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His biggest came in 1924, when boss-ridden Cincinnati was at the depth of political corruption and the Post was thundering at the city hall gang, led by Rud Hynicka. One day, just before the city council was to vote on an ordinance reducing gas rates, a local Western Union operator showed up at Segal's desk. Said he: "I could go to jail for this, but I feel it's my duty as a citizen to bring this to you." He showed Segal a telegram from Hynicka in New York to the president of the city council. It ordered the council majority to vote against any rate reduction, saying: WE'VE GOT TO TAKE CARE or OUR FRIENDS. The Post published the telegram, and Segal followed it up with a series of columns demanding a new city-manager form of government with a nine-member council elected on a nonpartisan ballot. Cincinnati got its nonpolitical city manager, and cleaned up its graft.
Someone Worthy. As a civic conscience during the Depression, Al Segal used his column to save people from eviction, send poverty-stricken youngsters through college. An old friend, Cincinnati's late Grocery Tycoon B. H. Kroger, told Segal: "You meet a great many people who need help. If I can be of service, let me know." Al Segal did, got a $6.000 grant for a scientist to carry on experiments in tuberculosis. Of the thousands of letters he has received, one he prizes is from a Protestant minister, who wrote: "I envy you, Al Segal. You have the largest congregation in the city, and you don't have to live with it."