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ACTUAL GOVERNMENT
IN ILLINOIS
BY
MARY LOUISE CHILDS
Teacher of History and Civics, Evanston
Township High School
NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1917
S1^"
Copyright, IQ14, 1917, by
The Century Co.
TO
THE GIRLS AND BOYS
OF MY CIVICS CLASSES WHOSE INTEREST
AND LOYALTY HAVE BEEN THE
INSPIRATION OF THEIR
TEACHER
37170C
FOREWORD FOR THE TEACHER
How may a civics teacher make vital the study of State
and local government in IlHnois? What are the essential
facts with which the immature pupil should be familiar at
the end of the course? What method of instruction will
most quickly arouse his interest and give him the best train-
ing in citizenship? An earnest attempt has been made in
this brief text book to suggest an answer, in part, to these
important questions.
The first indispensable requisites are enthusiasm and
active interest in the subject on the part of the teacher. A
bored, indifferent teacher can never kindle interest or en-
thusiasm in the minds of high-school pupils of civics, or
guide them into the broad, far-reaching fields of citizenship.
The essential facts of government, particularly State and
local, are dry as sawdust unless vitalized by a live teacher
through connecting them at every step with the actual
government in the community in which the pupils live.
Among the necessary devices to arouse interest and catch
the attention is the bulletin board. Try a large one covered
with dark green felt and hang it in a conspicuous place. If
your pupils have access to Chicago dailies, they will be
keenly interested in illustrating their note-books from the
cartoons. A very interesting, instructive commentary on
local and State government can be made by these cartoons.
Pupils soon learn to select wisely, avoid the vulgar or simply
viii FOREWORD FOR THE TEACHER
grotesque, and choose the most effective ones. Try an
8 X lo notebook, loose leaf, with manila sheets added to
the note paper for the cartoons and newspaper clippings.
If you " shingle " the cartoons — slip one under the other,
and paste along upper edge only — five or more can be put
on one page of the manila sheet.
A " camera squad " to conduct a camera tour through
the pupils' ward or village arouses much interest. Their
kodaks of alleys and back yards, garbage cans, paper- and
refuse-littered streets and parkways, the city " dump " oi^
the crematory, should be mounted and hung in the civics
room where all may share the results of the " camera tour."
Have them show praiseworthy conditions as well as things
to criticize.
The newspaper clippings should always have noted on
them name of paper, date, and an underscore in red ink or
blue pencil to show why the item was cut out. This imder-
score saves much written explanation and is helpful in
training a pupil's judgment of the essential thing in a news-
paper article.
Official stationery and all kinds of official seals serve a
useful purpose. A letter from some official makes that
officer seem a real human being instead of a noun in a text-
book, and to make this vital, human connection between
text-book and actual government is the most essential part
of our work. Every report, annual message, budget,
ordinance, legal paper, that can be secured — and their name
is legion — is grist for the civics mill.
But the human element, the meeting with officials, hear-
FOREWORD FOR THE TEACHER ix
ing them explain the duties of their office, the visits to in-
stitutions and buildings where they actually see the govern-
mental wheels in motion — these are the things that seem
to make the deepest impression on a pupil's mind. You may
secure this vivid human illustration in several ways: by
excursions of all the class (but if the class is large, all
can not hear and see equally well, although they enjoy
the trips in large numbers) ; by small groups under a pupil
leadtr who makes the arrangements for the party and
is responsible for the group, each pupil to make an oral or
written report of the trip in his own section. This method
brings good results in studying your own town and saves
the time of officials — sometimes the latter get a bit im-
patient if the individual pupils go to them, but they are
glad to give some time to a group. Another method is to
bring the official, as the mayor or health commissioner, to
the class for a talk on their duties. If a stereopticon can be
used and slides shown in illustration of the talk, so much
the better.
The following excursions were given during one year
for the civics class in a suburb of Chicago: A session of
the Chicago council and of their own council ; to the county
and Federal buildings and the city hall in Chicago; to the
county infirmary at Oak Forest ; to Lockport via the Drain-
age Canal in the boat owned by the sanitary district and
courteously loaned the class for that day; to the State
prison at Joliet; for the boys alone, to the House of Cor-
rection; for the girls alone, to Hull House and the Crane
Nursery to show how a famous social settlement is helping
X FOREWORD FOR THE TEACHER
to make good citizens of aliens; a carefully chosen session
of the United States district court, the docket for that day
being planned six weeks in advance through the kindness
of Judge Landis so the pupils might see a trial by jury;
a trip to the Naval Training School at Lake Bluff and to
Fort Sheridan. These excursions include the illustrative
work for local, State, and National Government. They
mean much work for the teacher, and every detail must be
carefully planned if they are successful. But they are of
great value in making vivid and practical the civics work
and are wxll worth all they cost in time and effort. De-
bates and reports on suitable articles in current magazines
will of course find a place in the work.
One main object has been kept constantly in mind in
writing this text book: First and always to direct the
pupil to the actual government in his own locality. The
theory embodied in the statute and ordinance is one thing;
the practical working out of the law is frequently quite a
different matter ; but the practical method by which the law
is enforced — or not — is the vital matter to every citizen
and the side of government too often neglected in our civics
teaching. There is no subject taught in the high-school
course where mere routine, text-book recitation, is so
deadly as in civics. Therefore every effort has been made
to make practical and vital the teaching of actual govern-
ment within the State of Illinois.
The writer is greatly indebted to many officials for per-
sonal interviews, letters, and reports. Every courtesy has
been extended to her in the work by officials in all depart-
FOREWORD FOR THE TEACHER xi
ments of the State and local governments. Special ac-
knowledgment is made to the officers and director of the
Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency for permission to use
their exceedingly valuable charts and reports. Mrs.
Catharine Waugh McCulloch very kindly read part of the
manuscript and gave the writer the benefit of helpful sug-
gestions and criticisms.
No doubt many errors will he discovered, due to the
short time allowed in preparation and the pressure of
school-room duties. Much is purposely omitted that
usually finds place in a civics text book. But the purpose
of the book as expressed in its title has been ever in mind.
It IS not intended in any sense for a manual, and only
points a way, tested for many years in large classes of
pupils in a suburban high school, to arouse keen interest
in the vital matters of home government.
A Russian Jew said to the writer recently, " You are a
patriot because you teach of the government!" H all of
us to whom are given the honor of guiding these junior
citizens of Illinois in their first steps in citizenship could
always be mindful of that fact, would not our work be
ennobled immeasurably? On our faithful, intelligent ef-
forts will depend in large degree the progress Illinois will
make in wise, humane, efficient government. We can so
vitalize and clothe with flesh the dry bones of civic facts
that our pupils will count their study of State and local
government the most human, intensely alive subject in all
the high-school curriculum. Is not the end worth all the
effort?
FOREWORD TO THE EDITION OF 1917
No practical method of keeping a textbook in civics up to
date has yet been evolved. A " loose-leaf " collection of
printed lessons easily and economically exchangeable for
nev^ ones each year as governmental facts and devices for
teaching the same evolve seems to be the only possible
method of keeping pace w^ith civic progress. But no one
has yet come forw^ard with such a series of lessons suitable
for Illinois and therefore our textbooks on state and local
government must be reprinted at frequent intervals if we
would keep them within sight of present conditions.
From the printer's standpoint — an important one — it
proved impossible to incorporate in the text the principal
changes in city, county and state government within Illinois
made during the last three years, or to include all these
changes in footnotes. Therefore they have been gathered
mainly in Appendix D at the end of the volume where it is
hoped teachers, pupils and others using the book will avail
themselves constantly of these collected notes and additions
to the text. Illinois has been making progress during the
last three years and particularly in the social legislation
written on her statute books.
The new law for the care of the feeble-minded, the great
increase in parks and playgrounds, the wider use of school
buildings and equipment for the social needs of their dis-
tricts and the steady growth of the movement to " pull Illi-
nois out of the mud " through a fine system of highways
XIV FOREWORD TO THE EDITION o'#* 1917
are all proofs of the dawn of a new social conscience in our
state.
When Illinois' greatest need is met, — a new constitution
adapted to twentieth-century conditions, — no reprint of a
textbook like this one will do, but there must be an entire
revision based on the new instrument of government.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I Cities and Villages . 3
II Government of Chicago 16
III Towns and Townships in Illinois .... 54
V IV County Government in Illinois 65
V The Public Pocketbook : How It Is Filled . 88
VI Elections and the Ballot 99
VII Judicial Trials and the Jury System . . .113
VIII State of Illinois: Physiography and History 126
V- IX The General Assembj-y 138
X Executive 151
XI State Judiciary , 159
XII Public Education in Illinois 165
XIII The Merit System in Illinois 175
XIV State Charity Service 188
. XV Amendment of the Illinois Constitution . . 198
XVI Illinois Moving Forward 201
Appendix A — Reference List of Books and Pam-
phlets Valuable for Study of " Actual Govern-
ment IN Illinois " 215
Appendix B — Valuable Publications of Civic Or-
ganizations in Chicago 217
Appendix C — Vital Statistics Law 219
Appendix D — General Notes 222
Index 231
ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
ACTUAL GOVERNMENT
IN ILLINOIS
CHAPTER I
CITIES AND VILLAGES
References :
1. Revised Statutes (1915-16), ch. xxiv.
(This general law for cities and villages covers 229 pages in'
the Revised Statutes of Illinois, not including the Session
Laws for 1913-15.
2. Greene: Government of Illinois, pp. 101-106.
3. Garner: Government in the United States, pp. 25-56; Govern-
ment of Illinois, pp. 55-60, rev. ed.
The city corporate touches the life of the people more
intimately than any governing body in the world. To
speak of just one factor in its varied relations with the peo-
ple, notice its streets, the " arteries through which flow the
life-blood of the city — trade and traffic." " Here persons
of all ages and all tastes go to meet one another, to talk
over the affairs of the day, to be entertained, to eat," to
drink, to inspect shop windows, to do marketing, to buy
and sell merchandise, and to perform a thousand offices
which the needs of the city life make profitable, healthful,
or agreeable." " Then consider the influence of the streets
on the habits of the people. In the congested areas of the
city, the people must spend a large portion of their leisure
3
4 /. : ACTfJAL GOyfiRNMENT IN ILLINOIS
on the streets, because their homes are too small for com-
fort, and if the city allows the streets in these sections to
remain unkempt and dirty, the homes bordering them will
reflect the dirt and grime of the city highway, inevitably
much more, should that * highway ' be an unpaved alley."
(Beard: American City Government, pp. 242-244.) And
the city streets represent only one small segment of the
great circle of the city powers surrounding city homes.
Are you familiar with the poster, " Madame, Who Keeps
Your House ? " issued by the Woman's City Club of Chi-
cago, 116 South Michigan Avenue? If not, make its ac-
quaintance, for this famous poster has nearly circled the
globe since it was published 4 years ago to illustrate pic-
torially the intimate relation existing between the city hall
and the home. " The poster contains a large * C ' made up
of fifteen pictures illustrating the city departments that
touch the home ; in the center are the words, * City Hall,'
surrounded by a small * c ' made up of the names of the
city departments illustrated. Below are these words : * The
homely activities of your daily life make necessary these
departments in the government of the city in which you live.
Its interest in you is personal and kindly. Make your in-
terest in it vital and helpful. Educate yourself in civic
affairs.' " Know your own city !
What is the organization in Illinois of this city govern-
ment that afifects the daily life of its citizens so powerfully?
Cities. There are over one thousand cities and vil-
lages in Illinois. The present State constitution of 1870
forbids special legislation of any kind except for Chicago
in a few definite cases, provided by recent amendment to the
constitution. Therefore, in 1872, the General Assembly
passed a law known as the Cities and Villages Act, for the
CITIES AND VILLAGES 5
government of municipalities in the State, if they chose to
come under its provisions. Only about seventy-five cities,
towns, and villages preferred to retain their original special
charters granted by the Legislature before 1870. The rest
by vote have adopted the Cities and Villages Act, and it has
therefore become their charter. This general law covers
about two hundred forty pages in the Revised Statutes of
Illinois and carefully details what a city may do, and pro-
vides the general framework of city government.
Much ingenuity has been displayed by the legislators in
framing laws needed for a city like Chicago and a county
like Cook yet not wanted in other cities and counties of
Illinois. The favorite device is to put cities and counties
into classes according to population and so arrange the
groups that Chicago and Cook County will each come into
a class by itself. " For cities having over 350,000 popu-
lation " (only Chicago), or ''counties having over 125,000
population " (only Cook), is frequently the wording of some
law intended to apply to Chicago and Cook County alone.
So far the supreme court has generally sustained such laws
on the ground of necessity, although they plainly violate the
spirit of the State constitution while obeying the letter.
Organization of a City. Any territory in Illinois not
less than four square miles in area, having at least one
thousand inhabitants, may petition the county judge (pro-
bate judge if the county has one) for a special election to
vote on a city organization.
City Officers. If carried, the people elect a mayor,
aldermen^ clerk, treasurer, city attorney, and police magis-
trate. The wards into which the city is divided must num-
ber not less than three or more than thirty-five, depending
on population, and two aldermen are chosen from each
6 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
ward, one each year. The term of office is two years ex-
cept that of the police magistrate, who is elected for four
years. The aldermen are paid from three to ten dollars
per session except in Chicago.^
There are over a hundred powers granted the council in
the Cities and Villages Act, so its power is ample to do
whatever is necessary for the city. The mayor and other
officers have the same powers given under Chicago.^ The
mayor, with the consent of the council, may appoint a city
collector, to have charge of special assessments, special
taxes for local improvements levied on property benefited,
as for paving a street or putting in a sewer ; a commissioner
of public works to care for streets, alleys, sewers, water
system, garbage collection, city buildings; corporation
counsel to be legal adviser of the city officials ; comptroller
to have general oversight of all city accounts and expendi-
tures; chief of police, health commissioner, Hre marshal,
whose names explain their work. If the city so orders
through a special vote, a civil service commission of three
members is also appointed by the mayor with the consent of
the council to conduct the examinations required for all city
employees, like policemen and firemen, who are placed in the
classified service. Any of these appointed officers may be
elected if the council pass an ordinance to that effect. All
the officers allowed for governing a city in Illinois are
named in the General Municipal Act of the State.
Commission Plan of City Government. By a law
in effect in 19 lo, cities not over 200,000 in population may,
through a special election, adopt the commission plan of
government, electing a mayor and four commissioners at
large to have charge of the city. This act is applicable to
^ Chap, ii, pp. 20-22.
CITIES AND VILLAGES 7
all the cities in the State except Chicago, and about thirty
odd have adopted it, Springfield, Rock Island, Elgin, De-
catur, Cairo, and Waukegan, among the number. The five
commissioners elected serve for four years and are called
the council. The commissioner knov^n as the mayor pre-
sides at all their meetings and has charge of the department
of public affairs. There are five departments created by
the law: (i) Public Affairs, (2) Accounts and Finances,
(3) Public Health and Safety, (4) Streets and Pubhc Im-
provements, (5) Public Property.
The five commissioners determine by majority vote v^hat
duties shall be vested in each department and which com-
missioner shall be its head. The mayor does not have the
veto power. The council appoints all city officers needed;
civil service is provided for all employees. To prevent abuse
of power by the commissioners, they may be recalled at any
time by a majority vote at a special election. The initia-
tive and referendum are also provided to allow the voters
directly to initiate and pass any necessary law. All fran-
chises granted public service companies must be approved
by the people before going into effect. Provision is made
to discontinue the commission government if the voters are
dissatisfied after trying the plan.
The Chautauquan Magazine (Vol. LI) has an excellent
symposium on " Commission Government for Cities." In
the Debaters' Handbooks is a volume devoted to commis-
sion government.
City Manager. The most recent innovation in city
government is the city manager, an appointed officer who
looks after the city's business exactly as a general manager
directs the affairs of a private concern. River Forest in
Cook County experimented with this new kind of city
8 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
official but petty politics caused him to resign. It is
claimed he considerably more than saved his year's salary
through careful supervision of the village work. The ex-
periment is being watched with great interest and seems full
of promise for more efficient city government.
Director of Public Safety. Another experiment in
municipal government is director of public safety, who has
charge of the three principal municipal departments, health,
fire, and police. Evanston has experimented with such an
official (during 19 13-15), and he worked for fire preven-
tion, better sanitary conditions through a clean-up cam-
paign, bakeries classified according to cleanliness, and to
make every policeman a health officer, so there could be
stricter enforcement of all sanitary regulations, (i) This
combining the great public safety departments of a city is
another step toward simpler municipal government because
the chief of police, health commissioner, and fire marshal
are put under civil-service rules, and the city gets one re-
sponsible officer instead of three.
City Courts (Rev. Stat., ch. xxxvii, sec. 240-363.
Act amended 1909.) Any city having a population not
less than three thousand may establish a special city court
if the voters so elect. The jurisdiction of this city court
will be the same as the State circuit court. There can be
from one to five judges according to population, and the
salary is paid from the State treasury. The term is four
years and the judge must not be chosen at the same time
with other city officers. Why? Nineteen cities in Illinois
have adopted this city court. The justices of the peace
are retained for petty cases in cities having a special city
court; but there is no police magistrate.
Village Government. (Rev. Stat. (191 5), chap, xxiv,
CITIES AND VILLAGES 9
sec. 178-193.) A village government differs from a city
in being more simple and therefore less expensive. It has
no wards. Any area, not less than two square miles, con-
taining at least three hundred inhabitants, if it is not already
within a village or city, may be incorporated as a village by
vote of the people at a special election and must there-
after remain a village until it has a thousand inhabitants,
when it has the privilege, if the voters desire, of changing
to a city government. There are now (9161) about eight
hundred villages in Illinois.
I. Legislative Branch of the Village Government.^ Board of
Trustees — a president and six trustees elected for two years
with power of a mayor and council in passing the village ordi-
. nances.
II. Executive and Administrative Officers.
1. President — elected for two years; has same veto power
as a mayor.
2. Village clerk — elected for one year.
3. Treasurer, street commissioner, board of health, village
marshal, and other administrative officers appointed by
the president and board of trustees.
III. Judicial Branch.
Police magistrate — one only unless more are authorized by
special acts. No police magistrate can also act as justice of
the peace, although his jurisdiction is the same.
OUTLINE GOVERNMENT OF A CITY IN ILLINOIS
I. Organization.
a. Petition to county (or probate) judge for special election
to decide question city government.
b. First election city officers: Mayor, aldermen, clerk, treas-
urer, attorney, police magistrate.
2 Greene : Government of Illinois, p. 268.
10 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
c. " Cities and Villages Act," passed Legislature 1872, becomes
city's charter. Seal is granted by secretary of state at
Springfield.
II. Boundaries; number of wards and precincts.
III. Time of election.
IV. Term of office.
V. Legislative Department.
A. Council composed of mayor and aldermen.
1. Duties.
a. Levy taxes.
b. Confirm or reject appointments mayor.
c. Provide police, fire, health protection.
3. Grant franchises.
e. Provide for public highways and sidewalks.
f. Provide for street cleaning, lighting; water Sup-
ply, garbage removal, etc.
2. Salary.
VI. Executive Department.
A. Mayor. Who? When elected?
1. Duties.
a. Preside council meetings.
b. Vote in case of tie.
c. Sign or veto ordinances : may veto separate items
in appropriation ordinance, or annual budget.
Veto overcome by two-thirds vote council.
d. Send annual message to council.
e. Appoint officers consent council.
f. Issue proclamations.
g. May pardon any violation of ordinance or remit
any fine imposed for such violation.
2. Salary. Find from city budget.
B. Clerk. Who? When elected?
I. Duties.
a. Keep minutes council meetings.
b. Keep seal and all important papers.
CITIES AND VILLAGES n
c. Post ordinances and notices.
d. Issue licenses and permits by order Mayor.
2. Salary.
C. Treasurer. Who? When elected? Amount of bond?
1. Duties.
a. Charge of all city funds except special assess-
ments.
b. Acts as town collector for general taxes.
2. Salary.
D. City Collector. Who? When appointed? Amount of
bond ?
1. Duty.
a. Receives special assessments or special city taxes
for some particular improvement, to be paid by
property benefited; as a street paved or sewer
put in. Also fees for licenses and permits.
2. Salary.
E. Comptroller. Who? When appointed?
" Watch-dog of the city treasury."
1. Duties.
a. Audits all accounts of treasurer.
b. Furnishes estimates expenses for every depart-
ment of city government.
2. Salary.
F. Commissioner Public Works. Who? When appointed?
1. Departments under his supervision.
a. Water works.
b. Streets and alleys.
c. Walks and cross walks.
d. Public parks; playgrounds; parkways. (Some-
times controlled by an elected park board.)
e. Public buildings, city hall, library, fire and police
stations, etc.
f. Street lighting.
g. Sewers.
2. Salary.
12 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
G. Health Commissioner? Who? When appointed?
1. Duties.
a. Inspects water, milk, ice, meat, plumbing.
b. Attends to quarantine notices.
c. Is responsible for fumigating houses after con-
tagious disease.
2. Salary.
H. Fire Marshal. Who? When appointed?
1. Duties.
a. Charge of firemen, who are often under civil-serv-
ice rules.
b. Charge of police force needed in any quarter
where there is fire.
2. Any salary?
I. Chief of Police. Who? When appointed?
1. Duties.
a. Keeps the peace and protects all citizens.
b. General control of policemen, who are often under
civil service.
2. 'Salary.
J. Library Directors. Nine. How chosen?
1. Duties.
a. To manage free public library.
b. To appoint librarian and assistants.
c. To purchase all books.
d. To make rules and regulations for use of library,
2. No salary.
K. Civil Service Commission. Three. How chosen?
1. Duties.
a. To conduct examinations for policemen, firemen,
library cadets, clerks, and stenographers em-
ployed by the city.
b. To certify standings of those on eligible list to the
appointing officer.
2. Any salary?
CITIES AND VILLAGES 13
VII. Judicial Department.
A. Police Magistrate. Who? When elected?
1. Duties.
a. To try all violations ordinances.
b. To examine any case and bind person over to
grand jury.
2. Salary.
B. City Attorney. Who? When elected?
1. Duties.
a. Prosecutes and defends lawsuits for the city.
2. Salary.
C. Corporation Counsel. Who? When appointed?
1. Duties.
a. Legal adviser for city officers.
b. Draws up ordinances, if so requested.
c. Draws contracts, leases, deeds, all legal papers for
city departments.
2. Salary.
ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL NEEDED
1. Copy of Revised Statutes of Illinois, edition 1915 if possible.
2. Copy city charter if one has been granted.
3. Copy of city ordinances.
4. Map of city showing wards and precincts. (Indispensable.)
5. Maps of separate wards. If these can not be had, make your
own blue prints from regular map of city. Or use tracing paper
to get your separate ward maps. On these mark all government
buildings, as fire and police stations, schoolhouses, library station,
small parks, and field houses.
6. Get the statistics from the Health Department and make
" spot maps " showing where death rate was highest during the
last year, and why. These ward maps can be used in various ways
to illustrate municipal and social facts.
7. City manual for complete list of officials and their terms.
8. Impression of city seal.
9. Bulletin board for newspaper clippings and cartoons. Illus-
14 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
trate every point possible by some recent fact in your city govern-
ment. . Study your local papers to find these illustrations.
10. Have you a camera? Form a camera squad and take a
" camera tour " through your ward and the city. Photos of the
alleys, parks, waterworks, your city dump, the garbage crema-
tory, or the reduction plant will be valuable comments on your city
government.
PERTINENT QUESTIONS
1. Compare the organization of your city with the one outlined
in the text. You should know the name of every elected and ap-
pointed official in your city. (2) Why?
2. Make out a list of the services performed by the National,
State, and municipal governments respectively. Which govern-
ment touches your daily life most closely?
3. Some citizens declare they never vote at a city election; only
at the State and National. What is your opinion of such a citi-
zen? Give three reasons for your answer.
4. Bryce says that city government is the " blackest spot " in
American politics. Why?
5. Why should municipal elections be absolutely non-partisan?
How can they be made non-partisan?
6. What societies, clubs, and organizations are at work in your
city to make it a better place to live in ? How can you help them ?
7. Does your city have a civil-service commission? H so, what
employees are covered by its examinations?
8. What public utilities are owned and operated by your city?
If none, then what are the terms made by the franchises granted
the private companies furnishing your gas, water, electric light,
and street-car service? Do these companies pay the city for the
privilege of using the streets, which are the property of the peo-
ple? If not, why? How long do these franchises run?
9. How does your city dispose of garbage and all kinds of house-
hold and factory waste?
10. What kinds of business does your city license? How would
you secure a license? What would you have to pay for it?
(Consult the Revised Ordinances.)
CITIES AND VILLAGES 15
11. Does your city need a city manager? (3)
12. What are the advantages in the commission plan of city
government? What disadvantages? Would it be a good thing
for your city? Give reasons.
CHAPTER II
GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO
References :
1. The Chart of the Organization of the Government of Chicago,
prepared by Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency, p. 25. All
their charts are of very great value for accuracy.
2. Chicago City Manual, 191 5.
3. Effi.ciency Charts prepared by Civil Service Commission to show
organization of all city departments.
4. Rev. Stat., 1915, ch. 24.
5. " History and Gov. of Chicago." Educ. Bi-Mo., Chicago Normal
College.
Our Civic Creed. " Chicago does not ask us, her citizens, to die for
her welfare; she asks us to live for her, and so to live, and so to act,
that her government may be pure, her officers honest, and every corner
of her territory shall be a fit place to grow the best men and women
who shall rule over her." — Adapted from a Wisconsin City.
" Where ' we will,' there 's a way." — Chicago's new motto. — From
The Tribune.
Early History of Chicago. The famous treaty of
Greenville (1795) made by the United States with the
western Indians, ceded a tract of land six miles square —
a congressional township — at the mouth of the Chicago
river, to the Government. No use was made of this ces-
sion until the winter of 1803, when Fort Dearborn was
built at the mouth of the river. A tablet marking the site
of the fort has been placed on a building at the foot of Rush
Street bridge. The Chicago Historical Society has a good
model of the fort. Most of the land once occupied by the
16
GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 17
old fort is now the bed of the Chicago river. There is
great difference of opinion over the meaning of the word
'* Chicago," but none over its Indian origin. It was prob-
ably derived from the Indian word for the " wild onion "
that flourished over the prairies and marshes around the
lake. Consult J. S. Currey's History of Chicago, Vol. I,
pp. 32-34.
The first town of Chicago contained less than half a
square mile. It lay between State, Madison, Desplaines,
and Kinzie Streets. The present city contains 199 square
miles (i) and extends over twenty-five miles north and
south, and from nine to fourteen miles east and west. The
city has grown to this wide territory through various annex-
ations. In addition to this surface expansion, Chicago has
" partially built itself up out of the marsh and is now about
fourteen feet higher than the original level.'* This fact
has an important bearing on the ever-present drainage prob-
lem and makes it a little easier to provide an adequate sewer
system for the city.
Chicago was incorporated as a town in 1833 because the
United States Government had just removed the last
Indians from Illinois, thus throwing open the land around
Chicago freely to white settlers. The birthday of the city
was March 4, 1837, as its seal testifies. The population
was 4,170.
Government of Chicago. Because Chicago is now
the second largest city in the United States and the fourth
in the world — only London, New York, and Paris are
larger — and because it contains more than one-third the
population of Illinois, every citizen of the State should feel
pride in this great city and be interested in knowing how it
is governed.
i8 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
No Special Charter. The constitution of 1870 for-
bids special legislation of any kind. In consequence, the
" Cities and Villages Act " was passed by the Illinois Gen-
eral Assembly, 1872, and all cities organized since that date
come under the provisions of this general law and do not
have any separate city charter.
Chicago voted to accept this municipal corporation act
in 1875 ^^^ th^s S^^^ ^P its charter after forty years' ex-
perience with government under various special charters.
The Council. Chicago's is one of the best examples in
the United States of a powerful city council. It is a council-
governed city. This legislative body is made up of seventy
aldermen, two elected from each of the thirty-five wards.
The ward bodies are determined by population, and the
areas differ greatly. About 70,000 people live in a ward
since the reapportionment of December 4, 191 1. Get a
map of Chicago, with wards and precincts marked, from the
Bureau of Maps, in the city hall. Also a separate map
of your own ward. The term of office of the aldermen will
be four years beginning in April, 19 14, if the voters at
that election accept the law passed by the last Legislature
increasing the term from two to four years. (2)
The mayor presides over the council, but has a vote only
in case of a tie. He has much less power than the council,
and even the powers he has are limited in several ways by
that body. If the personal influence of the mayor is great,
he may be able to persuade enough aldermen to vote for
ordinances he favors to put them through. But the council
can control matters if they will. The greater power is
theirs. The municipal act of 1872, many times amended,
enumerates over a hundred powers granted a city council.
Sessions. The council meets regularly every Monday (3)
' GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 19
afternoon at two o'clock in the council chamber of the city
hall. The council sessions are open to the public, and every
citizen ought to attend frequently and notice how the alder-
men from his ward vote on important ordinances. They
are paid $3,000 salary and do their work largely through
standing committees. To listen intelligently at a council-
meeting one needs to know the regular or routine order of
business :
1. Roll call of aldermen by wards.
2. Reading of the minutes of the last meeting.
3. Messages from the mayor and reports from heads
of departments.
4. Presentation of new business by wards, including in-
troduction of ordinances.
5. Reports from committees.
6. Unfinished business.
The Committees. (4) On request you can get from the
city clerk a card containing the names of all the aldermen
by wards, and all the standing and special committees of
the council. Every pupil should have one of these cards
for reference. Also get a copy of the proceedings of the
latest council meeting. The names of these committees tell
their work : Finance, charge of the city budget — for 19 16,
$72,384,987. All bills against the city must be approved
by this committee and its chairman is the mayor's spokes-
man on the floor of the council-chamber. (5) He is paid
$6,000 a year and has to give his entire time to this impor-
tant work. Committee on local transportation looks after
matters of street-car service, such as through routing of the
elevated cars and lengthening the platforms in the loop dis-
trict; license, judiciary, streets and alleys, building, health,
20 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
fire, police, harbors and bridges, water, taxes, civil service ;
gas, oil, and electric light, and elections, complete the list
of standing committees. There are three special commit-
tees now on bathing beaches and piers, small parks, and
compensation. The latter looks after the pay the city
receives for franchises, permits, and licenses, or special
privileges of any kind granted a corporation or private
citizen. As Chicago received nearly one million dollars in
revenue in 19 15 from these sources, the committee's work
is needed.
The Budget. The passing of the appropriation ordi-
nance, or city budget (6), in January annually, is one of the
most important acts of the council. The budget is based'
on the estimates of the comptroller after each item has
been thoroughly considered by the finance committee and
given their recommendation. The vote of the council on
the budget must be by roll call. In fact, the passing of
every ordinance requires a roll-call vote. The council is
restricted by law to a debt limit of 5 per cent, and a taxation
limit of 2 per cent, on the assessed valuation of all the tax-
able property in the city. Any expenditure of money at
any time also requires the same recorded vote. The dia-
gram, " Chicago's Pocketbook," shows how the public
pocketbook is emptied.
Executive Officers. The Mayor. Chicago elects
the mayor, seventy aldermen, the city clerk, and treasurer.
" The mayor is elected by the people, to serve the people "
for a term of four years. His salary is $18,000 a year.
His powers.
A. As chairman of the city council he may approve or
veto its ordinances (may veto separate items in an appro-
priation bill and approve the rest). But a two-thirds vote
J^P^*^' ■ K
Chicago's F?)cket Book
WHERE THE TAXES GO.
THIS SHOWS THE DISTRIBUTION
OF EVERY DOLLAR OF TAXES
Prepared by Woman's City Club of Chicago, 1912
22 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
will defeat a veto and make the ordinance law. Through
written messages to the council he recommends any meas-
ures he wishes considered. He is limited to five days in
considering an ordinance.
B. He appoints almost all the executive officers of the
city, although his power is greatly limited by the civil-serv-
ice law and the consent of the council. His appointing
power is now limited to about fifty positions, mainly heads
of departments, exempt from the civil service. Yet his
patronage, measured by the combined salaries of all the
officers and employees he appoints and the powerful
patronage through the street department in hiring men and
teams for street work, amounts to thousands annually.
One can easily understand why an ambitious politician
might covet the mayoralty of Chicago.
C. He issues and revokes licenses. The exercise of
this power too often links the mayor's office with the liquor
interests, and the resorts of the underworld.
D. He may pardon any violation of an ordinance and
remit any fine levied as a punishment.
E. He has general supervision over all city departments.
F. He is conservator of the peace and responsible for
the safety and order of the city through his control of the
public departments.
G. He must enforce all ordinances impartially. (7)
This duty is the best test of an able mayor and a good city
government.
The mayor appoints the heads of the following principal
departments: library board of nine directors; board of
education of twenty-one members; board of three directors
for the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium (all these serve
without pay and have the right to levy separate taxes) ; law
GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 23
department, including corporation counsel and city attorney ;
department of finance, including comptroller and city col-
lector; general superintendent of p>olice and two deputies;
civil-service commissioners; fire and health departments;
city physician; building commissioner; department of boiler
inspection; weights and measures; smoke inspection; de-
partment of supplies under business agent; transportation;
track elevation; department of public works; of electricity;
special park commission and the city forester; board of local
improvements; board of examining engineers; harbor and
subway commission ; superintendent and three inspectors
for House of Correction ; inspector of oils ; bureau of statis-
tics. To simply read over this list of departments and re-
member it takes an army of 24,000 men and women em-
ployees to attend to the city's business gives one a little idea
of the big problems to be solved in running Chicago's gov-
ernment. For a thorough knowledge of the organization
of all these departments, the positions exempt from civil-
service examinations, those under the classified service,
number of employees, salaries, and appropriations for 19 15,
consult the charts prepared by the Efficiency Division of the
Chicago Civil-Service Commission. These charts are very
valuable, but too complicated for the average citizen to un-
derstand. The admirable " Chart of the Organization of
the City of Chicago," prepared in October 191 3, by the
Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency, 315 Plymouth Court,
and reproduced on p. 25, gives a clear, definite idea of the
organization of this great city government. (8)
The City Clerk, elected for two years, keeps the city
seal, all minutes of council meetings, lists of licenses and
permits issued, and franchises granted by the council. He
is custodian of all city papers, including the ordinances.
24 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
He IS the only city official not required by law to make an
annual report to the mayor and council. (One solitary re-
port was made voluntarily, 1908, by the city clerk, but
the excellent precedent then set has never been followed.)
More than ninety different licenses are issued by the city
clerk, varying from permission to sell gasoline, ice, or liquor,
to the right to collect junk. The fees required for these
licenses are paid to the city collector, but the license and
metal tag often required are issued by the clerk.
The City Treasurer is elected for two years; receives
$12,000 salary; must give a bond (191 5, $5,000,000), de-
termined by the council. He is responsible for all the city
funds, including the school taxes — in 1916 over seventy-
two million dollars. By act of the Legislature, 1913, a
terrh of the city clerk and the treasurer of Chicago has been
increased to four years if the voters approve at the regular
April election in 19 14. (9)
Law Department. It takes a group of more than
seventy attorneys and an office force of over one hundred
to control the law business of the city. At their head is the
Corporation Counsel, who is the chief legal adviser of the
mayor, the council, and all the city officials. His salary
is $10,000. The entire legal department is exempt from
any civil-service examination and the appointments are
purely political.
The Business Agent is responsible for buying all sup-
plies, from office stationery to hay for the city's horses. He
must give a bond for the faithful performance of his duties.
Every city officer and employee is put under a bond to guar-
antee good service.
Board of Local Improvements has five members ap-
pointed by the mayor with the consent of the council. It
THE VOTERS OF THE
CITYofCHICAGO
BOARD OF
ELECTION
commissioners!?
Appoin + ed by the
County Judge
Dcpariments or Appointive Officials
Prepared by Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency, 1913 (10)
Chart of Organization of the government of the City of Chicago
showing lines of authority and salary rates for elective officials.
26 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
is their duty to apportion on each piece of property benefited
the amount of every special assessment ordered by the coun-
cil for any local improvement, as a sewer, water main, street
or alley paving.
Other Executive Officers. The duties of most of
these executive officers are explained by the name of the
office, but a few require additional explanation. Comptrol-
ler is the financial agent for the city and has general over-
sight of all persons who handle the cash of the city, or
its deeds, contracts, and leases. He is head of the depart-
ment of finance, and the elected city treasurer and appointed
collector are subordinate to him. He is often called " the
watch-dog of the city treasury." The City Collector re-
ceives special assessments, licenses, and the wheel tax. The
Commissioner of Public Works has a great variety of duties
and is responsible for more bureaus (subdivisions of depart-
ments) than any other city officer. Streets, alleys, side-
walks, their paving, repairing, and cleaning; bridges, via-
ducts, sewers, and the water system ; the engineering bureau ;
the erection and care of all public buildings belonging to
the city ; docks, wharves, market places — all these represent
part of the services rendered by this huge department. It
takes now a small army of 5,000 persons to do this work,
and the council appropriated over $500,000 in 19 16 for its
maintenance. In addition, the commissioner of public
works is responsible for the expenditure of other millions in
special public improvements ( u ) to be constructed, like the
proposed boulevard linking the North and South Sides by
a double-deck bridge at Pine Street. The Bureau of Streets
under the Department of Public Works also has charge of
the removal of all waste, refuse and snow from the streets
and alleys. This includes the so-called '* pure garbage " or
GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO ' 27
kitchen waste. In the last three years Chicago has made
much progress toward solving her troublesome garbage
problem. In proof, note the organization of a Bureau of
Waste Disposal under an expert engineer, Col. Henry A.
Allen. (See note, Appendix D.)
The House of Correction. The Chicago Bridewell,
as the house of correction is commonly called, has two thou-
sand prisoners, most of them serving short sentences, or
working out fines imposed for violations of the city ordi-
nances. This large population makes the Bridewell by far
the largest prison in Illinois, as there are only about 1,400
convicts at Joliet. The Chicago house of correction has
a national reputation due to the humane, wise government
of its superintendent, John L. Whitman, who has been re-
tained through rival administrations owing to his fine work.
The inmates of the John Worthy School (12), an institu-
tion for delinquent boys, controlled by Chicago, have been
removed to Gage farm. Riverside, where they can have the
home life of the cottage and farm and much better chance
for reform than under the walls of the Bridewell and in a
"jail school." The John Worthy building is now used
for a hospital for inebriates under the management of the
superintendent of the house of correction.
Municipal Courts of Chicago. The judicial officers of
Chicago are now thirty-one elected municipal court judges,
ten of whom are elected in November 19 14. Their term is
six years. The municipal court was established by act of
Legislature and referendum vote of the people, 1905, and
opened December 1906. This court replaces the nineteen
notorious justices of the peace appointed by the governor.
By amendment to the Municipal Court Act approved 19 13,
the term of part of the municipal court judges will be
28 • ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
lengthened to allow their election to come in April instead
of November. This court tries civil and criminal cases
in Chicago where the amount involved is not over one thou-
sand dollars. Imprisonment is in the county jail or house
of correction. The court can not commit to the peniten-
tiary. Some of the judges are assigned by the chief jus-
tice to certain specialized courts. Three have been estab-
lished thus far and work well: The courts of Domestic
Relations, Morals, and Speeders. There is a chief clerk
and a chief bailiff elected for six years and the salary for
each office is $6,000. The chief justice has $10,000 salary
and each judge, $6,000.
Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium is an independent
taxing body, although the three directors are appointed by
the mayor. Under direction of the late Dr. T. B. Sachs,
the Sanitarium instructed hundreds of patients in sanitary
living, enabling them to resume work. Its work is also
preventive through the dispensaries maintained in the more
congested districts and through the nurses employed to visit
the homes, search out cases of tuberculosis, and get them to
the dispensary for treatment if possible; also to teach the
home care necessary for cure and to prevent the spread of
the "white plague." A municipal sanitarium with eight
hundred beds has been constructed at Bowmanville.
