USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The great revolution; a history of the rise and progress of the People's Party in the city of Chicago and county of Cook > Part 4
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The former said the object of the meeting was to organize a movement, regardless of party politics, whereby the liberties of the people could be secured and retained. It appeared to be the aim of the city government to abridge the consti- tutional rights of citizens and make them subservient to its
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will. Under its Know-Nothing displeasure the Germans had come more than any other people; but they were determined to assert their manhood, and show the so-called temperance people that they were neither drunkards, serfs nor fools. It was hoped that the German papers could conscientiously unite in its support, and that other people would join in the movement.
Mr. Knoblesdorf said that the Germans had been driven to organize for self - protection by the narrow - minded men who were at the head of municipal affairs, and who were en- deavoring to force their own sectarian and Know - Nothing opinions down the public throat. The Germans were deter -. mined to stand the oppression no longer. They were about to organize for the preservation of their rights and privileges, gauranteed them by the constitution of the country and the state. He believed the result of the November election in Chicago would be a stern rebuke to the Know-Nothing and so-called temperance element. It would show them that the Germans and people of other nationalities were not Puritani- cal, but progressive and free in their ideas, and jealous of their political rights.
Messrs. Knoblesdorf, Karls, Schmehl, Lengacher and Lin- don were appointed a committee on resolutions.
Mr. A. C. Hesing, having been loudly called for, spoke in favor of any movement which would free the people from the thralldom of narrow views and national prejudices, by which the municipal rulers seemed to be swayed. If such a movement could be organized by Republicans and Demo- crats anxious to preserve the constitutional liberties of the
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people, so much the better. The record of the Germans could be pointed to with pride. They were not drunkards because they loved convivial beer. They had shown their patriotism and love of American institutions on many a blood-stained field. But it seemed, from present appear- ances, that all their present sacrifices only entitled them to be trodden under foot in civil life. Their moral record was clearly shown by the national statistics of crime. Know- nothingism was striving to get the upper hand again in this city, but it would be put down as it was before. Native Americans had produced more public men at whom the fin- ger of scorn could be pointed, than foreigners. The speaker instanced the cases of Colfax, Brooks, and Ames. Mr. Hesing concluded by stating that he would vote for any man, be he Republican, Liberal, or Democrat, who would exert himself to keep the personal rights of citizens invio- late.
Mr. H. B. Miller followed by a renunciation of the Re- publican party.
The Committee on Resolutions then returned resolutions expressive of the sentiment of the meeting. The following is a copy of the resolutions :
Resolved, That the present meeting of German citizens, without distinction of party, declares it to be the duty of every liberal-minded citizen to seek in the impending elec- tion to work for the future, and not to fight over the past.
Resolved, That we invite all the liberal elements of all nationalities and all parties to co-operate with us.
Resolved, That, in the contest which has been forced upon
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us, not merely the oppressive temperance laws are concerned, but the principle of freedom of conscience, and freedom to conduct business of all kinds.
Resolved, That we invite the citizens of all the wards to organize at once, and that the united organizations unite in a central body as quickly as possible.
Resolved, That we are of the opinion that not only all liberal-minded citizens, but also the German newspapers, should take a part in this contest ; and we, therefore, request them to unite with us in the approaching election, and that we reject with indignation every attempt to make capital out of this common cause.
To carry out these principles, the following measures were agreed to :
That the representatives of the German press pledge themselves to support effectually the efforts of the liberal- minded citizens, and refrain from all personal attacks upon them.
That, at all future elections, we will give our votes to only those men who can give us satisfactory written guarantees that they will act for the preservation of the personal free- dom and rights guaranteed by the constitution of the United States, and that they are in favor of the putting down of the unconstitutional and hostile-to-freedom Tem- perance and Sunday laws, and of the maintainance and freedom of trade.
That a committee be appointed in each ward to see to the naturalization of all who are entitled to become citizens.
That the citizens of all the wards are invited to elect exe-
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cutive committees, and that they unite to form a central committee.
Then came the great German mass meeting, on the even- ing of May 20, at Aurora Turner Hall, on Milwaukee avenue.
Ex-Alderman John Buehler was elected Chairman, and Mr. Pfurstenberg acted as Secretary.
The first speaker was Mr. A. C. Hesing. He said that he was greatly pleased that the movement begun on the North Side had spread like wildfire into the rest of the city. His exchanges showed that the movement here met with applause everywhere. They must forget the past, and think only how to succeed in the future. The Germans must assure their fellow-citizens that they were for good order every day, and that they would support only good candidates for every position, and turn out every man from the Council who had anything to do with rings or with pushing on these domicil- iary visits of police, etc. The German who went to church Sunday morning and to a lager beer garden in the afternoon had a right to have his opinion respected. They should be careful to nominate men who would not betray them. The ward committees would form a central one, which would issue an address to the public, stating their views, and de- claring by the Almighty they would not cease till their objects were attained.
Francis A. Hoffman, Jr., followed. The speaker said that the United States was settled by many nationalities. even before the Constitution was adopted. French, Dutch and English had come here. Afterwards an immense immigra-
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tion ensued. So many Germans had come that they pre- served their own customs and manners, to a great extent. Then the Know-Nothing movement arose, and those who belonged to it denied their connection, as Henry Wilson had done. They must in this movement join all hand in hand, irrespective of anything but their rights. It was said that the Supreme Court would sustain the Sunday and temper- ance laws. That was so; but the Federal Supreme Court had not decided anything of the kind. Slavery was consti- tutional, and yet it had been put to death. This was not a question of beer, it was one of personal rights. Why, instead of fighting the Germans and their rights, did not the Puritans reprove their Ben. Butlers? The Germans had fought bravely for American Union. Never would such a people be conquered in the present contest. They must sink Republican and Democrat, Catholic and Protestant, Free Trader and Protectionist, and go in single-hearted to their contest for freedom and the right, and the good old customs of the mother land which they had transplanted to these American shores.
Mr. Emil Dietzsch followed. He said that Germans and Irish, they were all Americans. For years the Germans had stood by the Republican party; now the temperance people were demanding their pound of flesh.
General Herman Lieb and others closed the meeting with remarks.
Meetings in the various wards followed fast and numerous, awakening a perfect storm of feeling.
At a meeting of the Chicago Turngemeinde, held in the
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North Side Turner Hall, May 21, the following resolutions were adopted :
"WHEREAS, That element of the nation which is inimical to the foreign-born citizens has got control in Chicago, as well as all over the country; of the legislative branches of government, and through them infringes upon the per- sonal liberty of individuals, prostitutes the basis of a Repub- lican form of government, and attempts to force upon the free and independent citizen the straight-jacket of Puritan- ical views ; and
"WHEREAS, The Turngemeinde of Chicago is in duty bound to take up unanimously the side of reformatory, lib- eral and Democratic ideas in the political and social life ; therefore,
" Resolved, That we hail with joy the union of all liberal- minded citizens of Chicago, and that we promise to assist with all our might in the battle against the attempts of the Puritans against personal rights and the freedom of trade.
" Resolved, That it advise its members to forget all party differences of the past, and to elect only such men as those whose past life is a guaranty of their coincidence with our views, and that they will honestly fulfill the promises given to us.
" Resolved, That, as the joint action of all liberal organ- izations and societies, without distinction of party or nation- ality, will give this movement sure victory, the Turnge- meinde invites all societies to delegate five members each, for mutual consultation and united action.
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" Resolved, That it is advisable to secure to the movement general confidence, to request societies to elect only such delegates as are honored in their walks of life, and whom nobody can reproach with studying any special interests.
" Resolved, That the Turngemeinde absolutely denies the insinuation that in the coming election the German element intends to force itself to the front; far from it; we think we are able to promise the hearty support and warm apprecia- tion of Germans to all those liberal-minded men, of all na- tionalities, who will fight with us against falsehood and hypocrisy.
" Resolved, That the Turngemeinde offers its hall and building, free of charge, for mass-meetings, committee- meetings, and all purposes that will help the cause.
" Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the German and English dailies, and the Scandinavian and Bohemian weeklies."
At this juncture, the movement had attained such formi- dable proportions that the Chicago Tribune, on May 24, published the following head-lines, in very bold type, pre- ceding reports of meetings : "THE GERMANS; THEY ARE RAPIDLY DRIFTING AWAY FROM THE REPUBLICAN PARTY."
Again, in the same journal of May 29, the following head- lines appeared in bold type : "IT IS SPREADING ; THE NEW DEPARTURE OF THE GERMAN AMERICANS." Eight enthu- siastic liberal meetings had been held the evening previous.
At those meetings, in conformity with the programme of " the New Departure," delegates were appointed to meet and select an Agitation Committee.
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On the evening of May 29th, these delegates met in Bismarck Hall, in the Teutonia Building, and appointed the following Agitation Committee : Frank Schweinfurth, Will- iam Floth, Clovis Tegtmeyer, C. Niehoff, Dr. Matthei, Max Eberhardt, Emil Muhlke, R. Thieme, F. A. Hoffman, J. Schiellinger, R. Michaelis, G. R. Korn, William Schwarz, B. Eisendrath, Carl Dahinten, Philip Stein, H. Schandlin, W. Schaeffer, Carl Bluhm, R. Freiberg, A. C. Hesing, R. Chris- tiansen, J. C. Meyer, Peter Hand, A. Erbe, L. Schwuchow, F. Sengi, and the editors of the various German papers.
This Agitation Committee went to work at once with great earnestness. The result of their labors was the fol- lowing Address and resolutions. Said Address and resolu- tions were presented, on the evening of June 25, to the Central Committee, in Bismarck Hall, and were adopted unanimously :
" If it is in times of great political excitement that every citizen is called upon to discharge his duties in upholding and supporting the rights of his fellow-men, the integrity of the nation, or the public welfare and prosperity, it is also at such times that, from passion and self - interest, men will lose sight of the goodness of the cause in which they have enlisted, that they will endeavor to corrupt the true instincts of the people, in order to make them subservient to their own personal ends, to their desire of private gain and self- aggrandizement. The great conflict that was carried on between two large and powerful sections of this country, which resulted in the final triumph of the principle advocat- ing the right of freedom from involuntary servitude and
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bondage among men, has also fired the passion and encour- aged the love of power and personal gain among our people. We have seen the scandalous transactions of men in high office, we have witnessed the attempt of defrauding the pub- lic treasury. Instead of the personal rights of the citizen being respected, and the principles of our fundamental laws being carried out, men seek to control those rights. and use the instrument of government as a means of oppression. Men seem to forget that the first condition of liberty is the establishment of some higher principle than compulsion and fear. A government that rests on material force alone, and adopts coercive measures to compel the people to follow a certain line of conduct, must always be a tyranny, whatever form it assumes.
"The question that seems most deeply to interest the people at the present moment, not only in this community, but in all parts of the country, is that concerning the renewed at- tempt to enforce certain laws which, for some time, had been obsolete, and to lend assistance to their sanctioning power by additional legislation, and which, for the sake of brevity, we familiarly style the Temperance and Sunday laws.
"That these laws are obnoxious to a large and respectable portion of our people, is not so much owing to the fact that they are intended to wage war against the legitimate customs and habits of a large class of our population, but to the well-founded apprehension that they are calculated to aim a deadly blow against the fundamental rights of American citizenship - the right to be protected in the pursuit of hap- piness, the acquisition of private property, and the exercise
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of personal liberty. It is the candid opinion of those who undertake to oppose those laws that, although they pretend to be mere police regulations, for the preservation of the public peace, they are dictated by the spirit of religious sec- tarianism, which is bent upon subjecting the powers of gov- ernment and the private conduct of its citizens to a system of religious belief to which a number of our citizens, who by no means form a minority, can, from private convictions, never conform.
" We claim that these rules, by which our own civil conduct is to be regulated, tend toward the establishment of a State religion, and violate, if enforced, without qualification, the fundamental rights reserved to the people by our organic laws.
" We hold that moral principles, which are to shape the conduct of our people, cannot effectually be taught in the form of positive law in the halls of legislation, but in the schools, whether public or private, whether denominational or otherwise, and in the sacred confines of our private homes. We hold that in those countries where public instruction is encouraged, and where all essential facilities are freely given, the commission of crime is far less frequent, immoral prac- tices but few in number, and the tone of public morality the most healthy. We are of opinion that, in order to preserve and maintain the virtue of the people, we have to raise the moral standard of our youth, we have to educate the rising generation up to that standard of public and private virtue which has been the pride of those days, in which the fathers of this country reared this noble fabric of government, whose
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object is to secure the greatest happiness to the greatest number of its citizens.
"In submitting the subjoined resolutions, adopted by a central committee, regularly chosen, we disclaim any inten- tion of disobeying the laws as long as they exist ; we shall use all legal means to alter them, and will be guided in our political conduct hereafter by the platform which we submit. We further disclaim all tendencies towards German Nativism, as sometimes charged against us. A common language and views common to citizens of German descent have neces- sarily caused us to act in harmony in this case, but speaking also the English language, and in the proud consciousness of being American citizens, always true to our adopted country, we call on citizens of all nationalities, whether born here or in another country, to join us in this movement which, we believe, is a combat for right and liberty.
" Resolved, That the civil service of the general, state, and local government has become a mere instrument of partisan tyranny, and personal ambition, and an object of selfish greed. It is a scandal and reproach upon free institutions, and breeds demoralization dangerous to the perpetuity of Republican government. We therefore regard a thorough reform of the civil service as one of the most pressing necessities of the hour; that honesty, capacity and fidelity constitute the only valid claims to public employment ; that the offices cease to be a matter of arbitrary favoritism and patronage ; and that public stations shall become again posts of honor.
" Resolved, That in the present state of the public finances,
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it is imperatively necessary that our city and county affairs be managed in the most economical manner, and that the public monies be husbanded as carefully and frugally as possible.
" Resolved, That education of the youth is the most effective agency for the suppression and prevention of crime, and that the establishment of a sufficient number of well-located schools, and the engagement of a large number of competent teachers is one of the greatest demands of this city, and ought at once to be attended to.
" Resolved, That we regard it as an outrage and in conflict with the spirit of the times and our institutions, that a man should, except in cases of breach of the peace, be arrested, in cases where his offence, if any, is punished by law with a fine only. In such cases a mere summons answers every just and lawful purpose. All laws and ordinances in conflict with this resolution ought to be modified in accordance therewith.
" Resolved, That the police power of the state, county, or city should under no circumstances be wielded in the interest of only infractions of society for the single purpose of enforcing their individual views and convictions upon another portion of the community, or in the interest of their individual religious views, or in the interest of exclusive modes in which happiness should be pursued and life enjoyed. Recognizing existing institutions, we assent to the demand that during Sunday all business and amusements should be under such restrictions as will in no manner interfere with or dis- turb the devotion or worship of any class of society, at the
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same time denying the right of any portion of the community to determine how their neighbors shall pass their Sunday, meaning hereby to concede just what is demanded in return - that all shall be left free to spend their Sunday as they may see fit, provided, only, that they do not commit a breach of the peace, or interfere with any other person exercising exactly the same right of choice, this right of choice, under the above limitations, being, as we believe, a sacred right guaranteed by the institutions of our country.
" Resolved, That the cause of Temperance is deserving of aid and assistance by all good men; intemperance in all things whatsoever ought to be combated with all suitable means. For this reason, we are in favor of encouraging the planting and growing of vineyards in this country, and en- couraging the brewing of good beer, ales, etc .; and we also recommend the repeal or reduction of duties upon the im- port of vinous and malt liquors. There ought also to be appointed by the proper authorities inspectors of all the beverages sold publicly, and those found impure and deteri- orated ought to be condemned, and the dealers therein fined.
" Resolved, That we recommend the passage of an ordinance prohibiting the granting of licenses for keeping saloons, pawn-broker shops, fruit stands, auction stores, hacks, etc., to persons of bad repute.
" Resolved, That we consider it a cardinal principle that a person should be held liable for his own wrong only; and for that reason we consider as unjustifiable the statutory enactment making the owner or landlord of premises respon-
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sible for the neglect or misdemeanor of his tenant. And for the same reason we demand that drunkards be held strictly accountable as well for their acts committed while drunk as for committing the act of getting drunk.
" Resolved, That we recommend the principles and views above set forth to the candid consideration of any good cit- izen, and we herewith invite all to join us in our efforts to re-establish and maintain our fundamental rights and liber- ties as citizens of this glorious Republic, and to oppose every candidate for office who is not in sympathy with the spirit of the foregoing resolutions."
At the same meeting it was agreed, on suggestion of Mr. A. C. Hesing, to hold a mass meeting.
On the evening of July 17, seventeen members of the Committee of Seventy met in the Builders' Exchange, on LaSalle street. The meeting here decided the fight to be a square stand-up one on the "Law and Order " side.
Sunday afternoon, August 31, 1873, several gentlemen met in Greenebaum's bank. Present, among others, B. G. Caul- field, W. J. Onahan, A. C. Hesing, General Leib, Justice Boyden, Peter Hunt, Ed. O'Neil, R. Kenney, J. Bonfield, J. H. McAvoy, M. Evans, John Corcoran, Arno Voss, Ed. Phillips, A. Schænninger, Jacob Rehm, P. M. Cleary, T. Bren- nan, George von Hollen.
Arno Voss presided. W. J. Onahan acted as Secretary.
Mr. O'Hara said it made him feel proud that he had been a Democrat from childhood; he had lived a Democrat and hoped to die a Democrat. There was in the present admin-
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istration a dangerous tendency to despotism, and a display of Puritanism which was simply intolerant. While he fav- ored a proper observance of law, he could not but deprecate extreme measures. Crime nor lawlessness did he favor, but he thought the best interests of society could be consulted by adopting such a course as would harmonize all classes of our people. He did not care to see the doors of saloons thrown wide open on Sundays. This would offend a certain class, and be very illiberal. To compromise, why not cause saloon proprietors to keep closed doors and drawn curtains, place the establishments under police surveillance, and sup- press disorderly conduct? The main question to insure success was the selection of good men for city officers.
Mr. B. G. Caulfield followed. He said Mayor Medill was elected irrespective of politics, but had sold out to the Law and Order men. In his administration only a moiety of our population had been regarded. Washburn was nothing but an importation, and had displayed a stubborn and ill-governed disposition. The Police Department had become a tool in his hands to enforce Puritanical ideas.
Mr. A. C. Hesing denounced the city government briskly. As an evidence of the manner in which Washburn was con- ducting police affairs he instanced the case of Dennis Sim- mons, one of the best officers on the force, who was dis- charged on a most frivolous charge.
Messrs. Michael Keeley and Lieb also addressed the meeting.
On the evening of Sept. 3, the German-American Central Committee met at Bismarck Hall.
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Mr. A. Schænninger called the meeting to order. He re- ferred to the meeting in Greenebaum's building, where a committee was appointed to confer with the Committee of Agitation.
Mr. A. C. Hesing said that the committee, appointed by the meeting at Greenebaum's bank, consisted of Americans, Irishmen, and members of all nationalities excepting Ger- mans. It was intended hereby that a coalition should be formed.
On the evening of Sept. 5, a meeting was held in Greene- baum's building. Col. Arno Voss called the meeting to order, and stated it was a continuation of the meeting of the Sunday previous.
Alderman McAvoy, Chairman of the Committee appoint- ed to act in connection with the German organization for the purpose of calling a mass-meeting, reported the names for said committee. It was accepted.
A committee of five was appointed to see that all nation- alities were represented in committees.
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