In Philadelphia

Revelations of intimacy between Philadelphia's underworld and its police force (TIME, Oct. 8) seemed to demand some official decapitations. Several police officers, obviously guilty, were removed, disgraced. Senator-suspect Vare, boss of the city, announced that the Director of Public Safety, Harry C. Davis, his friend for 40 years, was above it all, irreproachable. The grand jury hoped and trusted this was so, but continued its inquiry. Things were looking up for Director Davis. Nevertheless, one day last week, Mayor Harry Arista Mackey bustled into the mayoral office and, without pausing to remove his overcoat, dictated a letter to Director Davis announcing that he (Davis) was resigning. It pained him to do this, said Mayor Mackey, but it was "the only wise thing." It was "no reflection upon his [Davis'] integrity in the slightest degree" but Mayor Mackey perceived that Philadelphia's police department needed reorganizing. As re-organizer and new Director of Public Safety, Mayor Mackey appointed Major Lemuel B. Schofield, aide of District Attorney Monaghan.