Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-04-01
Women Point Out Vice Pro.
lection, Political Corrup-
ton and Extravaganza
PAMPHLET Is PUBLISHED
19 Men Dominate Councils.
League for Good Govern.
ment Charges

of the city administration for extrava-
gance. laxity in suppressing vice and po-
lttical corruption, Mrs. Samuel Bryan
Scott wife OF former member of the
Legislature from Germa ntowul. today
told the manner in which the, document
was prepared for publication.
According 10 Mrs. Scott. she wrote
the entire report from information com.
piled by workers both professional and
volunteer, who numbered thirty. The
Committee OF thirty" she explained,
was a name including all who had par
tlcipated in the investigation.
There were two paid investigators, EN-
ployed through the Federal Employment
Bureau, Mrs Scott said, who gave about
two weeks time 10 the work. The re-
mainder of the research was. voluntary.
Among those who assisted me ma
terialy." said Mrs. Scott. were Miss
Laura Platt. r noted worker on civic
conditions. who furnished information
on the moral conditions in the city; Miss
Constance Biddle. who supplied me with
a mass of facts relating 20 the care of
girls in the city: Mrs. Frank Miles Day
who likewise assisted me with informa-
ton in her possession Frederick z.
Gutenberg, of the Bureau of Municipal
Research. who helped in furnishing
documents relating 10 municipal affairs
and obtained for us permission TO COPY
other documents: Bruce Watson of the
Public Education Society, who supplied
data on schools; Mrs. Adams, who is
a worker in the Southwark settlement.
and who discussed settlement work and
furnished material thereon: former Dean
Marion Reilly. of Bryn Mawr. who did
some personal investigating at our re-
quest: Mrs. Jean Kane Foulke. Miss
Marjorie Thompson. Mrs. Francis Noble.
Miss Imogen Oakley, Miss Estelie
Lauder. of the Consumers League :. Miss
Edith Sheldon of the Boarding House
Bureau, and Miss Katherine Shpley. OF
the shpIey School"
Names Not DIyulged
In addition to these were several in
vesiigators whose names. Mrs. Scott
said she was not allowed TO divulge.
These persons, she explained, had as
sisted her with the explicit understand
ing that their names should appear
neither in the report nor afterward.
A third source of information was in
, the files OF the various organizations
mentioned in the preface of the book.
Representatives OF the Women's League
, for Good Government called at the
offices of the different organizations and
: were permitted to examine all data
then at hand. -
The organizations included are:
r philadelphia Housing Association Oc-
tavla Hill Association, Bureau of Mu-
nicipal Research, Society for Organizing
= Charity. Society to Protect Children
, from Cruelty. Childrens Aid So
ciety, Interchurch Federation. Bureau
OF Social Research. Co operative Com
= mittee on Fly Prevention, Consumers
League, Social Service Departments OF
several hospitals. Civil Service Reform
; Associationfi Bureau of Boarding
Houses. Girls Aid. Girls Protective Blu,
3 reau. Travellers Aid Society. Anti-Vice
Society. Public Charities Association
public Education and Child Labor Asso.
: citation. Juvenile Aid Society, Colleg.
Settlement, 81. Martha's House, Friends
= Neignborhood Association and South
8 warli Neighborhood House
"'rhis mass Of data" said Mrs. Scott
| was turned over to me and from it
l compiled my report. of Facts Abou
philadelphia including such things al
' seemed absolutely necessary and elimi
: mating the parts of reports which seemed
! unessential.
There were exceptions to the rule
For instance. when 9, worker desired Il
u
= Ter notice, emphasizing a certain pcin
= we were making against the administrs
ton, her own words were embodied il
the report and she was accredited will
that portion in a footnote at the bottom
II regard the report as an absoutel
. nonpoliticaI document in the usua
u sense of the words. II is TO be used a
| propaganda by the decent citizens o
y Philadelphia to put an end to the rule o
d The SYSTEM and it's corruption. 1t vii
8 be used in the mayoralty election to Sc
t cure the election of a man who will Civ
7. Philadelphia an honest, business admin
i istration."
Mrs, Day Chairman
/ The officers of the Good Governmen
e League are:
d Chairman. Mrs. Frank Miles Day
= first vice chairman, Miss Mary A
is Burrham second vice chairman, Mis-
:, f. A. Tryon; third vice chairman, Mr'
q j. J.. S. Ferris; treasurer. Mrs. Henr
10 L. Dobis. Jr.; recording secretary. Mr.
J. Robert =. Andrews. and correspondin
ID secretary, Mrs. Edward G.. McCollin.
IT In touching on asserted municips
~ extravsgances, the pamphlet issued b
"a the league says, among other things:
THE Fsirmount Park Commission i
r 1917 spent $366,00O for personal sery
ices. lie TeIuSeu 10 BlN
se any itemized statement of these exper
dltures. Is 1t possible to imagine
successful business firm spending moi
than s356,000 annually for wages Will
out any definite accounting"
C. When questioned concerning this toda
representative of the park commits
sion said that the books Of the commii
rs sion were open to the public at a
y times. ANY expenditures under item
2, 2, referred to- he said. could be e'
~ planned to any citizen at any time.
ID 1.-THE item included emergency wor
s. and employment of all classes of labt
rs and mechanics" The bills paid out
n. the item are a matter OF record,
III declared. and could be seen at the col
y, troler's office at any time.
Conspiracy of silence"
A conspiracy Of silence" exists whic
IN prevents the truth about the city go'
as ernment from becorning known, accor'
30 ing TO the pamphlet.
I'd Five elements in the conspiracy
a silence" according to the pamphlet, ar
er Fear of financial loss or loss of en-
-. ploylnent. This gags city employe
70 such as policemen. city officials, and,
course, public school teachers,
But even prominent business men, WI
e 'y-KISSEI-