6 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Founded IS3I Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO., Tfltgrapk Building, Federal Square. 15. J. STACK POLE, Pres't & Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager. GUS M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor. Member of the Associated Press—The Associated Press Is exclusively en- 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. . Member American " _ Chicago, 111. B Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. By carriers, ten cents a i'fc*ZTino 1 week; by mail, J5.00 a year in advance. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21), 11M7 Little minds are tamed and sub dued by m is! or tune but great minds rise above it. —Washington Ibvinc. . POOR BUSINESS PARK COMMISSIONER GROSS has permitted Council'to strike his appropriation for complet ing the rip-rap work along the river from the general budget ordinance. This is bad housekeeping. The circumstances are these. Thou sands upon thousands of cubic yards of earth have been filled in between the steps and the street to enlarge >the park and protect the sidewalk above. A part of this "fill" has been rip-rapped to prevent floods from washing out the bank. But much re mains unprotected and high water at any time may cause thousands of dollars damage. In addition to this and as a further reason why the work should be com pleted the coming year, the city now has a very favorable contract for the rip-rapping; one that Mr. Gross was fortunate in procuring and which he cannot duplicate. By permitting the rip-rap item to ho dropped while every other depart ment is receiving larger appropria tions shows a lamentable lack of force on the part of the park super intendent, leaves the city liable to heavy damages from flood and abro gates the bent contract it can ever hope to make for the work. The small boy won't regard the water shortage so seriously, in view of the fact that he may be able to es cape a bath or two. CAN'T GAG T. R. SECRETARY OF WAR BAKER says "we must speed up our military effort." That is what Theodore Roosevelt, Leonard Wood, Congressman Gardner and a lot of other men of foresight said three yea/s ago. Wood and Gardner have been put where their voices cannot he heard and the doughty Colonel would be silenced if some in high places had the power. GOVERNMENT AND LABOR WITH the railroads in the hands of the government the ques tion is being asked, what about labor? And the answer is that labor should have nothing to fear and not much to expect at the hands of the government. There is no reason to believe that the Presi dent, as controller of the railroads, will be any more unfriendly to rail road employes than he has been as the figure that has stood between thorn and the railroad managers during their recent disputes. If anything a more equitable dis tribution of joy may be anticipated. Just as there are intimations of wholesale reductions of the salaries of officials for the benefit of the rank and file, so the government may be expected to recognize first the needs of the more poorly paid classes of employes. But in both these steps there is danger, for to remove the hope of large returns for effort may take from the field of railroad endeavor scores of able ex clusives who are apt to go eventually where there is more money to be earned, and to advance the joy of the humbler employes, while ignor ing the claims of the skilled laborers, such as engineers, conductors and the like, would be to create dis satisfaction at the expense of the service. The government having taken over railroad control, willy nilly must accept also the railroads' prob lems, and it must consider without delay the labor phase of these, or like England in the early days of the <var we may And ourselves face to face with the very thing we are trying to avoid —an impaired or stagnated transportation system. How Great Britain Anally solved not only her railroad difficulties, but her labor questions of all kinds, es they apply to industries affecting the war might prove an interesting s'tudy for Secretary McAdoo and the .Hailroad War Board. After much controversy the English government finally has specified what are the in dispensable war industries, the rail roads among them, and has given SATURDAY EVENING, employers and employes alike distinct understanding that special terms and conditions favorable to increased efficiency shall prevail there. Also, England has established a national agency of arbitration to hear and decide all major controversies be tween masters and men in the war industries. For the period of the war arbitration Is compulsory, and