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We Dethrone the Mayor and Obtain a Franchise
The day after the election we called a hurried meeting of the directors.
The Republican Committee made charges of repeating and colonization on
the part of the Democrats, but never proved it.
We examined the Council as elected.
It numbered twenty seven members.
Had the Mayor been with us, the franchise would have been a simple matter.
We would then have had to secure but fourteen votes to have a majority.
But with him against us, we had to get two-thirds of the Council to pass the ordinance over his veto.
To be safe, we needed eighteen men.
We scrutinized the list of aldermen.
There were Murphy, O’Brien, Callaghan, O’Donnell and Smith from the lower Democratic wards.
These men had been selected by McGann and could probably be relied upon.
Murphy, O’Brien and O’Donnell were hold-overs from the old Council, and Terence had always been able to keep them in line by providing places for their friends and relatives on our lines.
I sent for Terence and told him to see these fellows, as well as any other aldermen whom he knew, and give jobs to as many of their friends as were needed.
On the Republican side there were Thompson, McKay, Green, Jenkins and Lloyd, that I thought we could bank on.
I knew them all, and had picked them to run because they were loyal party men.
During the campaign I had supplied them with funds and had made their success a personal matter with me.
In this way we made ourselves solid at very little cost.
We then arranged for a caucus of the Republican members of the Council.
They were in‘the majority and would organize the Council and elect the President and Clerk.
They sent for me to talk over the situation.
I made a short speech and suggested that it was up to them to defend the city; that a demagogue had been elected Mayor, a Socialist who advocated municipal ownership.
“Moreover,” I said, “it is incumbent upon you to prevent the building up of a Democratic machine.
This man Ballantyne has dragged the street railway question into politics, where it ought not to be; for it is a business proposition, and should be solved on a business basis.”
With this they seemed to agree.
We decided on the Council nominees and chose Thompson for President.
His brother was a painter and had a contract with us for the painting of our cars.
We knew he was all right, for he had been in the Council for two terms, and I had some evidence against him that if necessary I would not permit him to forget.
Through Thompson we made up the committees on railways and lighting and streets.
We were particularly interested in these.
The other committees were parcelled out among the fellows who had to be reconciled.
This put us in a strategic position in all legislation affecting our interests, for it was difficult to pass any legislation that a committee saw fit to hold up.
The ordinance went to the committees before consideration by the Council, and a two thirds vote was required by the rules to force a report from the committees.
We now felt secure so far as any adverse legislation was concerned.
But further than the five Democrats and five Republicans we could not get.
Nine more were needed to make us secure.
There were fifteen Republican members in the Council, and it was possible that if we made our ordinance a party measure we could line them all up through the caucus.
But we appreciated that this was a bad thing for the party.
It would give Ballantyne the opportunity that he wanted.
He would make it a party issue, and that might endanger everything at the next election.
The situation was very disturbing.
Up to that time I had never paid any money for votes or legislation.
We had been able to secure what we wanted through the control of the parties, through friendship, through contracts, or the simple desire on the part of many aldermen to be good fellows and do what McGann or Buckley wanted.
But our directors were not all so squeamish.
Somehow or other, the franchises must be got.
They were about to expire, and if they were not renewed the stock would not be worth ten cents on the dollar.
Much of it was up at the banks as collateral, and that gave the bankers an interest as well as our stockholders.
Moreover, we had a plan on foot to combine the gas and street railway franchises, and sell them to an Eastern syndicate.
But this could only be done if the franchises were satisfactory.
The feeling on the part of the directors was that the business could not be run without the use of money.
They said they were being held up and bled by a lot of fellows who did not know the difference between a thousand dollars and a million, and that the entire agitation was a “hold up” game anyhow.
My objections were overruled by the Board, and $50,000 was voted as “legal expenses.”
Personally I was in a bad position also.
A lot of my friends had put money into the stock.
I had told them it was a good buy at the ruling price.
Then there were a lot of widows and orphans whose only funds were invested in this way, and I felt that this trust had to be protected by some means.
We studied the make-up of the Council.
On the Democratic side a number were friends of Ballantyne.
They were workingmen who had gone in on his platform.
The Republicans were of a somewhat better sort, being clerks, insurance men, small store-keepers and a couple of lawyers.
One of them was a blacksmith, and Buckley, our Superintendent, gave him some work to do.
He followed that up with larger business, and made it a point not to complain about the prices charged.
Another was in the insurance business.
