372 



HARRISON, CARTER HENRY. 



der the new State Constitution had been reached. 

 Under the statutes the taxes to meet municipal 

 expenditures were not collectible until the next 

 year after that for which they were levied. All 

 these things had made necessary the issuance of 

 " scrip, " warrants drawn on a treasury in which 

 there was no money. The city's paper was sub- 

 ject to heavy brokerage, and prices for public 

 improvements were consequently high. Even 

 city employees were paid in scrip. To meet the 

 interest on its bonded indebtedness the city 

 was obliged to hypothecate the interest coupons 

 when due, and pay a heavy commission for car- 

 rying them until taxes could be collected, these 

 commissions aggregating each year from $50,- 

 000 to $70,000. In 1878 nearly $2,500,000 of 

 scrip had been issued. Mr. Harrison addressed 

 himself to the task of remedying this deplorable 

 state of affairs. He introduced the most rigid 

 system of economy in all departments. None 

 but absolutely indispensable public improve- 

 ments were undertaken, and in these the great- 

 est efforts were made to secure the lowest 

 prices. The city was largely unpaved, and in 

 consequence had muddy streets, sometimes im- 

 passable. But such paving as he permitted 

 was with reference almost solely to the necessi- 

 ty of enabling the fire department to reach, on 

 good roads, all parts of the city. The police 

 force, though not too large before, was reduced. 

 The result of these economies was that, from 

 the beginning of his administration, the city em- 

 ployees were paid in cash, the receipts from 

 such sources of revenue as fines, licenses, and 

 water rates being sufficient to do this, pending 

 the collection of taxes, and interest on bonded 

 indebtedness was met from the same source, 

 thus effecting a further saving, and strengthen- 

 ing the credit of the city. Limiting public im- 

 provements to absolutely essential ones reduced 

 the issue of scrip during the first year of Mr. 

 Harrison's administration to a million dollars 

 less than it had been the year before. As at the 

 beginning of the year the whole amount of the 

 city's estimated revenue from all sources had 

 been appropriated among the several depart- 

 ments, the economies practiced effected consid- 

 erable savings in all of them. These unexpend- 

 ed balances, instead of being reappropriated the 

 next year, as had been' the practice under pre- 

 vious administrations, were retained, at Mayor 

 Harrison's suggestion, in what has since been 

 known in Chicago's financial system as the Gen- 

 eral Fund. And the creation of this general 

 fund for the purposes which it has served was 

 the strong feature in Mr. Harrison's financial 

 administration. These savings from appropria- 

 tions, carried as a general fund, served as a bank 

 balance, which, with the revenue outside of tax- 

 es, reduced the scrip issue during the second 

 year of his administration to $500,000, and has 

 made any issue of scrip since then unnecessary. 

 During the eight years that he was continuous- 

 ly Mayor this general fund grew to $3,600.000, 

 an amount almost equal to the present tax levy 

 for municipal purposes. This improvement in 

 the city's finances was made easier by an act of 

 the Legislature legalizing the tax levy that had 

 been declared invalid by the Supreme Court. 

 The money derived from this levy, coming into 

 the treasury during the two years of his first ad- 



ministration, materially aided in putting the 

 city on a cash basis, though much of it was re- 

 quired to meet the $249,000 of Hayes-Colvin 

 certificates, which, with interest, amounted to 

 $275,643, and which, though they were declared 

 invalid, the city ultimately paid in order to pre- 

 serve its credit. 



The finances of the city having been put on a 

 sound basis, Mayor Harrison turned his atten- 

 tion to other features of municipal improvement. 

 Public works of the greatest importance were 

 undertaken on the most comprehensive plan. 

 Wooden block pavement was replaced in the 

 business portion of the city by granite. The 

 telephone alarm and call-box system, since 

 adopted by other cities, was introduced by him. 

 The health department, acting under his direc- 

 tion, greatly mitigated the very serious menace 

 to health that arose from the extensive indus- 

 tries connected with the live-stock slaughtering 

 and packing business in the southwestern part 

 of the city. 



In 1884, while serving his third term as may- 

 or, he was nominated by the Democrats for Gov- 

 ernor of Illinois and made the canvass on na- 

 tional issues, delivering addresses in each of the 

 101 counties of the State. He was defeated, but 

 the Republican majority of 40,000 in 1880 was 

 reduced to 14,000. In 1887 he was nominated 

 for mayor a fifth time by a unanimous conven- 

 tion ; but when it was intimated to him that the 

 Democratic Administration at Washington did 

 not favor his candidacy, he withdrew. In 1891 

 he contested the mayoralty nomination with De 

 Witt C. Cregier. Through what he believed 

 unfair methods at the primaries, he was defeat- 

 ed, and at the solicitation of friends decided to 

 be a candidate independently. The result was 

 the election of Hempstead Washburne, the Re- 

 publican candidate, by a small plurality. In 

 November, 1891, he purchased the Chicago 

 " Times " newspaper, and to its management he 

 gave a great deal of time and attention, until his 

 election as mayor. 



As World's Fair mayor he was called on to 

 extend municipal hospitality and welcome to the 

 city's and nation's guests on many occasions. 

 Notable among these guests whom he received 

 were the President of the United States, th^ 

 Duke de Veragua, and the Princess Eulalie. On 

 Saturday, Oct. 28, he had welcomed the visiting 

 mayors and officials from a large number of 

 cities. Soon after he returned home a total 

 stranger was admitted to the house by the serv- 

 ant, on the plea of urgent business with the 

 mayor. As Mr. Harrison came from the dining- 

 room to meet the stranger the latter fired at 

 him with a revolver, inflicting five wounds, from 

 which he died within a few minutes. The as- 

 sassin fled, but shortly afterward gave himself 

 up to the police, and in December was placed on 

 trial for murder. The plea of the defense was 

 insanity, but the jury promptly convicted the 

 prisoner of murder, as indicted. Mr. Harrison's 

 body, after it had lain in state at the City Hall 

 for twenty-four hours, during which time it was 

 viewed by more than 100,000 of his fellow-citi- 

 zens, was buried the following Wednesday in 

 Graceland Cemetery. The funeral was both mili- 

 tary and civic, and was most imposing in the 

 numbers that attended it. 



