8 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH Established 1831 PUBLISHED BY THE TELEGIM PH PRINTING CO, E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER H tertiary GUS M. STEINMETZ Managing Editor ' Published every evening (except Sun day) at tlie Telegraph Building, 21t Federal Square. Both phones. Member American Newspaper Publlsh ■ ers' Association. Audit Bureau of Circulation and Pennsylvania Associ ated Dailies. Eastern Office, Fifth A\*enue Building, New York City, Hasbrook, Story & Brooks. Western Office, Advertising Building, Chicago, 111., Robert E. Ward. Delivered by carriers at six 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 nvrriiicr rlreulntlon (or the three months ending NOT, 30, 10X5. Atrriife for the year 1914—21.55H Average for the year 1013—19.9 M Average for the year 1012—10.649 Average for the year Average for the year lOlfr—lWl The above figure* are net. All re turned. unsold and damaged copies de ducted. TUT RSI) AY EVENING. DEC. »0 Life is a long lession in humility. •—J. M. Barrie. POTENTIAL TOWN HALLS EVERY school building in the United States was pictured as a potential town hall at yester day's session in Washington of the American Civic Association at which Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of J President Wilson, presided. Miss Wilson described the social] center movement as a plan to make j each school building now idle eigh teen hours or more each day, the meeting and voting places of citi zens of its district, associated in one nonpartisan, nonexclusive organi zation to deliberate questions on which they vote and to promote in more direct ways the life and hap piness of thfe neighborhood and city or town. So far so good, but Miss Wilson erred previously when she pronounced against the idea "to make the schools social centers for | public amusement or to throw them open free to whatever public organi zation might for the moment interest the board of education." There is nothing new in the idea of the schools as "potiential town I halls" and social centers. Jt has been endorsed by school authorities here and elsewhere. There has been much discussion of the subject. School officials have nodded their heads wisely and pronounced the plan most excellent, but in all but a few localities it. has gone no farther. Right here in Harrisburg we have schoolliouses that have cost the voters of the district hundreds o£ thousands of dollars, and to what end? Simply that they be used on Hn averago of about, six hours a day for not more than nine months out of the year, all told. This is poor business. What manufacturer, for instance, would spend like sums on a plant for similar service? The tax payer is entitled to dividends 011 his money expended in school facilities, and in this case these dividends! should take the form of increased service. There Is nothing needed In Har risburg so much as amusement of a wholesome nature for those who can not afford the forms of entertainment which ample means permit others to purchase. The schoolhou.se is the logical center of the community. Its educational and up-lifting influence should extend to all classes and all ages. Sooner or later it will come Into its own in this respect, but one wonders how long it is going to re quire for school officials to go about putting into practice this social cen ter idea which all admit to be good but in which so few display an inter est sufficient to prompt them to put It into practice. Miss Wilson has the "high brow" viewpoint of most "up-lifters" whose knowledge of the rank and file o? society is confined to limited observa tions and much theory. People who need the schoolhouse most as a so cial center don't want merely to dis cuss politics—local or otherwise. What they want and need most is a social rendezvous. There should be rooms in every school building for the gathering of the clans. The schoolhouse social center in short club. ENGLAND'S ANSWER ENGLAND'S answer to Germany's "peace feeler" is the announce ment that she proposes to raisq new armies to throw against the Teu tonic allies. This was only to be ex pected. To accept peace now would be for the Allies to admit defeat. Ger man arms have been in a large meas ure victorious. German soil remains uninvaded. The Allies have been pre eminently successful on the seas and Germany has lost'her colonies and her commerce. That Is the status of the war to-day. Hut there are other and more important phases of it that must be considered in the light of the Allies' refusal to consider an end of hostilities. The Allies have just begun to fight. Daily the numerical strength of the English, the French and the Russians increases. Daily the numerical strength of Germany goes backward. The flower of the German ariny at the outset of the war is no more. The raw recruits THURSDAY EVENING, HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 30,1915 of the Allies are becoming trained sol diers and bid fair to blossom into