Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-01-09
PENNYPACKER TUMBLED
Faulty Fence Causes Estraneement
With Secretary Of Agriculture.
Railroad Pass System
Vicious One
BY GEORGE NOX MCCAIN


| Pennypacker there were strained relations
between him and his secretary of agricul
! ture, the late Norman Bruce Critchfeld.
| 1t was not an estrangement in the sense
! of personal antagonism. 1t was just short
| period of pique on the part of the Governor
| toward his secretary of agriculture over
| something for which the latter was in no
| wise responsible.
Governor Pennypackcr, like the secretary
| OF agriculture, was a farmer. Up at Penny
| packers Mills for years the Governor raised
crops as fine as could be found in the valley.
And the farm was well kept up; is so to
| this day.
Secretary Critchfelds farm was located
| out in Somerset county near Jenner's Cross
| Roads BY reason of his Harrisburg duties
he for years had been compelled to turn the
| farm over to hired hands Not being able
| to supervise it personally it was not as we'll
| maintained if the secretary had been on
the ground himself.
| On one occasion Governor Pcnnypacker,
| with some members 'of his cabinet including
| Crtchield visited Somerset. The secretary
invited the party to Jenner's Cross Roads.
1t is possible that the Governor expected
| to find the model farm of the commonwealth.
| In this he was mistaken. In roaming over
the Critchiicd domain it became necessary
| to climb fence. In doing so Il panel of the
chief executive of tho commonwealth with it
in its picturesque ruin.
| Governor PcnnypaCkCr was more hurt in
| his dignity than he was physically. He
| limpcd around a day or SO, mad as hornet
all the time
He couldn't reconcile the idea of poor
| fences on the farm of his secretary of agri-
! culture, even if he hadn't been in personal
| charge of it for years.
| 1t was a month or beforo ho opt,pto
cordiale was restored between the dis
| tinguished gentlemen.
| TNHE abolition of the free pass system on
l. the railroads of Pennsylvania ended the
| most outrageously violated privilege ever
granted TO public officials.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in rail
road fares were thus thrown to the winds
| every year
The Pennsylvania Railroad exercised good
| judgment in distributing these favors where
they would be the most effective. The Read
| ing was the great offender. When the late
Charles +. Kindred was in charge of pub
| ficity and politics for the Reading in Phila-
delphia and Harrisburg it fairly showed
passes.
] recall one man, who had drag with
the Reading and who traded passes to his
| butcher for siroin steaks.
! ran several of Quay's campaigns on Reading
passes. He handed them out right and left.
| His desk in the Senate was railroad ticket
| office. Nobody who could deliver two votes
and was known to be all right but could get
transportation
Yet BILL was tricky. One of his lodges
was to issue passes to points not on the
| Reading lines. The uulucky holder, of
| course. had to pay his fare This was ONLY
| .lpt irp t,Ir q, ,.l;
| didn't care for particularly. Under some
peculiar arrangement Andrews supplied men
| over the state who controlled counties, or
even small towns, with coupon tickets for
! trips to distant cities
| once heard a conductor say on trip
from Harrisburg to Philadelphia that out of
approximately sixty passengers in a coach
he had taken up but two tickets. All the
other transportation was passes.
! TT WAS no unusual thing, indeed it became
a common practice. for members of the
House to loan their annual railroad passes
TO friends. All sorts of schemes were re-
sorted to to beat the railroads and secure
free transportation.
George Cooper, chief page of the. House.
once told Inc of a clever scheme that was
worked by a member of the House to get
friend from Harrisburg to Philadelphia
During the legislative sessions twenty odd
years ago owners of annual passes simply
pulled out the cardboard, flashed it before
the conductor, who issued hat check and
passed on. In later years the number on
every pass was taken by the conductor.
The legislator in question. with his friend
boarded the train and entered the smoking
car. lie stationed his friend near the rear
door while be took a seat near the forward
end where the conductor entered.
As soon as the conductor had passed the
owner of the annual rose from his seat,
walked to the rear of the car, apparently to
get a drink of water, and by quick move
ment slipped the pass into the hand of his
waiting friend. The latter Immediately
turned, as though looking out of the car
door, and thrust it into his inside breast
pocket
When the conductor reached the friend
there was great show of hunting for the
pass which he ultimately found flashed it
on the conductor, got his hat check and was
safe.
A MAN with possibly the widest acquant
"A ance of any individual in the state was
appointed this week as inspector of claims
by City Solicitor Smyth
He is Captain Frank B.. Edwards, former
Delaware river captain, manager of the
Trenton boat line former member of the
Legislature and cX-state oil inspector for
Philadelphia, Captain Edwards has covered
the state completely twenty times in polti-
cal work.
One of the stories told about him is that
when he was oil inspector for Philadelphia
he had considerable trouble with the Stand
ard Oil Co. in compelling its observance of
the law; popularity of the Standard, ]
understand, in the old days.
Meeting one of the local officials of the
5 company whom he knew very we'll, the latter
said to the inspector:
''See here, Edwards do you know that
you cost us over $3.50 200 the last year"
oh no! didn't cost you anything" was
t the reply. Il just kept you in the straight
! and narrow path"