Evening star., 1952-09-12
Many Kinds of Corruption
Other Than Graft

4O1lSC4s
Many Kinds Of Corruption
Other Than Graft
I know what I am talking
about. I am the Governor Of
one Of the largest States in the
Union and I have had my re-
cruitment problems. I had an
experience only last week when
a very good friend Of mine, a
Republican from Chicago, told
me that a revenue agent had
been in to audit his returns.
He had fallen into conversation
with him, and this young able
lawyer, a recent graduate from
q well-known law school who
was doing this to get experience,
said: II am going to quit. I
have gone to Office after office
and I have been greeted by busi-
nessmen and taxpayers as
though I were a thief, not they"
And look at it, not alone from
the point of view Of the mis-
chievous effect on q gullible
public. but also from the point
Of view Of the consequences to
the public service as a whole.
I wonder how much the peo-
pie know Of the sitting. the
choking effect Of irresponsible
witch hunting, the paralysis of
initiative, the hesitancy and the
intimidation that follow in the
wake of broad, generalized ac-
cusations and impede bold
imagination. able thought and
discussion, which are the anvil
of public policy. I am frank to
say that I get a little confused
by corruption in politics. We
tend to think of it as something
SO simple-the simple, unso-
phisticated terms of graft, of
cash on the barrelhead-but
its forms are many and I think
OF another form which we wit
ness every day and to which I
have become acutely sensitive
in my brief experience in the
public service.
Perhaps the proper. descrip-
-tion is not corrupt, but expedi-
7sent. for the legislator-be he in
Sacramento Or Springfield, nli-
nois. or Washington. D. c.
who will vote for all kinds of
special interest bills to catch or
to hold some votes while he
pirates piously about economy
and indignantly about waste.
Call that what you. will. Con-
done it as YOU please. Even
profit from it as you do now
and then. Its cost to you
is infinitely greater than all
thievery and rascality that cap
lures the headlines. =,
Have you ever heard Of q
candidate who. was against
economy and efficiency? OF
course not. It is part Of the
standard repertoire. Everybody
is for economy. efficiency and
honesty and against waste, sin,
corruption and communism.
But how about the logrolling
for laws, or their repeal to serve
the interest of some group at
the public expense, to catch
some votes or for fear of los
ing some? Many things are
done which seem to be hard to
distinguish from outright bri-
, berry. Yet we will condone the
one and condemn the other.
Notes Growing Confusion
About Ethics in Politics
I have seen many q legislator
vote for every appropriation
during legislative session and
against every tax and babble
about economy and fiscal re-
sponsibilities at the very same
time and so have you. And,
what is more, they will be
elected over and oyer again.
In the last session of my
Legislature in Illinois, I pre-
sented a very tight budget that
called for no general purpose
taxes, or tax increases in spite
Of all the general cost increases
in the previous two years and I
called upon the Legislature not
to add to that budget without
subtracting from it in order to