Connecticut western news., 1907-05-30
GRAFT IN ENGLAND,
Perhaps Not So Great In Extent as Here, but Yet Well Started.
The Operation of Public Utilities by Public Officials Has Placed Them Under Such Temptations as They Have Never Before Known-Why They Are Not Exposed.

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 Americans convic- tion that there is no graft in English municipal politics.
 Frederick c. Howe, the magazinist 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 millionaires. No graft, he declares, has crept in through the municipal ownership and operation of public utilities.
 Graft in England may not be of such Snagnitude as in the United States" said an Englishman who is we'll known in public life, but is neither lord nor a millionaire, "but 1t exists here as certainly as 1t does in America. It 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 one who confesses to accepting bribe 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 do not dare to expose the sit uation, and until the proper statutes are enacted it will be almost impossi- ble to punish grafters through the courts.
 Not so very long ago certain speech was reported in one of the London newspapers. The speechmak- CT was indignant, for neither the sub- ject matter of the speech nor the cir cumstances under which 1t was delfv- cred were creditable to him, and he brought a 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, it 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 criminal under the law as it's 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 ir- 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 we'll as i'll 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 to be bribed in England than they would be in America. If it would not sound unpatriotic, I might go so far as to say that since municipal trading has so increased the magnitude of munich pal contracts Englishmen in many cit ies 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, 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.
 ''The law makes an exception with regard to election bribery charges, and immunity may lawfully be promised to those whose testimony is needed to convict the guilty. This has enabled us to unearth many election irregular ities. as the readers of English news papers know very we'll, and eventually we are going to be able to unearth the facts with regard to bribery and job bery in English municipal administra- tion. We are we'll aware, however, that 1t will probably be quite as difi-