Harun-al-Mackey

STATES & CITIES

Harun-al-Raschid, onetime ruler of Bagdad, made a practice of going about among his citizenry in disguise in order that he might govern them more sympathetically. Of his adventures he told many a tall tale.

Last week, Philadelphia's Mayor Harry Arista Mackey revealed that for some time past he too has been disguising himself to go among his citizenry. Made up as a tatterdemalion in false whiskers, with a red bandana knotted about his neck, he would wander nocturnally among the poor and jobless of the city, sleeping and eating with them as public wards. Thus, when a committee of unemployed called at his office to complain about conditions in the city's almshouse and demand free food, clothing, rent, streetcar rides, and a dole of $15 a week, Mayor Mackey was well prepared to exclaim:

"Don't you tell me anything about the shelter. I go there constantly. I mingle with the men and sleep there under disguise. I spend a great deal of my salary there. I've been all through the place seeing things for myself. I've found the food satisfactory and the men contented."

Also working for Philadelphia's unemployed last week was Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, U. S. M. C., once the city's prime Prohibition enforcer. He told a group of businessmen to "put away their yachts and declare war on hard luck." The hero of many a widely publicized feat in war and peace, General Butler has requested a leave of absence from the Marine Corps to make speeches, the proceeds of which he turns over to the idle. Said he: "I am willing to clown or circus or do anything for which they will pay me. even to walking down the street in my underclothes."

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