CHAP. The Char acter of a Social Structure Is Not Identical with That of the Individuals Who Constitute It Nepotism an Ancient CHAPTER XXV THE DETERIORATION OF SOCIAL STRUCTURES SOCIAL structures are made up of people, yet it would be rash to assume that they can have no tendencies of their own. There are structures so badly constructed that they would fail even if manned by saints; while there are others so shrewdly put together that they would succeed even if manned by sinners. Nor should we overlook the fact that the long-lived organization which survives staff after staff and gathers tradition as an old wall gathers ivy is virtually a soul-mold. Although it takes the stamp of strong personalities, it tones down, keys up, twists about, inspires or deadens the ordinary person who becomes identified with it. Structures then will not be plastic because living beings compose them, nor healthy because their members are sound, nor serviceable because these members are busy. From being badly constituted or from wrong relations to their environment, structures are subject to diseases which hinder them from realizing the purposes they were intended to serve. PATRONAGE Someone has to pick the members of a staff, and it is not easy and Long to prevent that one from assigning the desirable post to kinsman, Recognized Canker of or friend, or highest bidder rather than to the best-qualified appliOrganizacant. Nepotism is an old abuse that now excites resentment tions whenever it is recognized. In China the claims of family are felt so much more keenly than any other claims that every kind of public organization is vitiated by nepotism. In the European Dark Ages the hereditary kingship superseded the elective kingship partly because it was cheaper to satiate one royal family than a series of such families. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries nepotism was the cancer in the Papal States. Each pope felt that he could trust only those utterly dependent on himself, consequently he raised his own relations to wealth and influence. Each papal clan hurried to gorge itself before the next pope XXV should supplant it with his own hungry kinsfolk. Under Clement CHAP. VIII the Aldobrandini, under Paul V the Borghesi, under Gregory XV the Lodovisi, and under Urban VIII, with unparalleled rapacity, the Barberini enriched themselves from a chronically depleted treasury. To raise money for them, offices were sold and issue after issue of government bonds marketed at ruinous rates. Wherever there are good livings to bestow, nepotism or worse will creep in. Eighty years ago, commenting on a proposal to take away the patronage of the English cathedrals and confer it on the bishops, Dean Sydney Smith wrote: I do not want to go into a long and tiresome story of Episcopal nepotism; but it is notorious to all that bishops confer their patronage upon their sons and sons-in-law and all their relations, and it is really quite monstrous in the face of the world who see this every day and every hour to turn round upon deans and chapters, "We are credibly informed that there are instances in your chapter where preferment has not been given to the most learned men you can find, but to the sons and brothers of some of the Prebendaries. These things must not be- we must take these benefices into our own keeping"; and this is the language of men swarming themselves with sons and daughters, and who, in enumerating the advantages of their stations, have always spoken of the opportunities of providing for their families as the greatest and most important. Its Eccle siastical Role Prostitu- tion of Office to Advantage between "Merit" Nepotism is the disease of well-endowed churches just as gout is the ailment of rich men. On the other hand, the disposal of places in return for money, political influence, or personal service makes a black chapter in the history of the state. In England Party over two centuries ago the policy of turning out all the lower officials to make room for party men was adopted by the very struggle generation that originated party government. Under George III, the who used it to get the better of the party system, the patronage System abuse reached scandalous heights, but after the American Revo- and the lution the practice of selling offices or letting them go by favor System declined, and patronage was dispensed with a more and more strict regard to party advantage. Between 1820 and 1870 England went over to the merit system, established open competition for 80,000 government positions, and laid the foundation for an unprecedented efficiency in her administrative departments. In the meantime the United States was moving in the other direc "'Spoils'' CHAP. The Disease of Type of Betrayal of Trust tion, and in the third quarter of the nineteenth century the sacrifice of fitness in public servants to favoritism and party work reached its climax. During the last thirty-seven years, however, great progress has been made in delivering public office from subordination to private or partisan interest. Patronage has gone to such lengths in the public service because the service is sustained by taxes rather than by voluntary contributions and because no constituency is so incompetent as the general public to judge what it is getting for its money. Nevertheless, the canker may attack any structure that offers places worth having. Business enterprises, universities, churches, charities, and voluntary associations are by no means immune to it. Occasionally nepotism shows itself very clearly in the salary roll of banks and life insurance companies. Fortunately the disease is a patent one, and publicity, proper checks in the power of appointment, and scientific methods of testing qualifications and measuring performance afford the foes of patronage effective means of getting rid of it. CORRUPTION The play of private motives in its personnel may cause a social by Official structure to work quite otherwise than it was intended to work. or Func tionary Then, too, outsiders who have an interest in deflecting the servant from the path of honor study and plot