Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-06-30
PHILADELPHIA WAYS.
The City Of Penn and the White Door
steps.
The Famous City ia It's Peculiarities Of Lii
Architecture and Politics.

IOf the Wanamaker- English Ashbridge
scandal, and the city of other interest
ing things, old and new, has an inter
est nowadays for those who think and
talk politics, for here it is that the Re
publican national convention re-
nominated President Mckinley, this
month, says writer in the Boston
Transcript. 1 have been enjoying the
ways of Philadelphians the past couple
of weeks, and perhaps you will be
willing to hear of what | have seen on
the surface; it is too short time to go
below the surface very much, is two
weeks.
deal of the lively scrap between the
mayor of the city and his director of
public safety on one side, and John
Wanamaker and practically the entire
daily press of the city on the other
side. If you lived here just now you
would have to read about it or forego
the comfort of reading local daily
newspapers. And you could hardly get
your hair cut or your face shaved with
out the artist who handled the scissors
or the razor talking into one ear or
both on the subject. 1t is not for me
to say anything about the merits of the
case. but when press and pulpit and
public sentiment unite on anything the
other side has a hard time of ii, and
Mayor Ashbridge and Director of Pub
| lie Safety English are having hard
time of it now.
This director of public safety is an
official of the city peculiar to Phila-
ldelphia-at least it seems peculiar to a
man who knows more of Boston and
New York ways than of the ways of
other cities. He has a sort of general
Oversight of the police force of the city,
something like the police commission
| ers of Boston, only he is one man and
| they are three. He is supposed to be
of fairly good habits and in his official
| life, at least, above reproach. When
he falls from the high position he is
supposed to hold, the fall is long and
| the bump at the bottom hard. He Is
now rubbing the bruised spots. for Mr..
Wanamaker did not pick out soft
place to drop him on. All the news
papers of Philadelphia are not chums,
but il is a fact that most of them are,
so far as ] could judge in two weeks. AT
| least, they seem well content to be
friendly rivals and leave quarrels to
the other folks, with one or two ex-
Lceptions, which may be why they unite
Fin this common fight against the
mayor and his associates.
| The first thing a stranger sees in
Philadelphia is William Penn. Penn
is to Philadelphia what Bolivar is 70
caracas, Venezuela. He is the city :
patron saint, but he must think some
of his descendants do queer things. In
bronze he stands now on top of the
| magnificent public buildings that sit
| in a bunch in the centre of the city,
looks from the highest pinnacle that
any bronze man looks from toward
| Boston. and is looked upon by every
person who comes to the city by land
or water, by day or night a row OF
| yellowish incandescents around about
| the broad brim Of his big Quaker hat
and a row of cleaning electric are
flights below his feet.
The next thing a stranger is apt tC
notice, if he takes a ride on a trolley
car, for Philadelphia is like Boston in
it's possession of trolley wires. is a de-
tail that marks distinctly the difference
between natives and strangers. Take
a seat in any car, wait until the con
ductor comes for fares, then look al
that woman across the aisle, or the
man beside you. They live in Quaker
town. They take from pocket or hand
bag as the case may be handful OF
what look like Boston elevated transfer
checks. They sort them over one by
one, looking at the back and front OF
leach, then put them away again. and
hand the conductor nickel. Watch
other passengers on other cars and yot
will see the same thing. 1t will take
you long time to understand it unless
some native explains to you the sys-
Item of Exchanges" by which the
Union, Traction Company gets the use
lof its patrons money while Tho
patrons live in daily hope of saving d
couple of cents. The people say it is q
good scheme, most of them, so / have
no right to say it isn't. The idea is
this: The railway people will sell you
Ian exchange check when you pay your
flare at any time, for three cents. The
check is good for fare at any time
until used, no matter if you keep il
flour years, but it is only good on some
lime of cars that runs across the line
you buy the check FROM and only al
intersection of streets where the lines
lcross. For folks who travel day after
lday on certain lines it is great
scheme to save money, but for folks
who acquire the exchange habit with
Iout using any particular line of cars
Regularly it resembles a lottery You
run chances and take big odds. So
firmly have the Philadelphia folks be
come ertangled in the meshes Of this
lsystem that specially designed pocket
books are built for storing the slips
with special arrangements for sorting
Them over. Watch any Philadelphia
man as he throws open his coat tC
lcatch a summer breeze, and four times
out of five you will see protrudine
from one of his upper vest pockets a
dozen or two of the exchange slips. II
; lyou see woman on bargain days with
| a fat pocket-book you may rest assured
that she has it stuffed with the same
slips, in the hope that she can use one
Iof them before she gets home; and the
chances are she won't have one to fit
Philadelphia people who are specially
friendly to you will sometimes give
YOU q couple of their collection of ex-
lchanges and then your troubles begir
when you try to use one.
Philadelphia workingmen don't carry