A I • O V Admits Success of Allied Cause Depends on Ability to Solve Tonnage Shortage HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH t Stat- 3nbcpcnbent * LXXXVI— No. 47 24 PAGES k NO ACTUAL FOOD OR FUEL SHORTAGE EXISTS IS CLAIM High Prices Should Not be Attributed to Present Freight Congestion, Interstate Commerce Commission and Railroad Authorities Say; Expect Improvement BRUMBAUGH TO BE ASKED TO NAME FOOD INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE Big Cities Take Steps to Meet Pressing Needs; Many Organ izations Formed in N. Y. For the Purpose oi More Orderly Agitation; Phila. Women Form Store Washington, Feb. 23.—N0 actual food or fuel shortage exists anywhere in tho country and high prices should not be attributed to the present freight congestion, it was stated by th.e Inter state Commerce Commission and rail road authorltief to-day. Keports in dicated that all localities are supplied with adequate slocks of living neces~ sities for immediate domestic con sumption and the tie up 011 railroads will improve steadily. Conditions to-day were believed far better than 24 hours ago, since good weather and a suspension of shipping over yesterday's holiday permitted railroads to rush hundreds of empty freight cars westward from the con gested yards of the east. These will bo reloaded largely with foodstuffs WILL ASK GOVERNOR TO NAME COMMITTEE TO PROBE PRICES Philadelphia, Feb. 23.—Tho ap pointment of a commission by Gover nor Brumbaugh to conduct a state wide investigation into the high cost of foodstuffs will be asked by Repre sentative Leopold C. Glass, this city. He declares he will offer a resolution providing for the appointment of the commission when the llouse meets on Monday night. "Something must bo done to relieve the poor from the exxorbitant prices of food," said tho legislator. "I be lieve the inquiry should extend all over the state, and my resolution will call for a state-wide inquiry. "I shall confer with members of the Legislature at Harrisburg, and proba bly they will have suggestions. I be lieve the commission should be com PREFERENCE GIVEN TO FOOD SUPPLIES Washington, Feb. 23. —To relieve o the freight congestion at Chicago, rules requiring boxcars to be kept i on their home lines have been relaxed and New York Central equipment is to be used with the preference given to food supplies. This was announced to-day at the Interstate Commerce Commission. The following announcement was issued by the commission: "A wire received this morning from P. E. Crowley, vice-president of the ] New York Central railroad, states that < within the 2 4 hours ending at mid night, the twenty-first, that that com pany had moved from Buffalo for the west, 360 empty boxcars and that yesterday they had moved 395. It further states that it proposes to use New York Central boxcars to relieve ! the situation at Chicago, giving pref- , erence to food supplies." The New York Central's action to ' relieve Chicago with its own boxcars j is interpreted as a virtual suspension, j due to the emergency at Chicago, of rules recently promulgated by the '' American Railways Association and !! now in effect which prohibit the use of ! the empty cars off their own lines and ' requires the railroads to dispatch for-j eign empty cars to home lines in train- i' load lots. Drastic orders looking to the relief j THE WEATHER! For IlnrrlshiirK fin% hut, aad ] may result la Nome ice move ment*, particularly in the t pper Went Ilranch. (older weather Saturday will probably prevent a general breaking up of the lee. A NtuKe of aliout (Ml feet IN Indi cated for IlarriMhurK Saturday moralai?. General Condition* Under the Influence of low prc**ure went of the Northern Kooky Mountain* rain and NIIOW Ifuve 1 continued over the Pacific *lope. A dlMturbnaee, central north of the Great Lake*, lia* eau*ed rain In the Middle Mi**i**ippi and l ower Ohio viilleyn and In Ten nc**ee and over the Southern I 1 ake HeKloa la the lant twenty- ,] four hour* with a neutral rl*e of j J 2 to HO degree* In temperature over nearly all the country ea*t , of the MIMHINMIPPI river, except Florida. Temperature: 8 a. m. ( 30 decree* 1 above r.eroJ Snn: Hl*e* 0:47 a. m. , Moon: Flrnt quarter, February 2S, 11:48 a. m. River Stage: 6.0 feet above low- 1 water mark. ! • Yeaterday's Weather : | Hlgheftt temperature, 4.'1. . liOweNt temperature, 24. Mean temperature, 34. Normal temperature, 31. I destined for consumption in the east or | for export, but both the Interstate I Commerce Commission and the Car ! Service Commission of the American j Railway Association are seeking to ' give preference in car allotments to | goods for domestic needs, rather than to export demands. . On February 10, 105,274 cars, load ed and empty, were involved in the | freight congestion, having increased ' by more than one-third in two weeks, I the commission's report showed. ! Chicago's lack of empty cars for j east bound shipments is no greater, proportionately, than in other- locall- I ties. According to the commission, j whose reports show that city has re ! ceived 200 cars daily and half of these 1 were used for export grain. i prised of three or five members, the men to be chosen to have expert I knowledge of market conditions." Storekeepers Close Shoos I Because of yesterday's disturbances down town and the declaration of the boycott, the majority of the shopkeep i ers in the neighborhoods affected fail ! j ed to purchase heavy stocks of food to-day. A few stores were closed. Their proprietors said they did not intend 1 j to reopen until the agitation subsided. Mrs. Paulino Goldberg, who is head 1 of a committee of Jewish housewives I which arranged the boycott, declared 1 | that to-night the committee would send a telegram to Mayor Smith, who s is in the South on a vacation, asking • him to arbitrate the differences be ■ | tween the consumers and the mer • | chants. of (xmgttion which were issued by the Interstate Commerco Commission | recently, prescribing virtually the canio rules undor heavy penalty were to havo gone into effect February 22, simultaneously with the association's rules but their operation was post poned until March 15. Other reports to the commission and to the car service commission of the association indicated to-day that the work of relief at other congested points, notably Cleveland, Detroit pnd Cincinnati was proceeding satisfactory ily. Weather conditions favored the work reports said and not only were many empty cars being sent west but the congestion of loaded cars' also was being slowly reduced. Phila. Housewives Form Co-operative Store to Lower High Living Cost Philadelphia, Feb. 23.—Housewives t of this city, tiring, they say, of pro j tests against soaring food prices and ineffectual remonstrances with dealers, to-day announced they had determined on a method of lowering prices, a co operative store being the medium se lected. The individual pinching felt through high prices has broadened into a community sensing of the prob lem, public attention being sharply iocussed on the food situation by the sporadic disturbances in the south eastern and northeastern parts of the city. These areas house a huge, tene ment population, of foreign birth for the most part. Club women and housewives have joined forces to eliminate the profits of middlemen. The Keystone Co-op erative Company has been formed and is to open a store in the heart of the city where the general public may buy food at wholesale prices, plus the bare running expenses and a small percentage to the stockholders. Housewives of Kensington, an in dustrial section of the city, have al lied themselves with the movement and yesterday, through Mrs. Hugh Munro, a settlement worker, sent a message to Mayor Smith, who is on a vacation in Florida, appealing for his aid in the tight for lower prices. Show Grain Deliveries Regulated to Meet Export New York. Feb. 23.—The American Railway Association to-day sent to Washington statistics prepared to prove that the deliveries of grain at New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore since the beginning of the Gersman submarine blockade have been regulated to meet the reduced ex port facilities at those ports. These figures show that from February 1 to February 14 only *8,000,000 bushels were delivered to vessels at the four ports, compared with a delivery of 29,- 000,000 bushels throughout January and 58,000,000 throughout December. The association maintains that the railroads have succeeded In regulat ing the movements of all export freight to the seaboard so that accumulation has decreased somewhat notwithstand ing the decrease in export^. HARRISBURG, PA., FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 23, 1917. UNSPEAKABLE HOUSING ADDS TO BURDEN OF CITTS POOR BL V "~ 1 "JI JH 3B Wm MKY * \ "*. M IPFTI M 8 ' TO J ' ■ 9 ,MBI ■ X W„ W"FR'™ IH :;SH^H JM^BJ^^^^BB^B^RAI'ITII' JBBB : J(FR BOYCOTT PUTS BIG CRIMP IN POTATO DEMAND Prices Have Already Fallen, but Housewives Arc Sticking to Substitutes Brokers who handle a large part of ] the potatoes used in Ilarrisburg to-day I reported that the demand has fallen oIT wonderfully during the week. The exorbitant prices demanded for the t ers and the boycott rigorously fol lowed by thousands of Harrisburg housewives is believed to be responsi ble. One broker was commissioned to sell twenty carloads at s;>. Local dealers re fused to buy because of the small de mand. Twenty-five -cents a bushel was lopped off the price, but the consign ment was still unsaleable at $2.75. A carload of potatoes is understood to be waiting for shipment at Hanover. The owner is demanding $3 a bushel for the lot, f. o. b. Hanover. No sale had been made up to noon to-day. Boycott Only Weapon It was the concensus of opinion to day amonlf produce Jobbers and coin mission men that the price will not come down much lower until the south recovers from the effects of recent freezings and is able to send Its produce north. There was hope, however, in the Increasingly large circles of boycott ad vocates that the use of substitutes on Harrisburg menus would keep the price from advancing. Wholesale grocers to-day satd that the sugar situation has cleared won derfully within the last several days despite the strike in