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The answer to this question is No; and if you ask the reason, it is the Chicago “Tribune.” Turn to page 270 of “The Brass Check,” and read the story of how the “Tribune” robbed the school children of enormous sums. This paper, and also the “Daily News,” have their buildings on school land; and they got leases at absurdly low rentals, the leases extending for ninety-nine years, with no provision for revaluation during the entire period. In order to put this job over, the “Tribune” had got its own attorney appointed on the school board!

The affair created a tremendous scandal, and during the administration of Mayor Dunne there were some school board members not under Big Business control, and these attempted to have the leases declared invalid; whereupon the “Tribune” and the “News” started a crusade of slander against the school board and against Mayor Dunne, who appointed the school board. The “Tribune” calls itself “The World’s Greatest Newspaper,” and is undoubtedly the most powerful newspaper in the Middle West. The “Daily News” is the most powerful evening paper; and the two of them, according to William Marion Reedy, “rallied to their support all the corrupt and vicious element of the Chicago slums, likewise the forces that could be controlled by the street railways and other public service corporations.” They elected a mayor who was their tool, and he, in defiance of law, turned some school board members out of office, and the courts upheld the leases! Here, you see, are two bands of highwaymen, operating under the cloak of “patriotism” and “hundred per cent Americanism,” and robbing the school children of Chicago of sums beyond estimate. Every politician and office-holder in the city knows that, and follows this high example; and so it comes about that $10 is not safe anywhere in Chicago.