10 HARRfSBURG TELEGRAPH A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Founded 1831 Published evenings except Sunday by THE TEI.%CiR.\I>H PRINTING CO. Telegraph Building, Federal Square E. J. STACKPOLB President and Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER, Business Msnager GUS M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor k. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Executive Board J. P. McCULLOUGH, BOYD M. OGELSBY, F. R. OYSTER. GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Member of the Associated Press—The Associated Press is exclusively en titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited t.o it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local ntfcvs published herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. t Member American Newspaper Pub lishers' Associa tion, the Audit Bureau of Circu lation and Penn sylvania Associ ated Dallies. Eastern office. Story, Brooks & Finley, Fifth Avenue Building New York City; Western office. Story, Brooks & Finley, Peoale's Gas Building, - Chicago, 111. Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg. Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a week; by mail, J5.00 J a year in advance. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1918 If we knew our brother a-s God knows him, we should never dare to despise him any more.—G. H. Morri son. REACHING THE CREST WE ARE unquestionably ap proaching, if we have not al ready reached, the crest ot the influenza epidemic. The disease first showed itself seriously in the training camps. Then it spread to the cities, towns and countrjslde Now the deathrate has begun to tall in the camps and the number of the new cases is on the wane. That would indicate'a coming recession of the outbreak among the populace \n general. , . , Unquestionably, the bright, brisk kwiumn weather is having a good effect. Then, too, people are more careful than they were before the epidemic became violent, and the effects of the quarantine regulations imposed by the health authorities are beginning to be felt. The dis ease will not pass in a day, but we may expect to see a steady and marked decrease in the number of new cases. In a few weeks the epi demic will be a mere matter of his tory, except that our health authori ties will have a new chapter of data for study and new measures to out line in case of another such out break of influenza as we have had. TIME FOR A CHANGE PENNSYLVANIANS. more per haps than the citizens of any other State, realize how impor tant it is to bring about a change in ; the control of Congress. As a result of the Republican disruption sev eral years ago a group of men with no experience in business or state craft were placed in power at Washington and the country has since learned its lesson. Little men from the South, coming from com munities where big enterprises are ! not known, men of the Kitchin j type, have been wabbling along in ] the chairmanships of important i House committees, dictating with j ruthless and arbitrary power legis- | lation that is discriminatory in its character and sectional to the last degree. Nobody with half an eye ] can help seeing the favoritism that has characterized the enactment of revenue measures and the regulation of commerce for and in behalf of the South. It is obvious that the cotton planters are running things and it is just as obvious that the revenue measures have been drafted in the interest of the same section of the country. Of course, we should raise no sectional issue at any time, espe cially in the time of war, but we are not responsible for such an issue. That responsibility must rest upon the gentlemen of the south who are now in the saddle and who are rid ing their brief power to death. Involving as it does, legislative control of the many problems hav ing to do with the prosecution and financing of the war, and, we fer vently hope, the far-reaching prob lems, domestic and international, growing out of the war's termina tion, we cannot urge too strongly the importance of the Congressional campaign in which we are now en gaged. In these absorbing times there is danger that we may forget the past and neglect consideration of the future, but if we recall the expensive failures of former Demo cratic administrations, and condi tions as they existed under this ad ministration during 1914 prior to the outbreak of the war, we must realize the importance of the No vember election. There is everywhere a determi nation to win the war, but as firm a determination is prevalent in all quarters that the war must be won by deeds, not words; that hesi tancy must give way to action; that the burden of financing the war should be equitably and wisely dis tributed; and that ruthless extrava gance and continued neglect of preparation to properly cope with the mammoth problems that will FRIDAY EVENING, llffiMl 1111 l ' " OCTOBER 18. 