a crushing: force against the thinning German and Austrian ranks. The Ger man Infantry has not been the in vincible force its creators believed it to be. To be sure, it is still fighting on French soil, but farther from the French capital than it was three weeks after the war began. It holds Galicia and Warsaw, too, but in both the French and the Russian drives it failed to reach its objective—Paris and the destruction of the Russian army as a fighting machine. All hope of taking Paris is forsaken, and the armies of the Czar are gathering to the colors in ever-increasing numbers, better armed and equipped than ever before. France and England are piling up mountains of munitions behind their lines in Flanders and daily the difference be j tween the ammunition and artillery output of the Allies and Germany ap proaches equality. Germany started out to be an invad ing force. In France and in Russia she Is now entrenched and waging largely a defensive warfare. When an /offensive army becomes a defensive i army, then St has failed of its purpose. | So. while German arms have had splen l did success in winning battles, not one j j decisive action has been recorded in i favor of Germany. Germany has failed utterly to do the things she set out to I do and the result of the war is as plainly In sight an though already at hand. So one may readily understand the willingness of the Kaiser to consider peace while his armies are in Russia and Serbia and France and while Ger man arms on the surface appear to be in the ascendant. On the other hand, the attitude of the Allies in declining to consider peace at this time may be better understood by a consideration of the fact that they have been up to this time waging largely a war of preparation. Kitchener at the out start estimated three years and possibly longer as the time required by the Allies to bring Germany to her knees. The end is not yet in sight, but there are Indications that a break in German ability to maintain the terrific strain may come earlier than that, possibly some time next summer. THE "GRIP" WE have no quarrel with the man who called it "grip." He knew whereof he spoke. "Grip" is the word. When it lays hold on you just quietly succumb, seek a se cluded nook and ask to be left alone. In the quiet of your chamber even tually the malady will let loose, some what like a bulldog from the seat of a tramp's trousers after .somebody has shot the dog. And you'll have just about as much immediate relief and be just about as comfortable as the aforesaid tramp. Likewise you will feel just about as kindly toward "grip" as the tramp would toward the dog. We have been told forty-seven dif ferent ways of avoiding the "grip"— and none of 'em work. Wo are in receipt of 156 cures for "grip —and any one of them is just as good and 110 better than the receipts for avoid ing the disease. Some of them are worse than the malady—no, we take that back, not worse, merely as bad. Take Rocky Mountain sage, for In stance. Rocky Mountain sage was recommended by an erstwhile western friend who sent us a bunch —we use the word erstwhile advisedly. If you have a spite at yourself we recom mend that you contract "grip" or drink Rocky Mountain sage, but don't do both. Either one will be quite enough. Some folks think they have "grip" When they have only a bad cold. "Grip" differs from cold greatly. When you get the "grip" you look back fondly to the days when you had only a bad cold and say, "some day when I am feeling particularly fine and have nothing more than a bad cough, a stuffed up nose and a sore throat, I'll do thus and so." "Grip," we are told, originated in France, where it is known as I>a Grippe. We knew it couldn't have come from Germany. It is too demo cratic for that. It tackles the high and mighty and the lame and the halt with equal unconcern and it doesi t care a hoot where it scatters its aches and pains. The back of the street sweeper and the chest of the banker all look alike to Old Man "Grip." Just at present "grip" is at once our most popular and most hated in stitution. Physicians dote on it and calmly consider next year's vacations in the light of its daily statistics of victims. Victims themseWes aljer-" nately groan over it and "cuss" it. If you have had it you don't need any proof of the foregoing. If you haven't had it there is something coming to you and you don't need to pray for a light attack, either. "There ain't no sich thing." DANIELS AGAIN DISAPPOINTED at the bids sub mitted to the Navy Department for the construction of the two tiattleships authorized by the last Congress, Secretary Daniels is reported to have suggested a startling innova tion in the contractural relation which the steel companies should bear to the Federal Government. He believes that the steel companies ought to have made allowance for the contracts which they knew as long ago as last Spring were to be offered in the Fall. In other words, that the steel com panies should