The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1912-09-26
THE BRIBE TAKERS
Fso~ q Clique Of Corrupt City Fathers
Was Brought TO Book

tive agency with the exposures Of
bribers and bribetakers in various
towns throughout the country has
been 80 well exploited that 1t Ia UNI
necessary for me to say anything
about 1t here. I 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 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 a 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
a magazine writer once called "cor-
rupted and content" 1t was busy
manufacturing town. 1t 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
this prosperity was due to the pres
ence of the factories in the town.
These factories were in the hands Of
a 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 it 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
Naturally these violations could not
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 80 accommodatingiy solely for
the good Of their health. They did Il
for what there was In e. Thus, the
factories became q fertile source Of
corruption Of the city government Of
Springvale. When q factory needed
the stub end Of a street In It's busk
ness, an ordinance would 60 through
the council without any trouble BE-
cause the ways had been veil creased
by the factory's owner. II q factory
wanted to tap q city water main and
use city water without having It me-
tered, It did IL, because the water de-
partment was fixed. If q street car
line felt that It needed q residence
street in it's business, that street It
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
influence. The banks we're in on the
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 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
tired of this state Of affairs. They
we're men who believed that a city
should be something besides a mere
machine for the manufacturing Of
money. They believed that city gov
eminent should think first of the wei
fare of its citizens, and of the future
of children growing up within it.
walls. They placed civic spirit above
dollars, and to them was due tht
cleaning up Of Springvale.
One of them was a Judge on the 10
cal bench who had waged uncomprom
Using war against the special interest
and corruption. He was the onf,
Judge in town who was not the bi;
interests bound servant. Then Their
were two lawyers who had resiste'
the temptations of big fees offers
them to turn crooked, one banker, on
minister, two or three merchants. tv
or three others of various occupations
and one old retired capitalist Thi
man was the backbone and the Pounds
ton of the crusade. When this grou
of public-spirited men had determine