Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1920-10-08
GRAFT And GRAFTERS

One hears so otter these days the
terms graft" and 'graftersT that
he sometimes wonders just what the
exact definition of these words may
be.
In the heat of the debate on public
affairs and political argument these
criminately Sometimes one is i'm
pressed with idea that the person
speaking has run out of opprobious
ep.theUs to express his opinion of or
contempt for his opponent and in
sheer desperation for lack Of con-
tenptuous words calls him graft
er."
We are bound to admit that our
conception of the term is that it ex-
presses an action that when COM
pared with true standard of Ameri-
can citizenship is about as contempti-
bic as anything we can think of un-
less it is the scandal mongery that
seeks to falsely smirch ones character
which is several degrees more con-
temptlble in our estimation.
! Several remarks that we have heard
! during the last week have been illu-
|
term graft. One remark came from
a citizen of Wauseon and was in es-
sence like this.
"HoW much do you suppose it
would be worth to a person to be
able SO to control public officials that
he could hand over a public work like
one of the proposed Wauseon Water
Works projects to an engineer who
was susceptible to insi1lyAtion that
it would be worth something to him
to secure the Job? The citizen quot
ed seemed to have assumed himself
that 1t would be worth about $4,000.
Of course the statement was purely
hypothetical, but it dawned upon us
that the hypothetical $4,000 repre-
sented actual graft and the hypothe-
tical person who put the thing over
represented a real "grafter." The
engineer must get the extra $4,000
out of the job in some way he could
: hardly afford to pay that amount out
: of his own legitimate fees. 1t would
have to be added to the cost of work
and would represent absolutely nc
actual value to the public for whom
the work was done and who must paw
, for it.
Another hypothetical question was
presented to US by a citizen in some
such way as this: "a certain public
. utility concern desirous of securing
the passage of an ordinance raising
the rate charged for the particular
utility which they are serving the
= public in a given municipality, anc
forseeing possible difficulty ii
l getting such an ordinance passed
finds person appfoachable and offerl
nat person, say $1,000 if he will Sc
cure the passage Of such ordinance
= Now if the person approached use
his influence and manipulates officer,
to secure the passage of that ordi
: nance is such a person grating O
= is he just giving value in services
y for the money received?
9 We suppose the question is opel
: to debate but from our point of viev
f that hypothetical $1,000 looks to u
! very much like graft and the prin
i cipals in the bargain seem to US lik
grafters.
V When Mayor Harry L. Davis toll
: his audience last Tuesday night tha
e one way in which he would reduc
e the cost of the State government wa
by discharging state employees VIII
are not necessary to the conduct q
the government or who are not gi1
g ing dollars worth of I2rvice to tn
Ir State for every dollar they receiv
from the state; more than one cit
h. zen of Wauseon came to the conclr
h sion that not only hypothetical grat
n and grafters exist in the state go,
ernment but the real thing is the,
lie and the same citizens will be yer
er glad for the opportunity to give M
re Davis chance to clean them O,
=, when they go to the polls Novemhe
n End.