My party’s in power in the city, and it’s goin’ to undertake a lot of public improvements. Well, I’m tipped off, say, that they’re going to lay out a new park at a certain place. I see my opportunity and I take it. I go to that place and I buy up all the land I can in the neighborhood. Then the board of this or that makes its plan public, and there is a rush to get my land, which nobody cared particularly for before. Ain’t it perfectly honest to charge a good price and make a profit on my investment and foresight? Of course, it is. Well, that’s honest graft.
—George Washington Plunkitt, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, 1905
Which action is best described by this excerpt?
Answer:
Political machines justified corruption while providing benefits to communities.
Explanation:
From this excerpt, it can be deduced that "Political machines justified corruption while providing benefits to communities." This is because it is believed that Geroge Washington Plunkitt, a former New York senator probably through illegal means of getting the right information decided to buy lands where he's sure that the United States government will eventually want to use. Thereby selling the land to the government and making a huge amount as profit from the transaction.
