Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-12-31
is SUPER-VAREISM THE NEW
MENACE IN PENNSYLVANIA?
Some Indications Of a Contemplated Ex.
tension of Contractor Government to
Control Vast Halfway Funds

tension OF Contractor Government 10
Control Vast Highway Funds
A MONG the unchastcncd and unteuchable
~ spirits of these turbulent days It seems
necessary now to list Edwin II. Ware, con-
tractor dc luxe. State Senator, cX-boss of
Philadelphia and asprant to the dictator
ship Of PENNSYLVANIA politics.
Mr. Ware apparently has learned nothing
by the shocks of his recent experiences on
the home grounds. 1t was demonstrated
here, as 1t is being demonstrated almost
everywhere else, that the mixture of business
with subterranean politics Is no longer
toerable to ordinarily intelligent taxpayers.
But disclosures Of the drift Of State high
way contracts, made In this newspaper yes
terday, prove pretty conclusively that the
Ware organization secs n great future for
contractor government and field for the
Philadelphia system as wide as the State
Itself.
\ food Of money. in which the ten mil
lions or more paid annually for motor licenses
Is but a relatively unimportant part, is
being poured each year into new road con-
tracts. Road building will be the major
public activity Of State Administrations for
about ten years to come.
There Is no reason why the Ware con-
tracing organization should not compete
for contracts.
There are excellent reasons why con-
cerus owned or controlled by a political boss
should not have any part in the system of
construction.
Farmers, automobile owners, business
men and taxpayers generally arc paying
heavily for good roads.
1t isn't pleasant to think of q time when
a Governor controlled by Senator Ware
could name the Highway Commissioner who
would name the inspectors who would pass
upon work into which the big Philadelphia
contract combine has been penetrating
quietly.
When il was shown yesterday that Philip
c. Eselc. one of Senator Wares engineers,
with nm official address in Mr.. Wares office
and the support of n bank controlled by
Mr.. Narc's friends and political associates
and unlimited capital and equipment, has
been busily at work on large road contracts
in the western parts of the State, any one
with a little imagination and even slight
hHO"lcukt VI tSNhH'i'' N'N'N
understand why few tears were shed IN the
Lincoln Building over the loss of trihcs like
municipal street cleaning contracts. And
Senator Wares keen interest In tho pre-
lIminaries OF the fight for the govCrnorshlp
and the energy with which his associates
and leaders are toiliug in the State field
gained now and divcrting significance.
The State Highway Department and the
engineers of its force, impressed by knOwl-
edge of the immcasurably important part
that good roads will play in the future
life OF Pennsylvania, have been doing ad-
mirable work. The recently built State
highways are magnificent. They haven't
been doctorcd or slighted, and politicians
have bad nothing to do with them. Mr..
Eisee has been doing good work.
What might happen under Il Narcizcd
State Administration and Il political sub
ordinatcd Commissioner Of Highways is an
other matter.
1t remains to be seen whether the farmers
of the State, the voters and the business
interests generally will be willing even to
risk the danger Of 4 regime that might
give them not the indestructiblc concrete
highways that they are paying for, but jobs
reminiscent Of, let us say, the League Island
boulevard and League Island Park. For 1t
is not too much 10 suppose that movement
is on TO establish the Ware theory Of con
tractor government over all the State during
a period In which vast sums will be spent
on new road systems and other public i'm
provements.
There Is no intention here to question
Mr.. Wares right or the right Of companies
he controls to do public work. But so
ambitious Il contractor is not safe person
in politics.
The Senator ought to get out Of politics
or out of the contracting business.
The little Napoleon himself will argue
that he is carrying Oh hi, business in fair
competition with other bidders That is in
n sense tine. But the question raised now
doesn't relate to anything that Senator
Ware. the contractor, Is dotng. 1t relates
to what he might do in the future II he
held the balance of power at Harrisburg
through the election Of a Governor Of his
selection.
The opportunities FOR graft, FOR profits
and for power over voters aud voters or
ganizatious would be unprecedented Would
these opportunities. created by the States
need for new road systems, be neglected by
any contractor political organization?
The people OF Philadelphia have only to
glance into the past to know that they
wouldn't.