strikes are thereby made illegal, which has worked well for all con cerned. The government has taken into the hl.Th government councils, into the cabinet and ministries, accrtillted representatives of labor, and for the lesser administrative departments has selected trade unionists as "labor advisers." It likewise has encouraged the establishment of shop committees to deal with em ployers in matters of shop practice, in regard to which there are sharp differences of interest and opinion, and has. entered into a national agreement with the trade unions in- 1 volved in the war industries to the! effect that all established union i standards of employment that may; bo abrogated during the war will j be restored after the war. And most important of all, Eng- j land has fostered discussion and proposals which look to the crea tion after the conflict of repre sentative deliberative bodies in oaeli industry to consider not only prob lems of demobilization and recon struction, but to continue perma nently in existence in order to bring about better understanding concern ing such fundamental policies as limitation of output, regularity of employment in production of scien tific ltianagement and adjustment of production to demand. There has even been created a reconstruction ministry to give immediate force and impetus to the agitation for drastic industrial reorganization. All this has been painfully evolved over the period of the years since the war began and it is ready made experience which the United States government, if it is wise, will study carefully. Much of what England is doing can and should be done here. It should be the care of the cdministration to. make railroad men and others engaged in indus tries vital to the war understand that their own best interests lie in wholehearted support of the gov ernment by the attainment of maxi mum efficiency each in his own particular line. DEMOSTHENES AND PACIFISTS AWAY back in the old Grecian days there were pacifists, and Demosthenes in his famous philipics thundered against them as Colonel Roosevelt and other patriots of our day are warning against those who are even now asking why we are at war. In the current number of the North American Review a correspondent quotes the great Athenian orator as follows: "And what can be the reason that he treated you with insolence, that ho utters menaces against you, while he at least condescends to dissemble with other people and gain their good offices? Whence is it that his conduct toward you is so different from that toward others? Because, of all the Grecian states, ours is th only one in which harangues in fa vor of enemies are pronounced with impunity." This correspondent suggests that for Philip of Macedon we read Wil helm 11, and then quotes further from Demosthenes this stern criti cism of the enemy within: Since, then, you are engaged in defense of all that is dear to you, apply to the great work with an attention worthy of the importance of it. Let the wretches who have openly sold themselves to this man be the obect of your abhorrence, let them meet with the utmost se verity of public justice, for you will not, cannot, conquer your foreign enemies until you have punished those that lurk within your walls. No, they will even prove so many obstacles to im pede your progress and to give our enemies the superiority. When your decree for war hath once passed, let there be no dis pute whether it ought or ought not to have been undertaken. What more significant warning than this against the pro-German propagandists who are doing their utmost to weaken the morale of this republic and place obstacles In the way of a vigorous prosecution of the war? In the fifth century, says this cor respondent, Demosthenes did for the Greeks what Roosevelt has done and is doing for the America of the twentieth century. More and more the people are realizing the great service which Colonel Roosevelt has performed in arousing the people and in compelling a recognition of the stern facts which confront us. Failing to heed the Athenian ora tor, Greece lost her liberty, but the trumpet call of Roosevelt has been heard and everywhere Americans are responding. IN THE DIVVY SIGNS that the municipal pie of New York City is about to be divided are not wanting. Rep resentatives Daniel J. Griffin and Henry Bruckner, who spring from the loins of the Tammany Tiger, have tendered their resignations from Congress presumably to accept civic sinecures, and it is reported that several more of the brood will leave Congress shortly. Representative Fitzgerald, it is an nounced, is to be associated wllh a law firm in the metropolis which nets