The Henson Journals

[86]

Thursday, October 3rd, 1912. White Marsh.

Another glorious day. I wrote letters to Sir Lionel Spencer & Elizabeth Asquith.

Dr Harris, an Episcopalian parson lunched here. He told me that he had been 49 years in this place: that he had never left it even for a short annual holiday: that he had never been to Europe. But he was an intelligent old man, & talked well. He gave me a dark account of the municipal life of Philadelphia. At present the process of 'cleaning up' is going on under an honest German mayor. Mine host told me of a corrupt mayor whose malpractices exceeded the recognized limits. His fellow 'gangsters' remonstrated with him: 'the public', they said, 'would not stand such scandals'. 'I am in for four years' was his brazen reply: 'and the public be damned!'.

In the afternoon we went to a local race–meeting, &, for the first time in my life, I witnessed horse races. Everything was on a modest local scale: the pleasant air, bright sun, & rich green of turf & trees made a delightful scene in which to loaf for two hours. We had tea at the Club: & then mine host drove me home in a queer little vehicle, accommodating just two persons. His horse, a trotter from Kentucky, went with the speed of lightning.

[87]

In the evening there was a dinner party. I was much interested in Mr Potter, who had been prominent in leading municipal reform in Philadelphia some years since. He told me that he had been elected mayor, but had been 'counted out' by a dishonest manoeuvre of his opponents. This falsification of returns appears to be a common expedient in American municipal politics. We had a considerable discussion about the Panama Canal question, with respect to which Mr Potter expressed himself as wholly on the English side. We also discussed the relations of Great Britain & Germany. He had been in Berlin some while since, & had there formed the opinion that Great Britain was the victim of a scare. I tried to disillusion him. Mr Newbolt, a member of the great financial house in which Pierpoint Morgan holds empire, professed himself to have been convinced by the arguments of Mr Taft that the preference to American coasting trade was no breach of the treaty, but he allowed that the matter was not clear of doubt & could not fitly be withheld from the Hague Tribunal. Mr Ingersoll, the other guest, concurred with the view that the Treaty had been violated. On the whole I suppose that these three gentlemen were fairly representative of educated and responsible American opinion.

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