INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 HON. JOHN ¥ENT¥ORTH, 
 
 HELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 co3v:is^oisr ooxjisroiij, 
 
 METROPOLITAN HALL, CHICAGO, 
 
 ON THURSDAY, MARCH 22d, I860. 
 
 I 
 I 
 ^ CHICAGO : 
 
 DAILY DEMOCRAT PRINT, 45 I, A SALLE STREET. 
 
 18G0. 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 HON. JOHN ¥ENT¥OETH, 
 
 DELITEKED BEFORE THE 
 
 co:m::m:o:n- oounsrciL^ 
 
 METROPOLITAN HALL, CHICAGO, 
 
 ON THURSDAY, MARCH 22d, 1860. 
 
 CHICAGO : 
 
 DAILY DEMOCRAT PRINT, 45 LA SALLE STREET, 
 
 1860. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
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IN^VUaTJIi^L ADDRESS 
 
 HON. JOHN WENTWORTII. 
 
 Gentlejien of the Cosimon Council : 
 
 The Chapter of the Charter of the City of Chicao-o, which 
 requires me to take ami subscribe to the oath of office, just administered to 
 me, defines the duties of tlie Mayor, as follows : 
 
 " He sliall preside over the meetings of the Common Council, and take care that the 
 laws of the State and ordinances of the City are duly enforced, respected, and observed 
 and that all other Executive officers of the C-ity discharge their respective duties. He shall 
 from time to time, give the Common Council such information, and recommend such mea- 
 sures as he may deem advantageous to the City." 
 
 There are many law? and ordinances appertaining- to our Municipal 
 government, the pro])riety of which may be questioned ; but the oath of 
 office which I have just taken requires me to take care that all of them be 
 "duly enforced, respected, anl observed." Furthermore, I am required to 
 take care that all the other officers of the city discharge their duties, in 
 causing each and every one of the laws and ordinances to be " duly en- 
 forced, respected, and observed." 
 
 Chapter 11. of the City Charter provides for the removal of every person 
 appointed or elected to any office, by a vote of two thirds of all the Alder- 
 men, upon good cause therefor being shown ; and it is good cause for the 
 removal of any man when he takes the oath which all officers are compelled 
 to take, and 1,hen gives no attention to plain violations of the City laws 
 and ordinances. Sucli an officer perjures himself, and ought to be i)romptly 
 removed therefor. 
 
 A large number of the city officers are appointed by the Mayor. I 
 shall ap])oint no man to any office, nor allow him when appointed to remain 
 in any office, unless he can read and understand the laws and ordinances 
 appertaining to the duties of his office, and unless he will heartily co-opetate 
 with me in taking care that the laws and ordinances be " duly enforced, 
 respected, and observed." It is no part of the duty of Executive officers 
 to enquire into the justice or expediency of any law. It is enoTigh for them 
 to know that thus saith the law. Besides, the best way to bring about the 
 repeal of an obnoxious law is to enforce it ; and every law which ought not 
 to be, or cannot be, enforced should be at once repealed. Our laws should 
 be few in n.umber and simple in language. The enactments of our legisla- 
 ture are beyond the reach of this Council ; but I recommend a thorough 
 revision of our City Ordinances with reference to this consideration. A 
 pamphlet of a few pages only, will contain all the ordinances necessary for 
 the good and quiet government of our city, and a sum merely nominal 
 would supply every family with a copy. If we expect all to obey our laws 
 and ordinances, we should have them within the reach of all. 
 
I am not a candidate for re-election ; and I recommend tliat, at the next 
 session of our Legislatm-e, our Charter be so amended as to make the 
 Mayor ineligible to an immediate re-election. This is now the case with 
 the SheriflF of our county and Marshal of our city. The Mayor's office is 
 not the place for any man who desires immediate political j^referment of 
 any kind, lest the desire to make friends, and the fear to ittake enemies, 
 prove incentives to him to deviate from the peremptory requirements of the 
 law. The Mayor is but the right arm of the law, and there should be 
 nothing of human ambition to paralyze the power of tliat arm, 
 
 I am aware too many persons think that each Mayor makes his own 
 laws. Now the Mayor can vote only when the Board of Aldermen is 
 equally divided ; and two thirds of the Board can repeal any existing ordi- 
 nance or enact a new one, in defiance of the Mayor's most active opposition. 
 But, although the Mayor be opposed to an ordinance, his oath requires that 
 he enforce it as rigidly as if it met with his warmest approbation. During 
 my administration, in 1857-8, I was frequently called upon to enforce laws 
 which could never have met with my official approval ; but I was compelled 
 by my oath thus to do, or stand before the world as self-convicted of 
 perjury. There are many ordinances that ought to be repealed or ma- 
 terially amended ; but, so long as you, the legislative power of the city, 
 shall deem it best to leave them as they are, they shall be promptly enforced. 
 
