Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-06
pENROSE'S SHOES


- epochal readjustment of forces and In
terests within the Republican Party in this
State ,lnduestionably will begin with the
campaigns instituted to elect successors TO
Penrose and Knox. And what the bosses
want to make of the present situation Is
clearly revealed In the desire Of Congress
man Ware to boost himself into the seat left
vacant BY Penrose, into n conspicuous place
against the skyline of national politics.
II Is idle to blame Mr.. Ware or his
friends They know no better. They have
never known any better. To them the
Senate OF the United States is merely
place from which great political influence
may be exerted, a sort Of heaven to which
the chosen Of the gangs may retire to rest
in dignity and without troubling to think
seriously of anything under the sun.
1t has never occurred to any worker in
the rolitical vineyards hereabouts-indeed,
It probably has not occurred to Mr.. Ware
that the senate Of the United States will be
for the next few years AZ least place from
which the whole future course Of civilization
may be largely directed; place in which,
il it. were ideally organized, every mind
would be aware Of every succeeding shift
and change Of international politics and
wisely sensitive to the hidden forces which
are swiftly remaking economic and financial
theory in the various headquarters of Euro
pean diplomacy.
The Senate ought to be filled with
scholars Of experience. Its members should
be sophisticated and alert to the influences
that lie behind the psychology of all other
Governments. 1t ought to be the trusted
and respected voice OF enlightened America
II ought TO be wise, dgnifed and above all
things, just. Yet the prestige of the Senate
has been declining for a generation with the
quality Of its membership
Mr. Vare's candidacy Is of more than
local interest. 1t illustrates the tendency
of all machine politicians to make of the
Congress Of the United States an assemblage
Of incompetents
Even now it is not too late to hope and
believe that there Is far more to the Re
publican Party in Pennsylvania than the
Wares and the Mngees and the Crows and
the others of their sort who make It work
for them. There is n very large element of
the Republican voting population which,
while 1t goose steps more or less efficiently,
has at heart only limited tolerance for
professional ringmasters. II there ever was
time when that sort Of Republican needed
to make his will felt, when men who have
concern for the material interests Of the
State as we'll as for the dignity of the United
States Senate need to remind the self
appointed leaders that they are alive, It Is
now.
Because Of the accidents OF circumstance
ways have been opened for the extension Of
gang power and influence from this city to
large areas Of the State itself. It is con-
ceivable that the unthinking professionals,
| left 70 Themselves, may do some wild and
utterly reckless things when elections are
| held to fill the two vacant seats in the
| Senate.
II is now up to the men and women
whose names and means and intelligence
and honest purposes and convictions give
Pennsylvania Republ!canism its real vitality
to stop the advance of the marauders short
| of the Senate of the United States.
Governor Sproul, in his wise and dignifed
handling Of the immediate problem, and in
| his desire to serve the interests Of the State
! and the Nation before he serves his own
interests or those of his party, has provided
| an example which no conscientious man or
woman voter can properly ignore.
| VIII men Of Mr.. Sprouts way Of thinking
and feeling continue TO be a helpless
| minority?
VIII the party let It's masters whip 1t into
| obedience at the task of betraying stimuli
tancously the best interests Of the State
and the Nation?