The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-03-07


Have Never Before known-Why
They Are Not Exposed.
There is nothing about the visiting
American in England more amusing to
the native than the AmS1can's convic-
| ton that there is no graft in English
municipal politics.
Frederick c. Howe, the magaziaist
who writes so much in praise of munic-
| ipal ownership. the British form OF
socialism, admits that there is graft in
England, but says it is all practiced
by the lords and mlllionaires. Ne
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 is we'll known
! in public life, but is neither a lord nor
millionaire. ''but it exists here as
certainly as 1t does in America 1t is
carried on along similar lines, and, fos-
| tered by the opportunities which the
rising tide Of municipal trading affords,
| it Is rapidly growing in magnitude 1t
| is owing to our overstrict libel laws
| and TO the fact that immunity may not
| be granted under English law TO on.
who confesses to accepting bride that
/ the corruption now so we'll 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 grafters.
but they 90 not dare TO expose the sit
uation. and until the proper statutes
are enacted it will be almost impossi
| BILE to punish grafters through the
| courts
Not SO very long ago a certain
| speech was reported in one of the
| London newspapers. The speechmak
er was indignant, for neither the sub
! ject matter of the speech nor the cir
| cumstanceS under which it was deliv-
| cred were creditable to him. and he
| brought a suit for damages on the
| ground that the libel laws had been
| violated. 1t 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 were
| 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 it 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
ed with these facts, confessed and
! promised to go 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 as
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 the others
who had promised to confess. and they
| changed their minds promptly and If
revocably AS the prosecution was
thus left without witnesses, the inves-
| tigation was brought to an 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 and
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 finan-
cial resources of any consequence.
"There are contractors In England
as well MS in America who are not
above getting contracts through br1b-
cry, and there are council members of
the grade | have mentioned who are
no more able to resist the temptation
to be bribed in England than they
would be in America. If 1t would not
sound unpatriotic, might go so far as
to say that since municipal trading has
so increased the magnitude of munich
pal contracts Englishmen In many cit
les have been known to seek election
to the councils In order to have the
chance to be bribed
I'VE 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, If we
could only give immunity to whoever
might be either scared or reasoned into
confessing the truth. In other words,
municipal ownership and operation of
public utilities in England are rapidly
honeycombinG all our municipal gov
ernments with graft.
"Thc law makes IN exception with
regard TO election hrihcrr n'l2"cNi, and
immunity mn& l"wtrr-' -" ~""2ised
to those whosc to.',.! g '' .:n'Acd to
convict the ~ cd
us To una""'l o.. Cd .' g.. ,,~ Lar
tiles, rs the nHWs-
papers know ''r- .'.. uTcnt,a'lv
we are grinG az ..,'..- uro 49,, i.c
facts wien I'D b".'." ''l-
berry in Iiy'''n NV GI& n'
ton We Ve" ,u,.'' .,".
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