The Springfield herald., 1912-07-26
opyIieht By the In.erna,ionai Prs.. Boreaa.5

council calmly gave this tract to q
railroad company for use as a switch
ing yard. The steal was so raw that
the fence, vetoed the ordinance. The
council laughed and passed the ordi-
nance over his veto. Obviously there
was only one answer to this: The rail-
road company had como across with
enough money to make the council
defy all public opinion. They had
been bribed.
It was then that the decent and
| prominent citizens of the town got to-
gether and resolved to clean up the
town.
What is the best way to go about
it?" asked one Of them.
"Get after the council" said the old
Judge, grimly. prove them guilty of
bribery. Send them to prison. Break
them up. Throw the fear Of God SO
hard into the city government Of this
town that It will be years before a
| city official dares to think OF taking a
bribe."
THAT is right" agreed the retired
capitalist. I'VE must scare. this town
30 1t will not forget"
The first process of concocting this
scare was the sending OF Cluffer and
Dawson Of the Burns Detective Agency
to take up temporary residence at
the Imperial hotel-the leading hotel
lin Springvale. Cluffer was a merry
looking little Englishman who could
make friends with anybody in the
world at ten minutes notice. Dawson
was a young. Incorporating fellow
who looked the part Of a high class
salesman, or high class gambler. de-
pending on your point Of view. They
merely registered at the Imperial, and
commenced to spend money judicious.
ly in the bars around the city hall. 1t
was not long before they began to at.
tract attention.
As in every city, the liquor empor-
iums near the city hall were the meet.
ing places for certain brand of poll
ticians-the brand that Cluffer and
Dawson were anxious to meet. Natur.
ally they did not display any Of this
anxiety. After two or three days OF
being good fellows around town they
began to make the acquaintance OF
the politicians who were steady Gus
toners of the places where the detec,
tives were spending their time and
money. At first the politicians were
shy about making acquaintances. Lat
er they began to warm up. and after a
week of careful work the detectives
found themselves part of the little
ring that made these bar rooms their
l., q
lay in the city hall. There were two
councilmen with whom they became
especially friendly. Corcoran and
Stein, who were the leaders OF the
city hall clique. When they had es.
tablished themselves on firm ground
with these two. Cluffer and Dawson
broached their alleged reason for be
ing in springvale.
I'VE represent the American Wood
Block company" they said. land we
want to try to sell come blocks in
Springvale. We sell the best blocks
in the world"
Here they brought out some excel,
lent samples of wooden paving blocks
and began to expiate on their merits
mot only that, but We can sell
| these at prices far below those charg.
(, ed for the ordinary blocks" continued
Cluffer I'VE are SO anxious to put
our blocks into Springvale streets that
we will make the city price at which
it can save all kinds of money on its
paving bills. I'll bet you We can save
the city $4,000 a year and give 1t bet
ter paving material than it ever had
before"
well, what Of it?'' said Stein.
"Well," continued Dawson, 1--WE
thought II we could interest you gen
could save the city all this money, we
might convince you that 1t would be
in the interests of the city to intro
duce wood paving here"
YES" said Stein. who was the
spokesman for the councilmen. "What
OF it?"
why" said Dawson, you gentle.
men, In order to help the city save
money. ought to introduce an ordi.
nance calling for wood paving on
some streets. Then, after we had
shown how much we could save the
city we might hope to get some big
ger contracts"
Corcoran and Stein laughed as one
man.
Gee, but you're green!" laughed
Stein 'Is that really what you got
us up here to tell us?"
"Why, certainly" said Cluffer. all
innocence We're statesmen. for the
wooden block company"
"And you've got a couple of wooden
blocks yourself" roared Stein. 'If
that's all you know about selling stuff
to cities l don't see you holding your
Jobs much longer"
Why"
| "Because that amt the way it's
done" said Stein. Anyhow, not in
Springvale. You got to have differ
ent system than that, Johnnie. to do
business here. Save the city money!
What the devil do you suppose we
care about the city? To hell with the
city! If that's all you know about
getting city contracts. take your little