a large amount of business through Tammany. For another thing, it is stated that the Tammany exodus from Washington means that the contingent is tired of presidential tyranny. V Fitzgerald, at least, may have acted upon the language of Caesar: "For roy part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows than the second man in Rome." Ck By the Ex-Coiiunitteeman Prohibitionists of Pennsylvania were to-day called by State Chair man B. E. P. Prugh to meet in state convention in the Smithtleld Street Methodist Church, Pittsburgh, 011 [ February 12 to outline their altitude j toward union with the new National I party and relative to election of 1 Pennsylvania legislators pledged to j support the dry amendment. The I convention is the tirst to be called for 1918 and in announcing it for 1 Lincoln's birthday Dr. Prugh says , that he called it after securing senti -1 ment of state committeemen, who 1 unanimously favored a meeting. I The notice says that the conven-' | tion will consider suggestions of j 1 Prohibition candidates for state oi'-l [ tices; the Superior Court judge va cancy; selection of delegates to the} Prohibition national convention on j May 7, which will be held before the j state primary day; "consideration of I our attitude toward the proposed! union of the Prohibition party with i the new National party, whose plat-] form our National committee took part in framing"; suggestions as to the financing of the next state cam- I puign and "to deiine our particular! attitude. towards other parties in Pennsylvania in the matter of the | drive for the election of a legisla ture to ratify the national constitu tional amendment at its next ses sion." While a schedule of delegates is given it is stated that all who de sire may attend the convention. —Eagerness with which Demo cratic newspapers are decrying the call for Republican harmony made by the Harrisburg Telegraph is rather indicative of what they fear ii the factionalism stops. Republi can leaders in Philadelphia to-day decided to await the turn of events and state administration chieftains are going ahead building up their own fences. The fact that people connected with the .state govern ment have been as reluctant as those allied with Senator Penrose to talk about getting together until after the new year shows that the feelings of the Republican voters are being sounded. Meanwhile the democratic bosses are getting ready to go to the banks of the Potomac to make a slate for the people of Pennsylvania. —The Philadelphia Record says that the Vares are getting ready to take the head of every Penrose man in the Philadelphia city government) and it is expected that the decapita tion will be extended to Capitol Hill, | where it has been regularly staged as | about to begin for the last two and that efforts to get Senator Pen rose and Senator Vare to agree have | been hopeless. It is also said that; Senator Vare attempted to deal with, some national and State Republican I leaders over the head of Penrose, which caused much irritation. The, Record says: The ultimatum is said to have been given the Vares by the followers of Senator Penrose that they will either get in behind and help to elect a governor next year picked by men who have been di recting state affairs of the party, or share the prospects of a Democratic success which is now worrying the Republicans throughout the State. The Vares annear to fullv realize the Jolt given to their ambitions to state leadership for their assumption of responsibility for the Brumbaugh administration. The Vares also ap preciate the fact that the last elec tion brought no new strength to the Vare-Smith machine. —Notwithstanding importunities of some of his political friends at Scranton it is not regarded as at all likely that Governor Brumbaugh will appoint a registration commis sioner to succeed Mayor-elect A. T. Connell for some time to come. Mr. Connell has tendered his resignation to the Governor and there is a keen contest for the vacancy. Yesterday Mr. Connell and Senator W. M. Lynch came to Harrtsburg for a quiet little conference with the Gov., ernor on the subject, but Dr. Brum baugh was in Johnstown making ad dresses to his old friends, the state school teachers. —While pr.e-emptions of the Town Meeting party name are going on generally throughout the state there is also a disposition to take the names of Liberty, National and American for congressional and sen atorial nominations next spring. If the pre-empting goes on there will be more party names on the Penn sylvania ballot next spring than in the Roosevelt campaign and the two years succeeding it. —Auditor General Charles A. Sny der