The Springfield herald., 1912-07-26
THE BRIBE TAKERS
How Clique Of Corrupt City Fathers
Was Brought to Book

"AD oTOO0uS 10 oOOk
The connection of the Burns detec-
tive agency with the exposures of
bribers and bribe-takers in various
towns throughout the country has
been 30 well exploited that 1t is un-
necessary for me to say anything
about 1t 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 time, at least.
Springvale is not the real name OF
the town. The case is too recent, and
there are too many raw threads of It
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.
1t is typical case OF the exposure Of
municipal corruption by outside detec-
tives, and has been duplicated In a
half dozen instances in other cities to
my own knowledge.
Springvale had for years been what
magazine writer once called "cor-
rupted and content" 1t was q busy
manufacturing town. 1t was prosper
ous. 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
hor h1y& hn nf
this prosperity was due to the pres
ence Of the factories in the town.
These factories were in the hands Of
clique of men who placed money
above all things. They would go to
any length to make more money-and
one Of the easiest ways for them to
make 1t was to violate the law, usual
ly in the form of ignoring city ordi-
nances.
Thus, there were violations Of the
child labor law, violations Of street
ordinances, water ordinances, building
ordinances-in fact, violations Of most
of the articles in the municipal code
applying to the regulation of factories
were to be found in these establish
ments.
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
have 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
Of them politicians, did not agree to
wink so accommodatingly solely for
the good of their health. They did it
for what there was in It. Thus, the
factories became n fertile source Of
corruption of the city government of
Springvale. When a factory needed
the stub end OF street in its busi-
ness, an ordinance would go through
the council without any trouble-be-
cause the ways had been we'll creased
by the factory's owner. If factory
wanted to tap a city water main and
use city water without having 1t me-
tered, it did 1t, because the water de-
partment was fixed II street car
line felt that 1t needed residence
street in its business, that street 1t
got in spite of the protests of prop
erty owners. The city hall machinery
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
l,or To n
deal. The bank that contributed most
to the prosperity of the politicians was
the one that got the deposits of city
money. Several big merchants fell in
line. Special privilege hnd the town
by the throat; and while the town
was prosperous in money matters 1t
was poverty-stricken in good citizen
ship.
A few sterling citizens began to get
tired of this state of affairs. They
were men who believed that city
should be something besides a mere
machine for the manufacturing OF
money They believed that city gov
ernment should think first of the well
fare of its citizens. and OF the future
of children growing up within Its
dollars, and to them was due the
cleaning up Of Springvale.
One Of them was Judge on the To-
cal bench who had waged uncomprom-
Using war against the special interests
and corruption. He was the only
Judge in town who was not the big
interests' bound servant. Then there
we're two lawyers who had resisted
the temptations OF big fees ohered
them to turn crooked, one banker. one
minister, two or three merchants, two
or three others of various occupations,
and one old retired capitalist. This
man was the backbone and the lounoa-
. ton of the crusade. When this group
of public-spirited men had determined
on their course he quietly deposited
100000 cash of his own money TO De
used In furthering the campaign.
II was the action of the city council