The Washington herald., 1912-10-20
Milwaukee, Under Ruk of the Socialists, Had
Expensive Experiment. Same Thing Here
Proved Costly for the City.

every human being b politically and
economically the equal Of every other
human being"
This. in the language Of the day.
listens well" but let US see how II
actually works out. Let ~ take the
case Of Milwaukee. where the Socialists
have been thrown out after an absolute
control Of the city for two years. The
experiment was tried under conditions
as favorable for the test a. could posE-
bly, be asked. Mayor Seidel was q man
Of the highest reputation In private life.
anu he took ONCE with the determine
ton to purify the city administration
and deal honestly with all men. But
conditions were too much for him.
Milwaukee Experiment.
He found. to his disgust. that his
Socialist fellow once holders and his
Of ONCE as the worst machine poll
ticians and ward-heelers Of the old
parties had ever been. He could not
keep down expenses and his special
board Of civic economy was the most
costly and useless that Milwaukee ever
saw or paid. He could get no support
from those who had put him In the
mayors chair unless he paid them with
offices or jobs at the city's expense.
Socialistic ideas did not work out in
practice, and the taxpayers were simply
robbed.
Although the Socialists were In ONCE
but three and one-half months during
the present year. yet in that time they
spent H.s3O. .6O6.5S leaving a balance to
run the city for the remaining eight
and one-half months Of but s.. &0s.-
037 IS. In some of the funds City Comp
troller Louis NJ. Koteeki. who has been
investigating the city's finances. has
found deficits showing that the Socialist
administration In three months expended
all the money II had appropriated to
take care Of certain works during the
entire year.
The evidences of graft and misman-
agement on the part OF the Socialist
purchasing department staggers the i'm
agination. 1t left the present admins
tration, for example. 10000 barrels Of
tar. representing about 1000 of the tax
payers money. 1t is said there is enough
tar on hand to last the city six years.
but in this time II will have greatly de-
Perforated. 1t is packed in thin metal
cases which quickly oxidi5e. In one
case the tar ran all over a city lot
Other "souvenirs' Of graft. mismanage
ment. and pIunder left behind by the
purchasing department were:
One hundred and eighty thousand pa
per napkins. parlor matches SUFFICIENT
to last ten years. a twenty-year supply
of carpenters chalk, mop handles enough
to last fifty years, eight boxes Of axes.
thirty cases Of metal polish for use in
the city hall. twenty-four cases Of can
dies. twelve dozen garden hose, ten dozen
shovels. many dozens of
small coal shovels coal scuttles. three
barrels of file handles, twenty-five gal
ions of white lead. which is never used
by the city; four large rolls Of packing
rubber. that will rot before IL can be
used; half car load OF nails. dozens Of
pencil sharpeners, many large boxes Of
talcum powder. shoeblacking brushes by
the score. and many barrels Of useless
lard oil.
Against the catchy but meaningless
rhetorical periods Of Debs. as quoted by
Mr.. Kopelin. I submit these actual re-
suits of Socialistic rule. or misrule. In
The story Of the Socialist
administration in Milwaukee is one Of
the most sensational stories Of greed.
graft. and theft Of modern times. 1t Is
we'll that the Socialists had full control
of the city's affairs for only two years
Had it been for a longer period they
would have made the Tammany opera
tors look like Sunday school directors
by comparison.
II the Socialists gained control Of this
the Socialist, bosses would run
the government machine just as they
now run their political party machine
and just as they ran things in Miiwau-
kee. only there would be more factions.
more fights. more poverty. more misery.
and more unhappiness.
Socialism is a doctrine Of bossism. rob-
berry. and injustice. and the voters Of
America should feel 1t duty to their
flag and country to deliver the repre-
Of the creed a crushing defeat
at the coming election.