will return to Harrisburg Mon day and prepare to go to conclusions In regard to the pay roll of the State Insurance Fund. He proposes to have the necessity for some of the increases in salary and emploves ex plained and is disposed to insist upon his right to audit the books of the fund as part of the inquiry into the ability of the fund to carry ad ditional employes. Th< appearance of his auditor will probablv begin a clash as the fund officers have been in consultation with the Attorney General's Department. —The State Capitol was taking much interest to-day in a meeting reported to be he)d in Philadelphia to-day by Governor Brumbaugh At torney General Brown and other men aligned with the state adminis tration to decide upon the appoint ments to the Public Service Comirtls sion and the Philadelphia judgeship. Some determination will also be reached as to the means of dealing with the State Commission of Agri culture which has defied the Gov ernor by refusing confirmation to E B. Dorsett bh chief of markets and which may kick over the traces when It comes to confirming a chief clerk to succeed the late Dr. M. D. Lich leiter. —J. O. Hauser, secretary to Com missioner of Health Samuel O. Dixon for the last year and a half has resigned to take effect New Year's day and will become a mem ber of the staff of the Philadelphia Press. Mr. Hauser will give his at tention to politics. He was formerly connected with the New York Times and has made many friends while in Harrisburg by his courtesy and care for the important work of the de partment. WHEN ALL DRANK MILK In those early days, as the new comers flocked into Missouri, those who had come earlier and who "kept tavern" had a way of classifying the new arrivals as Northerners or Southerners, without questions. If the stranger asked for sweet milk he was from north of the Ohio River —from New England or one of the Middle States. If he called for sour milk, that Identified him as from the South. Sweet milk sold in St. Louis at twenty-five cents a gallon. Sour milk was eighteen and three-quar ters cents a gallon.—From "Mis sourlans of One Hundred Years Ago," by Walter B. Stevens. THE PRINCE OF PEACE For unto us a child Is born, unto us a son is given: and the Govern ment shnll be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Won derful. Counselor, the Mighty God-, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. —Isaiah, ix, 6. HARRISBURG c£nfe£g TELEGRAPH! SOMEBODY IS ALWAYS TAKING THE JOY OUT OF LIFE .... BY BRIGGS I*** r ~ " /To MR. <JOH\J (£ I I BECA*JSt \ Tue 1 COMFERRIN6 \ (mulvaJEY ? J /yvri J3TSK- ) ) / 0u ARe / soc/ierv OF .Slavics z£~">o, ? J YOU ARC / SIMPS-- THE A /m - ,wJ -3^\ \ V BOAR WELL ALICE- UPokj Vouft. DISTINGUISHED lA"TE f~~~ \ (J H ~ FOR THUH I HUSBAND - I Af*A OM THt? . HEREi A \ |/)\JA - >&/>■ / ADVISORY BOARD OP THE letter FOR I o *? ? r> '" ' ' 6ocierr of vSimPeriajg • Vou from that \ I -- oa —J ~~ J <-opyrlni. lit J. by tM Tribuna Association (New xork Trlboaa) CONTRASTS "There is a bitter irony in the con trast between the record of facts presented by General Crozier to the Senate committee and the bland gen eralities in Secretary Baker's New York address," remarks the Chica go Tribune. There is also a "bitter Irony" In the spectacle of air. Baker rattling around in the War Department in time of war, and such men as Root, Garrison, and RooseVelt officially un employed. It is a wonder that President Wil son with his keen sense 'of ironical contrasta and m'oral values (not to mention a possible sense of burdens that might be lightened by being shared), has not noticed it. —Prom' the Milwaukee Sentinel. THEY CAN'T BEAT THAT I stood reverently on the deck of a New Jersey ferry boat with a young man, a private in the ranks, crossing the river to entrain for camp after a short furlough. It was in the neighborhood of 6 o'clock in the evening and quite dark. Downtown New York, its thousands of office windows alight, as a God's fistful of glowing jewels piled high and shining against the black back ground of night sky. The young sol-J dier looked and swore a reverent 1 oath. "They can't beat that," he said simply and without explanation. "Not that and all that's back of it. Isn't it great? That's what we're fighting for! That down there and every thing that's behind it-—Chicago, Du luth. New Orleans, Cheyenne, San Francisco, the Rockies, the prairies —phew! All the people in those places. You know, when I get over —across, no matter what kind of a jam I may get Into some time —badly hit or stuck alone in the dark when things are coming pretty thick—if I can just hold the feel of all that in back of me, I—l think I'll man