o pledge was needed. It was all a
"gentlemen's understanding." As the Senator once said to me, if a man's
character was such that it was necessary to get a promise from him, it
was clear proof that his character was such that the promise would not
be worth anything after it was made.

[*] Each nation has its own pet sins to which it is merciful
and also sins which it treats as most abhorrent. In America
we are peculiarly sensitive about big money contributions
for which the donors expect any reward. In England, where in
some ways the standard is higher than here, such
contributions are accepted as a matter of course, nay, as
one of the methods by which wealthy men obtain peerages. It
would be well-nigh an impossibility for a man to secure a
seat in the United States Senate by mere campaign
contributions, in the way that seats in the British House of
Lords have often been secured without any scandal being
caused thereby.

It must not be forgotten that some of the worst practices of the machine
in dealings of this kind represented merely virtues in the wrong place,
virtues wrenched out of proper relation to their surroundings. A man in
a doubtful district might win only because of the help Mr. Platt gave
him; he might be a decent young fellow without money enough to finance
his own campaign, who was able to finance it only because Platt of his
own accord found out or was apprised of his need and advanced the money.
Such a man felt grateful, and, because of his good qualities, joined
with the purely sordid and corrupt heelers and crooked politicians to
become part of the Platt machine. In his turn Mr. Platt was recognized
by the business men, the big contributors, as an honorable man; not only
a man of his word, but a man who, whenever he received a favor, could be
trusted to do his best to repay it on any occasion that arose. I believe
that usually the contributors, and the recipient, sincerely felt that
the transaction was proper and subserved the cause of good politics
and good business; and, indeed, as regards the major part of the
contributions, it is probable that this was the fact, and that the only
criticism that could properly be made about the contributions was that
they were not made with publicity--and at that time neither the parties
nor the public had any realization that publicity was necessary, or any
adequate understanding of the dangers of the