[60] For an overwhelmingly convincing presentation of materials on this point cf. the “Digest of Report by the Bureau of Municipal Research on the Administration of the Water Revenues, Manhattan,”—Efficient Citizenship Leaflet, no. 145. Corruption of this sneaking sort resembles tax dodging in that it is so largely indulged in by otherwise respectable people. Cf. p. 192.
[61] “Enough Money to Uplift the World,” p. 6, by William H. Allen, Director, Bureau of Municipal Research, reprinted as a pamphlet by the Bureau from the World’s Work of May, 1909.
[62] Cf. p. 5, supra, for a discussion of the consequences of the corrupt protection of vice and crime.
[63] Cf p. 61, supra.
[64] Cf. especially No. 3 of the Taxation Series published by the Board, entitled, “Cincinnati an Independent Assessment District,” by Allen Ripley Foote.
[65] The assumption is not extreme. In the pamphlet referred to it is held that by the various means proposed, Cincinnati’s (then) rate of 2.96 per cent. might be reduced to 0.75 per cent. “When the real estate of the state of Kansas was revalued by the Tax Commission,” according to Mr. Foote, “the valuation was increased 484 per cent.” Of course real increase of property values through considerable periods of time accounts in part for such totals whenever assessment periods are a number of years apart.
[66] “Civil Service in Great Britain,” p. 154.
CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND THE THEORY OF PARTY SUPPORT
VI
CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND THE THEORY OF PARTY SUPPORT
A party, according to Burke, “is a body of men united, for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest, upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed.”[67] One must admit that the definition is admirable in that it lays emphasis upon the ideal end of party action,—the promotion of the national interest. It is adroit in that it evades the question so constantly thrust upon one in practical politics as to how far the real motive powers of party are class interest and personal greed and ambition. Applied to the simpler conditions of England where the single great object of political strife is the capture of a parliamentary majority, Burke’s definition may be accepted as sufficient even to-day. But it would need considerable amplification before it could be regarded as an adequate description of the vital activities of an American political party.