1918. " follow the close of the war will not be tolerated. Republicans everywhere are united, and while In this contest we are pitted against a thoroughly or ganized and well-oiled political ma chine backed by thousands of politi cal officeholders, a careful survey of the outlook promises Republican success if we but put forth the nec essary effort to acquaint the coun try with the facts. Here in Pennsylvania, the bulwark of industry, it is important that our people give attention to the elec tion of members of Congress who will not penalize industry and com merce, but will treat with ordinary fairness a Commonwealth that is providing at least one-tenth of the manpower and resources of the United States in the world struggle. Christmas advertising this year is going to expedite holiday purhasing materially, so that our merchants will not be burdened with the terrific congestion that has heretofore been incidental to Christmas shopping. Decimated forces, as a result of the war and the epidemic, make early shopping this year a necessity and it should be the pleasure of the buying community to aid the merchants in every way possible. THE GERMAN GOTT THE Kaiser seldom makes a pub lic address or announcement without mouthing the name of his "Gott." The sycophants who write about him invariably repre sent him as solemnly religious and as a student of the Bible. Yet his study of it could not have been pro found, or, if profound, it has re sulted in a mental twist that is pe culiarly Teutonic. Surely the Kaiser must have read the first of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The "Gott" of the Kaiser, whose! earthly vicegerent he professes to be. cannot be the God who gave ; this commandment to Moses. Tha Gott is supposed to aid the Germans in all their atrocities, to smile upon | their barbarous conquests, to be con- j tent with the Germans' belief in thair superiority, to be in harmony with their mission to exterminate all other peoples, and to sanction their j doctrine that the state is a divine institution and that every act of it, j however cruel or dishonest, is justi fied. This is the Gott the Kaiser I worships and whom he had taught' his deluded subjects to worship'. Thus the Kaiser and his nation j have had this other god before them —not the God of peace, and mercy | and truth, without whose notice not | even a sparrow falls to the ground. | Before the Children of Israel made j for themselves a molten calf and [ worshiped it the anger of the Lord . waxed hot against them. Shall this | German blasphemer and his idola- ; trous nation, then. escape His wrath? They will not, for our Lord —the Jehovah of the civilized na tions—has Himself set the penalty: "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous j God, visiting the iniquity of the fath- J ers upon the children unto the third j and fourth generations of them that j hate me." Throughout all history God has employed human instruments for His works upon the earth. For years the Germans have vilely plotted to subdue all other peoples and have besought their Gott for his help. Breaking other Mosaic command ments, they have killed, they have stolen, they have born false witness, and they have coveted. They have had this other Gott before them, be lieving that he was hilping them commit all these sins, and as truly as there is a God in Israel, the Al lied nations are His instruments to bring upon the Kaiser and his people the punishment set by the com mandment. Unto the third and the fourth generation the iniquities of the military rulers of Germany shall | he visited. They cannot escape them, j Already they are in the terrible shadow of God's wrath waxing hot against them. They shall be a na tion in sackcloth and ashes and to I the end of time they shall be abomi ! nated. All who favor Improved highways in Pennsylvania must remember that the ballot for the November election will contain a proposal for a highway loan that will be used in establishing a decent road policy after the war. We must not forget that with the re turn of millions of men, the best way to show appreciation of their sacrifice will be in some constructive program of employment that will immediately give them something to do and aid in the readjustment of conditions. GLORIOUS NEWS TrlE news from Belgium is glor ious. Ostend freed from the invader, and without a hilow struck in defense of the harbor itself.' The plight of the German army is clearly shown in its retreat from its sea bases in Flanders, to which it might have been expected the armies of the Kaiser would have clung as long as possible. As long as they had their flank upon the ocean and the big harbors at their command, the Germans were free from the fatal turning move ments Foch knows so well how to execute, and had the advantage of warring with U-boats on the ship ping of the Allies without great dan ger to their undersea craft. Both on land and sea momentous changes in the war may hinge upon this hurried vacation of the coast of Bel gium, which will soon be held by the British and Belgians all the way to the Dutch frontier. It is a little more than four years since the newspaper correspondents were graphically describing the thrilling scenes incident to the de parture at the British transports from Ostend, loaded to the gun wales by all who could get away from the approaching Germans, and it was proper under the circum stances that a British naval officer should be first ashore on the return of the refugees. No one Incident of the recent allied vlotorles pic tures so vividly the turn affairs have taken against