Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-06

Hent the Cnhrges aooO
| lutely to make any reply. In the taIk ]
had with him last Tuesday he opened his
| lips OH the subject for the first time, de-
| Tending the committee.
Every one of those interviews in the
| Leader was faxed" he said pounding on
the table with a fist like a ham. They'd
call up one man after another. get him on
the phone and that would be all there was
to II. Yes, served on that committee
| and I'm proud 10 be member OF it, the
man would say; and then the Leader
would hang up and concoct an interview
| which made the committeeman say the ex-
| act opposite. oh, every one OF those men
| who were interviewed was wild
But they made no denials In news
| papers friendly TO your
NO: certainly not! why should they?
| Nobody paid any attention TO those fakes.
! They weren't worth answering. But III
| tell you this:
There wasn't man appointed to Mayor
| Armstrong; Cabinet who didn't have the
| previous Endorsement of the Committee of
| one Hundred. why we worked night and
day for two weeks and went TO the mat
with the Mayor right through! We put
! up man after man, all of 'em good, clean
| fellows. and some of en- didn't suit the
| Mayor for one reason or another; but we
! stuck to it and got some one that suited
! our committee for each post l delegated
subcommittee to do that job and they did
| it right, you can bet
The Minor Appointments
| And there has been no just complaint
| against any OF the men whose appoint
ment you indorsed?'
| Not against any of the department
! heads. not one" said Mr.. Babcocli bellig
| erently.
| But how about minor appointments?
| Well you couldn't expect our committee
| to go into the fitness OF every man ap-
| pointed on the city payroll could you?"
| But you promised that in so many
| words in your committees pledge. didn't
| Eou--promised to see TO It that all appoint
ments, high and low, will be made on fitness
and merit'?"
Did we say that" Mr. Babcock smiled
| ever SO slightly "If you say SO ! suppose
we did. | don't remember the exact words
OF the statement, Of course. but III say
| this to you The one man that those
! women raised howl about. demandn' his
| removal as police magistrate, chargln' him
with malfeasance in office and God knows
| what, was tried by board of five lawyers
| that our committee indorsed-fve of the
| straightest. cleanest lawyers in town. That's
the sort Of men we picked. And what did
| they do" Why. they threw out every last
| one of the charges against him that's what
| they did"
| According to Congressman Porter
| charges were made against at least twenty
! tration. Numberless arrests of members Of
| the underworld were promptly dismissed
for lack OF evidence" by Police Magistrate
| Sweeney, who was "whitewashed" by the
Babcock trial board.
| Mr.. Babcock waXed eloquent to me on
the subject Of Mr.. Magee's support
| why he said, with large and conf
dental gesture, that fellows strength
| mostly lies with the riff-raff. the worst
| element in town
| expressed surprise.
| oh. Of course" Mr. Babcock conceded
he has some little following among busi-
| ness men with AK to grind but as
say, his chief supporters are the lowest
| sort of people the lowest sort 80 lie en-
phaszed with another thump on the table
and compression Of the lips.
Concerning Vice
| introduced the vice question timidy.
| but l need not have been tmid. for Mr..
| Babcock left no doubt as to where he stood
| on the subject
| The reformers have got all the women
| chased out of downtown" he said, "and
now they're scattered all over the resi-
Dental districts. Wherever a girl is foxy
enough to get three or four others together
| with her she rents house in the respectable
| quarters OF the city. and Ia getting away
| with it, too. Why. there was a time back in
| the good old days when you'd see 'em along
Smithfield street thicker'n hair on poll
| pup. Now they ply their trade in automo-
| biles"
One Of Mr. Babcocks advisers had called
my attention in glowing terms to his plat
form statement that city employees were
deserving Of higher wages in view of the
increased cost of living as being one Of
| the strongest planks In the Babcock plat
form. asked Mr. Babcock IL he intended
to raise the wages Of all city employees IL he
| were elected.
Now don't you go get the idea that |
meant was going to raise all Of EN-" he
eXpostulated II meant especially those fell
lows that are getting $500 year or less
10 sense in raising the pay OF a $4,000 man
so long as he can live comfortably on that
Mr.. Babcock's ideas on Pittsburgh's tax
rate were expressed for me by the candi-
date himself most pithily.
! II don't pretend TO be an expert on taxes
right now" said he, but the property
owners--the man who has TO count in his
| taxes when he's renting out house-tell
me they figure it at So. Now, here's the
whole proposition as see il: A man doesnt
care so much what his taxes are SO long
as he gets what he's paying for. It's lust
as you feel when you go to q show you &c
| to a cheap show and pay 81 for seat and
you come away feeling stung; and you &c
to Il good show, where you have TO loosen
, , up with So, but you have a good time and
| YOU don't give a hoot"
Mr.. Babcock gave me the impression that
he contemplates spending very little none,
on municipal improvements, as distinct from
departmental work. Taking his feet off tn,
table and getting down to brass tacks will
+ one huge fist humping the other palm
:. the Big Fellow CALCULATED
!. 80 long as folks have to bear the bur
$ den OF this war I'm not going to add 4
their burdens Itll be enough to work ou
. some cracking good plans for city i'm
d provements and then put 'em into effec
n when things tighten up a bit, But there
: two things that nobody's going to wait for
: If they need 'em they must have 'em rigb
4 off the bat and t'hell with the expense
: And that's police and fire."
: ventured a reference to Max Iesli.
n rep,fted the Penrose power behind th
! throne" in delivering" the underworld
II vote,
d "Babcock Means Babcock"
y y "Mr. Babcock.' said, II have been toll
a by business men in Pittsburgh-persona
= friends of yours, not political enemies
n that IL you are elected, no matter how goo
!. your Intentions. you'll be twisted aroun
4