 These sentiments are but a repetition of those promulgated in my 
 inaugural address of 1857, and which controlled my action whilst in office. 
 For a long period of the time during which I have been a resident of 
 Chicago, the party with which I was politically associated was in a majority. 
 Yet, during that time, I never entertained the least desire to discharge the 
 duties of the office of Mayor, inasmuch as my name was used in connection 
 "with other offices. I looked upon it as an office in which a man who did 
 his duty stood no chance to make friends, but was sure to greatly multiply 
 the number of his opponents. I had received at five diffiirent elections the 
 highest office in the gift of the people; and, in justice to others, I had no 
 right to expect any further honors in that direction. Having finished my 
 political career, and thus being in a situation in which I could afford to act 
 independently, and set at defiance the spirit of lawlessness which was over- 
 running the city, I consented to take the office of Mayor. Remembering 
 my oath of office, I at once set myself at work to enforce all the laws and 
 ordinances of the city. This gave great oflence to a class of voters, who 
 professed to entertain peculiar notions respecting what they called necessary 
 evils in large cities, of which evils they themselves were not only conspicu- 
 ous patrons, but often large beneficiaries. They censured me for executing 
 laws which they dared not petition to have repealed, and which should now be 
 repealed if they cannot, or ought not, be enforced. But, nevertheless, I 
 continued to enforce the laws. Portions of our city, confiscated to vice and 
 crime, were made orderly and respectable, and are now inhabited by some of 
 our most law abiding citizens. Gambling Houses, Brothels, and other abodes 
 of lawlessness were broken up, and their inmates brought to justice or com- 
 pelled to leave the city. Many of these offenders, thus disturbed by an 
 honest execution of long existing laws, were persons of wealth, talents and 
 position. They had not then reached that degradation into which an 
 established career of vice is sure eventually to plunge every one. Feeling 
 the effects of such an administration, this class of men have been making it 
 their business to see that there never should be another such Mayor in any 
 city in the Union ; and so they have tried, by every means in their power, 
 to make my former administration odious, both at home and abroad. Not 
 
only has a portion of the press of our own, but of that of ahnost every city in 
 the Union, been at work to so nioukl public opinion that no Mayor in any 
 city would ever again endeavor to enforce the laws against this class of 
 oftenders. Under this state of things, I deemed it a great moral necessity 
 to appeal to the people again ; and for tliis cause alone did I consent to 
 become a candidate for Mayor. I felt it a duty to show, not only to future 
 Mayors of my own, but to Mayors of every othi'r city, that an executive 
 could be sustained in a faithful execution of the laws against all classes of 
 offenders. Since the close of my former administration I have held myself 
 personally, morally, socially and ])ecuniarily responsible ibr all my acts 
 whilst in the othce of Mayor. I was tried by those acts at the late election. 
 They were presented in newspapers, and in public speeches, in their worst 
 phase, by those opposed to me. These acts were not only justified by me 
 in a newspaper which I controlled, and also in public speeches made by me 
 in every part of the city ; but I avowed, in words unmistakable, that I had 
 no other object in becoming a candidate for Mayor than to have an oppor- 
 tunity to repeat them under the same circumstances. When a candidate in 
 1857, I received 5,924 votes. At the election just terminated I received, out 
 of 18,747, the number of 10,007 votes, making a majority of 1,267 votes, and 
 being almost double the number I received at my first election ; and this, too, 
 with the oldest and most powerful organization in the l^nion opposing me 
 upon a difierence of political sentiments ; whilst it was aided by that element 
 of lawlessness which, in large cities, claims to hold the balance of power, 
 and which timid and corrupt aspirants are too apt to court; but which I 
 have ever defied, and shall do my utmost to remove from the city. Fortu- 
 nately, since I left the ofiice of Mayor, an important ordinance, commonly 
 known as the " Yagrant Act," has been passed, and I intend to rigidly 
 enforce it. Under its provisions, all suspicious persons can be compelled 
 to give "a good account of themselves;" whereas, under ray previous 
 administration, I had to await overt acts. My course, then, cannot be 
 misinterpreted. It is not my fault that we have unpopular and unjust laws ; ' 
 but it will be my fault if they are not foithfully executed. I then have but 
 one order to give to those whom the people are taxed to support as my sub- 
 ordinates, and that is : 
 
 Remember your oath ! Road the laws ! Execute them ! 
 
 Sectiox 3d of the Amended City Charter requires that " every act, 
 ordinance or resolution, passed by the Common Council, before it shall take 
 effect, shall be presented, duly certified by the City Clerk, to the Mayor, for 
 his approbation. If he approve, he shall sign it. If not he shall return it 
 with his objections in Avriting." 
 
 I deem it my duty here thus early to state that I shall allow no person 
 to hold any conversation with me respecting such " act, ordinance or reso- 
 lution." But any citizen or citizens who wish to influence my action thereon, 
 can leave a written communicotion Avith the Clerk, whose duty it will be to 
 file such communication with the papers in the case, and such communication 
 will be considered public in its character, and will be preserved in the 
 archives of the city. The same will be my course in relation to all city 
 contracts. All communications with me respecting public business must be 
 in writing, and that writing will be considered the property of the city. The 
 same as regards appointments to ofiice. Verbal communications are liable 
 to misunderstandings, to say nothing of misrepi-esentations. But allow me to 
 suggest that, as I am held responsible for the acts of my appointees, I shall 
 feel as free to look over the City Directory as I shall the list of applicants. 
 
 At my inauguration in 1857, the Funded Debt of the city was 8535,000. 
 
