Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-21
SQUEEZING THE JOBHOLDERS;
THE MAYORS NOBLE STAND
When He Fore Up Sheriff Ransley's Note
He Should Have Ordered Every Office.
holder to DO Likewise

NV W DV ''NNVio
WHEN Mayor Smith received Sheriff
w Ransley's polite request for a "vol-
untary contribution" to the Ware city
committee political fund he tore the note
into small pieces and threw il into his
waste basket.
After the report of what he had done
was published in this newspaper, the
Mayor said he believed that the men get
ting big salaries should pay political as
sessments.
Why should he pay his?
i If he refuses, Boss Ware cannot remove
his head with his trusty snickersnee.
The Mayor is elected for a fixed term
and will serve and draw his salary till
the end of that term. He can afford to
laugh at such an attempted hold-up.
But if the little mar holding an APP
pointive Office and drawing a small salary
declines to contribute, out he goes with
out a doubt at the first chance his SUI
perior can frame him" on the least
preteXt.
When the Mayor said yesterday that
he ala not DpllCNt III iSSCSSlnE IHt IllJlp
man, he failed to say it in a way to en-
courage them to stand on their rights
under the law.
What the Mayor ought to have said is;
Il do not intend to make any cortri-
button. 1t is contrary to the spirit Of
the law passed to forbid the levying of
political assessment, on ottiCchoiders.
4 voluntary contribution paid under
tho EprDpllSinD Of fpIr pf dismissal if II
is not made is just as bad ns "A contri-
button deliberately forced by an impera.
tive demand"
But, of course, the Mayor didn't.
If he had said something like this and
had followed it by a definite and explicit
order to the employees of the city govern
ment forbidding them to pay any money
to the campaign committee on pain of
dismissal he would have earned the graft
tude of every one of them and won the
respect of the public.
The Mayor has the power to give such
an order. He knows as well as any one
that Sheriff Ransley's request for "vol-
untary' contributions is regarded by the
little men as an order to contribute, and
that its phraseology is constructed to
keep within the letter of the law. 1t is
an open question, however, whether the
courts would agree that the request was
not a definite violation of the statute
when the circumstances surrounding it
are all considered.
It is not too late for the Mayor to gre
such an order nOW.
He could write a ringing message de-
~nouncing the whole system of political
assessments, if he would. They are based
on the theory that government exists for
the benefit of the of1iceholders and that
the men in office must be banded together
to keep their jobs by doing their utmost
to keep in power the faction which APP
pointed them. 1t is a direct attack upon
the civil service reform theory that the
minor offices arc to be held during good
behavior by men qualified to do the
work-men who are freed from the ne
cessity of hanging on to the skirts of a
ward leader in order to hold their jobs.
He could clear the atmosphere in City
Hall by announcing that evey man fit
for his job would be retained. provided
he obeyed the law against political con-
tributions, and that every man who vio-
lated the law by yielding to a demand for
the payment of a percentage of his
salary would be summarily discharged.
If he would announce, further, that he
would demand of the General Assembly
next winter the passage of a law so
broad and comprehensive that it would
cover all forms of solicitation for politi-
cal funds from officeholders, he would free
the little fellows in jobs from the haunt
ing fear that dogs the footsteps of the
best of them from the moment they re-
ceive their appointment by grace of a
political leader-a fear that they may
offend the. leader and be discharged with
out warning.
A ringing declaration of an intention
to stand by the spirit of the present law
is what is needed at this moment.
And, by the way, with no campaign to
speak of on hand, what need or excuse
is there for 'sandbagging the boys" this
year as usual? Estimates call for S75,-
900 to 100000.
Where will this money go?
Who IS going to get it?