Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-05


intimate interview" 1t was an interesting
figure he made, tall, bulky, bronzed from
much sailing on the treacherous Lake Michi-
gan, where he has earned the title of com
modore" among yachtsmen. His shoulders
are immense, his chest is deep and in the
twenty odd years since he was a football
player his grth has widened to the extent
of number of round fat inches. But withal
there was about him the feeling of great
physical power.
with celebrities, It is said preliminaries
should be brief and accordingly Mayor
Thompson was asked how first he became
interested in politics. He was silent for a
minute or two and then left the small office
where he is accustomed to meet reporters
and entered his formal chamber Soon he
emerged with husky young man whom he
announced as Eugene Pike, City Comp
troller."
Starting in Politics
"Pike, he wants to know how I got inter-
ested in politics. You got me started. You
tell him." And Pike narrated how, back In
1899, William Hale Thompson was persuaded
to run as Alderman of the old I'd Ward and
how Thompson had won. Then Pike was
called out and his Honor took UP the story,
for children. 1t was pretty chronicle of an
apathetic city being aroused to see the needs
of childhood and finally of being inspired to
provide for those needs.
William Hale Thompson was elected
Mayor of Chicago, because through him
as weapon the people of the city
thought they were furnishing those who
had injected religious issues into politics,
those ba
those who had attacked the public school
system and those who seemed bent on de-
livering the government of the municipality
to handful of great corporations.
The consequence was that William Hale
Thompson did come into office with few
strings. AS he says, he is free in the sense
that few executives of great American cities
have ever been able to boast. But at this |
point, to understand the man, It is only just |
to hear his enemies and to recall the incident |
of Eugene Pike City Comptroller" sig |
nificant card pretending to be humorous is ;.
in circulation. 1t reads "william Hale
Thompson, representing Fred Lundln, Mayor
of Chicago"
Fred Lundin, the shrewdest of the old
Lorimer leaders who survived the storm, is
the recognized political adviser of the Mayor
Of Chicago. The City Hall reporters tell the
story that on a recent occasion Mayor
Thompson was asked for list of the ap-
pointments he intended sending to the Coun-
ell that night.
According to the yarn. 1t was then o'clock
and the Council meeting was hardly three
hours away. 'I haven't received them yet"
The Mayor is alleged to have said.
when are they coming?" a reporter
asked.
II expect them any time from the Sherman
House." is the reputed reply. The Sherman
House was the political headquarters of the
Thompson campaign.
Thompson called in Pike to explain his
initial interest in politics That touches the
leart of the situation Thompson came into
contact with social and political forces of
whose meaning he had not the slightest glim-
ner. say his enemies, and these forces made
him. "A fool for luck" is their way of stating
t, but one must always remember-as salt
or this charge-that ambition and jealousy
re the strongest instincts In politicians.
The Legend of the Strike
Mayor Thompson hardly had assumed Of
Ice when he was confronted with the street
ar strike. legend has gone abroad con-
erning the settlement of that strike which
lectures his honor as a superman forcing the
ngry managers and union leaders toward
lediation despite everything. Chicago knows