age to hold up fine." I think you will, old boy. Let it go at that! —William Slavens Mc- Nutt in Collier's Weekly. PARIS WEARS A SMILE In 1915 there was plenty of hot water in Paris. This year, except on Saturdays and Sundays, you bathe cold or you don't bathe at all. Even of the Ritz this is true. Then there arc two days when you get along without meat. You are asked to be economical with electricity. I imagine that it takes money and per haps influence to keep a motor car full of gasoline. But, on the other hand, there are ten taxicabs where there was but one before. And they are up to all their status quo ante tricks. If the restaurants are not precisely ! gay, they are filled; It would be difficult to lunch or dine anywhere' without meeting a number of people whom you have known well at home. Of course I don't know how about many American soldiers there are in France, and could not toll you if I did, "but when I tell you that going into the American Bed Cross head quarters is like going into the Rac quet Club I do not exaggerate. It is this, I think, that has taken the strained look out of so many French faces. Matches are not quite so dear as they are scarce and unscratchable. Tobacco is plentiful, but expensive. As winter approaches the price of umbrellas rises. Stationery is high (I shall thank Ood when the price becomes prohibitive). The gum on i postage stamps is of good quality. The price has not been advanced. • * * I know definitely of but one thing that has gone down. It is a! book. Two years ago it was dls-1 played in the window of an Avenue I de l'Opera bookstore. Today it is in the back of the shop. It no longer | looks new. It can be had for u| song. It Is by me. Paris is far gayer and far brighter than it was two years ago. But this is only true of its face; the real' heart of Paris bleeds and Is sick j with grief. I believe the gayety and brightness of Paris in these days to be the most stupendous feat of good manners that the world has ever seen. Outside my window there la a splendid plane tree. From this the great leaves are steadily falling. That is France. For three years now the lives that were her glory i and her hope have fallen, fallen fallen. But if, ignorant of this world's affairs you happened Into Paris on a little visit from Mars it would be some time before you could be induced to believe that a war was going on anywhere. In this matter the French have touched the sublim ities of good breeding.— juverneur Morris in Gomel's Weeekly. A DAY'S WORK "Many a man." said Uncle Eben, "thinks he has done a day's work when he has made up a good excuse for not doln' no work yesterday."— From the Washington Star. THE PEOPLE'S FORUM UNWISE ECONOMIES To the Editor of the Telegraph: I very much fear your readers do not fully understand the true intent of the much discussed "Cash and l/rry" Plan. I fear they think that it is intended to cover very larpre purchases as well as small articles that easily can be carried home. If the plan were adopted the way some people understand it I would like to know how the newspapers of Harris burg would get their supplies of paper from the railroads to their warehouses by the cash and carry plan. 1 would like to have some one ex plain how the great bakeries of Har risburg could deliver their bread on the cash and carry plan, and I would like to see what service the public would get from such a system. It occurs to me this is one of the most foolish things I have ever read in these days of prosperous times. Wouldn't It be exceptionally nice to see the coal dealers of Harrisburg go on the cash and carry plan. I should rather think that it would he a great deal better for the presses of the country to keep our industries going so we can buy Liberty Bonds to win the war and for this reason I submit the following articles, a part of which is taken from the Chicago Daily Kews and a part of which is written by one of the great editors of the South. The man who shouts "hard times" these days is either a fool or a knave, and the truth is not in him. By careful and painstakingly in vestigation every real news item on conditions throughout the country, we are unerringly led to the only, conclusion possible-—that business was never better and that prospects of big business in the future are growing bigger all the time. "The South," to quote the editor of one prominent trade Journal, "Is literally burning up with prosperity." The huge army cantonments below the far famed Dixie line demand such a volume of supplies that the merchants are staggering under the welcome burden. New England is taxed to its utmost capacity to meet the nation's want of shoes and