The morning call., 1892-03-28
HOW THEY Do IN CHICAGO.

The Grand Jury in Chicago, which was
impaneled to conduct the same crusade
against Doodle that Wallace's Grand Jury
attempted here. has been more fortunate
than ours; IL has indicted nine of the
Aldermen, and Is hot In the pursuit of
members OF the Board of Education. tap
pears that in Chicago no court felt bound to
interpose to save the booders. La Illinois
they have way Of selecting as Judges men
OF character and probity, who are neither
tainted themselves ner are disposed to
throw mantle of sympathetic indulgence
over those who are known TO be tainted
wethers Of the flock.
The CALL obsesves that Mr. Lieb. who
is the foreman Of The Chicago Grand jury.
is disturbed by the leakage of its secrets,
and the consequent disappearance from the
city of desirable witnesses. He is thinking
OF having special jury" summoned, or, in
other words, jury chosen not by the usual
officials, but by an elisor 1t appears that
in Illinois the recent decision of the
Supreme Court Of California, holding that
an elisor cannot impanel jury unless affi-
davis imputing unfairpess to tie Sheriff
and Coroner have been fled. is not regarded
with the respect which the decisions of our
Judiciary used to command. And yet they
have pretty good lawyers in Illinois, as
might be expected in State which has had
the law interpreted by such jurists as Dav i'd
Davis, Drummond and Trumbull. There
are no sounder Judges anywhere than
Baker. Wilkin, Slope. Craig, Bailey and
Magruder.
The vice of municipal government every
where is its tendency to be controlled by
corruption As rule good men not only
oil oil L,,t
will not help to send the right men to mu-
nicipal nominating conventions. Hence the
control Of cities falls into the hands of the
worst element among their citizens That
is not an evil which is peculiar to San Fran
cisco or to Chicago. 1t prevails elsewhere
even in European cities as In American
cities. in London and Paris as in New York
and st. Louis. The safeguard for the peo-
pie is the power. which is lodged in the Judi
ciary, to call boodlers to account and to keep
them in awe by periodical examples. II the
Judiciary proves as derelct as municipal
officers there Is no protection at all for the
public and society gradually drifts toward
anarchy.
Within the past 20 years there have been
TWO occasions In which it became necessary
to appeal to the courts of New York to Give
the people relief from the robbers who were
pIunderipg the city from the vantage ground
OF municipal Office. On both occasions
Judges. prosecuting attorneys and grand
aud trial juries did their duty; the knayes
were caught, tried, convicted and sentenced,
and Tor some years afterward New York
had respite from municipal banditti.
he same thing occurred four or five years
ago at st. Louis. The exactions of the
boodlers became so intolerable that
the District Attorney was compelled by
public pressure TO take action, the courts
did their duty. the iuries did theirs, and
ever since then there has been very little
corruption in the city government Now
the uprising against municipal Doodle has
broken out at Chicago. There the people
have piece OF great good fortune in
possessing in Judge Longenecker a District
Attorney of intrepid character and untiring
energy. The Grand Jury, too. though some
OF Its members may have been leaky, has
done good work In indicting nine Alder.
men. 1t is odds that the trial juries and
the Judge who viii try the cases will not be
dereliet Virtue, like vice, is contagious.