The Vice Bondage of a Great City; or, the Wickedest City in the World — John Shaqi
The Vice Bondage of a Great City; or, the Wickedest City in the WorldHarland, Robert O.
History
The Vice Bondage of a Great City; or, the Wickedest City in the World
Harland, Robert O.
Chicago (Ill.) -- Moral conditions; Prostitution -- Illinois -- Chicago
His name is "Panhandle" Harry for instance. He is told that on election
day his names are successively, M. Graham, L. Wilson, B. Smith, etc. He is
to use his suddenly acquired aliases at different precincts.
He is to cast one, two, three or perhaps ten votes for the vice lords. He
does so. Hundreds like him do so.
For each name he has an address of the prostitute's name he bears, for
that is the subterfuge. Her name with but an initial for the maiden name
appears on the register of the hotel. It is sold to the man who sells
himself and then sells his vote.
The working of the system was revealed in a ludicrous manner.
Carter H. Harrison was a candidate for Mayor. He sent a printed note of
appreciation signed with a printed autograph to the registered voters of
the First ward in which he urged attendance at the primaries. Of course,
Mr. Harrison, himself, did not do this. His supporters did it with
permission for the use of his name.
One of these went to a notorious woman living in the Cadillac hotel,
Wabash avenue and Twenty-second street. That is on the edge of the South
side "redlight" district.
That woman's name had been placed on the registry list as hundreds of
others had been, by "repeaters"!
The woman who received the letter was puzzled. She showed it to the man
for whom she daily sold her body for hire. The mystery of the prostitute
subterfuge was revealed.
There are sixty-three women living in the Cadillac hotel. It is certain
that each one casts a vote by the proxy system explained, for the
existence of the hellish combine.
Could anything be more fiendish?
Is there any power that can dig down deep enough to uproot this crying
evil?
THE LODGING HOUSE PERIL.
In one lodging house in the Eighteenth Ward there is room to accommodate
200 men.
During the lapses between elections but 75 to 100 men occupy these
unsanitary quarters. At election they are crowded.
The occupants of these rooms are then registered under meaningless names
and cast ballots.
A majority of the men who count the ballots in these wards are also
corrupt. They help the stuffing of the ballot boxes. They are the supposed
defenders of the greatest privilege given to the American citizen;--that
of self rule. They are in reality, the slaves of the Vice Trust.
Occasionally the regular residents of the lodging houses work at
employments that they secure through the licensed labor agencies. But, no
matter how great the demand may be for laborers, no agency dares furnish
these men with work just previous to elections. What agent will deny that
to send voters out on the road to work at election time would mean ruin
through the loss of his license to do business?
As a specific proof of our statement of the debauchery of Chicago's
ballot-box, we print below the affidavit of a young man who voted six
times at the primary on September 15, 1910.
The affidavit is one of a score secured by Mr. Farwell of the Chicago Law
and Order League.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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