Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-04-08


Of IL must nauseatc good citizens who had
begun TO hope that some sense OF decency
dominated the conduct Of political hha'rs'
C1TIzENs Of Pennsylvania need not be
~ blamed if their heads hang in shame to-
day and feeling of humiliation weighs them
down
One of the warning factions, to which belong
both Of the United states Senator's is accused
Of having attempted by blackmail and intimi-
dation to drive into political subservience the
Governor of the Commonwealth and with him
the leaders to whose wagon he has heretofore
been yoked.
On the other hand, the Governor required
weeks of deliberation, it appears, before steel
ing himself to refuse their demands. The dis.
patches of Thursday relating the intention of
the Governor to issue a call for harmony and
yield to his opponents were not idle rumors.
The story was correct one, and described the
actual conditions of affairs on that date Pro-
posals had been made for submission. 1t re-
quired the most strenuous efforts of his ad.
visers to persuade the Governor to anticipate
the threatened Exposure" He did it at the
eleventh hour. when rumors were flying thick
and fast and it was apparent that the truth
must out
The general public will wonder why the
Governor was SO timid. Men will want to
know why the Chief Executive of this State
even considered yielding, and why weeks ago,
when II was only too clear what use his OPP
ponents intended to make Of their informa-
tion, he did not issue a statement similar to
that made public yesterday.
The interests of Pennsylvania are not
bound up in the fortunes of either faction.
There is doubtless more than little contempt
both for the would.bc intimidators and for the
almost st-ntimdated. In New York 1t diff
Fl ,ult to know which to despise more, Sulzer
or the elements which brought about his
downfall. What are we coming to If the osten-
sible leaders of the Commonwealth, men on
whom the highest honors within the gift of
the State have been conferred, stoop to the
practices of the gutter and attempt the use
of secondstory mems methods? And what
are we coming to if the Chief Magistrate is
attacks and expose him, in the conduct of his
office, to extraneous pressure of a character
inimical to the obvious interests of the peo.
Pile?
1t is not worth while to enter into dis
cussion of the guilt or innocence of the Gov.
ernor. His Interpretation Of the law would
lead to the very abuses which the law sought
to terminate candidate is clothed in white
ralment sacred person, who during his can
ddacy must not do certain things which might
at other times be perfectly right and proper.
A candidate cannot, legally or morally, be the
object of eleemosynary endeavor without
posing himself to attack. He is not a fit sub
ject for financial gifts 1t is period when the
very touch of money is dangerous Many are
the traps laid by professional politicians to
catch the unwary reformer who has ventured
into public life; but that is only the more
reason why the reformer should be supicous
of his good repute An error in judgment in
such circumstances is the kind of mistake
which has been labeled worse than crime
There is some satisfaction in the fact that
the Governor, in spite of his hesitation, did not
finally yield 1t is comforting to citizens to
know that their representatives at Chicago
will not be there as the result of a campaign
of intimidation. At least there will be fight
and the voters will know what they are doing.
The time is short but it would be fine
thing if independent Republicans should rise
in their wrath and sweep the whole bunch OF
innocuous desuetude where they belong. 1t
would be a splendid thing If the brains of
Pennsylvania, instead of its pocketbooks.
should be sent to Chicago TO voice the senti-
ments of this great Commonwealth and prove
TO the nation that the two-by.fours and poll
ics.forrevenue,only crowd had heretofore
been representatives merely by default,
1t may be that practical politics of the sort
which has often disgraced Pennsylvania
will require the voters to appear as the in
dorsers of one faction or the other, but
scent will attach to either. One thousand dol
lars is a small amount when the slush funds
used in the 1914 campaign are recollected;
but there appears to be no hint Of a general
cleansing of the stables All of the dirty linen
cannot be washed at once
A political dsinfectant is needed badly and
it is needed in the ballot boxes
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