Political corruption

“ Our discussion and struggles about other great questions and principles will appear like a mockery and farce if we permit our public concerns to drift into that ruinous anarchy which corruption must necessarily bring in its train, because it destroys the confidence of the people in their self-government, the greatest evil that can befall a republic. ”

“ APOLOGIES FOR POLITICAL CORRUPTION Nearly all current contributions on the subject of political corruption belong frankly to the literature of exposure and denunciation. The ends pursued by social reformers are notoriously divergent and antagonistic, but there is general agreement among them and, for that matter, among Philistines as well, that corruption is wholly perverse and dangerous. ”

“ The corruption, political and financial, of the United States is built up on the betrayal of the people by the leaders, big and little, whom they trust, and the treason begins in the ward. The ward leader, having the full, fine, personal faith of his neighbours, takes their confidence and their votes, and he delivers these
things and his own soul to the party bosses who sell out the interests of the city, state, and nation to the business leaders, who—as we know now—use the money we entrust to them to rob us and corrupt our political, commercial and our higher life. ”

“ And though in private conversation people frequently criticise governmental incapacity, and say that politics is rotten, and that politicians and office holders are corrupt, they seldom or never go as far as to question the principle of manhood suffrage, but seem to think that political corruption and incapacity are necessary incidents of all government, or at least of all democratic government. ”

“ In our every essay at making our social and economic objectives a fact accomplished, we are hampered by a cancer gnawing at our national entrails. Graft and corruption, I say, is not a political question but a national problem. I do not intend to shirk the responsibility of the Administration, but I propose that we all handle this chronic ailment in the body of our Government as a common problem, the people’s as well as the Government’s—of its executive, legislative, and judicial branches. ”

“ Every student of our political history knows that since the spoils system was inaugurated, corruption has steadily grown from year to year, and so long as this system lasts, with all its seductions and demoralizing tendencies, corruption will continue to grow in extent and power, for patriotism and true merit will more and more be crowded out of political life by unscrupulous selfishness. ”

“ If, however, it can be shown that in spite of the evil involved political corruption nevertheless has certain resultants which are advantageous, not simply to those who profit directly by crooked devices, but to society in general, the use of the term would be justified. ”

“ Corrupt practices may begin in, and at first be limited to, the business world, but, as we have just seen, they are likely to overstep economic boundaries and become a menace to the integrity of the state. As such they must also be recognised and discussed as derivative forms of political corruption. ”

“ Conversely corruption necessarily finds its richest field in highly organised political communities which have developed most fully the idea of duty and which have intrusted its performance to the largest number of officials and citizens. The modern movement toward democracy and responsible government, beneficent as its results in general have been, has unquestionably opened up greater opportunities for evil of this sort than were ever dreamed of in the ancient and mediæval world. Economic evolution has co-operated with political evolution in the process. ”

“ But these explanations really explain nothing; they fail to explain why our official guardians and rulers systematically rob us whenever we are too busy to watch them, nor why they are not replaced by people who can be trusted. These expounders proclaim that the people need only to “arise in their might” and the corruption of three generations will become incorruption. When at any election one political ring goes out and another comes in they utter childish blasts of triumph. ”

“ If once we step outside the circle of legality, however, we find extremely confused, conflicting, and even unfair states of moral opinion regarding corruption. Public anger at some exposed villainy of this sort is apt to be both blind and exacting. Reform movements directed against corrupt abuses are no more free than are regular political organisations from partisan misrepresentation and partisan passion. ”

“ The social advantages alleged to flow from political corruption are either illusory or minimal. On the other hand the resultant evils are great and real, although, no [Pg 38] doubt, they have often been exaggerated by sensational writers. Whether corruption be approached from the latter side, as is commonly done, or from the side of its apologists, the social necessity of working for its limitation is manifest. ”

“ Nor in any reasonably moral community would they be likely to take direct bribes. It is time, however, as every one who lives under the rule of colonial politicians knows too well, that political corruption, in high places as well as in low, should be distinctly stamped as a crime, and brought under the regular cognizance of justice. ”

“ Public opinion has with significant unanimity sustained those who insisted upon a thorough investigation of the abuses of the Government, and it is to be hoped that the work of purification will not be arrested before it has overcome that partisan spirit which for its own selfish ends is still endeavoring to belittle and whitewash corrupt practices, and to shield men who participated in them, or who rendered them possible by knowing toleration. It is time that corruption should be rooted out at any cost. ”

“ These are, first, that political corruption makes business good; second, that it may be more than compensated for by the high efficiency otherwise of those who engage in it; third, that it saves us from mob rule; and fourth, that corruption is part of an evolutionary process the ends of which are presumed to be so beneficent as to more than outweigh existing evils. ”

“ An apology for contemporary corruption based on such considerations may therefore be worthy of attention, provided, however, that it does not attempt to bind us to a purely laissez faire attitude in the presence of admitted and immediate political evils.
From the latter point of view political corruption may be regarded as a symptom, bad in itself but valuable because it indicates the need, and in some degree the method, of cure. Like pain in the physical economy it is one of the danger signals of the social economy. ”

