The Detroit times. [volume], July 27, 1912, AFTERNOON EDITION, Image 16

About The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
I "Ts m #r# norm) fmpulM la me la of no fore# unless II
fan b» Craa slated Into action. It la Unmoral to propose for tbs
vnittJ StaiM somethin* that i» not of bsneflt for tha
vliols 1 altei State* It la immoral to promote legislation
‘ln' your business lalcss It la also for the Interest of tha
1 part of tbs country. Our gorsrumsnt la not a paternal in
•Mtudun.'—WOODROW WILSON.
THE DETECTIVE , YOU WILL NOTE ,
jf • IMPERSONATED A RAILROAD
y Eight Detroit aldermen and the secretary of common council coni
are under arrest on charges of bribery in connection \Mth the
rnnoil's action closing Seventh-st. for the Wabash railroad, which desired j
site for a freight house.
}* The aldermen and the sums they received are as follows, according to
the Burns detective who worked up the case:
Glinnan, $1,000; Deimel. $100: Brozo. $100; Ostrowski. $1C0; M-son.
$800; Tossy, $200: Theisen, SSOO. The amount set opposite the name of
X. B. Schreiter, Jr., secretary of common council committees, is 5500.
In thip exposure and the arrests, a job of housecleaning has been
Gone npon which the decent and honest citizenship ol Detroit ma> .ell
congratulate itself.
THE LAW SHOULD NOW TAKE ITS COURSE. SPARING NONE OF ]
THE GUILTY, THAT ALL OF ITS DETERRENT EFFECT MAY CON-;
FRONT COMMON COUNCILS OF THIS CITY IN THE FUTURE.
Furthermore a lesson has been supplied the voters of Detroit which
Should result in more caretul scrutiny in the future of the men who ask
for local public office
Orer and above all. however, we are given a most convincing demon
stration cf how the private public service coiporation does its work, and
of the probability always of corruption and the contamination of public
officers, even after this exposure, so long as the public utilities are left in
private hands for exploitation of the people; for the overriding of the,
rights of the people and for confiscating, where they please, the public
property.
The Detroit officials were trapped by a Burns detective "ho imper
tonated a representative of the Wabash railroad. _
To impersonate, he had to do EXACTLY AS A REAL REPRESENTA
TIVE OF THE ROAD WOULD DO if setting out to buy a common council..
He found the haunts of the aldermen.
He got acquainted with them.
t He mixed with them.
% He took them for automobile rides. *
He bought them dinners, drinks and cigars.
He hobnobbed in the office of Secretary Schreiter.
He met the official “fixer."
He got the official “fixer” down to his office and learned where the
members of the committee stood on the street closing matter.
He learned where individual members of the committee stood.
He was told which ones he ought to see and warned against those
whom he should keep away from.
; Os those he learned he should see. he succeeded in getting some to
hit office.
Others he had to meet in their stores or saloons.
• HE IMPERSONATED PERFECTLY THE MANNER IN WHICH THE
Ileal representative of a private public service corpor
ation WOULD HAVE PROCEEDED.
He fished with the right kind of bait.
Good fishermen prefer bait that has been tried and proven.
No better evidence that he played the role PERFECTLY is needed, than
that he was never suspected : no better evidence that these aldermen had
been there before with a public service corporation.
No more convincing evidence could be desired to prove that the public
gervice corporations are a corrupting influence, and AN ACCEPTED COR*
BUPTING INFLUENCE, than the matter-of-lact way in which these alder
men entered into this deal
I Condemnation of the public service corporation sufficient to cause the
people to rise up in their might, and. upon the first occasion presented,
demand the PUBLIC ownership of PUBLIC utilities, is contained in the
detailed story of the detective who landed this bunch of crooks.
In the arrest of the boodlers we have only made a start in cleaning up
in the city hall.
We have met the effect but there is more work to be done, and that
Work it the digging out of the root of corruption of public officers.
Mayor Thompson and Citizen Andrew H. Green. Jr., working together,
have given ns a fine start toward a better and safer order of things in the
tommon council chamber.
Will they go further now, for us. and direct their efforts toward the
influences that have corrupted this body and have put over on the decent
gnd honest citizenship legislation that has amounted to laughing m the
face of decent and honest citizenship?
They have exposed a street closing in opposition to the overwhelming
ientiment of merchants and citizens in the ward affected against the street
closing.
Will Mayor Thompson expose for us now the inaction of the common
Council in its failure to have enforced the conditions of franchises enjoyed
by the Detroit United railway, providing for efficient service?