6 
 
 I looked around in vain for those works of great public utility by which we 
 could justify to posterity this tax upon it. After a further examination I 
 found that my predecessors had construed the right to borrow not exceeding 
 one hundred thousand dollars in any one year, authorized by the Charter, as 
 a legitimate source of revenue. So, after they had taxed the people to the 
 utmost limit that they dare do, they borrowed the $100,000, and expended 
 it. I did not deem it right thus to burthen posterity without an equivalent. 
 Again, our Sewerage Commissioners, and our Water Commissioners, were 
 borrowing money and needed the full ci edit of our city. So I resolved not to 
 add to our funded debt. 1 decreased it twenty-one thousand dollars. My suc- 
 cessor did not disturb it, and so it now stands at $514,000. In addition to 
 the legitimate expenses of my administration, I found it burthened with a 
 large number of expensive works, for which contracts had been executed; 
 and all these contracts entered into previous to my administration with their 
 incidents, have cost the city more than the entire amount of its present 
 floating debt. I need hardly call attention in this connection, to the Ar- 
 mory, the City Hospital, fifty thousand dollars to dredge at Rush Street 
 Bridge, &c., &c. Unwilling to leave even a floating debt, my Administra- 
 tion resorted to the very highest point of taxation. It also resorted to such 
 uncommon diligence in the collection of licenses, fines and revenues from 
 all other sources, that it was censured in many quarters for its severity, 
 although it did nothing but that which the law required it should do. I 
 also refused to fill many ofiices which I had the power to fill, in order to 
 save the salaries to the treasury. For the same reason I used all my eflorts 
 to cut down salaries, to otherwise curtail expenses, and frequently had to 
 resort to the veto power. I am satisfied that, had this policy of mine been 
 continued, the city would not be burdened with a floating debt at the 
 present time. 
 
 Economy in the administration of public aflfairs is always desirable, 
 because it is the surest guarantee against corruption. But at the present 
 time it is an imperious necessity. Our city credit was never in such imrai- 
 nent hazard as it is at the present moment. I have been inaugurated at 
 the most critical period of our financial history. But I hope we shall be 
 enabled to maintain our credit untarnished for the few months between this 
 and the next session of our Legislature. At present there seems to be but 
 one voice among our citizens as to the means, then, of relieving us from our 
 present embarrassment and of preventing its recurrence. We must then 
 fund our floating debt and be prohibited from borrowing money or con- 
 tracting debts thereafter. 
 
 After deducting the proceeds of the Tax Sale for this year and of all other 
 revenues accruing prior to April 1st, there will remain a 'floating debt of full 
 $300,000. On that day the administration will find itself with an empty Trea- 
 sury, and with a floating debt of three hundred thousand dollars to provide 
 for. liesides, it will have its own expenses to pay. How are these expenses 
 and this debt to be met ? I propose to ask an extension upon all debts con- 
 tracted prior to April 1st, and petition our Legislature at its next session for 
 the passage of a law allowing the city to fund the same. But the interest upon 
 the above debt will unquestionably have to be paid out of the revenue of 
 this yeai'. It is doubtful what will be the decision of our Courts as to the 
 right of the City to make a temporary loan in anticipation of (the coming) 
 this year's taxes. So there is every probability that all the employees 
 of the City will have to await some time for their pay. 
 
 But let us see what are our means of raising revenues from taxes. 
 
 We are allowed to raise a tax of two mills for the Sewerage interest, and 
 
this will be hardly sufficient for tliis purpose. 
 
 We are allowed to raise two mills for school purposes, and this will be 
 hardly sufficient. 
 
 Whatever money is raised for the reform School must, by law, bo 
 applied specifically to that purpose ; and which will be the proceeds of a 
 tax of about one lialf a mill. 
 
 For permanent improvements nothing can be raised, except upon the 
 specific improvements named. Any appropriation made, except for such 
 named improvements, would be illegal. 
 
 We are allowed to raise but one mill for our interest tax; and this year 
 it will require full two ruills for that purpose. 
 
 For general purposes three mills and one half are allowed. But ol 
 these three mills and a half, at least one mill will have to be taken to_ m^et 
 the interest upon the floating debt, and which is not provided for in the 
 interest tax. 
 
 Thus we have left but two mills and one half, with which to carry on 
 the Government for the year commencing April first. 
 
 In addition to the floating debt, above mentioned, to be provided for, 
 there is the sum of thirty thousand dollars of the funded debt falling due 
 this year. 
 
 With this condition of things before us, how otherwise should a city 
 government conduct itself but as would a private individual under the same 
 circumstances, viz : curtail expenditures in every possible way ? 
 
 I think that, by funding all the debt accruing prior to April first, the 
 Government can be carried on from April first, 1860, to April first, 1861, with 
 a tax of ten mills only. But this cannot be done if men, after election, 
 falsify pledges of economy made before, and if old claims against the 
 Treasury are to be paid out of the revenues of this year. 
 
 It is not my intention to approve of any orders passed by the Council 
 for the payment of bills rejected by the Comptroller, who alone is authorized 
 to contract debts for the City. If individuals think they have any claims 
 against the City, prior to my, and not allowed by the Comptroller during 
 former, administrations, they must seek their remedy in the Courts ; for it 
 will only be by the utmost economy that the revenues of the present year 
 can be made to meet the expenses thereof. 
 
