8 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Pounded itjl Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRArH rRI\TINO CO.. Telegraph Hulldtng. Federal Square. E. J. STACKPOL.E, Prti l and EdMorin-Chief F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager. GUS M. STCINMETZ, Managing Editor. * Member American Newspaper Pub- Eastern «fflce. Has- Gr-s°Bulld!ng. o Cht" cago, 111. Entered at the Post Office In Harrls burg, Pa., as second class matter. By carriers, six cents a week; by mail, J3.00 a year In advance. Snnrn dally evemre circulation for tha three monti-* ending April 30, 11)10. ■?r 22,341 it Theae tKnrei are ne«. AH returned. Bnaold and damaged eoplea deducted. THURSDAY EVENING. MAY 25. Prune thou thy words, thy thoughts control That o'er the -swell and throng; Thy will condense within thy soul, And change to purpose strong. —JOHN HENRY NEWMAN. COMMISSION SHORTCOMINGS AMONG the third class cities of the State, including Harrlsburg, : there Is Increasing dissatisfaction with the commission form of govern- ; ment. After a brief trial of the new fangled scheme of municipal adminis- ! tration most of the cities have coma to the conclusion that they jumped out of the frying pan into the fire, so to speak, when they changed to the| present form of five commissioners. This alleged reform was the result ! of a demand for a more centralized and responsive kind of administration, a system which would place respon sibility upon the individual and that would disclose discrepancies when they occurred without waste of time or effort. Admitting some little improvement j In this direction, the evils which have grown out of the new system are in finitely greater than its benefits'. First of all, public Interest has waned, and that Is the most serious phase of the matter. When the people themselves cease sto have real interest in the dis charge of public duties, the officials who are their servants will certainly , lose that enthusiasm which is almost as necessary as other qualities sup posed to be requisite to efficient public sen-ice. Xor has there been any less political wire-pulling as a result of the new system. Indeed, the political phases of municipal administration seem to have been aggravated by the new form and the fact that only five men are interested in conducting the govern ment of the city destroys that measure of popular support which is needed to maintain general Interest in adminis tration. It is quite probable that the next Legislature will be asked to make im portant changes In the law. Many | weak spots already have been re vealed in working out the experiment and cities which were the most hope ful of satisfactory results are now among the most \lgorous objectors to the new scheme. It is believed that a single council of seven or nine mem bers comprising high-minded, public spirited and unselfish citizens, serving without pay, would be a more effective arrangement Under this plan the salaries which are now paid the com missioners would go to the superin tendents of departments, who would be operating officials under control of council. Such an arrangement would over come the loss sustained in the abolition of the Board of Public Works, the Park Commission and other bodies which previously served without pay, but which rendered Harrlsburg and other cities operating under the old system invaluable service. Governor Brumbaugh is known to be making a study of the municipali ties of the State and doubtless will be In position to submit such recom mendations to the Legislature as will form some basis of action In applying remedies for existing shortcomings of the commission government. WEST SHORE ACTIVITIES THE citizens of Washington Heights are considering the mat ter of incorporating themselves Into a borough or of annexing them selves to Camp Hill. Back of this movement is a wholesome desire for civic betterment. The population of the community Is growing steadily and township government is no longer considered adequate. The property owners do not want their town to grow up In hlt-or-mlss fashion and they de sire ai proper return for their taxes. This Is extending the thought of city planning to the rural districts, a mat ter that is Just now commanding the attention of municipal experts every where. for the growing suburb joon becomes a part of the city itself. What io good for the city is, therefore, good for the suburb, to a limited degree, and the people of Washington Heights are wise in taking up their problems in this line before they become press ing. The whole West Shore from JCnola to New Cumberland is bound. In the course of a very few years, to become one great, thriving city, and now is tliq time to see that its plans THURSDAY EVENING, ! are harmonious and commensurate | with the ultimate importance of this I district as a residential locality. ! As indicating how closely In accord these West Shore people are with the best thought of the period on rural planning may be quoted the following from an address of Professor Frank A. Waugh, of the Masachusetts Agri cultural College. Amherst, Mass., be fore the last annual convention of ihe American Civic Association at Wash ington; City planning has arrived. The need of it and tite possibilities of it have already worked themselves into the public mind. A number of well-trained, capable men are In tlie Held at work and substantial re sults are at hand. Country planning must follow-. The country has just as great a need and just as good a right to