THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 B 
 
 K91kl 
 
 UJLJLXOIS HISTOKICAJL SUBVEX 
 

 11 
 
 { Hf nmm OF Tff£ 
 
 WAY '1 1 1926 
 
 nTt OF 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/reminiscencescomOOkrau 
 
REMINISCENCES 
 
 and 
 
 COMMENTS 
 
IKE LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OHMEBSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
/ 
 
REMINISCENCES 
 
 and 
 
 COMMENTS 
 
 THE IMMIGRANT 
 
 THE CITIZEN 
 
 A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
 THE JEW 
 
 by 
 
 ADOLF KRAUS 
 
 "No fathers or mothers think their own children 
 ugly; and this self -deceit is yet stronger with 
 respect to the offspring of the mind." 
 
 Cervantes. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A. 
 MCMXXV 
 
Copyright 1925 
 By Adolf Kraus 
 
 Second Printing 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
 Toby Rubovits Inc. 
 
 Chicago 
 
3 
 2 Mi* I 
 
 ^ 
 
 TO MY WIFE 
 
 and 
 
 OUR CHILDREN 
 
 602125 
 
PREFACE 
 
 "In every work regard the writer's end, 
 Since none can compass more than they intend." 
 
 Pope. 
 
 I did not intend to write a book. If I had so in- 
 tended, and thereby assumed the requisite literary 
 quality, I must of necessity have chosen a more inter- 
 esting subject. It was begun innocently enough at 
 the suggestion of a friend that some reminiscences I 
 was relating should be preserved in writing. From 
 such innocent beginning the present volume has grown 
 during the year or more I have now and then been 
 engaged in writing it. Having thus assembled the 
 incidents, haphazard though they be, which mark the 
 course and reveal the character of a more or less active 
 life, no other course seemed so appropriate as to put 
 them in book form — if for no other reason than the 
 one advanced by Lord Byron : 
 
 "Tis pleasant sure to see one's name in print; 
 A book's a book, although there's nothing in 't." 
 
 It may be, however, that the reader will see between 
 these lines, which have been written with no other 
 purpose or aspiration than to set down in a straight- 
 forward way the simple facts, what has never been 
 absent from my mind in the writing of them. He may 
 see America in a brighter light as the land of blessed 
 freedom, of equal opportunity, where every man, 
 whether native bred or foreign born and regardless of 
 
 Xi 
 
xii PREFACE 
 
 race or creed, may strive on equal terms with every 
 other man for the blessings she gives in abundance to 
 him who labors in her fertile fields of endeavor and 
 keepeth her laws. And thus seeing, he may have a 
 clearer vision of the spirit that has made America great, 
 and which so long only as it continues to be her domi- 
 nant guide, will keep her great. If this end is even 
 partially attained I shall feel justified. In publishing 
 this book I have no other hope and claim no other 
 justification. 
 
 Adolf Kraus. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 THE IMMIGRANT 
 
I 
 
 THE IMMIGRANT 
 
 In the year 1840 the city of Blowitz, Bohemia, in- 
 cluded in its population perhaps a larger percentage of 
 very poor Jews than any other city in Austria-Hungary. 
 This fact was due, in part at least, to governmental 
 restriction of the rights of Jews in Austria prior to 1848- 
 They were not allowed to own any land; they were 
 excluded from most of the trades, and were denied the 
 right to practice any of the professions except that of 
 physician. What would now be considered a very 
 small sum would at that time have been deemed a 
 fortune in Blowitz by some of these very poor, op- 
 pressed people. 
 
 One Saturday afternoon Avrum Hartman and Itzik 
 Fischel were standing in the public square. As they 
 stood there Moishe Fuchs passed by without deigning 
 to notice them with any sort of a greeting. 
 
 "Look", said Avrum, "at that 'chates' Moishe. He 
 acts as though he did not want to know us." 
 
 "No wonder he acts that way," replied Itzik. "He 
 is now a rich man. If he is worth one 'Kreutzer' he is 
 worth four hundred 'Gulden schein'." ($96.00). 
 
 "What! Four hundred 'Gulden schein', " said Avrum. 
 "I wish the good God would give me what Moishe is 
 worth less than four hundred 'Gulden schein'." (A 
 "Gulden gold" was equal to forty cents; a "Gulden 
 schein" — paper — only twenty four cents). 
 
 In this city of Blowitz, in the year 1840, among these 
 surroundings and with all the discouragements for him 
 
4 REMINISCENCES 
 
 and his kind that grew out of the conditions and re- 
 strictions under which they were obliged to exist, lived 
 Jonas Kraus. Not far away, near the City of Radnitz, 
 at this time lived Joachim Ehrlich, with his wife and 
 children. Ludmila, one of the daughters of Joachim, 
 had many admirers as a tribute to her personal charms, 
 by reason of which she was known and admired as the 
 prettiest girl in the district. Among these many ad- 
 mirers was Jonas Kraus, of the city of Blowitz. Jonas, 
 being of manly presence and coming from the city, 
 soon eliminated all rivals and after the usual happy 
 courtship became Ludmila's husband. 
 
 After their marriage the young couple embarked 
 upon the sea of fortune by starting a bakery. The 
 business did not prosper. They were able to earn 
 barely enough to take care of the needs of themselves 
 and the little family that came to them as time went 
 on. Unable to save anything and seeing only a gloomy 
 prospect ahead for himself and his loved ones, Jonas, 
 having heard and read of that wonderful country 
 across the sea, after much thought and many mis- 
 givings, decided that he would there seek a home for 
 himself and his family, and set sail for America. So 
 well did Jonas achieve in America that after two years 
 he returned to his family, bringing with him the sav- 
 ings of his labor. His fortune consisted of four hundred 
 dollars in gold, which for safety upon his return journey 
 he had sewed in the lining of his clothes. Four hundred 
 dollars represented close to seventeen hundred " Gulden 
 schein," which at that time was considered in Bohemia 
 as placing Jonas in the class of the " fairly well to do." 
 The assurance that came from the possession of this 
 fortune, and the strength of home ties, held Jonas to 
 
Home of My Parents in Rokycan, Bohemia 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 5 
 
 the land of his birth and the proposed removal of his 
 family to America was abandoned. 
 
 Shortly after his return from America Jonas Kraus 
 with his family moved to Rokycan, a city of about five 
 thousand inhabitants, where he purchased a one story 
 stone building containing a small store and three 
 rooms. In the rear of the building was a stable large 
 enough for two cows. The shelves of the store build- 
 ing were fairly well filled with dry goods, purchased 
 largely on credit, and while Jonas Kraus never accumu- 
 lated much worldly goods his prosperity was such that 
 his family had the rare, and what was then considered 
 luxurious, experience of enjoying meat for dinner each 
 day. Three years after his return from America he 
 had saved up enough to buy a few acres of land out- 
 side the city limits of Rokycan, on which potatoes and 
 wheat were grown. On these acres a cow also was 
 kept and the family had fresh milk every day. To the 
 union of Jonas Kraus and Ludmila Ehrlich three sons 
 were born, — Marcus, Adolf, and Albert. Adolf, the 
 second son, is the writer of these lines. 
 
 Rokycan is a Czechish city. When my family moved 
 there, there were two German Gentile families and 
 eight Jewish families in Rokycan. Later on the num- 
 ber of Jewish families increased slightly and among 
 the newcomers were the parents of the writer's mother. 
 In the Jewish families German as well as Czechish was 
 spoken. My eldest brother Marcus was taken to 
 America when he was fifteen years of age by an uncle 
 whose home was in New York. 
 
 The schools in Rokycan were Czechish, but some 
 instruction in German was compulsory. When I at- 
 tended the fourth grammar grade a subject was given 
 
6 REMINISCENCES 
 
 to the boys each week upon which they were required 
 to write an essay in German. It so happened that in 
 my class I was the only boy who could speak German, 
 and yet my essays came back each time marked " Bad, " 
 "Very Bad," or " Miserable." The best mark I ever 
 received was " Bad. " I was small and young and this ex- 
 perience so discouraged me that one evening when I was 
 trying to write another German essay my mother found 
 me crying, and motherlike inquired the reason. I told 
 her how hard I had tried and how useless it seemed, — 
 the teacher always found them either bad or miserable. 
 Mother said, "Try once more, my son. Maybe you 
 will do better this time." The next day she presented 
 the teacher with two very fine silk handkerchiefs. This 
 time the essay came back marked, "Excellent. If you 
 keep on so improving it will be a source of great joy to 
 your mother." After that the poorest mark I ever 
 received from that teacher was "Very Good." 
 
 The Director of the public schools in Rokycan was 
 the Catholic priest of the city. One day while I was 
 walking in a small park belonging to the city one of 
 my schoolmates threw a stone and hit me on the head. 
 When I came home my clothes were spattered with 
 blood. In answer to my mother's anxious inquiries I 
 related what had happened. She washed me, bandaged 
 the wound, took me to the Director of the schools and 
 lodged complaint against the boy who threw the stone. 
 Next day the Director came to the school and called 
 the boy who threw the stone to the teacher's desk. In 
 those days corporal punishment was the rule in schools. 
 There were two kinds of punishment inflicted, one by 
 the teacher for slight offenses, the other by the janitor 
 who, when ordered by the teacher, struck the boy on 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 7 
 
 the hands, in the presence of the entire class, with a 
 switch two, four, or six times, depending upon the 
 nature of the offense. The priest asked the boy why 
 he threw the stone, and without hesitation the boy 
 replied that he saw me destroying shrubbery in the 
 park, that he did not intend to hit me with the stone 
 but threw it only to frighten me. I stated truthfully 
 that I did not pull or destroy any shrubbery and was 
 in fact not near any shrubbery at all. Being a Jewish 
 boy, however, my statement of the affair was rejected. 
 The Director sent for the janitor and ordered him to 
 give me the maximum punishment — six blows. The 
 janitor did his duty so well that my hands were badly 
 swollen for several days. Many years afterwards, on 
 one of my European trips, I visited that old school 
 building. It was just as it had been many years before, 
 — the same room, the same benches, the same teachers 
 desk, but there was a new janitor and a new Director. 
 The old ones had departed to that place from whence 
 no janitor or Director has ever returned. 
 
 My father died when I was thirteen years of age. 
 At fifteen I was graduated from the " Unter-Realschule" 
 (Lower High School). Immediately after the gradua- 
 tion ceremonies my mother called me to her and said: 
 
 "It is high time for you to go to America. I 
 have secured a passport for you and a steamship 
 ticket." 
 
 Her reason for this was prompted by a mother love 
 that went deeper than the pangs of parting, perhaps 
 forever, from her fifteen year old boy, deeper than the 
 fears which pressed about her heart when she thought 
 of that immature boy going alone to a strange land. 
 According to the Austrian law at that time every boy 
 
8 REMINISCENCES 
 
 attaining the age of eighteen years was subject to 
 military duty. If taken as a soldier, he had to serve 
 seven years. When finally discharged from military 
 duty he was almost too old to begin any other career. 
 The rich managed to have their boys escape military 
 duty by bribing the military physician, who for a 
 satisfactory consideration found the boys "untauglich," 
 that is, unfit for military duty. Mother considered 
 bribery a sin. Whether or not she would have com- 
 mitted this sin I do not know. Mother love is stronger 
 than law. Perhaps it surpasses such a sin. In any 
 event she did not have the money; so her boy had to 
 leave his old home and seek a new one in America. 
 
 But the passport was not to America. It was to 
 Germany — for a visit. Without it I would not have 
 been permitted to cross the border. If mother had 
 waited a year or two longer I would have been so near 
 the military age that the Government would have 
 denied me a passport, and even then, perhaps, a pass- 
 port to America would have been denied. And so she 
 applied for a passport for me to visit Germany, which 
 was granted. After entering Germany I did not need 
 a passport to leave Germany for America. 
 
 The train on which I began my journey to America 
 left Rokycan at one o'clock in the morning. My 
 mother and grandmother escorted me to the depot, 
 and as the train came in sight each of them gave me 
 her blessing. The last words my mother said to me 
 were: "Be honest, my son. Do not bring disgrace 
 upon my head." As the train pulled out I saw my 
 mother fall into grandmother's arms. I tried to get 
 off the train but could not do so because the compart- 
 ment I was in was locked. 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 9 
 
 I sailed for America from Bremen. The ocean voy- 
 age lasted twenty-one days and was very stormy 
 throughout except for the first day. Aside from the 
 almost continuous storm and the discomfort, fear, and 
 seasickness that went with it, the only incident that I 
 recall was the taking on board by our Captain of the 
 passengers and sailors from a wrecked sailboat bound 
 for New York. 
 
 When the steamer on which I came to America 
 landed at New York the cabin passengers of course 
 were taken off first, while the steerage passengers, of 
 which I was one, had to remain for some time. While 
 we were waiting there before landing a peddler came 
 alongside the steamer in a row-boat and offered to 
 sell us pies. The pie looked very tempting to the 
 steerage passengers, who during the twenty-one days 
 of voyage had been fed on salt meats, herring, and 
 potatoes, with no pie or other delicacies of any kind on 
 the menu. The peddler tied a basket to the end of a 
 rope and threw the other end to a passenger. One 
 after another we pulled the basket up, put in the price 
 of a pie, let the basket down to the peddler, who would 
 take out the money, put in a pie, and the passenger 
 would pull it up. The peddler, who was a German, 
 soon sold all his pies. I was the proud possessor of 
 two ten dollar gold pieces, — my entire fortune. That 
 was more than many of the other steerage passengers 
 possessed. I wrapped up one of the ten dollar gold 
 pieces in a paper and let it down in the basket to the 
 peddler, and received a pie and the change. When I 
 counted the change I found $11.80. I said to the 
 peddler, 
 
 "You gave me too much money." 
 
10 REMINISCENCES 
 
 He replied, "You are in America now. You may 
 keep the change." 
 
 I wondered at such generosity as this and said to a 
 fellow passenger, "What a wonderful place! What a 
 blessed land America is! That could happen no where 
 else in the world." 
 
 After I landed I soon learned that a gold dollar such 
 as I gave the peddler was then worth one dollar and 
 thirty-five cents in paper money, which he gave me in 
 change, and that in the pie transaction I had been 
 cheated. 
 
 After landing my brother Marcus awaited me at 
 Castle Garden. One of the first persons I saw was a 
 negro, and inasmuch as I had never seen one before I 
 was very much interested in this one, but the interest 
 quickly subsided when I saw many more of them. An 
 uncle on my mother's side and an aunt on my father's 
 side resided in New York. Marcus took me to them 
 to pay our respects, and the next day took me to 
 Springfield, Massachusetts, where Marcus boarded 
 with a German family and shared his bed with me. 
 Marcus was employed in a gold chain factory, where he 
 secured for me an apprenticeship, and at the end of 
 the week I received three dollars as my wages. My 
 board, washing and lodging, cost five dollars. Marcus 
 paid the difference. After working about four weeks I 
 asked Marcus how long I would have to work for three 
 dollars a week. 
 
 "One year," said Marcus. 
 
 "And how much will I receive the following year?" 
 I asked. 
 
 "Four dollars a week." 
 
 "And the next year?" 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 11 
 
 "Five dollars." 
 
 "And then what?" 
 
 "You will then have served your apprenticeship, 
 will be considered a master workmen, and will receive 
 fifteen dollars a week." 
 
 "What next?" 
 
 "There will be no next, unless you can become a 
 foreman, who receives twenty-five dollars a week." 
 
 " I will never be a foreman. I quit now." 
 
 "What are you going to do?" 
 
 " I do not know, but I do know that I am not going 
 to work here. There is no future for me here." 
 
 From there I went to New York and called on my 
 uncle, the brother of my mother. I received little en- 
 couragement from him — on the contrary, he became 
 very angry. He told me I was no good, that I should 
 have remained in Springfield and learned the trade, 
 that he would not be surprised if some day he would 
 see me on the gallows. 
 
 I said, "You may be right, but if you should see 
 me there I will be the sheriff." 
 
 The effect of this last remark upon my uncle was 
 such that I deemed it prudent to depart from there as 
 quickly as I could. More than fifteen years elapsed 
 before we met again — this later meeting being more 
 friendly. The next day after calling on my uncle I 
 called on my aunt, who was a sister of my father. She 
 received me in a very friendly manner and invited me 
 to dinner. She had no children but she did have a pet 
 dog. Her husband had a large store in the congested 
 district on the East Side, in which he operated sixty or 
 more Singer sewing machines, making garments for a 
 wholesale dealer. In the rear of the store was a large 
 
12 REMINISCENCES 
 
 living room which served as a kitchen, bedroom, and 
 parlor. My aunt asked me what I was going to do. I 
 replied that I did not know, that I was looking for work. 
 She said that if I were around at meal times I might 
 drop in and eat with them. I thanked her and told 
 her that what I needed most was a place to sleep. 
 
 " Would you permit me to put your lounge in the 
 store at night and sleep on the lounge ?" 
 
 "How can I?" she replied. " Where will my dog 
 sleep?" 
 
 I did not argue that question with her further, but 
 left immediately, and many years passed before I saw 
 her again. When I did see here again her husband was 
 dead. She was in financial distress and had applied 
 for acceptance in the Old People's Home. The Home 
 was willing to accept her if she paid five hundred 
 dollars. She was without money and I paid this amount 
 for her. 
 
 I found a job at last with a German cigar manu- 
 facturer, who undertook to teach me how to make 
 cigars. He gave me my board, a bunch of straw to 
 sleep on, and six " smokers" at the end of the week. 
 I was first put to work stripping tobacco. This was 
 easy and I learned it quickly. I was then shown how 
 to make fillers and did fairly well at that. Then my 
 instructor put me to wrapping cigars. I tried my best 
 to learn this, but was unable to fashion the head of the 
 cigar, with the result that I spoiled a good many 
 wrappers, a loss which my teacher could not well afford. 
 My employer's patience finally gave out. He said: 
 "Adolf, I am sorry for you. You haven't brains enough 
 to be a good cigar maker. Go and learn something 
 easy." 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 13 
 
 That ended my career as a cigar maker. 
 
 I was then advised to go peddling in some district 
 where I would be forced to learn to speak English. I 
 still had one of the two ten dollar gold pieces which I 
 brought from Europe and had saved to this time. 
 I invested this in Yankee notions and started on a 
 peddling tour in Connecticut. I was even a more 
 dismal failure as a peddler than I was as a cigar manu- 
 facturer, probably because it was very distasteful to 
 me and my heart was not in it. The farmers I came in 
 contact with on this trip were very hospitable. I 
 stayed at some of the farms for days at a time, helped 
 to do chores about the place, played with the boys, 
 and in that manner soon picked up considerable 
 English. 
 
 During this time I was in correspondence with my 
 brother Marcus. In my letters I never went into 
 details as to what progress I was making, but gave out 
 the impression that I was doing well. Marcus was a 
 good son and brother; I did not want to be a cause for 
 worry to him. One day I received an invitation to his 
 wedding, which took place in New Haven, Connecticut. 
 The bride's brother was a wholesale dealer in wines. 
 At the wedding dinner wine flowed quite freely. I was 
 then sixteen years of age. At the wedding dinner a 
 toast was proposed to the bride and groom. Of course 
 everyone arose and drank. Being unused to wine I 
 took only a sip of mine. A man who sat next to me, 
 noting my action and my youth and seeing the possi- 
 bility of what he thought was a joke, said, " You must 
 drink it all down. That is the rule at weddings which 
 everybody follows." Not wishing to violate any rules, 
 I obeyed. The next toast was to the mother of the bride, 
 
14 REMINISCENCES 
 
 who was present. Again the man next to me said, 
 "Drink it down." Again I obeyed. The next toast 
 was to the mother of the groom. I needed no further 
 urging now and to this toast I drank the last drop in 
 the glass. After that I did not care whose health was 
 proposed or how many were thus honored — I drank 
 fully each time. I felt fine. The wedding took place 
 in January. When the dinner was over everyone left 
 for home. When I reached the street I thought I saw 
 the houses careen from side to side, and then I fell upon 
 the sidewalk. One of the brothers of the bride picked 
 me up — as I afterwards learned — put me in a carriage, 
 took me to my room, and put me to bed. I was very 
 sick afterwards. That was the first and last time in 
 my life that I was drunk. For me that first experience 
 acted as a toxin against drunkenness, and from that night 
 on to my present accumulation of years I have never 
 been able to drink more than one or two glasses of wine 
 upon any occasion. 
 
 Marcus took his young wife to Springfield, Massa- 
 chusetts. I remained in New Haven, where I secured 
 a job in a paper box factory at a straight salary of 
 five dollars a week for ten hours work per day, and 
 about two dollars a week for overtime. In the follow- 
 ing fall the factory was closed by the sheriff, and I was 
 again out of work. I was unable to find other employ- 
 ment and my savings soon vanished. I told the land- 
 lady of the German boarding house where I lived that 
 I had to leave as I had no money left and no work. 
 She generously asked me to stay all winter, saying that 
 I would surely have a job by spring and could then pay 
 my indebtedness to her. I thanked her but told her I 
 could not accept her offer as it would take me a year 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 15 
 
 to pay the debt. I made a small bundle of what cloth- 
 ing I had left, put the bundle on my back and left New 
 Haven on foot, seeking work in some nearby town. I 
 started in the direction of West Haven ; about half way 
 between New Haven and West Haven was a country 
 store. It was a bitter cold day. I was hungry, and all 
 the money I had left was two pennies. I went into the 
 store to see what I could buy for this money. I saw 
 large, beautiful apples there and asked the grocer how 
 much he wanted for an apple. 
 
 "Two cents," said the grocer. 
 
 "That is all the money I have. Could you not sell 
 me one of the smaller ones for one cent?" 
 
 The grocer looked at me and said, "You can have 
 two apples for a cent." 
 
 Since that time I have eaten a good many apples, 
 but I have never since eaten an apple that tasted so 
 good as those two which the grocer gave me on that 
 occasion. After eating the apples, and with the re- 
 maining penny in my pocket, I started on my journey, 
 without the slightest idea as to where I was going or 
 what might happen to me. As I walked along the 
 road a gentleman came along in a sleigh. As we met 
 he stopped and asked if he could give me a lift. I 
 accepted the invitation and when he asked me where 
 I was going I told him I did not know, that I was 
 looking for work. He asked me if I could clean horses 
 and I told him I could learn. "I will try you," he 
 said, and that evening I took my first lesson on the 
 care of horses. 
 
 A few days after this Christmas Eve was celebrated. 
 I was invited by my employer to go with the family to 
 church. The church was crowded with people, and up 
 
16 REMINISCENCES 
 
 near the pulpit was a tremendous Christmas tree, 
 loaded with presents. When the religious services were 
 over the minister called off the names of those for whom 
 presents had been placed upon the tree. One after 
 another those whose names were called stepped for- 
 ward and received a Christmas gift. There must have 
 been at least five hundred people there. I was the only 
 one in that crowd who received nothing. I did not 
 expect to receive a gift and the fact that I did not re- 
 ceive one had no influence upon my feelings, but for 
 some reason that occasion brought home to my mind 
 how alone I was, a stranger among strangers, how far, 
 far away were all those who were near and dear to me, 
 and the tears which I could not restrain came to my 
 eyes. A few days afterwards my employer asked me 
 where I was born, what education I had, and whether 
 I understood German grammar, etc. I answered his 
 questions and thereupon my employer, who was the 
 owner of a large manufacturing establishment, said, 
 " Although you are willing to learn, I have no time to 
 train you how to take care of horses. I will hire a boy 
 for that who has had some experience. If you wish, 
 however, you can stay here over the winter and in- 
 struct my children in German." So for the winter 
 the stable boy was converted into an instructor in 
 German. 
 
 When the winter was over my employer told me 
 that he would give me a job in his factory but that 
 only native born were employed there. He asked me if 
 I had any plans for the future and I answered that I 
 would like to go west. He gave me fifty dollars. I 
 thanked him as best I could and left for Painesville, 
 Ohio, where I had a relative living who was the owner 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 17 
 
 of a dry goods store. This relative received me kindly 
 and gave me a position as clerk in his store. By that 
 time I had mastered the English language sufficiently 
 to act as a salesman. My relative gave me board and 
 room at his home and at the end of the first month he 
 handed me five dollars as my salary, and the next 
 month the same. At this I said to him, " I cannot work 
 for five dollars a month. I have to buy clothes. I must 
 earn more money than that." His answer was, "Very 
 well. Try it somewhere else. You are discharged." 
 
 In less than one hour I stood behind the counter in 
 another store with a salary of ten dollars a week, out 
 of which I paid for board and lodging. When I went 
 back in the evening of that day to my relative's house, 
 to pack up my belongings, he told me that I could come 
 to work the next day and that I would be paid ten 
 dollars a month. I thanked him, but told him that I 
 had a better job. 
 
 In the spring of 1868, in the hope of bettering my 
 condition, I left Painesville and went to Cleveland. 
 For several days I walked from store to store seeking 
 unsuccessfully a position as salesman. Finally I applied 
 
 to a Mr. for a position as salesman in his shoe 
 
 store on Ontario Street. Mr. told me he already 
 
 had more clerks than customers. I replied that there 
 was a very large Bohemian population in Cleveland, 
 that I spoke Bohemian and thought I could secure a 
 large share of that trade. That interested him at once, 
 and he told me that I might begin work the following 
 morning. I knew nothing about the shoe business, 
 however, and desiring to make some preparation for 
 the work, I asked him to let me come in one week, 
 to which he consented. I then went to what was 
 
18 REMINISCENCES 
 
 known as the west side, found a shoe store which was 
 owned by a co-religionist, explained the situation to 
 him and asked permission to work in his store a few 
 days without compensation, in order to learn something 
 about the business before starting on my new job. To 
 this he readily assented, and in the following days very 
 kindly did everything he could to assist me. I then 
 went to see the editor of a Bohemian paper who pub- 
 lished in his paper the following: "Our countryman, 
 Mr. Adolf Kraus, has accepted a position as salesman 
 
 in the boot and shoe store of Mr. on Ontario 
 
 Street." 
 
 The next morning following this publication, a 
 number of Bohemian women came to the store on 
 
 Ontario Street to buy. Mr. at once assigned 
 
 one of the other clerks to assist me and at the end of 
 the week I was paid twenty dollars, being more than 
 any other clerk in that store received. After I was 
 there about four months, one evening Mr. in- 
 vited me to his home to dinner. After dinner, and 
 
 when we were alone together, Mr. said to me: 
 
 11 I have a proposition to make to you, which you must 
 forget that I made if you fail to accept it. There 
 is a vacant store in the hotel building (naming the 
 hotel). Rent it in your own name for a year, order 
 shelving put in, and I will furnish you with a stock of 
 boots and shoes. You manage the store as owner. 
 Do not come near me. If the commercial agency 
 should ask you for a statement, make none, saying 
 simply that you buy for cash. As you sell and you find 
 that you need a new supply, buy it and pay for it. 
 Open an account in the bank in your own name. Do 
 a strictly cash business. No one is to know that I have 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 19 
 
 an interest in the business. You can live in the hotel 
 at my expense and I will give you twenty-five dollars 
 a week salary, or, if you prefer, you can, at the end of 
 the year, take all the net profit in lieu of the salary." 
 I had not had sufficient experience at that time to 
 
 suspect the motive which prompted Mr. ■ to 
 
 make the offer, and accepted the proposition. I con- 
 ducted the business at that place for about ten months. 
 
 One day Mr. came to the store. He looked 
 
 around the store and after investigating the books 
 which were kept presented a bill of sale of the store and 
 asked me to sign it, saying he was taking over the store 
 himself. He offered to pay me whatever profits were 
 shown after taking inventory, or a thousand dollars in 
 cash without inventory. I told him that whatever 
 profits were made belonged to him and that I would 
 take the thousand dollars. Afterwards, I learned that 
 
 before taking over the store Mr. had made a 
 
 settlement with his creditors. 
 
 I was then about nineteen years of age, but appeared 
 much older. I had the " wanderlust" which goes with 
 that age, and wanted to see the country. From Cleve- 
 land I went to Louisville, remained there a few days, 
 bought a horse and started on a tour of the southern 
 states. The people in the South had not yet recovered 
 from the ravages of the Civil War. The planters were 
 land rich but money poor. They were, however, very 
 hospitable. 
 
 I had learned a few sleight of hand tricks which I 
 performed reasonably well. As a rule I stopped over 
 night at some plantation. When I offered to pay for 
 any accommodations fully nine out of ten refused to 
 accept any compensation. I generally entertained the 
 
20 REMINISCENCES 
 
 host and family after supper by performing sleight of 
 hand tricks. These amused the host and family and 
 gave me some humorous experiences. 
 
 Near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, I stopped at a 
 planter's home over Sunday. Saturday evening, while 
 exhibiting my skill, my host asked me where I was 
 born. I answered, "Bohemia." Sunday morning, after 
 breakfast, the planter left home on horseback and 
 returned in about an hour with his brother-in-law, also 
 a planter, to whom he introduced me. Shortly after- 
 wards I overheard a conversation in an adjoining room 
 between the two brothers-in-law, which ran as follows: 
 
 The host — "Did you take a good look at that man?" 
 
 The brother-in-law — "Yes." 
 
 The host — "He told me he is a Bohemian. Do you think he 
 told the truth?" 
 
 The brother-in-law — " I cannot say, but I do not think he looks 
 like one." 
 
 The host — "John, where is Bohemia?" 
 
 John—"I'\\ be damned if I know." 
 
 In the evening the host said, "My brother-in-law and I are 
 two of the three school trustees of this district. The school 
 teacher has resigned. We are looking for someone to fill his 
 place. Will you take the job?" I told him I was not competent 
 to teach school. He said, "We think you know enough to teach 
 school in this district; that is sufficient." The offer was declined. 
 
 Near Eufaula, Alabama, the planter at whose home 
 I stopped one night had two daughters, one about 
 sixteen and the other about eighteen years of age, and 
 a boy about twelve years old. I performed to the best 
 of my ability the customary sleight of hand tricks. In 
 the morning after breakfast, and after I bade the family 
 good-bye, I went to the barn to get my horse. The boy 
 who had followed me asked me if I could crawl through 
 a key-hole. I told him that no one could do that. 
 The boy replied, "Well, my sisters think you can. 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 21 
 
 Last night they stuffed up the key-hole in their door 
 with cotton so that you could not get in." 
 
 The feeling in the South at that time was very 
 bitter against any one from the North. I soon ex- 
 perienced this. One evening in a small town, at a 
 tavern where I stopped, a half dozen men were sitting 
 around the fireplace talking and chewing tobacco. 
 Noticing me a stranger among them, one of them 
 turned to me and asked where I came from. " Cleve- 
 land, Ohio," I answered. The man jumped up, drew 
 a bowie knife and said, "You damn Yankee — ." The 
 tavern keeper rushed between us, shoved me out of 
 the room and said, "Take your horse quick, and get 
 out of this town. You are not safe here." Anyone 
 from north of the Mason and Dixon line was con- 
 sidered a Yankee. The next time I was asked where I 
 came from I answered, "Louisville, Kentucky." And 
 when asked which side I was on during the war, I 
 answered that I was in Europe during the war, that I 
 was only thirteen years old when the war closed. 
 After I had been in Atlanta a few days, whenever I 
 was asked where I came from I answered, "Atlanta." 
 That proved to be a satisfactory answer. To the oft 
 repeated question while in the South as to which in 
 my opinion was the best general in the two armies I 
 to be on the safe side invariably answered, "General 
 Lee." 
 
 In the spring of the year I returned to Ohio, visiting 
 an uncle who was engaged in the dry goods business in 
 Norwalk, Ohio. The uncle appeared pleased at my 
 visit, saying I was just the boy he wanted to see, that 
 he intended to open a branch store somewhere and 
 wanted me to run it for him. We soon agreed upon 
 
22 REMINISCENCES 
 
 terms. He rented a store in Hudson, Michigan, and I 
 managed it until October, 1871, doing a good business. 
 It was in this town of Hudson, Michigan, that I joined 
 the Masonic and Oddfellow lodges. I became ac- 
 quainted with nearly every one in town and with most 
 of the farmers in the county. There I had my first 
 experience in politics. A young lawyer with whom I 
 played checkers every evening, which by the way was 
 about the only amusement I indulged in in those days, 
 had an ambition to become State's Attorney for that 
 county. Nomination was equivalent to an election. 
 I became his campaign manager and organized a 
 young men's political club. The young lawyer was 
 nominated and elected. After the election he said to 
 me that there was no future in the dry goods business 
 and urged me to study law, that by the time his term 
 of office expired I could be admitted to the bar and that 
 then he and I could go into partnership; that in order 
 to make a good start we should give up playing check- 
 ers ; I should study law and he would be my instructor. 
 Hardly had this plan been adopted when, during the 
 first week in October, 1871, my uncle informed me that 
 he had decided to retire from business and return with 
 his family to Europe, and offered to sell me the Hudson 
 store on credit. I felt that I could not accept this 
 offer. The Hudson store was then sold and I was again 
 without occupation. 
 
 A few days after this I read in the Chicago Times of 
 the big fire in Chicago. For several days the news- 
 papers reported that Chicago was still burning and, 
 finally, that the fire was under control. A great city 
 in ashes! Factories, stores, public buildings, homes, 
 fortunes, the monuments of a growing city's half 
 
THE IMMIGRANT 23 
 
 century of toil — all destroyed! But not hope. The 
 city would be rebuilt. And there in that city I decided 
 that I, too, would build my home. 
 
 Upon my arrival there the fire engines were still 
 throwing water upon the ruins. A gentleman to whom 
 I had a letter of introduction recommended me to a 
 boarding house at the northwest corner of Washington 
 Boulevard and Green Street, a locality which had not 
 been reached by the fire. To this place I went. The 
 corner was improved with what was then a nice, 
 modern frame double residence building. The owner 
 lived on the corner and rented the west part of the 
 building to a lady who kept a boarding house. I en- 
 gaged a room there and lived there for several weeks. 
 About four years afterwards I learned that this double 
 building which was covered by one roof was owned by 
 a Mr. S. Stein, who lived there with his wife and his 
 wife's youngest sister who lived with them. This fact, 
 trivial and accidental to others, of course, has always 
 been of wonderful significance to me — for that same 
 roof which covered me the first night I slept in Chicago 
 covered also that " youngest sister," the young lady 
 who afterwards became my wife. 
 
Kraus at the Age of Twenty-one 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE CITIZEN 
 
II 
 
 THE CITIZEN 
 
 After living in Chicago for about a year I went to 
 Europe to visit my mother. I remained there longer 
 than I intended, with the result that when I returned 
 to Chicago my savings were gone. I arrived at nine 
 o'clock in the morning and before twelve o'clock had 
 a job as a clerk in John York's dry goods store on 
 Halsted Street, at a salary of fifteen dollars a week. 
 I concluded not to waste any money but to save all I 
 could, so as to be able to study law. After I worked 
 at York's for about three months, Wolf Brothers, who 
 owned a dry goods store near York's, offered me twenty 
 five dollars a week and board, which I accepted. 
 When I had three hundred dollars saved I gave 
 up clerking and entered a lawyer's office to study 
 law. The three hundred dollars lasted me a year. 
 After that I attended to collections and small cases 
 before Justices of the Peace, and was thus enabled 
 to live. 
 
 In 1876, my good friend William Taussig, married, 
 and I was his best man at the wedding. I prepared for 
 and delivered on this occasion an after-dinner speech, 
 which was well received. Lawyer Philip Stein, who 
 was one of the guests at the wedding and who years 
 afterwards became one of my law partners, compli- 
 mented me on the speech and introduced me to Mrs. S. 
 Stein and to Miss Mathilde Hirsh, who was that 
 "youngest sister" of Mrs. Stein. The impression 
 Miss Hirsh made upon me is sufficiently attested by 
 
 27 
 
28 REMINISCENCES 
 
 the fact that within a few months afterwards, in the 
 winter of 1876, I proposed to her. What did I say to 
 her in this proposal? Well, what could I say? Besides, 
 what is said in proposals which are accepted is locked 
 away in the hearts of the two who are thus united, 
 where none other may see. But in connection with 
 that proposal it was made clear that I was very poor; 
 that I was not yet admitted to the bar but expected 
 to be in a few months ; that only the cheapest and most 
 necessary furniture could be had for whatever home 
 we might establish; that hope was strong in me that 
 success and prosperity would come to us. All this she 
 understood, and notwithstanding accepted me although 
 she then had two other admirers, each of whom was a 
 prosperous merchant. My chief object in life has 
 been to justify the confidence she then reposed in 
 me and I am happiest when I think, as I some- 
 times permit myself to do, that she has never regretted 
 her choice. 
 
 The wedding day was set for the seventh day of 
 January, 1877. We went out to look for a flat at a 
 rental which would be within our means. We found 
 two rooms in the Bohemian settlement at a rental of 
 eight dollars a month, which we thought might do. 
 In speaking of this selection to Miss Hirsh's brother- 
 in-law, Mr. Simon Stein, he said that would never do, 
 that we should not go to such a poor section of the 
 city. I replied that I could not afford any better for 
 the present. Stein then said if we would select a nice 
 flat in a good neighborhood he would furnish it com- 
 pletely as a wedding present. That was a very tempt- 
 ing offer, but I felt that I must not undertake to pay 
 rent beyond my means. Finally a flat at a monthly 
 
THE CITIZEN 29 
 
 rental of fifteen dollars was selected under a lease to 
 May 1st, with the privilege of extending it for a year. 
 Stein furnished the flat at an expense of over fifteen 
 hundred dollars, which, considering the times, was a 
 princely gift. The marriage took place at Stein's home 
 on the evening of the seventh of January. The wed- 
 ding trip consisted of a carriage ride from Stein's home 
 to the flat. At eight o'clcok the next morning I was in 
 my office ready for work. 
 
 Although I had not yet passed my examination for 
 the bar, it may be said that my career as a lawyer 
 started on the day after our wedding. A client called 
 at my office about eight-thirty that morning with a 
 claim for damages. I secured a very satisfactory 
 settlement of the claim the same day, for which I re- 
 ceived a fee of one hundred dollars. That was the 
 largest fee I had earned up to that time. I brought 
 the money home and gave it to my wife for safe- 
 keeping, as I likewise did with every cent I earned 
 that year, keeping only ten cents a day for car fare in 
 going home to lunch on the street car. In going to 
 my office in the morning and in coming home in the 
 evening I walked. At the end of the first year all 
 expenses were paid and over one thousand dollars 
 saved up. Mrs. Kraus did all the housework. Her 
 brother, M. M. Hirsh, made her a wedding present of 
 a frame building at 15 South Green Street, which some 
 years afterwards she sold for a thousand dollars. The 
 building was on a leased lot and on May 1st, 1877, we 
 moved into this building and lived there for about 
 three years. 
 
 In June, 1877, I was admitted to the bar. At the 
 time I was admitted, Chicago had a Bohemian popu- 
 
30 REMINISCENCES 
 
 lation of not less than 30,000, and I was then the only 
 lawyer in the city who could speak the Bohemian 
 language. 
 
 In July, 1877, a Bohemian whom I shall call Defend- 
 ant, and who lived in a frame house on Sixteenth Street 
 near Halsted Street, shot and killed an Irishman who 
 lived in the same house. Defendant's mother retained 
 me to defend him. The Irishman was a stevedore. 
 Defendant claimed that the stevedore attacked him 
 with a stevedore hook, and that he shot him in self- 
 defense. Two policemen happened to be close by when 
 the shot was fired. They rushed up to the place and 
 found Defendant with a revolver in his hand, the 
 stevedore dead. On investigation I could find no one 
 who admitted having seen the stevedore hook, or who 
 had witnessed the shooting. I believed Defendant's 
 story but feared that the jury would not believe it. 
 I did not want to take the responsibility so shortly 
 after being admitted to the bar of defending a man on 
 trial for his life, so I asked Mr. A. S. Trude, then one 
 of the leading, if not the leading criminal lawyer in the 
 city, to aid me in the trial of the case. Trude con- 
 sented. I turned over to him the entire fee I had 
 received. It was agreed that at the trial Trude should 
 make the opening statement for the defense and cross- 
 examine the State's witnesses. I was to question the 
 defendant's witnesses and make the opening argument 
 for the defense; Trude was to close. Mr. Trude in his 
 opening statement to the jury said that the deceased 
 and the defendant lived in the same house and were 
 deadly enemies; that this enmity arose because of the 
 perpetration by the deceased of what was coarsely in- 
 tended to be a joke upon defendant's wife, which 
 
THE CITIZEN 31 
 
 resulted in her injury. Mr. Trude explained the 
 nature of the supposed joke and the resulting injury in 
 great detail, leaving not nearly so much to the imagina- 
 tion as I am obliged to do here ; that from that time on 
 there was bad blood between the defendant and the 
 deceased; that on the evening of the killing the de- 
 ceased saw defendant first, started to attack him with 
 a stevedore hook, and that the defendant shot in self- 
 defense. 
 
 When we went to lunch during the noon recess I said 
 to Mr. Trude, "You shocked me when you made the state- 
 ment as to what happened to Mrs. . How can you 
 
 prove it?" He replied, "You will see." The case was 
 tried and on cross-examination of one of the policemen 
 Mr. Trude made him admit that he picked up the steve- 
 dore hook near the body of the deceased and handed it 
 to the State's Attorney. Mr. Trude then demanded of 
 the State's Attorney that he produce the hook, which the 
 State's Attorney did. I called and examined all the 
 witnesses for the defendant. When I had finished Mr. 
 Trude called the defendant's wife to the stand and the 
 following took place: 
 
 Mr. Trude — "Give your name in full." 
 
 Answer — "Mary ." 
 
 Mr. Trude — "You are the wife of the defendant?" 
 
 Answer — "Yes." 
 
 Mr. Trude — "Tell the court and jury what the deceased did 
 to you when you went to the rear of the house about four weeks 
 before your husband shot him." 
 
 Mr. Mills— (State's Attorney) "I object." 
 
 Mr. Trude — "Why do you object?" 
 
 Mr. Mills — "She is the wife of the defendant and cannot 
 testify." 
 
 Mr. Trude — "Yes she can, if you do not object." 
 
 Mr. Mills— li I object." 
 
 Mr. Trude — "Madam, step aside." 
 
32 REMINISCENCES 
 
 Mr. Trude in his closing argument said: 
 
 "Gentlemen of the jury, I made a certain statement to you 
 before the witnesses were heard. You must disregard that 
 statement because I failed to prove it. The reason for my 
 failure is that only two persons knew of it, the deceased, who 
 cannot testify, and the wife of the defendant, whom the law 
 does not allow to testify." 
 
 The jury retired and were out a long time. On the 
 first ballot eleven voted "Not guilty," one voted 
 "Guilty" and stood so up to the last ballot. Then the 
 juror who was for hanging made a proposition that if 
 they would all agree to five years on the next ballot 
 he would vote with them. If they did not so agree he 
 would hold out for hanging. The other eleven, after 
 consultation, agreed to vote for five years, and a ver- 
 dict was brought in accordingly. A week before this 
 case was tried a man who had been indicted for murder 
 pleaded guilty and received a sentence of fifteen years. 
 When the defendant heard of it he sent for the State's 
 Attorney and told him that he would plead guilty if 
 the State would agree to fifteen years. The State's 
 Attorney refused and said, "I have the gallows ready 
 for you." 
 
 The case was tried before Judge Rogers. I asked 
 one of the jurors how the jury came to reach such a 
 verdict. He told me what had happened in the jury 
 room and added, "If any man would do to my wife 
 what that fellow did to the defendant's wife, I would 
 kill him if I knew I would hang for it. In fact all of us 
 jurors, except one, felt the same way, but we agreed 
 to five years because we were afraid that the next jury 
 would not know what had happened and might hang 
 him." When the motion for a new trial was reached 
 we withdrew the motion, whereupon the judge said, 
 
THE CITIZEN 33 
 
 "I am glad you withdrew the motion, because if you 
 had not withdrawn it I would have granted it. If the 
 defendant had shot the deceased as soon as he heard 
 what happened to his wife, no jury would have found 
 him guilty, but he waited four weeks, he had time to 
 cool off, so he deserves some punishment. I will sent- 
 ence him. I believe, however, that five years is too 
 much and if he behaves while in prison I will ask the 
 Governor to pardon him after he has served one year. 
 The judge did so request after one year and the de- 
 fendant was pardoned. Defendant returned to his 
 family, worked hard, behaved well, and never again 
 got into trouble. He lived happily with his family 
 and made himself useful in the community. 
 
 Soon after this trial another Bohemian was indicted 
 for murdering his wife and I was asked to defend him. 
 In this case the defendant and his wife kept a saloon 
 in the rear of which they lived. One Sunday afternoon 
 they went to a picnic, coming home about ten o'clock 
 P. M. The defendant went into the saloon for a 
 drink, his wife following him and urging him to go to 
 bed. He held a revolver in his hand — a shot was 
 fired, and the wife dropped dead. The police, hearing 
 the shot, rushed in and found the defendant beside the 
 body of his wife, embracing and kissing her and shout- 
 ing at the top of his voice. There was no one present 
 at the shooting. The defendant's children, who were 
 grown, said that their parents had always lived peace- 
 ably together. They retained me to defend him. I 
 hesitated whether to defend on the ground that the 
 shot was accidental or that the defendant was insane. 
 
 I employed two of the leading insanity specialists of 
 Chicago. They stripped the defendant, put him in a 
 
34 REMINISCENCES 
 
 dark cell for examination and, after what appeared to 
 be a thorough examination, declared him incurably 
 insane. The State's Attorney, owing to the defendant's 
 queer actions (he spoke to no one, slept very little, and 
 day and night counted the beads of his rosary), had 
 the County physician examine him, who also declared 
 him insane. The case was defended on the plea of in- 
 sanity. The defendant was found insane and sent to 
 the State asylum in Elgin. In the asylum the defendant 
 stopped counting his beads and threw the rosary away. 
 After he was there about a year the asylum doctor 
 sent word to his son-in-law to come and take him home, 
 that he was not insane but had a cancer in his throat. 
 The son-in-law took him home. About a week after- 
 wards the defendant went out for a walk. He never 
 came back and was never again heard from. That 
 case furnished material for a lengthy controversy 
 between the asylum doctor and the Chicago doctors 
 who declared him insane. Each side wrote many 
 pamphlets on the subject and had them published. 
 
 During the first year after I was admitted to the 
 bar I defended two other murder cases and in each of 
 them was fortunate in having my client found not 
 guilty. 
 
 About two months after I was admitted to the bar 
 a picnic was arranged for Bohemian school children 
 in Chicago in what was then known as Silver Leaf 
 Grove, on Ogden Avenue. There was in the city at 
 that time a Bohemian company of state militia, of 
 which Prokop Hudek was captain. A lieutenant with 
 twenty men of that company marched in full uniform 
 with the children to the picnic grounds. The lieuten- 
 ant sent ten of the men inside of the grove and he and 
 
THE CITIZEN 35 
 
 the other ten remained on guard on the outside, not 
 because trouble was expected, but to attract attention. 
 Instead of drawing visitors to the grounds the soldiers 
 drew a crowd of hoodlums, who jeered and threw stones 
 at the soldiers. The lieutenant called to the crowd to 
 disperse and threatened that if they failed to do so he 
 would order his men to fire. The crowd considered 
 this a great joke and redoubled their jeering and throw- 
 ing of stones. The lieutenant kept his word. He 
 ordered his men to load. They did. "Take aim," 
 he ordered. They did. "Fire." They did. A half 
 dozen of the hoodlums fell wounded. The shooting 
 drew a larger crowd. The lieutenant ordered his men 
 to charge with bayonets. The crowd which stood the 
 bullets could not stand the bayonets. They ran. 
 The ten soldiers who were inside the grove rushed out 
 just as patrol wagons, filled with police, arrived. All 
 of the twenty-one men were arrested and taken to the 
 Madison Street police station, presided over by Police 
 Justice Walsh, who held the twenty-one men without 
 bail. After they were committed to jail their women 
 folk brought them their citizen's clothes and took their 
 uniforms home. The captain, Prokop Hudek, engaged 
 me to defend the men. Some of the leading Bohemians 
 started a subscription list for a defense fund and twelve 
 hundred dollars were raised. After I had worked on 
 the case for about two days the captain called on me 
 and stated that inasmuch as a defense fund had been 
 raised he had decided to employ Harry Rubens to 
 assist me in the defense of the case. Rubens and I 
 were friends, and were admitted to the bar in the same 
 year. Both Rubens and Hudek were socialistic leaders 
 at that time. After consultation it was decided to sue 
 
36 REMINISCENCES 
 
 out a writ of habeas corpus for the twenty-one men 
 before Judge McAllister, who, issued the writ. 
 
 The assistant prosecuting attorney called a number 
 of witnesses at the hearing and proved that ten men, 
 by order of a lieutenant, did the shooting, and that the 
 other ten men forming the company were inside of the 
 grove and took no part in the shooting, nor in the bay- 
 onet charge that followed. Not a single witness for 
 the State was able to identify any one of the eleven 
 men who participated in the shooting. The Judge 
 held that since only eleven of the twenty-one men 
 participated in the shooting, only eleven of them could 
 be held under any circumstances; that ten of the 
 twenty-one men were certainly innocent, and to hold 
 the entire twenty-one would mean that ten innocent 
 men would be deprived of their liberty, which could 
 not be permitted; that since no one of the men had 
 been identified as having participated in the shoot- 
 ing he was bound to discharge them all, which he 
 accordingly did. Fortunately, all of those who were 
 wounded by the shooting recovered, and the case was 
 dropped. 
 
 A very important question was then presented to 
 the young lawyers who had conducted the defense, as 
 to how much they should charge for their services. A 
 fund of twelve hundred dollars had been raised ; Rubens 
 was poor; I certainly was not rich; every Bohemian in 
 Chicago was more or less interested in the case; and 
 we finally concluded that the better policy was to make 
 the moderate charge of two hundred dollars each, 
 which was computed on the basis of ten dollars for each 
 of the men involved, with the lieutenant thrown in for 
 good measure. In due time captain Hudek came to 
 
THE CITIZEN 37 
 
 my office and said that he came to pay me for my ser- 
 vices, and the following conversation took place: 
 
 Hudek — "How much do we owe you?" 
 
 Answer — "Two hundred dollars." 
 
 "WHAT? Two Hundred Dollars! That's too much." 
 
 "Have you paid Rubens?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "How much did he charge you?" 
 
 "Two hundred dollars." 
 
 "Did you object to paying it?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Then why do you object to paying me a like amount? I 
 did most of the work." 
 
 "Rubens is a German. We have no claim on him. You 
 are our countryman. It is your duty to do something for us. 
 How much will you take?" 
 
 "My fee is two hundred dollars. You can either pay me 
 that, or nothing." 
 
 "Thank you ", said Hudek, " I was sure you would not charge 
 us anything. Good-bye." 
 
 The services in that case, so far as I was concerned, 
 were charged to the negative side of my profit and loss 
 account. 
 
 On the New Year's night following the trial of this 
 case, at about eleven thirty, two young Bohemians 
 drove up to my home in a carriage. One of them said 
 that his uncle, who was dying, had requested me to 
 come to his house to draw his will. Drawing a will 
 meant not only the fee for drawing it, but also a fair 
 chance of being retained to handle the estate in the 
 Probate Court. Getting into the carriage with them 
 I rode until we came to the DeKoven Street Turner 
 Hall, which I noticed was lighted up. Here the carriage 
 stopped, the two young men got out and asked me to 
 get out also. " Your uncle is not dying in Turner Hall, 
 is he?" I asked. The answer was, "No, but he lives 
 next door." Getting out of the carriage I was im- 
 
38 REMINISCENCES 
 
 mediately surrounded by a crowd of young men who 
 were standing in front of the Hall, one of whom stepped 
 up to me and said: " Mr. Kraus, we are awaiting you. 
 We are your friends. Let us do whatever we wish. 
 Do not resist us because we mean no harm to you." 
 Two of them thereupon took hold of me, lifted me up 
 on the shoulders of two other men and carried me into 
 Turner Hall, which was filled with people. Near the 
 stage I was put down, the curtain went up, and there 
 in full uniform stood the twenty-one men and the 
 captain. They saluted me, whereupon the captain 
 delivered a speech, praising me as a great lawyer and 
 a loyal Bohemian, that although poor I had refused to 
 take any money from the boys because they were also 
 poor, and that to show their appreciation and esteem 
 the boys had purchased a small present for me. At 
 the conclusion of his speech Captain Hudek handed me 
 a gold headed cane. The next day the Bohemian daily 
 paper made much of the affair, and from that day on 
 for many years afterwards I was retained in nearly 
 every case in which a Chicago Bohemian was interested. 
 Their incident may be said to have been the starting 
 point of a fairly successful career. Three years after 
 my marriage I was able to pay for what was then 
 considered a very good stone residence on Adams 
 Street, near Ashland Boulevard, and to keep a horse 
 and buggy. 
 
 One of my first clients, who remained my client and 
 valued friend for a period of forty-five years and up 
 to the day of his death, was William Kaspar. When 
 1 first became acquainted with Kaspar he was the 
 owner of a grocery store on Canal Street. About the 
 time of my marriage Kaspar gave up the grocery 
 
THE CITIZEN 39 
 
 business and opened an office where he conducted the 
 business of Notary Public, fire insurance agent, and 
 real estate broker. About four weeks before I was 
 admitted to the bar Kaspar told me that he could buy 
 a large tract of land upon a partial payment in cash of 
 five thousand dollars, which he would be able to sell 
 at a large profit. He invited me to go into partnership 
 with him on the deal on an equal basis. The trans- 
 action looked very attractive to me but I did not have 
 the twenty-five hundred dollars, and was on that 
 account unable to go into the transaction with him. 
 My brother-in-law, M. M. Hirsh, had a starch factory 
 at that time on Archer Avenue, and passed this land 
 daily in going to and from his factory in his buggy. 
 The next morning after my conversation with Kaspar 
 I asked Hirsh to take me along, and when we passed 
 the land I pointed it out to him and asked him what 
 he thought of it. He said that he thought it would 
 some day be very valuable. I then asked him if he 
 would loan me twenty-five hundred dollars for the 
 purpose of buying a half interest in the land. He re- 
 plied that he would, but asked me for what length of 
 time I wanted the money. Reflecting upon this I 
 told him that I concluded I could not afford to borrow 
 the money, for if Kaspar should be unable to sell the 
 land and I should not succeed in my practice when 
 admitted to the bar, I might never be able to pay him 
 back, and accordingly ought not to borrow the money. 
 I advised Hirsh to make the purchase himself, but he 
 replied that his business required all his attention and 
 his available money. The land referred to was bounded 
 on the north by Sixteenth Street, on the south by 
 Twenty-Second Street, on the east by Center Avenue, 
 
40 REMINISCENCES 
 
 and on the west by Ashland Avenue. After I had told 
 Kaspar that I was unable to raise the money he in- 
 duced Messrs. Kralovec and Honomichl to go into the 
 deal with him. They purchased the land, subdivided 
 it, and it is still known as the Kralovec and Honomichl 
 Sub-Division. In a very few months they realized 
 enough out of part of it to pay for the entire land, and 
 in a short time it was entirely built up. Mr. Kaspar 
 erected a building out of part of his profits on the corner 
 of Nineteenth Street and Blue Island Avenue, and 
 opened a bank there in partnership with a Mr. Karel, 
 under the name of Kaspar & Karel. The business 
 prospered from the beginning and is now very widely 
 and favorably known as the Kaspar State Bank. 
 
