Legal training refined bribery into disguised professional fees.

Evidence

Murphy and Plunkitt were uneducated men; they had never been to law school. If they had, they would have found the making of “honest graft” safer and easier still. Al Smith, as always, phrased it best. Strolling through a law-school library one day, the Governor noticed a student poring intently over his books. “There,” he said with a smile, “is a young man studying how to take a bribe and call it a fee.” By the Twenties, most honest graft was being worked through “fees,” mostly through legal fees (more politicians belong to the legal than any other profession), but also through the real estate brokers’ fees called “commissions,” the insurance brokers’ fees called “premiums” and the public relations fees called “retainers.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 3026

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘immodesty’ article’s theme of sumptuary-era signaling, and to the chapter book_so_far ch8’s corruption mechanics; the Al Smith quote pairs with Moses’ Albany days. — connects to: Litigation costs drove the lawyers to genuine personal financial ruin — Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, 2717

Broader Connections

• Litigation costs drove the lawyers to genuine personal financial ruin #complicates (0.75) — Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, 2717