16
IIARRISBURG TELEGRAPH
A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME
Founded IS3I
Published evenings except Sunday by
THK TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO.,
Telegraph Building;. Federal Square.
K. J. STACKPOLE, Pres't and Editor-in-Chief
F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager.
GUS M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor.
Member American
lishers' Aasocla-
Bureau of Circu
lation and Penn
sylvania Assoclat-
Eastern office.
Story, Brooks &
Finley, Fifth Ave
nue Building, New
ern office, Story,
Brooks & Finley,
People's Gas Bnlld-
Enterad at the Post Office In Harris
burg, Pa., as second class matter.
By carriers, ten cents a
week; by mall, $5.00 a
year in advance.
WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 14
fn spite of the stars of the wise and
the world's derision,
(Dare follow the star-blazed road, dare
follow the vision.
—EDWARD Mabkham.
BOY-ED
IF Captain Boy-Ed is in the United
States, as press reports indicate,
he is here on mischief bent. Boy-
Ed ought never to have been permit
ted to leave this country. He ought to
be right now in a hard-labor squad
of a Federal prison. He was guilty
of criminal plotting against the United
states government and he ought to
have been severely punished. He
proved himself a worthy agent of
the devil's whelp he represents and if
caught he should be summarily dis
posed of for what he is—a snake in
the path of a peaceful people. There
is Just one kind of treatment the
Boy-Eds of Germany can appreciate.
It is administered through the medium
of a noosed rope, a tall pole and a
ptrong pull.
And there are those who call this
epring!
THE I/AST OF THAW?
IS it too much to hope we have
heard the last of Harry Thaw?
It Is a compliment to the courts
of Pennsylvania that no lengthy pro
ceeding was necessary to prove the
insanity of this notorious young man.
The defendant was brought before the
court like any ordinary citizen simi
larly situated and no exceptions what
soever were made in his case. The
verdict is to be heartily commended.
Certainly Thaw is demented. If there
ever was a doubt his latest escapades
have dispelled it. And he is going
where he should have gone long ago—
to a Pennsylvania asylum for the In
sane. And may we hear no more of
him.
"Captain Boy-Ed resembles a prize
fighter," says an exchange. Wrong,
■prizefighters don't hit below the belt.
RIVERSIDE
THE Ilarrisburg Academy direc
tors want Riverside to be part
of Harrisburg. It was an error
of councilmanic Judgment which
turned down the Riverside applica
tion in the first place. By the very
nature of things, unless we are to be
the hidebound, self-sufficient com
munity that none of us care to see
Harrisburg become, the city must
reach out, as it has in the past, and
absorb one by one its thriving su
burbs.
Riverside eventually will come into
the city. That never can be accom
plished more cheaply than now. It
If to be hoped that council will re
consider its action at an early date
and extend a welcoming hand to this
beautiful new residential section.
Thaw liad the poor choice between
asylum and the penitentiary.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BELL
PASSING hurriedly over the statis
tics submitted by President
Theodore N. Vail, In his annual
report of Bell Telephone business and
conditions—for who can grasp what
tt means to be told that during the
year 9,789,700,000 calls were made on
Bell 'phones or that there was in use
to carry these messages a total of
19,850,315 miles of wire? —we como
upon some very interesting facts and
conclusions regarding the much-talked
of public ownership of telephone
eystems.
Naturally, Mr. Vail does not ap
prove of public ownership and he
makes a very convincing argument
against it. In this connection, he
says, promises are being made which
have again and again been proved
fallacious. There is no reason why
any individual or public official
•should be misled in respect to the tele
phone business, he asserts, for there
Is hardly a district in the United States
hi which there has not been an op
position company promoted on sub
stantially these same promises Rnd
statements. The experience of the
Northwestern Canadian provinces in
government ownership and operation
■hows that no single promise has beer,
kept or carried out, that there has
been less extension than with the
private company, that rates have beon
raised and rural service neglected. If
not ignored.
