, 1875-01-03

THE COUNTY RING.
The people Of Chicago pay the great bulk
Of the county taxes The formation q q cor
rupt combination in the County Board is,
therefore. q menace to every man who owns
property in the city IS well as in the suburbs.
Lalike the municipal corporation, the county
las not yet exhausted its constitutional !:.:it
Of indebtedness, and it may borrow money
whenever controlling ring il the Board of
Commissioners enter upon a job Of sufficient
magnitude to warrant it. The peril Of O sue
cessful combination in this Bonrd for jobbing
purposes is thus not confined to tho current
opportunities for stealing, but involves pos
sible cost OF many millions Of dollars to the
people The building of the Court House,
which viii have to be undertaken Some time
, within the near future, viii open up rich mine
? Of ihiering contracts Any ring which is now
permitted to fosten itself On the county will
hand down its power and iniquity in direct
line Of succession It's unity and boldness
will grow with time and success S1nnn jobs
will lead to greater ones The forbearance
c. the people viii be construed as inditfer-
cnco, snd encourage the ring to undertake
and conaum1nnte the most stupendous steals.
The people Of Chicago should not, therefore,
permit thoir attention to be diverted from
the present evidences Of corruption They
should use nj their resources to break up the
ring in its earlier operations If there is any
oae who is acting under misguided partssan=
ship, no effort should be wanting to persuade
him to desert 50 disreputab1e combination :;
for the others, every variety OF threat and
intimidation reserved to the people should be
brought to bear upon them ao1o. It viii only
bc necessary to secure one man to give the
honest members majontyiu the Board No
nfort should b. spared to win over this single
vote aad beat the KNIVES.
We hive pointed out at length in aprerious
Edcle the un1aistakable evidences Of such
combination for plunder; but Will recapitu-
late them briefly, that every taxpayer can
understand them It vas found, when the
CIV members Of the Board went into Office,
that tie enormous sum Of 800, 600 had been
expended IN support of county poor and
parpers the pas: year,-a sum suspicious1y
largo and greatly in excess OF previous ycars
This circumstance led to the appointment Of
an Investigating COMMITTEES, with Mr. HOLDEN
As C...air7nsn- -Four Of the members Of this
COMMITTEES CMessrs. HOLDEN, CIouaH, JONES,
and GuES7uER) went at the work honestly
with tho purpose Of discovering the leahs
aud stopping them the fifth member Nc
CAxrEEr) impeded the work OF investigation
IS much rs ne could, and opposed its results.
The Committee found that the loose contract
1ysten IVES responsible for most Of the
frauds, with the cooperation Of negligent or
corrupt officials. It was ascertained TINT ons
man Pm1o14r) virtually has monopoly Of
furnishing the most profitable supplies to the
county. His contracts were taken out in the
7an.cs Of various clerks and drummers in his
employ. This Of itself wAs sufficient to &C.
sount fo- the e1havagance Of outlay. But
:ho discoveries did not end here. It was
.o1nd that tbs Warden Of the Insane
Asylum and Poor-House had never kept
my account Of the goods received in these
Two, the most costly Of the county charities,
TO tha: it was impossible to tell whether I'll
the supplies paid for By the county had been
delivered But further search showed TINT
Miss R~oRD, lady in charge Of the dry
goods in the Insane Asylum, had checked
Of and kept a private memorandum Of the
goods which she had received 4 comparison
of this memorandum with the bills paid
showed heavy shortage in nearly every 81
Icle delivered. In this single line of goods
it IVES found TINT the county he'd paid over
81, 900 for goods that had neper bcen dclirced!
As there was absolutely no check upon
The other goods. and as the Warden wns
confused whea questioned, the inference
trom the condition Ut things in the
5zy-goods department was that the same
sw;nd1e extended to all tho other departments.
It was also ascerta;nod that various articles
furnished under contract cost the county, in
Tia aggregate, double tbs amount for which
they could bs bought in opcn market.
The results Of the Investigation in general
re7e, TINT ths most prominent ofscials in the
souuiy we're derelict IN duty; that the vicious
contract s3ztc1n, couaptly used, waa costing
ths city psrhspa 500, 900 year over and |
tbovs the unArket price OF tho supplies;
nd that the Committee recommended the !
.brogrt;on of this swind1ing system and the
purchase OF supplies in open market by |
County Pu=chnsing-Agent under the direction |
ind supervision Of committee Of the !
Bosrl, which should be made up alternately !
II eli the Commissioners, thrss serving at a |
t3oe.
Tho whole case WEI 10 plsin fhxt tho 70 |
.so1t ahauId kkrs bean approved It oncs. and