Ray Stannard Baker, "Hull House and the Ward Boss," 1898

From Outlook (March 26, 1898), 769-771.

More than Ordinary interest attaches to the struggle between "Johnny" Powers, the Democratic political king of Chicago, and the forces of reform, headed by Miss Jane Addams, of Hull House.

Powers is seeking re-election to the City Council from the notorious Nineteenth Ward, of which he has been the undisputed political boss for many years. Somewhat to his astonishment and consternation, the better element of the community in which he lives, spurred onward by the women of the Settlement, have organized a formidable combination which is fighting him with his own black record of misrepresentation and corruption. In times past he has opposed Hull House only by such secret means as the corrupt politician knows best how to wield, but now that he feels his throne tottering under him he has come out openly, threatening Miss Addams and her helpers with expulsion from his domain.

"Hull House," he declared angrily in a recent interview, "will be driven from the ward and its leaders will be forced to shut up shop."

Powers has been more than ordinarily successful as a ward boss. He is cool-headed, cunning, and wholly unscrupulous, and yet he possesses that effective gift known, for lack of a better name, as "good-fellowship" or "good-heartedness." Among his constituents he appears in his kingly aspects of unlimited power and benevolence. He impresses them with the primitive generosity which has turkeys to give away by thousands at Christmas-time, which elevates a faithful follower to a position on the city pay-roll in a single day, or discharges him with equal ease. He is the feudal lord who governs his retainers with open-handed liberality or crushes them to poverty as it suits his nearest purpose. . . .

"Johnny" Powers has been interested in nearly every corrupt ordinance passed by the City Council for years. He has helped to give away millions of dollars' worth of franchises to street railway and gas companies. . . . And no Alderman ever succeeded as he has done in getting his "heelers" and ward-workers on the city pay-rolls. At one time he boasted openly that he had no fewer than 2,600 men working in the various public departments of Chicago. . . .

The Nineteenth Ward is fertile soil for growing a ward boss. Its population consists of Italians, Polish and Russian Jews, Irish of the poorest class, and the offscourings of a dozen other nationalities. They live huddled together in ill-smelling houses, and few of the older people, many of whom are daylaborers, have any understanding of American institutions, or even of the English language. They are capable of being herded and driven by any one who is strong enough to wield the rod.

In this community Miss Addams quietly took up her residence more than ten years ago. She and a few helpers lived simply in an old brick mansion standing well back from the street, the remnant of a better day. Her first work was to make the acquaintance of the people around her, and to welcome them on terms of equality in her home. Presently she established a kindergarten, a gymnasium, evening classes, clubs for young people and clubs for old people, and a day nursery where workingwomen might leave their children. As her work advanced she experienced the need of more room and several buildings were added to the original brick Hull House, one being used as a branch of the public library, another containing a restaurant where wholesome food could be obtained at a moderate expense. Later she was instrumental in securing a free bath-house and public playgrounds for the children of the neighborhood. . . .

The streets and alleys of the ward were notoriously filthy, and the contractors habitually neglected them, not failing, however, to draw their regular payments from the city treasury. At last it fell to the women of Hull House to take the initiative. Miss Addams herself applied for the position of garbage inspector, and, to the astonishment of Powers and his retainers, received the appointment. Within two months the Nineteenth Ward was one of the cleanest in the city--and the contractors were squirming and complaining. . . .

All this was in the nature of a daily object-lesson to the people of the ward, and in the course of ten years it made its deep impression even upon such clay. Italians and Jews and Irish have come to respect and trust the devoted women of Hull House, and to see wherein they are being betrayed by their chosen representative. Although political morality is hard to teach, especially to such alien pupils, "Johnny" Powers has not been slow to see that his ward, under the influence of Miss Addams and her helpers, is awakening to a realization of its rights.

A few weeks ago Powers appeared before the Civil Service Commission and demanded the discharge of Miss Johnson as garbage inspector, on the ground that she had been finding fault with his record as an Alderman and advising people of the ward to vote against him. . . . The newspapers, one and all, declared against powers, and the Commission found Miss Johnson entirely innocent of any attempt at electioneering. . . . But there is more than one way for a king to accomplish his purposes. The Council Finance Committee, of which Powers is Chairman, suddenly discovered the necessity of cutting down expenses, and promptly resolved to merge the Bureau of Street and Alley Cleaning with the regular Department of Streets. In this way Miss Johnson was deprived of her position, and her place was left to a Bohemian saloonkeeper named Kostner, who was not even a civil service eligible--although he was a good friend to Powers.

In the meantime Hull House has been preparing to take the offensive. Miss Addams felt that after so many years of work she could exert enough influence to make a strong campaign against the corrupt reign of Powers, even if she could not beat him. . . . Several largely attended meetings were held at Hull House, and, after much patient effort to unite all of the factions, including the Republican party organization, Simeon Armstrong, a vigorous young Republican, was chosen for Powers's opponent. . . .

But the cunning "Johnny" Powers was not to be outdone. . . . Some of the business men of the ward who signed their names in support of Armstrong's candidacy dropped away suddenly and became Powers men. They were poor and in debt, and Powers had given a hint to a landlord here and a coal-dealer there, and they could not hope to survive if they rebelled. The ward is full of peddlers and small fruit merchants, each of whom holds a city license, without which he cannot ply his trade. Powers, the representative of the city, has but to threaten a revocation of a license and he has made a new supporter. Others believe that they are as much under Powers's control as if they were employees. They are ignorant foreigners, with centuries of tradition behind them which makes it impossible for them to understand that they are the masters and not the servants of public officers. . . .

The fight is on. Powers controls all of the election machinery and the police, and he will stoop to any of the treacheries known to corrupt politics, but Hull House still hopes to accomplish his defeat. If it does not succeed, at least the residents of the ward will have had a stirring lesson in political morality, which will clear a way for success at another time.