Denver labor bulletin., 1918-05-18

slanderous assaults as did Mayor
Speer Publishers of the Denver
Post, the paper with heart and a
soul and a circus" daily assaulted
him in the most venemous manner,
because Speer<1efused to be controlled
and pay tribute to the Champa street
dictators. Speer was one of the few
to stand out boldly against Bonfils and
Tammen, and thus gained their en-
mity-an enmity that followed to the
grave.
BEING HUMAN, MAYOR SPEER
was not perfect and had his faults.
He was machine politician, and did
not always gather about him the best
class of men. Rather, he selected
those he could CONTROL men who were
used as an artist molds clay to shape
the desired object in mind. Perhaps,
after all, man with the creative
power and will of Mayor Speer,
gained more by this method than had
he adopted another course. Hence
most of the criticism directed at Mr..
Speer was really because of the men
connected with his previous admins
trations. Neither was the mayor
reformer in the generally accepted
term, nor did he give official pro-
lection to forms of vice. While not
an advocate of prohibition, he has fire.
quently stated in public that elimi-
nation of the saloon was a great ad-
vancement for Denver, both morally
and economically.
FROM 1904 TO 1918, A SPAN OF
fourteen years, during twelve of
which Robert w. Speer was mayor,
Denver has been transformed from a
rough, dirty and vice-ridden mining
camp town to the Queen City of the
Plains" Some of the improvements
made by Mayor Speer which stand as
monuments to his creative genius and
executive ability are paving of streets,
walling Cherry creek, once an eyesore,
now one of the beauties, along the
bank of which he constructed boule-
ward that was named by the city coun-
Gil in honor of the mayor; charging
and beautifying of the park system;
erection of the City Auditorium, the
largest and best equipped municipal
hall and theater in the United States;
introduced free band concerts by great
artists at city parks every night and
Sunday afternoon during the summer
nicipal organ in the Auditorium with
frequent recitals, free to all the peo-
pie; the civic center, now nearing
completion, marvel of municipal en-
terprise; building of the city park mu-
scum, which contains animal forms in
their natural surroundings, one of
Denver's big attractions; the Pioneer
monument at Broadway and Colfax
avenue, etc. Visitors always remark
on the cleanliness of Denver's streets,
and it was Mayor Speer who intro
duced the plan of flushing the pave
ments and streets of the downtown
district every night, thus adding to the
city's healthfulness and good appear
ance day by day.
MAYOR SPEER WAS AN AC-
cepted authority on municipal govern
ment and city improvements, gener-
ally acknowledged as the nations lead
ing city administrator. His advice
and suggestions were asked daily from
other cities, for he. had MADE mu-
nicipal government a life study. His
loss is almost an irreparable one for
Denver, for while other men of ability
will no doubt come forward to govern
the city, we are not likely to see an
other during this generation who COM
bines all the ideals, vision and execu-
tive fneness displayed by the man
who was respected even by his enc
mics, and whose death brings sorrow
to every Denver home, be it man.
sion on the hill or tenement in the
Platte river bottoms.