IN 1854 Fernando Wood, a ward politician who acknowledged that he had cheated his business partner by falsifying the figures in their accounts, was elected mayor of New York. Mr. Godkin speaks of his administration as "the organization of New York politics on a criminal basis." William M. Tweed succeeded Wood as New York's mayor, but far outstripped his predecessor in his daring criminality. Indeed, Judge Noah Davis said of Tweed that he "saw fit to pervert the powers with which he was clothed, in a manner more infamous, more outrageous, than any instance of a like character which the history of the civilized world afforded."
The thugs of the city, nicknamed "Tweed's lambs," were organized by the "Tweed ring" into a part of the political machine; and by the corrupting influences of money and the control of the ignorant and immigrant element, together with all the other dark ways known to the unscrupulous, Tweed and his "ring" kept themselves in power, while they plundered the people. Mr. E. Benjamin Andrews, in his book, "The Last Quarter Century in the United States," says: "The ring's operations cheated the city's taxpayers, first and last, out of no less than $160,000,000, 'or four times the fine levied on Paris by the German army.' . . . In 1871 he boasted of being worth $20,000,000, and vowed soon to be as rich as Vanderbilt. . . . He used gleefully to show his friends the safe where he kept money for bribing legislators."
We have not the space here to picture the shocking and many-sided corruptions that were boldly, yes, brazenly, practised in New York under the management and protection of the "Tweed ring." But twenty-five years ago Tweed himself was undergoing his prolonged trial, and the whole country, outside of his friends and accomplices in New York, was horrified by the revelation of the dark deeds that had been committed by Tweed and his pals. It was believed that the exposure of these official crimes, and the revolution against them, would make the repetition of such deeds an impossibility in the future politics of New York. But these high hopes were destined to be dashed to the ground.
In 1878, seven years after his arrest, and with his trial uncompleted, Tweed died in Ludlow Street jail. But the seeds of political corruption did not die with him. For in the years 1894–95 the Lexow commission, appointed by the New York Senate to investigate the frauds and corruptions of that second city of the world, found that the evils of Tweed's time were not only continued but growing worse. The commission held seventy sittings, and the report of their inquiry filled five volumes of 1,100 pages each.
In this report the commission affirms that almost every form of crime and vice is under political and police protection. And the helpless, the widow, the uninfluential,—the keepers of small fruit stands and cigar and tobacco shops and the like,—are made the objects of extortion and blackmail. The police are appointed by the politicians, and so lucrative is the policeman's position considered that they are required to pay the political ring $300 for their appointment, and when promoted to the post of sergeant the price is $1,500, while a police captain has to pay $15,000 for his appointment.
Among the sources of revenue of these corrupt officials they collect from $50 to $300 a month from pool-rooms; $20 to $25 a month from policy shops; $2.00 a month from liquor dealers; $10 to $50 a month from houses of ill-fame; and when a new house of prostitution is opened, an initiation fee of from $500 to $2,000 is charged, in addition to the regular monthly fee thereafter.
The foregoing figures are not surmises, but are facts given under oath before the Lexow commission. If it shocks us to hear of a professional highwayman "holding up" a person and demanding his money, how much more shocking is it to know that city officials accomplish the same thing under the garb of the guardians of the very laws that they are trampling underfoot.
Twenty-five years ago this form of criminality was being broken up in New York, as it was supposed, and it was firmly believed that our Christian civilization would not allow it to break out elsewhere. But we see that the criminality and evil of twenty-five years ago has not only augmented in the metropolis, but has spread to other cities.
The Illinois Senate caused an investigation to be made in Chicago during January, 1898, and they found the same evils there that the Lexow commission found in New York City. Indeed, the Chicago chief of police was driven to such straits by the investigation that, according to the press reports, "he apologized for the thugs and toughs who had been appointed as members of the police force since he was made chief." And at the same time when this investigation was going on in Chicago, a committee of citizens was making a like investigation in Philadelphia, and found the same evils there.
Language is feeble to express the appalling criminality of this time. For it is not the skulking highwayman alone that is to be dreaded. But men chosen to execute the laws, or robed with the judicial ermine, have prostituted their high positions of trust and responsibility to rascality of the most infamous depths. And with our large cities a veritable cesspool of crime, what is there to hope for?
This nation is rapidly rushing down the same decline that Rome traveled when she was crumbling to destruction. And hers was only a heathen civilization. But what will be the terrible end of a nation that so terribly degrades herself in the presence of the light of the pure doctrine of Christ? And when Rome fell there were other nations—even tho they were called barbarous—that had not degraded themselves with vice and aristocratic criminality, that came in to absorb Rome's civilization, reject her vices, and thus found new empires. But where is there a nation to-day that is not in even a worse condition than the United States? There are no peoples now to overturn this evil and establish enduring governments.
The prophet describes this condition of evil most minutely. He says:—
"For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them. . . . And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment." Isa. 59:12–15.
When men refuse to relieve the oppressed and to execute justice in the earth, the only thing left them is for the just Judge Himself to execute the judgment of the great and final day. And before that tribunal where neither bribery nor any other fraud can enter, the whole world will soon be summoned. God's Spirit is impressing this solemn truth upon your heart. Do not reject the divine admonition. T.
BOSSISM IN STATE AND CHURCH.
