Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1919-08-23

The street-car strike was the blow
that killed father and has driven
the near Mayor into falling out
with the papers and everyone else.
AS everyone knows by now the near
Mayor is very fond of gallery plays,
grandiose letters and bulletins, so
it was planned by some of the Re-
publican politicians in the admin
stration, and some in the strikers
ranks, to arrange a settlement
where near Mayor Smith and Chair
man Paul Burlingame, of the Board
| of Safety, would come out as the
laurel crowned heroes and get all
the hurrahs, huzzaws, banyais and
everything else that would boost the
local Republican reform" admin
stration. Smithy and Burly were
to step in at the eleventh hour,
accept the credit for settling the
strike, rush pell NELL over to the
Gayety Theater where the men
were assembled. stride down to the
footlights and say majestically:
Boys, we have met the enemy and
they are ours, the strike is settled"
Then would be fireworks, red lights,
boom for Smithy for Governor and
Paul, of Jeffersonville, for Mayor,
but alas and alack! all is off as the
plan fell through. Tears and slow
music.
To add to the administration
| troubles the Lower Board of the
General Council rebels against the
dictation of Burlingame and the
Board of Safety and President
Dumas reads the riot act to the
boards Chairman, telling him that
the Board of Safety were a lot of
wise likes that were killing the Re-
publican party. Furthermore Dumas
told Burlingame that the latter
couldn't make good by giving Nor
row 5000 majority here this fall.
/ (Evidently Paul is a kidder when
he predicts 5000 for the G. o. P.)
At the council meeting Tuesday
night Dumas and his followers con-
trolled and adopted several resolu-
tions knocking the Board of Safety
and the Police Department, despite
the fact that Burlingame, Matt
Chiffon, Ben Brumleve, Eugene Dali
ley, John Tate, Mike Filben, Charles
Martin and a few others were there
to add dignity to the administration
forces. They were supplemented by
Col. Petty in his thousand-dollar
uniform, which ranks second to no
other Chiefs in the country, be-
cause no other Chief of first
class city wears uniform. For his
aide Col. Petty had Sergeant
Steepleton, who was very familiar
with the subject before the board,
as he had been a motorman previous
to going on the police force.
President Dumas was not daunted
| by the glittering array of city adj
ministration forces and poured
broadside after broadside in Burl-
ingame's direction, wanting first of
all to have the police taken off the
cars. Councilman Nick Denunzio
made an impassioned speech along
the same lines and in a flowery
burst of oratory said Mr.. Minary
and his company were placing the
city in a state of JEOPARDY" Then
Councilman Horn blew in and at
tackled the idea of letting the Key
stone police get their dinners from
the car company, as the city was
able to pay 'em their wages. One
lone administration supporter was
Councilman Mcintosh, who came in
out of the rain of votes to say that
ne was voting from legislative
standpoint.
Another thorn in the side of the
reform" boys this week was the
failure to secure cheap food from
the war department and as predicted
In these columns three weeks ago
the kilograms of the near Mayor and
his subordinates were only camou-
flage and bombast. The Secretary
of the War Department showed
them up in great style when in
answer to query why Louisville
was trailing behind Knoxville,
Paducah, Frankfort and others ne
said sThey were too slow and did
not even follow the plain instruc-
lions as to how to secure the sup
lplies.r There could have been no
excuse for failure to get in touch
with Washington and the War De-
partment as this district is re-
presented by Congressman Ogden,
the Republican machine choice,
What a pity for Louisville that
Swagar Sherley was not there. We
would have more than our allotment
of food and the completion of Camp
Knox a certainty. The city adj
| mll1SLrdLiOn HOW tIdllo UduiJ pC'
hind with a little measly $4,000 ap'
preparation for food, which might
buy enough peanuts to go around
but that's all.
The street-car strike distracted
some from the City Hospital expos
: which the Board of Safety tried Il
cover up by buster. Just as soo1
as an outsider proved the patients
+. were getting bugs in the food thel
the Board Of Safety announces will
q big blow that an efficiency exper
, has been chosen to remedy the mat
ter, and firing one of the dish
washers or minor subordinates in
; stead of the supemors who ar
responsible. But get this. The eff
4 ficiency expert is a Republican
4 politician of long standing, Alder
; Spies, being former assistant Oil In
! spector under the last county Re
9 publican administration. And thi
e is the same crowd who pirate abou
4 keeping politics out of our institu
: lions. AS we go to press the ca
company is running some cars wit
7 q Keystoner ON each, and a movini
= picture of the scene would be rea
s funny. The Keystoner, who is no
at home in the seats. stamps hi
g foot every time the motormal
0 clangs the bell and has a hard tim
Q to keep from pulling the bell rop
: at every corner. It's pretty hard I
teach an old dog new tricks an