Political Corruption by George Ide Butler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 4, 1873

Political Corruption.

By George Ide Butler

THERE are some things transpiring around us in the political world which shed great light upon the condition of things among the so-called great men of our nation, and afford striking evidence of the tendency of American politics. And it may be well for us to consider some of them briefly, lest we be misled by the so-called progress of our age. No doubt there is progress enough, but the question is whether it be in a right or wrong direction. As many of the readers of the REVIEW do not take the political papers, it may be pardonable to say something in its columns concerning these things; for I believe them to be a sign of the times.

Political purity is absolutely necessary for the success of republican government. When money can buy election, influence legislation, and determine the success of great schemes by means of the votes it can purchase, we may as well conclude we have become sadly degenerate.

Who ever knew a government which had once come into such a condition, to become pure again? The tendency is all in the other direction. Destruction always follows corruption, sooner or later.

Recent events in the State of Kansas are most suggestive. Grave charges of bribery in securing their election are made against both of her senators in Congress. These two officers, holding the highest position in the gift of the State, and members of the first legislative body in our country, are freely accused of bribery, and investigating committees, appointed by the Senate, are looking up the matter. Senator Pomeroy, one of them, was recently up for election. Charges of bribery and corruption have been freely made against him for years in the past, till a very large portion of his own party were bitterly opposed to him; and a majority of the Kansas Legislature were elected last fall, pledged beforehand to vote against him when his name came up again for election. Though he came to Kansas comparatively a poor man, he had become immensely rich, as many believed, by taking advantage of his official position to benefit himself pecuniarily. As the time for the election of senator drew near, Mr. Pomeroy came on from Washington to work the wires and secure his seat for another term. A large majority professed to be opposed to him, but he and his supporters, from the first, felt sure of succeeding, and openly boasted of it. As the contest waxed warm, it was noticed that many, who had talked loudest against him, began to grow weak in the knees, and talk doubtful, and finally go for him. It was fully believed that these changes were brought about by money and bribery. His opponents began greatly to fear he would succeed, and the papers opposed to him came out in mournful terms, almost hopeless of being able to stop this, attributing his expected success entirely to bribery.

At this juncture, a trap is set for the senator. Mr. York, one of the members opposed to him, consents to a proposed interview. Another follows. What transpires between them at the dark hour of midnight, we only know from their own statements. Suffice it to say, on the morning just before the ballot is to be taken, which it was thought would give Mr. Pomeroy his seat for another six years' term in the Senate of the United States, Mr. York takes the floor, and makes a statement to the effect that Mr. Pomeroy had offered him $8000 for his vote, and he already had received $7000 of it, which he takes from his pocket and lays before the chairman. Of course, the excitement is tremendous. Members turn pale, perhaps from a consciousness of their own guilt. The ballot is soon taken, and Mr. Pomeroy gets not a single vote. His competitor gains his election. Mr. York becomes the hero of the hour. Mr. Pomeroy goes away baffled, sick, and terribly disappointed. And the papers which rejoice over his defeat, confess it was owing solely to this exposure, and that his defeat could not have been brought about any other way.

If that be true, what a terrible confession! A great State, settled up from the most intelligent portion of our country, has fallen so low that it cannot defeat a candidate for the highest office within its gift, even when a majority of the Legislature is elected, pledged to vote against him, and when he is believed to be most corrupt and venal, simply because those whom they have sent cannot be trusted. They will yield to bribery. And the only way he can be defeated is for a member to hold a secret meeting with the briber, solemnly promise to vote for him, lie to him, and come out and betray his confidence. And the man that does this is lauded to the skies. Ministers of the gospel speak his praises, and many of the organs of public opinion hold him up as a model hero.

Again, how can a man afford to pay $8000 for one man's vote? A very few purchased in this way would take more than his whole salary would amount to. The only answer that can be given, is, that his official position as a senator gives him opportunities to fill his pockets. It shows that jobbery and corruption are plenty in our national Legislature at Washington. If the great mass of senators and representatives there were honest and pure, such things could not go on. The very air is filled with stories of corruption, which are fully believed by the masses of our people. Each party has to confess its own iniquity.

Each party is very zealous to expose corruption in its opponent, but has plenty of excuses for its own. The Republicans denounce the corruptions of the Tammany ring in New York city. The Democrats retort by references to Credit Mobilier, in Washington. In the latter, some of the most respectable reputations in the country have been brought into suspicion. Names that have stood high as leaders of the great anti-slavery struggle, are smutched over with a taint of corruption. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in a lump are known to have been put into the hands of lobby members for the purpose of influencing legislation, and men go to prison rather than reveal the uses they have put it to. Such terrible things are known to be going on, and some of the leading papers in our country boldly declare that there is far more beneath the surface, and demand that it shall be brought out.

In some of our States, rival legislatures and sets of officers fiercely contend with each other for the mastery, each claiming to be entitled to the exercise of authority, and keep the country in uproar for months and years. Murder holds high carnival in our largest cities, and the Governor of New York comes out in a public message, intimating that respectable people begin to doubt the value of our boasted republican form of government, because it fails to secure life and property. Strong threats are made that in the commercial metropolis of the new world vigilance committees shall be organized, to take the law into their own hands, because of supposed connivance between officials and criminals, and as the only way to secure punishment for crime, and consequent safety of life and property. Political rings are organized, who gain control of party machinery, and millions of dollars are stolen from tax-payers.

All these things are around us. Our ears are filled with the constantly repeated story of them. To be sure, the papers are telling us that these things are being exposed and broken up, and that greater purity will be the consequence. But to what party can we look for purity? Are not all of them tainted? Do they not excuse and defend just as long as they can? And when the thing becomes so notorious that it can be smoothed over no longer, the corruptionist is dropped, and left to enjoy his ill-gotten gains. Who has been punished?

Even Tweed, the most notorious character of any age or country, almost, in this line, walks the streets months and years after his guilt is known, his name standing upon the senate list of New York as still a member, and they find it nearly impossible to convict him.

Mayor Hall of New York city, his accomplice, holds out his official term. If a man steals a loaf of bread to keep him from starving, he soon finds his way to prison. But the man who pockets millions of dollars wrung from the poor, in taxes, goes off with his ill-gotten gains. Investigating committees smooth over these things, and the grand rush for money, money, goes on. If men have that, they can pass on, receiving at least outward respect.

Was there ever a country on our globe that made such rapid strides in corruption, as our own? Not quite one century this side of Washington, Hancock, and Patrick Henry, and yet they tell us the millennium is not far distant, the world is getting better, and soon righteousness will reign everywhere. These very things are corrupting our youth and depraving the masses of our people. Men acknowledge everywhere that it is difficult to find men that can be trusted. And no wonder, when men in the highest places profit by corruption and go unpunished. These things are terrible, and plainly show where we are drifting. GEO. I. BUTLER.