Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-31

/ far enough The Town Meeting marty
was formed over night and its rI,nnl-
| dates chosen to 0pn0$" tn" 'aHu'"dl"'
| of the insolent and unrcp"h'ah' con
/ tractors machine at tn" NoN'h"'' ''''
| tion.
Into the fight AGAINST gov.rnm"n,t. 10y
murder came troopng all tn" various
elements that had fought for r"'"rm IN IN
! time past Into II. too e. me IT. w. 'ci9t Gi1,n
/ of Senator Pcnrosc and his HllN' S,atI
| Senator McNichol, tCtrarch OF Il thliH
part of the wards of Phila1clnhla iilIo
| il. too, came every man thai na" w., d
| rricvanCC or "A grOuGn aSalrSl III,
Mayor or the dominant political forces
! in fho Citv II was motley army. aNI"'
athnst. bitter, P"lttical saEi'lN, nt"'
| tIcal experience, streams "l H!oIleN "
vast tide of publ" sentiment "''' Nv
hind the movement
jeremiah Thomas ArCh'r found nm
self drawn into the swirl OF lh"Sc 'Nrn,"
land recognized a. person, "l 'nl.H.,
quence in tn" rallylnt mis- II, ii,y,,,;s, 'i,yUs Z
the situation aS any young 'h!l"7i",l i
! might and gave himself up TO ih' IN
rushing current II" worked unSi '.,,T'h
! he helped raise money; n" h"il!,u i,'!i' n -, =,
ORGANIZATIONS and VIII th'y Wlnt'u "
read his name off As u We" pi'"lu''l' ~
! meetings, alleging it was an ass, 10 , ,m,
| movement. he was willing. not through
romplaisancc and vanity. but h cause h'
meant to give up what h" hj"'
When tn" people at such meetings de
m, ndod to see him he stood up and WAS
| introduced. When they calfI for a
speech he remained ON ms i""t onrn.. ,rn.
blurtpd right out Of tn" heart or NM
To his surprise, tn" CONCLUSION OF me
first speech was accompanied by N"cii'F-
GUS applause.
"You'rc a vote-rcttcr, Mr.. Archer,
| said the chairman of tho speakers con-
m!ttec. We shall have to US" You on the
| stump
So Jerry went ON with those straight;
arm jabhing talks. growing more AM,
| more effective and receiving louder ana
louder manifestations Of approval un'll
raS each night something cam" BACK u,
him from the audience, his own natnrh !
lmodesty was overcome 10 'ilr cNi''l ~,
lcompcliing him to recognize that he was
growing into a real fore" III I'll" cam
| paign. and like generous morse re-
| sponds to encouraging words, Il" tii'W
himself into the collar, The idea tll''
victory did not wait at the end OF thc
| lcampaiCn-thc idea that the people OF
| Philadelphia were not ahont |" rrhsSSa
their right to control the relnS OF govern
lment never orCe suggested Itself TO nm
| This faith in the success of the Town
| Meeting party was foSjcrcd in the minds
| Of the leaders by the stratcEical blunder@
Of the opposition. The most astounding
| of these was committed when, nfier MI
the tragedy which had attended the EN-,
| ploy mpnt of the police in the Fifth Ward
primaries and the public fnrore of pro-
test against 1t. the police were sent
| tur,. TO the petitions by which the Town
| Meeting party candidates had been
placed upon the election ballots.
This gratutous duty was performed
by some of the nauolmen with nhr'nu-
| lar arrogance. They brok" in upon tn"
domestic life of citizens at arbitrary ana
unreasonable hours. They took advan-
tage of the absence from home of tn
| sgners of the petition to mtimidate
| wives, in some cases frightening them
almost into hystcria and working perma-
nent injury to health. all in a brutal en-
deavor to frighten the citizens into dis
Iavowing their free acts.
| Such practices sayored more of the
political activities Of tn" R0rgias than
| of any American institution and were
| calculated to create revolt. IT did
not occur to Jerry that the citizenship
could be too sodden. too spiritlcss to re-
| spond or that there was some unsus-
| PEE scted element in the situation which
| drugged the nerves and made response
impossible, and it was only on the nigh,