The three great public safety departments, health, fire,
police; the work of the board of education and the park
commissions caring for municipal recreation, all deserve,
and will receive, special notice.
Is it wise for Chicago to spend six times as much for pro-
tection of property as for protection of life? Notice the
table of relative expenditures for these public safety de-
partments (p. 34) and think what it means.
' GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 29
HEALTH DEPARTMENT OF CHICAGO 1
" The public health is the foundation on which repose the happiness
of the people and the power of a country." — Lord Beaconsfield.
" For most of us, our health is our wealth."
" The health department operates under the police power of the
State." 2
" The police power is the right of a community to do whatever is re-
quired to protect its health or morals." — Dr. Evans.^
Organization. The health department of Chicago is
organized under the following bureaus which are directly
responsible to the health commissioner appointed by the
mayor :
I. Bureau of Medical Inspection has two important divisions:
(A) Contagious Diseases, and (B) Child Hygiene.*
A. Division of Contagious Diseases.
Duties :
a. To prevent spread of contagion.
b. To provide school inspection.
B. Division of Child Hygiene.
Duties :
To conduct infant welfare work. Over 100 nurses
do the home and school visiting in this division.
1 Courtesy Chicago Woman's City Club. (14)
2 See Forman: Am. Rep., pp. 313-318; and Adv. Civ., pp. 390-396.
3 See Report Chicago Dep't Health for 1907-08-09-10.
4 "Little Mothers' Schools" for the practical instruction of young
girls in the care of the baby are conducted by the Child Hygiene
division of the health department in over thirty of the public schools.
Classes are held every week and fifteen hundred girls from twelve to
fifteen attend. This is another feature of the Department's campaign
to save the babies.
The weekly Bulletin issued by the Chicago Health Department is an-
other important link in this vital chain of disease prevention. (15)
30 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
2. Laboratory Service.
Duties:
a. To give early, sure diagnosis of contagious dis-
eases through " cultures " taken from throat,
nose, or blood of a sick person.
b. Milk and water analysis.
" Forty per cent, of Chicago's deaths are from
preventable diseases."
3. Bureau of Food Inspection.
Duties:
a. To protect the meat and milk supplies: works
with laboratory service.
b. To regulate markets and food supplies. " Death
lurks in dirty food."
4. Bureau of Sanitary Inspection.
About 13,000 buildings are erected annually in Chicago. The
hundred inspectors have abundance of work to do.
Duties:
a. To regulate housing.
b. To promote cleanliness (see illustration) through
inspecting plumbing.
c. To inspect restaurants.
d. Division of Ventilation, established July i, 1912,
looks after ventilation of moving picture thea-
ters, churches, and public halls.
" Bad housing promotes failure, stupidity,
crime, disease, and death."
5. Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Duties :
a. " Points out the path toward greater health for
all and records our progress in defeating dis-
ease."
"Auditors of the books of Life and Death."
ALL ABOARDy?"-
Clean Chicago!!
Chicaqo.Chicaqo Chicc>(go''cn,ao^V) 1,
"Wbithe^r ob wh\Vb(z,r ob wbitbe»'. 60 ipvy ?
To oWan up *b(Z. alley 6
Anik cVia6e oa\ \b^ /ly 1
Tb<Ln I'll V)av<t, /^(Z.w<z,r
6rnaU co//'in6 to bay.*'
CLEAN UP WEEK- MAY 5-10, 1913
ChicaqoHcdthDepttAacatioool PosUr Ng|6l
Deai<,ntAby Dr4BYou>r)q
32 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
b. Issues burial permits.
Now registers birth certificates. (i6)
A moving picture film entitled " An Error of
Omission," to illustrate the inconvenience and
loss that may come to any person who can not
show a birth certificate, has been prepared and
exhibited in many of the theaters. It is hoped
to arouse public interest so that every baby will
be registered within twenty-four hours of its
birth, as is now required by law.
6. Bureau of Hospitals, Baths, and Lodging House. (17)
A. Contagious Disease Hospital. [To be opened 1917.]
Bond issue $300,000 voted (1912) to erect new hospital.
B. Isolation Hospital for smallpox cases.
C. Free Municipal Lodging House for homeless men.
D. Twenty public baths. Three new ones to be built at
cost of $20,000 each. Council (January, 1916) appro-
priated $37,400 for running expenses of these bath houses.
" Disease means dirt somewhere."
7. Board of Examiners of Plumbers.
Required by State Law.
Independent of the health department is the city phy-
sician^ appointed by the mayor: salary $4,000, with two
assistant physicians. The council appropriated $8,825 for
this department, 19 16. Why are not these doctors under
the health commissioner?
How are dead animals removed from streets and alleys?
Notify a policeman or telephone the superintendent of
streets in the ward. If not removed within twenty-four
hours, call up the health department, because it then be-
comes a public nuisance and a menace to health. The dead-
animal contractor has a contract with the city through the
health commissioner by which he must remove such bodies
- GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 33
free of charge and get his pay from the hides and profit to
a rendering plant; but he must be notified only by the
proper city department. This is a round-about process, and
in the interest of public health, cleanliness, and good munic-
ipal housekeeping, ought to be made more simple and
direct.
A new contract was made in 19 12 by which motor-wagons
are to be used for removing dead animals from the streets.
Such motor-wagons are already in use for the bodies of
small animals, and those for large animals are being built.
This insures much quicker, more thorough service for every
part of the city. If the citizen could notify directly the
contractor instead of being obliged often to call two dif-
ferent city departments, another forward step in municipal
sanitation would be gained.
An illustration of the campaign to prevent disease being
waged by the department of health follows.
During July and August, 191 6, the health department
exhibited its films, '' Summer Babies," and " An Error of
Omission," in a large number of moving-pictures theaters in
the congested wards of the city. To teach the necessity of
pure milk the photo-play, *' The Man Who Learned," was
also given. About 260,000 people saw these pictures and
thus gained a vivid lesson in health preservation. Two new
photo-plays, entitled, " Dr. Killjoy Was Right," to illustrate
typhoid prevention and show on the screen " the high and
mighty tumblers of the germ family" — the typhoid bacilli
— and a film, "Life History of a Fly" will soon be ex-
hibited. Nearly a half million persons visit the 600 " mov-
ies " in Chicago daily. The health department has been
quick to seize such an unrivaled opportunity to secure ai»
audience for a campaign of health education. (18)
34 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
1916
$7,324,803.90
$3,417,659.66
$1,490,249.24
School purposes for education and buildings $23,625,000
Public library, 1916, for maintenance 1,131,400
Scaled down under Juul law to $600,000
Municipal tuberculosis sanitarium 1,040,000
BACK- YARD PROVERBS
" Have you a ' swell front and a swill back ' ? Does your land-
lord, the janitor, do your neighbors, or you yourself, let waste and
garbage endanger the neighborhood through carelessness ? " — Dr.
G. B. Young, ex-Health Commissioner of Chicago. (19)
Dr. Young has issued some back-yard proverbs to impress his
meaning, reading as follows:
" Your back yard reflects your habits of cleanliness.
" What impressions are your neighbors getting from your back
yard?
" A dirty neighbor is a menace to neighborhood health.
" ' Personal liberty ' must of necessity be subservient to com-
munity welfare.
" A dirty neighbor will do more than most anything else to
depreciate residence property values.
GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO
35
<>''
aiiEATfflNQ 3)OLLS
THE- KECZSSITV'^' VZrriTJLATloif
Aia POIXVTIOlf OF A CLOStD -R-OOK
"If you value your reputation, your health, or your property —
keep clean and see that your neighbors keep clean."
The Fresh-Air Crusade. " Four breathing dolls, two
mamma dolls and two baby dolls, are booked to cover a
good part of the world as missionaries. They are apostles
of the fresh-air crusade.
It begins to look as
though they were destined
to do more for the cause
of ventilation and ^resh
air than all the talking
that all the doctors of the
world have done about
it.
''The breathing dolls
were invented and set to
breathing by Dr. C. St.
Clair Drake of the Chica-
go health department. ( 20)
They are connected by
rubber tubes with a little
electric pump that pumps
incense through their nos-
trils. You can see the
incense rise from them in
puffs, for all the world as
though they were breathing in frosty air. Two of the dolls
lie abed in a tiny room with windows and doors wide open.
Two lie abed in another tiny room with windows and doors
tight shut.
" One side of each of these rooms is a plate of glass.
And through these plates of glass whoever looks gets the
J^IS^TTAlti. IS J5EAXf£
Tsas tXUca rEE,3H ATE. IS JUS! rt^oix&
36 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
lesson of good ventilation slap in the face. One room is
full of smoke and vapor. The glass is clouded with mist.
You can hardly see the two dolls that lie abed there, and
you can't tell for sure whether they are still breathing or
not.
" The other has n't a visible particle of smoke or vapor
in it, except for the little puffs of incense that come from
the nostrils of the dolls. One room is full of fresh air.
The other is full of foul air. One room is well ventilated.
The other is n't ventilated at all. It is n't Hkely that any
one who once sees this graphic comparison will ever sleep
in a closed room again."
Fire Department. In the early 30's, v^hen Chicago
was only a village of frame shanties, the trustees expended
most of their energies planning to safeguard the village
from fire. No person was allowed " to endanger the pub-
lic safety by pushing a red-hot stove-pipe through a board
wall," or " carry open coals of fire through the streets ex-
cept in a covered fire-proof vessel." All citizens were re-
quired to keep a fire-bucket in the house and on an alarm
of fire, hurry to the spot equipped with said bucket ready
for immediate use. The village grew so fast a hook and
ladder company was formed in 1835 and the first fire-engine
was purchased for $894, a wonderful engine for that day.
Contrast the modern automobile fire-engine costing $9,000
now used by the city.
Chicago now values her fire-fighting equipment at more
than $3,000,000. At the head of the force, two thousand
strong, is the fire marshal, appointed by the mayor and paid
$8,000 for his hazardous work. His position is no sine-
cure ; he actually leads his men at many of the fires and must
be an experienced firefighter to hold his place. He has
■ GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 37
six assistant marshals, one of whom has charge of fire-
prevention work.
The entire city is divided into twenty fire districts, with
a chief and battalion of firemen in each district. The or-
ganization and discipline are military in effect, and Chicago
has the reputation of possessing one of the best organized
and bravest bodies of firemen in the country.
The equipment includes nearly one thousand horses, six
fireboats, steam and chemical engines, automobile-engines
and trucks, hook and ladder companies, and old-fashioned
hose carts. There is great need of a new high-pressure
water system to protect Chicago's sky-scrapers.
The anniversary of the great Chicago fire, October g,
191 3, was celebrated throughout the State by the inaugura-
tion of a fire-prevention day. Governor Dunne by procla-
mation recommended its observance. Property-owners
were urged to clean up their property so as to lessen the
hazard. Fire drills were held in many schools and shops,
and an effort made to have rubbish disposed of so that it
would not increase the fire risk.
Governor Dunne in his proclamation said : ** Statistics
show fire waste is increasing annually in the State of Illi-
nois, and last year it averaged $1,000,000 a month. Be-
sides this, nearly four hundred people in this State lost
their lives through the agency of fires. No nation or State
can long endure the waste and drain upon its resources due
to fire, and the fact that so many of them are largely pre-
ventable is a reproach to our people and needs immediate
attention and remedy." (21)
What can we do as public-spirited citizens to decrease this
appalling waste from fires? Here is another reason for
frequent "municipal house cleaning days."
38 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
POLICE DEPARTMENT OF CHICAGO
Under the ordinance, passed January 27, 191 3, for the
reorganization of the police department of Chicago, the
general superintendent, appointed by the mayor, with con-
sent of council, at a salary of $8,000, stands at the head.
" It shall be the duty of said general superintendent of
police to preserve the peace and secure good order and
cleanliness within the city of Chicago, and to that end he
shall enforce all laws and city ordinances and the orders of
the city council and the mayor."
It takes an army nearly five thousand strong to guard
the lives and property of the city, and it costs Chicago tax-
payers for this service over $7,325,000 this year.
The active force of men is now directed by the first
deputy superintendent under the new semi-military organi-
zation. The second deputy superintendent must not be a
member of the police force, but is of equal rank and salary
with the first deputy. Both are under civil-service rules.
The second deputy has charge of all departmental property,
records, inspections, and drills. He has charge of the
moving-picture bureau, the lost and found department, and
the supervision of moral conditions in the city. Should you
have any complaint to make about the conduct of the
policeman near your home, report to the second deputy su-
perintendent. He also provides a system of credit and de-
merit marks to be charged up to the men by their command-
ing officers during drills, both mounted and unmounted, and
these marks have a decided effect on their records toward
retention in the service and for promotion. This is one
way to secure good discipline among the force.
A brief account of the various bureaus under which the
' GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 39
department is organized will best show the great number
of services the force renders.
1 . Two motor-boats . rescue drowning persons, recover
bodies and property from the water.
2. Patrolmen assigned to the forty-five police precincts
into which the city is divided. These men cover the 199
square miles of the city's area.
3. Traffic squad. The pick of the force are assigned
to guard the street-crossings in the loop and they prevent
many accidents every day.
4. Mounted poHce — about 175.
5. Ambulance and patrol-wagon service. There are
police ambulances for accident cases in eight wards; many
automobile-patrols and automobile-ambulances are now in
use, a modern feature, increasing many fold the effective-
ness of this service.
6. Motorcycle squad for rapid service : to control speed-
ing on the city highways and for special strike duty. The
tracking of stolen automobiles is another useful service of
this swiftly moving squad.
7. Vehicle Bureau. Issues licenses to peddlers, public
automobiles, hack-drivers, garages, stables, and all motor-
cycles and express-wagons.
8. Bureau of Vagrancy. Arrests, brings to punishment,
or deports all suspicious persons and loiterers who seem to
have no regular business. The article, " The Forgotten
Army," by H. M. Hyde, Chicago Tribune, September 4,
191 3, gives a different view of Chicago's army of vagrants.
The article is well worth reading.
9. The Dog-Pound Master imprisons stray or vicious
dogs, looks after the dog licenses, and kills dangerous ani-
mals.
40 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
10. Detective Bureau identifies and keeps track of crim-
inals by aid of photographs (the " rogue's gallery "), finger-
prints, etc.
11. Moving-picture Bureau has the censorship of films,
postal and picture cards. This bureau suppresses hundreds
of indecent films and postcards every year. It also inspects
theaters and arcades. The movies furnish the only amuse-
ment within reach of a large part of the population of
Chicago. Over a half million men, women, and children
visit these shows every day. Of this number over 150,000
are children under fifteen years old. A strict censorship of
the films in Chicago is very necessary.^
12. Ten policewomen were appointed by the mayor July,
19 13, and placed on patrol duty in the dance halls, at bath-
ing beaches, and moving-picture theaters. ^^ They report to
the first deputy and are especially charged to look after un-
protected women, girls, and children. In each of the ten
police-stations where women arrested are taken, there is a
police-matron to have charge of such women. There are
now about seventy-five women officially connected with the
department.
13. Custodian of Lost, Stolen, and Seized Property.
About 5,000 packages of money, jewelry, clothing, revolvers,
bicycles, slot machines, were received by the custodian dur-
ing 191 5. More than $15,000 in cash was held in trust
by him. Slot machines and all gambling outfits must be
destroyed immediately. Revolvers and all dangerous
weapons taken mjust be dumped in the lake five miles from
shore. One of the police motor-boats is used to do this.
All unclaimed property is sold at public auction and the
proceeds turned into the police pension fund. It is well for
5 See Report Gen. Supt. of Police 1912, pp. 5 and loi.
''a There are now thirty policewomen.
' GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 41
citizens to understand what becomes of lost and stolen prop-
erty taken up by the policemen and that they must go to the
custodian's office in the city hall to recover such property.
Public Safety. Stop ! Look ! Listen ! ^ How can
each of us help to reduce the large and growing number
of street accidents? Every time we dart across the street
before the traffic policeman's signal ; cross the street, or even
a country road, without looking in both directions for autos
and teams; attempt to drive over a railroad crossing after
the warning signal has rung, or the flagman has given notice
the train is coming, we wilfully, to save two minutes' time,
run the risk of death, or even worse, being crippled for life,
by our lawless act.
Let us call things by their right names. We are law-
breakers when we run these risks, for no one has any moral
right to endanger his life and limbs in such a reckless
fashion. If private citizens would take half the pains to
guard their own lives that the city police department
through its fine traffic squad, and the railroad and street-car
corporations, take to protect and safeguard us, the death
harvest from preventable street accidents would be dimin-
ished fifty per cent.
Teamsters, truck-drivers, autoists, are finable if they dis-
obey the whistle of the traffic policeman. There should be
a similar ordinance giving the right to arrest and fine any
pedestrian who likewise disobeys the traffic signal. Until
the council puts such an ordinance into the municipal code,
all citizens can help reduce the dangers from Chicago's con-
gested streets many- fold if they will simply render implicit
® See article by F. V. Whiting, by this title " Outlook," August 23,
1913. Also Chicago City Manual for 1912, pp. 167-171; Mayor's
letter on " The Automobile and Motorcycle Peril."
42 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
obedience to the traffic signal — one whistle allowing all
vehicles to move north and south; two whistles, east and
west. The pedestrian's opportunity is when the city guard-
ian of public safety has halted one of the moving lines.
Chicago Railways Company has a Public Safety Bureau
and exhibits moving pictures to illustrate its safety direc-
tions. The company will gladly loan its films to any or-
ganization or school desiring to teach its useful public-safety
measures. A Public-Safety Commission of twenty-five
citizens was organized (September, 1913) by the coroner
of Cook County, to investigate the great number of deaths
in the county through accidents and to suggest ways and
means to enlist the public in a campaign to safeguard human
life on streets and highways.
SCHOOL SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
The board of education, of twenty-one members, five of
whom are now women, are appointed by the mayor, with
the consent of the council, and have entire control of Chi-
cago's great public-school system, with three exceptions.
The council must concur whenever bonds are issued, sites
purchased, or school buildings are erected. The board ap-
points the general superintendent, at present John D. Shoop
who succeeded Mrs. Ella Flagg Young, an educator, retired
since 191 5, whose work for the Chicago schools was re-
markable. In the words of Mrs. Young, the aim of the
school system is : " To invigorate and strengthen the chil-
dren for their future as citizens of this repubhc."
The first school building owned by Chicago was built in
1844 on the present site of the Tribune Building, Madison
and Dearborn Streets. This block is still school land.
The following quotation from Beard's American City
^GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 43
Government J p. 136, is a good illustration of the " un-
earned increment " in land values in Chicago and what in-
come the city schools might have had: " In 1818 — when
Illinois became a State — the United States government
gave the square mile between State, Madison, Halsted, and
Twelfth Streets, to the State of Illinois, to be held in trust
for the support of the public schools and the education of
the children of Chicago. Except for one block, between
Madison, Dearborn, State, and Monroe Streets, nearly all
this square mile was sold about seventy years ago, for less
than $40,000. Within fifteen years after it was sold this
square mile was worth $6,000,000. To-day its value
is hundreds of millions of dollars — without improvements.
The rent for this square mile of land would be sufficient to
support for all time the entire school systems of the State
of Illinois without an additional dollar of taxation." This
statement was made in 1909 by three former members of
the Chicago school-board. The *' unearned increment " is
the great increase in the value of land due entirely to in-
crease in population and in no wise to any effort or labor
on the part of the owner.
"If Chicago's standing army of 400,000 school children
were formed in military order, eight abreast, this army
would make a line fifty-two miles long — longer than any
street in the city." To care for this army, the city main-
tains three hundred public and high schools with seven
thousand teachers at an expenditure for 19 16 of $16,500,-
000 for running expenses and $6,000,000 for new school
buildings — a grand total of $22,500,000 for public edu-
cation.'^
"^ Much of this material was prepared in the form of charts by the
Chicago Woman's City Chib, through whose courtesy it is used here.
44 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
What has Chicago to offer in return for this vast sum,
which forms one-third of the taxes collected for all pur-
poses? A child may enter a kindergarten at five and pass
through the eight grades, then four years in high school,
and two years at the city normal (22) — should the boy or
girl desire to teach, — eleven years' training at public ex-
pense. A child may have physical, technical, manual, and
domestic-science training in addition to the regular mental
work, with music, drawing, painting, and all commercial
branches thrown in. For the workers who are ambitious
for an education, the city provides evening schools with a
regularly paid corps of instructors. October, 19 16, there
was a small army of 30,000, many over twenty-one, enrolled
in these " after-supper " classes.
Notice this list of special classes maintained for the deaf,
blind, crippled, and subnormal children; open-air and low-
temperature schools for tuberculous children; a parental
school for truants at Bowmanville, caring for three hun-
dred and twenty-five boys under fourteen; and a school at
the Juvenile Detention Home for delinquents; apprentice,
vocational, agricultural, and continuation schools. In
many of the crowded districts the schoolhouse is used as a
social center for the neighborhood and provides a free hall
for all kinds of public meetings, clubs, dances, and classes
of every kind, all under suitable supervision, often a paid
social director. The people of Chicago are beginning to
use their tremendous investment in school lands and build-
ings seven days a week and twelve months a year instead
of letting it stand idle one-third of the time.
What of the child who must leave school and go to work ?
The board of education holds out a helping hand to aid
him in finding a suitable job through a new bureau of vo-
- GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 45
cational supervision. This bureau keeps a list of employers
of child labor, investigates the positions, consults teachers,
employers, parents, and the child, and then tries to get the
young worker into a suitable position for which he is
naturally fitted.
CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY
Chicago owes her public library to the efforts of an Eng-
lishman, Thomas Hughes, who secured a donation of seven
thousand volumes in England immediately after the great
fire of 1 87 1 and persuaded even Queen Victoria to con-
tribute some of the books. The first volume of this col-
lection, bearing the Queen's autograph, is still exhibited in
the library if any interested visitor requests a view of the
book.
The present beautiful building houses over 400,(X>o vol-
umes and serves more than 100,000 regular patrons hold-
ing readers' cards. In the reading, circulation, reference,
public documents, civics, art, and children's rooms, the gen-
eral and special needs of readers are met. A recent in-
novation is a " study room for women," on the fourth
floor, to serve the needs of club women in preparing club
programs and for the study of topics included in all gov-
ernmental subjects of interest to the new woman voter
who desires to use her ballot intelligently.
The present librarian (23) won his position through com-
petitive examination — a pioneer experiment in civil-service
examinations for such difificult and important positions.
It proved a decided success in securing an efficient, pro-
gressive librarian.
A dozen branch reading-rooms, many in schools and field
houses in the parks, and several circulation centers are also
46 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
maintained. Many delivery-stations for the convenience
of readers in distant parts of the city are maintained.
The Hbrary is governed by a board of nine directors ap-
pointed by the mayor with the consent of the council, for
three years, and they serve M^ithout pay. The library is
supported by a special tax of one mill w^hich is levied on
all taxable property in the city, but this is scaled down
under the Juul law.
MUNICIPAL RECREATION
References :
1. Annual Report: Special Park Commission, Chicago, 1915.
(This shows what can be done with a small sum of money
wisely used.)
2. The Park Governments of Chicago, Chicago Bureau of Public
Efficiency, December, 191 1. (Following facts are largely based
on this admirable report. All the reports of the Bureau of
Public Efficiency are of exceeding value and interest. They
are supplied without charge to any one who desires them.)
Address the director, Harris S. Keeler, 315 Plymouth Court,
Chicago.
3. Map of the park districts of Chicago. (24)
" The Chicago park situation is unparalleled in any city
of this country." This bad condition is due to the large
number of independent park districts. Chicago is famous
the world over for its parks, playgrounds, and boulevards ;
but the city sadly needs consolidation of park management
under the city government. There are sixteen separate
park governments within the city of Chicago, not counting
the special park commission, an arm of the city government.
Fifteen of these governments are independent taxing bodies,
the Lincoln Park Commission having no separate taxing
power. Existing park boards now spend approximately
six million dollars annually. Do the people of Chicago re-
PARK DISTRICTS
AND PARKS
within the
CITY OF CHICAGO
UNDER CONTHOL OF
PARK COMMISSIONS
Solid BlBi;k
Large Park
Boulevard
Small Park g
Fieldhouse and Playgroand •
SmaU Park with Fieldhouse _
and Playground 13
Bathing Beach #
UNDER CONTROL OF
CITY GOVERNMENT
Park ^
Playground o
Bathing Beach O
Boundary of Park District .mmmi
Msion of Towns within ^— »
City
Prepared by
CniCAGO BUREAU Or
PUBUC EFFICIEKCT
1913
48 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
ceive dollar for dollar in value for this large expendi-
ture ?
Moreover there is a general statute, applying to territory
not within any existing park district, under which addi-
tional park districts may be established by petition signed
by one hundred voters, to the county judge, and a special
election to approve such petition for a park district. Five
commissioners are elected to manage the new district.
These commissioners have power to levy a special park tax.
The commissioners serve without pay, and may issue bonds
if permitted by the voters. This law applies to the entire
State and under its authority thousands of park dis-
tricts have been created.
The park districts of Chicago are very unequally divided
among the three sides of the city. The entire area is now
over 3,500 acres; but it is not distributed according to popu-
lation and the great needs of the people in the congested
wards of the West and Northwest Sides.
The park governments (25) as now organized can not
easily be controlled by the people of Chicago. The West
and Lincoln Park Boards are appointed by the governor of
Illinois and the South Park Board by the circuit judges of
Cook County. The park employees since 191 1 have been
under the civil-service rules of the State. Consolidation
of the several park governments with the city government
would centralize control and responsibility and make the
government of the parks more democratic. The saving
thus effected is estimated at a half a million of dollars a
year. That sum of money would go a great way in extend-
ing Chicago's system of small parks and playgrounds. The
special park commission under the city government does
wonders with its small appropriation from the city council.
- GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 49
The South Park Board has the great advantage of the im-
mensely vahiable property in the loop to tax and therefore
has more money than it can spend. This naturally leads
to extravagance and waste, while the crowded West Side,
with its congested foreign population, and dire need of
public recreation parks, swimming pools, and field houses,
is too poor to provide all these facilities unaided. The
only sensible method is to fit expenditure to needs and
spend the South Side surplus on West Side necessities.
Chicago's Problems. One of Chicago's most difficult
problems is the large percentage of foreign-born whites in
the city — now 35.7 per cent. If to these foreign-born
persons are added those of foreign or mixed parentage,
Chicago's percentage leaps up to 77.5. Chicago ranks third
among the cities of the United States in its population,
foreign born and of foreign-born parentage. New York
heads the list with 78.6 per cent.; Milwaukee has exactly
the same percentage — 78.6 per cent. ; Chicago is third,
with 77.5 per cent. (26)
In common with all large American cities, Chicago shares
the problems created by the presence of such numbers of
the foreign born, alien to our language and our ways, yet
eager to learn both and share in our opportunities for work
and the chance to make good in business and industry.
We must never forget our heavy debt to the strong muscles
and willing hands of these strangers in our midst. They
build and elevate our railroads, dig our drainage canals
and sewers; man our factories, build our sky-scrapers and
make possible all our great manufacturing industries.
They give us the best they have, their strength and health.
What return do we make for this necessary service? Too
often the slum district is our answer.
50 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
Chicago is face to face with large problems of municipal
improvement that must be solved soon, or the city cannot
go forward. A sanitary, economical, modern disposal of
garbage and all kinds of city waste heads the list, a system
big enough to care for every block in the city (27) ; rapid,
safe, cheap transportation that will distribute the working
population away from the congested centers into suburbs
where there is land suitable for homes; the best way to
** burn our own smoke " and clear the atmosphere ; the re-
demption of the lake front ; consolidation of twenty-two sep-
arate governments within Chicago: a suitable harbor —
these seem to be the most pressing of Chicago's problems.
John Fiske was right when he wrote :," The modern
city has come to be a huge corporation for carrying on a
huge business with many branches." It is coming to be
more human than a corporation and to mean a business
proposition plus social service.
SANITARY DISTRICT
Of the sanitary commissioners and sanitary district
trustees, throughout the State, the most powerful and the
best paid are those of the sanitary district of Chicago.
Study the map of the sanitary district, p. 51. The san-
itary district of Chicago is a municipal corporation created
by the act of 1889 to provide a drainage system for the
"preservation of the public health" by purifying the wa-
ter supply. This is to be accomplished finally by turning
all the sewage in the sanitary district into the drainage canal
and away from Lake Michigan.
The excavated portion of the sanitary canal begins at
Robey Street, Chicago, and runs about thirty miles to the
controlling works at Lockport. Fifteen miles of this main
MAP
Of rHE
S/)N/mRy DISTRICT
CHIC/)GO
A/Ofi7?f SHOPS CMNf/£L
Cy)LUMET-SA6CH/iN/V£L cr^oe/t cowxvcrw^
o/STK/cr. rocooKCOUNTy
ANO c/ry o^ CM/CAS o
SeoAfo/Af//»s
» « « » -♦ *
52 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
channel is cut through soHd rock. It cuts through the
watershed, once a glacial moraine, at Summit, Illinois, and
reverts to preglacial conditions by reversing the current in
the Chicago river and causing that river to flow west and
south instead of into the lake.
The entire canal is one of the most remarkable in the
world owing to difficulties surmounted in its construction
and 'to its purpose. The canal was opened by admitting
the required amount of water from Lake Michigan in
January 1900.
There are nine trustees elected for six years, in the
November elections, only three being chosen at once. The
original act has been amended several times to increase the
territory included in the district and the powers of the san-
itary trustees by allowing them to develop and sell the
electric power created by the canal. The sanitary board
sells the electricity developed at Lockport, and the cities of
Joliet, Lockport, and part of Chicago are lighted from this
current : also the Chicago City Hall ; Lincoln Park, West
and South Side systems (in part), and the County Build-
ing. It costs about fifteen cents an hour to light brilliantly
the council chamber of the Chicago City Hall from this
municipally generated electric current — a striking illus-
tration of the difference in cost of a commodity manufac-
tured by a public instead of a private corporation.
The sanitary trustees have very large powers of taxation
and bond issue. The employees of the district are not un-
der any civil-service law, and appointments are largely made
for political instead of merit reasons. The man who con-
trols the vote gets the " job " every time ! This is a seri-
ous defect in the law because of the millions of dollars ex-
pended by the sanitary board. The drainage canal has
'•^- GOVERNMENT OF CHICAGO 53
cost the people over eighty-five millions already, and con-
tracts are pending in the construction of the Sag-Calumet
branch canal that call for many millions more. Such huge
expenditures demand honest, efficient work and strict ac-
count of every dollar spent if the tax-payers get a just
return for their money. The salary of the trustees is large
— $5,000 annually — and the president of the board has
$7,500. These increased salaries have been in force since
July I, 191 1. (Rev. Stat., 1912, ch. 24, sec. 346.) This
is another reason the work of the board should be carefully
watched and only men of the highest character, who will
serve the public faithfully, be elected as trustees. (28)
28 refers to non-partizan organization of Council Committees. See
pp. 224-225, Appendix D.
CHAPTER III
TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS IN ILLINOIS
References :
1. Forman: Advanced Civics, ch. xxvii.
(Hist, town and township government in general.)
2. Forman: American Republic, chs. xxiii, xxiv. (In general.)
3. J. A. Fairlie: Town and County Government in illinois; Re-
port Joint-Leg. Com., 47th Gen. Ass'y, 1912, Vol II.
4. M. H. Newell : Township Government in Illinois, 1904. 111.
Hist. Pubs., No. 9, pp. 467-504.
5. Revised Statutes, ch. 139.
I. Meaning of Terms. There is great confusion in
the use of the terms, tozvn, toumship, civil and congressional
townships, and incorporated town throughout the State.
The following definitions are based on the Revised Statutes
and decisions of the Illinois Supreme Court :
The terms town, township, and incorporated town are used in
various ways to describe (i) geographical and (2) civil or gov-
ernmental divisions of the county or State, as follows:
" I. The term township, or its abbreviation town, is used to de-
scribe a geographical division of land, approximately six miles
square. This is also known as a congressional township, because
its boundaries were determined by the United States governmental
survey under an act of Congress.
" 2. The term township, or its abbreviation town, is also used
to designate a civil division of the county. This civil township,
or town, is an involuntary governmental agency; that is, it is im-
posed upon the people living within the territory which it em-
54
TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS IN ILLINOIS 55
braces by a vote of the electors of the entire county, rather than
by a vote of the electors who live within its boundaries.
"3. The term tozvn, or incorporated town, as it is more fre-
quently used, denotes a municipal corporation which in all essen-
tial respects is identical with the municipal corporation known as
a village.^ The incorporated town or village differs from the civil
town or township in that it is a voluntary municipal corporation
organized by the voters living within the territory included in the
town or village, whereas the simple town or township is an invol-
untary governmental agency, as explained above."
II. How Towns Are Formed. Any county in Illi-
nois may be divided into towns whenever a majority of the
voters at any general election approve the proposition. In
that case it is the duty of the county board to appoint three
commissioners to make the division. The commissioners
must make the towns coincide with congressional townships
if possible and must select names for them; but no two
towns in the State may have the same name.^
"In 1910 there were 1430 civil townships, or towns, in the
eighty-five counties of Illinois under township organization.
Most of them are rural communities with a population from 1,000
to 2,000. But, except in Chicago, where the townships have been
practically abolished since 1903, the Illinois townships include
cities and villages within their geographical limits; so there are
a number of townships of from 10,000 to 60,000 population. The
township of Joliet, for instance, contains 16,000 inhabitants out-
^ " This does not mean that the powers of a village organized under
the Cities and Villages Act may be exactly the same as the powers of
an incorporated town, because the incorporated town, in most cases,
was incorporated under a special act of the Legislature passed prior
to the constitution of 1870 and under and by virtue of which the town
still exercises such power as it has. A special charter like this might
confer other or different powers than those conferred upon a village
organized under the Cities and Villages Act."
2 Rev. Stat., ch. 139, sec. 1-7.
56 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
side of the city of Joliet. There are also eight cities in Ilhnois
coextensive with townships — East St. Louis, Springfield (Capitol
Tw'p.), Evanston ("Town of the City of Evanston"), (i) Rock
Island, Moline, Macomb, Berwyn, and Belleville. The village of
Oak Park is also coextensive with the township of the same name."
The city of Cairo is coextensive with the election 'pre-
cinct of the same name. Cairo's county, Alexander, is a
" non-township " county. These facts illustrate the truth
of Dr. Fairlie's conclusion that the " system of local gov-
ernment in Illinois as a whole is more complicated and con-
fusing than in any other State." ^
III. The Town Legislature. The General Assem-
bly of the State and the county board are representative
bodies elected by the voters. On the other hand, in the
town the law-making body is the voters themselves assem-
bled in a town- or mass-meeting. This means a pure
democracy and is the only instance of such kind of govern-
ment in Illinois. The annual town-meeting is held the first
Tuesday in April. This is the months for all regular local
elections in Illinois except that for the county officers, which
occurs in November at the same time as the election for
State officers, congressmen, United States senators,^ and
Presidential electors.
Towns lying wholly within the limits of a city elect town
officers on the same day as the city elections, the third
Tuesday in April, except in Chicago, Evanston, and several
3 Town and County Government in Illinois, by John A. Fairlie, in
Report of Joint-Legislative Com., 47th General Assembly, 1912, Vol.
II. Also see article, same title and author, in Annals Am. Acad., May
I9I3> PP- i-4> 9-12. Dr. Fairlie's reports are classics on the very
difficult subject of local government in Illinois.
* Seventeenth Amendment, Constitution U. S., 1913. Popular elec-
tion U. S. senators.
TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS IN ILLINOIS 57
other cities where the old towns are practically abolished
and the work of the town officers performed by the city
officials. The business of the town-meeting, presided over
by a chairman called a moderator, is now very slight : to
elect town officers, hear reports, provide for keeping the
roads clear of stray cattle, and a few other duties. The
town government is for rural communities, and is very much
out of date for cities and large villages. In New England
and in the rural counties of Illinois under township or-
ganization, the town-meeting is still " a school for citizen-
ship."
IV. Town Executive Officers. The town officers
are a supervisor (with assistant supervisors in the more
populous towns), tozirn clerk, assessor, collector, now
elected for two-year terms ; ^ three commissioners of high-
ways, elected for three years, one retiring each year ; ^
justices of the peace and constables, from two to five ac-
cording to population, elected every four years. These
town officers are paid by the day for actual services, or by
fee. It would be much better if they were paid annual
salaries and required to render strict account of all fees
received. There is a town hoard of health, consisting of
the supervisor, assessor, and town clerk. Also a board of
toivn auditors, made up of the supervisor, clerk, and justices
of the peace, that examines all accounts of the town
offices.
Supervisor. In counties under township organization,
except Cook County, the supervisor acts in two capacities :
as chief executive for the town and as a member of the
county board. As a town officer he handles all town funds
5 Since April, 1910. Rev. Stat., ch. 139, sec. 154.
6 May elect only one, if voters of township choose.
58 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
except school money ;'^ is ex-officio overseer of the poor,
and provides temporary rehef for persons in need, or ar-
ranges for their care in the county infirmary (poor house).
In towns of more than 4,000 population there may be a
special poor master appointed by the county board. In
this case there is little left for the supervisor to do, because
the town tax levy is only a few hundred dollars. The
average for 1912, outside of Cook County, was only $615.
Town Clerk keeps the records of town-meetings and
all books, and papers for the town ; certifies to the county
clerk the amount of taxes required for town purposes and
acts as clerk for the highway commissioners.
Assessor places a value on all taxable real estate within
the town and distributes and receives all personal property
schedules.^ The election of town assessors frequently il-
lustrates the " survival of the unfit," because they get re-
election on the promise to assess property in the town low,
regardless of needs.
Collector receives all general taxes in the township and
pays them over to the proper officers, retaining his per-
centage for collection.^
Highway Commissioners (one or three, as the town-
ship decides at an election), levy the road and bridge tax.
This road tax must now (1913) be paid in money. A poll
(head) tax, from one to two dollars, may be levied for
road or bridge building. ^^ This is the only poll tax ever
levied in Illinois. (See Chapter IV, The County.)
"^ Will act as town treasurer after April 1914, and custodian of the
road and bridge money. Session Laws, 1913.
^ See ch. v, The Public Pocketbook, p. 91
^ See ch. v, The Public Pocketbook, p. 95.
^^ State Aid Good Roads Law, in force, July i, 1913.
TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS IN ILLINOIS 59
Justices of the Peace ^^ and Constables are the judi-
cial officers of the town. There must be at least two in
each township, so that a case may be changed from one
justice's court to the other if any partiahty is shown either
party in the suit. This is called " change of venue." The
number of justices and constables can not exceed five. Al-
though elected in the township, their jurisdiction extends
over the entire county.
The jurisdiction of a justice of the peace is limited to
petty, civil and criminal cases involving not more than $200,
or where the punishment is by fine only, not over $200 and
costs. They may try violations of the dram-shop law,
cases of assault, or assault and battery; but they may ex-
amine any case and bind the offender over to await the ac-
tion of the grand jury. This will hold him in the county
jail until his trial unless he can secure bail.
Justices also have the right to perform marriage cere-
monies. They may put any violent or disorderly person
under a bond to keep the peace. Justices are paid by fees
and this is often a source of much injustice and petty graft.
Our petty courts would be much improved if justices of
the peace and constables were paid fixed salaries and the
fees collected went into the town or the county treasury.
The orders of the justice of the peace are enforced by the
constable. It is his duty also to keep peace in the town and
arrest offenders. In counties without towtiship organiza-
tion, the justices and constables are chosen in each elec-
11 Ridgeville Township had the distinction of having the first woman
as justice of the peace in Illinois, Mrs. Catherine Waugh McCulloch,
of Evanston. She was elected April 1907, and reelected April 1909.
She held an office for which she could not vote herself, a curious
anomaly. Two other women have been elected justices of the peace
in Illinois since Mrs. McCulloch's election, but she was the pioneer.
6o ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
tion district into which such counties are divided by the
county board.
Town officers do their most important work as agents of
the State and county governments, especially in the assess-
ment and collection of taxes.
