In comparing the political morality of Europe and America reference must finally be made, even at the risk of repetition, to the greater political trust imposed in the mass of our people. As regards the number participating suffrage is not materially different in the United States from the systems of the leading European nations. The tendency abroad, however, is to limit the direct popular vote to legislative offices only and to the smallest possible number of these. It is undeniable that we have gone too far in the opposite direction. We crowd not only legislative but also many judicial and administrative offices on our “blanket” ballots, and as a result the total number of places submitted to the popular vote passes all bounds. Instead of realising greater democracy by this method we enable the machine to take advantage of the confusion which the elector feels when confronted by so many places and candidates, and his consequent inclination to vote “straight.”[114] Apart from this point, however, it is extremely important to note that the power of the vote to confer place is much greater in the United States than abroad, and consequently, if it is to be corruptly purchased or misused, its value is higher. To put the matter in another way, the trust imposed by the Republic in the voter is greater. The number of offices to which the ordinary citizen is eligible by ballot without regard to class standing or desirable preparation, the greater importance of state and local government, and the placing of the latter under popular control,—all contribute to increase the burden of responsibility which is imposed upon the great mass. We must admit that the trust thus created is often violated, but on the other hand we deserve such credit as may arise from the fact that we have deliberately chosen to believe in the virtue of the whole people and have established a system which puts that virtue to a supreme test. European nations which take the “holier than thou” attitude with reference to our corruption might be forced to abandon their pretensions if they were to lodge as much power in their electorates as we do in ours. Given two communities, one “dry” and the other “wet,” the mere fact that there was more drunkenness in the latter would not prove a less degree of moral control of appetite on the part of its inhabitants. One would have to take into account that the citizens of the “wet” community could satisfy their thirst openly and frequently, whereas some of the “drys” must be sober at times simply because they cannot get liquor. On the other hand, those citizens of the “wet” community who abstain must do so of their own volition and in the face of constant temptation. Similarly it may be said of the political vice existing in the United States that its magnitude is in part due to the fact that, loving democracy “not wisely but too well,” we have distributed powers and responsibilities broadcast with the consequence that they have fallen partly into unworthy hands. And of such political virtue as we possess at least we may assert that it is not the anemic innocence which has never known the approach of temptation.
It would appear from the foregoing that the various factors which must be taken into account in attempting to determine the extent of existing corruption are extremely conflicting and uncertain. As between country and country, city and city, comparisons are certain to be odious and likely to be misleading. Each has problems sufficiently pressing and extended to occupy its reform energies to better advantage. We in the United States may not be so wicked as our neighbours believe, but our work is cut out for us, and it is work that will require the greatest intelligence and the greatest virtue that the republic possesses. Hasty conclusions regarding the outcome, and particularly such as lean towards pessimism, should be avoided. Although as a general proposition it is unquestionably true that universal corruption would mean social disintegration, extreme caution should be employed before venturing such a prediction in a given case. Prophecies of this character have been made in almost countless numbers and in almost every age and country. In the overwhelming majority of cases they have been falsified by subsequent events. It is easy to underestimate the essential strength of the more fundamental social institutions and to forget the long course of evolution during which they have become delicately adapted to human needs. So far as the more progressive countries of the modern world are concerned,—England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, no less than the United States,—there would seem to be ground for the conclusion that political and social corruption is decreasing in extent and virulence. At bottom government rests as much upon confidence as does a savings bank. Now in spite of the current and very pointed query:—“Where did he get it?”—the greatest harm done by corruption is not that it enables some men to acquire fortune and power rapidly at the expense of others. Resentment at the constant repetition of this spectacle is natural, and the influence which it exerts as a bad example is most deplorable. But far in excess of this is the evil which corruption inflicts by destroying the confidence of men in their social institutions. In the field of politics this evil is particularly great because of the wide extension of governmental functions in recent times and the great possibilities which might be realised by further extensions. To cite tangible examples, it is both exasperating and dangerous that much needed plans for the building of a school, hospital, asylum, sewerage system, or a State Capitol, or for the establishment of departments of inspection to supervise industrial plants, theatres, or tenement houses, should be halted by the fear that corrupt interests will take an initial toll out of the expenses of installation and thereafter seek to pervert these services to their private advantage. Just so far as this retarding condition exists the state is prevented from realising its present possibilities and from undertaking other beneficent work which it might perform particularly in the fields of education, art, sanitation, and philanthropy. Yet in spite of this heavy drag the more progressive modern states are extending their functions and, on the whole, giving better satisfaction to the needs of larger populations than ever before. Petty principalities and the city states of former times have passed away forever. The dominant modern national type of state stands for populations that must be reckoned by tens of millions.