Will Mayor Thompson expose for us now. before the Bums detectives
get away, the reason for recent action in the council, permitting a saloon
in a manufacturing district in spite of the pioteits of manufacturers and
a half dozen civic organizations and a majority report of the committee
tgainst it?
| | Further investigation by the mayor and Mr. Green will prove, to their
Satisfaction, we are most sure, fir«t, that we have a brewery and saloon
; Geminated common council, and that in brewery and saloon domination
Res the curse that has been the entering wedge to faithless service and
boodle.
f 0 Aldermen chosen through the support of brewers and by the votes of
Adolf is a Very Aggravating Customer at Osgar’s Little Store Condo
AH, A CUSTOMER COMCS. '«* NO A) | i 1 [ _ f J>CRC ISS JUST \ Sho, JX>N’l>^V
Coot von, too, id *ss adocf. )i j , v jl4 Pounds, shall t J ' wrap id. \
uses BLCNTY Or y , ( YeSS,S\R-\ /VCLL JUST \ / WIT \ V WRAP »© U*P* / I ONLY VANTCD TO \ %
I l Ytss. ( B(.€rtSURC, ) v See NOWSIC |4 POUNDS J ~
<C 1
' l ' ■' ' ' V it^*'^^ es*is**ps'
Editorial Page of The Detroit Times
saloons are not the kind of aildermen from which the people may expect
honest dealing or best results.
IT IS THIS CLASS THE PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION MAY
COUNT UPON. FOR THE PEOPLE COME IN LAST FOR CONSIDERATION
BY SUCH ALWAYS
They hold their seats as the avowed enemies of decent government and
quite naturally they vote on the side of the enemies of decent government.
Mayor Thompson has been an honest pubiio official, though a most
mistaken public official in some of the things he has stood for
His pro-franchise tendencies are far from consistent with a purpose
to renovate the city hall.
Asa candidate he declared for the only course that would insure hon
esty in public office and as mayor he abandoned that course in violation
of his campaign declaration.
Public ownership of public utilities would be “dangerous," we are
told by many, because it would lead to corruption of government.
We invite such critics to the activity of the patrol wagons, in Detroit
the past few hours, for a lesson in the private ownership of utilities, to
which, alone, at this instant, is chargeable the disgrace of eight city offi
cials and the shame of their families.
To set a trap for these officials, they had to set it on the side of a
public service corporation in PRIVATE HANDS.
THE DETECTIVE KNEW BETTER THAN TO IMPERSONATE A
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE SEVENTH WARD.
• t ~
Mayor Thompson wound up secret conferences w’ith the Detroit United
railway, by recommending to the city a blanket franchise for the company
for a period of 12 years more.
By recommending 12 years more of lobbying in the common council
chamber by the private corporation operating this public utility.
Twelve years more of mixing with aldermen by representatives of the
private corporation operating this public utility.
Twelve years more of auto rides, dinners, drinks and cigars.
Twelve years tnore of this kind of influence, the same as the detective
used; 12 years more of temptation, exposing mothers, wives, sisters and
daughters to shame and tears.
This is what the mayor recommended.
Notwithstanding, we commend him now for hit activities in smoking
cut the boodlers and emptying the council chamber seats for occupancy by
HONEST representatives of the people and the sentiment of the people.
Given cc-operation in the common council such as the present scandal
should insure, a mayor WHOM THE PEOPLE MAY COUNT UPON AS A
SINCERE AND HONEST ADVOCATE OF MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
should have no trouble in bringing about that reform, and, through it, the
most honest, most clean, and most responsive administration in the politi
cal history of the city.
••REVENGE!”—-Frank D. Hovey.
• • # •
Some class to Cadillaqua, after all.
• • • •
When thieves are put out, honest people get a square shakes
• • • •
Official proceedings of the common council will be found on another
page.
• • • •
Very foolish, indeed, we would say of the alderman who banks on the
Wabash.
• • • •
At Just about that particular time, we imagine, a junket would have
come in handy.
« * • •
Furthermore, without Al. Deimel it would have been a case of Hamlet
with Hamlet left out.
• • • •
And these aldermen voted the way the News and Journal and Free
Press told them to vote.
« • • •
And upon this occasion, also, the aldermen couldn’t get along without
taking Eddie Schrieter with them.
• • • •
If that is the way Andrew Green is going to Impersonate Cadillac,
ne anticipa»e a common council resolution that next year he remain in
Lachlne.
• • • •
Leave it to the local Tammany, please, Judge Connolly’s mayor puts
them in and Judge Connolly lets them out.