the Germans as this retirement from Ostend and the surrender of Lille. Here and there are examples of the foolishness of men who place their political and partisan opinions above the principles which they profess. A particularly exaggerated case is that of the York county Prohibitionist, who has no hope of election whatever, but stands in the way of a Republi can candidate for the State Senate, who is an avowed advocate of the na tional prohibition amendment and all other measures designed to restrain or eliminate the liquor traffic. His Democratic opponent is avowedly "wet," but notwithstanding this situa tion, the Prohibitionist persists in running, against the advice of those who at heart favor the amendment and realize that every vote diverted from the Republican candidate is di rect aid for the Democratfc nominee. We doubt, however, whether many sincere anti-liquor voters will be de ceived by such tactics in York county or elsewhere. follttctlK By the Ex-Commlttccman | Influenza may be the means of pre- ] venting many Pennsylvania soldiers | from casting their votes in the mili tary camps next month. Just when lit had been worked out that the men iin the camps and cantonments and (training stations in the United | States could cast their votes, al though men on overseas duty would not be able to do so, the epidemic has come along and prospects are that the whole plan to take the votes of Keystone State men in na tional service may be jeopardized. At first it was the plan of the Gov ernor to appoint men to take the votes of all Pennsylvania soldiers, but the War Department practically declared that sending of commis sioners would Interfere with mili tary operations and in an opinion by William E. eller, first Deputy Attorney General, it was held that the state could cheerfully conform to the rules of the supreme military command. Preparations were then made to have the votes taken in this country and Adjutant General Frank D. Beary asked commanders of all camps to forward hint infor mation as to the number of Penn sylvania men in service on Tuesday last. Some reports have come in, but information has also been re ceived that some camps are quaran tined and that many soldiers have influenza. Right on top of this condition has come the report that some of the men offered appointments as com missioners to take the votes have been reluctant, to leave home be cause of influenza conditions pre vailing in this state and the situa tion at the camps. The whole prop osition is more or less uncertain about the Capitol and the Governor (has not yet announced what he is [going to do. —Members of the Democratic state executive committee are to meet in Philadelphia tomorrow to discuss vacancies on the Congres sional and Senatorial tickets and plans for the campaign. Some tours by candidates the last two weeks are a possibility. —Ralph E. Smith, who has fig ured in several of the Democratic powwows here has been made chair man of a committee in charge of de tails of the Democratic campaign in Allegheny county. John P. Bracken i is chairman of another committee. | —'Farmer" Creasy, who was taken ; ill here last week, is recovering at his home. The "Farmer" and some i of his Democratic friends are getting i ready to attack the road bond issue ! amendment. I —Attorney General Francis Shunk i Brown has issued a letter to the ; newspapers of the state commending j Justice Alexander Simpson, Jr., to ! their support. "My former law part ner, Alexander Simpson, Jr., now serving on the Supreme Court, is a candidate for election to that court in November of this year," he writes. "I commend him to you as specially well qualified for the duties of the office and will appreciate your active support for his election." —The Philadelphia North Ameri can makes an attack upon United States District Attorney Francis Fish er Kane to-day because he refuses to take steps against Cadbury, the Haverfprd pacifist. Cadbury is just now "getting his," as the saying goes, in the newspapers for his peculiar utterances on the subject of America and the war. Mr. Kane has been noted for his own course in office which is hard for some people to un derstand. —Representative S. A. Whitaker, of Phoenixville, has been commend ed for service in France. Mr. Whit-' aker has been a prominent figure in the last three legislative sessions. He was nominated for another term, but declined owing to service in France. In all probability he will be chosen to higher honors. —New Castle's registration is over 1,500 short of what it was last year. Erie also reports a shortage. In both of those industrial cities peo ple are letting politics go. —Much sympathy is being ex pressed for Senator Sproul because of the death of his son-in-law, Cap tain H. J. Klaer. —The Lake Erie and Ohio river ship canal board is said to contem plate asking for an appropriation to continue its work on the ground that the war shows the need of water ways. —The city of Bethlehem is about to annex Northampton Heights and 3 1-2 square miles of Hanover town ship, which will take in the villages lof Shoenersville, part of Ritters- Iville, Hanoverville, Rosemont and (Elliott Heights. The city recently an- Inexed North Bethlehem, Macada, Al [toona, Edgeboro and East Bethle hem, 12 square miles. —Joseph Fletcher, a Philadelphia judge of election has enlivened things by a tight with a policeman and has been arrested. It was about [the only sign of life in Philadelphia politics. May Be Yet That Hindenburg line fails to halt the hosts of civilization. While be coming pretty flexible, it has not yet been twisted into a halter.—Rich mond Times-Dispatch. French Made Easy The French word "etats" Is a freak of a word, though its freak ishness is slightly marred by the matter of singular and plural. Spell it backwards and you have its meaning in English.—Boston Tran script. AIN'T IT A GRAND AND GLORIOUS FEELIN'J AFTKW ' YOG BAv/6 ©OUGHT ALL ' - AND TVfS NEXT NIGHT YoO - A WD WHEN You QO H6ME ONW'>t>d POSSIBLY CA-U Go Tt> Thb THeATeR AND You Go OUER ctY. R . *vf^ AUD YOG HEAR, A <STRONG SOMEONE TALKS B£TWEEM A*AIN box CtaTY LOAM SPeeCH AND ACTS and YOU GET FIGURE You CAN A FO D You mentally Go ovep Your all Thrlld - another Bond ACCOtAJTd AGAIN TO NO AYAH. ;T H^ YO M°ec R / 5 sM ffi r oTeCTb c*N *oV AIN'T IT A eR-R-R-RANO TO LIMIT AND YWR ONE M®s AND GLORRR<°v;S UTMOST- AND .STILL. Tfihl" mbnt plan /V. IFT y FEE*-"* 4 '-?* yl<?alt see clear £O. yy j A WEEK PDP HUJ BONNIWELL AND BOOZE [Front the Latrobe Pennsylvania Bulletin] The action of the Anti-Saloon League, in endorsing Senator Sproul, the Republican candidate for Gover nor, was not necessary in order to make clear the clean-cut distinction between the Republican and the re pudiated Democratic candidate, on the question of prohibition,—or in fact on any question;—yet the en dorsement will be welcomed as a further formal recognition of the sterling qualities of Senator Sproul, in contrast with the discredited Bon niwell whose own party would not have him, and who, in this day of war, continues to prate about the doctrine of personal liberty as ap plied to strong drink. Senator Sprout's squarely-defined position on the national prohibition issue will win him thousands upon thousands of dry Democratic votes, —while thousands of Democrats who even though ordinarily they might be wet, will shun Bonniwell who has been repudiated by the Democratic state committee, and who is running on a ticket of his own making. It is difficult to see where Bonni well and those who have taken places on his new party ticket can command much of a vote, in Nov ember, yet all those who would de plore the placing of Bonniwell in power, are urged to take nothing for granted, respecting the ap proaching election. Bonniwell is making a plain, bold bid to secure the vote of the liquor interests. He is their candidate. He is championing their cause. Nobody wants to take anything for granted, in a situation like that. THE SPIRIT OF METZ While our American boys are on the Metz front, winning glorious victories, and at a time when every heart is set on the capture of Metz, that city of quaint, beautiful old French life, that barbed-wire strong hold of German oppression, the translation of Maurice Varres' great classic, "Colette Baudoehe, the Story of a Young Girl of Metz," by the Baroness Huard (George H. Doran Co.) comes in the most timely fash ion. This work, appearing in France in 1908 (though now for the first time in English) was the most powerful propaganda that the French had yet achieved. In the form of a romance the story clearly shows how the love of little Colette could never be attuned to that of her Prussian suitor, how the ugly modern German buildings jar with the exquisite refinement of Metz's 18th century structures, how Kultur aand French culture will not mix in Lorraine, how France can never rest with the German thorn in her side. TO THE GERMAN EMPEROR Now that avening armies Hurl back your shattered lines, You lift your cheating proffers And tune your subtle whines; The flail is raised to smite you And now before it fall You would avert the whip-lash In fate's stern judgment hall. Across the fields of Belgium You leave the spoor of hell, We trace the Beast-retreating And mark his actions well; You launch a rain of shrapnel At wounded men in boats The while you cry us "Comrade" With blackly perjured throats. We have been stern and patient, We have withheld our hand In that firm-lipped appraisement You do not understand. Now you shall have our answer In storm of belching shell; "No covenant with devils. No compromise with hell!" —Private Willard Wattles, Brigade Surgeon's Office, 164 th Depot Brig ade, Camp Funston, Kas. The Yellow Streak (N. A. Review's War Weekly) The expected has happened. The Hun shows the yellow streak. We were recently discussing the prob able psychology of the defeated Hun; which was an unknown quantity, seeing that for a century the Hun had known no defeat, but an un broken succession of victories. It occurred to us then that he would probably turn coward, though we were willing to consider the pos sibility that he would fight with the proverbial though futile fury of a cornered rat. In that concession we did the Beast unmerited honor. There is no fight in him in defeat. He turns yellow, all the way through. Stand by the War THE Republican party says to the country STAND BY THE WAR. j in this declaration of purpose is j included the statement which the (Democratic party seents to have 'adopted