Even more significant than growth in population and territory, however, is the growth that has taken place in the number and complexity of political and other social relationships. It is true that far back in antiquity there were great and powerful despotisms, but they were held together largely by the strong hand, and, as compared with modern governments, performed very few services for their peoples. Within recent times inventions annihilating time and space have brought men closer together but they would not cohere as they do in government, in business, and in other social activities, were the requisite moral factors not present. Civilisation has developed these factors, but at the same time, unfortunately, a new breed of parasites has come into existence to destroy in part the fruits of our more intelligent, more honest, and better equipped labour. Vigorous fighting is necessary to limit the damage inflicted by the type of social marauder which Professor Ross so trenchantly describes,—“the respectable, exemplary, trusted personage who, strategically placed at the focus of a spider web of fiduciary relations, is able from his office chair to pick a thousand pockets, poison a thousand sick, pollute a thousand minds, or imperil a thousand lives.”[115] With full recognition of the danger threatening our highly specialised society from resourceful enemies of this character there is still another aspect of the case which should not be forgotten. One must learn “to look at the doughnut as well as the hole.” While insisting upon the enormity of the offences committed by our modern social pirates let us not ignore the significance of the multiplication of foci strategically placed within the spider webs of fiduciary relations. If social trusts were habitually betrayed they could not increase in number and importance. Such enormous and complex aggregations as are brought together under modern governments, for example, mean that men numbered on the scale of millions are convinced of the substantial fidelity to their deepest interests of the governmental structures to which they acknowledge allegiance. If this were not the case, if corruption and other abuses infected governments to such an extent as to render them unfaithful to their peoples, disloyalty would take the place of loyalty, disintegration would succeed integration. No doubt many causes besides those mentioned conspired to bring about the appearance of the large, potent, and complex units which now prevail in government. While this process was being accomplished various hostile conditions had to be attacked, of which corruption was only one, although one of the most threatening. As these unfavourable conditions were and are being overcome it is safe to conclude, in spite of all superficial appearances to the contrary, that the relative extent and harmfulness of corruption are decreasing in the more progressive modern countries. A similar line of argument supports the same conclusion with regard to business institutions, which also have been increasing both in size, complexity, and the importance of the functions which they perform. The household industry of a few generations ago has given way to corporations employing their tens of thousands of men, trusting them with property worth millions, and, particularly in transportation, with the safety of myriads of lives. Such developments would be impossible either in politics or in business without greater intelligence, a greater degree of fair dealing, and greater confidence and loyalty from man to man. Corruption which exalts the selfish interest above the general interest has doubtless hindered, but it has not stopped, this process. Never before have men co-operated on so large a scale and so honest a basis as here and now. If corruption had really penetrated to the vitals of our economic and governmental organisations this development could not have taken place.
FINIS
FOOTNOTES:
[104] Political Science Quarterly, vol. xix (1904), p. 676.
[105] G. Myers, “History of Tammany Hall,” p. 285.
[106] Mr. Ernest Poole under the title of “New Readers of the News” in the American Magazine for November 1907, (65:41), presents an extremely interesting study of the broadening power of the press along this line.
[107] “The France of To-day,” pp. 223 et seq.
[108] As, e.g., fraudulent promotion, adulteration, the building of unsanitary tenements, failure to provide proper safety devices in theatres and factories or on railroads and steamships.