6 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A'NEWSPAPER POR THE HOME Poundti IS3I Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO., Telegraph Building, Federal Square. TS.3. STACK POLE, Prtst tr Editor-in-Chirf F. K. OYSTER, Business Manager. QUS M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor. Member of the Associated Press —The Associated Press Is exclusively en titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. t Member American Newspaper Pub —tHl lishers' Assocla- EjSijL tion, the Audit Bureau of Clrcu 5GS*m lation andPenn- M sylvanla Assocl- M ated Dailies. ml Eastern office, MM BP Story, Brooks & mm Finley, Fifth - 5*7 Avenue Building, flSg JSft New York City; E£££uS|£: Western office, 3*1836 Story, Brooks & i GF F" nicy, " - _ Chicago, 111. Entered at the Post Office In Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. L-J'ffWy-y; By carriers, ten cents a 'week; by mail. 15.00 a year in advance, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1917 There are nettles everywhere, But smooth green grasses are more common still: The blue of heaven is larger than the cloud. —E. B. BROWNING. CHRISTMAS A \r> she lironght forth lier flrst- son, and wrapped lilm In swaddling clothes, nnd Inld him In a manger; because there was no room for thrm in the Inn. And there were In the name country shepherds abiding In <hc field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Anil, 10, the angel of the I.ord came upon tliem. and the glory of the I.ord shone round nhout them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Pear 1 not: for, hehold, I bring you good till ing* of great Joy, ithli'li shall lie to all I people. For unlo you Ik liorn thin day. in the elly of Oavld. a Saviour, wliicli I* t'hrlst the I.ord. And this shall he a sign unto you: Ye Mhall find the babe wrapped In swaddling clothe*, lying In a manger. Aad suddenly there wa with the nncel a multitude of tke heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God In the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them Into heaven, the shepherds said one to an other, I,et us now go even unto llelh lehem, anil see this thing which Is come to pass, which the I.ord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary aad Joseph, nnd the babe lying In a manger. And when they had seen It, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard It wondered at those thlnga whleh were told them hy the shepherds. nut Mary kept all these things, nnd pondered them In her heart. And the shepherds returned, glori fying nnd praising God for nil the tbinKS that they bad heard and seen, as It wns told unto them I.uke 2 7i20. "MERRY CHRISTMAS !" MERRY Christmas! Merry Christmas!" The words are on a thou-! sand tongues this moment and they | will be repeated and repeated again and again wherever folks meet to pass the greetings *>f the season this Christmas Evo and to-morrow. Perhaps, If you have loved ones absent or if you feel, as most of us do, the unseen but ever-present burden of the war, the words may have a hollow sound. But if you give the matter a lit tle thought you will see it In a dif > ferent light. For the thoughtful man there is always a tinge of sad ness amid the jollity of th.i Christ mas season. The tragic figure on the cross casts its shadow across the ages, and Christmas would be a sor rowful day. Indeed, were It not for the joyous Easter season to follow. And so It will be to-morrow. We are living under a passing cloud. There are dark days ahead for most of us. But there Is also the promise of a glorious Easter season for the world, when the war shall end In the great triumph of democracy and Christianity that is just ahead; for democracy is a doctrine of Christian ity, and either* Is apt to be a mock ery without the other. Neither is the war a sign that Christianity has failed as a clvlllz- MONDAY EVENING, HARRIBBURG lgs*fcGSJ TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 24, 1917. Ing force In the world. Rather, It Is that one nation has failed In Its Christianity, and a militant, righte ously angry Christian world has arisen to smite It, even as God smote the wicked nations In the £lder days. That we must kill and bo killed in the doing of this takos away nothing from the loftiness of our self-appointed task nor from the recitude of our purpose. The gentle Nazarlne himself died a bloody death midst a throng of Roman sol diery. Nor is the case of Germany hopeless. None are beyond the for giveness of the loving Founder of Christmas. The thief on the cross repented In time. We do not hate the German people. Wo shall re joice when they see the error of their way, as many are doing even now. We shall fight them, not for our own aggrandizement nor for re venge, but to teach them that the world must be governed by the pre cept of the Golden Rule. The spirit of Christmas pervades the wltole country. It has gone into the training camps and the trenches. Read Sergeant Empey's account of Christmas along the French front, elsewhero in the Telegraph to-day, and be convinced of