ONE YEAR OF SOCIALIST RULE IN READING
Gibbs, John T.
ONE YEAR OF SOCIALIST RULE IN READING Socialist Administration of Large Pennsylvania City Wins Commendation from Non-Socialist Source 0 77k following are excerpts from an article written for the...
...Mayor Stump, Snyder and Maurer form a clear majority of the Council...
...Their platform called for economy, which means lower taxes...
...Its officials are sworn to obey the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania...
...They would like to eliminate capitalism or apply it only to the Government...
...This resulted in enormous increases in valuations on Penn street and other central city properties, but almost general, although slight reductions on dwellings...
...There is no body of people with whom I am acquainted who are more anxious that the State should play a more active part In dealing with the cause of poverty...
...They have been active in Reading for years and have always contended that bond issues were unnecessary to run a city...
...When your car is tagged you notify some politician friend and he tells you to forget it...
...An honest cop in Reading has absolutely nothing to fear from his bosses, not even political influence...
...What a travesty upon common sense...
...The Administration baa made a blunder, I believe," be said...
...Secondly, be disputes Councilman Snyder's estimate that it can be furnished within the money raised by the bond issue...
...I am convinced of your desire to be informed and fair...
...Every municipal employee, including the policemen, was called In and told if he was efficient and did his work well he would not be disturbed in his job...
...Are they honest...
...About "Minimum" Wages We were about to close with the above observation when our attention was directed to the current numbef* of the "Survey" which carries a discussion of the beginning wage for a single worker in industry which is estimated by the budgeteers at from $13 to $16 per week...
...eration of Labor, be went to the state Legislature, be held lobs in the jjp3 Government...
...N. Y., where there was once a Socialist Major...
...They call attention to the fact that they have not attempted to impose their doctrines on the community thus far...
...However, the Socialists have not even attempted to put Into practice any Socialist doctrines, nor have they sought to impose Marxian principles...
...They were pioneers and leaders In social legislation and only incidentally, so to say, administrators of social work agencies...
...This is of particular interest to Philadelphia, which has been trying vainly for years to force the Schuylkill Valley cities to stop dumping their sewage into the river from which Philadelphia gets some of its water supply...
...The big taxpayers will have to pay much more, while the little fellows will pay almost as much...
...We should like him also to cite us their action, if any, on health insurance in the' state of New York, on the old age pension bills which have now been in the public eye for a number of years...
...Fancy the terror in the strongholds of those ultraconservative organizations who are continually preaching the danger of a workers' uprising...
...Bat he is the great Socialist leader sad is mm must go the credit for the SodaUrt victory...
...In the past decade it has, it seems to the layman, merely been drifting on a sea of vague and confusing ideas...
...The expression "worthy poor" is as alien to the vocabulary and to the thinking of the social workers as it is anathema to you...
...it may be illness...
...The Administration permits pie.kei.inj and there has been some disorder, but not much...
...properth-l classes...
...At the present writing it is doubtful if an attempt to bring about a union against the Socialists would meet with any success...
...At one time be grew so strong and *> threatening that the Democrats and B*puhUcans had to unite against baa, abandoning their old party labels sal forming the American party to best ha candidate...
...They deal with the banks and the banks have no cause to complain...
...where no other alternative is possible, the family Is cared for by the relief society, sometimes for months, sometimes for years at a time...
...In the view of almost everybody it has meant a rather sharp reduction in political trickery and a more candid facing of governmental problems...
...On election day in November, 1927...
...This visit is for the purpose of finding out just what the plight Is...
...It is a matter of fact that a great majority of the Socialists believe this change must ccme gradually...
...Paul"' (Minnesota) Despatch of Dec...
...Fitch, Is It not, that the Welfare Council has as yet started no campaign...
...Fitch cites to us that the Welfare Council of New York is actually in favor of long range planning of public work...
...We will have a fine City Hall, centrally located and fully equipped for a price of half what a similar building would cost to erect today," he said...