" Non-Township " Counties. There are seventeen
" non-township " counties in Illinois. These seventeen
counties have assessors, collectors, highway commissioners,
justices of the peace, and constables elected in " road dis-
tricts " and " election precincts " into which these coun-
ties are divided by the county board. They do not have
supervisors or town clerks because the duties of these of-
ficers are performed by the three county commissioners
and the county clerk.
The following comparison of the peace officers in cities
and towns is of value:
DIFFERENCES, POLICEMAN AND CONSTABLE
Policeman Constable
1. Has regular hours, a " beat," Has none of these.
or place to patrol, and a
uniform.
2. Can serve warrants only. Can serve all writs.
3. May arrest on sight. Must have a warrant.
4. Has relation to criminal ac- Has relations to both criminal
tions only. and civil actions.
5. Executes orders of a mayor. Executes orders of a judicial
officer as police magistrate,
justice of the peace, or judge.
6. Jurisdiction is the city. Jurisdiction is the county.
7. Is appointed by chief of po- Is elected in each township;
lice and the mayor; usually number depends on popula-
under civil-service rules. tion and cannot in Illinois be
more than five.
8. Term is good behavior. Term is four years.
TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS IN ILLINOIS 6i
V. Township Survey Systems. The old colonial
system of surveying land was very crude and unsatisfactory.
The old boundaries were trees, even stumps, a " quart of
charcoal buried under a certain tree," and similar remov-
able marks. Confusion of ownership resulted, and many
lawsuits over the title to land. The rectangular system of
surveys now in use throughout the West was adopted by
Congress (1785) and is called the " simplest of all known
modes of survey." Thomas Jefferson was chairman of
the committee in Congress that proposed this system and
therefore the plan is often attributed to him; but the real
originator was Thomas Hutchins, the first surveyor-gen-
eral of the United States. (Currey, Hist. Chicago, Vol. I.)
1. Congressional Townships. Nearly all public land
in the West is divided into townships of six miles square
" as near as may be," called congressional townships.
Some prominent geographical feature, as the mouth of a
river, is taken for a starting point and through this is
drawn a meridian line running north and south, known as
the principal meridian. Through this line at some selected
point and at right angles to it is run another line called the
base line. Starting at the intersection of these two lines
the surveyor measures off distances of six miles on both,
and through these points runs new intersecting lines. The
squares of land thus formed contain 36 square miles, " or
thereabouts," and are the congressional tozunships, bounded
by the lines running north and south, east and west.
2. Sections. Each township is subdivided by a further
series of similar lines into 36 squares, each containing one
.square mile (640 acres), called a section. Each section is
generally divided still further into quarter-sections of 160
acres each; these tracts of land are often subdivided. All
62 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
these divisions are described by the points of the compass.
The sections in a township are numbered east and west, west
and east, alternately. The northeast section is always No.
I and the southeast section is always No. 36.
A Township with Sections Subdivisions of a Section,
Numbered.
Diagram A.
6
5
4
3
2
1
7
8
9
10
11
12
18
17
16
15
14
13
19
20
21
22
23
24
SO
29
28
27
26
25
81
32
33
34
35
36
Diagram
B.
NE>^
SW^
*
^
^
NEV40F
SEV4
t
tt
sv2°^SEy4
3. Problems. Describe divisions marked, *, *, f, tt,
and give area of each.
Locate the following pieces of land:
1. Nw]^ nw^ S6.12
2. Ei^ s^ S12.
3. N^ ne^ S36.
4. S>4 nj^ sw>4 S27.
5. W^ se^ Sio.
7. Se^ sw^ S15.
8. Sy2 wwYa Si.
9. S^ sw^ S7.
10. S>4 s^ sw^ S31.
11. Ne^ ne^ S35.
12. Read and explain:
Tp. 41 n R. 14 e 3rd P. M.
Note, — This is the congressional or school township, for the city
of Evanston. It has two school districts, Nos. 75 and 76. Find the
number of your township and school district.
VI. Convergence of the Meridians. Converging
meridians, because of the convexity of the earth, make
12 S6, Si 2, etc., refer to the section number.
TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS IN ILLINOIS 63
necessary new base lines and guide meridians every forty-
eight miles in the latitude of Illinois in order to correct
the discrepancies in the size of the townships. Six of the
principal meridians of the United States are numbered and
the remaining eighteen are named. The greater part of
Illinois is surveyed from the third principal meridian run-
ning through the mouth of the Ohio River. Its base line
crosses it at Centralia in Jefferson County. Parts of Illi-
nois are surveyed from the second and fourth meridians.
Every civics pupil should understand the township survey
system used by the United States Government. An ex-
cellent account of the township survey system is found in
Government of Illinois, by Harry Pratt Judson, pp. 30-
37. See also Currey, Hist, of Chicago, Vol. I, pp. 226,
227; James and Sanford, Government in State and Na-
tion, Revised Edition, pp. 280-283; also Townsend, Illi-
nois and the Nation, ch. i. Any commercial arithmetic
will also give space to the topic.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS
(For pupils living in counties under township organization.)
1. When is your township election?
2. What township officers do you elect?
3. How do you care for the poor in your township?
4. How many townships in your county?
5. Bound the one in which you live.
6. (a) What was done at your last town-meeting? (b) How
many voters attended? (c) Ought the town-meeting to be abol-
ished? (d) Who would do its present work? (Ask the town
clerk to let you see the report of that meeting.)
7. What does it cost to run your township?
8. For what is the money spent?
9. Can women vote for township officers in Illinois? Can they
serve as township officers?
64 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS'
10. For what offices are women especially fitted? (Give rea-
sons for your answer.)
11. Has your township good roads? If not, how can you get
better ones ?
12. How do bad roads increase the cost of living?
13. Who are the justices of the peace in your township?
14. Who assesses the property in your township?
15. Who collects the taxes in your township?
CHAPTER IV
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
References ;
1. Town and County Government in Illinois, J. A. Fairlie, in Re-
port Joint Legislative Committee, 47th General Assembly, Vol.
II, pp. 76-132. This is by far the most thorough report on
this subject. Get from Secretary of State, Springfield.
2. Annals American Academy, May 1913, is devoted entirely to
county government and is very valuable.
3. Greene: Government of Illinois, pp. 95-99.
Local government is " neighborhood government," or
" home rule." The county, city, village, township, sani-
tary, school, and park districts are the local governments
in Illinois and perform the duties of social, or community,
service.
The county is the largest local government within the
State, and touches the lives of the greatest number of peo-
ple. Illinois has 102 counties, ranging in area from less
than 200 to over 1,000 square miles, and in population from
1,000 to over 2,400,000. The principal work of the
county in Illinois is to
(i) Levy and collect taxes.
(2) Administer justice.
(3) Have charge of the local charity service.
(4) Have charge of elections.
See American Republic, pp. 163-165. How many of
the officers there named does your county have? (Write
66 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
your county clerk for a copy of the county budget, or ap-
propriation bill, to answer this question.)
County Boards. County boards in Illinois are of
three types : A board of three commissioners elected at
large in the seventeen counties not under township organi-
zation ; a board of supervisors, elected one from each town,
in the eighty- four counties under township organization;
a board of fifteen commissioners in Cook County, ten
elected from Chicago and five from the rest of the county.
The boards of supervisors are frequently too large for
efficient government, La Salle County, for instance, having
over fifty members.
" Non-Township " Counties. There are seventeen
non-township counties now in Illinois. They are generally
small in area and are in the southern part of the State.
The list includes Alexander, Calhoun, Cass, Edwards,
Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Menard, Monroe, Morgan,
Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Scot, Union, and Wabash.
In 1907, two counties, Henderson and Williamson, adopted
township government by popular vote. These seventeen
counties elect three county commissioners for a term of
three years, one being chosen each year. This board of
commissioners is the chief executive and legislative author-
ity in the county, holding five regular meetings each year
to transact all county business. These " non-township "
counties are divided into precincts for election purposes
and road districts for highway purposes.
County government in Illinois shares the faults of such
government throughout the United States, and is too often
a " tax-eater " without showing commensurate benefits.
It is " like a big touring-car with the engine going, the
clutch on, but no driver in the front seat." A " driver "
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 67
is too often found in the county boss who distributes the
county patronage. Complete relief can only come through
amending the State constitution.
Three things need to be secured to make county govern-
ment more efficient in Illinois :
A. Unity of organization (fewer officers).
B. Administration by experts.
C. Simplicity of citizenship through a shorter ballot.
(Elect fewer officers on one ballot.)
" You can not get good service from a public servant
if you can not see him, and there is no more effective way to
hide him than by mixing him up with a multitude of others
so that they are none of them important enough to catch
the eye of the average work-a-day citizen." — Roosevelt's
Columbus Speech, IQ12.
Study the duties of the executive and judicial officers of
the county through those of Cook County. Are any of
these officers omitted in your county? About eight coun-
ties outside of Cook have a separate probate judge. Half
a dozen counties, notably Adams and Sangamon, have a
special juvenile court and a separate juvenile detention
home.
The usual county officers are the county board, sheriff,
coroner, county clerk, treasurer (who also acts as asses-
sor in the non-township counties), superintendent of
schools. State's attorney, county surveyor, county judge,
clerk of the circuit court, who also acts as recorder unless
a county has more than 60,000 population, when a recorder
of deeds is elected. In each county outside of Cook there
are elected from nine to thirteen officers.
68 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
COOK COUNTY
Early History. Cook County was organized by act
of the General Assembly, January 15, 1831, in the " winter
of the deep snow," and included the present counties of
Lake, Dupage, Cook, and Will.
The county was named in honor of Daniel P. Cook,
formerly Illinois representative in Congress. The little
town of Chicago, not yet incorporated, was made the county
seat. In June of the same year the Legislature granted
the new county twenty- four canal lots containing land which
had been given to Illinois by the United States to encour-
age the construction of a canal to connect the Great Lakes
and the Mississippi. Part of these lots were sold to defray
the current expenses of the new county, but eight lots were
set aside for a public square to be always used for govern-
ment buildings. This square is now the site of the Court
House and City Hall and was originally a gift to the new
county from Illinois. On this block of land was erected
the first public structure, called the " Estray Pen," a small
wooden, roofless enclosure, the first *' pound." See Gov-
ernmental History of Chicago, by Hugo S. Grosser.
In the autumn of 1835 the first court house was built
on the Clark and Randolph Street corner of this public
square. It was a small one-story brick building with a base-
ment in which were the county offices, while the court
room, seating two htmdred persons, occupied the floor
above. That insignificant brick building, contrasted with
the present five-million-dollar court house on the same site,
is a symbol of the growth of Cook County in eight decades.
Area and Population. The area of Cook County is
over 1,000 square miles. It ranks third in Illinois in size
i i
^._i ^._L
COUA/rV OF COOK
c/ryoFCH/c/)60
5/iOiV/A/(S TO^//JWP3
Prcpartd B<f
CHICA60 auHSAU or PUBLIC irnottcY
J9I3
See Appendix D, p. 225, note i, ch. III.
yo ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
(McLean and LaSalle are larger), although first in popu-
lation. The population of the county, outside of Chicago,
is about 200,000. Chicago has now over 2,400,000 in-
habitants.
Townships in Cook County. There are thirty-seven
townships in Cook County, eight of these lying wholly
within Chicago and their town governments since 1903
have been largely merged in the city. There are also sev-
eral consolidated townships like " Town of the City of
Evanston," which was formed, 1916, by vote of the county
board from parts of Niles, New Trier, and Evanston.
Consult ch. iii on Tozvns and Tozvnships.
GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY
Study the Chart of the Government of Cook County,
p. 87, in connection with this chapter.
County Board, (i) The county board of Cook County
consists of fifteen commissioners, ten elected from Chicago
by the voters of the city and five from the county outside
of Chicago. The voters choose at the same election a presi-
dent of the county board who must also be elected as a
commissioner. This officer must be voted for twice, once
for commissioner and again for president of the board
(Act of 1893). The appointments of the president of the
board must be confirmed by the commissioners except three
civil-service commissioners, who are named by the president
alone. The board must let all contracts for work to be
done, after advertising for bids, to the lowest responsible
bidders. As these county contracts involve millions of dol-
lars, this is a wise precaution.
Term. The term of office of Cook County commis-
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 71
sioners is now four years beginning with the first Monday
in December, 19 14, when the new board took office. (Act
General Assembly, 191 3.)
Duties. The principal work of the board is connected
with the annual budget, which must be passed by March
I St each year. The board is divided into standing commit-
tees named by the president, and their titles show their
duties: public service, finance, roads and bridges, legisla-
tion, building, and civil service. The deputy comptroller
of the county acts as clerk of the board at all its meetings
and is responsible for the minutes or records. The powers
of the Cook County board are very exactly stated in the
Revised Statutes, ch. xxxiv, art. 62.
Executive Officers. The president of the county
board presides at all meetings but casts only his regular
vote as a commissioner. There is no way to settle a tie
except by reballoting. He appoints the warden of the
county hospital; superintendent of the poor (house and
tuberculosis hospital at Oak Forest ; three civil-service com-
missioners ; ^ the county agent, who administers all outdoor
rehef and any special help needed by old soldiers and sailors
or their families; superintendent of the Juvenile Detention
Home, who has always been a woman, although the law
does not require it; superintendent of public service, who
buys all supplies for the county offices and institutions;
county attorney, who acts as legal adviser for the board
and represents the county whenever suits are brought
against it ; county architect, who draws the plans and over-
sees the erection of all buildings owned by the county.
1 Cook County had the first woman civil-service commissioner in
Illinois, Miss Anna E. Nicholes, appointed by President McCorniick,
February i, 1913. (2)
72 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
Any appropriation of money over five hundred dollars
must be passed by a two-thirds vote, (lo) of the board.
The president has the right to veto any item he chooses in
the annual appropriation bill, and such items can only be
restored to the budget by twelve votes, or four-fifths of the
board. In the hands of a vigorous president this power
is capable of doing much good in defeating " salary grabs
and pay-roll padding " on the part of a corrupt majority
of the board members.
The Cook County budget for 19 13 had about nine hun-
dred items vetoed by President A. A. McCormick, the larg-
est use of the veto power ever made by a Cook County presi-
dent.
The budget as finally adopted carried appropriations for
more than $15,295,000 for 1913. Any governing body
that has the legal right to spend over $15,000,000 ^ of
public money in one year — 19 13 — ought to be well
known, carefully chosen, and diligently watched by every
citizen.
Sheriff. The sheriff is the arm of the judge, or
" court messenger," because he carries out the orders of
the judge. He sells property for debt; takes a prisoner
to jail, or hangs him, if the judge so orders. To help keep
peace in the county, the sheriff appoints deputies (in 19 16,
28, and 128 bailiffs, similar to special policemen, to serve in
the courts), but he is responsible for their acts. He ap-
points the jailer of the county jail and is responsible for
the care and safe-keeping of its prisoners. By act of
Legislature, 1905, if a person in the custody of the sheriff
is lynched, the governor shall remove the sheriff from
ofl[ice.
2 Cook County appropriation bill, 1913, p. 11, total appropriations. (3)
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 73
The contract for feeding the prisoners in the jail is now-
let by the superintendent of public service to the lowest
reliable bidder and costs Cook County, this year, $30,000.
Formerly the sheriff was paid twenty-five cents per day
for feeding each prisoner and had all he could make.
The office of sheriff was then a fee office and worth from
$75,000 to $100,000 a year, one of the " richest plums on
the county political tree." Since 1909 a salary of $9,960
has been given the sheriff and the fees are now paid into
the county treasury. Why is this a better arrangement?
The sheriff and county treasurer can not be reelected. Why ?
County Clerk. The county clerk holds three offices
because of his election to the office of county clerk. He is
ex-officio comptroller and must make all estimates of ex-
penses for every department of the county government;
is clerk of the county court and responsible for its records
although he does none of this work personally; keeps all
important county papers and the county seal; issues mar-
riage licenses; issues hunting licenses for the state. For
his work on the taxes, see ch. v, pp. 97-98. He maintains
three separate offices to perform these varied duties as
county clerk, comptroller, and clerk of the county court,
and employs several hundred men and women, none of
whom is under civil-service rules. Only a few of the more
experienced employees are appointed strictly because of
efficiency.
County Treasurer, zvho is ex-ofUcio county collector.
He pays out as well as receives all county funds, on the
warrant of the county comptroller. His bond hereafter is
not to be less than $3,000,000, but in justice to the treas-
urer, the expense of carrying such a heavy bond is to be
borne by the county. Formerly one of the unsolved puz-
74 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
zles in Cook County government was the amount the treas-
urer received for his services as county collector for delin-
quent taxes. The law provided an utterly inadequate salary
for the office and allowed a certain percentage of the delin-
quent tax collections for the various towns in the county.
The legislature of 19 15 amended the law by providing a
fixed salary of $9,960 for the treasurer and hereafter all
fees and percentages received from this office must be paid
to the county.
The law also allowed the treasurer to pocket all the in-
terest paid by the various banks on the county funds de-
posited with them. The exact amount was unknown, as the
treasurer always insisted the interest agreement was a pri-
vate matter between the banks and himself. Here also the
statute has been amended and now all such interest on pub-
lic funds will belong to the county in simple justice to the
taxpayers.
Coroner."* If a person is found dead under any sus-
picious circumstances, or there is no physician's certificate
stating cause of death, then the coroner, or his deputy,
must investigate. A jury of six persons is summoned and
an inquest is held by examining witnesses to determine the
cause of death. If evidence of crime is disclosed, a war-
rant for the suspected person is sworn out by the State's
attorney. Arrest, indictment by the grand jury, and the
trial may follow, if such suspected person can be found.
The coroner is the only person who can arrest the sheriff,
and he acts as sheriff if the latter at any time is unable to
serve.
^American Republic, p. 162.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 75
The two offices are the oldest in the entire county, and
date back to the Enghsh *' shire reeve " and " crowner,"
the king's personal representatives in the shire, or county.
Recorder. All deeds and mortgages must be re-
corded at the county seat. In Cook County a special offi-
cer is elected for this v^ork, but in most counties the county
clerk is ex-officio recorder of deeds. The county and
State must know who owns every parcel of land within its
borders, and whether there is a mortgage on it. Why is
this necessary ? How does such a record protect the owner
as well as the county and State ?
Superintendent of* Schools. For the duties of this of-
ficer, see chapter on Public Education, p. 168. He is par-
ticularly required to supervise and assist the rural schools.
Beginning September 191 3, the Cook County superintend-
ent has appointed five rural directors, each one to have
charge of the country schools in his district comprising the
different townships in the county. These directors are
to oversee the teaching of agriculture in the country
schools; to encourage the wider use of the schoolhouse as
a social center, and direct the forming of corn clubs, vege-
table-canning, fruit- and chicken-raising clubs among the
boys and girls. This movement to help the country school
educate the country boy and girl for the farm life, not
away from it, is one of the hopeful signs of the growth of
practical education in Cook County rural schools.
Surveyor. Whenever necessary, the surveyor deter-
mines the right boundaries of property by a survey. He
is paid by fees. Why elect such a petty officer ? His name
only encumbers the ballot.
State's Attorney. The State's attorney, elected for
four years at the general election in November, is the pub-
y(y ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
lie prosecutor and legal representative of Illinois in Cook
County. His office is of great importance because he must
prosecute all offenders indicted by the grand jury if they
are ever punished. If the State's attorney is weak or dis-
honest, the county will lack protection against law-break-
ers. A faithful State's attorney is a terror to criminals.
He appoints his own assistants, — at present about forty —
and unfortunately often uses this power to reward political
friends, and the administration of justice in the county
often suffers from lack of able legal service. Should the
State's attorney fail to do his duty, any one of the judges
may name a special State's attorney and grand jury to in-
vestigate and prosecute any case. Such a special attorney
and grand jury were named by one of the circuit judges
(July, 1913) to investigate charges of fraud in the general
election of November 5, 1912. Indictments resulted. A
general election is one where any State officer is elected.
STATE COURTS IN COOK COUNTY
There is a circuit, superior, appellate, criminal, and
juvenile court in Cook County, all of which are State
courts, but serving that county alone. There are thirty-
eight circuit and superior judges elected in the county, any
one of whom may hold court. The number of judges de-
pends on the Legislature, which also fixes their salaries;
for Cook County, $10,000 (4), half to be paid by the State,
half by the county.
The circuit judges are all elected the first Monday in
June, the superior judges at different times. The term
of both is six years. The jurisdiction of each court in-
cludes civil and criminal actions, and cases appealed from
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS yy
the justice, county, and municipal courts. The judges
themselves select certain of their number to sit in the crim-
inal court and one judge to preside over the juvenile court,
where boys under seventeen and 'girls under eighteen are
tried and the cases of dependent children settled.
Clerks of the Courts. There is an elected clerk, each
at a salary of $9,000, for the circuit, superior, criminal,
appellate, and probate courts; the term is six years, and
they are elected in November. In the interest of econom-
ical, efficient government, these clerks ought to be appointed
by the judges of the courts they serve and the judges held
absolutely responsible for the work of their appointees.
The three appellate courts for Cook County will be de-
scribed under the judicial department of Illinois.
Juvenile Court. This is one of the State courts of
Cook County. The " right hand " of the judge is the chief
probation officer, chosen after a competitive examination
and paid $3,000 per annum. There are now (1916)
over eighty assistant probation officers, men and women,
selected in the same manner as their chief. Their work is
to watch over and befriend the delinquent and dependent
children, boys up to seventeen, girls to eighteen years of
age, committed to their charge as " wards of the court."
(Look up the meaning of " delinquent " and " dependent.")
Cook County has the honor of possessing the first
juvenile court in the world, established by act of the Gen-
eral Assembly, 1899, preceding the Denver, Colorado,
court (Judge Ben Lindsey) by six months. Circuit Judge
Richard A. Tuthill was the first " kid " or " kindergarten
judge," as his associates dubbed him, and organized this
noted court.
The juvenile court in Cook County has the additional
78 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
distinction of having the first woman assistant to the judge
in the State, Miss Mary E. Bartelme, who acts as assistant
to Judge Arnold and hears all cases of delinquent girls.
Miss Bartelme was appointed by Judge Pinckney in March,
19 1 3. Her " legal position " is more like a master in
chancery and the judge enters all orders of the court.
The Juvenile Detention Home is a temporary home for
all children awaiting the action of the court, and is sup-
ported equally by Chicago and Cook County. A careful
physical examination is given every child on entrance (5),
and medical and dental treatment when necessary.
The home is under the charge of a woman superintend-
ent, selected through competitive examination, and there
are five teachers furnished by the board of education, two
each for the delinquent boys and girls and a kindergartner
f6r the dependent little children. In 19 14 a new school
building was erected by the Chicago board of education
exclusively for the children in the Juvenile Detention Home.
The building provides a gymnasium, shower baths, court
playground, manual training and domestic-science equip-
ment, library, and all the facilities of a modern schoolhouse.
The need of such a school building was great. (6)
The probation department of the juvenile court is or-
ganized under four divisions: Field, Probation, Child-
Placing, and " Funds to Parents." The latter is popularly
called the " Mothers' Pension " division, and was difficult
to administer, because the law was loosely drawn. A new
law, carefully drawn, was later passed and has proved work-
able. The persons eligible, amount of pension, previous in-
vestigation required, are now clearly stated in the new law.
The Pension Fund is administered through a committee con-
sisting of the chief probation officer, the head of the Moth-
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 79
ers' Pension department and the County agent. This com-
mittee with the probation officers decide amount of pension
to be granted each worthy applicant. The county board ap-
propriated $185,000 in 19 16 for this Parents' Pension Fund.
During November, 191 5, there were 1,728 children under
fourteen years of age in the families receiving funds in
Cook County. The families numbered about five hun-
dred and forty and the average amount given per child was
$8.52 for the month. A visiting housekeeper advises these
mothers about the best way to spend this money for the
best good of the children.
The object of the law is a good one: to keep families
together and enable widowed mothers with small children
to care for them at home, instead of being obliged to put
them in a public institution. Great care in administering the
law is necessary to prevent pauperizing worthy families. (7)
Four types of children come before the Juvenile Court —
truants, defectives, dependents and delinquents. Truancy
cases must be handed over to the school authorities. How-
ever, the probation officer works with the truant officer to
save the child from a life of vagrancy or crime.
Formerly the greatest difficulty was with the defective
type. Under the new law of 191 5 to provide care for the
feeble-minded, children so afflicted can be sent to a public
or private institution, or placed under a guardian with pa-
rental powers. If the judge so orders, — after a commis-
sion of three, two of whom must be experienced physicians
— or one may be a psychologist, have passed on the cases,
— " the children can be placed in custody of the state for
life, thus protecting communities against their depredations
and also giving the children needed care."
The Juvenile Court should be enrolled as a preventive
8o ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
agency. The probation officers are the means of settling
a large number of cases out of court by bringing parents
or guardians and children in friendly fashion before the
chief probation officer so that the boy or girl can then be
placed directly under the charge of a probation officer.
Thus a formal complaint to the court is avoided and the
child is saved from the disgrace of a trial. (8)
The county judge is elected for four years and holds
the county court. He appoints the three jury commission-
ers for Cook County; hears all cases of persons said to be
insane and assigns them to one of the State hospitals for
the insane. To assist him in this work he calls a jury of
six persons, only one of whom must be a physician. Judge
Owens three years ago summoned juries of prominent
women to hear the cases of women and girls said to be
insane. Their good work won recognition because they
were the first women jurors in Illinois. Cases of non-sup-
port and desertion also come under the jurisdiction of the
county judge. See Charity Service Cook County, p. 85.
The county judge hears cases of election frauds and is
responsible equally with the election commissioners for
carrying out the election laws. Civil suits involving sales
of property for taxes come before the county court.
Probate Court, or " Orphans' Court."
I. General Statement. This court is held by the probate
judge, elected for four years by the voters of Cook
County. Seven counties now have a separate probate
judge. The work of the probate court is to probate
(prove) wills; appoint guardians for minors with
property and for adults, incapable through insanity
or drunkenness, of managing their own property; ap-
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 8i
point an administrator to carry out the terms of a
will where no executor is named in the will.
II. Procedure in Probating a Will.
a. Petition to judge for probate: will must accompany peti-
tion.
b. Citation (summons) to persons interested.
c. Hearing the proofs by judge:
1. That testator is dead.
2. That testator was of sound mind and not unduly influ-
enced when making the will.
3. That it was the last will and testament.
d. Admission to probate and letters testamentary issued by
judge to executor. Why?
e. Executor sends notice to creditors.
f. Executor has inventory of estate made.
g. All claims against estate audited. Why?
h. Division of property according to will and recording of all
transfers of real estate in county recorder's office.
Give a reason for each of these steps.
There are three general divisions in probating a will:
1. Proving the will.
2. Paying the debts.
3. Dividing the property.
III. Procedure where Person Dies Intestate, that is, where No
Will is Left.
a. Petition to judge for administrator.
b. Proof of death of person (doctor's or coroner's certificate).
c. Letters of administration issued.
d. Remaining steps same as for will except final division of
estate is according to law, which recognizes only heirs.
IV. Suggested Questions on Wills.
I. What is a will? Must it be in the handwriting of the
testator ? How can a person who can not read or write
make a will?
82 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
2. Why must there be witnesses? How many? Must they
know the contents of the will? Can they be remem-
bered in the will ?
3. If a witness dies before the testator, how may the will
be proved?
4. What is a codicil?
5. What is the difference between an heir and a legatee?
6. Why is it better to make a will?
7. What hinders a guardian from abusing his trust?
8. How can an animal be a legatee? An institution?
Jury Commissioners. There are three jury commis-
sioners, appointed by the judges of all the courts in Cook
County; salary not over $1,500. Old soldiers must have
preference in appointments. The jury commissioners must
keep on file a Hst of men eligible for grand and petit jury
duty in the county and State courts. At least 15,000 cards
containing the name, age, occupation, nationality, of men
eligible for the juries are in a large swinging box, hung in
a frame, in the jury commissioners' rooms. The names
for the cards are secured from the poll lists kept by the
election commissioners. Sixty thousand names, eligible
for petit jury duty, are kept on file all the time and a sepa-
rate list of three thousand men owning real estate, eligible
for the grand jury.
Hozv Juries are Drawn. The clerk of any court re-
quiring a jury goes to the commissioners, and after the
violent shaking up of the box containing these cards, he
draws out as many as his "panel" (number of jurors
needed) calls for. Then venires (summons to appear as
jurors) are served on these men.
The jury commissioners have succeeded in securing bet-
ter men for jury service in Cook County and in saving time
for the judges.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 83
CHARITY SERVICE OF COOK COUNTY
The charitable institutions of Cook County are the larg-
est in the United States, those in New York being under the
city. More than one-half of every dollar of taxes appro-
priated by the county board each year goes to support
the charity service of the county. This fact alone ought
to kindle the interest of every citizen in his or her county
government. The list of charitable institutions follows:
a. Infirmary or poor house at Oak Forest. This insti-
tution shelters 3,000 old and infirm persons. It is located
southwest of Chicago on the county farm of 355 acres in
Bremen Township. A very successful farm is run in con-
nection with this institution. The labor is provided mainly
by the inmates and the farm furnishes large quantities of
fresh vegetables in season for the Infirmary and Tuberculo-
sis hospital. A flourishing poultry yard, an orchard, vine-
yard, greenhouses and cannery prove Oak Forest is moving
toward partial self-support.
b. County hospital. The new hospital building, when
completed, will have 2,700 beds and will be the second larg-
est hospital in the world. Physicians and surgeons come
from all over United States, Canada and even South Amer-
ica to visit or study in this hospital. Medical students in
Chicago are ambitious to be admitted as internes because of
the great opportunities for study and practice.
r. Psychopathic or Detention hospital, on the west side,
\? for the temporary care of men, women, and children
thought to be insane and waiting until the county judge
and a jury pass on their mental condition. A new modern
hospital properly equipped to care for these pitiable cases
was built in 19 14 at a cost helow the bond issue — a very
84 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
unusual fact where buildings are paid for from tax-money.
This hospital has recently established a department of
psychiatry (9) for the study and treatment of mental dis-
eases. Here can be sent cases of nervous disorders border-
ing on insanity where wise, kindly treatment may restore
the patient to normal life without the stigma resulting from
commitment to an insane asylum.
d. County agent administers the outdoor poor relief and
gives temporary relief to the poor in their homes. With
the advice and assistance of the G. A. R. posts, he distrib-
utes county aid to needy soldiers and sailors and their fami-
lies. The county is spending (in 19 16) over $574,000 in
outdoor relief through the county agent's office. (10) An
earnest effort is being made to prevent misuse of this large
sum by compelling certain unworthy " political poor " to go
to work. It is estimated a hundred thousand dollars will
be saved and not a single worthy family be turned away.
e. Juvenile Detention Home for Delinquent and De-
pendent Children is described under the sections on the
Juvenile Court of which the Home is a necessary part.
Sangamon and Adams Counties also have such homes con-
nected with their juvenile courts.
f. Adult-Probation Officers.^ These adult-probation of-
ficers are to have oversight of " first offenders " and
young prisoners who are too old for the juvenile court yet
show desire to reform. These prisoners may be paroled
to an adult probation officer for six months or a year and,
if proved deserving, may be dismissed by the circuit judge
at the end of their parole without further punishment.
Part of the earnings of such paroled persons must go to
people dependent on them for support, and part to make
* Act in effect, July i, 191 1.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 85
good any losses their crime caused. This proves their
determination to do right and their fitness for complete
freedom. The law is very carefully drawn and ought to
accomplish much good if wisely administered. It is under
the supervision of the circuit and municipal court judges.
g. Cook County maintains two large hospitals to care for
cases of tuberculosis, one connected with the County hos-
pital for cases that are counted incurable, or where the
patient is too near death to endure the long trip to the
County farm, and the larger hospital with 800 beds at Oak
Forest. This hospital is on the cottage plan and in 191 5
admitted over 1,500 patients. Within two years the hos-
pital population has doubled, which proves the growth of
public confidence in the institution and in its power to cure.
The long campaign against the " white plague " is bearing
fruit. Each year more people in the incipient stages of tu-
berculosis seek the help offered by the Oak Forest Hospital.
h. Bureau of Social Service of Cook County was created
by the County board March i, 19 16. It combines all the
public welfare and social service work of the county under
one director, at present a woman and a trained social worker,
who is under civil service protection as are all the twenty
employees of the bureau. The organized divisions are ( i )
Non-Support, dealing with cases of deserted mothers and
children, or where because of physical disability crippled
children and aged parents are unjustly thrown on public
charity. This division collects from relatives financially
able to contribute toward the support of such cases, about
$1,000 each week of the year and thus saves the taxpayers
about three times the appropriation for all the work of the
Bureau of Social Service. (2) County Jail division. This
deals with cases of boys between 17-21, too old for the
86 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
juvenile court and held to the grand jury, often for a first
offense. Their cases are investigated and as a result, the
boy is often paroled to an adult probation officer and sent
back to work, thus being saved the degradation of weeks in
jail in contact with vicious men. (3) Psychopathic division
to investigate home conditions and family histbry of the
cases committed to the Psychopathic hospital. Such inves-
tigation is very necessary before a case can be successfully
treated by the hospital staff. (4) Oak Forest division to
look into the cases of children sent to the Infirmary and
Tuberculosis hospital. In the past, large numbers of crip-
pled and feeble-minded children were sent to the Infirmary
which is not supposed to keep them. The state has now
made more suitable provision for their care and it is the
duty of this division of the County Bureau of Social Service
to see that the state law is carried out and that such children
are committed to proper institutions. (5) Tuberculosis
Survey of Tozvnships in Cook County outside Chicago.
Within that city, the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium
and the health department are responsible for such survey.
The county survey is part of Cook County's preventive cam-
paign against this wide-spread disease. (6) Investigation
of releases from the Lincoln State School. The title of
this division explains its work. Before a feeble-minded
child or adult is released from state custody, careful investi-
gation is needed to determine whether the person set at
large is capable of self -direction and will not be a menace
to any community receiving such person. (7) Marriage
and divorce statistics from which officials can obtain valu-
able information on which to base future legislation.
THE VOTERS OF
COOK COUNTY
Elective Officials I I Ins+i+u-tions or Appointive Officials
President Included b. Elected bij their respective Townships
Prepared by Chicago BureaQ of Public Efficiency, 1913
Chart of organization of the government of Cook County, Illinois,
showing lines of authority and- salary rates for elective officials.
I M I I ; i ! CHAPTER V
] \ . '
' THEl PUBLIC POCKETBOOK: HOW IT IS FILLED i
: M : M ■
References i '
1. Revenue Law, Revised Statutes, ch. 120; consult index at be-
ginning chapter.
2. Report Special Tax Commission: J. A. Fairlie, 1910.
J 3. Greene : Government of Illinois, ch. ix.
\ 4. Garner : Government in United States; Supplement, pp. 28-32.
5. A. Tax-Payer's Calendar: County Clerk of Cook County,
Chicago.
1 '
General Statement. The main source of Illinois' rev-
enue is the general property tax, levied on real and per-
sonal property. The most striking feature of this tax is
the legal recognition in the revenue act of the State of the
undervaluation of real and personal property for assess-
ment. Since 1909 the " taxable value " has been one-
third of the " fair cash value."
Corporations. Corporations in Illinois are subject to
taxation in the same manner as individuals; but railroad
and telegraph property is assessed by the State Board of
Equalization. Each county, however, is allowed an assess-
ment for the miles of track lying within it. The same is
true for the telegraph companies on their mileage of poles
and wires in each county.
1 Much of this material is given through the courtesy of Mr. Charles
Krutckoflf, head clerk under the Cook County board of assessors.
THE PUBLIC POCKETBOOK 89
Sources of Illinois' Revenue. The income of the
State of Illinois is derived from:
A. General tax on property of individuals and corporations.
B. Seven per cent, on gross income of the Illinois Central Rail-
road. By the act of 1851, on all its charter lines in the
State, the Illinois Central is to pay annually to the State,
7 per cent, on the gross receipts of the corporation. This
payment is in lieu of any other tax on valuable lands given
the railroads by the State, and is supposed to be a perpet-
ual agreement. Illinois receives over $1,200,000 annually
from this source.
C. Tax on gross premiums of all life insurance companies.
D. Inheritance tax on all property probated in the State. This
is easy to collect because the value of the property is a
matter of record in the probate court. The tax is a grad-
uated one; widows and children pay less than more distant
relatives.
E. Certain fees and miscellaneous items, as fines. Towns and
road districts may levy a cash poll tax of from one to two
dollars for road purposes only. Illinois has never had any
general poll tax as many other States have. (Session
Laws, 1913.)
Property Exempt from Taxation. The State of Illi-
nois is liberal in kinds of property exempt from general
taxation. Such property, however, must pay its share of
any special assessments levied. The classes of property
exempt are:
A. All public school lands and buildings.
B. Other educational institutions of all kinds; e. g., the Art Insti-
tute in Chicago, Northwestern University at Evanston.
C. Churches; parsonages if owned by the church.
D. All government property.
E. PubHc libraries: e. g., Newberry and John Crerar in Chicago,
as well as the city-owned public library.
F. Cemeteries.
90 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
Terms Defined. (To be carefully learned.)
A. Real property : lands and buildings.
B. Personal property : movable and " intangible " prop-
erty; e. g., cattle, threshing machines, furniture, auto-
mobiles, sewing machines, watches, stocks, and bonds,
etc.
C. Personal property schedule : a list of the kinds of per-
sonal property for purposes of taxation.
D. Assessment of property : putting a value on property
for purposes of taxation. Assessed value is one-third
the market value.
E. " Levying a tax " : saying how much money must be
raised in a certain locality to run the government.
F. " Computing the rate " : finding how much must be paid
on every hundred dollars of assessed value of the prop-
erty.
G. " Extending the taxes " : multiplying the assessed value
of the property by the rate of taxation and entering
same in tax-collector's book.
H. Special assessments are taxes levied for some special
purpose, as paving a street, laying a sewer or water
main, and are only paid by the property benefited by
the improvement. These taxes frequently form the
heaviest ones against city real estate. They are usually
paid to a special officer called city collector^ and are
never included in the general property taxes.
Assessment of Property in Cook County. (General
features are the same for all other counties in Illinois.)
A. Personal Property.
I. Cook County has an elected board of five assessors —
term six years — to have entire charge of the assess-
THE PUBLIC POCKETBOOK 91
ment of real and personal property in the county. In
counties under township organization, outside of
Cook, the elected town assessors make the original as-
sessment subject to review by the county treasurer.
In the seventeen non-township counties, the county
treasurer is ex-officio assessor and may appoint deputy
assessors.
2. The personal property schedules may be sent by mail,
or delivered by a deputy assessor. In Chicago they are
always delivered by the deputy assessors. These depu-
ties are appointed by the board, or elected by the legal
voters of the township: they are appointed in Chicago
and in Ridgeville Township (Evanston), but elected in
the remaining twenty-nine townships in the county.
3. Owner of property must fill out schedule by putting
down fair cash value of his personal property. Sched-
ules must be returned to the assessor by mail or in
person. In either case they must be sworn to before
a notary. After delivery of schedules from five to
fifteen days are allowed before adding the legal fifty
per cent, to the deputy assessor's estimate of the value
of the property. This is only done where the owner
neglects, or refuses, to fill out his personal property
schedule.
Personal property schedules returned are accepted
by the board of assessors. In the busy months of
March and April there are from 250 to 300 men under
the head clerk of the board of assessors, in the work-
room and outside. Need of a thoroughly trained, ef-
ficient force of men for all this work is very apparent.
From the field book a careful copy is made of all
values on to cards called " slips."
4. All the items and values given on the personal property
schedules are absolutely copied on to the Personal Prop-
erty Tax Warrant. The thirty-eight separate columns
on this Personal Property Tax Warrant are added to
find total value of all the personal property in the
county.
