Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-02
HOLY WORDS IN UNHOLY
MOUTHS

| the mouth of Governor Brumbaugh:
/ The speakership contest is Of more
significance than the selection of a pre-
siding officer for the House. In Its
inception and in It's development any
thoughtful, uni ,ascd citizen can discern
back Of Mr. Baldwin the same reac-
tionary influences that made Pennsyl-
vania politically reproach and that
led directly to two successive defeats
to the Natlonat Republican party Social
justice and humane government are
arraye1 against special privilege ana
secret intrigue Had this Stctc been
wisely treated In the recent election
there would be no dscJ eson of the
party majority In the National House
Of Representatives. Tho House would
be Republican. Pennsylvania Repub-
licans--so caled--wreclled our party's
opportunity Tho same forces are
mcnacinE it today. They are not for
the people and no party can survive
that is not openly, honestly and heartily
devoted to serving the who'll people,
We shall here stendlly continue to
promote unsclhsh and free governmont,
We shall resist all who oppose such
government.
Mr. Baldwin is reactionary, IL he may
properly be called anything at all. As
n rubber stamp he has met the require.
ments whenever called on. That is what
machine politicians are supposed to do
obey orders and get the pap.
The Governors denunciation of Pen.
roselsm reads like n LEDGER editorial of
two years ago. The Governor deplores
events which the LEDGER sought to pre-.
vent. The Governor deplores them be-
cause the Wares want to sit in the Pen.
rose seat. The LEDGER raised it's warn.
ing cry because it had at heart the in.
terests of the Commonwealth, which
were being placed in jeopardy. Tho
LEDGER's fight for good government was
sincere, as it is now, but the high senti-
ments from Scott which filter through
Brumbaugh chill rather than elevate
the soul.
The holy words of the language are
being used to clothe the most sinister
and heinous political plots Honesty"
and "unselhshness" and free govern
ment" are expressions which have been
wont to stir mems souls and fire their
blood and urge them to great deeds. But
these gamblers in government use the
words to garb subtle tricks, to hide
leprous spots, to make black sheep white.
Not content with pillagng the offices,
they would pillage the language, steal
from words their meaning and weaken
the very thunder of reform by theft OF
its paraphernalia. The man from whose
mouth used to flow sweet platitudes for
the edilcation of the young, who voiced
lofty sentiments to influence for good
the children of the Commonwealth, has
been snatched from the pedestal on which
he stood. and his vocabulary of sweetness
capitalized by the bandits who control
him to lure others into the trap into
which he himself has fallen.
TET the public be not deceived. There
- never was any good in Penroseism
and there is none in Varesm. Consider
the personnel of this new reform" band.
Can any man who knows the record of
John r. X. Scott look him in the face
while he poses as an angel and not
laugh? There comes to mind that other
when those other Varieties, the Mayor
and Director Wilson, ordered raid of
those parts of the Tenderloin which were
neither loyal" nor true" But it must
be admitted that any cause in which John
R, *. Scott is a leader carries the pres
tige Of success in the district which wakes
only at night Not even PenroseIsm,
with its slush funds, its corruption and
finty opposition to good government,
ever sought to filter the spiritual drink
Of the people through drainlng-beds OF
filth.
Pathetic as is the Governors absolute
to the garbage can. it merely
emphasizes the well-known fact that
whom the machine embraces it renders
and carious. Its odors are
everlasting. What is true of the ma
chine as a whole is true of either faction
The touch of either is pollution,
uOW much longer will the State en-.
dure these conditions? Are men.
astute in the conduct Of their own busi-
ness, so careless of tine good name of
so negligent of the sur
under which their wives and
must exist, that they will con-
inue to condone the mockery of high
principle, of deeency and of morality
which has become the custom among our
statesmen? A bunch of pirates have pos