Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-09-19
lCOpy1Rht BY tho
THE BRIDE TAKERS
How a Clique Of Corrupt City Fathers
Was Brought to Book

The connection Of the Burns detec.
tive agency with the exposures of
bribers and bribe-takers in various
towns throughout the country has
been so we'll exploited that 1t is un.
necessary for me to say anything
about It here. am going to tell the
actual story Of how the ring of choice
crooks, in the council and out, who
had for years looted the city Of Spring.
vale finally were run to earth, sent to
prison, or otherwise rendered innocu.
Gus. and the political life Of the city
purged for a time. at least.
Sprlngvale is not the real name Of
the town. The case is too recent, and
there are too many raw threads OF 1t
still hanging about, to permit the use
Of the actual name. But shrewd read.
ers. who have kept track OF bribery
stories in the newspapers in the last
year, may be able to guess which Of
our cities 1t Is that am telling about.
It is q typical case Of the exposure OF
municipal corruption by outside detec-
tives, and has been duplicated In q
half dozen instances in other cities to
my own knowledge.
Springvale had for years been what
a magazine writer once called "cor.
rupted and content" 1t was busy
manufacturing town. It was prosper
GUS That is, there usually was plenty
Of work to be had for the working peo.
pie, plenty of business for the mer.
chants, and plenty of money to be
handled by the local banks. Most Of
his prosperity was due to the pres.
ence of the factories in the town.
'hese factories were in the hands Of
clique Of men who placed money
.bove all things. They would go to
my length to make more money-and
make it was to violate the law, usual
y in the form Of ignoring city ordi.
ances.
Thus, there were violations Of the
,hild labor law, violations of street
ordinances, water ordinances, building
ordinances-in fact, violations of most
If the articles in the municipal code
applying to the regulation Of factories
were to be found in these establish.
ments.
Naturally these violations could not
be committed and continued, year
after year, without being disturbed,
without the connivance Of the local
authorities. The mayor the council.
man, the chief Of police, the building
commissioners, in fact, all the active
heads Of the city government, must
,ave winked at the lawlessness Of the
factory owners, or the lawlessness
would have been stopped.
Naturally, these heads of the local
government, being human, and most
IF them politicians, did not agree to
Hink SO accommodated solely for
The good Of their health, They did It
'or what there was in it. Thus, the
factories became a fertile source of
corruption Of the city government of
Springvale. When factory needed
The stub end of a street in its bust
ness, an ordinance would go through
the council without any trouble--be.
cause the ways had been we'll creased
~ the factory's owner. If factory
wanted to tap a city water main and
usc city water without having it me-
tered, it did it, because the water de
partment was fixed. If a street cal
line felt that 1t needed a residence
street in its business, that street II
got IN spite of the protests of prop
Tbo nj 1,o11 M oh inn
ran smoothly for the benefit of these
factory barons because they controlled
the oil that made the machinery go.
The whole town, naturally, in time
came to take its moral tone from this
influence. The banks were in on the
to the prosperity of the politicians was
the one that got the deposits of city
money. Several big merchants fell ir
line. Special privilege had the town
by the throat; and while the town
was prosperous in money matters II
was poverty-stricken in good citizen
ship.
A few sterling citizens began to gel
ired of this state Of affairs. They
we're men who believed that a city
should be something besides a rnery
machine for the manufacturing ol
money. They believed that a city gov
eminent should think first Of the wei
fare of it's citizens, and of the future
of children growing up within 1T
walls. They placed civic spirit above
dollars, and to them was due th<
cleaning up of Springvale.
One of them was Judge on the 10
.al bench who had waged uncomprom
sing war against the special interests
and corruption. He was the onl!
Judge in town who was not the bill
interests bound servant. Then Their
we're two lawyers who had resistet
the temptations of big fees Offered
them to turn crooked, one banker, on
minister, two or three merchants. tw'
r three others of various occupations
Ind one old retired capitalist. Thi
man was tho backbone and the fOunda
ton of the crusade. When this groul
Of public-spirited men had determined
on their course he quietly deposited
100000 cash OF his own money to b.
ised in furthering the campaign.
II WAS the action ~ Tho ritv counOi