92 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
5. After this tax warrant is completed, the board of asses-
sors sign sworn affidavit as to its authenticity and this
statement is attached to the warrant. An alphabetical
list of every personal property tax-payer in a district,
with full cash value of his movable, or personal, prop-
erty, affixed, is mailed by the board of assessors to
each tax-payer in the county. Every one can thus know
how much he is assessed on his personal property and
compare it with his neighbor's assessment. These
lists form the basis of the complaints made to the board
of review. Get such a personal property list for your
township if you live in Cook County.
B. Assessment of Real Estate in Cook County.
I. The assessment of real property is made in a different
way, to the bewilderment of the tax-payer. In coun-
ties outside of Cook, the assessments are all reviewed
by the county treasurer. In all counties except Cook,
the real-estate books are only made in duplicate. In
Cook County the county clerk makes the real-estate
books in triplicate every four years. The books are
called A, B, and C. Book A is for the county clerk.
Book B is for the assessors. Book C is for the board
of review. The county clerk, puts the legal description
of each parcel of taxable property in each of the three
books. Real-estate books are filled out by assessors
only once in four years (i), and sent to the county
clerk. Each year the assessors simply add the im-
provements made and new buildings erected during
that year and note all fire losses. There are about
13,000 new buildings erected annually in Chicago.
Assessors also keep careful track of all estates pro-
bated and note who receives all such property when
divided. They ought to work in conjunction with the
probate court and the recorder's office, if all county
departments worked for the best, most efficient service
to the tax-payers of the county.
THE PUBLIC POCKETBOOK 93
2. When the assessors have filled out the actual and as-
sessed value of every parcel of taxable real estate in
the county for the first year of the quadrennial period
and entered same in the three books, they are sent to
the board of review for their corrections, if any are to
be made.
Book A alone is sent by the board of review to the
county clerk. Book B then stays four years with the
board of assessors, and Book C stays four years with
the board of review.
Work of the Board of Review. This board of three
men, elected for six years, hears all complaints of individual
tax-payers. Their salaries are large — $7,000 — and they
only give about two months of their time each year
to the work. The reason for the large salary is not ap-
parent. Between July 7 and August i these complaints,
on prescribed blanks, must be filed in person at the rooms
of the board. August is given to hearing these com-
plaints.
The assessors' warrants are sent to the county clerk
from the board of review as fast as they are completed and
all are finished about September 15.
Work of the State Board of Equalization. The State
board of equalization equalizes assessments of real and
personal property between counties in the State and also
assesses railroads and certain corporations, and the State
auditor reports these values to the various county clerks.
Each of the 102 county clerks in the State sends the lists
of real and personal property for the county to the State
auditor, who is a member of the board. The board now
numbers twenty-six: one member elected from each con-
gressional district, and the State auditor is a member ex-
officio. The members are chosen in November for a term
94 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
off four years each. The annual meetings are held in
August.
Their work is also to assess railroad tracks, or " right of
way," and their rolling stock — cars and locomotives — and
to assess capital stock of Illinois corporations. The local
assessor looks after the property of foreign corporations
doing business in the State.
The work of the board is done through committees and
largely through " star chamber " methods. Its rules of
procedure are over forty years old and its work is clumsy
and inefficient. " It should be abolished and a small tax
commission appointed by the governor substituted." ^
Work of County Clerk (on Personal Property). The
county clerk is obliged to copy all names, addresses, and
assessed values (since 1909 one-third of the real value) of
all personal property in Cook County from the assessor's
personal property tax warrants sent him from the board of
review. This is called the " collector's warrant."
Computing the Rate. The county clerk computes the
rate of taxation by dividing the amount of tax to be raised
in any township or taxation district by the assessed value
of all the taxable property in that district including per-
sonal property, real estate, certain railroad property, and
capital stock of corporations. Each taxing body (except
the State of Illinois) certifies its tax levy, or amount
needed from the taxes, to the county clerk for this very
purpose. There are about four hundred different taxing
bodies — townships, school districts, cities, villages — in
Cook County. The rate of taxation has to be found sepa-
rately for each of these bodies, because there is some taxing
2 Report, Special Tax Commission, John A. Fairlie, Secretary, No-
vember 1910.
THE PUBLIC POCKETBOOK 95
body, for instance, a small park district in one city or vil-
lage, that is not included in any other, thus making a dif-
ferent rate for that district. The assessed value of each
piece of taxable real estate in the county is multiplied by
the rate and the amount entered in the assessor's books
opposite the description of the property. The amount of
a tax-payer's personal property tax is found in the same
way, using the sam.e rate, and is also entered in the asses-
sor's books. The sum of these two amounts makes the
total of a property-owner's taxes, except special assess-
ments, — a large exception if you live in a city.
To still further complicate the process, the rate for State,
county, township, sanitary, school, and park districts must
be computed separately, by a similar process. It is easy to
understand in Cook County, where the difficulties are the
greatest, why the county clerk's office employs three hun-
dred men during November, December, and January, the
busiest season, for all the complicated work of " extending
the taxes " and entering them in the assessor's books.
When the work is finished the county clerk sends the books
to the collectors, and the work of the tax-payer begins.
Collection of Taxes. This is easy compared with the
assessment of property and extension of the taxes just de-
scribed. Taxes are due on and after January 2 annually.
In all counties under township organization, including Cook,
taxes are payable to the tozvn collector until about March
IK- Within Chicago, taxes are payable to the county col-
lector, who is also the county treasurer. In the seventeen
southern counties not under township organization the
sheriff is tax collector.
Delinquent Taxes. Taxes are delinquent April i
and must all be paid to the county collector. Interest at
96 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
I per cent, a month is added after May i as a penalty for
tardy payment. Two per cent, of the delinquent taxes
collected may be retained by the county collector as his
lawful fee. This ought to be remedied by a law giving the
county collector a fair salary and having all such fees paid
into the county treasury. (2)
If the taxes are unpaid August i, the county collector
and the county clerk, or their deputy, must sell the real
estate at public auction for the taxes.
Redemption of Property. The owner has two years
in which to redeem his property at the office of the county
clerk by paying arrears of taxes and all other fees incident
to the sale. After the two years are up, the owner can
only recover his property by making a bargain with the
purchaser, who meanwhile holds a tax deed for the prop-
erty.
Restrictions on the Taxing Power. The Legislature
can not contract any debt for the State beyond $250,000,
unless the people, by a referendum vote, approve such bond
issue. All local taxing bodies in the State are limited by
the constitution, or the laws, in respect to the amount of
taxes they may levy. Except by vote of the people, county
boards can not levy a tax of more than 75 cents on each
$100 of the assessed value. City governments are limited
to 2 per cent, of the assessed value of property within their
boundaries; school-boards are limited to 5 per cent, on the
assessed value of property in the district (school buildings
excluded), and park and sanitary districts are equally
limited. These percentages are for annual expenditures;
the debt limit, or right to issue bonds for public improve-
ments, etc., is in addition to these percentages. This works
special hardship on a large city like Chicago, and prevents
THE PUBLIC POCKETBOOK 97
many greatly needed public improvements being started.
The General Assembly of 19 13 passed an amendment to
the Juul Law which will give some relief by allowing cities
to levy larger taxes and thus gain an increased income by
1914.
Conclusion. This cumbersome and complicated sys-
tem of assessing property, the taxing of personal property,
and the undervaluation of all property, leads to dishonesty
on the part of the owners, who never think of reporting
all their personal property at its full cash value. Conse-
quently, taxes in Illinois fall heaviest on conscientious
people, while rich property owners generally escape their
just share of taxation.
Illinois greatly needs a thorough revision and simplify-
ing of her revenue act and an amendment to the constitu-
tion to make such revision effective. But to amend our
constitution seems almost an impossibility.^
The local assessors and the county employees for the as-
sessment and collection of taxes deserve much credit for
better work than could be expected under the handicaps of
such a confused and complicated law. The Legislature of
19 1 5 refused to provide a small tax commission to super-
vise and simplify our system of taxation. (3) The Legisla-
ture also later refused to abolish the board of equalization.
ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL
Get copies of Personal Property Tax Warrant, Personal Prop-
erty Schedule, list of personal property tax-payers in your town-
ship with the amount of their personal property; a copy of the
county collector's warrant — blank sheet, — tax receipts, etc.
Get the assessor to fill out a sample real-estate assessment on a
well-known piece of property in your township, or school district,
* Amendment of the Illinois Constitution, pp. 19&-200.
98 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
and notice what is entered on the assessor's book. If possible,
visit the office of the county collector and see the tax books for
your school district.
Get a copy of the newspaper in your county with the advertise-
ments of real estate to be sold for delinquent taxes.
Assessment of Personal Property, Town of Ridgeville (4), for 1915.
Board of Assessors Board of Review
$3,213,438 $3,066,627
The assessed or one-third value of Real Estate, bounded by
Rush Street bridge to Twelfth Street and from Lake Street to the
river, for 1915 : (5)
Board of Assessors Board of Review
$213,215,572 $194,455,379
The assessed or one-third value of Real Estate in the City of
Evanston for 1915:
Board of Assessors Board of Review
$10,525,606 $10,233,200
The tax rate in school district No. 75 is divided as follows:
State $ .55
County 59
Sanitary 42
City of Evanston 1.85
High School 1.25
Public Schools 2.27
$6.93
The above rates are the total rates of all tax levies, except for
park purposes and are on each $100 of assessed value of property-
CHAPTER VI
ELECTIONS AND THE BALLOT
References :
1. The Election Laws of Illinois, issued by the secretary of State;
also by election commissioners of Chicago; also issued by
county clerk.
2. The Session Laws of 1913, pp. 307-333 : for 1915, pp. 393-399-
Principal Election Districts.
A. Congressional, to elect one representative for Congress.
The number depends upon the population as deter-
mined by the Federal census taken every ten years.
At present there are twenty-five Congressional dis-
tricts, because the last General Assembly failed to
reapportion the State. Nevertheless, Illinois has
twenty-seven Congressmen on account of the in-
crease in population, and the two additional are
elected Nov., even years, ** at large," or by the entire
State, instead of by districts.
B. Fifty-one Senatorial, to elect one State senator and
three State representatives for the General Assembly
at Springfield.
C. Seven Judicial districts to elect one judge each for the
State supreme court.
D. Eighteen circuit districts to elect three judges in each,
except the eighteenth (Cook County), where twenty
circuit and eighteen superior judges are now
chosen. Appellate judges are appointed by the su-
99
loo ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
preme court from elected circuit judges, and the four
appellate districts into which the State is divided
are only for the purpose of holding sessions of the
appellate court, assigning judges, and electing a clerk
of the appellate court.
E. School districts, to elect three school directors and three
trustees in country districts, or members of boards
of education in villages and small cities.
F. Precincts, subdivisions of v^ards to provide sufficient
polling places for elections in cities.
Qualifications of a Legal Voter in Illinois.
A. Citizen of the United States, either native born or
naturalized.
B. At least twenty-one years old.
C. Three residence qualifications.
1. One year in the State. .
2. Ninety days in the county.
3. Thirty days in the election district. In the city
this means a precinct; in the country, a town-
ship; in the seventeen non-township counties,
an '^ election precinct." These five provisions
are in the State constitution and can not be
changed without an amendment, in the case of
the election of any constitutional officer.^
They apply to women voters exactly the same
as to men.
^ These same qualifications have generally been prescribed by the
Legislature in the election of other officers whose places have been
created by the Legislature. This has not always been the case, as
under an agricultural drainage law of 1885, "adult owners of real
estate " were the only qualified electors in such drainage districts.
ELECTIONS AND'THE BAlLWTf : ' loi
Election Officers! (for Chicago). Three election
commissioners are appointed by the county judge for three
years. The board must be bi-partisan, no more than two
from the same party. The salary is $4,000 per year. The
chief clerk receives $5,000 per year and there is an assistant
chief clerk at $3,000 per year. The real work of the board,
as usual, is done by these employees. The duties of the
board are to appoint all the judges and clerks of election,
have charge of all printing and the distribution of the bal-
lots, of the ballot-boxes, polling-booths, registration lists,
the selection of polhng-places, counting the ballots, and all
work connected in any way with an election. The county
judge has legal supervision over all elections. Chicago
had 2,191 precincts at the elections in November, 19 16.
Each precinct contains 300 voters - as nearly as may be,
and its polling place must have one booth for each seventy-
five voters. For this reason you usually find four polling
booths in each polling-place. There are three judges and
two clerks appointed for each precinct, paid $5.00 (Cook
County) per day for four or five days' work, (i) In the
election districts in the counties, except Cook, the pay of
election officers is only $3.00 per day.
Registration (in Chicago). There are two general
registration days, Saturday and Tuesday, four and three
weeks before election. An amendment to the primary law
adds two new registration days, one before each primary
election in February and September (Session Laws, 1913).
The three judges of election in each precinct form a board
of registry. Each voter must register in person at the poll-
ing place in his precinct, giving name, residence, age, nativ-
ity, citizenship in the United States, to the judges of elec-
2 In country districts, there are about 400 voters to a precinct.
102 /ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
tion. These registration' lists are verified afterward by
the two clerks of each precinct acting as canvassers. The
revised lists are sent to the election commissioners in the
city hall, who order the names and addresses, arranged by
streets and blocks, printed. Other information obtained
is kept secret, such as the ages of women voters register-
ing!
Any voter on application can get an accurate list of all
legally qualified voters in his precinct without charge.
These lists are used by all the political parties through their
precinct captains and election workers to check up the vote
and aid in getting voters to the polls on election day.
Registration in Country Districts. Wherever the
" Cities and Villages Election Act " has not been adopted,
e. g., in Evanston, Blue Island, Washington Heights, the
county board appoints three judges of election for each
election district and each judge appoints one clerk. The
three -judges form the board of registry for the district and
meet three weeks before the election. At this time it is
their duty to make a new registration list by transferring
from the poll lists of the last general election the names
and addresses of all legal voters of the district and adding
thereto any new names of which they have knowledge.
A voter may send by mail to the judges on registration
day his name and address and that of his neighbor, if he
chooses, and the judges will register such names. These
lists are verified by the clerks, printed and posted in some
conspicuous place where any one can consult them.
It will be noticed that registration is much more informal
and less exacting in the country districts than in Chicago.
The restrictions on voting, in a great city full of stran-
gers and containing a large floating and foreign-born pop-
ELECTIONS AND THE BALLOT 103
ulation need to be much more severe than in a small
city, or in the country where neighbors know each other
well.
Primary Elections. The Illinois General Assembly
passed the present primary election law at a special session
in 19 10. The law was due largely to the efforts of Gov-
ernor Charles S. Deneen, who called a special session of the
Legislature for this purpose. A primary election allows
voters to nominate directly candidates for office, and places
such popular nominations under a law similar to the regular
election law. The present primary law is the fourth passed.
Three have been declared unconstitutional by the supreme
court.
At the primary held in February, April, or September,
according to the office to be filled, every voter must declare
his party publicly before he is allowed to vote for the
nomination of candidates for office. If he has voted for
the candidate of any other party within two years preceding
the primary election, or has signed a nominating petition
for any independent candidate, or a candidate of another
party, he can not vote at that primary. Voters must not
change their minds about their party affiliations oftener
than once in two years.
These are bad provisions and keep many voters away,
from the primaries, where their votes are needed to nomi-
nate suitable men for office. The Illinois primary law is
planned to encourage partisanship and discourage independ-
ent voting, a distinctly bad policy, that tends to destroy
the good effect of a primary law. The principle of the
primary law is admirable, and represents a long step in
advance because the rank and file of a party now have some
direct control through the primary election over the nominar
104 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
tions of candidates and the choice of party committees.
Should any one desire to run as an independent candidate
for office, he can still do so by getting a petition signed by
a prescribed number of legal voters, the number of signa-
tures depending on the office. But as long as we are not
allowed non-partisan ballots at either the primaries or the
regular elections, the independent candidate labors under a
very great disadvantage, as he lacks the powerful aid of
the organized machinery of the regular parties and the help
of a party campaign fund. The chances of election of the
candidate nominated by petition are exceedingly slender.
Illinois has great need of a non-partisan election law that
will do away with the party circle for all judicial, city,
town, county, and sanitary district elections. Such a bill
was defeated in the last Legislature.
Committeemen for Political Parties. The law also
provides for the election of a precinct committeeman in
each precinct and one member of the State central commit-
tee of each political party from each congressional dis-
trict in the State. These elected committees now control
the party ; but the old congressional, county, and State con-
ventions (2) are still retained to draw up platforms, discuss
party management, and select delegates for the National
nominating convention that selects the candidates for Pres-
ident and Vice-President.
The Election. Description of the Ballot. Since 1891,
all voting for officers in Illinois has been by ballot, and the
Australian form, with the party columns and circles, is used.
In counties under township organization, having town
meetings, the viva voce method ("by living voice"), still
prevails, as to propositions. Otherwise the Australian bal-
lot is used. The official ballot is white: specimen ballots
ELECTIONS AND THE BALLOT 105
in color must be posted in conspicuous places at least five
days before election to enable the voters to study them and
learn the names of the various candidates for office. As
there are from 300 to 400 names on the " blanket " ballots
used in Cook County at the general election in November
of the presidential years, it is very necessary to study the
ballot beforehand if you vote intelligently. Cook County
elects twenty-three (23) executive and judicial officials,
thirty-eight (38) circuit and superior judges, and fifteen
(15) county commissioners — seventy names to be placed
on the ballot under each party column at each quadrennial
November election. This is one of our most striking illus-
trations of the great need of ballot reform through a shorter
ballot. Sample ballots can be secured beforehand from
county clerks or city clerks.
The names of all candidates are on the same ballot, ar-
ranged under their party columns. A small square at left
of each name and a circle at the left of the party name
enable the voter to mark his ballot.
At the polling-place of his precinct, an election judge
gives him an official ballot, after the voter has declared his
name and residence, and it has been found and checked by
the clerk in the registration book. The clerk must also
enter the voter's name and residence on a poll list, which
is afterward compared with the list of registered voters,
showing exactly what percentage of qualified voters in that
precinct used their voting privilege.
Marking the Ballot. The voter enters a polling-booth,
where writing material is provided, and places an X in the
party circle if he wishes to vote a straight ticket, or in the
square opposite the name of every candidate for whom
he desires to vote if he wishes to vote a " split '* or
io6 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
" scratch " ticket. The latter is independent voting, where
the voter refuses to be bound by any one party and chooses
the best man nominated regardless of party. The voter
is absolutely free to split his ballot at any regular election
whether he has voted at the primary or not.
The voter is allov^ed ten minutes in the polling-booth
to mark his ballot, if no one is waiting to use the booth;
otherwise, only five minutes. Should a voter be crippled
or blind, and unable to mark his ballot personally, then
two election officers of different political parties may enter
the polling-booth and mark his ballot according to his dic-
tation. No drunken person may receive any assistance in
marking his ballot.
The judge must put his own initials on the back of the
ballot given the voter, and the latter must fold his ballot
with those initials out before leaving the polling-booth,
and must then watch the election officer drop his ballot
in the ballot-box. The ballot-box must be in plain view
and kept locked and never left unguarded during the elec-
tion hours.
These are all legal provisions and there is a common-
sense reason for every one. The great object of the Aus-
tralian ballot is to secure secrecy, an honest election, and
an orderly, quiet election day. Polling-places can not be
in or adjoining a saloon, must be in a clean, light, respect-
able room on a street, instead of an alley. The use of the
schoolhouses for election places is gaining favor. There
is no valid reason why the people's own property should
not be thus used with due regard to its primary purpose
as a school. This would save thousands of dollars every
election now paid for rent of polling-places and provide
clean, respectable election places as well.
ELECTIONS AND THE BALLOT 107
The polls are open in large cities from 6. a. m. to 4 p. m. ;
in country districts and small cities from 7 a. m. to 5 p.
m. Every voter is allowed two hours' absence from his
work without loss of wages to vote, if he gives due notice
to his employer and arranges the hours with him. All
primary and election days are legal holidays for banks and
government offices, but not for schools or business in gen-
eral.
Elaborate " Cards of Instructions to Voters " are posted
in every precinct ten days before the election and serve
as a guide to the regular polling place in each precinct be-
cause one card is always posted on the door.
In Chicago, Cicero, and East St. Louis, where the elec-
tion act has been adopted, an unregistered voter must lose
his vote ; he can not swear it in on election day. But else-
where in the State he has this privilege if he brings a reg-
istered householder (one who owns or rents a house) as
witness to his legal qualifications.
Criticisms. The principal objections to the Australian
ballot as used in Illinois are ( i ) the required party column
and circle; (2) the large number of names and the size
of the sheet used, making the ballot cumbersome to handle,
complicated to mark and difficult to count.
Counting the Ballots. The counting begins as soon as
the polls are closed and is done by the judges and clerks
of the election, who make out the tally-sheets and report
the results to the county clerk, or to the election commis-
sioners. Each party and candidate is allowed a watcher
while the counting goes on to see that no mistakes are made.
In spite of all precautions, there are usually protests filed
with the county judge after every election, claiming a wrong
count of the ballots. Then the votes must be canvassed.
io8 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
or even entirely recounted, by order of the county judge at
great expense of time and money.
A Presidential Preference Vote was provided by act of
the Legislature of 191 3. This provides that the name of
any candidate for president be printed on the primary
ballot under the name of his political party, provided a
petition is presented " not more than sixty or less than
thirty days before the April primary," signed by '' not less
than 1,000 or more than 2,000 primary electors of the
party of which he is a candidate." " This vote shall be
for the sole purpose of securing an expression of the senti-
ment and will of the party voters with respect to candidates
for nomination for said office." (Session Laws, 191 3, pp.
330, 331.) In a separate act, provision is also made for
the nomination of candidates for United States senator at
the April primary. The next United States senator from
Illinois will be nominated at the April primaries and elected
by popular vote at the general election in November 19 18.
The " Little Ballot." The " little ballot " is the term
applied to a bond issue, or any proposition submitted on a
separate ballot to the people for their approval or rejec-
tion. This is the only form of the referendum possessed
at present by the voters of Illinois. A comprehensive " 1.
and R." (initiative and referendum) "joint resolution"
for a constitutional amendment passed the State senate but
was defeated by one vote in the house in June, 1913.
Initiative and Referendum. A true referendum also
refers to the people certain laws, passed or defeated, by
the General Assembly. If approved by a majority of votes
cast at any general or special election, it becomes a law
without the consent of the Legislature.
The initiative is the other half of the people's right to
ELECTIONS AND THE BALLOT 109
make laws for themselves if they can not secure a needed
law from the Legislature. On a petition signed by a cer-
tain number of voters, a law considered necessary can be
proposed by the people without any action on the part of
the General Assembly. It may then be submitted at the
next general election, passed by a referendum vote, and be
placed on the statute books through the direct action of the
voters.
Public Policy Law. The General Assembly in 1901
passed what is known as the " public policy " or " public
opinion " law. This provides that upon petition of ten
per cent, of the voters of the State, any question of public
policy may be submitted to the voters at any State, or gen-
eral election. No more than three such questions can be
submitted at any one election and they must be printed on a
separate ballot, known popularly as the " little ballot."
This vote of the people in no wise binds the Legislature,
but is merely to serve as an index of public opinion on any
important matter of public policy and to indicate what the
people want. Such questions as State-wide civil service,
initiative and referendum, and a corrupt practices act have
received approval at the hands of Illinois voters through
the public policy law. But no General Assembly has yet
obeyed the desire of the voters on these important public
reforms.
Voting Machines. Illinois has a Voting Machine
Law, passed in 1903, whereby any city, village, or town
may adopt a suitable voting machine for use in all elections
except for school officers. The term " suitable machine "
is defined by the board of voting-machine commissionersi
consisting of the governor and two mechanical experts who
are to examine and pass on all machines submitted to elec-
no ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
tion officers in the State. The law makes many restric-
tions and requirements for any recommended voting-ma-
chine. Under its authority a contract for i,ooo voting
machines costing nearly one million dollars was signed by
the election commissioners in Chicago in 191 1. Because of
haste in letting the contract and carelessness in accepting
untested machines in large numbers, there were objections
by many citizens to this contract when a large appropria-
tion was asked from the city council in part payment. A
legislative investigation of the entire contract was ordered
by the General Assembly and is still incomplete. The Chi-
cago Bureau of Public Efficiency has two admirable reports
on this voting-machine contract. Study these reports to
find out how municipal contracts are too often let.
Criticism. The election laws issued by the election com-
missioners for Chicago and the same law applied to the rest
of the State, issued by the secretary of state, contains sev-
eral hundred pages. To this mass of material for the guid-
ance of election officers must be added the primary law with
scores of amendments. To make the situation worse, every
legislature piles on amendments. Great are the difficulties
confronting judges and clerks of election in applying the
machinery of such a complicated law, to say nothing of the
troubles of the average voter. Can an ignorant voter be
taught to " split his ballot " ? No wonder a majority of the
voters take refuge in a cross in the party circle and therefore
play into the hands of the politicians who run the party ma-
chines. A shorter, more simple ballot is imperatively de-
manded in the interests of good government in this State.
Illinois suffers more than any other State, except New
York, from a multiplicity of elective officers, and Cook
County has the longest ballot, at the quadrennial November
ELECTIONS AND THE BALLOT iii
elections, owing to the seventy odd county officers to be
selected by ballot.
The Cost of Elections. The cost of elections for Chi-
cago and Cook County in 19 12 nearly reached the million-
dollar mark. Yet there has been an enormous increase in
the cost of these elections in the last three years due to
more election, primary and registration days; to increased
pay for election officers in Chicago, granted by the legisla-
ture, and to the increase in the number of precincts in Chi-
cago and in the county at large. The new women voters
also add their share to this growing cost of elections; but
the women are certain their votes are worth to the com-
munity all they cost. The grand total of the appropriations
made by the Chicago council and the Cook County board
for the elections in 19 16 is the astounding sum of $1,906,-
405. It seems hardly credible that it needs to cost such
an enormous amount for the voters of one county to regis-
ter their will at the ballot box in a presidential year, even
altho that county contains over one-third the population
of Illinois. If the city and judicial primaries were abol-
ished, a large saving would be effected — probably a half
million dollars. Nominations for city and judicial officers
should be hy petition only and party columns and party
names should he eliminated from judicial and municipal
ballots.
The heaviest single item in election expenses is the pay of
the judges and clerks. There are three judges and two
clerks to a precinct, each receiving $5 a day for his serv-
ices, except in Chicago, where the pay is higher on account
of the more exacting duties required of election officers and
because of compulsory registration. There are now nearly
2,200 precincts in Chicago alone and the pay of judges and
112 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
clerks for registration, primary and election days, rental of
polling places, printing ballots, cartage of ballot boxes and
booths, legal advertising and for all other legitimate election
expenses amount to the spectacular sum of $1,206,405 for
the presidential year of 19 16. There are 209 precincts in
Cook County outside of Chicago and the County board has
appropriated $720,000 for the county's share of the election
bills for 19 1 6. Some way will have to be found to reduce
these huge and constantly increasing election bills.
One economy could be effected by reducing the number
of elected officials, thus cutting down the size of the ballot
and saving a tremendous amount of time in counting the
votes for candidates — a reform greatly needed in the in-
terest of better as well as less expensive government. Some
relief can come through legislative action, but the " short
cut " to all these changes and economies lies through a con-
stitutional convention and a new constitution adapted to the
needs of a great and progressing State.
CHAPTER VII
JUDICIAL TRIALS AND THE JURY SYSTEM
References :
1. Forman: American Republic, pp. 301-307.
2. Forman: Advanced Civics, pp. 377-384.
3. James and Sanford : Government in State and Nation, pp. 62-69.
4. Greene: Government of Illinois, pp. 146-159.
5. Winchell: Civic Manual, pp. 214-218.
6. Guitteau: Government and Politics in United States, pp. 1 15-127,
7. Boynton and Upton: Supplement, pp. 51-6.
8. McCleary: Studies in Civics, ch. ii, iii, vii, and xv. (These
chapters are especially valuable for high-school pupils, though
not written for Illinois.)
" No man's property is safe and no man's welfare is assured where
justice is denied to the poor, or where crime goes unpunished; no
State can prosper where human rights are not respected." — David A.
Wells.
There are two parties to every suit: The plaintiff, or
complainant, the party who brings the suit, claiming he has
suffered some wrong; the defendant, or person accused of
having committed the wrong.
" Cases arise in two ways : Through differences in the
interpretation of the law, and through its violation."
There are two kinds of cases: Criminal, where a law
has been broken and therefore the plaintiff is always the
State ; civil^ where a private right is to be protected or en-
forced and the resulting suit is between two persons or cor-
porations.
Common examples of causes of civil actions are non-
113
114 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
fulfilment of contracts, as a failure to finish a building on
time; failure to pay lawful debts, as a butcher's or tailor's
bill ; relations of employer and employee, as where damages
are claimed because of injuries received while at work.
All criminal actions are defined by law and penalties are
provided for their commission. A civil suit calls for dam-
ages in the shape of money ; a criminal suit means imprison-
ment, or a fine, sometimes both.
STEPS IN CIVIL ACTION
I. Preliminary to the Trial.
1. Complaint, sworn to by the plaintiff before a jus-
tice of the peace, police magistrate, or judge, caus-
- ing him to issue the
2. Summons. This is served on the defendant, di-
recting him to appear in court himself, or by his
attorney.
3. Pleadings: drawn up by the lawyers on both sides,
stating the charge and the answer to it. Plead-
ings are always in writing.
4. Venires, or summons to the jurors, served if a jury
is required. Frequently a jury is waived by
both sides and the case is tried by the judge.
5. Subpoenas, or summons to witnesses, compelling
them to appear at the trial to give their testimony
" under penalty " should they fail to appear.
II. The Trial
1. Opening Statement, usually made by the plaintiff's
lawyer, stating the ground of action.
2. Securing a Jury. Jurors are examined as to their
fitness and whether they can honestly " swear to
JUDICIAL TRIALS AND JURY SYSTEM 115
try the case according to the law and evidence
without prejudice or favor." Challenges are al-
lowed both sides and are of two kinds : " For
cause," and '' Peremptory," without any cause
given. The number of these challenges allowed
depends entirely on the kind of case and is pre-
scribed by law.
3. When the jury has been accepted and sworn in, the
witnesses for the plaintiff are called first. They
are put on oath, give their testimony, and are
cross-examined by the attorney for the defend-
ant. The witnesses for the defense are then
questioned by the defendant's attorney and cross-
examined by the plaintiff's lawyer. The evidence
includes the testimony of all the witnesses and
any documents, or legal papers, offered as part
of the evidence.
4. Now come the arguments of the lawyers in behalf
of their clients, when they review the case and
present the facts brought out by the witnesses in
the most favorable light for their 'client.
5. Charge to the Jury is given by the judge to instruct
them in the law concerning this special case, or
if an equity case, referring to the decisions of
courts involving the same general principles.
This is not given in a justice of the peace's court
because such a petty officer is not required to be
a lawyer or especially familiar with points of law.
6. The case then goes to the jury, who retire to make
up their verdict, or decision. This verdict, in
a civil action, states who wins the suit and recom-
mends a certain amount of damages in addition
ii6 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
to the costs of the suit, which must be borne by
the loser.
7. The judgment is given by the judge in accordance
with the verdict, and includes damages, the
amount awarded the winning party and all costs
of the suit, except lawyers' fees. Each side must
pay its own lawyers. If the judgment is not
satisfied within a certain time by paying it, the
victorious party secures from the court an exe-
cution. This directs the forcible carrying out of
the judgment by the sale of property. In Illinois
$400 worth of personal property for a married
man is "exempt from execution"; $100 worth
if he is single.
Of course the loser often appeals the case to a higher court,
or gets the judge to grant a new trial, so it may be years
before the judgment is paid, even if it should be sustained
in the higher court.
CRIMINAL ACTION
In a criminal case a complaint must be sworn to before
a justice of the peace, or other judicial officer and at once
a warrant for the arrest of the supposed criminal is issued
and served by a constable, sheriff, or policeman, according
to the court where it is obtained. The offender is brought
before the court, and if the charge is a misdemeanor, or
small offense, as petty larceny — stealing under ten dollars
in value — or disorderly conduct, the case may be tried
at once before the justice of the peace, or a municipal court.
But should the charge be a felony, or " high crime," as
highway robbery, and therefore a penitentiary offense, then
t
X
JUDICIAL TRIALS AND JURY SYSTEM 117
the accused person by Illinois law must '' await the action
of a grand jury " and be indicted by majority vote of that
body of twenty-three jurors before he can be tried. His
case may not be reached in weeks, and even then the grand
jury may find no " true bill " against him. To compel a
person only suspected of crime to lie in jail under such
circumstances, is unjust.
So bail is allowed, and on presenting proper sureties for
his bail bond, or money pledged to assure his presence at
the trial, he may be set at liberty pending the action of the
grand jury. The grand jury need not wait for the State's
attorney to offer the indictment against the person, but they
may bring in a presentment when they know of evidence
showing a person has broken some law, and may vote that
a *' true bill " should i^3ue against the person. But usually
the State's attorney brings in the evidence against the per-
son accused — all the grand jury ever hears — and indict-
ment follows if enough evidence is produced.^ (i)
For the trial a petit, or " little " trial jury of twelve un-
prejudiced men is necessary, and when they are sworn in,
the arraignment of the prisoner follows, when the indict-
ment is read stating the charge against him.
This is followed by his plea, or answer to the arraign-
ment. Should he plead " guilty," and " throw himself on
the mercy of the court," he usually receives a lighter sen-
tence from the judge. But if he pleads " not guilty," then
the witnesses are called and the steps in the trial are similar
to those in a civil action, except a sentence — usually im-
prisonment — is given instead of the judgment. If the
sentence is imprisonment, the prisoner is taken to the peni-
1 For comparison of a grand and petit jury in Illinois, see p. 122.
ii8 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
tentiary at Joliet or Chester,^ by the sheriff, or his deputy,
and begins serving his time. By good conduct after one
year in prison, he may be paroled and allowed to resume
his ordinary work on condition he report at regular in-
tervals to the warden of the prison, or to an adult probation
officer to whom he is assigned.
He may have an indeterminate sentence given him by the
judge, and then good conduct while in prison will diminish
his time by many months. He may also seek the governor's
pardoning power and then his case goes first to the board
of pardons for investigation and their recommendation, al-
though the governor is not obliged to follow the recom-
mendation.
Illinois allows capital punishment for " murder in the
first degree," m^^., a cold-blooded murder. The execu-
tion of five young men in 191 2 in Cook County jail for the
atrocious murder of a truck farmer is the most recent illus-
tration of capital punishment on a large scale in Illinois.
Such wholesale execution in the name of the law has led
to a growing demand that capital punishment be abolished
by the Legislature. A bill to this effect failed in the last
General Assembly, 19 13. Give three arguments for and
against the death penalty for murder.
Penal Institutions. Illinois maintains three penal in-
stitutions for the entire State : The penitentiary at Joliet ;
the southern penitentiary at Chester for insane criminals;
State reformatory for boys over seventeen at Pontiac. All
female prisoners are kept m the women's quarters at Joliet.
The Legislature in 1903 abolished contract labor in the
prisons and substituted a board of prison industries com-
2 The State penitentiary at Chester is intended mainly for the criminal
JUDICIAL TRIALS AND JURY SYSTEM 119
posed of the commissioners of the three penal institutions.
This law provides that the State may employ not more
than forty per cent, of its convicts in manufacturing goods
to be sold in open market, but not until all the needs of the
State institutions are supplied. The convicts now make
furniture, mattresses, brooms, cheap grades of clothes,
shoes, wooden ware. The remaining able-bodied convicts
must be employed on work for the State. There is. pro-
vision under certain conditions to allow part of the money
earned by a convict to be paid to his family or relatives.
He also has an opportunity by this means to save money
which will be paid him when he leaves the prison. The
net profits of this convict labor for ten years are $545,000,
which has been paid into the State treasury. This sum is
in addition to machinery and equipment purchased out of
the profits and many thousand dollars set aside as earnings
of the convicts themselves. The larger share of this prison
labor is employed crushing stone to be used on the public
highways. There is an immense demand for this crushed
stone, which is furnished free to any township, county, or
road district applying for it through the State highway
commission and paying all freight charges. The railrpads,
however, charge such high rates that practically only towns
within a. certain freight zone get the benefit of this convict-
made crushed stone. Here is an opportunity for the new
Public-Utilities Commission, which began work in 19 14,
to help the good roads movement by compelling a juster
freight rate on prison-crushed stone for road-building.
There are about 1,400 convicts at Joliet and about 300
each at Pontiac and Chester. A recent law provides for
a new penitentiary on a farm of not less than one thousand
acres, located near Joliet, and the prison at Chester is to
120 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
be moved to the same farm. Convicts are to be employed
out of doors wherever possible. Illinois is certainly " mov-
ing forward " in her care of criminals. {Report of Board
of Prison Industries j 191 2.)
Convict Labor. Illinois is the first State east of the
Rocky Mountains to try the experiment of putting State
prisoners at road-building. Colorado (2), Washington, and
Oregon have been building roads with " honor convicts "
for the last two years, and the system has proved of double
value ; the States have fine roads at a very low cost, and the
convicts gain much in health and renewed self-respect be-
cause they are treated like men.
A band of forty-five convicts, put solely on their honor,
were sent out in August 19 13, from Joliet, to build roads
near Dixon, Illinois. They were to work as long as the
weather permitted their camp to be maintained. No armed
guards were with the men ; they wore the clothes of common
laborers, and had much freedom after working-hours. The
experiment was successful and has been repeated each sum-
mer since that year.
Difficulties in Law Enforcement. " Not officers
alone, but any citizen, may make a complaint against law-
breakers. But private citizens find it difficult to discover
sufficient evidence upon which to make a sworn statement.
It is much easier for the average citizen to let such matters
alone and attend to his own private business. In the mean-
time, public funds may be stolen, or the public health of the
community threatened, or the young people put in danger
of moral corruption, all for the lack of a complaint, specific
in its accusations, and supported by definite information.
These reasons most frequently answer the question, 'Why
is not the law enforced ? ' At bottom, it is a question of
JUDICIAL TRIALS AND JURY SYSTEM 121
public conscience. In communities where a low moral
standard prevails, a few determined leaders, willing to sac-
rifice time, labor, and comfort for the public good, have
sometimes aroused the public to action. No service to the
community is more to be commended than this." ^
The Law's Delays. " Other causes of discontent
with our judicial system arise in connection with court pro-
cedure. Justice is often delayed through the postponement
of cases for trivial reasons. Criminal cases may drag
along for months, until the public interest subsides. A
wealthy litigant may secure postponements until the re-
sources of his poorer opponent are exhausted."
Notable groups of judges and lawyers all over the coun-
try are urging the necessity of simpler and more direct
court procedure. The criminal code of Illinois is no more
confusing or complicated than the codes of other States,
and they all need revision.
Another reason for some of our difficulties was illustrated
by the recent resignation (October i, 19 13,) of the very
able probate judge of Cook County because of the corrupt
political influences that nominate the judges. Judge
Charles S. Cutting had served Cook County as probate
judge with distinguished ability for more than fourteen
years, and through rival administrations — the best possi-
ble proof of his ability ; — but he refused to serve out his
term as he could not be given freedom to conduct the work
of his court according to his own high standards of justice.
His resignation was a stinging rebuke to the politicians of
all parties, who control the nomination and election of our
judges.
3 Government in State and Nation, James and Sandford, pp. 65, ^.
122 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GRAND AND PETIT JURIES IN
ILLINOIS
(Am. Rep., pp. 152-153.)
1. Numbers.
2. Decisions.
3. Evidence.
4. Number of
Cases.
5. Kind of Cases
Heard.
6. Sessions.
7. Term of Of-
fice.
8. Oath of Of-
fice.
Grand Jury
23
Indictments by ma-
jority vote of twelve.
One side only: plain-
tiff's.
May examine any
number.
Criminal only.
Always secret.
Cook County usually
one month : else-
where, three.
Grand Jurors must
swear never to re-
veal what goes on in
their sessions.
Petit Jury
12 or 6.
Verdict ; unanimous.
Both sides : plaintiff's
and defendant's.
Tries only one case.