that. And who are we that we should be downheart ed when men make merry even in the very shadow of death! Whoj are we that we should be dlsspirited at the moment when the great Foun der of Christmas is making himself felt in the hearts and the minds of men as never before! Let us rather make a truce with| trouble and an armistice with worry, j and keep our Christmas as merrily as we may. Let us "keep the home f fires burning 'till the boys come j home." Let the yule log blaze on every hearth, its bright rays chas ing away the gloomy shadows and its warmth reflected In our hearts and lives. LET US HAVE ABLE MEN" THE Philadelphia North Amer ican, In the course of a lengthy editorial on the Congressional investigation of the Government's failure to prosecute the war prompt ly and efficiently, says that while public men and newspapers have known the facts for months "rather than risk giving comfort to the ene my or embarrassing the Government all have avoided exploiting the con ditions" and the newspaper believes that "the policy of reticence in criti cism and avoidance of disquieting disclosures will be continued by the press in the interests of National safetv. 'However," observes the North American, "the revelations made by Congressional inquiry fur nish a legitimate subject of com ment." It is in this spirit that the news papers have been publishing in full the results of the various inquiries now under way at Washington, ''"ho subject has been approached with out partisan bias or party perjudice. He would be unworthy the name of American who would use the present National crisis for the purpose of making political capital. Wo are neither Republicans nor Democrats just now, but Americans, and as a people have placed the prosecution of war beyond any petty feelings or ambitions. All we hold dear is at stako. Perhaps we have kept quiet too long, but a few months ago, be fore the Liberty Loans were floated and before the administration had time in which to show its ability, would have been too early to speak. When the country was entering a fight for its very life was no time for 1 any of us to be too critical. Fault finding would have been unjustified when the President was calling for whole-hearted support. But now wo are In different position. Tho American people have demonstrated beyond doubt that they stand solid ly hack of the President in his war alms. They have oversubscribed two Liberty Loans and are prepared to do so again and again. They have given generously to "the Red Cross, ♦he Y. M. C. A. and the Knights of Columbus war work. They stand as partners with the Government ih the prosecution of the war. They bave given the Government their billions and they have a right to know liow the money Is being spent. They have not been niggardly In their giving and they do not mean to be niggardly in their accounting. But for the sake of the men who must bear the brunt of the fighting, for the sake of tho life of the Nation It self, indeed, they do want to know that every penny and every effort Is working twenty-four hours a nay one hundred per cent, efficiency foi tho prompt and energetic conduct of the war. They have a right to this knowledge and nothing less will satisfy them. When Secretary of War Baker was In Harrisburg a big audience cheered him to tho echo when ho ex plained away the gun shortage in a few eloquent sentences that do not square themselves with tho testimony of men who tell us that the Amer ican troops in France are depending upon French guns and that our men in the camps are drilling with broom sticks. It will not do to leave the people under such misapprehensions, whether or not tho author of them meant to deceive or not. Complacency has marked every speech .the Secretary of War has made. Everything was going more than well. The Government was ac complishing wonders. Lots of rifles, plenty of cannon and machine guns, lots of clothing, Liberty trucks by tho thousands, aircraft by the scores of thousands —everything in unlim ited quantities, no ground for oom plaint anywhere! No wonder his audiences began to revise their first doubtful estimates of the man! No wonder they cheered lilm to the echo! No wonder, now that they nre undeceived, they nre Indignant! The Government has done a lot since the war began. It was and Is confronted with the biggest task In the world and It went about the job heroically. But it requires both h- roles and super-ability to meet a sit uation like the present, and If It Is developed by the investigations that there those in high places In Wash ington who are not fitted for the positions they hold—as it would now appear—the time has come for them to step down and out in order that abler men may step In. The Inter ests of the Nation are above those of any individual or group of Indi viduals or parties. Nobody asks whether General Pershing is Repub lican or Democrat. All the people care is whether or not he is the man best fitted to lead our armies to victory. And the same should be true of the cabinet. Who cares whether a Republican or a Democrat wins this