State Legislation 91 



is as black as he is painted; and takes refuge in 

 the belief that all alike are gray. It then becomes 

 impossible to rouse him to make an effort either 

 for a good man or against a scoundrel. Nothing 

 helps dishonest politicians as much as this feeling; 

 and among the chief instruments in its production 

 we must number certain of our newspapers who are 

 loudest in asserting that they stand on the highest 

 moral plane. As for the other newspapers, those 

 of frankly "sensational" character, such as the two 

 which at present claim to have the largest circula- 

 tion in New York, there is small need to character- 

 ize them; they form a very great promotive to 

 public corruption and private vice, and are on the 

 whole the most potent of all the forces for evil 

 which are at work in the city. 



PERILS OF LEGISLATIVE LIFE 



HOWEVER, there can be no question that a great 

 many men do deteriorate very much morally when 

 they go to Albany. The last accusation most of us 

 would think of bringing against that dear, dull, 

 old Dutch city is that of being a fast place; and 

 yet there are plenty of members coming from out- 

 of-the-way villages or quiet country towns on whom 

 Albany has as bad an effect as Paris sometimes 

 has on wealthy young Americans from the great 

 seaboard cities. Many men go to the Legislature 

 with the set purpose of making money; but many 

 others, who afterward become bad, go there in- 

 tending to do good work. These latter may be 



