Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-26
CONTRACTOR COMBINE SEEKS
TO BAMBooZLE THE WOMEN
But the Wives and Mothers Should Real.
ize the Mayor Has Set His Face
Against Those Forces That Rob
the Pay Envelope and De-
noralize the Home


THE woman spokesman for the Contractor
l. Combine. in her efforts to align the
women in support Of that organization. is
saying that the mill girls the wage Carncrs
and the wives and mothers of Philadelphia
bread winners have a mighty purpose in
tho franchise.
She seems 10 think that that purpose Is
10 prevent themselves from being "ScgrC-
gated into groups and directed 10 follow
appointed leaders Of wealth and social
standing. either men or Womcn,' In order
that they may BE- hcrdcd to the polls by other
sc'f-appontcd leaders who are in politics
for what they can make out of it.
In the course of time tho wives and
mothers Of the bread winners will show
whether they can be lined up TO support
the kind of leaders who have proitcd by the
votes of the men. Such leaders are seeking
to protect all those vicious resorts in which
the men have spent the money that ought
to 60 to the support of their families. They
have looked after the corner saloons aud the
gambling places. Their licutenants have
often been the proprCtors Of those saloons
and gambling places.
Out of tho profits they have made from
thr money dissipatcd in such ways by bread
winners ihcsC parasites on society have paid
back a small fraction for the coal that hu,
been distributed free to the needy and they
have occasionally paid tho rent when the
bread winner was out of work. They hay"
assumed protective over. lOrdNhip in large
districts inhabited by the poor and humble.
Men voters have consented to this sort of
patrOnizing boss ship. They have been
willing to be- political scrfs and to vote nS
thcy were told. while the men who issued
the orders were growing rich out OF the
power thus obtained through the control Of
votes
Under this system many women have
suffered. Tn" money that they ought to
have had to buy bread for their children
has been paid over the bar of the protected
saloon or has been lost in the gambling
places. When the grocer called to collect
his bill il was the wife who had to answer
the knock at tho door and make what cx-
cllScS She could for her inability to pay.
When the streets were filthy. MS they
usually were in the poorer sections Of
town it was the wife who had to live al!
day with the dirt blowing from the pave
mcnt into her house and over her scanty
food. She had to smell the foul odorS from
the unrollcctcd garbage scattered about the
sidewalk When the sewers were blocked
She was the one who had to suffer the in
convenience
When she lived in a house of her own
she was the one who had to save AMI
Scrimp herself in order to accumulate the
rooney to nay tn" tax bill while the political
bosses were raking off millions of dollars
in profits from public work which they
sramped in order that the profits might be
larger.
Now thc men who are fighting Mayor
Moore and seeking to get their hands once
more on the City Government are the men
who have been finding their occupation
gone.
The Mayor has refused to protect the
gambling places. If he would consent there
would be such harmony as would make the
music when th" morning stars sang 10.
gcthcr seem like disrord. He has refused
to protect III" vicious resorts where tie
girls are offered a~ a sacrifice to lust and
where the young men are dcbaurh"d. He
ha, refused 10 'takc care" Of the mana.
GERS uf tho saoonN frcQurntod by tho pan.
dor, and III" petty thieves. He bu> in
sisted that tho Charter, passed by Ropuh-
hran legislature, with provisions intended
70 break the strange hold Of tho contractor
politicians on the public treasury. shall
be enforced in all it, particulars.
The issue is 80 rlCar-cut that IT cannot
Lc misunderstood II goes 10 the heart Of
every ""rNlhS'n"n h"'h'' II lou"h"s tine
~oIf. Interest or every woman in the city.
whether She be rich or poor, for there is
no class Of society over which the poisonous
serpent of gambling and vie" docs not trail
2,
tn" women. rrgarhI'"I ~ SurlUI status,