Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-19
PENNYPACKER ON
THE DEATH OF QUAY
Governor Pays Final Tribute to
the Powerful Republican
Leader
rENNYpACKER ArToBoGBArHY-No. 81

A VICIOUS system had grown up in the
state Of providing FOR the maintenance
Of the peace by the appointment Of what
were called Coal and Iron" police. II
began with the railroads and mining cor
porations but had gradually extended so
us TO include corporations in various sorts
Of business. These police were selected,
| paid and discharged by the corporations,
but were commissioned by the state and
| exercised its authority TO make arrests.
| This most delicate power Of the state h4d
| to "A great extent been transferred to the
officials Of one Of the parties to the con-
! trovcrsics which every once in while
| arose. With entire propricty the working
men engaged I'm struggles with their en-.
ploycrs resented the intrusion Of these
! police, and their interference was more
| likely TO cause than 10 prevent violence.
! During the last year Of stones Admins
| tration asp Of these police had been ap.
pointed and while during my first year
they had been lessened to 1S6, the situation
was stll bad enough. The commissions
had been issued for indefinite periods Of
time and there We're unknown numbers
Of mon within the state who after being
discharged, still held these evidences Of
authority. In April Of 1904 l took hold
of the matter I required before appoint.
mcnt aflidavits to hc fled, giving the rec.
ords and characters Of the men and the
necessity for their appointment, and re.
stricted the commissions to term of
three years, and determined at the next
legislative session to cndoavor 10 do away
with the entire system.
The Good Roads Movement
During my whole term as Governor all
attempts to make use Of the office ana its
incumbent for advertising purposes were,
as l have written, resisted and thwarted
and, therefore, all invitations to pitch the
first bail at baseball games and to do like
things were declined on the thirteenth Of
| April, however. / went tu Shamokin Dam,
i'm Snyder County, along with Hunter and
other officials Of the Highway Department,
and there with n pick ana a shovel, in the
presence Of a crowd began the goodroads
movement and the improvement of the
roads by the state. I made little speech
to the onlookcrs and then began 70 throw
/ the dirt.
\ commission. of which Governor vii
| liam \. Stone was the chairman, for the
| purpose of erecting a Capitol in the place
Of that which had been burned, had been
organized August 20, 1901, but more than
a year had been occupied in the selection
Of the plans and the preparatory arrange
ments, so that little Of the work had been
done when / became Governor and as
sumed the responsibility for the progress
Of the building. [ laid the cornerstone
May ), 1904, which covered a copper box
containing contemporancous records and
| suitable inscriptions, using a silver trowcl
presented to me for the purpose. \ cor
nerstone had been placed by Governor
! Daniel H. Hastings in the structure be-
| gun in 1898. but since that was cheap
| brick building virtually abandoned, being
regarded as insufficient, it was thought
best to begin anew.
On the twentyfourth of May ] made an
address in the morning at the dedication
Of the new courthouse i'm Norristowu, and,
| in the afternoon, introduced by Wayne
/ AIacVeagh / took pick and broke ground
! for the erection Of the new building Of
! the Historical Society Of Pennsylvania,
/ az 1900 Locust street Philadelphia.
Death Of Senator Quay
| On the twenty.cighth Of May Senator
| Quay died. have endeayorcd TO make
| an analysis Of his character ana present
| his achievement in a paper. prepared at
! the request Of the Legislature Of PennsyI-
vania, and it appears i'm my pennsylvania
80 1.
| career which impresses me most forcibly
| is its pathos. Here was man, with
! lineage identified with the state since
| its foundation whose forefathers had borne
| the commissions of the province in the
/ French and Indian and Revolutionary wars,
! with a capacity for statecraft conceded
| TO have been unsurpassed, with literary
! attainmcnts and skill, with generous in
| stlncts and a kindly tolerance for even
/ his enemies. without those elementary i'm
/ pulses which are Eraufed with the ac-
emulation of money, who devoted his
/ whole life to the advancement of the i'm
tcrests Of the state and accomplished very
| much in her behalf, soldier who fought
| for her with distinguished honor ana a
statesman who won for her great rewards;
and yet ever followed by the persistent
abuse Of the faithless and incompetent,
| he failed to receive the appreciation which
was his due. A brave knight he won his
many successes only by continuous battle
/ against heavy odds. II is easy to win the
/ applause Of the Crowd-to give them up
| lift is a difficult process, Had we given
| him support, as Kentucky gave it to Henry
| Clay and Massachusetts gave it To Daniel
| Webster, in spite Of their many uelin-
! quencies, 1t would have been well for the
reputation and the welfare Of the State.
| / had seen him a few months before his
death. He sent me a telegram from At
lantic City asking me to come down there.
! ] dined with him and he and We're pushed
around over the Boardwalk in a little
cart He talked TO me about the family,