turn down business actually in hand so as to be open for prospective contracts from the United States. Due to the fact that steel products are bringing far higher prices than a year ago, on account of the huge de mand from the warring powers, and also on account of the increase of wages through the stimulation of the steel industries, the bids recently open ed were higher than anticipated. For a year the Administration has been taking credit to Itself for the boom in the steel Industry, and the increase of wages, which, as everyone knows, was occasioned by war orders. Now that this inflated condition of busl ness tugs at the purse-strings of the Navy Department, Secretary Daniels tries to evolve a retroactive under standing between the steel companies and the government, and there are said to be indications that he may appeal to Congress for some sort of j Legislation which would compel them to take contracts on more favorably terms. Is Mr. Daniels cognizant of the functions of the United States Su preme Court? 1 TELEGRAPH'S PERISCOPE" —Germany is willing to call It a draw If the allies give the Kaiser the gate re ceipts. j —We don't wonder that "Doc" Cook I has been ruled out of Germany—but iwhat we would like to know is why he I wanted to get In. j —lf the Germans keep on capturing I Russians and the Russians keep on cap j turlng Germans It won't be long before 1 the Czar and the Kaiser will have to exchange capitals. —Denmark will not allow foreigners to lecture on subjects akin to the war. Now we understand why Bryan didn't sail on the Oscar 11. —Colonel House's mission is describ ed as "atmospheric." Hot air? j EDITORIAL COMMENT [ Another pathetic little feature of every-day life is the way, the minute the President announces that creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out, a great many of our citizens become violently angry at liim for getting so personal.—Ohio State Journal. We'll have to admit this, Henry r ord's project is not much more foolish than the war is.—St. Louis Globe Demo crat. The Germans are said to be sur prised that the allies have not asked for peace already. The reason prob ably Is that the allies don't read the German newspapers.—Chicago Herald. Baron Shibusawa, hailed as the "Pier pont Morgan of Japan," appears to have fallen heir to the many bouquets which his namesake missed during an ardu ous and otherwise successful career.—• AVashington Post. WINTER OF GRIP [Pittsburgh Post.] Varieties of weather, shifting from heavy rain to equally heavy snowfall in a night, stinging cold one day, un comfortably mild the next, make this a winter of grip for more people than in any year since the 19.00 outbreak of the watery-eyed and sneezing con tagion. Pneumonia cases are numer ous. The epidemic extends from the East to the Middle West. Its effect is seen in diminished school attendance, in hospital records and reports of health authorities. Only by the individual exercise of care can the disease be prevented. Health experts may advise; it is up to people themselves to take the nec essary precautions. These sfmpTe measures mean avoidance of soaked shoes and clothing, of irregular hours, of over-eating and loss of sleep, the weakening effects of which expose the system that much more to an attack of grip. These precautions are easy. Those who disregard them endanger not only their own health, but that of others. NEW HIGHWAY TO PITTSBURGH [From the Altoona Times.] A call lias been issued by the Harris burg Chamber of Commerce for a meet ing at Harrisburg, some time in March, for the purpose of boosting the new William Penn highway from Philadel- . phia to Pittsburgh. One of the most j ardent boosters of this road will be the Altoona Chamber of Commerce, owing to the fact that the William Penn high way route comes considerably closer to J Altoona than does the present Lincoln I highway, while there is a possibility that the route may be decided upon later to pass through this city. The Harrisburg meeting is to be at tended by representatives of ail com mercial bodies and business men's or ganizations in the territory adjoining the route of the proposed highway, while automobile clubs will also lend their support. It Is understood that the local motor club will have repre sentatives at the body. The William Penn route has already been endorsed by Commissoner of Highways Cunningham, while Governor Martin <!. Brumbaugh has several times declared his belief that the main high way across Pennsylvania should pass through the Juniata Valley, the course taken by the William Penn route. The Lincoln highway, at present the main thoroughfare between Philadel phia and Pittsburgh, has only one ad vantage, and that is Its improvement. The William Penn route, while a large portion has not yet been improved, has many advantages. The lirst Is the re duced distance, an example of this be ing the distance from Altoona to Pitts burgh, which is ninety-eight miles via the William Penn highway, as