6 FRENCH HERO BEGAN SERVICE AT 12 YEARS Boy Who Purloined Powder From Prussians Won Many Later Successes Paris, Dec. 7.—General Maistre, who commanded the French army that conquered the last remaining positions of the famous Chemin des Dames and thus earned promotion to the rank of Grand Officer in the Order of the of Honor, began to serve his country when he wan twelve years old by purloining po-w --der from the Prussian soldiers who' Buy Christmas Furniture Early and Buy it at Burns' Gift Buying Is In Fall Swing At This Service Store Nothing can give the practical, long-lasting ser vice and pleasure of good Furniture. And at the same time the l\ome is made beautiful. Give a Rocker VHK THIS FIBRE ROCKER, spring seat, , holstered back, tapestry $1A.95 iOKSBm covers, russet brown fin- I SUBSTANTIAL FIBRE ROCKER is seat and back covered $0.95 ||,illf m ijy f with tapestry; wide Q ——TO Y S —- SoldWithoutProfit in Appreciation Extra Special Offer I *" passenger cars, com-/ r L* 1* 0 L I I plete round fiQr Combination bet If ,rack EXPRESS WAGON DOLL AND GO-CART. ij 24 ' Kes ion* The go-cart has wire $1.25 wheels. The doll is large drum!'"met* side, size and good quality. Reg- Rood heads, 9 inches in ular value $1.50. Only etc™." 59c 100 sets to sell at this | TOY PIANOS, in price. Buy your set at Lfwi'i'' -jM* ™, hosany finlß £ once. None charged for #1.05 or delivered. The set A TlnnY BEARS, a full r fiw* As e °* various sizes, complete for I tUff/ 70 c t0 95 c \J DOIJv CART, finished ■ 1 tr y\J French gray, roll hood m \/\ M and body, rubber- tir t/ v_7 vv Pd en wheels <50.0U Carload Cedar Chests Bought at Savings and G CW/ stock, substantial chest, thor^ "MW ouglily well made, 34 inches long. $19.50 sin.oo Cedar Chests 10 15/ . * C ?l°, nlc i design, columns and scroll Colonial design with two copper bands, feet, 40 inches long. Of extra heavy stock and Extra width and 45 Inches long. A most re well made. A real Christmas special. markable value for gift seekers. Burns & Co., Largest Furniture Store in This Section of the State FRIDAY "RVF\ TTXTmiSBTJRG (MM TEEEGRXFH DITCKIVTP.TrR" 7. "T^TT/. were quartered In the house of his parents in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The boy who was after ward to lead the French army in one of the hardest fought battles of the great war, laid away the stolen pow der for gunning expeditions in the forests near his home. Thera was some of this borrowed ammunition left when tho present war began. Sixth of his class on entering the military school of Saint Cyr, Maistre was first when the class graduated. He was third in his class at the War School. Lieutenant Maisere's career began with a mission to Gratz, Austria, where he became initiated into the practices of the Kriegsplel which he helped introduce at home. Captain in 1887 and Major in 1898, he was named professor of general tactics at the War School. As Lieutenant Colonel, Maistre commanded the 79th Infantry, one of tho celebrated regiments of Nancy, and as colonel was transferred to the 106 th Infantry, called the "regiment of steel," forming part of the "Iron division" that has distinguished It self on nearly all the most famlliaf battlefields of the war. Brigadier General in 1912, Maistre was appointed a member of the "committee of the general staff" and at the beginning of August, 1914, was chief of staff to General Langlo de Cary who commanded the Fifth French army In the Battle of the Frontiers, the Battlo of the Marne and at the beginning of the Battlo of Verdun. Maistre became a General of Di vision just before the Battle of the >larne and was placed in command of the 21st Corps. Ho won tile era vnte of Commander of the Legion of Honor in that battle at the head of the 21st Corps, afterward leading it in the Battle of Notre Dame do Lor ette, after which ho relieved the 20tl> corps at Verdun. In the changes of command con sequent upon the reorganization of the general staff, after the partial offensive on the Chemin des Dames in April, 1917, Maistre was placed in due a large part of the credit for command of an ar?n>. ..o him it" forcing the Germans to abandon the formidable positions they had or ganized on that ridge which com manded the region of the Aisne be tween Soissons and Craonne. REA MARES PLEA FOR EQUITABLE R.R.REVENUES Head of Pennsylvania System Asks Adequate Support For Operation New York, Dec. J. —A plea that President Wilson and Congress "should, without delay, order th&t an j equitable basis for railroad revenues I be Instituted at once" was voiced by Samuel Rea, President of the Penn | sylvania Railroad Company, in a message read today before the An nual Convention of the Association of Life Insurance Presidents, in ses sion here. "Let us have an end of restrictive, cramping, pyinitive regulation and begin an era of constructive, broad ening work," wrote Mr. Rea. "Let us consider how much the railroads can wisely spend, rather than how little they can get along on." Owing to his duties with the Rail roads' War Board, President Rea was unable to deliver his message in person. Instead, he wrote in part: "Let me fay, most emphatically, that neither American agriculture nor industry can possibly progress beyond the capacity of the transpor tation facilities of the nation to handle their raw materials and their j products. When you stop railroad expansion, in a country of such dis tances, population, industrial and agricultural activities as ours, you automatically set a dead limit to the expansion of commerce and produc tion. Rates Too Low "As one of the chief of the under lying causes which have been sap ping our resources of transportation, I would name the continued failure to provide an adequately remunera- I tive basis of rates. The direct effect of this error has been to make it difficult to raise and sustain suffi cient capital for ihe improvements and extensions which are sorely needed. In the mania for restric ting the charges for transportation, the financial possibility of perma-1 nently maintaining quality of service seems to have been overlooked. Aside | from military considerations, we, in I the railroad industry, know from j personal observation that what the! public and industries need is service, j rather than the saving of a fraction I of a mile per ton mile. We know that there are many shippers in this ; country today who would gladly pay | more than tti eestablishea rates to have their commodities moved promptly and regularly. The oper ating results and the net returns of the railroads for many years show there has been a constant rise in expenses and taxes, and a decreasing return on the investment in road and equipment. "I do not want to convey the im pression that the railroad situation is hopeless or that the credit of the roads is entirely crippled. Such is not the case. Their credit can be sustained and their usefulness in-1 creased through the adoption by the I regulating authorities of a responsi-I ble and unified policy of fair treat ment in the matter of freight rates. The Government is allowing reason able prices and profits to industry; why not to the railroads? "Such a policy, and not the loan of Government credit, would, under normal conditions, be a permanent I solution for the problem of railroad credit. I do not wish to be under stood as saying th*t a Government! loa'n might not be a desirable expe- | dient, if, under war conditions, the entire capital market is to be ab sorbed by the Government. But it should be regarded as an expedient only, justiiiable, if at all, as an em ergency measure. . War Responsible "The war is, to a great extent, re sponsible for the present congestion of traffic and its movement out of normal channels, but the carriers would now be far better able to cope with this condition if they had re ceived more liberal treatment in the matter of rates during the past, at a time when they could have mar. keted securities and financed im provements while labor and mate rials were reasonable in cost, and the supply of both adequate. Tho end railroads is the beginnine of decay of expansion and improvements on and the letting down of the stand ards of service. The lack of a sym pathetic attitude toward the rail roads in Governmental quarters hus! unquestionably led to apprehension as to the future of their securities, and this, 1 personally believe, it not corrected, will ultimately effect the credit of the government Itself. ' "Notwithstanding prevailing high prices a:id tho difficulty of getting I capital, it is imperative that prompt i measures be taken to give the rail- I roads relief from the present-over crowding of facilities, and a poor in vestment return. Nothing could be more helpful to the country in these trying times than the adoption of a broader, a more liberal and unfiled policy of regulation. The railroads are the great reliance of the pumic and the country. The public owns I them. Public ownership is not al possibility, it is a fact. "The energies of our country and I its railroads are being devoted pri marily to an international service and danger threatening the life of the Nation and the world. The day for a small policy and slow action has passed. The railroads have sub ordinated their interests and activi ties; the citizens and our courts are ready for a larger and more equit able policy, and the President and Congress should without delay rec ognize that fact and order that an equitable basis of railroad revenues be instituted at once, which will en courage investors to retain their rail road "securities and do their share in providing the capital which can bo spared as the Government de mands are met from time to time. We must get away from the present line of confiscatory return tor an equitable return on the investment devoted to public use. The statistics are at hand to emphasize what the return must be; all that is required is the requisite courage to enact the policy in regulation and legislation." DON'T BUY A useless gift for Christmas, but de cide on a gift that will be a pleasure to your family for years to come—A Piano or Player Piano for instance. \ We have an immense stock of the Highest Grade from which to select and Prices arc low now. If you de sire credit, we will gladly accommo date you with easy terms— Yohn Bros.. 8 N. Market Sq. I Adv. A Little Story / About Wm. Strouse's Store Written by a person not connected with the business While this is being written, Wood ought to sell a raft "Are they nice?" I asked. Mr. Strouse is out of the of those coats. "Are they?" he returned, city. very much surprised at my Then Mr. Day gave me a lack of information on the He didn't ask permission tips on his depart- subject, to leave town, but I know men s. he goes away often to buy r , . . f .. Look 'em over—s7.so to more goods Enthusiasts fellow, that $15.00 and they're selling 6 man Day. He d take up a fast." whole newspaper if you'd And he didn't leave any in- buy the space for him. -ri i • i ... structions what to adver- '" e boys ought to stick to tise. c II IT Rockman, he's got some bays there sno haberdash- mighty nice clothes for ery department in town to . b O y S- But he'd be disappointed if come up to the "scratch" his ad weren't in the papers, like his. .. „ because he's got so many Mr ' Fernsler was out of things to tell you about the Well, he's "plumb near" Store. risht too I inquired where he had You'd be disappointed, too. Showed me a few things. oone ' wfth 16 if you didn't see his little He's got some neckties &e,t bly more hati talks. there at 50c that d make your mouth water. And -•'More hats?" So I just "nosed" around hf s & ot t , em U P to $2 / here and there in the store eauts - Xhink of it j and asked the men a few questions. Says he's going to sell'em . V/I . . . , . all before Christmas. stocks looked like . you couldn t squeeze an- Pretty nice fellows those other hat into them. Wm. Strouse Salesmen. Hope he does. , Can tdo enough for you. g ut t j lQSe Wm. Strouse Sweaters! Scores of em; hats do sell. They do sell. They get good training. bl g snug-htting ones Anc j they've got to have Seems to me they don't and reasonable very > em to se H ' erru go Ferns care as much about mak- 1 easonable. j er wen {- to buy more, ing a sale as they do about making a fn'end for the And shirts by the carload! When he gets back, he'll no store " — all cho,ce Patterns. JSubt want a big write-up about his hats. Well, they told me a lot o' Wouldn't mind having a things about their depart- few for Christmas myself. A nc J M r Strouse will la ments-nice things. And Monito Hose. He's him have it. • strong for Monito Hose. Guess they had an idea 1 bu/g" Mojito" So . y °" ? ee !t was was pretty inquisitive, but • ® .? . , . ant little trip through then, maybe they didn't, Wm. a^d either. • worth taking. . Yes, Day's got a fine line c .. i Courteous to everybody so of haberdashery and you Some time when you want they treated me like they ht to ]ook it over some good clothes and do the rest of the public and want your money to go a made me feel at home. .. . long way just step into 1 hen 1 had a little chat with Wm. Strouse's Store and u . , , r Mr. Rockman. get acquainted. • Here s what I got from Mr. Wood. (You know Wood. He's the popular friend of , , He had a little talk of his • the boys. ■ t s a mighty cheerful own in the papers,* last A 1 ... ... f tore ' yo V ,5 4 £ e Friday.) Always smiling and doing boys, and you 11 like the something for the boys. goods. Told me he had Overcoats wide-a-wake chap, You'll be impressed with that were so good at S2O it is Rockman. His depart- t h e sense of fairness was really a shame to sell ment shows it and the boys throughout the whole 'em at that price. Yes! know it. place. Said they would cost him more, by a whole lot, to re- hobby, just now, is . . . . place them in stock. boys' trench overcoats and , or . e 1 you sa ' e *° mackinaws. ea * Wlt "- * • ' But, said he, Mr. "Don't forget the boys' And, just now. it's verv otrouse insists on giving Trench Overcoats," said Christmassy. Lots of gifts em the top notch value." he, "this is the time for for a man from that man's (tmphasis on top notch). ' 'em." store. % 4 ( V ' The New Store of Wm. Strouse—3lo Market Street
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers