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THE DAY BOOK
THE CHIEF OF POLICE. A chief
of police is no better and no worse
than" the mayor -who makes him
chief, because the chief's policy is the
mayor's policy. When a chief is fired,
it is generally because the mayor's
policy, that the chief was carrying
out, proved to be unpopular. 'Can
ning the chief is one way of chang
ing policy, or leading the people to
believe it i$ changed. The late Boss
Cox, of Cincinnati, had a simple sys
tem of changing men without chang
ing policy. He would send a Repub
lican delegation from his county to
the state legislature, have them obey
orders and at the next election nom
inate a new set of legislators who
had no bad record to defend. Whether
the canning of Chief Healey means a
new chief with a new policy; or a
new chief with the same old policy,
remains to be seen, but whatever
happens the mayor's, policy, old or
new, will be the policy that will gov
ern the official conduct of the new
chief.
Chief Healey won't squawk, of
course. That would be unethica:
He'll take his medicine like a wise
copper, go back at the head of the
traffic squad and finally on the pen
sion roll. A new chief will step Into
the limelight, and for the time being
will be at the very least;- careful. If j
it's Hennan"Scauettler, our guess i&
that he will retire with a chief's pen
slop, and a halo before anybody getSs!
a chance to make him the goat.
, INSTILL AGAINST HOME RULE."
Sam Insull doesn't want home rule
for Chicago now. He prefers regula
tion by the"state, and finds reasons '
why. It may be that -the real reason .
is that Lowden was elected governor,
and mebbe Sam expects Frank to
appoint a state board of public utili
ties that will stand for Insull's high
financiering. You see, Sam has bit
ten off quite a mouthful in Chicago,
and may need help in digesting it
He wants to change the gas test and
he also wants a new franchise for his.
street railways another Walter
Fisher unification grab. Possibly
Sam also will want electrification of
steam railways when he can make
'em buy the juice from Common
wealth Edison. . Undoubtedly Sammy
can think of many reasons why a
nice, business-like state board would
be a handy thing to have about the
house.' Anyhow, ,Sam is dead sure
he'd rather deal with a state board
of politicians than with .a council
elected by the people of Chicago. But
Sam Insull is a darned poor reason
why Chicago shouldn't have home
rule.
. i
- LOEB WON'T LAST.-Jake Loeb
is in the saddle temporarily, but he
won the kind of victory that won't
stay won. Finally he will be dumped
off the school board, even if the folks
' have to wait until another mayor is
elected. By that time tho'se who
were fooled into backing Loeb up in
this fight will have their eyes opened
and know how they were fooled. For
Jake hasn't delivered all of the goods.
Firing 68 teachers was only a start
er. He's got to go farther than that
to please the invisible government
that is back of him and his fight He
hasn't yet busted the Teachers' Fed
eration, and that was the job he
tackled. He ft hasn't succeeded in
turning the school -system entirely, ,
N. D. COCHRAN
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
BOO 3. PEORIA ST. CHICAGO, ILK
Circulation, Monroe 3S26.
- Subscription By Carrier in
Chicago, 50 cents a month. By
Mail, United States and Can
ada, 50 cents-a Month.
Entered as second-class matter April
21, 1914, at the postofflce at Chicago,
111., under thy: Act of March 3, 1S79.
