New-York tribune., 1914-10-18
WHITMAN, ,GRAFTSFEAREDFO
Tmmany Sheer Dread of the Man Who Has Already Achieved
Such Great Things in the Public Service, Will Put Up It's
BttereSt Fight to Prevent His Election Governor
A Question for Colonel Roosevelt

lied that il was all part of his campaign against
graft to thus give apparent warning to the graft
ers
Each and every time that Whitman made any
such announcement of graft that he about to
expose he chad the goods" before he made any
announcement. That little move in the game of
relentless and resultful prosecution Whitman has
always been master of, and whatever others may
think of its value he has been convinced time and
again that it has served well his purpose
The psychology Of it is that when man has
been thus warned his first thought is to cover up
his back trail In the Whitman way of doing
such things the man finds that the cover-dp
process has been nulfed in advance. With GER
tain exposure and prosecution facing him the
next thought of a caught crook is confession and
the idea of throwing himself the mercy of the
court.
1t is like the sudden discovery Of the besiesed
that the enemy's guns are large and so efficient
that defence is fatty useless-that there is no de-
fence.
1t is like the "feel" of football team that the
opponent has the weight and team play to sweep
over everything before it,
THE APPLICATION OF THE WHITMAN PHIL
OSOPHY TO THE BECKER CASE.
Brave men fight along and fight harder under
those conditions, but crooks, high or low are not
brave men, in spite of the fact that an exception
appears now and again to prove the rule. Becker,
for instance, is an exception The four gunmen
were not in spite of the fact that they went to
death without giving up any of the secrets of the
underworld. They simply catspaws, pawns
so degraded that they were not trusted with any
but the most general secrets The application 81
this philosophy of Whitman's in that famous case
70 hos ho
Intermediates who testified against the gunmen
and against Becker. How much of fear was in
spired in their hearts by the terrific suddenness
of their downfall after the announcement that
their identity and activity were known only they
could tell
Bringing that same philosophy to bear upon
case that reached out for men in higher stations
in life and incidentally upon case or series Of
cases that have through Governor Glynn's own
words obtruded into this state campaign exam
inc two moves of the Whitman programme of
crook catching as applied to the campaign fund
blackmail investigation.
Whitman was condemned far more upon these
occasions than ever before for what termed
by his enemies and by those who feared his fast
closing net smirching the names of respectable
citizens Boiled down to hard facts, that accusa-
tion was based first upon the fact that he did let
it be known that he going to charge Everett
Fowler, of Kingston, and seek to indict him, IN
connection with his activities "bagman"-
one who collected money from contractors who
were engaged upon state work-for the benefit of
the Democratic State Committee
Naturally Fowler turned to look over his back
trail, and he found many points at which he might
be subject to attack. The effort to cover up MS
record at those points brought him Immediately
to the inevitable conclusion that when Whitman