* * • •
We ure now ready for an explanation from that aldermuu who gave
himself up to the police only to learn he wasn't wanted.
• # • *
The interesting part of the story of the exposure hasn't been told yet.
Wait until we get the Atlantic City end of It from Mayor Thompson.
* * * •
Why didn’t someone among the accused aldermen at police head
quarters] move they adjourn? The motion isn't debatable and there was a
quorum present.
• • • •
Get the total number of alderman. Subtract the number pinched
from the number not pinched and a lot of things that have happened in
the council chamber will be a bit more clear to you.
WOODROW WILSON'S BEST JOKE.
Here is Woodrow Wilson’s beet
Joke. He uses It in speeches to Illus
trate running from fright:
‘ A southern Negro dashed madly
into his master’s house one evening
¥nd said a man had chased him with
a knife and had then shot at him.
“Did he hit you,” asked the master.
‘ Mighty near It, sab." replied the
Negro. “He Just missed me an inch.
“Did you hear the bullet?’’
-Yes. sir, I heard it twice, onct
when it passed me and onct when I
passed it.”
From Another Point of View
A wireless-lettergram service has
been established on a line of steam
ers running between # Portugal and
Brazil, airgrama received on ships be
ing mailed on arriving in port or by
the first passing vessels.
A life preserver for aviators Invent
ed by a Californian consists of a suit
of heavy clothing to which are attach
ed wings that extend from the head
to the hands, from the hands to the
feet and from one leg to the other.
Job Prletle* Doa* Rlfkt. Tlaiaa
Print las Cos.. 15 Joba R.-a*.
Too Much of It
If we are going to restore sell gov
ern mem to the people. ' we must
restore the business of politics to the
people.
But too much politics is very tad
for at least two important reasons.
It Interferes seriously with, the dally
diversions of the people and It con
fuses the people. Take for Instance
the state of Ohio, her people have
been through the two hot presidential
primaries and been distracted by two
national conventions that vitally con
cerned her. Yet.' she has Just had to
nomiuute state officers, next slit will
have to vote on her constitutional
amendments lu September and then
engage In the presidential campaign
and election. Other stales are id
somewhat similar fix. Politics, poli
tics all the spring, all the summer
and most all the fall.
How can the average voter pos
sibly earn his living and at the same
time do his political duty intelligent
ly anil patriotically with all this poli
ties piied upon him?
Self-government is a tremendous
matter, but it should be made a sim
ple matter, when we consider that
It should be a matter for careful
study and deliberate action. The vi
tally Important Issues are really not
so very numerous. Why not settle
them at once? Why not make it our
special business to settle them?
Look at the ridiculous way In whim
we do one thing, for Instance. This
year we elect a president whom v.o
expect to stand for certain things,
execute certain laws. Later on we
elect a congress that may stand for
entirely different things and ena* t
laws that our president 1 ' may con
sistently refuse to execute. Verily
our self-government Is apt to be
spread so thin over many matters
that the masses cannot successfully
make politics their business as they
should.
And so the bosses grow strong up
on the confusion and weakness of
our political system. This is to say
nothing of the cost, which finally
falls upon the masses. At the pri
maries not over 35 per cent of the
voters turn out anywhere. At the
election as high as 90 per cent vote.
The people are sick of the ever
lasting round of campaigns. Vet, we
cannot have successful self govern
ment unless the people make politics
a particular business If we tire or
confuse the people the bosses will
surely profit by the business of poli
tics.
Dream Stuff
“We are such stuff as dreams aro
made of.”
All of us. at some time, have our
day dreams.
When we are young, life glitters
before us like an endless pageant of
beauty, created and gilded by our
chlld-inind dreams and aspiration*
To most of us the years bring disil
lusion. Our castles in the air fade
on approach like a mirage in the
desert, leaving life a waste of barren
and sterile sands.
It is our own fault that our early
dreams are permitted to perish; and
our own undoing. They are divinely
impia.itea as the seeds of indiyiduai
ity. They are heavenly stars set as
guides to our destiny.
Dreams are ideals; and the soul
without ideals withers and dies. The
secret of youth and enthusiasm In the
grown man lies in his loyalty to his
dreams. When the dreams are end
ed the virile life is done.
This is the difference between ♦he
sreat and the little souls cf earth—
the little soul, disappointed, ceases
to dream. The great soul dreams on
and goes cut to realize the dream
The castle In the air Is the homo
of the soul. Failure lets It fade for
want of a foundation; highest and
truest success builds a secure foun
dation under it.
