DEDICATION To His MAJESTY, NICHOLAS THE SECOND,
BY THE GRACE OF GOD, EMPEROR AND AUTOCRAT OF
ALL THE RUSSIAS, CZAR OF POLAND, GRAND DUKE OF
FINLAND, ETC., ETC v
FOLK'S FIGHT FOR MISSOURI SHOWING How TO BEAT
THE BOODLE SYSTEM OF ST. Louis, THE PEOPLE HAD
TO CHALLENGE THE SAME SYSTEM IN THE STATE . . 3
CHICAGO'S APPEAL TO ILLINOIS SHOWING How, SINCE
THE CORRUPTION OF A STATE AND ITS CITIES is ALL
ONE SYSTEM, MUNICIPAL REFORM MUST INCLUDE
STATE REFORM 40
WISCONSIN: REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT RESTORED
THE STORY OF LAFOLLETTE'S WAR ON THE RAILROADS
THAT RULED His STATE 79
RHODE ISLAND: A CORRUPTED PEOPLE SHOWING THAT
AMERICAN CITIZENS CAN BE BOUGHT TO
SELL OUT THEIR CITIES AND STATES 120
OHIO: A TALE OF Two CITIES SHOWING BUSINESS
RULERS OF A STATE RESORTING TO ANARCHY TO
CHECK MUNICIPAL REFORM 161
NEW JERSEY: A TRAITOR STATE, PART I. THE CON-
QUEST: SHOWING How THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD
SEIZED THE GOVERNMENT 209
NEW JERSEY: A TRAITOR STATE, PART II. THE BE-
TRAYAL: SHOWING How THIS BOUGHT STATE SOLD
OUT THE UNITED STATES TO THE TRUSTS FOR MONEY 253
-----
FOLK'S FIGHT FOR MISSOURI
SHOWING HOW, TO BEAT THE BOODLE SYSTEM OF
ST. LOUIS, THE PEOPLE HAD TO CHALLENGE
THE SAME SYSTEM IN THE STATE
EVERY time I attempted 1 to trace to its sources the polit-
ical corruption of a city ring, the stream of pollution
branched off in the most unexpected directions and spread
out in a network of veins and arteries so complex that
hardly any part of the body politic seemed clear of it.
It flowed out of the majority party into the minority;
out of politics into vice and crime; out of business into
politics, and back into business ; from the boss, down
through the police to the prostitute, and up through the
practice of law into the courts ; and big throbbing arteries
ran out through the country over the State to the Nation
and back. No wonder cities can't get municipal reform !
No wonder Minneapolis, having cleaned out its police ring
of vice grafters, discovered boodle in the council! No
wonder Chicago, with council-reform and boodle beaten,
found itself a Minneapolis of police and administrative
graft! No wonder Pittsburg, when it broke out of its
local ring, fell, amazed, into a State ring! No wonder
New York, with good government under Mayor Seth Low,
voted itself back into Tammany Hall !
1 See " The Shame of the Cities," McClure, Phillips & Co.
They are on the wrong track; we are, all of us, on the
wrong track. You can't reform a city by reforming part
of it. You can't reform a city alone. You can't re-
form politics alone. And as for corruption and the under-
standing thereof, we cannot run 'round and 'round
in municipal rings and understand ring corruption ; it
isn't a ring thing. We cannot remain in one city, or
ten, and comprehend municipal corruption; it isn't a
local thing. We cannot " stick to a party," and follow
party corruption ; it isn't a partisan thing. And I have
found that I cannot confine myself to politics and grasp
all the ramifications of political corruption. It isn't
political corruption. It's corruption.
Language
English
Format
Kindle Edition
Release
May 20, 2009
The struggle for self-government; being an attempt to trace American political corruption to its sources in six states of the United States
DEDICATION To His MAJESTY, NICHOLAS THE SECOND,
BY THE GRACE OF GOD, EMPEROR AND AUTOCRAT OF
ALL THE RUSSIAS, CZAR OF POLAND, GRAND DUKE OF
FINLAND, ETC., ETC v
FOLK'S FIGHT FOR MISSOURI SHOWING How TO BEAT
THE BOODLE SYSTEM OF ST. Louis, THE PEOPLE HAD
TO CHALLENGE THE SAME SYSTEM IN THE STATE . . 3
CHICAGO'S APPEAL TO ILLINOIS SHOWING How, SINCE
THE CORRUPTION OF A STATE AND ITS CITIES is ALL
ONE SYSTEM, MUNICIPAL REFORM MUST INCLUDE
STATE REFORM 40
WISCONSIN: REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT RESTORED
THE STORY OF LAFOLLETTE'S WAR ON THE RAILROADS
THAT RULED His STATE 79
RHODE ISLAND: A CORRUPTED PEOPLE SHOWING THAT
AMERICAN CITIZENS CAN BE BOUGHT TO
SELL OUT THEIR CITIES AND STATES 120
OHIO: A TALE OF Two CITIES SHOWING BUSINESS
RULERS OF A STATE RESORTING TO ANARCHY TO
CHECK MUNICIPAL REFORM 161
NEW JERSEY: A TRAITOR STATE, PART I. THE CON-
QUEST: SHOWING How THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD
SEIZED THE GOVERNMENT 209
NEW JERSEY: A TRAITOR STATE, PART II. THE BE-
TRAYAL: SHOWING How THIS BOUGHT STATE SOLD
OUT THE UNITED STATES TO THE TRUSTS FOR MONEY 253
-----
FOLK'S FIGHT FOR MISSOURI
SHOWING HOW, TO BEAT THE BOODLE SYSTEM OF
ST. LOUIS, THE PEOPLE HAD TO CHALLENGE
THE SAME SYSTEM IN THE STATE
EVERY time I attempted 1 to trace to its sources the polit-
ical corruption of a city ring, the stream of pollution
branched off in the most unexpected directions and spread
out in a network of veins and arteries so complex that
hardly any part of the body politic seemed clear of it.
It flowed out of the majority party into the minority;
out of politics into vice and crime; out of business into
politics, and back into business ; from the boss, down
through the police to the prostitute, and up through the
practice of law into the courts ; and big throbbing arteries
ran out through the country over the State to the Nation
and back. No wonder cities can't get municipal reform !
No wonder Minneapolis, having cleaned out its police ring
of vice grafters, discovered boodle in the council! No
wonder Chicago, with council-reform and boodle beaten,
found itself a Minneapolis of police and administrative
graft! No wonder Pittsburg, when it broke out of its
local ring, fell, amazed, into a State ring! No wonder
New York, with good government under Mayor Seth Low,
voted itself back into Tammany Hall !
1 See " The Shame of the Cities," McClure, Phillips & Co.
They are on the wrong track; we are, all of us, on the
wrong track. You can't reform a city by reforming part
of it. You can't reform a city alone. You can't re-
form politics alone. And as for corruption and the under-
standing thereof, we cannot run 'round and 'round
in municipal rings and understand ring corruption ; it
isn't a ring thing. We cannot remain in one city, or
ten, and comprehend municipal corruption; it isn't a
local thing. We cannot " stick to a party," and follow
party corruption ; it isn't a partisan thing. And I have
found that I cannot confine myself to politics and grasp
all the ramifications of political corruption. It isn't
political corruption. It's corruption.