The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1910-02-25

gressional committee got its $250C
He was asked if the Democrats wer
never seekers for the golden largess
Why to be sure McCurdy said the
were insistent as any others particu
larly when Parker ran for Presiden
The only difference was that tn
Democrats were not in a position +
deliver the goods. 1t was like expect
ing the traction combination 10 max
contribution to the Republican
county committee in New York af
ter Herbert Parsons succeeds il
breaking up the alliance with Tam
many which Odell has established
The interests" pay for value reciev
ed
This leads US to the crucial poi Il
in the whole matter. No doubt sons
reader has thought in reading the
preceding paragraph that the writer
was passing from instances of per
sonal corruption to instances where
a corporation contributed to a party
campaign fund in a manner accepted
rs legitimate enough until very re-
cent times, That is quite true and the
reason why the story of Benn Con-
ger is of such vital Importance from
an educational point of view is that
it shows the actual relations be-
tween gross personal corruption and
the party corruption of which Nc
Curdy told. The moment that Con.
ger related how he or his associates
had discussed bridge legislation with
former State Chairman Dunn, as 3
preliminary to making a campaign
contribution, he furnished the long
needed connecting link in the CHI lin
of evidence required to convict the
whole political system as it has eX-
listed in this State. The alliance be-
tween business and politics to which
attention has so frequently been call
ed in this correspondence is here ex-
posed, stripped Of every garment of
decency or responsibility with which
the apologistS of the system have long
been paid to clothe it. The people of
the State and the nation have oppor-
tunity to look at the naked fact. They
need only to remember that the bridge
interests, the insurance interests and
the traction interests are not alone.
With this situation thus made clear,
it is not hard to see why the State
and national leaders are turning TO
Governor Hughes with almost franti:
pleas that he will save the party. He
IS the one man in the public life of
The State who has never truckied |
with the bipartisan political combin-
ltion, or dickered with the business
that waited at the gates of |
he capital for the delivery of the leg
station that they had paid for 1 do
ot mean to say that all others have
zen corrup either personally or po-
itically. But all the rest insofar as
careful examination of the record
Will disclose have been willing to Sc
.ura the passage of some other part
md the elements of trade that the
politicians and the lobbyists have
hriveG OIL have existed just as much
Is if the same legislation had been
made UP of strike bills pure and sim
lie. The Governor alone has been
content to stand or fall by his record
md insisted that ohter should do the
anne. That is why lie looms up abo re
my other in the present moment; tina.
s why the Republicans received his
no concealment" speech at the Wal
lori the other night with rounds up
N rounds of cheers; that is why
BOSS Barnes of Albany, in the bitter
less of his heart, told young Lloyd
iriscom when the latter had remarked
hat the Governor knew more than he
lsed to: "Griscom, the Governor is
wiser than you or l will ever be-"