April 16, 1904: Lincoln Steffens Publishes "The Shame of the Cities"

April 16, 1904: McClure's magazine, having already done so as a serial, publishes The Shame of the Cities, by one of its editors and leading reporters, Lincoln Steffens, in book form. It marked Steffens as one of the nation's leading investigative reporters, known in the vernacular of the time as "muckrakers."

Born in San Francisco in 1866, and raised in Sacramento, the capital of the State of California, in the house that would eventually become the Governor's Mansion. His background was such that he was no stranger to corrupt politics, in either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.

Invoking the name of the long-since-fallen William M. Tweed in New York City, he began the article series in 1902, and then the book in 1904, with "Tweed Days in St. Louis." He concluded the article by claiming that, "In all cities, the better classes -- the business men -- are the sources of corruption." His research "has shown St. Louis that its bankers, brokers, corporation officers, its business men are the sources of evil." And he warned, "What went on in St. Louis is going on in most of our cities, towns, and villages. The problem of municipal government in America has not been solved."

He backed this up with "The Shame of Minneapolis," telling of Albert Alonzo "Doc" Ames, who was elected that city's Mayor in 1876, 1882, 1886 and 1900. The Civil War Army doctor served nonconsecutive terms, and getting more corrupt every time. He ran the city's police department like an organized crime family, appointing his brother Frederick as Commissioner, running a protection racket.

Investigations by Steffens and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department led to Fred's indictment, and on August 27, 1902, "Dirty Doc" fled the city to avoid arrest, finally getting arrested in New Hampshire 6 months later. He was convicted, but the conviction was overturned. Still, it kept him out of public office for the rest of his life, and his successor, David P. Jones, straightened things out. "Minneapolis should be clean and sweet for a little while at least," Steffens concluded.

Steffens wrote a follow-up on St. Louis, and also "Pittsburg: A City Ashamed." (That city's name was officially spelled without the H on the end from 1891 to 1911, including on the uniform of Pirates star Honus Wagner on the famous 1909 "T-206" baseball card.) Next came "Philadelphia: Corrupt and Contented," ,"Chicago: Half Free and Fighting On," and "New York: Good Government to the Test," in which he praised the City under its reform Mayor Seth Low: "For an American city, it has been not only honest, but able, undeniably one of the best in the whole country." He still ripped the Tammany Hall political machine, which Low had fought.

Steffens later covered the Mexican Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution, infamously saying of Communism, "I have seen the future, and it works." By the time he died in 1936, Joseph Stalin's "Five-Year Plan" had already proven him wrong.

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April 16, 1904 was a Saturday. It was Opening Day of the baseball season, and these games were played that day:

* The New York Highlanders lost to the Boston Americans, 12-6 at Hilltop Park in Upper Manhattan. No one knew it yet, but these 2 teams would battle for the American League Pennant until the last day of the season. Also not yet known to anyone was that these teams would be renamed the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, respectively, and become the greatest rivals in baseball.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Superbas, 3-1 at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The Superbas became the Dodgers in 1911.

* The Boston Beaneaters beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-7 at National League Park (later renamed Baker Bowl) in Philadelphia.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 12-2 at American League Park in Washington.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-7 at The Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Naps, 10-8 at South Side Park in Chicago. Cleveland's 2nd baseman, manager and namesake was Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, who went 2-for-5. in this game.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 4-3 in 12 innings at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-5 at Robison Field in St. Louis. Kid Nichols went the distance for the win. Honus Wagner went 2-for-4 with a walk.

And in English soccer, Woolwich Arsenal of South-East London, which would one day become the North London team I would support, traveled to Blundell Park in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, and played Grimsby Town to a 2-2 draw.