The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-05-17
PLACE OF THE CElT
N MODERN POLITICS
Municipal Corruption Wrongly At
:7k. tributed to Irish, Writes
To- @, Prof. Mccarthy.
lnvests Has Shown Corruption
to r.. fish Where Irish
Are Scarce.
Contention That Celts Are Destitute
of Political Capacity is
Absurd.

The charge that corruption in
municipal affairs is almost invariably
traceatle to the Irish is ably refuted
in a paper in the May Columbian OH
"The Political Character Of the Celt,"
by Charles H. Mccarthy. Phi. D., Pro-
fessor of American History at the
Catholic University. Professor Nc
Carthy says there is no basis for the
charge in political science.
"1f anywhere in our favored rcpub-
lie municipal affairs tend to so awry,"
Professor Mccarthy writes, "a little
inquiry, it is believed, will he certain
to fix the responsibility on the Irish
element. For long time this shall
low suspicion seemed to solve every
political problem. Then some one who
did his own thinking reflected that
though unembarrasscd by the Irish,
the nations OF continental Europe are
not free from political corruption.
| From Constantinople to The Hague
every state has been confronted with
problems not less intricate than those
| that have troubled America. ThoseI
who like to think OF bygone ages see
i'll fancy nation after nation rise up
and with it's greatness overshadow
I our narrow world and sink again into
! ia, or H.
man was connected with their de-
cline.
ut must have been some pcstlcnt
fellow impressed with facts like the
foregoing that suggested a legislative
investigation in one OF our small COM
nonwcalths to ascertain the cause Of
some new instance OF municipal ir-
regularity. Unfortunately for the
sause of science the findings cf thesa
some of the cpigrams in Tie American
Commonwealth. Their inquiry dem
, onstrated that politica! corruption was
greatest where the representa- ton of
!, the Irish was most slender. The uni
vcrsal principle broke down.
; "ln 1895 this unexpected discovery
Bryce or he would not have written
the following introduction to al in
tcrcsting paragraph. He is relating
the history of the Philadelphia Gas
] Ring: The European reader will have
/ found four things surprising in the
. foregoing narrativc-the long suffer-
6 strength of party loyalty. Hc
+ will be all the more surprised when
:: he learns that most Of the corrupt
n leaders in Philadelphia are not Irish
t men, but Americans born and bred.
and that in none OF the larger cities
y is the percentage of recent immigrants
: SO SMALL CVol. H. y. 4o1, edition of
h 1889 Science, which has often COM
Y municated her teachings in a mysteri-
+ GUS way, has never used tongue
: more strange. Does any educated per-
sui III IIuiopc Dc'icNc Chdl poIltlCdl
c corruption is clinical? In the absence
: of the name Of some authority that
# holds such an opinion one is forced to
S believe that this libel flowed from the
t. pen of the publicist himself"
81 Dr. John w. Burgess, he quotes as
: saying that the Celts "have neve,
: created anything in the politica
! world, which they can call distinc.
!, lively their own. higher than the per.
: sonal clanship. Personal attachment
:, in small bodies to a chosen chief il
J. the peculiar political trait of the Gel
s tic nations. This has appeared in al
: places occupied by them and through
10 out all periods of their history
= Neither in the highest nor the loves
te instances have they created, or ca,
:e they create, political institutions of
,- superior Of order"
;; A later writer, Professor Raymon,
v. G. Gettell, of Trinity College, Hart
l. ford, whose position is much the sam
Of as that of DR.. Burgess, he quotes a
H. follows: "The very qualities that pre-
III vent the organization Of Celtic state
I'd however, are the ones that make TIL
IS, Celt n power in the machine polite
of a state organized by nation {