NEED FOR INTEGRITY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 82, 5 April 1924, Page 7

NEED FOR INTEGRITY

GROWING SCANDALS IN PUBLIC ■■ LIFE. " ■ ■

Senator George Wharton, Pepper, United States Senator for Pennyslvania, who refers in-the latest cable messages, to what he terms the late President . Harding's ."errors," writes as .follows in. a recent issue of the "New' York Times" :— ' "From measures to men. 'Such Jias been the sudden shift of public interest. Taxation, the bonus, agricultural. relief, a. World Court, the railroads—legislation on these subjects was the topic of a month-ago. To-day people are thinking of the tragedy of Albert Fall and are asking, 'Who next?' Will the weather-vane of paramount public interest soon'shift back again from men 1o measures? If so; the oil scandal will become merely an ugly chapter in the history of- our Government. If, however, the' Scandal long continues to.deserve a front-page- position, it will be because one public man after another is shown, to be unwortliy of public con r fidence. . Such a progressive revelation might easily'lead' to political revolution. In' other words, the question is, 'Do we already know the worst?—or is there more to come? And if more, how much? These questions are obviously questions of fact. But 'opinions differ about factsas well as about other things. Among Senators I find three bodies of opinion. . "Some openly charge, that "there, "lias been an orgy of corruption in and about the Capitol, and declare that only a fraction of the truth is so' far known. Others insist that the,oil lease transaction, like the maladministration of the Veterans' Bureau, is an- isolated incident, involving a very few people, and that it is idle to infer from it that the1 Government itself is tottering. '■■ . j "I find myself in a middle group who accept neither the orgy theory nor the other extreme, j Jt seems clear to me that public men here' at Washington have been affected as much as other people by the war-time eclipse of moral standards. I think that the-social life of America^ will again become wholesdfae, and that public men, like other men, will surely regain their footing. But tor. the time.beinir it seems to me* that.there is much . amiss. '" "DEFEATS OF PEACETIME." "As I view the situation, it is one in .which post-war teniptations have taken a heavy toil. If it be true that peace hath her victories no less renowned than war, it is also true that the defeats, of peace-time are just ,as tragic as war's worst episodes. In public administration, after a great war we must reckon with the looter who gains confidence in order to betray it. He. disguises himself, passes the scrutiny of the appointing power, gains admission to a place of .unbounded opportunity, and achieves his deadly purpose. Perhaps something like that has happened in the ' Veterans' Bureau.

"Next w e must reckon with the mSn who has a goodly array of^ririlo qualities, but who lacks moral fibre. Ho is (to use Bismarck's phrase) wood painted to look like iron. ' The appointing power selects him for high office. He does not deliberately set about wrongdoing, but neither.does he shrink from it. The serpent appears. The oil field is an apple. Why reserve apples? They are meant to be eaten. A.ud they are. Perhaps the Department of the Interior was lor a time an oily Eden. ~ "Then there is the man with" strong moral fibre but lacking' the essential quality of thoroughness. Into high office he brings high purpose. He is a soldier patriot; but he ' his - superficial knowledge of the terrain and he fails to post his sentinels. There is a night attack and the position is ]ost. Some people think that this .is what happened in the Navy Department. On this phase I suspend judgment. When I get before the judgment seat I want more chance for a hearing than Dohby got. But he did well to resign; for his case was his own and not the President's.

"How about the .Department of Justice? Certain things are clear. One is that actual records show much that must be credited to the Department as admirable achievement. A second is that the Attorney-General has qualities of heart and brain which, commend him to an. enormous circle of friends. A third is that from the very beginning there was a widespread belief that President Harding had made a mistaken choice for this great office. The fourth is that there is now something like a nationwide pressure for his resignation. There are points of similarity and difference between his case and Denby's; but unquestionably Denby did the manly thing. A PLEA FOR CHARACTER. "Now, all these, things are questions of character —not of politics. The only way in which politics affects the situation is by determining the nature of the temptation. Men of the party in office aro tempted 'to abuse official position. Men of the party out of office are tempted, to abuse acquired influence. When, therefore, an orator proclaims that character is a party monopoly he discredits oratory and affronts common-sense. In a great moral crisis like this two things are above all else important. One' is to get in the sunlight. The other is to take account not only of our liabilities, but also of, our assets. Of course we must probe.; for^thc facts; Unhappily, however, tiicrc may be character w"^kv|

nesses on the part of investigators whichtend to.convert investigation into inquisition. ;, Our American system of justice is accusatorial, not inquisitorial. In our Courts we try to conform to theory. It is not always so with investigations by legislative' bodies and especially in the tense atmosphere of a political campaign. An investigation which is long-drawn-out and in which vague rumours are treated with the respect due to evidence is a proceeding.which makes a great'demand <jn the self-control of the Press.

"it is possible to carry in headlines a statement.which besmirches a_ reputation, when its "only basis is an irresponsible ,utterance that can be refuted as soon as made. ' Newspaper men hungry for news,-are themselves subject to a severe mtfral strain. Both investigators and reporters are called upon to distinguish between life-giving sunlight and the glare of a premature explosion. In speaking of assets, of course, I refer to character. Of this, as I have said, no political party has a monopoly. But it seems to me that each of the great parties^is under a peculiar obligation at this time to give unimpeachable character a more than ordinary weight in selecting its candidate for the Presidency. It would be ■very best thing that could happen to the country if .next November the election were to be a choice between two Americans of spotless integrity and knowii devotion to duty."