 There is no city the inhabitants of which have been more willing to 
 make improvements than our own ; and as long as their ability to do so 
 continued, they paid all assessments cheerfully. Short crops in the country, 
 and other causes, have tended to interrupt the business of our city, or at 
 least curtail its profits. There is now a general disposition to suspend 
 improvements until business shall become more lucrative. The special 
 assessments of last year were very burdensome to our people ; and those 
 who at one time were the most anxious for improvements are, now, from 
 inability to pay their assessments, the most anxious to have them temporarily 
 suspended. I therefore recommend the vacation of the oftice of Superin- 
 tendent of Special Assessments, until the services of such an officer shall be 
 absolutely needed. Should they be required to close up any works already 
 ordered, I recommend that the Superintendent be appointed only for the 
 necessary period, and in that case upon a per diem compensation. 
 
 For the same reason I recommend the vacation of the office of City 
 Superintendent, and that some person be employed at a per diem compen- 
 sation to close up the few works remaining unfinished. 
 
 The City is now carrying on no work whatever that needs a Superin- 
 tendent, and the condition of the finances will not allow it to do so during 
 
this municipal year. There are a very few contracts for special improve- 
 ments for which the warrants have been issued and nearly the whole 
 amount collected. And it is proposed to give our citizens rest from special 
 improvements this year, although cormorant contractors and heartless sj^ecu- 
 lators have already commenced their manceuvres to nullify this beneficent in- 
 tention of ours. And to illustrate how common it is for administrations to be 
 looking after the interests of office seekers rather than after those of the 
 great mass of the tax payers, I would call your attention to the fact that 
 three men, at an expense of three thousand dollars per annum have been 
 kept in the City Superintendent's oflice all through the winter, when there 
 was not work enough to occupy the time of the Superintendent himself. 
 The main work for a Superintendent this year will be attendance upon minor 
 repairs, of which it is the custom of the Comptroller to receive the first 
 notice. Any master mechanic, such as received $3 25 per day last year, 
 could, under the direction of the Comptroller, discharge the entire duties 
 of the City Superintendent for the present year. 
 
 Whenever it shall be your pleasure to re-commence our system of city 
 improvements, I earnestly exhort you to allow no work to be undertaken 
 until the assessment roll has been confirmed, and the money actually paid 
 into the City Treasury. It is within the knowledge of you all that often- 
 times the first men to ask for improvements are the last to pay for them. 
 Indeed there are some persons who never would do so if they could avoid it by 
 any legal technicality. It is often the case, also, that contractors, owners of 
 gravel pits, stone quarries, lumber yards, &c., &c., set on foot im))rovements 
 which are neither asked for by the parties interested, nor needed by the 
 public at large. A temporary suspension of our system of improvements, 
 under special assessments, would be a measure of great relief to many of 
 our property holders, and would be injurious to none ; for those who 
 realize any thing of the future prospects of Chicago must know that such a 
 suspension would be but temporary. 
 
 When we ask the Legislature to allow us to fund the present floating 
 debt, I recommend that ample provision be made, in the law to be passed, 
 against any further increase of the funded debt, or power to create a floating 
 debt. Our Sewerage Commissioner and Water Commissioner debts are 
 liable to be increased with the increase of the city. In order to keep our 
 credit good for these purposes we should have no power to create any other 
 debt, and should have a separate tax for our interest, and for a sinking 
 fund. In many dities, at the present time, all appropriations are void 
 whenever there is not at the time money in the Treasury to meet them. 
 This provision prevents a city from running in debt, and should be made 
 the law in Chicago. Had such a provision been in force from the origin of 
 our city government, its advantages would have been incalculable. 
 
 Whenever a judgment is obtained against the City, the Comptroller 
 should have power to raise a temporary loan to meet it, and should be 
 required to add the amount to his estimates for the next year. Then limit 
 the power to tax to a fixed number of mills and there will be no danger of 
 our credit's being impaired hereafter, by extravagance or corruption. 
 
 I recommend the abolition of the offices of City Physician and Health 
 Officer; the former officer is paid the sum of eight hundred, and the latter 
 one thousand dollars per annum. It is the duty of the County to provide 
 medical attendance for the poor, and, whether a poor man is in the Bride- 
 well or out of it, he has claims upon the County. The City, forgetting that 
 it was the duty of the County to provide for the sick poor, has erected a 
 Hospital at an expense of 073,538, which to the city is the ^ame as so much 
 
money thrown away. I recommend the sale of said Hospital to the County, 
 as the County has need of it, whilst the City has not. All the duties of 
 Health Officer can be performed by the Policemen of the City, a portion of 
 whose business is to see that Health ordinances and regulations are com- 
 plied with as well as others. Should any contngious disease break out in 
 our city, I should at once appoint and convoke a Board of Health, composed 
 of some of our oldest and most discreet citizens, and promptly submit to 
 you the result of its sanitary deliberations for your action. 
 Section 2 of Chapter XL. of Municipal Laws says : 
 
 " The Mayor shall be the head of the Police Department, and shall superintend and 
 direct the Police generally." 
 
 It has been suggested that orders could be issued directly to the 
 Lieutenants of the Divisions, and thereby save the salary of the Captain 
 of Police, which is fifteen hundred dollars per annum. I am willing to try 
 the experiment of getting along without a Captain, and hope I may succeed. 
 I therefore shall not nominate any person to tha,t office at present. 
 
