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Greed corp cheats4/12/2023 ![]() The turn of the 20th century brought the dawn of the Progressive Era that ended the corruption of the Gilded Age. Bureaucracy Brings End to Gilded Age Corruption “Much of the corruption of the Gilded Age is the ability to gain privileged information and use it for private purposes,” White says. As opposed to robbing public coffers or blackmailing business owners, politicians such as Plunkitt used their inside knowledge of where public works would be built to engage in highly profitable land speculation. Plunkitt defended as “honest graft,” also plagued the Gilded Age. Tammany Hall leader William “Boss” Tweed and his cronies stole between $45 million and $200 million in city funds (a figure in the billions of dollars today), and Tweed accumulated enough graft to become the third-largest landowner in New York City until his conviction on 204 counts of fraud.Ī more subtle form of corruption, what Tammany Hall politician George W. ![]() They also fixed elections, committed widespread voter fraud and took lavish bribes when awarding contracts. Urban political machines such as New York City’s Tammany Hall gained great power-and kickbacks-in doling out these highly lucrative public offices as political plums. Political cartoon by Thomas Nast, depicting William 'Boss' Tweed with a money bag for a head entitled, 'The brains that achieved the Tammany victory at the Rochester Democratic Convention,' circa 1871. For example, custom officials could collect half of the penalties paid on goods they said were undervalued for import-or be paid off to not report malfeasance. White says this payment system easily morphed into bribery and fraud. Most postmasters, for instance, earned a percentage of stamps they sold, and public prosecutors received fees for each case they brought. “Taxes are kept down, but these offices are profit-garnering enterprises,” White says of the Gilded Age’s fee-based governance. Public officials were susceptible to corruption because many did not rely on salaries for income but on a cut of fees or taxes they collected, similar to sales commissions. “Grant is not a corrupt man as far as I can tell,” White says, “but he combines an incredible lack of attention to detail-astonishing given his army record-and a blind loyalty to friends.” Pay Structure Made Public Officials Vulnerable to Graft In an attempt to corner the gold market, Wall Street financier and railroad magnate Jay Gould bribed Abel Rathbone Corbin, who had married Grant’s sister, to use his influence to steer the president toward policies that would favor the robber baron’s plan. The Whiskey Ring scandal in which federal agents and whiskey distillers underreported sales to cheat the government out of excise tax revenue and pocket the cash ensnared Grant’s personal secretary, Orville Babcock. Grant’s first vice president, but his second one as well.Ģ021 FDA fully approves the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Swept up in the Crédit Mobilier scandal was not just Ulysses S. To avert any investigation and ensure votes to benefit the company, railroad officials bribed approximately one dozen influential congressmen with Crédit Mobilier shares at below-market prices. ![]() In the most notorious instance of corruption connected to the railroads, Union Pacific Railroad executives formed a sham construction company, Crédit Mobilier, that submitted bills for nearly double the construction cost of the eastern portion of the Transcontinental Railroad and pocketed the overcharges. The Central Pacific Railroad, for example, spent $500,000 annually in thinly disguised bribes between 18. “Railroads need monopoly franchises and subsidies, and to get them, they are more than willing to bribe public officials,” White says. The federal government helped finance these huge infrastructure projects by granting more than 150 million acres of land to railroad companies, which sold them to raise revenue. Railroads propelled the expansion of the American economy as tracks expanded nearly fourfold between 18. Railroads Were at the Forefront of Political Corruption
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