...The powers and limitations of city officials are strictly set forth therein and the Socialist rulers of Reading must keep within the lines laid down by this law or else find themselves facing either Court action or impeachment proceedings...
...What The People Say They voted 7,200 strong in a hopeless fight mainly to express their conndenc: in and enthusiasm for Reading's Socialist Mayor and Council...
...The new Administration did not trouble to look for one...
...Why, then...
...At the same time we have turned over to the school board enough money to permit it to build a fine junior high school...
...You know as well as they do that there are professional beggars and you have no more desire to encourage that mode of living than have they...
...The new administration went over the city payroll and discovered many sinecures and a number of inefficient workers...
...C. W. Pfelffer, the executive secretary of the St...
...I happen to have in mind as I write a case with which I am familiar where the entire support of a family has been taken care of by the C. O. S. for more than a year and it is still being cared for...
...The investigations that are made by the visitors of the Charity Or-' ganization Society and similar societies are made not to discover who are the "worthy poor" in the sense in which you use the term, but because the very purpose that you and they want to accomplish would be defeated if that were not done...
...More Than A Change of Administration Now, to those who view such things philosophically, a Socialists is nothing more than a person whose views oppose the capitalistic structure of society now prevailing, and who wants to change it...
...In several Instances Republicans and Democrats were named...
...Into this fight the Socialists threw themselves, charging both old parties with unequal assessments...
...That's Reading's answer...
...It should be remembered that the city go--crnment trin the hands of uorkingmcn who hare had no previous experience in public office and yet their Socialist education has equipped tlietn for their difficult task...
...Details are given of the iiec>->sary items which need not concern us here...
...Only partly...
...This combination of Republicans and Democrats has not yet appeared on the political horizon...
...If a policeman stops one of Reading's big i manufacturers for speeding his auto, he does not tremble, because his prisoner gets no more consideration from the administration than an humble foreign laborer...
...Now, in power, they have been forced to violate their own rule...
...JOHN A. FITCH New York School of Social Work The Editor Replies Our main indictment in the article referred to was directed against the economic system which continually produces the human wrecks we paraded before our readers...
...Must they content themselves with pious resolutions...
...Our criticism of charity and the methods of social workers was only incidental to the main theme yet more could have been said on this score...
...They would like to see Reading's big factories ruled by committees of workmen...
...In either case a visitor is s*nt to call upon the family Ju5t as soon as possible after the case has been brought to the attention of the society...
...The author of the "Current History" article, Abraham Epstein, declares that the modem social worker believes he "must treat each case as an expert technlcla nand diagnostician" and that social work no longer has "a definite goal and a chartered course...
...An Unanswered Indictment In the June issue of "Current History" an article appeared which received a good deal of national publicity and which raised the question as to the newer attitude of modern social work and specifically stated that social workers in the last few years have concentrated on • case work methods and psychiatry and have not taken any active part in the movement for social Insurance...
...It had just won by 12,000 votes, a large plurality over both Republican and Democratic nominees and a clear majority for one of its candidates—the Mayor...
...Fitch's letter comes to the real question inivolved only in the paragraph before the last...
...Practically the only thing faintly touched with Socialism than has been done is the extension of the city's water system beyond the city limits to the boroughs of Temple and West Reading...
...Imagine what fears of Red Bolshevism must have afflicted thousands who know nothing of Socialism except what they had read of the Russian terror...
...The Mayor is paid 84.800 a year and the other Oouncilmen S4,3O0...
...Fitch's letter offers an opportunity to consider the work of the social workers a little more In detail...
...This has been an annoyance to the politicians...
...If so, what has the Welfare Council, or the leaders of social work In New York City, formulated as thenprogram or even attitude in regard to the legislation on health and old aee pensions...
...Even if they do unite the Republicans and Democrats will face a formidable foe...
...ONE YEAR OF SOCIALIST RULE IN READING Socialist Administration of Large Pennsylvania City Wins Commendation from Non-Socialist Source 0 77k following are excerpts from an article written for the Philadelphia Public Record by a man who was assigned lo the task by that publication...
...All admit that the Socialists have a chance of winning the *»o extra Conncilmanic seats in 1929, unless both old parties combine against them, and even then it might be possible...
...Paul Community Chest comes out deliberately and openly against the recommendations of a state senate committee for an old age pension law on the grounds that such a system "would encourage old age dependency...
...In this no favors have been given to any interest...
...In the former case the referral may be another social agency, such as a hospital, or It may be a friend or neighbor of the family In distress...
...It is not always lack of ability to pay the grocery bill, though lack of funds Is usually a factor...
...They went to the polls and voted Socialist...
...Up to 1926 practically nothing had been done to adjust Reading's assessments...
...They would like public ownership of public utilities and even public ownership of what they call the "tools tit production...
...It is longer than I intended, but there seems to be a good deal to say on this subject...
...Maurer himself did not become Mayor, but merely one of the Councilman, in charge of the finance department...
...It may be that the major problem Is the Inability of the principal wage earner to find a job...
...When the particular trouble is understood, efforts are made to work out a plan that will meet the particular difficulty...
...Maurer Is Responsible The answer is easy—it is one man— James H. Maurer...
...Pay as you go" has been their slogan...
...Fitch says there is "no body of people who are more anxious that the state should play a more active part in dealing with the cause of poverty" than social workers, he knows as well as we do that that is not true today...
...The Presidential fight was bitter and has left scars...
...With regard to the money cost of meeting the situation, the first effort is In the direction of the discovery of whether there are other members of the family who are in a position to give aid...
...You would hardly take the position, I imagine, that every individual who says he is poor Is genuine and honest...
...But the City of Reading Is not a sovereign community...
...The latter may include finding the right doctor or hospital or other agency best suited to the particular need...
...You know these Socialists know more about economics than most people and theyJ-are running everything scientifically...
...I Equalize Assessments The Socialists won last year on a platform of equitable realty assessments...
...it's merely good business...
...Well, I guess it is...
...On this they promise to live...
...Social Workers and Social Reformers This is a very brief statement of what the relief societies try to do when dealing directly with individual families...
...Consider also the vagrue tremor of disquiet which envelops most of us at the mention of the word Socialism...
...I happen, however, to be In a position to see with a fair degree of accuracy what the day-by-day job of the family visitor is...
...The answer may also be found in the attitude of those who did not vote the Socialist ticket...
...To swell the Socialist vote and make a demonstration...
...Meanwhile, real estate had skyrocketed along with other increases in the cost of living...
...They have made minor exceptions to this general rule, such as bonds for schools and bonds for public improvements, which will bring sufficient return to pay the interest...
...The administration of Mayor J. Keim Stauffer, Republican, from 1920 to 1924, avoided tax assessment boosts, but the cost of running the city government naturally grew and when the Democratic adminslstration of Mayor William E. Sharman came into power, it began to look for more revenue...
...This attitude merely emphasizes our criticism that social work has largely come under the Influence of the business Babbitts and that it has' thereby lost much of the former idealism which looked forward to some fundamental changes in the social order,—Editor, The NEW LEADER...
...They have adopted a principle of paying all municipal bills on time in order to get a discount, but that's not a Socialist principle...
...Here is a composite view of these conversations: "What-sort of government are the Socialists giving Reading...
...Last Election Day America voted for a President, following a campaign marked by the most intense excitement in years and Issues so sharply drawn that almost any citizen was whirled into one or the other of the two big national parties— Republican or Democrat...
...And, if you will pardon me for saying so, it is as essentially ignorant an attitude as is thfe latter...
...The society must not assume a financial burden if others are in a position to do Jt...
...Let's see...
...They admit that they are partly actuated by propaganda purposes, but also say they have plans for improving the school system which in no way involve the spreading of their doctrine...
...Forced to Float Loans Not even the big business interests and large property owners are kicking...
...The social workers whom I know best are, I think without exception, in favor of legislation that will tend to abate the evil of the Injunction in connection with labor disputes...
...Most of the social workers of my acquaintance believe that a considerable part of the work of private relief is necessary because the State has failed to adopt adequate measures ot social insurance* and other measures designed to bring about a more normal state of affairs...
...I do not believe you would wish to attack a group of people who are a powerful source for social advance...
...Good government...
...I must ask you to pardon me for the length of this letter...
...The scope of this law Is wide and its provisions very exact...
...administration of charitable agencies...
...Understanding this...
...They have not reduced them" they say...
...The Socialists point with pride to this...
...He was eloquent and tireless and bad the power of holding men to aka...
...Wis., where Socialists are regularly in power, and of Schenectady...
...Maurer became bead of the State TtA...
...The City Hall Deal The same is true of the sewer item, This will be applied to some extent to building Reading's sewage disposal plant, ordered constructed by the State 15 years ago in order to prevent pollution of the Schuylkill River...
...Of course not...
...If a condition of real want is discovered the first thing that a visitor does is to provide tsmporary relief, without making any Inquiry whatever as to attendant circumstances...
...In the first place, he says, there will be no parking space around it...
...The administration leans over backwards in this and one of the minor faults found with it is that it is not "human...
...Lee K. Frankel, a vice-president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, probably the leading organization opposing social insurance in America, Is not an honored and cherished member of this social work profession...
...Yes, I must give them credit...
...That Is my excuse for calling your attention to a number of factors which apparently you have overlooked...
...Because they hoped their candidate for President might win...
...it mcy be that the principal wage earner has died, leavmg a family without support...
...probably the best Reading has ever had...
...But not in Reading...
...They have not been exactly social workers in the sense in which we use the words...
...The appeals are fewer than ever before...
...By John T. Gibbs r|"'EN months of Socialist rule In Reading have produced what...
...Yet 7,200 voters in Reading did escape It...
...But you may be sure of this: where other resources arc not available...
...This correspondent has talked with Republicans and Democrats, men and women, bankers and merchants, laborers arid officeholders, policemen and loafers, asking all the time what the Socialists have done...
...Fitch, that the chief problems of social workers are still the basic economic evils of unemployment, sickness and old age dependency...
...t'tey have a strike on here in a hosiery n.-ill...
...it has been unusually liberal to the schools, and tt encourages public meetings and rallies without ponce interference...
...All this is quite as mistaken a concept as is the charge that Socialists are all atheists and free lovers...
...Despite certain shortcomings it is an interesting tribute to the Socialist administration of Reading from an anti-Socialist source...
...A1m_ ^ ^t...
...We have been familiar with the methods of case work and the genera...
...In their places were put some Socialists, but not all the jobs vacated went to party men...
...Entrenched in office and in the confidence of a majority of the people, the Socialists are going to be hard to beat, both in the Counclhnanic and school elections...
...In the same issue there are estimates of e. beginning salary for social workers which Is placed at $34.60 per week, about three times the Income assigned to the wige earner...
...Since then they have had a chance to demonstrate what men of their party can do with a city of 120,000 souls, mostly native born...
...The police are charged with favoring the strikers, but it has not been noticeable...
...Why is there no allowance, even though it be a bare minimum, for cultural items for the worker in industry...
...Faced with the impossibility of imposing Socialist doctrines on Reading, the Administration last January determined to confine its activities to a good government program and to set an example...
...Reading was always pretty liberal that way...
...The Socialists, however, have met with one criticism...
...In 1927, unable to run the city any longer on the small revenue, the Democratic administration once again raised assessments and refused to heed public protests...
...Is it good...
...As perhaps you know, I am not an agent of any charitable society...
...Are they efficient...
...The Socialists are not to blame for this...
...Fitch's description was of course unnecessary and we did not need to be educated on it...
...Fitch whether Mr...
