BRIEF MENTION.

ON

N the evening of the 16th of June, Mr. Franklin B. Gowen delivered at the Academy of Music, before a large audience, an address, whose advertised subject was "The position which the city of Philadelphia should occupy to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to the transportation lines, and to the railroad problem of the day."

The speech received the enthusiastic applause of its hearers, yet no dispassionate observer can rise from the perusal of its newspaper reports without a feeling of sincere regret that Mr. Gowen permitted himself to make such a speech. It is very mild censure to say that the speech was not worthy of Mr. Gowen, for he has, as a speaker, deserved and achieved so high a reputation, that any speech of his must be tried by more severe tests than those to which the public utterances of less brilliant men are subjected.

Mr. Gowen's argument can be briefly stated. He contended that Philadelphia should be the metropolis and the factor of the products of the state; but he showed that this cannot now be so, because large portions of the state are more nearly connected by railroads with New York. He insisted that Philadelphia capital should be directed to the development of railroads within the state and not beyond it, and that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company should not be permitted to crush competition by the absorption of the Reading Railroad Company. He cordemned very emphatically and very properly, any unjust acquisition of wealth by railroad officials, all unjust discrimination in transportation rates, and all corrupt corporate control of political power.

Of pertinent argument other than this, the speech had none. All honest men will concur in Mr. Gowen's censure of illegal and immoral corporate and official action, but every one will not agree that all the industries of the commonwealth should pay tribute to the city of Philadelphia, and that those portions of the state which, by geographical position are more naturally connected with New York, should not have the right to send their products to that market. Mr. Gowen's views upon this point savour of a past age, and are not such as one would expect to hear from a man of his culture and ability. Nor would Mr. Gowen's "Chinese Wall" encircling Pennsylvania,

with outlets only at Erie and Philadelphia, have availed to preserve for our city that supremacy over New York which she had in revolutionary days. New York passed Philadelphia in the race of commerce and trade before the days of railroads, and her continued pre-eminence is assured, under the inexorable laws of trade, by her geographical situation. Indeed, rivalry in business between Philadelphia and New York is, if Mr. Gowen will pardon the comparison, as absurd as rivalry between the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad of to-day and the Pennsylvania Railroad of to-day.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company bears to Mr. Gowen's late speeches the relation which the head of Charles the First held to Mr. Dick's memorials. When Mr. Gowen discusses the trade of Philadelphia, it is the Pennsylvania Railroad Company which, by unjust discriminations, has diverted that trade. When he refers to the contest for the control of the Reading Railroad Company, it is the Pennsylvania Railroad Company which has organized the opposition, in order to accomplish by a change of management that which Mr. Gowen would have prevented. When he alludes to the Junction railroad litigation, it is the Pennsylvania Railroad Company which corrupted the fountain of justice, and maintained in law its title to a mile of road which it had built upon its own land and with its own money. When he considers state and municipal legislation, it is the Pennsylvania Railroad Company which has dictated the action of the State Legislature and the City Councils. When he speaks of his financial negotiations, it is the Pennsylvania Railroad Company which, by its emissaries in the direction of the banks, has compelled the refusal of loans to his company.

This last seems to us to be the greatest of the evil achievements of that bold, bad corporation, as Mr. Gowen's fancy paints it. It may be easy to stimulate factious opposition to the management of a rival corporation, to divert the course of trade, to corrupt legislators, and to buy judges, but it is not easy, in these days of diminished banking profits, to induce bankers to refuse to loan, when the security is sufficient and the rate of interest satisfactory.

We shall not follow Mr. Gowen in his criticism of the wisdom of the policy and management of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. It is a question not for us, nor for Mr. Gowen, but for the stockholders of that corporation. Despite the criticism, the fact

remains, that that company was never so prosperous. Its lines of railroad are well managed, its business is skilfully conducted, and its stockholders receive large dividends.

It is not surprising that defeated litigants should, in moments of irritation, question the integrity of judges whose decision has dis.. appointed their hopes, but it is surprising, and it is to be regretted, that a lawyer of Mr. Gowen's experience, ability and high character should permit himself even to think that the judges of any Pennsylvania Court would deny justice, because of the supposed wishes or interests of any railroad corporation or its managers.

It is also to be regretted that Mr. Gowen should have descended to personalities which were not pertinent to his subject, and which, though more or less veiled, and in no case supported by a statement of facts, could be none the less wounding to the feelings of gentlemen whose character and reputation entitle them to respect. Mr. Gowen said much as to the wealth acquired by Pennsylvania Railroad officials. In this country, whose boast it is that the poorest and the humblest may by honest industry rise to affluence, the mere possession of wealth is no crime. If Mr. Gowen means that any officer of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company has made money at the expense of its stockholders, he makes a charge which should. not be lightly made, and which will not be accepted without the clearest and the most convincing proof. If the officers of that company have brought to the management of their private affairs the intelligence and ability which they have displayed in their conduct of the business of their company, it is not surprising that they have acquired wealth.

Mr. Gowen had something to say also in criticism of the newspapers of Philadelphia. It is not for us to defend them, and we cannot altogether regret that those who are so ready to criticize others, should themselves be subjected to public comment of an unfavorable character. But we do regret, that Mr. Gowen should have striven to hold up to public ridicule before a Philadelphia audience, one newspaper proprietor, a public-spirited citizen, who is foremost in every good work, where sound judgment, kindness of heart, and unstinted generosity can avail, and who has always subordinated the pleasures and triumphs of wealth to its duties. The ridicule was neither novel nor clever, and we are sure that Mr. Gowen will, most of all men, regret that, in this portion of his

speech, he yielded to what must have been the temptation of the moment.

The climax of the speech, though not the natural outgrowth of its subject, nor the necessary result of its premises, was the suggestion that Mr. Gowen should be retained in power, either as the President, or the President-maker of the Reading Company. Whether the speech will assist in the accomplishment of that end may, perhaps, admit of doubt. When men are to be influenced to action, in matters that affect their pecuniary interests, calm, clear and dispassionate argument, that deals fully with facts, and that conciliates, not intensifies, opposition, will generally be more successful than a speech, such as that of Mr. Gowen, which, though it may be styled brilliant by those who have no interests at stake in the Reading Company, and by those who have no real respect for Mr. Gowen, has, we fear, given greater satisfaction to his opponents than to his friends.

***

The sound and healthy views of Attorney-General MacVeagh on the subject of Civil Service Reform, seem to have effected already a very wholesome influence upon the atmosphere in which the Cabinet lives and has its being. When the army of officeseekers made its attack upon the members of the new administration, Mr. MacVeagh was probably the only one of the Cabinet who suffered no inconvenience or annoyance from it. What was to the others a pressure so strong and persistent as to harass the mind, and even impair the bodily strength, was to him no more than a diversion, with, perhaps, a dash of enjoyment of the fun there was in it, for an army of office-seekers is, to a man of his keen sense of humor, a thing worth seeing. His pronounced views as to the Civil Service furnished him a well-fitting armor against the attacks of the belligerent office-seekers, and gave him, in a manner, the power enjoyed by the knight in the fairy tale, of making himself quite invisible, if he chose, at any critical moment. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that their own experience in the last few months, and their observation of the action of their colleague, have furnished to other members of the Cabinet a good deal of food for reflection, with a disposition to stop and inquire whether, after all, Civil Service Reform is not a sensible and practical thing, and likely to make the wheels of the Government run

more smoothly. Mr. James is perforce a believer, notwithstanding his earlier political record, for he owes his present position to the recognition of the true principle upon which appointments in the civil service should be made; Mr. Windom is now an open and avowed convert; and as to the head of the other most important branch of the civil service, Mr. Kirkwood, if there is any deduction to be drawn from the history of his administration thus far, it is fair to presume that he is at least in a state of penitence, and that his conversion will be a mere matter of time. Mr. Blaine as yet makes no sign, but he is endeavoring, in the healthy mountain air of his native state, to restore the strength wasted in the effort to meet the relentless demands of the "spoils system" and at the same time discharge the duties of his office. Probably, it cannot reasonably be expected, at his time of life, in his present position and with his peculiar public career behind him, that he should give his adherence to Civil Service Reform; but he may yet yield to the popular demand, for the importance of the subject is pressing itself upon the minds of the people at every point, and it may not be long before it can be safely made a distinct "issue" in a national campaign. If the President should take the lead, it would go far to bring about an entire unanimity in the Cabinet on this subject, and would finally advance the movement which is now so general throughout the country. His failure to do so may not unjustly be considered as an evidence of an unwillingness to free himself from the trammels of a bad system in politics, and may tend to withdraw a large share of the hearty support which the people have been ready to give to him at the outset of his administration.

The "Anti-monopoly League" of New York is pursuing its work with very great vigor, and it is evident that there is a growing interest throughout the country on the subject they have in hand, and a disposition to demand a solution of the questions involved in a way to secure the rights and protect the interests of the people. The active discussion of the subject has been very much hastened by an incident which occurred in New York a few months since. A mass meeting was held by the Anti-monopoly League at Cooper Institute, and the New York Tribune, in commenting upon the proceedings, characterized the opinions of the speakers as showing "a wanton disregard of private rights, and an