woolens, and its ship yards are crowded. The farmers in Aroostook county, Maine, have not yet recovered from the shock of the fabulous price paid for potatoes last spring, which paid off more farm mortgages In six months than in ten previous years. The middle west is getting sky line prices for grains and all other products, and the prices paid for beef and pork insure a profit of several hundred per cent. No need to dis cuss this further —everybody knows the farmers' pockets are well lined. The Pacific Coast boom is heard ; half way across the continent and fruit and lumber can scarcely be marketed fast enough to supply the j demand. If there is a-section of the country that can truthfully plead | poverty, then we haven't heard of It. I A fool caji stand on the beach aiid I let a little spray hit him in the face and right away ho wants to write a \ book on navigation. America's first, battle in this war will be with the: fools right here at home. A tongue without a brain behind It is as dan gerous as a gun in the hands of a drunken Indian. This war is so big and complex that a fool oughtn't to be allowed to monkey with it. We keep cranks away from our powder factories and, by the same token, why shouldn't we keep fools away from our presses? Better still, why shouldn't we muzzle fools and intern them till after the war? Here's what the fools are doing to us: President Wilson, in his wisdom, exhorta the people to conserve their foodstuffs. And hfe appoints this man Hoover, who, by the way, Is the most fxpert food conservation specialist in the world, to help the people raise their truck and to make their truck go farther —all of which Is wonderful generalship. But the fools, who can no more fathom a deep mentality liko that of President Wilson than a canary can whistle the "Anvil Chorus," miss the whole Idea and just manage to catch on to the tail end of the word "eco nomy." So right away they want to go on a nation-wide hunger strike, start a bread line and raise Calne in general. Secretary McAdoo asks the people to buy some perfectly good 4 per cent, government bonds,, non-taxable, the best investment that any sane man could make—because It i.<v the safest. Right away the fools shout: "Uncle Sam wants you to give him your money." Fortunately, wise men are In a vast majority in this country, and the Liberty Bond issue went over with a bang. It was the wise men, though, not the fools, that did it. Some other fools shouted; "Let's all wfear cotton"—thoroughly igno rant of the fact that we need all the cotton we can get to make high ex plosives out of it, for ourselves and our allies. If the so-called "cotton wear" propaganda had gone over, we would have had to fight this war out with lire crackers, or soda crack ers, or pea shooters. That was a line idea, wasn't it? All of which goes to prove that we had better let the ex perts in this country carry out the President's ideas. And the rest of us can find plenty to do keeping the fools from throwing wrenches in the gears. Right now the fools are busier than ever before. Some of them are holding peace demonstrations down in Boston, and the rest of them are sitting up .nights trying to work out new stunts for putting business on the "Fritz." President Wilson, after conferring with delegates from the nations that have been in this war from the be ginning tells us that the all-import ant thing for us to do Is to keep our industries going. In spite of this counsel, the fools are shouting at the top of their voices: "Don't buy any automobiles." "Don't buy any new clothes." "Don't spend any money with the laundries—turn your collars wrong side out and wear them two days." "Keep your wife away from the department stores." "Don't let your children go to the movies." "Don't do anything that will keep our factories and our stores and our places of amusements running." "Close up everything and pay the expenses of this war out of the ex cess profits of bankruptcy." The fools in this country might as well be made to understand right here, that we are not going to play into the kaiser's hands by listening to their monkey chatter. We know just how serious this war is. Wo know, on the other hand, that our fools are even more serious. We must have business in this country. We must keep our heads up. We must preserve our prosperity, because America's wealth is her big gest gun. Shall we let the fools take the; wheel at this dangerous turn in thei road? Please, you ninety-nine and seven en-tenths millions, answer In chorus: "WE WILD NOT."' ANDREW REDMOND. LABOR NOTES Organized workers In New York are supporting pending legislation which would increase wages of city