Every great soul of man has seen a
vision and pondered It until the uas
sion to make the* dream come true
has dominated the life.
RIC.MC** OF .% \ If'KRL.
A rlckel then was bigger than a mil
lion dollar* now.
A nickel then would buy a world of
happiness. somehow;
A nickel then was all a lad could
sometimes hope to get.
And. ah. hov.- wide with human Joy his
little eyes were set!
A nickel back In those old times was
bigger than a mint:
A nickel then was like a dream of rich
es, w'lth Its‘glint :
A nickel then was all a child expected
at the best.
And ah. how glad It made his heart
beat In his little breast’
A nlckeV then was bigger than a for
tune seems these days;
A nickel then could All the mind with
fancy’s glided maze;
A nickel then could buy the earth, in
childhood’s dream at least.
Anh. oh. that we could taste again
that sense of childhood feast'
—Baltimore Sun
Jr*Bp7 *
Ch-APTER VII.
The Tragedy in the Cabin.
(Continued!.
"My name is Steele. Philip Steele,
of the Koval Mounted. Down In Chi
cago I’ve got a father, Philip Egbert
Steeie, a banker, who’rf worth half a
dozen millions or so. You're going
down to him as fast as dog sledge and
train cun carry you. and you'll give
him this note, it says that your name
ia Johnson, and that for my sake he's
going to put you on your feet, so that
it is going to I>e pretty blamed com- 1
sortable for yourself—and the noblest!
little woman I've ever met. Do you
understand, Thorpe?”
He looked up. Thorpe's wife had
gone to her husband. She stood now.
l.air in his arms, and looking ut him:
as they were, they reminded him of a
couple who had played the finale in a
drama which he had seeu a year be
fore.
"There is one favor which you must
do me, TTfdrpe," lie went on. "At home
1 urn rich. Up here I’m only Phil
Steele, of the Koval mounted. I'm tell
lrg \ou so that you won t think that
I'm stripping myself when I make you
take this. It's a little ready cash, and
a check for a thousand dollars. Some
day. if you want to. you can puy it
back. Now hustle up and get on your
clothes. I Imagine that your friends
are somewhere near—with the sledge
that brought me up from l.#e Pas. To
morrow. of course, l shall he com
pelhut to take up the pursuit. But if
you yurry 1 don't believe that I shall
catch you.”
He rose and put on his hat. leaving
the money and the chock on the table.
The woman staggered toward him, the
1 man following in a dazed, stunned sort
of way. He saw the woman's arms
reaching out to him again, a look in
her beautiful face that he would never
forget.
in another moment he had opened
the door and was gone.
CHAPTER VIII.
Another Letter For Philip.
From beside his prisoner in the
deep gloom Philip saw Thorpe and
ills wife come out of the cabin a min
ute later and hurry away through the
night. Then he dragged the guard
into the prison, relocked the door,
left the key In the lock, and relumed
to Hodges' office to replace the oil
clothes for his uniform.
Not until he stood looking down
upon the dead body again did the
enormity of his own offense begin
to crowd upon him. But he was not
frightened nor did he regret what
he had done. He turned out the
light, sat down, coolly filled his pipe,
and begun turning the affair over,
detail by detail, in his mind. He ha-J.
at least, followed Inspector Mac-
Gregor’s injunction —he hail follow'd
his conscience. Hodges had got what
he deserved, and he had saved a man
and a woman.
But in spite of his first argument,
he knew that MacGregor had not
foreseen a tragedy of this sort, and
that, in the eyes of the law. he was
guilty of actively assisting in U o
flight of two people who could n» t
possibly escape the penalty of Jus
tice —if caught. But they would
be caught. He assured himself or
that, smiling grimly in the darkless.
No one at Wekusko comd explain
what had happened. He was positive
that the guard had not recognized
him, and that he would think one of
Thorpe's friends had effected the
rescue. And MacGregor
Philip chuckled as he thought of
the condemning evidence in his pos
session. the strange orders whicn
would mean dismissal for the inapee
tor. and perhaps a greater punish
ment, if he divulged them. He would
be »afe hi telling MacGregor some
thing of what had occurred in the
little cabin. And then, as he sat in
this grim atmosphere of death, a
thought came to him of M'sieur Jan
ette’s skull, of Bucky Nome, and of
the beautiful young wife at Lac Bain.
