The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-10-06

Tibulations What with the struggles be-
tween ambitious labor and zealous capital,
wild-eyed dynamiters and brave police, the
times. have been full of turmoil AMI the air
overcharged with reverberations and rumors
If war. But throughout all the conmotton
here has been one conspicuous figure toward
whom all eyes have turned, one representa-
i've of law, one commander of forces, one
universal arbitrator, one giver of advice,
dictator, referee and spokesman, who has
never lost faith in himself, in the police, In
Chicago, tina constitution, the law or the
American eagle. His name IS Harrison
Carter Henry Hqrrison--by his 100000
ubjec,s called simply "our Carter" or
Garter" for short. Wherever crowds
gathered and trouble brewed there
this mayor of Ch'cago was to be
found, with a loose coat about
his tired body, a rakish slouch haf on his
head, and the broad back of his hish-bred
Kentucky mare between his legs. Carter
and the mare-there go tbs mayor and the
mare!H has been the cry a score of times a
Jay, first among the strikers at MCormicks
great reaper factory, then in the Bohemian
istriet, where you may travel a mile and
see no American name on sign board or
American face among the throngs on
the sidewalks, and again patroling that
wilderness Of huge heaps and noisy
planning mills known as the lumber
district. Everybody in Chicago, even the
iirty-faced child playing IN the alley,
knows Carter, and everybody knows the
mare, An so as the noble matched and
natchless pair moved from crowd 10 crowd
and through street after street shouts OF
recognition greeted them on all sides Some
ealla1 him aCarter q few ward workers
addressed him as "the old man." the women
bowed low and exclaimed Eyer honor"
while one bod small boy immortalized him.
self by crying arats" Use OF this epithet is
IN ofRense we'll nigh capital in Chicago, and
she bystanders expected to see the young
r. minal arrested and confined in a dungeon
cell without delay, but instead the paternal
mayor read the offender lecture which will
doubtless ring in his ears till Gabriel's rum
pet sounds
To strikers and assembled crowds the mayor
made many speeches. To employers he gave
much good advice. In the midst of rioters
ae was as fearless as cavalryman in q
charge, and in the control of the police he
gas all vigilance and energy. He was not in
The Haymarket when that awful bomb ex-
ploded, but he was soon thereafter among
the wounded and dying policemen at the
station house. Daily the gray mare has
since stood for half hour before the city
hospital, while her rider was inside cheering
the sufferers whose limbs and bodies had
been torn by Anarchist bombs and bullets
1t is easy to see that this equestrian pub
Iicist is not man of commonplace. He Is
altogether extraordinary. he is picturesque
Not very great man, nor an exceptionally
rood man. nor a VIGOROUSLY bad man, ho
bas nevertheless built his fame as wide as
that of the town he rules There are an hun
3red congressman and score Of senators in
Washington les; known throughout tine
country's length and breadth than he He
was in congress once himself-and now has
an ambition to return after sitting eight
years in the mayors chair of Americas in
terror metropolis-but it was not in Wash
iagton that his fame was wrought It wGJ
here, and if we look for the whyfors we find
It in the fact that he has not only been Chi
cagos chief magistrate. but her imparsona-
tor He has been reflex of many of Chi
cagos most marked characteristics. He has
been, and is, Chicago personifed
Like Chicago, he is bod, buoyant, un-
daunted, complacent self confident,
prosperous, rich, generous, pew-holding, but
ovabiffouv arv,v-ra obok fa saIf
loving, easy-going on the Sabbath day, toler-
ant Of saloons, gamblers and run-abou!s,
but the soul of honor when money is In
volved, full of vim, business, brains, breeze
and coneeit
Sightseeing visitors in Chicago rarely fail
TO 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 Introduction TO the rider of
the mare. They have heard of him In
some manner their curiosity concerning him
has been eager. What he has done to make
him famous they do not know, nor does
anybody else. But analysis shows that he
Is notorious, because he stands typical Of
Chicago.
It is difficult for non-residents to under
stand how big man Carter Harrison IL in
Chicago, how be is regarded as the autocrat
Of the town and the one man Of power.
Chicago exceeds in population eight or zen
states Of the Union, and in wealth and i'm.
portance many more. In this principality
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, b. 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 be likes Even the police
justices are his Add to this lawful power
the aggressiveness, individuality and pate,-
nalism of the man Harrison, and you have
potentate who moves in the orbit Of an
emperor.
There was a time when this mayor, mare
mounted, could not ride through the streets
Of Chicago without being followed by the
buzz as Of endless crowds He was popular.
@The best mayor" was his sobriquet in every
man mouth, without regard to politics.
When be returned from a European
trip, during which he had sounded the
praises of the American eagle in the shadow
Of the castles Of half dozen effete mon
arches, the crowd which met him at the
railway station covered ten acres. In its
arms the favorite was borne to his carriage,
which no horses drew triumphant through
the streets. But now the popularity has
waned, and the vast majorities OF years ago,
to which men Of all parties contributed their
suffrage, dwindIed year ago to a contested
election.
Yet in many ways Carter Harrison is truly
the best Mayor Chicago ever had. In city
Of fobbery, he has been in no jobs; surrounded
by d corrupt council, he has been clean, and
more than once has interpcsed his veto be-
tween blackmailers and their booty. His
financial control has been close. able and
bouest His police and fire departments
have become modes He rid Chicago OF
bunco thieves, garroters and sand baggera-
At the same time. strsngsiy Inconsistent BE-
gave peace to the gamblers Is long as their
gssat political influence was exertei In his
behalf, turning his police loose upon them
only when they turned against him. All
the while hs has been over lenient with tough
saloons and notorious dance houses
IN politics he has been something Of dem-
agogue as well as br liant leader Even
the Socialists, cousins-G German TO tbs red
eyed Anarchists, have known his favor One
Socialstic leader Is now one OF his Office
10 ders, and The Arbeitsr zsisung, late or
gan Of the Socialist. Spies, was once official
paper Of ChieAgo
+ this picturesque mayor IS rfo. cd for any
thing more than bis nerve and bis handsome
person. + s. Tor bis dusncy. rs Is I wonder-