Four main lines of argument have been gathered from various sources as constituting the principal, if not the entire equipment of the _advocatus diaboli_ to this end. These are, first, that political corruption makes business good; second, that it may be more than compensated for by the high efficiency otherwise of those who engage in it; third, that it saves us from mob rule; and fourth, that corruption is part of an evolutionary process the ends of which are presumed to be so beneficent as to more than outweigh existing evils. I. Of these four arguments the first is most frequently presented. Few of our reputable business men would assent to it if stated baldly, or indeed in any form, but in certain lines of business the tacit acceptance of this doctrine would seem to be implied by the political attitude of those concerned. In slightly disguised form the same consideration appeals to the whole electorate, as shown by the potency of the “full dinner-pail” slogan, and the pause which is always given to reforms demanded in the name of justice when commercial depression occurs. But while we are often told that corruption makes business good, we are seldom informed in just what ways this desirable result is brought about. One quite astounding point occasionally brought up in this connection is the favour with which a portion of the mercantile community looks upon the illegal protection of vice and gambling. A police force must sternly repress major crimes and violence. Certain sections of the city must be kept free from offence. These things understood, a “wide-open” town is held to have the advantage over “slower” neighbouring places. A great city, we are told, is not a kindergarten. Its population is composed both of the just and the unjust, and this is equally true of the many who resort to it from the surrounding country for purposes of pleasure or profit. The slow city may still continue to hold and attract the better element which seeks only legitimate business and recreation, but the wide-open town will hold and attract both the better and the worse elements. Of course, individuals of the latter class may be somewhat mulcted in dives and gambling rooms, but they will still have considerable sums left to spend in thoroughly respectable stores, and such patronage is not to be sniffed at.[2]