“ If in such cases we excuse and forget, why not also excuse and forget corrupt transactions that have been more than repaid by general brilliant conduct of affairs of state? No answer to this second question, however, can avoid the distinction that while certain kinds of personal immorality may affect the value of a man’s public service to an infinitesimal degree only, corruption in any part of his political career strikes directly at whatever efficiency he may possess as a public servant. ”

“ Without undertaking a summary of the argument on the various forms of business and political corruption the same point may be made with regard to them that was made with reference to the corruption in the professions, journalism, and the higher education,—namely that the major forms of evil are recognised and savagely criticised. ”

“ There have been some dishonest men in public employ and some dishonest practices under the best Governments, in all countries and at all times. That may be unavoidable. But where corruption develops itself during a long period of time and on an extensive scale, we may be sure that it must be the fault of the existing political system. ”

“ Neither do Prussian municipal officials engage in boodling, but the ascription of superior virtue to them on this account must be tempered by a knowledge of the fact that the local government of the country is kept closely in leading strings by the state. Paradoxical as it may seem, it is none the less true that political corruption implies the existence of political virtue ”

“ Even more immediately corrupt business practices lead to corrupt political practices. This is so conspicuously the case that separate discussion of the two subjects is virtually impossible. It is feasible, however, and should prove profitable, to distinguish the various subdivisions of economic and political corruption and to point out certain lines of the development which have bound the two so closely together in our modern life. ”

“ The country at this very moment is ringing with the cry of corruption. Is it without reason? Never before have the agencies been so powerful which seek to serve private interests by a corrupt use of money, and never before has the field of political life been so well prepared for their work. The same causes will always and every where bring forth similar effects. ”

“ In newspaper articles, in public speeches, and in whole volumes filled with accusations, these trusts have been charged with being centres of corruption, instruments of a new despotism not less odious than the political despotism of old. ”

“ When we read of administrative scandals, it is desirable to have a sense of proportion, and to remember, as the reader of old records or even of Pepys’ diary will scarcely need to be reminded, that corruption was rampant in the past, and especially to remember that the best way to remove that most subtle and mischievous form of corruption which consists in giving and accepting appointments as political rewards, is by ourselves taking a part in local government, or by steadily upholding those who are doing so with integrity. ”

“ Very serious evils may follow reckless mudslinging of this sort. Even if the charges are looked upon as the natural and harmless exuberances of our current political warfare, their constant repetition tends to blur the whole popular conception of corruption. ”

“ It will be observed that none of the terms of the foregoing definition necessarily confines corruption to the field of politics. This is intentional. Corruption is quite as possible elsewhere as in the state. That it has so frequently been discussed as peculiarly political is by no means proof that government is subject to it in a greater degree than other social organisations. One might rather conclude that the earlier discovery and more vigorous denunciation of corruption as a political evil showed greater purgative virtue in the state than in other spheres of human activity. ”

“ As a result of the reckless and often exaggerated gabble of the grafters, sensational newspapers and magazines find it an easy matter to keep their columns filled continually with highly spiced political exposures. In all probability comparatively few out of the total of corrupt transactions that actually take place are thus made public, but the prominence given these few may easily lead to overestimates of the extent of this evil in our political life. Undoubtedly, also, our practical political leaders are sometimes accused of offences in which they had no part. ”

“ Corrupt practices are found to be limited in some cases to certain branches or spheres of government with consequences of varying degrees of danger to the national life. Or they may be limited in amount or percentage by various prudential considerations on the part of political leaders who, however, are far from being sufficiently restrained in this way as social welfare requires. While corruption thus appears [Pg 110] to be a persistent problem of social and political life it is far from being a hopeless one. ”

“ A very striking implication of the persistent character of the problem may be found in the fact that much of the current terminology of political science implies the presence of corruption as a common factor in the life of the state. To modern students Greek classifications of forms of government appear rather naive, considered simply as classifications, but many of the separate terms employed in them nevertheless remain in general use. ”

“ Corruption retards development and produces instability by undermining the credentials of democracy, state institutions, and the political class. Reduced corruption is, therefore, a major target of economic and institutional developmental. (c) Corruption cannot be reduced only by punitive measures. A system of incentives to avoid corruption must be established. ”

“ Under the present vicious system there must be a considerable number who realise secretly and more or less vaguely the inherent kinship between their conduct and that of the corrupt political organisation under which they live, and who in consequence remain inactive and ashamed when movements for better things in city, state, or nation, are on foot. ”

“ In absolute governments, where the monarch is the source of all power, it is still held to be important that the exercise of that power shall be free from the influence of extraneous violence and internal corruption. In a republican government, like ours, where political power is reposed in representatives of the entire body of the people, chosen at short intervals by popular elections, the temptations to control these elections by violence and by corruption is a constant source of danger. ”

“ No one is so simple as to imagine that such forms of corruption as affect our political life owe their existence to any public benefit, near or remote, which by any stretch of the imagination may be attributed to them. Primarily they exist because they are immediately profitable to certain persons who are unscrupulous enough to engage in sinister and underhanded methods of manipulation. Philosophical excuses are not thought out until later, when the magnitude and the profitableness of the malpractices involved suggest the possibility of an apparently dignified and worthy defence. ”