The Daily Alaska empire., 1939-06-16
It Can Be Done
Cleveland Plain Dealer))

iCleVelanQ Pldll DedeIp)
 Half century ago James Bryce in his deathless American Commonwealth" described municipal gov ernment as the weakest spot in the American system His indictment of the msrule of the cities was in sharp contrast with his hearty praise of many Amerl- can institutions
 There is striking similarity between what Bryce wrote Of the causes and results of corrupt municipal rce and this diagnosis of the same evil by i attorney General Murphy:
 .'There is no mystery about how government is corrupted It starts with slush funds amassed py vice which makes it's alliances with partisan politics What follows corruption of elections corruption of the courts corruption of the whole government structure The people who are the backbone of any democracy, have of safety any more It must be restored to them"
 The most striking change since BryceS day is that reform has weapon in federal authority Thanks to Uncle Sams zeal in collecting his income tax an Al Capone and Tom Pendergast can be brought to justice Attorney General Murphy hints Of more fed era prosecutions If state and local governments won clean up of their accord"
 Perhaps this will help to spur local initiative. Certainly it is credit to community like Kansas City that evils known and condoned for years are not corrected until United States prosecutor and the lFBI show that it can be done.
 Yet one of the conspicuous recent efforts at self help by city which surely needs it has struck la snag in state partisanship This is Philadelphia, many years ago listed by Lincoln Steffens among the cities corrupt and content From time to time Phladelphans have sought to remove the conditions which merited this description. Partisanship always stood in the way Philadelphia a citadel of the Republican power which dominated the government of the Keystone State It not for nothing that it was the home of Boies Penrose.
 When the Grand Old Party rule in Pennsylvania was finally broken, Phiadephians of both major par ties opportunity for long overdue cleansing A commission spent fifteen months in study and in- vestigation It recommended new charter providing for city manager and proportional representation
 But Pennsylvania law requires legislative approval before the voters of Philadelphia take vote to decide if they want the new arrangement. This ap- proval has been denied by the Legislature at Harris burg strongly Republican dispatch from the Pennsylvania capital says "the Philadelphia Republi can organization generally blamed for killing the charter measure"
 To outsider it would seem that the Pennsyl- vana Republicans back in power after Democratic interlude, would have welcomed the opportunity to clean up Philadelphia They could have claimed the Democrats had muffed their opportunity. Apparently Pennsylvania Repubicanism does not work that way. It is faithful to the tradition of Penrose and Ware
 But municipal misrule in America is the unsavory monopoly of one party. A Democratic Jimmy Walker is matched by Republican Big Bill Thomp son. Often changing of party labels has not i'm proved the odor of city hall So Americans of all parties will cheer if energetic Democratic attorney general can help bring vice and crime in mholy alliance with partisanshp politics" to trial and victon in honest courts.
 Particularly to be commended is Murphy's as surance that no new laws required. We simply need to use the ones we have