The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-03
THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS.


THE anti Penn Squareites have not as yet
made any great amount of headway in the
Legislature with their projects to defeat the
will of the people of this city, as plainly ex-
pressed at the election of last October. Both
on Monday and yesterday bills to abolish the
commission, or to alter its complexion, were
proposed, and we have no doubt that they
will be defeated if they are brought to final
vote. Mr.. Dechert on Monday urged as a
reason for the passage of his bill to abolish
the Building Commission that 10000 petit
tioners had asked for it, This would have
perhaps been a very good reason had not the
citizens of Philadelphia expressed their
opinion already in a much better way than
is possible by petition. The Washington
Square site obtained 32, S35 votes last October,
and these votes were given by citizens WHO
had right to say where they preferred to
have the public buildings located. On the
other hand, 81, ,625 voters declared in favor
of Penn Square, and in common honesty and
decency the wishes of the majority should
have been respected and all further contro-
versy avoided. The Washington Square
party, however, determined to carry its point
left undone to render the popular decision of
last October void. Until it is able, how
ever, to present some stronger arguments
than it has yet done, it is entitled to
no consideration whatever at the hands of the
Legislature, and it will be q gross outrage
upon the citizens of Philadelphia if by any
legislative act the whole public buildings con-
troversy is reopened, and we are put back to
where we stood year ago. The petition
now before the Legislature, and which Mr..
Dechert uses as his most potent ar
gument for the abolition of the
Building Commission, has been signed by no
one knows who. The signatures of men,
women, and children and Jerseymen are ap-
pended to it, and the number of duplicates
and manufactured names it would puzzle the
getters-up of the document themselves to
find out. With all their opportunities for
sending practically unlimited list of names
to Harrisburg the anti-Psnn Squareites have
only been able to attach 10000 to their petit
tion, whereas they were able to muster 32, ,S25
votes at the October election. 1t needs no
majority, if not all, of the genuine signatures
to the petition are those of persons who voted
for the Washington Square site, and who are
endeavoring for their own selfish purposes to
defeat the wishes of a vast majority of their
fellow citizens. The members of the Legisla-
ture who may be disposed to think that they
will be able to make some some political capi-
tai by abolishing the Building Commission
would do we'll to ponder this fact,
and to consider whether il will pay to do the
bidding of faction of interested property
holders in opposition to the plainly expressed
desires of the mass of the people of Phila-
delphia. Among the newspapers of this city
the opposition to the Building Commission
and the Penn Square site is confined to one
or two journals whose offices are in the neigh
borhood of Sixth and Chestnut streets, and
whose opinions with regard to the merits and
dement's of the Penn Square site and the
plans of the Building Commissioners are con-
sequently of little value. There is more legiti-
mate business now before the Legislature than
is likely to be attended to properly before
adjournment, and the best thing the mem
bers of both houses can do is to let the Phila-
delphia pubic buildings severely alone in the
future, and to permit the commissioners to
carry out their plans without interference.