sep 28, 1903 - 3,000 Citizens Protest Corrupt City Officials

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Mayor David S. Rose, the "Apollo in figure" took Milwaukee to a new low. Milwaukee became a stronghold of municipally sanctioned vice during his administration. This included gambling houses, all-night saloons, and prostitution. "I live to see my people at play and happy." Rose once remarked, and he was willing to share the city's bounty with out-of-town guests. Beating the drum for "Conventions, Celebrations, and a Live Town," Rose welcomed, by his own estimate, an average of 340 state and national gatherings to Milwaukee every year. He appeared at the head of countless reception committees in full regalia - silk top hat, Prince Albert coat, striped afternoon trousers, gray silk gloves - and thousands of visitors heard him extol the virtues of "our beautiful cit-eh!"

There was a dark side to life under "All the Time Rose." Some citizens wondered how their mayor could afford to buy an Arizona copper mine on an annual salary of $4,000, and there was a never-ending stream of rumors about the "brigade of grafters" in City Hall. The smoke finally burst in flames of indignation. On September 28, 1903, the Milwaukee Turners called a mass meeting to protest "the general and widespread municipal corruption that has prevailed for years in the city and county of Milwaukee." The conclave drew at least 3,000 people, including industrialists, bankers, and brewers. Grand jury investigations led by District Attorney Francis McGovern uncovered a cesspool of abuses. He filed two hundred-seventy-six indictments against 83 individuals but none against Mayor Rose. Yet McGovern blasted the mayor as "the self-elected, self-appointed general of crime in this community." Despite the damning disclosures, David Rose kept getting elected. He held office 10 years between 1898 and 1910. By 1910 Milwaukeeans had enough and the Socialists moved in.

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