The labor world., 1912-04-20
BOSSES MUST GO,
WHEN PEOPLE WIN
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3. g. at..-----1 =,
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t1nue to be ruled BY = few special
interests In the future, as you have
And first Of all, in order to UNDER
stand this matter thoroughly, let us get
right down to bottom facts and see
how our city has been governed in
how: they have governed It. ~
We elect our mayor, and our city
counc1l-two aldermen from each ward,
sixteen in all-together with other city
officials, a. treasurer and comptroller.
We then turn the management of our
city over to- them, to handle for the
best interest Of the people who elected,
and hired, and pay them. They take
to transact the city's business-your
business. and my business. We elected
them for that purpose and for no other
purpose. They have our power of at
torney. t'o1a3y 50 to speak. to, transact our
that Is to say, the taxes we pay-for
paving our :astreets, building our
sewers our sidewalks, improving our
parks, and the thousand and one things
that g. city must have-that you and
citizens, and the city belongs to us.
People. Should Rule.
When we laugh lightly at some
damage done, by storms for instance,
and say: "Oh, the city pays for that
city. and that we pay for it.
So you see, therefore, that when we
hire these sixteen aldermen, and the
mayor, and the rest of our city Of
hc1a1s, and turn over to them the entire
charge or our property, and put upon
them the duty of transacting our busi-
ness 1or US we are placing them in
poslt1ons OF great responsibility and
irI% \
their best efforts in conducting our
affairs
We elect them for two years, place
everything in their hands, give them
our business for us, to spend our money
for us; to make contracts for US; to
contract debts for us: and then mat
ters are entirely out of our hands, and
attention to earning the best living
for ourselves and families that our
abilities will allow.
But suppose these men, whom we
should prove incompetent, dishonest,
1nd1nerent to our interests: then what
Under our present laws we can do
nothing until their term expires We
1ausn must grin gr and bear lit while they
affairs and tangle us up generally un-
! til their term of office expires. Then
and not till: then, we have an oppor-
tunity OF retiring them to private life,
and hiring other men in their places
II We can. But, during their term of
office they have become a part of the
! machine. They have behind them, and
supporting. their reelection, certain
groups of men, backed by large
amounts of money, and these men are
| interested in keeping them in office,
Big Business Plays Game.
| Who are these men, with all this
money at their command, that they are
willing to spend SO freely to elect and
| keep certain men In office?
They are the business men of g. city
| VINO wish TO- have laws passed, OF
! franchises granted, or ordinances re-
pealed. or laws changed. or public
rSe9s mSen9eyyoq nr,v,3a and hanaat m1nespent fo1
not come to us and ask us to grant
them these special privileges for two
| reasons. In the first place we have nc
| authority to grant7such requests, hay
public servants. And in the second
| place, they know very well that ID
they could come directly to us and ask
Us to give them permission to dip their
tract a few hundreds, or thousands. or
millions of dollars. we would be very
| likely to turn them down. coldly, and
| crgelly, and unfeelfngly.
hired to transact our business for U.S.
and ask them for what they want
and they generally get it.
| Now then, how do they get it? Well
an.+a IN various ways: There have been
what they wanted by direct bribery
by paying money to an alderman for
| his vote and influence in support OF
their measure. But such methods are
with a spice of danger.
Aldermen Are Influenced.
| Let us SuDDOsa+ an a16oruoop ,r,,. -
! manutacturer and dealer in cigars
for every alderman must have some
| business of his own, since he cannot
| live on his salary, alone; and suppose
that a certain big corporation wished
him to support their measures in the
council, measures which were directly
against the interests of the people.
And suppose the cigar manufacturing p
| alderman were an honest man-an un,
right man, true servant Of the people
who elected him to office This is
what might happen; in. fact what ha.
mnShppe9ed-not mhp 9e once; but many times.
mmanufacturer's ma goods begins to fall OFF.
Ihe different saloon keepers and
notels. nc , and certain cigar stores refuse
se,f TO p9y ~ OF ns9t,a NM and he soons finds him
TO sell his vote, or mis- business. He
might not be able to resist the pressure
-a2d ..;c1Hl SO sell his vote: or again, he
hg hmigat re retain his honesty and man
away, to Alaska, or Australia-or to
Canada! Or man might be a printer.
or grocer, or a blacksmith, laundry
man. and an alderman at the same
time IT he votes for certain measures
which wilf benefit some big corpora
tlon, ne soon finds that his business
az once becomes very prosperous. He
gets good, big orders, for printing, or
groceries at excellent prices from GER
tain quarters, and with prompt pay
ments; m. But II he shows any symptoms
OF voting In the interests Of the people
VINO elected him to office, and whose
anterests he 1s supposed to guard faith
1ulIy, then those big orders rapidly
disappear, together with lots of others.
People Are Helpless.
And At present we have no way Of
preventing this condition of affairs.
The combination Of political machines
ful.
We, who have made it our business
| 70 investigate these things, have found
that these business men and corpora
tions that want things that they
snouldn't nave, are very economical
crowd. They don't throw their money
away recklessly. They don't buy two
blades OF grass where one blade of
Er Erass can be made to cover the ground.
The same set Of men handle all the
business for all the special interezts.
And how are we to know these
representatives Of these special in