Question:
Political Bosses were people who used "favors" to get elected to office. These dealings allowed them to become very powerful during this time. Read below the two excerpts. Excerpt 1 is a passage from "The Shame of Cities" by Lincoln Steffens. The second excerpt is from George Plunkitt, a New York City Political boss from his talk "Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft". After reading the two passages, write 1-2 parag response to Were Political bosses corrupt? Why or why not? When write your short answer response, follow the RACE guidelines:
R - Restate the Question
A - Answer the question completely.
C - Cite Evidence from the Text/Source
E - Explain the evidence, you have cited.
Excerpt 1: Excerpt from a book by muckraker Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of Cities, published in 1904.
The typical American citizen is a business man. The spirit of business is profit, not patriotism; individual gain, not national prosperity. "My business is sacred," says the business man in his heart. "Whatever helps my business, is good; it must be. Whatever hurts it, is wrong; it must be. A bribe is bad, that is, it is a bad thing to take; but it is not so bad to give one, not if it is necessary to my business."
Excerpt 2: : Excerpt from a talk by George Plunkitt, a political boss in New York City. The talk was called "Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft," recorded in 1905.
I've been readin' a book by Lincoln Steffens on The Shame of the Cities. Steffens means well, but like all reformers, he don't know how to make distinctions. He can't see no difference between honest graft and dishonest graft and, consequently, he gets things all mixed up. . . . For instance, I ain't no looter. The looter hogs it. I never hogged. I made my money in politics, but at the same time, I served the organization and got more big improvements for New York City than any other livin' man.