Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-09
OUR GREAT ENTERPRISES
The Parkway improvements--A lit-
tie Talk About Old swedes' Church.
The p. r. T. and its Parsinnony
In the Matter Of Benches
BY GEORGE NOx MCCAIN

way, made statement that wip create
surprise.
The rather meager accounts of the exer
cises and of Mr.. Beck's admirable address
made no reference to one declaration.
It was that In the work thus far done on
the foundations for the new library group
there has been as much cement used as was
utilized In the construction OF the famous
Gatun locks on the Panama Canal.
The statement measures the magnitude OF
the vast work that has been undertaken by
the Park Commission and the city.
1t emphasizes further the statement that
once the Museum of Art. the library and
the other buildings contemplated in tho
phia will unquestionably be the art center
OF this country.
TN THE course of his talk Mr.. Beck
L likened the vast project undertaken and
In prospect rs comparing with those which
have associated with the city Of Paris and
Its establishment the name Of Baron Hauss-
mann.
He is most frequently referred to by fervid
Parisians as the builder of modern Paris.
He planned the Bois de Boulogne and the
Park of Vi1cennes. They are the most
familiar monuments to his artistic ability
and constructive genius.
Georges Eugene Haussmann was edu-
Gated for the bar, turned from it to the
civil service and wound up by becoming
Prefect of the Seine.
He practically devoted the whole of his
life to the beautifyihg Of Paris and the per-
fection of its sewer system and water
supply.
wonder II the Park Commission in future
years will receive all the credit that is due
i, and from lips as eloquent as those of
Mr.. Beck2
LNROM the superbly modern and beautiful
l. to the ancient and revered even II un-
adorned, is, after all, but a step here in
Philadelphia.
/ have particular reference to the span
of time and the mutation Of events that will
stretch from the Philadelphia Of tomorrow,
with its Parkway architecture, its Delaware
bridge and the other great things planned, to
Gloria Del or Old Swedes' Church and
similar edifces.
The very location of this revered and ven
cradle edlfice makes it an isolated landmark,
as tabernacle. in this city.
Its congregation, coming from distant parts
of the city, is a very loyal little body of
people.
Many of them are the children and grand
children and even great grandchildren of
former members.
In many instances those who live outside
the city make an all day Sunday visit Of it
when they come to worship.
Indeed, / am not so sure that even the
above expresses the character of its member
ship. for many of the present congregation
are descendants of the earlier settlers.
THE Rev. Percy Robbins Stockman, the
i rector, has had a notable line of prede-
cessors.
OF these, three men are conspicuous by
the length of their service rs pastors.
They. served-the three of thcm--for a
total of 124 years, viz: the Rev. Nicholas
l1,p thn Vah NurfiS klo
Rev. Snyder b. Shines.
l think this record is unequaed by any
other church in this city.
With the thinning ranks of Civil War vet
Grams, there are dying out the memories of
one activity that nearly sixty years ago made
old Gloria Del to stand out like a star in
the darkness of the Rebellion because of its
patriotic activities.
Its members were particularly active in
the work of the old Cooper Shop Refresh
ment Station, where thousands of Union
soldiers on the way to the front were fed
within It's walls.
There are no survivors today in the
church of those patriots. but many Of their
children and grandchildren still commune at
its altar.
1t is the memories of pre- Revolutionary
and Revolutionary days and all the battle
years that have intervened that make
churches like Gloria Del and the ancient
church at Trappe, this side of Pottstown.
shrines in our local history that will never
be deserted or forgotten.
WHILE Thomas f. Mitten and the opera
w tive officials of the p. r. T. are herald
ing the achievements of that system in the
wide fields of finance, it is to be regretted
that the almost infnitcsimal things that 20
to minister to the comfort of its patrons
should be overlooked
The expenditure of $500 by the company
would not only 60 far toward ministering to
the convenience of its elderly patrons. but
would unQuestionably add to the length of
their days.
1t is in the small matter Of benches on the
station platforms Of the elevated.
1t is one Of the idiosyncrasies of the man
agement that 1t places benches on the under
ground platform Mt Fifteenth street, but
leaves the aged. infrm or crippled patrons to
climb to the heights of its West Philadel-
phia stations with no convenient place to rest
once the summit is reached.
DERHAPS the operative executives may
L be ready, as they read this, to tune up
with the declaration but we do provide
a resting place. There is a rest room lead
ing off from every PLATFORM
The truth of this is granted. But who
ever uses the rest rooms, so calledp
There is seating capacity in each of them
| of perhaps from four to six persons Be
sides, once In one of these rooms there is no
outlook to know when a train is approach
| Ing except the rush of passengers to pile
| through the sliding car doors
Women and old persons have practically
no opportunity whatever to secure seat
for they must trail IN on the heels of the
crowd after they have made their way out to
| the platform from the room.
The New York elevated had these con =
veniences of platform benches for their pa .
irons thirty five years ago. They have them
| to this day.
The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company
is, to that extent, just thirty five years be-
| hind New York.
| once asked an attendant why It was
the company did not put two or three OF
these Slated benches on the platform. His
| answer was:
IF we had 'em here people would loaf
on EN-"
1t was an answer not at all creditable tc
the brains and intelligence of the indivdua
who made the reply.
Just as If people past fifty. or even youni
persons, would climb laboriously. n flight O