The Morality of Bribery
By Editor
VARIOUS comments are made upon the conviction of Jake Sharp, the notorious New York briber, but quite a common sentiment seems to be that he should receive only a nominal sentence, because he is an old man. We cannot see that age is an extenuating circumstance. On the contrary, it rather aggravates the offense. One man says that the ignorant and corrupt aldermen who were anxious to receive bribes, should be punished instead. And still another says that Sharp did what any other business man would do,—he found a set of corrupt aldermen, and he used them to further his ends. That is to say that Sharp should not be punished, because he would never have given bribes if somebody had not been willing to receive them. All of which shows that there is among many business men a very low grade of morality.