6 HARRISBDRG TELEGRAPH A NEWSPAPER FOR TUB HOME Founded itji Published evenings except Sunday by THE TE LEG HA I'll PRINTING CO., Teleernpli IlulldlnK, Federal Square. "B.J. ST A CK POLE, Pres't & Editor-inChirf P. R. OYSTER, Business Manager. GUS M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor. Member of the Associated Press — The Associated Press is exclusively en titlert to the uso for republication of all news dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited In this paper and also the local news published herein. All rlshts of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. . Member American Newspaper Pub ,JL IT —pr Ushers' Assocla tlon, the Audit R Bureau of Clrcu latlon and Penn sylvania Assoc!- H| SW- (U atod Dallies. • is' & if! fed Eastern office, 881 BlSff IS Story, Brooks & DSOalßllw Fin ley, Fifth ESS S 853 Tiff Avenue Building, -wlaVJlfiß m New York City; -rwir* Western office, W3 i"? Story, Brooks & .Wi aa f Finley, People's £ Gas BuHdlng, Entered at the Post Office In Harrls burg. Pa., as second class matter. carriers, ten cents a 4jeetj?.!. week; by mall. $5.00 a year in advance. TTESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1918 Thrice blest is he to whom is l/iven The instinct that can tell That God is on the field, whtn he Is most invisible. — ANON. A COALITION COMMITTEE IT is the opinion of all unbiased persons that the Government is the better for the recent con gressional probing of the conduct of the war, but it is to be hoped that the committees will make some pos itive recommendations to Congress for the improvement of conditions and the cutting of red tape. What the country needs is not an investi gating committee whose chief pur pose Is to uncover faults and fail ures, but a constructive co-operating committee ready to make sugges tions at any and all times In order that the best results may be attain ed and mistakes avoided. There is no foubt that an investi gfat)dn was greatly needei and that the disclosures will make the War Department more careful in the fu ture. But a sporadic activity on the part of a committee will be only temporary and limited in Its effects. What the war needs is a committee composed of the best business men In both houses of Congress, and of both parties, constantly In close touch with the War Department and all other war agencies, for the pur pose of pushing this war to a success ful conclusion. President Wilson has refused the demand that he reorganize his cab inet. Its eleven members are the name as they were originally se lected on purely partisan lines. If we can't have a coalition cabinet. Congress should rise to the occasion by providing a coalition committee. It would be perfectly easy to select a dozen men in Congress whose busi ness experlense in private life has been far greater than that of the men who compose the cabinet. It would bo easy to form such a com mltteo of men whoso ability would win for them far greater confidence than la enjoyed by the cabinet. It would be easy to form a committee of men whose judgment and energy would be worth far more to the country than the judgment and en ergy of the cabinet. Then why neglect this opportunity to strength en tho Nation in Its war problems. BLOOMERS AND MODESTY THEODORE P. SHONTZ. head of the New York trolley system, defends tho bloomer costume for women conductors on the ground of modesty. What a frightful error of judgment! Doesn't Mr. Shontz know that modesty is a zero factor when women come to the consid eration of what they shall wear? Let Mr. Shontz tell the public that he considers bloomers risque, but wo derfully alluring to masculine eyes, and he will do much to popularize them. Bloomers are ugly and wo men know It. Therefore, modesty be hanged, they'll have none of 'em. TUMULTY'S ASPIRATIONS IT is announced that Secretary Tumulty will be a candidate on I the Democratic ticket to succeed j the late Senator Hughes, of New Jersey. That is Mr. Tumulty's right! and privilege, and nobody litis the right to say him nay. Eut Mr. Tu multy has no ground to drag the war | Into his campaign, and he should be warned beforehand against any temptation to do so. "Support the administration by voting for me," is a wornout election slogan, and Mr. Tumulty will do well to steer clear of it. Republicans are tired of be ing told that to vote against any of the President's numerous liau.l picked candidates is a breach of loyalty, and they are resentful of any effort to force them to vote for Democrats on any such flimsy ac cuse.