The Irish standard., 1905-10-07
he Boston Republic.

William Travers Jerome. He was no
demagogue. He despised the easy de-
vice of appealing to mere wealth. He
could not be deferred.
He made enemies with indifference
almost with delight. Most of the news
papers were against him. One par
ticalarly offensive cartoon pictured his
head as being full of wheels, and un-
derneath We're the words, Drop a Gig
arctic in the slot and see the wheels
go round"
ence of vote-getting. He violated po-
litical etiquette right and left. He
ran amuck among politicians of both
parties. His arguments were aimed
at the average man, who wants the
laws to be respected and enforced with
| fair play to all classes. When the
Jerome stood at the head of the poll
The average man had indorsed him.
That was three years ago. Since
| that time Jerome has made good"
! The general opinion is that he talks
| too much, but no one can deny that
he has worked wonders in New York
| ZAP Adams, the millionaire policy
king was put behind the bars. Cam
field, the king of New York gamblers,
was fined and chased out of the city,
! leaving his elaborate gambling place
wrecked and dismantled. No special
favors were given to Jerome's own
| profession. Such house-cleaning in
known in New York. Eight crooked
lawyers were dragged kicking and
squirming to Jail. Ten other law
yers are now awaiting trial and
dreaming bad dreams of Sing Sing.
He has disposed of more than twelve
thousand indictments. Above all, he
has done something generally believed
to be impossible-he has taken the
| district attorneys Office out of politics.
So far as graft is concerned, st.
Louis is the Philadelphia of the Middle
West. In both cities there was the
same long drought of dishonesty and
the same unexpected thunderstorm of
reform. One public official, elected by
accident, was the storm center in each
case. Both cities tried the rope plan
on their councilman. ST. Louis ex-
ploded first, more like a bunch Of fire
crackers than single cartridge, and
young Tennesseean named Joseph w.
; Folk was the human match that
touched off the fuse.
Taking money from st. Louis was
for years easier than taking candy
from baby. The golden age, from
the grafters' point of view, was
three-year period that ended in 1900.
Aladdin and his wonderful lamp was
cheap combination in comparison with
! Boss Butler and his marvellous ma
chine. BY the manipulation of mu-
nicipal affairs for his private benefit
this former horse-shoer had become
millionaire He was Butler Pasha, the
ruler of the fourth American city. 1t
is recorded that on one occasion, be-
cause he refused to give his gang
their fair share of an Indemnity"
paid by a street-lighting corporation,
the city went unlit for weeks The
citizens stumbled up and down their
dirty streets at night with lanterns,
the dummy mayor he received the his
toric answer:
We'll, you got the moon yet, ain't
it?"
When the people of st. Louis finally
got possession of their own CASH
drawer they figured out that about
chises had been sold out for ten mill
lion dollars, and that the money had
not been put in the drawer.
Missouri, as whole, was no better
than st. Louis A good share of the
laws were made on the contract sys-
tenn. Customers who could afford the
expense got whatever they ordered.
That is the business" conception of
what legislature is for. One bill
was bought for one hundred and forty
five thousand dollars, another for two
hundred and fifty thousand, and so
forth. A single vote on one critical
occasion, so says local gossip, cost as
much as President Roosevelts salary
for year.
A couple of years ago, when the
ST. Louis boss was looking for some
lifelike wax images to fill the offices,
he picked out young Southern law
yer named Folk for district attorney.
Butler had the reputation of being
good Judge of wax images, but for
once he blundered. The only excuse
for nominating Folk was that he was
President of the Jefferson Club. To
the general public he was unknown.
He was beginning to make money as
counsel for large corporations, and had
| no desire for any kind of an office.
Three times he was asked to be a
candidate, and three times he refused.
The fourth time he said:
/