Civil and Criminal.
In open Court.
Indefinite : until
ends.
case
Petit Jurors swear, " to
try the case according
to the law and evi-
dence without preju-
dice or favor."
SEVEN IMPORTANT WRITS
A. " The writ of Habeas Corpus is addressed by a judge
to one who holds another in alleged unlawful cus-
tody, directing him to produce the person in court
and show why he detains such person."
a. Meaning of words : " Bring you," or " produce
you," the body : literally, '* that you may bring
the body."
b. History of writ. Gained first in England, reign of
Charles II, 1679.
JUDICIAL TRIALS AND JURY SYSTEM 123
c. May be suspended in time of war only by order
of Congress. If Congress so directs, President
may suspend the writ. (See action of Lincoln,
1861, in Baltimore; also action of McKinley,
1898, Spanish-American War.)
B. Injunction is an order from a judge, or court, to a lower
court, individual, or corporation, restraining them
from doing a certain thing. Illustration: Injunc-
tion granted against strikers to prevent injury to
property of corporation where strike is in prog-
ress.
C. Mandamus, " we command," is an order from a judge,
or court, to another court, individual, or corpora-
tion, commanding them to do a certain thing. Il-
lustration: Writ of mandamus could be obtained
ordering a street-car company to remove tracks ille-
gally placed.
D. Writ of Quo Warranto ("by what authority?") is an
order from a judge to a lower court, individual, or
corporation, to show their reasons for doing a cer-
tain thing. Illustration: If it is claimed an of-
ficer has not the legal qualifications required, any
tax-payer could bring suit under the writ of quo
warranto to test the office-holder's right to his
office.
E. Writ of Certiorari, or " to be certified," is an order
from a higher court to a lower court to send up cer-
tain papers required by the higher court. This
writ prevents the lower court from blocking the ac-
tions on an appealed case in a higher court by re-
fusing to send up important documents needed in
the case.
124 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
F. Writ of Attachment is an order to seize property in
payment of a debt.
G. Writ of Replevin is an order to recover goods alleged
to be wrongfully taken or detained. Security must
be given to hold the goods pending a suit to decide
ownership; if this goes against the plaintiff, he
promises to restore the goods.
These writs are referred to so often that even a layman
needs to know something about them, although the defini-
tions given would not satisfy a lawyer. The Statutes pro-
vide when and how they may be obtained and the services
of an attorney would be required to interpret the law in
such a matter. The last two writs may be issued by a jus-
tice of the peace and a police magistrate, but the first five
can only be obtained from a judge and a court of record.
PERTINENT QUESTIONS
1. If some one owed you $50 and refused to pay, in what court
could you sue him? If he owed you $250? If the suit involved
$1,000? If $5,000?
2. May a person's acts be inquired into by the grand jury with-
out his knowing anything about it? May grand jurors reveal the
proceedings of the jury? Why?
3. Are lawyers officers of the court? What oath does each
lawyer take when admitted to the bar?
4. What is meant by " change of venue " ?
5. What things are " exempt from execution " in Illinois ?
6. Can a civil suit proceed in the absence of the defendant? A
criminal suit?
7. Why are there at least two justices in every town?
8. Are they county, town, or city officers?
9. Define " docket," " summons," " warrant," " subpoena,' ' ve-
nire," " costs," " recognizance."
JUDICIAL TRIALS AND JURY SYSTEM 125
10. What are the similarities in a criminal and civil suit? What
are the principal differences in procedure?
11. What is the difference between a warrant and summons?
Sentence and judgment? Plea and pleadings? Arraignment and
opening statement?
12. Debate one of these questions:
A. Resolved, That the grand jury ought to be abolished.
B, Resolved J That capital punishment is not justifiable.
CHAPTER VIII
THE STATE OF ILLINOIS : PHYSIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Physical Features. Illinois, the " Prairie State," lies
about the middle of the great central plain that extends
from the Arctic to the Gulf and from the Alleghenies to
the Rockies. Its highest point, Charles Mound in Jo
Daviess County on the Wisconsin line, is about 1,300 feet
above sea level; the lowest point at Cairo is only 300 feet
in altitude.
Latitude. Illinois lies betw^een parallels 37° and
42^ 30' north latitude. Three hundred and eighty-five
miles in length, two hundred and eighteen miles in
width are its extreme dimensions. Extend these east-
ward on a map of the United States and observe that
our southern parallel would strike Old Point Comfort and
Hampton Roads, Virginia, and our northern parallel would
touch Boston. If Chicago dwellers could imagine Madison
Street extended due east three thousand miles it would
strike the Old Roman Forum, and yet no one thinks of
Rome and Chicago on the same parallel of latitude.
Area. The area of the State has been quite accu-
rately determined as 56,650 square miles in spite of the
difficulties in surveying two such irregular boundary lines
as the erratic curves of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
Impress these facts about your State on your memory
and use them frequently for comparison with other States
and foreign countries.
126
THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 127
Surface. Illinois is debtor for its rich soil and level
surface to the grinding, carrying power of the great ice
sheet of the glacial epoch. Only two small areas in the
State, one in the extreme south and one in the northwest,
fail to reveal this glacial action, and the fertile prairie soil
of Illinois is the product of the crushing, grinding power
of this slow-moving ice-sheet thousands of years ago. The
rich, level, well-watered surface thus produced has pre-
destined Illinois for an agricultural State, and in fulfilment
of its mission the farmers form more than half the popu-
lation.
Waterways. No State in the Union has a more mag-
nificent system of waterways than Illinois. The Missis-
sippi borders the State for 550 miles measured by its curv-
ing boundary lirfe; the Ohio and Wabash furnish nearly
300 miles of water frontage in addition, while Lake Mich-
igan provides 60 miles of water frontage on the north-
eastern shore. We still make little use of these natural
waterways in comparison with foreign countries like France
and Germany, where cities and provinces have spent mil-
lions on the development of inland harbors, quays, wharves,
and freight-handling facilities. Illinois is just waking up
to the value of her river- and lake-heritage.
Forests. We have abundant proof that Illinois once
possessed fine forests, in spite of her present reputation for
open prairies. Witness the many saw-mills, the home-
made furniture in the pioneer houses, the miles of rail
fences and the log cabins of the early settlers. An exhibit
of v/oods from Illinois displayed at the World's Fair
in 1893 showed seventy-five species of native trees. The
most common are oak, maple, elm, black walnut, hickory,
ash, birch, chestnut, and cottonwood.
128 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
Coal. It is a surprise to find coal, lead, building
stone, petroleum, various commercial clays, and even iron,
hidden under the surface of a prairie State. Illinois ranks
second in the Union in the production of bituminous coal.
Nearly two-thirds of the State is underlaid with an excel-
lent quality of soft coal, and the coal-mining industry is
one of the leading occupations. (Notice the large number
of laws to regulate the mining of coal and to protect the
miners.)
Indians of Illinois. The most important group of In-
dians was the confederacy of the Illini, made up of various
tribes like Michigamies, Peorias, and Kaskaskias.
Through other parts of the State roamed the Shawnees,
Sacs and Foxes, Pottowattamies, and Miamis, who have
left their names on many geographical features of the Mid-
dle West.
Indian Relics. Indian mounds are scattered over the
State. Pottery, cloth, copper ornaments, have been found
in these mounds. In Cook County along the lake shore,
from Evanston northward, are remains of various " chip-
ping stations " that show there were famous arrow-makers
among the Pottowattamies. These piles of stone chips
along the lake shore mark the places of manufacture and
exchange for the famous arrow-heads of this tribe, and
arrows tipped with this noted product of the Indian artisan
have been found as far west as the Dakotas, showing how
widely dispersed was the trade in Illinois wares — a fore-
shadowing of the commercial greatness of the State.
Meaning of Illinois. The name of our State is the
best proof that the Illinois Confederacy had the most to
do with the early settlements on the Illinois and the Kas-
kaskia rivers. " Illini," " real men," answered the Indian
THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 129
warriors, when Father Hennepin asked who the tall, straight
braves then in camp were.
History of Illinois. As far as we have any record,
two Frenchmen, in 1673, a fur trader, Louis Joliet, and a
Jesuit priest, Father Marquette, were the first white men
of European blood to discover and explore the Illinois
country. Seven years later came LaSalle and his faithful
captain and friend Tonty, " the man with the iron hand,"
the Indians named him. The two forts built by these
soldiers of fortune, Fort Crevecoeur at Peoria and Fort
St. Louis on the famous Starved Rock near Utica, were
the first attempts to take military possession of the Illinois
country. The name Starved Rock was given nearly a
hundred years afj:er Tonty's day, when the conquering Iro-
quois starved out the Pottowattamies and the Illinois, about
1769.
Five French Villages. Probably as early as 1725 five
permanent French villages, Cahokia, Kaskaskia, New
Chartres, Prairie du Rocher, and St. Phillipe, had been
established in the American Bottom along the Mississippi
and Kaskaskia rivers. The Treaty of Paris closing the
French and Indian War in 1763, transferred the Illinois
country to Great Britain. So the lilies of France had to
yield to the Union Jack of England in the great Indian
country of the Middle West. Nearly one-third of the
French inhabitants left their villages, taking their personal
property and slaves with them.
Colonel George Rogers Clark. The capture of Kaskas-
kia and Vincennes by Colonel Clark and his little band of
"long knives" after their terrible winter march in 1778-
1779 resulted in transferring the Illinois country to its
third flag. Colonel Clark's expedition gave the American
I30 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
envoys in Paris at the close of the Revolution courage to
insist that since United States soldiers were already in pos-
session of the great Northwest Territory, it must remain
part of the new nation, and England very reluctantly sur-
rendered the territory between the Great Lakes, the Mis-
sissippi, and the Ohio.
Ordinance of i/8/. Almost the last act of the Congress
under the Articles of Confederation — our first, and un-
successful, experiment in a national government — was to
organize the Northwest Territory under the provisions of
the famous Ordinance of 1787, which provided the first
permanent government the Illinois country had enjoyed
since Colonel John Todd, the county lieutenant commis-
sioned by Governor Patrick Henry to rule the " county of
Illinois, Virginia," had gone back to his native state and
left Illinois affairs in confusion.^
Illinois under Territorial Government. Illinois has been
governed as a part of three separate territories: (i)
Northwest Territory, 1787- 1800; (2) Territory of Indi-
ana — 1 800- 1 809 — which included Illinois, Michigan,
Ohio, and Indiana (the capital was Vincennes) ; (3) Ter-
ritory of IlHnois — 1809-1818 — including Illinois, Wis-
consin, and Northern Michigan (the capital was Kaskas-
kia). The admission of Ohio (1803) and Indiana (1816)
into the Union as States; the desire for more convenient
land offices and better opportunity to secure claims in the
rich government lands being rapidly thrown open for set-
tlement were the principal reasons the United States or-
ganized the Indiana and Illinois territories.
Fort Dearborn. When the United States Government
built Fort Dearborn at Chicago in the winter of 1803-04,
1 Smith ; Hist. Ill, ch. xiv-xv.
THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 131
its blockhouses and stockade marked the most western out-
post of the Federal Government, and its building in the
far wilderness was ridiculed in Congress as a piece of
national folly. The massacre at Fort Dearborn in 181 2
occurred during the second war with England, and was
the only noteworthy event of that war in the far West ex-
cept Hull's surrender at Detroit.
Illinois a State. Illinois was admitted to the Union
December 3, 181 8, and President Monroe issued the proc-
lamation announcing the fact to the people of the United
States.
Northern Boundary of Illinois. In the famous Ordi-
nance of 1787, the. States to be made from the Northwest
Territory were to be divided by a line running through the
south end of Lake Michigan. While the Enabling Act
to permit Illinois to become a State was under discussion
in Congress, April, 181 8, our territorial delegate. Judge
Nathaniel Pope, moved to amend the bill by striking out
the section about boundaries and substituting parallel 42°
30' for the northern boundary. Judge Pope took advan-
tage of the strong feeling in Congress over the slavery
question caused by the debate over the Missouri Compro-
mise. Fear that slavery interests might finally control the
new State, if its only entrance by water should be the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers, led Congress to adopt the amend-
ment and make Illinois' northern boundary line parallel
42° 30'.
"The result was to give Illinois a strip of country sixty-
one miles wide extending from the lake to the Mississippi
and including the present fourteen northern counties, with
a combined area of 8,500 square miles of fertile country.
It includes sixty-one miles of lake-shore line and the sites
132 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
of the cities of Chicago, Evanston, Waukegan, Elgin,
Aurora, Rockport, and Galena." ^
" No one ever rendered Illinois a more important service
in Congress than did Pope. Had the northern tier of
counties included within the sixty-one-mile strip become
attached to Wisconsin, Illinois would have lacked an im-
portant element in her Legislature at the outbreak of the
Civil War, an element Wisconsin did not require because
Union sentiment in that State was always very strong.
The commanding position occupied by Illinois during the
Civil War, with one of its citizens in the Presidential chair,
and another leading the armies of the Union, including
Illinois' two hundred and fifty thousand citizen soldiery,
illustrates the sound judgment of Pope."
The Constitutions of Illinois — Principal Points:
A. Under the Constitution of 1818:
a. Most State officers elected by the Legislature.
b. No veto power for the governor.
c. Judges chosen for life.
d. Council of Revision, composed of governor and
judges, revised laws passed by Legislature, and
were thus a substitute for the veto power.
Power was vested in the Legislature.
B. Under the Constitution of 1848:
a. Officers elected by the people. Council of Revision
abolished.
2 Currey's Hist. Chicago, Vol. I, pp. 117-119.
Note. — " By the Ordinance of 1787, Chicago belongs to Wisconsin." —
Hon. J. R, Doolittle, speech at opening of Sanitary Canal, January
1900.
Map of Illinois, Showing the Congressional Districts
134 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
b. Judges elected for definite terms (nine and six
years).
c. Power of Legislature to contract State debt limited
to $50,000 unless people by popular vote consented.
d. Sinking fund to pay bonds was created by a two-
mill tax. Power of Legislature much limited:
due to a $14,000,000 debt created by former Leg-
islatures owing to their craze for " internal im-
provements," like railroads and canals. This
debt was paid, principal and interest, about 1871
— the year of the Chicago fire — and citizens of
Illinois have a right to much pride in the fact that
their State has never failed to pay its honest debts.
C. Under the present Constitution of 1870. (For details,
see legislative, executive, and judicial departments
of the State, chapters ix, x, and xi.)
Capitals of Illinois. Kaskaskia remained the capital for
two years. A request was made that Congress grant four
sections of land — 2,560 acres — for the site of a town
to remain the capital of Illinois for twenty years. Con-
gress at once granted the land and the second capital was
built near the headwaters of the Kaskaskia river, and
named Vandalia.
The " Long Nine." When the Legislature met in 1836
the State was much excited over the question of internal
improvements. A bill was introduced carrying appropria-
tions for $10,200,000, to build railroads, public roads, and
canals throughout the State. This same Legislature was
to locate a new capital, so much log-rolling was the result.
The *' long nine " from Sangamon County, two State Sen-
ators and seven representatives, included Abraham Lin-
THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 135
coin among the delegation. The combined height of the
men was just fifty- four feet, and they organized a club
known as the " Long Nine." Through the shrewd trading
of votes on internal improvements eagerly desired, the
Sangamon County club succeeded in landing the coveted
prize, and Springfield, then a village of 1,500 people, be-
came the capital.
The year 1837 ^^so saw the failure of many State banks
through inability to redeem the wild-cat currency they had
issued so recklessly. The Love joy press riots at Alton,
caused by Mr. Love joy's attempt to print an anti-slavery
paper in Illinois, resulted in the murder of the editor and
owner of the paper by the mob. This murder occurred in
1837-
Of all the railroads, canals, and public roads started
through the immense sums voted by the State Legislature,
not one was a success except the Illinois and Michigan
Canal, which was opened for traffic in 1848. The canal
has paid for itself several times over in tolls received and
turned a handsome sum into the State treasury as well.
Should it be filled up now, as suggested, and the land thus
made sold, the State would be the richer by millions of
dollars. Such a project to sell the canal would require a
referendum vote of the people.
Slavery. There were several attempts to make Illinois
a slave-holding State. The most exciting, bitterly con-
tested campaign over the question was fought in 1824
when the friends of freedom gained a decided victory by
defeating a proposition for a new, pro-slavery constitution.
Governor Edward Coles was the leader of the forces of
freedom and contributed his entire salary of $4,000 to the
campaign fund. Governor Coles had an able assistant in
136 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
Congressman Daniel P. Cook, who stumped the southern
part of the State in behalf of freedom.
The Black Hawk War in 1832 resulted in the United
States Government removing all Indians from Illinois and
giving them lands west of the Mississippi.
The Mormons settled at Nauvoo, and after six years of
stormy occupation voluntarily crossed the Mississippi river
and moved across the plains to Utah Territory, then a part
of Mexico.
The Lincoln-Douglas debates ; the nomination of Lincoln
(i860) in the Lake Street Wigwam, Chicago; lUinois'
honorable record in the Civil War for numbers of troops
sent to the front (250,000) ; four famous leaders and states-
men, Lincoln, Grant, Logan, Richard Yates, the war gov-
ernor and the " soldiers' friend " ; the noted composer of
war songs, George F. Root, and the wonderful singers of
those songs, the Lumbard brothers, who sang to civilians
and soldiers by the thousands on street corners, in the
camps, at great mass meetings of citizens; the Chicago fire;
the Haymarket riots ; the Columbian Exposition — all
these topics are of much historical importance for Illinois,
but do not come within the range of the title of this book.
Pullman Strikes. The Pullman railroad strikes of 1894
involve a civic question and need mention on that account.
President Grover Cleveland and John P. Altgeld, governor
of Illinois, had a sharp controversy over the right of the
President of the United States to send Federal troops into
a State when the governor of that State had not requested
them. President Cleveland ordered the regulars from Fort
Sheridan into Chicago to protect the United States mails
and carry out the orders of a Federal judge whose injunc-
tions against the riotous strikers had not been obeyed.
THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 137
The governor claimed the State militia could handle the
situation. But quiet was not restored until the regulars
had marched into the city and later the Supreme Court of
the United States sustained President Cleveland's action.
General References for History of Illinois.
1. G. W.. Smith : Students* History of Illinois, 1907.
2. Mather: The Making of Illinois.
3. Greene : Government of Illinois, ch. i, ii, iii.
4. Randall Parrish: Historic Illinois.
5. Campbell : Illinois History Stories. (Helpful for older pu-
pils, although intended for eighth grade.)
6. J. S. Currey: History of Chicago, 1912. (Very valuable
for entire State.)
7. Osman: Starved Rock (1911).
8. Catherwood: Story of Tonti. (Fiction; to be used with
caution.)
9. Kinzie : JVauban — Fort Dearborn Massacre.
10. Parrish: When Wilderness was King.
11. E. P. Roe: Barriers Burned Away. (Chicago Fire.)
12. Churchill: The Crossing. (Colonel Clark's expedition.)
13. Carr: The Illini.
14. Publications Illinois Historical Society, Springfield.
(List sent on application. One dollar will enroll any
school on their mailing list and furnish all their reports
and monographs.)
CHAPTER IX
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
References :
1. Forman : American Republic, pp. 135-144.
2. Forman : Advanced Civics, pp. 162-167.
3. Garner : Government in United States, Supplement, 1915, pp. 4-^7.
4. Greene: Government of Illinois, pp. 76-85.
The Legislature of Illinois is called the General Assent^
bly and meets in Springfield in the capitol biennially, the
first Wednesday after the first Monday in January of the
odd years. The governor may call an extra session any
time. The General Assembly is bicameral, having a Senate
of fifty-one members and a House of Representatives of
one hundred and fifty-three members — a Legislature of
two hundred and four.
Apportionment. The legislators are apportioned
among the fifty-one senatorial districts. One senator and
three representatives are elected from each district in No-
vember of the even years. Senators from the even-num-
bered districts are elected at one November election and
the senators from the odd numbered districts at the next
biennial election. The entire one hundred and fifty-three
representatives are elected every two years. In conse-
quence, the house must reorganize every regular session.
The senatorial districts are determined by population,
and the Legislature reapportions the State every ten years
according to the new Federal census. ( i ) Cook County has
138
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 139
nineteen senatorial districts and seventy-six votes in the
General Assembly. Minority representation, or "cumula-
tive voting," is allowed only in electing State representa-
tives.
Minority Representation. Minority representation
is the unique feature in the Constitution of 1870. Every
voter has three votes for State representative.'^ He may
divide them as he likes : one to each of three ; one and a half
to each of two men; or he may " plump " his three votes
on one man, thus assuring his election. This gives repre-
sentation to a party in the minority and when adopted was
hailed as a notable reform. After forty years' service,
it works out in this way : The leaders of the two older
parties agree to nominate two candidates, or one, in each
district, according to their relative strength in each of the
fifty-one senatorial districts. Then by this ingenious de-
vice of the voter massing his three votes on their one candi-
date, the party in the minority throughout the State is sure
of electing one-third the representatives. The situation is
somewhat complicated by the entrance of a third party : yet
three large parties instead of two only make it easier for
a small group of voters by "plumping" to defeat the
divided strength of their enemies and elect their candidate,
who is often entirely unfit to represent the district. Mi-
1 For a few years this method of "cumulative voting" was tried in
electing trustees of sanitary, or drainage, districts, in the State. But
that section of the Drainage Act was soon repealed, and now minority
representation is limited to State representatives, (Rev. Stat., ch.
xhi, sec. 217.) There is provision, however, for cities to use minority
representation in the council by electing three aldermen from a ward
and applying cumulative voting, if any city chooses to adopt this
method. But the law seems to be a dead letter at present. (Rev. Stat.,
ch. xxiv, sees. 53-54. In force July, 191 1.)
I40 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
nority representation in its present form ought to be cast
out of the constitution and the unvarying principle, " one
man, one vote," substituted.
Qualifications. Both senators and representatives
must be citizens of the United States and have lived in the
State five years and in their districts two years before elec-
tion; but senators must be twenty-five years old, while
representatives are only required to be twenty-one. Sen-
ators' term is four years and representatives' two. Each
is eligible for reelection.
Disqualifications. No one can legally be a mem-
ber of either house if he has ever been convicted of bribery,
perjury, or any other crime ; neither is he eligible if, having
held public funds, he has failed satisfactorily to account
for them. He can. not hold any other profitable State or
Federal office at the same time he is a member of the Legis-
lature.
Each member, before he can take his seat, must " de-
clare on oath that he has not given any bribe to secure his
election and that he will accept no bribe during his term
of office." (Constit, Art. IV, sec 5.) Any member who
refuses to take this oath, or is guilty of perjury in taking
it, thereby forfeits his seat. All such questions as the
right of any member to his seat are decided by each house
for its own members. It takes a two-thirds vote to expel
a member. The expulsion of Frank D. Comerford, second
senatorial district, by the House of Representatives, in
1905, illustrates this point. Comerford charged wholesale
corruption in the Legislature of 1905 in a speech made in
Chicago, and given wide publicity through the daily press.
A special committee in the House investigated the charges
and recommended Comerford be expelled. This was done
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 141
in February by a vote of 121 yeas to 13 nays, being more
than the required two-thirds vote. He was reelected by
his district at a special election called by the governor April
4, 1905, was sworn in a second time and served out his
term. (See Journal House of Representatives for 1905.)
By all these devices Illinois has tried to keep her Legis-
lature pure; but she has not succeeded very well, as the
General Assembly has not had a good reputation for most
sessions. The members, however, represent the will of
the active voters in their districts — the stay-at-home voter
does not count — and therefore the Legislature is fully
up to the average intelligence and morality of the voters
in the State.
Salary. Senators and representatives are paid $3,500
per session (2) and ten cents mileage for necessary travel in
going and returning from Springfield; also an allowance
of $50 for newspapers and stationery. Do they have the
" franking privilege " like members of Congress?
Organization. The lieutenant-governor is president
ex-officio of the Senate, but has no vote except in case of
a tie. The senators choose one of their number for presi-
dent pro tem to preside in the absence of the lieutenant-
governor. The speaker is chosen by the representatives
from their own number. Where the majority party is
split into factions, or there is a third party in the House,
as there has been most sessions since 1870, prohibitionists,
socialists, labor party men, or progressives, the struggle to
elect a speaker may consume weeks. The regular session
of the 48th General Assembly did not organize for three
weeks (from January 8 to 29, 191 3) (3), when the speaker-
ship deadlock was broken by the election of William Mc-
Kinley (Dem.), from Lake View, Chicago, as speaker.
142 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
The unusual selection of two United States senators to
succeed Shelby M. CuUom, whose term expired March 4,
19 1 3, and William Lorimer, whose seat had been declared
vacant by the United States Senate, was the cause of the
deadlock. The election of J. Hamilton Lewis (Dem.) for
the six-year term and Lawrence Y. Sherman for the short
two-year term, March 26, through the Democratic-Repub-
lican combination, broke a second lengthy deadlock. (4)
These are the last two senators to be elected by the General
Assembly. (See Amendment XVII, U. S. Con.)
Powers of the Speaker. The speaker of the House
has large power through his appointment of all com-
mittees, including the naming of the chairmen. He also
has the power of recognizing or ignoring a member who
desires to address the House, according as he favors or
disapproves of his motion. This is known as the power
of recognition. He declares the result of every vote, and
unless the yeas and nays are recorded in a roll call, the
speaker may announce a motion carried which his party
favors, when a roll call would show it defeated. This is
" gavel rule/' because the fall of the speaker's gavel as he
announces the vote, legally closes it, -and has often been
used to " railroad through " bad bills and defeat good ones.
If the lieutenant-governor and the president of the senate
are unable to act as governor, the speaker assumes the
office for the remainder of the term.
Employees. Each house chooses clerks, postmas-
ters, sergeants-at-arms, doorkeepers, and a horde of lesser
employees, such as watchmen, janitors, messengers, stenog-
raphers, secretaries to the members, " clock-winders, and
transom-openers," the number chosen depending very
largely on the size of the throng of hungry politicians
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 143
clamoring for jobs as rewards for political services ren-
dered at the previous November election. The corridors of
the capitol are crowded with this army of needless em-
ployees. (5)
Sessions. The Illinois General Assembly has the very
bad habit of generally meeting only on Tuesday, Wednes-
day, and Thursday each week, and practically little work
is done before the middle of April. They usually adjourn
early in June, and thus a session of five months means only
six weeks or two months of actual law-making. In the
meantime the State is paying all legislative employees for
full-time work. The bad custom of permitting members
of the Legislature to accept railroad passes was largely to
blame for these short weekly sessions, but an anti-pass bill
was killed in the legislature many times. The present rul-
ing is an unforeseen result of the Public Utilities law passed
in 1913. (6)
Committees. The real work of the two houses is
done in standing committees, numbering from three to
twenty-five members. Each is assigned to one or more
committees. In the Senate these committees are elected
after being nominated in party caucuses. A party-caucus is
a meeting, usually secret, of the members of a political party
in House or Senate, to determine committee membership, or
how the party members shall vote on important bills. If the
party leaders are able men, they hold their party members
rigorously to the policy agreed on in the caucus.
In the House the speaker names the members of the
committees. If he is slow in announcing these committees,
as in the 48th Assembly, 19 13 (not all selected until the
last of April), the House falls below the Senate in its work.
The principal committees are those on appropriations,
judiciary, elections, agriculture, education, railroads, rev-
144 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
enue, waterways, charitable and reformatory Institutions.
The Senate has about forty standing committees; the
House, about seventy.
Rules of Procedure. Each house adopts its own
rules of procedure. The rules of the House have been in
use many years and are well adapted to allow the party in
the majority to ride rough-shod over the minority. A
small beginning was made in the Legislature of 191 3 to
alter these ancient rules; but any genuine reform was de-
feated by the house machines. (7) It takes an actual ma-
jority of all the members elected in either house to pass a
bill on its final, or third reading: seventy-seven votes in the
House and twenty-six in the Senate is the constitutional
number.
Work of Legislature. The following are the prin-
cipal things the General Assembly may do through its law-
making power, although the number of laws passed is legion :
1. Raise and collect a revenue by direct taxation.
2. Raise and maintain a militia.
3. Create and maintain a public-school system.
4. Provide for higher education, as a State university,
normal and high schools.
5. Care for defectives, as the insane, blind, deaf and
dumb, paupers, and epileptics.
6. Detect and punish crime.
7. Maintain a system of public roads.
8. Charter corporations, as railroads, banks, insurance
companies, clubs, etc.
9. Create and control local governments, as counties,
cities, villages, school districts, towns, sanitary and drain-
age districts.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 145
10. Determine conditions of the suffrage and make all
election laws.
How a Bill Becomes a Law. Bills may originate
in either house, and any member of the General Assembly
may introduce a bill. This is done when the roll is called
on certain days early in the session and members respond
by reading their bills by title. For most bills the process
of being turned into law resembles an obstacle, or " hurdle
race." The first difficulty encountered is the committee to
which it is referred by the speaker, if introduced in the
House. When a bill is introduced in the Senate, the sen-
ator responsible usually requests that it be referred to a
certain committee, of course one he thinks favorable to his
bill. The committee has power to cut the bill to pieces, or
amend it, so that even the author would not recognize his
own bill. If hostile to the bill, the committee may " pigeon-
hole " it, " lay it on the table," and fail to report it out
of committee. However, if the member introducing it is
actually interested in its passage, he may, by his persistent
inquiries about the bill, make the chairman of the commit-
tee " holding it up " so uncomfortable that the committee
may report it out " without any recommendation," —
equivalent to disapproval of the bill — or with the " recom-
mendation that it do not pass'' — a far worse fate for the
bill. The committees are justly named " legislative grave-
yards."
The time allowed for debate on a bill is determined by
the days left in the session and the number of bills to be
considered. In the hurried closing hours of the last day,
generally a day-and-night session, scores of bills, advanced
to third reading, are rushed through without debate, and
146 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
when many members have no idea what they are voting
on. Hundreds of good bills also fail through lack of time
to vote on them in the crowded closing session. The final
vote is always by roll call, when the " ayes and nays " are
recorded in the journal. This gives excellent opportunity
for the voters in each district to learn how their members
voted on important bills.
The Legislative Voters' League issues very interesting
bulletins each week of the session of the General Assembly.
These bulletins report what is done and how each member
votes, or " passes," at every roll-call. They are the best
way to keep track of your State representatives and senator.
Any one can get the bulletin by addressing the secretary
of the League at Chicago, or Springfield, and enclosing
postage. For a humorous account of the sessions of the
48th General Assembly (1913), see the letters of George
Fitch, member from Peoria, in the Chicago Tribune,
Sunday edition, January to June, 191 3. These letters are
well worth reading as the first impressions of a new member
who went to the Legislature anxious to serve his district
well, but found himself helpless under the rules of pro-
cedure under which the House works.
Some members dislike the publicity of a roll-call so much
they refuse to vote rather than be recorded on certain bills.
What of the courage, or convictions, of such a dodging
legislator ?
All bills must be read on three different days; on two
days usually by title only, but the title of a bill must tell
plainly what it is about. Amendments can not be added
after a second reading, unless by unanimous consent of the
members present, or by sending it back to the committee.
The bill is ordered printed after second reading with the
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 147
amendments, and a copy is placed on the desk of each mem-
ber.
Lobbying, or the efforts of interested persons not legis-
lators, on behalf of a bill, is a common practice. Many
powerful corporations maintain paid lobbyists at Spring-
field through every session to work for or against certain
bills. Log-rolling, or the exchange of votes between legis-
lators, is another common practice. " I will vote for your
bill if you will vote for mine."
The Enacting Clause. One way the enemies of
a bill may kill it is to " move to strike out the enacting
clause." If this motion prevails, the bill is doomed. No
bill can become law unless it is prefaced by the words,
" Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, rep-
resented in the General Assembly."
The Veto Power. After passing both houses and
being signed by both presiding officers, the bill is sent to
the governor. He may keep it ten days, holidays and Sun-
days excepted. If he fails to return it at the end of this
period, it becomes a law without his signature. If he ap-
proves the bill he signs it ; the secretary of State affixes the
great seal of Illinois, and attends to its publication. The
bill is now a law, and goes into effect July i, unless some
emergency exists and the law goes into effect at once.
Emergency matters must have a two-thirds vote for im-
mediate enforcement. (Constit., Art. IV. sec. 13.)
But should the governor disapprove, he returns the bill,
with his objections, to the house where it started; it must
then receive a two-thirds vote in each house to pass it over
the veto and make the bill law without the governor's sig-
nature. Should the General Assembly have adjourned,
then the governor files the bill with his objections with the
148 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
secretary of State and the bill fails to become law, at least
until the next session of the Legislature.
The Selective Veto. The governor of Illinois may veto
any item in an appropriation bill and allow the rest of the
bill to become law. This is a valuable aid in preventing
extravagant or unwise items slipping into an appropriation
bill. All appropriation bills are required to state the
amount of each item and its purpose. This is to protect
the governor's selective veto and to guard against extrava-
gant expenditure.
Legislature of ipij. A quotation from " Bulletin No.
21, Legislative Voters' League of the State of Illinois," the
last issue for the 48th General Assembly, follows : " Ad-
journment of the 48th General Assembly, the most remark-
able session of a State Legislature in the history of Illinois,
in many respects, came at five o'clock this morning — June
21 — when Speaker McKinley let fall the House gavel for
the last time. Fifty Senate bills (passed by the Senate)
ready for final action were swept into the discard. Of the
1,617 bills introduced in both houses only 240 ran the legis-
lative gauntlet and reached the governor's desk for signa-
ture. The final week of the State's longest legislative ses-
sion — from January 8 to June 21 — was one of feverish
activity. From morning to midnight each day of this final
week, members fought to have advanced and passed the hun-
dreds of bills that had piled up during the months of inac-
tivity. Most of them failed, and during the last three days,
hundreds of measures, important and unimportant alike,
were lost. The most important measures which passed
both houses include: Woman's Suffrage, State Public
Utilities Commission, Municipal Ownership of Public Util-
ities, Consolidation State Fish and Game Departments,
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 149
State Epileptic Colony Appropriation, Good Roads, Pri-
mary Law Amendments, Workmen's Compensation Act,
Legislative Reference Bureau, Chicago Municipal Court
Act, Chicago Outer Harbor.
" Members declined to enact an anti-railroad pass law un-
less it had for a companion measure a salary boost for
legislators (from $2,000 to $3,500). The senate refused
to concur in what some of the members styled a legislative
bribery proceeding, and killed the salary raise bill after
it had passed the bill forbidding passes. The House
promptly responded by sending the anti-pass bill to legis-
lative limbo." (8)
One senator remarked, *' This Assembly ought to do its
work in ninety days! If the Legislature would adjourn
for five years, the State would be better off." This quota-
tion illustrates from the proceedings in a recent session of
the Legislature several points mentioned in this chapter.
Practical, recent illustrations of actual government in Illi-
nois afe always desirable. (9)
Comparison of Congress and General Assembly of Illinois.
[Fill out this outline.]
Greneral Assembly. Congress.
I. Legal Name.
2. T i m e and
Place of Meet-
ing.
A.
Senate.
B.
House.
3. Composition.
A.
Senators.
B.
4. Qualifica-
Representatives.
tions.
I50 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
General Assembly. Congress.
A. Senator,
B, Representative.
5. Term of Ofi-
fice.
6. Time of Elec-
tion.
7. Presiding Of-
ficer.
8. Sole Powers.
9. Salary.
PERTINENT QUESTIONS
1. What is the organization in Illinois for studying the records
of members of the General Assembly and for securing the elec-
tion of honest, efficient legislators?
2. Why are the November legislative elections of such impor-
tance to every citizen of Illinois?
3. Why does our General Assembly fail to pass laws demanded
by the people?
4. Is there a legislative bureau in Illinois to collect information
for the benefit of members, or to assist them in the preparation
of bills?
5. How is a bill introduced in both houses?
6. Why is minority representation a bad thing?
7. What is the penalty for accepting a bribe?
8. What are the arguments against increasing the salary of an
Illinois legislator?
9. Give all possible ways a bill may fail.
10. Give the quickest method by which it may pass.
11. How can the speaker help pass a bad bill?
12. Why are committees called "legislative graveyards"?
13. What is a senatorial district? How many has Illinois?
14. What is "gavel rule"? Lobbying? Log-rolling?
15. What is "railroading" a bill?
CHAPTER X
EXECUTIVE
References :
1. State Constitution, Art. v.
2. Forman: American Republic, ch. xx; Adv. Civics, ch. xxiii.
3. Greene : Government of Illinois, pp. 85-90.
4. Garner: Government in the United States, ch. v; Supplement,
Government Illinois, 1915, pp. 17-34.
5. Boynton and Upton : School Civics, Supplement, pp. 40-51.
6. Guitteau : Government and Politics in United States, ch. x.
Elected Executives of the State. The State constitu-
tion declares (Art V, sec. i) : " The executive department
shall consist of a governoVj lieutenant-governor, secretary
of state, auditor of public accounts, treasurer, superintend-
ent of public instruction, and attorney general, who shall
each, with the exception of the treasurer, hold his office
for the term of four years from the second Monday in
January next after his election, and until his successor is
elected and qualified. They shall, except the lieutenant-
governor, reside at the seat of the government during their
term of office, and keep the public records, books, and papers
there, and shall perform such duties as shall be prescribed
by law." In many respects Illinois' executive department
is " hydra-headed," and therefore lacks unity of action.
Decentralized power — away from the center — is a favor-
ite principle of American government, and Illinois only fol-
lows historic precedent in her executive department.
151
152 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
The Governor is the chief executive officer in Illinois.
He must be at least thirty years of age, and a citizen of the
United States and Illinois for the five years next preceding
his election. He is chosen at the general election the first
Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the Presi-
dential election years. His term begins the second Monday
in January following his election, provided the State legis-
lature has organized by choosing officers so that in joint
session it can canvass the votes cast for the executive officers
and declare them " duly elected." There was a " dead-
lock " in the House in the 48th General Assembly over the
election of a speaker, lasting three weeks, (i) In conse-
quence, Governor Charles S. Deneen and the other execu-
tive officers had their terms prolonged because their Demo-
cratic successors could not be declared " duly elected," nor
be qualified for office by giving their bonds and taking the
oath required of each State officer.
The governor's salary is fixed by law and is now $12,000
and the executive mansion at Springfield.
His Legislative Powers are, (a) to send a message to the
General Assembly at the beginning of each session; (b) to
sign or veto bills; ^ (c) to call the Assembly in special or
extraordinary session whenever, in his judgment, the oc-
casion requires ; and to adjourn the Assembly to such a time
as he thinks proper, if the houses disagree over the date,
provided it is not beyond the first day of the next regular
session.
Power of Appointment. With the consent of the Senate,
the governor may appoint all officers whose appointment or
election is not otherwise provided for. The Legislature is
^For description of his veto power, see pp. 147-148 (How a Bill
Becomes a Law).
EXECUTIVE 153
strictly forbidden by the constitution to elect or appoint any
such officer, so that it may not usurp the appointing power
of the governor.
The number of positions, great and small, filled by ap-
pointment of the governor, is about five hundred. The
more important ones are: Offices in the State militia;
factory, grain, and mine-inspectors; members of the geo-
logical survey, Lincoln Park and West Park Boards in
Chicago; the fish commission. State charities commission,
and the Illinois park commission; the State highway de-
partment, the State board of administration to care for
the twenty charitable institutions; members of various
examining boards for trades, business, or professions li-
censed, or regulated, by the State, in order to protect the
lives, health, or property of the citizens, as dentists, pharma-
cists, architects, doctors (who are examined by the State
board of health), barbers, plumbers, and a State superin-
tendent of insurance; trustees for the penal institutions
and for the five normal schools ; three members of the board
of pardons; commissioners of labor; five members State
public utilities commission ; State board of arbitration to
try to prevent strikes by arbitrating the differences at issue
through State aid; three members of the State mining
board ; six members of the mine rescue station commission,
created immediately following the terrible Cherry disaster
and now maintaining three rescue stations and three mine
rescue cars in the mining regions of the State; food and
game commissioners; four superintendents of the free em-
ployment agencies. This long list is only a partial one. (2)
Each session of the Legislature creates new boards and
commissions that increase the governor's appointing power.
Keep up with these through the Session Laws published
154 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
usually by the middle of August of every odd year.
Power of Removal. The governor himself can be re-
moved only by impeachment. Charges are preferred
through a majority vote in the House of Representatives
and the impeachment is tried by the Senate acting as a
court of justice. Two-thirds of the senators must con-
cur to convict. No governor of IlHnois has ever been
impeached. The impeachment and removal from office of
Governor Sulzer of New York, October 19 13, has given
recent illustration of the danger of this method of trial
when controlled by the political enemies of the execu-
tive.
Pardoning Power, The governor may grant reprieves,
or delayed sentences, commuted or lessened sentences, and
full pardons for all offenses committed against the State;
but he can not grant a pardon before the conviction of the
offender. He has the advice of the State board of pardons,
which investigates all applications for pardons, and makes
recommendations to the governor, but he is not compelled
to follow their advice. A criminal may also be released
in other ways. Under the indeterminate sentence and parole
laws, after serving one year, if his conduct in prison has
been good, he may be released on parole. If, however, he
breaks his parole, he may be arrested and made to serve
out his sentence without a new trial.
Other Powers. The governor is commander-in-chief
of the State militia and may call them out in case of strikes
or mobs. The adjutant-general, whom he appoints, is prac-
tically the head of the militia. The fighting strength of
the State or its militia, consists of all able-bodied male per-
sons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, except
certain persons exempt by the laws of the United States.
EXECUTIVE 155
All such persons enrolled in the militia may be called out
in time of danger in the State or nation. Usually the mi-
litia consists of men who voluntarily enroll in the Illinois
National Guard, of which the governor is commander-in-
chief, acting through the adjutant-general. All enlistments
are for three years. There is also a naval branch called
the Illinois Naval Reserve.
The governor may request the President of the United
States to send Federal troops into the State to quell any
unusual disturbance which the militia cannot control. The
governor may also request of the President the extradition
of fugitives from justice who have broken the laws of Illi-
nois and fled to a foreign country. Persons who have com-
mitted a crime in Illinois and fled to another State may be
returned for trial through requisition papers granted by the
governor of the State to which the fugitive has fled. The
governor of Illinois must make request for such papers.
Social and Political Powers. The governor is often the
head of his political party in the State and has an unrivaled
opportunity to build up his own " political machine "
through his control of State patronage, familiarly known
as the State " plum tree." His influence in his party is
great because of this appointing power. A State-wide
civil-service law, vigorously carried out, would do a great
deal toward correcting this condition and putting the State
service on a genuinely efficient basis. The present civil-
service law is excellent as far as it goes ; but it is too limited
to cover the needs of the State.
The governor has many social duties in attending all
kinds of public meetings and opening many conventions
and conferences; he also welcomes and frequently enter-
tains distinguished visitors to the State.
156 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
The Lieutenant-Governor. If the governor Is re-
moved by impeachment, resignation, or death, the Heuten-
ant-governor succeeds to the office. He must have the same
quahfications as the governor and is elected at the same time
for the same term. Whenever the governor is absent from
the State, the Heutenant-governor acts for him. Governor
Dunne v^as indeed absent from the State, for good reasons.
a number of times after his inauguration February 1913.
Lieutenant-Governor O'Hara was thus left acting governor
an unusual number of times. The only work required of
him in the meantime is to preside in the Senate and cast
a vote if there is a tie. He is not required to reside at
Springfield during his term. His salary is $2,500.
The Secretary of State. This elected executive of-
ficer is custodian of the great seal of Illinois and affixes it
to all important documents; publishes the laws; keeps all
State papers; distributes public documents to any citizens
requesting them; issues certificates to corporations present-
ing legal charters; has charge of all State property at
Springfield. His salary is $7,500 per year.
The Treasurer has charge of all State funds and pays
them out on a warrant issued by the auditor. By a re-
cent law he is required to turn over to the State all inter-
est allowed by the banks on deposits of State money.
Formerly he was allowed to retain such interest for his own
use. His term is two years and he can not serve two con-
secutive terms. His salary is $10,000 and the bond re-
quired is $500,000. His large salary is due in part to a
recognition of the disadvantage he is under through his
short term. This short term and no immediate chance of
a second one are among the devices by which Illinois safe-
guards the public pocketbook.
EXECUTIVE 157
Auditor of Public Accounts. He is called the " watch-
dog of the State treasury " because he is bookkeeper for the
State and must balance accounts each month with the treas-
urer. With the governor and the treasurer, he determines
the tax rate required to raise the amounts appropriated by
the Legislature. He also issues all warrants on the treas-
urer for the payment of State money. Salary is $7,500.
Attorney General. Is the legal adviser of all State
officers and of the one hundred and two State's attorneys
who represent the State in the counties. He draws up all
contracts where the State is a party and prosecutes or de-
fends all lawsuits for and against the State. His salary is
$10,000, and this amount is supposed to secure a good
legal adviser for the State departments. But until the
voters of the State demand a State government run for
their interests more than for the politicians of some party,
we can not expect the best lawyers of the State will be will-
ing to accept this office, even if the salary is fair compensa-
tion.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. Is given under
Public Education, ch. xii, p. 168.
These seven elected executive officers are legally quite in-
dependent of each other although the governor is respon-
sible for the faithful execution of all the laws and there-
fore has general oversight of all the departments. The
heads of departments must make annual reports to the gov-
ernor and any special reports he may request.
Would Illinois gain through greater unity in her State
government? Give two arguments, pro and con, on this
question.
158 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
PERTINENT QUESTIONS
1. If greater unity in State government is desirable, how could
it be brought about?
2. Give the historical reason for this universal American prin-
ciple of " decentralized power " ?
3. Why are we beginning to question its wisdom for the twen-
tieth-century State?
4. Why is it difficult for the governor of Illinois to carry oat
any far-reaching public policy?
5. What are the constitutional relations between the governor
and the General Assembly?
6. How is the governor dependent on the Legislature?
7. Is the Legislature in any sense dependent on the governor?
8. How does the State civil-service commission assist the gov-
ernor ?
9. It is almost impossible to obtain fresh, up-to-date informa-
tion from State officers. The reports of State officers and com-
missions are printed about ten months after the year for which
they give statistics. How can this very inconvenient custom be
remedied ?
10. Who is responsible for the printing of all State reports?
CHAPTER XI
STATE JUDICIARY
References :
1. Constitution of Illinois, Art. vi.
2. Revised Statutes, 191 5, chap, xxxvii, sees. 1-76.
3. Greene: Government of Illinois, pp. 90-94.
The constitution of Illinois makes definite provision for
a system of courts, from the highest to the lowest, in the
following words:
" The judicial powers . . . shall be vested in one supreme
court, circuit courts, county courts, justices of the peace, police
magistrates, and in such courts as may be created by law in and
for cities and incorporated towns." (Art. vi, sec. i.)
To aid in understanding the interrelation of our laws,
from State to Federal, the following diagram from Guit-
teau's Government and Politics in the United States, p.
117, is worth study:
OUTLINE A. OUR SYSTEM OF LAW.
Federal
Constitution
Federal
Statutes and Treaties
State Constitutions
State Statutes
Common Law and Equity
159
i6o ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
Common Law is the customary, or unwritten, law
that prevails in this country. It is derived from England,
and is the great body of English customs, established
through centuries of usage, brought to America by the
English colonists, and cherished by them as their most pre-
cious legal heritage. It has been greatly modified by de-
cisions of judges in this country and by statutes. In Illi-
nois the statute provides " that the common law of Eng-
land so far as applicable, . . . shall be considered as of
full force until repealed by legislative authority." (Rev.
Stat., 191 1, ch. xxvii, sec. i.)
OUTLINE B. THE COURTS OF ILLINOIS
State
Supreme
Court.
Four
Appellate Courts.
Cook County two
branch courts also.
18 Circuit Courts in State
Three Judges each except
Cook County* i8th Circuit, has
20 Judges.
Cook County has Superior,
Criminal, Juvenile Courts.
102
County Courts
Seven Counties also Separate Probate Courts
Municipal Court for Chicago, 31 judges.
Special City Courts in 19 other cities
Justices of the Peace Police Magistrates
STATE JUDICIARY i6i
Equity means justice. " The aid of a court of equity-
is invoked where one has suffered a wrong which no actual
law forbids, or where there may be complicated account-
ings too detailed for the swift action of a court of law/*
For instance, you may suffer wrong through the act of some
agent for your property where he has broken no law and
yet you have suffered the loss of a large sum of money.
You would try to recover your money through an equity
case. In Illinois any court presided over by a judge is
a " court of law and equity," but in some of the States there
are separate courts for the two kinds of causes. An equity
case is always a civil action.
United States Courts in Illinois. There are three
United States district courts, Northern, Southern, and
Eastern, and a United States circuit court of appeals held
in Illinois. The United States district court for the north-
ern district, eastern division (Chicago) has two judges as-
signed. Judge K. M. Landis and Judge George A. Car-
penter. The western division of the northern district holds
court at Freeport. The southern district holds court at
Springfield and Quincy. The eastern district holds court
at Danville, Cairo, and East St. Louis.
The Municipal Court was created by act of the Legis-
lature for Chicago and under the power of an amendment to
the State constitution (1904) allowing special legislation for
Chicago. This municipal court act had to be approved by
the voters. In addition there are now nineteen small cities
in the State, as East St. Louis, Peoria, and Springfield, that
have a special city court having a concurrent jurisdiction
with the State circuit courts in their respective cities.
Jurisdiction of a Court may be of four kinds:
Original, if a case must begin there; appellate, if the case
i62 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
has been tried in a lower court and has come up on appeal ;
concurrent, when there are two or more courts having the
same kind of jurisdiction, and £nal, if the case rriust end in
that court with no chance of appeal to a higher court.
In what court in the United States is the jurisdiction al-
ways final? Has any Illinois court final jurisdiction?
What courts have no juries?
The work of the justice of the peace and the police magis-
trate has already been described. For the municipal court,
see pages 2y, 28, 161.
Lawyers. All law^yers in Illinois must be formally
admitted to the bar after passing an examination. These
legal examinations are arranged by the State supreme court,
and every lawyer in the State admitted to the bar is an of-
ficer of the court, and must render obedience to the orders
of the court. Any lawyer, or attorney, who fails to obey
a court order, or to show proper respect to the judge, or
to other lawyers in court, may be fined for '' contempt of
court," if the judge chooses to exact such a penalty. Many
judges, however, tolerate conduct and language in their
court rooms from lawyers trying cases before them that
never ought to be permitted. The dignity of our State and
local courts would be greatly improved if all the judges in
the lower courts were as particular about the decorum ob-
served in their court rooms as are the Federal judges.
Supreme Court. The supreme court is the highest
in the State : only one court in the land is higher. What
one? There are seven judges, elected for nine years, first
Monday in June: one from each of the seven judicial dis-
tricts into which Illinois is divided. They choose one of
their number for chief justice. Their sessions are all held
at Springfield, beginning in October. Their principal, or
STATE JUDICIARY 163
" first-hand jurisdiction " is cases involving the constitu-
tionality of Illinois laws, cases involving taxes, habeas
corpus, and mandamus cases. Many appealed cases come
up from the circuit and appellate courts. There is no ap-
peal from their decisions unless the United States law is
involved, when the case goes direct to the United States
Supreme Court.
Appellate Courts. (Four: two branch courts in Cook
County.) There are four principal appellate courts and
two branch courts for Cook County, which makes a dis-
trict by itself. Three judges are named by the supreme
court to act as appellate judges in each district from the
large number of circuit judges elected by the voters. They
are appointed for three years, but are generally reappointed
if they do good work. It is counted an honor to be thus
chosen by fellow judges for the specialized work of the
appellate court. Cook County, making one of the appellate
districts, has to have nine judges appointed to care for the
large number of cases appealed mainly from the municipal
courts of Chicago. The county pays half the salaries of
these State judges, who preside in the courts of Cook
County. There are no juries in the appellate courts and
nearly all cases tried are those appealed from the county,
circuit, or municipal courts.
Circuit Courts. (18.) Illinois is divided into eight-
een circuits. Cook County making the eighteenth. Three
judges are elected the first Monday in June from each cir-
cuit except the eighteenth, and they serve six years. From
Cook County twenty judges are elected and the number
is increased nearly every session of the Legislature.
County judges are constantly called to serve in Cook
County to fill the places of the circuit judges chosen for
i64 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
appellate duty. The circuit courts care for the cases ap-
pealed from the county courts and for any cases arising
between citizens living in different counties.
Outline the three State courts, supreme, appellate, and circuit,
under the following topics :
1. Composition.
2. Manner of choosing.
3. Term of Office.
4. Jurisdiction.
a. Original.
b. Appellate.
c. Final.
5. Salary.
CHAPTER XII
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ILLINOIS
References :
1. Revised Statutes, ch. cxxii (School Laws, our final authority).
2. Greene : Governmeni of Illinois, pp. 190-205 (a very clear, com-
plete account).
3. Boynton: School Civics with Civics of Illinois, pp. 60-63 (brief
but clear).
*' Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to
good government and the happiness of mankind, schools
and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
This sentence from the famous Ordinance of 1787 {Am.
Republic, p. 50) embodies the principal reasons for the
free public school system of Illinois as well as the other
States formed from the Old Northwest Territory. It de-
serves memorizing by every citizen in the State and is the
Magna Charta of our public schools. In harmony with
the Ordinance, the present State constitution says : " The
General Assembly shall provide a thorough and efficient sys-
tem of free schools whereby all the children of this State
may receive a common-school education." (Art. viii, sec.
School Taxes. Nine-tenths of the money needed to
support the public schools comes direct from taxes levied
in each school district. In addition to the local taxes of
the districts, the State levies a school tax of $3,000,000
i6s
i66 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
annually.^ This is appropriated by the General Assembly
at each biennial session. The Legislature of 191 1 doubled
this tax, which helps the less wealthy districts maintain
better schools. This State school fund is divided by the
auditor of public accounts among the 102 counties of Illinois
in proportion to the number of children under twenty-one
years of age. The county superintendent of each county
receives his share of the State fund from the county col-
lector and distributes in turn to the township treasurers in
the county. The township (school) treasurer then divides
it between the school districts in his township according to
the children under twenty-one.
Permanent School Funds. The same process is used
in distributing the permanent school funds held by the State.
The largest of these for the common schools is the Town-
ship Fund, amounting now to more than fifteen millions.
By the Enabling Act of 18 18, Section 16, or its equivalent,
in every township was given by the National Government
for the support of schools in that township. This grant
amounted to over one million acres. All of it has now been
sold except about seven thousand acres, lying principally in
Chicago. The Chicago schools receive nearly a million
dollars annually from the rentals of these unsold school
lands. Their market value is hundreds of millions and in-
creasing each year.
In some of the Western States, like Idaho and Wyoming,
where they have profited by our mismanagement of school
lands, no district tax is levied, but the schools are run
entirely from rentals from unsold school lands.
State School Fund. The second largest permanent
fund for the common schools is the State school fund.
*Act of Legislature, 1913.
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ILLINOIS 167
Three per cent., less one-sixth (one-half of one per cent.)
of the proceeds of the sale of all public lands in lUinois
was given to the public schools. The one-sixth deducted
was set aside for higher education.
The surplus revenue fund is an interesting one because
of its source. Illinois received nearly half a million dollars
in 1835 from the National Government when, for the first
time in its history, the United States was not only free from
debt, but a capitalist. Congress voted to " permanently
loan " these surplus millions to the different States, and
suggested the application of this unexpected cash to the
school fund; which wise advice Illinois followed. The
principal of all these funds has been spent by the State long
ago; but Illinois has pledged her honor to pay to the com-
mon schools annually the interest on the funds at six per
cent.
Higher Education in the State. At the head of Illi-
nois' system of higher education stands the State Univer-
sity at Urbana. This great State school, or rather collec-
tion of schools, owes its existence to a large gift of land
made by Congress to the loyal States during the Civil War.
This grant was made for the express purpose of establish-
ing colleges whose leading object must be to teach " agri-
culture and the mechanic arts." The result of this wise
action by Congress was the founding of agricultural col-
leges in all of the Western States. The Illinois Industrial
University was founded then as the State's response to this
offer. The university was reorganized as the " University
of IlHnois " in 1885.
The University is governed by a board of trustees in-
cluding the governor, president State Board of Agriculture,
superintendent of public instruction, and nine men and
i68 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
women elected by the men and women voters of the State.
The Legislature makes very large appropriations for the
maintenance of the University in addition to the interest
received from the permanent funds for higher education.
There are also five normal schools for the training of
teachers, located in the different sections of the State, at
DeKalb, Carbondale, Normal, Macomb, and Charleston.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The
State superintendent of public instruction is the ranking
school officer in the State, although his actual power is not
great because the local boards manage the schools in their
districts quite independently. He is elected for four years,
in November of the alternate even year. His election is
planned to come in the even year between the election of
Presidential electors, to keep the State school offices out of
politics as far as possible.
Duties. His duties are mainly advisory. The county
superintendents report directly to him and he is their legal
adviser. He must send a biennial report to the governor
and recommend any changes in the school laws he thinks
wise; he issues State certificates for ten years and for life
to teachers who pass certain examinations and is ex-officio
a member of the University board of trustees. He is con-
stantly called on to give public addresses on educational
questions and an able superintendent may thereby exert
much influence indirectly on the school system of the State.
County Superintendent. This officer represents the
State in school matters in the county; is directly responsi-
ble to the State superintendent, and must report annually to
him. His salary is paid by the State. He distributes the
county's share of the annual State school fund of three
million dollars to the towns in his county ; conducts exami-
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ILLINOIS 169
nations and grants certificates to all teachers, who without
such certificate could not draw salary from the taxes ; holds
teachers' institutes each summer and other meetings during
the year ; visits all public schools in the county and suggests
improvements. He is particularly required to supervise
and assist the rural schools. A movement has been started
under the county superintendents to encourage the teaching
of agriculture and give more practical education to the boy
and girl in the country. (Ch. iv: p. 75.)
Local School Administration. The Illinois school
law makes the congressional township the school township
and unit of school government (Rev. Stat., ch. cxxii, sec.
30). Therefore a school township always coincides with
some congressional township. Remember, however, the
school officers are in no sense town officers. The actual
management of the schools, however, is vested in the school
district. If the school district contains a thousand people
there must be a board of education elected by the men and
women voters of the district. This board shall consist of
a president, elected for one year, and six members elected
for three years, the president and two members to be
chosen annually. There must be three additional members
for every ten thousand people up to a board of fifteen.
Cities above one hundred thousand population (Chicago)
must have a board of education of twenty-one members, ap-
pointed by the mayor with the consent of the council, for
three years; seven to be appointed annually. The board
selects the president from its own members. This is an
excellent illustration of the method pursued by the General
Assembly to evade the provision against special legislation
in the State constitution. Cities are grouped in classes ac-
cording to population. In the class referred to above, of
I70 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
course Chicago is the only city to qualify. Why not be
honest and remove from the constitution such a " dead let-
ter " so far as it affects Chicago, and give that great city
much needed legislation directly ? ( i )
The board of education in Chicago must get the consent
of the council to issue bonds, buy or lease school sites, erect
or purchase school buildings. For the powers and duties
of the board, see Rev. Statutes, chapter cxxii, sections 178-
179; also pp. 171, 172 of this book. School boards and di-
rectors throughout the State have the right to condemn pri-
the owner." This is the famous right of eminent do-
main (2), the right of the "greatest good to the greatest
number," and is granted school boards in Illinois directly
by law. (Rev. Stat., ch. cxxii, sec. 148.) If the owner of
the property desired for the use of the schools refuses to
accept a reasonable price, then condemnation proceedings
are begun in court ; the price may be fixed by a jury and the
owner is compelled to accept it. This is just, because no
individual, or group of individuals, ought to block the
rights of a larger group. The property rights of a private
citizen are amply protected in the United States constitu-
tion. (See Constitution of the United States, Amendment
V.)
School Township Trustees. Each school township
elects three trustees as the business officers for its school
affairs. Their term is three years. One is elected annually
on the second Saturday of April, by the legal voters of the
township, men and women. In school townships where
the boundaries coincide with those of a town (3), the school
trustees are elected on the same day as the town officers
(the first Tuesday in April), for convenience, and to save
the expense of a separate election. Any resident, twenty-
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ILLINOIS 171
one years old, is eligible for the office ; but no two trustees
shall reside, when elected, in the same school district, nor
can any person be trustee and director at the same time.
Duties of School Trustees. The trustees have three
main duties: (a) To divide the township into school dis-
tricts for the convenience of those who attend the schools;
(b) to appoint a township treasurer who handles all school
funds in the township; (c) to hold all school property, both
lands and buildings, in their name. They may also estab-
lish a township high school if the people of the township
vote for one at an election called for that purpose.
District Boards of Directors.^ After a township is
divided by the trustees into school districts, each having
less than one thousand population (unless it contains an
incorporated city or village), each district must elect three
directors who are charged with the management of the dis-
trict school. Their term is three years and one is chosen
annually on the third Saturday in April by the legal voters
of the district, including men and women. Neither trus-
tees nor directors receive any pay for their services.
Women are eligible for directors. The board of directors
must establish and keep in running order one or more free
schools for at least no days of actual teaching each year,
to accommodate all children in the district between the ages
of six (compulsory age is seven) and twenty-one. The
directors appoint the teachers, fix their salaries, levy the
school tax for the district, and have entire charge of the
schools. They are the educational officers for a school dis-
trict, while the trustees are the business school officers for
the entire township.
High Schools. Any school board has the right to es-
2 Rev. Stat., ch. cxxii, sees. 121-125.
172 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
tablish a high school to provide the first steps toward higher
education. The high school is properly named the " peo-
ple's college," and ought to be the most democratic school
in all our system. Public kindergartens, manual training,
domestic science, music, and drawing may be provided
under special teachers if the voters of the district so author-
ize the board through an election.
Compulsory School Law. School must be held in
every district at least no days in the year and all children
between seven and fourteen are compelled to attend under
penalty. The parents may be brought into court by the
truant officer and fined if they fail to keep their children
in school the required months. Children who are feeble-
minded, blind, or crippled are provided with special instruc-
tion, or legally excused from attendance.
Township High Schools. This form of high school
is in much favor in Illinois. There are about one hundred
in the State. A township high school is organized, after a
special election has authorized its establishment, by electing
a township hoard of five members, who have full control of
the high school. The advantages of such a high school are :
(a) more taxable property, hence larger revenue, better
buildings, grounds, and equipment; (b) more careful su-
pervision because the township board gives its time and
effort to the high school alone; (c) more pupils can attend
without paying tuition. It also enables the poorer districts
in a township to unite their funds and get such an advanced
school, which otherwise they could not afford to have.
April is the usual month in Illinois for school elections.
Consult the Revised Statutes, chapter cxxii, for the exact
Saturday.
Teachers' Pension Fund. Illinois has a Teachers*
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ILLINOIS 173
Pension Fund, created by act of the Legislature in 191 5,
which applies to all the cities and school districts in the
State except Chicago and Peoria. The fund is created by
certain amounts deducted from the salaries of all teachers
coming under its provision and the remainder comes from
the State. The pension granted after twenty-five years of
teaching is four hundred dollars. The teachers contribut-
ing elect three of the five trustees who manage the fund and
the State superintendent and State treasurer are ex-officio
members of the pension board.
SUMMARY ILLINOIS SCHOOL SYSTEM BY OUTLINE
(a) State superintendent (i)
(b) County superintendents (102)
(c) School directors (3 in each township)
(d) Township school trustees (3 in each township)
(e) Township treasurer (i)
(f) Board of education (elected) (7-15)
(g) Board of education (appointed) (21)
PERTINENT QUESTIONS
1. Which of these officers are elected? Which appointed?
Which receive any salary?
2. To which school offices are women eligible? (Rev. Stat.,
ch. cxxii, sec. 290.)
3. To whom are school taxes paid?
4. How does a teacher get her salary?
5. If refused payment, could she legally recover her salary?
6. How would you secure an athletic field for your school?
7. How often may text-books be changed in your district?
(Rev. Stat., ch. cxxii, sec. 146.)
8. How could your township get a township high school?
9. What difference in government between a township and a
city high school?
10. How could your district get a kindergarten? What chil-
dren could attend it?
174 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
11. Do the citizens in your district use the schoolhouse for
meetings outside of school hours?
12. If not, why?
13. Why should the property of a bachelor be taxed to support
the schools?
14. Why must the property of a non-resident pay a school tax?
CHAPTER XIII
THE MERIT SYSTEM IN ILLINOIS
STATE, COUNTY, AND CITY CIVIL-SERVICE COMMISSIONS
GENERAL REFERENCES
1. Edward Cary: The Merit System — The Spoils System.
2. Elizabeth Luther Cary: A Primer of the Civil Service and
the Merit System.
3. Clinton B. Woodruff: The Merit System in Municipalities.
4. The Business Value of Civil-Service Reform.
5. Imogen B. Oakley: Spread of Civil-Service Reform Prin-
ciples through Women's Clubs.
6. W. W. Vaughan: Every Man on His Own Merits. (These
are furnished schools by Women's Auxiliary, Massachu-
setts Civil Service Reform Association — usually without
charge. Address Miss Marion C. Nichols, 31 Beacon
Street, Boston, for list of their valuable publications and
reports.
SPECIAL REPORTS FOR ILLINOIS
7. Eighteenth Annual Report Cook County Civil-Service Com-
mission, September, 19 13.
8. Report, 1914, of Chicago Civil-Service Commission.
9. Report, 1914, Illinois State Civil-Service Commission. (Send
to the County, City, or State authorities for these interest-
ing reports.) (i)
" Civil-Service Reform has survived the doubts of its friends, as
well as the rancor of its enemies, and has gained a permanent
place among the agencies destined to cleanse our politics and to
improve, economize, and elevate the pubic service." — Grover
Cleveland.
175
176 ACTUx\L GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
" Civil-Service Reform is as democratic and as American as
the public-school system." — Theodore Roosevelt.
Meaning of Civil Service. " The purpose of civil-
service legislation is to provide a non-political method of
determining fitness of applicants for public positions, and
to prevent their removal for any political or religious reason.
The method of determining fitness for these positions is by
practical, competitive examinations, open to all citizens alike.
From these examinations eligible lists are made up by rating
applicants in the order in which they have passed an ex-
amination. And from these lists, in the same order, posi-
tions are filled.
"" The purpose of the plan is to plaice the public civil
service on a business-like basis, so that public business may
be transacted as efficiently and honestly as in any private
concern" — First Annual Report of the Illinois Civil-Serv-
ice Commission.
History of the Movement. The United States Gov-
ernment has had a civil-service law — The Pendleton Act
— since 1883. The spoils system — "to the victor belong
the spoils of the enemy " — came in under President Jack-
son, about 1830, and for over half a century that degrad-
ing, wasteful system of office-holding prevailed throughout
the country and covered State and local governments as
well as Federal.
" Without the shedding of blood there is no remission
of sins." The American people were at last aroused to the
dangers of this vicious system by the death of President
Garfield, shot by a disappointed ofiice-seeker. The Pendle-
ton Act was the response to awakened public opinion that
a '* public office is a public trust," and an office-holder only
a trustee for the public who employs him.
THE MERIT SYSTEM IN ILLINOIS 177
The post-office department was the first one placed on a
merit basis, and its great growth in amount of business and
in efficient service to the people dates from that time. At
present nearly 260,000 Federal officers are in the classified
service — about two-thirds of the entire Federal service —
and the major part of the clerical positions in all ten cabinet
departments at Washington are under this common-sense
method of determining fitness to hold government positions.
Thomas Jefferson's three qualifications for office-holding
have never been improved on: (ist) Is he honest? (2nd)
Is he capable? (3rd) Will he be faithful to the constitu-
tion ? Honesty, efficiency, patriotism — where will you
find a better official creed?
City Civil Service. In 1895 the first civil-service law
in Illinois passed the General Assembly, applicable to cities
only, and after a referendum vote. Under its provisions
Chicago and Evanston each adopted civil service and thus
became the pioneer cities in Illinois to begin the merit sys-
tem. Chicago has only about fifty positions exempt out
of its huge pay-roll of 24,000 persons. This does not
count the school teachers or the judges of the municipal
court.
The Chicago civil-service commission has done some
notable work during its twenty-one years of life. The spe-
cial features of its excellent record (2) are : Equal salaries
for equal duties, or for all employees in the same class ; pro-
motion through examination only and for efficiency alone;
appropriate examinations, or those having a more direct
bearing upon the requirements of the position to be filled.
To examine scrub women in arithmetic and grammar is
absurd. A test for physical strength and endurance, added
to some knowledge of practical sanitation, is much more to
178 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
the point. The Chicago commission proposes to carefully
adjust its tests to the requirements of the work to be per-
formed. It is already a pioneer in introducing practical
tests as a prominent feature of its examinations. These
are best understood by a few illustrations :
A bridge-tender is wanted. The commission requires a
strong man with perfect sight and hearing; the mental ex-
amination for such a position forms a small part of the
whole test. Then the appointee is required to take sight
and hearing tests from time to time, to be sure his eyes and
ears continue perfectly normal.
A meat inspector is needed. One day he takes a written
examination on the theoretical part of his work. The next
day he is taken to the stock-yards and told to select healthy
and diseased meats ; if diseased, to state what is the trouble
and if there is a possible remedy.
For the fire and police departments fourteen physical
tests for strength, agility, and endurance are required. A
given height, weight, girth of chest, and lung expansion
are also necessary. The result we see in the thirty-five
hundred Chicago policemen, who are as fine a set of men
physically as you will find anywhere. To show how this
weeding process operates, look at one of the examinations
for patrolmen. Out of eight hiindred and forty-eight ap-
plicants, only about twenty-five per cent, passed all these
severe tests.
The Chicago commission also maintains a character-in-
vestigation department, where the honesty and reputation
of the applicant is looked up, just as a bonding company
investigates the character of a prospective bank cashier be-
fore they will issue a bond for him. A common trick to
evade civil-service regulations was for a strong man to take
THE MERIT SYSTEM IN ILLINOIS 179
the physical tests, a bright one the mental examination, and
an entirely different person — but all three under the same
name — to get the appointment. This is prevented by the
system of identification used, where a print of the forefinger
is made at different times under all these tests, and of course
must be identical.
There has been a very decided change in sentiment on
civil-service questions during the last few years. Formerly
the merit system was regarded mainly as protecting the
employee from grasping politicians and spoilsmen. Now
the viewpoint has shifted to the interests of the tax-paying
public. The efficiency of the public service is the leading
object. As the counsel for the Chicago commission once
expressed it, " The individual may suffer, but I feel I repre-
sent and am to safeguard the City of Chicago," — a very
radical change of sentiment from the welfare of the indi-
vidual to the benefit of the community, but quite in line with
the trend of modern thought on many topics. A large num-
ber of cities in the State now have civil-service commissions
and have placed their firemen and policemen at least under
merit rules.
The Merit System in Cook County. The county
civil-service commission of three is appointed by the presi-
dent of the county board for a term of three years; but
the terms are so arranged that only one commissioner is
appointed each year. Under the present law the consent
of the county board is not required. Cook County had the
honor of the first woman civil-service commissioner (3) in
Illinois and the second in United States. The county char-
ity service owes much to her wise administration. The
charitable institutions of Cook County were first placed un-
der the merit system in 1895 ; but for nearly eight years the
i8o ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
administration of the law was only a joke. The fact that
not even a stenographer was employed by the civil-service
commission is proof the law was a dead letter. Then pub-
lic opinion began to demand better enforcement of the law.
The account that follows was largely taken from the admir-
able Eighteenth Annual Report of the Cook County Civil-
Service Commission, issued three years ago but just as illu-
minating now as then.
Purpose of the Act. " The purpose of the County
Civil-Service Act is to maintain a system of employment
in the various county offices and institutions, based solely
on merit and efficiency. Positions in the county service are
not owned by the successful candidates or political leaders
who happened to have a majority of the votes at the last
election, but belong to the whole people of the county.
Every citizen, according to his ability to do the work re-
quired in the county service, should have exactly the same
opportunity for employment possessed by any other citizen.
The examinations, which test ability, should be practical
and impartial tests, directed to the sole question of relative
fitness to perform the duties of the position. The county
hospital requires doctors; the State's attorney, lawyers; the
county treasurer, clerks; and the county recorder, record
writers. Appointments to these or other county positions
ought never to be based upon service in a ward club, or upon
supposed loyalty to a factional political leader. Politics has
nothing whatever to do with a doctor's care of the sick,
with the prosecution of crime, with the making out of tax
bills, or the writing up of titles to real estate. Ability to do
the work required, as measured by reasonable standards of
efficiency, is under the Civil-Service Act made the sole basis
of public employment. The elimination under persistent
THE MERIT SYSTEM IN ILLINOIS i8i
and systematic treatment of inefficient employees and of
conditions of employment which breed waste and ineffi-
ciency are alike a benefit to the public and to the public em-
ployees."
A sweeping civil-service law, putting all the large fee
offices under merit rule, was passed by the Legislature in
1911.
The Exempt Service. " On the 20th of February,
191 3, these great fee offices of the county, the county treas-
urer, the county clerk, the sheriff, the offices of the clerks
of the circuit, superior, county, probate, and criminal courts,
the election commission, the State's attorney's office, the
assessor's office, the board of review, the coroner's office,
and the recorder's, became exempt from the provisions of
the Civil-Service Act because the supreme court found that
the Legislature had failed to print some forty words of the
191 1 Act. A new civil-service act, so zuorded it will stand
the test of the supreme court and he declared constitutional,
that will place these great fee offices under merit rule, is
one of the imperative needs of Cook County. It is esti-
mated a half million dollars annually could easily be saved
the tax-payers through such a law honestly enforced."
A recent illustration of the truth of this estimate is
furnished by the county agent's office. Before an examina-
tion was required, forty-five investigators were employed
to determine the condition of persons applying for county
poor relief. After examination, only seven were found
necessary to handle all such investigations.
How the Spoils System Works. " The system under
which appointments are now made to the exempt offices
does not differ much from the system in vogue for twenty
years past. Candidates for office are usually asked to sign
i82 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
the customary pledge to place all positions in their depart-
ments at the disposal of the County Central Committee of
the party winning the election. Some department heads
may succeed, after negotiation, in retaining a few positions
for their personal friends and helpers. Necessity compels
the retention of a few old employees who are familiar with
the routine work of an office." For example, since the last
county election, less than a dozen experienced employees
out of an office force of over seventy, were retained by the
board of assessors to do the very important work of assess-
ment of property in the richest county in the State.
" The agreement is usually enforced that the great bulk
of the county positions shall be pooled in the hands of the
County Committee. The County Committee allots these
positions, graded according to salary, to the various party
leaders, according to the size and nature of the party vote
polled in their districts. Factional differences modify the
size of certain shares, but the principle of allotment has been
maintained. When a vacancy in the county service occurs,
the privilege of filling it belongs of right to a particular
party leader. He, in turn, has obligations in the wards
and precincts under him. Grotesque misfits of men in posi-
tions where the only thing they understand is the salary
attached, are the inevitable consequences of this system.
" A burdensome political obligation is placed upon county
employees in the exempt service. Though they are paid
from the county treasury, a considerable part of their time
is devoted to partisan work. An employee must be able
to * deliver his precinct,' or to show a certain number of
votes in it, if he expects to retain his position. Increase in
salary and promotion depend on the same practical test.
His job is always at stake. He will be dropped from the
THE MERIT SYSTEM IN ILLINOIS 183
pay roll if he fails to deliver the requisite number of votes.
There are about forty thousand public employees within the
geographical limits of Cook County. A civil-service lav^
is the only barrier against the exploitation of these men
and women for political purposes. Until such a law is ap-
plied to all these positions, the voters of Cook County have
but a slender chance to determine real political issues, or to
decide upon the relative merits of candidates for elective
offices."
The Illinois primary law is at present a party measure,
and nomination by petition the only chance for a non-parti-
san candidate. But such a candidate has slender chance
of winning at the polls when he must overcome the strenu-
ous partisan work of a crowd of office-holders whose
** jobs " depend on the success of their party.
One of the important sections in every civil-service law
forbids an employee from electioneering of all kinds, nor
can he be compelled to contribute to any campaign fund.
His time and his pocketbook are thus protected from the
raids of candidates for the elective offices. " That the
merit system of Cook County has survived the attacks of
its enemies is proof of the soundness of its principles.
Twice the people of the county have endorsed the merit sys-
tem; the last time in 1910 by a majority of nearly 100,000
votes." There are now (October 19 16), 1,100 positions
in the classified service, or places under the civil-service law.
One great evil is usually the large number of temporary
appointments — those made for sixty days — without the
applicant passing any examination. Sometimes these ap-
plications are renewed so many times that the position really
becomes " exempt," and persons who have honestly passed
an examination and been placed on the eligible list are
i84 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
thereby kept out of an office to which they are entitled.
When the reform county civil-service commission began
work (March i, 1913), there were 462 temporary appoint-
ees in a charity service of 1,074 positions. By holding 11 1
examinations in six months, they finally reduced the tempo-
rary appointees to 147 out of a charity service of 1,074
persons. This is one of the vital tests of an honestly
enforced civil-service law. Measured by this standard, as
well as other tests, the merit system in Cook County has
gone backward since the change in administration in 19 14.
The present commission is of the old-style political type.^
The Merit System in the State. The youngest of the
civil-service acts of Illinois, that of 1905, is the State Act,
when the General Assembly by statute applied the merit
system to the seventeen charitable institutions of the State.
The present number of such institutions is twenty-one.
This law was a hard- won victory for civil-service reform
after a long struggle in the Legislature, and was only a
shred of the original bill introduced. The only positions
exempt in the charity institutions are the superintendents
of the State hospitals and State schools, whose important
places are still regarded as " spoils of office," to the dis-
grace of the State. A list of the State charitable institu-
tions and their locations will be found in the chapter on
State Charity Service, pp. 196 and 197.
The State of Illinois cares for about 22,000 dependents
in the State institutions. By far the largest number are
insane patients, cared for in the nine State hospitals, and
iThe valuable Eighteenth Annual Report of the Cook County Civil-
Service Commission was largely the work of its president, Robert
Catherwood. Other members of the commission were Miss Anna E.
Nicholes, secretary, and W. F. Corby. (4)
THE MERIT SYSTEM IN ILLINOIS 185
these helpless state wards are especially in need of wise and
experienced care. The protection of these helpless men and
women from political employees, and their wiser, more hu-
mane treatment, were the principal reasons for the adoption
of the Illinois Civil-Service law of 1905. The entire treat-
ment of the insane in our State has been revolutionized since
that year.
Illinois was the first State to introduce oral examinations
in connection with the written and physical tests required.
For such positions as house-father and house-mother at
the reform schools the personal qualities, tact, and common-
sense of the applicants count far more than any mental test.
These qualities can be determined better by a personal in-
terview than in any other way. The Illinois commission
has developed a practical system for such interviews, always
providing a stenographer to record every question and an-
swer, and keeping all such records as part of the examina-
tion.
