“It is not pleasant to utter harsh judgments against a neighboring city, but New York does much constantly to deserve them at the hands of Philadelphians. The smug self-sufficiency of the three or four millions of people who reside on or in contiguity to Manhattan Island, is comical to witness, and we are again reminded of this attitude by the unjust criticism which the newspapers have launched against the Philadelphia Orchestra upon its first visit to New York under its new conductor. This accomplished musician has had the leadership of excellent organizations in Europe, where this form of art was more or less known and enjoyed while New York was inhabited by the Indians. He came here not without some right to a respectful hearing, and since his arrival has received it in this city from a public, which, we venture to say, is as discriminating as any that can be assembled upon the tongue of land which is bounded by the Hudson River and Long Island Sound. Remarks such as we reprint elsewhere today do not fall under the head of criticism. They are a form of cheap wit, which is supposed to be demanded by the inhabitants of this arrogant and insular community at the expense of the people, the products and the institutions of Philadelphia. “The slurs of the press at our music, books, art and much besides, do this city no particular harm. We are above any need of the endorsement of the self-centered elements which congregate in New York. The support which it gave to the Union during the war was notably reluctant. Its patriotism was always in doubt. It was the centre of disloyal conspiracy. A spirit of selfish commercialism rules its affairs, and it was only by force made to observe its national duty. Since that time it has been under foreign government, and it is without a doubt the least American of our cities. It has less love for our history as a nation; it is more willing to sell its birthright for a joke or a dollar than any community which has yet been established within American borders, and its swaggering air causes it to be loved by the citizens of other portions of the Union about as much as they love a produce market or a Midway Plaisance. “It is nothing at all to Philadelphians whether New Yorkers like our orchestra, our books, our poets, our historical personages, our pictures, our homes, or anything else that is ours. They may go on their sneering way amusing themselves from day to day, as they see fit. They will find, if they make the effort to inquire, that most of the mind and the soul, as well as the body of this nation have lain and still lie in lands that they do not dominate. They may say what they will, but their manners might be mended to their own conspicuous advantage. That is all.”