An army of young men, fired by dreams of great futures, enter and are defiled, and slain by the poisons that are disseminated. Shall it go on interminably:--this reign of the triumvirate-Vice-Graft-Corruption? We pray not. We are hoping that it may not. Back of the ruin of world-nations, if stripped to an ultimate cause, is the one word--Vice. Its grip is on Chicago; a stronger grip than any other city of the world has ever felt. Our life-blood is thinning; the flesh of our bones is wasting. The crucial hour is here. Save Chicago from a record on history's page of "Forgotten and Ruined Cities, Victims of Sin and Crime." Let the ministerial forces fight for the betterment. Let them seize the leaderships. WHY THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN. In this little volume each page is a sign post of warning, for the Chicago man and woman, and particularly, for those who visit or intend visiting this city. This book is not a mere setting forth of facts without explanation of the reason for their existence. It is a clear, truthful analysis of crime, vice and graft from every standpoint. It is the first story, as far as we are aware, of the monstrous Vice-Graft system. We have given a general outline of crime and its relation to the conscienceless, fattening Trust. In the later chapters we shall treat of the hideous and most important evils of the city, in detail. The "Debauchery of the Ballot," the "redlight" districts and their machinery and thousands of ruined women, the White Slave Traffic, the gambling games and their alliance with the police, the "Vampire Trust," petty crimes that flourish, buried plague spots of the city, and other startling features in the kingdom of crime will be separately and truthfully treated. We are telling a terrible story. It is the story of-- --CHICAGO-- THE WICKEDEST CITY IN THE WORLD! [Illustration: Mr. McCutcheon in The Tribune.] CHAPTER II. The Debauchery of the Ballot. The Sacredness of the Ballot--Its Corruption by the Vice Trust--Methods of Corruption--Affidavits Showing Corruption--A Cleansed Ballot Box--A Cleansed City. American advancement has its foundation in the principles of government by the people, for the people and of the people. Every American citizen, in theory at least, is an ideal autocrat. He is the judge of his personal conduct; the maker of his surroundings; the master in his home; the ruler of his nation by his power of representative government. Ideal democracy is God's highest gift to his best creation. Prostituted democracy is hell's highest triumph; is evil's best instrument. Individual right to create a governing power is an American citizen's first prerogative. The most sacred thing in the mechanism of self-government of the United States,--is the Ballot Box. Tamper with the ballot box and you aim a body blow at the constitution of the United States. Defile its sanctity and you destroy the purity of our democracy.