Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/251



he and his boy always call on the Judge, their “best friend.”

“You see,” the Judge says, “Baker wasn’t a bad man. He did a bad thing, and that bad thing made a little girl bad. But what made him do the bad thing ? To make his business good; to increase his profits. But there was the Law and the power of the State to compel him to restrict his enterprise within limits where it wouldn’t hurt anybody else. That’s where the System broke down; that’s where it breaks down all the time. Why ?”

Baker told him why. He said that he broke the law because the bosses told him he might. He contributed to their campaign funds, paid blackmail, and furnished “stuffers” to vote, so they told him he was “protected.” “Then you came along, Judge, and you sent me up. I don’t blame you. I blamed them, and I went to them for their protection. They said they couldn’t handle you. They said they didn’t mean I could break juvenile* laws, but they didn’t tell me that. I paid them, and they couldn’t deliver the goods. That’s why I blame them.”

Baker blamed the bosses, and so did the other saloon-keepers. So did the people of Denver; most of us blame the political bos