sins. The vast preponderance of graft is collective graft. It wears the camouflage of party policy, and is connived at out of party loyalty by many men' to whom it has perhaps never occurred that it is essentially selfish and dishonest. It is the accepted game in politics.

As a matter of fact, politics are probably no more "corrupt" than business. People are in business mostly for their pocketbooks. A love of wielding power plays a large part in both business and politics, but making money is the main thing. The disinterested public servants in either are few. The average man accepts the situation, and takes his place in the game; the man who does not want to play that sort of game keeps out.

Thus when the voter scrutinizes the names of candidates on his ballot, the chances are that: first, there are few if any candidates who have a more idealistic conception of politics, or who, if they yearn for it, do not realize that they must conform to the general practice in order to get on at all; secondly, that if there are any such candidates, the voter, confused by the eulogies uttered on them all, or entirely ignorant of their qualifications, does not know which of them are these abler and more honorable ones; thirdly, that if he takes the pains to form an intelligent opinion on the matter and vote for the fearless independent, his candidate will be swamped by the great number of votes cast blindly, loyally, in favor of the candidates that the party organizations trust and back.

If any reader doubts this party control of our politics, let him seek appointment to office. The recog nized route is through service to one of the leading party organizations and recognition by its local boss

as a deserving party man. If you are a successful worker in furthering the party cause and are reasonably presentable, you may, if you seek it, presently receive the party nomination for some minor office. You will be opposed by a rival who has been serving the other leading party organization. Unless some unusual situation arises, one of you will win. then you back the party measures, and so far as your position allows, help get party men upon the public payrolls, you may be boosted to higher office. But if you oppose the will of the party leaders, you will receive no further nomination.

If

There are, of course, exceptional cases. A man of remarkable personality, like Roosevelt, may win the ear of the public and succeed in spite of the party bosses. Even in his case, however, it took a war and an assassination to lift him to the presidency. He came back from the Spanish War a popular hero. He was nominated to the Vice-Presidency by the Republican party leaders in order to shelve him— the office being, in our system, one of singular impotence. If McKinley had not been shot, the political career of even so extraordinary a man and consummate a politician would probably have gone no farther. He was renominated because, once in the Presidential chair, he created a popular demand for his re-election that was irresistible. But when, in 1912, the popular will again demanded his nomination, the party leaders were able to thwart it. And the great revolt against the control by the "insiders" of the Republican party, although led with Roosevelt's customary enthusiasm and skill, came in the end to nothing.

In every age and country there have been those who have sought to control the government for

selfish ends. In the old days the method was crude; a ruling class perpetuated itself and denied the people any share in decisions. Nowadays a government has to be controlled in subtler ways. The main reliance of the groups of people who make it their business to profit by controlling government is upon party loyalty. In the name of a great party they nominate some one who can be trusted to work with them; they then eulogize his virtues and abilities in campaign speeches and personal conversation; the newspapers which are working with them join in praising him and disparaging his rival; his election is made to seem a matter of vital principle; and in the general ignorance of his actual qualifications, the party loyalty so assiduously cultivated can be usually trusted to float him into office.

The rewards of this control of government are manifold. Offices are distributed to party-workers, including purely sinecure offices, for which no work to speak of is done. Appropriations are made for public improvements, for schools, postoffices, harbor dredging, or what not, and contracts awarded to friends of the party leaders. Water-power franchises, public utility franchises-all sorts of measures benefiting this set of people or that are passed. Bills which would curtail the powers and privileges of this or that business are throttled-not, however, until the Interests threatened realize the danger they were in. There are, of course, all sorts of ways in which those who benefit by the passing or knifing of these bills reward their friends who pull the wires. There may be a cash payment for services, there may be an election to a valuable directorate, there may be a purchase of property owned by the deserving politician at a handsome price. In some way or other

we may be sure that the unseen helmsmen are profited by their labors.

Volumes could be filled with concrete instances of these methods. In a certain city is a house and lot advertised for sale for months at $10,000. The City decides to erect a school on that lot, and pays $17,500 for it. We may be sure that the greater part of that added sum goes to the party leaders, perhaps to a single boss, who was able to dictate the necessary votes. Again, a new boulevard, or the widening of a street, is decided upon. Some agents have bought up the lands along the new avenue, which are going to be worth double their former value. We may be sure that the party leaders are making their profit there. Important "welfare" laws are blocked year after year: a law limiting the working-day of some workers to ten or eight hours, a law requiring seats for salesgirls, a law requiring costly fire protective devices. We may be sure that there are those who are sharing the profits thus saved to the employers.

Some of these methods are quite obviously and cynically dishonest-as when the agent of a gas company approaches the chairman of a legislative committee that has framed, for this express purpose, a gas bill which would curtail the company's profits, and asks, "Well, how much do you want?" The gas bill is never reported out of committee; it was decided to be inexpedient, on grounds, of course, of public policy. Very likely it was inexpedient. But it could have been passed, and it was worth a good deal to the gas company to keep it from passing.

Millions of dollars are collected in our cities annually from gambling houses, "disorderly" houses, and other institutions of commercialized vice, for "protection." Even many innocent people have to pay, as a

price of not being persecuted, subjected to annoyances, or refused privileges really their due.

But these cruder forms of bribery and blackmail are a small part of the story. More often the direction given to legislation seems intrinsically desirable to the party men. It is really too bad to compel a department store owner to put in seats for his salesgirls; they would sit down and be lazy when they ought to be on the alert for customers. To be sure, the store owner advertises largely in certain newspapers, and these newspapers boost the party leaders in question. If the bill to require seats were to be passed, the store owner would withdraw his full-page advertisements from these newspapers, and the newspapers would discover that the party leaders in question were unworthy of support. Perhaps, indeed, one of the party bosses owns the newspaper. More likely the newspaper owner has some direct or indirect way of rewarding him. The quid pro quo game has infinite ramifications. Reformers speak of "logrolling," and the "pork-barrel," or use goodness knows what other disparaging terms. But to the people in the game it is not dishonesty, it is justthe way the game is played. If you can get people with money or influence to do favors for you in return for your favors for them, you are no more dishonest than the average business man. Politics is business; and business exists for personal profits.

The result of it is, however, that "big business" pretty generally has its way, because it can afford to pay for it. As Governor Hughes of New York said in 1912, "There is a constant effort by special Interests to shape or defeat legislation, to seek privileges and to obtain favors in the administrative departments." And that effort is pretty generally success