It is by no means necessary to review the whole sweep of a nation’s history in order to observe the discarding of old, and the evolution of newer and usually less dangerous forms of corruption. Such a career as that of Tweed would be impossible in any American city to-day. The crude methods he employed,—raising bills, throwing contracts to members of the Ring, keeping false books, delaying financial reports,—would certainly and promptly send any one who attempted them at the present time to the penitentiary. Indeed no small part of existing municipal legislation can be traced back to the specific misdeeds of Tweed and others of his ilk. On the other hand it must be admitted that the ablest corruptionists sometimes show skill little short of genius in devising new schemes to avoid the pitfalls of existing law and in keeping always just beyond the grasp of new enactments. Mr. Steffens tells a story of Chris Magee, former boss of Pittsburgh, to the effect that he visited and made a most careful study of the machines of Philadelphia and New York and particularly of their defects, finally returning to his own city with the conviction that a “ring could be made as safe as a bank.”[35] In this field, as in the ethics of business management and elsewhere, there will probably always be a running duel between anti-social action and legislation designed to check it. Novel methods of corruption will constantly require novel methods of correction. In the nature of the case the law will usually be slightly behind the artifices of the most skilful corruptionists: abuses must exist and be felt as such before the government can successfully define and punish them. On the other hand this constant development of the law should make corrupt practices increasingly difficult for the less gifted rascals who must always constitute the great majority of would-be offenders. As things are now the ignorant heeler, and even the crooked tool who has received an ordinary education, realise that they cannot play the game alone. Their only hope of escaping the penitentiary is in the service of the machine whose leaders understand the legal requirements of the situation, and possess the skill or influence necessary to circumvent them.