how they may tempt him with the prospect of secret illicit advantage. Under the slang names of "graft" and "boodle " Americans have in recent years become familiar with the means by which their agents are seduced from their known duty. For a bribe the alderman votes to present a valuable franchise to a traction company, the supervising architect of the new city hall passes work "not up to specifications," or the police ignores the existence of outlaw vice shops. The gift of railroad passes or the promise of political aid influences the vote of the legislator. Contracts for public work are jockeyed into the hands of a favored firm instead of the lowest bidder. The purchase of supplies on the public account opens the door to jobbery. Clerks carry home office supplies as "perquisites," while inspectors are induced to shut their eyes to evils which it is their duty to report. But betrayal of the master is by no means confined to public servants. Railroad officials withhold freight cars from coal CHAP. Every Social companies along the line that neglect to present them with blocks of stock. Buyers for retail firms swing orders to the wholesaler most lavish with presents or entertainment. Officials take ad- Type of vantage of their inside knowledge to speculate in the securities of their company. A ring of officials taps the treasury of a railroad Is Subject with bills for needless or fictitious repairs on cars. The directress of an old ladies' home gets admitted to the institution an aged family servant whom she ought to care for herself. In order to attract a gift of tainted money a church muffles its moral message, while in order to hold in line a restive donor a college denatures its teaching in ethics or economics. to It It Is in Organ but as ships Nor is corruption confined to social structures. A great variety of legal relations, such as master and servant, principal and Not Only agent, ward and guardian, attorney and client, partnership, izations, trusteeship, etc., opens a door to lucrative betrayal of trust. In- Well in deed stealing, bribery, and illicit advantage are most difficult and Relationdangerous in well-organized structures like a government bureau, or a railroad office, where accounting is thorough, responsibility definite, and every transaction leaves permanent traces of itself. While constantly new and ingenious tricks are invented to get around new safeguards, there are signs that precaution is overtaking rascality. More and more, undetected misconduct is confined to a ring of accomplices who are posted at the strategic points in the organization. RED TAPE Red Tape Generally in the to Make In the endeavor to forestall corruption administrators sometimes bring on a disease nearly as bad, viz., a complication of Originates procedure which makes prompt action impossible. Thus a French Endeavor commission cites the case of an officer who, having received per- Corruption mission to have made for him at the Hotel des Invalides a pair of Impossible non-regimental boots, found himself indebted to the state for the sum of 7 fr. 80, which he was very willing to pay. To render this payment regular there were necessary three letters from the Minister of War, one from the Minister of Finances, and fifteen letters, decisions, or reports from generals, directors, chiefs of departments, etc.1 Or take the ludicrous procedure cited by Wallace: " Cited by Le Bon, "The Psychology of Socialism," p. 176. СНАР. Russian In the residence of a governor-general one of the stoves is in need of repairs. An ordinary mortal may assume that a man with the rank of governor-general may be trusted to expend a few shillings conscientiously, and that consequently his Excellency will at once order the repairs to be made and the payment to be put down among the petty expenses. To the bureaucratic mind the case appears in a very different light. All possible contingencies must be carefully provided for. As a governor-general may possibly be possessed with a mania for making useless alterations, the necessity of the repairs ought to be verified; and as wisdom and honesty are more likely to reside in an assembly than in an individual, it is well to intrust the verification to a council. A council of three or four members accordingly certifies that the repairs are necessary. This is pretty strong authority, but it is not enough. Councils are composed of mere human beings, liable to error and subject to be intimidated by the governor-general. It is prudent, therefore, that the decision of the council be confirmed by the procureur, who is directly subordinated to the minister of justice. When this double confirmation has been obtained, an architect examines the stove and makes an estimate. But it would be dangerous to give carte blanche to an architect, and therefore the estimate has to be confirmed, first by the aforesaid council and afterwards by the procureur. When all these formalities which require sixteen days and ten sheets of paper have been duly observed, his Excellency is informed that the contemplated repairs will cost two roubles and forty kopeks, or about five shillings of our money. Even here the formalities do not stop, for the government must have the assurance that the architect who made the estimate and superintended the repairs has not been guilty of negligence. A second architect is therefore sent to examine the work, and his report like the estimate, requires to be confirmed by the council and the procureur. The whole correspondence lasts thirty days and requires not less than thirty sheets of paper. Had the person who desired the repairs been not a governor-general but an ordinary mortal, it is impossible to say how long the procedure might have lasted. INDIFFERENTISM Generally a social structure is less subject than an individual to the enlivening prick of competition. The people cannot turn from one health department or school system to another as they turn from one dealer or physician to another. The taxpayers. moreover, have but the vaguest notion of what they ought to receive for their money, and their dissatisfaction with the service |