3 o8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



business managers. Step by step it progressed, and finally became a 

 consummated fact. It was freely charged and is universally believed 

 that the ordinance cost the railway company half a million dollars ! So 

 far as I can learn, the charge has never been denied. 



Within the last few months another railway project was inaugu- 

 rated. Application was made to the Chicago City Council in its behalf 

 for an ordinance granting the right of way into the city, and for the 

 right to lay its tracks in certain streets. The application was power- 

 fully supported by one of the great railway organizations of the West, 

 and was as vigorously opposed by a i-ival company of equal wealth 

 and influence. As the contest proceeded it attracted very general 

 attention and interest. In the discussions had in reference to the mat- 

 ter it came to be openly asserted, both in private conversation and in 

 the public press, that those members of the Council who favored the 

 proposed ordinance were in the pay of one corporation, while those 

 who opposed it were classed as the paid agents of the rival company ! 



In the discussions to which the matter gave rise, the idea that any 

 member of the Council advocated or opposed the ordinance on its 

 merits did not seem to present itself to any one. I do not mean to 

 affirm that the facts were in harmony with this theory. Indeed, it is 

 very certain that the City Council of Chicago is in part composed of 

 gentlemen of the highest integrity and character. But I noticed these 

 expressed opinions as indicating the standard of public sentiment. 

 People have become so accustomed to venality on the part of mu- 

 nicipal legislators, that the first impulse is to interpret their official 

 actions as the quid pro quo of money considerations, and experience 

 proves that as a rule the theory is correct. 



In support of my conclusions let me quote a single paragraph from 

 a pamphlet entitled "Problems of Municipal Government for Chi- 

 cago," by Hon. D. L. Shorey, who has for many years been a member 

 of the City Council of that city, and who deservedly ranks among 

 Chicago's best and ablest citizens. He says : " There is a wide-spread 

 impression that a majority of the Council is venal. Assuming that 

 this is true, it certainly shows a very bad state of affairs, and that 

 there is imperative need for reform in that body. The evil is even 

 more dangerous than is generally supposed. The disease really ex- 

 ists elsewhere, and is only manifested in the Council. There is an 

 outside purchaser for every venal vote. In this case the purchaser is 

 the more dangerous man of the two. He is probably an officer in 

 some moneyed corporation ; is sometimes a member of some fashion- 

 able church, stands high in financial and social circles, and is an influ- 

 ential factor in controlling public opinion. On the other hand, the 

 Council is largely composed of young and untried men of moderate 

 social distinctions. Such men have neither the social nor intellectual 

 fiber to resisl a moneyed temptation, and it is no marvel if three out 

 of four of them are not able to resist such temptation." 