 During my former term as Mayor, I a}ipointed no such officer as Prose- 
 cuting Attorney of the Police Court, which officer now receives a salary of 
 Twelve Hundred Dollars per annum. The City Attorney attended to all 
 the legal business in 1857, and there is no probability that there will be as 
 much business of that character to transact this year as there was during 
 that. So I recommend the abolition of this office. I have procured from 
 the dockets of our various Courts a list of the city cases, and after a 
 thorough examination, am satisfied that this can be safely done. Our city 
 business in the upper Courts is always liable to exaggeration, from the fact 
 that so many cases are appealed for the purpose of delay, but which are 
 finally disposed of by default ; whilst in the Police Court most of the cases 
 are disposed of by the prisoners pleading guilty. 
 
 There is great need of a Registry Law, to secure the purity of the 
 elective franchise in our city. Almost all other cities have such a law. 
 Registry laws have been rendered unnecessarily unpopular in many instances 
 in consequence of their contahiing some new qualification for the voter. I 
 would be willing to have the qualifications remain as liberal as they are at 
 present, but I would insist that every man should have his name and place 
 of residence registered a sufficient length of time before election, so that the 
 poll list could be printed with the names arranged in alphabetical order. 
 This would not only protect our \Yards from fraudulent voters, but would 
 greatly expedite the process of voting, and save much of the ill-feeling which 
 is now engendered at the polls in consequence of questioning and chal- 
 lenging. On the eve of the late election, a large number of persons were 
 imported into our city, and scattered about in small numbers through the 
 different Wards, so as to avoid appearances as far as was possible. Those 
 persons are not now to be found in our city. There is but one inference to 
 be drawn from this, and that is, that they came from parts unknown to us 
 for the purpose of voting in our city, and that they have since election 
 returned to their homes. Again, from the evening of the day preceding the 
 election to the dawn of election day, there could have been seen around the 
 polls, in several of the Wards, a class of strange men conversing about the 
 importance and the means of getting early possession of them, and block- 
 ading them, so as to keep back the well-known and tax-paying citizens. 
 After thus keeping awake all night, you could have seen these same persons 
 traveling from Ward to AYard, voting or trying to vote, wherever they went ; 
 and finally, when the last poll was closed, you could have seen them stand- 
 ing around complaining that the polls were closed too early for them. 
 
10 
 
 Where are these men who, but a few days since, were manifesting such an 
 interest in the affairs of our city ? The men who brought them here sent 
 them home again. Now, if this state of things is to continue, our offices 
 may as well be set up at auction and knocked down to the highest bidder ; 
 for the men who have the means to import the largest number of voters will 
 eventually get the offices. It is not the conflict of principles Avhich will 
 cause an outlay of money sufficient to make such an importation of illegal 
 voters, but of interests. The men who have private interests to subserve 
 can afford the expense of it, but all such men will reimburse themselves with 
 interest whenever they can reach the public treasury. Hence, one set of 
 men may resort to this method of carrying elections to-day, and another set 
 to-morrow, just as private interest may dictate. In fine, therefore, every 
 tax-payei', without distinction of party; every man who would protect the 
 public treasury, has a strong pecuniary interest in a Registry law. No 
 honest cause ever required an illegal vote. An office seeker who pays a dol- 
 lar for such a vote intends to get it back when elected. 
 
 There are two classes of men who take offices. One class takes them 
 as a matter of public duty, the same as an active business man serves uoon 
 the jury, does military duty, or as you, gentlemen, discharge the duties of 
 Aldermen. This class labors for the good of the whole, instead of for that of 
 particular individuals in the community. Selfish interests are sacrificed by it 
 to the paramount interests of the public. There is another class that follows 
 office-holding as a permanent means of livelihood. When candidates, these 
 men profess great sympathies for the masses ; and how can office-holders 
 manifest their sympathies for the masses better than by contributing all 
 their efforts to relieve them from the burthens of taxation ? Yet, no sooner 
 are they elected than they throw every possible obstacle in the way of re- 
 duction of fees, salaries, &c., &c., without which there can be no reduction 
 of taxes. They make personal appeals to Aldermen, and send others to 
 make them. They talk of the poverty of themselves ; and the destitution of 
 their families. But they ignore the poverty of the people who elected them. 
 They forgot that the destitution of widows and orphans who happen to own 
 as their little all a residuary interest in encumbered property is no bar to the 
 demands of the relentless tax-gatherer. It is not a necessity that these men 
 hold office. It is a necessity, however, that people pay taxes. It is a common 
 remark of men when installed in lucrative offices that, in order to get good 
 men, we must pay large salaries. This is not true. For there is not an office in 
 our city that could not be filled by an equal to its present incumbent in 
 every qualification, and oftentimes by a superior, for less iiioney. I look 
 upon it as calamitous, to both the country and the office-holder, when office 
 seeking becomes a profession, and when a man puts his eye upon the public 
 treasury as a means of support from boyhood to old age. It is better that 
 offices be taken for their honors, and that they be distributed more generally 
 than they now are among the community. Next beyond the importance of 
 questions affecting the rights of men in a national point of view, the 
 dominant party in Chicago owes its success in the late election to its 
 promises of economy. These promises the unsuccessful party denounced as 
 hypocritical. It will soon be seen whether they were so or not. If men do 
 not like their fees and salaries they can resign their offices. And, when men 
 come around you, gentlemen of the Council, panting for more of the sweat 
 and blood of our tax-payers, if you will only stand firm, tell them that it is 
 your duty to protect the people's treasury, and advise them to resign if they 
 do not like their pay, they will cease to trouble you. I shall make no 
 appointments until the salaries of the appointees are fixed, and shall 
 
11 
 
 promptly remove any man who complains of the inadcqnacy of his compen- 
 sation. It shall not be my fault if the public expectation, with reference to 
 a reduction of the expenses of our city, is not fultilied. 
 