* They have not forgotten that Democrats in the United States Sen ate have been notoriously remiss in their support of the President in his w>r alms, and that most of his im portant war measures were carried to success by Republican votes. Democratic supremacy in either TUESDAY EVENING, house of Congress has nothing what soever to do with a proper conduct of the war. The million-dollar homo of E. T. Stotesbury is to be loaned to the Gov ernment as a naval hospital. That ought to be a good example for own ers of Newport villas. FROG AND CAMPAIGN IT is not surprising that our Dem ocratic brethren are showing great solicitude over the choice of the Republican candidate for Gov ernor. They realize that unless the Republican party is hopelessly divid ed in the campaign this year there is about as much chance for the elec tion of a Democrat as has a singed cat in a place described by Sherman as applying to war. So the busy little machinists of the negative party now temporarily in power are sitting up nights scheming and plotting in the hope of taking over Pennsylvania as part of their party preserves. They are unhappy over the prospect, of course, but pretend to see in the more or less hectic discussion of certain Repub lican aspirants a chance for politi cal "annexations and indemnities." It all looked quite simple a few weeks ago for our friends, the enemy, but a change has come over their dreams recently and they are now hearing from within their own political household. Scores and hundreds of Democrats are tired of many things and are determined to bring about a change on their own account. They are not going to be herded like sheep or follow like chil dren the Pied Piper. Also, it may be observed in pass ing that there are very definite signs of a more sane attitude toward con ditions among Republican leaders and workers. They have had quite enough of party divisions, and while here and there a candidate will con tinue to strike right and left with his flail of criticism the great body of the party is determined that individ uals must step aside, if necessary, for the welfare of the party as a whole. It is regrettable that there is still so much personal animosity in certain quarters, but the story of the farmer who sold a New York hotel a million frogs in the belief that the noise he heard in the pond back of his barn represented about that many of the croakers, when investi gation developed that there was only one making the noisfe, applies in this case. Mere noise never won a cam paign and it will not do so this year. GERMAN AND SPANISH STUDY of German has been dropped by Rutgers College and Spanish has been substi tuted in its stead. There can be no question as to the advisablity of teaching Spanish, both in our col leges and public schools, for much of our future business will be trans acted with people who speak the Spanish language, but as for the elimination of German, that is silly. Because we are at war with that power is no reason why we should bar ourselves from a knowledge of the language. Indeed, it Is all the more reason why we should be able to speak it fluently. Much of Ger many's success in foreign diplomacy has been through the ability of her agents to use with greatest facility the tongues of their most hated rivals. The more we know of the German language the better we shall be off as a nation, both now and hereafter. German and Spanish are closely linked in the trade cir cles of Central and South America. TRACTORS PREFERRED IT SEEMS hard to understand why those in charge of railroad matters should not immediately accede to the request of the State's agricultural authorities that tractors and farming machinery be given priority rights over other freight not specifically listed as essential to Na tional defence. Pennsylvania has been asked to speed up her annu ally increasing yield of foodstuffs and to raise more grain, potatoes and other things to eat. And this has been called from the high places, urged by the professors and j proclaimed In the public prints. It Is granted that the farm boya either have been taken into the Army or attracted to the industrial establishments by the high pay, and that Keystone State farmers are shy the hands needed to till the soil. And it is predicted that unless re lief Is given that the production of last year in grain and vegetables will not even be attained, much less increased. Farm labor, says an emi nent Democratic farmers' leader of Pennsylvania, is more than fifty per cent, short of what it should be right now. So why, In the face of such con ditions, should the people who are running the railroads say that seed corn and fertilizer shall have pref erence and pass up tractors and other farm machinery, without which, in many cases, the ground can not be prepared to grow food? PRESIDENT AND AUSTRIA P' RESIDENT Wilson's ringing declaration of America's peace aima evidently has struck a re sponsive note in Austria. There never was a bolder or more skillfully written state paper than his ad mirable presentation of the United State's purposes in the war and it just now becomes fully apparent what the President was driving at when he penned this paragraph: The people of Austria-Hungary, whose place among tho nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development. Perhaps Mr. Wilson knew more of Austrian discontent with German Intrusion and aggression than the country-at-large. Perhaps he was only hitting in the dark. Hut at all events he appears to have struck a very rich vein of sympathetic