Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-05
1.-THE CRACK IN THE BELL"
4 STORY OF POLITICS IN PHILADELPHIA
By Peter Clark MacfarLdne
By Peter Clark MacfarIane


| returns from that first division dis
| quieted him. IF Farrell got forty-two
| votes, one-fourth as many az | among
my own neighbors. in one of the most
| intelligent wards in the city, what will
he get in the downtown wards" That
was his reasoning as, with n cup OF
coffee and the most nourishng sand
wich which Il beehess Tuesday afforded.
he sought to fortify himself against the
strains Of watching which the night
would have in store for him.
Leaving his club. and walking up
| Broad street again toward Real Repub-
| lican headquarters, jerry paused from
time to time to read the returns which
were beginning to appear quite regular
| ly now upon the newspaper screens.
| These were the outlying sparsely popu-
| lated wards of the well-tO-do that count
ed first and invariably they were re-
| turning Archer majoritieS but these ma
| jorities were not large enough to satisfy
| the young man.
As he picked his way across Walnut
! street. passing patrol wagon held him
| up for a moment. Jerry got a glimpse
of the interior of this and saw it full of
men.
'Victor is gathering 'em in" he re-
marked to himself with grim satisfac-
| tion They may steal it from us. but
this will be hard fall for election
| thieves
| In the next block along Broad street,
| two other wagon-loads Of men in charge
|
were not patrol wagons, but open auto
trucks, with improvised seats of boards,
and officers in charge were plain-clothes
men. Again Jerry chuckled.
That's Victor again, he said ana
tho picture Of this beginning of court
battles which would help to clean up all
elections in the future elated the young
| refOrmer almost as much as the lalr
prospect of his own election. "heh ne
reached the campaign Headquarters ne
.l.@ rncta
inquired We'll. hows it going?'
| mo arrests tonight" was reported to
him Little fraud reported so far
But | saw wagonfuls going down
| Broad street.
"Dont know anything about it. Look
at these Mr.. Archer" and the secretary
pushed a small sheaf of return sheets
| under his hand. ITS going great
Jerry scanned them hastily.
Il can't see it," he said shortly. han
| ing the sheets back.
| "Why, you're leading everywhere, so
| far"
so far" shrugged Jerry. pessimist'c-
| ally. and passed on to his desk. where
he sat down and for a few minutes felt
| himself rather lonely figure of man.
His forte was action The time for ac-
| ton was over. There was nothing TO
do now but wait The hour from to
10 seemed longer than all the rest OF the
campaign. 1t was, moreover. puzZling
d
headquarters. The returns indicated
strange things. His maJorities fiuc-
tuated strangely. They were small where
they should have been big and big where
they should have been small.
Jerry sat with late edition of the
Evening Courant on his lap.
LANDSLIDE FOR ARCHER" its
sweeping headline declared: : but it was
predicated on those first early returns
from the residence wards.
From S o'clock on these returns had
grown steadily less promising. About Q
il had appeared that some OF these So
called better-claSs wards were actually
I voting against him--giving their MAORI
ties for Farrell. Jerry contemplated
these with dsmay.
, was OH hand at headquarters. did it oc-
cur to you that you are going to get
q your heaviest majorities in the down.
town wards--the old machine wards
, some of them?
NO" responded the candidate, with
gloomy emphasis, ''it didn't. | expected
to cut 'em down there somewhat, but
: what I depend upon is these great out
side districts and-and kensington.
e expect Kensington to do very well for
e us"
t well. look at this" Kelly handed
r him the returns from a division in the
Fourth Ward. Archer, 1874: Farrell, 90"
What do you think of that?" laughed
: his friend
! Jerry walked over to a map on the
wall and located the division.
That's where ] put that street
through and broke UP nest of rotten
tenements," he explained.
We'll" insisted Kelly. that's just
, hunch. You watch. You're going to
! win. old man, and you're going to win
with the votes Of the commonest of the
common man
Jerry's face lighted.
than any other. He's the only man worth
; fighting for. The others can take care
J of themselves"
Kelly went away chucklinE and Jerry
fell to watching His totals again. There
: could be no doubt his majority was
! longer a majority. Farrell was leading
and Broad street outside had become
u pandemonium of a fresh kind OIL
Z rancous noises.
S pendulum slowing swinging back. and
z at 1880 Jerry was ahead again. AT
9 10:45 his majority had increased tC
y 2O00 at l o'clock it was 1000.
4 Kelly came back Growing, for it was
the totals beginning to come in from
. the industrial wards that were turning
the scale
] Jerrys face lighted up. They did
=, believe me, didn't they" he exclaimed
D couldn't be bribed or ntimidated"
!. Looks coed" smiled Kelly. Looks
b. good !"
{ At / o'clock the ma jority had climbed
! another fifteen hundred. and the dope,
=. sters," the keen heads, old or young, with
e a nose for figures and a head for stats
4 tics, were sitting with maps before them
on which returns of other years were
/, plotted. and estimating majorities fol
different sections Of the city on the
basis of the returns received thus far
S tonight. Just before 12 O'Clock these
e men had got their estimates combined
t ana one of them came rushing to Jerry
; You win. :" he exclaimed. You viii
S carry the city by twenty-five thousand =
e Jerry almost forgot to rejoice.
/ "Is that all?" he asked hollowly
o realizing now that he had hoped for {
|. very great majority, seventy-fve or {
hundred thousand.
e But there were plenty of others to re.