compar ed with 131! miles via the Lincoln high way. Tile new automobile road from tliis city to Pittsburgh, it will be noted, is sixteen miles shorter than the Pennsy tracks. Another big advantage of the William Penn highway is the large number of cities and large towns which are touch ed, it being pointed out that the Lin coln highway, which traverses the old State highway of a century ago. touches only a few of the smaller towns. Perhaps the biggest advantage of the William Penn routo is the easy grades, the route from this city to Pittsburgh having only three hills of any propor tions, and none of these is either as steep or as long as the McConnellsburg hill, on the Lincoln highway. The William Penn highway is planned to follow the road from Ilarrlsburg through the Lewistown narrows, along the Juniata to Huntingdon, and from Huntingdon to Williamsburg via the State road already built. From Wil liamsburg the road extends through Hollidaysburg to Cresson, via the Foun tain Inn road, although many Altoona boosters of the road believe the natural route Is through this city, and the Buckhorn road, to either Ebensburg or Loretto, from which the road extends through Indiana. Indications at present are that the meeting at Harrlsburg will be well at tended, a number of organizations of business men and motorists along the proposed route being now ardent boost ers for the William Penn highway. HOW PRESIDENT WII,SOJI HIDS HIMSIOI.F OF VNWKLCOME VISI TORS. In the January American Magazine is an unusually interesting article by James Hay. Jr., on the working habits of the President of the United States. In it he gives the following description of how Wilson rids himself of unwel come visitors: "When Mr. Wilson first came to Washington, senators and members of the House of Representatives tried to follow their old system of taking up as much of a President's time as possible. They were astonished to find that the thing could not be done. Unless the matters on which they called and for which they had made appointments were of unusual importance, each con ference was expected to last anywhere from three to five minutes. At the end of tlic allotted time, Mr. Tumulty would walK into the President's private office, and the President would rise to his feet afld say: " "Now you may be sure that this will be looked into.' "There was no way of refusing to ac cept that polite dismissal. After each one had departed, Mr. Wilson, who Is himself an expert stenographer—so ex pert that a page from his note book Is as clear and clean-cut as a piece of en graving—would make a shorthand note of the caller's business. At the end of each day he would go through the note book and give directions or dictate let ters, dismissing the day's work. These rules he follows to-day." [ r CK lVKKoi{t«rcuua By Um Ex-CommlncemM Philadelphia newspapers which have been giving considerable space to the efforts of Mayor-elect Thomas B. Smith, of Philadelphia, to prevent a factional fight for control of the Re publican state organization between Senator Boies Penrose and Governor Brumbaugh are intimating that there may yet be a tight, although Mr. Smith Is said to have told friends that there will not be a battle and that all will be harmony. Rumors that the Vare con tingent is planning warfare through out the State are being given out and prominent up-State Republicans have been among the visitors to Senator Penrose the last few days. It is now stated to be part of the accepted plan to have the Governor and the mayors of Philadelphia and Pittshurgh go as delegates at large. The Philadelphia Press to-day says that the slating of the Governor and Mayor of Philadelphia for delegates at large is according to precedent and is not to be regarded as "a harmony ticket" or as indicative of a contest. The Philadelphia ledger, on the other hand, says that events are tending so that Senator Penrose will face the test In the May primaries and that in spite of harmony talk the Governor and the Vares mean to fight. The Philadelphia Bulletin says that the senator has held out the peace branch to the Governor, but that if it is refused will make the contest. The Philadelphia Record, which is Democratic, says that the senator will be for the Governor for delegate at large as a matter of course and intimates that something impor tant to Republicans will come out in a day or so. Summing up, the Ledger says: "The Penrose harmony plan, in which Mr. Smith is interested, contem plates sending both Mr. Smith and the Governor to Chicago as delegates at large. Senator Penrose hopes that in this way a fight will be avoided. The avoiding of a fight, however, is be lieved, will lead to the granting of con cessions, possibly as to the character of the delegates to be slated, and al most certainly as to the make-up of the State ticket." The Philadelphia Record to-day says: "The Philadelphia branch of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau will be opened some