Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/44



and he raised rates on the tax dodgers. There was an awful clamour, of course, and there were pulls, but all complaints were referred to the little Mayor, who, seeing complex business problems in a simple way, was a rock.

Then there were the trolleys. These were valuable privileges. Why shouldn’t they pay a fair tax? There was a reason why they shouldn’t: Republican, as well as Democratic, bosses were in on them. This didn’t deter the Mayor, and when Record sounded Colonel Dickinson, the Republican boss winked the other eye. He wasn’t in trolleys, and he had had a bit of a row with E. F. C. Young, the Democratic boss who was. As for the other Republican bosses who were in with Young, they might “see the Mayor” for themselves. They did. When it was noised about that the sacred private property of the street car company in the middle of the public streets was to be assessed somewhat as ordinary property, General Wanser, for instance, called on the Mayor.

“What’s this I hear you are going to do with the trolleys, Mark ? ” he asked.

“Whatever is right,” said Mark. “I understand they are undervalued; if they are, we will raise them.”

“Well, now, I’m a good friend of yours, Mark, and I don’t want you to do anything of that sort.”