Page:The Indian Dispossessed.pdf/315

Conclusion his part, these favors will be dealt out to him in fair proportion to his political representation. In general, each section has its own particular desires, and is scarcely interested in the ambitions of its neighbors except as they affect its own ambitions. The seaboard town urging the betterment of its harbor is indifferent to the construction of jetties in the Missouri, while a dry dock appeals to the western member charged with securing an irrigation appropriation merely as having an unpleasantly suggestive name.

It is no more than natural that from these conditions there should have developed in Congress an elaborate system for the exchange of support in the business of securing these local favors; in view of the expectations of his constituents, it is not only natural, but necessary, that a congressman, even a conscientious congressman, study the distribution of his influence as much with reference to the returns it will bring in exchange as to the merits of the schemes to which he lends it. Even in this business—and it is strictly business, not statesmanship—there need be no menace to the national honor; to gain strategic advantage for one good cause by skilfully advancing other good causes, is good business.

But the descent from the ideals of statesmanship to the realm of hand-to-hand business is a descent from the forum of public discussion to intrigue and private agreement. In this lies the danger. A not 291