"Dead Animals"

Controller Charles C. Fitzmorris of Chicago last week added up the city's debts & assets.

Chicago owed $1,045.431.

Chicago possessed $13,310.

Deficit: $1,032,121.

Chicagoans groaned again to think they ever re-elected Mayor William Hale (''Big Bill") Thompson. Chicago had had no such deficit since 1917, when the first two years of Thompsonism necessitated a special bond issue. One unprovided item was $56,700 for removing dead animals from Chicago's streets this year. This item is traditional on city budgets, usually as a fat morsel of graft. In the case of gang-ridden Chicago, people interpreted the phrase "dead animals" as a euphemism for something far more grisly than graft.

Two days after Chicago's deficit was announced, the Chicago and Cook County tax bills were issued, having been withheld by Thompson henchmen until after the primary election. When they received their tax bills, citizens all over Chicago exploded with fury, and rushed to the City Hall to protest. While the city's deficit was being acquired, city and county taxes had been jacked up tremendously. Some citizens found their taxes raised 100%, some 200%, some 1,000%.

Police had to defend the bulky tax books from irate citizens who wanted to see how much their neighbors were paying. Everyone suspected discrimination, fraud. A queue of 20,000 indignants, four abreast, milled and chafed in the tax office out the door, far down the street. All taxes had to be paid by May i, to avoid penalties. Lawyers said there was no escape except through changing the law retroactively and getting refunds.