war? And how is the party' in power going to answer to the peo ple if it does not dismiss the Incom petents and replace them with men whose only qualifications shall he that they are the very best men in the country for the great work at hand? The appearance of Japanese troops at Vladivostok is a welcome sign that our ally of the island Empire is pre pared to take a larger share in the war. even though her present action is doubtless chiefly prompted by self interest. Japan's relation to Eastern Russia is hardly less important than her relation to Manchuria and to the Chinese Republic generally; and the menace of Bolsheviki rule must lie heavily upon Japanese plans for com mercial and other , extension. Her troops at Vladivostok will servo for the present only fts a protection to the immense stores assembled there; but they will be in position for further ac tion if that becomes necessary. Mr. Burleson denounces the unionlV ing of postal employes, yet lie pleads for the taking over of the telephones and telegraphs wherein the employes are stronsrly unionized. However, consistency is not exactly one of Mr. Burleson's virtues. Otxer th& ov ""pfcKiuu "Afraid?" snapped Mrs Roy Col thiss in a western Pennsylvania court where she had her husband ar raigned for nonsupport. "Afraid of him—well I guoss not. Last night I threw just as much as he did but he was tho one that started it. I could knock the head off the little shrimp if 1 wanted to; but your hon or, he makes sl2 a week, and that ain't to be sniffed at nowadays." The American Jew is giving a splendid account of himself in this war. A conservative estimate of the men now in service, between 500,000 and 1,000,000, is that 10 or 12 per cent are Jews. Out of u body of 45,000 at Camp Meade 5,000 are Jews, nnd the proportion of them at Camp Upton Is 42 per cent. "lip day a kind old clergyman got on the train near Auburn, re lates a northern Pennsylvania paper, lio had a sweet race and silver hair. Near him sat five or six thoughtless rascals, who to annoy the old min ister kept scoffing at religion and telling disgraceful stories. Tlie min ister endured it all without answer ing or apparently without being an noyed. Arriving at his Journey's end, he got up and said simply; "We shall meet again, my chil dren." "Why shall we meet again?" asked the leader of the band. "Because I am a prison chaplain," was the reply. No starvation in the historic old Cumberland Valley farms. A young ludy with a sense of humor, In writ ing of a visit to one says: "They think they are Hooverizing here but I would not call it painful. For breakl'a.st this morning we had noth ing but coreal with real cream; homemade sausages, fried potato cakes, stewed fruit, hot biscuit and two kinds of preserves and coffee, Yesterday morning they apologized for only having waffles, but there was bacon and eggs and three or four side dishes. We could only eat 29 waffles each and the lady seemed to be piqued. She said our allotment wns 37." THE SALARIED MAN The farmer should not resent tlio limitation of the price of wheat. That is reasonable. It does not pre vent him from making a profit. He should resent unregulated, unllmit-i ed, shameless profiteers' prices for all that ho buys. He should resent paying several times its value for wire fencing while tho Stoel Trust pays a 1,300 per cent, dividend. He should resent being robbed by ferti liser venders. But tho farmer is not as badly olt as tho helpless, tho hap less, the gouged and ground salaried man who is not a producer of arti cles of commodities and cannot in that capacity profiteer, and who is not a member of a coal miners' union and cabal which can enter into an agreement with the coal mine opera tors to spilt tho profits upon a gouge "of the coal consumer and get away with the scheme at Washington, the headquarters of price fixers, who al low price raising now and then. The salaried man is hardly a class. He has few advocates. Nobody warms up to him for his vote, as politicians warm up to the fai'mer. He has no lobbyists in legislative corridors. No delegations wait in Ills behalf upon the administrators who regulate tho prices of commodities. His dollar is about half as big as it was last year. His bills are enormous.—t,oulavillo Courier-Journal. THE FLAG'S CHRISTMAS This morning, as I look and see Tho Flag still waving over me, I lift my eyes to It and say: "Old Flag, a Merry Christmas Day! May every friend of yours be true, May every sky above bo blue. As blue as is that Hold divine Wherein your stars of glory thine! Today somo give their blood to shed To tint your stripes a deeper red, And some bring gifts of courage rare To keep you fine and splendid there. My Christmas gift must be to you My heart's devotion, through and through. "God grant that men shall never see The day when you must cease to be! That never strong or cunning foe At you shall strike a deadly blow! May children's laughter and their song Of gladness, as you pass along, Be yours to hear; may mothers fair Rejoice to see you dancing there; May all men, undor Go<fs