Evening star., 1940-02-11
Pendergast Machine
Girds for Test as
Boss Sits in Prison /.
Ants Force Election Il,
As Organization Reels
From Exploding Sconduls

about the most amazing city political
machine this country has known is
clattering and wheeling along to-
ward death grips Tuesday with
forces confident they can destroy it
beyond hope of repair.
A fused host Of Republicans, inde-
pendent Democrats, indignant busi-
ness men and civic-minded women
have forced the Pendergast Demo-
cratic organization into an election
at q time when 1t is reeling and
swaying from the impact Of ex-
ploding scandals.
That election, calling for a char
ter amendment to cut from four to
two years the terms of the Pender-
gast-controlled city council. aims at
the very heart of the machine
power. The effect of such a move,
If successful, would be to throw out
the whole council and the mayor,
too, by April.
Machine Seems Doomed.
Tonight, after a week of surpris-
ing developments. the ousting of
the City Hall regime appeared GER
tain. The word even went out for
the Pendergast forces to support
the amendment. The anti-machine
spokesmen called that a ruse to
lull the populace into a haf-hearted
turnout.
Others reasoned the machine was
looking ahead to the election of
new oficials, hoping by that time
the fusion forces would split up
into Office seeking groups.
The Pendergast machine thrives
on power. It has had finger in the
city government since the gay '90s
and both hands in since 1926. And
it has hung on to that power in
recent months despite a series Of
blows, any one of which seemed
certain of wrecking it.
First, the boss, Tom Pendergast,
was tossed into Federal prison. He
bet the profits of his politico- -busi-
ness alliances so heavily on losing
race horses that he resorted to
evasion in filling out his income tax
returns. Caught at it. he pleaded
guilty and was sentenced to IS
months at LeavenWorth. With time
of for good behavior he can get out
this spring. but flve-year probation
forbids him to take any part in
politics.
Machine Fighting for Itself.
So the machine is not fighting to
save a spot for Tom. It's fighting
to save itself.
The next blow after the boss went
up the river was the shearing off
Of some vital cogs. An expenditure
scandal whirled around the head of
City Manager H. F. McElroy. for Is
years the front man" for the ma
chine. He quit, became i'll and died
before he could be tried on indict-
ments alleging misuse of money.
The machines director of police,
Otto P. Higgins, stepped out under
fire and later joined his boss at
Leavenworth for failing to report
his true income tax. Gov. Lloyd G.
Stark, Democrat but bitterly OPP
posed to Pendergastism, took away
the machines right hand by win
ming State control of the police de-
partment.
Minus Ace Ward Leaders.
The machine must enter Tuesdays
election minus the services of some
Of its ace ward leaders, persons long
experienced in the work of getting
out the vote. They're in Lesven-
worth for getting out more votes
than there were voters at the 1896
election. l.ss. 6
It must do battle with debated
funds. Gov. Stark, a reform-bent
county judge and the Federal Cow
ernment combined to close down the
$4,000, ,000-a-year gambling racket
and sent to prison the machine's S
defiant lug collector, Charles Char
ley the Wop CaTollo. He admitted
befrore he joined the machine
crowd behind Leavenworth's prison
walls that he had gathered in thou
sands of dollars monthly from the
gambling shops and handed them
over to Tom as campaign funds"
Yet all these blows have failed to
dislodge the machine from power.
After McElroy quit, Mayor Bryce 9.
Smith took over and announced
changes would be made. Several
hundred machine workers were
Topped of the huge pay rolls, but
when Smith tried to get an outside
man for city manager the Pender-
gast council showed fight. It picked
q Kansas City man. Smith, dis