At the State Eye and Ear Infirmary in Chicago the entire
staff of oculists and aurists, about eighty, serve without pay,
and yet submit to a hard written examination, and then are
taken on some designated day into the clinic room and all
the cases for that day, nearly one hundred, are put under
their charge to test their practical skill. These applicants
perform all operations under the eye of skilled specialists,
who of course take care no harm comes to any patient
through the awkwardness or ignorance of the candidate
for a staff position. The doctors estimate it is worth ten
thousand dollars a year to be known as a member of the
operating staff of the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, so
they can well afford to give their services to the State for a
term of years.
i86 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
The most recent example of a practical examination con-
ducted by the State Civil-Service Commission was one for
grain-inspectors. The management of this examination
was turned over to the grain-committee of the Chicago
Board of Trade, and they were told to give exactly the kind
of test they would in their own private business. After
writing on certain questions, the applicants were given
twenty-seven samples of wheat, oats, barley, corn, and rye,
and were obliged to test them and grade them according
to their knowledge gained through previous experience in
handling grain. The type of grain-inspector selected
through such an examination shows its practical common-
sense. (5)
Conclusion. A good law is recognized by its foes as
well as its friends. The professional politician, the man
who desires office solely for what he can get out of it, the
old-time spoilsman, these men of course will fight the merit
system. But in their opposition, if they only can be com-
pelled to come into the open and declare their real senti-
ments, they will reveal themselves so unmistakably that their
constituents will know beyond a shadow of a doubt what
manner of public servants they are. Here lies the great
benefit of a roll-call vote on an important measure, in the
General Assembly, and why the legislators avoid its tell-
tale black and white evidence whenever possible. To the
mass of private citizens there is much calm satisfaction in
watching the struggles of certain unfortunate law-makers,
impaled like flies on pins, when they are caught in a roll-
call vote.
Keep a sharp lookout on the State senator and the three
representatives from your district for their vote on every
civil-service bill. Watch their record on the roll calls as
THE MERIT SYSTEM IN ILLINOIS 187
reported in the daily papers and the bulletins of the Legis-
lative Voters' League, and judge the men by this touchstone
of good citizenship.
PERTINENT QUESTIONS
1. Why are so many politicians against the merit system?
2. How will the tax-payer be benefited by an honestly enforced
civil-service law?
3. Give six arguments in favor of the merit system.
4. Can you give any good argument in favor of the spoils sys-
tem?
5. Why is this method of office-holding called the " spoils sys-
tem"?
6. Show how the name fits the act.
7. How does the merit system protect the office-holder?
8. What are political assessments?
9. What is meant by electioneering? Can you give an actual
illustration of it?
10. What do you consider the best way to select a civil-service
commission ?
11. If the civil-service commissioners are mere political ap-
pointees, what evils result?
12. Whom does the "exempt" office-holder obey? Whom does
he serve? Who pays his salary? What kind of public service
will he give?
CHAPTER XIV
STATE CHARITY SERVICE
References :
1. Revised Statutes, ch. xxiii, 1-50.
2. Annual Reports Board of Administration, Address Secretary,
James Hyland, Springfield, 111.
3. Annual Reports State Charities Commission, address Secretary,
A. L. Bowen, Springfield.
4. Institution Quarterly (Official organ of the public charity service
of Illinois) : published jointly by Board of Administration,
Charities Commission, and Psychopathic Institute; editor, A.
L. Bowen, Springfield. The quarterly is furnished free of
charge to any citizen of Illinois who wishes regular informa-
tion regarding Illinois' public charity service.
5. Greene : Government of Illinois, ch. xii, " Wards of the State."
(Read this chapter if possible.)
THE PLATFORM OF PRINCIPLES OF ILLINOIS' CHARITY LAW
" To provide humane and scientific treatment and care
and the highest degree of individual development for the
dependent wards of the State ;
" To provide for delinquents such wise conditions of
modern education and training as will restore the largest
possible portion of them to useful citizenship;
" To promote the study of the causes of dependency and
delinquency and mental, moral, and physical defects, with
a view to cure and ultimate prevention ;
" To secure the highest attainable degree of economy in
the business administration of the State institutions con-
sistent with the objects above enumerated, and this Act,
188
STATE CHARITY SERVICE 189
which shall be known as the code of charities of the State of
Illinois, shall be liberally construed to these ends." (Rev.
Stat, ch. xxiii, sec. 2.)
State Board of Administration. The amended char-
ity law of Illinois, in force July i, 191 2, is worth study.
It is necessary first to understand the legal machinery pro-
vided in the Act to carry out its purpose as stated in the
preamble. At the head stands the State Board of Admin-
istration of five members to manage the twenty-one char-
itable institutions supported by the State. The five mem-
bers of this board are appointed by the governor with con-
sent of the Senate, for six years, and not more than three
can be of the same political party. They are each paid
$6,000 per year and actual traveling-expenses. The exec-
utive secretary and all the employees of the board are un-
der civil-service rules, but not the members of the board
itself. These positions are still part of the governor's
patronage. Headquarters are at Springfield and the mem-
bers of the board must give their entire time to their duties.
Illinois began the experiment of a single board instead of
one for each institution, January i, 19 10, and the success
gained in more economical, efficient management is bring-
ing the State charity service slowly but steadily to a higher
grade, (i)
State Charities Commission. The same law that es-
tablished the Board of Administration (January i, 1910),
also created a State Charities Commission of five members,
appointed by the governor, with consent of the Senate, but
serving without compensation except necessary traveling
expenses. Their term is five years. The secretary of State
must provide the commission with an office, stationery, and
office supplies. Their headquarters are at Springfield and
I90 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
they have a paid executive secretary who is under the civil
service. Their duties are " to visit and investigate the
whole system of pubHc charitable institutions of Illinois."
The duties of the Board of Administration and of the
Charities Commission are not the same. The members of
each are required by the law to visit at unexpected times,
both day and night, all the charitable institutions of the
State at least every quarter. But the field of work for the
Board of Administration is principally financial and execu-
tive, the buying of all supplies, care of the land and build-
ings, the business and property side of the institution ; while
the Charities Commission is charged with the oversight of
the patients, inmates, and children cared for ; to see that they
are humanely treated and placed where, if improvement is
possible, they may have a chance for recovery. Such mat-
ters as the physical condition of patients, their food, cloth-
ing, cleanliness, medical care, recreation, employment, if
able to work, course of study in the schools, kind of teachers,
discipline, — all these things are inspected, complaints heard
and investigated by the Charities Commission and their
secretary, who gives his entire time to this work and is a
man thoroughly trained in public charity service. To see
that the kitchen, dining-room, dormitory, laundry, bath-
room, cellar, storeroom, hospital ward, and schoolroom of
every State charitable institution is in good condition and
suited to the needs of the patients and inmates is a very
important work, difficult to do. The Charities Commission
investigates and reports to the Board of Administration
what they find and how conditions may be improved at the
twenty charitable institutions now established. The new
State hospital for the insane at Alton has not yet been
opened, nor the Surgical Institute for Crippled Children
STATE CHARITY SERVICE 191
even located. A State colony for improvable epileptics is
also being built at Dixon. After a campaign of nearly
twenty years, the Legislature (1912) made a suitable appro-
priation for the site and buildings and the colony will be
opened in 1916.^
The State Board of Administration appoint the superin-
tendents of all the charitable institutions and may remove
them at pleasure, as they are not protected by the civil
service — a point that needs reform. The legal power of
control, of course, is vested in the Board of Administration,
while the Charities Commission has only visitorial and ad-
visory power. The law states that " five persons " and
" reputable citizens " are to compose the board and commis-
sion. At present no woman is a member of either, but
there is nothing in the wording of the law to prevent a
woman serving, and these positions are ones particularly
adapted to women, and where the services of the mother,
the housewife, and home-maker would be of special benefit
to the unfortunate w^ards of the State.
Boards of Visitors. In addition to the Board of Ad-
ministration and the Charities Commission just described,
the law provides a board of three visitors, one of whom shall
be a woman, for each one of the twenty charitable institu-
tions; to be appointed by the governor and serve without
any pay except actual traveling expenses. These three
visitors must make thorough monthly inspection of the in-
stitution and report their findings to the State Charities
Commission within ten days of their visit. Generally the
board of visitors live near the institution and therefore will
feel a local pride and interest in helping the superintendent
through kindly suggestion and advice to keep the institu-
tion up to the best standard of service. Any unkindness to
patients and inmates will be more quickly detected and
iSeepp. 193-194, 197.
192 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
stopped if these monthly inspections are conscientiously
made.
Complete State Care of the Insane. July i, 191 2, the
Board of Administration assumed control of the Cook
County asylum for the insane at Dunning. There are
about 3,000 patients in the asylum. The legal name is now
the Chicago State Hospital. At last Illinois has complete
care of the insane within her borders. Even those in pri-
vate sanitariums are supervised by the Board of Adminis-
tration, as no such private hospital can receive patients suf-
fering from any mental or nervous disease without a license
from the State Board, which can be revoked at any time the
hospital fails to come up to the standard of care set by the
board.
There are at present (October, 19 16) over 16,400 insane
men, women, and children in the nine State hospitals, out
of more than 22,000 State wards in all the charitable insti-
tutions. (See The Institution Quarterly, June, 1916, p.
8.) (2) When the new hospital being built at Alton is
finished, it will provide for 1,500 more. It is unfortunate
that the opening of this fine new hospital for the insane has
been so long delayed. All the State hospitals are badly
over-crowded and that means adequate care cannot be given
to the patients no matter how earnestly the hospital staff and
attendants may try to relieve the situation. By far the
heaviest burden on the taxpayers for the charity service of
the State is imposed by the care of this unfortunate class.
Psychopathic Institute. This fact makes the scien-
tific study of the cause and cure of insanity carried on at
the State Psychopathic (mental disease) Institute of very
great value. The institute also provides invaluable train-
ing for the doctors at the State hospitals, who are all
STATE CHARITY SERVICE 193
encouraged to take a six-weeks' course in the institute every
year. They are working toward a solution of the big
problems, "What causes insanity?" "Is it curable?"
" If so, how? " The facts just stated from the records of
the State hospitals emphasize the importance of sound men-
tal habits to every one. The constant practice of a few sim-
ple, well-established rules of mental hygiene would help de-
crease this great Illinois army of the mentally sick by
diminishing the supply. " Beware of alcohol ! Be clean
in mind and body. Be temperate in work and recreation.
Don't worry. Look on the bright side of all your troubles.'*
All the State hospitals have training schools for nurses
and attendants. Dental service is now provided in all the
State institutions.
State Institutions for Children. The State of Illinois
has assumed complete care of the blind, deaf, delinquent^
feeble-minded child, of the dependent child in the pool
house, and of the soldiers' orphan. A list of all these insti-
tutions is found at the end of this chapter and should be
studied. The Surgical Institute for Crippled Children (i)
is another much needed State charity. A law has been
passed creating such an institution under certain conditions
as yet unfulfilled.
The Colony for Epileptics is to be a farm colony located
on a thousand-acre tract of suitable land to give all the
out-door employment possible to the inmates. The build-
ings are to be only two stories and of fire-proof construction.
There are to be inclines instead of stairs in all the buildings
and every possible precaution used to prevent the epileptics
housed in these cottages from injuring themselves in their
seizures. It is hoped the Board of Administration will make
all reasonable speed in getting this much-needed institu-
tion ready for use. (3) It is estimated there are now in
194 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
Illinois at least ten thousand persons suffering from epilepsy,
and their need of State care is very great. (4) Only young
people and cases possible to cure will be cared for at this
new farm colony near Dixon.
Care for the Blind. In addition to the State school
for blind children at Jacksonville and the Industrial Home
for the Blind in Chicago, there is a new work being
undertaken throughout the State to teach blind men and
women in their homes. Teachers are sent to these adult
blind on request and a very excellent work has been begun.
Illinois has an excellent record for its very humane care
of the blind. (5)
Soldiers' Homes. Illinois is generous in her care of
the old soldier and sailor, too feeble to work. The State
also makes special provision, in separate homes, for the
widow of the man who has fought for his country, and for
his orphaned children. " These provisions for veterans
and their families may be regarded not as charity in the
ordinary sense but as the discharge of a public debt."
(Greene, Government of Illinois, p. 168.)
Delinquent Boys and Girls. The St. Charles School
for Boys is on the cottage plan ; has a large farm connected
with the institution and cares for about six hundred delin-
quent boys. A few miles away, at Geneva, is the State
Training School for Girls, where delinquent girls are cared
for, educated, and trained for some useful occupation when
they leave the institution at twenty-one. By good conduct
a girl may earn a much shortened sentence.
Poor Relief. The State requires the counties to care
for the pauper class, or dependent poor. This includes all
persons who for any reason are not able to support them-
selves and have no family or relatives to care for them.
STATE CHARITY SERVICE 195
The county may build an infirmary, or poor house, located
on a farm owned by the county ; or the persons to be pro-
vided for may be " boarded out " with some citizen of the
county. This method is rapidly being abandoned as ex-
pensive and not very humane, because of the natural desire
to make all the money possible out of the county paupers.
Instead the counties are building county infirmaries to house
and feed their poor who must be cared for in an institution.
In counties under township organization, the town super-
visors act as overseers of the poor and may give ^* out-door
relief " in their homes, or send the dependent poor to the
County Home, or infirmary, as seems best. The universal
dread of this institution in the minds of the self-respecting
poor is the best comment on its general reputation and
plainly shows where public charitable methods need revision.
Where poverty is the result of sickness, accident, or mis-
fortune, why should the victim feel so disgraced if com-
pelled to enter the county poor house that many times an
assumed name is given on entrance for fear some former
acquaintance may discover the compulsory retreat ? On the
other hand, public charity is too often abused by the vicious,
the lazy, and the " political poor," who are able to care for
themselves, or have relatives who should be compelled to
assume the burden of their support. The sensible, humane
poor master has a difficult problem to solve in sifting out
the " wheat from the chafY " in the human rubbish heap
with which he must deal. In the non-township counties,
the county board appoints a " justice of the peace or other
suitable person " to serve as overseer or poor master.
Greatest Need of the Charity Service. The charity
service of Illinois costs over three million dollars a year,
exclusive of the large sums spent by the counties in poor
196 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
relief, and the Board of Administration is responsible for
the wise use of this large sum. The board is trustee for all
the property of these twenty institutions, which is valued
at fourteen million dollars. This large investment in land,
buildings, equipment, and the millions spent each year from
the taxes, represent the sincere effort of this great State to
give wise, kindly care to the twenty-two thousand unfortu-
nate wards within its borders. There should be no politics
allowed in this care for the insane, blind, deaf, feeble-
minded, and delinquent. Public opinion should demand of
the governor absolutely non-partisan^ merit appointments
to the Board of Administration. Citizens should serve
notice on every governor of Illinois that the positions on
the board can not he used to reward his political friends.
The Board of Administration never ought to be considered
a part of the " spoils of office." It goes without saying
that no superintendent of any State charitable institution
ought to be dependent on the election returns for his tenure
of office. Yet this has always been the case, and it is true
now. The superintendents of these institutions usually con-
form to the politics of the party in power and change with
the downfall of the party. The sooner Illinois protects the
heads of her charitable institutions, particularly the superin-
tendents of the State hospitals for the insane, by a civil-
service law, the sooner the State institutions will move
toward the place Illinois ought to take in the care of the de-
pendent wards of the State.
STATE CHARITY SERVICE
State Charitable Institutions and Their Locations
Lincoln State School and Colony (for feeble-minded) Lincoln
Illinois School for the Deaf Jacksonville
STATE CHARITY SERVICE 197
The Illinois School for the Blind Jacksonville
Illinois Industrial Home for the Blind.
Chicago, cor. Douglas Boulevard and 19th St.
The Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home Quincy
The Soldiers' Widows' Home of Illinois Wilmington
The Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home Normal
The Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary.
Chicago, 904 W. Adams St.
The State Training School for Girls Geneva
The St. Charles School for Boys St. Charles
State Psychopathic Institute (for study of the causes and pos-
sible cure of insanity. A similar institute is needed at the
Chicago State Hospital at Dunning) Kankakee
Illinois Surgical Institute for Children Not located
(The law creating this " Surgical Institute for Crippled Children "
requires a donation of i6o acres of land for a site from the community
where it is located. No city, village, or country district in the State
has yet offered this prize. There is great need for this institute where
a crippled child under fourteen could be placed for surgical treatment,
which would probably save such a child from becoming a public
charge.)
111. State Colony for Improvable Epileptics. Opened 1916 . .Dixon
For Care of the Insane
Elgin State Hospital Elgin
Kankakee State Hospital Kankakee
Jacksonville State Hospital Jacksonville
Anna State Hospital Anna
Watertown State Hospital Watertown
Peoria State Hospital (for chronic or incurable cases) Peoria
Chester State Hospital (criminal insane) Menard
Chicago State Hospital (since July i, 1912) Dunning
Alton State Hospital (being built) Alton
CHAPTER XV
AMENDMENT OF THE ILLINOIS CONSTITUTION
Constitution, Article XIV
I. FIRST, OR CONVENTION METHOD.
A. Proposal.
1. By a two-thirds vote in both houses of the General Assem-
bly to submit the question of a constitutional conven-
tion to the people at next general election.
2. Submitted to people at such election: total majority of all
votes cast at the election must be favorable to the con-
vention.
3. General Assembly must in that case at next session provide
for such convention by law.
4. Number of delegates must be double the number in the
Senate (102), to be elected in the same manner, place,
time, and districts as State senators.
5. Convention to meet within three months and frame a new
constitution
B. Ratification.
Submitted to people at special election: total majority of all
votes cast at that election must be favorable to the new
constitution or it will fail of adoption.
This method would take about six years and requires a vote
in two sessions of the Legislature and at a general and a
special election by the people.
198
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION 199
II. SECOND METHOD OR " SHORT CUT."
A. Proposal.
Single amendment at a time.
Must be by two-thirds vote in both houses.
B. Ratification.
Total majority of all the votes cast at the next general elec-
tion must be in favor of proposed amendment if it is
carried. Is printed on separate or " little ballot."
C. Restrictions on this method of amending:
1. Only one amendment may be proposed by General Assem-
bly at any one session.
2. Assembly may not offer an amendment to the same article
oftener than once in four years.
A constitution nearly fifty years old, made in the nine-
teenth century, for a State with only 2,500,000 people, can
not suit the unforeseen needs of the twentieth century and
a population close to six millions.
Could a constitution be nailed down any tighter than
Illinois' ? How many years will it take to get the amend-
ments needed if Illinois has the constitutional dress she ab-
solutely requires ? The present constitution " was born
before the trolley, the electric hght, the telephone, the auto-
mobile, the sky-scraper. These familiars of our daily life
were unknown to the framers of the constitution."
To "amend the amending clause" — Article XIV — al-
lowing a number of amendments to be submitted to the
people at once, has been proposed as a practical " short
cut " through part of our difficulties. But it would give us
only temporary, partial relief. In the end our necessi-
ties would compel us to resort to a constitutional conven-
tion to obtain simplicity and flexibility of form and relief
200 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
from too many independent taxing bodies. The demand
for a constitutional convention is being heard most per-
sistently from the northern half of the State, particularly
in Chicago and Cook County, where three hundred and
seventy separate taxing bodies (i), with widely varying
rates, lead to great confusion in government and waste of
public money.
An editorial in the Chicago Tribune, October 23, 191 3,
entitled, " Give Us a Convention," is of interest on this
point. A constitutional convention is urged " at the earli-
est practical date as the surest means of obtaining addi-
tional charter power for the city and as the only means of
securing the power to consolidate the three municipalities "
(Chicago, Cook County, sanitary district).
The council is urged to petition the governor of Illinois
to call a special session of the Legislature '' to consider the
supreme need for holding a constitutional convention."
" But Chicago ought not to look at the constitutional con-
vention proposal from a selfish point of view. We are
citizens of the State and the State needs constitutional re-
lief. Not only Chicago, but the State, has long outgrown
the constitution of 1870, and while our needs may be more
dramatic and urgent, they are not more real than those of
the entire State."
The legislatures of 1913 and 1915 refused to allow the
people of Illinois to vote on this vital question of a constitu-
tional convention preferring the " piece-meal plan." What
will the 50th General Assembly do with the question?
Like Banquo's ghost " it will not down."
CHAPTER XVI
ILLINOIS MOVING FORWARD
Illinois has the honor to be the first State east of the
Mississippi to grant the ballot to women. This makes the
tenth State in the Union to give " votes to women." Al-
though not full suffrage, it grants greatly enlarged powers
to women. A description of the essential parts of this
famous law follows :
"The Woman Suffrage Law. Since 1891 Illinois
women have been allowed to vote for all school officers
except State and County Superintendent of Schools.
" The Illinois legislature of 19 13 extended to women the
right to vote for the following named officers : Presiden-
tial Electors, Member of the State Board of Equalization,
Clerk of the Appellate Court, County Surveyor, Members
of Board of Assessors, Members of Board of Review, San-
itary District Trustees, all oMcers of cities, villages and
tozvns (except police magistrates). Supervisor, Town Clerk,
Assessor, Collector and Highway Commissioner and also
the right to vote upon all questions or propositions submit-
ted to a vote of the electors of any municipality or other
political division of the State.
" The wording of the law is such that some officers, like
city judges, municipal court judges, commissioners in cities
under a commission form of government, forest preserve
president and commissioners, park commissioners and road
district clerk, not common to every city, district or town
201
202 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
are really covered by the law, because such officers are city
officers or town officers, or to be voted for by * legal voters.'
" The same legislature also enacted a law allowing
women to vote at primaries for the officers named above.
" Other semi-official persons like delegates and alternates
to national nominating conventions, members of state cen-
tral committee, precinct and ward committees may also be
voted for by women. Women may hold any of these
offices because the word " male " is not used in describing
the qualifications of the officer. Women are eligible to ap-
pointive positions and deputyships.
*' The women privileged to vote must be either native
born or naturalized citizens of the United States, having
resided in the State one year, in the county ninety days and
in the election district thirty days next preceding any elec-
tion therein, and they must be registered in the same man-
ner in which men are registered.
'' The days for registration precede the primaries and
elections by three weeks and are advertised beforehand.
" The city and school elections generally occur annually
in April and the county and State elections biennially in
November, though special elections may be called, for other
dates.
'' The statute provides for separate ballots and ballot
boxes in order that the women may not vote for all the
officers for whom men vote. There is a similar provision
in the school suffrage law of 1891, as the legislature has
no power to extend suffrage to women for officers men-
tioned in the constitution. Men only are now allowed to
vote for the most of the State officers, county officers,
judges, members of congress and the State legislature. To
give women the same rights, the Illinois constitution must
ILLINOIS MOVING FORWARD 203
be amended. Such an amendment, if submitted to the peo-
ple by a vote of two-thirds of the 19 17 legislature, that is,
by thirty- four senators and one hundred and two repre-
sentatives, and then voted for by a majority of all vot-
ing at the November, 1918, election would become a
part of the constitution and fully enfranchise Illinois
women." ^
State Aid Good Roads Law. The new State Aid
Good Roads law, in effect July i, 191 3, creates a new State
Highway Department of five commissioners, two of w^hom
must be engineers. Their term is six years, and the gov-
ernor appoints them. They will supervise all roads built
with State aid, prepare a uniform plan of construction, and
a road map for the State. The county board of each county
must appoint a county superintendent of highways for six
years from a certified list submitted by the State commis-
sion. This superintendent of highways will oversee the
construction of the State roads in the county, advise the
State commission of any peculiar local conditions in that
county, and act as a State agent for the commission. Cer-
tain highways in the county are designated by the county
board as " State Aid roads," subject to the approval of the
State commission, which is responsible for making the vari-
ous county roads fit into the general plan. The State pays
half the cost of construction of such highways and also
bears the entire cost of keeping them in repair.
Each township or road district, if in a county not under
township organization, decides by referendum vote whether
it wants one highway commissioner or three to look after
1 This material is taken from a pamphlet, " The A. B. C. of Woman's
Suffrage Rights in Illinois," by Catharine Waugh McCulloch, and is
used thro'ififh the courtesy of the author who is also author of the law.
204 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
its country roads, except the State Aid roads. ^ This is the
worst feature of the law, because the county ought to be
the center of local management as well as construction.
Not more than twenty-five per cent, of the total mileage
of country roads in any county can be State Aid roads.
There is no aid for roads in cities or villages.
Funds. The funds come from three sources: The
State automobile tax, which now amounts to $800,000, an
appropriation from the General Assembly, and the county
tax. The new law revives a poll tax of one to two dollars
levied on all men between twenty-one and fifty, and is pay-
able in cash, not labor. Enlarged powers of taxation and
bond issue for road building are granted the counties.
After April 1914, the supervisor in each town becomes
treasurer of the Road and Bridge Fund, making that town
office of more importance.
Cook County has approximately 1,200 miles of country
roads, so the county is entitled to 300 miles of State Aid
roads. These must be principal highways, and connect
with the State roads in adjoining counties.
Western, Milwaukee, Archer Avenues, Halsted and
Twelfth Streets have been designated by the county board
as the first State Aid roads in Cook County. They are
being made of concrete.^
This law is the first sensible attempt to " pull Illinois
2 Roads and Bridges Act, 1913, sec. 158.
3 There has already been planned and surveyed a great transcon-
tinental highway of concrete running from New York to San Francisco,
to cost approximately $75,000,000. The cement companies of the
United States have offered to furnish the cement for this highway at
a cost to the companies of $10,000,000. This Lincoln Memorial highway
will run along the south boundary of Cook County and pass through
Joliet and Dekalb.
ILLINOIS MOVING FORWARD 205
out of the mud," and is full of promise for the future.
Farm property will be immensely benefited by these new
State Aid roads, and indirectly, the cities and villages will
profit by better transportation for all farm products.*
Public Utilities Commission. Two bills concerning
public service companies and corporations were made law
by the Legislature of 191 3. A bi-partisan public utilities
commission of five members to be appointed by the governor
for six years was created. The salary is large — $10,000
— and each commissioner must devote his entire time to
the duties of his of^ce and hold no other oflfice nor engage
in any other business.
All public utility corporations must supply the commis-.
sion with any information required, and their books can be
inspected at all times. The law says : " All rates and
other charges made by any public utility shall be just and
reasonable." Every unjust or unreasonable charge made
is declared unlawful and prohibited. If the language of
the law means what the words usually mean, then the public
utilities commission can absolutely regulate the price of
gas, electric light, ice, and water; railroad, express, tele-
graph, and telephone rates ; warehouse and storage charges,
and the price paid for oil throughout Illinois. Certainly
this is tremendous power to place in the hands of five men,
and the entire value of the law rests in the. type of men
the governor appoints. There is provision for an appeal
from any ruling of the commission to the circuit court of
* See synopsis of the State Aid Good Roads Law prepared by the
Roads and Bridges committee of the Cook County Board. Also Re-
vised Roads and Bridges Act, in effect July i, 1913. Secure this act
from secretary of State, Springfield, or from your county board. Get
a road map of your county from the county board and notice the State
Aid roads on it, if any in existence.
2o6 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
Sangamon County and from that direct to the State su-
preme court. The act went into effect January i, 19 14. ( i )
The greatest objection to the law comes from Chicago,
because there is no clause allowing " home rule " for that
city, or control of its own great public-service companies.
Chicago, through its mayor and council, has unitedly pro-
tested against such a great increase in the power of the
State at the expense of the cities. Some control and regu-
lation of public utilities is greatly needed, and if the law
is firmly, impartially, and wisely administered, both the
public-service companies and the people at large will bene-
fit equally.
Municipal Ownership of Public Utilities. The sec-
ond law is : " An act to authorize cities to acquire, con-
struct, own, and to lease or operate public utilities and to
provide the means therefor." (Session Laws, 191 3, pp.
455"459-) This act, in force July i, 19 13, gives the cities,
villages, and towns of Illinois the right of municipal owner-
ship, operation or lease of their street car, telegraph, tele-
phone lines; water, gas, electric light, cold storage, and
power plants of every kind ; public Avarehouses, storage
places, docks, and to fix the rates and charges for the serv-
ices rendered by such public utilities.
How must a city proceed under the act if it wishes to
construct and operate a street-car line ? First an ordinance
must be passed by the council providing for municipal con-
struction and ownership of such street-car line and provid-
ing for a bond issue in payment of same, the bonds to run
not longer than twenty years. This ordinance must be
approved by a referendum vote, and the city may then pro-
ceed to build and operate the new municipal car line. If
a car line was already in existence, and the franchise about
ILLINOIS MOVING FORWARD 207
to expire, the city could proceed under the new powers to
buy the privately owned car line, repair it, and run it. The
same is true of a gas, electric light, or ice plant, a ware-
house, or telephone line. If the private company will not
sell its property at a fair price, then the city may condemn
it under the right of eminent domain. (2) Instead of issu-
ing bonds, a new method is provided in the act to pay for
such municipally owned utilities. If authorized by the vot-
ers, the council may issue " public utility certificates," to be
paid for out of the profits of the utility. This plan has the
advantage of making the plant pay for itself. The utility
may be mortgaged as security for the redemption of these
certificates, and there is danger of foreclosure of this mort-
gage by which a private corporation could easily get pos-
session of a plant built by the city, run it for twenty years,
and reap all the financial rewards of the experiment. This
possibility ought to make the citizens in any community
keenly alive to the necessity of an honest, efificient, city
government and a strictly enforced civil-service law for all
city employees before they attempt municipal ownership of
their public utilities. The act gives broader powers to
Illinois municipalities than any recent law.
Municipal Coliseum Law. The Legislature has con-
ferred the right on cities and villages under 500,000 popu-
lation to levy a tax of three mills to build and one mill on
the dollar to maintain a public coHseum for purposes of as-
sembly and recreation. There must first be a favorable
referendum vote to build such a coliseum. The mayor, or
the president of the village, appoints three directors to
serve without pay for three years to have entire control
of the use of the coliseum as well as to build and equip
it. Bonds running thirty years may be sold to pay for the
2o8 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
building and payment secured by a mortgage on it. Every
public municipal coliseum so erected is for the '* free use
and benefit of the people for lectures, concerts, public as-
semblies, and all other educational purposes, and for free
amusements and entertainments," subject only to the rules
and regulations laid down by the three directors. The
coliseum is to be used " for the greatest benefit to the great-
est number," according to the terms of this very progress-
ive lav^. In small rural communities a suitable place for
public gatherings is hard to find. Usually the church or
schoolhouse is the only available place, and neither build-
ing is large enough or central enough to serve community
needs. A public municipal coliseum would be a genuine
community and social center and fill a real community need.
No city or village need build such a coliseum unless it wants
to, for the law provides absolute " home rule " in the mat-
ter. (Session Laws, 1913, pp. 142-145.)
Legislative Reference Bureau. Several States, par-
ticularly Wisconsin and Massachusetts, have established
such a bureau, and the members of their State Legislatures
have found it a great service in drafting bills and voting
intelligently on bills introduced. Illinois has joined this
group of " forward looking " States, and provided by law
for such a reference bureau. The duty of this bureau is
to " collect, catalogue, and index laws, periodicals, docu-
ments, and digests " from other States and arrange this
valuable material in the most convenient form for the use
of members of the Legislature.
The reference bureau is composed of the governor, who
is ex-officio chairman, and the chairman of the committees
on judiciary in the Senate and the House. This commit-
tee of three appoints a paid secretary who gives his entire
ILLINOIS MOVING FORWARD 209
time to the work of the bureau and keeps it open the year
round, Sundays and legal holidays excepted. (Session
Laws, 1913, pp. 391-392.)
Workmen's Compensation Act. " A business that
does not care for its own waste is a parasite." The ap-
palling number of deaths and accidents to working men,
women, and children in industries led Dr. C. R. Henderson
to make the statement quoted.
The present workmen's compensation act is not compul-
sory. An employer may voluntarily accept its provisions,
or he may serve notice that he will not be bound by its
terms. But if he fails to file such notice, he is obliged to
come under the act. An Industrial Board of three mem-
bers, appointed by the governor for six years, is created
to enforce the act. This board is composed of an em-
ployer, an employee, and a ** representative citizen," who is
neither, and the board must be bi-partisan.
The amount allowed for the death of a workman incurred
in the industry is not less than $1,500 nor more than $3,500.
Lesser amounts are paid for injuries received. In case of
permanent disability, a small life pension, payable monthly,
is provided. Any employer can withdraw from the com-
pensation plan by giving notice to the Industrial Board and
his own workmen ; but such withdrawal does not affect the
pensions for which he is already liable. The workmen em-
ployed by the State, county, and local governments are also
protected by the law. This act marks a cautious begin-
ning in Illinois toward making industry " carry its own
waste."
Mothers* Pension Fund. This new law takes the
place of the carelessly drawn law of 191 1 and provides a
pension of $15 a month for a mother with one child under
2IO ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
fourteen years old and $io per month for each additional
child under fourteen, provided no relief is granted for any
one mother to exceed $60 per month. Alien mothers who
have taken first papers tov^ard citizenship are eligible as
v^ell as mothers who are citizens of United States. Both
classes of pensioners must have lived three years in the
county where relief is sought. If the father is living, but
permanently unable to support his family, upon recommen-
dation of the probation officer investigating the case, the
mother and children may still obtain the pension. Relief
ceased whenever a child becomes fourteen, unless that child
is sick or has become crippled, when the pension may be
continued until the said child is sixteen.
This pension is paid through the office of the county
agent. The county board levies a tax of three-tenths of
one mill on the dollar annually on all taxable property in
the county, to be known as the mothers' pension fund.
The judge of the juvenile court, or the county judge in
counties having no juvenile court, is charged with the ad-
ministration of the law, and there are special probation
officers for the investigation of every applicant for the
fund. (See Juvenile Court in Cook County, pp. 78-79, for
working of this new pension act in that county.)
Illinois Park Commission. Illinois is one of the pio-
neer States in the Mississippi Valley to create a State park.
The Illinois Park Commission, of three members, serving
without pay, was appointed by the governor in 191 1 to
acquire sites noted for their history or natural beauty and
maintain the same as State parks. " The historic spot
where the great tribe of the Illini Indians is said to have
made their last stand, and the site of the French fort of
Saint Louis," have been purchased, and the twelve hundred
acres are now known as Starved Rock State Park. This
ILLINOIS MOVING FORWARD 211
beautiful park lies on the Illinois River in LaSalle County.
The increasing number of people using the park shows how
great the need of State-owned parks is. Cottages and
camping grounds are being provided and every effort made
by the Park Commission for the freest possible use of this
great out-door playground.^
Child Labor Law. Illinois had an apology for such a
law over twenty years ago; but the law passed in 1903 is
the one of which the people are proud, and justly, because
it is counted one of the best child labor laws in the country.
No child under fourteen is allowed to work in any place
where liquor is sold, and there is a long list of prohibited
occupations, for which see Revised Statutes, 191 2, chapter
xlviii, sections 20-2oa. All children come under the com-
pulsory school law until fourteen years old. At that time
age and school certificates are required from parents and the
school superintendent. Between fourteen and sixteen all
hazardous occupations are forbidden and every such child
employed in permitted occupations must be registered by a
wall list giving name, age, and residence, which is posted in
the establishment where he is employed. The child's work-
ing day is eight hours and must lie between seven a. m. and
six p. m. The State factory inspector and his deputies are
charged with enforcing the child labor law and a certain
proportion of the deputy inspectors must be women, be-
cause they are keener in protecting the rights of the child.
Every child must be able to read simple sentences and write
legibly before a work certificate is granted. A fine is im-
posed for each violation of the child labor law. Illinois
protects the children in part until they are sixteen. After
'^ Report Illinois Park Commission, 1912, is a very interesting docu-
ment and will repay careful reading.
212 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
that they are adults in the legal sense and must take their
chances. Is it wise ? Can you give any reasons for favor-
ing a longer period for preparation for life occupation?
The Local Option Law. Since 1907 Illinois has had
a " local option " law allowing any city, village, town, pre-
cinct, or township to become anti-saloon territory by popu-
lar vote and remain '' dry " for eighteen months, when the
question may be resubmitted on petition of a small number
of voters. Under the terms of this act, over half the State of
Illinois is " dry " territory. But the permission to reopen
the question every eighteen months keeps the battle between
the " personal liberty " advocates and the anti-saloon people
always to the front. A decision of the State supreme court
declared this local option law constitutional. " This in-
sures the permanence of township local option in Illinois."
The county local option law, unfortunately, was repealed
in 191 3 — another evidence of the constant warfare be-
tween the liquor interests and the temperance sentiments
of the people. A recent Legislature (1913) passed a new
" dram-shop law " prohibiting the sale of liquor within four
miles of the State University; but the residence district
bill to keep saloons out of such districts of homes, was de-
feated through the influence of the United Societies, the
powerful liquor organization in the State. Illinois needs
to join the educational campaign being carried on in Massa-
chusetts to teach the economic and civic waste caused by
alcohol. The first municipal poster on this subject is
recommended for thoughtful consideration. This poster
has been placed in every park, fire and police station in
Cambridge, Mass., by order of the mayor and council.
Most of the laws described in this chapter were passed by
the last two Legislatures and prove that Illinois is genuinely
ALCOHOL!
THE PUBLIC THINKS:.**
It Is only Heavy Orinklnii that harms.
EXPERIMENTS SHOW:—
That even Moderate DrinkM Hurts Health, Lea|sens Bffictoocy.
THE PUBLIC THINKS:--.
. Alcohol braces us for hard work and A|{aiiist ffttiiJue. '
EXPERIMENTS SHOW:—
That ALCOHOL IN NO WAY INCREASES MUSCULAR
STRENGTH OR ENDURANCE.
ALCOHOL LOWERS VITAUTY; ALCOHOL
OPENS THE DOOR TO DISEASE
Resolred, at the Internatioaal Congress on Tobercolosis, 1905, to combiae-
the Fight Against Alcohol with the Struggle Against Tnbercnlosia.
At the Massachnsetts General Hospital, Boston, the use of Alcohol as a
JSedicine declined 77 per cent, in eight years.
MoBt Modera HotpitAlt shov the tuM UnAncy.
Alcohol is Responsible for Much of Onr Insanity, Much of Our Poverty, Much
of Onr Crime. OUR PRISON COMMISSIONERS RIPORTXD THAT
95% OF THOSE WHO WENT TO PRISON IN 1911 HAD INTEM-
PERATE HABITS.
YET THE PUBLIC SATS:— We need the Revenue from Liqnof
THE PUBLIC SHOULD KNOW.— HOW SMALL IS THE REVENUE com-
pared with the Costs of Carrying the Wreckaie.
YOUR MONEY SUPPORTS THIS WRECKAGE.
YOUR WILL ALLOWS IT.
YOUR INDIFFERENCE ENDANGERS YOUR NATION.
Commercialized Vice is Promoted throti^ Alcohol.
CITIZENS, THINK!
ARRAYED AGAINST ALCOHOL arc ECONOMY. SCIENCE. EFFIQENCY. HEALTH, MORALITY.
*»The Very Assets of a Nation.
— The Very Soul of a People.
Used by Courtesy of The Survey, August 9, 1913
First Municipal Poster against Alcoholism in the United States.
Placed by authority of the mayor and park commissioners
of Cambridge, Mass., in all parks and public buildings.
214 ACTUAL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
" moving forward " along the highway of progress. If
IlHnois will throw aside her outgrown State constitution
and adopt one better suited to the needs of the twentieth-
century the centennial birthday of the State, so near at
hand, will witness wonderful progress in effective govern^
ment. [For legislation of 19 15 see Appendix C]
APPENDIX A
Reference List of Books and Pamphlets valuable for study of
Actual Government in Illinois.
1. Beard, C. A. American City Government. Century Co.
1912.
2. Boynton and Upton. School Civics with Civics of Illinois.
Ginn & Co. 1910.
3. Campbell, W. H. Illinois History Stories. Appleton. 1910.
4. Currey, J. S. History of Chicago. S. J. Clarke Co. 1912.
5. Debaters' Handbook Series. H. W. Wilson Co., Minneapo-
lis. 1909.
6. Eastman, F. A. Chicago City Manual for 191 5. Bureau of
Statistics. Room 1005, City Hall.
7. Fairlie, J. A. County and Town Government in Illinois.
Annals American Academy, May, 19 13.
8. Fairlie, J. A. Report on the Taxation and Revenue System
of Illinois. 1910. Illinois State Journal Co., Springfield.
9. Fairlie, J. A. Report of loint Legislation Committee of 4yth
General Assembly. 1913.
10. Forman, S. E. The American Republic. Century Co. 1912.
11. Forman, S. E. Advanced Civics. Century Co. Revised ed.
12. Forman, S. E. Essentials in Civil Government. Illinois
Edition. American Book Co. 1909.