great sky, Bareheaded stand as you go by, And when tlioso days of care (ire o'er, • May every joy be yours once more! Oh, finest friend to man, I pray For you a Merry Christmas Day!" —Edgar A, Quest, In the American Boy. T>< Mtu*u "1 By the Kx-Committeeman I The Philadelphia Press, which has been calling attention to the serious situation a continuance of the fac tional fighting in the Republican party in this state will lead the par ty not only In Pennsylvania, but in the nation, declares that there is a general demand for an agreement upon a candidate for Governor upon whom all can unite. The Press has been unswerving in its Attacks upon the Smith-Vare allianco in Philadel phia ever since the outrages of the September primary day and, while demanding that influences which brought, about such conditions shall be cleared out, insists that the party leaders get together and name the right sort of men. In its political column yesterday the Press said: "The cry for peace has gone up from every element of the party. Peace is being demand ed, and the feeling has taken such strength that it will ill betide any leader to place his political power in the way of it. With Penrose and the Vares lined up together, the Repub lican party could easily defeat the Democrats, but if they re main apart possible disaster faces the party." —The Press says Democrats re joice over Republican squabbling and says if its leaders unite it can easily elect the state ticket. The party, says the Press, "can centralize Its strength in such a way that political control of the state, will remain with the party which Is founded on prin ciples believed to be synonymous with the best interests of the com monwealth. Tho Republican State Committee will call a meeting some time In the middle of January. It is the duty of this body to unite for the gubernatorial light in such a manner that Republican electors of the state will have the opportunity to conscientiously declare themselves next May. United States Senator Penrose controls the State Commit tee. Tho major portion of Ills oppo sition consists of the forces which tho Vares in Philadelphia and their followers throughout the state who will oppose the senior Senator. "Senator Vare was told that the principles of Republicanism were based on commercial and Industrial protection. It was suggested to him that if the split in the ranks of the Republican party allowed the Demo crats to win the state, some one leader would be to blame. The Sen ator agreed that tho state is entitled to the most which can be granted through legislation in the way of tar iff protection. lie was then asked If he would favor the nomination of a Republican candidate for GoVornor who would unite all factions, through the State Committee. He admitted that Penrose controls the commit tee, but refused to say that the bat tle between himself and Senator Penrose would bo continued to the extent that party principle would be sacrificed for personal satisfaction." —The Pittsburgh Gazette-Times has this interesting observation to make on the reported intention of the Governor to name Henry G. Wasson as a judge in Allegheny: "Wasson is credited with lutving the support of William Flinn and Wil liam A. Magee. Others discussed for the appointment are A. T. Mor gan. W. A. Griffith and Judge James It. Drew, of the county courts. One of the oddities of the Wasson can didacy is that the candidate and his backers were opposed to the election of Mr. Brumbaugh as Governor. Mr. Wasson and Mr. Flinn were sup porters of* Vance C. McCormlck, while Mr. Magee did not vote and his district and ward were agains' Mr. Brumbaugh. After he was in office they became his advisers, Mr. Wasson becoming the manager of the Brumbaugh presidential cam paign, which resulted In tho Gov ernor securing mention in the Re publican nntional convention of 19J6. The Wasson boomers figure that there will be no difficulty in se curing the judicial appointment. Mr. Wasson expressed the opinion to friends yesterday that there would not be any trouble securing the appointment, an,d appeared to be more concerned about his chances of succeeding himself In the elec tion of 191 9." —Peoplo at Washington say there is general belief along the Potomac that when the Pennsylvania Demo cratic bosses meet at Washington January 3 they will Insist on Vance C. McCormlck becoming candidate for Governor. The Democratic voters are not to be consulted about it. -—City Manager-elect H. C. Hln kle says he will throw out incom petents when he assumes office January V and there Is much pain among some people in the Mountain City. •—Tho new Sheriff of Carbon coun ty threatens a shakeup in the office, lie has a deputy and a clerk to name. —Gossip is that Stephen Stone, son of the former Governor, will be come Pittsburgh City Solicitor. Charles A. O'Brien has taken him self out of it, say Pittsburgh papers. —Contending that under the rules of the courts, as construed by the Board of Judges, he was without power to approve any bond for costs In the election contest brought in the Philadelphia