laborers to |3 a day. London (England) Society of Compositors have asked their secre tary, T. E. Naylor, to be a candidate at tlie next London County Council "lection. Apportionment of labor to Indus tries vital to the conduct of the war will be taken up by the Council of National Defense with union officials. A tremendous tush of immigrants after the war is the prediction of Frederic C. Howe, Commissioner of Immigration at the port of New York. Representatives of Street Car Men's I'nion in Massachusetts have organized to secure remedial legisla tion for workers in this calling. Stamford (Ct.) Iron Molders" "Un lori has presented a demand to the firms under its Jurisdiction for on in crease to $5 and a reduction of hours to eight per day. The International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers has In dorsed plans of its affiliates in Brit ish Columbia to secure the eight hour day. Assurance that speeding-up sys tems will not be installed as a fea ture of an agreement between the Boilermakers' Union and the Cincin nati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad. Jewelry workmen at Toronto, Can., have organized. Hannibal (Mo.) machinists' help ers have formed a union. Sheet-metal workers at New Or leans secured increased pay. Rochester (NT. Y.) employing brewers have raised wages jl and $2 a week. Organized meatcutters at Portland, Ore., have secured a nine-hour day. DECEMBER 29, 1917 EDITORIAL COMMENT J The Chaplain of the House of Rep i resentatives gave a financ'al touch 10 his invocation at the opening of Con gress by praying that the nation might be united "in the bonds of patriotism."—San Francisco Bulletin. Austria now favors a. "speedy peace." As we recall it. she also favored a speedy war.—Brooklyn Eagle. When the worst has happened Germany may gladly find refuge in the declaration of the Allies for the protection of the rights of weak na tions.—Newark News. Why not a law providing that in case the accused is pretty she shall be dismissed and the state saved the cost of trying her for killing her husband?—Terre Haute Star. Although some people may not accept Secretary McAdoo'a theory that Germans have been depressing Liberty Bonds in the market, the prevailing opinion in this country is that in due time Liberty Bonds are going to depress the Germans.—New York World. The Appeal To Reason did not have to change its name to The New Appeal when it decided the espouse the cause of the Allies in the war for Democracy. Any appeal to reason seems to be a new enough appeal among a large body of Socialists.— Philadelphia North American. OUR DAILY LAUGH I MODERN GALLANTRY. Hook—l hear you are on the wa ter wagon, old man. Cook—l was, but I got off to giva my seat to a lady. sgj SPEED. "Any news from the boy at train log camp." "Yes. He ■writes us that he's the (astest potato pee'.er In his corn- VERY ATTRACTIVE. Miss Needle—Oh, Mr. Mairnet, yot We so attractive. SURE THING. Roostei>—You said this was coins to be a peach of a day. Duok—Well U la. iEhetung fflljat Pour acU of 1917, all of consider able effect, will take effect next week In Pennsylvania. Two of the laws belong to the code of seven acts rel ative to estates of decedents, another is the state code of fish laws and the other Is the code regulating keeping of dogs in the smaller cities, boroughs and townships. Some min or laws also become operative Janu ary 1, when the fish and dog codes go into force. The acts of the dece dents estate code becoming effective are known as the "wills" act and the "intestate" act. They will be law December 31 and are companions to I the "orphans' court partition," "or phans' court," "revised price," "reg ister of wills' and "fiduciaries" acts, which went into effect immediately upon approval last summer. They are the codes drafted by the com mission composed of Judges J. M. Gest and T. J. Haldridge and Ex- Speaker George E. Alter. Each of these seven acts contains a special clause repealing other acts, the "par tition act repealing 53; "orphans' < ur ,t ' "revised price" act 19; 'wills" act 2fi; "register of wills" act 19; "intestate" act 28, and "fidu ciaries" act 163. The code is the first systematic arrangement of the laws relative to estates since the thirties. The "wills" act makes a number of important changes, among the more important being making uniform the rights of a surviving husband and wife to take against the will of the decedent. The period before death when a will making a char itable or religious bequest may be executed is changed to thirty days. It has been a calendar month. In spendthrift trusts the income of what is known as a ""estui que" trust is made liable