Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-05
By SAMUEL, Mccoy
"COlNO, going'-- How much am
VI orored?

NJ urored?
This handsome property, consisting
Of forty.one square miles Of territory,
elgh; hundred million dollars worth Of
taxable real estate, now offered for lease
for period of four years.
How much um | ofrered2 The lease
carries with II the disposal of $4,000, 600
Of annual revenue, the appointment Of
G0OO city employees, the control of unlim
ited forms Ut revenue!
millions in Il, gentlemen. millions,
What do | hear? What do | hear2
Whadi'Ihear?
"The big gentleman with the black
mustache has made his offer; now
whaddIhear from the little gentleman?
Going, going, and -"
1t il the voice of the auctioneer of u
queenly city, the city Of Pittsburgh. But.
although he shouts that the property is
going" he cannot pronounce the word
gone" until September ~. The sale
hasn't yet been made.
The bidding of the local seekers after
the control Of this staggeringly valuable
property is complicated this year by the
entrance. the noiseless entrance, Of two
veteran bidders from Philadelphia.
When they packed their grips for Pitts
burgh tho two left everything in their
homo city serene and quiet. The two
tigers of Philadelphia, acknowledging
that they had come to q temporary dead
lock in their fight for supremacy in Phil.
adelphia, had lain down side by side and
were purrlng throatily. No one foresees
a reCrudescence of their quarrel before
the campaign for new Mayor of Phila.
delphia in the fall Of 1918. The two hao
smoothed their jowls and come to n com
promise in selecting a "1fty-ffty' slate
for the city officials to he elected this
November. Outward harmony in Phladel-
phia was safe for another year.
Tigers to Divide Spoil
But their yellow eyes had been rest.
less, nevertheless. They simply could not
make their eyes behave. And, shifting
them from spot to spot, they rested low
ingly at last upon a city $50 miles to tho
west of the Delaware, from which was
waited the tantalzng odor that tells of
good hunting.
BY daylight the two tigers of Philadel-
pha are to be found lying peaceably side
by side. But by night each has been slip
ping on noiseess paws through the
streets of Pittsburgh. The game has been
marked for the kill The date for the
killing has been set. But how will the
slain carcass be divided"
Pittsburgh itself, the ordinary popua.
ton, that is which goes to work in the
morning and worries over the army draft
and scrapes to pay the grocery bills and
behaves itself on weekdays as well as sun
days and has a good average time raising
family--thls Pittsburgh, which includes
a right goodly number of voters. has
scarcely received an inkling as yet that
two gentlemen living in Philadelphia have
any especial concern in the Pittsburgh
mayoralty campaign. You do not heai
the names of either Ware or Penrose men,
toned by the man on the street. To the
staid Pittsburgher the fight is stil be-
tween its homegrown politicians. Only
the professional political observer has
come to realization of the interest
which the Pittsburgh fight has to the
political barons of the eastern city.
Afraid Of Doctor Kerr
| talked with one such man, more
informative than reticent, who forgot for
the moment the proverbial silence of his
profession.
Anybody who thinks that the mayor
atty fight in Pittsburgh has only local
significance has his eyes shut" said he.
although William A. Magee, appointed
Public Service Commissioner by Gov
ernor Brumbaugh, who has. for the last
two years, used the weight Of his Office
20 strengthen the Ware machine, resigned
as commissioner two weeks ago and an
nounced his candidacy for the mayoralty.
and although 1t was rumored that he
would do this two weeks before he ac-
tually resigned from the Public Service
Commission, l was informed Of the plan
in Phlladelphia--in Philadelphia, notice
informed by two of the Penrose machine
leaders themselves that Magee would en-.
ter the race And this information came
to me neither two weeks ago nor one
month ago, but three months ago-at a
time when it was still generally believed
that Commissioner Magee would support
Dr. James u. Kerr, chairman of the Pitts.
burgh Council for the mayoralty.
1T was then that the Penrose crowd
decided they could take no chances with
Doctor Kerr. an independent. AS between
Doctor Kerr, who would certainly he
against them in the city primaries and
who would also be against them at the
elections. and Mr.. Magee who would
certainly be counted upon to be with
them at the elections, there was no choice.
Commissioner Magee's promises of sup.
port to Kerr were broken or avoided in
most ingenious manner. Like the ulti.
matum sent TO Serbia, request was
made upon Doctor Kerr by Mr.. Mage.
that certain Magee followers be taken
care Of in the event Of Kerr's election
One of them was to be made head of tn,
Department of Public Safety. Doctor Kerr
refused to stomach the suggestion. Mr.
Magee then considered himself absolved
of his promise of support to Kerr and en-.