The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-18
THE LArEsr FRANcHrsE GnAR


The days of franchise-grabbing are
nearly done in every community in which
any reasonable approach exists to re-
sponsible municipal control It now re-
the evil Of municipal corruption in order
to secure for the favored individual or
syndicate valuable public privileges Of
| any kind without having to offer what
| at least appears to be money equiva-
lent.
Since Jacob Sharp succeeded in buying
outright New York board of aldermen
to secure franchise for Broadway
railroad scheme there has been a steady
decline in the facility with which the
public can be robbed successfully in that
| direction.
Yet within the past few days the cor
ruption-ridden city of Philadelphia has
had an experience which in point of pub
lie profigacy equals the worst which has
ever been achieved in the way of franz
| chise-grabbing. That city enjoys the
privilege of being governed by the Hon.
| Matthew Stanley Quay, United States
senator and national leader by grace of
his devotion to the principles of the Re-
| publican party and Of his recognized
| ability as a statesman of standing and
| influence in that party.
1t is because Mr.. Quay is the recog-
niZed head of the Republican political
machine not only in the state of Penn
sylvania, but also in the city of Phila
delphia, that it has come about that that
city has, through the action of it's local
officials, granted to a local syndicate
! franchises for surface, elevated and I'M
| derground railroads over stretch of
! city streets something like 12O miles in
extent, without receiving from the gran
tees as much as a dollar of compensa-
| ton.
Tho present mayor Of Philadelphia is
evidently an executive official after Mr..
Quay's own heart. Against the most
| powerful expressions of an adverse public
sentiment he decided that the ordinances
giving this muniflcent grant of public
easements away should be approved by
| him. He approved them accordingly. But
| before doing so, he was appraised of the
| fact that a perfectly solvent resident OF
that city, MIR. John Wanamaker, was
| ready to pay into the city treasury for
| the privilege involved some sum not less
! in amount than s., 500, GEO. This offer was
| formally presented to Mayor Ashbridge
! immediately before attaching his sigma
ture to the necessary ordinances His
! manner of receiving the offer. or, more
properly, of not receiving it, was unique.
Having had the communication handed
to him he, on learning Of its nature,
threw it at the person conveying it, and
his aim was SO accurate that it struck
the messenger, according to the mayor
own statement, ON the back and fell at
his feet.
The taxpayers of Philadelphia are ap-
paremtly anoused to high pitch of in
dignation over the transaction circun
stance of evidently not the slightest mo-
ment to Mr.. Quay or his official tool,
Mr.. AshlDridse. The local press is out
spoken in its denunciation; and even
the Bulletin. daily paper which has
evinced more or less hostility to Wanna
maker in the past, has Joined IN the UNI
versal outcry. That sheet puts the case
strongly in an article, an extract from
which is as follows:
| The Wanamaker proposition sets forth
so plainly. the unjust, inequitable, one
sided and vicious character of this
wholesale gift of railway franchises for
private profit. that no fair-minded citi-
zen who has the slightest regard for the
| welfare of the city can fail to see how
the city is plundered by the disgracefui
methods which have been employed in
the councils and the legislature. A more
| willful and brazen defiance of the plain
| est public duty of chief magistrate Of
Philadelphia in protecting One legitimate
.f- - s