The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1924-10-11
WHY HON. OSCAR WOLFF
SHOULD BE REELECTED


voters Of Cook County will be called
upon to fiji one Of the most important
Offices in Cook County that Of Cor
oner. Hon. Oscar Wolff. the present
Coroner, i a candidate for reelection,
and few observations relative to the
manner in which he has conducted his
office during the past two years are
pertinent At this time.
Immediately after having been
elected to Office, he realized that one
Of the gravest conditions the author
tiles Of this county had to contend
with was the ever-increasing number
of deaths due TO automobile aoci-
dents. Carefully studying and an
alyzing the circumstances surrounding
these so-called accidents and the Ordi-
nances Of the City Of Chicago and laws
Of the State Of Illinois then effective,
regulating automobile traffic upon our
streets and highways, he concluded
that not sufficient protection against
careless and reckless drivers was given
to pedestrians obliged to use our
streets in the course of their daily
routine and to children too young to
look after their own welfare, in whom
we are all interested.
In order to inform himself as to the
most effective methods employed in
large, thickly settled communities in
combating this peril he visited all the
important eastern cities at his own ex-
pense and learned first hand how the
authorities there handled this perplex-
ing problem, and with the informa-
ton derived in this manner SO con-
Quoted the affairs of his Office that the
steady increase in the number OF
deaths by automobiles in this county
was halted and for the first time in
period of ten years this awful death
rate was on the decline, and this in
spite Of the large number Of automo-
biles in use and the steady increase in
population.
Coroner Wolff instituted another
important reform in which the public
is vitality interested in the manner Of
selecting juries impaneled to inquire
into the cause of such deaths. Under
the system in vogue in the Coroner's
Office at the time he took hold, the
jurors in these cases were selected BY
the deputies assigned to such cases and
the deputies, having many details to
look after and sometimes two or three
cases to handle in a day, were unable
to give sufficient time to. the selection
Of intelligent and open-minded jurors
and investigate properly the circum-
stances attending the death under in
quiry.
Realizing that investigators were abb
solutely necessary. to attend to these
important details, Coroner Wolff ap-
pealed to the Judges Of the Circuit
Court of Cook County who pass upon
the number Of employees to be allotted
to his Office, for more help and was
told the County could not afford it
and his request was refused.
Undaunted by this unexpected lack
Of cooperation on the part Of the
judges, he hired four investigators,
paying their salaries out of his own
purse, assigned them to cases in which
automobiles were concerned, to in
vestigate the circumstances attending
the fatality and select substantial cit
liens, residing in the vicinity where
the death occurred, to act as jurors
and inquire fully into the details and
fix the responsibility. These investi-
gators also investigated cases and Sc
lected jurors to inquire into deaths
due to building operations, accidents
in manufacturing establishments, etc.
Due to the greater care exercised in
the selection of jurors, the number of
careless and reckless drivers held to
the Grand jury on charge Of murder
or manslaughter by Coroner's juries has
been doubled in the past two years,
which result is responsible in no small
measure in reducing the number Of
deaths from this cause.
This work SO we'll begun should be
encouraged and Hon. Oscar Wolff re-
turned to Office BY majority which
will show him that the public, and
Especially the people of our race, ap-
preciate conscientious service and
beneficial results. What fate has IN
store for US or for our loved ones, no
man can tell, and as this Office con-
Germs all of US, regardless of political
affiliations, we owe him a vote Of con
Edenra .rd s,rnr,rt