Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-05-13
A NICE, NEW REVOLUTION
is ABOUT DUE IN CAMDEN
The AlI.5aird Political Soviet Repre-
sents Itself and Misrepresents
the People

good -natured tolerance of bosses who
happen to be personally likable.
Mr.. Kuehnlc is back with bells on |
him. The organization killed for him |
n fatted calf. But it could not keep
him out of Jail. Tho Commodore did I
actually. and in person. go 10 jail He .
was put in cell 10 do pcnancc for the .
ofenscs charged against him.
That astonishing fact rrmaiuS to in
spire wonder i'll any student of the
states affairs. There have been worse
bosses even than Mr. Kuehnle in other
states and they have not been sent to
jail. You never can tell what may
happen in the land beyond the Della
ware. Jersey justice can sometimes !
be terribly broad and terribly inclusive. :
The people of the state are tolerant. F,
but they continue to maintain a quality !
of political thinking that is founded on
the best of American traditions. Quite
unexpectedly and without any warning
and against the shrcwdeSt mancuvcriug
Of party leaders they have. before now.
brought about political overturnS that
amazed and confused the men who
called thcmselvcS leaders. Clear aud
independent thinking is characteristic
! Of tn" farms and the smaller Commu-
mites that do not have to contend with
subsidized and parasitical systems Of
vote control organized in the interest of
men who Wow politics as profitable
business.
The revolt against boss control dc
vplops more slowly in the large cities.
Some day il will come again in Camden.
1t is about due now. Camden is
live and growing community that il
lively and growing in spite of po-
ltical bund that invisibly hampers it in
a hundred ways and deliberately frus-
tratcs the better aspirations of its bust
ness organizations and its people. In
Il city that is aspiring constantly to
greater industrial cmincnce. for exam
pie. tho question Of utilities like light.
heat. power and street car service is
a most important one. Yet the bosses
who control the affairs of the city aided
the movement which gave tho public
utilities into the hands of an absentee
monopoly. They encouraged the devel
opmont of the corporation that inSultcd
the people by the introduction of bull
pens and the twelve cent trolley fare.
1t was public opinion that wrecked
the outrageous plans Of Il street car
company which had archaic notions
about service standards and public pa
ticncc. II was unadcd public opinion
that kept the Pennsylvania Railroad
: Company from shooting all its trains
through the city without stop and that
wrung from the railway people the
concession Of skctchy station AT
broadway. Whcrc were the benign
politicians then? Where have they been
while hard working committees laborcd
year after year to bring about the con
struction Of Philadelphia Camden
bridge and thus give n new impetus to
the business life of the city and new
lift to real estate values in Camden
and in a radius Of about thirty miles:
No one knows.
Camden went along. confident and
good natured. Now it is becoming
aware of mysterious obstacles and com =
plications that threaten to delay the
bridge for years. The bosses were quiet
when the trolley company was providing
stockades in which its patrons might be
hcrded before the work of plumber
began.
Does il happen that some Of the
amiablc leaders own stock in the Pub
lie Service Corporation:
Bosses of the old school type are
costly luXuries TO any community. They
have been an afiliction in Philadelphia.
They have been even greater affliC-
tion in Camden. and an astonishing
number of people in that city arc com
ing gradually to realize this.
That city has extraordinary natura
= advantages. II the people wish to know
p what their community and its environ'
? might be they have only to think of th'
S amazing growth Of Brooklyn and th'
: rich residential areas Of Long Island
n Immediately beyond the limits of Cam,
den proper are endless reaches of un'
D developed land that, with a moderI
y system Of intercity communication
. might easily be made to rival the grow
- ing suburban communities that adjoil
. this city on the Pennsylvania side o
" the river What is needed is Della
y warc bridge and q boulevard or two il
y Camden. But the tremendous powe
g and potency which machine leaders dis
ulav at the polls has never been appar
u cnt when aid for the bridge project wa
required in Trenton or elsewhere.
c The antiQuatcd ferry system remain
in the way Of Camden development
Gradually the people of the city hav
" come 70 understand what the dominan
political organization really is. The
n are recognizing it clearly as an agenc
Y that has only an incidental relation t
It Camden an organization formed an
n maintained as one Of a series of inter
IS locking machines upon which politiCU
leaders depend for control of the state
&c What the larger machine really stand
Of for is fairly apparent in the Kuehnl
N victory. in a public service cOmmissio
At under fire and in political party drift
l. ing TO dangerous split,
70 4 rcassrrtion of the independent po
m ltical sentiment which, before now, ha
X brought about wholesome revolutions
Camden politics will come before Ion
, If signs and omens count for anything
At The clean thinking and forward
N minded, the business organizations an
ID the men who habitually give their tin
10 10 unselfsh public service have had |
&c contend with a well orgWized v~yr
4 .1.....I Z. = Z n -. N. I. .ll Z. 4. ". -. =.