time after the first of the year. If present nego tiations are carried out, the headquar ters here will be located in the North American building. Harry A. Maclcey, Vare leader of the Forty-sixth ward, who is chairman of the Workmen's Compensation Board, will have charge of the local office." | —Things are getting strenuous in I Philadelphia again. Mayor Blanken- I burg is threatening some quarter to I twelve vetoes and yesterday Oongress | man Vare made an appeal to him not |to veto salary raising: items in ordl- I nances on which he will act. I —Judge Kobert Ralston, of the Philadelphia courts, was taken- 111 while attending a dinner In Pitts burgh. —Carlton E. Davis has been re tained by Mayor Smith as chief of water In Philadelphia. He is one of the best known men in the Phila delphia city service. —The argument in the contest of the election of W. S. McDowell as mayor of Chester will be heard at Media to-morrow. It may involve other cities. —Philadelphia politics got a whirl last night at a dinner to Judge-elect I Rogers and Director-designate W. H. Wilson. Senator McNlchol said that | while he did not favor Wilson's ap ; pointment yet he would give him i hearty support and Judge-elect \ Rogers said that he felt the Republl ! can organization owed him his elec [ tion as a reward. i —ln Pittsburgh council has passed several ordinances over the veto of Mayor Armstrong and it is now re ported that a tight between the Arm strong and Magee forces is certain. I.LOYD (•GORGE, AND THE UNION [From the Los Angeles Times.] Jf David Lloyd George's statement be fore the British Parliament is his ra pacity of Minister of Munitions it is a sorry spectacle he has- held up for the world to see—a proud empire shackled «nd begging for mercy! Not from a foreign foe,' not from the gods of tribu lation. but from the labor union agita tors within her gates is Britain plead ing for deliverance. There have been traitors and to spare in the history of the world, but never before has a great empire been bound and gagged by the organized conspir acy of treachery bv her own sons as lias Great Britain. While the bravest and best of her sons have fought and died ill bitter combat against the gneatest odds soldier has ever been called upon to face, labor- unionism has bargained for hours and pence—bartered away thousands upon thousands of lives of young manhood that the union work ingman might enjoy an additional hour's leisure, a few additional pence for the hours he worked, that certain petty unionist restrictions . might be enforced—exploiting the tragedy of their country in its greatest crisis with unbelievable selfishness and brutality. When Lloyd George denounced the agitator with all the emotional rhetoric at his command, telling the nation how I trade-unionism conceded 6,000 men under their petty rules and restric tions, when 300,000 were needed If Britain's sons were to have a fighting chance for their lives, and assuring the country that he is revealing but half the hindrances deliberately conjured by the unionist officials, he raises the gorge of every fair man. As Minister of Munitions he has come to know the unionist codes at llrst hand, to see ex actly where tie utter selfish creed of the few may wreck the fortunes, sap the very life blood of the nation in its hour of peril, and he lias done prodig ious things In recalling them to some sense of their responsibility. HOPE FOR THE HAIRLESS Dr. Robert B. Clark, of Monroe, Wis., insanity expert, says hairless domes indicate sanity. He said: "I have examined several hundred patients as to their sanity. I have had the opportunity of studying many hundreds of others, and in ail my ex perience I have yet, with a single ex- 1 ception, to see an insane man who was baldheaded." | Our Daily Laugh MAYBE? | She: I used to ' think you were / ' one man in a He: And now : I you're disappoint- : I ed because I'm ] | | not the other 99>. t LOCATED. fis? U What do you V.'i"/yfft) consider the chief end of man? ■ I Well, In these \ ij days of the tango, 1 should say that 'man'e chief end I fll*l® was THE CARTOON QF THE DAY "GETTING THEM OUT OF THE TRENCHES" —From tkr Philadelphia Public- i.riliccr. ( SCIENCE BEGINS Light and Heat By Frederic J. Haskin THE typical American household proceeds on a hit-or-miss prin- ciple that results in a measure of efficiency only when it follows some age-old rule, or else by pure chance. Such is the only conclusion to be drawn from the results of an inves tigation just completed by the United [States Bureau of Standards. For instance, it is considered good form in the best circles to keep the various stoves in the household black. Not one woman in ten knows why she does it. A black stove is undoubtedly more ornamental than one which is rusty brown, but proceeding on esthe tic principles solely, a pale yellow or Nile green might be more decorative than either. Heating stoves really are blackened because a black stove is the hottest kind of a stove