 Section 15 of Chapter III. of the City Charter comes greatly to our 
 aid in all measures of econouiical reform. It says : 
 
 "The Common Council shall liave the power, from time to time, to require further and 
 other duties of all ofHoers whose duties are lierein prescribed, and prescribe the powers and 
 duties of all officers appointed or elected to any office under this act, whose duties are not 
 herein specifically mentioned, and fix their compensation." 
 
 This will enable the Council to assign to any officer the duties of any 
 office whicli a just regard for the universal expectation that we will curtail 
 our city expenses, may require us to abolish. 
 
 The same Section says : 
 
 "They may also require Bond^ to be given to the City of Chicago by all officers for the 
 faithful performance of their duties." 
 
 I recommend that all our City officers and employees be required to 
 give bonds of sonre kind. If the negligence, ignorance or malfeasance of 
 an officer or an employee is the means of the City's losing money, it is the 
 same thing to the tax-payers as if the money were taken directly from the 
 Treasury. The City Attorney should be required not only to give Bond for 
 the faithful discharge of his duties, but also to faithfully close up without 
 cost to the city the suits commenced during his term of office. It is almost 
 invariably the case that a City Attorney is necessitated to consult his pre- 
 decessor respecting unfinished business, and this results in the City's having 
 to pay a large bill every year for extra legal services. Well meaning and 
 honest physicians and surgeons are held responsible for their malpractice, 
 even when it is the result of inexperience alone. So it ought to be with City 
 employees. This would secure to the City better services, as men would 
 not recommend those whose bonds they would not sign. 
 
 It has become too common for persons fined in our Courts to appeal to 
 the Council to have their fines remitted. Every person is entitled to a fair 
 and impartial trial before our Courts, can be heard by Counsel, and can call 
 for a jury. If he is not satisfied with one trial, he can ask for another, or 
 appeal to a higher Court. It is not one of the defects of Chicago that it 
 has not Courts enough. Now these appeals from the Courts to the Common 
 Council are but appeals from public justice to private sympathy. An 
 Alderman can only get at one, and tliat the interested, side of a case. 
 Besides, he has no power to examine witnesses imder oath. My ajiproba- 
 tion cannot be given to any such interference with the duties of our Courts. 
 In discussing the necessity of additional legislation for our city at the 
 next session of our Legislature, we shouM not be unmindful of the large 
 contributions which the city is compelled to make to the various offices in 
 the Court House under stealthy h>gislative enactments, which have been 
 accumulating for years. Too many of our oflicers have been in the habit of 
 quietly slipping off to the State Capital and procuring the passage of laws 
 by the Legislature which take money from the great masses of the tax- 
 payers outside of the Court House, to fill the pockets of the few inside ; 
 and the great extent of the legislation of this kind shows that too many of 
 our legislators were laboring under the impression that they owed a greater 
 obligation to the office-holders than to the people at large. Although these 
 remarks are applicable to t!ie greater number of the otfices with which the 
 city is compelled to transact any business, I prefer to illustrate them by the 
 office of Sheriff", because I can do so without being ch.arged with any unkind 
 feelings towards its worthy incumbent, as he has received no benefits from 
 
12 
 
 any legislation enacted against the city during his term, and as he is ineligible 
 to a re-election. The Sheriff gets fifty cents per day, or $3 50 per week, for 
 dieting prisoners. The Bridewell keeper gets fiftcn cents per day, or $1.05 
 per week for the same thing. The Slieriff gets $20 for every jury summoned 
 to the City Court, thirty-fiv^e cents for every committal, and thirty-five more 
 for every discharge in the same Court. There has been over §7,000 paid 
 for dieting prisoners the past year, when the City could have done the same 
 thing at the Bridewell for less than one-third the amount. There has been 
 paid the past year, to the Sheriff, for fees in serving papers and for pay of 
 oflicers in attending Court, $2,300, when the City Marshal and Policemen 
 could have performed the same duties with scarcely any extra expense to 
 the City. 
 
 Legislation in this matter is much needed, and now is the time to begin 
 to agitate for it. Candidates are already numerous and are fiist becoming 
 more so. Let all candidates for County offices be given to understand that 
 they must be pledged to throw no obstacle in the way of a proper reduction 
 of the amount of their drafts upon the pockets of the tax-payers, and all 
 candidates for the Legislature also be given to understand that their alle- 
 giance is due to those outside the Court House. There is but one way to 
 reduce expenses ; and it is neither Republican nor Democratic to oppress 
 the many for the aggrandizement of the few. 
 