Another interesting feature of the
report has to do with the Bell's plan
for employes' pensions, dlsabllity
benefits and death benefits, in com
WEDNESDAY EVENING, R&BRIBBURG G&£& TELEGRAPH! MARCH 14, 1917.
plete and successful operation
throughout the Bell system for four
years. The Bell system was ono of
the leaders in understanding and
adequately providing for the needs of
workers in the exigencies of life for
which not all are able to provide. In
the four years 1913-1916 inclusive,
the expenditures from the benefit
funds of the Bell companies have
aggregated $5,611,016. At December
I 31, 1916, the reserves for these benefit
funds aggregated $9,151,000. At the
end of the year 284 former employes
were on the pension roll, a net in
crease of 27 during the year. The
average pension paid was $45 per
month. This in addition to sick and
death benefits paid.
What, one is prompted to ask, would
become of this pension-insurance plan,
which costs the employes nothing, in
the event of government ownership?
We fancy Turkey is about as peevish
about German promises as Rumania
is about entente pledges.
THE "BRANCH CAPITOL" JOKE
THAT old joke, the "branch capi
tol" project, has bobbed up
again, this time in the report of
a commission intelligent enough to
have known better than to take it
seriously. It is absurd to dream for
a moment that a Legislature as hard
pressed for necessary revenues as that
of 1917 would consider the appropria
tion of a half million dollars for a
flag-station capltol in Philadelphia at
a time when the main capltol in Har
risburg is crowded far past the over
flow point.
The branch capltol notion has Its
origin in the "pipe-dream" of a Phil
adelphia newspaper correspondent
bent upon an exclusive news story. He
manufactured the scheme out of the
whole cloth and was then under the
necessity of inducing somebody to put
in such a bill as he had described.
This was done, all in a spirit of horse
play, and—Philadelphia took it seri
ously.
There is no more excuse for a
branch capltol in Philadelphia than
there is for one in ' Pittsburgh, Erie,
Scranton or any of the other cities
where the ever-widening scope of
State government has made it neces
sary to open offices. The claim is
made that the higher courts of the
State have to maintain quarters in
Philadelphia, but in reply it may be
said that they also have elaborate
offices and chambers on Capltol Hill,
already built and furnished, that are
at their disposal the year around.
It has never been the experience of
the State that it is able to conduct
office buildings at anything like so low
a cost as private owners. The com
mission In Its report uses as one of its
arguments that the State is now pay
ing $56,000 office rentals In Philadel
phia. The building asked for would
cost at lease $500,000, exclusive of
furnishings, and the interest on this
amount, plus the expense of operation,
insurance, repairs and depreciation,
would run the yearly outlay up close
to the $56,000 It now costs for offices in
Philadelphia, in addition to tho $500,-
000 expended for the structure Itself.
There is neither rhyme nor reason
in the branch capltol proposal. Pitts
burgh and the country members may
be relied upon to put the plan to
sleep for at least-two years more.
Germany has just sunk a Belgian re
lief steamer. For the purpose of starv
ing England, we presume.
MILIiERSBURG BRIDGE BILL
THE Legislature would confer a
favor upon a vast number of
people and provide an outlet
for the products of a rich agricultural
community by passing Senator Beidle
man's bill for a bridge across the Sus
quehanna at Millersburg.
It is a tribute to the progres
siveness of the State government that
there should be no means of crossing
this broad stream between Clark's
Ferry and Sunbury, and that in both
places where bridges do exist toll is
charged for passage. The Susque
hanna lies as a bar to the free inter
course of tho people of Pennsylvania.
There is little or no opportunity to
get from shore to shore, and exorbi
tant fees are charged those who do
manage to use one or another of the
rackety old structures that masque
rade as bridges.
Senator Beidleman's bill is intro
duced at the request of the Millers
burg Automobile Club, but It has the
backing of all the people of Dauphin,
Perry, Schuylkill and Juniata coun
ties, and such a bridge as proposed
would benefit many more than even
that extensive and populous terri
tory.
SENATOR VARE'S ANTIDRUG BILL
SENATOR VARE'S "antidope"
bill is a worthy measure. It
provides drastic punishment for
any person—dealer or individual
having in his or her possession any
habit-forming drug. This bill, enact
ed into law, would supplement the
federal act directed at the Illicit use
of opium, cocaine and the like, which
is an imperfect statute requiring State
reinforcement.
