Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-09-28
ALLEGED CRAFT
BEING PROBED
IN PHILADELPHIA
Big Boss and Little Boss Fight
ing Each Other Into In
yestigat0rs' Hands.

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 2S.-Rotten
old Philadelphia is having Its house
cleaned at last. The City Hall thieves,
who have stood pat and baked former
Investigations, now have fallen out and
are prosecuting each other before the
Catlin investigating commission. Big
Boss McNichol is fighting Little Boss
Ware. Senator Penrose, long a political
ally of McNichol, seems determined to
throw overheard the whole gang.
The investigating committee has al
ready turned up enough evidence to
put some city officials and contractors
In prison. But the surface has only
been scratched. This probe viii expose
enough graft to make the infamous
Tweed ring look like an amateur or
g%anization by comparison, say the re-
formers.
The "higher-ups" are III peril-bank
directors, public service corporations.
officials and the like, who ave bought
franchises, contracts and wen police
assistance in smuggling innocent citi-
zens during strikes.
The probe began as a joke.
A little group of reformers-the tax
payers committee-asked the commits
sion to come down and investigate
some contracts let by Henry Clay. di-
rector of public safety. They We're
surprised when MeNichol allowed the
commission to come.
To understand why the big boss gave
his consent to the reformers' request
ii Is necessary to go back twelve years.
Then the Ware brothers-William S.
and Edwin H.-were small truck farm
crs near Philadelphia. They got into
politics and the contracting business,
becoming cogs in the McNichol ma
chine as district bosses. Their spe-
eialty was street-cleaning contracts.
Today they are reputed to be worth
some 5000. 900. During the last six
years william :. Ware has been re-
corder of deeds. About a year ago
he began his campaign TO take control
of the machine from McNichol. This
summer he announced his candidacy
for mayor to succeed Reyburn, a Nc
Nichol creature, but who has now
climbed hoard the Ware BAN wagon
in the hope Of becoming a United
States Senator.
This split the machine wide apart.
4 lb bAS ppH1 iiAt' ~ - '0l -
aspiring smaller one.
Editor Van ~Nalkenburg. of the North
American. waited for McNichol's pub
| lished promise that the probe would
be thorough, for the commissions as
| that it would go to the bottom
of Philadelphia r%ottenness: and until
Penrose went on record n favor of a
complete expose.
MI. W., TaIIynrI,,,,r I;e.I,.,.y,1 H..
heavy artillery. Half of the front page
of his newspaper one morning was
taken up with a list Of charges.
1t charged that gang rule for years
had been costing the 2ity $10,0 0 600 a
year beyond Legitimate expenses. 1t
charged corrupt alliances between rail-
road and city officials. 1t charged that
city contracts We're granted on a basis
of graft or political favor. The news
paper sent proofs OF it's charges to the
commission. Now they've got to probe
deep.
Bur the graft probe is no more
tangled than the extraordinary politi-
cal lineup the exposures have caused
in this falls mayoralty campaign.
In the first place McNichol and his
gang are supporting the brilliant and
unfettered George III. Earle, jr, for
the Republican OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES he
wants to win, even with a man he
knows he can't control.
Secondly, d. Clarence Gibbonev. q
young Law and order leader, who has
fought the gang for the last six years,
is now acting in a so peculiar
as to suggest an alliance between hitl
and little Boss William S. Ware.
AS Vare's grapple with McNicnol has
cleft the gang, so Glbboney's campaign
to land the Keystone party nomina-
ton has split the reformers. Opposing
Glbboney in the Keystone party is
i Rudolph Blankenburg. The primaries
/ Of September 80 win decide II.