Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-06
Mr.. MooRE'S RECORD
FOR FIRST SIX MONTHS
Has Not Forgotten Campaign Prom
Ises, but Needs More Sincere
Support Than He Is Getting

THE underworld about which reform
L ers and muckrakers talk is n myth.
There Is no such place. The gambling
habit is not peculiar to any one class
or to any particular condition of life.
High rollers do not crowd in exclusive
communities. Mayor Moore, in an
nouncing that mysterious groups are
Cndcavoring to re establish organized
vice" in this city, doubtless means more
or less-than appears on the surface.
There are always a good many people
about who like to make money in ille-
gitimatc ways, and they will break laws
established in the interests of common
dcCenCy unless they are made to feel the
constant restraining power of the police.
Social parasites of that class prefer to
watch and wait for an interval after the
advent of each new municipal admin
istration. New mayors and new dircc-
tors of public safety are given time to
settle into comfortable ruts and to for
get their promises. IL they are of the
forgetting kind. After few months.
when the zeal of new executives may be
presumed to have lost its edge. the men
who like TO live little outside the law
begin to take soundings. A gambling
house here and there is opened up
Other questionable enterprises are
launched continuously, and launched in
some instances under agreements with
new ward and division leaders who wish
to try out their own powers as well as
the temper Of the administration.
If the police are alert and honest
and if the Mayor can still be independ-
cnt these plans are soon abandoned.
Mr. Moore has been in Office six
months. His administration is being
felt out by the men who prefer to live
by petty crime rather than by work,
and there are politicians in both fac
tions who will not hesitate to tie his
hands il they can. What the Mayor
did in his statement relative to an at
tempted revival OF vice was to serve
notice on these men that he still feels
able to give them a fight. All that is
needed to maintain decenCy and order
in city like this is a police force freed
OF political boss control. Mr.. Moore
and Mr.. Cortelyou have managed to put
the police on a new basis. A good deal
Of tnc factional maneuvering Of the
hour is intended. apparently. to undo
oil the good work that has been done
Of late in the Department Of Safety.
The Mayor has n lively and practical
mind. His course during the hard fight
with the opposing faction and the
record of what he has done and at
tempted since January show that he
has not forgotten his campaign prom
/ iscs. 1t is unfortunate that the best
work that may be done for community
like this is not always conspicuous or
vividly dramatic Pell nell raids on
gambling houses loom large among
days events, but they are more or less
minor incidents in a program of recon
struction and reform.
The Mayors scheme for q municipal
asphalt plant. for example. is Sugges
tive Of the sort of work that counts most
heavily in the long run for the general
good. Had such a plant been in op-
Grafton years ago this city would not
now be hampcrrd by some Of the worst
street surfaces in the world, nor would
it have to pay out money in floods to
atone for long continued negligence by
those who in the past had to do with
the streets and sire t appropriations.
The highways might have been kept up,
as the Mayor desires 10 keep them up,
under rules which recognize the trc-
mendous value Of the stitch in time.
Thus the enormous costs of rebuilding
would not have been necessary.
In plans which he has outlined for
the sake of economy and efficiency in
other municipal departments the Mayor
is plainly keeping to high and honest
aims. He needs more sincere support
than tho new Council is giving him,
He needs an enlarged police force. II
his administration proves in the end
to have failed in some things, it will
be because the City Council, antago-
ni~tic or worse. refused the CO. operation
without which any Mayor must remain
relatively helpless. II vice is revived,
II will not BE- the fault of the Mayor,
1t will be- the fault of those who have
made an honest. efficient and properly
paid police force difficult or impossible
in phiIalplnhia