He was given our employers’ liability and fire insurance.
Another was a personal friend of Buck- ley, and he endorsed his note for $200 to take care of a mortgage on his house.
Prior to this time Buckley and McGann had been getting acquainted with all the councilmen.
They learned their habits, their friends and financial conditions.
Buckley thought he had fifteen men “fixed,” although he did not tell me how.
On the organization of the Council, the slate went through without opposition.
The President and Clerk endorsed by the caucus were elected, and the committees were announced as we had arranged.
But just before adjournment, to our surprise and consternation, Lawrence, a young Republican lawyer just elected to the Council, moved that a special committee of five, named in the resolution, be created to consider the street railway problem, and that all railway legislation should be referred to it.
He made a speech in its favor, saying that this was the one matter that was commanding most attention.
We were not prepared for this angle.
The President left the chair to oppose it, but the other Republicans looked upon it as a sort of caucus measure that they were not on to, and carried it through by a majority vote of one.
Lawrence had been nominated in one of the residence districts without opposition, and had been overwhelmingly elected.
He was but recently from college and had been practicing a few years.
He was a likeable fellow, but impetuous, and had no experience in politics.
In the campaign he had paid but little attention to the regular committee, but had made a house to house canvass for the nomination.
We had not given much concern about him as he was well connected and his father was a large merchant.
We had fancied that he could be counted on in the Council.
I saw that he would have to be handled gingerly.
I sent one of the city contractors to him with some business.
He told Lawrence that he wanted him to represent him in some litigation, and had come to him because he was not too busy and could give attention to his needs.
He brought the conversation around to the Council, and asked him why he had introduced the resolution for a special committee.
“That was a slap at the regular committee, you know, and has roused all the boys against you.
Of course,” he said, “that’s all right, but do not destroy any possibility of good work in the Council by ignoring the other fellows.
It’s best to work with the organization,” he said, “and not get into a row at the start off.”
Lawrence seemed surprised at this, and said:
“Why, I had no intention of slamming anybody.
The resolution was perfectly natural.
I wanted to learn something about the street railway question, and when
Thompson appointed the regular committee I concluded that he had done so without giving the matter much thought, and that a special committee like this would be hailed with joy by the members of the regular committee, as it would let them off from a lot of work.
As a matter of fact, I had not given the matter any thought until I got into the Council chamber.”
He said he would see Thompson and explain to him that he had not intended to hurt anybody’s feelings.
I felt relieved when I heard this.
Lawrence had just stumbled into the thing.
But I concluded that we had better reach him in some way, for I knew that he was honest.
So I sent a number of prominent men over to see him and talk the situation over.
I thought if I could arouse his party loyalty that I would get him in this way.
I had these men talk about the danger from Ballantyne’s building up a machine from the saloons and the gambling houses.
They brought in the franchise question incidentally, as if they were citizens interested in his conduct and gratified that a man of his type should have been willing to enter the Council.
They said it was a splendid thing that the young men were going into politics in this way; they would be the salvation of the American cities.
Further than this, I worked out a plan by which when the franchise came up we would have some men go to Lawrence with amendments that we would be willing to accept, but which were not in the original ordinance, and have him make his fight on these.
I thought we could give him a chance to make his play and then get his vote in the round up.
It was our plan to introduce an ordinance that was bad, and, then, under pressure, accept certain harmless amendments that were offered by men like Lawrence, who were sincere in their ideas.
I also got some of the business men and one of our small banks to turn their business over to him, in order that they might consult with him with more influence if necessary.
But even with Lawrence it looked as though we were shy some votes if a fight were made.
There was another Republican, a well-to-do merchant, who lived on Commonwealth Avenue, who had been endorsed by all the reform organizations.
He had risen by sheer enterprise, and now that his children were entering society, he had become ambitious for them.
His name had been proposed at the Country Club, and some protest had
gone up against his admission.
I tried to arrange to overcome this.
I saw the committee, with whom I was intimate, and gave a little dinner party to Fulton, and invited the committee and their wives.
Fulton was manifestly much flattered.
The wives of some of our directors called upon his wife, and one of his daughters was invited to the coming-out affairs of several debutantes.
I never ventured to speak of the franchise question to Fulton at all; but I never lost an opportunity to discuss politics, and the necessity of keeping the city Republican because of the Presidential campaign of the next year and the dangers of a change in tariff to all business interests.
