space or need to build. A little repairing of old standards would have
been better than tearing those we still remembered to pieces, merely to
give others something to do.

All this led to the betrayal of man by man--to bribery. It was not of
much use for the pulpit to point it out. Men adopted bribery as a means
to business activity. It was of no use to recall the brilliant moments
of character in history, men would not read them. Their ancestry was a
back number, the deeds of their ancestors mere old-fashioned narrowness
of business. What if a member of the American Congress, Joseph Reed,
during the American Revolution did refuse the 10,000 guineas offered by
the foreign commissioners to betray the colonies? What if he did say
"Gentlemen, I am a very poor man, but tell your King he is not rich
enough to buy me"? The more fool he, not to appreciate his
opportunities, not to take advantage of the momentary enterprise of his
betters! A bribe offered became a compliment, and a bribe negotiated was
a good day's work. I had not much faith in the people who went about
bragging how much they could get if they sold out. I refused to believe
the sentiment of men who declared that every man had his price.

Old-fashioned honesty was not the cure either, because old-fashioned
honesty, according to history, was not wholly disinterested. There never
was a monopoly of righteousness in the world, though there was a coin of
fair exchange between men who were intelligent enough to perceive its
values, in which there was no alloy of bribery. Bribery was written,
however, all over the first chapters of English, Irish, French, German,
and American politics; but it was high time that, in America, we had a
Court House or a City Hall, or a jail, or a post office, or a railroad,
that did not involve a political job. At some time in their lives, every
man and woman may be tempted to do wrong for compensation. It may be a
bribe of position that is offered instead of money; but it was easy to
foresee, in 1886, that there was a time coming when the most secret
transaction of private and public life would come up for public
scrutiny. Those of us who gave this warning were under suspicion of
being harmless lunatics.

Necessarily, the dishonest transactions of the bosses led to discontent
among the labouring classes, and a railroad strike came, and went, in
the winter of 1886. Its successful adjustment was a credit to capital
and labour, to our p