L. O. Curon - Chicago, Satans Sanctum

"I am to speak of stories you will not believe;
of beings you cannot love; of foibles for which
you have no compassion; of feelings in which you
have no share."W. MC. PRAED

The present Mayor of the City of Chicago was recently re-elected. A largenumber of independent voters, deeming one issue a dominant one, which, infact, was no issue at all, assisted in again bestowing on him the mostimportant office in the municipal government.

The legislature had repealed a law under which evil, through thethreatened action of corruptionists in the Council, might have beenvisited upon the city. That they were powerless to inflict it had beendemonstrated prior to the repeal of that law and prior to the election.His competitors entertained, upon the question of the extension of streetcar privileges, the same views as his own. Both were men of as greatability as he, and each had, and still has, a reputation for personalintegrity not surpassed by his. Both were men more mature in years, andpossessed wider business experiences than he. Hence, either of them couldhave been safely entrusted with the powers of the executive. Neither ofthem, however, could invent, for campaign purposes, so catching, sopowerful, and yet so sophistical, a political phrase as "The streets maybe dirty, but they still belong to the people." To the inventor of thatcry the Mayor owes no small political debt.

It might be inferred from the large vote he received that, as a publicservant, he had been tested and not found wanting. With respect to hispersistent opposition to the extension of street car privileges, withoutadequate compensation to the city, and for a period not in excess oftwenty years, it should be said he bravely and manfully did his duty,following, however, not leading public opinion on that question. Alldanger from that source had disappeared when the polls opened in Aprillast. His competitors stood, on that morning, as honorably pledged tothrottle it, if it again appeared, should either of them be elected, as hedid.

It cannot, however, be said that during his first administration he didhis whole duty. It is a peculiarity of the American people that theyalways praise, with exaggeration, an official who partly does his duty, ifthe part performed is regarded by them as especially serviceable to thepublic. He had the benefit of so much exaggerated praise from a pressthat, for nearly two years then last past, had been condemning him, thatsome people were charmed into a sort of hysterical admiration for him. Hehad the happy faculty of concealing the shortcomings of his firstadministration, under cover of a supposedly overshadowing danger. Therebyhe caused his previous record to appear as if free from blemish, and thathe had performed every dutyand performed it well. The very adroit use ofthis faculty is the only reason why he received a plurality of votes somuch larger than that of any other candidate nominated on the same ticketwith him for a minor office.

His best friends did not contend that he did his full duty. They now onlyhope he will do so. A public official is not entitled to praise, orthanks, for doing his whole duty. He is elected for the purpose of itsperformance. But full performance is so rare that the people seem to becontent if a public servant will do his duty only fairly well.

The vices which prevail in the city, and which grew to their enormous,threatening, and hideous proportions during the Mayor's firstadministration, were known to the people to exist, but were forgotten bythem at the polls, were known to the police, and are still known to them,and upon no conceivable basis of belief can it be supposed their existencemay not have been known to him, and that he does not know of theircontinued existence.

It is for him to utter the command "Stop," and they will cease, in so faras they can be kept within bounds by his authority. Their absolutesuppression, under existing legislation is, perhaps, impossible, but theirregulation thereunder is not wholly impracticable. Ordinances demanding,for instance, the imposition of a fine of $200 per day for keeping a houseof ill fame, have, he may say, never been enforced, and have fallen into acondition of "innocuous desuetude."

The field of observation on matters such as these is too wide to beentered upon here.

During the Mayor's first term, one of his best friends, in the columns ofhis widely circulated newspaper, severely criticised his administration,but supported him for re-election, and explained in its columns, inresponse to an inquiry made by a correspondent just prior to the election,his reasons for doing so as follows, viz.:

"If Mayor Harrison shall receive the support of the independent votersbecause of the good points of his administration, that will show that hisstrength consists in doing right, not in doing wrong. It stands to reasonthat he would rather have the approval of honest and respectable men thanof the vicious elements of the community. The R believes that MayorHarrison's present administration from first to last has improved and notdeteriorated. The mayor himself ought to know what are the weak points init, and if he has acquired wisdom by experience he should choose his headsof departments for his second term with a view to curing the evils andfailures of his first term. The relations of the police department withgambling resorts, all-night saloons and other forms of vice have beenindecent, and probably corrupt. The R has frequently urged thedismissal of Superintendent K and the appointment of some better man.It believes that Mayor Harrison is much to blame in permitting the evilconditions to continue."

The support he received for re-election came from a very large andrespectable element of the community, but nobody can doubt that he owesthat re-election to the solidarity of the votes of "the vicious elementsof the community!"

The respectable element did not vote with such allies in order that heshould continue to conserve the interests of vice and criminality. Thesupporters of the all-night saloons, gambling halls, poker joints, and ofall other nests of iniquity rallied to his assistance to a man. Withoutthe massed vote of the saloon and its hangers on, he would not have beenagain chosen Mayor.

The leading financial paper of this city, non-partisan in its politicalviews, said on the eve of the election: "An emergency exists. Thegovernment of the City of Chicago is held in contempt not only in Chicagobut wherever Chicago is known. We are losing good citizens, property,capital, prestige. The very streets, with their filth and dust, repel thevisitor; the servants of the city, whether in administrative orlegislative positions, are objects of suspicion; the scheme of a wellordered civil service is breaking down; vice receives encouragement as theprice of votes. What wonder that many believe the heart is rotten? Butthere is virtue and power enough to change all this. The moral sentimentand enlightened self interest of the city once aroused and properly guidedwould overwhelm all opposition."