The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-04-22
MILWAUKEE, SOCIALISM
The Truth About a Much Talked Of
Municipality

Editor OF the Banner ;-During the
recent village election campaign you
republished in your news columns the
substance OF an attack elsewhere
made upon the Socialist admjnistra-
ton OF Milwaukee.
At the time the article appeared
In your columns ! was In Colorado, so
the article did not reach me In time
to reply before the election took
place. Since my return the widely
heralded defeat" OF the Milwaukee
Socialists In the school board election
has given stimulus TO the interest
in the subject locally, and have heen
asked by many persons to make a
general statement upon the subject
of the Socialist administration Of that
important city
In the first place, let me say that,
while II is true that the Socialists
failed TO elect their candidates to
the school board, they did not SUI
fer setback as was reported, and
as many people in Bennington seem
TO think As a matter of fact, the So
cialst vote was enormously increased
BY combining the old parties upon
one so-called non-partlsan ticket and
using the appeal to religious prejudice
through the instrumentality OF a mum
Der OF Catholic priests who literally
drove the women of their churches
TO the polls, the Socialists were prev
ented from electing their candidates.
But, note this: The Socialist vote
nearly doubled In 1909 the highest
Socialist vote for the school board
was 6999 This year It was 12,110, or
nearly double
Even more significant is the follow
ing: Two years ago the present may
or, Mr.. Seidel, was the Socialist can
didate in a by-election, to fill vacan-
cy as alderman at large. He re-
ceived S555 votes. This year, owing
to the death of Alderman Sultaire,
there was similar vacancy and by
election, and the party's candidate re-
ceived 1924 votes, or nearly 1000
more than Seidel got two years ago.
That, ! submit, is not very much
like defeat On the contrary IL shows
a remarkable gain of strength, and
bears witness to the increasing conf
dence of Milwaukee citizens in the
Socialist party.
Milwaukee citizens seem TO feel
with President Eliot of Harvard that
there is rare grasp and intelligence"
at the municipal helm in their city
nowadays Mr. David Goldstein and
President Eliot are both Boston cit
liens. AS between the two, / am sat
isfied that most intelligent Americans
will attach the greater Importance to
the views of President Eliot.
II was predicted that the election
of a Socialist administration would
greatly impair or even ruin the credit
and trade of the city, and the story
has been most industriously circulat-
ed that such is the fact. In reply to
that falsehood / quote the following
from non.socialist source-the
Christian Science Monitor, of March
p, of this year;
Milwaukee broke all previous rec
ords in 1910 with investments in new
corporations and additions TO capital
of old ones. amounting to S1S,373,05
In each of the years 1909 and 1908
the figures had reached $4,000, 900.
thus making the total for three years
100000.
On March 80, 1910. the figure was
$4,461,O00; for the three months of
that year on February q, this year.
the total already had reached $5,361,-
100, a growth at the rate of $4,000
600 per year.
If the present rate of growth keeDs
up, there will have been invested in
new corporations and added to the
capital of old ones, in Milwaukee, $50
0O0,0 900 in four years.
There was some criticism of the
municipal dances and peoples CON
certs given under municipal auspices
at the Milwaukee auditorium. II was
so insincere that a Catholic priest.
the Rev. Father ]. Schell, of Saxon,
Wisconsin, investigated and then de-
Tended them in the press over his sig
nature. He rebuked the church tor
having neglected the problem of saw.
ing young girls and boys from the
perils o. Ire cheap dance halls. motor
ious hotbeds Of immortality. and con-
| cluded I'VE cannot with COOL eraLe
critlcise tie Socialists for going ahead
o. us In cur own work"
The Episcopal church maintains n
tho Dio'ese a. Milwaukee a commit.
tee on social affairs, called Tie Social
Cervire Fomni zion Of the Diorese
That very conservative body before
election issued report N y-liCh il
said:
We wish to commend to the atten
ton of churchmen the efforts OF the
present city administration 10 make
the public school buildings of greater
use to the whole population. to build
durable and attractive homes fol
working people, and to re-arrange the
streets and street car system so as
to make these easily accessible"
Milwaukee, like most progressive
modern cities, has a number OF civic
clubs and these are organized into
the Federation of Civic Clubs. Henry
G. Campbell, president of this fedora
tion says: "The present Socialist ad
ministration has the full sympath,
of the Federation of Civic clubs. A!
far as civic government goes we ar,
In hearty sympathy with Mayor Sci
del and his party. We don't call the