 A wholesale dealer in flour, named Quinn, conducted 
 his business on South Water Street. Whenever a 
 debtor owing him two-hundred dollars or less failed 
 to pay promptly, Quinn would sue out a writ of at- 
 tachment before a Justice of the Peace and levy on 
 everything the debtor had, invariably asking for a 
 jury trial. A Mr. Goldberg kept a grocery store on 
 Blue Island Avenue and dealt with Quinn. Claim- 
 ing that Goldberg owed him two hundred dollars 
 Quinn brought an attachment suit against Goldberg 
 in which he levied upon two thousand dollars worth of 
 merchandise belonging to Goldberg. The writ of at- 
 tachment was issued by Justice Sheridan, who was a 
 little old Irish gentleman who always tried to be fair. 
 I was engaged by Goldberg to defend the suit. As 
 usual Quinn asked for a jury trial and placed the 
 selection of the jury in the hands of constable Murphy. 
 I advised Goldberg not to defend the case in the justice 
 court, but to take an appeal from the judgment of the 
 
THE CITIZEN 41 
 
 justice to the circuit court, thereby saving the expense 
 of a trial in the justice court. Goldberg, however, 
 insisted upon defending the suit in the justice court 
 and, knowing the constable, I appealed to him to 
 summon a decent jury. He replied, "The plaintiff 
 will get just the kind of a jury he is paying for, but 
 since you on a certain occasion were good to me I will 
 not forget you." 
 
 The case was reached for trial. Constable Murphy 
 brought in the jury, and among the panel was one 
 Joseph Deimel, whom I knew very well. He was a young 
 business man, the rest of the panel being the usual 
 justice jury picked from among the loafers and toughs 
 on the street. The jury was accepted by both sides 
 and sworn. Deimel evidently did not like the looks 
 of his fellow jurors, for when he took his overcoat off 
 he turned and handed it to me, saying, "Adolf, please 
 take care of my coat." The plaintiff's lawyer, seeing 
 and hearing this, turned deadly pale. Not the slight- 
 est evidence was introduced by the plaintiff upon which 
 any attachment could have been sustained. But not- 
 withstanding this the jury, after staying out three 
 hours, brought in a verdict for the plaintiff. Deimel 
 coming to me for his coat, said: "It was my fault that 
 you had to wait so long for a verdict. This is the first 
 time I ever served on a jury. Eleven of the jurors 
 voted for the plaintiff. That is the way we stood all 
 the time. Finally one of the jurors said to me: 'What 
 have you against Kraus and his client, Mr. Goldberg?' 
 I said, 'I? Why I am voting for the defendant all the 
 time.' The other juror said: 'You are a greenhorn. 
 Mr. Kraus represents the plaintiff. We are against 
 Quinn and are voting for Goldberg. You say Quinn 
 
42 REMINISCENCES 
 
 is in the wrong and yet you are voting for him. Quinn 
 is the defendant.' The rest of the jurors confirmed his 
 statement and then I apologized and voted for the plain- 
 tiff. I wouldn't vote for that fellow Quinn if I had to 
 stay out all year. He was trying to commit an outrage." 
 
 I did not know whether to laugh or get angry. I 
 appealed the case to the circuit court and when the 
 case was reached for trial on appeal Quinn did not 
 even appear and the case was dismissed. In another 
 suit Goldberg recovered damages against Quinn for 
 wrongfully suing out the attachment in that case. 
 
 One Mrs. Truby kept a music store for about twenty 
 years on the southwest corner of Halsted and Randolph 
 Streets. When her lease expired and she applied to her 
 landlord for a renewal, she found that he had leased 
 the premises to a competitor of Mrs. Truby. Without 
 giving Mrs. Truby an opportunity to contest in court 
 his right to the premises, as she desired to do, the new 
 tenant took forcible possession of the place and moved 
 all of Mrs. Truby's effects, including musical instru- 
 ments, out into the street while it was raining. The 
 effect of moving and the rain upon the musical instru- 
 ments was not beneficial, and Mrs. Truby sued the 
 new tenant for five thousand dollars damages. I 
 represented Mrs. Truby and at the trial proved the 
 forcible eviction and the damage to Mrs. Truby's 
 piano and other property, caused by the rain. 
 
 The defendant was represented by William J. Hynes, 
 then one of the ablest and most eloquent lawyers in the 
 city of Chicago. Mr. Hynes called as witnesses the 
 persons who had dispossessed Mrs. Truby, all of whom 
 testified that it did not rain on the day of the eviction 
 at all. Mr. Hynes called as witnesses, also, two 
 
THE CITIZEN 43 
 
 Catholic priests, who testified that on that particular 
 day they had officiated at the funeral of a brother 
 priest and that at the very time the plaintiff's witnesses 
 claimed it had rained, they were returning from the 
 cemetery in an open carriage, and that no rain fell. 
 On cross-examination they admitted that they were 
 at no time on that day near Randolph and Halsted 
 Streets, their journey being from Calvary Cemetery, 
 through Lincoln Park to their home on the south side. 
 The next witness called by the defense was a govern- 
 ment bureau man, who brought his record with him 
 and testified that according to his record it did not rain 
 on the day in question. On cross-examination he stated 
 that he made his observations at the Auditorium tower, 
 which was a mile away from Randolph and Halsted 
 Streets. Mr. Hynes, as usual, made a very able and elo- 
 quent argument to the jury, which, so far as their action 
 and expression indicated, seemed to be convincing. 
 
 In opening the closing argument for the plaintiff I 
 spoke as follows: 
 
 "We are familiar with the Biblical story of how the daughter 
 of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, found little Moses in the bulrushes 
 and brought him home. In Jewish literature it is stated that 
 soon after this event Pharaoh was troubled with strange dreams, 
 which worried him so that he sent for the wise men in Egypt to 
 explain their significance. The wise men unanimously agreed 
 that the dreams signified that some day the little boy whom the 
 princess brought home would destroy the king, and they advised 
 him to have the boy put to death. Hearing of this, however, 
 the princess interceded for the boy's life and demanded that the 
 wise men furnish proof that they understood the significance of 
 dreams. The wise men thereupon said: 'Get a pan. Fill it 
 with glowing coals. Put the child on the table. On one side 
 of him place the king's crown, which does not glisten, and on the 
 other side place the glowing coals. If the child be an ordinary 
 child it will be attracted by the glowing coals, and will reach for 
 them. If, however, it is as we say, the child will reach for the 
 
44 REMINISCENCES 
 
 king's crown.' The king ordered that the test be made. The 
 child started to reach for the crown, but an angel struck his face 
 so that the child fell with his little hand touching the burning 
 coals. A piece of live coal adhering to his finger he thrust the 
 finger into his mouth and burned his tongue. That story, 
 gentlemen of the jury, was probably written to explain why 
 Moses, when, as the Bible tells us, the Lord commanded Moses 
 to go to Pharaoh and demand the freedom of the Jews, answered, 
 'Lord, I cannot speak. My tongue is heavy,' whereupon the 
 Lord said: 'Take your brother Aaron with you and let him 
 speak.' Gentlemen of the jury, you have listened to my dis- 
 tinguished friend, William Hynes, probably the most eloquent 
 member of the Chicago Bar. How can I secure your attention? 
 My tongue, although not burned, is heavy. It is too late for 
 me to retain a brother Aaron of the Bar to speak for my client. 
 I, myself, must finish the argument." 
 
 I then called attention to the fact that the forcible 
 eviction of Mrs. Trilby had not been denied, and that 
 the only disputed question was whether or not the rain 
 had injured the musical instruments. Calling atten- 
 tion to the fact that the eviction took place during the 
 summer season I admitted that undoubtedly the 
 priests and government bureau man spoke the truth 
 when they said that it did not rain where they were, 
 but that they were from one to three or four miles 
 away from the corner of Halsted and Randolph Streets, 
 and that every merchant in the neighborhood of that 
 corner testified for the plaintiff that it did rain; that 
 it was a well known fact that in the summer season it 
 sometimes rains on one side of the street and not on 
 the other side. After the argument the jury retired 
 and brought in a verdict for the plaintiff for five 
 thousand dollars, the sum sued for, and in due course 
 the defendant paid that amount. Years afterwards 
 Judge Clifford, who presided in that case, told me that 
 he had a clearer recollection of the argument made in 
 that case than any other case tried in his court. 
 
THE CITIZEN 45 
 
 A certain young lady was engaged to be married, 
 the wedding day was set, the wedding feast was spread, 
 the minister, the guests, and the bride with the wed- 
 ding veil on, awaited the coming of the groom, but — 
 alas! — he did not come. The inconstant groom was 
 the owner of a small grocery store near Milwaukee 
 Avenue, to which place a messenger was sent to find 
 him and bring him forth. The messenger found the 
 object of his search in the store waiting on customers, 
 and asked him why he was not at the place appointed 
 for the wedding, to which he answered that he had 
 changed his mind. The following day the young lady 
 in question came to my office seeking revenge. I 
 suggested that she bring suit against her changeful 
 lover for damages. She asked me how long it would 
 take before the case would be reached, to which I re- 
 plied that owing to the congested condition of the court 
 calendar it would take at least one year, and probably 
 more. She was not satisfied with this. She said that 
 his grocery store was worth a few hundred dollars, and 
 that if by some speedy action it could be taken away 
 from him that was all she desired. I told her that a 
 Justice of the Peace had jurisdiction in any assumpsit 
 suit up to two hundred dollars, and that if she would 
 be satisfied with a judgment for two hundred dollars 
 she could probably have that within five days. She 
 instructed me to bring suit in the justice court at once, 
 which I did, and she obtained a judgment for two 
 hundred dollars. She swore out an immediate execu- 
 tion, a levy was made on the grocery store, which was 
 sold for enough to pay the judgment and costs. When 
 the money was tendered to the young lady she said: 
 "I wouldn't touch that fellow's money if it were a 
 
46 REMINISCENCES 
 
 million. All I wanted was revenge. Let the lawyer 
 keep the money." That was probably the only breach 
 of promise suit that was ever tried before a Justice of 
 the Peace in Illinois. 
 
 In the summer of 1880, a suit was brought before a 
 Justice of the Peace against David Mayer for two hun- 
 dred dollars damages. Mayer and the plaintiff were 
 dickering over the purchase by Mayer of the plain- 
 tiff's horse, and in connection with the transaction 
 Mayer was permitted to have the horse for one day 
 on trial. He drove it for some distance beyond the 
 city limits, and in the evening stopped at a tavern for 
 dinner. The horse had been driven fast enough to 
 become quite warm and in this condition was hitched 
 without a blanket while Mayer ate his dinner. As a 
 consequence, when the horse was returned to the 
 owner it was in a stiffened condition, and the suit was 
 for damage to the horse. 
 
 I was retained to represent the plaintiff, and when 
 the case came up for trial David Mayer appeared in 
 court with his younger brother, Levy Mayer, and Zach 
 Hoffheimer, as his attorneys. Levy Mayer was then 
 a clerk in the Law Institute. The court rendered judg- 
 ment in favor of the plaintiff for $200.00 and Mayer 
 took an appeal. 
 
 In the trial of that case young Levy impressed me so 
 favorably that shortly afterwards I took him into 
 partnership with me. 
 
 In 1874, Charles Stein, who many years afterwards 
 became a member of Stein Brothers, was a clerk in the 
 Railroad Postal Service, having secured his job through 
 Congressman Ward, in whose district Stein lived. 
 Ward was Republican candidate for re-election and 
 
THE CITIZEN 47 
 
 Stein told me that if Ward should be defeated he would 
 lose his job, and appealed to me to help Ward. I 
 agreed to do this and Stein brought me to the Con- 
 gressman and introduced me to him. The majority 
 of Bohemian voters in Chicago lived in Ward's district. 
 Ward told me that if I would get some of my country- 
 men out to vote on election day, he would furnish me 
 with a horse and buggy for the purpose of bringing 
 them to the voting places. 
 
 Early on the morning of election day, accompanied 
 by Charles Stein, I appeared at Ward's headquarters 
 and asked for the horse and buggy. Ward said, "If 
 you want to ride, pay for it," and gave me no further 
 attention. I said to Stein, "Do not trust that fellow. 
 He lied to us. I will now at my own expense do what 
 I can to defeat him." In those days, owing to the 
 system of conducting elections at that time it was 
 possible to do very effective work at the polls, and there 
 I worked throughout the entire day inducing my 
 friends who intended to vote the straight Republican 
 ticket to vote for the Democratic candidate for Con- 
 gress. When the votes were counted it was found that 
 the Democratic candidate was elected by a majority 
 of six votes. The Democratic candidate in that con- 
 test was Carter Henry Harrison. Years afterwards 
 Harrison told me he voted for Ward, but when he 
 found how nearly he came to defeating himself in so 
 doing he decided that thereafter whenever he was a 
 candidate he would vote for the best man, as a duty 
 owing to himself and to the public. 
 
 Shortly after Mr. Harrison took his seat in Congress 
 he was invited to a banquet in Philadelphia. At that 
 banquet a congressman from Iowa who was scheduled 
 
48 REMINISCENCES 
 
 to answer to the toast "Our Agriculture," failed to 
 appear. Without any warning the toastmaster called 
 on Mr. Harrison to answer the toast. Mr. Harrison 
 afterwards said that when he arose to speak he was 
 very nervous and did not know what to say. He 
 began his speech as follows: "I represent a District 
 in Congress which is three miles long and one mile 
 wide, but it raises more wheat than any congressional 
 district in America. It raises it by means of elevators." 
 Great applause followed and Mr. Harrison, thus en- 
 couraged, delivered a very good address. 
 
 The Chicago Times was then owned and edited by 
 Wilbur F. Storey. It was the pioneer in sensational 
 headlines, in which respect it easily held first place 
 among the newspapers of the country. To illustrate: — 
 In reporting the hanging of one who had been convicted 
 of murder the headline read, "Jerked to Jesus!" The 
 article referring to Mr. Harrison's speech in Philadelphia 
 was headlined as follows: "Carter H. Harrison Makes a 
 Hit in Philadelphia. Who in Hell is Carter H? Why it is 
 Our Carter." From that time during the remainder of Mr. 
 Harrison's life he was known in Chicago as* 'Our Carter." 
 
 One day during the fall campaign of 1880, Mr. 
 Hoffman of the law firm of Brandt & Hoffman called 
 at my office and told me that Mr. Wentworth who had 
 been nominated for the legislature had refused to 
 accept the nomination, that the campaign committee 
 had decided to place me on the ticket for that office in 
 place of Wentworth, and that Hoffman had been in- 
 structed to call and tender me the nomination. I de- 
 clined the honor and Hoffman so reported to the com- 
 mittee, but returned in about a half hour with the 
 message that the campaign committee would like to 
 
THE CITIZEN 49 
 
 have me come at once to their headquarters. I went 
 with Hoffman and upon arriving at the headquarters 
 was introduced immediately to the chairman, Mr. 
 Harrison, which was the first time we had met. Har- 
 rison in glowing colors pictured the future possibilities 
 for a member of the legislature who had brains and 
 made a good record, and urged me to accept the nomi- 
 nation. I replied that I appreciated the honor 
 tendered me, but for the present, at least, I had no 
 political ambition ; that my ambition was to be success- 
 ful as a lawyer; that I had so far secured a sufficient 
 practice to enable me to support my family, which the 
 salary a member of the legislature then received was 
 not sufficient to do after paying out of it the expenses 
 of living in Springfield during the sessions of the legisla- 
 ture; that if elected I would either have to neglect my 
 practice, which I could not afford to do, or my duty as 
 a member of the legislature, which I would not do; and 
 that accordingly it was out of the question for me to 
 accept the candidacy even if certain of election; that I 
 suspected that the honor was tendered in the expecta- 
 tion of thereby securing for the national ticket the 
 votes of those citizens whose cradles stood in Bohemia; 
 that very few, if any, Bohemians lived in my district, 
 and if I should accept the nomination I should naturally 
 expend all my efforts upon my own district, in order 
 not to be defeated, whereas if someone else should be 
 selected I should be free to work for the national 
 ticket in the Bohemian district, where my labors might 
 be more effective. Mr. Harrison thanked me and said 
 that he approved of my position. 
 
 Mr. Harrison was first elected Mayor of Chicago in 
 the spring of 1879. Late one evening in June of 1881, 
 
50 REMINISCENCES 
 
 a newspaper reporter called me up on the ' phone and 
 informed me that the mayor had appointed me a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Education and that the Council 
 had confirmed the appointment. The appointment 
 was for a term of three years, no salary being attached 
 to membership on the Board, which then consisted of 
 fifteen members. The Mayor often said that my 
 appointment was the most convenient he had ever 
 made, because he thereby gave representation to the 
 Bohemians, Germans, and Jews. Mayor Harrison 
 never allowed politics to influence him in the selection 
 of school board members, and in those years the Board 
 of Education enjoyed the confidence of the people. 
 The majority of the Board members were men who 
 helped to make Chicago's history, such as Fred W. 
 Peck, E. G. Keith, General Stiles, John M. Clark, 
 Graeme Stewart, Rudoph Brand, James R. Doolittle, Jr., 
 Thomas Breman, and other well known citizens. The 
 Board met every Wednesday evening, the principal 
 work, however, being done at committee meetings. 
 
 Most of the meetings were very interesting and 
 harmonious. The first year I served as Chairman of 
 the Committee on Text Books. During this time the 
 Board decided to change certain school books and ad- 
 vertised for bids. One day an agent representing a 
 certain publishing house came to my office and told 
 me that the firm he represented had decided to engage 
 a lawyer in Chicago by the year ; that they were willing 
 to pay an annual retainer fee of three thousand dollars, 
 with the customary additional fees in case of litigation ; 
 that he had recommended my firm and was authorized 
 to retain us and to give us a check for the first year's 
 retainer. I told him I would consider the matter and 
 
THE CITIZEN 51 
 
 let him know the following day. After discussing the 
 proposition with my partner we concluded that three 
 thousand dollars a year with the possibility of addition- 
 al fees did not grow on every bush, and that we should 
 accept the offer. The next day when the agent called 
 I advised him of our acceptance of his offer and he 
 thereupon offered me a check for three thousand 
 dollars. I told him I could not accept the check until 
 the following Tuesday, at which time I would be glad 
 to receive it, and upon his asking the reason, I said: 
 "I am a member of the Board of Education. The 
 City Council meets on Monday. I shall send my 
 resignation to the Mayor today so that he can appoint 
 my successor on Monday. On next Tuesday, there- 
 fore, I will be out of office and will then be at liberty to 
 accept your retainer." "But," he said, "you must 
 not resign. We want you on the Board." "Oh!" 
 said I. "You do not want to retain me as a lawyer; 
 you want to hire me as a member of the Board of 
 Education. Please oblige me by getting out of my 
 office." He left, but returned next day and said, 
 "Excuse me for coming again, but please give me a 
 chance to apologize. I am one of the deacons of my 
 church. When I went home last evening, before 
 going to bed I got down on my knees and prayed to 
 the Lord to forgive me for the sin I committed. I felt 
 very much humbled to have been taught a lesson in 
 Christianity, 'Lead us not into temptation,' by one 
 who is not a Christian." "Please spare yourself all 
 further trouble," I said, "I never had any intention of 
 voting for your book, and never will vote for it." At 
 the next meeting of the Committee on Text Books I re- 
 lated my experience with the agent and named the 
 
52 REMINISCENCES 
 
 company he represented. The books of that company 
 were not adopted by the Board of Education. 
 
 In the spring of 1884, William Kaspar was the 
 Republican nominee for alderman against Frank Law- 
 lor, then one of the Democratic leaders of the city. 
 Kaspar had always been a loyal friend to me and I did 
 what I could to help his candidacy. The ward was 
 strongly Democratic, however, and Lawlor was elected. 
 
 In June of that year my term of office as member of 
 the Board of Education expired and the Mayor re- 
 appointed me. Instead of being promptly confirmed, 
 as before, on motion of Lawlor, my name was sent to 
 a committee. Lawlor was determined to prevent my 
 confirmation. I met Lawlor one day and asked him 
 whether he intended to persist in his attempt to pre- 
 vent my confirmation. Lawlor said, "Yes. You 
 came into my ward and tried to defeat me. It was 
 your turn then. It is my turn now. You should have 
 borne in mind that it is a long lane that has no turn." 
 I replied, "You won in spite of my opposition. I will 
 win in spite of yours, and perhaps some day you will 
 discover that some lanes have more than one turn." 
 
 I was then one of Mr. Harrison's political advisers. 
 I informed the Mayor of Lawlor's attitude and the 
 reason for it, and said: "I do not care for the office, 
 but I do not wish to be defeated. Lawlor is making 
 it a personal matter and may succeed. If you want 
 me confirmed you can do it by sending for every 
 alderman, one at a time, and telling each of them that if 
 he votes against the selection you made you will dis- 
 charge every city employee appointed at his request." 
 The Mayor did so. At the next meeting of the Council 
 the appointment was confirmed with only two votes 
 
THE CITIZEN 53 
 
 against me — those of Lawlor and an aldermanic friend 
 of his from the fifth ward. 
 
 I was elected President of the Board of Education 
 for the year 1884-1885. The following year I was again 
 nominated for President, but declined, and Mr. James 
 R. Doolittle, Jr., the son of ex-Senator Doolittle, was 
 nominated and elected. When the time for the election 
 for 1886-1887 was at hand, Mr. Doolittle said he would 
 not be candidate for re-election and urged me to take 
 the office again. Graeme Stewart, a member of the 
 Board, who afterwards became Republican candidate 
 for Mayor, also urged me to accept and announced me 
 as a candidate for the office. A few days after this Mr. 
 Doolittle changed his mind and also became a can- 
 didate. I was elected by a majority of one vote. 
 
 The schools owned considerable property which was 
 leased to tenants on the basis of six per cent upon the 
 valuation, with a provision for revaluation every five 
 years. The revaluation which took place while I was 
 on the Board resulted in an increase over the previous 
 valuation of more than one hundred per cent, which 
 was not in any case in excess of the actual value. A 
 vigorous protest was made by some of the tenants, 
 while others accepted the new valuation. The tenants 
 who had foresight enough to accept the new valuation 
 upon condition that revaluation should thereafter be 
 waived, secured thereby some very valuable property 
 rights. Among the tenants who felt that a wrong was 
 done them in the revaluation was Mr. Joseph Medill, 
 then owner of the Chicago Tribune and lessee of the 
 southeast corner of Dearborn and Madison Streets. 
 Objecting tenants appealed to the courts for relief. 
 Those who contested now have to pay upon a valuatio n 
 
54 REMINISCENCES 
 
 many times greater than the valuation they protested, 
 while the Daily News, heirs of John M. Smyth, and 
 others who accepted the appraisals made in 1885, 
 have for many years paid what turned out to be a very 
 low rental. 
 
 The Board of Education advertised for sealed bids 
 for a fifty year lease, with provision for revaluation 
 every five years, of the property on which the Harrison 
 Street Railroad Depot was afterwards built. At that 
 time a Mr. Miller occupied the property with a lumber 
 yard. One day a certain manufacturer whom I knew 
 fairly well, came to my office and said that he repre- 
 sented Mr. who had put in a sealed bid for the 
 
 fifty year lease, and that if I, being chairman of the 
 
 committee, would so arrange it that Mr. would 
 
 secure the lease, he, the manufacturer, would give me 
 five thousand dollars. I told him that but for the fact 
 that I was under some obligation to his family for kind 
 treatment in years gone by, I would kick him out of 
 my office, and said : " I do not know what your friend's 
 bid is and will not know until all the bids are opened 
 in the presence of all the members of the committee. 
 You want to give me five thousand dollars! Tell your 
 friend to put in a new bid and increase his offer 
 by a thousand dollars a year. That may make him 
 the highest bidder, and, if so, he will secure the lease 
 honestly. " He answered, "No, because when the five 
 years are up we would have to pay at least as much as 
 during the first five year term, and probably more." 
 When the bids were opened another party was the high- 
 est bidder, and the lease was awarded to him. The 
 
 difference between the highest bid and that of Mr. 
 
 was considerably less than a thousand dollars. In less 
 
THE CITIZEN 55 
 
 than two years the railroad company, desiring the land 
 for a depot, purchased the lease from the tenant and 
 rumor had it that the tenant received for his lease the 
 tidy sum of six hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 During the years that I was a member of the Board 
 of Education a Mr. Zimmerman was Superintendent 
 of German instruction in the public schools. He also 
 was editor of a weekly German newspaper. One day 
 he published a savage anti-Semitic editorial. When 
 he was asked why he did so he answered, " Those are 
 not my sentiments, but the readers of my paper like 
 such stuff, wherefore I published it." At one of the 
 committee meetings at which all the members of the 
 Board were present, that editorial was discussed. One 
 of the members suggested that Zimmerman was not a 
 fit man to be connected with the Chicago schools and 
 should be dropped at the end of the term. That met 
 with approval of all the members, and I was appointed 
 a committee of one to select his successor. Hearing of 
 this Mr. Zimmerman called on me one day and asked 
 me whether it was true that I was looking for his 
 successor. I answered that it was. Zimmerman then 
 begged to be allowed two weeks' time to appeal to the 
 members of the Board to retain him in his office. I 
 said, "The editorial you wrote was not one to be ex- 
 pected from a superintendent of schools in an American 
 city, and the reason you gave for publishing it made it 
 worse. If I do not give you time it might be said that 
 I am trying to take revenge. I will give you a week's 
 time. If you cannot convince the members of your 
 fitness within a week, you will not be able to convince 
 them in a year." Zimmerman found an advocate in 
 Mrs. Bauer, a charming German lady, who called on 
 
56 REMINISCENCES 
 
 the members of the Board in his behalf. She stated 
 that he admitted the impropriety of his act, was very 
 sorry and would never again give cause for complaint; 
 that he had surrendered the editorship and his interest 
 in the paper. The next time the members of the Board 
 met I was asked whether I would consent to give 
 Zimmerman another chance, to which I responded 
 promptly that I would. Zimmerman remained Super- 
 intendent of German until the time of his death, and 
 never again gave the slightest cause for complaint. 
 
 The northwest corner of Harrison and Clark Streets, 
 with a large frontage on Clark Street, was school prop- 
 erty. James Goggin held a fifty year lease on the 
 property and was always in arrears for rent. At one 
 time he was fully a year in arrears, and although re- 
 peatedly requested to pay failed to do so. As President 
 of the Board of Education I instructed the attorney 
 of the Board to serve Goggin a five day notice to pay 
 rent or vacate the premises. As soon as notice was 
 served Goggin paid the rent, but from that time on, 
 whenever Goggin met me he failed to see me. 
 
 Some years afterwards, however, Goggin was nomi- 
 nated by the Democratic party for Judge of the Superior 
 Court. The Evening Post interviewed several lawyers 
 as to Goggin's qualification for that position. Among 
 them I was the only one interviewed who spoke well of 
 him. The next day after the interview was published 
 Goggin called on me and said, "Kraus, I thought you 
 were my enemy. I now find that you are my friend." 
 "What made you think I was your enemy?" I asked. 
 "You tried to have my lease terminated," he said, 
 "and that lease represents all I am worth." "What 
 did you expect?" I asked. "You were collecting rent 
 
THE CITIZEN 57 
 
 from your tenants and failed to pay rent to the Board. 
 I knew you would pay if served with notice. I was 
 only discharging my duty to the public, as I was bound 
 to do. You have a good lease. Why did you not pay 
 your rent when it was due?" "I am surprised that 
 you ask me such a foolish question, " he replied. 
 "Don't you know that it is against an Irishman's 
 nature to pay rent?" 
 
 Carter H. Harrison was re-elected Mayor of the 
 city in 1881-83-85. He was again nominated in 1887, 
 but refused to accept. The race was then between the 
 Republican candidate, Mr. Roche, and a Socialist 
 candidate, the Democratic party having no candidate 
 in that election Mr. Roche was elected. 
 
 In the spring of 1889, Mr. John A. King, President 
 of the Fort Dearborn Bank, was a candidate for the 
 Democratic nomination, and I was selected to present 
 his name at the convention. The chairman of one of 
 the ward delegations offered to deliver the vote of that 
 entire ward to Mr. King in consideration of fifteen 
 hundred dollars, a proposition which Mr. King of course 
 refused to consider. 
 
 About that time burglaries and holdups were very 
 numerous in Chicago. In concluding the speech before 
 the convention in which I placed Mr. King in nomina- 
 tion, I said, "If the gentleman whose name I am about 
 to submit is nominated he will certainly be elected, and 
 if elected he will drive every burglar and holdup man 
 out of the city." The Chairman of the ward who 
 offered to deliver his ward for fifteen hundred dollars 
 cast the entire vote of that ward for Mr. Cregier, and 
 although Cregier did not buy that delegation its vote 
 was sufficient, nevertheless, to give Cregier the majority. 
 
58 REMINISCENCES 
 
 A. S. Trude and myself officed in the same building. 
 Trude favored King's nomination, and on the way to 
 our offices from the convention Trude said to me, 
 ''You defeated King. You said that if King should be 
 elected he would drive every holdup man out of town. 
 I was surprised to hear you make such a statement. 
 It showed bad judgment on your part. Your state- 
 ment frightened most of the delegates away from King, 
 for none of them wanted to be driven out of the city." 
 
 I was one of the campaign managers for Cregier in 
 the campaign that followed. Shortly after his nomi- 
 nation Cregier called on Harrison and asked for his 
 support, which Harrison refused. Cregier thereupon 
 went to the meeting of the Executive Committee and 
 tendered his resignation, saying that he could not be 
 elected with Harrison opposing him. At the request 
 of the Committee I called on Harrison and asked him, 
 on behalf of the Democratic Committee, to support 
 Cregier. Harrison promised to attend one of the 
 Democratic meetings and to speak in favor of Cregier. 
 When I reported this to the committee Cregier was 
 delighted. After he was elected he manifested his 
 appreciation by rejecting every person that I recom- 
 mended for appointment to office. This action of 
 Cregier was doubtless based upon the fear that persons 
 appointed upon my recommendation would at the next 
 election be for Harrison instead of Cregier, and he 
 was desirous of building up his own organization. I 
 considered his action a challenge to Harrison and 
 promptly accepted it as such. Within sixty days after 
 Cregier was elected Mayor I organized a club with 
 several thousand members, which was known as the 
 "Carter H. Harrison for Mayor in 1891 Club." The 
 
THE CITIZEN 59 
 
 club grew in strength and soon had a complete organi- 
 zation in every ward in the city. 
 
 Party primaries in those days were held under a 
 system which was controlled by party leaders and not 
 by state law. It was not unusual in some of the city 
 wards for election judges at a so-called primary to 
 sign a certificate of election even before the first vote 
 was cast. 
 
 In the spring of 1891, Cregier and Harrison were 
 both mayoralty candidates for the Democratic party 
 nomination. Cregier controlled the political machine; 
 Harrison had the votes; but Cregier had most of the 
 election judges. 
 
 In one of the precincts of the eleventh ward, the 
 ward in which Harrison lived, the judges sat behind 
 closed doors, with challengers and watchers on the out- 
 side. A small hole was cut in the door about six feet 
 above the floor, through which the voter was required 
 to reach up and deposit his ballot. What was done 
 with the ballot on the inside nobody on the outside 
 could tell, but in this precinct the Cregier delegates 
 were certified to by an overwhelming majority. Simi- 
 lar methods were adopted in a few other precincts. 
 
 In the precinct on West Madison Street, in the 
 block east of Ogden Avenue, the votes were cast in 
 the ratio of approximately two votes for Harrison to 
 one for Cregier. Notwithstanding this, two of the 
 judges signed a certificate showing the election of the 
 Cregier delegates, and handed it to the third judge for 
 signature. Now it turned out that the ward boss had 
 made a mistake in the selection of the third judge, who 
 was an ex-prize-fighter and favored Harrison. He 
 said to the other two, "I will not sign this, but you 
 
60 REMINISCENCES 
 
 either sign a correct return or fight, and I am ready to 
 whip both of you." They reluctantly signed a correct 
 return and I was one of the delegates elected from 
 that precinct. 
 
 On the day following the primary the convention 
 was held in the north side Turner Hall. The majority 
 of the delegates held Cregier credentials. The Harri- 
 son Committee contested the delegation from several 
 wards, knowing, however, that they would not receive 
 a hearing. The chairman of the convention appointed 
 a committee on credentials composed exclusively of 
 Cregier delegates. The committee reported against 
 every contest, but before the report was put to a vote 
 of the convention, as leader of the Harrison delegation 
 I arose and said: — "Mr. Chairman — before a vote is 
 taken on this report I ask the Harrison delegates to 
 retire with me for consultation." All the Harrison 
 delegates rose, left Turner Hall and marched to Uhlich 
 Hall, which had been rented for that purpose. A 
 brass band, which had also been previously engaged, 
 escorted the delegates to Uhlich Hall. There the 
 organized Democratic Convention seated the contest- 
 ants and a full city ticket was nominated with Harrison 
 as the candidate for Mayor. The other convention 
 likewise put up a Democratic ticket with Cregier as 
 the candidate for Mayor. The Republican Conven- 
 tion nominated Hempstead Washburne, whereupon 
 some of the dissatisfied Republicans held another con- 
 vention and nominated a ticket with Elmer Wash- 
 burne as Mayor. 
 
 On election day Carter Harrison received more 
 votes than any other candidate within the old city 
 limits. However, when the votes from Lakeview came 
 
THE CITIZEN 61 
 
 in Hempstead Washburne was slightly in the lead. 
 As the town of Lake was democratic it appeared that 
 Harrison would surely be elected, since he always 
 carried the town of Lake by a large majority, but until 
 after midnight not a single return came in from the 
 town of Lake. It was learned afterwards that the 
 returns from the town of Lake were held back in order 
 to ascertain how many votes Cregier might need to be 
 elected. It seems that the person in the City Hall 
 whose business it was to tabulate the returns and de- 
 termine the number of votes needed by Cregier made 
 a mistake of two thousand in his addition, the result 
 being that more votes were actually needed for Cregier 
 than he reported as necessary. The returns, when 
 they were finally received, showed a remarkable in- 
 crease in the normal vote of that territory. Precincts 
 which never before polled more than three hundred 
 votes came in with more than five hundred votes, 
 nearly all of which were for Cregier, the few remain- 
 ing votes scattered among the three other candidates 
 being the only thing to indicate that the sentiment 
 for Cregier was not quite unanimous. Notwithstand- 
 ing the valiant efforts on behalf of Cregier the final 
 result showed that Hempstead Washburne had a plur- 
 ality of a few hundred votes and he was declared 
 elected. 
 
 Carter Harrison was a wonderful campaigner. He 
 never forgot a face nor a name. Large crowds attend- 
 ed wherever he was advertised to speak. I accompa- 
 nied him to many of his meetings. One evenrng he 
 was advertised to speak in the Bohemian Turner Hall 
 on Taylor Street, then in the Aurora Turner Hall on 
 Milwaukee Avenue, and finally in the negro district 
 
62 REMINISCENCES 
 
 on the South Side. We drove first to the Taylor street 
 Turner Hall. On the way he asked me to teach him 
 a few words in Bohemian which he could use in con- 
 cluding his speech. I taught him to say, "Pfeju Vam 
 Trikrate Na Zdar." (I wish you three times "Na 
 Zdar.") The words "Na Zdar" are used by the Bohem- 
 ians when they greet each other, when they say "good 
 bye," when they drink to each other's health, etc. 
 
 In the Bohemian Turner Hall, Harrison spoke prin- 
 cipally about his experiences in Bohemia. He said he 
 had traveled in Bohemia from one end to the other, on 
 foot with a knapsack on his back and a cane in his 
 hand. He spoke of the beautiful valleys, mountains, 
 streams, cities, mentioning the different cities which he 
 visited, and describing what he saw there. In speaking 
 of each city or part of the country he would ask, "By 
 the way, is there any one here from that city?" and a 
 number would answer "Yes." Continuing, he would 
 say: "While in that city I was the guest of Mr. So and 
 So, " naming some distinguished citizen of that city and 
 telling of his family, etc. As he went on mentioning the 
 different cities, giving names of people he met there, the 
 people in the audience who came from that particular 
 city would rise and cheer. He concluded by saying, 
 "While the scenes in that beautiful land impressed me 
 greatly, nothing delighted me more than the beautiful 
 women of Bohemia. If I had not been a married man 
 I would never have left Bohemia without bringing 
 home one of those beautiful Bohemian girls as my 
 bride. I must go now to another meeting, so in con- 
 clusion 'Pfeju Vam Trikrate Na Zdar'." When he 
 said that, all present rose and cheered and many 
 followed him out into the street shouting "Na Zdar." 
 
THE CITIZEN 63 
 
 From there we went to Aurora Turner Hall, where he 
 addressed a meeting of Scandinavians. There he de- 
 livered an address on city affairs and concluded as 
 follows: "I traveled several weeks in Scandinavia,' ' 
 mentioning the various places he visited. " I was very- 
 much interested in that country, and particularly because 
 of the claim that originally the Harrisons were all 
 Scandinavians. You know it is claimed that originally 
 the name was "Arrison;" that some generations back 
 one of the Arrisons was foolish enough to emigrate to 
 England. The Englishmen in pronouncing the name 
 Arrison put an h on it, and that is how my family 
 came by the name, Harrison. I expect of you, my 
 Scandinavian friends, that you will not forget my 
 ancestry and that you will vote for me on election day. 
 Will you do it? " They shouted, "We will, " and they did. 
 
 From the Scandinavian meeting we drove to the 
 South Side meeting in the negro district, and although 
 the hour was late the hall was crowded. In concluding 
 his speech at this meeting he said: — "I was born in 
 Kentucky. A good old mammy raised me, and if you 
 will look at my hair (pointing to the back of his neck) 
 you will see that it is just the least bit kinky. I need 
 say no more on that subject, but I expect every one of 
 you to vote for me." And in this expectation he was 
 not disappointed. 
 
 In the 1893 primary there were three Democratic 
 candidates for the nomination, Carter Harrison, W. C. 
 Cregier, and Washington Hessing. A majority of the 
 delegates elected were for Harrison. The convention 
 was held in the Central Music Hall. Cregier and Hess- 
 ing contested some of the wards and the committee on 
 contests was out several hours. While waiting for the 
 
64 REMINISCENCES 
 
 committee's report, as leader of the Harrison delega- 
 tion I was informed that an attempt would be made to 
 buy a certain ward delegation whose chairman did not 
 have the best of reputations. Thinking I might be 
 able to frighten him and thus prevent his selling out, 
 I said to him, ''There is a report here that the chairman 
 of one of the delegations has been offered considerable 
 money if he votes his delegation against our candidate. 
 Preparations are being made to tar and feather him if 
 he sells out." The chairman in question grabbed hold 
 of me and said, "For God's sake, tell me quick who has 
 the money." That chairman, through the purifying 
 effect of a subsequent election to Congress, became an 
 honorable gentleman — at least by reputation. 
 
 While the convention proceedings were in progress 
 Harrison was sitting back of the stage, where I reported 
 to him from time to time. After several hours of wait- 
 ing he said that he was very tired and that he would 
 go into the office of a friend in the adjoining building 
 to rest. I asked him not to do that, that no one could 
 tell what might happen or at what moment he might 
 be needed there. I had hardly spoken when Cregier 
 and Hessing came on the stage, arm in arm, and were 
 received with tremendous applause from their dele- 
 gates, who kept it up, hoping thereby to stampede the 
 convention for one or the other of them. I asked 
 Harrison to go on the stage at once and remain there 
 as long as the other candidates did. As soon as he 
 was observed his delegates set up a mighty cheer, and 
 the cheering for all three candidates became so riotous 
 and was so prolonged that finally, in order to stop it, 
 all three candidates were obliged to retire. Soon after- 
 w ards the committee on contests came in and reported 
 
THE CITIZEN 65 
 
 the contested delegation in Harrison's favor, and upon 
 the ensuing roll call of delegates he was nominated. 
 
 In his campaign for election the English language 
 press, with one exception, did not support him. The 
 exception was the Chicago Times, which was owned 
 by two stockholders — Harrison, who held 95 per cent 
 of the stock, and myself, the remainder. Nearly every 
 foreign language newspaper in Chicago supported him 
 and he was elected by a large majority. The term of 
 office which he entered upon in the spring of 1893 was 
 his last. When he made up his cabinet he tendered 
 me the office of Corporation Counsel. The annual 
 salary paid the Corporation Counsel at that time was 
 very little more than my average monthly income from 
 my law practice. The Mayor, who had been a widower 
 for some years, was engaged to be married to a charming 
 lady, and the World's Fair in Chicago was about to be 
 opened. He accordingly asked me to accept the 
 position until after his marriage and the Fair was over 
 and then resign if I felt like it, as he wanted me to look 
 after the city's affairs during his temporary absence in 
 connection with these matters. I consulted with my 
 partners, who agreed that I might take a vacation until 
 the first of January following, retaining my interest in 
 the firm with the understanding that during my term 
 of office the firm should not accept any claim or case 
 against the city. Upon taking charge of the Corpora- 
 tion Counsel's office I selected as assistants Sigmund 
 Zeisler for chancery cases, Clarence Darrow as trial 
 lawyer in jury cases, and John Mayo Palmer for the 
 drafting of ordinances. Before I had named them the 
 Mayor said to me, "I would like to have you appoint 
 Mr. as First Assistant. In my young days I 
 
66 REMINISCENCES 
 
 admired his mother, and I am told that he is a good 
 lawyer." I replied, "Mr. Harrison, I am going to be 
 held responsible for the conduct of this office. The 
 man you recommend may be a better man than I have 
 selected, but I do not know him. I would very much 
 like to have as my assistants men in whom I have full 
 confidence. I have selected Messrs. Zeisler, Darrow 
 and Palmer." Mr. Harrison said, "That is a strange 
 selection. Zeisler and Darrow opposed my candidacy 
 for Mayor." "If you object to them," I said, "I will 
 select others and will keep on doing so until you are 
 satisfied." "Don't do that," he replied. "Appoint 
 the men you have selected. That will be one way of 
 making friends out of enemies." The men I had 
 selected were appointed. 
 
 Upon the opening day of the World's Fair in 1893, 
 and in connection with that important event, Grover 
 Cleveland, President of the United States, came to 
 Chicago on a special train. Arrangement was made for 
 the Mayor to meet the President's train at the state 
 line to welcome him and accompany him to the Fair 
 grounds, and a special train consisting of an engine and 
 a passenger car was secured for the purpose of convey- 
 ing the Mayor to the state line. The only passengers 
 on that train were the Mayor and the Corporation 
 Counsel. At the state line we met the President's 
 train and entered the President's car. The President 
 and Mr. Harrison shook hands, Mr. Harrison introduced 
 his Corporation Counsel and then asked for Mrs. 
 Cleveland. The President replied that she was in the 
 drawing room in the rear end of the car. Mr. Harrison 
 then went to talk with her, leaving me with the Presi- 
 dent. It was almost an hour before the train reached 
 
THE CITIZEN 67 
 
 the station and during all of this time the President and 
 I were alone in the front end of the car talking. Dur- 
 ing the conversation the President said, "Mr. Kraus, I 
 am sure I have met you before." We had never met, 
 but inasmuch as he was the President of the United 
 States I felt he should not be contradicted and therefore 
 said, "Mr. President, you have a remarkable memory. 
 You visit many cities, see thousands of people who are 
 introduced to you, they pass on, and yet, a long time 
 afterwards, you remember their faces." 
 
 About two years afterwards I became the owner of 
 the Chicago Times, under circumstances which will be 
 stated later. The Times was a Democratic paper but 
 for nearly two years had been opposing Mr. Cleveland. 
 When I took charge of it, its policy in this respect was 
 changed, and the statement was published that the 
 Times was a Democratic paper and would support the 
 Democratic administration, which it proceeded to do. 
 
 A short time afterwards business in connection 
 with the newspaper called me to New York and thence 
 to Washington. On the day of my expected departure 
 from Washington I happened to meet Judge Gresham, 
 then Secretary of State. He said, "I am glad you are 
 here. I know the President would like to see you. 
 I will make arrangements to have him see you to- 
 morrow afternoon." I expressed regret at my inabil- 
 ity to stay over until next day, explaining that I had 
 to be in Chicago on that day, but said that if the Presi- 
 dent wanted to see me I would come any later time 
 the President might suggest. Judge Gresham replied, 
 "Wait here a few minutes. I will go to the White 
 House and see what the President has to say." On 
 his return he said, "The President will see you now." 
 
68 REMINISCENCES 
 
 I felt somewhat flattered that I had made such a 
 good impression on the President the day the World's 
 Fair was opened that he not only remembered me, 
 but desired to see me again. At the White House the 
 President received me cordially and after we were seated 
 he began asking questions concerning the local political 
 situation in Chicago and whether certain appointments 
 he had made in the Chicago district were satisfactory 
 to the people. I answered the questions as best I 
 could when suddenly the President asked a question 
 which shocked me severely. The question was: "Mr. 
 Kraus, how comes it that you and I have never met 
 before?" Not having fully recovered, and under these 
 circumstances feeling that the President of my country 
 must be right I answered, "Mr. President, you live in 
 Washington and are a very busy man. I live in 
 Chicago and am also a busy man. That may account 
 for your statement that you and I have never met. 
 I understand from Secretary Gresham that this is the 
 day you receive the diplomats. I feel highly honored 
 that in spite of that fact you have permitted me to call. 
 I must therefore not trespass on your time." The 
 interview ended there, and I reluctantly came to the 
 the conclusion that Judge Gresham's motive in arrang- 
 ing the interview was not that the President might 
 meet Kraus, the lawyer, but Kraus, the editor of the 
 Chicago Times, who had converted an anti-adminis- 
 tration newspaper into a friendly one. 
 
 A number of hotels were constructed in the neigh- 
 borhood of the World's Fair grounds to accommodate 
 the exhibitors and others who came to the Fair. At 
 these hotels wines and liquors were served, and one 
 day Mr. Arthur Burrage Farwell, leader of the Anti- 
 
THE CITIZEN 69 
 
 Saloon League in Chicago, came to the Corporation 
 Counsel and asked for an opinion as to whether or not 
 the sale of liquors in those hotels was legal. The 
 World's Fair grounds were in that part of the town of 
 Hyde Park which before annexation to the city was 
 prohibition territory and therefore, according to law, 
 remained so after annexation. I answered that I was 
 there to give legal opinions to the Mayor, City Council, 
 and heads of departments, and that was all. Mr. 
 Farwell next called on the Chief of Police, who asked 
 the Corporation Counsel for an opinion as to his duties 
 in the premises. Briefly stated, the opinion to the 
 Chief was: "The district in which the World's Fair 
 grounds are located is a prohibition district. The sale 
 of intoxicants in that territory is prohibited by law. 
 It is your duty to cause the arrest of those who violate 
 that law. It is, however, also your duty, and in my 
 opinion a paramount duty, to protect the people of 
 the city and its guests against thieves, robbers, and 
 holdup men. If you find that your forces are sufficient 
 to perform properly this paramount duty and also to 
 ascertain what the guests of the city are drinking, it is 
 your duty also to arrest all those who are violating the 
 prohibition laws in that district." The Chief decided 
 that his police force was not sufficient to perform the 
 latter duty while the Fair was going on, and the hotels 
 were not molested. Promptly after the Fair closed, 
 however, that district was made dry. 
 
 The flat roof of the Manufacturing Building of the 
 Fair, from which a full view of the fair grounds could 
 be had, was used for promenading. Hundreds of 
 people were on the roof daily. One day the Building 
 Inspector of the city reported to the Corporation 
 
70 REMINISCENCES 
 
 Counsel that upon receiving complaints that the roof 
 was not safe he sent his men there to inspect, but that 
 the World's Fair Commissioners ordered them out, 
 saying that the city had surrendered that territory to 
 the Government during the World's Fair and that as 
 long as the Fair lasted it was solely under the control 
 of the Government and the city could not interfere. 
 I gave the following advice : 
 
 "Assuming, without conceding, that the Commissioners' 
 contention that the Government has exclusive jurisdiction over 
 the World's Fair is correct, it must be conceded that the city 
 has exclusive jurisdiction over the streets which lead to the Fair 
 grounds. You will therefore place a sufficient number of police- 
 men on the streets in front of each entrance to the World's Fair 
 ground and allow no one to enter until you are satisfied that the 
 Manufacturing Building is safe for them to visit." 
 
 This was telephoned to the Commissioners' office and 
 within a few minutes I received a message from the Com- 
 missioners' office to the effect that the city might make 
 such inspection as it desired. The building was promptly 
 inspected and the roof was found to be perfectly safe. 
 
 During the summer vacation of 1893 my oldest son, 
 Albert, was eleven years of age. I thought it would 
 be a good thing to keep the boy with me for part of 
 each day and give him something to do, so I took him 
 to the City Hall and installed him as a sort of office 
 boy during the forenoons, giving him the afternoons 
 off to play with his boy friends. A small desk was 
 placed for him alongside mine. He sat there faith- 
 fully and kept a record of every one who came in. I 
 arranged with the City Comptroller to pay the boy 
 five dollars a week out of funds furnished by myself. 
 On Saturday noon the boy went to the Comptroller's 
 office to draw his salary, and in a few minutes came 
 
THE CITIZEN 71 
 
 back with a ten dollar bill and told me that the Comp- 
 troller had said that he was worth at least ten dollars 
 a week. Of course I had to make it good. One day, 
 after returning from a consultation in the Mayor's 
 office, I found the boy had made a sign and put it on 
 his desk, which read, " Albert Kraus, Assistant Cor- 
 poration Counsel." He had really nothing to do, but 
 he earned his salary by his excellent behavior. 
 
 One day John Barton Payne called on me concern- 
 ing a law suit against the city, in which he represented 
 the plaintiff. It was just a few days before a Demo- 
 cratic convention was to be held in which a candidate 
 for Judge of the Superior Court was to be nominated, 
 and the Mayor had asked me to assist him in finding a 
 suitable candidate. Mr. Payne made such a favorable 
 impression on me that I asked him about his politics. 
 He answered that he was a Democrat. "How would 
 you like to be Judge of the Superior Court?" I asked. 
 He replied that he would like it very much but he 
 would never be able to secure a nomination. I told 
 him that the next convention might nominate him. I 
 suggested his name to Mr. Harrison, and Payne was 
 nominated and elected. He made a splendid judge. 
 After serving a few years he resigned to become a 
 member of a leading law firm of Chicago. In 1918 
 he became General Counsel of the United States 
 Shipping Board, later Chairman of the United States 
 Shipping Board, then Secretary of the Interior in the cab- 
 inet of President Wilson; afterwards he was appointed 
 Director General of Railroads, and Chairman of the 
 American Red Cross. President Harding later ap- 
 pointed him a member of the Commission which 
 negotiated a treaty between this country and Mexico. 
 
72 REMINISCENCES 
 
 For many years the Chicago River was a convenient 
 reservoir for the deposit of sewage, waste, and refuse 
 of all kinds, until its waters became thick with the foul 
 smelling accumulation. In the effort to relieve the 
 situation the city contracted for pumps for the purpose 
 of cleaning it out. When the pumps were installed 
 the City Engineer rejected them because they were so 
 poorly constructed they would operate only a short 
 time at best. The refusal of the city to accept the 
 pumps threw the manufacturer of them into insolvency 
 and he made an assignment in the County Court for 
 the benefit of his creditors. Ex-Judge Richard Prende- 
 gast, as counsel for the assignee, offered to let the city 
 keep the pumps if the city would pay approximately 
 twenty-five per cent of the contract price. I asked the 
 City Engineer whether in his opinion the pumps would 
 last until the World's Fair was over, and whether in 
 the meantime they would work sufficiently to relieve 
 the stench which emanated from the river. His 
 opinion was that they would last and do the work for 
 a few months, if carefully handled. I concluded that 
 if the foul stench could be stopped for a period of a few 
 months it would be worth the money, and told Prende- 
 gast that if the County Court would approve the 
 settlement the city would pay the proposed twenty- 
 five per cent. The court approved the settlement and 
 the money was paid. About two weeks afterwards 
 the pumps gave out completely and had to be dis- 
 carded. The newspaper reporters called on the Mayor 
 and asked him what he had to say. I was willing to 
 accept the blame, but the Mayor said, "We did the 
 best we knew how, but we made a mistake." That 
 ended all criticism. 
 
THE CITIZEN 73 
 
 The railroad grade crossings in the city had become 
 an ever increasing peril and ordinances had been passed 
 requiring the railroads to elevate their tracks. These 
 Mr. Harrison was anxious to have enforced. He began 
 with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and I had made an 
 appointment to meet the officers of that road for a 
 conference, which fact had been published in the news- 
 papers. At the time set for the conference the Vice- 
 President of the road, with his attorneys, came to 
 Chicago and called at the Corporation Counsel's office. 
 While the parties were discussing the situation loud 
 talking was heard in the anteroom. I opened the door 
 slightly, saw a number of persons standing in front of 
 the door, among them a priest who tried to enter, and 
 asked what was wanted. The priest answered, "We 
 desire to go into your office. We understand that you 
 have a conference with the officials of the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad and we desire to be present at the conference 
 and urge track elevation. I represent the people and 
 therefore have a right to be present and take part in 
 the conference." " You no doubt represent your parish 
 and do it well," I said, "but I represent the people 
 in this conference. I did not invite the officials of the 
 railroad to a public meeting and, therefore, cannot ask 
 them to take part in a public meeting. I am sorry to 
 have to deny you admission, but I cannot do otherwise." 
 
