Show DEBTORS IN OFFICE A contributor to one of the periodicals makes the assertion that the only remedy lor for municipal corruption is ia to elect no man to office who is not free from debt the me i who are most likely to sell their votes in city councils cil be says are those who owe more than they cau can conveniently pay sod and hence fiod find it peculiarly hard bard to resist temptation he goes on moral reputation is a flimsy security for good conduct but financial competence IH a very safe security indeed f this prompts an eastern paper to suggest thatis that it would be interesting tornow to know where he gets the facts to justify such a theory there is certainly uly nothing it says in the general revelations oi 01 municipal bribery and plunder to show that men of the class that he be sweepingly accuses are more susceptible to evil influences than those who are at peace with their creditors creditor sand and have havea a surplus in bank the average doodler is in apt to be a man who is well fixed so far as money is concerned particularly if he makes a regular business of politics cs as be generally does he is not in the habit of contracting debts beyond his bis resources thrift la Is the leading factor in his bits philosophy and he takes care of his profits with practical wisdom he ib always ready to be corrupted but special necessities do not urge him it to Is his hie will wid and not his bis poverty that 0 iD sento those who seek hie bin services are expected to deal with him on a strictly atri otly commercial basis and hie bin debts are not allowed to interfere in the least with his calm and skillful negotiation of the best befit possible bargain debt is ia not a proper condition of mankind manki nd owe no man is ie as ae much an injunction junction ir upon our race now as it was when promulgated but ic does not follow that because a man through lack of bui business siness qualities or financial foresight gets tangled up in the meshes of indebtedness at times that he is in therefore either dishonest or incapable in other walks of life to keep men who owe money or property out ot of our city con councils nails would be a good thing in some respects no doubt but it might be a very ry bad one in others for the reason that the number dumber of men answering to the above description who are experienced able and honest but unfortunate is very great in every large laree community besides this the writers writer ls tons tone savors somewhat ot of favoring or at least not opposing the relic of barbarism which went out of existence under th the e reign of civili ol vilia aaion and enlightenment in this rener aaion imprisonment for debt and thus Is anything good which his artil article may mav contain weakened by the force fonce of nf such vicious associate n it is not true s sya tys our rrb further along that moral reputation 1 in a poor security for honest behavior in ila places of public trust heaven for bedl As we look at it a moral deput re put tion should be one oae of the beat beit of it guards while a moral man and alad moral reputation combi cona bice jael 1 should a cover a multitude of offline mins fline there if i no better security than the recognize act that a man lives an nn right and industrious up alf life what hat ever his big circumstances may be it i a common think of course for de debien igil tug ins men to make loud professions of morality only to cover their Int intention entin of rascality but they are as often ria as poor and the test teat of financial oon ditino proves nothing in any baat the remedy for municipal corruption does not lie in giving pre preference ferene to tai men on the score of the supposed VI of a well filled pocket as a protect protection io to their integrity neither a want wang of money nor an aban abundance bance ot of it in ia X conclusive recommendation ale men crib ar to 10 be judged not by the amount 01 ol their possessions but by what society kaawa of their personal habits and methods it is a notorious fact that t the he b peo P I 1 of a city frequently elect individuals individual sita 1 responsible offices who have no stand ing in point of mora a or of busi bual ness ability and who could not obtain corresponding employment ironi 8 any private firm or corporation N it j argued that such are the persona wham ML concoct schemes of municipal bribery and whose official actions c can aldaya be controlled by corrupt practices C e F a 6 we are not disposed to te dispute it ii 1 while it behooves every community tal have an eye upon its public Berva awl and upon none of them more th thai upon those who legislate for a ci because of their unequal un equa opportunities for treasons trea sons stratagem and spoils 91 it still does not noi follow t we are compelio compel com pelie leJ J t adopt such rt and unjustly measures as are advocated by the rn azine writer |