feel ing in the dual monarchy. Beyond doubt his peace message has had a large part iu stirring the people to the vigorous protests and assertions of their own rights and wishes, of which recent dispatches tell. Some times the pen is not only mightier than the sword, but more powerful than a half dozen army corps. I>o£tttC41 > o£tttC4- MW By the Kx-Committecman People who follow politics in Pennsylvania can not help but be impressed by the number of impor tant appointments which have been placed upon the desk of Governor Brumbaugh for disposal almost at the outset of a primary campaign in which the state administration is so much interested that it will naturally use patronage for the ad vantage of the candidates it favors. It has been expected for some time that there would be some removals at the Capitol and men more active in behalf of the Governor's friends named to place in advance of the primary. What the state adminis tration can do in this respect is shown by the moves made just be fore the organization of the last leg islature. Death has given the Governor what, his partisans have wanted for a year, the place of chief of mines. About once a month rumors of de capitation which were industriously used by, a newspaper when other news was dull were re vived. However, Chief Roderick had outridden many a storm and those kicked up by factional winds the last twelve months failed to wreck him. When he died he was chief of mines. The place of chief of mines is one of the most valuable on Capitol Hill In a political sense, if it is decided to use it that way, but the power of the chief may be nullified at any moment by Federal edict taking over the mining industry. Chief Roder ick every now and then used to in timate when the demand for his re moval became acute that any man put In his place would not have easy sailing with the chart given he would be required to use. Ex-Governor John K. Tener want ed to re-organize the Department of of Mines the worst kind of a way, but was not able to do it. The chief obstacle was the salary. Men of the type Tener wanted got salaries as large and larger than the governor and even the assistants, one for an thracite supervision and one for bituminous, who were planned, looked askance at the salary of $5,- 000 which is what was paid Rod erick. The mining industry of Penn sylvania, it has been contended, should be in the hands of a big mining engineer because of the great capital, hazards and importance of product to the industry. The belief is that the Governor will either let the place go vacant for a time or else appoint some one whose polit ical activities will not start the Fed eral Government on his trail. Rod erick was declared about to go so often that there is probably a candi date for the place of chief at the mouth of every mine. It is an inter esting thing in connection with the place that it has always been held by a hard coal region man. The soft coal region will likely have numer ous candidates and it goes without saying that the organized miners will present a candidate or two as well as the, operators. For the present Deputy Chief Frank Hall, who be comes acting chief, will be in charge. He has been with the department for twenty-tive years or more and thoroughly familiar with the details. —ln addition to such places as he may create by removals or refusal to re-appoint at expiration of term, as In the case of a game commis sioner. the Governor has two public service commissionerships, a Phila delphia judgeship, a Scranton regis tration commlssionership, the chief of mines and some other places to say nothing of the complimentary places of commissioners of agricul ture which may become available before long. —There is also the chance that the Governor may have still more places through the supreme court decision in the recess appointments case. If the auditor general wins his contention and the Governor loses, Dr. Brumbaugh can switch the men holding the four offices in controversy or appoint four new men. —The extent the Governor strengthened his faction in the three judicial appointments and various departmental and county appoint ments made the last three months is more or less debatable because of heart burnings due to disappoint ments. There hav§ also been some men leaving the reservation because of the selections in the Reserve Militia. —Friends of Highway Commissio ner O'Neil ridicule the idea that he might resign as highway commis sioner while running for the guber natorial nomination. There are pre cious few precedents for such action in Pennsylvania politics, Democratic or Republican. Besides O'Neil would be foolish to throw away such an asset as the big working force of the department which Is in every county and will be larger this year than ever because of the decision to keep up the roads instead of con structing new ones. —The ostentatious manner in which Palmer Democrats stayed away from the reception Riven at Easton for Congressman Steele in dicates the lovely state of affairs in the 26th district. It