The Detroit times., 1910-03-29
ITTsDURG PLANS
CLEANUP AFTER
CRAFT ORGY
0ficials TO Expose Those Higher Up
Who Profit by Vice in City That
Has Been Put To Shame By
Corrupt Men.
Commission Form of Government Is
Proposed - Roosevelt Started
Great Bribery Upheaval.
BY ANGUS GORDON.

OF the jungle of municipal graft, open
cd to view by the wholesale prosecu
lion of bribe-taking councilmen and
bribe-givlng business men. there has
arisen In Pittsburg the form rof the
commission plan OF government, and
to this the reform element OF the city
pins faith for the future.
When w II. Stevenson, leader OF
tie citizens reform movement, declar'
ca that the commission plan be ADOPT
cd. he became the hero OF the situa'
ticl. The machine politicians will
tight tooth and nail TO defeat Steven
sons plan, but he declares that it can
not fell IL the people are sufficiently
Nj aroused.
He points out that 60 American
cities, with a total population of g..
M 100000, now operate under commits
sion plans. and thereby escape graft
N and extravaganza. Under the commits
sion plan Pittsburg would he govern
N ed by board of citizens who would
take the city's management out of the
hands OF ward bosses and partisan
& politics, and apply TO II strictly hon
est business methods. There would
be no party names on the ballots, and
n The commissioners would not repre-
sent the interests of classes or city
m sections, but each would be respon'
sible TO the whole city.
6Iames Council System.
Capt. Johnny Klein. who for years
N distributed the graft among his fellow
& councilmen and who confessed his
bribery crimes at the threshold OF the
penitentiary, says that the council
81 system has been responsible for Pitts
Az burg's corruption. He admits that
n councils in which he sat pocketed
over 100000 OF brides given by six
banks/to get the city's deposits at low
rates of interest. and by the Dallas
c. Byers steel mill TO vacate street
NJ which the Byers concern could use In
Its business.
& Klein says that ii was inevitable
# that councilmen should fall to bribery.
They are not elected for their honor.
and most of them are cheap men," he
said. ''The city pays these men, moth
Ing for their time, and they have TO
live, you know Those of us who took
brides are no worse than the rich and
respectable business men who passed
MS the cash. Why, there's graft these
days in nearly all business. Ninety
h per cent of the business people OF
Pittsburg are grafters. It's the Ameri-
can system"
These are the words of a self-con-
fessed thief and can be taken for
what they are worth as showing the
depth OF Pittsburg's shame.
Pittsburg's graft system, hand and
Fl glove with the rotten state system,
N Is hoary with age. There have been
sporadic attempts at reform in late
years, but these did not come to any
thing. The town was content, ap-
parently.
The present upheaval was really
started by Roosevelt, when in 1903 q
bank examiner reported TO Washing
N ton his discovery that the bank was
buying councilmen's votes to get city
y deposits at low interest rates. Roose
welt stirred certain prominent citizens
rs 20 action and an investigation brought
out the astonishing truth that six
prominent banks, with the knowledge
and approval of their directors. We're
head over heels in the business. and
ono by one, facing prison and hoping
q Tor immunity, councilmen have con
1essed their part in the transactions.
After Men Higher Up.
w. A. Blakeley, district attorney
defying the influential bribe-giyers as
well as the vengeful bribe-takers
caught in the laws net, has forced
n the prosecutions through the courts
He has all along declared that he was
after the men higher up, who, fol
business success have traded in coun
cilrnen and have sold out the peoples
rights.
His biggest victory came when Capt
Johnny Klein. go-between OF councils
"a and business, made a full confession
Klein. a picturesque politician, had
H fought his prosecution stubborniy. He
declared he would never confess. After
III his conviction his brethren In crime
failed to support his family. and send
NJ ing for Blakeley he told him the whole
rotten story.
Rlakeley let down the immunity
bars for conncilmen with guilty con
sciences, and they came in rush to
confess. In "a hours the guilty
stories OF IL councilmen had been told
q TO the court. and for a week the con
feEsions continued.
Armed with these confessions
Blakeley says he Will get the full
4. list of bribe-giving bankers--the mer
N higher up. Prior to the Klein comics
sion the district attorney had Sent
VIM. Ramsey. president of the Ger
man National bank. TO the penitenti
airy for is months and 81 900 fine anC
had caused the conviction Of A. a. vii
sack. cashier OF the German National
& and had wrung confessions from +. ii
Jennings, president and Frank Crit
I'M. cashier. of the Columbia Nationa
hank. And there are two councilmer
doing time and two others convicted
Dallas O. Byers, one OF the indicte,
briDers, fed to Europe and died there
Grafters Protect Vice.
Now a movement Is on TO clean M
protected vice. Julian Kennedy thu
81 famous engineer, is at the head Of
party OF prominent citizens, who hav,
employed detectives to expose tn
fred light" district. These detective
report that the vice system is pro
tcctcd by grnfting politicians. The
remarkable thing about this cam
ralgn of reform is that the reformer
take the stand that unfortunate VIC
men should not be prosecuted, bu
that the owners of real estate rente'
BY women and the men who patroniz'
vice are the real responsible culpritl
F. and should be shown up. The plan Il
NO order lewd women out of town
Those who refuse to go viii be arres.
-td and the men who ,collec. rent from
I,lcm viii be called into court as wit
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