there is. It is no more than a cold scientific fact that if you nickel-plate a stove you cut its hest-giving capacity in half. This property of black things to give and take heat readily means that when you want to carry heat without losing it, as in hot-water pipes, you must sec that the pipes are bright and shining. This is so true, that science has shown that a bright hot-water pipe loses less heat than one insulated in a thin asbestos coating. For the same reason, pots and pans kept bright will stay hot longer. The ideal kettle is black on the jjottom, to take heat easily, and bright on the sides, to hold it long. The various kinds of fuels available for kitchen and general household heating are used too often without a clear understanding of their fitness for the particular purpose involved. On a purely theoretical basis, soft coal and wood are the most economical fuels by far, in districts where their price is anywhere near the average. Wood llres do not last, however, and a coal fire takes half an hour of prelim inary maneuvering to get enthusiasm enough to fry an egg. Gas is expen sive, but quick and clean. The gas (lame should hence be used in culinary skirmishes, when heaT is needed for a short time in a limited area; but for major cooking campaigns and assaults THESTATEFROM WTODOTI "War-ridden Europe, especially Russia, is the garden spot of the world for pickpockets at the present time," was the opinion delivered gratuitously to police court in Pitts burgh yesterday, as the police re turned to Gus Goldenman several thousands in bills and a couple dia mond rings. He, with the costly name had been arrested on the sus picion that he was a* adept light tingered artist, and although no charge was brought, his statements showed that he did not live by bread alone. A little six-year-old boy in Mapleton Depot, acting as the tail in the excit ing game of "crack the whip," was thrown 40 feet at the turn in one of the games and died as the result of his injuries. His playmates pay him the tribute of saying that "the kid was always game and never told on them," but that is not much solace to the poor mother. A few days ago. while hunting deer in Clinton county, J. P. Winchester brought down v.-hat looked very much like a gray wolf. Later ex amination proved this to be so, and the skin will be mounted and placed in the State Museum. It Is said to be the first wolf killed in Pennsyl vania In 20 years. Shylock's "pound of flosh" story, re ported by old "BUI" Shakespeare, has been converted Into the modern Inter pretation, and, somewhat battered and worn, occupies space on the pages of a daily contemporary. This story tells of the modern man who went into a modern grocery store and grouchily insisted that the grocer wrap up ajl his packages, Including his (the grocer's) thumb, which he had weighed with the butter, and also the one that he weighed with the meat. These he wanted wrapped up, because he was going to use them for dog meat. A new method of making butter milk has been discovered in Sharon, and it is very simple. All you have to do is to run your milk-wagon into a streetcar and your product will soon be transformed. With sufficient con fusion It is possible to turn out a couple pats of butter, but not so fre quently. Of course this particular wagon In Sharon was demolished, but that has nothing to do with the case. SHE GAVE BT UP Heinle —"I've got a conundrum for you, Jllss Hazel. WTiat's the differ ence between me and a donkey?" , Miss Hazel "l'm sure I don't I know," on a whole dinner, soft coal is just about ten times as economical. Such an estimate, of course, does not consid er the factor of convenience. To se cure this latter in a high degree, some people are even cooking with electric ity, which is about twenty times as ex pensive as gas. Thfe gas flames can be rendered more economical and effective by a little understanding of its personal peculiarities. What you burn is really not gas, but an air-gas mixture, and the amount of air should be carefully regulated by means of the little dam per at the base of the burner. If you have too much air, or not enough, the gas is only partially burned, a con dition which is both wasteful and dan gerous to health, because the partly burned gases are poisonous. For this reason, a flue over a gas stove to carry away the invisible products of com bustion is a good thing, but careful regulation of the air supply will pre vent the forming of the harmful va pors, and give you a hundred cents' worth of heat for every dollar on the bill. A gas flame consists of two parts, a central blue-green portion, sur rounded by yellow flame. You will know that your air-supply is right when the blue-green portion is half the height of the flame. Actual cooking is only a small part of the household heating problem. The furnace eats several times as much coal as the range, and it is worth a little study to keep much of that coal from Hying up the chimney to heat the circumambient atmosphere. Furnace coal is cheaper in the smaller sizes,, and many furnaces work better on small coal, so that to feed your furnace with coal too larg£ for it is a double waste. The furnace Hues and heating suurfaces should be kept several times cleaner than ma jority of them are. Whether the sys tem works by hot water, or steam, or air, it must heat its conducting mate rial in some sort of reservoir. To let that reservoir get plastered with soot Is taking considerable pains to insulate It effectively. The principle is the same as though you put an asbestos mat between your coffee pot and the stove. g| TKe Searchlight gj|Js protf.i tim; soi.ihkhs' kaks A new device called the "Kar De fender," is being distributed among the English and French forces. It consists [of a small perforated metal tube | which terminates In a ball and tits into , the passage of the ear. A little metal disc is attached to the outer end of the I tube, and this disc is perforated by a I hole in the center. The disc breaks the tremendous and destructive sound waves set up by big-gun explosions, but through the little hole the soldier can hear the ordinary conversation of men around him. The need of such a device is well recognized, since after every big ar tillery engaement hundreds of men are temporarily deafened for days and weeks, and some lose their hearing per manently. The explosion of a big shell nearby has the same effect, or even a greater one. Yet in protecting the sol dier's ears It Is essential that he be able to hear his officer's, orders. AS TO KXPEIMEIVCV [From the Pittsburgh Dispatch.] Some queer moves havo been made by the present natlonul administration, but if it carries out the reported plan of I pushing the shipping bill ahead of other legislation, almost anything can be be lieved of it. But, far more serious, 1 there will be widespread Inclination to give consideration to the hints heard from time to time that the administra tion was not sincere in advocacy of pre paredness, but looked upon the ques- I t'.on as one of expediency. The Presi ■ dent has been given credit for an honest ! change of opinion as to the need of na ! tional defense. If after devoting his j first message to the new Congress to the subject, he relegates It to the rear in an attempt to force through a meas ure which has once been lejected, he will have himself to blame If his sin cerity is called into question. ! Far more Important than the pet ! scheme of Secretary McAdoo are the matters of defense and the raising of the necessary revenues to run the Gov ernment, important not only to the country at large, but to the administra tion. As a matter of fact, as the days go by the importance of the shipping bill for any reason other than glorify ing the Secretary of the Treasury dwindles. The President will have to go before the country next Fall for an endorsement of his four years of ser vice and he Is politician enough to rea lize that he will need to make the best showing possible. He Is not deal ing now with the Congress upon which he forced his canal Idea. If that Con gress couldn't stand for the shipping plan. It Is difficult to see how this one will, even though the plan may have been changed in some respects. Even If the administration were not sincere in Its professions for prepared ness and that opportunism Is Its watch word, It would seem the part of expedi ency to go ahead with the program It has given the country to understand it favored. The success or failure of the program would then rest with Con gress. In no other way does safety for the White House lie, because safety now means the good will of the people, and that good will Is not at all assured to any such extent that it can be trifled •with, iEtanmg Olfjat Governor Brumbaugh's tour of til® State to see the natural benutles o* l Pennsylvania was so successful last October that the Governor Is thinking about a similar trip next Fall to loo* over the splendid farms of the Key- Rtone State. The Governor was Im mensely pleased at the condition of the roads of the State on his tour last Fail and has worked out with Highway onunissioner Cunningham some plana , ,^. b t ett r^ nt of others. The other day in talking about the line roads [that have been established in Penn sylvania ho said that next Fall lia [hoped to get a number of friends about him and to show them what tine farms Pennsylvania could boast. The Gover nor "ft'd that he had no plans for the trip and did not know when he would lake it, but that he would just like to show some people who are not aware of what Pennsylvania is doing in the farming line what the Commonwealth possesses what it raises and how it handles it. Improvement of farming conditions is one of the Governor's nobbles and he believes that In spite ot the growth of Pennsylvania's popu lation the time is not far distant when tnere will be so much more attention paid to agriculture and its allied branches that there will he enough of the mainstays of a food supply within the borders of the State for her population. There are plenty of peo pie v, ho would invest in farming and who would get good returns, if they knew more about it and conditions in rural districts would profit from their interest. The Governor says that next year a good many people will bo out to see tho beauties of scenery in this State and that people will como from other States when tliev find out that Pennsylvania has fixed up her roads. And while they are travelling the Governor wants them to look over the farms. Edward H. Golil, the artist, who is a native of this city where lie spent a considerable portion of his younger years, is preparing to write a book on his discovery of the site of one of tlio permanent camps of the Algonquins near Auburn, X. Y. Mr. Gohl has been making his home at Auburn and last summer while exploring about Lakeside Park, which is rich in Indian traditions, he came across indisputable remains of the Indians. He followed them up and with the collaboration of officials of the Xew York State division of arclielogy, he uncovered the site of a camp which it is believed antedates the savage Iroquois by several hun dreds of years. Valuable pottery, ar rowheads, utensils and even fire places were discovered and many of the ob jects are now in the State museum at Albany, while others have gone to en hance Indian collections throughout the State. The relics are now being studied by Mr. Gohl who believes that they will shed new light upon the lives and customs of some of the earliest Indians of the lake region of New York, Indians who were possibly an cestors of some who roamed in the woods hereabouts in the days before John Harris built his cabin at the "Crossing," which later became Har ris' Ferry and then Harrisburg. Dr.D.Frank Garland,the head of the municipal government of Dayton and the man who originated the changes in government which have worked so well in Ohio cities, is to be here next month to address the Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Garland is a brother of Thomas Garland, the North Sixtli street druggist, an»' is a graduate of Gettysburg College. He has made a study of municipal government, for years, covering half the U.iited States and a number of countries of Europe. One of our friends who "clerks" In a drug store, had this to say to-day: "When Willie gets a cold this winter, the old quinine cure will have to be used sparingly, unless pa and ma are willing to use an expensive cure. That drug has climbed up to about threo times its price before the war. And Sister Sue with her headache will have a little trouble, too. Phenacitin, used to fjive relief from this ailment Is soar ing at sl2 and sl3 a pound and but little of the product can be obtained at that price. One good "tummy"acho cure was 40 cents a pound before the war, and now has touched the sl2 mark. Other drugs tised in prescrip tions are soaring at high figures, and many of them cannot be obtained at I any price." . . . The steps for organization of the State Workmen's Compensation sys tem, which are now being taken in this city, are bringing to Harrlsburg many men prominent in business, fin ancial and industrial affairs. Repre sentatives of some of the State's larg est employers of labor have been hero this week. 1 WELL KNOWN 1 —A. E. Borie, the new president of the Sav&ge Arms Company, belongs to one of the old families of Philadel phia. —George S. Webster, retiring chief engineer of Philadelphia, was given a banquet by his staff in honor of his appointment of director of docks, wharves and ferries. -—W. J. Priestly, one of the superin tendents just advanced at the Bethle hem Steel Works, is only thirty years of age. I —Kx-Governor William A. Stone has ! turned over his law business at Phila delphia to his son. Stephen Stone. —Justice A. Record, Bradford coun ty's resident, celebrated his 100 th birthdav with a family dinner, using forks and plates 125 years old. | DO YOU KNOW '~l That Harrlsburg used to have a big State fair held here? HISTORIC HARRISBURO One of the earliest churches of tile Church of God denomination was es tablished here. FEW HAVE IT TO THIS EXTENT "Pa, what is business tact?" "Knowing the cash customer just as well as you know the one that runs up a bill every month." 'a Old 1915 ■ • One of the most significant things about the latter part of 1915 has been the trend of gen eral advertising towards the newspapers. As one keen observer recently put It:— > "Manufacturers are beginning to realize that they must have the loval support of the local dealers If their advertising cam paigns are to win. "They are learning that deal ers are keenly alive to the ad vantages of newspaper adver tising should follow the line of paper advertised goods. "It Is logical that the adver tising shold follow the line of • greatest return." Watch 1918 for larger devel opments In the same direction.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers