The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-14
TUESDAY, MARCH "a, 1871.
THE INDIGNATION MEETING THIS
EVENING"

Doen n1pp6u III tu0 Duu ny bho uppOluIihoub
by Speaker Webb Of five additional members
upon the Committee on Municipal Corpora
tions, which has the bills in charge. ALI of
these five honorable gentlemen ercept one,
we are informed, are opposed to the commits
sions, and the object of their appointment,
we are told, is to defeat the bills in commit
tee, so that they will be adversely reported,
and the House consequently prevented from
passing them except by q two-thirds vote. All
of which is exceedingly lovely in its superb
cial aspects, but may we be permitted to in
quire, without impeaching Speaker Webbs
motives, why all five of the addi-
tional committeeman are not oppo-
nents of the grand scheme for plundering
the city of Philadelphia 1t will not do for
the people of this city to rely for safety upon
legislative trick, such as this packing the
Committee on Municipal Corporations most
certainly is, for while such trick may be
legitimate means of defeating villainy, it is
far preferable that the men who propose to
institute grand system of robbery should be
made to understand that they will do 80 at
their peril, and that the citizens of Philadel-
phia have both the power and the disposition
to resist by force, if necessary, the attempt
now being made to tranple on their liberties.
One exceedingly suspicious circumstance in
the appointment of the supposed anti-com-
mission committeeman is, that as great in
dignation meeting is to be held at Horticul-
tural Hall this evening, it has been possible
to announce in this mornings papers that the
danger is all over Speaker Webb's little ar
rangement has squelched the commission
bills, and the men who expected to
grow rich during the next five years, and for
an indefinite period after that, have nothing
now to do but to tear their hair and to gnash
their teeth in impotent rage and disappoint-
ment. All of which has very much the ap-
pearance of an attempt to throw wet
blanket upon the meeting called for this
evening, and to quiet the suspicious of those
who seemed disposed to be troublesome. We
warn our readers not to be deceived by any
reports from Harrisburg, but to assemble in
force this evening, and protest in such
manner against the commission bills that the
men who are attempting to force them
through the Legislature will be obliged to
recognize the weight of public opinion. The
advocates of the scheme for placing the gov
ernment of the city of Philadelphia in the
hands of series of all-powerful and totally
irresponsible commissions are play
ing for immense stakes, and
they will leave nothing undone
to accomplish their object. 1t is therefore
the duty of the citizens of Philadelphia to
watch closely every movement made at Har-
risburg, and to refuse to be deceived by any
halfway measures or arrangements for fixing
up matters other than by the clear and un-
equivocal defeat of the bills. Let no citizen
who had made up his mind to attend the
meeting at Horticultural Hall this evening
absent himself on account of the reports from
Harrisburg which appeared in this mornings
papers, or the probabilities are that he will
be obliged to suffer for it in his pocket
hereafter.
If the commission bills pass every descrip-
ton of property will be deprecated in value
to an alarming extent, and in many sections
of the city real estate will scarcely be worth
owning. 1t will be great mistake to sup
pose that the rich will be the chief sufferers
by this wholesale system of robbery which the
commission scheme proposes to inaugurate,
but, on the contrary, the burden of the in
creased taxation will fall upon the poor men,
the mechanics, the laborers, and all who now
have the greatest difficulty in earning de-
cent maintenancefor themselves and families.
1t will largely increase the rent of dwelling
houses, and the liens which the commissions
are authorized to make against certain
property to secure the payment of
the ostensible cost of so-called
improvements will be so annoying and bur-
densome that many mechanics and others
who now own comfortable little homes will
only be too glad to get rid of them at any
price and take their chances of getting
shelter under the roof of some one else. In
deed it is impossible to estimate the annoy
ance and suffering which will be caused by
these commissions to the poorer classes of
the community, and it is the duty of the
hard-handed sons of toll, without regard to
party, to make their influence felt in an un-
mistakable manner at the meeting tonight,
and not to allow the rich men alone to be the
denouncers of the villainous scheme which is
now being hatched at Harrisburg. Let there
be such an outpouring of all classes this even
ing, and such an emphatic expression of
opinion, that the advocates of the commission
scheme will be made to understand that
Tammany rule cannet be inaugurated in this
city without danger to the men who attempt
it, and we assure our readers that a little plain
talk from the citizers of Philadelphia will
have more effect in defeating the commission
bills than any packing of committees will.
That Speaker Webb's arrangement for killing
the bills in committee cannot be relied upon