The Vare bill would give the au
thorities power to send to prison the
"dope" users themselves, in this way
opening the way for enforced treat
ment of drug victims and discouraging
the beginner from the temptation of
trying the effects.
The bill Is in the Interest of good
government and the public welfare. It
ought to be passed
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C \ • SNOOZE
Henry Houck
Here was the ideal "Pennsylvania
Dutchman" —first an American, then
a Pennsylvanlan and finally a Dutch
man.
Henry Houck was a week more than
eight-one old when he died, but
he still talked "broken English."
However, there was nothing broken or
half-hearted about his loyalty.
Few men anywhere had served as a
public officer so long as he and few
deserved to. For fifty-eight years his
name was continuously on the pay
roll of his country or State and for
thirty-eight years he occupied one
State office.
But nobody ever accused Henry
Houck of merely holding an office—he
filled it. I doubt very much if any
other one man in any American State
made the indelible impress upon the
country schools that he did during his
generation as deputy State superinten
dent.
Say! Did you ever list to Henry—
somehow everybody seemed to know
Mr. Houck by his first name-—at a
school teachers' institute? Wasn't he
rare? Who else could picture as he
did the trials of the overworked and
underpaid school teachers In a lonely
countryside?
A third of the time his audience was,
laughing, a third it was crying and the
other third it was inwardly resolving
"by heck" to better the school condi
tions. And that third thing was what
Henry was after all the time.
Here was a crusader who carried
his eloquent message for school uplift
right to tens of thousands of parents
In rural places. He was essentially
and all together of the farm, and be
fore an audience of farm people I'd
back him against Henry Ward
Beecher.
Pennsylvania Germans have pro
duced a vast number of useful and
loyal men and women, peculiarly de
void of crankiness and isms, a credit
to German heritage and to American
citizenship. Henry Houck was a lead
er among these distinguished "Penn
sylvania Dutchmen."
Would that all German-Americans
dedicated themselves as he did to the
proposition of minding their own or
their country's business and not that
of a foreign land. —Glrard in the Pub
lic Ledger.
The Book of the People
Everything cornea into the news
paper's dragnet. It is the magic car
pet on which we can fly in an instant
over the world. It is the X-ray ma
chine by which we can peer into the
breast of our neighbors. It is the
Asmodeus which takes off the roofs of
houses for us. Near and far are one
to it; great and little Jostle In its
pages. The gossip of a million back
yards or front stoops comes to us; we
hear the dog fight around the corner.
Great crimes blaze like lightnings
searing the eye; the red beacons of
war burn steadily before us. Epics
of adventure, of Arctic or African ex
ploration make Action seem pale. And
fiction there is too, and infinite pic
torial representation, serious or
comic. Wit and humor abound and
the comment of knowledge. We get
menus for our meals and dress de
signs for our won\en folk. What an
arc of experience the newspaper sub
tends! No wonder it has become the
book of the people, and tends to
crowd all other books out of exist
ence.—Charles Leonard Moore, in The
Editor.
Tolstoy Barred
Columbia University authorities
have forbidden Count Illya Tolstoy,
son of the great Russian author and
mystic, the right to speak in ono of
the university's buildings. No expla
nation of the refusal was made by
President Nicholas Murray Butler or
others of the Columbia authorities.
"Russia will be greatly surprised
when it hears the news," Count Tol
stoy said. "I thought this the coun
try of liberty and free speech. Why
I delivered the same lecture that was
forbidden here in the largest audi
torium in Moscow. It was passed by
the police censors of Moscow. It seems
'to me that this is proof of the
charges that there is much of hypoc
risy in American life."
Count Tolstoy delivered his lecture
before Princeton students, attracting
favorable comment. He has spoken
also in Brooklyn and Boston.
