Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-13
practical MEN"

appearing with Mr.. Ware in the executive
reception room for harmony. 1t was tC
have been war to the knife between the
Penrose-McNichol faction and the Smith
Ware faction. McNichol would never, nc
| never-well, hardly ever-seek harmony
with the Administration. His attitude
until the election of the new City Com
mittee, was that of the New England
mate who told the offensive captain that
he wanted none of his whisky, nor yet
none of his see-gars, but only a leetle com
mon see-vility, and damned leetle Of that
But now Uncle Jim" is on the Job with
a flstful of choice Havanas of his own and
smiles that are as convlncingly benign as
those of the sun himself. It is never too
warm and sticky for affection in the
political family.
The point is an arrangement for PRO
portlonal representation" in the way of
| jobs. 1t seems that Ware holds the ward
leaderships by two to one majority.
| The question was whether Ware was to
get all the patronage or whether McNichol
was to get a one.third share. II he did not
| get his one-third share there were evil
IDENTIFY intimations that there might be a
| movement at Harrisburg to rip" Mayor
Smith out Of office or impeach the Gov
ernor. Ware surveyed the futures dire
possibilities and thought better OF any
idea he may have had of measuring
swords with the Penrose Organization in
the State.
There Is, of course, the hint that this
being a presidential year It is the time
for all good men to come to the aid of
their party. "I will do anything can to
build up the Republican party" says the
Mayor. Luckily, no matter what steps
to build up the Republican party Mr..
Smith may take, the city is sure to go
for Mr.. Hughes. No help he could give
Mr.. Hughes would seriously hurt Mr..
Hughes, no more than Mr.. Penrose's most
ardent efforts with his State Organization
have ever shaken Pennsylvania's belief IN
protection and Republicanism. The fao-
tional leaders have so much majority pie
that they can afford to use pieces Of It as
missiles. But they reckon without their
host IL they expect to carry their two to
one division of spoils to the White House.
Mr.. Hughes as Governor gave ample
proof that he is deaf to the pleadings of
DOSSSSt anu dS Ho llOI llSlSA W lLS
advice of President Roosevelt about ap-
pointments, it is scarcely likely that he
will listen to Penrose or Ware. Where
this petty factlonalism, which shows its
head at Washington as we'll as here and
at Harrisburg, really hurts the State is in
preventing the appointment to Federal
offices of Pennsylvanians of the highest
abilities. Too many eminent regulations
that for the sake Of party regularity
wear the Penrose uniform are I'm a num-
ber Of cases unjustly) also clad in the
Penrose ethics, in the view of Republican
Presidents. Occasionally q Knox emerges
from our State organization to receive
national recognition; but that is an ex-
ceptlon that proves the rule.
Philadelphia's position as part of the
fabric of national political life was aptly
defined by Elihu Root when as Secretary
of State In Roosevelt's Cabinet he char
acterized the city Organization that was
fighting the reformers of 1905 as a COM
btnation ''masquerading us Republicans"
1t is possible for the city to throw off
this stigma by acquiring municipal con-
sciousness distinct from the rest of the
State. A start In that direction could be
made by carrying the present proportional
representation idea of the bosses in divld-
ing up the plums according to ward lead
erships to an entirely different phase of
proportional representation. Ward boun.
darIes are purely artificial. 1t is absurd
to call the north side of Chestnut street
the 9th Ward and the south side the
sth. The only purpose these lines serve
now is to parcel out the shares of activity
expected from ward leaders. A board
of five well-paid city managers elected
from the city at large would be one way
of erasing these lines and would concen.
trate the responsibility of government |
upon a few men. A system of minority |
representation, through permitting each |
voter to vote for only one candidate |
would produce a board Of, say, three Or |
ganization managers and two Independ- |
ents. This would make the protests that |
are now voiced by a few independent |
Councilmsn appear as sharp divisions in
the board. the publicity given to protests |
of minority officials who were OF equal |
rank with the majority officials would be |
very great, and decisions on matters OF |
great moment would not "get by" so |
easily by votes OF three to two. The man |
with the deciding vote would be under |
sharp fire.
The committee considering the revision
OF the municipal charter was told yester-
day by Mr.. Burnham that every one was
agreed the city should have a smaller
Council, that cities where the commission
form OF government is in force are gov
ernsd. as a rule, by not more than i've
or seven men, but that this number
would be too small for a municipality of
this size. A Council OF not more than
p members would be better. he said,
with the present Mayor and elected ad-
officials undisturbed. He
urged the employment of a city man
ager who would have sole charge of all
now under the Mayor" This
is evidently an attempt TO compromise
the present system and the com
mission form, to separate legislative from
administrative functions. But in the other
the committee will hold this |