as a slogan—"Stand by the President." Stand by the President in support of all war measures is a duty and privilege which the Republicans have assumed as a matter of course, as to all that the great office im plies, and in the performance of which duty the Republican party has functioned far more fully and efficiently than the Democratic party, and in which course we shall persist without waver or shadow of turning. The Republican party says STAND BY THE WAR. This includes more. It includes. Stand by the President; it includes stand by every public official, high (or low, measured by the thorough ness with which that public official stands by the war; it includes stand by the government; stand by the country; stand by our Allies, every |one; stand against our enemies in this war, every one; stand by our soldiers in France and the soldiers lof our Allies; stand by every effort | for WAR SAVING and WAR GIV- A GHETTO ARTIST No more surprising instance of the born artist has occurred for many years than the case of Rose Cohen, author of "Out of the Sha dow" (Doran). Perhaps the native tire of the Russian temperament has something to ,do with it, added to the adaptability of the Jewish race; but in the end art is always inexplicable. Starting life in the peasant class of Russia, emigrating to this country at the age of twelve, slaving in the sweat-shops of New York's East Side, with no educa tion and no leisure from drudgery, Rose Cohen has yet produced a book of exquisite beauty and artis tic restraint. From the beginning she was one of those who see, and whose imag ination records what they see. Not the least interesting portion of her book is the picture of her early childhood in Russia, full of fresh and vivid color; and she carries the same sense for detail throughout her life in this country. She could not keep awake at night school after working in the shop all day. But gradually she learned to read and then to write, i putting down sentence after sen tence only to tear it up, struggling toward self-expression. The story of her attempt to read Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," inspired bji a Settle ment House lecture, is both brave and pathetic; she gave it up in de spair, and tried "Little Women" in stead. But the perseverance with which she saved pennies for books from the corner drugstore, the open-mindedness which led her to study Christianity at the hospital, and the imagination which asslmr lated and interpreted all experience, however trivial or sordid, go far toward explaining the intellectual breadth as well as the rare sin cerity of her autobiography. BREAKING THROUGH [From the Chicago News.] With almost mathematical preci sion Marshall Foch is preceedlng with his tack of destroying the Ger man armies. Those armies are still capable of desperate fighting, but some of them have been fought into a very perilous position by the ad mirable strategy of the generalissi mo of the Allied forces. Not until he had involved the Ger man in gigantic struggles from the North Sea to Rhelms did he begin his menacing attack by French and American forces from Rheims to Moselle. Here the swift successes iof General Gouraud and General | Pershing brought to the German i High Command visions of complete disaster through the prospective 'severing of certain German lines of communication absolutely vital to the : armies farther west. Consequently jthe sectors from St. Quentln north iward were hastily denuded of their .best fighting divisions, which were i hurried to the region of the great est danger. The break through that has now come between St. Quentln and Cambral was the logical result. I since the British, French and Ameri can forces in that region were pre- I pared to seize the opportunity and [exploit it to the full. IN'G in this country; stand for the Fourth Liberty Loan and every other wgr effort; stand for the cause for which we fight; stand by the "irre ducible minimum" of peace terms so splendidly enunciated by Senator Lodge; stand by the war aims of this country to vindicate American rights, interests and honor and to forever end Prussianism in the world and the oppression which it typities, and to make certain for-, j ever the inability of militarism, ! Prussian or otherwise, to disturb iagain the peace of the world; stand | irrevocably for a peace with vlc 'tory only and against a peace based ion a compromise of principles which 'would make a sacrilege of our sac rifice to be made again by our grandchildren; stand for the prep iarution now of a sound and proper I foundation for a policy of recon struction after the war which will | fulfill the economic needs and rea 'lize the spiritual Ideals of our peo |ple, that the greatest good may icome also to our own country from, 'and after, our supreme sacrifice. ! All this we say—STAND BY THE ! WAR—and for this purpose we ded icate the last of our blood and of our treasure. —Extract from speech by Will H. Hays, Chairman ltepub lican National Committee, Grand Rapids Mich., Sept. 26, 1918 i The President at Politics [From (fo\. Harvey's War Weekly! Mr. Wilson had occupied the White House less than a year when a dele gation of three hundred working women waited upon him and sought his support for a proposed