6 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH Established ISJI PUBLISHED BY THE TELEUHAPH PRINTING CO. E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER Secretary GUS M. STEINMETZ Managing Editor Published every evening (except Sun day) at the Telegraph Building, 216 Federal Square. Both phones. Member American Newspaper Publish ers' Association. Audit Bureau of Circulation and Pennsylvania Associ ated Dallies. Eastern Office. Fifth Avenue Building, New York City, Hasbrook, Story & Brooks. Western Office, Advertising Building, Chicago, 111., Robert E. Ward. Delivered by carriers at B ' x cents a week. Mailed to subscribers at $3.00 a year in advance. .Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg. Pa., as second class matter. Sworn dally avernce rlrcnlntlnn for the three months ending; Nov. .10, 1016. 21,794 ★ ATrratr for the Tear IBM—2I,RM Avrrage for tlie year n#l.l—l9.Ml Average for the year 1»12—10.M9 Average for the year 1911—lT.BBU Average for the year 11) 10—1 The above flgurea are set. All re turned, unsold aad damaged eoplea de ducted. TUESDAY EVENING, DF.C, 28 Religion's in the heart, not in the fcnee. —Douglas Jerrold. HIGH SCHOOL DISCUSSION [ A S the High School»problem Is studied more carefully it ap pears as a question so large and •o important that It cannot be deter mined in hasty fashion. The more it Is considered the more It becomes a matter for expert advice and study. It cannot be solved by theoretical discus sion. Ohit of large experience and the study of other cities a final conclusion should be reached here. It would appear that In the first Instance It is not so much a question of building as it is one of educational methods. Whether we shall have co education with a fine central structure to accommodate all the pupils, or sepa rate buildings for the girls and boys, Is one element of the problem. If co-education is to be continued it will mean another large building: If this system is to be discontinued, then there becomes Involved either a new high school for boys or the enlarge ment of the Technical high school and the building of a smaller high school for girls only. If it is decided to intro duce the juvenile high school system, then there Is an additional problem, and altogether the question is so com plex that the matter of a building is secondary In importance to the settle ment of the other phases of this Im portant matter. > There has been some talk of the Appointment of an advisory committee to act in conjunction with the com mittee of the School Board in con sidering all the matters relating to the new high school problem. We doubt whether such a committee is neces sary. Harrisburg has just passed upon the election of school directors and the present hoard seems to be entirely acceptable to the people. It is hardly reasonable to assume that thedlrectors, all of whom have had more or less experience in school matters, are not quite as well qualified to dispose of (hese various problems as any other citizens who might be chosen to co operate with them. What would seem to be more im portant than an advisory body is the selection by the school directors of an export or experts who have had wide experience in educational work, es pecially in methods and in the charac ter of buildings and equipment. For Instance, the now town of Gary has been provided with a system of edu cation after comprehensive study of all the problems involved In the build ing of a city. It is to be assumed that In the school facilities of that town the very best should have been adopted. Inasmuch as It Is not there a question of expense so much as it was of the greatest benefit to the school popu lation. Perhaps the man or men re sponsible for the Gary system might throw some light on our own situation. In any event it Is certain that we must proceed with greatest care so that there may be no mistake In our Conclusions. When f.Cty-eix Kentucky mountain eers can go Into New York and clean up a fortune each In a gold-brick scheme, we believe that civilization Is at last penetrating the mountain districts of the South. This kind of weather Is productive of pneumonia In European war chests. IN MEXICO WITH all of the President's high sounding phrases about Mexico for Mexicans and the will of the people ruling in that troubled country, the fact remains that almost any well read Latin-American knows more about Mexico and grasps the viewpoint of Mexicans better than does the President or any one of his advisers at Washington. When the nations to the south of us are as one with us re garding Mexico, then will our course In that country be safe. By recent' tacit agreement their partnership with this country In a Mexican policy would promise them legitimate return of a national busi ness character. Closet sentimentalists may criticise this as sordid and mate rial. It Is neither. The Mexican ques tion as an International one Is a busl TUESDAY EVENING, HAKRISBURG TELEGRAPH 'DECEMBER 28, 1915. negs question. It would be good busi ness for the United States and Central America to Insure domestic peace to Mexico and U would be good business for the Mexicans to diplomacy can do more for the Mex ican peono than academic theories of constitutional government. The Pan-American partnership with the United States has another bene ficial aspect. The Pap-American part ners will not expect an Indian and j mixed blood population of 14,000,000 j to develop popular government over ] night. They know from experience the human limitations. All stages of progress in popular government are represented among our Pan-American allies. Some verge closely on the Diaz dictatorship. Some —the majority—are progressive oli garchies. A few have advanced be yond this stage and are well developed political machines, resting on the popular will as interpreted by self- ! selected leaders. None of them de ceive themselves as to what they are and as to the slow growth of genuine representation and constitutional gov ernment. And none will expect a i rapid advancement by the Mexican population. OLD FRIENDS BACK AGAIN OUR lively contemporary, the "movie" scenario writer, has re- Introduced us to an old friend In new guise. That hard-fisted scoun drel, the owner of all the mortgages in the countryside, has been rejuve nated. We thought he had died years ago when the Grand Opera House was burned and ten-cent melodrama be came as extinct as the dodo or the three-toed horse. But not so; he is back again, and with him comes that dastardly thief whose chief business Is to "steal the papers." Both are doing stunts for the movies that would have made the old melodramatic "sawmill" scene, where a young girl—or was It a young man?—rode to the very teeth of the buzz saw before being rescued by the hero, look like a scene in a Sunday school entertainment dialogue. What reams of fiction and of drama ha.ve been written around "the pa pers!" The lost or Incomplete deed and the cut-throat mortgage gave a generation of authors the strong sit uations upon which to base their pic tures of human passions. And this was not without good reason; for humanity has always loved the com plication into which there entered tn element of mystery. The deed was one of these mysteries. Not so very many years ago even businessmen who were well versed In the general busi ness procedure of their day and gen eration looked upon the conveyance of property as a cabalistic legal process of which they could know nothing ex cept, perhaps, its power to influence their lives and those of their descend ants. In spite of such knowledge of the importance of the instruments that give title to real estate, the details of procedure in coming into possession of houses and lands, or of vesting that possession in others, have never re ceived from the general business world the attention which is their due and which their increasing prominence and frequency of occurrence are making necessary to the competent man of affairs. Just why these things should ever have been puzzling is hard to conceive. Yet the careless preparation of deeds and uncertainty as to their real mean ing have brought more heartaches and tragedies than ever were put behind footlights or on the movie screen. "OX, STANLEY! ONI"—ON YOUR WAY! THE following Is quoted from the publicity matter of Secretary Redfleld, who is so zealously press-agentlng the administration at the taxpayers' expense: Great interest has been shown by American manufacturers in the ac tion of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce, ir. sending out an ex port trade adviser on a tour of cities In various parts of the coun try, and the resulting larjjre de mands upon the time of this ad viser, Special Agrent Stanley G. Rose, have brought very busy days to him in every place that he has 1 visited. Here Is a report of this special agent's reception in that thriving manufacturing center, Detroit, Mich., published In the Illinois Manufactur ers' News: Stanley G. Rose, special agent of the Bureau of Foreign and Domes tic Commerce, sent to Detroit by the Commerce Department at Washington for the purpose of es tablishing a co-operative branch of the bureau here, complains that manufacturers and exporters of De troit are taking so little interest that the plan may b» abandoned. Don't you be discouraged, Stanley, dear. "Full many a Rose is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert air." And even though your blushes be but the reflection of "Billies" Redfield's Vermillion whisk ers perhaps you will find a harmon ious blending for them as you plod westward to the setting sun. SIZING UP TIIE SITUATION CONGRESSMAN WILLIAM S. BENNET, of New York, thus aptly and concisely sums up the tariff situation.: Democratic orators used to tell us that a Democratic tariff would not disturb business; but It did. The war. regrettable as it is, was the salvation of American Industry. But it will be said that conditions are improving. Of course, the wai ls a pro-tempore protective tariff of a makeshift kind, and in-addition we have this new trade in muni tions of war. Whatever may be our opinion of Its ethics we cannot deny that it Is bringing money Into this country. But when the war ceases and we lose Instantly both our sub stitute for an adequate tariff and our munitions trade, what then? The manufacturing enterprises of Europe generally have not been de stroyed. Ten million men will leave the trenches when this war closes. Our country, unscathed by war, Is the market to which their goods must come. Against the wholesale dumping place on our market of this flood of the most cheaply-pro duced foreign Roods ever made, we irfust have protection or the em ployes of our own competing fac tories will walk the streets. I arti for preparedness, hut even more than preparedness for war. we need preparedness for peace. That pre paredness we can attain only through a protective tariff and. sci entifically. only through P tariff commission. I propose, at once, to advocate both. Mr. Bennet has thus outlined the opinions of thousands of Americana. 'PotZttc* in, "PiKKOiftoanXa By th* Ex-Oommltteemaa j The coming week will probably see v a number of announcements of candi dacies for national delegate and for legislative seats. Men active in poli tics and harboring ambitions are only waiting until changes of adminis tration are worked out next week to start things moving in advance of the Spring campaign and it is likely that by the first of February there will be a pretty definite' ilne-up of candi dates. Friends of Senator Boies Penrose say that the next Republican State committee, which will name the na tional committeeman, will be strongly for the Senator for that place. Governor Brumbaugh who is ex pected to be at Seranton this week to address the teachers, may be unable to attend because of a severe cold He is in Philadelphia to-day. A fight has broken out in Luzerne county over the proposition to merge Hazltton and West Hazleton. Liquor men do not want in the city class. —Mayor William Ward, Jr., a for mer legislator, yesterday performed his last official act as mayor of Chester. He has been a strenuous mayor. , —James A. Linen, prominent resi dent of Seranton and one of the new -council, has created some stir In that city by announcing that he is a candi date for president of the council. Thomas H. Savlle Is also a candidate. John T. Loft us will become the new mayor of Carbondale on Mon day. He will succeed James* Murrin, who is well known here. —-Allegheny county's Democratic or ganization does not seem to have re covered from the shock of having Its slated candidate for county commis sioner set aside by the board of judges. The reorganization element had figured that everything was all right for Its man, but woke up. «J77 Mayor-elect Thomas B. Smith, of Philadelphia, yesterday talked over matters with Mayor Blankenburg, familiarizing himself with the work of the city hall. The new mayor will then go away for a few days' rest. —The Vare brothers gave Philadel phia children 12,000 boxes of candy for Christmas. —Lieutenant-Governor Frank B. McClain played Santa Claus at the orphans' institution at Lancaster. —Members of the Reading police department named for dismissal by Mayor-elect Filbert to make way for his new appointees recently announced do not propose giving up their jobs without a contest, and there will llkelv be a legal battle to test the new chief magistrate's wholesale use of the po litical ax. It is said that the hundred or more men listed to go have had a committee obtain legal advice, which, they say. Is very encouraging, and Mayor-elect Filbert announces that he is ready to meet the issue. —A Mauch Chunk dispatch savs: "Two well-known Republicans of this county are proposed for delegate to the Republican national convention from this congressional district, which also includes Monroe. Northampton and Pike counties. The Carbon county men suggested for this honor are Mor gan O. Morgan and Thomas M. Whil din, both of Lansford. The Philadelphia Press to-day savs: "While it is believed that he (the mayor) will be tendered the resig nations of the present members of the civil service commission, Frank M. Rit er, president: Peter Bolger, secretar/, and Lewis H. Van Dusen, as their predecessors in office resigned to Mayor Blankenburg, the possibility that Mr. Bolger, who is the Demo cratic and minority member of the board, may be reappointed is being discussed." City Solicitor-elect Connelly, of Philadelphia, will have the appoint ment of thirty or more assistants out of perhaps 500 applications which he has received. He may make an nouncement at the close of the week. All of the clerical force Is now under civil service and many are Republicans retained by City Solicitor Ryan. What, changes are to be made has not been intimated. READY KOR THE SCRAP HEAP [From the New York Sun.] The fun In the peace pilgrimage was from the start somewhat forced. As a serious attempt to get "the boys out of the trenches by Christmas" the sch< me was sublimely impossible. Regarded, as it has been by not a few, as a cam paign or advertising, it was despicable. As a crusade of disordered minds, greedy for reclame or fanatically de voted to peace at any price in the most exaggerated form or that ecstatic ab erration, it was superficially ridiculous but fundamentally pathetic. And, how ever looked on. It was too highly charg ed with possibilities of trouble making, though disowned by official America, to be regarded with co«placency. Whatever may be the truth in the conflicting reports of the personal con dition of the leader of the expedition, it must now begin to be pretty clear even to the fanatics engaged in It, as it lias been throughout to every sane person, that the argosy, conceived in folly and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created foolish, can never get a shot at its wild gouse. It will be occasion for surprise, and for regret tempered by the pleasure of escape from a real danger, if the mad troop retains enough in its lunacy to carry it home in a body. REAI, DEFENCE OK NOTHING IFrom the Philadelphia Inquirer.J Unless the nation Is prepared to enter into a scheme of adequate defense it might as well do nothing at all. Defenses cost money. Of course, they do. So do life and fire insurance poli cies. You may carry a fire insurance for years and never have occasion to call upon it to make losses good, but if you do have a fire that policy is a mighty handy thing to have around. That Is to say, if it is issued by a com pany capable of living up to Its con tract. If it is not, then you have wasted your money. And just so with the United States. We may never be attacked, but if we are, where khali we be unless we are ready to meet the invaders hopefully? Unless, In time of danger, our defenses are equal to the emergency, we shall have thrown away our money. There fore, if we are going in for a navy and an army, let us not halt over the cost. They must be the real thing in navies and armies. If they are, any country would hesitate a long time before at tacking us. If they are not, tliey would simply invite war at the hands of any jealous or nggrieyed nation. The trouble with Secretary of the Navy Daniels and Secretary of War Garrison is just this: Both of them have cast aside the opinions and plans of the expert advisers who make the study of war and preparations for war their business. In the place of a genuine defensive system, the respective Secre taries have evolved little plans of their own. Like investment in a policy of a weak Insurance company, so Is the Invest ment of a nation in a weak defensive system—worthless. I.IFK ON THIS WING [From the Philadelphia Public ledger.] Doctor Dixon In his most recent bul letin as Health Commissioner utters a pertinent and timely warning, taking for his text the shop-worn, offlce worn, home-worn and street-worn ex cuse, "I haven't time." All life seems to be run on an express schedule. Somebody said the other day that the man who once fretted If he missed the stage-coach or the canal boat Is "peev ed" when lie misses the compartment of the revolving door, to say nothing of the elevator. Literature must be pre dlgestcd, brenkfasts and sermons must be tabloid, homeopathic, so that we mav take them at full speed, like a railway mall car catching a bag. "He who runs I may read," Is to be literally construed When a Feller N By BRIGGS / I DONJ'T SEE WHY\ / YOUR HAKJDS CHAP / „ \ / SO - - RUB THAT ( WWA \ / <ALVCER.-EEFO »NJ ) JNH // ///A \ YQUK . to-day. The popularity of the formula, dictated but not read." seems to mean that the number of dictators Is increas ing:, while the number of readers is con stantly lessening. The slang language has its counter part In short-cut processes of every Kind. The up-to-date person is sup posed to lengthen his life by the use of them: actually he shortens It, by try ing to get round to three or four times as many affairs as his forefathers crowded Into the day. Deliberation has grown to be a thing as rare as it Is beautiful. TVe are afraid of being taken for Turks if we sit in the shade and rest. Civilization labors under forced draft. Business In the precious name of "efficiency" is speeded up. Vir ility is voltage, and man is mechaniz ed. Doctor Dixon's advice sounds old fashioned and fogyisli. But It is sound, and we ought to try it—but we haven't time. TELEGRAPH'S PERISCOPE" —Ford has discovered for himself a few things that everybody else know bfefore he started. —There's one thing to be said in favor of the man who Is always talking about himself—he seldom has time to talk about other people. t —Brooklyn Rapid Transit has raised the pay of 7,000 employes. Evidently Brooklyn and the Jitney have not yet been introduced. —The most receilt sign of sanity ex hibited by Colonel Bryan Is that ho has decided not to join the Ford party. —After John IC. Tener has patched up peace In the baseball world, liurope oughtn't to offer many difficulties for him. I EDITORIAL COnriEffT - We suppose the Ford critics never spent their money foolishly.—Columbia State. Total Bulgarian captures of Servian troops make the last Servian census return look suspicious. Wall Street Journal. Perhaps another sign of peace ap pears in the willingness _j>f both armies on the Western front/to let the artillery do It.—Boston Heiiifld. France forbids the export of nuts. We show a welcome disposition to en courage it. Wall Street Journal. Tlie Belgians continue to pay strik ing tributes to their German rulers. The total is now said to be about $100,000,000. Chicago Herald. Our Daily Laugh i FLUNKED. Ho*w's your son Every time there Vlfl y jllv are two men on J 311! banes and It's his gjH V turn to bat theySjJßT i&J) bench him and f give a substitute/ B| hitter a chance. |jß THE BETTER WAY By Wine Dinger Time to think of resolutions. And I've thought of quite a few. Which It might be well for me to Make to start off the year new. But on second thought I've figured That the smartest thing would be To make them become effective January two or three. For. I figure, resolutions Dive a life that's very brief, And when New Year's Day has vanished Good vows quickly come to grief. So why give up all the pleasure That goes with the New Year's Day? Making vows to start the next day I Seems a far, far better way. AMERIGAN HARBORS By Frederic J. Haskin A PINNACLE of rock higher than the Washington Monument was recently discovered by the hydrographers of the Coast and Geo detic Survey in one of the narrow channels near Ketchikan, Alaska. Standing in 600 feet of water, its point was only seventeen feet below the surface at high tide, so that it menaced every oceangoing vessel passing that way. It was located by means of a new device called the wire drag. This consists of a long line carried between two boats, which "feels out" t bottom by means of antennae-like* wires. In Boston harbor the hydrographers found that there were only about. 22 feet of water at , a placo where the harber was supposed to be for ty-three feet deep. In some myster ious way it had become tilled In, and not with sand or mud but with rock which might have damaged a valu able ship. This work of surveying American harbors with the .wire drag is the beginning of an era of renewed ac tivity on the part of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which is the old est of the government bureaus and one of the most interesting. It was founded by Thomas Jefferson, and next Spring will be the centennial an niversary of its founding. The offi cials are planning to celebrate this event. For a century the Coast and Geo detic Survey hag been plodding a)ong in a conservatively scientific manner without attracting any attention from the public and ver? little from Con gress. The prosperity of our mer chant marine, the effectiveness of our navy, the development of Alaska and other outlying possessions are all de pendent upon well chartered harbors and coast lines; while geodettar work is the basis of all surveys. Yet this department has long lived in a little red brick building which appears to be a remodeled dwelling. It has had four small vessels with which to study the coastline of half a continent and a good many islands, and those vessels were so antiquated that they were not safe. Although requiring th« highest technical skill, it Is paid the lowest salaries. So the Coast and Geodetic Survey became an almost forgotten government department, trying might ily to do a great work with antiquated apparatus and insufficient funds. Now a change has taken place. The administration has determined that the importance of the Coast and Geo detic Survey shall be recognized and its work placed on an adequate foot ing as to funds and equipment. Its dilapidated quarters have been re paired and repainted. A vessel of 1,- 000 tons burden, modern In every de tail, and especially adapted to scien tific work, is being bflilt to carry on the wire drag work. Two of the old boats will be sold as junk, and the other two extensively repaired. Con- THE STATE FROM DWTOIW For good healthy school children we respectfully refer the reader to the M. S. Hershey Consolidated Schools of Derry Township. There have been more than 600 pupils In session there for the last four months. In that time there lias been only one case of illness, and that was typhoid fever contracted outside of Hershey. flats off, only don't catch cold! Mart Lefevre, a gay old Civil War veteran living In Mt. Joy, has found retired life at 83 years too tame, so he is buying up livestock and equipment and will go back to farming. Schuylkill County lias 2,000 case* of ferip, 900 of these are at Pottsvllle, population of whloto Is somewhere In the neighborhood of thirty or thirty five thousand. At this rate there would be at the present time, If condi tions were the same all over the coun try, over three million cases of grip In | the United States. What a pleasure It Kress is now to be asked for a hun dred thousand dollars for the pur chase of ten high-powered launches, * acts and figures are being prepared to demonstrate that there is urgent and immediate need for the charting of American harbors. These facts and figures are convinc ing, even to the laymßn. Take Alaska, for example. From Juneau, the capi- AI to Attu > the uttermost of the Aleutian Islands, is a sweep of coast and channel over two thousand miles long. Not 10 per cent, of it has ever been Burveyed. In the deep, narrow channels that run between the wood ed Alaskan Islands, sharp pinnacle rocks are a constant menace. Undis covered shoals and reefs are every where. Wrecks are a frequent occur ence. The government lost a revenue cutter worth half a million dollars near one of the Aleutians last year. The Alaskan fishing fleets have lost seventy large vessels in the last fifteen years. Merchant vessels in general are afraid to venture near the Alaskan coast. The commerce between Can ada and the Orient passes within sight of the Aleutian Islands, but no vessel thinks of trying to touch there or anywhere else along the Alaskan coast. When a great storm struck that region not long ago, Japanese and British vessels turned-and ran for Honolulu, twelve hundred miles away, although within a few hundred miles of Dutch Harber on one of the Aleutian Islands, They look no chances. J So the dangers to navigation in a sense took the door upon Alaskan wealth. Bo dangerous is the navi gation of Alaskan waters that ma rine insurance rates for vessels in that trade are exorbitantly high. The government is building a railroad from Seward I to the interior, and its usefulness will depend largely upon the ship lines that reach it. Wealth in lumber, fish anil fur is waiting de velopment in southeast Alaska. There, too, is an almost ideal climate, despite popular opinion to the contrary. At Cordova an ice plant has been erect ed, as the natural ice never freezes to a depth of more than a quarter of an inch. Warmed by the Japanese current and rich In natural resources, this country lacks literally nothing but a connection with the rest of the world. The need for continuous investiga tion of harbors and channels is due principally to two things—changes In the bottom of the ocean and the con stantly increasing draft of vessels. When the Coast and Geodetic Survey was founded, most of our comrtlerce, which was then very extensive, was' carried on in schooners, many of which drew only six or seven feet. Now a harbor must have a depth of thirty-five feet if it is to accommo date the commerce of the world, and the size of vessels is constantly in creasing. | is to juggle figures! A Reading train the other day ran over Edward Myers, aged 12, of Jen kintown, well known as a caddy there. The golfers of the Huntingdon Valley Country.Club "chipped In" and bought him an artificial leg to replace the lost one, and they said that if Ed had been a centipede or even a thousand-legger, they would have provided for him just the same. Several Allentown concerns have an nounced profit-sharing plans which they have put into operation as Christ mas presents. The Lehigh Valley Transit Companjt the Trayler Engi neering Company, and the Adelaide Silk Mills are the three that made this move. \ "Mother" Mann, of Woodmont, Pa., who has passed the ninety-second milestone of life, baked the Christmas pies on Christmas and helped serve the Christmas dinner Just as she has done every year since 1880. And it was some reunion, too, for there were 26 guests present. | jEbmng (Afrit Judging from what men who ge»* a >out the city a good bit. have to on the subject, Ilarrlsburg's cele bration of Christmas this year was ot that peculiar quiet which indicates fireside observance. Indeed, some of 1 mcn who have been long in police or other service which affords oppor-, t unity for observation declare that the tendency the last few years has been to make the great holiday of the christian world one in which the family dinner and the'tiuiet hours at home rule rather than the fashionable anoe d «t a n b °. l i t t . he stree,s or attend mnHnf rf th fa ,er - t" this city Me- T>?i!nLru \ V ' Fourth of July and Thanksgiving Day have been getting observ°.n to , b £ markcd •»' public and New Year's Day is anvth»n mor i 6 ° f a bußiness day than " , h „ inf! e, * e - so that Christmas is be h, i « £ " ga t'. n the "'"-fashioned "home Hariisburg's Christmas ob- f ast two decades have undergone a considerable change. It «i!i » H " I ' miny . years a «° since brawls Nsed to keep the policemen in certain sections of the city busy and of big ° 1 K 5 noK ,ho hotfilH and ■" an frcc K,fts ° r "Pints" and nairs were among features of the a>'- Now some of the drink dis pensaries close and districts which used to resound with rackets and scrapping do not need the eye of a Sfcift man " T, ' ere hours on hiistmas Day in the business portion of the city, not so long ago, when it seemed as though the main object of men who had come from all portions of town and from some of the nearbv places appeared to be to make the welkin ring. This year and last year C hit stman Day was marked l»y de serted streets and in place of rovsterera acting as though they did not know any more about the holiday than a cow does of aurora borealis there were m «n Bping quietly in automobiles and with the true Christmas spirit carry ing baskets to those whom fortune had not favored. ♦ ♦ • Harrisburgers who remember meet ing Miss Anne Hollingsworth Whar ton, the authoress, on her visits to this «ty. notably those at the time of the dedicatory ceremonies at the State < apltol, will be interested to learn that in her latest book, "English Ancestral Homes of Noted Americans," the tal ented Philadelphian has devtHed con siderable space to the earlv home and the family history of William Penn. Tins new book is probably the most charming of those written by Miss Wharton. The material for it was gathered during days spent in Eng land, as Miss Wharton says, "in days of peace," and the chapters verily take us back to "the rock from whence we were hewn." Naturally, Miss Wharton tells of the early home of the Wash ington family, but it is doubtful if in all the lives of Penn and Franklin there can be found more delightful description of their far-off early family homes. There are a good many Penn sylvanians to whom Penshurst and All hallows ure only English names, but Miss Wharton has made the Sidney country place alive again and we can sea the founder of the province going down to consult the great Liberal about the "frame of government" lo which we owe so much. Indeed, the chapter devoted to Penshurst is as peculiarly interesting to the son and daughter of Pennsylvania as the pil grimage taken by Miss Wharton the places associated with the boyhood and active life of William Penn. The chapters on the early family homes of other eminent Americans are as sym pathetically treated and the book makes a splendid shelf companion for "Social Life in the Early Republic" and "Colonial Salons." Miss Wharton, who Is a sister of Bromley Wliarton, is a descendant of one of the Colonial governors of Pennsylvania and has muny friends who rejoice in each new book and especially those in which the early life of the makers and molders of our commonwealth is portrayed. » • • The accident to the cross on the dome of St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was damaged in the big gale of Christ mas night, recalls mishaps to other spires in Harrisburg. Years ago pieces of the acorn on Hion Lutheran church were blown over on the Pennsylvania railroad. Then the acorn on Market Square church was struck by lightning years ago and a fourth of the steeple burned. But oddest of all was when a big osprey or eagle impalejl a wing on the lightning rod on Pine Street church. I•• • • In passing it might be remarked that there are now very few steeples in Harrlsbur.T when one considers that It has a church or mission for each 1.000 of population. In fact, St. Pat rick's was the last of the churches to erect a high edifice. Most of the new churches have been smaller, of course, but instead of money being devoted to going up in the air, the churches are spreading out, and some are putting money which would otherwise be spent for building into various activities. 4 » ♦ Alexander Simpson, Jr., who was here yesterday before the Public Serv ice Commission, is one of the most prominent lawyers in Philadelphia. He Is law partner of the Attorney General. [~WELL KNOVN PEQP'i; j —Ex-Judge M. W. Kelm, of Johns town.' and Mrs. Keirn have just cele brated the fifty-fourth anniversary of their marriage. —Rabbi J. Leonard Levy, of Pitts burgh, declared In a speech in Pitts burgh that protest should be made for the Jews of all lands In the war zone. —S. W. Traylor, Allentown manu facturer, will take charge of a big plant at Harrison, N. J. •—Congressman Moore believes that the United States will soon take over the Chesapeake and Delaware canal. —President Butler, of Columbia, will speak In Philadelphia on aliens next month. * | DO YOU KNOW ~| That Dauphin county steel mils * arc used on Cuban railroads? HISTORIC HARRISBURG The first town picnics were heldVn the big Island in the Susquehanna. Why Not the Easy Way, t Mr. Storekeeper? The storekeeper who senses and moves with the current of public thought succeeds. Such a storekeeper is first of all a newspaper reader and es pecially a reader of newspaper advertising. He knows that when an ad vertisement of a product appears that the public mind will think obout it. He tunes his window to the ad ' vertlslng. He shows the newspaper ad vertised goods he finds It the easy way to attract trade.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers