Mayor Harrison Discusses Capital
and Labor
(Copyright. 1901, by Friuik G. Carpenter.)
m a HICAOO, March 24.-(Spec4al Cor
I I rwpondutice of Th Ie.)--It In an,
1 J odd thing that 0110 family should
carry a big democratic city Ilka
this In ItB inside pocket. It ta
lifly-si ven yearn since Chicago wiuj Incor
MiraU'd, and more than one-fourth of that
timo it ha been ruled by the Harrlsonflk
Home of its most turbulent days weia
passed under Carter It. Harrison, tho
t'lder, and fur t lie last seven yours it ha4
tlnlvin under the Iron hand of Curler It.
Harrison, tho younger. It Ih thriving under
tils administration today, growing bigger,
broader and richer, notwithstanding Its
striken, its communities of socialists and
anarchists and Its holocausts of lire.
I like these Harrisons. They have nn,
honest ring to them when you fling them
down on the counter of municipal and
national (Militics. They all come from tho
s.uno Hlock. Carter Harrison's great, groat,
great grandfather wan the father of llen
Jamln Harrison, who sinned tho Heciarntlor
of Indonindeniy, und wioso Hon, William
H. Harrison, wua the ninth president of the
l ulled States.
Young Carter's great-grandfather wan th
first cusln of John C. Ilreckinridge and
also of President Benjamin Harrison; and
KiM own father was a statesman of radical
Ideas and no aversion to lining the ma
chinery of iMditlcs to curry them out.
The present mayor of Chicago Is a chip
of the old block. Ho is a politician, but
at tho fiame. timo Is conservative, prac
tical and safe. Ho is a friend of tho work
Ing man, but Is ready to enforce the laws
when the business Interests are, attacked;
end as such he today forms a part of the
grist which Is being here ground out be
tween tho upper and nether millstones of
capital and labor. Indeed, it may be be
cause tho grinding is so hard that ho Is
tired of the Job. At lotiM he tells 1110 that
Jio Is ho and wants to retire.
Tho governing of Chleugo Is no small
matter and its worries have begun to
sprinkle tho mayor's hair with gruy. This
Is no goody-goody Sunday school town, nnd
Its
.J.UW.OOO people need careful supervision.
1 lio city covers a vast area. It lias ,0nil
inllcw of streets, 2.0(0 miles of sewers ami
It costs about f:2,(00,ioo a year to pay Its
running expenses. Tho mayor has K'.lWO
employes under him, and there are iiIho the
city council und sulHirdlnute olllcers. but
It Is Carter Harrison who dots the think
ing and iictlng, and It is ho who gets tin.
blame.
Tho reason of my call was to nsk about
tho labor situation. I began with: "Mr.
M.iyor, why Is Chicago the strike center of
the Cnited Slates? There are more labor
tumbles here than In any other place In the
country?"
'Ono reason," said Mayor Harrison, "U
that we do tine business than any other
place, and also that our buslines is more
M versified. Chi ago Is perhaps the manu
facturing center of the United States. It
has gp at factories and factories of almost
every kind. 1'ittshurg. for Instance, !eads
tho country In Iron making, hut we have
the lllhii is Steel company here, which is
one of Hie largest in the world. We cio
more pact; ing than any other city, and we
have cur works, furniture works,
fact, ulmost every kind of works,
mil Is that if there Is a strike
und, in
The re
in any
branch of business the Chicago branch of
that business strikes in sympathy. This
gives us a variety of strikes, which uro
magnified by somo of the newspapers,
Whose sensational reports uro telegraphed
I) over the country."
"Then Chicago Is not us bud as It Is
painted?" said I.
"No, it is not." replied Mayor Harrison.
"It Is not un angel city, but it is fur from
being the devil city that some people who
have never been here ihink it to bi On
the whole It is ubout us good u city ns any
In the country and Just about ns full of
Christian charity, lonimon decency, good
order and brotherly love."
"Hut you certainly have many violent
laboring men, Mr. Mayor. How ubout this
slopping fumraJs and stationing pickets
about ihe houses of the dead to keep non
union men from aiding In their Interment?"
"Most of those stories are lies," said
Mayor Harrison. "The union drivers did
not refuse to drive hearses, ns has Issen al
leged They would not drive the carriages,
but It was the liverymen who hold back
tho hearses, saying they would not let them
go out without the carrlagra went too. All
such statements were exaggerations. As to
picketing the dead, as soon as I heard
there was any danger of such a thing I
ordered the police to see that no stragglers
or persons with evil Intent were allowed
to linger ubout within two blocks of any
house In which there was a death or within
that distance of a church where a funeral
ceremony was being held.
