New York Municipal Corruption Exposed
This story of the stealing and corruption by which the people of the city of New York have been robbed, their per capita public debt increased to three times the average for metropolitan communities in the United States, and the city government simultaneously reduced to near bankruptcy, would scarcely be believable were not incidents and participants for the most part sufficiently described for identification, while the author has occupied positions accrediting his knowledge of the affairs he speaks of. Within twenty-six chapters, practically every phase of the city administration is dealt with; and criminal waste, misappropriation, and extravagance, involving millions and hundreds of millions of dollars as well as the permanent welfare of the city, are exposed in connection with each. We are accustomed to hear disparagement of Oriental governments, like Turkey or China, on the score of corruption; but their annals could scarcely furnish instances of venality parallel to those in New York here described, and the sums involved in their crookedness would look small by comparison. The conditions in New York are typical of those in many smaller cities. But while interesting, they cannot be called inspiring, so far as the present outlook is concerned. After reading it, one will be apt to agree that there is much truth in the words placed in the mouth of a merchant who figures in the conversation introducing the story: "We have reached a stage in human existence where the greed for personal gain has crushed out every other instinct." "I hope the future will bring forth a race of better men, who will feel for their fellow beings as they do for themselves," he continued; and believers in the Bible prophecies may trust that this hope will be fulfilled, though not as he expected.