A new hysteria of vice and disorder dates from the hour the blunder was made.
In October of 1909 "Gypsy" Smith, a noted evangelical preacher of the itinerant order, was holding revival meetings in an armory on the South Side of Chicago.

With mistaken zeal this man announced that he was going down into the South Side Levee and with one effort would reclaim every one of the wretched inhabitants.

He invited his immense congregation to follow him there, and assist in the greatest crusade against vice the world had ever seen.
In Chicago, as in other cities, no procession or parade is allowed to march without permission from police headquarters.

To the sorrow of all those who believed that reform had really begun, Chief of Police Steward issued a permit to "Gypsy" Smith.

It is probable that the chief feared the effect of a refusal.