"And then." continued the mayor, "why
single out Chicago for the sole condemna
tion of the public when other cities have
been equally guilty as to strikes In respect
to funerals! The same was the case In St.
Louts; but so far Chicago has received nil
tho opprobrium and St. Txiuia la hardly
mentioned.
"How doea your labor compare with that
f other cltlea as to peace and quietness?"
t i r "lSM.1 nil ' Jf' 4 - ;
i mSmxm&r;w' r-
.... v 1
"II Is Just about the same," sild Mayor
Harrison. If we have moro strikes it Is
only because we have more men und more,
business."
"How about the nonunion man, has he
any chance for work In Chicago?"
"Yes. We have a large number of estab
lishments which employ nonunion men only
nnd many which employ both unionists and
uonunlonists. The nonunion worker not
only gets a Job here, but he is protected
In it, all statements to the contrary not
w ithstundlng."
"Could a nonunion factory be started tn
Chicago with any hope of success?"
"Yes, If that success depended solely on .
the use of nonunion workmen. Its men
Would not be molested and It would have
as fair a show in that regard as any union
factory. As to the financial results, these
would lie with the owners of the business
and their management thereof."
"Do you think, Mr. Harrison, that trade
unionism has, on the whole, tx-neflted tho
workmen of Chicago?"
"Yes, I do," replied the mayor. "I think
organized labor has done much to improve
the conditions of our working classes. It
has caused them to be more respected, it
has Increased their wages and shortened
their hours of work. At the same time I
do not deny that organized labor hay
abused its privileges. This It has done at
limes, but I have no doubt that on the
whole the movement lias been for the good
of the whole class of workinguien, union
ists and nonunlotiists."
"Hut can you hold tho union men lmck
from violence at times of strikes?"
"I do not like the form of that question,"
said the young mayor. "The unions dis
claim all responsibility for nets of violence.
I will say, however, that we can hold and
do hold every hot-head among the strikers
In check, and that we propose to do so if
It requires the whole police force of the
city. In our last great street railway striko
the leaders of the unions came to me be
fore the strike was declared and said that
It would bu run on peaceful methods.
Nevertheless, I soon found th.it certain hot
heads were attacking1 the curs und trying
to prevent their moving.
"I then called out the police force. 1 put
a certain number of ofllccis in citizens'
dot lies In each car, and they went with
such passengers or nonunion men as rode
on the cur to their homes to Insure their
protection. The proix-rty owners, the public
and tho nonunion workmen certajnly had
the protection of the city ill that strike. It
was the same In the Kellogg Switchboard
company strike, where we prohibited any
outside teams coming within a certain dis
tance of the factory."
"Hut do not the courts here discriminate
in fivor of the trades unions?"
"The trades unionists are always clalraiug
that the contrary Is the fact," said the
mayor. "No. I don't think so. Wo have a
had system of punishments here, allowing
the ,ludg's to give Indeterminate sentences
that is, they send a man to Vinson for a
ttrm based upon good txhaior. und this
opens up chance for Influence, or pull, Ha
It is called, to aid In his releiuse. That,
however, Is an evil of tho law and not of
the executive.
"One of the great troubles In these con
flicts of lalHr and capital." Mr. H,irrWn
went on, "is that both laborer and cap! taj
ik t are too often illiberal, brutal or, to any
. -fT-W
-VW " iff. r- '
MAYOR CARTKR H. HAJtKISOV OF CHICAGO AT HIS
the least, too inconsiderate of the rights ot
tho other. I wish I could show you the
letters I gel from both sides. I have some
from the men denouncing their employers;
und I have some from the employers advis
ing me to quell strikes by means of Catling
guns, rifles and cold steel. Some of them
nsk me to have the police fire at the mob
und shoot to kill. Such men are worse than
the worst of tho strikers. It does me good
to write them what I think of them. No."
concluded the mayor, "what we need Is
more consideration on both sides. We want
more brotherly love. We want the Golden
lMle."
"Hut. Mr. Mayor, Is the situation not
growing better?"
"I think it Is. was the reply. "The older
unions are becoming moro conservative nnd
the employers are beginning to see that the
demands of the workingmen after all are
only business propositions, based on tho
sale of their commodities, that is, the
muscle and skill which they have to put
Into the product, and that the matter
should be treated as a business one.
"You spoke of the unions shortening
hours, Mr. Harrison. What Is the com
mon working day In Chicago?"
"It Is the eight-hour day," was tho reply.
"Hut can a nig city like cms be run on an
eight-hour basis?"
