Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-20

| A SITUATION often has a characteristic
n picture" to set II off, and the pic
ture of Roland S. Morriss reported ap-
pointment to the al-mportant post OF
Ambassador to Japan must be that of
a class in jurisprudence and politics at
Princeton in the early nineties, with
| Woodrow Wilson in the professors chair
| and Mr.. Morris among his attentive
students. And, as one always says of
such scenes, little did they think" that
one might be President and the other an
| Ambassador. 1t was an atmosphere Of
literature" and, IL of future politicians,
surely of literary politicians"
BY literary politician says Mr.. Will
son in his fine essay on Bagehot, II do
not mean a politician who affects liter
ature; who seems to appreciate the
solemn purpose of Wordsworth's Happy
Warrior and yet is opposed to ballot
reform. Neither do I mean a literary
man who affects politics; who earns his
victories through the publishers and his
defeats at the hands of the men who
control the primaries. | mean the man
who has the genius to see deep into
them-the man to whom, by reason Of
knowledge and imagination and sympa-
thetic insight, governments and policies
are as open books, but who, instead OF
trying to put haphazard characters of
his own into those books, wisely prefers
to read their pages aloud to others.
man who knows politics and yet does
not handle policies"
A man, in short, such as Mr.. Wilson
likes to appoint to ambassadorships and
would doubtless like to appoint more
often to offices at home. Our ENJOYS
have been nearly all literary politicians"
under Wilson: men who have not held
Office and who are more at home in |
the library than in the forum. Mr.. Morris |
has had the ability ito see deep into |
affairs and the discretion to keep out of |
them" to a remarkable extent consider
ing his prominence in the Democratic
party. He lodged oflice-holding success
fully, sticking to the slower, humber
tack of educating" his own party, being
one Of those Happy Warriors who really
do believe in ballot reform. He rose
through the various degrees Of party
charmanships; but to Philadelphia Demo-
Gratis he will always be Morris, of the
Eighth Ward"
Cleaning Up the Eighth
There it was a case Of ballot reform
with vengeance. The Eighth Ward con-
tanned all the elements of the Phadel-
pha political problem-indeed, 1t was a
microcosm of the political universe In
the wards western half was all the wealth
and intellect and fashion and in the east.
ern half much of the vice and misery Of
central Philadelphia. Norris as ward
chairman, knew there was no chance for
his party, for the quality all voted for the
Organization. But what he could do was
20 cut down the padded registration lists.
Hundreds of fake names, names of
lead men, etc, were on the lists. He
aired college men to copy down every
5oter's name in the ward-no easy task,
or the Organization henchmen would
'ften chase them away from the books.
Then these young Happy Warriors would
20 from house to house asking "if Mr..
smith really lived there"
For example, in one three-story tene.
nent near Tenth and Locust streets there
we're supposed to dwell 100 citizens! A
woman came to the door. She
aid frankly that nobody lived there at
IL except herself. The agent, in such a
ase, would 60 running to Mr.. Morris In {