13. Garner, J. W. Government in the United States. Illinois
Edition. American Book Co. 1915.
14. Greene, E. B. The Government of Illinois. Macmillan Co.
1904.
15. Guitteau, W. B. Government and Politics in United States.
Houghton Mifflin Co. 191 1.
16. Hurd, H. B. Revised Statutes of Illinois. Chicago Legal
News Co. 1915-1916.
215
2i6 APPENDIX A
17. James and Sanford. Government in State and Nation.
Scribners. 1912.
18. James and Sanford. Our Government: Local, State and
National. Illinois Edition. Scribners. 1903.
19. Judson, Harry Pratt. Government of Illinois. Maynard
Co. 1900.
20. Mather, Irving F. The Making of Illinois. A. Flanagan.
1900.
21. McCleary, J. T. Studies in Civics. American Book Co.
1897.
22. Moody, W. D. Wacker's Manual of the Plan of Chicago.
Chicago Plan Commission. 1912.
23. Ostrogorski, M. Democracy and the Party System. Mac-
millan Co. 191 1.
24. Smith, G. W. Students' History of Illinois. Published at
Carbondale, Illinois. 1907.
25. Session Laws of Illinois for 191 5. Chicago Legal News Co.
26. Thomas, R. W. A Manual of Debate. American Book Co.
1910.
27. Winchell, S. R. A Civic Manual. A. Flanagan. 1910.
28. Wilcox, D. F. Great Cities of America. (Chap. IV — Chi-
cago.) Macmillan Co. 1910.
APPENDIX B
Valuable Publications of Civic Organizations in Chicago.
I. Chicago Association of Commerce. Reports and a weekly
paper Commerce.
II. Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency, 315 Plymouth Court,
Harris S. Keeler, Director.
1. Park Government in Illinois, Dec, 191 1.
2. Growing Cost of Elections in Chicago and Cook
County. Dec. 1912.
3. The Voting Machine Contract. Jan., 1913.
4. The County Treasurer's OHHce. Nov., 1913.
5. Nineteen local Governments in Chicago. 2nd ed.
Mar., 1915.
III. City Club. 315 Plymouth Court. George E. Hooker,
Secretary.
Bulletins.
IV. Illinois Equal Suffrage Association. 603 Tower Building.
1. A. B. C. of Woman's Suffrage in Illinois.
2. Illinois Laws Concerning Women.
3. Woman Suffrage Law of Illinois. July, 1913.
All by Catharine Waugh McCulloch.
4. What Illinois Women Have Accomplished with the
Vote.
5. How the Suffrage Law Was Saved in the Illinois
Legislature, 191 5.
V. Legislative Voters' League of Illinois. 10 So. La Salle
St., Chicago.
The Assembly Bulletin, issued monthly.
VI. Municipal Voters' League. 109 No. Dearborn St., Chicago.
Annual Reports on the Chicago Aldermen.
217
2i8 APPENDIX B
VII. Woman's City Club. ii6 So. Michigan Ave. Amelia
Sears, Director.
1. A Suggested Solution of the Garbage Question.
2. Catechism for Women Voters in Illinois. Nov.
1913.
3. Handbook for the Women Voters of Illinois. Dec.
1913-
4. Madam, Who Keeps Your House?
5. Mothering a Municipality.
6. The Larger Housekeeping.
VIII. Chicago Normal College. History and Government of Chi-
cago, in the Educational Bi-Monthly.
IX. Chicago Public Library, Civics room, main building.
Package Libraries for the Study of Civics. This
magazine material is for circulation and can be had
in duplicate for class use.
APPENDIX C
Vital Statistics Law. The General Assembly of 191 5 gave
the baby citizens of Illinois their right to a legal proof of birth
and descent, so important in matters of residence, inheritance,
voting, obtaining passports or work-certificates. " There is hardly
a relation in life from the cradle to the grave where a record of
birth may not prove of the greatest value." The law went into
effect Jan. i, 1916, and provides for registration districts and local
registrars who must be city or town clerks where possible, or
their deputies. All births must be registered within ten days,
under penalty, and proper certificates containing all the informa-
tion required by the United States Census bureau must be filed
with the State Board of Health within thirty days. The executive
secretary of the State Board is made superintendent of birth and
death registration under the law. All burial permits are issued
and recorded by the same authority subject to any sanitary
regulations made by the State Board of Health. A fee of .25 for
each birth certificate and burial permit is paid the registrar up
to 5,000, and .10 for each ensuing certificate. In Chicago the
registration is left with the health department but all original
certificates must be filed in Springfield with the State Board of
Health. An annual report of births and deaths must be published
by the State Board with such data as " will serve to promote public
health and the general welfare of the citizens of the state."
Commitment Law for the Feeble-minded went into effect July
I, 191 5, after a campaign of thirty years to secure it. The object
as stated in the title is, " to better provide for the care and
detention of feeble-minded persons," and within the first six months
of its operation 150 such persons were committed for life to the
Lincoln State School and Colony. The law provides for a com-
mission of three persons " two of whom must be qualified phy-
sicians — or one may be a qualified psychologist — to be selected
219
220 APPENDIX C
by the judge on account of their known competency and in-
tegrity," to make a careful examination of the person thought to
be subnormal and report their findings to the judge. Thereupon
the person declared feeble-minded may be committed for permanent
care to a suitable private or public institution or colony, to the
great benefit of the community and the individual involved. This
is the first time psychology has ever been recognized by law.
This commitment law has attracted general attention throughout
United States and copies have been requested from every section
of the country. " Illinois is the first state to enact and put into
practical operation so comprehensive a plan for the permanent
segregation of its mentally deficient." ^
Consolidation Law for Chicago. Public opinion in Chicago
is slowly but surely moving toward consolidation of the 22 local
governments within the city and county limits as the only certain
remedy for numerous evils in the body politic, especially the
burdens due to nearly four hundred separate taxing bodies within
Chicago and Cook County. Various plans to get rid of useless
and duplicated offices in city, county, township, sanitary and park
districts are being suggested from several sources.
The General Assembly of 191 5 passed an act providing one
method, although a clumsy one, to bring about this greatly needed
reform. The act is very elaborate and includes a multitude of
detail but fails to strike at the root of the matter. If adopted
it would give the city council absolute control over the public
library, the house of correction, the parks and townships lying
within Chicago. But the great taxing bodies of the county, sani-
tary district, municipal tuberculosis sanitarium and board of edu-
cation are not touched by the act. This law can be submitted
to the legal voters by ordinance of the city council, at any general
election or by petition signed by a certain per cent, of the voters.
For adoption a majority of all the votes cast at such election is
necessary and also " a majority in two or more of the local gov-
ernments to be consolidated." This makes possible "piece meal
consolidation," and will not do violence to any of the local gov-
1 The Institution Quarterly, June 30, 1916, p. 2)2>- Used through the
courtesy of A. L. Bowen, secretary. State Charities Commission. The
members of this commission succeeded in getting this much-needed law
through the legislature.
APPENDIX C 221
ernments concerned. But if Chicago depends solely on this law,
she will wait another century to get actual consolidation.
The garbage problem in cities under 100,000 can now be dealt
with in a scientific manner if the councils in such cities use their
new power to levy a special tax of two mills on the dollar to
provide for the collection and disposal of garbage. The method,
whether by reduction or incineration, is left entirely to the de-
ci^sion of each community.
The 49th General Assembly has to its credit a county tuberculo-
sis law allowing county boards in all the counties of the state to
levy a three-mill tax to provide a fund " to erect and maintain
a county tuberculosis sanitarium " if the voters so order on a
referendum vote at any general election.
APPENDIX D
(The following notes are referred to by number in the cor-
responding chapters of the text)
CHAPTER I
(i) A lack of funds caused the office to be abolished in 191 5.
(2) Only the most important officials, as heads of departments
or the " Mayor's Cabinet." Officials are not employees.
(3) H. A. Toulmin, " The City Manager," Appleton & Co., is an
excellent recent volume on this topic.
CHAPTER n
(i) Chicago City Manual, 19 15, p. 135.
(2) Defeated Apr. 7, 1914.
(3) The time of regular council meetings was changed from
evening to afternoon by an ordinance passed Oct. 10,
1916.
(4) For non-partizan organization of the committees see note
28, pp. 224-25, Appendix D.
(5) Only true when Mayor and chairman are from the same
political party. 1916, Mayor Thompson, republican;
chairman Richert, democrat.
(6) Appropriations from the Water Fund must always be added
to estimates in the budget to find the total appropriations
for that year. Note amount given for 1916, p. 19.
(7) Mayor Thompson issued a proclamation Oct. 4, 1915, order-
ing the saloons of Chicago to be closed on Sunday ac-
cording to the State law which had been a dead letter
for many years. Order went into effect Oct. 10, 19 15.
(8) Only two departments, Public Welfare and Public Service,
have been added since 1913. See chart, p. 25.
(9) Four year term defeated Apr. 7, 1914.
222
APPENDIX D 223
(10) Department of Public Service was created by Council, Mar.
30, 19 14. It includes bureaus of transportation, gas,
telephone, electric and engineering.
(11) The new Municipal Pier, extending three quarters of a mile
into the lake near Chicago Avenue, and containing ample
facilities for all kinds of public recreation as well as
docking privileges for lake boats, was opened in June,
1916. It is administered by the Harbor Board but under
the commissioner of public works. The average daily
attendance for July, 19 16, was over 50,000 and for Sun-
days, over 250,000. These figures show the great pos-
sibilities of the pier for serving the people.
(12) The name has been changed to Chicago and Cook County
School for Boys: located just outside the city limits on
part of the Gage farm. Buildings and site are provided
by the city; Cook County provides the maintenance; the
Chicago Board of Education provides the teachers and
pays their salaries. It was dedicated Chicago Day, Oct.
9, 1916.
(13) A boys' court to try offenders between 17 and 21 years old
was organized in 19 15. It tries boys who are beyond
the Juvenile Court age yet ought not to be thrown with
hardened criminals. A Night Court is a recent addi-
tion and is proving very successful.
(14) Four infant welfare stations are now maintained in the
congested districts.
(15) Clean Living, a monthly magazine on health, has recently
been added to their preventive agencies.
(16) Required by act of legislature beginning Jan. i, 1916.
(17) Half a dozen comfort stations have at last been opened after
a long campaign to secure these public conveniences.
They are under the bureau of the health department.
(18) Under the auspices of the Y. M. C. A. twenty minute talks
on hygiene are given during the winter months in the
noon hour in car shops, factories and industrial plants
all over Chicago. These talks are part of the educa-
tional work of the health department and are given by
its members.
224 APPENDIX D
(19) Dr. John Dill Roberston was appointed health commissioner,
April, 1915, by Mayor William Hale Thompson.
(20) Dr. Drake is now Secretary of the State Board of Health.
Appointed by Governor Dunne, Apr. 10, 19 14.
(21) Fire Prevention School Reader, Sept., 1915, issued by state
fire marshal department gives good material on this im-
portant subject.
(22) The official title is Chicago Normal College. It is located
on the South side and the Normal furnishes about half
of the teachers in the Chicago schools.
(23) Henry E. Legler, appointed Oct. 9, 1909.
(24) Since the map opposite p. 47 was prepared, four park dis-
tricts have been added to the number of park govern-
ments in Chicago, making 16 in all.
(25) An act of the legislature, approved June 29, 191 5, provides
for such consolidation of local governments in Chicago
whenever the legal voters of the city so order at any
election. The difficulty is to get the proposition on the
ballot.
(26) Percentages are for 1913, but practically true for 1916.
(27) Progress is being made toward a genuinely scientific solu-
tion of this ancient problem. The Municipal Reduction
plant is being rebuilt and soon will be one of the best in
United States. An up-to-date garbage crematory has
been built and is operated by convict labor at the Bride-
well. A modern incinerator is being built at Ninety-fifth
St. and new garbage boxes, trucks and loading stations
are being installed over the entire city.
NON-PARTIZAN ORGANIZATION OF COUNCIL
COMMITTEES
(28) Since 1902, the Chicago Council has been organized on a
non-partizan basis of honesty and fitness. Council com-
mittees are made up by a committee on committees of
six aldermen, two from each side of the city to repre-
sent the two leading parties. This committee on com-
mittees is elected in March by a caucus of the better
aldermen. This caucus is called by the Municipal Voters
APPENDIX D 225
League and the committee lists submitted by the com-
mittee on committees are reported to the new council
after the April election. For fourteen years the council
has approved these lists. The Municipal Voters League
thus assumes the burden, which individual aldermen would
naturally shrink from assuming, of excluding the so-
called " gray wolf " element from a voice in making up
these council committees. The great bulk of the work
of the council is done in the committees. The Municipal
Voters League is a non-partizan league of private citizens
of twenty years' standing and the improved quality of
the Council is largely due to its efforts.
(Above statement is from executive secretary of the league.)
CHAPTER III
(1) By annexation the Northwestern part of Evanston township
to the City of Evanston in 1914, the whole of that town-
ship is now included in Chicago. The Southeastern cor-
ner of Ridgeville township has been annexed to Chicago.
The remainder of Ridgeville township since July 17, 1916,
has been made the "Town of the City of Evanston" to
provide a consolidated township for that city.
CHAPTER IV
(i) County commissioners are ex officio also commissioners of
the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, created
by an act of legislature, 1913, and approved by referendum
vote, Nov. 3, 1914. A bond issue of $1,000,000 was voted
by the commissioners Mar. 5, 1915, for the purchase of
forest districts.
(2) Change in party control caused her resignation, Dec. 22,
1914, in spite of notable work on the commission.
(3) Appropriations for 1916, $13,182,000. Smaller building op-
erations account for the decrease ; but all department ap-
propriations are larger.
(4) Legislature increased salary to $12,000, but suit by the
county to prevent payment of the increase is now before
the State Supreme Court.
226 APPENDIX D
(5) The Juvenile Psychopathic Institute under Dr. W. C. Healy
conducts all these physical examinations and also tests
any child thought to be subnormal.
(6) The new building was dedicated Mar. 4, 1915.
(7) By amendment to this law (July i, 1915), alien widows who
have taken first citizenship papers are eligible for a
pension for their children under 14, born in this country.
This change in the law has greatly increased the number
of pensioners in Cook County.
(8) According to the report of the chief probation officer, Joel
D. Hunter, 6,116 boys and girls were brought before the
Juvenile Court during 191 5.
(9) Established 1915 with consulting staff of three alienists who
serve without pay.
(10) To this large sum must be added the $27,400 appropriated by
the county board for outdoor relief in the country towns.
CHAPTER V
(i) A new assessment was made in 1915.
(2) After 1916, the county collector cannot retain these fees but
must turn them over to the county. (See pp. 73-74.)
(3) An amendment to the state constitution giving the legisla-
ture power to reduce and simplify the processes of taxa-
tion was voted on favorably on Nov. 7, 1916.
(4) The new " Town of the City of Evanston " was created by
the County Board, July 17, 1916, and leaves all that re-
mains of the Town of Ridgeville in Chicago.
(5) The district described here is popularly known as "the
loop." It is one of the most valuable bits of property in
the United States. The tax rates, 191 5, for Town of
South Chicago containing the loop:
State .55
County .59
Sanitary .42
City 1.82
School 1.81
Park .41
Total rate, $S-6o
APPENDIX D 227
CHAPTER VI
(i) In Chicago, raised 19 15 to $7 for each regular election day
and $5 for revision days, but the increase is being con-
tested in the courts. Granted, Oct., 19 16.
(2) State convention of each party also nominates the presi-
dential electors for their party.
CHAPTER VII
(1) The panel, or required number of jurors, either grand or
petit, is obtained in Cook County from the jury com-
missioners, p. 82.
(2) The wonderful Fall River road and High Drive in Estes
Park, Colo., are examples of convict-built roads of which
Colorado is justly proud.
CHAPTER IX
(1) There has been no new reapportionment since 1901 owing to
political influence in the Legislature. See p. 99.
(2) Session Laws, 19 15, p. 464.
(3) The 49th General Assembly, 1915, was dead locked six
weeks over the election of a speaker. (Pp. 149-150.)
(4) Lawrence Y. Sherman is the first U. S. Senator chosen by
popular vote in Illinois. He was reelected for the full
six year term in Nov., 1914. Term is from Mar. 4, 1915,
to Mar. 4, 1921. Senator Lewis' term expires Mar. 4,
1919.
(5) " When the State Pays " and " Padding the Payrolls," the
Assembly Bulletins issued by the Legislative Voters
League, vol. 9, Nos. 24-25, are the best brief statements
of such facts for the 49th General Assembly. Every
civics pupil should make use of these valuable little
bulletins of the L. V. L. issued monthly.
(6) The new law gave the Public Utilities Commission power
to prohibit passes and they promptly forbade them within
the state, to the joy of the railroads and the great dis-
gust of the legislators.
(7) The 49th General Assembly, 191 5, under the leadership of
Speaker Shanahan reduced the number of standing com-
228 APPENDIX D
mittees from dy to 33 by altering the ancient house rules
— a great gain toward more efficient law making.
(8) A salary raise to $3,500 was passed in the session of 1915.
See note p. 143 on anti-pass ruling.
(9) Legislature of ipi^-i6. The three sessions of the 49th
General Assembly furnish a number of illustrations of
the archaic system under which the Legislature of Illi-
nois is organized. There were three sessions, one regu-
lar and two special, the latter made necessary by the
careless wording of some of the large appropriation bills
that had been " railroaded " through the last day of the
session and afterward declared unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court. The regular session in January began
with the customary deadlock in the House over the elec-
tion of a speaker. This deadlock lasted six weeks owing
to the old struggle between the " wets and drys," neither
side being willing to yield any point in this legislative
duel and neither party seeming to consider the rights of
their employers and paymaster, the people of Illinois,
to their services as legislators. Late in February the
deadlock was broken by the election of a so-called " wet "
candidate, but a man with a reputation for justice and
impartiality — a man respected by both sides. Under his
leadership the ancient rules of the House were amended
to reduce the seventy standing committees to thirty-three
and the House payroll for janitors, watchmen and clerks
was cut down to the smallest amount in ten years. But
the Senate " padded its payroll " with an unusual num-
ber of " legless janitors and armless stenographers " un-
til all the House economy was fruitless for the taxpayers.
The special sessions, called by the governor in November
and January, corrected their earlier blunders and also ap-
propriated more money. The legislative " grist " in the
shape of bills for the three sessions included some long-
sought reforms. Among them was a law for the regis-
tration of births and deaths ; for permanent state care for
the feeble-minded; a fixed salary for the treasurer of
Cook County, all fees and interest to go to the county; a
APPENDIX D 229
large number of park-and-playground bills and a " piece-
meal " consolidation law for Chicago local governments.
Appropriations totaled $46,000,000, yet Illinois has no bal-
ance sheet. " Probably no state in the Union has appro-
priated money for government expenses with greater
carelessness than has Illinois." But increasing tax rates
are leading citizens to inquire " Where the money goes
when the state pays." The 50th session of the General
Assembly [Jan., 1917] has organized without the cus-
tomary deadlock and elected a speaker of the House and
president pro tern of the Senate promptly for the first
time in a dozen years. The prospects are bright for the
submission to the voters of Illinois of a constitutional
convention resolution within two years. The majority
party in the Legislature and the newly elected governor
have pledged an " efficiency program " through reorgan-
ization of the state departments and revision of the
archaic rules of procedure in both houses.
CHAPTER X
(i) See pp. 141-142 for description of this deadlock.
(2) The state fire marshal's department is doing good educa-
tional work in fire prevention. (P. 37.)
CHAPTER XII
(i) This has been done in part through an amendment of 1906
to the state constitution.
(2) "The right of eminent domain is the right of the public to
take private property for public use if just compensa-
tion is given the owner."
(3) Ch. Ill, towns and townships in Illinois.
CHAPTER XIII
(1) The reports for 1912 for Illinois and Chicago show better
work in general than the more recent ones. 1912 was
a " reform year " along most lines of government work.
(2) This record has been sadly marred owing to the change in
administration (April, 191 5) and the attempt to care
230 APPENDIX D
for all " deserving friends " of the new mayor on the
city pay-rolls.
(3) Miss Anna E. Nicholes, Secretary of the commission ap-
pointed by A. A. McCormick, Feb. i, 1913, resigned
Dec. 22, 1914.
(4) Every citizen ought to study this report.
(5) These practical tests, made in 1913, were begun under the
presidency of W. B. Moulton whose able work on the
civil-service commission set a high standard for the
state. Recent political changes have weakened the work
of the present commission.
CHAPTER XIV
(1) The board of administration has established an eight-hour
day for all the employees, nurses and attendants in all
state charitable institutions ; also " equal pay for equal
work " regardless of sex. The board has been a pioneer
in these matters.
(2) The Institution Quarterly is the official organ of the Public
Charity Service of Illinois and furnishes the best, most
recent information on the service.
(3) Located on the Rock River near Dixon. Seven buildings
are under construction. To be opened in the fall of 1916.
(4) A new law for the " care and detention of feeble-minded "
went into effect July i, 1915. This law now recognizes
mental defectives as wards of the state. See pp. 79-80
under Juvenile Court for Cook County.
(5) Since Jan. i, 1916, a pension of $150 a year is paid out of
the county treasury to all blind adults without other
income.
CHAPTER XV
(1) The number is constantly increasing owing to the creation
of new park districts.
CHAPTER XVI
(i) For results of the law see reports of \ie Public Utilities
commission.
(2) See p. 170 for definition and explanation of eminent domain.
(3) See Appendix C,
INDEX
"After-supper" classes, 44.
Aldermen, salary, 6 ; term, 6. See
Chicago and City Council.
Amendment Illinois constitution,
198-200, 202, 203.
American City Government, quot-
ed, 4, 43-
Assessor, county, 90, 91 ; town, 58,
91, 92, 93.
Assessment property, 90-93.
Attorney, city, 13.
Attorney general, 157.
Auditor of public accounts, 157.
Australian ballot. See ballot.
Backyard proverbs, 34, 35.
Ballot, description of, 104-105 ;
"little," 108; marking, 105-106;
need of shorter, no; specimen,
104, 105.
Bartelme, Miss Mary E., 78.
Beaconsfield, Lord, quoted, 29.
Beard, Chas. A., quoted, 3-4, 43.
Bills, 145-148; enacting clause,
147-
Blind, care for, 194.
Board of, assessors, 90, 91, 182;
education, 42, 169-170; equaliza-
tion, 88; local improvements, 24,
26; prison industries, 118-119;
registry, 101-102 ; review, 92, 93 ;
school directors, 171 ; visitors,
191.
Bryce, quoted, 14.
Bureau of hospitals, baths, lodg-
ing-house, 32; legislative refer-
ence, 208 ; vagrancy, 39 ; vital
. statistics, 29-32 ; vocational su-
pervision, 44, 45.
Cairo, 7, 56, 161.
Camera squad, 14.
Capital punishment, 118.
Catherwood, Robert, quoted, i8a-
181 ; 181-183, 184.
Change of venue, 59.
Character — investigation depart-
ment, 178-179.
Charity service of Cook County,
83-86.
Chart, Government of Chicago,
25 ; Government of Cook
County, 87.
Chester, penitentiary at, 118.
Chicago, aldermen of, 18, 19;
board of local improvements,
24, 26; Bridewell, 27; budget,
20; business agent, 24; city
clerk, 23, 24; city collector, 2;^,
26; City Hall, 52, 68; city phy-
sician, 32; city treasurer, 24;
civil-service commission, 23, 177-
179; civic creed, 16; comptrol-
ler, 26; commissioner public
works, 26, 27; Council, 18-20;
custodian lost property, 41-42;
dead animals removed in, 32-
ZZ) early history of, 16, 17; fire
department, 36-37; garbage, 26,
50; health department, 29-32;
" home rule " for, 206 ; house of
correction, 27; law department,
24; mayor, term, 20, powers of,
18, 20, 22, 23, salary, 20; mean-
ing of, 17,' parks, 46-49; police
department, 38-41 ; population,
17, 70; problems of, 49^50; pub-
lic library, 45-46; sanitary dis-
trict, 50-53; school system, 42-
45 ; school lands, 42, 43, 166.
Chicago Bureau of Public Ef-
ficiency, 16, 23, 25, 46, 47, 51,
69, 74, 87, no, 112.
Chicago City Manual, 16, 41.
231
-3-
INDEX
Chicago Fire, zl, I34» 136.
Chicago Historical Society, 16.
Chicago's Pocketbook, 21,
Chicago Railways Company, 42.
Chicago State Hospital, 192,
Chief of police, 6, 12, 38.
Child Labor Law, 211-212.
Cities, officers of, 5; organization
of, 5 and Villages Act, 4, 5, 10,
18; City civil service, 177-179;
City courts, 8 {^See Municipal
Courts).
City, attorney, 13; council, 6, 10,
18; government, outline of, 9-
13 ; managf^r, 7, 8.
Civil-service commission, 6, 12,
176, 179-180; Chicago, 177-179;
Cook County, 179, 184.
Civil service, history of move-
ment, 176-177; law, 52, 196, 207;
meaning of, 176.
Clerk, city, lo-ii; county, 73, 75,
92, 94, 95 ; of elections, 102, 105,
107; town, 58.
Clerks of the courts, 77.
Cleveland, Grover, quoted, 175.
Coles, Gov. Edward, 135.
Collector, city, 6, 11, 90; county,
73-74, 95, 96; town, 58, 95-
Comerford, Frank D., 140-141.
Commissioner public works, 6, 11,
26, 27; health, 6, 12.
Commission plan city government,
6.
Committee men, 104.
Common law, 160.
Comptroller, 6, 11, 26, 73.
Compulsory school law, 172, 211.
Congressional townships, 54, 61,
169.
Constable, 59; Differences police-
man and, 60.
Constitution of 1870, Illinois
quoted, 147, 151, 159, 165.
Constitutional convention, 198, 200.
Convergence of meridians, 62, 63.
Convict labor, 120.
Cook County, area, 68; board, 66,
70-71 ; board of visitors, 86 ;
budget, 72; charity service, 83-
86; clerk, 73, 94, 95; comptrol-
ler, 73; coroner, 74-75; court-
house, 68; government of, 70-
76; hospital, 83; infirmary, 58,
83; judge, 80, 85, loi ; juvenile
court, 77-78; Juvenile Detention
Home, 78; population, 68; presi-
dent county board, 70, 71-72; re-
corder, 75 ; sheriff, 72, 73, 74 ;
State Aid roads in, 204; State's
attorney, 75-76; State courts in,
76-79; superintendent of schools,
75, 166, 168-169; surveyor, 75;
treasurer, 73, 74, 91, 92.
Cook, Daniel P., 68, 136.
Corporations, taxation of, 88;
public utility, 205, 206.
Cost of elections, iii.
County, agent, 84, 181 ; assessor,
90, 91 ; boards, 66, 203 ; com-
missioners, 66-67 ; government,
faults of, 66-67.
Counties, area, 65 ; population, 65 ;
work of, 65.
Courts. See Judges.
Currey, J. S., 16, 17, 61, 63,
quoted, 131-132.
Cutting, Charles S., 121.
Dead animals removed, 32-33.
Delinquent taxes, 95, 96.
Deneen, Chas. S., 103, 152.
Detective bureau, 40.
Detention hospital, Cook Co., 80,
83-84.
Diagrams, Chicago's Pocketbook,
21; Chicago Public Safety de-
partments, 34; Courts of Illi-
nois, 160; Our System of Law,
159; Township with Sections
numbered, 62; Subdivisions of a
Section, 62.
Director public safety, 8.
Dog-pound master, 39.
Doolittle, Hon. J. R., quoted, 132.
Drake, Dr. C. St. Clair, photo-
plays by, 33 ; quoted, 35-36 ;
model, " Breathing Dolls," 35.
Dram-shop law, 212.
Dr. Killjoy Was Right, 33.
Dunne, Gov., quoted, 37, 156.
INDEX
233
Education, board of, 42, 169-170.
Election districts, 99, 100 ; in Cook
Co., 138-139; officers, loi.
Election commissioners, lOi.
Elections in Cook Co., 105; cost
of. III.
Eminent domain, right of, 170,
207.
Equalization, board of, 88.
Equity, 161.
Error of Omission, 32, 33.
Evans, Dr., quoted, 29.
Evanston, assessment, 98; city of,
98, 177; director public safety,
8 ; school districts in, 62 ; town
elections in, 56.
Executive, state, 151-157; named,
151.
Exempt from execution, property,
116; from taxation, 89.
Fairlie, J. A., quoted, 56, 94.
Federal civil service, 176-177.
Fee offices Cook Co., 181.
Finance committee, 19.
Fire-prevention day, 37.
Fire marshal, 6, 12, 36.
Fitch, Geo., state rep., 146.
Foreign-born in Chicago, 49.
Forman, American Republic, 29,
50, 54, 65, 74.
Fort Dearborn, 16, 130-131.
Fresh-air crusade, 35-36.
Funds to parents, 78.
Garbage, Chicago, 26, 50; See Ap-
pendix B.
Garfield, Pres., 176.
Garner, J. W., Government in
United States, 3, 88, 138, 151;
quoted, 109.
General Assembly, 138-150; ap-
portionment of members, 138-
139; committees, 143-144; com-
parison, congress and, 49-50;
disqualification of members,
140-141 ; employees, 142-143 ;
organization, 141-142; qualifica-
tion of members, 140; rules of
procedure, 144; salary, senators
and representatives, 141 ; ses-
sions, 143; speaker, 141, 142,
143, 152; work of, 144-145.
Governor, 152-155 ; appointing
power, 152-153, 196; pardoning
power, 154; veto power, 147-
148.
Grand jury, 116, 117, 122.
Greene, E. B., 3, 9, 65, 88, 151,
165, 188 {Government of Illi-
nois), quoted, 194.
Guitteau, W. B., quoted, 159.
Health commissioner, 6, 12.
Health dcp't, Chicago, 29-32; or-
ganization, 29-32.
Henderson, Dr. C. W., quoted,
209.
Higher education in state, 167-
168.
Highway commission, 58, 203.
Hospitals, bureau of, 32.
House of Correc Ion, Chicago, 23.
How a bill becomes a law, 145-
148.
Hyde, H. M., quoted, 39.
Illinois, state of, 126; admitted to
union, 131; area, 126; capitals,
134; charity law, 188-189; coal
in, 128; constitutions, 132-134;
constitution amendments, 198-
200, 202, 203; forests in, 127;
history, 129-137; Indians, 128;
latitude of, 126; map of con-
gressional districts, 133; mean-
ing of, 128; northern boundary,
131-132; physical features, 126;
slavery, 135 ; under territorial
government, 130; surface of,
127; waterways, 127.
Illinois and Michigan canal, 135.
Illinois moving forward, 201-214.
Illinois park commission, 210-21 1.
Illustrative material, 13, 14, 19, 23,
88; A Taxpayer's Calendar, 97,
98.
Indeterminate sentence, 118.
Infirmary, 83, 195. See Oak For-
est.
Initiative, 108, 109.
Inspection, food, 29; sanitary, 29.
234
INDEX
Inspectors of moral conditions, 40.
Institution Quarterly, 188.
James and Sanford, 63, 113;
quoted, 120-121.
Jefferson, Thomas, 61, 177.
Joliet, city of, 56; penitentiary at,
1 18-120; township of, 55.
Judicial trials, 113-118; civil, 113-
116; criminal, 116-118.
Judiciary, state, 159-164.
Judges, appellate, 100, 163; cir-
cuit, 76, 77, 99, 163, 164; county,
80, 85, loi ; criminal court, 77;
juvenile court, 77-78; municipal
court, 27, 28; probate court, 80-
82 ; superior, 76 ; supreme, 162-
163.
Judges of election, loi, 102.
Judson, Harry Pratt, Government
of Illinois, 63.
June Law, 97.
Juries, 114, 115; differences grand
and pelit, 122.
Jurisdiction of a court, 161-162.
Jurors, women, 80.
Jury commissioners, 82.
Justice of the peace, 8, 59, 114,
124.
Juvenile court, report for 1912,
79-So.
Juvenile Detention Home, 78, 84.
Krutckoff, Chas., head clerk with
Cook Co. board of assessors, 88.
Laboratory service, 30.
Lawyers, 162.
Legislative reference bureau, 208-
209.
Legislative Voters' League, 146,
148-149, 187.
Legislature of Illinois, 138-150.
See General Assembly.
Lewis, Hon. J. Hamilton, 141.
Library, Chicago public, 45-46.
Library directors, 12, 22, 46.
Licenses, 11, 24.
Lieutenant-governor, 141, 151,
156.
Lincoln, Abraham, 134.
Lincoln Memorial highway, 204.
Lincoln Park, 46, 48.
Lindsey, Judge Ben, 77.
Little ballot, 108.
Lobbying, 147.
Local governments in Illinois, 65.
Local improvements, board of, 24,
26.
Local Option Law, 212.
Log-rolling, 147.
Long Nine, 134,
Lovejoy press riots, 135.
McCormick, A. A., pres. Cook Co.
board, 71, 72, 179.
McCleary, J. T., 113, see Appendix
B.
McCulloch, Catharine Waugh, 59;
quoted, 201-203.
McKinley, Wm., speaker, 141.
" Madam, Who Keeps Your
House?" 4.
Maps, Cook Co., showing town-
ships, 69; Illinois, showing con-
gressional districts, 133 ; Park
districts of Chicago, 47; Sani-
tary district, 51.
Mayor, powers of, 6, 10. See Chi-
cago.
Mental hygiene, rules of, 193.
Merit system, 175-187; in city,
177-179; in Cook Co., 179-184;
in Illinois, 184-187.
Minority representation, 139-140.
Mothers' pension fund, 209, 210.
Moving-picture bureau, 40; thea-
ters and films, 33, 40.
Municipal Coliseum Law, 207-208;
courts, 27, 28, 161 ; ownership
public utilities, 206-207; recrea-
tion, 46-49; Tuberculosis Sani-
tarium, 22, 34.
Newell, M. H., article by, 54.
Nicholes, Anna E., 71, 83, 179,
184.
Non-township counties, 60, 66, 91,
100, 195.
Oak Forest, infirmary at, 83.
INDEX
235
Ordinance of 1787, 130; quoted,
165.
Outlook, The New York, article,
41.
Overseers of poor, 195.
Owens, County Judge John E., 80.
Parents' pension fund, 78, 79, 209-
210.
Park districts, creation of, 48.
Penal institutions, 1 18-120.
Pendleton Act, 176.
Pertinent questions, 14-iS, 63-64,
81-82, 124-125, 150, 158, 173-174,
187.
Petit jury, 122.
Photo-plays, 33.
Pinckney, Judge Merritt W., 78.
Policeman, see Chicago; compari-
son with constable, 60; police
magistrate, 13.
Police pension fund, 40.
Police women, 40.
Polls, see elections and ballot.
Poll-tax, 58, 204.
Poor relief, 194-195.
Pope, Judge Nathaniel, 131-132.
Poster, 4; Clean Chicago, 31; Al-
cohol, 213,
Presidential preference vote, 108.
Primary elections, 103-104, 183.
Primary Law, 103, 183.
Prison industries, board of, 118-
119.
Probate court, 80.
Probating a will, 80-82.
Probation officers, 77; adult, 84-
85.
Problems under township survey,
62.
Property exempt from taxation,
89.
Psychopathic Institute, 192, 193,
Public baths, 32.
Public education, 165-173.
Public policy Law, 109.
Public safety, 41-42; bureau, 42;
commission, 42 ; departments,
28-34; director, 8.
Public utilities commission, 119,
205-206.
Public utility certificates, 207.
Pullman strikes, 136-137.
Qualifications legal voter, 100, 200.
Queen Victoria, 45.
Referendum, 108.
Registration, 101-102; by mail,
102.
Requisition papers, 155.
Restrictions on taxing power, 96,
97.
Review, board of, 92-93.
Ridgeville township, 56, 59, 70, 91,
98.
River Fore3t, 7, 8.
Roosevelt, Theodore, quoted, 67,
176.
Rural directors country schools,
75.
Sanitary district, 50-53; elec-
tricity generated by, 52 ; govern-
ment of, 52 ; no civil service, 52-
53; salary trustees, 53.
Saturday Evening Post, quoted in
Foreword for Teacher.
School administration, local, 16^
170; directors, 171; funds, per-
manent, 166-167; township fund,
166; houses as polling places,
106; law, compulsory, 172;
lands, 43; statistics, 43; taxes.
165, 166; system of Illinois,
summary by outline, 173; town-
ship trustees, 170-171.
School, John Worthy, 27.
Schools, high, 171-172; normal,
168; township high, 172; Little
Mothers', 29; as social centers,
44.
Secretary of' State, 156.
Sections, twp., 61, 62.
Senators, State, see General As-
sembly; United States, election
of, 56, 108, 141.
Senatorial districts, 99, 138.
Sherman, Lawrence Y., 141.
SheriflF, 72, 7s.
Social centers, schools as, 44.
236
INDEX
Social service department county
court, 85.
Soldiers' Homes, 194.
South Park board, 48, 49.
Speaker of house, see General
Assembly.
Special assessments, 11, 90, 95.
Spoils system, 176; how it works,
181-183.
Springfield, 135, 161, 162.
State aid good roads law, 203,
205; board of administration,
189, 190, 191, 192, 196; charities
commission, 189-190, 191 ; char-
ity service, 188-197; greatest
need of, 195-196; care of in-
sane, 192; colony for epileptics,
191, 193-194; courts in^ Cook
Co., 76-80; charitable institu-
tions, location, 196-197 ; Eye and
Ear Infirmary, 185 ; factory in-
spector, 211; highway depart-
ment, 203 ; hospitals for insane,
184-185 ; institutions for chil-
dren, 193; militia, 154-155;
school of St. Charles, 27, 194,
197; supreme court, 162-163;
superintendent public instruc-
tion, 168; Training School for
Girls, 194, 197; University, 167-
168.
Starved Rock, 129.
Streets, city, 3, 4.
Supervisor, town, 57, 58, 66, 195,
204.
Surgical Institute for crippled
children, 190, 193, 197.
Surplus revenue fund, 167; State,
166-167.
Taxation, 88-98.
Tax warrant, 91, 92.
Teachers' pension fund, 172-173.
Town of Chicago, 17.
Town, assessors, 58, 91, 92, 93;
clerk, 58; executive officers, 57,
58; how formed, 55; judicial of-
ficers, 59; legislature, 56, 57;
meaning of terms, 54-55 ; -meet-
ing, 56, 57-
Towns, 54-60.
Township, survey systems, 61-63;
high schools, 172,
Townships in Cook County, 70.
Traffic squad, 39.
Treasurer, city, 11; county, ys, 74,
91, 92; State, 156,
Treaty of Greenville, 16.
Trials, civil, 113-116; criminal,
116-118.
Tribune, The Chicago, 16, 39, 146;
quoted, 199, 200.
Tuberculosis, hospitals for, 84.
Tuthill, Judge Richard A., 77.
Unearned increment land values,
43-
United States courts in Illinois,
161.
Vagrancy, 39.
Ventilation, division of, 30; model
to teach, 35.
Veto power, governor, 147-148;
mayor, 10, 20-22; pres. Cook
County board, 72.
Village government, 8, 9; meaning
of, 55.
Visitors, board of, 191.
Vital statistics, bureau of, 29-32.
Vocational supervision, 44, 45.
Voting, see Elections and Ballot;
machines, 109, no.
Wards, 5, 6; of Chicago, 18.
Wells, David A., quoted, 113.
West Park board, 48, 49.
Whiting, F. V., article by, 41.
Whitman, John L., 27.
Woman's Auxiliary Mass. Civil
Service Reform Ass'n, 175.
Woman's City Club of Chicago,
21, 43, see Appendix B.
Woman's Suffrage Law, 201-203.
Workmen's Compensation Act,
209.
Writs, seven important, 122-124;
attachment, 124; certiorari, 123;
habeas corpus, 122-123; injunc-
tion, 123; mandamus, 123; quo
warranto, 123; replevin, 124.
Young, Ella Flagg, quoted, 4^2.
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