Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-11-17
ONLY THE COURTS CAN
REMOVE THE STAIN

THE proceedings against the Mayor
have advanced to the Grand Jury
stage. II an indictment is found next
month he must stand trial on the con.
spiracy charges growing out of the Fifth
Ward thuggery and murder. If he Is
found guilty he must go to Jail. His
accuser Is the Commonwealth Of Penn.
sylvanis, technically and actually. His
accuser is not Senator Penrose and was
not the late State Senator McNichol.
But it is being said in Organization
circles that there are to he peace and har.
mony. II is being said that the death of
McNichol will mean the advancement of
City Solicitor Connolly to the vacancy in
the Penrose- -McNi.hol faction; that Con-
nelly will make peace with the Wares and
unite with them in an attempt to seize
control Of Council, and that this alliance
will mean that Penrose will take" the
State and the Wares the city.
Incidentally, it is rumored that the pro
ceedings against the Mayor are scheduled
70 be dropped by mutual agreement"
They will not be dropped by mutual
agreement unless the people Of Pennsyl'
. vania are ready to abdicate their sover
eighty to the Wares and Penrose. unles,
the sanctity of judicial freedom is to be
successfully assailei. Politicians con.
spired to bring about the murderous
thuggery in the Fifth Ward. If the
Mayor was not a party to the conspiracy
he can only be exonerated by Jurors who
have not been tampered with and by a
District Attorney and Judge who have
been left free to learn the truth.
II was said during the recent campaign
and repeated a thousand times that con-
ditions in Philadelphia could best be
summed up as government by murder"
The reply of the accused faction was the
cry Of Hypocrisy" SO many sweeping
"denials" were made that one could
axpect the Vare.Smith followers to deny
sVen that George Epp.ey had been killed.
But IL they did not mean that the people
should ignore the fact of the murder they
said what amounted to that. They said
tk-a opposing faction had been guilty of
the same thuggery methods. That was
cause. The Nare-Smith men pretended to
believe that Penrose had started the
Town Meeting movement, was in some
mysterious way at the bottom Of 1t and
that independent voters would never have
organized the new party if an Organiza-
ton faction had not egged them on. This
cf arge of hypocrisy" was absolutely dis
party was led by men who have opposed
both factions OF the Organization for
years; the candidates they put up were
above suspicion.
Who Is the "hypocrite" now? The
Juuse WHO noilS l. mayor Tor the Grand
Jury after the electon--is he a hypo.
erite? Or the politicians who are hoping
to avoid the due process OF law-are they
the hypocrites?
Crimes are not punished or condoned
by popular vote. Above all the corrup.
, tion Of contractors government our courts
remain pure, a testimony to the honesty
Of the people. The District Attorney is
bound by his oath Of office to follow every
prosecution to its logical conclusion and
for him to listen to the pleas of politicians
would be an offense amounting to perjury,
American justice under our Constitution
has brought a President OF the United
States before the bar Of justice charged
with high crimes and misdemeanors. The
same leveling rule Of justice demands the
same procedure, when warranted by the
evidence, against a Governor or q Mayor