Lincoln Steffens Quotes
Most men think graft a sporadic evil, breaking out here and there, with no connection between outbreaks. I shared the same opinion, but very soon I discovered that the graft in the cities always leads to the graft in the State.
Steffens, Lincoln. The Struggle for Self-Government. McClure, Phillips & Co., 1906, p. 1.
Allen was so audacious about his bribes that he had the CBC initials embroidered on red baseball hats and he, his fellow officers, and many Alaskan politicians actually wore the hats and joked about their bribe taking.
Most people at the time thought that political corruption was limited to politicians being bribed with money to do or not to do things. It dawned on Stephens that beyond the payment of money per se—that it could involve financial arrangements like shares in companies or tips for investment, business arrangements for family companies then or in the future or even social favors. He was the first political observer to not the variety of forms of political corruption.
The leaders and creators of these anti-corruption organizations get kickbacks from corrupt officials and organizations to be sure that they do not get investigated and exposed. In some cases they frame an honest politician who would not pay them and accuse him of corruption to show the public that they are cracking down on corruption. Or they go after corrupt politicians who are going against the regime on political matters. Not all anti-corruption and reform organizations are corrupt themselves, but many are. But the methods of corruption thoughout the world are becoming more and more sophisticated as the simple forms are being exposed by media and reform groups.
Lincoln Austin Steffens was an American investigative journalist and one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. He launched a series of articles in McClure's, called "Tweed Days in St. Louis", that would later be published together in a book titled The Shame of the Cities. He is remembered for investigating corruption in municipal government in American cities and for his leftist values.
