Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-14
BEGINNING A CAMPAIGN OF
COERCION

HAIOW and then we have In America
lynching parties. They had them years
Aeo In San Francisco when the machinery
of government failed properly to function
\ and the scales of justice were impudently
jtrined with Because government Is a
warranty Of secusity in life and property
men who are interested in the preservation
and protection of either take their govern
ment into their own hands when they find
& has broken down. The example is bad
zone. followed too often by dastardly mobs
= which have no excuse for their excesses,
but deliberate coercion is sometimes justif.
able
Last night was a horrible one in this
I, city. soft snow was followed by hard
rain. Horses slipped and fell on the high
Nays. Pedestrians who were unprepared
Tor the sort Of weather they experienced
reached home drenched to the skin. No
\ adult. we surmise. failed to appreciate the
out Of doors. Pneumonia is no respecter of
rank or position. 1t strikes the rich as
well as the poor and preys on the strong
4 - well as on the weak More than one
person. 1t may be. received his death notice
from the weather of last evening and will
answer the summons before another week
has passed
gft Yet all last summer there was not one
z sNeet. sunny day, not one glorious evening,
that the streets of this community were
not quite as dangerous, quite as destructive
\ * health. as they were during the abnor-
NAL and utterly disagreeable weather OF
.AlaSt night. We do not know how many
Z babies died or how many adults breathed
~ germs Of death last summer because
the gentlemen who are paid to clean the
streets of Philadelphia did not clean them
and because the men who are paid to col
lect the garbage of Philadelphia did not
collect It; but we do have before us the
testimony Of medical experts, men who
tteat, the sick and know why they are
\ sick. that the filth and dirt of the high
ways, rotten garbage uncollected, are germ.
carriers and disease-breeders.
~. We know more than that. We know
lt that the processes of law have fallen down.
y that the machinery Of administration is
running on loose bearings and that the
3 citizens of Philadelphia have been COM
& pelled to have recourse to lynch law. We
10 not mean by this that any man is to bo
hanged by his neck to telegraph post or
z burned at the stake. but we do mean that
cttixens are taking the administration of
j 1aw into their own hands. are forming a
EI<uogilance committee and intend to see to IT,
~ he vigilance committee is really vigilant,
lit the health Of the community shall
x ~ no longer jeopardized and the business
" 11u1oreets of the city menaced by insolent
n G11ure on the part Of powerful contractors
80 perform efficiently tho services for
sAich they are paid.
4k$ We refer. of course, to the organization
:. of Minute Men by the Chamber OF Com.
y icnorce. These men are to take 1t upon
x hhemselves to report to the authorities and
2. - the Chamber any delinquencies which
4 lhey may observe in the cleaning of the
y Streets. We assu @ that the Chan. Jer has
os6t undertaken to form this Organization
Il Ujthout having previously dedicated itself
4 3oee the proposition through. This means
~ Philadelphia business men intend to
6pel city officials to do their duty. That
- extraordinary process, without au-
~ Of law, but It bears The command.
anthority of public opinion. the con.
e1Ag prestige Of common purpose, and
ssG high hope Of some relief to citizens
4 Il threatens the high profits Of some
- citizens.
ere not ad ocs:es of lynch law and
<Re little sympathy with the employ.
= sxtra-legal means to secure legal
=. but We have; no hesitancy what.
II commencing emphatically the
ino determined on by the Chamber of
nsros. So viii all citizens. with few
<lons. commend It II the program is
rsously and eficiently arried to its