Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-28
ANONYMOUS CITIZENS

T1HE object of an investigation Is to
Il find out something that everybody al.
ready knows. Now that the vice inquiry
is well under way, It is possible to review
its net results as II It were a thing Of
the past. Nay such an inquiry is even
more bizarre; 1t starts at the end Of the
problem and tediously works its way
backward to the beginning Of It. When
st gets to the beginning, that is the root
of the evil 1t drops 1t all. The result
is that, whereas everybody already knew
that certain percentage of the police
force was corrupt, they are now to be
provided with few meaningless names
Of culprits to fill in the blanks In the
story without helping the plot. The names
of handful Of vice-mongers are made
public, as II for the sole purpose Of pro.
vidlng nelghborhood gossip for the under.
world.
This investigation, as It's predecessors
were and it's successors will be, is called
sweeping" Sweeping implies that the
thousands Of person who make possible
the various evils under fire are to be
named But a glance at the newspapers
reveals the ludlcrous pauclty of names
named. On the side Of the angels there
come forward Mr.. Gibboney, of course;
Mr.. Rotan and Director Wilson, ex-ofTlcio
stars In the cast, and halfdozen social
workers. The villains who are brought
forth are only a fraction Of the Tender
loIn trafflckers. Certain ones are singled
out and are marshaled about several
times like a stage army, which, by walk
ing around and around piece of scenery
1t Is. They are symbolic figures. Mr..
Gibboney is a symbol OF certain mode
of thinking. He reappears from the
shadow at these times not as n citizen,
but as a point of view. Really, the
anonymous nature of the situation is
not relieved by the naming of few
names that every one remembers and of
q few others that every one will forget.
Yet names arc what are wanted, and
this fact seems to have dawned on
the investigators. A list of owners Of
guilty houses has been asked for. Who
owns the property where the police clubs
were welded and from which the men
and women were driven into the patrol
wagons the other night? Where is he
at Newport? What Is his opinion about
all this? What Is the opinion of other
ultimate owners of the TenderloIn?
When did they last visit their properties
personally? Do they consider the double
rents they obtain from shady tenants
permanent economic condition?
Then there are the members of the
various reform associations that come into
prominence only when there is one OF
these Investigations going on-the Law
and Order Society, the Travellers Aid So.
ciety, etc. Who are they? Are their
societies growing in membership and are
they preparing now to come forward to
identify themselves as leaders in a great
permanent campaign, or are these socle-
ties all one-mnn or one-woman affairs
whose survival by vicarIous activity de-
ludes the rest of the community into the
belief that all is we'll? The various en-
ployers', business mems and labor organ
izations certainly come into contact with
effects and causes Of the vice now under
probe Are their officers to come forward
as named and known citizens to con-
tribute their share OF information and
advice in solving the problem? or the
charity organizations and children's aid
leagues, are only the secretaries respon-
sible citizens and the presidents and rank
and file mere donors of funds2
A great mountain was moved IN the
transit fight because couple Of thousand |
prominent citizens made It their business
to come out into the open. with names
and addresses given and printed. day after |
day, while the fight was on, with their |
intentions and plans and suggestions
frankly expressed. Another great noun
tain and its shadow hangs over the city. |
1t can be moved-and If only an inch, |
that is a great deal, considering the diff |
Guilty of the task-by the same kind OF
candor and publicity.