“The police seem to be downcast over it. Yet the causes of the ‘springing up’ are as plain as the nose on one’s face, and the means of removing them as evident as one’s hand.
“Access to the den in which Adams died was had through the delectable O. saloon, operated by S. V. P., and the den itself was rented by V. P. The levee statesman says he had no idea his basement was used for an opium den. He thought the procession of drunken and dazed men and women who tottered through his saloon and went down his basement stairs all night were going for their laundry.
“V. P.’s statement is entitled to as much consideration as the guileless protestations of the gentleman who is caught with the chicken under his coat. V. P. is responsible for the opium den and as soon as the law lays a hand, in earnest, on the landlord the opium dens will cease ‘springing up.’
“The police knew that an opium den was running in V. P.’s basement. They had been amply warned of it. If they had raided the place a few times and sent the proprietor and inmates to the bridewell it would have stayed closed.
“There is a little virtue in sticking to one’s native vices. Western races come honestly by drunkenness and gambling. But why tolerate the deliberate importation and cultivation of this strange oriental bestiality? This ingrafted vice must make its own soil. Why should the police treat it so leniently? A hundred-dollar fine for every person found in an opium joint and a modicum of police activity, with the demanding of a strict account from the guilty landlord, will quickly put a damper on the opium dens. Every month that they are tolerated they get a firmer root.”
These resorts are patronized by others than the fallen women and the criminal classes. Like slumming, it is a fad “to hit the pipe just once” by some adventure seeking people in other walks of life. The habit of opium smoking is easily acquired, and, when acquired, the smoker becomes a slave to its use. There are between two and three hundred of these smoking rooms in Chicago. The number of persons addicted to smoking opium cannot be stated with accuracy. Estimates vary from ten to twenty thousand, the number probably lies between these two estimates. In the Chinese quarters the penetrating odor of opium smoke is plainly perceptible and is thrown off from the garments of passing Chinamen, or is detected as one enters a restaurant or laundry presided over by the oriental. The “dope” soon affects the complexion, and the features wear a dejected appearance. The movements of the victims are listless, almost lifeless. In the saloon referred to, a constant procession of men and women, old and young, come and go up and down the stairway to the region below. It is not guarded with any degree of care, because it is protected from the law’s aggression, except occasionally, when by way of diversion it is pulled. Then its patrons get a quiet tip to keep away, consequently few occupants are found. The old pipes and a small quantity of the dope are graciously permitted to be borne away in triumph by the officers. New supplies are provided, and the baleful business resumes its accustomed routine.
CHAPTER V.
Common Council—Boodlers—Bribers—Council of 1899—Powers of—Misuse of—Price of Votes—Passage of Boodle Ordinances—Public Works Department and Bureaus—Illegal Contracts—Street Repairing, Etc.—Civil Service Commission—History of—Present Board Tools of Mayor—Examination by—Examples of—Attacks Upon Law—Special Assessments—Asphalt Ring—Fire Department—County Government—Insane Asylum—Sale of “Cadavers”—Contracts—Sheriff’s Office—Jury Bribers—Judges—Revenue Law—Tax Dodgers—Town Boards—Coroner’s Office—Press Trust—Civic Societies—Berry Committee’s Report—Baxter Committee—Opening Testimony—Conclusion.