amend ment to the Constitution granting universal suffrage. After listening j courteously to five short appeals, he I declined the invitation upon the | ground that he was no longer free !to express his views upon subjects | which had not received "the gigan j tic consideration of those for whom lam spokesman." He had set him self "this very strict rule when Gov ernor of New Jersey," had "follow !ed it as President" and should "con |tinue to follow it as President." ;For that reason, he added, he was "shut out by my own principles" from voicing his convictions. lie had no doubt, however, that the visit would "make a profound im pression" upon the country. Ordinarily so gallant a remark from a Chief Magistrate would have served its purpose of closing a some what trying incident, but the leader of the delegation, Mrs. Glendower Evans, of Baltimore, could not re frain from recalling to the Presi [ dent's mind a certain conversation which she had had with him at Sea Girt while he was a candidate. "I thought from what you said that you were in favor of our cause," Mrs. Evans declared with no little spirit, and, after a slight pause, added bluntly with a slight tinge of bitterness, "You were gunning for votes then." "I was much freer to express my opinion then than X am now," the President rejoined, still affably though rather lamely, and the Inci dent was closed, indeed, with a sharp click. Since then, the Democratic party having given "organic consideration" to the question and having consigned it to the States for decision, the President has regained his freedom to demand Federal action, and again, as in 1912, in the words of Mrs. Evans, he is "gunning for votes." Because that is what the spectac ular appearance and speech in the i Senate chamber meant, a grand stand play for women's votes in the icoming elections; nothing else in the i world. OUR DEAD Our dead shall not have died in vain; By all their pain and sacrifice. We will maintain their costly gain, Their truth shall smit the Prince of Lies. By all their love for this bright world They fought to free from deadly stain, By the bright flag about them furled Our dead shall not have died in vain. —Elmer Ellsworth Brown. Why Is a King? (From the Boston Globe) Why did the King of Bulgaria go to Germany, to Bad-Nauheim? Why is the King of Bavaria going to Bul garia, to remain Ave days in Sofia? [Why la a king, anyrrag* By BRICCS They Watch, Our Holy Dead (From the New York Times) On Flanders' fields, in Picardy, in battle-torn Champagne, Where fair Piave rolls its flood from off the Lombard plain; Where Serbia joins Albania's heights and Greek and Bulgar meet. And Holy Land and Tigris see the Turk in just defeat, In Russia's vast despairing land— how far the tight is spread! And over all, that growing host— the legions of the dead! Among that host are shrinking souls of child and wife and maid— Dishonored souls, that cry to God that vengeance be not stayed, And, with the souls of those who fought, they watch Attila's spawn Invite a peace to stay our hand and make those souls a pawn; They watch the butcher's ghastly course, his hands each hour more red, And see that hand held out for peace—they watch, our holy dead. And shall we say they died in vain, those friends that stemmed the tide, And close our ears to solemn pleas from those who bravely died, Shall shrewd old men, in secret met, decree these deaths were vain. Then get them home and plan to ' start that holocaust again? "No peace," they cry, these dead of ours, "but peace for which we bled." Remember, they are watching us, I those legions of the dead-r- We owe a debt of honor to those sacred, holy dead! —Thomas Henry Ryan. fOUR DAILY LAUGH ,E £a™?E oF NATL RE. .'here's beauty in the thun- v der"s roll _rV "^TvnWi And in the /&N. ocean's llljll 'd rather hear That hits the base ment ' AVAST—THERE. Bug—My there is a stiff breeze on leek toniehtl THE CIAS9IC KICK. **What is tho llaalt In this club?" "The food." JttNGLE. Ist Monk— What's old nfjji camel sore *1 J f about now?. l '®" ® . 2nd Monk—l J&jL <v dunno, he's al- CK W./fK ways got his back up about Jj|p iEimratg (Ehal While the present outbreak of in fluenza Is a far more serious epi demic than that which swept the city in 1889 and 1890, the l'act re mains that Harrisburg people have in the century and a half of the ex istence of their community met and conquered far more serious attacks of contagious and infectious dis- V ease. Indeed, if one could read the newspapers of bygone days in Har risburg it would seem that the city was not suffering very much and the restriction of business, cancellation of school sessions and general "shut-" ting down" would appear rather in cidental compared to the drastic steps undertaken by common con sent long ago. There were no health officers in those days, but there was a town spirit that brooked no non sense and demanded, and received, a co-operation that turned out most efficaciously. From that old news paper beacon of this place, the Or acle of Dauphin, comes an account of how when the people of the town thought that a milldam and pond on Paxton creek was to blame for J, the spread of the epidemic which \ closely resembled yellow fever they t proceeded to destroy the dam and pay the owner the value. From the account books of that first sanitary improvement of llarrisburg which have come down to us we learn that there was an assessment made on every property owner for the cost of the property and that every one paid it, while when it came to tear ing down the dam it was accom plished in spite of shotguns. That was in 1793 or thereabouts. In 1802 there was an outbreak of cholera here. In the twenties several out breaks of fevers which swept the country came here and the town has had smallpox and various other af flictions along with the rest of Penn sylvania cities and come through be cause its people kept their heads ahd turned in and helped the doc tors and the sick. The newspaper accounts of other years are an in spiration to the people who are fight ing influenza now. • * Some friends who have been reading the accounts appearing in I this column from time to time about the project for improving the navi gation of the Susquehanna have (called attention to an old advertise- * ment which appeared in that ances tor of the Harrisburg Telegraph, the Oracle of Dauphin, which bears on the subject. This advertisement appeared in August, 1795, after a meeting had been held by men from various counties of Pennsylvania and Maryland for the purpose of or ganizing the work of removing ob structions from the Susquehanna. It reads: WANTED—A number of per sons who are acquainted with blowing rooks and removing ob struction in the Susquiehanna river, between the mouths of the Swatara creek and the Ju niata; those that can be well recommended shall have gener i ous wages. Attendance will be given at Harrisburg during I court week for making con , tracts. i * * s The project of making the river navigable in 1834, to which refer l ence was made yesterday, seems to have been a successor to the scheme ' r launched away back in 1790, and • after the Legislature had refused to spend any more money, to have • wound up in the halls of Congress. ' The AVar Department assigned an * engineer to make surveys and esti mates which was done very car*v , fully, but Congress was more iw -1 terested in improving the navlga- t tion of creeks in other parts of the i country, as it was until very recently , and to the great advantage of the , Southern States, than in voting , money to make a channel in the > | Susquehanna. The era of the canal was just beginning then and the i development of the railroads which l succeeded it put a damper on water transportation in this section of the , state. However, as Governor John K. Tener 9aid one day when view i Ing the old canal locks and works at Clark's Ferry, "Some day people will wish they had that old canal back again." * • * I "I know the first disposition of a person asked if a telephone call is ' essential is to get mad, but a little reflection will demonstrate what it means," remarked a man connected with telephone operations yesterday, "There are many people sick in ex changes. They are short-handed and if the women, and men, too, who call up people on the telephones in morning and afternoon hours to chat will just defer that pleasant oc cupation for a week or -so it will help all around. There are many important calls for doctors, drug gists and nurses which are actu ally delayed because someone is talking something else than busi ness on the wires. You newspaper people can help a lot if you will call this to attention of everyone." • * * One of the interesting things ' about the business of the State Water Supply Commission these days is the number of applications being made for approval of construction of dams. They are held to indicate a revival of interest in water power in the stute. This week applications for no less than six dams were approved and others are pending. Some of the dams are for coal companies which want to prevent coal from being washed away, but most of them are for power purposes. Half a dozen dredging enterprises were also approved, some of them to deep en channels. The commission is rather chary about granting per mits for filling these days. , [ WELL KNOWN PEOPLE —Alan C. Dodson, active in coal production in the Hazleton district, says that doctors going Into the army are having a serious effect in his district which is short on medi cal men. —C. C. Dickson, one of New Cas tle's best-known businessmen, will retire after fifty-one years of busi ness. —Judge M. B. Stephens, of Cam bria county, is taking an active part in the Liberty Loan in his county. —Dr. J. H. Sigafoos, of Bethle hem, has been named as district ' deputy of the Elks for that section of Pennsylvania. —Senator E. F. Warner, coal ad- mlnistrator in the Carbon regiffh, has asked people not to burn up ties or sills except for fuel. —Col. Asher Miner, commanding the Luzerne county artillery, and mentioned for his bravery at Fismes, used to be a member of the Legis lature. —Mayor A. M. Hoagland, of Wil liamsport, is taking an active part i in fighting influenza. He has been busy assembling tents and cots. T DO YOU KNOW —That Harrisburg silk is being used in making flags? HISTORIC HARRISBURG —During the Civil War every church and schoolhouse in Harris burg was used to care for wounded soldiers. _
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers