There is a thieves' rendezvous on the West side that is known to the police, but the members of this gang are rarely disturbed. Every night detectives and policemen in uniform stroll past this saloon and salute the well known criminals lounging about. Every day robberies, burglaries and holdups and the depredations of pickpockets are reported to the police. Rarely is stolen property recovered in comparison to the amounts taken. But as an indication of the strength of the alliance between the police and the thieves, when some one demands justice in a strong voice that has powerful backing of a financial or political character, the police are always able to recover the property and restore it to its lawful owner. A certain labor organization gathered through investigators, information sworn to, in affidavits, of the acceptance by policemen on the West side of protection money from well known crooks who have criminal records in every large city in the country. THE FATE OF THE HONEST POLICEMAN. It has been stated that this chapter is not an attack on the hundreds of honest policemen who day and night at the risk of their own lives, battle for public welfare, clean morals and the eradication of the vicious elements of the community. There are many honest policemen. But, we must say that these men, kept in the dark by the corrupt because they cannot be corrupted are usually "blackballed," in some mysterious way by the powers that be, and the majority of them never achieve any rank in the department. Of course there have been a few exceptions to this condition. The "transfer" system, which is nothing more than police railroading, is the most active medium of getting an honest and incorruptible policeman out of the way. If a man shows an inclination to balk at the commands of his superior who is but the agent of the great Vice Trust, he is speedily transferred to a harmless post where he is forgotten and remembered only when paid his monthly salary. An incident of how the honest policemen suffer is the following: Six unsophisticated policemen, anxious to show their mettle and overzealous in the performance of their duty, discovered a hilarious and richly paying crap game running at Lake and Carpenter streets. They decided it was their duty to raid it. They did so. They thought they would be commended by their superior officers for their conduct. Instead of commendation they were told they were inefficient and material that would never make good policemen. Two days later they were transferred to South Chicago. That meant that they were obliged to travel thirty-two miles each day from their homes on the West side to their posts on the far South side. Is it necessary to say why? Simply because in doing their duty in raiding the crap game, they spoiled the profits of the Vice Trust. The game was run by a man who paid an enormous amount of monthly protection money to these men's masters. They had "tread on somebody's feet."