Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1909-02-13
TWO YEARS Of BUSsE
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| ELLINGTON
| Piano

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have a street car system equal to our
own. The mayor has kept the work of
rehabilitation moving constantly, and
has required the street car companies
to fulfill their contract to the letter.
lie is firm advocate of the subway
system and has already laid plans for
subway for the downtown district
large enough to accommodate all the
surface lines within the loop, and, per.
haps the elevated lines as well. Ills
theory is that the ultimate solution
of the street car question In the down.
town district means the building Of an
extensive subway system by the city to
bc leased to the street car company
and built out of the profit received
from the street car companies under
the new traction ordinances. The rev.
cnue from the street car companies
has more than exceeded the promises
made by the Republican party In the
last mnyoralty election.
In the department Of streets there
has been marked improvement In the
manner Of cleaning the streets and dis.
posing Of the garbage. At no time In
the history Of Chicago have the streets
been kept 10 clean or the alleys been
better attended to. and this without
any additional expense to the people.
Under former administrations Just as
| n,tcl, ,Nnuas, ,,.os Spo,,t b,,H .....,
was wasted.
The smoke violation laws have here
tofOre been treated as a Joke and have
been violated with impunlty. Under
the present administration the smoke
ordinances have been improved and
strengthened and the department has
been making constant and deter
mined effort to carry out the laws. The
habitual violntOrs Of the law have been
educated and instructed In modern
methods Of avoiding smoke and are all
lnborIng to obey not only the letter but
the spirit Of the smoke ordinances.
The Illinois Central Railroad Company
mt first assumed an obstinate position
IN regard to electrlfcatiOn Of Its lines
within the city. As soon ns the mayor
took hold Of the matter with his usual
determination the Illinois Central sur.
rendered to the wishes Of the people,
ana that corporation has promised.
within the near future. to electrify all
Of Its lines entering Chicago. Steps
have been taken to do this with all
other railroads entering the city. This.
In a large measure. will do away with
the smoke evil.
The wheel tax ordinance, which al
ready has done 80 much for improving
the pavements Of Chicago. ana will nj.
tlmntely give the city OF Chicago u
splendid system Of streets. II due In
a large part to the personal efforts
OF the Mayor. This ordinance takes
the burden of the property owner ana
taxpayer and puts II on the shoulders
OF those who wear out the streets. Tho
good effect Of this ordinance Ia already
noticeable In the better repair OF the
streets.
In the matter Of the new City Hall
contract, when the bids were opened
Ii was found that foreign corpora.
tion was the lowest bidder. A lot Of
influential contractors endenvOred to
have the Mayor favor the rejecting Of
the foreign bids and accepting one from
a local contractor who was higher than
the lowest. The Mayor indicated that
his choice was to give the contract to
the lowest bidder, thus saving $15O.OOO
to the taxpayers.
The new COmmOnweal tn Edison Ordl-
nance by which the consolidation Of
the two companies was realized IL
more favorable In rates and concessions
to the city and the people than that
which IL enjoyed by any city In the
country. The ordinance did not please
everyone; that may be true Of any
ordinance relating to public utility.
There are some 80 contracted In their
view Of the question rs to not con-
cede that the capital invested In pub
lie utilities Is entitled to decent re-
turn on Its Investment, and there are
others who only can see the side rep
resented by the corporation seeking
the franchise and would give them all
and reserve no benefit to the public.
Between the two the Mayor took the
reasonable stand that the ordinance
should guarantee a reasonable profit on
the Investment by capital, and. at the
same time, that the city receive as
much revenue as possible from the Or
dlnance, and the users Of the electricity
be given the current at the lowest pos
slble rates. Under this ordinance the
revenue to the city Is greatly Increased
and the expense to customers OF the
company substantially reduced.
The Mayor has recently called at-
tentiOn to hours OF labor of city EN-
plOyes. He believes that all employees
/ should he at their desks or posts OF
duty from eight o'clock or eight-thirty
o'clock a. m. until 3 p. M. and should
be allowed one hour only for luncheon