Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1899-09-23

lbly could he passed. Resolutions and |
,ills that the corporations frowncd up |
vi could not be got out of committees. !
". ir they could be. they were killed in
he Senate. | must say, however that !
we had clean House. at least for the |
most part. There were some bad men |
lmong us-especially on committees
but no Objectionable bill could pass If
the members knew it to he objection
able. am fully convinced that Speak
pr Sherman was partial to the corpora
lions in everything he did. If his mo.
lives and intentions had been correct
he would not have violated precedent
ard sacrificed fairness by throwing
down the McGoorty committeeman.
This he did, us believe. in order that
he might have committees that would
br pliabe to his wishes.
Evidence of the influence of money
ed men upon legislation came directly
to me in the matter of my bill rcgu.
lating the foreclosure of chattel mort
cages. 1t came up in the House and
was referred to the committee of which
Ar Glade, of this city, was chairman.
| was admitted to the meeting ut which
my measure was to be considered. AMI
when It was mentioned Glade cxclaim.
ed: 4 can't let this bill be reported out
now. must have time first TO see u
friend of mine i'm the Eighteenth
ward james i. Cavanaugh was a
member of the committee. and he also
opposed reporting my bill out. OF
course. the secret of this opposition
was that the installmcnt houses did
not want u law passed that would place
goods sold by them upon the same
footing with other goods upon which
there is chattcl mortgage.
There was money floating around in
the interest of the bottle BILL This |
personally know to be true, for saw q
Chicago member offered 500 TO sup
port the measure. The bribc was re-
fused. The brewers of Chicago want
cd the bottle bilr passed. and they
were no doubt putting up some money
to further their wishes I'm the matter,
but the measure was made to Wear
the guisc of u country bill. The ship
pcrs of milk from the country were
supposed TO be the only ones to he
benefited. The latter. of course. want
cd the bill passed, but they did not
want it any more than did some other
people. Stlil. the whole amount of
money devoted to this legislative prof
Get was comparatively small.
1T Is my opinion that few bills
were introduced for the sole purpose
of shaking down the corporations.
Their promoters had no hope of pass
ing them, but believed that they could
make the representatives of the inter
ests affected be good fellows
I'VE talk about the lack of dccorum
in the City Council of Chicago. want
to say that the council Is church--a
model of parliamentary correctness
order-comparcd with the Illinois
House of Representatives. We often
had disorder bordering upon riot in
our branch Of the Legislature, and dur
ing these rows we detected the clerk
rushing bills forward to the third read.
ing. This we stopped, and later saw
him, while calling the roll. recording
men for measures to which they were
opposed. My anger was aroused so that
I grabbed the sheet from him and tore
1t up. The methods generally and the
whole situation were shameful.
There Is u remedy. 1t lies I'm the
selection of Speaker who will repre-
sent the people rather than the cOrpor-
atoms. The Speakers will Is practic-
ally law In the House. He can recog.
nlze men or refuse to do so as he
pleascs. which means that he can pro-
mote legislation or balk 1t, as he sees
fit Furthermore, he makes the COM
mittccs, and the committees have pow
or TO Tx the fate Of all bills and rcsolu.
lions that reach them"
Stephen A. Malato, of 1877 North Hal
stcd street, was u member of the late
House from the Seventeenth District.
lie complains bitterly of the way af-
fairs were conducted, declaring that
the corporations usurpcd the place of
the constitution ana left in the hands
of those aggrleved no power of redress.
Mr.. Malato said:
while should not be able to prove
1t, ! am convinced that the corpora
tons dictated the organization of the
Legislature and enjoyed complete pro-
lection ut its hands. That money was
used to shape the course Of legislation
am practically certain. know that
an effort was made to influence my
vote In the matter Of the bottle bin
| was given to understand that II
would support the measures remunera-
ton for my services should not be
wanting. told the man who approach
ed me to go to H. ana that was the
last heard OF the matter"
Mr.. Malato Is an Italian by birth.
He Is Il Democrat, a university man
ana a llngust. He commented thus
upon Speaker Shcrman's admlnistra-
tlon:
"Much has been said of the CZarism
of Tom Reed. have watched the
Maine statesman's rulings personally
ana can say that he never dreamed of
rcsOrtlng to such tactics as We're habit
ually employed by Speaker Sherman.
There was no such thing rs rccognl.
ton of Il members rights or of parlia-
mcn,ary procedure where the men In
control feared that their interests or
those of the people whom they repre-
scented would be jcoparded thereby. |
have travelled good deal in Europe
and have given some attention to the
parliamcnts of that portion of the