 One of the evening newspapers published the state- 
 ment that I had insulted Father Kelly. The next day 
 Father Kelly called at the office, accompanied by Tom 
 Gahon, who was then Chairman of the County Demo- 
 cratic Committee. Father Kelly said: 
 
 "I came here to apologize for calling on you yesterday as I 
 did. My intention in coming was to watch you. I am very 
 
74 REMINISCENCES 
 
 much interested in having the tracks elevated because a number 
 of people in my parish are killed by railroad trains every year. 
 My experience has taught me that some of our public officials 
 need watching. I did not know you and thought you might 
 be one of them. The fact that you refused me admission did 
 not offend me, nor did I construe it as an indication that you 
 were afraid to have me know what was going on. On the con- 
 trary, it impressed me favorably. From what Tom Gahon and 
 others have told me, I am now satisfied that you do not need 
 watching. I am perfectly willing to trust you and have come 
 here this morning to tell you so. 
 
 Some time afterwards Father Kelly invited me to a 
 dinner at his rectory, and I was glad to accept. 
 Priests from all the neighboring parishes were present 
 and the dinner was a happy occasion in every way. 
 Afterwards, at a dinner given by myself upon resigning 
 as Corporation Counsel, and at which acting Mayor 
 Mr. Swift and a number of other leading citizens were 
 present, Father Kelly sat on my right. I felt that I 
 had won his friendship and I valued it highly. 
 
 When the Eighteenth Street bridge and viaduct 
 were built the owner of a certain corner property along 
 the viaduct, in which he kept a saloon, found that his 
 building was about twenty feet below the new grade of 
 the street. He sued the railroad company for damag- 
 ing his property and recovered a judgment of ten 
 thousand dollars. The railroad company appealed to 
 the Appellate Court, which reversed the judgment on 
 the ground that the plaintiff's claim, if any he had, 
 was against the city and not against the railroad 
 company. The plaintiff thereupon sued the city. 
 That case came on for a hearing while I was Corpora- 
 tion Counsel. The records of the first case showed that 
 the plaintiff's real estate experts claimed that the 
 property before the viaduct was built was worth twenty- 
 
THE CITIZEN 75 
 
 two thousand dollars and after the viaduct was finished 
 less than half of that sum. 
 
 Adjoining that property on the south was a large 
 manufacturing plant. I sent one of my assistants to 
 the president of that company and inquired whether 
 he would be willing to buy the corner for twenty-two 
 thousand dollars, and to say that if he wanted the 
 property at that figure and would send me a certified 
 check for that amount I would either procure him a 
 deed to the property or return the check. The check 
 was sent. When the case came on again for trail the 
 plaintiff's witnesses again testified as they did at the 
 first trial. The plaintiff was put on the stand, proved 
 his title and testified that before the viaduct was built 
 his property was worth twenty-two thousand dollars, 
 that after the viaduct was finished it was worth less 
 than ten thousand dollars. On cross examination I 
 asked : 
 
 "Are you willing to sell that property?" 
 
 Answer — "Yes." 
 
 Question — "If any one should offer you twenty-two thousand 
 dollars cash for the property, would you accept?" 
 
 Answer — "I sure would, but there is no one fool enough to 
 pay such an amount." 
 
 Question — "Suppose I were to submit to you now a deed of 
 the property for your signature, and tendered you a certified 
 check for twenty-two thousand dollars, would you sign the 
 deed?" 
 
 Answer — "Yes." 
 
 I thereupon tendered the certified check and a deed 
 for his signature, and said, "Sign the deed and the 
 check is yours." "I won't sell," said the plaintiff, 
 and that of course ended the case. 
 
 Shortly before the close of the World's Fair in 1893, 
 I received a postal card on which was written in red 
 
76 REMINISCENCES 
 
 ink, " I want your job as Corporation Counsel. If you 
 know what is good for yourself, resign." Signed 
 "Prendergast." A few days afterwards I received 
 another card from the same party on which was written, 
 "You ignored my first notice. Do not be a fool. 
 Resign." A few days later I received a third notice, 
 on which appeared a skull and cross bones and the 
 following writing: " Third and final notice. You 
 either resign or I will remove you." What I at first 
 thought was a practical joke began to look serious. On 
 October 28, 1893, while alone in my office a man I had 
 never seen before walked in and asked, " Are you the 
 Corporation Counsel?" I looked up and saw the man 
 standing near the door with his right hand in his coat 
 pocket, apparently clutching something which I judged 
 to be a pistol. I asked quietly, "What do you wish?" 
 He answered, "My name is Prendergast." I tried to 
 smile — with what success I do not know — and said, 
 "I am delighted, Mr. Prendergast, that you are here. 
 After receiving your postal cards I would have invited 
 you to come and see me if you had given me your 
 address. Your personal call now saves me the trouble 
 of writing to you. I understand you want me to resign 
 and to take my job. I will surrender it to you with 
 pleasure. Come and take my chair now." With 
 that I got up, intending to leave the room and call for 
 assistance. Prendergast stopped me and said, "Hold 
 on. I don't want the job today. I must first transfer 
 my business to somebody else. You seem to be a 
 much better fellow than I thought you were. You 
 stay here until I come to take charge." Turning around 
 abruptly he left the room. I followed and pointed 
 him out to the police officer who was stationed in the 
 
THE CITIZEN 77 
 
 anteroom, saying, "Do not lose sight of that man. 
 Catch him and lock him up. He is dangerous." The 
 officer ran after him but there was such a crowd in the 
 hall of the building that he lost sight of him. That 
 night Prendergast went to Mayor Harrison's home and 
 shot him dead. From Mr. Harrison's residence he 
 walked to the police station, surrendered himself and 
 said that he had killed the Mayor. He was indicted 
 and tried for the murder. His only defense at the 
 trial was insanity. The State proved that Prender- 
 gast had for years held a contract with the Chicago 
 Inter Ocean, a newspaper then published in Chicago, 
 under which he attended to the distribution of the paper 
 in the entire north division of the city; that he had a 
 number of men working for him; that he attended to 
 his business properly; that he kept proper books; that 
 he knew the difference between right and wrong. He 
 was not a lawyer and the only thing about him that sug- 
 gested mental unsoundness was his desire to be Corpo- 
 ration Counsel. The jury, holding him responsible for 
 his act, found him guilty of murder and he was hanged. 
 In 1892, my brother-in-law, M. ML Hirsh, with his 
 family, and myself and wife, visited Europe, sailing on 
 the Hamburg steamer "Normania. " We had a pleas- 
 ant trip over and agreed among ourselves to secure 
 return passage during the last week in August. On 
 calling at the office of the steamship company we 
 found that the "Normania" would sail for New York 
 at the time we wanted to return. My brother-in-law 
 remarked that we were lucky since we could secure 
 the same cabins we had used coming over. For some 
 unaccountable reason I felt that I did not want to 
 return on that vessel, and so stated. Upon being asked 
 
78 REMINISCENCES 
 
 the reason for my objection, I replied that I could give 
 no reason, other than the mere notion; that some 
 people might call it a presentiment, but I preferred to 
 put my objection on the ground that I was there for 
 pleasure and did not wish, during my stay, to feel that 
 I had done something which I had not wanted to do 
 and which I could have avoided doing. My brother- 
 in-law humored me by consenting to take return passage 
 with me on another steamer which sailed a week later. 
 
 My wife and I went to Franzensbad, Bohemia, 
 where we remained six weeks. Franzensbad is princi- 
 pally patronized by women. I went once or twice a 
 week to Karlsbad where I was sure to meet acquain- 
 tances from home. After one of those visits, on re- 
 turning to Franzensbad, while sitting in a compartment 
 of a car waiting for the train to start I overheard two 
 men speaking Bohemian, which language I could speak 
 without the slightest foreign accent. When the train 
 started, one of the men entered the compartment I was 
 in and I entered into conversation with him during 
 which I soon learned that he was an official of the rail- 
 road and that his home was in Pilsen. Having in- 
 troduced myself as coming from the United States he 
 asked me as to the conditions in my country, and 
 having answered, I in turn asked him as to conditions 
 in Bohemia. He said that conditions could not be 
 worse; that the Jews had destroyed everything. 
 
 "Why, " he said, "when you come to Pilsen just 
 look at the names on the signs on the stores. Nearly 
 every store belongs to a Jew. When I was young I 
 could grab hold of one of those dirty Jews, pull his 
 beard and spit in his face, and it would have been all 
 right. If I were to do so now, I'd be arrested and fined, 
 
THE CITIZEN 79 
 
 perhaps even jailed. That shows you what this coun- 
 try is coming to. I have been an official of this rail- 
 road for over twenty-five years, and yet I have not 
 money enough saved to buy a decent suit of clothes, 
 while the Jews are getting rich." 
 
 I asked if he would permit me to ask him a few per- 
 sonal questions. He told me to go ahead. "Do you 
 belong to a club?" I asked. "Yes, " he answered. 
 11 Pay dues? " " Yes." " Do you often visit the club? " 
 "Nearly every evening." "About how many glasses 
 of beer do you drink in an evening?" "Oh, not less 
 than eight, sometimes more . " " Do you smoke cigars ? ' ' 
 "Yes." "About how many cigars a day?" "From 
 five to ten." " If you had done," I said, "as the aver- 
 age Jew does when he starts out in life; if instead of 
 going every evening to the club you had stayed at 
 home; if instead of drinking so many glasses of beer 
 you had sent out for a quart and drunk it at home, it 
 would have cost you less than one glass cost you at the 
 club; if instead of smoking so many cigars you had 
 smoked a pipe, you might, on those items alone in the 
 twenty-five years, have saved up enough to own a 
 comfortable home." 
 
 "You do not understand the situation here," he 
 replied, "I must live according to my station." 
 
 The whistle blew, the train was slackening up, we 
 were nearing Franzensbad. 
 
 "Just one more question before I go," I said. "If 
 someone were to tell the President or other high official 
 of this railroad what you said to me regarding Jews, 
 what would be the effect on you?" "Why," he said, 
 "I would be fired; but there is no danger, I was not 
 overheard by a Jew." 
 
80 REMINISCENCES 
 
 The train stopped. "You are absolutely safe," I 
 replied. "The high officials will not find out what 
 you said, and the reason they will not find it out is 
 that I am a Jew." He looked at me in amazement, 
 either too dumfounded to say anything, or not knowing 
 what to say. I assume the principal reason why he 
 did not suspect me was that nearly all Jews in Bohemia, 
 in those days, spoke with a German accent, and I 
 did not. 
 
 When the time arrived for our return home, we met 
 my brother-in-law's family in London, and boarded 
 the Hamburg steamer at Liverpool. In Liverpool we 
 were told that cholera had broken out in Hamburg, 
 and that accordingly no steamer was allowed to sail 
 from that port ; that the last steamer to sail from Ham- 
 burg was the "Normania" which had sailed a week 
 before. When we arrived in New York harbor, we 
 learned that the "Normania, " which became known as 
 the cholera ship, was quarantined with all its passengers, 
 and remained quarantined for more than thirty days. 
 
 My brother-in-law said that when I had objected to 
 returning on the "Normania," he had regarded the whole 
 thing as a senseless yielding to a foolish notion, but 
 that on this occasion at least he was grateful to me 
 for a foolish notion. 
 
 During the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, I was able 
 to render some slight service to the Austrian Govern- 
 ment in connection with the Fair. During the World's 
 Fair in St. Louis, in 1903, I was asked by the Austrian 
 authorities to represent that Government as a juror 
 on fine art exhibits at that fair, in which capacity I 
 served. About a year afterwards, I was notified by 
 the Austrian consul that the Austrian Government 
 
THE CITIZEN 81 
 
 had knighted me by conferring upon me the decora- 
 tion of Knight of the Order of Francis Joseph. The 
 decoration was later handed me and while as an Ameri- 
 can citizen, I attached little importance to that honor, 
 I am free to admit that I value it for this reason alone : 
 If my mother had lived to know that her son, living in 
 a foreign country, was so honored by her Emperor, 
 it would have been to her the greatest joy. 
 
 A horse played a prominent part in the selection of 
 one of my law partners. I first met Levy Mayer as a 
 lawyer in the case previously referred to in these pages, 
 in which his brother David had been sued for damages 
 for injuring a horse. A judgment for two-hundred 
 dollars had been rendered against David Mayer, who 
 had appealed to the higher court where the case was 
 still pending. Finding that my practice was too large 
 for me to attend to alone, and being favorably im- 
 pressed with him as a result of the horse case, I offered 
 young Mayer a partnership. "How much income will 
 you guarantee me a year?" asked Levy, who was then 
 clerking in the Law Institute at a salary of one hundred 
 dollars a month. "Nothing," I answered. "Accept 
 or refuse, but do it today." Two hours later Mayer 
 called on me, accepted the offer and said that attorney 
 Julius Rosenthal, who was then librarian at the Insti- 
 tute, had advised him to accept. Before we could 
 sign a contract the horse case had to be disposed of, 
 since it would not do for partners to be on opposite 
 sides of a case. Levy had saved up two hundred 
 dollars, which was all the money he had. He suggested 
 that each of us should contribute one hundred dollars 
 and satisfy the judgment. This was done and the 
 suit was dismissed. 
 
82 REMINISCENCES 
 
 The partnership continued for more than twenty 
 years. Mayer could do more work in one day than 
 the average lawyer could do in two, and he always did 
 it well. The only thing he lacked at the start was 
 self-confidence. The idea of going into court in a 
 contested case made him extremely nervous and for 
 nearly a year he attended to office business only. 
 Business increased so rapidly that I could not handle 
 the court work alone; so one day I told Mayer that he 
 would have to overcome his nervousness and do some 
 of the court work, and that the only way to accomplish 
 this was to jump right into the work. "You might 
 as well commence today/' I said. "Go into court and 
 try the case which is on the call. I do not think you 
 will need my help, but if you should I will be there 
 ready to assist." When the case was called Levy was 
 in such a nervous condition that I was afraid he would 
 not be able to go on. However, an adverse ruling of 
 the court drove all the nervousness out of him. He 
 argued against the ruling so forcibly that the court 
 finally decided in his favor. From that day on there 
 was not a lawyer in Chicago who had more self-confi- 
 dence, or who was more at home in a court room than 
 Levy Mayer. 
 
 One day shortly after the partnership was formed, 
 Julius Rosenthal said to me, "I think you and Levy 
 are both to be congratulated, but I want to caution 
 you about one thing, — do not allow yourself to be 
 convinced by Levy on any question of law unless 
 you are sure that he has started out on the right 
 premise, for if that young fellow starts out wrong, 
 he will end up by convincing himself and you that he 
 is right." 
 
THE CITIZEN 83 
 
 It was not long until Mayer was recognized as a very 
 able lawyer, and finally as one of the leading lawyers 
 of the country. The partnership business grew from 
 year to year, and each year showed a gain over the 
 preceding year, a record which very few law firms can 
 show. From 1881 until 1887, the firm was Kraus & 
 Mayer. During that time I tried nearly all the jury 
 cases of the firm, while Mayer handled the chancery 
 cases. In 1887 we decided to enlarge the firm so as to 
 be better able to take care of the business, and Mr. 
 Philip Stein, who afterwards became a Judge of the 
 Appellate Court, was taken into the partnership, which 
 then became Kraus, Mayer & Stein. In 1892 Thomas 
 Moran, also a Judge of the Appellate Court, resigned 
 and joined the firm, and the partnership name was 
 changed to Moran, Kraus, Mayer & Stein. The 
 firm's business grew from year to year, numbering 
 among its clients banks, large corporations, and busi- 
 ness houses. At the time I retired from the firm it 
 had more than fifty large volumes of briefs of cases 
 argued in the courts of appeal. 
 
 It may be of interest to mention here a few cases, 
 not because of their importance, but because of some 
 peculiar or interesting things which arose in connection 
 with them. 
 
 One Dreyer, who was engaged in the real estate, 
 mortgage, and banking business, and was treasurer of 
 the West Park Board, failed in business, heavily in- 
 debted, involving also the loss of about two hundred 
 thousand dollars belonging to the West Park Board. 
 A new treasurer was elected; he sent a written de- 
 mand to Dreyer to turn over to him as successor the 
 money which should have been in his, Dreyer's, hands 
 
84 REMINISCENCES 
 
 as treasurer. Upon Dreyer's failure to comply with 
 this demand he was indicted. 
 
 The case came up for hearing in the Criminal Court 
 
 before Judge Abner Smith. Mr. , Assistant Stated 
 
 Attorney (afterward Judge) represented the state. Judge 
 Moran defended Dreyer. The only defense we had was 
 that a written demand was insufficient ; that it was the 
 duty of the successor to make an oral demand so that 
 Dreyer, if he had the money, could turn it over to him; 
 that he was not required to take the risk of carrying it 
 to his successor. When the state rested its case the 
 defendant's counsel moved that the court instruct the 
 jury to find the defendant not guilty because a written 
 demand was not sufficient. This motion was supported 
 by an unbroken chain of authorities, which were cited 
 and read to the court. The State's Attorney contended 
 that a written demand was sufficient. The judge took 
 the motion under advisement, saying he would decide 
 it the next morning. The next morning, upon the 
 opening of court, he overruled our motion, the jury 
 was called in, the judge asked counsel to present their 
 defense, to which we replied that our defense was in. 
 It was, and still is, the law in Illinois in a criminal case 
 that the jurors are the judges not only of the facts but 
 also of the law. They have the right to disregard the 
 instructions of the court if they believe they under- 
 stand the law better than the court. Several times 
 during the trial of the case Judge Moran became 
 incensed at the conduct of the State's Attorney and 
 made statements which reflected on him. 
 
 In addressing the jury for the defendant I opened 
 the argument and Judge Moran closed. I said to the 
 jury that the court would instruct them that a written 
 
THE CITIZEN 85 
 
 demand was sufficient, which no doubt would be his 
 honest opinion, but that he was mistaken in his view 
 of the law, as would be conclusively proved to the jury; 
 that the State's Attorney would claim that a written 
 demand sent by registered mail was not only sufficient 
 but even better than an oral demand, but that he knew 
 better; that whatever he might say to the jury should 
 have very little weight with them unless he could 
 support it by authorities, which he would not be able 
 to do. I then read Supreme Court decisions from a 
 dozen different states, all holding that a written de- 
 mand was not sufficient. After all arguments were 
 made the judge instructed the jury that a written de- 
 mand was sufficient. In spite of that instruction it 
 took the jury six hours to agree to find Dreyer guilty, 
 but after the jury retired and before the verdict came 
 in Judge Smith, who evidently did not feel flattered at 
 what was said, asked Moran and me to stand up. He 
 then proceeded to say that statements made by each 
 of us during the trial concerning the State's Attorney 
 might have provoked a disturbance of the peace in 
 court, and that accordingly he was obliged to find us 
 both guilty of contempt of court and impose a fine 
 upon each of us of one hundred dollars. Moran felt 
 very much hurt at this and addressed the court. While 
 he was speaking the prosecuting attorney said to me, 
 "What is that fool fining you for? I felt hurt at what 
 Moran said, but I did not feel hurt at what you said." 
 "Why don't you get up and say so to the judge?" 
 I asked. "If I do he is liable to fine me," he said. 
 State's Attorney Deneen (now U. S. Senator) happened 
 to be in the court room at that time and said to me, 
 ' ' Take your time to consider whether you want to appeal. 
 
86 REMINISCENCES 
 
 I will instruct the sheriff to wait." When court adjourned 
 a Tribune reporter asked Judge Moran if he wished to 
 say anything about being fined. "Yes," said Moran, 
 "I want to say this: We were engaged in the trial of 
 that case for several days, during which time Judge 
 Smith ruled on more than three hundred points of law 
 which we raised and during the entire trial the only cor- 
 rect ruling he made was when he fined me for contempt." 
 
 On appeal at the Dreyer case the supreme court 
 held that a written demand was not sufficient, and the 
 judgment of Abner Smith was reversed. 
 
 When Smith's term of office expired he went into 
 the banking business, in which he failed and was in- 
 dicted for accepting deposits when insolvent. He was 
 convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary. That 
 judgment was not reversed and he served out his term. 
 
 The Chicago World's Fair Commissioners issued an 
 order closing the Fair on Sundays. William E. Mason, 
 afterwards United States Senator, on behalf of certain 
 exhibitors filed a bill in the Superior Court to enjoin 
 the World's Fair Commissioners from closing the Fair 
 on Sundays. Judge Philip Stein, then a chancellor in 
 the Superior Court, entered an order enjoining the 
 Commissioners from closing the Fair on Sundays, and 
 a few days later left for Europe on a vacation. During 
 Judge Stein's absence Judge Goggin presided in that 
 branch of the court. My law firm was employed by 
 the Commissioners and Moran and Mayer appeared 
 before Goggin and presented a motion that the in- 
 junction be dissolved. Goggin invited Judges Brentano 
 and Dunne to sit with him, and after the arguments 
 were concluded the judges took the motion under ad- 
 visement. Judges Brentano and Dunne voted to grant 
 
THE CITIZEN 87 
 
 the motion to dissolve the injunction. Judge Goggin 
 voted to let the injunction stand, and tried to convince 
 the other judges that he was right, but did not succeed. 
 He afterwards told me that when he found he could 
 not change the views of the other two judges it worried 
 him so that he walked the streets for hours during the 
 night time before he came to a conclusion as to what he 
 should do. The next morning the three judges ap- 
 peared in court prepared to announce the judgment. 
 Goggin, who was the presiding judge, after court was 
 opened turned to the other two judges and said: 
 " Judges Brentano and Dunne — I feel greatly obligated 
 to both of you for the assistance you have given me in 
 this case. You have done your duty so well that I 
 will now excuse you from any further responsibility in 
 the case." There was of course nothing for the other 
 two judges to do but to retire. 
 
 After they retired Judge Goggin said, "I have 
 listened to the very able arguments of counsel on both 
 sides. The question involved is a very important one. 
 We have not been able to come to a unanimous con- 
 clusion. I will therefore take the case under further 
 advisement and decide it after the first snow fall." 
 (That meant, of course, after the Fair was over and that 
 the injunction would remain in force.) That state- 
 ment of Goggin so shocked Moran that he said, "Judge, 
 you are drunk," to which Goggin made no reply. 
 
 About two months afterwards I met Goggin on 
 Dearborn Street. Stopping me, he said: "I have 
 been waiting for an opportunity to talk to you. I am 
 a bachelor and I am going to die one. I will tell you 
 why. Years ago I was in love with the best and most 
 beautiful girl on earth. Our wedding date was set, 
 
88 REMINISCENCES 
 
 but just before the wedding was to take place she took 
 sick and died. While standing at her coffin and gazing 
 at her beautiful face, beautiful even in death, I silently 
 vowed that I would always be faithful to her and that 
 I would never marry. I have kept that vow. That 
 girl was Tom Moran's sister, and because I loved her 
 so I always looked up to him who was her brother. 
 Figuratively, I sat at his feet. Anything that he said 
 to me in private life was law to me. Regarding the 
 motion to dissolve the World's Fair injunction, I felt 
 that Sunday was the only day when the working people 
 could attend the Fair. I felt that they should not be 
 deprived of the educational privilege which the Fair 
 was giving to them, and which probably never would 
 come to them again. That was the basis of my ruling. 
 Imagine my feelings when the man whom I esteemed 
 more than any other living man said to me in open 
 court, 'Judge, you are drunk.' I promptly said, 'Mr. 
 Bailiff, ' — I was going to order him to arrest Moran for 
 contempt of court and put him in jail, but I could not 
 utter another word, for just then I saw Moran's sister 
 standing between him and me, just as naturally, just 
 as clearly as I saw her in her lifetime. I saw her lips 
 move and heard her say 'Don't,' and that is all I 
 remembered. When I recovered I was sitting in my 
 chair, the court room was empty except for the clerk 
 and bailiff. It was then too late for me to do anything. 
 I was not drunk. I had not touched a drop of liquor 
 for weeks. I am through forever with Moran. I do 
 not want him to come into my court. I will not try 
 any case in which he appears. If your firm has a case 
 in my court, some other member of your firm must 
 attend to it. I am telling you all this because I want 
 
THE CITIZEN 89 
 
 you to deliver a message for me to Moran. Will you 
 do it?" I said I would. "Tell him that I will not 
 die happy unless I have had the pleasure of spitting on 
 his grave." " Please don't ask me to deliver that 
 message," I pleaded. "I have your promise, and that 
 ought to be enough," he said. "Very well," I said, 
 "I will deliver it," and I did. All Moran said was: 
 "Poor Goggin, poor Goggin." 
 
 Judge Goggin was an able lawyer, but erratic at 
 times and given to queer statements in rendering his 
 decisions. 
 
 A man named Kahn failed, owing Felsenthal and 
 Kozminsky, bankers, ten thousand dollars. Ely Fel- 
 senthal, a lawyer and son of the head of that banking 
 firm, sued out a capias upon which Kahn was arrested. 
 I defended Kahn and presented a motion to Judge 
 Goggin to quash the capias on the ground that the 
 affidavit for the capias was insufficient. The argu- 
 ments lasted the best part of a day. When they were 
 finished the Judge began his review of the law appli- 
 cable to the case by stating that under the old Irish 
 law imprisonment for debt was not favored, but under 
 the English law it was; that in his opinion the law in 
 this country was not patterned after the English law 
 but rather after the old Irish law and an affidavit upon 
 which a citizen is deprived of his liberty must be fault- 
 less. He ruled that the affidavit in the case in hand was 
 bad. Thereupon Ely Felsenthal said, "Your honor, if 
 this writ is quashed my father's firm will never be able 
 to collect the ten thousand dollars due them, or any 
 part of it. They cannot afford to lose that amount of 
 money. Will you give me an opportunity to be heard 
 further on this motion? " "Certainly, Mr. Felsenthal," 
 
90 REMINISCENCES 
 
 said the Judge, "Come into my chamber tomorrow 
 afternoon at two o'clock." At two o'clock counsel 
 met in the Judge's chambers and Felsenthal spoke for 
 about two hours more. The Judge did not interrupt 
 him, but when Felsenthal stopped, said: "Mr. Felsen- 
 thal, are you through? I am asking this because it 
 shall never be said of me that I did not give a lawyer 
 a chance to talk. If you are not through I will grant 
 you additional time, but when you are finally through I 
 am going to decide the case for Mr. Kraus." Felsen- 
 thal said, "I am through now." 
 
 One day during summer vacation I gave notice to 
 the plaintiff's attorney in an attachment suit that I 
 would ask Judge Goggin to quash the attachment. 
 The morning the motion was to be heard the Judge 
 came in late. As soon as court was opened the Judge 
 said to the plaintiff's attorney, who was standing at 
 the clerk's desk, — "What have you here this morning?" 
 He answered, " I am here to contest a motion to quash 
 an attachment writ." 
 
 Judge — "Who is on the other side?" 
 
 The plaintiff's lawyer — "Mr. Kraus." 
 
 Judge — "This is vacation period. Mr. Kraus is a rich man 
 he probably won't show up here before eleven o'clock." 
 
 The lawyer (pointing towards me) — "Mr. Kraus is here 
 now." 
 
 Judge — "Oh! I beg your pardon, Mr. Kraus. Are you 
 ready to proceed?" 
 
 Kraus — "Yes, if the court is ready to hear me." 
 
 The court — ' ' Proceed . ' ' 
 
 The arguments on both sides were finished in thirty minutes. 
 The court, instead of deciding at once, said: "Mr. Clerk, what 
 is the number of this motion?" 
 
 Clerk — "It is the eleventh on the day's calendar." 
 
 Judge — "Gentlemen, I am surprised that you let me go on 
 and listen to you when you knew that there were ten motions 
 ahead of yours. You must wait until your motion is reached." 
 
THE CITIZEN 91 
 
 When the motion was reached about two hours later, I said, 
 "Your Honor, this is the motion we argued. We are awaiting 
 your decision." The Judge promptly decided in favor of the 
 defendant. Thereupon the plaintiff's attorney said: "Your 
 Honor, this is the vacation period. You are assigned here for 
 emergency work only. This motion is not an emergency matter. 
 The case is on Judge Sears' calendar. This motion should have 
 been made before Judge Sears." 
 
 Goggin — "I think your point is well taken. Let Judge Sears 
 decide it." 
 
 Kraus — "Judge, will you permit me to ask you a question?" 
 
 Judge — "Certainly, as many as you wish." 
 
 Kraus — "You have listened to our arguments carefully. You 
 have complete jurisdiction of the matter and yet you propose 
 to send us to appear before Judge Sears next fall to re-argue the 
 motion before him. Do you think that after he has heard us 
 he will understand the law any better than you understand it?" 
 
 "No," said the Judge. 
 
 Kraus — "That being the case, why should the Judge's and 
 our time be wasted? Would it not be better to decide it now?" 
 
 Judge — " That point cannot be successfully met. The motion 
 to quash the attachment is granted." 
 
 As a rule Goggin decided cases correctly, but in 
 connection with his decisions he always said something 
 that only Goggin could say. 
 
 Lindauer Brothers, failing in business, confessed 
 judgments in favor of numerous preferred creditors. 
 There was no Federal bankruptcy law in force at that 
 time and the County Court had jurisdiction of assign- 
 ments for the benefit of creditors. Richard Prendegast 
 was County Judge. 
 
 Levy Mayer filed a petition in the County Court 
 asking that the case of Lindauer Brothers be declared 
 a constructive assignment and that the court take 
 jurisdiction of the case and hold all the assests for the 
 benefit of all creditors. Adolph Moses, who was a 
 lawyer of considerable ability, had told me some years 
 before the Lindauer failure of a case where a client of 
 
92 REMINISCENCES 
 
 his was sued in a country town before a German 
 Justice of the Peace, who had set the case for hearing at 
 six o'clock in the morning; that two days before the 
 date set for trial he called on the Justice and asked him 
 to keep the case open until seven A. M., so that his 
 client should have a chance to defend, but that the 
 Justice had refused; that thereupon he told him that 
 he would apply to the Circuit Court for a writ of pro- 
 hibition, to prevent him from proceeding further with 
 the case. The Justice said, '• I am not a prohibitionist. 
 I will have nothing to do with you. I will dismiss the 
 case now." And he did. 
 
 Moses also told me that he believed a writ of prohi- 
 bition had never been issued in Cook County, that he 
 had been waiting for a chance to apply for such a writ 
 because he was sure it would be of interest to the 
 members of the bar and that he was sorry the Justice 
 had dismissed the case. Moses represented the judg- 
 ment creditors in the Lindauer case, and one evening 
 after the case had been on hearing for three days, 
 attracting much public attention, I left my office to 
 go home. In front of the office building I met Sigmund 
 Zeisler, who stopped me and said: "That Lindauer 
 case is attracting much attention, but it will probably 
 attract more tomorrow." "Why tomorrow?" I asked. 
 "I have just left Moses' office," said Zeisler, "and he 
 told me that he would take a step tomorrow which 
 would end the hearing before Prendegast." "What 
 does he propose to do?" I asked. "I am not at 
 liberty to tell," said he, "but it will be interesting to 
 all lawyers." At that moment I recollected the story 
 Moses told about the German Justice of the Peace, so 
 I said to Zeisler, "Oh, I know all about that. He is 
 
THE CITIZEN 93 
 
 going to apply for a writ of prohibition." "How did 
 you find it out?" said Zeisler. I laughed, but returned 
 to my office. 
 
 The members of the firm and the clerks were still 
 in the office. I told them that Moses was going to 
 apply in the morning for a writ of prohibition, and that 
 we should have to prepare for it. We all remained 
 downtown to supper and at half past seven went to the 
 Law Institute, taking the entire office force with us. 
 We worked there until two o'clock in the morning, and 
 by that time had every case in which the writ of pro- 
 hibition was involved. The next morning when we 
 appeared in the County Court, Mr. Moses said to the 
 Court, "Your Honor, Judge Tuley of the Circuit Court 
 has issued a rule on you to show cause by ten o'clock 
 this morning why a writ of prohibition should not be 
 issued against you, prohibiting you from proceeding 
 further with this case." 
 
 Judge Prendegast thereupon appointed the law 
 firm of Kraus, Mayer & Stein to represent the County 
 Court before Judge Tuley. 
 
 The lawyers went directly to Judge Tuley's room 
 where they were evidently expected, and in opening the 
 matter Mr. Moses said: "Your Honor, Judge Prende- 
 gast has appointed Messrs. Kraus, Mayer & Stein to 
 represent him. Now as this is a new question, which I 
 believe has never been raised in the courts of this 
 county, and desiring to be fair to counsel on the other 
 side, I suggest that the Court grant such continuance 
 as they may desire to prepare for the argument." 
 
 Mr. Mayer — "Your Honor, if there is a law clerk 
 in my office who cannot answer Mr. Moses on this 
 motion, I will discharge him. We are ready to go on." 
 
94 REMINISCENCES 
 
 The clerks began bringing in law books from the 
 Law Institute and the table was soon covered with 
 them. Mayer argued that a writ of prohibition could 
 only issue from a court of appellate jurisdiction to an 
 inferior court, that an appeal in an assignment case 
 from the County Court went to the Supreme Court 
 and not to the Circuit Court, and that therefore the 
 Circuit Court had no jurisdiction to issue such a writ 
 to the County Court. 
 
 Before Mayer had finished reading more than a 
 fifth of the authorities gathered, Judge Tuley said: 
 "It is useless to waste any more time. I am con- 
 vinced that I have no jurisdiction." We all returned 
 to Judge Prendegast, who ruled that the acts of the 
 Lindauer Brothers constituted a constructive assign- 
 ment. On appeal, the Supreme Court ruled there was 
 no such thing as a constructive assignment in Illinois. 
 
 A man named Zeisler was engaged in selling Austrian 
 Government bonds. The bonds paid an extremely 
 low rate of interest, but each year the Government 
 redeemed a certain number of them, which were drawn 
 by lot. For the first number drawn the Government 
 paid one hundred thousand crowns, and for a limited 
 number next following it paid smaller premiums. All 
 the rest drew only face value with accrued interest 
 of 2%. The entire plan considered, the total premiums 
 and the interest paid amounted to about five per cent 
 interest on the entire bond issue. Zeisler was indicted 
 by the Federal Grand Jury for sending lottery tickets 
 through the mail. The case was tried before Judge 
 Blodget. I was retained by the defendant, and de- 
 fended him on the ground that the bonds were not 
 lottery tickets, and cited two cases in support of this 
 
THE CITIZEN 95 
 
 contention, one decided by the Court of Appeals of 
 New York and the other by the Supreme Court of 
 California. Judge Blodget, however, held that the 
 scheme was a lottery. He said that no American 
 would invest in foreign bonds bearing such a low rate 
 of interest were it not for the lottery scheme connected 
 therewith; that foreign governments ought not to be 
 permitted to send such bonds to this country where- 
 with to fleece the American people. In sentencing 
 Zeisler he said, "Mr. Zeisler, stand up. I find you 
 guilty, but considering the position your lawyer has 
 taken in the case I will give you the minimum fine. 
 Your fine will be one hundred dollars, which I remit." 
 Some months afterwards Zeisler went to Europe on 
 a visit. Congress had recently put a prohibitive tariff 
 on pearl buttons, and this compelled a number of pearl 
 button manufacturers in Vienna to retire from business. 
 Zeisler, seeing a chance to establish a successful business 
 in America, purchased the necessary machinery for 
 the making of pearl buttons, imported a number of 
 expert workmen in that line from Vienna, and started 
 a pearl button factory in Chicago. Shortly after 
 starting up in this business he was indicted for import- 
 ing labor into this country in violation of the Federal 
 laws. That case also was tried before Judge Blodget. 
 I defended Zeisler in this case on the ground that the 
 manufacture of pearl buttons was a new industry and 
 that the law permitted importation of labor for new 
 industries. When the nature of the defense was 
 stated the District Attorney said that he was taken by 
 surprise, and asked the court for a continuance to en- 
 able him to prove that it was not a new industry. 
 This was granted. The case coming on again, the Dis- 
 
96 REMINISCENCES 
 
 trict Attorney put a government official, whom he had 
 called from Washington, on the stand. He testified that 
 the records showed that there had been a pearl button 
 factory in New Jersey which had gone out of business 
 about one hundred years before, and that there was 
 a man in Ohio who at the time of the trial was engaged 
 in manufacturing pearl buttons, employing six men in 
 his shop, and that he had been so engaged for several 
 years. I contended that the Ohio man could not, 
 with the few men he had working for him, manufacture 
 enough buttons to supply the country with five per 
 cent of its needs; that therefore Zeisler's business was 
 still a new industry. The judge, however, found 
 Zeisler guilty and, repeating almost verbatim what he 
 had said to him in the lottery case, imposed a fine of 
 one hundred dollars, remitting the fine. Zeisler 
 thanked him and was about to leave when the judge 
 said, " Mr. Zeisler, I believe you are the same man who 
 was before me some time ago for sending lottery 
 tickets through the mail. Are you not?" "Yes, your 
 Honor," replied Zeisler. "In that case also," said the 
 judge, "I gave you the minimum fine and remitted it. 
 It is due you now to give you warning. If ever you 
 come before me again for violating any Federal law, I 
 will send you to the penitentiary, regardless of who 
 your lawyer may be." The next day Zeisler left for 
 New York, and so far as I know never came back to 
 Chicago. 
 
 Eldridge Hanecy, then Chancellor of the Circuit 
 Court, entered a decree in a certain case which dis- 
 pleased the editor of the Chicago Examiner. The 
 next day the editor criticised the judgment severely 
 and published a cartoon of the Judge in which he was 
 
THE CITIZEN 97 
 
 shown holding an open hand behind his back. This 
 was construed by Hanecy as amounting to a charge 
 that he was bribed, and he cited Andrew Lawrence, 
 the responsible editor, to show cause why he should not 
 be attached for contempt. Ex-Governor John P. 
 Altgeld and I appeared for the editor. We took the 
 position that the Judge having rendered a final judg- 
 ment, the case was not pending before him- and that 
 therefore he was without power to hold the editor in 
 a contempt; that he had the same remedy, only, that 
 any other person would have, regardless of whether or 
 not he was a judge, namely, a proceeding for libel. We 
 expected, however, that the Judge would find Lawrence 
 guilty and sentence him to jail, and were prepared for 
 that event. In this expectation we were not dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 We were told by Mr. Loeb, the sheriff's attorney, 
 that the Judge had instructed the sheriff to take 
 Lawrence as soon as he had sentenced him and put 
 him in jail as quickly as possible. Evidently the 
 Judge had anticipated what might be done by us. 
 We told Lawrence what to expect and explained what 
 we intended to do. The sheriff had a carriage waiting 
 and immediately upon sentence being pronounced he 
 escorted Lawrence to the carriage and invited him to 
 enter. Lawrence, however, insisted upon walking and 
 the sheriff, not being anxious to get into a row with 
 the editor, walked with him. Lawrence insisted upon 
 walking very slowly. We had a petition for a writ of 
 habeas corpus all ready, had it issued, got into a carriage 
 and were at the jail entrance fifteen minutes ahead of 
 the sheriff with his prisoner. The writ was promptly 
 served on the sheriff, who promptly returned with the 
 
98 REMINISCENCES 
 
 editor to the court of Judge Dunne, who had issued 
 the writ. Thus the editor lost one opportunity of 
 inspecting the interior of a jail, for on the hearing in 
 the habeas corpus proceedings before Judge Dunne 
 he was discharged from the alleged contempt. 
 
 After arrangements had been made to hold a World's 
 Fair in the city of New Orleans, a syndicate was formed 
 to purchase the panorama "The Battle of Sedan," 
 which was on exhibition in Frankfurt, and exhibit it 
 in New Orleans during the Fair, and afterwards in 
 other cities. Handsome returns were expected, based 
 on the experience had with the picture of the Battle 
 of Gettysburg, which at that time had been on exhibi- 
 tion in Chicago for more than a year and had been 
 paying to the stockholders regularly a dividend of 
 ten per cent a month. 
 
 My law firm was selected to represent the syndicate, 
 and I went to Frankfurt to negotiate the purchase and 
 attend to the transportation of it to New Orleans. 
 The owner of the painting was a rich Hollander, who 
 came to meet me in Frankfurt. We stopped at the 
 Hotel Frankfurterhof during the two weeks required 
 to close the negotiations and secure the painting. 
 During that time we met every morning at breakfast 
 and in the evening at dinner. One morning while 
 breakfasting, a Jewish family, which had evidently 
 just arrived in the city, came into the dining room and 
 ordered breakfast. When they were seated the Hol- 
 lander said, "I will be happy when I am home again 
 and will not have to endure such an annoyance." 
 "What is annoying you?" I asked. "Does it not 
 annoy you," he said, "to be compelled to eat in the 
 same room with Jews?" "No," I answered honestly 
 
THE CITIZEN 99 
 
 enough, and switched the conversation, for since I 
 acted in a representative capacity in my dealing with 
 the Hollander I felt I ought not to allow any personal 
 matters to interfere with the negotiations. 
 
 After the painting was paid for and turned over to 
 me I said to the Hollander, "I am going tomorrow 
 morning to Amsterdam, so I will say good-bye to you 
 now." The Hollander asked me to delay my trip for 
 two days and then go with him to Amsterdam; that 
 he had a home on the outskirts of the city and would 
 like to have me as his guest at his home for a few 
 days. " Before giving you an answer, " I said, "I 
 would like to ask you a question. We have met each 
 day for two weeks. Was there anything in my be- 
 havior or in my negotiations which displeased you?" 
 "Certainly not," he said. "If it annoys you to be 
 compelled to eat in a public dining room because a few 
 Jews happen to be in the same room, how much more 
 would your feelings be hurt if you should find that by 
 your own invitation a Jew had sat at the same table 
 with you under your own roof ? As I am a Jew, I can- 
 not accept your invitation." The next morning when 
 I came to the depot I found the Hollander there await- 
 ing me. He said, "Mr. Kraus — you have taught me 
 a lesson. The remark I made concerning Jews was 
 unjust. I regret that I made it. Now, knowing that 
 you are a Jew, I urgently request you to give me the 
 honor of being my guest at my home." "I would 
 accept your invitation with pleasure," I said, "were it 
 not for the fact that I have only five days left before 
 my boat sails for America and those days must be 
 given to my mother in Bohemia." We shook hands in 
 farewell and I never saw him again. 
 
100 REMINISCENCES 
 
 After the death of Carter H. Harrison, his sons, 
 Carter Junior, and Preston, had control of the Chicago 
 Times, which they managed up to the latter part of 
 1895. One day both called to see me, and in stating 
 the purpose of their visit Carter said, "Tomorrow's 
 issue of the Times will be the last. In conducting the 
 paper we have lost all the assets we had, excepting real 
 estate, and that we propose to hold. Father told us 
 once that no matter what the financial loss in publish- 
 ing the Times might be he would never assess you, be- 
 cause you subscribed for the stock at his request. In 
 this respect we have carried out his wishes and have 
 not assessed you. The property is clear, all the debts 
 are paid, but we can go no further. We have tried to 
 sell it, but have not been able to obtain an offer of even 
 as much as twenty-five thousand dollars for it." I 
 then made the proposition that if they would transfer 
 to me without charge enough of their stock to give me 
 the majority, I would publish the paper at my expense 
 for at least one year and would not call on them for 
 any contribution. If I should fail to put the paper 
 on a paying basis within that time, I would make them 
 a present of all of the stock and turn the business over 
 to them free of debt. This proposition was promptly 
 accepted. I engaged new talent, increased the size 
 of the paper, leased private wires to Washington, New 
 York, and St. Louis, and, according to the statement 
 of Joseph Medill, owner of the Tribune, made a good 
 paper of it. In a short time the circulation as well as 
 advertising increased materially. 
 
 A Mr. Hawley, who had been the owner of a daily 
 newspaper in a Western city and who was an experi- 
 enced newspaper man, desired to purchase an interest 
 
THE CITIZEN 101 
 
 in the Times, and with the consent of the Harrison 
 boys I sold him their interest in the paper for one 
 hundred thousand dollars. In about four months the 
 income of the paper was sufficient to cover the cost of 
 publication, and prospects for its future success were 
 bright. 
 
 Mr. Hawley was given charge of the management 
 of the paper, while its editorial policy was left to me. 
 A number of the leaders of the Democratic party at 
 that time were for free silver. Hawley was also a free 
 silver man, while I believed that free silver meant the 
 ruination of the business interests of the country. 
 Since I had charge of the editorial policy the paper 
 became an anti-free silver paper. This, as might be 
 expected, created friction between the two owners, and 
 Hawley sought for someone to buy him out. One day 
 he submitted to me a proposition which he had received 
 from Mr. Kohlsaat, owner of the Herald, who wanted 
 to consolidate the two papers under the name of the 
 "Times-Herald." He offered to pay for it three 
 hundred and seventy thousand dollars, partly in cash 
 and partly in stock of the consolidated paper. Mr. 
 Hawley offered to take the stock and remain with the 
 Times-Herald, while I was given the option of taking 
 cash or stock. The sale was made and that ended my 
 career as the responsible editor of a daily paper. By 
 the sale my original investment and all expenditures 
 for improvements were made good and more. 
 
 While in charge of the paper I had some interesting 
 experiences. Ownership of the paper carried with it 
 membership in the Associated Press. The City Press 
 is a separate institution, of which the Harrison boys at 
 one time were members but gave up that membership 
 
102 REMINISCENCES 
 
 and hired special reporters for city news, in the effort 
 to improve the Times. The result was that the City 
 Press, being a combination of newspapers, was able to 
 employ more men than the Times, and accordingly 
 the other papers gathered and published more local 
 news. When I took over the paper I decided to join 
 the City Press Association, but in order to do that I 
 had to secure the consent of all the other morning 
 papers. I obtained the consent of the Tribune, the 
 Inter Ocean, and the Record. The only other paper 
 was the Herald, then owned by John R. Walsh and 
 managed by a Mr. Scott, who was also Secretary of 
 the City Press. Scott also consented and I told him 
 we would commence taking the service on the follow- 
 ing Sunday. Saturday morning I called up Scott on 
 the 'phone and asked him if we could depend on having 
 the local news for the Sunday morning paper. He 
 replied that Walsh had instructed him not to furnish 
 us the news before he gave his consent, and that before 
 his consent should be given I would have to agree to 
 certain conditions. "What conditions?" I asked. 
 "All the morning papers sell for two cents," he said. 
 "Your paper is sold for one cent. Mr. Walsh says 
 you must raise the price to two cents and he wants to 
 talk to you concerning your editorial policy." "Tell 
 Walsh that when I feel the need of a guardian I will 
 consider his proposition." I called in the best reporter 
 on the Times and instructed him to be in the neighbor- 
 hood of Walsh's home every morning in time to follow 
 him when he left his home, and report everything he 
 did from the time he left the house in the morning until 
 he returned home in the evening. John R. Walsh at 
 that time was the owner of the Herald, the Evening 
 
THE CITIZEN 103 
 
 Post, owned the majority of the stock in the Equitable 
 Trust Company, controlled the Chicago National Bank, 
 was publisher of the city directory, and was President 
 of a short railroad line in Michigan. 
 
 The next day a column in the Times was devoted to 
 John R. Walsh. His entire career was published, how 
 he rose from a newspaper peddler to the high positions 
 he then occupied. The article stated that it must 
 certainly be of interest to the public to know how one 
 man could manage so many important institutions at 
 the same time, and accordingly his doings from day 
 to day would be published. This was followed by a 
 full report of his doings from the time he left his home 
 in the morning until his return in the evening. His 
 bank was on the first floor of the building at the corner 
 of Monroe and Dearborn Streets. The names of those 
 who came to see him, how long each one conversed 
 with him, and all of his doings, were fully reported, 
 and that was continued from day to day. While a 
 number of respectable business men called on Walsh 
 each day, there were also some whose presence in his 
 private room was not a matter that gave him any 
 particular pride or pleasure in having published. 
 
 Mr. Blount, cashier of the bank, asked me one day 
 for the sake of the bank employes to stop publishing 
 Walsh's doings. "When Walsh comes into the bank 
 in the morning," he said, "the first thing he does is 
 to pick up the Times, read the account of himself, 
 then he tears up the paper and makes the life of every- 
 body in the bank miserable." A few days afterwards 
 Mr. Scott, Walsh's editor, called at the Times' office 
 and told me that the Times could have the City Press 
 service. I replied that if Walsh had given up the idea 
 
104 REMINISCENCES 
 
 of controlling the Times in any manner I would quit, 
 but that I would not for the present accept his offer, 
 because I did not want to leave myself open to the charge 
 that I was bought off. 
 
 It is possible that in trying to prevent the Times 
 from receiving the service of the City Press Walsh was 
 attempting to even up things with me for the part I 
 played on behalf of Peter Kiolbassa, who was elected 
 City Treasurer in the campaign in which the two 
 Washburns, Harrison, and Cregier, were candidates 
 for the mayoralty. In that campaign Kiolbassa was 
 candidate for City Treasurer on the Cregier ticket, and 
 was the only candidate on that ticket who was elected. 
 He was of Polish birth, of fair education, was honorable 
 in all his dealings and, accordingly, probably received 
 every Polish vote in the city, which resulted in his 
 election by a small plurality. Prior to that time City 
 Treasurers, as well as County Treasurers, deposited 
 the public monies in banks at an agreed rate of interest, 
 which the Treasurer appropriated to himself. The 
 office was therefore worth to the Treasurer from a hun- 
 dred thousand dollars a year, upwards. 
 
 After the election John R. Walsh sent for Kiolbassa 
 and told him to go to Springfield where the legislature 
 was in session and lobby for a bill prohibiting a Treasur- 
 er from keeping any of the interest and compelling him 
 to turn it over to the city. The bill was just, but 
 Kiolbassa said: "I am elected Treasurer. I will turn 
 over all interest on city funds to the city voluntarily. 
 I am not a lobbyist. I would not know how to lobby 
 and will not go to Springfield." Walsh replied, "You 
 will either go to Springfield and work for the bill, or 
 you will not be Treasurer." 
 
THE CITIZEN 105 
 
 The bond required of a City Treasurer at that time, 
 in order to qualify him, amounted to seventeen million 
 dollars. In view of the size of the required bond it 
 was the practice before that time, and since, for the 
 banks in which the Treasurer deposited the city funds 
 to furnish the bond, but when Kiolbassa called on the 
 banks for this purpose each one of them refused. I 
 was Kiolbassa's lawyer and was also one of the direc- 
 tors of the American Trust and Savings Bank, which 
 had other directors of large wealth whose signatures to 
 the bond would have been sufficient. I asked the 
 president of the bank to call a meeting of the directors, 
 ask them to sign the bond, and that if they did so 
 Kiolbassa would deposit all the City's funds in that bank 
 and would, moreover, if desired, allow the directors to 
 select all of the Treasurer's employes, so as to mini- 
 mize the chances of loss. The president replied that 
 it could not be done, because Walsh had sent word to 
 all the banks not to sign the bond ; that if his bank alone 
 should sign the bond, all the other banks would refuse 
 to come to its assistance in case such assistance should 
 at any time be needed by reason of a money panic or 
 other emergency. 
 
 I called on Mr. Harrison, told him what had hap- 
 pened and asked him to head a list of citizens which 
 I thought could be secured to sign the bond as sureties. 
 Harrison said: "Why should I sign his bond? He was 
 a candidate on the opposition ticket. That ticket 
 received the bulk of the Polish votes that alone, 
 was enough to defeat me." I said: "The entire Polish 
 people are aware of the treatment Kiolbassa has 
 received at the hands of the banks and certain political 
 enemies, with respect to this bond. If you will be 
 
106 REMINISCENCES 
 
 the first to sign the bond you will not only perform a 
 good deed, but as a political stroke it would bring to 
 your support, whenever you wanted it, the entire Polish 
 vote of the city." He signed the bond and within a 
 few hours it was signed also by Mike McDonald, 
 Wm. J. English, Levy Mayer, and myself, represent- 
 ing an aggregate security of about twelve million 
 dollars. I gave the bond to Kiolbassa and told him 
 to get as many leading citizens of Polish nativity 
 who owned real estate to sign it as he could. He 
 secured about fifty such signatures, very few of which 
 were able individually to schedule over twenty thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 The majority of the members of the Council were 
 Democrats. I called on the leader and explained how 
 Walsh was trying to deprive Kiolbassa of the election; 
 that the Treasurer would not at any one time have in 
 his hands more than eight million dollars; that the 
 bond was ample to protect the city even without the 
 Polish signatures ; and asked him to call a caucus of the 
 Democratic members and make the approval of the 
 bond a party measure. This was done and Kiolbassa 
 and I attended the meeting of the City Council when 
 the bond was presented for approval. The City Clerk 
 read the names of the sureties, but when he came 
 to the Polish names he could not pronounce them, 
 which caused some merriment. A Democratic alder- 
 man arose and asked: "Mr. Clerk, is that bond 
 sufficient?" The Clerk replied that it was more than 
 sufficient. A motion to approve the bond was then 
 made and promptly carried. The bond having been 
 thus approved, arrangements were made with the out- 
 going City Treasurer to meet at his office the following 
 
THE CITIZEN 107 
 
 day for the purpose of turning the funds in his hands 
 over to the new Treasurer. The outgoing Treasurer 
 presented certified checks from the different banks in 
 which the money was deposited, all of which were 
 accepted except that of the bank of which Walsh was 
 president. In rejecting that one I said: "We will 
 not accept a certified check from that bank. Walsh 
 was determined to keep Kiolbassa out of office for some 
 reason or other. It may be that he has not on hand 
 the money which is due the city. In any event, we 
 will take no chances and will accept nothing but cash." 
 The ex-Treasurer had to go to the bank and bring the 
 cash. When he came back with the cash he said that 
 Walsh was very angry at this sudden withdrawal of 
 such a large amount of cash, leaving his bank in a 
 condition which invited serious trouble. Some time 
 later Walsh's bank failed, and in connection with some 
 of his transactions with it Walsh was indicted, convicted, 
 and sent to the Federal penitentiary. 
 
 While John P. Altgeld was a Judge of the Superior 
 Court he purchased vacant property in the north 
 division of the city, subdivided it and sold it. With 
 the profits he purchased land on Market and Van 
 Buren Streets, erected new buildings and sold them. 
 He often, asked my opinion in connection with his real 
 estate ventures. One day he told me he had signed a 
 ninety-nine year lease on the property, 75 to 79 North 
 Dearborn Street, and intended to erect on it a sixteen 
 story building at a cost of about one million dollars, 
 and asked me what I thought of it. I asked him how 
 much money he had and he told me he had about 
 four hundred thousand dollars and intended to borrow 
 six hundred thousand dollars more. I strongly advised 
 
108 REMINISCENCES 
 
 him against the plan, saying: "Why should you take 
 such a risk? You have no children. Four hundred 
 thousand dollars at six per cent will bring you a yearly 
 income of twenty-four thousand dollars. The way 
 you live you cannot possibly spend it. If the venture 
 should prove a failure, as I fear it will because the 
 location is not ripe for a sixteen story building, and the 
 mortgage should be foreclosed, you would lose every- 
 thing you have, and if that should happen at your age 
 you would probably never again be in as good financial 
 position as you now are." "Because I have no chil- 
 dren," he replied, " I have to create something and so I 
 am creating buildings." He went ahead with his plans 
 and constructed what was called the Unity Building. 
 My law firm rented part of one floor of the new building. 
 From the very beginning Altgeld had a hard time in 
 meeting his obligations on the building and a few years 
 later the mortgage was foreclosed and he lost every 
 dollar he had. Before that happened, however, he 
 became Governor of the State of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Altgeld had a very strong, intellectual face, but 
 his manner of wearing his hair and beard extremely 
 short did not add to his beauty. One day I invited 
 him to dinner at my house, and while we were sitting 
 in the parlor my youngest boy, who was then about 
 six years of age and who had heard that the Governor 
 was going to be the guest of the evening, came in and 
 stood staring at Mr. Altgeld with all his might. Mr. 
 Altgeld said, "Come here, my boy, I want to talk to 
 you." The boy stepped forward, and Mr. Altgeld 
 said: "Why are you looking at me so?" 
 
 The boy — "Are you the President of these United 
 States?" 
 
THE CITIZEN 109 
 
 Mr. Altgeld : " No, I am only Governor of the State 
 of Illinois." 
 
 The boy— "Well, you don't look like it." 
 
 The rising embarrassment of the family was dissi- 
 pated by the Governor's hearty laugh. 
 
 While Altgeld was Governor an employee of the 
 Chicago Tribune was sent to the penitentiary for 
 stealing from his employer. A few months later the 
 Governor pardoned him and in connection with the 
 pardon intimated that the Tribune had forced the man 
 to steal, because it did not pay him living wages. 
 When his term as Governor was drawing to a close he 
 was renominated by the Democratic party on a free 
 silver platform. I was then a member of the gold 
 Democratic party, was supporting Palmer for President 
 and was, accordingly, not very popular with the so- 
 called regular democracy. The Governor had an 
 office in the same building in which my office was 
 located, and one day his secretary came in and said 
 that the Governor would like to be invited to my home 
 for dinner that evening. The invitation was quickly 
 extended and about six o'clock I went to the Governor's 
 office, asked him if he was ready, and upon his saying 
 he was I told him my carriage was waiting. That 
 was before the days of automobiles. After dinner 
 we sat in the library until almost one o'clock in 
 the morning talking. During the conversation he 
 said he supposed I had wondered why he had asked to 
 be invited to my house. I replied that I had not given 
 it a thought, since we had always been good friends, 
 and was glad he had done so. "I had a special reason 
 for wanting to come to your house tonight," he said. 
 "I have not had a minute's peace since the campaign 
 
110 REMINISCENCES 
 
 started. All day long a line of politicians is in my office. 
 When I leave the office they come to my house. I 
 must have some rest, for I cannot stand this much 
 longer. I had to go some place where they would not 
 be likely to look for me. You remember the story of 
 the Irishman who requested that he be buried in a 
 Jewish cemetery, because he was sure that the devil 
 would never look for an Irishman there. I am sure 
 not a single one of my Democratic supporters will look 
 for me in the home of one of the leaders of the gold 
 Democratic Party. This is the first evening I have 
 rested since the campaign started." I invited the 
 Governor to come whenever and as often as he could, 
 an invitation of which he availed himself frequently. 
 
 After the close of his term as Governor the mortgage 
 on the Unity Building was foreclosed. Later on he 
 said that if he could only be sure of earning fifteen 
 hundred dollars a year and have time to write a few 
 books, he would be happy. He opened a law office 
 and soon had enough business to make a comfortable 
 living. 
 
 One day while Mr. Altgeld was delivering an address 
 in a public hall at Elgin, Illinois, he was stricken with 
 apoplexy and died almost immediately. After the 
 funeral Joe Martin, a close and loyal friend of Altgeld, 
 told me that the Governor left no estate whatever, 
 excepting a small home which was mortgaged for five 
 thousand dollars; that the widow, who was in feeble 
 health, had nothing to live on. Ten thousand dollars 
 was raised for the widow, and by the aid of Judge Moran, 
 who was a personal friend of the president of the New 
 York Life Insurance Company, we procured for the 
 ten thousand dollars a life annuity in a sum sufficient 
 
THE CITIZEN 111 
 
 to enable her to live modestly. We then appealed to 
 the State Legislature to appropriate five thousand 
 dollars to the widow of ex-Governor Altgeld for the 
 purpose of paying off the mortgage on her home. 
 Reports came from Springfield that the committee to 
 which the matter was referred was considering the pro- 
 position favorably, but that it was meeting with opposi- 
 tion from a representative of the Chicago Tribune. I 
 called on Mr. Patterson, who then had control of the 
 Chicago Tribune, and asked him to withdraw his 
 opposition and instruct his representative in Spring- 
 field to do what he could to help the bill along. Mr. 
 Patterson said, "How can you ask me to do that after 
 the way Altgeld treated us in saying what he did when 
 he pardoned the man who stole from us?" "I am not 
 here to justify Altgeld," I replied. "He is dead. 
 You are too big a man to carry your grievance against 
 Altgeld to the extent of punishing his invalid widow." 
 He sat there for a minute looking at me, saying nothing. 
 Then he rang the bell for a stenographer and dictated 
 an order to his representative in Springfield to do 
 everything in his power to aid in having the bill passed. 
 He turned to me and asked, "Are you satisfied?" "I 
 knew you would do that," I replied. The legislature 
 passed the bill, appropriated the five thousand dollars, 
 and the mortgage was paid. 
 
Krans at the Age of Forty 
 
CHAPTER III 
 A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
Ill 
 
 A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
 George B. Swift was Mayor of Chicago from 1895 to 
 1897. During his term of office the Illinois Legislature 
 enacted the Civil Service Law, and Mayor Swift ap- 
 pointed Messrs. John M. Clark, Robert A. Waller, and 
 Christoph Hotz as the first Civil Service Commissioners. 
 The salary of the Commissioners was three thousand 
 dollars per annum. Every member of that Board was 
 a man of wealth, had a good reputation, and was un- 
 doubtedly moved to accept the office by a realization of 
 its great need and a desire to have the Civil Service Law 
 enforced. They were in office only a short time and 
 therefore had held but few examinations before the 
 next mayoralty election took place, at which young 
 Carter H. Harrison was elected. 
 
 The new Mayor appointed Commissioner Waller 
 as Comptroller of the city, which automatically re- 
 moved him from the Civil Service Commission, and 
 then removed the other two Commissioners from 
 office. He appointed ex-Mayor Hempstead Wash- 
 burne, Dudley Winston, and the writer, as Civil 
 Service Commissioners. Hempstead Washburne's father 
 was at one time American Minister to France. 
 Mr. Winston's father was General Winston, United 
 States Minister to China. Upon organization of the 
 new Board I was selected as president of the Com- 
 mission. The members of the new Board, like the 
 members of the first Board, were men of means. The 
 salary did not interest them; their only object was to 
 
 115 
 
116 REMINISCENCES 
 
 enforce the law. All three new Commissioners in 
 accepting the position made great financial sacrifices, 
 my own being not inconsiderable, for I agreed with my 
 partners that while holding the office I would not share 
 in the income of the firm, which share amounted to 
 many times the salary I was to receive as Commissioner. 
 
 My partners, Judge Moran and Levy Mayer, tried 
 to persuade me not to accept the position, but I felt 
 and argued that the Civil Service Law was a great 
 reform measure, that if properly administered and 
 properly enforced it would attract the attention of the 
 country and be adopted in other states, and thus bring 
 about better government generally; that through its 
 proper administration and enforcement the Mayor 
 would gain a nation-wide reputation as a reformer 
 which would possibly lead to his nomination for the 
 presidency of the United States. 
 
 The Mayor appointed Charles Thornton as Corpora- 
 tion Counsel. One of the first official acts of Mr. 
 Thornton was to render an opinion that the Civil 
 Service Law was unconstitutional, and that accordingly, 
 the Mayor had the power to fill all offices without regard 
 to the Civil Service Law. From the time that opinion 
 was given I did not have a peaceful day while in office. 
 The Commissioners, being otherwise advised and be- 
 lieving that the law was valid, decided to ignore the 
 opinion of the Corporation Counsel. The Mayor 
 likewise disregarded the advice of his Corporation 
 Counsel, being in favor of the law with certain limita- 
 tions, but his failure actively to support the Commis- 
 sioners and to remove from office a Corporation Counsel 
 who was opposed to the enforcement of the law, de- 
 prived him of any credit he might otherwise have re- 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 117 
 
 ceived for the efforts which were made to enforce 
 the law. 
 
 Because of Thornton's opinion as to the law a large 
 number of applicants for jobs called on him for aid. 
 He told them they would have no trouble in getting 
 positions if it were not for the Civil Service Commission, 
 and that if they wanted jobs they would have to see 
 the Chairman of the Commission. The result was that 
 the office of the Commission was crowded daily by 
 applicants for office. They were told there that the 
 Commissioners had no power to give them jobs; that 
 examinations would be held to which all applicants 
 would have to submit themselves, and that those found 
 best qualified by the examiners would be given the 
 positions. 
 
 While this was going on I received numerous 
 threatening letters, and warnings from friends that my 
 life was in danger. A. S. Trude came to me one day 
 and said, "I have never warned but one man that he 
 was in danger of being killed, and he was killed. I am 
 warning you now that you are in danger of being 
 killed." Chief of Police, Kipley, said to me, " I cannot 
 take the responsibility of letting you go around un- 
 protected. It has come to me that you are to be 
 killed." He placed two officers in the anteroom of the 
 Commissioners' office and whenever I left the office the 
 officers accompanied me, even when I went to lunch. 
 I tolerated this for two days, then sent for the Chief 
 and told him to assign those officers to somebody else, 
 as I felt much more at ease when I was alone; that to 
 have one detective in front of me and another behind 
 me wherever I went was getting on my nerves, and 
 that if I had to make a choice between having them 
 
118 REMINISCENCES 
 
 with me all the time or getting killed, I preferred the 
 latter. The next day I found that during the night 
 one policeman was stationed in front of my house and 
 another in the rear, and concluding that the Chief of 
 Police was trying to frighten me into resigning I notified 
 him to call off his officers as I did not need any pro- 
 tection. 
 
 Joe Martin was City Collector during this time, and 
 all of the employees in his office were appointed by 
 himself. After an examination for employees for that 
 office was held, the Commissioners ordered the dis- 
 charge of all of the employees in the City Collector's 
 office, and certified a complete list of new names for 
 all the positions in that office. Martin, on learning of 
 the order, came at once to the Commissioners' office in 
 a violent rage, closed the door behind him and said to 
 the Chairman, "You will either withdraw that order 
 or I will kill you." I knew the man well enough not 
 to regard what he said as a joke. There was a revolver 
 in my desk, and taking it out I pointed at Martin and 
 said, "Get out of here, or I shoot." Martin left im- 
 mediately. Subsequently he resigned the office of 
 City Collector, stating as his reason for so doing that 
 he would not hold office unless he could appoint his 
 own employees. 
 
 Martin was a great admirer of Governor John P. 
 Altgeld, and always referred to him as the "Dutch- 
 man." One day, several years after both of us had 
 resigned political office, he came to my law office, sent 
 in his card and was admitted. (The Supreme Court 
 of the State, long before that, had decided that the 
 Civil Service Law was constitutional and should be 
 enforced). When he came in he said: "First of all I 
 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 119 
 
 want to say to you that when I last saw you in the City 
 Hall you were right and I was wrong. I thought I 
 had a grievance against you. One day I spoke of it to 
 the ' Dutchman. ' You know anything the ' Dutch- 
 man' says is law to me. I love him and respect him 
 more than any man living. He told me that you were 
 right and that you were honest, and he said to me, ' If 
 you should ever get into any trouble and want a man 
 you can rely on, go and see Kraus. ' I am now in posi- 
 tion where I need some one to rely on, so I came to 
 see you. I am in trouble. I am going to Europe. I 
 have fifty thousand dollars in money. I do not want 
 my wife, nor anybody else, to know I have it. It is 
 all I have and I need it to live on. Now what I want 
 is this — I want to give you the fifty thousand dollars. 
 If I come back from Europe, you return it to me. If 
 I do not, let the law take its course." I said, " Martin, 
 you are talking foolishly. Deposit the money in some 
 bank." "No," said he. "I won't trust any bank. 
 It may leak out that the money is there." He pressed 
 me so earnestly that I finally agreed to take care of the 
 money for him. I sealed it in an envelope, wrote on 
 the envelope, "This is the property of Joe Martin, " and 
 placed it in my safety deposit box in the bank. Six 
 months afterwards Martin returned from Europe and 
 his money was returned to him. Up to the time of 
 his death there was never an election that Martin 
 failed to call on me and offer his services in behalf of 
 anyone in whom I might be interested. 
 
 The Civil Service Commission was a lively subject 
 of public interest during this time. The newspapers 
 of the city, which almost without exception were 
 favorable to the Commissioners, published daily re- 
 
120 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 ports of its proceedings, and matters affecting it. To 
 print them all would take hundreds of pages. The 
 reproduction here of a few items from the newspapers 
 of that time will suffice to show some of the obstacles 
 with which the Commissioners were confronted: 
 
 Chicago Chronicle, June 8th 
 President Kraus of the civil service 
 commission is said to be of the opinion 
 that the board must comply with the 
 civil service law. The marvel is that 
 there should be any contention on 
 this point. The board of education is 
 not above the law, though some of its 
 members appear to think so. Mr. 
 Kraus is properly jealous of the full 
 discharge of any function wherewith 
 he is clothed. He will see that the 
 board complies with the law or he will 
 know the reason why. 
 
 Chicago Inter Ocean, June 14, 1897 
 
 THE THORNTON-KRAUS 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 In the case brought in the Supreme 
 court of Illinois to determine judici- 
 ally the scope of the Chicago civil- 
 service act the return day is today. 
 Saturday there passed a very re- 
 markable correspondence between 
 Corporation Counsel Thornton and 
 the president of the commission, Mr. 
 Kraus, published in the Inter Ocean 
 yesterday. Mr. Thornton announced 
 that he proposed to take charge of the 
 case, and Mr. Kraus flatly, although 
 courteously, told him that the com- 
 mission proposed to have the argu- 
 ment in the case made by Messrs. 
 Moran, Ela, and Mayer, and that for 
 the reason that he, Thornton, believes 
 the law unconstitutional. 
 
 The impropriety of Thornton's ap- 
 pearing at all in the case, entertaining 
 this opinion of the statute, was 
 pointed out editorially by The Inter 
 Ocean yesterday, and evidently Mr. 
 Kraus and his fellow commissioners 
 take the same view of the matter. 
 There is really no room for difference 
 of opinion on this point. But Thorn- 
 ton bluntly tells Mr. Kraus that as 
 
 the legal officer of the city he proposes 
 to have the validity of the law tested 
 and that his office will be represented 
 in the Supreme court for that purpose. 
 Thornton prefaced this declaration 
 with the remark, "I do not know who 
 your informant may be, but I have 
 never made a statement to the effect 
 that the law was unconstitutional." 
 This sounds well, but as a matter of 
 fact gave Mr. Kraus an opportunity 
 to expose this man Thornton and put 
 him in a very compromising light. In 
 his first letter Thornton said: "Mr. 
 Hill of this office will present the 
 same," that is, the answer of Monday, 
 "and represent your commission and 
 this office in the Supreme court." 
 Now mark the center shot of the 
 Kraus reply to the Thornton chal- 
 lenge of his right to say that Thornton 
 did not believe the law constitutional: 
 
 Chicago, June 12, 1897.— Hon. 
 Charles S. Thornton. — Dear Sir: In 
 your last letter to the commissioners 
 you say that you did not know who 
 our informant is as to the statement 
 that you claim the civil service law is 
 unconstitutional. It is sufficient to 
 say that Mr. Hill, representing your 
 department, submitted to us an 
 answer to the mandamus proceeding, 
 to which your name was attached as 
 our attorney, questioning the con- 
 stitutionality of the law. The com- 
 missioners will conduct their own 
 defense of the law. Very truly yours, 
 Adolf Kraus. 
 
 There was never a clearer case of 
 the biter bit. The statute makes the 
 commission master of the situation. 
 Of course it does not specifially pro- 
 vide for the trial of a test case, but it 
 does contemplate resort to the courts 
 and provide for legal representation. 
 The attorney general and the state's 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
 121 
 
 attorney for the county are specifi- 
 cally mentioned. Not a word is said 
 about the corporation counsel. But, 
 in addition to the attorney general 
 and the state's attorney, is this pro- 
 vision, "or by the commission, acting 
 through special counsel." In this case 
 the commission simply exercises its 
 right to act through special counsel. 
 It is not likely the supreme court will 
 allow an outsider to interfere with the 
 proceedings, even though he may 
 represent the corporation counsel. 
 Moran and Mayer simply contend in 
 their answer that the classification 
 adopted by the commission is in 
 strict accordance with the spirit and 
 letter of the law. This meets the 
 issue raised by the petition for a man- 
 damus, and meets it fully. Even if 
 Hill were allowed to appear in the 
 case the court would have no right 
 to entertain any question going be- 
 yond and outside of the issue raised 
 by the petition. 
 
 Chicago Tribune, June 24, 1897 
 
 THORNTON GOES VISITING 
 TO KRAUS 
 
 Corporation Counsel and Chief of 
 Civil Service Board Tell 
 Stories of the Interview. 
 
 Chicago Tribune, June 25, 1897 
 
 KRAUS TIRED, BUT NOT OUT 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION 
 BESET ON ALL SIDES 
 
 Corporation Counsel Thornton yes- 
 terday made a long call on Civil Ser- 
 vice Commissioner Kraus. After it 
 was over Mr. Thornton said he had 
 stepped in to invite his late victorious 
 antagonist to go to the circus with 
 him, but Mr. Kraus told another 
 story. 
 
 "Mr. Thornton," he said, "com- 
 plained the questions asked in the 
 civil service examination were such 
 as could only be answered by college 
 professors and graduates, and I took 
 some pains to prove to him the con- 
 trary by showing him a lot of examina- 
 tion papers." 
 
 "Whom did he make that com- 
 plaint for?" Mr. Kraus was asked. 
 
 "I did not understand," was the 
 answer, "he claimed to represent no 
 one but himself." 
 
 Declares He Would Welcome Dis- 
 missal, but Does Not Intend to 
 Resign— Long List of Sixty-Day 
 Appointments Stirs Him Up — 
 Seeming Plot to Make Trouble 
 Between Him and Mayor Harrison 
 — Hungry Office-seekers Put on 
 Pressure. 
 
 Civil Service Commissioner Kraus 
 was not in an amiable frame of mind 
 yesterday and had no hesitancy in 
 saying so. 
 
 "If I had known what this position 
 meant I never would have taken it," 
 he remarked, "but now I am here I 
 do not intend to run away. Person- 
 ally I would welcome my dismissal. 
 In fact, I would donate several 
 months' salary to any one who would 
 show me an honorable way of getting 
 out of my job. 
 
 "But one thing is certain: I am 
 not going to resign. I am not one of 
 the kind to run away, and while I am 
 under oath to enforce the civil service 
 law honestly and to the best of my 
 ability, I propose to fulfill my obliga- 
 tion." 
 
 Commissioner Kraus is beset by 
 difficulties on all sides. Every high 
 official in the City Hall with the ex- 
 ception of Commissioner McGann 
 and Controller Waller is doing his 
 best to make trouble between Mr. 
 Kraus and the Mayor, and at the 
 same time using all their wits to de- 
 vise methods of evading the civil 
 service law. The advice of Corpora- 
 tion Counsel Thornton is being con- 
 stantly sought to this end and no 
 application to him is ever refused. 
 
 Commissioner Kraus sits in his 
 office like a big watchdog, in constant 
 suspicion of all comers, and has a 
 fight on his hands all the time. 
 
 It seems as if everybody in the 
 building was leagued together to 
 defeat the law, and Mr. Kraus, as its 
 only defender, has to challenge every- 
 
122 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 thing which is done in connection 
 with the civil service, and is then 
 never certain but the law is being 
 violated behind his back. 
 
 Chicago Ills., Chronicle, June 26, 
 
 1897 
 
 He Must Stand by the Ship 
 
 Adolf Kraus must not weary of 
 well-doing. 
 
 Placed in the board of education, 
 he performed courageously his full 
 duty as an inspector. Appointed cor- 
 poration counsel by Mayor Harrison 
 he made that office conspicuously 
 efficient. He is now president of the 
 civil service commission and finds 
 himself in such hot water that he 
 would gladly retire from the position 
 and seek the comparative quiet of his 
 law office. But Adolf Kraus is not 
 the crawfish kind of man. He is not 
 built to take water. The more he is 
 opposed, vexed, bothered and at- 
 tempt is made to bully him the 
 firmer he is, not to say the more 
 obstinate. 
 
 Mr. Kraus, admitting the difficul- 
 ties of his present position, intimates 
 that he is not of the resigning kind. 
 A man of his decision, courage and 
 capacity is needed in just the place 
 he is in, and, though it is not profit- 
 able for him personally to occupy it, 
 it may be hoped that no personal 
 consideration will overcome his sense 
 of public duty. 
 
 Mr. Kraus ought to stick. 
 
 Chicago Tribune, June 29, 1897 
 
 ANOTHER ATTACK ON CIVIL 
 
 SERVICE 
 
 At its meeting on Sunday the 
 Building Trades council adopted a 
 set of resolutions declaring that "the 
 civil service law as applied in this 
 city is entirely un-American in spirit" ; 
 that the Civil Service commission, 
 "through a series of abstruse ques- 
 tions of little necessity for the posi- 
 tions applied for, but easily answered 
 by the college graduate, has shut out 
 the workingmen"; and that therefore 
 the Building Trades council will try 
 to secure the repeal of *he law. 
 
 President Kraus is surprised at the 
 ignorance displayed in these resolu- 
 tions. For it so happens that the 
 questions put to persons examined 
 for the positions which members of 
 the Building Trades council are likely 
 to seek for are questions of a practical 
 nature, which no college graduate will 
 be able to answer. 
 
 Mr. Kraus gives the questions put 
 to forty-three men who wanted places 
 as blacksmiths. All of them are about 
 iron and steel and blacksmithing. A 
 college graduate, seeing those ques- 
 tions which a man who understood 
 the trade could answer, even though 
 unable to read, complained that they 
 were questions which only a black- 
 smith could answer. So the questions 
 put to men who wish to be plumbers 
 in the city's employ are such as 
 plumbers can answer, but collegians 
 cannot. 
 
 Undoubtedly the action of the 
 Building Trades council was inspired 
 by Democratic demagogues, some of 
 them Aldermen who would like to see 
 the civil service law swept away. 
 Many of the votes for it when it was 
 ratified were cast by workingmen. As 
 a rule they are still in favor of it. But 
 there are many walking delegates and 
 "labor leaders" who would like to get 
 on the city pay rolls themselves or 
 have friends they would like to see 
 there. 
 
 These men are willing to do the 
 dirty work of the Democratic spoils- 
 men and adopt resolutions containing 
 statements they must know are false, 
 and pledging the workingmen to an 
 anti-civil service law policy the latter 
 do not really favor. 
 
 Chicago Times-Herald, June 29, 
 1897 
 
 A FOOLISH RESOLUTION 
 
 The Building Trades Council, with 
 the characteristic folly of such organi- 
 zations when they abandon their 
 proper sphere to engage in politics, 
 denounces the civil service act as "un- 
 American," and charges the commis- 
 sion with "barring those who have 
 had to start early in life to earn their 
 living by the sweat of their brow" 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
 123 
 
 by propounding "abstruse questions 
 of little necessity for the positions 
 applied for, but easily answered by 
 college graduates." 
 
 Chicago Post, June 30, 1897 
 KRAUS STANDS FIRM 
 
 Evidently Civil Service Commis- 
 sioner Kraus considers that the city 
 council can "resoloot till the cows 
 come home," but it cannot make a 
 head of a city department out of a 
 police captain. If he were to admit 
 this without taking a test case to the 
 supreme court he and his fellow com- 
 missioners might as well fold up their 
 satchels and abandon the field to the 
 horde of place-hunters that has been 
 hounding Mayor Harrison to destroy 
 the whole merit system. But Mr. 
 Kraus is not made of the stuff that 
 quits the post of duty in the face of 
 assaults. So long as he is a member 
 of the commission he is determined to 
 defend his construction of the civil 
 service law. 
 
 Chicago Journal, June 30, 1897 
 THE MAYOR'S "TOMFOOLERY" 
 
 Mayor Harrison characterizes Com- 
 missioner Kraus' very sensible letter 
 as "tomfoolery" and "monkey busi- 
 ness." This is a singularly inappro- 
 priate use of these terms. Mr. Kraus 
 is using his best endeavors to uphold 
 the law. The men who are guilty of 
 "tomfollery" and "monkey business" 
 are those who are trying to break it 
 down — namely, Mayor Harrison and 
 his ingenious and disingenuous cor- 
 poration counsel, Mr. Thornton. 
 
 From the first the disposition of the 
 latter, in particular, has been that of 
 a lawyer whose political morals are 
 abysmally low. The mayor has ap- 
 peared to hold back somewhat, but 
 all the time his sympathies have been 
 with the corporation counsel rather 
 than with the commission. This is the 
 only interpretation that can be put 
 upon the threat he has uttered from 
 week to week. 
 
 Yesterday he sang the same old 
 tune: "If the alleged friends of civil 
 
 service keep on the way they have 
 begun they will end by knocking out 
 the civil-service law themselves. They 
 are taking the very course to bring 
 about the defeat of civil service." 
 
 By this he seems to mean that if 
 they do not cease from urging what is 
 right he will join with the council in 
 fighting them. He issues an ultima- 
 tum saying that if they do not come 
 to his terms he will wreck the law. 
 
 But how does this comport with 
 his own professions and promises? Is 
 his course to be determined by pique 
 instead of by principle and by ideas? 
 Must he rush clear over to the spoils- 
 men because he disagrees with the 
 commission on certain points? That 
 is the way of the small boy, not of 
 a man. 
 
 Chicago Tribune, July 6, 1897 
 LABOR DEMAGOGUES AND 
 CIVIL SERVICE 
 
 An organization calling itself the 
 Chicago Federation of Labor has 
 adopted "amid shouts of approval" 
 resolutions denunciatory of the civil 
 service law and of the merit system. 
 They were offered by a Democrat — 
 a member of the "ruling race," who 
 undoubtedly wants to get a place as 
 an inspector which pays better than 
 a walking delegateship. Most if not 
 all of those who voted for the resolu- 
 tions are professional laborites, who 
 would like to get on the city pay-roll. 
 That is why they were so willing to 
 accommodate the Democratic spoils- 
 men who wish to see the civil service 
 law swept away. 
 
 These imitation workingmen an- 
 nounce that they do not want city 
 employes chosen by a commission 
 "in star-chamber sessions," but "that 
 those whom the common people 
 select as their servants should be the 
 judges in the selection of employes." 
 This is a euphemistic description of 
 the rotten old spoils system, which 
 the political laborites would like to 
 see restored in order that they can 
 get offices which, under the merit 
 system, they never can get. 
 
 The federated labor demagogues 
 declare that the city "should for the 
 
124 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 amount of money expended obtain 
 the very best service." They do not 
 believe anything of the kind, or they 
 would favor the merit system. What 
 they want is to see the municipal 
 service what it was, an asylum for 
 canting demagogues, for blear-eyed 
 loafers, for the offscourings of the 
 political slums, for those who want 
 to be supported by the labor of the 
 taxpayers. 
 
 In short, the delegates to the Fed- 
 eration of Labor want to quarter 
 themselves on the taxpayers and get 
 big pay for little or no work. They 
 do not represent the real workingmen 
 of this city, who like the civil service 
 system because it gives them an 
 opportunity to get places without 
 having to bribe Aldermen to get their 
 influence or to crawl on their bellies 
 before ward committeemen and other 
 office-hucksters. 
 
 Chicago Times-Herald, July 15, 
 1897 
 
 THE ANTI-MERIT SYSTEM 
 SHOUTERS 
 
 Some of the trades unions, or, to 
 be more accurate, certain members of 
 trades unions who dabble in politics, 
 have denounced the civil service ex- 
 aminations as unfair to trained 
 mechanics. The civil service com- 
 mission now "calls the bluff." It has 
 invited each union to send an acredit- 
 ed representative to the examinations, 
 who shall decide whether the tests are 
 fair and just on the following condi- 
 tions: 
 
 If it is decided that the examina- 
 tions heretofore conducted under 
 this administration have been such 
 that an ordinary skilled laborer could 
 not answer, the commissioners will 
 order a new examination, and as a 
 penalty for asking foolish questions 
 will pay out of their own pockets the 
 expense of the new examination. If, 
 however, it is decided that the ex- 
 aminations have been fair and just, 
 then the representatives of the unions 
 are to pass a resolution that the mem- 
 bers of the unions who heretofore 
 passed resolutions condemning the 
 
 methods of examination adopted by 
 the civil service commissioners either 
 did not know what they were talking 
 about or were willful liars. 
 
 We do not know why the commis- 
 sion should issue such a challenge or 
 pay any more attention to the criti- 
 cisms of trades unions than to the 
 unsupported and obviously foolish 
 charges of other societies or individ- 
 uals. The examinations are open to 
 scrutiny by everybody; they are 
 printed in the regular reports of the 
 commission. No enemy of the merit 
 system has attempted to justify his 
 complaint by giving details. The 
 political trades unionist merely par- 
 rots the language of every ward 
 heeler who has failed "to land his 
 job." 
 
 Still, if the commissioners are bent 
 on trying conclusions with their cri- 
 tics, perhaps it may be well to do the 
 work thoroughly. It is barely pos- 
 sible that there are flaws in the sys- 
 tem. Indeed, it would be strange 
 if there were not, for the law has 
 been in force less than two years, 
 and a great part of the time has been 
 spent by the men charged with ad- 
 ministering it in dragging it over ob- 
 stacles raised by professional spoils- 
 men. But it is safe to predict that if 
 the trades unions accept the challenge 
 they will learn that 99 per cent of the 
 examinations are arranged to test 
 merit, and merit alone. 
 
 Meanwhile the commissioners may 
 be assured that they give greater 
 importance to these assults than the 
 public does. Every enemy of civil 
 service reform talks through a mega- 
 phone, and there is at least a thous- 
 and times as much noise as substance 
 to the opposition. 
 
 Chicago Inter Ocean, July 16, 1897 
 
 Good for the Civil-Service Com- 
 mission 
 
 The city civil-service commission 
 has acted with great firmness and 
 prudence in two matters. It has 
 taught Mr. Kipley that he must con- 
 form to its rules — and they prohibit 
 his contemplated debauchment of the 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
 125 
 
 police force to its old-time degradation 
 of a political institution. And it has 
 put the purchased and self-constitu- 
 ted "leaders of labor" in a dilemma 
 by inviting them to attend the next 
 examination of applicants for ap- 
 pointments as workmen in the pay of 
 the city, with a promise that if such 
 "leaders" can substantiate their 
 false charge that "college questions" 
 are asked a new examination with 
 easier questions will be held. 
 
 There is no class of men to whom 
 the civil service is a greater blessing 
 than to that which works for days' 
 wages. Under the old system only 
 men "with a pull," and too often with 
 a pull on disreputable heelers, could 
 be employed by the city. Often 
 "friends of labor" taxed each fellow 
 laborer whose appointment they 
 secured in sums varying from 10 to 
 25 per cent of his pay. These are the 
 fellows who are introducing resolu- 
 tions condemnatory of the civil- 
 service law. Their old profits of dis- 
 honesty are abrogated by it. 
 
 It is a misfortune that many honest 
 workmen have been deceived by the 
 false representations of the political 
 laborers — the fellows who live by 
 plundering labor while professing to 
 love it. As a matter of fact, none but 
 simple questions are asked by the 
 civil-service commissioners of appli- 
 cants for workmen's places. As a 
 matter of fact, the civil-service sys- 
 tem gives to every workman of 
 ordinary intelligence, of good physi- 
 cal condition, and of good character, 
 an opportunity of entering the public 
 service without supplication of any 
 ward politician, and without payment 
 of blackmail to any miscalled "leader 
 of the labor element." The test to 
 which the civil-service commissioners 
 have invited the labor agitators will 
 be public; it cannot be refused by 
 them without exposure of their in- 
 sincerity, and it will manifest to the 
 honest and intelligent majority of 
 workmen the beneficial operation of 
 the new system. 
 
 Chicago Record, August 14, 1897 
 President Kraus' Good Work 
 
 People who may have been dis- 
 posed to doubt the practical efficiency 
 of the civil-service commission are 
 advised to take note of the work that 
 body is now doing in investigating 
 the water-office scandal. 
 
 President Kraus deserves the pub- 
 lic's hearty thanks for the way in 
 which he has used his authority in 
 undertaking the task of finding the 
 guilty men and bringing them to 
 justice. In one way or another in- 
 vestigations undertaken by partisan 
 officials have failed. If the offender 
 in a given case of rascality belongs to 
 the ruling administration or has been 
 appointed by it, the tendency is to 
 gloss over his offense and hide it. 
 If he belongs to the other party his 
 prosecution takes on the character of 
 a partisan crusade, and, even when 
 honestly begun, is liable to miscon- 
 struction. The attempt of politicians 
 of one party to punish politicians of 
 another party is hampered inevitably 
 by the suspicions as to the inspiring 
 motives. There can be no such ob- 
 jection in an investigation under- 
 taken by a nonpartisan commission 
 which, without loss of dignity or 
 prestige, uses its influence as it sees 
 best to protect the public from the 
 evils of corruption. 
 
 President Kraus has gone about 
 this task with a vim and energy high- 
 ly promising of satisfactory results. 
 The public will applaud and stand by 
 him in every move he makes to carry 
 on the fight and secure the punish- 
 ment of the thieves. If his effort is 
 successful, he will have done a great 
 deal to prove that the civil-service 
 commission, entirely apart from its 
 work in protecting good public offi- 
 cials, may be an immensely potent 
 factor in deterring the operations of 
 corruptionists and dishonest officials. 
 The men who stole and altered 
 specifications for public works and 
 the men who swindled the city out 
 of tax money should be made to 
 furnish a wholesome example. 
 
126 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 Chicago Record, August 17, 1897 
 
 President Kraus announced that 
 the civil-service commission has only 
 begun to get its pipes laid to reach the 
 roots of corruption in the city hall, 
 and that there is an investigation 
 about to begin wider and deeper than 
 anything the city hall has yet 
 witnessed. 
 
 This inquiry will be made by the 
 commission upon its own motion 
 without waiting for any one to take 
 the initiative, as has been the custom 
 hitherto, Mr. Kraus says, and officials 
 who went out of public service with 
 mire on their heels may expect that 
 their deeds will all be shown up be- 
 fore the end is reached. 
 
 "We have found all sorts of evi- 
 dence of fraud and plunder and mis- 
 management in the conduct of the 
 city's business wherever we have 
 been invited to make an investiga- 
 tion," said Mr. Kraus, and the 
 conviction has grown upon us that a 
 lot of these matters which rightly did 
 not enter into the inquiries we had on 
 would bear a closer individual scru- 
 tiny. As the evidences against offi- 
 cials and underlings began to multi- 
 ply, this was found to be absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
 In the Water Department 
 "This free for-all harpooning of 
 miscreants will not be delayed a 
 single day longer than is necessary to 
 dispose of the present work of sup- 
 planting old employes with the men 
 from among the civil-service eligibles, 
 and that means within a week or two. 
 There will be some surprises upon the 
 part of men who thought they had 
 covered up their tracks beyond sus- 
 picion. 
 
 "The water department will be the 
 storm center, and the sub-bureaus, 
 like water-extension and water meters 
 and water collections, will all be 
 turned upside down " 
 
 Chicago, III., Chronical 
 August 28, 1897 
 
 KRAUS PASSES ON COOKS 
 
 Civil Service Board President Has 
 a Novel Experience 
 
 He Examines a Host of applicants 
 for Police Station Service 
 
 Succinct Knowledge of Food Prepa- 
 ration is Evinced in His Questions 
 
 Many Janitors Who Aspire to Be 
 Chefs Go Through a Trying Ordeal 
 
 Within the last few days the follow- 
 ing announcement was bulletined at 
 the rooms of the civil service com- 
 missioners: 
 
 "Wanted — A janitor who can 
 cook." 
 
 Adolf Kraus, attorney, president 
 of the civil service board, public 
 speaker, scholar and lecturer, added 
 another to his list of accomplish- 
 ments and last night he was heralded 
 as the greatest cook connected with 
 Mayor Harrison's administration. 
 He conducted what amounted to a 
 cooking school yesterday, was emin- 
 ently successful in doing it and has 
 secured for the police department a 
 roster of first-class janitors who are 
 also first-class cooks. 
 
 Mr. Kraus' secret leaked out in a 
 peculiar manner, but when it was 
 discovered he stood up bravely under 
 the charge that he was a cook as well 
 as a lawyer and offered to sacrifice 
 himself and conduct the examination. 
 Some time ago Chief Kipley asked the 
 commission for a cook for the Harri- 
 son Street police station. He was in- 
 formed that the commission had no 
 cooks on its list, but would a janitor 
 do? 
 
 Double Duty for Janitors 
 
 The commission said it could fur- 
 nish any number of janitors. Chief 
 Kipley said a janitor would not do 
 and asked permission to name the 
 cook himself from the crowd of politi- 
 cal friends clamoring for recognition. 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
 127 
 
 The commission refused the proposi- 
 tion, but volunteered to find a com- 
 petent cook in the list of janitors. All 
 of the men on the list eligible for 
 appointment as janitors were called 
 in and told to be ready yesterday to 
 take an examination in the art of 
 food preparation. 
 
 Accordingly the examination was 
 held President Kraus confided to his 
 intimate friends that the wearied look 
 in his face came from an all-night 
 session with the cook at his own home, 
 from whom he had tried to get 
 enough practical ideas to fortify him- 
 self for the encounter with the janitors 
 who aspired to be police station chefs. 
 
 The examination was naturally 
 amusing. The candidates looking for 
 jobs were no more embarrassed or 
 frightened than the dignified attorney 
 who catechized them. Mr. Kraus 
 helped many a candidate over a hard 
 question by asking it in a way that 
 answered it, because he was afraid he 
 had not stated it as plainly as might 
 be desired by the cook. 
 
 Candidates Answer Queries 
 
 One candidate, a colored man, is 
 reported to have stood the ordeal as 
 follows: 
 
 "How would you prepare boiled 
 potatoes with the skins on?" asked 
 the examiner. 
 
 "Well, sah, I'd take them potatoes, 
 with the skins on, did you say'? Well 
 I'd take 'em and I'd put 'em in a pot 
 an' I'd just — I'd just — boil 'em, sah; 
 that's what I'd do." 
 
 "Is it best to boil them in hot or 
 cold water? Should the water be hot 
 or cold to start with?" 
 
 "Well, sah, that's jest as you like 
 it. Some folks likes 'em one way and 
 some likes 'em another." 
 
 "What kind of water makes the 
 potatoes blue sometimes?" 
 
 "Well, sah, sometimes one kind 
 and sometimes anothah kind does 
 dat. Yeh cain't always tell about dat, 
 sah." 
 
 "How would you prepare beef 
 broth?" 
 
 "Beef broth? Well, sah, I'd git the 
 beef fust, cause dat's de most import- 
 antest thing aboot it all. Den I'd take 
 
 a pot o' watah and den jist prepah it, 
 sah, dat's all." 
 
 "How much coffee would be re- 
 quired to furnish six cups of such 
 liquid?" 
 
 "Well, sah, dat depends on whose 
 coffee it is. Out to mah house it 
 wouldn't tek much, sah, but ohdin- 
 ahily it'd tek about a cup and a half." 
 
 "What, for six people?" 
 
 "Oh, six? I thought you all said 
 sixty. Foh six people I'd only tek 
 one cupful." 
 
 Many Men Are Examined 
 
 There were more such answers as 
 these and President Kraus ran 
 through a list of sixty or seventy- 
 five candidates with about the same 
 results. Some of them said the best 
 way to boil potatoes with the jackets 
 on was to put salt in the kettle, and 
 one applicant said the best coffee 
 could be obtained by making it one 
 night and letting it stand to be 
 warmed over the next morning. But 
 he assured the examiner he could 
 make "a plain meal good enough for 
 you or any other person, Mr. Kraus." 
 
 Many men in the list claimed to 
 have been cooks in Chicago hotels, on 
 Pullman and Wagner cars, in hunting 
 and fishing camps and elsewhere. 
 Mr. Kraus marked each candidate 
 as he concluded his examination and 
 at 2 o'clock was so completely ex- 
 hausted with the work that he had to 
 retire to his home to rest for the re- 
 mainder of the day. The successful 
 candidate on the list will be chosen 
 this week and will be given the 
 position of "janitor and cook" at the 
 Harrison street station. 
 
 Chicago Post, August 28, 1897 
 KRAUS SORE PERPLEXED 
 
 Head of Civil Service Board Has Pro- 
 cession of Troubles 
 
 Adolf Kraus was on the point of 
 tendering his resignation as a mem- 
 ber of the civil service commission to- 
 day. The day proved to be one suc- 
 cession of troubles for him and he 
 grew weary and was sorely perplexed. 
 
128 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 At the outset he was disturbed by 
 the appearance of the names of 
 "Cooney the Fox" with the hand- 
 some average of 95 on the eligible list 
 of brick masons. "Cooney" figured 
 prominently as a hypothetical pro- 
 position in the Cronin case, but was 
 able to avoid entering a personal 
 appearance at the trial of the others 
 indicted for the murder of Dr. Cronin. 
 Mr. Kraus, however, dislikes the 
 odor of scandal no less than the real 
 thing. Inquiry developed the fact 
 that "Cooney" lives at 101 Huron 
 street, and is now and has been for 
 some time working for the city, and, 
 what is more to the point in his case, 
 he is a good mason. 
 
 This matter had scarcely been dis- 
 posed of before Mr. Kraus was called 
 to the telephone by the head of the 
 ancient and honorable body of high 
 cooks, who proceeded to call him to 
 account for the manner in which he 
 conducted the examination of janitor- 
 cooks yesterday. He resented the 
 aspersions cast upon his knowledge 
 of the duties of cooks. For a short 
 time the wires sizzled with the heat of 
 argument. In the end Mr. Kraus 
 offered to meet the champion of the 
 culinary art and apprentice him as a 
 cook. 
 
 At this point in the progress of his 
 official duties the head of the com- 
 mission was informed that he had 
 been hoodwinked and beaten at his 
 own game by the democratic par- 
 tisans and members of the Star 
 League, who have been the cause of 
 much trouble and a great deal of 
 anxiety to the commission. He had 
 contributed a $12 gold-headed um- 
 brella to the prize list for the demo- 
 cratic picnic to-day, and was cha- 
 grined to know that it was offered in 
 a contest between sixty-day men. 
 
 This was the last straw. 
 
 Chicago III., Inter Ocean, 
 August 29, 1897 
 
 Delegates from the labor organiza- 
 tion known as the Cooks' union 
 waited on President Kraus yesterday 
 morning and complained that he had 
 violated the provisions of the civil- 
 
 service law in examining janitors to 
 act as cooks in police stations without 
 giving the usual two weeks' notice 
 that the examination was to be held 
 President Kraus declares the law was 
 not violated, as the men examined had 
 already passed the examination for 
 janitors, and no new applicants were 
 allowed to enter. If it had been a 
 new examination the usual two weeks' 
 notice would have been required. 
 
 Chicago Tribune, September 2, 1897 
 POLICE GUARD KRAUS' OFFICE 
 
 Discharged Employes from the Water 
 
 Pipe Extension Department Make 
 
 Threats and Are Ousted 
 
 President Kraus of the Civil Ser- 
 vice commission had to send for the 
 police yesterday to guard his rooms. 
 Early in the day they were invaded 
 by forty laborers in the water pipe 
 extension department, who had just 
 been discharged to make room for 
 civil service appointees. They had 
 called on the cashier in the water 
 office for the money due them, and 
 had been told it was not there because 
 the Civil Service commission was 
 keeping the pay-rolls back. 
 
 Then they invaded the rooms of 
 the commission. They blamed that 
 body anyhow for their discharge, and 
 were not in too amiable a frame of 
 mind. 
 
 President Kraus told them the 
 pay-rolls were not there, but they 
 would not believe him, and threats 
 were made, and trouble seemed im- 
 minent until the police were sent for. 
 They cleared the room. 
 
 The secretary of the commission 
 then took the men back to the water 
 office, and the cashier was forced to 
 acknowledge he had not sent the 
 pay-rolls to the commission. It has 
 become a common thing around the 
 City Hall for subofficials to unload 
 the blame for all things on the Civil 
 Service commission, in the hope of 
 making it unpopular. 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
 129 
 
 Chicago Record, September 3, 1897 
 Merit System and the School Board 
 
 At Wednesday night's session of 
 the board of education a letter from 
 President Kraus of the civil-service 
 commission, asking that the employes 
 of the board be placed under the 
 merit system in accordance with the 
 civil-service law, was received in ex- 
 actly the same spirit with which 
 similar propositions have been met 
 by the "gang" element in the city 
 council. It was laughed at and sent 
 to a committee, presumably to be 
 shelved there indefinitely. 
 
 Until the members of the board who 
 prompted this course can show that 
 their action was instigated by some- 
 thing else than the professional poli- 
 tician's habitual yearning to ladle 
 out patronage they must expect to 
 be classed by disinterested citizens 
 
 with the regular office peddlers of the 
 city hall. There is abundant reason 
 to believe with President Kraus that 
 the civil-service law legally covers the 
 positions which are at present open 
 for free use in the barter and sale of 
 politics. In any event, supposing 
 even that this point were in doubt, 
 the school board if honestly desirous 
 of forwarding the merit system 
 would have been disposed to help the 
 civil-service commission and work 
 with it, instead of meeting its efforts 
 at once with opposition and ridicule. 
 The public will stand by the presi- 
 dent of the commission in all that he 
 does toward testing the availability 
 of the merit law as regards employes 
 of the board of education. It will 
 applaud him heartily if on finding 
 that the law is on his side he compels 
 the board to obey it and secures the 
 punishment of those who seek to 
 stand in its way. 
 
 The Courts sustained Kraus. 
 
 Chicago Journal, September 8, 1897 
 
 THE CIVIL-SERVICE CRISIS 
 
 If Chairman Kraus is forced from 
 the civil-service commission the act 
 will admit of but one construction. 
 All the explanations of democratic 
 politicians can not suffice to sustain 
 the distinction they are trying to make 
 between the man and the principle. 
 The man is the principle, just as his 
 predecessor was. He is objectionable 
 on that account, just as his predecess- 
 or was. In spite of persistent dis- 
 claimers, it was evident when the 
 original changes in the commission 
 were made that the purpose was to 
 permit of greater latitude in the con- 
 struction of the law, and the hostility 
 toward Mr. Kraus demonstrates how 
 well-founded the suspicions excited 
 at that time were. The "workers" 
 want in his position no man who will 
 do his duty. 
 
 The opposition is personified in an 
 individual who is a perfect illustra- 
 tion of its character and its aims. 
 While the great majority of the voters 
 of Chicago have been earning a living 
 
 by productive labor this man has 
 taken his chances at organizing ward 
 meetings, looking after primaries and 
 political picnics, promising jobs to 
 hangers-on, seeing the boys, etc. A 
 more useless member of society it 
 would be difficult to imagine. His 
 hope has always been that some turn 
 of the wheel would procure him a 
 sinecure, and a sinecure he now has. 
 Today he is in receipt of a large in- 
 come for which he does absolutely 
 nothing. 
 
 All his energies are devoted to the 
 perpetuation of a political machine 
 from which he and his friends may 
 derive more rewards in the future. 
 He is busy enough and too busy, but 
 it is solely for the purpose of carrying 
 off the spoils. Whatever his objec- 
 tions may be to Mr. Kraus personally, 
 we may be sure that a deep and un- 
 dying hatred of civil-service reform is 
 as natural to him as the air he 
 breathes. 
 
 And so it is with the whole class to 
 which he belongs. These spoilsmen 
 demand that the mayor shall make 
 a farce of the law for their dear sake. 
 
130 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 They tell him that if he does not he 
 will mortally offend all the democrats 
 of Chicago. But how many democrats 
 are there in Chicago who belong to 
 their devoted band, or who depend, 
 or would like to depend, upon politics 
 for a living? Five or six thousand, 
 perhaps, and this in a voting popula- 
 tion of 360,000. The average demo- 
 crat cares no more for them or their 
 fate than he does for the same kind 
 of gentry in the other party. The 
 politics of the minor employes about 
 the city hall or any other public 
 building is a matter of complete in- 
 difference to him. He is, we may be 
 sure, on the side of Commissioner 
 Kraus, and against the holder of the 
 sinecure and the impertinent jacka- 
 napes whose gabble has brought 
 matters to an issue. 
 
 Chicago Post, September 8, 1897 
 
 MAYOR HARRISON AND MERIT 
 
 SYSTEM 
 
 It is difficult to understand Mayor 
 Harrison's toleration of the unseemly 
 war being waged on the civil service 
 commission by the base pack of poli- 
 ticians who infest the city hall. Dur- 
 ing the summer these votaries of the 
 spoils system, these insatiate party 
 leaches, have swarmed about the 
 city departments clamoring for jobs 
 and demanding the abrogation of the 
 merit system, that they might gorge 
 at the public crib. They have not 
 hesitated to ask the mayor to violate 
 his oath of office in order to break 
 down the barriers between them and 
 the pay rolls. In answer to their 
 clamor that the merit system was in 
 the hands of their political opponents 
 Mayor Harrison removed Commis- 
 sioners Clark and Hotz. They de- 
 manded Secretary Phelps' scalp and 
 they got it. 
 
 Just as far as Mayor Harrison 
 could legally go in reconstructing the 
 merit system to satisfy the greed of 
 spoilsmen he went. He appointed a 
 new commission consisting of two 
 democrats, personal friends of his 
 own, and a republican who had no 
 "fanatical ideas of reform" to stand 
 in the way of administering the civil 
 
 service law with democratic laxity. 
 More than this Mayor Harrison 
 could not do, even if the office 
 grabbers howled and his corporation 
 counsel fulminated against the law. 
 There the law stood — something he 
 could not overlook or nullify if he 
 would, and to his credit, be it said, 
 he has shown no disposition to do so. 
 
 On the contrary, Mayor Harri- 
 sons' appointment of Commissioners 
 Kraus and Winston, two democrats 
 in close affiliation with his own politi- 
 cal family, has been taken as a 
 guaranty that he cherished no 
 thought of violating the strict letter 
 of the law. Through them he mere- 
 ly sought to have the law inter- 
 preted by commissioners not inimical 
 to the democratic party. This he 
 had a right to expect. But from 
 Messrs. Kraus and Winston he could 
 expect no more. Mr. Kraus especially 
 is not the kind of a public official 
 whose interpretation of official duty 
 can be bent to suit partisan ends. 
 He and his associates have sought to 
 administer the merit system accord- 
 ing to the law. This being clear and 
 definite in its provisions, their regu- 
 lations and proceedings under it 
 have not differed in any essential 
 feature from those of their prede- 
 cessors. 
 
 This naturally enraged the expect- 
 ant job hunters, whose real grievance 
 was not against a particular enforce- 
 ment of the merit system, but against 
 any rule or regulation whatever that 
 excluded them from the pay rolls. 
 They have therefore renewed their 
 assaults upon the civil service com- 
 missioners, utterly unmindful. 
 
 Chicago Tribune, September 9, 1897 
 
 THE CIVIL SERVICE 
 COMMISSION 
 
 The Burkes, Thorntons, and other 
 Democratic spoils politicians are us- 
 ing all their powers of persuasion with 
 the Mayor to get him to reorganize 
 the Civil Service commission so that 
 it will be obedient to them and allow 
 the law under which it acts to be set 
 at naught. 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
 131 
 
 The independence which has been 
 displayed by Mr. Kraus and his 
 colleagues has infuriated those pro- 
 fessional politicians. Nevertheless, 
 Mr. Kraus is not going to hand in his 
 resignation and it does not look as if 
 the Mayor was going to ask him to 
 do so or hint at his willingness to 
 accept a resignation. Undoubtedly 
 the Mayor would like to oblige Burke 
 and the other Democrats who are 
 insisting that civil service will be the 
 death of the party. But he knows 
 that interferences with a commission 
 which is simply discharging its duty 
 will create much greater disturbance 
 than will be caused by a refusal to 
 comply with Burke's demands. 
 
 Chicago, III., Inter Ocean, 
 September 20, 1897 
 
 KRAUS SPEAKS HIS MIND 
 
 Denounces Brennock in Scathing 
 Terms for His Language 
 
 President Kraus of the civil-service 
 commission, when seen last night at 
 his residence, No. 4518 Drexel boule- 
 vard, seemed much surprised when 
 informed that the Chicago Federa- 
 tion of Labor had indorsed the resolu- 
 tions criticising the commission for 
 its alleged action in connection with 
 the Maxwell strike, and evinced some 
 warmth when Delegate Brennock's 
 remarks were repeated to him. 
 
 "Any man who will get up in a 
 meeting and make such a speech as 
 that and introduce such a resolution 
 under the existing circumstances is 
 simply a dirty dog," he remarked 
 deliberately. 
 