Moreover, Fulton was a strong church worker, and the fear and suspicion
that Ballantyne was in some sort of an alliance with the saloon-keepers never left his mind.
But even with Fulton we were short.
One of the councilmen was an insurance man of good standing.
I wrote to our banking correspondents in New York, explaining the situation, and said that Robbins was in the Council, and represented one of the insurance companies.
I intimated that he was in danger of injuring the company’s business by his attitude on the street railway question.
The banker to whom I wrote was interested in the proposed purchase of our properties, and I knew that he would go to one of the officers of the insurance company and see if some pressure could not be brought to bear on Robbins from the home office.
In this I was more successful than I had expected.
One of the officers of the company stopped off to see me within a few days, and invited me and a couple of other directors to lunch with him and Robbins.
He told Robbins that we had common friends and interests in New York, and that it would be valuable to him to be acquainted with us.
What he said to Robbins I never knew, save that we never had any difficulty about his vote.
In a few weeks the ordinance was ready for introduction.
It had been carefully drafted by our attorneys, who had placed a number of restrictions upon us which had not been in the old ordinance.
These required us to keep the tracks which we tore up in repair; to use girder-grooved rails when ordered to do so by the Council; to place vestibules on the cars, and to properly heat them; to run as many cars as traffic should demand, and to make any extensions in the future which the Council should require.
These were all things we would have done anyhow, but they made a good showing on.paper.
Moreover, so long as we controlled the Council we did not fear that these provisions would be insisted on if we did not wish it.
In general, the ordinance provided for a fifty years’ grant, with a straight five-cent fare, and no transfers.
We debated for a long time as to who should introduce it.
We sounded Lawrence, but soon found that he was too independent.
We did not want a Democrat, and it would give the ordinance a bad name at the start if it were brought in through one of the suspected Republicans.
We finally decided on Fulton.
He was not much of a speaker, but was honest and bore a good reputation.
He finally consented to do it.
Upon its introduction Lawrence moved its reference to his special committee.
Thompson ruled this out of order, and on appeal the ordinance was referred to the regular Committee on Streets and Railways.
We then had an open meeting called by the Committee for the following week, for discussion; and at this meeting we expected the Mayor and the opposition company to show their hand.
On the day set an immense crowd appeared of citizens, councilmen and representatives of a competing company that had another line in the city.
But by arrangement a quorum of the Committee did not appear.
Another adjournment was made, but a quorum was not secured.
This was kept up for a couple of weeks, and the number of persons attending constantly diminished.
Finally a meeting was held and the ordinance taken up for discussion.
The Citizens’ Company appeared by their counsel, and said they desired to offer a counter proposition.
They were prepared to accept a twenty-five year franchise, to take over all our plant and equipment, to pay its value as determined by arbitrators, to give six tickets for a quarter, and universal transfers.
They offered some other concessions.
The Committee took their proposition under advisement.
I knew the Company was acting in good faith, and could do as they agreed.
Moreover, they were backed by one of the large trust companies of the city, and could not be bluffed.
We called a directors’ meeting to consider the situation, and concluded the only safe thing to do was to get them out of the way.
They had about thirty miles of road, which was a valuable property.
Their stock was selling at $125.00 a share, and we determined to see if we could not get control.
We found it was held by the President, who said he would sell out his holdings for $1,000,000.
After some negotiations with my friends, we purchased his stock and arranged to issue stock in our company in exchange.
The public did not know of the transfer, and it seemed to us we were now out of our worst difficulty.
The competing company withdrew its offer, as it had not been acted on, and suggested that they had found that it would not be possible for them to carry out their proposal.
The stock of our company went up ten points in the market that day.
But other troubles were gathering.
Thompson, the President of the Council, called upon me.
He said he could not keep the boys in line; that even the members of the Committee were inclined to hold the ordinance up.
“The boys think it is up to you to do something,” he said.
I told him we had introduced a fair ordinance, and that I thought we were doing everything we were called to do.
He beat around the bush and finally said:
“It ain’t no use to try and play with me, Mr. Palmer; you know what I mean.
The boys think there ought to be something in this for them.
They say this franchise is worth a hundred or two hundred thousand to you, and they think they ought to get well paid for the job.”
I hated this sort of thing, and I told him I could not do anything for him.
There was a lawyer in the city by the name of Robinson, whom we had used on several occasions in our dealings with the city.
He knew all the boys and kept in touch with them.
I called him in and explained the situation.