is a fact that in every district where the Democrats now have a congressman who does not tains orders from the bosses who meet at Washington to discuss Pennsylvania affairs there is a light on. And where the bosses have ad herents they are being fought. The Democrats are squabbling practic ally all over the state and the bosses are doing their best to keep liquor out of their other troubles. The liquor issue is keeping them awake at night and is the reason why they want no conference in advance of the primaries, but urge Democrats in the name of loyalty to the Unit ed States to let the little ring ar range things at Washington. Meaning of "Chicago" Chicago still retained, in the years of my first acquaintance, something of the tang of the wiM onion which In the Indian vernacular was re sponsible for Its name. (I shud deringly take refuge in this paren thesis to avoid collision with ety mological experts who have spent their lives sherlocking the word's origin. The genesis of "Chicago" is a moot question, not likely to be set tled at this late day. Whether it meant leek, polecat, skunwood or onion does not greatly matter. I choose the wild onion from the pos sibilities. for the highly unscientific reason that it seems to me the moit appropriate and flavorsome of all accessible suggestions.)— Meredith, Nicholson In Scribner'a Magazine. I HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH! ISOMEBODY IS ALWAYS TAKING THE JOY OUT OF LIFE BY BRIGGS "7 "^l*7 R^ HT ) f\AJHV Your \ Ate; ( *%; ME IM TM£ Ui.MTHR-h J LOTLEWHC>) MLy * Ll l^- LE J . v„Jp° ™, s "SS Wr™ V r~ AIOD" TH6*J DA J&ER. OP Sr'Aqe Mou BUT I'LL 1 I %T . • ••*' Burglars- They'll Bt. They'll Burm wonder movaj ' JP ReAK ,w SURe AWD \ T°X V S TR^ K HAPT£MS ; MV (/05UPAMCE STEAL EUERYTH/NJ6 v \' t OPTeM HAPt (S <? V III??? S s 0 —* Me CREPEHAMGG^J Otfer Cta rjojo LK *"pe>vvuu >. Thirty-one farmers residing in the southern section of Blair county aie advt rtising their stock and imple ments. for sale and are priparing to go oiA of business by next Apt'l. Sorr.e of the largest farms in (hat section are among the number. In sufficient help is given as the reason in most cases. A few of tho num ber have made enough money '.o retire. • • "For exchange Fifty Polish workpeople twenty men, thirty girls— for exchange for an equal number of other workpeople." Tne German Socialist paper, Vor waer,B, comments on It thus; "Here are fifty people offered for exchange, as if they were cattle. It Is evtvUni these human beings have as little to sav concerning their dis posHlor as would a herd of oxen." • • Word from Washington says we may have a 2 cent piece. But what could you buy with it? * • • A bellhop passed through the hall of the hotel whistling loudly. "Ycung man," said the man ager, "you should know that it is against the rules for an employee to wnistle while on duty." "I am not whistling, sir," replied the boy "I'm paging Mrs. John's dog " RUSSIAN REVOLTS Three real battles determined that Bolshevism should rule in Russia— the fighting in Petrograd, Kieff and Moscow. Kerensky's provisional government had talked and talked until even that talk-loving country was tired. The workingmen, who are the backbone of the Bolshevikl or extreme radical party, are "prac tical" men —men accustomed to doing things with their hands. So it was natural that they should promptly resort to the argument of arms. Their own capacity for organiza tion was surely directed by more comprehensive ntinds, else the al most simultaneous battles in Petro grad, Kieff and Moscow could not i havo been so swiftly staged nor so | successfully carried on. In Kieff I was told that Austrian officers in uniform openly fraternized with the committee; and British and Ameri cans assured me that they knew for a certainty that some of the artil lery In the battle of Moscow was directed by German officers. This is mere detail, for the whole affair served the kaiser's purpose as thoroughly as though every part bore the "Made in Germany" stamp. • —William T. Ellis in the Saturday Evening Post. Samson's Wife Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me with-1 in the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garmens. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may de clare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her: and she told the riddle to the children of her people. And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heif er, ye had not found out my riddle. —Judges xiv, 12 to 18. Our Unlcnown Neighbors In the early morning hustle Of the city's noise and bustle How we jostle one another. As we push our way along. Some are going, some are coming. Every wheel of commerce humming, But there's something altruistic In the hurry of the throng. For we meet so many faces In the same familiar places. Where we saw them yester-mornlng On the corner or the car; Faces bright, and faces cloudy. But we feel like saying "Howdy!" For we see them all so often, Though we don't know who they are. Yes, sometimes It seems a pity That we call the place a city, And to smile and say "Good morn ing" Would be rude and Indiscreet, But somehow It's sort of cheery. When our task is dull and drc iry, Just to think of folks as neighbors When you see them on the street SOPHIE E. REDFORD. 