The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-27
lcobyrieht. 1904, by Frank c. Carpenter

i, Chicago.
 1t is an odd thing that one family should carry a big Democratic city like fhis in its inside pocket. It is fifty seven years since Chicago was incor- porated. and more than one-fourth of that time it has been ruled by the Har- risons, Some of its most turbulent days were passed under Carter H. Har- rfson, the cider, and for the past seven years 1t has thriven under the iron hand of Carter H. Harrison, the younger. It as thriving under his administration to- day. growing bigger. broader and richer. notwithstanding it's strikes. it's communi- ties of socialists and anarchists and It's holocausts of fire,
 I like these Harrisons. They have an honest ring 10 them when you fling them down on the counter of municipal and national politics. They all come from the same stock. Carter Harrison's great. great. great grandfather was the father of Benjamin Harrison who signed the Declaration of Independence, and whose son, William H. Harrison, was the ninth President of the United States
 Young Carter's great-grandfathcr was the first cousin of John c. Rreckinridge and also of President Ben. Harrison; mud his own father was statesman of radi- cal ideas and no aversion to using the machinery of politics to carry them out.
 The Mayor os Chicago.
 The present mayor Chicago is a chip of the old block. He is q politician. but mt the same time Is conservative. practi- cal and safe He is a friend of the i working man. but Is ready to enforce the laws when the business interests are attacked: and as such he today forms a part of the gr4st which is being here ground out between the upper and neither min stones of capital and labor. Indeed. 1t may be because the grinding is so hard Ithat he is tired of the job. At least he tells me that he is so and wants to retire
 1 Ths governing of Chicago is no small matter and It's worries have begun to lsprankie the mayors hair with gray. This iss no good-goody Sunday school town. land it's two million people, need careful supervision. The city covers a vast larea. It has 4,000 mfles of streets. 2.uo0 miles of sewers and 1t costs about $sz,- Ooo0 0oo year to pay it's running expenses 1 The mayor has II. 900 employees under him, land there are also the City Council and ieubordinate officers. but 1t is Carter Har- lxison who does the thinking and acting land 1t is he who gets the blame.
 The reason of my call was to ask about k4he labor situation. I began with: MT. Mayor. why is Chicago the strike center Iof the United States2 There are more blabor troubles here than in any other Iplace in the country7"
 Chicago the Great Strike Center.
 aOne reason said Mayor Harrison. -ss that we do more business than any Eother place, and also that our business lis mora diversified Chicago Is perhaps lthe manufacturing center of the United Estates. It has great factories and fac tories of almost every kind. Pittsburg, for instance. leads the country in iron making, but we have the Illinois Steel Company here which is one of the largest in the world. We do more pack Ting than any other city and we have car works. furniture works. and, in fact. j almost every kind of works. The result is that if there is strike in any branch of business the Chicago branch of that business strikes in sympathy. This gives us variety of strikes. which are nagnified by some of the newspapers. whose sensational reports are telegraphed all over the country"
 Picketing the Dead.
 Then Chicago is not as bad as 1t is painted" said l.. M
 .sNo, 1t is not replied Mayor Harrison. "It is not an angel city. but 1t is far from being the devil city that some peo= pie who have never been here think 1t to be On the while, it is about as good city as any in the country and just about as full of Christian charity. common de- cency. good order and brotheriy love-
 s.But you certainly have many violent labor1ng men. Mfr. Mayor. How about this stopping funerals and statloning pickets about the houses of the dead to keep non-union men from aiding in their 1nterment?'' .,..s
 Most of these stories are lies," said Mayor Harrison. {''The union drivers did not refuse to drive hearses. as has been alleged They would not drive the car riages. but 1t was the liverymen who held back the hearses. saying they would not let them gosout without the carriages " ent, too. All such statements were ex- aggerations. As to the picketing the dead. as soon as heard there was any danger of such thing ordered the poe aice to see that no stragglers or persons with evil intent were allowed to finger about within two blocks of any house in which there was death. or within that Hisfance of church where funeral cere- Nnouy was being held
 ' eAnd them" continued the Mayor, ''wny single out Chicago for the sole condem- nation of public when other cities have been equally guilty as to strikes in re- spect to funerals? The same was the