Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1898-05-28
SENATOR HUMPHREY.

4ue TRUST newspapers are making
abusive AMI vindictive attacks upon
Senator John Humphrey. They charge
that lie was the advocate Of vicious
legislation ut Springfield. thereby re.
ferring to the Humphrey street. railway
bills. The fact II, there was nothing In
senator Humphreys relationship to the
street-railway bills to be ashamed Of.
Those bills were printed and circulated
widely for the Information OF the pub.
lie. Every means was employed to
make their provisions clear. Ineligible,
and familiar to all classes OF citizens.
They were discussed In committee with
open doors and Invitations went out to
citizens OF Illinois regardless of polite
al or economic beliefs to participate In
the arguments pro and con.
When finally II was discovered that
the bills We're clean, honest. equitable,
and liberal measures. aud In line with
the spirit Of the best legislation of the
aye, and IN every way unObj ecti Onable
to those who demanded protection for
the public equal to that afforded the
corporations affected, the cry was rails.
cd that their passage would deprive the
Chicago City Council of Its power over
the granting Of franchises. Strange to
say, this cry was raised by the very
men who for years past had been claim.
Ing that the Chicago City Council was
u nest OF bOOdlers, that its members
fattened ana prospered by sandbagging
corporations, that It was a menace to
the interests OF the public, and that Its
privilege Of granting franchises should
be either circumscribed or completely
abolished. But now they had changed
their tune. ana We're shrieking for home
rule. They demanded that the powers
ana privileges Of the City Council be
left intact. They claimed. ana persist.
cd In claiming. that the City Council
was the only competent body to deal
with franchises and that to deprive II
Of the right to grant or refuse to grant
favOrs 20 corporations was to destroy
Its character rs legislative branch of
the municipal government.
Az u matter Of fact the provisions of
the Humphrey bills Were not intended
to deprive the Chicago City Council of
any OF Its rights. TO he more exact,
the Humphrey bills more clearly de-
fined the rights OF that body, ana made
1t possible for corporations and indi-
vlduals to transact business with II on
business principles. The enactment of
the Humphrey measures. In addition to
other things, would have reformed the
City Council and made the very prac-
tlces OF which the real refOrmers of
Chicago complained simply impossible.
The Humphrey measures were de-
fcated by the most audaclOus and afro
ciOus deceit, Misrepresentation. falsif-
cation, hypocrisy AMI barefaced lying
ever practiced at Springfield. They
were defeated In the Legislature, but
they stand out still In black and white,
monument to the clear head and
sound judgment Of the trainers. II the
trust newspapers wish to make them
an issue In the campaign why not print
them? Dare the newspapers making
war on Senator Humphrey publish the
street railway bills introduced by him?
Not one man In a thousand read the
bills while they We're under discussion.
Dare the trust newspapers give their
readers opportunity to study them
now? II they do, Senator Humphrey
will be vindicated by the very journals
that now seek to besmirch hlm.-lnter
Ocean.