I told him I did not want to have anything to do with boodling, but wanted to employ him as our attorney on this particular matter.
I offered him a retainer of $500, and told him that he would be paid $25,000 more when the franchise was signed by the Mayor, or otherwise became a law.
I told him what Thompson had said, and advised him to see him.
In a couple of weeks the ordinance was reported back for a second hearing.
It was substantially as we had drawn it.
By that time we knew we could rely on fifteen votes, possibly more.
Some of the amendments that we had agreed to accept were in the hands of Robbins and Fulton.
One of them required us to pay into the city treasury one per cent of our gross receipts after five years, and two per cent after ten years.
Robbins offered another amendment requiring us to pay a license tax of $10 a car for the use of the Park Fund.
After some debate these were accepted by the Council.
Finally Lawrence rose to his feet.
We were very nervous about his attitude, as we had not been able to get anything out of him.
He offered amendment after amendment.
They were based on the proposition of the Citizens’ Company.
One cut the length of our franchise down to twenty-five years.
Another compelled us to sell six tickets for a quarter, and eight for a quarter morning and evening when the men were going and coming from their work.
Another provided for universal transfers.
These were things we would not accept.
Lawrence spoke simply about them.
He recited conditions in other cities.
He spoke of places where cheap fares prevailed, said that we had no right to bind two generations by our franchises, that in twenty years’ time our property had become worth $15,000,000 as measured by the stock and bonds in the market, and that the road was not worth more than one-third this sum according to the statement of the President of the Citizens’ Company.
He wound up by saying that at the rate the city was growing the property would be worth $50,000,000 before the franchise expired.
Thompson left the chair against these amendments.
He flung out some reflections upon Lawrence’s sincerity; said he.seemed to think he was better than his party, and that he was playing to the gallery.
This turned out to be a bad move, for Lawrence jumped to his feet thoroughly aroused.
He said:
“Mr. President, I have been in this body less than two months.
During that time more things have been going on than I ever dreamed possible.
By some means or other the committees of this Council were made up by prearrangement of the street railways.
Their officers and employees have been about the Clerk’s office for the last two months.
There are lots of things in law that cannot be proved directly, but there is circumstantial evidence enough to show that the Council has been bought.
Else how is it that a dozen men in the City Council who wouldn’t know a
franchise from a haystack, vote like wooden Indians on this subject; how does it happen that men who are earning but a few dollars a day have given up their jobs and are loafing about the City Hall and saloons all the time?
The whole thing is rotten,” he said, and he would not vote for any franchise that seemed to have been gotten in this way.
This was bad.
We feared it would influence Robbins and Fulton, and one or two other honest Republicans.
But the amendments were lost by two votes.
The next week the ordinance came on for its third reading.
We kept constant watch of our men and some of them were very uneasy.
There had been some ward agitation.
Lawrence’s speech was quoted.
Two men who were in small retail businesses said that their neighbors were boycotting them.
Thompson said that some of the men complained that they could not stand it much longer.
It was all right so far as they were concerned, but when their children came home from school and said that other children pointed their fingers at them and said their father was a boodler, it was too much for them to stand.
Robbins and Fulton said they were sick of their jobs.
Their attitude was hurting them in their business.
We saw that it was necessary to act promptly if the ordinance was to go through.
During the week we put the pressure on Lawrence.
His clients and other prominent men went to him and told him he was lining up with a bad crowd; that he was supporting the Mayor and encouraging him in his demagogy; that Ballantyne was a Socialist, and that Lawrence had gone back on his party and was too independent, that he ought to stand by the other members.
But we were not able to budge him.
When the ordinance came up Lawrence led the fight.
He said he was not in favor of doing anything that would injure or destroy property, but that the city was a partner in this enterprise.
It owned the streets and should get full return for their use.
Another company had offered better terms, but he was now informed that they had been bought out by this company.
“Of course, I cannot prove it,” he said, “but I know and everybody knows that this Council has been bought and sold like a drove of cattle, and that they, the trustees of the people, are giving away something that does not belong to them.”
For himself, he had gone into politics because the city was his home and he had felt that the evils in the city were due to ignorance.
But he had learned in a few months’ time that it was not ignorance so much as corruption; that it didn’t make so much difference to the railways which party they used—they were non- partisan when it came to buying votes, as he believed they had.
“This ordinance is an outrage,” he continued.
“You are binding the city for fifty years.
Before it expires you will all be dead.
