The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-02-28

1t serves gang OF polite ScOnnuIels
who boldly rob the people the year
round. and on election day coddle' or
club. or deceive them into keeping the
gang I'm power
For 90 years Philadelphians have
stood idly blinking. whilst sharp gang
sters have exploited the public streets
/ for private gain.
! The company which provoked the
present strike and attendant misery Is
/ the trustized result Of years Of finan-
cial juggling Of that public utility
Corporation is Rotten.
The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co.
| is the rottenest public service corpor-
alton In tho world Conceived by Wild
ener and Elkins, the company has
known no virtue. IL has violated every
/ pledge 10 and every right OF the peo-
| pie Today II pays stockholders APP
proximately $S,00O.000 a year on cap
| italization of ISL 800 900. of which $4O,-
900 900 is water out OF the deep blue
sea.
The stockholders OF subsidiary lines
are receiving guaranteed dividends up
10 as high as 100 per cent on the orig
/ ina actual investment.
But the traction trust poses as
bankrupt. IL pays nothing TO the city
| 1t charges scent fare. with cents Tor
transfer. and give miserable service.
The strike came when the company
discharged employees because they
were union men. The union men by
strike last June forced up wages ana
secured reasonable hours. The COM
pany submitted IA political expedi-
ent but after election formed a
union" OF strike breakers and dis
charged the old men by wholesale.
| This thieving trust held $3.50 for d
! l0hour day too much for working
men, hence the cossacks and war
But the car strike is only one of
many evil results, and one must go far
back In history 10 find the first causes.
In an effort TO explain Philadelphia's
easy submission To the grating rings,
1t has been argued that Philadelphia
is socially weak as measured in the
American scale.
Her original Tory Dutch Quaker
blood has been freshened but slightly.
The Tory strain is essentially disloyal
TO any common cause. During that
awful winter at Valley Forge. while
Washington and his ragged army were
|
| liberty seemed lost, Tory Philadelphia
was feteing the British, and the town
was a hothed of disloyalty. There's
faint OF the blood left
Quaker Element Submissive.
The Quaker element is of course
noncombative, submissive not a
strain TO grapple with evil which does
not directly affect religion The
Dutch are stolid and phlegmatic. too,
often inclined 10 stand for the existing
order.
Philadelphia has always been and ia
now the typical American city, with
many excellent institutions and thou
sands of splendid people. It Is a great
commercial city But as the students
or the subject argue. the progressive
, or conscious element has not been
able to Offset the influence OF the apa-
thetic. the evil disposed and the gang
system
T.. A. Van Valkenburg, editor OF tire
Philadelphia North American, main
tains that careful analysis OF the
voters OF any large city will show that
the public opinion vote rarely II ever,
exceeds 40 per cent OF the total
electorate.
In Philadelphia. ne says. the gang
which owns public utilities and Is
slavishly served by all city officers,
positively controls AZ clio per cent of
the entire vote
This represents the vote delivered
! by officenoiders. protected liquor men.
coerced aliens. purchasable Negroes.
criminals and repeaters. Therefore,
the gang needs only per cent of ig-
rorant or partisan votes TO win, and il
gets from 10 to 20 per cent Of such
Army Of Shabby Gentilty
J There is a great army OF shabby
Rentility here. For the most part they
admire The gliitertng trappings OF
their rich masters and spend a good
share of their time reading and dis
cussng the doings Of the local princes
and prncesses of fortune. They vote
with the rich because they hope, II
/ despairingly, 10 some day ride in a
! gilded coach.
! There's mighty army OF organ
lied workers who live more or less
miserably in the dirty rows of little
brick or frame houses which thickly
/ fringe the city.
Philadelphia is one OF the poorest
union towns in the country The build
ing trades are not organized. Each
morning more than 100000 women AMI
children go TO work in factory or
office.
There's large class OF very rich,
most OF the money coming from the
W ealth laden breast of the state. They
maintain an arlstocratic circle, more
exclusive than New York. They HOB
mob with foreign nobility and marry
into IL.
Peter A. b. Widener. originally q
butcher. has probably done more than
any man tn perfect gang rule In Phila-
delphia He is worth 800 100000. He
/ is living in splendoI in his city home.
on his breast is cross pinned there
by Emperor William. He devotes his
tune mainly 10 collecting art objects
,his gallery being valued at $4,000
! 000) and TO q very excellent children 5
hospital which he founded.
Widener may or may not know that
half a dozen little children have been
shot or 1eaten in the streets by the
rolice, protecting his trust in rs
strike.
An adjustable sprinklng device TO
enable man to wet down the hot
ashes as he cleans his heater, so that
they may be sifted Immediately and
10 overt the danger OF fire. has been
patented by a New Yorker.