The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-17
WAYS OF PHILADELPHIA
CITY WHERE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN
CONVENTION WILL MEET.
Peculiarities of Life, Architecture
and Politics There-Impressions
Made on the Stranger.

| Washington Letter in Boston Transcript.
Philadelphia the city of John wanama-
ker. the city of marble dcorsteps. the city
| of systematic streets. the city of the Wanna
Notwithstanding scandal, and the
| city of other interesting things. old and
new, has an interest nowadays for those
| who think and talk politics, for here 1t is
| that the Republican national convention is
! 10 renominate President Mckinley this
month. / 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
! Just now you doubtless read good 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 the other side. If you lived here
| just now you would have to read about 1t
or forego the comfort of reading local
daily newspapers. And you could hardly
get your hair cut or your face shaved
without the artist who handled the scissors
the subject 1t is not for me to say any
thing about the merits of the case, but
when press and pulpit and public sentiment
unite on anything the other side has
! hard time of it, and Mayor Ashbridge and
Director of Public Safety English are hav-
| ing hard time of it now.
This director of public safety is an Of
| fetal of the city peculiar to Philadelphia
| at least II seems peculiar to a man who
knows more of Boston and New York ways
than the ways of other cities. He has
| sort of general oversight of the police
force Of the city, something like the Police
commissioners of Boston, only he is one
man and they are three. He Is supposed to
| be of fairly good habits, and, in his Of
| fcial life. at least. above reproach When
he falls from the high position he is sup
! posed 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 a soft place to drop him on. All
| the newspapers of Philadelphia are not
chums, but IL is a fact that most of them
are, so far as / can 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 exceptions,
which may be why they unite in this COM
mon fight against the mayor and his asso-
ciates.
The first thing a stranger sees in Phila-
delphia is William Penn. Penn is TO Phila-
delphia what Bolivar is to Caracas, Vene-
zue ia He is the eitys Patren saint but ne
| queer things. In bronze he stands now
| on top of the magnificent public buildings
| that sit in a bunch in the center of the
| city, looks from the highest pinnacle that
| and is looked upon by every person who
comes to the city by land or water. by day
sh t of br ar s bs
| Quaker hat and row Of cleaning electric
arclights below his feet
TO DISTINGUISH NATIVES.
The next thing a stranger is apt to no.
| tice, IL he takes ride on trolley car.
| for Philadelphia is like Boston in it's pos
session of trolley wires. is detail that
| marks distinctly the difference between
| natives and strangers. Take seat in
| any car, wait until the conductor comes
] for fares. then look at that woman across
| the aisle or the man beside you. They
| live in Ouakertown. They take from pocket
| or handbag, 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 each,
| conductor a nickel Watch other passen-
gers on other cars, and you will see the
same thing. 1t will take you long time
| TO understand it unless some native ex-
| plains to you the system of exchanges"
| by which the Union Traction Company gets
the use of its patrons money while the
| patrons live in a daily hope of saving
| couple of cents. The people say 1t is
| good scheme. most of them, so 1 have
| no right to say it isn't. The idea is this:
The railway people will sell you an ex-
| change check when you pay your fare, at
| any time, for cents. The check is good
for fare at any time until used, no
| matter IL you keep 1t four years, but
| it is only good on some line of cars that
hn i'm
from and only at intersection OF streets
| where the lines cross. For folks who
| travel day after day on certain lines 1t is
| a great scheme TO save money. but for
| folks who acquire the exchange habit with
| out using any particular lines of cars regu-
larly It resembles lottery. You run
| have the Philadelphia folks become en-
| tangled in the meshes of this system that
| specially designed pocketbooks are built
for storing the slips, with special arrange ,,
! Philadelphia man as he throws open his
| coat TO catch summer breeze, and four
| times out of five you VIII see protrudlng
| from one of his upper vest pockets dozen
| or two of the exchange slips. If you see
woman on bargain days with fat pocket
] book you may rest assured that she has
| IL stuffed with the same slips, in the hope
| that she can use one of 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 a couple of their collection Of
exchanges, and then your troubles Degin
when you try to use one.
Philadelphia workingmen don't carry the
Boston style of dinner pals. Instead of
| the familiar two or three-story affair with
coffee in the bottom, meat and fixings in
| the second story and pie and fruit in the
attic and the top drinking cup. you will
| see Philadelphia men whose work makes
| IL advisable TO carry dinners with pals the
| shape an egg might be If il were pressed
| fiat without breaking the shell. / don't
| know how the interiors are arranged, but
suppose they do their work as well as the
other style.
GOOD STREET SYSTEM.
Philadelphia streets are delight to the
!. stranger who has wrestled with the many
| inconsistent systems, or lack of system,
| In New York or Boston. Here IL you want
| to go to 1923 South Broad street you know
| at once that the house is south of City
| Hall and between Nineteenth and Twen-
| tieth streets. Every block begins a new
| hundred in number. no matter which way
you travel, and it takes even an entire
stranger but few days to get working
| IDEA of the system. There is only one weak
point in Ii, far / have found. If
| you ask a policeman how far it Is to such
4 a nlace and ".JlSt blocks