 The Reform School is fulfilling the expectations of its most sanguine 
 friends. The tax for its support last year was one mill, but the product 
 of this tax was not all needed, and it is thought that only one half of a mill 
 will be required this year. It is hoped the day is not far distant when the 
 State will establish such an institution, and thereby relieve the City from 
 the expense of supporting it. I wish our City finances, or even our City 
 credit, were in a situation to warrant me in recommending a similar institu- 
 tion for girls. It is much needed. Humanity demands it. Should the 
 system of Finance recommended by me be carried out, I now know 
 of nothing to prevent my successor from recommending the immediate 
 establishment of such a much needed institution. The " Ordinance 
 concerning the Reform School" should be so amended as to make the 
 Provisions of Sec. 6 of the amended Chapter apply to the Members of the 
 Board of Guardians, as well as to the Members of the Common Council. 
 There are even stronger reasons why members of the Board of Guardians 
 should not have voted to them any salaries or compensation than there are 
 that Members of the Common Council should not. Whilst Mayor of 
 the city, in 1857, 1 took strong grounds against this practice, and was in hopes 
 that it had been abandoned. I find however, that one of the Guardians 
 gets eight hundred dollars per annum for services that ought to be performed 
 by the Comptroller. In order that the Comptroller might know the wants 
 of the Reform School, I appointed him one of the Guardians, which position 
 he now holds. Let the Board of Guardians issue their drafts for supplies 
 upon the Comptroller, and let him contract for them. The Comptroller is 
 the financial oflicer of the City. He is sworn to a faithful discharge of his 
 duties. He gives ample Bonds and can be removed for malfeasance. I 
 can sign no order appropriating money to pay any compensation to a 
 member of the Board of Guardians. 
 
 Additional legislation is required to prevent our Street Commissioners 
 from expending more money than is appropriated to them, and also to prevent 
 their expending the whole amount of their appropriations in the early part of 
 the year. The Comptroller cannot pay out of the Treasury for any purpose 
 any more money than is appropriated for that specific purpose. The mal- 
 
13 
 
 conduct of tlie Street Commissioner in this respect cither deprives the 
 laborer of his wages, or compels him to wait until the next year's appro- 
 priation. Each Division should have money to its credit to the very end 
 of the year. Hence I recommend that, in appropriating money for street 
 labor, you limit the amount which the Comptroller shall pay out in any one 
 month. With over eighteen thousand voters at one and one-half dollars 
 each, there ought to be collected at least Twenty Five Thousand Dollars 
 for Street Taxes. I recommend a special Street Tax Collector for each 
 Ward, who shall be a resident of the Ward for which he collects, and that 
 the amount collected from the voters of each Ward be expended in that 
 Ward. This will create a community of interest among the people of the 
 Ward ; and, by taking the poll lists at the election, as each voter is required 
 to pay a street tax, the collector will have it in his power to expose persons 
 who voted, but cannot now be found. The publication of the names of 
 such persons would furnish a very interesting commentary uj^on the election 
 frauds in our city. 
 
 A Board of Public Works is much needed, both to systematize and 
 economize our improvements. In the legitimate discharge of their respective 
 duties, we find the Street Commissioners, the Board of Sewerage Commis- 
 sioners, the Water Commissioners and City Superintendent severally open- 
 ing and filling the same ground in a single week. The work is paid for four 
 times, when, with a consolidation of these different offices and boards, it need 
 be but once. The great obstacle in the way of this much needed reform 
 is the incumbents of the offices. Every man dislikes to be legislated out of 
 office. But the law need not take effect until the tei-ms of the offices of 
 Street Commissioners and City Superintendent expire, and the Boards of 
 Water and Sewerage Commissioners could be consolidated into a Board of 
 Public Works, to consist of the present six incumbents, until the terms of 
 any two expire. Then one only should be elected to supply the place of 
 the two. Thus, in two years, Ave could have a new Board consisting of 
 only three members. This measure has been defeated heretofore by a 
 struggle for offices. The plan suggested would prevent this struggle here- 
 after. When we reflect that each of these Boards has a separate Engineer, 
 Secretary and other assistants receiving large salaries, and that the City 
 Superintendent and Street Commissioners have each their assistants, it is 
 safe to say that their consolidation Avould save at least $25,000 per annum 
 to our city. 
 
 The ordinance providing for the organization of the Paid Fire Depart- 
 ment, passed before the City had much experience with reference to this 
 indispensable institution, needs alteration in many important particulars. 
 Altliough those portions of it which conflict with the City Charter are of 
 no force, yet they mislead the firemen, who have a right to suppose that 
 they can rely upon the provisions of tlie Ordinance. The Charter requires 
 that all officers not elected by the People shall be appointed by the Mayor ; 
 and no ordinance of the City can shield the Mayor from a just responsibility 
 in seeing that all the members of our Paid Fire Department, like the other 
 officers of the city, are men qualified by intelligence, character and habits 
 for their positions. 
 
