Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1916 — IN THE CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN THE CITIES

Cranks and “Bugs” Infest Gotham’s City Hall NvjW YORK—As the flame attracts the moth, so does city hall attract ctanks and “bugs" and ‘‘‘nutsnwre than'any other spot on earth. But none of them can get by Lieut./“Bill” Kennel, the big cop who guards that

sanctum sanctorum, the mayor’s office. “A soft answer turneth away wrath,” quotes "Bill,” meaning thereby that with The average crank, man or woman, who comes to see the mayor about renting city hall or selling him a charm for several millions whereby his mayoralty chair is insured to him forever —some of the actual things that have happened in the past —the best way to hnrrdle them- is the easiest way. Then you get their con-—fldence-and their good wiH. “Wehave

no* as many of them In these days as years ago,” says “Bill.” “Nowadays they write letters. Recently a fellow called around to give the mayor a solution for the problem of the unemployed. ‘Judge Gary,’ he said, ‘doesn’t know anything about the game’—lt will be recalled that Mr. Gary was head of the mayor’s committee on employment —‘and I want to give him the real •olution.* . .. - “ The mayor Is very busy today,’ I told him. ‘But If you tell me your scheme I’ll be glad to inform him.’ ‘Well, you see, It’s this way,’ said the caller. ‘You know, I own the municipal building and I don’t like Its architectnre. So T propose to tear It down. That will give employment to thousands. Of course, I will rebuild It. But in the meantimfe thousands of men, working four shifts a day, will have a job. Five dollars a day to each. Send me the bill.’ And he walked off. . “Then there Is a bearded Russian, who wears sandals and linen clothes who drops into the city hall every so often to interest the mayor in his ‘back-to-nature’ cult. ‘I am a real descendant of Adam,’ he says, ‘and when we get our Garden of Paradise none of us wilFwear xtothesr I’m sure the mayor would give me a million —he owed It to me—ls I could see him, so that I could buy the place.’ ” “He’s trying to raise that million,” says “Bill,” every time the back-to-nature man appears. The walking bugs—that Is, the fellows who start to walk from New York to San Francisco or around the world —are the real pests of city hall. They all want a letter from the mayor, or to have their records vised. Afnrp than once has “Bill” rolled down the steps in his fight with a crank.