Quote#Self
The Wall Street banker thinks it shameful to raise a department…
Quote byGeorge Washington Plunkitt · 1842–1924
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Chapter 1, Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft.
English (original)
The Wall Street banker thinks it shameful to raise a department clerk’s salary from $1500 to $1800 a year, but every man who draws a salary himself says: “That’s all right. I wish it was me.” And he feels very much like votin’ the Tammany ticket on election day, just out of sympathy. p. 6
— George Washington Plunkitt
More from George Washington Plunkitt
Another kind of honest graft. Tammany has raised a good many salaries. There was an awful howl by the reformers, but don’t you know that Tammany gains ten votes for every one it lost by salary raisin’? p. 6
There’s an honest graft, and I’m an example of how it works. I might sum up the whole thing by sayin’: “I seen my opportunities and I took ’em.” p. 3
Every good man looks after his friends, and any man who doesn’t isn’t likely to be popular. p. 5
If I have a good thing to hand out in private life, I give it to a friend. Why shouldn’t I do the same in public life? p.6
Everybody is talkin’ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin’ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. p. 3, first line
As a matter of policy, if nothing else, why should the Tammany leaders go into such dirty business, when there is so much honest graft lyin’ around when they are in power? p. 6