The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-09-19
An AIderman's Sermon.

lHe llIiilt OI u. unexpected may pe
said to have been reached in Chicago
last Sunday in the occupancy of
prominent pulpit of that city by a
member Of the municipal board of al
dermen. When it Is recalled that a
Chicago alderman corresponds in most
respects to Scranton common coun-
Gilman, the novelty Of the reported
phenomenon requires little further elu-
cidation. The intrepid pulpiteer in
point was none other than Alderman
William Kent. of Chicagos Thirty-sec-
ond ward, a man already celebrated for
his trenchant blows at municipal i'll
doing. His subject was practical
Politics." and we wish we could reprint
all that he had to say concerning it.
Eut we must be content at present with
only few picturesque extracts.
Starting with the unassailable gen.
eral proposition thar corrupt municipal
politics must inevitably corrupt the
politics of the nation, and that they
exist in obedience to the rule that
while good citizens are vigilant and de-
termined once or twice In generation,
the vicious classes are vigilant and de-
termined 365 days every year, he drew
some specific pictures of corruption
within his personal knowledge which
are well calculated to give the indif-
ferent citizen vOltaic shock. For ex-
ample:
I wish I were capable of drawing two
companion pictures of the results of NUM-
cipal neglect, The first would delineatc
the machines you permit to manage the
politics of this city, and the second would
show the officers placed in nomination Dy
the machines and elected by you, the agen-
cy through which you are misgoverned
by the grace Of your own stupid votes
The first picture, the machines, would
show three groups OF tigures-two Republic
can factions and one Democratic. There
are in them, as leaders, the worst of our
aldermen. There are franchise jobbers
and there are brokers in corruption. There
support. There are gamblers and other
known criminals. Were it the time or
place, would heap up against these men
a list of charges that are as clearly proved
as human evidence can prove them, crimi-
nal charges, penitentiary offenses; but,
alas, they could not be clear enough to be
effectual in a states attorneys oifice, the
function of which has been for years,
with but few intervals of decency, to
shield public brigandage.
Another specimen:
Here are franchises worth millions given
away by q shameless majority of the coln-
Gil, sometimes vetoed and sometimes en-
couraged and signed by the mayor. Pay
| roll scandals; frontage frauds and for
geries; every form of violation of civil
service laws; highway robberies every
| day; police force, some of the members
OF which are worse than the criminals
they are supposed to watch; policemen
who are not permitted. If they would. to
suppress public gambling; and who, in spite
| of all forms Of malfeasance, are kept in
position by political pull; Justice shops
| that blackma!l the unfortunate; that sell
verdicts to good customers; constables
who are the lowest of the low; saloons run
ming in prohibition districts on payment
| Of blood money; a drainage board given
over to spoilsmen; park boards who have
| to heed machine clamor in employing
| men; judges whose tenure of office depends
upon complying with machine demands; !;
| board Of education still victim of job
berry, though nobly striving to climb up
| out of the mire; revenues deficient from
tax lodging on the part Of citizens and
| corruption in the offices Of assessors, and
| county commission known of all men.
| The food you eat, the water you drink, the
! air you breathe are tainted by politics.
Your rights, your property, the very edu-
cation of your children have long been
| at the mercy Of the spoilsmen.
"And yet" he continued
The politicians have but rushed in to fill
a vacuum caused by the neglect of the
honest and competent. They are not so
much sinners against us as our embodied
civic sim And the worst politician in the
| midst of his sef-seeking does more for tho
! community than the citizen who is too fine