Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-09-13
POLICE SERFDOM AND
BOSS RULE ENDED BY
BLANKENBURG REGTNE
Employees of City Made Soldiers
of Common Good Instead
of Political Hirelings
sHERN LAW is ENFoRCED
Accomplishments of Reform Admit
istration Shown in Another,
Series of Articles

How policemen. firemen and other mn.
nicipal employees we're freed from pollt,o.,
serfdom during the Blankenburg admin,..
tration, is told in another of the series =,
articles reviewing the achievements q,
the administration.
Before the Blankenburg administrators
came into power positions in the City Han
were looked upon as public sinecures ana
city employees had short hours ana wsr.
expected to do their full share OF poli,lo.,
work in their wards under pain of incur.
ring the displeasure of the party bosses
The article describing how the chanr.
was brought about is signed by Richars
L. Austin. Samuel S. Fels, Charles r. jen.
klns, Theodore ]. Lewis, William Dransr
Lewis, Francis B. Reeves, Charles z
Tryon and John c. winston.
The enslavement OF city employees WIN
were organized in an army Of traines
political workers for the control OF eIsc.
tions, according to the article, was abol-
ished when Mayor Blankenburg and his
directors enforced, for the first time ths
provisions of the Shearn law Of 1905 for
bidding political activity by officeholders
Exacting political contributions fror,
office holders, requiring political assess.
ments from offlceholders and excluding
all except political adherents from be.
coming officeholders have been abolished
by the Blankenburg administration, the
article states.
"A restoration OF the Organization IN
power means a restoration Of this systen,
of treating public offices as private prom
erty, to be distributed only among poIItI-
caHy faithful to the party In control"
Permission of a ward leader or su.
perior officer, which was frequently re-
quired before city employees could chanre
their residence, particularly policemen
and f1remen, was completely done away
with when Mayor Blankenburg came into
office.
Each policeman is called upon for ac
tive duty for only hours a day, instead
of II hours under the old regime, II ia
pointed out. which has increased the
efficiency of the department Other en-
ployes, outside of the police and fire de-
partments, who formerly finished their
day at o'clock or O'clock were COM
PEELED to work another hour longer.
The article declares that prosecution,
were brought against 1859 persons under
the Shearn law, of which 431 cases were
proven and 81 persons were allowed to
resign.
tions, which were brought by the Com
mittee of Seventy. it was pointed out that
numerous cases investigated brought to
light the fact that they had already been
dropped from the various departments
"Gross offenders and those guilty OF
crimes in their political activity have dis
appeared from the public service" the
articles declares Lesser offenders have
been disciplined, are now divorced from
politics and under this administration are
at liberty to give undivided attention to
their pubic duties"
There has been a gradual wedding out
of incompetent persons in the citys serv-
ice, which has taken the place of whole
sale dismissal of all followers of the
Organization in the employ of the city
on December T. 1911, when the Blanken-
burg forces came into power, according
TO the article.
After giving tables to show how this
has been accomplished, the article con-
cludes
Hence during the last three years IN
the competitive class the number of ap-
plications has increased by over 50 per
cent. and the number of appointments by
more than 55 per cent.
For years public office in Philadelphia
had not been looked upon as a public
trust, but as a political perquisite. Men
had not been appointed upon the basis OF
merit but upon a calculation of how
many votes they could deliver in their
divisions
This whole deplorable condition had
been utterly changed In four short years;
the very atmosphere of the City Hall is
changed, yet 1t has all been done so
quietly and in so business-like a way
that citizens are in danger of forgetting
how great is the distinction between the
administration of contractor-owned
Mayor and that of one elected by inde-
pendent citizens and recognizing allie
glance to them alone.
mo wonder the contractor lords have
peeh at great pains to agree upon 'har-
mony candidate'p'