STATES AND CITIES: Hearst v. Kelly

Monday, Aug. 28, 1933

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(5 of 5)
ordered dancing girls to cover their nakedness. On a second visit he found the Fair audiences applauding the change. Said he: "After all, the general public is pretty decent." Public decency was now being put to another test as the coverings were stripped off Mayor Kelly's private finances. Even his friends found it hard to get away from the fact that his official income never exceeded $18,000 per year, which was exempt from Federal taxation; that his tax settlement on $450,000 for three years coincided with the Sanitary District's "whoopee era." After the Sanitary District scandal began to fade most people were ready to forgive and forget whatever part friendly, genial Ed Kelly might have had in it. But since then things have changed. The U.S. had jailed Gangster Al Capone for eleven years for dodging his income tax. Many a good Chicagoan agreed with President Roosevelt in principle that he had a right to know how the Mayor became so rich while in public service. Ed Kelly was beginning last week to hear one of the most unpleasant sounds in public life, boos among the cheers at his public appearances.

^{*Later Mayor Kelly gave out a statement showing his assets
and net income from 1919 to 1929. He had bought & sold $1,417,011
in securities and $243,351 in real estate, at a total profit of
$361,445. To this was added $362,923 from salary, dividends, rents and
interest, making a net income of $724,368. TA corporate body which
controls all canals, waterworks, sewage and drainage systems in Cook
County. Neither fish nor fowl, it is responsible to no other local
government, raises its own money by taxation. Authority is vested in
nine trustees.} ^{**A onetime New York mayor whose income tax was under
investigation last week by the U.S. was James John ("Jimmy")
Walker, still in happy exile in Europe. Before the Federal Grand Jury
in Manhattan appeared Russell T. Sherwood, Walker's financial Man
Friday who fled investigation by the Legislature's inquisitor, Samuel
Seabury. Sherwood balked at many a Question on the ground that the
answer might tend to degrade and incriminate him, was upheld by a
Federal judge.} ^{***Last week the Fair was half over. It had taken in
$13,211,214 from 10,000,000 cash customers. To break even this autumn
its total receipts must more than double that figure. As a popular
attraction it has fallen far below the estimates of enthusiasts who
boasted that 50,000,000 persons would attend. "The Streets of
Paris" continued to lead all concessions in popularity.}