 In the revision of your rules, I recommend that you dispense with the 
 Committee on Claims, which committee was created before the new charter 
 went into eftect. Section thirteen of the new Charter provides that, when 
 the Comptroller shall doubt the " Correctness of any claim he shall submit 
 the same to the Mayor and Finance Committee for their decision thereon, 
 which decision shall be binding upon the City and filed among, his other 
 
14 
 
 vouchers in the Comptroller's Office," The object of this section is to 
 take all claims away from the Common Council and give them to the Comp- 
 troller, with the right to appeal to the Mayor and Finance Committee. 
 This does not debar any claimant from his right to sue the city in any of 
 our Courts. I look upon it, that the duties of the Committee on Claims are 
 merged in that of the Finance Committee. Hereafter all disputed accounts, 
 in the Comptroller's office, will be referred directly to the Mayor and 
 Finance Committee, and their decision will be a bar to any action of the 
 Common Council. No officer of the City save the Comptroller can contract 
 a debt against the City, neither can that officer until a specific appropriation 
 be first made. Yet the (Common Council is frequently appealed to for the 
 allowance of claims and bills, which the Comptroller has no power to allow, 
 even if he had the disposition. I recommend you, gentlemen, to scan well 
 your general appropriation bill, due in the month of April, and after that 
 shall have passed, to close the door of your Treasury for the remainder of 
 the year. We can only raise, by taxation, such an amount of money as is 
 covered by the General Appropriation Bill. If we vote money from the 
 Treasury for objects not specified in the General Appropriation Bill, a float- 
 ing debt is inevitable. 
 
 I would recommend great circumspection in your action concerning tho 
 vacation of streets and alleys. By a law of the last session of our Legis- 
 lature, a majority of a quorum can vacate any street or alley without any 
 previous notice. In the known absence of some members of this Board, 
 two members can call eleven together, and six of the eleven can close np 
 Lake Street or any other street in the city, and the same six can at once 
 choose the Commissioners to assess damages. A law so summary as this 
 and made applicable to our whole city was not enacted without an object. 
 The excitement caused by its passage may have prevenied action under its 
 provisions last year. Yoiir circumspection may prevent any this year. But 
 the existence of such a law tends to impair confidence in the value of 
 Chicago real estate investments, as the value of land is estimated by its 
 number of feet front; and a gentleman from the East may come here and 
 buy frontage, and before he reaches his home, under the summary jDrovisions 
 of this law, he may be deprived of the sole object of his purchase. 
 
 A Committee of the Board of Education has called public attention 
 to a statement of facts well calculated to alarm our citizens with respect to 
 the safety of a portion of our School Fund. The Charter requires tliat all 
 officers of the City not elected by the people, shall be nominated by the 
 Mayor. Now as both the Comptroller and School Agent are required to 
 be nominated by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council, it has occurred 
 to me that since there is no difference in the means of appointing these two 
 officers, the duties of School Agent might be performed by the Comptroller 
 without any additional expense to the City. If the Comptroller does not 
 give ample bonds to cover the amount of School Fund, the Council has ample 
 power to increase them. In this way the salary of the School Agent, which 
 is $500, will be saved for the benefit of the Schools. This will be more 
 convenient for the public, as the Comptroller's office is open during all 
 business hours. It has been suggested that the Board of Education have 
 control of this office. Now, my remarks concerning the Board of Guar- 
 dians of Reform School, will apply to the Board of Education. You, 
 Gentlemen of the Common Council, are prohibited from receiving any office 
 at the hands of the City, and I hope the day is not far distant, when the 
 Board of Supervisors of Cook County, the Board of Guardians of Reform 
 
15 
 
 School, and all other Boards will have the same restrictions applied to them 
 as are now applied to you. 
 
 Indeed, it is to be hoped that the day is not distant when the standard of 
 moral integrity will be so high that no such law may be necessary to avert 
 the selfish schemes of men in official positions. Should my recommenda- 
 tion be adopted, a provision should be made that the Comptroller make a 
 monthly report to the Board of Education and to the Common Council of 
 his transactions touching the School Fund, and that any member of the 
 Board of Education or of the Common Council should at all times have 
 free access to the Books and papers reloting thereto. 
 
 I am satisfied that the office of Assistant Harbor Master which now 
 costs the city ^500 per annum is a sinecure and should be abolished. 
 
 GENTLEME]sr OF THE CoMMo:Nr CouNciL : — ITowcver much we may 
 diflfer respecting the question of the voluntary and involuntary systems of 
 labor, that now constitutes the only difference between the two great politi- 
 cal parties of our nation, there is no necessity that we should be divided in 
 our opinions or our actions in Municipal affairs. Good order affects us all 
 alike. P^conomy reduces the taxes of all alike. The preservation of our 
 City's credit benefits us all alike. A proper enforcement of the laws gives 
 security alike to all. We all have children in whose future our hopes are 
 alike concentrated. Our interests are one. Our expectations are the same. 
 Our destinies are identical. Why, then, should we differ ? I am your pre- 
 siding officer for the last time. Seven endorsements at the hands of my 
 fellow citizens have satisfied my most sanguine aspirations. It is for some 
 of them soon to stand in the position which I now occupy; and when they 
 do, they will appreciate my appeal, to forget all outside differences, and 
 remember only the interests of our city. The pressure upon us froni chiim- 
 ants, contractors and office-hunters will be great. We must steel our hearts 
 to all other sympathies but those for the tax-payers of our city. The man 
 who does this belongs to my party, so far as all municipal affairs are con- 
 cerned, and I belong to his. The eyes of all our citizens are upon us. 
 They expect much at this crisis in our financial affairs, at our hands. Your 
 future prospects demand that that expectation shall not be destroyed ; whilst 
 I,, in my determination to retire to private life, have but one ambition ; and, 
 in accordance therewith, I mvoke the aid oi the Ruler of the Univeise, that 
 our Administration may be governed in all things by the right, and be con- 
 ducive to the lasting welliare of our city. 
 
 JOHN WENTWORTII. 
 
me.