I knew
that he was an honest, upright man; and I was puzzled. What puzzled me
still more was this: although the ministers in the churches and
"prominent citizens" in all walks of life denounced the "election
crooks" with the most laudable fervor, the election returns showed that
the best people in the churches joined the worst people in the dives to
vote the same ticket, and vote it "straight." And I was most of all
puzzled to find that when the elections were over, the opposition
newspaper ceased its scolding, the voice of ministerial denunciation
died away, and the crimes of the election thieves were condoned and
forgotten.
I was puzzled. I saw the jungle of vice and party prejudice, but I did
not yet see "the Cat." I saw its ears and its eyes there in the
underbrush, but I did not know what they were. I thought they were
connected with the Republican party.
And then I came upon some more of the brute's anatomy. Members of the
Legislature in Denver were accused of fraud in the purchase of state
supplies, and--some months later--members of the city government were
accused of committing similar frauds with the aid of civic officials
and prominent business men.
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