If Mrs. Becker could know of this,
too —if Bucky Nome, buried some
where deep in the northern wil ler
ness. could only see Hodges as he lay
there, dead on the cabin floor! To
the one it w-ould be a still greater
punishment, to the other a warning
And yet, even as he thought of the
colonel’s wife and of her flirtation
with Nome, a vision of her laic
came to him again, filled with tl.c
marvelous sweetness, the purity, and
the love which had enthralled him
beside the camp-fire. In these mo
ments It was almost impossible for
him to convince himself that she had
forgotten her dignity as a wife even
for an hour. Gould he have been nns
tc.ken? Had he looked at her with
eyes heated by his own love, fired by
Saturday, July 27,
1912
PHILIPSTEELE
RoyalNoaitmsi Mounted Police) .
ir James Oliver Curwood
Author of The ftwiffr Twit. TWionor of Snmnjfti
C*»yrigh», 1911, TW BobW Merrill C
jealousy? If she had smiled upon
him lustead of upon Bucky Nome, it
her cheeks had flushed at Ills words,
would he have thought that she hud
done wrong? As if in answer to his
own question?, he saw again the
white, tense face of the colonel, her
husband, and he laughed harshly.
For several hours Philip remained
in the shelter of Hodges’ office. With
early dawn ho stole out into the for
est, and a little later made his ap
pearance in camp, saying that he
had spent the t\ight at l.e Pas. Not
until, an hour later was it discovered
that Hodges had been killed, the
guard made a prisoner, and tlia.
Thorpe and his wife wire gone.
Philip at once took charge of
and pu» a strain on his professional
knowledge by declaring that Thorpe
had undoubtedly fled into the north.
Ki.rlv in the afternoon he started in
pursuit.
A dozen miles north of the r
kusko camp he swung at right angles
to the west, traveled 15 miles, then
cut a straight course south. It wbj
three days later before he showed up
at Le Pas. and learned that no one
had seen or heard of Thorpe and hit*
wife. Two days later he walked into
MacGregor's office. The inspector
fairly leaped from his chair to greet
aim.
"YOU got them. Steele!” he ciied.
"lou got them after the mur —the
killing of Hodges?”
Philip handed him a crumpled ui*.
of paper.
“Those were your latest instruc
tions. sir,” lie replied quietly. "1 fol
lowed them to the letter.”
MacGregor read and his face
turned as white as the paper lie held.
"Good God!" lie gasped.
He reeled rather than walked hack
to ills desk, dropped into a chair and
buried his face in his aims, his shoul
ders shaking like those of a sobbing
boy. It was a long time before he
looked up, and during these mlnuin
Philip, with his head bowed low ♦ t
the other, told him of uli that lad
Happened in the little room at We
kusko. But he did not say that i*
was he who had surprised the guard
and released Thorpe and his wife
At last MacGregor raised his head.
"Philip,” he said, taking the young
man’s hand in both his own, "since
she was a little girl and Ia big, trap
ping playmate of 19, I have loved her.
She is the only girl—the only wom
an —I have ever loved. You under
stand? I am almost old enough to
be her father. She was never in
tended for me. But things like thin
happen—sometimes, and when she
came to plead with me the other day
I almost yielded. That is why I chose
you, warned you—”
He stopped, and a sob rose in nia
breast.
"And at last you did yield,” sail
Philip.
The inspector gazed at him for a
moment in silence. Then he said:
"It was 10 years ago, on her sev» n
teentli birthday, * that I made her a
present of a little silver-bound auto
graph book, and on the first page of
that book I wrote the words whic.i
saved her husband —and her. Do you
understand now, Philip? It was her
last card, and she played it well."
He smiled faintly, and then said,
as if to no one but himself, "God
bless her!”
He looked down on the big. tawny
head that was bowed again upon the
desk, and placed his hands on the
other’s shoulders.
"God bless her!" echoed Philip.
“You are not alone in your sor
rows, Felix MacGregor." he said soft
ly. "You asked me if I was beauty
proof. Yes, I am. And It is because
of something like this, because of a
face trad a soul that have filled n.y
heart, because of a woman that is
not mine, and never can be mine, be
cause of a love which ever burns, and
must never be known —it is because
of this that I am beauty-proof. Go i
bless this little woman, MacGregor—
and you—and I—will never ask where
she has gone.”
MacGregor's hand reached out and
gripped his own in silence. In that
handclasp there was sealed a nuct
between them, and Philip returned to
hts barracks room to \Trite a letter,
in care of his father, to the man and
woman whom he had helped to es
cape Into the south. He spent thu
greater part of that day writing. It
was late In the afternoon that Moody
came in with the mail.
(Continued)
Job Printing none Right, Time*
Printing: Cos., 15 John R.-«t.