Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-09
MEN OF THE MAYORALTY CAMPAIGN
Judge E. Gorman Slated for the Democratic Nomination.
Has Record of Service in the Juvenile Court That
Makes Him the Hope of Many Independents.
BY HERBERT S. WEBER

be Johnnie. in one corner Then, nearby,
would be Billie. aged z, and where was he,
and was he satisfied there? And so on--the
row of children and their destinies Then at
the top the father, his wages, or lack Of
wages, and Mother, and the fix she was in.
And when all the intolerabe family tree
Of shame and suffering had been set down,
and the dazzling interrelationshlps Of hopes
and despairs and possibilities and certain
ties had been calculated, he would finally get
back to hungry Johnnie, in the corner, the
ease" in question. and to try to fit him to
the patchwork of something has-to-be-
done" and like as not, the Judge would find
that he would not have to be taken away
from his mother after all, and sent to 1.-THE
Home"
Boiled down. this all means that what n
Magistrate often does In five minutes Judge
German might take an hour to; and that
method required many witnesses and much
testimony; and tho Judge would never send
Il witness home unheard but would sit up
until IL o'clock, IL need be, to do the thing
right.
He visited the Homes that were not homes
and the protectorles that did not protect
and ordered them to better conditions, or
he'd have the law on them. This was work
dig down into his pocket in court, when
there was no legal way of getting enough
money for some "case," and ION the side"
he would fill in some crevice of poverty's
tumbling tenement,
A Fight for Mothers Pensions
IN the statement with which he closed his
endeavors for the present ne reviewed his
fight lie had labored to provide suitable
homes for children offender The institu-
tions became overcrowded and the alterna-
tive was to send them back to their mothers,
making payment OF an amount equal to that
which would have been given to the institu-
ton. The Superior Court, however, had
ruled that the court had no power to make
such an arrangement without legislative au-
thority and bill to this end was submitted
by him to the Legislature. He wrote to
every Senator and Representative asking his
support II was not enacted Then he placed
tho children with the institutions with an
order upon the County Commissioners, and
the children were passed on to their homes,
but the Commissioners refused to pay the
orders. The Judge was placed in the embar-
RAISING position OF having made the institu-
tons borrow $4,000 for the children they had
sent to their mothers under his direction He
had expected the city to exert itself and
have the law making this system workable
passed by the Legislature. The city did not
exert itself. and the Judge decided that so
far as relieving the distress of mothers with
dependent children he had become nothing
but a registering clerk with no power to
help them"
Now for the politics Of IT, Judge German
is a Democrat Unlike some other prominent
Democrats he is not cooperating with the
Republican Organization.
When politicians whispered in his ear on
the bench, he said, Get around in front and
tell 1t to me there out loud"
There was a man who had ill-treated his
1O-year-old daughter. but whom the gang
wanted TO run for office, and, of course. 20
free and have his children, too If he liked.
The man did not get his daughter back.
He would have acted in the same way IL
corrupt Democrats had tried for a similar
favor.
But now we come to the bigger political
phase of It, IL anything is bigger than the
saving OF children. Where does he stand in
his party on general Issues? He is sup
posed to incline toward the reorganizers in
his party but it Is the OLD Guard that has
Endorsed him. He is considered harmon
izer, and he undoubtedly looks upon himself
as harmonizer. At any rate, there is no
other Democrat in town that could very wen
enter the lists with any show OF strength.
His nomination by the Democrats seems
assured.
A Democrat, But independently Hope
The most pertinent question now is. HOW
many Democrats are there in PhiladelDhia?
About sl,oeO voted for Palmer. $1,000 Tor
Woodrow Wilson and for Congressman-at-
large $4,000. That perhaps is the most rella-
bic test We can call the working vote about
$4,000. So on the face OF It German has no
chance. But If there Is q bitter factional
night IN the Republican Organization ana the
independents 90 not rally firmly ana prompt-