The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1905-03-02
REVELATIONS BY
An EXMAYOR
CURIOUS MORAL ASTIGMA-
TISMu WHICH AFFLICTS
MANY PROMINENT
CITIZENS.
Pleas for "wide-open Town"-Enor-
NOUS Rents from Property Put
to Base Uses-Campaign Contri-
buttons as Insurance Against In
references,

-
BY AN Ex-MAYoR OF ONE OF TIE
LARGEST AMERICAN CITIES.
MOST business men like a wide
IVi open town" They will not admit
thew do: they even will Indignantly
deny the statement. but cold facts are
against them.
This unlovely truth was forced home
to me before ! served two months of
my term as mayor. The revelation was
the first distinct shock | received after
taking the oath of office. 1t came at
the end of a conversation between my
self and a well-known citizen in my
Office. He said:
MIR. Mayor. when a town is lively
business is good"
"In other words, you want a wide
open town." l retorted.
"Well-not exactly wide open-thats
a pretty broad term, but we don't want
a blue law city"
He was one of the great retail mer-
chants of my city. He belonged to the
kind known as representative citi-
zens." He was rich, influential and
popular.
A few days before he had presided a,
a meeting called for the purpose Of
condemning a certain ordinance which
our board of aldermen had rushed
with characteristic disregard of every
thing but the value, to them, of their
affirmative votes. His address on this
occasion was regarded as a fine speci-
men of the business mans views on
"boodlers," public scoundrels' and
"gangsters," and the resolutions adopt
ed called upon me to veto the ordinance
and thus save the city from the plum
derers of the public"
1t happened that the day after this
meeting l instructed the head Of the
police department to close up a group
of low eroggeries which had violated
every police regulation relating to sa-
looms. One of the newspapers seized
upon the order and its execution to
publish a somewhat oran~ge-colored re-
port that | had begun an energetic re-
form campaign and predicted that the
new mayoral broom would sweep out
all the gamblers and bookmakers and
clean out half the saloons in the city.
The order 1 had given the chief of
police was merely my official approval
of a report made by the police captain
who had charge of the district in which
the saloons were located, the report
containing a recommendation that
their licenses be revoked. l had no
thought of beginning any kind Of a
campaign when l wrote approved"
across the face of the tersely worded
document.
But the subsequent happenings indi-
Gated that l had started a movement
which brought to my Office a continu-
GUS procession of men of all stations
for and against the reform proposition
advanced by the newspaper.
Among them was the business man
whose visit gave me the first inkling
of the real element which makes fiat
failures of most of those reform
campaigns which internationally con-
vulse large centers of population.
When he entered my Office / supposed
he had come to talk to me about the
ordinance he had denounced with so
much force and yigor. When he asked
to see me alone I was convinced that
was the object of his visit. took him
to my private office and closed the
door. He wasted no preliminary words,
but came down to the real purpose of
his call by saying:
Mr.. Mayor, are you aware of the
fact that you are hurting the retail
trade of this city,"
| asked him to explain. He resumed:
"We have just passed through a
period Of business depression. The re-
tail trade has suffered much, and now
tust when we are beginning to feel a
revival of good times you come forward
with a wet blanket. The newspapers
say that you are going to make this a
tight town. 1t is all well enough to
keep a strong grasp on the situation,
but there is no use advertising to the
world that this city has no life in it."
| told him the newspapers were
wrong and explained to him the trivial
incident which had led to the published
reports which seemed to have agitated
him. He nodded approvingly and said:
"As you know, | made a pretty fair
contribution to your campaign fund,
and at the time l said believed you,
as a business man, would see that the
business interests of the city would not
suffer during your administration from
any of these business killing cam
paigns.. | am decidedly in favor Of
keeping saloons, d~isorderly houses,
gamblers and the like under good con-
troll, but they are here, always have
been here, and always will be here, and
we must accept them as necessary
evils. Regulate them, keep them under
restraint, but it is useless to attempt to
remove them
But" | protested, II fail to see why
an effort to stamp out admitted evils
can injure busiress."
There is no use in you or me at
tempting to fool each other" he re-
piled. You know, and / know, that
lively times start an active circulation
of money, and that helps business ar
around. We may not like to take that
view of the situation, but the fact is
that a live town begets good times"
After the contributor to my campaign
fund had left / walked to the Office
window. From my point of view !
could see the roof of a building which
lore the name Of the owner; a house,
1