Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1922-10-14
DECLARATION OF PRIN.
CIPLES AND RESOLU-
TIONS ADOPTED BY
THE COOK COUNTY
REAL ESTATE BOARD
CHICAGO.

tdA-paylHS cltlzenS. we DelleV6 That
business is as essential to our civil
lizatiOn as air is to the life of the
individual. that it is the machinery
of business which supports schools,
churches, government and our so
clal Institutions but that as air may
be poisoned and deadly, so may the
evil methods of evil men corrupt and
debase business, and endanger our
life, our property and menace our
government.
We are alarmed at the power and
influence of the criminal profiteer
The American people during the war
were told the profiteer would be shot.
He has not been shot, but instead he
is often found as leader in move
ments to suppress the lesser criminals
which by his example he has created.
The profiteer at the top is the gun
man at the bottom, while the former
gets away with millions the latter,
following his example, wants to get
away with hundreds in the way best
known to him. Judges and courts, off,
GERS of the law and legislators in
stead of boldly taking cognizance of
the facts and proceeding to put the
profiteers or parent criminals in jail
and driving them out of the commu-
nifty, have, instead, become the dupes
and instruments of those criminals,
and are leading in the hue and cry
against their criminal offspring so
that the crimes of the parent law
| breakers may go unpublished.
We apprehend not the slightest
| danger in America from violent an
archy or bolshevism, our political in
situations offer no soil for the growth
| of such theories. But we are in grave
fear of the small group in our coun-
try, brazen, impudent, blind and
greedy, who have no God nor flag,
nor country and are now in control of
the money and natural resources of
our country, and who are fast assum-
ing the same relation to our people as
have been maintained toward their
people by the similar privileged and
profiteering groups in Europe who
were responsible for the terrible war
and who are now rapidly manufacture
ing other wars.
Inherited and accumulated wealth
in the hands of the few whose minds
and methods are foreign and antago-
nistic to our institutions is America s
peril, as it is the only serious men
ace to our individual lives, peace,
happiness and prosperity.
And, whereas, the ownership of our
public utilities in Chicago in private
hands is synonymous with the corrup-
ton of our local government and Of
ficials, and the exploitation of our
citizens is an example and incentive
to thuggery, and s1a.--- asF~'s =
i WHEREAS, the Cook County Real
Estate Board and the people of Chi
cago have repeatedly demanded pub
lie ownership of it's traction lines
and other utilities, and
WHEREAS. it has been found thai
the City, while possessing the power
of condemnation to acquire our trans
portation systems, cannot exercise
this power, unless some plan is de
vised to provide the funds necessary
if such power is exercised, and
WHEREAS, it is absolutely neces
sary that the power of condemnation
be invoked if the City is to purchase
the Surface Lines from the traction
financiers, as according to all evi
dence and experience, they will de
mand an exorbitant price for theil
properties, and
WHEREAS, there has been a per
sistent and increasing agitation fol
the immediate building of subway'
in the downtown section of the City
and
WHEREAS, subway construction Il
| so extremely expensive at the low
est estimate cost, four times as mucl
per mile as elevated and twenty times
as much as surface lines, and if tn
City undertake the building of tn,
subway now, with its limited fnan
cial ability, it will leave no resource
with which to purchase the lines an,
so get control of the System; no
| will it have sufficient funds to bull
more than the mere beginning of
subway system, and
w I1EnEkAO, A. tuG OlLy IL
! vest it's money in Subway System
the cost would be so great that tn
interest on the debt would seriousl
cripple if not completely destroy tn
Citys chance of purchasing any full
, Their traction properties, and
WHEREAS, there seems to be col
, certed effort in many directions t
block the City from being placed i
: position to exercise condemnator
powers, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Cook Cour
ty Real Estate Board reiterate it
position in favor of municipal owl
ership of public utilities, and
RESOLVED, that we condemn tn
proposed subway plan now being az
tated as insincere and hypocritical
and
RESOLVED, that, while we have n
political Affiliations or preferences
we approve the so-called Thompso
Plan of Ownership and operation c
the traction properties with its col
domination and trustee-managemer
features as the most practical pla
submitted, and be it further
RESOLVED, that copy of thes
resolutions be sent the Mayor, an
members of the City Council and {
the Judges and other local and Stat
Officials, and be given such other pull