for support of a wife and minor children. In addi tion to this law, which affects every one, it is in the "intestate" act that the most important changes are made. It provides the method, of vesting real and personal property of decedents who leave no wills. A man highly versed in such matters said of the changes to-day: "The first to be noted is that the same scheme of inheritance is pro vided for both real and personal property, thus ignoring the distinc tion that existed by which the in terests of the surviving husband and wife were limited in some cases to life estates, while their interests in the personal property was absolute. This change abolishes what is known as dower and courtesy. The next im portant change that may i>" ii"til i' that the reciprocal rights of husband and wife in each other's intestate es tate are made the same. The act also provides that, the estate which the surviving husband or wife is entitled to may be taken as against the will, except the special allow ance of $5,000. The special allow ance of $5,000 heretofore given to the wife where there was no issue and which the husband was entitled to, when electing against a will, i 3 now Riven to both surviving husband and wife in cases of actual intestacy where there is no issue. Tlio dis tinction in the inheritance of real estate between the whole and half blood is also abolished. The right of inheritance in cases of illegiti macy is extended to the maternal grandfather and illegitimate children are legitimatized by the marriage of their parents without the present re quirement of cohabitation; and, lastly. It is provided that no mur derer shall inherit from the person whom he has killed." * * * Announcement of the appointment of district deputy grandmasters of the Masons of Pennsylvania yester day by Grand Master James I!. Krause, of Williamsport, who suc ceeded Col. L. A. Watres, this week, calls to mind some matters of in terest to Harrisburgers. This city has had two Grand Masters in the late Robert A. Lamberton and W. L. Gorpras. Mr. Gorgas served for years as district deputy, to which place William S. Snyder has been reap pointed. Frederic A. Godcharles, Deputy Secretary of the Common wealth, will complete an even dozen years as district deputy under his reappointment. Williamsport, more over, becomes the center of Pennsyl vania Masonry, as it is not only the home of the Grand Master, but of Col. H. 11. Laird, the Grand Com mander of the Templars, an office held some years ago by William M. Donaldson, of this city. Deitrich l.amadc, the Williamsport publisher, well known here, is the new Grand Pursuivant. • Mahlon H. Shaaber, the for.mer Republican legislator from Reading, who died a few days ago, was the tallest man in the Legislature, as he topped Ex-Speaker George E. Alter, with whom he served, by an inch. One day Mr. Shaaber and the Speak er walked out of the House together. The crowd gazed. The Reading man used to head thfe parades around the hall of the House, carrying the American flag, and he recited Lin coln's address at Gettysburg upon a number of occasions. * * * Two missionaries from the interior of China visited the Capitol one day this week. They thoroughly enjoyed the visit, as they were Pennsylva-, nians, and when they left insisted on giving the guide a gratuity. The guide did not want to take it. He did finally. What he drew was a Chinese dollar with a fine profile of Yuan Shi Kai, worth about thirty eight cents, net. • • • These are busy days for James N. Moore, the chief of the state s Leg islative Reference Bureau, because everyone is asking for information on new laws. Mr. Moore sits in the House, of which he is a former mem ber,. during the making and when Jt comes down to the reviews he has the facts all arranged in the back of his head. WELL KNOWN PEOPLE 1 Ex-Judge Charles E. Rice, of Wilkes-Barre, is being congratulated upon the bestowal of the French war cross upon his son. Prof. D. R. Sumstein, of Pitts burgh, says that the examinations of men for soldiers demonstrate the need for physical training. —J. H. Sundheim, prominent Philadelphian, says that every build ■ lng and loan association should sell the thrift stamps. —Joseph Spang, retired Pottatown manufacturer, is being given good wishes on his fifty-second wedding anniversary. —Hampton L. Carson, former At torney General, seems to Be very much in demand for luncheon speeches these days. DO YOU KNOW I —That Harrisburg wheat shipments have grown rapidly In tlio last few years? HISTORIC HARRIS BURG This city was headquarter* tot wagon trains during three yean ol the Civil War.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers