Chicago's New Day

When Chicago elects a Mayor it gets his services quickly. Last week, 43 hours after the last of his 194,257 vote majority over William Hale Thompson had been cast, Anton Joseph ("Tony") Cermak ne Chermock was sworn in as Mayor of Chicago. His first act was to dismiss 3,000 non-Civil Service appointees of Thompson and hold up the pay of 3,000 more until he was satisfied "they had performed bona fide service."

With 12,000 jobs at his disposal Mayor Cermak began the distribution of patronage by making his personal physician, Dr. Hugh O. Jones, Acting Health Commissioner. Next he appointed Francis Xavier Busch to be Corporation Counsel, a position Mr. Busch held under Democratic Mayor Dever. Counsel Busch, considered one of the best trial lawyers in Chicago, was last year president of Chicago's Bar Association.

For his Commissioner of Public Works ("Secretary of State" in the Chicago cabinet) Mayor Cermak again turned to the "better element" that had supported his campaign and chose Col. Albert Arnold Sprague, 54. millionaire grocer (Sprague, Warner & Co.), Wartime infantry officer, potent crime crusader, civic leader. Commissioner Sprague had served in the same capacity under Mayor Dever, was thoroughly familiar with his job.

In 1925 Col. William Cooper Procter ("Ivory" soap) sued Col. Sprague for his half of a $100,000 note which both signed to promote the presidential candidacy of the late Republican Leonard Wood. Col. Sprague settled, insisting he was not a "rich man."

As head of the Association of Commerce's anti-crime drive, brusque, sparse-haired Col. Sprague declared last year: "We will furnish the nerve to those in authority who are in the war on racketeers. . . . This is just like war."

Mayor Cermak prepared to leave town for a few days rest in Florida before being formally inaugurated April 22. Said the Mayor:

"This truly begins a new day for Chicago. . . . The bums and hoodlums who hang around in the corridors and make the City Hall look like a cheap lodging house on Saturday night are going to be swept right out."

Among the first to leave was William Hale Thompson. A truck removed his office furniture, including twelve telephones. Then he took a party of 70 not-too-happy friends off on a chartered steam packet Cape Girardeau for a cruise down the Mississippi River.

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