It is worth ten millions of dollars, and you are jamming it through with only a few weeks’ consideration.
Lets postpone action, lay the matter on the table and give the public a chance to be heard.
Why not submit it to a vote of the people, if this is such a good thing?
During the past week men have been to me saying that I was not a Republican; that I had been elected by the aid of that party, and now I was trying to wreck it.
But who is it that has questioned my Republicanism?
It’s the men who are back of this franchise, men whose patriotism does not hesitate to buy this Council, and even the members of this Council themselves who have been driven into the caucus.
Are these the men to cry anarchy and socialism when they are undermining the government?
Are they to complain because I support the Mayor when they are trafficking with Democrats as well as Republicans?
As for the Mayor, I care not whether he is a Democrat or Republican.
In this case he is right, and I will do everything I can to defeat this wicked ordinance.”
The roll call was demanded as soon as he sat down.
There was intense excitement.
I had gone to the Council Chamber, and I followed the roll call, vote by vote.
When Fulton’s name was reached and he voted “Aye,” I breathed easier.
Then came Robbins, the insurance man.
Finally Whitman, of whom we were not certain.
They all voted “Aye,” and with their support we had eighteen votes.
The ordinance was Carried.
The following morning Ballantyne issued a call for a public meeting to be held in Music Hall to protest against the ordinance.
He called upon the people to protest to their Councilmen and induce them to reconsider their vote.
The week was one of uncertainty to us.
There were rumors of defection.
We took five weak-kneed Councilmen out of the city to keep them free from influence.
Ballantyne and Lawrence were holding nightly meetings throughout the city.
The Music Hall meeting was jammed.
Speeches of an incendiary sort were made by Ballantyne and the President of the Central Labor Union.
Lawrence also spoke in a more temperate way.
One speaker suggested carrying halters to the Council Chamber.
There were charges of bribery, and the city was in a ferment.
The Mayor’s veto message came in the following meeting night.
In order that the administration might not pack the Council Chamber with their friends, we had ordered our employees to go to the Council early and fill the galleries.
The Mayor’s veto message was received in silence.
It was then moved that the Mayor’s veto be not sustained.
In suspense we awaited the vote.
One after another the Councilmen stood pat.
Robinson had evidently done his work well.
So had Buckley and McGann.
They were in the Council Chamber in constant consultation with the members.
I most feared Fulton, Robbins and Whitman, but when they voted “Aye,” and Thompson declared the franchise passed, my nerves relaxed and I was more relieved than I had been for months.
During the contest we had carried on a systematic attack on Ballantyne.
Terence McGann with his following started out to discredit him.
The Council had refused to confirm his appointments.
They had tried to run him out of the Jackson Club because he appointed a number of Republicans in the fire department.
We were able to influence the daily papers, who would not publish his statements and ignored everything he had done.
His achievements went unheralded.
We also worked up sentiment against him among the other people, said he was not enforcing the law and was levying blackmail on the saloons.
In this way we were able to split his party in two.
He was left almost alone.
In public functions he was ignored, and from this time until the end of his term of office the Council overruled his wishes, refused to make appropriations, and would not confirm the reforms which he intended to inaugurate.
However, he was renominated on the expiration of his term.
But by this time we had organized sufficient opposition in his own party, so that with a united opposition on a good man for Mayor we defeated him for re-election.
I have always felt sorry for Ballantyne.
He was a promising young man, and had he accepted our assistance he would have had a splendid career; but he injured his business by entering politics, as is so often the case.
He had a chance for a great career; but, of course, when he came to practice again he was a marked man.
What business he previously had had left him, and those who had opportunities to throw his way were prejudiced against him.
He struggled along for a few years under a burden.
His family was socially neglected and finally he left the city, and I never have heard what became of him.
As for the franchise itself, our stock immediately went up thirty points.
We increased our capital and took in the old Citizens’ Company, thus increasing our lines and earnings.
But the contest had been a costly one.
The people had become aroused on the question as never before.
It became apparent that we could not trust ourselves with open and direct primaries, as they were likely to result in the nomination of men upon whom we could not rely.
We had to retain the convention system of nomination, as well as control the Republican party, and, if possible, both parties.
Moreover, the growing hostility of the city made it apparent that we must protect ourselves in the State.
It was necessary to extend our influence to the legislature, for there was constant danger that our taxes would be increased, the fares reduced, or striking legislation of some sort worked through the Council, that would imperil our interests.
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