6 Army and Navy Y. M. C. A. Big Moving Picture Exhibitor MOVIES to-night?" cautiously quiries the American counter part of "Files on Parade" to the high private at his elbow. "Movies to-night?" three times a day the question runs down the long miss shack line of every camp and cantonment In this country. "Movies to-night?" is the stock in quiry in every Y. M. C. A. building at the 200-odd places where soldiers and sailors are training in the Unit ed States. "Movies to-night;" affirm hun dreds of Army and Navy Y. M. C. A. secretaries from Portland, Maine, to San Diego, California, and from Vancouver, Washington, to Key West, Florida. "Hurrah!" is the shout, or "Good!" the satisfied comment of tens of thousands of Regulars and Guardsmen, Sammies and Jackies and Marines all over the length and breadth of the land. It is pretty much as an old-timer, one of these picturesque military in stitutions, the Regular Army drill sergeant put it: "Soldierin' ain't what it used to be. With the in noculatin' and the vacinatin' and the paradin' there ain't nothing to get sick or grouchy about, and y ->u ain't really got any kick comin'. But If you think you have, there's always the "Y" movies to go to, and there you forget all about it." The doughty old soldier was right; soldiering is not what it used to be. No constructive provision was made for the old-timer's hours of leisure. The odds then were all in favor of the ever-besetting in fluences that degrade. Now all that is changed. The Red Cross is on hand to aid in the prevention and cure of bodily Ills; while wherever he gods, the soldier and the sailor finds a new agency at hand to minister to his social, recreational, and religious needs and to stimulate the mental side of life in war time. The new agency Is the Army and Navy Y. M. C. A., with its all in clusive program of freely given ser vice—its hundreds of hu£s and tents, its thousands of secretaries, Its athletic activities, its entertain ments and "suns," is educational classes in English and French and he entire long list of modern aca demic courses, Its voluntary reli gious meetings, its "songs"—and last, but no means least, its movies. E. Mowbray, who heads the LABOR NOTES Organized stationary firemen in New Bedford (Mass.) textile mills have received a shorter work day. Women In Great Britain who have taken the places formerly held by men number a million and a quar | ter. Los Angeles (Cal.) Reed and Rat -1 tan Workers' Union has reduced hours and increased wages. Union textile girls at Mahoning City, Pa., have secured an increase in pay and union recognition. The Susuehanqna Collieries Com pany lias appointed the first woman welghmaster In the anthracite re- i glon. Dumbarton (Scotland) police are to receive an additional war bonus of eighty-eight cents a week. The St. Louis Southwestern (Cot ton Belt) Railway has raised wages seven and one-half per cent, for its railway clerks and telegraphers. Over 100 compositors and letter press hands have left Dublin for England owing to the strike in that city. The Brotherhood of Railway Car Men has secured a ten per cent, wage increase and an agreement from the Florida East Coast Rail road. Atlanta (Ga.) city council has raised wages $lO a month for 1,440 municipal employes who receive $125 a month or less. The Railway Mail Association is the latest postal organization to af filiate with the A. F. of L. Wages of Paisley (Scotland) coal carters havo been advanced from $lO to $10.75 weekly. Of 14,645 members of the Feder ation of Leather Workers of Ger many, 1,746 are women. motion picture bureau of the Army and Navy V. M. C. A. In the South eastern Department, states that at present 614 movie shows are given monthly in 17 camps and naval sta tions in these seven states. Over 80 moving picture machines are used. By summer it is anticipated that the number of shows to be given monthly will pass the 1,000 mark, booked fron\ Atlanta, Geor gia headquarters. The Southeastern Department is now running 3,070,000 feet of film monthly for the entertainment of our boys in khaki and blue. That Is each month the Y. M. C. A. will show in its buildings in this Department the equivalent of a film 581 miles long; a picture capable, in other words, of spanning the dis tance from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi river or across the en tire Southeastern Department. From the New York City office of the Community Motion Picture Bureau, which is the selecting and distributing agent for practically all the films shown by the Y. M. C. A., between four and live million foot of film is the total recorded weekly as being distributed through its eight offices, one of which is in At lanta, Georgia, serving the South eastern Department. When the full quota of Army "Y" buildings called