Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-04
BY SAMUEL Mccoy

| NOTHING especially humorous is being
~ said or done just now in Philadelphia
| People are going about their businesses
stolidly and even refuse the tribute OF Q
sour smile to any new discussion Of the
| transit situation, for example
To find any real activity in the joke
! manufacturing line today Philadelphians
must travel in a westerly direction for
some 500 miles and shake hands with the
boys out in Pittsburgh. There In the
city of coke and steel with the accent, ac
! cording TO some Pittsburgh humorists. on
stcaD. the jokesmiths are working night
and day on war orders for popular CON
sumption. The tall stacks of the joke
mills are belching forth black clouds of
humor by day, and by night the city is
lighted up with the ruddy glow of the
jest forges.
l have spent several days in Pitts
burgh recently and held conversations
with q number of its citizens. Some Of their
remarks are set down herewith. ] leave
1t to the critics in Philadelphia to judge
whether they were expressed in deadly
seriousness or in spirit of delightful
playfulness. The pits of Wits.Burgh are
too subtle for me.
Pittsburgh began its campaign for
the election of a new Mayor on Monday
of last week. Don't laugh; we haven't
come to the point yet. AS far as my own
individual feelings are concerned, came
away from Pittsburgh in the deepest Of
COLL tA i,aH
long, long talk with Z. II. Given, gen.
teman who was touted to me as being
the cheeriest little humorist in all Pitts.
burgh
A Good Penrose Democrat
Mr.. Given owns bank and two news.
papers. so l was naturally disappointed
when l failed to attain my hope for an
hour or two of conversation with man
of whom many engaging stories are told.
Mr.. Given's reputation for wit was
achieved, so the story goes, and was
made imperishable as a block of granite
when he called himself Democrat
thought the delicious humor of the anoc.
dote lay in the fact that the Democrats
in Pittsburgh were like the snakes in
Ireland.
But l was told that had missed the
point, as usual.
And this is not the only bit of humor
ascribed to him. ! was told that some
one recently asked Mr.. Given to account
for the fact that no Democrat had been
in the running for Mayor since the days
when the late James w. Guthrie occu-
pied the post. This is the answer ascribed
to Mr.. Given:
I'VE have a nonpartisan primary here;
and one of the defects of that system is
that it eliminates as candidates all but
representatives of the controlling party"
Besides his reputation as a humorist,
Mr.. Given is described as being a bulldog
fighter--in business. His newspapers are,
of course, fighting tooth and nail in the
interests of the Democratic party? No!
You got that wrong. They happen to be
supporting Senator Penrose's preference
for the mayoralty.
According to Mr.. Given, as quoted, only
candidates of the controlling party" get
nominated at Pittsburgh's primaries.
There are three Republicans in the
mayoralty race, and a Democrat who is a
fighter by instinct simply can't refrain
from supporting at least one of them So
date. A finer example Of the subtle Pitts.
burgh humor current in these days can
scarcely be imagined.