See the application?
Understand, I ain't defendin' politicians of today who steal.

The politician who steals is worse than a thief.

He is a fool.

With the grand opportunities all around for the man with a political pull, there's no excuse for stealin' a cent.

The point I want to make is that if there is some stealin' in politics, it don't mean that the politicians of 1905 are, as a class, worse than them of 1835.