for are in operation, seven and a half million feet of film will be re quired weekly. If one man were to watch a pic ture the aggregate length of time that all the soldiers and sailors in the country watch the movies every two weeks, that man would still have a century to sit and watch, assuming that he lirst sat down be fore the screen at the beginning of the Christian era and had remained there eight hours a day, six days a week ever since. With the American Expeditionary Forces, too, £he Red Triangle movies are shown, secured "over there" mostly from European producers. Many Is the dull hour, the homesick heart and the disconsolate "Sam mie' that is relieved by the click, click of the projectors crank and the alluring magic of the screen. The Army and Navy Y. M. C. A., through the Community Motion Pic- ( ture Bureau, is now showing more film at more places every night than' any other one agency; it is the big gest moving picture exhibitor in the world to-day, and all of Its shows are free to our soldiers and sailors. WESTWARD Westward the happy islands hide Where the Greeks knew their heroes went To take their hire for toil, and bide Rememberirtfe much, in all con tent. And if folk phrases still hold truth — Strong meat within a warding rind — Out of war, the chosen youth Pass West, and walk amongst their kind. Their elder brethren there, I think, Change tales for tale with manly joy j And Iron names pass over the drink: Verdun Propontls Aisne Marne—Troy. Ulysses scans the tangled lines A sapper draws, of trench and bridge; And laughs to hear of burrowing mines That cleared and won a bloody ridge. Jason, hearing from sailor men Terse, salty gossip of the fleet, Feels in his fist an oar again, Argo leaping under his feet. And one who breathed of middle air And died l.n flight—at ease upon A wind befriended hillock there, Holds converse with Bellerophon. Folk phrases still hold truth; their i clay— Shell smashed, gas livid left i behind, Our mother takes and uses: They Pass West, and walk amongst their kind. —William Laird In Contemporary Verse. Had Nothing on Her A noble lord when leaving one of the official motor cars asked the woman driver to tome back at a certain hour. She replied, "All right" The noble lord then said, "I am accustomed to being called 'my lord.' " The woman driver re plied: "And lam accustomed to be nj? called 'my lady.'"—From the tjondon Observer. FEBRUARY 5,1918. EDITORIAL COMMENT"] In time of fuel shortage, wooden heads are in danger. Columbia State. "England Is planning to stand ardize woman's dress," says a news dispatch. She might end the war she has on hand before starting a new one.—Macon Telegraph. Fifteen Newark youths enlisted in the Navy to avenge the death of a chum lost on the Jacob Jones." The ratio ought to interest German math ematicians.—New York Sun. Reports of unfavorable camp con ditions fail to make as much impres sion as they would if the average sol dier did not look so much happier and healthier than the average civ ilian.—'Washington Star. "Only a defeated Germany could accept the new terms," say the Kai ser's press. Perhaps it should be explained that in the consideration of terms this factor has not been overlooked.—Newark News. And Just as you 'say that you will not change your style of living a starving baby dies in France.—Flor ida Grower. lOURDAILY^UCHI DEMANDS. "Why should he need all thai money ?"'llo'a not a family man." "No, but he has a very expensive set of habits to support." NOT ECONOMICAL OF SUGAR. "See here, Miss Pounder, In this letter I dictated to you you have spelled sugar 'Suggar.' " "How careless of me! I left out the 'h'." A HIGH LIVER. "Oh, mamma, baiby is trying to oa' a lump of coai." "Mercy! That child never got his expensive tastes from my side of the family, I'm fur " MAN AND HIS APPETITE. "Has your husband told you thai you must economize on the table?" "Yea, But he never says a word about It Just before dinner." fft \^^JL tetoutng i&ijat Men connrected with the Stato Employment Bureau, the Publia Safety Committee nnd the Federal Government say that one result of the combination of these agencies has been the virtual disappearance from business of our picturesque and sometimes rather unscrupulous acquaintance, the labor scout. The scout's business was to get men to take new jobs. When there was a big construction operation or a shortage of men for some special work and lately to furnish hands for the big works engaged in. mu nitions the scout was in demand. He always managed to get the men, even if he did not make them stick and sometimes the men went after him with clubs. According to a man who has given much attention to tlie problems attending mobilization of labor the tactful manner in which Director Liglitner, of the State Em ployment Bureau, took tip the mat ter with the big employers and the confidence the heads of big works had in Edgar C. Felton, who devised the plan adopted by the Committee of Public Safety, brought this about. When the big shipbuilding opera tions began