Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-06-13

lust pa ~Sed through world OF troubles and
tribulationS. WHAT with the struggles he-
tween ambitious labor and JEALOUS capital
wilh-eyed dynamiters and brave police, tn"
times have been full Of turmoil and the air
overCharged with rrvcrberations and rumorS
OF war But throu ,hout all the commotinn
there has been one conspicuous figure toward
whom all eyes have turnel |, one represeU Ia
tive Of law. one commander of forces, on"
universal arbitrator. one giver of advice,
dictator, referee and spokesman, who has
never lost faith in himself, in the police, In
Chicago, the constitution the law or the
American eagle His name is Harrison
Carter Henry HhrrisOn-by his 800, 90
subtec.s callel simply "our Carter" or
Carter for short Wherever crowds
gathered and trouble brewed there
this mayor Of Chicago was to h.
found, with loose coat about
his tired body, a rnkIsh slouch hat on his
head, and the broad back of his high brei
Kentucky mare hetwe,n his hg& Garter
and the mare-there go ths mayor and the
mare" has b@,n the cry a score Of times a
day, first among the strikers at MCormick's
y.
district where you may travel a mile and
see no American name on a .ig7n board or
American face among the throngs on
the sidewalks, and again patroiing that
wilderness OF huge heaps and noisy
planning mills known as the lumber
district Everybody In Chicago, even the
dirty faced child play wing In the alley,
knows Garter, and everybody knows the
mare AMI so as the noble matched and
matchless pair moved from crowd to crowd
and through street after street shouts of
recognition greeted them on all sides Some
callei him Garter" few ward workers
addressed him a. "the old man" the women
bowed low and exclaimed "Yer honor"
while one told small boy immortaltzed him
self by CRYING "rat4- Us. of this epithet is
an offense we'll nigh rap tai in Chicago, and
the bystanders expected to ssse the young
cr minal arrested and confined in n dungeon
cell without delay, but instead the paternnl
mayor read the offender lecture which will
doubtless ring in his ears till Gabriel's trum-
PIT sounds
To strikers and assembled crowds the mayor
much good advice In the midst OF rioters
le was fearless as a cavalryman in
charge, and in the control OF the police he
was all vigilance and energy. He was not In
tho Haymarkct when that awful hOrIb ex-
pIodci, but he was soon thereafter among
the wounded and dying / ulic"men at the
station house Daily the gray mare has
since stood for n half hour before the city
hospital while her rider inside cheering
the sufferers whose limbs and bodies had
been torn by Anarchist bombs and bullets
1t Il easy to that this equestrian pub
liCist Il not a man o. commonplaces. He is
altogether extraordinary H. is picturesque.
Not very great man, nor an exceptionaliy Y
good man, nor n VIGOROUSLY bad man. he
has nevertheless built his fame as wide as
that of the town he rule. There are an hun
dred congressman and score OF senators in
Washington less known throughout the
country's length and breadth than he He
was in congress once him>elf-and now has
an ambition to return after sitting eight
years in the mayors chair of Americas in
ter iur met-opo iS--but it was not in Wash
ington that his fame was wrought 1t was
here, and If we look for the whyfors find
it IN the fact that h has not only been Chi
cagos chief magistrate. hut her impcrsona-
tor He has becu reflex of many of Chi
Cngos most marked characteristics He has
be n and is, Chicago personitied.
Like Chicago, he Is bod, buoyant, un-
daunted, self-complac, mt, self confident,
prosperous, rich, generous, pew-hOldng, but
not pious; ambitious, apprO Ichaule self
loving, ea>y-going on thu sabbath day, toer-
ant of saloons, gamblers and run-abouts,
bat the soul of honor when money is in
yslved, full OF vim business, brains, breeze
and conceit
Sightseeing visitors in Chicago rarely fail
u ask to be shown the mayor. The business
man from New York, the stock drover from
Kansas the miner from Colorado, request
the honor Of an intro uction TO the rider of
the mare They have rard Of him In
some manner Their curiosity concerning him
has been eager WHAT he has done TO make
HIN famous they do not know, nor does
anybody elsa But analysis shows that be
is notorious, because he stands typical of
Chicago
1t Is difficult for non-residents to under
stand how big a man Carter Harrison Is in
Chicago, how he is regarded as the autocrat
Of the town and the one man Of power.
Chicago exceed, in population eight or ten
states of the Union, and in wealth and i'm
portancs many more In this incipality
the mayor is supreme There Is a city
council, but he has the power of veto. and in
his control Of the patronage, which all good
aldermen hunger for. h. controls the council
All of the other departments of the city
government, excepting a few perfunctory
offices, are under his thumb He fills them
with whom he likes Even the police
justices are his Add TO this lawful power
IN ,I
nalism of the man Harr ison, and you have a
pOtentate who moves in the orbit OF ali
emperor.
There was a time when this mayor, mare
mounted, could not ride through the streets
OF Chicago without being followed by the
buzz rs of eniless crowds He was popular
The best mayor" was his sobriquet in every
man mouth, without regard 10 politics
When he returned from European
trip during which be had sounded the
praises Of the American eagle i'll the shadow
of the cast eS Of half dozen effete mon
arches, the crowd which met him at the
railway station covered ten acres In its
arms the favorits was borne to his carriage,
which no horses drew triumphant through
the streets But now the popularity has
waned, and the vast ma jOrities of years ago,
to which men o! all parties contributed their
suffrage, dwindled year ago to contested
election
Yet in many ways Carter Harrison is truly
the hest Mayor Chicago ever hal In a city
OF jobbery. he has been in no jobs; surrounded
by a corrupt counc |, he has been clean, and
more than once has interposed his veto be-
tween blackmailers and their booty. His
financial control has teen close, able and
honest His police and fire departments
have become mojes He rid Chicago OF
bunco thieves, garrOters and sand haggers.
At the same time. strangely inconsistent, h,