ONE of the prevalent and lamentable tendencies in political life in America during the last quarter century is boss rule in politics. Twenty-five years ago it was manifest only in New York. Boss Tweed was a unique figure, condemned by all parties and papers outside of those under his immediate control. Now we have bosses in national politics, bosses in State politics, bosses in municipal politics, and oftentimes bosses in ward politics. It is no longer in New York only, but in nearly every town down to 4,000 inhabitants and lower. So everywhere present is the Boss, with a big " B," that even decent men feel they must reckon with him if they are to achieve success. Men bow to men, and the evil is increasing. Not merit but money and the boss win elections now. And in this we are not discriminating between parties nor referring to recent local elections. We refer to the boss in politics, irrespective of party, as one of the excrescences of the body politic, showing its innate corruption.
It is not personal knowledge of bosses or politics which we present. We know no boss control, and are not politicians. We present the testimony of one of the "bosses." One of the most successful and respectable of this class in the Union is Colonel Dan Burns, of California, who does mining in Mexico for a business, and politics in California as a pastime. What we quote from Mr. Burns was written about two years ago in a signed article shortly after election; we clip from the San Francisco Examiner:
"When the delegates selected by the one-man power go to the convention, do they express their own wills?—Why, no; they await orders from the boss, and obey his bidding. Take the municipal convention of two years ago (1894), which I controlled. I never heard of a candidate going among the delegates and soliciting their support. They knew better. They came to me or sent their friends to me to obtain my consent to their nomination. They knew they could do nothing unless the master hand was on their side. That hand was the hand of the boss.
"These methods are un-Republican; they are un-Democratic; they are un-American. If the people do not wipe them out, they will see this great government wane as I have seen it wane. Our institutions will disappear from the earth, and another form of government will be established. Trifles that at the outset seem matters of but little moment often determine the fate of nations. Throughout the country political power is being centralized. In all trusts, pools, or combinations of whatever nature, the power finally rests in the hands of one man. He is the boss."
Summing up the one-man power in politics, Mr. Burns thus forecasts the future:—
"The United States will become another Europe, with all the class distinctions of the older countries. Before that time comes, tho, blood will again have drenched the land. The horrors of war will once more devastate the country. Even now the murmurings of a dissatisfied people may be heard from sea to sea. Soon these murmurs will increase to a roar of protest against existing conditions. Then the money barons will say: 'We can no longer bear the ravings of these rascals. We will suppress them.' The result may be foreseen. Money usually wins in a war or in any bitter contest, because it can last longer. Money will be king and the people serfs."
Mr. Burns, as boss in his party, engineered it again to success in 1898. Verily there is need for a new Declaration of Independence.
In the Church.
While in His church God designed that there should be but one Head, that head is not to be erring humanity. "One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." "For the head of every man is Christ." And yet, despite these and many other similar declarations of Holy Writ, it is a patent fact that the church to-day in most of its aggressive work is looking to men instead of God. Many thousands, especially of the youth, are often largely controlled by one man, and this not in Roman Catholicism, where we look for such things, but in modern Protestantism. How many times in the religious press is this man or that man lauded to the skies, while the Maker of man and the Redeemer of men is barely mentioned!
God uses men; but He would use them in His church "as good stewards of the manifold grace of God;" "not as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." But for the good of all, He Himself should have the glory. Therefore in the very message for this time, the last great threefold message to a dying world (see Rev. 14:6-14), that thought is emphasized right in its very beginning. The message implies the very conditions we see. But it calls to the condition which every true Christian should occupy. Listen: "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." This is man's duty, to fear God, to look to God, to worship God. "Ye were bought with a price; become not bond-servants of men."
"God give us men! a time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of lucre does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagog,
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking;
For while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large profession and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps."
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EVENTS IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
FEBRUARY 15, 1898, the battle-ship Maine blown up in Havana Harbor; 260 lives lost.
March 8 House of Representatives votes $50,000,000 for national defense, at the President's disposal.
April 20 President McKinley sends an ultimatum to Spain to withdraw her land and naval forces from Cuba before noon of April 23. The Spanish minister receives his passports.
April 21 U. S. Minister Woodford dismissed by Spanish Government before he can deliver the ultimatum.
April 23 President McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers.
April 24 Spain declares a state of war exists with United States.
April 25 the U. S. Congress declares war exists with Spain.
April 27 Admiral Sampson's squadron bombards Matanzas, Cuba.
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May 23 first regiment of volunteers sail from San Francisco for the Philippines.
May 25 President McKinley calls for 75,000 more volunteers.
May 29 Commodore Schley shuts the Spanish fleet under Cervera in Santiago harbor.
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June 21 landing of American troops in Cuba near Santiago.
June 24 first battle, near Sevilla, Cuba. Sixteen Americans killed.
July 3 the squadrons of Sampson and Schley sink Cervera's fleet as it attempts to leave Santiago. American loss, 1 killed and 2 wounded. Great loss of life to Spain.
July 17 the city of Santiago formally surrenders to American General Shafter.
July 27 to August 12 American victories in Porto Rico.
August 12 a protocol, suspending hostilities between the countries, signed at Washington.
August 13 American forces under Admiral Dewey and General Merritt capture Manila. American loss, 50 men; navy, no loss.
November 28. To date Spain has relinquished Cuba and ceded Porto Rico, Guam, and for $20,000,000 the Philippines.
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