The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-08
(By p. NJ. stevens.)

"Butler will never wear the stripes.
This was the remark that greeted the
friends and foes of Colonel Ed. Butler
the boss of st. Louis, on the streets OF
the city when they came back from the
trial of the boss in the little university
town of Columbia In Columbia a jury
of twelve Democrats, three of them
members of the Democratic County Com
mittee, had been charged by a Demo-
cratic Judge. and they had found the
Democratic boss of St. Louis and the
head of the Democratic machine in the
State guilty of bribery, and had sen
fenced him to three years in the State
prison. st. Louis heard the news, and
the man nthe street stopped in astonlsh-
ment-but only for a moment. Butter
will never wear the stripes he said, ana
went on his way Such is the faith of
st. Louis in her boss.
Butler. his case appealed, still rules
ST. Louis, and in the municipal assem-
bly,, squabbling and bargaining with MIN
still, sit. convicted like himself of bri-
berry or perjury, members of the old
ring" that once surrounded him, until
Joseph Folk, the County Attorney, pulled
him forth. The citizens watched the
exposure, heard the verdict of the Col
umbia jury, and cynically substituted
their own-"Butler will never wear the
stripes" At all events, they refused to
take a hand they prefer to remain spec
tators It is still up to Folk. And so the
ring has joined hands again around the
boss. What is the trouble? Is st. Louis
secretly proud of its boss that it spared
him in his hour OF defeat? If so, here is
a boss who will bear studying.
At THE HEAD OF HIS PROFESSION
And. in fact, Edward r. Butler proba-
bly, stands at the head of his profession
today as the most expert and finished
boodler in the country. He loves his
profession, and he practices IL mainly
for its own sake. He has been worth
several millions for several years he
could have bought himself a Vantage
long ago if he had wished But he pre-
ferred to stay and work out the prac-
teal and conclusive demonstration of
his great idea--to make municipal hood
ling independent of politics. to give it
definite and recognized place in the field
of business enterprise.
How we'll he succeeded is fully and
graphically set forth by Lincoln Steffens
in an article entitled "The Shamelessness
of st. Louis" in the March number OF
McCiure's Magazine Butler began bach
in the seventies. He was then a master
horseshoer. and his first success in poll
tics came when he secured the agency
for a certain horseshoe which the St
Louis street railways were purchasing
From that he rose step by step, until
his stock. in trade has at one time or an
other included almost every important
municipal franchise at the disposal of
the city government.
AS his trade grew, Butler realized that
boodlng was, or should be, managed as
an out and out business, and like any
other business man, he was averse tc
having it made subject to the shifts and
vicisitudes of politics st. Louis was
normally a Republican city. Butler was
a Democratic boss. Here was a serious
stumbling block to his schemes. A Demo
cratic butcher or baker or candlestick-
maker would naturally resent and oppose
the confiscation of his meat or loaves or
eandlesticks by a Republican competitor
across the street who had beaten him at
the polls. Butler considered his case
precisely analogous. Were not the citv's
franchise his wares? What right had a
Republican administration to take them
off his hands? man owes much to mis-
party. but not his means of support
NO POLITICS IN BUTLER'S METHODS.
These novel and progressive ideas But
Ter preached among his friends, and found
no difficulty in converting a sufficient
number OF them TO carry out his pur-
pose. With their help he organized
ring for the thorough and systematic ex-
ploitation of the market which his indi-
vidual effort had tentatively but allur-
ingly opened ard the rins, In the name
of commercial expansion took possession
of the municipal assembly of ST. Louis.
They formed the controlling minority in
both branches the Council and the
House, and with high scorn for the mar
row trammels of party. with unfaltering
courage voted against the passage of any
measure, the granting of any franchise
the friends of which sought to deprive
them of just compensation for their
efforts in its behalf. That there we're in
the ring of both Republican and Demo-
Gratis is the clearest proof of Buffers SIN
certify and singleness of purpose-to do
business pure and simple. And he did ii
and what is more, he did it most lucra-
lively during the famous Republican ad-
ministration OF Mayor Uncle Henry
Ziegenhein.