...The two holdovers are J. H. McConnell, Superintendent of Streets and Public Improvements, a Democrat, and William Smith, Superintendent of Public Safety and Health, a Republican...
...In 1929 the terms of these two will cxnire...
...He worked and ¦laved for yean aajfrflfl up a Bonis list organisation here sad tbsa held it together by the sheer fores -of a* personality, even daring the dark dsyt of the world war when Socialism'feisjS out the world was in decline...
...There is no pull of any kind...
...They know it is useless, as the method of appraising the property is known to all to be just...
...They succeeded that urns, but last year they neglected to oataska and Maurer's men swept the city...
...aware agencies that credit is due for tenement house legislation and the establishment of Juvenile Courts, and that they, to a very large extent, have been the driving force behind legislation raising the age at which children may go to work and limiting their hours of labor...
...If it were to do so, it would cut down very materially the number of families that could be helped by expending its entire resources on the first necessitous families encountered...
...Is It because, unconsciously, many social workers have come to regard the worker as a mere physical asset to industry, a "hand" to be preserved for the owners of industry, but a mind that does not require even a modicum of cultural and esthetic riches...
...It has been true for a long time of Milwaukee...
...We are not aware of any bill which it is pushing for such insurance...
...First of all, the three members announced that they would engage in no private business, but devote their entire time to their jobs...
...This is done by Republicans and Democrats everywhere for the purpose of making friends and votes...
...Then comes the analysis of the situation...
...Sharman ran for reelection and was opposed by former Mayor Stauffer...
...Years ago James H. Maurer was a Socialist voice crying out In the wilderness of Berks county...
...So far as we Laiow „=ocial workers have remained contented and are peacefully going ahead as If everything Is for the best and nobody even questions the validity of presentday tactics...
...Expect Victory Next Year And the future...
...Realizing that they have violated their own principles the Socialists say their excuse for these bond issues is absolute necessity...
...Even so, I have expressed myself in an extremely cursory manner and have omitted to mention many subjects of equal importance with those that I.have set down...
...Absolutely...
...In other words, if there in sn obvious and immediate need of food, clothes, or shelter, it is provided...
...Nothing happened...
...They have been actively behind workmen's compensation laws, laws limiting hours of labor and night work for women, the one day rest in seven law and other laws designed to Improve factory conditions and to improve the administration of labor legislation in general...
...However, even before the Socialists took control outer outlying communities were similarly supplied...
...Reading could not escape this enthussiasm...
...A new co-educational high school had been built and it left the old boys high school vacant...
...Private charity does nothing of the sort, but old page pensions would...
...Can Mr...
...For instance, the administration has made it a rule to treat everybody alike regardless of wealth, race or creed...
...The result has been a remarkable display of loyalty to the Socialist administration on the part of city employees, especially the police...
...On the first Monday in January...
...The Charity Worker's Routine Far more important than this, however, is the necessity of knowing what the real needs are of a family which is in ; distress In order that Intelligent help may be given...
...by 12,000 votes, a Socialist Mayor and a Socialist majority in City Council were chosen by the city of Reading to rule its destinies for four years...
...Is not most of the money spent by social workers today given out in relief of these economic hazards...
...Well, we can't complain...
...We always permitted radical rallies here, so the Socialists cannot improve on that...
...He was ever a ebsagan of the working man and a foe of jb» capitalistic system...
...Reading's Socialist administration upon taking office the first Monday of last January, therefore, found itself unable to put Socialism into practice...
...They were at the prewar level...
...Have these men made a success...
...Good Business" "Have they put any Socialist doctrines into practice...
...The three Socialists elected last year were: Mayor J. Henry Stump, George W. Snyder, who was named to the Department of Parks and Public Property, and James H. Maurer, who has charge of finances...
...Naturally, I sympathize with a good deal of what you say...
...Between the two older panks, Maurer shoved bis wedge of "TlilH^ He won a trifling victory here sad a minor engagement there, but he was out to win the city government and be *«thwarted term after term...
...It was not until 1926 that it raised the assessments and it raised them so high that the public marched down on City Hall by the thousands, protesting so vehemently that the increases were withdrawn...
...But he always aajt bis Reading organisation alive...
...Opponents of the Socialists admit that they have done most of their work well and have not changed things except for the better...
...it is seen that a Socialist victory anywhere in the United States means merely that there has been a change of government...
...In such communities all the Socialists can do for their doctrines is to apply them to matters such as municipal ownership of local utilities, the establishment of public markets and such strictly local affairs...
...Lee K. Frankel We should also like to ask Mr...
...Perhaps yon are...
...When Mr...
...Have Complete Control This has been true of every community In the United States which has elected Socialist officials...
...The people of Reading can answer this...
...How can they with the Clark act staring them m the face...
...A great shakeup of public officeholders was expected when the Socialists took office...
...Can Mr...
...As for the City Hall, this loan was authorized before the Socialists took office, but the Republicans and Democrats never could agree upon a site...
...Berks county Is an old-time Deaav era tic stronghold, but the city was ajbt, sometimes Republican, sometimes Dame, era tic...
...family...
...They engaged the Manufacturers' Appraisal Company of Philadelphia to assess the whole city on a scientific basis...
...You have departed here from what I believe is your usual custom and have made soma serious charges without informing yourself as to what the truth may be with regard to the people whom you are condemninig...
...So great was the public indignation that the Socialists were swept into office, mainly on this Issue...
...Payroll Pruned Down Every day, and often at night, you will find the three Socialists on the job at City Hall or else out on some other work of the city...
...In' their ten months they have floated a loan for the purchase of a new City Hall, which they had opposed when the Democratic Administration proposed it...
...Both sides were too busy in recent months fighting thi Hoover-Smith battle to bother much over local affairs, but now that the Presidency is settled, the politicians are loosing oimx more toward the city and its affairs...
...But aren't any of their attitudes on public qu-ations more liberal, more favorable to "orkers, more antagonistic to the...
...Fitch cite us a single article in the leading professional social work magazines which even gave attention to this point of view, or any answer that has been made to this challenging article...
...Who are these leaders in New York City who stand out either as advocates of unemployment insurance, health insurance, old age pensions, and, as he says, even anti-injunctlonlsts...
...it may be a question of mother and children who have been abandoned...
...We could cite at least another half dozen instances in which social workers In a number of localities have not only refused to champion social insurance but have actually gone out of their way, openly or secretly, to work against these movements...
...Yes...
...Every effort is made to keep the family together...
...The Social Workers—Defense And Criticism John A. Fitch Challenges The New Leader Position By John A. Fitch Editor, The New Leader: I have read with a good deal of interest the leading article appearing on the front page of The New Leader for December loth entitled "The Hell of Poverty...
...It is true, however, that some old officeholders lost out...
...Dispute On Taxes Here is a point on which there is some dispute...
...They are elected for four-year terms, but not simultaneously...
...Mayor Stump and his Council purchased it from the school board for its assessed valuation, $510,000 and will use the remainder of the $750,000 to remodel and equip it...
...They were promptly dismissed but always for cause and always after a fair hearing...
...Also, some of the Democratic and Republican leaders dispute the prime achievement of the Socialists, the equalization of assessments...
...We are not thinking of the Jane Addams, Florence Kelleys, Owen Lovejoys and the like...
...One of the minor, but oftengranted, political favors of modern days is excusing a person who has violated some traffic law...
...Not even Socialists get any favors...
...Superintendent Snyder is particularly proud of this deal...
...This involves both money and intelligent advice...
...Fitch cite to us a half dozen outstanding leaders of welfare federations and of the fact also that it is to the social Community Chests, the real bosses of present day social work, who are taking an active part in social legislation...
...The Socialists have kept their promise to equalize assessments, but they have not materially reduced them...
...They declare that part of the latest big issue is mandatory because it goes to pay for the city's share in the underpass under the Reading Company's tracks, which will bring the AUentown pike into the city by way of Fifth street instead of Ninth street...
...You make no specific charge against them, but by inference you charge them with cold aloofness and a machine-like attitude toward persons requiring help,— statisticians of poverty rather than redblooded fighters against the evils of poverty,—persons why pry into Intimate private affairs for apparently no reason excepting that the poor are in their power...
...1928, these men toot office...
...Moreover, every effort must be made to assist the family to find its own way out of its difficulty- The real objective of the work of such an agency is toward rehabilitation rather than dependency and support...
...10th in which Mr...
...Social workers, ever since I nave known them, have been actively in favor ot a minimum wage law, and last year the body representative of most of the social agencies of New York City, the Welfare Council, went on record as favoring long range planning of public work and unemployment insurance as means of dealing with unemployment...
...However, it makes up for this by being "human" in other ways...
...Almost too much so...
...It is necessary, therefore, to know something about the people to whom assistance is given...
...Is it not a fact, Mr...
...This new assessment was only recently completed and appeals are now being heard in City Hall...
...What really happens is this: A family, or if you will, a "case" is either referred to the society or a direct appeal is made by a member of the...
...it is...
...This is not generally known by the people, as it is not spectacular news, but it is true...
...Contrast the above with the feelings which undoubtedly were felt here, there and everywhere throughout the country just a year ago, when, after the election, the news was flashed across the land that the Socialists had gained absolute control of a pretty large city, situated in the middle of one of Pennsylvania's most prosperous farming communities...
...And they have answered...
...The Public Service Commission of the State had ordered this Improvement and the city must pay for it or be mandamused...
...You have, however, done a very grave injustice to a hardworking body of people who are as anxious to abolish poverty as you are...
...But this is only a part of the story...
...They have also floated a $100,000 bond issue for a playground and have just authorized an issue of $1,060,000 for various purposes, including sewers...
...You refer with a good deal of sarcasm to the representatives of "organized charity...
...One of these laws is the Clark act, for the government of third class cities, of which Reading is one...
...But he was a powerful voice...
...Before us there lies a clipping from The St...
...This is a calm report of an extraordinary thing...
...The question arises: How does it happen that, right in the midst of Pennsylvania's agricultural region, there should exist a group of native-born American Socialists, a group so strong that it has sent members to the State Legislature and now is in absolute control of the city...
...Reading has the commission form of government, consisting of five Councilmen, one of whom is Mayor...
...This they have done...
...On the other hand, they have shown no marked antagonism to capitalists, except that they grant them no special favors...
...That's one reason for those 7,200 votes...
...Register of Wills Edward R Deems, a Democratic leader, believes the old.high school, bunt in 1902, Is not a proper City Hall...
...Even on unemployment insurance, concerning which while it may be true that the Welfare Council has given pious endorsement to the subject, it is also true, Mr...
...Is it better than those given by Republicans or Democrats...
...But long manias elapse between now and next September's primaries and in those months anything can happen...
...The issue was raised because of the neglect of a previous Republican administration and the blundering of the then-existing Democratic administration...
...So far as I know there is no difference in opinion among social workers as to the necessity of an extensive system of public employment agencies constantly in touch with the labor market and where no one would have to pay to obtain information as to the existence of a job...
...The outstanding leaders of present day social work are not only taking no leading part in social legislation movements or social insurance but in many Instances have been' found to actually oppose the movements for such legislation...
...The Socialists are actually going out after the School Board posts, which pay no salaries, but which are very influential...
...An examination of the 10 months of Socialist rule in Reading shows that it has meant something more than this...
...It has greatly improved the park and playground areas of the city...
...Details are also considered and they include books, a vacation, lectures, conferences, amusement and other necessities...
...In short, the old idealism has been largely supplanted by the business outlook and it is this that warrants criticism...
...Three were elected in 1927 end two in 1D25...
Vol. 7 • December 1928 • No. 54