Town Meeting party In an amount less., than the $225,000 fixed by Judges McMicliael and Fer guson in Common Pleas Court No. 3, Judge William Wilkins Carr on Saturday tiled with the Supreme Court his formal answer to the rule taken on him, says the Inquirer. Judge Carr originally fixed the bonds in the contest proceedings, attack ing the legality of the election of the Smith-Vare combine's candi dates for the three "row" offices, at $5,000 each. The Supreme Court rule was taken on him to show cause why a mandamus should not bo Issued against him for refusing to accept the low bonds when ten dered recently. The Supreme Court may not require oral argument in tho case, but decide the points raised. —J. H. Nichter, one of Potts vllle's new Councilmen, served on the borough Council twenty years ago and was one of the first Coun cilmen when It became a city. —Tho Pittsburgh Post says Mayor Babcock has "some surprises" ahead In the way of appointments. —Mayor-eleot A, T. Connell is de clared by the Scranton Republican to have "big opportunities" ajicad. —The annual message of Mayor E. H. Filbert, of Reading, will be 500 words long. —rT!i,e Rev. ' 'lunieß F. Swift, for mer Reaver legislator, will direct the Anti-Saloon League campaign for the "dry" amendment In Eastern Pennsylvania, WHEN A FELLER NEEDS A FRIEND By Briggs Is .There a Santa Claus? WE TAKE pleasure in answer ing at once and thus promi nently the communication be low, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faith ful author is numbered among the friends of the Sun: ."Dear Editor: 1 am 8 years old, Somo of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see It In the Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? VIRGINIA O'HANLON. 115 West Ninety-fifth street. Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been aftee'ed by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can ho which ts not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, In his intellect, as compared with tho boundless world about him, as meas ured by tl|e intelligence eapabl# of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist: and you know that they abound and give to our life the highest beauly and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as If there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike l'aith then, no poetry, no romance, to nmko toler able this existence. tVe should have no enjoyment, except in sense nnd I LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .——*—— i HIS EXPLANATION To the Editor of the Telegraph: It is not my desire to get into print, but I believe it is the duty of every one to defend himself, when occasion arises. In this case it Is my reason for not contributing to the Red Cross. I stated that I did not believe in any Volunteer unit connected in any way with the Army or Navy. Because oCthat, a solicitor for the Red Cross questioned my patriotism notwithstanding the fact, that I am an ex-soldier, gave 17 months of honest and faithful service in the Philippine Islands, and was also a member of the American Legion, whose duty it was to serve its coun try in any capacity that its Govern ment saw fit to designate, and the chart of which was turned over to Secretary of War Baker. When I state that I do not believe in Volunteer Service, I don't mean by that that I do not honor and re spect the Patriot® of '76 or t.he Pa triots of '6l. God rest their souls. But I do mean to say in these days of scientific warfare, It is the duty we owe to tho man that is fighting our battles to back him up with ex perience and efficiency, backed by our National Government, and not by men with little or no experience, who are seeking selfish glory under the guise of patriotism, and At the sacrifice of a mother's Bon. In view of the fact, of my con victions on this subject, I did not try to Influence any one, not even my wife, when the solicitor came to my home, she willingly subscribed, and I myself also have subscribed for the Liberty Bonds, and the Y. M. C. A. My reason for subscribing to tho Y. M. C. A. is because I believe In its work, and is entirely an Inde pendent association, having no con i nections whatsoever with the work ings of the Army. 1 J. a. SCIiAKFER. sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys oil Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santii Claus, but that is no sign thut there is no Santa Claus. The most real tliipgs In the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not; but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable In the world. You may tear apart the baby's rat tle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering tho unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even tho united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, ro mance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it oil real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abid ing. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and. he lives forever. A thou sand years from now, Virginia; nay, ten times ton thousand years frbm now, he will continue to mnko Mad the hearts of children. —Now York Sun. BOOKS AND MAGAZINES Love Stories of the Bible, l>y Hilly Sunday—The first book by the great evangelist. (Putnam Co., $1.50 net.) Those who have heard Mr. Sun day's picturesque eloquence, which lma drawn thousands up the "saw dust trail," will find that he loses nothing of his power when address ing his audience .through the me dium of the printed page, and also tliut his vivid personality it Wit nearly as much as when ho in per son stands before his public. He gives us here, in his own in imitable stylo, the great love stor ies of the Bible—Esther; Abraham and Sarah; Jacob and Rachel; Ruth; Isaac and Rebecca, etc. Ten in ail —and at the end of each shows the great lessons which may be learned from them. No one who reads Mr. Sunday's versions will ever forget them, the vivid manner in which they are pre ■ented, nor the close application of their lessons to everyday life. LOVE BESIDE THE FIRE The pride of autumn fades away on wooded vale and hill. The days are growing grayer and tho nights are growing chill; Then, he.v for home, and happy eyes and Joys that never tire! We'll face the worst that winter brings with love beside the fire. Oh, sweet as youth the springtime was, aind fair were summer's bowers, And gaily flowed the pageantry of autumn's goidon hours! With sadness from the hills we saw their sunlit days retire. But winter brings us back again to love beside tho fire! So bolt the door againsl the blast, and start the cheerful blaze, And let us sit, sweetheart of mine, and talk of olden day*. Of days when first you woke In me the dream of young desire, When yet I hardly dared to hope for love beside the fire! —Dennl A. McCarthy. "Heart Songs and Homo Songs." (Little, Brown & Co.) CHEERFULT OPTIMISM May heaven prosper the optimistic London newspaper correspondent in Petrograd who believes the Russians will turn upon their Teutonic betray ers in the spring l .—St. Paul Pioneer Preaa. . LABOR NOTES Announcement is made that the A. F. of L charter of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers was automatically re stored, following adjustment of dif ferences. Compensation legislation will be attempted at the legislative sessions of 191 in Georgia, Mississippi,South Carolina and Virginia and may pos- 1 slbly be enacted in Georgia and Vir ginia. Telegraphers of the Chicago, Bur lington and Qulncy Railroad get an increase of $lO a month, a graduated reduction ot working hours, pay for all Sunday work and one week's va cation a year with pay. Street-car companies in New York City broke last summer's strike of the Street Car Men's Union, but it cost them $5,000,000, according to a report issued by the Public Service Commission. The following states have no com pensation law for injured workmen: Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Flori da, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Mis souri and North Dakota. Thousands of Government work ers hnve he*n a caraiinl?! through the Federal Employees' Union, .init iated with the American Federation of Labor, urging that a petition be forwarded to Congress and the Sec retaries of War and Navy, asking that Government clerks be given the right to buy goods and foodstuffs at the Army and Navy commissaries. OUR DAILY LAUGH 1 HIS GUESS. "That after-dinner speaker mutt be a great athlete." "What makes you think so?" "He's so long-winded." APPLIED ART. "Working In a delicatessen, arc you? I thought you'd ntver give up art." "I haven't given it up. I'm en gaged here to paint slices of ham ,nd tongue on the sandwiches." , CHRISTMAS CIGARS. "I don't see why the butler left us. We all tried to treat him fine." "Sure. Why 1 gave him that box of cigars you gave me Just to show hUn. haw much X theugljt ofhltp,'\ . ; Etaetrtttg (ttljat In spite of the fact that Harris bury; has given a thousand men t<| the Army, Navy or the Marine Corpsk and that Industry is at the highesl speed ever known here, there does not appear to be much difference be* tween the Christmas shopping th last week and that of a year ago oil two years ago. In fact, many ol the businessmen say that there ha* been more money spent this yeaa than before, but that it has gone LntQ the substantial rather than the tyjm ical holiday things. "Som6 people seem impressed with the idea thas they will be unable to buy wooleq clothing next year and that shoe 4 will go to high prices," declared ona businessman. "Probably it is a good thing, because we are going to se* people better clad than usual, even if it does cost more. If the food an 4 fuel situations could only be adjust* ed, I think that wo could look ward to tackling our war with more equanimity." In any event, it was interesting to observe Market and other shopping streets crowded with people every after* noon last week and to note that thq evening business was of big pro* portions. Kront street, in Steelton, showed the usual holiday buyers, U may be added. Another thing that was of interest to the business •ob-i server was that there were man} morning