 "I don't know who this man Bren- 
 nock is, but if he reads the news- 
 papers he must know that the com- 
 mission has not done what he charges. 
 It is a willful lie for any one to say 
 that the commission interfered in any 
 way in the Maxwell strike, for im- 
 mediately upon receipt of the request 
 from Maxwell Bros, for 1,000 of the 
 civil-service men, the request was 
 flatly refused on the ground that the 
 commission had no right to interfere 
 in any strike in that way. 
 
 "I stated that while I would be 
 glad to help those who had no work 
 to obtain it in new fields of labor, I 
 would under no circumstances permit 
 the civil-service commission to be 
 used as a weapon by any one in a 
 strike. Every paper in Chicago pub- 
 lished this statement, and when in 
 the face of that fact men can be 
 found who will manufacture lies out 
 of whole cloth and who can influence 
 honest laborers, be they ever so few, 
 to believe these fabrications and in- 
 duce labor unions to commit them- 
 selves to false and scandalous charges, 
 they simply injure the cause of labor 
 and no one else. 
 
 "This is to be regretted, because 
 the cause of labor is entitled to, and 
 ought to receive, the sympathy and 
 good will of every one. It would, in 
 my estimation, be a good thing for 
 honest workmen to get rid of such 
 men as this Brennock seems to be." 
 
 Mr. Kraus also denied in the most 
 emphatic terms that he had ever 
 "insulted" any representatives of the 
 labor unions. 
 
 Chicago News, September 21, 1897 
 Unwise Friends of Labor 
 
 Some days ago Maxwell Bros, of 
 this city requested the civil-service 
 commissioners to supply them with 
 a number of laborers from the official 
 list of eligibles. The commissioners 
 prudently inquired whether or not 
 the workmen of Maxwell Bros, were 
 on a strike. Mr. Maxwell replied 
 that there was a strike. Thereupon 
 the commissioners unanimously de- 
 cided that they would not permit 
 their office to be used for any such 
 purpose, and directed the commis- 
 sion's clerks in case Maxwell Bros, 
 should apply for the addresses of 
 laborers on the eligible list not to 
 furnish them. They further declared 
 that they would be pleased to help the 
 unemployed on their list to obtain 
 work in any new fields of labor, but 
 would under no circumstances send 
 men to take the place of strikers, as 
 the law did not charge them with any 
 such duty. This action of the com- 
 
132 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 mission was published in the news- 
 papers. 
 
 Thereupon the Building Trades 
 council adopted resolutions setting 
 forth that the commissioners offered 
 to send laborers to Maxwell Bros, to 
 take the place of strikers, and con- 
 demned the chairman of the commis- 
 sion for such alleged interference. 
 This action of the council is worse 
 than foolish. No cause can prosper 
 when it adopts falsehood as its foun- 
 dation stone. All well-meaning citi- 
 zens will gladly support every legiti- 
 mate effort to aid the cause of labor. 
 That cause, however, can only be in- 
 jured and in no way benefited by its 
 unwise friends (?) who introduce and 
 carry resolutions based on a tissue of 
 falsehoods. 
 
 If the council acted on misstate- 
 ments made by the disappointed 
 office- seekers who have shown such 
 venomous animosity to the civil- 
 service commission of late, without 
 making proper inquiry as to the facts, 
 it showed an unreasoning and un- 
 justifiable readiness to take up any 
 charge against a body whose services 
 are of vital value to all citizens and 
 whose conduct has not been of a 
 character to justify the adoption of 
 such resolutions without careful in- 
 vestigation and ample verification 
 of the charges. 
 
 Chicago Post, September 23, 1897 
 
 NAGGING AT COMMISSIONER 
 
 KRAUS 
 
 Whether Chairman Kraus will be 
 nagged out of the civil service com- 
 mission is a question that all depends 
 on Mr. Kraus' endurance of nagging. 
 How long he can stand the persistent 
 irritation of petty malice and adverse 
 sentiment that prevails in the city 
 hall remains to be seen. He is well 
 armed with a courageous resolve to 
 uphold the spirit of the civil service 
 law, and possesses the strong virile 
 nature that hardens before opposition 
 and difficulties. 
 
 But it is not surer that dropping 
 water will wear away stone than that 
 constant nagging will eventually irri- 
 tate and finally overcome the strong- 
 
 est nature. There would be more 
 hope that Mr. Kraus would tri- 
 umphantly survive the ordeal to 
 which he is exposed were his virtues 
 of a more pliable character. He has 
 not enough of the cheerfulness under 
 fire that is such a relief to the strain 
 on weaker men. He stands up to the 
 rack for the merit system boldly and 
 fearlessly and lets the waves of 
 hostile criticism break over his head 
 as if he positively enjoyed it. 
 
 This would be all very well if Mr. 
 Kraus were certain of the sympathy 
 and, in the crucial hour, of the 
 friendship of Mayor Harrison. But 
 the mayor refuses to turn his hand 
 to relieve the civil service commission 
 of the political pressure that closes 
 about it like the folds of a deadly 
 serpent. In the struggle between Mr. 
 Kraus and a contumacious secretary 
 of the commissioner of public works 
 the mayor preserves an exasperating 
 neutrality that brings the entire 
 discipline of his administration into 
 contempt. If he had a proper regard 
 for the dignity and efficiency of the 
 civil service commission Mayor Harri- 
 son would break Mr. Lutzenkirchen's 
 silence or break his official neck. 
 
 It is scandalous that both the 
 mayor and the commissioner of public 
 works should permit a cheap subor- 
 dinate to cause an amount of friction 
 that threatens the usefulness of a 
 system involving the best hopes of 
 civic government. 
 
 Chicago, III., Inter Ocean, 
 
 October 7, 1897 
 
 Municipal Civil Service 
 
 Mr. Edwin Burritt Smith delivered 
 an address yesterday before the social 
 economic conference on city govern- 
 ment, which contained some points of 
 great interest. But the one point of 
 especial interest relates to the civil- 
 service situation in Chicago, which 
 Mr. Smith correctly characterized as 
 critical and of special interest. 
 
 Chicago made an auspicious start 
 in the way of civil-service reform 
 applied to muncipal government, and 
 is in no small danger of a breakdown. 
 As Mr. Smith says, Mayor Harrison 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 
 
 133 
 
 was elected as a spoilsman, and he 
 regards the civil-service board as 
 owing direct obligation to him, per- 
 sonally and politically. The Smith 
 idea is that the commission should 
 no more be part and parcel of the 
 city administration, politically speak- 
 ing, than the Supreme court of the 
 United States is an element in the 
 administration of the President; the 
 Harrison idea is that two of the three 
 commissioners should belong to the 
 mayor's cabinet. 
 
 The extent to which Mr. Harrison 
 will carry his theory is still uncertain. 
 His policy has been seriously hindered 
 in bringing forth its normal fruit by 
 the strong personality of Commis- 
 sioner Kraus, who is entitled to the 
 credit of being a sincere friend of the 
 law. He had never shown any special 
 interest in the reform, so far as we 
 know. He was not a professional re- 
 former, certainly. But he is an honor- 
 able man who, if he undertook any 
 obligation, would discharge it con- 
 scientiously. Having undertaken to 
 act as president of the civil-service 
 
 board of Chicago he was true to the 
 duties of the position. How it will all 
 come out is still problematic. If he 
 succeeds in keeping the wolves out 
 of the sheepfold during the entire 
 Harrison term of office he will do a 
 great service to the public. 
 
 The critical period in Chicago civil- 
 service reform is likely to continue, 
 and perhaps become more and more 
 critical as time advances, until after 
 we have had at least one more election 
 for mayor. 
 
 The address of Mr. Smith was still 
 more noticeable for what it did not 
 say. He failed to inform the confer- 
 ence that the candidate for mayor 
 who openly and unblushingly catered 
 to the spoils element for support owed 
 his election to the refusal of the very 
 men who talked the loudest for re- 
 form to support the candidate who 
 stood squarely for the law, diverting 
 their votes to a candidate who at no 
 time had the remotest chance of 
 election. Perhaps he was too modest 
 to indulge in anything bordering on 
 autobiography. 
 
 One day a certain John B. Clarke, who held the 
 position of Corporation Inspector, under a previous 
 administration, came to inquire when an examination 
 for Corporation Inspectors would he held. The Com- 
 missioner then on duty in the office was Mr. Winston, 
 who said that the office of Corporation Inspector was 
 among the last for which examinations would be held. 
 Clarke became angry and so insulting that Mr. Winston 
 was obliged to call the officer in charge of the ante 
 room and order him to remove Clarke from the office. 
 
 About the same time the Board had considerable 
 trouble with one Lutzenkerchin, who held an important 
 office in the city administration, had considerable 
 political pull, and was a favorite of the Mayor. The 
 Board cited him before it to answer certain questions, 
 which he refused to do. A bill was filed by the Com- 
 
134 REMINISCENCES 
 
 missioners in the Circuit Court to compel Lutzenker- 
 chen to answer. The papers gave the proceedings 
 considerable publicity and predicted that the Mayor 
 would ask for my resignation, which he was being urged 
 to do by politicians who were unable to secure for their 
 henchmen the customary political jobs. The news- 
 papers lined up on the side of the controversy that was 
 favorable to me, and urged my retention in the office. 
 I realized that the Mayor was in an embarrassing 
 position; on one side the Democratic bosses, who were 
 of course powerful politically, were clamoring for my 
 resignation ; on the other side was the press, his personal 
 friendship for me and close and friendly relationship 
 which had so long existed between his father and myself. 
 The Mayor had not taken a positive position in favor 
 of the Commission, and the hope I once had of his 
 political preferment through his inauguration and en- 
 forcement of a great reform measure had quite faded 
 away. So I went to the Mayor and said: ''I have 
 tried my best to make your administration a success. 
 I fear that my holding the position longer is a useless 
 sacrifice on my part. I want to resign, but am willing 
 to continue if you think it is to your advantage to do so. 
 Mr. Harrison answered, "I have not asked for your 
 resignation and have no intention of doing so, but if 
 you wish to resign it may possibly relieve the situation." 
 "Very well," I said, "I resign now." This was on 
 February 17, 1898, and on February 18th the Mayor 
 appointed Mr. Robert Lindblom a member of the 
 Board, and Mr. Winston was elected president. 
 
 The Commissioners, under the law, had the power 
 to adopt rules, and the rules so adopted after publica- 
 tion for thirty days had all the force of law. Among 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 135 
 
 the rules adopted by the first Board of Commissioners 
 was one to the effect that no man should be qualified 
 for the position of police officer who measured less than 
 five feet eight inches in height. At an examination 
 for police officers held some weeks prior to the incident 
 of John B. Clarke's being ordered removed from the 
 Commissioners' office, the physicians in charge of the 
 examination, Doctors F. Kreissl, William Cuthbertson, 
 Maurice L. Goodkind and A. R. Edwards, all physicians 
 of good repute, certified that among the candidates for 
 office the twenty-six men best qualified physically and 
 mentally measured more than five feet seven but less 
 than five feet eight inches in height, and that therefore, 
 under the rules, they could not be accepted. After 
 carefully considering the situation the Commissioners 
 adopted a resolution amending the rule so as to change 
 the height requirement from five feet eight inches to 
 five feet seven inches. That amended rule was unan- 
 imously adopted and the secretary of the Board was 
 ordered to have the amended rule published for not 
 less than thirty days, and action upon the examination 
 of policemen was continued for forty days. After the 
 forty days elapsed the Board, believing that the new 
 rule was in force, allowed those twenty-six men to be 
 certified as policemen. 
 
 At the time Clarke was ordered out of the Commis- 
 sioners' office he happened to be a member of the 
 grand jury which was then in session. He introduced 
 a resolution in the grand jury that the Civil Service 
 Board be investigated. This was adopted and he was 
 appointed chairman of the committee to investigate. 
 In the investigation that followed it was discovered 
 that the secretary had neglected to publish the amended 
 
136 REMINISCENCES 
 
 rule adopted by the Board, and every member of the 
 Board was indicted on two counts; one charging that 
 they had permitted a man (naming him) to become a 
 policeman who did not measure five feet eight inches 
 in height but measured only (as shown by the records 
 of the Board) five feet seven and three quarter inches 
 in height, and the other, charging that the Board had 
 failed to hold an examination for Corporation Inspec- 
 tors. As soon as the Grand Jury had voted the indict- 
 ment, State's Attorney Deneen called up the Commis- 
 sioners and informed them of the fact. The Commis- 
 sioners promptly made arrangements to apply for a 
 writ of habeas corpus and then went to the office of 
 the State's Attorney and asked to be considered under 
 arrest. I said to the State's Attorney: "A writ of 
 habeas corpus issued by Judge Dunne will be served 
 in a few minutes. We do not wish to make any de- 
 fense on technicalities. Tomorrow morning the papers 
 will publish the news that we have been indicted. We 
 would like to have it published at the same time that 
 at our request you agreed that we should be tried to- 
 morrow. If we are tried before Judge Dunne, our 
 enemies will claim that we selected him because we 
 believed that he would be friendly to us. The only 
 favor we ask in addition to the one that we may be 
 tried at once, is that you should select two judges to 
 sit with Judge Dunne to try us. We believe that we 
 have conscientiously performed our duties and so be- 
 lieving, we think we are justified in making this request." 
 State's Attorney Deneen promptly acceded to our re- 
 quest, selected Judges Arba Waterman and Francis 
 Adams to sit with Judge Dunne in the trial of the case, 
 and assigned Albert C. Barnes his first assistant (now 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 137 
 
 Chief Justice of the Appellate Court) to prosecute. 
 The case was tried the next day. 
 
 The judges delivered written opinions, which the 
 Civil Service Board ordered printed in its annual re- 
 port of 1898, pages 204 to 215. The opinions delivered 
 by the judges were in part as follows: 
 
 Judge Waterman — 
 
 " Now it is unnecessary to say anything about the indictment 
 as to the corporation inspectors, because the State has abandoned 
 that and does not ask for any conviction under it. It seems to 
 me that owing to the way this trial has been had, all the circum- 
 stances that surround it, that it calls for something additional 
 to be said. It appears here that these Commissioners have 
 worked under very disadvantageous circumstances. They have 
 been crammed into rooms which were furnished for their ac- 
 commodation. The statement of Mr. Kraus of the scene in 
 the room when this rule reducing the height was enacted, shows 
 at once how insufficient was their accommodation; that they 
 three were up in one corner of a little room about 14 x 16 feet, 
 and the clerks and from thirty to forty persons, applicants, were 
 in another part of the room, and there this Commission had to 
 transact its business. They were cramped in their funds, so 
 that they were not able to have as much help as they required, 
 and they were besieged by an eager horde who made their lives 
 miserable and occupied their time with incessant demands that 
 they be given positions in the service of the City. It seems to 
 me that the people of this City have been extremely fortunate 
 in the class of men that they have had to administer this law. 
 I may say myself that I have always been a civil service man, and 
 that I regard the tendency to adopt civil service systems in the 
 governments of the various States of the Union and the Federal 
 Administration as the most hopeful sign there is in American 
 politics. For my part I think this country has just reached the 
 time which is to determine, for it never has been determined in 
 the history of the world, whether a great nation occupying an 
 empire in a territory of at least seventy millions of people, 
 whether a great nation like that can exist under a free Demo- 
 cratic and Republican form of government, and I am very well 
 satisfied myself that it cannot, unless we come to a civil service 
 system in the employment of the officials who are to serve their 
 respective governments, and so I say for my part I think the 
 people of this City ought to be congratulated on the very high 
 character of the men who have been willing to serve the com- 
 
138 REMINISCENCES 
 
 munity as Civil Service Commissioners. I don't know where 
 you would have found three men of higher character than were 
 in the first commission, nor do I know where you would have 
 found men of higher character than the present Commission. 
 I regretted very much that the old Commission was removed, 
 but I was very glad indeed to see the character of the men who 
 had been appointed in their places." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "While I know not as to what sins they may have been guilty 
 of which are undiscovered, I do say that the evidence here dis- 
 closes that these Commissioners are entitled to the thanks of 
 the community for all they have undertaken and for what they 
 have done. They had to be hardened against swearing men 
 and crying women. They had to steel themselves against the 
 prayers of ragged and shoeless children and the fists and threats 
 of desperate men, and that they have done as well as they did, 
 carried out the law as faithfully, as appears from the evidence 
 they have, and put so large a proportion of the employes of this 
 City under the classified service, seems to me to entitle them to 
 the thanks of the community. It appears today that ninety- 
 five per cent of the employes of the City are under the Civil 
 Service rules and regulations, and that by the munificent opera- 
 tions of this law, under the reign of the old Commission and the 
 present Commission, something like three millions of dollars 
 per annum is saved to the taxpayers of this City in the matter 
 of salaries alone. I think this is something for which the people 
 of this City have reason to be grateful, and that they ought to 
 bestow a little of that gratitude upon the members of the past 
 and present Commission. 
 
 "The trouble in our country is not at all that men of high 
 character are too willing to take office. Such offices as these I 
 may say, in a great city like Chicago, among men of high charac- 
 ter, go begging. The offices which men of wealth and standing 
 and high character are willing to take are those that are away 
 up. There could be thousands of men of high character found 
 who would be willing to go as minister to England. It is not 
 these fine men that are willing to occupy such positions for the 
 salary that is paid, such positions as Jury Commissioners and 
 Civil Service Commissioners, and when such men are found it 
 seems to me that their acts are at least by the community to be 
 treated with charitable consideration." 
 
 Judge Dunne: — "In the indictment assigned to me let there 
 be a finding that both defendants are not guilty, and judgment 
 on the finding, and they are discharged from custody." 
 
 Judge Adams: — "In the matter of the petition of Hemp- 
 stead Washburne for the writ of habeas corpus, the petitioner, 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 139 
 
 together with Adolf Kraus and Dudley Winston, was arrested 
 on two indictments. These indictments are pending, one each 
 before Judges Dunne and Waterman. It was stipulated that 
 the petition should be heard on the evidence produced on the 
 trial of the defendants under the indictments. This makes it 
 necessary to consider all the evidence, although one indictment 
 has been abandoned. The petitioner and his co-defendants 
 were Civil Service Commissioners appointed and serving under 
 an Act known as the ' Civil Service Act, approved and in force 
 March 20, 1895.' The Act provides that any person who shall 
 willfully or through culpable negligence violate any of its pro- 
 visions, or any rule promulgated in accordance with any of its 
 provisions, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, etc. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "I am of the opinion that there has been no violation of the 
 Act, either willful or by culpable negligence, as charged in the 
 indictment. 
 
 "I fully agree in what Judge WATERMAN has said with 
 regard to the character of the gentlemen who have been Com- 
 missioners of Civil Service. I think all will agree that no six 
 more reputable gentlemen can be found in this community than 
 the three who constituted the former Board of Civil Service 
 Commissioners, and those who compose the present Board. If 
 we cannot trust them, then we may as well say, as Dido said to 
 Aeneas, ' Nusquam tuta fides' — no confidence to be placed in 
 anybody anywhere. 
 
 "The Petitioner, Hempstead Washburne, will be discharged." 
 
 Judge Dunne: — "I have no occasion, gentlemen, to add any- 
 thing to the remarks of the two gentlemen who occupy the 
 bench with me. We are all convinced, from a careful examina- 
 tion of this record, that neither one of these defendants is guilty 
 of any technical violation of law, or any violation of morals. 
 The order in the case, therefore, will be in the habeas corpus case 
 that the relator will be discharged, and in the criminal cases, 
 not guilty in both cases." 
 
 At the disposition of the proceedings against the 
 Commissioners as above indicated, the Chicago Chroni- 
 cle published an editorial severely condemning Clarke 
 for the part he had taken in the affair, and Clarke sued 
 the Chronicle for twenty-five thousand dollars damages. 
 Shortly afterwards he enlisted in the Spanish American 
 war, and when the case came up for trial he obtained 
 
140 REMINISCENCES 
 
 leave of absence and appeared in court in a captain's 
 uniform. The Chronicle, in defending the case, justi- 
 fied the editorial on the ground that everything it 
 published concerning Clarke was true. The jury so 
 found, and Clarke lost the case. 
 
 When Lindblom was appointed to succeed me 
 Washburne refused to serve with him and resigned, 
 Adolph F. Gartz being appointed in his place. A few 
 days later John M. Glen, the secretary, also resigned. 
 
 During the first week in April, Mr. Winston, com- 
 pletely worn out from overwork, left for a vacation and 
 died of heart failure on the train that was bearing him 
 to join his family. Thus all of the members of the 
 second Civil Service Commission were eliminated, one 
 by death and two by resignation. 
 
 Messrs. Lindblom and Gartz, the surviving members 
 of the Commission, called a memorial meeting to which 
 Mr. Washburne and myself were invited, and having 
 been requested to prepare resolutions on the death of 
 Mr. Winston I presented the following: 
 
 "On April 11, 1898, the President of the Board of Civil 
 Service Commissioners of the City of Chicago, Dudley Winston, 
 died, while on the way to join his family at New York. 
 
 "He was born in 1865, in the city of Chicago. He was the 
 son of Frederick H. Winston, late minister to Persia, and follow- 
 ing early in life the example of his father, he devoted his best ener- 
 gies to public service. To this he brought a mind equipped with 
 knowledge and an intellect strong and clear in judgment, and 
 all the resources and strength gained from his thorough appre- 
 ciation of the exceptional advantages of training and education 
 which he improved to the utmost. After a thorough preparation 
 for college he entered Yale University and graduated with the 
 degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1886. 
 
 "His genial character won friendship, and his sterling abilities 
 and judgment commanded admiration in every walk of life into 
 which he entered. When he was asked to undertake the duties 
 of the office of a Civil Service Commissioner of the City of Chicago 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 141 
 
 he held an enviable place in the hearts and estimation of a large 
 circle of social and business friends and acquaintances. The 
 position which he accepted proved to be one of even more ardu- 
 ous work and exacting nature than he or anyone else had antici- 
 pated, although he accepted the position knowing, as did every- 
 one else, that the conditions affecting the work of the Commission 
 promised hard work and great difficulty. But he carried out 
 the work with unfaltering zeal, and with undaunted good will 
 and steadfast purpose strove successfully for the strict enforce- 
 ment of the letter of the law. His fine judgment and great 
 consideration for others made even those who opposed most 
 bitterly the course which his high ideals held him to, recognize 
 and applaud the unselfishness and purity of his motives. But 
 it was not alone in the heat of the struggle for the vindication 
 of the law, which he knew would sooner or later compel public 
 and general approval, that his efforts and strength were spent. 
 To the onerous, complicated work of the office, which was un- 
 known to the public and unobserved in its modest performance 
 even by his friends, he gave his health and strength. Urged 
 against his will to take needed rest, he persisted in his labors 
 until his strength was gone. His zeal did not recognize and was 
 not bounded even by the large limits of his youthful vigor and 
 strength. In his loss the cause of Civil Service reform has lost 
 one who stood for the highest achievements of that great move- 
 ment. For, in his untiring work, there was exercised the modera- 
 tion, thoroughness and sound judgment that built upon sure and 
 lasting foundations. 
 
 "In his loss the City of Chicago has been deprived of a citizen 
 who displayed the highest sense of the duties of citizenship. For 
 he brought to the public service the best of all the power and 
 ability with which he was liberally gifted; and he not only held 
 the service to the city ever first in its demands on his time and 
 strength, but maintained his high ideals of his duties to that 
 service unflinching and fearless in the face of stormy opposition. 
 
 "In his loss the members of this Commission have lost one for 
 whom they felt most strongly the personal attraction, admira- 
 tion and warm friendship that made his association with all 
 free from constraint and formality, and strong and helpful in 
 its frankness and life. The great share of the work of the 
 Commission which he has done so well will be borne heavily and 
 haltingly by those that labor in the shadow of his loss. 
 
 "He was frank and courageous in expressing his opinion of 
 men and measure, yet free from bitterness and personal invec- 
 tive. Therefore, be it 
 
 "RESOLVED, That the members of the Civil Service Commis- 
 sion of the City of Chicago, profoundly impressed with the great 
 
142 REMINISCENCES 
 
 loss sustained by the Commission, the cause of civil service re- 
 form and the City of Chicago, in the untimely death of President 
 Dudley Winston, desire to record their high esteem for the 
 qualities that he displayed during his service as Civil Service 
 Commissioner, which gave such perfect assurance that the law 
 could be and would be conscientiously and fearlessly maintained. 
 "RESOLVED, That we deeply sympathize with the bereaved 
 family of Dudley Winston, and that an engrossed copy of this 
 memorial and these resolutions be presented to them by the 
 Secretary." 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 In presenting the resolutions, I spoke briefly as 
 follows : 
 
 "A few words in addition to the memorial just presented 
 might not be amiss. 
 
 "Shortly after Mr. Winston was appointed Commissioner he 
 was taken sick. His anxiety to do his duty to the public caused 
 him to come to the office in the heat of summer long before it 
 was prudent for him to do so, and, from that day up to about 
 ten days ago, he worked for the public welfare without any 
 regard for his health or comfort. Many a time he could be 
 found in these rooms at night, and even on Sundays, at work. 
 He wanted no praise and expected none. To carry out the law, 
 as it was his sworn duty to do, he had to and he did resist prayers 
 and appeals of personal and political friends, and even the 
 appeals — which were the hardest to resist — of crying women and 
 children asking for employment for the head of the family. 
 When the hardest work was about over, and he believed that he 
 could take a rest, which he deserved and needed so much, it was 
 considered good politics by the Republican statesmen in Spring- 
 field to send a packed committee here, not for the purpose of 
 investigating, but for the purpose of condemning a Democratic 
 Mayor and Civil Service Commission, and, in order to have a 
 basis for a report, the Commission was forced to accept a speech 
 from a man of small calibre, but great pretensions, whose vanity 
 was hurt because Mr. Winston and his associates did not see 
 fit to ask his advice but preferred to rely on their own judgment. 
 When next we see this man, it is before the grand jury, repeating 
 his speech and demanding and obtaining as a reward for the 
 faithful services of Mr. Winston an indictment against him. 
 Then came the hearing before the three judges, representing 
 both political parties. Counsel for Mr. Winston, in his opening 
 address, stated to the judges that no technical objection would 
 be made; but, if the judges should find that the defendants had 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 143 
 
 faithfully carried out the law, that then, in that case, the de- 
 fendants requested that the judges should not merely say 'Not 
 Guilty,' but should speak words which the children of the 
 defendants could show in defense of their fathers' memory 
 when the father was dead and gone. The judges unanimously 
 decided that the law had been honestly and fearlessly enforced, 
 and that Mr. Winston was entitled to the gratitude of the people. 
 Little did we think that the youngest of the Commissioners 
 would be the first to go. 
 
 "I do not refer to all this with any feeling of bitterness. I 
 simply call attention to the facts which helped to undermine 
 the health of a weak body containing a strong intellect, and I 
 may say to those who, during that time persecuted Mr. Winston, 
 that he felt no hatred for them, but for some he had only pity, 
 while for others contempt — and that, knowing he was fulfilling 
 his duties according to his best knowledge, and even beyond his 
 physical strength, he could afford to ignore all dishonest attacks 
 and rely upon the fairness of the people to appreciate his honest 
 efforts." 
 
 The Mayor appointed Mr. Edward Carroll to suc- 
 ceed to Mr. Winston, and Mr. Lindblom was then 
 elected president of the Board. When Mr. Gartz was 
 appointed the City Hall crowd rejoiced, but not for 
 very long, for Mr. Gartz, as appears from the records 
 of the Commission, held substantially the same views 
 as to the enforcement of the civil service rules as did 
 the Commissioners who had preceded him. 
 
 President Lindblom ruled that as the Corporation 
 Counsel was the head of the legal department of the 
 city, the Commission was bound by his opinions, and 
 that the opinion of the other counsel would not be 
 accepted. The question came up at the meeting of 
 June 14, 1898, as to whether the voucher of one Patrick 
 Griffin, of May 11th, for one hundred and four dollars 
 should be certified as correct. Griffin was a sixty day 
 appointee serving after the sixty days had expired, and 
 the voucher covered compensation accruing after the 
 expiration of the sixty day period. The Corporation 
 
144 REMINISCENCES 
 
 Counsel gave an opinion in which he ruled that the 
 voucher should be certified as correct. On that 
 question Lindblom and Carroll voted "aye" — Gartz 
 "no, " and asked the privilege of explaining his vote 
 by offering an opinion of counsel. Lindblom objected 
 to this, stating that the only proper source of legal ad- 
 vice was the Corporation Counsel, and to this Carroll 
 agreed. Gartz persisted in his contention that he had 
 the right to secure opinions from outside counsel, and 
 at the next meeting made the following explanation 
 as to why he voted "no" concerning the voucher of 
 Patrick Griffin : 
 
 "I voted 'no' for the reason that I believe, contrary 
 to the opinion furnished the Commission and incorpo- 
 rated in the minutes of June 7,1898, that all sixty day 
 appointees who are kept at work after authority for 
 their appointment under Section 10 of the Civil Service 
 Law has expired are not properly on the payroll. " 
 The law was that where there was no eligible list, the 
 heads of departments could appoint men temporarily 
 for not to exceed sixty days. A number of heads 
 of departments tried their utmost to keep their ap- 
 pointees in as long as they could. On July 1st, 1898, 
 A. F. Gartz' term expired and the Mayor appointed 
 John W. Ludwig as his successor. Gartz therefore 
 served only three months. Evidently the fact that 
 he was not willing to accept the Corporation Coun- 
 sel's construction of the Civil Service Law made him 
 unpopular. 
 
 From the time that Gartz' term expired and his 
 successor was appointed, the Corporation Counsel's 
 rulings were accepted by the Commission without 
 question; the law was enforced in accordance with his 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 145 
 
 views and there was peace between the Commissioners 
 and the job hunting politicians. 
 
 In the records of the Civil Service Commission under 
 date of December 31, 1897, appears the following: 
 
 ''The following resolution was presented by Com- 
 missioner Winston and was adopted on vote of Com- 
 missioners Washburne and Winston, Commissioner 
 Kraus not voting on account of the fact that two of 
 the gentlemen named in the resolution were members 
 of the same firm of attorneys: 
 
 "WHEREAS, In order to have the Civil Service Law pro- 
 perly construed, it was necessary for the Commission to employ 
 counsel to represent it in the mandamus proceedings in the 
 Supreme Court, in which the Commissioners were respondents, 
 and also in the proceedings against the Board of Education, 
 begun in the Circuit Court and now pending in our Supreme 
 Court, and 
 
 "WHEREAS, Messrs. John W. Ela, Thomas A. Moran, Levy 
 Mayer and Charles R. Holden represented the Commission in 
 said proceedings at the request of the Commission and without 
 fee or reward; therefore be it 
 
 "RESOLVED, That the thanks of the Commission are due 
 and are hereby tendered to Messrs. Ela, Moran, Mayer and 
 Holden for their valuable services on behalf of the Commission, 
 and be it further 
 
 "RESOLVED, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded 
 to each one of them." 
 
 My law firm sent in a bill for cash paid out for ap- 
 pearance fees in the Supreme Court and for printing 
 records and briefs, amounting to one hundred and twen- 
 ty-eight dollars, which the Commission allowed. Short- 
 ly after Mr. Winston's death, finding that a voucher 
 for these cash disbursements made on behalf of the 
 Board had not been sent, I called on Mr. Lindblom 
 and asked him why the voucher was not sent my firm. 
 He answered, " I refuse to sign it; your firm has already 
 been paid more than enough by receiving a vote of 
 
146 REMINISCENCES 
 
 thanks. You should have allowed the Corporation 
 Counsel to represent the Commission. If you had done 
 so the city would have advanced the costs." I said, 
 "Mr. Lindblom, out of regard for the Mayor who ap- 
 pointed you, I am prevented from informing the press 
 as to what you have just said. If you can afford to 
 take such a position, we can afford to waive our claim." 
 That was the last time I met Mr. Lindblom. 
 
 My experience as a member of the Board of Educa- 
 tion and Corporation Counsel always awakens pleasant 
 memories. I cannot say as much, however, for the 
 presidency of the Civil Service Commission. In fact, 
 I am inclined to the opinion that whatever sins I may 
 have committed before holding that office were fully 
 atoned for by my experience in attempting to conduct 
 that office according to law. When I resigned, I con- 
 cluded that there were more effective and satisfactory 
 ways of serving my fellowmen than through the medi- 
 um of public office, and I determined to devote at least 
 part of my time to relieving distress, especially among 
 my co-religionists. 
 
 Shortly after I resigned from office I notified my 
 partners that I would retire from the firm. The 
 separation was entirely friendly and after it was ac- 
 complished I organized a new firm, of which Samuel 
 Alschuler, Charles R. Holden, and Thomas J. Lawless 
 became members. Each of these men is a very able 
 lawyer, a gentleman, and is thoroughly honest. 
 
 A certain lecturer in concluding his address said, 
 "A perfect man never existed. Is there one among 
 you who knows a perfect man? If so, stand up." 
 No one stood up. He next asked, " Has anyone of you 
 ever heard of a perfect man? If so, stand up." A 
 
A PUBLIC OFFICE 147 
 
 little man in the rear of the audience stood up, and in a 
 piping voice said, "I have heard of a perfect man." 
 "And pray, who is or was that perfect man?" the 
 lecturer asked. "My wife's first husband," answered 
 the voice. 
 
 Whether or not the perfect man ever existed, I 
 know of one who, as to character, comes as near being 
 a perfect man as can be found anywhere; that man is 
 Sam Alschuler. Without in the slightest degree re- 
 flecting on my old partners, I will say for each and all 
 of the partners of my second firm that I could not have 
 found more loyal friends anywhere. 
 
 Mr. Alschuler is now Presiding Judge of the United 
 States Circuit Court of Appeals; Mr. Holden is Vice- 
 President of the Union Trust Company of Chicago, 
 and chief of the Trust Department of that Bank; and 
 Mr. Lawless is General Attorney of the Chicago, Bur- 
 lington & Quincy Railroad Company. 
 
 As these reminiscences are being written I am near- 
 ing my 75th birthday. I realize that my life's record 
 is behind me, and that at best I have only a short time 
 of activity before me. In thinking of the past, I see 
 clearly the many mistakes I have made and I sometimes 
 wonder whether — if I had my life to live over again — 
 I should make the same mistakes. I do not know. I 
 might possibly do worse. So far as concerns me per- 
 sonally, the most important act of my life, the one that 
 has brought me the greatest happiness, was my marriage 
 nearly forty-eight years ago to Mathilde Hirsh. Dur- 
 ing all the years of our married life she has never 
 spoken an unkind word to me. She has been and is 
 the best of wives and mothers. She has trained our 
 children to be truthful, to love us and to obey us. 
 
148 REMINISCENCES 
 
 The youngest of them is now nearly forty-years of age, 
 and as far as their conduct towards us is concerned, it 
 is the same as it was when they were little children. I 
 envy no one, for no one could be happier in his home 
 life than I have been. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 THE JEW 
 
IV 
 THE JEW 
 
 According to family history, which was carefully 
 treasured and handed down from generation to genera- 
 tion, my father was a descendant of Aaron, the High 
 Priest, and was therefore a priest, as were likewise the 
 sons of my father. According to orthodox custom it 
 is not the rabbis but the priests who bless the congre- 
 gation. When I became thirteen years of age, accord- 
 ing to the custom, I was confirmed. Shortly after this 
 my father died. He was the only descendant of Aaron 
 in our congregation, and since at that time my older 
 brother had already emigrated to America it left me — 
 a boy in age but a man according to the orthodox 
 doctrine — the priest of the congregation. When I 
 look back and see myself blessing that little congregation 
 I recall with deepest respect the piety of the members 
 who, out of religious sentiment, took the blessing 
 spoken by the boy with greater humility than many of 
 the members of our large congregations today listen to 
 the blessing of the rabbi. 
 
 In reform congregations the descendants of Aaron 
 are no longer accorded such special recognition. For 
 two thousand years these family traditions were kept 
 up and are still kept up in orthodox congregations. 
 Those traditions are dying out and are almost un- 
 known in the reform congregations of America. For 
 twenty years I had been President of Isaiah Temple, 
 a reform congregation in Chicago, and declining a 
 re-election was elected Honorary President of the con- 
 
 151 
 
152 REMINISCENCES 
 
 gregation for life. None of my sons has ever seen a 
 descendant of Aaron officiate in a temple, and their 
 children will probably learn here for the first time that 
 they are descendants of Aaron. 
 
 While I discarded, many years ago, the orthodox 
 ceremonials and adopted the reform doctrines, I 
 love to hear the old melodies which my forefathers 
 sang. I respect the spirit of the old ceremonials and 
 those who keep them as fully as though I was still a 
 member of an orthodox congregation. 
 
 The Independent Order of B'nai B'rith was estab- 
 lished in the year 1843. While it was, to some extent, 
 patterned after the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraterni- 
 ties, it was at no time what might be termed a secret 
 organization. In 1886, Julius Bien, then President of 
 the Executive Committee of the Order, started to write 
 its history. He said, "In reality, the Order cannot be 
 said to be a secret society in the accepted significance 
 attached to that meaning — its purposes lie open before 
 the world, — its members and their positions are well 
 known." The principal objects of the organization at 
 the beginning were to establish social intercourse be- 
 tween the members, to allow them sick benefits and 
 to establish a widow and orphans endowment fund. 
 At the convention of the Order in 1879, the widow 
 and orphans endowment plan received its first re- 
 strictions and it was declared that the activity 
 of the Order was to be mainly directed to the intel- 
 lectual and moral progress of the brethren. Some 
 years afterwards the endowment feature of the Order 
 was abolished. 
 
THE JEW 153 
 
 In 1900, Leo N. Levi was elected President of the 
 Executive Committee of the Order. In his inaugural 
 address he said : 
 
 "It has been said that we are entering upon a new era in the 
 destiny of the Jew. I believe that; I believe it firmly. I stated 
 years ago that I believed that the salvation of Judaism was the 
 American born Jew. I have travelled over this land and I find 
 our young men and our young women, unversed as they are in 
 the old traditional forms and ceremonies, strangers to the ritual 
 around which cling so many tender memories in the minds of our 
 older people, yet animated, inspired and uplifted by the quicken- 
 ing love which they hear to the old ancestral faith and craving 
 for media of expression for that feeling. They seek it in good 
 works, in charitable deeds, in the amelioration of the condition 
 of our fellow men; and I believe that when we bring to them 
 the mission which has sustained us so long, when we make 
 apparent to them that here is the field for their activity, we 
 will gain from them that cooperation in the need of which we so 
 sorely stand. But we must carry our wares to them, we must 
 inspire them with the courage that has sustained us, and with 
 the infusion of new spirit and new energy and new aspiration 
 create a new epoch, not for ourselves but for the people for whom 
 the Order stands. And it does stand for the people — the great- 
 est organization among the Jews known in the history of the 
 world, spread over all the world, conducted by its representa- 
 tive men, it stands for the Jew and for Judaism." 
 
 During the administration of Leo N. Levi, the cele- 
 brated Kishenefl Petition was presented. He died 
 before his term of office expired and Simon Wolf, ex- 
 United States Minister to Egypt, was selected to fill 
 the vacancy. 
 
 I joined the organization in 1876. For a number of 
 years I was a member of the Court of Appeals of the 
 Order. Probably owing to the fact that the insurance 
 features of the Order, both as to sick and death benefits, 
 had in the majority of the American districts been 
 abolished, many members resigned and interest in the 
 organization was continually diminishing. In 1905 
 the convention of the Order was held in New Orleans. 
 
154 REMINISCENCES 
 
 The delegates held caucuses for the purpose ol selecting 
 a President of the organization for the next five years. 
 I was the choice of a large majority. A committee 
 tendered me the position. I declined, giving as my 
 reason that much abler men could be found among the 
 delegates to fill the position, and suggested the names 
 of two; one of these was Jacob Furth, Treasurer of the 
 Order, who was present, and I asked him if he would 
 accept the presidency. Furth answered, "That office 
 killed Leo N. Levi. It would kill me. The boys want 
 you to take it; take it." I laughed, and Furth quickly 
 added, " I did not mean it that way. I know that you 
 are strong enough to take the job and I am not." 
 Nathan M. Uri, a delegate from Louisville, Kentucky, 
 said to me: " I am surprised that you refuse to accept 
 such an honorable position. If you accept it, it will 
 give you an opportunity to be of great service to our 
 people, a service that will cause you to be remembered 
 after you are dead and gone and may some day be of 
 benefit to your children." I answered, "If elected, I 
 will serve." 
 
 On March 22, 1905, the election of officers took 
 place. President Wolf placed me in nomination as 
 follows : 
 
 "I will only take up your time for a moment. If you will 
 turn to my message you will find I stated 'man creates the 
 opportunity and opportunity creates the man.' The opportunity 
 has come and the man is here. I believe in recognizing men 
 who do things and do not merely talk about them. Here we 
 have a man of wealth, about whom some have spoken; a man of 
 independent means, of high judicial temperament, a representa- 
 tive Jew, president of one of the largest congregations of one of 
 our great cities, a member of the Order who has done work, a 
 gentleman and a man in every sense of the word. I take 
 pleasure in nominating as President, Brother Adolf Kraus of 
 Chicago." 
 
THE JEW 155 
 
 Martin A. Marks seconded the nomination as follows: 
 
 "Brother President, I recognize the fact that the action of 
 this Constitution Grand Lodge in selecting a man as the execu- 
 tive head of the Order, makes that selection one by which the 
 person selected becomes one of the prominent figures in American 
 Israel if not in the world. I recognize the fact that it is no small 
 task for a man to assume such a position, and I also believe that 
 no man should assume that responsibility unless he feels that 
 the world is looking to him to do something for the purpose of 
 building up this great Order. 
 
 "On behalf of District Grand Lodge No. 2, I take pleasure 
 in seconding the nomination of Brother Adolf Kraus, because 
 I believe that in selecting him we are placing at the head of the 
 Order one who will ably carry on the work which is assigned to 
 him." 
 
 I was re-elected in 1910 and 1920. My term of 
 office will expire in 1925. 
 
 In 1904 war was begun between Russia and Japan. 
 The battles at sea between the contending nations soon 
 revealed the hopelessly delapidated and weakened con- 
 dition of the Russian navy, and realizing this the 
 Russian people began a severe and alarming criticism 
 of their government. To give the people a chance to 
 let out their wrath in some other direction, the police 
 department caused circulars to be distributed inciting 
 the masses against the Jews. The press reported the 
 following results: 
 
 January 22, igo$ — Disturbances on "Red Sunday" at St. 
 Petersburg, spreading to Wilna, Bialystok, Warsaw, and Lodz; 
 many Jews victims. 
 
 February — Anti-Jewish excesses at Dunaberg and Bybny 
 Bynck, Russia. 
 
 February 20 — Anti-Jewish rioting at Theodosia, Crimea. 
 Forty-seven Jews killed. 
 
 April 18 — Anti-Semitic disturbances at Melitopol. Thirteen 
 Jews killed. 
 
 April 23 — Massacre of Jews at Pavliokovka and Podol, near 
 Zhitomir. Anti-Jewish riots at Duisata, Kovno, Russia. 
 
 May 14 — An ti- Jewish riots at Kishineff and Simferopol, 
 Russia. 
 
156 REMINISCENCES 
 
 Shortly afterwards, the Russian- Japanese war came 
 to an end. Through the friendly offices of Theodore 
 Roosevelt, then President of the United States, a 
 peace conference between the two nations was arranged 
 to meet at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Baron 
 Schlippenbach was then Russian Consul in Chicago. I 
 requested him to arrange, if possible, that the Russian 
 Envoy grant an interview to a committee I would 
 name, to discuss what, if anything, could be done to 
 protect the Jews in Russia. The Baron kindly under- 
 took the task, and on August 2, 1905, wired me from 
 New York as follows: 
 
 "You and party will be received with pleasure. At your 
 arrival will appoint time. I think Friday evening after the 
 return from Presidential call." 
 
 The meeting took place at Portsmouth on August 
 14, 1905. There were present M. de Witte, Baron 
 Rosen, Russian Ambassador, and as M. de Witte did 
 not speak English, his official interpreter, Mr. Gregory 
 Wilenkin, a Russian Jew, on one side, and Messrs. 
 Jacob H. Schiff, Oscar S. Strauss, Isaac N. Seligman, 
 Adolph Lewisohn and myself on the other. The con- 
 ference lasted several hours and the subject matter 
 thereof in its various phases was thoroughly discussed. 
 Many questions were asked and answered during the 
 interview. To Mr. SchifFs question, "Will you please 
 tell me why you, as a Russian, have full rights in your 
 country, while he (pointing to Mr. Wilenkin), also a 
 Russian, has none?" M. de Witte without hesitation 
 answered that the restrictive Russian laws applicable 
 to Jews, if printed would fill a large volume; that they 
 were unjust; that they ought to be repealed, but that 
 that should be done gradually, for if all should be re- 
 
THE JEW 157 
 
 pealed at once it might create a revolution; that only 
 the Emperor could repeal the laws, but that not much 
 could be expected from the Emperor so long as the 
 young Jews were leaders among the Revolutionists; 
 that we ought to use all our influence to convince the 
 young Jews that it was to their interest to be loyal to 
 the Emperor; that if that could be done the Emperor 
 would probably grant relief. Mr. Schiff said, "We 
 have no such influence; the influence must come from 
 within, not from without. And is it not probable that 
 the young men became revolutionists in the hope that 
 a republic will grant them just laws which are denied 
 under the rule of the Emperor?" M. de Witte answered : 
 "The revolutionists cannot succeed. Some day a re- 
 public may be established, but we will not live to see 
 the day, for the Romanoffs will rule Russia for at least 
 another hundred years." 
 
 In his memoirs Count de Witte wrote: "At Ports- 
 mouth I received among other deputations a group of 
 representatives of American Jews * * * I re- 
 ceived them very cordially and listened with attention 
 to what they had to say. The spokesman of the dep- 
 utation called my attention to the exceedingly painful 
 situation of the Jews in Russia and to the necessity of 
 putting a stop to the deplorable state of affairs by 
 granting them full rights. * * * I did not deny that 
 the Jews in Russia were in a very difficult position. 
 Nevertheless, I argued an immediate and complete re- 
 moval of the legal disabilities would, in my opinion, do 
 them more harm than good. To this remark Jacob 
 Schiff made a sharp retort which was, however, toned 
 down by the more balanced judgment of the other 
 members of the deputation." 
 
158 REMINISCENCES 
 
 M. de Witte said that if we desired to meet him 
 again we could do so in New York City before he left 
 for home and that he would let us know the day of his 
 departure. After my return home from Portsmouth I 
 received the following letter: 
 
 ur . _. t , "New Castle, N. H., August 17, 1905. 
 
 Dear Mr. Kraus: 
 
 " I am officially instructed by his Excellency, M. de Witte, to 
 inform you and the gentlemen who met him with you, that 
 after your departure he cabled to St. Petersburg in order to in- 
 quire whether any changes were made in connection with the 
 articles concerning ' the rights of the Jews to elect and be elected 
 in the proposed National Assembly.' His Excellency received 
 by cable answer that no changes took place and that the project 
 is approved by his Majesty, the Emperor of Russia, and will be 
 published very shortly. Therefore this cable confirms M. Witte's 
 statement that the Jews will have the same right as the 
 rest of the population to elect and be elected in the National 
 
 Assembly. I remain, . - 
 
 Sincerely yours. 
 
 Gregory Wilenkin." 
 
 The peace terms between Russia and Japan were 
 settled in Portsmouth subject to the approval of the 
 respective Governments. Three of us met M. de 
 Witte in New York the day before he sailed for home. 
 He assured us he would, so far as he was able, help in 
 improving the situation of our people in Russia. A 
 reporter of the New York American interviewed M. de 
 Witte and reported him as saying: 
 
 "When I came to this country one of the things which in- 
 terested me, secondary only to the immediate matters in hand, 
 was the condition of the Jews in the United States, and especially 
 the Russian Jews. I could not leave my duties in Portsmouth, 
 but my desire was so strong to discuss certain questions with 
 representative Jewish gentlemen of the United States that I in- 
 vited several of them to meet me in a conference at Portsmouth. 
 They courteously acceded to my request. 
 
 "That conference was enlightening and profitable to me, 
 but the field of discussion was large and time pressing, and I re- 
 quested that another meeting be arranged before my departure 
 
THE JEW 159 
 
 for Russia, and without regard to the outcome of the peace 
 negotiations at Portsmouth. In accordance with that arrange- 
 ment I again met some of the Jewish gentlemen this morning. 
 I should rather that they, who have a command of the English 
 language and a better understanding of conditions, should speak 
 with reference to what passed between us. We seemed to be 
 in accord in many matters. 
 
 "I cannot speak authoritatively. I can only express my 
 wishes and hopes. If they are of interest to the American 
 people, including Jewish citizens, I shall say to them as a fare- 
 well message: 
 
 "I hope that my visit to America shall not be fruitless of 
 results with regard to what I have learned about the Jews here, 
 and the information I have obtained." 
 
 When M. de Witte returned home, the Czar con- 
 ferred on him the title of Count and appointed him 
 Premier. In October of the same year a revolution 
 was started in Russia. Premier Witte as shown by his 
 memoirs published in 1921, made to the Emperor 
 among other recommendations the following: 
 
 "Believing that Russia aspires to laws based on civil liberty, 
 the chief problem of the Government consists in making effec- 
 tive, even before approval by the State Douma, of all elements 
 of civil liberty in the elaboration of normal legislative measures 
 giving equality before the laws to all Russians, without distinc- 
 tion of race or of religion." 
 
 While the revolution was in progress the Emperor 
 granted to the Russian people what purported to be a 
 constitution. 
 
 On October 30, 1905, the New York Times published 
 
 the following : 
 
 "The people have won the day. The Emperor has surren- 
 dered. The autocracy has ceased to exist. A Constitution was 
 signed at Peterhof at 4 o'clock this afternoon. It is doubtful 
 whether the grant of civic freedom, extended suffrage, a legisla- 
 tive Douma, and Ministerial responsibility, with M. Witte as 
 Premier, and the consequent disappearance of the bureaucracy, 
 which will be promulgated tomorrow, will satisfy the victorious 
 revolutionary leaders, who demanded nothing less than universal 
 suffrage and a constituent assembly." 
 
160 REMINISCENCES 
 
 The immediate result of the granting of the Constitu- 
 tion was a celebration. How did the Russian people 
 celebrate? I quote from published reports: 
 
 "November 1, 1905 — In the midst of rejoicing in Odessa, 
 the unruly mob took the trouble to attack the Jewish quarters. 
 Fighting occurred during the night on the outskirts of the town. 
 A mob, incited by the police, attacked the Jews, and it is reported 
 that hundreds were killed and wounded. It is known that 
 thirty-seven were killed and eighty-one seriously injured in 
 Dalmnitskoya street. A huge crowd is now collecting at the 
 port preparatory to a march through the city and the mob 
 threatens to kill all the Jews. Shops are closed and windows 
 and doors barricaded. The situation is the most serious one 
 that has been experienced since the beginning of the strike. 
 
 "Jew-baiting at Kief began at midnight on Wednesday. 
 Many shops were wrecked and plundered. Not a shop escaped. 
 The crowd fought for possession of the plunder, which included 
 jewelry and watches. The patrols who were constantly passing 
 watched the mob smilingly and did not interfere. The police 
 and Cossacks joined in the plundering. 
 
 "Rioting began again on Thurdsay. The Jews fired on their 
 attackers and the troops from their houses. Their fire was re- 
 turned. Some houses were stormed and their occupants thrown 
 into the streets. The residences of many wealthy Jews have 
 been wrecked. 
 
 "After constant and indiscriminate firing in various parts of 
 Odessa martial law was nominally reimposed, but there was no 
 serious effort to enforce it. In the Jewish quarter the riots took 
 an anti-Semitic shape. The Jews retaliated, and hurled missiles 
 from their windows on the infuriated mobs. Some had revolvers 
 and used them. 
 
 "Rumor places the number killed Wednesday at between 
 500 and 1000. None of the reports can be verified. Nothing like 
 a connected account of the day's doings is possible. According 
 to some accounts the Cossacks have been helping the mob, which 
 everybody believes was organized and led by police in mufti. 
 
 "It is reported that ferocious attacks have been made upon 
 the Jews at Simferopol, and that many were killed and wounded 
 and their houses and shops were burned. Similar reports come 
 from Kishineff, but they are not confirmed." 
 # * * * 
 
 "Numerous outbreaks followed against the Jews that pale 
 into significance the riots of the '80's. In the great crisis that 
 is now confronting Russia the Jews are the first victims. Men, 
 
THE JEW 161 
 
 women and children, slaughtered; pillage and rapine; a supine 
 government where it is not fomenting the disorders. 
 
 "Almost the entire Jewish quarters of Moldavanha, Slobodka 
 and Bugaiovka are devastated, and their inhabitants have either 
 been killed or wounded or have sought refuge in other parts of 
 the town. The whole fury of the mobs was directed unchecked 
 against the Jews. During the first demonstration over the 
 Emperor's manifesto and the sudden acquisition of 'freedom,' 
 tens of thousands of men, who had hated the Jews for years, 
 became drunk with the desire for Jewish blood, swarmed into 
 the Jewish sections of the town and killed for the very joy of 
 killing, even finding solace in some instances in the military 
 aiding instead of preventing the work of vengeance and fury. 
 Every Jew, man, woman or child, who was caught, was slaugh- 
 tered. The methods employed in the work of butchery were 
 too revolting for description. 
 
 "A trip of investigation on Friday evening, Nov. 3, over the 
 Odessa Jewish quarters confirmed the stories of horror and de- 
 vastation. Some bodies, mutilated, of women and children were 
 still unremoved from deserted streets. The shops were closed, 
 and in the wrecked houses broken furniture was lying every- 
 where in heaps. 
 
 ' 'While it is probable that the total number of persons killed 
 will never be known, the number of wounded persons in the 
 hospitals and ambulance houses afford some guide. The 5,657 
 wounded reported up to this morning were distributed as follows: 
 In the Jewish Hospital, 3,715; in the municipal hospital, 1,260, 
 and in different ambulance houses, 682. It has been definitely 
 learned that only 120 of the anti-Jewish mob were killed. 
 
 "At the beginning of the massacres the students' militia gave 
 some assistance and saved many lives, but the police, it is said, 
 disarmed the students, and in some cases shot them with their 
 own revolvers. 
 
 "The disaster is unprecedented, even in the long list of horrors 
 
 Russia has produced during the last few years, but the citizens, 
 
 while still nervous, are facing the situation bravely. They are 
 
 organizing relief committees and erecting refuges for the homeless 
 
 families and orphaned children who were saved from the fury 
 
 of the mobs." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "The latest accounts of the devastation in the Jewish quarter 
 of Odessa, tell of added horror. Besides numerous mills, all the 
 bakeries, shops and nearly six hundred homes have been de- 
 stroyed. The Jews killed in every instance were treated with 
 revolting barbarity. Skulls were battered with hammers, nails 
 were driven into the bodies, eyes were gouged out and ears 
 
162 REMINISCENCES 
 
 severed. Many bodies were disemboweled, and in some cases 
 petroleum was poured over sick persons found hiding in cellars, 
 and they were burned. It is alleged that the police and soldiers 
 everywhere marched at the head of mobs, exciting them to destroy 
 the Jews by crying: 'The Jews have killed our Emperor, 'and 
 similar expressions. While the mobs were engaged in the slaugh- 
 ter, the soldiers busied themselves pillaging the cash and jewels, 
 leaving the household goods to the mobs. The owners of many 
 houses got rid of the bandits by the payment of a ransom to 
 
 the police." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "A mob of a thousand rioters engaged in a massacre of Jews 
 
 in Ismaili, Bessarabia." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Jacob H. Schiff cabled to Count Witte as follows: 
 
 "New York, Nov. 3, 1905. 
 "Count Witte, St. Petersburg. 
 
 "The American people stand aghast at atrocities in Odessa 
 and elsewhere. No government should expect the moral support 
 of other nations which under any condition permits such a 
 situation to continue. 
 
 Schiff." 
 
 Mr. Schiff received the following reply: 
 
 "Petersburg, Nov. 5, 1905. 
 "Mr. Schiff, New York. 
 
 "The Government is horrified at these outrages. You know 
 that I less than anyone can sympathize with such savage out- 
 breaks. All I can do to stop the disorder is done but as long 
 as the country is in such excited state, the local authorities are 
 often powerless. 
 
 Witte." 
 
 Count Witte's answer was not favorably received. 
 Public opinion was that the Premier, even if he could 
 not have prevented the outbreak, was in position to 
 stop the outrages. I did not share that view. 
 
 Jews from all parts of the world were anxious to 
 help, but the only thing they could do was to raise 
 money to aid the survivors. I telegraphed to presi- 
 dents of a number of Jewish organizations for authority 
 
THE JEW 163 
 
 to sign their names to an appeal for funds, and the fol- 
 lowing appeal was promptly issued. 
 
 lirT , , T c A . "Chicago, Nov. 8, 1905. 
 
 "To the Jews of America: s ' 
 
 "The victims of the awful riots and massacres in Russia are 
 not all numbered with the dead. The living, starving survivors 
 who have lost their breadwinners, and the maimed mutely appeal 
 to a pitying world for aid. Therefore each community is hereby 
 requested to organize at once for the purpose of raising funds to 
 aid these destitute victims. Contributions should be forwarded 
 to Mr. Jacob H. Schiff of New York for proper distribution. 
 
 Adolf Kraus, President Independent Order B'nai B'rith. 
 
 Samuel Woolner, President of Union of American Hebrew 
 Congregations. 
 
 Mrs. Henry Solomon, President Council of Jewish Women. 
 
 Dr. H. Pereira Mendes, President of Union of Orthodox 
 Jewish Congregations in the United States and Canada. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Stolz, President of Central Conference of Ameri- 
 can Rabbis. 
 
 Dr. Harry Friedenwald, President of Federation of American 
 Zionists. 
 
 Max Stern, Independent Order B'rith Abraham. 
 
 Samuel Dorf, Grand Master Order B'rith Abraham. 
 
 Isaac Anderson Loeb, Grand Master, District No. 2, Inde- 
 pendent Order Free Sons of Israel." 
 
 Shortly after the massacres took place, a movement 
 was started in New York to raise a fund for the pur- 
 pose of enabling the Jews of Russia to buy weapons to 
 defend themselves against such attacks, and when thus 
 attacked to sell their lives as dearly as possible. That 
 movement found many sympathizers, for there is an 
 inherent desire in all men to accord to everyone the 
 right of self-defense. 
 
 The Executive Committee of the Order was asked 
 to join in the movement to raise such a fund, but did 
 not approve of the movement and adopted the follow- 
 ing resolution: 
 
 "We condemn and denounce the atrocities and outrages 
 committed upon our unfortunate co-religionists in Russia and 
 pledge our best efforts to promote all legitimate measures for 
 
164 REMINISCENCES 
 
 their relief. We, however, favor only the employment of moral 
 forces and legal instrumentalities, and discountenance any 
 organized effort upon the part of our co-religionists outside of 
 Russia, which would directly or indirectly tend to aggravate 
 the present disorders of that country." 
 
 That this position of the Executive Committee was 
 sound was subsequently demonstrated when the govern- 
 ment of Russia caused the houses and synagogues of 
 our co-religionists to be searched and finding some guns 
 and ammunition, confiscated the same and used that 
 fact as an argument against granting just laws to our 
 people, claiming that the arms and ammunition found 
 was evidence of their revolutionary tendencies. 
 
 One of the results of the pogrom was that many 
 children were made orphans. To the credit of the 
 Jews everywhere be it said that every community was 
 willing to take care of some of them. Our Govern- 
 ment kindly consented to allow the pogrom orphans to 
 be landed, but none of the orphans were sent to this 
 country. The Jews of Germany and Austria and other 
 European countries were anxious to and did adopt them 
 and raise them properly. On one of my European trips 
 I visited the Orphan Home in Hamburg. Two bright 
 young boys were pointed out to me as first and second 
 in their class, and as Russian pogrom orphans. 
 
 In February, 1906, the Russian correspondent of 
 
 one of our leading newspapers cabled that the Black 
 
 Hundred were planning to cause a pogrom during the 
 
 coming Easter holidays, in comparison with which all 
 
 previous pogroms would sink into insignificance. I 
 
 thereupon wrote to Count Witte as follows: 
 
 "Chicago, February 15, 1906. 
 "Count de Witte, St. Petersburg, Russia. 
 
 u Your Excellency: You will doubtless remember the inter- 
 view held in Portsmouth between yourself, Messrs. Schiff, 
 
THE JEW 165 
 
 Seligman, Strauss, Lewisohn and myself. And when in the 
 City of New York three of us bade you a safe return to your home, 
 you stated that we might write you at any time on the subject 
 of our previous discussion. Accordingly, I now avail myself of 
 the permission so kindly given. 
 
 "It is useless to dwell at any length on the terrible mas- 
 sacres of Jews in Russia, for the details are much better known 
 to you than to me. Your Excellency will perhaps remember 
 my suggestion that if those who so wantonly massacred the 
 Jews, or aided and abetted in the murders, were swiftly and 
 adequately punished, it would be such a warning to others, and 
 such a clear declaration as to the position of the government 
 that it would tend to diminish greatly the probability of a 
 repetition of the horrors. That we have not read of any strong 
 measures taken to punish the perpetrators of the late crimes, 
 may be due to the fact that the government felt its first duty 
 was to subdue the riots, or it may be due to the insufficiency of 
 the information which the press has been able to obtain. But, 
 whatever the cause, the fact has caused widespread alarm in 
 this country that the massacre of Jews in Russia is to continue, 
 and the opinion is becoming prevalent that no Jew's life is safe 
 in that great country. As a result of the growing opinion that 
 if the lives and property of Jews are not to be safeguarded in the 
 land in which their ancestors have lived for generations, and of 
 which your Excellency is Prime Minister, a movement is being 
 seriously contemplated, if it can be accomplished according to 
 law, for the removal of the Jews from Russia, or at least of as 
 many as possible, to other lands where they will be permitted 
 to die a natural death. If the plans for such a movement are 
 put into effect, the Society over which I preside will take an 
 active part. The immensity of such an undertaking is fully 
 realized and it should be executed only as a last resort. 
 
 "I am, therefore, emboldened to address myself to you for 
 the information upon which our action may depend, if it will be 
 deemed proper in your Excellency's judgment, that such in- 
 formation should be given, and it is this: Now, since it appears 
 that the government has restored peace in its land, is the govern- 
 ment in position to protect the lives and property of Jews, 
 equally with that of the Christians, and to punish officials, who 
 fail to do their duty in not taking the proper measures for the 
 protection of the Jews, so as to prevent further massacres? 
 
 "I desire to avoid, by the question I have asked, any offense 
 to your Excellency, for it must be taken for granted that it is 
 the intention of the government to protect the lives of all of its 
 subjects. My apology for the inquiry is the fact that Jews have 
 been massacred in the past in your land, and that reports are 
 
166 REMINISCENCES 
 
 now published in the newspapers here that it is contemplated to 
 have the greatest massacre of Jews in your land at Easter time 
 the world has ever seen, and that it is generally believed that un- 
 less the government is in position to stretch out its mighty arm 
 and to protect the Jews fully, the Jews in Russia are doomed. 
 "I have the honor to remain, 
 
 With respect, 
 
 Adolf Kraus" 
 
 On March 14th following, I received the following 
 cable from St. Petersburg: 
 
 "Adolf Kraus: 
 
 "I am sure you have no doubts that I cannot approve violence, 
 no matter against whom it is directed. The deplorable events 
 which have taken place were the result of riots. You may be 
 assured the Government will use all possible measures to prevent 
 violence against peaceable inhabitants, without regard to what 
 nationality they belong. Count Witte „ 
 
 The following day the Associated Press published a 
 dispatch from St. Petersburg to the effect that the Czar 
 was reported to have been shocked and amazed at the 
 revelations of Jewish oppression made to him, and as a 
 result Premier de Witte was able to force the Minister 
 of the Interior, Duronovo, to issue instructions to pre- 
 vent further massacres of Jews. 
 
 On April 25th the Chicago Daily News published the 
 following cable from its correspondent in St. Petersburg: 
 
 "The publication of a letter written by Adolf Kraus of Chica- 
 go, and Premier Witte's reply thereto has caused a sensation in 
 Russia. The entire press recognizes the Chicagoan's communi- 
 cation as statesmanlike and humane. 
 
 "A gentleman who is prominent in Jewish circles and is a 
 member-elect of the first Douma, which is soon to assemble, 
 said to the Daily News correspondent today: 'Mr. Kraus' 
 letter was timely, in that it induced the authorities to take mea- 
 sures for saving the lives and property of Jews in Russia."' 
 
 Count Witte is dead. I believe he was a man of 
 deep humanitarian sentiments who was struggling 
 against almost insurmountable obstacles for the welfare 
 
THE JEW 167 
 
 of his native land. His widow has published his mem- 
 oirs and in these memoirs are related, with a wealth of 
 detail, some of the things which he hinted at in our 
 conversation, and a graphic account of his later strug- 
 gles to bring Russia's rulers out of barbarism in their 
 attitude towards their Jewish subjects. 
 
 I take the liberty to quote very briefly a small por- 
 tion of what he wrote, as reflecting his own attitude of 
 mind toward the unfortunate condition of the Jews in 
 Russia, and his efforts to help them: 
 
 "It is noteworthy that at the time of the Russo-Japanese 
 War the attitude of the court clique and of the Emperor himself 
 toward England was one of strong hostility. This was due to 
 England's agreement with Japan and also to the fact that she 
 furnished refuge to the Russian revolutionists. To the Japanese 
 His Majesty was in the habit of referring as macacoes (monkeys), 
 using this term even in official documents. The English he 
 called Jews. 'An Englishman', he liked to repeat, 'is a zhid 
 (Jew)."' 
 
 "The Emperor was surrounded by avowed Jew-haters such 
 as Trepov, Plehve, Ignatyev, and the leaders of the Black 
 Hundreds. As for his personal attitude toward the Jews, I 
 recall that whenever I drew his attention to the fact that the 
 anti-Jewish riots should not be tolerated, he either was silent or 
 remarked: 'But it is they themselves, i.e., the Jews (His 
 Majesty always used the opprobrious "zhidy, " instead of yevrei) 
 that are to blame.' The anti-Jewish current flowed not from 
 below, upward, but in the opposite direction." 
 
 3|C 5js 3|B 5}C 
 
 "In December, 1905, an atrocious anti-Jewish pogrom broke 
 out at Homel. I requested Durnovo, the Minister of the In- 
 terior, to institute an investigation. It revealed that the 
 bloody riot was organized, in a most efficient manner, by secret 
 service agents under the direction of the local officer of gendarmes, 
 Count Podgorichanic, who did not deny his role in the affair. I 
 asked Durnovo to report the findings of the investigation to the 
 Council of Ministers. The Council sharply condemned the 
 activity of the governmental secret service and recommended that 
 Count Podgorichanic should be dismissed and tried. * * * * 
 
 (The Memoirs of Count Witte— Doubleday, Page and Company, 1921) 
 
168 REMINISCENCES 
 
 The minutes were in due course submitted to His Majesty. With 
 visible displeasure he wrote the following words on the margin: 
 'How does all this business concern me?' * * * * Several 
 months later I learned that Count Podgorichanic was chief of 
 police in one of the Black Sea Cities. 
 
 "In his attitude toward the Jews, as in all other respects, the 
 Emperor's ideals are at bottom of those of the Black Hundreds. 
 The strength of that party lies precisely in the fact that their 
 Majesties have conceived the notion that those anarachists of 
 the Right are their salvation." 
 
 "The patriotism of 'the Black Hundreds' is purely elemental; 
 it is based not on reason, but on passion. Most of their leaders 
 are unscrupulous political adventurers with not a single practical 
 and honest political idea, and all their efforts are directed toward 
 goading and exploiting the low instincts of the mob. Being under 
 the protection of the two-winged eagle, this party may be able 
 to cause appalling riots and upheavals, but its work will necessa- 
 rily be purely destructive and negative. 
 
 "It is the embodiment of savage, nihilistic patriotism, feed- 
 ing on lies, slander, and deceit, the party of savage and cowardly 
 despair, devoid of the manly and clear-eyed spirit of creative- 
 ness. The bulk of the party is dark-minded and ignorant, the 
 leaders are unhanged villains, among whom there are some titled 
 noblemen and a number of secret sympathizers recruited from 
 the courtiers. Their welfare is made secure by the reign of law- 
 lessness, and their motto is: 'Not we for the people, but the 
 people for the good of our bellies.' * * * * And the poor 
 misguided Emperor dreams of restoring Russia's grandeur with 
 the aid of this party! Poor Emperor! 
 
 "In this connection I recall the Emperor's shameful telegram 
 to that notorious sharper, Dubrovin, the president of the Russian 
 People's Union (a 'Black Hundred' organization), dated June 
 3, 1907. In this most gracious dispatch, His Majesty expressed 
 his approval of Dubrovin's actions in his capacity of president 
 of the Russian People's Union and assured him that in the 
 future, too, he would lean upon that band of cut-throats." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "General Trepov is a central figure in our revolution and must 
 be dealt with at considerable length. Prince Urusov speaking 
 before the first Douma characterized him as ' a quartermaster by 
 education and a pogrom maker by conviction.'" 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "In January, or perhaps in February, 1906, Lopukhin, 
 Director of the Police Department under Plehve, had a formal 
 
THE JEW 169 
 
 conference with me, in the course of which he imparted to me a 
 piece of startling information. He knew it as a certainty, he 
 declared, that there was at the Police Department a special 
 section headed by Captain Komissarov, which was engaged in 
 turning out proclamations inciting to anti-Jewish pogroms, and 
 in disseminating them broadcast in the country. Only the other 
 day, he said, large bales of this literature had been sent to Kursk, 
 Wilna, and Moscow. He added that the section had originated 
 under Trepov and had been directed by Rachkovski, who at the 
 time was still connected with it." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "Odessa, too, was seething with rebellion. There were two 
 special causes for the extreme disorder in this city. In the first 
 place, the Jews, who formed a large proportion of its inhabitants, 
 supposed that, by taking advantage of the general confusion and 
 the undermining of the Government's prestige, they would be 
 able to obtain equal rights through revolution. At this time only 
 a comparatively small number of the Jews were active, but the 
 overwhelming majority, having lost patience long before by 
 reason of the many injustices practised against them, sympathized 
 with the so-called emancipatory movement, which was now 
 adopting revolutionary tactics. In the second place, the up- 
 rising was largely provoked by the brutality of the Municipal 
 Governor, Neidhart, who was bitterly hated by most of the in- 
 habitants. Fitted neither by education nor by experience for 
 such an important position, he had been appointed simply be- 
 cause he was Stolypin's brother-in-law, the same reason for 
 which he was later made senator." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "One of the faults with which I have been charged is that 
 during my premiership I did not shoot enough people and kept 
 others from indulging in that sport. Whoever hesitates to shed 
 blood, it was argued, should not hold so responsible a post as I 
 did. But, on my part, I consider it a special merit that during 
 the six months when I was in power only a few dozen people 
 were killed in St. Petersburg and no one executed. In the whole 
 of Russia, fewer people were executed during those months than 
 in several days under Stolypin, when officially law and order 
 prevailed in the country. History will condemn the reign of 
 Nicholas II for the indiscriminate courtmartialing of men and 
 women, adults and adolescents, for political crimes committed 
 two, three, four and even five years previous to the execution." 
 
 "In connection with the Department of Police, a printing 
 press was set up for turning out pogrom proclamations intended 
 
170 REMINISCENCES 
 
 to incite the dark masses mostly against the Jews. This activity, 
 to which I put an end, was revealed to me by the former Director 
 of the Police Department, Lopukhin, who is now in exile in 
 Siberia. But in the provinces this activity was going on as be- 
 fore. Thus, in my premiership a pogrom was perpetrated 
 against the Jews at Homel. The riot was provoked by the 
 gendarmerie. When I discovered this shameful incident, and 
 reported it to the Council of Ministers, His Majesty wrote on 
 the memorandum about this affair that such matters should not 
 be brought to his attention (as too trivial a subject) — - - The 
 Emperor must have been influenced in this case by the Minister 
 
 of the Interior, Durnovo." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 " Emperor Alexander III asked me on one occasion: 'Is it 
 true that you are in sympathy with the Jews?' 'The only way 
 I can answer this question,' I replied to the Emperor, 'is by 
 asking Your Majesty whether you think it possible to drown all 
 the Russian Jews in the Black Sea. To do so would, of course, 
 be a radical solution of the problem. But if Your Majesty will 
 recognize the right of the Jews to live, then conditions must be 
 created which will enable them to carry on a human existence. 
 In that case, gradual abolition of the disabilities is the only ade- 
 quate solution of the Jewish problem.'" 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "As Minister of Finance, I vigorously opposed all measures 
 intended to restrict the rights of the Jews, but it was not in my 
 power to repeal the existing laws against the Jews. Many of 
 these laws were unjust, and upon the whole, these laws did much 
 harm to Russia and Russians. In dealing with the Jewish legis- 
 lation, I did not consider primarily the advantage to be derived 
 from a certain measure by the Jewish race. What was foremost 
 in my mind was the effect of this or that measure upon Russia 
 
 as a whole." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "Among the most implacable enemies of the Russian Jews 
 was Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich, the man who, by his 
 ultra-reactionary and near-sighted policy, drove Moscow into 
 the arms of the revolutionists. The measures which the Grand 
 Duke adopted against the Jews of Moscow the Committee of 
 Ministers refused to sanction, so that they had to be passed 
 either by special commissions or directly by Imperial decrees." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "The whole mass of the legislation regarding the Jews con- 
 sists of legal provisions of an extremely vague character. This 
 circumstance led to a number of arbitrary and conflicting inter- 
 
THE JEW 171 
 
 pretations, which became a source of all manner of graft. No 
 element of the population is so thoroughly mulcted by the Ad- 
 ministration as the Jews are. In some regions the graft has 
 assumed the form of a veritable tax upon the Jews. Under 
 these conditions, the whole burden of the anti-Jewish policy 
 falls upon the poorer class of the Jews, for the more opulent a 
 Jew is, the easier it is for him to smooth his way by means of 
 graft and the less he feels the pressure of the restrictive measures. 
 Not only do the wealthy Jews not feel the oppression of their 
 legal disabilities, but they are, to a certain extent, in a domineer- 
 ing position, inasmuch as they exert influence upon the high 
 
 local officials." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "All this naturally rendered the Jewish masses revolutionary, 
 especially the younger element, the process being furthered by 
 the Russian schools. From the pusillanimous people that the 
 Jews were some thirty years ago there sprang men and women 
 who threw bombs, committed political murders and sacrificed 
 their lives for the revolution.' ' 
 
 "It is my profound conviction that as long as the Jewish 
 problem is handled in an unstatesmanlike, vindictive and non- 
 humanitarian fashion, Russia will remain in a state of unrest 
 
 and upheaval." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "The Anti- Jewish legislation of 1882 is identified with the 
 name of Count N. P. Ignatyev. He did much harm to the 
 country by pursuing a ruthless anti-Jewish policy." 
 
 "The 'pogroms,' that peculiar feature of the Jewish question 
 in Russia, raged with particular violence under Ignatyev. Count 
 Tolstoy at once put an end to them. Under Plehve the tide 
 of pogroms again rose high. Especially brutal and revolting was 
 the anti-Jewish outbreak at Kishinev. I would not venture to 
 say that Plehve personally and directly organized these pogroms, 
 but he did not oppose these, in his opinion, counter-revolutionary 
 outbreaks. When the Kishinev pogroms roused the public 
 opinion of the whole civilized world, Plehve entered into negotia- 
 tions with the Jewish leaders in Paris and also with the Russian 
 rabbis. What he told them amounted to the following: 'Make 
 your people stop their revolutionary activity, and I will stop 
 the pogroms and abolish the Jewish disabilities.' 'The situation 
 is beyond our control,' was the reply. 'The young element, 
 crazed by hunger, is out of hand. BUT should a policy of re- 
 lieving the oppression of the Jews be inaugurated, we believe 
 
172 REMINISCENCES 
 
 that the unrest among the people will subside. ' Plehve appears 
 to have heeded these words and assumed a more liberal attitude 
 toward the Jews, but he was soon assassinated." 
 
 "It is noteworthy that during my premiership the question 
 of the percentage of Jewish students was raised by the Minister 
 of Education, Count Tolstoy, but his purpose was to remove the 
 measures which restricted the educational opportunities of the 
 Jews. Count Tolstoy laid before the Council of Ministers a 
 bill for the abolition of these restrictions. He argued from the 
 premise, which to my mind is perfectly correct, that the most 
 natural solution of the Jewish question is the assimilation of the 
 race through Russian education. After a lengthy discussion the 
 Council of Ministers decided in favor of the bill. But the Em- 
 peror refused to sanction it. * * * This case aptly illus- 
 trates the difference between the Jewish policy of my Cabinet 
 and that of Stolypin's. It is true that at the beginning of his 
 administration Stolypin was inclined to abolish some of the 
 existing Jewish disabilities. He drafted a memorandum on the 
 subject and submitted it to His Majesty, but the Emperor 
 again postponed the matter. In 1907 the Council of Ministers 
 under Stolypin's presidency took up the question of Jewish 
 disabilities and adopted a resolution that it was necessary to 
 enter upon the road of gradual abolition of the existing restric- 
 tions. The minutes of this session His Majesty refused to sign. 
 
 "A year later Stolypin reversed his policy and gradually 
 there arose in Russia an intense movement against the Jews, 
 which is both un-Christian and politically indefensible. At 
 present Jew-baiting is at its worst, and I believe that the baiters 
 themselves hardly know whither they are headed and what they 
 intend to achieve by this ruthless persecution." 
 
 During his visit to Chicago, Grand Duke Boris of 
 Russia was the guest of honor at a dinner given at the 
 country residence of my friend, Harry Rubens. I was 
 among the invited guests. Mr. Rubens had engaged 
 a special train to take us back to Chicago and Baron 
 Schlipenbach, the Russian Consul, seated me next to 
 the Grand Duke. In the course of our conversation, 
 I told him that, judging from published reports, it was 
 apparent that the Jews of Russia were not favorably 
 
THE JEW 173 
 
 considered by the non-Jews. "I have never been in 
 Russia," I said. "The only Russian Jews I know are 
 those I have met in America. Knowing them as I do, 
 I cannot understand why there should be such bitter- 
 feeling against them in Russia." I asked him whether 
 he had had the opportunity to meet and talk with 
 Russian Jewish immigrants who had become estab- 
 lished in America and told him that I would like to 
 invite a number of my co-religionists who had immi- 
 grated from Russia or whose parents had done so to a 
 luncheon so that he might see for himself what good 
 citizens they become when offered the advantages of a 
 friendly environment. He accepted. 
 
 On the day set for the luncheon, I called for him at 
 the hotel where he was stopping. The first thing he 
 said after we were seated in the carriage was, "How 
 do you like my necktie?" Naturally, I was very much 
 surprised but assured the Duke that it was a very 
 beautiful cravat. My surprise was soon over, for he 
 replied, "On my visit to Paris, Baroness Rothschild 
 made this necktie for me and presented it to me." I 
 inferred that in this manner he intended to convey to 
 me that he had accepted before coming to this country 
 hospitality extended to him by people of my faith. 
 
 At the luncheon, to which I had invited about forty 
 Chicago Jews, the majority of them of Russian descent, 
 the Grand Duke outdid himself in affability and ami- 
 ability. He had a few words to say to each one as my 
 guests were introduced to him and responded most 
 cordially to a toast to his health. 
 
 The Grand Duke was very much feted during his 
 visit, but out of caution the exact time for his departure 
 from the city was not announced. On the day he left, 
 
174 REMINISCENCES 
 
 the Russian Consul sent word to Mr. Rubens and my- 
 self of the exact time of the Grand Duke's departure, 
 stating that he thought we might wish to go to the 
 station to bid him goodbye. On arriving there, we 
 found that we were the only two who had been so 
 invited. 
 
 Some weeks afterwards, one of the gentlemen who 
 had attended the luncheon called on me and asked for 
 my photograph. Knowing him well, I complied with 
 his request. He then explained the reason for his re- 
 quest. It appeared that he had written to his father 
 in Russia telling him that Grand Duke Boris had 
 broken bread in Chicago with Jews of Russian origin; 
 that this to his father seemed a most remarkable and 
 portentous event, and that he wished to do honor to 
 the man who had conceived the idea, by placing his 
 photograph on the wall of his room next to the Miz- 
 rach. The fond hopes of my friend's father that as a 
 result of the luncheon meeting the Grand Duke might 
 achieve a better understanding of the Russian subjects 
 of Jewish faith, were, however, doomed to disappoint- 
 ment, for some years later when another pogrom was 
 threatened in Russia, I took the liberty of appealing to 
 the Grand Duke on behalf of our people. But while 
 the Grand Duke in America was a hail-fellow well met — 
 in Russia he was a member of the House of Romanoff. 
 That appeal was to him merely a letter from ''only a 
 Jew." The Jew did not receive an answer. 
 
 Harry Rubens and I were admitted to the bar in 
 1877. Soon thereafter we were associated in the de- 
 fense of twenty-one Bohemians as stated in Chapter II 
 of these reminiscences. From that time on until he 
 died we were loyal friends. Some of my co-religionists 
 
THE JEW 175 
 
 thought he was a Jew, although he had no Jewish fea- 
 tures, was not a Jew nor of Jewish descent. In his 
 younger days he was private secretary to Carl Schurz. 
 He became a very able and successful lawyer, and was 
 recognized as a leader in public affairs. He received 
 high decorations from the King of Bavaria, the Em- 
 peror of Austria and the Emperor of Germany. When 
 my friends celebrated with me my 70th birthday, he 
 was at home sick. It was his last illness. I hope I 
 will be pardoned for adding to these reminiscences his 
 
 letter which is as follows : 
 
 "February 28, 1920. 
 "My dear Friend Kraus: 
 
 "In one of the German papers I read an account of the banquet 
 which had been arranged by many of your friends on the occasion 
 of your seventieth anniversary. 
 
 "If I had had the honor of an invitation my felicitations would 
 have been more timely, although I assure you, they could not 
 possibly have been more hearty. Our acquaintance, and I 
 dare say, our friendship dates back fully forty years and I could 
 not possibly recollect a single event in this long space of time, 
 which could have marred the high esteem as well as the genuine 
 attachment which I have always entertained for you. 
 
 "Your life's work has been a great success, particularly in 
 view of the limited facilities with which we started out. You 
 have conquered great difficulties, achieved an honored position 
 at the bar, accomplished an enviable degree of business success, 
 and at the same time lost no opportunity to give the very best 
 that is in you to the relief of your fellowmen — and now, at three 
 score and ten, you are still vigorous enough to continue with 
 unabaited interest your professional and charitable work. 
 
 "May a kind fate preserve you for a goodly number of years 
 to come is the sincere wish of your old friend, 
 
 "Harry Rubens" 
 
 In 1906 I received from a reliable source in Roumania 
 
 the following report: 
 
 "In the beginning of March of this year signs of an anti- 
 Semitic movement were noticed along the Moldavia. The 
 authorities remained passive and so it came about that one day 
 several hundred peasants entered the little town of Poduloaci 
 
176 REMINISCENCES 
 
 near Jassy and plundered according to their hearts' desire. All 
 stores kept by Jews were destroyed and robbed, and the Jews, 
 including women and children, were maltreated. One Jew re- 
 ceived serious injury. The rioting began at one o'clock in the 
 afternoon. At three in the afternoon a Major in charge of 100 
 men of cavalry stationed in the town, fired three revolver shots 
 into the air and immediately as though this had been a signal 
 agreed upon, the plundering stopped. One hundred and twenty- 
 eight Jewish families in that town suffered a loss of 100,000 
 francs, which, considering the poverty of the people, was a con- 
 siderable sum. A very few days afterwards a similar occurrence 
 was reported in the City of Botoschani, only in a greater degree. 
 Eleven hundred and fifty-nine families lost their property 
 amounting to half a million francs. Twenty-one Jews were 
 wounded and had to be taken to the hospital. 
 
 "After that the anti-Semitic movement spread with lightning 
 rapidity over the entire Moldavia. After Botoschani, where 
 the poor Jews, for fear of personal violence, hid in cellars for two 
 days and where Jewish merchants did not re-open their stores for 
 ten days, the Jews in the town of Vordugeni were attacked, in 
 which four hundred and eight Jewish families suffered the loss of 
 611,000 francs. The Jews in the towns of Buccecea and Bedeni 
 were attacked. In the district of Botochani one thousand, 
 eight hundred and eighty-six Jewish families were plundered of 
 property valued at 3,000,000 francs. In the District of Jassy 
 the Jewish inhabitants of Vivolari and Tziganaschi, in all one 
 hundred and seven families, suffered a loss of 100,000 francs. 
 Similar treatment was accorded to the Jews in Pungesti, Negresti, 
 Panciu, Ivesti, Bacesti, Lespezi, Rosnov, Bozieni, Buhusi, 
 Blagesti, Draguscheni, Bujor and Rogojeni. In the Walachia 
 similar attempts were made by the peasant, but only in the city 
 of Alexandria, inhabited by about twenty Jewish families, the 
 plundering was done by reservists. The destruction there was 
 so thorough that a Jewish merchant who had a large porcelain 
 and glassware store was compelled to borrow glasses from a 
 neighbor for Passover. The damage to those few Jews who lived 
 in that town amounted to about 200,000 francs. Their little 
 synagogue was destroyed and the Shochet who attempted to 
 save the Torah was seriously injured. In all there were anti- 
 Semitic outbreaks in sixteen Roumanian districts. The total 
 number of families affected is three thousand, three hundred 
 and two. The damage is estimated 2,679,050 francs and the 
 total of persons injured is forty-five. 
 
 "Immediately after the outbreak of this anti-Semitic move- 
 ment the Jews living in the villages sought refuge in the larger 
 cities, but when they wanted to return to their villages the 
 
THE JEW 177 
 
 authorities did not permit them to do so. The position of 
 those fugitives is critical as they have no prospect for work. 
 The authorities not only did not allow the Jews to return to the 
 villages in which they and their ancestors had lived for genera- 
 tions but even ordered them to leave the rural districts, including 
 in that order those who had done the state service in the army. 
 Even Jews who were drafted in the army to quell the riots, when 
 they returned to their respective villages were ordered to leave. 
 
 "The question presents itself to us, what shall we do with 
 those who are driven from their homes? 
 
 "On the 5th day of May a conference took place in Vienna 
 of the representatives of organizations of other lands and repre- 
 sentative Roumanians, to consider what aid could be given. It 
 was decided to raise 500,000 francs. 125,000 francs has been 
 forwarded from the United States from Roumanians residing 
 there, 25,000 francs was contributed from Roumanians here. 
 It is expected that Austria, Germany, France and England will 
 contribute equal sums. It was decided to make good fifteen 
 per cent of the loss to each of our co-religionists. From the Rou- 
 manian government nothing is to be expected." 
 
 The Government of Roumania claimed that the up- 
 rising of the peasants was general and not directed 
 against the Jews, but from documents in my possession 
 I was convinced that the peasants and the Jews lived 
 peaceably but that the peasants who were robbed of 
 their labor by the nobility and officials were instigated 
 by their oppressors to indulge in an anti-Semitic move- 
 ment as a relief measure. The only thing we could 
 do was to render financial relief, which was promptly 
 done. 
 
 In 1907 it was charged in a monthly magazine that 
 a portion of the inhabitants of the so-called ghetto in 
 the City of Chicago made their living by trafficking in 
 women. Upon investigation it was found that there 
 was some truth in the charge. At my request the 
 police department made a thorough investigation and 
 found that of the traffickers in women in that district 
 about twenty per cent were Jews. There was no law 
 
178 REMINISCENCES 
 
 in existence at the time against such traffic. We 
 drafted what is now known as "The Pandering Act," 
 caused it to be introduced in the Illinois Legislature, 
 and by unanimous vote it became a law. Other states 
 soon after adopted similar laws. 
 
 As soon as the law was adopted, on behalf of the 
 Order I employed a detective to arrest and an attorney 
 to prosecute offenders against that law. I organized 
 the so-called Committee of Fifteen in Chicago, which 
 is still in existence, the majority of which was then and 
 still is composed of leading Gentile citizens. The de- 
 tective was instructed by me that before he attempted 
 to cause the arrest of a Gentile I must know that every 
 Jew engaged in that business was in jail. 
 
 In my report to the Order I said: 
 
 "Our efforts must be to the end that there shall be no Jewish 
 panderers. Not even one should be tolerated. They must be 
 sent to jail and do penance. They must be ostracized. The 
 Jews of the city of Omaha, under the leadership of the Order, 
 succeeded in abolishing pandering in that city without adequate 
 laws, by refusing those engaged in that traffic all religious rights, 
 even the right of burial in a Jewish cemetery. We owe it to our- 
 selves as citizens of this country and to generations yet to come, 
 to let no guilty person escape." 
 
 In describing the conditions of the Jews in Gal- 
 icia I wrote: "The condition of the Jews in Galicia 
 is deplorable. The poverty among the very large 
 Jewish population of that land is indescribable. Ac- 
 cording to the last census there are 811,371 Jews in 
 Galicia, of which one third consists of beggars and the 
 great majority of the other two thirds of so-called 
 'Luft Menschen , (persons who are very poor). The 
 country itself is poor, has but few industries, and in the 
 few industries that do exist the Jews have very little 
 chance for work, owing to the anti-Semitic agitation 
 
THE JEW 179 
 
 carried on by the Polish trade societies to which Jews 
 are not admitted. 
 
 " Owing to their extreme poverty consumption rages 
 among the Jews of Galicia. In Silesia, German- 
 Poland, the annual death rate is 13.01 in every one 
 thousand — in Galicia, Austria- Poland, it is 20.09. 
 Consequently there are annually 5,744 more deaths 
 among the Jews in Galicia than there would be among 
 an equal number in Silesia. Lack of work and means 
 causes lack of food and unhealthy habitations. Result: 
 the unusualy large death rate. Constant misery caused 
 by poverty weakens not only the body but the morals 
 of a people. 
 
 "The 10th District of the Order furnishes money to 
 establish industries in order to give employment to the 
 unfortunate ; it is considered that the girl who can by a 
 hard day's work earn one krone (twenty cents) is 
 earning good wages. The German Hilfsverein, the 
 Austrian Hilfsverein and the German Grand Lodge 
 are also aiding to some extent the unfortunate among 
 our people in that land. 
 
 "We are fighting the 'White Slave' traffic. Let us 
 help to close up the markets which furnish the victims." 
 
 On March 30, 1908, I received the following cable: 
 
 "Port Said, 
 "Atrocities against Jews at Jaffa by local Governor; 
 twelve Russians, one American wounded, some fatally." 
 
 I wired to Elihu Root, Secretary of State, kindly to 
 cause an investigation to be made as to whether it was 
 true that an American citizen had been wounded. The 
 Secretary ordered an investigation and thereupon the 
 Government of Turkey removed the Governor of Jaffa, 
 
180 REMINISCENCES 
 
 who was an anti-Semite. I received an acknowledge- 
 ment from Port Said, which in part is as follows: 
 
 "For your successful assistance in the Jaffa affair, I desire to 
 thank you not only in the name of our lodges, but also desire to 
 express to you the heartfelt thanks of all the Jews here. The 
 fact that the United States Government demanded official in- 
 formation by cable was in itself sufficient to make a deep im- 
 pression at Constantinople, and that Government lost no time 
 in disposing of the affair." 
 
 On December 23, 1908, I wrote to Melville E. Stone, 
 General Manager of the Associated Press, calling his 
 attention to the fact that when a person charged with 
 a crime happened to be a Jew, the Associated Press 
 always mentioned that fact but did not mention the 
 religion of the accused when he happened to be a 
 member of some other faith; and that I was confident 
 that the mere calling his attention to the practice 
 would be sufficient to stop it. I received the follow- 
 ing answer: " December 26, 1908. 
 "My dear Mr. Kraus: 
 
 "I have yours of December 23rd. I think your suggestion is 
 a perfectly proper one and I see no reason on earth why we should 
 say A. B. was a Jew any more than we should say he was a Metho- 
 dist. Based on your suggestions, I will issue precisely the in- 
 structions you indicate. -Sincerely yours, 
 
 Melville E. Stone, 
 General Manager." 
 
 In 1909 I decided to study the condition of the 
 B'nai B'rith Order in Europe, to visit some of the 
 lodges and learn of their usefulness; but as the lodges 
 did not meet during the summer I started with my 
 wife on our journey early in February, and following 
 Mr. Pickwick's example traveled at my own expense. 
 Secretary Seelenfreund notified the lodges that I would 
 make them an official call. In every city we visited 
 
THE JEW 181 
 
 we were royally received. Very warm friendship and 
 hospitality were shown us by our lodges and members 
 everywhere we visited. 
 
 The first inland city I visited was Berlin. A meet- 
 ing of the Berlin lodges was called to receive me officially. 
 Delegates from thirty German cities attended the meet- 
 ing. I hesitate to write of the very hospitable reception 
 accorded us, not only by the lodges but also by many 
 of the families of our members. 
 
 The Secretary of the German Grand Lodge sent the 
 following report to the Executive Committee: 
 
 "Those were festive days, days of joy, but also of work, that 
 we spent during the sojourn of our honored President of the 
 Order, Brother Kraus. And such of us as were not conscious 
 of the fact that our Order is not an ordinary fraternal organiza- 
 tion but constitutes rather a great and united family of brothers 
 had the opportunity to be convinced of this fact during the past 
 few days. Many a brother looked for the arrival of Brother 
 Kraus with eager anticipation and full of expectations. Quite 
 naturally, they were curious to know how the successor of our 
 Brother Bien and of the so early deceased and lamented Brother 
 Levi would appear, what gifts he possessed that gained for him 
 the confidence of the brothers and placed him in the highest 
 office within the gift of our Order. And now that he has been 
 with us, we can state with pleasure and satisfaction that he has 
 made the best impresssion. In his company one felt the bene- 
 ficent presence of a father, and his stay with us became a veritable 
 brotherly feast. By his plain simplicity, by the purity of his 
 character, by his modest and unassuming manners he quickly 
 won the hearts of all. And even such of our brethren as are not 
 at all sentimental freely confessed that in Brother Kraus all the 
 virtues and gifts were united which are required by the high 
 office he so ably fills. 
 
 "Yet modest as he is with respect to his own personality, 
 just as exacting is he for the respect and standing of the Order in 
 Jewry. That we work unselfishly and successfully in behalf of 
 humanity and lend a helping hand everywhere he does not 
 deem sufficient; his wish is that the Order shall gain a decisive 
 influence in the councils of the various Jewish organizations. 
 The fate of our persecuted and oppressed brothers in faith should 
 not be determined by a few individuals, but rather by our Order 
 
182 REMINISCENCES 
 
 which has enrolled under its banner more than thirty-five 
 thousand Jews, men who by their work and through their efforts 
 have brought about marked achievements, and who furnish to 
 all other organizations what they are most in need of: the soldiers 
 and the generals. 
 
 "In order to strengthen the Order in all parts of the world, 
 Brother Kraus suggests uniformity in all districts as far as the 
 few forms and signs are concerned, and that a ritual should be 
 agreed upon that shall be sacrosanct to all lodges. 
 
 "Brother Kraus especially requested that all contemplated 
 festivities in his honor be omitted and spent his time taking 
 part in the work of various lodges and in the activities of the 
 Grand Lodge and General Committee. On these occasions he 
 won for himself our love and esteem by his modesty of character 
 and by the sound counsels he imparted to us. 'I have come 
 here not to teach, but to learn,' was his reply to the greetings ex- 
 tended to him by President Timendorfer in the sessions of the 
 General Committee. 
 
 "At the meetings of the lodges which he has visited, Brother 
 Kraus related many interesting details affecting our American 
 brothers. He described how the Order endeavors to exert an 
 educational influence upon the new Jewish arrivals from Eastern 
 Europe; how it spares no efforts to reclaim those unfortunates 
 who owing to the oppression and persecution practiced against 
 them in benighted lands have strayed from the path of virtue. 
 
 "Here in our District we live under different conditions than 
 those to be found in America, and therefore our problems are 
 unlike theirs and our field of labor extends in different directions. 
 Nevertheless we have noted the suggestions made by Brother 
 Kraus and will bring them into practice whenever opportunity 
 presents itself. But as Brother Timendorfer stated at the 
 banquet following the session of the General Committee, we 
 wish to reassert that Brother Kraus has by his visit conferred 
 a signal honor upon us and has caused us much pleasure, and 
 that we are also confident that his presence among the brothers 
 in Germany will serve to cement them much closer and be of 
 beneficial influence upon the Order and its exalted problems." 
 
 The Chicago Tribune published March 6, 1909, the 
 following : 
 
 "Berlin, March 5. — Adolf Kraus of Chicago, President of 
 the International B'nai B'rith (Sons of the Covenant) organi- 
 zation, left Berlin today to begin a comprehensive official visit 
 to the great Jewish Order throughout Germany, Bohemia, 
 Hungary, Austria and France. 
 
THE JEW 183 
 
 " Distinguished attention has been accorded to him by the 
 German B'nai B'rith, which gave him a banquet this week. It 
 was attended by the presidents of forty-three local organizations 
 from all parts of the country. 
 
 "'The German lodge,' says Mr. Kraus, 'I am pleased to 
 find, fills a conspicuous role in the conduct of charitable work in 
 the fatherland. Its activities are, of course, largely confined to 
 the Jews, but it administers to their wants so thoroughly 
 that practically none of our co-religionists are dependent upon 
 the communities in which they live for general charity. 
 
 'I have made a special inquiry into two phases of the work 
 which I shall do my best to transplant to New York, Chicago, 
 Philadelphia and other American centers, where there is a large 
 population of poor Jews. 
 
 'I refer to the splendid system of employment finding and 
 plan for holding nightly entertainments which the Berlin B'nai 
 B'rith carried out last year. Although it was a period unusually 
 heavy with unemployed, work was found for thousands of Jews 
 at an incredibly low administrative cost. 
 
 'The entertainment idea consists of every night in the year, 
 except Friday, the meetings consisting of popular talks by 
 authorities on various subjects, interspersed with music and 
 other light and wholesome attractions of one kind and another. 
 The hall is always packed. Occasionally refreshments are 
 passed around. 
 
 'It keeps off the streets certain elements which might other- 
 wise be tempted to get into trouble. It keeps others from freez- 
 ing and starving and provides for everybody a sort of club, 
 which exercises the best sort of influence on the entire Ghetto 
 community of which it is the center. 
 
 'There is sore need of something of this sort in our great 
 American cities. I think the B'nai B'rith would erect a splendid 
 monument to itself if it should find it feasible to inaugurate 
 such a thing.'" 
 
 On our journey from Germany to Austria, in every 
 city where the train stopped for five minutes or longer 
 a committee of ladies and gentlemen was at the depot 
 to greet us. In one of these cities the committee pre- 
 sented my wife with a beautiful muff made of violets. 
 Inside the muff were boxes of candy. 
 
 The first time I was in Prague was as a boy emigrant 
 on my way to America. I then walked the streets of 
 
184 REMINISCENCES 
 
 that city for a few hours waiting for the next train. I 
 knew nobody, nobody knew me. I felt lonesome and 
 forlorn. 
 
 On my visit to Prague in 1909, the members of the 
 two lodges of that city met to welcome me. While 
 listening to the address of welcome by the president of 
 one of the lodges, and seeing the large assembly of lead- 
 ing Jews of that city, I for a moment forgot the present 
 and thought only of the past, with the result that when 
 I rose to speak the first words I said could hardly be 
 heard. 
 
 We had a wonderfully fine time in that city. My 
 wife's brother lived there. The few relations I still 
 had in Bohemia lived either in Prague or nearby. They 
 all called to see us. 
 
 One morning one of the Prague daily papers devoted 
 considerable space to me. How it got the facts it pub- 
 lished I do not know. One thing, however, I do know, 
 and that is, there was very little truth in the article. 
 It was complimentary but very much exaggerated. 
 Among other things it stated that I was enormously 
 rich and that I was traveling in my native country to 
 aid those in distress. Another thing I became con- 
 vinced of, however, was that that paper had consider- 
 able circulation, for every mail brought me many 
 appeals for assistance of one kind or another. 
 
 A young lady of whom I had never heard wrote that 
 she was engaged to marry a captain in the army; that, 
 as the salary of a captain was not sufficient to support 
 a wife in accordance with his official station, the law 
 would not permit him to marry unless there was de- 
 posited with the Government a sufficient sum of money 
 to enable him to live on his salary and the interest 
 
THE JEW 185 
 
 which the Government would pay on the money de- 
 posited; that he needed 25,000 gulden to make such a 
 deposit. The young lady asked me to give it to her 
 as her dowry. 
 
 A man wrote me that he was sure that his wife 
 wanted to poison him, that I should come to pro- 
 tect him by taking care of him and taking him to 
 America. 
 
 One morning shortly before seven a bell boy woke 
 me and told me there was a gentleman in the waiting 
 room who wanted to see me. I dressed, met the 
 gentleman, who handed me his card. He was the 
 rabbi of a city in Bohemia; the name of the place I 
 have forgotten. He further introduced himself by in- 
 forming me that he had been rabbi in Blowitz, the city 
 of my birth. He took a photograph of a young lady 
 out of his pocket and showed it to me, asking whether 
 I knew the young lady. I answered, "No." He said, 
 
 "She is the daughter of , a merchant in Blowitz." 
 
 I said, "When my parents moved from that city I was 
 so young that I remember very little of Blowitz. Why 
 do you show me the photograph?" I asked. He 
 answered, "I intended to marry that young lady, but 
 did not." "Why not?" I asked. "For a good reason; 
 she married another man, " he said. He kept on speak- 
 ing of people in Blowitz and told me that he had taken 
 the four o'clock train that morning to come to Prague 
 to call on me, and that he wanted to return on the nine 
 o'clock train, so as to be home again at noon. Sus- 
 pecting that he had called to make an appeal for funds, 
 I said to him, "Will you please tell me what you want 
 of me?" "I want of you? I want nothing. All I 
 came here for was to see you, " he said. 
 
186 REMINISCENCES 
 
 Dr. Salus of Prague, physician and poet, presented 
 to my wife five volumes of his poetry, and on the fly 
 leaf of one of them he wrote the following : 
 
 DIE AHNEN 
 
 Meinen Grossvater hab' ich noch gekannt, 
 
 Er trug sein Biindel ubers Land 
 
 Und konnte nicht schreiben und konnte nicht lesen 
 
 Und ist ein armer Hausierer gewesen. 
 
 Doch, wenn ich meinen Vater frag': 
 "Wer war deines Vaters Vater? Sag!" — 
 Er lachelt traurig: "Wie soil ich das Sagen?! 
 Er hat ein Biindel durchs Land getragen!" 
 
 "Und vor ihm, all die tausend Jahr', 
 Wer unser Ahn and Urahn war? 
 Was konnte uns an sie gemahnen? 
 Arme haben keine Ahnen!" 
 
 Elend, Verfolgung, Jammer und Not, 
 
 Dunkel ihr Leben, dunkel ihr Tod! 
 
 Und ich schame mich fast durch den Abend zu gehen 
 
 Und seine Schonheit und Duft zu verstehen! 
 
 Denn vor mir und neben mir keucht es schwer 
 Da zieht meiner Ahnen dunkles Heer 
 Mit wundem Rucken und Fiissen die brennen 
 Und mit ernsten Augen, die mich nicht kennen. 
 
 Der verehrungswiirdigen Gemahlin des hochwurdigen 
 Bundesprasidenten Br. Adolf Kraus, zur Erinnerung an 
 ihrer Prager Aufenhalt Marz 1909. 
 
 Br. Hugo Salus. 
 
 Secretary Skall wrote to the B'nai B'rith here: 
 
 "Brother Kraus and his wife (in whose honor the ladies, 
 wives and daughters of the members, arranged an evening 
 tea) were during their stay with us the honored center 
 of our brotherhood and of our city. The hotel where they 
 lived appeared as the headquarters of a potentate who 
 holds court and gives audiences. Brother Kraus made the 
 strongest impression upon our members with his lovable qualities 
 and practicability in the affairs of the Order; his public addresses 
 were overwhelmingly instructive and inspiring. His reference 
 
THE JEW 187 
 
 to the loyalty of the brothers of Austria to the Executive 
 Committee of the Order made a great impression, which will be 
 of beneficial results. Brother Kraus was surrounded here with 
 the enthusiasm and esteem of our members and impressed us 
 very much with his goodness, democratic habits and thorough 
 acquaintance and familiarity with the Order's affairs. His stay 
 in Prague will have good results. Mrs. Kraus has ingratiated 
 herself in the hearts of all as she is an unusually good and loving 
 person and was esteemed by us all. Their visit to Prague will 
 always remain a memory with us as a festival week." 
 
 In Pilsen, the county seat of my native county, a 
 banquet was given in my honor. The hall was beauti- 
 fully decorated with wonderful flowers for that season 
 of the year, and every member was present. After 
 the banquet I requested the president of the lodge to 
 engage an auto for me for the next morning, because I 
 wanted to go to Blowitz (about twenty English miles 
 from Pilsen), to visit the grave of my father. The 
 president asked me to postpone my visit for a day 
 because his wife expected us to luncheon, and his in- 
 vitation was accepted. 
 
 When I arrived in Blowitz I found a committee 
 waiting to escort me to the cemetery. I found my 
 father's grave in fine shape. It was the only grave in 
 the cemetery in good condition. I had provided for 
 perpetual care, but finding that no other grave was so 
 well kept I asked, " Why is my father's grave the only 
 one in such good condition?" The answer was, "A 
 messenger came here yesterday from the president of 
 the lodge in Pilsen, informing us that you would be 
 here today, and requesting that your father's grave be 
 put in the best condition possible before you came." 
 Of the numerous attentions and all the kind treatment 
 I received from my brethren in Europe, none affected 
 me so much as this. 
 
188 REMINISCENCES 
 
 We stayed longer in Vienna than in any other city. 
 The two lodges there held a joint meeting to receive me. 
 We could not accept all the invitations we received to 
 theatres, dinners, auto tours, boat rides, excursions, etc. 
 Everyone we met seemed anxious to try to do something 
 to make our stay a pleasant one. The same courteous 
 treatment was accorded us in every city we visited. 
 
 On the evening before our departure from Vienna I 
 had all those who had been so kind to us as our guests 
 to dinner. It was a very pleasant affair, and lasted 
 until long after midnight. As our guests were about 
 to leave I thanked them for their many kindnesses and 
 bade them, not " Good-bye," but " Auf wiedersehen." 
 Thereupon Banker Taussig, the president of one of the 
 lodges, arose and said : 
 
 "When you came here and our lodges met to greet you, I 
 delivered the address of welcome. I said many nice things of you. 
 If you thought that I believed what I said, you were mistaken. I 
 did not know you. What I said of you was not personal to you, 
 but to the office which you hold, for I thought it was a duty I 
 owed the office. But now you have been with us long enough so 
 that we know you. When you come next time, if I have the 
 opportunity, I will say nicer things of you than I did the first 
 time, and my remarks will then be personal and will be meant." 
 
 We had one member of the Order in London, Mr. 
 Claude Montefiore. He was a member of a lodge in 
 Berlin. He invited the leading Jews of London to 
 meet me at his home on my visit to that city. There 
 were about 120 present. I appealed to them to form 
 a lodge in London, and gave my reasons why such a 
 lodge should be formed. Mr. Montefiore presided. 
 Brother Bergel of Berlin came with me. He addressed 
 the meeting first. When I finished Mr. Montefiore 
 asked for expressions of opinion. A number of guests 
 expressed appreciation of what we said, but each gave 
 
THE JEW 189 
 
 reasons why it was not necessary to start a lodge in Lon- 
 don. The principal reasons were that they had, so they 
 said, sufficient organizations doing the work which our 
 organization, if established in London, could do. Some- 
 one called on Israel Zangwill to speak. Mr. Zangwill said 
 that he was very much in favor of establishing a lodge, 
 provided that existing organizations would disband and 
 all join the B'nai B'rith, so as to have only one organiza- 
 tion. That was considered the joke of the evening. 
 
 Then someone said he would like to hear from Dr. 
 Gaster (chief rabbi of the Portuguese congregations). 
 Dr. Gaster said, "This is the first time that the hand of 
 brotherhood has been extended to us from across the 
 ocean. I for one am willing to grasp it and work for 
 the establishment of a B'nai B'rith lodge in this city." 
 
 One other gentleman present said a few words in 
 our favor. Mr. Montefiore: " Gentlemen, we are ex- 
 pected downstairs to luncheon. I will now put the 
 question, whether or not we shall Jform a lodge in this 
 city, to a vote." 
 
 It was evident that a large majority would vote "no," 
 so I asked leave to say a few words before the question 
 was put to a vote. I said, " I would like to have those 
 who favor the establishing of a lodge stand up." 
 
 Ten, including Dr. Gaster, rose. I then said, "Mr. 
 Chairman, I am not interested in knowing how many 
 are not in favor of the proposition ; but am interested in 
 knowing how many are. I find ten are in favor; that 
 is enough to start with. As ten is considered a quorum 
 for a congregation, it will do for a lodge. Permit me 
 to make the suggestion, that those who are not in favor, 
 go downstairs and leave us who are in favor for a few 
 minutes. We will follow them." 
 
190 REMINISCENCES 
 
 That was acted on. I appointed those ten a com- 
 mittee to organize a lodge and they did organize a 
 wonderful lodge; a lodge that might be justly termed 
 "The Lodge of Intellectuals." 
 
 Conditions in Russia under the Czar were growing 
 from bad to worse. Remonstrances by the American 
 press and from portions of the European press were of 
 no avail. An American passport, in the hands of a 
 Jew, was no protection. Honorable John B. Foster, 
 formerly Secretary of State, at a meeting of the B'nai 
 B'rith in Washington, said: 
 
 "Some years ago, when I was about to sail to St. Petersburg 
 to assume my duties as American Minister in Russia, I was told 
 by one of my predecessors at that Court that one of my chief 
 duties would be going to the foreign office to secure the release 
 of American citizens of the Jewish faith from imprisonment, 
 and this prediction was very nearly correct. In the eighties, 
 when I had the honor to represent our country at the Court of 
 the Czar, even the passport of the government of the United 
 States commanded very little respect when it was found that it 
 was borne by a member of the Hebrew race." 
 
 It was urged by leading Jews that since Russia per- 
 sisted in refusing to recognize the American passport, 
 the commercial treaty between the two countries 
 should be abrogated. At a meeting of the Union of 
 American Hebrew Congregations held on Janurary 19, 
 1911, a committee was appointed to submit an appeal 
 to the President of the United States. 
 
 On February 8, 1911, President Taft sent me the 
 following invitation: 
 
 "I am inviting conference of gentlemen at luncheon at the 
 White House 1 :30 February 15. There will be present, if they 
 accept invitations, the following gentlemen, in addition to your- 
 self, (here followed the names of the invited guests) also Secretary 
 Knox and Secretary Nagel. Kindly wire me whether you can 
 be present." 
 
THE JEW 191 
 
 On February 15th there appeared at the White 
 House Messrs. Freiberg, Bettman, Jacob H. Schiff, 
 Louis Marshall, Simon Wolf, Jacob Furth, Philip Stein, 
 Chas. Nagel, Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Con- 
 gressman Goldfogle, and myself. We were cordially 
 received by the President and took luncheon with him 
 and his family. After luncheon the President excused 
 the absence of Secretary Knox, who had been unex- 
 pectedly called to Chicago. The result of the meeting 
 was not satisfactory. After leaving the White House 
 Messrs. Schiff and Marshall and I held a conference 
 and decided to appeal to the people of the United 
 States. Afterwards, in nearly all cities mass meetings 
 were held, denouncing Russia's course. Several states 
 adopted resolutions requesting the Government to act. 
 The press was almost a unit in demanding the abroga- 
 tion of the treaty. Resolutions for abrogating the 
 treaty were introduced in the House of Representatives 
 as well as in the Senate, and favorably considered by 
 the Committee on Foreign Relations. The agitation 
 began in the latter part of February and continued to 
 the end of the year. I was of opinion that the President 
 was favorable to the abrogation of the treaty but feared 
 the country was not ripe for such action. On Decem- 
 ber 6th of that year I was in Washington and with 
 Simon Wolf called on the President to pay our respects. 
 The President told us that about Christmas time he 
 would give notice of the abrogation of the treaty. The 
 notice was given. While I recognize the valuable ser- 
 vices rendered in this case by the American Jewish Com- 
 mittee and the Union of American Hebrew Congre- 
 gations, it is significant that the President evidently 
 regarded the B'nai B'rith as the most important factor 
 
192 REMINISCENCES 
 
 for he presented the Order with the pen used in signing 
 the Abrogation of the Russian Treaty. Secretary Nagel 
 handed me the pen, saying as he did so: 
 
 11 It is my privilege to hand you the pen with which the Presi- 
 dent of the United States signed the abrogation resolution. I 
 trust that we may all remember that only the first step has been 
 taken, that very much remains to be done, and I trust that we 
 may bear in mind that there will be occasion enough for patience, 
 firmness and wisdom." 
 
 In 1912 the Executive Committee met in Berlin. 
 Before leaving for Berlin I received the following letter 
 from President Taft: 
 
 THE WHITE HOUSE 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 March 7, 1912 
 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 This will introduce to you Mr. Adolph Kraus, of 
 Chicago, the president of the Independent Order of 
 B'Nai B'Rith, who is going abroad. Mr. Kraus is 
 
 an old friend of mine and I commend him to your cour- 
 tesy. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 To xne 
 
 Diplomatic and Consular Officers 
 of the United States. 
 
THE JEW 193 
 
 I preserved the letter but made no use of it. 
 
 At the meeting of the Executive Committee a 
 quorum was present. We had a very pleasant time, 
 and, I think, did some good work in the cause of 
 humanity. 
 
 The Order of B'nai B'rith awards a gold medal to 
 that person who in the opinion of the Executive Com- 
 mittee has done the most for the Jewish people and for 
 humanity in any one year. In 1912, at the meeting of 
 the Executive Committee in Berlin, Germany, the 
 medal was voted to President Taft. 
 
 The next meeting of the Executive Committee was 
 
 held in the city of Washington on January 5 and 6, 1913. 
 
 President Taft was notified that if agreeable to him, 
 
 the medal awarded to him at the Berlin meeting would 
 
 be presented. The President sent a written invitation 
 
 to each member of the Executive Committee to take 
 
 luncheon at the White House on January 6th at 1:30 
 
 p. m. The honor of presenting the medal to Mr. Taft 
 
 was given to me. I addressed him as follows: 
 
 " Mr. President: If it were given to man to know the Divine 
 intention, we should then be able to understand why that people 
 whose ancient leader was selected to receive and expound the 
 Divine law, that people who gave to the world the fundamental 
 religious conception and whose devoted adherence, according to 
 their understanding, to that law is singularly exemplified in 
 history, should throughout the ages, even unto the present, be 
 most cruelly persecuted in His name. But, Mr. President, the 
 history of civilization is but the record of the slowly developing 
 intellect and conscience of man. The sympathy for human 
 suffering which good men generally feel today is but the develop- 
 ment of that divine spark which ages ago kindled in the breast 
 of the savage and made him turn away from his writhing victim 
 with something akin to pity. And so it is with all the other 
 human qualities which in the enlightened judgment of men are 
 called good, they but express the growth, step by step, of those 
 elements of human character whose ultimate development 
 means the attainment of complete justice among men.]|*^ 
 
194 REMINISCENCES 
 
 "To know justice, we must know injustice; and, perhaps we 
 may glimpse the divine intention, if it be a part of the infinite 
 plan, that through its injustice to the Jew the world shall learn 
 to know justice and to do justice to all men. 
 
 "Be that as it may, Mr. President, the fact remains that in 
 countries not so blessed as our own with the spirit and the prac- 
 tice of justice, the flame of religious and race hatred still burns 
 and the Jewish victim, with the same fortitude, still prays as 
 for two thousand years his ancestors have prayed, for that de- 
 liverance which has not come. And we, his co-religionists, 
 members of the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, having 
 among other humanitarian objects the amelioration of the con- 
 dition of our persecuted brethern, in behalf of Jewish victims of 
 persecution, have enlisted ourselves in what may be called the 
 Jewish cause. And that cause, we believe, is only part of a larger 
 cause — the cause of humanity. For the inhuman treatment of 
 the Jew in those countries where he is still persecuted is but one 
 manifestation of man's old inhumanity to man; and the day that 
 shall witness the end of Jewish persecution everywhere shall 
 likewise dawn upon a better world for all men everywhere. 
 
 "At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the B'nai 
 B'rith held in the city of Berlin, Germany, April 15, 1912, the 
 following action was taken. I read from a copy of the record: 
 
 "'The convention of the Order, having directed that a gold 
 medal be annually awarded to the man or woman, regardless of 
 creed, who has contributed most during the year to the welfare 
 of the Jewish cause, the awarding of the medal was next taken 
 up. After full discussion it was decided that President William 
 Howard Taft of the United States of America had on various 
 occasions during the year fearlessly, justly and vigorously enun- 
 ciated doctrines and maintained positions on questions in which 
 the Jewish people have a vital interest, albeit they are of not less 
 significance to lovers of liberty and justice the world over; 
 that the positions so taken by him as the head of a great nation 
 gave new hope of better days to come for the persecuted of our 
 people; that in recognition thereof the medal should be, and 
 accordingly it was, voted to President Taft.' 
 
 "The year presents the act of no indivudal, Mr. President, 
 of whatever standing, which equaled in its beneficial effect upon 
 the Jewish cause those actions of yours as the chief executive of 
 this great nation. Such at least was the judgment of the mem- 
 bers of the Executive Committee of the Order of B'nai B'rith, as 
 expressed in the action to which I have referred. 
 
 "And so, Mr. President, in behalf of the Order of B'nai 
 B'rith, I have the honor — and it is an honor to me above and 
 beyond the very great honor conferred upon me by my selection 
 
THE JEW 195 
 
 to make this presentation, for it has been my great privilege to 
 learn from prior personal association how richly of the gratitude 
 of men your great qualities of mind and heart deserve — I have 
 the honor, at a time when our action can bear no possible taint 
 of any motive save that of grateful appreciation — to present to 
 you this medal." 
 
 The President replied : 
 
 "Mr. Kraus and gentlemen of the Committee of the B'nai 
 B'rith : I am very greatly honored and very much touched by 
 this beautiful evidence of your testimony to the usefulness of 
 efforts of mine, while exercising the office of President, to make 
 it clear to the people and the world at large, that in this country 
 at least, every man, woman and child is equal before the law and 
 entitled to enjoy those rights that we call inalienable; that in 
 this country not only are those rights declared and secured by 
 law, but that there is among the people a spirit that reflects and 
 carries out the principles of our Constitution. Now, upon the 
 Jewish people it is not necessary for me to pronounce eulogium. 
 In their just pride of their ancestry those of us who are not of 
 the Jewish people have to be humble. The genius, the strength 
 of your race, the patience and the persistence with which you 
 pursue your purpose to maintain your rights and exalt your 
 race — all make yours an exceptional history in the history of 
 the world. The persecutions to which you have been subjected 
 because of your religion have in a sense doubtless developed the 
 character and tenacity of your race, but it needs a free country 
 like the United States to develop the flower and enable you to 
 show to the world at large that wonderful capacity of the race 
 as supporters of law and order in a government of freedom and 
 a government that insists upon equality before the law. 
 
 "My father was a Unitarian, and I was brought up in that 
 faith. Across the street from the Unitarian church in Cincin- 
 nati was the Jewish synagogue, of which the Rev. Isaac M. Wise 
 was rabbi. Our clergymen exchanged pulpits, so in my boy- 
 hood days I sat at the feet of Dr. Wise in the Unitarian church 
 and listened to sermons which he delivered in the pulpit of that 
 church. It is therefore not to be supposed that there was any 
 prejudice of any sort in my mind or that there was anything 
 but impatience at the suggestion of a prejudice that may exist 
 in narrow minds. 
 
 "Now, Mr. Kraus and gentlemen, there is not any doubt 
 but that a race like yours, as civilization goes on, will forge itself 
 to the front and overcome the inequalities and persecutions 
 that unfortunately continue and exist in some countries. This 
 is as certain as the day, and it is a great satisfaction that this 
 
196 REMINISCENCES 
 
 movement of the Jews upward and onward to complete and 
 world-wide recognition of their merit and to social justice every- 
 where has had its most successful impulse in this country. 
 
 "And now, gentlemen, I shall treasure this evidence as one 
 of the greatest honors and as one of the greatest pleasures of 
 my administration." 
 
 All the members spent a very enjoyable afternoon 
 at the White House. The President sent for a photo- 
 grapher and had a picture taken of the Executive Com- 
 mittee with himself in the centre of the group. 
 
 On January 19, 1913, the 70th anniversary of the 
 founding of the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith was 
 celebrated at Temple Beth El, New York City. Presi- 
 dent Taft was one of the speakers. I quote from his 
 address : 
 
 "Yours is a great association founded seventy years ago; it 
 has extended its usefulness, its influence around the globe. 
 Seventy years in the life of the Jewish race is very short. It is 
 a young institution with you, and it is for me of great significance 
 that it represents the desire of the Jewish race to benefit mankind 
 — a desire that has persisted in that race after it came under the 
 influence and came to understand the benefits of free govern- 
 ment in the United States. 
 
 "Something over four hundred lodges down to 1898 had 
 disposed of one hundred millions of dollars in sick benefits, in 
 payments to widows and orphans, in the construction of chari- 
 table institutions and in other charities. Between 1898 and 
 now — I do not know that there are any statistics, but judging 
 from the natural increase — what has been done in that decade, 
 I should be surprised if you have not nearly doubled the hundred 
 million and made it two hundred millions in the disposition of 
 charity the world over. 
 
 "The study of the history of the Jewish people brings to 
 one who is not a Jew a profound admiration for a race whose 
 virtues have enabled it to live against all abuses, against all 
 intolerances, against all unkindness. It is a little like, though 
 in a different way, the feeling you have towards a race like that 
 which went to New England where there was no soil worth 
 cultivating on any scale, where there was very little to encourage 
 one to take out the earth's wealth, yet there, in those places it 
 was, where there was the least encouragement, that the strongest 
 men seem to have been made. 
 

 {J 
 
 K*«a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r j23 
 
 1 IP 
 
 
 
 
 1 fe 
 
 IS 
 
 *>3 
 
 3 
 
 I* 
 
 £1 
 
 <sj 
 
 -o 
 
 Rh -? 
 
THE JEW 197 
 
 "I never was quite so much impressed, never had my patriot- 
 ism so much aroused, as I did in visiting the East Side. Going 
 among those people, who had come over within the last decade, 
 and seeing their young children responding to the flag, singing 
 the national anthem, and alive to the appreciation of the fact 
 that they were American citizens, entitled to enjoy all the liber- 
 ties of our land, it seemed to me as if they understood the signifi- 
 cance of America better than those of us who have been brought 
 up here and who always thought that these things are matters 
 of course and that there was no oppression anywhere and no 
 inequality. 
 
 "Now I know I need not preach patience to a people that 
 have been patient for as many thousands of years as you have. 
 I needn't preach persistence and determination to bring about 
 a result, a just result, for your co-religionists. I can only say 
 in words of encouragement, that I believe conditions warrant 
 its coming, maybe not in your time, or in mine, but it is coming 
 step by step. I do not believe in progress over night at any rate. 
 Nothing has been done in this world that was worth having, that 
 did not take a great deal of effort, and did not involve a great 
 many defects. 
 
 "I have referred to the fact that this association is great in 
 its usefulness, because of the actual charities that it disposes. 
 It is great because of the example that it offers the world. I 
 don't know exactly why, but it is a fact that the Jewish charities 
 are the greatest charities in any society. They are the most 
 perfect, and I must think that it is due to the spirit of brother- 
 hood that has been developed in your race by your common 
 burdens. In your early history, when every man was against 
 you, and when you stood together to live as a race and to carry 
 on life, and a great history it is, you saw to it that every man and 
 woman in that race had all the rights you could give him to 
 enable them to live and to live happily." 
 
 On the occasion of President and Mrs. Taft's silver 
 wedding the Executive Committee presented them with 
 silver Tables of the Law, to which the President re- 
 sponded as follows: 
 
 "Gentlemen: — I beg to acknowledge your very kind letter of 
 July 6th, together with the Tables of the Law presented in a 
 most artistic and charming fashion upon silver. I shall keep 
 this on my desk to remind me of my duty, and, while my famili- 
 arity with the Hebrew is not sufficient to enable me to trace 
 the meaning by letters, I think my memory will enable me to 
 know what they are constantly saying. 
 
198 REMINISCENCES 
 
 "I have appropriated the use of this gift to myself, because 
 I believe that I need it very much more than the lady in whose 
 honor you chiefly present it. 
 
 "With assurances of my gratitude, believe me, 
 
 "Sincerely yours, 
 
 Wm. H. Taft." 
 
 During my term of office from 1910 to 1915, money 
 was collected by the Executive Committee for the re- 
 lief of sufferers from the Constantinople fire, for the 
 relief of sufferers from the earthquake in Turkey, for 
 the Balkan War sufferers, for the relief of flood sufferers 
 in Ohio, and tornado sufferers in Nebraska, for the 
 relief of sufferers in Solonica and Roumania and various 
 charitable institutions to the amount of $2,265,379.71. 
 Fully as much was paid out for relief during the period 
 from 1915 to 1920 and from 1920 to 1925. 
 
 ORDER'S EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF JEWS 
 IN BALKAN STATES. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Turkish war it was foreseen 
 that territorial rearrangements would most likely 
 follow as a result of the war and that thereby the status 
 of the Jews in some of the Balkan states would, prob- 
 ably, change for the worse. 
 
 Resolutions prepared by us, expressing the sentiment 
 of the people of the State of Illinois, that all inhabitants 
 of the Balkan states be accorded equal rights, regardless 
 of religious belief, were submitted to the Illinois legis- 
 lature. The resolutions were unanimously adopted on 
 April 2, 1913, and it was ordered that a certified copy 
 be forewarded to the Secretary of State. The resolu- 
 tions were as follows: 
 
 "Whereas, human rights have been disregarded in Roumania 
 and Turkey, in that Christians have been massacred by the 
 hundred in Albania and more than 200,000 Jews in Roumania 
 
THE JEW 199 
 
 are reduced by governmental restriction as to the enjoyment of 
 their natural rights to a condition which is equivalent to slavery; 
 and 
 
 "Whereas, in the Bulgarian territory all of the people thereof 
 have been heretofore permitted to enjoy and are now enjoying 
 equal rights and privileges; and 
 
 "Whereas, Roumania is now demanding that in the division 
 of territory resulting from the Balkan war a portion of Bulgarian 
 territory be ceded to Roumania; and 
 
 "Whereas, the cession to Roumania of such territory would 
 bring a hitherto free people under and subject to the unjust 
 restrictions of the Roumanian government unless the rights of 
 such people are properly safeguarded ; and 
 
 "Whereas, it is contrary to the enlightened judgment of just 
 men everywhere that any people should be made the victims of 
 massacre and of discriminating and unjust laws; 
 
 "Therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of 
 Illinois, the House of Representatives concurring therein, That 
 it is the sense of the people of the State of Illinois and their hope 
 that the powers of Europe should and that they will demand as 
 a condition precedent to the division or cession of any such 
 territory that the human rights of all the inhabitants thereof, 
 whether Christians, Jews or Moslems, be fully guarded and pro- 
 tected. Resolved further, That the Department of State of the 
 United States Government be informed of this action and re- 
 quested to take such measures in the premises as it may deem 
 proper and just." 
 
 Leading newspapers of the country endorsed editori- 
 ally our position, that the Jews in territory to be ceded 
 to Roumania should not be deprived of the rights of 
 citizenship theretofore enjoyed by them. 
 
 We petitioned our government to suggest to the 
 Powers, that in the peace agreement a clause be in- 
 corporated guaranteeing equal rights to the inhabitants 
 of the Balkan states regardless of creed. 
 
 Our appeal to President Wilson and Secretary Bryan 
 was not made in vain. At the peace conference of the 
 Balkan delegates, held in Bucharest, in August, 1913, a 
 note was presented from the American government ex- 
 pressing the hope that in the treaty to be consummated 
 
200 REMINISCENCES 
 
 full religious liberty and citizenship to all the inhabitants 
 in territory taken from one country and given to another 
 would be granted. 
 
 Premier Majorescu of Roumania, presiding at the 
 conference, declared that it was not necessary to have 
 such a declaration incorporated in the treaty as such 
 was already the law in all of the countries involved. 
 With this statement all the delegates coincided. Since 
 we well knew the measure of liberty and citizenship 
 that is accorded to the Jews of Roumania the action 
 of the delegates at the conference was to us a disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 Upon being informed of the action taken by the 
 conference on the American note, the following com- 
 munication was sent to the Secretary of State: 
 
 " Chicago, August 9, 1913. 
 "Hon. W. J. Bryan, Washington, D. C. 
 
 "Dear Sir: According to the news reports, your appeal for 
 equal rights to the inhabitants of the Balkan states, regardless 
 of creed, did not meet with the measure of success which it de- 
 served, and which was so ardently hoped for it by the sufferers 
 in at least one of the countries in question. 
 
 "Such result, while it may temporarily disappoint, does not 
 discourage those who are patiently waiting, and those who are 
 prayerfully watching and hoping for the day that will witness 
 the principle you advocated in universal operation among civil- 
 ized men ; for it is a part of their philosophy to regard every effort 
 in the right direction as a step further toward the ultimate 
 attainment of that fundamental justice, which to be more fully 
 accorded needs only to be better understood. 
 
 "Your position on this question as Secretary of State of this 
 great nation reflects credit on you as well as upon the State. 
 The names of those in power who stand up for the rights of man 
 will live and be held in grateful remembrance long after they 
 are gone. 
 
 "Please permit me to express to youon behalf of the organi- 
 zation I represent, as well as personally,our very great apprecia- 
 tion of your action in the premises. 
 
 "Very truly yours, 
 
 Adolf Kraus." 
 
THE JEW 201 
 
 Mr. Bryan subsequently issued a formal statement 
 paraphrasing his note, saying that he received vigorous 
 representations from Jews all over the country against 
 the treatment of their co-religionists in the Balkan 
 states and especially in Roumania; that several com- 
 mittees of prominent Jews had called on him, on one 
 of which was Simon Wolf, formerly president of the 
 B'nai B'rith, and that it was because of the fair repre- 
 sentations of these committees that he had dispatched 
 the note to Bucharest. 
 
 Upon America's entrance into the World War the 
 B'nai B'rith established at its own expense clubs in 
 cities near soldiers' camps, for the purpose of enter- 
 taining and taking care of soldiers regardless of creed 
 when visiting the city on leave of absence. The first 
 of these clubs was established in Rockford, Illinois. 
 Similar clubs were soon afterwards established by the 
 Order near other camps. The War Department ap- 
 proved of this action. Raymond B. Fosdick, Chair- 
 man of the Commission on Training Activities wrote: 
 
 "Dear Mr. Kraus — Your activity at Rockford which has 
 already been brought to our attention, is a very creditable piece 
 of work and it is to be sincerely hoped that you will continue it 
 and extend it." 
 
 At the close of the war, when the American delegates 
 to the Peace Conference were about to leave for Paris, 
 I wrote to President Wilson the following letter: 
 
 "Chicago, November 14, 1918. 
 "Mr. President: 
 
 "The Independent Order of B'nai B'rith is an international 
 Jewish fraternal organization of more than seventy-rive years' 
 standing, with branches in almost all countries of Europe, Asia 
 Minor, and in Egypt. 
 
 "While the war was in progress I received requests from 
 leading Jews of those countries to appeal, when hostilities should 
 
202 REMINISCENCES 
 
 cease and the Peace Conference meet, to you, who have taken such 
 a broad and humane view of the European situation, not only to 
 aid in obtaining for the small nations the right of self-government, 
 but also to secure for all inhabitants of those lands equal rights, 
 regardless of their religious belief, and, should a tribunal of 
 nations be established, power to enforce those rights for that 
 tribunal. 
 
 "I have hesitated, Mr. President, to submit such an appeal 
 to you, because I felt sure that you would on your own initiative 
 insist that justice be done to all peoples. My apology for address- 
 ing you at this time, when so many important subjects are re- 
 quiring your attention, is that I owe it as a duty to those for 
 whom I speak. I am confident that it is unnecessary for me to 
 submit facts showing how essential is it for the future safety and 
 happiness of my co-religionists that the allied powers consider 
 their situation. 
 
 "You have been so wonderfully well informed of the Euro- 
 pean situation that I believe there is nothing I can say which will 
 furnish you additional information. However, if you desire, I 
 shall be glad to come to Washington and give such information 
 as I possess. 
 
 "I have the honor to be 
 
 "Yours most respectfully, 
 Adolf Kraus." 
 
THE JEW 203 
 
 The following was received in reply: 
 
 THE WHITE HOUSE 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 27 November, 1918 
 
 My dear Mr. Kraus: 
 
 There was certainly no need to apologize for 
 your interesting letter of the 14th of November, which 
 was, I am sorry to say, delayed in reaching me because it 
 was sent to the wrong department. 
 
 I appreciate very fully the grave matter to which 
 the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith directed you to 
 call my attention, and I beg to assure you that it will be 
 very much in my mind during the conferences on the other 
 side of the water. 
 
 Cordially and sincerely yours. 
 
 Mr. Adolf Kraus, 
 
 Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 The Executive Committee voted the gold medal to 
 President Wilson for the year 1918. Simon Wolf 
 notified me that the President would receive us on 
 Thanksgiving Day at 11 : 00 A. M. Henry Morgenthau, 
 Simon Wolf, our secretary and I were cordially received 
 
204 REMINISCENCES 
 
 and after formalities of greeting were over I addressed 
 the President as follows: 
 
 "Mr. President: 
 
 "It is by the comparison of opposites that we learn to dis- 
 tinguish that which is good from that which is evil, or less good. 
 Love is the more beautiful, as hate is the more repugnant; 
 charity is the sweeter as selfishness becomes the more odious; 
 liberty is the dearer as tyranny is the more oppressive; and justice 
 is the more desirable as we realize the cruelty and misery occa- 
 sioned by injustice. For centuries the heroes were those who 
 succeeded in war; the more men they killed the greater was 
 their fame, and they were the idols of the masses. 
 
 "The names of such men as Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, 
 Napoleon, were shining lights in history. Events have lately 
 taken place which will cause the historian to record and the people 
 of the world to learn that it is not the man who engages in war 
 to gain land or enslave people, but he who enters war to gain 
 peace for mankind whose name should go down to posterity and 
 be remembered with gratitude. 
 
 "You, Mr. President, have occupied the position as cham- 
 pion on the side of permanent peace, a leader in the fight against 
 militarism, cruelty and misery. 
 
 "The people of this country are fortunate in having at this 
 time as their leader, a man whose words carry weight, not only 
 with the Allies but even with the defeated nations. 
 
 "The Independent Order of B'nai B'rith has directed that 
 a gold medal be awarded not more than once a year to the man, 
 regardless of creed, who has contributed most during the year 
 to the welfare of the Jewish people and humanity. The Execu- 
 tive Committee of the Order unanimously decided that this 
 year the medal be awarded to you, Mr. President, and so, on 
 behalf of the Order, we have the honor to present to you this 
 medal, in the hope that in your estimation it may find some 
 measure of value as a token of our deep gratitude to you and our 
 sincere admiration for you, both as a man and as our National 
 Head; and in the hope — nay in the belief that as the years go 
 by, it will have a greater value to you and yours because of its 
 association with the great acts of a great leader of a great people, 
 which the riper judgment of the years will record as those which 
 sped forward the cause of human liberty a thousand years." 
 
 The President replied as follows: 
 
 "I cannot extemporaneously reply adequately to your very 
 beautiful address, sir, but I can reply with great feeling and with 
 
THE JEW 205 
 
 the most genuine gratitude to the Order for the distinguished 
 honor they have paid me. 
 
 "I am sometimes embarrassed by occasions of this sort, be- 
 cause I know the great tasks that lie ahead of us. The past is 
 secure, but the future is doubtful, and there are so many ques- 
 tions intimately associated with justice that are to be solved at 
 the peace table and by the commissions which no doubt will be 
 arranged for at the peace table, that I feel in one sense as if our 
 work of justice had just begun. I realize that, for one thing, 
 one of the most difficult problems will be to secure the proper 
 guarantees for the just treatment of the Jewish people in the 
 countries where they have not been justly dealt with, and 
 unhappily there are several countries of which that may be 
 said. 
 
 4 'And the embarrassment in that connection is this. It is 
 one thing to give a people its right of self-determination, but it 
 is another to enter into its internal affairs and get satisfactory 
 guarantees of the use it will make of its independence and its 
 power, because that, in a way, involves a kind of supervision 
 which is hateful to the people concerned and difficult to those 
 who undertake it. 
 
 "But I do not care to dwell on the difficulties. I would 
 rather dwell upon the purpose that we all have at heart to see 
 that the nearest possible approach is made to a proper solution 
 of questions of this sort, and I think that this will be evident to 
 everybody who is dealing with the affairs of the world at this 
 time, that if we truly intend peace we must truly intend content- 
 ment, because there cannot be any peace with disturbed spirits. 
 There cannot be any peace with a constantly recurring sense of 
 injustice. And, therefore, we have this challenge to put to the 
 peoples who will be concerned with the settlement. Do you, 
 or do you not, truly desire permanent peace, and are you ready 
 to pay the price — the only price — which will secure it? It will 
 be awkward for them to answer that question except in the 
 affirmative, and impossible for them to answer it genuinely in 
 the affirmative unless they intend that every race shall have 
 justice. So that I think the probability is that the more plainly 
 we speak — I do not mean the more harshly — but the more 
 plainly and candidly we speak, the more probable it will be that 
 we shall arrive at just settlement. And in the attempt that I 
 shall personally make, I shall be very much encouraged by kind- 
 ly acts such as your Order, as represented by you, performed today 
 and I hope that you will convey to your associates my very deep 
 sense of the honor and distinction they have conferred upon me. 
 Thank you very much indeed." 
 
206 REMINISCENCES 
 
 When the President and Mrs. Wilson departed for 
 Europe on the steamer, " George Washington," I tele- 
 graphed the following message: 
 
 "We will pray for your and Mrs. Wilson's safe return home 
 and that by your help Isaiah's prophecy may be fulfilled; namely 
 — and the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of 
 righteousness quietness and assurance forever." 
 
 Nearly all the Jewish societies of the Jewish organi- 
 zations of America sent representatives to a meeting 
 which was held in New York City on November 26, 
 1916, for the purpose of organizing a Jewish congress. 
 I was elected temporary chairman and presided all day. 
 Towards evening the committee on organization re- 
 ported, recommending me for the position of perma- 
 nent chairman, the minority recommending Mr. Louis 
 Marshall. Each of us declined and thereupon Mr. 
 Nathan Straus was unanimously elected. 
 
 The situation of the Jews in Roumania was deplor- 
 able. Mr. Chas. J. Vopicka of Chicago, a personal 
 friend of mine, was American minister to Roumania, 
 and I was in correspondence with him. I asked him to 
 do all he properly could do to alleviate the condition 
 of our people in that country. That Mr. Vopicka, 
 acting within the proprieties of his position and with 
 the consent of the American Government, did all that 
 was humanly possible, is attested by a report which I 
 received of the persecutions of the Jewish people there, 
 which concluded as follows: 
 
 "As terrible as are the facts herein set forth, they would have 
 been worse if our luck had not brought here at the head of the 
 diplomatic mission of the United States the Honorable Charles 
 J. Vopicka, who has shown for all the miseries which afflicted 
 the Jewish population of Roumania not only a mind full of 
 understanding but a heart full of sympathy and human love, a 
 compassion which made him act and interfere in behalf of every 
 
THE JEW 207 
 
 persecuted one everywhere. He helped always where protection 
 was needed and might be given. 
 
 "It will be sufficient to mention one fact which clearly shows 
 what Mr. Vopicka has meant and still means to the Jews of 
 Roumania. In November, 1918, he chanced to hear by mere 
 rumor that a pogrom was planned against the Jews. He in- 
 terfered at ' propria motu ' with General Cuanda, then Minister- 
 President, and so energetically that the Government was com- 
 pelled to take necessary measures. The excesses were prevented 
 and many lives saved. 
 
 "Mr. Vopicka in consequence is justly considered by the 
 whole Jewish population as the representative of true democracy 
 and as the only man who has rescued and can rescue them in 
 evil days of oppression and weariness." 
 
 Early in December, 1918, I received a cablegram 
 from Denmark that a massacre of Jews was to take 
 place in Roumania on December 8, 1918. I sent the 
 following telegram to our Secretary of State at Washing- 
 ton: 
 
 "Received the following cable from our B'nai B'rith Lodge 
 at Copenhagen: 'Alarming news has arrived here of impending 
 massacres of Roumanian Jews. Request your government to 
 take steps to protect the Jews against the expected pogroms.' 
 Will you kindly cause the Roumanian government's attention 
 to be called to this report?" 
 
 On the fourteenth, I received from the State De- 
 partment the following answer: 
 
 "The department begs to inform you that it has brought this 
 information to the attention of the American Legation in Rou- 
 mania by cable, and has requested an investigation and report." 
 
 When Mr. Vopicka visited his home in August, 1919, 
 he told me that upon receipt of the State Department's 
 cablegram he had promptly obtained an audience with 
 King Ferdinand, during which the King informed him 
 that the Jews of Bessarabia were somewhat alarmed for 
 their safety, but without good cause, and that pre- 
 cautionary measures had been taken to prevent a 
 massacre. The massacre did not take place. 
 
208 REMINISCENCES 
 
 On February 26, 1920, I was seventy years of age. 
 Simon Wolf of Washington, and Secretary Seelenfreund, 
 anticipating the date had arranged a surprise birthday 
 celebration in my honor. On the evening of February 
 26th, more than five hundred guests assembled in the 
 large banquet hall of the Hotel LaSalle. Honorable 
 William Howard Taft, ex-President, came to Chicago 
 to attend the banquet and delivered an address. 
 Guests were present from all parts of the country. 
 Lucius L. Solomons of San Francisco and Rabbi Edw. 
 N. Calisch of Richmond, also delivered addresses. 
 Congratulatory letters and telegrams were received at 
 the banquet from lodges, congregations, hospitals, 
 orphan asylums, old people's homes, public officials, 
 members of my family and personal friends. They 
 came from one hundred ninety-nine different cities and 
 towns in America, and from the following cities of 
 other lands: Prague, Czecho-Slovakia; Copenhagen, 
 Denmark; Zurich, Switzerland; London, England; 
 Reichenberg, Pilsen, Budweis, Bruenn, Troppau, Tep- 
 litz, Karlsbad, all Czecho-Slovakia; Vienna, Austria; 
 Sofia, Bulgaria; Krakau, Poland; Breslau and Berlin, 
 Germany; Bucharest, Roumania; Jerusalem, Palestine; 
 Cairo, Egypt; Smyrna, Turkey; Beyrouth and Con- 
 stantinople, Turkey; Varna, Bulgaria; Alexandria, 
 Egypt; Salonica, Greece; Adrianople, Turkey; Jassy, 
 Roumania; Piatra, Roumania; Lemberg, Poland ; Galatz, 
 Roumania; Roustchuk, Bulgaria; Nice, France; from 
 Opava and Buzda and one from China. 
 
 The Order of B'nai B'rith, had been active for a 
 number of years, and through the able, loyal and 
 generous support of its officers and members had con- 
 tributed very largely and effectively to the relief of 
 
THE JEW 209 
 
 suffering humanity ; as a result of which it had become 
 well and favorably known to the public. Sweet, there- 
 fore, as was the warmth and geniality of that seventieth 
 birthday banquet, as were the kind and generous ex- 
 pressions of the able speakers who delivered addresses on 
 that occasion, and of the messages which were received, 
 I realized then, as I do now, that the tribute was not 
 personal, but that it was a tribute rather to the great 
 organization of which I happened for the time being 
 to be the head, for the great things it had accomplished. 
 The messages which were received on that occasion 
 were • preserved by my good wife and caused to be 
 bound up in book form. A few of them are quoted 
 below : 
 
 From the Secretary of the Navy: 
 
 11 1 am gratified to learn that the seventieth birthday anniver- 
 sary of the Honorable Adolf Kraus, President of the Independent 
 Order of B'nai B'rith, is to be held in Chicago, February 26th. 
 His long life marked by generous deeds in ameliorating the con- 
 ditions of the Jewish people all over the world, and his genuine 
 Americanism, have won him the esteem not only of those who 
 have the pleasure of his personal acquaintance, but of those who 
 know of his benefactions and noble nature. The Independent 
 Order of B'nai B'rith stands among those of whom it may be 
 truly said they have manifested always that they love their 
 fellowmen and given practical proof of this love. 
 
 "Sincerely yours, 
 
 Josephus Daniels." 
 
 From the Secretary of Commerce: 
 
 "I note that the seventieth birthday anniversary of the Hon- 
 orable Adolf Kraus, President of the Independent Order of 
 B'nai B'rith, a national and international organization, will be 
 celebrated at the Hotel LaSalle, Chicago, Illinois, on February 
 26th. 
 
 "Mr. Kraus has been president of this organization for a 
 great many years and this organization has been a great and 
 important factor in the last eighty years in ameliorating the 
 condition of the Jewish people all over the world. Mr. Kraus 
 
210 REMINISCENCES 
 
 has, during a long life, enjoyed an enviable reputation for high- 
 minded Americanism and strict integrity. 
 
 "I congratulate the Order upon its long and useful career 
 and Mr. Kraus upon having enjoyed a long life of usefulness to 
 his country and to his people, and wish him many more years of 
 usefulness and happiness. 
 
 "Very truly yours, 
 
 J. W. Alexander." 
 
 From the Secretary of War, Washington : 
 
 "February 11, 1920. 
 "When I first came to know the Order of B'nai B'rith it 
 was then engaged, as it has been since engaged, in wide-spread 
 benevolence and good works. I am happy, therefore, to con- 
 gratulate Mr. Kraus that his seventieth birthday anniversary 
 finds his career capped by the presidency of this great society, 
 and to congratulate him that he is permitted to contribute to 
 its work the fine reputation which he has made in America as 
 an upright business man and a loyal and useful citizen. 
 
 Newton D. Baker." 
 
 Department of Labor, Office of the Secretary, 
 
 Washington : 
 
 "February 12, 1920. 
 "I am glad to convey to the Hon. Adolf Kraus, the President 
 of the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, my sincere felicitations 
 on the celebration of his 70th year. The record of his good works 
 throughout a long and useful life is, however, the best crown of 
 so many years devoted to the benefit of his fellow-men. The 
 connection of Mr. Kraus with the B'nai B'rith organization 
 during the last decade and a half is in itself a testimonial to the 
 high ideals of that association, and reciprocally his continued 
 leadership of such an organization is a tribute to his own char- 
 acter. 
 
 W. B. Wilson." 
 
 Secretary of the Interior, Washington: 
 
 "February 13, 1920. 
 "On the coming celebration of the seventieth birthday of 
 Hon. Adolf Kraus, President of the Independent Order of B'nai 
 B'rith, I extend to him my hearty congratulations upon reaching 
 his three score years and ten. I know that he heads an organi- 
 zation that is one of the most liberal and useful in the country. 
 I trust it may grow in numbers and in power for good. 
 
 Franklin K. Lane." 
 
THE JEW 211 
 
 "It is with great pleasure that I extend to you my hearty 
 congratulations on your many years of service to our city. Your 
 tireless work in behalf of Jewry throughout the world has been 
 an inspiration to thousands and a lesson to mankind. May 
 your years be many more and replete with usefulness. 
 
 Julius Rosen wald." 
 
 "I congratulate you on having reached the venerable age of 
 seventy. Your magnificent record of services well rendered 
 must be a glorious memory of your past life. May the future 
 hold still in store for you many years of health and youthfulness, 
 which means happiness. 
 
 Nathan Straus." 
 
 11 May I ask you to convey to Mr. Adolf Kraus my warmest 
 congratulations and good wishes upon his attainment of three 
 score and ten? Mr. Kraus has rendered and is continuing to 
 do such valiant service in the cause of Jewry throughout the 
 world that he well deserves the acclaim and good will of his 
 fellows on this his great jubilee. My sincere prayer is that he 
 may be maintained in undiminished health and strength of body 
 and mind for many years to come to the joy of his family, his 
 friends and for the benefit of his fellow beings. I am deeply 
 sorry that, for reasons I have explained to you, it has not been 
 possible for me to come to Chicago and personally join in the 
 honors which are being paid to Mr. Kraus. 
 
 Jacob H. Schiff." 
 
 "All hail to the chief; sincere love to the friend; appreciation 
 to the citizen; honor and respect for the loyal Jew. May the 
 days yet to come bring you health, happiness and good cheer. 
 
 Simon Wolf." 
 
 "I wish to be one of the great number of your friends who 
 would have you know how heartily we rejoice in your attaining 
 your seventieth birthday and how devoutly we hope that God 
 may give you many more years in which to serve your people 
 and all causes high. 
 
 "I write this note with peculiar feeling because I cannot help 
 recalling how affectionately Otto would have remembered your 
 birthday and sent you his good wishes. He cherished you 
 deeply and always spoke of you in terms of unfeigned and tender 
 regard. 
 
 " May happiness be yours in the years that lie before you and 
 unabaited and undimmed strength for the work which you have 
 done for many years with fine devotion and real consecration. 
 
 Stephen S. Wise." 
 
212 REMINISCENCES 
 
 "For a time Kraus filled the office of Corporation Counsel of 
 Chicago. For many years he was a member of the Board of 
 Education and for several terms its President. A loyal citizen 
 he, a co-worker in all things making for the betterment of men 
 and their conditions, a sturdy pleader of the cause of the down- 
 trodden Jews, our friend has indeed filled the three score and 
 ten of his life with meaning and great and lasting worth. We 
 rejoice that his cup of life now brims with ' Yayin, ' wine of such 
 fine quality. 'Yayin' wine equivalents in its Hebrew lettering 
 the number seventy. Now, in accordance with the amendment 
 to the constitution, 'Yayin' wine may have to be replaced 
 with 'Mayim' water, but 'Mayim' spells ninety. May the bumpers 
 filled with water in which we shall pledge his health augur that 
 for at least another decade we shall enjoy the presence among us 
 in health and full vigor of our beloved Parness. Perhaps a good 
 Providence will answer our petition that to Ken (also seventy) 
 wekoh (31) yoseph lo, in English may He who gave him 
 seventy years add wekoh (31) round of happy and meaningful 
 years to their measure of days. To this wish I am proud to 
 say Amen, so may it be! Ad Meah Shanim — until and beyond 
 the century milepost." , Dr. Emil G. Hirsch." 
 
 After the close of the war much of my time was 
 taken up with answering appeals for assistance from 
 European countries. The B'nai B'rith lodges in 
 Prague, Czecho-Slovakia, owned a club house in 
 February, 1920, I was informed that the Government 
 of Czecho-Slovakia was proposing to take over this 
 club house for some purpose of its own, without any 
 compensation to the owners. I cabled to President 
 Masaryk, with whom I became acquainted about 
 forty years ago in Chicago, against such action, claim- 
 ing on behalf of the Order an interest in the matter. 
 A few months afterwards I was advised that, "As a 
 result of the intervention by the President of the Order, 
 the proposed confiscation of the B'nai B'rith building 
 in Prague by the Government authorities had not been 
 carried into execution, that the order for such confisca- 
 tion was revoked." 
 
THE JEW 213 
 
 On November 20, 1919, I wrote to the Secretary of 
 State the following letter: 
 
 "To the Honorable Robert Lansing, 
 Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. November 20, 1919. 
 
 "Sir: I have the honor to address you in regard to the action 
 taken at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Independ- 
 ent Order B'nai B'rith held in Chicago this week, at which 
 numerous petitions were presented by lodges of the Order and 
 by individuals calling attention to apparently authenticated 
 press reports regarding excesses and pogroms practiced against 
 Jews in various parts of the territory of what was formerly the 
 Russian Empire and particularly in that part now known as the 
 Republic of the Ukraine, and requesting steps to secure sympa- 
 thetic action of our government with a view to preventing a 
 repetition of these outrages. 
 
 "The Executive Committee is well aware of the earnest 
 efforts made by the President of the United States and yourself 
 to ameliorate the condition of all oppressed peoples and we are 
 especially cognizant of his and your untiring efforts to relieve 
 and protect as far as possible the Jewish people in certain parts 
 of Europe from the suffering which they have been made to 
 endure. 
 
 "In view of these recent outrages, however, the Executive 
 Committee feels that it is its duty to lay before you as the head 
 of the State Department, such information as has come to its 
 knowledge, so that this government may have a definite basis 
 for protest and action. To this end, therefore, the Executive 
 Committee has deemed it wise to appoint a committee of three, 
 of which the Honorable Simon Wolf is Chairman, to call on you 
 at the earliest possible moment and lay the matter before you 
 in person. 
 
 " Permit me, therefore, on behalf of the Order, as well as on 
 behalf of all American citizens of the Jewish faith, to bespeak for 
 this committee and its cause your earnest consideration and 
 sympathetic action. With renewed expressions of respect and 
 esteem, I have the honor to be Most respectfully yours> 
 
 Adolf Kraus. " 
 
 I sent a copy of the letter to Simon Wolf, with the 
 
 suggestion that he call on the Secretary. He answered 
 
 as follows: 
 
 "Had interview with Secretary Lansing. He said that the 
 Government was doing everything it could, but unfortunately 
 
214 REMINISCENCES 
 
 we had no means of enforcing our stand, since we had no repre- 
 sentative in the Ukraine ; that efforts are now being made looking 
 toward a stopping of the pogroms and the amelioration of the 
 distress, and that the sympathies of the American government 
 were in full accord with our viewpoint. 
 
 Simon Wolf." 
 
 On November 23, 1920, a communication was re- 
 ceived from the lodge in Zurich, Switzerland, request- 
 ing financial assistance to aid in its work of caring for 
 poor children sent from Vienna to Switzerland to re- 
 gain their health. The request was granted. 
 
 The following report was received from Vienna: 
 
 "This terrible war has no equal in the world's history. 
 Would that this disgrace should end. Would that the surviving 
 fathers and mothers could embrace their sons, the lonely wives 
 their husbands, the children their fathers. Only then shall we 
 be able to think of something else, and the brothers and sisters 
 who for years have worried themselves to death with grief for 
 their beloved ones will be able to think of work again. 
 
 "The brethren of the Vienna lodges would be guilty of gross 
 neglect of duty would they not think in gratitude of the activity 
 of the President of our Order, Mr. Kraus, and the Secretary, 
 Brother Seelenfreund, for the comfort which they sent to the 
 prisoners in Siberia, thus earning the gratitude of their relatives 
 at home. This love and admiration will never be forgotten. 
 The Executive Committee earned the gratitude of all brothers 
 also by its generosity in sending us food drafts. We are glad 
 and happy to acknowledge the letter of the President in which 
 he informed us that he sent to Vienna food drafts sufficient to 
 protect all brothers from want. This letter was a ray of light 
 in the darkness of our misery. We are not merely protected 
 in the gravest emergency but we feel comforted by the prompt- 
 ness with which our brothers on the other side of the ocean, 
 under the guidance of the President are remembering us. The 
 older members were not surprised at this fact for we know our 
 President personally from his visits in 1909 and 1912, and have 
 learned to love him. We know he is the right man in the right 
 place. Whatever he begins is done efficiently and prompted by 
 a noble heart." 
 
 Ex-President Taft was the guest of the Anti-Defama- 
 tion League in Chicago in January, 1921. He delivered 
 
THE JEW 215 
 
 an address printed in the B'nai B'rith News of that 
 month, in which he denounced, and demonstrated the 
 injustice of anti-Semitic attacks. 
 
 In the same month and year the following protest 
 against anti-Semitism was published : 
 
 "The undersigned, citizens of Gentile birth and Christian 
 faith, view with profound regret and disapproval the appear- 
 ance in this country of what is apparently an organized campaign 
 of anti-Semitism, conducted in close conformity to, and coopera- 
 tion with, similar campaigns in Europe. We regret exceedingly 
 the publication of a number of books, pamphlets and newspaper 
 articles designed to foster distrust and suspicion of our fellow- 
 citizens of Jewish ancestry and faith — distrust and suspicion of 
 their loyalty and their patriotism. 
 
 "These publications, to which wide circulation is being 
 given, are thus introducing into our national political life a new 
 and dangerous spirit, one that is wholly at variance with our 
 traditions and ideals and subversive of our system of govern- 
 ment. American citizenship and American democracy are thus 
 challenged and menaced. We protest against this organized 
 campaign of prejudice and hatred, not only because of its mani- 
 fest injustice to those against whom it is directed, but also and 
 especially, because we are convinced that it is wholly incompati- 
 ble with loyal and intelligent American citizenship. The logical 
 outcome of the success of such a campaign must necessarily be 
 the division of our citizens along racial and religious lines, and, 
 ultimately, the introduction of religious tests and qualifications 
 to determine citizenship. 
 
 "The loyalty and patriotism of our fellow citizens of the 
 Jewish faith is equal to that of any part of our people, and re- 
 quires no defense at our hands. From the foundation of this 
 Republic down to the recent World War, men and women of 
 Jewish ancestry and faith have taken an honorable part in build- 
 ing up this great nation and maintaining its prestige and honor 
 among the nations of the world. There is not the slightest 
 justification, therefore, for a campaign of anti-Semitism in this 
 country. 
 
 "Anti-Semitism is almost invariably associated with lawless- 
 ness and with brutality and injustice. It is also invariably 
 found closely intertwined with other sinister forces, particularly 
 those which are corrupt, reactionary and oppressive. 
 
 "We believe it should not be left to men and women of 
 Jewish faith to fight this evil, but that it is in a very special 
 sense the duty of citizens who are not Jews by ancestry or faith. 
 
216 REMINISCENCES 
 
 We, therefore, make earnest protest against this vicious propa- 
 ganda, and call upon our fellow citizens of Gentile birth and 
 Christian faith to unite their efforts to ours to the end that it 
 may be crushed. In particular, we call upon all those who are 
 moulders of public opinion — the clergy and ministers of all 
 Christian churches, publicists, teachers, editors and statesmen — 
 to strike at this un-American and un-Christian agitation." 
 
 This protest was signed by President Woodrow 
 Wilson, Ex-President William Howard Taft, Cardinal 
 O'Connell, and by more than a hundred other leading 
 gentile citizens, composed of bishops, professors, clergy- 
 men, editors and lawyers. 
 
 When the disarmament Conference was announced 
 I sent the following telegram to President Harding: 
 
 "Mr. President: 
 
 "The historical moment now approaching in Washington 
 has once again stirred in Jewish hearts the desire to seek peace 
 and pursue it. The Order over which I have the honor to preside 
 and all its members representing nearly one hundred thousand 
 Jewish families, will watch with anxious hearts the progress 
 which will be made in carrying out the noble aims which inspired 
 you to call the Conference for Limitation of Armaments. We 
 extend to you our hopes and prayers that through the Confer- 
 ence a means may be found to bring within our lifetime the day 
 when swords shall be beaten into plowshares and peace shall 
 reign supreme upon earth. 
 
 "Wars and the consequences of wars have weighed more 
 heavily upon the Jews in all lands than they have upon those of 
 other faiths. In common with those of other creeds they have 
 given all to the lands under whose protecting flags they live. 
 Patriotism, heroism and self-sacrifice, faith and devotion have 
 been characteristic of the Jewish people of every land in the same 
 degree as they have been characteristic of citizens of other faiths. 
 The poisonous aftermath of war — its hatreds and passions, its 
 miseries, murders and lies, have been visited upon them in far 
 greater measure. A people with this historical background has 
 a long emotional memory and through the centuries has prayed 
 with fervent hearts for the dawn of that day which the present 
 Conference seems to portend. 
 
 "May God be with you in your deliberations and guide you. 
 
 "Very respectfully, 
 
 Adolf Kraus." 
 
THE JEW 217 
 
 On the same day the following reply was received 
 from the President's secretary: 
 
 "My dear Mr. Kraus: 
 
 "The President has received your telegram and he asks me 
 to thank you and all concerned for it. He wishes you to know- 
 that he is grateful for and heartened by this expression of appro- 
 bation and assurance of confidence. 
 
 "Sincerely yours, 
 
 Geo. B. Christian, Jr. 
 Secretary to the President." 
 
 From a reliable source in the city of Posen I received 
 a letter informing me of a strong anti-Semitic agitation 
 then being carried on by the Polish press, resulting in 
 the boycotting of Jewish merchants, which forced a 
 number of them to quit business and emigrate to 
 German territory, and creating a general fear that 
 pogroms would soon follow if the press did not cease its 
 attacks. Accordingly, on June 22, 1923, I wrote to 
 the Polish Envoy in Washington as follows: 
 
 "The Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, is an international 
 Jewish fraternal organization of eighty years' standing, with 
 lodges throughout American and in many European and Asiatic 
 countries. Several of these lodges are located in Poland. They 
 have been hoping and striving toward the establishment of 
 better relations between the Jews and non-Jews of Poland. I 
 am convinced that the Polish Government and the better ele- 
 ments among the Polish non-Jewish citizens are doing everything 
 in their power to prevent injustice toward the Polish Jew. I 
 know that you will not misunderstand me, however, if I take the 
 liberty of calling to your attention, certain circumstances which 
 have been reported to me from what appears to be authentic 
 sources, so that you may, if you deem it politic, inform your 
 government of the anxiety which we feel as a result, and express 
 to your government our hope that it may be able to take effec- 
 tive measures to alleviate these conditions. 
 
 "Specifically my information is that the Jews in the provinces 
 and city of Posen are subject to bitter political as well as business 
 oppression and physical violence that force many to emigrate 
 and compel the disposition of real and personal estates at great 
 sacrifices; that those who are unable to flee are now being daily 
 
218 REMINISCENCES 
 
 attacked by the press ; and that they are driven out of their homes 
 and stores under the pretext of having concocted treasonable 
 plans. Even a beautiful lodge building which was erected and 
 furnished by the members of our organization in Posen has been 
 taken from them. The Jews who once prospered in the city of 
 Posen are now poor and in need. The oppression and discrimina- 
 tion to which they have been subjected is such that today they 
 are in danger of not being able to support their own humanitarian 
 institutions and are threatened that any suspension of business 
 on the part of such institutions will result in their seizure. In 
 Kosten the synagogue was taken from the Jews of that city, 
 converted into a public kitchen and the Jews prohibited from 
 entering. 
 
 "I can readily understand that these harassing and cruel 
 actions are merely the expression of an intense nationalism on 
 the part of some Poles who are reacting from the sudden shaking 
 off of the oppressive power of three conquering nations. I be- 
 lieve that the intense spirit of nationalism, which in so many 
 European countries has taken the form of anti-Semitic agitation 
 and oppression, is gradually spending its force and the more 
 reasonable and conservative elements are reasserting themselves. 
 I feel certain that the Polish Government is anxious to stem the 
 unbridled passions of those who express their new-found liberty 
 in terms of oppression of minorities in their midst, and that the 
 condition of the Jews in Poland, as time goes on, will gradually 
 improve. At the same time no one who has watched the develop- 
 ment of public opinion can ignore the fact that anti-Semitic 
 excesses of this type will persist and the resumption of friendly 
 relations thereby will be greatly retarded unless the irresponsible 
 agitators are made to understand by the Polish Government in 
 most unmistakable terms that their conduct, though expressed 
 in terms of patriotism, is in fact the negation of patriotism. 
 
 "Please do not understand that I think Poland is peculiar in 
 this respect. The same intense nationalism expressing itself in 
 the same way through press agitation and from the rostrum, has 
 exhibited itself even in America, and today as you no doubt 
 know, there has been rapidly developed in this land, which has 
 been founded upon principles of religious freedom and cordial 
 relations between the many peoples that make up it citizenry, 
 a spirit of hatred on the part of a portion of Protestants against 
 Catholics. There is a close parallel between the methods by 
 which that unjust discrimination against American citizens of 
 the Catholic faith has been evolved and the methods which 
 have been used in Poland by some of the less scrupulous organs 
 of public opinion to create a religious and racial schism between 
 Jews and Catholics in your country. In America the agitation 
 
THE JEW 219 
 
 of the Ku Klux Klan which has been denounced by leading 
 citizens in our land, which has been attacked by various State 
 Governments, has nevertheless succeeded in arousing so much 
 hatred and misunderstanding that it will take many years to 
 undo the evil that has been done. Our leading publicists in 
 America have emphasized over and over again the great danger 
 to America and its institutions resulting from such unprincipled 
 agitation and an informed public opinion will surely put a stop 
 to a campaign of hatred which if left uninterfered with, might 
 result in complete disruption and international disgrace. 
 
 "My principal reason for writing to you as above is to ex- 
 press to you my conviction that the growth of a better feeling 
 between the Jews and non-Jews of Poland, which I have no doubt 
 the Government is anxious to attain, can be effectively furthered 
 if the public press could be persuaded to see that national and 
 civic righteousness is a matter for inter-denominational endeavor 
 and that true patriotism is best exemplified by efforts toward 
 mutual understanding rather than by studied efforts to arouse 
 racial and religious antipathy. 
 
 "In such an effort I can assure you, Sir, that our co-religionists 
 in Poland will by their loyalty to the Government lend complete 
 cooperation. „ Very re spectfully yours, 
 
 Adolf Kraus." 
 
 On June 28th, the following reply to the foregoing 
 letter was received : 
 "Dear Mr. Kraus: 
 
 "I wish to acknowledge your letter of June 22nd, in which 
 you request that I inform my Government of the anxiety which 
 the members of your organization feel over various allegations of 
 oppression of Jews in Poland. 
 
 "I shall acquaint the Polish Government with the nature of 
 your protest and the charges made therein of discrimination 
 against Jews. 
 
 "With your expression of sincere hope that the growth of a 
 better feeling between Jews and non-Jews in Poland may be 
 furthered, it, of course, goes without saying that I am in accord. 
 However, I cannot for one moment admit that the allegations of 
 Jewish persecution in Posen which you have accepted as well 
 founded can be based upon fact. If you will permit me, I would 
 like to quote a paragraph or two of the Constitution of Poland: 
 
 "Article 95 says: The Republic of Poland guarantees on 
 its territory to all, without distinction of extraction, nationality, 
 language, race or religion, full protection of life, liberty and pro- 
 perty. 
 
220 REMINISCENCES 
 
 " Article 96 says: All citizens are equal before the law. 
 
 "Article 99 says: The Republic of Poland recognizes all 
 property, whether belonging personally to individual citizens or 
 collectively to associations of citizens, institutions, self-govern- 
 ment organizations, and the State itself, as one of the most 
 important bases of social organization and legal order, and guar- 
 antees to all citizens, institutions and associations, protection of 
 their property, permitting only in cases provided by a statue 
 the abolition or limitation of property, whether personal or 
 collective, for reasons of higher utility, against compensation. 
 
 "To assume that the acts of oppression which you recount 
 can be true is to ignore completely the fact that courts of law 
 are functioning normally throughout Poland into which any 
 citizen may enter on equal terms and obtain redress of any in- 
 jury committed against him by public official or private citizen. 
 
 "It might seem superfluous at this time for me to venture 
 the suggestion that you examine most carefully into the sources 
 of your information on reported instances of Jewish oppression 
 in Poland. Nevertheless, I feel justified in offering it in view of 
 the conviction with which you give what seems to me an incon- 
 ceivable interpretation to incidents affecting the Jews in Posen. 
 
 "I entirely agree with your statement that true patriotism 
 is best exemplified by efforts toward mutual understanding rather 
 than by efforts to arouse racial antipathy. 
 
 "I beg to remain, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Wladyslaw Wroblewski, 
 Minister of Poland." 
 
 To this letter I replied as follows: 
 
 "Am in receipt of your letter of June 28th in reply to mine of 
 June 22nd. Am pleased that you will acquaint your Govern- 
 ment with the contents of our communication. 
 
 "At the same time I fear that I may not have made myself 
 entirely clear. It was not my intention in writing you, to stress 
 the various alleged acts of oppression mentioned therein, but 
 rather to suggest that mutual understanding could be effectually 
 furthered if that section of the press of Poland which interprets 
 its intense nationalism in terms of anti-Semitism could be made 
 by some means to realize that such tactics were likely to defeat 
 the efforts of the Government toward securing a better mutual 
 understanding. Had I not been convinced that the Polish 
 Government intends to be just to my co-religionists and that it 
 fully realizes that an informed and conciliatory public opinion 
 is a necessary concommitant to a just interpretation of existing 
 
THE JEW 221 
 
 laws and guarantees, I would not have presumed to present to 
 you my own conclusions of the inconsistency of the attitude of 
 those Polish journals which, while professing the truest and deep- 
 est patriotism, are at the same time in a most short-sighted man- 
 ner stirring up internal hatred and dissension." 
 
 In September following, I received a report from 
 Poland to the effect that the press had stopped its 
 attacks and that our co-religionists were hopeful of the 
 future. 
 
 In May, 1921, a report reached us that owing to in- 
 creased immigration to Mexico the Government of 
 that country intended to deport such immigrants as 
 might, in the judgment of officials in charge, become a 
 burden to the country. I wrote to the Mexican Charge 
 d'Affaires at Washington, assuring him that our or- 
 ganization would aid the Jewish immigrants to become 
 self-sustaining and prayed that they might be given 
 an opportunity to prove by their industry and law- 
 abiding conduct that, instead of becoming a burden, 
 they would be desirable citizens and a valuable asset 
 to the country. He answered on May 24th, that a 
 translation of my letter had been transmitted to the 
 appropriate authority of his Government for its con- 
 sideration, and stated that no foreigner is deported 
 from Mexico without substantial reasons warranting 
 such action and that no religious or racial prejudice 
 prevailed in Mexico. Three years have gone by since 
 and we have not heard of any deportations from that 
 country. 
 
 Early in December, 1922, I learned that a new in- 
 dustry was started in Mexico by certain unscrupulous 
 persons who made it their business to form the acquaint- 
 ances of immigrants to Mexico and represent to them 
 that for a certain sum of money (usually all the immi- 
 
222 REMINISCENCES 
 
 grant had, which fact was ascertained in advance), 
 they would have them admitted to citizenship in 
 Mexico, and then upon the basis of their Mexican 
 citizenship would obtain passports enabling them to 
 enter the United States. Such immigrants as were 
 willing to part with their money for the promised 
 privilege found, when they attempted to cross the 
 border, that the passports had been forged, and they 
 were of course not permitted to enter the United 
 States. My attention was called to the case of two 
 families composed of eight people who paid 1100 pesos, 
 all the money they had, for such forged passports. A 
 few days later several persons who paid 700 pesos each 
 for similar passports shared the same fate. Our 
 co-religionists in Monterey furnished them with suffi- 
 cient money to send them back to Mexico City. 
 
 On December 11, 1922, I wrote to the Charge 
 d'Affairers ad interim of Mexico at Washington, as 
 follows : 
 
 " I ask permission to call your attention to a complaint which 
 has reached me that there are certain parties in Mexico who sell 
 forged Mexican passports to immigrants who desire to enter the 
 United States, which passports set forth that the bearers are 
 Mexican citizens. When they attempt to cross the border they 
 are sent back by United States authorities. 
 
 "I am sure that if the attention of the Mexican Government 
 is called to this, that Government will try to catch the perpe- 
 trators of such frauds and punish them. 
 
 "I, therefore, am taking the liberty to address this letter to 
 you. I have the honor to be 
 
 Very respectfully yours," 
 
 On December 15, 1922, he answered as follows: 
 
 "I am in receipt of your letter of December 11th, 1922, by 
 which you are good enough to call my attention to the fraudulent 
 issuance by certain unauthorized parties of forged Mexican pass- 
 ports to emigrants who desire to enter into the United States. 
 
THE JEW 223 
 
 "I am immediately referring the matter to the appropriate 
 authorities of my Government so that adequate action may be 
 taken, and I should very much appreciate your furnishing me with 
 concrete information as to the case which has been brought to 
 your attention. 
 
 "It is unnecessary to say that any information that may be 
 kindly furnished to me will be treated as entirely confidential. 
 "Thanking you in advance, I remain 
 
 "Yours faithfully, 
 
 Manuel C. Tellez 
 Charge d' Affaires ad interim." 
 
 On January 19, 1923, he again wrote as follows: 
 
 "With further reference to your letter of December 11, 1922, 
 I take pleasure in informing you that I have received a communi- 
 cation from my Foreign Office by which I am advised that the 
 proper authorities of Mexico have undertaken the prosecution 
 of the parties responsible for selling forged Mexican passports." 
 
 Early in 1923 the Soviet Government of Russia 
 began the persecution of Roman Catholic priests. On 
 April 15th, the Chicago Tribune published from its 
 foreign correspondent a lengthy dispatch which was in 
 part as follows: 
 
 "The Pope is considering making an appeal to all civilized 
 nations to compel the Soviet Government to desist in its war 
 against the Christians. A prominent Vatican personage ques- 
 tioned concerning the Pope's attitude, made the following 
 declaration to the 'Tribune:' 
 
 "It is reported that some Soviet leaders intend to indict the 
 Pope and condemn him. It is the belief of some Soviet leaders 
 that sooner or later Italy will turn Bolshevist and that the 
 Bolsheviki will be able to execute the death sentence against 
 the Christians, especially Catholics. 
 
 "The Pope feels that the inspiration to this war is carried on 
 by Israelites and he requests that the Israelites of the more en- 
 lightened countries, such as Italy and America, who live happily 
 side by side with Christians, use their influence to show their 
 co-religionists the madness of their acts. 
 
 "The Pope, it is learned, is uneasy over the recent events in 
 Russia and thinks cooperative action by representatives of all 
 religions is 'necessary and useful' in order to defend religious 
 freedom." 
 
224 REMINISCENCES 
 
 On April 16th, I sent to the Pope the following cable: 
 
 "His Holiness Pope Pius XI, 
 Vatican, Rome. 
 
 "Permit me to quote verbatim from a news item in the 
 Chicago Tribune sent by its Rome correspondent who in comment- 
 ing upon the Russian Bolshevist war against religious bodies es- 
 pecially Catholics says: 
 
 111 The Pope feels that the inspiration for this war is furnished 
 by Israelites and he requests that the Israelites of the more en- 
 lightened nations such as Italy and America who live happily 
 side by side with Catholics, use their influence to show their 
 co-religionists the madness of their acts in persecuting the ser- 
 vants of Christianity. ' 
 
 "It is unbelievable that your Holiness made the alleged 
 statements. If, however, those statements remain uncontra- 
 dicted, it will be construed by some as a declaration against Jews 
 by your Holiness, which I am confident is contrary to your 
 earnest desire to promote peace and good will for all mankind. 
 
 Adolf Kraus." 
 
 On May 9th following, the Jewish Telegraphic 
 Agency published the following: 
 
 "Rome, May 9 — (Jewish Telegraphic Agency). After ex- 
 haustive inquiries the Jewish Telegraphic Agency is in position 
 to state authoritatively that Vatican circles deny categorically 
 the recent American report that the Pope considers Russian Jews 
 directly or indirectly responsbile for the persecution of Catholic 
 prelates in Russia." 
 
 In February, 1924, I received a letter from Bulgaria, 
 from which I quote the following: 
 
 "For a few weeks, the Macedonian Revolutionary Organi- 
 zation has been demanding from the Sofia Jewish population a 
 compulsory contribution of thirty millions of levas, threatening 
 to put many of our notables to death in case this amount is not 
 obtained shortly. 
 
 "The Macedonian cause for itself deserves our full sympathy, 
 but the way actually used for getting the money cannot be ap- 
 proved of as regards humanism and morality." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 "It is a serious matter and energetic intervention by wire is 
 needed. Can you help us?" 
 
THE JEW 225 
 
 Thereupon the following correspondence followed : 
 
 "Chicago, Illinois, 
 
 February 21, 1924. 
 "Your Excellency: 
 
 "In a report received from Sofia dated January 24th, I am 
 advised that the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization is 
 demanding compulsory contributions of thirty million levas from 
 Bulgarian citizens of the Jewish faith living in Sofia, and is 
 threatening, unless that amount is paid promptly, to assassinate 
 those who are most prominent in the community. We have no 
 other information authenticating the above report, but assume 
 that you are in a position to ascertain the facts and advise us 
 whether the information is reliable. If there is any basis in fact 
 for this report, I know that the Bulgarian Government, which 
 has always stood pre-eminent among the liberal governments 
 of the world, will do everything that can be done to prevent the 
 commission of such a crime. 
 
 "I have the honor to be, 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 Adolf Kraus." 
 "Honorable Stephan Panaretoff, Envoy Extraordinary of Bulgaria 
 Washington, D. C." 
 
 "Royal Bulgarian Legation, 
 Washington, D. C, February 25, 1924. 
 "To the Hon. President, Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, 
 1228 Tribune Building, Chicago, 111. 
 
 "Dear Mr. President: 
 
 "I acknowledge receipt of your kind letter of the 21st instant 
 in regard to a report that has reached you from Sofia that the 
 Macedonian Revolutionary Organization is demanding compul- 
 sory contributions of thirty million levas from the Bulgarian 
 citizens of the Jewish faith living in Sofia. A few days ago I 
 received a similar communication from Mr. Landau of the 
 Jewish Telegraphic Agency in the city of New York, and I have 
 cabled to my government for information. As soon as I get a 
 reply, I will not fail to communicate it to you. 
 
 "I need not tell you how surprised and grieved I feel to hear 
 that your co-religionists in Bulgaria have been exposed to any 
 molestation, if the alleged reports prove to be true. I am sure 
 that the Bulgarian Government, which has always protected 
 and treated on equal footing with the Bulgarians our Jewish 
 
226 REMINISCENCES 
 
 fellow-countrymen, strongly disapproves of the reported action 
 of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and will do what 
 may lie in its power to give them the necessary protection. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 S. Panaretoff" 
 
 "Your Excellency: "Chicago, Illinois, February 29, 1924. 
 
 "I very much appreciate your kind letter of February 25th, 
 in reply to mine of the 21st instant. I was and am confident that 
 the Government of your country will do its best to protect all of 
 its subjects irrespective of creed. 
 
 "I thank you also for your kind promise to let me hear from 
 you after you have heard from your Government. 
 
 " l have the honor to be Very respectfully yours, 
 
 Adolf Kraus." 
 "Honorable Stephan Panaretoff, Washington, D. C. 
 
 "Royal Bulgarian Legation, Washington, D. C. 
 
 "Dr. Adolf Kraus, April 9, 1924. 
 
 Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 "Dear Sir: 
 
 "Illness has prevented my writing to you sooner; but you 
 must have already seen from press dispatches the measures the 
 Bulgarian Government has taken in regard to the Macedonian 
 Revolutionary Committee and curbing its activities. Dr. 
 Jacob Landau of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has informed me 
 that he has received telegraphic advices that the Jewish citizens 
 have been partly re-imbursed for the money which was extorted 
 from them. You may be assured that the Bulgarian Government 
 will make no discrimination in the protection it can afford to its 
 subjects, no matter to what race or religion they may belong. 
 
 "Yours faithfully, 
 
 S. Panaretoff." 
 
 August 1st, 1924 I received from Constantinople the 
 following letter: 
 
 "Honorable Adolf Kraus, Grand President, 
 Independent Order B'nai B'rith. 
 "Dear Beloved Grand President: 
 
 "It is our agreeable duty to inform you that at the session of 
 the second General Assembly of the lodges of the District of the 
 
THE JEW 227 
 
 Orient, it being informed of your effective intervention with 
 the Bulgarian authorities in the United States in favor of our 
 co-religionists in Bulgaria, it adopted, amid the greatest enthu- 
 siasm, warmest congratulations. 
 
 "The General Assembly directed us to express to you its ad- 
 miration and gratitude of your noble efforts toward triumph in 
 the holy cause of human suffering. 
 
 "Please accept, dear Brother President, our homage and fra- 
 ternal devotion. 
 
 J. Niego, President." 
 
 The Anti-Defamation League 
 
 The Order established and maintains the Anti-De- 
 famation League. As to the work of that League, I 
 reported to the convention which met in 1920 as follows : 
 
 The Constitution of the United States ordains the freedom 
 of speech and of the press. 
 
 Yet during the war both were restricted by Congress, which 
 the Constitution created and whose servant it is. My purpose 
 is not to call into question the necessity of the Espionage Act, 
 nor to attack the men who passed it. I use the illustration 
 merely to make plain that the guarantees of political organiza- 
 tions are never inviolable; that they may be curtailed at the 
 pleasure of a predominant faction. 
 
 We are all concerned for our permanent welfare in the country 
 in which we live; and since that is a fact, we dare not close our 
 eyes to the potentialities of the future. There is no gainsaying 
 the prejudice which is present around us. Some of it is active, 
 some latent. But in either form it is a danger we are bound to 
 heed and combat. 
 
 Seven years ago the Anti-Defamation League was founded to 
 destroy those factors which tend to keep animosity toward us 
 alive, to bring about the abatement of defamation of the Jew, 
 and ultimately to put an end to unfair discrimination against all 
 citizens on account of their race or religion. I believe that 
 nothing of greater importance could have been done to protect 
 our status in America — a conclusion in which the results sustain 
 me. 
 
 The League's inception found the name of the Jew the subject 
 of calumnies of every character. From the stage ridicule was 
 heaped upon it unrebuked. In motion pictures it was vilified as 
 synonymic of pawnbrokers, thieves and procurers. Newspapers 
 were prone to call attention to the fact, if one of our faith com- 
 
228 REMINISCENCES 
 
 mitted a crime, that the offender was a Jew; while various 
 summer resorts announced in widely scattered advertisements 
 that they would not receive us as guests. Among humorous 
 magazines, too, it was recognized as traditional that a malicious 
 quip at the Jews' expense would appeal to their readers' risibilities 
 when all other expedients failed; and some authors of fiction, like 
 some writers of scenarios, found us convenient persons to cast 
 in contemptible roles. 
 
 How the situation has changed even a superficial survey will 
 disclose. Hundreds of complaints have been received and acted 
 upon, for a detailed statement of which I refer you to the report 
 of the Administration Committee of the League; I need concern 
 myself with only a few typical instances. 
 
 Of the metamorphosis which was brought about in the motion 
 picture industry a notable example is afforded by the conduct of 
 the director, D. W. Griffith. The corporation of which he is the 
 head was producing in 1915 a film to depict the relations of 
 mothers toward the law throughout the ages. One scene re- 
 vealed a number of Jews stoning and beating Jesus while carrying 
 the cross. It had been an expensive bit of photography, but 
 after a conference between Mr. Griffith's representative and the 
 Administrative Committee of the League the episode and all 
 incidents leading up to it were deleted. 
 
 Some hotels and summer resorts advertised "Hebrew patron- 
 age not solicited." One desiring to outdo others advertised, 
 "Jews and dogs not allowed on our premises," while another 
 advertised that the climate was "not suitable for Jews and con- 
 sumptives. " Proprietors of some of these hotels, questioned as 
 to the reason for taking such a position, frankly stated that they 
 had no objection to Jews but that it paid them to so advertise. 
 There are in this country many persons who have grown rich. 
 Riches often cause the owner to believe that he is superior to the 
 less fortunate, and therefore he desires to belong to an exclusive 
 set. Such set is too frequently composed of a vain, brainless 
 and often vulgar group of men and women, and mostly anti- 
 Semitic. No self-respecting Jew could be induced to patronize a 
 hotel catering to such patronage, and there are not enough of 
 them to cause us any inconvenience. The insulting innuendo 
 contained in these advertisements, however, has the tendency 
 to cause prejudice against us among citizens who otherwise would 
 not have it. Therefore, the Anti-Defamation League prepared 
 a law prohibiting such advertisements on the ground that they 
 tended to create class hatred and dissension. We submitted the 
 proposed law to the Legislatures of eight States in which such 
 hotels were located. The law was adopted, and it is now a 
 criminal offense in those States to so advertise. 
 
THE JEW 229 
 
 The Associated Press, the largest news gathering and dis- 
 tributing agency in the world, lent assistance to the League in 
 an important particular. It discontinued mentioning in its dis- 
 patches the religious or racial stamp of criminals — a practice 
 which since has become general among the larger newspapers of 
 the country. "Notes on the word Jew," a card issued by the 
 League to promote correct usage, also hangs in most newspaper 
 offices, or did until its contents became familiar. 
 
 It was doubtless to be expected that the war would be seized 
 as a pretext by the anti-Semites here as in other countries. 
 Newspapers, magazines and song writers took turns in designat- 
 ing the Jew as a slacker, coward and traitor — some for the pur- 
 pose of making conscienceless jests, others in all seriousness. 
 Perhaps the most objectionable statement, because it seemed to 
 be sponsored by the Government, was put forth in connection 
 with the drafting of the national army. In "The Medical Ad- 
 visory Board Manual," as a part of a chapter headed "Causes 
 of Malingering," the following sentence was inserted: 
 
 "Foreign born, and especially Jews, are more apt to malinger than the 
 native born." 
 
 The Administrative Committee wired for an appointment 
 with the President. The League's representative there answered 
 by wire that the President had on that very day declared in 
 writing that the sentence complained of should not have been 
 expressed nor entertained and that it should be stricken out, as 
 it was absolutely contrary to the views of the administration. 
 
 To the offices of newspapers and magazines the war brought 
 a flood of mostly fictitious narratives, syndicated as "Germany's 
 Greatest Woman Spy," "The Kaiser's Master Spy," and so on, 
 purporting to give secret information of the Russian situation, 
 but being in reality attacks upon the Jews. The Anti-Defama- 
 tion League succeeded in having publication of many of these 
 stories stopped. 
 
 E. T. Brontson, in "The Mysterious Case of K. of K.," pub- 
 lished in the March, 1919, issue of Popular Mechanics, uttered 
 a most vicious slander. The author attempted to lay the blame 
 for Lord Kitchener's death upon the Jews by stating that they 
 obtained state secrets from British Cabinet members and used 
 them to further the interests of Germany. A committee of the 
 League called on the editor, who admitted that there was no 
 proof to substantiate the charges, and after apologizing for his 
 thoughtlessness in permitting them to be published, assured the 
 committee that thereafter Popular Mechanics would be free 
 from such attacks. He offered to apologize publicly, but the 
 committee believed additional publicity would be unwise. 
 
230 REMINISCENCES 
 
 One notoriously anti-Semitic magazine, which at the beginn- 
 ing of hostilities printed a series of cartoons depicting Jews as 
 slackers, desisted after learning the views of its numerous ad- 
 vertisers, who expressed themselves by letter at our request. 
 The stage, too, responded to our propaganda. More than one 
 hundred complaints against vaudeville performers have been 
 acted upon since the League was founded ; yet these amusement 
 enterprises remain one of the most difficult fields of operation, 
 largely because many Jewish patrons apparently enjoy, and 
 certainly encourage by applause, the vulgarities uttered at their 
 expense. Nevertheless, a marked change in the attitude of 
 managers was made apparent — a change indicated by the follow- 
 ing admonition posted by Nixon Nirdlanger in his playhouses: 
 
 "A SUGGESTION AND A NOTICE 
 "Tens of thousands of Jewish boys in the army and navy of the United 
 States are offering their lives in the defense of the nation. Slurs and gibes 
 upon the courage and sacrifices of the race to which these fighting men belong 
 are obviously impudent and indecent and will not be tolerated upon the stage 
 of this theatre; least of all from Jewish performers who have been the custom- 
 ary offenders in this matter. If you feel that you cannot get your act over the 
 footlights without insulting brave boys who are going over the top, please 
 consider your act cancelled." 
 
 The work of the League as a whole was remarkably satisfac- 
 tory. But it is far from finished. By seven years of constant 
 activity it has reduced greatly public affronts to the Jews. It 
 has not, however, effected their complete eradication. Nor has 
 it educated non-Jews sufficiently to preclude their recurrence, 
 even if present offenses were to end. 
 
 I have reserved until this juncture mention of four trans- 
 actions of the League which, though trivial in themselves, have 
 in my mind the highest import. 
 
 "Our World Reader, " published by Ginn & Co. for use in the 
 schools declared that the Jews crucified Christ. So the League 
 submitted to the publishers a substitute paragraph setting forth 
 the historical reality that the crucifixion took place pursuant to 
 an order of Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator; and the sub- 
 stitution was duly made. At the behest of the League, Hought- 
 ton-Mifflin Company also agreed, by a footnote in all future 
 editions of Hiawatha, to call attention to the error in Longfellow's 
 lines which attributed the crucifixion to the Jews. 
 
 "The Children's Book of Knowledge " issued by the Grolier 
 Society, and "Nelson's Loose Leaf Encyclopedia" presented the 
 same problem in another aspect. The former was induced to 
 substitute an illustration from "The Taming of the Shrew "for a 
 picture of Shylock; the latter to withdraw from a plate entitled 
 "Physiognomy" a drawing of a nose described as "Jewish- 
 Avaricious." 
 
THE JEW 231 
 
 I hope that the publishers of readers for children will, in 
 lieu of defamatory articles against Jews, print a part of Macau- 
 lay's speech of April 17, 1833, wherein he pleaded with the House 
 of Commons to remove all civil disabilities from the Jews. 
 He said: 
 
 "There is nothing in their national character which unfits them for the 
 highest duties of citizens. In the infancy of civilization when our island was 
 as savage as New Guinea, when letters and arts were still unknown to Athens, 
 when scarcely a thatched hut stood on what was afterwards the site of Rome, 
 this condemned people had their fenced cities and cedar palaces, their splendid 
 temple, their great statesmen and their soldiers, their natural philosophers 
 their historians and their poets. 
 
 "What nation ever contended more manfully against overwhelming odds 
 for its independence and religion? What nation ever in its agonies gave such 
 signal proofs of what may be accomplished by a brave despair? * * * 
 
 "Let us do justice to them. Let us open to them the door of the House of 
 Commons. Let us open to them every career in which ability and energy 
 can be displayed. Till we have done this, let us not presume to say that 
 there is no genius among the countrymen of Isaiah, no heroism among the 
 descendants of the Maccabees." 
 
 Have the Jews been false to that advocate? Certainly not 
 in England, where the Lord Chief Justiceship has been given 
 into the custody of a Jew. And not, I venture to say, in any 
 other country, although in some their fellow-nationals have done 
 little to merit their loyalty. Yet, although the Jews were loyal 
 in every country to the flag under which they lived, they were 
 not only accused of bringing on the war and of traitorous conduct 
 while it was in progress, but with the signing of the armistice 
 came the accusation that they were responsible for the ensuing 
 unrest. 
 
 In September, 1919, thousands of rioters pressed along the 
 streets of Vienna. Hunger was their plaint and their leaders 
 raised the cry, "Profiteers, profiteers, the Jews brought on the 
 war! Away with the Jews!" They moved against their fellow 
 countrymen, our co-religionists — Jews, who had fought with 
 them for their common moral and political convictions, who had 
 given of their blood and money unstintingly, thousands of whom 
 were starving even then in the dearth of food that spared no one; 
 yet the public wrath would have formed against them with 
 terrible results if the government troops had not protected them. 
 
 Our Secretary, while walking in Unter den Linden during the 
 few days he was in Berlin, was handed a number of circulars 
 which are now in our possession. I shall quote from some of them. 
 Circular No. 10 was issued at Easter time. It contains the fol- 
 lowing statement: 
 
 "More than two hundred children are missing in Berlin. Sausages have 
 been made out of these unfortunate children and sold to us. 
 
 "What has become of our children? They have become victims of ritual 
 murderers. They have been terribly tortured in order to obtain their blood." 
 
232 REMINISCENCES 
 
 "Bela Lichtenberg was arrested because he sold thirteen pounds of flesh 
 of a murdered girl for mutton." 
 
 "Men and women of Germany, how long will you stand this? Join us! 
 Destroy and kill all who so violate God's command. Away with the criminals!" 
 
 Circular No. 14 contains the following: 
 
 "The Talmud and the Rabbis teach the best non-Jew should be killed. 
 He who takes the blood of a non-Jew pleases God. If a non-Jew falls into 
 a pit leave him there! Non-Jews are inferior to dogs and asses!" 
 
 Circular No. 1000 inquires: 
 
 "Will you stand idly by while your sisters are being outraged day by day 
 by Jews, so that eventually there will be nobody for you to marry except 
 street- walkers? Curses upon you if you stand idly by and see this done! 
 Woe to you, cowards. We need money to carry on the fight. Join our society. 
 Annual dues only 6 marks." 
 
 In another circular it was stated in big headlines, 
 
 "The Germans would have won the war if the B'nai B'rith of Germany 
 had not conspired with the B'nai B'rith of America to betray our Government." 
 
 It is difficult to believe that in the city of Berlin, which prided 
 itself upon being the city of "Kultur, " persons could be found 
 who would believe such lies, but those who prepared them ex- 
 pected that a mob would gather which would be incited to vio- 
 lence, for as a rule a mob does not reason. 
 
 It is time that we realized not only what has happened 
 abroad but also what those happenings may portend. If in a city 
 of two million souls pamphleteers and murder mongers in other 
 guises can go about by daylight crying their wares unmolested 
 and unrebuked, in which European city are our people safe? 
 I do not intend to stress this point as against the German people. 
 I employ it solely to disclose that the mainspring which actuates 
 our enemies has the power to function as dynamically as when 
 its energy first was loosed many centuries ago. What is their 
 grudge — these enemies of ours? Can you name it? 
 
 A sin that Jews are guilty of that has not its counterpart in 
 every other people? The thing that sets us apart in hours of 
 stress as the inevitable scapegoat of our own neighbors' distem- 
 pers? What is it? It is not money, for great wealth does not 
 distinguish the Jews; the majority of them are very poor. Nor 
 is it political preferment or power, because as a whole we have 
 little of either. Nor is it vice, since the criminal records of all 
 countries show the Jew as a class to be law-abiding. 
 
 What is it, then, if not the legend which, repeated generation 
 after generation at the cradles of Christendom, first imprints in 
 child minds a picture of the Jews crucifying and putting Him to 
 death in a most horrible manner whom they are taught to adore 
 as their Saviour? What else but the impression which Long- 
 
THE JEW 233 
 
 fellow received as a child could have possibly induced him in 
 "The Song of Hiawatha" to write: 
 
 "Then the Black Robe, chief of the prophet, 
 Told his message to the people, 
 Told the purpose of his mission, 
 Told them of the Virgin Mary, 
 And her blessed Son, the Saviour, 
 How in distant land and ages, 
 He had lived on earth as we do, 
 How the Jews, the tribe accursed, 
 Mocked Him, scourged Him, crucified Him." 
 
 The New Testament does not teach that the "Jews mocked 
 him, scourged him, or crucified him," for we read in the book of 
 Matthew, Chapter 27, that Pontius Pilate scourged Jesus, that 
 he, the Roman governor, turned Jesus over to his soldiers to 
 crucify Him, and that they stripped Him, that they put the 
 crown of thorns upon His head, that they mocked Him, etc. 
 
 At the time of the Crucifixion Jews were a conquered people. 
 The nation whose humblest citizen was proud to proclaim 
 "Civis Romanus Sum" was the victor. Crucifixion was not a 
 Jewish but a Roman punishment. Caiaphas, the High Priest, 
 did not hold his position by descent nor by the selection of the 
 Jewish people, but by appointment of Rome. Jesus proclaimed 
 himself to be king of the Jews. Caesar, however, was their ruler. 
 
 The High Priest, like modern politicians, desired to stand well 
 with the ruler of the nation and dispenser of patronage. He, 
 therefore, advocated the crucifixion and Jesus was brought before 
 Pirate to be judged. The judge asked him, "Art Thou the king 
 of the Jews?" And Jesus answered, "Thou sayest. " That 
 answer was sufficient to adjudge Jesus guilty of treason and to 
 pronounce judgment of death. Caiaphas retained his position 
 as High Priest during Pilate's term as Governor. The next 
 Roman Governor, Vitellius, removed him from office. 
 
 Fourteen hundred years later, John Huss, a Catholic Priest, 
 and President of the faculty of Theology at Prague, attempted to 
 reform the clergy. He demanded the despoiling of the churches 
 of useless ornaments, that the poor might be clothed and fed. 
 He also called upon the secular officers to hinder and punish the 
 open vices of ecclesiastics. For this he was condemned as a 
 heretic by Rome and the city of Prague was placed under ban 
 so long as he would remain there. In 1415, at the demand of 
 the High Priest, of the Catholic church, a commission of three 
 Bishops was formed in the city of Constance to try him. The 
 charges against him were that he was teaching the doctrine of 
 Wycliffe, that he was encouraging his friends to resist the man- 
 dates of the Archbishop and that he insisted that Jesus and not 
 
234 REMINISCENCES 
 
 the Pope is the head of the church to whom ultimate appeal must 
 be made. He was found guilty and sentenced to be tied to a stake 
 and burned to death. At the stake, he was summoned to abjure 
 those heresies and his only answer was a prayer using the words 
 of the Psalm of David. So that no trace should be left of him, 
 his ashes were thrown in the river Rhein. 
 
 Huss raised Wyclimsm to the dignity of a religion and thus 
 the spirit of the English teacher had its influence on the reformed 
 churches of Europe embracing millions of people of different 
 nationalities. 
 
 Yet it would be diffcult to find among all those followers one 
 person whose mind is so warped as to cause him to hate the 
 Catholic people of today for the action of Catholic priests in 
 Constance in the year 1415. 
 
 Although the hatreds and prejudices arising out of and based 
 upon this truth of history have long since burned themselves out 
 and died, hatreds and prejudices a hundred fold more cruel and 
 intense against the Jews continue to live and spread their poison- 
 ous effects, when the only basis for their existence is the distorted 
 story, repeated from generation to generation, concerning the 
 crucifixion. 
 
 Anti-Semitism cannot be cured by threats and force. It can 
 only be cured by an appeal to reason and justice. To succeed 
 will require much patience and hard work. 
 
 Are we or our children after us in any danger in this country? 
 I think not, but it is well to remember that public opinion is 
 plastic. 
 
 You are all familiar with the prohibitionist: The legal effect 
 of his propaganda is apparent in the anti-liquor amendment to 
 the Constitution. But has it not also an ethical reflection, of 
 especial consequence to us in the corollary that millions of 
 dollars in property values have been destroyed quite without 
 compensation — a sacrifice to the majority's conception of what 
 is for its good? 
 
 Could it not be argued that the rights of a minority have been 
 infringed, particularly as for generations the trade had been 
 specifically legalized by taxation? 
 
 I do not wish to be understood as expressing an opinion of the 
 prohibition legislation. Nor am I attempting to criticise it. I 
 am calling attention to it only because it does not seem to me a 
 difficult feat of imagination to substitute ourselves, or any 
 minority, for the distillers and their associates. 
 
 Let a majority be convinced that a minority possesses special 
 rights inimical to its interests, and those rights will be taken 
 away with at least a show of justification, irrespective of what 
 they may be. 
 
THE JEW 235 
 
 A majority does not need to step outside the law, for the law- 
 is the majority's will. What the majority gives it can take away. 
 The crux of the matter is the majority's pleasure. 
 
 It is human enough to ignore signs of peril. To erect the 
 bulwarks of protection is often a tedious and arduous task. Yet 
 they must be erected in our case, because who, lacking prophetic 
 vision, can say when their strength will be tested? 
 
 The war dwarfed the previous financial perceptions of every- 
 one. Gigantic funds were raised from all quarters. The war is 
 over, but the world has not returned to its ante-bellum status; 
 it never will. 
 
 Our organization was created for purposes of philanthropy 
 and fraternity, and we have made a record of which we have 
 every reason to be proud. Our usefulness will remain unimpaired 
 provided we are ready to meet promptly in the open all ques- 
 tions as they arise and have sufficient means to meet necessary 
 expenses connected therewith. 
 
 Our financial resources for work that has to be done are woe- 
 fully insufficient. In my opinion, the work our Anti-Defama- 
 tion League is doing and will have to do in the future is 
 among the most important of our activities. The dues our mem- 
 bers pay, even if increased what to the members will seem a 
 reasonable amount, will be insufficient to defray necessary ex- 
 penses for effective work. We have never asked for financial 
 assistance outside of our membership. Other organizations 
 have not hesitated so to do. 
 
 Why should we hesitate to appeal for funds to maintain suc- 
 cessfully work which is of interest to all? Why not appeal for 
 contributions to men and women who adhere to those principles 
 of justice in the face of which no people may be defamed with- 
 out cause; who believe that every man stands or falls by his 
 own virtues or iniquities alone, and who view with alarm con- 
 duct, individual or organized, which tends to overthrow the law 
 and seat passion and prejudice in its place? 
 
 Let the League's scope be international and non-sectarian; 
 that having always uppermost in mind the welfare of our 
 own co-religionists, yet it render aid to any afflicted people 
 who suffer persecution for no fault of their own. 
 
 That the best talent be marshalled in the activities of the 
 League. 
 
 That it strike at the root of the hatred of the Jews by destroy- 
 ing the current distorted story of the crucifixion, besides beat- 
 ing to earth the canards and slanders which are nurtured from 
 that source. 
 
 That the battle in behalf of fair play be carried into schools 
 and colleges, where lecturers, Gentiles as well as Jews, versed in 
 
236 REMINISCENCES 
 
 the history of our race and its traditions, shall speak of it with 
 sympathy and authority, so that if the coming generation still 
 lends ear to our traducers it will not be for lack of never having 
 heard them refuted. No attempt, however, must be made at 
 proselyting or turning the lecture into a religious one. 
 
 That the League enter a campaign of publicity through the 
 publication of its own journal and through such other mediums 
 of every sort, here and abroad, as it is able to sway. 
 
 That we employ the best talent obtainable to write for and 
 to edit our journal, that the same be enlarged; that an attempt 
 be made to compete with the best periodicals in the land, so 
 that it may attract to itself a general class of readers without 
 which it will fail to serve the useful purpose to which it should 
 be put. It is not nearly as important, it seems to me, that we 
 should inform our members of what we are doing, of what our 
 hopes and aspirations are, as it is that members of other creeds 
 should be informed. 
 
 I recommend that in raising funds for this work we follow the 
 example of our enemies. The anti-Semites of Berlin have asked 
 for an annual contribution of six marks. For what purpose? 
 To tear down, to destroy, to murder our people, or to make them 
 fugitives on the face of the earth. I urge that we appeal for 
 annual contributions to enable us, not to tear down, but to build 
 up; not to murder, but to save human life; not to promote the 
 ultimate in human misery and despair by arraying neighbor 
 against neighbor and friend against friend, but to beget universal 
 contentment and happiness and to bring nearer that sacred hour 
 when there shall prevail upon earth a real brotherhood of man. 
 
 To that end I recommend that we ask our members as well 
 as non-members to take part in this work by at least contributing 
 annually a sum commensurate with the importance of the work 
 herein proposed. 
 
 It is for you to decide. And the time, I think, is at hand. 
 There is no germ more virile than the spirit of the mob; none 
 more quick, more ruthless. And once aroused to havoc, its 
 spread may be measured only by the number of receptive organ- 
 isms on which it falls. The departure from our policy is marked. 
 But to my mind the aim is worthy. I am convinced that we 
 have it in our power to write for the Jews everywhere a new bill 
 of rights. A non-enforcible bill, it is true, but one that will not 
 need to be enforced; a bill founded on a rock of mutual under- 
 standing and respect. 
 
 Today we may elect what we will do. Tomorrow is an un- 
 conjectured possibility. When last we met who would have 
 ventured to predict what was to intervene before, our next 
 assemblage? Who ventures now to say what five years hence 
 
THE JEW 237 
 
 shall have befallen us? More than a century ago a company of 
 Virginia colonists came together for the purpose of determining a 
 matter which concerned their destiny; which was to concern the 
 destiny of a 100,000,000 people, including yours and mine. 
 There were of that number those who would have turned their 
 backs to the issue. Are there any here? If so, may I revert to 
 our text books for the answer: 
 
 "They tell us, sir, that we are weak, unable to cope with so formidable an 
 adversary. But when shall be we stronger? Will it be next week or the next 
 year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed and when a . . . guard 
 shall be stationed in every house? 
 
 "Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire 
 the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging 
 the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand 
 and foot? 
 
 "Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the 
 God of nature had placed in our power . . . The battle, sir, is not to 
 the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we 
 have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to 
 retire from the contest. . . . Gentlemen may cry peace, peace — but 
 there is no peace. The war is actually begun!" 
 
 There is no need to read further from Patrick Henry's epic of 
 liberty. We have not as yet reached the extremity where we 
 must voice the immortal challenge of his closing lines. 
 
 Let us never reach it! Let us meet our enemies in the center 
 of the field. Let ours be the first blow for righteousness and 
 justice. And let us assure to our children and to our children's 
 children, and to the children of all oppressed humanity, the full 
 heritage of universal tolerance and equality which ought to be 
 theirs. 
 
 And while appealing to non-Jews for fair play, let us do like- 
 wise to our own people. Let each one of us always bear in mind 
 that by his own acts he must refute his enemies even before they 
 assail him. He must be, not as moral as the average non-Jew, 
 but more moral; for his conduct must establish the conviction 
 universally that to be a Jew is to be embodiment of the best in 
 humanity. 
 
 It is no light ambition; your fellow-men will know you for 
 what you are, no matter what you pretend to be. But once the 
 goal has been achieved, therein is complete sanctuary. None 
 may assail you unless he assails the enlightenment of all races, 
 and in that unhappy day, civilization may be expected to perish. 
 
 I am now preparing a report of the doings of the 
 Order for the past five years to the convention which 
 will meet in Atlantic City in 1925. That there will be 
 enough work for my successor to do, however, is too 
 
238 REMINISCENCES 
 
 clearly obvious when we pause to consider that in our 
 own America which we proudly call the "Cradle of 
 Liberty,' ' and which, please God, may never forsake 
 the child it nurtured and made strong, a man com- 
 manding unlimited means seems to use anti-Semitism 
 as a stepping stone to the presidency; and in another 
 land monarchists strive by the same means to restore 
 a monarchy; when false protocols of an alleged Jewish 
 organization which never existed and numerous false 
 accusations are still made against us. All this we must 
 meet in a calm way. The great majority of the Ameri- 
 can people are just and law abiding, and so long as the 
 overwhelming majority of our people keep on obeying 
 the law and aiding in its enforcement, they will be safe 
 in America. Our conventions meet with open doors. 
 The press and every one who may desire have full access 
 and may listen to all our deliberations. 
 
 I shall not attempt to answer here any of the anti- 
 Semitic charges made against our Order. I prefer to 
 submit the testimony of those who have occupied the 
 highest places of authority in the land. 
 
 Ex-President Roosevelt wrote: 
 
 II Permit me to extend my hearty good wishes to the Independ- 
 ent Order of B'nai B'rith and to wish it all success in continuing 
 its work, in strengthening the ties between man and man and 
 endeavoring to contribute to the uplift and betterment of humani- 
 ty. It has been a great educational and enlightening factor in 
 our American life." 
 
 Ex-President William H. Taft wrote: 
 
 II I have great respect for the Order because of the good which 
 it has done, the conservative attitude which it has occupied, the 
 harmonizing effect it has had upon otherwise discordant elements 
 and the general world fraternity which it has promoted. It is a 
 body of representative American citizens that -deserves the 
 approval and encouragement of all their fellow citizens." 
 
THE JEW 239 
 
 Ex-President Woodrow Wilson wrote : 
 
 "I follow from time to time with the greatest interest the 
 fine work of the Order, work which undoubtedly contributed to 
 the uplift and betterment of the nation, and I have been particu- 
 larly interested in the work of education and philanthropy and 
 the effort to destroy the provincialism of prejudice as between 
 races." 
 
 Ex- President Warren G. Harding wrote : 
 
 "I hope that all America will catch the spirit of B'nai B'rith 
 in campaigning against ignorance, intolerance and defamation, 
 against all the movements aimed to rend the concord of American 
 citizenship. Fraternity, helpfulness and service must be the 
 abiding purpose of our people and the compensations that come 
 to this consciousness of helping one's fellowmen contributes more 
 to the happiness of self than success, distinction and all the other 
 triumphs of life." 
 
 President Coolidge wrote: 
 
 11 For a long time I have been quite familiar with the work and 
 purposes of B'nai B'rith. As my acquaintance with the Order 
 has widened, my regard for its high aims and effective methods 
 has increased. Its ideal of practical usefulness is one which 
 cannot be too earnestly commended." 
 
 Secretary of State, Charles E. Hughes, wrote: 
 
 " Permit me to express my high appreciation of the important 
 work that has been conducted by the B'nai B'rith. Its general 
 philanthropic and social service program and its activities in 
 connection with the work of Americanization entitle it to the 
 cordial commendation of all those who are interested in the im- 
 provement of our civic life." 
 
 I am now preparing my message to the convention 
 of the order which will meet in April, 1925. That message 
 will conclude as follows: "In my message of 1910,1 said: 
 
 '"Brightly, more luminous, the future glows with promise for 
 our Order. It cannot fail of glorious achievement, for it is the 
 incarnation of a spirit, which after long struggle with the baser 
 passions of men, is emerging triumphant from the conflict and 
 swiftly now it is rushing through the world and teaching all men 
 to own its sway — the spirit of the brotherhood of man.' 
 
240 REMINISCENCES 
 
 "A short four years after that message was written 
 came the World War with its awful destruction of life 
 and property; its terrible consequences in human 
 suffering; its train of consuming hatreds which instead 
 of diminishing seem to gather intensity as time goes on. 
 It would seem almost as if the Spirit of the Brother- 
 hood of Man has fled affrighted from a hopeless world. 
 But the angry waves continue to beat upon the shore 
 long after the storm at sea has passed. So it may be 
 also that after the fearful storm of war that has swept 
 the world of men we are witnesses merely of the time 
 required for the passions aroused by it to subside. Is 
 it not possible — nay, even probable — that out of that 
 fierce conflict in which civilization itself was involved, 
 have come better understandings, a broader sympathy 
 for the legitimate hopes and aspirations of both nations 
 and individuals; a greater tolerance of the differences 
 that naturally exist among men and among peoples in 
 matters of faith and religion ; a more general willingness 
 to extend to all others the right which every man de- 
 sires for himself — to worship his Creator in his own 
 way and after the manner of his people ; a more general 
 recognition of the fact that the heart of mankind is 
 much the same the world over in its strivings and 
 yearnings for better things, for a higher development; 
 and a better spirit of cooperation both among men and 
 among nations in their separate efforts to uplift them- 
 selves and mankind. How else can God's purposes be 
 fulfilled? 
 
 "And after all, may not the disaster of the great 
 World War have served a deeper purpose than we are 
 able now to perceive in clearing away from the mental 
 and moral vision of mankind, the clouds of doubt and 
 
THE JEW 241 
 
 suspicion, to make a brighter day for the coming of the 
 Spirit of the Brotherhood of Man. 
 
 "It is of the human heart to hope. And so, in what 
 must in nature be the closing years of a somewhat 
 active life with its many hopes and its many disappoint- 
 ments, I hope. And so I believe." 
 
 FINIS 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adams, Francis, 136, 138. 
 
 Alschuler, Samuel, 146-147. 
 
 Altgeld, John P., 97, 107-111. 
 
 Anti-Defamation League, 227-237. 
 
 Barnes, Albert C, 136. 
 
 Birthday, Seventieth of the author, 208. 
 
 Blodget, Judge, 94-95. 
 
 Board of Education, the author appointed a member, 50-51; reappointed, 52; 
 president, 53. 
 
 Boris, Grand Duke, 172-174. 
 
 Civil Service Commission, 115-146. 
 
 Clark, John B., 133, 135, 139. 
 
 Cleveland, Grover, 66-68. 
 
 Corporation Counsel, the author appointed, 65; and Arthur Burr age Farwell, 
 68-69; dealings with the World's Fair Commissioners, 70; the case of the 
 sewage pumps, 72; the Pennsylvania Railroad, 73; the Eighteenth Street 
 bridge, 74-75. 
 
 Cregier, W. C, 57, 58-61, 63-64. 
 
 Decoration, conferred on author by Austrian government, 80. 
 
 Dunne, Judge, 87, 136, 137, 139. 
 
 Farwell, Arthur Burrage, 68. 
 
 Felsenthal, Ely, 89. 
 
 Gartz, Adolph F., 140, 143. 
 
 Goggin, James, 56-57. 
 
 Goggin, Judge, 86-89. 
 
 Hanecy, Eldridge, 96. 
 
 Harding, Warren, G., 216. 
 
 Harrison, Carter H., 47-50, 57, 58-66, 72, 73, 77. 
 
 Harrison, Carter, Jr., 100-101, 115. 
 
 Hessing, Washington, 63-64. 
 
 Hirsh, M. M., 29, 39, 77. 
 
 Hirsh, Matilda, later Mrs. Adolf Kraus, 27-28. 
 
 Holden, Charles R., 146-147. 
 
 Hudek, Prokop, 34-38. 
 
 Hynes, William J., 42-44. 
 
 Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, 152; the author nominated for president, 
 154; the author reelected, 155; the White Slave traffic, 178; District No. io; 
 179; and the Associated Press, 180; organization of lodge in London, 188-190;, 
 in connection with abrogation of Russian Treaty, 191-192; and Taft, 193-1981 
 seventieth anniversary, 196; money collected for relief work, 198; relief in; 
 Balkan Slates, 198; and the World War, 201; and the Peace Conference, 20 
 medal to Wilson, 203-205; Anti-Defamation League, 214, 227-237. 
 
 Jaffa, anti- Jewish atrocities, 179. 
 
 Kaspar, William, 38-40, 52. 
 
 Kelley, Father, 73-74. 
 
 King, John A., 57-58. 
 
 Kiolbassa, Peter, 104-107. 
 
 Kisheneff Petition, presented, 153. 
 
 Kraus, Albert, son of the author, 70. 
 
 Kraus, Jonas, father of the author, 4, 5. 
 
 Kraus, Ludmila Ehrlich, mother of the author, 4-7. 
 
 Kraus, Marcus, brother of the author, 5, 10, 13-14. 
 
 243 
 
244 INDEX 
 
 Lawless, Thomas J., 146-147. 
 
 Lindblom, Robert, 134, 143-145. 
 
 London, organization of B'nai B'rith lodge, 188-190. 
 
 Martin, Joe, 118-119. 
 
 Macedonia, correspondence concerning demands on the Jews, 224. 
 
 Mayer, David, 46, 81. 
 
 Mayer, Levy, 46, 81-83, 91-94. 
 
 Mexico, reports of deportation, 221; forged passports, 221-223. 
 
 Moran, Thomas, 83-86. 
 
 Moses, Adolph, 91-94. 
 
 Poland, protest to envoy in Washington, 217-221. 
 
 Prendegast, Richard, 72, 91-94. 
 
 Prendegast, assassin of Mayor Harrison, 76. 
 
 Quinn vs. Goldberg, 40-42. 
 
 Roumania, anti-Semitic movement, 175-177, 199, 206-207. 
 
 Rubens, Harry, 35-37, 172, 174-175. 
 
 Russia, anti- Jewish excesses, 155, 162; conference with Russian envoy, 156-158; 
 
 revolution, 159; constitution granted, 160-162; funds collected to aid pogrom 
 
 victims, 162-163; rumored pogrom, iqo6, 164-166; passport difficulties, 190; 
 
 conference with Taft, 191; abrogation of Treaty, 191-192; conditions in IQ19, 
 
 213. 
 Smith, Abner, 84-86. 
 Stein, Philip, 27, 83, 86. 
 Stein, Simon, 23, 28. 
 Swift, George B., 115. 
 Taft, William Howard, 190-198, 215. 
 Taussig, William, 27. 
 Thornton, Charles, 116, 120, 121, 123. 
 Times, Chicago, newspaper, 100-104. 
 Travels in the South, 19-21. 
 Truby, Mrs., 42-44. 
 Trude, A. S., 30, 58. 
 Visits to European Lodges; Berlin, 181-183; Prague, 184-187; Pilsen, 187; 
 
 Vienna, 188. 
 Waller, Robert A., 115. 
 Walsh, John R., 102-107. 
 Washburne, Hempstead, 60-61, 115, 138-139. 
 Waterman, Arba, 136-138. 
 White Slave Traffic, 177-179. 
 Wilson, Woodrow, 199, 201-206. 
 Winston, Dudley, 115, 133, 134, 139, 140-143. 
 Witte, Count, 156-159, 162, 164-172. 
 Zeisler, Sigmund, 65, 92.