1914-12-28

Just three months into his first term as an elected official at Hamilton City Hall, Chester Walters started to make a huge impression.

The Hamilton Herald of December 28, 1914 carried the following, tortuously-lengthy sentence which described vividly what happened in April 1914, events initiated by the newly-elected alderman, Chester S. Walters :

“Inside of three months during which he was regarded as a bother, but harmless, at the city hall, he mastered the intricacies of the weird state of affairs known as the works department ‘system,’ and he scared the famous city hall ‘ring’ worse than it was ever scared before when he declared at a city council meeting in April that he had evidence that showed it was possible for a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of materials and supplies to have been stolen from the city in the past five years; evidence to show that it was possible for dead men to figure on the payrolls; evidence to show that the system of auditing was a ghastly failure, and other evidence of cases where the city had been stung, was being stung and could be stung.”¹

¹ “Big Stick Still Needed For the Civic Grafters : Judge Snider Said That Criminal Practices That Were Disclosed Would Prevail If Some Competent Man Like Ad. Walters Did Not Take Hold and Look After Proper Handling of People’s Money.”

Hamilton Herald.   December 28, 1914.

The new alderman declared in April that the City of Hamilton municipality needed a proper system of auditing to monitor closely how the taxes were being spent. He also pushed for the removal of some department heads to be replaced by honest and competent officials. Finally, he advocated the creation of a position for a purchasing agent to monitor how materials used in city operations were acquired and used.

Needless to say, the new alderman was the target of push back in April, 1914 when he started to publicly push for reforms:

“That is about the time that the active opposition commenced. Since then Ald. Walters has been accused of having ‘cold feet’ and of being unable to handle the job of investigating city hall affairs.  It was freely predicted that the city hall ‘ring’ would ‘get him’ in the fashion that it ‘got’ the late Geo. E. Tuckett when he tried to clean out the ‘gang.’ ”¹

Alderman Walters faced up to his opponents with a steely fearlessness and succeeded in having a full investigation, head by Judge Snider, in which all operations at the Hamilton City Hall, especially in the works department would be looked at. The probe, conducted in public and reported on in the press in great detail, had the power to compel witnesses to testify under oath.

The Graft probe was sensational news for many weeks as it was carried out. The conclusions published in Judge Snider’s final report were a series of stinging indictments regarding the competence and integrity of much that was going on in Hamilton City Hall :

“In his report, Judge Snider backed up Ald. Walters in all the claims he made, and all the charges made by the alderman were proved in the course of the inquiry.

“Judge Snider declared that ‘thousands and thousands of dollars’ were lost in gravel deals, and that the city had been robbed of ‘hundreds and hundreds of dollars’ in oil deals.”¹

One of the many telling statements in Judge Snider report was “the cases of theft and dishonesty which were discovered and proved , and in some cases confessed, by no means are the only ones there are. Enough, however, was brought to light to show that the city’s interests sadly needed looking after.”¹

Upon release of Judge Snider’s report, the Herald felt that “the ‘ring’ at Hamilton City Hall had received a “body blow’ but it displayed that there was still some power there as it ramped up an extensive campaign to discredit Chester Walters during his campaign to be elected mayor.

In face of such opposition, Walters did not back down and indeed he decided to accept the pleas of many in the community:

“Ald. Walters was asked by hundreds of taxpayers of the city to be a candidate for the mayoralty. The argument put up to him by ministers, lawyers, doctors, business men and merchants of all kinds, and scores of workingmen who own their own homes, were so strong that he decided to run for mayor.

“The principal argument was that as so much opposition had been put forth against any reforms he recommended or any action he proposed that the results of the inquiry would be nil if he was not in the chief executive position to see that the good work was carried on.”¹

One example of how well Chester Walters’ mayoral campaign happened on December 27, 1914 in Hamilton’s far east end of the time.

As reported in the Herald, the meeting proved to be interesting and instructive for those in attendance :

“Strong indications that the foreign colony in this city is with Ald. Chester Walters were noticeable at a meeting held last evening in the Polish hall, Joseph street, under the auspices of the Polish Independent club, at which the two mayoral candidates spoke. Ald. Walters got a great reception, being cheered to the echo.

“Controller Gardner  was the first speaker and was introduced by A. A. Yarosh, president of the club, who acted as chairman. The hall was filled to overflowing and the controller got a nice reception.

“In opening the meeting, President Yarosh explained to the speakers that the club was formed to aid his fellow countrymen to become good citizens and to become interested in municipal affairs. Most of them came from the very center of the war zone, and there was nothing to induce them to return to Poland. He expected many more to follow them to this country when the war is over, and he wanted to aid them to take an intelligent interest in the affairs of the city to which they belong.

“Assisted by President Yarosh, who is an accomplished interpreter, and by Rev. Father Tarasluk, priest of the Polish church, Controller Gardner explained his stand on municipal questions and gave a brief synopsis of his record of eight years in the council and as a paid member of the board of control.

“Ald. Walters was the second speaker and in introducing him, President Yarosh explained the meaning of the word, Watchdog, which is used frequently to refer to guardians of taxpayers’ money. He told them that Hamilton’s watchdogs had been asleep at their posts for the last ten years or so. Early this year, a tom cat, he stated, had come along in the person of Ald. Walters, and, discovering the mice and rats destroying valuable records and documents and carting off money, he had got busy and put a stop to it.

“This was greeted with cheers and laughter, and when Ald. Walters stood up to speak, he was cheered to the echo.

“He spoke on the investigation, and as the Poles are nearly all taxpayers, he had a sympathetic audience. When he sat down, he was cheered again.”¹

 (To Be Continued)