shoppers and that it waa not uncommon to see people stand-* ing around doors of stores waiting for them to open at 9 o'clock. A result of war times was that carry* Ing parcels was more general than ever before. It was a nuisance ta bo poked In the back by the legs of a child's chair in the aisle of a crowded store, but tho average per son seemed to feel how it was and there was not so much complaint, while the appearance of baskets of gigantic carrying capacity, was ac cepted as a sign of the times and the only wonder was how much it would contain. That it would be navigated through the stores was a foregone conclusion. There were so niany of them that the carriers sort of subconsciously agreed to help e £fh other just like people with children do on a orowded sidewalk. Trolley traffic seems to b© greater than usual this holiday season and from what the men say they have the greatest difficulty in getting their doors closed. Cars have lost valuable time because so many peo ple persisted in packing into them and those who could not be accom. modated refused ,to get off to per mit closing of doors. Between try ing to handle the industrial rush hour business and the holiday shop pers things were strenuous the last ten days in railroad circles, steam and electric, it may bo said. It does seem hard to understand that Harrisburg, lying within thirty miles of one of the finest beds of anthracite coal In the land, if not in the world, not only fails to get any of it, but suffers such shortage of fuel. The Lykens Valley region has been furnishing coal for well nigh a century and Harrisburg, which was one of the first communities to appreciate its qualities, is now about Tnfc' aS^ t0 Eot , lt '. althou,rh Paying a whfr,, coa ' from Wilkes-Barre which Is excessive for its heat-pro ducing qualities. One has onlv to observe the huge coal trains coming down the Northern Central railroad to appreciate the absurdity of the situation in regard to anthracite and half a day spent along the lines of the Pennsylvania railroad on of * f>(> Sllß( l u ehanna and of the Heading to note the tre mendous trains of bituminous and to wonder why this city should ever run short of fuel. The lot of a fuel administrator, who must face the public, answer to Washington and buck all sorts of railroad agree ments, to say nothing of trouncing gougers, is worse than that of a Christmas shopper at 4 o'clock on the afternoon before the great holi day. • * * It is hard to understand the men. tal processes of farmers who ask fifty and fifty-five cents a pound for turkeys and then get mad when a marketer asks to bo shown why the increase over the week before Phanksgiving day. Saturday even ing a farmer who tried to get sixty a i P n Un ?. for turkey at one mar ket and finally came down to flftv flve had to take his bird home with i„ K" es s I'll have to eat that myself, ho said ruefully to a man at the next stall. The neighbor was a butcher and he cut deep in his reply. "Old -man," said he, 'Til bet you did not s|#nd fifty cents on feed for that turkey in its whole life. II bet that you let that bird run. around in the barnyard or maybe in a chicken yard without giving it more than one quart of corn since Thanksgiving day. I hope to thun der you have to cart around vour turkeys and eat them yourself I get soaked by the packers and I can show costs and what my margin nf pro ? t '\? ut can't.' The farm er told the butcher by way'of an swer that ho talked ilk* "most of the people who tried to market " • • • V 0 brl,l| ant officers who have developed in military work Nutional Guardsmen were mobilized at the Mexican border a years ago and who are now in France is Major Hart W. Palmer, of the state of Washington, a brother of Lew R. Palmer, acting state com missioner of and Industry, From all accotints Major Palmer is as vigorous and brainy as his brother. He was for twenty-two years connected with the Guard of the western state and at his own request spent some time at the border after the Guardsmen went home, just to learn things. The re sult was that when a chance camo to go abroad he was taken, and ho is a major, although he did leave a big business behind him at home. WELL KNOWN PEOPLE —John H. Mason, former Phila delphia newspaperman, will succeed T. DeWltt Cuyer as president of the Commercial Trust Company. —C. H. McMichael. Philadelphia real estate assessor, has given up his place to serve in France with the ambulance corps. —Dr. A. F. llardt, prominent Willlamsport physician, has suc ceeded A. Mitchell Palmer on tlie district draft appeal board. —Harry Monti, of Wilkes-Barre, well known in mining, has* been named as head of the Lehigh Valley mines in the Uuzleton district. —U. S. Stauffer, the Quakertown editor, will spend the winter in Call* fornia, having just retired. | DO YOU KNOW 1 —That Harrisburg sent tons of gifts (o soldiers and sailors ami that sonic started a month ago? HISTORIC HARRISBCRG Harrisburg mechanics looked aft er repairs to Meade's army after th battle of, Gettysburg.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers