SERIOUS CHARGES AGAINST HIGH OFFICERS.
By T.
It has only been a few months since all the papers were discussing the alleged bribery and fraud of a United States senator from Ohio, in securing his office. It was strongly asserted that abundant testimony confirmed his guilt. And now another U. S. senator is before the bar in Pennsylvania charged with embezzlement and other crimes. Specific charges of corruption and fraud have been urged against the Pennsylvania man by a leading New York paper for nearly nine years. He has been “challenged to bring the truth of the allegation to the test of a trial in court in a suit for libel.” But he has not done so. Enough has been brought against the Ohio man to make a most substantial foundation for a libel suit if he was sure of the innocency that would prove the falsity of the charges. But no suit for libel seems to have even been hinted at by the Ohio official. And, under the circumstances, the people can not be blamed if they entertain the idea that these men are not guiltless. But the fact that these men thus rest under a cloud of suspicion, does not break their political influence. One of them is an acknowledged political “boss,” and the other should be classed as such. These instances only illustrate the fact that the young men of this country do not have exalted heroes of patriotism and statesmen of such stalwart character that they can not be reached by bribery, set before them to emulate if they would gain distinction in the affairs of State; but they see the “boss,” and the “boodler” with his bag of gold. If he would serve his country as a public official, he must throw his manhood to the winds and truckle to the “boss,” selling himself to the “boodler” at the most advantageous figure that he can get. The exceptions to this rule are not sufficient to raise this country above the immediate danger of a speedy “fall.” The United States has long been the refuge of the liberty-seeking people and the foe to tyranny and the corruptions of wealth. But now that she has broken from her moorings and is drifting with the rest of the world, who can predict how soon will come the universal disaster? T.