Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-18


whole roof nlcture crownlng a pyramid
tier of unseen sumptuousy furnished
hotel rooms underneath.
Again we look away from the diners
out, close our eyes to the strains of
the latest fox.trot, and follow the gaze
Of our hero, Monte Crlspen, out upon
the great city with It's uneven crest
Of skyscraper tops, factory stacks and
dwelling chimney pots. 1t is passing
under the gathering dusk of another
closing day.
Through the falling shadows we trace
the outline of the past, and dream of
Old Philadelphia; there rises first from
among the roofs of modern industry
and well.earned rest the vision of a
virgin forest penetrated by :. truth
loving company of men and women in
Quaker dress of battleship gray, who
232 years before had hewed out houses
and a "meeting.house" between the
two rivers from Vine to South street;
the vision changes and at yonder red
brick building, excited men in cockade
hats, some with frilled shirt fronts and
| buckled knee-breeches and hose, and
| others in simple Puritan garb. assem-.
bled to sign the Declaration of Ameri
can Independence; once more the
whole scene changes, anC the streets
below are filled with the crunching
boots of marching soldiers in dark-blue
uniforms. passing down lines of cheer.
ing crowds on their way to the front
in '6t to save the Union.
Vestiges are before us of these
graphics of yesterday in visible monu-
ments that recall their existence.
Penn's statue breathes forth the strug-
giles of the Quakers. The Betsy Ross
house on Arch street, near Sd street,
echoes the making of the first Ameri-
can flag. and the irregular red front
Of the Union League Club recalls the
Anti-Slavery movement and the sonor-
Gus drum.roll of the Northland.
We can well surmise serious thoughts
in the mind of any man as he turned
his. face away from life.size pleasure
in the dining room and looked down
from the roof upon this spawning
ground of American history. There
were serious thoughts in Monte Girls
pens brain. but they were wholly per-
sonal, for be 1t known that our hero
was a decidedly selfish person. The his
toric panorama spread below was lost
to our pleasure-loving globe trotter. In
stead of Penn, or Franklin, or Meade,
he was engrossed in n single mental
contemplation-that of himself, his |
fate" he called it, for the moment
thinking aloud.
Shadows deepened. and In the city's !
filmy lower levels, man-made electric /
stars twinkled their earthly flrmament |
of rivalry; countless motors, looking |
like weighted fireflcs, darted in and |
around the halls of the metropolis, finS' |
ing the spaces between the blocks in
seemingly purposeless game OF hide
and seek. Pedestrians as they moved |
along in the glare of street lamps re-
sembled. animated ink spots, from un.
der which moved caterpillar legs, those
of the men grotesquely long, those of
the women daintily short. 1t was
night.
Old Montgomery was the sort of null
timilIionaire whose money comes into
public notice only through payment of
those taxes always levied after death.
The vastness of his fortune proved a
surprise even TO business intimates.
Possessing all the advantages OF birth,
Monte's uncle had never waged a cam
paign for admlttance to society. He
looked upon the Newport set with un-
disguised scorn, and often remarked
that society was a mirage In the at
tanning of which suddenly won Ameri-
can wealth got its widest advertisement
publicity that later proved to be most
unwelcome, In the event of divorce
court sequels and Government investi'
cations.
The Montgomerys OF Philadelphia al
ways had had money; going back to a
share In the proceeds of successful
trading between England and the East
Indies, an inheritance that crossed to
America with the pioneer Montgomery
in 1850. So that when the last of the
American branch of the family struck
oil on a large area of land in western
there came into being
an extra nest-egg from Mother Earth.
Well-watched money multiplies rap
idly. As fast as John Montgomery
turned his Bradford oil into Philadel-
phia bank balances, he extended his in
vestments In the early seventies he
built many small connecting railroads,
lines that he knew the big competing
railroads must ulti-
mately acquire. and at his price. In
tn. early eighties he erected power
plants all through the Middle West,
and bought up countless horse-car
street railroads and electrified them.
But John Montgomery loved Phila-
delphia most of ALL and a quarter OF
century before his death he began sys-
to draw back his principal I
as well as interest from distant invest. l
nents. He visiOned the future OF Phil. I
adeIphia; the city Of a thousand trades. c
AS rapidly as he disposed OF far-oh
railroads and power plants. he poured }
the proceeds into great local enter I