“ Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety. So, our honest politicians and our honorable corporation heads owe it to their reputations to bring their activities out into the open. ”
Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom (1913). copy citation
| Author | Woodrow Wilson |
|---|---|
| Source | The New Freedom |
| Topic | corruption secrecy |
| Date | 1913 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14811/14811-h/14811-h.htm |
Context
“It is barely possible that some of these gentlemen are unjustly suspected; in that case they owe it to themselves to come out and operate in the light. The very fact that so much in politics is done in the dark, behind closed doors, promotes suspicion. Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety. So, our honest politicians and our honorable corporation heads owe it to their reputations to bring their activities out into the open. At any rate, whether they like it or not, these affairs are going to be dragged into the open. We are more anxious about their reputations than they are themselves. We are too solicitous for their morals,—if they are not,—to permit them longer to continue subject to the temptations of secrecy.”
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