East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-05-24

selves in this way, they. have drifted
from one thing to another until the
questions of morals involved have be-
come hopelessly obscured and sub
merged. >h,.a
Indirect Bribery.
The methods used are we'll enough
known, Money has not only been
supplied to those men in public life
who would be serviceable to big bus
mess interests by way of promoting
the legislation they desired and pre-
venting the legislation they feared,
but it has also been denied to those
who would not be serviceable. 1t is
this latter use of the money power
which has attracted very little at
tention, but which is after all the
most insidious and contemplate part
of the whole ugly system. Most of
our legislators are men engaged in
one kind of business or another, or
engaged in one sort of employment or
another. They therefore have their
own individual business interests and
connections, and again and again 1t
has happened that individual legis-
lators who wished to render conscien-
tious and independent public service
found themselves suddenly embar-
rassed when they refused to serve
particular business interests which
were seeking legislative favors. They
have found that they could not re-
new their notes at the bank. They
have found credit denied them and
obstacles put in their way in the con-
duct of their business. The whole
thing can be easily managed without
attracting public attention and in such
subtle ways that even the man injur-
ed cannot always prove that there Is
anything intentional or deliberate in
the injury done him but the grip of
the money market tightens on him
none the less and strangles him if he
exercises too great independence and
does not lend himself to the purpose
which the machine has consented to
promote at the bidding of the business
men with whom they are allied.
The Use of Money.
Unhappily money is necessary at
every turn of the political game. 1t
part Of our electoral process because
our electoral processes have to be
public, men have to be commended
to the electorate by methods of one
sort or another, like public speeches.
literature printed and distributed
through the mails-by all the meth
DDS of publicity. which are neces-
sarily costly. A man cannot get into
office without the expenditure Of
good deal Of money, even II he con-
fines the expenditure to perfectly le-
gitimate objects. The sources OF
money are therefore the sources Of
political opportunity and of power.
and those who supply the money can
generally control the nominations,
that is to say, the selection Of those
who are to exercise the powers Of
government and OF law-making. And
opportunity does not stop at election.
The men elected to office generally
hope to have some political future,
and they find that future in turn
controlled at the source so that those
who supply the "sinews Of war" are
too often able to exercise q kind Of
command which deprives representa-
tives Of the people Of their own real
independence. 1t requires a great deal
of courage and an unusual amount of
individual Initiative to serve in one
Of our legislatures without being
touched and restrained and coerced
in some degree by influences Of this
kind.
The Tariff.
One Of the best instances that could
be cited is the whole disappointing
business Of our legislation with regard
to import duties. The tariff has been
the most prolific source Of the cor
rupt interference Of business with pol
itics that the experience of the coun-
try has afforded. Almost every kind
Of business Is affected directly or in
directly by the tariff laws and It has
in recent years become notorious that
the schedules Of the tariff were ar
ranged by the ways and means COM
mittee Of the house of representatives
and the finance committee Of the SEN
ate with a very tender regard for
particular business interests.
Everybody will agree that IL the
tariff policy is intended to be protec-
tive and to seek the objects which II
has always pretended to seek. It Is
perfectly legitimate that 1t should
have to pay very careful regard to
the business interests Of the country
taken as a whole. But that Is a very
different matter from paying regard
to the individual interests OF partic-
ular undertakings and Of particular
groups of men. The long and short
Of the whole experience, as we now
see it, is that our whole tariff legis-
lation has degenerated from a policy
Of protection into policy of patron
age. The party which has stood most
consistently for the so-called system
of protection has derived not little
of its power from the support of the
great business interests of the coun-
try. / do not mean the moral sup
port merely. / mean that 1t has been
supplied with immense sums of mon
ey for the conduct Hf its campaigns
and the maintenance of its organiza
ton and that, whether it has estab- |
Ilshed partnership with the manu-
featuring interests of tht country
which has deprived it of its liberty |
Of action in all matters touching the |
tariff. 1t is bound by obligations |
tacit and explicit to see that those |
interests are not damaged which have |