there were signs that the scramble for men which mark ed the munitions boom of a few years ago would be repeated and the scout who robbed railroads, contractors and small mill owners to get gangs for the big works only to have some other big works' Bcout come along and take most of them away was in his heydey. But it did not take the heads of the big es tablishments long to see that they were in danger of being worked and they sent their chief scouts to the state agencies. The shipbuilding people did the same thing. And now when a man shows up at a state office who is fitted a place is found for him where he is most needed and when the shipbuilding gets to a point where men qualified in certain lines the Public Safety authorities are able to call on half a dozen big works for the men and they are sent. Each establishment's head knows that Mr. Felton'is draw ing on his rivals, too, and the re sult is that men are drafted and things go on without disturbance. Jn other words, the labor problem as far as mechanics and unskilled labor are concerned is being work ed out and probably the farm labor situation may yet be solved. Death of James E. Roderick, Stato Chief of Mines, leaves Dr. Nathan C. Schaeffer, State Superintendent ot Public Instruction, as the only head of a department of the state govern ment whose service goes back more than lifteen years. Dr. Schaeffer's term as Superintendent of Public Instruction began almost a quarter of a century ago and he has more commissions than any one else 011 the Hill. The only rival to him was the late Adjutant General Thomas J. Stewart, who had been head of a department, but not always the same department, for a longer per iod. General Stewart was Adjutant General for over twenty-two years, longer than any one else in the his tory of the state. Dr. Schaeffer came into office on June 1, 1893. Mr. Roderick became Chief oL' Mines on May 1, 189'J, and held the place continuously. The ranking state official in point of service after Dr. Schaeffer now becomes State Li brarian Thomas Lynch Mntgomery, whose fifteenth anniversary as head of the Library was on Sunday, Feb ruary 3. Then comes Commissioner of Forestry Robert S. Conklin, who dates from 1904; Commissioner of Health Samuel G. Dixon and Su perintendent of State Police John C. Groome, now on leave, being later appointees, but not much. The deaths within a year of Secretary of Internal Affairs Henry Houck, Ad jutant General Stewart and Chief Roderick, all officials old in service, is a striking coincidence. George D. Thorn, Chief Clerk of the State Department, Is the recip ient of many letters these days be cause he has Just Issued his pamph let telling the dates and facts to re member in connection with the elec tions of this year. Some of the people who write to him have done so for years and they are inclined to be humorous. One wrote for a copy of "Thorn on Election*," while an other asked If ho could be spared a couple of copies of "Thorn's Poli tical Gospel." Next thing Mr. Thorn will have to be getting out auto graphed editions. • Harrisburg friends of Louis Sea ber, who for years was one of the correspondents of the Philadelphia North American in this city, will be Interested to know that ho is now about at the top of the Boston branch of the big Ayer advertising house. Mr. Seaber handled legisla tive sessions and reported the Capi tol trials and when one recalls the way ho went after a story or fol lowed out a lead in the troublous days of a decade ago in Pennsyl vania politics his success can be easily understood. WELL KNOWN PEOPLE ~ —John Wanamaker Is spending a short time In southern states. —Frederic C. Penfleld, former ambassador to Austria, is spending this month at Atlantic City. —Daniel Young, well-known Scranton mine superintendent, suf fered a broken leg while making In spections in a mine. —Howard Heinz, the State Food Administrator, believes the way solve the poultry shortage is to rai£ chicks and sell them to people raise. —William T. Ellis, who is just home from Russia, says that the way he got out of that land was because he ran across a man who used to sell him newspapers. —E. T. Stotesbury, the banker, will spend the latter part of Feb ruary at Palm Beach. He has given up his country mansion near Phila delphia for a military hospital. —Alba B. Johnson, head of the State Chamber of Commerce, will be the speaker at the Allentown chamber's annual dinner. | DO YOU KNOW —That It Is odd that Harris burg dors not have one of the numerous automobile factories? HISTORIC HAKRISBURG One of the chief industries of Harrisburg about 1800 was repair ing wagons for the steadily flowing trains of people going south and west. Even He Died [From the Detroit Free Press J There was a man of our town And he aras wondrous wise, Ho never foiled tr boll the germ And iTrattw) the flies; He faithiully did all the thing* That folks advise of late To prolong human life, and yet He died at ninety-eight! —Kansas City Stax.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers