The Marshall republican., 1907-06-21
CRAFT IN ENGLAND.
Perhaps Not So Great In Extent
as Here, but Yet Well Started

Under Such Temptations ~ They
Have Never Before known-Why
They Are Not Exposed.
There IL nothing about the visiting
American In England more amusing to
the native than the Americans conyic-
ton that there is no graft In English
municipal politics.
Frederick G. Howe, the magazinist
who writes &C much In praise OF munic-
ipal ownership. the British form OF
socialism, admits that there Is graft In
England. but says II IL all practiccd
by the lords and ml~llionalres. No
graft. he declares. has crept In through
the municipal ownership and operation
Of public utilities.
Graft In England may not be Of such
magnitude as In the United States."
said an EnglIshman who Ii well known
u public life, but Is neither a lord nor
4 millionaire, but II exists here as
certainly as II does In America. IL 10
carried on along similar lines. and, fos-
tered by the opportunities which the
rising tide Of municipal trading affords.
II Is rapidly growing In magnitude. IL
is owing to our overstrIct libel laws
and to the fact that immunity may not
be granted under English law 10 one
who confesses to accepting a bride that
the corruption now 30 well known to
exist In our municipal governments has
not been effectively exposed long ago.
THE newspapers know all about IT,
and they know who are the graftcrs.
but they do not dare to expose the sit
uation. and until the proper statutes
are enacted II will be almost Impossi.
bic to punish grafters through the
courts.
mot NO very long ago q certain
speech was reported In one OF the
London newspapers. The speechmnk.
ject matter of the speech nor the cir.
cumstances under which II was deliv.
cred were creditable to him. and he
brought q suit for damages on the
ground that the libel laws had been
violated. It 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 wcre
awarded to the plaintiff on the grounds
that the plaintiffs 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 II was suspected
that members Of the council Of London
borough Of Poplar had been accepting
bribes from contractors who were fur
nishing materials and supplies. Detec-
tives were put upon the case, and the
facts were run down. Certain Of the
contractors and councilmen. confront.
cd with these facts. confessed AMI
promised to 20 upon the stand In court
and testify to the truth. In due time
one OF the guilty men took the stand
as promised and told the story al
agreed.
He was Immediately arrested as a
| criminal under the law as its stands
and slated for an early trial. This
chilled the enthusiasm Of tho others
who had promised to confess. and they
changed their minds promptly and ir.
revocabiy. As the prosecution was
thus left without witnesses. the inves.
tigation was brought to IN abrupt
close.
"Now. the installation and operation
OF tramways. electric light works. gas
works, etc, involves the letting of
many large contracts by men who hold
places In the municipal councils. not
because they are fitted by training aud
experience to let such contracts. but
because they have succeeded through
petty politics in getting elected. They
receive no pay for their services and
In many cases are men without nnan-
cial resources of any consequence.
There are contractors In England
as well as In America who are not
above getting contracts through brib-
cry, and there are council members Of
the grade I have mentioned who are
no more able to resist the temptation
10 be bribed In England than they
would be In America. II II would not
sound unpatriotic. I might 60 so far AZ
to say that since municipal trading has
so increased the magnitude Of munici-
pal contracts Enslishmen In many cit.
ics no'O uCVu hHoWu W ec0k 'ctcCtiOu
to the councils In order to have the
chance to be bribed.
1--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. n we
could only give immunity to whoever
might be either scared or reasoned Into
contrasting the truth. In other words.
municipal Ownership and operation OF
public utilities In England are rapidly
honeycombing all our municipal gov
ernments with graft.
The law makes an exception with
regard 10 election bribery charges. and
Immunity ma lawfully BE- promised
to those whose testimony u needed to