Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-22

| less about the details of the corruption and
graft for years. 1t has been the common
| talk of the clubs: it has been written about
| over and over again in the newspapers; 1t
| has been condemned from the pulpit; but
| the people of Philadelphia are a patient
| people. They have been suffering from the
| tyranny OF the municipal ring so long that
| they have become hardened to 1T, as they
We're to their bad pavements and their i'm
pure water.
| Occasionally there has been an outbreak
Brave reformers would now and then or
ganiZe an attack upon the castle of cor
ruptlon, and Stir up more or less dust. All
sorts of clubs have been recruited from
time to time for the purpose of overcom-
ing the organization" AS / have said,
differentiation mayors, controllers and
| other officials have been elected at one
time or another, after spasmodic demon
| STATIONS of public indignation. But the
republican bosses have held a big stick
over the manufacturing industries, which
they could always use if their situation
became desperate
Philadelphia is manufacturing city. Its
prosperity and its wealth are due to pro-
tective tariff, and whenever the gang was
closely pressed Senator Quay and his lieu
tenants would begin to speak about revi-
sion Of duties and readjustment of the ma
tional revenues.
furthermore, under peculiar law the
assessors of the city make up the voting
ilsts. Every man of legal age is required
to pay tax of some kind or he cannot
vote; and the tax lists are used by the
Judges of election to determine who is en-
titled to suffrage These tax lists have
peen padded by the addition of between
SIXTY and seventy thousand fictitious names
divided among the different voting pre-
clncts' ana the confidential representative
OF the gang In each precinct has had list
OF the fraudulent names for the use of re-
peaters, as they might be needed on cleo
uon days. BY this means "the organiza-
t1on was able to increase the republican,
vote TO any number that might be neces-
ticket. ''iN
i Will tell you more about that phase of
the case In another letter
The Revolt of the People.
This situation prevailed until last Nav.
When the operations of the gang holder
imam any they had ever attempted before,
aroused long suffering people and a mu-
n1elpai revolution was precipitated. The
nrst was what is known 1.-The Doodle
ward. In 1902 the Philadelphia Land
company having been Incorporated began
to buy up all the farms obtainable on both
sides of an unfrequented road leading from
Broad street to sleepy and isolated vii
iage called Torresdale. about ten miles east
of the city. The land was obtained at a
nominal price, varying from $50 to 500 an
acre. When the deeds were recorded and
| the job was complete, Peter Costello, chair
man OF the finance committee of the select
council. introduced an ordinance providing
for the construction Of a boulevard from
Philadelphia to Torresdaie at cost of a
million dollars a mile The law was pass
ed. Bonds were Issued to pay the cost
Costello was appointed director of public
works to superintend the construction and
handle the money, and the contract was let
to Strawberry Jim McNichol, who is
building the filtration plant, and whose
partner Durham is supposed to be. The
farms recently purchased by the Philadei-
phia Land Company along the line imme-
diately advanced in value, and some OF
them have been sold at the rate of SIC, 600
and $4,000 an acre, 50 that the gang not
only shared In the profits of the contract.
but has enormous profits. present and
prospective. from the land company, or
which It owns all the st0cA-
When this transaction was exposed by