Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-12-31
MooRE'S ELEVEN IN COUNCIL
HOLD THE SToRMIEST SALIENT
Rumors Of Bribery Show That the EX-
pected Onslaught on the New Mayors
Kew Position Has Beuun

| crudest and most dangerous method
known to politics. If any one on the los
ing side has been trying it the leaders of
the old regime are far more stupid and
reckless than they ever were supposed
to be.
If plan is afoot for raid or job
in the new Council, evidences of it ought
to be apparent at the first caucus today.
| Meanwhile, the councilmen themselves,
Mr.. Moore, Mr.. Cortelyou and any one else
! who is intent upon maintaining the integ
| rity of the new city government will be
| wise if they prepare for the sort of enemy
! pressure that is more dangerous than
! bribery and for attacks and maneuvers
and Indirect action that even honest men
find it difficult to resist
With the rumors of yesterday came un-
expected proof of the advantages of
small Council. The men elected to sup
port Mr.. Moore and his program are well
known. They have made their pledges.
They are easily identified. They were
permanently aligned and they are clearly
exposed and visible in the pitiless light.
Any break in their formation would be
as startling as a gap in the Market-street
movement of a big building Similarly, it
would be the subject of concentrated pop
ular attention, relentless questioning, end
| less curiosity.
1t would have to be explained, without
an hours delay. So there could be no
escape for a traitor in a case like this.
Any deserter from the majority in a
/ fight between the new Mayor and the
he 4ol L.;
| treason as definitely as if he shouted it
! through d megaphone.
No politician whose senses had not
deserted him would ask any man to face
consequences such as would be INSOFAR
able from such action. No elected repre-
/ sentative could take the risk. For if the
| slight reform majority were to be de-
/ stroyed in the new Council most of what
! the city has won after years of effort
would be lost
The people would have reason to feel
themselves abominably tricked in crisis.
| And we have only to remember the pro-
posed gas lease of 1906 the defiant Coun-
! ell and the crowds that marched down
Broad street and the ropes that they
carried grimly into the chamber galleries,
tc know what would happen.
1t is possible to dismiss the suggestion
! of extensive and direct bribery while ad-
mitting that of late there must have been
great feeling about in the dark, careful
soundings among the Moore supporters.
night patrols over No-Man's Land and
cautious propaganda from the opposing
| trenches
1t was TO be expected that the stamina
Of the eleven men upon whom so much
depends would be tested out at this phase
of the business. They hold an exposed
salient. They will have to hold it against
more than one battering assault, and they
never can know how the next attack
will be made. For the present they de-
serve help and support rather than sus-
pcon.
When the new charter became a Ger
tainty the political boches ceased to fight
it. They determined to turn it to their
own advantage. To do that they had
only TO get control Of the new Council
So it was upon the Council that their
interest centered in the recent election
There were times when even the mayor
atty became a matter of secondary i'm
portance with the leaders of the old or
ganization. 1t was upon the small Coun-
Gil established under the charter that the
present and future fate of politicians and
their cliques depended almost entirely.
If clique devoted to the spoils system
got control, the leaders of that cliuue
would have an almost unbreakable
stranglehold unon the city and the city's
government. They would have the benefit
of simple mechanism, easily operated
and controlled, by which the election
machinery, the police and patronage sys-
TENS could be utilized for factional ends
year after year indefinitely.
Unless at today's caucus the minority
gives up some new recruits to the Moore
forces, the eleven men now on the new
Mayors side-or rather the three or four
who represent safe majority-are all
that stand in the way of the old guard
and the goal they missed by narrow
margin.
1t is idle to suppose, therefore, that all
the members of the Mayors party will
have an easy time of it. The strategy OF
factional politics is strange.
Money is not the only ammunition
known to the warfare of heelers and
their commanding officers. There arc
claims of sentiment and friendship anC
there are business interests and the socia
factor and the personal equation. There
are subterranean avenues of attack
There are threats.
In desI crate emergencies even black
mail has been relied upon to change thu
mind Of man who happened to have {
badly needed vote.
So far as available evidence goes tht
new members of Council on the reform
side are not only bribe-proof; they ar,
, proof against the more subtle and NOR,
, dangerous weapons of the hard d-driye,
tribes opposed to them and the thing
| they are presumed to renresent