The Majority
"The majority are bad," said one of
the wise men of Greece; but he was a
pagan. Much to the same effect, how
ever, is the famous sentence of the
New Testament: "Many are called,
few are chosen." This appears a hard
saying; frequent are the endeavors to
elude it, to attenuate its severity. But
turn it how you will, manipulate It as
you will, the few, as Cardinal New
man well says, can never i4ean the
many. Perhaps you will say'that the
majority is, sometimes, good; that its
impulses are good generally, and Its
action is good occasionally. Yes. but
It lacks principle, it lacks persistence;
if to-day its good impulses prevail,
they succumb tomorrow, but it is very
iiDt to eo wrong.—Matthew Arnold.
ft— ~j
fe-KKOifCccuua
By the El-Conimittcemen
Senator Clarence J. Buckman, Bucks
county, was last night endorsed fo.
president pro tem. of the State Senati
receiving the signatures of thirty-four
senators. This Insures ills election a
the close of the session. Senator
Buckman is a friend of Senator Pen
rose and of Joseph R. Grundy, but he
received the endorsement of Senator
E. H. Vare and the Vare following
from Philadelphia. He will succeed
Senator E. E. Beidleman, of this city,
who was chosen two years ago and
re-elected when the Senate organized
in January. The Bucks man is serv
ing his second term.
The paper for the endorsement of
Senator Buckman was passed about
by Senator William E. Crow, the
chairman of the Republican State
copimittee. The selection was com
mended by a number of senators when
they signed the paper. There are
thirty-nine Republican senators and
it is believed that all will vote for
him when the election takes place.
Senator Vare was' among the first
to sign the Buckman paper and he
did so because, as he said, "Buckman
has always treated us fairly and when
we heard he was a candidate we did
not place one of our own in the field."
—There Is considerable speculation
as to the chief clerkship of the Sen
ate when Harmon M. Kephart be
comes State Treasurer in May. Mr.
Kephart is going to serve until lie
takes his now qfflce. For the place
are heard the names 'among others of
Charles Johnson, former insurance
commissioner; Fred McDonald, jour
nal clerk of the House, who hails from
Chester; William R. Mason, register
of wills of Erie and a former journal
clerk 6f the Senate; ex-Congressman
S. Taylor North, of Punxsutaney; Wal
ter li. Galther, secretary, ex-Governor
John K. Tener and others.
The selection will not be made for
some time and there will be consider
able rivalry for the honor which pays
$5,000 a year.
—The unanimity of action on Buck
man for president pro tern, was a
distinct shock to the Demdfcrats and
the growlers and pessimists and was
taken to emphasize the arrangement
for harmonious action on Important
matters this session. Since the sena
tors returned from their recess there
have been plenty of signs that no
matter how they differ in regard to
the senior senator and the Governor
they are not going to let such matters
interfere with personal relations. S6me
rather odd groups, considering the
speeches and interviews during the
"probe" discussion days, have been
seen about the Senate chamber.
—The belief is that when Senator
Penrose returns to Philadelphia next
week that there will be some plain
talking about letting things drift along
the rest of the session. The senator is
said to desire some "probing" and
Auditor General-elect Snyder is also
inclined to be rampant, but others are
showing pacific traits.
—lf this condition lasts It would not
be surprising one of these days to see
things speed up suddenly and the ap
propriation bills start to come out
while the important legislation would
be put to the front and an adjournment
as far as enactment of bills, be taken
In May. But there might also be a
recess taken to review vetoes and to
act on appointments.
—The action of the joint revenue
committee late yesterday caused some
comment in the State. It decided not
to recommend any revenue measures
until the Economy and Efficiency
Commission furnishes the legislature
with tho budget information asked
weeks ago. The commission was ex
pected to meet last week and the
week before, but postponed action un
til to-morrow when it plans to ask
some heads of departments about need
for appropriations for two years. The
Increases are tremendous and some of
the senators are said to feel that the
State administration can cut down
departmental estimates materially and
not affect the increases asked for
roads, schools and forests, either.
—lt Is even possible that the joint
revenue committee or the appropri
ations committees might decide to do
some quizzing of department heads on
their own account if they consider that
thfe Economy Commission does not go
far enough. "The Economy Commis
sion has the best collection of facts
and figures about the State govern
ment ever gathered If It wants to use
them," remarked one observer list
night.
—Members of the Legislature
united last night in a spontaneous tri
bute to th late Representative Charles
J. Roneyy of Philadelphia, at a me
morial service in the House. It was
attendeiy by members of Mr. Honey's ]
(
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
Garden Plots at Wildwood
To the Editor of the Telegraph:
In traveling over different sections
of the county I find especially the
district lying on top of the ridge, al
most from the extreme lower end of
Wildwood Park to the breast of Wild
wood Lake, plots varying from 100 to
200 feet wide, running the full length
of this ridge, which could be most
profitably utilized by many persons
with the consent of the Park Commis
sioners. While not only compensating
the persons farming it they and their
families would enjoy many hours of
oudoor life, along the beautiful
woods and lake, which otherwise they
do not get. Family cares would be for
gotten and many wholesome hours
be spent In the open, studying nature
and imparting vigor and healthfulness
in the body, for which there Is no
tonic like the woods and pure air in
the open. As this ground Is not utilized
in any way by the Park Commission
ers, it could very readily be put Into
the proper condition for the purpose
Just mentioned. Respectifully yours,
J. B. LIGHTNER,
619 Peffer Street,
Harrisburg, Pa.
Good For Labor
To the Editor of the Telegraph:
I noticed in last night's issue of the
Telegraph two items that gave me
great pleasure—one was the attitude
of the American Federation of Labor 1
family and former colleagues from
Philadelphia and the speeches were
heard by a large audience. Mr. Flynn,!
the Democratic leader, presided, and
Mr. Cox offered resolutions. The
speakers Included Lieutenant-Gover
nor McClain, Speaker Baldwin, Rep
resentatives Beyer, McNichol, Palmer
and others, Senator Vare and ex-Rep
resentative M. B. Kitts.
E. B. Jermyn, of Scranton,
was among the many visitors here yes
terday.
—More former members were here
yesterday for various meetings than
known for a long time. There were
over twenty meetings and hearings
held and they attracted much Atten
tion throughout the State.
—The stringent Jury bill introduced
in the House yesterday by Represen
tative Nelson McVicar, of Allegheny
county, is the work of Civilian Aid
Archibald Mackrell, of the Pittsburgh
Department of Public Safety. It places
strong safeguards about the paneling
of Jurors and holds the sheriff, Jury
commissioners, county commissioners
and others who have had access to
the Jury lists responsible if the names
get out. The bill also keeps the Jury
lists from the attorneys in a case until
the case is called in court. A stiff fine
and a year's imprisonment is the pen
alty. Mr. Mackrell saw the necessity
for safeguarding trial by Jury because
of his experience in public affairs. He
is well known in Harrisburg. He was
a member of the sessions of 1893 and
1895 and later was here for months in
the thick of the Quay fights. He has
been a Republican - leader for years
and has always an advanced stand In
public matters. Mr. Mackrell also
has strong Ideas on the dope, or drug,
proposition, and will likely be heard
In Harrisburg on this question before
the session adjourns. It will be a
straightforward story of the havoc
wrought by ftablt-forming drugs and
as he says. Is not a recital for women
and boys to hear.
How to Run a Home
"We need a thorough business sys
tem for conducting our households,"
Miss Agnes Donham of the Garland
School of Homemaklng told a large
audience In a lecture at the Boston
Public Library.
A budget and a card index of all
household expenses were urged. "A
careful study of food and clothing
values should be made," she said.
"Rent and carfare should come to
30 per cent of the income, food to 25
per cent, and due value must be given
to play and to saving. A clothing bud
get conducted on a business basis will
save many dollars and will eliminate
buying unnecessary articles.
"Menus should be made out a week
In advance and all foods that are not
perishable should be bought In whole
sale quantities. The housekeeper
should balance her accounts every
three months and keep inventories of
every article in the home, Including
every book and trinket. A copy of this
should be kept In a safety deposit
vault." —From the Boston Globe.
One Merry Wight Left
An old timer complains that all the
fun has been taken out of politics. He
overlooks tho fact that George W.
Perkins is still there. —Buffalo Courier.
pledging its support to the government
in case of war. The other was the no
tice of the railroad brotherhoods that
they would not strike in case of a
declaration of war. This, as you said a
week ago, in strong and favorable
contrast, with the attitude of English
labor unions. Good for labor.
UNION MAN
The Jitney
To the Editor of the Telegraph:
I am a friend of the jitneys. I Re
lieve they have a perfect right on the
streets. I ride in them when the
weather is fit and enjoy the little
breath of fresh air I get that way.
But there is reason in all things. I
see letters in your paper frequently
putting all the blame for accidents on
the traction company, which no doubt
is some to blame. But I saw an inci
dent at Market and the Square Mon
day night that should have landed the
jitneyman in Jail. With a carload of
passengers he ran out to the left past
a standing street car and tried to cut
across in front of it just as it started.
He did not blow his horn or warn the
trolleyman. If it had not been for a
big policeman who at the risk of his
own neck rushed in and waved them
both to stop somebody would have
been hurt. Then the Jitneyman back
ed around behind the street car and
waited until it moved, as he should
have done in the first place. It is such
careless actions that make even the
friends of the jitney afraid to ride.
' J. B. DICE.
1 OUR DAILY LAUGH
| EASILY
PROVEN.
' When I show
Ashe's a de
signer,
Then you'll
all with ma
agree—
Now I'll show
she's a de
signer
For she has
designs on
me.
ALL TALK.
Mrs. De Gabb
—I was out
spoken In my
sentiments at 7/ Vj
the club today. C
Mr. Be Gabb
(with look of
astonishment) —
t can't believe It,
my dear. Who v „
outspoke you? N,
I THE OLD
/Sp-. STORY.
" J I De Wealth *U
| an unusual type
of millionaire.
JbUf 1 In what way?
He admits that
tlrM he started out In
km life with more
rIP Twi* than a ten " dol "
— Uk lar bm 1,1 hl "
TO-DATBJ. Jg^T
I suppose, f
Willie, you are, * j KJ|
glad that spank- I 7*J■
\ng has gone out yjinlsl
of fashion. I WTr
Huh! It al- jWB j[ I
ways takes my \ 1
folks a couple of —/ —| |h
years to catch r
up with the —
ftyle*.
4S&4§il JUST START
Y.' ? \T\JH 'EM OFF.
AjmyXy I Ton say yon
never gossip.
Ir ilJ&flSf il Never. When
/W vE ! '--1 f w 1
vfiffli'/llfll'nW to hear my
ivaß (lit/il I ne, * 1,boI dis-
M'/fr X/ It* )U' cussed I merely _
IKM\ ~ni~l ment ' on a name '
and " ,ten -
EbtttUtg (Elfal
Henry Houck was probably one of
the best-known men In Pennsylvania.
Expressions heard yesterday and to
day at the State Capitol and at' ho
tels, where there have been gathered
an unusual number of men from alk
parts of the State because of the leg
islative sessions showed how widely
he was known and esteemed and
there were many stories told about
the famous educator. For years Dr.
Houck has lectured all over the State
and his visits have been reception oc- •
caslons. He boasted of his friends ~
and it seems that they were number*-
less. The children whom he taught <
are grandfathers now and those wlio
have youngsters of their own will tell
of the days when "Uncle Henry"
came to town. There will be mourn
ing all over Pennsylvania when he is
buried on Friday.
* * •
In the thirty-eight yeare that
uncle Henry" was connected with
the Department of Public Instruction,
his duties took him into every section
of the State, and it is doubtful if any
Pennsylvanian had a greater ac
quaintance. This acquaintance stood
him in good stead in the three cam
paigns he went before the electors as
a candidate for Secretary of Internal
Affairs.
It was natural that he could not
remember the names of the thousands
he had met. but he did not forget
faces. He was so frank with his old
friends when he went about the State
as a candidate that he was able to do
something no other aspirant for of
fice would dare attempt. Day after
day, those who campaigned with him
woud hear him greet a school ac
quaintance in this manner:
"Howdy do, what's your name?"
When informed of the name of the
person he was shaking hands with,
"Uncle Henry" was almost invariably
capable of telling the friend where
and under what circumstances they
had originally met.
In his work on the stump, Mr.
Houck devoted himself largely to the
telling of stories that illustrated the
points he wanted to bring out in the
campaign. His well of humor never
was exhausted. Almost every night a
new story was put in circulation and
it was always a good one. He liked
to close the meetings and his audi
ences always departed in a good
humor.
• . •
Following the gubernatorial cam
paign of 1910 and before the inaugu-
I ration, John K. Tener gave a dinner
in Philadelphia to his associates on
the ticket, the orators and the news
paper correspondents who had toured
the State. The speakers of the even
ing were the reporters and Mr. Tener
introduced each one under the name
of a candidate or orator. The corres
pondent who was assigned to repre
sent Mr. Houck retold many of the
stories "Uncle Henry" had used on
the stump. The old campaigner ap
peared to get more enjoyment out of
the recital than any one else at the
dinner.
• • •
When Dr, Houck bought an auto
mobile last year there was consider
able excitement on the Lebanon Val
i ley trains. The venerable educator
! was a figure on the train that used to
i get into Harrisburg about 9 o'clock
in the morning and he always had to
hold a reception when he got on the
■ cars and he had a crowd around him
i from the time he left Lebanon. He
; was the life of the ride, as some one
put it, and the people who knew him
used to step up and introduce their
i children to him. When the automo
; bile arrived Dr. Houck did not rid%
: in the trains any more and there wa:f
: much speculation, it being the firm
. opinion of the folks that he had been
I taken ill. In fact, there were some
i inquiries made as to his health. But
j when the weather turned bad and he
i had to take to the train again there
5 were hearty greetings for him and
. the story telling rides were resumed.
1 ...
I Dr. Houck's birthdays were great
i occasions at the Capitol. He had one
> in 1907 right after he had been elect
ed and before he was sworn in as sec
retary of internal affairs. Everyone
from Governor Stuart to the clerks in
his office went to congratulate him
and there was not much business in
the Department of Public Instruction
that day. After he became secretary
of internal affairs the birthdays were
regular celebrations and Governor
Brumbaugh on the first occasion when
he was in Harrisburg called the tele
phone number of the secretary's pri
vate office and insisted upon talking
to "young Houck." The person who
got the message thought that the man
at the other end of the line wns in
clined. to be disrespectful and de
manded to know the name. "Tell
him," said the Governor, "that his
oldest living pupil wants to talk to
him." Dr. Houck was "on" in a
minute and promptly took the tele
phone with "Hello. Marty. Vas 1st?"
...
It was right after a Pardon Board
session that he made his famous re
tort to M. Hampton Todd, then Attor
ney General. Mr. Todd was a stick
ler for the law and had pronounced
opinions. He is a very able lawyer
and looked at cases from a strictly
official and profpssional viewpoint, al
though personally often Inclined lo
mercy. On this occasion Dr. Hottck
was discussing a case and urging his
view.
"Well, I have to give them the law."
said Mr. Todd with an air of finality.
"But." rejoined Dr. Houck, "I give
them the Gospel."
...
Adjutant General Stewart, an old
campaigner with Dr. Houck and a
warm personal friend of years' stand
ing, was often pitted against the Leb
anon man at dinners and they would
be presented In such a manner that
they had to reply to each other. Their
Interchanges were alwflys worth hear
ing because the two gladiators went
after each other in style. For twenty
three years without a break they
spoke at Masonic banquets in Harris
burg and their speeches were talked
about for weeks afterwards. One
time when the general had used up
the secretary in a post prandial battle
Dr. Houck rose and said slowly: "Well,
Tom, you're entitled to it. You swiped
my speech in that brotherly talk we
had coming over. I know now why
you were so nice to me. Next timo
you ride alone."
1 WELL KNOWN PEOPLE ~
—Dr. Edgar Fahs Smith, provost of
the University of Pennsylvania, comes
from York county and loves local his
tory.
—Dr. G. A. DilHnger, Pittsburgh
councilman, is seriously 111.
—Speaker R. J. Baldwin, Is an au
thority on Pennsylvania's Revolution
ary history.
—R. R. Rakestraw. of Franklin,
who was in the Rumanian oil fields,
is home after some exciting adven
tures.
—President E.E.Sparks.of State Col
lege, spoke at a Philadelphia business
men's banquet on collegiate prepared
ness.
—Gifford Pinchot, who'was here for
a meeting yesterday, is as much In
terested In forestry as ever.
Simple Rule For Success
The way to get ahead Is to edge
- ahead inch by inch and hold on to that
Inch until you can edge in another.
The man who is a dollar ahead of his
debts is an independent critter.—Tar*
.pou Springs Leader.