Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-26
JUDGE PATTERSoN'S
"KEYNoTE SPEECH"
II Means That He ls Aware That the
Organization and Not the Committee
of 1000 Claims His Allegiance

JUDGE PATTERSON'S "keynote
speech" before his committee of one
thousand yesterday afternoon is one Of
the most significant declarations thus far
made in the mayoralty campaign.
1t is significant, not for what the judge
said, but for what he did not say, and for
what can clearly be read between the
lines.
The audience before which he was talk
ing was supposed to be made up of com
| pany of enthusiastic citizens who had
voluntarily formed themselves into a
! committee to bring about his nomination
at the primaries and his election at the
polls. The sight of such a group OF cltl-
| zens committed to his candidacy ought to
have moved him to eloquence. 1t ought
to have stirred him to restatement OF
! his platform in new language which
would have thrilled every ore who read
, it. That is, if the committee were what
/ it purports to be and if he recognized IN
it a voluntary uprising of citizens in sup
port of his candidacy. One can easily
imagine what Colonel Roosevelt, in whose
name the committee has been formed,
would have said on such an occasion. lie
would have sent the committeeman away
fired with zeal for righteous cause and
determined to fight for it to the last
ditch.
But both the Judge and the committee
men were aware of the emptiness OF the
OCCASION Neither he nor they are count
inc on success because of their activities.
And they both know it. The judges re-
marks were amiable platitudes. The con-
sciousness in the back of his mind that
the committee is just stage play pre-
vented him from working up any en-
thusiasm and made it impossible for him
to pay the committee any more slgnih-
cant compliment than to call 1t "a
splendid gathering Of representative cltl-
zens."
He knew and they knew that he is the
candidate of a group of organization
politicians who control the party ma
chinery in the city. He knew and they
knew that the task of getting out the
vote will be done by the organization
workers. He knew and they knew that
anv other committee is as useless as the
9Th wheel to coach. The organization
has selected him, the organization will
nominate him if possible and the organl-
zation will do its best to elect him II he
is nominated.
Therein lies the strength and the weak
ness of his candidacy. The strength IS
there because an existing organization
ALWAYS has an advantage over one which
has to be improvised. The weakness is
there because in great crisis an organl-
cation which has grown indifferent to
public sentiment always assumes tnat IL
is invincible and cannot be defeated.
The attitude of "Uncle Dave" Lane is
tvpical of that of the other organization
leaders. He can see no improperly IN
the visit to Director of Supplies Mac
Laughlin by Senator Ware in the interest
! of a bidder for hose for the Fire Depart
ment. The visit was made. The senator
himself admits it. The would-be con-
, tractor asked the senator to make the call
with him and the senator could see no
improperly in going
The fact that the senator was one of
the influential party leaders, with power
to make and unmake the political for
times of men, did not lead the would-be
contractor to hesitate to seek to use such
moral pressure as he could muster upon
: the director of supplies. Indeed, it was
hecause the senator had that power that
y he asked him to make the call And Mr..
Lane thinks the organizations purity is
Il vipdicated because the director of sup
niles did not give a contract to the man
who tried to influence him.
But the citizens who are backing Mr..
I Moore for the mayoralty are doing so be-
u cause they are persuaded that this sort of
thing has continued long enough in this
c;tv. They know that political pressure
= has been brought to bear in the award OF
L contracts. They know that the party or
y eanization which dominates the city is
y not averse to the use OF such political
" pressure. They know that the enforce
{ ment of the terms of contracts with the
citv is dependent on the judgment of in.
l. spectors whose political life is dependent
u upon their subserviency to the political
L organization and to the interests of its
. leaders. That is the way public business
g is done here. And that is the way Mr.
i Lane and men like him think it is proper
to do public business.
e II the voters agree with Mr. Lane anc
the rest of them they will nominate
Judge Patterson. They will not vote fol
him under the impression that he will in
= troduce a new regime. His remarks the
= other day that "the politicians have paiC
v no attention to decent public opinion
J. will be regarded by them as merely th'
S statement of what everybody knows
Il rather than as an intimation that he in
n tends to force the politicians to respec
e public opinion. One of the politicians hal
r. too recently exclaimed "Public senti
y ment! BAIL" for them to believe tina
e thew will, change between the election il
d November and the Inauguration of
J. Mayor in January.
There Is not an organization worke