The respectable element did not vote with such allies in order that he should continue to conserve the interests of vice and criminality. The supporters of the all-night saloons, gambling halls, poker joints, and of all other nests of iniquity rallied to his assistance to a man. Without the massed vote of the saloon and its hangers on, he would not have been again chosen Mayor.
The leading financial paper of this city, non-partisan in its political views, said on the eve of the election: “An emergency exists. The government of the City of Chicago is held in contempt not only in Chicago but wherever Chicago is known. We are losing good citizens, property, capital, prestige. The very streets, with their filth and dust, repel the visitor; the servants of the city, whether in administrative or legislative positions, are objects of suspicion; the scheme of a well ordered civil service is breaking down; vice receives encouragement as the price of votes. What wonder that many believe the heart is rotten? But there is virtue and power enough to change all this. The moral sentiment and enlightened self interest of the city once aroused and properly guided would overwhelm all opposition.”
Few, if any, evidences have been given out from the City Hall since the Mayor’s re-inauguration tending to show that he proposes voluntarily to destroy this “contempt.” His new comptroller is a worthy successor to the departed Waller, while the selection for his corporation counsel is all that could be desired by the most captious citizen. But the vices and crimes which principally brought, through their unchecked prevalence, that contempt, find the man, under whom for two years the police force, which in his friend’s language has been “indecent and probably corrupt,” again in its command. Doubtless the army of the vicious rejoices. Certain it is the community wonders. He will be observed as time passes. May the results of observation redound to his everlasting credit and success, and to the benefit of the great city of which he is the executive head!
In the following pages references to the causes of that contempt will be made. The prurient will find nothing in them to their taste. These references ought to be of some assistance to the Mayor in finding out through a properly organized and well officered police force that these evil causes do exist. Having discovered them, their haunts, and their aids, if he does not already know of them, will he tolerate them any longer in this community? Will his continuous Superintendent of Police be further allowed to throw his kindly protection over them?
CONTENTS.
Chicago—Its Development—Power of Criminal Classes in Its Government—Pretenses of Reform—Official Satisfaction—Public Condemnation—Truths as to Power of Criminal Classes.