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THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill 


June,  1909 


No.  1 


B 


EING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED 
WEEKLY  AT  RICHMOND  AND  LYNCH- 
BURG, VIRGINIA,  AND  GOTTEN  UP  FOR 
THE  PUBLIC  GOOD      M»      ^      ^     ^       ^ 


ANYWHEN 
ANYHOW 
ANYWHERE 


AS  THE 
SPIRIT  ^ 
MOVES 


ADON  A.  YODER,  Editor  and  Publisher,  910  Capital  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


H 


15 


MAY  I  BE  HE? 


May  I,  my  Blue  Eyes,  meet  with  thee  to-night? 
W^hen  ring  the  vesper  chimes  may  I  be  he 
W^ho  in  thine  azure-tinted  light  shall  wend 
His  way  across  the  hills  to  hear  with  thee 
The  messenger  of  God? 

May  I  be  he — 
The  vespers  o'er — to  walk  with  thee  alone 
Back  o'er  the  hills,  and  sit  with  thee  awhile? 
And  as  the  moon  in  pensive  majesty 
Doth  drop  her  mellow^  light  between  the  leaves. 
May  I  be  he  to  catch  the  w^ords  which  drop 
As  sweet  as  honey  from  thy  lips  to  me? 
Thine  answer  "yea"  will  bring  me  joy  to-night. 

— Alyn  O'Dare. 


v^xl^^vtx  vL.'VIXxT^' vl^»^«A»"vl<  >lxvl^^ 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  JUNE  5,   1909  No.  I 

5  Cents  a  Copy  12.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
910_Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


The  Idea  will  stand  for  everything  that  is  pure  and  whole- 
some, no  matter  what  may  befall.  We  know  full  well  that 
the  publication  of  this  number,  with  its  pointed  attack  on 
vice  in  the  shape  of  crooked  political  evils  and  bar-rooms  and 
houses  of  ill  fame,  is  not  calculated  to  benefit  the  finances  of 
this  little  affair.  But  know  this,  that  we  are  going  to  live  all 
right,  and  we  are  going  to  fight  evil  though  the  stars  fall,  and 
we  do  not  need  any  of  that  money  that  is  gained  by  failure 
to  strike  at  wrong  doing  in  high  places.  It  has  been  said  that 
■all  things'  have  their  price.  The  Idea  has  not,  and  neither  will 
it  be  influenced  in  its  utterances  by  hope  of  reward  or  fear 
of  threats. 

"A  fearless  newspaper  means  a  progressive  city,"  said 
a  prominent  Riohmonder  recently,  and  we  would  suggest  that 
that  is  all  that  grand  old  Richmond  needs  to  make  it  what  it 
deserves  to  be. 

Now,  don't  get  the  idea  that  because  we  are  going  after 
rascals  and  rascality  with  gloves  off  that  this  little  affair  is 
a  sensation  hunter,  or  a  scandal  monger,  or  a  blackmailing 
proposition.  Our  purpose  is,  by  turning  on  the  light,  to  send 
the  rascals  to  the  tall  timber  for  cover;  to  put  them  out  of 
commission,  so  that  we  may  indeed  here  in  Richmond  and 
throughout  Virginia  have  a  government  for  the  people  and 
not  for  a  few  privileged  people. 

With  the  personal   vices   and  secret  sins   of  individuals 


2  The  Idea. 

we  have  no  concern.  My  sins  and  your  sins  are  none  of  the 
public's  business  unless  they  have  a  bearing  on  the  welfare  of 
the  State  or  the  community.  With  the  public  acts  of  public 
individuals,  however,  we  shall  at  all  times  feel  free  to  deaL 
They  are  public  property,  and  when,  by  giving  them  publi- 
cation, we  think  we  can  accomplish  a  public  good,  we  shall 
hesitate  at  nothing. 

We  are  here  for  the  purpose  of  attaining  a  larger  partici- 
pation on  the  part  of  the  people  in  their  own  affairs,  the 
affairs  of  their  government,  and  for  the  purpose  of  abating 
nuisances  which  are  permitted  by  the  people's  servants  con- 
trary to  the  expressed  commands  and  wishes  of  the  people 
whose  government  this  is. 

We  are  confident  that  when  once  the  light  is  turned  on 
the  remedy  will  be  applied.  Our  work  is  to  turn  on  the  light. 
!N'ow,  we  do  not  enjoy  hitting  any  one,  not  even  a  rascal, 
and  so  we  trust  that  when  we  give  them  a  few  jabs  in  the  short 
libs  they  will  relieve  us  of  any  further  disagreeableness  by 
getting  right.  If  not  we  shall  use  these  columns  in  the  inter- 
est of  better  men  for  their  positions  and  shall  fight  them, 
in  this  public  capacity,  without  quarter.  We  understand 
that  some  of  them  have  already,  on  hearing  of  the  coming  of 
this  truth-telling  affair,  been  trembling  in  their  boots  and 
h.'iA'e  even  been  making  threats.  To  such  we  would  say  that  no 
honest  man  need  have  anything  to  fear  from  this  publica- 
tion, but  let  the  rascal  beware,  for  we  are  hunting  for  a  fight, 
but  our  weapon  shall  be  the  truth,  and  to  those  who  own  this 
government  may  we  quote,  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free." 

The  truth  shall  be  our  motto,  and  especially  that  field 
of  truth  which  will  help  the  people  to  again  gain  control  of 
their  own  public  affairs,  which  control  has  been  gradually 
usurped  by  special  interests  and  certain  privileged  classes. 
We  American  people  actually  exercise  only  a  very  minor  sem- 
blance of  control  over  our  public  affairs.  We  are  in  the  habit 
of  believing  that  we  still  have  a  say  in  the  government,  while 
we  are  just  as  profoundly  impressed  with  the  fact  that  our 
government  is  not  run  at  all  in  the  interests  of  the  people. 
The  reason  that  we  are  so  slow  to  cast  off  the  yoke  of  tyranny 


The   Idea.  3 

with  which  we  are  ruled  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  sceptre  of  the 
tyrant  is  so  secretly  wielded. 


PRIZE  OFFER! 


The  management  of  The  Idea  wants  live,  up-to-date  arti- 
cles on  "Initiation  and  Referandum,"  "The  Recall,"  and  "Gov- 
ernment by  Commission,"  and  will  give  cash  prizes  for  the 
best  articles  on  these  and  other  municipal  subjects. 

More  detailed  announcement  will  appear  in  our  next  num- 
ber. We  want  you  to  feel  that  you  have  in  The  Idea  a  medi- 
um of  expressing  your  opinion  on  the  questions  of  the  day, 
and  it  is  our  sincere  desire  to  make  this  little  affair  the  mouth- 
piece of  the  people  in  their  fight  for  better  conditions  by  giv- 
ing publicity  not  only  to  the  public  acts  of  their  public  offi- 
cials, but  also  to  their  sentiments  and  aspirations  for  better 
things. 

Let  Virginia  manhood  and  womanhood  come  to  the  front 
and  make  out  of  The  Idea  the  fighting  organ  of  the  people 
against  all  manner  of  evil  in  all  its  bearing  on  their  social, 
moral  and  political  life. 


GOVERNMENT  BY  COMMISSION. 

The  papers  recently  have  begun  to  discourage  the  govern- 
ment by  commission  movement  for  the  reason  given  that  the 
people  do  not  seem  to  be  interested  in  making  the  change. 
The  real  trouble  seems  to  be  that  the  peoiple  have  seen  their 
interests  neglected  so  much  at  the  hands  of  the  politicians 
who  handle  the  purse-strings  of  their  government  that  they 
are  prone  to  think  that  it  is  a  necessary  evil  to  have  their 
affairs  run  by  a  ring  and  they  are  unable  to  see  just  where 
they  oome  in  on  any  deal,  whatever  changes  are  made.  The 
people  do  not  lack  interest  in  any  change  for  the  better,  they 
simply  have  so  much  fear  of  crooked  politics  in  Richmond  that 
they  cannot  yet  believe  that  any  change  in  form  of  government 
would  do  away  with  the  human  parasites  who  have  been  fat 
tening  off  the  body  politic. 


4  The   Idea. 

After  a  three  years'  study'  of  this  form  of  government, 
we  are  persuaded  that  the  so-called  government  by  commission 
is  the  only  business-like  form  of  government  and  that  even 
with  weak  men  in  office  this  form  is  vastly  more  efficient  and 
economical  than  the  old  form;  in  fact,  if  it  were  not  for  weak 
or  evil  men  the  old  form  might  answer,  but  it  is  simply  be- 
cause of  the  likelihood  of  at  least  sometimes  getting  bad  men 
that  this  kind  of  government  commends  itself. 

Under  the  present  cumbersome  councilmanic  system,  the 
bad  man  works  his  tremendous  evil  secretly  and  indefinitely 
and  therefore  the  responsibility  can  seldom  be  placed  and  the 
remedy  applied.  With  perfect  men  any  kind  of  a  system  will 
do,  but  with  evil  men  we  must  have  as  nearly  as  piossible 
a  perfect  system,  and  government  by  commission  is  that  system. 

Government  by  commission  is  simply  putting  into  prac- 
tice the  methods  of  administration  which  large  private  cor- 
porations like  the  railroads  have  found  to  be  most  efficient. 
In  other  words,  it  is  simply  government  by  business  methods. 
The  real  trouble  that  effects  the  interest  of  the  people  of  Rich- 
mond in  this  matter  is  found  when  one  considers  the  difficul- 
ties which  those  who  have  discussed  it  publicly  here  have  found 
to  exist  in  the  way  of  any  immedifite  practical  working  out  of 
its  adoption  on  account  of  the  necessary  change  in  the  State 
Constitution.  The  body  of  the  people  can  always  be  relied 
on  to  listen  to  any  plan  for  immediate  good  results,  but  it 
will  always  be  hard  to  arouse  enthusiasm  over  a  distant  good, 
especially  when  the  papers  with  their  tremendous  power  for 
good  or  evil  seem  willing  to  let  the  matter  drop. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  people  are  getting  more  and  more 
solicitous  of  their  standing  with  their  governments  and  the  one 
thing  lacking  is  wise  and  strong  leadership  in  the  press. 

Richmond,  with  its  intelligent  citizenship,  should  have 
the  best  government  in  the  world,  and  if  Richmond  vnll  help 
Lynchburg  and  Roanoke  in  their  effort  to  throw  off  the  man- 
acles' of  councilmanic  government  by  joining  them  in  a  fight 
to  be  m^de  in  the  legislature  next  winter,  looking  to  the  neces- 
sary constitutional  changes  to  make  such  business  government 
possible  in  Virginia,  there  will  be  no  doubt  about  the  success 
of  the  movement. 


The   Idea.  5 

CANDIDATES  FOR  LEGISLATURE. 

Here's  an  issue  for  the  candidates,  for  the  legislature  to 
be  nominated  this  summer.  Let  the  people  ask  them:  What 
is  your  position  on  the  government  by  commission  plan? 


In  the  language  of  the  mountaineer  this  little  paper  "is 
not  afraid  of  any  man  and  ding  few  women." 


"Publicity!  Publicity!  Publicity  is  the  greatest  force 
and  factor  in  our  public  life." — The  New  York  World. 

The  editor  of  the  greatest  newspaper  in  the  world  wrote 
in  1889  his  ideal  of  a  newspaper:  "To  be  both  a  daily  school- 
house  and  a  daily  forum,  both  a  daily  teacher  and  a  daily  trib- 
une, an  instrument  of  justice,  a  terror  to  crime,  an  aid  to  edu- 
cation, an  exponent  of  true  Americanism  *****  forever 
fighting  every  form  of  wrong,  forever  independent,  forever  ad- 
vancing in  enlightenment  and  progress,  forever  wedded  to  truly 
democratic  ideas,  forever  aspiring  to  be  a  moral  force,  forever 
rising  to  a  higher  plane  of  perfection  as  a  public  institution." 


THE  TIMES-DISPATCH  SLANDERS  McALLISTER. 

As  we  go  to  press  to-day.  May  31st,  our  attention  is  called 
to  a  flaring  article  in  the  morning  paper,  which,  among  many 
other  misstatements,  makes  the  following  dirty  charge  con- 
cerning Field  Secretary,  McAllister,  of  the  State  Anti-Saloon 
League.  It  says:  "In  the  course  of  his  address  before  a 
mixed  congregation  in  which  there  were  a  large  number  of 
young  people  from  the  Sunday  school,  Mr.  McAllister  made 
allusions  and  statements  which  could  not  be  printed  in  this 
paper  and  which  caused  a  blush  of  shame  to  go  around  the 
congregation." 

Mr.  McAllister,  as  well  as  the  congregation  of  Grove 
Avenue  church,  where  the  sermon  in  question  was  preached, 
has  made  to-day  a  vigorous  denial  of  this  base  untruth,  and 
we  expect  the  Times-Dispatch  to  acknowledge  the  falsity  of  its 
article  tomorrow,  but  we  have  written  this  to  show  to  what 
an  extent  Richmond  public  opinion  is  molded  by  its  wet  jour- 


6  The   Idea. 

nals  and  because  we  know  that  the  retraction  of  it  if  forth- 
coming will  not  he  as  vigorous  as  the  initial  statement  and 
will  not  be  given  the  publicity  which  was  given  to  the  article 
of  this  morning. 

We  wonder  if  the  people  will  ever  realize  the  extent  to 
which  misleading  news  articles  mold  their  actions  and  thoughts. 

The  Times-Ditpatch  exerts  an  influence  in  this  community 
far  greater  than  that  6f  a  half-dozen  of  pulpits,  and  when  that 
tremendous  influence  is  used,  as  it  was  this  morning,  and  as 
it  has  often  been  used  in  the  past  few  weeks — notably,  in  the 
Petersburg  fight,  on  the  side  of  evil  and  vice  by  so  coloring 
statements  of  the  purest  and  cleanest  of  Christian  ministers 
so  that  these  statements,  iso  colored,  have  an  exactly  opposite 
effect  from  the  words  actually  used — we  siay,  that  when  such 
a  state  of  affairs  has  come  about,  then  it  is  high  time  that 
the  Christian  people  of  Richmond  were,  in  no  uncertain  tones, 
informing  such  publications  that  they  no  longer  can  expect 
their  patronage. 


THE  RED  LIGHT  DISTRICT. 

Richmond's     Greatest     Evil,     from     the     Standpoint 

OF  the  Law. 

It  might  appear  a  hard  question  to  lanswer  what  is  the 
greatest  evil  in  America  to-day.  While  some  would  say  the 
graft  of  governmental  systems,  or  the  rank  greed  and  commer- 
cialism that  has  gotten  such  a  strong  hold  on  every  part  of 
our  complex  modern  life,  others,  and  perhaps  la  large  majority, 
would  contend  that  the  evil  of  ardent  spirits  is  greater  than 
all  other  evils  combined  in  that  it  is  so  often  the  first  cause 
of  all  /other  evils. 

The  drink  evil  among  races  other  than  the  Hebrew  is 
without  doubt  the  most  stupendous  and  far-reaching  of  all  the 
evils  of  the  present  time,  and  this  cannot  for  a  moment  be 
denied,  when  one  thoughtfully  considers  its  relation  to  other 
evils. 

Take  for  instance,  the  social  evil.  It  is  an  undisputed 
fact  that  with  the  reduction  in  the  consumpion  of  arden  spirits 


The   Idea,  7 

in  any  community  there  is  always  a  corresponding  reduction 
in  the  number  of  houses  of  ill  fame  and,  in  many  instances, 
the  abolition  of  the  saloon  has  also  worked  the  abolition  of 
its  ^attendant  evil — the  red  light  district. 

And  the  same  fact  is  also  universally  recognized  in  regard 
to  the  decrease  of  other  crimes  on  the  closing  of  the  saloon. 
So  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  as  a  cause  of  crime  and  other 
evils  the  drinking  of  ardent  spirits  stands  first  lamong  the  evils 
of  the  world. 

But  our  concern  in  this  article  is  to  show  that  in  Rich- 
mond the  house  of  ill  fame  is,  from  the  standpoint  of 'the  law, 
a  greater  evil  than  any  other,  and  this  will  be  more  readily 
admitted  when  the  following  fact  is  stated,  i.  e. :  The  laws 
of  Virginia  license  and  thus  legalize  the  first  evil — the  drink- 
ing of  poisonous  spirits — but  they  do  not  legalize  the  other — 
the  social  evil.  ISTot  only  is  prostitution  a  crime,  but  the  very 
maintaining  of  a  hoTtse  of  bad  reputation  is,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  law,  both  of  the  State  and  the  city,  a  very  grave  crime. 

It  is  therefore  that  we  are  justified  in  stating  that  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  law  the  social  evil,  as  it  exists  in  Rich- 
mond to-day,  is  Richmond's  greatest  evil  and  the  greatest  blot 
on  the  honor  and  fair  name  of  the  city.  There  is  one  vast 
section  of  the  city,  besides  numerous  other  small  sections,  which 
is  entirely  given  ovek'  to  this  lawless  business  under  the  very- 
eye  and  sanction  of  the  police  who  are  sworn  to  uphold  the  law. 

Mayo  street,  from  Broad  to  Main,  and  the  adjacent  streets 
and  alleys,  comprise  this  hot-bed  of  crime  and  debauchery. 

There  may  be  seen  any  evening  thinly  clad  women  of  the 
midnight  world  openly  in  the  streets  soliciting  men,  or  telling 
vile  jokes,  or  boisterously  laughing  over  their  drinking,  and, 
by  means  too  debasing  to  mention,  advertising  their  wares  in 
the  very  shadow  of  the  capitol  of  the  proudest  State  in  the 
Union  land  the  one  that  boasts  most  of  its  pure  blood. 

ITow,  we  hear  some  poor,  deluded  mortal  argue  that  there 
is  no  use  in  the  police  trying  to  stop  it,  because,  because,  be- 
cause. With  such  we  have  no  argument  now,  for  this  is  an- 
other question  which  we  propose  to  treat  in  due  season,  but  it 
is  not  in  the  province  of  the  police  or  the  mayor  to  decide 
whether  he  will  enforce  a  law  or  not  because  of  the  uselessness 


8  The   Idea. 

of  the  law.  It  is  the  concern  of  the  legislature,  if  the  law  is 
wrong;  but  when  the  law  is  on  the  statute  books'  and  the  offi- 
cer is  sworn  to  enforce  it,  he  should  attempt  its  enforcement 
in  the  face  of  all  opposition,  because  it  is  not  a  question  of 
the  good  of  the  law,  but  the  simple  question  of  the  duty  of  the 
servant  who  is  not  simply  the  hired  servant,  but  the  sworn 
hired  servant 


A  QUESTION  FOR  MAYOR  RICHARDSON. 

^N'ow,  the  Virginia  Code  read  sas  follows: 

Chapter  185,  Of  offenses  against  morality  and  decency. 
Section  3790,  page  2021.  "If  any  person  keep  a  house  of 
ill  fame  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution  or  lewd- 
ness, he  shall  be  confined  in  jail  not  exceeding  one  year  and 
fined  not  exceeding  two  hundred  dollars ;  and,  in  a  prosecution 
for  this  offense,  the  general  character  of  such  house  may  be 
proved." 

The  courts,  when  called  upon  to  determine  this  statute, 
have  held  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  prove  a  specific  act,  but 
that  evidence  of  the  character  of  the  house  is  sufficient,  and 
that  it  is  not  even  necessary  to  have  as  evideiice  the  names 
of  the  persons  visiting  the  house. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  law  is  not  only  exceedingly  clear, 
but,  recognizing  the  import  of  the  offence,  gives  the  officer 
very  broad  authority  and  then  demands  of  him  as  it  demanded 
of  Mayor  Richardson  on  the  1st  of  January  last,  as  he  took 
up  his  duties  as  chief  executive  of  the  city,  that  he  swear  an 
oath  to  enforce  all  the  laws,  both  of  city  and  State.  And  yet, 
we  have  a  very  cesspool  of  iniquity  openly  tolerated  by  the 
chief  executive  and  his  lieutenants. 

We  will  therefore  thus  publicly  ask  the  mayor  the  follow- 
ing question :  Why  do  you  not  enforce  the  law  as  above  stated  ? 
If  there  is  any  good  reason  why  you  do  not,  we  shall  not  only 
take  pleasure  in  publishing  any  statement  which  you  may  make 
to  that  effect,  but  it  shall  also  give  us  pleasure  to  defend  you 
openly  in  your  course. 

Now,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there  are  some  who  think 
that  this  evil  is  best  handled  as  at  present — ^by  not  handling  it 


The   Idea.  9 

at  all —  we  desire  to  show  them  and  the  good  people  of  Rich- 
mjond  that  the  present  state  of  affairs  is  a  festering  sore  on 
the  social  body,  the  proportion  and  the  corruption  of  which 
the  people  have  no  adequate  conception  of. 

And  this  condition  has  come  about  because  of  the  fact 
that  this  evil  has  stretched  out  its  debasing  arms  and  fastened 
itself  upon  the  politics  of  Richmond  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  papers  of  the  city  do  not  dare  touch  it  for  fear  of  conse- 
quences.- You  see,  these  people  pay  very  large  rents.  We 
know  of  one  instance  wherein  a  keeper  of  a  house  of  ill  fame 
pays  $25.00  a  week  for  a  house  that  would  not  rent  for  $25.00 
a  month  to  decent  people.  Now,  any  agitation  of  this  ques- 
tion may  seriously  effect  the  revenues  of  certain  parties  who 
cannot  afford  to  permit  the  papers  to  stir  up  any  hostile  legis- 
lation to  this  subject. 

The  degradation  of  this  quarter,  and  the  brazenness  of 
its  inhabitants  cannot  be  estimated  without  seeing  it.  The  edi- 
tor of  this'  paper  walked  through  this  section  last  week  and 
found  women  sitting  in  the  street  drinking  what  appeared  to  be 
wine  and  boldly  acknowledging  their  shame  for  money  from 
pedestrians.  A  policeman  was  holding  conversation  with  two 
of  these  women  on  their  porch  and  another  was  quietly  taking 
in  the  sights  from  his  stand  against  a  building. 

]N'ow,  we  do  not  like  to  soil  the  pages  of  The  Idea  by  an 
airing  of  such  questions  as  this.  Similarly,  if  there  were  a 
corrupted  sore  on  the  hand  it  would  be  sickening  to  gaze  on 
it,  and  yet  we  would  not  be  so  foolish  as  to  utterly  neglect 
it  just  because  looking  lat  it  is  unpleasant.  It  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  see  the  unpleasantness  of  any  evil  before  the 
proper  steps  can  be  taken  for  remedying  it.  And  it  is  also 
true  that  it  is  sometimes  necessary  for  a  doctor  to  show  a 
patient  what  his  malady  will  come  to  in  order  to  get  him 
to  take  the  steps  necessary  to  eradicate  it.  Soi  a  few  words  as 
to  the  results  of  permitting  this  evil  to  go  on  in  its  present 
full  swing  are  in  order. 

"Vice   is   a  monster  of  so  frightful   a   mein 
That  to  be  hated  needs  but  to  be  seen, 
But  seen  too  often,  once  familiar  with  her  face, 
We  first  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace." 
The  above  lines  from  the  poet  are  applicable  to  the  case  of 


10  The  Idea. 

many  of  our  large  cities.  The  city  of  New  Orleans  has  tol- 
erated this  open  vice  so  long  that  it  has  gradually  gone  from 
bad  to  worse,  and  now  the  very  mention  odf  the  tenderloin  of 
that  wicked  city  is  a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of  the  nation. 
Women  are  bought  to  feed  the  maw  of  this  monster  evil, 
and,  with  only  a  scant  piece  of  clothing  and  stockings,  are  held 
in  slavery  to  vice. 

"The  Social  Evil,"  being  the  report  of  New  York's  Com- 
mittee of  fifteen  lappointed  to  study  this  enormous  evil,  gives 
a  horrible  picture  of  the  end  toward  which  Richmond  is  going 
with  its  practical  legalization  of  prostitution. 

A  copy  of  this  book  is  in  the  city  government  library,  in 
the  office  of  the  Mayor  of  Richmond. 

It  shows,  as  one  of  the  monster  evils  of  this  toleration  of 
law  violation,  a  "cadet  system,"  as  it  is  called.  A  cadet't 
"occupation  is  professional  seduction."  *  *  *  "Through  fear 
and  promises  lof  marriage,  she  casts  her  fortune  with  her 
companion  and  goes  to  live  with  him.  The  companion  disap- 
pears, and  the  shopgirl  finds  herself  the  inmate  of  a  house  of 
prostitution.  She  is  forced  to  receive  visitors  of  the  house. 
For  each  visitor  the  girl  receives  a  brass  check  from  the 
cashier  of  the  house,  entitling  her  to  twenyt-five  cents.  The 
cadet  returns  to  the  house  at  frequent  intervals,  takes  the  checks 
from  his  victim  and  cashes  them  at  the  cashier's  desk,"  etc. 
But  thiat's  enough  of  this  to  show  just  what  Richmond  is  com- 
ing to.  "We  hope  that  something  will  be  done  to  break  this  up 
so  that  The  Idea  will  be  able  to  reserve  its  pages  for  material 
which,  to  say  the  least,  is  not  so. unpleasant. 

We  will  say  by  way  of  reason  for  this  that  just  such  meth- 
ods as  this  of  fighting  this  evil  have  enabled  The  Idea  to  eradi- 
cate very  largely  this  state  of  affairs  in  Lynchburg. 

A  Ltnchbtjkg  pkeachee,  under  recent  date,  writes  as 
follows:  "It  is  no  secret  here  that  to  you  and  The  Idea  we 
owe  the  breaking  up  of  the  red  light  section  in  Lynchburg. 
Until  you  began  to  throw  light  upon  the  situation  and  call 
attention  to  it  many  refused  to  believe  that  there  were  many 
such  places  in  this  city,  but,  aroused  by  The  Idea,  the  people 
came  bravely  to  the  front  with  the  result  that  many  of  these 
places  were  broken  up  and  all  the  rest  scattered,  and  our  city 
virtually  rid  of  a  festering  sore." 


The   Idea.  11 


ICjjnrlfburg  i^partm^nt. 


ENGINEER'S  REPORT. 

The  monthl;^  report  of  Engineer  Shaner  for  May  is  before 
us,  and  while  our  space  is  too  limited  in  this  number  to  give 
it  the  attention  it  should  have,  we  are  compelled  to  make  the 
following  remarks  about  the  D  Street  Viaduct. 

This  is  the  third  report  made  by  the  engineer,  and  when 
he  failed  to  make  an  intelligible  report  at  first  we  were  dis- 
posed to  overlook  it,  but  since  he  has  not  corrected  it,  we 
desire  to  call  attention  to  certain  figures.  The  part  of  the  re- 
port in  question  is  entitled,  D  Street  Viaduct,  Statement 
Showing    Expenditures,     and     enumerates     only    $45,267.93. 

!N^ow,  one  would  naturally  think  that  this'  showed  the  total 
expense  of  that  viaduct,  but  this  is  not  true,  for  the  engineer 
for  some  yeason  has  not  deemed  it  wise  to  enumerate  other 
amounts,  running  into  several  thousands  of  dollars,  which 
should  show  on  any  report  which  purports  to  be  a  "Statement 
Showing  Expenditures"  for  the  D  Street  Viaduct. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  a  preliminary  expense  of 
$1,243.08,  and  various  other  items  amounting  to  $2,612.17, 
or  a  total  of  $3,855.25,  which  we  know  of  which  is  not  put 
on  his  report  at  all,  and,  for  all  you  or  I  know,  there  may  be 
many,  many  thousands  more  which  certainly  should  show  on 
such  a  report. 

It  is  time  we  were  demanding  some  sensible,  tangible  re- 
ports that  would  state  all  the  facts  about  any  and  every  item 
of  the  expenditure  of  our  money. 

And  yet,  you'll  find  a  few  people  left  in  Lynchburg  who 
can't  sanction  The  Idea's  kicking. 


IS  CARTER  GLASS  A  DEMOCRAT? 

Voted  for  Republicaist  Tariff. 

The  citizens  of  Lynchburg  and  the  surronnding  country 
have  heard  Mr.   Glass  so  often  preach  against  the  tariff  as 


12  The   Idea. 

a  Kepublican  measure  that  we  of  course  expected  him  to  vote 
with  the  Demtoci^ats  on  this  measure,  even  if  he  did  turn 
Republican  on  other  measures,  because  it  has  not  only  always 
been  the  principle  of  the  Democratic  party  to  oppose  the  high 
tariff,  because  it  puts  the  tax  on  the  poor  man  by  increasing 
the  cost  of  living,  but  also  because  the  Democratic  Platform 
of  last  year,  on  which  Mr.  Glass  stumped  the  State  and  organ- 
ized the  Bryan-Kem-Glass  Club,  contained  the  following:  "We 
demand  the  immediate  repeal  of  the  tariff  on  wood  pulp,  print 
paper,  lumber,  timber  and  logs,  and  that  these  articles  be 
placed  on  the  free  list." 

JSTow,  understand  that  under  the  old  tariff  these  things 
were  and  are  heavily  taxed,  but  when  a  measure  was  intro- 
duced in  Congress  this  session  to  put  them  on  the  free  list  in 
accordance  with  the  paltform  on  which  Mr.  Glass  ran,  he 
immediately  voted  with  the  Republicans,  and  it  was  his  vote, 
together  with  the  vote  of  a  few  other  Democrats,  that  helped 
the  Republicans  to  defeat  the  measure,  for  if  these  few  Demo- 
crats had  voted  with  the  rest  of  their  party  free  lumber  would 
have  won  easily  because  even  many  Republicans  voted  against 
such  a  tax  on  the  poor  man.  But  Mr.  Glass  flopped  over  and 
played  false  to  those  who  had  elected  him  and  clinched  an- 
other tax  on  the  consumer.  When  there  was  no  tax  on  lumber 
the  poor  man  paid  less  for  his  home  and  less  for  his  rent,  but 
rents  have  nearly  doubled  in  Lynchburg  since  this  same  tariff 
went  into  effect.  ISTow,  when  he  could  have  helped  to  reduce 
rents,  Mr.  Glass-  voted  to  keep  them  up,  and  what  excuse  does 
Mr.  Glass  give?  Why,  he  practically  says  that  two  wrongs 
make  a  right;  that  the  Republicans  have  been  helping  the 
N'orthem  manufacturers  steal  from  the  people,  and  it  is  noth- 
ing but  fair  that  this  steal  should  be  divided  up,  and  so  he 
voted  to  help  the  Southern  manufacturer  steal  some  from  the 
people. 

You  see,  most  of  our  representatives  don't  give  a  conti- 
nental for  the  people  except  at  election  time,  and  when  the 
time  to  vote  comes,  he  votes  for  the  rich  man  and  he  lets  the 
poor  man  look  out  for  himself,  and  he  gets  so  bold  in  his  care  of 
the  manufacturer  that  he  even  forgets  his  promise  to  the  peo- 
ple in  the  very  platform  on  which  he  was  elected. 


The   Idea.  13 

Is  Mr.  Glass  a  Democrat?  No!  He's  a  straddler  and 
he  still  hopes  to  be  Democratic  Governor  of  Virginia.  Gee 
whiz  I  And  a  whole  lot  of  you  who  read  this  will  vote  for 
him  again  simply  because  he  calls  himself  a  Democrat.  And 
you  wont  vote  a  Republican  ticket,  even  if  the  candidate  is  ten 
times  the  better  man,  simply  because  of  what  somebody  who 
called  himself  a  Kepublican  did  years  ago.  If  you  want  to 
be  free  men  and  have  decent  government  in  Virginia,  you've 
got  to  get  over  your  worship  of  party  and  vote  for  the  clean 
man. 

The  "Korthem  ISTeck  ISTews,"  in  referring  to  Democrats 
(?)  who  had  flopped  over  to  the  Kepublicans  on  this  tariff 
fight  says:  "They  need  a  divorce,  a  vinculo  from  the  prin- 
ciples of  their  party.  They  have  lain  with  the  vampire  harlot 
of  protection  and  are  guilty  of  that  offense  which  is  biblical 
ground  for  divorce." 

The  Philadelphia  Record  says:  "This  is  not  the  kind  of 
man  to  represent  Democracy.  He  might  serve  well  enough 
when  the  public  interests  and  his  own  do  not  come  into  colli- 
sion." 

Senator  Culberson,  leading  Democratic  Senator  of  Ala- 
bama, said  in  the  Senate  the  other  day  that  the  doctrine  of 
a  protective  tariff  by  which  money  is  taken  from  the  consumers 
to  enrich  manufacturers  and  producers  is  contraiy  to  the  spirit 
of  the  Constitution,  and  that  such  a  policy  has  raised  the 
prices  of  all  articles  to  the  consumers  enormously. 

The  Times-Dispatch  says:  1.  That  Democratic  Repre- 
sentatives and  Senators  appealed  for  votes  and  got  them  on 
the  pledge  that,  true  to  their  party  principles,  as  defined  in 
their  platform,  they  would  fight  for  lower  duties  and  a  reduced 
cost  of  living. 

2.  That  Democratic  Representatives  and  Senators  who 
use  their  positions  to  fight  for  higher  duties  and  an  increased 
cost  of  living  are  not  true  to  their  party  principle,  as  defined 
in  their  platform. 

3.  That  the  effect  of  the  stand  of  these  Democrats  has 
been  to  bring  their  party  into  derision  before  the  country  and 
seriously  to  weaken  its  prospects  of  future  success. 

William  Jennings  Bryan  rebukes  Mr.  Glass  and  his  kind 


14  The    Idea. 

as  follows :  "The  Democratic  platform  demanded  free  lumber, 
and  I  believe  a  platform  is  binding  upon  all  who  run  upon  it. 
If  the  taxpayers  would  take  a  little  more  interegt  in  the  tariff 
question  and  chastise  the  representatives  who,  ignoring  the  in- 
terests of  the  consumer,  follow  the  advice  of  the  protected  in- 
terests, relief  would  come  sooner/' 

Virginians  should  be  ashamed  to  have  in  Congress  a  man 
whom  the  papers  all  over  the  country  accuse  of  having  gone 
back  on  the  party  that  elected  him.  Collier's  Weekly  pub- 
lishes the  names  of  these  Democrats,  so-called,  and  then  quotes 
from  a  letter  they  received:  "Can  you  tell  me  what  is  the 
difference  between  Republicanism  and  Democracy  as  applied 
to  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  now?"  Let's  take 
Bryan's  advice  and  "chastise  the  representatives." 


Blunders. — A  lot  of  money  has  just  been  wasted  on  the 
D  Street  Viaduct  by  laying  cement  drains  on  both  sides  of 
the  roadway  across  the  bridge  and  then  having  tO'  dig  them  all 
up  with  picks  because  it  had  been  done  wrong. 

On  Ri Vermont  Ave.,  between  Bedford  and  Cabell  streets, 
the  granolithic  walk  was  laid  level  when  the  inside  should  have 
been  raised  several  inches  above  the  curbing.  As  a  result, 
and  because  of  the  low  position  of  the  walk,  in  bad  weather 
water  stands  so  deep  on  this  block  that  one  has  to  wade  through 
a  veritable  creek  to  get  along  there,  and  yet  the  city  paid, 
besides  paying  for  the  work  done,  and  outside  of  general  en- 
gineering expenses,  some  $30.00  for  "engineering  and  inspec- 
tion," just  to  see  that  this  very  thing  was  not  done. 


The  D  Street  Viaduct  was  at  first  to  cost  about  $40,- 
000.00,  we  understand,  and  now  we  find  that  that  work  has 
caused  the  city  to  expend,  so  we  are  informed,  more  than 
$60,000.00.  Likewise,  it  can  readily  be  seen  that  the  Fifth 
street  viaduct  is  going  to  cost,  after  all  expenses  connected 
with  it  have  been  paid,  much  more  than  the  estimate  on  which 
the  city  based  its  claim  against  the  railroad  company.  This 
is  but  another  big  argument  for  government  by  commission. 

Almshouse  and  Hospital  Pkopekty. — Why  should  the 


The   Idea.  15 

city  go  to  the  unnecessary  expense  of  buying  another  valuable 
lot  on  which  to  build  a  hospital  when  the  city  already  has  in 
its  lalnishouse  property  a  fine  site  for  a  building  for  this 
purpose. 

Our  biggest  quarrel  with  the  Council  is  this — that  on  ac- 
count of  the  very  nature  of,  and  lack  of  compensation  for, 
their  services,  councilmen  do  not  do  the  city's  business  with 
the  same  common  sense  business  care  that  they  do  their  own 
work.  We  will  venture  to  say  that  if  any  one  of  our  wealthy 
councilmen  were  moved  to  spend  his  own  money  by  the  same 
motives  and  with  as  little  careful  attention  to  details  as  he 
uses  in  spending  the  city  money  he  would  be  financially  em- 
barrassed in  a  very  short  while.  The  reason  that  cities  sur- 
vive is  that  although  their  money  is  proverbially  unwisely  spent 
still  the  expenditures  are  always  limited  by  law.  Again  we 
say  we  aro  not  writing  to  blame  the  councilman.  It's  the 
absurd,  nonsensical,  cumbersome,  impracticable,  outlandish 
mess  of  a  system  that  should  have  been  buried  years  ago  that 
is  the  trouble. 


Me.  R.  Funai,  the  genial  and  popular  clerk  at  Molteni's 
finds  himself  without  employment  since  Lynchburg  went  dry, 
and  so  it  gives  The  Idea  pleasure  to  commend  him  to  the  fav- 
orable consideration  of  any  who  may  need  a  good  man.  Funai 
says  that  the  last  three  months  have  seemed  like  three  hun- 
dred years  to  him,  for  he  has  a  large  family  to  support  and 
is  by  nature  an  energetic  and  hard-working  man.  We  would 
suggest  that  any  retail  concern  would  find  him  especially  valu- 
able on  account  of  his  extensive  acquaintance  and  universal 
popularity. — The  Editor. 


The  Lynchbukg  Bali.  Team  is  suffering  from  a  case  of 
Al.  Orth,  most  affable  and  popular,  and  one  wiio  knows  how 
ball  should  be  played,  but  one  who,  as  captain-manager,  seems 
to  be  an  utter  failure.  In  justice  to  himself,  Mr,  Orth  should 
get   another  captain. 

ISText  week   we  will   have   something  to   say   about   that 


16  The   Idea. 

Lynchburg  councilman  who  has  been  doing  a  little  grafting 
in  the  renting  of  the  Friends  Warehouse  property. 


We  find  that  the  Fire  Department  received  $82.00  last 
year  in  revenues  for  manure  sold.  We  find  no  such  entry  in 
the  report  of  the  Engineering  Department.  What  would  you 
think  of  a  private  concern  running  a  stable  or  stables  which 
got  no  revenue  from  its  manure.  And  this  department  has 
charge  of  quite  a  bunch  of  horses,  for  garbage  wagons,  sweep- 
ing department,  street  repair  work,  driving  horses  and  other 
purposes.  There's  a  screw  loose  somewhere!  And  ain't  it 
funny  we  never  thought  to  look  into  these  things  before? 


A  pedestrian  living  in  Rivermont  who  frequently  walks 
to  his  work,  suggests  that  the  city  have  a  revolving  gangway 
placed  on  Rivermont  avenue,  across  Jones  street,  since  the  side- 
walk and  stepping  rocks  have  been  placed  so  low  that  every 
rain  makes  a  deep  mire  over  top  of  the  walkway.  Such  a  gang- 
way being  built  for  the  city  should  not  cost  so  very  many  hun- 
dreds of  dollars  (but  what  difference  does  a  few  hundred  dol- 
lars make  to  the  taxpayers,  anyhow),  and  it  would  do  away 
with  the  necessity  of  the  city  raising  the  walk,  which  should 
have  been  done  in  the  first  place. 

In  our  last  Lynchburg  edition,  notice  was  given  of  a  pro- 
posed citizens'  organization,  but  our  having  to  come  to  Rich- 
miond  earlier  than  we  expected,  and  the  proximity  of  the 
summer  elections,  has  led  us  to  deem  it  inadvisable  to  push 
this  just  at  this  time.     It  will,  however,  be  taken  up  later. 


CAUGHT! 


Beneath  a  shady  tree  they  sat; 
He  held  her  hand,  she  held  his  hat; 
I  held  my  peace  and  lay  quite  flat; 
They  kissed,  I  saw  them  do  it. 
He  held  that  kissing  was  no  crime; 
She  held  her  head  up  every  time, 
I  held  my  peace  and  wrote  this  rhyme; 
They  never  knew  I  knew  it. 

— Selected. 


The  Business  cTHanager 


^ 


^ 


I 


N  next  week's  edition  we  will 
print  by  special  permission  of  the 
management  of  La  Follette's 
Magazine,  a  most  charming  article  by 
Wm.  J.  Neidig,  on  a  subject  of  ex- 
treme interest  to  Richmonders,  because 
it  deals  with  a  condition  that  confronts 
them  at  this  time.  ][Mr.  Neidig  has 
interwoven,  in  his  very  forceful  preach- 
ment, a  story  of  love  which  can  not  fail 
to  attract.  "The  Business  Manager," 
as  the  story  is  entitled,  is  well  worth 
double  the  price  of  the  whole  Magazine. 


Zhc  t?erp  IT^ea 


THE 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


wkp:ki.y 


5  Cents  the 


Vol.  Ill 


June  12,  1909 


No.  Z 


A^  this  Number: 


Machine  Pol'.tics,  -  Editorial 

Rich  Gamblers,  rial 

Lynchburg  Graft,  lal 

Tht-   Mayor  and  Tht    KcU    i^v^VA   I.iolnct 
An'i    Oil..-,-    s;i.in"   w  M  r  t  Ji    \7'hii,- 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTKS  PUBLISHED  WJ 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND  AND  LYNCHBIJ 
ADON   A    YODER.  Editor  and  Publisher.  904  Caj 


cTVlY  KINGDOM 


For  this  is  my  kingdom — my  peace  with  my  neighbor ; 

The  clasp  of  a  hand  or  the  warmth  of  a  smile; 
The  sweetness  of  toil  as  the  fruit  of  my  labor; 

The  glad  joy  of  living  and  working  the  while. 

The  birds  and  the  flowers  and  the  blue  sky  above  me; 

The  green  of  the  meadow,  the  gold  of  the  grain; 
A  song  in  the  evening,  a  dear  heart  to  love  me, 

And  just  enough  pleasure  to  balance  the  pain. 

—  William  C.  Bagley 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  JUNE  12,   1909  No.  2 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


PREFATORY. 

"Sioimetliiiig  is  rotten  in  the  State  of  Denmark," 


"I  could  a  tale  unfold,  whose  lightest  word 
Would  luaa-row  up  thy  soul,  freeze  thy  young  blood; 
Make  thy  two  eyes  like  stars  start  from  their  spheres, 
Thy  knotted  and  combined  locks  to  part, 
And  each  particular  hair  tO'  stand  on  end, 
Like  quills  upon  the  fretful  porcupine." 


"And  what  so  poor  a  man  as  Hamlet  is. 
May  do  to  express  his  love  and  friending  to  you, 
God  willing  shall  not  lack." — ^Shakespeare. 

Let  the  aibove  three  quotations  speak  respectively  for.  The 
People,  The  Daily  Press,  and  The  Idea. 


Something  is  indeed  rotten  in  Richmond  and  this  Rich- 
monders  know  very  well,  and  yet  the  body  of  the  people  do  not 
know  the  particular  individuals  who  are  to  blame,  who  is  the 
grafter,  who  is  the  thief. 

The  papers  have  frequently  intimated  to  the  people,  when 
they  felt  it  necessary,  that  there  is  something  rotten  here,  but 
they  have  been  extremely  careful  not  to  place  the  blame  on  any 


2  The   Idea. 

particular  individual  and  we'll  make  this  statement  that  if  the 
papers  did  not  know  who  was  to  blame  it  was  not  their  fault, 
and  furthermore,  if  the  crooked  politician  had  not  known  that 
lie  could  control  the  situation  he  would  not  have  dared  he  so 
bold  in  his  operations. 

ISToav  we  propose  to  not  simply  state  that  there  is  some- 
thing wrong,  but  we  "will  a  tale  unfold"  that  will  make  some- 
body's '4iair  to  stand  on  end"  because  we  propose  to  put  our 
hand  ou  the  particular  individual  or  individuals  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  wrong.  We  will  not  only  make  public  the  acts 
of  those  who  throttle  the  wishes  of  the  people  but  we  will  go 
into  the  records  of  those  who  offer  for  office  and  to  that  end  we 
ask  the  citizeus  of  Richmond  and  the  candidates  for  office  to 
furnish  us  with  the  records  of  each  candidate. 


A  DIFFERENT  PAPER. 

This  paper  will  be  conducted  on  a  high  moral  plane  just 
as  if  the  editor  had  a  conscience.  Get  the  idea  ?  We  mean  that 
the  editor  won't  shuffle  off  his  moral  conceptions  when  he  takes 
up  his  pen,  but  his  conceptions  of  right  and  wrong  are  going  to 
be  easily  discernable  in  his  writing.  You  know  it  has  gotten 
to  be  customary  for  a  journal  writer  to  have  an  individual 
opinion  entirely  different  from  the  opinion  he  puts  down  in 
black  and  white.  He  is  expected  to  lose  his  individuality  en- 
tirely when  he  takes  the  editorial  chair.  Well,  this  little  af- 
fair is  going  to  be  different,  we  are  going  to  say  exiactly  what 
we  think.  In  the  last  number,  for  instance,  readers  were  sur- 
prised to  find  in  print  their  own  thoughts.  If  one  had  talked 
about  such  things  as  we  wrote  no  one  would  have  been  sur- 
prised, but  when  they  were  put  in  black  and  white  it  is  sueh. 
an  uncommon  thing  to  have  actual  ideas  in  black  and  white  that 
people  were  surprised  and  pleased  or  made  nrad  as  the  cas2 
might  be. 

ISTow  we've  written  the  above  in  order  to  make  clear  that 
The  Idea  has  decided  ideas)  of  its  own  about  what  a  paper 
should  be  and  that  our  object  is  to  have  opinions  and  express 
them  on  all  live  questions.     Our  object  is  not  to  smooth  'Over 


The   Idea.  3 

hero  and  rub  out  there  and  try  to  keep  from  saying  iamything 
that  may  displease.  Oh,  no!  The  same  conscience  that  rules 
our  daily  life  shall  rule  our  editorial  pen,  and  since  in  this  day 
of  graft  and '  highwaj^  robbery  on  the  part  of  officials,  we  miist 
of  necessity  have  a  decided  opinion.  The  Idea  can  be  counted 
on  to  have  some  very  decided  and  forceful  things  to  say.  The 
Idea  is  different  in  that  it  is  just  like  you  and  I  talk  on  the 
street  and  jom  and  I  know  that  we've  been  saying  things  on 
the  strett  foi  years  that  never  have  got  aired  in  the  daily  press 
just  because  the  daily  papers  are  so  short-sighted  as  to  think 
that  if  they  published  facts  vrhich  blamed  any  individual  they 
would  lose  by  it.  And  did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  nearly 
every  time  anything  goes  wrong  in  our  city  hall  or  State  affairs 
that  some  individual  or  individuals  are  to  blame,  and  it  has 
occurred  to  miany  of  the  citizens  of  Richmond  that  the  news- 
papers are  in  a  position  to  know  nearly  every  time  there  is 
any  crookedness,  who  the  individual  is,  who  is  to  blame,  and 
for  reasons,  known  to  themselves,  they  fail  to  let  the  people 
know  who  is  to  blame,  i.  e.,  in  other  words,  they  print  in  order 
to  conceal  their  thoughts  rather  than  to  express  their  thoughts 

The  Idea  is  different  becanse  we  have  opinions,  and 
strange  to  say  we  feel  that  we  can  actually  keep  up  our  pub- 
lication by  exjyrcssing  opinions. 

The  Idea  sounds  original  simply  because  it  is  the  simple 
unconcealed  truth  undeoriginalized   (swallow!). 

OUR   POLICY.  "> 

Kow  since  we  claim  to  have  an  editorial  conscience  it  will 
always  be  an  easy  question  to  decide  which  side  The  Idea  is 
on. 

Take  the  whiskey  question,  we'll  bet  you  can  tell  now  be- 
fore we  say  so  how  we  stand  on  that  question,  for  there's  only 
one  right  side  to  that  or  any  other  question.  Of  course  there 
are  two  sides  to  every  question,  that  is,  arguments  can  be  de- 
duced in  favor  of  different  sides  of  any  question,  but  the  con- 
sciences of  the  people  have  been  seared  or  their  teaching  has 
been  perversive  when  they  can  believe  that  there  are  two  right 
sides  to  any  question.  And  it  is  always  easy  to  discern  the 
right  side  of  a  question  because  there  never  is  but  one  right 


4  The   Idea. 

side  'amd  there  may  be  a  million  wrong  sides  to  a  given  ques- 
tion. ]^ow  we  hear  some  one  say  "Fanatic!"  jnst  as  soon  as 
this  question  comes  up,  and  we  were  simply  talking  of  right 
ajid  wrong,  and  that  leads  us  to  the  following  definition  of  a  fa- 
natic as  the  term  is  at  present  used  by  advocates  of  the  saloon. 

A  fanatic  is  one  who'  does  not  look  at  the  material,  financial 
or  business  side  of  a  question,  but  lets  his  conscience  decide 
for  him  what  is  right  and  wrong.  Are  you  a  fanatic  or  do 
you  belong  to  a  business  men's  association?  Stung! 

If  you  have  not  been  doing  it  just  let  yonr  conscience  de,- 
cide  your  questions  for  you  and  you'll  be  sui^^rised  how  go^B 
you  feel.  And  we  haven't  isaid  anything  yet  about  wet  or  dry,' 
but  you  know  which  side  we  are  on  all  right,  all  right,  all- 
right.  • 

FAIR   PLAT. 

Since  we  consider  the  saloon  a  mighty  evil  force  we  are 
going  to  fight  it,  "tooth,  tongue,  claw  and  toe  nail"  but  we 
are  going  to  be  fair  to  both  sides  and  so  we  make  the  following 
offer:  We  will  willingly  publish  in  these  pages  articles  advo- 
ca^^ing  the  saloon  or  opposing  the  prohibition  movement  and 
wo  solicit  such  communications  from  any  who  may  'desire  to 
use  these  columns  for  that  purpose  and  we  promise  to, use. "just 
as  large  type  for  such  articles  as  we  do  for  our  own.  Let!  a,1iave 
both  sides  of  the  question.  ^ 

We  propose  to  show:  That  the  saloon  does  not  help  bus- 
iness, though  we  are  frank  to  say  we  consider  this  a  minor 
question.  v  '  .  :)-;,•  . /' 

That  prohibition  does  prohibit.  gTav^ic 

That  prohibition  decreases  crime.  .jk, 

That  prohibition  decreases  taxes,  etc.,  etc.,  but  we  will  have 

more  space  for  this  later  and  meantime  w^e  want  the  other  side.; 


THE  TIMES-DISPATCH.,^ 

'  in  !-i'>1til»   it 


THE  ANTI-SALOO^T  LEAGUE. 

June  1st — Just  ajj  we  wrote  yeeteMiayji,th»  Times-Dispatch 
did  not  give  the  peo-ple  of  Grove  Aveiiue  and  their  pastor,  Dr. 


The   Idea.  5 

James,  any  publicity  at  all  in  their  denial  of  the  Times-Dis- 
patch's false  statement. 

In  Monday's  paper  the  misstatements  were  put  on  the  first 
column  of  the  first  page,  the  most  prominent  position  in  the 
vvhole  paper,  under  a  large  display  heading,  covering  by  it- 
self four  and  a  half  inches  of  space  and  beginning  with  the 
large  capitals  more  than  three^eighths  of  an  inch  in  height, 
v.'hile  the  denial  from  the  pastor  and  prominent  members  of 
the  church  was  put  on  an  obscure  inner  page  beginning  near 
the  bottom  of  the  next  to  the  last  column  in  a  very  small,  lit- 
tle leaded,  hard  to  read  type,  and  with  a  heading  of  one  line 
one  sixteenth  of  an  inch  in  height,  or,  in  other  words,  the  de- 
nial was  given  less  than  one-seventy-second  of  the  prominence 
in  headlines  that  the  original  misstatement  was  given,  and  yet 
the  Times-Dispatch  claims  to  be  fair. 

We  are  printing  below  Dr.  James'  statement: 


"ABSOLUTELY  FALSE."        "UN"JLTST  TREATMENT." 

Dr.  James  of  Grove  Avenue  thus  characterizes  the  Ti.Tnes- 
Dispatch  article. 

DR.    JAMES"   STATEMENT. 

Editor  of  The  Times-Dispatch: 

Sir. — Since  coming  to  Virginia  two  years  ago  I  have  heard 
frequent  expressions  of  regret  from  many  earnest  temperance 
workers  over  the  State  concerning  what  they  called  the  "unfair- 
ness of  the  Richmond  papers"  toward  their  efforts  to  rid  the 
State  of  Virginia  of  the  trafiic  in  alcoholic  beverages.  Their 
contention  seems  to  be  that  the  above  mentioned  papers  will 
not  give  the  facts  as  they  are ;  that  in  this  respect  the  'attitude 
of  the  Richmond  press  is  one  either  of  suppression  or  of  mis- 
representation, or  possibly  of  both.  In  reply  to  these  complaints 
I  have  said  nothing,  because  there  was  nothing  for  me  to  say. 
My  limited  residence  in  Virginia  and  my  non-acquaintance 
vrith  matters  engaging  the  attention  of  the  people  of  the  State 
have  enjioined  upon  me  the  policy  of  silence.  But  you  must 
allow  me  to  protest  against  the  unjust  treatment  which  yester- 
day's Times-Dispatch  bestowed  upon  the  Rev,  J,  D.  McAlis- 


6  The  Idea. 

ter,  Field  Secretary  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League  of  Virginia.  On 
Sunday  morning  Mr.  McAlister  spoke  in  the  Grove  Avenue 
Baptist  church,  of  which  I  am  pastor,  in  advocacy  of  the  cause 
which  he  represents,  and  concluded  his  address  with  some  ob- 
cervations  upon  the  recent  local  option  election  in  Petersburg. 
So  inaccurate  and  unfair  is  the  report  of  his  sermon  in  Mon 
day's  Times-Dispatch  that  had  it  been  the  purpose  of  your  cor- 
respondent wilfully   to  misrepresent  him  he   could  not  have 
succeeded  better  than  he  did.     This,  however,  I  am  loath  to 
believe.     Th<  rf;  are  two  charges  in  the  report  referred  to  which 
demand  an  unqualified  denial.  The  first  is  that  "Mr.  McAlis- 
ter made  allusions  and  statements  which  could  not  be  printed 
in  the  Times-Dispatch,  and  which  caused  a  blush  of  shame  to 
go  around  the  congregation."     This  charge  your  correspondent 
makes  twice.    In  reply,  let  me  state  that  the  charge  is  absolutely 
false.     To  say  nothing  of  the  many  high-toned  and  respectable 
gentlemen  who  were  present,  some  of  the  most  refined  and  ele- 
gant  women   in  Richmond   heard   the   address,   and   it   never 
occurred  to  them  that  Mr.  McAllister  had  made  improper  allu- 
sions until  they  read  the  report  in  Monday's  Times-Dispatch, 
My  reason  for  this  statement  is  that  I  have  communicated  with 
several  of  these  ladies  to-day;  all  of  them  were  surprised — some 
of  them  were  indignant  that  such  a  charge  was  made,  and  all 
of  them  equally  emphatic  in  their  denial  of  it.     Another  false 
charge  mad'3  against  him  is  that  on  the  night  of  the  election 
djy  in  Petersburg  "loaded  wagons  from  the  breweries  came  and 
went  on  the  streets  delivering  their  load  to  disreputable  places, 
where  people  openly  rejoiced  at  the  degradation  of  the  city," 
etc.    Mr.  McAlister  did  say  that  the  Petersburg  breweries  were 
the  vilest  he  had  ever  known.     He  did  say  that  these  breweries 
carried  on  a  thriving  business  with  questionable  places  in  that 
city.     He  did  say  that  there  was  rejoicing  among  the  saloon- 
keepeiN,  the  business  men's  organization,  the  gamblers,  the  un- 
fortunate women  and  la  certain  order  of  politicians,  but  he  did 
not  say,  neither  did  he  intimate,  that  the  breweries  and  liquor 
men  were  selling  their  wares  either  on  election  day  or  on  the 
night  of  election  day.     If  this  report  of  the  address  of  the 
Kev.  J.  D.  McAlister  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  treatment  which 


The   Idea.  7 

Anti-Saloon  League  representatives  and  the  friends  of  local 
option  generally  receive  from  the  Richmond  papers,  then  the 
undersigned  must  yield  a  great  deal  of  credence  to  the  statement 
made  at  the  beginning  of  this*  article,  and  henceforth  regard 
with  more  or  less  of  mental  reservation  any  future  statements 
appearing  in  the  Richmond  papers  and  bearing  upon  the  work 
of  the  Anti-Saloon  League.      Respectfully, 

W.  C.  JAMES, 
Pastor  Grove  Avenue  Church. 

jSTolice  the  fact  too,  that  though  the  paper  published  rank 
untruths  cou<!eming  what  McAlister  and  Richardson  said,  it 
at  tlie  very  same  time  before  going  to  press  phoned  to  Peters- 
burg and  obtained  a  "vigorous  denial"  of  those  statements  so 
that  the  \erj  article  which  misled  the  people  might  work  to 
the  interest  of  the  liquor  element  by  having  it  appear  that  the 
Anti-Saloon  League  was  not  only  making  statements  too  hot  for 
the  goody  goody  ?  paper  to  publish,  but  that  its  leaders  were 
actually  lying. 

When  we  started  to  print  this  little  publication  we  not 
only  hoped,  but  even  believed,  tbat  we  would  have  no  occasion 
to  tilt  with  the  daily  papers,  but  we  have  found  such  a  fright- 
ful state  of  affairs  that  we  cannot  refrain  from  exposing  it. 

Here's  a  quiz  for  you — Do  newspapers  have  consciences  ? 

Or  are  newspapers  like  the  big  trusts — devoid  of  both 
sipinal  cord  and  conscience  ? 

The  existence  of  unscrupulous  newspapers  in  Virginia  is 
the  sole  leason  for  the  tolerance  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the 
tremendous  evil  of  the  licensed  saloon. 

The  newspapers  of  this  State  have  so  long  maligned  the 
Anti-Saloon  League  officers  and  speakers  that  people  actually  go 
to  hear  such  speakers  hoping  and  expecting  to  be  regaled  with 
a  lot  of  sa^icious  or  vulgar  anecdote  or  sensational  blood  and 
thunder  lamd  are  very  much  surprised  to  find  scholarly,  pro- 
f'^.ind,  le^frent  and  mighty  sermons  by  men  of  powerful  and 
towering  intellect,  and  then  they  go  home  to  be  lastounded  the 
next  day  by  newspaper  yams  wherein  the  little  reporter  tells, 
of  the  same  sermon,  that  he  heard  diversi  wondrous  statements 
that  his  taper  is  too  goody  goody  to  publish. 


8  The   Idea. 

But,  to  cap  the  climax,  the  Times-Dispatcli  certainly 
sprung  one  on  the  public  recently  when  they  actually  claimed, 
by  ^]jference  at  least,  to  have  more  conscience  than  Grove  Ave- 
nue Baptist  church  and  the  gifted  and  God-fearing  J.  D. 
McAlister,  of  the  Anti-Saloicn.  League.  My !  what'll  happen 
next  ? 


FIVE  CENTS  A  COPY. 

As  an  advertisement,  we  gave  away  several  hundred  copies 
of  our  last  week's  number. 

In  the  future  no  more  copies  will  be  distributed  in  this 
way,  but  they  can  be  had  at  all  news  stands  and  of  news  boys 
at  five  cents  a  copy. 


WANTED. 


A  live,  energetic  man  or  woman  as  'advertising  solicitor 
on  fine  commission  basis.  Excellent  opportunity.  Permanent. 
Address  The  Idea,  or  call  quick,  904  Capitol  St.,  Eichmond, 
Viroinia. 


THE  MAYOR.     THE  RED  LIGHT  DISTRICT. 

As  the  Mayor  has  not  answered  our  question  asked  last, 
week,  why  he  does  not  regard  his  oath  of  office  in  enforcing 
the  house  of  ill  fame  law,  we  will  answer  it  for  him  very  sim- 
ply as  follows:  He  can't  enforce  it,  and  therefore  he  cannot 
answer  the  question..  There's  a  ring  behind  him  stronger  than 
his  duty  which  makes  it  impossible  for  him  to  hold 
his  office  and  enforce  the  law.  We  are  going  to  make  it 
so  waiTQ,  however,  that  he  cannot  refuse  to  enforce  the 
law.  We  even  understand  that  Mayor  McCarthy,  when 
he  undertook  this  work,  found  an  organization  of  crime  more 
powerful  than  he,  which  he  could  not  withstand.  And  yet, 
the  great,  strong,  intelligent  and  powerful  Richmond  public 
will  let  a  small  band  of  law  breakers  and  criminals  practically 


The   Idea.  9 

control  their  city,  and  even  a  large  percentage  of  the  preachers 
keep  quiet. 

If  just  fa  very  few  of  the  citizens  should  band  together 
this  state  of  affairs  could  not  withstand  them.  Suppose  the 
preachers  should  fight  it — there  are  perhaps  one  hundred  well 
educated,  well  equipped  ministers  in  Richmond — the  law  break- 
ers would  have  to  get  right.  Just  a  little  concerted  action 
would  put  Richmond  before  the  world  as  a  model  for  clean., 
progressive,  modem  municipal  management.  We  are  sure  that 
the  preachers  will  fight  this  just  as  soon  as  they  see  the  evil. 

The  preacher,  as  a  rule,  is  kept  ignorant  of  the  sins  of 
the  masses  and  he  does  not  know  their  enormity  nor  how  to 
fio;ht  them. 


RICH  GAMBLERS  GO  FREE,  POOR  OI^ES  SUFFER. 

Big  gambling  is  permissible  in  Richmond,  but  the  gam- 
blers are  supposed  to  use  la  little  discretion  in  their  action. 
Recently,  however,  they  became  so  exceedingly  bold  that  the 
county  authorities  had  to  take  hold  of  thean  and  several  of 
the  leaders  got  caught  and  had  to  suffer  a  nominal  fine.  But 
note  this  fact — that  in  each  case  there  was  only  a  sh'O'w  of  a 
trial  or  of  justice,  for  there  were  big  fellows  higher  up  that 
a  trial  would  expose,  and  that  would  never  do,  so  those  plead- 
ing guilty  were  fined,  though  it  would  be  hard  to  tell  who 
paid  their  fines,  and  thus  the  matter  was  hushed  up.  Now,  we 
would  like  to  know  who  rented  this  gambling  room  out  to  the 
gamblers  anyhow.  They  certainly  did  not  break  in  there  to 
gam;ble.  Here's  food  for  the  police,  but  we  suspect  they  don't 
want  it.  Gambling  goes  on  on  Broad  street  openly  sanctioned 
by  the  police  daily  in  Richmond.  We  stood  recently  for  a 
solid  hour  in  sight  of  the  surging  crowds  of  the  street  and 
saw  the  proprietor  of  an  establishment  manage  a  big  gambling 
game  in  which  boys  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  took  part. 

With  the  gambling  devices  in  sight  of  the  street  of  course 
the  police  are  on  to  the  game,  and  yet,  if  one  of  them  gets 
wind  that  two  darkies  are  "shooting  crap"  a  mile  outside  of 
the  city  limits,  he'll  hike  ont  and  nab  him,  and  the  poor  darkie 
will  perhaps  spend  'a  night  in  jail  for  his  little  offense,  which 


10  The   Idea. 

is  absolutely  no  offense  at  all  against  the  city  'as  compared 
with  the  sanctioned  and  flagrant  violation  of  the  city  and  State 
law  within  the  city. 


THE  FLUME  AND  PKESENT  CEMEIsTT  WORK. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  grafters  got  in  their  dirty  work 
on  the  flume.  In  our  next  number  we  wall  show  how  contrac- 
tors who  are  now  at  work  for  the  city  of  Richmond  are  put- 
ting in  cement  work  that  is  not  according  to  specifications. 

ISTow  is  the  time  to  stop  this  work  and  not  wait  until 
you  have  been  faked.  A  change  in  the  form  of  government 
and  in  the  personel  of  the  officers  alone  will  remedy  this.  We 
have  such  a  rotten  graft  gang  here  that  inspectors  cannot  do 
their  duty  and  hold  their  j'obs,  and  yet,  councilmen  would 
recommend  no  change  in  form  of  government. 


WHY     DON  T      COUNCILMEN      WANT      A      CHANGE      IN      FORM      OF 

GOVERNMENT  ? 

The  attitude  of  councilmen  may  be  explained  by  the  re- 
mark of  a  former  councilman:  "They  say  there's  nothing  in 
it  for  councilmen,  but  I'd  give  ten  thousand  dollars  to  get 
back  there." 

It  is  because  so  miany  grafters  have  gotten  into  power  that 
good  men  do  not  always  stand  for  election  to  the  councilmanic 
bodies.  Experience  has  shown  that  it  takes  only  one  grafter 
in  five  to  wreck  a  city,  and  it  often  happens  that  the  four 
clean  men  are  simply  a  cloak  to  shield  the  bad  lones. 


DANGEROUS ! 

TO    WHOM  ? 


Erequent  word  has  come  to  us  since  The  Idea  came  out 
last  week  that  we  had  better  be  on  guard;  that  some  of  the 
ring  were  ready  to  "fix"  us;  that  prominent  citizens  had  said 
that  what  The  Idea  has  said  is  true,  but  it  is  "dangerous'' 
to  publish  it  because  of  the  dangerous  character  of  the  lawless 
element  at  whom  we  were  firing.     Just  think  of  it!     With 


The   Idea.  11 

ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the  citizens  of  Richmond  the  best  in 
the  world  and  yet  so  dominated  by  one  per  cent,  of  those  with 
no  principle  that  it  is  dangerous  for  the  people  to  talk  'among 
themselves  about  their  iO'\\m  affairs. 

•  Let  us  say,  however,  that  we  have  been  up  against  the 
ring  before  and,  despite  their  threats,  we  have  continued  to 
exist  and  have  put  them  on  the  run.  We  expect  threats. 
When  you  throw  a  stone  in  the  dark  and  some  cur  barks,  you 
know  you  have  hit  something.     Have  you  heard  any  fice  ? 


GRAFT. 

Richmonders  tell  us  every  day  that  they  have  here  one 
of  the  worst  rings  that  ever  dominated  a  city,  and  yet  these 
same  Richmonders  naturally  hesitate  to  go  after  this  ring  and 
put  it  out  of  business.  This  is  the  most  conservative  spot 
in  the  United  States,  and  while  conservatism  has  many  excel- 
lent uses,  it  should  not  be  an  excuse  for  permitting  evil  to 
rule  a  city.  Richmond  is  a  city  to  be  proud  of,  and,  in  a 
five  years'  residence  here,  we  have  learned  to  love  it  and  appre- 
ciate the  excellent  qualities  of  the  citizens.  It  is  a  city  worth 
fighting  for,  and  we  propose  to  do  our  part  towards  m'aking 
Richmond  a  city  which  can  boast  of  its  government  as  well 
as  of  its  citizenship. 

Richmond  is  such  a  progressive  city  that  if  it  were  once 
rid  of  its  ring  public  improvement  would  increase,  taxes  would 
decrease.  We  could  know  what  our  gas  is  costing  the  city, 
and  our  gas  department  and  water  ^nd  electricity  departments 
should  cost  us  less. 

With  the  present  bad  management  the  expenditure  of  two 
and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  gets  the  city  perhaps  one  million 
of  value  received.  If  the  people  will  take  bold  this  can  be 
remedied.  If  the  form  of  government  alone  had  been  better, 
but  the  personel  equally  as  bad,  the  city  would  not  have  made 
such  a  botch  as  it  did  in  the  flume.  We'll  handle  that  flim- 
flam flume  later. 


THE  ELECTRIC  AWARD. 

If  we  had  one  commissioner  to  take  charge  of  the  electric 


12  The   Idea. 

department  with  the  five  members  of  the  commission  alone  act- 
ing as  the  council,  do  you  suppose  we  would  have  to  pay 
$8,300  of  hard-earned  tax  mioney  of  the  people  into  pockets  of 
graft  ?  ]^o !  The  electric  committee  is  large  and  unwieldy 
and  irresponsible,  and  one  man,  we  repeat  it,  one  man,  who 
lacks  principle,  can  actually  rule  the  situation.  But  sujDpose 
we  had  a  commissioner  who  was  directly  responsible  to  the 
people  and  who  was  dependent  on  them  for  his  salary,  do  you 
think  we  would  have  the  mess  we've  had  here  for  the  last 
several  weeks  ? 

Now,  do  not  misunderstand  us.  We  have  the  utmost  re- 
spect for  those  members  of  the  committee  who  are  above  re- 
proach, and  yet  they  all  admit  that  they  are  not  experts,  and 
when  they  had  a  meeting  last  week  they  actually  refused  to 
go  into  details  about  the  contract  award  and  even  refused  to  let 
Mr.  Trafford  make  any  statement  whatever  to  the  cominittee 
on  the  ground,  as  two  of  them  expressed  it,  notably,  Mr.  Spence, 
that  they  "did  not  want  to  put  Mr.  Trafford  up  to  be  shot 
at."  Why  should  not  the  people  be  lable  to  call  on  Mr.  Traf- 
ford for  a  reason  for  an  apparent  giving  laway  of  $8,300  of 
their  money  ?  Can't  he  stand  the  fire  ?  Is  he  vulnerable,  or, 
rather,  is  the  committee  vulnerable  ?.  In  the  face  of  repeated 
demands  by  citizens  and  by  representatives  of  interest6d  par- 
ties, the  committee  point-blank  refused  to  offer  'amy  excuse  for 
their  action. 

ISTow,  if  there  is  nothing  rotten  here,  the  average  citizen, 
judging  from  his  conversation,  seems  to  think  there  is,  and 
their  suspicions  were  confirmed  last  Monday  night  when  the 
committee  absolutely  refused  to  show  its  hand.  Every  time 
a  hint  was  made  to  get  a  word  from  Mr.  Trafford  the  com- 
mittee waa  up  in  arms,  and  if  one  had  not  known  the  rela- 
tion of  the  parts  of  that  meeting,  he  would  have  supposed 
from  their  actions  that  the  committee's  duty  was  solely  to 
guard  some  big  secret. 

As  the  meeting  adjourned,  citizens,  disinterested  except  as 
citizens,  remarked,  "cut  land  dried,"  and  were  so  used  to  such 
procedure  that  they  showed  no  surprise  at  the  outcome. 

The  representative  of  The  Idea  had  been  to  several  coun- 


T  h  e   I  d  e  a.  13 

cil,  aldermen  and  committee  meetings,  but  had  been  unable 
to  decide  the  question  on  its  merits  for  lack  of  information, 
but  he  certainly  haid  a  reason  to  expect  some  semblance  of  an 
investigation  on  this  occasion.  On  the  contrary,  the  commit- 
tee absolutely  refused  to  do  anything  which  would  tend  to  get 
any  information  from  the  one  man  on  whom  they  relied  to 
settle  the  whole  question. 


GEl^EEAL  ELECTRIC  CONTRACT  INVALID. 

A  point  has  been  frequently  brought  out  by  the  Westing- 
bouse  people  which  the  council  has  never  attempted  to  answer; 
namely,  that  the  General  Electric  Com'pany's  bid  was  not 
according  to  the  specification  of  the  engineer  in  that  it  did 
not  offer  bids  on  the  vairious  parts  in  detail.  If  this  had  been 
done  suspicion  would  not  fall  so  heavily  on  the  committee, 
and  besides,  the  people  would  have  some  means  of  knowing 
in  what  particular  part  of  the  bid  there  lies  a  difference  of 
$8,300.  If  the  committee  wanted  the  people  to  knwv  anything 
about  this  affair  they  would  certainly  not  have  acted  as  they 
have.  We  ask,  Why  did  Mr.  Richardson  and  Mr.  Spence  and 
Mr.  Pollock  land  Mr.  Huber  appear  to  the  spectators  to  be  so 
determined  not  to  have  the  light  turned  on?  And  it  certainly 
was  not  turned  on. 

In  a  mess  like  this  Richmond  wont  have  any  responsible 
party  to  look  to  until  they  have  government  by  commission. 


Blunders. — The  council  has  made  a  big  blunder  up  at 
the  pump  house  by  installing  a  lairge  plant  and  putting  in  four 
mammoth  motors  when  they  have  only  power  enough  to  run 
a  fraction  over  one  of  them.  Here  they  have  sunk  thousands 
on  thousands  of  dollars  of  the  people's  money  to  lie  idle  and 
decrease  in  value  for  two  years,  waiting  until  we  get  an  imagi- 
nary power  house  to  operate  it,  while  we  pay  the  interest. 

And  this  government  by  irresponsible  committees  is  going 
to  continue  to  miake  just  such  blunders  as  this,  costing  the  city 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  of  taxes  which,  after  all, 
the  poor  man  pays  entirely,  just  because  the  present  council 
now  in  power  is  so  pleased  with  that  power  that  they  desire 


14  The   Idea. 

tO'  keej)  it,  and  yet  poses  before  the  people  as  being  great  bene- 
factors, giving  (?)   their  time  to  the  city. 

If  Mr.  Trafford  is  a  $12,000  man — and  some  of  the  citi- 
zens do  not  realize  that  that  is  about  what  the  council  is 
giving  him  for  his  services — then  he  ought  to  be  able  to  stand 
"being  shot  at"  by  a  few  questions.  Would  somebody  beyond 
Mr.  Trafford  get  hit  ?  Turning  on  the  light  wont  hurt  any- 
body but  the  rascal. 


KECOKDS  OF  CANDIDATES. 

We  desire  to  have  at  hand  complete  records  of  all  candi- 
dates for  the  summer  elections  and  it  shall  give  us  pleasure  to 
serve  Richmond  by  thus  helping  the  citizens  to  know  who  they 
want  to  put  in  office.  We  are  already  aware  that  some  of 
those  who  offer  are  not  fit  for  the  office. 

We  offer  to  the  citizens  of  Richmond  and  Lynchburg,  and 
later  to  the  citizens  of  the  other  towns  of  the  State,  the  pages 
of  The  Idea  in  which  to  discuss  the  fitness  of  candidates  for 
office  in  any  fair-minded  manner.  As  it  is  our  elections  are 
a  farce  because  the  average  man  can  not  keep  informed  as  to 
who  is  the  proper  man. 


NEWSBOYS. 


The  newsboys  can  make  excellent  money  by  selling  Ideas 
every  Saturday.  They  will  be  on  sale  early  Saturday  morning 
of  each  week  at  the  office,  No.  904  Capitol  St.,  and  in  the  West 
End,  Church  Hill,  Manchester,  and  other  points  to  be  an- 
nounced later.  Some  of  the  boys  made  more  than  $2.00  in  the 
limited  time  they  were  out  last  Saturday.  Sales  will  increase 
rapidly  after  the  people  know  what  it  is.  Prizes  will  be  an- 
nounced later  for  those  selling  the  largest  number  of  copies. 
Parents  wanting  their  boys  to  make  money  will  do  well  to  send 
them  down  with  enough  money  to  start  them  out. 


In  the  next  number  we'll  tell  something  about  police  court 
methods  in  Richmond. 


T  h  e   I  d  e  a.  15 

We  regi-et  that  lack  of  space  has  forced  us  to  delay  until 
our  next  number  "The  Business  Manager,"  which  we  announced 
would  appear  this  week. 


CREAM  OR  SKIMMED  MILK. 

We  do  not  propose  in  these  pages  either  to  dilute  the 
facts  with  water  or  to  skim  off  from  the  facts  their  richness 
and  flavor  and  give  you  the  weak  and  unpalatable  skimmed 
milk  concerning  the  happenings  of  the  day,  but  it  shall  be 
our  sweet  pleasure  to  serve  yo^u  healthy  and  strengthening 
cream  in  the  most  delightful  and  least  approved  style.  We 
mean  this:  If  we  were  publishing  a  daily  paper  here  we'd 
have  to  sell  it  for  less  than  it  would  cost  us  to  get  it  out  and 
therefore  we  would  have  to  be  extremely  careful  to  get  all 
the  advertising  possible  by  cutting  down  the  facts  and  hush- 
ing up  certain  news  that,  if  published  by  us,  would  offend  or 
antagonize  some  of  our  advertisers  and  curtail  our  income. 
ISTow,  this  is  actually  what  happens  to  publishers  of  daily 
papers.  Editorially,  they  are,  and  have  to  be,  afraid  to  call 
their  souls  their  own.  Sometimes  one  will  start  out  to  take 
a  clean,  bold,  forward  stand  for  all  the  things  he  regards  as 
right,  but  he  soon  finds  that  he  can't  afford  h  and  skims  off 
a  little  here  and  there  and  lives,  or  else  he  persists  in  his  initial 
policy,  and  makes  a  financial  failure. 

You  see,  it's  this  way:  It  costs  more  than  two  cents  to 
get  out  a  decent  daily  paper,  so,  in  order  to  compete  and  sell 
your  paper  for  two  cents,  you've  got  to  have  advertising,  and 
it  has  been  found  by  all  who  have  tried  it  that  in  order  to 
get  and  keep  advertisers  you  must  not  have  any  decided  views 
of  your  own,  if  the  expression  of  them  editorially  will  tend 
to  hurt  the  business  of  the  advertiser. 

IN'ow,  with  a  little  magazine  it's  different.  We  can  live 
without  advertising.  We  don't  have  to  have  a  large  capital 
to  run  it  and  we  are  not  trying  to  get  rich  by  it,  so  we  are 
going  to  tell  the  truth  without  apologies  and  without  smooth- 
ing it  over  and  without  varnish  and  without  dodging  the  issue. 

!N^ow,  the  truth  is  always  interesting  and  often  is  much 
more  startling  than  fiction,  and  we  have  up  onr  sleeve  some 


16  The   Idea. 

very  startling"  things  to  tell  through  the  coming  weeks — things 
that  the  daily  papers  here  cannot  afford  to  tell,  and  the  daily 
papers  here  are  better  than  in  some  other  places.  We  are  not 
catering  to  the  advertiser  who  would  buy  our  editorials  with 
an  ad.,  and  none  but  the  honorable  and  worthy  ad.  can  appear 
in  this  paper  with  our  knowledge  of  its  character.  We  can, 
therefore,  promise  you  rich,  wholesome  cream. 

If  you  want  skimmed  milk,  don't  read  The  Idea, 


A  FIGHT. 


On  one  occasion  a  certain  preacher  was  berating  his  fel- 
low preachers  for  not  attacking  more  forcefully  from  their  pul- 
pits the  whiskey  business  and  the  houses  of  ill  fame,  and  one 
of  them  replied  that  he  did  not  like  to  stir  up  a  fuss. 

And  that's  just  what's  the  matter  with  the  preachers  in 
Richmond  to-day.     Some  of  them  don't  want  to  stir  up  a  fuss. 

Think  of  it !  "Soldiers  of  the  cross"  afraid  of  stirring 
up  a  fight.  Worse  than  that!  Leaders  and  generals  of  the 
"araiy  of  the  Lord"  afraid  of  a  fight- — -intimidated  because  a 
few  men  who  happened  to  contribute  to  their  churches  on 
Sunday  got  np  at  the  Academy  of  Music  in  the  interests  of 
the  most  damnable  evil  that  ever  afflicted  humanity  and  passed 
a  few  resolutions,  saying:  "It  will  hurt  O'ur  business  if  you 
start  a  fight." 

One  of  the  most  prominent  preachers  in  Richmond  (and 
this  preacher  will  fight)  said  the  other  day:  "The  trouble 
here  is  that  the  preachers,  instead  of  being  leaders,  are  being 
led  by  the  laymen.  They  are  behind  instead  of  ahead  in  intel- 
lect and  in  nerve."  Now,  that's  pretty  hard  on  the  preach- 
ers, but  we  did  not  know  them  well  enough  to  say  it,  but  we 
do  know  that  if  they  were  what  they  ought  to  be  and  would 
openly  and  fearlessly  fight  there  woiald  be  such  a  rumpus  here 
that  this  whole  whiskey  business,  which  the  reports  from  the 
penitentiary  right  here  in  Richmond  show  causes  nearly  every 
bit  of  the  crime  in  Virginia,  could  not  stand  three  months 
in  Richmond.  When  the  preachers  get  ready  to  fight,  Rich- 
mond will  go  dry  all  right.     Up  in  Lynchburg  most  of  them 


T  h  e   I  d  e  a.  17 

got  busy,  but  a  few  did  not,  and  yet  Lynchburg  has  given 
the  whiskey  traffic  a  blow  that  it  will  never  recover  from, 
and  is  now  a  place  fit  to  raise  a  family  in.  Richmond  is  not. 
This  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  there  is  hardly  a  family 
in  Richmond  that  is  not  directly  suffering  fruui  this  stupen- 
dous evil  through  the  evil  influence  of  drink  on  some  of  its 
members,  and  there  is  not  a  single  one  that  is  not  indirectly 
hurt  by  it. 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL. 

Let's  license  the  Social  Evil.  Let's  charge  say  $500  for 
each  one  of  Richmond's  two  hundred  houses  of  ill  fame,  that 
wall  give  us  a  revenue  of  say  $100,000,  which  would  cut  down 
our  tax  rate  wonderfully.  The  city  would  then  make  a  living 
out  of  it,  and  we  citizens  would  have  more  money  for  other 
purposes.  It  don't  make  any  difference  if  that  does  make 
us  part  owners.  A  little  matter  of  conscience  don't  cut  any 
figure  when  a  question  of  $100,000  is  concerned. 

Besides,  the  money  we  would  get  out>  of  it  will  help  in 
another  big  way.  It  will  thus  make  it  legal  to  patronize  them, 
and  then  those  who  patronize  them  will  be  doing  so  lawfully. 
It  would  reduce  the  number  of  the  criminal  class  because  the 
man  who  is  guilty  of  now  violating  the  law  against  adultery 
would  thus  be  no  longer  a  violator. 

Yes,  let  the  law  sanction  it  in  order  to  reduce  the  number 
of  violators  of  the  law.  The  first  argument  in  particular 
should  appeal  to  the  business  men,  for  are  we  not  told  to  do 
nothing  that  will  hurt  the  business  interests  of  a  community? 

Then,  too-,  this  would  have  a  third  benefit.  It  would  give 
legal  employment  (hush !  speak  it  softly)  to  the  young  women 
of  the  town. 

jSTow,  don't  laugh  or  get  angry  at  that  kind  of  argument, 
for  that  is  exactly  the  way  we  treat  other  evils — after  they 
have  fastened  themselves  upon  us.  Take  the  whiskey  evil. 
The  Business  Men's  Association,  both  in  Petersburg  and  in 
Lynchburg,  argued  that  it  would  kill  the  town  not  to  license 
the  evil;  it  would  take  away  about  $50,000  of  the  tax  money 


18  T  h  e   I  d  e  a. 

and  we  would  have  to  increase  the  tax  rate,  which  they  argue 
is  lower  than  it  would  otherwise  be  with  no  license. 

Then,  there  is  the  second  argument  that  the  people  are 
going  to  have  it  anyhow,  and  if  you  make  it  a  crime  to  sell 
it  you  make  criminals  out  of  those  who  deal  in  it. 

Then,  there's  the  third  argument  that  you  have  no  right 
to  take  away  a  man's  employment. 

You  don't  like  the  parellel,  do  you?  We  can't  help  that. 
Absolutely  the  only  difference  between  the  two  cases  is  that 
one  is  a  licensed  evil  and  the  other,  here  in  Virginia,  is  not 
licensed. 

In  the  first  place,  we  are  astounded  at  the  thought  of 
licensing  the  adultery  evil,  and,  in  the  second  place,  we  have 
licensed  the  whiskey  evil  so  long  that  some  of  us  actually 
think  it  may  be  a  good  thing  to  let  it  keep  on  with  its  damning 
effects  just  because  it  will  upset  business  for  a  while  (the 
bottler's  business  and  the  undertaker's  business  in  particular). 
]^ow,  aren't  you  ashamed  of  yourselves,  that  this,  the  most  as- 
tounding evil  that  ever  fastened  itself  on  the  human  race,  has 
so  pulled  the  wool  over  your  eyes  that  at  times  you  actually 
believe  that  after  all  it  might  not  do  to  get  rid  of  it  because 
we  will  still  send  perhaps  one-fourth  as  much  money  over  to 
Petersburg  or  somewhere  else  for  the  daggone  pisen  anyhow? 
Aren't  you  ashamed,  that  your  conscience  has  gotten  so  seared 
that  you  will  sacrifice  right  for  dollars  and  cents  ?  Shame ! 
Shame!  And  there  are  in  Richmond,  in  this  so-called  Chris- 
tian city,  in  this  year  of  our  Lord,  1909,  some  newspapers  that 
are  making  just  such  rotten  arguments  as  these. 


COURAGE?   ? 


An  afternoon  sheet  of  Richmond— the  evening  News- 
Leader — ^says  to-day.  May  28th,  that  Petersburg  "is  blessed 
with  newspapers  and  business  men  that  are  not  afraid.  Our 
observation  is  that  no  city  ever  is  carried  for  prohibition  if  it 
has  a  newspaper  wdth  the  courage  and  ability  to  present  facts 
and  reasons  to  the  public." 

We  suppose  that  The  Leader  means  to  siay  that  Peters- 


T  h  e   I  d  e  a.  19 

burg  papers  have  courage !  He-haw !  Fol — de — rol — de — fol — 
de — rol.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  if  Petersburg  had  had  a  paper 
in  it  that  would  even  dare  to  present  the  straight  news  with- 
out colors  the  result  would  likely  have  been  different,  and 
the  wet  majority  would  certainly  have  been  less,  and  if  they 
had  had  a  single  paper  that  really  had  a  little  courage,  enough 
to  make  it  side  with  its  own  conscience,  the  result  certainly 
would  have  been  different. 

The  truth  of  the  whole  matter  is  just  this — that  there 
is  not  a  large  newspaper  in  a  single  town  in  Virginia  that 
thinks  it  can  afford  to  take  a  stand  for  the  drys,  and  since  a 
pocketbook  has  no  conscience,  they  either  keep  quiet  or  speak 
out  boldly  for  the  other  side,  thereby  annexing  more  sheckles 
for  the  said  pocketbook. 

For  example,  there's  the  Lynchburg  News,  whose  owner, 
Mr.  Glass,  claims  to  be  a  dry  man — in  private,  and  it  is 
actu.ally  reported  that  he  gave  $100.00  to  the  Anti-Saloon 
League,  on  the  quiet — and  yet,  not  only  do  his  papers  refrain 
from  any  dry  talk  but,  when  he  was  called  on  to  introduce 
Governor  Glenn,  of  North  Carolina,  to  a  prohibition  meeting 
in  Lynchburg,  his  words  were  so  guarded  that  if  one  should 
read  his  speech  who  did  not  know  the  nature  of  the  occasion 
on  which  it  was  delivered,  it  would  take  a  Philadelphia  lawyer 
to  tell  whether  he  was  wet  or  dry.  You  see,  his  revenue  from 
whiskey  advertisements  is  considerable.  We  will  make  an- 
other broad  assertion,  that  no  one  knows  really  what  the  con- 
scientious sentiments  of  the  editors  of  the  papers  of  Richmond 
f.re,  for  even  if  one  of  them  were  dry,  his  paper  could  not  afford 
to  say  so. 

You  see,  they  all  have  thousands  of  dollars  of  whiskey 
advertisement  contracts.  ISTow,  scratch  your  head  and  think 
what  that  means.  They  can  afford  to  knock  the  Anti-Saloon 
Leiagiie,  for  the  Anti-Saloon  League  don't  have  any  advertis- 
ing contract  with  them.  Let  that  big  thought  soak  into  your 
calabash.  ISTewspapers  with  courage,  bah!  They  have  no 
more  courage  and  conscience  than  senators  have.     He-haw! 

Everybody  knows  that  the  vote  in  Petersburg  does  not 
represent  the  quiet,  conservative  conclusion  of  the  good  people 
of  Petersburg,  but  Petersburg  citizens  allowed  the  newspapers 


20  T  h  e   I  d  e  a. 

to  so  cloud  the  issue  by  making  a  mountain  out  of  a  mole-hill 
that  thej  did  not  vote  their  real  sober  beliefs,  but  voted,  as 
many  of  the  best  Petersburg  citizens  acknowledge,  in  the  heat 
of  resentment  of  the  reported  sayings  of  one  man,  ISTo  man 
should  so  lose  his  head  as  to  vote  against  his  own  interests 
just  to  resent  an  imaginary  insult.  They  voted  in  the  heat 
of  haste  and  now  let  them  repent  at  leisure. 

We  are  not  inclined  to  believe  that  Richmond  people,  with 
their  boasted  intelligence,  would  allow  such  a  thing  to  occur 
in  their  midst.  Richmond  is  as  sure  to  go  dry  when  the  time 
for  voting  comes  as  the  sparks  are  to  fly  upward.  They  don't 
allow  the  wool  to  be  pulled  over  their  eyes  exc^t  in  the  field  of 
pure  politics. 


POLITICS. 


The  Idea  proposes  to  take  an  active  stand  in  forwarding 
the  candidacy  of  clean  men  for  office  and  to  that  end  will 
examine  the  records  Qi  men  offering  for  positions  in  the  gift 
of  the  people  and  will  back  those  whose  records  show  them 
to  be  efficient  and  honest.  We  will  oppose  with  all  weapons 
at  our  command  those  merely  negatively  good  men  who  com- 
mend themselves  for  consideration  at  the  hands  of  the  powers 
behind  the  machine,  on  laccount  of  what  they  will  not  do. 

The  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  good  government  in 
America  to-day,  perhaps,  is  the  ease  with  which  its  enemies 
succeed  in  putting  into  authority  men  whom  they  can  count 
on  and  at  the  same  time  men  who,  as  far  as  their  records  are 
concerned,  lare  men  above  reproach.  It  is  this  negatively  good 
man  who  in  time  of  stress  is  always  found  with  the  enemy 
because  he  has  not  backbone  to  make  a  stand  for  right  nor  to 
fight  the  evil  which  succeeds  in  dominating  his  acts. 

Better  have  a  positively  evil  man  than  a  negatively  good 
man,  for  you  at  least  know  how  to  handle  the  rascal. 

Our  governments  need,  above  all  things,  men  of  backbone 
and  brains,  and  when  politics  is  in  such  a  bad  way  that  such 
men  wont  offer  for  office,  then  it  is  time  for  the  people  to  look 
out,  for  they  will  be  betrayed  and  the  only  remedy  is  active 


The   Idea.  21. 

participation  on  the  part  of  tlie  people  in  proposing  clean  men 
and  backino-  them  in  every  way.  It  has'  often  been  found  of 
inestimable  value  for  the  people  to  orp;anize  for  this  very  pur- 
pose of  putting  into  office  clean  officials.  IsTotably  have  such 
org-anizati'ons  done  ffood  and  lasting  work  in  Galveston  and 
Des  JMoines  and  many  other  of  the  vast  number  of  cities  which 
have  undertaken  government  by  commission. 


ICgnrtiburg  i^partm^nt. 


LYl^CHBURG  GRAFT. 

friend's  warehouse  peopekt^. 

According  to  announcement  of  last  week,  we  show  here- 
with the  condition  of  affairs  existing  between  the  council,  Mr. 
King,  the  councilman,  and  the  citizens.  Mr.  King,  according 
to  the  treasurer's  records,  pays'  $1,005  rent  for  the  Friend's 
Warehouse  property.  This  property  is  sublet  by  Mr.  King 
to  W.  O.  Taylor  and  B.  E.  Hughes,  and  part  of  it  is  again 
sublet  to  others.  The  figures  given  are  based  on  the  reports 
for  last  year  and  have  been  slightly  altered  by  the  city  widen- 
ing the  street. 

Mr.  Taylor  paid  rent,  $800 ;  the  three  renters  from  Mr. 
Hughes  paid,  respectively,  $130,  $220,  $270 ;  total  rents  from 
Friend's  Warehouse,  $1,420;  a  profit  of  $415,  which  should 
be  so  managed  as  to  go  into  the  city  treasury.  These  figures, 
you  see,  do  not  take  into  account  the  rent  for  Mr.  Hughes'  of- 
fice, which  should  be  estimated  at  perhaps  $150,  making  $565 
which  the  city  loses  every  year  by  renting  this  whole  property 
to-  a  councilman. 

The  OuUook,  in  commenting  on  just  such  deals,  says: 
"The  feeling  has  become  practically  universal  that  legislators 
should  not  merely  keep  tbeir  skirts  clean  from  illegal  trans- 
actions, but  should  avoid  any  connection  with  financial  trans- 
actions which  have  a  legislative  interest."  Mr.  King  may 
have  a  legal  right  (tbough  we  doubt  it)  to  rent,  while  a  coun- 


22  The   Idea. 

cilnian,  property  from  the  city  for  inve;Stnient.  lie  certainly 
has  no  moral  rig-ht  to  use  his  office  as  councilman  to  make 
money  for  himself  which  should  go  into  the  public  treasury. 
This  is  what  they  call  graft  in  other  cities.  Yet  there 
are  some  people  who  say  that  "our  councilmeu  are  all  right," 
and  "they  get  no  pay  for  their,  services."  In  view  of  such 
facts,  it  can  easily  be  seen  why  some  councilmen  do  not  want 
"government  by  commission.''  In  Richmond  graft  don't  stop 
at  such  transactions  and  we  suspect  that  it  don't  stop  there 
right  here  in  Lynchburg. 


A     QUESTIOI^  FOR  JUDGE  CHRISTIAN. 

WHO    PAID    THE    BILL  ? 

A  friend  suggests  that  we  ask,  for  the  benefit  of  the  tax- 
jDayer,  who  paid  the  expense  of  tbe  lawyers  in  connection  with 
the  appeal  in  the  case  of  the  Commonwealth  vs.  A.  A.  Yoder, 
wherein  two  lawyers,  one  from  Lynchburg,  helped  defend  (?) 
Judge  Christian  before  the  Supreme  Court.  The  editor  of 
The  Idea  had  to  pay  about  $435  for  his  litigation,  and  it  cost 
the  State  a  large  amount,  besides  extra  council. 

]S[ow,  we  w^ould  like  to  know  whether  the  State — you  mnd 
I,  the  tax-payers — had  to  j)ay  for  extra  lawyers  to  defend 
Judge  Christian's  malicious  and  uncalled  for  action  in  attempt- 
ing to  punish  one  for  no  offense  whatever. 

If  the  State  had,  to  pay  for  his  blunder,  you  and  I  have 
a  right  to  know  it,  so  that  we  can  call  on  the  legislature  to  give 
us  a  judge  who  wont  make  sncli  blunders. 

If  Christian  paid  it,  it  goes  to  show  that  after  all  it  was 
an  attempt  of  F.  P.  Christian  personally  to  use  his  authority 
as  judge,  to  suppress  The  Idea. 

The  fact  that  he  had  to  get  extra  council  shows  that  he 
knew  he  had  no  legal  right  to  do  what  he  did.  Next !  Mr, 
Cliristian ! 


POLICE. 

While  in  Richmond  recently  we  were  struck  wnth  the  dif- 
ference  in    appearance    betw^een    the   policemen    of   Richm'ond 


The    IdeA.  23 

and  Lynchl)iirg',  in  favor  of  Lynchburg.  We  have  heard  many 
eoniplinicnts  of  the  appearance  and  work  of  our  police  force, 
bnt  we  had  no  idea  how  well  off  we  were  nntil  we  compared 
with  the  force  of  our  capital  city.  Lynchburg  can  boast  as 
fine  looking  a  body  of  men  as  could  be  easily  collected  in  any 
walk  of  life.  All  praise  to  the  Lynchburg  policeman.  May 
he  never  grow  ugly  or  debauched.  All  he  needs  is  authority 
to  serve  his  city.  We  have  two  suggestions  to  make  to  the 
city  police  commissioners.  Since  the  work  of  the  police  force 
has  so  materially  decreased,  would  it  not  be  wise  to  do  with 
fewer  men?  And  to  avoid  any  friction,  when  a  policeman 
resigns  simply  don't  put  another  in  his  place,  until  we  have 
as  few  as  we  can  get  along  with  well. 

The  suggestion  is  this.  Let  the  commissioners  provide 
one  plain  clothes  man  for  the  following  reasons:  As  it  is,  it 
is  almost  impossible  for  a  policeman  to  get  evidence  against 
certain  classes  of  clandestine  violators  of  the  law.  For  in- 
stance, nearly  all  Lyncliburgers  know  that  certain  laws  >a:re 
being  violated  in  the  red  light  district.  A  policeman  in  uni- 
form would  find  it  impossible  to  get  convicting  evidence  of 
this,  while  a  plain  clothes  man  could  easily  put  out  of  com- 
mission all  this  flagrant  wrong-doing.  The  blind  tiger  would 
disappear  before  the  workings  of  a  secret  police,  and  the  law 
should  be  enforced. 


FEKDEKS  AGAIK 

Since  we  called  attention  to  the  twenty-four-inch-high 
fenders  of  the  Traction  Company's  cars,  they  have  lowered  them 
some,  but  still  they  are  decidedly  too  high.  Twelve  inches 
ab.ove  the  rail,  or  sixteen  inches  above  the  cross  ties  seems 
to  be  the  lowest  the  Traction  Company  is  willing  to  put  these 
fenders.  This  is  almost  ten  inches  too  high.  In  Kichmond 
we  found  the  fenders  only  about  two  to  five  inches  off  the 
ground,  and  they  were  so  constructed  that  when  in  the  bounc- 
ing of  the  car  the  fender  struck  the  pavement  it  was  not  in- 
jured at  all.  The  fender  was  slightly  curved  up  'at  the  front 
so  that  in  striking  the  point  would  not  strike,  but  the  curved 


24  The   Idea. 

lower  surface  of  the  fender  would  strike  and  glide  along,  thus 
saving  the  fender,  but  always  keeping  close  to  the  ground. 
Should  Lynchburg  wait  until  several  more  citizens  are  killed 
and  perhaps  pay  some  law  suits  for  not  protecting  its  citizens 
before  requiring  the  Traction  Company  to  put  modern  fenders 
that  will  save  instead  of  kill,  in  their  place  ?  Suppose  Lynch- 
burg had  one  commissioner  whose  duty  it  was  to  look  after 
the  public  safety,  do  you  think  it  would  take  three  years  to 
make  the  Traction  Company  put  fenders  of  real  value  on  their 
cars  ?  JSTot  on  your  tin-type !  And  yet,  it  has  taken  the  coun- 
cil three  years  to  accomplish  nothing  in  this  respect,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  nine  out  of  every  ten  citizens  feel  it  as  a  seri- 
ous need  to  have  something  done.  And  why  is  it?  It's  just 
nobody's  business  to  do  it.  And  those  who  might  do  it  are 
nearly  all  personal  friends  of  Mr.  Appcrson,  and  they  hesitate 
to  do  anything  to  strain  a  friendship,  especially  when  they  get 
no  pay  for  it.  There's  the  trouble  again  with  this  rotten 
form  of  government  of  ours.  Everybody's  business  is  nobody's 
business.  And  so  we  plod  along,  and  become  disgusted  with 
the  whole  affair,  and,  as  a  result,  the  very  greatest  enemy  of 
good  government  has  crept  in,  namely,  lack  of  interest  on  the 
part  of  the  citizen  in  his  government.  Let's  get  modern  and 
have  a  business  form  of  government  as  the  live  cities  of  the 
country  are  doing. 


MAYOR  smith: 


We  have  repeatedly  pointed  out  in  the  past  the  failure  of 
Mayor  Smith  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  office  and  we  do  not 
propose  to  rest  with  simply  pointing  it  out.  If  Mayor  Smith 
does  not  get  busy  and  enforce  the  law  in  Lynchburg  we  propose 
to  take  the  proper  steps  to  move  in  the  corporation  court  that 
he  be  relieved  of  his  office  and  if,  after  a  proper  hearing,  the 
judge  of  that  court  does  not  do  the  proper  thing  we  will  put  it 
up  to  the  legislature  to  give  us  a  judge  that  will  do  his  duty 
a  part  of  the  time  anyhow. 

We  have  nothing  to  say  about  Mayor  Richardson  of 
Ricliniiond  yet.  We  trust  he  will  enforce  the  law  in  Richmond. 
We  hope  we  may  help  him  do  it.     It's  his  move,  however. 


To    Advertisers 


Thus  Far 


w 


E  have  offered  no  one  space  in 
these  pages  since  increasing 
our  size  and  pubHshing  in  Rich- 
mond. We  will,  however,  shortly  put 
out  an  advertising  man,  and  offer  a 
limited  number  of  pages  to  the  public. 
THE  IDEA  as  an  advertiser  should 
especially  appeal  to  the  public  for  the 
following  reasons : 

1[  I.  Space  will  be  Limited.  We  have 
never  published  in  our  former  size  more 
than  thirty  ads. 

IF  II.  Magazine  Form  is  a  permanent 
advertisement. 

IF  III.  EVERYBODY  reads  The  Idea. 
It's  red-hot,  tho  conservative;  loud,  but 
neat;  outlandish,  but  true.  And  it 
brings  results — that's  what  YOU  want. 


For  Rates  Address  THE  IDEA,  904  Capitol  Street 
RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA 


^      Newsboys! 

CiKT    II)I:AS  at 

904  Capitol   Street 

next  door  to    Park 

1  lotel,  (>()rner  9th 

and    Broad    Streets 

The 

Very 

Ideal 

Pri/cs    will    Ik'    aiiiiountcd    later   for 

those    selling    the    niost.     Sales  com- 

I 

mence  Karly  SATURDAY   Morning 

i 

Hoys  make  BIG  MONE  Y 

WEEKLY  5  Cents 


THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  June  19,  1909  No.  3 


Clyde  Saunders'  Committee 
The  News  Leader  Scandal 
Crutchfield's  Court  ^  »!■  ^  ^ 


-AND- 


Other  Stuff  Worth  While  in  this  Number 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


A  FOREWARNING 


The  Idea 


•rs 


I 


S  NOT  desirous  of  a  reputation 
as  a  calamity  howler,  nor  is  it 
anxious  for  one  as  a  prophet, 
and  yet  in  the  light  of  history  and  a 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  we  are 
compelled  to  see  in  the  present  trend 
of  events  a  coming  crisis  in  the  history 
of  our  country,  and  the  happenings  of 
the  past  several  months  have  so  con- 
firmed us  in  our  previously  formed  con- 
clusion that  we  are  willing  to  make  the 
following  statement  in  the  hope  that  it 
may  lead  others  to  seriously  consider 
the  service  of  their  co'untry  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  degrading  employment  of 
their  faculties  in  self-aggrandizement. 
Our  statement  is  this: 
II  The  present  unrest  and  careful  study 
of  civil  government  resulting  from  the 
injustice  of  the  few  to  the  many,  whose 
lot  is  becoming  and  will  become  much 
worse,  will  in  the  next  few  years  inevi- 
tably lead  to  a  complete  revolution  in 
our  national  governmental  procedure, 
most  likely  accompanied  by  bloodshed 
and  war. 
-'^^^'^^^^^^^'^^^'^^'^^''^^''^^'^^'''^^''^^^''^''^''^^^'^^'^^^^^ 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  JUNE  19,   1909  No.  3 


5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


THE  RING 

Saunders'    Committee 

THE  SEAT  OF  POLITICAL  CORRUPTION 

How  Richmond  is  Run.    The  Inner  Circle  and  the 
Class  of  Men  Composing  It 


If  one  seeks  to  find  who  is/  at  the  bottom  of  politics  in 
Richmond — who  controls  the  situation — he  is  almost  invaria- 
bly told,  "Clyde  Saunders."  But  if  you  ask  how  he  controls 
it  and  where  the  trouble  is  you  have  asked  another  question. 
In  this  article  we  will  answer  these  questions  which  are  upper* 
most  in  the  minds  of  our  citizens. 

As  a  beginning,  it  is  well  to  call  attention  to  an  obscure 
notice  in  the  papers  of  last  week.  Especially  note  the  fact 
that  this  is  an  obscure,  small  notice  in  the  papers  and  is  not 
commented  on  at  all,  either  by  them  editorially  or  in  their 
"Voice  of  the  People"  columns,  showing  that  they  are  recreant 
to  their  duty  in  not  exposing  these  methods  and  that  the  peo- 
ple have  no  conception  of  just  how  they  are  being  sat  upon. 


2  The   I  dea. 

The  newspaper  article  in  question,  in  about  even  two 
inches,  under  the  sm'all  heading,  "Elect  Xew  Members,"  reads 
as  follows: 

ELECT  IsEW  MEMBERS. 

CITY   COMMITTEE   FILLS    VACAISTCIES   FROM    VAKIOUS   WARDS. 

"The  City  Democratic  Committee  was  in  session  less  than 
thirty  minutes  at  Murphy's  Hotel  last  night.  Samuel  Steiner 
resigned  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  from  Jefferson  ward, 
being  immediately  elected  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  Henry,  into  which 
he  has  recently  moved  his  residence.  Claude  Lowry  and 
Charles  Weston  were  chosen  to  fill  vacancies  existing  in  the 
Jefferson  ward  delegation,  Frank  Ferrandini  being  elected 
superintendent  of  Monroe  ward.  The  ward  superintendents 
were  instructed  to  report  the  names  of  the  judges  and  clerks 
for  the  primary  at  the  meeting  to  be  held  next  Friday  night." 

The  thing  to  be  noticed  is  this^ — that  the  committee  met 
and  ran  through  in  a  few  minutes  a  cut  and  dried  program 
which  put  large  power  into  the  hands  of  'an  ex-bar  keeper, 
■  Frank  Ferrandini,  who  for  years  ran  a  low  negro  resort,  on 
the  walls  of  which  was  exhibited  for  the  benefit  of  the  lowest 
element  in  Richmond  a  fine  mammoth  oil  painting  of  a  nude 
white  woman,  and  who  operated  next  door  to  his  bar-room  a 
slot  machine  amusement  stand  for  negroes,  Avhich  was  so  vile 
and  obscene  that  it  had  to  be  broken  up  by  the  police. 

In  these  machines  were  shown  indecent  moving  pictures 
of  the  vilest  description. 

When  the  Chief  of  Police  and  the  Mayor  went  there  to  ex- 
amine the  conditions  on  complaint  of  citizens,  negTO  bucks  were 
so  wrapped  up  with  the  salacious  sights  that  they  had  to  almost 
literally  fight  their  way  through  the  throng  and  force  the  revel- 
lers from  the  machines.  And  yet,  the  Democratic  Committee 
has  put  this  man,  Frank  Ferrandini,  at  the  head  of  a  ward, 
and  notice  what  power  is  put  in  the  hands  of  this  ward  super- 
intendent. He  is  the  man  who  "selects  judges  and  clerks  for 
the  primary."  In  other  words,  the  ward  superintendent  is  the 
man  who  is  to  blame  when  there  is  a  crooked  election,  (and  it 
is  because  the  Democratic  City  Committee  is  so  low  that  they 
put  this  power  into  the  hands  of  such  base  citizens,  and  then, 


The   Idea.  3 

when  an  election  is  stoilen — and  you  liave  no  means  of  know- 
ing how  many  are  stolen- — it  is  chargeable  to  this  same  City 
Committee.  You  may  expect  flim-flame-flumes  'aiid  awards 
made  to  the  largest  bidder  and  contracts  let  to  parties  which 
must  be  unreliable  and  corruptible  if  you  permit  such  a  com- 
mittee to  decide  who  is  elected  to  councils. 

Why  is  it  you  have  to  have  grand  jury  investigations  after 
elections  ?  Why  is  it  that  the  choice  of  the  people  is  seldom 
elected  ?  Why  is  it  that  clean  men  do  not  often  offer  for  office  ? 
It  is  because  clean  men  doii't  waait  to  go  up  against  a  dirty 
ring  and  have  it  said  of  them  through  the  coming  years  that 
"so  and  so,  ward  heeler  and  crook,  beat  him  for  office." 

Elections  have  been  stolen  in  Richmond.  And  the  chances 
are  that  Avith  the  present  policy  of  the  City  Democrat  Com- 
mittee elections  will  be  stolen  this  year. 

Why  is  it  that  men  like  Hunsden  Cary,  a  m'an  who  is 
absolutely  impeccable  and  above  reproach  cannot  be  elected 
in  Eichmond  ?  It  is  because  the  City  Committee  are  so  afraid 
of  a  clean  and  fearless  Commonwealth's  Attorney  that  they 
will  resort  to  such  methods  as  this  to  keep^  such  men  out  of 
office  and  also  to  keep  many  men  of  principle  from  even  vot- 
ing in  elections.  Think  of  it !  High-minded  citizens  of  Rich- 
mond, who  were  Democrats,  when  the  name  Democrat  carried 
honor  with  it,  and  before  such  men  got  into  power,  or  were 
even  born,  must  ^cy  up  to  the  polls  and  certify  to  Ferrandini 
that  they  are  Democrats.  Proud  men  who  bear  the  name  and 
blood  of  ancient  families  of  continued  honor  and  distinction 
must  bow  down  to  such  a  committee  and  say,  "I  am  a  Demo- 
crat," or  else,  they  cannot  exercise  the  right  attained  by  the 
blood  of  their  ancestors  to  vote  in  a  primary  which  decides 
who  shall  serv^e  and  represent  them  in  city  and  State  and  nation. 
Behold,  how  has  Virginia  fallen ! 

Behind  disastrous  legislation  are  some  venal  councilmen. 
Behind  venal  councilmen  are  unfair  elections.  Behind  unfair 
elections  are  crooked  election  officials.  Behind  crooked  election 
officials  are  grafting  committeemen.  And  right  here  in  the 
City  Democratic  Committee,  if  two  and  two  make  four,  there 
is  graft  of  the  worst  description,  because  it  is  almost  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  one  desiring  an  office  "in  the  gift  of  the 


4  The  Idea. 

pbople"  (?)  to  gain  the  favor  of  this  committee,  (and  no  clean 
man  would  stoop  so  low. 

Here  you  haye  the  circle  complete.  Greed,  graft,  commit- 
tee, election,  council,  greed,  and  so  on  around  the  ring,  but  at 
tjie  centre,  acting  as  hub  and  holding  the  ring  together,  is 
the  City  Democratic  Committee,  run,  as  most  committees  are 
run,  by  a  sub-committee  whose  influence  is  worth  dollars  and 
cents.  And  the  newspapers,  to  whom  you  naturally  look  to 
keep  you  posted,  say  never  a  word  about  it. 

Americans  have  built  up  a  great  country,  and  then,  by 
their  patronage  of  the  daily  press,  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
venders  of  news  and  information,  have  practically  set  them  as 
watchmen  and  said  to  them:  "Declare  what  thou  seest,"  and 
have  gone  about  our  businesses  and  in  troublous  times  we  have 
cried  out  in  the  language  of  the  old  Hebrew  j^rophet,  "Watch- 
man, what  of  the  night !     Watchman,  what  of  the  night !" 

And  the  w^atchman  has  kept  silent,  thus  gaying:  "All  is 
well,"  when  the  thief  is  at  the  door. 

"But  if  the  watchman  see  the  sword  come  and  blow  not 
the  trumpet  and  the  people  be  not  warned;  if  the  sword  come 
and  take  any  person  from  among  them,  his  blood  will  I  require 
at  the  watchman's  hands." 

Is  it  not  high  time  that  Richmond  people  were  demand" 
ing  an  laccounting  at  the  hands  of  the  Richmond  papers  by  start- 
ing another  paper  here  that  would  blow  the  trumpet  in  no  uncer- 
tain tones  when  the  sword  of  the  spoiler  and  the  grafter  is  at 
the  heart  of  the  people  ? 

We  defy  the  Democratic  Committee  to  enumerate  any 
moral  or  mental  or  physical  qualifications  in  Mr.  Ferrandini 
which  would  render  him  a  fit  committeeman. 

Mr.  Voter,  it  will  pay  you  to  read  the  above  article  over 
the  second  time,  for  if  this  state  of  affairs  is  to  be  bettered, 
you,  the  voter,  must  better  it. 


AISTI^OU^CEMENT. 


In  the  future  the  Lynchburg  Department  will  be  run  as 
a  separate  number,  published  at  Lynchburg  "semi-occasionally," 
as  was  done  before  the  consolidation.  The  whole  of  the  weekly 
published  here  will  be  devoted  to  Richmond. 


T  h  e   I  d  e  a. 

THE  POLLOCK  TRUST 


Pollock  the  Council 

Pollock  the  Police  Court 

Pollock  the  Police  Force 


Councilinan  G.  K.  Pollock  sustaiRs  a  unique  position  in 
relation  to  the  citizens  of  Richmond. 

Before  the  city  council  meets  Mr.  Pollock  can  be  seen 
smilingly  claisping  the  hands  of  his  fellow-councilmen  and,  with 
the  most  patronizing  air,  influencing  them  to  see  things  his 
way  even  though  the  individual  so  influenced  chances  to  be  a 
man  who  would  never  stoop  to  be  influenced  by  baser  methods. 
On  the  floor  of  that  body  his  smooth  tongue  and  alTable  man- 
ner are  a  powerful  factor  in  turning  the  tide  when  some  feair- 
less,  out-spoken  gentleman  has  turned  on  the  light.  He  is  pop- 
ular because  he  is  too  shrewd  and  cunning  to  ever  give  offense 
and  he  wields  his  sceptre  by  his  amazing  suavity  and  his  ability 
to  mislead,  which  his  legal  training  has  given  him.  Under- 
stand us,  the  greatest  compliment  that  can  be  paid  any  attor- 
ney in  these  days  is  that  when  he  is  pleading  a  case  he  can 
mislead  the  people  into  going  his  way  although,  on  sober  reflec- 
tion, they  would  act  the  reverse.  Mr.  Pollock  can  lead  coun" 
cilmen  against  their  will  by  showing  them  that  an  action  which 
means  one  thing  means  another. 

But  his  greatest  power  is  in  committee.  Here  his  natural 
abilities,  together  with  his  inclinations,  give  him  prestige,  and 
for  some  reason  or  other,  best  known  to  councilmen,  they  follow 
his  wish. 

The  others  do  a  lot  of  blind  talking  and  then  Mr.  Pol- 
lock arises  and  straightens  things  out  for  them  and,  like  sheep, 
they  follow  his  lead.  There  would  be  no  need  for  this  writing 
if  the  citizens  did  not  neglect  their  duty  to  themselves  by  ab- 
senting themselves  from  these  committee  meetings. 


6  The   I  dea. 

To  understand  fnlly  how  this  committee  business  is  run 
would  require  a  knowledge  of  what  goes  on  between  the  powers 
that  be  before  the  committeesi  meet  and  a  knowledge  of  the 
relation  of  the  councilmen  with  the  city  committee,  the  machine 
This  matter,  however,  will  have  to  be  reserved  for  another 
issue. 

We  hasten  to  the  matter  of  the  police  force.  Mr.  Pol- 
lock's brother  is  in  charge  of  the  office  force  of  the  Chief  of 
Police,  and  it  requires  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  see 
the  relationship  between  the  individual  policeman  and  the  coun- 
cilman who  is  thus  vested  directly  and  indirectly  with  so  much 
power.  Mr.  Pollock  can  thus  get  in  touch  with  inside  infonna- 
tion  as  to  arrests,  'and  since  the  police  search  each  prisoner 
he  can  easily  know  how  much  money  they  have  on  their  person 
to  pay  lawyers'  fees  "with. 


THE  POLICE  COURT. 

Last  and  by  no  means  least  comes  Pollock  of  the  police 
court.  "When  we  first  visited  this  court  we  thought  from  his 
actions  that  he  was  an  officer  of  the  court.  He  was  hovering 
over  Justice  John,  he  was  instructing  policemen,  and  bore  a 
mein  of  authority  thait  no  other  person  present  dared  toi  affect. 

We  soon  found  that  his  authority  was  less  affected  than 
real.  For  nine-tenths  of  the  cases  which  came  up  seemed  to 
be  represented,  when  there  was  council,  by  Mr.  G.  K.  Pollock, 
and,  what  was  most  remarkable,  was  the  change  in  the  atti- 
tude of  the  court  toward  the  prisoner  when  Pollock  was  the 
'attorney. 

Before  going  further,  let  me  insist  that  you  go  into  this 
court  and  we  are  sure  you  will  have  no  trouble  in  verifying 
our  statements.  The  matter  has  gotten  to  be  so  flagrant  that 
other  attorneys  have  almost  entirely  neglected  this  feature  of 
legal  practice,  and,  because  of  the  odium  of  such  action,  even 
seem  to  look  do^vn  on  any  connection  with  this  kind  of  prac- 
tice. 

But,  to  get  back  to  the  subject.  On  Monday  morning  last 
two  policemen  brought  into  court  two  darkies  charged  with  a 
grave  offense.     The   case   being  called   tangible   evidence  was 


The   Idea.  7 

brought  forth  and  it  looked  like  a  case  of  sending  to  a  higher 
court  when  Pollock  appeared  on  the  scene  representing  the 
negroes.  After  a  very  hurried  conversation  between  Pollock, 
land  the  Justice  and  the  policeman,  the  Justice  waved  his  hand 
and  the  negroes  walked  loff,  and  then,  what  happened?  The 
policeman's  face  turned  white.  He  looked  thunderstruck. 
"Dismissed  ?"  He  seemed  absolutely  astounded  and  started  to 
voice  a  protest  or  insist  on  a  hearing,  but  Mr.  Pollock  simply 
pointed  his  finger  at  him  and  grinned  and  the  Justice  called 
the  next  case  and  the  astonished  police  retired  one  way  as 
the  grinning  attorney  went  the  other,  and  the  smile  passed 
around  the  court-room. 

ISTow,  contrast  this  with  the  next  case.  A  white  man  and 
a  negro  appear.  The  Justice  asks  the  complainant,  "Did  that 
fellow  catch  hold  of  you  and  pull  yon?"  Answer,  "Yes." 
"Fine  him  $10,"  siays  the  court,  and  the  poor  defendant  is 
hurried  away  without  the  faintest  shadow  of  a  trial,  and,  what's, 
more,  if  the  poor  fellow  had  desired  toi  say  anything  and  been 
given  the  opportunity,  as  is  sometimes  done,  the  remarks  of 
the  Justice  were  so  harsh  and  bulldozing  the  prisoner  would 
have  been. so  confused  that  he  could  not  defend  himself. 

In  the  name  of  good  government;  in  the  name  of  justice 
to  prisoners ;  in  the  name  of  common  decency ;  in  the  name  of 
the  lawyers  of  Richmond ;  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  right  and 
good,  such  farces  as  can  be  seen  daily  in  the  police  court  of 
Richmond  should  be  stopped.  The  power  of  Pollock  should  be 
destroyed,  and  the  methods  of  Justice  John  should  be  super- 
seded by  justice  and  digniity. 

We  would  further  inquire  what  connection  with  the  court 
Mr.  Lehman  has  ?  Why  is  he  always  on  hand  as  Pollock's 
right  hand  man?     Can't  the  court  get  along  without  him? 

Also,  is  it  necessary  to  have  Mr.  Gunst  shadowing  the 
court?  Should  Pollock  and  Gunst,  because  they  are  council- 
men,  be  permitted  to  exercise  privileges  which  other  citizens 
cannot  have  ?  But  our  space  is  limited ;  we  must  take  this 
up  again  later. 


When  we  get  through  with  treating  the  smaller  courts  and 
committees  and  men,  we  will  have  some  very  pertinent  things 
to  tell  concerning  men  and  measures  higher  up. 


8  The   Idea. 

THE  NEWS  LEADER  SCANDAL 
A  Suit  Against  the  Evening  Paper 

The  Circulation  Contest  Declared  Unfair 
and  illegal. 


Rumor  has  been  rife  for  some  time  to  the  effect  that 
a  suit  would  shortly  be  entered  against  the  News  Leader  for 
declaring  Mr.  S.  M.  Bowman,  of  "The  Tiixedo,"  the  win- 
ner of  the  first  prize  in  the  circulation  contest,  which  ended 
May  6th  last,  on  the  ground  that  Mr.  Bowman's  list  was 
not  a  bona  fide  subscription  list,  but  that  he  gained  the  $5,000 
home  in  Woodland  Heights  by  planking  down  enough  cash  at 
the  last  moment  to  overcome  the  lead  attained,  at  the  expense 
of  actual  bona  fide  solicitation,  which  meant  m.uch  time  and 
labor  by  Dr.  C.  V.  Carrington  and  Mrs.  Walter  Dnke  and 
others. 

Of  course,  Dr.  Carrington  and  Mrs.  Duke  felt  aggrieved 
at  the  unfairness,  as  was  natural  and  right,  for  they  had 
entered  the  contest  thinking  they  would  be  given  a  square 
deal,  so  a  suit  was  planned  to  compel  the  News  Leader  to 
award  Dr.  Carrington  the  first  prize,  and  Mrs.  Duke  the  sec- 
ond, and  so  on,  down  the  list.  Meantime,  it  develops  that 
the  Leader  is  attempting  to  avoid  a  suit  by  asking  the  court 
for  a  legal  opinion.  It  can  readily  be  seen  that  if  the  con- 
testants accept  the  News  Leader  s  attempt  to  deprive  them 
of  their  suit  by  such  a  compromise,  that  they  will  not  stand 
the  chance  of  getting  a  favorable  decision,  which  they  would 
if  a  suit  was  entered  in  their  own  name,  for  if  they  were 
paying  for  a  contest,  you  can  rest  assured  that  their  interest 
would  be  looked  after  better  than  by  the  Leader,  whose  inter- 
ests would  be  best  conserved  in  a  financial  way  by  the  re- 
taining of  Mr.  Bowman's  $3,000  or  so.  The  interests  of  the 
two  parties  are  so  antagonistic  that  it  would  be  strange  if  a 
suit  entered  by  one  would  work  to  the  advantage  of  the 
other. 


The   Idea.  9 

It  is  remarkable  that  all  the  papers  have  kept  entirely 
mum  together  about  this  scandal,  while  if  it  had  occurred  in 
Petersburg  or  ISTorfolk  or  Lynchburg,  about  which  Richmond 
people  care  little,  these  papers  would  have  made  the  welkin 
ring  with  their  howl.  But  no,  they  are  hand-in-glove  with 
each  other,  and  though  there  is  perhaps  nothing  occurring  at 
this  time  which  the  Richmond  public  is  so  interested  in,  still 
not  a  sound  is  heard,  and  more  than  a  month  has  elapsed 
since  the  deal  was  pulled  off. 

Another  point  w'orthy  of  interest  is  this :  That  Mr,  Bow- 
man was  also  the  winner  of  the  building  lot  given  as  a  prize 
to  the  one  nominating  the  winner  of  the  first  prize. 

It  strikes  us  that  the  question  which  should  actuate  the 
Leader  is  not  whether  they  have  a  legal  right  to  accept  Mr. 
Bowman's  money  and  put  them  about  $3,000  to  the  good; 
bilt  whether  they  have  a  moral  right  to  do  so.  The  Rich- 
mond public  is  anxious  to  know  whether  they  can  expect  any- 
thing fair  from  Richmond  papers. 


CEMENT  PAVmG  WORK. 

WHAT    IT    COSTS. 

The  City  of  Richmond  is  to-day  having  cement  walks 
laid  at  a  contract  price  of  $1.04  a  square  yard.  We  have 
been  to  see  four  experts  and  cement  contractors,  whose  stand- 
ing, both  morally  and  financially,  is  among  the  best  in  the 
city,  to  ascertain  the  actual  cost  of  all  materials  used,  and 
after  careful  figuring  not  one  of  them  could  figure  that  he 
could  do  the  work  up  to  specifications  at  anything  like  the 
figure  of  $1.04. 

These  four  contractors  show  that  the  material  alone  for 
one  cubic  yard  of  concrete  work,  which  is  enough  to  make 
three  and  a  half  square  yards  of  paving  iwill  cost,  depending 
on  the  quantities  bought  and  the  time  bought,  etc.,  from  $3.50 
to  $3.80  a  cubic  yard.  This,  it  will  be  seen,  would  be  $1.00 
to  $1.10  a  square  yard  for  the  material  alone,  leaving  out 
labor  of  excavation  and  laying  and  lumber.  It  will  thus  be 
seen  that  the  city  cannot  get  for  $1.04  any  cement  paving 
which  is  up  to  specifications  for  the  simple  fact  that  the  labor 
costs  from     25  at  the  lowest,  to  50   and  75  per  cent  more, 


10  The   Idea. 

according  to  the  amount  of  iW'ork  required  in  excavating, 
etc.  One  of  the  contractors  seen  thought  that  to  give  the  city 
good  service  and  at  the  same  time  make  a  fair  profit,  the 
work  should  cost  the  citv  $1.75  a  square  yard.  The  lowest 
estimate  we  Avere  able  to  get  out  of  the  four  reliable  contrac- 
tors was  $1.35,  which  would  be  a  fair  estimate  for  the  work, 
and  yet  the  city  is  paying  only  $1.04  for  this  work,  which, 
if  done  according  to  specifications,  would  actually  cost  more 
than  that  amount. 

ISTow,  what  does  all  this  mean?  It  simply  means  that 
the  inspection  must  be  incompetent  or,  as  it  developed  in  the 
fiume  matter,  worse  than  incompetent,  and  in  either  case 
the  City  Engineer,  under  whom  the  inspectors  work,  is  to 
blame,  and  back  of  him  the  Mayor  himself,  who  is  the  head 
of  the  city  government,  and  who,  as  such,  is  to  be  held  re- 
sponsible, because  he  has  the  powder  and  duty  of  removal  from 
office  of  any  of  the  city  officials,  and  he  is  to  blame  if,  after  the 
matter  is   called  to  his   attention,   he   does  not   remedy  it. 

There  are  walks  all  about  the  city  of  Richmond  which 
the  city  has  paid  good  hard  coin  of  the  people's  tax  money 
for,  and  which  is  to-day  crumbling  and  fast  wearing  away,  as 
if  it  were  made  of  soft  pulp,  simply  because  not  enough  cement 
was  used  in  its  construction.  It  seems  thajt  if  the  Avork  does 
not  fall  to  pieces  before  the  contractors  turn  it  over  to  the 
city,  the  authorities  pay  and  are  satisfied,  and  at  the  end  of 
a  few  months,  when  flaws  ishow,  and  the  rottenness  appears, 
it  requires  thousands  of  dollars  of  investigation  to  find  out 
how  we  got  grafted,  and  the  grafter  goes  on  his  way  rejoicing. 

In  the  flume  matter  the  engineer  neglected  his  duty  by 
not  providing  competent  and  principled  inspectors,  and  as  a 
result  he  still  holds  his  job,  and  is  upheld  by  the  Council, 
and  wbrk  is  being  done  to-day  which,  in  all  probability,  will 
demand  another  investigation,  with  its  enormous  exjDense,  and 
in  all  probability  those  who  are  to  blame  will  still  hold  their 
own — and  other  people's,  too. 

MODEKlSr  METHODS. 

How  long  will  staid  old  Richmond  tolerate  this  rotten 
and  corrupt  relic  of  the  infancy  of  American  government, 
this  cumbersome  outlandish  councilmanic  form,  with  no  indi- 


The   Idea.  11 

vidual  responsibility,  and  no  power  in  the  hands  of  the  people 
to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  tyranny.  Government  by  commis- 
sion is  the  only  system  ever  yet  found  which  will  meet  the 
needs  of  modern,  municipalities,  and  yet  the  overworked  coun- 
cilmen  do  not  desire  to  give  up  their  nice  jobs  to  make  way 
for'  a  clean  business  administration. 

How  long  would  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railway  or 
the  Seaboard  Air  Line  Railway,  or  any  other  big  corporation 
run  with  the  incompetent  management  that  the  city  of  Rich- 
mond has. 

Competition,  if  nothing  else,  would  have  made  railroads 
be  economically  managed,  and  city  compeitition  is  doing  its 
work  in  other  States,  notably  Massachusetts,  where  the  cities 
have  to  make  to  the  State  careful  estimates  of  expenditures 
in  all  the  departments,  and  show  what  all  things  cost  on 
blanks  furnished  by  the  State.  Thus  a  city  can  see  how  ex- 
travagantly they  are  run  by  comparing  with  other  cities.  But 
Virginia  in  this,  is  run,  not  by  the  people,  but  by  Tom  Mar- 
tin's ring,  which  occupies  the  same  relation  to  the  State  that 
Clyde  Saunders'  ring  does  to  the  city,  and  therefore,'  Vir- 
ginia is  about  fifty  years  behind  the  times.  We  are  domi- 
nated in  Virginia  by  a  so-called  Democratic  party,  which  is 
nothing,  in  fact,  but  a  partisan  ring  of  grafters,  and  the  peo- 
ple actually  do  not  run  the  government  at  all,  and  never  will 
until  they  get  over  their  fear  of  expressing  their  own  opinion. 


COMMONWEALTH'S  ATTORIv^EY. 

In  looking  over  the  records  of  the  two  candidates  for 
Commonwealth's  Attorney  we  are  struck  with  the  vast  diverg- 
ence between  them.  Richmond  citizens  should  know  that  Mr. 
Folkes'  record  is  by  no  means  on  anything  like  the  same  plane 
as  that  of  Mr.  Cary,  who  aspires  to  serve  the  city  as  his  suc- 
cessor. We  will  not  go  into  the  details  of  the  investigations 
into  the  actions  of  Mr.  Folkes,  but  we  simply  desire  to  state 
that  there  is  a  marked  contrast  in  the  records  of  the  two  men.  It 
should  not  take  a  citizen  long  to  decide  that  he  should  raise 
the  moral  tone  of  Richmond  political  life  by  putting  into 
office  a  man  of  the  standing  of  Hunsden  Cary.  AVhy  is  it 
that  we  insist  on  giving  our  votes  to  a  man  for  a  political 


12  The   Idea. 

office  who,  if  tie  were  contending  for  a  private  honor,  would 
have  no  show  whatever  in  competition  with  a  man  of  the 
lofty  ideals  of  a  Gary  ?  Why  is  it  that  we  have  one  standard 
of  judging  the  fitness  for  political  office  and  another  for  pri- 
vate trust? 

It  is  high  time  we  were  arousing  ourselves  to  the  point 
of  giving  some  care  to  our  city  government  before  we  are  over- 
whelmed with  such  corruption  as  Pittsburg  and  'Frisco,  and 
other  cities  have  found  upon  them. 

Richmond  citizens  could  in  no  way  serve  their  city  bet- 
ter than  by  making  such  a  man  their  attorney.  They  have 
an  opportunity  which  seldom  presents  itself  to  a  city,  of  plac- 
ing in  authority  not  only  a  man  who  is  not  simply  a  negatively 
good  man,  but  one  who  is  actuated  by  the  highest  motives  and 
ruled  by  the  loftiest  ideals.  The  highest  compliment  we  can 
pay  him  is  that  the  ring  is  absolutely  against  him,  and  cer- 
tain low  elements  are  declaring  for  his  opponent. 


CITY  SERGEAISTT. 

We  have  just  learned  that  the  City  Sergeant,  Mr.  Smith, 
last  week,  purchased  a  lot  of  decayed  fish,  which  had  already 
been  discarded,  and  were  ready  to  be  thrown  away,  at  an 
absurdly  low  price.  These  fish  were  for  the  prisoners  at  the 
jail.  Yet  Mr.  Smith  asks  for  our  votes  for  City  Sergeant. 
It  strikes  us  that  the  citizens  would  do  themselves  a  favor  by 
voting  for  Mr.  Satterfield,  whose  canvass  has  shown  that  the 
citizens  have  a  right  to  expect  from  him  an  efficient  and  satis- 
factory management  of  this  important  office. 


KE  APPRECIATION. 

Editor  The  Idea: — Permit  me  to  congratulate  the  city 
that  at  last  there  is  a  publication  absolutely  fair  and  independ' 
ent  and  courageous.  I  do  not  wish  to  infer  that  our  dailies 
are  not  doing  good  work — ^they  are — ^but  it  cannot  be  denied 
by  any  impartial  m'an  that  the  papers  of  Richmond  are  haud- 
in-glove  in  many  matters  that  affect  the  public  weal  to  its 
detriment.  The  Idea  Feems  to  fill  a  long-felt  want,  and  it 
should  receive  a  hearty  welcome  among  all  fair-minded  people. 


The   Idea.  13 

Its  stand  for  civic  righteousness  will  displease  those  who  profit 
by  evil  means,  but  the  Christian  element  will  sustain  you.  Now, 
''hew  to  the  line,  let  the  chips  fall  where  they  may." 

June  15,  1909.  T.  H.  K. 


JUSTICE  IN  COUKT. 

Recently  in  the  police  court  we  saw  violators  of  the  law 
go  scot  free  for  some  unknown  reasons,  and  yet,  when  a  police- 
miam  told  of  arresting  a  poor  negro  boy  on  mere  circumstantial 
evidence,  and  very  weak  evidence  at  that,  for  stealing  a  bag 
of  coal  from  the  C.  &  0.  Railway  yards,  the  Police  Justice 
gave  the  unfortunate  fellow  sixty  days  with  not  even  a  chance 
to  refute  the  charge  of  the  police.  We  have  noticed  bothi 
here  and  in  Lynchburg  that  one  charged  with  a  petty  offense 
against  a  railway  company  has  no  more  show  than  the  pro- 
verbial snowflake  in  the  dominions  of  his  satanic  majesty. 

If,  however,  you  steal  a  house,  and  steal  enough  money 
along  with  it,  and  the  best  kind  of  evidence  is  against  you, 
you  can  get  off  scot  free ;  i.  e.,  if  you  have  any  influence  with 
those  that  rule  the  court. 


There  will  be  some  who  will  think,  after  carefully  study- 
ing the  red  light  bordy  house  question,  that  it  is  a  greater  evil 
than  the  saloon,  but  the  saloon  is  far  greater  in  that  it  is 
largely  responsible  for  the  other  evil. 

Up  in  Lynchburg  and  Bristol,  since  the  towns  went  dry, 
the  bordy  house  business  is  on  the  decline. 

The  dealer  in  prostitution  knows  that  his  or  her  business 
will  decrease  with  the  curtailing  of  the  whiskey  business,  and 
this  is  why  you  find  on  a  wet  and  dry  election  day  the  pros- 
titutes parading  around,  generally -in  carriages,  with  red  rib- 
bons on  their  dresses  or  their  buggy  whips.  By  the  way,  did 
you  ever  see  a  prostitute  that  ever  wore  a  white  ribbon  bow 
on  election  day?  Which  side  are  you  on — that  of  the  decent 
women  and  children,  or  that  of  the  vile  prostitute? 

We  are  here  to  hit  from  the  shoulder,  you  hnow. 

This  little  red  paper  is  not  published  to  veil  our  thoughts 


14  T  h  e   I  d  e  a. 

or  to  so  twist  the  reason  out  of  argument  and  thus  make  it 
please  everybody.  Oh,  no!  Everybody  is  not  going  to  be 
pleased  with  The  Idea.  For  we  expect  to  say  what  we  think 
and  no  two  people  think  alike.  Our  object  is  to  make  you 
think,  and  you  can't  deny  that  we  have  accomplislied  that.  If 
you'll  just  keep  thinking,  you'll  stay  on  the  right  track  all 
Tight.      We  don't  ask  you  to  agree  with  us. 


The  American  people  were  not  more  oppressed  in  the 
days  of  the  English  tyrants  than  they  are  now,  but  then  they 
knew  who  to  fight.  ISTow  the  tyrant  is  a  class  of  their  own 
kindred,  which  maintains  its  majesty  by  such  secret  and  intri- 
cate means  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  frame  the  charge 
much  less  fix  the  blame.  The  tremendous  fact,  however,  re- 
mains that  Americans  are  in  more  abject  slavery  to'-day  than 
ever  in  the  past,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  disease  that  is  fasten- 
ing its  hold  on  the  people  and  the  sadness  of  dispair  that  is 
seen  on  the  faces  of  an  increasing  number  of  the  citizens 
brought  about  by  the  rapid  rise  in  the  prices  of  all  things  con- 
sumed with  no  corresponding  rise  in  wages.  We  are  profound- 
ly impressed  with  the  belief  that  the  next  few  years  will  wit- 
ness the  overthrow  of  most  of  our  public  evils  either  by  grad- 
ual evolution  or  hasty  and  destructive  revolution.  Unless  the 
people  'are  educated  by  the  press  to  see  the  actual  causes  of 
existing  evils,  then  we  must  exj)ect  Anolcnce. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  press  is  frank  and  faithful  to 
the  truth  the  people  may  be  able,  by  the  weapon  of  the  ballot, 
to  work  out  their  own  salvation  without  bloodshed.  It  is  with 
the  hope  that  this  work  on  which  we  are  now  beginning  in 
Itichmond  will  help  the  people  to  make  their  fight  with  the 
ballot  that  The  Idea  offers'  itself  to  the  public. 

There  is  nothing  so  potent  to  overcome  evil  as  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth — publicity  shall  be  our  vocation,  and  may 
The  Idea  do  its  part  in  freedom's  cause. 


"I'll  take  some  o'  dat  flesh-colored  candy,"  said  Sambo, 
the  porter,  as  he  pointed  at  the  chocolate  drops. 


T  h  e   I  d  e  a.  15 

THE  BUSINESS  MANAGER. 

BY  WILLIAM  J.  NEIDIG. 

(As  announced  last  week,  we  give  helow  Mr.  Neidig's 
excellent  story  of  newspaper  m<anagement  as  it  appeared  in 
La  Follette's  Magazine  of  January  9th.  It  will  he  of  special 
interest  to  those  who  are  interested  in  hnowing  why  the  daily 
papers  sometimes  have  nothing  to  say  on  questions  of  very 
much  interest.) 

CHAPTER    I. 

"So  you've  bought  ?" 

"I've  bought."     Dorothy  lingered  on  the  steps  a  moment. 

"You  don't  like  it,"  she  said  at  last  when  he  did  not  reply. 

"You  know  that  I  don't  like  it."  His  voice  was  grave 
aoid  even,  its  tone  that  of  a  statement  of  fact,  rather  than  of 
any  displeasure.     "You  can't  teach  an  old  dog  new  tricks." 

Dorothy  sniffed.  "You  don't  understand,  Richard. 
Men  can't.     They  have   everything  they   w^ant." 

"Oh,  have  they !" 

Dorothy  returned  up  the  steps.  "Remiembier,  you  'are 
not  to  bother  me  until  Sunday." 

"ISTot  bother  you  ?"  said  Richard,  as  he  stood  in  the  door, 
"I'll  bother  you  to  death!" 

The  door  closed  and  he  walked  off  down  the  street. 

Dorothy  Baker,  the  new  owner,  entered  the  editor's  office 
and  seated  herself  at  the  editor's  desk.  It  Avas  not  a  large 
room,  but  it  was  lighter  than  it  had  looked  the  day  before. 

She  remloved  her  hat,  took  off  her  gloves,  opened  the 
desk,  wrote  a  few  words  acro'se  a  card,  and  rang  the  bell. 

"What  is  your  name  ?"  she  asked  when  the  boy  appeared. 

"John,  ma'am." 

"John,  will  you  take  this  card  to  Mr.,  McGill  ?" 

"Yes,  mia'am.", 

"I  wonder  what  he  will  be  like,"  she  thought.  "I  hope 
he  will  be  pleasant." 

While  Dorothy  was  removing  her  gloves',  the  Business 
Manager  of  the  Argus,  in  his  own  office,  was  weighing  a  fine 
"fat"   advertising  contract  that  has  just  been  brought  in  by 


16  The   Idea. 

Wylie,  a  free  lance.  The  Business  Manager  laid  hi®  great 
bearded  forefinger  upon  the  contract. 

"So  yon  cinched  young  Mr.  Brown!''  he  said  bluntly. 

Wylie  was  as  pleased  as  a  school  boy  over  the  praise 
implied. 

"That's  a  gold-edge  contract,  ain't  it?  Twenty-five  for 
two  inches,  two  months.  Why  the  rate  is  only  fifteen,  and 
you  would  take  ten — you  know  you  would,  Mac." 

The  Business  Manager  grunted.  "What  do  you  want  for 
it?" 

"What  do  I  want  ?  Why,  the  square  thing.  Commission 
on  the  rate,  seventy-five  on  the  excess.  Three  seventy-five  plus 
seven  fifty.     Eleven  twenty-five." 

The  Business  Manager  did  not  attempt  to  bargain  with 
the  solicitor.  He  knew  that  Wylie,  while  perhaps  ready  to 
accept  a  lower  rate,  would  feel  that  he  in  some  way  had  been 
cheated,  and  would  sooner  or  later  "get  even"  by  turning  in 
paper  that  would  not  collect.  In  the  world's  history,  no  busi- 
ness m'anager  has  ever  succeeded  in  getting  the  better  of  a  free 
lance.  At  the  same  time,  no  free  lanoe  will  take  advantage 
of  a  man  "in  the  business,"  if  he  is  treated  with  tactful  trust. 

"Take  it  to  the  cashier." 

The  solicitor  blew  his  breath  across  the  wet  writing  until 
the  moisture  was  taken  up  by  the  paper ;  then  he  lurched  uncer- 
tainly toward  the  door. 

"Say,  Mac,  abont  that  two  dollars — I'll  pay  you  that  on 
Monday." 

"All  right,  Wylie." 

The  door  closed  softly. 

"He  will,  too,  the  scoundrel,"  said  the  Business  Manager, 
affectionately.  "Wylie's  as  honest  as  gold.  I  wonder  what 
kind  of  hooks  he's  got  into  Brown?" 

"Heard  you  have  a  new  editor,"  observed  one  of  the 
loungers. 

The  Business  Manager  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and 
smoked. 

{To  he  Continued.) 


LYLES'  LAMENT. 


(The  Brilliant  author  of  the  following  lines,  died  prematurely  in  Danville,  Va. ,  his  old  home,  his 
death  being  hastened  by  strong  drink:) 

I  have  been  to  the  funeral  of  all  my  hopes, 

And  entombed  them  one  by  one  ; 
Not  a  tear  was  shed,  not  a  word  was  said, 

When  the  mournful  task  was  done. 

Slowly  and  sadly  I  turned  me  round ; 

And  sought  my  silent  room. 
And  there  alone,  by  the  cold  hearth-stone, 

I  woo'ed  the  midnight  gloom. 

And  as  the  night  wind's  frowzy  shade, 

Lowered  above  my  brow, 
I  wept  over  days,  when  manhood's  rays 

Were  brighter  far  than  now. 

The  dying  embers  on  the  hearth, 

Gave  out  their  flickering  light, 
As  if  to  say,  this  is  the  way 

Thy  life  shall  close  in  night. 

I  wept  aloud  in  anguish  sore. 

O'er  the  blight  of  prospects  fair; 
While  Demons  laughed,  and  eager  quaffed 

My  tears  like  nectar  rare. 

Through  hell's  red  halls  an  echo  rang, 

An  echo  loud  and  long. 
As  in  the  bowl  I  plunged  my  soul, 

In  the  might  of  madness  strong: 

And  there  within  that  sparkling  glass, 

I  knew  the  cause  to  lie  ; 
This  all  men  own,  from  zone  to  zone. 

Yet  millions  drink  and  die. 

—Richard  JV.  Lyle. 


Newsboys! 


The 

Very 

Ideal 


10  PRIZES 

To  the  Boy  selling  the  largest  number  of 

copies  of  The  Idea  for  the  month  of  July 

we  will  give  a  Handsome  Watch^  and  to 

the  next  nine  we  will  give  suitable 

prizes,    to   be  announced  later. 

Begin  now  by  getting  people  to 

promise  to   take    The    Idea 

from  you  REGULARLY 


GET  IDEAS  at 
904  Capitol  Street 
next  door  to  Park 
Hotel,  Corner  9th 
and   Broad  Streets 


AND 


At   CHRISTIAN'S,  Corner  22d  and  Clay 
And  ABBOTT'S  News-stand  in  Manchester 


5c 


WEEKLY    W/%  THE  COPY 


THE^IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  June  26,  1909  No.  4 


An  Interview  with  the  Mayor 
The  Business  Manager 
Duties  of  Police 

And  Other  Articles  of  Moment  in  this  Number 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


VIRGINIA 

The  folloixjing  poem  iL'hich  ivent  the  rounds  of  the  press  about  tivo  years  ago  in  a 
slightly  altered  form,  seems  so  fitted  to  the  purposes  of  our  publication  that  ive  present  it  in 
its  present  shape  in  the  hope  that  its  frequent  repetition  ivill  make  it  familiar  to  all  in 
Virginia. 

The  roses  nowhere  bloom  so  white 

As  in  Virginia; 
And  nowhere  shines  the  sun  so  bright 

As  in  Virginia; 
The  birds  nowhere  sing  so  sweet, 
And  nowhere  hearts  so  Hghtly  beat, 
For  heaven  and  earth  both  seem  to  meet 

Down  in  Virginia. 

The  days  are  never  quite  so  long 

As  in  Virginia; 
Nor  quite  so  filled  with  happy  song 

As  in  Virginia; 
And  when  my  time  has  come  to  die. 
Just  take  me  back  and  let  me  lie. 
Close  where  the  James  goes  rolling  by 

In  old  Virginia. 

There  nowhere  is  a  land  so  fair 

As  old  Virginia; 
So  full  of  song  and  free  of  care 

As  old  Virginia; 
And  I  believe  that  happy  land 
The  Lord's  prepared  for  mortal  man 
Is  built  exactly  on  the  plan 

Of  old  Virginia. 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  JUNE  26,   1909  No.  4 


5  Cents  a  Copy  12.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yodeb, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


Dangerous    Doctrine 


Mayor  Richardson  on  Oath 

Mayor  Richardson  in  Office 


A  MARKED  CONTRAST 


An   interview  with  the   Mayor,   in  which  he  takes 
the  position  that  his  oath  is  not  binding 


In  a  former  issue  we  showed  that  the  law  was  being  vio- 
lated in  Eichmond,  with  the  knowledge  and  sanction  of  the 
police  and  the  Mayor.  Since  that  time  we  have  had  an  inter- 
view with  the  Mayor,  in  which  he  took  the  peculiar  stand 
that  conditions  may  exist,  and  do  exist,  under  which  his  own 
personal  opinion  should  have  more  weight  in  deciding  his 
duty  than  his  oath  of  office. 

In  the  conversation,  the  Mayor  took  the  astounding  posi- 


"2  T  h  e    I  d  e  a. 

tion  that  an  executive  officer  had  the  right  to  igiiore  the  law 
if  it  was  his  opinion  that  to  enforce  the  law  would  be  un- 
wise. Think  of  it!  The  opinion  of  one  man  may  set  aside 
the  la/w  made  by  the  people !  The  servant  of  the  people  greater 
than  the  law  that  made  him.  The  creature  greater  than  the 
creator ! 

He  was  asVed  if  he  knew  that  the  law  was  being  violated 
£agrantly  here,  under  the  very  nose  of  the  police.  His  answer 
was  yes,  but  that  since  it  was  impossible  to  entirely  break 
up  the  crime,  he  took  the  position  that  it  was  best  to  ignore 
the  law  and  attempt  to  control  the  crime. 

We  asked  him  if,  since  he  could  not  stop  the  crime  of 
murder  by  arresting  for  murder,  he  thought  it  wise  to  stop 
•enforcing  that  law.  He  thought  that  was  different.  We  asked 
if  he  did  not  think  it  a  dangerous  principle  for  an  executive 
•officer  to  say  that  his  opinion  of  the  worth  of  the  law  should 
have  more  weight  than  his  oath  of  office.  l!^o,  he  thought, 
that  an  executive  should  use  his  "discretion  in  the  enforcing 
of  all  laws." 

Now,  the  point  to  be  made  here  is  this :  That  if  such 
a  position  is  tenable,  then  we  might  as  well  do  away  with  all 
laws. 

If  a  mayor  has  a  right  to  say  what  laws  he  will  enforce 
and  what  not,  then  why  make  any  laws  at  all. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  put  no  such  power  into  the 
Mayor's  hands.  We  have  made  laws  by  our  Legislature,  and 
liere,  and  here  only,  does  personal  opinion  have  weight — in 
the  making  of  the  law,  and  not  in  the  executing  of  it.  The 
Legislature  incorporates  the  city;  decides  what  officers  it  shall 
have,  and  makes  laws  governing  that  city,  and  then  permits 
that  city  to  make  certain  minor  laws  and  regulations  carrying 
out  the  details  of  the  general  law. 

The  office  of  Mayor  is  made  by  the  State,  and  given  du- 
ties not  simply  by  State  statute,  but  by  the  very  Constitution 
of  the  State,  and  the  Mayor's  first  duty  is  to  the  State,  and 
before  he  goes  into  office  he  swears  "to  support  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  State"  before  any  other  duties  are  enumerated. 
The  oath  he  takes  is  as  follows: 

"  I,   D.   C.   Richardson,   do   solemnly  swear  that  I  will 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a.  3 

■support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  State  of  Vir«^inia,  ordained  by  the  Conven- 
tion which  assembled  in  the  City  of  Richmond  on  the  twelfth 
-day  of  June,  1901,  and  that  I  will  faithfully  and  impar- 
tially discharge  and  perform  all  the  duties  incumbent  npon 
me  as  Mayor,  according  to  the  best  of  my  ability.  So  help 
me  God !  " 

Thus  we  see  that  even  if  not  only  the  Mayor,  but  if 
every  citizen  of  the  town  should  think  a  State  law  a  bad  one, 
the  Mayor  is  bound  by  his  oath  to  enforce  it,  for  the  Consti- 
tution which  he  siWears  to  enforce  also  says  in  Section  120, 
page  239,  Code  of  Virginia: 

"  The  Mayor  shall  see  that  the  duties  of  the  various  city 
•officers,  members  of  the  police  force  and  fire  departments 
*  *  *  are  faithfully  performed."  and  then,  in  Section 
3927  of  the  Cod©  in  defining  what  these  "duties  of  the  police 
are,"  says :  "  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  police  to  appre- 
hend and  carry  before  a  justice,  to  be  dealt  with  according 
to  law,  all  persons  whom  they  may  be  directed  by  the  war- 
rant of  a  justice  to  apprehend,  or  whom  they  have  cause  to 
suspect  have  violated,  or  intend  to  violate  any  law  of  the 
.•State." 

We,  therefore,  find  that  the  individual  policeman  is  not 
only  bound  by  oath  to  "apprehend"  or  arrest  without  any 
•  orders  from  anybody  else,  but  that  the  Mayor  is  the  recog- 
nized head  and  the  only  recognized  hea.d  of  the  Police  Depart- 
ment, and  he  swears  to  see  to  it  that  each  officer  does  enforce 
all  the  laws  of  the  State,  and  the  oath  does  not  have  added, 
"Provided  I  think  it  wise,"  or  "in  my  discretion,"  or  "The 
Mayor  may  take  what  he  considers  a  common-sense  view  of 
it."  'No,  it  says  nothing  of  the  kind.  He  swears  away  his 
private  opinions  of  expediency,  and  agrees  on  oath  to  be- 
come the  arm  of  the  State,  with  an  absolutely  fixed  duty  con- 
cerning which  he  has  no  volition  other  than  given  him  by 
that  law. 

Now,  of  course,  the  law  gives  the  Mayor,  as  magistrate, 
;as  any  other  judge  or  judicial  officer,  certain  limits  within  the 
■  law^  For  instance,  a  judge  may  give  a  criminal  from  one 
'.to  one  hundred  days  in  jail  for  a  given  offense,  as  the  law 


4  The   Idea. 

may  direct,  using  his  own  discretion  as  to  what  is  best  for 
the  State  within  the  limits  of  that  law,  but  there  is  nowhere 
any  provision  for  his  doing  away  with  the  law  or  any  part 
of  it.  The  people  alone,  through  their  representatives,  can 
do  that,  and  the  servant  of  the  people,  the  Mayor,  must  agree 
to  obey  the  people.  If  they  have  made  a  mistake,  that's  not 
his  business.  If  you  have  a  servant,  and  order  him  to  per- 
form a  duty,  and  with  a  full  knowledge  -of  what  that  duty  is, 
if  he  should  swear  to  do  it,  and  then  refuse  to  do  it  on  the 
grounds  that  you  did  not  know  what  was  best  for  yourself, 
would  you  not  discharge  that  servant  ? 

Such  is  the  case  of  Mayor  Richardson.  He  says:  "I 
do  solemnly  swear"  to  do  this,  and  then  he  says,  "T  do  not 
think  it  wise"  to  keep  my  oath. 

Nowi,  there  are  different  opinions,  of  course,  as  to  the 
advisability  of  certain  laws.  Just  now  we  will  not  consider 
that.  If  laws  should  be  repealed,  lets  ask  the  Legislature 
to  repeal  them.  But  while  they  exist  we  should  insist  that 
the  Mayor  keep  his  oath. 

Our  opinions  are  only  opinions,  and  if  we  permit  such 
things  to  do  away  with  statutes  and  constitutions,  and  oaths 
and  duties,  then  we  are  indeed  unfit  to  govern  ourselves. 


Will  lake  Mayor  to  Court 

To  Compel  Law  Enforcement 


The  Idea  will  take  proper  legal  steps 


We  have  gotten  so  used  to  having  men  in  office  whom  we 
did  not  expect  to  enforce  the  law  that  we  have  gotten  cal- 
lous and  hardened  to  it,  and  do  not  know  of  any  way  of 
remedying.  There  is  a  way,  however,  and  The  Idea  will  take 
the  proper  steps  to  have  the  law  enforced. 

In  standing  for  law  enforcement,  we  are  not  standing 
for  a  fight  against  Mayor  Richardson  the  man — ^the  individ- 


The   Idea.  5 

ual.     We  will,  however,  oppose  Mr.  Kichardson,  the  Mayor,  in 
his  present  policy  of  \win^ing  at  crime. 

He  knows  that  the  laws  against  gambling  are  being  vio- 
lated. The  police  know  that  these  laws  are  being  violated. 
They  know  that  the  laws  against  prostitution  are  being  fla- 
grantly and  openly  violated  under  cover  of  the  police,  and 
the  police  admit  that  they  not  only  know  it,  but  know  the 
names  of  the  violators.  They  say  it  is  their  business  to  know 
their  names.  They  know  that  whiskey  is  being  illegally  sold 
in  these  brothels  at  high  prices.  They  know  that  the  price  of 
beer  at  these  blind  tigers  is  one  dollar  a  round:  One  dollar 
for  one ;  or  one  dollar  for  two ;  or  one  dollar  for  five.  They 
knowt  that  wines  and  other  drinks  are  also  to  be  had  for  the 
price  in  these  midnight  dens.  They  know  that  young  men 
under  twenty  years  of  age  can  be  seen  at  any  time  patron- 
izing these  places,  and  yet  they  say,  "We  have  them  under 
control,"  and  if  you  push  them  close,  they  say,  "You  can't 
have  perfect  government."  "Other  cities  have  such  sections." 
As  if  Richmond  should  sanction  vice  and  crime  just  because 
forsooth,  other  towns  do.  Let  Richmond  be  first  among  the 
cities  of  the  Commonwealth!  Let  Richmond  be  first  among 
the  cities  of  the  country !  But  if  Richmond  continues  in  its 
present  policy,  let  Richmond  take  care  that  it  be  not  last.  A 
Richmond  gentleman,  who  had  traveled  over  Europe,  had  seen 
the  tenderloins  of  Paris  and  London  and  New  York,  said  the 
other  day  that  Richmond  was  the  worst  place  he  had  seen  in 
this  respect.  We  do  not  agree  with  him,  and  yet,  what  a 
shame  to  have  Richmond  compared  with  such  seats  of  vice ; 
with  New  York,  where  the  sale  of  prostitution  has  corrupted 
politics  and  officers  high  up  in  the  political  life  of  the  city. 
It  has  tainted  the  bench,  bribed  juries;  made  mayors  and 
corrupted  the  voter. 

Now,  we  are  sure  the  good  people  of  Richmond  'Will  not 
stand  for  this,  and  we  are  now  ready  to  put  into  effect  plans 
provided  by  State  law  to  compel  the  enforcement  of  those 
laws. 

The  law  provides  that  the  State  courts  "may  remove  the 
Mayor  of  said  city  from  office  for  malfeasance  or  misfeasance, 
or  gross  neglect  of  official  duty,"  and  the  policy  of  the  Mayor 


6  The   Idea. 

in  refusing  to  attempt  to  enforce  the  law  will  come  under  at 
least  two  of  these  causes  enumerated  above  as  ground  for  re- 
moval. The  law  further  provides  that  all  such  proceedings 
against  a  mayor  "shall  be  by  order  of  or  motion  before  said 
court." 

Therefore,  it  becomes  the  duty,  implied  in  the  law,  for 
the  Hustings  Court  to  enter  proceedings  "by  order  of"  the 
court.  In  the  event  that  the  Mayor  does  not  proceed  to  his 
duties  as  defined  by  the  law  herein  set  forth,  and  the  proper 
court  fails  to  take  cognizance  of  it  by  issuing  the  proper  order 
for  proceedings,  to  compel  such  law  enforcement,  then  The 
Idea  will  take  the  necessary  steps  to  compel  the  Mayor  either 
to  enforce  the  law  or  vacate  his  office. 

We  do  not  desire  to  have  to  take  this  step,  but  in  the 
name  of  good  government  we  will  do  it  if  it  becomes  neces- 
sary. We  trust  the  Mayor  will  see  his  duty  and  relieve  us 
of  this  disagreeableness. 


POLICE    DUTIES 


We  state  elsewhere  the  law  concerning  the  duty  of  the 
individual  police.  We  would  call  attention  of  each  police- 
man to  the  fact  that  he  is  to  look  to  no  one  of  the  Police 
Commissioners  for  instructions  as  to  his  duties.  His  duties 
are  clearly  defined  by  law,  and  no  one  can  do  away  with 
that  law;  not  even  the 'Mayor  himself.  The  only  connection 
anyone  has  with  the  police  force  is  to  see  that  he  does  his 
duty,  but  no  one  can  outline  a  policy  for  him. 

When  "a  secret  power"  intimates  to  the  police  what 
he  shall  do  and  what  not  do,  then  it  is  the  duty  of  the  offi- 
cer to  ignore  that  power,  and  we  promise  any  officer  that 
if  there  is  any  personal  reason  wh}^  he  feels  he  cannot  en- 
force the  law  as  he  sees  it,  that  if  he  will  take  a  bold  stand 
on  the  side  of  his  duty,  The  Idea  will  see  to  it  that  he  does 
not  lose  out.  We  know  that  men  on  the  police  force  are 
prevented  from  doing  their  duty  by  those  higher  up,  ana 
we  want  them  to  feel  that  -they  have  a  voice  that  will  de- 


The   Idea.  T 

fend  their  acts  in  this  publication.  In  the  past  individual 
police  have  stood  out  against  the  ring  that  would  hold  them 
down,  and  siich  individuals  have  been  backed  by  the  good 
people  of  Richmond,  and  have  gained  by  it.  Let  no  one  fear 
to  do  his  duty. 

Section  1017a  of  the  Code,  says:  "It  shall  be  the  duty 
of  each  and  every  one  of  such  policemen  to  use  his  best  en- 
deavors to  prevent  the  commission  within  the  said  city  or 
town  of  offenses  against  the  laiWs  of  said  Commonwealth,  and 
against  the  laws,  ordinances  and  regulations  of  said  city  or 
town;  to  observe  and  enforce  all  such  laws,  ordinances  and 
regulations;  to  detect  and  arrest  offenders  against  the  same^ 
etc."  Thus  you  see  the  State  gives  directly  to  the  police  his 
duty,  and  does  not  say  he  shall  be  governed  by  any  body 
or  individual  as  to  the  law  enforcement. 

The  law  gives  the  police  broad  authority  further,  by 
stating:  "The  officers  and  privates  constituting  the  police 
force  of  the  cities,  etc.  *  *  *  shall  be,  and  are  hereby, 
invested  with  all  the  power  and  authority  which  now  belong 
to  the  office  of  constable  at  common  law,  in  taking  cogniz- 
ance of  and  in  enforcing  the  criminal  lawte  of  the  Common- 
wealth." 

This  is  a  thing  that  citizens  often  forget,  that  police 
as  State  officers  have  duties  which  no  authority  can  change, 
and  yet,  here  in  Richmond,  we  have  police  who  don't  enforce 
State  law  because  certain  secret  powers  don't  want  them  to. 
Let  these  police  beware,  and  enforce  the  law,  and  the  good 
people  of  Richmond  will  rally  to  their  support. 

Is  there  not  in  Richmond  one  policeman  wbo  will  regard 
his  sworn  duty  above  the  power  of  any  individual  to  do  him 
harm. 


In  the  next  number  we  will  expose  more  of  the  Police 
Court  methods  and  practices.  Articles  are  also  under  way 
concerning  the  detailed  expenditures  of  the  city  departments, 
showing  when  the  taxpayer  comes  in  and  how  his  money  is 
wasted.  We  will  also  soon  expose  the  Bell  Telephone  Com- 
pany's methods. 


8  The   Idea. 

If  you  want  to  know  why  the  Richmond  papers  can't 
publish  all  the  facts,  read  "  The  Business  Manager,"  in  this 
number. 

We  shall  have  no  strife  with  individuals 
as  individuals.  If  they  serve  special  interests, 
to  the  injury  of  the  public,  they  are  enemies  of 
the  public.  Against  them  as  enemies  of  the  pub- 
lic we  shall  make  war. — La  Follettes. 


The  good  people  of  Richmond  who  voted  for  Mayor  Rich- 
ardson do  not  know  it,  but  it  is  true  that  if  the  powers  be- 
hind the  throne  had  not  known  that  he  would  not  do  certain 
things  usually  expected  of  a  Mayor,  they  would  not  have 
permitted  his  election. 


THE  BUSINESS  MANAGER. 

BY  WILLIAM  J.  NEIDIQ. 

(Concluded  from  last  issue.) 

"Sure.  Good  man.  Just  out  of  college.  He's  got  a  lit- 
tle money.  Bill  says.  Bill  sold  out  to  him  last  night.  His 
name's  Baker." 

"Football?" 

"Haven't  seen  him." 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  the  office  boy  entered  with 
Dorothy's  card.  The  Business  Manager  took  it  absently,  read 
it,  turned  it  over,  frowned,  and  read  it  again. 

"This  is  not  intended  for  me,"  he  said. 

"Yes,  sir.     For  you,  sir.     Mr.   McGill,   sir." 

"Who  sent  it?" 

"The  lady  in  the  back  office,  sir.  She  says  as  can  you 
come  in  some  time  during  this  morning,  sir." 

"Good  Lord^  a  woman!" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"I'll  have  nothing  to  do  with  her!  Tell  her  she  can  go  t(» 
the  devil  for  all  of  me." 

"Yes,  sir.     I'll  tell  her,  sir." 

The  office  boy  backed  out  of  the  door. 


"T"  h  e   I  d  e  a.  9 

"Hold  on !"  cried  the  Business  Manager.  "Don't  tell  her 
that.     Tell  her  I'll  be  in  presently." 

"Yes,  sir." 

"How  old  is  she  ? 

"I  don't  know,  sir." 

"Well,  what  are  you  standing  there  for  ?  Tell  her  I'll 
be  in  presently." 

The  Business  Manager  walked  nervously  backward  and 
forward  across  the  room  for  some  minutesi  without  speak- 
ing, and  then  brought  his  huge  fist  down  with  a  crash  upon 
his  desk.    . 

"Curse  Bill  for  a  liar  and  a  swindler,  tO'  sell  out  to  'a 
woman!"  he  said.  "I  won't  stand  for  a  woman!" 

The  new  editor  worked  day  and  night  at  her  desk,  and 
at  last  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  her  first  number  in  proof. 

The  paper,  she  explained  in  her  leading  article,  was  to  be 
fearless  and  independent,  as  it  had  been  in  the  past.  It  was  to 
subserve  no  interests  but  those  of  the  public.  It  was  to  be 
merciless  in  the  exposure  of  evil  wherever  found.  The  princi- 
pal editorial  followed.  It  was  a  careful  weighing  of  the  ad- 
vantages of  municipal  ownership,  with  respect  especially  to 
the  water  service  of  the  city.  Concrete  comparisons  were 
made  between  the  cost  of  water  under  private  management 
and  the  cost  in  cities  where  the  municipality  owned  the  plant. 
From  the  figures  given,  Dorothy  was  able  to  draw  some 
pointed  conclusions  regarding  the  cost  and  efficiency  of  the 
local  service. 

She  was  reading  the  page  proofs  of  that  first  number 
when  the  Business  Mianager  burst  into  the  office. 

"Miss  Baker,"  he  said,  "what  is  this  attack  on  the  Water 
Company  ?"     And  he  laid  his  great  finger  against  the  column. 

"Why,"  said  Dorothy,  "what  is  the  matter  with  it  ?" 

"You  don't  understi^nd,  Miss  Baker.  The  Water  Company 
is  one  of  our  most  liberal  contributors." 

"Contributors  ?  Writing  ?"  Dorothy  was  puzzled. 

"Money,"  said  the  Business  Manager,   shortly. 

Dorothy  grew  white  and  her  fingers  trembled.  She  was 
not  sure  that  she  heard  aright.     She  drew  herself  up. 


10  The  Idea. 

"Money?" 

"Money." 

"I  think,"  she  said  in  a  level  voice,  "that  the  article  had 
better  stand  as  it  is.     We  do'  not  need  that  kind  of  money." 

She  expected  a  storm,  but  instead  the  Business  Manager 
became  suddenly  mild-mannered   and   acquiescent. 

"Just  so  you  understand,"  he  explained.  "It  will  show 
them  that  they  can't  buy  us,  won't  it?"  he  continued.  "Maybe 
it  will  do  some  good." 

"A  weak,  unprincipled,  vacillating  man,"  thought  Dor- 
othy, m  he  left  the  room.  "You  have  to  be  firm  with  these 
people.  I  think  that  he  has  been  given  a  new  idea  with  re- 
gard to  editorial  independence." 

Could  she  have  followed  his  movements  during  the  next 
five  minutes  she  would  have  seen  her  mistake.  The  Business 
Manager  went  straight  to  the  composing  room  and  ordered 
the  offending  article  forwith  to  the  "dead"  galley. 

"Close  up  the  editorials,"  he  said  to  the  foreman,  "and 
fill  out  the  page  with  guff.  You  needn't  send  a  proof  to  the 
laidy.  What  under  heaven  does  a  woman  know  about  water 
companies,  anyhow?" 

When  the  Argus  appeared  next  day  Dorothy  found  to  her 
amazement  that  her  carefully  considered  leader  was  followed 
by  an  article  on  "Kaffir  Head-Dresses,"  and  that  the  kernel 
of  the  page,  the  attack  on  the  Water  Company,  was  nowhere 
in  sight. 

Dorothy  was  shown  into  a  small  office  in  the  rear  of  the 
banking  room.  Five  or  six  others  were  in  the  room  ahead  of 
her.  She  had  never  before  called  on  Richard  at  his  place  of 
business,  and  found  it  hard  to  realize  that  all  these  people 
were  waiting  to  see  him. 

At  last  her  turn  came  and  she  was  admitted  into  the  inner 
office.  The  dignity  of  his  position  seemed  to  invest  Richard 
with  an  authority  she  had  never  before  noticed.  She  seated 
herself  humbly  before  him  and  awaited  his  pleasure.  It  was 
a  moment  or  two  before  he  looked  up.    • 

"Dorothy!"  he  cried,  his  eyes  alight  with  pleasure. 

"Please  don't,  Richard,"  she  said.  "This  is  business.  I 
am  in  trouble.     I  want  your  advice." 


The   Idea.  11 

She  hurriedly  explained  the  reason  of  her  call.  The 
Business  Manager  that  morning  had  told  her,  kindly  but 
cleiarly,  that  a  heavy  assessment  would  have  tc  be  levied  upon 
the  stock.  The  banks,  he  said,  had  refused  to  renew  a  loan, 
because  of  one  of  her  editorials. 

"It  is  not  that  I  cannot  afford  the  assessment,"  she  said, 
"but  somehow  so'mething  about  it  seems  wrong." 

Eichard  aimlessly  drew  peonies  on  his  letter-pad  till  she 
had  finished.  "He's  trying  to  force  you  out,"  he  said  at  last. 
"I  isnppose  he  thinks  that  because  you  tare  a  woman  that  you 
will  let  him.     Tell  him  I'll  renew  his  loan." 

Dorothy  rose  to  go.  She  looked  at  Richard — clean^ 
strong  and  wise,  enlisted  in  her  service.  Her  face  was  white 
and  there  was  an  uncertainty  about  the  lines  of  her  mouth 
that  had  been  absent  hitherto. 

Richard  hesitated  a  moment;  then  he  wrote  a  few  lines 
upon  a  slip  of  paper. 

"I  see  you  intend  to  fight,"  he  continued.  "ISTow,  I  own 
four  dust-covered  shares  of  Argus  stock  that  no  one  knows 
anything  about.  It  isn't  worth  very  much,  but  we  bankers 
never  throw  anything  away  that  has  shares  written  on  it.  Let 
me  make  you  a  loan  of  it  for  the  time  being.  Vote  it  with 
your  own,  and  send  Mr.  McGill  about  his  business." 

He  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  explain  that  he  had 
bought  the  stock  of  a  water-front  politician  at  ten  times  its 
value,  not  three  days  before. 

In  the  fourth  week  of  Dorothy's  editorship  an  annoying 
fact  came  to  her  notice.  She  found  her  editorial  page  sud- 
denly encroached  upon  by  an  advertisement  across  the  foot — 
an  advertisement  for  a  Mexican  lottery.  As  the  leading  arti- 
cle of  the  issue  was  in  condemnation  of  gambling  machines, 
and  incidentally  of  lotteries,  she  sent  for  the  Business  Man- 
ager. 

The  Business  Manager  held  out  the  page  at  arm's' 
length.  "Oh,  let  it  go,"  he  said.  "It's  not  for  the  mail 
issue.'' 

"Attack  the  lotteries  in  one  breath,  and  advertise  them  in 
the  next?" 


12  The   I  dea. 

"So  we  do!     That's  on  them,  isn't  it!" 

Dorothy  was  nettled.  She  explained  that  the  tone  of  the 
paper  required  the  exclusion  of  the  advertisement,  and  when 
that  argument  had  no  effect  she  boldly  made  the  issue  that  the 
contract  for  the  space  would  have  to  be  broken. 

"It  can't  run,  and  that  is  all  there  is  to  it." 

The  Business  Manager  changed  his  manner,  "Miss 
Baker,"  he  said,  "you  don't  iseem  to  understand.  I'm  the  bus- 
iness manager  of  this  paper.  You're  only  the  editor — see? 
When  I  want  business  advice  from  you  I'll  ask  for  it." 

"It  is  you  who  do  not  understand,"  said  Dorothy,  coldly, 
^'that  I  am  in  control  of  this  paper." 

The  Business  Manager  made  no  further  pretense  of 
courtesy.  "You  in  control  ?"  he  snarled.  "You  ?  On  Bill  Yar- 
row's forty-eight  shares?  Good  Lord!" 

Dorothy  fumbled  among  her  pigeon-holes  until  she  found 
Richard's  note.     She  handed  it  to  the  Business:  Manager. 

"Fifty-two,  Mr.  McGill,  please." 

For  the  moment  the  Business  Manager  was  speechless 
with  wrath;  then  he  found  his  tongue.  Raising  his  voice,  he 
spoke  to  Dorothy  as  she  had  never  been  spoken  to  before.  He 
tore  the  veil  away  from  the  Argus  and  from  those  who  made 
it.  She  had  supposed  him  stubborn,  she  had  supposed  him 
insensible  to  the  subtler  distinctions  between  good  and  evil; 
she  had  not  supposed  him  quite  what  he  was.  The  revelation 
took  the  form  of  an  arraignment  .of  herself.  She  sat  with 
heaving  breast  and  downcast  eyes,  her  hands  clutching  in  the 
folds  of  her  dress  until  he  was  through. 

•  "The  tone  of  the  paper!"  she  heard  him  say.  "Your 
duty  to  your  subscribers !  Your  subscribers !  Do  you  know  who 
are  the  subscribers  for  your  paper?  The  Water  Company! 
the  Heilman  Railroad !  the  Aikens  Steel"  Works !  that's  who ! 
And  the  Street  Car  Company!  and  old  man  Borchers ! 
You're  on  his  pay-roll,  along  with  Councilman  Rainer  and 
Boss  Slaker." 

Dorothy  did  not  attempt  to  stem  the  torrent  of  his  scorn. 
He  was  telling  her  at  last  what  she  most  desired  to  know.  The 
Business  Manager  went  on,  in  tense,  nervous  utterance. 


T  h  e   i  d  e  a.  13 

''The  tone  of  the  paper !  You're  squeamish  enough  about 
the  only  square  ad.  in  the  paper,  because  it  advertises  a  lot-' 
tery  and  you're  afraid  people  will  notice,  but  you'll  blink  at 
the  crooked  ones  all  day  if  only  nobody  can  find  out !  They  . 
pay  in  good  money,  and  you  have  to  have  gloves  and  fans!  ' 
How  much  do  you  suppose  space  in  the  Argus  is  actually  , 
worth?     It  isn't  worth  twenty-two  cents,  and  you  know  it! 

"I  don't  see  why  you  bought  into  this  paper,  anyhow.  ' 
The  whol?  thing  is  a  swindle,  according  to  your  views.  This 
leathrr  ad.  for  instance — how  many  readers  of  the  Argus  do 
you  suppose  buy  leather  belting  ?  Or  copper  wire  ?  A  pure 
steal,  nothing  less.  That  leather  ad.  was  brought  in  by  a  dis- 
honest buyer  for  a  manufacturing  syndicate.  He  buys  belting 
from  these  advertisers  for  more  than  it  is  worth,  and  then 
asks  them  to  advertise  in  the  Argus,  and  I  pay  him  his  cash 
commission.  Nice  business,  isn't  it  ?  Gleam  money !  The 
man's  married  and  has  two  children.  This  steam  engine  ad. 
came  through  the  same  agency,     and  this,  and  this,  and  this." 

He  leaned  over  the  top  of  Dorothy's  desk. 

"I  tell  you,  there  isn't  a  square  ad.  in  your  paper  from 
heading  to  tail-period,  for  all  your  pretentions  of  virtue. 
Tone  of  the  paper!  Know  how  you  get  this  artificial  stone 
ad  ?  Burns  has  a  crooked  deal  on  with  the  people  in  the  city 
hall  for  the  laying  of  stone  walks  in  front  of  absentee  prop- 
erty. Charges  six  prices  and  divides.  Advertises  to  keep 
from  being  exposed. 

Dorothy  sat  motionless,  with  pained  eyes.  Her  head' 
ached;  she  was  sick  at  heart.  He  told  of  these  things  as 
though  they  were  the  commonplaces  of  business  life,  as. 
though  it  were  all  a  part  of  the  business  game.  And  then  he 
mentioned  Kichard's  name,  and  the  world  began  to  whirl 
round  and  round  before  her  eyes  until  she  had  no  sense  of  di- 
rection left. 

"Blackmail,  why  don't  you  say?  Solicitor  saw  the  man- 
ager in  a  dive  and  got  an  ad.  to  keep  his  mouth  shut.  Or  take 
this  foundry  ad.  of  your  friend  Richard  Bro^^Ti.  Brown  gave 
my  man  Wylie  this  ad.  to  keep  his  mouth  shut— I  leave  you 
to  guess  the  occasion." 


14  The   Idea. 

Dorothy  motioned  him  away  wearily.  "I  wish  that  you 
would  leave  me/'  she  said.    "It  doesn't  do  any  good  to  talk  so," 

The  Business  Manager  hardly  heard  her.  "I  admit 
you're  in  control  all  right,"  he  continued,  ''and  you  can  throw 
me  over  if  you  want  to,  with  Brown's  stock.  Oh,  I  can  see 
your  moral  position  plain  enough.  It's  to  preserve  the  tone  of 
the  paper !  I  don't  even  guess  how  you  came  into  possession 
of  this  timely  stock.  I  don't  even  guess !  You  and  Richard 
Bro^vn !     Both  honorable  people !" 

Dorothy  rose  to  her  feet,  her  eyes  blazing.  "Leave  my  of- 
fice this  instant!"  she  cried. 

McGill  looked  at  her  curiously,  as  though  he  were  onlv 
now  aware  of  her  presence ;  then  he  set  his  teeth  upon  his  cigar 
and  stood  rigid,  facing  her.  He  stood  there  for  all  of  a  long 
moment. 

A  final  insolent  leer,  and  a  final  insolent  word;  then, 
turning  upon  his  heel,  he  left  the  room.  When  he  had  gone 
she  locked  the  door,  sank  down  at  her  desk,  buried  her  face 
in  her  arms  and  sobbed  as  though  her  heart  would  break. 

Richard  opened  the  packet  in  amazement ;  then  he 
snatched  his  hat,  made  for  a  cab,  and  in  ten  jumps  was  at 
Dorothys'  door.  Dorothy  not  in  the  house  ?  How  long  had  she 
been  gone  ?  It  was  very  important  that  he  should  see  her.  Did 
they  suppose  that  she  w^as  at  the  Argus  office?  He  would  look 
in  and  see.  He  ran  his  horses  down  town  and  in  a  reasonably 
short  time  found  himself  in  the  editor's  office.  And  no  Dorothy 
there !      Then  he  raced  back  to  her  home. 

Dorothy  closed  down  her  desk  and  went  straight  to  her 
room.  Richard,  her  white  knight,  of  all  men,  to  have  a  skel- 
eton in  his  closet!  Richard  to  be  obliged  to  purchase  vulgar 
secrecy  of  a  man  about  town!  Richard  the  wise,  the  honest, 
the  defender  of  good  deeds !     It  was  too  horrible  to  believe. 

She  did  not  know  yet  whether  or  not  she  believed  it;  but 
she  gathered  together  her  cherished  trinkets  in  a  pile  upon  her 
bed,  and  set  about  doing  things  that  had  to  be  done.  Almost 
any  woman  would  have  believed  it.  According  to  the  logic  of 
the  plain  evidence,  Richard  was  in  the  power  of  a  common 
scoundrel,  a  man  who  traded  upon  his  knowledge  of  rich  men's 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a.  15 

faults.  The  advertisement  was  merely  so  much  huah-money. 
Dorothy's  friendship — hush-money  for  it.  His  mother's  pride 
and  trust — hush-money  bought  it.  His  position  in  society,  his 
reputation  for  honesty  and  truth — purchased,  all  of  it,  with 
hush-money.     There  was  only  one  thing  to  do,  after  that. 

And  so  she  collected  his  letters  and  his  picture;  and  she 
■stripped  his  ring  from  her  finger;  and  she  added  the  baubles 
:and  trinkets  that  he  had  given  her  at  one  time  or  another ;  and 
sent  them  all  back  to  him  without  so  much  as  a  note  of  explan- 
ation. And  Richard  received  them  so,  and  was  now  frantically 
trying  to  find  her ! 

Dorothy  never  knew  where  she  went  that  afternoon,  nor 
what  she  did.  Towards  evening  she  returned  to  her  desk  on 
the  Argus,  from  force  of  habit.  She  was  at  work  there,  ar- 
ranging some  correspondence,  when  the  door  opened  softly. 
Behind  her,  hat  in  hand,  stood  a  man.  Apparently  he  had 
T^een  drinking. 

"Where's  Mac  ?"  he  asked.  "You're  Argus's  much  as  Mac, 
aren't  you  ma'am.  Lend  me  two  dollars  till  Mac  comes, 
ma'am," 

"  I  don't  know  you,"  said  Dorothy  in  surprise. 

"Oh,  I'm  all  right.  I'm  Wylie.  I  know  you,  all  right. 
Tou're  Miss/  Dorothy  Baker.  I  found  some  letters  of  yours 
-once." 

"Letters  of  mine?" 

"Yes'm.  Your  picture,  too.  That's — tiiat's  how  I  know 
you.  I  took  them  to  Mr.  Brown,"  he  persisted.  "He  knows 
_you,  too." 

The  mention  of  Eichard's  name  sent  the  blood  in  a  tor- 
Tent  to  her  face.     She  suddenly  became  interested, 

"You  took  them  to  Mr.  Brown.     Took  what?" 

"Why,  your  letters.    Yes'm.    Your  letters.     He  lost  them. 

"You  wrote  him  letters  and  he  lost  them." 

"When  was  this  ?"  Dorothy  managed  to  ask. 

"He  was  white.  Brown  was.  Gave  me  a  good  ad.  for  the 
Argus.  That's  his  ad.  on  page  three,  under  your  hand.  He's 
.a  fine  man — a  fine  man.  He's  a  fine  man. 

The  advertisement  indicated  was  the  one  that  had  cansed 


16  The   Idea. 

all  the  trouble !     So  that  was  how  Richard  had  to  buy  silence  I 
Dorothy  sprang,  to  her  feet. 

"I  have  an  important  engagement,"  she  said  hastilj^.  "I 
have  no  change,  but  here  is  ai  bill  for  you.  Please  help  me  to 
find  a  cab."  She  closed  her  desk  with  a  crash,  slammed  the 
door  and  hurried  over  to  the  elevator. 

But  that  was  as  far  as  she  got.  She  rang  the  bell^  the  car 
stopped  at  her  floor,  the  gate  apened  for  her.  The  next  thing 
she  knew  she  found  her  way  blocked  by  Richard.  His  face  was 
drawn  and  white. 

"Dorothy,"  he  cried. 

"Richard!     It  was  all  a  mistake!"  she  gasped. 

Richard  gently  drew  her  aside.  "Tell  me  about  it,"  he 
said.  "I  told  you  I'd  bother  you  to  death !"  After  which  there 
was  nothing  for  her  to  do  but  to  invite  him  into  her  office. 

"Richard,"  said  Dorothy,  "you  were  right  about  the  old  dog 
and  the  new  tricks.  The  Argus  is  beyond  hope.  And  I've  sent 
away  the  only  business  manager  who  could  ever  make  the  paper 
pay." 

"Since  there  is  a  vacancy  to  fill,"  persisted  Richard,  "why 
not  let  me  be  your  business  manager?" 

"You  could  not  make  the  paper  pay." 

"What  of  that?" 

"The  sheriff  would  close  you  out  inside  of  a  week." 

"What  of  that  ?" 

"We'd  have  to  suspend  publication." 

"What  of  that?" 

"I  believe,  Richard,"  said  Dorothy,  looking  him  over, 
"that  I  will  make  you  my  business  manager,  after  all.  You 
seem-  to  understand  the  needs  of  the  Argus  better  than  any 
other  man  I  have  ever  known." 

And  it  was  so  arranged. 


# 

SELECTED 

And  am  I  sober  now, 

Or  am  I  drunk? 
At  least  you  will  admit 

I  have  not  shrunk 
From  calling  spades  by  name, 
Nor  ever  yet 
Have  sold  my  birthright  for 

A  pot  of  junk! 

— Elbert  Hubbard 

s 

^   Newsboys! 

10  PRIZES 

To  the  Boy  selling  the  largest  number  of 

copies  of  The  Idea  for  the  month  of  July 

we  will  give  a  Handsome  Watch ^  and  to 

the  next  nine  we  will  give  suitable 

prizes,    to    be   announced  later. 

Begin  now  by  getting  people  to 

The 

promise  to   take    The    Idea 

from  you  REGULARLY 

Very 

Idea! 

GET   IDEAS  at 

904  Capitol  Street 

next  door  to   Park 

Hotel,  Comer  9th 

and   Broad  Streets 

Jefiferson  Pressing  Club,  22d  and  Broad  Sts. 

MODEL  NEWS  CO.,  519  W.  Broad  St. 

And  ABBOTT'S  News-stand  in  Manchester 

5c 


WEEKLY    OW    THE  COPY 

THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OP^  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  Julv  3,  1909  No.  B 


$7,500  00  Steal 

Feel  Qrafl,  Breathe  Graft 

Chief  of  Police  Scared 

The  Idea  to  Enforce  t!ie  Law  through  the  Courts 

Richmond  Papers  Unfair 

Mystery — A  Poem 

Announccmcn(s  and  other  Articles  of  Moment  in  this  Number 
FOR  SALh  Al    ALL  NLVVS  STANDS 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FO' 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMONE',  VIRGINIA,  BY  A  noM   a 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  ft.,  Richmond,  Va, 


(^  RHYME  OF  THE  DREAM-MAKER 

cyidAN 

Down  near  the  end  of  the  wandering  lane, 

That  runs  'round  the  cares  of  the  day. 
Where  Conscience  and   Memory  meet  and  explain 

Their  quaint  little  quarrels  away, 
A  misty  air-castle  sits  back  in  the  dusk. 
Where  brownies  and  hobgoblins  dwell. 

And    this    is    the    home 

Of  a  busy   old   gnome. 
Who  is  making  up  dream  things  to  sell. 

My  dear. 
The    daintest    dream    things    to    sell. 

He    makes    golden    dreams    out   of    wicked    men's    sighs. 

He   weaves    on   the   thread   of   a   hope 
The   airest   fancies    of   pretty   brown    eyes, 

And   patterns  his   work  with  a  trope. 
The  breath  of  a  rose  and  the  blush  of  a  wish 

Boiled   down   to   the   ghost  of  a   bliss. 

He   wraps    in   a   smile 

Every   once   and   awhile 
And  calls   it  the   dream   of   a  kiss. 

Dear   heart. 
The   dream   of    an    unknown   kiss. 

Last  night  when  I  walked  through  the  portals  of  sleep 

And   came  to   the   weird   little   den, 
I  looked  in  the  place  where  the  elfman   should  keep 

A   dream-  that  I   buy   now   and   then, 
'Tis  only  the   sweet,  happy  dream  of   a  day — 
Yet  one  that  I   wish   may   come  true — 
But   I  learned   from  the   elf 
That   you'd   been   there   yourself. 
And   he'd   given   my   dream   to   you. 

—William    Allen    White. 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  JULY  3,   I90y  No.  5 


5  CjiNTS  A  Copy  |2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yodee, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


WEBNER  SCABED 


Chief  Afraid   to    lalk 

Knows  he  Can't  Defend  his  Acts 


A  Double  Charge  against  both  Mayor  and  Chief. 
The   idea   to   institute  proceedings. 


On  Tuesday  of  this  week  we  called  on  the  Chief  of  Police 
to  ascertain  why  the  police  are  instructed  to  ignore  their  duty 
and  their  oaths  in  reference  to"  law  enforcement.  When  we 
asked  Mr.  Werner  why  the  police  were  instructed  to  ignore 
the  law  when  certain  parties  were  violators,  he  answered — and 
it  sounded  like  he  was  trying  to  quote  word  for  word  what  he 
had  been  told — "I  shall  have  to  refuse  to  answer  you." 

We  asked  ''Why  ?" 

And  he  replied,  ''Because  you  are  publishing  The  Idea."" 
Which,  being  inter2>rete;d,  ni€<ans — my  position  is  so  defence- 
less that  I'd  rather  keep  quiet  than  to  give  myself  away. 

The  chief  knows  that  he  has  not  onlv  violated  his  oath  in 


2  The   Idea. 

not  enforcing  the  law,  but  that  he  is  doubly  guilty  in  that  he 
issues  orders  to  the  police  restraining  them  from  keeping  their 
oaths.  He  prevents  officers  from  doing  their  duty.  He  not 
only  as  a  State  officer  refuses  to  do  a  State  duty,  but  he  "in- 
terferes with  other  officers  in  the  performance  of  their  duties." 

And  The  Idea  charges  that  any  man,  be  he  chief  or 
mayor,  or  the  humblest  citizen  who  takes  an  oath  toi  serve  his 
state,  and  then  after  getting  into  'office  violate®  that  oath,  is  a 
traitor  to  his  state,  and  the  citizens  should  demand  his  official 
head. 

Now  The  Idea  will  act  for  the  citizens  who  have  felt  all 
along  that  they  could  not  get  the  laws  enforced.  We  will  show 
the  officers — or  rather,  these  servants  of  the  people  that  there 
is  a  power  in  the  machinery  of  justice  to  compel  them  to  do 
their  duty.  We  count  ourselves  fortunate  in  being  able  to 
make  the  following  announcement  concerning  our  financial 
backing : 

In  the  last  few  days  very  wealthy  interests  have  offered 
The  Idea  their  moral  and  financial  backing  to  employ  a  fear- 
less and  wise  lawyer  to  prosecute  those  who  have  refused  to 
obey  the  law,  or  get  a  mandamus  to  compel  them  to  obey  the 
law.  These  men,  elected  to  serve  the  people,  have  turned  upon 
the  people  who  elected  themi  and  said,  we  will  not  only  not 
obey  the  order  of  you,  our  masters,  but  we  actually  defy  you 
to  try  to  make  us  regard  our  oaths.  The  Idea,  in  the  name 
of  the  law  abiding  citizens  of  Richmond,  is  now  formulating 
its  case  and  will  shortly  announce  the  name  of  an  attorney 
who  will  compel  the  servants  to  obey  or  have  these  servants 
discharged. 

There  are  those  who  profess  to  believe  that  The  Idea 
has  started  out  for  the  purpose  of  making  money  and  that  we 
will  shortly  go  to  pieces. 

We  will  show  them  that  we  have  started  out  io  spend 
some  money  in  cleaning  the  political  and  moral  atmosphere 
not  only  of  Richmond,  but  of  every  city  in  the  State. 

When  we  have  shown  Virginians  that  they  'are  not  the 
slaves  to  the  petty  politicians  they  thought  they  were — ^when 
we  have  shown  them  that  there  is  a  way  to  make  a  servant 
serve  instead  of  boss,  when  we  have  put  on  trial  men  high  up 


The   Idea.  3 

in  the  judicial  aud  executive  brauclies  of  the  goveniiiient,  and 
when  these  men  have  to  step  down  and  out  or  go  io  jail  and 
give  place  to  men  whose  oaths  and  whose  deeds  can  be  made  to 
agree,  then  indeed  will  the  cities  throughout  Virginia  demand 
that  their  petty  servants  also  get  busy  land  th^re  will  ensue  in 
Virginia  a  season  of  law  enforcement  which  shall  give  the  lie 
direct  to  those  who  say  "prohibition  don't  prohibit,"  or  "our 
mayor  won't  prosecute  the  big  evil-doer." 

We  take  this  stand  in  the  name  of  law  and  order,  and  we 
are  confident  what  the  result  will  be. 

Bevrare!  Mr.  Mayor,  Beware! 

Beware!  Mr.  Chief,  Beware! 

We  quietly  told  the  Chief  of  Police  as  we  left  him  that 
we  would  take  other  means  to  know  why  he  would  not  enforce 
the  law  and  we  have  taken  them  and  we  l:now  that  he  don't 
enforce  the  law  because  he  is  not  big  enough  to  do  his  duty  of 
his  own  initiative  and  he  is  held  under  the  thumb  of  those  who 
know  how  to  manage  him  land  get  him  into  trouble.  IsTow 
there  are  two  things  he  can  do.  He  can  say  to  those  who 
would  boss  him, — "Henceforth  I  will  do  my  duty  regardless  of 
what  any  one  says  as  to  loosing  my  job.  I  will  enforce  the 
law  and  if  the  police  commissioners  or  the  mayor  demand  my 
resignation  I  will  take  it  before  the  people  and  rest  my  case 
with  them."  And  we  will  guarantee  that  the  people  will  stand 
by  him.  On  the  other  hand  he  can  say, — "I'm  not  man 
enough  to  fight  the  ring  that  keeps  the  law  from,  being  enforced, 
so  I'll  just  do  as  I  am  told  and  keep  quiet."  And  we'll 
promise  him  that  he'll  find  himself  in  the  hands  of  the  courts, 
whose  laws  in  this  respect  are  so  plain  that  they  will  land  him 
without  the  pale  of  office. 

Beware !  Beware !  Beware ! 


"The  idea  sometimes  expressed  that  judges  on  the  bench 
are  above  criticism  in  a  democracy  like  ours  is  not  tenable. 
Our  courts  require  the  most  constant  scrutiny  and  the  sharpest 
solicitude  on  the  part  of  citizens  to  keep  them  above  suspicion. 
It  would  be  ridiculous.  .  .  to  assume  that  po'litical  lawyers  .  .  . 
are  suddenly  transformed  into  human  paragons.  .  .  .  The 
American  bench  will  be  respected  purely  on  its  merits,  and  not 


4  The   Idea. 

hrongh  the  preacliing  of  the  doctrine  of  exaggerated  respect 
for  the  courts  regardless  of  the  character  and  conduct  of  the 
judges." — Editorial  Jan'y  Review  of  Revieios. 


$7,500.00  STEAL 


Graft  in  the  Council 


How  the  People  Pay  the  Bill  on  the   Million   and 
a  Half  Bond  issue 

City  Engineer  estimates  that  it  will  take  a  year 
to  spend  the  money. 


The  council  has  just  sold  bonds  amounting  to  $1, 500,000 
in  one  lump  sum  at  par. 

These  bonds  of  the  city  with  the  credit  Richmond  has, 
were  sold  'hurriedly  at  par  and  individual  bidders '  were  not 
permitted  to  buy  small  sums  of  these  bonds,  although  there 
are  many  Eichmonders  and  others  who  would  gladly  have  got- 
ten them  at  more  than  par  and  would  not  have  taxed  the  city 
any  cO'mmission  for  selling  them. 

Yet  the  city  council  sold  them  without  giving  the  small 
bidder  a  chance  and  thus  lost  to  the  city  large  sums  of  money, 
but  what  is  worse  than  this  is  the  fact  that  the  taxpayers  of 
Richmond  will  have  to  pay  interest  at  four  per  cent,  on  this 
bond  issue  until  it  is  paid  for  and  the  city  engineer  informs  us 
that  it  will  take  about  a  year  to  spend  this  million  and  a  half, 
and  we  are  reliably  infoTmed  that  it  may  take  two  years  or 
more.  That  means  that  this  money  will  lay  idle  in  bank  and 
we  will  receive  only  three  per  cent,  on  it,  thus  losing  one  per 
cent,  by  borrowing  money  (for  that  is  what  issuing  bonds  is), 
before  we  need  it.  ISTow  one  per  cent,  lost  on  a  million  and  a 
half  dollars  for  an  average  of  six  months  is  $7,500,  tliat  we. 


The   Idea.  5 

the  citizens,  lay  out  in  interest  on  borrowed  money  just  in  order 
to  keep  a  big  bank  account.  And  the  tax  payer  don't  kick  be- 
cause the  newspapers  don't  expose  these  rascals. 

Later  we  will  have  a  more  detailed  statement  to  makfe 
concerning  these  big  deals  pulled  off  publicly  without  a  word 
of  criticism  on  the  part  of  the  press,  to  whom  we  naturally 
look  to  protect  us  from  mismanagement  and  graft.  We  will 
show  why  these  papers  keep  quiet.  We  will  show  where  they 
come  in. 


RICHMOND  PAPER5   UNFAIR 


We  print  below,  without  'asking  his  consent,  a  letter  from 
Mr.  R.  S.  Barbour,  of  -the  Barbour  Bugg;)'  Ool,  of  South  Bos- 
ton, which  speaks  for  itself.  It  seems  to  be  a  pretty  general 
view  elsewhere  than  in  Richmond  that  the  Richmond  daily 
papers  are  bought  out  by  the-  whiskey  interests. 

June  16,   1909. 
Mr.  Adox  Yodek, 

904  Capitol  St., 

Richmond,  Va. 

Dear  Sir: — I  accidentally  got  hold  of  one  of  your  Ideas 
this  morning  and  I  enjoyed  reading  it  very  much  and  I  want 
to  congratulate  you  on  the  firm  and  fearless  stand  you  are 
taking  in  fighting  the  great  evils  that  now  exist  in  our  country, 
and  I  believe  if  you  will  continue  this  fight  you  will  do  an  im- 
mense amount  of  good  in  opening  the  eyes  of  the  public  to  the 
great  evils  that  exist,  in  our  cities  especially,  to-day.  I  hope 
it  may  be  your  pleasure  to  put  your  periodical  in  the  hands  of 
our  newsboy  here  as  I  want  to  get  a  copy  of  it  every  time  it 
comes  out.  If  I  cannot  get  it  through  the  newsboy,  kindly 
let  me  know  and  I  will  send  you  my  subscription  direct. 

I  congi-atulate  you  heartily  on  the  fearless  way  in  which 
you  attack  the  strong  hands  of  Satan  through  our  servants, 
and  I  am  certain  you  will  do  great  good.  I  want  to  heartily 
commend  what  vou  have  to  sav  about  the  miserable  unfair  re- 


«  The   Idea. 

ports  given  by  the  Press  generally,  and  especially  the  Times- 
Dispatch  regarding  tlie  Anti-Saloon  League  work,  as  they  have 
been  mianifestly  unfair  in  every  particular,  and  I  have  recently 
had  quite  a  hot  correspondence  with  Mr.  Jno.  S.  Bryan  along 
that  line.  I  am  indeed  glad  to  know  that  there  is  one  periodical 
in  the  city  of  Richmond  that  will  spoak  out  in  no  uncertain 
tonus  and  language  for  the  "DRY"  side. 

Yours  very  truly, 

RSB— F.  R.  S.  Barbour. 


COMPLETE  EDITION  SOLD 

LAST    TWO    ISSUES. 

The  Idea  takes  pleasure  in  announcing  that  the  com- 
plete edition  of  the  last  two  numbers  of  The  Idea  were  in 
each  case  exhausted  within  a  few  hours  after  placing  them  on 
sale.  '  The  average  number  of  copies  placed  in  circulation  dur- 
ing the  past  four  weeks  in  which  The  Idea  has  been  published 
has  been  slightly  over  5,200  copies  per  issue. 

To  ADVERTISERS  the  abovo  fact  should  be  especially  in- 
teresting as  an  ad.  placed  in  The  Idea  has  not  only  a  circu- 
lation of  so  many  actual  copies  but  it  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  an  ad.  in  The  Idea  will  be  read  by  from  three  to  five 
people  for  each  number  making  an  ad.  placed  before  15,000' 
people  at  the  small  present  rate  of  $10  a  page.  Hand  bills 
to  reach  this  number  of  people,  printed  on  the  cheapest  of 
paper  would  cost  delivered,  infinitely  more  than  the  small  sum 
of  $10.00  and  then  in  all  probability  would  not  be  read  by  one 
out  of  every  ten  who  receives  them.  Our  advertising  space 
will  be  limited  so  that  one  carrying  an  ad.  with  us  can'  be  sure 
that  his  ad.  will  be  seen.  This  is  not  true  of  an  ad.  in  a 
daily  paper.  Daily  paper  ads.  are  so  numerous  that  no  one 
can  attempt  to  see  them  all.  Then  lastly  magazine  ads.  are 
in  permanent  form; — ^the  magazine  will  lay  around  on  your 
table  for  a  month,  while  the  daily  paper  will  be  destroyed  to- 
morrow. Each  magazine  ad.  will  be  read  by  several  times  as 
many  people  'as  read  a  daily  paper  ad. 


The   Idea.  7 

WE  THANK  YOU 

AK  APPRECIATION. 

Our  time  -has  been  so  limited  that  we  have  to  take  this 
means  of  replying  to  the  many  expressions  of  good  will  and 
goodspeed  we  have  received  in  the  past  weeks.  It  has  been  no 
little  pleasure  to  us  to  have  received  from  the  good  citizens  of 
Richmond  so  many  communications  both  by  mail  and  in  per- 
son commending  our  efforts  at  exposing  the  evil.  Men  in 
lall  walks  of  life — business  men,  lawyers,  doctors,  merchants, 
preachers,  teachers,  contractors,  mechanics,  etc.,  have  called 
or  written  to  thank  and  to  offer  their  aid  in  making  our  goodly 
city  what  it  should  be,  the  very  best  in  the  land.  We  regTet 
that  we  have  not  space  to  reproduce  letters  received,  not  only 
from  residents  of  Richmond,  but  from  others  throughout  the 
State,  for  The  Idea — ^be  it  known — has  a  goodly  circulation, 
not  only  in  Richmond,  but  in  Lynchburg  and  many  other 
towns  and  even  in  many  other  States. 


WHISKEY  ADS. 


When  you  see  an  ad.  for  some  baby  food  you  will  nearly 
always  find  in  it  a  picture  of  a  healthy  fine  looking  baby. 
The  advertiser  wants  to  lay  stress  on  the  good  results  gained 
by  using  his  food,  so  he  shows  the  picture  of  one  who  has  used 
it ; — he  shows  the  finished  'product. 

When  you  read  an  ad.  for  a  hog  food  you  will  see  a  pic- 
ture of  a  fine  fat  hog  in  4t.  Likewise  with  poultry  and  all 
manner  of  stock  foods ;  the  advertiser  in  each  case  shows  you 
the  effect  his  food  will  have  on  the  user  by  picturing  to  you 
the  finished  product.  On  the  other  hand  when  a  whiskey  ad- 
vertiser wants  to  advertise  his  wares  he  does  not  show  you  a 
picture  of  a  drunkard;  which  is  his  finished  product.  Oh  no, 
he  appeals  to  your  appetite  alone.  He  appeals  to  you  to 
ignore  the  results  in  seeking  short  and  present  pleasure.  He 
appeals  to  passion  rather  than  to  reason,  and  instead  of  show- 
ing you  a  drunkard  he  is  careful,  if  he  give  any  picture  what- 
ever, to  show  you  that  of  an  innocent  girl,  healthy,  and  strong, 
and  beautiful  as  a  result  of  the  fact  that  she  is  not  onlv  inno- 


S  The   Idea. 

cent,  but  her  parents  ha.ve  looked  after  her  health  bj  not 
drinking  themselves.  Did  you  know  that  whiskey  and  other 
strong  drink  always  is  likely  to  injure  the  health  of  your  chil- 
dren much  more  than  it  appears  to  injure  yoiir  own.  Creation 
bas  made  man  so  strong  that  it  takes  a  generation  for  his  sins 
to  have  their  results. 


What  do  some  of  our  prominent  politicians  and  lawyers 
mean  when  they  say — If  I  should  tell  what  I  know,  there  would 
be  a  lot  of  people  who  would  go  and  jump  in  the  river. 

It  is  a  said  state  of  affairs  for  an  individual  or  a  city  to 
be  told  by  the  servants  when  they  ask  their  servants  concern- 
ing their  business,  "I  can't  talk,  but  there  is  a  lot  of  rascality 
going  on,"  or  "my  hands  are  tied  for  if  I  tell  what  I  know  it 
would  be  traced  to  m©  and  I'd  lose  my  job." 


"We  understand  that  the  corrupt  politicians  and  whiskey 
people  axe  going  to  publish  a  magazine  to  defend  their  evil 
deeds  against  the  onslaughts  of  The  Idea. 

"We  trust  they  will  hurry  up  and  get  out  an  interesting 
and  formidable  one  as  we  are  just  itching  for  a  scrap. 


KEEP  IT  UP 


Since  The  Idea  began  its  work  we  have  noticed  some  im- 
provement in  the  daily  papers  in  regard  to  both  the  liquor 
question  and  the  graft  question.  The  Nervs  Leader  is  not 
saying  as  much  as  formerly  about  the  whiskey  question,  and 
the  Times-Dispatch  is  actually  Irving  to  get  some  of  the  glory 
of  exposing  the  evils  by  jumping  in  the  band  wagon  and  tell- 
ing the  people  that  there  is  gambling  going  on  in  certain  quar- 
ters, but  it  is  worth  while  to  notice  tbSt  the  Times-Dispatch. 
tho'  we  understand  they  know  the  names  of  the  parties  they  re- 
ferred to,  did  not  tell  the  people  in  their  recent  article  who 
the  guilty  ones  were  that  w^ere  gambling  on  Main  Street,  nor 
did  they  tell  why  the  police  do  not  attempt  to  prosecute  these 
offenders  against  the  law,  nor  did  they  even  dare  to  criticise 
the  chief  or  anv  one  for  winkinaf  at  crime. 


The   Idea.  9 

OUTSIDE  INTERFERENCE   IN   LOCAL  MATTERS 

Now  and  then  a  paper,  whose  editor  has  perhaps  received 
a  case  of  wine  or  extra  valuable  whiskey  free  gratis  voii  noth- 
ing from  a  friend  among  the  whiskey  fraternity,  in  the  heat  of 
ardent  gratitude  flourishes  his  pen  and  indites  editorial  tommy 
rot  against  the  Anti-Saloon  League  for  employing  speakers 
from  out  of  town,  and  charges  that  these  outsiders  are  inter- 
fering. 

In  Petersburg  they  did  that  and  the  Richmond  papers 
said  amen,  we  want  none  of  this  interference. 

Let's  get  ait  the  facts  of  the  case. 

OUTSIDE    MONEY   OR   OUTSIDE    BRAINS    WITH    LOCAL    MONEY. 

Stop  a  minute  and  consider  wheiie  the  whiskey  money, 
that  fought  against  the  local  league  of  citizens,  came  from  in 
the  Petersburg  campaign,  and  in  the  Lynchburg  campaign. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  wholesale  brewers  and 
distillers  from  the  West  and  the  North  sent  large  sums  of 
money  into  Petersburg  and  Lynchburg  to  employ  speakers  and 
diefray  the  expenses  of  the  campaigTi  conducted  against  the 
local  interests  of  the  citizens  of  these  towns.  In  Petersburg 
they  had  things  so  much  their  own  way  that  they  did  not  find 
it  necessary  to  get  outside  speakers,  though  in  Lynchburg  they 
got  them  from  'as  far  west  as  Chicago',  and  the  head  of  the 
fighting  organization  in  Lynchburg  was  a  beer -sounding  name 
from  Washington.  Yet  this  is  of  small  consideration,  where 
the  speakers  came  from,  when  we  think  of  who  furnished  the 
mioney  to  pay  these  speakers.  Did  Petersburg  money  finance 
the  dry  or  wet  side.  Home  money  paid  the  hill  in  Peters- 
burg for  the  Drys  and  outside  money  paid  the  hill  in  Peters- 
burg for  the  Wets.  Home  money  paid  the  bill  in  Lynchburg 
for  the  Drys  and  outside  money  helped  pay  the  bill  for  the 
Wets. 

In  Lynchburg  the  fight  cost  Lynchburg  business  men 
about  $5,000  of  voluntary  contributiiins  to  put  down  .  the 
saloon.  Lynchburg  business  men  went  down  into  their  pock- 
ets and  gave  liberally,  for  an  immense  amount  of  press  work 
paid  for  as  lar2:e  advertisements  in  the  Lynchburs;  papers,  and 
a  large    office  force  to  tabulate  and  work  "iin  the  lists  of  voters. 


10  The   Idea. 

so  as  to  be  able  to  challenge  tlie  vote  of  any  one  oii'ering  to 
vote  illegally,  and  a  small  per -cent,  of  this  amount  was  spent 
in  getting  outside  speakers  to  com©  and  help  by  their  OTatory. 
Seaborn  Wright,  of  Georgia,  oame;  and  Governor  Glenn,  of 
Carolina,  came,  and  Governor  Glenn  refused  to  accept  any 
more  than  the  small  sum  of  fifty  or  sixty  dollars  (we've  for- 
gotten which)  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  trip.  The  whiskey 
people  will  not  deny  that  the  money  they  spent  came  largiely 
from  the  brewers  and  the  distillers.  They  will  not.  make  pub- 
lic what  amounts  they  spent  for  speakers  as  the  Anti-Saloon 
League  always  will  do.  Nor  will  they  tell  the  total  amount 
spent  by  them  in  any  given  fight,  i^or  have  we  ever  seen  that 
they  gave  to  the  people  an  itemized  statement  of  who  gave  the 
money,  or  for  what  any  of  it  was  spent. 

If  they  would  do  this  just  once  the  people  would  be  so 
indig-nant  that  the  saloon  would  have  to  go  and  go  quick.  Let 
them  fight  in  the  open  if  they  dare  to.  They  don't  dare  to 
"because  their  deeds  are  evil." 

Let  the  whiskey  press  and  the  whiskey  people  fool  you 
with  terms  of  interference  and  outsider  ? 

The  local  Anti-Saloon  Leagues  have  no  apology  to  offer  for 
giving  their  own  home  money  to  outside  speakers  to  help  them 
throw  off  an  evil  largely  controled  by  outside  brewers  and  dis- 
tillers. 

ISTote  this.  HOME  interests  alone  are  helped  by  a  town 
going  dry. 

OUTSIDE  interests  are  very  much  helped  by  a  town  go- 
ing wet.  When  the  fight  comes  will  you  fight  for  your  home 
interests  or  for  the  brewers  of  Milwaukee  and  the  Distillers  of 
Kentuckv  ? 


WHAT  HAS  BECOME  OF  THE  WHISKEY  EDL 
TORIALS  IN  THE  DAILY  PAPERS  ? 

HAVE  THE  BREWER  AND  THE  WHISKEY  MER- 
CHANT STOPPED  SETTLING? 

Articles-  on  "The  Police  Court,"  and  "Feel  Graft: 
Breathe  Graft,"  through  lack  of  space,  have  been  held  over 
till  next'  week. 


The   Idea.  11 

'how  to  stop  the  steal— richmonders,  get 

THIS. 

Let  every  citizen  who  has  at  heart  the  interests  of  Rich- 
miond  and  who  desire  to  know  how  to  stop  the  grafter  in  his 
stealing  read  the  story  of  how  the  great  Graft  Prosecution  was 
started  in  San  Francisco  by  a  small  paper,  The  Bulletin. 

This  most  interesting  and  yet  astonishing  story  is  told  in 
McClure's  Magazine  for  July. 


A  SQUARE  DEAL. 

HONEST    FIGURES. 

Every  now  and  then  the  whiskey  press  agents  succeed  in 
getting  into  the  papers  certain  allusions  toi  Maine  tending 
to  show  that  noi  license  is  a  failure  there,  but,  in  every  in- 
stance, they  fail  to  give  any  actual,  tangible  and  fair  compari- 
sons between  that  'and  other  States  which  have  tabulated  results. 

A  Richmond  paper  recently  went  so  far  afield  in  its  search 
for  some  argument  that  it  compared  Maine  with  certain  Euro- 
pean States.  The  whiskey  people  aire  indeed  getting  desper- 
ate in  these  days.  There  never  has  been  a  time  when  they 
spent  siQ  much  money  in  press  work  as  now  and  the  fool  that 
believes  tl^ey  would  do  it  if  prohibition  did  not  prohibit  has 
sadly — well,  we  don't  believe  that  such  ones  are  here  in  Rich- 
mond. 

We  clip  the  following  from  the  Jjiterary  Digest,  perhaps 
the  most  fair-minded  and  unbiased  paper  in  America  to-day: 

Results  of  Prohibition  in  Worcester. — Worcester, 
Massachusietts,  is  the  first  city  of  more  than  one  hundred  thou- 
sand population  to  vote  no  license  twice  in  succession  under 
a  local  option  dispensation.  The  Massachus'etts  ^o-License 
League  has  issued  a  report  of  results  during  the  past  year, 
showing  thait  arrests  have  declined  in  the  following  ratios: 
For  drunkenness,  from  3,924  to  1,843 ;  for  assault  and  bat- 
tery, from  382  to  263 ;  for  larcency,  from  343/  to  255 ;  for 
neglect  and  non-support,  from  112  to  87;  for  disturbing  the 
peace,  from  210  to  109.  Patients  in  the  alcoholic  ward  at  the 
City  Hospital  decreased  from  274  to  144,   and   deaths  from 


12  T  h  e   I  dea. 

alcoholism,  from  30  to  6.     The  Survey  (New  Yorkj  suniinar- 
izies  other  features  of  the  report  as  follows : 

"Apparently,  liquor  selliug  will  be  entirely  discontinued 
the  coming  year,  except  for  'original  packages'  shipped  in. 
Some  of  the  saloons  kept  open  a  part  of  the  iirst  year,  selling- 
soft  drinks,  but  they  all  closed  when  the  city  voted  'no'  the 
second  time.  Eight  liquor  licenses  held  by  drug  stores  re- 
sulted in  a  recorded  sale  of  96,190  'packages' — one-quarter 
of  them  quart  bottles,  most  of  the  remainder  half-pints.  Only 
one  of  these  licenses  was  renewed  for  this  year." 

Certain  Richmond  papers  are  continually  giving  promi- 
nence to  worthless  articles  of  unknown  or  obscure  writers 
pretending  to  show  the  evils  of  no-license.  We  wonder  why 
they  do  not  quote  from  the  national  weekly  magazines  which, 
from  their  very  nature,  can  give  a  fair  estimate  of  the  values 
of  prohibition.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  nearly  every 
weekly  of  prominence  in  America  has  taken  a  decided  stand 
against  the  whiskey  traffic.  But  one  who  did  not  know  this 
would  get  the  lopinion  from  the  daily  local  papers  that  no 
such  condition  exists.  The  reason  that  the  weeklies  take  this 
stand  for  the  abolition  of  the  licensed  saloon  is  that  they  can 
affoTd  to  be  independent.  The  Richmond  daily  papers  can't. 
It  is  also  a  remarkable  fact  that  there  is  hardly  a  single 
weekly  or  monthly  magazine  of  national  prominence  left  in 
America  that  will  print  a  whiskey  advertisement  in  their 
papers.  These  papers  put  such  ads.  in  the  class  with  immoral 
and  obscene  literature. 


A  question  for  the  citizen.  Do  the  police  have  to  pay 
for  election  to  the  police  force  ?     We  underetand  they  do. 

Who  gets  the  money,  somebody  who  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  police,  or — or — or — or  somebody  else  ?  "Think  on 
these  thino;s." 


We  wviuder  why  it  is  that  a  negro  woman  is  fined  heavily 
for  selling  ten  cents  worth  of  whiskey  without  a  license,  and 
yet  the  police  permit  whiskey  and  wine  and  beer  to  be  sold 
every  day  and  night  and  on  Sunday  by  the  inhabitants  of  Mayo 
Street. 


The   Idea.  13 

A  LITTLE  FOLLY 

"'A  little  folly  now  and  then  is  relislii'd  by  the  wisest 
men."  We  have  just  received  the  following  few  lines  which 
we  publish,  without  editing,  for  the  sol©  reason  that  they 
brought  a  smile  to  the  faces  of  all  in  our  office  and  that  ought 
to  be  sufficient  reason  for  its  insertion  amongst  the  more  se- 
rious larticles  which  otherwise  fill  our  pages. 

June  21s.t  1909 
(Editor  The  Idea 

Please  give  me  space  to  tell  what  becomes  of  the  kind  of 
polititions  you  have  just  turned  the  light  on.) 

Man  that  is  bom  of  a  woman  is  small  potatoes  and  few 
in  a  hill.  In  infancy  he  is  full  of  colic  and  catnip  tea,  and 
in  old  ■age  he  is  full  of  cuss  words  and  rheumatism. 

In  youth  his  mother  taketh  him  across  her  knee  and 
sweetens  his  life  with  her  slipper,  and  when  he  is  a  man 
grown  the  sheriff  pursueth  him  all  the  days  of  his  life.  He 
spreadeth  like  a  bay  tree.  He  getteth  into  office,  and  his 
friends  cling  to  him  like  flies  tO'  a  sugar  barrel.  He  sweleth 
with  vanity  and  cutteth  ice  for  ^a,  while,  but  he  is  hewn  down 
at  the  next  convention  and  cast  into  the  salt  box  and  his  name  is 
Dennis.  Out  of  office  and  out  of  friends  he  soon  gets  busted 
and  lieth  down  in  the  cow-pasture  beside  the  still  waters  of  the 
brook.  He  dieth  out  of  the  world  and  goeth  where  it  is  warm 
enough  without  clothes.  The  last  end  of  that  man  is  worse 
than  the  beainninff.  A   Machinist. 


TO  MYSTERY. 


(A   Soliloquy.) 

O  Mystery!  cold  Mystery! 

Deep  is  thy  stream  and  black. 

As  black  as  night  and  cold; 

Broad  are  thy  banks  and  tar  between; 

Thy  fall  is  slow. 

And  slow  thy  onward  flow; 

So  weird  art  thou,  and  secret  too. 

That  none  may  know 


14  T  h  e   I  d  e  a. 

Whence  thou  hast  come 
Or  wither  thou  wilt  go. 

I  stand  at  midnight  on  thy  marshy  brink. 

And  try  to  pierce  with  eyes  distend  thy  darkness  thick: 

O  Mystery!  hear  thou  my  cry, 

My  prayer  disconsolate. 

The  pleading  meditation  of  my  soul, 

And  tell  me  what  is  life. 

Its  whither  and  its  whence. 

For  you  two  waters  flow  not  separate. 

O  Mystery!   drear  Mystery! 

O  what  is  life,  and  what  are  we 

That  have  it,  yet  so  meagerly? 

And  what  is  action? 

This  changing,  writhing,  unending  energy, 

This  scene  so  meaningless. 

This  strife  so  fierce — to   know? 

And  what  is  time? 

Is  it  spread  on  into  eternity? 

And  life  and  time,  do  they  together  flow? 

And  does  time  stop  when  life  stops  here  below? 
"If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again?" 

And  in  another  time? 

Or  shall  time  be  no  more,  nor  life? 

And  now  we  know   no   more 

That  which  went  on  before 
This  life; 

Shall  then  we  know  this   life 

When  it,  its  care,  its  strife, 
.  Be  o'er? 

And  if  life  go  at  all,  where  does  it  go? 

And  does  it  rest  a  while,  or  what,  or  what? 

When  that  great  change  does  come, 

Is  it  but  for  a  while;   is  it  fore'er? 
And  what  is  death? 

Does  it  exist,  or  is  it  not? 

But  negativity  and   nothingness? 
O  speak,  and  let  me  know. 

And  let  me  know,  and  let  me  know. 

Is  there  any  knowledge  for  flnite  minds  to  know? 

Did  ever  man  know  anything? 

Its  murmuring  answer  "No," 
From  gurgling  depths  below. 
It  seems  to  come  and   go; 
"No,  no,  no,  no; 


The   Idea,  15 

Thou  canst  not  know. 

Till  thou  out  from  this  life  do  go." 
And  the  river's  murmuring  flow 
Tells  me,  if  I  would  but  go 
Down  its  steep  steps,  beneath  its  depths, 

That  I  might  know. 
And  then,  in  murmurs  low — 
That  back  I  might  not  go. 
Nor  trace  my  footsteps  o'er. 
For  life  could  be  no  more. 

If  it  did  know. 
I'll  dive  into  thy  depths,"  I  cry; 
'Thou'lt  take  no  more  than  life?     I'll  die." 
I  plunge;  'tis  cold,  'tis  passing  cold; 
All's   dark,   but   downward    still   I    hold 

My  course  from  high. 
I  and  myself  are  parting  ways. 
For  light  I  see  which  auick  doth  daze 

My  spirit  eye, — 
My  mind's  perception  part. 
And  yet  I  do  not  know. 
But  its  increasing  glow 
Doth  light  me  as  I  go 
Deep  down  thy  depths  below, 

O  Mystery! 

And  though  I  yet  can't  know, 
Its  increase,  ever  slow. 

Grows  bright  for  me. 
My  soul's  dark  ignorance 
Soon  changed  with  its  sharp  glance, 

Now  soon  will  see. 
Now  something  whispers   low. 
And  peems  to  speak  or  show 

What  I  did  ask. 
And  do  I  dream  or  hear? 
'Tis  faint   and  never  clear: 
"life  is  change — 

All  change  is   life — 

All  action's  change. 
Matter  itself,  it  cannot  change  nor   changed   be — 
All  things  we  feel  and  see  do  change, 
Hence  all  things  live. 

If  they  live  not  themselves,  their  PARTS  do  live. 
For  TREY  do  change. 
They  move — there!  there  is  life. 
The  log  decaying  on  the  ground  doth  live; 


16  The   Idea. 

For,  dviiig  and  decaying   so, 
Its  li\ing  molecules   do   show. 
In  changes  which  they  undergo. 
The  life  atomic  of  its   composition. 
There's  but  one  elemental  life; 
There  is  but  one  life's  element. 
The    many    elements   we   know 
Are  but  the  many  changes  in 
The  life  of  this  prime  element — 
But  different  forms  of  life — of  change. 
There  is  no  death,  for  death 
Itself  is  but  the  change  of  life.  ' 

All  change  is  progress — 

All  progress  growth — 

All  growth  is  life. 
Man  does  not  die; 
His  life  does  make  a  change, 
Not  simply  in  its  habitation. 
But  gives  itself  up  unto  other  life. 

And  time — there's  no  such  thing; 
'Tis  but  the  idea  of  a  mind  that  does  not  know; 
And  it  itself  it  does  not  know, 
For  where  did  it  begin,  and  whither  will  it  go? 

And  space — 
There  is  no  space; 
For  what's  beyond  this  space. 
If  there  be  space? 

The  human  mind,  imperfect,  weak,  and  small, 
Makes  for  itself  this  time,  this  space,  this  all. 
Because  it  cannot  know.     It  must  not  fall. 
When  man  shall  die  he  shall  but  wake 
From  his  long  sleep.     Then  he  shall  know. 
And  then  to  him  a  thousand  years 
Shall  be  but  as  a  day,  for  time 
Shall  be  no  more." 

And,  as  life's  problems   brighter  grow, 
Down  'neath  the  depths  of  Mystery's  stream 
The  distant  light  comes  nearer,  and 
I  see  no  more  the  black  depths  of 
Thy  form,  O  Mystery!    so   dread! 

But  brighter  grows  the  light;    around 
About  I  go  with  motion  quick 
And  fast  into  its  depths,  and  merge 
Into  itself.     And  I  am  light^ 

I  see — at  last  I  know.  ALYN   O'DARE. 

January,  1900. 


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Vol.  Ill  July  10,  1909  No.  6 

$2.00  A  YEAR 


Who  is  Mayor? 

Police  Court==Jokes  or  Justice 

Pollock  and  Politics 

Richmond  Papers  Suppress  News 

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which  opened  its  doors  June  1st,  last,  has  sold  more  Furni- 
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medium  grades  they   are   the  lowest  priced   house  in  the 

UNITED  STATES 


I  love  the  wild  race 
With  the  hounds  on  the  chase, 
But  I  love  not  the  murder  of  game, 
I  glory  to  fight 
For  honor  and  right, 
But  I  love  neither  honors  nor  fame. 

—A.  A.  Y. 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  JULY  10,    190^  No.  6 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Yeab 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


WHO  IS  MAYOR? 


Richardson  or  Police  Board 


The  Board  of  Police  Commissioners  called  to  con- 
sider matters  brought  to  light  by  the  Idea.  T  he 
Mayor  can  not  tell  what  happened  because  his 
subordinate  police  board  says  no. 


The  Journal  of  the  3d,  last  Saturday,  in  an  article  under 
the  caption  "Mayor  Richardson  in  Direct  Opposition  to  Meth- 
ods of  Police  Board"  says : 

"I  cannot  say  anything  as  to  the  action  ot  the  board  last 
night,  except  that  it  was  called  to  consider  matters  relating  to 
the  discipline  and  efficiency  of  the  police  foTce. 

"The  board  passed  a  resolution  that  the  'action  of  the  board 
should  not  be  made  knov/n.  This  was  against  my  judgTaent  and 
advice.  I  believe  in  the  greatest  publicity  in  city  affairs,  and 
that  the  official  action  of  public  officers  and  departments  should 
at  all  times  be  open  to  the  public." — Mayor  Richardson. 

The  mavor  thus  admits  that  he  is  bound  to  keep  quiet  when 


2  The   Idea. 

lie  had  a  perfect  right  ta  say  what  he  pleases  as  he,  and  not  the 
board,  is  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  city. 

Whether  he  keeps  quiet  or  not  concerning  this  meeting  ho 
should  give  the  board  to  understand  their  subordinate  posi- 
tion and  he  should  direct  the  police  force,  as  the  law  requires 
him  to,  both  in  the  Constitution,  which  makes  him  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  city,  and  in  the  charter  and  other  legislative 
statutes.  He  should  rise  to  the  dignity  of  his  position,  and 
not  be  the  mere  tool  of  others.  As  he  is  responsible  to  the 
State  for  the  behavior  of  the  police,  and  as  he  must  take  the 
blame  for  any  violation,  of  the  laws,  he  should  also  assume  the 
command  the  State  gives  him,  and  not  let  a  little  police  board 
whose  prime  duties  are  to  "prescribe  such  uniform  and  badges 
for  the  police  as  they  may  deem  proper,"  dictate  what  he  or  the 
police  shall  or  shall  not  do.  The  only  other  kind  of  authority 
the  law  gives  them  (the  Board)  is  that  of  appointment  and 
dismissal.  The  Mayor  has  shown  that  The  Idea  has  had  its 
weight  in  pointing  out  his  duty;  now,  let  him  act  up  to  his 
duty,  and  we  shall  take  pleasure  in  commending  rather  than 
censuring  him.  If  he  does  not,  however,  then  our  plans  to 
compel  law  enforcement  may  put  him  in  an  extremely  'awk- 
ward position:  that  of  being  on  trial  for  "neglect  of  official 
duty." 

Be  a  mayor  and  we  are  with  you.  Be  a  puppet  and  we 
are  with  the  law — ^against  you.  Let  the  people  show  the  Mayor 
that  they  expect  him  to  be  more  than  a  mere  figurehead,  and 
we  believe  he  may  come  out  and  show  what  is  in  him.  Unless 
the  public  does  do  this  he,  since  he  is  surrounded  by  petty  poli- 
ticians, will  not  realize  his  true  position  and  in  all  probability, 
will  drift  on,  to  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  the  Police  Board, 
and  to  his  own  ultimate  diseomfiture. 


We  wonder  why  Uncle  Sam  will  send  a  large  posse  of 
dieputies  out  into  the  mountains  to  stop  a  farmer  from  run- 
niua;  a  little  2x4  still  and  yet  permit  the  revenue  laws  to  be 
violated  under  the  very  shadow  of  their  office  in  "Richmond. 
Are  the  Bepublican  and  Democratic  machines  so  hand-in-glove 
that  they  wink  at  each  other's  negligence  ? 


41 


T  he    Idea. 

JOKES  OR  JUSTICE 


i^ecret  Trials 

Telephone  Trials 

Wholesale  Trials  and 

Trials  by  Mail. 

Judp;es  are  supposed  to  be  dignified  and  soleiuii  because 
justice  requires  solemn  thought  and  quiet  deliberation  to  ward 
off  decisions  given  in  haste  or  heat  or  feeling,  and  therefore 
the  expression  ^'solemn  as  a  judge"  has  become  proverbial. 

In  Richmond  this  expression  has  lost  its  force  and  the  ex- 
pression ''as  ridiculous  as  a  judge"  would  not  only  be  more  ex- 
pressive but  would  also  be  more  true  to  life. 

The  police  court  has  gotten  to  be  recognized  as  a  place  of 
amusement  and  visitors  to  the  city  make  it  a  point  to  take  in 
among  the  places  of  especial  interest,  the  police  court.  In  the 
remotest  parts  of  the  State  and  the  l^ation  Justice  John  Crutch- 
field  is  'a  well  known  character  and  his  court  is  the  subject  of 
many  an  interesting  story  and  his  peculiar  methods  of  judicial 
procedure  are  the  common  talk  of  tourists. 

Visitors  to  Richmond  inquire  of  the  hotel  clerks  where  to 
find  the  "One  John"  or  "Justice  John." 

In  past  years  Richmond  was  noted  for  her  two  Johns,  John 
Jasper  and  John  Crutchfield,  both  occupying  positions  re- 
garded elsewhere  as  those  of  dignity  and  decorum  but  here  re- 
garded as  the  seats  of  outlandish  humor  and  laughter  provok- 
ing pantomine.  On  one  occasion  about  twelve  years  ago  it  was 
our  pleasure  to  hear  the  distinsrui'shed  colored  divine  on  his 
annual  sermon  day  when  his  subject  was  "The  sun  do  move." 
This  was  also  the  occasion  for  "lifting  'a  collection : from  the 
white  folks,"  and  it  seemed  to  afford  the  negro  portion  of  the 
congregation  a  peculiar  pleasure  to  see  Justice  John  Crutch- 


4  T  h  e   1  d  ea. 

field,  who  was  occupying  a  front  seat,  hand  over  a  half-dollar  to 
the  good  brother  deacon  who  passed  the  basket,  for  it  seemed  to 
remind  them  of  the  many  times  when  conditions  were  just  the 
reverse  when  they  were  the  ones  who  had  so  often  been  re- 
quired to  hand  over  the  cash  to  the  Justice,  indeed  seldom  does 
it  occur  that  a  negro  g^ets  free  if  he  is  once  called  into  the  po- 
lice court  of  Richmond. 

Not  only  is  the  negro  the  butt  of  many  la  joke  and  the  payer 
of  many  a  speedy  sentence  given  at  the  expense  of  impartiality, 
but  unless  one  has  a  good  strong  pull  in  the  Richmond  police 
court  he  is  likely  to  come  away,  guilty  or  not  guilty,  mad 
enough  to  fight  a  hornets'  nest,  for  it  seems  to  be  the  rule  of 
this  court  to  regard  a  man  a  criminal  unless  he  can  prove 
otherwise  and  he  is  given  very  scant  opportunity  even  then  to 
even  tell  his  side  of  the  case. 

Just  yesterday  we  saw  a  young  man  treated  in  a  most 
vmkindly  manner  by  the  court,  given  a  lecture  which  even  if 
he  had  been  guilty  was  utterly  undeserved  and  uncalled  for, 
and  then  fined  without  being  given  an  opportunity  to  answer  to 
the  charge  preferred  against  him.  As  it  davnied  on  the  young 
fellow  that  he  had  been  punished  without  a  trial  and  as  the 
guard  caught  him  by  the  arm  and  rudely  pulled  him  away  he 
said  with  suppressed  emotion,  "I  wanted  to  tell  you  about  it 
and  you  would  not  listen  to  me."  The  only  answer  as  he  was 
dragged  away  was  "I  can't  help  that,"  and  the  next  case  was 
called.  We  listened  diligently  to  the  evidence  given, — a  few 
brief  words  by  a  policeman — and  we  heard  nothing  to  convict 
a  man  on,  even  if  he  had  not  desired  to  refute  it. 

Another  case  was  called.  A  policeman  niaae  a  remark  in 
la  low  tone  to  the  justice, — the  justice  turning  to  the  prisoner 
said:  "What  did  you  talk  back  at  him  for?"     "I  did  not  talk 

"  but  his  answer  was  broken  by  the  sharp,  "$5.00" 

from  the  justice,  and  the  prisoner  was  led  back  to  the  pen.  Six 
little  boys  were  brousrht  forward  charged  with  disorderly 
conduct  on  the  street  July  3rd.  Not  one  of  them  was  2:iven 
la  trial  or  a  chance  tO'  say  one  word.  The  justice  Irchired  them 
and  fined  them  one  dollar  each  "and  costs"  which  amounted  to 
more  than  the  fine,  the  six  paying  $9,60  costs  and  $6.00  in 
fines.     We  wonder  where  such  costs  come  in. 


T  k  e   I  d  6  a.  5 

Then  comes  a  cuije  of  steaiing  in  vvbicli  thu  go^ds  bLulcu 
were  produced  and  the  case  was  absolutely  clear  against  the 
boy.  The  justice  made  a  few  kindly  remarks  to  the  boy  and 
dismissed  tlie  case.  And  if  you  wonder  why  he  dismissed  it 
we  will  simply  have  to  answer  that  Mr.  Pollock  appeared  as' 
lattorney  for  the  boy.  He  made  no  speech  as  is  customary  for 
counsel  to  do,  he  simply  leaned  over  and  made  some  sliglit  re- 
marks to  the  judge  which  could  not  be  heard  by  those  sitting  a 
few  feet  away,  and  that  seemed  to  satisfy  the  court. 

Again — Two  prisoners  are  called.  Mr.  Pollock  walks  up 
to  the  police  before  their  evidence  is  given  and  makes  a  few  re- 
marks to  them,  then  turning*^  to  the  court  says,  'T  represent 
these  two  fellows."  The  courts  demeanor  changes,  he  smiles, 
no  more  bluster.  A  policeman  offers  a  few  words  of  evidence 
to  which  the  justice  replies,  both  in  a  low  voice.  A  second  of 
silence,  then  "The  case  is  dismissed"  comes  from  the  judge,  and 
everybody  smiles  as  the  next  case  is  called.  Now  we  would 
enquire  "Why,  if  there  was  no  case  against  the  prisoner  was  it 
deemed  necessary  to  get  Mr.  Pollock  and  pay  him  a  fee  to  rep- 
resent the  prisioner  ?"  Also,  "Why  did  the  police  arrest  in  the 
first  place  if  no  charge  worthy  of  evidence  being  offered  could 
be  made  ?"  We  do  not  hesitate  to  say  it  looks  rotten  to  us. 

We  have  been  in  court  on  three  occasions  recently  and 
cases  came  up  with  attorneys  about  twelve  times  during  those 
three  visits.  Only  three  lawyers  appeared  for  all  these  cases ; — 
one  lawyer  appearing  for  one  case,  another  lawyer  for  another 
and  the  third  lawyer,  Mr.  Pollock  appearing  in  all  the  other 
cases.     This  is  a  very  significant  fact. 

Secret  Trials. — In  this  court  very  many  cases  are  called 
and  a  note  is  handed^  to  the  justice  and  the  case  is  decided 
without  any  open  trial  at  all.  This  strikes  us  as  being  neither 
legal  nor  fair.  Secret  trials  are  contrary  to  American  ideas 
of  justice.  Besides  this,  many  cases  are  tried  in  the  office  of 
the  justice  without  once  coming  to  open  trial  at  all. 

When  men  can  be  fined  out  of  court  there  must  be  a  great 
temptatiou  to  bribery  and  other  evil.  We  propose  to  look  into 
the  le2:al  aspects  of  such  proceedings  and  not  simply  by  pub- 
licity but  by  lea:al  action  to  put  lan  end  to  all  abuses  of  justice. 

Trial  by  wholesale. — On  a  recent  occasion  m  this  court  the 


6  T  h  e   I  d  e  a. 

justice  called  out  before  any  trial  wasi  given,  for  all  those 
charged  with  the  offense  to  come  forward  and  pay  a  fine  of 
$2.50.  The  accused  came  forward  and  lined  up  and  bome  paid 
up,  though  the  most  were  led  away  to  the  pen.  This  was  too 
much  trial  by  wholesale,  or  rather  sentenced  by  wholesale, 
without  trial,  for  even  a  hanger-on  of  the  court,  and  he  got 
the  ear  of  the  justice  who  called  them  all  out  from  the  pen 
again  and  asked  them  to  answer  to  their  names.  Some  whose 
names  were  called  did  not  answer  and  then  it  developed  that 
they  had  been  released  on  paying  their  fine  hefo,t;  court. 

Trial  by  Letter  and  Trial  by  Telephone. — Frequently  in 
the  police  court  we  have  seen  the  judge  read  a  letter  and  render 
his  decision  without  further  trial,  but  the  climax  was  reached 
last  Saturday  when,  according  to  newspaper  reports,  Justice 
John  fined  a  man  out  at  the  ball  park  over  the  telephone. 

Justice  John  evidently  believes  in  practical  jokes  as  well 
as  in  jokes  which  simply  create  a  laugh. 


POLLOCK  AND  POLITICS 


In  Council  and  Court. 

Electioneering  for  Police  Connmisioner  McCarthy. 

ITot  long  ago  we  showed  the  relation  of  Mr.  Pollock  to  the 
council  and  the  police  court  and  police  force.  It  is  our  purpose 
in  this  number  to  produce  more  evidence  to- show  the  exist- 
ence of  certain  relationships  between  these  parts  which  should 
not  exist. 

In  the  first  place  let  us  take  a  look  into  the  council  meet- 
ing during  the  election  of  a  police  commissioner.  At  last  werk's 
joint  meeting  of  the  council  and  aldermen  there  was  called 
an  election  for  a  police  commissioner.  There  were  three  can- 
didates. One  recommended  by  a  ward  committee,  and  called 
the  ring  candidate,  Mr.  McCarthy;  another,  Mr.  Disney,  and 
lanother,  Dt.  Bryan. 


The   Idea.  7 

The  inacliin©  element  in  the  couucil  was  of  course  for  Mr. 
McCarthy.  Pollock  and  Mills  and  the  ring  crowd  of  course 
stood  together  but  the  part  that  was  noticeable  to  an  outsider 
was  that  there  seemed  to  be  such  intense  interest  and  excite- 
ment over  such  a  small  affair.  Mills  and  Pollock  seemed  to 
be  so  worked  up.  They  were  rusihing  hither  and  thither,  smil- 
ing on  a  member  here,  upbraiding  one  there,  arguing  yonder, 
all  with  so  much  apparent  interest  that  we  inquired  of  by- 
standers why  such  an  election  caused  so  much  siir.  "Is  there 
anything  in  it  ?"  we  enquired,  for  we  knew  that  there'  was  no 
salary  attached  to  the  job.  The  answer  came  quick, — "Any- 
thing in  it,  why  of  course  there  is.  The  commissioners  ap- 
point the  policemen,"  and  it  was  spoken  in  such  a  surprised 
tone,  as  if  one  were  exceedingly  ig-norant  who  did  not  know 
that  a  police  commissioner  could  make  money  out  of  his  ap- 
pointive power.  And  therefore  if  it  paid  a  commissioner  so 
well  why  should  it  not  offer  inducements  to  these  councilmen 
whose  influence  would  succeed  in  determining  who  that  com- 
missioner shoiild  be  ? 

Well,  to  get  back,  Mr.  Pollock  seemed  more  concerned 
about  the  result  than  any  other  one  and  m'ade  a  speech  for 
the  ring  candidate,  Mr.  McCarthy,  and  when  he,  McCarthy,  was 
not  elected  in  the  first  ballot,  then  the  lobbying  was  renewed  in 
earnest ;  Pollock  hastening  labout  the  floor  to  persuade  voters 
to  vote  for  his  man.  Some  eight  or  nine  ballots  were  taken 
and  the  fio;ht  was  a  hot  one.  A  motion  wasi  made  to  adjonm 
and  Pollock,  realizina;  that  this  would  kill  his  candidate,  as  he 
admitted,  of  course  used  his  influence  to  keep  from  'adjourning 
and  went  so  far  as  to  upbraid  two  of  his  hangers-on  for  voting 
"aye"  and  inducing  them  after  their  votes  were  in  to  change 
to '"no." 

ISTow,  to  be  able  to  chano;e  votes  after  a  vote  1=;  an  invalua- 
ble power,  and  this  is  where  Pollock's  unknown  influence  comes 
in,  and  it  is  really  amusing  to  see  how  the  little  machine  men 
obev  his  orders.  As  one  would  vote  -nioi  to  suit  him  he  would 
scowl  and  hasten  across  the  ch'amber  to  sret  him  in  line.  With 
anotbev  be  would  use  his  powers  of  nersuasion  onlv.  On  the 
last  ballot  when  McCarthv  wa«i  dpclared  elected.  Pollock  was 
the  iianniest  man  in  the  oonncil,  he  jumped  up  and  smacked 


8  The   Idea. 

liis  liauds  together  aud  said  "J s  C 1!  That  was  a  close 

call/'  aud  then  weint  about  gloatiug  over  a  victory  of  greed 
lagaiust  the  people.  A  few  moments  later  he  said  with  an  oath, 
"I  was  scared  to  death  and  working  like  a  dog." 

Now  The  Idea  wants  to  know  why  he  was  so  scared  by 
the  possibility  of  a  highminded  doctor  being  elected  to  the 
board.  By  his  own  talk  he  was  personally  exceedingly  in- 
terested in  the  success  of  the  ring  candidate  and  these  actions 
and  these  words  here  written  down  show  that  his  influence 
had  a  large  weight  in  putting  McCarthy  into  office. 

ISTow  let  us  notice  what  a  police  commissioner  does.  The 
board  of  commissioners  appoint  the  police  and  may,  on  cause, 
remove  from  office.  This  means  that  if  the  ooiamissioner  is 
not  the  highest  class  of  man  he  will  use  his  power  to  keep  po- 
lice from  enforcing  laws  against  his  friends  and  this  is  the 
charge  that  citizens  daily  bring  against  the  police  com misisi oners 
in  our  hearing.  They  say  that  the  police  'are  not  able  to  do  their 
sworn  duty  because  they  fear  they  will  loose  their  jobs.  And 
there  is  not  a  policeman  in  Richmond  who  does  regard  his 
oath.  In  fact  befoir©  this  matter  came  up  we  learned  that  po- 
licemen have  claimed  that  they  could  not  possibly  afford  to 
abide  by  their  oaths  because  of  the  fear  that  this  bo^ard  would 
take  away  their  jobs  simply  because  they  had  done  their  duty. 
This  explains  why  there  is  not  a  policeman  in  the  city  who  dares 
to  enforce  the  laws  which  he  knows  are  violated  daily  because  he 
knows  that  "he  would  not  be  upheld"  either  by  the  mayor, 
who  is  responsible  in  law  for  the  acts  of  the  police,  or  by  the 
commissioners  which  are  now  so  powerful  that  the  mayor  does 
not  even  dare  to  oppose  them. 

ISTow,  since  Mr.  Pollock  is  so  powerful  in  making  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  police  commission,  who  in  turn  make  the  police 
force,  yon  can  readily  see  how  Pollock  has  an  influence  with 
the  individual  policemen  and  how  a  pri'Sioner  would  naturally 
want  to  have  Pollock  represent  him  beoausie  the  policemen 
would  not  want  ta  offend  Pollock  by  giving  convicting  evi- 
dence asrainst  a  prisoner  whom  Pollock  was  representing.  This 
is  why  the  policeman  acts,  as  we  have  seen  them  act  in  the  court 
in  a  way  that  shows  that  he  fears  the  power  of  Pollock.  They 
do  not,  and  cannot  dare,  to  take  a  bold  stand  when  Pollock 


The   I  de  a.  l> 

is  against  them.  This  shows  why  on  a  recent  Monday  morn- 
ing when  there  were  many  cases  in  court  represented  by  Pol- 
lock, there  was  only  one  other  lawyer  who  had  a  case  in  this 
police  court.  And  the  same  thing  occurred  again  to-day,  July 
5th.  Many  cases  were  represented  by  Pollock  and  one  loiic 
lawyer  appeared  to  defend  another  prisoner.  Pollock  has  an 
almost  absolute  monopoly  on  the  police  court  practice — and 
there  is  a  reason  for  it. 


FACTS  OR  LIES? 


Being  some  remarks  concerning  a  iieadiess  little 
publication  which  has  just  made  its  appear- 
ance in  Richmond  in  defence   of 
whiskey  and  corrupt  politics. 


If  you'll  go  into  the  police  court  most  any  morning  you 
will  find  some  evil  doer  caught  in  the  meshes  of  the  law  who 
is  so  hemmed  about  by  truthful  evidence  that  his  only  hope 
is  in  telling  an  unusually  big  one  to  snow  under  the  prosecu- 
tion. And  he  feels  so  much  in  need  that  he  prefaces  his  re- 
marks to  the  court  by  saying,  "I's  gwine  tell  you  de  trufe,  boss," 
or  "Dis  is  a  fact,"  And  immediately  a  titter  goes  around 
the  court  room  for  every  one  realizes  tbat  when  a  man  is  so 
talkative  about  his  telling  the  truth  he  is  really  ready  to  tell 
an  unusually  big  lie. 

Likewise  in  a  recent  wet  and  dry  contest  in  a  neighbor- 
ing city  the  saloons  imported  some  large  posters,  furnished  and 
published  by  the  l^ational  Wholesale  Liquor  Dealers  of 
America,  entitled 

"FACTS" 
Concerning  prohibtion  in  other  spates. 

In  a  day  or  so  the  Anti-Saloon  League  exposed  the  so- 
called  "facts"  as  lies  of  the  basest  sort,  and  the  few  business 
men  who  were  helping  the  saloons  in  their  fight  immediately 


10  The   Idea. 

had  the  posters  torn  down,  because  they  realized  that  when  a 
man  is  boastful  'about  his  telling  the  truth  he  requires  watch- 
ing. 

Some  two  weeks  ago  we  were  informed  that  an  opposition 
publication  would  shortly  appear  to  contest  the  ground  taken 
by  The  Idea  in  its  fight  against  evil. 

We,  of  course,  were  delighted  because  we  knew  that  we  had 
hold  of  enough  actual  data  and  statistics  to  not  only  hold  our 
ground  but  to  confound  the  enemy,  and  by  nature  we  enjoy 
a  contest.  W©  must  admit,  however,  that  we  have  been  sadly 
disappointed  in  both  the  moral  and  intellectual  character  of  our 
rival  publication,  for  surely  if  the  editor,  or  editress,  or  editors, 
or  editresses  of  "Facts"  have  set  out  to  hold  any  position,  it 
certainly  cannot  be  as  weak  as  this  first  number  would  make 
it  appear.  For  most  any  position  can  find  at  least  some  few 
larguments  that  will  at  least  appear  to  be  good  for  at  least  a 
little  while.  But  our  little  contemporary  must  be  seriously 
embarrassed  by  the  awkwardness  and  untenability  of  its  posi- 
tion and  the  difficulty  of  taking  a  stand  for  corruption,  and 
graft,  and  injustice,  and  mismanagement  of  municipal  'affairs, 
and  all  manner  of  evil.  We  trust  that  the  editor  has  some 
inborn  disgust  lat  being  known  as  a  defender  of  wrong  and 
that  this  is  the  reason  that  he  or  she,  or  it  or  they  appear  or 
appears  so  weak  in  his,  or  her,  or  its,  or  their  first  number, 
and  that  he  or  she  or  it  or  they  is,  or  are,  ashamed  to  have 
his,  or  her,  or  its,  or  their  name  or  names  appear  as  editor, 
or  (editress,  or  both,  of  this  little  publication. 

But  we  did  not  start  out  to  hurt  him,  or  her,  or  them  over 
much.  We  desire  to  encourage  them.  At  first  we  were 
tempted  to  treat  them  as  the  daily  papers  here  are  treating  us, 
with  silent  contempt,  but  instead  we  are  going  to  do  as  we 
would  be  done  by,  and  help  them  by  our  advice  and  criticism 
and  advertisement  by  thus  mentioning  them  in  our  modest 
publication.  ISTow  seriously,  Mr.  (or  Miss  ot  both)  Facts, 
you  can  do  better  than  that.  With  all  the  money  that  the 
whiskey  interests  you  represent  have,  you  surely  can  do'  better 
than  this.  Gan't  you  find  something  interesting  as  the  product 
of  your  own  brain  or  brains  without  relying  on '  quoting'  from 
The  Idea  the  only  "thing  of  real  interest  in  your  publication? 


The   Idea.  11 

Oome  now,  give  us  something  worth  while.  If  you  are 
going  to  scrap  make  it  lively.  You'll  get  beat  so  much  quicker 
if  you  don't  put  on  a  bold  front. 

If  you  can't  handle  the  proposition  we  would  suggest  that 
you  get  an  editor.  You  knciw  it  is  almost  impossible  to  edit 
a  paper  without  an  editor.  And  then,  remember  this,  that  it 
takes  about  three  times  as  much  brains  to  defend  ^a  weak  posi- 
tion as  't  does  a  strong  one.  In  other  words  the  editor  of  The 
Idea  having  the  advantage  of  being  on  the  side*  of  right,  can 
get  along  with  about  one  third  of  th'©  expense  of  mental 
energy  that  must  be  consumed  in  attempting  to  defend  a  weak 
position  as  that  so  boldly  assumed  by  you. 

Again — don't  be  ashamed  of  your  name. 


Feel  Graft.  Breathe  Graft 


Richmond  compared  with  San  Francisco. 


"At  first  it  was  little  squalid  graft — black  mailing  gam- 
blers and  the  nether  world ;  one  could  feel  graft,  breathe  it, 
do  all  but  see  and  prove  it." 

Don't  that  sound  like  Richmond  to-day.  We  can  all  feel 
graft  and  breathe  graft.  We  feel  it  in  excessive  taxes  and  no 
returns  for  them,  in  neglected  streets  and  wasted  flumes,  in 
high  prices  for  printing  and  other  city  bills,  in  crooked  bond 
issues  and  awards  of  contracts  to .  highest  bidders,  and  in  a 
million  and  one  'other  ways.  We  breathe  it  in  the  daily  con- 
versation on  the  street,  in  the  club  and  wherever  men  assem- 
ble together.  That  sentence,  however,  was  written  about  San 
Francisco  in  190,1,  before  the  big  grafters  out  there  were  even 
suspected  of  their  crime,  which  afterwards  landed  them  behind 
prison  bars,  but  it  sounds  like  it  was  written  about  Richmond 
in  the  good  year  1909.  The  article  in  McClure's  Magazine 
telling  of  the  graft  prosecution  in  San  Fraucisco  says  further: 
"The  toA^Ti  knew  everything  was  for  sale ;  the  town  cynically 
smiled;  Ruef    they    said  w^ts    a    smart    fellow.     The  public 


12  The   Idea. 

prints  toere  silent."  Siicli  is  the  case  to-day  in  Richmond. 
People  know  ''that  everything  is  for  sale,"  but  "they  cynically 
smile,"  and  the  newspapers  ''are  silent" — ah,  there's  the  great 
trouble  in  Richmond.  There  is  not  a  newspaper  here  that  is 
willing  to  publish  what  it  knows  of  the  graft  here. 

While  the  Richmond  papers  do  what  is  infinitely  moTe 
valuable  to  the  liquor  dealers,  in  that  they  practically  sell 
their  editorial  columns  to  the  whiskey  interests. 

"Now  the  large  graft  began;  the  saloons  sold  'municipal' 
whiskey;  Chinatown  (the  tenderloin)  paid  heavy  tribute  to 
the  police ;  the  administration  profited  from  the  earnings  of  the 
women  of  the  dives."  Don't  that  sound  again  like  Richmond. 
Then  the  political  boss  Ruef  was  charged  with  bribery  by  a 
little  paper  then  being  printed  in  San  Francisco.  He  after- 
wards confessed  and  the  mayor  "Schmitz  was  tried  and  con- 
demned to  prison  for  it.  ISTotwithstanding  the  abundance  of 
proof  of  this  clear  case  of  official  extortion,  at  that  time  no 
other  newspaper  published  a  word  concerning  the  occurrence." 
And  this  is  the  point  we  want  to  make — that  it  matters  not 
how  much  graft  is  going  on  in  Richmond  you  cannot  expect 
the  daily  papers  to  expose  it.  It  has  been  the  history  of  most 
cities  that  the  average  newspaper  has  not  got  nerve  enough 
to  do  anything  at  all  towards  exposing  those  high  up  in  the 
political  life  of  the  community.  If  the  Times-Dispatch 
dared  to;  if  the  Neivs  Leader  dared  to;  if  the  Journal  dared 
to,  they  have  enough  information  at  their  command  to  put  the 
grafters  in  Richmond  out  entirely,  but  no,  they  answer,  "That 
would  hurt  the  Democratic  party  in  Virginia,"  as  one  of  them, 
the  Times-DiSpaicJi,  put  it  on  one  occasion  when  they  were 
requested  to  publish  some  things  which  the  people  ought  to 
have  known.  These  papers  care  more  for  machine  politics 
tlian  they  do  foT  the  welfare  of  the  people. 

But  to  return  to  the  San  Francisco  affair,  the  fearless  lit- 
the  paper,  "The  Bulletin,"  got  hold  of  Heney,  the  great  graft 
prosecutor  and  in  a  speech  he  said,  "I'll  come  back  here  and 
put  Abe  Ruef  in  prison." 

The  grafter  got  worse  and  Heney  came  and  a  wealthy 
San  Francisco  man  put  up  $100,000  to  fight  the  grafters,  and 


The   Idea.  18 

many  of  the  big  fish  were  sentenced  and  others  went  into  exile, 
and  others  are  being  tried  to-day,  and  the  end  is  not  yet. 

Kichmond  may  sit  back  and  keep  quiet  for  a  while,  biit 
when  The  I^ea  gets  the  law  on  the  big  politician  and  grafters 
in  Richmond  the  people  will  certainly  come  forward  and  be- 
lieve that  there  is  indeed  something  wrong  here. 

We  have  studied  municipal  government  in  other  places 
and  we  are  frank  to  confess  that  though  we  have  been  up 
against  mismanagement,  and  petty  graft  and  extravagance  in 
the  case  of  city  funds  Richmond  is  in  the  grasp  of  a  ring  more 
powerful  than  any  we  have  yet  seen.  Here  the  grafter  has 
gotten  into  almost  every  department  of  our  city  life  and  his 
tremendous  machine  has  brought  the  citizens  so  slavishly  low 
that  they  even  fear  to  discuss  on  the  street  their  own  city 
affairs  for  fear  of  its  effect  on  their  business  or  their  social 
popularity.  And  the  people  seem  to  think  that  they  can't 
stop  it. 


News  Leader's  Glaring  Mistake 

Says  Franklin  ''Goes  Wet"  Really 
Went  ''Dry" 

More  Than  Two  to  One. 
But  News  Leader  Does  not  Correct  its  Error. 


The  News  Leader,  on  July  2d,  had  the  following  articde: 
SOUTHAMPTON  COUNTY  DISTRICT  GOES  "WET." 

Franklin,  July  2. — A  special  election  was  held  in  this 
magisterial  district  Wednesday  to  determine  whether  the  dis- 
pensary now  in  operation  at  this  place  should  b©  abolished  or 
not. 

The  balloting  was  heavy,  and  resulted  in  79  votes  in  fawY 
of  the  dispensary  and  200  against  it.  The  temperance  people 
are  jubilant  but  quiet  in  their  sweeping  victory. 

As  a  result  of  the  election  the  dispensary  will  close  Oct. 
Ist  and  thereafter  this  town  and  district  will  be  dry. 


1^  T  h  e   1  d  e  a. 

iSTotice  the  fact  that  though  the  headlines  said  "wet"  yet 
really  the  vote  putting  whiskey  out  of  Franklin  was  more 
than  two  to  one,  or  200  to  79,  in  favor  of  the  "Urys"  and  yet 
we  have  searched  diligently  for  a  correctio'U  of  this  gross  mis- 
statement and  have  not  yet  been  able  to  discover  it. 

Did  the  Neivs  Leader  because  it  wants  to  make  the  peo- 
ple believe  that  the  "prohibition  wave  has  been  checked"  delib- 
erately make  this  error.  If  not,  why  did  it  not  the  next  day 
make  the  correction  ?     JSText !  News  Leader. 


STYLE  OR  SUBSTANCE. 

Did  you  ever  notice  that  The  Idea  does  not  attehipt  any 
high-sounding  terminology  or  ornate  and  beautiful  phrases. 

Time  was  when,  in  writing  for  others  we  put  in  the  frills 
and  curls  and  even  essayed  the  field  of  metre  and  verse^  and 
tried  to  adorn  our  expression  with  carefully  wrought  figures  of 
speech.  ISTow,  however,  we  "blurt  it  out  like  a.  school-boy," 
often  without  ever  looking  it  over  before  sending  it  to  press. 
And  our  reason  is  this.  Time  is  a  consideration  now  and 
our  object  is  simply  to  start  you  to  thinking,  and  the  minor 
matter  of  pleasing  the  ear  does  not  concern  us,  largely  because 
we  don't  care  whether  you  are  pleased  or  not,  in  fact  we  don't 
care  whether  we  please  ourselves  or  not,  as  far  as  style  is  con- 
cerned. And  then  we  find  that  in  attempting  to  polish  up  an 
article  it  is  so  easy  to  hurt  the  thought  and  give  a  shade  of 
meaning  not  desired.  So  we  just  fire  away,  giving  our 
thoughts  for  what  they  are  worth,  fresh  and  hot  from  the  think- 
tank,  forgetting  we  ever  burnt  the  midnight  oil  in  diving  into 
Anglo-Saxon  or  Hellenic  literature,  or  worrying  over  Latin  or 
"Greek  or  Hebrew  derivations,  or  chasing  after  college  distinc- 
^;ions  and  degrees. 

Time's  too  short  and  life's  too  uncertain  to  think  of  such 
ihings  in  the  rush  of  modem  days,  especially  when  there's  no 
"boss  to  jerk  you  up  and  fire  you  for  not  putting  on  the  polish. 

But  don't  you  ever  be  fooled  into  thinking:  that  because 
we  are  careless  of  phraseing  and  frills  that  this  little  affair  is 
careless  of  its  facts. 

In  fact  about  that  we  are  often  too  careful  because  how- 


The  Idea.  15 

ever  many  rascals  may  be  guilty  we  don't  want  tu  be  tricked 
into  hurting  an  innocent  one. 

When  public  malefaction  comes  to  our  attention  we  hate 
to  believe  it,  and  so  we  verify  carefully  by  close  inquiry  and 
study,  most  often  going  into  the  very  minutest  details,  and 
diligently  searching  for  any  mitigating  circumstances,  for  we 
know  the  frailties  of  humanity  and  are  inclined  toward  for- 
giveness for  all  human  errors,  but  when  once  we  are  satisfied 
that  a  malicious  thief  has  been  robbing  the  people  we  are  abso- 
lutely careless  and  relentless  in  pursuit  of  the  offender,  and 
our  wording  and  methods  may  be  radical  in  the  extreme. 
AVhen  there's  a  radical  wrong,  there's  need  for  a  radical 
remedy. 

The  Idea  is  conservative  in  its  attitude  towards  all  man- 
kind, but  is  rank  and  radical  in  fighting  evil  wherever  found. 


MOCK  MODESTY. 

PERSONAL. 

May  we  have  your  attention  for  just  a  moment  concern- 
hig  the  methods  of  The  Idea.  Word  comes  to  us  that  some 
of  our  readers  think  we  overstep  the  mark  in  our  boldness 
in  exposing  the  redlight  evil,  and  perhaps  they  think,  not 
being  well  acquainted  with  the  Editor,  that  we  are  "of  the 
baser  sort,"  or  have  not  proper  regard  for  the  higher  sensi- 
bilities of  our  cultured  and  refined  reading  public.  We  de- 
sire to  state  that  no  one  has  higher  ideals  and  we  modestly 
believe  that  very  few  men  are  more  careful  in  the  language  of 
their  daily  conversation  than  we,  and  it  hurts  us  to  think 
that  we  may  hurt  the  usefulness  of  our  little  paper  by  appear- 
ing to  be  regardless  of  the  feelings  of  others.  We  have  not 
the  slightest  doubt  that  the  future  will  disclose  us  in  a  better 
light  and  that  as  a  result  the  good  we  hope  to  accomplish  will 
be  increased.  Meanwhile,  we  want  you  to  know  that  nothing 
but  an  intense  hatred  of  vice  and  evil  urges  us  to  disclose 
it  in  snch  horrible  colors. 

We  show  you  the  picture  not  that  you  may  enjoy  the  pic- 
ture, but  that  you  may  so  loathe  the  evil  that  yon  will  aron'=;e 
in  your  righteousness  and  banish  it  from  our  fair  city.     We 


16  T  h  e   I  dea. 

print  in  this  paper  things  which  wfe  regret  the  need  for 
exceedingly,  but,  since  the  need  exists,  we  are  determined  to 
do  our  duty,  and  even  though  it  should  not  meet  with  the 
approval  of  all,  we  trust  that  in  the  long  run  it  will  be  seen 
to  be  the  right  course. 

We  have  small  sympathy  for  that  mock  modesty  which  is 
so  prudish  as  to  fail  to  see  the  evil  or  to  hear  about  it,  but 
which,  by  its  ignorance,  permits  the  damnation  of  those  who 
iiave  a  right  to  expect  from  them  sufficient  knowledge  to  pro- 
tect and  guide  their  young  feet  to  better  ways.  We  have  no 
sympathy  for  the  parent  who  will  permit  his  child  to  be  tempt- 
ed by  vice  which  he  is  too  goody-goody  to  sufficiently  examine 
into  to  be  able  to  eradicate. 


GKAET  IK  CITY  GO VERI^MENT— PREMIUM  ON  PE- 
CULATION—HONEST OFFICIALS  IMPOSSIBLE. 

The  wise  plans  of  Penn  did  not  preclude  in  his  city, 
misgovemment  as  notorious  as  in  New  York.  St.  Louis, 
San  Francisco  have  both  jailed  high  officials.  Disclosures  have 
caused  both  the  Mayor  of  Louisville  and  the  Chief  of  Police 
of  Newark,  N.  J.,  to  blow  out  their  brains.  Even  Puritan 
Boston's  Finance  Committee  has  uncovered  graft  so  insidious 
as  to  cast  doubt  on  the  technique  of  Tammany  Hall. — Rob- 
ert Sloss,  in  Van  Nordens  Magazine. 

We  would  add :  "Let  the  grafter  beware  in  Richmond !  " 
He  further  states :  "The  existing  organizati'm  of  every  de- 
partment of  the  city  government,  not  only  put  a  premium  on 
peculation,  but  made  it  impossible  for  even  an  honest  official 
to  render  efficient  public  service."  No,  Sloss  was  not  talk- 
ing about  Richmond,  but  it  is  absolutely  true  here.  The  best 
of  officials,  on  account  of  ring  methods,  cannot  render  in 
Richmond  efficient  service.  If  they  start  out  to  serve  the 
people  they  find  their  official  head  in  danger  of  decapitation. 
So,  as  a  rule,  they  drift  along  in  the  ruts,  and  let  city  affairs 
look  after  themselves. 


WE  SELL  and  Guarantee 

The  New  Columbia 
Champion  Refrig= 
erators,  New  Pro= 
cess  Gas  Ranges, 
McDougall  Kitchen 
Cabinets, 

And  Everything  in  Reliable 

FurnilureandrioorCoverings  » 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.,  Inc. 

1418=1420  E.  Main  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


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WEEKLY    Oi#    THE  COPY 

THE^IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  July  17,  1909  No.  7 

$2.00  A  YEAR 


The  Police  and  Justice  John 

Why  Police  Don^t  Act 

Mr.  Pollock  in  Police  Court 

How  Bums  Rule  Richmond 

The  $7,500.00  Blunder 

The  Times-Dispatch  Unfair 

Praise  For  The  Police 

Gov.  Johnson  on  Law-Enforcement 

The  Mayor's  Position 

FOR  SALE  AT  ALL  NEWS  STANDS 

BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


For  Slightly  Used  Furniture 

The  Mayo  Furniture  Co. 

1402  East  Main  Street, 

which  opened  its  doors  June  1st,  last,  has  sold  more  Furni- 
ture than  any  TWO  houses  in  Richmond.  In  fine  and 
medium  grades  they   are   the  lowest  priced   house  in   the 

UNITED  ST/iTES 


Be  a  man  among  men, 

Not  a  humbug  among  humbugs. 

— Lowell. 


Not  failure,  but  low  aim,  is  crime. 

— Lowell. 


The  bravest  ^re  the  tenderest. 
The  loving  are  the  daring. 

— Bayard  Taylor. 


The  hearts  that  dare  are  quick  to  feel, 
The  hands  that  wound  are  soft  to  heal. 

— Bayard  Taylor, 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  JULY  17,   1909  No.  7 


5  Cents  a  Copy  |2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


MR.   POLLOCK 

City  Official   Fighting  the  City 


The  laws  keep  couiicilmeii  from  taking  contracts  with  the 
city.     It  is  legally  a  crime. 

It  is  a  moral  crime,  if  not  a  legal  one,  for  a  city  official 
sworn  to  nphold  the  law  to  take  cases,  in  onr  courts,  which  re- 
quire him  to  side  against  the  city  and  the  laws  of  the  city. 

It  is  a  fact,  known  to  many  and  often  wondered  at,  that 
Mr.  G.  K.  Pollock  is  nearly  always  the  counsel  for  violators 
of  the  whiskey  and  cocaine  and  gainbling  laws,  taking  cases 
against  the  city,  although  he  is  a  councilman  and,  as  such,  an 
employe  who  should  always  defend  the  city  and  never  appear 
against  the  city.  Do  you  think  a  big  railroad  or  other  private 
corporation  would  permit  one  of  its  directors  to  take  money  to 
represent  one  bringing  suit  against  the  company.  ]^o,  and  no 
director  would  dare  to  attempt  it.'  The  case  is  similar.  An  em- 
l^loye  of  the  city,  Mr.  Pollock,  represents  those  who  have  com- 
mitted crime  against  the  city. 

We  do  not  hesitate  to  sav  that  Pollock  is  ffuiltv  in  morals 


•2  The   I  dea. 

of  a  crime  against  his  city  and  in  a  martial  court  would  be 
called  a  traitor  for  giving  aid  to  an  enemy. 

Can  you  conceive  of  a  high-minded  man  taking  such  a 
stand  ? 

"You  cannot  serve  two  masters." 


What  is  best  to-day  cannot  fail  to  bring  the  best  results 
to-morrow. — Huhhard. 


HOW  BUMS  RULE  IN  RICHMOND 


Crooked  Politics  and  Whiskey 


500  Gamblers  and  Degenerates  Qualify  for  Election 


The  citizens  often  wonder  how  weak  men  are  elected  while 
the  good  men  are  supposed  to  rule  the  city  by  voting  for  clean 
men.  If  you  approach  almost  any  gathering  of  men  prior  to 
an  election  you  can  count  on  a  majority  of  them  voting  con- 
scientiously and  standing  for  candidates  of  recognized  worth 
but  in  each  crowd  you  will  find  those  who  will  say  "He's  a 
good  man  but  he  wont  be  elected  because  the  ring  is  aganist 
him."  And  yet  no  one  seemsi  to  know  how  this  ring  wields  its 
power  in  the  very  face  of  such  public  sentiment. 

ISTow  the  answer  is  to  be  found  in  two  facts.  In  the  first 
place  if  you  should  ask  the  men  in  the  group  we  have  just  left 
how  many  of  them  have  a  vote  you  will  be  surprised  to  find 
that  perhaps  not  half  of  them  are  properly  registered  or  have 
paid  their  taxes  in  time  to  qualify  for  election  day. 

In  the  second  place,  if  you  will  go  to  the  office  of  the  Com- 
missioner of  Revenue  you  will  find  that  his  books  show  that 
hetween  500  and  600  beings,  we  almost  said  men — who  have 
neither  property  nor  reputation  nor  character,  have  paid  in  a 
lump  sum  to  the  State  their  poll  taxes  for  the  last  three  years 


The   Idea.  3 

and  to  the  question  of  "Value  of  personal  property,"  have  an- 
swered "none."  ISTow  note  that  these  men  have  not  sufficiently 
fixed  homes  to  have  been  properly  taxed  by  the  officers  and  that 
they  voluntarily  (?)  have  come  forward  at  the  last  minute  this 
last  winter  and  paid  up  for  three  years'  time  just  in  time  to 
qualify  for  the  summer  elections.  Of  course  this  means,  as 
any  one  could  see  to  look  at  these  men,  that  they  were  bums, 
gamblers,  thieves,  pimps,  toughs,  and  the  very  scum  of  society, 
the  hangers-on  of  the  bar  room  and  low  dives.  ISTow  it  was  to 
the  interests  of  somebody  to  see  that  these  men  had  the  money 
and  properly  qualified  to  vote.  We  understand  it  was  done 
by  the  whiskey  men  to  forestall  a  defeat  at  the  polls  in  the 
event  of  a  contest  this  year.  At  any  event  we  all  know  the  low 
element  that  did  it  and  we  know  that  they  would  not  vote 
either  dry  or  for  clean  men  for  office. 

We  cite  this  to  show  what  a  state  of  aifairs  exists  in  our 
fair  city  and  to  show  how  the  whiskey  men  keep  their  hand  on 
the  political  situation,  not  only  when  a  wet  or  dry  election  is 
coming  off,  but  in  voting  into  office  and  councils  men  who  will 
look  out  for  their  interests.  One  of  the  greatest  reasons  for 
our  opposing  the  whiskey  traffic  is  because  of  its  corrupting  in- 
fluence on  politics. 

]S[early  all  bad  men  in  both  council  and  city  affairs  are  put 
there  by  the  whiskey  vote  and  without  their  influence  Rich- 
mond would  be  a  city  without  its  corrupt  ring.  Without  whis- 
key the  power  of  Clyde  Saunders  and  Gilbert  Pollock  would 
be  broken  and  the  other  slick  politicians  like  Mills  and  Man- 
nine:  and  their  kind  would  loose  out  for  lack  of  votes. 


FROM  "IN  SCHOOL  DAYS."— BY  J.  G.  WHITTIER 

(In  which  "we  see  the  little  maiden  lingering  to  apologize  for 
having  'trapped'  a  boy  in  the  spelling  .class.") 
"I'm  sorry  that  I  spelled  the  word, 

I  hate  to  go  above  you, 
"'Because,'  the  brown  eyes  lower  fell, 
'Because,  you  see,  I  love  you.'  '' 


4  T  h  e   I  d  e  a. 

McCAKTHY  A  PUBLIC  CALAMITY. 

There  is  rejoicing  in  the  ranks  of  the  police  board  and 
ring  politics  over  the  election  of  McCarthy  to  that  body.  They 
evidently  know  how  he  will  vote.  Prominent  Riehnionders  have 
told  ns  that  they  regarded  the  election  of  McCarthy  as  a 
pnblic  calamity. 


Unrest  and  rnin  wronght  throngh  overtaxed  nerves,  come 
largely  from  owning  too  many  things. — Iluhhard. 


The 


Police  and   Justice  John 


Whv  the  Police  Don't  Act 


Ridiculed     by    the    Court.     Roasted    Openly    for 
Doing  Their  Duty. 


Justice  John  Calls  Them  Down. 


Every  now  and  then  a  new  policeman  realizing  his  duty 
as  set  forth,  in  his  oath,  attempts  to  enforce  the  law  and  he  goes 
ahead  as  he  has  sworn  to  do  and  arrests  for  law  violation  and 
brings  his  prisoner  into  court.  Then  the  grilling  commences. 
Justice  John  begins  his  ridicule  and  makes  the  young  officer 
feel  like  a  fool  right  there  in  open  court.  On  a  recent  oc- 
casion we  were  in  this  police  court  when  a  young  officer  ap- 
peared with  his  prisoner.  The  justice  proceeded  to  lambast 
the  young  man  and  crack  jokes  at  his  expen?e  until  the  fellow 
was  ashamed  to  stand  before  him.  And  when  we  enquired  the 
cause  we  were  told  that  the  officer  had  the  audacity  to  arrest 


The   Idea.  5 

some  cue  who  was  '"protected"  in  seme  way  and  the  officer  liad 
not  been  instructed  to  make  the  arresr. 

You  see  certain  kinds  of  offenses  against  the  law  may  be 
committed  with  impunity  by  certain  people  who  liave  an  in- 
fluence with  the  court,  most  likely  through  the  police  board. 

We  can  name  four  violations  of  the  law  which  are  daily 
committed  under  the  very  noses  of  the  policemen  and  with  the 
sanction  of  the  courts.  The  offenders  have  an  understanding 
that  they  will  not  be  touched,  and  woe  be  to  the  poor  policemen 
who  is  so  careless  of  his  job  as  to  dare  to  have  them  arrested. 

Citizens  have  recently  called  our  attention  to  four  separ- 
ate instances  where  the  attention  of  the  police  has  been  called 
to  gross  and  flagrant  violations  of  the  law  and  the  police  refused 
to  act  because,  as  they  said,  they  could  not  aft'ord  lo  offend  tlie 
ring  which  practically  was  the  law  of  the  city. 

Justice  John  practically  tells  the  police  as  the  French  king- 
told  the  people :  "I  am  the  law,"  let  the  statutes  go  to  grass. 


Writers  seldom  write  the  things  tbey  think.  They  simply 
write  the  things  they  think  other  folks  think  they  think.— 
Hubhard. 


COiN'CERA^IXG    THE    BOXD     ISSUE— THE     $7,500.00 

BLUIvTDER. 

The  man  who  says  he  makes  no  mistakes  is  a  liar.  The 
man  who  makes  none  is  dead.  The  livest  president  America 
has  had.  and  perhaps  the  greatest  and  most  democratic,  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  was  not  so  near  dead  as  to  keep  him  from  making- 
mistakes. 

The  good  that  Mr.  McKinley  might  have  accomplished 
was  largely  destroyed  by  his  extreme  caution  and  fear  of  mak- 
ing mistakes,  his  ultra-conservatism. 

The  Idea  is  not  ultra  conservative  and  will  not  refuse  to 
attempt  any  accomplishment  simply  through  fear  that  it  might 
make  mistakes.  We  will  use  the  utmost  care  to  keep  from  fall- 
ing into  error,  but  since  to  err  is  human — and  we  would  not 
pose  as  super-human — we  will  sometimes  err,  and  yet  when  we 
do  make  an  error,  we  shall  count  it  a  privilege  to  correct  that 


6  The   Idea. 

error.     If  our  writing  conveys  the  wrong  impression  we  will 
do  our  utmost  to  correct  it. 

Since  writing  the  article  in  our  number  of  July  3rd  on 
the  bond  issue,  we  learn  that  some  of  the  men  of  that  commit- 
tee who  are  above  reproach  feel  that  we  have  gone  too  far  in 
censuring  the  committee  as  a  whole.  We  desire  to  state  that 
it  was  not  our  purpose  to  condemn  the  good  men  on  that  com- 
mittee. As  a  committee  we  would  censure  them  for  their  action 
and  yet  we  would  not  mean  to  say  that  the  committee  is  com- 
posed entirely  of  rascals. 

We  will  say  this,  that  though  that  committee  has  evidently 
by  its  unwise  action  cost  the  city  $7,500.00,  we  believe,  ajid 
even  know,  that  there  are  good  men  on  that  committee  who 
thought  that  they  were  doing  the  best  thing  foi-  the  city. 

This  big  fact  remains  however — that  they  sold  the  bonds 
to  the  first  bidder  without  waiting  and  attempting  to  place 
them  at  a  higher  figure.  And  the  little  town  of  Petersburg 
even  is  now  boasting  that  for  their  bond  issue  recently  ordered 
they  are  having  many  inquiries  from  investors,  showing  that 
the  people  are  ready  to  bid  if  they  are  ever  given  a  chance. 

The  council  should  be  censured  for  making  such  an  ex- 
ceedingly large  and  utterly  uncalled  for  issue  at  this  time  and 
the  committee  should  be  reprimanded  by  the  people  for  not 
making  a  better  sale. 

If  The  Idea  said  anything  to  justify  the  impression  that 
we  regarded  all  the  finance  committee  as  rascals  we  desire  to 
correct  it.  We  do,  however,  continue  to  declare  that  a  tremen- 
dous blunder  was  made  by  the  committee  which  will  entail  a 
loss  on  the  citizens  of  $7,500.00,  which  was  absolutely  unnec- 
essary and  we  continue  to  believe  that  the  good  men  on  that 
committee  would  not  have  been  led  to  make  such  an  error  if  it 
had  not  been  to  the  financial  interests  of  somebody  .to  make  it 
appear  to  them  that  it  was  the  right  thing  to  do.  Petersburg 
and  Lynchburg  are  about  to  sell  bonds  in  large  issues.  When 
these  sales  have  been  consummated  we  will  show  how  these 
towns  beatv Richmond  on  the  deal. 


Those  who  sow  dunce  seed,  vice  seed,  laziness  seed,  usu- 
ally get  a  crop. — Emerson. 


The   Idea.  7 

HOW  CITIES  AKE  ROBBED  AND  THE  EEMEDY— 
GOVERNMENT  BY  COMMISSION. 

We  understand  that  some  think  that  we  are  trying  to  make 
the  people  believe  that  all  Richmond  officials  and  coucilmen  are 
grafters. 

There  are  many  people  who  are  willing  to  believe  that  all 
men  in  political  positions  are  corrupt.  We  do  not  agTee  with 
them.  We  could  name  many  city  officials  who  are  not  only 
above  reproach  but  who  are  moreover  of  the  highest  order  of 
rectitude  and  honesty.  We  will  not  attempt  to  name  the  large 
number  of  such  men  in  Richmond's  city  hall.  We  will  simply 
take  as  an  example  of  that  class,  Mr.  Pace,  the  efficient  and 
honorable  treasurer. 

Though  we  censure  our  system  of  city  government  and 
condemn  it  as  rotten  to  the  core  and  though  Mr.  Pace  is  part 
of  that  system,  we  still  would  not  condemn  Mr.  Pace,  but  we 
would,  on  the  other  hand,  uphold  him  and  praise  him  as  we 
would  many  other  city  officials.  We  point  out  the  evils  of  the 
present  system  and  of  certain  individuals  of  the  present  sys- 
tem in  order  to  arouse  people  to  a  study  of  their  government 
so  that  they  may  be  able  to  change  it  for  a  more  sane  and  busi- 
ness-like government  in  the  shape  of  government  by  commission. 

But  to  get  back — you  ask — where  is  the  evil  in  the  coun- 
cil committees  ?  Let's  answer  by  an  illustration  which  has  been 
used  on  public  occasions  before.  A  big  concern  wants  to  get 
accepted  a  certain  bid.  The  representative  finds  that  there  is 
a  certain  lawyer  very  influential  with  the  politicians.  He 
knows  that  if  he  can  get  that  lawyer  his  bid  will  be  accepted. 
He  offers  the  lawyer  a  fee  of  $100  in  cash  and  says  to  him 
he  has  $500  more  if  his  bid  is  accepted.  The  lawyer  proceeds 
to  work.  He  is  gifted  and  influential.  He  sees  the  men  of  the 
committee  in  charge  of  the  awards  and  persuades  them  that 
though  his  client's  bid  is  larger  still  it  would  save  them  more 
than  the  difference  to  let  the  contract  at  the  higher  bid.  His 
appeal  carries  and  the  city  pays  the  bill  and  throws  away  $10,- 
000  of  money,  although  every  member  of  that  committee  may 
be  above  reproach.  All  that  can  be  said  is  that  the  citizens 
had  the  bill  to  pay  and  the  blame  can  not  be  placed. 


8  •  The  Idea. 

This  is  just  the  way  all  politicians  know  gi-afting  is  often 
done.  When  a  committeeman  cannot  be  found  who  can  be 
bought  an.  outsider  can.  ISTow  most  of  the  council  committees 
in  Richmond  have  some  weaklings  on  them,  or  worse,  grafters 
on  them,  and  through  this  weakling  or  gi-after  the  outside 
grafter  works  and  in  this  way  graft  has  gone  on  and  is  going 
on  in  Richmond. 

The  councilmen  admit  they  have  not  time  to  post  them- 
selves and  so  they  have  to,  take  the  word  of  others  and  these 
others  are  often  the  bought  men. 

And  the  remedy  is  simply  this.  Government  by  a  com- 
mittee of  five  experts  who  are  paid  to  know  and  act  accordingly. 

Such  a  committee  or  commission  will  know  and  feel  their 
responsibility  and  the  city  will  be  saved  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  every  year  just  as  the  seventy  or  eighty  cities  are 
doing  which  have  adopted  this  form.  Richmond  still  blunders 
along  with  an  ancient  body  of  fifty-six  incompetent,  irresponsi- 
ble; jolly  good  fellows  spending  hours  and  hours  of  their  valu- 
able time  in  senseless  debates  over  things  which  they  admit, 
when  the  voting  time  comes,  they  know  nothing  about  and  have 
to  take  somebody  else's  judgment  on. 

The  Idea  is  showing  up  these  outlandish  mistakes  and 
blunders  in  order  to  get  government  by  commission,  the  only 
common  sense  business-like  plan  ever  adopted.  Our  council, 
however,  don't  like  to  let  us  have  it  because  they  will  lose  their 
influential  positions  which  sometimes  means  their  positions  of 
eraft. 


Graft  in  Granting  Whiskey  License 

Duties  of  the  Police  Board 

Protection  of  Big  Gamblers 

Who  the  Editor  is 

The  above  are  among -the  topics  to  be  discussed  in  our 
next  issue.     Subscribe  now.     $2.00  a  vear. 


T  7i  e   I  d  e  a.  9 

^THE  NORTH  AMERICAN'' 

Boycotted  by  the  Whiskey  Interests 


Its  Results— A  Big  Lesson  for  Other  Papers. 


The  Philadelphia  North  Americaii,  in  an  editorial  of  June 
19tli,  tells  an  interesting  story  of  the  way  a  boycott  was  en- 
forced against  them  by  the  distillers  and  brewers^ 

That  editorial  says:  "*  *  *  But  when  they  whipped 
into  line,  not  only  the  saloon  men,  but  many  hotel  men,  and 
warned  everj^  store  they  traded  with — sent  to  us  warnings  that 
even  dealers  in  toothpicks  and  pickles  and  rubber  bands  had 
been  warned  by  dire  consequences'  if  they  continued  to  adver- 
tise in  the  North  American — when  deputations  sought  to  de- 
prive us  of  all  department  store  advertising  and  sent  boycotting 
committees  to  pretty 'much  all  Philadelphia  merchants  from 
whom  the  liquor  men  buy  goods,  it  was,  or  we  suppose  it  should 
have  been,  an  exceedingly  awesome  warning.       *     ""      * 

"But  a  surprise  awaited  us.  *  *  *  *  j|^  -^^g  g^ 
reflex  result  of  the  boycott  that  came  with  such  surprising  swift- 
ness that  we  had  no  fair  chance  to  test  our  faith.  *  *  * 
We  speak  our  experience  frankly  that  opposition  aroused  hon- 
estly hy  a  'newspaper  strong  enough  to  stand  alone  and  command 
the  people's  trust  ivill  create  more  support  than  it  can  take- 
away. 

'^It  has  been  an  exceedingly  interesting  experience.  *  * 
*  The  losses  came  but  they  came  at  the  start,  and  we  met  them 
calmly.  *  *  *  ISTowadays,  and  every  day,  the  columns  of 
this  newspaper  show  that  there  has  been  gain,  not  loss." 

All  this  boycott  was  made  by  the  saloon  men  just  because 
The  North  American  stood  for  a  policy  of  local  option,  and 
yet  the  whiskey  people  claim  to  believe  in  "personal  liberty" 
and  the  next  breath  will  attempt  not  only  to  destroy  the  per- 
sonal liberty  but  the  very  life  of  a  paper  whom  they  have  not 


10  The   Idea. 

money  enough  to  buy  out.  This  ought  to  show  to  the  people 
of  Richmond  why  the  Times-DisjMtch  and  the  News  Leader 
can't  afford,  or  think  they  can't  afford  to  give  the  other  side 
a  fair  show. 

The  Philadelphia  North  American  tells  also  of 

THE  BOYCOTT  OF 

THE  TIMES   DEMOCRAT  OF  * 
New  Orleans. 

"Because   its   Policy  Compelled   it  to  Antagonize 
Abuses  of  the  Liquor  Trade." 


''A  News  Paper  with  a  Conscience" 


U.    S.   Court   Calls    the    Gamblers    and    Whiskey 

Men — "A    Quasi-Criminal    Portion    of 

the    Population." 


The  American  says: 

"We  claim  admiring  fellowship  with  it  because  it  has 
proved  itself  to  he  a  newspaper  with  a  policy  and  a  conscience. 

A  campaign  was  carried  on  by  gamblers  and  their  liquor 
allies  to  intimidate  the  Times-Democrat.  It  led  to  a  law  suit, 
and  Judge  Saunders  of  the  U.  S.  District  Court,  in  delivering 
the  decision  against  the  boycotters  said  in  part:  'We  cannot 
permit  a  quasi-criminal  portion  of  the  population  to  censor 
and  dictate  what  the  newspapers  shall  be  permitted  to  say  in 
their  discussion  of  public  questions.  It  was  charged  that  a  con- 
spiracy was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  breaking  up  and  destroy- 
ing the  business  of  one  of  the  principal  newspapers  of  the 
South,  the  Times-Democrat  of  IvTew  Orleans.     This  paper  has 


The   Idea.  11 

taken  a  firm  stand  against  the  liquor  and  racing  element  of 
the  State  and  as  a  result  has  aroused  the  ire  of  that  portion  of 
the  population.  They  are  said  to  have  approached  advertisers 
of  the  paper  with  a  request  to  withhold  the  advertising  matter 
until  the  paper  changed  its  policy.  Said  Judge  Saunders: 
'I  cannot  imagine  a  greater  crime  than  this  as  the  criminals 
are  trying  to  destroy  the  free  discussion  of  questions  of.  inter- 
est to  the  welfare  of  the  city.' 

"It  is  a  splendid  decision,"  says  the  North  American, 
"and  we  hope  for  the  further  enforcement  of  that  and  like 
rulings.  For  they  would  serve  to  unfetter  the  countless  news- 
papers which  would  like  to  stand  for  the  right  if  they  could 
afford  it." 


We  wonder  if  the  Neivs  Leader  and  the  Times-Dispatch 
belong  to  those  "newspapers  which  would  like  to  stand  for  the 
right  if  they  could  afford  it." 


He  wields  the  deadliest  blade  of  all,  who'  lightest  holds 
his  life. — Timrod. 


NEWS  SUPPRESSED 


What  the    Daily    Papers    Did    and    Didn't,   When 
Petersburg  Voted  Wet  and  Radford  Voted  Dry. 


Radford  voted  dry  Thursday  of  last  week,  June  24th,  and' 
yet  those  who  get  the  Times-Dispatch  only  don't  know  it  yet, 
for  Friday's  paper  did  not  say  a  word  about  it  though  they 
received  a  dispatch  telling  the  whole  story.  Radford  went  dry 
about  two  to  one  and  there  was  great  interest  throughout  the 
State  in  the  election  and  we  have  looked  through  the  paper 
three  times  for  some  reference  to  it,  either  editorially  or  as 
a  news  item,  and  yet  it  can  not  be  discovered.  It  may  possibly 
be  there  as  we  did  not  use  a  microscope,  but  we  have  asked 
friends  if  they  had  read  it  and  they  knew  nothing  about  it, 


12  The   Idea. 

and  tJbey  were  suri^rised  that  here  a  week  after  they  did  not 
know  that  such  an  important  thing  had  happened  in  the  State. 
We  have  also  searched  diligently  through  Saturday's  paper,  all 
to  the  same  result.  Kot  there.  We  will  offer  the  assertion  that 
if  Radford  had  gone  wet  the  news  would  not  have  been  sup- 
pressed. Oh !  no.  When  Petersburg  went  wet  the  daily  pa- 
pers here  like  a  drowning  man  jumping  at  a  straw,  sung  out 
with  one  accord  that  the  "Tide  had  Turned,"  and  that  the  great 
prohibition  wave  had  been  checked  but  they  refused  to  conunent 
on  the  return  of  the  big  tidal  wave  when  "Radford  voted  dry. 

When  a  far-off  town  in  Ohio  went  wet  they  not  only  gave 
it  gTeat  prominence  as  a  news  item  but  made  it  the  subject  of 
long  .editorials  and  wdiooped  and  howled  much  over  the  big 
victory  of  evil  over  right,  but  when  a  town  in  their  own  State 
votes  dry  "all  is  quiet  along  the  James." 

The  Leader  and  the  Journal  were  not  much  better.  They 
simply  gave  a  very  obscure  inner  page  notice  of  it  which  few 
people  saw  and  we  have  as  yet  not  noticed  any  editorial  com- 
ment from  any  of  the  Richmond  papers. 

ISTo,  they  are  absolutely  unfair.  They  are  using  their 
large  influence  as  disseminators  of  news  to  suppress  that  news 
which  to  them  is  not  aeTeeable.  This  is  whv  The  Idea  is  re- 
ceiving  so  many  communications'  thanking  us  for  exposing  them 
and  berating  these  Richmond  daily  papers  for  not  giving  them 
a  square  deal.  When  a  yellow  man  murders  a  girl  in  a  far- 
off  city  then  some  yellow  journals  insult  our  eyes  and  ears  for 
days  with  long  columns  of  the  yellowest  kind  of  outlandish 
rot,  tending  to  low^er  the  morals  of  Richmond,  and  yet  sup- 
press that  which  will  accomplish  much  good  and  is  an  item  of 
clean  and  important  interest. 

Can  w^e  expect  a  community  to  grow  in  civic  virtue  if  its 
press  is  grown  so  commercial  and  debased  as  to  cater  to  the 
low  and  vile  and  indecent  and  horrible  in  human  nature. 

And  these,  same  yellow  daily*  mold  the  very  thought  and 
action  of  Richmond. 


No  circumstances  can  repair  a  defect  in  character. — Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson. 


The   Idea.  13 

FOUISUJ  AT  LAST. 

Several  days  after  writing  the  above  a  fricud  of  ours  has 
discovered  for  us  the  little  Radford  announcement  in  the  Times- 
Dispatch  of  June  25th.  We  print  it  below  to  show  what  it 
looked  like.  As  you  will  sec  it  was  in  lines  like  an  ad.  and 
with  other  ads.,  and  it  waS'  the  only  news  item  we  could  find 
in  that  paper,  with  the  single  exception  of  another  little;  half- 
inch  item  at  the  bottom  of  a  page,  which  was  set  up  like  an  ad. 
The  average  reader  does  not  read  the  ads  and  therefore  the 
average  reader  did  not  see  this  item.  We  would  ask  the  Times- 
.  Dispatch  why  they  did  not  treat  this  as  other  news  matter 
and  give  it  a  place  where'  one  would  expect  to  find  news  items'. 
Is  it  because  the  whiskey  people  have  said  something  to  them 
about  boycotting.  People  of  Richmond  have  a  right  to  a  square 
deal. 

■^^DRYS"  WIN  EASY  VICTORY  IN  ELECTION  AT  RAD- 
FORD. 

Radford,  Va.,  June  21. — The  "drys"  won  by  a  majority 
of  104  votes  in  a  local  option  election  here  to-day.  The  "dry" 
majority  two  years  ago  was  153.  The  total  vote  cast  to-day  was 
383,  of  which  the  'Svets"  cast  139  and  the  "dry&"  243.  The 
total  vote  two  years  ago  was  398,  of  which  the  "drys"  had  275 
and  the  "wets"  123. 

Lx\TER.— July  1st.  The  Times-Dispatch  for  to-day  has 
a  slight  mention  of  the  victory  of  the  drys  in  Franklin.  The 
dispensary  was  put  out  by  a  vote  according  to  their  paper  of 
nearly  three  toi  one^ — 210  to  79. 

The  point  of  interest,  lioAvever,  is  that  the  paper  put  this 
up  as  an  ad.  just  as  they  did  the  Radford  notice.  We  found  it 
because  after  the  Radford  notice  we  knew  how  to.  expect  this 
in  an  unexpected  place. 

The  Times-Dispatch  gave  the  Franklin  dry  election  two 
and  a  half  inches  and  the  Radford  dry  election  one  and  a  half 
inches,  both  in  very  obscure  places,  and  yet  gave  long  outland- 
ish prominence  to  the  wet  victory  in  Peterstown,  on  the  very 
first  page  and  besidesi  editorially. 

Let  us  have  fair  play.  Each  one  of  the  Richmond  papers 
gave   separately  many  times  the   prominence   to  the  lonesome 


14  The   I  dea. 

wet  victory  at  Petersburg  that  they  all  together  gave  to  the 
two  drv  victories  in  Radford  and  Franklin. 


GOVERNOR  JOHNSON  ON  LAW 
ENFORCEMENT 


Jackson,  Michigan,  July  1st.  Governor  Johnson  of  Minne- 
sota, delivering  an  address  here  last  night  said: 

"I  view  with  contempt  the  man  who  swears  to  enforce  a 
law  and  then  cast  it  aside  with  the  excuse  that  it  is  not  backed 
by  public  opinion.  There  is  not  a  law  on  the  statute  books  that 
cannot  be  enforced." 

Governor  Johnson's  topic  was  "The  Majesty  of  the  Law." 
He  said  that  the  majority  of  the  law-makers  are  honest  men, 
but  that  there  is  too  much  lack  of  respect  for  the  law. 

We  reprint  this  press  report  to  show  the  mayor  how  others 
regard  an  oath  of  office. 


THE  MAYOR'S  POSITION 


In  Control  of  a  Thing  Which  He  Does  Not  Know 

to  Exist 


In  pursuance  of  our  policy  of  standing  for  law  enforcement 
we  would  call  attention  of  the  mayor  to  his  peculiar  position. 

The  mayor  seems  to  defend  his  failure  to  enfoce  the  law 
on  the  gTOund  that,  as  he  says,  he  "could  not  on  oath,  swear  that 
the  law  was  being  violated"  and  in  reference  to  the  red  light 
evil,  he  said  "I  could  not  take  oath  that  I  know  of  my  own 
knowledge  that  these  places  were  bawdy  houses,"  and  then  a  few 


T  h  e   I  d  e  a.  15 

minutes  later  he  said — "I  think  this  is  the  only  way  to  deal 
with  this  evil.  We  have  these  jDlaces  under  control  and  that 
is  better  than  making  them  scatter  all  over  the  city  where  they 
can  not  be  controlled." 

How  does  that  strike  you  ?  He  can't  swear  that  these 
places  exist  although  he  says  they  are  under  his  control.  He 
can  swear  on  oath  to  enforce  the  law,  yet  it  don't  make  any 
difference  if  he  don't  enforce  it.       • 

Now  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  only  control  that  is  had  over 
these  places  is  one  of  license;  these  places  are  permitted  to 
exist,  provided  they  don't  do  certain  things.  In  other  words 
they  may  violate  all  the  State  law  they  want  to  provided  they 
do  not  violate  certain  little  regulations  of  the  police  board. 
The  State  law  is  a  email  matter  compared  with  these  rules 
issued  from  the  office  of  the  police  board  dominated  largely  by 
such  men  as  Chris.  Manning,  who  was  indicted  by  the  grand 
jury  a  few  years  ago  for  misdemeanor.  ISTow  the  law  makes 
the  mayor,  ex-officio  president  of  this  board  and  also  gives  him 
power  to  expell  from  office  any  member  of  this  board  and  it 
holds  him,  as  head  of  this  board  and  as  head  of  the  city  gov- 
ernment, responsible  for  the  acts  of  this  board. 

And  yet  corrupt  politicians  so  control  this  board  and  the 
police  and  the  mayor  himself  that  he  can  not  even  attempt 
to  enforce  the  law  which  he  has  sworn  to  enforce  and  to  defend 
himself  he  has  to  say  I  can't  swear  that  they  exist  but  "we  have 
them  under  control." 

The  trouble  is  a  deep  one.  The  citizens  have  permitted 
such  corrupt  men  to  dominate  the  city  that  they  make  it  neces- 
sary for  the  mayor  to  defend  them  at  the  expense  of  breaking 
his  oath  of  office  and  even  putting  himself  in  the  awkward 
position  of  "controlling  a  thing  which  he  does  not  know,  to 
exist."  ISTot  only  does  the  police  department  which  is  under  di- 
rect control  of  the  mayor  know  of  the  existence  of  these  places 
but  the  chief  of  police  keeps  a  list  of  the  names  of  the  occupants 
of  these  houses  so  that  they  can  keep  track  of  them  and  keep 
control  of  them,  and  we  are  even  informed,  though  we  are  not 
yet  able  to  verify  it,  that  the  police  actually  keep  the  pictures 
of  these  women  so  that  they  may  keep  tab  on  them. 


16  The   Idea. 

BUT  DO  THEY  CONTROL  THEM  ? 

Praise  for  the  police.  We  know  of  the  existence  of  houses 
of  ill  fame  which  are  far  removed  from  this  Mayo  street  sec- 
tion, and  they  are  permitted  to  exist,  although  the  property 
owners  and  the  people  who  use  these  streets  object. 

The  police  have  been  solicited  to  break  up  these  places  for 
the  jDublic  good  but  have  refused  to  act  because  they  were  re- 
strained from  so  doing-  by  those  over  them.  We  repeat  it,  po- 
lice can  not  enforce  the  law  because  the  board  restrains  them 
and  they  do  not  want  to  lose  their  ])ositions.  ISTeither  do  they 
want  to  be  lectured  and  laughed  at  in  the  police  court  because 
their  action  does  not  meet  the  approval  of  the  jxdice  justice. 

If  you  or  I  agreed  to  do  certain  things  for  an  employer 
and  then  he  put  over  usu  a  minor  official  with  power  to  dis- 
charge us  and  this  minor  official  told  us  to  do  something  which 
was  contrary  to  our  agreement  with  the  employer  what  do  you 
think  you  or  I  would  do  ?  The  average  you  or  I  would  feel 
like  certainly  keeping  our  job  and  so  we'd  very  likely  obey 
the  one  in  immediate  charge. 

So  it  is  with  the  police;  to  keep  their  positions  they  feel 
they  must  obey  the  board  and  the  justice,  the  law  to  the  con- 
trary, notwithstanding,  and  this  is  why  the  laws  in  Richmond 
are  not  enforced.  The  policemen  are  not  to  be  blamed.  They 
have  the  littles  one  to  feed.  The  board  is  to  blame,  and  that 
could  be  remedied  if  Mayor  Richardson  would  do  his  duty. 

Let  the  mayor  do  his  duty  or  else  the  people  will  have  a 
right  to  think  that  the  ring  permitted  his  election  because  they 
knew  they  could  handle  him. 

Come  out  and  show  yovfr  colors,  Mr.  Richardson.  Whom 
will  you  serve,  the  people  or  the  board. 

'^o\v  we  would  not  have  the  good  people  believe  that  we 
place  Mr.  Richardson  on  the  same  moral  plane  as  that  of  the 
board,  and  we  would  not  blame  him  but  for  the  fact  that  the 
laws  of  the  State  hold  him  and  him  alone  as  the  responsible 
head  of  the  executive  department  of  the  city  and  as  far  as 
the  law  is  concerned,  if  these  others  under  him  are  wrona:  the 
law  holds  him  respousilde  for  the  acts  of  the  whole  department, 
and  gives  him  unlimited  power  over  all  under  him. 


WE  SELL   and  Guarantee 

The  New  Columbia 
Champion  Refrig= 
erators,  New  Pro= 
cess  Qas  Ranges, 
McDougall  Kitchen 
Cabinets, 

And  Everything:  in  Reliable 

Furnilureand  floor  Coverings 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.,  Inc. 

1418=1420  E.  Main  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


Take  it  for  granted  that 
truths  Will  harmonize; 
and  as  for  the  falsities 
and  mistakes,  they  will 
speedily  die  of  themselves 

— Emerson 


Newsboys! 


The 

Very 

Ideal 


10  PRIZES 

To  the  Boy  selling  the  largest  number  of 

copies  of  The  Idea  for  the  month  of  July 

we  will  give  a  Handsome  Watch^  and  to 

the  next  nine  we  will  give  suitable 

prizes,    to    be   announced  later. 

Begin  now  by  getting  people  to 

promise   to   take    The    Idea 

from  you  REGULARLY 


...  BOYS ... 

GET  IDEAS  at 
904  Capitol  Street 
next  door  to  Park 
Hotel,  Corner  9th 
and    Broad   Streets 


-AND 


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MODEL  NEWS  CO.,  519  W.  Broad  St. 
And  ABBOTT'S  News-stand  in  Manchester 


5c 


WEEKLY    OC    THE  COPY 

THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  July  24,  1909  No.  8 

$2.00  A  YEAR 

Andy  Griffith,  Policy  King 
Saunders  and  Leaman 

Boss  and  Lieutenant 

Buying  Votes 

In  Manchester  and  Richmond 

Graft  in  Granting  Licenses 

Who  the  Editor  Is 

Servants  or  Masters 


FOR  SALE  AT  ALL  NEWS  STANDS 

BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


For  Slightly  Used  Furniture 

The  Mayo  Furniture  Co. 

1402  East  Main  Street, 

which  opened  its  doors  June  1st,  last,  has  sold  more  Furni- 
ture than  any  TWO  houses  in  Richmond.  In  fine  and 
medium  grades  they   are   the  lowest  priced   house  in  the 

VNITED  STATES 


R.  H.  EwiRg 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


32  NORTH   LOMBARDY  STREET  PHONE  1821 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk  Paving,  Halls, 
Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  he 
takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work  and  straight 
forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  JULY  24,   1909  No.  8 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


SAUNDERS  AND  LEAMAN 


Boss  and  Lieutenant 


The  I'hncs-Dispatcli  last  week  published  a  long  list  of  the 
candidates  for  membership  on  the  city  Democratic  committee, 
and  merely  mentioned  the  fact  that  there  had  developed  oppo- 
sition to  two  members,  Sannders  and  Leaman.  There  is  hardly 
a  man  in  Richmond  who  does  not  believe  that  if  the  papers 
here  would  fight  for  clean  government  they  could  easily  put  out 
of  office  such  men  as  Clyde  Saunders,  political  boss,  and 
"Dutch"  Leaman,  his  lieutenant,  than  whom  Richmond  has 
never  been  cursed  with  men  more  dangerous  to  the  cause  of 
purity  and  civic  righteousness,  yet  the  papers  will  not  say  one 
word  to  help  put  such  men  out  of  their  positions  of  power  and 
political  corruption.  It  is  a  shame  on  the  fair  name  of  the  city 
that  it  cannot  enlist  the  press  in  any  move  to  unseat  such 
men  with  such  large  powers  of  corrupting  elections,  and  when 
the  decent  people  in  Clay  Ward  want  to  rid  their  ward  of 
the  evil  influence  of  Clyde,  or  Slide,  Saunders,  they  have  to 
make  the  fio:ht  in  the  verv  face  of  the  silent  attitude  of  as- 


2  The   Idea. 

sistaiice  which  the  daily  papers  lend  to  the  elements  of  cor- 
rupt ipn. 

The  powers  of  darkness  do  not  wish  to  be  fought  for  openly. 
They  do  not  want  any  public  fight  in  their  behalf.  They  rely 
on  darkness  and  if  they  were  paying  for  it  they  would  not  ask 
for  any  better  aid  than  the  papers  are  giving  them  by  their 
policy  of  silence. 

When  the  good  Democrats  of  Madison  ward  ^vould  throw 
off  Dutch  Leaman  and  to  this  extent  purify  the  political  at- 
mosphere of  that  ward  they  have  not  a  single  daily  paper  to 
help  them  by  its  publicity. 

Shame  on  the  daily  press  of  Richmond,  which  refuses  to 
use  the  talents  given  it. 

What  a  pity  that  the  ancient  Democracy  of  the  capitol  of 
the  State  should  have  to  bow  do%ATi  to  men  like  Saunders  and 
Leaman  before  exercising  their  rights  of  American  citizenship. 
•  And  Leaman  is  the  same  Leaman,  who,  at  the  time  of  the  Bell 
Co.  scandal  a  few  years  ago,  admitted  that  he  accepted  $900  of 
ooiruption  money  from  the  Bell  Co.  to  help  influeuce  voters  in 
granting  that  company  certain  valuable  franchises. 


BUYING  VOTES  IN  MANCHESTER 
AND  RICHMOND 


As  we  go  to  press  the  papers  report  that  the  Manchester 
grand  jury  will  m'ake  an  investigation  of  the  charge  that  has 
frequently  been  made  that  several  of  the  liquor  dealers  of  Man- 
chester combined  and  out  of  their  own  pockets  paid  a  number 
of  the  voters'  poll  taxes  last  spring.  It  is  stated  "that  the  names 
of  the  men  who  handled  the  money  are  known  and  that  they 
will  be  called  as  witnesses." 

The  Times-Dispatch  article  adds  that  the  liquor  dealers 
make  the  claim  "that  were  any  taxes  paid  for  voters  by  other 
parties  it  was  done  by  those  interested  one  way  or  the  other  in 
the  consolidation  question  and  that  the  liquor  people  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it." 


The   Idea.  3 

"My!  'what  u  flimsy  excuse,  especially  when  every  one 
knows  that  it  is  a  common  practice  among  the  whiskey  people 
to  use  money  to  influence  (slections  in  this  way.  The  papers 
published  here  in  Richmond  that  Richmond  whiskey  men  sent 
large  sums  of  money  to  Bristol  to  be  used  in  getting  votes  there 
in  the  recent  election. 

We  showed  in  The  Idea  last  week  that  thousands!  of  dollars 
were  spent  last  spring  by  the  Richmond  whiskey  men  in  paying 
taxes  on  the  Richmond  side  of  the  river  and  since  we  printed 
that  the  names  of  two  men  have  been  handed  us  who  gave  up 
their  other  work  and  spent  all  their  time  for  days  in  paying 
ta^es  for  those  who  were  sent  to  them  by  the  bar  people  and 
that  many  thousands  of  dollars  went  through  the  hands  of 
these  two  men  alone  for  this  unlawful  purpose. 

Think  of  it !  ISTot  simply  do  hundreds  of  bums  vote  now 
who  could  not  vote  before,  but  many  hundreds  more  who  might 
not  be  classed  so  low  because  they  do  have  some  personal  prop- 
erty, were  qualified  to  vote  by  the  money  of  whiskey  men  and 
that  these  fellows  hold  the  balance  of  power  in  any  normal  fight 
and  thus  practically  rule  Richmond,  not  only  in  wet  and  dry 
elections,  but  in  all  elections.  This  one  fact  is  sufiicient  ex- 
planation of  the  big  question  so  often  asked,  'Vhy  can't  clean 
men  be  elected  to  office  in  Richmond  ?" 

If  "Slide"  Saunders  and  "Dutch"  Leaman  are  elected  on 
August  5th,  you  ought  to  know  why. 


A  SAD  PREDICAMENT 


In  looking  into  political  conditions  here  we  have  run  up  on 
many  reports  as  to  rotttenness  and  graft  and  they  have  been  so 
numerous  that  we  have  been  very  slow  to  believe  them  and  then 
after  investigation  we  have  been  astounded  that  such  conditions 
could  have  existed  so  long  without  the  daily  papers  doing  some- 
thing to  break  them  up.  The  people  have  a  right  to  expect  the 
daily  papers  to  say  something  and  certainly  after  the  light  has 
been  turned  on,   and  yet  the  papers  are  used  as  a  cloak  for 


4  T  h  e   I  dea. 

crime  by  keeping  silent.  Ami  let  ns  say  right  here  that  we  have 
been  offered  money  to  stop  exjaosing  certain  evils  here  in  Rich- 
mond and  we  know  that  we  conld  make  money  by  catering  to 
the  criminal  element  for  they  will  pay  handsomely  for.  protec- 
tion from  publicity  and  we  often  wonder  when  we  see  the  atti- 
tude of  suppression  of  news  which  the  papers  assume  whether 
they  have  been  shown  that  it  will  pay  them  better  to  keep  quiet 
than  to  expose  wrong-doing. 

Just  think  of  it  for  a  moment — we  have  unearthed  a  sys- 
tem of  graft  and  winking  at  crime  that  is  a  disgTace  to  the  fair 
name  of  any  city  and  yet  not  a  single  daily  paper  and,  7nirabile 
dictu,  not  a  single  religious  paper — -and  many  religious  papers 
are  published  in  Richmond- — not  a  single  one  of  them  has 
sounded   a  warning  note   against  the  grafters.      Is  this  true  ? 

To  our  minds  it  is  one  of  the  ominous  signs  of  the  times 
that  our  religious,  as  well  asi  secular,  press  is  so  dependent  on 
the  financial  assistance  of  wrong-doers  that  they  do  not  dare 
to  take  a  stand  against  the  evils  at  their  door. 

If  there  is  graft  in  !J^ew  York  City,  you  can  count  on  both 
the  daily  papers  and  the  religious  weeklies  writing  long  edi- 
torials lamenting  the  fact  of  such  crime,  but  when  the  crime 
is  in  their  own  home  thev  are  as  silent  as  the  grave. 


IHE  WHISKEY  LICENSE  GRAFT 


Thousands  of  Dollars  Paid  to  Smith,  Pollock  and 
Others  for  Their  Influence  in  Securing  Licenses. 


We  have  many  letters  and  verbal  communications  from  citi- 
zens concerning  an  enormous  graft  system  which  has  been  go- 
ing on  for  the  last  two  years  in  the  city.  This  information 
shows  a  frightful  state  of  affairs  in  reference  to  granting  liquor 
licenses  and  the  rei:)orts  we  have  had  w^ere  so  revolting  that  we 
would  not  at  first  believe  them  because  they  pointed  at  the 
courts  themselves  with  such  forceful  charges  of  corrnption. 

We  have,  however,  carefully  investigated  and  verified  these 


The   Idea.       '  5 

reports  and  find  them  only  too  true  and  so  we  publish  here  cer- 
tain facts  which  shouhl  cause  the  Christian  people  of  Richmond 
to  arouse  in  their  righteous  indignation  and  blot  out  forever 
the  crimes  which  underlie  these  public  evils  and  they  should 
thus  make  Richmond  a  city  whose  citizens  can  point  with  pride 
to  their  government  and  say,  "We  have  put  the  grafters  out 
and  Richmond  can  henceforth  truthfully  say,  our  city  is  hon- 
estly run,  our  taxes  are  honestly  spent,  we  get  dollar  for  dollar 
in  return  for  our  expenditures  and  citizens  can  get  a  square 
deal  in  the  capitol  of  Virginia,  birth-j)lace  of  American  Lib- 
erties." 

As  it  is,  however,  there  is  graft  in  the  granting  of  whiskey 
licenses. 

You  see,  applications  have  to  be  filed  in  January  for  the 
current  year's  licenses  and  as  there  are  always  more  applicants 
than  the  150  licenses  which  can  be  granted,  and  as  the  court 
has  about  two  months  to  grant  the  licenses  in,  the  barkeepers 
are  always  in  doubt  as  to  who  will  be  given  a  license  until  the 
last  license  is  granted. 

In  the  meantime  certain  lawyers  get  busy  and  one  of  them 
goes  to  a  saloon  keeper  whose  license  has  not  yet  been  granted 
and  says  you  give  me  one  hundred  dollars  and  I'll  use  my 
influence  to  get  your  license  through  and  if  I  get  it  you  pay 
me  $300  more,  and  the  saloon  keeper  generally  forks  up  the 
amount  and  if  he  has  been  keeping  a  rather  disorderly  place, 
the  fee  charged  is  of  course  larger  and  so  certain  politicians 
in  Richmond  have  made  many  thousands  of  dollars  each  year 
just  through  this  saloon, graft  alone. 

j\Ir.  Pollock  has  openly  made  the  boast  on  many  occasions 
in  the  presence  of  men  very  prominent  in  city  affairs  that  he 
had  made  thousands  of  dollars  in  this  way. 

Mr.  Harry  Smith  is  another  who  has  made  luuch  money  in 
this  manner,  and  it  is  rumored  that  others  have  done  likewise, 
but  we  have  been  unable  to  verify  these  reports  in  respect  to 
the  others. 

IS^ow,  what  does  all  this  mean  ?  Does  it  mean  that  the  Hus- 
tings court  is  also  corrupt  ?  It  certainly  means  that  those  who 
pay  the  bill  think  so.     Can  you  concieve  of  a  barkeeper  paying 


6  The   Idea. 

to  a  lawyer  from  $100  to  $500  or  more  for  his  influence  in 
getting  a  license  if  he  did  not  think  that  the  judge  of  the  court, 
who  is  the  only  one  who  can  possibly  grant  licenses,  was  to 
get  at  least  a  part  of  that  money? 

It  is  absurd  to  pay  a  lawyer  for  a  thing  when  the  lawyer 
is  not  the  one  who  gTants  the  thing. 

Courts  are  not  supposed  to  be  influenced  by  what  an  out- 
sider will  say.  And  especially  is  this  true  when  there  is  no 
trial, — when  no  pleading  is  necessary,- — when  no  interpreting 
the  law  is  in  question, — when  legal  knowledge  hasi  absolutely 
no  bearing  in  the  case,  yet  here  we  hare  men  who,  besides  pay- 
ing the  license  required  by  law  for  the  sale  of  whiskey,  etc., 
pay  another  big  sum  of  money  for  that  privilege  into  the  hands 
of  professional  grafters  who  make  a  business  of  living  like  para- 
sites oif  the  body  of  a  corrupt  and  outlaw  business. 

We  confess  it  is  sickening  to  have  to  be  the  disseminator  of 
such  loathsome  news  as  this,  for,  though  every  bar  man  in  town 
is  perfectly  familiar  with  this  rotten  state  of  affairs,  still  he 
knows  that  if  he  talks  too  much  his  license  can  be  taken  away 
by  any  one  who  has  enough  "influence"  to  have  that  license 
granted. 


WHO  THE  EDITOR  IS 


Inasmuch  as  the  editor  of  The  Idea  has  bee^i  maligned  and 
lied  about  by  those  who  feel  that  The  Idea  hurts  their  business, 
i.  e.,  by  the  crooked  politicians  and  those  special  interests  which 
rely  for  their  existence  on  the  crooked  politician,  we  deem  it 
wise  to  depart  from  our  usually  modest  custom  of  keeping  our- 
selves in  the  background  and  so  we  publish  below  a  few  state- 
ments which  will  serve  to  introduce  us  to  our  readers  and  thus 
correct  certain  false  impressions  concerning  our  history  and 
our  motive  in  publishing  this  magazine. 

To  be  brief,  the  Editor  planned  for  years  to  make  the  min- 
istry his  vocation  and  to  that  end  he  took  a  course  of  study  at 
Richmond  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1900  with 
the  B-.  A.  Degree,  and  then  gave  his  time  to  preaching  and" 


The   Idea.  7 

teaching.  He  found  that  not  being  able  to  conform  very  read- 
ily to  denominational  tenets  he  could  accomplish  more  as  an 
editor  than  as  a  preacher  and,  in  order  to  prepare  for  editorial 
work  he  gave  np  preaching  and  obtained  employment  with  the 
People's  ISTational  Bank  of  Lynchburg  as  assistant  bookkeeper. 
From  this  position  he  went  to  that  of  bookkeeper  for  the 
wholesale  lund)er  concern  of  Massie  &  Pierce,  and  it  was  while 
with  them  that  the  first  number  of  The  Idea  was  published 
in  July,  1906. 

The  Idea  was  publislied  "semi-occasionally"  in  Lynch- 
burg, until  April  of  this  year,  four  numbers  appearing  this 
year,  the  last  one  a  month  after  we  had  decided  to  move  to 
Richmond.  Let  the  statement  answer  those  who  have  been  cir- 
culating reports  that  The  Idea  vma  run  out  of  Lynchburg,  The 
fact  is  that  those  very  people  who  make  this  statement,  namely, 
the  whiskey  people,  are  the  very  ones  that  The  Idea  was  so 
largely  instrumental  in  ruiming  out  of  Lynchburg. 

We  don't  think  that  those  who  read  The  Idea  are  inclined 
to  think  that  The  Idea  is  the  running  kind.  The  only  trouble 
that  The  Idea  ever  had  was  when  Judge  Christian  of  Lynch- 
burg, in  JSTovember,  1906,  nearly  three  years  ago,  issued  a  rule 
against  the  editor  for  "contempt  of  court"  in  that  The  Idea 
had  exercised  its  rights  in  criticizing  the  judge  for  his  immoral 
acts.  N^ow  let  it  be  -clearly  understood  that  when  the  editor 
took  an  appeal  from  the  little  judge's  decision  that  judge  is 
■said  to  have  remarked  to  a  friend  on  Main  Street,  that  he  would 
give  $5,000  to  get  out  of  the  scrape.  And  let  this  be  known 
also  that  the  little  judge  was  reversed  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State,  and  the  rights  of  The  Idea  upheld. 

IsTow  in  order  that  we  may  be  more  clearly  seen  by  the  peo- 
ple of  Richmond  we  publish  below  extracts  from  letters  of 
recommendation  given  us  by  men  well  known  here  in  the  city 
of  Richmond. 

Dr.  William  E.  Hatcher,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  Richmond  College  wrote:  "Your  record  was  full  of 
honor  at  Richmond  College,  and  I  expect  you  to  honor  the  Col- 
lege in  the  future." 

Dr.  Chas.  H.  Winston,  Professor  of  Physics,  wrote :  "He 


8  The   Idea. 

stood  well  in  his  class  and  impressed  me  very  favorably,  both 
personally  and  as  a  student.  He  has  much  of  the  true  Scien- 
tific spirit." 

Professor  R.  E.  Gaines  wrote:  "I  have  known  him  inti- 
mately and  have  had  abundant  evidence  of  his  intellectual 
ability  and  straightforwardness  -of  character.  *  *  *  j 
heartily  recommend  him  for  his  character,  attainments,  and 
social  qualities  indicate  that  he  will  be  a  successful  teacher." 

Professor  R.  J.  Kellogg  of  Greek  wrote:  "He  graduated 
with  high  honors  at  the  commencement  just  past,  and  has  se- 
cured a  very  thorough  grasp  of  the  language.  His  character 
as  a  man  and  Christian  is  thoroughly  good.  I  can  give  him 
strong  recommendations." 

Dr.  Boatwright,  President,  wrote :  "He  finished  the  work  of 
his  classes  with  distinction.  He  possesses  abilities  much  above 
the  average.  *,  *  *  j  believe  he  will  do  faithfully  what 
he  undertakes,  and  his  abilities  and  his  intellectual  training 
should  enable  him  to  achieve  disting-uished  success." 

We  have  many  other  letters  from  others,  but  publish  these 
from  Richmond  men  in  order  to  introduce  ourselves  by  Rich- 
mond people  to  Richmond  people. 

We  hope  we  will  not  be  considered  immodest  in  publishing 
these  statements  ahout  ourselves,  especially  as  we  do  it  in  order 
to  correct  false  impressions. 

Now  as  to  the  recent  work  of  The  Idea  in  Lynchburg, 

Let  us  add  these  two  brief  passages  from  Lynchburg  men: 

Rev.  W.  A.  Ayers,  the  gifted  pastor  of  College  Hill  Bap- 
tist church  in  Lynchburg,  of  which  the  editor  is  a  member, 
wrote  on  May  31st,  last:  "I  regret  that  you  are  separated  from 
us  and  from  our  church  work.  I  trust  that  you  may  be  enabled 
to  accomplish  as  much  for  Richmond  as  you  have  for  Lynch- 
buj-g.  I  feel  that  you  did  a  work  here  of  which  you  may  well 
be  proud.  1.  The  red  light  district  was  cleaned  up.  2.  A  bet- 
ter administration  of  city  affairs  and  last,  the  saloons  were  re- 
moved. You  had  the  sympathy  of  the  best  people  here.  I  wish 
to  join  with  your  host  of  friends  in  placing  a  wreath  upon  your 
brow,  for  the  good  you  wrought  for  the  common  weal  of  the 
people.     I  bespeak  for  you  the  sympathy  and    ^up]Dort  of  the 


The   Idea.  9. 

best  people  in  Riclimond  and  especially  the     pastors     of     the 
churches  there,  etc."    *     *     * 

Your  friend  and  brother,  Yv .  A .  Ayers-. 
Rev.  J.  L.  Nichols,  the  fearless  jDastor  of  the  Metliodist 
Protestant  Church,  wrote:  "I  have  heard  many  of  the  people 
speaking  of  the  good  work  done  by  you  in  your  litlle  sheet  and 
we  hope  that  you  will  be  given  the  opportunity  to  do  as  much 
in  Richmond.  Your  place  will  be  hard  to  fill  here.  I  hope 
the  ministers  of  the  city  will  endorse  your  work  .ind  help  you 
all  they  can  and  pray  for  your  success  in  uncovering  sin  and 
defeating;  the  works  of  darkness." 


If  the  preachers  in  Richmond  would  care  to  fight,  tlicy 
could  put  the  public  rascality  on  the  run  and  make  out  of  l\ich- 
mond  a  clean  city  in  a  year's  time. 


A  HUSTLING  BOY 


Who'll  Win  in  the  Idea's  Newsboy  Contest? 


One  Hustler  Sells  112  of  one  Issue. 


Newsiboys  are  much  interested  in  the  outcome  of  the  con- 
test now  going  on  for  the  watch  to  be  given  to  the  boy  selling 
the  largest  number  of  copies  of  The  Idea  in  the  month  of  Jnly. 

There  will  be  nine  other  valuable  prizes,  so  that  the  hust- 
lers won't  be  disappointed  if  they  fail  to  be  number  one  when 
.the  decision  is  announced  about  August  3d.  There  are  five 
issiues  for  the  month  of  July,  and  it  will  take  until  Monday, 
the  2nd  of  August  to  get  in  all  the  returns.  The  decision  will 
be  announced  in  the  number  of  August  the  7th.  The  manage- 
ment of  The  Idea  is  gratified  by  the  success  of  the  maga- 
zine; is  proud  to  announce  the  circulation  has  gradually  in- 
creased to  3,  500,  as  shown  by  our  statement  to  the  Post-Office 


10  The   Idea. 

Department,   sworn  to  before  a  notary  in  our  application  for 

second-class  mailing-  privileges. 

This  statement  shows  a  distribntion  of  the  3,500  copies  as 

follows : 

Copiesi  to .  news  agents 1,025 

Copies  sold  by  newsboys 2,255 

Copies  sold  over  counter  and  given  away.  .       25 

Regular   subscribers 70 

Copies  to  be  mailed  as.  samples 125 

■      Total 3,500 

One  newsboy  sold  112  copies  last  Saturday  and  we  are  very 
desirous  of  getting  more  boys  like  him.  Made  $2.24  which  is 
a  good  sum  for  any  boy  in  these  days. 

ISTow  we  have  several  routes  we  want  worked  by  live,  up- 
to-date  boys.  We  want  several  boys  for  the  west  end  and  for 
Barton  Heights  and  Church  Hill  and  other  sections  of  town 
and  if  we  can  find  good  boys  we  will  make  special  inducements 
to  them.  Call  this  to  tlie  attention  of  some  live  boy  in  your 
neighborhood  and  have  him  come  down  to  see  us,  on  Monday, 
preferably,  and  we  will  show  him  how  he  can  make  a  good  little 
sum  every  week. 

Are  you  an  individual  or  only  one  of  the  push  ? — Huhhard. 

HOT! 

.  Here  is  a  story  which  we.  purloin  bodily  from  The  Philis- 
tine and  patch  up  to  suit  the  occasion: 

A  young  woman  gets  on  a  Lakeside  car  and  taking  a  copy 
of  The  Idea  out  of  her  Boston  bag,  beginsi  to  read.  She  evi- 
dently has  not  read  more  than  a  couple  of  pages,  when  she 
slowly  and  carefully  takes  off  her  shoes  and  stockings.  She 
turns  the  stockings  wrong  side  out,  puts  them  on  again,  and 
replaces  her  shoes. 

The  passengers  -look  on,  first  amused  and  then  perplexed. 
An  old  gentleman  finally  reaches  over  and  says,  "You  will  par- 
don my  seeming  rudeness,  lady,  but  why  did  you  just  now  en- 
gage in  this  strange  procedure  V 


The   Idea.  11 

''Why,  sir,  I  was  reading  The  Idea  and  I  found  the  text 
siich  hot  stuff  that  I  felt  compelled  to  turn  the  hose  on  my- 
self." And  over  the  meadow  the  bob-white  sang  to  its  mate, 
and  the  white  clouds  scurried  across  the  blue. 


Is  it  right  for  a  councilman  who  had  a  voice  in  deciding  the 
salary  of  a  justice  to  be  allowed  to  practice  in  that  justice's 
court  ? 

We  understand  that  Coun>cilman  Pollock  was  largely  influ- 
ential in  raising  the  salary  of  Justice  Crutchfield  and  yet  this 
same  councilman  has  nearly  all  the  cases  which  come  up  in 
Justice  Crutchfield's  court.  This  is  a  gross  miscan-iage  of  jus- 
tice. Every  man  is  human  and  every  justice  must  be  influenced 
consciously  or  unconsciously,  by  the  wishes  of  one  who  helps 
fix  his  salary. 


SERVANTS  OR  MASTERS 


The  people  are  largely  responsible  for  the  fact  that  their 
public  officials  get  above  their  positions  and  become  haughty  and 
proud.  We 'appoint  a  man  to  serve  us,  and  then  whenever  we 
desire  to  instruct  our  servants  we  find  ourselves,  the  sovereign, 
humiliating  ourselves  before  the  servant  and  begging,  petition- 
ing, "praying"  him  to  do  our  will,  when  we  should  just  simply 
instruct  or  direct  him  so  to  do.  When  we  appear  before  him  to 
express  our  orders  to  him  and  find  him  overbearing  instead  of 
giving  him  orders  we  find  ourselves  cringing  and  cowering  be- 
fore him,  who  holds  his  position  as  a  gift  and  a  duty  imposed 
by  our  hands. 

ISTow  it  comes  about  this  way.  We  are  an  English-speaking 
people,  and  we  inherit  our  legal  forms  and  laws  from  England, 
which  is  a  monarchy.  In  England  the  people  are  servants  to 
the  king  and  the  courts.  In  America  the  people  are  the  sover- 
eigns to  the  president  and  the  courts.  In  a  monarchy  the  people 
have  to  pray  the  king  for  needed  reforms.  In  America  we 
have  to  instruct  our  representatives  for  needed  reforms. 


12  The   Idea. 

But  it  happens  in  America  we  have  borrowed  our  legal 
phrases  from  the  law  books  of  England,  and  so,  when  we  want 
to  get  anything  done,  we  pick  np  an  English  law  book  and  pe- 
tition and  pray  and  beg  for  a  thing  that  is  not  our  servant's 
to  give. 

If  you  were  a  judge  you  would  likely  overlook  these  ancient 
servial  formalities ;  but,  unfortunately,  we  sometimes  get  a 
judge  who  can't  stand  this  bowing  down  to,  who  is  not  big 
enough  to  see  the  joke,  but  on  the  other  hand  he  takes  himself 
and  the  people  too  seriously  and  he  thinks  he  is  in  fact  a  great 
sovereign  of  the  people  to  be  bowed  down  before. 

You  know  some  people  can't  stand  success  or  authority 
thrust  upon  them.  It  just  ruins  them.  Whereas,  if  thfey  had 
occupied  some  menial  position  they  might  have  been  real  de- 
cent folks. 


Some  of  you  had  better  stop  grinning  over  the  way  The 
Idea  hit  the  other  fellow,  and  commence  rubbing  the  spot  where 
you  got  hit,  for  The  Idea  means  to  hit  every  citizen  who  has 
not  manhood  enough  to  take  some  active  stand  and  do  some 
actual  personal  work  for  the  betterment  of  conditions  in  his 
own  government,  when  he  himself  is  a  part  of  the  kingly  author- 
ity of  that  government  and  can  no  more  shirk  that  responsibil- 
ity than  a  king  can.  You  cannot  wash  your  hands  of  any  pub- 
lic duty  by  refusing  to  do  your  part  of  the  disagreeable  work, 
because,  forsooth,  you  can't  afford,  for  business  reasons,  to  an- 
tagonize anyone.  Your  duty  as  a  sovereign  citizen  of  Rich- 
mond and  of  Virginia  comes  before  your  selfish  duty  to  your 
business,  because,  if  anarchy  and  tyranny  have  sway  here  what 
will  become  of  the  little  fortune  you  diave  amassed  for  your 
children?  The  best  way  to  look  out  for  your  posterity  is  to 
take  some  active  part  in  looking  out  for  good  government. 

Our  forefathers  helped  us  more  by  fighting  for  personal  and 
religious  liberty  than  they  could  have  done  by  amassing  wealth 
for  the  corruption  of  the  moral  and  ]diysical  welfare  of  their 
progeny. 


We  wonder  why  a  certain  police  commissioner  who  has  a 
fine  paying  job  besides  being  police  commissioner,  makes  the 


The   Idea.  13 

boast  that  of  the  two  jobs  he'd  much  rather  be  police  coniinis- 
•sioner.  Yet  some  people  don't  believe  therq  is  any  graft  in 
Richmond. 


ANDY  GRIFFTH  POLICY  KING 


Partner  of  Clyde  Saunders  in  Stock  Farm 


So  many  communications  have  come  to  us  concerning  the 
wide  open  policy  game  being  run  in  Richmond  that  we  have 
sifted  the  matter  down  and  find  that  a  much  worse  state  of  af- 
fairs exists  than  we  had  ever  suspected. 

Wo  find  the  following  condition  of  things.  The  police  de- 
partment is  in  silent  partnership  with  Andy  Griffith,  the  saloon 
keeper  on  lower  Franklin  Street,  so  that  his  men  are  never  ar- 
rested when  it  is  at  all  possible  to  ignore  their  doings.  Besides 
his,  large  policy  dealings  with  white  people,  Griffith  emiDloys 
a  large  force  of  negro  men  at  so  much  a  day  to  do  the  dealing 
with  the  ignorant  negroes  who  infest  this,  the  vilest  section  of 
the  city.  lie  agrees  to  pay  their  fines  for  them  if  they  are 
caught  and  they  therefore  work  very  boldly  and  make  the  pol- 
icy shop  a  wonderful  investment. 

Everyone  knows  the  strong  temptation  to  the  superstitious 
negro  to  gamble  and  Griffith  knows  from  experience  that  in 
them  lies  a  source  of  immense  revenue  to  him.  The  gambling, 
however,  is  not  confined  to  the  negroes — oh,  no.  Many  respect- 
aible  white  men  have  lost  vast  sums  of  money  through  this  fac- 
inating  game  of  chance. 

But  when  it  comes  to  breaking  up  the  game,  there  comes 
the  rub.  You  see  the  influence  of  the  ring  is  behind  G-riffith  so 
that  his  game  cannot  be  broken  up.  His  position,  therefore,  of 
protected  policy  king  is  estimated  by  a  man  of  large  affairs  here 
to  be  worth  at  least  $50,000  a  year  and  there  are  many  who 
believe  that  were  it  not  for  this  big  gambling  interest  Anthony 
Griffith  would  not  be  the  large  owner  of  race  horses  and  dairy 
cattle  as  he  is. 


14  The   Idea. 

A  recent  article  in  the  News-Leader  tells  of  the  large  strijig 
of  race  "horses  sent  from  Acca  Farm  to  the  Lake  Erie  circuit 
in  a  special  palace  express  car"  by  Anthony  Griffith  and  Clyde 
W.  Saunders. 

Now  the  point  to  be  made  is  this,  that  Clyde  Saunders, 
recognized  boss  of  Richmond  and  sub-chairman  of  the  Demo- 
cratic city  committee,  is  partner  to  Mr.  Griffith.  Mr.  Saun- 
ders .acknowledges  that  his  influence  in  things  j^olitical  is  worth 
money  to  him.  Of  course  it  is,  likewse  worth,  money  to  his 
partner,  and  to  one  who  h'as  looked  into  affairs  it  appears  to 
be  worth  thousands  and  thousands  of  dollars  to  him. 

As  we  have  stated  before  certain  laws  are  not  enforced  at 
all  in  Richmond',  because  those  in  charge  think  they  have  a 
right  to  "use  their  own  discretion"  in  the  matter.  There  is  no 
doubt  about  the  fact  that,  from  a  short-sighted  view,  it  pays  them 
to  "use  their  discretion"  in  refusing  to  bring  to  justice  those 
who  violate  the  following  laws:  (1)  The  Gambling  Laws;  (2) 
The  Sunday  Closing  Laws;  and  (3)  House  of  111  Fame  Laws. 

These  three  laws  are  constantly  and  openly  violated  under 
sanction  of  the  police  department  over  which  Mayor  Richardson 
is  head  and  Mr.  Richardson  keeps  quiet  and  simply  remarks, 
"It  is  not  wise  to  enforce  the  law"  though  he  has  sworn  "I 
do  solemnly  swear"  to  uphold  all  the  laws  of  the)  Common- 
wealth of  Virginia. 

]!^ow,  we  think  that  the  Mayor  realizes  his  false  position, 
but  he  can't  afford  to  go  back  on  those  who  put  him  in  office  by 
enforcing  the  law  because  he  is  ambitious  to  go  to  Congress, 
and  he  just  must  have  the  support  of  the  ring  in  order  to  make 
it. 

No,  we  can  see  how  ^Ir.  Richardson  has  a  glorious  chance 
to  come  out  and  enforce  the  law  and  thus  defy  the  ring,  and 
pave  his  way  in  the  popular  esteem  for  more  honors  in  the  fu- 
ture but  The  Idea  is  going  to  so  turn  on  the  light  that  unless 
he  does  enforce  the  laws  of  the  State  he  will  not  only  stand 
no  show  for  Congress  but  he'll  even  lose  the  little  job  of  Mayor 
he's  got,  for  there  is  a  way  for  the  sovereign  people  to  compel 
their  servants  to  do  what  they  have  hired  them  for,  and  the 
people  are  waking  up  to  their  power  and  it  is  simply  a  ques- 


T  h  e   I  d  e  a.  15 

tion  of  time  when  one  going  into  office  in  Richmond  will  find 
a  patli  of  duty  which  he  dare  not  depart  from. 

You  see  the  Democratic  committee  which  runs  things  in 
this  town  is  bossed  by  Saunders  and  Leaman  and  Griffith  and 
Ferrandini  and  their  kind,  and  these  four  members  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic committee  are  barkeepers,  or  ex-barkeepers  or  partners 
to  barkeepers. 

Don't  see  any  graft,  do  you  ? 

It  is  true  that  there  are  some  laws-  on  the  statute  books  of 
Virginia  which  shonld  not  be  there,  but  the  only  way  to  get  rid 
of  them  is  to  enforce  them.  There  is  no  use  in  making  crimi- 
nals of  the  people  by  keeping  them  on  the  books.  And  there  is 
no  reason  for  a  mayor  making  himself  an  oath  violator  simply 
because  the  law  is  not,  in  his  opinion,  a  good  one. 

Live  up  to  your  oath !  Enforce  all  the  laws !  And  then  if 
any  are  wrong  laws  the  legislature  can  be  counted  on  to  repeal 
them.  Don't  violate  your  oath  and  make  criminals  out  of  the 
people,  Mr.  Mayor. 


CONTRIBUTED  EDITORIALS. 

According  to  J.  Thompson  Brown,  the  Commissioner  of  Ag- 
riculture should  spell  his  name  with  a  '"C"  for  a  Coiner  of 
Falsehood.  Likewise  he  runs  a  propaganda  of  lies,  in  the  in- 
terest of  his  present  candidacy.  It  looks  ugly  for  the  com- 
missioner because  Mr.  Brown  leaves  off  gloves,  accepts  an 
aggressive  attitude  towards  Mr.  Koiner  and  cites  witnesses, 
including  the  president  of  the  joint  committees  on  Agricul- 
ture to  testify  in  the  premises.  True  Mr.  Brown  wants  Mr. 
Koiner's  berth,  but  he  has  a  right  to  want  it  and  his  prompt 
acceptance  of  the  onus  prohandi  will  go  far  toward  securing  the 
good  will  of  the  electorate. 

Mr.  Koiner's  veracity  and  good  .faith  are  challenged  point 
blank  and  Mr.  Brown  names  enough  witnesses  to  upset  the 
Koiner  apple  cart  right  in  the  road  unless  the  Commissioner 
is  prepared  to  adduce  some  exceedingly  telling  evidence  in  re- 
buttal. It  is  up  to  the  Commissioner  now  to  prove  Brother 
Bro^vn  a  liar  and  a  slandered  or  one  more  beneficiary  of  the 
office-holders'  trust  is  liable  to  go  down  in  the  dust  of  defeat. 


16  The   Idea. 

The  measures  of  a  freight-traffic  sclieclule  are  predicated  on 
that  simple  rule  the  ''ancient  plan  that  they  may  take  who  have 
the  power  and  fhey  may  keep  who  can."  Moreover,  these 
measures  are  adjusted  to  the  flexible  standard  expressed  in 
conjure  dialect  as  "all  the  traffic  will  bear."  Look  out  sweet 
railway  barons !  You  are  just  emerged  from  one  "bad,  black 
scare.  Take  heed  lest  a  woisser  case  befall.  Service  rendered 
.  is  the  basis  of  freight  charged.  Gauging  the  gauge  by  any  fancy 
yardstick  is  worshipping  the  ''Moloch  of  Names,"  the  blackest 
devil  of  the  bunch. 

An  era  of  right  thinking  is  dawning  upon  us.  A  wag  said 
the  other  day,  of  a  cross-eyed  girl,  otherwise  beautiful,  "that 
girl's  sitraight,  but  she  looks  crooked."  So  thousands  of  us  look- 
ing through  mental  strabismus  at  simple  facts,  have  been  see- 
ing life  in  distorted  shape.  Other  thousands  gazing  from  the 
wrong  point  of  view  have  been  forcing  false  values  on  life  and 
the  world  as  it  pasises  in  show.  Blind  partisans  we  have  set 
our  faces  against  truth  and  valued  men  for  opinions  sake;, 
rather  than  the  virtue  that  animates  their  dealings  with  each 
other.  Get  to  your  proper  point  of  view,  while  you  are  seeing 
things  straight.  A  corrupt  Democrat  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  corrupt.  Thousands  of  them  there  are  amongst  us,  wear- 
ing the  livery  of  heaven,  while  they  eagerly  serve  the  cause  of 
hell  and  a  crooked  Republican  walks  in  crooked  ways  and  the 
age  of  grab  and  graft  is  prolonged  and  extended,  because  we 
won't  look  straight.  Partisanry  is  made  part  of  our  religion 
while  we  are  fast  forgetting  how  knowledge  is  sweet  and  Truth 
lends  its,  wings  to  freedom.  The  officials  of  your  governmental 
machinery  are  your  servants.  Weigh  your  servants,  and  exact 
true  service  of  them.  Don't  let  them  off  with  a  lip  litany  of 
partisanry  they  set  up,  in  lieu  of  a  genuine  creed  of  duty. 


FROM  "SNOW  BOUND." 

"I  was  rich  in  flowers  and  trees. 
Humming  birds'  and  honey  bees ; 
For  my  sport  the  squirrel  played. 
Plied  the  snouted  mole  his  spade." 


WE  SELL   and  Guarantee    «, 

The  New  Columbia 
Champion  Refrig= 
erators,  New  Pro= 
cess  Gas  Ranges, 
McDougall  Kitchen 
Cabinets, 

And  Everything  in  ReUable 

rurnitureand  floor  Coverings 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.,  Inc 

1418=1420  E.  Main  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


Help  the  cause  of  civic 
cleansing  by  patroniz- 
ing those  who  adver- 
tise in  The  IDEA,  and 
tell  them  where  you 
saw  their  ad    ...    . 

T)on  't  Forget  it,  "Please 


Newsboys! 


77?^ 

Very 

Ideal 


10  PRIZES 

To  the  Boy  selling  the  largest  number  of 

copies  of  The  Idea  for  the  month  of  July 

we  will  give  a  Handsome  Watch ^  and  to 

the  next  nine  we  will  give  suitable 

prizes,    to   be  announced  later. 

Begin  now  by  getting  people  to 

promise   to   take    The    Idea 

from  you  REGULARLY 


...  BOYS ... 

GET  IDEAS  at 
904  Capitol  Street 
next  door  to  Park 
Hotel,  Corner  9th 
and    Broad   Streets 


AND 


Jefferson  Pressing  Club,  22d  and  Clay  Sts. 
MODEL  NEWS  CO.,  519  W.  Broad  St. 
And  ABBOTT'S  News-stand  in  Manchester 


5c 


WEEKLY    ^U    THE  COPY 

THE^IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  July  31,  1909  No.  9 


$2.00  A  YEAR 

Nerve 

The  Idea  Sued 

Electric  Contract  Graft 

Koiner,  Commissioner 

Democratic  Committee 

Police  Sergeant  Drunk 

Car  Transfer  Graft 

For  The  Mayor 
In  the  Same  Boat 

FOR  SALE  AT  ALL  NEWS  STANDS 

BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


For  Slightly  Used  Furniture 

The  Mayo  Furniture  Co. 

1402  East  Main  Street, 

which  opened  its  doors  June  1st,  last,  has  sold  more  Furni- 
ture than  any  TWO  houses  in  Richmond.  In  fine  and 
medium  grades  they  are  the  lowest  priced  house  in  the 

UNITED  STATES 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 

32  NORTH  LOMBARDY  STREET  PHONE  1821 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk  Paving,  Halls, 
Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  he 
takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work  and  straight 
forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  IJI  JULY  31,  390^  No.  y 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yodek, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


''NERVE. 


9  y 


When  I  have  become  so  base  a  slave  to  my  own  servants  as 
to  be  afraid  to  discuss  with  my  fellowman  the  affairs  of  my 
government,  then  bring  forth  the  shacklesi  and  bind  them  upon 
me,  for  k^t  it  not  be  said  that  besides  being  a  slave,  I  was  a 
miserable  coward. 

You  may  be  a  slave  without  shackles  but  as  for  me  I'm 
only  a  slave  when  made  so  by  physical  conditions.  You  and  I 
should  be  ashamed  to  admit  that  we  were  part  of  a  government 
under  which  it  takes  nerve  to  discuss  our  own  affairs.  Are  you 
fool  enough  not  to  see  that  you  are  on  the  road  to  actual  physi- 
cal slavery  when  evil  has  so  engulfed  the  government  asi  to  make 
it  dangerous  to  talk  or  write  the  truth  against  it.  You  should 
be  ashamed  to  admit  that  it  takes  nerve  to  fight  to  run  your  own 
government. 

To  our  mind  it  takes  nerve  to  sit  quietly  by  and  raise  child- 
ren to  a  heritage  of  slavery.  It  would  indeed  take  nerve  and 
wonderful  .-elf-control  for  the  editor  of  The  Idea  to  keep  his 
mouth  shut  and  his  pen  idle  while  the  powers  of  evil  were  gTad- 
uaily  stealing  away  his  rights  and  he  had  to  contemplate  the 
resulting  poverty  and  degradation  of  his  own  progeny. 

Are  you  willing  to  see  your  children  slaves  simply  in  order 


2  The   Idea. 

to  make  money  now,  by  not  stirring  up  a  rumpus  and  hurting 
business  ?  We  would  rather  die  in  poverty  and  sorrow  and 
seeming  disgrace  than  to  suffer  the  deep  hell  of  remorse  over 
seeing  our  own  sons  or  our  sonsi'  sons  sink  into  ignorance  and 
vice  and  poverty  because  we  would  not  do  our  duty  to  them  by 
fighting  when  we  could. — a.  a.  y. 


THE  IDEA  SUED! 


Mr.   Saunders   Enters  Suit  Against  the  Printers  of 
the   idea   and  A.  A.  Yoder. 


July  27th — There  has  been  entered  in  the  Law  and  Equity 
Court  a  suit  for  $20,000  damages  by  Clyde  W.  Saunders 
against  Rufus  C.  Williams  and  E..  H.  Williamsi,  doing  busi- 
ness as  the  Williams  Printing  Company,  and  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
process  returnable  the  third  Monday  in  August,  1909. 

In  the  first  place  let  us  state  that  Mr.  Saunders  evidently 
knows  that  in  law  he  has  absolutely  no  case  against  the  printers 
and  we  now  charge  that  this  action  on  his  part  is  intended  as 
a  scare  to  keep  the  printers  from  printing  The  Idea^  and  this 
attempt  to  make  a  printer  of  job  print  a  party  to  a  suit  and 
thus  make  printers  believe  that  by  taking  our  job  work  they 
lay  themselves  open  to  the  expense  of  a  lavvryer's  fees  for  de- 
fense is  one  unworthy  of  a  fair  fighter. 

If  Mr.  Saunders  wants  to  fight  let  him  fight  fair  and  not 
enter  suit  against  one  who  is  not  the  publisher  and  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  matter  published. 

Mr.  Saunders  knows  who  the  publisher  of  The  Idea  is  and 
who  in  law  isi  responsible  for  all  its  contents  and  he  knows  that 
the  printer  is  only  an  employee  of  the  publisher  and  that  the 
publisher  alone  is  held  accountable  for  the  contents  of  a  publi- 
cation. 

The  trouble  with  Saunders  is,  the  truth  is  at  last  getting 
out  and  he  can't  stand  it  and  so  in  order  to  make  a  show  at 
denial  just  before  election,  he  enters  the  suit  in  the  hope  that 


The   Idea.  3 

it  will  lielp  his  prospects  at  the  polls  where  there  seems  no 
doubt  about  bis  defeat  if  a  fair  election  could  be  bad.  But  fair 
elections  are  sucb  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of  witb  such  a 
committee  of  vagabonds  and  criminals  as  at  present  run  Rich- 
mond. A  very  prominent  politician  recently  made  the  state- 
ment that  the  election  of  legislators  is  not  one  half  so  important 
as  tbe  election  of  this  city  committee. 

We  wonder  where  the  $20,000.00  damages  comes  in?  Is 
it  wortb  $20,000.00  to  Mr.  Saunders  to  be  a  member  of  tbe 
City  Committee  for  one  term  ? 


Our  only  regret  is  that  the  trial  of  Mr.  Saunders  will  not 
come  off  before  election.  It  would  make  interesting  reading 
for  voters  who  want  good  government  in  Richmond. 


Slide,  Kelly,  Slide 


So  they've  entered  suit — Sui !  Sui !  Sui !  Sui 


Read  our  ads.,  and  especially  the  last  page. 


The  Electric  Award  Farce 


Crooked  Work 


Competition  Eliminated  by  Discriminatory  Specifica- 
tions Charged  by  tine  Four  Former  Bidders. 
Tine  Individuals  to  Blame. 


At  the  meeting  of  the  Council  Electric  Committee  last  week 
to  consider  bids  for  contract  work  of  erecting  a  municipal 
electric  plant,  five  electric  concerns  were  represented  and  four 
out  of  the  five  concerns  stated  that  the  specifications  were  so 


4  T  li  e    I  d  e  a. 

"worded  in  favor  of  the  General  Electric  Company  that  they 
were  practically  eliminated  from  the  competition.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  four  or  five  bids  were  received  on  the  former 
specifications  but  such  charges  of  underhanded  work  were  made 
"that  new  specifications  were  drawn  and  new  bids  were  asked. 

Now  the  point  to  be  made  is  this,  that  after  the  former  bid? 
had  been  examined  the  Electric  Committee  had  the  specifica- 
tions changed  in  seven  places  and  in  each  of  these  seven  places 
the  changes  were  such  as  to  conform  to  the  make  or  the  stand- 
ards of  the  General  Electric  Company  and  thus  make  it  im- 
possible for  some  and  utterly  impracticable  for  any  of  the 
former  bidders,  except  the  General  Electric  Comj)any,  to  make 
bids  on  the  revised  specifications. 

In  other  words,  after  the  committee  found  that  there  was 
opposition  to  awarding  the  contract  to  the  highest  bidder  and 
after  having  determined  as  the  committee  chairman  said  in  the 
council  meeting,  that  they  were  going  to  award  it  to  the  General 
Electric  Company  anyhow,  the  committee  made  such  changes 
that  it  was  impossible  for  other  companies  to  compete. 

In  bidding  on  these  specifications  every  company  except 
the  Gene^ral  Electric  would  have  to  construct  special  machines 
to  coiiform  to  the  standards  of  the  General  Electric  Company. 

The  seven  points  in  Avhich  Trafford,  engineer,  made 
changes  in  the  specifications  are  as  follows : 

1.  Efiiciency  of  the  water  wheel  generators. 

2.  Speed  of  turbine  nnits'. 

3.  Exciting  current  of  water  wheel  generators. 

4.  Eeeder  regulators. 

5.  Absolute  cut-onts  for  arc  lamps. 

6.  Wattage  at  arc  lamp  terminals. 

7.  Switch  boards. 

]^ow  in  order  not  to  worry  the  reader  with  technical  terms 
let  us  take  just  one,  namely,  the  first  change. 

In  the  first  ca-^e  the  efiiciency  was  not  fixed  but  the  var- 
lious  bidders  bid  on  the  following  efficiencies : 

Allis  Chalmers  Co.,  -  93.25  Per  Cent. 
Westinghouse  Company  93.50  Per  Cent. 
General  Electric  -  "-  94.00  Per  Cent. 
Crocker  Wheeler  -  -  94.50  Per  Cent. 
And  now  in  the  revised  specifications  Mr.  Trafford  specified 


The   Idea.  5- 

the  efficiency  of  the  General  Electric  Co.,  namely,  94.00  Per 
Cent.  This  is  clearly  a  discrimination  in  favor  of  the  General 
Electric  Co.,  and  if  we  had  space  we  could  show  that  in  each 
of  the  seven  changes  made  the  change  was  made  to  conform  to 
the  bid  formerly  made  by  the  General  Electric  Company.  As 
Mr.  Seabrook  of  the  Westinghouse  Company  said:  "The  new 
specifications  adopt  the  General  Electric  standards  in  each  case 
and  compel  all  bidders  to  conform  to  them.  This  means  that 
other  biddersi  must  make  special  machines  and  attempt  to  com- 
pete with  the  General  Electric  standards,  the  evident  intention 
being  to  put  all  bidders  at  a  disadvantage. 

ISTo  reason  can  be  given  for  the  standards  adopted  except 
that  they  best  suit  the  General  Electric  Co.,  and  will  enable 
that  Company  to  sell  this  plant  at  an  extravagant  price  to  the- 
city." 

In  reference  to  the  feeder  regulators  the  specifications  were 
changed  so  as  to  read  "General  Electric  Co.'s"  only,  though 
formerly  the  specifications  said  "or  equal." 

In  the  first  case  the  horizontal  turbine  was  specified  in  the 
drawing.  This  time  the  vertical  is  accepted  simply  because 
that  is  bid  on  by  the  General  Electric  Co. 

The  Crocker  Wheeler  Co.  said:  "Your  specifications  dis- 
criminate in  favor  of  one  company." 

The  Allis-Chalmers  Co.,  said:  "The  specifications  entirely 
eliminate  competition  by  requiring  the  General  Electric  Co's 
make  of  equipment."  The  nail  vras  hit  squarely  on  the  head 
by  Mr.  Seabrook  of  the  Westinghouse  Co.,  when  he  said:  "We 
could  not  but  decide  that  you  did  not  want  our  bid." 

ISTow  this  whole  matter  can  be  understood  if  you  know 
that  the  sub-committee  that  practically  ran  this  General  Elec- 
tric matter  through  was  composed  of  Pollock  and  Kichardson 
and  Pollard,  and  it  don't  take  a  Philadelphia  lawyer  to  see 
why  Mr.  Trafford  changed  about  so  completely  after  the  sub- 
committee meeting.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  Mr.  Leaman 
M'ho  accepted  money  from  the  Bell  Company  to  influence  coun- 
cilmen,  has  been  using  his  influence  lobbying  with  councilmen 
to  get  them  to  vote  for  the  General  Electric  Company's  bid. 
It  looks  rotten  all  the  way  through.  Mr.  Reynolds,  who  is  the 
only  member  of  the  Electric  Committee  who  seemed  at  all  con- 


6  The   Idea. 

cerned  to  have  a  fair  award,  after  questioning  Mr.  Trafford 
made  this  remark  in  the  committee:  "It  is  a  very  remarkable 
state  of  affairs  to  me." 

So  say  we  all  of  nsi  First  the  highest  bid  is  accepted  and 
then  when  that  is  defeated,  specifications  are  so  "fixed"  as  to 
cut  out  all  others. 


Subscribers  to  The  Idea  dropped  postals  ISTos.  4722  and 
4606  in  the  mail  July  2Y  without  writing  anything  on  them. 
The  service  will  be  started  soon  as  they  send  addresses. 


If  Clyde  Saunders  isi  growing  wings  The  Idea  owes  him 
an  apology.  We  are  loth  to  accept  such  prodigies  as  normal 
illustrations  of  natural  history  and  we  require  corroborative 
evidence  before  we  knock  under.  The  good  gentlemen  has  been 
mightily  abusied  since  folks  first  began  calling  him  a  ringster. 
If  now  he  makes  his  saintship  good,  whatever  are  we  going  to 
do?  Our  editorial  vocabulary  hasn't  anything  like  languauge 
enough  to  do  justice  to  the  occasion.  We  shall  be  exuding  apol- 
ogies wherever  men  do  congregate  to  glorify  St,  Clyde. 


Vote  Against  Saunders  and  Leaman 


THE  ELECTION  NEXT  WEEK 


VOTERS  ATTENTION 


The  Papers  "in  the  Ring".      Leaman  as  Lobbyist 


The  most  important  election  which  Richmond  voters  will  be 
called  on  to  participate  in  this  year  is  that  of  City  Committee- 
men. 

Did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  the  Richmond  daily  papers 
never    said  a  word  about  the  election  of  a  Democratic  City 


The   Idea.  7 

Committee  until  it  was  too  late  for  those  who  might  want  to 
qualify  to  make  application  for  the  positions. 

If  the  Richmond  papers  dominated  by  the  Bryan  family 
desired  to  stand  for  a  clean  city  as  they  now  and  then  boast 
they  do,  why  did  they  not  urge  clean  men  to  run  for  these  po- 
sitions and  let  them  know  that  an  election  was  coming  off.  We 
venture  the  assertion  that  not  one  man  in  ten  knew  until  the 
books  were  closed  for  application  that  this  important  committee 
was  to  be  elected  on  August  5th. 

We  also  wonder  why  this  same  Democratic  Committee  did 
not  have  their  election  fixed  on  the  same  day  that  they  ordered 
the  primary  election  for  other  city  officers.  Why  did  they  put 
this  election  with  the  governortorial  election? 

Now  this  is  the  most  important  statement  made  in  this 
number  of  The  Idea  : 

Rlchmonders  need  not  attempt  to  get  clean  men  in  office 
until  they  first  get  a  Democratic  Committee  that  wont  steal. 

Members  of  this  committee  stole  in  the  last  election, — and 
we  can  prove  it, — just  as  they  have  had  the  reputation  of  doing 
ever  since  the  war. 

Vote  for  clean  committeemen.  Saunders  and  Leaman  are 
the  only  members  of  the  ring  you  can  possibly  put  out  this  time. 
Don't  neglect  this  opportunity  to  strike  a  blow  at  crooked  poli- 
tics by  scratching  their  names  on  the  ticket  on  August  5th. 
Break  Saunders'  domination  of  city  affairs  and  stop  Leaman 
from  using  his  office  to  get  through  pet  legislation  as  he  is  doing 
now  in  button-holing  councilmen  to  get  them  to  vote  for  the 
electric  award  to  the  General  Electric  Co. 


Police    Sergeant    Wiltshire    Fined 
$25.00  for  Being   Drunk 


Some  time  ago  Policeman  Lear  was  fined  $150  for  being 
drunk  and  the  papers  made  large  news  items  out  of  it.  ISTow, 
however,  when  Detective  Sergeant  Wiltshire  is  fined,  as  he 
was  by  the  police  board,  recently,  his  fine  being  only  $25,  and 


8  The  Idea. 

'being  a  sergeant,  the  fine  is  kept  secret  and  the  papers  say  noth- 
ing about  it. 

It  is  manifestly  unfair  to  the  private  to  give  him  a  heavy 
fine  and  publish  the  fact  to  the  world  and  yet  fine  one  higher 
up  only  $25  and  shield  him  from  the  public. 

^ow  there  are  several  criticisms  to  be  made  concerning  this 
action.  In  the  first  place,  the  law  nowhere  provides  for  se- 
cret trials.  In  the  second  place,  the  police  board'  has  no  right 
to  hold  secret  meetings. 


IN  THE  SAME  BOAT 


Newspapers  and    Crooked   Politi- 
cians Fighting  the  Idea 


A  bunch  of  crooked  politicians  were  recently  discussing- 
The  Idea  when  one  of  them  remarked  that  "if  he  (a  certain 
crook)  will  beat  the  face  off  of  Yoder,  I'll  see  to  it  that  it  don't 
get  into  the  papers." 

The  rascals  know  that  they  can  count  on  the  daily  papers 
to  shield  them  from  publicity  and  everybody  already  knows 
that  the  courts  here  nearly  always  let  them  off  lightly  or  more 
often  refuse  even  to  bring  them  to  trial. 

When  the  gamblers  were  arrested  in  May  at  the  exposition 
gi'ounds  the  newspapers  shielded  from  the  public  the  rich  and 
130werful  politiciansi  and  the  law  never  even  attempted  to  ar- 
rest them.  Freed  by  the  courts  and  freed  by  the  press. 


It's  not  dangerous  in  Richmond  to  be  a  criminal,  but  it  is 


dangerous  to  talk  about  them. 


It  is  a  great  blessing  to  be  born  into  a  family  where  strict 
economy  of  time  and  money  is  necessary. — Huhhard. 


The   Idea. 

FOR  THE  MAYOR 


"Ours  a  Government  of  Laws  Not 

of  Men." 


"Incompetents,  Corruptionists  and  Buffoons"  "Rule 
Over  Police"  Justice  W.  J.  Gaynor  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  New  York  scores  Mayors 
and  Police  for  being  above  the  Law. 


^'There  is  no  place  under  onr  system  of  Government  for  an 
autocrat."  It  can  not  be  too  often  said  and  ought  to  be  pasted 
in  the  hat  of  every  official  and  especially  in  that  of  every  mayor 
and  police  commissioner,  that  ours  is*  a  government  of  laws 
and  not  of  men.  ISTo  official,  however  high,  is  above  the  law. 
He  has  no  right  or  lawful  power  to  do  anything  except  the  law 
permits  him  to  do  it,  and  then  only  in  the  manner  and  way 
which  the  laws;  prescribes  to  him.  That  is  free  government, 
the  opposite  is  despotism.  For  an  official  to  set  himself  above 
the  law  and  do  as  he  likes  is  despotism. 

Things  are  done  here  constantly  by  the  rulers  of  the  police, 
any  one  of  which  would  create  a  revolution  in  England  and 
endanger  the  throne  if  not  apologized  for  and  redressed. 

Tens  of  thousands  of  false  arrests  and  imprisonments  are 
committed  here  yearly. 

People  are  locked  up  over  night  in  cells  and  taken  to  court 
next  morning  and  discharged  because  not  even  a  charge  can  be 
made  against  them.  This  has  become  the  daily  routine  as 
every  magistrate  can  testify. 

The  police  force  is  not  to  blame,  but  the  persons  who  are 
put  in  rulership  over  them,  incompetents,  corruptionists  and 
mere  buffoons. 

Police  rulers  are  not  above  the  law.  You  can  not  rule  a 
free  people  in  a  lawless  way. 


^0  The   Idea. 

First  of  all  it  is  for  officials  to  keep  the  law  and  not  tram- 
ple on  and  defy  it  and  set  at  naught  the  rights  of  others. 

Thus  spoke  Justice  Gay  nor,  and  other  fearless  judges  are 
saying  the  same  thing  and  yet  right  here  in  Richmond  we  have 
a  mayor  who  openly  says  he  is  above  the  law, — ^that  if  a  law 
don't  seem  wise  to  him  he  will  not  enforce  it, — that  an  execu- 
tive officer  may  take  the  law  in  his  own  hands  and  do  as  he 
thinks  best,  not  as  the  legislature  which  makesi  the  law  thinks. 


Of  all  the  college  men  who  succeed,  who  shall  say  whether 
they  succeeded  by  and  through  the  help  the  college  gave  or  in 
spite  of  it. — Hubbard. 


A  GBEAT  AWAKENING 


PREACHERS  AND  BUSINESS  MEN  AROUSED 


Against  Officials  Who  Won't  Enforce  the  Law 


It  is  with  pleasure  that  we  notice  the  attitude  which  the 
pulpit  is  taking  towards  the  exposition  of  wrong-doing.  In 
the  past  few  days  communications  are  coming  to  us  from 
preachers,  to  whom  we  have  sent  sample  copies  of  The  Idea. 
commending  the  work  and  bidding  us  go  forward.  In  some  of 
the  foremost  churches  of  the  city  attention  of  the  voters  was 
called  last  Sunday  to  The  Idea''s  fight  for  clean  government. 
The  Rev.  Tilden  Scherer  of  Hoge  Memorial  Presbyterian 
Church,  sends  us  a  copy  of  "The  Richmond  Presbyterian"  from 
which  we  copy  the  following  editorial.  It  is  indeed  a  lament- 
able fact  that  these  awful  conditions  do  exist  with  so  little  "pro- 
test from  the  church  of  God." 

FRIGHTFUL   STATE    OF     AFFAIRS OFFICERS     OF     LAW     WINK     AT 

CRIME. 

"Violation  of  specific  laws  with  the  entire  knowledge  of  the 
officers  of  the  law." 


The   Idea.  11 

"Five  Hundred  Harlots"  protected  by  the  police. 
(The  following  isi  part  of  an  editorial  in  the  Richmond  Pres- 
byterian.) 

la  there  not  something  radically  wrong  with  a  public  senti- 
ment which  tolerates,  practically  without  protest,  the  whole- 
sale prostitution  of  ignorant  and  unprotected  girlhood  ? 

Is  there  not  something  radically  wrong  with  the  public  sen- 
timent that  allows,  practically  without  protest,  the  open  and 
known  flourishing  of  dozens  of  resorts  whose  existence  is  abso- 
lutely contrary  to  the  law,  and  in  which  literally  hundreds  of 
women  and  girls  of  every  degree  of  vileness  are  openly  housed 
as  a  means  of  gain  both  to  unprincipled  landlords  and  to  those 
in  charge  of  such  institutions  whose  stock  in  trade  is  the  virtue 
of  women,  and  as  a  vantage  point  for  the  propagation  of  their 
nefarious  business  of  seducing  male  and  female  alike? 

Is  there  not  something  radically  wrong  with  the  public  sen- 
timent that  allows,  practically  without  protest,  the  continu- 
ance of  this  condition  from  year  to  year  under  the  eye  of  prac- 
tically every  man  and  woman  in  the  city  and  with  the  entire 
knowledge  of  the  officers  of  the  law,  and  yet  in  direct  violation 
of  specific  laws  on  the  subject? 

Does  the  church  acknowledge  her  imbecility  in  this  matter  ? 
Or,  granting  that  it  is  not  a  question  for  the  church  as  such 
do  the  Christian  ministers  and  laymen  of  the  churches  of  the 
city  admit  their  imbecility  in  the  case  ?  Or,  do  we,  like  the  of- 
ficers of  the  law,  wink  at  these  things,  and  pass  them  by  on 
the  specious  and  puerile  argument  of  "necessary  evil,"  or  "it's 
none  of  my  business,"  etc.  ? 

It  is  a  thought  at  which  every  Christian's  cheek  should  flush 
with  shame  that  under  our  very  eyes,  open  before  us  in  glaring 
violation  of  the  laws  of  the  city,  approximately  FIVE  HUISr- 
DRED  harlots  live  and  thrive  and  spread  their  nets  for  the  en- 
tanglement of  others  of  their  own  sex  and  for  enticing  from 
the  paths  of  virtue  the  boys  of  the  city,  so  that  if  one  youth  in 
ten  escapes  their  clutches  it  is  more  chance  than  otherwise — 
and  this  condition  continues  from  generation  to  generation 
with  practically  not  a  protest  from  the  church  of  God,  the 
boasted  guardian  of  truth  and  purity  in  all  ages. 

Brethren,  let's  eliminate  the  farcical  laws  on  this  subject 


12  The   Idea. 

from  our  statute  books  or  else  let's  eradicate  the  moral  leprosy 
for  our  body  politic.  Let's  cease  our  playing  at  being  a  great 
moral  force  and  abandon  the  poor  working  girl  and  misguided 
boy  to  their  fate,  or  else  let's  throw  the  strong  arm  of  the  church 
and  the  law  about'  them  and  defy  the  agents  of  prostitution, 
and  of  crime  !  TILDEN  SCEEKEK. 


SITUATION  WANTED 


An  Agricultural  Applicant  and  his 
Renewal  of  Contract 


"Is  He  Honest?    Is  He  Capable?     Is  He  Fit?" 


When  a  servant  applies  for  a  renewal  of  his  commission^ 
in  the  service  of  the  public,  it  is  up  to  all  interested  to  ex- 
amine his  record  and  apply  the  simple  queries  of  Jefferson: 
"Is  he  honest,  is  he  capable,  is  he  fit?" 

The  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  is  not  too  high  to 
live  above  this  standard,  and  surely  the  Commissioner  of 
Agriculture  is  not. 

ISTor  is  it  to  be  said  that  faithful  administration  of  the 
Grovernor's  office  is  any  more  important  to  the  public  than  a 
just -discharge  of  duty  on  the  part  of  their  Commissioner  of 
Agriculture.  An  Auditing  Committee  of  the  Legislature,  on 
'Mr.  Koiner's  ofiice  methods,  has  affixed  a  stigma  on  his  front 
that  answers  all  test  questions  flatly  and  conclusively  in  the 
negative. 

G.  W.  Koiner  is  not  and  has  never  been  closely  joined 
with  those  who  do  things  of  import,  agriculturally.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  press  to  make  the  record  clear. 

When  for  fitness  sake  the  servant  challenges  his  public  to 
a  reward  of  merit,  a  verdict  of  selection  at  the  primary  means : 


The   Idea.  13 

■"Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant,"  "You  are  going  some, 
keep  a  going."     But  here  The  Idea  enters  protest. 

The  report  of  the  Committee,  unanimously  signed  and 
submitted,  adopts  the  findings  of  its  co-equally  commissioned 
experts  and  shows  that  Commissioner  Koiner  did  not  obey 
laws  made  for  his  governance  or  hold  others  to  obedience.  Be- 
sides delinquencies  on  his  own  part;  it  is  shown  in  a  "State- 
ment of  Fertilizer  seized"  that  a  long  line  of  violations  of 
law  had  characterized  the  conduct  of  fertilizer  factories,  un- 
der the  Koiner  regime. 

The  whole  revenue  of  the  department  hangs  on  the  ferti- 
lizer tax.  Rotteness  at  the  root  of  the  plant  has  stunted  the 
whole  growth  of  an  institution  intended  to  work  out  good  for 
all  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  dominion. 

If  the  voters  want  another  term  of  Koiner  'tis  up  to  them 
to  speak  out  now  or  let  him  slide  over  the  gulf  of  oblivion 
into  the  ranks  of  servants  discharged  and  replaced. 

In  this  connection  the  accountants  say:  "A  number  of 
•  questions:  and  answers  by  Mr.  E.  Bruce  Chesterman,  Chief 
Clerk  to  the  Commissioner,  speak  for  themselves  *  *  *  This 
examination  developed  the  fact  that  at  no  time  had  the  books 
been  balanced  and  closed  at  the  end  of  the  year;  or  has  any 
■  effort    been  made  to  balance  with  the  State  Auditor's  books." 

This  report  further  shows  most  careless  and  unbusiness 
methods  in  the  issue  and  sale  of  fertilizer  tags,  the  source  of 
•all  revenue  to  the  Department,  and  "there  appears  to  have 
been  very  little  care  in  the  handling  of  these  tags,  ordered  in 
lots  from  some  printing  fiiTu  in  boxes  of  100  each,  placed  in 
a  store  room  to  which  others  than  the  stamp  clerk  have  access. 
Numbers  of  tags  could  be  removed,  and  if  sold  to  the  con- 
sumer would  thereby  entail  a  loss  to  the  department." 

The  record  of  a  public  officer  asking  re-election  at  the 
hands  of  the  people  is  proper  subject  of  investigation,  and 
criticism,  and  it  will  not  satisfy  the  public  for  Mr.  Koiner 
and  his  friends  to  meet  the  issue  by  deprecation  of  dignified 
and  proper  criticism. 


One  damage  suit  and  three  advertising  contracts  this  week. 
"Watch   us  grow! 


14  The   Idea. 

CAR  TRANSFERS 


How  the  Car  Company  Fleeces  the 

People 


The  other  Sunday  a  woman  and  three  children  were  out  to 
Forest  Hill  Park  and  coming  back  on  the  car  she  asked  the 
conductor  for  transfers  down  Main  Street  to  Church  Hill. 

She  got  the  transfers  and  boarded  a  ear  on  Main  and  after 
having  gotten  down  to  Fourteenth^  Street  the  conductor  came 
around  and  asked  her  for  her  fare  and  then  refused  to  take 
her  transfers,  saying  that  they  were  not  good  on  his  car.  Isow. 
remember  that  all  the  lines  are  owned  by  one  company  and 
yet  a  transfer  issued  by  the  company  is  not  good  on  its  own 
cars.  Well,  the  woman  not  having  the  cash,  had  to  get  off  at 
Fourteenth  Street  and  her  transfers  being  run  out,  she  could 
not  utilize  them  by  returning  to  Seventh  Street  to  use  them, 
and  even  if  they  had  been  good  it  would  be  worth  more  than 
the  money  paid  to  walk  back  seven  or  eight  blocks  up  hill  on 
a  hot  July  day  to  be  able  to  use  her  transfers. 

In  this  particular  case  she  simply  had  to  walk  a  mile  or 
more  home  with  a  family  of  tired-out  children  because  we 
permit  a  car  company  to  act  the  hog  and  fleece  the  people  "go- 
ing and  coming."  And  this  same  company  is  now  about  to  ask 
for  valuable  extension  of  franchises  from  the  city  and  not  a 
daily  paper  is  independent  enough  to  say  anything  against  their 
high-handed  methods.  Other  cities  are  charging  the  car  com- 
panies for  these  valuable  rights  of  using  the  public  streets  for 
their  private  road  beds  and  the  city  of  Chicago  is  getting  in  re- 
turn a  large  per  cent  of  the  earnings  of  the  car  companies  which 
in  one  year  amounts  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  Other 
cities  make  the  companies  pave  the  streetsi  along  which  they 
pass.  Why  can't  Eichmond  demand  this  when  the  company 
asks  for  these  franchises  in  the  near  future. 

The  citizen  should  not  only  profit  from  this  valuable  privi- 


The   Idea.  15' 

lege  given  car  companies,  but  siliould  also  demand  up-to-date 
and  modern  equipment.  The  street-car  is  the  poor  man's  car- 
riage and  he  should  be  treated  with  the  very  best.  He  pays 
for  it  in  paying  his  taxes  to  make  these  streets  and  build  the 
city  for  the  car  company  to  live  off.  Let  him  demand  a  just 
return. 


WEAKLINGS    1^      OFFICE— DOES    THIS      APPLY 
IE  RICHMO:tTD  ? 

President  McGowan,  of  the  jSTew  York  Board  of  Alder- 
men, in  an  address  at  Parker  Memorial  Hall,  Boston,  recently, 
on  "City  Government  and  the  Public  Schools,"  along  with, 
other  interesting  comments,   said : 

"l^ever  elect  to  office  a  weak  man.  Weak  men  are  usu- 
ally termed  nice  men,  but  as  officials  they  are  a  menace  to  the 
State.  The  weak  or  dishonest  official  does  not  always  receive 
cash  for  his  vote,  but  is  tempted  by  hope  of  higher  honors. 
The  tempter,  like  the  serpent,  'charms  only  to  destroy ;  '  like 
the  boa  constrictor,  he  first  covers  his  victim  with  slime  and 
then  swallowis  him,  to  digest  him  at  will,  only  to  throw  him 
out  eventually  in  filth  and  corruption." 


PEIISOKAL  AND  A  WOKD  TO  THE  POOR  MAN. 

Since  there  are  some  who  did  not  see  our  initial  number, 
we  would  reiterate,  that-  our  writing  is  not  prompted  by"  any 
base  motive.  We  have  no  axe  to  grind.  We  have  no  spite 
against  anyone.  If  we  seem  bitter  or  harsh,  it  is  because 
we  feel  it  a  duty  of  a  public  organ  to  condemn  the  evil  irre- 
spective of  persons.  For  Mayor  Richardson,  as  an  individual, 
iw'e  have  nothing  but  the  kindliest  feelings,  but  should  we  let 
our  personal  feelings  of  friendliness  to  a  man  force  us  to 
neglect  our  higher  duty  to  the  community  or  the  State  ?  In- 
dividuals we  love ;  their  errors  we  Ijate :  And  since  govern- 
ment is  of  necessity  a  most  difficult  problem,  and  one  which, 
requires  the  closest  scrutiny  on  the  part  of  the  people,  every- 
one, and  certainly  every  paper  should  feel  it  its  duty  to  fear-' 
lessly  guard  the  law,  their  law,  from  falling  into  disrepute. 

Our   cities    are   more   loosely   managed   than   our   States,, 


18  The   Idea. 

and  it  is  largely  because  of  the  feelings  of  friendship  between 
the  papers  and  the  city  officials,  being,  in  the  close  community 
of  the  city,  of  necessity,  intimately  acquainted  with  each  other, 
that  the  papers  so  easily  neglect  their  larger  duty  by  overlook- 
ing, and  thus  encouraging  the  evils  of  city  management.  The 
Idea  iinds  it  hard  to  condemn,  and  we  would  gladly  drop 
our  pen  and  retire  to  the  more  congenial  and  healthful  at- 
mosphere of  natural  surroundings  if  we  did  not  feel  it  a 
duty  to  contribute  what  iwte  can  to  the  redeeming  of  our  times. 
We  owe  it  to  ourselves;  we  owe  it  to  our  families;  we  owe 
it  to  posterity,  to  make  our  country  better  for  having  lived 
in  it.  Our  experience  in  the  past  has  shown  us  that  we  can 
accomplish  much  even  with  this  little  affair  to  make  the  lot 
of  those  dear  to  us  a  better  one.  The  evils  of  bad  govern- 
ment which  are  developing  in  our  cities,  yes,  in  Richmond, 
are  alarming  to  one  who  believes  in  Democracy.  The  trend 
of  the  times  is  not  only  toward  the  continued  oppression  of 
the  poor  and  the  unfortunate,  but  what  is  worse,  it  is  toward 
the  constant  enlargment  of  the  proportion  of  the  poor  to  the 
community.  Our  fight  is  against  the  evils  of  the  government 
which  tends,  at  j^resent,  to  put  larger  power  and  more  money 
daily  into  the  hands  of  a  few,  and  less  of  the  necessities  of 
life  into  the  hands  of  the  many.  The  poor  man,  at  present,  is 
getting  poorer,  and  the  rich  man  richer,  because  those  whom 
we  elect  to  office  have  been  traitors  to  us  in  making  laws  hurt- 
ful to  the  poor,  and  not  enforcing  the  laws  existing  against 
the  wealthy.  We  shall  fight  for  the  majority  against  the 
powerful,  though  criminal,  minority;  even  though  in  so  doing 
we,  at  times,  find  it  our  disagreeable  duty  to  fire  point  blank 
at   an  individual. 


It  would  be  interesting  for  the  citizens  tc  know  who  paid 
the  taxes  this  last  winter  for  a  large  lot  of  voters  who  were 
unqualified  to  vote  until  their  taxes  were  paid,  unknown  to 
themselves,  and  their  tax  tickets  neceipted  were  sent  to  them 
by  mail.  Still  there  are  some  people  who  are  so  thick  headed 
thiey  can't  see  that  whiskey  con'upts  politics. 


T/<oT>trx/i^fPc/un,j  77)  //«:  /ioa.Se  OfHij  /S^A^rj 

THE  PRODIGAL'S  RETURN 


TAKE  A  SHOT 


W 


ITH    your    camera    while    on 
your    vacation    and    mail    us 
your  films  for  developing  and 
printing.    The  amateur  season  is  on. 

COOK 


PHOTOGRAPHER 


913  E.  MAIN 


RICHMOND 


WE  SELL  and  Guarantee 

The  New  Columbia 
Champion  Refrig= 
erators,  New  Pro= 
cess  Gas  Ranges, 
McDougall  Kitchen 
Cabinets, 

And  Everything  in  Reliable 

rurnilureandrioor  Coverings 

JONES  BROS.  &  CO.,  Inc. 

1418=1420  E.  Main  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Long  Distance  Phone  1086 

W.  G.  MAHONE 

Wholesale  and  Retail  Dealer  in 

Groceries,  Feed  and  Seeds 

FERTILIZERS  OF  ALL  HINDS 


806, 808, 810,  812  and  814  Brook  Avenue 


WEEKLY    %JU    THE  COPY 


THE^IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  Aug.  7,  1909  No.  10 

$2.00  A  YEAR 

ELECTION  NUMBER 

Lobbyists  and  Grafters 

Saunders  and  Leaman 

Where  Did  You  Get  It? 

Koiner  Again 

Charges  Against  the  Commonwealth's 

Attorney 

And  Much  Other  Stuff  Worth  While 

FOR  SALE  AT  ALL  NEWS  STANDS 

BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


For  Slightly  Used  Furniture 

The  Mayo  Furniture  Co. 

1402  tast  Main  Street, 

which  opened  its  doors  June  1st,  last,  has  sold  more  Furni- 
ture than  any  TWO  houses  in  Richmond.  In  fine  and 
medium  grades  they   are   the  lowest  priced   house  in   the 

UNITED  STATES 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 

32  NORTH  LOMBARDY  STREET  PHONE  1821 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk  Paving,  Halls, 
Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  he 
takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work  and  straight 
forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


:>li^     r, 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  AUGUST  7,   1909  No.  10 


5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


VOTERS  ATTENTION! 


Saunders    Lobbyist   and   Grafter 


"I  Was  Paid  $1,000.00  For  My  Services,  $500.00 
Before  and  $500.00  After  the  Fight  was  Over" 
for  "Securing  Votes  in  the  Two  Branches  of 
the  Council." 

Thus  spoke  Clyde  W.  Saunders,  then  a  member  of  the  City 
Democratic  Committee  and  Superintendent  of  Clay  Ward,  be- 
fore the  investigating  committee  on  July  22,  1903.  He  also 
said  that  he  was  employed  by  the  Bell  Co.,  to  help  get  through 
the  Bell  ordinance, 

ISTow  if  The  Idea  were  so  maliciously  inclined  as  to  desire 
to  slander  or  libel  Mr.  Clyde  W.  Saunders  it  would  be  at  a  loss 
to  know  how  it  would  go  about  it  and  effectively  compete  with 
these  words  from  Mr.  Saunders'  own  mouth. 

In  the  same  investigation  Mr.  Leaman  admitted  that  he  re- 
ceived $900.00  for  the  same  class  of  work.  The  Idea  cant 
slander  these  men. 


2  The  Idea. 

If  the  voters  of  Richmond  desire  to  have  clean  government 
let  them  get  at  the  root  of  the  matter  and  put  clean  men  on  the 
Democratic  Coinmittee  by  displacing  Saunders  and  Leaman. 


Where   Did  You  Get  It? 


FOR  BOSS  SAUNDERS. 


"This  is  pure  liberty,  when  freeborn  men, 
Having  to  advise  the  public,  may  speak  free; 
Who  can  and  will,  deserves  high  praise: 
Who  neither  can  nor  will  may  hold  his  peace ; 
What  can  be  juster  in  a  State  than  this  ?" — Euripides. 
Richmond,  August  5. — This  is  Primary  Day!  Choose  only 
tried  men  and  true,  for  guard  duty.    Tor  servitors  of  the  pub^ 
lie  select  the  wise,  the  just,  the  true !  The  cost  price  of  liberty 
is  vigilance ! 

Is  Saunders  a  saint?  Is  The  Idea  a  detractor?  Do  hon- 
est men  and  true  combine  im  power  self-perpetuated  ?  Does 
the  office-holders'  trust  consist  of  the  delicate  and  scrupulous 
of  innocent  folks  grown  rich  in  politics.  Do  sudden  fortunes 
materialize  to  those  who  mingle  the  arts  of  graft  and  grab  with 
business  schemes  and  cement  the  service  of  the  people  into  the 
power  that  rules  the  people  ?  Is  San  Francisco  a  myth,  Chicago 
an  example  of  virtue,  Tammany  Hall  a  school  of  saints,  Pitts- 
burg a  monastery? 

When  echo  answered  echo  to  the  call  that  drove  Boss  Croker 
into  exile,  the  burden  was :  "Where  did  you  get  it,  Boss  ?" 
Where  does  any  boss  get  it  ?  Is  wealth  built  up  in  public  ser- 
vice ever  anything  else  but  a  sign  of  sin  and  corruption?  If 
Clyde  Saunders  is  proud  of  the  source  whence  his  possessions 
grew  let  him  answet*  the  simples  query,  "where  did  you  get  it. 
Boss?" 

Philadelphia,  Albany,  New  York  have  all  thrown  these  im- 
ages of  corruption  on  the  screen  to  the  edification  of  Richmond. 


The  Idea,  9 

Can  we  gaze  on  the  moving  panorama  of  guilt  and  gather  no 
lesson? 

Is  it  our  part  only  to  be  warned  or  being  warned  shall  we 
be  forewarned  and  forearmed? 

Is  Clyde  Saunders  "Boss  Saunders"  for  a  term  indefinite  ? 
Do  the  officials  that  constitute  the  service  of  the  people  belong 
to  the  grafting  grabbers  that  chalk  the  slate  ?  This  very  day 
we  gather  in  our  might  and  cast  him  forth  or  he  rivets  our 
chains  anew  and  lends  new  vigor  to  his  power. 

This  very  day  we  are  cancelling  his  commission  or*  he  is  al- 
lying new  beneficiaries  to  the  mercenaries  that  march  under  the 
nauntijig  insolence  of  his  banner  to  the  enslavement  of  better 
men,  born  to  a  wider  freedom,  of  generations  yet  unspoiled  in 
the  lap  of  luxury  and  yet  untainted  of  the  vices  that  kill  man- 
hood. 

Stand  to  your  arms  good  freemen,  for  days  are  coming  that 
try  men's  souls  and  only  ingrained  grit  will  hold  us  all  fast  to 
the  traditions  of  that  glorious  ancestry  our  heritage  of  freedom 
is  grounded  on. 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  DOMINION 


At  Daydown  is  it  Jack  and  the  Beanstalk,  Or 
Does  Koiner  Win  Again? 


Is  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  called  again  to  play 
politics  with  the  people's  job  of  tilling  the  soil  and  teaching 
the  young  idea  how  to  shoot  or  is  his  applecart  overturned,  his 
enterprise  of  great  pith  and  moment  to  the  office  holders'  trust 
turned  awry  and  lost  the  name  of  action. 

In  the  language  of  the  frivolous  it  will  serve  us  well  if 
"Koiner's  head  is  neatly  bagged  to-day." 

The  call  of  the  people  will  inspire  Thompson  Brown  to  take 
Up  their  work  and  see  it  done  as  they  would  have  it  done ;  for 
the  people,  by  a  servant  of  the  people  allied  to  the,  work  of  the 
people,  a  hard  drudging  task  that  teaches  talesi  of  nature  at  h&r 


The  Idea, 


best  and  bids  us  back  to  the  lure  that  leads  manly  hearts  and 
minds  to  the  lessons  taught  of  the  soil. 


Mere  subscribers  are  wanted  for  The  Idea.  Newsboy  sales 
always  gratifying,  are  continuously  increasing,  but  your  regu- 
lar subscriber  is  a  steady  reliance,  an  element  of  substantiality 
every  periodical  covets.  The  Idea  is  on  a  mission  bent  and 
seeking  your  aid  in  the  cause  of  reform  and  worthier  aspira- 
tions. ISTot  only  should  the  wrongdoer  be  detected^  and'  pun- 
ished but  those  in  search  of  better  things  and  brighter  days 
should  be  encouraged  and  helped.  Lend  us  the  strong  arm  of 
your  friendly  aid,  good  folks,  and  let  us  all  "hit  the  pike"  with 
a  sturdy  stride  and  a  steady  gait  in  the  lock-step  of  co-operation. 
No  doubt  you  think  it  is  money  in  our  clothes,,  our  own  business 
we  are  pleading  for.  Well  let  it  go, at  that,  if  you  feel  that  way. 
The  Idea  covets  your  sympathetic  assistance  and  you  may  call 
it  charity  if  you  please,  anything  so  the  work  gets  done. 

There's  no  nicer  name  to  have  it  done  in  than  that  of  Char- 
ity. The  sharp  stick  that  prods  the  evildoer  is  reared  in  no 
malice,  nor  lifted  for  vengeance's  sake.  If  you  catch  us  luxur- 
iating in  high  life,  feeding  on  our  own  self-indulgence  at  the 
cost  of  our  neighbor  then  you'll  have  to  turn  out  and  reform  the 
reformer  and  the  stronger  you  grow  in  your  co-operation  the 
heavier  will  the  cudgels  prove  you  grow  for  our  whacking. 


CHARGES   AGAINST   THE   COM- 
MONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY 


An  Interview  With  Mr.  Folkes 


The  Idea  is  making  a  stand  for  law  enforcement  and  to  that 
end  has  exposed  certain  flagrant  violations  of  the  law,  notably 
those  making  it  a  crime  to  operate  a  house  of  ill  fame  or  to  sell 
whiskey  without  a  license,  as  is  openly  done  on  Mayo,  Franklin, 
Fourteenth,  Eighth,  Seventeenth,  East  Broad,  West  Broad  and 


The  Id6a:  5 

other  })rotected  sections  of  the  city  under  the  eye  and  with  the 
sanction  of  the  police,  the  chief  of  police,  the  police  board,  who 
seem  to  think  they  have  something  to  do  with  law  enforcement, 
and  the  mayor  himself. 

This  state  of  affairs  has  been  forcefully  brought  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  mayor  who  openly  claims  he  has  a  right  to  ignore 
the  law.  The  chief  of  police,  a  mere  figurehead  of  the  police 
board,  takes  the  same  position,  though  he  will  take  no  stand 
for  publication  because  he  knows  his  position  is  an  illegal  and 
untenable  one.  The  police  board,  which  is  really  responsible 
for  this  condition,  by  its  illegal  assumption  of  powers  which  it 
does  not  legally  possess,  has  decided  to  do  as  it  pleases  about 
this  matter  regardless  of  the  statute  and  the  constitution  of  the 
State  and  the  charter  of  the  city  which  place  on  the  police  the 
specific  duty  of  enforcing  these  laws  and  which  also  require  the 
mayor  to  swear  he  will  see  that  the  police  do  enforce  them. 

ISTow  the  founders  of  our  State  have  provided  against  a 
condition  like  this  by  making  an  office  of  commonwealth's  at- 
torney, who  is  charged  by  the  State  with  looking  after  the  in- 
terests of  the  State  and  with  righting  affairs  when  a  State  of- 
ficer refuses  to  carry  out  a  State  law  as  the  whole  executive  de- 
partment is  refusing  to  do  to-day. 

Mr.  Folkes  has  been  elected  therefore  to  see  to  the  carrying 
out  of  the  State's  laws  in  the  city  of  Richmond  and  as  the 
State's  attorney  he  is  the  legal  counsel  of  the  State  and  the 
legal  representative  of  the  citizens  of  the  State  when  in  their 
sovereign  capacity  as  the  reigning  power  of  the  State,  their 
laws,  the  State's  laws,  are  violated.  Therefore  as  a  sovereign 
citizen  of  the  State,  and  on  the  legal  advice  of  counsel,  the  ed- 
itor of  The  Idea  has  brought  to  the  official  attention  of  the 
State's  attorney,  Mr.  Folkes,  the  present  violations  of  the  State 
laws  and  the  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  executive  department 
of  the  city  to  enforce  these  laws.  In  this  interview  with  the 
commonwlealth's  attorney  he  was  told  that  we  had  no  desire  to 
make  a  case  against  the  mayor  if  the  law  could  be  enforced 
without  so  doing  as  we  believed  that  the  mayor,  though  he  was 
absolutely  wrong  in  going  back  on  his  oath,  was  apparently 
conscientious  in  doing  what  he  did,  or  rather  failing  to  do  his 
duty,  and  that  our  object  would  be  served  whenever  he,  or  his 
executive  department,  the  police  force,  enforced  the  law. 


6  The  Idea. 

We  suggested  to  him  that  while  the  law  did  not  require  him, 
the  attorney,  to  do  any  detective  work  in  ferreting  out  crime, 
still  the  law  anticipated  that  when  such  crimes  were  brought 
to  his  attention,  he  would  take  the  proper  steps  to  have  the  law 
enforced. 

We  told  him  that  our  object  in  seeing  him  and  in  publishing 
The  Idea  was  not  to  make  sensational  news  but  to  serve  a  pur- 
pose of  law  enforcement  and  that  to  that  end  we  hoped  he  would 
lend  his  assistance. 

In  naming  the  specific  case  of  the  illegal  sale  of  ardent  spir- 
its by  houses  of  ill  fame  he  agreed  that  it  was  in  his  province 
to  bring  this  to  the  attention  of  the  police  and  promised  to  do 
so.  He  also  agreed  that  he  would  bring  to  the  attention  of  the 
police  our  charge  that  houses  of  ill  fame  do  exist  in  many  cer- 
tain places  in  the  city  and  he  agreed,  as  we  have  of  course  al- 
ways held,  that  these  places  have  no  legal  existence  and  that 
where  it  is  known  the  police  should  break  it  up.  When,  how- 
ever, we  told  him  that  the  police  not  only  knew  of  these  houses, 
but  openly  admitted  that  they  exist  and  claim  they  have  a  right 
to  permit  them  to  exist  under  their  control  and  that  they  do 
have  them  under  their  control  and  that  the  mayor  himself 
claimed  that  the  executive  department  had  a  right  to  control 
these  houses,  then  the  attorney  said  that  he  would  express  no 
opinion  as  to  the  mayor's  position  and  would  do  nothing  to  com- 
pel the  mayor's  department  to  enforce  the  law  and  that  our  at- 
torney had  advised  us  wrongfully  in  directing  us  to  him. 

In  other  words,  Mr.  Folkes,  the  State  attorney,  refused  to 
do  anything  to  compel  a  State  officer  to  enforce  the  State  laws. 
When  we  told  him  that  his  position  left  the  situation  so  that 
the  sovereign  citizen  had  no  redress  when  his  laws  were  violated 
and  that  his  position  put  the  biirden  of  law  enforcement  on  the 
citizen  ke  did  not,  and  of  course  could  not,  make  any  satisfactory 
answer. 

Wc  asked  him  what  a  citizen  could  do  then  in  such  case 
and  he  replied  that  that  was  a  question  between  us  and  the  of- 
ficer and  that  we  were  wrongfully  informed  when  we  were 
counseled  that  he  was  the  one  to  see.  When  asked  if  he  were 
not  charged  with  looking  after  the  State's  legal  interests  in  the 
city  he  said  "yes." 


The  Idea.  f 

WJien  asked  if  it  were  not  his  duty  to  take  knowledge  of 
flagrant  violations  of  the  law  he  said  it  was  and  that  he  would 
bring  these  violations  of  the  law  to  the  attention  of  the  police 
department.  Then  we  said:  "If  it  is  your  duty  to  take  official 
knowledge  of  these  violations  why  is  it  not  your  duty  to  take 
knowledge  of  the  violation  of  the  law  on  the  part  of  the  mayor 
which  I  not  only  openly  charge,  but  which  the  mayor  himself 
openly  admits  but  claims  he  has  a  right  to  make."  He  replied : 
"That  is  a  question  between  you  and  the  mayor," 

The  interview  was  quite  extended  and  every  possible  way 
of  getting  the  attorney  to  recognize  the  state  of  affairs  was 
taken.  He  at  first  talked  very  freely  about  law  violation  in 
general  and  admitted  that  no  house  of  ill  fame  had  a  right  to 
exist  in  the  State  and  that  no  place  had  a  right  to  sell  liquor 
without  license  and  when  asked  if  any  policeman  had  a  right 
to  ignore  any  law  he  answered  "I  know  of  no  such  right"  but 
whenever  we  mentioned  the  word  mayor  he  evaded  the  question 
and  refused  to  take  any  stand  whatever,  though  he  did  admit 
that  the  mayor,  as  chief  executive  officer  of  the  city,  was  re- 
sponsible for  all  law  enforcement  in  the  city. 

Now  The  Idea  has  this  to  say  that  the  laws  of  Virginia 
contemplate,  as  it  is  clearly  set  forth,  that  the  State's  attorney 
shall  look  after  the  interests  of  the  State  in  such  a  case  of  fail- 
ure to  perform  duty  on  the  part  of  the  mayor  and  in  this  par- 
ticular case  even  states  how  he  shall  proceed,  and  the  State's 
attorneys  in  other  cities  where  there  is  any  civic  pride  and  sen- 
timent in  favor  of  having  officers  who  will  do  their  duty,  the  at- 
torneys for  the  State  have  been  the  ones  who  not  only  institute 
proceedings  but  even  hire  detectives  and  go  to  enormous  expense 
to  bring  the  offenders  to  justice. 

Here  in  Richmond,  however,  a  citizen  can  not  violate  a  law, 
hut  an  officer  can  not  only  violate  a  law  hut  even  violate  an 
oath.  And  D.  G.  Richardson  is  doing  that  to-day  in  Richmond 
and  Minitree  Folhes  is  sanctioning  him  in  it — is  party  to  the 
crime,  is  directly  violating  his  oath  when  he  refuses  to  take 
knowledge  of  these  charges. 

Now  let  this  be  understood  that  personally  we  have  no 
quarrel  with  Mr.  Folkes  or  Mr.  Richardson.  Our  interviews 
with  each  of  them  were  pleasant  and  agreeable  an.d  for  tlie  men 


8  Tle'ldea. 

personally  we  have  none  but  the  best  feelings  and  good  wishes. 
From  the  standpoint  of  the  sovereign  citizen  talking  to  his  pub- 
lic servant  in  each  case  the  interview  was  most  unsatisfactory 
and  while  as  men  they  are  very  likeable,  still  as  employees  for 
their  respective  positions  their  work  and  their  attitude  towards 
the  law  is  most  astonishingly  anarchistic  and  blameable. 

It  is  just  such  position  on  the  part  of  public  officials  that  in 
the  past  has  destroyed  governments  and  wrecked  states  and 
checked  the  march  of  liberty  and  right  and  made  revolutions 
and  wars. 

We  have  still  enough  confidence  left  in  Virginia  people  to 
think  that  there  are  left  some  Virginians  here  in  Richmond, 
where  Henry  made  his  famous  speech,  to  resist  oppression  and 
stand  against  tyranny  on  the  part  of  those  who,  for  political  or 
financial  reasons,  refuse  to  abide  by  their  word  of  honor  spoken 
under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath. 

We  shall  therefore  not  stop  but  shall  follow  this  matter  un- 
til that  public  sentiment,  which  we  find  so  fast  increasing,  shall 
become  so  strong  that  no  officer  will  dare  to  act  contrary  to  his 
oath  or  duty  simply  for  political  reasons. 


POLICE  PICNIC 


Word  had  been  coming"  to  The  Idea  for  the  past  month 
that  the  Police  Picnic  was  a  grand  gambling  and  drinking  tour- 
nament and  so  The  Idea  was  solicited  to  go  out  and  expose  the 
wrong.  When  the  tickets  appeared  it  was  noticed  that  this 
year  they  bore  the  legend,  "ISTo  minors  admitted"  and  it  is 
said  that  this  is  an  innovation  this  year — that  formerly  lots  of 
fellows  from  10  to  21  years  of  age  debauched  themselves  with 
beer  which  was  given  away  to  all  comers. 

Then  came  the  report  that  Chief  Werner  had  passed  along 
the  word^ — !No  gambling  this  year  as  The  Idea  is  on  to  the 
game.  We  went  out  to  the  picnic,  however,  to  see,  and  found 
posters  placed  at  the  gates  bearing  lines  like  this:  "No  cards 
allowed  in  the  grounds." 


This  you  see  was  an  admission  that  this  public  gambling 
had  been  allowed  in  the  past. 

Inside  we  found  a  very  decent  condition  as  compared  with 
former  years  as  there  were  only  a  few  gambling  games  going 
on — at  least  we  did  not  see  many.  But  there  is  one  thing  we 
did  notice  and  that  is  that  anyone  could  get  just  as  much  beer 
as  he  wanted  for  nothing  and  very  ^  many  men  got  more  than 
they  could  hold  and  while  it  was  not  as  bad  as  former  years 
still  "The  Police  Benevolent  Association"  was  reaping  money 
from  the  sale  of  tickets  to  a  big  beer  drinking  affair  which  made 
many  drunks. 

The  object  of  this  article  however,  is  primarily  to  show  that 
the  publication  of  The  Idea  is  responsible  for  stopping  prac- 
tically all  of  the  gambling  at  the  police  picnic. 


Is  not  it  an  acknowledgement  that  there  is  something  ser- 
iously wrong  when  no  minors  and  no  women  are  allowed  to  at- 
tend ? 

Can  you  conceive  a  preachers'  picnic  where  the  children  and 
women  were  not  invited  or  did  not  dare  to  go  ? 

Would  any  body  of  men  other  than  the  police  dare  to  have 
a  picnic  where  beer  in  unlimited  quantities  Was  given  away? 

We'll  venture  this  statement.  That  nearly  every  gambler, 
barkeeper,  brewery  employee,  bum,  crooked  politician  and  dive- 
keeper  in  and  around  Richmond  was  at  the  picnic. 

If  anyone  desired  to  study  the  effects  of  strong  drink  and 
crime  on  the  faces  of  men  he  had  only  to  study  any  group  of 
men  at  the  picnic. 


01^  THE  Q.  T.  AT  THE  PICNIC. 

Eirst  Gambler — "Well,  I  see  we  cannot  have  any  poker  to- 
day." 

Second  Gambler — "Oh  yes,  you  can,  I  just  lost  $25.00  in 
a  horse  stall." 


TO  PREACHERS  AND  CHRISTIAN  MEN. 

'     In  talking  with  preachers;  about  crime  in  Richmond  we  have 
been  somewhat  surprised  at  first  that  they  knew  so  little  about 


10  The  Idea. 

tl;e  frightful  stgte  of  affairs  here,  but  that  surprise  is  dissipated 
when  our  attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  the  preacher  has 
no  means  of  finding  out  about  crime  which  other  people  have, 
simply  because  in  conversation  with  them  people  do  not  bring 
up  the  subject  of  vice. 

We  are  led  to  believe  that  if  the  pastors  of  Richmond  kn/gw 
what  vou  and  I  and  the  average  citizen  and  business  man 
knows.,  about  gambling  and  the  bawdy  house  section  and  the 
criminal  element  in  general  he  would  set  up  such  a  protest  that 
Richmond  would  purge  itself  of  this  foul  stench  and  be  clean. 
In  other  cities  the  preachers  know  more  about  conditions  be- 
cause the  daily  papers  in  other  cities  are  not  so  goody-goody 
that  they  will  not  publish  the  word  harlot  or  scarlet  woman  as 
the  religious  papers  and  Bible  does,  and  as  the  Times-Dispatch 
claims  they  are  too  clean  to  do.  Let  the  press  get  busy  and  let 
every  citizen  acquaint  his  pastor  with,  conditions  and  these  pas- 
tors, we  believe,  can  be  counted  on  to  work  for  the  cause  of 
civic  and  individual  purity. 

It  would  not  take  but  ten  per  cent  of  the- preachers  here  to 
completely  change  the  attitude  of  our  city  officers  towards 
crime  and  criminals.  At  present  their  attitude  is  one  of  li- 
cense of  crime  and  criminals. 

In  fact,  the  attitude  of  the  executive  department  of  the  city 
of  Richmond  is  so  openly  that  of  sanctioning  crime  that  a  prom- 
inent local  Y.  M.  C.  A.  official  actually  thought  and  argued 
that  the  bawdy  house  in  Richmond  was  a  legalized  and  licensed 
institution. 

Christian  men  of  Richmond,  what  have  we  come  to  that 
we  have  permitted  our  public  servants  to  so  nullify  our  laws 
that  good  men  think  from  their  attitude  that  no  such  laws  do 
exist !     Arouse  ye  !  and  quit  yourselves  like  men. 


TO  PUBLIC  SERVANTS. 

When  I  hire  a  servant,  I  don't  surrender  my  right  to  criti- 
cize him. 

Yet  some  of  our  public  servants  are  to-day  resenting  our 
criticism  of  their  failure  to  do  as  we  order. 

Ifha^  tecainds  us  of  tjie  mule  that  got  his  fodt  up  in  the  stir- 
rup. 


i 

The   Idea.  11 

We,  the  people,  hired  yon  to  work  for    us,    not    that    you 
might  get  in  the  saddle  and  make  us  do  the  riding-you  act. 
If  you've  decided  not  to  ride  us,  we'll  just  get  another  mule. 


NOT  TO  OFFEND 

BUT  TO  DEFEND 


It  is  hoped  that  it  is  clear  to  our  readers  that  the  motive  of 
The  Idea  is  not  one  of  offense  to  those  individuals  whom  we 
find  it  necessary  to  expose. 

We  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  roast  every  one  who  is  a  sin- 
ner. As  far  as  we  are  concerned  all  who  have  erred  may  de- 
part in  peace.  W^e  feel,  however,  that  when  one  sins  against 
the  city  or  the  State  he  has  sinned  against  us  for  the  State  is 
you  and  I  and  as  the  State  suffers  you  and  I  suffer.  If  the 
State  is  robbed,  you  and  I  are  robbed.  If  there  is  graft  in  city 
affairs  you  and  I  are  the  offended  ones  and  when  city  or  State 
laws  are  openly  violated  it  is  your  law  and  my  law  that  is  vio- 
lated, and  you  and  I  not  only  have  a  right  to  talk  about  it  but 
it  is  a  duty  we,  you  and  I,  owe  to  our  children  to  so  turn  the 
light  on  that  respect  for  law-enforcement  shall  be  preserved  to 
them.  So  when  a  public  evil-doer  is  discovered  The  Idea  feels 
it  a  duty  to  us  all  to  expose  the  rascal  and  thus  defend  our- 
selves against  those  who  have  already  done  us  a  wrong. 

When  we  advocate  the  punishment  of  the  evil-doer,  it  is  ndt 
because  we  like  to  see  one  punished,  but  it  is  because  we  desire 
to  defend  ourselves  against  those  who  are  despoiling  us.  To  be 
more  explicit :  We  are  not  trying  to  offend  Pollock  and  Saun- 
ders and  Leaman  and  the  rest.  'No,  no,  for  them  as  individ- 
uals we  have  feelings  of  good  will  and  consideration,  but  we 
must  expose  them  in  order  to  defend  ourselves  against  their 
acts,  for  their  acts  are  certainly  offending  to  us. 

The  Idea  dislikes  the  task  but  feels  it  as  a  burdensome 
duty  to  defend  those  who  are  dear  to  us  from  their  enemies. 

The  Idea  has  not  raised  the  row,  it  simply  has  attempted 
to  ward  off  the  blows  directed  against  every  citizen. 


1^  The  Idea. 

There  are  those  who  say  that  The  Idea  is  making  a  fight 
on  the  rascals.  That's  not  it.  We  are  simply  resenting  and 
warding  off  the  fight  which  they  have  already  long  been  waging 
against  us. 

They  started  the  rumpus.  The  Idea  did  not  do  it.  We  are 
just  stopping  the  rumpus. 


A  bird  in  the  bush  is  worth  two  on  a  woman's  bonnet. — 
Hubhard. 


All  men  are  my  brothers;  not  just  those  who  belong. — 
Hubhard. 


THE  FAULT 


Where  the  Trouble  Lies  in  our  Present  Manage- 
ment of  the  Police  Department 


TO  OUR  LEGISLATORS 


The  reason  the  laws  are  not  enforced  in  Richmond  lies 
largely  in  the  fact  that  the  responsibility  for  and  power  over 
the  police  is  divided. 

The  mayor,  who  is  alone  held  responsible  for  the  execution 
of  the  laws  is  not  clothed  with  the  power  of  appointment  to 
office  and  is  not  charged  directly  with  the  efficiency  of  the  force. 

The  large  irresponsible  board  of  seven,  who  act  in  secret, 
.  have  all  the  power  of  appointment  to  the  force,  and  then,  when 
the  laws  are  not  enforced,  even  though  the  police  and  mayor 
should  desire  that  they  be  enforced,  the  law  makes  the  mayor 
responsible  for  the  wrong  though  practically  he  is  held  down 
by  this  secret  board,  unless  he  is  a  mighty  big  man. 

And  whenever  you  get  a  real  big  man  for  mayor,  this  same 
police  board  and  the  rest  of  thie  ring  work  against  him  and 


The   Idea.  13 

ultimately  defeat  him  because  they  know  he  will  hurt  their 
crooked  business. 

Now  let  our  legislature  have  the  city  charter  so  amended 
that  not  only  the  mayor  shall  be  responsible  for  the  enforcement 
of  the  law  but  that  he  shall  have  more  power  over  the  force. 

Let  this  crooked  management  of  the  force  by  a  secret  com- 
mission be  done  away  with. 

Grive  the  chief  the  appointive  power  as  the  charter  contem- 
plated and  let  him  be  responsible  for  all  the  acts  of  the  force, 
not  to  the  board,  but  solely  to  the  mayor. 

It  has  been  the  history  of  all  law  execution  that  when  you 
divide  the  responsibility  and  the  power  you  do  it  at  the  expense 
of  efficiency. 

It  is  foolish  to  make  a  man  responsible  for  a  thing  which 
he  is  not  in  charge  of,  and  although  the  charter  contemplated^ 
no  such  authority  in  the  hands  of  the  board  as  they  actually 
usurp,  the  big  fact  remains  that  not  only  do  they  have  it  but 
they  use  it  to  the  debasement  of  the  law  and  in  the  interests 
of  crookedness,  corruption,  vice  and  crime,  which  is  a  blot  on 
any  community. 

We  call  on  the  legislature  for  a  better  charter  enactment  in 
respect  to  the  management  of  the  police. 


Chief  Werner  on  Law  Enforcement 


In  mailing  a  copy  of  the  automobile  speed  regulating  ordin- 
ance to  automobile  owners  in  Kichmond  recently  Chief  Werner 
writes  the  following: 

TAKE  NOTICE. 

This  ordinance  is  forwarded  you  so  that  you  may  fully  ac- 
quaint yourself  with  its  provisions.  On  and  after  August  15, 
1909,  it  will  be  strictly  enforced  by  this  department. 

Lewis  WekneEj    .' 

'  Chief  of  Police^ 

It  therefore  appears  that  Chief  Werner  does  sometimes  have 

some  respect  for  the  law.  / 

Would  it  not  be  well  for  the  Chief  to  have  some  respect  for 


14  The   Idea. 

the  State  law  and  send  notices  to  the  500  and  more  lewd  women 
in  Richmond  whose  names  he  keeps  on  his  files  at  his  office, 
that  "On  and  after  Aug.  15,  1909,  the  following  law  will  be 
respected  in  Richmond :" 

"If  any  person  keep  a  house  of  ill  fame,  etc.^  he  shall  be 
confined  in  jail  not  exceeding  one  year  and  fined  not  exceeding 
two  hundred  dollars."  But  No,  some  laws  may  be  violated  and 
some  may  not.  It  all  depends  on  what  the  little  police  board 
decides  to  do  about  it. 

Which  is  the  greater  crime  agaihst  society — speeding  an 
automobile  nine  miles  an  hour  or  running  a  damnable  dive  on 
Mayo  Street.  Chief  Werner  says  you  may  run  the  degraded, 
contemptible  dive,  but  you  can't  run  the  automobile. 

Werner,  the  great  law-giver,  has  spoken.  You  may  have 
your  high  old  time  down  in  Richmond's  hell  but  you  must  not 
under  heavy  penalty  violate  a  minor  law. 

And  the  mayor  says  "Amen." 


SOME  STRONG  STATEMENTS 

BY  SENATOR 

LaFOLLETTE  OF  WISCONSIN 


We  were  startled  to  find  our  great  industrial  organiza- 
tions in  control  of  politics,  government  and  natural  resources. 
Thfey  manage  conventions,  make  platforms,  dictate  legislation. 
They  rule  through  the  very  men  elected  to  represent  the  people. 
Ten  years  of  investigation  and  exposure  have  disclosed 
corruption  in  municipal.  State  and  national  government,  with- 
out a  parallel  in  modern  history. 

■  i  We  have  made  great  progress.  The  people  now  understatid. 
Por  the  representative  who  betrays,  they  feel  only  contempt. 
But  they  know  that  back  of  the  bad  representatives  in  munici- 
"pAlf  State  and  national  government  stands  special  privilege, 
the  teal  enemy  of  their  iiistitutions,  fortified  with  the  great- 
est wealth  and  power  ever  massed  for  the  control  of  govem- 
m^tj 


The  Idea.  16 

The  battle  is  just  on.  It  is  young  yet.  It  will  be  the 
longest  and  hardest  ever  fought  for  Democracy.  In  other 
lands,  the  people  have  lost.  Here  we  shall  win.  It  is  a 
glorious  privilege  to  live  in  this  time,  and  have  a  free  hand 
in  this  fight  for  government  by  the  people. — Senator  LaFol- 
iette. 


WHAT  IS 
THE  IDEA  WORTH  TO  RICHMOND 


N'ow  comes  the  report  that  a  big  gambler  exposed  by  The 
Idea  says  he  would  give  $10,000.00  if  The  Idea  had  not  ex- 
posed him  as  it  did  last  week. 

If  there  are  any  who  think  The  Idea  is  not  accomplish- 
ing good  let  them  notice  this  statement. 

If  gambling  is  stopped  to  the  extent  of  $10,000.00  does  not 
that  mean  that  $10,000,00  is  saved  to  the  citizensi? 

Does  that  not  mean  that  The  Idea  is  worth  at  least  $10,000 
to  the  community?  And  yet  we  wonder  how  many  wealthy 
Kichmonders)care  $10.00  worth  whether  The  Idea  continues 
to  exist  or  not. 

Are  you  interested  in  the  betterment  of  Eichmond  only 
when  it  means  money  in  your  pocket  ?  If  not,  encourage  The 
Idea.     Subscribe  to-day.  Help  the  work  for  Better  Richmond. 


Happy  he  whose  inward  ear 

Angel  comfortings  can  hear, 

O'er  the  rabble's  laughter. — Whittier. 


In  the  next  number  we  will  quote  some  law  on  libel  for  the 
edification  of  Mr.  Saunders. 


,li8  The   Idea. 

The  Idea  Is  Always  Alive 


The  Idea  Always  Has  Something 

To  Say 


The  Idea  Always  Says  It 


The  Idea  is  in  the  fight  to  down  crookedness,  graft  and  all 
maimer  of  evils  wherever  they  may  be  found  without  regard 
to  the  person  who  may  be  hit. 

The  Idea  will  stand  for  decency  and  order  and  law-enforce- 
ment, and  most  earnestly  solicits  the  active  moral  support  of 
all  who  care  for  a  better  and  greater  Richmond,  and  a  healthier 
political  atmosphere  for  Virginia.    Lend  a  "hand  in  the  work 

By  getting  The  Idea  every  week ; 

Bv  encouraging  Idea  advertisers ; 

By  informing  us  of  wrongdoing  on  the  part  of  ofiicials. 

We  are  now  at  work  exposing  some  very  startling  conditions. 
— The  Idea  finds  organized  graft  and  plunder  and  political  rot- 
tenness in  Richmond. 

Many  high  in  authority  are  using  their  offices  to  protect 
crime  aand  criminals  and  in  some  instances  are  the  criminals 
themselves.  ,__ 

During  the  coming  weeks  these  facts,  carefully  obtained 
and  sifted  will  be  published.  You  certainly  do  not  want  to  miss 
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THE  ^  IDEA 


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Vol.  Ill 


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CONTENTS: 


TWO   BOSSES  DOWN 
SAY  "THE  IDEA"  DID  IT 
THE  SOLUTION 


THE  SAUNDER'S  SUIT 
THE  MOODY  FARCE 
POLICY  SHOPS 


AND  OTHER  ARTICLES  OF  THE  HOUR 


For  Sale  At  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


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THE    IDEA 

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TWO  BOSSES  DOWN 


Who  Did  It? 


The  NewS'Leader,  on  the  day  after  election  came  out  with 
an  editorial  headed  ''Two  Bosses  Down,"  in  which  they  try  to 
•claim  some  responsibility  for  the  defeat  of  Saunders  and  Lea- 
man  by,  telling  the  people  that  last  October  they  pointed  out 
to  the  people  how  they  could  get  a  better  committee. 

It  seems  strange  to  us  that  the  Leader,  which  kept  perfectly 
quiet  all  through  the  campaigii  and  thus  did  the  wish  of  Boss 
Saunders  and  Leaman  should  have  the  audacity  to  try  to  jump 
in  the  band  wagon  at  this  late  date. 

Why  did  not  they  fight  against  Saunders  during  the  cam- 
paign when  their  columns  might  have  helped  the  victory.  The 
Idea  does  not  claim  all  the  glory  for  Saunders'  or  Teaman's 
defeat. 

It  does  say  though,  that  The  Idea  is  the  only  paper  in  Rich- 
mond that  dared  fight  against  Saunders  and  Leaman  at  any 
time,  and  this  fact  remains,  that  Saunders  does  not  regard  the 
Leader  as  responsible. 


2  The   Idea. 

We  notice  that  The  Idea  is  the  only  pajDer  that  Saunders  is 
suing.  When  the  ring-managed  Leader  is  sued  by  political 
bosses  then  they  may  claim  they  have  hurt  the  ring. 

The  Journal  of  the  same  date  says  that  Saunders'  fight  for 
Satterfield  beat  him  at  the  polls. 

It  looks  as  though  if  Saunders  could  carry  Clay  Ward  for 
Satterfield  he  ought  to  be  able  to  carry  it  for  himself. 

The  trouble  is  these  papers  were  tremendously  surprised  at 
the  sentiment  for  clean  government  that  the  election  showed. 
These  papers  will  finally  fall  in  line  and  fight  too  when  they 
see  the  public  sentiment  demanding  it. 


THE  SAUNDERS'  SUIT  AGAINST 
THE  IDEA 


-In  Todd  vs.  Hawkins,  the  judge  said:  '^If  he  has  used  ex- 
pressions however  harsh,  believing  them  to  be  true,  he  was  jus- 
tified in  so  doing,  and  your  verdict  ought  to  be  for  the  defend- 
ant." 

"If,  however,  the  defendant  has  availed  himself  of  the  oc- 
casion for  malicious  purposes,  he  must  answer  for  what  he  has 
done." 

In  another  case  the  court  says : 

"If  fairly  warranted  by  any  reasonable  occasion  or  exigency 
and  honestly  made,  such  communications  are  protected  for  the 
common  convenience  and  welfare  of  human  society." 

In  all  cases  for  libel  or  slander  the  courts  have  held  that  if 
the  defendant  used  the  words  complained  of,  no  matter  how 
harsh  or  even  untrue  (and  the  Idea''s  statements  are  all  true 
and  can  be  so  proven)  "in  good  faith"  or  "honestly"  "without 
malice"  or  "in  performance  of  a  moral  duty"  "then  the  jury 
must  find  for  the  defendant." 

Xow  The  Idea  has  according  to  law  not  only  a  perfect  right 
to  publish  what  it  has  about  Saunders,  but  it  has  a  duty  which 
it  owes  to  the  public  to  publish  the  truth  concerning  the  public 


The    I  dea.  3 

acts  of  public  officials  in  tlio  defence  of  the  i)e()|)le,  and  yet  ]\[r. 
Sannders  has  acknowledged  tlic  weakness  of  his  position  by  at- 
tempting to  hurt  The  Williams  Printing  Company  by  his 
action  for  damages  when  the  Williams  Printing  Company  are 
not  oidy  not  publishers  but  know  nothing  about  what  is  to  ap- 
]~»ear  in  The  Idea. 

They  could  not  be  held  responsible  for  the  words  in  The 
Idea^  even  if  those  words  wei'c  maliciously  published. 

Does  Mr.  Saunders  think  that  the  printers,  ignorant  though 
they  were  of  the  words  printed,  did  it  in  malice  to  Clyde  Saun- 
ders. Mr.  Saunders  dare  not  say  so  for  after  the  words  com- 
plained of  were  printed  he  thought  Mr.  Williams  so  frjendly 
disposed  toward  him  as  to  ask  hinl  to  vote  for  him  in  the  pri- 
mary. 

jSTo,  Mr.  Saunders'  case  in  court  is  destined  to  fall  through 
just  as  his  case  at  the  polls  fell  through  on  August  5th,  last. 

He  did  not  get  enough  votes  to  elect  then  and  he  won't  get 
enough  votes  in  jury  to  give  him  any  damages  now.  And. he 
need  not  count  on  friends  on  the  jury;  The  Idea  will  see  to 
that.  Beside  what  The  Idea  already  had  against  Saunders,  a 
large  amount  of  the  most  convicting  evidence  has  been  secured 
and  ISh'.  Saunders  will  find  before  he  gets  through  with  it  that 
he'll  be  like  a  little  fellow  who,  on  a  former  occasion,  tried  to 
squelch  The  Idea.  That  fellow  remarked  to  a  friend  he'd  give 
$5,000.00  to  get  out  of  it. 

^STothing  more  beneficial  to  the  citizens  of  Richmond  could 
happen  than  to  have  this  thing  threshed  out  in  the  courts. 


Pichmond  is  a  city  of  churches  and  yet  Richmond  is  gov- 
erned by  bar-rooms.     They  elect  their  man  nearly  every  time. 


MOODY  VICTIM   OF  CROOKED 
POLICE  METHODS 


Our  attention  was  called  some  time  ago  to  the  fact  that  of- 
ficer Moody,  then  of  the  Richmond  j)olice  force,  had  brought 


4  The   Idea. 

do-wTi  on  his  head  the  wrath  of  the  powers  that  be  in  the  force 
and  in  the  board,  because  of  his  activity  in  law  enforcement. 
.The  whiskey  men  were  down  on  him  as  were  also  the  court  and 
members  of  the  force  for  his  raid  of  a  notoriously  bad  place  in 
-the  West  End. 

The  violators  of  the  law  at  Idlewood  had  it  in  for  him  for 
^^pulling"  that  place  and  other  special  priviledged  interests 
were  against  him  apparently  because  he  could  not  be  bought. 

The  following  important  facts  are  worth  noting: 

(1  )  Moody  was  extremely  popular  among  a  host  of 
friendb  on  Church  Hill  where  he  lives  and  is  known. 

(.2.)  Moody  was  extremely  unpopular  with  the  whiskey 
men  and  the  law-breakers. 

(-3.)  After  his  activity  in  the  west  end  he  was  removed 
to  the  other  end  of  town  where  he  would  not  have  much  oppor- 
tunity to  detect  criminals. 

(4  )  In  the  police  court  his  work  was  discountenanced 
by  Justice  John. 

It  was  therefore  not  altogether  surprising  to  us  when  we 
learned  that  charges  had  been  brought  against  the  officer  be- 
cause threats  had  been  against  him  that  he  would  be  gotten 
at  the  first  opportunity. 

About  two  weeks  ago  the  papers  stated  that  a  charge  of  a 
serious  nature  had  been  made  against  Officers  Moody  and  Toot. 
The  officers  were  brought  before  the  police  board  at  a  secret 
trial  and  were  confronted  with  an  affidavit  made  by  a  disreputa- 
ble negro  woman. 

Mf-antime,  however,  Officer  Moody  had  this  woman  sum- 
moned as  a  witness,  and  on  the  stand  she  admitted  that  the 
affidavit  ]iad  been  obtained  through  fear. 

The  character  of  the  woman  and  her  statement  should  have 
been  sufficient  to  throw  out  her  evidence,  and  the  charge  was 
based  on  her  evidence  as  chief  witness,  but  as  the  meeting  was 
in  secret,  and  as  the  officer  was  not  even  allowed  counsel  to 
speak  for  him,  he,  of  course,  could  not  get  a  square  deal. 

Witness  was  also  introduced  who  showed  that  the  officer, 
who  was  the  other  chief  witness  against  Moody  had  made  the 
.threat,  "We'll  get  you  yet." 

Now  we  write  this  to  show  that  here  is  a  specific  instance 


The   Idea.  5- 

of  gel  ting  I'id  <>(  a  man  because  he  did  attempt  to  enforce  the 
law. 

Moody,  was  tried  in  secret  and  dismissed  from  the  force. 
ITe  was  not  allowed  even  to  have  a  stenographer  in  the  meet- 
ing to  take  down  the  evidence  in  his  own  behalf.  Neither  was 
he  allowed  to  have  a  lawyer  to  represent  him. 

The  papers  had  long  stories  concerning  the  case,  which 
were  absolutely  untrue  and  which  one  of  them  very  feebly  cor- 
rected after  Mr.  Moody's  reputation  had  been  damaged.  The 
papers  made  grave  charges  absolutely  contrary  to  the  evidence 
and  which  no  evidence  was  introduced  to  even  attempt  to 
prove. 

The  evidence  showed  that  the  reports  circulated  by  the 
daily  papers  were  absolutely  false.  We  charge  that  he  was 
grossly  wronged  and  never  has  been  permitted  either  a  fair 
show  at  the  trial  or  in  the  method  of  the  trial  or  by  the  press, 
and  that  these  wrongs  against  him  were  because  of  the  fact 
that  he  had  gained  the  enmity  of  the  criminals  whose  in- 
fluence determined  the  action  of  the  police  department. 

We  charge  that  but  for  his  unpopularity  with  the  depart- 
ment he  never  would  have  been  even  questioned  about  the 
event  on  which  the  whole  affair  rested,  and  that  he  was  un- 
popular because  he  was  independent  and  had  therefore  gained 
the  disfavor  of  the  criminal  law  violators,  who  actually  rule 
the  department  and  ^^rotect  vice  and  crime. 

We  charge  that  an  officer  of  the  law  can  not  be  faithful  to 
his  duty  and  remain  on  the  force. 

We  charge  that  the  officer  who  is  not  willing  to  be  bribed 
by  the  saloons  with  drinks  and  favors  is  not  only  under  the 
ban  of  these  criminals,  but  is  also  out  of  favor  with  the  j^owers 
that  dominate  the  force  because  these  powers  are  also  under  the 
domination  of  the  criminal  classes. 

It's  this  way — the  political  bosses  depend  on  the  saloons  to 
influence  the  purchasable  vote  which  is  much  more  enormous 
than  the  average  man  thinks.  It  is  big  enough  to  be  worth 
thousands  of  dollars  to  the  election  crooks  at  each  election. 
These  saloon  crooks  therefore  decide  every  close  election  and 
the  officer  elected  is  thus  under  obligation  to  th  L^loon  and 
the  bosses  and  so  they  dare  not  offend  them. 


6  The   Idea. 

Every  one  familiar  with  election  methods  in  Richmond 
knows  that  the  saloons  actually  control  the  situation  here. 
And  the  good  citizen  looks  surprised  and  wonders,  "Is  that 
possibly  true"  while  the  saloon  man  and  the  boss  and  politi- 
cian is  grinning  as  he  reads  this,  only  to  frown  as  he  thinks 
what  publicity  will  do  for  his  accursed'  work.  It  is  high  time 
that  the  peoj)le  were  examining  into  their  own  affairs  and  see- 
ing how  they  are  robbed  of  good  men  for  office  and  when  they 
have  got  a  good  one  how  he  is  displaced. 


Marked  for  slaughter— Saunders,  Leanian,  Pollock,  Mills, 
''M'jffntitfs*  and  a  host  of  others. 


LEAMAN'S  INFLUENCE  ON  POLICE 

BOARD 


Saunders  and  Whiskey  Votes 


Chief  Werner  has  refused  not  only  to  give  Mr.  Moody  a 
copy  of  the  proceedings  of  the  secret  trial,  but  has  also  refused 
to  even,  let  Mr.  Moody  see  the  proceedings  to  make  a  copy  for 
himself,  and  it  now  appears  that  the  evidence  brought  out 
was  so  damaging  to  others  that  if  it  were  made  public  other 
officers  would  likely  be  discharged  on  demand  of  the  people 
instead  of  Officer  Moody. 

One  can  see  how  Leaman's  influence  is  felt  in  running  city 
government  when  it  is  kown  that  Leaman's  bar-keeper,  Kex 
Griffin,  was  elected  policeman  at  the  time  Moody  was'  dis- 
charged from  the  force.  The  truth  is  that  Leaman's  man  was 
slated  as  Moody's  successor  long  before  the  case  was  framed 
up  against  Moody. 

Moody,  the  law  enforcer,  is  so  dangerous  to  the  criminal 
bar  people  that  they,  through  their  servant  and  fellow  bar- 
keeper, Leaman,  of  the  democratic  committee  and  boss  of  the 


The   Idea.  7 

crooked  politicians,  demand  Moody's  disgrace  and  removal 
and  put  a  bar-tender  on  the  force  in  his  stead,  and  that  too,  a 
bar-tender,  who  is  nothing  but  a  puppet  of  Leaman's. 

It  seems  strange  that  the  good  people  of  Richmond  don't 
see  what  is  responsible  for  crooked  politics  in  Richmond.  If 
you  will  look  at  the  bottom  of  it  you  will  always  find  the  sa- 
loon. And  the  reason  is  simj)le.  The  saloon  has  no  right  to 
exist.  If  it  had  a  right  it  would  not  stand  for  paying  a  li- 
cense greater  than  other  business.  To  license  a  thing  means 
to  privilege  a  thing  which  has  not  the  right  to  exist.  If  it  had 
the  right  it  would  not  be  in  politics. 

You  never  saw  a  grocer  buying  a  place  on  the  force  for  his 
clerk.  The  grocer  knows  his  business  has  a  right  to  exist 
and  it  does  not  need  special  protection.  It  is  only  criminal 
and  crooked  business  that  needs  special  protection  and  without 
these  licensed  criminals,  Bosses  Saunders  and  Leaman,  would 
never  have  come  into  power. 

Why  is  it  that  on  this  very  day  Clyde  Saunders  and  Andy 
Griffith,  saloon  keeper  and  policy  king,  and  Wirt  Taylor,  whis- 
key salesman,  had  their  heads  together. 

We'll  tell  you  why.  Wirt  Taylor,  whiskey  salesman,  who 
has  an  office  with  Saunders  is  also  the  agent  of  certain  interests 
ivhich  paid  the  taxes  of  a  lot  of  bums  and  gamblers  and  The 
Idea  has  the  names  of  these  fellows  whose  taxes  were  paid 
Avith  Wirt  Taylor's  funds  through  bar-keepers,  who  sent 
agents  down  with  the  gamblers  and  bums  in  question  and 
handed  over  the  coin  and  received  from  the  men  thus  quali- 
fied, their  receipts  and  took  them  back  to  the  bar-keepers  to 
show  that  the  money  had  been  spent  according  to  order. 

IN'otice  this  that  the  same  people  who  are  anxious  to  keep 
the  saloon  in  power  are  responsible  for  all  this  crooked  politics 
and  the  papers  of  Richmond.  The  Journal  and  the  News- 
Leader  and  the  Times-Dispaich  know  this  very  well,  and 
know  the  details  of  how  elections  are  carried  for  the  boss 
politicians  in  Richmond  by  the  purchasable  whiskey  vote  and 
none  of  them  have  the  courage  to  say  anything  about  it,  be- 
cause they  get  some  of  the  same  rations  that  buy  the  poor 
gambler  and  bum.  And  the  gambler  is  the  better  of  the  two 
every  day.     He's  not  the  hypocrite  that  the  papers  of  Rich- 


8  Th  e    I  d  e  a, 

mond  are.     These  papers  are  cowards  and  are  betraying  the 
people  into  the  hands  of  slavery  to  whiskey. 


SAY  THE  IDEA  DID  IT 


Letters  From  Norfolk  and  Richmond 


It  would  do  the  people  of  Richmond  good  to  read  the  large 
batches  of  mail  we  are  constantly  getting  concerning  our  fight 
against  evil  here.  Our  space  is  too  limited  to  reproduce  these 
letters,  but  we  print  below  two  letters  and  an  extract  from  an- 
other, all  of  which  came  in  the  mail  this  morning. 

A  prominent  Richmond  merchant  writes : 

Richmond,  August  6,  1909. 
Me.  a.  a.  Yodee,  City : 

Dear  Sir:  '^I  desire  to  congratulate  you  on  the  defeat  of 
Saunders  and  Leaman  yesterday  as  I  am .  sure  your  Idea 
should  have  the  praise.  Let  the  good  work  go  on.  Yours  for 
service." 

A  TsTorf oik  wholesaler  writes : 

iSTorfolk,  Va.,  8-6,  1909. 
"Congratulations  on  defeat  of  Saunders  and  Leaman.  Fight 
them  to  a  finish  on  the  suit  business,  etc." 

Sincerely  yours. ■ — 

The  pastor  of  one  of  the  largest  and  best  known  churches  in 
the  city  writes  us  a  long  letter  under  the  same  date,  Aug.  Gth,^ 
which  we  regret  we  have  not  space  to  reproduce  in  full.  From 
that  letter  we  copy  the  following  lines. 

"You  did  it  with  your  little  hatchet.  I  recognize  that  ugly 
scalp  hanging  at  your  belt.  The  Idea  is  rough  on  grafters. 
Let  it  shoot  until  the  last  corruptionist  expires.  *  *  *  I 
think  Richmond  owes  you  a  vote  of  thanks.     Remember  the 


T  h  e   I  dea.  \) 

J3reaehers  are  jour  friend  tliough  they  do  not  denoiiiicr'  so  speci- 
fically as  you  might  wish.     *      -      "" 

''You  are  doing*  a  kind  of  work  that  many  of  your  Avell- 
wishers  could  not  do,  their  judg-ment  hesitating  so  seriously, 
and  yet  they  are  willing  to  doubt  their  own  judgment  in  favor 
of  your  heroic  manner  of  dealing  with  public  evils.  You  see 
jour  duty  and  are  bravely  doing  it.  You  are  in  the  right  di- 
rection and  deserve  the  sympathy  of  all  good  citizens.*  *  *" 
Cordially  yours, ■ 

We  desire  to  thank  those  who  are  so  free  in  their  expres- 
sions of  gTatitude  and  shall  do  our  best  to  live  up  to  the  big 
opportunity  here  presented  us  by  the  existence  of  an  organized 
and  well  equipped  band  of  public  despoilers  which  at  each  new 
revelation  baffles  our  belief  that  Richmond  can  really  be  so 
steeped  in  public  vice. 

If  Ihe  good  people  of  Richmond  will  stand  by  us  we  are  sure 
of  a  great  accomplishment  for  political  righteousness  in  Vir- 
ginia. 


You'll  find  The  Idea  warm  everv  week. 


CLYDE  SAUNDERS 


Will  He  Get  Back? 


Let  not  the  people  rejoice  over-much  over  the  defeat  of  the 
"boss."  Such  an  astute  politician  cannot  be  destroyed  in  one 
day.  Plans  are  already  under  way  to  have  a  vacancy  in  both 
the  Clay  and  Madison  ward  delegations,  and  for  the  old  com- 
mittee to  place  Leaman  and  Saunders  back  on  the  committee. 

There  is  always- a  way  for  unprincipled  men  in  power  to 
accomplish  the  overthrow  of  the  wish  of  the  people.  Eternal 
vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty.  The  people  must  not  go  to 
sleep.      The  fight   is  just  begTin.     Saunders   and  Leaman  are 


10  The   Idea. 

not  the  whole  ring.  And  if  the  people  go  to  sleep  thinking  they 
have  beat  the  ring  they  are  doomed  to  a  harsh  awakening. 

The  rascals  are  even  now  forging  their  chains  for  a  more 
lasting  bondage  of  the  peoj^le.  The  boss  may  be  beaten,  but 
lieutenants  take  his  place  and  unless  the  rotten  press  of  Rich- 
mond will  continuously  fight  for  clean  government'  the  situation 
will  be  as  bad  next  year  as  it  is  now.  The  papers  here  exert,  of 
course,  a  large  influence,  and  by  their  policy  have  made  it  pos- 
sible for  Saunders  and  Leaman  to  rule  with  an  iron  hand. 

They,  however,  and  the  crooked  politicians,  are  finding  that 
in  The  Idea  they  have  a  foe  who  will  expose  their  sins  and 
by  publicity  thwart  their  methods.  We  know  that  the  papers 
of  Richmond  are  working  with  the  crooks  and  politicians  in 
their  almost  life  and  death  fight  for  the  destruction  of  this 
little  paper.  ISTo  one  but  the  Editor  himself  knows  how  many 
methods  are  being  adopted  to  harrass  and  suppress  and  embar- 
rass and  bribe  this  paper. 

It  would  be  worth  thousands  of  dollars  to  the  forces  of 
evil  in  Richmond  led  by  Boss  Saunders,  encouraged  and  aided 
by  the  daily  papers  and  financed  by  the  poor  tax  payer  through 
his  patronage  and  permission  of  these  bosses  and  subsidized 
papers  and  criminal  dive  keepers,  to  kill  out  The  Idea. 

IsTotorious  crooked  politicians  have  already  threatened  to 
Icill  the  Editor  of  this  paper,  but  we  have  to  say  that  that  is  not 
as  easily  done  as  said,  and  that  whatever  they  may  attempt  the 
spirit  of  The  Idea  will  continue  to  push  the  fight  until  the 
last  crook  is  gone  and  liberty  shall  again  have  a  meaning  in 
.Virginia  nourishing  mother  of  those  who  fight  against  oppres- 
sion. 


Richmond  people  would  like  to  know  why  it  was  that  on 
election  night  all  wards  except  Saunders'  ward.  Clay  ward, 
were  heard  from  early  in  the  evening  but  the  returns  from 
Clay  ward  were  held  back  several  hours.  It  looks  crooked  to 
us. 


Ab  the  Times-Dispatch  threw  on  the  screen  the  announce- 
ment that  Saunders  was  in  all  probability  beaten,  the  assem- 
bled throng  rejoiced  and  cheered. 


The   Idea.  11 

THE  SOLUTION 

The  Mayor,  The  Legislature 

and  The  Red  Light  District 


Whole   Section   Given   Over  to   Debauciiing  Vice 
and   Political   Corruption. 


While  there  is  a  serious  question  as  to  the  attitude  of  the 
law  towards  the  social  evil,  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the 
duty  of  the  executive  and  the  police  towards'  this  question. 

The  Mayor  has  sworn  to  enforce  the  law  and  the  law  says 
this  section  shall  not  exist.  IN'ow  many  Richmonders  argue 
that  tliis  is  a  necessary  evil  and  think  that  the  law  should 
be  changed  so  that  the  business'  may  be  regulated  by  law. 
That  this  whole  section  can  be  destroyed  to  the  advantage  of 
the  city  is  clearly  shown  in  the  following  lines : 

Most  newspaper  readers  will  remember  that  about  two 
years  ago  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  resolved  upon  the  appar- 
ently chimerical  experiment  of  eliminating  the  professional 
bad  women  from  its  limits.  Few  persons  expected  that  the 
venture  could  yield  anything  but  failure  yet  it  was  per- 
sisted in,  and  the  example  w^as  followed  by  Portland  and 
Seattle,  with  strangely  effective  results ;  so  that  to-day  there 
does  not  exist  in  these  three  cities  a  single  bawdy  house  in 
the  old  sense. 

Stianger  yet  is  the  fact  that  among  all  classes,  even  among 
those  who  were  formerly  the  most  skeptical,  the  change  has 
come  to  be  regarded  as  permanent,  and  it  has  passed  into  ac- 
ceptance almost  without  protest.  It  is  everywhere  understood 
and  recognized  that  while  many  of  these  women  have  been 
driven  away  or  forced  into  other  occu]3ations,  numbers  remain 
to  eke  out  a  precarious  existence  on  the  street  and  in  lodging 


12  The   Idee. 

houses ;  buv  the  atteiidant  evils  of  the  new  regime,  once  so 
much  dreaded — such  as  the  scattering  of  them  throughout  the 
whole  body  of  the  respectable  community  and  resultant  con- 
tamination and  offence  in  some  cases — are  believed  to  be  less 
on  the  whole  than  the  old  system  of  seggregation  with  its 
flaunting  defi.ance  of  decency,  and  it  gTadually  becomes  under- 
stood that  the  pursuit  of  professional  wrong-doing  labors  under 
greater  difficulties  in  this  way  than  under  the  former  method' 
of  police  recognition,  protection,  graft  and  despicable  ward 
politics. 

They  expect  never  again  to  see  the  day  when  whole  sections 
are  given  over  to  the  pursuit  of  degrading  and  debauching  vice, 
with  its  ramifications  of  private  misery  and  political  corruption. 

It  is  possible  that  a  day  may  come  when  this  most  poison- 
ous and  disruptive  of  civilized  vices  shall  be  banished  from 
the  American  city  ?  In  this  day  of  moral  and  social  progi'ess, 
no  one  can  set  bounds  to  the  triumphs  that  decency  and  hon- 
esty may  yet  attain.  It  has  been  the  saving  grace  of  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization  that  honor  in  man  and  virtue  in  woman 
are  two  elements  of  character  without  which  no  other  accom- 
plishment of  charm  can  avail ;  and  while  this  basic  conviction 
of  our  people  has  been  often  and  persistently  outraged,  yet 
there  may  be  coming  a  time  when,  as  decency  is  more  and 
more  demanded  in  private  life,  so  a  manly  and  womanly 
control  of  the  passions  may  be  imperiously  demanded  in  pri; 
vate  life  and  vigorously  enforced,  so  far  as  outward  manifes- 
tations are  concerned,  by  the  law.  Perhaps  the  idea  that 
loose  living  can  not  be  eliminated  from  municipal  life  is  a 
fallacy  that  some  day  will  be  clearly  seen  and  no  longer  tol- 
erated. 

The  above  was  sent  us  by  a  subscriber  of  The  Idea  travel- 
ling in  Indiana.  It  is  an  editorial  in  "The  Muncie  Star"  of 
August  'jrd.  It  shows  how  the  live  Westerner  is  eliminating 
the  whole  red-light  question.  And  yet  you  will  hear  Rich- 
mond men  say:  It  is  a  "necessary  evil." 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  necessary  evil.  The  phase  is 
a  paradox.  The  terms  are  absolutely  contradictory.  Evils  are 
always  unnecessary. 

Call  murder  a  necessary  evil  ? 

Call  robbery  a  necessary  evil  ? 


T  h  €   I  d  e  a.  13 

Certainly  all  these  evils  will  exist  in  a  sinful  world,  but 
that  is  no  reason  for  the  law  to  say  to  them:  Kill.  Steal. 
Commit  adultery. 

The  only  attitude  of  the  law  to  any  crime  should  be :  Thou 
shalt  not  steal.  Thou  shalt  not  kill.  Thou  shalt  not  com- 
mit adultery. 

If  the  social  evil  itself  were  not  so  great  a  moral  ques- 
tion,— if  it  were  a  necessary  evil,-^still  The  Idea  would 
fight  against  the  way  it  is  handled  in  Richmond,  because  it  is 
a  source  of  political  corruption.  When  the  public  conscience 
has  feimk  so  low  as  to  permit  a  mayor  to  take  the  whole  ques- 
tion in  his  own  hands  and  utterly  disregard  the  law,  then  the 
citizens  ought  to  see  that  these  bawdy  houses  have  their  hands 
in  politics,  they  influence  elections,  and  we  openly  make  the 
■charge  that  the  mayor,  as  chief  executive  of  the  city,  is  under 
obligation  to  these  dives  through  the  police  department,  and 
this  is  the  reason  why  he  does  not  enforce  the  law. 

The  people  are  arousing  and  the  storm  will  break  over  the 
mayor's  head  and  he  will  find  that  he  must  abide  by  his  oath 
of  office. 

Mayor  Richardson.  Can  you  not  see  the  hand-writing  on 
the  wall,  in  the  fall  of  Saunders  and  Leaman  ? 

Mr.  Folkes.  Can't  you  see  the  hand-wrting  on  the  wall 
in  the  triumph  of  the  people  over  the  Bosses  ? 

Is  it  not  time  that  public  officials  were  arousing  to  their 
duty  when  the  public  conscience  is  so  awake  as  to  put  down 
the  grafters  ? 

Richmond  is  awakening  as  can  be  seen  by  the  talk  of  citi- 
zens everywhere.  And  they  are  going  to  talk  more,  and  act 
some,  too,  before  The  Idea  gives  up  the  fight. 

The  existence  of  the  Mayo  street  section  is  the  cause  of 
niueh  of  the  rottenness  in  politics  in  Richmond. 

Let  no  one  compare  the  old  Broad  street  section  with  the 
present  Mayo  street  section.  They  were  both  permitted  evils: 
The  city  has  not  attempted  to  enforce  the  law  and  has  had  no 
■experience  to  go  by. 

If  Richmond  should  attempt  to  enforce  the  law  then  she 
might  talk  with  some  sense  about  what  was'  best. 

Richmonders   don't  know  because  thev   liave  never  tried. 


14  The   Idea. 

But  as  an  incorporated  town  of  the  State,  Richmond's  duty 
to  the  State  is  to  enforce  the  State  law.  Then  it  can  be  seen 
whether  the  law  is  a  good  one  and  not  till  then. 

The  claim  is  made  that  it  is  better  to  have  them  all  together. 
We  claim  that  the  more  you  have  together  the  more  vice 
you  will  have  in  other  sections. 

There  are  houses  of  ill-fame  to-day  scattered  all  over  Eich- 
mond  and  the  police  do  not  attempt  to  break  them  up.' 

They  say  they  are  regulated. 

They  may  be  regTilated  to  some  extent,  but  they  are  not 
segregated. 

When  there  is  a  poisonous,  contagious  sore  on  the  body  is 
it  wise  to  eradicate  it  entirely,  or  just  try  to  keep  it  in  one 
place,  no  matter  hoAv  large  a  place,  just  so  its  all  together. 

Don't  it  make  any  difference  whether  it  corrupts  the  blood 
and  later  breaks  out  all  over  the  body? 

The  social  evil  here  has  corrupted  the  blood  of  the  whole 
body  of  Richmond,  and  is  not  only  making  criminals  and  vio- 
lators of  oaths  out  of  every  policeman  and  the  mayor,  but  is 
breaking  out  in  the  residence  sections  all  over  town. 

If  the  officer  of  the  law  were  not  under  obligations  to  the 
criminals  and  dive-keepers  they  could  not  only  run  them  out 
of  Mayo  street,  but  they  could  easily  keep  them  out  of  the 
residence  sections  and  all  other  sections. 

No.  they  want  to  protect  them.  There  is  where  the  trou- 
ble lies.    And  there  is  where  The  Idea  will  fight  them. 


The  article  on  "Policy  Shops"  will  appear  next  week  as  will 
■also   ariteles  on  gambling  houses  patronized  by  city  officials. 
Some  of  the  big  fish  will  be  handled  with  gloves  off. 


]SJ"ext  week  The  Idea  will  be  printed  in  smaller  type.  You'll 
get  more  for  your  money. 


Did  he  run,  or  did  he  slip?     Did  ho  Slide? 


We  grow  about  250  in  circulation  each  week.     This  week 
we  print  4,500.     Get  a  price  on  ads.  now  before  we  put  it  up. 


WHERE  YOU  CAN  BUY  THE  IDEA 

Richmond  News  Co., 613  E.  Broad  St., Richmond,  Va. 

Samuel  H.  Cowardin, 1815  E.   Main   St Richmond,  Va. 

Globe  News  Co., 614  E.  Main  St., Richmond,  Va. 

Model  News  Co., 519  W.  Broad  St., Richmond,  Va. 

Myer's  Book  Store, 100  E.  Broad  St., Richmond,  Va. 

The  People's  Drug  Store, 3900  Williamsburg  Ave.,  Richmond,  Va. 

W.  F.  Eanes 2813  E.  Broad  St., Richmond,  Va. 

Mutual  News  Stand, Mutual  Building, Richmond,  Va. 

T.  P.  Marsalla 1210  E.  Main  St., Richmond,  Va. 

Thompson's  Drug  Store, 1600  W.  Main  St., Richmond,  Va. 

A.  Marchetti  &  Co., 701  W.  Main  St., Richmond,  Va. 

Adam  Wohlsiefer, 708  W.  Broad  St., Richmond,  Va. 

J.  T.  Abbott  &  Son 1103  Hull  St., Manchester,  Va. 

R.  H.  Shepherd, 900  Main  St., Lynchburg,  Va. 

Sam  H.  Sharove, 41  Bank  St., Petersburg,  Va. 

Elliott  News  Co., South  Boston, Va. 

Brawford  News  Co., Bedford  City,  Va. 

Several  news  stands  have  been  added  this  week,  a  list  of  which  will  appear  next  week. 


WE  SELL   and  Guarantee 


The  New  Columbia 
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Cabinets, 


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JONES  BROS.  &  CO.,  Inc. 

1418=1420  E.  Main  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


DO  IT  NOW  AND  REAP  A  BENEFIT 

The  IDEA,  in  a  class  by  itself,  is  like  no  other  pub- 
lication in  Richmond, 

Outside  the  city,  a  field  ripens  to  investigation  and 
exposure. 

Expect  us  presently  along-  that  road,  for  duty  beck- 
ons, and  the  IDEA  is  enlisted  for  a  war  on  Grab  and  Gralt 
and  Greed. 

Independent  of  all  partisan  affiliations,  the  IDEA 
stands  for  civic  betterment  and  reform,  holding  that  the 
virtues  of  manhood  have  value  in  themselves,  while  political 
opinions  and  associations,  ephemeral  and  variable  at  best, 
when  used  by  an  office-holder's  trust  are  misapplied  and 
corrupted  horribly  to  the  people's  hurt. 

The  aid  of  all  good  citizens  is  invoked. 
Try  the  IDEA, 
I  year  for  two  dollars.  6  months  for  a  dollar. 

3  months  for  half  a  dollar,     i  month  for  a  quarter. 

Your  news  resources  are  incomplete  without  it. 

Send  your  name  and    address   clearly    written    and 
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THE  IDEA,  -  -  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 

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RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk  Paving,  Halls, 
Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  he< 
takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work  and  straight 
forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


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THE  LEAMAN  ASSAULT  AND  THE 
NEWS-LEADER     ""t- 


1'  Eviilefi%)the^;t;lai'iy  papers  of\Kiciiiiioiid':Would)vl|ave  di|ffi^ 
ciilty  in  reeogiiiziiig  the  truth  if  met  "in  the  lug  road,"  if 
one  is  to  judge  by  the  news  items  they  get.  It  is  becatise  the 
truth  can  not  be  had  from  them  that  we  find  it  advisable  tc 
give  so  miich^  spacS  tT^th'dse*  trials  in,  this  Ipea.i--  "'"'  A 

The  News-Leader  of  Friday,  the  13th,  published  an  article 
pretending  to  give  an  account  of  the  assault  of  Dutch  Lea- 
nian  on  the  Editor  of  The  Idea.  In  that  article  we  counted 
^ix  distinct  and  separate  lies  besides  inniunerable  half  lies 
and  half  truths  which  together  m;ad^,  an  altogether  libekus  and 
xnalicious  mixture. 

r,  The  Editor  was  fast  running  down  to  the  Neivs-Leader 
office  to  get  from  an  employee  oi  i\\Q.  News-Leader  some  copies 
of  The  Idea,  which  he  had  obtained  unde^  ialse  pretenses,  and 
was  selling  an  hour  and  a  half  before  the  time  which  The 
Ideas  were  to  be  put  on  sale.  Mr.  Leaman  stopped  him  and 
g^id:  "Look  here,  I  want  to  see  you."  The  Editor  said.  "I 
have  not  time  to  see  you  now;  T  have  to  see.  a-  fellow  this 
minute  at  the  Leader  office." 


2  The    Idea. 

Leaman  then  grabbed  Yoder  by  the  coat  and  said:  "I've 
got  to  see  you  now/-  and  pulling  a  copy  of  The  Idea  from  his 
pocket  he  said:  *'You  write  this  book  don't  you,"  and  as 
Yoder  said  "^'yes,"  Leaman,  without  asking  any  explanation  of 
any  statement  or  referring  to  any  statement  or  even  opening 
the  paper,  (and  the  Editor  has  never  heard  from  Leaman  yet, 
what  statement  in  the  paper  he  objected  to) ,  immediately  struck 
at  the  Editor  who  broke  from  Leaman  and  struck  Leaman  in 
the  face  as  he,  Leaman.  assaulted  Yoder  again.  Leaman,  three 
separate  times  attempted  to  down  Yoder,  and  each  time  was 
repulsed. 

After  defending  himself  from  Leaman  and  giving  in  self- 
defense  more  than  he  received,  Yoder  resumed  his  run  to  the 
Leader  office  where  he  arrived  in  time  to  get  from  that  place 
79  copies  out  of  300 'taken  and  where  he  found  Ideas  being 
sold  over  the  counter  by  the  News-Leader  office  man,  who  was 
making  2  cents  a  copy  either  for  himself  or  the,  News-Leader 
Company. 


ASSAULT  CASE  IN  COUBT 


Anarchistic  Proceedings 


Wlien  the  Leaman  assault  case  was  heard  itt  court  Satur- 
day morning,  Mr,  Yoder  stated  to  the  court  that  since  he  was 
not  desirous  of  prosecuting  Leaman,  but  had  sw^orn  out  the 
warrant  in  order  to  put  Leaman  under  bond,  because  he  had 
made  threats,  and  since  he  understood  that  Mr.  Leaman  would 
plead  guilty  he  w^ould  suggest  to  the  court,  that  if  Mr.  Lea- 
man would  do  so  no  testimony  need  be  taken.  The  justice 
then  asked  Leaman  if  he  admitted  the  assault  and  Leaman 
said  "yes,"  and  this  plea  of  giiilty  did  away  with  any  trial 
and  evidence  and  should  have  ended  the  case  if  there  had  been 
any  regard  for  justice  in  this  coutt. 


The    I  dea.  3 

Oil  the  question  of  bond,  the  justice  said  he  would  re- 
quire $100.00  bond  of  each  of  us. 

Now  notice  that  the  court  had  no  ^val•rant  for  requiring 
])ond  of  the  Editor  because  not  only  had  no  evidence  been  in- 
troduced in  the  trial,  but  none  could  be  under  the  plea  made 
by  the  prisoner.  Therefore  the  court  had  no  more  right  to 
require  bond  of  Yoder  than  he  had  of  any  spectator  in  the 
court,  because  he  had  no  judicial  knowledge  on  which  to  act. 

If  evidence  were  introduced  showing  that  Yoder  had 
broken  the  peace,  or  if  any  such  charge  had  been  made,  or  if 
the  charge  that  Yoder  had  made  any  such  threats  had  been 
jnade,  then  and  only  then  could  the  court  legally  require  bond 
to  keep  the  peace  and  Yoder  so  stated  to  the  court  in  his  ob- 
jection. 

!N^ow  Leaman's  case  had  been  settled  by  his  plea  of  guilty 
and  yet  the  court  permitted  Leaman.  to  deliver  a  tirade  of 
abuse  and  invective  against  Yoder  after  this,  and  after  the 
Editor  made  objection  to  it  and  after  the  court  had  temporarily 
stopped  him  twice  on  objection  of  the  Editor. 

The  court  showed  it  had  no  respect  for,  or  absolutely  no 
knowledge  of  justice  and  legal  procedure,  by  letting  Mr. 
Leaman  take  the  time  of  and  interrupt  the  proceedings  of 
the  court  by  insults  and  threats. 

Leaman  stated  in  court  that  he  not  only  made  threats,  but 
that  he  would  reiterate  them  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  state 
to  the  court  that  he  was  going  to  get  Yoder  and  said,  "Yes. 
and  there  is  going  to  be  shedding  of  blood,  too." 

The  Editor  then  said,  "You  see,  he  makes  threats  and  I 
make  none  and  I  object  to  your  requirement  of  bond  and  will 
take  an  appeal." 

Then  an  officer  of  the  court  said  to  Leaman,  "You  take  an 
appeal,  too,"  and  Leaman  took  an  appeal. 

jSTow  the  peculiar  legal  procedure  is  again  seen  when  Squire 
Graves,  after  noting  the  appeal  to  come  up  in  October,  required 
the  Editor  to  give  bond  anyhow. 

We  want  to  know  what  the  appeal  from  bond  amounts  to 
anyhow,  if  one  has  to  give  bond  after  taking  the  appeal. 

As  we  left  the  court  after  this  farce  of  a  trial  spectators 
were  indiimant   and   said  that  Leaman  had  been   allowed  the 


4  The    Idea. 

liberty  of  the  court  in  abusing  the  Editor  in  the  hope  that 
the  Editor  would  do  something  for  which  he  could  be  fined 
for  contempt  of  court.  And  this  had  come  to  our  ears  often 
before  the  trial  that  an  attempt  would  be  made  in  court  to 
do  this.  If  there  has  ever  been  more  flagrant  contempt  of 
court  than  Leaman's  act  yesterday,  we  have  failed  to  hear  of 
it.  We  would  have  to  have  utmost  contempt  both  for  the  court 
and  for  ourselves  to  ever  speak  as  Leaman  did. 

The  Virginia  Statute  on  contempt  makes  a  man  guilty  for 
contempt  of  court  who  uses  such  language  "in  the  presence  of 
the  court."     He  don't  have  to  address  insults  to  the  court. 

Yet  Leaman  can  be  giiilty  of  infracting  the  law  before 
Squire  Graves  and  go  scot  froo. 

Most  everybody  in  Richmond  thinks  he  knows  what  the 
squire  would  have  done  if  the  Editor  of  The  Idea  had  been 
.guilty  of  contempt  of  court. 


REX  GRIFFIN  ASSAULTS  THE 
EDITOR  OF  THE  IDEA 


On  Eriday,  a  few  minutes  after  the  unsuccessful  attempt 
on  the  part  of  Leaman  to  harm  A.  A.  Yoder,  Rex  GriiSn,  Lea- 
man's  former  bar-keeper  appeared  at  The  Idea  office  and 
quietly  asked  for  Mr.  Yoder  and  stated  to  the  Editor  that  he 
was  wrong  in  stating  that  he,  Griffin,  was  elected  to  succeed 
Moody  at  the  time  of  Moody's  dismissal  as  he  did  not  have 
Moody's  beat  and  was  elected  about  two  weeks  from  the  time 
of  Moody's  dismissal. 

He  was  told  that  we  were  very  sorry  if  we  had  made  a 
mistake  and  that  we  would  look  it  up  at  the  .first  opportunitv 
and  make  the  correction  for  we  had  no  desire  to  make  any 
statements  which  were  not  true.  He  stated  further  that  he 
simply  desired  to  have  the  facts  as  they  were.  He  then  asked 
what  the  word  "puppet"  meant,  which  we  explained  to  him  as 
meaning  a  "tool."  His  conversation  was  quiet  and  orderly  and 


The    Idea.  5 

wp  talked  cordially  to  him  for  a  minute  or  so.  Thoug-h  the 
JCditor  and  the  clerk  in  the  office  both  smelled  whiskey  very 
strong  on  him  he  was  not  threatening  and  he  did  not  demand 
anything,  though  we  very  gladly  told  him  we  would  correct 
any  errors  made. 

Griffin  then  departed  and  we  thought  the  matter  settled 
until  the  next  regular  issue  appeared  when  we  would  be  ready 
to  correct  any  errors. 

Saturday  and  Friday  being  days  of  sale,  are  our  Inisiest 
days  and  we  thought  no  more  of  the  matter  until  Saturday 
night  at  8  o'clock  when  the  Editor  w^as  standing  alone  in  front 
of  hi»  office,  and  Griffin  walked  quietly  up  and  after  looking 
into  the  office  which  was  empty  he  asked  if  we  had  "asked  the 
chief  about  that  matter  I  was  talking  to  you  about  yesterday." 
We  had  not  heard  of  the  chief  in  this  connection  before,  but 
knowing  what  he  meant,  we  said,  "ISTo,  I've  been  so  busy  since 
yesterday  with  my  sales  that  I  have  not  had  time  to  even 
think  of  anything  else."  No  further  remark  was  made  by 
either  of  us  and  the  Editor  was  not  looking  at  Griffin,  be- 
cause he  did  not  expect  any  violence  and  knew  of  no  occasion 
for  any  one  to  take  an  offence  at  the  statements  referred  to, 
even  if  they  had  been  errors.  Suddenly,  and  with  no  warning 
and  not  even  seeing  Griffin,  who  was  standing  in  the  shadows 
at  his  right,  the  Editor  was  struck  a  stunning  blow  in  the  face 
which  felled  him.  Then  Griffin,  who  weighs  apparently  200 
pounds,  jumped  on  the  Editpr,  and  rained  blow  after  blow 
upon  him  and  kicked  him  in  the  face  as  he  struggled  beneath 
him  until  they  were  separated. 

When  the  brother  of  the  Editor,  who  was  eating  supper 
at  the  hotel,  next  door,  an-ived  and  tried  to  pull  Griffin  off, 
some  powerful  fellow,  apparently  an  accomplice  of  Griffin, 
gi-abbed  him  and  pulled  him  into  the  street,  and  it  was  some 
time  after  a  crowd  arrived  before  Yoder  was  released  from 
his  powerful  antagonist.  A  pistol  that  Griffin  had,  'No.  96, 
and  w^hich  he  dropped  in  the  scuffle,  was  handed  by  Yoder  over 
to  an  officer  and  Policeman  Goldsby  took  charge  of  it. 

:N'o  police  w^as  to  be  found  at  the  time  of  the  murderous  as- 
sault and  Griffin  disappeared  in  the  throng  which  gathered. 


6  The    I  dea. 

After  Yoder  liad  goue  to  his  hotel  policemen  arrived  and  later 
the  chief  himself  who  seemed  very  considerate. 

The  Times-Dispatch,  in  their  bungled  account  of  the  affair, 
very  ironically  remarked  that  after  the  affair  was  over  the 
police  arrived  and  ^'every  protection  was  thrown  about  the 
man  attacked,"  as  if  the  Editor  needed  protection  after  the  as- 
sailant had  slipped  away.  Does  the  Times-Dispatch  mean  to 
acknowledge  that  it  knew  of  a  conspiracy  to  continue  the  affair 
when  Griffin  was  stopped. 

It  looks  like  there  was  such  a  conspiracy.  Dutch  Leaman 
was  seen  walking  by  a  very  few  minutes  before  the  assault 
was  made  and  unknown  men  arose  out  of  the  dark  in  time  to 
stop  any  protection  of  Yodrv  by  bis  f  riei  «is. 

Have  you  noticed  that  the  papers  seem  to  be  in  so  abso- 
lute fear  that  they  will  help  the  good  cause  along  by  adver- 
tising The  Idea,  that  thev  do  not  dare  to  even  nieLtion  the 
name  of  this  magazine  in  writing  up  sensational  stuff  con- 
cerning US'. 

Poor,  little  frightened  papers.  Has  The  Idea  hurt  their 
sales  or  has  it  also  hurt  their  revenues  from  questionable  sources 
by  exposing  wrong  doing  in  the  political  life  of  Richmond 
which  thev  labor  so  hard  to  cover  up. 


THE  GRIFFIN  ASSAULT  CASE  IN 

COURT 


111  the  police  court  ]\Ionday  morning.  Officer  Griffin  plead 
guilty  and  there  was  thus  no  evidence  introduced  to  show  the 
gravity  of  the  charge. 

Attorney  Sands  appeared  for  Griffin  and  although  Griffin 
had  already  plead  guilty  and  the  assault  case  was  thus  set- 
tled, still  Sands  took  it  on  himself  to  make  slanderous  charges 
against  The  Idea  which  had  no  bearing  on  the  case,  and  after 
the  Editor  objected  to  his  insulting  remarks  and  insisted  that 
the  court  reqniro  him  to  confine  himself  to  the  case  he  de- 
sisted 


T h e    I dea.  7 

The  court  fined  Griffin  $25.00  and  put  biiu  under  bond 
for  $500.00  for  one  year  to  keep  the  peace  and  the  trial  was 
over. 

The  Editor  was  astounded  later  in  the  day  to  find  from  the 
papers  that  this  bond  had  been  removed  ''as  Griffin  is  under 
bond  as  a  police  officer." 

'Now  the  Editor  is  not  one  to  seek  vengeance  and  he  did 
not  prosecute  Griffin,  but  swore  out  the  warrant  for  his  arrest 
as  a  protective  measure,  because  the  police  who  arrived  long 
after  the  assault  showed  no  inclination  to  arrest  Griffin  of  their 
own  initiative,  but  one  of  them  stated  that  it  would  be  neces- 
sary for  the  Editor  to  sw^ear  out  a  warrant  in  order  to  have 
him  arrested  and  one  of  these  officers  secured  a  justice  of  the 
peace  before  whom  the  warrant  was  sworn  out.  The  object,  of 
course,  was  to  protect  from  further  assault  by  requiring  bond 
of  Griffin. 

This  bond  which  was  required  Avas  remitted  on  the  flimsy 
excuse  offered  that  he  was  already  under  bond,  whereas  that 
bond  stood  legally  forfeited  when  he  committed  the  assault. 
The  action  of  the  court  simply  says  to  the  criminal  that  an  as- 
sailant may  take  a  gnm,  as  an  officer  of  the  law,  though  he  be 
under  heavy  bond,  sworn  to  keep  the  peace  at  all  times  and 
protect  and  defend  the  law,  and  go  and  make  an  assault  and 
not  even  forfeit  that  bond. 

The  police  board  has  sanctioned  that  stand  and  refused  to 
require  the  officer  to  forfeit  his  bond. 

If  such  anarchy  is  permitted  to  run  Richmond,  violence 
may  be  resorted  to  to  right  any  supposed  wrongs. 

The  Leader  accounts,  as  usual,  had  the  things  all  bungled 
up.  In  one  place  the  Leader  article  stated  that  Griffin  was 
charged  with  assaulting  Yod'er  on  Capitol  street.  Later  in  the 
same  article  this  appears:  "The  attack  took  place  on  Broad 
street  near  9th."  !N"either  statement  is  true,  as  Griffin  a.s- 
Baulted  Yoder  on  the  premises  of  Yoder  near  the  door  of  his 
office. 


The  lad  who  lassoes  an  idea  and  hog  ties  it.  is  the  only  one 
who  reallv  counts. — Hubbard. 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

POLICE  BOARD  TRIAL 


Monday,  August  16th,  the  Editor  had  the  Saunders'  case 
to  answer  to  in  the  Law  and  Equity  Court  and  the  Griffin  case 
in  the  police  court  and  then  received  a  summons  to  appear  as  a 
witness  in  the  case  of  the  chief  against  Griffin  before  the  police 
board,  who  had  been  suspended  by  Werner  for  the  assault. 

The  Editor  answered  that  summons  and  appeared  before 
tJiat  board. 

A  chair  was  placed  toward  the  centre  of  the  room  for 
him  and  the  other  party  called  as  a  witness,  viz.,  the  chief, 
was  directed  to  a  seat  against  the  wall  as  well  as  was  Griffin, 
against  whom  the  charge  was  brought. 

The  Times-Dispatch  said  this  morning  that  "Yoder  was 
invited  into  the  meeting  of  the  board  and  he  was  permitted 
to  ask  questions." 

The  fact  is,  Yoder  was  duly  summoned  by  legal  process 
to  appear  before  this  secret  farce  or  he  never  would  have 
attended.  He  is  not  going  about  begging  a  secret  police  board 
to  prosecute  a  man.  If  he  has  any  prosecuting  to  do  it  will 
be  by  legal  and  open  methods. 

On  the  other  hand  Yoder  was  summoned  and  it  very  soon 
appeared  that  the  object  of  the  game  was  to  quis  and  try  Yoder 
for  libel  for  the  three  commissioners  who  asked  95  per  cent, 
of  all  the  questions  asked  showed  by  their  questions  that  their 
object  was  to  justify  Griffin  as  they  finally  did  do,  and  to  even 
attempt  by  continued  cross-questioning  of  the  Editor  to  force 
the  Editor  by  confusing  him  to  make  him  entangle  himself 
so  that  they  would  have  some  ground  for  suggesting  that  he 
humiliate  himself  before  them  in  explaining  and  apologizing. 

The  Editor  had  to  frequently  call  the  presiding  officer's  at- 
tention to  the  unheard-of  and  uncalled-for  and  improper  pro- 
cedure and  frequently  refused  to  go  into  a  discussion  of  the 
motives  of  and  methods  of  The  Idea  which  had  absolutely  no 
bearing  on  the  case. 

In  every  one  of  his  refusals  and  objections  the  Mayor  sus- 


The    Idea.  9 

taiiied  him  and  the  case  proceeded  only  to  find  other  imper- 
tinent questions  objected  to. 

The  Editor  had  even  to  go  so  far  as  to  tell  the  hoard,  ''I 
am  not  on  trial  before  you;  if  you  want  me  tried  there  is  a 
proper  court,  but  I  refuse  to  answer  and  object  to  beinii'  asked, 
because  I  do  not  like  to  appear  to  be  discourteous,  (pu'stions 
which  have  no  bearing-  whatever  on  the  charge  against  Griffin 
for  which  I  was  summoned  here,"  and  ''I  call  your  attention 
to  the  fact  that  from  the  proceedings  I,  and  not  Gi-iffin.  am  on 
trial." 

During  the  questioning  of  Griffin  he  stated  that  Mr.  Lea- 
man  was  so  active  in  supporting  him  for  the  force  that  this 
activity  was  reported  to  be  the  reason  he  was  not  at  first  ap- 
pointed. '  AVe  take  it  that  he  was  not  so  active  at  the  time 
of  Griffin's  appointment,  but  in  view  of  these  admissions,  who 
can  doubt  for  a  moment  the  truth  of  The  Ideal's  main  con- 
tention, namely,  that  Leaman's  influence  put  Leaman's  bar- 
keeper on  the  police  force  of  Richmond,  when  Leaman  was 
so  recognized  a  factor  in  things  political  in  Richmond,  that 
the  papers  which  have  refused  to  join  the  fight  against  politi- 
cal corruption  here  refer  to  him  as  Boss  Leaman. 

Turther.  At  least  three  times  as  many  questions  were  put 
to  the  Editor  as  were  put  to  the  prisoner  in  this  secret,  night 
star  chamber  immitation  of  a  court. 

Attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  this  trial  court 
is  composed  of  seven  men  who  are  not  lawyers,  and  from 
their  proceedings,  don't  know  the  first  principals  of  legal  pro- 
cedure. The  members  who  kept  quiet  may  have  known,  but 
it  appeared  that  those  who  did  the  talking  were  either  igno- 
rant of,  or  had  no  care  for,  recognized  bounds  and  limits 
which  should  confine  them  to  the  case  on  trial. 

To  us  the  whole  business  seemed  to  be  an  attempt  to  pro- 
tect, rather  than  prosecute  Griffin,  and  the  result  verifies  our 
conjecture. 

To  attempt  a  complete  notice  of  the  trial  would  be  out  of 
the  question,  for  it  alone  would  fill  The  Idea,  but  to  show 
the  way  tliey  got  away  from  the  question  and  their  lack  of  desire 
for  the  truth  of  the  assault,  let  it  be  known  that  no  question 
was  asked  the  Editor  as  to  how  many  blows  he  was  struck,  still 


10  The    Idea. 

when  they  had  finished  questioning,  and  when  Griffin  was  tes- 
tifying, he,  the  assailant,  was  asked  how  many  blows  he  struck. 
and  he  replied,  "five  or  six." 

They  did  not  ask  for  and  did  not  get  the  facts  of  the  as- 
sault and  if  they  had  wanted  the  whole  truth,  could  easily 
have  gotten  other  witnesses,  whose  names  they  were  aware  of, 
because  the  officers  were  told  all  about  it. 

ISTow  the  minor  question  comes  up  which  Griffin  claimed  he 
desired  to  have  properly  set  forth,  but  which  on  trial  in  the 
hoard  he  denied  was  the  cause  of  the  assault. 

Let's  quote  The  Idea  article  in  question.     It  reads : 

""One  can  see  how  Leaman's  influence  is  felt  in  running 
city  government  when  it  is  known  that  Leaman's  bar-keeper, 
Rex  Griffin,  was  elected  policeman  at  the  time  Moody  was 
discharged  from  the  force.  The  truth  is  that  Leaman's  man 
was  slated  as  Moody's  successor  long  before  the  case  was  framed 
up  against  Moody." 

In  the  newspaper  account  of  the  matter,  both  in  the  Times- 
Dispatch  and  the  Leader,  we  find  the  board  showed  they  knew 
not  what  they  were  about  by  using  the  following  words :  "The 
publication  which  was  false,  inasmuch  as  it  charged  that  you 
had  framed  up  a  case  to  get  Officer  Moody  discharged  and 
yourself  appointed." 

The  Idea  resents  this  gross  misstatement  and  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  real  publication  which  we  have  quoted  above. 

Let  the  reader  consider  the  facts  and  then  consider  the 
findings  of  the  board  and  draw  his  own  conclusion,  as  to 
whether  the  board  was  indicting  Griffin  or  The  Idea,  and 
whether  they  told  the  truth  or  not. 

Members  of  the  board  took  occasion  last  night  in  the  trial 
to  bring  out  that  Griffin  was  not  elected  exactly  at  the  time, 
but  two  weeks  or  so  before  the  discharge  of  Moody,  and  there- 
fore did  not  succeed  Moody. 

Although  we  were  so  careful  to  get  at  the  facts  in  the  first 
case  as  to  ask  four  policemen  about  this  before  going  to  print 
and  three  out  of  the  four  told  us  that  Moody  was  succeeded 
by  Griffin,  still,  since  the  board  now  informs  us  of  the  error, 
it  gives  us  pleasure  to  have  the  privilege  of  correcting  this  as 
we  have  no  desire  to  misrepresent  any  one. 


The    I  de  a  .  11 

The  Idea  desires  to  state  that  altliougb  Lcaman  made 
threats  against  Yoder  openly  in  court  and  Leaman's  character 
Avas  known  to  the  police,  still  no  police  protection  was  offered 
anywhere  near  Yoder's  office,  and  police  were  so  far  away 
that  no  one  appeared  in  time  to  offer  any  protection  or  even 
summon  any  witnesses,  A  list  of  witnesses  was  sent  to  police 
headquarters  on  Sunday,  but  the  police  did  not  summons  them 
to  court,  and  appeared  all  through  the  affair  not  to  desire  to 
do  anything  to  get  the  facts  in  the  case  before  the  public  or 
the  court  and  they  never  have  either  been  examined  by  the 
court  or  appeared  in  the  papers. 


PROTE'ST  AGAINST  ACTIOIS"  OF  POLICE  BOAED. 

Richmond,   Va.,   Aug.   16,   1909. 

We,  the  members  of  the  board  of  stewards  of  Clay-Street 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  in  regular  meeting,  wish  to  enter 
our  protest  and  express  our  indignation  at  the  action  of  Police- 
man Griffin  in  taking  the  law  in  his  own  hands  in  dealing  out 
summary  punishment  to  A.  A.  Yoder,  a  citizen  of  Richmond, 
for  an  insult,  whether  real  or  imaginary. 

That  we  enter  our  solemn  protest  against  the  light  punish- 
ment meted  out  to  him  in  the  police  court,  and  claim  that  he 
has  demonstrated  clearly  his  unfitness  as  an  officer  of  the  law, 
and  we  think  it  the  duty  of  the  board  of  police  commissioners 
to  at  once  dismiss  him  from  the  police  force. 

That  we  consider  his  action  an  affront  to  the  respectable 
element  of  our  community. 

Adopted  by  unanimous  vote  of  the  board. 

E.  I.  BAUGHE",  Recording  Secretary." 


PEACE  BOND 


When  Squire  Graves  placed  Learn  an  under  bond  on  re- 
quest of  Yoder,  who  preferred  charges  and  had  them  sustained 
in  court  by  a  plea  of  guilty,  Officer  Graves  overstepped  the 


12  The    Idea. 

bounds  of  common  sense  and  law  l)y  also  requiring  bond  of 
the  Editor,  who  objected  to  his  decision  and  took  an  appeal 
from  it  because  no  evidence  had  been  introduced  to  show  that 
the  peace  had  been  broken  or  would  be  broken  by  him. 

The  law  is  as  follows :  Sec.  3920.  "If  a  person  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  court  or  a  conservator  of  the  peace  make  an  affray, 
or  threaten  to  kill  or  beat  another  or  to  commit  violence  against 
his  person  or  property,  or  contend  with  angry  words  to  the  dis- 
turbance of  the  peace,  he  may,  without  process  or  further  proof, 
be  required  to  give  a  recognizance." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  judge 
not  only  to  require  bond  of  Leaman  but  the  law  also  demands 
that  before  he  could  require  bond  of  Yoder,  Yoder  must  "make 
an  affray,"  or  "contend,"  or  "threat"  "in  the  presence  of  the 
court"  or  else,  (see  Sec.  2913)  "complaint  must  be  made"  and 
"warrant  must  be  issued"  and  "witnesses  must  be  examined" 
to  substantiate  the  charge.  None  of  ■  these  things  were  done 
in  Yoder's  case  therefore  he  could  not  legally  be  required  to 
give  peace  bond. 

We  told  him  that  he  had  no  warrant  in  law  for  putting  us 
under  bond. 

He  cannot,  therefore,  plead  ignorance. 

Note  these  facts,  (1)  that  .T.  R.  Gordon,  father  of  Police 
Commissioner  Gordon,  went  Griffin's  bail. 

(2)  That  Chris.  Manning,  Police  Commissioner,  went  Lea- 
man's  bail. 

(3)  That  Commissioners  Gordon  and  Lauderkin  were  in 
communication  with  Sands,  attorney  for  Griffin  at  the  trial  of 
Griffin  in  the  police  court. 


POLICY  SHOPS 


The  papers  of  last  week  tell  of  the  raid  on  the  policy  shops 
made  by  the  police  and  the  Times-DispatcJi  even  dares. to  claim 
that  they  did  it  by  investigating  this  business  a  year  and  a 
half  affo. 


The    Idea.  13 

The  Dispatch  must  think  the  public  arc  all  fools  to  suggest 
that  this  was  done  because  of  a  little  publicity  a  year  or  two 
ago. 

If  you  ask  Chief  Werner  why  the  raid  was  made  and  it  he 
will  give  you  a  fair  answer,  he'll  tell  you  he  did  not  like  the 
way  The  Idea  not  only  exposed  the  policy  shops  but  exposed 
his  and  the  department's  crime  in  protecting  them.  The  police 
department  don't  have  to  be  told  where  the  policy  shops  are. 
They  know  better  than  The  Idea  or  the  Dispatch  where  they 
are  for  they  protect  this  crime  just  as  they  do  the  social  evil. 
All  manner  of  crimes  are  protected  in  Kichmond  and  the  police 
board  are  not  bothered  much  by  an  exposition  of  the  crimes 
just  so  the  blame  is  not  fixed  when  it  belongs  on  them.  The 
policeman  would  put  the  policy  shop  out  in  a  jiffy  but  he  can't 
do  it ;  the  courts  and  the  board  won't  let  him. 

As  a  prominent  Richmonder  said  recently,  he  knew  of  no 
city  in  which  the  forces  of  evil  were  so  thoroughly  entrenched 
and  protected  as  in  Richmond.  If  the  people  of  Richmond 
would  look  into  the  past  lives  of  some  of  their  prominent,  slick 
politicians  and  see  from  what  base  sources  they  sprang,  from 
what  degraded  occupations  they  came  to  their  present  seats  of 
power  and  corruption,  they  would  not  wonder  at  the  attitude 
of  protection  of  vice  which  these  crooked  officials  maintain. 

Did  you  ever  rnquire  how  many  ex-barkeepers  and  gamblers 
there  are  now  in  power  in  Richmond  politics.  If  yon  have  not 
it  would  pay  you  to  ask  some  questions  about  tho  antecedents 
and  former  live.:,  of  those  who  run  Richmond. 

If  the  police  desired  to  break  up  the  policy  games  why  did 
they  tackle  a  poor  negro  for  it  when  they  knew  where  the  seat 
of  all  the  trouble  Avas  ?  Why  did  they  simply  skirmish  and 
let  the  rascals  off  ?  Why  did  they  not  go  after  the  center  of  the 
trouble  ?  And  The  Idea  answers  "They  don't  want  to,  but  w^e'll 
make  'em  want  to."  Why  did  they  not  get  Griffith  ?  Because  of 
Saunders. 


In  the  fight  for  good  government  we  need  and  earnestly 
ask  the  co-operation  and  tangible  support  of  the  good  citizens 
of  Richmond.     Everything  possible  is  being  done  bv  the  forces 


14  The    Idea. 

pi  evil  to  tax  the  limited  resources  of  the  publisher  and  if  it 
were  his  fight  alone  he  would  do  his  best  and  say  nothing  to 
others  along  this  line. 

Others  have  heew  persecuted  for  the  right  before  and  he 
expected  just  what  has  happened  and  looks  for  more  because  of 
the  desperate  straits  of  the  malefactors  exposed,  and  because 
he  cannot  expect  police  protection.  Their  fight,  however,  is 
not  simply  against  the  editor,  but  is  against  the  turning  on  the 
light,  is  against  the  good  of  Richmond.  Organized  evil  is 
fighting  unorganized  good.  In  the  contest  of  the  people  against 
the  grafters  will  you  lend  your  aid  or  do  you  care  whether  The 
Idea  goes  down  and  the  grafters  gain  a  better  hold  on  your 
throats. 


Tuesday  afternoon. — The  Leader,  just  out,  for  to-day,  has 
what  purports  to  be  an  interview  with  a  police  commissioner 
which  is  so  at  variance  with  the  truth  that  we  make  the  follow- 
ing statement. 

ISTot  only  did  no  conversation  pass  between  Griffin  and 
Yoder  on  Saturday  in  reference  to  the  word  puppet,  but  Grif- 
fin did  not  even  claim  in  his  testimony  before  the  board  that 
such  conversation  occurred. 

The  article  in  question  contained  no  foundation  in  facts 
and  we  would  insist  on  a  corrected  account  at  the  hands  of  the 
Leader  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  .■*(>  few  people  believe  what 
they  see  in  the  Richmond  daily  papers. 


POLICE  PROTECTION 


When  The  Idea  began  publication  it  was  an  exceedingly 
rare  thing  to  see  a  policeman  anywhere  near  that  office.  Soon 
after  a  policeman  could  be  found  almost  continually  standing 
immediately  in  front  of  The  Idea  office  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  street  carefully  scrutinizing  all  who  came  to  The  Idea 
office.  After  threats  of  violence  were  made  against  the  editor 
it  was  noticed  that  this  special  police  protection  had  been  with- 


T  h  e     I  d  e  a  .  15 

drawn  and  althongli  threats  of  bloodshed  had  been  angrily  made 
in  open  court,  still  when  on  two  separate  occasions  vicious  as- 
saults were  made  on  the  editor,  one  on  his  own  premises  and 
another  near  them,  no  policeman  was  near  and  no  officer  of  the 
law^  did  anything  to  apprehend  the  offender. 


WHO'S  TO   BLAME  AND  THE 
REMEDY 


The  good  citizens  of  Richmond  seem  surprised  at  the  way 
.the  authorities  have  practically  sanctioned  violence  and  law- 
breaking  even  on  the  part  of  officers  sworn  to  enforce  the  law. 
.The  Idea  is  not  at  all  surprised  as  such  procedure  is  exactly 
in  keeping  with  the  practice  in  the  past. 

Then  too,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  article  of  which 
Griffin  and  Leaman  complained  was  more  a  censure  of  those 
in  authority  than  it  was  of  Griffin  and  Leaman  and  that  these 
two  were  practically  fighting  the  fight  of  the  police  board 
whew  they  attacked  the  editor.  They  could  not  be  expected 
to  turn  against  their  friends.  The  attitude  of  friendship  of 
the  authorities  toward  these  two  is  remarked  on  by  all  famil- 
iar with  the  farces  called  trials  which  Richmond  has  recently 
been   disgraced  wath. 

We  wonder  how  long  it  will  be  before  the  people  of  Rich- 
mond really  appreciate  the  depths  of  corruption  to  which  their 
departments  of  justice  and  law  enforcement  have  descended. 

These  things  are  not  new  experience  here.  Abuses  of  jus- 
tice just  as  flagrant  as  these  are  frequently  happening  but  the 
people  have  not  been  acquainted  with  the  facts. 

It  is  high  time  that  Richmond  people  noted  as  a  church- 
going  and  benevolent  ]ieople,  were  arising  in  their  might  and 
throwing  off  not  only  the  corrupt  and  crooked  politicians  and 
grafters  but  also  the  ancient  and  outworn  form  of  city  govern- 
ment which  makes  such  abuses  so  easy  of  accomplishment. 

Government  by  a  small  commission  of  paid  specialists  is 
the  solution  for  other  cities,  wdiv  not  for  Richmond  ? 


16  The    Idea. 

Meantime,  let  Richmond  men  organize  a  law-and-order 
league  which  shall  see  to  it  that  the  present  laws  are  enforced. 
and  correct  the  gToss  abuses  which  so  openly  exist  in  our  midst 
to  the  shame  and  disgrace  of  all  good  citizens  and  to  the  sor- 
row and  suffering  of  the  poor  and  the  weak  and  those  so  unfor- 
tunate as  to  come  within  the  reach  of  those  in  authority. 


We  wish  to  commend  the  News-Leader  of  Monday  for  the 
editorial  stand  they  take  against  the  action  of  the  police  board 
in  permitting  one  who  commits  an  assault  and  breaks  the  peace 
to  represent  the  people  as  a  preserver  of  the  peace  sworn  at 
all  times  to  keep  the  peace.  It  is  hoped  that  this  editorial  at- 
titude for  fair  play  will  permeate  the  other  department  of  the 
paper  and  make  of  it  what  Eichmond  so  much  needs,  a  square- 
and  fair  daily  newspaper. 

It  will  be  an  experiment  worth  trying  in  Richmond  and 
one  which  we  believe  would  surprise  the  experimenters  by  the 
approval  it  would  receive. 


Do  the  people  of  Richmond  really  want  to  see  Richmond 
rid  of  its  ring  of  gTafters  ? 

Do  they  want  to  see  The  Idea  continue  the  work  of  expos- 
ing wrong.  Are  they  willing  to  see  the  grafters  succeed  in 
this  attempt  to  break  up  The  Idea  by  making  it  use  all  its 
resources  and  place  itself  in  debt  by  defending  itself  in  courts. 

This  is  the  plan  of  campaign  of  the  enemy.  Their  only 
hope  is  in  breaking  The  Idea  or  killing  the  editor. 

If  the  people  of  Richmond  want  The  Idea  to  continue  let 
them  insist  on  the  protection  which  cities  everywhere  else  in 
Virginia  guarantee  even  to  a  criminal,  and  let  them  also  come 
to  the  rescue  and  fight  the  gTafters  to  the  last  quarter. 

The  Idea  now  has  sufficient  circulation  to  gaia^'antee  its 
existence  provided  it  is  not  broken  by  legal  fees. 

We  are  frank  to  confess  that  if  we  have  to  bear  all  the 
expense  of  lawyers  which  the  enemy  promises  to  make  us  we 
do  not  think  we  can  stand. 

If  you  want  The  Idea  to  continue  your  fight,  say  so  and 
act  accordingly.     If  you  want  The  Idea  to  stop;  if  you  are 


The    Idea.  17 

.satisfied  to  let  the  grafters  run  the  city ;  if  3-011  want  to  per- 
mit injustice  to  afflict  the  unfortunate;  if  you  desire  to  ke^p 
thugs  and  criminals  protected  and  innocents  persecuted  by  and 
in  the  name  of  your  government  then  The  Idea  does  not  desire 
to  offend  by  continuing  the  fight.  What  do  you  want,  gentle- 
men of  Richmond  ?  We  do  not  want  to  appear  as  usurpers.  It 
is  up  to  the  manhood  of  Richmond  to  decide  for  whether  the^ 
Avant  to  or  not  a. time  of  decision  has  come. 


A  NEW  DAILY  FOR  RICHMOND 


Since  starting  The  Idea  many  letters  have  been  received 
urging  that  an  independent  fearless  daily  paper  be  started  here. 
The  management  of  The  Idea  will  not  enter  that  field  for 
many  good  reasons,  but  The  Idea  is  greatly  pleased  to  learn 
from  the  very  best  authority  that  large  financial  interests  are 
planning  to  start  a  State  Republican  daily  paper  in  Richmond. 

ISTow  The  Idea,  though  edited  by  one  who  votes  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket,  is  an  independent  paper  and  it  is  more  interested 
in  seeing  clean  politics  than  in  seeing  Democratic  j^olitics  in 
control  in  Virginia.  For  tha  sake  therefore  of  clean  Demo- 
cratic affairs  we  rejoice  over  the  prospect  of  an  opposition  paper 
and  we  trust  and  believe  that  the  great  body  of  Democratic 
people  of  Richmond  will  give  the  new  paper  when  it  comes,  the 
hearty  support  it  deser^^es. 

Democrats  can  not  be  freed  from  the  rotten,  political  ring 
which  dominates  them  until  the  light  is  turned  on  by  an  op- 
position press  and  until  they  are  compelled  to  believe  what  The 
Idea  is  weekly  telling  them  that  Virginia  political  affairs  and 
especially  Richmond  political  affairs,  are  in  the  hands  of  as  cor- 
rupt and  rotten  a  ring  as  ever  dominated  a  State  or  a  commun- 
ity. 


And  now  thev  say  there  is  graft  in  buvino-  plus;  horses  for 
policemen.  It  looks  like  the  police  department  is  rotten  from 
center  to  circumference  and  is  the  most  corrupt  thing  in  Rich- 
mond, and  that  is  saving  a  whole  lot. 


18  The    Idea. 

EX-MAYOR  McCarthy  on  the 

CITY  COMMITTEE  . 


;  Kobodj  has  yet  discovered  why  it  is  that  ten  or  twelve 
men,  whose  individual  oj^inions  and  character  have  no  weight 
whatever  with  anybody,  can  get  together  in  a  political  com- 
mittee and  become  a  center  of  wisdom  and  influence  and 
sway  the  destiny  of  a  community.  ' 

It  is  simply  amazing  what  insignificant  fellows  do  their 
owii  good'  pleasure  with  the  helpless  voters. 

Two  great  parties  govern  the  "country  and  are  in  turn  them- 
selves governed  by  a  few  professional  politicians. 

The  above  lines  appear  in  Captain  McCarthy's  book,  "Our 
Distinguished  Fellow  Citizen." 

H;:;  also  makes  the  following  remarks: 

'.'Ii  is  a  strange  fact  that  the  bar-rooms  and  liquor  inter- 
ests of  nearly  all,  if  not  all  the  large  cities  of  this  country, 
exert,  more  influence  in  determining  nominations  and  elec- 
tions-than  all  the  churches  of  all  the  denominations  combined." 

"Almost  anybody  will  believe  a  thoroughly  agreeable  lie." 

"Tliere  Avere  chairs  in  the  room  evidently  made  to  sit  in." 

"The  prisoner  remarked  on  his  way  back  to  jail,  that  he 
might  be  hanged,  but  it.  was  some  consolation  to  know  that 
ho  had  been  to  the  police  court  for  the  last  time." 

"Good  and,  evil  mixed  is  pure  evil.  Virtue  never  compro- 
nii-es:  if  it  does  it  is  no  longer  virtue,  but  vice." 

"The  science  of  compromise  is  the  devil's  specialty." 
..  The •  ajbo ye- quotations  were  selected   at   random  after  hur- 
riedly reading  "Our  Distingiiished  Fellow  Citizen." 

The  book  was  sent-  us  by  th^  publishers  from  Harrisonburg 
Avith  request  for  advertising  rates. 

We  read  tlie  book  at  one  sitting — it  was  so  intensely  inter- 
esting,^— and  Ave  take  pleasure  in  adding  this  comment  in  the 
hope  tliat  Tfichmond  citizens  who  want  to  know  how  the  city 
is  run  may  be  directed  to  one  who  knoAvs  more  than  any  man 
in  Virginia  abuut  municipal  affairs. 

Ti(^ad  the  publisher's  ad.  on  back  of  cover. 


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Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk  Paving,  Halls, 
Vestibules,  Basements,  <&c. 


The  fditor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  he 
takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work  and  straight 
forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


T'S  THE  REAL  THING 


"Our  Distinguished 
Fellow-Citizen" 


BY 


HON.  CARLTON  cTWcCARTHY 

READABLE  FORCIBLE 

STRIKING 

"<vl   LIVE   WIRE" 
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Hunter's,  629  E.  Broad  St 


WEEKLY 


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THE  COPY 


THE^IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill 


Aug.  28,  1909 


No.  13 


$2.00  A  YEAR 


CONTENTS: 


SQUIRE  GRAVES  MORGAN  MILL'S  COMMITTEE 


GRAIN  GRAFT 


GAMBLING  HOUSE  RAID 


c^ND  OTHER  c^MATTERj? 


For  Sale  At  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND  HOME  DUTIES 

are  often  a  hindrance  to  your  daughter's  education.  She 
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her  companions  and  social  surroundings.      Send  her  to  the 

BL4CKSTONE  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS 

where  she  will  receive  "Thorough  instruction  under  posi- 
tively Christian  influences  at  the  lowest  possible  cost." 

Practical  and  Theoretical  Pedagogy  Courses  for  training 
of  teachers. 

^^  ^f\  P^ys  all  charges  for  the  year,  including  the  ta- 
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REV,  JAMES  CANNON,  Jr.,  M.  A.,  Blackstone,  Va. 


The  Greatest  American 


-THOS.  A.  EDISON- 


Invented  the  Phonograph,  and  the 
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Sweetest  Toned  of  all  such  Instru-. 
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and  Machines  are  on  sale  in  Rich- 
mond on  easy  terms  at  the  agency 
for  Virginia  and  Carolina,  603  East 
Main  Street. 

C.  B.  HAYNES  &  CO. 

Phone  Madison  6227  The  Edison  Phonograph 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  AUGUST  28,   1909  No.  13 


5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Rlchmoud,  Va. 


SQUIBE  GBAVES 


And  Crooked  Methods 

in  the  Police  Court 


The  daily  papers  last  week  stated  that  the  bond  of  $500 
which  the  court  required  of  policeman  Griffin,  had  been  re- 
mitted, on  account  of  the  fact  that  he  was  already  under  bond". 

It  is  true,  he  was  already  under  bond,  but  it  is  also  true 
that  that  bond  amounted  to  nothing,  because  the  police  com- 
missioner did  not  require  him  to  forfeit  that  bond. 

Justice  Graves  did  impose  a  bond  of  $500,  and  the  records 
do  not  show  that  it  was  remitted. 

The  Idea  reporter  who  went  to  see  about  this  on  Thurs- 
day, three  days  after  bond  was  ordered,  found  that  Griffin  had 
walked  off  without  giving  bond,  and  the  officer  in  charge 
stated  to  the  reporter  that  nothing  had  been  done  to  see  that 
Griffin  did  furnish  bond. 

Squire  Graves  appeared  at  this  juncture,  and  the  clerk 
told  him  that  Griffin  had  not  filed  bond,  and  he  then  ordered 
that  Griffin  be  sent  for. 


2       ■  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

This  proves  that  the  officers  of  the  court  were  in  sympa- 
thy with  Griffin,  and  deliberately  let  him  walk  off  without 
furnishing  bond.  They  were  extremely  careful  to  require 
$100  bond  of  the  editor  when  he  was  assaulted;  and  yet 
when  a  sworn  officer  assaults  the  editor,  he  not  only  does  not 
forfeit  the  bond  he  is  already  under,  but  he  walks  off  without 
putting  up  bond  for  the  future. 

If  this  is  not  rotten,  what  is  it?  Some  day,  perhaps,  the 
good  people  of  Richmond  will  wake  up  to  a  realization  of 
how  bold  their  public  servants  are  in  encouraging  the  vio- 
lation of  the  law.  If  they  treat  the  violators  of  the  law  in 
this  way  can  any  justice  be  expected  of  them. 

Let  a  confessed  criminal  off  from  a  $500  bond  and  im- 
pose a  $100  bond  on  one  against  whom  no  charge  has  ever 
been  made. 

It's  up  to  the  voters  of  Richmond  to  put  clean  men  in 
office  in  the  Council,  and  at  the  first  opportunity,  get  a 
form  of  government  which  does  away  with  this  outlandish 
councilmanic  system. 

It  is  the  Council  which  elects  the  police  board,  which 
is  so  loosely  and  corruptly  run  as  to  permit  all  these  injustices. 
Let  this  be  known  that  the  Council  elects,  and  it  is  gen- 
erally the  case  that  the  ring  crowd  in  the  Council,  run  by  Pol- 
lock and  Mills  and  their  gang,  nearly  always  have  their  way 
in  electing  police  commissioners,  as  they  did  recently  in  elect- 
ing McCarthy,  for  whose  election  Pollock  led  the  fight  which 
was  so  desperate  that  Pollock  could  not  contain  himself  when 
it  was  over  and  lost  himself  in  oaths  in  the  Council  chamber. 

Pollock  knew  how  much  his  influence  in  police  court  de-    / 
pended  on  the  election  of  his  man,  and  he  clearly  showed  it. 

And  yet  intelligent  Richmond  people  permit  men  like 
Pollock  to  largely  run  the  city,  both  in  the  Council  and  the 
police  court. 

And  the  papers  are  to  blame,  because  they  would  not 
turn  on  the  light. 


If  you   don't   like   The   Idea,   read   the   Times-Dispatch 
or  the  News-Leader.     They  won't  hurt  you. 


The    Idea. 

LATEB 


The  Idea  man  has  again  called  on  the  poiI<3P  cojI'c  to 
find  whether  Griffin  furnished  bond  or  not,  and  behold  what 
he  fonnd: 

Opposite  Griffin's  name  on  the  docket  is  found  an  entry 
showing  that  at  last,  W.  E.  Griggs  appeared  as  his  bonds- 
man, and  on  looking  to  see  who  Griggs  is,  the  directory  dis- 
closes that  W.  E.  Griggs  is  a  justice  of  the  peace,  with  head- 
quarters at  Room  18,  basement  City  Hall,  which  Room  18,  is 
the  police  court.  So  it  seems  that  the  wheel  within  a  wheel 
discloses  itself.- 

The  ring  grows ! 

A  police  commissioner's  father  bails  Griffin.  Police  com- 
missioners coilnsel  his  defence  in  the  police  court.  The  Board 
then  defends  hini  and  excuses ,  his  acts  and  encourages  law- 
lessness by  putting  him  back  to  work  with  a  farce  of  a  fine. 
The  police  court  lets  him  walk  off  without  giving  bond.  And 
last,  when  they  find  The  Idea  looking  into  their  crooked 
work,  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  side  partner  of  the  court 
goes  his  bond.  Ye  angels  and  little  fishes,  behold  the  workings 
of  the  ring  in  protecting  and  defending  crime.  This  little 
incident  ought  to  show  how  Richmond'  is  run.  Will  the  peo- 
ple wake  up.     We  rather  think  they  will. 


The  article  below  is  clipped  from  a  pamphlet  put  out  by 

Mr. Maxwell,   who  was  shamefully  treated  by  this 

same  Squire  Graves.     We  publish  it  to  show  over  how  long 
a  time  this  injustice  to  citizens  has  extended. 

Maxwell  was  unlawfully  handled  by  city  officials  on 
Christmas,  1907,  and  Graves  is  still  doing  business  at  the 
old  stand. 

"YOU  MAY  not'  KI^OW  THIS  MAN  GRAVES." 

Now  let  me  tell  you  the  position  he  occupies.  I  have 
seen  him  taking  up  tickets  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  and  at 
the  Base  Ball  grounds;  a  gate-keeper,  or  ticket-taker  at  the 
Fair  grounds.     Now,  this  is  the  man  that  put  me  under  bond 


4  Th  e    I dea  . 

to  keep  the  peace  "wheu  there  was  no  evidence  that  I  had  dis- 
turbed the  peace  of  — -:ody.  Now,  I  have  been  in  this  com- 
munity for  sixtc'u  months,  and  I  ask  the  public  if  I  have 
injured  or  tried  to  injure  anybody,  or  "if  I  have  violated  the 
peace  of  the  community  I  have  lived  in ;  if  not,  then  I  ask 
the  public,  why  I  was  put  under  bond  to  keep  the  peace  and 
sent  to  jail  on  the  24th  and  remained  there  until  the  26th. 
Think  of  this  Christmas  Day,  a  man  like  I  tell  you  I  am,  to 
be  sent  to  jail  by  a  man  of  the  appearance  and  in  the  position 
of  Graves. 


THE  SAUNDEBS'  SUIT 


Extract  From  the  Declaration  Filed 
by  Clyde  Saunders 


"By  reason  of  the  said  premises,  divers  residents  of  the 
ward  aforesaid,  in  which  the  said  plaintiff  resides,  have  re- 
fused to  support  him  in  his  candidacy  aforesaid,  and  did  not 
vote  for  him  at  the  election  aforesaid,  held  on  the  said  5th 
of  August,  1909,  as  they  would  otherwise  have  done.  And 
also  by  means  of  the  premises  aforesaid,  the  said  plaintiff 
has  been  and  is  greatly  injured  and  damnified  to  the  damages 
of  the  said  plaintiff,  twenty  thousand  dollars." 

If  it's  a  crime  in  Virginia  to  beat  a  political  boss  at  the 
polls,  then  we  must  be  guilty. 


Either  city  employees  or  city  contractors  or  both  have 
been  robbing  Richmond  and  in  justice  both  to  the  citizens  and 
the  contractors  and  the  employees,  the  public  should  know  and 
very  quickly,  all  the  facts  in  the  case.  The  chances  arc  that 
the  daily  papers  'will  let  the  thing  die  just  as  soon  as  they 
find  out  who  the  rascals  are,  and  before  they  let  people  on 
to  their  valuable  secret. 


The    Idea 


Morgan  Mills  Committee 


Show  the  Letter 


Who  Gets  the  Rebates,  and  Are  There  Others? 


It  now  develops  that  the  Water  Committee  has  been  up 
to  secret  work  and  entered  into  agreements  which  have  never 
been  made  pnblic.  It  appears  that  that  committee,  of  which 
Morgan  Mills  is  chairman,  awarded  a  contract  to  a  bidder  at 
$14,550,  although  there  was  a  lower  bid. 

It  is  important  to  notice  that  the  city  never  gets  any  re- 
bates, and  it  appears  that  nothing  is  heard  of  it  until  the  re- 
bate is  refused. 

It  is  pertinent  to  ask  who  would  have  gotten  the  rebate 
if  it  had  been  received  ? 

This  rebate  matter  may  explain  why  these  pumps  were 
installed  a  year  before  there  was  ever  power  enough  to  run 
them. 

As  this  was  the  business  of  the  public,  the  public  should 
have  ])een  informed  of  any  transaction  made  in  their  name. 
'No  committee  has  any  legal  or  moral  right  to  take  any  secret 
action,  especially  when  such  action  involves  the  public's  money. 

Why  was  not  this  $1,000  rebate  mentioned  in  the  minutes  ? 

When  public  matters  are  concealed,  the  public  has  a  right 
to  suspect  something  crooked. 

It  is  also  pertinent  to  ask  if  there  was  any  secret  rebate 
offered,  in  the  other  electric  contract  recently  awarded  to  the 
General  Electric  Co. 

If  there  was  a  rebate,  how  much  was  it,  and  why  did  not 
the  people  know  about  it  ? 

There  ought  to  be  a  rebate  somewhere  to  make  up  for 
the  difference  of  about  $8,300  between  that  and  the  lower 
bid  of  the  Westinghouse  Co. 

All  the  people  know  is  that  when  the  rebate  is  refused, 


C  •  The    Idea. 

the  city  don't  get  it.  They  don't  know  that  the  grafters  don't 
get  secret  rebates;  yet  there  are  a  lot  of  people  in  Richmond 
who  say  they  know  that  the  grafters  here  do  get  secret  re- 
bates, but  they  will  not  go  before  a  grand  jury  and  say  so^ 
because  of  fear  of  the  grafters. 

Let  this  same  council  committee,  with  Mr.  Mills  as 
chairman,  state  to  the  people,  their  masters,  whether  there 
are  any  other  secrets  of  the  people  which  they  refuse  to  let 
the  people  know  of.  The  trouble  is  that  these  servants  of  the 
people  think  themselves  masters  of  the  people,  and  they  have 
so  arranged  the  important  contracting  committees  that  there 
are  always  enough  of  the  ring  on  them  to  decide  what  action 
shall 'be  taken,  and  thus  bind  the  tongues  of  the  good  men 
on  the  committees. 

Let  this   committee  produce  this   rebate  letter   and  place 
it  before  the  public.     It's  the  public  property. 


We  have  been  delaying  the- publication  of  two  important 
and  highly  interesting  articles  concerning  two  of  the  grafters, 
in  order  to  get  a  few  more  details  which  bear  on  the  subject. 
We  expect  to  have  one  or  both  of  these  articles  ready  for 
next  week.     Don't  miss  it. 


A  P'ARABLE  AND  THE  IDEA. 

A  story  is  going  the  rounds  that  in  the  church  of  a  good 
pastor,  there  was  a  certain  good  brother  deacon  who  always 
contributed  liberally  and  even  led  in  prayer  when  called  on, 
but  who  could  never  be  persuaded  to  do  any  '^personal  work"^ 
in  the  way  of  talking  to  others  concerning  their  future  well 
being. 

In  the  course  of  events,  however,  the  church  found  itself 
in  the  midst  of  revival  services,  and  the  pastor  urged  and 
urged  his  good  deacon  to  help  on  the  work  by  personally  ap- 
pealing to  some  of  the  young  men  of  the  congregation. 

Finally  the  deacon  summed  up  courage  enough  to  make 
the  attempt,  and  arising  from  his  seat,  he  went  over  to  the 
seat  of  a  pretty  wild  young  acquaintance,  and  engaged  him 
in  conversation  with  these  words :      "James,   don't  you  want. 


The    I dea.  7 

to  go  to  heaven?"'     James  replied,  ''No."     The  deacon  said, 
"Go  to  hell,  then,"  and  CLuietly  resumed  his  seat. 

Later  on  in  the  meeting  James  did  some  thinking  and 
finally  took  the  decisive  step  and  went  forward  to  shake  the 
preachers'  hand  and  nnite  himself  with  the  church. 

The  pastor,  of  course,  wanted  to  know  his  experience,  and 
said,  "James,  how  did  you  come  to  take  this  stand?" 

James'  reply  was:  "Old  Deacon  So-So  told  me  to  go  to 
h — 1,  and  it  got  me  to  studying." 

Some  of  the  friends  of  the  work  of  The  Idea  have  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  our  work  would  be  more  effective  if 
we  cut  out  all  the  harsh  terms  and  state  the  facts,  but  elimi- 
nate the  sting. 

Our  reply  is  that  that  is  just  what  is  troubling  the  daily 
papers  of  Richmond  to-day.  They  have  cut  out  the  harsh 
terms  and  smoothed  things  down  so  that  their  papers  amount 
to  nothing  as  organs  of  right.  If  The  Idea  were  to  cut  out 
the  blows  which  it  is  aiming  at  evil,  by  toning  it  down, 
then  it  would  not  be  The  Idea  ;  and  moreover,  it  would  not 
amouni  to  any  more  than  the  daily  papers  here.  It  would 
just  be  a  non-entity.  Did  you  ever  think  why  people  read 
The  Idea  ?  It's  because  The  Idea  calls  a  spade  a  spade,  and 
The  Idea  is  going  to  keep  on  calling  spades  by  name,  and 
moreover,  there  are  still  some  spades  in  Richmond  which  are 
shovelling  dirt  under  other  names,  and  it  remains  for  The 
Idea  to  denominate  them  and  put  them  up  to  the  public  gaze. 
The  Idea''s  method  of  telling  the  truth  forcefully  by  not 
concealing  anything  is  the  only  method  yet  found  for  effect- 
ually fighting  evil.  "SAHien  you  are  after  crooks  you  don't  gain 
anything  by  calling  them  angels.  You've  got  to  call  'em  crooks 
and  then  let  'em  know  you  are  going  to  keep  on  exposing  them 
until  they  take  to  the  tall  timber.  The  grafters  in  Richmond 
are  so  entrenched  that  they  can  not-  be  moved  by  mealy- 
mouthed  words  of  entreaty.  You've  got  to  tell  'em"  to  go  to 
H — 1,  and  then  give  'em  a  kick  in  that  direction.  Note  this, 
that  the  daily  papers  of  Richmond  never  yet  put  a  rascal  on 
the  run,  but  remember  that  The  Idea  has  already  beat  two 
bosses  and  puts  crimps  in  the  plans  of  a  score  more  that  will, 
at  the  first  opportunity,  send  them  to  the  brush  pile  of  politics. 


8  The    Idea. 

The  Idea  is  not  here  to  emit  pleasant  terms  for  the  delecta- 
tion of  the  grafters.  We  are  here  to  put  the  grafters  out  of 
•commission  and  the  only  way  to  do  it  is  to  call  'em  by  name 
and  strike  blows  that  tell. 

You  know  Jesus  of  iSTazareth  did  not  mince  matters  when 
he  was  after  the  offenders.  He  not  only  called  them  vipers 
and  foxes  and  whitened  sepulchres,  but  he  went  after  them 
with  his  whip  and  put  them  to  rout  with  physical  force.  Let 
no  modern  man  try  to  improve  on  the  methods  of  the  Master. 
It  matters  not  if  they  finally  killed  him.  When  the  rascals  try 
to  kill  it's  the  greatest  compliment  evil  can  pay  to  good,  and 
it  must  be  sweet  to  die  in  battle  for  the  right. 

We  often  think  that  the  reason  preachers  don't  more  often 
find  the  same  violence  Jesus  found  is  that  they  attempt  to  do 
His  will  without  doing  it  His  way. 

If  you  would  follow  Jesus  you'll  find  you'll  have  a  fight  on 
your  hands  just  as  he  did.  The  servant  is  not  greater  than 
his  master. 


GRAIN  GRAFT 


During  the  past  week  it  has  developed  that  the  city  has 
been  systematically  robbed  of  perhaps  thousands  of  dollars 
either  by  city  employees  or  else  by  those  furnishing  gi-ain  to  the 
city,  and  yet  the  daily  papers  of  Richmond  seem  so  determin- 
ed to  cover  up  anything  scandalous  about  respectable  people 
that  they  all  make  light  of  the  offence.  The  Jourjial  says 
"there  may  be  gTaft."  The  Leader  says  "Graft  of  $3.50,"  while 
in  the  same  article  it  quotes  the  city  engineer  as  saying  that 
they  were  informed  that  this  was  done  "on  several  occasions," 
which  clearly  shows  that  the  News-Leader  is  trying  to  minimize 
the  crime  and  thus  protect  the  real  criminals,  and  it  is  worth 
while  to  state  right  here  that  it  is  this  well  known  policy  of 
suppressing  news  on  the  part  of  the  Richmond  papers  that  not 
only  makes  it  so  hard  to  fight  graft  when  it  is  discovered,  but 
makea  the  grafters  see  that  they  can  engage  in  their  gi'afting 


T  h  e     I  d  e  a  .  9 

without  fear  of  being  caught  and  punished,  for  all  know  that 
no  grafters  are  punished  until  the  people  are  aroused  through 
the  public  press  to  see  where  they  are  being  robbed. 

These  papers  know  as  well  as  they  know  their  names  that 
the  citizens  of  Richmond  have  been  systematically  robbed  and 
that  somebody  should  be  sent  to  the  pen  for  it,  and  yet  they 
so  becloud  the  facts  with  misleading  headlines  that  they  make 
the  people  believe  that  a  negro  driver  has  simply  stolen  $3.50 
from  the  city. 

It  is  also  worth  noting  by  the  citizens  that  those  whose 
duty  it  is  to  guard  such  things  have  been  woefully  negligent. 
It  can  easily  be  seen  that  no  private  corporation  Would  be  so 
lax  as  to  let  such  a  thing  occur. 

ISTo  city  official  seems  to  have  checked  up  purchases  enough 
to  notice  whether  the  oats  bought  ever  weighed  too  light. 

This  much  is  dead  sure,  that  it  could  be  easily  ascertained 
from  the  known  approximate  weight  of  oats  whenever  any  steal 
as  much  as  three  or  four  dollars  from  one  load  of  oats  was 
going  on.  If  we  get  no  more  from  this  investigation  which 
seems  to  be  so  laxly  and  loosely  conducted  as  to  let  the  real 
criminals  cover  up  their  tracks,  we  should  at  least  learn  that 
our  present  form  of  government,  with  no  one  man  responsible 
for  grain  purchases  from  deciding  who  the  city  buys  from  to 
the  checkng  up  of  the  delivery  of  the  same,  is  a  mammoth 
failure  and  that  graft  and  crookedness  will  continue  to  thrive 
and  the  people  will  never  know  how  much  they  are  robbed 
until  Ave  institute  some  business-like  management  of  city  af- 
fairs. 

Instead  of  running  like  a  railroad  company  is  run,  and 
putting  an  individual  in  control  of  the  purchase  of  supplies, 
what  do  we  do?  We  elect  fifty-six  men  and  get  them  to  be 
our  purchasing  agent. 

When  will  we  ever  get  over  our  fool  notion  of  doing  things 
as  a  city  that  we  have  too  much  sense  to  do  as  individuals  or 
private  corporations  ?  When  will  we  get  over  hiring  fifty-six 
men,  aldermen,  councils  and  committees  and  sul>committees 
to  do  what  we  ought  to  hold  one  man  responsible  for  doing  ? 

Those  cities  that  are  running  on  modern  common  sense 
lines   and   doino-  their  business   in  decencv   and   in  order,   are 


10  The    I  dea  . 

waking  up  to  a  realization  that  they  are  saving  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  each  year. 

And  if  you  want  to  know  where  they  save  it  we'll  simply 
have  to  answer  that  they  simply  cut  out  the  grafter. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  one-fourth  of  the  million  and  a  half 
dollars  that  Eichmond  spends  each  year  is  graft  money,  and 
yet  we  are  such  a  conservative  and  hopeful  and  unsuspicious 
people,  and  have  been  kept  in  ignorance  so  long  by  the  sup- 
pression of  news  on  the  part  of  the  papers  that  we  never  will 
be  waked  up  until  some  fine  day  we  find  from  an  investiga- 
tion that  dear,  beautiful  old  Richmond  is  politically  as  rotten 
and  corrupt  as  San  Francisco,  or  Pittsburgh,  or  New  York 
ever  dared  to  be. 

Fifty-six  men  giving  (?)  their  time  to  the  city  and  yet 
contending  for  influential  committee  appointments  because 
those  appointments  give  them  money,  hard  and  long  green 
money,  and  are  more  valuable  and  much  more  to  be  de- 
sired than  salaried  positions,  and  the  citizens  patting  them- 
selves on  the  back  and  saying  (some  of  them)  :  "Richmond  is 
a  clean  city."  Richmond  is  indeed  a  city  far  above  the 
average,  and  away  at  the  top  in  intelligence  and  education  of 
her  citizens  and  in  interest  in  political  matters,  and  yet  it 
would  be  hard  to  find  a  community  so  oppressed  by  papers 
which  the  citizens  sometimes  suspect  are  giving  them  the  news 
about  their  government.  If  Richmond  had  a  single  daily 
newspaper  that  would  turn  on  the  light  and  would  not  sup- 
press news,  Richmond  citizens  would  in  no  short  time  rid 
itself  of  its  band  of  boodlers,  and  grafters,  and  crooks,  and  put 
itself  where  it  ought  to  be,  and  deserves  to  be,  the  best  governed 
city  in  the  Union.  Trouble  is  the  Times-Dispatch,  with  its 
allies,  is  indeed  "Supreme"  in  Richmond,  and  the  people  are 
enslaved  to  its  supremacy. 


The  daily  papers  are  acting  in  this  graft  case  just  as  they 
did  six  years  ago  in  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  case. 

In  that  case  of  crooked  work  every  time  one  was  found 
guilty  the  papers  apologized  for  him  by  stating  that  he  was 
engaged  in  legitimate  business  and  did  nothing  improper. 


Thf     Idra.  11 

DID  THtY  WANT  TO  CONVICT 
THE  GAMBLERS? 


On  Saturday  night,  August  7th,  Detective  Wiley  of  the 
police  department  and  uniformed  Officer  Gary,  with  a  war- 
rant sworn  out  against  Samuel  Kaufman  for  operating  a 
gambling  resort  in  room  26,  at  No.  112  N.  9th  St.,  in  what 
is  known  as  the  old  Law  Building,  went  to  the  aforesaid  room 
at  10 :30  o'clock  and  arrested  Kaufman.  The  case  was  called 
Monday  morning  following  and  the  occupants  of  the  room 
at  the  time  were  summoned  as  witnesses. 

On  Monday  the  case  was  postponed  until  Wednesday  and 
in  the  meantime  one  called  Spence,  who  was  present  as  a 
witness   at  the   Monday   morning   hearing,    had   disappeared. 

Officer  Wiley  testified  that  when  he  knocked  a  chain  was 
holding  the  door  from  opening,  that  when  it  became  known 
what  was  up  a  general  scrambling  for  safety  ensued;  chairs 
were  overturned,  money  and  chips  rattled  and  the  officers  were 
not  permitted  to  enter  until  threats  were  made  to  shoot. 

About  fifteen  men  were  found  in  the  room  besides  Kauf- 
man; the  room  contained  a  bed,  a  trunk,  fifteen  or  twenty 
chairs  and'  one  long  table. 

Officer  Wiley  found  in  the  trunk  a  "kitty"  containing 
poker  chips  and  with  the  initial  "K"  on  the  top. 

The  several  witnesses  called,  including  Councilman  Selph, 
testified  to  the  fact  that  gambling  was  going  on  and  had  gone 
on  there  many  times  before,  though  they  generally  said  ''a 
little  poker." 

The  first  witness  said  he  went  there  "to  play  poker."  When 
asked  "why?"  he  said  "because  I  knew  Mr.  Kaufman  was 
there."     "Saw  seven  or  eight  there  playing  poker  that  night." 

This  was  the  trend  of  all  the  testimony,  that  Mr.  Kauf- 
man was  known  by  them,  that  they  went  there  in  many  cases 
"to  see  Mr.  Kaufman."  Some  said  Mr.  Kaufman  opened 
the  door  to  them,  others  testified  that  they  had  to  call  for  Mr. 
Kaufman  before  being  admitted.     One  testified  he  had  been 


12  T  h  e    I  de  a  . 

there  several  times  and  could  not  name  a  time  when  Kaufman 
was  not  there. 

In  spite  of  all  this,  nearly  every  witness  tried  to  convey 
the  impression  that  Spence,  the  party  who  had  disappeared, 
was  running  the  place,  although  few  of  them  could  caV 
Spence's  name,  and  the  only  evidence  they  could  deduce  ^>\:^s 
that   Spence  was   handling  the  money   part   of  the  tim-. 

One  witness,  when  asked  what  game  was  going  ^-ii  -uid: 
"I  don't  know  enough  about  poker  to  know"  ami  ihen  on 
cross-questioning  it  turned  out  that  he  was  sellinp;  poker  chips 
himself  that  very  night  and  stated  in  court  what  each  ^..ip  was 
worth. 

Another  witness  testified:  '^I  know  Mr.  Kaufman,  that's 
the  reason  I  went  there." 

l^ow  anyone  hearing  the  evidence  in  the  case  could  easily 
have  seen  that  Mr.  Kaufman  was  guilty  and  that  there  was 
a  concerted  plot  to  put  the  blame  on  somebody  else.  The 
lesson  for  the  peoj^le  to  draw  from  this  case  is  that  the  police 
department  has  not  done  its  duty  in  this  case. 

The  occupants  of  the  room  in  question  were  guilty  of  vio- 
lating the  law,  and  yet  not  a  one  of  them  was  even  arrested 
except  Kaufman. 

If  there  was  any  doubt  about  Kaufman'-  being  guilty  it 
was  certainly  the  duty  of  the  department  to  a;  rest  the  other 
law-breakers  on  Monday  when  they  ajjpeared  a^  witnesses 
and  when  Spence  was  present,  before  plans  for  him  to  dis- 
appear as  scapegoat  had  materialized,  for  the  police  department 
knows  well  how  these  crooks  get  away,  and  as  the  common- 
wealth attorney  admitted  in  the  trial,  Kaufman  on  a  former 
occasion  had  done  the  same  thing  and  put  the  blame  on  an- 
other party.  Those  who  ought  to  know  tell  us  that  there  was 
no  desire  on  the  part  of  the  police  department  to  make  any  one 
suffer  the  penalty  of  the  law,  that  the  object  was  to  break  up 
the  game  because  it  interf erred  with  other  bigger  games  go- 
ing oil  in  the  neighborhood  which  they  knew  all  about. 

If  the  police  had  desired  to  break  up  the  gamblers  they 
would  have  arrested  the  whole  bunch,  including  the  council- 
man. 

While  the  trial  was  going  on  a  young  man.  who  was  one  of 


The    Idea.  13 

the  witnesses  cauglit  in  the  gambling  joint,  came  to  The  Idea 
man  and  with  tears  in  his  eyes  begged  that  his  name  not  ap- 
pear in  The  Idea  as  it  wonld  kill  his  mother  and  seeing  no 
good  to  be  accomplished  by  publshing  the^e  names  we  prom- 
ised not  to  use  his  name.  Afterwards  as  we  thought  the  matter 
over  we  regretted  our  promise  and  if  it  had  not  been  made 
we  would  publish  all  the  names,  for  we  later  asked  the  young 
man  in  question  if  he  would  have  ever  come  to  this  if  the 
papers  had  published  his  name  when  he  was  fii'st  caught  in  a 
gambling  joint,  and  he  said  "certainly  not."  This  shows  that 
the  papers  of  Richmond  have  been  making  criminals  by  pro- 
tecting them  from  the  public  when  they  were  caught.  We  have 
determined  that  in  the  future  we  will  publish  names  of  those 
caught  in  gambling  joints  and  we  believe  that  this  announce- 
ment Vv^ill  keep  many  away. 


When  The  Idea  exposed  the  gambling  at  the  Tuxedo  on 
Broad  Street,  that  particular  kind  of  gambling  was  immedi- 
ately stopped  there. 


Did  you  ever  wonder  whj^  the  recognized  crooks  on  the 
council  are  all  on  valuable  committees,  while  the  clean  men  in 
in  thi;  council  have  to,  very  largely,  content  themselves  with 
minor  and  uninfluential  committee  appointments. 


We  wonder  how  many  times  the  city  has  purchased  that 
single  pile  of  cobble  stones  which  belonged  to  the  city. 

We  wonder  too  if  the  real  rascals  will  be  able  to  buy  off 
as  they  have  done  formerly  and  put  the  blame  on  the  scape 
ffoat. 


Stealing    from    Richmond    is    perfectly    legitimate    and 
proper !  Does  the  taxpayer  think  so  ? 


THE  SETTLING  BASIN. 

The  sooner  the  people  realize  the  fact  that  the  settling 
basin  is  a  mammoth  monument  to  the  utter  failure  of  council- 
manic  government,  the  better  off  thev  will  be.     Give  us  a  bus- 


14  The    Idea. 

iness  management  which  government  bj  commission  alone  can 
supply. 

Now  they  tell  us  we'll  have  to  pay  about  $6,000  on  that 
settling  basin  before  it  can  be  used.  The  probability  is  we'll 
sink  another  cool  million  before  Richmond  gets  anything  like 
pure  clear  water. 

The  whole  plant  is  a  bungle  from  start  to  finish  and  yet 
we  promote  the  man  in  charge  after  each  failure. 


CARNIVAL  OF  GRAFT 


Montreal  Loses  Millions  Through 
Operations  of  Gang 


Press  dispatches  from  Montreal  under  date  of  August  21st 
tell  of  organized  graft  in  that  city  and  show  that  the  disclos- 
ures were  made  ''at  the  instance  of  a  citizen's  committee 
which  raised  the  necessary  funds  and  employed  counsel  to 
conduct  their  case." 

Montreal,  August  21.— Testimony  showing  that  the  city 
of  Montreal  has  lost  millions  of  dollars  in  contract  work  and 
that  official  positions  of  all  kinds  have  been  bought  and  sold 
for  years  has  been  brought  out  by  inquiry  into  civic  affairs 
begun  by  the  provincial  government  several  weeks  ago. 

The  investigation  covered  the  administration  of  the  police, 
fire  and  public  works  departments,  each  of  which  is  controlled 
by  a  committee  of  Aldermen,  with  an  administrative  chief 
appointed  by  the  committee.  In  the  fire  and  police  depart- 
ments it  is  alleged  that  appointments  were  openly  bought  and 
sold  at  a  price  of  $200  each. 

In  the  public  works  department  sworn  testimony  showed 
that  t!ie  lowest  bidders  were  ignored  and  that  the  contracts 
were  awarded  to  higher  bidders,  who  had  a  "pull"  mth  cer- 
tain middlemen,  wlio  couduefcd  nogotiatinns  l:etwren  the  Al- 
dermen and  the  contractors. 


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Vol.  Ill  Sept.  4,  1909  No.  14 

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THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


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Ask  Their   Resignations 


Engineer  Boiling   and 

Justice  Crutchfield 


Some  Lessons  From  the  Grain  Graft  Farces. 


As  The  Idea  foretold  last  week,  before  the  disclosures, 
brought  out  by  the  trial  of  the  negTO  driver,  it  has  been  dis- 
covered that,  although  the  papers  at  first  tried  to  make  it 
appear  that  the  negro  alone  was  the  blame,  still  there  are 
others  higher  wp  who  are  much  more  guilty  than  the  poor 
negro  who  was  so  quickly  handled  as  a  scape-goat  to  cover 
up  an  investigatiou  into  the  heart  of  the  matter. 

The  facts  ai5e  these: 

Driver  Jas.  Robinson  carried  a  load  of  oats  and  rocks  to 
the  city  weighmaster,  and  after  having  the  load  weighed, 
duhiped  off  190  pounds  of  stone  and  delivered  the  rest  of  his 
load  to   the  citv  stables.     It  is  not  denied  that   in  this  wav 


2  The    I  dea. 

the  city. was  paying  for  190  pounds  of  oats  whicli  the  city 
never  got. 

The  City  Engineer,  after  making  the  discovery,  had  a 
talk  with  Mr.  Alvey,  the  contractor  who  furnished  the  oats 
to  the  city,  and  then  Mr.  Alvey,  after  a  talk  with  the  chief 
of  police,  and  on  being  advised  so  to  do  by  city  officials,  swore 
out  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  the  driver. 

At  this  point  the  City  Engineer  made  his  first  blunder. 
He  knew  the  city  was  paying  for  oats  it  did'  not  get. 

He  knew  that  Mr.  Alvey  was  getting  money  for  oats 
which  Mr.  Alvey  did  not  deliver.  He  knew  that  Alvey's 
driver  was  not  stealing  or  attempting  to  steal  any  oats  from 
the  city.  He  did  not  know  and  never  has  yet  discovered  any 
evidence  to  show  that  the  negro  driver  had  ever  stolen  any 
oats  from  either  the  city  or  Mr.  Alvey. 

He  only  knew  that  Alvey's  driver,  who  was,  at  the  time, 
the  agent  for  Mr.  Alvey,  had  loaded  190  pounds  of  stones 
with  fi  load  of  oats,  which  made  the  city  chargeable  with  190 
pounds  of  oats,  valued  at  some  $3.50,  which  $3.50  would  go 
to  no  other  than  Mr.  Alvey. 

It  then  became  his  duty,  however  disagreeable,  to  arrest 
Mr.  Alvey,  and  if  it  should  later  appear  that  it  was  only  an 
unconscious  defrauding  on  the  part  of  Alvey,  because  of 
Alvey's  driver  stealing  from  Alvey,  then  it  would  be  up  to 
Alvey  to  arrest  Alvey's  driver... 

Yet,  although  Engineer  Boiling  knew  that  his  department 
of  the  city  was  being  defrauded  by  Mr.  Alvey's  concern,  or  the 
agent  of  his  concern,  the  same  city  engineer  does  not  arrest 
any  one,  but  contents  himself  with  advising  Alvey  to  arrest 
his  daikey. 

The  City  Engineers'  department  was  robbed;  the  City 
Engineer  should  have  prosecuted  for  it. 

Mr.  Alvey  was  getting  the  money  for  the  oats.  Mr.  Alvey 
was  responsible  for  the  delivery  of  the  oats  to  the  city.  The 
oats  paid  for  were  not  delivered  to  the  city.  The  contra-citor 
Alvey  alone  was  responsible  to  the  city  for  this  failure. 

The  question  as  to  whether  it  was  Alvey's  fault  or  Alvey's 
drivers  fault,  was  another  matter. 


The    I dea.  3 

The  city  was  not  getting  delivered  the  goods  from  Mr. 
Alvey. 

If  there  had  been  evidence  that  the  driver  stole  oats  which 
liad  become  the  property  of  the  city,  then  Mr.  Boiling  might 
have  concerned  himself  abont  arresting  the  negro. 

If  it  had  developed  that  the  negi'o  stole  goods  from  Mr. 
Alvey  and  thus  was  the  means  of  preventing  Alvey  from  ful- 
filling his  contract,  then  the  City  Engineer  might  have  con- 
cerned himself  with  arresting  the  negro,  but  no  evidence  has 
yet  been  introduced  to  show  this  was  the  case,  and  the  city 
has  never  yet  had  any  official  dealing  with  the  driver.  It 
has  had  official  dealings  with  Mr.  Alvey  and  has  been  techni- 
cally defrauded  by  Alvey's  concern  (although  the  moral  blame 
had  not  been  placed  on  Mr.  Alvey),  and  Mr.  Alvey  was  the 
only  one  which  the  city  could  recognize  in  the  premises  as  re- 
sponsible and  hold  accountable  for  the  theft.  If  Mr.  Alvey 
could  show  that,  though  he  was  receiving  money  for  oats  he 
did  not  deliver,  he  was  still  not  guilty  of  consciously  de- 
frauding the  city,  he  could  thus  have  cleared  his  skirts,  but 
remember  that,  though  unfortunate  and  to  be  regretted  on 
Mr.  Alvey's  account,  still  the  City  Engineer  should  not  have 
concerned  himself  with  that. 

Alvey  alone  was  accountable  to  the  city  for  the  oat  deliv- 
ery, and  his  driver  was  accountable  to  him,  and  to  him  alone 
for  his  (the  drivers)  acts. 

Since  the  city  was  robbed,  the  City  Engineer  should  have 
prosecuted  the  offender,  instead  of  contenting  himself  with 
advising  the  benefitted  party  to  arrest  one  who  may  have  of- 
fended this  benefitted  party. 

Later,  when  the  negro  was  arrested,  and  no  evidence  ap- 
peared to  show  that  the  negro  stole  anything  whatever  (though 
he  may  have  stolen  from  Alvey,  certainly  he  did  not  steal 
from  the  city),  but  when  evidence  is  introduced  to  show  that 
Alvey  not  only  was  the  beneficiary  of  the  steal,  and  that  he 
Jiad  been  for  perhaps  three  years,  still  the  engineer  does  not 
proceed  against  Alvey,  but  the  city  brings  a  warrant,  utterly 
unwarranted,  against  the  negro  for  attempting  to  steal  from 
the  city,  and  although  at  the  trial  in  police  court,  no  evi- 
dence was  introduced  to  show  he  ever  attempted  to  steal  from 


4  The    I dea. 

the  city,  still  the  poor  darkey  is  rushed  off  to  jail  for  90' 
days,  and,  to  cap  the  climax,  after  both  police  department  and 
engineering  department  had  refused  to  arrest  the  apparent 
offender,  on  the  worst  kind  of  circumstantial  evidence  against 
him,  the  police  justice  Crutchfield,  although  earnestly  en- 
treated to  do  so  by  the  commonwealth's  attorney,  refused  to 
issue  a  warrant  against  the  only  man  whom  any  evidence  had 
been  introduced,  tending  to  show  had  ever  proffited  at  the 
expense  of  the  city.     JSTow  these  facts  are  self  evident. 

The  street  committee  and  the  engineer  and  the  police  de- 
partment knew  for  a  whole  week  that  the  driver  had  not  stoloi. 
from  the  city,  and  yet  not  a  single  one  of  these  officials  cared 
enough  for  the  city's  interest  to  attempt  to  arrci^t  the  offender- 
and  preferred  to  either  let  it  cover  itself  up  or  else  throw  all 
the  blame  for  inaction,  on  Justice  John  Cr.u'hfield. 

Crutchfield  should  be  asked  to  forfeit  Ins  office  for  refus-- 
ing  to  further  the  ends  of  justice,  his  sworn  duty,  when  called 
upon  to  act,  by  the  commonwealth's  attorney. 

Justice  John  let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag  when  he  stated  tO' 
the  attorney:  "It  was  the  duty  of  the  officers  to  swear  out 
a  warrant  in  the  first  jjlace,  against  Mr.  A^vey,  when  they 
found  out  these  things  a  week  ago.  Why  did  not  they  swear- 
out  the  warrant  ?" 

This  shows  that  it  was  the  duty  of  both  Boiling  and  the' 
police  to  warrant  Alvey  a  week  before,  and  yet  it  also  became- 
Crutchfield's  duty  to  do  the  same  on  recci^'ing  the  same  in- 
formation "given  under  oath,"  and  he  admitted  it  by  his 
statement.  It  seems  that  the  whole  shooting-match  was  in- 
some  unaccountable  way,  so  mixed  up  in  the  affair  that  not 
one  of  them  was  willing  to  do  his  duty  to  his  city ;  each  one 
of  them  sworn  officers  of  the  city. 

The  plan  was  evidently  to  satisfy  the  people  by  making 
the  negro  suffer  for  the  crime,  but  tlie  people  would  not  be 
satisfied,  The  Idea  had  so  turned  on  the  light  that  they 
saw  (he  game  and  put  up  such  a  warning  note  of  disapproval 
that  even  the  Tim-es-Dispatcli  felt  called  upon  to  make  some 
mild  remarks  about  the  guilt  hiiihcr  ii]),  and  indignation 
against  Justice  John  and  Engineer  Boiling,  for  their  defeat-^ 
ing  the  ends  of  justice  is  so  apparent  that  it  may  be  neces- 
sary, a?  it  slKtiihl  be  demanded,  that  both  of  them  resign. 


The    I dea.  "  5 

As  the  Times-Dispatch  says,  ^'Tho  police  department  lias 
repeatedly  complained  of  the  method's  of  Justice  Crutchfield's 
court,  and  the  turning  of  a  court  of  justice  into  a  place  of 
buffonery" "the  board  stating  that  the  men  were  fre- 
quently insulted  and  ridiculed  to  the  demoralization  of  the 
force. '^ 

We  fail  to  see  how  the  justice  could  convict  the  negro  of 
"attempting  to  steal,"  when  there  was  no  evidence  to  show 
such  a  state  of  affairs,  unless  the  darkies  statement  that  ho 
receivt:d  fifty  cents  sometimes  for  his  part,  was  taken  as  evi- 
dence of  his  stealing,  and  if  that  were  true,  by  the  same  evi- 
dence, another  party  was  guilty,  and  there  was  a  conspiracy, 
why  put  all  the  blame  on  one  part  of  the  conspiracy,  and  then, 
by  convicting  the  driver,  deprive  the  city  of  his  testimony  a? 
evidence  "because  he  had  confessed." 

Justice  John's  position  is  utterly  untenable,  and  he  knows 
it,  but  evidently  thought  that  this  matter  might  pass  by  as 
similar  matters  had  passed  by  in  the  past.  Big  rascals  in 
the  past  have  escaped  and  some  one  fellow  has  taken  the 
'blame. 

Will  the  citizens  of  Richmond  permit  the  authorities  to  let 
justice  miscarry  and  the  innocent  suffer  for  the  guilty? 

The  Idea  would  inquire  further,  why  Mr.  Boiling  wasted 
so  much  valuable  time  in  trying  to  get  Alvey  arrest  the  driver, 
while,  according  to  the  driver,  that  same  Mr.  Alvey  was  aiding 
him  in  "jumping  the  town,"  by  giving  him  two  or  three  dol- 
lars with  which  to  escape,  when  his  clear  duty  was  to  act 
himself. 

When  some  one  steals  from  the  city,  is  it  necessary  to 
-call  up  some  outsider  and  get  him  to  pay  for  a  warrant  be- 
fore anyone  is  arrested?  The  City  Engineer,  by  his  acts,  says 
so. 

The  Idea  does  not  believe  there  would  have  been  any 
further  attempt  to  find  the  guilty  party  if  The  Idea  had  not 
been  on  the  field  and  had  not,  through  its  editor,  shown  the 
course  it  would  likely  pursue  by  personally  inquiring  of  the 
pVJice  department  concerning  the  arrest  of  Alvey. 

There  is  evidently  a  concerted  attempt  to  keep  this  matter 
quiet,  and  this  attempt  is  so  apparent  that  cert  ain  citizens  are 
thinking — and    have   a    right    to   think,    that   there   may  be    a 


6  The    I  dea. 

great  big  reason  for  it,  because  there  is  somebody  else  to  be 
protected. 

It  looks  exceedingly  strange  that  this  kind  of  systematic 
stealing  could  be  going  on  for  so  long  without  any  one  finding 
out  about  it.  It  also  looks  exceedingly  strange  that  stealing 
had  gotten  so  bold  that  the  two  men  from  the  engineer's  office 
who  went  to  watch  on  this  occasion,  both  stated  that  they  saw 
the  cobble  stones  in  the  wagon  before  the  wagon  got  to  the 
scales.  Why  could  not  the  weigh-master  see  these  cobble 
stones  ? 

If  it  was  not  his  duty  to  see  what  he  was  weighing,  why 
should  any  weight  be  taken  at  all  ? 

Big  gTanite  stones  seen  from  a  distance,  by  two  men,  and 
yet  the  city  man  who  checked  the  weights  of  the  city  pur- 
chases, does  not  seem  to  have  ever  glanced  in  the  direction  of 
the  wagon ! 

There  is  one  thing  dead  sure,  and  that  is,  that  Engineer 
Boiling  has,  by  his  acts,  shown  his  unfitness  for  the  posi- 
tion of  city  engineer,  which  he  seejns  to  have  gotten  as  a 
reward  for  being  so  unfit  as  superintendent  of  water,  as  to 
permit  the  city  to  be  flim-flammed  in  the  flume  matter. 

The  council  has  given  the  citizens  Crutchfield  and  Boiling. 
Now  let  the  council  remedy  their  blunder  and  give  the  citizens 
capable  men. 


WHERE  DOES  IT  STOP? 


A  Letter  to  a  Judge  Brings  Reply  From  a  Whiskey 
Salesman  in  the  Office  of  a  Political  Boss. 


In  the  fall  of  1907,  the  people  of  Richmond  became  so 
thoroughly  disgusted  with  the  way  the  saloon  question  was 
handled  by  the  courts  here,  that  they  arose  in  their  power 
and  demanded  certain  improvements.  As  a  result,  an  ordi- 
nance was  gotten  through  the  Council  to  regulate  the  closing 
and  opening  hours  of  the  saloons,  and  "to  prescribe  the  num- 


The    I dea.  7 

ber  and  location  of  the  places  where  the  sale  of  ardent  s])irits 
may  be  licensed." 

Ab  a  result,  the  number  of  bars  in  the  city  was  reduced  to 
150,  and  a  rule  was  made  to  refuse  license  to  saloons  which 
were  located  on  corners  where  car  transfers  were  made.  In 
this  way  the  two  bars  on  Broad  and  Seventh  were  removed, 
but  a  license  was  granted  to  the  bar  of  Puccinelli  Bros.,  on 
the  northeast  corner  of  Main  and  Eighteenth,  on  condition  that 
they  move  off  the  corner.  Now,  be  it  known,  that  even  if 
the  people  had  never  demanded  it,  the  State  law  would  pre- 
clude the  issuing  of  a  license  on  such  a  corner,  because  it 
specifically  states  that  licenses  shall  be  granted  only  in  places 
"suitable  and  appropriate"  for  such  purposes. 

'Now,  many  men  and  women  of  the  city  testified  to  the 
horrible  conditions  which  these  dives  made  on  the  corners 
where  their  children  and  themselves  had  to  wait  for  cars.  The 
matter,  however,  was  apparently  settled  by  Judge  Witt's 
granting  this  license  on  the  condition  that  the  bar  move  from 
the  corner. 

The  license  was  granted  as  usual,  at  the  regular  time,  in 
the  spring  of  1908,  last  year,  and  the  bar  continued  to  do 
business.  It  soon  appeared,  however,  that  the  licensee  had 
no  intention  of  moving,  and  so  certain  citizens  desired  to 
know  why  the  court's  rule  had  not  been  obeyed;  and,  so  a 
very  prominent  man  who  had  an  office  in  one  of  the  sky-scrapers 
on  Main  street,  wrote  a  letter  to  Judge  Witt,  calling  his  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  his  condition  had  been  violated,  and 
asking  for  some  explanation. 

Then  transpired  .  the  happenings  which  should  interest 
every  citizen  of  Richmond.  ISTo  reply  was  received  from  the 
judge,  but  on  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Wirt  Taylor,  whiskey  sales- 
man with  headquarters  in  the  office  of  one  Clyde  Saunders, 
recognized  political,  boss  of  the  city,  made  it  convenient  to 
have  a  talk  with  the  gentleman  aforesaid,  in  reference  to  his 
inquiry  concerning  the  granting  of  the  whiskey  license,  and 
proceeded  to  protest  against  that  gentleman's  bringing  up  the 
matter,  on  the  ground  as  he  stated,  that  Puccinelli  Bros,  kept 
a  clean  and  decent  place,  and  allowed  "no  boot-blacks"  tc 
loaf  in  the  place,  and  the  same  whiskey  drummer  then  begged 
the   gentleman    in   question   to   go   down    and   call   on   the  bar 


'8  The    Idea. 

people  and  see  what  a  nice  place  they  ran,  and  assured  liim 
that  thej  would  treat  him  fine,  and  he  could  see  for  himself 
how  decent  a  bar  they  kept. 

ISTow,  let  us  state  that  it  makes  no  difference  how  decent 
and  nice  a  place  the  bar  in  question  was. 

The  condition  of  the  granting  was  not  that  they  should 
keep  a  nice  place;  if  it  were,  then  all  bars  would  be  put  out 
of  commission,  or  else  license  would  be  given  to  all  applicants 
depending  on  the  personal  desire  of  a  judge.  The  condition, 
however,  was  that  they  should  move.  They  did  not  move,  and 
the  judge  did  not  care  whether  they  moved  or  not,  and  an- 
other license  was  granted  to  the  same  bar,  which,  though  in 
the  most  disreputable  section  of  the  city,  still  makes  a  plea 
for  decency,  by  posting  a  sign  on  the  outside  wall,  "ISTo  boot- 
blacks allowed." 

A  councilman  was  recently  heard  to  remark  concerning 
this  bar,  that  it  was   "a   dirty  low  dive." 

!Now  we  would  inquire  what  connection  Wirt  Taylor, 
whiskey  salesman,  has  with  the  Hustings  Court  of  Richmond, 
that  matters  of  special  privileges  to  low  dives  should  be  re- 
ferred to  him? 

We  hesitate  to  follow  this  matter  to  its  logical  conclusion, 
because  we  do  not  like  to  believe  that  the  whole  fabric  of  city 
government  in  Richmond  is  corrupt. 

Information  has  repeatedly  come  to  The  Idea  that  gross 
wrongs  were  being  done  by  the  higher  city  courts,  and  we  have 
held  back  from  the  public  gaze,  these  facts,  because  we  were 
unwilling  to  believe  all  that  they  showed. 

We  will  not,  therefore,  make  at  this  time,  the  criticisms 
which  this  transaction  abundantly  justifies,  but  will  ask  the 
citizens  to  stop  and  think  on  the  relations  which  exist  between 
our  courts  and  the  law-breaking  element  of  the  community. 

Why  should  a  letter  to  a  judge  bring  an  answer  from  a 
whiskey  salesman  in  the  office  of  a  political  boss  ? 


When  The  Idea  started,  three  months  ago,  certain  citizens 
tried  to  make  it  appear  that  there  was  no  graft  here. 

Since  then,  the  public  conscience  has  awakened,  and  now 
in  one  week  the  daily  papers  are  forced  to  print  scandals  in 


The    Idea.  9 

six  grafting  cases:  Grain,  Markei-house,  Grading,  Kcbates, 
Paving  rock  and  Police  Court.  Oh,  yes  they'll  come  and  tell, 
but  onlv  after  The  Idea  has  made  'em  do  it  in  self  defence. 


Letters  To  The   Editor 


The  editor's  table  is  crowdt?d  with  letters,  unanswered,  for 
lack  of  opportunity,  from  those  who  could  give  us  informa- 
tion concerning  the  many  kinds  of  graft,  with  which  Rich- 
mond is  harrassed.  We  desire  to  thank  our  friends  for  their 
many  kindnesses  in  helping  in  the  work.  Do  not  think  we 
lack  vippreciation  because  we  do  not  reply.  We  hope  soon  to 
get  time  to  answer  all  our  correspondence. 

The  work  is  more  than  was  anticipated,  and  our  force  is 
not  equal  to  the  occasion. 

Meantime,  Thank  rou. 


A  CITIZENS  COMMITTEE  FOR 
RICHMOND 


Let  the  good  citizens  of  Tlichmoiid  organize  a  citizen's 
-committee  to  investigate  the  graft  conditions  here,  and  they 
will  find  a  system  of  well  equipped,  well  organized  graft  that 
would  do  credit  ?  to  a  city  ten  times  as  large. 

The  Idea  can  turn  on  the  light,  but  the  citizens  them- 
selves must  act  in  order  to  cleanse  the  city  of  the  vile  corrupt 
tion  which  it  is  harboring. 

The  time  is  ripe  for  action.     Evil  is  organized.     Are  you? 


GAS,  WATEE,  ELECTRICITY— WHAT'S    THE    COST. 

What  does  it  cost  the  City  of  Richmond  to  produce  a  foot 
of  gas  ? 


10  The    Idea. 

Wliat  does  it  cost  the  City  of  Richmond  to  pump  a  gallon 
of  water  ? 

What  will  it  cost  Richmond  to  produce  a  unit  of  eleo- 
tricity  ? 

Although  we  have  owned  our  own  gas  plant  for  years,  no 
one  has  any  idea  whether  it's  a  good  thing  or  not.  We  may 
be  going  in  debt  on  it.     Who  knows? 

Aiid  that  electric  plant.  We  are  going  it  blindfold.  No 
provision  has  ever  been  made  for  polls  or  wiring,  and  the 
city  is  just  now  trying  to  beautify  itself  by  cutting  out  polls ; 
whereas,  if  we  get  this  plant  working,  we'll  have  to  add  more 
polls  at  an  enormous  expense. 

And  water.  We've  sunk  millions  on  that  and  never  will 
have  any  clear  water  until  we  spend  millions  more.  The 
blunders  increase.  The  committee  is  just  finding  that  they 
will  have  to  have  connections  cut  between  the  several  basins 
to  let  out  muddy  water;  and  now  they  call  for  $20,000  more 
to  repair  the  basin  floor,  which  has  been  buckling,  and 
when  that  is  done,  we'll  find  we've  got- to  put  in  a  filtration 
system,  and  drink  alum  water  for  our  health. 

Then,  when  Richmond  is  bankrupt,  we'll  have  to  replace 
the  whole  rotten  cement  basins,  because  we've  committed  the 
matter  to  one  incompetent  to  work  it,  and  then  promoted  him 
for  his  failure. 


What  do  you  think  of  a  judge  who  will  express  an  opinion 
from  the  bench,  before  the  case  comes  into  court? 


A  certain  little  cheap  25-cent  a  year  weekly  whiskey 
sheet,  whose  editor-in-chief  admitted  that  his  paper  so  pleased 
the  whiskey  dealers  that  they  offered  to  buy  their  editorial 
columns  for  the  boosting  of  the  whiskey  cause,  has,  in  its 
eager  search  for  the  limelight,  and  the  consequent  gain,  re- 
cently made  a  vicious  and  lying  attact  on  the  editor  of  The 
Idea.  The  editorial  in  question  is  not  worthy  of  any  ex- 
tended comment.  But  since  some  who  do  not  know  the  facts 
may  have  seen  the  article,  we  will  simply  expose  one  lie  and 
state  that  the  article  is  made  up  of  like  ones.  The  editorial 
writer,  whoever  he  is,  and    he    is    evidently  ashamed  of  his 


The     Idea.  11 

name;,   for  he  hides  behind  the  statement  that  the   top-heavy 

little  affair  has  thirty  editors,  makes  the  following  statement: 

^'Mr.   Yoder   formerly   published   his   paper   in   Lynchburg 

(until  his  printer  there  refused  longer  to  handle  such  matter)" 

Wc  answer  by  showing  an  extract  from  a  letter  from  our 
printers  in  Lynchburg,  mailed  to  ns  after  we  came  to  Rich- 
mond, asking  to  let  them  continue  doing  our  printing: 

That  letter  says: 
"We  regret  that  you  do  not  see  your  way  clear  to  lot  ns 
continue  issuing  your  publication. 

"Let  us  figure  with  you  an;)"way,  and  we  believe  that  we 
can  get  together  on  a  mutually  satisfactory  basis." 

jSTow  let  all  those  who  believe  anything  this  little  paper 
says,  stand  on  their  heads.  Thank  you  for  youi  attention. 
ISText!  ' 


"They  that  take  the  sword  shall  die  by  the  sword." 

We  wonder  if  man  will  ever  realize  that  the  quickest  way 
to  kill  himself  is  to  go  gunning  for  his  enemies. 

The  man  who  fights  the  most  dies  the  quickest.  The 
nation  that  fights  the  most  die  the  quickest. 

Tiie  fightingest  empire  of  the  earth  died  young,  because 
of  its  violent  propensities.  The  people  that  has  maintained' 
its  individual  characteristics  and  lived  longest  as  a  peculiar 
and  strong  people,  has  resorted  to  war  less  than  any  other 
people. 

The  Jew,  as  an  individual,  has  controlled  himself  under 
oppression  better  than  any  other  individual,  and  his  is  today, 
the  strongest  race  in  the  world.  It  was  this  Jewish  race  that 
gave  us  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  preached  the  gospel  of  non- 
resistance  and  self  control.  It  was  the  wise  Jew  Soloman, 
who  said,  "He  that  ruleth  his  spirit  is  better  than  he  that 
taketh  a  city."  And  "It  is  the  glory  of  a  man  to  pass  over 
a  transgression." 

Wlien  a  man  is  so  little  a  man  as  to  lose  his  self-control 
and  fight,  even  though  he  beat  or  kill  his  opponent,  he  has 
sinned  first  against  himself;  and  in  the  second  place,  he  has 
not  accomplished  anything  for  himself.  He  has  hurt  himself 
— he   has   lost   himself — he's   no  lonorer   his   own   boss.      He's 


12  The    Idea. 

sold  out,  and  stranger  still,  lie  has  actually  helped  the  cause 
he  was  trying  to  hurt. 

History  of  States  and  of  individuals  shows  that  persecu- 
tion and  violence  hurts  the  persecutor  and  helps  the  perse- 
cuted. If  a  man  beats  another,  it  shows  perhaps,  that  he's 
physically  stronger  or  perhaps  he's  a  coward  to  take  an  un- 
manly advantage,  or,  perhaps,  both.  It  certainly  don't  remedy 
any  wrong  which  may  have  been  done. 

The  only  fights  which  accomplish  good  and  really  help 
humanity,  are  those  fought  with  the  weapons  of  truth.  "Ye 
shall  know  the  truth  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free." 

If  Richmond's  malefactors  desire  to  have  their  evil  doing 
rapidly  broken  up,  we  know  of  no  more  effective  method  than 
to  attempt  violence. 

If  they  are  wise,  they  will  keep  quiet  and  cease  resistance. 

We  do  not  expect  them  to  do  this,  because  they  are  not 
wise. 

If  they  were  wise  they  would  not  be  engaged  in  their 
crooked  work. 

They  are  otherwise,  and  they  will  resist  and  they  will  be 
destroyed  through  their  resistance. 


SPECIAL  NOTICE  TO  OUR  HEAD 
SERVANT 


AVo  are  not  fighting  you  Mr.  Richardson. 

We  are  simply  trying  to  get  you  to  do  what  you  said  you 
would  do.  You  promised  some  work  for  us.  We  hired  you 
and  are  paying  you  for  it. 

Wg  laid  down  the  specifications  in  printed  statutes,  and 
you  took  an  oath  binding  you  to  those  specifications.  Now 
you  tell  us  you  don't  think  we  know  what  we  want,  and  you 
will  use  your  own  judgment  in  the  matter,  although  we  did 
not,  when  we  hired  you,  do  it  with  the  provision  that  you  were 
to  act  as  you  thought  best.  If  we  had  we  would  not  have 
asked  you  to  swear  you  would  follow  our  orders  so  carefully 
compiled. 


The    I  dea.  13 

You  have  broken  the  contract,  and  we  now  require  that 
you  begin  to  read  our  orders  as  set  down  in  statute  and 
constitution,  and  act  accordingly.  Otherwise,  get  out  of  the 
way,  and  we'll  hire  another  whom  we  can  rely  on  to  do  our 
bidding;  who  does  not  know  more  than  we  do  as  to  what  we 
want  done.  We,  the  people,  are  the  sovereign  people;  you 
the  mayor,  are  our  public  servant. 

Get  over  that  fool  notion  that  in  Kichmond,  "the  servant 
is  greater  than  his  master." 


Do  you  wonder  where  your  two  million  and  a  half  of 
taxes  goes  when  you  find  the  city  is  paying  sixty-one  cents  for 
oats  while  others  are  paying  forty-nine  cents,  and  then,  in- 
stead of  getting  oats  you  find  the  city  gets  paving  rock,  Ria,d 
then  the  rock  is  not  even  delivered,  but  sold  to  the  city  again. 

The  secret  way  the  city  has  of  looking  into  these  matters 
will  insure  that  the  real  culprit  gets  away.  Postponement  is 
not  the  way  to  get  "speedy  trials,"  which  the  constitution  at- 
tempts to  provide  for. 


We  know  of  no  public  man  who  has  been  more  villified 
and  has  had  harsher  things  said  of  him  that  Theodore  Roose- 
velt regarded  by  many  as  the  greatest  President  America  has 
produced. 

The  reason  he  has  been  so  "cussed  out"  is  found  in  the 
fault  that  he  was  a  terror  to  the  evil  doers. 

When  a  man  is  slandered  and  villified  by  the  law-breakers, 
it's  a  sure  sign  he  is  doing  something  in  the  interests  of  his 
country. 

"We  love  him  for  the  enemies  he's  made." 

A  man's  greatness  is  measured  by -his  unpopularity  with 
evil  doers.  ,■ 

It  would  make  us  pause  if  the  good  people  of  the  commuii-'^, 
ity  wei'e  against  us,  even  if  we  thought  we  were  right.  \ 

It  encourages  us  on  to  greater  effort  to  know  that'  the  ras-    j 
cals  are  fighting  us,  for  this  is  a  proof  that  our  efforts  are 
accomplishing  good. 

When  The  Idea  finds  one  after  one,  the  forces  of  evil 
fighting  and  doing  their  best  to  ruin  this  piiblication,  it  lends 
new  vigor  to  the  fight  and  renews  The  Idea's  confidence  in 
the  ri2;hteousness  of  its  cause  and  encourages  the  belief  that 


14  The    Idea.  "  '■ 

the    work   is   really   seriously  wounding  the   cause   of  wrong 
doing. 

It  would  indeed  be  time  to  stop  publication,  if  The  Idea's 
efforts  w(  re  so  futile  as  not  even  to  arouse  the  rascals  to  fight 
back. 

It's  the  hit  dog  that  barks. 
\       The  Idea''s  flings  must  have  hit  some  very  vicious  dogs 
from  the  unearthly  racket  they  are  making. 


Catawba,  Eoanoke,  Co.,  Va.,  Aug.  27,  1909, 
Mr.  A.  A.  Yoder: 

Your  Idea  is  a  good  one  and  has  found  its  way  in  the 
great  Catawba  valley.  It  is  setting  a  good  example  for  the 
church  on  reform. 

It  is  such  a  warm  sheet  and  as  I  am  subject  to  cold  feet, 
I  will  use  it  in  place  of  a  hot  water  bag.  I  inclose  stamps  for 
subscription  to  begin  with  Saturday's  edition,  August  28th. 

R  L.  ;N'ash. 


Why  is  it  that  some  papers  are  always  fussiug  about  the 
church  in  politics  when  the  real  cause  for  95  per  cent,  of  our 
political  troubles  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  saloon  is  in  poli- 
tics and  has  its  voice  in  every  election  and  every  piece  of  leg- 
islation. The  Idea  believes  in  the  churches  getting  into  poli- 
tics and  getting  there  quick,  though  we  are  always  opposed 
to  any  union  of  church  and  State  as  such. 


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THE^IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  Sept.  11,  1909  No.  15 

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CRUTCHFIELD  '  POLLOCK 

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THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  SEPTEMBER  11,   1909  No.  15 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

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FOREWORD 


Concerning   The   Idea's   Methods 

Crooked  Government  and 

Good  Citizenship 


The  attention  of  The  Idea  has  been  frequently  called  to 
rumors  and  reports  of  blunders  and  errors  and  crookedness 
and  graft  concerning  which  it  would  gladly  publish  all  the 
facts.  Most  of  these  complaints  have  been  filed  for  reference 
when  time  is  afforded  to  look  into  the  merits  of  each  case, 
for  our  time  is  crowded  and  The  Idea  does  not  publish  any 
statement  based  on  rumor.  In  each  case  the  editor  gives  his- 
personal  attention  to  the  details  of  examining  into  all  cases 
which  The  Idea  deems  worthy  of  publication. 

Foi  this  reason,  whatever  The  Idea  publishes  can  be  relied 
on  as  accurate.  The  Idea  pays  no  reporters  to  work  up  sen- 
sational stuff'  and  rush  it  into  print.     If  our  object  were  sen- 


2  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

sationalism  our  coluiniis  could  be  filled  each  week  with  highly 
interesting  matter  pretending  to  expose  wrong  doing  which 
would  get  the  car  of  the  public  but  would  not  be  of  service 
in  eradicating  evil  because  it  would  not  of  necessity,  be  accur- 
ate enough  to  be  relied  upon  and  The  Idea  would  not  accom- 
plish much  more  than  the  daily  papers,  whose  unreliability  is 
proverbial. 

The  Idea  likewise  could  go  ahead  before  thoroughly  sift- 
ing its  information  and  before  thoroughly  posting  itself  with 
all  the  facts  and  strike  some  telling  blows,  but  the  plan  of  The 
Idea  is  to  try  to  get  all  the  facts  in  a  given  case  and  then 
strike  a  sledge  hammer  blow  that  will  carry  weight  and  ac- 
complish the  desired  end — the  cleansing  of  the  city  of  the 
evils  of  government  and  the  building  up  of  a  better  govern- 
ment. 

You  know  the  daily  papers  have  a  way  of  publishing  sensa- 
tional stuff,  based  on  rumor,  casting  reflections  on  public  men. 
Generally  these  rumors  are  based  on  facts  but  the  articles  are 
so,  written  that  the  wrong  impression  is  made  and  yet  no  one 
is  liable  for  the  damage  done  by  the  unprincipled  paper  for 
the  reason  that  the  damage  is  done  by  the  dirty  and  contemp- 
tible use  of  innuendo  and  suggestion  and  names  are  nsed  with 
snch  care  that  though  the  damage  is  done  the  publisher  does 
not  lay  himself  liable  to  damages. 

The  Idea  does  not  adopt  such  cowardly  tactics.  When 
The  Idea  goes  after  wrong  doers  it  is  willing  to  take  the  re- 
sponsibility of  its  charges  by  straightforwardness  of  statement 
and  by  calling  the  name  of  the  party  responsible. 

You  know  things  do  not  do  wrong.  When  a  moral  wrong 
has  been  done  some  individual  person  is  responsible.  When 
The  Idea  wants  to  expose  a  wrong  done,  its  first  concern  is — • 
what  person  did  the  wrong. 

Our  friends  frequently  suggest  to  us  that  we  be  less  per- 
sonal and  we  have  to  reply  that  The  Idea  is  after  the  persons 
who  do  the  wrong  and  that  this  method  of  fixing  the  respon- 
sibility on  the  person  is  the  only  method  which  can  eradicate 
the  wrong. 

Three  big  papers  have  existed  for  years  in  Kichmond  and 
contented  themselves  with  now  and  then  impersonally  stating 


T  he     I  dea.  JJ 

that  wroiig-s  existed  and  as  a  result  g'uilty  [xm-sohs  have  i>i'<nvii 
fat  through  the  corrupting  of  the  city  and  evils  have  increased 
beyond  measure  until  it  has  now  become  exceedingly  danger- 
ous to  even  .mention  the  big  crooks'  names. 

The  daily  papers  here  had  a  glorious  oi)portunity  six 
years  ago  to  turn  on  the  light  and  purify  Richmond  of  its 
band  of  grafters  and  boodlers  when  the  most  notorious  of  them 
confessed  their  crimes  only  to  be  apologized  for  by  these  same 
newspapers. 

And  what  is  the  result  ?  The  dirty  work  has  increased 
until  to-day  Richmond  is  one  of  the  worst  managed  cities  for 
its  size  on  the  map. 

We  wonder  what  the  founders  of  the  city  would  say  if  they 
could  see  how  Richmond  has  fallen  as  a  city  from  its  high 
ideals. 

What  would  ancient  Virginians  say  of  the  way  intellectual 
well-educated,  well-churched,  wealthy  Richmond  has  neglected 
the  managing  of  its  governmental  affairs. 

Though  the  jjapers  are  to  blame  still  when  the  light  has 
been  turned  on  the  duty  of  righting  wrongs  is  that  of  the  citi- 
zens and  the  citizens  will  have  to  organize  for  service  if  they 
ever  get  rid  of  the  rascals  that  rule  the  city.  The  weapon  to 
be  used  to  fight  rascals  is  the  ballot  and  it  behooves  the  good 
people  of  Richmond  to  see  to  their  franchises,  pay  their  capi- 
tation taxes  in  time  to  vote  and  put  in  office  clean  men.  Rich- 
mond can  easily  right  almost  all  her  wrongs  at  one  election 
if  her  so-called  better  classes  would  look  after  the  interests 
of  the  city  one  half  as  well  as  the  crooks  look  after  corrupt- 
ing the  city. 


Have  you  noticed  tliat  Mayor  Richardson  is  attending  po- 
lice court  recently  ?  He  was  not  seen  there  formerly.  We  have 
noticed  him  there  several  times  recently.  And  did  you  ever 
hear  of  the  assistant  city  attorney  being  in  the  police  court 
to  assist  the  prosecution  on  a  charge  of  stealing  $3.50  as  was 
the  case  recently.  They  are  getting  wise.  They  are  taking  no- 
tice and  if  The  Idea  were  snuffed  out  to-day  the  Editor  would 
feel  that  it  had  accomplished  a  worthy  work. 


The    Idea. 

Crutchfield  or  Pollock 


Where's  the  Trouble? 


On  September  the  1st  the  Times-Dispatch  had  an  article- 
entitled  in  large  prominent  capitals,  "Criitchfield  Blocks  with 
Pollock's  Help,"  and  every  one  knows  that  if  both  parties  had: 
not  been  guilty  the  conservative,  fearful  Times-Dispatch  would 
never  have  bucked  up  against  them  and  made  the  statement, 
for  both  are  such  prominent  politicians. 

Thr3  article  showed  that  a  certain  negro,  Harris  by  name,, 
had  "squatted"  on  a  stall  in  the  city  market  and  refused  to 
pay  for  the  same  and  when  he  was  summoned  into  court  he 
did  not  appear  but  Mr,  Gr.  K.  Pollock  appeared  for  him  and 
..a  rule  was  issued  for  the  negro  on  July  9th.  Another  rule  was 
©rd'ered  on  August  27th,  and  the  negro,  it  now  appears,  was 
not  served  with  either  rule,  but  continued  to  occupy  the  stall 
in  utter  defiance  of  the  market  clerk,  apparently  for  no  other- 
reason  than  that  he  stood  in  with  somebody.  JSTow  it  is  very 
significant  that  Mr.  Gilbert  Pollock  was  Harris'  counsel  and 
it  is  also  very  significant  that  Pollock  did  appear  and  the  negro  ■ 
did.  no^;.  ISTow  is  there  anyone  who  thinks  that  a  negro  would 
refuse  to  answer  a  summons  to  the  police  court  if  he  did  not 
know  that  his  counsel  could  protect  him  in  ignoring  that  sum- 
mons '''  ISTow  Gilbert  Pollock  knew  his  business  and  as  a  result 
no  rule  ever  was  issued  to  get  Harris  into  court.  And  you 
want  to  know  wdio  is  to  blame  ?  Well,  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
Crutchfield  did  not  care  to  have  the  negro  arrested  when  Pol- 
lock appeared  for  him  for  he  did  not  even  fix  the  blame  for  the 
failure  to  issue  the  rule  and  did  not  see  to  it  that  his  rule  was 
obeyed. 

We  would  enquire  whether  it  is  customary  for  Justice 
John  to  issue  a  rule  and  then  let  the  matter  drop.  This  charge 
is  often  made  and  we  believe  it  to  be  true  that  when  the  in- 
fluence is  strong  enough  the  offender  can  get  free  by  employing 


The    I dea.  5 

the  right  lawyer  and  going  through  the  mere  form  of  bailing 
or  bonding  or  rnling  and  then  the  whole  matter  is  hushed  up. 
Two  instances  of  such  procedure  have  come  to  light  in  the  last 
few  days.  Griffin's  bond  was  not  required.  Harris'  rule  was 
never  issued.  Some  sweet  day  the  citizens  will  see  how 
crooked  this  whole  department  of  justice  is. 

Did  you  ever  wonder  why  the  crooks  always  employ  Pol- 
lock? When  a  gambler  or  a  dive  keeper  or  a  barkeeper  or  a 
pickpocket  gets  into  trouble  it's  always  clear  sailing  because 
Pollock  defends  about  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  them. 

Pollock,  the  councilman  and  maker  of  city  laws,  makes 
his  living  by  protecting  the  law  breakers  against  these  city 
laws. 

If  the  writer  of  these  lines  were  a  crook  he'd  get  Pollock  to 
■defend  him  too  when  he  got  into  trouble  for  somehow  or  other 
his  client's  don't  have  to  suffer  like  other  men's  clients  and  the 
reason  is  found  in  the  fact  brought  out  in  an  early  number  of 
The  Idea  that  Pollock's  influence  is  great  in  police  court  and 
with  the  police  force. 

Will  you  vote  for  Pollock  at  the  next  election  ? 


We  wonder  why  Justice  John  fined  a  plumber  $100  for 
stealii'.g  gas  from  the  city  but  gave  a  driver  ninety  days  on  a 
little  charge,  unproven  at  that,  of  simply  attempting  to  steal 
from  the  city.  Did  he  make  the  difference  because  the  plumber 
was  white  and  the  driver  was  colored  or  did  he  make  the  dif- 
ference to  cover  a  bigger  crime  ? 


BOILING'S  BLUNDERS 


Extravagance  in  Hauling  and  Paving 


In  the  past  weeks  the  attention  of  The  Idea  has  frequently 
been  called  to  blunders  of  the  engineering  department  in  the 
nature   of  bad   grading,   extravagance   in  the    management   of 


6  The    Idea. 

paving  work  and  general  laxity  in  running  the  various  works 
carried  on  by  the  city,  both  in  planning  and  executing  and 
also  in  neglecting  the  necessary  overseeing  of  the  city's  affairs, 

Opportunity  has  not  yet  been  afforded  to  carelully  verify 
these  various  reports  and  though  they  have  come  to  us  on  good 
authority.  The  Idea  has  waited  for  more  carefully  completed 
details  before  publishing. 

Recently  in  the  pursuit  of  other  work  however  The  Idea 
has  run  upon  two  blunders  worthy  of  mention  in  its  columns. 

Just  about  two  weeks  ago  the  engineoi-iiig  dep;",rtinent  ])laced 
granire  paving  blocks  in  the  alley  extending  from  13th  to  14th 
Streets  between  Main  and  Franklin. 

This  is  a  rather  wide  and  long  alley  and  the  work  was 
done  at  considerable  expense. 

Within  less  than  a  week  after  the  work  was  completed  an- 
other force  of  workmen  was  seen  in  the  alley  tearing  up  the 
newly  placed  paving  and  putting  in  gas  piping.  Now  this 
was  not  only  a  big  blunder  because  it  made  it  necessary  for 
the  city  to  pay  for  paving  twice  within  a  few  days  on  the  same 
spot,  but  because  the  patch  work  resulting  practically  ruins 
that  section  of  the  paving,  and  after  paying  for  the  work  twice 
the  city  has  a  bum  job  on  its  hands  that  will  hasten  the  neces- 
sity of  renewing  the  whole  work. 

The  ^possibility  is  that  next  week  the  water  department  will 
want  to  lay  pipes  in  this  alley  and  tear  it  all  up  again.  And 
the  week  following  some  other  department  will  want  to  do  the 
same  thing  again. 

As  a  prominent  business  man  of  that  neighborhood  re- 
marked, why  can't  the  city  engineer  who  has  general  supervi- 
sion of  the  sj;reets,  see  that  the  various  departments  work  to- 
gether and  have  the  work  of  all  the  departments  so  co-ordin- 
ated that  the  same  work  will  not  have  to  be  done  over  by  two 
or  three  different  departments  of  the  same  government,  and  as 
a  result  leave  the  whole  job  a  botch. 

The  city  of  Richmond  wastes  thousands  and  thousands  of 
dollars  each  year  by  just  this  method  of  duplicating  its  work. 
The  Idea  would  not  deem  this  worthy  of  writing  up  if  it  were 
not  foi  the  fact  that  this  is  no  isolated  case  but  is  a  fair  sample 
of  what  is  going  on  all  the  time  all  over  Richmond  and  shows 
extravagant  management  and  lack  of  head  work  and  the  tax- 


The    Idea.  7 

payers  of  Richmond  as  a  result  loose  tens  of  thonsands  of  dol 
lars  in  this  way  alone. 

Everyone  who  has  carefully  looked  intd  hnsiness  failures 
know^s  that  it  is  the  continuous  drain  of  minor  extravagances 
that  wrecks  business  much  more  than  larijje  lump  losses.  If 
Richmond  could  cut  out  all  of  these  little  blunders  it  would 
perhaps  not  miss  the  loss  of  a  few  hundred  thousand  dollars 
on  a  rotten  settling;  basin  and  iiume  now  and  then. 

Another  case  of  extravagance  and  lack  of  head  work  and 
business  was  recently  called  to  The  Idea's  attention  by  a  young 
lady  stenographer.  She  noticed  that  for  many  days,  p8rha])s 
three  weeks,  carts  were  hauling  dirt  and  dumping  it  on  the  pav- 
ing on  Franklin  Street  between  Eighth  and  Ninth  Streets, 
while  city  hands  were  at  the  same  time  busily  engaged  in 
shovelling  the  same  dirt  up  again  and  placing  it  in  city  carts 
and  hauling  it  away.  The  young  lady  suggested  that  the 
city  was  doing  this  to  dry  the  dirt  out  before  using  it,  but  as 
this  was  evidently  not  the  case  The  Idea  looked  into  the  mat- 
ter and  found  that  a  contractor  was  excavating  at  the  corner 
of  Seventh  and  Franklin  and  placing  the  dirt  in  the  city 
streets  and  the  city  was  picking  it  up  and  carrying  it  away. 
ISTow  the  point  to  be  made  is  this,  that  there  was  a  large 
amount  of  money  unnecessarily  w^asted  in  paying  for  the  labor 
of  dumping  this  dirt  and  reshovelling  it  back  into  the  carts. 
It  would  have  been  such  an  easy  matter  for  the  engineering 
department  to  have  made  some  arrangement  with  the  contractor 
who  was  using  the  city  street  as  a  dumping  ground,  to  save 
this  unnecessary  expense  of  perhaps  hundreds  of  dollars  for 
doing  absolutely  unnecessary  work. 

The  blunder  was  such  a  foolish  and  absurd  one  that  the 
attention  of  a  young  woman,  at  the  courting  age  at  that,  w^as 
forcibly  called  to  it.  And  young  women  are  not  supposed  to 
be  good  business  men  nor  are  they  supposed  to  knoW'  anything 
about  city  government. 

The  city  engineer,  Mr.  Boiling,  had  charge  of  this  work. 

BOLLIXG'S    BIG    BLUNDERS— THREE     COST    THE 
TAXPAYERS  $81,000. 
Several  years  ago  Mr.  T.  M.  Landers,  then  a  contracting 
plumber,    sued  Mr.   Boiling,   the  present  city  engineer,   then 


'8  The    Idea. 

superintendent  of  the  water  department,  for  about  $20,000 
damages  because  Mr.  Boiling  had  practically  confiscated  hi? 
business  by  refusing  to  gTant  him  a  plumber's  license.  It 
appears  that  Mr.  Boiling  charged  that  Mr.  Landers  was  using 
iron  pipe  in  part  of  the  plumbing  of  a  house  in  the  suburbs 
contrary  to  the  rule  of  the  department  in  charge.  It  is  also 
stated  that  Mr.  Boiling  had  permitted  iron  piping  in  the  city 
hall  and  other  large  buildings  but  when  Mr.  Landers  used 
it  he  took  away  his  license  and  it  is  even  stated,  on  what  we 
consider  excellent  authority,  that  Mr.  Boiling  even  refused  to 
let  Mr.  Landers  work  as  a  journeyman  plumber  for  another 
concern. 

The  matter  came  up  so  long  ago  that  it  is  hard  to  verify 
details,  but  we  are  sure  of  the  main  facts  in  the  case. 

It  is  certain  that  Mr.  Landers  entered  suit  and  was  awarded 
a  verdict.  The  damages  assessed  according  to  the  best  informa- 
tion now  obtainable  by  us;  was  $9,000,  according  to  others 
it  was  $20,000.  At  any  rate  Mr.  Landers  was  vindicated  and 
Mr.  Boiling  was  to  pay  $9,000,  more  or  less. 

But  what  does  the  city  council  do?  The  city  council  has 
a  meeting  and  votes  away  the  $9,000  (more  or  less)  of  the 
people's  money  to  pay  for  Mr.  Boiling's  blunder. 

The  city  council  should  have  gotten  rid  of  Mr.  Boiling  at 
this  time  for  incompetency  but  instead  it  soaked  the  taxpayer. 
Time  draws  on  and  Mr.  Boiling  is  still  superintendent  of 
water  and  he  draws  the  plans  for  a  big  settling  basin  and  flume. 
Contracts  are  awarded  and  the  work  goes  ahead  under  the 
■direct  supervision  of  Mr.  Boiling.  The  flume  is  to  cost  some 
$56,000  and  after  paying  out  $50,000,  the  water  committee 
appears  before  the  council  and  recommends  the  paying  of  the 
balance,  $6,000,  to  the  contractors,  and  Mr.  Mills,  chairman 
of  this  water  committee  (get  the  idea!)  makes  a  plea  for  the 
final  payment  before  the  job  is  tested. 

At  this  point  the  council  wakes  up  and  refuses  to  pay 
the  balance  and  on  testing  the  flume  the  whole  affair  collapses 
and  it  is  found  that  the  city  has  been  faked  under  the  eye  of 
Mr.  Boiling  out  of  a  $56,000  flume  and  in  the  investigation 
it  appears  that  Mr.  Boiling  is  utterly  incompetent  and  four 


The    Idea.  9 

'Out  of  five  of  tlje  investigating-  committee  recommend  liis  dis- 
missal. 

The  council,  however,  again  becoming  very  liberal  with 
the  taxpayers'  affairs,  refuses  to  dismiss  Mr.  Boiling  and  if  you 
look  to  see  why  you'll  find  that  the  same  ring  crowd  that  al- 
ways runs  together,  led  by  Mills  and  Pollock,  voted  to  retain 
him  and  these  fellows  cracked  the  ring  whip  and  the  underlings 
■obeyed  and  then  what  do  we  find.  We  find  the  same  Mr. 
Boiling  promoted  to  be  city  engineer  and  the  council  again 
votes  to  spend  some  $56,000  more  for  another  flume,  al- 
though the  contracting  firm  of  I.  J.  Smith  &  Co.  oft'ered  to 
do  the  work  for  some  $44,000,  thus  throwing  away  $12,000 
more. 

Now  this  same  water  committee  bobs  up  again  and  tells  us 
that  the  heat  of  the  sun  has  caused  the  cement  floor  of  the 
settling  basin,  designed  and  supervised  by  Mr.  Boiling,  to 
buckle.  Think  of  it  a  minute.  Did.  you  ever  see  a  piece  of 
sidewalk  months  after  construction  buckling  and  cracking  and 
rotting  as  a  result  of  the  heat  of  the  sun  ?  That's  baby  talk. 
That  rotten  basin  was  laid  with  a  foundation  of  gi-aft  and  in- 
competency and  the  incompetent  plotter  and  builder  of  it 
should  be  held  to  account  for  the  worthless  job. 

The  latest  amount  that  this  fake  is  estimated  to  cost  the 
city  is  $20,000. 

And  that's  not  all.  Mr.  Boiling  has  recently  made  another 
big  blunder  over  towards  Fairview  Heights.  Here  the  city 
has  had  to  pay  out  about  $1,000  to  fill  up  what  was  graded 
in  error  and  the  original  error  in  grading  of  course  cost 
more  than  $1,000  of  unnecessary  expense.  This  means  at  least 
$2,000  of  expense  on  this  little  job  alone  which  the  city  lost 
through  blunders  of  Mr.  Boiling  and  yet  our  incompetent 
council  retains  our  incompetent  city  engineer. 

N^ow  count  the  cost,  all  chargeable  to  Mr.  Boiling's  in- 
com])etency. 

Suit,    $  9,000.00 

Flume,    50,000.00 

Basin, 20,000.00 

Grading 2,000.00 

Total, $81,000.00 


10  The    Idea. 

And  that  don't  begin  to  state  the  total  losses  to  the  city 
by  Mr.  Boiling  s  blunders.  The  city  council  gave  us  Mr. 
Boiling,  and  the  crooked  Democratic  committee,  by  crooked  elec- 
tion, gave  us  a  rotten  council  and  the  trouble  at  the  bottom 
lies  in  the  voter  who  don't  care  enough  about  his  city  to  vote 
carefully  like  a  man  and  keep  such  crooked  committees  out  of 
power. 

The  remedy  is  to  be  found  first  in  arousing  and  getting 
organized.  Unless  the  citizens  of  Richmond  get  busy  and  for- 
mulate a  Law  and  Order  League  or  a  Citizens'  Committee 
which  will  attempt  to  see  that  the  laws  are  enforced  and  clean 
men  nominated  for  and  elected  to  office,  we'll  have  thousands 
and  thousands  of  dollars  annually  wasted  and  you  and  I  will 
pay  the  bill. 


Did  you  know  that  when  it  comes  to  a  show  down  in  the 
city  council  the  ring  crowd,  can  always  show  a  majority. 
That's  why  you  have  men  like  McCarthy  on  the  police  board. 
There  is  a  ring  crowd  in  the  majority  on  this  outlandish  po- 
lice board  too.  You  see  when  the  council  can  be  dominated  by 
the  crooks  of  course  they  can  put  their  men  in  the  police 
board  and  when  you  have  a  police  board  run  by  grafters  you'll 
have  just  the  crooked  work  that  has  come  to  light  recently  on 
17th  Street,  dive  keepers  protected  by  the  police  department 
until  The  Idea  makes  the  department  get  busy  and  make  a  few 
arrests. 

Wo  learn  that  Justice  John  says  that  he  is  having  the 
busiest  time  he  has  ever  had  in  his  history  and  the  reason  i-s 
simi)k'.  The  police  de|)artment  is  beginning  to  find  that  it 
will  be  held  to  account  for  the  violation  of  the  law. 


A  FAMILY  AFFAIR. 


Did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  nearly  everybody  connected 
with  or  employed  by  the  city  of  Richmond  is  kin  to  some- 
body else  in  the  city  government  ? 


Get  back  numbers  of  The  Idea  at  The  Idea  office,  904 
Capitol  Street. 


T  he    I  dea.  11 

WATCH  US  GROW 


CIRCULATION  7,000 


Four  weeks  ago  we  printed  4,500  Ideas. 

TLree  weeks  ago  we  printed  5,000  Ideas. 

Two  weeks  ago  we  printed  6,000  Ideas. 

One  week  ago  we  printed  6,500  Ideas. 

Tbey  were  put  on  sale  last  week  on  Friday  afternoon.  On 
Saturday  we  had  sold  out  and  had  to  send  a  man  out  to  try 
to  pick  up  a  few  from  newsdealers  to  try  to  supply  the  de- 
mand at  our  office.       This  week  we  print  7,000  copies. 

We  expect  very  soon  to  be  able  to  put  on  extra  pages  and 
even  to  double  the  text  matter  and  give  you  a  regular  ten- 
cent  magazine  for  five  cents. 

Watch  The  Idea  grow. 


TO  ADVEIiTISFKS. 

Our  circulation  is  so  rapidly  increasing  that  we'll  have  to 
put  the  price  of  advertising  up  very  soon.  Better  write  us 
quick  fVir  s])ace  if  you  want  to  get   in  on  the  ground  floor. 


IS  THERE  BRIBERY? 


How  About  it,  Mr.  Mills 


Two  weeks  ago  The  Idka  had  an  editorial  on  the  rebate 
matter  of  JVIr.  Morgan  Mill's  committee.  At  that  time  The 
Idea  said:  "Let  the  conmiittee  produce  this  rebate  letter  and 
place  it  bffore  the  public.     It's  the  public's  property.'' 

It  now  cjHies  to  The  Idea  on  excellent  anthoritv  that  the 


12  The    I  dea. 

reason  this  matter  was  not  made  public  as  called  on  by  The 
Idea  to  do  was  because  this  letter  was  a  plain,  outright  bribe. 
The  circumstances  of  the  case  also  bear  this  out  for  it  is  stated 
that  the  bidding  concern  had  no  record  of  the  matter  and  was 
anxious  to  get  out  of  the  agreement  made  by  the  agent. 

ISTow  if  Mr.  Mill's  committee,  a  servant  committee  of  the 
people  of  Richmond,  were  not  guilty  of  accepting  this  bribe 
offered  to  them  they  can  easily  clear  their  skirts  of  the  sus- 
picion which  at  present  the  people  of  Richmond  have  a  right 
to  hold  against  them  by  making  all  the  facts  in  the  case  pub- 
lic and  by  showing  this  letter  to  the  public.  Mr.  Mills  had 
an  excellent  opportunity  to  right  his  committee  before  the 
people  when  he  rushed  into  print  in  a  recent  newspaper  article 
soon  after  The  Idea  appeared  but  we  notice  he  was  careful 
not  to  furnish  a  copy  of  that  letter. 

Wo  now  call  on  him  a  second  time  to  show  the  letter 
The  citizens  will  eagerly  await  his  reply. 

How  about  it  Mr.   Mills? 

y' 

You  don't  have  to  listen  very  closely  to  hear  Idea  echoes 
in  the  daily  papers  of  Richmond.  Sit  down  and  write  them 
a  letter  thanking  them  for  it.  They'll  appreciate  it.  And 
maybe  after  a  while  they'll  get  real  busy  and  help  put  the 
rascals  out.  Just  let  them  know  it's  popular  and  then  watch 
'em  tumble. 


Rich  parents  arc  an  awful  handicap  to  youth — Huhbard. 


We  arc  now  working  on  the  gambling  cases  and  will  soon 
issue  a  broadside  on  that  question.  We'll  show  how  our  ser- 
vants employed  by  us  to  protect  us  against  them  are  protect- 
in2,'  tliera  aii'aiiist  out  laws. 


Don't  think  The  Idea  is  not  going  to  stick.  It  is  not  the 
quitting  kind  and  then  it  is  built  on  a  solid  foundation. 

If  we  were  just  simply  kicking  to  grind  our  own  axe  it 
would  be  a  different  matter  but  we  have  no  animosities  and 
are  fighting  for  broad  principles. 

We  have  enough  matter  on  hand  to  keep  us  going  for  a  year 


The    Idea.  13 

without  hunting  uc^w  niateriial.  Our  trouble  is  not  in  finding 
material  to  till  np  Tiik  Idea  but  in  knowing  what  to  cut  out 
to  keep  from  running  oyer. 

If  The  Idea  could  live  in  Lynchbnrg,  as  it  was  doilig  until 
it  came  here,  on  a  circulation  of  never  more  than  3,200,  once 
a  month,  we  certainly  can  live  on  a  sale  of  6,000  as  we  are 
selling  now,  each  week.  And  remember  our  sales  are  gradually 
increasing  and  we  expect  a  naverage  circulation  of,  to  make 
a  modest  estimate,  at  least  8,000  in  the  city  of  Richmond 
and  several  thousand  more  throughout  the  State. 

We  agree  with  those  who  have  little  faith  in  the  average 
magazine  started  in  Richmond.  Richmond  is  called  the  burial 
ground  of  magazines  because  of  the  fact  that  they  do  not  thrive 
here  and  they  nearly  always  die. 

Xow  the  reason  is  this :  The  magazines  started  in  Rich- 
mond have  always  been  literary  magazines  and  have  not  ap- 
pealed to  anyone  but  the  literary  classes  and  then  not  for 
what  they  were  but  simply  for  sentiment,  because  the  people 
hoped  they  would  grow  into  some  great  Southern  magazine, 

l^^otiee  this  big  fact,  however,  that  The  Idea  is  published 
because  of  a  demand  for  a  fearless  and  outspoken  paper  against 
the  evils  of  the  hour. 

This  demand  comes  from  everywhere — the  mechanic,  the 
doctor,  the  lawyer,  the  preacher,  the  teacher,  the  farmer,  poor 
and  rich,  all  alike  not  only  desire  better  conditions  but  recog- 
nize in  The  Idea,  the  fighting  organ  of  those  who  work  and 
hope  for  better  things. 

It  will  be  surprising  for  some  to  know  how  the  working- 
man,  the  wage-earner  and  the  good  women  of  Richmond  are 
rallying  to  our  support  as  is  evinced  by  the  large  number  of 
letters  received  from  them. 

W'j  are  fighting  the  fight  of  the  average  man  against  the 
priviledged  man,  the  people  against  the  bosses. 

Our  sales  on  Church  Hill  and  in  Fulton,  where  so  many 
of  the  wage-earners  live,  are  especially  rapid  in  their  increase. 
These  are  the  people  that  feel  most  the  oppression  of  the 
priviledged  few  and  the  burden  of  taxation  brought  about  by 
wasteful  extravagance  of  city  funds  and  loose  and  lax  methods 
of  management  and  crookedness  of  officials  and  graft  in  the 


14  The    Idea. 

building  of  municipal  works.  The  wa«>-e-earuer  bears  the  bur- 
den and  he  is  beginning  to  know  who  is  responsible  for  the 
fact  that  he  does  not  get  a  square  deal. 


A  DISGRACE. 

Is  it  a  disgrace  to  fight  crime  ? 

Is  it  a  disgrace  to  expose  crookedness  in  our  courts  ? 

Is  it  a  disgrace  to  tell  the  people  that  our  servants,  the 
Judges  of  our  courts,  are  in  league  with  the  gentlemanly  crim- 
inal to  protect  crime? 

Is  it  a  disgrace  to  have  judges  that  can  bo  and  are  ap- 
proached by  crooked  politicians  to  get  their  friends  off  for 
offences  against  the  law  ? 

Is  it  a  disgrace  to  have  a  weakling  in  office  of  great  re- 
sponsibility ? 

Is  it  a  disgrace  to  allow  ward  heelers  and  members  of 
city  councils  working  daily  in  our  police  and  criminal  courts 
shielding  criminals  ? 


If  you  would  spend  an  hour  in,  recreation,  you  cannot 
do  better  than  drop  in  at  the  Theato,  Broad  &  Fifth  Sts., 
where  you  will  find  attractive  moving  pictures,  with  plenty 
of  clean  fun  in  skits  and  sketches  by  vaudeville  performers. 
See  their  advertisement  in  this  number.  Take  the  children 
along. 

SOCIAL  LIFE  AND  HOME  DUTIES 

are  often  a  hindrance  to  your  daughter's  education.  She 
needs  to  be  taken  out  of  her  neighborhood  life  until  she  is 
more  mature  and  not  so  easily  distracted  from  her  work  by 
her  companions  and  social  surroundings.      Send  her  to  the 

BLACKSTONE  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS 

where  she  will  receive  "Thorough  instruction  under  posi- 
tively Christian  influences  at  the  lowest  possible  cost." 

Practical  and  Theoretical  Pedagogy  Courses  for  training 
of  teachers. 

JH^  f^r\  pays  all  charges  for  the  year,  including  the  ta- 
tj)  1  iDv/  hie  board,  room,  lights,  steam  heat,  laundry, 
medical  attention,  physical  culture,  and  tuition  in  all  sub- 
jects except  music  and  elocution.  Apply  for  catalogue  to 
REV.  JAMES  CANNON,  Jr.,  M.  A.,  Blaokstone,  Va. 


ENGLISH  DEPARTMENT 


BUSINESS  COLLEGE. 

Day  and  Night  Sessions.     Opens  Monday,  September  20th. 

WHAT  WE  TEACH! 

In  this  department,  we  teach  Grammar,  Spelling,  Arith- 
metic, Reading,  Penmanship,  Correspondence,  Geography, 
History  and  the  higher  branches,  if  desired. 

$4  Per  Month  Day  School,  $3  Night  School.    Term  and  Half  Term 

Rates  Cheaper. 

SPECIAL  AFTERNOON  AND  NIGHT 


For  Public  School  Students  and  others  who  wish  to  avail  themselves  of  the  very 
best  opportunity  to  acquire  a  smooth,  easy,  graceful,  arm-movement  writing. 

The  first  special  classes  will  be  formed  Monday,  Sept.  20th,  at  4  p.  m.,  and 
same  night  at  7:45  p.  M.  Night  lessons,  Monday,  Tuesday  and  Thursday,!  ;Both 
sexes  in  both  classes. 

20  lessons  for  $3  in  advance,  including  pens  ink  and  paper. 

Taught  by  an  excellent  writer  and  successful  teacher,  Mr. 


Writing  students  will  be  taken  at  any  time,  but  those  who  do  not  enter  when 
special  classes  are  formed  will  be  charged  13.45  instead  of  |3,  the  45c.  for  station- 
ery. Other  writing  period  9  a.  m>;  also  at 
night  at  above  named  periods. 

We   expect  to   make  these   Writing 
Classes  a  big  success.     Join  at  once.  \..Ly    \^       y  Presidnnt. 

For  further  information,  write  to  or  call  on. 


^i^ze-iZ^ 


YOU  OWE  IT  TO  YOURSELF 

TO  LOOK  YOUR  BEST  AT  ALL  TIMES 

IT  HELPS  IN  BUSINESS 

IT  BRINGS  YOU  DOLLARS 


We  take  any  old  suit  and  clean  it  to  look  like  new,  or  dye  it  any  color  you  want 

OUR  CLUB  RATES 

SAVE  YOU  MONEY  AND  WORRY 

Let  UB  tell  you  more  about  it. 

LADIES,  we  please  you  on  every  Dress  or  Waist  you  send  us.     Hats  Cleaned 
and  Blocked  by  the  BEST  HATTER  IN  THE  CITY. 


STAR  CLEANING  &  PRESSING  CLUB 

Broad  and  11th  Sts.         Phone,  Madison  4034 

Promptness  is  our  Long  Suit. 

WE  SELL  and  Guarantee 

The  New  Columbia 
Champion  Refrig= 
erators,  New  Pro= 
cess  Qas  Ranges, 
McDougall  IKitchen 
Cabinets, 

And  Everything  in  Reliable 

rurnitureandrioorCeverings  . 

JONES  BROS.  &  GO.,  Inc. 

1418=1420  E.  Main  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


HUOAl>   ANr>   1  II  Til 

Week  Ending,  Saturday  Evening,  Sept.  11^*^ 


s 


TARTLING  pictorial  effects,  displayed  through  two 
rolls  of  genuine  impressions  from  Nature,  with  all 
the  life  left  in,  and  all  the  story  true  to  text. 
Besides  these  tributes  of  Art  to  Nature,  the  bill  includes 
Music,  Farce  and  Comedy  as  interpreted  by  stars  in  Vaude- 
ville, artists  in  black  and  white,  gifted  monologue  raconteurs 
and  sketch  portrayals  that  need  no  cue  to  where  the  laugh 
comes  in. 


THE  NORWOODS        GRAY  AND  GRAY 

Are  of  Miustrel  Fame                                                Great  Duo 

JOE  ELLIS 

Is  a  Whole  Comedy 

CLAUDE  SUMMERS 

Has  Fun  with  himself  and  lets  you  in 

At  Matinees,  Doors  Open  2:30  o'clock 

In  the  Evening 

Doors  Open  at  6:30  o'clock 

Always  the  performance  begins  half  hour  after  doors 
open,  and  always  the  intermission  change  splits  the  period 
in  half  and  rings  the  curtain  down  for  exit. 

Admission  Ten  Cents.     Ladies  and  Children  Five  Cents. 


THE  BLACKSTONE  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS 


Established  in  1894.     The  aim  of  the  school  is  clearly  set  forth  by  its 

»*pv'T"r'|^,       "Thorough  instruction  under   positively  Christian  influences  at  the  lowest 

'■ytyJ  1  1  \J,       possible  cost." 

The  school  was  established  by  the  Methodist  Church,  not  to  make  money,  but  to  furnish 
a  place  where  girls  can  be  given  thorough  training  in  body,  mind,  and  heart  at  a  moderate 
cost.    The  object  has  been  fo  fully  carried  out  that  as  a 

ppci  TI  T.        ^^^^  to-day,  with  its  faculty  of  32,  its  boarding  patronage  of  300,  and  its 
I\I1.0 \JL,l.        building  and  grounds,  worth  $140,000 

THE  LEADING  TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS  IN  VIRGINIA. 

pays  all  charges  for  the  year,  including  the  table  board,  room,  lights,  steam 
heat,  laundry,  medical  attention,  physical  culture,  and  tuition  in  all  subjects 
except  music  and  elocution.    Apply  for  catalogue  and  application  blank  to 
REV.  JAMES  CANNON.  JR..  M.  A..  Principal,  Blackttone.  Va. 


$150 


31.  H.  Ewinfi 


CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


32  NORTH   LOMBARDY  STREET 


PHONE  1821 


RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk  Paving,  Halls, 
Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  he 
takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work  and  straight 
forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


5c 


WEEKLY    v^C    THE  COPY 

THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  Sept.  18,  1909  No.  16 

$2.00  A  YEAR 

CONTENTS: 

CORRUPT  POLICE  COMMISSIONERS 

HIQH  SCHOOL  GRAFT 

FAIRMOUNT  BLUNDERS 

NEQRO  SHOT 

SAUNDERS'  SUIT 

MILLS' COMMITTEE 

FOR  THE  MAYOR  AND  POLICE  JUSTICE 

For  Sale  At  All  News^Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


XTbc  Corset  Sbop 

CORSETS  ARE  MEANT  TO  FIT   . 


M^ADE  to  order  Custom-Corsets  must  fit.  Madame  Hynd's  make 
cut  to  the  human  form,  tallies  exactly  with  the  tape;  meets  it 
^^— g'  measure  by  measure.  AT  THE  CORSET  SHOP,  personal 
^•^^^  differences  are  noted,  adaptation  made  certain. 

If  Madame  Hynd's  make  dosen't  serve  your  needs  alteration  is  made 
to  measure.  Our  work  suits  your  taste,  because  it  is  cut  and  designed  to 
actual  measurements. 

A  VARIETY  OF  MAKES  offer  choice  in  styles. 

Comfort  depends  on  accuracy  of  fit,  and  the  wear  of  a  corset  depends 
largely  on  perfect  adaptation.  It  holds  to  design  longer  for  true  fitting. 
Careful  study  of  each  form  and  just  appreciation  of  individual  style  aids 
taste,  improves  comfort  and  makes  fit  a  matter  of  certainty. 

MRS.  A.  J.   PYLE  317  N.  Fifth  Street 


The  Greatest  American 


■THOS.  A.  EDISON- 


Invented  the  Phonograph,  and  the 
Edison  Machine  is  recognized  as  the 
Sweetest  Toned  of  all  such  Instru- 
ments. All  of  Edison's  Records 
and  Machines  are  on  sale  in  Rich- 
mond on  easy  terms  at  603  East 
Main  Street. 

C.  B.  HAYNES  &  CO. 

Phone  Madison  6227  The  Edison  Phonograph 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill        .    SEPTEMBER  18,   1909  No.  16 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


POLICE     COMMISSIONERS    ARE 
LAW  BREAKERS 


Accept    Bribes    From    Car    Co.   and   Forfeit  their 

Offices. 


It  now  develops  tliat  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Police 
Commissioners,  besides  protecting  criminals  and  violators  of 
the  law,  as  they  are  doing  daily  in  Richmond,  are  also  them- 
selves violating  the  law.  It  is  a  well  established  principle 
of  morals  that  no  city  official  or  employee  should  receive  gifts 
from  any  party  or  concern  with  which  the  city  has  any  busi- 
ness dealings.  The  acceptance  of  a  gift  was  considered  by 
ancient  Rome  to  be  in  itself  the  acceptance  of  a  bribe,  although 
no  proof  could  be  furnished  showing  the  purpose  of  the  gift. 
The  Virginia  Constitution,  in  recognition  somewhat  of  this 
principle,  contains  the  following  in  Article  12,  Section  161 : 

"^o  transportation  or  transmission  company  shall  grant  to 
any  State,  county  or  municipal  officer  any  frank,  free  pass, 
free  transportation,   or  any   rebate  or   reduction  in  the  rate 


2  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

charged  by  such  compam^  to  the  general  public  for  like  ser- 
vices. *  *  *  *  And  any  such  officer  who  shall  accept  any 
gift,  privilege  or  benefit  as  is  prohibited  by  this  section  shall 
thereby  forfeit  his  office  and  be  subject  to  such  further  penal- 
ties as  may  be  prescribed  by  law." 

l^ow,  The  Idea  recently  learned  that  Messrs.  Gordon  and 
Manning,  both  Police  Commissioners,  were  riding  on  free 
passes,  and  so  in  order  to  find  out  how  it  happened  that  these 
public  officers  were  violating  the  Constitution  of  the  State, 
inquiry  was  made  at  the  office  of  the  Car  Company  and  of 
employees  of  the  Company,  and  it  was  discovered  that  all  the 
Police   Commissioners   are  furnished  with   free  passes. 

Now,  the  question  arises,  why  does  the  Car  Company 
give  away  passes  to  Police  Commissioners.  Car  companies 
are  not  in  the  habit  of  giving  away  something  for  nothing. 

They  don't  give  you  and  me  and  other  private  citizens 
any  free  passes ;  in  fact,  they  collect  from  us  twice  for  one 
ride  when  thej  can  do  so  by  any  technicality,  as  they  have 
been  doing  on  transferring  to  certain  lines  recently  until  The 
Idea,  by  its  publicity,  stopped  it.  And  they  don't  give  you 
a  free  pass  because  you  have  nothing  to  give  them  in  return. 
What,  then,  does  the  Board  of  Police  Commissioners  have  to 
give  the  Car  Company  in  return  for  the  favors  the  Car  Com- 
pany gives   them  ? 

If  you  will  go  out  in  the  West  End  at  night  you  will  find 
out.  There  you  will  find  that  the  Car  Company  has  saved 
itself  the  expense  of  thousands  and  thousands  of  dollars  in 
building  bams  for  their  sheds  by  leaving  their  cars  in  the 
city  streets  at  night.  This  is  a  violation  of  the  law,  and 
policemen  have  so  reported  it  to  the  Chief,  but  nothing  has 
been  done,  and  you  wonder  why?  Simpy  because  the 
Police  Board  don't  want  to  have  the  law  enforced  and,  some- 
how or  other  here  in  Kichmond  the  word  of  the  Police  Board 
is  more  respected  than  the  Constitution  of  the  State,  although 
this  Board  has,  in  law,  no  authority  in  regard  to  the  duties 
of  the  police  in  enforcing  the  law.  Their  duty  is  simply 
to  look  after  certain  minor  details  of  routine  work,  such  as 
"providing  badges,  uniforms,  etc.,"  and  prescribing  hours  of 
work  and  appointing  policemen,  but  the  duty  of  the  police- 


The    Idea.  3 

moil  after  a])]iointnieiit  is  clearly  defined  bj  State  law  and 
cannot  be  modified  by  the  Board.  Still,  this  Board  practi- 
cally rnles  the  situation  becanse,  since  it  appoints  and  can 
remove  fron^  ofiice,  what  these  men  say  is  of  great  weight 
with  the  department,  and  no  policeman  ov  chief  wants  to  lose 
his  job  by  being  over-zealous. 

Do  yon  wonder  why  illegal  houses  of  ill  fame  are  practi- 
cally legalized  in  the  face  of  one  of  the  clearest  laws  ever 
written  Avhen  the  city  is  dominated  by  a'  rotten  Police  Board 
that  will  accept  bribes  from  a  car  company?  Do  you  won- 
der why  the .  Sunday  closing  laws  are  violated  every  week  by 
both  policemen  and  merchants  when  you've  got  a  rotten  Police 
Board  that  accepts  bribes  from  a  rotten  car  company  ? 

Do  you  wonder  why  so  much  whiskey  is  sold  here  on 
Sunday  when  you've  got  a  rotten  Police  Board  that  accepts 
bribes  from  a  car  company  and  then  keeps  the  policeman 
from  doing  his  sworn  duty  because  he  fears  to  lose  his  job 
if  he  abides  by  his  oath  ? 

If  you  or  I  leave  a  wheelbarrow  in  the  street  over  night 
we'll  most  likely  pay  a  fine  for  obstructing  the  streets  or 
violation  of  some  other  ordinance,  all  because  we  don't  give 
the  Police  Board  any  free  passes  or  other  valuable  considera- 
tion. 

The  Car  Company  likewise  enjoys  certain  other  immuni- 
ties and  blessings  and  privileges  which  the  individual  cannot 
have,  but  the  publishing  of  this  one  specific  instance  should 
arouse  the  people  to  a  realization  that  there  is  rottenness  and 
bribing  going  on  in  Richmond.  Let  the  citizens  get  together 
for  the  protection  of  their  rights  and  organize  a  law  enforce- 
ment league,  which  shall  see  to  it  that  Police  Commissioners 
and  public  oflicers  obey  and  respect  the  law  just  as  much  as 
any  one  else. 

Now,  as  a  result  of  this  action  on  the  part  of  the  Police 
Commissioners,  these  men  have  forfeited  their  offices.  The 
law  says:  "Any  such  officer  who  shall  accept  any  gift,  privi- 
lege or  benefit  as  is  prohibited  by  this  section  shall  thereliy 
forfeit  his  office. 

Therefore,  in  law,  RicJnnorid  to-day  has  no  Board  of 
Police   Commissioners,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the   Council  to 


4  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

give  us  (mother  Board;  and  they  should  be  careful  this  time 
to  give  us  men  who  cannot  be  bribed. 

If  the  Council  wants  any  proof  that  these  men  are  accept- 
ing bribes,  The  Idea  stands  ready  to  prove  to  them  the  truth 
of  its  statements. 

Let  the  Council  take  notice  of  these  charges  and  not  pass 
them  over,  as  they  have  been  doing,  when  any  charge  has 
been  made  in  the  past,  even  by  city  officials  themselves. 

And  let  the  Council  go  at  the  investigation  right  and  not 
wait  until  the  Car  Company  has  covered  up  its  crooked  work. 

See  editorial  elsewhere  in  this  number,  concerning  the 
way  the  Council  fails  to  act  and  the  lack  of  business  in  their 
methods. 


THE  CITY  COUNCIL 


AN  AWKWARD,  CUMBERSOME  MACHINE. 


High-School  Graft. 


Sometime  ago,  Mr.  Beck,  the  Building  Inspector,  reported 
to  the  city  Council  that  the  cement  work  on  the  High  School 
was  not  up  to  specifications.  After  some  time  spent  in  the 
red  tape  of  councilmanic  procedure  a  Committee  got  to- 
gether by  appointment  and  carefully  watched  the  contractor 
mix  his  cement,  and  the  contractor,  of  course,  had  things 
going  just  fine,  he'd  have  been  a  fool  if  he  had  not,  and  these 
contractors  who  do  the  work  for  the  city  are  not  fools,  and  so 
the  Committee  made  its  report  and  wrote  Inspector  Beck  a 
long  letter,  intended  to  exonerate  the  contractor  from  the 
charge  of  the  inspector.  You  see,  when  the  contractor  saw  he 
was  caught  he  simply  lived  up  to  specifications  at  least  for 
the  day  on  which  the  Committee  came.     He  knew  he  had  to. 

By  this  action  is  explained  why  city  employees  lose  inter- 


Th  e    I dea .  5 

est  ill  their  work  and  do  not  do  their  duty.  When  they  do 
their  dnty  they  are  not  uphehl  in  it. 

Suppose  you  reported  to  your  employer  that  on  Monday 
you  saw  his  neighbor  steal  a  case  of  shoes  from  his  shipping- 
room  and  on  Tuesday  he  sent  some  one  down  to  watch  and 
told  his  neighbor  he  was  going  to  watch  him  and  then  found 
that  the  thief  did  not  operate  on  Tuesday,  and  then  came  to 
you  and  reproved  you  for  reporting  on  Monday,  do  you  think 
you'd  report  the  thief  if  he  came  again  on  AVednesday  ? 
Well,  that's  the  way  our  ancient  councilmanic  committee  gov- 
ernment works. 

Just  last  week  Mr.  Beck  again  reported  to  the  Council 
under  date  of  September  Yth,  in  reference  to  the  new  High 
School  building.  "The  floors  have  been  laid,  and,  in  some 
instances,  in  a  very  indifferent  and  careless  manner." 

When  this  report  was  read  in  the  Council  meeting,  one 
member  aroused  and  asked  from  his  seat:  "What's  that  about 
'indifferent  and  careless  manner  V  "  And  the  matter  looked 
so  warm  that  no  one  cared  to  answer  or  make  further  inquiry," 
and  the  matter  was  dropped  and  the  report  went  to  a  Com- 
mittee on  Grounds  and  Buildings,  perhaps. 

Ill  that  report  to  the  Council  the  Building  Inspector  also 
states :  ''Special  attention  is  called  to  the  report  of  the  City 
Electrician,  which  does  not  certify  that  the  work  has  been 
finished  according  to  plans  and  specifications,  as  directed  by 
the   resolution  of  your  honorable  body." 

This  indicates  that  the  electrical  work  on  the  new  High 
School  building  has  been  done  contrary  to  plans  and  spicitica- 
tions  and  yet  the  Council  is  such  a  bunglesome  machine  that 
perhaps  next  year,  after  the  contractor  has  gotten  his  money 
and  gone  they'll  have  an  investigation  and  do  all  the  wiring 
over  again  and  you  and  I  will  pay  the  bill.  Or,  perhaps, 
the  buildinc:  will  burn  down  from  defective  wiring,  or  the 
floors  will  fall  in  from  careless  work,  and  the  citiz;'ens  will 
he  asked  to  fork  up  some  hundred  thousands  of  dollars  more, 
all  as  a  tribr.te  to  our  worn  nut  form  of  city  governmt  nt, 
which  encourages  grafters  and  boodlers. 


6  The    Idea. 

Claims  Griffith   Shot  Him 


Can't  Have   Him  Arrested 


Charles  Dabnev,  a  iiegTO  who  lives  out  in  East  Richinond, 
claims  that  on  Saturday  night,  August  14tb,  about  8 :30 
o'clock,  he  was  shot  in  the  head  bv  Dikes  Griffith  who,  wath 
his  brother,  runs  a  barroom,  patronized  largely  by  negroes, 
dowm    on    the   corner   of   Grace   and    Seventeenth   streets. 

Dr.  Collier,  who  came  with  the  ambulance  to  the  first 
police  station,  waited  on  the  negro  and  sewed  up  one  wound 
in  the  back  of  the  negro's  head  and  one  on  his  forehead, 
where  the  negro  claims  the  ball  came  out. 

Dabiiey  states  that  he  was  ordered  out  of  the  bar  of  Grif- 
fith and  that  he  was  on  his  way  out  when  Griffith  attacked 
him,  striking  him  first  with  his  pistol  and  then  shooting 
him,  precipitating  him  headlong  out  of  the  door. 

Dabney  states  that  when  he  was  carried  to  the  police  sta- 
tion by  the  police  that  they  went  by  Griffith's  bar  and  the 
police  refused  to  arrest  Griffith  and  that  later  he  tried  to 
have  a  warrant  sworn  out  against  Griffith,  but  the  justice 
would  not  issue  it. 

The  ambulance  surgeon,  when  seen  recently,  said  that  the 
wounds  did  not  look  like  bullet  wounds.  The  doctor  who  has 
since  attended  the  darkey  stated  that  there  was  no  doubt  about 
the  wounds  being  bullet  wounds,  and  that  the  darkey  was 
undoubtedly  shot. 

A  remarkable  thing  about  the  wdiole  affair  is  the  fact  that 
the  daily  papers  had  nothing  to  say  about  it.  The  Neius 
Leader  of  the  follow^ing  issue,  Monday,  has  accounts  of  three 
ambulance  calls,  but  does  not  mention  this  one,  although  the 
negro  was  attended  in  the  police  station  itself.  It  is  very 
significant  that  the  negro,  dangerously  and  seriously  wounded, 
was  arrested,  but  no  one  was  arrested  as  his  assailant,  al- 
though the  affair  occurred  in  the  section  where  police  are 
most  needed^  and  near  the  very  police  station  itself  and  near 
a  nest  of  as  vile  a  lot   of  dives  as  ever  cursed   a  city.     If 


The    Idea.  7 

a  man  can  be  shot  in  this  section  and  his  assailant  go  unmo- 
lested, then  surely  there  is  not  ample  "police  protection"  here 
for  a  judge  to  grant  licenses  to  bars. 

Here  it  is,  one  montli  after  the  negro  was  shot,  and  it  not 
only  appears  that  no  one  has  been  arrested,  but  although  the 
negro  has  made  repeated  attempts  to  have  a  warrant  issued, 
he  not  only  has  not  gotten  it,  but,  fvoni  ^sh  .-tatement,  it  ap- 
pears that  the  police  and  the  surgeon  and  the  justice  of  the 
peace  have  all  aided  in  shielding  the  man  whoin  he  claims 
shot  him,  and  he  has  to  appeal  to  The  Idea  to  help  him  get 
justice. 

It  may  throw  some  light  on  the  question  to  know  that 
these  Griffith  brothers  run  in  connection  with  their  saloon 
a  large  policy  game,  and  that  the  other  brother,  who  owns 
part  of  the  bar,  is  also  the  same  Griffith  who  owns  together 
with  Clyde  Saunders,  the  big  stock  of  race  horses  at  Acea 
Stock  Farm.  This  Griffith  is  commonly  known  as  the  Policy 
King  of  Richmond,  and  it  has  been  repeatedly  charged  that 
his  policy  employees  were  protected  by  the  police  department. 

Certain  it  is  that  until  The  Idea  started  its  fight  here  last 
spring  almost  no  arrests  were  being  made,  and  it  took  the 
most  incriminating  kind  of  evidence,-  and  lots  of  it,  to  con- 
vict in  justice  Crutchfield's  court. 

Very  recently  a  negro  was  arrested  with  his  policy  para- 
phernalia in  his  hands,  and  yet.  Justice  John  let  the  negro 
go  free,  although  the  evidence  of  his  work  was  captured  and 
brought  into  court. 

Richmond  will  still  have  corrupt  i)olitie-,  as  long  as  it 
peruiits  these  low  dives  on  17th  and  18th  streets  to  exist. 

Hardly  a  day  passes  in  which  a  bunch  of  immoral  women 
and  gambling  men  are  not  arrested  from  this  quarter  and 
hauled  into  court  for  disorderly  conduct  or  selling  liquor  or 
cocaine  or  gambling. 

This  is  Richmond's  hot-bed  for  criminals  and  it  could 
not  exist  Mathout  these  base  bar  rooms  thriving  in  every  direc- 
tion. 


FOR  THE  MAYOR  AND  POLICE  BOARD. 

"It   is   a   fundamental   principle   in   our  government,   that 
no  individual,  whether  in  office  or  out  of  office,  is  above  the 


8  The    Idea. 

law.     In  this  our  safety  consists."    J.  McLean,  in  Kendall  vs. 
States,  3  Howard,  792. 


A  CORRECTION. 

In  our  last  number  an  error  was  made  in  the  article  con- 
cerning Mr.  Boiling.  The  statement  was  made  that  Mr.  Pol- 
lock voted  to  retain  Mr.  Boiling,  and,  as  one  of  the  ring, 
cracked  the  ring  whip  over  others  to  get  them  in  line  for 
Mr.  Boiling.  As  soon  as  we  learned  the  mistake  we  hastened 
to  correct  it,  and  wrote  Mr.  Pollock  a  note,  regretting  that 
we  had  been  misinformed  and  stating  that  we  would  make 
the  correction  in  this  number.     Hence,  this  article. 

To  err  is  human,  and,  though  The  Idea  is  extremely  care- 
ful still  it  is  on  the  firing  line,  and  from  its  position  has  to 
run  the  risks  of  battle  and  bear  the  burden  of  its  mistakes, 
which  are  inevitable  in  all  publications. 


THE  SAUNDERS'  SUIT 


J.  J.  Redmond,  in  the  2nd  chapter  of  "Fifty  Years 
After,"  just  out,  has  the  following: 

''I  see  Saunders  is  suing  the  Williams  Printing  Company 
and  Yoder  for  $20,000,  so  here  is  another  chance  for  him  to 
institute  another  suit.  He  can't  scare  me  with  that  kind  of 
a  bluff.  If  he  is  going  to  sue  everybody  that  slanders  (?) 
him,  we  will  have  to  institute  a  new  court  in  the  city.  When 
this  suit  comes  to  trial,  I  intend  to  see  who  will  be  on  the 
jury,  -whether  it  will  be  Clyde  Saunders'  fakers,  or  Richmond 
gentlemen. 

If  Yoder  owes  him  $20,000,  I  owe  him  $20,000,000;  so 
if  he  gets  all  this  money  at  one  time,  he  won't  need  any  more 
wood-ticket  printing,  even  if  it  did  pay  him  1,000  per  cent, 
profit." 


The    I dea.  9 

THE    PAIRMOUNT   MESS 


If  you  want  to  see  a  genuine,  unadulterated,  outright 
mess,  just  go  out  and  look  at  the  grading  blunders  on  20th, 
21st,  22nd,  23rd  and  adjacent  streets. 

you  have  already  learned  that  the  city  engineer's  blun- 
ders have  cost  the  city  about  $2,000  in  this  section. 

If  one  carefully  goes  over  that  section  he  will  be  led  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  real  loss,  in  unnecessary  work,  to  the 
city,  is  vastly  more  than  that  amount.  The  work  ordered  to 
be  done,  even  according  to  the  engineer's  corrected  figures,  is 
about  two-thirds  unnecessary.  Fairmount  would  be  better  off 
today  if  only  about  3  feet  of  cutting  had  been  done  on  22n(l 
street,  where  the  city  engineer  ordered  a  cut  oJ  about  doven 
feet. 

If  a  three  foot  cut  had  been  made  here  and  the  correspond- 
ing cutting  and  grading  had  been  done  in  other  sections,  then 
the  values  of  property  would  not  be  so  diminished  and  the 
city  would  not  be  liable  to  so  many  suits.  As  it  is,  you'll 
find  a  man's  property  left  eight  or  ten  feet  above  the  street, 
and,  as  it  is  at  the  corner  of  22nd  street,  the  tenants  have  left 
and  the  owner  can  not  rent,  because  the  city  has  made  the 
property  undesirable.  N'ow  if  it  w^ere  necessary  for  the  good 
of  the  whole  section  to  hurt  one  property,  it  would  be  a  differ- 
ent matter,  but  such  is  nof  the  case.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
work  as  a  whole;  was  two-thirds  unnecessary,  and  before  the 
city  K'  through  with  it,  it  will  have  cost  the  citizens  many 
thousands  more  in  damage  suits  and  lawyers'  fees  and  re- 
taining wall  and  fences. 

The  women  especially,  in  this  section  are  mad,  and  have 
a  right  to  be.  Their  yards  and  fences  and  walks  are  ruined 
and  they  have  to  contend  with  mud  and  water  and  lack  of 
car  service  because  the  city  failed  to  establish  a  grade  for 
the  Car  Company,  thus  delaying  their  work  and  making  the 
patrojjs  of  the  company  transfer  about  two  blocks  over  the 
mud  holes  on  22nd  street. 


10  The    Idea. 

It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  excavation  by  it- 
self is  a  very  small  part  of  the  expense  of  fixing  up  this  sec- 
tion. It  is  worth  while  to  remember  that  the  citizens  have 
paid  for  five  separate  and  distinct  surveys  along  some  of  these 
streets. 

Then  there  is  the  question  of  lowering  water  mains.  A 
twelve-inch  main  was  laid  here  in  1908,  after  the  grade  had 
been  established,  and  yet  it  was  found  necessary  to  excavate, 
and  lower  this  main  this  year,  thus  entailing  a  double  expense 
on  the  citizens. 

On  20th  street,  gas  and  water  mains  have  been  lowered 
three  separate  times. 

As  we  go  to  press,  it  has  just  developed,  at  the  meeting 
of  the  committee  of  investigation,  that  the  contractor,  Mr. 
Clay,  claims  that  the  cost  to  the 'city  of  the  engineering  blun- 
ders in  Fairmount,  amount  to  about  $4,000,  instead  of  less 
than  $500,  as  estimated  by  the  engineers  department. 

■    Remember,  that  Mr.  Boiling  is  City  Engineer,  and  is  re- 
sponsible for  these  blunders. 

Everybody  makes  mistakes,  but  the  point  about  Mr.  Boil- 
ing's mistakes  is  that  they  are  not  checked  up  and  discovered 
until  very  costly  work  has  been  done  in  error. 

We  wonder  what  the  council  will  promote  him  to  this  time. 


THE  ALVEY  CASE. 

What  has  become  of  the  fellow  who  first  informed  the 
city  that  there  was  fraud  in  the  delivery  of  grain  ?  In  the 
various  investigations,  why  can  not  the  city  call  on  her  in- 
former instead  of  letting  the  cases  fall  through  because  of  in- 
ability to  get  the  negro  driver's  testimony. 

An  ordinance  has  finally  gotten  through  the  council  ai> 
propriating  the  necessary  funds  for  an  investigation.  ]N"ow 
let  the  council  get  at  the  bottom  of  the  matter  and  sift  out 
the  real  thief. 


MILLS'  COMMITTEE. 

The  Idea  for  the  third  time,  calls  on.  Mr.  Mills,  chair- 
man of  the  Water  Committee  of  the  council,  to  show  the 
letter  offering  a  rebate  of  $1,000. 


The    Idea.  11 

The  Idea  charges  that  the  letter  was  in  the  shape  of  a 
bribe,  and  Mr.  Mills'  failure  to  show  it  eoiitirrns  that  charge. 

Still,  The  Idea,  speaking  for  the  people,  demands  of  the 
committee  that  that  letter  be  in-odueed.  Its  the  pulilie's  j)rop- 
erty.     Let  the  people  see  their  own. 

Let  not  Mr.  Mills  think  he  can  ignore  The  Idka.  Twenty 
thousand  people  each  week  read  The  Idea,  and  they  ai-e  the 
twenty  thousand  people  that  really  rule  Richmond. 

If  ]\Ir.  Mills  is  so  short  sighted  as  to  ignore  The  Idea 
now,  then  let  him  prepare  for  an  accoiniting  at  the  ])olls  at 
next  election  time. 

Councilmen  are  elected  next  year,  and  The  Idea  is 
watching  the  record  of  each  man  and  will  have  much  to  say 
as  election  time  draws  near. 

Although  it  is  said  that  every  city  employee,  urged  by  the 
office-holder's  trust,  is  a  walking  delegate  for  Morgan  Mills, 
still  The  IdEzV^s  influences  will  be  felt  to  his  undoing,  for  men 
more  powerful  than  he  have  already  gone  down  before 
the  onslaughts  of  the  truth,  as  told  by  this  little  affair. 

Saunders  and  Leaman  are  gone.  It's  Pollock  and  ^lills 
next. 


FOR  THE  MAYOR  AND   POLICE 
JUSTICE 


It  is  high  time  for  thoughtful  people  in  this  country  to 
wake  up  to  the  fact  that  law-I)r(  aking  in  our  greatest  cities  is  to 
an  appalling  extent  a  safe  and  profitable  occupation.  Spreading 
cloud-like  and  frauglit  with  menace,  it  operates  primarily  by  in- 
fluencing the  members  of  our  police  forces  and,  to  a  greater 
and  far  uglier  extent,  by  the  appointment  and  consequent 
ownership  of  police  magistrates,  evtn  of  higher  tribunes  of 
law  and  order,  who  carefully  see  that  law^  breakers  identified 
with  lhe  forces  of  plunder  are   immune  from  ]3unishment. 

But  not  least  among  the  causes  of  our  lawlessness  is  the 
laxity  of  judges  in  the  lower  courts.  If  the  judges  would 
enforce  the  laws  rigidly  and  not  rattle  around  splitting  hairs 


12  The    I  dea. 

and  dodging  every  time  they  themselves  disapprove  of  written 
laws,  either  undue ^  lawlessness  would  cease  or  many  laws 
would  be  changed. 

Judges  fail  to  see  that  the  laws  are  orders  from  the  peo- 
ple which  they,  as  judges,  are  employed  and  assigned  to  en- 
force and  obey.  That  our  judges  so  often  forget  or  ig-nore 
this  while  indulging  in  fine-spun  theories  and  the  hair-splitting 
and  juggling  of  words,  is  a  deplorable,  cancerous  evil  on  our 
body  politic. 

What  hearing  has  a  crooked  or  supine  or  incompetent 
judiciary  upon  the  inefficiency  of  the  police?  It  is  the  very 
root  of  the  police  problem. 

If  the  police  magistrate  is  a  known  politician,  a  crook  or 
a  thug,  cases  of  which  are  entirely  too  frequent,  naturally  the 
alien  judges  the  nation  by  him.  If  the  alien  accepts  (for  it 
is  promptly  offered  nine  times  out  of  ten),  the  help  of  a  dis- 
trict political  leader,  or  if  he  pays  for  leniency — and  innocent 
or  guilty  the  chance  to  do  so  will  he  offered  him — how  can  our 
country  grow  anything  but  lawless  ?  Rigid,  enforcement  of  the 
law  by  the  criminal  courts  and  the  impartial  infliction  of  penal- 
ties will  do  more  to  wipe  out  crime  in  our  cities  than  can  be 
accomplished  by  any  other  single  agency. 

It  is  notorious  that  some  police  magistrates  can  be  bought 
^by  crooks  and  are  bought  and  owned  at  the  disposition  of  the 
local  political  machine  wheresoever  it  may  be. 

Other  police  magistrates  are  financially  honest,  but  politi- 
cally dishonest.  Those  who  draw  doAvn  the  heaviest  condem- 
nation temper  their  insolence  with  such  cunning  as  to  render 
it  very  difficult  to.  disgrace  and  oust  them  upon  evidence. 

The  above  is  clipped  from  an  article  in  this  month's  issue 
of  Hampton's  Magazine,  concerning  graft  in  New  York. 

It  sounds  so  much  like  Richmond  that  one  would  think 
the  writer  had  Richmond  in  mind. 


She — What's  better  than  an  InEAf 

He — You,  dear! 

She — Seriously,  can  yoii  tell  ? 

He — I  give  it  up. 

She — Two  of  them,  of  course.     Get   The  Idea  ? 


T  h  e    I  de  a  .  I'd 

A  GKEAT  CALAMITY. 

IIIGIIEK   riiJCES    FOR    E\'i-:mTin  .\G. 
Senator  Gore,  of  Oklahoma,  in  discnssing  th(,'  high  tariif 
bill  just  enacted  by  congress,  said  in  Washington,  August  5th.: 
"The  people  of  this  country  will  not  know  whether  these 
duties  are  higher  or  lower.     'J'hey  will  not  consult  this  law  to 
learn  the  changes  that  have  been  made.     But,  at  the  end  of 
each  month,  when  they  consult  their  bills  they  will  see  what 
Congress  has  done.      They  will  find  higher  prices  for  every- 
thing they  consume.     I  look  forward  to  a  veritable  saturnalia 
of  extortion.     I  predict  there  will  be  no  lowering  of  prices." 
The  bill  would  not  promote  commerce,  he  declared. 
"T  would  not  put  the  American  eagle  in  a  cage  and  then 
wonder  why  he  did  not  fly  away  to  foreign  markets,"  he  said, 
duriiio,  his  vigorous  denunciation  of  the  measure. 


Press  dispatches  from  Bristol  tell  of  an  address  by  Gov. 
Folk,  of  Missouri,  which  should  be  read  with  interest  by 
every  Richmonder. 

\\'e  copy  the  following  from  the  Journal  of  September 
7th: 

HONEST  VOTERS  RESPONSIBLE. 

THEY     COULD    REMEDY     EXISTING     CONDITIONS    IN     CITIES^     SAYS 

FOLIv. 

Bristol,  Va.,  Sept.  7. — That  the  honest  voters  of  the  badly 
governed  cities  are  responsible  for  the  conditions  now  existing, 
and  that  they  could  easily  have  a  government  of  which  they 
would  be  proud,  by  asserting  themselves,  was  the  statement  of 
ex-Governor  Joseph  W.  Folk,  of  Missouri,  at  the  Bristol 
Chautauqua  Saturday  night. 

"The  honest  voters  are  passive,  while  the  vicious  element 
is  active  and  vociferous,"  said  the  former  prosecutor  of  the 
St.  Louis  gamblers  and  boodlers.  'Tt  is  the  plain  duty  of 
every  honest  citizen  to  take  an  active  interest  in  affairs  of 
government.  He  should  see  to  it  that  only  honest  men  are 
elected  to  office  and  should  exert  an  influence  for  the  right  in 
the  government  of  his  city.  State  and  the  nation.  This  alone 
will  assure  the  permanency  of  the  American  republic.  Rome 
had  the  Justinian  code — the  most  perfect  system  of  laws  ever 


14  The    Idea. 

devised  bv  man,  hnt  she  decayed,  because  public  sentiment  did 
not  support  them.  These  laws,  so  perfect  that  they  are  a 
model  for  lawmakers  to  this  day,  were  powerless  to  correct 
the  corruption  that  sprang  up  in  that  empire." 

Governor  Folk  made  an  appeal  to  the  honest  voters  to 
assert  themselves  for  good  government,  declaring  that  they 
could  have  it.  lie  showed  the  power  of  an  awakened  ]~»ublic 
conscience,  saying  that  the  great  reforms  in  Sail  Francisco 
could  have  been  accomplished  years  before  they  were  had  the 
public  asserted  itself. 

"There  are  no  necessary  evils  in  government,'"  continued 
Governor  Folk.  "The  ofliceholder  who  accepts  a  bribe  in  one 
way  or  another  is  a  thief  and  sliould  be  driven  from  oifice  and 
scourged  by  public  sentiment  and  the  law."  Some  of  the 
so-called  blue  laws.  Governor  Folk  says,  should  be  enforced, 
adding  that  they  w^ould  do  so  much  to  elevate  the  governmental 
svstem  of  this  count r v. 


HELP ! 

A  spirit  of  reform,  in  the  Old  Dominion,  is  reaching  after 
better  things.  Men,  women  and  babies  are  setting  the  crooked 
straigbt,  exonerating  the  old  and  unsightly,  cleaning  house 
and  reaching  after  improved  conditions.  In  cure  of  sores  and 
insanitary  spots,  we  are  building  better  houses,  planting  trees 
and  literally  mending  our  ways.  Working  singly  and  often 
without  system,  we  tend  ever  towards  co-operation,  organizing 
unconsciously  and  applying  as  we  learn  them,  the  arts  of 
division  and  devolution.  Along  lines  of  construction  and  re- 
pair, The  Idea  finds  ever  its  scope  and  opportunity.  Join- 
ing with  other  busy  folks,  it  helps  to  hold  aloft  the  banner 
of  civic  reform  and  betterment.  We  are  not  better  or  braver 
or  wider  or  broader,  than  others,  but  just  only  moved  of  the 
impulse  to  speak  out,  that  building  as  we  go  and  seeking  aid 
of  all.  The  Idea  may  be  strengthened  with  the  strength  of 
all  true  men,  to  the  benefit  of  our  common  cause,  that  clean 
thinking  and  right-doing  may  ever  be  cherished  among  us  and 
the  fire  of  truth  kept  ever  ablaze  and  aloft. 

Grafters  and  grabber^  must  be  hunted  out. 

Help! 


ENGLISH  DEPARTiVlENT 


BUSINESS  COLLEGE. 

Day  and  Night  Sessions.     Opens  Monday,  September  20th. 

WHAT  WE  TEACH! 

In  this  department,  we  teach  Grammar,  Spelling,  Arith- 
metic, Reading,  Penmanship,  Correspondence,  Geography, 
History  and  the  higher  branches,  if  desired. 

$4  Per  Month  Day  School,  $3  Night  School.    Term  and  Half  Term 

Rates  Cheaper. 

SPECIAL  AFTERNOON  AND  NIGHT 


For  Public  School  Students  and  others  who  wish  to  avail  themselves  of  the  very- 
best  'opportunity  to  acquire  a  smooth,  easy,  gracelul,  arm-movement  writing 

The  first  special  classes  will  be  formed  Monday,  Sept.  20th,  at  4  p.  m.,  and 
same  night  at  7:45  p.  m.  Night  lessons,  Monday,  Tuesday  and  Thursday. v  ^Both 
sexes  in  both  classes. 

20  lessons  for  $3  in  advance,  including  pens  ink  and  paper. 

Taught  by  an  excellent  writer  and  successful  teacher,  Mr. 


Writing  students  will  be  taken  at  any  time,  but  those  who  do  not  enter  when 
special  classes  are  formed  will  be  charged  13.45  instead  of  $3,  the  45c.  for  station- 
ery. Other  writing  period  H  A.  M.;  also  at 
night  at  above  named  periods. 

We   expect  to    make  these   Writing 
Classes  a  big  success.     Join  at  once.  \..I^    \I       y  President. 

For  further  information,  write  to  or  call  on. 


STAR  CLEANING  &  PRESSING  CLUB 

nth  and  Broad  Sts.        Phone,  Madison  4034 


Promptness  is  our  Long  Suit. 


THE  "IDEA"  IS  THIS! 

Your  last  winter's  suit  needs  looking  after.     We  will  fix  it  up  to  lool  as  good 
as  new  at  very  low  cost. 

Another  "  Idea !"     We  will  keep  the  cost  of  that  new  suit  in  your  pocket. 

We  do  the  best  work  that  can  be  done ;  there  are  no  better  workmen 
in  the  city  than  ours. 

LADIES'  WORK  DITTO  ABOVE  I 


STAR  CLEANING  &  PRESSING  CLUB 

nth  and  Broad  Sts.        Phone,  Madison  4034 


Promptness  is  our  Long  Suit, 


WE  SELL  and  Guarantee    • 

The  New  Columbia 
Champion  Refrig= 
erators,  New  Pro= 
cess  Qas  Ranges, 
McDougall  jKitchen 
Cabinets, 

And  Everything  in  Reliable 

Furnilureand  floor  Coverings 

JONES  BROS.  &  CO.,  Inc. 

1418=1420  E.  Main  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND  HOME  DUTIES 

are  olU'u  a  hindrance  to  your  daughter's  education.  She 
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5c 


WEEKLY    \J\i    THE  COPY 

THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  Sept.  25,  1909  No.  17 

$2.00  A  YEAR 

CONTENTS: 

"THE  WAY  TO  HELL" 
MAYOR  RICHARDSON 

CHIEF  WERNER 
ENGINEER  BOLLINQ 

SUNDAY  LAWS 

POLICE  AND  CRIME 

THE  WEST  END 

For  Sale  At  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


Association  Institute 


NIGHT   SCHOOL 
Central  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Main  and  Sixth  Sts. 


Enrollment  books  now  open,  9  A.  M.  to  10:30 
P.  M     Studies  begin  Monday  night,  September  27 

STUDIES  FOR  MEN  : 

Arithmetic,  Grammar,  Penmanship 
Window=Card  Lettering,   Bookeeping, 
Mechanical  Drawing,  Stenography,  Telegraphy 

STUDIES   FOR    BOYS:    (12  to  17  ^ ears) 

Arithmetic   and    Spelling,  Stenography, 
Business  and  Penmanship 
Package    Lettering    and   Shipping 


S.  K.  McKEB,   General  Secretar^f 

S.   P.    WILEY,  Chairman  Educational  Committee 


INFORMATION     FREE 
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The  Greatest  American 


■THOS.  A.  EDISON- 


Invented  the  Phonograph,  and  the 
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and  Machines  are  on  sale  in  Rich- 
mond on  easy  terms  at  603  East 
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C.  B.  HAYNES  &  CO. 


Phone  Madison  6227 


The  Edison  Phonograph 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  SEPTEMBER  25,   1909  No.  17 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yodek, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10, 1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


THE  WAY  TO  HELL 


A  Sermonette  for  the  Mayor 


On  last  Sunday  night  Dr.  McDaniel,  of  the  First  Baptist 
church,  preached  a  sermon  on  "The  Evils  of  the  City,"  and 
read  as  text  the  seventh  chapter  of  Proverbs,  in  which  is  de- 
scribed the  ways  of  the  harlot. 

The  gifted  pastor  used  the  occasion  to  warn  the  young  men 
of  the  dangers  of  the  social  evil  and  to  suggest  to  the  police 
that  they  carry  home  young  men  who  frequented  the  red 
light  section  of  Richmond.  The  preacher  stated  a  fact  well 
known  to  Richmond  men,  that  these  dives  are  patronized  by 
very  young  men  and  boys,  often  in  knee  pants,  and  urged  that 
the  police  should  break  this  up  by  the  above  mentioned  method. 

The  Idea  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  sermon,  which,  by  the 
way,  was  a  very  fine  and  instructive  and  helpful  discourse, 
did  not  by  any  means  get  at  the  root  of  the  evil.  The  laws  of 
the  State  have  put  in  the  hands  of  the  Mayor,  whom  they  make 
the  head  of  the  police  department,  a  most  efficient  remedy  for 
this  notorious  evil. 

Section   3790   of  the  Code  says  that  the  keepers  of  such 


2  The    Idea. 

houses  "shall  he  confined  in  jail  not  exceeding  one  year  and 
fined  not  exceeding  two  hundred  dollars."  The  Mayor  takes 
an  oath  to  see  to  it  that  this  law  is  enforced  by  the  police  and  the 
Code  gives  the  police  broad  power  by  saying:  "'It  shall  be 
the  duty  of  the  j)olice  to  apprehend  all  persons  whom  they  have 
cause  to  suspect  of  having  violated  or  intend  to  violate  any 
law  of  the  State." 

It  is  thus  seen  that  these  places  exist  in  absolute  defiance 
of  the  law,  and  The  Idea  charges  that  these  houses  of  ill  fame 
exist  with  the  connivance  and  protection  of  the  Mayor  and 
the  police  force,  for  they  not  only  violate  their  oaths  in  re- 
fusing to  enforce  the  law  but  they  go  further  and  keep*  a 
register  of  all  the  occupants  of  these  houses  and  keep  pictures 
of  each  and  every  woman  or  girl  who  thus  gives  over  her  body 
to  a  life  of  shame  and  law/  violation,  and  it  is  stated  that 
T-Iajor  Werner,  the  Chief  of  Police,  has  in  his  office  the  record 
of  102  of  these  houses  containing  hundreds  of  girls  and  women, 
all  duly  recognized  by  the  authorities,  and  thus  practically 
.licensed  to  do  boldly  what  the  law  says  they  shall  not  do  at 
all  on  penalty  of  jail  sentence. 

Just  think  of  it,  the  sworn  officers  of  the  law  be'coming 
party  to  the  crime  of  illegal  lewdness  by  giving  common 
women  immunity  from  the  law  on  condition  that  they  register 
and  be  photographed  and  perhaps  other  conditions. 

Solomon  said,  "Her  house  is  the  way  to  hell."  The  Mayor 
and  police  says  we'll  protect  and  control  these  "ways  to  hell" 
and  encourage  the  young  men  and  boys  to  go  there  by  assuring 
them  that  we  won't  worry  them  by  enforcing  the  law  and 
arresting  them  for  the  many  crimes  they  commit  when  they 
patronize  them.  They  also  permit  them  to  sell  beer  and 
whiskey  in  these  places  on  Sunday  without  any  fear  of  moles- 
tation. 

The  Idea  contends  that  it  is  of  very  little  avail  for  a 
preacher  to  preach  to  the  young  men  to  keep  away  from  such 
places  when  the  sworn  officers  of  the  law  take  the  exactly 
opposite  course  and,  by  their  acts,  invite  the  men  to  violate 
not  only  the  laws  of  the  State,  but  the  laws  of  decency  and 
moralitv  and  sanity  and  chastity  and  ordinarv  common  sense. 


The    Idea.  3 

Is  Mayor  Richardson  right  when  he  says  it  is  wise  to  con- 
trol and  supervise  this  "necessary  evil,"  or  was  Solomon  right 
when  he  said  "Her  house  is  the  way  to  hell." 

The  parents  of  Richmond  need  not  wonder  why  their 
precepts  to  their  sons  are  of  little  weight  when  they  find  the 
boys  out  all  night  forming  habits  of  lewdness  and  debauchery 
and  crime  if  they  will  but  face  the  fact  that  their  laws  are 
being  ignored  by  the  men  they  put  in  office  and  made  swear 
to  enforce  them. 

It  matters  not  how  powerful  and  good  the,  preacher  is,  his 
discourses  can  have  little  effect  if  aimed  at  the  effect  instead 
of  at  the  cause  of  the  evil — namely,  the  violation  of  their  oaths 
on  the  part  of  the  elected  servants  of  the  people. 

Richmond  cannot  hope  to  improve  until  there  is  a  whole- 
some respect  for  the  law  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  sworn 
to  enforce  the  law. 

How  can  Richmond  citizens  be  expected  to  believe  in  the 
sacredness  of  the  law  or  the  permanency  of  their  institutions 
if  the  very  instruments  and  arms  of  the  law  openly  and 
flagrantly  igTiore  that  law.  This  is  a  tendency  towards  an- 
archy; this  is  a  sowing  the  wind  and  must  mean  a  reaping  of 
the  whirlwind,  which  is  already  in  harvest,  and  which  will  be 
apparent  to  any  one  who  asks  any  reputable  physician  how 
many  men  and  women  come  to  him  with  venereal  diseases, 
legally  obtained. 

The  Idea  regards  this  subject  as  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  the  issues  which  confront  the  people,  still  it  does 
not  like  to  handle  so  delicate  and  offensive  question.  It  does, 
however,  become  necessary  for  every  individual,  as  well  as 
every  paper  or  every  community  to  face  delicate  and  embar- 
rassing situations  and  to  clean  up  dirty  places. 

But  The  Idea  would  much  prefer  the  disagreeableness  of 
cleansing  and  eradicating  an  evil  to  the  offence  of  permitting 
that  evil  to  grow  and  corrupt  and  insult  all  its  sense  of  right 
and  its  idea  of  purity. 

When  the  time  comes  to  do  a  piece  of  duty  let  no  man  be 
so  base  a  cowd  il  as  to  shirk  that  duty  because  forsooth  it 
is  disagreeable.     "A  stitch  in  time  saves  nine."     Attention  to 


4  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

the  festering  sore  now  may  later  save  the  body  from  a  loath- 
some disease.  And  he  who  objects  to  The  Idea  tackling  so 
important  a  subject  in  this  way,  because  it  is  offensive,  is  a 
coward  and  is  unworthy  of  his  citizenship. 


THE  KEMEDY. 

A   LAW   A^T>    OEBEK   LEAGUE. 

The  remedy  for  the  gross  wrongs,  done  in  the  name  of 
law  in  Richmond,  can  be  found  soonest  in  the  organization  of 
a  Law  Enforcement  League.  The  citizens  are  becoming 
aroused  more  and  more  each  day  to  a  realization  of  who  is 
responsible  for  the  gross  wrongs  of  their  city. 

A  rapidly  increasing  public  sentiment  is  discernable  all  over 
the  city. 

Pastor  Jones,  of  the  Eulton  Baptist  church,  preached  on 
Sunday  from  the  text,  "Is  a  young  man  safe  in  Fulton  V' 
and  the  people  of  this  section  are  arousing  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  responsibility  for  lack  of  law  enforcement  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  city.  From  all  over  the  city  word  is  coming  to 
us  that  the  people  are  realizing,  as  never  before,  that  they  are 
being  betrayed  by  their  servants,  and  a  great  moral  wave  is 
spreading  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  community 
— from  Highland  Park  to  Forest  Hill  and  from  Westhampton 
to  Seven  Pines. 

It  takes  no  prophet  to  see  that,  when  this  community  be- 
comes once  thoroughly  aroused  by  the  disclosures  of  The  Idea 
there  will  be  an  upheaval  which  shall  shake  the  powers  of  evil 
from  their  high  positions  and  cleanse  for  a  time  from  the 
political  and  social  life  those  human  parasites  who  live  off 
the  labors  of  others  to  the  degradation  of  the  city  and  their 
own  ultimate  destruction. 

Organization  alone  is  lacking  to  bring  to  a  focus  the  de- 
sires of  the  people  and  wise  will  that  man  be  who  shall  take 
the  tide  at  its  flood  and  ride  on  the  wave  of  popular  approval 
to  a  position  of  public  trust  and  usefulness. 

The  Idea  calls  on  Eichmond's  Christian  manhood  to  pro- 
duce a  leader  worthv  of  the  occasion. 


The    Idea.  5 

The  Idea  calls  on  the  sturdy  citizenship  of  Kichniond  to 
organize  its  forces  in  a  league  of  law  enforcement  and  it  will  find 
that  but  slight  skirmishing  will  reveal  the  utter  weakness  and 
discomfiture  of  the  forces  of  evil,  and  the  stupendous  fact  that 
proud  and  honorable  old  Richmond,  one  of  the  most  moral  and 
thoroughly  Christian  and  high-toned  cities  in  the  nation,  has 
been  politically  run  by  a  lot  of  rascals  and  thieves  and  thugs 
and  incompetents,  despite  the  fact  that  many  most  excellent 
men  are  in  its  councilmanic  bodies  and  its  administrative 
ofiices. 


YON  YONSON 


This  morning,  September  21st,  there  died  in  Minnesota  the 
universally   beloved   Governor  of  that    State,    John  A.    John- 
son— died  before  his  time — died  in  what  many  thought  to  be 
but  the  beginning  of   a   successful  career  of  national  useful- 
ness. 

He  should  have  died  hereafter. 

America  needed  John  Johnson. 

America  to-day  is  weeping  for  John  Johnson. 

He  was  America's  best  type  of  American  democracy, 

John,  the  child  of  the  new  world — Yon,  with  the  best  traits 
of  the  old  world — heredity  and  environment  made  him  Ameri- 
ca's foremost  Democrat,  America's  kindliest  son. 

We  weep  to-day  for  Yon  Yonson,  the  washerwoman's  child ; 
we  weep  to-day  for  John  Johnson,  the  nobleman  of  Minnesota. 

"He  should  have  died  hereafter." 


morCtAX  mills. 


jMorgan  Mills  is  regarded  by  every  one  familiar  with  Eich- 
mond's  political  affairs  for  several  years  past  as  being  one  of 
the  slickest  and  shrewdest  politicians  in  the  State.  We  hope 
to  complete  in  time  for  our  next  number  an  article  concerning 
Mr.  ]\Iills'  connection  with  public  life  and  would  be  glad  to  get 


6  The    Idea. 

any  other  aeenrate  information  to  supplement  what  we  already 
have.  Let  us  hear  from  those  who  would  help  themselves  by 
putting  out  of  office  such  men  as  Morgan  Mills, 

Have  you  noticed  that  Morgan  Mills'  committee  (the  water 
committee)  has  just  asked  for  $20,000  for  work  which  the 
engineer  now  says  can  be  done  with  about  $5,000  ? 

"It's  strange.  It's  passing  strange."  And  The  Idea  is 
liable  to  tell  on  somebody. 


THE  POLICE  AND  CRIME 


Is  There  Hush  Money? 


More  than  a  year  ago  the  Rev.  Tilden  Sherer,  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  on  Nineteenth  street,  between  Main 
and  Franklin,  complained  to  the  chief  of  police  of  a  house  of 
ill  fame  on  the  other  side  of  the  street  opposite  the  church 
building. 

The  chief  of  police  promised  to  have  it  removed  and  went 
to  see  the  occupants  to  effect  the  removal.  Later  he  saw  the 
pastor  of  the  church  and  told  him  he  had  ordered  the  j)arties 
to  move  out  and  that  the  proprietress  had  demanded  to  know 
on  what  evidence  and  by  what  process  he  would  evict  her  and 
he  said  that  he  had  replied  that  if  necessary  he,  the  chief, 
would  appear  against  her,  for  he  not  only  had  evidence 
as  chief  of  police  of  the  nature  of  her  house,  but  as  a  police- 
man had  been  on  that  beat. 

Matters  drifted  on,  however,  and  nothing  was  done  ex- 
cept 10  make  threats,  until  a  year  later  the  pastor  determined 
again  that  he  would  break  up  the  disgraceful  affair  in  such 
close  proximity  to  his  church  door  and  called  on  the  chief 
again  to  have  the  place  broken  up. 

Again  the  chief  gave  moving  orders  and  this  time  the  orders 
were,  apparently,  obeyed,  for  the  parties  moved  out  and  a  rent 


The    Idea.  7 

notice  was  posted  for  a  few  days,  after  which  the  house  was 
again  occupied,  but  this  time  by  a  more  disorderly  crowd  than 
before. 

It  can  thus  be  seen  that  there  is  some  power  somewhere 
that  protects  the  criminals  in  Richmond  and  enables  them  not 
only  to  violate  laws  with  impunity  and  with  the  full  knowl- 
edge and  consent  of  the  police  and  the  chief  of  police,  but  to 
do  so  in  the  face  of  protests  from  citizens  and  churches  and 
in  the  conspicuous  places  where  women  and  children  congre- 
gate to  worship  God. 

]N"ow,  The  Idea  does  not  believe  that  these  conditions, 
which  exist,  are  chargeable  to  Major  Werner  alone.  They 
could  not,  and  would  not  exist  if  they  were  not  sanctioned  by 
that  power  behind  the  chief  which,  though  contrary  to  law, 
does  actually  dominate  the  doings  of  the  police  force  in  Rich- 
mond. We  believe  that  without  the  evil  influejice  of  this  board 
Major  Werner  would  act  quicker  under  pressure  of  public 
demand  and  sentiment.  At  times  he  seems  to  be  powerless, 
and  however  good  his  intentions  may  be  he  does  not  carry  out 
his  oath  of  office. 

Out  in  St.  Louis  a  few  years  ago  an  investigation  into 
the  evils  of  the  red  light  district  brought  out  this  astounding 
fact.  The  books  of  these  houses  of  ill  repute  showed  such 
entries  as  this : 

Mayor  Ames,  $500.00, 
And  on  each  month  there  were  similar  entries,  showing  that 
these  criminals  paid  for  protection  from  those  whose  duty  it 
was  to  prohibit  their  operations. 

In  Richmond  there  is  no  suggestion  that  these  people  pay 
anything  to  the  Mayor,  yet  conditions  so  similar  to  those  of 
these  other  cities  do  exist  and  these  criminals  are  so  carefully 
protected  and  registered  that  the  suspicion  is  already  becoming 
prevalent  here  that  somebody  gets  a  rake-off. 

Let  those  who  take  it  on  themselves  to  protect  these  law 
violators  from  those  who  have  sworn  to  bring  them  to  justice 
answer  to  the  public  belief  that  there  is  corruption  here. 

The  Idea  would  inquire  why  is  it  that  a  policeman  is  not 


8  The    Idea. 

upheld  when  he  arrests  or  attempts  to  interfere  with  the  busi- 
ness of  public  prostitution. 

Is  there  any  hush  money  in  it  for  anybody  in  authority  ? 


WHO  DID  IT? 


An  Inquiry  into  the  Responsibility 
for  the  Fairmount  Blunders 


The  council  investigating  committee  held  a  meeting  Mon- 
day night  of  this  week  to  examine  witnesses  in  regard  to  the 
blunders  in  the  grading  of  Fairmount,  which  have  cost  the  city 
perhaps  several  thousands  of  dollars  and  which  will  eventually 
cost  the  city  many  thousands  more. 

(1)  From  the  investigation  it  appears  that  in  the  first 
place  Mr.  Hankins,  employed  by  the  engineering  department 
as  surveyor,  made  a  blunder  in  lowering  a  stone  used  as  a 
bench  mark  and  not  notifying  Mr.  Bowling  of  the  fact  of  its 
lowering. 

(2)  In  the  second  place,  Mr,  Todd',  of  the  engineering 
department,  admitted  having  used  this  lowered  stone  as  a  basis 
in  giving  grades  to  the  contractor,  Mr.  Clay,  and  not  checking 
up  his  work  until  about  a  month  after,  when  the  grading  in 
seven  blocks  had  been ^ done.  (Using  this  stone,  without  sus- 
pecting an  error,  was  very  natural,  because  it  had  not  fallen 
down  but  had  been  replaced  in  its  lower  position  and  bore  no 
evidence  of  having  been  moved  from  its  original  position.) 
The  gi-ave  mistake  came  in  not  checking  over  work  until  too 
late  to  save  the  city. 

(3)  Mr.  Clay,  the  contractor,  admitted  that  he  had  graded 
certain  streets  when  he  had  orders  from  Mr.  Todd,  engineer 
in  charge,  not  to  do  so.  Mr.  Todd  says  he  reported  this  to 
Engineer  Boiling,  but  Mr.  C-lay  did  not  even  thereafter  confine 
himself  to  the  work  ordered  to  be  done. 


The    I dea.  9 

Now,  ill  regard  to  the  amount  of  work  done  in  error.  The 
Idea  last  week  noted  a  discrepancy  between  the  estimates  of 
the  engineer's  office  and  of  the  contractor.  The  Idea  reporter 
took  down  the  statement  of  Mr.  Richards  and  this  report  made 
Mr.  Richards  say  that  Mr,  Cluj  estimated  about  $4,000  worth 
of  work  had  been  done  in  error.  At  the  last  meeting  Mr. 
Clay  took  occasion  to  censure  The  Idea  for  making  that  state- 
ment, and  he  said  he  did  not  say  that.  We  would  simply 
state  that  Mr.  Clay  was  not  at  the  meeting  in  question  and, 
therefore,  has  no  right  to  state  that  The  Ideals  report  of  that 
meeting  was  not  correct. 

The  notes  were  taken  as  ]\[r.  Richards  made  the  remark 
and  the  memory  of  the  reporter  bears  him  out  in  that  particu- 
lar. The  Idea  has,  therefore,  svery  reason  to  believe  that  its 
report  was  correct.  If,  however,  Mr.  Richards  thinks  he  did 
not  say  that  still  Ave  think  he  did — though  he  did  not  mean  to — 
because  our  pen  and  our  memory  agree  as  to  what  he  did  say. 
It  is,  of  .course,  possible  that  the  reporter  heard  wrong  and 
that  Mr.  Richards  said  4,000  yards  and  not  $4,000. 

Let  it  be  known,  though,  that  Mr.  Clay  at  this  last  meet- 
ing still  claimed  that  he  thought  that  about  3,500  or  4,000 
yards  had  been  cut  in  error,  although  the  engineers  claim'  only 
some  1,750  yards  were  cut  in  error. 

In  the  investigation  Mr.  Boiling  laid  stress  on  the  fact 
that  these  "sew^ers  were  laid  in  Fairmount  before  that  dis- 
trict was  annexed  to  the  city  and  the  engineer's  office  had 
nothing  to  do  with  conditions  growing  out  of  the  laying  of 
these  pipes,"  and  77;  p  Leader  put  this  statement  in  capitals 
to-day,  September  21st,  evidently  to  controvert  for  the  engineer 
the  blame  fixed  on  him  by  The  Idea. 

The  Idea  desires  to  state  that  Mr.  Clay  testified  that  ''the 
gas  main  was  lowered  twice"  while  he  was  grading  the  streets 
tins  summer.  Therefore,  there  was  a  serious  blunder  in  low- 
ering iiot  low  enough  in  the  first  place. 

ISTow  as  to  who  is  to  blame.  The  investigation  has  thor- 
oughly sustained  The  Idea  in  its  contention  that  the  engi- 
neer's department  is  incompetent  to  do  the  work  incumbent 
upon  it. 

The    testimony    shows    laxity    and    lack    of    proper    checks 


10  The    Idea. 

(1)  in  not  requiring  careful  reports  as  to  the  lowering  or 
changing  of  bench  marks  (brought  out  by  Mr.  Hankins'  ad- 
missions) ;  (2)  in  not  requiring  the  engineer  to  verify  the 
bench  marks  by  comparing  with  others  before  giving  cross 
sections  for  grading  from  them;  and  (3)  in  not  seeing  to  it 
that  the  orders  of  the  department  were  carried  out  by  the  con- 
tractor in  regard  to  grading  before  grades  were  given. 

This  incompetency  of  the  engineer  in  not  exercising  the 
proper  supervision  over  the  work  of  his  department  is  evidently 
the  real  cause  underlying  all  these  expensive  blunders,  not 
only  in  Fairmount,  but  in  other  sections  of  the  city  as  well. 

IsTow  let  us  state  that  The  Idea  has  been  most  favorably 
impressed  with  the  frankness  of  the  City  Engineer  and  his 
evident  desire  to  assist  the  committee  in  its  investigation.  He 
has  shown  the  spirit  of  a  gentleman  in  every  particular  that 
has  come  under  our  observation,  and  The  Idea  has  never 
made  any  charges  of  graft  or  crookedness  against  the  engi- 
neer's department.  Our  charge  is  simply  this:  That  the  work 
of  the  engineer's  department  is  not  satisfactory  and  has  been 
so  badly  handled  that  the  blunders  of  this  department  have 
cost  the  city  untold  thousands  of  dollars.  Week  before  last 
The  Idea  enumerated  blunders  to  the  extent  of  about  $80,000. 
Last  night  Mr.  Clay,  the  contractor,  charged  that  the  City  En- 
gineer had  filled  in  a  gulley  on  Thirty-fifth  and  Marshall  at 
an  unnecessary  expense  to  the  city  of  $35,000  or  $40,000 
more. 

The  time  has  come  for  the  citizens  to  demand  of  their 
councilmen  that  they  cease  to  elect  a  man  to  ofiice  simply  be- 
cause he  is  honest  and  good  and  popular. 

The  City  Engineer's  office  is  the  most  important  in  the 
gift  of  the  council  and  the  first  question  to  be  asked  is  '^Is  he 
capable?"  "Is  he  fit?"  "Is  he  competent  to  handle  this  mam- 
moth proposition  of  looking  after  the  vast  and  varied  affairs 
of  a  city  so  difficultly  engineered  as  Richmond. 

It  would,  of  course,  be  a  disagreeable  thing  for  council- 
men  to  displace  Isir.  Boiling.  But  councilmen  should  not  let 
their  feelings  of  friendship  influence  them  in  a  matter  of  so 
grave   importance    affecting  the   expenditure   of  millions    and 


The    Idea.  11 

millions  of  dollars.  Coiineilinen  should  lay  aside  all  considora- 
tion  of  personal  feeling  and  elect  a  man,  as  a  cold  business 
proposition,  solely  on  his  merits.  They  shoidd  cease  voting 
their  sentiments  and  vote  their  reason  instead. 


MILLS'  COMMITTEE 


The  Idea,  for  the  fourih  time,  calls  on  Mr.  Mills,  chair- 
man of  the  council  water  committee,  to  show  the  letter  offer- 
ing a  rebate  of  $1,000. 

The  Idea  charges  that  the  letter  was  in  the  shape  of  a 
bribe  and  Mr.  Mills'  failure  to  show  it  confirms  that  charge. 

Get  busy  Mr.  Mills.  You'll  just  have  to  come  across 
finally  or  prepare  for  defeat. 

The  Idea  will  stand  for  publicity  of  all  city  afiairs,  and 
when  a  committee  acts  in  secret  and  refuses  to  show  a  letter 
which  is  the  people's  public  property,  then  the  people  know 
there  is  something  wrong.  Men  love  darkness  rather  than 
liffht  because  their  deeds  are  evil. 


Stores  Open  On  Sunday 


Contrary  to  Law 


On  no  other  subject,  perhaps,  has  The  Idea  received  more 
communications  than  on  that  of  Sunday  observance.  Various 
merchants  and  other  citizens  have  frequently  called  attention 
to  the  gross  laxity  of  the  police  force  in  seeing  the  violation 
of  the  Sunday  closing  law.  On  nearly  every  prominent  corner 
on  Main  and  Broad  streets,  and  in  many  other  places  as  well, 
the  fruit  stores  and  soda  fountains  do  a  thriving  business  and 
sell   besides    soda    water   drinks   anvthino-   else   that   is   desired 


12  The    1  dea. 

which  they  carry.  In  one  block  on  Broad  street  three  stands 
are  open  all  day  on  Sunday  and  it  is  claimed  that  on  that  day 
more  business  is  transacted  and  more  money  is  made  than  on 
any  other  day  in  the  week. 

Before  the  last  Legislature  met  it  seems  that  the  courts 
held  that  the  law  was  insufficient  to  break  up  the  offence,  so 
a  law  was  passed  at  the  last  session  making  this  a  misde- 
meanor, punishable  with  a  fine  of  $5  or  more  for  each  offence 
and  permitting  the  judge  to  "require  a  recognizance  in  a  pen- 
alty of  not  less  than  $100  or  more  than  $5,000,  with  or  with- 
out security,  conditioned  that  such  person  shall  be  of  good 
/behavior  and  especially  to  refrain  from  a  repetition  of  such 
offence  for  a  period  not  exceeding  twelve  months." 

Formerly  an  offender  could  break  the  law,  pay  the  $2  fine, 
and  go  to  work  and  sell  again  on  the  following  Sunday.  He 
might  make  a  hundred  dollars  and  pay  his  $2  for  the  privilege 
and  keep  up  the  work.  Under  the  new  law,  however,  "If  a 
person  on  the  Sabbath  day  (and  in  law  Sabbath  and  Sunday 
mean  the  same)  be  found  laboring  at  any  trade  or  calling,  or 
employ  his  apprentices  or  servants  in  labor  or  other  business, 
except  in  household  or  other  works  of  necessity  or  charity,  he 
shall  be  deemed  guilty,"  etc. 

The  police,  therefore,  under  the  new  law  must  arrest  and 
the  judge  must  fine  for  every  violation,  and  the  judge  now  has 
power  to  stop  the  practice  by  requiring  a  heavy  bond  to  be  for- 
feited on  the  second  offence. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  excuse  for  the  failure  of  the  police 
to  enforce  the  law.  A  pastor  of  one  of  the  churches  recently 
brought  this  matter  to  the  attention  of  the  policeman  on  his 
beat  and  told  him  that  if  he,  a  gospel  worker,  could  see  these 
violations  surely  an  oflacer,  Avhose  duty  it  was  to  look  after 
these  things,  could  see  them.  The  policeman  finally  admitted 
that  he  saw  them  and  yet  officially  he  did  not  see  them. 
Whereupon  the  preacher  said  that  if  he,  the  policeman,  did, 
not  enforce  the  law  he,  the  preacher,  would  take  the  mattei 
over  his  head  and  have  the  law  enforced. 

This  finally  made  the  policeman  say  that  he  would  do  it 
himself  if  the  preacher  would  just  keep  quiet  and  not  take  it  " 
over  his  head. 


The    Idea,  13 

Now  the  question  arises,  Why  is  it  that  the  police  do  not 
want  to  enforce  these  laws.  Is  it  because  they  do  not  want  to 
arrest  a  man  because  they  have  been  bribed  off  by  gifts  of 
drink  and  food  ?  Or  is  it  because  the  merchant  has  paid 
some  one  higher  up  in  police  affairs  to  keep  the  police  away? 

This  one  thing  is  certain,  that  the  police  don't  ever  have 
to  pay  for  drinks  at  these  places,  or  for  pies  and  the  like,  and 
in  many  instances  when  a  policeman  has  offered  to  pay  the 
proprietor  has  refused  to  take  his  money.  The  acceptance  of 
a  drink  or  a  pie  by  a  policeman  constitutes  a  bribe  and  the 
offender  is  subject  to  a  heavy  fine  and  dismissal  from  the  force 
and  yet  it  is  done  all  over  Richmond.  Beer  and  whiskey  are 
likewise  given  to  policemen  and  this  accounts  for  the  attitude 
of  some  policemen  towards  the  bars  of  Richmond. 

Now  The  Idea  in  its  campaign  for  law  enforcement  in- 
tends to  see  to  it  that  these  laws  concerning  Sunday  closing  are 
enforced.  These  laws  are  so  flagrantly  ignored  that  even 
drug  stores,  which  do  not  have  fountains,  sell  candies  and 
cigars  and  other  articles  and  things  which  are  not  medicines 
on  Sunday. 

Now  be  it  remembered  th^t  this  law  is  not  a  "blue"  law, 
a  law  which  is  out  of  date  and  perhaps  should  be  amended  or 
ig-nored,  but  was  passed  by  the  last  Legislature  and  is  about 
as  live  a  law  as  there  is  on  the  statute  books. 

In  these  places  on  Sunday  congregate  many  young  men 
and  boys  and  talk  and  smoke  and  tell  smutty  jokes  while  their 
parents  think  they  are  at  Sunday  school  or  church.  Their 
characters  are  being  torn  do^vn  instead  of  being  built  up,  all 
because  in  Richmond  officers  of  the  law  think  they  are  above 
the  law. 


BOYS ! 

In  the  future  The  Idea  will  be  put  on  sale  Saturday  morn- 
ings at  6  o'clock,  so  that  school  boys  may  have  an  opportunity 
to  sell  them.  More  boys  are  wanted,  especially  in  the  West 
End.  Boys  in  that  section  may  get  Ideas  to  sell  from  the 
Model  News  Company  on  West  Broad  street. 


14  The    Idea. 

Any  accurate  information  concerning  the  official  deeds  of 
certain  councilmen  of  evil  reputation  will  be  appreciated  by 
The  Idea.  We  want  information  concerning  one  or  twt»  espe- 
cially slick  ones  for  an  article  now  being  prepared.  Tliese 
fellows  must  be  exposed. 


In    the    revenues  of    the  wicked  is  trouble — Solomon  the 
^Yise. 


THE  MAYOR'S  DUTY. 

"The  Mayor  shall  see  that  the  duties  of  the  various  city 
officers,  members  of  the  police  force  and  fire  departments 
*     *     *     are  faithfully  performed." 


three  years  old 

Ripe  and  Mellow 


COUNTRY 

\i   I   Ixl    K"    C^J  AV    r^  for  pickling  or  family  use. 

^^^^^^a^^^^^^g^^mmmmmi^^^^  Malccs  Hfc  worth  living. 

Made  by  Nature's  Own  Process 


-FOR  SALE  AT- 


40 


CENTS 

PER   GAL. 
BY 


W.  G.  MAHONE 

Grocer  and  Feed  Dealer 

■■^■■■■^■mHBM'     ■■■■■■■      I^HHlBaBH     ^^^^■■■■■■i^^ 

806  TO  816  Brook  Ave.        Phone,  Madison  1086 


SQUABS 


Phone  Monroe  427 
when  you  want  the 
very  best  HOMER 
SQUABS  obtainable, 
get  them  from  ATKINS   SQUAB   COMPANY. 

The  Largest  Squab  Plant  in  the  City 

Mated  Homers  for  sale.     Address 

J.  H.  ATKINS 

1418-1418;4  W.  Beverly  St.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 


America,  like  Eui-ope,  is  realizing  that  a  sudden  tran.sition 
between  extremes  of  temperature  is  not  wliolesome,  and 
pleasant   pausing   places   are    being    increasingly   called   for. 

This  brings  into  special  notice  that  great  climatic  railroad 
route — the  route  of  health  and  pleasure  which  unites  the  New 
England   States   with   Florida   and   the    tropics. 

In  a  little  wliile  investors  and  promoters  will  be  looking  for 
a  suitable  locality  for  the  establishment  of  a  relay  point,  and 
when  they  have  finished  their  research  they  will  find  that  point 
to  be 

Glen  Allen 

VIRGINIA 

This  charming  spot  with  its  improvements  is  now  for  sale 
with  the  single  exception  of  the  publishing  house  and  its  im- 
mediate   surroundings. 

Glen  Allen  is  a  pleasant  country  seat — a  doinain  of  park  and 
forest,  richly  wooded  yet  close  to  the  edge  of  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury activities.  It  is  twelve  minutes  from  Ric'hmond;  three 
hours  from  Washington,  and  five  and  a  half  days  from  London. 

That  Great  Short  Line  which  links  the  railroad  systems  of 
the  North  with  those  of  the  South  is  practically  completed;  and 
important    results    will    follow   this   achievement. 

Six  vip-to-date  roa'ds  have  joined  forces  in  this  work,  and 
the  bold  enterprise  will  dominate  the  develoiiment  of  that  fer- 
tile region  which  extends  from  the  Atlantic  coast  to  the  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi. 

The  point  of  convergence  from  the  entire  South  is  Richmond; 
and  the  point  of  convergence  from  the  North  and  West  is 
Washington.  Glen  Allen  is  on  the  short  link  which  unites 
these  two  vast  sj^stems,  and  Glen  Allen  is  beyond  comparison 
the  most  eligible  spot  on  that  link  for  a  splendid  development. 

The  place  is  'dotted  witli  pretty  villas,  and  has  eight  or 
nine  miles  of  private  avenues  and  shady  sequestered  lanes. 
Thousands  of  travelers  pass  Glen  Allen  daily,  many  of  them 
describing  it  as  the  Deer  Park,  from  the  herds  of  half-tamed 
deer  which  roam  over  its  ample  grounds,  and  which  may  be 
seen   fro.m   the   car  windows   for   a  mile,  or  more. 

Glen  Allen  is  the  seat  of  Forest  Lodge,  which  is  a  spacious 
mansion  of  a  hundred  rooms,  furnished  and  equipped  through- 
out, and  situated  in  a  beautiful  Park  fronting  the  railway 
station. 

No  provision  is  made  for  the  entertainment  of  Koinerites, 
or  free-lunch  pilgrims  in  the  guise  of  settlers,  but  a  full  de- 
scription of  the  property  wnll  be  mailed  on  request  bv  the 
owner,    CAPTAIN    CUSSONS,    Glen    Allen,    Virginia. 


STAR  CLEANING  &  PRESSING  CLUB 

nth  and  Broad  Sts.         Phone,  Madison  4034 


Promptness  is  oue  Long  Suit. 


THE  "IDEA"  15  THIS! 

Your  last  winter's  suit  needs  looking  after.     We  will  fix  it  up  to  look  as  good 
as  new  at  very  low  cost. 

Another  "  Idea !"     We  will  keep  the  cost  of  that  new  suit  in  your  pocket. 

We  do  the  best  work  that  can  be  done ;  there  are  no  better  workmen 
in  the  city  than  ours. 

LADIES'  WORK  DITTO  ABOVE! 


STAR  CLEANING  &  PRESSING  CLUB 


nth  and  Broad  Sts. 


Phone,  Madison  4034 


Promptness  is  oue  Long  Suit. 


WE  SELL  and  Guarantee 

The  New  Columbia 
Champion  Refrig= 
erators,  New  Pro= 
cess  Qas  Ranges, 
McDougall  [Kitchen 
Cabinets, 

And  Everything  in  Reliable 

furnitureandfloorCoverings  .. 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.,  Inc. 

1418=1420  E.  Main  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


CLEANLINESS 

IS  THE  FIRST  OF  THE  VIRTUES 


The  French  sarpags  us  all  as  cleaners,  and  the  arts 
of  those  masters  of  art  applied  to  Clothes  and  Cover- 
ings, Draperies  and  Carpets  make  success  certain  at 

315  NORTH  FIFTH  STREET 

Suits  are  new  after  Steam  and  French  System  have 
done  their  work  Only  the  gloss  of  new  is  gone. 
Garments  of  men,  Draperies  of  dames,  all  sorts  of 
stuffs  in  Costumes  Suits  and  Hangings  are  Dyed, 
Scoured,  Bleached,  Renovated  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  know  and  do. 

The  Cost  is  Small   Compared  to  the  Effect 

THE   TELEPHONE   NUMBER   IS   MADISON   2522 


ATDRINKARDSi 

THIS  WEEK  ONLY 


S 


A  nice  Pound  Cake  for  40c,  so  large— it's  the 
talk  of  the  town. 

A  four=pound  Raisin  Cake,  50c. 
One  hundred  Lemon  Snaps,  35c. 
A  nice  Layer  Cake,  15c,  five  kinds. 
A  large  Pound  Cake  for  25c,  it's  great. 
Three=pound  Jelly  Roll  for  25c. 

I  have  between  70  and  100  boarding  houses  on  my  list.    Why?    1 
take  care  of  them. 

The  always-busy  little  store  with  the  big  business,  polite  attention 


4231  N.  6th  St. 


PHONE  410. 


High  Gradt  NVork         Quick  Service         Prices  Right 

You  Have  Tried  the  Rest 

Now  Try  the  Best 

My  Work  My  Recommendation 

GLOVES  CLEANED  (Any  Length)  5  CENTS 

Jefferson   Chemical    Cleaning    and 
Dyeing  Works 

2225  East  Clay  Street  Phone  Madison  6030 


A.  H.  EWINQ 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 

32  NORTH   LOMBARDY  STREET  PHONE  1821 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk  Paving,  Halls, 
Vestibules,  Basements,  &c 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  he 
takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work  and  straight 
forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


5c 


WEEKLY    kJKJ    the  COPY 

THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill  Oct.  2,  1909  No.  18 

$2.00  A  YEAR 

CONTENTS: 

CROOKED  POLICE  COURT  METHODS 

LOBBYING  m  THE  CITY  COUNCIL 

THE  FAIRMOUNT  INVESTIGATION 

POLLOCK  AND  LEAMAN  DELIGHTED 

MORGAN  MILLS  COMMITTEE 

TWO  MAYORS 

LETTER  FROM  WEST  END 


For  Sale  At  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


If  A  Man  Loves  A  Woman        If  A  Woman  Loves  A  Man 
That's  His  Business  That's  Her  Business 

Cleaning  and  Dyeing 

That's  My  Business 

Jefferson  Chemical  Cleaning  and  Dyeing  Works 

■iiiiimiiii  II II  III  Willi  aaaiMMMfaBiiiriaiHiaiBBaBWianiihrtgiiBffiin^^ 

ALFRED  L.  WALTON,  JR.,  Proprietor 

Pants  Pressed,  5c.  Per  Leg,  Seats  Free 
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Quick    Service,  this    is  the    place 

My  Work,  My  Recommendation 

2225  EAST  CLAY  STREET  Phone,  Madison  6030 


— The  Greatest  American 


■THOS.  A.  EDISON- 


Invented  the  Phonograph,  and  the 
Edison  Machine  is  recognized  as  the 
Sweetest  Toned  of  all  such  Instru- 
ments. All  of  Edison's  Records 
and  Machines  are  on  sale  in  Rich- 
mond on  easy  terms  at  603  East 
Main  Street. 

C.  B.  HAYNES  &  CO. 

Phone  Madison  6227  The  Edison  Phonograph 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  OCTOBER  2,  1909  No.  18 


5  Cknts  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Yeak 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


POLICE  COURT  FINES 


Loose  Methods 


The  Idea  lias  been  looking  into  the  methods  of  the  police 
conrt  in  fining  and  bonding  prisoners  and  has  discovered  a. 
startling  condition  of  affairs. 

It  appears  that  when  a  rule  is  ordered  to  be  issned  for  the 
appearance  of  a  party  there  is  no  checking  np  afterwards  to  see 
that  the  rnle  is  ever  actually  issued.  Jnst  recently  this  was 
clearly  shown  in  the  case  of  the  negro  Harris,  who  did  not 
appear  when  summoned  into  court. 

The  Justice  ordered  a  rule  to  be  issued  for  him  on  two 
occasions  and  yet  he  did  not  see  to  it  that  his  order  was  obeyed, 
and  as  a  result  no  rule  was  issued  until  the  clerk  of  the  market 
made  trouble  for  the  authorities,  and  even  then,  when  the  clerk. 
Captain  Sullivan,  inquired  of  Justice  John  what  had  become 
of  his  rule,  the  Justice  very  harshly  told  the  clerk  that  he  had 
done  his  part  and  that  he  did  not  want  to  be  bothered  any 
more  with  the  matter.     It  thus  appears  that  Justice  John  was 


2  T  h  c     I dea . 

perfectly  satisfied  to  let  the  matter  drop  and  have  his  rules 
ignored.  From  this  it  can  be  seen  that  rules  are  ordered  with 
no  intent  that  they  shall  be  served,  and  when  it  happens  twice 
in  the  same  month  with  the  same  negro,  Harris,  represented 
by  the  same  lawyer,  Pollock,  then  it  looks  extremely  significant. 

When  such  a  thing  happens  the  people  know  that  there  is 
a  loop  hole  somewhere  for  the  escape  from  justice  of  those  who 
are  "on  the  inside." 

The  same  laxity  is  evident  also  in  the  fining  of  prisoners. 

If  a  prisoner  is  fined  who  stands  in  with  the  proper  authori- 
ties he  may  simply  fail  to  pay  up  and  walk  out.  Likewise, 
when  security  is  required,  if  the  prisoner  enjoys  the  protection 
of  those  in  authority  he  is  not  required  to  give  security,  but 
simply  walks  away  without  obeying  the  mandates  of  the  court 
and  the  court  closes  its  eyes  and  permits  the  rascal  to  "pursue 
the  even  tenor  of  his  way." 


The  Idea  Would  like  to  enquire  where  councilmen  enter- 
tained their  Baltimore  opponents  on  the  night  after  the  recent 
baseball  game  between  the  teams  of  the  two  city  councils  ? 
Don't  all  speak  at  once. 


LOBBYING  AND  WIRE  PULLING  IN 
THE  COUNCIL 


Pollock  and  Leaman  Delighted 


At  the  council  meeting  last  week  the  election  of  a  clerk  for 
the  Second  Market  came  up,  ar^d  from  the  very  beginning  it 
was  evident  that  the  result  was  between  Messrs.  Garrison  and 
Johnston. 

Now,  The  Idea  knows  very  little  of  the  comparative  merits 
of  these  two  contestants,  but  The  Idea  does  know  that  as  soon 
as  the  skirmishing  was  over  and  these  candidates  with  small 


The    I  dea.  :i 

followiiig'8  liad  been  dropped  from  the  balloting,  then  on  word 
from  Mr.  Pollock,  who  is  the  recognized  leader  of  the  ring 
crowd  in  the  conncil,  and  who  left  his  seat  to  pass  along 
"instrnctions"  to  his  men,  these  followers  of  Pollock  and  the 
ring  immediately  changed  their  votes  to  Johnston  and  John- 
ston's election  was  assured.  Now,  The  Idea  does  not  know 
■anything  about  the  fitness  of  Mr.  Johnston  for  the  position, 
•except  that  suspicion  of  unfitness  will  always  attach  to  those 
for  whom  the  ring  does  its  work.  A  man  is  known  by  the  com- 
pany he  keeps  in  politics  as  well  as  elsewhere. 

A  very  significant  fact  concerning  the  election  is  this :  Mr. 
Leaman,  whose  influence  with  the  ring  is  universally  recog- 
nized, was  on  the  floor  of  the  council  chamber  and  "within  the 
railing"  all  the  time  during  the  election.  This  fact  would  be 
especially  significant  to  the  people  of  Richmond  who  believe 
in  pure  elections  if  they  could  have  seen  the  delighted  expres- 
sion on  Mr.  Leaman's  face  when  the  vote  was  announced. 
When  Pollock  and  Leaman  are  pleased  it's  high  time  the  people 
■^vere  doing  some  thinking  for  themselves. 


THE  FAIRMOUNT  INVESTIGATION 


Councilmen  Condemned 


At  the  meeting  of  the  council  investigating  committee  last 
-week  it  was  remarked  on  by  several  citizens  present  how  several 
of  the  councilmen  who  were  present  as  spectators  showed  their 
attitude  towards  the  investigation  by  their  sneers  and  remarks 
intended  to  belittle  the  work  done  by  Mr.  Richards,  who,  as 
chairman,  wtas  leading  the  investigation. 

These  councilmen  be  it  said  to  their  shame,  helped  to 
thwart  the  efforts  of  the  committee  by  their  unkindly  attitude 
and  presence  on  that  occasion,  and  it  appeared  to  outsiders 
that  they  did  not  want  to  see  this  matter  of  blundering  in  Fair- 
mount  investigated. 


4  The    I dea  . 

Mr.  Richards  would  have  been  entirely  right  if  he  had 
cleared  the  room  of  those  city  conncilmen  whose  presence  was 
hurting  the  efficiency  of  his  inquiry.  Mr.  Richards  deserves 
the  highest  praise  for  the  manner  in  which  he  conducted  the 
inquiry.  Those  who  tried  to  belittle  his  efforts  deserve  the 
censure  of  all  good  citizens. 

This  committee  found  Mr.  Todd,  an  assistant  in  the  Engi- 
neer's office,  who  resigned  during  the  investigation,  guilty  of 
inexcusable  carelessness  in  not  checking  up  his  work. 

As  The  Idea  contended  during  the  investigation,  the  Engi- 
neer of  the  city  is  the  only  one  who  can  be  regarded  as  respon- 
sible for  the  work  done  under  him.  The  City  Engineer  should 
be  called  to  account  for  not  properly  looking  after  the  affairs 
of  his  department  and  thus  preventing  any  such  serious  blunder 
as  was  caused  in  Fairmount. 

WHAT   WILL   THE    CITY  PAY? 

Although  the  committee  from  their  report  "found  that 
approximately  there  had  been  3,665  cubic  yards  excavated  be- 
low, the  true  gi-ade"  and  that  "the  loss  to  the  city,  at  contract 
price  (25  cents  per  cubic  yard),  would  be  $916.25  for  error 
committed,"  still  it  is  due  the  Engineer's  Department  to  state 
that  even  if  Mr.  Clay,  the  contractor,  did  excavate  3,665  yards 
too  much,  still  the  city  should  not  be  required  to  pay  for  any 
more  than  the  amount  as  shown  by  the  engineer's  marks  on  the 
grade-posts.  If  the  contractor  cut  deeper  than  the  marks  indi- 
cated it  is  not  up  to  the  city  to  pay  him  for  it,  and  Mr.  Clay 
admitted  on  the  stand  that  he  did  cut  before  he  was  ordjered 
so  to  do  by  the  Engineer.  The  city  must  pay  for  errors  of  its 
employees,  but  should  not  pay  for  errors  of  contractors. 


OAT  INVESTIGATION 


On  the  28  th  ultimo  the  street  committee  ordered  to  be  sum- 
moned before  that  committee  on  Monday  night,  the  11th  of 
October,  all  parties  who  could  give  any  information  in  regard. 


The    Idea.  5 

to  the  theft  of  grain  from  the  city.  It  is  learned  that  the  com- 
mittee will  have  before  them  the  party  or  parties  who  originally 
discovered  the  thefts  and  reported  them  to  the  city.  The  testi- 
mony of  these  parties  should  be  of  great  value  in  the  investiga- 
tion. For  some  nnknovm  reason  (and  it  looks  crooked  to  The 
Idea)  these  parties  were  never  summoned  to  appear  before  the 
police  court  to  testify  against  the  negro  driver  or  Mr.  AJvey 
in  the  first  place,  and  it  looks  like  it  was  through  a  desire  on 
somebody's  part  to  make  a  scapegoat  of  the  negi'o  and  hush  the 
whole  matter  up  before  going  to  the  bottom  of  it. 


'"T  am  not  bound  to  win,  but  I  am  bound  to  be  true.  I  am 
not  bound  to  succeed,  but  I  am  bound  to  live  up  to  what  light 
I  have.  I  must  stand  with  anybody  that  stands  high — stand 
with  him  while  he  is  right,  and  part  with  him  when  he  goes 
wronu'." 


Morgan  Mills  Committee 


The  Idea  has  repeatedly  in  the  last  month  or  so  publicly 
called  on  Morgan  Mills'  committee  to  show  the  letter  which 
offered  a  rebate  of  $1,000  on  a  $14,550  contract. 

Although  Mr.  Mills  saw  fit  to  answer  in  The  Times-Dis- 
patch certain  criticisms  concerning  that  transaction,  still  he  did 
not  show  the  letter  or  explain  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  public 
how  it  was  that  the  minutes  of  the  meeting  made  no  mention 
of  that  letter  and  why  no  private  citizen  ever  heard  from  it 
until  the  contracting  concern  refused  to  allow  the  $1,000 
rebate. 

The  Idea  reporter  was  to-day,  September  28th,  shown  by 
■Superintendent  Davis,  of  the  Water  Department,  what  pur- 
ports to  be  a  copy  of  the  letter  in  question. 

That  copy,  while  not  so  worded  as  to  be  considered,  from 
its  wording,  as  a  direct  bribe,  is,  nevertheless,  evidence,  con- 
sidering the  facts    recently   developed,    that  there  is    serious 


6  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

wrong  somewhere.  The  fact  that  the  public  was  never  in- 
formed at  the  time  that  any  such  letter  existed  was  ample  jus- 
tification of  the  belief  that  something  was  wrong,  and  that 
belief  has  been  continually  confirmed  by  the  failure  of  the 
committee  to  come  out  with  the  letter.  The  letter  stated  that 
the  contractors  found  that  the  cost  could  be  reduced  some  $400 
by  "eliminating  all  cost  to  us  of  testing  (pumps)  after  same 
have  started  up  and  are  in  successful  operation"  and  by  other 
considerations,  and  then  offered  to  put  in  the  plant  for  $13,550, 
which  was  $1,000  less  than  the  price  quoted  in  their  sealed 
bid.     ISTow  let  this  be  clearly  understood : 

(1)  That  this  letter  was  received  before  the  contract  was 
awarded. 

(2)  That  the  contract  was  awarded  to  this  concern  at  the 
higher  price — $14,550. 

(3)  That  the  letter  was  never  made  public  or  mentioned 
in  the  minutes  of  the  meeting. 

(4)  That  there  was  a  bid  considerably  lower  than  the  one 
which  got  the  job ;  and, 

(5)  That  the  citizens  never  heard  of  the  $1,000  rebate 
until  the  contractors  refused  to  allow  it. 

The  Idea,  therefore,  would  reiterate  what  it  said  in  the 
beginning  of  the  matter :  "As  this  was  the  business  of  the  pub- 
lic the  public  should  have  been  informed  of  any  transaction 
made  in  their  name,  l^o  committee  has  any  legal  or  moral 
right  to  take  any  secret  action,  especially  when  such  action  in- 
volves the  public's  money.  Why  was  not  this  $1,000  rebate 
mentioned  in  the  minutes  ? 

"When  public  matters  are  concealed  the  public  has  a  right 
to  suspect  something  crooked," 

MORGAE"  MILLS  HIMSELF, 

It  may  throw  some  light  on  the  reasons  why  certain  mem- 
bers of  the  council  are  so  anxious  not  only  that  the  city  shall 
not  make  any  change  in  its  form  of  government,  but  also  that 
they  shall  be  continued  in  office,  to  consider  wherein  councilmen 
benefit  by  their  offices. 

The  Idea  proposes  to  show  from  time  to  time  how  dif- 
ferent councilmen  reap  large  benefit  by  reason  of  their  office. 


T  h  e    1  d  e  a  .  7 

In  this  number  two  reasons  will  be  given  why  Mr.  Mills 
is  profited  by  his  position  as  councilman. 

In  the  first  place  let  it  be  known  that  Mr.  Mills  is  agent 
for  the  manufacturers  of  the  "ISTewton  traps."  Thesf^  Newton 
traps  are  specified  in  the  city  ordinances  to  be  used  in  plumb- 
ing in  the  city  of  Richmond. 

This  ordinance  is  therefore,  the  means  of  Mr.  Mills  making 
much  money,  for  it  is  of  very  much  financial  interest  to  Mr. 
Mills  when  the  concern  he  represents  has  large  sales  in  his 
community.  ISTow,  the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  the  law  has 
always  opposed  and  forbidden  councilmen  from  reaping  benefits 
by  reason  of  their  position. 

Yet  here  we  find  Mr'.  Mills  directly  and  financially  in- 
terested in  the  sale  of  traps,  the  sale  of  which  is  almost  wholly 
affected  by  city  laws  which  he,  as  councilman,  helps  to  make. 

In  the  second  place.  Some  time  ago  Mr.  Mills  introduced 
a  resolution  for  the  purchase  of  a  tract  of  land  in  Fairmount 
to  be  used  as  a  park,  and  the  resolution  carried  with  it  a  certain 
large  appropriation  for  the  purpose.  On  investigation  it  was 
found  that— 

(1)  The  land  was  not  suited  for  a  park. 

(2)  The  land  was  owned  by  a  relative  of  Mr.  Mills;  and, 

(3)  The  actual  value  of  the  land  was  a  very  small  propor- 
tion of  the  amount  which  Mr.  Mills  sought  to  have  appro- 
priated. 


A  POLITICIAN'S   BIOGRAPHY. 

Weight,  10  pounds. 
Cootsey,  Tootsey. 
Baby  boy. 
Mamma's  darling. 
Papa's  little  man. 
Jimmy. 
Jim. 
■James. 

Jimmy  the  kid. 
Young  Mr.  Brown. 
James  Brown. 
Mr.  James  Brown. 


The    Idea. 

Clerk  of  Election  Brown. 

Committeeman  Brown.  i 

Alderman  Brown. 

The  Hon.  J.  M.  Brown. 

James  Matthew  Brown. 

Brown. 

Jim  Bro's^m. 

Jinimie  Brown. 

'Steenth  Ward  Jimmie. 

Jimmie  the  bum. 

Jim. 

Whiskey  Jim. 

Old  Soak 

Cell  99. 

Coroner's  office — ''Unidentified." 

— Nevada  Exchange. 


TWO  MAYORS 


Which  is  Right 


Mayor  Joyner,  of  Atlanta,  Ga. :  "Certainly,  the  city  gov- 
ernment of  Atlanta  will  enforce  whatever  laws  are  passed  by 
the  Legislature  for  the  government  of  the  cities  of  Georgia." 

Mayor  Richardson,  of  Richmond,  Va. :  An  executive 
officer  should  ignore  the  law  passed  by  the  Legislature  for  the 
government  of  the  cities  of  Virginia  if  'in  his  opinion'  it  would 
be  unwise  to  enforce  it 

The  Idea  holds  that  the  Mayor  of  Atlanta  is  exactly  right 
and  the  Mayor  of  Richmond  exactly  wrong.  Both  Mayors  are 
sworn  to  enforce  all  the  State  laws.  The  Mayor  of  Atlanta 
says  he'll  live  up  to  his  oath.  The  Mayor  of  Richmond  says 
he  won't. 

The  Idea  has  shown  Mayor  Richardson  that  State  laws  are" 
continually  vi6lated  with  the  sanction  of  his  police  department 
and  he  has  refused  to  correct  the  evil.     He  knows  of  the  red- 


The    Idea.  .     % 

light  evil.  He  knows  of  the  wliiskcy-.sclliiig-on-SiiiKlav  evil  in 
the  rod  light  district,  and  he  says  he'll  "control,"  hut  won't 
pay  any  attention  to  the  State  law  wliicli  demands  tliat  he 
5;np]'»res.'S  it. 


BOYS  MAKE  MONEY 


Idea  boys  are  making  as  high  as  three  dollars  a  week  sell- 
ing the  paper  on  Saturdays.  The  West  End  has  not  yet  heen 
covered  by  the  boys  and  parents  desiring  their  boys  to  leara 
to  earn  their  own  living  could  do  well  to  send  them  to  one  of 
the  three  places  mentioned  below  to  sell  Ideas  on  Saturday 
mornings. 

Ideas  will  cost  the  boys  3  cents  a  copy  in  advance,  but 
clean  copies  not  sold  may  be  returned  at  any  time  up  to  the 
Monday  following  at  6  P.  M.  Get  your  boy  to  canvass  in  his 
neighborhood  and  then  get  himself  a  line  of  regular  customers. 
In  this  way  he  will  be  assured  a  regular  income  each  week. 

We  have  on  hand  a  few  sample  copies  which  will  be  dis- 
tributed to  those  boys  who  come  to  The  Idea  office  on  Monday 
to  get  them.  These  can  be  used  to  give  away  in  order  to  work 
up  a  regular  route.  One  energetic  boy  has  worked  up  a  route 
so  large  that  he  has  had  to  give  half  of  it  to  another  boy. 

Ideas  will  be  on  sale  every  Saturday  morning  at  6  o'clock  at 

The  Idea  office,  904  Capitol  street. 

The  Model  ISTews  Company,  517  West  Broad  street. 

The  Jefferson  Pressing  Club,  2225  East  Clay. 

Boys  can  also  make  money  by  going  to  the  various  shops 
and  factories  at  the  Saturdav  noon  hour  and  at  closinir  time. 


A  SPORTSMAN 


"But,  sonny,  you  can  always  be  a  sportsman,  whatever  you 
do.  A  sportsman  does  things  because  he  likes  them,  Bobby ; 
for  no  other  reason — not  for  money,  nor  to  become  famous — 


10  The    Idea. 

not  even  to  win — although  all  these  things  may  come  to  him^ 
and  it  is  quite  right  that  he  take  them  and  enjoy  them.  Only 
he  does  not  do  the  things  for  them,  but  for  the  pleasure  of 
doing.  And  a  right  man  does  not  get  pleasure  in  doing  a 
thing  if  in  any  way  he  takes  an  unfair  advantage.  That's  be- 
ing a  sportsman,  and,  after  all,  that's  all  I  can  teach  you  if  we 
hunt  together  ten  years. 

"There's  only  one  other  thing  that's  really  important  and  it 
isn't  necessary  if  you  remember  the  other  things  I've  told  you. 
It's  pretty  easy  sometimes  to  do  a  thing  because  you  see  every- 
body else  doing  it.  Always  remember  that  a  true  sportsman, 
in  every  way,  is  about  the  scarcest  thing  they  make — and  the 
finest.  So  naturally  the  common  run  of  people  don't  live  up 
to  it.  If  you,  not  the  thinking  you,  nor  even  the  conscience 
you,  but  the  way-down-deep-in-your-heart  you  that  you  can't 
trick  nor  lie  to — if  that  you  is  satisfied,  it's  all  right."  He 
turned  and  grinned  humorously  at  his  small  companion.  "I've 
nothing  but  a  little  income  and  an  old  horse  and  two  dogs  and 
a  few  friends,  Bobby.  I've  lived  thirty  years  in  that  little 
place  there,  and  a  great  many  excellent  people  call  me  a 
good-for-nothing  old  loafer.  But  I've  learned  the  things  I'm 
telling  you  now,  and  I'm  just  conceited  and  stuck  up  enough 
to  think  I've  made  a  howling  success  of  it." 

The  above  was  clipped  from  "The  Hole  in  the  Cap,"  which 
appeared  in  the  August  number  of  The  American  Magazine. 
We've  read  it  over  three  or  four  times  and  it's  worth  your 
reading  over.  So  just  go  back  and  read  that  over — why  don't 
you  go  on  and  do  it? 

The  Idea  is  not  published  "for  money  nor  to  become 
famous,  nor  even  to  win,"  but  because  of  "the  pleasure  of 
doing"  a  duty,  though  it  oftentimes  has  its  disagreeable  side. 
Its  pretty  hard  sometimes  to  do  it  because  you  see  everybody 
else  doing  something  else.  But  that  you  is  satisfied  and  '^it'^ 
all  right."  And  the  editor  is  "just  conceited  and  stuck  up 
enough  to  think  he's  made  a  howling  success  of  it,"  even  if  he 
loses  money  at  it  or  fails  to  accomplish  what  he  planned  and 
hoped  for. 


The    I  dea.  11 

MR.  DAVIS'S  DENIAL 


Some  two  weeks  ago  the  papers  had  long  articles  charging 
that  the  work  on  the  settling  basin,  which  the  Superintendent 
of  Water  estimated  to  cost  about  $20,000,  could  be  done^  ac- 
cording to  the  City  Engineer's  figures,  for  about  $5,000. 

Superintendent  Davis,  when  seen  by  The  Idea  reporter, 
stated  that  the  papers  had  bungled  the  whole  affair,  and  that 
on  his  statement,  in  reply  to  a  question,  that  about  $15,000 
worth  of  the  work  could  be  put  off  for  the  present,  the  council 
cut  down  the  appropriation  by  about  that  sum.  The  Idea 
made  mention  of  this  matter  in  the  last  number  and  based  its 
remarks  on  the  newspaper  reports  of  the  date  of  going  to  press. 

The  Idea  did  not  mention  Mr.  Davis,  but  did  censure  the 
water  committee  for  asking  for  a  large  appropriation,  and  while 
the  newspaper  report  on  which  our  stricture  was  based  was 
erroneous,  still  Tpie  Idea  would  continue  to  censure  Mr.  Mills' 
committee  for  asking  for  $20,000  when,  on  inquiry,  it  is  found 
that  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  or  wise  to  expend  so  nnu-h  at 
this  time. 


A  Live  Letter  From  The 
West  End 


Richmond,  Va.,  September  15,  lyO'J. 
Editor  Idea,  City : 

My  Dear  Sir — As  one  of  your  constant  readers  and  ad- 
mirers I  wish  to  congratulate  you  for  the  manner  in  which 
you  are  enlightening  the  tax  payers  of  this  city  as  to  what  be- 
comes of  their  money  after  it  is  paid  into  the  Treasurer'si 
office.  One  item  in  particular  has  startled  the  people  in  my 
section — that  of  the  engineer's  department,  l^ow,  Mr.  Editor, 
I  see  by  The  Times-Dispatch  that  our  Engineer  wants  to  build 


12  The    I  dea  . 

a  driveway  from  Gamble's  Hill  Park  to  Bjrd  Park,  which 
certainly  would  cost  a  pile  of  my  money.  I  do  not  object  to 
any  improvement  that  mil  improve  our  beautiful  city,  but  I 
do  think  that  our  Engineer  could  recommend  far  more  impor- 
tant improvements  than  the  driveway.  There  are  streets  in 
the  AVest  End  of  the  city,  annexed  territory,  that  are  in  a  hor- 
rible condition.  The  tax  payers  have  to  keep  their  windows 
down  day  and  night  to  keep  the  dirt  out  of  their  homes;  they 
cannot  sit  on  their  porches  on  account  of  dust  kicked  up  by 
passing  automobiles.  Then  we  have  no  sewerage,  water,  gas 
or  electric  lights,  nor  any  other  improvement  whatever.  Con- 
ditions are  far  worse  than  when  we  were  in  the  county,  and 
after  a  short  rain  when  you  return  to  your  home  at  night  you 
grope  your  way  home  in  the  darkness  on  a  two-foot  cinder 
l^ath,  and  if  you  are  not  very  careful  you  will  walk  out  of  the 
■path  in  mud  over  your  shoe  tops.  These  conditions  exist  west 
of  the  Boulevard  on  (^ary  street,  especially  also  the  cross 
streets  between  Gary  and  Broad  streets.  The  scavenger  comes 
along  at  night  very  often  before  our  people  go  to  bed.  Then 
every  one  in  this  section  lias  to  go  to  bed  or  somewhere  else 
besidp^^  the  iroiit  of  the  house,  and  still  we  have  the  million 
and  half  dollars  to  expend  on  annexed  territory  that  cannot 
be  spent  under  eighteen  months;  paying  4  per  cent,  on  the 
bonds  and  receiving  3  per  cent,  from  the  banks  on  the  same 
money.  If  our  Gity  Engineer  wants  to  show  the  people  that 
he  can  do  things  why  not  recommend  to  the  council  the  pur- 
chasing of  an  extra  hundred  mules  and  carts  and  put  several 
hundred  idle  men  to  work  and  grade  these  streets,  put  in 
sewerage,  water  and  light  for  people  who  are  paying  for  some- 
thing they  are  not  getting.  Then  when  these  necessities  are 
done  it  will  be  time  enough  to  build  a  driveway  and  annex 
Manchester. 

In  conclusion  I  wish  to  say  that  we  will  mark  for'  slaugh- 
ter the  members  of  the  council  from  this  ward  who  do  not 
raise  their  voices  to  better  conditions  in  this  section,  and  the 
next  set  of  councilmen  that  we  elect  will  have  to  tell  us  what 
we  may  expect  of  them  before  we  elect  them.  I  hope  the 
people  of  Richmond  will  rally  to  your  support  and  keep  The 
Idea  alive.     I  think  it  would  be  a  grand  idea  if  the  people  of 


The    1  dea  .  13 

this  city  would  start  a  daily  newspaper  by  popular  subscrip- 
tion and  get  you  to  edit  it.  I  will  bead  the  list,  taking  $100 
worth  of  stock,  and  I  wonld  take  ten  times  as  much  if  I  were 
able. 

if  yon  think  it  worth  your  while  to  pnblish  this  you  can 
do  so,  or  any  part  of  it. 

Eespectfully  yours,  a  suffering  tax  payer  of  Clay  Ward 
annexed,    -  Charles  H.  Bull. 

Henrico  county  is  now  working  on'  the  Cary  Street  Koad 
from  the  city  limits  to  the  Three -Chop  Road.  jSTow  why 
don't  Mr.  Boiling  recommend  to  our  council  to  commence 
from  the  city  line  and  put  in  sewerage,  water  aiul  light  and 
grade  this  street  on  into  the  city  so  that  when  the  county 
finishes  its  road  to  the  city  limits  the  whole  job  will  be  done 
with.  This  looks  to  me  more  like  a  business-like  proposition 
than  building  the  roadway  above  mentioned.  C.  H.  B., 

3224  West  Cary  street. 


Richmond,  Va.,  August  30,  1909. 
Editor,  "The  Idea  \" 

I  would  like  to  call  the  attenton  of  your  readers  ro  the 
fact  of  how  well  the  recent  very  illuminating  disclosures  of 
the  infamous  rulings  of  our  local  courts  corroberates  the  con- 
tention of  the  socialists,  that  the  whole  judicial  system,  in  the 
United  States,  from  the  great  immaculate  nine  (?),  constitut- 
ing the  Supreme  Court,  down  to  the  most  insignificant  cor- 
poration tribunal,  are,  with  few^  exceptions,  used  as  instru- 
ments in  the  hands  of  the  cunning  and  unscruplous ;  not  for 
their  own  protection  and  aggrandizement  alone,  but  to  crush 
all  who  dare  opjiose  or  thwarr  them. 

And  not  only  are  the  judiciary  corrupted,  but  all  other 
functions  of  the  machinery  of  government  are  being  prosti- 
tuted to  the  private  uses  of  the  financial  pirates,  who  are 
thereby  enriching  themselves  by  despoiling  the  masses — legally  ! 
And  in  the  face  of  this  stupendious  fact,  the  press  of  -our 
country  stands  hushed  and  the  pulpit  mute..    Why? 

Read  Socialist  literature  and  find  out. 

Very  truly, 

B.     ]\r.    BUTTOX. 


GET  A  MOVE  ON  YOU! 


T 


HIS  little  ad  is  just  to  tell  you  that 
we  have  gotten  a  MOVE  on  us 
and   gone   into  better  quarters  at 

218  WEST  BROAD   STREET 

We  are  dealers  in   New  and   Second-hand 

Furniture,  Stoves,  Mattresses,  Rugs  and  Refrigerators 

THE  CAPITAL   FURNITURE  CO. 

Phone  6165  (Used  to  be  507i  N.  6th)  Now  218  W.  Broad 


THREE  YEARS  OLD 

Ripe  and  Mellow 


COUNTRY 

VI   |\|    I— ■    Ct  r\.   t^K  for  pickling  or  family  use. 

*  *   ^  iiM^iiT^  Makes  life  worth  living. 

Made  by  Nature's  Own  Process 

40 


-FOR  SALE  AT- 


CENTS 
PER   GAL. 
BY 


W.  G.  MAHONE 

Grocer  and  Feed  Dealer 

HI^HBiMB^HMHBH)     ■■■■■■■     ^■^^■■■■B     fli^BHBBHBBIHBa 

806  TO  816  BROOK  Ave.        Phone,  Madison  1086 


Phone  Monroe  427 
when  you  want  the 
very  best  HOMER 
SQUABS  obtainable, 
get   them  from   ATKINS   SQUAB   COMPANY. 

The  Largest  Squab  Plant  in  the  City 

Mated  Homers  for  sale.     Address 

J.  H.  ATKINS 

1418-1418^  W.  Beverly  St.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 


More  and  more  Uie  man  of  means  and  leisure  is  making  his 
liome    by    following    the  seasons    in    their   courses. 

crf^''iV'^^.l'^,^^^n^\u^^''  "^"f'"^  °^^'''  i^  g'^vi"^  constantly  in- 
tieas,ed  thought  to  the  great  problems  of  travel  until  now 
our^command    of    climate   is   almost   equal   to   that'of   the   swal 

cit?^,,'   America,   like   Europe,    is    realizing   that   a   sudden    tran- 
m^^tJH^^^^^'}    e^tfemes  of  temperature  is  not  wholesome,  and 
pleasant   pausing  places   are    being   increasingly   called   for 
This   brings   Into   special   notice   that   great   climatiV   r^^n^^o^ 

Glen  Allen 

VIRGINIA 

This  charmuig  spot  with  its  improvements  is  now  for  sale 
with  tne  single  exception  of  the  publishing  house  and  its  im- 
mediate   surroundings. 

Glen  Allen  is  a  pleasant  country  seat— a  domain  of  park  and 
torest,  richly  wooded  yet  close  to  the  edge  of  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury activities.  It  is  twelve  minutes  from  Richmond-  three 
hours  from  Washington,  and  five  and  a  half  days  from  London. 

That  Great  Short  Line  which  links  the  railroad  systems  of 
the  North  with  those  of  the  South  is  practically  completed-  and 
important    results    will   follow    this   achievement. 

Six  up-to-date  roads  have  joined  forces  in  this  work,  and 
the  bold  enterprise  will  dominate  the  development  of  that  fer- 
tile region  which  extends  from  the  Atlantic  coast  to  the  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi. 

The  point  of  convergence  from  the  entire  South  is  Richmond: 
and  the  point  of  convergence  from  the  North  and  West  is 
Washington.  Glen  Allen  is  on  the  short  link  which  unites 
these  two  vast  systems,  and  Glen  Allen  is  beyond  comparison 
the  most  eligible  spot  on  that  link  for  a  splendid  development. 

The  place  is  'dotted  with  pretty  villas,  and  has  eight  or 
nine  miles  of  private  avenues  and  shady  sequestered  lanes. 
Thousands  of  travelers  pass  Glen  Allen  daily,  many  of  them 
describing  it  as  the  Deer  Park,  from  the  herds  of  half-tamed 
deer  which  roam  over  its  ample  grounds,  and  which  maj-  be 
seen   from   the   car  windows   for   a   mile   or  more. 

Glen  Allen  is  the  seat  of  Forest  Lodge,  which  is  a  spacious 
mansion  of  a  hundred  rooms,  furnished  and  equipped  through- 
out, and  situated  in  a  beautiful  Park  fronting  the  railway 
station. 

A  full  description  will  be  mailed  on  request  by  the  owner. 
CAPTAIN   CUSSONS,    Glen    Alien,   Virginia. 


i|  STAR  CLEANING  &  PRESSING  CLUB  It 


nth  and  Broad  Streets 


Phone,  Madison  4034 


¥r 


Peomptness  is  our  Long  Suit.  

THE  "IDEA"  IS  THIS! 

Your  last  winter's  suit  needs  looking  after.     We  will  fix  it  up  to  look  as  good 
as  new  at  very  low  cost. 

Another  "Idea!"     We  will  keep  the  cost  ol  that  new  suit  in  your  pocket.  \y 

y\  TV 

.^   We  do  the  best  work  that  can  be  done ;  there  are  no  better  workmen  ^^. 

A  in  ihe  city  than  ours.  f) 

-44  LADIES'  WORK  DITTO  ABOVE!  ^ 

I  STAR  CLEANING  &  PRESSING  CLUB  | 

^  nth  and  Broad  Streets  Phone.  Madison  4034  ^ 

(\ Pkomptness  is  our  Long  Suit. (j^ 


WE  SELL  and  Guarantee 

The  New  Columbia 
Champion  Refrig= 
erators,  New  Pro= 
cess  Qas  Ranges, 
McDougall  Kitchen 
Cabinets, 

And  Everything  in  Reliable 

rurnilureandrioor  Coverings 

JONES  BROS.  &  CO.,  Inc. 

1418=1420  E.  Main  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


Zhc  Corset  Sbop 

CORSETS  ARE  MEANT  TO  FIT 


M 


ADE  to  order  Custom  Corsets  must  tit.     Madume   Hynd's 

make  eut  to  the  human  form,  lallies  exactly  with  the  tape; 

meets  it  measure  by  measure.     AT  THE  CORSET  SHOP, 

personal  differences  are  noted,  adaptation  made  certam. 

II  Madame  Hynd's  malie  doesn't  serve  your  needs  alteration  is 

made  to  measure.     Our  work  suit-;  your  taste,  because  it  is  cut  and 

designed  to  actual  measurements. 

A  VARIETY  OF  MAKES  otter  choice  in  styles. 
Comfort  depends  on  accuracy  of  fit,  and  tlie  wear  of  a  coreet 
depends  largely  on  perfect  adaptation.  It  holds  to  design  longer  for 
true  fitting  Careful  study  of  each  form  and  just  appreciat  on  of  in- 
dividual style  aids  taste,  improves  comfort  and  makes  fit  a  matter 
of  certainty. 


MRS.  A.  J.  PYLE 


317  N.  Fifth  Street 


M 


A.  H.  EWINQ 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 

32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET  PHONE  1821 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twentyyears,  b?J 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work  [L)) 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. t^/ 


Monday,  Oct.  4th 


ACADEMY 
OF  MUSIC 


FIRST  ATTRACTION 


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THE  ^  IDEA 


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Vol.  Ill  Oct.  9,  1909  No.  19 

$2.00  A  YEAR 

CONTENTS: 
HIGH  SCHOOL  GRAFT 

(WITH  PHOTOGRAPHS) 

STEALING  FROM  THE  CITY 

TWO  NOTARIES 

CHANGE  IN  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

UNDESIRABLE  BUSINESS  MEN 
"EFFICIENCY  IN  CITY  GOVERNMENT" 

For  Sale  Ai  AM  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


If  A  Man  Loves  A  Woman        If  A  Woman  Loves  A  Man 
That's  His  Business  That's  Her  Business 

Cleaning  and  Dyeing 

That's  My  Business 

Jefferson  Chemical  Cleaning  and  Dyeing  Works 

ALFRED  L.  WALTON,  JR.,  Proprietor 

Pants  Pressed,  5c.  Per  Leg,  Seats  Free 
If  looking  for  High-Grade  Work  and 
Quick    Service,  this    is  the    place 

My  Work,  My  Recommendation 

2225  EAST  CLAY  STREET  Phone,  Madison  6030 


The  Greatest  American 


■THOS.  A.  EDISON- 


Invented  the  Phonograph,  and  the 
Edison  Machine  is  recognized  as  the 
Sweetest  Toned  of  all  such  Instru- 
ments. All  of  Edison's  Records 
and  Machines  are  on  sale  in  Rich- 
mond on  easy  terms  at  603  East 
Main  Street. 

C.  B.  HAYNES  &  CO. 

Phone  Madison  6227  The  Edison  Phonograph 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  OCTOBER  9,   1909  No.  19 


5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Yeab 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


WEAK  FOUNDATIONS  IN  NEW 
HIGH  SCHOOL 


Contractor  Guilty 


In  this  number  can  be  seen  several  cuts  showing  the  weak 
foundations  on  which  the  High  School  has  been  built.  These 
cuts  are  reproductions  from  photographs  taken  on  October  1st. 
Cut  1^0.  1  shows  a  large  section  of  concrete  work  which  has 
not  been  laid  according  to  specifications. 

In  the  first  place  the  cut  shows  a  perfect  network  of  holes. 
This  is  caused  by  the  failure  to  put  in  enough  cement.  Instead 
of  having  a  certain  per  cent,  of  cement  and  a  certain  per  cent, 
of  sand  and  a  certain  per  cent,  of  gravel  or  broken  stone,  the 
contractor  has  put  in  in  places  almost  100  per  cent,  of  gravel. 
In  some  places  in  these  walls  there  was  not  enough  cement 
placed  to  hold  the  gravel  in  place,  even  temporarily,  as  Avill  be 
seen  in  Cut  N^o.  4. 

This  Cut  No.  4  is  from  a  photograph  taken  from  within 
a  room  in  the  basement,  looking  up  and  out  at  the  concrete 


2  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

work  around  the  window  frame.  The  arrow  points  at  a  place 
where  a  section  of  concrete  (  ?)  has  fallen  away  for  lack  of 
cement.  Two  other  photos  made  by  the  editor,  who  is  green 
at  such  work,  were  spoiled  from  over-exposure.  These  shoAved 
the  doorway  leading  from  the  basement  hall  into  the  inner 
court  and  exposed  a  section  several  feet  high  where  almost 
no  cement  had  gotten  in. 


No.  1.    Sbowing  weak  walls  due  to  lack  of  cement  and  of  proper  tamping  in  the 
foundation  of  the  New  High  School. 

Cut  ISTo.  1  also  shows  lines  of  contact  between  layers  of 
'cement  which  are  not  horizontal.  If  the  concrete  had  been 
properly  placed  it  would  show  horizontal  lines,  because  it 
would  have  been  tamped  or  beaten  in.  On  the  other  hand 
it  was  simply  dumped  into  place  and  not  beaten  down,  and, 
therefore,  is  not  compact  and  solid,  as  the  specifications  called 
for.  Even  where  there  is  suflicient  cement  put  in  it  is  neces- 
sary to  tamp  the  concrete.  It  is  much  more  necessary  to  tamp 
it  when  the  cement  is  lacking,  as  it  was  in  many  places.  As 
a  result  of  this  lack  of  tamping  the  walls  are  very  materially 
weakened.  The  contractor  not  only  saved  in  labor  by  not 
tamping,   but   he   also   saved   in   materials   used,   for  tamping 


T  h  c     I  d  e  a  .  3 

would,  of  course,  pack  the  concrete  and  iIiih   rc(juire  more  of 
it  than  the  contractor  saw  fit  to  furnish. 


No.  2.    Showing  how  the  cement  has  patched  up  had  flaws. 

Gut  IsTo.  2  shows  where  patching  has  been  done  by  mortar- 
ing over  the  bad  places  so  that  they  would  not  show  from  the 
outside.  Many  of  the  worst  places  were  so  patched  up  that 
the  extent  of  the  weakness  could  not  be  seen. 

Cut  'No.  3  shows  lack  of  cement  in  the  walls  about  the 
windows,  as  does  Cut  ISTo.  4.  These  places  are  not  being 
repaired,  as  some  of  the  walls  are,  because  the  window  frames 
and  plastering  will  cover  the  defects  here. 

Building  Inspector  Beck  reported  these  weak  walls  at  the 
time  of  his  being  put  in  control  of  public  buildings  as  being 
not  up  to  specifications.  At  that  time  the  work  had  been 
-done  on  a  large  part  of  the  building.  On  the  remainder,  how- 
ever, the  inspector  has  seen  to  it  that  specifications  were 
followed. 

The  Idea  has  repeatedly  shown  up  the  lax  methods  of 
•city  management  of  expenditures,  whereby  the  city  gets 
^vorthless  jobs  and  pays  excessive  prices  for  them.  It  is  time 
that  the  citizens  were  demanding  in  no  uncertain  tones  that 


4  The    1  dea. 

the  city's  affairs  be  run  on  a  business-like  basis,  as  are  those 
governefl  by  commission. 


Xo.  S.  Showing  section  of  wall 
at  window  casing  with  almost  no 
cement. 


No.  4.  Showing  where  stone  has 
fallen  out,  before  building  is  com- 
plete, for  lack  of  proper  cement. 


Xotice  in  this  number  an  article  on  The  Des  Moines  Plan. 
In  such  a  city  the  citizens  "get  100  cents  worth  of  value 
for  each  dollar  expended."  It  is  very  doubtful  if  the  citizens 
of  Richmond  get  05  cents  of  value  for  each  dollar  spent  in 
any  of  the  departments. 


EFFICIENCY  IN  CITY  GOVERNMENT. 

"To  be  efficient  is  more  difficult  than  to  be  good.  The 
average  citizen  lionestly  in  favor  of  what  he  calls  good  govern- 
ment does  not  yet  understand  that  there  are  an  intelligence 
and  efficiency  as  far  beyond  the  reach  of  mere  goodness  as  is 
business  efficiency  beyond  the  reach  of  mere  good  intention." — 
AUciis  Efficicrif  Dmtocracy. 


The     Idea. 

CONTRACT  GRAFT 

City  Pays  For  Stone  Twice 


Some  time  ago  The  Idea  had  occasion  to  point  out  that 
the  alley  from  Thirteenth  to  Fourteenth  street,  between  Main 
and  Franklin,  had  been  torn  np  to  place  gas  pipes  almost  im- 
mediately after  it  was  put  down.  It  now  develops  that  this 
alley  was  paved  in  part  with  old  spalls  or  stones,  although 
the  contract  with  the  city  called  for  new  granite  spalls. 

ISTow,  these  old  stones,  it  is  claimed  by  Mr.  Selph,  council- 
man from  Jefferson  Ward,  are  already  the  property  of  the  city, 
and  the  city  by  accepting  the  job  has  not  only  gotten  old  stones 
while  it  paid  for  new  ones,  but  these  old  stones  which  the 
citizens  are  paying  for  have  already  been  paid  for  by  them 
before — no  one  knows  how  many  times.  This  not  only 
shows  crookedness  on  the  part  of  contractors,  but  also  shows 
laxity  on  the  part  of  the  Engineer's  Department  in  not 
properly  inspecting  the  work  before  paying  the  contractors. 

We  would  enquire  what  kind  of  inspecting  is  done,  any 
how,  that  such  open  violation  of  contract  is  not  seen  by  the 
city's  representative.  When  such  things  occur  the  citizens 
have  a  right  to  think  that  the  employees  of  the  city  must  have 
seen  the  wrong  and  winked  at  it. 

It  is  because  just  such  blunders  as  this  are  continually 
being  made  by  the  Engineer's  Department  that  The  Idea  has 
charged  that  the  engineer  is  incompetent  to  fill,  the  position. 
It  matters  not  how  much  natural  ability  a  man  may  have  or 
how  good  a  man  he  may  be,  if  he  cannot  so  attend  to  his  work 
as  to  protect  the  citizens  from  such  losses  as  this  then  it  is 
high  time  the  people  were  getting  another  man  for  the  work. 

The  contract  for  this  paving  called  for  granite  "of  uniform 
quality,"  "broken  to  proper  sizes,"  "to  have  uniform  upper 
surfaces,  and  in  all  respects  like  the  average  specimen  stones 
at  the  engineer's  office."  It  can  thus  be  seen  that  no  worn- 
out  stones  could  be  used  according  to  the  specifications,   and 


6  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

jet  the  contractors  have  substituted  in  many  places  one-half 
the  blocks  of  old,  wornout  stones  discarded  by  the  city  and  the 
city  has  paid  for  the  work  without  a  single  protest  from  the 
City  Engineer,  who  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  looking  after 
the  city's  interests  in  such  matters. 

In  fact,  the  very  specifications  by  which  the  paving  is  done 
provide  the  method  to  be  adopted  by  the  engineer  in  case  of 
violation  of  the  specifications.  If  the  city  is  fooled  out  of 
thousands  of  dollars  by  the  use  of  the  wrong  stones,  right  out 
where  they  can  be  seen,  how  many  thousands  of  dollars  do  you 
suppose  the  city  is  faked  out  of  by  the  failure  of  some  con- 
tractors to  provide  sufficient  depth  of  foundation  work  and 
sand  for  the  same  jobs  ? 


TWO  NOTABIES 


Recently  we  had  occasion  to  use  the  services  of  a  notary 
public  in  connection  with  our  application  for  the  second-class 
mailing  privilege,  so  on  the  way  to  the  post-office  we  stopped 
in  at  the  office  of  the  first  notary  whose  sign  we  saw,  on  Tenth 
street,  and  when  the  notary  found  that  our  call  was  in  connec- 
tion with  The  Idea  he,  in  a  very  curt  and  ungentlemanly 
manner,  refused  to  do  the  work  required,  although  he  could 
have  been  compelled  to  do  it,  we  are  informed,  because  he  was 
a  duly  commissioned  representative  of  the  State  and  could 
not  let  his  personal  ungentlemanly  attitude  affect  his  State 
duty  to  a  citizen. 

There  were  other  notaries  convenient,  however,  and  so  we 
smiled  and  passed  on  to  the  corner,  where  we  entered  the 
American  ISTational  Bank  Building  and  there  accosted  another 
notary,  who  very  courteously  fijied  up  our  papers  and  on  being 
asked  the  amount  due  him  refused  to  make  any  charge  for  his 
services,  but  was  glad  to  do  that  much  by  way  of  helping  on 
the  cause  of  good  government  and  civic  purity,  for  which  The 
Idea  has  been  standing. 

It  is  needless  to  sav  that  the  last  notary  has  already  been 


T  he     I  dca  .  7 

paid,  in  a  manner  in  which  he  may  not  luunv,  for  his  gentle- 
manly courtesy  and  gratis  services. 

Let  the  young  folks  ponder  well  these  two  little  incidents 
and  Imow  that  it  always  pays  to  be  polite,  even  to  those  who 
do  not  think  as  you  do. 

Let  it  also  he  learned  that  the  forces  of  evil  in  any  com- 
munity are  so  short-sighted  as  to  do  things  which  work  to  their 
own  ultimate  undoing. 


Don't  fail  to  take  advantage  of  the  clean,  high-class  amuse- 
ments offered  by  the  Radcliffe  Concert  Course  at  the  Academy 
of  Music  during  the  present  season. 


CHURCHMEN  ASSAILED 


Preacher  Declares  That  Too  Frequently  They  Are 
Undesirable  Citizens 


Chicago^  Sept.  28. — An  attack  on  the  liquor  industry  by 
Eev.  Joseph  H.  Crooker,  of  Boston,  president  of  the  Unitarian 
Temperance  Society,  a  denunciation  of  high  churchmen  and  a 
plea  for  a  fund  of  $100,000  to  further  the  work  of  the  Unita- 
rian Sunday  School  Society,  were  features  of  the  second 
session  of  the  Unitarian  Church  Conference  to-day. 

"Conquer  the  drink  habit,"  said  Rev.  Crooker,  "is  to  con- 
serve the  greatest  of  our  national  resources — manhood.'' 

Rev.  W.  Peck,  president  of  the  Unitarian  Fellowship  for 
Social  Justice,  assailed  high  churchmen.  "Too  frequently,"  he 
said,  "is  it  found  that  the  betrayers  of  trust,  the  tyrants  of 
industrialism,  the  'undesirable  citizens'  are  men  high  in  the 
churches.  The  iniquities  of  society  are  not  the  unaided  deeds 
of  debased  or  repulsive  creatures,  but  rather  the  acts  of  respect- 
able business  men  who  conceal  themselves  behind  the  base  tool 
of  their  will. 


8  The     I dea. 

"The  vicious  dualism  of  the  secular  and  the  sacred,  the 
divorcing  of  religion  and  business,  the  separating  of  worship 
and  service  must  end  in  this  country." 

The  Idea  prints  the  above  clipping  because  it  has  dis- 
covered that  the  greatest  enmity  to  its  efforts  at  rectifying  evils 
comes  from  men  high  up — "respectable  business  men  who  con- 
ceal themselves  behind  the  base  tools  of  their  will."  Jesus 
found  that  His  greatest  enemies  were  respectable  business  men 
high  up  in  the  councils  of  the  Church,  and  from  that  day  to 
this  all  reforms  have  been  accomplished  in  the  face  of  the  most 
cruel  opposition  of  men  whose  cry  is,  "It  will  hurt  our  busi- 
ness." Let  business  men  know  that  however  high  their  posi- 
tion in  the  Church,  any  business  advantage  gained  at  the 
expense  of  the  morals  of  the  nation  or  the  community  must 
ultimately  work  to  their  own  damnation. 


CHANGE  IN  CITY  GOVERNMENT 

PLAN 


Ever  since  The  Idea  began,  three  years  ago,  its  one  hobby 
has  been  "government  by  commission."  During  the  present 
year  government  by  commission  has  been  growing  in  popu- 
larity not  only  all  over  Virginia,  but  all  over  the  United 
States.  Hardly  a  week  passes  without  the  adoption  by  some 
city  of  the  Union  of  this  modern,  economical  and  common 
sense  business  plan  of  city  administration.  The  cities  of  Colo- 
rado, Iowa,  Kansas,  Texas  and  Massachusetts  are  falling  over 
each  other  in  their  rapid  adoption  of  the  commission  plan,  as 
it  is  called. 

While  The  Idea  is  pointing  out  the  evils  of  our  ancient 
and  expensive  and  extravagant  and  inefficient  and  graft- 
breeding  system  of  government  by  ward  heelers,  it  will  from 
time  to  time  not  simply  argue  for  a  change,  but  will  detail  the 
plans  which  other  cities  have  adopted. 

Ward    politicians    are    continually    making   the    statement 


The     I  (lea.  1) 

that  there  is  no  desire  on  the  part  of  the;  citizens  to  have  a 
change  in  the  form  of  government.  This  is  by  no  means  true. 
On  inquiring  of  the  citizens  of  Richmond  there  is  found 
an  almost  universal  demand  that  Richmond  adopt  the  plan  of 
government  by  commission.  Read  elsevs^here  in  this  number 
the  statements  concerning  government  by  commission  made 
before  the  League  of  American  Municipalities  at  Omaha,  Xeb.. 
last  year. 


HOW  TO  ELECT  GOOD  MEN 


John  MacVicar  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  on  Govern- 
ment by  Commission 


It  is  said,  with  truth,  under  whatever  form  of  government 
a  city  is  being  conducted,  the  right  kind  of  men  must  be 
elected  if  results  are  to  be  had.  In  my  judgment,  under  the 
Des  Moines  plan  of  so-called  commission  government,  the 
people  can  more  readily  discriminate  in  the  selection  of  their 
officials  and  more  competent  men  are  more  liable  to  be  selected. 
Under  this  plan  of  government  the  people  will  have  no 
difficulty  in  fixing  the  responsibility  .and  the  councilman  who 
is  superintendent  of  any  department  must  account  directly  to 
the  people  for  the  conduct  of  that  department.  The  paying 
of  salaries  to  these  officials  requiring  their  entire  time,  the 
selection  of  the  officials  at  large,  and  without  regard  to  ward 
lines,  the  elimination  of  partisan  politics  and  non-partisan 
election,  together  with  the  centering  of  responsibility,  must 
get  results  that  could  not  be  had  under  the  usual  form  of  Mayor 
and  Council,  with  its  divided  responsibility. 

We  have  been  operating  under  this  plan  in  Des  Moines  for 
six  months,  and  as  an  official  who  has  served  as  Mayor  for  five 
years,  under  the  the  Mayor  and  ward  Council  plan,  I  have  to 
say  that  there  is  no  comparison  possible  between  the  two 
methods.  Under  this  plan  the  business  of  the  city  is  disposed 
of  promptly  and  intelligently.  Daily  meetings  of  the  council 
result  in  the  members  being  in  touch  with  the  entire  city  work, 


10  The    I  dea  . 

and  giving  their  entire  time  to  its  conduct  prompt  and  effective- 
results  are  obtained.  In  my  judgment  the  governing  of  cities 
by  small  bodies  of  men,  elected  at  large,  and  paid  adequate 
salaries,  will  be  the  prevailing  system  in  the  near  future.  In 
other  words,  a  city's  business  will  be  conducted  by  men  trained 
to  and  compensated  for  the  work. 


THE  JEWISH  RECORD 


The  Idea  desires  to  extend  its  greeting  to  The  Jewish 
Record,  a  weekly  magazine,  the  first  number  of  which  appeared 
under  date  of  September  19th. 

Unlike  many,  The  Idea  is  sincerely  glad  to  see  the  Jew 
take  part  in  all  the  activities  of  life,  because  The  Idea  is 
extremely  desirous  that  Jewish  ideals,  as  exemplified  in  their 
laws  of  health  and  sanitation,  shall  exert  their  j^roper  good 
influence  on  our  modern  civilization.  All  hail  to  the  Jewish 
race,  to  whom  America  and  all  modern  civilizations  are  in- 
debted more  than  they  are  willing  to  admit. 

We  earnestly  hope  that  The  Jeivisli  Record  may  occupy 
the  same  position  for  betterment  to  the  community  in  which 
it  circulates  that  Jewish  teachings  occupy  to  the  nations  of  the 
earth. 


HIGH   SCHOOL   CHAIRS. 

If  what  the  papers  say  be  true  then  there  is  certainly 
somebody  connected  with  the  city  who  is  a  party  to  the  crime 
of  cheating  the  city  in  connection  with  the  purchase  of  chairs 
for  the  High  School  Aiiditorium. 

Everybody  knows  that  such  a  bold  thing  would  not  be 
attempted  if  the  sellers  did  not  know  that  there  was  such  a 
loose  system  of  purchasing  that  they  stood  small  chance  of 
being  detected. 

The  method  of  stealing  from  Richmond  tax-payers  must 
be  pretty  well  understood  by  the  grafters  when  they'll  resort 
to  stealing  a  sample  chair  and  replacing  it  with  another  of 
inferior  quality. 


The     Idea.  IT 

ISTo  such  deeds  would  lio  done  if  Richmond  did  not  have 
such  a  buriglesome  system  of  buying  as  to  give  great  confidence 
to  thieves  that  all  would  be  AvelL 

The  fact  is,  no  one  will  ever  be  able  to  adequately  estimate 
the  amount  of  graft  there  has  been  going  on  in  connection 
with  the  High  School  Building. 

Let  the  manufacturers  deliver  the  chairs  ordered  and  let 
the  School  Board  see  to  it  that  no  concessions  are  made  to 
those  who  are  caught  red-handed.  The  citizens  of  Richmond 
are  getting  tired  of  paying  for  things  they  don't  get.  But 
they'll  have  to  keep  on  at  it  until  the  city  adopts  the  commis- 
sion form  of  government. 

It  enn  be  safely  relied  on,  however,  that  the  present  council, 
elected  by  the  old  ward  system  machine,  will  never  favor  a 
change  that  will  break  up  their  power. 

The  citizens  will  have  to  act  over  the  heads  of  councilmen. 


Dear  Sir — The  following  were  open  and  doing  business 
Sunday,  October  3,  1909: 

1404  East  Main. 

Corner  of  Seventh  and  Main. 

Corner  of  Seventh  and  Main. 

Between  Second  and  First  on  Main. 

Between  Bank  and  Franklin.  ]Srinth. 

Elkington's,  on  Broad. 

ISText  to  Richmond  ISTews  Company. 

"Murphy's"  Cigar  Store   (hotel). 

About  six  other  places  I  can't  remember. 

Can't  you  make  some  mention  of  this  in  your  next  issue  ?' 
The  police  need  waking  up,  and  The  Idea  is  the  medium 
which  can  mak^  them  sit  up  and  beg. 

Yours  verv  trulv.  H.  G.   Carlisle. 


A  letter  has  just  been  received  from  J^orfolk  begging  that 
The  Idea  undertake  its  work  also  in  that  city. 

Calls  are  continually  coming  to  us  to  extend  our  sphere 
of  labor,   but  to  them  the  reply  must  be  made  that  the  d'e- 


\2  The     1  dea. 

maud  for  the  endeavors  of  this  paper  is  too  great  and  the  field 
of  labor  here  too  broad  to  attempt  to  add  any  new  fields.  The 
Idea  hopes  in  time  to  become  a  genuine  State  magazine  with 
a  staff  of  prominent  writers  and  forceful  and  diligent  workers 
for  the  common  good.  Virginia,  with  its  State-wide  political 
corruption,  presents  a  vast  and  undiscovered  field  of  operation, 
and  The  Idea  plans  to  enter  it  and  send  out  from  Richmond 
each  week  a  j)aper  whose  influence  shall  be  cast  for  the  better- 
ment of  conditions  in  Virginia,  and  whose  influence  shall  be 
ever  used  for  the  purifying  of  polities  and  the  uplifting  of 
manhood  in  the  Old  Dominion. 


AN  AWAKENED  CITY 


Remarkable  Showing  Made  In  The  Begeneration 
of  Paterson,  N.  J. 


The  city  of  Paterson,  IST.  J.,  has  suffered  so  much  in  recent 
years  from  bad  government,  from  fires  and  from  a  largely 
undeserved  reproach  of  being  a  headquarters  of  criminal 
anarchy,  that  it  is  gratifying  to  find  it  now  making  a  far  more 
lavorable  record,  which,  indeed,  might  well  cause  the  silk  city 
to  be  an  object  of  envy  to  many  more  pretentious  municipalities. 

The  report  of  the  Mayor  for  the  last  fiscal  year  makes  a 
really  remarkable  showing.  For  the  eighteen  years  imme- 
diately preceding  the  last  two  years  there  was  invariably  a 
deficit  in  the  city's  accounts  at  the  end  of  ^ach  fiscal  year. 
But  the  year  before  last  that  dismal  rule  was  broken  with  a 
small  surplus,  and  last  year  the  surplus  was  the  largest  in  the 
city's  history,  although  all  bills  had  been  paid  and  there  had 
been  exceptionally  large  appropriations  for  public  works  of 
various  kinds.  There  were  also  large  payments  on  the  public 
debt,  so  that  while  $300,000  of  school  and  street  improvement 
bonds    were    issued,    the   net   bonded    debt   was   decreased   bv 


The    I  dea.  1» 

$88,000  and  the  flouting  debt  by  $224,000,  and  tlu;  yearly 
interest  charge  was  reduced  by  more  than  lY  per  cent. 

All  this  was  accomplished  without  increase  of  taxation. 
On  the  contrary,  for  the  ensuing  year  the  tax  rate  has  been 
materially  reduced,  an  achievement  which  may  not  be  rivaled 
by  any  other  city  in  the  State.  The  secret  of  it  all  is  that 
taxes  have  been  thoroughly  and  promptly  collected,  needless 
expenses  have  been  avoided,  and  the  whole  city  government 
has  been  conducted  in  an  economical,  as  well  as  a  highly  efficient, 
manner.  Thus  a  considerable  block  of  municipal  bonds  were 
paid  off  during  the  year  v^ith  money  saved  in  the  various  de- 
partments, and  at  the  same  time  the  general  testimony  was 
that  the  departments  were  more  efficiently  conducted  than  ever 
before. 

Much  credit  for  this  connnendable  state  of  affairs  is  justly 
to  be  given  to  the  Mayor  and  his  lieutenants  and  to  the  various 
commissions  who  have  been  directing  the  city;  for  it  will  be 
recalled  that  Pater  son  is  one  of  those  cities  which  have  revolted 
against  aldermanic  inefficiency  and  corruption  and  have  adopt- 
ed the  system  of  government  by  commission.  But  we  should 
probably  give  the  chief  credit  after'  all  to  the  aroused  and 
aggressive  public  sentiment  which  made  itself  felt  at  the  polls 
and  thus  brought  about  this  municipal  revolution. — New  York 
Tribune. 


ON  CITY  GOVEENMENT. 

As  an  executive,  his  Honor,  the  Mayor  is  a  distinct  failure. 
Not  so  much  perhaps  does  he  lack  as  the  system  of  which  he 
is  part.  If  we  are  determined  to  preserve  the  triune  form  of 
governmental  machinery,  no  misfits  can  be  allowed.  Each 
department  must  be  effectual  in  itself.  As  prime  administra- 
tor, the  Mayor  is  a  front  and  head  piece  of  the  machine.  As 
to  the  courts  and  the  legislative  machinery,  he  should  keep 
his  hands  to  himself.  The  law-makers  need  not  necessarily 
be  composed  of  two  houses.  A  wholesome  and  guarded  veto 
power  should  rest  in  the  chief  executive. 

The  situation  should  never  be  too  large  for  him  to  sit  upon 
when  need  calls,   unless,   perhaps,   he   does  so   in  usurpation. 


14  The    I  dea. 

If  check  must  be  applied,  it  should  come  from  a  hand  strength- 
ened by  law  and  nerved  by  right.  The  judiciary  element 
should  be  set  apart  from  all  legislative  and  executive  func- 
tion. Reform  in  the  present  condition  might  be  made  to 
serve  valuable  purpose  ad  interim.  But,  as  a  fact  well  settled 
in  the  minds  of  us  all,  municipalities  are  better  governed  after 
corporation  models.  The  models  must  be  worth  copying  and 
■executive  details  must  be  honestly  placed  and  correctly  ad- 
ministered. In  the  municipality  there  is  no  need  for  a  con- 
gress, a  bench  of  justices  and  a  frontispiece  administrator. 
There  are  methods  broadly  based  on  sound  experimental 
practice  that  can  be  copied  into  any  city  code  and  checked 
.at  intervals  wherever  legal  safeguards  are  needful.  Mere 
matters  of  detail  come  always  after  well  defined  principles 
are  discovered  and  applied.  A  city  is  no  longer  a  province, 
neither  i-s  it  simply  a  chartered  creature.  It  is  an  expres- 
sion of  power  applied  to  regiilation  and  control  with  direct 
action  and  all  the  municipal  checks  and  balances  that  cor- 
poration experience  has  set  by  way  of  model  for  corporation 
imitation. 

The  ordinance-making  power  is  of  the  citizens.  Executive 
functions  are  provided  by  civic  employees  from  the  body  of 
the  people  themselves.  We  are  the  people  and  we  are  the 
law  makers,  the  executives  and  the  judiciary  ourselves.  It  is 
for  us  to  delegate  amongst  ourselves  the  details  of  functional 
activity.  We  are  not  rulers  and  ruled,  we  are  not  sovereigns 
and  subjects,  we  are  machines  operating  municipal  business 
for  the  benefit  of  our  citizens,  and  it  is  not  for  us  to  con- 
sider ofiicc,  place,  dignities,  powers  and  functions  as  pri- 
vate property  any  longer.  The  day  for  that  view  has  happily 
passed  beyond  us. 

Opportunities  and  powers  of  graft  are  misapplication. 
.  They  are  not  vested  rights  or  even  permissible  privileges. 
We  are  not  at  any  stage  of  municipal  operation,  more  than 
servants  commissioned  by  our  public.  We  are  not,  invested 
with  discretionary  powers,  except  within  distinct  and  care- 
fully delimited  areas. 

Within  limits  thus  broadly  defined,  it  is  possible  to  con- 
stitute and  erect  a  machinery  of  government  that  will  operate 


The    I  dea.  15 

automatically    and    correctly,    with    but    narrow    margins    for 
abuse. 

Strict  construction  must  be  the  rule  of  reading,  and  dutv 
must  be  the  motive  that  underlies  action,  with  punishment  for 
its  peril  and  safeguards  thrown  about  every  step  of  its  progi-ess. 
The  servants  of  the  public  are  fiduciary  agents  and  woe  be 
to  those  who  fail  of  their  set  responsibility. 


THREE  YEARS  OLD 

Ripe  and  Mellow 


COUNTRY 

\/    I    1^1    l^_  Cri  X\   rx  for  pickh'ng  or  family  use. 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^igj^i^^^^gg  Makes  life  worth  living. 

Made  by  Nature's  Own  Process 


-FOR  SALE  AT- 


40 


CENTS 

PER   GAL. 
BY 


W.  G.  MAHONE 

Grocer  and  Feed  Dealer 


806  TO  816  Brook  Ave.         Phone,  Madison  1086 


SQUABS 


Phone  Monroe  427 
when  you  want  the 
very  best  HOMER 
SQUABS  obtainable, 
get   them  from   ATKINS   SQUAB   COMPANY. 

The  Largest  Squab  Plant  in  the  City 

Mated  Homers  for  sale.     Address 

J.  H.  ATKINS 

1418-1418^^  W.  Beverly  St.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 


I  STAR  CLEANING  &  PRESSING  CLUB  | 

11th  and  Broad  Streets  Phone,  Madison  4034  |? 

Promptness  is  our  Long  Suit.  yy 

THE  "IDEA"  IS  THIS!  K- 


^ 


Your  last  winter's  suit  needs  looking  after.     We  will  fix  it  up  to  look  as  good 
5  as  new  at  very  low  cost. 

Another  "Idea!"     We  will  keep  the  cost  of  that  new  sviit  in  your  pocket. 

We  do  the  best  work  that  can  be  done ;   there  are  no  better  workmen 
in  the  city  than  ours. 

LADIES'  WORK  DITTO  ABOVE! 

STAR  CLEANING  &  PRESSING  CLUB 

11th  and  Broad  Streets  Phone,  Madison  4034 


K- 


Promptness  is  our  Long  Suit. 


For  T{eliable 


FURNITURE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 


CLEANLINESS 

IS  THE  FIRST  OF  THE  VIRTUES 


The  French  surpass  us  all  as  cleaners,  and  the  arts 
of  those  masters  of  art  applied  to  Clothes  and  Cover- 
ings, Draperies  and  Carpets  make  success  certain  at 

3J5  NORTH  FIFTH  STREET 

Suits  are  new  after  Steam  and  French  System  have 
done  their  work  Only  the  gloss  of  new  is  gone. 
Garments  of  men,  Draperies  of  dames,  all  sorts  of 
stufls  in  Costumes  Suits  and  Hangings  are  Dyed, 
Scoured,  Bleached,  Renovated  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  know  and  do. 

The  Cost  is  Small   Compared  to  the  Effect 

arBBBaaaecag^BBaBBagaa   ii         ,  i  aaa^gaa 

THE   TELEPHONE   NUMBER   IS   MADISON   2522 


A.  H.  EWINQ    i 


CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


Wl 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


PHONE  1821 


vTW  The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
vTW       and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


TELL  THE  BOY 


R 


»^ 


TO  BRING 
THE  IDEA 


EGULARLY  to  you  at  your  home  or  office.  It'll 
help  the  boy  and  you  and  The  Idea.  See?  If  the 
boys  don't  come  yeur  way.  notify  us  or  send  50  cents 
for  a  three  months  subscription  or  one  dollar  for  six 
months  or  two  dollars  for  a  year. 


LOOK!  ADVERTISER! 


THE  IDEA 

is  booming.     You'd  better  take  advantage  of  it. 
Our  sales  from  one  station  alone  on  Church 
Hill  have  increased  in  last  month  from 

600  UP  TO  1,100  COPIES 

It's  up  to  you.     Call  by  the  office  or  drop 
us  a  line  for  Ad.  Rates. 


WEEKLY 


5c 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


A   SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill 


Oct.  16,  1909 


No.  20 


$2.00  A  YEAR 


JUSTICE  GILKKKT  ill;  JUSTICE  JOHN  ? 

For  Sale  Ai  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER. 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St..  Richmond,  Va. 


LOOK!  ADVERTISER! 

THE  IDEA 

IS     BOOMING 

You'd  better  take  advuntap^e  of  it.     Our  sales  from  one  station 
alone  on  Cliurcli  Hill  Lave  increased  in  la-t  month  from 

600  UP  TO  1,100  COPIES 

It's  up  to  you.     Call  by  the  ofl'iee  or  drop  us  a  line  for  Ad   Rates 

JEWELER  J.    S.   JAMES  OPTICIAN 

7t*'  AND    MAIN    STS. 

We  have  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 
showing'  special  (rood  values  in 

DIAMONDS,  WATCHES,  IMIRY,  SIlVERWARf,  CUT  GIASS,  lie. 

We  invite  your  inspection 


— The  Greatest  American 


■THOS.  A.  EDISON 


Invented  the  Phonograph,  and  the 
Edison  Machine  is  recognized  as  the 
Sweetest  Toned  of  all  such  Instru- 
ments. All  of  Edison's  Records 
and  Machines  are  on  sale  in  Rich- 
mond on  easy  terms  at  603  East 
Main  Street. 

C.  B.  HAYNES  &  CO. 

Phone  Madison  6227  The  Edison  Phonograph 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  OCTOBER  16,   1909  No.  20 


5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Yeab 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Ya. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10, 1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


POLICY  IN  POLICE  COURT 


Justice  John  Encourages  Crime 


Recently  a  policeman  arrested,  a  negro  on  the  charge  of 
selling  policy  and  brought  into  court  a  trunk  full  of  policy 
paraphernalia,  including  hooks  of  signs,  policy  sheets  and  all 
the  necessary  equipment  for  carrying  on  the  business.  The 
evidence  showed  that  the  negro  had  in  his  hand  at  the  time 
of  his  arrest  the  record  sheets  on  which  entries  are  made,  and 
was  sitting  behind  his  desk  used  for  that  purpose,  and  yet 
Justice  John  dismissed  the  case  for  want  of  evidence.  Many 
has  been  the  time  that  poor  people  not  of  the  vicious  criminal 
class  have  been  fined  and  insulted  in  this  court  on  very  slight 
evidence  of  infraction  of  some  minor  law,  but  when  one  of  the 
most  dangerous  men  in  the  community  is  caught  with  all 
manner  of  evidence  of  crime,  the  Justice  sees  fit,  for  reasons 
known  only  to  himself  and  other  interested  few,  to  dismiss 
the  case  and  let  the  criminal  go  free.  The  chief  of  police 
finds  it  almost  impossible  to  break  up  the  policy  business, 
largely   because    when  the   crooks  are    caught  they  go    free 


2  T  h  e    I dea . 

through  the  kindness  (  ?)  of  Justice  John.  We  wonder  what 
the  nature  of  the  connection  is  between  the  criminals  and 
Justice  John  that  the  worst  of  them  have  such  a  pull. 

The  ways  of  the  politicians  are  indeed  past  finding  out.. 


Public  Offices  Used  For 
Private  Gain 


Real  Estate  Men  Improve  Their  Own  Property  At. 
The  Expense  of  The  Poor  Taxpayer 


POLLARD  AND  GREEN 


Loud  and  frequent  have  heen  the  complaints  against  cer- 
tain members  of  the  city  council  for  having  their  property 
improved  while  more  needed  improvements  were  neglected, 
around  the  properties  of  those  who  have  paid  taxes  for  even 
generations,  but  who  could  not  get  the  needed  improvements 
because  they  did  not  "stand  in"  or  did  not  "bcve  a  pull"  or- 
happened  to  be  on  unfriendly  terms  with  certain  crooked 
politicians. 

The  attention  of  The  Idea  has  been  called  to  the  fact- 
that  two  real  estate  concerns  have  very  active  councilmen  as 
parties  in  their  business,  and  that  these  concerns  are  doing 
fine  business  as  a  result  of  this  fact. 

The  firm  of  Pollard  &  Bagby  has  done  a  wonderful  busi- 
ness in  the  past  few  years  and  those  who  know  attribute  it 
to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Pollard  is  in  the  city  council  and  is  so 
shrewd  and  smooth  tongued  a  councilman  that  he  is  popular 
not  only  with  the  bosses  and  slide  and  crooked  members  of  the 
council,  but  also  with  the  clean  and  honest  members  of  that: 
body. 


The     Idea.  5 

As  a  result  of  his  influence  in  the  council  property  owners 
naturally  prefer  to  turn  their  rentals  and  sales  over  to  his 
concern.  A  prospective  seller  of  real  estate  will  list  his 
property  with  this  concern  because  he  knows  that  it  will  be 
to  his  advantage  to  have  such  a  councilman  as  his  agent,  for 
the  agent,  desiring  to  increase  his  commissions  on  the  sale, 
will  use  his  influence  to  have  the  property  improved  so  that  it 
will  command  a  better  figure  in  the  market  and  also  be  of 
easy  sale.  You  know  it  is  so  easy  to  sell  property  if  you  can 
say  that  the  city  is  spending  money  in  that  section — has  laid 
new  granolithic  walks  and  has  appropriated  money  for  asphalt 
block  roadway. 

Then  an  ad  is  seen  in  the  paper — Pollard  &  Bagby  sold 
such  and  such  a  property  on  yesterday  at  such  and  such  a 
figure,  being  twice  the  price  paid  for  the  same  property  four 
years  ago. 

Then  perchance  follows  a  description  of  the  favored  sec- 
tion, ]u-aising  the  streets,  etc.,  but  not  a  word  is  said  to  show 
that  Mr.  Pollard's  influence  as  councilman  was  largely  respon- 
sible for  these  im23rovements. 

As  a  result,  however,  the  firm's  business  increases 
phenominally,  as  is  shown  by  the  boastful  reports  in  the 
papers,  and  Pollard  grows  rich  all  because  he  is  able  to  com- 
mand votes  for  his  pet  schemes  in  the  council. 

ISTew  patrons  come  to  the  concern  because  they  see  that 
the  concern  gets  results.  Very  naturally  the  careful  investor 
engages  the  powerful  firm  because  he  wants  his  property  im- 
proved, and  so  we  find  that  our  old  system  of  government  by 
councilmen  is  not  much  more  than  a  big  grab  game — each 
councilman  trying  to  out  do  his  neighbor  in  getting  some  irii- 
provement  for  his  section.  Go  to  the  committee  meetings  and 
council  meetings  and  you  will  be  astounded  to  hear  the  city 
fathers  of  Richmond  continually  squabbling  over  where  the 
money  shall  be  spent,  each  little  ^vard  representative  pulling 
for  his  section,  or,  if  he  can  fool  his  constituents,  helping  the 
other  fellow  through  with  a  "deal." 

This  abuse  of  the  people's  trust  has  gotten  so  open  that 
recently  it  has  become  a  standing  joke  in  the  council  and 
committee  meetings  to  ask  "what  are  you  getting  out  of  this  ?" 


4  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

and  to  insinuate  that  the  other  fellow  is  getting  more  than  his 
share  of  the  graft.  Men  with  the  respect  of  their  communities 
are  parties  to  these  base  schemes  and  seem  to  regard  it  as  a 
part  of  their  legitimate  pay  to  loot  the  people's  treasury  for 
their  private  gain. 

Just  recently  the  firm  of  Green  &  Eedd  conceived  the  plan 
of  having  the  city  pay  for  improving  their  property  way  out 
beyond  Soldiers'  Home. 

Lee  Park  is  a  land  boom  scheme  out  in  this  section, 
owned  by  Green  &  Redd,  with  acres  and  acres  of  unimproved 
open  fields  between  it  and  the  city  proper  and  yet  Mr.  Green, 
of  the  real  estate  firm,  and  Mr.  Pollard,  another  real  estate 
man,  both  councilmen,  appeared  before  the  street  committee 
of  the  council  and  publicly  advised  the  committee  to  spend 
several  thousand  dollars  of  the  people's  money  way  out  there 
in  the  country  in  opening  up  streets  over  the  property  of  this 
private  concern,  and  the  committee  voted  the  money  on  the 
flimsy  pretext  that  if  they  did  not  open  the  streets  now  they 
might  have  to  pay  more  later  for  damages  if  the  grading  was 
done  after  buildings  were  erected.  They  voted  to  spend  the 
money  of  taxpayers  who  had  paid  for  tens  of  years  and  gotten 
no  improvements  in  order  to  save  money  for  some  possible 
future  taxpayer,  when  the  grade  could  easily  be  established 
now  without  spending  $3,050  to  improve  the  streets,  and  the 
property  owners  could  have  no  recourse  on  the  city  if  they 
ignored  the  city's  established  grade. 

!N'ow,  the  point  is  this:  that  favored  interests  can  get 
their  property  improved,  with  city  money,  way  out  in  the 
country,  while  unfavored,  poor  people,  in  almost  the  heart  of 
the  city,  must  wade  in  mud  or  dust  for  lack  of  a  few"  hundred 
dollars  of  necessary  and  long  over-due  improvements  and  pay 
high  taxes  for  the  benefit  of  country  land  booms. 

The  annals  of  the  council  are  filled  with  record's  of  private 
real  estate  graft  games.  It  is  no  new  thing  for  councilmen  to 
buy  up  land  and  then  rush  through  the  council  an  expensive 
appropriation  for  its  improvement. 

Any  citizen  who  has  watched  the  records  of  the  city's  legis- 
lative body  can  tell  you  who  did  it.     The  Idea  is  concerned 


T  h  e     1  d  e  a  .  *> 

only  about  the  present  and  to  show  up  those  in  present  bad 
practice  and  to  point  the  remedy  in  shearing  these  privileged 
parties  of  their  power  and  in  adopting  a  form  of  goverament 
which  will  eradicate  this  crooked  work. 

Government  by  a  paid  council  of  five  men,  elected  at  large, 
not  by  wards,  would  insure  the  election  of  cleaner  men  and 
would  make  an  effective  and  responsible  and  economical  man- 
agement. This  is  the  remedy  other  cities  have  tried  and  found 
excellent.  Why  should  not  Richmond  try  it  also?  If  Rich- 
mond don't  try  it  it  will  be  because  the  politicians  find  they 
can't  thrive  under  it. 

When  the  politicians  don't  want  a  thing  it  is  time  for  the 
people  to  seriously  consider  it,  for  the  chances  are  it  is  the 
thing  to  adopt. 

POLLOCK   INVESTIGATOR 


Grain  Graft 


The  grain  gi-aft  investigation  now  going  on  develops  the 
fact  that  the  engineering  department  has  no  method  of  check- 
ing the  weight  of  grain  delivered  to  the  city,  and  if  drivers 
or  contractors  desired  to  steal  from  the  city  it  has  been  a  very 
easy  matter  to  do  so;  and  in  the  matter  of  grain  from  Alvey 
it  is  certain  that  stealing  has  been  goiiig  on  for  years  without 
any  suspicion  of  it  on  the  part  of  the  city. 

Certainly  no  large  private  buyer  would  rely  so  implicitly 
on  the  honesty  and  integrity  of  others  as  to  utterly  ignore 
the  need  for  checking  up  receipts. 

It  appears  from  the  investigation  that  the  city  pays  for 
gi'ain  on  bills  showing  simply  that  the  weighmaster  had 
weighed  so  much  grain  without  any  assurance  that  the  city 
ever  actually  got  the  goods. 

We  wonder  where  these  investigations  will  end,  anyway. 
We  suppose  that  this  one  will  wind  up  like  the  most  of  them — 
perfect  farces. 


'6  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

It  looked  rather  incongi-uous  to  see  Gilbert  Pollock  pre- 
siding over  the  investigation  into  the  grain  theft. 

The  Idea,  for  one,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  it  thinks 
he  needs  to  be  investigated  as  much  as  those  over  whom  he 
sat  as  chief  investigator. 


THE    SAUI^DEES    SUIT. 

Though  no  day  has  been  set  for  the  suit  entered  by  Clyde 
W.  Saunders  against  The  Idea  and  its  printers,  still  it  cannot 
■come  up  for  trial  before  some  time  in  January,  and  may  not 
come  up  then. 


PLAYING   POLITICS 


Who  is  Mayor? 


Those  citizens  who  missed  seeing  ''The  Man  of  the  Hour" 
at  the  Academy  recently  lost  a  most  valuable  opportunity  of 
learning  the  manner  in  which  they  are  betrayed.  It  was  the 
most  instructive  sermon  to  the  taxpayers  we  have  ever  heard 
and  it  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  more  of  them  were  not 
present.  To  see  the  play  is  to  understand  why  Pollock  and 
Leaman  and  Saunders  are  so  "interested"  in  city  politics ; 
why  Mayor  Richardson  thinks  he  can't  enforce  the  law;  why 
Justice  Crutchfield  does  not  give  justice,  and  why  contracts 
are  let  to  the  highest  bidder. 

It  was  a  fine  piece  of  work  to  see,  when  the  political  boss, 
who  was  sending  an  order  to  the  police,  who  were  subser- 
vient to  him,  was  forcefully  informed  by  the  Mayor  that  he 
— the  mayor — was  the  head  of  the  police  department  and  the 
police  would  do  his  bidding. 

What  a  pity  the  Mayor  of  Richmond  is  not  big  enough  to 
show  the  crooks  and  politicians  that  he  is  Mayor  and  that  he 
is  the  head  of  the  police  department  and  that  he  will  see  to 
it  that  the  laws  are  enforced. 


The    Idea.  7 

It  is  a  very  pertinent  question  to  ask  is  Mayor  Richardson 
really  Mayor  or  is  he  just  a  figure-head,  and  if  he  don't  do 
his  duty  to  enforce  the  law  who  is  the  man  behind  who  does 
direct  the  workings  of  the  police  department! 

One  thing  dead  sure,  the  laws  of  the  State  are  utterly 
ignored  in  Eichmond  and  Mayor  Richardson,  who  has  taken 
an  oath  to  the  State  to  enforce  them,  is  responsible  for  the 
failure. 


WHO   WOULD   YOU    HAVE  AS 
COMMISSIONERS? 


McCarthy  proposed 


The  enemies  of  the  commission  plan  have  thrown  cold 
water  on  the  proposition  by  suggesting  that  Justice  John  be 
one  of  the  commissioners. 

This  is  nothing  but  a  scheme  to  kill  the  idea  of  commission 
government,  for  every  one  knows  that  even  the  proposal  of 
such  an  event  would  bring  the  plan  into  disfavor.  There  are 
a  host  of  good  men  whom  Richmond  could  draft  into  service 
and  honor  herself  by  the  act. 

The  Idea  will  name  three  who  are  already  in  public  life, 
though  Richmond  should  select  from  private  life  strong,  able, 
experienced  men  of  large  affairs  to  hold  such  important  posi- 
tions. 

Carlton  McCarthy,  by  all  means,  should  be  one,  as  he  is 
the  best  equipped  man  in  the  State  for  such  a  position.  As 
Mayor  he  could  accomplish  little;  as  commissioner  he  could 
work  wonders.  His  experience,  his  integrity,  his  fearlessness, 
and  his  natural  ability  mark  him  as  the  one  man  to  head 
such  a  commission. 

Commissioner  of  Revenue  Hawkins  would  make  another, 
and  even  Mayor  Richardson,  though  he  has  not  yet  the  proper 
respect  for  law,  might  make  another  good  commissioner. 

Five  such  men  of  integrity  could  work  a  revolution  in 
"Richmond,  and  it  is  high  time  that  such  a  change  were  made. 


8  The    Idea. 

It  is  even  argued  that  five  weaklings — even  the  worst  that 
could  be  found — would  do  better  than  fifty-six  men,  because 
of  the  one  big  gain — individual  responsibility.  As  it  is,  no 
one  knows  who  the  responsible  parties  are.  The  bills  all  go 
through  so  many  committees  and  sub-committees  that  the  crook 
gets  in  his  dirty  work,  but  no  one  can  trace  it  to  the  particular 
crook  without  spending  a  lifetime  in  watching. 


A  Public  Nuisance 


The  Idea  would  enquire  why  the  Virginia-Carolina 
Chemical  Company  is  permitted  to  operate,  unhindered,  a 
nuisance  in  the  city  of  Richmond,  while  an  ordinary  citizen 
would  be  jailed  for  the  same  offence.  Almost  any  morning 
when  the  wind  is  from  the  right  quarter  an  over-powering 
odor  ascends  up  to  Capitol  Square  and  swee^DS  over  the  residence 
section  of  the  city  to  the  unspeakable  insult  of  the  olfactory 
nerves  of  thousands  of  citizens.  Still  the  Chemical  Company, 
from  whence  the  foul  incense  emenates,  continues  to  operate 
without  molestation,  while  visitors  to  the  city  wander  out  of 
the  hotels  and  enquire  where  the  health  department  is. 

It  is  certainly  up  to    somebody  to  abate    this  nuisance. 

What  has  the  Chemical  Company  done  for  the  police  de- 
partment that  they  do  not  arrest  the  wealthy  operators  ? 


THE  STREET  CLEANERS 


What  has  become  of  the  street  cleaning  department  ?  Up 
to  recently  they  had  been  doing  fairly  well,  but  a  change  has 
taken  place.  Has  the  fund  for  this  purpose  been  exhausted  ? 
Certain  it  is  that  the  city  is  not  having  its  streets  cleaned  as 
of  yore.  And  when  the  sweepers  do  get  started  the  sprinkler 
has  gone  on  so  long  before  that  the  streets  are  dry  and  the 


The    Idea.  9 

disagreeable    and    imhealthy    dust    is    as   bad    as    leaving   the 
debris  in  the  streets. 

The  city  operates  an  intermittent  sprinkler  where  a  better 
service  is  needed. 


The  Idea  is  compiling  a  list  of  names  of  the  ov^^ners  of 
houses  in  the  red  light  district  and  vs^ill  publish  these  shortly 
and  show  up  the  men  who  are  worse  than  the  low  inmates  of 
these  places,  some  of  whom  are  there  as  a  result  of  ignorance 
and  misfortune. 

The  owners,  on  the  other  hand,  are  much  greater  criminals, 
in  that  they  carry  on  their  nefarious  trade  in  immorality 
through  knowledge  and  fortune  and  greed. 


VIRGINIA  NEWS  IN  THE  TIMES- 
DISPATCH 


Those  who  really  think  The  Times-DisiMtch  is  a  real, 
"sho-nuff"  newspaper  would  do  well  sometimes  in  their  search 
for  the  news  which  the  "Supreme  in  Virginia"  fails  to  give 
them,  to  compare  the  press  dispatches  of  some  out  of  the  State 
paper  with  those  of  the  Richmond  morning  daily. 

Just  recently  when  the  League  of  Virginia  Municipalities 
convened  in  Staunton  The  Times-Dispatch  gave  such  a  limited 
and  abbreviated  report  of  the  first  day's  proceedings  that 
Richmond  people  interested  in  the  convention  bought  The 
Washington  Post  in  order  to  get  the  news,  and  there  found  a 
fine  account  of  the  meeting  of  the  night  before  which  the 
"Supreme"  had  not  even  mentioned.  It  looks  as  though  The 
Times-Dispatch  correspondent  mailed  his  little  article  from 
Staunton  and  since  the  mails  are  slower  than  the  telegraphy 
which  other  papers  use,  the  correspondent  had  to  go  to  the 
post-office  before  the  night  meeting  was  held. 

If  you  want  the  Virginia  news  you'll  hardly  get  it  from 
the  paper  that  boasts  its  supremacy.     On  the  other  hand,  if 


10  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

you'll  send  out  of  the  State  for  it  you  may  find  out  wliat;  is 
going  on  in  Virginia. 


MEETING  ON  CHURCH  HILL 


The  Editor  to  Speak 


The  editor  of  The  Idea  lias  been  importuned  to  speak  on 
many  occasions  recently,  both  in  Richmond  and  in  other  cities, 
but  all  such  invitations  he  has  felt  it  his  duty  to  decline, 
because  of  his  lack  of  ability  as  a  speaker  and  his  lack  of 
time  from  more  important  work. 

The  Christ  Church  Association  on  Venable  street  has  in- 
sisted on  a  talk  to  men  at  the  Association  Hall  on  Thursday, 
October  21st,  at  8  o'clock,  and  as  the  "aim  is  to  institute  a 
spirit  of  reform  along  certain  lines  of  public  interest,"  aiid 
as  the  editor  is  anxious  to  do  all  he  can  to  bring  about  a  state 
of  respect  for,  and  enforcement  of,  law  he  has  finally  c-n- 
sented  to  speak  on  that  occasion. 

Then,  too,  he  thinks  that  if  he  shows  how  poor  a  speaker 
he  is  he  won't  be  worried  with  so  many  invitations  to  talk. 


Some  complaints  are  made  that  carriers  fail  to  deliver 
The  Idea  to  regular  buyers.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  cer- 
tain employees  of  some  of  the  daily  papers  have  done,  and  are 
doing,  all  they  can  to  hnrt  the  business  of  The  Idea  by  means 
fair  or  foul,  and  unless  you  are  getting  good  service  as  it  is, 
it  would  be  well  to  have  The  Idea  mailed  to  you  regularly. 
This  can  be  easily  arranged  by  seeing  The  Idea  man  at  904 
Capitol  street,  or  mailing  your  subscription  to  The  Idea, 
Richmond,  Va.  Rates  are  $2.00  a  year  or  $1.00  for  six 
months.  When  you  miss  a  number  it's  always  the  one  you 
wanted  to  see. 


The.     idea.  11 

ROCK  STEALING 


A  member  of  the  Committee  on  Streets  informs  us  that  the 
contractor,  who  paved  the  alley,  as  told  in  the  last  number 
of  The  IdeAj  with  old  city  block,  while  the  city  paid  him  for 
new  block,  had  a  perfect  right  to  do  this,  for,  said  the  commit- 
teeman, he  told  the  contractor  he  might  use  the  old  city  block. 

And  what  do  you  think  of  that  ?  A  committeeman  telling 
a  contractor  it  would  be  all  right  to  give  the  city  its  own  old 
stone  in  place  of  new  ones  which  the  taxpayer  is  paying  for. 
My !  what  will  happen  next  ?  The  Idea  proposes  to  turn  on  the 
light  and  let  the  citizens  see  where  their  money  goes.  AVill  the 
people  stand  for  any  such  deal  as  this  ?  The  Idea  calls  this  Rot- 
ten Dealing.  Even  if  the  blocks  were  good  as  new,  and  they 
were  not,  why  should  you  and  I  pay  for  them  twice  ? 


TAFT  ON  LAW  EISTFORCEMENT. 

President  Taft,  in  his  California  utterances,  frankly  voices 
his  adhesion  to  the  Eosveltian  policies,  of  amendment  and 
reform.  Everywhere  in  the  country  he  finds  sigTis  of  an  on- 
coming prosperity  that  promises  business  enterprise  and 
expansion  never  before  seen  in  this  country.  But  he  warns 
us  of  accompanying  responsibilities  and  duties  we  may  not 
disregard.  For  himself,  he  freely  accepts  the  obligation  of  law 
enforcement,  and  counsels  us  all  of  the  need  and  duty  of  hold- 
ing ourselves  and  our  representatives  to  that  obligation. 
Under  laws  that  shall  clinch  the  progress  made  we  may  expect 
permanent' betterment,  he  preaches,  and  the  general  law  of  the 
United  States  can  be  relied  upon  to  check  those  abuses  of 
power  that  have  been  incontinently  seized  upon  by  accumula- 
tions of  capital. 

"It  is  to  the  people,"  he  teaches,  "we  must  look  for  enforce- 
ment." 

Summing  up  at  Dunsmuir,  Cal.,  Monday,  the  President 
said:  "Select  your  representatives  and  have  them  know  you 
are  watching  them  in  Congress,  and  see  that  they  follow  the 
law  of  enforcement." 


12  The    I  dea  . 

KEJECTED. 

"'No.  ISTo.  I  must  say  never." 
And  turns  her  graceful  head. 

"And  we  must  part  forever?" 

Then  these  last  words  were  said- 

"Love  lives  tho  duty  sever 
And  I  will  love  tho  dead." 


Out  in  the  cold,  cold  night, 

Out  on  the  hills  of  God 
I'm  wandering  away  from  the  brightness  of  day 

To  sleep  my  long  sleep  'neath  the  sod. 

Out  in  the  black,  black  night, 

Out  in  the  darkness  alone. 
And  never  a  bed  where  to  lay  down  my  head, 

And  never  a  pillow  but  stone. 

Out  in  the  drear,  drear  night, 

For  the  moon  has  hidden  her  face. 
And  the  stars  that  were  mine  have  now  ceased  to  shine, 

And  the  stars  have  taken  their  place. 

And  oh  that  a  sound  I  might  hear; 

A  voice  to  awaken  my  gloom 
Or  a  fain  gleam  of  light  to  scatter  my  night 

And  wrest  my  sad  heart  from  the  tomb. 

But  never,  never,  never. 

Beats  my  weary  soul, 
As  ever,  ever,  ever,  the  endless  ages  roll. 

And  naught  my  bonds  can  sever, 

And  naught  my  life  console. 


DEVILMENT  AT  THE  FAIR. 

Will  be  the  subject  of  a  forceful  article  in  next  week's 
Idea.  It'll  be  worth  reading,  for  the  responsible  parties  will 
be  exposed  in  an  Ideal  way. 


The    I  dea.  13 

COUNT  LOCHWITZKY  TO  SPEAK. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Alexander  M.  Lochwitzky,  foi-uicrly  of 
the  Russian  Im  perial  ^Var  Office,  and  political  exile  from  his 
native  country,  Doctor  of  Laws  of  an  American  University  and 
lecturer  of  national  prominence  will  speak  to  tlie  men  of  Rich- 
mond at  Christ  Church  Association  on  Venable  St.,  next 
Thursday  night   at  8  o'clock. 

Office  of  the  President,  Stanford  Univ.,  Cal. 
Lt.-Col.  A.  M.  Lochwitzky,  San  Francisco,  C'lh  ' 

Dear  Sir:  Permit  me  to  express  to  you  our  great  pleasure 
in  listening  to  the  most  interesting  and  thrilling  i-tory  of  your 
experiences  in  Russia  and  Saghalien  as  given  in  your  lecture 
at  the  University  on  Thursday  night.  The  story  was  not  only 
intensely  thrilling  and  admirably  told,  but  ga^x^  a  vivid  idea 
of  the  viciousness  of  Russian  officialism  which  one  coald  obtain 
in  scarcely  any  other  way.  It  was  as  though  a  prisoner  of  the 
Bastile  had  escaped  in  the  time  of  the  French  Revolution,  and 
was  telling  his  story  to  sympathizing  friends,  who  had  never 
known  anything  but  freedom. — Very  truly  yours,  David  S. 
Jordan. 

The  thrilling  story  of  his  own  life,  encompassed  by  so  many 
dangers  and  narrow  escapes,  is  marvelous.  The  story  of  his 
heroic  life  is  itself  a  sermon  on  loyalty  to  duty  and  utmost  con- 
fidence in  the  supreme  and  all-powerful  God.- — C.  S.  Osbourn, 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Washington  and  Lee  University. 


REST 


"Under  the  wide  and  starry  sky. 
Dig  the  grave  and  let  me  lie — 
Grlad  did  I  live  and  gladly  die, 
And  laid  me  down  with  a  will. 

This  be  the  verse  you  grave  for  me — 
Here  he  lies  where  he  longed  to  be, 
Home  is  the  sailor,  home  from  the  sea 
And  the  hunter  home  from  the  hill." 
(Verses  on  the  tomb  of  Robt.  Louis  Stevenson  written  by 
himself.) 


14  T  h  e    I  de  a  . 

Taxation  without  representation  is  an  injustice  to  the  in- 
dividual and  community.  Representation  without  taxation  is 
a  festering  sore  in  the  breast  of  the  State.  Tax  all  Church 
and  college  property.     They  receive  police  and  fire  protection. 


''Just  let  this  thought  sorter  sink  into  your  soul:  The 
Mummy  ain't  had  no  fun  in  moren  five  thousand  years." — 
Sagebush  Philosophy. 


An  advertsing  medium  which  is  second  to  none  in  the  city 
of  Richmond.  This  little  magazine  is  read,  preserved  and 
passed  along. 


For  special  contract  rates   communicate  with  The   Idea^ 
Richmond,  Va. 


Let  us  Avrite  your  ad's  for  you.     We  will.giv^e  you  the  ser- 
vices of  an  expert.     Catchy,  classy  ads  pay  big  dividends. 


Our  circulation  is  7,000.     Our  magazine  is  read  by  five 
times  that  number  every  week.     Think  it  over. 


THE  MIDXIGHT  MISSIO]^^  AND  SUNDAY  MORNING 
BREAKFAST. 

Rescue  Gospel  meetings  are  held  every  Saturday  and  Wed- 
nesday nights  at  8  o'clock ;  midnight  meetings  begin  at  10  :30 
o'clock;  Sunday  breakfast,  9  o'clock  every  Sunday  morning. 
Drinking  men  especially  welcome  in  these  meetings.  This 
mission  is  located  in  the  heart  of  the  red  light  district.  Nearly 
every  house  in  this  locality  is  operated  to  corrupt  morals  and 
ruin  souls.  This  mission  house  is  open  for  God's  glory  and  to 
rescue  the  lost. 

Every  Wednesday  night  the  services  are  conducted  by  a 
saved  sporting  house  keeper.    All  are  welcome. 

Address  all  communications  to  C.  IT.  Gootee,  14  West 
Gary  street. 


Furnished  Room  for  Rent 

EIGHTH  STREET 


NEW  HOUSE 
NEAR  BUSINESS 
NEAR  CARS 


APPLY  AT  824  A.  NORTH  EIGHTH  STREET 


-THREE  YEARS  OLD- 


^^'^'^    '    "^   *  RIPE  AND    MELLOW 

\  /   I    Ixj    l~«    C  vm   /\    r^  for  pickling  or  family  use 

V     1   I   X    1^  \wP  r^K  1    V  Makes   life   worth  living 

Made  by  Nature's  Own  Process     for  sale  at 

^f\  CENTS 

^\J  PER   GAL. 

BY 


W.  G.   MAHONE 

GROCER  AND  FEED  DEALER 

806  TO  816  BROOK  AVENUE  PHONE,  MADISON  1086 


QUABS 


Phone  Monroe  427 

when  you  want  the  verv  best 

HOMER  SQUABS 

obtainable,  get  them  from  ATKINS  SQUAB  CO. 
The  Largest  Squab  Plant  in  the  City 

Mated  Homers  for  sale.     Address 

J.  H.  ATKINS 

1418-14185^  W.  Beverly  St.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 


TELL  THE  BOY 


TO  BRING 
THE  IDEA 


R 


^ 


EGULARLY  to  you  at  your  home  or  office.  It'll 
help  the  boy  and  you  and  The  Idea.  See?  If  the 
boys  don't  come  yeur  way,  notify  us  or  send  50  cents 
for  a  three  months  subscription  or  one  dollar  for  six 
months  or  two  dollars  for  a  year. 


For  T{eliable 


FURNITURE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON; 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 


CLEANLINESS 

IS  THE  FIRST  OF  THE  VIRTUES 


The  French  surpass  us  all  as  cleaners,  and  the  arts 
of  those  masters  of  art  applied  to  Clothes  and  Cover- 
ings, Draperies  and  Carpets  make  success  certain  at 

315  NORTH  FIFTH  STREET 

Suits  are  new  after  Steam  and  French  System  have 
done  their  work  Only  vhe  gloss  of  new  is  gone. 
Garments  of  men,  Draperies  of  dames,  all  sorts  of 
stuffs  in  Costumes  Suits  and  Hangings  are  Dyed, 
>coured.  Bleached,  Renovated  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  know  and  do. 

The  Cost  is  Small   Compared  to  the  Effect 

THE    TELEPHONE   NUMBER   IS    MADISON    2522 


A.  H.  EWINQ 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


m 


'rd 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREJiT 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


PHONE  1821 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


$107,487,554.35  ASSETS 


REPRESENTED    BV- 


George  C.  Jefferson's 

FIRE  AND  ACCIDENT 
INSURANCE    AGENCY 


YOUR   PATRONAGE  SOLICITED 


Phone,  Madison  2574-J  Times  Building 


This  Space 


FOR  RENT! 


nma 


Ask  the  Man-ager 


WEEKLY 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill 


Oct.  23,  1909 


No.  21 


$2.00  A  YEAR 


"THE  HANDWRITING  ON  THE  WALL" 

For  Sale  Ai  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


JEWELER  J.    S.   JAMES  OPTICIAN 

?'•  AND    MAIN    STS. 

We  have  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 
showing  special  good  values  in 

DIAMONDS,  WATCmS,  JtWtlRY,  SIIVERWARE,  CUT  GIASS,  tie. 

We  invite  your  inspection 


PAINT— Church  Hill  Hardware  store-oiASS 

Wk  CiivE  You  Prompt  Sekvke.  Quick  Dki  ivekies. 

Better  Than  the  Average  Quality,  at  Less 

Than  the  Averace  Price. 


We  Sell  Dependible  Goods.  The  Kind  That  You  Can  Swear  By 

Phone  7136  Madison    (liaS.  S.  LUfldgren'S     2504  I  Broad  Street 


I  Thomas  Alva  [dison 


INVENTED  THE_ 


DISON 

Machine 
is  recog- 
nized as  the 
SWEETEST 
TONED  of  all 
such  Instru- 
ments. 


PHONOGRAPH 

'  We  sell  these 
Machines  on 
our  easy  pay- 
ment  plan — 
same  price  as 
for  cash. 


MACHINES  =  =  -  from  $12.50  to  $200.00 
Edison  Standard^Records  =  =  =  =  35  cents 
Edison  Amberol  Records    =  =  =  =  50  cents 

BEFORE  BUYING  CALL  AND  HEAR  THEM 


Phone  Mad.  6227 


C.  B.  HAYNK  &  CO., 


603  East  Main  St. 


I 


L. 


I 


0^m  11^^ 


^   H^%^»|  »t^^0^     n^ 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  OCTOBER  23,  1909  No.  21 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2,00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yodee, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


WALTER  G.  DUKE 


Police  Commissioner 

and   Otherwise 


The  Idea  has  often  had  occasion  to  censure  the  members 
of  the  Board  of  Police  Commissioners  of  the  city  for  their 
responsibility  for  various  instances  of  crookedness.  Walter 
Duke  is  a  police  commissioner  and  one  who  needs  to  be  looked 
after. 

Likewise  The  Idea  has  found  it  necessary  to  show  up  the 
City  Democratic  Committee,  which  is  the  real  seat  of "  the 
political  corruption  of  the  city.  Walter  Duke  is  a  member 
of  that  committee.  N'ow  a  man  may  be  a  clean  man  and  be 
a  Democratic  city  committeeman,  and  a  man  may  be  a  clean 
man  and  be  a  police  commissioner.  Likewise  one  may  live  in 
a  hog  pen  and  not  be  a  hog.  But  if  you  find  an  animal  in  a 
hog  pen  that  looks  like  a  hog  and  acts  like  a  hog  and  eats. 
like  a  hog  the  chances  are  that  he  is  a  hog. 


2  The    Idea. 

Also  if  a  man  belongs  to  the  Police  Commission  and  sanc- 
tions the  acts  of  that  body,  and  belongs  to  the  City  Democratic 
Committee  and  sanctions  the  acts  of  that  body,  the  chances  are 
that  he  is  a  dangerous  man  and  an  enemy  to  the  public  good. 
On  last   Saturday  the  papers  published   an  account  of  a 
row  in  the  hog  pen  of  the   City  Democratic   Committee,   in 
which   Committeeman  Shield  said  to    Committeeman    Duke, 
"You  are  a  crook."     This  city  committee  is  the  one  of  which 
Saunders  has  for  years  been  the  recognized  boss  and  of  which 
Leaman  is  a  lieutenant  and  man  of  influence,  and  this  is  the 
political  machine  that  has  been  responsible  for  the  traitorous 
acts  of  stealing  elections,  as  has  been  the  casein  Richmond 
on  innumerable  occasions.     This  is  the  committee  that  fixes 
ballot  boxes  and  puts  crooks  in  control  of  polls  and  sells  out 
the  people  to  organized  grafters. 

]^ow,  one  of  the  members  of  this  committee  calls  Mr.  Duke 
a  crook,  and  it  looks  as  though  it  would  be  possible  for  this 
row  to  expose  some  of  the  evil  workings  of  the  gang,  although 
the  news  item  concerning  the  affair  adds  that  the  accuser 
states  that  he  is  "not  at  liberty  to  explain  at  this  time  the 
cause  of  this  affair." 

N^ow,  The  Idea  would  state  in  this  connection  that  the 
meetings  of  this  committee,  which  affects  the  very  foundation 
of  our  city  government,  should  be  public,  as  the  affairs  of  this 
city  committee  are  the  affairs  of  the  people  and  vitally  affect 
the  citizens,  for  the  acts  of  this  committee  are  the  acts  which 
determine  how  much  you  and  I  are  to  pay  in  taxes  and  who 
are  to  be  our  political  masters,  as  our  public  servants  have 
come  to  be.  Yet  you  and  I  never  know  anything  that  goes  on 
in  these  secret  meetings  unless  a  row  turns  the  light  on  some 
of  the  rascals  who  are  tramping  under  their  feet  the  rights  of 
American  citizens. 

Let  the  row  go  merrily  on  until  all  the  crooks  are  disclosed 
in  their  true  colors. 

Meantime,  let  the  citizens  beware  lest  the  two  arch  con- 
spirators against  the  welfare  of  the  people — namely,  Saunders 
and  Leaman — who  have  recently  been  deposed  from  this 
nefarious  committee,  do  not  pull  the  wires  so  as  to  place  them- 
selves   again    on   that    committee,    which    they   have    used    so 


The    I dea.  3 

effectively  to  enrich  themselves  by  stuffing  ballot  boxes  and 
corrupting  coimcilmen  to  sell  their  votes  for  gain.  Both 
Saunders  and  Leaman  are  self-confessed  corruption  ists,  and 
nove  Mr.  Duke,  their  associate,  is  called  a  crook. 

Let  it  be  known  that  this  all-powerful  city  committee  is 
the  committee  that  practically  decides  who  shall  be  elected  by 
the  peojDle  for  councilmen  and  aldermen,  and  this  crooked 
committee  is  largely  responsible  for  the  fact  that  the  City 
Council  is  composed  so  largely  of  rascals  and  grafters.  Also 
let  it  be  known  that  these  rascals  and  grafters  in  the  council 
are  the  ones  who  in  turn  elect  the  Board  of  Police  Commis- 
sioners, and  here  enters  again  Mr.  Duke,  as  Police  Commis- 
sioner.    See  the  circle?     See  the  ring? 

ISTow  comes  the  interesting  part  of  our  tale.  Mr.  Duke, 
Police  Commissioner,  used  his  influence  with  certain  police- 
men in  The  News  Leader  circulation  contest  to  get  policemen, 
who  owe  their  j^ositions  as  policemen  to  this  commission,  to 
solicit  subscriptions  for  Mr.  Duke  for  The  News  Leader. 
■  Xow,  it  came  to  pass  that  policemen  went  to  see  the  women 
of  the  red  light  district  and  practically  demanded  of  these 
women  that  they  subscribe  to  The  News  Leader  for  Mr.  Duke, 
and  these  women  of  ill  fame,  who  carry  on  their  unlawful 
business  by  permission  of  the  Police  Commissioners,  naturally 
felt  that  they  had  to  put  up  the  money  or  else  loose  their 
^'puir'  with  the  commissioners. 

It  seems,  however,  that  one  or  more  of  these  women 
thought  that  they  had  submitted  to  enough  grafting  from  the 
commissions,  and  so  she,  or  they,  raised  a  kick  and  thus  the 
matter  leaked  out  that  Duke  had  been  using  his  official  position 
to  line  his  o^vn  pockets.  The  papers  said  nothing  about  the 
matter  l^ecause  of  the  fact  that  the  Bryans  owned  them  so 
largely  and  The  News  Leader,  thus  owned,  was  concerned  in 
the  deal. 

It  is  just  such  crooked  work  as  this  that  keeps  these  crooked 
houses  in  existence  in  defiance  of  the  expressed  will  of  the 
people.  The  people  in  their  Legislature  have  clearly  said  that 
no  houses  of  ill  fame  shall  exist,  but  the  Police  Commissioners, 
who  can  use  these  houses  for  their  private  gain,  utterly  ignore 
the  law  and  keep  these  houses  in  existence  in  open  contempt 


4  T  li  e     I  d  a  a  . 

of  all  law.  This  is  the  reason  that  the  city  of  Richmond  prac- 
tically legalizes,  against  the  law,  the  very  worst  forms  of  vice 
and  crime,  simply  because  it  pays  those  in  authority  to  wink 
at  the  violation  of  the  law. 

Such  men  as  these,  who  tear  down  all  respect  for  law,  are 
our  most  dangerous  citizens  and  are  doing  more  to  encourage 
anarchy — the  reign  of  lawlessness — than  any  other  class  of 
people. 

Yet  here  in  Richmond  we  let  a  weak  and  subservient 
council,  elected  and  put  into  power  by  a  corrupt  political  ma- 
chine, foist  upon  us  a  base  and  corrupt  police  board  who,  as 
servants  of  the  law,  trample  under  foot  the  acts  of  the  very 
Legislature  that  created  their  positions. 


What  has  become  of  that  Neivs  Leader  contest,  anyway  ? 
Have  you  seen  any  of  your  friends  yet  who  returned  from 
The  News  Leader  trip  to  Europe  ? 

Richmond  dominated  by  such  papers ! 
How  has  Richmond  fallen ! 


LET  THE  BRIDGE  BE  FREE  FOR 
CHURCH  HILL  PEOPLE 


]!*^ow  that  the  bridge  building  concern  has  failed  to  live  up 
to  its  agTeement  let  the  city  go  ahead  and  build  its  own  viaduct 
and  make  it  free  to  all  pedestrians.  Why  should  the  residents 
of  Church  Hill  have  to  pay  a  tax  every  time  they  go  a-shopping  ? 

Why  should  the  mechanic  or  the  clerk  pay  a  tax  to  a  cor- 
poration every  time  he  goes  to  his  work  or  to  his  meals '( 

The  day  of  toll-paying  to  private  corporations  for  the  use 
of  the  highways,  which  should  be  the  property  of  the  public,  is 
rapidly  becoming  a  thing  of  the  past,  as  it  should  be. 

The  city  should  own  its  o^^^l  utilities,  although  with  the 
present  rotten  management,  which  surely  can't  last  much  longer, 
much  money  must  be  wasted  in  building  public  works.     If  the 


The     I dea.  5 

people  of  Church  Hill  will  present  their  reasonable  demands 
now  while  they  can,  by  petition,  they  may  be  able  to  compel 
the  council  to  act  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people. 

If,  however,  they  neglect  their  opportunity  they  may  have 
to  pay  special  taxes  for  generations  to  some  corporation  for  the 
right  to  walk  from  one  part  of  town  to  another. 


SOME  STRAIGHT  TALK  ON  CITY 
AFFAIRS 


Is  the  News  Leader  Sincere? 


Now  our  city  jail,  almost  a  new  building,  is  officially  con- 
demned and  reported  unfit  for  human  habitation.  Probably 
we  shall  have  to  begin  all  over  again  and  spend  another  hundred 
thousand  dollars  or  so  to  provide  a  proper  structure.  This 
should  put  the  people  of  Richmond  again  on  inquiry  as  to  why 
it  is  that  everything  the  city  undertakes  to  do  involves  a  fum- 
ble, a  mess  and  a  scandal.  Our  ordinary  business  men  and 
citizens  with  limited  means  and  capital  establish  enterprises 
without  trouble.  They  build  sky  scrapers,  buy  and  install 
plants  of  various  kinds,  go  on  year  after  year  buying  and  sell- 
ing and  trading  easily  and  smoothly.  Yet,  whatever  the  city 
touches  brings  trouble,  loss,  failure.  We  have  had  rows  and 
troubles  over  the  High  School  and  its  furniture.  All  of  us 
recollect  the  failure  of  the  flume  and  the  disasters  at  the  settling- 
basin.  We  have  just  finished  a  long  investigation  into  the 
contracts  for  the  municipal  electric  light  plant.  It  seems  we 
cannot  even  dig  an  ordinary  ditch  or  fill  a  ravine  ivithout 
necessity  for  official  inquiry.  At  every  step  we  must  call  in  a 
grand  jury  and  have  something  probed  or  somebody  indicted. 

W^liy  is  it  'I  Surely  we  are  not  a  community  of  crooks  or 
idiots.  We  are  becoming  notorious.  ISTewspapers  throughout 
the  South  notice  that  a  large  part  of  the  news  space  of  Rich- 
mond neiospapers  is  occupied  with  stories  of  local  mismanage- 


6  The     Idea. 

ment  and  suspected  wrong  doiyig.  We  go  from  one  im-estio-a- 
tion  into  another.  Richmond  is  becoming  a  kind  of  laughing 
stock.  People  outside  get  the  impression  that  our  government 
is  thoroughly  rotten.     It  is  exceptionally  clean. 

The  foundation  trouble  is  the  confusion  and  division  or 
obscurity  of  responsibility.  Our  council  is  composed  chiefly 
of  men  who  can  do  no  more  than  dabble  in  city  affairs.  Every 
business  man  knov^s  that  no  man  can  successfully  and  intel- 
ligently conduct  a  large-going  concern  to  which  he  gives  not 
more  than  fi.ve  or  six  hours  in  the  month.  The  executive 
organization  is  cumbersome  and  complicated.  Nearly  every- 
thing is  everybody's  business  and,  therefore,  nobody's.  We  are 
managed  by  amateurs  and  conducted  by  men  kept  chronically 
in  confusison  regarding  their  own  rights,  duties  and  powers. 
When  we  had  a  disturbance  over  a  market  stall  a  few  weeks 
ago  it  appeared  that  some  three  departments  were  stumbling 
over  each  other  in  an  effort  to  straighten  out  a  hundred  dollar 
transaction. 

The  meaning  of  it  all  is  that  our  city  government  must  be 
straightened  out  and  simplified  and  brought  up  to  date.  The 
present  system  has  brought  us  a  succession  of  scandal  and 
disasters.  We  should  have  a  commission  government  in  some 
form,  or  at  least  something  which  will  define  and  fix  responsi- 
bilities. As  it  is  now,  we  cannot  place  the  blame  for  anything 
that  goes  wrong.  All  kinds  of  outside  considerations  and  com- 
plications come  into  our  every  undertaking  and  all  kinds  of 
personal  and  political  influences  have  to  be  regarded. 

Sooner  or  later  we  must  come  to  a  simple  and  efiicient  city 
government.  Everybody  must  understand  that  by  now.  Cer- 
tainly the  sooner  the  better,  not  only  for  the  tax-payers  and 
people  generally,  but  for  Kichmond's  reputation. 

The  above  is  an  editorial  in  The  News  Leader  of  October 
15th,  but  you  did  not  see  it,  did  you?  The  heading,  "Lesson 
of  a  Mess,"  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  column  and  was  entirely 
overlooked  by  most  of  the  citizens.  It  is  by  far  the  most  sensi- 
ble thing  we've  seen  in  that  paper  for  a  long  time,  although 
the  writer  got  afraid  of  his  own  shadow  before  he  finished  and 
nullified  the  force  of  his  otherwise  sound  writing  by  saying 
"our  government  is  exceptionally  clean."     In  the  breath  before 


The    I dea.  7 

thai  lie  liiul  said,  "It  seems  we  cannot  even  dig  an  ordinary 
ditch  or  fill  a  ravine  withont  necessity  for  official  inquiry." 

Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  Kichmond  paper  in  the  last  several 
years  admitting  anything  like  that  before  ? 

Why  is  it  that  the  papers  are  now  discovering  rottenness, 
and  why  is  it  that  investigating  committees  are  always  probing 
some  scandal?  We'll  tell  you.  It's  because  The  Idea  has 
been  on  the  scene  for  the  last  six  months.  The  rottenness  was 
here  before  then,  but  when  it  leaked  out  now  and  then  the 
Bryan  papers  of  Eichmond  put  on  the  lid  and  stopped  the 
leaks  and  minimized  the  steals  and  made  it  appear  that  Rich- 
mond was  the  best  and  cleanest  run  city  in  the  country,  when 
it  w^as  a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of  those  of  its  own  citizens  who 
knew  how  deep  the  trouble  lay. 


HOW  ABOUT  THIS? 


A  former  prominent  resident  of  Richmond,  who  is  now  a 
wholesale  jobber  in  another  city  with  branch  houses  in  several 
States,  told  the  writer  long  ago  that  the  Richmond  government 
was  rotten  to  the  core,  but  the  writer  could  not  believe  it,  be- 
cause he  had  been  reading  The  Times-Dispatcli.,  that  past- 
master  in  the  art  of  concealing  the  truth — that  morning  sheet 
that  is  responsible  more  than  any  one  other  thing,  perhaps,  for 
the  present  state  of  affairs,  because  w^hen  it  could  expose  the 
crooks  it  refused  to  do  so.  The  Idea,  however,  has  aroused 
the  citizens  and  to-day  the  crooks  are  on  the  run ;  some  have 
already  gone  down  in  defeat  and  the  rest  are  quaking  in  their 
boots,  and  on  each  Saturday  crooks,  whom  we  have  not  yet 
mentioned,  eagerly  grab  up  this  little  affair  to  see  if  The  Idea 
has  discovered  and  exposed  their  sins,  and  the  people  are 
organizing  and  discussing  all  over  the  city  in  order  to  put  out 
in  the  cold  next  spring  some  of  the  remaining  malefactors 
when  election  time  comes  around.  Some  of  the  slick  ones,  we 
understand,  are  so  scared  that  they  will  voluntarily  (?)   retire 


8  The    Idea. 

and  not  stand  for  re-election^  all  because  The  Idea  was  born 
in  the  city  of  Richmond  last  spring. 

jSTow  stop  and  think  what  all  this  means.  It  mean.'S  that 
the  people  of  Richmond  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  this  little 
affair  for  turning  on  the  light  and  for  nagging  the  daily 
papers  on  so  that  finally  they  are  lining  up,  though  in  a  lialf- 
hearted  way,  for  clean  government.  It  means  that  The  Idea, 
which  is  gradually  getting  the  support  it  deserves,  has  already 
saved  the  citizens  of  Richmond  tens  of  thousands  of  (lollars 
and,  though  when  it  started  it  was  subjected  to  all  kinds 
of  opposition  from  the  crooks  and  the  daily  papers,  who  said 
it  could  not  last  six  weeks,  it  has  survived  their  attacks  and 
is  to-day  able  to  pay  its  expenses  from  its  own  receipts,  and 
now  that  it  is  an  established  and  recognized  medium,  The 
Idea  calls  on  the  good  people  of  Richliiond  to  hold  up  its 
hands  and  increase  its  usefulness.  There  is  a  vast  field  of 
corruption  and  political  rascality  which  has  never  been  explored 
and  the  good  people  of  Richmond  can  help  in  this  beneficent 
work  by  at  least  subscribing  to  the  paper  that  is  responsible 
for  the  work  of  reform.  We  feel  that  we  have  gotten  to  the 
point  where  we  can  ask  with  assurance  for  your  patronage. 

With  the  help  of  but  one  kind  friend  who  aided  with  his 
means  The  Idea  has  withstood  the  storm  so  far  without  making 
a  fight  for  subscriptions  until  it  had  become  so  established  as 
to  merit  your  support.  Now  that  that  time  has  come  may  we 
not  count  on  the  good  people  of  Richmond  for  their  tangible 
aid  at  least  to  the  small  extent  of  a  yearly  subscription.  A 
subscription  list  will  help  us  in  the  securing  of  advertisements 
and  thus  increase  the  power  of  The  Idea  by  making  it  able 
to  employ  one  or  two  of  the  livest  writers  in  the  country  to 
help  in  the  fight.  It  will  enable  us  to  make  the  paper  larger 
and  more  attractively  gotten  up  by  the  addition  of  more  cartoon 
work  and  cuts  and  better  articles.  In  the  name  of  all  that  is 
pure  and  good  can't  we  count  on  You  ?  Mail  us  your  subscrip- 
to-day.     Get  busy.     Thank  you. 


How  long  has  the  chief  of  police  been  used  as  a  lackey  by 
the  Police  Board  to  give  effect  to  their  grudge  against  a  private 
citizen  ? 


The    Idea. 

THE  LAW'S  DELAY 


The  Appeal  Bond  in 

the  Leaman  Case 


When  the  editor  of  The  Idea  was  assaulted  on  the  street 
two  months  ago  by  W.  P.  Leaman,  who  was  then  found  guilty 
in  the  police  court,  'Squire  Graves  over-stepped  the  bounds  of 
his  rights  in  the  case  by  requiring  bond  of  the  editor.  An 
appeal  was  taken  by  the  editor  from  the  decision  of  the  'squire, 
because  he  acted  contrary  to  law  in  requiring  bond,  and  the 
case  was  set  for  the  term  of  the  Hustings  Court  beginning  Oc- 
tober 4th.  The  case,  however,  was  not  finally  reached  until 
Monday,  October  18th,  when,  on  account  of  the  unprepared- 
ness  of  the  Commonwealth's  attorney,  Mr.  Minetree  Folks, 
it  was  postponed  until  October  28th. 

The  Idea  is  of  opinion  that  this  delay  is  simply  an  attempt 
to  embarrass  The  Idea,  because  the  attorney  has  no  duty  in  the 
matter  except  to  see  to  it  that  the  lower  court  is  reversed, 
for  it  becomes  his  duty  to  shut  up  in  any  case  where  the  Com- 
monwealth has  erred  as  much  as  in  this  case.  It  will  be 
recalled  that  Graves  fined  and  bonded  Leaman  on  Leaman's 
plea  of  guilty  without  any  evidence  being  brought  out  and 
no  evidence  had  ever  come  to  the  court  that  the  editor  had  ever 
broken  the  peace  or  threatened  to  break  the  peace.  Leaman, 
however,  not  only  broke  the  peace  and  admitted  it  by  pleading- 
guilty,  but  also  openly  in  the  court  threatened  to  "shed  the 
blood"  of  the  editor,  and  still  the  'squire  required  the  same 
bond  of  the  editor  that  he  did  of  the  political  crook  who  brutally 
assailed  him,  and  though  the  constitution  of  the  State  guaran- 
tees "speedy  trials,"  still  the  State's  attorney,  without  any 
sensible  reason  for  it,  delays  the  rendering  of  justice  by  having 
the  trial  postponed. 


10  The    I  dea. 

DEVILMENT  AT  THE  FAIR 


The  Idea  does  not  like  to  criticise  the  fair  association,  but 
the  time  has  come  when  it  is  absolutely  necessary  if  our 
standards  of  decency  are  to  be  maintained. 

During  the  fair  just  closed  the  fair  association,  in  their 
greed  for  gold,  sold  concessions  for  immoral  purposes.  Not 
only  was  there  licensed  gambling  for  money  with  wheels  of 
fortune,  but  startlingly  indecent  plays  were  exhibited  and 
permitted  by  the  management,  as  was  also  open  gambling  at 
the  races.  Besides  this,  whiskey  and  other  spirituous  drinks 
were  sold  under  one  license  at  many  different  places. 

I^ow,  if  the  court  holds,  as  we  are  told  it  does,  that  one 
license  is  sufficient  for  many  places  because  they  are  all  on  the 
same  corporation  grounds,  then  by  the  same  reasoning  no 
women  and  children  could  be  admitted  to  the  grounds — the 
place  of  sale  of  spirituous  drinks. 

What  a  pity  that  the  fair  association  could  not  content 
itself  with  profits  on  decent  and  moral  amusements  without 
selling  privileges  to  gamblers  and  immoral  shows ! 

The  most  hurtful  and  immoral  thing  the  editor  has  ever 
seen  in  a  varied  career  over  a  vast  territory  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  was  the  vile  and  indecent  and  lewd  kuchy-kuchy 
show  at  the  State  Fair  last  week.  We  had  never  attended 
such  an  exhibition,  but  knew  it  was  an  immoral  affair,  and 
since  we  are  fighting  such  things  it  became  necessary  to  see 
what  the  affair  really  was. 

And  let  us  say  right  here  that  unless  the  preachers 
familiarize  themselves  with  the  facts  as  to  what  is  happening 
under  their  very  noses  they  never  will  be  able  to  effectually 
fight  evil. 

In  former  years  these  same  immoral  privileges  were  let  by 
Morgan  Mills,  who  owned  all  the  amusement  concessions. 
This  year,  though  they  were  nominally  held  by  another,  it  is 
reported  that  they  were  really  owned  by  the  same  Morgan  K. 
Mills,  councilman  and  slick  politician,  who,  as  a  servant  of 
the  law,  should  be  found,  above  all  others,  standing  for  rigid 


The     Idea.  11 

law  enforcement,  but  who,  on  the  other  hand,  stands  for,  and 
is  responsible  for,  the  vilest  deed  a  man  can  l)e  chari^ed  with — 
namely,  corrupting  the  morals  of  the  youth  of  the  State. 

And  who  are  the  officers  of  this  fair  association,  who  are 
the  real  culprits,  just  as  much,  if  not  more,  than  the  small 
company  of  immoral  ones  who  run  the  little  show  ? 

The  fair  association  officers  are : 

Henry  Fairfax,  President. 

Alfred  B.  Williams,  Vice  President. 

Allen  Chambers,  Secretary. 

Oliver  J.   Sands,  Treasurer. 

Samuel  Cohen,  Vice  President. 

Mark  R.  Lloyd,  General  ]Manager. 

These  are  the  men  wlio  have  been  dealing-  in  immorality 
for  gain.  They  stand  high  in  the  community,  but  are  they 
any  better  than  the  vile  woman  who  makes  her  living  by 
prostitution  when  they  sell  such  wares  for  money  ? 

It  was  just  such  hypocrites  as  these  that  Jesus  called 
whitened  sepulchres.  He  said  of  such  men,  who  were  high  in 
the  Church  and  sanctioned  immoral  acts :  "Woe  unto  you, 
hypocrites !  for  you  are  like  unto  whitened  sepulchres,  which, 
indeed,  appear  beautiful  outward,  but  are  within  full  of  dead 
men's  bones,  and  of  all  uncleanness."  These  men,  because  of 
their  positions  in  the  community,  "outwardly  appear  righteous 
unto  men,   but   within   are  full   of  hypocrisy   and   iniquity." 

Let  no  man  censure  The  Idea  for  telling  on  this  rotten 
dealing  at  the  fair.  The  good  men  of  the  community  need  not 
hold  up  their  hands  in  holy  horror  while  their  sons  are  led 
into  vice  and  crime  by  their  silent  permission  of  such  indecent 
shows.  They  never  could  have  existed  in  the  past  if  the  good 
men  of  the  community  had  known  of  it,  and  such  exposal  of 
crime  as  The  Idea  gives  is  the  only  method  that  ever  yet 
broke  up  such  doings.  It's  up  to  the  fair  association  to  get 
decent. 

IsTo  young  man  could  see  this  performance  and  not  carry 
away  with  him  a  picture  so  intensely  stamped  on  his  memory 
as  to  be  the  uppermost  thing  in  his  mind  for  days — a  picture 
that  in  all  probability  would  lead  him  to  licentiousness  and 
crime.     Oil  the  Sunday  following  the  fair  neatly-dressed  boys 


12  The    Idea. 

were  seen  going  along  one  of  the  residential  streets  loudly  and 
boisterously  cracking  foul  jokes  about  the  "hucky  kuchy." 


CARTOOITS. 

The  Idea  has  added  a  new  feature  in  the  shape  of  cartoons. 
In  this  number  the  consternation  of  the  council  over  the  coining 
of  government  by  commission  is  portrayed  in  a  graphic  manner. 
It  shows  the  upsetting  of  the  grafters. 

Get  The  Idea  each  week  if  you  want  to  keep  in  touch 
with  the  affairs  of  the  city  which  the  daily  papers  are  afraid 
to  publish. 


ALVEY  GUILTY 


But  Will  They  Get  Him 


The  evidence  before  the  investigating  committee  shows  that 
Edward  Alvey  is,  beyond  doubt,  guilty  of  defrauding  the  city. 
The  statements  of  the  negro  that  Alvey  paid  him  for  his  part, 
the  fact  that  Alvey  shook  hands  with  the  driver  after  the 
negro's  trial  on  a  warrant  sworn  out  by  Alvey  for  stealing 
from  him,  the  testimony  that  many  saw  the  driver  throw  off 
stone  on  five  separate  occasions,  all  show  that  Alvey  was 
criminally  guilty  of  robbing  the  city.  The  question  now  is. 
Is  the  Commonwealth's  attorney  big  enough  to  prosecute  and 
convict  Alvey,  or  is  he  afraid  that  a  real  trial  will  expose 
others  higher  up  ? 

You  know  it  won't  do  to  turn  on  the  light  if  it  shows  up 
city  officials. 


WHAT  THE  ALVEY  TRIAL  SHOWS 


The  Alvey  trial  shows  that  the  city  pays  about  18  per  cent. 
more  than   other   people  for  grain ;    that  the   engineer's  office 


The    I  dea.  13 

has  no  check  on  the  weights  of  grain  or  other  purchases ;  that 
the  engineer  paid  for  grain  on  the  strength  of  the  tickets  fur- 
nish to  that  department  from  Mr.  Alvey  without  checking  up 
by  the  weighniaster's  records.  (The  city  paid  in  one  case 
alone  for  1,000  pounds  of  grain  too  much,  although  Mr.  Alvey 
had  been  informed  by  the  weighmaster  that  the  larger  amount 
was  an  error.  The  City  Engineer  never  did  get  the  correct 
figure,  so  lax  is  the  city  in  its  purchases.) 


LIQUOR  LICENSES  GRANTED  TO 
CON  VIC  IS 


The  law  requires  that  liquor  licenses  shall  be  granted  to 
men  of  good  reputation  and  yet  we  find  that  a  license  is  held 
by  James  R.  Conway,  an  ex-penitentiary  convict.  Conway 
runs  a  saloom  at  706  East  Broad  street,  and  on  last  Saturday 
night  shot  and  killed  Robert  Torrence  in  front  of  his  bar. 

The  Times-Dispatch  in  giving  an  account  of ,  the  affair 
stated  that  Conway  was  taken  to  the  city  jail  "and  made  as 
comfortable  as  possible." 

It  seems  that  barkeepers  in  Richmond  are  the  favored 
class  and,  even  though  murderers  and  convicts,  are  made  "as 
comfortable  as  possible." 

This  little  affair  ought  to  give  the  citizens  of  Richmond 
some  conception  of  the  rottenness  which  underlies  Richmond 
politics.  When  an  ordinary  prisoner  is  jailed  you  don't  hear 
that  "he  is  made  as  comfortable  as  possible,"  but  if  he  is  a 
convict  and  murderer  and  a  barkeeper,  then  "he  is  made  as 
comfortable  as  possible." 

We  wonder  how  long  it  has  been  since  it  was  considered 
that  an  ex-convict  had  a  good  reputation.  If  an  ex-convict 
has  a  good  reputation  The  Idea  would  enquire  what  the 
court  considers  a  bad  reputation. 

Or  perhaps  the  court  don't  consider  reputation  at  all,  but 
simply  decides  such  cases  on  other  gTounds.  If  so,  what  are 
the  other  considerations  ?     IS^ext ! 


14  The    Idea. 

TO    MY    SWEETHEART. 

Each  mountain  grand,  each  meadow  green, 
Each  rugged  glen  the  hills  between. 
Brings  me  the  wish  that  thou  wert  there 
With  me  it's  loveliness  to  share. 

Each  luscious  fruit,  each  lowly  flower, 
Each  verdant  breeze  from  fragrant  bower 
Brings  to  mv  si2:ht  thine  angel  smile 
Tho'  I'm  a2:one  ten  thousand  mile. 

The  violet  in  modest  robe, 
Lifts  up  each  royal  purple  lobe 
And  whispers  of  thy  modesty, 
Adorned  in  royal  majesty. 

The  dewdrop  in  the  morning  light 
Looks  at  jne  with  its  crystal  sight, 
And  I  behold  thy  nature  true 
In  orbs  of  morning  blossoms  blue. 

Just  now  the  graceful  columbine — 
Its  petals  all  incarnadine — 
Did  speak  me  of  thy  nature's  grace, 
And  bring  to  mind  thy  lovely  face. 

Each  passion  song,  each  melody 
That  swells  the  mocker's  throat  with  slee. 
Or  bursts  the  wrennie's  little  breast. 
With  joy  and  gladness  ever  blest, 

Brings  back  the  music  of  thy  voice, 
And  I  with  all  the  birds  rejoice. 
And  think  that  wert  thou  there  with  me 
This  earth,  indeed,  were  heavenly. 


-Alyn  O'Dar 


b.  L.  LEDMAN 
SHOES 


Are  Comfortable,  Serviceable,   Reasonable,  Stylish  and  Good  Fitters 
^  No.  726  EAST  MAIN  STREET. 


-THREE  YEARS  OLD- 


^^'^'^  '  "^  Ripe  and  Mellow 

VI    l\|    r"    €  M    ZX     1-^  for  pickling-  or  iamily  use 

■   *    ^    ^—  ^—^  ''^  ■   ^  Makes    life   worth   living 

Made  by  Nature's  Own  Process  for  sale  at 


40  ^^"^^^ 


PER   GAL. 
BY 


W.  G.   M  AH  ONE 

GROCER  AND  FEED  DEALER 

806  TO  816  BROOK  AVENUE  PHONE,  MADISON  1086 


SQUABS 


Phone  Monroe  427 

when  you  want  the  very  best 

HOMER  SQUABS 

obtainable,  get  them  from  ATKINS  SQUAB  CO. 
The  Largest  Squab  Plant  in  the  City 

Mated  Homers  for  sale.     Address 

J.  H.  ATKINS 

1418-1418K  W.  Beverly  St.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 


For  Tieliable 


FURNITURE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 


TELL  THE  BOY 

TO  BRING 
THE  IDEA 


R 


»^ 


EGULARLY  to  you  at  your  home  or  office.  It'll 
help  the  boy  and  you  and  The  Idea.  See?  If  the 
boys  don't  come  your  way,  notify  us  or  send  50  cents 
for  a  three  months  subscription  or  one  dollar  for  six 
months  or  two  dollars  for  a  year. 


Furnished  Room  for  Rent 

ElCinn  S'lREE'l 

NJJr  HOUSE 
NEAR  BUSINESS 
NEAR  CARS 

APPL}'  JT  524  A.   NOR'l'H  ElCllTH  STREET 


LOOK! 


THIS  SHOULD        Q^^^c^       STOP    USING    GASOLINE 

IMPRESS  YOU  ;  OR  BENZINE 

PROTECT    YOURSELF   AND    OTHERS    BY    USING 

DuBuquc's  Magic  Cleaning  fluid  ''J;,:s^:ilt^'lT^::::i':""\ 

For  KenoviiLiiig  and  Cleaning,  Kjits.  Clothing,  liloves.  Wool.  Silk,  .•^atin  and 
all  Delicate  Fabiies,  ill^^o  t'leaus  Carjiets  and  Hu^s,  removing  without  in- 
jury to  the  article.  PainI,  iieer,  Dirt  and  all  Spots  of  Grease  or  Oil. 

One  i'ric\  bottle  will  clean  any  suit  of  clothes  making  them  look  as  good  as  new.  or  remove  from 
UQ  to  '200  spots:  Magic  Cleaning  Fluid  has  been  used  and  recommended  for  tlie  past  ('1)  years  by 
cleaninu;  establishments.  Tailors.  Engineers,  Conductors  and  Motormen.  Druggists  and  the 
public-.  CoTisirler  the  merits  of  cleaning  preparations  like  Magic  Cleaning  Fluid.  It  must  be 
the  best.     It  has  stood  the  te>t. 

MY  MOTTO:     Your  money  back  if   you  are  not  satisfied:     THAI   TAl  KS 

Manufactured  oni»  by  J.    H.    DuBUQUE,  415   N.  32nd   St  ,  Richmond,  \  a. 


^S^f^^-l^(^^i^f^^^^^5i^f^^i^^ 


A.  H.  EWINQ 

CEMENT   PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


PHONE  1821 


The  Fditor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled 


FIREI—FIRE! 


CRIED  A   PIERCING   VOICE. 

YOUR 


HOUSE    IS   ON    FIRE.     WAKE    UP! 
OH!     FORGET    IT! 

MY    HOUSE    IS    INSURED   WiTH    THEr' 

Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Co. 


To  make  a  long  story  short,  his  slumbers  were  not  in  the  least 

disturbed 

Yawning  with  that  peaceful  sense  of  security,  which  is  an  evidence 
of  surety,  he  dropped  gently  into  the  land  of  nod,  and  dreamed  a  revela- 
tion— the  check,  for  there  was  a  check  forthcoming,  covering  all  damages. 
There  was  no  trouble  about  the  settlement,  there  never  is,  when  you  deal 
with  the  HARTFORD  PEOPLE.  While  some  companies  are  squabbling 
about  minor  points  in  a  settlement,  we  are  writmg  new  business. 


-^^Ss^^  2574-J     GEORGE  C.  JEFFERSON 


TIMES  BUILDING 
6  North  10th  St. 


FIRE  &.  ACCIDENT  INSURANCE  RICHMOND.  VA. 


I   P   R  I  Z   E   S  I 

"1         FOR  C 

I    "THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO  | 

1       Newsboys  who  get  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and  \ 

I                         other  prizes  to  those  who  sell  the  most  copies.  f 

M        The  Contest  will  begin  with  the  1st  of  November  and  boys  desiring  to  com-  f 


I 

\ 


The  Contest  will  begin  with  the  1st  of  November  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  begin  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Some  time  ago  The  Idea  gave  awaj^  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.    One  boy  selling 

1 12  copies  of  The  Idea  of  one  issue.      There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the  boys  besides  the  prizes. 


ELECTION    NUMBER 


WEEKLY 


5c 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill 


Oct.  30,  1909 


No.  22 


$2.00  A  YEAR 


DANCING  TO  THE  TUNE  OF  THE  POLICE  BOARD  I 
WHO  PAYS  THE  FIDDLER? 

For  Sale  Ai  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


JEWELER  J.    S.   JAMES  OPTICIAN 

7th  AND    MAIN    STS. 

We  have  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 
showing  special  good  values  in 

01AM0^DS,  WATCHES,  JtWmtV,  SILVERWARE,  CUT  GLASS,  Etc. 

We  invite  your  inspection 


WE  wish  to  announce  to  the  public  in'^general,  and   to   the 
Church  Hill  people  in  particular,  that  we  have  opened  a 
First-class  >HOE  and  GENTS'  FURNISHING  STORE,  under 
the  new  Hall  at  25th  and  Marshall  Streets. 


WE  SOLICIT  YOUR 
PATRONAGE 


The  Chandler  Company, 


INCORPORATED 


i  Thomas  Alva  Edison 


INVENTED  THE. 


EDISON 
Machine 
is  recog- 
nized as  the 
SWEETEST 
TONED  of  ail 
such  Instru- 
ments. 


PHONOGRAPH 


We  sell  these 
Machines  on 
our  easy  pay- 
ment plan — 
same  price  as 
for  cash. 


MACHINES  =  =  -  from  $12.50  to  $200.00 
Edison  Standard  Records  =  =  =  =  35  cents 
Edison  Amberol  Records   =  -  -  -  50  cents 

BEFORE  BUYING  CALL  AND  HEAR  THEM 


Phone  Mad.  6227 


C.  B.  tlAYNK  &  CO., 


603  East  Main  St. 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  OCTOBER  30,  1909  No.  22 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mall  matter  July  10, 1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


JOHN  M.  KING 


Make  Him  Pay 


The  former  associates  of  John  M.  King  in  the  City  Coun- 
cil seem  to  have  felt  that  they  owed  to  him  a  debt  of  gratitude 
for  going  to  jail  for  certain  crooked  work  a  few  years  ago,  for 
G.  K.  P'oUock  and  Morgan  Mills,  who  were  members  of  the 
committee  with  King,  but  who  did  not  get  caught,  are  still 
members  of  the  council  which  awards  contracts  to  Mr.  King 
to  furnish  coal  to  the  city.  ISTow,  Inspector  Beck  finds  the 
coal  furnished  to  the  city  by  Mr.  King  so  inferior  that  it  can- 
not be  used  by  the  city  and  the  committee  now  has  to  buy 
coal  at  a  higher  price  from  another  company  because  King 
has  violated  his  contract. 

You  don't  hear  anything  about  the  council  making  King 
pay  the  difference.  Oh,  no !  They  simply  let  him  off  without 
even  making  him  pay  for  the  difference  between  the  value  of 
his  low-grade  coal  and  the  better  stuff  he  contracted  to  furnish. 
Can  it  be  that  the  city,  after  all,  did  not  have  any  written 


2  T  h  e     I  d  e  a  . 

contract  with  Mr.  King  and,  therefore,  they  cannot  make  him 
pay  for  failnre  to  comply? 

It  tnrned  up  in  the  Alvey  investigation  that  Engineer 
Boiling  did  not  have  any  written  contract  v^ith  Alvey,  al- 
though the  council  had  awarded  such  a  contract. 

The  truth  is,  the  city  is  so  loosely  run  that  an  investiga- 
tion shows  up  unbusiness-like  and  lax  and  loose  methods  and 
criminal  negligence  that  had  never  been  heard  of  before. 

Has  the  city  really  ever  had  any  contract  with  Mr.  King's 
company  ? 


SAME  OLD  CROWD 


City  Jail  Condemned 


Who  is  Responsible? 


I^ow  that  Dr.  Levy  has  condemned  the  city  jail  which, 
since  the  contract  was  let  a  few  years  ago,  has  cost  the  citizens 
more  than  $90,000,  it  is  well  to  enquire  who  is  responsible 
for  the  rotten  work.  Messrs.  Adams  and  Pollock,  who  are 
still  in  the  council,  voted  for  this,  although  the  City  Engineer 
condemned  it  before  it  was  built.  John  M.  King,  who  ha])- 
pened  to  get  caught  in  dirty  council  work  and  was  confined 
in  this  jail  "as  comfortable  as  possible,"  was  another  who 
helj^ed  fake  the  city  with  this  jail.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that 
the  three  members  of  the  committee  who  opposed  this  crooked 
deal  are  no  longer  in  the  council.  Let  the  citizens  notice  that 
those  who  are  responsible  for  losses  to  the  city  and  for  crooked 
work  seldom  die  and  never  resign. 

With  government  by  commission  the  city  won't  be  throw- 
ing away  $00,000  for  grafters  and  rotten  jails  on  the  flimsy 
excuse  that  the  rotten  committee  had  no  time  "for  the  endless 
task  to  arrange  all  the  details  to  suit"  an  experienced  engineer. 


The    I dea.  3 

If  you  pay  a  small  commission  to  see  that  the  city  is  run 
rightly  it  will  be  run  rightly.  If  you  expect  j&fty-six  men 
who  are  not  paid  except  in  gi'aft  for  their  work  you  not  only 
get  a  rotten  deal  and  loose  your  money  expended,  but  you 
have  not  got  any  particular  individual  you  can  hold  responsible 
for  the  blunder. 


JUDGE  WITT  SENTENCES  CON- 
WAY TO  PRISON 


Then  Says  "Is  of  Good  Moral  Character  and  Good 

Reputation" 


In  the  last  issue  of  The  Idea  we  mentioned  tho  fad  t^;at 
the  court  had  granted  a  license  to  an  ex-convict,  but  we  did 
not  know  at  that  time  that  Judge  Witt,  who  granted  the  license, 
was  the  very  judge  that  passed  sentence  on  Conway  for  rob- 
bery, and,  therefore,  had  no  excuse  for  not  knowing  that  Con- 
way did  not  bear  a  "good  reputation  in  the  community." 
Yet  this  same  Judge  Witt  granted  a  license  to  Conway  and 
certified  that  "the  court  is  fully  satisfied  that  applicant  is  a 
registered  voter  of  this  city  and  is  a  person  of  good  moral 
character  and  good  reputation." 

Xow  the  people  want  to  know  how  Judge  Witt  satisfied 
himself  that  Conway  was  "a  registered  voter"  when  the  law 
will  not  let  a  man  be  a  registered  voter  who  is  an  ex-convict 
unless  he  has  been  pardoned,  and  the  records  show  that  Con- 
way was  not  pardoned. 

The  people  want  to  know  how  the  judge  s;atisfied  hini^^elf 
that  Conway  was  "of  good  moral  character."  when  his  own 
court,  while  he  was  sitting,  had  sentenced  Conway  to  the 
penitentiary. 

The  people  want  to  know  how  Judge  Witt  satisfied  him- 
self that  Conway  bore  "a  good  reputation"  when  he  must  havo 


4  The    Idea. 

known  that  Conway's  reputation  was  exactly  opposite  from 
good. 

ISTo  wonder  that  the  papers  of  the  State  are  ridiculing 
Richmond  and  editorially  asking  the  question,  Is  human  life 
cheap  in  Richmond  ?  when  a  judge  of  the  Hustings  Court  says 
that  an  ex-convict  has  a  good  reputation  and  grants  him  a 
license  to  dispense  the  drink  which  requires  more  care  in 
handling  than  any  other  known  poison. 

Truly  the  liquor  dealers  of  Richmond  must  have  a  strong 
hold  on  our  courts  when  they  can  make  a  judge  swallow  such 
medicine. 

If  The  Idea  had  no  other  reason  for  desiring  to  put  the 
saloon  out  of  Virginia  it  would  be  because  the  saloons  have 
corrupted  our  courts,  have  stolen  our  elections,  dominate  our 
councils  and  Legislature  and  decide  to  suit  themselves  nearly 
all  important  questions  which  come  up,  either  in  popular 
election  or  for  decision  before  the  executive  or  legislative  or 
judicial  branches  of  city  and  state  government.  Every  poli- 
tician realizes  that  he  has  to  make  his  bow  to  the  saloons  be- 
fore getting  any  office  of  importance  unless  for  some  reason 
or  other  other  special  interests  are  able  to  overcome  that  power- 
ful opposition,  which  is  very  seldom  the  case. 

iN'ever  will  the  saloon  and  its  agent,  the  crooked  politician 
and  corrupt  political  boss,  be  eliminated  from  political  power 
in  the  cities  until  the  cities  adopt  a  more  sensible  form  of 
government  by  having  the  cities  affairs  run  by  a  small  body 
of  men  elected  by  all  the  people  instead  of  by  wards. 


Car  Conductor  Shoots  Negro  for 
a  Five  Cent  Piece 


Corporation  Abuse 


For  some  time  past  power  has  been  granted  to  the  street 
railway  company  to  use  the  arm  of  the  law  to  enforce  their 


The    I dea.  5 

petty  rules  and  regulations,  but  the  evils  of  this  delegation  of 
authority  to  irresponsible  young  men  was  not  fully  brought 
home  to  the  people  until  last  week,  when  a  car  conductor  shot 
a  negro  on  Broad  street  for  simply  getting  off  the  car  and 
walking  away  without  paying  his  fare.  Of  course,  no  one 
should  be  allowed  to  ride  without  pay,  and  yet  no  man  should 
be  shot  down  in  cold  blood  simply  to  collect  a  5-cent  piece 
for  any  one,  much  less  for  a  cold-blooded  corporation  like  this 
street  railway  company  has  shown  itself  to  be.  If  you  or  I 
are  murderously  assaulted  on  the  street  the  police  refuse  to 
arrest  the  offender  until  we  pay  some  little  police  magistrate 
a  half  dollar  to  swear  out  a  warrant.  If  we  are  robbed  of 
$100  we  must  detect  the  criminal  and  then  swear  out  a  war- 
rant, but  if  the  car  company  is  deprived  of  a  5-cent  piece  the 
offender  may  be  arrested  and  shot  for  simply  walking  away 
from  the  employee  of  the  company,  whose  police  authority  he 
has  every  reason  to  doubt.  ISTow  do  you  want  to  know  why 
the  street  car  company  is  favored  in  the  collection  of  its  debts 
while  you  and  I  are  not? 

Well,  the  answer  is  brief. 

They  used  to  allow  the  councilmen  to  ride  on  passes  until 
the  law  put  an  end  to  that.  They  still  have  their  hands  on 
the  police  force,  because  they  allow  the  members  of  the  Police 
Board  to  ride  on  free  passes,  although  the  law  says  they  shall 
not  be  so  allowed. 

The  law  says  the  Police  Board  shall  forfeit  their  office 
for  accepting  any  free  transportation  whatever,  and  yet  the 
political  ring  in  Richmond  is  so  corrupt  that  they  continue 
to  ride  on  free  passes  and  the  Commonwealth's  Attorney  re- 
fuses to  do  his  sworn  duty  in  prosecuting  these  public  officials 
for  law  violation. 

Just  so  long  as  the  Mayor  and  the  Commonwealth's  At- 
torney have  no  regard  for  their  oaths  of  office  just  so  long  will 
it  be  possible  for  any  one  to  be  shot  down  in  cold  blood  by  the 
employees  of  a  corporation  that  has  its  fingers  on  the  officials 
•of  the  city. 

This  is  what  ring  rule  does  in  Richmond. 


Punishment   should   fit   the   criminal,      i^ot   the  crime. — 
Elbert  Hubbard. 


The    Idea. 

CHIEF  OF  POLICE 


Playing    Subordinate  in   a   Circus 

Parade 


Citizens  were  very  much  chagrined  on  circus  day  to  see 
Major  Werner,  Chief  of  Police,  walking  up  the  street  in  front 
of  the  big  parade  directing  the  route  of  the  line  of  march. 
ISTow  The  Idea  don't  believe  in  laying  too  much  stress  on 
position,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  believes  in  the  dignity  of  all 
honest  labor,  and  yet  the  occupant  of  any  prominent  position 
should  have  sufficient  conception  of  the  importance  of  his 
office  to  use  ordinary  care  to  maintain  proper  respect  for  his 
office. 

It  is  certainly  to  be  regretted  that  the  Chief  of  Police 
should  so  forget  his  office  as  to  trot  along  up  the  street  in 
front  of  a  circus  parade  when  he  has  125  subordinates  to  look 
after  such  detail  work.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Chief  of 
Police  in  Richmond  is  really  chief  only  in  name  and  instead 
of  acting  as  real  acting  head  of  the  Police  Department  he  is 
really  nothing  more  than  the  messenger  of  the  Police  Board, 
which,  under  the  present  management,  has  usurped  the 
authority  of  the  chief  and  takes  on  itself  all  powers  which 
the  constitution  and  statutes  have  given  to  the  chief. 


VIOLATION  OF  ELECTION  LAWS 


By  City  Committee 


u  *  *  -H-  j^^y  person   "    "   *  who  shall  give  to  any  person 
whomsoever,  any  information  about  any  official  ballot  shall  be- 


T  h  e     I  d  e  a  .  7 

declared  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  shall  be  fined  $500  and 
imprisoned  in  jail  six  months." 

The  above  is  an  abbreviated  statement  from  the  Virginia 
election  laws,  and  yet  the  pai)ers  tell  us  that  the  State  Demo- 
cratic Committee  is  sending  out  to  each  voter  "a  sample  ballot 
properly  marked." 

If  the  Democratic  machine  in  the  State  is  willing  to  resort 
to  such  crooked  means  to  further  its  interests  then  it  is  time 
for  the  people  to  be  careful  how  they  vote  on  election  day. 
The  fact  is,  that  the  machine  seems  to  be  scared  almost  to 
death  for  fear  the  Republicans  will  elect  a  ''Secretary  of  the 
Commonwealth,"  who  will  be  able  by  his  position  to  expose 
the  crooked  work  that  has  been  going  on  in  this  State's  govern- 
mental affairs  for  such  a  long  time. 


FRAUD 


Bryan    Papers   News  Suppressors 


The  Idea  has  frequently  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the  fact 
that  The  Times-Dispatch  and  The  News  Leader  do  not  pub- 
lish the  news  of  the  State  which  is  of  vital  interest  to  the 
citizens  of  the  State.  The  Idea  does  not  criticise  a  paper 
simply  for  taking  an.  editorial  position  on  one  side  of  a  ques- 
tion if,  while  it  poses  as  a  neM;5paper,  it  gives  the  news  con- 
cerning both  sides. 

If,  however,  that  paper  absolutely  refuses  to  be  fair  and 
when  a  very  important  piece  of  news  makes  its  appearance 
actually  suppresses  the  facts  in  the  case  in  the  interest  of  their 
side  of  the  question,  then  it  is  time  for  The  Idea  to  show 
them  up.  Every  paper  has  a  certain  body  of  readers  who  are 
readers  of  practically  no  other  paper.  Thus  the  readers  of 
The  Times-Dispatch  naturally  look  to  that  paper  for  the  news 
and  form  their  conclusions  accordingly.  There  is  perhaps  no 
subject  that  is  being  discussed  in  Virginia  more  than  that  of 


8  The    Idea. 

prohibition,  and  since  the  people  of  Koanoke  liave  recently 
had  an  election  on  this  question  the  papers  of  the  State  have 
realized  the  importance  of  getting  all  the  facts  in  connection 
with  that  election. 

The  Journal  of  October  17th  printed  several  columns  of 
a  press  dispatch  from  Roanoke  under  the  big  head,  "Charge 
of  Fraud,"  which  contained  a  very  lengthy  official  detailed 
statement  of  the  fraud  perpetrated  by  a  combination  of  Re- 
publicans and  whiskey  men  on  the  citizens  of  the  State.  The 
statement  covered  j)arts  of  five  columns  on  three  pages  of  The 
Journal  and  then  The  Times-Dispatch  of  the  next  day  brushed 
aside  the  whole  matter  and  suppressed  the  truth  before  their 
readers  by  printing  a  quotation  of  only  three  and  one-quarter 
lines  from  that  statement.  Thus  the  readers  of  The  Times- 
Dispatch  only  have  never  had  an  opportunity  to  get  hold  of 
the  real  facts  about  the  question  of  the  Roanoke  election,  al- 
though the  State  is  tremendously  aroused  concerning  that 
diabolical  affair.  If  the  citizens  of  a  community  after  a  fair 
election  decide  to  retain  the  saloon  The  Idea  has  nothing  to 
say,  but  if  it  is  proven  that  an  election  was  had  in  which  a 
mammoth  fraud  was  perpetrated  then  The  Idea  will  speak 
forth,  and  the  papers  of  the  State,  whether  wet  or  dry,  should 
expose  fraud  whenever  found. 

When  a  paper,  however,  refuses  to  disclose  a  case  of  fraud 
like  this  it  is  evidence  not  only  of  unfairness  but  of  morally 
criminal  crookedness,  and  such  a  paper  deserves  the  sharpest 
censure  of  the  public. 

There  is  absolutely  no  doubt  that  fraud  is  the  reason  for 
Roanoke  being  wet  to-day.  Bristol  is  wet  to-day  because  of 
purchased  and  illegal  votes,  and  The  Idea  stands  for  sub- 
mission of  this  question  to  the  people  of  the  State,  because  of 
the  fact  that  so  much  outside  money  is  spent  in  the  cities  where 
the  electoral  machinery  is  in  the  hands  of  saloons  that  it  is 
next  to  impossible  to  get  a  fair  election  in  the  cities  on  any 
question.  The  Idea  stands  for  a  square  deal  and  you  never 
get  a  square  deal  where  all  the  machinery  of  government  is 
controlled  by  saloon  politicians. 

That's  Richmond's  trouble  to-day.     The  reason  that  certain . 
crooks  are  in  office  to-day  is  not  that  the  good  people  of  Rich- 


The    Idea.  9 

mond  want  them  there;  it  is  because  the  saloons  want  them 
there  and  they  are  so  organized  that  they  get  what  they  want. 
As  the  Roanoke  statements  so  well  puts  it :  "If  there  were  no 
other  cause  for  abolishing  the  saloons  than  participation  in 
corrupt  politics  that  would  be  sufficient." 


FOR  MAYOR   RICHARDSON 


Copy  of  a  Letter 


EiCHMOND^  Va.,  October  27,  1909., 

Hon.  D.  C.  Richardson,  Mayor  of  Richmond,  Va. : 

Dear  Sir.— Some  time  ago  I  called  on  the  Commonwealth's 
Attorney  in  reference  to  the  open  violation  of  certain  State 
laws. 

At  that  time  he  stated  tbat  it  would  be  his  duty  to  bring 
to  the  attention  of  the  Chief  of  Police  any  information  which 
he  might  get  along  this  line. 

I,  therefore,  informed  him  that  whiskey  was  openly  sold 
in  the  houses  of  ill  fame  on  Mayo,  Franklin  and  Fourteenth 
streets  not  only  without  licenses,  but  also  on  Sundays  and  after 
saloons  close  in  particular. 

Having  waited  a  reasonable  length  of  time  without  any 
action  being  taken  on  this  information,  I  write  to  bring  to  your 
official  attention  as  chief  executive  of  the  city  not  only  these 
law  violations  but  also  the  failure  of  the  attorney  for  the  State 
or  the  Police  Department,  of  which  you  are  head,  to  take 
cognizance  of  these  facts. 

He  was  also  informed  of  the  existence  of  these  houses  of 
ill  fame  which  the  officers  of  the  law  have  openly  ignored  con- 
trai-y  to  the  law  itself. 

He  said  that  on  such  information  it  would  be  his  duty 
to  so  inform  the  Police  Department.  This  matter  has  not  been 
attended  to. 

T    call    vour    attention    to    the  fact  that  two  sworn  wit- 


10  The    Idea. 

nesses  have,  on  oath,  in  the  Conway  case  told  of  the  existence 
of  two  such  houses  of  ill  fame,  aud  though  some  time  has 
elapsed  no  prosecution  has  been  made. 

The  fact  that  such  sworn  information  as  this  does  not  meet 
with  speedy  prosecution  of  the  offenders,  not  only  against 
decency  and  morality,  but  against  the  majesty  of  the  law  and 
the  integrity  of  the  State,  leads  many  to  believe  that  there  is 
truth  in  the  statements  repeatedly  made  here  that  these 
offenders  are  free  from  prosecution  because  they  pay  for  pro- 
tection. 

I  trust  you  will  not  fail  to  see  that  you  cannot  afford  to 
ignore,  as  Mayor  of  the  city,  the  tremendous  sentiment  of  this 
intelligent  community  for  strict  enforcement  of  the  law,  espe- 
cially when  sworn  testimony  is  already  available  for  prosecu- 
tion. 

I  again  call  your  attention  to  the  violation  of  the  law 
against  selling  goods  on  Sunday  which  the  police  are  in- 
structed not  to  see. 

For  the  present  I  leave  the  matter  with  you  and  hope  that 
the  good  citizens  of  Eichmond  can  count  on  you  to  help  them 
make  a  law-abiding  community  out  of  the  city. 

Yours  truly,  Adox  A.   Yoder, 

Publisher  of  The  Idea. 


THE  PEOPLE  BE  DAMMED 


If  we  can  buy  the  Bosses 


A  former  street  railway  magnate  tells  in  The  Saturday 
Evening  Post  of  recent  date  how  the  railway  companies  rob 
the  people  through  the  political  bosses.  His  remarks  show  why 
the  telephone  and  street  railway  companies  of  Richmond  have 
found  it  cheaper  to  buy  Saunders  and  Leaman  and  Pollock 
and  couucilmen  than  to  worry  over  the  people  when  they  want- 
ed to  rob  the  people.     ''The  professional  set  who  make  an  asset 


The     I  dea.  11 

of  popularity  are  the  politician?  who  capitalize  their  specialty 
and  offer  it  for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder.  I  find  that  it  is 
cheaper  to  buy  my  popularity  of  the  politicians  than  to  try  to 
buy  it  direct  from  the  public."  The  writer  must  have  had 
Richmond  in  mind  when  he  wrote  in  reference  to  some  South- 
ern cities:  "I  invariably  marvel  at  the  gentle  treatment  with 
which  the  officials  of  the  companies  are  treated  by  the  public 
and  city  administrations." 


SOLD   OUT   AGAIK. 
Pollock  in  His  Old  Role. 

Since  writing  the  above  the  Street  Committee  of  the  council 
has  met  and  Mr.  Pollock  has  succeeded  in  fooling  the  com- 
mittee into  letting  the  Richmond  and  Henrico  Railway  Com- 
pany go  ahead  and  retain  their  franchise,  although  they  had 
forfeited  it  by  their  failure  to  live  up  to  their  contract. 

P'ollock,  elected  ostensibly  by  the  people,  instead  of  speak- 
ing for  the  people,  speaks  for  the  capitalists. 

Pollock  uses  his  office  as  servant  of  the  people  to  make 
money  as  servant  of  the  enemies  of  the  people.  By  his  own 
confession  he  comes  as  the  tool  of  the  capitalists  who  had  been 
"hustling  like  the  devil  to  get  the  money"  to  go  on  with  the 
work. 

And  they  say  the  people  elected  Pollock!  Truly,  "it  is 
cheaper  to  buy  popularity  of  the  politicians  than  it  is  to  buy 
it  direct  from  the  people." 


ASLEEP  AT  THE  SWITCH,  OR  THE 
HARE  AND  THE  TURTLE. 


BY  J.  J.  EEDMOND. 


As   the   election   draws   near  we   hear    all   kinds   of   funny 
stories   on   the  candidates   and  their  friends,   so   I  thought  I 


12  The     I  dea  . 

would  write  one  of  my  own,  including  a  bit  of  buisness,  fun 
and  pathos.     So  here  we  go. 

'Now,  of  course,  we  all  know  that  poor  old  Satterfield  went 
to  sleep  at  the  switch  and  now  he  is  trying  to  sue  the  railroad 
for  damages.  He  was  on  the  wrong  line.  He  should  have 
been  on  "The  Strickly  Business  Anti-Graft  Line,"  which  uses 
the  block  system,  and  commission  government.  In  other 
words  he  got  caught  off  third  base,  after  making  a  three-base 
hit,  and  is  now  delaying  the  game  kicking  with  the  umpire. 
Mr.  "Walter  Christian."  The  umpire  is  not  put  there  to  tell 
you  when  to  run  back.  That  is  the  coacher's  place  (the  City 
Committee).  What  would  have  happened  to  him  fifty  years 
ago  had  Lee,  Jackson  or  Mosby  caught  him  asleep  on  the 
picket  line  ?  Would  he  have  gotten  a  gold  medal  or  a  lead  one  ? 
They  would  have  shot  him  to  death.  You  have  no  pledge  to 
break  on  my  ticket,  as  I  am  the  only  man  on  the  ticket.  The 
Primary  Gang  failed  to  come  up,  and  were  left  at  the  post. 
I  was  surprised  at  some  of  the  old  boys,  but  I  was  not  at  all 
surprised  to  see  a  member  of  the  "Board  of  Aldermen,"  who 
had  been  working  for  nothing  (  ?)  for  fifteen  years.  Look  at 
The  Idea  of  last  Saturday  and  see  if  you  can  pick  out  the 
sleepy  alderman.  No  push,  no  go  ahead,  no  nothing.  All  the 
time  he  slept  in  that  fifteen  years  cost  the  city  untold  thou- 
sands of  "American  dollars,"  but  when  he  goes  to  sleep  now  it 
is  his  loss. 

He  says  he  spent  $1,.500  and  only  said  "Vote  for  me." 
ISTow,  I  haven't  spent  $100  and  have  written  and  delivered 
forty-eight  speeches.  He  has  now  made  up  his  mind  to  violate 
section  1221  of  the  Virginia  election  laws  in  regard  to  guide 
tickets,  which  means  $500  fine  and  six  months  in  jaiL  Why 
don't  some  of  you  fellows  tell  him  to  go  ahead,  the  whole  thing 
is  unconstitutional.  That's  what  Dick  Brophy  said  to  me  at 
the  Old  Market  last  week.  But  the  law  was  dated  September 
1909,  and  signed  by  D.  Q.  Eggleston,  Secretary  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. Of  course,  if  I  wanted  any  constitutional  law 
explained  I  would  call  on  Mr.  Buck  Koyall,  Charles  Meredith 
or  some  of  that  class  of  lawyers,  but  where  did  he  go?  The 
papers  said  he  and  the  bunch  ran  up  to  see  Clyde  Saunders. 
They  didn't  want  law,  they  wanted  crooked  work,  and  it  seems 


The    I  dea.  18 

they  got  it  all  right,  because  the  same  papers  said  next  day 
that  the  meeting  was  a  secret  one,  arid  that  they  had  it  all 
fixed  to  spring  on  the  enemy  early  election  morning. 

When  Saint  Peter  tried  to  walk  on  the  water  and  found 
it  would  not  hold  him,  if  he  had  called  for  Clyde  he  would 
surely  have  been  a  drowned  man.  Saint  Peter,  however,  was 
a  wise  man  and  knew  exactly  who  to  call  on  and  he  was  saved. 

It  would  look  strange  if  Satterfield  was  elected  and  his 
own  built  jail  would  fall  down  on  him  and  crush  him  to  death. 
If  I  am  elected  I  will  have  a  special  iron  safe  built  to  sit  in 
while  on  duty  until  they  build  me  my  new  "Shockoe  jail"  on 
Grace  street,  between  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth, 

If  "Topeka  Joe  and  Shady  Mike"  would  give  him  a  call 
he  couldn't  hold  them  ten  minutes.  I  wonder  how  he  voted 
on  the  Cohen's  alley  proposition,  the  new  jail  and  the  electric 
light  franchise,  and  all  the  rotten  stuff  left  behind  as  a  monu- 
ment of  the  greed  of  him  and  his  friends.  I  know  he  worked 
overtime  to  get  the  Weather  Bureau  building  out  of  Rich- 
mond, but  he  failed. 

Well,  thanks  to  the  sleepy  aldermen  and  the  switch  engine. 
I  have  my  name  at  the  present  time  on  about  25,000  tickets 
to  his  nothing,  and  it  will  take  many  a  lead  pencil  factory  to 
get  rid  of  them.  A  man  as  forgetful  would  not  do  for  City 
Sergeant.  Suppose  he  would  lock  a  man  up  for  six  months 
and  forget  to  let  him  out  for  six  years !  See  what  it  might 
cost  the  city  and  State!  If  the  Board  of  Aldermen  and  City 
Council  don't  hurry  up  and  buy  those  street  car  tickets  for 
Coroner  Taylor  and  fix  the  law  to  keep  me  from  distributing 
my  "Anti-Graft"  literature,  the  election  will  be  over  and  I 
will  be  elected,  and  honest  men  will  get  their  dues.  So  hurry 
up  and  get  a  move  on  you.     My  work  for  nothing,  friends  I 

I  want  it  understoood  that  this  election  has  to  be  carried 
on  strictly  according  to  the  letter  of  the  law,  for  I  myself  know 
the  law  thoroughly,  and  will  report  any  one  attempting  to 
evade  or  break  it. 

This  means  business. 

J.  J.  Redmond, 
The   "Anti-Graft,   Strictly  Business  Candidate  for  City  Ser- 
geant." — Adv. 


14  T  h  e     I  d  e  a .  ■  •  ■ 

WHICH  IS   SUPREME   IX   VIRGINIA,   THE   TI.MES- 
DISP'ATCH  OR  THE  LAW? 

Do  our  laws  amount  to  anything  or  are  they  any  good. 
Just  look  at  this  for  a  starter.     Here  is  the  law: 

Any  member  of  the  Electoral  Board,  the  printer  who  shall 
print  the  official  ballots  provided  for  by  this  act,  any  judge  of 
election,  or  any  person  who  shall  give  or  sell  to  any  jDerson 
"whomsoever,  except  where  it  is  distinctly  provided  by  this  act, 
:any  official  ballot  or  copy,  or  any  jac  simile  of  the  same,  or 
any  information  about  the  same,  or  shall  counterfeit,  or  at- 
tempt to  counterfeit,  the  same,  shall  be  deemed  giiilty  of  a 
misdemeanor,  and  upon  conviction  thereof  shall  be  fined  five 
iiundred  dollars  and  imprisoned  in  jail  for  six  months.  It  shall 
he  the  duty  of  the  judges  of  election  to  see  that  the  provisions 
■of  this  act  are  strictly  carried  out. 

But  The  Times- Dispatch  is  supreme  in  Virginia.  Tlie 
Times-Dispatch  has  been  printing  for  several  issues  a  guide 
ballot  showing  all  the  candidates  and  directing  how  to  scratch 
those  other  than  Democrats.  It  was  clipped  out  to  insert  in 
this  number,  but  The  Idea  did  not  want  to  lay  itself  open  to 
arrest  for  violating  the  law.  So  come  back  to  the  subject : 
Who  is  who  in  Virginia?  Is  it  us  or  The  Times-Dispatch.  I 
am  so  sorry  for  them  to  have  to  spend  six  months  in  jail,  but 
we  would  like  to  have  their  $500  to  spend  during  the  campaign. 
Xow,  this  is  no  fake. 

I  hereby  notify  and  report  this  flagrant  violation  of  the 
law  to  every  judge  of  election  and  demand  their  arrest.  Now 
let's  see  how  many  officials  know  their  duty. 

If  the  law  is  any  good,  enforce  it.  If  not  tear  it  out  of 
the  book  because  it  will  cause  trouble.  As  I  said  to  a  mem- 
ber of  the  City  Council  the  other  day,  "Why,  Harry,  you  are 
not  allowed  inside  of  the  dead  line  but  once,  and  .that  is  to 
vote."  He  said,  ''O,  yes  we  are,  we  belong  to  the  City  Com- 
mittee." 

Poor,  deluded  mortals.  They  think  so  much  of  the  primary 
that  they  forget  the  real  thing  and  don't  know  it  when  they 
see  it. 

— Adv.  J.  J.  Redmond. 


The    Idea.  15 

DIFFEHENCE  OE  OPINION. 

Dr.  Gordon  says  our  jail  is  0.  K. — a  model  of  cleanliness 
and  is  as  well  kept  as  any  jail  in  the  United  States. 

Dr.  Levy  said  a  week  later  that  the  jail  fairly  reeked  in 
filth  and  that  for  the  thirty  minutes  the  committee  was  in 
there  they  were  all  made  sick.  Who  must  we  believe  ?  This 
is. as  bad,  if  not  worse,  than  Cook  and  Peary.  The  only  way 
to  decide  is  to  go  down  and  see  for  ourselves. 

— Adv.  J.  J.  Redmond. 


I  do  the  very  best  I  know  how — the  very  best  I  can ;  and 
I  mean  to  keep  doing  so  until  the  end.  If  the  end  brings  me 
out  all  right,  what  is  said  against  me  won't  amount  to  any- 
thing. If  the  end  brings  me  out  wrong,  ten  angels  swearing 
I  was  right  would  make  no  difference. — Abraham  Lincoln. 


If  you  want  work  well  done   select  the  Busy  Man;   the 
Other  Kind  has  No  Time. — Elbert  Hubbard. 


Man  is  superior  to  woman — when  he  is,  and  when  he  isn't, 
he  isn't. 


To  escape  criticism:     Do  nothing,  say  nothing,  be  noth- 
ing.— Elbert  Hubbard. 


f 


S.  L.  LEDMAN 

SHOES 


Are  Comfortable,  Serviceable,   Reasonable,  Stylish  and  Good  Fitters 
No.  726  EAST  MAIN  STREET. 


For  T{eliable 


FURNITUBE.  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 


■#*l^%    iKI^^^' 


j   P  R  I  Z   E   S   ( 


"1       FOR       r 
J  BOYS  L 

"THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO 

Newsboys  who  get  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and 
other  prizes  to  those  who  sell  the  most  copies. 

The  Contest  will  begin  with  the  1st  of  November  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  begin  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Some  time  ago  THE  Idea  gave  away  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.    One  boy  selling 

112  copies  of  The  Idea  of  one  issue.      There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the  boys  besides  the  prizes. 


m 


lOi  HOUSEKEEPERS.... 


T 

H  You  wish  the  best  Flavoring  Extracts,  Essences  and 

H  Spices  for  your  Table. 

The  best   Soap,  Perfumery   and  Toilet  Requisites  for 
your^familyiand  guests. 

The  best  Steel  Enameled,  Rubber  and  Glass  Goods  for  your  sick. 

We  have  them  as  low  as  they  can  be  sold,  as  well  as  Medicines 
of  unexcelled  quality,  which  conform  strictly  to  the  United  States 
Pure  Food  and  Drug  Law. 

You  want  information  as  to  what  is  best  to  give  medical  students 
at  Christmas,  January  1st  or  af  Commencement  Exercises.  This  we 
can  give  you  of  the  most  satisfactory  character. 


m 


A.  H.  ROBINS'  PHARIVIACY, 

200  EAST  MARSHALL  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

so  YEARS  EXPERIENCE.  QOOOS  DELIVERED  ANYWHERE  IN  THE  CITY. 


A.  H.  EWINQ 


CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


C.r>^rgfe-^=$^:iJ^ 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 


PHONE  1821 


M 


Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements.  &c. 


0j1  The  fditor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled 


^^L^^^^MS^^^ 


E^m-M 


PREPAREDNESS 


S  the  Evidence  of  Foresight  which 
crops  out  in  the  man  who  thinks. 
It  is  this  that  distinguishes  him 
from  the  ordinary  man,  causes 
him  to  be  called  conservative.  tU^ 


••■•■■^■■•••~'— 


PREPAREDNESS   IS    SELF-PRESERVA- 
TION—The  Firj't  Law  of  Nature. 


People  should  not  let  their  inert  optomism,  which  is  the  outcome  of  good  health, 
prevent  them  from  being  prepared  for  sickness  or  accidents,  should  it  come  their  way. 


Your  Pride   Should   Stimulate    Your   Desire    to   be   Protected. 
Get  a   Health   and  Accident   Policy    Toda^. 
Sickness    is   a    Crime   Against   Nature. 

Do  not  let  the  Penalty  be  a  Lifelong  Obligation  to  Stranger's  or  Friend's, 
Action  is  Thought  in  Motion. 

..o.tZ^^  ^George  C.  Jefferson,  ,r;'rtf: 

Madison   -*<->  f^'J       FIRE  &'  ACCIDENT  INSURANCE  Richmond,    Va. 


VOTE  FOR 


J.  J.  REDMOND 


FOR 


CITY  SERGEANT 

THE  MAN  WITH  THE  FIVE  SENSES 


c^MADE  IN  RICHMOND 


ELECTION,  Tuesday,  Nov.  2,  1909 
VOTE  EARLY 


WEEKLY 


5c 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 


Vol.  Ill 


Nov.  6,  1909 


No.  23 


$2.00  A  YEAR 


WHY  THE  LAWS  ARE  NOT  ENFORCED  !  UNDER  THE  THUMB  OF  THE  BOARD. 

For  Sale  At  All  News  Stands 

b:eing  some  sermonettes  published  weekly  for  the 
common  good  at  richmond,  virginia,  by  adon  a.  yoder. 

Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


I 


} 


JEWELER  J.    S.   JAMES  OPTICIAN 

7th  AND    MAIN    STS. 

We  have  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 
showing  special  good  values  in 

DIAMONDS,  WATCHES,  JEWELRY,  SILVERWARE,  CUT  GLASS,  Etc. 

We  invite  your  inspection 


S.    L.    LEDMAN 


I 
J 

.J 

■n 

J 


T 

H  You  wish  the  best  Flavoring  Extracts,  Essences  and 

H  Spices  for  your  Table. 

The  best  Soap,  Perfumery  and  Toilet  Requisites  for 
your  familyiand  guests. 

The  best  Steel  Enameled,  Rubber  and  Glass  Goods  for  your  sick. 

We  have  them  as  low^  as  they  can  be  sold,  as  well  as  Medicines 
of  unexcelled  quality,  vi^hich  conform  strictly  to  the  United  States 
Pure  Food  and  Drug  Lav^^. 

You  vi^ant  information  as  to  what  is  best  to  give  medical  students 
at  Christmas,  January  1st  or  at  Commencement  Exercises.  This  we 
can  give  you  of  the  most  satisfactory  character. 

A.  H.  ROBINS'  PHARMACY, 

200  EAST  MARSHALL  STREET 
RICHMOND,  VA. 

50  YEARS  EXPERIENCE.  GOODS  DELIVERED  ANYWHERE  IN  THE  CITY. 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  NOVEMBER  6,  1909  No.  23 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Yeak 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 

904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mall  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


FRANK  CUNNINGHAM 


Deliberate  Misappropriation 


Did  Not  "  Forget  CFiecks "  as  Daily  Papers  Falsely 

Report 


It  is  always  an  extremely  disagreeable  duty  to  note  the 
downfall  of  a  reputable  citizen,  and  while  this  paper  does 
enter  with  a  certain  zeal  into  the  exposure  of  a  common  grafter 
and  crook,  it  very  reluctantly  undertakes  the  exposure  of  a 
high  and  popular  official  of  the  city  government  and  one  who. 
on  account  of  many  excellent  qualities,  has  won  the  confidence 
of  the  citizens. 

It  is,  however,  none  the  less  a  duty  for  any  organ  of  pub- 
licity to  show  up  evil  even  if  found  in  the  house  of  its  friends, 
and  so  The  Idea,  despite  strong  pressure  to  smooth  the  matter 
over,  publishes  the  facts  as  they  are  in  the  matter  of  misap- 


2  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

propriation  of  funds  by  Mr.  Frank  Cunningham,  Collector  of 
City  Taxes  for  the  city  of  Richmond. 

The  newspapers  of  the  city  have  been  so  desirous  of  cover- 
ing up  anything  that  reflected  on  officeholders  that  they  have 
published  falsehoods  which  completely  pull  the  wool  over  the 
eyes  of  the  people,  and  if  it  were  not  for  The  Idea  the  people 
would  never  have  known  that  there  was  wrong-doing  in  the 
financial  offices  of  the  city. 

The  papers  state  that  Mr.  Cunningham  ' 'forgot  to  send 
money  on  time"  and  "forgot  the  city's  license  checks." 

Mr.  Cunningham  did  not  forget  these  checks.  On  the 
other  liand  he  deposited  these  checks  to  his  own  credit  and  held 
the  proceeds  "to  his  own  use"  in  direct  violation  of  law. 

He  collected  $2,000  in  liquor  licenses  in  April  and  should 
have  turned  the  money  over  immediately,  but  instead  held  it 
for  five  or  six  months,  turning  it  over  to  the  Treasurer  on  Sep- 
tember 28th. 

The  city  charter  requires — 

Section  49.  The  Collector  shall  make  report,  in  writing, 
under  oath,  to  the  Auditor  weekly,  and  oftener  if  required,  the 
amount  of  all  moneys  collected  by  him,  and  shall  pay  the 
same  into  the  city  treasury  in  the  manner  hereinbefore  pro- 
vided." 

The  Times-Dispatch,  under  date  of  Kovember  2nd,  states 
that  Mr.  Cunningham's  "explanation  was  that  the  money  had 
been  mislaid  in  the  vaidt  of  his  office  and  had  only  come  to 
light  just  previous  to  being  paid  over  to  the  City  Treasurer." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  looked  like  such  a  flimsy  excuse 
that  The  Idea  reporter  called  on  the  special  accountant,  and 
on  direct  inquiry  learned  that  Mr.  Cunningham  had  not  "mis- 
laid" these  checks  and  had  not  "forgotten"  them,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  appropriated  them  to  his  own  use  and  deposited 
them  to  his  own  credit  in  hank. 

Section  50  of  the  city  charter  says:  "The  Collector  is 
expressly  prohibited  from  keeping  the  money  of  the  city  in  his 
hands  or  in  the  hands  of  any  person  or  corporation  to  his  use 
beyond  the  time  prescribed  (one  week)  for  the  p^ayment  of  the 
same  into  the  city  treasury,  and  any  violation  of  this  provision 
shall  subject  him  to  immediate  removal  from  office." 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  ?> 

This  is  a  very  emphatic  and  clear  law  and  allows  no  mis- 
understanding' of  its  meaning.  The  Collector  has,  by  his  own 
act — if  the  law  is  enforced  by  the  Mayor — vacated  his  office, 
and  the  Mayor  makes  himself  a  party  to  the  crime  when  he 
deliberately  refnses  to  abide  by  his  oath  to  see  to  it  that  all 
the  laws  of  the  State  are  enforced  in  the  city. 

In  the  absence  of  such  a  provision  the  council  would  be 
responsible,  but  section  11  of  the  charter  says  the  Mayor  "shall 
have  power  to  remove  all  subordinate  officers  for  misconduct 
in  office." 

It  will,  then,  be  seen  that  the  Mayor  had  no  alternative 
but  to  remove  the  Collector  mxmediaiely ,  but  on  the  other 
hand  it  is  reported  in  Tlie  Times-Dispatch  that  the  Mayor 
said  that  it  did  not  appear  that  any  action  was  necessary  at 
this  time  on  his  part,  save  to  see  that  the  delinquency  was  not 
repeated. 

Can  it  be  that  the  Mayor  has  been  fooled,  as  the  citizens 
have,  into  thinking  that  the  Collector  is  simply  guilty  of  an 
"oversight"  or  "forgetting"  of  the  checks  which  laid  "in  his 
vault"  or  "in  his  desk"  for  six  months  ? 

The  Mayor  is  quoted  as  saying  "the  four  checks  had  been 
deposited  with  the  Treasurer  even  before  the  examination  of 
the  books  of  the  office  was  begun,"  as  if  the  Mayor  thought  the 
checks  were  recently  deposited.  Did  he  know  that  these  checks 
were  deposited  in  April  "to  the  Collector's  credit  ?" 

The  Mayor  has  either  been  deceived  or  he  is  a  party  to  the 
game  to  hnsh  up  this  matter  of  the  people's  affairs,  and  his 
quoted  statement  is  certainly  calculated  to  mislead  the  people. 
It  looks  as  though  so  much  pressure  had  been  brought  to  bear 
on  this  whole  matter  for  secrecy  that  even  the  Mayor  has  been 
mislead  and  does  not  realize  the  truth  or  the  gravity  of  the 
offence,  or  else  is  dictated  to  by  the  ringsters,  who  gave  him 
the  office  and  who  now  want  him  to  "lay  low,"  for  his  state- 
ment leads  one  to  believe  that  he  thought  it  was  simply  a 
"forgetting  of  the  checks  in  his  vault." 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  Mayor  knows  all  the  facts — and 
there  is  no  reason  why  he  should  not — he  is  again  guilty  of  a 
violation  of  his  oath  in  not  seeing  that  all  the  laws  are  enforced. 
In  the  past  the  Mayor  has  set  up  the  absurd  and  ridiculous 


4  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

claim  that  he  need  not  regard  the  hiw  if  he  thought  it  wise 
to  ignore  the  law,  and  now  again  does  he  ignore  the  law  and 
his  duty  by  letting  the  guilty  go  free. 

Rumor  has  it  that  the  Mayor  did  desire  to  do  his  duty  and 
put  the  Collector  out,  but  that  it  was  on  the  eve  of  election  and 
it  would  not  only  hurt  Democratic  chances  at  the  polls,  but  Mr. 
Cunningham  was  the  party  nominee  and  would  go  back  in 
again  at  the  first  of  the  year,  as  if  such  a  flimsy  excuse  would 
justify  a  man  in  refusing  to  do  his  present  duty. 

This  is  not  the  first  offence  of  Mr.  Cunningham.  He  has 
been  guilty  of  similar  transactions  in  the  past  and  they  were 
hushed  up  at  the  time  by  the  finance  committee.  This  finance 
committee  had  no  right  to  keep  these  shady  transac- 
tions from  the  jjeople,  and  yet  we  learn  that  they  would 
have  done  it  this  time  if  it  had  been  possible,  but  they  learned 
that  The  Idea  knew  that  there  was  something  wrong,  and  so 
to  clear  their  skirts  they  were  unwilling  to  hush  the  matter 
np  entirely,  although  if  it  were  not  for  The  Idea''s  publica- 
tion to-day  of  the  real  truth  the  people  would  be  made  to  be- 
lieve that  no  intentional  wrong  had  been  committed. 

Every  member  of  that  finance  committee  knows  that  the 
offense  is  so  serious  that  if  the  law  were  obeyed  not  only  would 
the  officer  lose  his  job  but  in  any  other  city  he  would  in  all 
probability  be  publicly  prosecuted  in  the  courts.  It  becomes 
the  duty  to-day  of  the  commonwealth's  attorney  to  prosecute  for 
misappropriation  of  funds,  however  disagreeable  it  may  be  to 
him  personally,  but  no  one  who  knows  the  powers  that  elect  and 
retain  the  attorney  in  office  expect  him  to  do  anything  in  the 
premises. 

The  head  of  a  very  prominent  business  house  said  on  the 
street  that  such  a  matter  would  not  be  tolerated  one  moment 
by  his  concern,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  business  house  in 
the  city  would  retain  in  its  employ  a  man  who  would  ''borrow'" 
from  the  concern  without  their  knowledge  or  consent  $2,000 
for  five  months  and  then  replace  it  just  before  an  examination 
of  the  books  is  made.  The  papers  tried  to  make  the  people 
believe  that  there  was  no  intentional  wrong  doing  when  the 
city  has  actually  lost  coin  of  the  realm  by  the  transaction  and 
if  the  collector  had  died  before  Sept.  28th  the  city  would  have 
been  the  loser  by  more  than  $2,050. 


The    Idea.  5 

It  is  evident  from  the  word's  of  the  report  that  the  collector 
has  not  even  offered  to  pay  the  city  the  interest  due  on  the 
money  appropriated,  and  yet  all  the  papers  pass  the  matter  by 
with  an  attempt  to  keep  it  quiet  just  as  they  minimized  the 
corruption  and  graft  when  the  investigation  in  1903  showed 
that  Saunders  and  Leaman  and  others  were  the  worst  kind  of 
oTafters  and  coruptionists.  If  these  papers  were  not  willing 
to  he  made  parties  to  these  crooked  deals  Eichmond  people 
would  soon  cast  off  the  band  of  political  crooks  that  make  such 
things  possible,  but  six  years  ago  that  said  it  was  "perfectly 
legitimate  business,"  and  now  they  say  no  "wrongdoing." 

If  the  papers  of  Richmond  knew  the  facts  and  they  had  bet- 
ter facilities  for  knowing  the  facts  than  The  Idea  had,  they 
have  no  excuse  for  stating  that  the  "liquor  checks"  were  kept 
or  forgotten.  These  statements  are  absolutely  false  and  as  we 
go  to  press  have  not  been  corrected  by  any  of  the  papers,  and 
moreover  not  a  single  paper  has  dared  to  make  a  single 
editorial  comment  on  the  transaction. 

The  Leader  conceals  the  truth  by  a  very  brief  and  deceptive 
article  headed  "Blames  Cunningham  for  his  IS'egligence"  when 
that  jDaper  knew  it  was  not  negligence.  The  Journal  also  has 
a  brief  article  on  an  obscure  page  as  the  Leader  had  it  and  en- 
titles it,  "Forgot  City  License  Checks"  which  is  absolutely 
false.  What  a  shame  that  three  daily  papers  of  the  city  should 
contrive  to  decieve  the  people  when  the  people's  treasury  is 
being  used  for  private  purposes. 

It  is  frequently  said  that  Richmond  is  a  peculiar  place; 
the  people  don't  like  to  know  about  public  wrong-doing;  they 
return  to  office  a  malefatcor  rather  than  put  him  out  in  the 
cold ;  they  have  one  standard  for  public  office  and  another  for 
private  life.  We  continually  hear  it  said  that  the  people  here 
are  different  from  everywhere  else,  etc.,  etc. 

ISTow  The  Idea  finds  that  nearly  everybody  believes  this 
and  yet  we  have  not  met  so  many  people  here  that  were  as  every- 
body reports  them  to  be  and  we  think  that  the  people  themselves 
iiave  been  slandered. 

It  is  true  that  public  matters  are  treated  differently  here 
and  we  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  is  more  because 
of  the  attitude  of  the  papers  than  the  temperament  of  the  people 


6  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

Richmond  differs  from  other  cities  in  that  it  has  no  daily  paper 
that  is  willing  to  take  a  bold  stand  for  official  integrity.  Rich- 
mond people  are  all  right  but  people  everywhere  are  influenced 
by  the  public  press  and  if  the  press  maintain  a  low  moral 
standard  then  the  officers  of  the  city  will  maintain  a  low  moral 
standard.  If  the  press  will  smooth  over  and  hush  up  official 
wrongdoing  the  public  officials  will  continue  their  malefactions 
until  the  people  think  they  can  not  overcome  the  evils. 

The  reason  the  people  of  Richmond  don't  arouse  themselves 
against  publio  wrongs  is  because  they  know  that  they  will  not 
be  led  to  a  correction  of  those  evils  by  the  daily  papers  of  the 
city  and  m  they  drift  into  lethargy  and  the  cause  of  the  wrong 
must  be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  daily  papers. 

We  charge  that  The  Times-D isijatch  and  The  Leader  and 
The  Journal  are  parties  to  the  crimes  which  they  conceal  and 
that  Richmond  people  would  be  better  off  by  thousand?  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  dollars  each  year  if  the  papers  would  publish 
the  daily  news  as  it  comes  to  them  instead  of  hushing  the  mat- 
ter up.  On  the  other  hand,  these  papers  join  hands  with  the 
corruptionists  to  put  out  of  office  high-minded  public  men  like 
Carlton  McCarthy  and  do  all  in  their  power  to  retain  in  office 
those  who-  have  been  caught  in  criminal  acts.  It  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that  many  of  the  city  officials  of  Richmond  have  been 
caught  red-handed  and  investigated  and  indicted  and  found 
guilty  of  various  and  sundry  acts  of  immorality  and  crime 
while  the  man  who  did  more  to  save  untold  hundreds  of  thous- 
ands of  dollars  to  the  citizens  was  kicked  out  to  make  place  for 
a  man  who  openly  refuses  to  do  his  sworn  duty  and  all  this  in 
Virginia  and  in  Richmond  where  Patrick  Henry  made  his  fa- 
mous speech  for  liberty  and  his  famous  fight  against  the  ring. 


CITIZENS  AWAKE! 


The  Car  Company  Prepares  to  Fleece  the  People 


The  papers  tell  us  that  the  Virginia  Railway  and  Power 
Company,  which  is  the  owner  of  the  street  railways  of  the  city, 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  7 

proposes  to  ask  for  a  new  charter  covering  the  entire  system, 
and  the  newspapers  of  the  city  are  helping  to  betray  the  peo- 
ple into  the  hands  of  this  combination  of  capitalists  by 
writing  nice  little  articles  telling  the  citizens  how  this  com- 
pany will  improve  its  facilities  and  increase  its  mileage,  etc., 
all  the  time  beclouding  the  real  intent  of  the  corporation — 
namely,  to  get,  now,  while  the  city  is  run  by  the  ring,  one 
long-term  franchise  for  all  its  little  short-term  franchises, 
many  of  which  expire  in  the  next  few  years.  This  company 
knows  that  after  a  short  while  Richmond  will  have  a  better 
government,  which  they  cannot  buy  up.  In  the  near  future 
Eichmond  will  be  run  on  a  business  basis  and  all  public 
facility  corporations  which  desire  favors  from  the  city  will 
have  TO  pay  at  least  in  part  for  value  received. 

In  Chicago  the  car  companies  have  to  pay  a  large  per- 
centage of  the  gross  earnings  to  the  city.  This  amounts  to 
millions  of  dollars,  and  it  is  nothing  but  right. 

Here  in  Richmond  we  give  them  the  franchise  and  get 
nothing  in  return.  This  is  worth  millions  and  millions  of  dol- 
lars to  the  company,  especially  if  these  franchises  are  for  long 
terms. 

Let  the  citizens  demand  something  in  return  for  these  big 
gifts  to  the  wealthy  corporations  who  are  given  the  right  for 
ninety-nine  years  to  soak  it  to  the  people.  We  of  this  genera- 
tion have  no  right  to  give  away  the  next  generation's  rights. 

1.  Let's  sell  these  valuable  franchises. 

2.  Lets  make  the  company  keep  up  the  streets  along  the 
line  of  the  railways. 


THE  EDITOR  WINS  HIS  APPEAL 


Leaman  Loses 


On  the  28th  day  of  October,  Thursday  of  last  week,  the 
case  of  the  appeal  from  the  decision  of  the  police  court  by 
which  the  Editor  of  The  Idea  was  ordered  to  give  bond  to  keep 


8  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

the  peace  because  he  was  assaulted  in  the  street  by  political 
boss  "Dutch"  Leaman,  was  called  and  the  lower  court  was  re- 
versed without  any  argument  by  the  commonwealth's  attorney, 
all  of  which  goes  to  show  the  truth  of  the  claim  of  The  Idea 
that  a  conspiracy  existed  to  embarass  The  Idea  by  requiring 
excessive  bond  when  there  was  no  justification  for  it  and  by 
incurring  lawyers'  fees  to  protect  the  Editor  in  his  rights. 

This  incident  should  show  the  people  that  the  crooks  can 
count  on  the  aid  of  the  courts  of  justice  to  suppress  anything 
that  attempts  to  stand  for  right. 

The  courts  founded  to  insure  justice  used  by  confessed 
criminals  as  a  means  of  injustice  to  those  whose  greatest  crime 
is  exposure  of  crime ! 

And  in  Richmond,  cradle  of  American  liberties ! 


REIGN  OF  CRIME 


"  Political  "-Disorderly  Housekeeper 
Given  Light  Sentence  and  Why 


The  Idea's  Letter  Had  Its  Effect 


On  the  27th  the  Editor  of  The  Idea  sent  a  letter  to  the 
Mayor  calling  his  attention  to  the  sworn  evidence  convicting  two 
parties  of  maintaining  a  house  of  ill  fame.  That  letter  ap- 
peared in  The  Idea  on  the  30th  ult.,  and  on  the  28th  the 
authorities  hailed  into  court  the  two  women  who  ran  the  places. 
One  of  these  parties  was  fined  $100  and  jailed  for  30  days, 
which  sentence  was  appealed.  The  other  case  was  postponed 
imtil  the  2nd  of  ISTovember.  !N"ow  this  party,  Sophie  Malloy, 
operated  a  notorious  assignation  house  on  lower  Main  Street 
under  the  protection  of  the  police  department,  for  certain  party 
officials  were  interested  in  the  house.     Justice  John  called  the 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  9 

place  the  worst  in  the  city  and  yet  read  carefully  how  the  case 
turned  out. 

There  were  two  charges  against  the  woman — one  of  selling 
whiskey  without  license  and  the  other  for  keeping  a  disorderly 
house.  She  was  dismissed  on  the  first  charge,  although  the 
evidence  was  convincing  that  she  was  guilty  as  she  had  sold  to 
the  Conway-Torrence  crowd. 

On  the  second  charge,  keeping  a  house  of  ill  fame,  her  at- 
torney, Mr.  Pollock,  plead  giiilty  for  her  and  she  was  fined  one 
hundred  dollars.  On  the  similar  charge  Maggie  Lee  of  14 
Jackson  Street  had  been  fined  $100  and  sentenced  to  jail  for 
30  days.  Now  the  question  arises  why  was  this  distinction 
made  ?  And  the  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  Mal- 
loy  woman,  or,  as  the  papers  are  careful  to  dignify  the  crea- 
ture, "Miss  Malloy,"  had  a  decided  pull  or  influence  with  the 
powers  that  be.  Her  place  has  enjoyed  the  favors  of  those  who 
have  a  strong  influence  with  the  police  commissioners  and  the 
court,  and  it  would  have  opened  the  eyes  of  the  citizens  if  they 
could  have  seen  the  interest  police  commissioners  and  political 
powers  had  in  the  outcome  as  was  evidenced  by  their  presence 
and  position  in  the  police  court. 

The  judge  occupied  a  very  uncomfortable  position  between 
his  duty  on  the  one  hand  and  his  desire  to  please  the  powers 
that  be  on  the  other,  for  these  powers  that  be  were  on  hand  to 
see  that  things  went  well.  Chris.  Manning  sat  and  Douglas 
Gordon  stood  behind  Justice  John  and  engaged  him  in  conver- 
sation during  the  course  of  the  trial.  Gilbert  Pollock  repre- 
sented the  Malloy  woman,  while  W.  P.  Leaman  whispered  in 
Pollock's  ear  and  that  combination  of  Manning,  Gordon  and 
Pollock,  and  Leaman  with  Justice  John,  is  responsible  for  the 
fact  that  this  notorious  character,  who  has  operated  for  years  in 
the  same  place  and  known  to  the  police  the  worst  kind  of  a 
joint  for  the  ruination  of  young  girls  and  for  the  illegal  meet- 
ings of  married  women  with  other  men,  was  simply  given  a  fine 
and  no  jail  sentence  was  passed  upon  her,  although  for  a  similar 
offense  another  woman  on  the  same  kind  of  evidence,  though 
not  quite  as  convicting  evidence  of  same  parties  was  fined  the 
same  amount  and  jailed  thirty  days.  There  is  absolutely  no 
doubt  that  the  woma^i  who  got  the  lesser  sentence  was  guilty 
of  the  greater  crime.     But  unfortunately  for  Maggie  Lee,  po- 


10  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

lice  commissioners  and  others  in  authority  did  not  grace  the 
occasion  with  their  influential  presence. 

Justice  John  has  no  excuse  to  offer  for  his  light  sentence  for 
so  flagrant  a  crime. 

The  Idea  has  all  along  claimed  that  there  was  a  corrupt  al- 
liance between  the  trade  in  vice  and  the  police  department  and 
that  was  openly  shown  by  the  apparent  reluctance  of  the  judge 
in  passing  sentence  and  the  lightness  of  the  verdict  and  the 
presence  of  the  police  commissioners  and  others.  Gilbert  Pol- 
lock was  visibly  delighted  at  the  outcome  as  were  others  inter- 
ested. It  is  a  shame  on  the  fair  name  of  the  city  that  such 
bold  schemes  can  be  pulled  off  openly  in  courts  of  justice.  And 
the  Mayor,  made  by  the  political  ring,  his  enemies  if  he  knew 
it,  dares  not  say  a  word  against  the  gross  miscarriage  of  justice. 
But  wait !     A  time  of  reckoning  will  come. 


BOYS,  WARNING! 


JSTewsboys  frequently  report  to  the  office  that  they  have 
been  robbed  by  other  boys  who  offered  to  sell  them  Ideas  at  the 
regular  ofiice  price  to  boys. 

The  boy  thus  offering  to  sell  would  get  the  money  and  then 
run  off  without  delivering  The  Ideas  or  the  boy  would  refuse 
to  give  enough  change  or  wonld  run  off  without  giving  any 
change  or  would  give  the  wrong  number  of  Ideas. 

Let  every  boy  take  warning  and  refuse  to  buy  Ideas  from 
other  boys.  If  you  want  Ideas  get  them  at  The  Idea  office. 
ISTobody  else  has  a  right  to  sell  Ideas  at  less  than  5  cents  a  copy 


COMMONWEALTH'S  ATTORNEY. 

We  would  like  to  know  whether  Mr.  Eolkes  is  employed 
to  prosecute  criminals  or  to  protect  them  when  they  happen 
to  be  backed  by  politicians.  This  question  is  suggested  by  the 
way  Mr.  Folkes  acted  in  the  prosecution  of  the  Malloy  woman. 
He  absolutely  refused  to  make  any  stand  for  her  prosecution, 
but  got  up  for  about  a  minute  and  actually  hurt  the  Common- 
wealth's case  by  his  weak  and  cowardly  remarks  in  the  presence 
of  the  ]ioliticai  friends  of  "Miss  Malloy." 


7'  //    r      /   d  r  a   .  11 

HELP  THE  FALLEN  BROTHER  RISE 


Help  The  Tax  Payer 


In  the  Fall  election  of  li)O0  Mr.  W.  A.  Crenshaw  opposed 
Mr.  Frank  Cunningham  f  or  city  collector,  and  in  a  lar^e  meet- 
ing he  exposed  irregularities  and  misapprojn-iations  in  the  col- 
lector's office,  and  Mr.  Cunningham,  who  was  in  the  audience 
arose  to  reply  but  in  the  knowledge  of  his  guilt,  which  had 
been  kept  secret  from  the  people  by  a  crooked  finance  committee, 
he  was  at  a  loss  for  words  to  reply  to  the  attack  when  some 
friend  called  out  "Give  us  a  song,  Frank,"  and  then  and  there 
the  noted  singer's  voice  arose  in  the  well  known  song,  "Help 
the  Fallen  Brother  Rise."  The  people  were  so  overwhelmed 
by  the  beauty  of  the  song  that  they  forgot  the  confession  of 
guilt  contained  in  it  and  they  returned  Mr.  Cunningham  to  of- 
fice. JSTow  The  Idea  has  the  heartiest  sympathy  for  any  fallen 
brother,  but  after  a  public  offical  has  proven  himself  unworthy 
of  public  confidence  on  repeated  occasions  and  has,  after  draw- 
ing a  salary  of  $10,000  a  year  from  the  pockets  of  the  people, 
misused  other  of  the  taxpayer's  funds,  then  it  is  high  time  to 
call  on  the  official  for  an  accounting  and  to  help  the  poor  fallen 
taxpayer  to  arise  with  his  burden  which  he  is  so.  ill  able  to  bear. 

Everybody  is  coming  to  know  that  the  poor  taxpayers  of 
Richmond  bear  all  the  burden  of  taxation  as  they  do  elsewhere 
and  The  Idea  is  fighting  for  better  government  and  more 
equitable  taxation  and  more  honesty  and  integrity  in  office  in 
the  name  of  the  poor  taxpayer. 

"Help  the  fallen  taxpayers  rise." 


HELP  THE  BOYS—  THE  PRIZE  CONTEST ! 
Boys  desiring  to  compete  for  the  prizes  to  be  given  away  for 
the  month  of  i^ovember  must  comply  with  the  following  rules 
Two  sets  of  prizes  will  be  given.  One  set  for  obtaining  regni- 
lar  customers;  another  for  selling  the  largest  numbers  of  copies 
during  the  month.  In  the  first  contest,  the  one  for  regular 
weekly  customers,  boys  will  be  given  blanks  to  have  filled  out 


12  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

ordering'  The  Idea  to  be  brought  regularly.  Each  one  properly 
filled  out  by  subscribers  will  entitle  the  carrier  to  ten  points 
in  the  contest.  The  ten  boys  getting  the  greatest  number  of 
weekly  subscribers  will  be  declared  the  winners,  and  handsome 
presents  will  be  awarded  for  the  work. 

Any  boy  may  also  compete  in  this  contest  by  getting  paid 
in  advance  yearly  subscribers.  Each  yearly  subscriber  with 
$2  in  cash  in  advance  wi  11  count  100  points.  Each  six  months 
subscriber  with  $1.00  in  cash  will  count  50  points  and  each 
three  months  subscriber  with  50  cents  in  cash  will  count  25 
points.  Thus  if  a  boy  gets  5  paid  in  advance  yearly  subscrib- 
ers will  get  500  points ;  1  six  months  subscription,  50  points ; 
1  three  months  subscription,  25  points ;  thirty  weekly  subscrip- 
tions, 300  points. 

IMPORTANT. 

Every  boy  who  gets  Ideas  must  enter  his  name  and  address 
or  else  he  can  not  return  his  unsold  Ideas. 

Each  boy  entering  the  contest  for  the  greatest  number  of 
copies  sold  must  certify  that  he  himself  sold  the  number  cred- 
ited to  him  at  5  cents  a  copy  to  bona-fide  buyers  and  not  to 
other  newsboys. 

When  boys  buy  from  each  other  they  cannot  have  returned 
copies  unsold. 

Each  boy  from  now  on  must  enter  his  name  in  order  to 
have  the  privilege  of  returning  unsold  copies  of  the  Idea. 

Copies  may  be  returned  as  late  as  Monday  night. 

See  next  number  for  further  particulars.  A  $3.00  watch 
was  given  away  in  the  last  contest,  besides  nine  other  hand- 
some prizes. 


LETTER  FROM  DR.  DODD 


Professor  of  History,  University  of  Chicago 


The  University  of  Chicago,  Dept.  of  History. 

5734  Washington  Ave.,  Oct.  30,  1909. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Yoder: — Yours  of  Oct.  26  was  forwarded  to 
iiic  nere  where  I  now  live.     I  am  very  much  interested  in  your 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  13 

paper  and  if  1  lived  in  Virginia  1  should  be  a  standing  sub- 
scriber. You  are  doing  Virginia  a  service  very  much  like  that 
which  Patrick  Henry  rendered  when  he  attacked  the  John  Rob- 
inson Machine  in  1763,  though  I  believe  none  of  the  Robinson 
party  resorted  to  personal  encounter  as  a  defense  or  counter- 
blow. Tn  the  end  Henry  prostrated  the  graft  leaders  of  his 
day ;  but  he  could  not  help  joining  Richard  Henry  Lee  and 
half  a  dozen  others  in  the  formation  of  a  new  machine  which 
in  its  day  did  harm  to  Virginia — though  there  was  never,  I 
believe,  a  suspicion  that  Henry's  machine  rested  on  public 
plunder. 

I  have  mentioned  this  historical  episode  or  epoch  to  show 
how  I  feel  on  the  subject ;  all  good  citizens  ought  all  the  time  to 
be  on  their  guard  against  machines  and  graft — especially  Vir- 
ginians— but  a  new  machine  will  always  arise  on  the  ruins  of 
the  old.  It  has  always  been  so ;  it  wall  always  continue,  be- 
cause the  economic  interests  in  any  community  will  always 
unite  to  thwart  real  democracv.  In  Richmond  in  Judffe  Mar- 
shall's  day  a  half  dozen  well-to-do  slave  owners  dictated  Rich- 
mond's policy  and  gave  tacit  or  open  license  to  the  evils  of  the 
time;  in  our  day  a  half  dozen  interests  are  behind  the  bosses 
and  the  papers,  their  allies,  and  while  you  may,  and  ought  to, 
put  down  the  bosses  you  do  better  to  show  up  the  so-called  re- 
spectable interests  which  tell  the  bosses  what  they  may  do.  Six 
men  rule  Chicago  and  all  the  graft,  all  the  vice  and  all  the  vio- 
lence in  this  great  city  draw  their  permits,  indirectly,  from 
these  six  or  seven  men.  The  bosses  here  know  these  half  dozen 
men  and  they  do  their  bidding  without  interviews  or  instruc- 
tions— a  good  boss  always  knows  what  to  do  without  waiting  for 
instructions. 

This  is  a  long  letter.  It  is  intended  to  encourage  you  by 
showing  you  what  a  job  you  have  on  hand;  but  the  job  is  not 
too  big  for  the  man  of  courage  and  ability.  Stick  to  it  and 
make  the  rascals  tremble.  Publicity  is  the  thing.  Print  every 
week  next  winter  a  list  of  the  lobyists  and  their  employers, 
their  methods.  I  had  a  small  pass  at  arms  with  certain  cor- 
rupt influences  when  I  lived  in  Hanover.  I  only  got  a  peep  at 
the  real  powers  in  Virginia ;  the  leeches  which  prey  upon  the 
vitals  of  the  Old  Dominion.  Yours  truly, 

Wm.  E.  Dodd. 


14  T  li  e    Idea. 

Richmond,  Va.^  October  17,  1909. 
Editor  The  Idea: 

Your  article  in  your  latest  issue,  entitled  ''Taft  on  Law 
Enforcement,"-  sent  a  cliill  down  my  spinal  column. 

I  have  never  seen  a  sweeter  or  more  consonant  warble  in 
the  cucoo  press.  The  '"Supreme,"  The  News  Leader  or  even 
that  "labor  fakir"  sheet.  The  Evening  Journal,  could  not  chant 
a  more  harmonious  strain.  It  is  well  for  you  that  the  public 
are  damphools.  otherwise  they  would  not  handle  your  issue 
with  tongs. 

The  "Rooseveltian  policies"  be  damned.  The  fruits  of  his 
administration  show  that  his  real  policies  were  to  make  fire- 
works to  amuse  the  Reubens  whilst  the  trusts  robbed  them.  Do 
you  know  of  any  trusts  he  "busted?"  Are  the  trusts  not  now 
more  firmly  entrenched  than  when  the  mighty  "trust  buster" 
took  up  his  stuffed  club. 

Yes,  Taft  will  carry  out  the  "Rooseveltian  policies,"  all 
right,  and  I  suppose  the  Reubens,  with  open  mouths,  will 
swallow  his  putrid  effusions,  but  I  am  sincerely  sorry  to  see 
you  quote  him.  You  have  gained  the  good  will  and  confidence 
of  your  readers  and  they  will  naturally  look  upon  Taft  with 
favor  because  you  quote  him  approvingly.  Taft  is  doing,  upon 
a  colossal  scale,  just  what  our  local  prostitutes  are  doing  upon 
a  small  scale.  And  yet  I  do  not  believe  we  have  a  local  politi- 
cian low  and  vile  enough  to  meet  and  shake  the  paw  of  the 
bloody  despot,  Diaz.  Earth  holds  no  more  hideous  monster 
than  Diaz,  and  the  man  who  will  go  and  felicitate  with  him  in 
the  interest  of  a  money-mad  oligarchy,  is  himself  a  dirty  and 
dangerous  being. 

If  you  are  the  real  "sport"  you  claim  to  be  you  will  educate 
your  readers  to  the  enormity  of  Bill  Taft's  act  and  when  he 
comes  to  Richmond  reeking  in  the  slime  of  the  monster,  Diaz, 
let  him  meet  a  frost.  B.  M.  Dutton. 

The  above  letter  is  so  characteristic  that  we  have  deemed 
it  worthy  of  publication. 

We  admire  a  man  who  has  something  to  say  and  says  it 
forcefully,  even  if  he  does  give  us  down-the-country. 

The  writer,  Mr.  Dutton,  is  a  rather  radical  Socialist  who 
can  see  no  sood  in  any  Republican. 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  15 

The  editor  is  democratic  enough  to  accejit  much  of  the 
Socialistic  doctrine,  but  he  thinks  that  Roosevelt  was  about  as 
good  a  Democrat  as  the  country  has  ever  had.  We  are  not 
quoting  Mr,  Taft  approvingly,  for  we  do  not  approve  him.  We 
quote  him  to  show  that  even  Taft  believes  in  law  enforcement. 


A    SERMONETTE    ON    FIGHTING 

EVIL 


The  Idea  is  not  published  to  please  you  or  anybody  else. 
It  is  published  to  make  you  mad,  if  necessary,  at  least  mad 
enough  to   clean  up   the  rottenness  in  your   city   and   State. 

The  Idea  is  sometimes  criticised  for  going  after  khe 
rascals  so  harshly,  for  making  people  mad,  for  stirring  up  a 
rumpus. 

Our  answer  to  such  critics  is  that  the  greatest  man  that 
ever  lived  used  this  method  and  The  Idea  will  not  attempt 
to  improve  on  the  method  of  the  Master  from  ISTazareth,  who 
said  He  came  to  set  man  "at  variance"  with  his  neighbor, 
and  just  so  long  as  there  is  sin  or  wrong-doing  there  will  be 
need  for  people  who  stand  for  right  to  be  "at  variance''  with 
those  who  stand  for  evil,  and  all  readers  of  The  Idka  know 
that  the  strife  that  The  Idea  arouses  is  the  kind  thai  will 
make  for  better  things. 

Let  "the  sword"  and  "fire"  come  if  thev  are  used  against 
evil. 

"I  am  come  to  send  fire  in  the  earth,  and  what  will  I  if 
it  be  already  kindled." 


See  next  week's   Idea   for  the   Bryan  papers  land  boom 
scheme- — Manchester  Annexation. 


The  Idea  has  recently  made  a  "scoop"  of  some  very  im- 
portant facts  which  will  make  certain  city  officials  be  ashamed 
to    walk   Broad    street    in    the  davtime.     Look  out  for  it. 


For  T^eliable 


FURNITURE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 

[  P  R  I  Z  E  S  I 

■-J      FOR       r- 

j    "THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO    | 

1      Newsboys  who  get  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and      1 
I  other  prizes  to  those  who  sell  the  most  copies.  ? 

J       The  Contest  will  begin  with  the  1st  of  November  and  boys  desiring  to  com-        | 
\  pete  should  begin  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions.  » 

■       Rr^•<Tc  <;Vir.iiiH  \fave-  thfir  names  at  the  time  of  E'ettinff  their  Dapers  so  that        B 

I 


The  Contest  will  begin  with  the  1st  of  November  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  begin  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Some  time  ago  THE  Idea  gave  away"  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.    One  boy  selling 

1 12  copies  of  THE  Idea  of  one  issue.      There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the  boys  besides  the  prizes. 


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something  more  than  mere  salesman- 
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It  furnishes  excuse  for  timorous  and 
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^  The  human  mind  is  so  constructed 
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tition— and,  after  all,  advertising  is 
only  repetition. 

—  Truman  A.  DeWeese. 


Farms  for  All,  Large  or  Small! 


TRUCK  FARMS.  STOCK  FARMS, 
GENERAL  FARMS. 


Timber  Lands 

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RICHMOND 
VIRGINIA 


H.  EWINQ 


CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls.  Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


PHONE  1821 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled 


WEEKLY 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


Vol.  Ill 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 

Nov.  13,  1909 


No.  24 


S2.00  A  YEAR 


OUR  SLEEPING  MAYOR. 


For  Sale  Ai  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


0^mi^^^^0>tm0^^^  w^^^^i  m^9^^ 


JEWELER  J.    S.  JAMES  OPTICIAN 

7th  AND   MAIN   STS. 

We  have  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 
showing  special  good  values  in 

DIAMONDS,  WATCHES,  JEWELRY,  SIIVERWARE,  CUT  GIASS,  Etc. 

We  invite  your  inspection 


S.    L.    LEDMAN 


I 


cA  Full  Line 
'    Hunting  Shoes  and  Boots 


SHOES 

ef  QUALITY 


Number 
726  East  cTMain   Street 


m 


iO   HOUSEKEEPERS.... 


T 

■  You  wish  the  best  Flavoring  Extracts,  Essences  and 

H  Spices  for  your  Table. 

The  best  Soap,  Perfumery  and  Toilet  Requisites  for 
your  family  and  guests. 

The  best  Steel  Enameled,  Rubber  and  Glass  Goods  for  your  sick. 

We  have  them  as  lovi'  as  they  can  be  sold,  as  vv^ell  as  Medicines 
of  unexcelled  quality,  vi'hich  conform  strictly  to  the  United  States 
Pure  Food  and  Drug  Law. 

You  want  information  as  to  what  is  best  to  give  medical  students 
at  Christmas,  January  1st  or  at  Commencement  Exercises.  This  we 
can  give  you  of  the  most  satisfactory  character. 

A.  H.  ROBINS'  PHARMACY, 

200  EAST  MARSHALL  STREET 
RICHMOND,  VA. 

50  YEARS  EXPERIENCE.  QOOOS  DELIVERED  ANYWHERE  IN  THE  CITY. 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  NOVEMBER  13,   1909  No.  24 

5  Cents  a  Copy  12.00  a  Yeab 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adok  A.  Yoder, 

904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10, 1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


FRANK  CUNNINGHAM 


Second  Offense 


Law  Provides  Harsh  Penalty.    Penitentiary  Offense. 


The  Board  of  Aldermen  met  last  Tuesday  night  and  after 
hearing  the  report  of  the  Finance  Committee  and  the  report 
of  Special  Accountant  Crenshaw  on  the  conduct  of  Collector 
Cunningham's  office,  administered  a  sound  rebuke  to  the  Fi- 
nance Committee  bj  appointing  a  committee  of  five  to  make 
further  investigations  and  report. 

This  finance  committee  should  have  made  a  thorough  in- 
vestigation in  the  first  place  instead  of  rendering  such  a  brief 
and  mild  whitewashing  report  that  even  members  of  the  coun- 
cil were  deceived  into  thinking  that  no  wrong  had  been  done, 
although  the  law  considers  the  offense  so  grave  that  it  provides 
a  penitentiary  term  of  from  one  to  five  years  for  each  offense. 


2  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

It  is  universally  recognized  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
mayor  to  act,  if  he  has  any  duty  other  than  that  of  a  figurehead. 

The  law  provides  in  the  first  place  that  the  mayor  should 
"immediately  remove  from  ofiice"  the  collector,  but  the  mayor 
refused  to  do  his  sworn  duty,  and  thus  threw  the  responsibility 
of  investigating  the  ofiice,  which  the  Constitution  of  the  State 
makes  one  of  the  mayor's  first  and  most  important  duties,  on 
the  common  council. 

Members  of  the  lower  branch  state  that  if  they  had  known 
the  facts  which  were  before  the  finance  committee  they  would 
not  have  voted  to  simply  receive  and  file  the  report. 

After  they  had  so  voted,  The  Idea  gave  them  the  truth, 
which  the  other  papers  had  suppressed  until  after  The  Idea 
came  from  the  printers  and  not  until  then  did  the  jDeople  know 
that  there  was  criminal  wrongdoing  in  the  collector's  ofiice. 

The  laws  says  in  the  City  Charter,  section  49 :  "The  col- 
lector shall  make  report  in  writing,  under  oath  to  the  auditor, 
weekly,  or  oftener  if  required,  the  amount  of  all  moneys  col- 
lected by  him."  and  section  4  of  chapter  10  of  the  code,  in  ref- 
erence to  oaths  to  the  auditor,  says,  "and  the  person  so  sworn 
shall,  if  he  swear  falsely,  be  guilty  of  willful  and  corrupt  per- 
jury, and  shall  be  subject  to  'punishment  by  imprisonment  in 
the  penitentiary  for  not  less  than  one  nor  more  than  five  years. 

!N"ow  the  question  at  issue  is  not  whether  the  actual  checks 
or  an  equivalent  amount  in  cash  was  held  by  Collector  Cun- 
ningham. Of  course  he  could  not  use  the  checks  and  no  one 
charges  that  the  misappropriation  was  of  them. 

He  did  deposit  them,  which  shows  he  did  not  misplace  them 
as  it  was  at  first  reported.  He  did  not,  however,  turn  over 
the  $2,000  to  the  city  treasurer,  and  he  swore  to  the  auditor 
weekly  until  June  15th,  and  then  daily  until  July  1st  and  then 
weekly  until  September  28th  "the  amount  of  all  moneys  col- 
lected by  him." 

The  law  says  he  was  "guilty  of  willful  and  corrupt  per- 
jury" at  least  thirty-two  times,  for  any  one  of  which  the  pen- 
alty is  "not  less  than  one  nor  more  than  five  years,"  and  yet 
the  papers  all  tried  to  hush  it  up  and  the  mayor  stated  that 
there  was  no  "wrong  doing." 

The  Times-Dispatch  of  last  Sunday  attempts  to  shield  the 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  3 

Teal  offense  by  making  a  big  news  item  out  of  nothing  in  charg- 
ing that  a  question  of  veracity  exists  between  Cunningham  and 
Crenshaw. 

Although  Cunningham's  statement  is  worded  to  conceal  the 
truth  and  defend  his  acts  still  in  justice  to  him  it  should'  be 
made  clear  that  he  has  never  denied  that  the  actual  checks 
were  sent  to  the  bank  at  the  time  although  his  friends  have  for 
him  made  that  denial  and  claimed  that  the  checks  were 
pigeonholed  in  his  office  and  overlooked.  The  collector  states  that 
the  cash  equivalent  was  held,  in  his  office  for  the  five  or  six 
months  until  he  had  time  to  discover  whose  it  was. 

The  law  is  not  concerned  as  to  where  the  cash  was  for 
these  long  months.  The  law  says  if  he  don't  turn  it  into  the 
treasury  and  report  to  the  auditor  its  collection  he  is  guilty 
of  perjury,  and  shall  be  imprisoned  in  the  penitentiary  for  it. 

The  Journal  of  the  6th,  in  trying  to  defend  the  collector  by 
suggesting  a  severe  reprimand  only,  on  the  grounds  of  miti- 
gating circumstances,  says,  "This  belief,  it  might  be  added,  is 
based  upon  the  presumption  that  this  transaction  constitutes  an 
isolated  offense." 

The  Idea  shows  below  that  this  is  not  an  isolated  offense, 
and  in  the  rush  of  other  matters  has  discovered  one  case  where 
he  was  guilty  of  at  least  one  similar  offense  and  report  has  it 
that  this  office  has  been  the  object  of  special  solicitude  and 
careful  whitewashing  for  many  years  past,  and  though  we  hesi- 
tate to  make  this  statement,  the  facts  justify  it,  that  if  the 
collector  is  guilty  of  perjury  no  one  knows  how  much  money 
collected  has  never  yet  found  its  proper  place  in  the  city  treas- 
ury. 

There  is  no  use  for  the  collector  to  try  to  hush  the  matter 
up  by  stating  that  he  did  not  "misappropriate  the  money  to 
his  own  use"  when  he  certainly  did  not  put  it  to  the  city's 
use  and  he  admits  that  it  was  in  his  own  posession  and  not 
either  ^ent  to  the  treasurer  or  even  reported  to  the  auditor 
that  it  had  ever  been  collected. 

The  mayor  should  not  becloud  the  issue  by  stating  that  "If 
there  was  any  interest  paid' by  the  bank  on  the  $2,000  during 
the  period  it  was  illegally  in  the  collector's  hands  I  shall  cer- 
-tainly  see  that  it  is  paid  over  to  the  city  treasury."     Now  it 


4  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

matters  not  whether  any  interest  was  paid  on  tke  amount'  or- 
not.  The  fact  remains  that  the  city  did  not  get  the  interest  nor 
the  use  of  the  money  for  that  time  and  the  interest  is  due  the 
citizens  and  even  if  the  collector  actually  did  not  know  to- 
whose  license  account  to  credit  it,  he  should  have  put  it  in  the 
bank  at  interest,  and  such  a  procedure  would  at  least  help  to- 
show  that  there  was  no  intentional  wrong  doing. 

MISAPPROPRIATION  IN  1903— WHITEWASHED  BY 
FINANCE  COMMITTEE. 

In  the  fall  of  1903  the  city  accountant  reported  that  the- 
books  of  the  collector  were  grossly  wrong  but  that  they  would 
be  adjusted  according  to  the  promise  of  the  collector  by  the  end 
of  the  fiscal  year.  Then  was  the  time  to  investigate,  but  what  do 
we  find  the  finance  committee  doing  ?  Whitewashing,  as  usual. 
They  made  no  recommendation  and  the  council  filed  the  report. 
At  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year,  however,  the  accountant  again 
made  his  report  and  found  that  Collector  Cunningham  had  not 
only  not  reported  the  collection  of  licenses  due  in  April  until 
the  end  of  the  year,  but  had  actually  failed  to  report  $6Y0.00> 
to  the  aduitor  until  February  of  the  next  year. 

That  ought  to  wake  up  the  people  to  realize  how  a  merchant 
don't  have  to  pay  his  fine  while  a  poor  citizen  has  to  go  to  jail 
for  30  days  or  more  if  he  don't  pay  his  fine. 

Instead  of  reporting  four  licenses  in  September  which  were 
paid  in  April,  as  he  did  this  year,  he  reported  licenses  as  col- 
lected "In  every  month  in  that  year  from  April  to  December 
and  in  January,  1904,  and  four  items  amounting  to  $670.00 
were  reported  to  the  auditor  in  February,  1904,  and  became 
part  of  the  receipts  of  the  fiscal  year  1904-1905" — Special  ac- 
countant's report  from  the  minutes  of  the  council  for  April, 
1904. 

The  accountant  evidently  thought  this  a  grave  offense  at 
the  time  for  he  cited  the  law  applicable  to  the  case  and  yet 
what  did  the  council  do  ?  The  council  read  the  report  and  or- 
dered it  sent  back  to  the  finance  committee  for  investigation 

One  month  later,  in  May,  1904,  the  finance  committee  re 
turned  the  report  with  no  recommendation  to  the  council.  Their- 
report  reads:  "The  committee  herewith  returns  report  of  city 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  5 

■accoimtant  Oarlton  McCarthy."  and  then  Mr.  Ellett,  who, 
though  a  member  of  this  finance  committee,  has  this  year  done 
all  he  could  to  keep  this  matter  quiet,  moved  that  the  report 
be  received  and  filed  and  his  motion  was  adopted,  and  tluis  the 
investigation  at  that  time  was  killed. 

This  is  just  what  was  planned  for  this  year,  but  the  people 
had  seen  a  great  light  and  councilmen  were  awake  and  so 
when  this  report  had  been  received  and  filed  by  the  council  Thi-: 
Idea  turned  on  the  light  and  the  aldermen  thought  it  best  'o 
have  an  investigation,  but  they  did  not  send  it  back  to  the 
finance  committee  to  investigate,  oh,  no,  they  know  too  well  how 
■to  whitewash  and  cover  up  and  although  Mr.  Whittet  objected 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  a  reflection  on  that  committee  to 
send  it  to  a  special  committee,  Mr.  Hobson  stated  "It  is  evi- 
dent that  there  is  some  one  that  has  sufiicient  influence  with 
"the  finance  committee  to  keep  it  from  doing  what  is  right"  and 
the  aldermen  voted  to  send  it  to  a  special  committee. 

It  is  time  the  citizens  were  organized  into  a  law-enforce- 
ment committee  to  see  that  the  laws  are  properly  enforced  so 
that  it  may  not  be  possible  for  a  finance  committee  to  hold 
secret  meetings  and  keep  the  people  ignorant  of  their  own  af- 
fairs. 

The  only  two  committees  that  ever  hold  secret  meetings  are 
the  two  which  should  by  all  means  be  the  most  public,  because 
they  directly  are  of  most  interest  to  the  public.  The  one  is  the 
Finance  Committee  and  the  other  is  the  Police  Commission. 

It  is  not  only  a  temptation  to  crookedness  to  have  things 
kept  secret  but  it  is  an  admission  of  wrong  doing  when  these 
committees  refuse  to  open  their  doors  to  the  public.  "Men  love 
darkness  rather  than  light  because  their  deeds  are  evil." 


No  man  ever  served  his  country,  without  being  villified,  for 
all  who  make  a  profit  out  of  injustie  will  be  your  enemies. — 
AUgeld. 


TO  DIE. 

"When  I  die,  let  it  be  in  Liberty's  battle  with  my  face  to 
'the  foe." — Gov.  Altgeld  in  his  last  speech  just  before  he  fell 
•mortallv  stricken. 


'  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

CORRUPT  PROCEDURE 


Crime  Protected  by  Politicians  and 
Officers  of  the  Law 


Last  week  The  Idea  commented  on  the  fact  thai  the  two 
women  who  were  fined  after  being  found  guilty  in  the  pojice 
court  were  not  treated  alike.  The  evidence  on  which  tii3  war- 
rants were  issued  was  the  same  and  the  women  both  ran  whafc 
is  commonly  termed  houses  of  assignation,  yet  the  t'v)  war- 
rants for  the  arrest  of  the  women  were  differently  worded. 

The  warrant  for  Sophie  Malloy,  whose  place  at  2224  East 
Main  Street  Justice  John  called  the  worst  in  the  city,  (and  Jus- 
tice John  knows  pretty  well  where  about  all  these  places  are 
and  the  details  concerning  their  management)  reads  as  fol- 
lows: "Did  unlawfully  keep  and  maintain  a  certain  disorderly 
and  ill  governed  house,"  etc. 

That  sounds  like  a  very  mild  charge  to  be  brought  against 
"the  worst  place  in  the  city  of  Richmond." 

ISTow  look  at  the  warrant  against  Maggie  Lee.  That  reads : 
"Did  unlawfully  keep  and  maintain  a  house  of  ill  fame  resorted 
to  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution  or  lewdness." 

Now  what  has  the  citizen  to  learn  from  these  facts  ?  The 
lesson  is  this,  that  Sophie  Malloy  had  "protection"  and  Mag- 
gie Lee  did  not  have  the  same  protection. 

Lawyers  and  business  men  whose  businesses  give  them  any 
knowledge  of  these  houses  in  the  city  know  that  for  years- 
Sophie  Malloy  has  openly  ran  this  house  of  ill  fame  and  that  it 
is  protected  by  certain  crooked  politicians  and  police  commis- 
sioners who  patronize  it.  These  men  used  their  influence  to 
have  the  charge  against  the  Malloy  woman  so  mild  that  she 
would  not  be  jailed  on  it.  As  a  result  Maggie  Lee  was  sen- 
tenced to  jail  for  thirty  days  and  fined  $100,  while  Sophie 
Malloy,  friend  of  the  politicians,  was  fined  only  $100.  Sophie 
does  not  mind  paying  the  $100  for  she  has  wealthy  political- 


The    I  d  e  a  .  7 

friends  and  her  business  is  very  profitable.  From  the  illegal 
sale  of  drinks  she  gets  a  handsome  profit  for  her  house  is  pat- 
ronized on  Sunday  and  at  night  when  the  bars  are  closed  and 
for  the  risk  she  takes  she  demands  good  money,  a  dollar  a  round, 
for  say  three  bottles  of  beer. 

Justice  John  warned  Sophie,  Miss  Sophie,  as  the  innocent 
daily  papers  call  her,  that  this  house  must  be  broken  and  Gil- 
bert Pollock  solemnly  promised  that  it  would  be  broken  up. 

Yet  there  is  no  danger  of  this  place  being  broken  up.  It 
has  been  operating  since  the  trial  and  report  has  it  that  Sophie 
says  that  there  is  no  danger  of  an  attempt  to  break  her  up  for 
the  gang  would  not  dare  to,  she  might  "peach"  on  them.  The 
trouble  is  that  the  interests  of  certain  powers  that  be  and  the 
interests  of  this  woman  are  so  wrapped  up  together  that  they 
can  not  afford  to  permit  the  police  to  break  her  up.  She  would 
not  even  have  been  fined  this  little  fine  of  $100  on  sworn  testi- 
mony given  against  her  in  another  trial  if  the  authorities  had 
not  feared  The  Idea. 

She  was  glad  enough  to  plead  guilty  to  the  minor  charge 
for  she  knew  it  might  go  hard  with  her  to  have  any  evidence 
given  against  her. 

Protected  crime  in  Richmond  pays  big  dividends  not  only 
to  the  direct  criminals  but  to  those  high  up  that  protect  them. 


JUSTICE  JOHN 


Personally  and  Officially 


In  giving  his  decision  in  the  Malloy  woman  case  for  selling 
liquor  without  a  license  Justice  John  said:  "What  I  think  per- 
sonally and  what  I  think  officially  are  two  different  things," 
and  then  he  proceeded  to  acquit  the  woman  on  the  charge. 

It  is  time  the  justice  realized  that  the  purpose  of  the  law 
is  to  punish  for  a  crime  that  is  known  to  exist,  even  though 
the  commonwealth's  attorney  refused  to  take  advantage  of  the 


■«  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

evidence  in  the  ease  and  make  a  strong  speech  for  punishment. 
Everyone  who  heard  the  evidence  knew  that  the  woman  was 
guilty  and  simply  because  she  stated  that  she  sent  out  and 
bought  the  drinks,  although  one  of  the  witnesses  stated  that  the 
first  drinks  served  were  not  sent  out  for,  the  judge  let  her  ofi 
on  that  slim  excuse.  Even  if  she  had  sent  out  that  did  not  alter 
the  case.  She  sold  drinks  without  a  license.  She  ran  a  house 
of  ill  fame  in  which  it  was  possible  at  any  time  to  buy  drinks 
and  yet  the  judge  let  her  off  simply  because  she  had  a  pull. 


A  Prominent  Citizen  on  The  Idea's 
Letter  to  the  Mayor 


October  30.  1909. 
Mr.  A.  A.  Yorder. 

My  Dear  Sir: — I  have  just  read  with  interest  the  copy  of 
your  letter  to  Mayor  Richardson.  If  this  thing  should  come 
to  a  "show  down"  remember  I  am  ready  to  say  under  oath  (1) 
That  these  bawdy  houses  do  exist;  (2)  that  they  sell  intoxicants 
illegally;  (3)  that  they  sell  intoxicants  on  Sunday.  You  need 
not  use  my  name  publicly  on  above  points  but  if  your  evidence 
is  demanded  I  am  at  your  service. 

Your  experience  at  the  State  Fair  exactly  accords  with  mine 
the  year  before  and  you  didn't  say  a  word  too  much.  'Tight 
the  good  fight"  and  may  God  bless  you  in  it. 

THE  JOUBKAL  0^^  ALDERMANIC  CROOKEDNESS. 

The  Journal  of  a  recent  date  had  a  long  editorial  on  coun- 
cilmanic  crookedness  in  ISTewport  News  and  even  published  the 
letter  of  E.  C.  Cox,  briber  of  that  city. 

The  Idea  enquires  why  the  Journal  goes  over  to  Newport 
News  and  publishes  about  such  outside  crookedness  when  there 
is  rank  malfeasance  in  its  own  city  offices  which  it  dares  not 
•expose. 


To  be  famous  is  to  be  slandered  Iw  people  who  do  not  know 
you. — Blhert  Huhhard. 


The    Idea. 

THE  STATE  FAIR 


October  24,  l'JU9. 
Mr.  Adon  A.  Yoder. 

Kicbmond  ,Va. 

Dear  Sir : — Enclosed  please  find  check  for  $ to  be  used 

in  sending  your  paper  for  one  year  to  persons  in  Richmond, 
or  to  be  used  in  assisting  in  paying  your  lawyers  fees  in  the 
Leaman  suit,  as  you  may  select. 

I  wish  I  could  assist  in  a  more  substantial  manner.  I  am 
glad  to  note  your  position  on  the  immoralities  at  our  recent 
State  Fair  and  for  one  I  have  made  up  my  mind  that  my  fam- 
ily will  never  attend  another  unless  the  utmost  assurances  are 
given  that  everything  of  the  kind  you  mention  vdll  be  elim- 
inated. It  is  astonishing  to  the  writer  that  such  things  should 
have  been  permitted  by  Henry  Fairfax.  I  am  in  hopes  there 
is  some  excuse  for  him,  but  I  do  not  see  how  there  can  be  any. 

The  unimportant  and  nominal  position  of  honorary  vice- 
president  for  this  county  was  given  the  writer  and  in  that  ca- 
pacity I  gave  material  assistance  in  getting  attendance  from 
this  section,  but  hereafter  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it, 
under  such  conditions  as  prevailed  this  time,  as  described  by 
you. 

There  are  enough  Christian  people  in  this  State  and  ISTorth 
Carolina,  where  the  patronage  is  drawu  from  outside  of  Rich- 
mond, to  prevent  such  things,  if  they  will  take  a  firm  stand, 
and  stay  at  home  if  immoral  shows  are  to  be  permitted  and  gam- 
bling on  horse  races  and  games  of  chance  are  permitted. 

As  a  citizen  of  the  State  and  a  taxpayer  in  Richmond,  I 
feel  like  I  want  to  congratulate  you  on  your  good  work,  and 
the  courage  you  show  in  showing  up  the  corruption  of  that 
city's  government.  There  are  men  there  to-day  who  would 
gladly  see  you  assassinated. 

May  you  live  a  long  time,  and  continue  the  good  work  in 
which  you  are  so  much  needed. 


Has  the  finance  committee  any  right  to  keep  the  people's 
affairs  from  the  people  as  they  have  been  doing? 

Has  the  finance  committee  any  right  to  hold  secret  meetings  ? 


10  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

CITY  ACCOUNTANTS  REPORT 


SHOWS  ROTTEN   POLICE  COURT  PRACTICE 


Fines   Not  Collected.     "Make  no  Effort  to  Collect 

Fine." 


The  city  accountant's  report  shows  not  only  misappropria- 
tions and  false  returns,  but  censures  the  collector  for  lack  of 
promptness.     The  report  says: 

"Had  the  notices  been  sent  more  promptly  better  results 
would  have  been  shown"  referring  to  the  delay  of  the  collector 
in  sending  notices  of  taxes  due.  In  his  report  the  accountant 
shows  a  rotten  state  of  affairs  in  the  police  court.  He  states: 

"The  delinquent  licenses  were  reported  to  the  Police  Jus- 
tice about  August  1,  and  came  to  trial  for  the  first  time  on 
August  11.  The  cases  have  been  distributed  and  continued 
from  time  to  time  some  eight  times,  until  there  remain  about 
120  cases  set  for  trial  October  21. 

"I  am  informed  by  the  city  attorney  that  he  insisted  upon 
having  these  cases  acted  upon  more  promptly  by  the  police 
court,  and  hopes  to  report  more  prompt  action  in  the  future. 
Of  the  cases  before  the  court  many  will  be  dismissed,  but 
others  are  individuals,  etc.,  who  habitually  allow  the  license 
tax  to  go  delinquent.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  useless  to 
fine  any  party  or  firm  that  is  delinquent  and  to  make  no  effort 
to  collect  the  fine  or  see  that  the  license  tax  is  paid,  and  it  ap- 
pears that  little  effort  has  been  made  to  collect  any  fines  im- 
posed for  the  non-payment  of  license  taxes  in  the  past. 

Just  this  week  a  negro  boy  was  sent  to  jail  by  Justice  John 
for  sixty  days  for  stealing  a  little  clock  valued'  at  Y5  cents,  and 
yet  merchants  in  Richmond  rob  the  city  annually  of  thousands 
and  thousands  of  dollars  in  licenses  and  fines  and  then  go  free. 

The  Editor  of  The  Idea  went  to  the  police  court  to  see  why 
these  fines  were  not  collected  and  the  clerk  stated  that  such 


T  h  c    I  d  e  a  .  11 

fines  were  never  paid  and  that  they  perhaps  could  not  be  made 
anyhow.  A  fine  against  the  "Gordon  Motor  Car  Co."  was 
pointed  out  as  being  easily  collected,  to  which  the  clerk  remark- 
ed :  "Well,  they  don't  try  to  collect  them." 

This  led  to  some  other  very  interesting  discoveries  in  ref- 
erence to  fines  and  bail  and  bonds. 

A  man  may  be  fined  in  this  court  and  sent  to  jail  and  then 
later  his  fine  may  be  remitted.  In  this  way  the  way  is  paved 
for  all  kinds  of  wrong  doing.  There  is  no  check  on  the  books 
of  this  court  and  it  is  impossible  to  tell  from  the  docket  whether 
a  man  has  paid  his  fine  or  not  and  thus  the  crooked  practice 
has  grovni  up  of  ostensibly  making  people  pay  a  penalty  which 
they  never  suffer.  As  a  result  the  poor  fellow  without  a  pull 
pays  his  fine  or  goes  to  jail  while  the  fellow  with  a  pull  goes 
free  of  either  fine  or  jail  sentence. 

The  City  Charter  gives  to  the  police  court  the  right  to  put 
in  jail  any  'person  failing  to  pay  a  fine  imposed  for  a  city 
ordinance  violation.     The  law  reads: 

"The  offender  on  failing  to  pay  the  fine  imposed  may  be 
imprisoned  in  the  city  jail  for  a  term  of  not  less  than  five  nor 
more  than  thirty  days.  Whenever  any  fine  is  so  imposed,  but 
not  paid,  the  police  justice,  if  he  shall  not  order  the  party  to 
be  imprisoned  in  the  city  jail,  may,  unless  an  appeal  be  taken 
forthv/ith,  issue  a  writ  of  fieri  facias  for  said  fine,  directed  to 
the  sergeant  of  the  city.  Such  writ  must  be  made  returnable 
to  the  police  justice  within  60  days  from  its  issuance. 

The  collector  shall,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  June,  re- 
port to  the  polce  justice  a  list  of  all  persons  liable  to  such  taxes 
and  in  default.     Fieri  facias — ^levy  on  the  goods  of  the  person. 

Fines  can  easily  be  collected  and  the  taxes  on  the  taxpay- 
ing  citizen  reduced  by  making  these  non  tax-paying  citizens 
come  to  tow. 

EEPORT    O^    DELINQUENT    TAX    COLLECTION— 
23,000  TAX  BILLS  UNPAID. 

The  accountant  in  his  report  on  delinquent  tax  collection 
includes  the  following: 


12  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

Personal  Bills  turned  over  for  collection  $97,336.09 

Total  collected  $21,990.87 

(Receivers'  Bond,  R.  &  A.  R.  R.) 

Erroneous  Assessment  36,307.76 

Returned    uncollected...;...... 39,037.86 


$97,336.09 

2126  personal  bills  paid  averaging  $10  each;  23,117  bills 
averaging  $1.20  each  unpaid. 

"More  emphasis  and  greater  effort  should  be  made  to  collect 
these  bills  and  thus  reduce  the  number  remaining  unpaid. 
Among  said  bills  are  the  names  of  parties  w^ho  have  allowed 
their  personal  tax  to  go  unpaid  for  years  and  the  amounts  due 
will  in  some  cases  aggregate  $100  or  more. 

Justice  to  all  tax-payers  demands  that  strenuous  effort  be 
made  to  collect  delinquent  taxes  and  I  recommend  that  a  col- 
lector be  put  upon  the  street  by  the  collector  of  delinquent  taxes 
and  that  a  levy  or  suit  be  expressly  authorized  in  some  cases  to 
collect  the  taxes  due." 

Just  think  of  it,  23,117  taxes  remain  unpaid  in  Richmond 
this  year  after  the  delinquent  tax  collector  has  made  his  at- 
tempt at  collection.  23,117  citizens  of  Richmond  pay  no  money 
into  the  city  while  the  rest  of  the  people  foot  the  big  bills. 

ISTo  wonder,  however,  that  the  people  have  such  litte  respect 
for  the  law  and  "use  their  own  discretion"  about  paying  their 
lawful  taxes  when  the  courts  have  no  respect  for  the  law  and 
even  the  mayor,  the  sworn  head  of  the  government  of  the  city, 
takes  the  absurd  ground  that  he  "should  use  his  discretion  in 
law  enforcement." 


Manchester   Annexation 


The  Bryan  Boys  Land  Boom 


For  some  time  past  The  Thnes-Dispatch  has  been  doing  its 
best  to  boost  annexation  of  Manchester  to  Richmond,  although 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  13 

it  would  not  help  either  Manchester  or  Richmond,  but  would 
only  help  a  few  commercial  interests  and  the  Bryan  papers  in 
particular. 

In  fact  it  now  seems  that  it  is  simply  a  big  land  boom  of 
the  Bryan  boys  who  own  The  Times-Dispatch  and  control  the 
Woodland  Heiohts  Land  Co.,  which  desiror,  to  have  Manches- 
ter annexed  so  as  to  help  sell  their  land.  Manchester  has 
nothing  to  gain  and  all  to  lose.  It  being  a  smaller  place  is  not 
as  infested  with  crooked  politicians  who  rob  the  citizens  of 
their  taxes. 

As  the  citizens  of  Manchester  point  out,  the  attempt  to  ad- 
just the  tax  system  of  that  place  to  the  Richmond  plan  would 
work  untold  hardships  on  the  citizens  over  the  river. 

Annexation  would  mean  an  enormous  increase  in  expenses 
for  the  larger  city  because  of  the  demand  that  the  Manchester 
portion  have  the  same  number  of  police  that  a  like  ward  now 
has  in  the  city,  whereas  Manchester  now  gets  on  very  well  with 
a  much  smaller  force  because  of  the  lack  of  graft  and  conniv- 
ance at  crime  on  the  part  of  police  officials.  E'o  one  would  gain 
by  annexation  except  a  few  commercial  interests  and  The 
Times-Dispatch  and  the  professional  boodlers  who  would  thus 
have  a  larger  field  of  graft. 

The  Manchester  Bee  in  opposing  annexation,  says: 

We  have  the  best  water  system  of  any  city  in  the  United 
States.  In  fact,  our  advantages  are  so  great  that  they  cannot 
be  told  in  an  article  like  this.  We  could  go  on  and  enumerate 
as  many  as  twenty  substantial  reasons  why  Manchester  should 
not  desire  to  be  annexed  to  Richmond. 

The  officers  and  police  of  the  city  are  all  first-class  men; 
the  laws  are  all  enforced  and  fairly  good  order  prevails.  This 
cannot  be  said'  of  Richmond,  for  every  morning  and  afternoon 
you  will  find  the  papers  filled  with  great  headlines  about 
MURDER,  RAPE,  THEET  and  GRAET.  etc.,  etc.,  ad 
libitum. 

If  however,  Richmond  HONESTLY  desires  annexation 
with  Manchester,  let  there  be  a  committee  of  educated,  first- 
class  men;  men  versed  in  large  business  who  can  meet  those 
anaks  that  Richmond  has  placed  on  her  committee  and  then 
it  might  be  that  some  arrangement  might  be  made,  but  this  is 


14  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

impossible  under  the  present  offer.  Our  last  word  to  our 
friends  in  Manchester  as  to  this  Eichmond  plan,  is  ''Do  not 
this  foolish,  unwise  thing  lest  in  coming  years  you  be  cursed 
alike  both  of  God  and  posterity." 


THE  POLICE  COURT  AGAIN 


About  two  weeks  ago  an  Italian  made  threats  against  the 
life  of  a  citizen  of  Richmond  and  drew  a  long  knife  with 
which  to  back  up  his  threats.  A  warrant  was  sworn  out 
against  the  offender  and  many  witnesses,  including  three 
registered  voters,  appeared  to  verify  the  charges.  When  the 
case  was  continued  from  October  19th  until  Saturday,  the 
23rd,  the  offender  did  not  appear  and  a  rule  was  issued  for 
him  and  he  was  re-arrested  and  appeared  in  court  October 
26th  with  G.  K.   Pollock  as  his  attorney. 

Before  the  final  trial  Mr.  Pollock  desired  to  compromise 
the  case  if  the  warrant  would  be  withdrawn.  This  was  not 
agreed  to,  but  when  the  case  was  called  the  charge  was  dis- 
missed by  Justice  John,  and  although  threats  to  kill  had  been 
made,  still  the  offender  was  dismissed  without  even  being  re- 
quired to  give  bond  to  keep  the  peace. 

ISTow,  in  this  connection,  note  these  two  facts.  Certain 
Italians  of  the  city  of  Richmond  are  banded  together  in  a 
political  organization  which,  in  the  recent  primary  election, 
declared  in  favor  of  Mr.  Minitree  Folks  for  Commonwealth's 
Attorney. 

Many  of  these  Italians  run  bars  in  the  city  of  Richmond 
and  although  the  Italians  are  not  so  largely  interested  in  other 
•employment,  yet  they  hold  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  saloon 
licenses  in  the  city  of  Richmond. 

Although  the  attorney  for  the  prosecution  claimed  that  the 
case  was  a  felony,  still  the  Commonwealth's  Attorney  did  not 
appear  against  the  offender  and  Mr.  Pollock,  who  almost  in- 
variably represents  the  grosser  criminals  in  the  city  courts, 
got  his  man  not  only  free  from  fine,  but  even  free  from  giving 
bond,  though  he  had  threatened  a  man's  life. 


T  li  e    I  d  e  a  .  15 

ISTow,  The  Idea  charges  that  the  political  ring  of  the  city 
is  under  obligations  to  the  Italian  barkeepers  and  criminals  to 
such  an  extent  that  they  cannot,  and  do  not,  give  justice  where 
one  of  them  has  offended  against  the  laws  of  the  city  and  State. 
E;specially  is  it  true  that  justice  is  very  seldom  meted  out  to 
those  who  offend  if  they  secure  the  services  of  Mr.  G.  K.  Pol- 
lock, prince  of  the  enemies  of  justice  in  the  city  of  Richmond. 

IsTow,  we  desire  to  state  that  The  Idea  is  not  against  the 
Italian  as  such,  in  fact,  of 'all  the  European  races  the  Italian 
is  perhaps  the  most  lovable  and  gentlemanly,  and  his  racial 
characteristics  make  him  the  peer  of  any  race. 

It  is  likewise  true  that  here  in  Richmond  many  most  excel- 
lent citizens  claim  Sunny  Italy  as  their  nativity.  For  such 
we   have   nothing  but   words   of   friendship    and  good   cheer. 

Still  we  feel  it  a  duty  to  condemn  in  the  harshest  terms 
any  organization  that  is  used  to  protect  any  criminal  class 
or  to  influence  legislation  or  officers  of  the  executive  or  judicial 
departments  in  favor  of  a  class  or  a  particular  body  of  people, 
no  matter  who  they  be,  and  especially  if  they  be  saloon  keepers 
or  other  disreputable  citizens. 


Richmond^  Va.^  October  25,  1909. 
Mr.  Adon  A.  Yoder,  City : 

Dear  Slb. — I  write  to  ask  your  rate  for  one-half  page  and 
one-page  ad  for  three,  six  and  twelve  months. 

Your  Idea  is  the  best  thing  I  have  seen  in  Richmond 
during  a  business  experience  of  fifty-odd  years.  I  like  the 
ring  of  your  mettle  and  am  going  to  show  my  appreciation  by 
giving  you  an  ad.  I  enclose  copy.  I  notice  you  offer  to  write 
them  if  not  properly  written.  I  will  reply  immediately  upon 
receipt  of  information.  Yours  very  truly, 

A.  H.  Robins. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  adding,  "lay  on  McDuff,"  and  keep 
on  until  the  last  grafter  cries,  "Hold,  enough!"  and  quits  his 
grafting  or  his  job.  A.  H.  R. 


For  T{eliable 


FURNITURE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 


I 


i%ii  n^<i^»"   immnt    i^>ai»i 


I   P  R  I  Z   E   S 


-J 
» 


FOR 

BOYS 


r 
» 


■^»^»' 


*'THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO 

Newsboys  Avho  g:et  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and' 
oiner  prizes  to  those  who  sell  the  most  copies. 

The  C  ontest   vill  begin  with  the  1st  of  November  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  begin  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Some  time  ago  The  Idea  gave  away  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.    One  boy  selling 

112  copies  of  The  Idea  of  one  issue.      There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the  boys  besides  the  prizes. 


I 

s 

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PHONE  1821 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twentyyears, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


Stfr^^c^^^c^^^(«8^r^M^\(e> 


WEEKLY 


5c 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


Vol.  Ill 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 

Nov.  20,  1909 


No.  25 


$2.00  A  YEAR 


OUR  MAYOR'S  AWAKENING 


For  Sale  At  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODEF, 
Editor  and  Publisher.  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


^ 


JEWELER  J.    S.   JAMES  OPTICIAN 

7'*'  AND    MAIN    STS. 

We  have  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 
showing-  special  g-ood  values  in 

DIAMONDS,  WATCHES,  JfWLlRY,  SILVERWARE,  CUT  G'ASS,  Etc. 

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'    Hunting  Shoes  and  Boots 
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\0   HOUSEKEEPERS.... 


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We  have  them  as  low  as  they  can  be  sold,  as  well  as  Medicines 
of  unexcelled  quality,  which  conform  strictly  to  the  United  States 
Pure  Food  and  Drug  Law. 

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50  YEARS  EXPERIENCE.  GOODS  DELIVERED  ANYWHERE  IN  THE  CITY. 


^^5: 


© 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  NOVEMBER  20,  1909  No.  25 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Yeak 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 

904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mall  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


PEBSECUTION 


The  Editor  Arrested 


Submitted  to  Indignities,  Excessive  Bail  Demanded 


On  Monday  evening  last  as  the  editor  was  in  the  City  Hall 
to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  City  Council  he  was  served  with  a 
warrant  about  three  and  a  half  miles  long,  charging  him  with 
criminally  libelling  Douglas  Gordon,  Chris,  Manning  and 
Justice  John  Crutchfield  in  a  publication  of  The  Idea  of 
jSTovember  6th.  In  the  office  of  the  Chief  of  Police  in  the 
same  building  the  reading  of  the  leng-t-hy  document  was  begun, 
but  on  account  of  the  slow  progress  made  the  editor  stopped 
the  reading,  accepting  the  service  of  the  warrant  without  it ; 
and  then  the  officers  said  thev  would  have  to  search  the  editor. 


2  The    Idea. 

CONFIDENT  lAL  PAPERS  AND  LET- 
TERS TAKEN 

His  watch,  pen,  pencils,  coin  and  the  like  were  not  taken 
from  him,  but  his  papers,  including  private  confidential  cor- 
respondence and  valuable  memoranda  and  a  check,  were  re- 
tained. This  was  objected  to  but  in  spite  of  the  protest  against 
the  malicious  and  ungentlemanly  and  unwarranted  proceed- 
ings, these  private  papers  were  read  in  his  presence  by  a  petty 
official,  Mr.  George  Pollock,  secretary  to  the  chief,  who,  in 
spite  of  being  calmly  informed  that  he  had  no  legal  right  to 
so  act,  continued  to  examine  the  confidential  papers,  and  fold- 
ing them  together,  kept  them,  though  he  gave  back  the  check. 
The  editor  then  'phoned  for  several  friends,  most  of  whom 
happened  to  be  out  of  the  city.  Professor  Alwood,  of  Smith- 
deal  Businessi  College,  however,  and  Dr.  W.  P.  L,  Smith 
came  to  the  rescue  at  the  second  police  station,  where  $500 
bail  was  asked.  Finally  Mr.  A.  H.  Kobins  was  also  gotten  and 
then  the  bond  was  raised  to  $1,000  and  the  editor  was  released 
from  the  room  where  he  had  been  very  harshly  ordered  to  be 
locked  up  by  the  officer  in  charge. 

LOCKED  UP 

The  lock-up  was  an  exceedingly  vile  smelling  affair  with 
no  articles  of  furniture,  save  an  ancient  and  unsanitary  closet 
stool  with  the  wood  seat  and  fixtures  gone  and  from  which 
'Came  the  sickening  and  unsanitary  smells,  which  rendered  the 
place  dangerous  for  the  health  even  of  hogs,  much  less  of  men, 
and  an  iron  or  steel  seat  or  bed  about  two  feet  wide.  Water- 
and  other  bugs  were  crawling  about  the  walls.  The  walls 
and  floor  had,  apparently,  never  been  washed. 

In  this  unhealthy  and  sickening  den  the  editor  was  kept 
standing  for  an  hour  while  bail  was  being  arranged  and  while 
his  wife  was  suffering  a  nervous  prostration  from  the  news  she 
had  received. 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  3 

EXCESSIVE  BAIL 

Now  be  it  known  that  the  old  Virginia  Bill  of  liights, 
ordained  by  the  people  themselves  and  made  a  part  of  every 
Constitntion  the  State  of  Virginia  has  ever  had,  guarantees 
to  every  citizen  that  he  shall  not  be  required  to  give  "exces- 
sive bail,"  and  Justice  John  practically  admitted  the  bail 
bond  of  $1,000'  (or  even  $500),  as  was  required  at  the  police 
station,  was  exceedingly  excessive,  when  he  reduced  it  the 
next  day  to  $300,  which  was  furnished  very  kindly  by  Mr. 
jST,  W.  Bowe,  who,  though  never  a  partisan,  could  not  stand 
to  see  injustice  done,  and  introduced  himself  and  offered  to 
stand  by  and  see  a  square  deal.  Many  other  unknown  friends 
of  justice  also  appeared  and  offered  to  furnish  bail  in  the  sum 
of  $10,000  if  necessary.  The  case  was  postponed  on  Tuesday 
morning  and  set  for  trial  on  Friday,  JSTovember  26th. 

ISTow  some  words  concerning  the  situation :  The  editor  of 
this  paper  has,  on  four  separate  occasions,  been  hailed  into 
court  in  Richmond  because  he  dared  to  value  his  native  rights 
and  to  think  enough  of  his  State  and  the  well-being  of  his 
family  and  progeny  to  expose  the  political  corruption  and 
rottenness  that  are  undermining  the  liberty  and  happiness  and 
prosperity  of  the  citizens  for  which  Virginia,  more  than  any 
other  State,  has  spent  its  best  life-blood. 

When  the  forces  of  corruption  in  the  city  first  found  them- 
selves being  exposed  by  The  Idea  they  attempted  by  assault 
and  physical  force  to  put  out  of  business  this  paper,  and  we 
learn  from  inside  authority  that  the  plan  was  to  have  the 
editor  lured  away  and  assassinated.  When  public  indigna- 
tion showed  itself  against  such  brute  methods  the  plan  was 
changed  and  word  went  around  that  The  Idea  must  be 
stopped  at  any  price — by  buying  the  editor  out  or  by  forcing 
him  to  the  wall  by  the  expense  of  defense  in  the  courts,  and 
diplomatic  emissaries  actually  attempted  negotiations  for  buy- 
ing off  the  editor.  Now  suits  and  lawyers'  fees  for  defense 
are  accumulating  against  us  in  the  vain  hope  that  such 
methods  will  stop  the  work  of  destroying  the  graft  income  of 
political  parasites.  Threats  to  kill  the  editor  have  been  boldly 
and  openly  iiiadc,  even  in  o[)en  court,  and  have  been  met 
with  no  censure. 


4:  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

All  these  things  have  made  the  work  of  reform  of  political 
conditions  expensive  and  dangerous  and  the  enemies  of  the 
right  have  become  emboldened  by  the  fact  that  though  the 
citizens  are  95  per  cent,  on  the  side  of  the  right  and'  desire 
to  see  better  conditions  prevail,  still  they  do  not  organize  and 
are,  therefore,  powerless  before  a  very  small  band  of  corrup- 
tionists  and  crooks. 

The  Idea  does  not  propose  to  be  moved  either  by  threats 
or  suits  or  assaults,  but  will  go  straight  on,  earnestly  hoping 
and  asking  for  the  cordial  and  material  backing  of  the  good 
people  of  the  city. 

If  it  were  not  for  suits  and  legal  expenses  this  paper  could 
easily  survive  without  asking  outside  aid.  It  has,  however, 
lost  money,  over  which  it  has  no  tears  to  shed,  and  yet  we 
believe  that  the  citizens  are  enough  satisfied  with  the  good 
results  obtained  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  work  in  a  substantial 
way. 

How  much  is  it  worth  to  you  to  see  this  work  continue? 
How  much  is  it  worth  to  you  to  know  that  tens  of  thousands 
of  dollars  of  your  city's  taxes  are  being  saved  by  The  Ideals 
exposure  and  righting  of  extravagances  and  gTaft  ?  How 
much  is  it  worth  to  you  to  have  the  policy  and  other  gambling 
games  broken  up,  for  the  policy  business  has  been  almost 
ruined  in  Richmond  by  The  Ideals  exposure,  though  the  plan 
is  that  a  large  bunch  of  them  will  renew  operations  this  week 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  police. 

The  Idea  begs  that  the  good  citizens  of  Richmond,  whose 
interests  are  at  stake,  will  see  to  it  that  this  paper  has  ample 
means  of  defense  and  protection  from  the  attacks  of  the 
enemies  of  the  public. 


The  public  acts  of  public  servants  are  public  property. 
The  Idea  calls  the  attention  of  the  people  to  the  fact  that  this 
paper  is  not  concerned  with  the  private  affairs  of  private  citi- 
zens, nor  the  private  affairs  of  public  citizens,  but  only  with 
the  public  acts  of  public  citizens,  and  then  only  Avhen  those 
acts  are  such  as  to  effect  the  public  welfare. 


The    Idea. 

CRIME  PROTECTED 


The  enemies  of  this  paper  have  grown  so  desperate  in  their 
attempts  to  destroy  it  that  a  petition  has  been  circulated 
among  the  newsdealers  of  the  city  to  get  them  to  refuse  to 
handle  The  Idea,  because  The  Idea  stands  for  law  enforce- 
ment, and  that  means  closing  of  houses  of  business  on  Sunday, 
and  some  newsdealers  open  on  Sunday.  Simultaneously  with 
the  circulation  of  this  petition  the  police  force  is  arresting 
for  Sunday  selling  many  places  of  business  which  have  been 
violating  the  Sunday  laws. 

These  laws  should,  of  course,  be  enforced  or  repealed,  and 
yet  the  powders  governing  the  police  are  suddenly  very  anxious 
to  hurt  The  Idea  by  pretending  to  enforce  the  law  against  a 
part  of  these  offenders,  while  the  bigger  law-breakers  go  on 
unmolested  and  protected. 

iSTot  only  are  those  houses  of  ill  fame  which  The  Idea 
has  exposed  been  protected,  but  others  in  the  West  End  are 
protected  as  well. 

There  are  public  houses  of  ill  fame  within  three  blocks  of 
the  second  police  station  on  West  Marshall  street  that  have 
been  reported  to  the  police  by  men  of  large  means  and  stand- 
ing in  the  community  and  they  were  confidentially  informed 
that  they  could  do  nothing  because  of  certain  police  commis- 
sioners whose  influence  could  remove  the  policeman  from 
office. 

Such  information  has  come  to  us  from  many  sections  of 
the  city  that  police  gave  as  their  reason  for  not  enforcing  the 
law  that  police  commissioners  stood  in  the  way,  and  it  is 
also  a  matter  of  common  report  that  Mayor  McCarthy,  and 
perhaps  Mayor  Kichardson,  have  been  frustrated  in  their 
attempts  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  city  by  the  Board  of 
Police  Commissioners,  who  have  used  their  power  of  appoint- 
ment and  removal  of  policemen  to  protect  vice  and  crime  and 
to  usurp  the  powers  of  the  Mayor,  contrary  to  the  intent  of 
the  charter. 


The   Idea. 

BAIL  BOND 


On  July  23,  1908,  A.  J.  Duke  was  arrested  on  warrant 
for  stealing  about  $90  worth  of  cigarettes  from  the  Southern 
Railway  depot.  Gilbert  Pollock  was  his  counsel  and  bail  was 
fixed  at  $500,  with  a  Mr.  Meredith,  a  saloonkeeper  of  Jackson 
Ward,  as  bondsman. 

jSTearly  a  year  and  a  half  has  elapsed  and  yet  this  $500 
bond  has  not  been  paid,  nor  has  Mr.  A.  J.  Duke  shown  up,  for 
he  skipped  the  town,  though  his  bail  was  as  surety  that  he 
would  appear  on  the  next  day  in  the  police  court.  On  inquiry 
we  learn  from  an  official  of  the  court  that  these  bonds  are 
rarely,  if  ever,  collected  in  full,  and  seldom  collected  even 
in  part. 

It  can  thus  be  understood  why  protected  houses  of  ill  fame 
can  give  bond  to  keep  the  peace  and  then  continue  their  illegal 
business. 

This  bonding  business  in  Richmond  seems  to  be  merely 
a  matter  of  bluff,  or  a  means  for  certain  hangers-on  of  the 
court,  called  straw-bailers,  to  make  a  living  by  going  bail  for 
a  certain  percentage.  It's  a  profitable  business  for  all  parties 
concerned.  Ten  per  cent,  for  going  bail  makes  a  profitable 
return  when  business  is  brisk. 

ISTow,  though  this  is  a  very  profitable  matter  of  form  with 
professional  bailers,  still  it  is  a  very  serious  consideration  for 
those  who  do  not  get  the  favored  straw-bailer  or  some  friends 
of  the  gang  to  go  the  bail. 

Of  course,  if  the  editor  of  The  Idea^  whose  bail  was  put 
at  the  excessive  sum  of  $1,000,  should  be  fool  enough  to  skip 
you  can  be  sure  that  some  one  would  have  to  loose  $1,000, 
while  a  thief  can  go  free  and  his  bondsmen  pay  nothing. 

If  the  bonds  and  fines  assessed  in  the  police  court  were 
collected  the  city  would  be  the  gainer  by  more  than  $100,000 
each  3^ear  and  the  tax  rate  of  all  the  citizens  could  be  reduced. 


Will  the  Police  Board  kindly  tell  us  why  a  certain  ])olice 
oflicer  wlio  was  about  to  be  retired  on  account  of  his  disabilities 
was  at  the  last  moment  retained,  as  it  is  rumored  on  the  streets  ? 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  7 

Was  it  because  the  officer  had  a  suit  against  the  Traction 
Company  and  it  might  hurt  the  Traction  Company's  chances 
if  he  were  retired? 


JOHN   M.   KING'S  COAL  GOOD 

ENOUGH  FOR  HIS  OLD 

ASSOCIATES 


Although  Inspector  Beck  has  repeatedly  reported  to  the 
Council  that  coal  furnished  by  ex-Councilman  King,  who 
served  a  jail  term  for  doing  the  city  in  1903,  was  not  up  to 
contract  and  was  not  fit  to  burn  in  the  city's  heating  plants, 
not  having  sufficient  steam  producing  qualities,  still  the  former 
councilman's  friends  in  the  Council  have  told  Mr.  Beck,  by 
their  official  action  in  refusing  to  nullify  King's  contract,  that 
Mr.  King's  coal  was  good  enough  for  them,  however  unfit  it 
might  be  for  the  city.  Mr.  Beck  had  shown  the  committee 
that  the  city  could  save  much  money  by  paying  more,  if  neces- 
sary, for  good  coal  from  other  parties,  but  the  committee 
seemed  to  thiuk  that  it  was  more  important  that  they  help 
Mr.  King  make  a  litttle  money  for  himself  than  that  they 
save  it  for  the  city,  for  the  city  is  well  able,  to  stand  the  loss. 
What  does  the  tax-payer,  who  is  the  city,  think  of  this  action, 
and  how  long  will  he  permit  it  ? 


Manchester   Annexation 


The  Bryan  papers  argaie  that  annexation  of  Manchester 
would  increase  the  population  of  Richmond  some  12,000. 

In  the  first  place  this  is  false  on  its  face,  and  even  if  the 
census  could  show  a  gain  it  would  not  be  an  actual  gain,  for 
these  people  are  already  there  and  a  gain  in  figures  is  not  a 
gain   in  population   and   manufacturing  interests  coming  here 


8  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

are  not  moved  by  mere  figures  without  considering  liow  they 
are  obtained. 

Besides  this,  it  is  now  found  that  even  if  Manchester  is 
annexed,  the  population  will  not  show  in  the  census  until 
1920,  because  the  1910  census  will  be  taken  before  the  annexa- 
tion can  be  completed. 

Would  it  not  be  a  farce  to  have  a  big  ward — as  the  Man- 
chester end  of  Richmond  would  be — with  a  separate  set  of 
courts  and  management.  \'\niat  would  you  think  of  Clay 
Ward  with  a  court-house  and  other  institutions  of  its  own,  but 
so  connected  politically  as  to  allow  the  city  machine  politician 
to  get  in  his  crooked  work  there  also. 

The  political  crook  would  be  helped ;  the  Bryan  papers 
would  be  helped;  the  grafter  would  be  helped,  but  neither  the 
people  of  Richmond  nor  Manchester  would  gain. 

Will  the  citizens  of  Richmond  stand  for  annexation  merely 
for  the  private  gain  of  a  land  boom  company,  in  which  the 
Bryan  papers  are  largely  interested  ? 

Don't  be  fooled  by  hot-air  talk  of  Greater  Richmond. 
This  community  will  be  no  greater  by  such  a  change,  except 
in  opportunity  for  political  corruption.  AVhen  Richmond 
people  take  enough  interest  in  their  government  to  adopt  a 
business-like  management  that  will  fit  the  conditions  of  a  city 
of  its  present  size  then  will  be  time  enough  to  try  to  nm  a 
larger  project. 


Newsboys    Attention 


Watch  and  Other  Prizes 


Subscribe  to  The  Idea  now,  as  you  may  be  sorry  by  not 
being  abe  to  get  a  copy  when  you  want  one  most. 

Last  Saturday  The  Idea  office  had  sold  out  at  11  o'clock. 

We  don't  print  any  to  hold  over.  Of  the  7,000  copies 
printed  we  expect  to  sell  all  out  early  this  week.     Subscribe 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  9 

and  be  sure  to  get  all  copies — $2  a  year,  $1  for  six  months. 
Address  The  Idea,  904  Capitol  street,  Richmond,  Va. 

The  Idea  will  give  a  handsome  watch  and  nine  other 
prizes  to  the  successful  boys  in  the  ISTovember  prize  contest. 
Boys  desiring  to  compete  for  the  prizes  to  be  given  away  for 
the  month  of  ISTovember  must  comply  with  the  following  rules. 
Two  sets  of  prizes  will  be  given — one  set  for  obtaining  regu- 
lar customers ;  another  for  selling  the  largest  numbers  of  copies 
during  the  month.  In  the  first  contest,  the  one  for  regular 
weekly  customers,  boys  will  be  given  blanks  to  have  filled  out 
ordering  Tpie  Idea  to  be  brought  regularly.  Each  one  properly 
filled  out  by  subscribers  will  entitle  the  carrier  to  ten  points 
in  the  contest.  The  ten  boys  getting  the  greatest  number  of 
weekly  subscribers  will  be  declared  the  winners,  and  handsome 
presents  will  be  awarded  for  the  work. 

Any  boy  may  also  compete  in  this  contest  by  getting  paid 
in  advance  yearly  subscribers.  Each  yearly  subscriber  with 
$2  in  cash  in  advance  will  count  100  points.  Each  six  months 
subscriber  with  $1  in  cash  will  count  50  points,  and  each 
three  months  subscriber  with  50  cents  in  cash  will  count  25 
points.  Thus,  if  a  boy  gets  five  paid  in  advance  yearly  sub- 
scribers he  will  get  500  points ;  one  six  months  subscription,  50 
points;  one  three  months  subscription,  25  points;  thirty  weekly 
subscriptions,  300  points. 

IMPORTATsTT. 

Every  boy  who  gets  Ideas  must  enter  his  name  and  address 
or  else  he  cannot  return  his  unsold  Ideas. 

Each  boy  entering  the  contest  for  the  greatest  number  of 
copies  sold  must  certify  that  he  himself  sold  the  number 
credited  to  him  at  5  cents  a  copy  to  bona  fide  buyers  and  not 
to  other  newsboys. 

T\nien  boys  buy  from  each  other  they  cannot  have  returned 
copies  unsold. 

Each  boy  from  now  on  must  enter  his  name  in  order  to 
have  the  privilege  of  returning  unsold  copies  of  The  Idea. 
Copies  may  be  returned  as  late  as  Mondav  nio-ht. 


10  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

THE  TIMES  DISPATCH 


News    Gatherers 


Many  readers  of  The  Idea  Saturday  before  last  remarked 
on  the  similarity  between  the  articles  on  Frank  Cunningham 
in  The  Idea  and  in  The  Times-Dispatch.  The  Idea  article 
was  written  early  in  the  week  and  contained  news  which  The 
Tiryies-Dispatch  had  not  gotten.  It  was  printed  on  Thursday 
and  bound  on  Friday.  Saturday  The  Times-Dispatch  printed 
almost  the  same  article,  quoting  the  same  laws  which  The  Idea 
had  unearthed,  and  offering  the  same  line  of  argument  and 
news. 

Now,  the  question  is:  Does  The  Times-Dispatch  have  to 
rely  on  The  Idea  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  such  matters,  or  is 
it  possible  that  the  same  article  just  occured  to  them  on  Friday 
night,  four  days  after  their  attempt  to  cover  up  the  whole 
matter,  or  did  they  actually  know  all  those  details  early  in 
the  week  and  then  publish  them  on  Saturday  after  they  found 
that  The  Idea  was  in  possession  of  the  facts?  Readers  may 
draw  their  own  conclusions,  which  will  not  vary  much  if  the 
remarkable   similarity  between  the  two   articles  is  noticed. 

As  The  Idea  stated  some  time  ago,  the  Richmond  daily 
papers  will  help  along  in  the  good  work  of  purifying  the 
political  and  moral  and'  official  atmosphere  of  Richmond  when 
they  see  they  have  to. 

They'll  come,  when  thev  have  to. 


THAT  ELECTRIC  LIGHT  PLANT 


Whenever  The  Neivs  Leader  gets  up  an  exceptionally  good 
editorial  they  give  it  an  obscure  position  for  fear  that  some 
one  will  suspect  them  of  being  inclined  to  kick  against  the  men 
who  run  Richmond. 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  11 

On  ISlovember  10th  that  paper  published  the  eilitorial  be- 
low with  no  heading-  to  it,  and  so  very  few  people  saw  it.  It 
is  so  exceptionally  worth  while  that  we  feel  it  deserves  a  wider 
reading,  hence  our  clipping: 

Will  somebody  be  kind  enough  to  take  the  r(>('ords  and  a 
pencil  and  a  sheet  of  paper  and  figure  out  how  far  the  cost  of 
the  proposed  municipal  electric  lighting  plant  already  has 
exceeded  the  estimates,  predictions  and  calculations  of  Engineer 
Trafford  and  the  other  friends  of  that  enterprise?  If  this  is 
done,  we  would  like  Engineer  Trafford,  or  somebobdy  else, 
to  tell  us  how  much  more  the  plant  is  to  cost  than  we  were  told 
it  would  cost.  This  information  would  be  useful  and  instruc- 
tive just  now  to  the  people  of  Kichmond.  We  have  spent  some 
money  and  bound  ourselves  to  some  contracts,  but  it  is  not 
too  late  to  halt  if  we  should  find  halting  to  be  necessary.  We 
had  better  pay  some  forfeits  and  damages  than  to  involve  our- 
selves in  indefinite  and  unlimited  expense. 

Yesterday  it  was  announced  that  $3,100  additional  is  want- 
ed for  an  additional  tail  race  and  wheel  chamber  and  that  if 
the  excavations  for  these  are  not  made  immediately  the  cost 
will  be  $9,000,  while  the  wheels  and  generators  to  be  installed 
later,  to  add  600  horse  power,  will  cost  $12,000.  Was  anything 
said  of  this  in  the  original  estimate  when  the  council  was  asked 
to  provide  for  the  plant  ? 

We  do  not  object  especially  to  the  experiment  of  a  munici- 
pal electric  lighting  plant.  If  it  fails  to  be  profitable  there  is 
an  even  chance  that  the  city  may  get  back  most  of  its  money 
from^some  private  corporation.  We  do  think,  however,  that.it 
is  time  to  do  some  figuring  and  to  gather  for  the  tax-payers  a 
clear  idea  of  what  the  cost  really  is  to  be. 


If  you  want  to  read  a  man's  private  correspondence  have 
him  arrested  on  some  trumped  up  criminal  charge  and  get  the 
Richmond  police  department  to  read  his  private  correspond- 
ence and  tell  you  what  they  learned. 


It  is  more  dangerous  to  expose  crime  than  it  is  to  commit 
crime,  in  Richmond. 


12  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

Is  the  vaunted  freedon  of  the  press  to  discuss  public  acts 
and  affairs  only  a  name  after  all. 

If  The  Idea  tells  the  truth  it's  libellous,  is  it  ?  If  a  public 
official  perjures  himself  he  is  guilty  of  "no  intentional  wrong- 
doing." 


CHRIS.  MANNING'S  FAVORITE 


Councilmen  can  not  do  work  for  the  city  and  yet  police 
commissioners,  though  public  officials,  can  take  contracts  for 
city  work,  even  when  it  is  in  their  own  department.  Mr.  Chris 
Manning,  plumber  and  commissioner,  put  the  plumbing  in  the 
First  Police  Station  and  if  one  will  go  by  there  and  look  on 
he  will  find  on  the  fixtures  "C.  Manning's  Favorite."  It  seems 
to  be  a  kind  of  recognized  right  that  city  officials  may  be  in- 
terested financially  in  city  contract  work. 


MIDNIGHT  METHODS 


Though  The  Idea  office  is  within  a  block  of  the  city  hall, 
still  the  police  bearing  the  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  the  Editor 
waited  until  night  when  the  Editor  was  on  his  way  to  report 
a  meeting  of  the  city  council,  the  correct  report  of  whose  pro- 
ceedings the  people  look  to  The  Idea  to  furnish,  especially  in 
a  case  where  an  investigation  is  to  be  ordered,  for  the  other 
papers  help  in  any  whitewashing  that  is  to  be  done. 

Rumor  has  it  that  the  time  was  fixed  at  night  so  that  the 
editor  would  be  kept  in  jail  or  away  from  friends  until  court 
time  in  the  morning.  ITotice  that  he  was  taken  to  the  Second 
Police  Station  in  the  West  End  though  the  First  police  station 
was  much  nearer. 

The  fact  that  the  bond  was  put  at  $1,000  though  three  hun- 
dred is  the  amount  fixed  for  such  cases,  ought  to  show  the  peo- 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  13 

pie  something  of  police  methods  in  Richmond.     When  one  has 
a  jnst  cause  it  is  not  necessary  to  show  venom  or  persecution. 
Midnight  methods  are  not  adopted  by  those  who  are  inno- 
cent. 


THE  JOURNAL  IN  ERROR 


The  Journal  of  Tuesday  Said 

"In  cases  of  criminal  libel,  the  accused  is  not  allowed  to 
prove  the  truth  of  his  assertions  as  a  bar  to  the  prosecution, 
but  may  prove  it  in  mitigation  of  punishment.  This  propo- 
sition may  be  hard  for  the  lay  mind  to  grasp,  but  lawyers  will 
quickly  see  it. 

''To  illustrate:  The  policy  of  the  law  is  to  discountenance 
any  sort  of  a  libellous  statement,  whether  true  or  not,  as  it  is 
calculated  to  bring  about  a  breach  of  the  peace  and  thus  create 
disorder, 

"On  the  other  hand,  where  the  printed  statement  is  true,  the 
accused  is  allowed  to  shoAv  this,  and  may  thus  modify  his  pun- 
ishment to  such  an  extent  that  the  penalty  may  be  merely  nom- 
inal. Certainly  no  fair  minded  jury  would  be  apt  to  bear 
hard  on  a  prisoner  charged  with  libel,  who  clearly  proved  the 
truth  of  his  written  statements." 

These  remarks  are  about  true  in  reference  to  private  indi- 
viduals but  the  laws  are  entirely  different  as  to  the  latitude 
allowed  publication  concerning  ]niblic  officials.  What  is  libel 
in  one  case  is  not  libel  in  another. 

The  facts  about  a  private  individual's  life  are  not  public 
property.  The  facts  of  a  public  official's  life  are,  and  even 
broader  latitude  is  given  the  press,  for  in  certain  cases  even 
false  publications  are  not  libellous,  ^he  Idea's  statements 
however,  are  true. 


If  the  police  department  will  profit  by  the  notes  which  they 
took  away  from  the  Editor  there  will  be  some  big  arrests  soon 
in  old   Hichmond.     If  thev  read  the  notes  about  a  gambling 


14  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

den  as  carefully  as  they  did  a  private  letter  to  the  Editor  there 
eyes  might  be  opened.     But  they  know  all  about  it  anyhow. 


According  to  the  Journal,  if  a  man  commits  murder  and  a 
paper  prints  the  facts  then  the  paper  is  liable  to  damages  even 
if  it  is  true.     Wise  Journal — in  law! 


RESOLVE ! 

To  keep  my  health ! 

To  do  my  work ! 

To  live! 

To  see  to  it  that  I  gTow  and  gain  and  give ! 

Xever  to  look  behind  me  for  an  hour! 

To  wait  in  weakness,  and  to  walk  in  power; 

But  always  fronting  onward  to  the  light. 

Always  and  always  facing  toward  the  right. 

Robbed,  starved,  defeated,  fallen,  wide  astray — 

On,  with  what  strength  I  have. 

Back  to  the  way ! 

Charlotte  Perhins  Stetson. 


GORDON  WAS  PRESENT 


The  Journal  Further  States 

"It  is  not  known  what  course  counsel  for  Mr.  Yoder  will 
follow,  though  it  would  appear  that  if  the  defendant  seeks  to 
establish  the  truth  of  his  allegations,  the  burden  of  proof  will 
be  on  him.  And  even  then,  as  has  been  said,  he  cannot  com- 
pletely exculpate  himself. 

"Police- Commissioner  Gordon  feels  confident  that  the  guilt 
of  the  editor  will  be  established.  It  is  said  on  good  authority 
that  Mr.  Gordon  was  -not  even  in  the  court  room  on  the  day 
the  two  disreputable  women  had  a  hearing." 

The  Idea  never  charged  that  Gordon  was  present  when 
"the  two  disreputable  women  had  a  hearing." 

In  the  preliminary  hearing  the  trials  of  the  two  women 
were  postponed  to  sr]iavate  flays,  one  was  in  one  week;  the  other 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  15 

in  the  next.  The  Idea  said  that  Gordon  and  Manning  were 
behind  Justice  John  in  the  trial  of  the  Malloy  woman  which 
is  true,  and  Mr.  Gordon  does  not  deny  it,  though  the  Journal 
article  evidently  was  intended  to  prejudice  the  mind  of  the 
people  against  the  Editor. 

The  trouble  with  the  daily  papers  is  that  public  opinion 
is  often  molded  by  the  false  or  twisted  statements  of  irrespon- 
sible reporters.     A  half  truth  is  often  worse  than  a  lie. 


CHESTNUTS 


A  merchant  reports  to  The  Idea  that  he  learns  from  the 
City  Hall  that  the  chestnut  venders  on  Broad  and  Main  streets, 
about  twenty  in  all,  are  paying  no  license  for  their  privilege 
of  selling  chestnuts  on  the  sidewalk.  This,  he  argues,  is  not 
just,  as  he  has  to  pay  a  high  license  and  other  dealers  should 
be  required  to  do  likewise. 

The  question  is,  who  protects  these  fellows  from  the  police 
that  this  clear  violation  of  the  law  is  not  stopped  ? 


'E'EATH  THE  WILLOW. 

I  sit   'ncath  a  weeping  willow  tree; 
And  as  I  sit  I  dream  of  thee 
And  think  that  wert  thou  gone  from  me 
My  life  would  droop  and  bended  be 
As  droops  the  weeping  willow  tree. 

Three  years  have  flown;  full  many  a  day 
Has  wrought  its  change,  and  gone  for  aye ; 
And  O,  fair  one  of  my  life's  bright  May ! 
Thy  voice  is  hushed — sweet  roundelay. 
Thy  young  life  flitted  far  away. 

Again  I  sit  'neath  the  willow  tree ; 

And  as  I  sit  I  dream  of  thee, 

And  know,  since  now  thou'rt  gone  from  me, 

My  life  shall  never  ceasing  be 

An  ever  weeping  willow  tree. 

Alyn  O'Bare. 


For  Reliable 


FURNITURE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 


I   P  R  I  Z   E   S   I 

->      FOR       r 
J  BO^S  L 


}  "THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO  j 

1  Newsboys  who  g:et  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and  \ 

I  otnet  prizes  to  those  who  sell  the  most  copies.  P 

J  The  C  ontest   vill  begin  with  the  1st  of  November  and  boys  desiring  to  com-  f 


{ 


The  C  ontest   vill  begin  with  the  1st  of  November  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  begin  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Some  time  ago  The  Idea  gave  away  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.    One  boy  selling 

112  copies  of  The  Idea  of  one  issue.      There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the  boys  besides  the  prizes. 


<i>4DVERTISING 


Is  to-day  tlie  mightiest  factor  in  the 
business  world.  It  is  an  evolution  of 
modern  industrial  competition.  It  is  a 
business-builder,  with  a  potency  that 
goes  beyond  human  desire.  It  is  some- 
thing more  than  a  "drummer"  knock- 
ing at  the  door  of  the  consumer 

something  more  than  mere  salesman- 
ship on  paper.  It  is  a  positive, 
creative  force  in  business.  It  builds 
factories,  skyscrapers  and  railroads. 
It  makes  two  blades  of  grass  grow  in 
the  business  world  w^here  only  one 
grew  before.  It  multiplies  human 
wants  and  intensities  human  desires. 
It  furnishes  excuse  for  timorous  and 
hesitating  ones  for  possessing  the 
things  which  under  former  conditions 
they  could  easily  get  along  without. 
^  The  human  mind  is  so  constructed 
that  it  is  appreciably  affected  by  repe- 
tition— and.  after  all,  advertising  is 
only  repetition. 

Truman  A.  DeJfeese. 


1  Farms  for  AH,  i  arge  or  Small ! 


TRUCK  FARMS.  STOCK  FARMS, 
GENERAL  FARMS. 


Timbe:  Lands 

Country  Homes 

Mineral  Lands 

Suburban  Homes 

m 


Any  Kind  and  Every  Price.     If  You  Want  to  Buy  or  Sell     See 

Casselman  Sn  Company 

RICHMOND 
VIkQINIA 


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Send  for  Catalogue  VlkQIINIA  1108  E.  Main  Street   W|0 


A.  H.  EWINQ 

CEMENT   PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


M 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements,  Ac. 


PHONE  1821 


Crj)  The  fdilor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
fyA  and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
^       and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


^iimm 


WEEKLY 


5c 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


Vol.  Ill 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 
Nov.  27,  1909 


No.  26 


$2.00  A  YEAR 


THE  TAX  PaYEK  UNDER  COUNCILMANIC  GOVERNMENT 
RICHMOND'S  RED  TAPE  COUNCIL  HAS  56  MEN. 

For  Sale  Ai  All  News  Stands 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  BY  ADON  A.  YODER, 
Editor  and  Publisher.  904  Capitol  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


I 


J.    S.  JAMES  OPTICIAN 

7th  AND    MAIN    STS. 

We  have  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 
showing  special  good  values  in 

DIAMONDS,  WATCHES,  lEWElRY,  SILVERWARE,  CUT  GLASS,  Lie. 

We  invite  your  inspection 


S.    L.    LEDMAN 


I 
I 


zA  Full  Line 

Hunting  Shoes  and  Boots 
For  Your  Selection. 


SHOES 

«f  QUALITY 


Number 
726  East  o^VIain   Street 


RICHMOND,  VA. 


m 


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0   HOUSEKEEPERS.... 


You  wish  the  best  Flavoring  Extracts,  Essences  and 
Spices  for  your  Table. 

The  best  Soap,  Perfumery  and  Toilet  Requisites  for 
your  family  and  guests. 

The  best  Steel  Enameled,  Rubber  and  Glass  Goods  for  your  sick. 

We  have  them  as  low  as  they  can  be  sold,  as  well  as  Medicines 
of  unexcelled  quality,  which  conform  strictly  to  the  United  States 
Pure  Food  and  Drug  Law. 

You  want  information  as  to  what  is  best  to  give  medical  students 
at  Christmas,  January  1st  or  at  Commencement  Exercises.  This  we 
can  give  you  of  the  most  satisfactory  character. 

A.  H.  ROBINS'  PHARMACY, 

200  EAST  MARSHALL  STREET 
RICHMOND,  VA. 

50  YEARS  EXPERIENCE.  QOODS  DELIVERED  ANYWHERE  IN  THE  CITY. 


THE    IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  NOVEMBER  27,   1909  No.  26 


5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Ybab 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


MUST  THE  IDEA  GO? 


Is  the  Freedom  of  the  Press  Only 
a  Name  in  Virginia? 


Some  Very  Pertinent  Remarks  About  the  Methods 
now  Being  Used  to  Destroy  This  Paper 


The  Editor  of  this  paper  has  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  varioiTS  assaults  and  warrants  and  suits  now  and  in  the 
past  made  against  the  publisher  and  even  the  printer  of  The 
Idea  are  but  part  of  a  deliberate  and  carefully  made  plan  to 
destroy  this  paper  and  thus  put  an  end  to  the  exposal  of  official 
wrong-doing  in  Richmond.  While  the  ISTational  Constitution 
and  the  Virginia  Constitution  guarantee  to  all  the  freedom, 
both  of  press  and  speech,  still  no  statute  law  exists  prohibiting 
evil-minded  persons  from  destroying  not  only  the  liberty  of 
the  press  but  the  very  press  itself  by  suits  and  criminal  charges^. 


2  T  h  c    I  d  e  a  . 

Ill  Eiigiand  no  man  may  simply  by  a  warrant  force  a  pub- 
lisher into  court  and  make  liim  pay  for  defence  regardless  of 
his  offence.  There  no  one  save  the  Attorney  General  himself 
can  issue  such  a  warrant  and  then  only  when  he  has  been  fully 
satisfied  that  there  is  just  cause  for  it.  But  here  in  Virginia, 
home  of  the  first  American  resistance  to  English  misgovern- 
ment,  a  petty  justice  of  the  peace,  whether  he  has  seen  a  law 
book  or  not,  may  issue  a  warrant  which  compels  a  man  to 
spend  hundreds  of  dollars  in  defence  and  may  immediately 
destroy  his  ability  to  publish,  without  any  inquiry  into  the 
justice  of  the  charge  brought,  and  the  only  possible  salvation 
lies  in  the  public  indignation  and  aid  of  private  citizens. 

PRIKTEES  HARASSED— MAY    REFUSE    TO    PRINT. 

Three  libel  suits  have  been  entered  against  the  printers  of 
The  Idea,  to  one  of  which  tlie  Editor  is  made  a  party,  and 
one  criminal  libel  warrant  against  the  Editor  alone,  all  with- 
out a  single  denial  of  any  of  the  so-alled  liheUous  articles.  ■ 

The  fact  seems  to  be  that  the  establishment  of  the  falsity 
of  the  charges  will  not  be  attempted,  the  object  of  the  charges 
being  to  kill  the  publication  by  financial  embarrassment  through 
legal  expenses  and  by  rendering  it  unprofitable  to  printers  to 
print  it.  The  authorities  are  not  so  much  afraid  of  what  has 
been  published  in  The  Idea  as  of  what  will  be  published  in 
The  Idea  concerning  the  evil  doings  of  public  officials,  for 
they  know  the  nature  of  the  evidence  in  our  possession  which 
shows  coimcilmen  and  other  city  officials  directly  interested 
in  ^'protected"  illegal  houses  whose  main  business  is  the  in- 
fraction of  the  law.  Because  of  these  things  word  has  gone 
forth  that  The  Idea  must  be  destroyed,  and  to  that  end  the 
printers,  who  are  not  the  publishers,  and  are  in  no  way  a  party 
to  the  publishing  of  The  Idea  save  as  employees  to  do  certain 
job  work  just  as  a  stenographer  is  simply  an  employe — these 
printers  are  harassed  with  suits  and  forced  to  defend  them- 
selves and  must  spend  forsooth  many  hundreds  of  dollars,  even 
though  they  be  absolutely  innocent  both  morally  and  before 
the  law.  As  a  result  no  one  can  blame  the  Williams  Printing 
Company  for  refusing  to  further  print  The  Idea  when  the 
takiiia  of  this  work  subjects  them,  thotio-h  innocent,  to  untold 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  3 

exjK'iise  and  worry  and  I  he  loss  <il"  \id  liable  time  in  coui'i.  As 
the  Kditor  is  not  able  personally  lo  boar  this  expense  him- 
self, unless  he  can  call  on  those  who  believe  in  justice  and 
fair  play  to  come  to  his  aid  and  stand  back  of  the  printers 
to  the  extent  of  the  legal  expenses  then  the  Williams  Printing 
Company  can  not  continue  to  do  this  work  and  have  so  in- 
formed the  management  of  this  paper. 

AN  APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE 

The  Idea  is  therefore  forced  to  call  on  the  good  people  of 
Richmond  to  come  to  its  aid.  If  The  Idea  does  not  appear 
next  v^eek  it  will  mean  that  the  grafters  of  Richmond  have, 
at  least  temporarily,  gained  an  enormous  victory  over  publicity 
and  the  forces  which  stand  for  law  enforcement  and  fair  play. 
The  Idea  has  been  entirely  alone  in  this  fight  against  munici- 
pal corruption  and  mismanagement  and  extravagance  and  it 
is  confidently  predicted  that  should  The  Idea  be  stopped  in 
its  crusade  against  evil  then  the  daily  papers  will  drift  back 
into  complete  suppression  and  concealment  of  the  facts  in 
which  they  were  engaged  before  The  Idea  appeared,  and  from 
which  they  have  partially  aroused. 

Many  friends  of  the  right  have  offered  their  aid  but  we 
feel  that  there  are  many  more  who  would  gladly  give  of  their 
means  to  see  the  fight  continue.  The  men  of  the  Allen  &:  Gin- 
ter  branch  of  The  American  Tobacco  Company  have  gotten 
together  and  raised  twenty-one  dollars  and  other  individual 
■contributions  have  been  received.  These  have  been  turned 
over  to  the  Rev.  Tilden  Shearer  who  has  been  selected  by  a 
committee  of  citizens  to  receive  the  necessary  funds. 

Many  citizens  have  enquired  as  to  the  needs  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  we  believe  that  when  the  men  of  Richmond  realize 
what  a  concerted  and  cowardly  attempt  is  being  made  to  sup- 
press this  apper,  because  they  fear  the  turning  on  of  the  light, 
they  will  rally  to  the  standard  of  justice  and  liberty  and'  be 
glad  to  offer  their  financial  help  to  see  that  this  cause  of  the 
people  is  properly  defended  in  the  courts. 

We  therefore  call  on  the  people  to  send  to  the  Rev.  Tilden 
Shearer,    Ginter    Park,    Richmond,    Virginia,    any    funds    for 


4  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

this  fight.  .  The  Idea  can  live  without  these  legal 
expenses  and  will  be  able  to  pay  a  part  of  them, 
but  can  not  pay  much  for  it  is  entirely  dependent  on  its  cir- 
culation for  its  means  of  subsistence.  Good  lawyers  are,  of 
course,  expensive,  but  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  get  good 
ones  when  the  opposition  is  composed  of  politicians  and  office- 
holders, parties  to  the  machine  that  is  responsible  for  all  the 
political  graft  and  corruption  in  the  city. 

Your  well  wishes  and  good  intentions,  'A\ough  gi'ate vully 
received  and  always  deeply  appreciated  will  not  avail  much  at 
this  time,  but  your  financial  help,  however  small  or  however 
large,  will  so  efi^ectively  help  as  to  completely  overthrow  the 
ring  and  compel  the  officers  of  the  law  both  to  respect  and  en- 
force the  laws  of  the  commonwealth. 


THE  TRIAL 


The  trial  of  the  Editor  on  the  warrant  for  criminal  libel 
will  come  up  in  police  court  Friday  of  this  week,  too  late  to 
be  reported  for  this  issue,  but  the  next  issue  will  have  some  very 
pointed  things  to  say — do  not  miss  it,  as  much  inside  informa- 
tion has  been  received,  which  together  with  the  facts  of  that 
trial  will  show  the  people  how  damnably  corrupt  the  manage- 
ment of  affairs  of  Richmond  has  gotten. 

The  events  of  the  past  few  weeks  should  of  themselves  open 
the  eyes  of  the  citizens  to  the  fact  that  it  is  possible  for  a  mem- 
ber of  the  political  crowd  to  use  the  whole  force  of  the  govern- 
mental machine  to  carry  out  his  personal  desires.  If  the  trial 
turns  out  as  it  is  planned  by  the  gang  appeal  will  be  taken  to 
a  jury  in  the  Hustings  court. 

Let  the  men  of  Richmond  who  feel  most  the  extravagance 
and  corruption  of  the  present  rotten  and  crooked  administra- 
tion,— the  working  men — band  together,  and  no  power  on 
earth  can  stop  the  progress  of  reform.  It  is  a  well  known  fact 
that  all  movements  for  better  conditions  must  be  backed  by  the 
great  body  of  the  people,  the  men  who  toil,  before  any  lasting 
good  can  be  accomplished.  You  bear  the  burden  of  bad  govern- 
ment. Will  you  help  fight  for  good  government  ? 


The    Idea 


THE  DUTY  OF  THE  PRESS 


"To  See  That  Proper  Inferences  Are  Drawn" 


Much  has  been  said  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  press. 
Has  enough  been  said  of  its  duty  ?  The  press  may  have  a  legal 
right  to  do  a  thing  which  duty  forbids  it  to  do.  When  it  has, 
however,  both  the  right  and  the  duty  to  publish,  then  let  no 
one  oppose.  The  Idea  claims  not  only  the  right  to  publish 
the  truth  and  to  "draw  any  reasonable  inferences  therefrom," 
but  claims  also  that  as  a  public  newspaper,  it  would  not  have 
a  right  to  exist  if  it  did  not  both  publish  the  facts  and  also 
draw  any  reasonable  inferences  therefrom  and  criticize  just 
as  harshly  as  the  circumstances  justify  any  j)ublic  acts  of  any 
public  officials.  If  the  press  of  this  city  had  dared  to  do  its 
duty  in  the  past  there  would  not  only  be  no  question  now 
raised  as  to  the  rights  of  this  paper,  but  there  would  be  abso- 
lutely no  need  of  this  paper  undertaking  its  present  danger- 
ous and  necessary  work  of  exposing  evil. 

The  Philadelphia  Press  of  last  Sunday,  iS^ovember  21st,  gave 
a  long  account  of  the  proceedings  in  the  criminal  libel  suit 
of  the  government  against  the  Indianapolis  News  in  which  the 
judge,  in  throwing  the  case  out  of  court  said : 

"NEWSPAEPEE  HAS  A  PUBLIC  DUTY." 

"On  the  other  hand  a  newspaper  has  a  public  duty  to  per- 
form. It  is  its  business  to  discuss  these  political  questions.  It 
is  not  only  its  privilege,  but  it  is  the  duty  of  the  owners  of  a 
paper  to,  in  the  language  of  a  former  President,  "print  the 
news  and  tell  the  truth  about  it,"  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
owners  of  a  paper  to  tell  the  people  of  the  United  States  what 
the  facts  are  as  far  as  they  can  find  out,  and  see  that  proper 
inferences  are  drawn,  and  if  the  indications  point  to  the  wrong- 
doing of  anybody,  it  is  their  duty  to  talk  about  it,  speak  out 
and  talk  about  it." 


(5  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

The  Idea  claims  that  if  it,  as  a  public  institution,  did  not 
dare  to  "talk  about"  and  "criticize"  and  "see  that  proper  infer- 
ences are  drawn"  from  the  public  acts  of  the  city -officials  it 
would  not  be  any  more  worthy  to  exist  than  those  other  news- 
])apers  of  this  city  which  "encumber  the  ground"  and  "bear 
no   fruit." 

Even  if  The  Idea  had  "technically  passed  the  line"  of 
rig'htful  discussion  the  above  quoted  Judge  Anderson  claims 
that  even  then  the  liberty  of  the  press  can  not  be  abridged.  He 
said : 

"It  is  one  of  the  incidents  of  public  life,  one  of  the  penal- 
ties of  those  who  hold  public  positions  or  semi-public  positions 
— one  of  those  things  that  is  incident  to  those  situations — it 
is  a  question  sometimes  whether  or  not  liberty  is  not  more 
safely  guarded  by  passing  over  discussions  which  technically 
pass  the  line." 


Josiah  Quincy  on  the  Impeachment  of  Public  Officers  in 
January,  1768: 

''Woe  unto  the  Land  when  the  Greatnes-=;  of  Hie  Criribinal 
shall  dismay  his  Accusers,  and  his  Authority  shall  make  the 
rif/hteous  Man  to  tremble;  lohen  the  enormous  Power  of  Guilt 
shall  exalt  itself  ahorse  the  Judgment-Seat  and  hid  Defiance  to 
the  Trilnmal  of  Justice!" 


GRAIN  GRAFT 


Notice  the  fact  that  James  Robinson  has  been  convicted 
and  his  testimony  is  thus  destroyed  for  use  against  Alvey,  the 
one  "higher  up"  charged  by  the  committee  with  being  respon- 
sible for  the  whole  grain  graft. 

Notice  this  too,  that  though  the  special  investigating  com- 
mittee, after  a  careful  hearing,  decided  to  recommend  a  suit 
against  Alvey  for  the  recovery  of  damages  and  the  council 
voted  t<i  uphold  them,  still  all  this  was  set  aside  by  a  motion 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  1 

of  Mr.   Ellett  that   the  report  be  sent  back  to  the  I'munitlec 
with  instructions  to  compromise. 

Thus  it  is  that  under  our  present  councilmanic  plan  the 
city  may  be  robbed  of  untold  amounts  and  has  to  rc;^ort  to  a 
compromise  for  fear  that  a  thief  will  be  detected  stealing  from 
the  city.  What  will  the  Commonwealth's  Attorney  (lo'<  It  is 
hoped  he  will  do  his  duty.  What  the  coni;cil  decides  to  do  is 
none  of  his  business. 


FRANKLIN  ON  FREKOO.M. 

While  free  from  Force  the  Press  remains, 
Virtue  and  Freedom  cheer  our  plains; 
This  Nurse  of  Arts,  and  Freedom's  Fence, 
To  chain,  is  Treason  against  Sense : 
And  Liberty,  thy  thousand  Tongues 
None  silence  who  design  no  Wrongs ; 
For  those  who  use  the  Gag's  Restraint, 
First  Rob,  before  they  stop  Tomplaint. 

— Benjmnin  Franklin. 


BIG  GAMBLER  PARDONED--WHY? 


Everyone  recognizes  the  fact  that  running  a  public  gamb- 
ling house  is  one  of  the  most  heinous  crimes  that  can  be  com- 
mitted, because  it  is  not  only  so  closely  connected  with  the 
houses  of  ill  fame  as  it  was  in  the  case  of  Sam  Kaufman,  who 
has  just  been  pardoned,  but  because  it  is  the  means  also  of 
undermining  our  banks  and  businesses  as  well. 

A  negro  may  innocently  (ignorantly,  therefore  innocently) 
engage  in  a  crap  game  and  have  to  go  to  jail  for  thirty  days 
and  no  one  interests  himself  in  his  release  if  he  has  a  family 
to  support  and  has  been  supporting  them  by  honest  methods. 
But  when  a  big  criminal,  like  Sam  Kaufman,  who  has  been 
a  notorious  gambler  for  vears,  and  has  at  least  three  times  been 


«  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

arrested,  and  at  last  convicted  for  it  on  the  most  convincing 
kind  of  evidence,  is  at  last  put  in  jail,  the  judge  of  that  court 
in  company  with  Gilbert  K.  Pollock,  intercedes  for  him  with 
the  Governor  and  the  criminal  is  pardoned  because  he  has  a 
family  to  support  when  his  means  of  supporting  that  family 
ias  been  the  running  of  a  notorious  gambling  house,  and  we 
have  not  yet  learned  of  the  release  of  the  young  man  whom 
he  had  used  as  a  tool  and  a  cat's  paw  and  who  had  gone  on  the 
stand  and  falsified  for  him — Kaufman. 

The  paper  states  he  was  pardoned  on  condition  that  he  leave 
the  State  at  once  and  remain  forever  away. 

What  right  has  this  State  to  exile  its  gamblers  to  other 
States  which  have  troubles  of  their  own.  Besides  the  question 
of  moral  right,  this  city  whose  officers  by  the  laxity  of  law  en- 
forcement have  made  Kaufman's  business  profitable  and  who 
know  him  are  better  able  to  keep  him  from  gambling  and  to 
protect  society  from  his  crimes  than  other  States  to  which  he 
may  go  as  an  unknown  gambler. 

Our  country  excludes  criminals  which  other  countries 
would  dump  on  America  and  yet  Governor  Swanson  dumps  our 
notorious  criminals  on  a  sister  State. 

It  is  indeed  remarkable  that  Gilbert  Pollock  can  get  Jus- 
tice Crutchfield  and  Governor  Swanson  to  do  such  an  unjust 
thing. 


DESECRATION  OF  THE  FLAG 


Richmond  Ladies  Protest 


A  delegation  of  the  ladies  of  the  city  has  called  on  The 
Idea  to  agitate  the  passage  of  a  bill  through  the  coming  legis- 
lature making  it  unlawful  to  use  the  national  flag  for  adver- 
tising purposes  as  is  being  done  to-day  in  Richmond  by  the 
Schlitz  beer  people  of  Milwaukee. 

That  the  stars  and  stripes  should  be  defamed  by  being 
used  to  advertise  beer  is  a  shame  on  the  State.    The  Attorney 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  9 

General  of  Maryland  has  ordered  all  such  bills  posted  through- 
out that  State  to  be  removed  forthwith. 

It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  the  next  legislature  will  pass  a 
similar  law  in  Virginia. 

If  the  government  can  suppress  a  piece  of  ragtime  music, 
referring  too  lightly  to  the  flag,  surely  it  is  time  Virginia  wa? 
following  her  sister  states  in  stopping  the  use  of  the  flag  for 
1;he  advertisement  of  beer. 

Let  some  legislator  make  himself  popular  with  the  men. 
as  well  as  the  ladies,  by  offering  such  a  measure  at  the  coming 
session  and  he  will  do  the  cause  of  purity  and'  respect  for  the 
flag  a  great  service  as  well.  The  following  is  a  dispatch  from 
Baltimore : 

"FLAG,  POLE  AND  BEER.'" 

Baltimore,  Md..  October  16. — ^'There  may  be  some  ques- 
tion," said  State's  Attorney  Owen,  "as  to  who  discovered  the 
I^orth  Pole  but  there  is  no  question  about  the  use  of  the  flag 
at  the  pole  on  a  beer  advertisement,  and  the  flag  will  have  to 
come  down." 

Mr.  Owen  ordered  a  Milwaukee  brewer  to  take  down  all 
its  advertisements  throughout  the  State  on  which  is  u=?ed  a 
picture  of  the  flag  in  connection  with  the  discovery  of  the  pole. 
The  picture  shows  the  Arctic  explorer  holding  a  flag  in  one 
liand  and  pointing  with  the  other  to  a  case  of  beer.  The  State's 
Attorney  had  received  a  number  of  protests  agaiu^i-  the  use  of 
pictures  of  the  flag  for  such  a  purpose. 


MUST  PROVE  M.4LICE 


!N"ow  one  of  the  essential  ingredients  of  crime  is  guilty  in- 
tent. It  occurs  to  me  that  before  a  man  can  be  guilty  of  a 
crime  for  libel  that  there  has  to  be  present  that  guilty  intent. 
This  question  as  to  expressed  and  implied  malice  shades  into 
nothing  when  you  get  right  down  to  the  cases. 

Anything  wrong  that  is  done  by  one  person   ^'^  anothtM,-  is 


10  T  h  e    1  d  e  a  . 

a  tort,  it  is  not  a  crime.  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  how  an  act  can 
be  made  a  crime  unless  there  is  present  that  thing,  an  abso- 
lutely essential  thing  in  all  crime,  the  malicious  intent.  So  when 
it  comes  to  a  question  of  conditional  privilege  and  malice,  the 
fact  that  it  is  a  public  matter,  publicly  discussed,  of  public  in- 
terest will  have  a  good  deal  to  do  with  it. — From  the  steno- 
graphic report  of  the  remarks  of  U.  S.  Judge  Anderson  of  In- 
diana in  the  criminal  libel  case  against  the  Indianapolis  News. 
The  case  was  dismissed. 


EUREKA! 


Praise  at  Last 

The   Fire  Commissioners 


A   SUGGESTION 


As  the  ancient  Greek  said  when  he  made  a  long  sought 
discovery,  so  says  The  Idea  after  a  long  search  for  good  and 
clean  management  of  affairs  in  Richmond — Eureka,  I  have 
found  it ! 

If  one  can  judge  by  the  methods  and  manners  of  this 
board  in  open  session  (they  have  no  secret  meetings)  they  are 
a  conscientious  and  fair-minded  body. 

It  is  true  that  The  Idea  believes  that  other  departments 
of  the  city  government  of  Richmond  are  well  managed,  but  we 
have  not  yet  had  occasion  to  examine  into  them  and  so  find  out. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  Firemen's  Relief  Association 
and'  the  attitude  of  the  BkDard  of  Fire  Commissioners  in  the 
matter.  During  the  discussion  now  going  on  the  papers  have 
tried  to  make  it  appear  that  there  was  a  big  row  between  the 
men  and  the  commissioners.     There  is  indeed  a  A'ast  difference 


T  h  e    I  d  e  a  .  11 

of  opinion  which  it  appeal's  will  right  itself  when  all  parties 
concerned  understand  each  other,  but  it  is  confidently  said 
that  the  firemen  have  nothint;;  to  fear  from  a  close  irK|uiry  into 
the  good  to  be  derived  from  the  proposed  cliaiigc  in  their  in- 
surance organization. 

The  Editor  of  Tiie  Idea  was  impressed  with  the  fair- 
mindedness  and  freedom  of  the  discussion  last  week  at  the  city 
hall.  Much  was  said  which  must  help  the  firemen  to  settle 
their  difficult  question  to  the  bt'st  advantage  of  all  concerned, 
but  The  Idea  desires  to  say  a  few  words  for  the  benefit  of 
the  present  members  of  the  Firemen's  Relief  Association  and 
for  all  the  men  of  the  department. 

The  chairman  of  the  board  is  insis'tent  that  the  money  now 
being  donated  to  the  firemen  shall  not  be  used  to  help  men 
who  have  long  ago  left  the  department.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  the  money  given  to  the  department  when 
they  were  members  was  used  to  pay  death  claims  and  these 
present  non-firemen  have  gotten  nothing,  though  it  is  largely 
their  money  that  makes  up  the  $23,000  now  in  the  Relief  As- 
sociation, and  they  have  been  paying  money  into  the  associa- 
tion, some  of  them  for  the  last  eighteen  years.  Of  course  these 
men  might  not  have  just  cause  to  object  if  the  Relief  Associa- 
tion should  dissolve  and  they  be  paid  of  the  funds  left  amounts 
apportioned  to  the  time  they  had  severally  been  members. 

Then  too,  new  members  have  a  right  to  object  to  being 
taxed  $240.00  a  year  as  are  new  policemen  by  the  Police  Be- 
nevolent Association  to  which  each  policeman  miist  belong^ — 
for  so  says  the  board. 

This  is  not  only  an  exorbitant  sum  to  pay  for  health  in- 
surance, but  it  is  not  right  to  compel  a  man  to  belong  to  an 
organization  to  which  he  has  no  desire  to  belong.  The  worst 
feature  of  the  Police  Benevolent  Association  seems  to  be  the 
fact  that  the  policemen  who  resign  from  the  force  can  not  get 
back  a  cent  of  these  large  amounts  he  has  been  compelled  to 
pay.  ISTo  wonder  the  Police  Benevolent  Association  is  rich, 
though  the  individuals  who  were  compelled  to  make  it  so  may 
be  as  poor  as  the  proverbial  turkey. 

Let  the  firemen  form  a  Bienevolent  Association  modeled 
somewhat  after  the  police  organization,  but  membership  should 


12  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

mot  he  compulsory  and  the  dues  should  not  be  excessive  so  as 
to  pile  up  unnecessary  money  for  the  benefit  of  borrowers  to 
:t,he  detriment  of  those  who  foot  the  bill. 

If  firemen  are  killed  or  injured  in  service  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  city  to  render  necessary  aid  and  fellow  firemen  should  not 
have  to  bear  the  burden  by  the  payment  of  high  rates  of  health 
insurance. 


EPITAPH 


<FOR  THE  TOMBS  OF  RICHMOND  POLITICTAXS.) 

(from  a  poe-m  by  s.  e.  e:iser.) 

jHe  was  chosen  by  the  people  to  protect  -their  sacred  rights, 
IBut  he  added  to  their  hardships  and  he  lessened  their  delights ; 
"He  betrayed  his  trust  for  profits  that  no  honest  man  would' 

claim, 
JPrizing  riches  more  than  glory,  he  gained  wealth  but  died  in 

shame. 
Here  he  lies  and  here  his  record  has  been  set  where  all  may 

read ; 
He  was  chosen  for  high  honors  which  he  sacrificed  for  Greed. 


TAKE  Mt  BACK 


O  take  me  back  to  the  farm,  dear, 

I'm  tired  of  the  city's  strife. 
■O  give  back  the  healing  balm,  dear. 

Of  the  country's  lovely  life. 

These  houses  and  streets  and  strange  faces, 

Artificial  and  vanity  seem 
When  I  think  nf  the  love-haunted  places 

That  sweetened  mv  childhood's  dream. 


The    Idea.  15 


Just  now  o'er  llic  imisc  of  the  street,  clear, 

A  sound  familiar  came, 
'Twas  the  clatter  of  liomeo's  feet,  dear. 

Young  Romy  so  wild  and  so  tame. 

And  then  'twas  the  lowing  of  kine,  dear, 
As  the  cattle  were  coming  home, 

And  Daisy,  that  heifer  (jf  mine,  dear, 
The  first  to  the  bars  to  roam. 

And  then  from  down  by  the  barn,  dear, 

I  heard  my  pet  rooster  crow. 
And  from  over  the  near-by  tarn,  dear. 

The  bob  white  soft  and  low. 

The  giiineas  and  turkeys  I  saw,  dear,. 

In  the  orchard  over  the  lane, 
And  the  cornfield  crow  with  his  caw.  dear. 

Was  mocking  the  gobbler  vain. 

And  then  while  the  morning  was  still,  dear,. 

"  'Twas  burst  with  a  medley  of  sound 
As  the  hill  gave  back  to  the  hill,  dear. 
The  deep-voiced  bay  of  the  hound. 

And  out  of  the  woods  came  the  pack,  «:lcar,. 

And  louder  grew  the  refrain. 
But  as  they  turned  and  went  back,  dear. 

It  died  in  the  forest  again. 

And  there  was  Fox  and  Belle,  dear. 
The  shepherds  of  father's  sheep. 

And  their  pups  at  play  by  the  well,  dear, 
And  Prince  on  the  porch  asleep. 

And  father  came  in  from  the  field,  dear. 
With  Charley  and  Bob  to  the  plow — 

iSTo,  no,  it  wasn't  a  dream,  dear ; 
I  saw  them  in  rev'ry  just  now. 

So  take  me  back  to  the  farm,  dear. 

The  city's  no  place  to  stay. 
'Tis  filled  with  sorrow  and  harm.  dear. 

Tho'  brilliant  and  noisv  and  oav. 


14  T  h  e    I  d  e  a  . 

There's  no  time  to  live  in  its  rush,  dear. 

To  hear  and  to  scent'  and  to  see. 
The  sky  and  the  rose  and  the  thrush,  dear, 
.    Are  no  longer  for  you  and  me. 

'The -flowers  that  bloom  in  the  dell,  dear. 
Are  blooming  to-day  as  of  yore ; 

The  thrush  is  bursting  to  tell,  dear. 
His  story  of  love  as  before. 

The  sky  and  the  mountain  and  vale,  dear 
Are  as  bright  and  as  high  and  as  sweet, 

And  will  us  as  quickly  regale,  dear, 
As  when  on  the  old  rustic  seat 

You  told  me  your  love  in  the  twilight, 
And  said  you'd  grant  every  prayer. 

I  only  ask  that  mine  eyes  might 
Rest  on  the  old   home  there. 

And  that  1   might  tread  to  the  spring,  dear. 
The  path  that  my  childhood  trod, 

And  hear  the  mocking  ])ird  sing,  dear. 
His  wildly  sweet  praises  to  God. 

And  drink  as  I  used  to  of  old,  dear. 

From  the  long-handled  gourd  on  the  sill. 

That  water  so  crystal  cold,  dear — 
I  taste  it  in  memory  still. 

And  pluck  once  more  the  wild  rose,  dear. 

The  violet,  daisy  and  fern. 
And  learn  from  the  lily's  repose,  dear. 

The  lesson  God  wants  me  to  learn. 

And  list  to  the  sigh  of  the  breeze,  dear. 
In  its  endless  amorous  strain 

As  it  whispers  its  love  to  the  trees,  dear. 
And  the  trees  make  answer  ngain. 

So  speed  me  back  to  the  farm,  dear. 

Away  from  the  city's  strife. 
I  long  for  the  healing  balm,  dear. 

Of  the  country's  lovely  life. 


T  h  e    I  a  e  a  .  15 

These  Ikmisos  and  streets  and  strange  faces, 

Artiticial  and  vanity  seem. 
When  I  think  of  the  love  haunted  places, 

That  sweetened  my  childhood's  dream. 

For  my  home  in  the  country  I'm  sighing. 

To  live  and  to  lay  me  to  rest, 
For    whether  for  living  or  dying, 

The  country — God  made  it — is  best. 

— Alyn  O'Dare. 


EXTRAVAGANCE  IN   POLICE 
DEPARTMENT 


It  is  noticed  that  the  Chief  of  P'olice  is  driven  tc*  and  from 
his  office,  not  by  a  $20-a-month  negro  driver,  but  on  the  other 
hand  a  $100-or-so-a-month  policeman  is  detailed  to  act  as 
driver,  and  thus  the  city  looses  some  $80  a  month,  all  because 
we  have  no  managing  head  of  the  police  department  wlio  is 
directly   responsible  to  the  people. 

The  constitution  puts  the  Mayor  at  the  head  of  this  de- 
partment in  a  more  especial  sense  than  at  the  head  of  other 
departments,  although  he  is  the  real  responsible  head  of  all 
departments,  and  yet  it  seems  nobody's  business  to  kec])  down 
expenses. 

The  real  trouble  lies  in  the  fact  that  certain  men  have  to 
be  rewarded  by  the  machine  for  certain  services  rendered,  not 
to  the  people,  but  to  this  machine,  and  as  a  result  other  officials. 
who  would  like  to  see  things  righted,  find  that  they,  too.  are 
under  obligations  to  the  machine,  and  so  everybody  keeps  quiet 
while  the  tax-payer  pays  the  bill. 


It  is  doubtful  if  with  the  expenditure  of  a  million  dollars 
more  the  city  will  havc^   a  complete  working  settlino-  basin. 


For  T{eliable 


FURNITURE.  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 

{   P   R  I   Z   E   S   j 


"\      FOR       r 
J  BOYS  L 

"THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO 

Newsboy  who  gfet  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and 
other  prizes  to  those  who  sell  the  most  copies. 

The  Contest  vill  begin  with  the  1st  of  November  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  be^ni  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Some  time  ago  The  Idea  gave  away  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.    One  boy  selling 

112  copies  of  The  Idea  of  one  issue.     There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the  boys  besides  the  prizes. 


cylDVERTISING 


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business  world.  It  is  an  evolution  of 
modern  industrial  competition.  It  is  a 
business-builder,  with  a  potency  that 
goes  beyond  human  desire.  It  is  some- 
thing more  than  a  "drummer"  knock- 
ing at  the  door  of  the  consumer 

something  more  than  mere  salesman- 
ship on  paper.  It  is  a  positive, 
creative  force  in  business.  It  builds 
factories,  skyscrapers  and  railroads. 
It  makes  two  blades  of  grass  grow  in 
the  business  world  where  only  one 
grew  before.  It  multiplies  human 
wants  and  intensifies  human  desires. 
It  furnishes  excuse  for  timorous  and 
hesitating  ones  for  possessing  the 
things  which  under  former  conditions 
they  could  easily  get  along  without. 
5[  The  human  mind  is  so  constructed 
that  it  is  appreciably  affected  by  repe- 
tition— and,  after  all,  advertising  is 
only  repetition. 

— Truman  A.  DeWeese, 


ALFRED  L.    WALTON,  Jr. 


FRANK  L.  HUTCHESON 


Jefferson  Chemical  Cleaning 
and  Dyeing  Works 


No  Cleaner  Can  Clean 
A  Cleaner  Suit  Cleaner 
Than  A  Clean  Cleaner 
Can  Clean  


Phone  Mad.   6030 


We  Dye  Seventy- One  Colors 
cyill  Work  Done  As  It  Ought  To  Be 

2225  E.   Gary  St. 

A.  H.  EWINQ 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements,  Ac. 


PHONE  1821 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


WEEKLY 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


Vol.  Ill 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 
December  4,  1909. 


No.  27 


SS.OO  A  YEAR 


WHERE    IS  THE   BOY  THAT   (DONT)    MIND    THE    SHEEP? 
HE'S    UNDER    THE    HAY    STACK    FAST    ASLEEP 


FOR    SALE    AT   ALL    NEWS    STANDS 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  By  ADON  A.  YODER, 
EDITOR  AND  PUBLISHER,  904  CAPITOL  ST.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 
=^^=^^==  PRINTED  AT  ELSEWHERE.  === 


^[■■'■ii     lKW| 


^^»' 


^M  m^tmM 


W^M^WIW»^^» 


f 

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I 


JEWELER  J.    S.  JAMES  OPTICIAN 

7th  AND   MAIN    STS. 

We  h:ive  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 
showing  special  gi>od  values  in 

DIAMONDS,  WATCNES,  J  WMY,  SILVERWARE,  CUT  GiSS,  Etc 

We  invite  your  inspection 


— 1 


L.    LEDMAN 


T 

Q  You  wish  the  best  Flavoring  Extracts,  Essences  and 

Q  Spices  for  your  Table. 

The  best  Soap,  Perfumery  and  Toilet  Requisites  for 
your  family  and  guests. 

The  best  Steel  Enameled,  Rubber  and  Glass  Goods  for  your  sick. 

We  have  them  as  low  as  thev  can  be  sold,  as  well  as  Medicines 
of  unt-xcclled  quality,  which  conform  strict.y  to  the  United  States 
Pure  Food  and  Drug  Law. 

You  want  informanon  as  to  what  is  best  to  give  medical  students 
at  Chr'Stmas,  January  1st  or  ar  Commmcement  Exercises.  This  wc 
can  give  you  of  the  most  satisfactory  character. 

A.  H.  ROBINS'  PHARMACY, 

200  EAST  Marshall  STkEET 

RICHMUND,   VA. 
so  YEARS  EXPEWI*  NCE.  OOO    S  DEl-IVERBD  ANYWHERE  IN  THE  CITY. 


^;s:r5^^::rP(:i;r?3ip>^^(SA?j)5rsi^^^ 


THE  IDEA 

A  Sign  of  the  Times 


Vol.  Ill  NOVEMBER  27,  1909  No.  27 


5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 
904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10.  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


ALFRED  WILLIAMS 

To  The  Rescue 

Ex-Governor  Glenn,  of  Nortli  Carolina,  in  an  eloquent  ap- 
peal last  Sunday  for  means  with  which  to  better  conditions  in 
the  home  missionary  fields  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church 
told  of  the  report  made  by  two  distin^iished  students  of  Amer- 
ican social  conditions.  The  one,  a  distniguished  Frenchman, 
and  the  other  a  distinguished  Englishman,  made  .separate  tours 
through  our  cities  and  made  remarkably  similar  reports,  show- 
ing the  tendency  toward  decay  of  American  institutions  due  to 
the  corrupt  alliance  between  political  grafters  and  all  manner 
of  vice,  "and,"  the  Governor  added,  "the  papers  and  the  crook- 
ed politicians  immediately  said  it  was  all  a  lie." 

Likewise  here  in  Richmond,  as  The  Idea  exposes  the  rot- 
tenness of  political  alliances  with  the  criminal  element  of  the 
city,  Alfred  Williams  can't  keep  quiet,  but  joins  with  the  evil 
politicians  in  firing  at  The  Idea. 

In  Tuesday's  Evening  Leader  the  valiant  editot,  whom  South 
Carolina  imposed  on  Virginia,  makes  bold  to  repeat  that  the 


2  THE  IDEA. 

editor  of  The  Idea  came  all  the  way  from  Lynchburg,  as  if  it 
were  a  crime  for  a  native  Virginian  to  pnblish  a  paper  in  Rich- 
mond, his  own  Capital  City,  while  an  exile  South  Carolinian 
had  certain  rights  and  privileges  which  natives  did  not  possess. 

We  would  remind  Mr.  Alfred  Williams  that  there  are  lots 
of  good  people  in  this  city  who  are  ashamed  of  and  disguested 
with  the  fact  that  his  subsidized  and  commercialized  evening 
sheet  ever  made  its  appearance  in  their  midst. 

Ko  wonder  Mr.  Williams  is  mad  when  it  is  remembered  that 
not  only  is  his  paper  the  recognized  mouthpiece  of  the  whiskey 
interests  of  the  State,  which  are  responsible  for  all  the  rotten- 
ness and  corruption  which  The  Idea  is  exposing,  but  also  some 
time  ago  The  Idea  had  occasion  to  expose  a  big  prize  contest 
scheme  whereby  a  certain  Broad  street  pool  room  manager  who 
maj^es  his  living  by  corrupting  the  youth  of  the  city,  carried 
off  a  house  and  lot  given  by  the  same  News-Leader,  although 
the  pool  room  man  had  no  bona  fide  subscriptions  to  the  paper, 
and  the  real  workers  who  had  spent  so  much  time  and  labor  to 
help  out  the  weak  little  sheet  had  to  force  the  matter  into  the 
courts,  where  perhaps  some  day  in  the  far  distant  future  they 
may  get  justice. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  attention  to  notice  the  News-Leader  edi- 
torial reference  to  '^Ten  Thousand  a  Year,"  and  to  call  to  mind 
that  that  book  was  written  as  a  fling  at  the  crooked  legal  pro- 
cedure of  that  day  in  England,  and  that  the  main  characters 
are  three  lawyers,  Quirk,  Gamon  and  Snap,  whom  we  would 
liken  to  three  slick  articles  whose  habitat  is  Justice  John 
Crutchfi eld's  court.  Oily  Gamon  would  be  quickly  recognized, 
and  we  would  "name  the  culprits"  but  for  fear  of  more  crimi- 
nal libel  suits  (these  pesky  little  affairs  take  so  much  time  and 
money). 

Though  we  do  not  remember  having  seen  the  book  in  the  last 
fifteen  years,  we  are  of  the  impression  that  the  "Yorkshire 
Stingo."  a  minor  affair  in  the  book,  was  invented  by  the  author 
to  show  up  just  such  papers  as  the  News-Leader,  which  boast, 
as  the  News-Leader  did,  in  the  very  article  herein  referred  to, 
of  "fighting  graft  and  political  influence." 


THE  IDEA.  3 

Whal-  do  the  people  care  if  the  News-Leader  did  fight  graft 
as  thej  claim  ''in  the  old  days." 

The  biggest  croo]<:  in  the  world  can  point  to  a  time  in  the 
dim  and  distant  past  when  he  too  was  pure  and  clear,  but  The 
Idea  charges  tliat  the  News-Leader's  influence  to-day  is  evil, 
and  everybody  knows  it. 

It  is  barely  possible,  however,  that  Mr.  Williams,  the  hired 
editor,  would  sometimes  get  on  the  right  side  of  a  question  if 
his  hands  were  not  tied  by  those  who  dictate  the  policy  of  his 
paper. 

AVe  notice  that  the  News-Leader  claims  that  they  too  have 
had  many  suits  against  them  "in  the  past." 

Is  it  the  fear  of  suits  that  made  them  so  careful  as  not  to 
expose  graft  in  the  present  ?  It  is  significant  that  they  are  not 
being  "sued  for  libel"  in  the  present. 

Suits  may  have  quieted  the  News-Leader,  but  The  Idea 
will  continue  its  work  in  spite  of  suits  and  warrants. 


Citizens  Contribute 

Certain  citizens  who  believe  in  the  Freedom  of  the  Press 
have  met  and  organized  with  the  determination  to  see  a  fellow- 
citizen  protected  in  this  right  and  to  see  fair  play.  All  who  arc 
in  sympathy  with  this  movement  are  called  upon  to  contribute 
to  a  fund  to  cover  fees  of  attorneys  employed  in  Mt.  Yoder':- 
behalf.  Contributions  sent  to  the  undersigned  will  be  acknowl- 
edged at  once.  TILDEN  SCHEREE, 

Cliairman,  Ginter  Park,  Richmond,  Va. 

Or  'Phone  Madison  2686  or  Madison  965-J. 

About  $100  has  been  subscribed  so  far  to  the  above  fund. 
Do  not  let  this  opportunity  go  b}'-  to  strike  a  blow  at  corruption 
before  it  is  too  late.  Erom  three  to  five  hundred  dollars  may 
he  needed  if  this  case  is  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court. 


4  THE  IDEA. 

South  Boston,  Va.,  Nov.  28,  1909. 

Editor  The  Idea,  Richmond,  Va. : 

I  am  sorry  to  see  from  the  papers  that  certain  parties  are 
trying  to  harrass  and  persecute  you  to  such  an  extent  that  your 
paper  may  be  killed.  I  believe  your  paper  is  doing  great  good 
by  opening  the  eyes  of  the  people  of  Richmond  to  what  is  go- 
ing on,  and  no  one  in  public  office  should  object  to  his  acts  be- 
ing known  to  his  constituents;  they  have  a  right  to  know  it  all, 
be  it  good  or  bad.  I  bolieve  that  your  idea  is  "to  turn  on  the 
light,"  let  the  chips  fall  where  they  may. 

The  press  of  our  country  wields  great  power,  and  to  rrmyyl^  it 
would  bo  a  severe  blow  to  our  liberty  and  to  our  right  to  criti- 
cise acts  of  public  servants.  You  may  and  do  make  mistakes, 
as  it  is  human  to  err,  and  when  you  misrepresent  any  one  you 
seem  ready  and  willing  to  correct  such  an  error;  no  one  can  do 
more.  We  need  clean  and  pure  men  in  public  office,  and  men 
who  will  do  their  duty  and  not  be  afraid  of  the  press  or  the 
people's  criticisms.  It  is  very  evident  to  the  public  that  there 
is  a  combined  fight  on  you  (only  about  six  lawyers  against  you 
I  believe)  ;  that  seems  quite  significant  and  smells  of  a 
strong  combination  to  crush  your  paper  at  any  cost.  Surely 
there  art  enough  good,  true  and  liberty-loving  men  in  Rich- 
mond to  rally  to  your  support  and  shoulder  the  cost  of  all  your 
legal  battles.  If  not,  T  say  God  save  Richmond  politics  from 
the  clutches  of  the  saloon,  bawdy-house,  and  gambling  ele- 
ment, wliich  your  little  paper  has  fought  so  fearlessly  for  the 
past  few  months,  and  so  successfully,  and  to  suppress  it  now 
w^ould  be  a  shame  on  the  lovers  of  civic  righteousness  in  our  be- 
loved Capital  City.  I  will  cheerfully  subscribe  $25.00  to  a  de- 
fense fund,  and  trust  that  the  lovers  of  honesty,  truth  and  lib- 
erty of  your  city  will  rally  to  your  support  and  hold  up 
your  hands  in  your  manly  fight  for  the  betterment  of  Rich- 
mond. Sincerely  yours, 

Robert  S.  Bakboue. 


THE  IDEA. 


Announcement 


The  Idea  is  glad  to  annomice  that  though  the  machina- 
tions of  tliose  who  would  suppress  this  paper  have  for  this  num- 
ber made  us  content  ourselves  with  a  smaller  affair;  still  we 
are  able  to  state  that  The  Idea  will  come  out  next  week  in  its 
regular  size,  and  in  the  future,  thanks  to  the  awakened  inter- 
est of  others  who  believe  in  fair  play,  will  continue  its  fight 
belter  equipped  than  in  the  past,  as  far  as  its  ability  to  publish 
is  concerned. 


Since  writing  the  above  we  are  enabled  to  come  out  in  regular 


size. 


The  City  Council --Why  Called 
Robbers. 

The  papers  of  the  11th  of  last  month  stated  that  the  crowds 
on  Grace  and  Seventh  street  cried  "Robbers"  at  the  councilmen 
in  the  parade  with  President  Taft,  and  the  "crowd  takes  it  up 
during  parade  and  carries  it  along  for  blocks."  Such  an  event 
is  to  be  regretted,  and  it  is  sincerely  hoped  that  a  similar  oc- 
currence will  never  occur  again ;  but  it  is  even  more  to  be  re- 
gretted that  conditions  in  Richmond  are  such  as  to  make  such 
an  occurrence  possible. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  graft  and  scandal  of  public  life  with 
which  the  papers  have  been  so  filled  for  the  last  several  months 
the  people  would  not  feel  such  animosity  towards  their  council- 
men,  whom  they  so  largely  and  rightfully  hold  responsible  for 
such  conditions. 

"No  sane  men  believe  that  all  councilmen  are  robbers,  but  all 
Richmonders  know  that  some  of  them  are,  and  that  the  council 
is  such  an  ancient  and  unwieldly  form  of  government  that  the 
few  crooks  in  that  body  generally  have  their  way,  especially 
since  so  very  few  of  the  best  men  in  the  community  will 
consent  to  run  for  membership  in  that  body. 


6  THE  IDEA. 

TLe  writer  has  attended  meetings  of  both  branches  of  the 
council  quite  regularly  for  the  past  six  months,  and  is  of  the 
carefully  worded  opinion  that  no  real  capable  brilliant  good  men 
are  in  that  body,  but  the  most  capable  and  brilliant  men  in  that 
body  are  men  whose  private  and  public  lives  are  vile  and  cor- 
rupt beyond  measure,  and  who  would  do  and  have  done  the 
most  outrageous  crimes  for  their  seliish  pleasure  and  private 
gain.  This  is  no  hasty  conclusion,  but  is  the  calm  and  un- 
biased opinion  formed  after  months  of  study  and  minute  ob- 
servation and  examination,  and  it  would  have  been  published 
earlier  but  for  the  fact  that  so  many  of  our  good  citizens  do 
not  realize  to  what  a  low  state  our  public  affairs  have  fallen, 
and  they  honestly  think  that  what  The  Idea  says  is  exagger- 
ated, and  said  through  a  desire  after  sensationalism. 

The  truth  is  that  we  have  found  the  very  truth  so  sensational 
that  we  often  delay  publication  because  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple are  not  ready  to  receive  it. 

If  the  citizens  of  Richmond  would  attend  these  meetings, 
which  are  all  public,  even  committee  meetings,  except  the 
finance  committee,  they  would  be  willing  to  believe  much  more 
than  The  Idea  has  ever  yet  said. 

Jokes  about  graft  are  of  frequent  occurrence  both  in  councils 
and  committees,  and  both  in  public  debate  and  in  private  talk 
and  discussion  on  the  floors  of  these  bodies.  Let  the  people  look 
and  see,  and  then  will  they  know  and  vote  quickly  to  have  gov- 
ernment bv  commission. 


BUT  HE  FOUGHT. 

He  was  a-weary,  but  he  fought  his  fight 

And  stood  for  simple  manhood,  and  was  joyed 

To  see  the  august  broadening  of  the  light. 

And  new  earth's  heaving  heavenward  from  the  void. 

He  loved  his  fellows,  and  their  love  was  sweet — 

Plant  daisies  at  his  head  and  at  his  feet. 

Richard  Lealf,  about  himself  just  before  death. 


THE  IDEA.  7 

Fair  Play 

An  old  negro  man  was  addressing  a  little  brown  urchin. 
"Billy,"  he  said,  "Jiminy  say  he  gwine  beat  yon,"  to  which 
Billy  replied :  "T  don't  cyar  ef  he  do  beat  me ;  I  don't  cyar  ef 
he  kill  ]ne,  des  so  he  kill  me  fyar." 

The  Idea  don't  mind  being  opposed,  and  even  sued,  and 
would  have  no  kick  to  make  if  this  paper  were  beaten  fairly,  but 
when  such  contemptible  and  unfair  methods  as  are  at  present 
being  made  are  used,  then  The  Idea  does  call  on  public  senti- 
ment to  assert  itself  and  demand  fair  play.  If  there  is  any  de- 
cent citizen  who  thinks  the  deals  now  being  pulled  oif  for  the 
embarrassment  and  breaking  of  this  paper  are  fair,  we'd  like  to 
see  what  he  looks  like.  When  the  real  depths  of  these  plots 
has  been  fully  published  the  citizens  of  Richmond  will  be  as- 
tounded, to  say  the  least. 


SIT  LUX— LET  THEEE  BE  LIGHT! 

Some  people  love  Richmond  enough  to  make  it  appear  bet- 
ter than  it  is. 

Other  people  love  Richmond  enough  to  make  it  be  better 
than  it  is — that's  The  Idea. 

The  method  of  one  is  concealment ;  the  method  of  the  other 
is  exposure.  . 

Concealment — Darkness — Crime. 

Publicity — Ligh  t — Freedom, 

Think  you  that  Folk  hurt  Missouri  by  exposure,  or  that  ISTev/ 
Jersey  is  worse  off  because  she  knows  who  the  rascals  and 
thieves  are.,  or  that  America  is  to  be  pitied  because  the  meat 
packers  have  been  brought  into  the  light? 

Turn  on  the  light,  even  if  the  gas  is  bad,  Sit  Lux. . 


Twilight  and  evening  star, 

And  one  clear  call  for  me. 
And  may  there  be  no  moaning  of  the  bar 

When  I  put  out  to  sea. 


8  THE  IDEA. 

Womam  Suffrage  of  Course 

The  Idea  rejoices  to  note  that  the  women  of  Richmond  are 
taking  such  a  prominent  position  in  regard  to  equal  suiTrage 
for  men  and  women.  We  have  never  yet  seen  any  sensible 
reason  advanced  against  the  proposition,  and  only  the  crooked- 
ness bf  politicians  has  prevented  women  from  coming  into  their 
own  long  ago. 

Politicians  have  everything  to  fear  from  the  entrance  of 
women  into  the  arena ;  they  know  that  questions  will  be  settled 
more  in  reference  to  the  question,  Is  it  right  ?  Of  course,  the 
press  is  generally  with  the  politicians,  who  decide  for  them 
what  they  shall  say. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  those  States  which  recognize  the 
right  of  women  to  vote,  and  even  to  hold  the  highest  offices,  are 
the  gainers  by  it. 

Ti!E  Idea  will  be  glad  to  see  the  day  when  the  women  of 
Virginia  may  by  their  vote  decide  certain  questions  which  to- 
day are  undecided  or  decided  wrong  because  some  men  are  too 
selfish  or  too  cowardly  to  settle  rightly. 

We  do  not  contend  that  women  should  have  the  'privilege  of 
voting-     We  contend  for  their  right  to  vote. 


The  Laborer's' Thanksgiving. 

About  four  times  in  the  last  two  weeks  the  Street  Committee 
of  the  City  Council  has  been  called  to  meet,  and  on  each  occa- 
sion there  was  no  meeting  because  the  councilmen  could  not 
be  gotten  together. 

It  was  very  important  that  a  meeting  should  be  held  because 
the  men  of  the  street  department  could  not  get  their  pay  until 
the  committee  signed  their  pay  roll.  But  councilmen  were  too 
busy  to  meet,  and  so  the  poor  workmen,  some  of  whom  were  in 
dire  need  of  their  pay,  for  the  laborer  often  cannot  get  credit 
since  he  has  nothing  but  his  salary  to  depend  on,  were  kept  with- 
out money  for  about  two  weeks  beyond  their  pay  day.  and  many 


THE  IDEA.  9 

had  to  spend  Thanksgiving  without  enough  to  eat,  much  less 
enough  to  feast  on,  while  comicilmen  donned  their  high  hats 
and  promenaded  the  fashionable  thoroughfares  and  sat  down  to 
sumptous  dinners. 

Whenever  there  is  any  political  pie  to  he  cut  up  these  same 
eouncilmen  are  on  hand  early  with  beaming  faces  and  hearty 
hand-shakes,  but  when  it  is  simply  to  sign  a  pay  roll  for  the 
day  laborers  or  the  hard  working  street  force,  then  they  can  not 
be  found,  and  the  laborer  goes  hungry  until  the  leisure  council 
can  meet  to  sign  his  pay  roll. 

The  following  is  clipped  from  a  daily  paper  of  last  week: 

"STREET   COMMITTEE   TWICE    LACKS    QIIORIBI. 

"The  Street  Committee  of  the  City  Council,  together  twice 
yesterday,  failed  each  time  to  secure  a  quorum.  It  is  not  likely 
that  any  session  will  now  be  called,  as  the  regular  meeting  is 
scheduled  for  Monday  night,  when  the  payrolls  of  the  depart- 
ment will  be  given  the  committee's  approval." 


THE  ^'DAN'VTLLE  REGISTER"  01^  RICHMOND 
PAPERS  AND  "THE  IDEA." 

A  great  deal  of  interest  is  being  manifested  not  only  in  the 
city  of  Richmond,  but  throughout  the  State  in  the  case  of 
Adon  A.  Yoder  for  libel  made  by  Police  Justice  Crutchfield 
and  two  police  commissioners.  Yoder  is  editor  of  a  small  pam- 
phlet known  as  The  Idea,  the  very  name  of  which  Richmond 
papers  seem  afraid  to  call,  though  it  has  figured  in  court  pro- 
ceedings. The  publications  therein  have  been  made  the  basis  of 
several  large  libel  suits. 

If  the  pamphlet  were  in  any  sense  a  serious  rival  of  the  press 
of  that  city  this  strange  reluctance  to  even  mention  it  might  be 
understood,  but  surely  the  mere  fact  that  its  editor  has  criti- 
cized some  of  the  daily  papers  does  not  constitute  sufficient 
ground  for  suppressing  the  name  of  the  weekly  pamphlet. — 
Danville  Register,  November  2dth. 


10  THE  IDEA. 


A  Real  Letter  from  a  Real  Man 
The  News  Leader  Scored 


City  Officials  Roasted 

Ginter  Park,  Eichmond,  Va.,,  Dec.  1,  1909. 
Editor  of  "The  Idea" : 

Mj  Dear  Sir, — Sarcasm  never  hurt  any  man  who  was  on  the 
right  side  of  a  moral  issue.  Sarcasm  never  justified  any  man 
who  was  on  the  wrong  side  of  a  moral  issue.  Therefore  when  the 
editor  of  the  News-Leader  in  Monday's  edition  attempts  a  sar- 
castic fling  at  you  and  your  work  his  effort  falls  exceedingly  flat. 

In  the  first  place,  you  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  appeal  which 
was  made  by  advertisements  in  the  daily  papers  for  contributions 
for  your  defence  against  the  libel  suits  pending.  This  was  a 
movement  emanating  from  and  now  being  carried  out  by  your 
friends  who  did  me  the  honor  of  appointing  me  to  receive  these 
contributions,  so  that  if  the  News-Leader  s  suggestion  of  crimi- 
nal action  for  obtaining  money  under  false  pretenses  is  followed 
up  (and  this  would  be  in  entire  keeping  with  a  recent  criminal 
proceeding)  I  suppose  I  must  be  the  unhappy  victim. 

As  I  have  said  to  you  in  private,  Mr.  Editor,  my  interest  in 
your  work  does  not  concern  so  much  your  fight  against  so-called 
"graft"  in  the  management  of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  city. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  there  seems  to  be  an  abundance  of  evidence 
to  substantiate  your  contentions  along  this  line;  such  facts  as 
these: 

( 1 )  The  building  of  a  worthless  water  system  at  an  expense  of 
tens  of  thousands  of  dollars;  the  payment  of  all  or  a  large  part 
of  the  contract  price  before  the  system  is  tested  and  found  to  be 
worthless. 

(2)  The  building  of  a  jail  at  enormous  cofet  which  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  is  found  to  be  practically  worthless. 


THE  IDEA.  11 

(3)  Numerous  smaller  items  of  loss  to  the  city  which  any  ob- 
servant citizen  will  note  from  time  to  time. 
All  of  which,  or  any  one  of  which,  facts  siii^gest — 

First,  that  there  has  been  wholesale  robbery  either  by  city 
ojficials  or  contractors,  or 

Second,  that  city  officials  have  been  guilty  of  gross  incompe- 
tency and  mismanagement  that  would  not  be  tolerated  by  any 
private  corporation,  or,  if  tolerated  would  mean  inevitable  ruin. 

The  editor  of  the  News-Leader  and  those  who  think  with  him 
may  take  either  horn  of  the  dilemma  they  choose  and  get  what 
consolation  they  can  from  the  facts — facts  that  sarcasm  and  salf- 
praise  can't  annul. 

As  for  many  other  good  citizens,  they  prefer  to  take  the  first 
^'horn"  and  do  not  hesitate  to  state  daily  upon  the  streets  and  in 
the  offices  that  there  is  gross  dishonesty  and  even  downright 
thievery  among  city  officials.  Many  of  these  citizens  even  call 
the  names  of  those  whom  they  suspect  of  wrong-doing,  and  when 
you  have  expressed  in  print  your  own  views  on  this  subject  you 
have  said  no  more  than  is  connon  talk  from  mouth  to  mouth. 

But  my  interest  in  your  fight  does  not  concern  this  matter  so 
much  as  another. 

You  are  making  a  fight  against  certain  immoral  conditions 
which  are  known  by  most  of  our  people  to  exist  in  some  form, 
but  which  I  am  persuaded  a  larger  proportion  of  the  best  people 
of  the  city  do  not  know  to  exist  to  an  appalling  degree. 

The  editor  of  the  News-Leader,  however,  by  his  own  sur- 
prisingly frank  statement  admits  his  knowledge  of  these  condi- 
tions, and  even  congratulates  himself  upon  a  real  or  fancied  in- 
fluence in  causing  ''he  existence  of  these  conditions  in  one  sec- 
tion of  the  city  rather  than  in  another.  I  would  like  to  believe 
that  even  the  editor  of  the  News-Leader  does  not  know  of  the 
extent  to  which  base  immorality  and  the  traffic  in  the  virtue  of 
girls  and  boys  is  carried  on  in  this  great  city  about  whose  splen- 
dors there  is  so  much  tiresome  boasting.  I  would  like  to  believe 
that  the  learned  editor  is  the  pure-minded  gentleman  one  would 
imagine  from  some  of  his  really  able  editorials;  that  since  he 


12  THE  IDEA. 

does  not  "nose  around"  in  dark  and  dirty  places  seeking  to  find 
and  stir  out  lurking  filth  to  become  a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of 
holy  people,  he  truly  doesn't  know  that  there  is  such  hidden  cor- 
ruption. 

^Nevertheless,  I  am  persuaded  that  the  editor  of  the  News- 
Leader  does  know  of  these  horrible  conditions,  and  that  he  is 
inexcusable  for  not  using  his  acknowledged  ability  and  influence 
to  destroy  these  conditions.  That  he  has  such  knowledge  is 
shown — 

(1)  By  the  admission  in  his  editorial  of  an  acquaintance  with 
the  existence  of,  and  certain  influence  in  locating,  these  immoral 
places.  , 

(2)  By  a  letter  sent  to  him  some  months  ago  by  the  under- 
signed in  which  an  effort  was  made  to  acquaint  the  editor  and 
his  readers  with  these  conditions. 

(3)  By  certain  court  proceedings  in  recent  notorious  cases  which 
the  authorities  were  compelled  to  take  cognizance  of,  and  of 
which  it  is  improbable  that  the  editor  of  the  News-Leader  was 
ignorant. 

(4)  By  the  further  suflicient  fact  that  the  said  editor  has  been 
a  newspaper  reporter  or  editor  for  many  years,  and  as  such  has 
seen  enough  of  life  in  this  and  other  cities  to  make  it  unlikely 
that  he  could  be  ignorant  of  even  the  worst  of  the  conditions  pre- 
vailing here. 

I  doubt  exceedingly  if  any  considerable  number  of  citizens 
will  be  inclined  to  excuse  the  News-Leader's  attitude  upon  the 
ground  of  the  editor's  ignorance. 

Now  for  another  fact :  The  existence  of  these  immoral  condi- 
tions about  which  the  said  editor  knows,  and  which  he  admits 
he  knows,  is  notoriously  a  violation  of  the  criminal  laws  of  the 
State — laws  of  which  it  is  entirely  improbable  that  the  learned 
editor  is  ignorant. 

Now,  Mr,  Editor,  what  strange  state  of  affairs  do  we  find  ? 

(1)  Notorious  criminals  openly  practising  the  basest  of  all 
crimes. 

(2)  The  editor  of  a  great  city  daily  admitedly  aware  of  such 
criminal  practices,   and  yet  deliberately  declining  to  use  his 


THE  IDEA.  13 

boasted  influence  for  the  relentless  punishment  of  such  crimi- 
nals; and  not  only  declining  thus  to  use  his  influence,  but  boldly 
criticising  a  fellow  editor  who  chooses  to  throw  his  influence 
positively  upon  the  side  of  decency  and  law  enforcement. 

Furthermore,  the  editor  of  the  News-Leader  evidently  sym- 
pathizes most  heartily  with  the  city  police  authorities  in  their 
attitude  both  toward  the  above  mentioned  criminals  and  towards 
the  editor  of  The  Tdea^  who  has  dared  contend  for  law  enforce- 
ment 

Let  us  see:  Some  two  years  ago  the  writer,  accompanied  by 
several  well-known  and  most  excellent  gentlemen,  went  to  the 
office  of  the  present  chief  of  police  to  make  complaint  against 
a  certain  disreputable  place  diagonally  across  the  street  and  in 
full  view  of  the  front  door  of  the  church  of  which  he  was  then 
pastor.  This  house  was  said  to  have  been  of  this  same  char- 
acter for  at  least  twenty-five  years,  and  certain  patrolmen  on  the 
beat  informed  the  writer  that  they  knew  all  about  the  place,  but 
that  they  had  no  orders  in  regard  to  it.  The  chief  promptly 
agreed  to  make  the  disreputable  people  move  out.  Several  days 
later  the  writer  met  the  chief,  who  volunteered  the  information 
that  he  had  just  been  around  to  give  these  same  people  moving 
orders.  He  stated  that  the  woman  objected  and  wanted  to  know 
what  complaint  the  chief  had  against  her.  Whereupon  the  lat- 
ter replied  that  he  would  appear  against  her  himself  if  neces- 
sary, , 

And  yet,  Mr.  Editor,  notwithstanding  the  complaint  of  repu- 
table citizens,  notwithstanding  the  evident  knowledge  on  the 
part  of  the  police  of  her  presence  there,  this  notorious  woman  re- 
mained in  that  house  more  than  a  year  from  the  time  the  mat- 
ter was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  authorities  who  have 
sworn  before  God  and  man  to  enforce  the  law  to  the  best  of  their 
ability.  But  this  is  not  all,  for  when  this  woman  moved  out 
others  of  the  same  character  moved  in,  and  when  upon  a  most 
emphatic  protest  from  the  writer  these  were  compelled  to  vacate 
others  even  worse  otok  their  place.  Then  The  Idea  published 
a  brief  account  of  the  conditions.    This  was  followed  by  another 


14  THE  IDEA. 

move   about  which   the  writer  is  even  now   exceedinglly   sus- 
picious. 

Remember,  Mr.  Editor,  the  above  place  is  upon  a  street  along 
which  dozens  of  women  and  girls  and  boys  must  pass  going  to 
and  from  their  daily  toil.  It  is  almost  under  the  door  of  a 
Christian  church  which  is  attended  by  numerous  women  and 
children  on  every  Sabbath  day. 

But  this  is  not  alL  The  writer  took  occasion  to  state  to  the 
chief  of  police  that  he  had  positive  evidence  of  the  following 
crimes:  (1)  Of  the  existence  of  these  disreputable  houses;  (2) 
of  the  illegal  sale  in  those  houses  of  intoxicating  drinks;  (3)  of 
the  sale  of  such  drinks  on  Sunday — all  of  which  facts  have  long 
been  known  to  the  police  authorities  without  the  formality  of 
such  a  statement  from  the  writer.  Did  the  chief  offer  to  move 
in  the  case  thus  brought  before  him  ?  By  no  means ;  but  he  re- 
plied in  terms  which  the  writer  does  not  now  deem  it  wise  to 
disclose,  but  which  give  strong  countenance  to  certain  statements 
recently  made  in  The  Idea  concerning  these  matters. 

But,  mind  you  now,  when  in  view  of  these  facts,  the  editor  of 
The  Idea  dares  to  expose  such  gross,  base,  glaring  violation  of 
the  criminal  laws  and  the  evident  connivance  of  the  authorities 
at  such  criminality  and  to  suggest  the  most  plausible  explana- 
tion of  such  a  state  of  affairs,  and  place  the  blame  therefor,  he  is 
arrested  in  the  dead  of  night  on  a  "far-fetched"  charge  of  crim- 
inal libel,  hauled  to  the  oiBce  of  this  same  chief  of  police  (though 
be  it  said  in  justice  to  him  that  he  was  absent)  his  private 
papers  confiscated;  he  is  driven  through  the  streets  in  a  patrol 
wagon,  excessive  bail  is  demanded,  and  he  is  thrust  in  a  dirty 
cell  until  friends  can  come  to  his  rescue  and  go  on  his  bail  bond ; 
and  all  this  is  done  by  those  very  police  authorities  who  have 
knowingly  and  persistently  refused  to  enforce  plain,  unmistak- 
able laws  against  people  notoriously  guilty  of  the  basest  of  all 
crimes — traffic  in  the  virtue  of  boys  and  girls. 

Then,  to  cap  the  climax,  the  tditor  of  the  News-Leader,  the 
great  city  daily,  in  his  editorial  columns  (which  are  worthy  of 
a  nobler  cause)  publicly  satirizes  the  editor  of  The  Tde^.  holrls 


THE  IDEA.  15 

him  up  to  public  ridicule  and  plainly  sympatliizes  with  this  and 
other  cowardly  acts  of  persecution  upon  the  part  of  sworn  city 
officials,  who  by  their  official  delinquency,  if  by  no  graver  of- 
fence, have  made  themselves  parties  to  the  basest  of  crimes. 

And  yet  the  editor  of  the  News-Leader  pats  himself  upon  the 
back  for  his  good  deeds  in  cleansing  the  common  atmosphere 
and  poses  as  a  moulder  of  public  opinion  upon  great  moral 
questions!  Well,  those  who  take  him  seriously  may  follow  his 
standard  of  right  and  wrong,  and  teach  it  to  their  children,  but 
as  for  me,  so  long  as  all  reason,  common  sense,  right  and  LAW 
are  upon  my  side  I  shall  decline  to  have  any  usch  standard  of 
citizenship  and  morals  foisted  upon  the  boys  and  girls  of  my 
Sunday-school  and  the  innocent  mother  and  babe  of  my  own 
household. 

The  editor  of  the  News-Leader  and  the  police  authorities  of 
the  city  of  Richmond  may  rest  assured  that  the  last  has  not  been 
heard  in  this  controversy  from  the  side  of  A.  A.  Yoder  and  his 
friends. 

Yours  for  the  boys  and  girls, 

TiLDEN    SCHERER. 


The  Trial 

On  ITovember  26th  the  trial  of  the  editor  on  the  warrant 
charging  criminal  libel  was  postponed  until  Tuesday  morning, 
December  7th,  at  11  o'clock  A.  M.,  because  of  the  fact  that  Mr. 
C.  V.  Meredith,  of  counsel  for  the  editor,  was  detained  out  of 
town  in  another  case.  It  is  hoped  that  this  may  be  settled  as 
early  as  possible,  so  that  the  question  of  the  rights  of  the  press 
in  such  cases  may  be  clearly  defined. 


For  T(eliable 


FURNITUBE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 


Cash  or  Credit 


1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 


P  R 


E   S 


FOR 


^ 


» 


"THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO 

Newsboy  who  g:et  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and 
otnei  prizes  to  those  who  se.l  the  most  copies. 

The  Contest   vill  begin  with  the  1st  of  December  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  bcfttiJ  today  to  work  tor  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Sometime  ago  The  Idea  gave  away"  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.    One  bov  selling 

112  copies  of  The  Idea  of  one  issue.      There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the  boys  besides  the  prizes. 


( 


B "^^-^ El 


'Tis  the  constant  drop  of  water 

Wears  a  hole  in  solid  stone; 
'Tis  the  constant  gnaw  of  Towser 

Masticates  the  hardest  bone; 
'Tis  the  constant  wooing  lover 

Carries  ofl  the  cooing  maid; 
And  the  constant  advertiser 

Is  the  man  who  gets  the  trade. 

— South  Bethlehem  Globe. 


YA    ALFRED  L.    WALTON,  Jr. 


FRANK  L.  HUTCHESON 


Jefferson  Chemical  Cleaning 
and  Dyeing  Works 


No  Cleaner  Can  Clean 
A  Cleaner  Suit  Cleaner 
Than  A  Clean  Cleaner 
Can  Clean  


We  Dye  Seventy- One  Colors 
C_y^i7  Work  Done  As  It  Ought  To  Be 

1  2325  E.   Clay  St  Phone  Mad.  6030 


A.  H.  EWINQ 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


m 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


PHONE  1821 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  (or  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


WEEKLY 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


Vol.  Ill 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 
December  11,  1909. 


No.  28 


THE  CUNNINGHAM  INVESTIGATING  COMMITTEE  ORDERS  SECRET  SESSION 


FOR    SALE   AT   ALL    NEWS   STANDS 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  By  ADON  A.  YODER, 
EDITOR  AND  PUBLISHER,  904  CAPITOL  ST.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 
====  PRINTED  AT  ELSEWHERE.  =^^=^== 


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^^\^Wf 


THE  IDEA 

A  Sign  oj  the   Times 


Vol.  Ill  DECEMBER  11,  1909  No.  28 


5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Yeae 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 

904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


An  Interesting  Libel  Case 


Richmond   Office -Holders  Scored 


We  print  below  a  part  of  an  editorial  in  the  Danville  Regis- 
ter of  November  30th.  The  rest  of  this  editorial  was  in  last 
week's  Idea. 

We  shall  not  undertake  to  express  an  opinion  in  advance 
of  the  trial  of  the  criminal  charges  against  Yoder,  for  the  rea- 
son that  we  know  nothing  of  what  justification,  if  any,  he  had 
for  the  publication  concerning  the  persons  who  have  charged 
him  with  criminal  libel.  His  publications  generally  are  criti- 
cisms of  the  city  council  and  its  acts;  of  city  officials  and  em- 
ployes, and  of  general  charges  of  alleged  misfeasance,  mal- 
feasance or  dereliction  of  duty.  Whether  he  is  justified  in  his 
views  or  not,  his  publication  is  finding  large  sale,  and  is  creating 
a  great  deal  of  talk  and  discussion.  A  casual  inquiry  and  the 
most  cursory  observation  must  convince  anyone  that  he  has  the 
support  of  many  of  the  substantial  men  of  highest  standing. 
It  is  also  true  that  almost  the  entire  city  government  of  Rich- 
mond is  bitterly  down  on  the  man  because  of  his  publications. 
Merely  to  mention  the  name  of  Yoder  in  the  City  Hall  is  suffi- 
cient to  call  forth  maledictions. 


2  THE  IDEA. 

Oue  thing  that  has  created  a  sentiment  of  sympathy  and 
support  for  Yoder  is  the  apparent  effort  in  some  quarters  to 
persecute  him.  He  has  been  assaulted  physically  several  times, 
and  is  treated  with  small,  if  any  courtesy  in  many  places  sup- 
posed to  be  public  and  open  to  enquiry  by  citizens. 

The  crowning  act  of  hostility  by  the  official  element  in  Rich- 
mond Avas  the  manner  of  his  arrest  and  the  effort  to  humiliate  him 
bj^  locking  him  up.  The  officer  serving  the  warrant  waited  until 
night,  when  it  would  be  most  difficult  to  secure  bail,  and  arrested 
the  young  man  while  he  was  attending  a,  council  meeting.  Then 
he  was  taken  to  a  distant  police  station  and  instead  of  being 
allowed  to  sit  in  the  office  while  endeavoring  to  secure  bail,  was 
sent  to  the  station  house  and  placed  in  a  cell.  The  crowning  act 
of  all  was  that  of  the  magistrate  who  acted  as  bail  commissioner 
who,  whether  through  some  ignorance  or  prejudice,  dem-anded 
$1,000  bail  of  the  young  man.  though  there  was  never  the  slight- 
est evidence  that  he  would  flee  or  evade  trial.  With  much  dif- 
ficulty the  bond  was  provided  and  Yoder  released.  As  evidence 
that  the  bond  demanded  was  excessive,  it  need  only  be  added 
that,  despite  the  comity  existing  between  magistrates.  Police 
Justice  Crutchfield  himself  next  day  overruled  his  colleague  and 
reduced  the  bond  from  $1,000  to  $300. 

One  of  the  men  whom  Yoder  is  charged  with  criminally 
libelling  is,  we  are  reliably  informed,  connected  with  one  of  the 
daily  newspapers  of  Richmond.  Whether  the  attitude  of  the 
newspaper  towards  Yoder  is  affected  by  this  fact,  we  do  not 
undertake  to  say.  Apparently,  however,  practically  all  the  office- 
holding  element  and  the  majority  of  the  local  press  seems  to 
be  anything  but  friendly  towards  this  young  man,  who,  whether 
guilty  or  innocent,  has  been  convicted  of  no  crime  or  misde- 
meanor, and  is  engaged  in  a  legitimate  enterprise.  The  trial 
of  the  case  has  been  tAvice  postponed,  and  it  is  hard  to  say  Avhen 
it'Avill  be  heard.  If  Yoder  is  not  acquitted  at  the  preliminary 
hearing  it  is  certain  that  the  case  will  go  to  a  jury,  in  which 
event  the  young  man  would  probably  stand  a  better  chance. 
The  city  council,  which  is  generally  hostile  to  Yoder,  had  the 
designation  of  the  trial  magistrate  for  this  case,  and  has  named 
a  young  man  who  is  employed  in  the  high  constable's  office  in  the 
Citv  Hall. 


THE  IDEA. 


More  Rottenness  at  the  Settling 
Basin 


Cement  (?)  Floor  Crumbling  Away,  No  Cinders 
and  No  Cement 


In  the  past  The  Idea  has  had  occasion  to  show  that  the  set- 
tling hasin  was  not  simply  buckling  on  account  of  the  heat,  but 
\vas  actually  rotten.  Formerly  we  had  to  take  the  word  of 
others,  but  now  since  the  water  is  all  turned  off  while  the  basin 
is  being  ''patched  up,"  we  have  taken  the  opportunity  to  go 
and  examine  personally  the  floor  of  the  basin  which  has  al- 
rcMily  cost  the  city  many  thousands  of  wasted  dollars.  The  sight 
tiial  greeted  our  eyes  was  astounding.  There  was  not  a  piece 
of  this  solid  cement  (?)  floor  three  yards  square  which  did  not 
show  leak  holes  through  which  the  water  was  seeping  or  leaking 
up  from  the  mud  on  which  it  was  laid.  Besides  from  the  fact 
that  the  cement  is  cracking  or  buckling  as  the  engineer  terms  it, 
the  whole  basin  is  so  porous  and  soft  and  rotten  that  it  can  be 
broken  with  the  fingers.  One  can  pick  up  a  piece  of  this  so-called 
cement  work  and  crumble  it  in  his  hands,  the  contractors  were 
so  careful  not  to  put  in  the  necessary  ingredients.  The  trouble 
seems  to  be  that  the  inspectors  were  so  bent  on  fishing  or  getting 
;.,  rake-off  that  they  did  not  see  (?)  it.  A  darky  working  on  the 
job  saw  the  writer  pulling  a  piece  of  the  floor  to  pieces  with  his 
hand  and  remarked,  "Dat's  pretty  rotten  stuff,  ain't  it  boss? 
Some  of  it  is  so  rotten  dat  it  des  falls  to  pieces  by  itse'f."  A 
small  clump  of  the  soft  matei'ial  was  lifted  about  three  feet  and 
dropped  on  another  piece  of  the  soft  stuff  and  it  burst  into 
smithereens. 

Not  only  does  the  stuff  lack  the  main  requisite,  namely,  ce- 
ment, but  the  specifications  as  to  the  depth  of  the  work  were 
either  faulty  or  entirely  ignored.  In  either  case  the  blame  is 
on  the  engineering  department,  for  the  plan  was  his  and  the 
work  was  done  by  his  department  and  under  his  supervision. 


4  THE  IDEA. 

The  talk  that  the  basin  can  be  repaired  by  patching  is  a 
fatal  mistake.  The  idea  that  the  botching  was  caused  by  heat 
is  also  a  mistake,  as  the  points  most  exposed  to  the  sun  are  not 
as  cracked  as  those  on  the  side  protected  a  part  of  the  day  by 
shadows.  The  stuff  was  not  laid  on  a  bed  of  cinder  and  sand 
except  in  places,  and  consequently  was  laid  flat  in  the  mud  and 
is  not  thick  enough  to  stand  any  pressure  even  if  it  had  been 
of  real  cement. 

The  whole  affair  is  a  mammoth,  monumental  loss  and  expert 
contractors  who  have  seen  the  work  say  it  must  all  be  taken  up 
before  the  city  gets  through  with  it.  As  it  is,  money  has  been 
appropriated  to  take  up  a  small  part  of  it  and  relay  it.  This  is 
the  way  the  city  always  does.  Officials  do  not  like  to  let  the 
people  know  all  at  one  time  that  they  have  squandered  their 
money,  so  they  give  it  to  them  in  broken  doses.  Soon  they  will 
call  on  the  people  for  more. 


Law  Enforcement— Sunda}^ 
Closing 


About  three  weeks  ago  police  were  instructed  to  arrest  vio- 
lators of  the  Sunday  closing  law  along  West  Broad  Street. 
About  a  week  before  a  petition  was  circulated  on  West  Broad 
Street  among  the  news  dealers  trying  to  get  them  to  stop  hand- 
ling The  Idea  hecause  The  Idea  stood  for  the  enforcement  of 
this  Sunday  observance  law. 

On   the    following   Tuesday   the   offenders   were   hailed   into 
court,  and  fined  $5.00  each. 

Before  the  last  Legislature  met  it  seems  that  the  courts  held 
that  the  law  was  insufficient  to  break  up  the  offence,  so  a  law 
was  passed  at  the  last  session  making  this  a  misdemeanor,  pun- 
ishable with  a  fine  of  $5  or  more  for  each  offence  and  permitting 
the  judge  to  "require  a  recognizance  in  a  penalty  of  not  less 
than  $100  or  more  than  $5,000,  with  or  without  security,  con- 
ditional that  such  person  shall  be  of  good  behavior  and  especially 
to  refrain  from  a  repetition  of  such  offence  for  a  period  not 
exceeding  twelve  months." 


THE  IDEA.  i 

Formerly  an  offender  could  break  the  law,  pay  the  $2  fine, 
and  go  to  work  and  sell  again  on  the  following  Sunday.  He 
might  make  a  hundred  dollars  and  pay  his  $2  for  the  privilege 
and  keep  up  the  work.  Under  the  new  law,  however,  "If  a 
person  on  the  Sabbath  day  (and  in  law  Sabbath  and  Sunday 
mean  the  same)  be  found  laboring  at  any  trade  or  calling,  or 
employ  his  apprentices  or  servants  in  labor  or  other  business, 
except  in  household  or  other  works  of  necessity  or  charity,  he 
shall  be  deemed  guilty,"  etc. 

The  police,  therefore,  under  the  new  law  must  arrest  and 
the  judge  must  fine  for  every  violation,  and  the  judge  now  has 
power  to  stop  the  practice  by  requiring  a  heavy  bond  to  be  for- 
feited on  the  second  offence. 

But  the  records  do  not  show  that  any  bond  was  required, 
and  therefore  the  next  Sunday  found  the  stores  on  Broad  Street 
open  as  usual. 

Yvhen  a  policeman  was  asked  why  he  did  not  arrest  on  that 
Sunday,  the  21st,  he  said  he  "had  no  instructions." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  arrests  made  were  for  some 
other  purpose  than  breaking  up  the  illegal  practice. 

If  there  had  been  any  desire  to  enforce  the  law,  bond  for 
12  months  would  have  been  required  with  $5,000  security  if 
necessary,  and  the  next  Sunday  arrests  would  have  been  made. 
This  was  not  done. 

The  Idea  therefore  charges  that  the  officers  of  the  law  are 
openly  conniving  at  the  violation  of  the  law  and  do  not  care 
anything  for  their  oaths  of  office. 

This  makes  the  case  bad  enough,  but  it  becomes  worse  when 
it  is  seen  that  this  makes  it  possible  for  an  officer  who  has  a 
grudge  against  a  merchant  to  have  him  arrested  and  fined, 
while  others  who  stand  in  may  openly  violate  the  law  every 
Sunday,  and  even  if  they  were  fined  $5  weekly,  the  merchants 
would  rather  submit  than  quit  selling. 


"Let  a  man  once  sIioav  the  world  that  he  feels 
Afraid  of  its  bark,  and  'twill  fly  at  his  heels ; 

Let  him  fearlessly  face  it,  'twill  leave  him  alcne ; 
But  'twill  fav.n  at  his  feet  if  he  flings  it  a  bone. 

— Liicile. 


THE  IDEA. 


Who  Elects?--The  Council 
or  the  Ring? 


Now  that  Mr.  "Wilbur  Griggs  has  acted  as  police  justice  in 
the  recent  case  of  the  Commonwealth  (in  the  shape  of  certain 
politicians)  against  the  Editor,  it  is  well  to  notice  this  big  fact: 
The  Editor  of  this  paper  had  information  that  Mr.  Griggs  was 
slated  and  would  sit  in  this  trial  about  one  week  before  the 
council  ever  came  together,  and  before  the  councilmen  knew 
who  they  were  expected  to  vote  for.  The  thing  was  cut  and 
dried,  and  we  suppose  some  of  tlie  councilmen  actually  thought 
they  were  doing  the  electing,  for  did  they  not  unanimously  vote 
to  put  Mr.  Griggs  into  office  for  this  trial? 

Now  notice  how  the  machine  worked. 

The  council  met  in  joint  session  and  jN'Ir.  Morgan  Mills  nomi- 
nated Mr.  Griggs.  There  was  no  opposition,  for  was  not  IMr. 
Morgan  Mills  a  recognized  leader,  and  who  will  dare  say  he  is 
not  of  the  ring,  and  a  very  big  factor  in  that  ring.  No  other 
name  was  proposed,  although  there  were  others  much  older  in 
point  of  service  than  Mr.  Griggs. 

Note  this,  too — Mr.  Griggs  was  bondsman  for  Mr.  Griffin, 
who  assaulted  the  Editor  in  August.  Mr.  Griggs  was  therefore 
the  only  man  perhaps  in  the  large  body  of  police  justices  who 
had  practically  morally  disqualified  himself  to  sit  in  the  case, 
and  his  action  was  so  contrary  to  what  the  Editor  had  a  right 
to  expect  of  an  officer  of  the  law  that  he  had  been  the  subject 
of  criticism  by  the  Editor  for  his  act  in  going  Griffin's  peace 
bond.  But  the  council  did  not  even  question  these  things ;  they 
did  what  they  were  expected  to  do — elected  without  one  word 
of  question. 


The  Trial 

As  we  go  to  printer  the  trial  on  the  libel  charge  is  on.   See  next 
week's  number  for  particulars. 


THE  IDEA. 


Taft-Day  Extravagance  and  Graft 


Barton  Grundy  Wants  Secret  Session 


The  other  day  the  Taft  Entertainment  Committee  met  and 
the  Editor  of  this  paper  betook  himself  over  to  the  City  Hall 
to  meet  with  them. 

For  some  reason  or  other  the  sight  of  the  Editor  seemed  to 
strike  consternation  into  the  members,  for  immediately  Mr. 
Barton  Grundy  moved  that  the  committee  go  into  executive 
session  on  the  grounds,  as  he  stated  that  the  people  ought  not 
to  know  the  details  of  the  expenditures  of  that  day.  It  soon  became 
evident  why  a  secret  session  was  asked  for,  for  the  very  first 
bill  presented  after  the  committee  decided  to  have  an  open 
meeting  was  one  for  $37.50  from  Mr.  Ruskell,  sergeant-at-arms 
for  the  council.  He  stated  that  his  bill  was  not  ordered,  but 
that  a  representative  of  the  Secret  Service  Department  at 
"Washington  had  come  down  to  Richmond  the  day  before  the 
parade  and  w^anted  to  go  over  the  line  of  march.  An  automobile 
was  gotten  and  some  friends  were  called  and  these  friends  and 
Mr.  Ruskell  proceeded  to  have  a  good  time  at  the  expense  of  the 
tax-payers.  They  went  over  the  line  of  march  and  then  all 
together  went  to  a  hotel  and  got  a  big  feed,  which  cost  the 
$7.50  and  the  other  thirty  dollars  was  for  the  automobile  for 
six  hours  at  $5.00  an  hour.  Now  notice  that  six  hours,  when 
a  good  automobile  could  make  the  line  of  march  of  perhaps  thirty 
minutes,  and  ought  not  to  have  taken  more  than  an  hour  or  so 
at  the  utmost.  And  even  then  the  cost  should  not  have  been 
more  than  four  dollars  for  one  hour,  and  if  it  had  been  neces- 
sary to  get  a  machine  for  a  long  time,  ordinary  care  could  have 
secured  one  for  about  three  dollars  an  hour,  for  that  is  all  that 
was  charged  by  a  man  who  had  machines  to  hire  even  on  the 
day  of  the  parade,  when  machines  commanded  a  higher  price 
than  on  other  days.  Yet  the  committee  of  good  fellows  voted  to 
pay  the  bill,  which  was  nothing  more  than  a  wanton  waste,  if 
7J0  worse,  of  citizens'  tax-money. 


8  THE  IDEA. 

The  next  bill  \\'as  for  $30.00  for  another  automobile,  which  this 
same  Mr.  Ruskell  had  ordered  used  for  the  parade,  although 
the  committee  had  a  plenty  of  private  autos  on  hand.  This  was 
also  ordered  paid  oat  of  the  citizen's  pockets,  although  it  was 
none  of  ihe  people's  business  what  that  big  parade  cost.  Then 
came  the  bif?  bills,  ono  for  decorating  the  auditorium  $600;  then 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  $37.90;  and  then  Col.  Buford  pre- 
sented bills  for  $1,139.11  for  entertaining  the  V.  M.  I.  boys  while 
here  and  then  Col.  Grundy  presented  a  batch  of  bills  and  some 
interesting  things  developed. 

He  first  presented  one  from  the  Jefferson  Hotel,  but  did  not 
give  the  amount,  althought  one  of  the  councilmen  asked  what  the 
amount  was  but  soon  seeing  he  had  made  a  mistake  and  was  about 
to  let  the  eat  out  of  the  bag  he  said  no  more  and  the  Colonel 
.said  nothing  about  it  but  went  on  to  name  the  small  amounts: 

Band $     50  00 

Invitations 86  00 

Menus 50  00 

Decorating  Dining  Room 350  00 

Chart  of  Names 15  00 

Some  one  then  asked  what  the  total  of  his  bills  were,  but  again 
there  was  no  response  from  the  Colonel. 

The  final  total  of  all  the  bills  was  $5,565.61  and  the  writer 
then  went  to  the  clerk  and  found  that  the  Jefferson  dinner  bill 
was  $2,830.00,  and  the  total  of  bills  presented  by  Col.  Grundy 
was  $3,381.25. 

Now,  that  $2,830.00  for  one  dinner  sounds  so  big  that  the 
Editor  will  look  it  up  and  hopes  to  tell  the  readers  next  week  how 
much  of  it  went  for  wines,  etc.,  etc.,  for  be  it  knowTi  that  the 
council  seemed  to  think  it  their  duty  to  drink  like  fish  on  that 
occasion,  although  the  President,  it  is  said,  would  not  touch  a 
drop  and  could  hardly  have  felt  honored  by  such  a  drink-fest. 


WANTED— Three  good  job  printers  worth  from  $16.00  to 
$18.00  a  week.  Full  particulars  by  addressing  The  Idea  Office, 
Advertising  Department. 


THE  IDEA. 


Secret  Sessions 


The  Cunningham  Whitewashing 


On  last  Saturday  the  Cunningham  Investigating  Committee 
met  and  with  them  the  Editor  of  this  paper  felt  it  his  right  and 
duty  to  meet. 

After  the  meeting  was  called  to  order,  Mr.  Ferguson  moved 
that  the  Committee  go  into  executive  session,  and  though  Mr. 
Umlaiif  entered  strong  and  vigorous  protest  still  he  was  overruled 
and  this  committee  dared  to  go  into  secret  session  although  the 
very  need  for  the  investigation  was  made  by  an  effort  to  conceal 
the  transactions  in  question. 

Though  the  object  of  the  meeting  was  to  inform  the  people  as  to 
their  tax  money,  yet  the  Committee  had  the  audacity  to  cover 
up  the  whole  investigation  by  their  high-handed  action. 

Gross  charges  of  violation  of  the  law  have  been  made  and  the 
people  should  have  the  facts  for  they  are  the  sovereigns  and  no 
petty  Committee  has  any  moral  or  legal  right  to  conceal  from  the 
people  the  facts  as  to  any  alleged  misappropriation  of  their 
funds. 

Messrs.  Umlauf  and  Fuller  should  be  commended  and  Messrs. 
Ferguson,  Moncure  and  Gilman  should  be  harshly  censured  for 
their  unwarranted  action. 

The  government  should  be  run  in  the  interests  of  the  people 
who  are  governed  by  it  and  not  in  the  interest  of  Mr.  Cunning- 
ham or  Mr.  Sands  or  auy  other  of  the  good  fellows  to  whom  Mr. 
Cunningham  has  been  lending  the  citizens  money. 

Let  the  people  laiow  the  facts.  It  is  high  time  this  Com- 
mittee's white  washing  business  were  stopped.  AYe'll  have  more 
to  say  about  this  later. 


10  THE  IDEA. 


West-End  Letter 


The  Annexed  Territory  Wants  The  City  to  Keep 
Its  Promises 


Editor  of  The  Idea, 

Dear  Sir: — Enclosed  find  $2.50  for  your  defense  fund.  I  am 
only  sorry  that  I  am  not  able  to  make  it  $100.00,  your  valuable 
Paper  is  something  that  has  long  been  needed  in  this  community, 
and  with  the  able  counsel  you  have  secured,  and  the  honesty  and 
righteousness  which  you  are  advocating  you  need  have  no  fears 
of  ever  being  convicted  in  the  Courts  of  Virginia.  The  good 
people  of  this  State  will  stand  by  j^ou  until  the  last  ditch  is 
crossed.  If  the  editors  of  some  of  our  daily  papers  would  only 
assist  you  in  exposing  some  of  the  rottenness  going  on  in  our 
city,  instead  of  trying  to  belittle  you  they  would  be  much  more 
thought  of  by  their  readers.  Just  keep  up  your  good  work  and 
you  wall  see  one  of  the  greatest  political  upheavels  that  has 
occurred  since  the  reform  election  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago. 

Some  time  ago  there  was  $40,000  of  the  people's  money  spent 
to  open  up  a  street  through  the  Doctor  Sheppard's  Property, 
w^here  there  was  no  improved  property  whatever.  Who  was  bene- 
fitted by  this  proposition?  And,  now,  I  see  that  our  City  Fathers 
are  contemplating  opening  another  Boulevard,  just  inside  the 
Western  City  Limits  at  a  cost  of  thousands  of  dollars  which  could 
be  very  easily  done  without  until  more  needed  improvements  are 
made,  some  of  which  are  of  vast  importance  to  the  health  of  the 
citizens  who  are  now  so  unjustly  taxed  for  something  that  they 
are  not  getting.  We  already  have  one  fine  Boulevard  just  a  short 
distance  from  the  one  proposed  to  be  built,  and  if  our  Street 
Committee  would  order  the  culvert  and  water  pipes  put  in  Cary 
Street  from  the  Boulevard  to  the  City  Limits  and  then  macada- 
mize the  street  there  w^ould  be  no  need  of  spending  all  this  money 
for  the  new  Boulevard,  until  some  of  the  property  along  this  new 
Boulevard  shows  some  sign  of  improvement.     Give  the  people 


THI^  IDEA.  11 

that  arc  now  paying  taxes  on  improved  property  some  improve- 
ments that  are  sadly  needed  i\rst  and  then  look  after  the  un- 
improved out  lying  district  later  on.  I  wonder,  Mr.  Editor,  if 
our  councilrnen  do  not  think  that  the  voters  take  notice  of  all 
these  little  things.  You  can  fool  some  people  some  times  but  you 
can  not  fool  all  the  people  all  the  time.  The  citizens  of  the 
annexed  territory  have  little  talks  among  themselves  every  once 
in  a  while,  and  mark  my  prediction :  when  the  next  Primary  Elec- 
tion is  held  there  will  be  some  very  great  surprises  that  will  take 
place.  So  our  councilmen  from  Clay  Ward  had  better  be  getting 
busy  as  the  voters  are  going  to  judge  them  by  their  deeds  both 
good  and  bad.  The  people  from  the  Boulevard  on  Gary  Street  to 
the  county  line  have  no  light  at  night  and  no  side  walk,  and  are 
always  in  danger  of  breaking  their  limbs  slipping  in  the  mud  in 
wet  weather.  Not  over  two  weeks  ago  a  lady  was  chased  from 
the  Boulevard  and  Gary  Street  to  Mrs.  Leibs  grocery  store  by  a 
negro.  It  is  really  dangerous  for  our  wives  to  go  out  of  their 
homes  at  night  in  this  wilderness  of  darlmess  and  still  with  all 
this  our  city  wants  to  take  in  Manchester  to  help  improve  that 
poor  city.  In  my  opinion  the  people  of  Manchester  had  better 
let  well  enough  alone  as  the  Gity  of  Richmond  is  one  of  the  great- 
est Promise  Making  Gities  in  the  United  States  and  keeps  about 
as  few  of  them  as  any  city  that  I  know  of.  When  they  annexed 
a  large  portion  of  Henrico  county,  the  people  were  promised 
there  would  be  no  increase  of  taxes  for  five  years.  Did  they  keep 
that  promise?  No.  Then  I  wish,  Mr.  Editor,  I  could  take  you 
over  this  annexed  territory  and  show  you  how  the  Annexation 
Gommittee  laid  oft'  this  territory.  It  would  surprise  you  to  see 
the  discrimination  in  more  ways  than  one.  I  would  respectfully 
invite  the  Manchester  Gommittee  to  look  over  this  territory  before 
they  jump  in  to  the  fire.  If  we  do  not  get  some  relief  soon  I  shall 
write  an  article  for  your  paper  weekly  on  this  subject  and  as  I  am 
promised  some  good  information  from  parties  on  the  inside,  I  am 
quite  sure  we  will  make  some  of  our  councibnen  sit  up  and  take 
notice. 

Respectfully  yours, 

GLAY  WARD  ANNEX. 


12  THE  IDEA. 


The  Laborer  Pays  the  Bill 

City  Hands  Laid  Off 


]\Iucli  complaint  is  made  by  employees  in  the  Engineering 
Department  because  of  the  fact  that  the  men  are  laid  off  many 
days  in  the  month  ostensibly  for  lack  of  funds  with  which  to 
pay  them  for  full  time. 

We  would  enquire  why  this  shortage  of  funds?  Is  it  because 
the  Engineering  Department  has  squandered  the  people's  money 
in  Fairmount  and  other  places?    The  men  think  so. 

When  the  engineer  makes  a  blunder,  is  it  necessary  for  the 
poor  man  to  suffer  when  he  is  least  able  to  bear  it,  as  winter 
and  Christmas  come  on? 

It  is  noticed  that  the  engineer  is  not  docked,  nor  are  others 
high  up.  No;  the  man  at  the  bottom  always  bears  the  burden 
both  of  excessive  taxes,  of  wastful  extravagance  and  all  other 
evils  that  effect  the  public  welfare. 

Was  the  Trial  Legal 

It  now  develops  that  Sir.  Griggs  was  legally  disqualified 
from  sitting  by  the  fact  that  he  was  a  deputy  in  the  High  Con- 
stable's office.  The  law  very  clearly  states  that  no  one  elected 
as  sheriff,  constable,  etc.,  or  deputy  of  the  same,  shall  act  as 
justice  of  the  peace;  and  the  very  fact  that  he  is  such  an  officer 
vacates  his  office  as  justice  of  the  peace. 

It  therefore  appears  that,  not  only  did  Mr.  Griggs  have  no 
moral  right  to  sit,  but  also  he  had  no  legal  right  to  sit,  and  yet 
in  face  of  the  protest  of  attorney  for  the  defense,  he  did  sit. 

GAME  MUST  COME  DOWN. 
Mr.  Yoder:  This  will  help  the  cause  a  little.     I  buy  from  a 
boy  friend.     Keep  things  lively;  you  are  barking  up  the  right 
tree.    Game  bound  to  come  down  after  awhile.    With  best  wishes, 

The  above  letter  enclosing  a  contribution  to  the  lawyers'  fee 
fund  came  from  a  prominent  merchant  and  was  so  brief  and  to 
the  point  that  we  deemed  it  worthy  of  publication  in  our  crowded 
pages. 


THE  IDEA.  13 


(iXnnouncement 


While  there  was  danger  at  one  time  that  as  a  result  of  the 
abundance  of  suits  for  damages  against  the  printers  of  The  Idea, 
this  paper  would  miss  a  number  or  two,  there  never  has  been 
any  possibility  of  our  discontinuing  the  publication. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  printing,  and  even 
if  no  arrangements  had  been  made  locally,  there  are  other 
printers  in  the  United  States,  and  The  Idea  would  not  discon- 
tinue if  the  work  had  to  be  done  in  Kalamazoo  or  Ballyhack. 
We  did  not  start  this  publication  to  be  bluffed  off,  though  it 
looked  for  a  time  as  though  we  would  be  seriously  inconvenienced 
to  the  extent  of  missing  a  number. 


Below  we  print  a  letter  from  a  Richmond  school  teacher 
whose  name  we  did  not  have  time  to  get  permission  to  use,  as 
the  letter  came  as  we  were  going  to  the  printer.  This  is  one 
of  the  many  such  communications  from  the  ladies,  who  can  al- 
ways be  counted  on  in  a  moral  fight. 

A  TEACHER  WRITES 
Mr.  Adon  A.  Yoder, 

904  Capitol  Street,  City. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Yoder: 

If  you  are  the  man  you  have  led  the  public  to  believe  (and 
I  sincerely  believe  that  you  are),  you  will  not  even  consider 
"giving  it  up." 

Let  the  citizens  who  stand  for  the  Bight  respond  to  your  ap- 
peal— helping,  here  and  now,  all  they  will,  or  can — then  do  not 
be  afraid  to  borrotv,  with  6  per  cent,  interest,  what  is  necessary 
to  continue  this  good  work.  Do  not  be  run  out!  Stick  to  it! 
Hang  on !  Fearlessly  assert  your  manhood  and  your  rights,  at 
any  cost,  ''wholly  trusting."  If  you  hope  to  be  a  Reformer, 
prepare  to  be  a  Martyr. 

' '  Heaven  is  above  all  yet ;  there  sits  a  Judge 
That  no  king  can  corrupt." — Shakspere. 

Be  sure  that  you  are  right,  and  then  go  ahead. 


14  THE  IDEA. 

I  enclose  $2.00 — my  mite — in  response  to  your  appeal,  wish- 
ing I  could  make  it  many  times  the  amount. 

Do  you  not  know  of  E.  G.  Lewis,  editor  of  ''The  National 
Daily"  and  "Woman's  Magazine,"  of  St.  Louis?  Of  how  he 
started  his  little  "  ten-eents-a-year "  magazine  with  less  than  $2 
capital;  of  his  trials  and  persecutions  and  of  how  grandly  and 
bravely  he  has  come  through  ?  He  should  be  a  source  of  inspira- 
tion to  you  at  this  time. 

Trusting  that  you  wdll  continue  your  good  work,  and  believ- 
ing that  al]  will  come  right. 

Very  sincerely  your  friend, 


LATER 

Concerning  the  Reports  of  Trial 

The  IDEA  will  show  next  week  that  The 
Times  Dispatch's  report  of  the  Libel  Trial 
is  absolutely  false  and  misleading",  and  that 
the  decision  of  the  Justice  was  contrary 
both  to  the  evidence  and  the  law  laid  down 
by  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  accurate  public  stenographic  reports 
of  the  proceedings  will  be  printed,  and  citizens 
ma}^  see  for  themselves  what  a  farce  has  been 
enacted. 


My 


Creed 

I  would  be  true,  for  there  are  those  who  trust  me ; 

I  would  be  pure,  for  there  are  those  who  care ; 
I  would  be  strong,  for  there  is  much  to  suffer; 

I  would  be  brave,  for  there  is  much  to  dare ; 
I  would  be  friend  of  all — the  foe — the  friendless; 

I  would  be  giving  and  forget  the  gift; 
I  would  be  humble,  for  I  know  mj^  vvcakness ; 

I  would  look  up — and  laugh — and  love^ — and  lift. 

Howard  Arnold  Walter. 


THE  IDEA.  15 


Contributed 

"Dum    spiro,    spero" — What    a    motto    is    this:    "While    I 
breathe,  I  hope!" 

' '  Let  feeble  mortals  trust  to  luck ; 
The  man  who  has  a  fund  of  pluck 
Will  soon  behind  him  leave  the  ruck 

Of  those  who  fear,  0 ! 
Try  all  you  know  and  if  you  fail, 
What  matter  ?  .  'Tis  in  turning  tail 
Lies  the  disgrace.    When  others  quail, 

'  Dum  spiro,  spero ! ' ." 


WHERE  THE  FIGHT  IS  STRONG. 

It  is  great  to  be  out  where  the  fight  is  strong 
To  be  where  the  bravest  troops  belong, 
And  to  fight  there  for  man  and  God ! 

Oh,  it  seams  the  face  and  dries  the  brain, 
It  strains  the  arm  till  one's  friend  is  pain, 
In  the  fight  for  man  and  God! 

But  it's  great  to  be  out  where  the  fight  is  strong, 
To  be  where  the  heaviest  troops  belong, 
And  to  fight  there  for  man  and  God ! 

—C.  B.  McAfee. 


STUN-N-G-G!!! 


For  'Reliable 


FURNITUBE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


:CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 


r- 


1 


PRIZE 

"THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO 

Newsboy"  who  ^et  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and 
otner  prizes  to  those  who  seil  the  most  copies. 

The  L  ontest    vtll  begin  with  the  1st  of  December  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  be^in  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Some  time  ago  The  Idka  gave   away"  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.     One  bov  selling 

1 12  copies  of  The  IuEa  of  one  is'<ue.      There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the   boys  besides  the  prizes. 


AT 


DRINKARD'S 


FORo 


XMAS 


Fruit  Cake,  15c,  20c,  25c  a  pound,  all  sizes 
oMarble  Cake,  12ic,  Nice  Pound  Cake,25c 
31b  Jelly  Roll,  25c,  Cream  Puffs,  large,  25c 
a  dozen,  100  Lemon  Cakes,  35c,  21b  Raisin 
Cake,  25c.  PHONE  Monroe  410 

42 3i  North  Sixth  Street,  Rjichmond,  Va. 


'Tis  the  constant  drop  of  water 

Wears  a  hole  in  solid  stone; 
'Tis  the  constant  gnaw  of  Towser 

Masticates  the  hardest  bone; 
'Tis  the  constant  wooing  lover 

Carries  off  the  cooing  maid; 
And  the  constant  advertiser 

Is  the  man  who  gets  the  trade. 

— South  Bethlehem  Globe. 


J  A   ALFRED  L.    WALTON,  Jr. 


Jefferson  Chemical  Cleaning 
and  Dyeing  Works 


No  Cleaner  Can  Clean 
A  Cleaner  Suit  Cleaner 
Than  A  Clean  Cleaner 
Can  Clean  


m 


We  Dye  Seventy- One  Colors 
(^11  Work  Done  As  It  Ought  To  Be 

O  2225  E.  Clay  St  Phone  Mad.  6030 


i 


m 


A.  H.  EWINQ 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


CL.=^(^ 


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32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Cfttimatas  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Malls,  Vestibules,  Basemenu.  Ac. 


PHONE  1821 


The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unriccllcd 


WEEKLY 


5c 


THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


Vol.  Ill 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 
December  18,  1909. 


THE  POLICE  COMMISSION  AT  BAY 


No.  29 


% 


FOR    SALE    AT   ALL    NEWS    STANDS 


BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  By  ADON  A.  YODER, 
EDITOR  AND  PUBLISHER,  904  CAPITOL  ST.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 
:^^:^^==^^  PRINTED  AT  ELSEWHERE.  :^^^==^ 


m^^^^^tmamm^^ 


0^'     110^ 


m^>^^^     t^«» 


JEWELER  J.    S.  JAMES  OPTICIAN 

7th  AND   MAIN    STS. 

We  have  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 
showing  Bpecial  good  values  in 

DIAMONDS,  WATCHfS,  JMIRY,  SILVERWARE,  CUT  GIASS,  Etc 

We  invite  your  inspection 


1 


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The  best  Soap,  Perfumery  and  Toilet  Requisites  for 
your  family  and  guests. 

The  best  Steel  Enameled,  Rubber  and  Glass  Goods  for  your  sick. 

We  have  them  as  low  as  they  can  be  sold,  as  well  as  Medicines 
of  unexcelled  quality,  which  conform  strictly  to  the  United  States 
Pure  Food  and  Drug  Law. 

You  want  information  as  to  what  is  best  to  give  medical  students 
at  Christmas,  January  1st  or  at  Commmcement  Exercises.  This  we 
can  give  you  of  the  most  satisfactory  character. 

A.  H.  ROBINS'  PHARMACY, 

200  EAST  MARSHALL  STREET 
RICHMOND,  VA. 

OOO    »  DELIVERED  ANVWHBRE  IN  THE  CITY. 


so  YEARS  EXPERIINCE. 


3S)@§)®§)SP@iS3S§3Sa)5§)SS3g 


?55 


NOTICE  BOYS! 

The  Idea  will  bo  put  on  s.ilo  next  week  on  Kridny  iiis1(-ad  of 
Saturday,  as  Saturdnv  will  be  (*bi-istmas  Day. 

THE  IDEA 

A  Sign  oj  the   Times 
Vol.  Ill  DECEMBER  18,  1909  No.  29 


5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Yeab 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 

904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


The  Times  Dispatch  Report  False 

Suit  May  be  Entered  for  Damages 

In  the  last  number  of  The  Idea  the  statement  was  made  that 
we  would  show  this  week  that  the  Times-Dispatch  report  of  the 
trial  was  false. 

Let  us  take  the  very  first  sentence  in  that  article.  The  Times- 
Dispatch  printed  this  sentence  in  black  face  type.  That  sen- 
tence begins  as  follows:  "Adon  A.  Yoder,  who  stated  on  the 
witness  stand  that  he  came  here  to  reform  Richmond." 

Adon  A.  Yoder  did  not  state  on  the  witness  stand  or  anywhere 
else  that  he  came  here  to  reform  Richmond;  therefore,  we  state 
emphatically  that  the  Times-Dispatch  with  the  actual  evidence 
before  them  deliberately  falsified  and  that  not  only  was  this 
statement  untrue,  but  the  whole  article  was  calculated  to  give 
an  impression  exactly  contrary  to  that  anyone  attending  the 
trial  would  have  gotten.  We  will  state  further  that  the  Times- 
Dispatch  article  is  in  fact  a  malicious  libel  and  that  as  a  result 
of  it  this  paper  has  been  financially  damaged  and  that  the  editor 
may  yet  sue  the  morning  paper  for  damages,  Avhich  any  jury 
would  be  compelled  to  grant  under  the  law,  for  the  law  states 


2  THE  IDEA. 

that  damaging  untrutlis  are  libelous  except  where  the  "communi- 
cation is  privileged";  that  is,  where  the  complainants  are  public 
officials.  The  Editor  of  this  paper  is  not  a  public  official  and 
when  he  is  slandered  he  does  not  even  have  to  prove  malice 
(malice  may  be  presumed  in  the  civil  case — a  suit  for  damages — 
if  the  occasion  be  not  privileged)  ;  he  may  simply  show  he  has 
been  damaged  and  prove  the  falsity  of  the  article. 

If,  however,  the  criticism  had  been  of  a  public  official  and 
gross  falsehoods  had  been  stated,  such  an  official  could  not  get 
damages  unless  he  proved  actual  malice  on  the  part  of  the  pub- 
lisher. 

In  other  vrords,  the  laws  of  this  State  permit  the  utmost 
freedom  of  discussion  of  the  public  acts  of  public  officials  and 
do  not  hold  a  publisher  liable  for  errors  or  misstatements  m^ade 
if  they  be  made  with  honest  intent  in  the  interest  of  society,  or 
if  the  occasion  justified  the  deduction,  howsoever  false  or  harsh. 

The  Times-Dispatch  states  further  in  its  second  sentence  in 
black  face  type:  "All  of  his  printed  charges,  etc.,  were  dis- 
proved by  the  testimony,  etc." 

This  is  also  absolutely  false. 

On  only  one  minor  point  of  fact  in  connection  with  The 
Ideals  report  of  the  trial  did  the  prosecution  bring  evidence  to 
contradict  and  that  evidence  Avas  not  and  can  not  be  sustained. 

The  Idea  stated  "Chris  T>Ianning  sat  and  Douglas  Gordon 
stood  behind  Justice  John  and  engaged  him  in  conversation  dur- 
ing the  course  of  the  trial. ' '  Now  the  law  does  not  require  that 
this  be  proven  true,  though  it  is  every  word  true  and  every  word 
which  we  are  called  on  to  prove  we  can  prove.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  witnesses  for  the  defense  have  not  been  heard, 
but  will  be  heard  in  the  Hustings  Court  before  a  jury,  and  then 
things  will  come  to  light  that  will  make  Police  Commissioners 
and  officers  feel  like  thirty  cents  of  counterfeit  money. 

Only  one  of  the  witnesses  has  taken  issue  with  the  direct 
statement  of  The  Idea  and  his  contradiction  amounts  to  nothing, 
for  as  Mr.  Meredith  stated  and  as  it  was  proven  during  the  trial, 
he  had  violated  his  oath  of  office. 

As  the  Editor  stated  on  the  stand,  Mr.  Crutehfield  turned 
to  Manning  and  spoke  to  him  and  Mr.  Manning  certainly  by 
his  gestures  and  most  likely  by  word  of  mouth,  though  we  did 


THE  IDEA.  3 

not  see  his  mouth,  answered  him.  And  Mr.  Gordon  leaned  for- 
ward to  hear  the  talk ;  we  do  not  know  whether  he  spoke  or  not, 
but  we  do  know  that  the  statement  made  was  justified  and  is 
true  that  they  "engaged  him  in  conversation  during  the  course 
of  the  trial." 

The  statements  of  the  two  yeoung  men,  one  of  them,  be  it 
remembered,  a  Times-Dispatch  reporter,  that  they  did  not  see 
the  conversation  amounts  to  nothing.  No  one  could  so  keep  his 
eye  in  one  place  unless  he  felt  that  his  sole  duty  on  that  occa- 
sion, as  to  make  sure  that  two  -  ^  or  three  people  right  together 
did  not  speak  a  word. 

The  writer  was  immediately  in  front  of  Justice  John  and 
looking  in  his  direction,  and  yet  he  would  not  dare  to  claim  that 
he  saw  everything  that  occurred  in  the  court  on  that  occasion. 
"What  he  saw  he  knows  he  saw.  What  he  did  not  see  or  others 
did  not  see,  neither  he  nor  the  others  Ivnow  anything  about. 

Even  Mr.  Gordon,  who  also  was  proven  to  have  violated  his 
oath  of  office,  did  not  deny  that  our  statement  was  true.  Gordon 
simply  stated,  "I  did  not  speak  to  him  (Justice  John),  nor  he 
to  me."    As  far  as  we  have  stated  or  know,  that  may  be  true. 

Now  notice  what  Justice  John  said. 

Mr.  Smith :  ' '  Do  you  recall  that  either  one  of  these  gentle- 
men spoke  to  you  about  this  trial?" 
Mr.  Crutchfield:  "I  do  not." 

Mr.  Crutchfield  did  not  deny  and  cannot  deny  that  he  was 
engaged  in  conversation  with  them  during  the  trial. 

The  Idea  has  never  claimed  that  its  Editor  knew  anything 
about  what  that  conversation  in  whispers  twenty  feet  away  was 
about. 

We  claimed  that  that  conversation  did  take  place  and  Chris 
Manning  alone  dared  deny  it.  He  said,  ''I  never  opened  my 
mouth  to  him  (Justice  John),  and  he  never  opened  his  mouth 
to  me."  And  the  public  and  the  jury,  when  they  hear  all  the 
evidence,  may  decide  for  themselves  who  told  the  truth,  the  man 
who  has  admittedly  violated  his  oath  of  office  and  now  when  his 
protection  of  houses  of  ill  fame  is  about  to  be  shown  up  is 
seeking  money  damages,  or  the  editor  of  a  paper  gotten  out  ''for 
the  common  good ' '  and  in  the  interests  of  decency  and  order  and 
law  enforcement  and  clean  government,  and  for  the  betterment 


4  THE  IDEA. 

of  the  social  and  moral  and  political  conditions  of  Richmond 
and  Virginia. 

The  article  in  the  Times-Dispatch,  which  did  such  a  gross 
injustice  to  the  editor  of  this  paper  is  the  first  article  in  the 
first  column  of  the  first  page  of  that  paper  and  is  the  most 
conspicuously  headed  article  in  the  whole  paper. 

The  main  heading  reads  in  type  about  one-half  inch  high: 
"Court  Orders  Yoder  to  Jail  for  15  Days." 

This  in  itself  was  misleading^  for  the  court  simply  passed 
sentence  and  an  appeal  w^as  taken. 

The  headlines  also  stated:  "Accused  .  .  .  failed  to  sup- 
port charge  with  evidence,"  as  if  the  Editor  had  made  some 
attempt  and  failed  at  it,  when  the  writer  of  the  article  knew  that 
the  Editor  Avas  not  required  to  substantiate  his  statements  with 
witnesses  and  did  not  even  put  on  the  stand  the  witnesses  sum- 
moned by  him  and  that  the  law  was  so  plain  in  respect  to  the 
truth  of  those  details  the  Editor's  attorneys  did  not  even  make 
mention  of  the  fact,  in  their  argument,  that  the  prosecution 
failed  to  disprove  the  statements  made  by  the  Editor. 

It  makes  no  difference  in  law  whether  mistakes  had  been  made 
or  not — everybody  makes  mistakes — though  the  Editor  made 
absolutely  none  in  the  article  in  question. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  pertinent  to  ask  whether  Mr.  Fitz- 
gerald who  gave  his  services  to  these  police  commissioners  to 
testify  against  The  Idea  by  stating  tha-fe  he  did  not  see  the 
conversation,  was  also  the  reporter  for  that  paper  on  this  occa- 
sion. 

How  can  the  people  expect  a  fair  account  when  the  Times- 
Dispatch  reporter  is  a  witenss  on  one  side?  and  the  Times-Dis- 
patch seems  from  its  biased  reports  to  be  so  desirous  of  getting 
rid  of  The  Idea  because  it  has  exposed  that  paper's  crooked 
methods,  as  it  did  when  a  certain  prominent  preacher  had  occa- 
sion to  state  that  their  accounts  were  absolutely  false. 

The  Idea  wants  to  reiterate  that  its  statements  on  which  the 
libel  charge  '"  r  base  are  both  just  and  true  and  that  if  we  had 
laiown  then  what  we  know  now  that  article  might  have  been 
much  more  harsh  on  these  commissioners  who  are  open  violators 
of  their  oaths  of  office,  and  who  maintain  with  the  criminal  ele- 
ment of  this  city  a  corrupt  alliance  whereby  on  certain  vague 


THE  IDEA.  i 

aud  secret  eoudilions  tliey  are  protected  from  tlie  ana  of  the 
law  and  the  sworn  under  officers  of  the  law  are  made  to  violate 
their  oaths  of  office  for  fear  of  losing  their  positions  if  they  dare 
attempt  to  carry  out  the  law. 


Up  to  the   Mayor 

Law  Says  Mayor  Must  Dismiss  Cunningham 


Now  that  the  Council  Investigating  Committee  has  white- 
washed the  Cunningham  affair,  and  not  even  recommended  that 
the  law  be  enforced,  which  requires  his  removal,  it  is  up  to  the 
Mayor,  on  whom  the  law  lays  the  duty  of  removal,  to  declare 
the  office  of  City  Collector  vacated  for  ''malfeasance  in  office" 
and  "corrupt  perjury." 

The  committee's  report  shows  that  the  Collector  did  swear 
falsely,  and  section  4,  chapter  10,  of  the  Code,  says,  "and  the 
person  so  sworn  shall,  if  he  swear  falsely,  be  guilty  of  wilful 
and  corrupt  perjury,  and  shall  be  subject  to  punishment  by  im- 
prisonment in  the  penitentiary  for  not  less  than  one  nor  more 
than  five  years." 

Neither  the  Council  nor  the  Mayor  has  a  right  to  refuse  to 
do  their  duty  because  they  think  best  to  do  otherwise  under  the 
circumstances.  The  laws  were  made  to  govern  and  not  to  be  set 
aside  at  the  discretion  of  any  man  or  body  of  men,  except  the 
Legislature  which  made  them. 

The  fact  is,  there  seems  to  be  no  regard  for  oaths  of  office  in 
Richmond.  The  Mayor  violates  his  oath;  the  Council  violates 
theirs;  the  police  commissioners  violate  theirs;  the  Collector 
violates  his,  and  one  has  just  as  much  right  as  the  other  to 
violate  his  oath. 

"With  the  present  respect  for  law  on  the  part  of  those  in 
authority,  it  is  no  wonder  that  our  papers  are  filled  continually 
with  news  of  malfeasance,  extravagance,  waste,  graft,  and  cor- 
ruption in  the  governmental  affairs  of  the  city. 


THE  IDEA. 


IN  RICHMOND 


A  man  may  shoot  another  in  the  street  and  go  free. 

A  man  may  misappropriate  city  money  and  go  free. 

A  man  may  criticise  crookedness  in  public  life  and be 

sentenced  to  jail. 

You  may  kill,  or  lie,  or  steal,  but  you  must  not  write,  even 
the  truth. 


Testimony  in  the  Libel  Case 

Chief  Werner  "Can't  Understand,"  and 
the  Crowd  Laughs 

By  Mr.  Meredith : 

Q.  You  are  the  Chief  of  Police  of  the  city?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q. 
For  how  long  a  period  have  you  been  such?  A.  Ever  since  1905 
— IMay  15th.  Q.  Does  it  come  within  the  scope  of  your  duties 
to  close  houses  of  ill  fame?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  Has  it  been  done 
in  the  city  of  Richmond?  A.  Yes,  sir— to  some  extent,  yes,  sir. 
Q.  Has  it  been  done  with  the  house  of  Miss  Malloy?  A.  I  don't 
know  that  she  kept  a  house  of  ill  fame.  Q.  You  did  not  know 
that?  A.  No,  sir.  Q.  You  have  been  on  the  police  force  how 
long?  A.  Twenty-two  years.  Q.  And  you  did  not  know  she 
kept  a  house  of  ill  fame,  or  assignation  house?  A.  No,  sir. 
Within  the  last  eight  months  I  have  heard  it  rumored,  you  un- 
derstand— by  reputation — but  before  that  the  only  thing  I  knew 
of  against  the  house  was  selling  liquor  without  a  license,  on  and 
off  there  all  the  time.  Q.  You  never  heard  that  she  kept  a  house 
of  ill  fame?  A.  No,  sir.  Q.  Were  you  ever  stationed  in  that 
section  of  the  city?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  As  what — Captain?  A. 
No,  sir.  Sergeant.  Q.  Were  you  also  a  private  there?  A.  Yes, 
sir.  Q.  All  during  your  time  of  service  there  you  never  heard 
this?  A.  No,  sir.  Q.  And  never  saw  anything  to  indicate  it? 
A.  No,  sir — nothing  but  the  sale  of  liquor;  I  have  tried  to  catch 


THE  IDEA.  7 

her  time  and  again,  and  have  reported  her  for  selling  liquor  on 
Sunday.  Q.  Do  you  keep  in  your  office  the  pictures  of  loose 
women?  Yes,  sir.  Q.  Have  you  that  of  her 's  in  there?  A.  No, 
sir.  Q.  Did  you  ever  try  to  get  it?  A.  No,  sir.  Q.  "What  do 
you  do  with  the  pictures?  What  is  the  object  of  taking  the 
pictures?  A.  The  object  of  the  picture  is  so  that  we  may  know 
exactly  every  prostitute  in  the  city  of  Richmond — every  known 
prostitue.  Q.  Do  you  know  where  they  are  located?  A.  Yes, 
sir.  Q.  When  you  locate  them  do  you  turn  them  out?  A.  Do 
I  do  what?  Q.  Do  you  make  them  move — get  away  from  where 
they  are,  after  you  locate  them?  A.  No,  sir — I  can't  exactly 
understand  that  question,  Mr.  Meredith. 

Objection  by  counsel  for  the  prosecution.  Objection  sustained. 

At  this  point  a  lengthy  argument  ensued  over  the  admisison 
of  evidence  and  the  justice  decided  that  the  defense  could  not 
introduce  evidence  to  show  that  "there  was  a  corrupt  alliance 
between  the  trade  in  vice  and  the  police  department,"  although 
that  statement  was  made  a  part  of  the  warrant  charging  the 
libel.  ■ 

Mr.  Meredith  Protests  as  Justice 

Griggs  Continually  Rules 

Against  Him 

Folkes  Under  Fire,  Finally  Speaks 

Although  the  Commonwealth's  Attorney,  Mr.  Folkes,  after- 
wards admitted  that  there  was  some  doubt  even  in  his  mind  as 
to  whether  this  evidence  should  be  admitted,  still  he  would  not 
say  that  before  the  court  made  his  decision,  but  let  these  private 
attorneys  dictate  to  the  justice  what  he  should  allow  and  what 
not.  He  indeed  looked  ashamed  when  Mr.  ]\Ieredith  taunted 
him  for  not  being  fair  enough  to  state  to  the  justice  that  he  ought 
to  admit  this  evidence. 

It  was  extremely  amusing  to  see  Major  Werner  squirm  when 
Mr.  Meredith  asked,  "When  you  locate  them  do  you  turn  them 
out?"  Chief  Werner  moved  about  uneasily  in  his  chair  and 
said,  "Do  I  do  what?    I  can't  exactly  understand  that  question." 

The  real  trouble  was  that  that  question  was  a  little  too  plain, 


8  THE  IDEA. 

and  he  understood  it  a  little  too  well,  and  an  answer  to  it  would 
show  jnst  exactly  what  The  Idea  claimed,  namely,  a  corrupt 
alliance,  and  so  the  justice  very  readily  ruled  out  that  kind  of 
evidence.  The  crowd  was  first  astounded  and  then  smiled  at  the 
audacity  and  ridiculousness  of  the  incident. 
By  Mr.  :\Ieredith : 

Q.  ^Ir.  Werner,  don't  answer  this  question  until  we  see  if 
it  is  objected  to :  I  believe  it  comes  within  the  ruling  of  the  Jus- 
tice:  How  long  have  you  been  taking  these  photographs?  A. 
Since  November,  1906.  Q.  How  long  have  the  two  commissioners 
here  that  are  noM'  in  office,  and  named  in  this  warrant,  been 
members  of  the  Police  Board?  A.  Well,  Mr.  JManning  was  a 
member  at  the  time;  I  ami  not  very  positive — no,  I  am  sure 
Mr.  Gordon  was  not  a  member  at  that  time.  Q.  That  has  been 
kept  up  since?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  Under  whose  orders  do  you  take 
these  photographs?  A.  On  whose  orders?  Well,  I  would  have 
to  explain  that — I  would  have  to  go  way  back. 

]\Ir.  Smith :  Is  not  that  going  into  the  matter  that  has  been 
ruled  out?  The  Justice:  As  I  said  before,  the  court's  ruling  is 
that  you  must  confine  yourself  strictly  to  the  charge  contained 
in  this  warrant. 

Mr.  Meredith :  If  I  am  allowed  to  ask  when  they  began  to  take 
the  photographs — when  these  two  commissioners  were  on  the 
Board — I  do  not  see  why  I  am  not  allowed  to  ask  under  whose 
orders  these  photographs  were  taken.   . 

]Mr.  Patteson :  I  would  like  to  ask  a  cpestion  along  that  same 
line.     I  would  like  to  know  who  pays  for  these  photographs? 

"Sir.  Simth :  We  object,  if  you  Honor  please. 

The  Justice :  He  can  answer  that. 

Witness :  The  women  themselves. 

By  Mr.  Patteson:  Q.  Who  collects  the  money?  A.  You  will 
have  to  ask  the  man  who  photographs  them;  I  don't  Imow. 

By  ]\Ir.  INIeredith :  Q.  Who  goes  with  them  to  have  their  photo- 
graphs taken?  A.  They  go  by  themselves.  Q.  They  have  their 
photographs  taken,  and  pay  for  them  there,  and  you  don't  have 
anything  to  do  with  that?  A.  No.  Q.  You  are  presented  with 
one  of  them?  A.  Yes,  sir.  With  their  location  on  them?  A.  Yes, 
sir.  everything.  Q.  There  is  no  trouble  in  finding  them?  A. 
No.  sir.  '':| 


THE  IDEA.  9 

Mv.  Smith:  Aro  we  not  going  contrary  to  your  Honor's  rul- 
ing? Is  this  testimony  confining  the  issue  to  the  Malloy  case? 
The  Justice:  No,  sir,  not  strictly  si)eaking,  it  is  not;  and  the 
court  rules  that  you  can  not  bring  up  any  other  question  but 
what  pertains  to  the  INIalloy  trial,  and  the  Malloy  case. 

]Mr.  Meredith :  We  have  no  other  question  to  ask — on  account 
of  your  Honor's  ruling.  We  protest  against  the  ruling;  we  had 
a  good  many  other  questions  to  ask,  to  throw  light  on  the  situa- 
tion;  but  the  Commonwealth's  Attorney  has  said  nothing— 

Connnonwealth  's  Attorney :  Mr.  ]\Ieredith  keeps  referring  to 
my  not  being  heard.  The  question  was  very  fully  argued  by  the 
learned  gentleman  himself,  and  by  the  gentleman  who  appeared 
for  the  Commonwealth;  they  went  into  the  matter  fully,  and 
your  Honor  made  your  ruling,  and  you  made  it  immediately 
when  these  gentlemen  were  through  with  their  argument,  and 
it  was  not  necessary  for  me  then  to  say  anything;  because  you 
made  your  ruling,  as  Mr.  Meredith  will  recall — made  it  two  or 
three  times,  in  fact ;  and  then  yovi  allowed  questions  to  be  asked, 
if  your  Honor  will  allow  me  to  say  it,  which  you  should  not 
have  allowed.  You  have  ruled,  and  I  don 't  think  it  is  necessary 
for  me  to  consume  the  time  of  the  court  in  any  argument  on 
the  question,  at  all.  Your  Honor  has  ruled  two  or  three  times, 
and  the  questions  have  ben  ruled  out ;  now  why  should  I  be  called 
upon  to  consume  the  time  of  the  court  in  this  matter. 

Mr.  JNIeredith:  You  ought  to  join  with  us,  and  say  to  his 
Honor  that  he  ought  to  allow  us  to  ask  the  question. 


Justice  John  in  a  Tangle 

SAYS  HE  FINED  THE  WOMAN  FOR  RUNNING  A  DIS- 
ORDERLY  HOUSE   BECAUSE    PEOPLE    CONGRE- 
GATED THERE  FOR  THE  PURPOSE  OF  GET- 
TING  WHISKEY,   YET   HE    DISMISSED 
THE  WOMAN  5  MINUTES  BEFORE 
ON   THE   WHISKEY  SELLING 
CHARGE. 
By  j\Ir.  Smith :  Q.  Do  you  recall  reading  the  issue  of  November 
6th,  headed,  "Reign  of  Crime — Political  Disorderly  Housekeeper 
Given  Light  Sentence,  and  Why"?     A.  Yes,  sir.     Q.  As  to  So- 


10  THE  IDEA. 

phie  Malloy,  the  language  is:  "Now  this  party,  Sophie  Malloy, 
operated  a  notorious  assignation  house  on  lower  Main  Street, 
under  the  protection  of  the  Police  Department,  for  certain  party 
officials  were  interested  in  the  house.  Justice  John  called  the 
place  the  worst  in  the  city;  and  yet,  read  carefully  how  the 
case  turned  out.  Now,  in  the  first  place,  Mr.  Crutchfield,  did 
you  at  the  time  of  the  trial  of  this  case  know  that  this  place  was 
a  notorious  assignation  house?  A.  No,  sir.  Q.'  You  did  not 
know  it.  ^  Did  you  know  it  was  an  assignation  house  "1  A.  I  did 
not  kriow — but  I  made  that  statement.  Q.  Which  statement? 
A.  That  it  was  one  of  the  worst  places  in  Richmond.  Q.  AVhy 
did  you  say  that?  A.  Because  I  believed  it  was  a  ''speak-easy," 
where  whiskey  had  been  sold  without  license  for  a  long  time,  and 
I  had  been  trying  to  catch  it.  Q.  It  was  in  that  connection  that 
you  made  the  remark  ?  A.  I  never  heard  the  place  charged  with 
being  an  assignation  house.  Q.  How  long  have  you  been  after 
this  woman  for  selling  liquor  without  a  license,  do  you  remem- 
ber? A.  A  long,  lone  time.  I  regarded  it  as  one  of  the  worst 
places  we  had  in  town,  as  a  disorderly  house.  Q.  "What  was  the 
particular  disorder?  A.  The  disorder  was  that  I  believed  it  was 
a  ''speak-easy,"  where  whiskey  was  sold  without  a  license,  where 
whites  and  blacks  congregated,  but  I  did  not  know  of  any  im- 
moral purpose.  Q.  You  thought  it  was  Avhat?  A.  I  thought  it 
w^as  a  place  where  they  congregated  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
whiskey.  Q.  And  not  for  immoral  purposes?  A.  I  had  no 
reason  to  suspicion  that.  Q.  And  when  you  did  say  it  was  one  of 
the  worst  places  in  the  city — A.  I  said  that  then,  and  say  it  now. 
Q.  You  never  heard  any  intimation  that  it  was  an  assignation 
house?  A.  No,  sir.  Q.  The  next  part  of  the  article  says: 
"There  were  two  charges  against  the  woman"- — that  is  the 
Malloy  woman — "one  of  selling  whiskey  without  a  license,  and 
the  other  for  keeping  a  disorderly  house. ' '  That  is  true,  is  it  not  ? 
A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  "She  Avas  dismissed  on  the  first  charge" — that 
is.  selling  liquor  without  a  license — "although  the  evidence  Avas 
convincing  that  she  aa^s  guilty,  as  she  had  sold  to  the  CouAvay- 
Torrence  crowd."  Is  that  true,  that  the  evidence  was  con- 
vincing? A.  No,  sir;  I  will  tell  you  exactly  Avhat  I  said;  I  think 
I  can  recall  it.  I  said  when  the  case  was  closed,  for  selling 
whiskoy — I  think  I  made  this  remark,  or  about  tliis :  "If  I  Avere 


THE  IDEA.  11 

to  render  a  decision  in  this  ease  according  to  my  personal  views, 
my  decision  would  be  far  different  from  the  one  I  am  going  to 
render  to-day.  This  case  is  dismissed."  Q.  Was  there  any  evi- 
dence upon  which  you  could  have  convicted  her  for  selling 
liquor  without  a  license?  A.  The  evidence  was  not  satisfactory 
to  my  mind — not  enough  to  convince  me  that  I  ought  to  convict. 
I  had  my  personal  view.  Q.  But  as  a  sworn  officer  w^as  there 
sufficient  evidence  for  you  to  convict  her?  A.  As  a  judicial 
officer  the  evidence  did  not  justify  me  in  convicting  her;  and 
I  certainly  did  my  best.  Q.  You  did  your  best?  What  do  you 
mean  by  that?  A.  I  inquired  into  every  point  it  was  possible 
to  inquire  into;.  I  let  nothing  escape  me.  The  case  was  fought 
very  hard.  Q.  On  the  second  charge— keeping  a  house  of  ill- 
fame — her  attorney,  Mr.  Pollock,  pleaded  guilty  for  her,  and  she 
was  fined  one  hundred  dollars.  A.  I  did  not  try  her  for  keeping 
a  house  of  ill-fame.  Q.  Was  there  any  warrant  charging  her  with 
keeping  a  house  of  ill-fame  ?  A.  Not  before  me.  Q.  Now,  keeping  a 
house  of  ill-fame,  it  may  be  well  to  laiow,  is  punishable  by  con- 
finement— on  a  warrant  charging  a  person  with  keeping  a  house 
of  ill-fame,  does  the  statute  require  that  there  shall  be  jail  pun- 
ishment? A.  I  think  so.  Q.  Is  there  any  doubt  about  it?  A.  I 
think  not.  Q.  On  conviction  of  keeping  a  disorderly  house  is  the 
jail  sentence  compulsory?  A.  Not  necessarily,  in  my  judgment. 
Q.  So  then,  the  Maggie  Lee,  whom  you  convicted  and  gave  a  jail 
sentence  was  not  convicted  on  a  similar  charge?  A.  No,  sir.  Q. 
She  was  convicted  of  keeping  a  house  of  ill-fame,  and  the  Malloy 
woman  of  keeping  a  disorderly  house?  A.  That's  it.  Q.  Do 
you  know  whether  Sophie  Malloy  was  born  in  this  house,  or  not  ? 
A.  She  has  been  living  there  for  many,  many  years.  Q.  Did  you 
know  her  father?  A.  Yes,  sir — John  K.  Malloy.  Q.  How  long 
had  her  father  been  living  there  ?  A.  For  many,  many  years ;  I 
could  not  say  how  long.  Q.  "\yith  reference  to  the  close  of  the 
war,  how  long  had  he  been  there  ?  A.  I  don 't  know ;  I  recollect 
him  when  I  was  a  very  young  man.  Q.  Do  you  know  whether  the 
property  belongs  to  them,  or  not?  A.  She  told  me — or  some- 
one told  me — of  course  this  is  not  evidence, — that  when  she  got 
through  with  this  thing  that  house  would  be  certainly  broken 
up.  I  may  have  gotten  that  from  Captain  Barfoot,  I  don't  know. 
Bv  Mr.  Meredith : 


12  THE  IDEA. 

Q.  What  kind  of  house  would  be  broken  up  ?     A.  I  reckon 
she  meant  disorderly  house ;  that  is  all  the  charge  I  had  against 
her — keeping  a  disorderly  house. 
By  Mr.  Smith : 

Q.  (reads)  Chris  Manning  sat,  and  Douglas  Gordon  stood 
behind  Justice  John,  and  engaged  him  in  conversation  during  the 
course  of  the  trial. ' '  Do  you  recall  that  either  one  of  these  gen- 
tlemen spoke  to  you  about  this  trial!  A.  I  do  not.  Q.  Do  you 
recall  whether  Mr.  Douglas  Gordon  was  here  at  the  time  she 
was  tried?  A.  I  could  not  say  whether  he  was  here  or  not,  of  my 
own  knowledge  I  heard  Mr.  Gordon  say  he  was  standing  behind 
me  for  awhile.  Mr.  IManning  sat  in  a  chair  just  to  my  left,  a 
little  behind  me.  Q.  Did  either,  ^Ir.  ]\Ianning  or  Douglas  Gordon 
say  anything  to  you  about  what  your  decision  should  be  in  the 
trial  of  Sophie  Malloy?  A.  No  one  ever  spoke  to  me  about  the 
Malloy  case,  except  her  counsel.  Q.  Was  that  openly  in  court,  or 
privately?  A.  No,  sir;  he  asked  me  what  I  would  do  if  she  plead 
guilty  to  keening  a  disorderly  house.  Q.  Is  that  done  frequently 
in  this  court?  A.  Any  time.  And  I  told  him  exactly  what  I 
would  do,  too.  Q.  Did  Mr.  ]\Ianning  or  Mr.  Gordon  intervene  in 
this  case,  at  all?  Did  they  say  one  word  to  influence  your 
decision  ?  A.  I  never  heard  Mr.  Manning  or  Mr.  Gordon  speak  of 
this  case  in  any  manner,  shape  or  form,  until  after  the  trial  was 
over.  Q.  It  says  that  the  combination  of  ^Manning.  Gordon, 
Pollock  and  Leaman,  with  yourself,  Justice  John,  is  responsible 
for  the  fact  that  this  notorious  creature,  who  has  operated  for 
years  in  the  saine  place,  and  known  to  the  police  as  the  worst 
kind  of  a  joint  for  the  ruination  of  young  girls,  and  for  the 
meetings  of  married  women  with  other  men — I  understand  you 
to  say  that  you  never  heard  of  that  before  ?  A.  I  never  heard  of 
its  being  an  assignation  house.  Q.  Are  you  a  party  to  any  com- 
bination in  any  shape  or  form,  ,f or  protecting  Sophie  Malloy  ? 
A.  Neither  her,  nor  any  other  woman  of  that  character.  Q.  Have 
you  any  agreement,  expressed  or  implied,  with  any  person  what- 
ever— especially  with  Manning  and  Gordon — that  you  will  be 
easy  on  Sophie  Malloy  if  she  is  caught?  A.  No,  sir,  and  I  will 
say  right  here  that  my  fine  was  four  to  five  times  as  heavy  on 
Sophie  Malloy  as  I  generally  impose  on  houses  of  like  character. 
My  fine  is  generally  either  twenty  or  twenty-five   dollars   for 


THE  IDEA.  13 

liouses  ui'  that  character,  but  I.  told  Sophie  .Ahilloy's  <;()uns(!l  ii' 
she  plead  guilty  that  the  lowest  hue  would  l)e  one  hundred 
dollars.  Q.  The  article  states  that  this  combination  was  respon- 
sible for  the  fact  that  simply  a  fine  and  no  jail  sentence  was 
imposed  upon  her.  Is  any  combination  responsible  for  that  ?  A. 
No,  sir.  Q.  And  that  for  a  similar  offence  another  woman  on  the 
same  kind  of  evidence,  though  not  quite  as  convicting  evidence,  of 
the  same  parties,  was  fined  the  same  amount  and  jailed  for  thirty 
days.  Did  you  go  into  any  evidence  at  all  in  the  Malloy  case?  A. 
That  statement  is  incorrect,  because  in  the  Malloy  case  I  heard 
no  evidence  whatever.  I  inflicted  punishment  on  a  plea  of  guilty. 
Q.  (reads)  There  is  alsolutely  no  doubt  that  the  woman  who  got 
the  lighter  sentence  was  guilty  of  the  greater  crime.  Is  there 
anything  to  justify  that  statement?  A.  No,  sir.  Q.  (reads) 
"But  unfortunately  for  i^Iaggie  Lee  the  Police  Commissioners 
and  others  in  authority  did  not  grace  the  occasion  with  their 
influential  presence.  Justice  John  has  no  excuse  to  offer  for  his 
light  sentence  for  so  flagrant  a  crime  The  Idea  has  all  along 
claimed  that  there  was  a  corrupt  alliance  between  the  trade  in 
vice,  and  the  Police  Department,  and  that  was  apparently  shown 
by  the  reluctance  of  the  Police  Justice  in  passing  sentence,  and 
the  lightness  of  the  verdict,  and  the  presence  of  the  Police  Com- 
missioners and  others. ' '  Is  that  true,  that  there  was  any  reluct- 
ance on  your  part  in  passing  sentence?  A.  None  on  earth.  Q. 
Did  you  regard  the  verdict  as  light?  A.  I  did  not.  I  thought  it 
was  four  or  five  times  greater  than  I  generally  inflicted. 


Crutchfield  Had  Evidence-Should 
Have  Issued  Bench  Warrant 


Meredith  Confounded  the  Justice,  Who  Refused 
to  Answ^er  Directly 

Cross-Examination. 
By  Mr.  Meredith: 

Q.  "Wbat  did  you  fine  her  for?  A.  She  was  charged  before 
me  with  keeping  a  disorderly  house.  Q.  What  does  that 
mean?      A.    Well,  a  disorderly  house  is  a  house  where  rows 


14  THE  IDEA. 

and  disturbances  occur,  and  Avhere  people  who  are  suspected  of 
violating  the  law  and  everything  else  go ;  and  on  that  charge  she 
plead  guilty.    Q.  Could  it  cover  the  fact  that  they  met  there  for 
immoral  purposes,  also  ?    A.  It  might  be  construed  that  way.    Q. 
Don 't  the  law  allow  you,  under  the  charge  of  keeping  a  disorderly 
house,  to  prove  that  people  met  there  for  purposes  of  cohabita- 
tion?   A.  Yes,  if  it  can  be  proved.    Q.  Was  there  not  proof  that 
two  married  women  met  men  there  ?    A.  Yes,  sir,  in  another  case. 
Q.  Then  you  knew  and  had  before  you  information  that 
they  kept  what  amounted  to  a  house  of  ill-fame  ?    A.  Yes,  but  all 
the  witnesses  swore  in  that  case  that  nothing  had  been  done 
wrong.     Q.  Do  you  take  that  kind  of  statements?     A.  I  had  to 
take  them.     Q.  Don't  you  know  that  if  it  is  proven  that  two 
married  women  meet  two  young  men  in  a  house  which  you  say 
the  worst  in  town,  that  you  had  the  right  to  believe  they  were 
there  for  improper  purposes,  and  that  you  had  the  right  to  con- 
vict?    A.  I  might  believe  it,  but  not  have  the  right  to  convict. 
Q.  Don't  you  think  the  proof  was  sufficient  to  justify  a  con- 
viction ?    A.  I  had  no  right  to  convict,  because  I  had  to  be  satis- 
fied beyond  all  reasonable  doubt.    Q.  How  many  cases  of  keeping 
a  house  of  ill  fame  have  you  ever  had  the  proof  presented  of 
their  being  caught  in  improper  acts?     A.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  difference  in  the  proof  required  in  the  keeping  of  a  house  of 
ill-fame,  and  keeping  a  disorderly  house.    In  the  case  of  a  house 
of  ill-fame  you  can  take  the  general  reputation  of  the  house ; ;  but 
with  a  disorderly  house  it  is  different.     Q.  Oan't  you  take  into 
consideration  the  fact  of  w^ho  goes  in  there  and  gets  rooms,  and 
how  long  they  are  there  ?    A.  That  may  be,  but  the  law  is  entirely 
different,  in  the  rules  of  evidence — not  the  rules  of  evidence,  but 
the  law  about  convicting  is  entirely  different,  in  the  case  of  a 
house  of  ill-fame,  and  the  case  of  a  disorderly  house.     Q.    You 
stated  that  under  the  charge  of  keeping  a  disorderly  house  you 
could  have  convicted  her  of  keeping  a  house  where  people  met 
for  improper  purposes — for  immoral  purposes.     A.  I  said  if  I 
had  the  evidence.    Q.  You  had  the  proof  in  the  preceding  case — 
in  the  liquor  case,  which  just  preceded  it.    A.  No,  because  they 
said  nothing  immoral  was  done  there.    Q.   Did  you  expect  them 
to  confess  it  ?    A.  No,  I  did  not  expect  that,  but  I  expected  the 
Commonwealth  to  prove  it.     Q.  Don't  you  think  that  the  Com- 


THE  IDEA.  15 

monwealth  proved  it  pretty  well  when  it  showed  that  two  married 
women  met  two  young  men  in  a  place  which  was  the  worst  in 
town?  A.  I  said  disorderly  house — not  a  house  of  ill-fame.  Q. 
If  you  thought  that  house  had  the  worst  reputation  as  a  dis- 
orderly house  of  any  in  town,  and  you  catch  two  married  women 
meeting  young  men  there — A.  I  said  in  my  examination  in  chief, 
that  I  believed  this  house  w^as  then,  and  had  been  for  several  years 
back,  a  house  where  liquor  was  sold  without  a  license,  and  where 
whites  and  blacks  congregated  for  the  purpose  of  getting  liquor, 
but  that  I  had  heard  nothing  as  regards  it  being  a  house  of  ill- 
fame.  Q.  Didn 't  you  say  it  had  rows  there  ?  A.  I  said  rows  and 
fusses,  and  things  of  that  sort ;  and  she  had  been  here  once  or 
twice  for  selling  liquor,  when  I  was  satisfied,  but  did  not  have 
legal  proof,  that  she  was  guilt3^  Q.  Now  then,  without  any 
proof  of  what  was  the  nature  of  the  disorder  in  the  house,  you 
fined  this  woman  one  hundred  dollars?  A.  I  did.  Q.  Without 
any  knowledge  of  what  was  the  disorder?  A.  Nothing  but  that 
it  was  a  disorderly  house.  Q.  What  was  the  knowledge  you  had 
about  the  disorder?  A.  In  that  case.  Q.  Yes;  you  fined  her  in 
that  case ;  what  did  you  have  ?  A.  Her  own  admission  that  it  was 
a  disorderly  house.  Q.  The  woman  confessing,  and  without  any 
more  proof  before  you,  you  put  on  her  four  times  the  fine  you 
usually  imposed ;  don 't  you  know  that  you  did  it  with  the  knowl- 
edge on  your  part  that  married  women  had  met  young  men  there  ? 
A.  I  can  not  say  that.  Q.  Didn 't  you  have  the  proof  before  you  ? 
A.  In  the  Conway  case.  Q.  Didn't  that  show  to  you  that  it  was 
a  house  in  which  people  met  for  immoral  purposes.  A.  There 
was  no  proof  of  keeping  an  immoral  house.  Q.  Is  it  not  proof  to 
a  Justice,  when  a  house  having  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the 
worst  disorderly  houses  in  town,  where  whites  and  blacks,  men 
and  women  meet,  and  where  they  have  rows  and  fusses — and 
where  you  catch  two  married  women  in  there  with  two  young 
men — when  you  fine  her  one  hundred  dollars  don 't  you  know  you 
are  fining  her  on  the  belief  that  those  people  met  there  for 
immoral  purposes  ?    A.  I  did  not  give  it  a  thought  that  way.    Q. 

(Concluded  in  next  issue) 


For  T{eliable 


FURNITURE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


;CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 

prizes! 

■*>       FOR       r- 

"THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO 

Newsuoy  who  g:et  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and 
omer  prizes  to  those  who  sell  the  most  copies. 

The  Contest   vill  begin  with  the  Ist  of  December  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  begin  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Some  time  ago  THE  Idka  gave  away  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.     One  bov  selling 

1 12  copies  of  The  Idea  of  one  issue.      There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the  boys  besides  the  prizes. 


1 

I 

s 

\ 
I 


^t^^0mit^0i^0mnm0^^^r'^^0i^tfm 


AT 


DRINKARD'S 


FORo 


XMAS 


Fruit  Cake,  15c,  20c,  25c  a  pound,  all  sizes 
cTVlarble  Cake,  12hc,  Nice  Pound  Cake,25c 
31b  Jelly  Roll,  25c,  Cream  Puffs,  large,  25c 
a  dozen,  100  Lemon  Cakes,  35c,  21b  Raisin 
Cake,  25c.  PHONE  Monroe  410 

423^  North  Sixth  Street,  R^ichmond,  Va. 


'Tis  the  constant  drop  of  water 

Wears  a  hole  in  solid  stone; 
'Tis  the  constant  gnaw  of  Towser 

Masticates  the  hardest  bone; 
'Tis  the  constant  wooing  lover 

Carries  ofT  the  cooing  maid; 
And  the  constant  advertiser 

Is  the  man  who  gets  the  trade. 

— South  Bethlehem  Globe. 


>r<    ALFRED  L.    WALTON,  Jr. 


FRANK  L.  HUTCHESON   Y(M 

ft  ^ 


Jefferson  Chemical  Cleaning 
and  Dyeing  Works 


No  Cleaner  Can  Clean 
A  Cleaner  Suit  Cleaner 
Than  A  Clean  Cleaner 
Can  Clean  


We  Dye  Seventy- One  Colors 
<^I1  Work  Done  As  It  Ought  To  Be 

2225  B.   Clay  St  Phone  Mad.   6030 

H.  EWINQ 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

Estimates  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements,  &c. 


PHONE  1821 


O/  The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
end  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unrxcellcd 


\a;^eekly 


5c 


;    THE  COPY 


THE  ^  IDEA 


Vol.  Ill 


A  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES 
December  25,  1909. 


No.  30 


JUSTICE  DETHRONED-Richmond  Under  Ring  Rule 

FOR    SALE    AT    ALL    NEWS    STANDS 

BEING  SOME  SERMONETTES  PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  FOR  THE 
COMMON  GOOD  AT  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  By  ADON  A.  YODER, 
EDITOR  AND  PUBLISHER,  904  CAPITOL  ST.,  RICHMOND,  VA. 
==^=:^  PRINTED  AT  SOMEWHERE.  ^=== 


r 


JEWELER  J.    S.   JAMES  OPTICIAN 

§  7th  AND    MAIN    STS. 

^  We  have  in  our  Fall  Stock,  and  are 

•y^  showing  special  good  values  in 

I    DIAMONDS,  WATCIlfS,  JtWflRY,  SIlVERWARf,  CUT  GIASS,  Etc. 

We  invite  your  inspection 
^tm^i     »>iw>^i  m^^f  \i^^^tm'  mm»at*  ^mt^t  mm^   i%>i^^ 


1 


S.    L.    LEDMAN 


cyl  Full  Line 

Hunting  Shoes  and  Boots 
For  Your  Selection. 


SHOES 

/QUALITY 


Number 
726  East  cTVlain   Street 


0   HOUSEKEEPERS.... 


You  wish  the  best  Flavoring  Extracts,  Essences  and 
Spices  for  your  Table. 

The  best  Soap,  Perfumery  and  Toilet  Requisites  for 
your  family  and  guests. 

The  best  Steel  Enameled,  Rubber  and  Glass  Goods  for  your  sick. 

We  have  them  as  low  as  they  can  be  sold,  as  well  as  Medicines 
of  unexcelled  quality,  which  conform  strictly  to  the  United  States 
Pure  Food  and  Drug  Law. 

You  want  information  as  to  what  is  best  to  give  medical  students 
at  Christmas,  January  1st  or  ar  Commencement  Exercises.  This  we 
can  give  you  of  the  most  satisfactory  character. 

A.  H.  ROBINS'  PHARMACY, 

200  EAST  MARSHALL  STREET 
RICHMOND,  VA. 

50  YEARS  EXPEHIHNCE.  GOD    a  DELIVERED  ANVWHBRE  IN  THE  CITY. 


THE  IDEA 

A   Sign  of  the   Times 


Vol.  Ill  DECEMBER  25,  1909  No.  30 

5  Cents  a  Copy  $2.00  a  Year 

Published  Weekly  on  Saturday  by  Adon  A.  Yoder, 

904  Capitol  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 

Entered  as  second  class  mail  matter  July  10,  1909  at  the  Post  Office  at  Richmond,  Va. 


The  Cunningham   Matter   and   the 
Richmond  Daily  Papers. 

Now  that  the  Council  Investigating  Committee  seems  un- 
willing to  do  anything  except  whitewash  the  whole  business 
of  the  collector's  oiSce,  it  is  well  to  notice  that  the  papers  are 
risking  an  opinion  about  the  matter  by  all  joining  in  in  mild 
editorials  advising  the  removal  of  the  collector.  The  Idea  won- 
ders why  they  did  not  join  with  this  paper  at  the  proper  time 
and  impress  on  the  Mayor  and  the  conmiittee  their  duty  to 
the  people,  instead  of  helping  the  finance  committee  cover  the 
matter  up.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  firm  stand  for  rigid  law 
enforcement  and  publicity  of  the  affairs  of  the  people  by  this 
paper  there,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  papers  would  have 
succeeded  in  hushing  this  matter  up,  as  has  been  their  custom. 

It  looks  rather  weak  and  babyish,  after  attempting  to  hush 
the  matter  up  and  being  compelled  by  public  opinion  to  finally 
give  the  real  facts,  to  come  out  when  they  see  the  way  the  wind 
of  public  opinion  blows  and  change  front  entirely. 

The  trouble  with  the  Richmond  daily  papers  is  that  they 
"wear  their  wishbones  where  their  backbones  ought  to  be." 

A  little  strength  of  character  directing  the  policy  of  these 
papers  would  work  untold  good  to  the  people  of  this  community. 


2  THE  IDEA. 

Kiclimonders,  however,  have  every  reason  to  rejoice  over  the 
fact  that  a  real  live  daily  newspaper  will  appear  about  the  first 
of  the  year,  and  it  is  earnestly  hoped  that  the  good  people  of 
the  city  will  subscribe  on  the  very  start  and  make  this  paper 
a  howling  success.  Richmond  is  a  fine  city  and  deserves  at 
least  one  genuine,  fine  newspaper. 


Despotic    Government 

The  old  Virginia  Bill  of  Rights,  which  is  Article  I  of  the 
present  as  well  as  of  all  past.  Constitutions  of  this  State,  says : 

Sec.  12.  "That  the  freedom  of  the  press  is  one  of  the  great 
bulwarks  of  liberty  and  can  never  he  restrained  but  by  despotic 
governments. ' ' 

Notice  that  the  law  does  not  simply  state  that  the  freedom 
of  the  press  cannot  be  taken  away.  It  is  extremely  emphatic 
and  says  "can  never  be  restrained,"  and  yet  it  is  very  seriously 
restrained  when  a  petty  judge  may  sentence  a  man  to  jail  for 
criticising  a  court  after  a  farcical  trial  and  state  in  giving  his 
decision  that  such  criticism  "is  bad  enough  upon  anyone,  but 
when  it  is  aimed  at  the  courts  it  is  outrageous." 

The  Idea  claims  it  is  outrageous  for  the  courts  to  think  that 
they,  the  people's  servants,  are  above  criticism,  and  The  Idea 
will  continue  to  criticise  any  officials,  the  courts  included,  with 
the  utmost  disregard  of  this  justice's  opinion,  or  any  other  jus- 
tice's opinion  of  his  conduct.  The  Idea's  duty — not  simply 
right,  but  sublime  duty — is  to  criticise  just  as  harshly  as  the 
occasion  demands  any  decision  of  any  judge  whose  acts  are 
contrary  to  the  principles  of  right  and  justice.  If  this  be  con- 
tempt of  court,  "make  the  most  of  it."  If  this  be  libel,  "make 
the  most  of  it." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  The  Idea  would  have  no  right,  legal 
or  moral,  to  criticise  "anyone,"  but  it  does  have  that  right  in 
regard  to  public  officials,  and  just  as  soon  as  the  courts,  the 
hirelings  of  the  people,  get  so  rotten  as  to  suppress  the  people 
in  their  unalienable  rights  of  discussion  of  the  acts  of  these 
courts,  then  it  will  be  time  to  send  for  the  undertaker  to  bury 
our  republican  form  of  government. 


THE  IDEA.  3 

If  the  court  had  fined  the  editor  only  one  cent  he  would 
have  taken  an  appeal  to  a  higher  court,  as  he  feels  it  a  duty 
to  the  people  of  Richmond,  after  having  undertaken  a  fight  in 
their  name,  to  see  it  through  to  a  finish.  Of  course,  it  would  be 
cheaper  to  pay  the  fine,  for  it  costs  to  employ  lawyers;  yet  it 
is  the  principle  of  the  freedom  of  the  press  for  which  we  are 
contending,  and  it  would  be  a  blot  on  the  name  of  Richmond 
to  have  it  said  that  a  Richmond  paper  had  to  submit  to  such 
restraints  as  a  little  police  magistrate  might  choose  to  impose. 

The  Idea  will  show  these  petty  officials  that  they  are  not 
lords  of  the  people,  but  simply  servants  of  the  people,  and  that 
the  people  may  at  all  times  discuss  as  they  see  fit  the  acts  of 
their  servants  whom  they  employ  to  do  their  public  work. 


Corrupt   Alliance 

Mr.  Harry  Smith,  of  counsel  for  the  prosecution,  laid  much 
stress  on  the  fact  that  The  Idea  charged  "a  corrupt  alliance" 
between  the  criminal  element  and  the  police  department,  and 
tried  to  make  out  from  that  that  we  had  charged  Justice  John 
with  receiving  money  for  the  protection  of  criminals. 

Any  one  could  read  the  article  and  see  that  no  such  charge 
was  made,  and  it  is  a  commentary  on  the  desperate  condition 
of  the  prosecution  that  they  had  to  go  so  far  afield.  They  even 
got  hold  of  a  subsequent  number  of  The  Idea  to  prove  by  a 
cartoon  what  we  meant  by  the  word  "corrupt,"  and  Mr.  Harry 
Smith  was  so  sharp  a  handler  of  words  that  he  even  fooled  his 
owTi  associate,  Mr.  Folkes,  into  thinking  we  had  used  the  word 
corrupt  on  the  cartoon  in  question,  for  Mr.  Folkes  was  making 
a  tremendous  argument  on  the  word  corrupt  and  turned  to 
the  cartoon  to  show  our  meaning  of  it,  when  to  his  amazement 
he  found  something  else,  namely:  "Police  Commission  Graft" 
on  the  cartoon. 

There  could  be  the  rankest  kind  of  police  commission  graft 
without  making  the  charge  that  Justice  John  got  money  for 
protecting  crime. 

We  will  reiterate  for  Mr.  Harry  Smith's  delectation  that 
there  still  exists  a  "corrupt  alliance"  between  the  houses  of 
ill  fame  and  the  police  department. 


4  THE  IDEA. 

The  Virginia  Law  on  Libel 

The  prosecution  in  the  recent  libel  case  tried  to  make  the 
justice,  who  evidently  Icnew  nothing  about  law,  for  this  was 
his  first  experience  on  the  bench,  believe  that  the  law  on  libel 
in  Virginia  was  not  clearly  defined,  and  the  attorneys  them- 
selves actually  seemed  to  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  there  is 
a  very  clear  and  distinct  law  in  Virginia,  for  they  began  to 
cite  the  New  Jersey  libel  law  and  the  Kentucky  libel  law  and 
the  English  libel  laws  and  almost  everything  else  except  the 
Virginia  law.  Wliy,  they  actually  had  a  porter  bring  three 
stacks  of  heavy  law  books  tied  up  with  ropes  into  the  court. 
Think  of  it — ]\Iessrs.  JManniug  and  Gordon  were  so  desperate 
that  they  got  seven  lawyers  and  a  whole  library  of  law  books, 
while  the  defense  needed  only  two  lawyers  (either  one  of  which, 
however,  would  outweigh  their  seven),  and  one  law  book;  but 
remember  that  one  law  book  was  enough  to  confound  them, 
although  it  did  not  in  the  police  court  serve  to  change  the  pre- 
determined verdict  of  the  justice.  It  happened  that  the  alleged 
offense  occurred  right  here  in  Virginia  and  it  happens  that 
the  Richmond  police  court  is  under  the  supervision  of  Virginia 
law  only;  and  now  read  what  the  Virginia  law  is  on  the  sub- 
ject and  notice  what  the  Supreme  Court  said  of  it  just  two 
years  ago.  "What  follows  is  found  in  106  Va.  Reports,  Gate- 
wood  V.  Garrett,  on  appeal  from  the  Circuit  Court  of  King 
William  County: 

' '  This  action  was  brought  by  James  L.  Garrett  to  recover  of 
the  defendant,  W.  K.  Gatewood,  damages  for  the  alleged  use  by 
him  of  certain  words,  charged  by  the  plaintiff  to  have  been 
slanderous,  and  to  have  affected  him  injuriously  in  the  position 
of  policeman,  which  was  then  held  by  him  in  the  town  of  West 
Point. 

The  declaration  names  three  persons,  one  of  them  the  mayor 
of  the  to^^^l,  in  whose  presence  the  words  complained  of  were 
uttered.  The  gravamen  of  the  complaint  is  that  the  plaintiff 
lost  his  position  as  policeman  by  reason  of  the  words  alleged  to 
have  been  spoken  by  the  defendant.  The  words  complained  of 
are  stated  in  the  declaration  to  be  as  follows :  That  the  defendant 


THE  IDEA.  5 

in  speaking  of  the  plaintiff  said,  'He  is  no  account';  'He  is 
always  at  home  asleep';  'I  am  prepared  to  prove  it';  'There 
is  something  rotten  about  it.' 

"These  words  are  not,  in  themselves,  actionable.  To  become 
so,  it  must  he  shoivn  that  they  were  uttered  with  a  malicious 
purpose  to  injure  the  plaintiff  in  connection  with  his  office  of 
policeman.    This  is  not  controverted. 

No.  1. 

"  'If  the  jury  believe  from  the  evidence  that  the  defendant 
spoke  the  words,  or  any  of  them,  as  charged  in  the  declaration, 
of  and  concrning  the  plaintiff,  yet  the  presumption  of  law  is 
that  he  spoke  them  honestly,  believing  in  the  truth  of  his  state- 
ment, although  such  statements  in  fact  were  false  or  founded 
upon  the  most  erroneous  information;  and,  in  order  for  the 
plaintiff  to  recover  in  this  action,  the  burden  is  upon  him  to 
prove  to  your  satisfaction  that  such  statements  were  spoken 
with  actual  malice  in  fact  towards  the  defendant.'  " 

This  is  Instruction  I,  and  the  Supreme  Court  says: 

"It  is  not  denied  that  this  is  a  correct  statement  of  the  law. 
The  occasion  was  privileged,  and  to  make  the  defendant  liable, 
he  must  be  shown  to  have  misused  the  occasion  to  gratify  his 
malice;  the  presumption  being  that  he  believed  the  statement 
to  be  true." 

"The  second  instruction  asked  for  by  the  defendant  and 
refused  was  as  follows: 

No.  2. 

"  'The  court  instructs  the  jury  that  the  conduct  of  public 
officers  is  open  to  public  criticism,  and  it  is  for  the  interest  of 
society  that  their  acts  may  be  fully  published  with  fitting  com- 
ments or  strictures,  and  that  whoever  fills  a  public  office  renders 
himself  open  to  public  discussion,  and  if  any  of  his  acts  are 
wrong  he  must  accept  the  attack  as  a  necessary,  though  unpleas- 
ant, circumstance  attaching  to  his  position.  It  is  not  only  the 
right  but  the  duty  of  a  citizen  to  make  complaint  of  any  mis- 
conduct on  the  part  of  officials  to  those  charged  with  super- 
vision over  them,  and  their  right  and  privilege  to  discuss  the 
fitness  or  misconduct  of  such  officials  ivith  tax  payers  in  the 
town  in  which  they  live.'     And  the  court  says: 

"This  instruction  is  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  our  in- 


6  THE  IDEA. 

stitutions,  and  correctly  states  the  law.  Odgers  ou  Libel  and 
Slander,  page  40 ;  Townsend  on  Libel  and  Slander,  section  254 ; 
Newell  on  Libel  and  Slander,  chapter  17,  section  101,  pages 
504,  505. 

"For  the   error   in   refusing   these   two   instructions   asked 
for  by  the  defendant  the  judgment  of  the  Circuit  Court  must 
be  reversed,  the  verdict  of  the  jury  set  aside  and  the  case  re 
manded  for  a  new  trial." 

So  the  Supreme  Court  marked  the  case  ''Reversed." 

(106  Va.  552.) 


Contributions  to  the  Defense  Fund 


Rev.  Tilden  Scherer,  who  as  chairman  of  the  committee  of 
citizens  interested  in  providing  funds  for  the  proper  defense  of 
the  editor  of  this  paper  in  the  various  litigations  now  pending 
in  the  courts,  desires  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  contribu- 
tions sent  to  him  at  Ginter  Park,  Richmond,  Va.,  will  be  quickly 
acknowledged. 

Men  in  the  various  establishments  of  the  city  have  interested 
themselves  in  the  fight  and  contributions  have  been  taken  among 
the  employees  in  the  shops  and  factories,  the  men  of  the  C.  &  0. 
shops  alone  having  contributed  $24.20  to  the  cause.  It  is 
stated  that  90  per  cent,  of  the  men  whose  names  were  subscribed 
to  the  list  of  contributors  are  voters  and  that  they  desire  to 
have  it  known  that  the  voters  are  determined  to  see  not  only 
that  this  paper  does  not  lack  for  funds  for  proper  legal  protec- 
tion, but  also  that  the  men  who  are  responsible  for  evil  condi- 
tions in  Richmond  shall  give  an  account  of  their  stewardship 
at  the  coming  elections.  Those  desiring  to  contribute  may  com- 
municate with  IVIr.  Scherer  by  phoning  INIadison  2686  or  Madi- 
son 965-J. 


So  Mr.  Alfred  "Williams  is  going  "all  the  way"  to  Roanoke 
to  edit  a  paper.  How  utterly  unpardonable,  if  one  is  to  adopt 
the  standard  he  himself  has  set  in  denouncing  the  editor  of  this 
paper  for  coming  here  "all  the  way  from  Lynchburg."  We 
would  modestlv  call  Mr.  Williams'  attention  to  the  fact  that 


THE  IDEA.  7 

Roanoke  is  about  fifty  miles  farther  from  Richmond  tlian  Rich- 
mond is  from  Lynchburg.  It  is  a  poor  rule  that  don't  work 
both  ways. 

Notice  this,  too,  that  Mr.  Williams  is  going  there  as  the 
hired  editor  of  a  paper  of  which  he  does  not  own  even  a  half 
interest,  while  the  editor  of  The  Idea  is  the  sole  owner,  editor 
and  publisher  of  this  paper,  so  much  condemned  because  its 
object  is  "the  common  good." 

We  suppose  it  is  entirely  pardonable  to  go  anywhere  to 
edit  a  paper  if  the  motive  be  purely  a  commercial"  one.  But 
all  sarcasm  aside,  let  this  big  fact  be  remembered,  that  the 
pastors  of  the  Richmond  churches  are  almost  without  exception 
not  natives  of  Richmond,  and  many  of  them  are  from  other 
and  distant  States.  They  are,  however,  none  the  less  welcome 
to  Richmond.  It  would  indeed  be  a  sad  state  of  affairs  if  any- 
one had  to  be  a  native  before  he  could  manifest  any  interest 
he  might  have  in  the  moral  welfare  of  the  community  in  which 
he  happened  to  dwell. 


Crutchfield  Had  Evidence-Should^ 
|Have^Issued  Bench  Warrant  J 


FAILS    TO    SHOW"    ANY    REASON    FOR    GIVING    THE 
MALLOY  WOMAN  A  LIGHTER  SENTENCE  THAN 
THE  OTHER  KEEPER  OF  A  SIMILAR  DIS- 
ORDERLY  HOUSE— THE    IDEA 
JUSTIFIED. 


Cross  Examination  (continued). 


Q.  By  Mr.  Meredith: 

Q.  Is  it  not  proof  to  a  justice,  when  a  house  having  the  repu- 
tation of  being  one  of  the  worst  disorderly  houses  in  town,  where 
whites  and  blacks,  men  and  women  meet,  and  where  they  have 
rows  and  fusses — and  where  you  catch  two  married  women  in 
there  with  two  young  men — when  you  fine  her  $100  don't  jou 
know  you  are  fining  her  on  the  belief  that  those  people  met  there 


8  '     THE  IDEA. 

for  immoral  purposes?  A.  I  did  not  give  it  a  thought  that  way. 
Q.  Isn't  it  proof  of  it?  A.  Of  what?  Q.  That  it  was  an  immoral 
house?  A.  Mr.  Meredith,  as  far  as  those  women  were  con- 
cerned, I  was  not  taking  much  stock  in  them.  Q.  I  do  not  ask  you 
to  hold  them  up  as  Christian  characters.  Were  you  not  satisfied 
they  were  there  for  immoral  purposes  ?  A.  I  thought  when  those 
women  admitted  what  they  had  been  doing,  in  going  down  to  a 
place  like  that,  it  was  a  very  disorderly  place.  Q.  And  that 
they  were  women  of  loose  fame?  A.  And  for  that  reason,  and 
knowing  that  house  by  reputation  as  I  did,  I  put  that  penalty  of 
one  hundred  dollars  on  her.  Q.  And  yet  you  had  her  up  on  two 
charges — one  of  selling  liquor,  and  had  acquitted  her  on  that; 
and  then  you  had  proof  before  you,  and  knowledge  on  your  own 
part  of  its  being  one  of  the  worst  places  in  towTi — you  had  proof 
that  she  had  two  married  women  in  there,  who  were  getting 
liquor,  with  two  young  men ; ;  and  you  fined  the  other  woman 
$100  and  thirty  days  in  jail,  and  this  woman,  on  two  charges, 
with  all  this  proof  before  you,  you  only  fined  $100.  A.  I  did 
exactly  that ;  but  I  want  to  tell  you  another  thing,  I  had  a  heap 
stronger  proof  against  Maggie  Lee  than  against  Sophie  Malloy. 
I  proved  the  reputation  of  that  house,  and  that  she  had  holloed 
across  the  yard,  "You'll  have  to  take  this  couple  in,  because  I'm 
full."  Q.  Do  you  say  that  is  a  higher  class  of  proof  to  any  man 
of  common  sense,  than  the  fact  that  two  married  women  go 
down  to  the  worst  house  in  town  with  two  young  men —  A.  Met 
them  there.  Q.  Well,  that  is  the  same  thing — which  is  the  higher 
class?  A,  Well,  I  require  convincing  testimony  when  I  convict. 
The  testimony  did  not  justify  me  in  convicting  that  woman  of 
selling  liquor;  and  everybody  knows  that  my  record  is  good  on 
whiskey  selling.  Q.  I  am  discussing  the  facts  of  this  particular 
transaction ;  that  whatever  may  have  been  the  charge — whatever 
may  have  been  your  previous  knowledge — the  fact  was  that  you 
regarded  this  house,  and  had  for  some  time,  as  the  worst  house  in 
town —  A.  One  of  the  worst  in  town.  Q.  As  a  place  where  illicit 
liquor  was  sold?  A,  Yes,  sir.  Q.  Where  white  and  colored  men 
and  women  congregated?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  And  that  two  white 
women  had  been  up  before  you  just  a  short  time  before — or  that 
day — I  don't  know  which,  for  meeting  two  young  men  down 
there — and  you  did  not  think  it  was  a  house  of  ill-fame !    What 


THE  IDEA.  9 

did  you  think?  A.  That  it  was  a  disorderly  house.  I  had  no 
proof  of  its  being  a  house  of  ill-fame,  and  no  jury  on  earth 
would  have  sustained  me  in  such  a  decision.  Q.  Well,  there  is 
no  telling  what  a  jury  might  do.  A.  I  know — they  are  very 
doubtful.  Q.  I  am  just  asking  you  what  you  thought?  A.  Well, 
I  am  giving  you  the  best  I  have  in  shop.  Q.  With  your  knowl- 
edge that  this  was  one  of  the  worst  houses  in  town — A.  That  is 
my  belief.  Q.  You  got  your  information  from  the  police  court? 
A.  And  from  cases  I  tried  against  her.  Q.  She  had  been  here 
before?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  How  often?  A.  I  don't  know;  I  had 
convicted  her,  and  she  had  been  before  me  once  or  twice  when 
I  thought  she  ought  to  be  convicted,  but  I  could  not  prove  it 
on  her  exactly.  Q.  How  many  times  have  you  convicted  her? 
A.  I  could  not  tell  you.  Then  her  mother  was  up  here.  Q.  Well, 
I  don't  care  about  her.  A.  I  say,  her  mother  was  brought  here 
oftener  than  she  was;  but  whenever  she  would  come  Mr.  Smith 
would  sometimes  be  with  her. 

Mr.  Smith:  That  was  years  ago.  I  haven't  defended  her 
since  her  mother's  death. 

Q.  The  fact  is  that  with  that  knowledge  on  your  part,  and 
the  additional  fact  that  it  had  been  proven  before  you  that  two 
married  women  met  young  men  down  there,  you  did  not  think  it 
was  a  house  of  ill-fame?  A.  She  was  not  charged  with  keeping 
a  house  of  ill-fame ;  I  could  have  amended  it,  and  would  have 
done  so  as  quick  as  lightning,  with  the  proof ;  I  had  the  power  to 
do  it,  there  is  no  doubt  about  that;  but  I  did  not  think  the  evi- 
dence justified  it.  Q.  Have  you  ever  heard  of  Sophie  Malloy's 
general  reputation?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  As  a  loose  woman?  A. 
Yes,  sir.  Q.  Did  you  ever  have  any  suspicion  that  she  kept  a 
house  of  ill-fame?  A.  I  did  not  say  that  I  did  not  have  a  sus- 
picion of  it.  Q.  A  common  woman  herself?  A.  I  don't  know 
whether  she  was,  or  not ;  I  had  heard  rumors — I  had  heard  some 
very  bad  things  about  Sophie  Malloy.  Q.  What  did  you  hear? 
A.  I  had  heard  that  she  was  a  very  loose  woman  herself.  Q.  To 
what  extent?  A.  In  staying  with  men.  Q.  White  or  colored? 
A.  Colored.  Q.  With  keeping  such  a  character  of  house,  you  left 
her  off  with  an  hundred  dollars  fine  ?  A.  Yes,  sir.  But  I  want  to 
say  that  when  I  had  these  women  here  I  only  put  a  fine  of  twenty 
dollars  on  them — women  from  Mayo  street — sometime  ago.     Q. 


10  THE  IDEA. 

That  is  in  the  "red  light"  district,  is  it  not.    A.  So  they  say;  I 
have  not  been  down  there.     The  Police  Board  and  I  have  not 
been  going  on  so  well  for  the  last  year  or  two,  and  I  am  not 
having  much  to  say  to  those  fellows. 
By  Mr.  Smith : 

Q.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  Sophie  Malloy's  mother  lived  with 
her  up  to  within  a  very  few  years  ago.  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  Had  you 
any  right  to  suspect  anything  of  the  sort  as  long  as  her  mother 
was  alive^ — that  it  was  a  house  of  ill-fame?  A.  I  heard  while 
her  mother  was  alive,  what  I  told  you  just  now. 


Captain  Barf oot  Testifies 

WOMAN  CHARGED  WITH  KEEPING  A  HOUSE  OF  ILL- 
FAME  BEFORE,  BUT  WARRANT  NEVER 
SERVED. 


IF    GUILTY    WOULD    SIMPLY        TAKE    HER   PICTURE. 


Q.  Captain,  did  you  swear  out  the  warrant  in  this  case,  upon 
which  she  was  fined  one  hundred  dollars?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  Wliat 
did  you  swear  it  out  for?  A.  On  evidence  given  before  the 
(coroner's  jury.  Q.  I  say  what  was  the  charge?  A.  One  charge 
was  for  selling  liquor,  and  one  for  keeping  a  disorderly  house. 
Q.  Why  did  you  swear  out  a  warrant  charging  her  with  keeping 
a  disorderly  house,  instead  of  a  house  of  ill- fame?  A.  Well,  I 
thought  I  could  prove  it  by  claiming  that  people  got  liquor  there, 
and  these  women  meeting  men  there,  and  I  swore  out  the  warrant 
for  keeping  a  disorderly  house.  Q.  Why  didn't  you  swear  it  out 
for  keeping  a -house  of  ill-fame?  A.  Well,  because  I  didn't  have 
any  evidence  to  prove  it.  Q.  Had  you  been  watching  that  house  ? 
A.  I  had,  sir.  Q.  How  long?  A.  I  have  been  watching  that 
house  my  whole  time  since  I  have  been  Captain,  for  selling 
liquor.  Q.  When  did  you  first  hear  or  suspect  that  she  was  keep- 
ing a  house  of  ill-fame?  A.  Well,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge, 
may  be  six  or  eight  months  ago,  may  be  longer — it  might  be  a 
little  longer.  Q.  Before  that  time  you  did  not  suspect  her  of 
keeping  a  house  of  ill-fame?    A.  No,  sir.     Q.  What  did  you  do 


THE  IDEA.  11 

when  you  began  to  suspect  her  of  keeping  a  house  of  ill- fame? 

Did  you  protect  her  in  it,  or  try  to  break  her  up?    A.  No,  sir,  I 

gave  orders  to  the  whole  night  relief — which    meets    at    seven 

o'clock — notified  them  of  this  fact,  about  this  disorderly  fact — 

and  gave  orders  to  every  man  to  keep  a  strict  watch  on  this 

house. 

By  Mr.  IMeredith : 

Q.  When  was  that  order  given — after  the  Coroner's  inquest? 
A.  No,  sir ;  that  was  several  months  ago. 
By  Mr.  Smith : 

Q.  You  said  six  or  eight  months  ago?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  You 
notified  them  that  you  suspected  her  of  keeping  a  house  of  ill- 
fame — assignation  house?  A.  Yes,  sir,  we  heard  that.  Q.  "What 
did  you  do  when  you  heard  it?  A.  Well,  we  had  the  officers  on 
that  beat  watch  the  house,  and  we  swore  out  a  warrant.  Q.  For 
what.  A.  Charging  her  with  keeping  a  disorderly  house ;  I 
believe  Sergeant  Sowell  swore  out  the  warrant.  Q.  For  keeping 
a  disorderly  house?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  Have  you  got  the  warrant? 
See  if  it  wasn't  sworn  out  charging  her  with  keeping  a  house  of 
ill-fame.  A.  Yes,  sir ;  I  think  it  was.  I  think  that  warrant  was 
sworn  out  March  27th.  Q.  (Reads)  ''Whereas,  R.  B.  Sowell  has 
this  day  made  complaint  that  in  the  last  ten  months  past,  1909, 
at  said  city,  Sophie  Malloy  did  unlawfully  keep  and  maintain  a 
certain  house  of  ill-fame  at  No.  2224  East  Main  Street,  resorted 
to  by  divers  persons,  both  male  and  female,  for  purposes  of  prosti- 
tution and  lewdness" — that  was  sworn  out  on  the  22nd  day  of 
March.  What  did  you  do  with  that  warrant?  A.  Sergeant 
Sowell  and  three  other  officers — I  have  got  them  on  the  back  of 
the  warrant,  I  think — went  there  to  execute  this  warrant,  and 
found  no  one  there  but  Sophie  Malloy  and  her  sister  and  a  ser- 
vant, and  three  beds ;  and  they  did  not  execute  the  warrant,  or 
even  let  them  know  they  had  a  warrant  for  her — just  looked  the 
house  over  and  walked  out.  Q.  Have  you  been  able  to  prove  by 
the  general  reputation  of  the  neighbors  that  she  kept  a  house  of 
ill- fame?  A.  No,  sir.  I  had  Officer  Duffy,  in  citizens'  Icothes, 
for  several  days  trying  to  get  information.  Q.  You  did  then 
as  early  as  ]\Iarcli  swear  out  a  warrant  charging  her  with  keeping 
a  house  of  ill-fame;  have  you  kept  the  house  under  constant 
watch?     A.  Yes,  sir.     Q.  Have   you  any  disposition,   or  your 


12  THE  IDEA. 

officers,  so  far  as  you  know,  to  protect  her  in  any  way,  shape  or 
form?  A.  No,  sir.  Q.  You  state  that  since  the  27th  day  of 
March  you  have  kept  this  house  under  watch,  to  try  and  prove  a 
case  against  her  of  keeping  a  house  of  ill-fame?  A.  Yes,  sir; 
the  warrant  has  been  kept  in  my  desk.  Q.  And  the  police  have 
been  notified  to  keep  on  the  watch-out  ?    A.  Yes,  sir. 

Cross-Examination. 
By  Mr.  Meredith : 

Q.  Captain,  as  I  understand,  the  Sergeant  of  the  police 
force  had  sufficient  information  to  lead  him  to  make  oath  to  the 
fact  that  the  woman  kept  a  house  of  ill-fame,  and  the  warrant 
was  never  served ;  is  that  so  ?  A.  No,  sir,  he  did  not  have  suffi- 
cient information.  Q.  Then  why  did  he  swear  to  it  for.  A. 
That  was  on  information  received.  Q.  He  was  justified,  he 
thought,  in  making  oath,  that  upon  information  he  had  received 
this  woman  kept  a  house  of  ill-fame?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  And  that 
warrant  was  pocketed?  A.  Yes,  sir;  that  is  what  it  was  sworn 
out  on — on  general  reputation  and  rumors,  and  we  tried  to 
execute  it  on  this  night.  Q.  Wlien  a  man  swears  to  a  things  on 
information  he  believes  the  information,  don't  he?  A.  Yes,  sir, 
Q.  And  a  police  officer  ought  to  know  whether  it  was  reasonable 
information,  ought  he  not?  And  Sowell  is  a  man  of  sense,  is 
he  not?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  And  knows  his  duty?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q. 
And  yet  you  pocketed  the  warrant?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  "Why?  A. 
Because  we  did  not  find  anything  that  would  justify  us  in 
executing  the  warrant.  Q.  How  often  do  you  go  in  a  house  and 
find  anything?  A.  Well,  if  we  had  found  any  women  there  who 
had  no  business  there,  the  warrant  would  have  been  executed. 
Q.  So  when  you  went  in  there  you  found  no  women  ?  A.  No,  sir. 
Q.  How  many  times  did  you  go  in?  A.  Several  times.  Q.  Since 
when?  A.  I  can't  say — but  since  I  have  been  Captain  of  that 
district.  Q.  When  was  the  first  time  you  went  in  there?  A.  I 
could  not  tell  you  that.  Q.  About  how  long  ago?  A.  May  be 
twelve  or  fifteen  months  ago.  Q.  What  did  you  go  in  there  for? 
A.  Looking  around  to  see  what  we  could  see.  Q.  To  see  if  she 
kept  a  house  of  ill-fame?  A.  No,  sir,  to  see  if  she  was  selling 
liquor.  Q.  Did  you  ever  hear  of  Sophie  Malloy  before  the  last 
eight  or  twelve  months?    A.  Oh,  yes ;  heard  of  the  Malloy  family. 


THE  IDEA.  13 

Q.  Did  you  ever  hear  of  Sophie?  A.  Yes,  sir;  but  not  before  I 
came  down  there.  Q.  That  was  about  three  years  ago ;  then  for 
nearly  three  years  you  have  heard  of  her  ?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  What 
was  her  reputation  ?  A.  Fast  woman ;  since  this  trial.  Q.  Since 
which  trial?  A.  The  Conway  trial.  Q.  Here  is  a  white  woman, 
whose  reputation  the  Justice  spoke  of,  and  you  speak  of  it — of 
having  illicit  intercourse  with  colored  men,  and  a  Sergeant  of 
the  police  force  thinks  he  has  information  enough  to  justify  him 
in  putting  his  oath  to  a  warrant  to  arrest  the  woman,  and  it 
appears  that  this  warrant  has  been  kept  in  your  pocket  since 
the  27th  day  of  March?    A.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Smith :  He  said  kept  in  the  drawer — in  the  desk. 

Mr.  IMeredith:  Well,  it  has  been  pigeon-holed  since  the  27th 
day  of  March. 

Witness :  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  If  you  had  found  five  or  six  beds  in  there  what  would  you 
have  done?  A.  Well,  if  there  hadn't  been  anybody  in  them  we 
would  not  have  done  anything.  Q.  You  didn't  expect  to  find 
anyone  in  them,  did  you?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q,  Don't  you  know  that 
the  proof  as  to  a  house  of  ill-fame  is  the  character  of  the  people 
you  see  going  in  there?  If  you  see  married  women  going  into  a 
place  where  w^hiskey  is  sold,  and  meeting  young  men,  you  have 
the  right  to  presume  that  it  is  a  house  of  ill-fame?  A.  I  did  not 
see  them  at  that  time ;  never  heard  of  it  until  after  the  Conway 
trial.  Q.  You  don't  know  on  what  Sergeant  Sowell  based  his 
oath,  do  you?  A.  No,  sir.  Q.  Now  I  will  ask  you;  don't  you 
know  where  whore  houses  are  in  this  town,  and  that  pictures  are 
gotten  of  the  inmates,  and  they  can  be  located  in  ten  minutes? 
A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  Tf  then  you  had  found  anything  in  Sophie 
Malloy's  house,  what  would  you  have  done,  taken  her  picture? 
A.  No,  sir.  Q.  Why  would  you  have  treated  her  differently 
from  anyone  else — other  whores  you  know  of?  A.  Because  I  do 
not  know  of  my  own  knowledge  she  was  a  whore.  Q.  But  if  you 
became  acquainted  with  that  fact,  would  you  treat  her  any 
different  from  the  other  whores  you  have  pictures  of?  A.  I 
would  not  treat  her  different.  Q.  The  others  are  not  arrested, 
are  they?  A.  No.  Q.  Then  why  arrest  her?  A.  Because  of 
some  complaint.  Q.  WTiat  would  have  been  the  complaint  if  the 
Sergeant  did  not  know  of  anything  at  all  to  justify  you  in 


14  THE  IDEA. 

executing  the  warrant  ?  A.  On  information  he  received  he  swore 
out  the  warrant.  Q.  So  if  you  had  found  out  that  she  was 
keeping  a  house  of  ill-fame  you  would  have  treated  her  the  same 
way  as  the  other  women,  would  you?  A.  No — ^what  do  you 
mean — take  her  picture?  Q.  You  say  you  know  where  the 
whores  have  their  places?  A.  Yes,  sir.  Q.  You  have  their  pic- 
tures, and  their  location;  now  if  that  be  a  fact,  what  were  you 
going  to  do  to  Sophie  Malloy,  different  from  the  others.  A.  It 
has  never  been  proven  that  she  kept  a  house  of  ill-fame.  Q. 
Suppose  it  had  been  proven  ?  A.  We  would  have  ordered  her  to 
have  her  picture  taken.  Q.  And  all  that  would  have  been  done 
would  be  to  take  her  picture?  A.  "We  would  take  her  picture.* 
Amid  much  laughter  witness  stood  aside. 


Captain  Sowell  says  had  been  a  Bad  House 
for  about  Two  Years 


By  Mr.  Meredith: 

Q.  I  understand  you  made  one  raid  and  failed  on  it?  A. 
Yes,  sir.  Q.  And  you  have  made  no  more  raids  since?  A.  No, 
sir.  Q.  And  you  had  previous  to  the  time  you  got  this  informa- 
tion heard  that  it  was  a  house  in  which  people  met  ?  A.  Yes,  sir, 
I  had  heard  it,  and  had  seen  those  negro  men  and  women  go  in 
there ;  and  I  had  seen  white  women  go  in  there.  Q.  And  you 
had  your  suspicion  of  its  being  a  house  of  ill  fame?  A.  Yes, 
sir,  that  is  the  reason  I  swore  out  the  warrant.  Q.  How  long 
had  that  been  going  on?  A.  Well,  I  reckon  ten  or  eleven 
months — somewhere  along  there — two  years  this  coming  March. 
I  think  it  had  been  going  on  eight  to  twelve  months,  somewhere 
in  that  neighborhood.  Q.  What  size  house  is  that?  A.  That 
house  has  about  seven  or  eight  rooms  in  it,  I  think,  as  well 
as  I  can  remember  now.  Q.  The  white  women  that  you  saw 
go  in  there,  were  they  of  different  ages?  A.  The  only  white 
woman  I  ever  saw  go  in  there  was  a  woman  that  dressed  in 
black,  and  she  seemed  to  be  about  forty  years  old.  Q.  But  you 
had  heard  that  other  white  women  went  there?  A.  Yes,  sir. 
Witness  here  stood  aside. 


o  c 


non 


DC 


30C 


DO 


A  New  Man  in 
anOld  Business 


AT   A 


New     Stand 


Rjeal    Estate     Rented,    Bought, 
Sold  and  Exchanged, 


cTWy     cTWethods    are 
Expensive  d^  To  cTVle. 


They  Produce  PROMPT  and 
SATISFACTORY  Results  for 
you. 

LOANS     NEGOTIATED     on 
Real  Estate. 


FIRE  INSURANCE  given 
special  attention.  Best  Com- 
panies represented.    A    A    ri!^ 


I  have  splendid  facilities    for 
handling  COLLECTIONS. 


JJ    STRICTLY    LEGAL    WORK 
-Tl    efficiently  aud  conscientiously 


attended  to. 


K4    k4    k4    k4    K-t 


How  I  do  Things, 


In  Real  Estate  Line 


CA  Flat  that  had  been  on 
Rent  Lists  of  several  Realty 
Agents  for  some  time  was 
placed  in  my  hands  early  last 
week.  On  Saturday  Evening 
of  the  same  Week  a  family  was 
living  in  this  flat  after  having 
spent  several  days  in  preparing 
it. 

In  Insurance  Line 


CL  A  few  weeks  ago  the  prop- 
erty of  a  party  insured  in  one 
of  my  Companies  was  destroyed 
by  fire.  The  Company  learned 
that  a  gasoline  engine  had  been 
kept  on  the  premises  in  viola- 
tion of  the  policy.  This  was  a 
ground  for  forfeiture,  but  We 
Paid  the  Loss  in  Full,  because 
the  Insured  did  not  know  that 
he  was  violating  the  Policy. 


CI  secure   HOUSES 
FOR  TENANTS    as 
well    as     TENANTS  LHJ 
FORj)    HOUSES.  ^ 


I  do  Everything  cheaper  than  Everybody 

SAMUEL  WANT 

Attorney  and  Counsellor  at  Law 

819  East  Broad  Street        Phone  Monroe  2837 


\£ 


noE 


DC 


J.OL 


16  THE  IDEA. 


FOR  SALE 


Boarding  House  Business,  near  new  Post-Office, 
New  Furnished  Rooms  alone  pay  2  1-2  times  rent. 

SAMUEL  WANT 


819  EAST  BROAD  STREET 


Prizes  for  Boys— December-January 

Contest. 

Ten  prizes  will  be  given  to  the  ten  boys  selling  the  greatest 
number  of  Ideas  in  December  and  January.  Prizes  were  recent- 
ly given  out  for  the  November  contest.  A  handsome  watch 
was  the  first  prize,  and  first  quality  stag  handle  pockU  knives 
were  given  to  the  nine  boys  selling  the  nine  next  largest  num- 
bers. One  boy  sold  226  Ideas  in  the  month,  thus  making,  at 
2  cents  each,  $4.52  besides  the  watch. 

Selling  Ideas  pays  the  boys  well  even  if  they  do  not  secure 
the  first  prize. 

'Tis  the  constant  drop  of  water 

Wears  a  hole  in  solid  stone; 
'Tis  the  constant  gnaw  of  Towser 

Masticates  the  hardest  bone; 
'Tis  the  constant  wooing  lover 

Carries  off  the  cooing  maid; 
And  the  constant  advertiser 

Is  the  man  who  gets  the  trade. 

— South  Bethlehem  Globe. 


For  Reliable 


FURNITURE,  FLOOR 
COVERINGS,  STOVES 
AND  HEATERS    :-:    :-: 


CALL  ON: 


JONES  BROS.  &  CO.  Inc. 

Cash  or  Credit  1418-1420  E.  Main  St. 


PRIZE 

-7        FOR        r" 

"THE  IDEA"  WILL  GIVE  PRIZES  TO 

Newsboy  who  ^et  the  greatest  number  of  weekly  subscribers  and 
other  prizes  to  those  who  sell  the  most  copies. 

The  Contest   vill  begin  with  the  1st  of  December  and  boys  desiring  to  com- 
pete should  be^iH  today  to  work  for  their  weekly  subscriptions. 

Boys  should  leave  their  names  at  the  time  of  getting  their  papers  so  that 
we  may  keep  an  accurate  record  of  their  sales. 

Some  time  ago  The  Idea  gave  away"  a  Watch  and  nine  other  valuable 

prizes,  and  the  winning  boys  did  good  work.     One  boy  selling 

112  copies  of  The  Idea  of  one  issue.      There  is  good 

money  in  it  for  the  boys  besides  the  prizes. 


ALFRED  L.    WALTON,  Jr.  FRANK  L.  HUTCHBSON  Wi 

Jefferson  Chemical  Cleaning       ^ 
and  Dyeing  Works  M 


No  Cleaner  Can  Clean 
A  Cleaner  Suit  Cleaner 
Than  A  Clean  Cleaner 
Can  Clean  


M  We  Dye  Seventy- One  Colors 

Wi  (^11  Work  Done  As  It  Ought  To  Be 

§2225  E.   Clay  St  Phone  Mad.  6030 

A.  H.  EWINQ    i 

CEMENT  PAVING 
CONTRACTOR 


32  NORTH    LOMBARDY  STREET 

RICHMOND,  VA. 

C«timat«s  cheerfully  given  on  Sidewalk 
Paving,  Halls,  Vestibules,  Basements,  dc. 


PHONE  1821 


vnj  The  Editor  has  known  Mr.  Ewing  personally  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  he  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  reputation  for  first-class  work 
and  straight  forward,  satisfactory  dealing  is  unexcelled. 


VIRGINIA  STATE  LIBRARY 


1000135148 


BDT  FOR  CIHCULATIOH 


Cil> 


Mm.