"We ore running It so. All government
Jobs ore given out on thut basis."
"I see it stated that your labor troubles
are driving capital out of Chicago?"
"I don't believe It." replied the mayor.
"At any rate the city is growing rapidly.
Our factories nre ln raising In size nnd
many new ones are going up. We are In n
healthy financial condition and our busi
ness Is growing every year."
"What is your population now?" I asked.
"It Is more than 2.ii0,oio," was the reply.
"The federal census gives us less, but the
postal census und the directory census
give, us more. We have also an estimate
based on the numlier of school children
which makes our population considerably
In excess of 2.0CU.O00. The federal census
is paid for by the number of names and In
a population containing as many foreigners
as Chicago, the enumerators have prnlnbljr
skipped some because they would not tako
tho trouble to verify their statements."
I here asked Mayor Harrison several
questions as to order In Chicago with a
view to learning something of the wicked
ness of the city. He said:
"I do not think Chicago Is any worse
than uny other city of the I'nited States.
It Is a good fair average, and Its people
will grade up with those of any other lo
cality. One reason for the bad reputation
which the city has In some quarters comtS
from 'heir nonappreclatioti of our bigness.
We hav- now over i.nnO.oOo people. If a
city of Ceo.'ioO has two assaults In a given
time It attracts no attention, but if Chi
cago, which has 2,0imp.i:0. hHS twenty as
saults they hold up their hands in horror,
not reflecting that this number is only
proportionately the same as that of the
iKi.Oot) town.
"As to safety, I have been In Chicago
about forty-two years, and have leen trav
eling through all parts of It at all hours of
the day and night. I never carry a gun
and have never thought that 1 needed one.
A man's property, life and person as safd
here aa In any pare of the I'nited States."
"There Is one thing," continued tha
mayor, "that might make Chicago more
lively than other citica. This is its vaat
DKSK.
floating population. We are so situated
that we have tens of thousands of mea
for the winter. We are right on the lako,
and a lurge part of the vast army of lake
workers come here at the close of naviga
tion to spend whnt they have earned dur
ing the rest of the year. We have thou
sands of railroad workers, Including Ital
ians, Greeks and others who labor In the
spring. Fummrr and fall on the various
trunk lines, going as far west ns tin
ltockles, nnd we have the men who worlc
on the farms in the summer. The result Is
that we have many men who are half idle)
during the winter, and such men are aJ
wh.vs hard to control."
"What do you think, MY. Mayor," said
I. "about the city ownership of great
public utilities, such a.s the street cars
and light plants?"
"T believe In them," said the mayor,
"but I think that ull such matters should
be very carefully studied, and that noth
ing should be done until the city shows
that It has the capacity to manage them.
I think the day will come when Chicago
will own such things. As it is, we ure
now putting a clnuse In all our new char
ters giving the city the option of taking
over the plant after a certain number
of years."
"I should like to ask a word about poli
tics, Mr. Harrison," said I. "Uo you
think the democratic party lias a fighting
chance for success in the coming presi
dential election?"
"I most certainly do. The republicans
have by no means a sure thing, and I
believe that they are losing ground today
in the state of Illinois."
"Who will be the candidates?"
"It is a foregone conclusion that Roose
velt will lead the republican party."
"Hut I mean the democratic; candidate.
Who will lead your party?"
"I can't say," was the reply,
"Will you?"
"No," suid Mayor Harrison. "I have
no such ambition. I am not chasing rain
bows and that dream has not entered my
head. We have a congressman, J. R.
Williams, who will probably be the can
didate of Illinois. As for me, I am not
anxious for anything but to do my work
were una to icUre at the end jf
this
lerm. ine ennf thing that troubles
now Is to get enough money to run
mo
the
city. '
"How much do you want?"
"We want a lot more than we can get,
but our charter and the state laws are
such that we cannot get what we ought
to have. We need Just now about $H,.
OCcj.Ouo for the city alone."
inai is not a great amount for
cago," said I. "It takes more than
OuO.uoO a year to run New Vnt lr
Chi-
"I only wish we had one-third of it
aiu mayor Harrison. "We
und use It well."
could use It
FRANK G.
CARPENTER.
Honest Wraggles
"You look to me," remarked the
a vera
oia gentleman, 'like a man wtio would
spe nd his last penny for beer!"
"You do me an Injustice." retorted Weary
Wruggles, "an' also show yourself lacking
In information, sir. You can t git no beer
for a penny. 1 would play my last one inter
de slot machine in hope of gtttln' a c hl
good fer a whole glaas of J nud, &?"
Chicago Tribune.
