ing taxes on personal property on a
valuation of not more than $2,500,000; and the pious old shopkeeper had
repeatedly threatened, in case the board of assessors should raise his
assessment, that he would forthwith bundle off his domicile from
Chicago, and reside in a place where assessors refrain from too much
curiosity as to one's belongings. But lo! when the schedule of his
property was filed in court, it was disclosed that for many years he had
owned at least $17,500,000 of taxable personal property subject to the
laws of the State of Illinois. Thus was another idol cruelly shattered;
for the aforesaid fawners had never tired of exulting elaborately upon
the theme of Field's success, and how it was due to his absolute
integrity and pure, undented character.

At another time the facts of his thefts of taxes might have been
suppressed or toned down. But at this particular juncture Chicago
happened to have a certain corporation counsel who, while mildly
infected with conventional views, was not a truckler to wealth. Suit was
brought in behalf of the city for recovery of $1,730,000 back taxes. So
clear was the case that the trustees of Field's estate decided to
compromise. On March 2, 1908, they delivered to John R. Thompson,
treasurer of Cook County, a check for one million dollars. If the
compound interest for the whole series of years during which Field
cheated in taxation were added to the $1,730,000, it would probably be
found that the total amount of his frauds had reached fully three
million dollars.

The chorus of astonishment that ascended when these facts were divulged
was an edifying display. He who did not know that the entire propertied
class made a regular profession of perjury and fraud in order to cheat
the public treasury out of taxes, was either deliciously innocent or
singularly uninformed. Year after year a host of municipal and State
officials throughout the United States issued reports showing this
widespread condition. Yet aside from their verbose complainings, which
served political purpose in giving an air of official vigilance, the
authorities did nothing.

PERJURY AND CHEATING COMMON.

As a matter of fact, the evasion of taxes by the Pullman Company had
been a public scandal for many years. John P. Altgeld, Governor of
Illinois in 1893-95, frequently referred to it in his speeches and
public papers. Field, then, not only personally cheated the public
treasury out of millions, but also t