This not only threatened the freedom of election, but itself
brought a corrupting influence into the Administration of
the Government.
But there was a still greater danger than all these in the
corruption which then, as always, followed a great war. Unprincipled
and greedy men sought to get contracts and jobs from the Government
by the aid of influential politicians. This aid they paid
for sometimes, though I think rarely, in money, and in contributions
to political campaigns, and in the various kinds of assistance
necessary to maintain in power the men to whom they were so
indebted. This corruption not only affected all branches
of the Civil Service, especially the War and the Navy and
the Treasury, but poisoned legislation itself.
They had to deal with claims amounting to hundreds of millions
of dollars, some wholly fraudulent, some grossly exaggerated
and some entirely just. Some of these belonged to persons
who had contracts with the Government for constructing and
supplying a powerful Navy, or for supplies to the Army. There
were demands still larger in amount from the inhabitants of
the territory which had been the theatre of the War.
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