocean Steamships
New York, Dec. u.-Arired ONT Rpr,,b1ie g. |