Evening star., 1921-08-07

the cftv government which 1t is today.
After a year in this position / was
elected chairman of the finance COM
mittee and president of the council.
The latter position ! heid ior Two
years, the mayor. under the charter.
being the president; but in this IN
stance he declined to preside.
work In Chicago Council.
"As chairman of the finance COM
mittee / had jurisdiction over all the
appropriations and the tax levies- L
found the city in very bad way
financially l think it owed twenty
million dollars of current obligations
which it was unable to pay. Annex
alton had Just taken place in Chicago,
adding 100 square miles of new terri
tory, some of which was sparsely set.
tied. All Of this territory needed
sewers and water to accommodate the
population which had been voted into
the city. l had charge OF the e1ten-
sion of the water system and the
tions which were constructed, and
which have been adequate to meet the
needs Of the present day population
with but little additions to the sys-
tens then created. All this was done
without a dollar of indebtedness be.
the revenues of the water system and
the water fund always remained in
tact during the entire development.
"In addition to that l made it my
business to appropriate less money
than we received every year oy a
very large sum. That which was not
appropriated went into the general
ment of the current Obligations
which existed at the time 1 became
chairman. At the end of the seven
year period the obligation was paid
OF and the general fund was created
sufficient to meet the city's current
the annual tax levy. During all this
period no bonds were issued ana the
bonded debt at that time was only
S11 .000. 900 for the entire city. Al
the end Of eight years declined to
continue in the service and went back
to private life. In the meaning !
had become more or less interested
in politics, but never to the extent OF
neelectine my business. 1t was al
ways q first principle with me to at
tend to my business.
"I became chairman of the city CEN
tral committee. position I occupied q
elected a delegate to the national con-
vention in Minneapolis, and to each
su uoceeding republican national con-
venfion until the last one. to which
/ declined to go as a delegate.
e. Interest In Panama Canal.
"In 1895 I was one of the men who
orcanixed the state delegation to the
national convention which nominat-
ed Mckinley for President and de-
clared in favor Of a. gold plank In
the republican platform. We had
consid erabIe difficulty in inducing
those in control to adopt the gold
piank. It was adopted. however. and
became the campaign issue In that
.In 1900, as a delegate to the ma
tional convention at Philadelphia,
served ON the subcommittee on reso-
iuffone., of which Senator Fairbanks
wss chairman and Senator Foraker
was a member. Asa member of that
committee / wrote the plank which
committed America to the construc-
ton Of the Panama canal. and l later
followed up the work by taking an
interest in the canals construction
T was at Panama several times and
with Col. GOethals In de-
yising plans for the most expeditious
method of construction.
1T was elected to Congress IN l9O4
and have served continuously. My
first assignment was to the apprcpria-
tfons committee. resigned from the
committee after some years Of service
and took q place on the committee on
rivers and harbors, where served for
two years. and then was assigned to
the committee on post Offices and post
roads. and devotedmyseif indnstrious-