Philadelphia

3703

Philadelphia

ning Public Ledger, in the afternoon.

Philadelphia has long been and continues
to be famous as a manufacturing city. It
ranks high for the amount of capital in- |
vested in its industries, for its number of!
skilled factory workers and for the value of
its manufactured output. Sugar refining, the
manufactures of textiles, steel works, and lo-
comotive and car building are the leading in-
dustries. The Baldwin Locomotive Works,
Disston Saw Works, J. B. Stetson Hat Plant,
and Brill's Car Works rank first in their re-
spective lines in the world.

Three great railroads have direct entrance
to Philadelphia: the Pennsylvania, the Phila-

Safety; Public Works; Public Health; Pub-
lic Welfare; Wharves, Docks, and Ferries;
City Transit; Supplies; City Architect; City
Solicitor; City Treasurer; City Controller;
Law Department; Civil Service Commission;
Register of Wills; Recorder of Deeds; Cor-
oner; Sheriff; and Receiver of Taxes. The
mayor appoints the heads of these depart-
ments with the exception of the Civil Serv-
ice Commissioner, who is chosen by the
Council, and the Receiver of Taxes, City
Treasurer, and City Controller, who are elect-
ed by popular vote. The charter pro-
vides also for a budget to be prepared by
the mayor and submitted to the Council,

The Grrut Temple o/Ms, Phito.

delphia and Reading, and the Baltimore and
Ohio. The Delaware River is deep enough for
the largest ocean vessels, and the Schuylkill
River admits vessels of 22 ft. draught. Ac-
cording to data assembled by the U. S. Bu-
reau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce,
Philadelphia ranks third among American
seaports, being preceded by only New York
and Baltimore; and eleventh as a world port.
The municipal airport is in Southwest Phila-
delphia, In 1939 a new municipal airport at
Hog Island was completed.

In 1919 the city charter of Philadelphia
was revised and many important changes
were made. The government is vested in- a
mayor who is elected for four years and may
not succeed himself, and a City Council, con-
sisting of a single chamber of 22 members
who are elected for four years and may hold
no other public office.

The executive departments are: Public

which must then pass an ordinance setting
forth the financial program for the year, and
fixing a tax rate which, with other receipts,
will meet the required expenditures. A pro-
vision empowering the city to repair and
clean its own streets, and to dispose of ashes
and of garbage, replaces the costly practice
of having that work done by contract re-
stricted to a single year.

Although the first colonists on the site of
the present city of Philadelphia were a party
of Swedes who came over in 1636, the perm-
anent settlement dates from 1681, when Wil-
liam Penn was made, by royal charter, full
proprietor of the province named after him
—Pennsylvania. Penn immediately dispatched
William Markham, as governor, with a small
number of Quaker colonists, to take posses-
sion. Naming the new settlement Philadel-
phia, fthe city of brotherly love/ Penn lost
no time in making friends with the Indians