be planned as the city. Something over half the people of the I'nlted States still five in the coun try. Moreover there are sound rea sons for thinking that, just at the present time, the general weal of society Is more concerned in the salvation of the country than in the next improvements in the city. Civic art must be understood therefore as comprehending with in its scope both city and country. It is hardly accurate even to say that civic art includes city planning and country planning on equal terms, for city ami farm are really but complimentary parts of one continuous civic fabric. No one can i say tiiat the city ends here and i here the country begins. Each one ! of us lives partly in the one and partly In the other. Each one draws his living satisfactions partly from town and partly from country. To plan the cltv separately from the country is therefore unsocial, un economic and unsound in practice. Yet for the moment we must di rect our attention to the problems peculiar to the rural world. There are some reasons to hope for good results here. The country has enormous stores of native beauty and substantial good left unharmed by lhe devastating hand of man. It would seem to be easier to make the country beautiful and sanitary. He.vond this, hovever, we shall cer ta nly meet difficulties, for up to the present time there has been lit tle planning to make the country more orderly and convenient. In deed. and in short, the problem of developing the country as an effici ent physical equipment for human society has hardly yet been glimpsed. Washington Heights Is tAoving in the right direction. It is to be hoped that other communities on tho West Shore will join with them in a way that will help materially in the rapid and harmonious development of the whole territory occupying the west side of the river as Harrisburg does the east side. If Harrisburg had begun to study its municipal problems as early and as intelligently as these people have started to look into theirs, the taxpayers would have been saved thousands of dollars and the city would have been a much better place to-day in which to live. PI NISH THE VANDALS COUNTY DETECTIVE JAMES WALTERS is to be heartily com mended for his prompt effort to arrest the vandals who last evening tore up flower boxes on South Front street. It is to be hoped District At torney Stroup will prosecute this case vigorously and promptly, as it de serves, and that the court will impose the extreme penalty upon the prisoners. The men not only showed no regard for the rights of residents, but mur derously assailed the officers who en deavored to put them under arrest. Long terms at hard labor where they could have ample time to think over the folly of law-breaking might do them some good. Vandalism is all too common in Harrisburg and the tearing up of flower beds at a time when the whole city is making a serious effort to beautify itself during the summer months ought to be punished to the full extent of the law. This would appear to be an excellent opportunity I to make an example of a quartet that apparently would not have hesitated • to add murder to the lesser crime. APPEAL OF THE VETERANS THE appeal of E. B. Hoffman, ' patriotic Instructor of Post 58, ! G. A. R., for men and women of the younger generation to assist in the patriotic exercises incident to Me morial Day to be held In the public schools Friday afternoon ought to meet with a generous response. • As Mr. HofTman says, the veterans of the Civil War. who for forty years or more have been teaching children to love the flag, are growing old and the time will soon come when this duty must fall to others or the Me morial Day custom be abandoned. The Spanish-American War Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Service have shown such a keen desire to perpetuate the work so long conducted by the Grand Army that no doubt many of them will turn out Friday to assist the men who fought in 'Bl and who have endeavored to instill Into the hearts of the boys and girls of to-day the same love for the old flag that took them to a hundred battlefields of the South in its defense. A CENSORIOUS CRITIC A CENSORIOUS newspaper critic out in Arkansas raises an edi torial storm over the announce ment from Washirfgton that President Wilson attended a circus not long since. Very likely this same editorial writer, armed with a handful of passes, ducked his office duties many a time on circus day, bundled his wife and children into his Ford—all Ar kansas editors are popularly supposed to have gasoline buggies—and hied away to the showgrounds. Most edi tors do that, and then blame it on the children. But the President has no youngsters and the grandchildren are all too young. He makes no excuse, therefore, except that he wanted to ! see the circus. The Telegraph has been casting about for, 10, these many months to find some particularly praiseworthy thing for which to commend the Pres ident, Just to prove that even in the heat of a partisan campaign it Is not biased in its opinions. It is happy to take up the cudgels in his behalf in this instance. It knows of nothing the President has done since his inaugura tion that will meet with such general approval as this clrcus-golng incident. On this issue we most heartily endorse him. HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH i • 'fbtltici ck ?T the Ex-Committerman The Brumbaugh headquarters to day declined to matte any statement regarding Governor Brumbaugh's con test for head of the Republican dele gation to Chicago aside from saying that quite a few replies had been re ceived to the requests for support sent out by the Governor yesterday. This request of the Governor for the delegation chairmanship in -lie State-wide factional contest means , that the primary election, in the minds i of the respective leaders, did not settle ithe questions of party supremacy and leadership. Therefore, it is planned to settle it by lining lip a majority of the delegates either for the Governor or for the Senator. A majority will decide tho chairmanship, which car ries with it, at least on the floor of the convention, the titular leadership of the party in the State. Aside from that, the chairman is 'important for these reasons: He spepks for the delegation on the iloor of the convention; he virtually con trols the selection of the Slate's repre sentation on the convention commit tees, such as platform and credentials; he appears as the leader of his Siate and becomes perforce a vital factor in all conferences in which the great irsues are discussed and often decided for the convention as a whole. » • • Senator Penrose said last night he had not the slightest doubt he would be chosen. Th.e Governor's friends likewise were optimistic. Penrose leaders asserted that more than ilfty of the seventy-six delegates would favor the Senator. Replies which each received to the telegrams asking for support indicated that lines al ready had been established that would hardly be broken. According to news paper reports to-day. In some cases, of course, a noncom mittal attitude was assumed which Penrose construed as favorable to him. For example, William Potter, whom both factions claim as their ally, and who Is an unlnstructed dole gate from the Sixth district, in Phila delphia. said last night that there would be plenty of time to answer 'he questions as to the chairmanship when the official count had been completed. Senator McNichol. an untnstructed delegate from the Second district, said he did not answer either the Gov ernor's or the Senator's telegram. He said he would make answer by voting for Senator Penrose. Congressman Yr.re. on the other hand, promptly re plied to the Governor, assuring him of liis full support. A touch of the dramatic was lent to the Governor's telegraphic cpm paign by the fact that his messages were delivered to the delegates about 1 o'clock yesterday morning. Senator Penrose's followed shortly afterword. There was much speculation over the simultaneous efforts of the rival con testants. Senator Penrose's telegram simply asked for a vote for the chair manship. The Governor gave his rea sons for asking, as noted in the fol lowing copy of his message: . "Having received a substantial ! preferential and a large vote as dele gate-at-large, T respectfully ask your vote for me as chairman of the Penn sylvania delegation. Will you support me? Please give answer. (Signed) "MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH." Military Training [From the Philadelphia Inquirer.] That the sentiment for military training In the public schools of this city Is pronounced and widespread was demonstrated by the interest shown at the hearing given before the commit- , tee of the Board of Education the oth- ! er day. It was pointed out in the j course of the addresses that the mill- | tary training, which Is part of the [ education of the youth of that country, j was one of the important factors In preserving the neutrality of Swltzer- j land during the present war In Europe. The fact that the male population Is . trained and physically fit to protect a country Is the strongest kind of an argument in favor of compelling the respect of a possible adversary. Sup pose for a moment that Switzerland ; was in the same state of unprepared- j ness as China. How long would It be ' respected by the belligerents of Eu rope? Not very long. It Is safe to say. And yet because It has the prudence | and the patriotism to be ready to de- i fend itself, this little country looms . larger In the minds of men than the j mighty Chinese empire with Its popu- j lation of hundreds of millions. . | The arguments against military ; training In the Philadelphia schools ; are puerile and unconvincing. For In stance, the physical Instructor com plains that it would require the ser vices of additional Instructors. Well, suppose It does, and suppose, for the sake of argument, that It will require a financial outlay on the part of the Board of Education? Won't it bp worth all that it costs, and more besides? ] New York has Just reached the con clusion that the youth of the land must be developed and trained to pro tect themselves and their families. Governor Whitman has placed the seal of his approval upon laws which prac tically Introduce compulsory military training into that State. New York has taken a positive stand, and the time is not distant when Philadelphia and Pennsylvania will have to Join In this highly Important movement. Schoolmaster at School [From Life.] i The first defect of the Democratic party Mr. Root found to be the tem perament and training of the Presi dent. It Is. doubtless, to this first defect that we owe the appointment of Mr. Daniels. He was the choice of the gentleman who rejected the compli ment of the Chevy Chase Club in mak ing him an honorary member; a gen tleman whose mind seemed very much affected at that time by impatience of polite life and a yearning to get back to the plain people. It was he who said, when president of Princeton, that he did not propose to be president of a country club, and who tried to dis solve the social organization of Prince ton and herd the students in new groups, arbitrarily contrived on the basis of locality. The social organizations of the older colleges are so faulty and so abound in nonsense and worse that every zealous reformer burns to abolish the whole collection of them and lead the , boys back to nature and democracy I and the simple life. Nevertheless, in i their way they are laboratories for the study of human nature, especially on the side of its diseases and men large enough to digest them and shed their nonsense get a training out of them which is often useful, especially in public life. They study a limited num ber of members under conditions of intimacy, think about them a vast deal, discuss, weigh and estimate them, and by constant exercise of Judgment about their fellow-creatures come— some of them —to learn the difference between man and man. Only a "Ring Off" "Auntie, did you ever have a pro posal ?" "Once, dear. A gentleman asked me to marry him over the telephone, but he had the wrong number."—Har per's Magazine. TELEGRAPH PERISCOPE —The U. 13. Bureau of Education says that Newark pupils like to go to school twelve months a year, but it is safe to say that this conclusion was not reached by a popular vote. —The only thing certain about the Chicago convention Is that its results are very uncertain. —This, it would seem, Is a very good time for the Germans to conclude the French were not bluffing about the Impregnability of Verdun. —Now that benzol promises some j relief from the high cost of gasoline, we suppose John r>. will start right jin and buy up all the coke ovens. —Our Idea of recklessness Is to go Into a restaurant overheated nnd eat a softshell crab under an electric fan. EDITORIAL COMMENT The less we have of this kind of a j May the better. As wo look at It, It is merely May-be.—Philadelphia In | quirer. Johnstown has too much of the | spirit of "Let George do it." There is too little willingness to take hold and co-operate personally iif attempts at civic improvement. We are a unit in our hopes for better things, but too few of us are welling to contribute thought and muscle to the cause. Johnstown Tribune. Our idea of a trusting soul is the old-fashioned Republican who thinks the matter can be settled satisfactorily to Colonel Roosevelt by having the national convention give him every thing he wants except the nomination. —Ohio State Journal. Co-operation and Clean-up [From the Philadelphia Ledger.] But it will not do for the citizen who would have a spotless town to sit back or stand aside, relying upon sonte impersonal power to come by night, like the pixies in the fairy-tale, and do all the work. , It is always so easy to prate that "they" ought to do this and that and the other thing, in stead of bringing the duty home to oneself and the first personal pronoun. Men with sweeping machinery and "maids with mops" might busy them selves proSigiously, and an army of thoughtless householders could nullify their efforts. If paper blows about the streets, who put the paper there? If ashes and garbage are spilled right and left, is it always the careless fault of the collector? Some people seem ingly expect a vacuum cleaner to travel in their train and obliterate the rubbish that they make on picnics and excursions. If a park belongs to the population at large, and not simply to the authorities, it is the property for the public to conserve as well as en- Joy. Clean-up week Is not a cele bration, but a co-operation. It is a chance for the citizen to help the city no matter who is professionally paid to remove the rubbish. A Jury Properly Chosen IFrom the New York Sun.] No recent criminal case has been more discussed than that of Waite, who was put on trial accused of mur der yesterday. The audacity of the alleged crime, the large sums of money at stake, the circumstances of the young man's life aroused the greatest Interest. Yet a jury was obtained in a single session of the court, and the prosecution was able to open in ths afternoon. The twelve satisfactory jurymen were found among the first fifty-six talesmen called, and four fifths of those summoned were re leased at the luncheon hour. These facts speak well for the jury system as It is now administered in this Jurisdiction. In the past there have been notorious delays in the selection of juries, discrediting the methods fftllowed and exposing the courts to ridicule and adverse criti cism. Such delays are unnecessary, as has been demonstrated in Justice Shearn's court, and if they occur here after the public will know they are due not to faults of the system but to mismanagement in its application. The Incredible Thing [From the New York Sun.] . Colonel Roosevelt's entire interest in the present campaign is to make sure that in the White House we shall have Americanism instead of "Humanity," Preparedness Instead of Pacifism, vigor and resolution instead of watchful waiting. Everything that should not be in the White House is there now, in Colonel Roosevelt's patriotic opinion, in the person of Woodrow Wilson. Colonel Roosevelt put President Wilson in the White House four years ago by breaking the solid Republican vote. He knows now what he did then. Nobody else has described with such absolute candor the deplorable conse quences of his own stupendous mis take in 1912. Is It not inconceivable that knowing what he now knows of Dr. Wilson, and saying what he now says of Dr. Wilson, Colonel Roosevelt should, de liberately repeat his performance of 1912? It is not inconceivable that under any circumstances ha should so act at Chicago as to insure the re-election of Dr. Wilson for four years more of executive power? Colonel Roosevelt could only do that if his motive were personal instead of patriotic, if he thought of himself first and his country afterward. The sup position insults him. The Reckless Drivers [From the Kansas City Star.] Every Monday morning people won der as they pick up the paper how many persons were killed In motor car accidents Sunday. It has come to be expected that a day of general driving will produce a death list. And the rea son Is speed—speed with its frequent complication of booze. Accidents don't happen with the car under control. It is when the driver "hits it up" that he endangers not only his own car and passengers, but everybody he meets on the road. Conditions are reaching a point where as a matter of public safety It is going to become the duty of persons to report every case of reckless driving that they see. Certainly it is essen tial that reckless drivers who are ar rested should be punished. Every such driver Is a possible homicide. WHAT THE ROTARY CLUB LEARNED OF THE CITY [Questions submitted to members of the Harrisburg Rotary Club and their answers as presented at the organiza tion's annual "Municipal Quiz."] How many miles of paving has been constructed in the city? What mile age of each kind? \ 74.795 miles. Sheet asphalt, 70.659: vitrified brick. 2.955; as phalt block, 2.92; bituminous ma cadam. .149; wood block, .189; bi tuminous concrete. .551. (City En cinder's ranort. 1m , THE CARTOON OF THE DAY HE'S A GREEDY OLD SOUL ! >-•?■»>v>- « —From the Philadelphia Public Ledger. f THE ANTHRACITE COUNTRY By Frederic J. Haskin I J THE miners and operators seem to , have adjusted their differences, at the time this is written, and the work of the great anthracite mines is going forward as usual. The threatened strike has called attention for a moment to one of the most re- i markable sections of American indus trial life. For the mining of anthra cite coal is an all-American story, which had its beginning back in the days when the farmers of Schuylkill discovered that the black rock w-ould burn, and which has grown great with the nation. A hundred and forty years ago no one knew of the existence of anthra cite coal. But long before that time eastern Pennsylvania was compara tively populous and sturdy farmers tilled the lands in the valleys of the Schuylkill and the Wyoming. The farm lands were not of the best and there were many outpourings of a hard, black rock that interfered with their plowing. It was just before the Revolution that a hunter v was lost one night on a chilly mountain-side near the Schuyl kill. He built a fire beneath a stump and dozed off. When he awoke in the morning he found that the stump had burned away, but, to his surprise, the broken ledge of black rock just above it had been transformed into a glowing bed of coats. The rock, in fact, had caught fire and was burn ing. The hunter carried the story of the burning rock to Obadialw Core, a blacksmith of Wilkes-Barre. and Oba diah put some of the black rock of his pasture into his forge and it burned. It was half a generation later that Judge Jesse Fells, of Wilkes | Barre, used this black rock as fuel in the manufacture of nails. It was another half a generation before lo cal enthusiasts floated two barge loads of this rock coal down to Philadel phia and offered it ror sale. It was tried by several householders without success and finally broken up and used for graveling garden walks. It was less than a century ago that these pioneers in the anthracite ! region built a grate that made it pos sible to get sufficient draft beneath j this hard coal to make it burn. This | was the forerunner of all those hun dreds of thousands of furnaces that burn only anthracite coal. It was the thing that built an industry in which is invested a billion dollars, 1 which yields a hundred million a year, and which produces freights for rail- Living On $5 a Week [From the Ohio State Journal.] | Mr. Farquhar, vice-president of the i National Chamber of Commerce, has i been trying to see if he could live on $3 a week and he succeeded without difficulty. He said he could have kept It up forever. He kept well and hearty during the process. Out of that $'J he paid $3 for food and $2 for everything else. So there is very little trouble lor one to live in this country, so far as food is concerned. It Is the fancies, whims, fashions and delights on the outside that consume a person's earn ings. If everybody would stop their wasteful habits, live the simple life, and practice a sensible economy, ihe land would soon be filled with rich and healthy people. The secret of life according to Cleobulus, one pf the Seven Wise Men of Greece, is to "avoid excess." This would prove an effective remedy for all the ills of nation, state, city and home, and it would biing j happiness untold. The best citizen Is a man of thrift—that is the man whose economies are turned Into happiness and health. 1 OUR DAILY LAUGH NO PARADOX. The pretty girl— —ah, bless her Does not pretend \y to advertise, j [{Ji, Her modest gaze. I HMKT her aspect M j] j ' The public eye /V* / seem not to jgv WV AnT k yet_and I - M yGt! why 18 lt She never seems to lack a beaui AN OLD-FASH-1 ■ ■ 1 IONED MAN -> He: Tour fa- th e r aa 1 d he A -