Philadelphia re fineries. It was said that .possibly 50 per cent, more sugar is being han dled now than is usual for this tli.ie of year. Xo Fooil Famine Likely Kven with this Increased amount of sugar on the market the demand Is etiil heavy, due, it was said, to the panic on the part of consumers who fear a pos sible famine. Housewives who gen erally purchase a pound or two at a time have been buying all their purses can afford and storing it away in their Clipboards. While the freight embargoes placed on shipments from the west by the railways has caused local wholesalers much annoyance, there is no danger of a food famine, it was 3ald. Whole salers this morning reported that car load shipments have been reported by the railroads as "on the road" since December, but that the stock supplies on hand are sufficient to take care of the city's needs. CAUCUS ON REVENUE BILIi By Associated Press ■Washington, Feb. 23.—A caucus of Senate Republicans was called to-day to consider t&e emergency revenue bill, •now before the Senate and also to frame a general executive program ad vocated by the Democratic leaders for enactment before the session of Con gress ends. Efforts of the Republi cans recently to reach an agreement with the Democrats on the subject fail ed. Debate on the revenue bill con tinued in the Senate to-day. Several amendments were pending. DEPUTY AUDITOR GENERAL WILLOCK AND POWELL PART Resignation Announced Effec tive Today; Shake-up Follow ing Numerous Differences The lons expected explosion in the Auditor General's Department occur red to-day. Auditor General A. W. PowelV at noon announced that he had accepted the resignation of Deputy Auditor General Charles Edward Wil lock, of Pittsburgh,' to take effect Feb ruary 23. Mr. Willock said Tuesday that he expected to resign very soon. The Auditor General also announced that he had accepted the ret ~nation of Miss Lillian Mae Fisher, a clerk, of this city, to take effect February 28. Promotions in the staff were also an nounced. For some time there have been re ports of friction between the Auditor General and his deputy, and once Powell announced that he had ac cepted the resignation of W'illock. That announcement, however, was withdrawn. Mr. Willock came hero with Mr. Powell. He was formerly connected with a trust company in Pittsburgh, and has business enterprises in that (Continued 011 l'ac 18) Willard J. Loeser Dies of Heart Disease Willard J. Loeser, 2120 Green street, died suddenly shortly after noon to day from heart disease. He was the son of W. L. Loeser, yin attorney, and was 26 years old. Hecause of Mr. Locser's sudden death a call for a pulmotor was sent to the police station, but its use was unavailing. Mr. Loeser was a grad uate of Central High School and a prominent member of the school ath letic teams. He was a musician and played in many orchestra and bands in the city and vicinity. DARED TO ENLIST, ' SHOPMAN GOES AND DOES IT Refusing to take a dare, Henry Ar thur Collins yesterday quit a $3 day job at Knola and left for Washington, D. C., to Join the United States Army. He will get sls a month as a private. Collins was employed as a car repair man at the Knola shops. War talk was on yesterday at the shops. One employe told Collins he was afraid to< enlist. "Do you mean that as a dare?" snapped Collins. "Of course 1 do," was the answer. Without any further ado Collins Children Being Raised in Hovels That Make Normal Development Impossible; White Plague and Other Fearsome Diseases Get in Their Dread Work for Lack of Stringent Code Housing conditions that are almost unbelievable if one doesn't actually go to see them add greatly to the burden of the poor of Harris burg. Persons who want to find out for themselves what is back of the recent agitation for a housing code and the attempts to get Council to act, readily can find points where poverty is syno nomous with horror and disease. And all this within a few minutes' walk of the central points of the city. Agitators for better housing, for a city code that would wipe out condi tions such as exist here, are em phatic in denouncing city ordinances [Continued on Page 8] PLAN DETAILS OF RECEPTION FOR EIGHTH REGIMENT C. of C., Businessmen and Committee Select Chief Marshal For Parade Details for the reception and parade for the Harrisburg companies of the Eighth regiment were nearing com pletion late this afternoon. The pub i llcity and convention committees of I the Harrisburg Chamber of Commerce ; met with representatives of local or ; ganizations at Board of Trade hall, at j 4 o'clock. A chief marshal was se lected, and formation of parade agreed upon. I This was the only joint meeting prior to the arrival of the troops. It will now be a watchful waiting game. | The next move will be the assembling of the parade after the two-hour sig nal has been received from Altoona, land whistles will blow and bells will i ring. Represented at to-day's meetings were the Business Men's division, which will be in charge of Charles E. Covert; the First City Zouaves and City Grays' Veteran Association; Span ish American War Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, local posts of the G. A. 11.. Sons of Veterans, Post Oflfce Athletic Association, ex-members As sociation of the Governor's Troop, members from local (ire companies, Warrior Eagle tribe of Hed Men, No. 34 0, and Master Mechanic's Depart ment of the Pennsylvania ltailroad. In addition to Chairman Henderson Gilbert the Harrisburg Chamber of Commerce representatives included: A. E. Buchanan, Dean M. Hoffman, John L. L. Kuhn, C. Floyd Hopkins, E. Fred Howe, C. M. Kultwasser, E. J. Stackpole, Jr., and A. A. Wert. Guardsmen to Dine Committees in charge of arrange ments for the banquet and entertain ment for members of Companies D and I, at the Armory March 5. are quite active. Last night the committee on refreshments met at the home of Mrs C. W. Gerdes, 1608 North Third street! and outlined plans for the feast. Other committees will m&et next week. The Ex-Members' Association of the Governor's Troop will take part in the parade on the arrival home of the Harrisburg companies of the Eighth Kegiment, and the members will meet at the armory two hours after the sig nal is given on the lire bells that th 3 train has left Altoona. took off his overalls, shouted a "good bye boys," and went to the office of assistant foreman D. W. Shuey and got his time. Returning to the ahaps and as his farewell, he said: "Watch the papers and some day you may read. "Henry Arthur Collins Shot in Battle,' and then you will say 'the old sport was game and died a hero," he told 'the boys.' He took an afternoon train for Washington, D. C., after telling Foreman Shuey that he would write him when he was mustered Into service, Single Copy, 2 Cents HOME EDITION ENGLAND TO LOP MILLIONS OF TONS OFF HER Premier Tells House of Commons of Shortage of Food and German Submarine Menace; To Force Land Owners to Cultivate Soil; Pay of Workers Increased FARMERS GUARANTEED GOOD PRICES FOR COMMODITIES OVER LONG PERIOD By Catting Off Luxuries Lloyd George Expects to Save Million Tons of Space; Paper, Ore and Lumber Are Among Other Articles Greatly Curtailed London, l'cb. 23. David Lloyd George, tlie British prime minister to-day presented to tlie 1 louse of Commons in . a speech lasting an hour and a half his program for coping with the problem ot shortage of shipping space. Ihe speech was a serious and grave effort, the premier giving his audience little opportunity for ap plause and endeavoring to concentrate attention on the serious situation with which the nation is faced owing to the shortage of foodstuffs and the German submarine menace. The premier's program for dealing with the situation was un der two heads, the first to increase home food production and the second the curtailment of nonvictual imports. Under the first head Mrt Lloyd; George outlined a scheme for speeding up the farmer by guaranteeing him 1 good prices lor his commodities over' a period of years, thus inviting him to 1 plow and sow every inch of available land. This he supplemented by t!ie announcement that the land owner! would be actually forced to c ultivate his land. Million Tons of Komi Less Ihe speeding up of the leisurelv ) British farm laborer—who for a score of years has been regarded the poorest ! paid laborer in England, w'as provided I tor by the premier by guaranteeing him a minimum wage of 25 shillings' AMERICAN MISSIONARY KILLED WHkN U BOAT SINKS LINER WASHINGTON, FEB. 23. ROBERT ALLEN HADEN,. AN AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MIS SIONARY STATIONED AT KOO CHOW, CHINA, PERISHED WHEN THE FRENCH LINER ATHOS WAS DESTROYED^ BY A SUBMARINE, 210 MILES EAST OF MALTA,'FEBRUARY 1/ CONSUL KEBLINGER AT MALTA CABLED THE STATE DEPARTMENT A REPORT OK HA DEN'S DEATH TO-DAY AND SAID THAT THE MISSIONARY'S ADDRESS WAS GIVEN IN CARE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN MISSION BOARD AT NAHVILLE, TENN, Washington, Feb. 23. —Senator Lewis, of Illinois, to day •utrcduced .as an amendment to th< revenue bill pro vision, to authorize the President to seize foodstuffs, de< mcd to b' monopolized in violation of law Foodstufi: so seized we. Id be dispose'] ci at public sale und-1 .' -eminent supervision. RALPH TROUP SERIOUSLY ILL Harrisburg. Ralph Troup, of the firm of William F. Troup & Son, piano dealers, 908 North-Third stteet, is seriously ill with pneumonia at hit. home, 81b North Sixth ?tre<-f, it was learned to-dav Hopes arc enteri nncd for t ' his recovery by the attending physician. ARSENAL INSPECTION IS ORDERED Harrisburg. - The United States government has ordered an inspection of the State arsenal at this and has detailed Major S M Rutherford, of this city, a regular army officer home on furlough, to do the work With Na- ! tional Guard officers he went to the arsenal this afternoon. This is one of the government's "preparedness" measures. , • / , Jj MARRIAGE Philip Arm, Jr., Lower Pax ton tommhlp, ami Ellu I.villa Uood. l.lnKlratawii. Wultcr Nye nnd Mite 11. Conrad. Mlddlctown. per week instead of the present 14 to 18 shillings. Under the head of curtailment of imports Mr. Lloyd George said he ex pected to reduce the demands OTS cargo space by several millions tons. Foo