12 f HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH ' A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Founded 1831 ,'li. ' ' = < Published evenings except Sflnday by THE TEl.%£illM'H PRINTING CO. Telegraph Building, Federal Sguare E. J. STACKFOLB President and Editor-in-Chief F, R. OYSTER, Business Manager GUS iL 6TEINMETZ, Managing Editor 4. R, PICHENER. Circulation Manager Execatlve Board J. P. McCULLOUGH, BOYD M. OGELSBY. F. R. OYSTER. GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Jfember of the' Associated Press—The Associated Press Is exclusively en titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or net otherwise credited In this paper and also the local nAs published herein. Jl.ll rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. m Member American v| Newspaper Pub- Assocl a edi Jljj Eastern office. uSlff Q&& B Avenue Building ~ Chicago, m!" Entered at the Post Office In Harri3- bcrg. Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a week; by mail. $3.00 a year In advance. Not failure, but low aim, is crime. —Lowell. ■=-= i THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1818 I ! ANTIQUATED AND COSTLY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS of Pennsylvania are evidently de termined that the present an tiquated system of assessment shall be abolished at the first oppor tunity. Under casting laws there ig in each Duuphtn county dtstr ct and in each of the wards of Harris burg a realty assessor for county . purposes who is elected by the voters. With scores of men esti mating property values, the results < are just what might be expected. It is said the cost of county assess ment in Dauphin under the present system is about $15,000. Some time ago the commissioners ©f the State, in convention at Pitts- , burgh, adopted a resolution urging the next Legislature to abolish the election by the voters of real estate assessors and substitute therefor the creation of the office of county asses- ( sor, with assistants, to be named either by the county commissioners or county court or both in Joint con- 1 ference. Almost any system would be better than the present crude arrangement. The same Lcgisla- 1 ture should also wipe out the exist- < lng system of tax collection, which , is not only expenslvee, but lncon- | venicnt and unsatisfactory. Now is , the time to introduce practical re- ( forms with a view to efficiency and ( ecbnpniy. 1 In order that Belgium and France , should be in position to recover from ( the awful devastation of the war. Ger many ought to be compelled, under I the peace settlement, to send back to ( the devastated regions all the ma- , chtnery that may be necessary to give Northern France and Belgium the op portunity to restore their own in- 1 dustry and recover in some measure 1 their lost industrial life. It was the full intention of the Bun not only to steal all the machinery that he could lay his hands on, but to destroy what . was left in order to prevent any com petition after the war. He should be and all tlie materials necessary for the rebuilding of France and % Bel gium. even to the demolition of plants made to disgorge eVery bit of the loot, end buildings in Germany. FULL STEAM AHEAD X~rj ITH real public spirit the City! \A/ Council und City Solicitor Fox j' * are meeting the expectations of! : tlto community with respect to the j great monumental viaduct at State 1 street and the incidental treatment of the Capitol Park zone. Harris burg is more than ready to do its ' part in co-operation with the State at all times. 1 The widening of Third and Wulnut streets is the first step and there is definite assurance that the un sightly poles and wires in the same district will go in the near future. It is a pleasure to all who are inter ested in the progress of. the city to ' observe the evidences of a rapidly- I reviving public interest in the un-1 dertakings which were more or less j put aside during active hostilities. I Hardscrabble, necessary changes 1 in the park zone, especially the com-! pletion of the parkway under the Reading railroad near Paxtnng.and all the other matters which have beqn among the Improvement plans will now go forward under full pressure. While the city is preparing to , speed up 'lts civic activities so as < to provide employment for all re turning soldiers und those who may 1 be thrown into idleness In the reduc tion of war industry, the State, j through the Board of Public Grounds and Buildings, has also de cided to go ahead with its bridge building program and with the con struction of highways. Also, there Is a disposition 1 every- 1 where on the part of individuals and *' corporations to get busy, so that the . time lost while war was the chief t '• -_ r. • ■ - ■ ' * / * , • . * *V# THURSDAY EVENING .. . . HARRDSBURG CftftflV TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 12, 1918, > business will be made up in the addl [ tional energy that should be thrown , into normal activities. It is not Improbable that the Kaiser has tried to end his cursed life, but it may be doubted whether A has enough , nerve in his yellow makeup to kill : himself. As the circle of retribution narrows-about him the poor imitation of Nero becomes more and more ut terly contemptible. JOINT PUBLIC BUILDING COUNCILaiEN und county com missioners took a long step j forward yesterday when they j got together In a seiious effort to i j erect a joint City Hall and Court- j 1 house. For years the need of such a "building has been evident. For a long time a joir.t home for the city and county seats of government has been discussed. But though there have been urgings, there has been no'action until yesterday. The Courthouse Is not only anti quated and tpo small for the growing needs of the community, hut it Is little ' better than a flretrap. Experts whoj have looked it over have expressed wonder that it has escaped so Ion?. Fire in a single section would sweep It from one end to the other. Hun dreds of thousands of dollars worth of records that could not be re placed If destroyed arc In constant danger of flames. Every property owner and taxpayer in the city and county would be the loser If-the Courthouse should be burned. Beside, the county ought to have three courtrooms and modern ac- I commodations for the many who , use the building. The present struc turn is too small. Insanitary and in j convenient for the county's uses, and it is a mere makeshift so far as the city is concerned.' . No municipality of Harrisburg's size has offices so widely scattered. Part of the officials ore quartered in the Courthouse and the remainder in office buildings for sauares around. They ought to be concentrate!. < Hundreds of dollars a year could be | saved in rentals, to gov nothing of 1 time, comfort and convenience, ifl< they were all under one roof. . 1 The logical solution to the prob lem is a joint building. Counctlmen i and county commissioners are on the right track. They will have the j support of everybody who knows anything about the rna'ter. The next j conference ought to he most Inter- j and producthe of helpful i suggestions. i I Mayor Keister will have the ap- j proval of the entire community in his i determination to squelch bootleggers • and the rrooked trafficker in booze. It J is bad enough under ordinary condi- 1 tions to suffer the operations of these J crooks, but it is infinitely worse at a i time when soldiers are returning to 1 their homes and should be saved the drink temptation in this period of re- ( action. Mayor Keister and the en- ' tire police force should 'be on their i toes to promptly punish every infrac tion of the law. and. If necessary, a J few additional detectives, who are not 1 known to the bootleggers, might be ( employed with advantage for the next f few weeks. ' i A JUST CLAIM i WHEN the United States en- < tered the war the Shipping j Board requisitioned about j 285,000 deadweight tons of Nor- 1 wegian shipping contracted for or under construction In this country. J The claim of the"Norweg!ans for re- t imbursement was deemed exbesslve and as a consequence no payment J whatever has been made to them. 1 The enormous destruction by Ger man submarines of Norwegian ton- ( nage makes it imperative for that t country to replenish her shipping ' facilities as soon n? possible, and t the withholding by the United t States of payment for the shipping that we took from her is a very t great handicap. I It ought not to be difficult for J the Shipping Board, with the mil- t Hons at Its disposal, to arrive at £ some sort of understanding with { Norway. A considerable portion of i the sum she claims should be paid 1 hre, and the balance could be made j the subject of fourther exchange of t views. The President and his Sec- ( rctary of State should find time, in < the midst of their peace treaty ac- f tivitles, to see to It the Just 1 debts of the United States to ] friendly foreign Nations are < promptly liquidated in order that ' our present amicable relations with [ those countries may be Continued. Great Britain stood between Ger many and the world with her magnifi cent fleet, and It could hardly be ex- , pectbd that she would consider for a t moment any change In policy which t would deprive the Island empire of her < only big stick. Most Americans will ' agree that John Bull has been a { mighty good friend of Unfile Sam in this big shindy. " 1 If President Wilson has spurned an 1 invitation to visit Germany, as we 1 are advised through wireless news 1 .channels, he has manifested an ap- ' preclatlon of American sentiment | which sonfe people were beginning to I believe he failed to properly senae. 1 l>oea iuU j By the Kx-Committeeman i Mercantile appraisers will be , chosen in most of the counties in Pennsylvania this month, the choice in those not under special acts be ing in the- hands of county com missioners. The appraisers will as sume their duties next month and .! Auditor General Charles A. Snyder J has served notice that he will close ' | ly scrutinize their returns on busi •) ness during the coming year, i J " r ' >e General says Jte will 'j demand more than mere formal i statements by the heads of firms I as to business done and that if the i reports do not show increases pro portionate with the business believ ed to have been done this year in many of the counties of the state, especially where there were activ ities "speeded up" because of the war, he will have his own investiga tions made. The mercantile licenses were a 1 big share of the license revenue of the state last year. —Men active in Pennsylvania politics say that some determination in regard to the speakership will be ! reached between now and Christ- I mas. While not much is being print j ed in t/ie newspapers about the mat j ter it looks as though the tide was turning in favor of Representative Robert S. Spangler, of York. Rep resentatives George W. Williams, of Tioga, and John W. Vickerman, of Allegheny, will not be candidates, but probably support Spangler, who is a "dry." The men who fought Spangler for renomlnation must feel pretty cheap these days. / —The speech of Governor-elect Sproul in regard to the Philadelphia city charter seems to have met with much favorable comment. The met ■ ropolitan police Idea has been gen ! erally commended. —From all accounts the dinner given to Governor-elect Sproul at Washington last night by Congress man J. Hampton Moore was a gath ering which may have dome wide effects. The new Governor intimat ed that he wanted an end of fac tionalism and the belief is that he is intending to prevent a row over the Philadelphia mayoralty. Senator Penrose was one of the chief speak ers and the Vares and many of their friends were on hand. —Harry T. Wills, chief engineer of the Y'ork fire department, has been asked to resign, taking effect January 1. The prlnaipal complaint is claimed at York to have come from the State Fire Marshal's De partment, Wills being a deputy fire marshal and his alleged failure to make out reports of fires occurring in his Jurisdiction is given as the chief cause for his dismissal. His successor will In all likelihood be George S. Kroll, a former president of the State Firemen's Association, who is president of the Laurel Fire I Company and a deputy internal revenue collector. —ln his speech at the Five O'clock Club in Philadelphia Gov ernor-elect Sproul, says the Phila delphia Inquirer, "took occasion to smilingly comment upon the fact that of all the positions which he will be called upon to fill there jg none for which he has had more' names submitted to him than that of Lieu tenant Colonel upon his military staff. There are several close per- i sonal friends of the Governor now serving in that capacity and their reappointments are assured. There are some who may be classed as t>urely personal selections of Dr. * Brumbaugh and who are not likely to expect to be reappointed. There are others who for one reason or another may think they should be permitted to continue to wear the uniform which came to them large ly through personal considerations or the friendship of some one else who is potential politically or oth erwise. They may be kept guessing for a while." —Dr. Edward Martin, much men- i tloned for Commissioner of Health, has been made emeritus professor i of surgical physiology at the Uni- I verslty of Pennsylvania." —John F. Short, United States 1 Marshal for Western Pennsylvania, who has been ill, has returned to 1 his office. 1 —ln an editorial on Governor- 1 elcet William C. Sproul and chances 1 for social welfare legislation, the Philadelphia Public Ledger re- 1 marks: "No Governor in recent I years has taken office possessing the i widespread confidence of all clusses t in the same degree as the Governor- I elect. This confidence is based on a < knowledge of his character and i ability and a realization of the ex- < tent of his experience at Harris- i burg." I —Scranton is now having its se ries of raids by Federal agents to < clean up places which city officials t did not eradicate. —Norman M. Badorf has been 1 made Burgess of Lititz to succeed ' G. G. Diehm, elected to the Legis- 1 lature. i —The manner in which the teach- < ers and their friends are going after 1 the salary increase ns a war emer- I gency measure is commencing to f make legislators sit up and take no- ' tlce. It will cause some figuring by I the state fiscal officers. 1 —Fred T. Mac Donald, of the Au- < ditor General's department, chair man of the Chester county Repub lican Committee, has taken the in itiative for the formation of a marching club of Chester county for the Inauguration, and there has been a hearty response to his call for or ganization. The famous West Ches ter Pioneer Corps, No. 1, which has participated in many inaugural pa- ! rades and took part In historic pres- ' identlal campaign demonstrations has been Invited to act as escort to 1 the citizens' delegation from the 1 county. This is recognized as one ' of the best equipped and best drill ed marching organizations in Penn sylvania. Their uniforms are re- ' splendent with color and back in t the days of James O. Blaine, "the I Plumed Knight of Maine" the West * Chester Pioneer Corps cut a big < ogu re in all of the important politi- 1 cal processions held in Philadelphia and vicinity. £ "Made in Germany" \ Senator Lodge proposes that we 1 shall follow the example of Canada, 1 and compel every tradesman who 1 sells goods obtained from Germany since the war to advertise that fact conspicuously in his shop and on f his stationery. That is an.aftmlr- ' able plan, the only better one-—per- ' haps not practicable—being to make * it a penal offense to sell such goods < at all. We already require all im- < ported goods to be -plainly marked i with the name of the country from which they come. Senator Lodge's proposal would be merely. $ logical ( and highly desirable extension of c the same salutary principle. Let • It J>e enacted, as it certainly should t be and the public will do the rest, i N. A. Review's War Weekly ( THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ARE THE HARDEST ByBRIGGS I HATE To Take a " MAOEL ti STucrc oM *\ FELLOWS. <SiRL AWAY -SDAe o* J Good eveoi!d<i\ /hollo / excuse we \ FROM HI r-A • vuHtraj He's r " Shc >s<iEe / MABCL- nJUST EPDie- / A moment ] A lOLDTCR IN ( ** CALL'/ \~ 1 HEAR TUEL I Too- BUT y lar J \ ( / Vo ° ' f Yss 90T \j / .TOE .it' fBoY-COfvE / HE LSN'T / J 0 - (j SACK j / u l)K ,r, Rf ; 0 I Right UP- / To fro~ PRAwce- / I CM uOw . JOC I'M .STAY \ -Won'T Yoo J I YEARS Ae / WM6H DID ijBov -OH Joe V Jtay?"*- • .The hardest \ Ybu fie T IM- SO HAPPY. PICAS* CER / / N0 \ V J The Competent Farmer The competent farmer has finished his chores And has finished his dinner as well. He is through for a time with the world out of doors, And he loafs by the fire for a spell. The logs erickle-crackle; the sparks fly in flocks; Aspiring smoke heavenward goes. The farmer for ease is displaying his socks And a pair of inquisitive toes. The competenent farmer has autos and sich But he'd rather have comfort than style. In dollars and happiness both he is rich Ay, peaceful the close of a hard working day— But out In the gathering gloom An owl sings a mournful and sinis ter lay That breathes of dispair and the tomb. The farmer Is making his plans . Fop the morrow 'as gravely he smokes. The children's bright faces he lov-* ingly scans And smiles at their innocent jokes. He knows what he owns, dollars, % acres and flocks, And he loves every critter and fowl; t And he don't care a darn for the holes in his socks And he doesn't give a hoot for the owl. GRIFF ALEXANDER. ] THE PATH OF WISDOM (From the Kansas City Star.) The appeal made by Gen. Leon ard Wood In his address to the Kansas City Bar Association last night for universal military train ing and adequate preparedness for war, was, in fact, an appeal for peace. "This is the end of the present 1 war," General Wood said, "but I j do not believe there are any so Utopian as to believe this Is the last war." The trouble which this country will encounter, even in the light of the war Just closed, is that there are too many Americans who are so Utopian ns to believe that this is the last war. It was this dream i of universal peace which found us in the unfortunate condition which I General Wood pictured when the j war came upon us unprepared*to the I point of being ulniost Jielpless. It was our failure to heed the ! counsel of such wise fnen as Gen eral Wood, and our willingness to follow the advice of those who hoped and that there would be no war, which found us wholly unfit to enter upon a war which we ourselves declared. - Unless we take heed now to such counsel as General Wood gave in his | Kansas City address last night we . will again drift into the future, j aimlessly and purposeless as to any security the conditions we ■ faced in April, 1917, when we found it necessary to go to war and unable to meet the emergency. LABOR NOTES Canada has a woman professional undertaker and embalmer. It is planned to build a Ave or j story modern office building as a j labor headquarters at Tucoma, ' Wash. Office space for all the unions | In the city, with auditoriums and 1 halls for regular and committee 1 meetings, will he provided. The State Council of Defense has ' issued an order fixing a daily wage j jjcale In South Dakota. The order , provides that ten hours of field work i shall constitute a standard day. The [ order shall not apply to permanent j labor hired by the month or year. The Montreal (Canada) Trades ; and Labor Council has protested j against the opinion expressed by*Blri Robert Rorden, Dominion Premier,! that strikers come within the oper ation of the Idlers' acL and can be I prosecuted. The Central States Co-operative Society has Issued a call for a con sumers' co-operative convention to be held In Springfield, 111., starting September 24. One of the purposes of the meeting will be to - start a | campaign of education among workers. Aberdeen (Wash.) Centrul Labor Council has asked that the State in dustrial Insurance act be-so amend ed that men working on boats after they are launched he given the same nrotection accorded workers In oth er industries in this state. , The New Industrial Creed THE following creed was adopt ed by the business men of the country in Atlantic City last week: "The convention heartily endorses in letter and spirit the principles of the Industrial, creed so clearly and forcibly stuted in the paper read to it Thursday morning by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and urges upon all units of industry where they may not now be em ployed—the application of such principles. Without approving or rejecting his particular plan or machinery, the pririciples advanced by Mr. Rockefeller hre as follows: "1. Labor and cupital arc part ners, not enemies; tlieir interests are common interests, not opposed, and neither can attain the fullest measure of prosperity at the ex pense of the other, but only in as sociation with the other. "2. The purpose of industry. Is quite as.much to advance social well-being as material Well-being, but in the pursuit of that purpose the interests of the community should be carefully considered., the well-being of the employes us re spects living and Working condi tions should be fully guarded, man agement should be adequately rec ognized and capital should be just ly compensated, and failure in any of these particulars means less to all. "3. Every man is entitled to an opportunity to eurn a living, to fair wages, to reasonable hours of work and proper working conditions, ,1 a decent home, to the opportunity to play, to learn, to worship, and to The Horseshoe Won I The print of a horseshoe in soft | earth will always have the power to stir a young Missouri soldier, even if he lives long enough to for get the sounds of war. • "I don't know yet how I went through a shelling on .Friday, the 13th, without getting hit," writes Lieutenant Lawrence Settles, of Fayette, with an artillery company of the 89th Division. "The Roches had been putting j over a lot of high explosives. We had 'been digging in at night, keeping in | shallow shelters all day and trust , ing to luck. 1 know one thing, how- I ever—a little jest about the super stition of the old horseshoe I my life once <tn that day, unyhow. [ "My sergeant and 1 picked out a low fold in the ground for tenipor j ary shelter and were proceeding to | ward it, when I saw the print of a horseshoe in a shell hole. "Well," I said, "as this is Friday, and the 13Hi, Sergeant, let's sit on the old horseshoe. "We crept in and a minute later I the low fold we had first sturted for : was blown to the winds. That was I one time, you can bet, I was not i ashamed of having been supersti tious." No Bolshevism For America [From the New York Herald] The conviction of I. W. W. leaders a few months ago has been followed by a chastened tone among the more extreme socialists and Bolshevist ! agitators, which would seem to in j dicate realization on their part thatt | the United States has little use for ] them or their doctrines. The reason I for this is plain Bolshevism has been i able to gain a hold only in those 'countries where the governments had i not ut heart the true interests of the masses of the people. j NEW ENGLAND APPLES [From the Boston Post], It will perhaps surprise a good | many New Englunders to learn that 1 today for the first time In 30 months a shipment of the fine apples of this , section will leave- for port of Boston ; bound for England. Owing to the ■ embargo our government placed on the frlut In February, 1917, no apples j have gone across since then. It is I a good|y cargo of apples that slides lout of the harbor to-day—l3.UUo barrels of them, ail selected fruit. A Crystal Trick !■ [From the Brooklyn Eagle] 1 Dissolve in hot water as much alum 1 as it will hold, and placo In the *o ' lutlon any object you* wish to cover with crystals. 'Set the solution in a uulet place and in a few hours crystals of alum will be deposited on jail the objects. In this Way baskots made of Irtui wire may be covered | or dried grasses may he made to Iqok |as tf laden wltli frost. V love, as well as to toil, and the re sponsibility rests as heavily upon industry as upon government or so ciety, to see that these conditions and opportunities prevail. "i. Industry, .efficiency and initi ative. wherever found, should be encouraged and adequately reward ed, arid indo.ience, indifference and restriction of production should be discountenanced. "5 The provision of adequate means for uncovering grievances, and propiptly adjusting them, is of fundamental importance to ,the suc cessful conduct of industry. "6. The moat potent measure in bringing about Industrial harmony and prosperity is adequate represen tation of the parties in interest; ex isting forms of representation should be carefully studied and availed of insofar as they may be found to have merit and adaptable to the peculiar conditions in the va rious industries. "7. The application of right prin ciples never fails to effect right re lations; the letter killcth and the spirit maketh alive; forms are wholly secondary while attitude and spirit ttre -alt important, and only as the parties in industry are animated by the spirit of fair play, justice to. all and brotherhood, will any plans which they niuy mutually work out succeed. "8. That man renders the greatest social service who so co-operates in the organization of industry as to afford to the largest number of men the greatest opportunity for self-development and the enjoyment by every man of those benefits which his own work adds to the wealth of civilization." | POILU I [The Phila. Evening Public Ledger] I Since the latter part of 1914 the French common soldier has been I called a doughboy. The word poilu | means hairy. It cdmes from the 1 French word poll, meaning origin | ally the hair of an animal. It is also | Sometimes used to mean the beard lof a man. When the soldiers were j in the trenches they let their beards ) grow and they did not shave when they wept home on leave. Their friends called <them "poilu," or hairy, just, as we In America are in the habit of calling a thin, slender boy "skinny" in a jocular way. When the slender boy appears his play mates say, "Here conies skinny," and when friends of the soldiers saw them shack home in their villages they said, "Here comes hairy." Some of the I'fench dictionaries give "brave" or "strong" as a derived meunlng of poilu because the nmn of great physical strength is usually hairy. But the application of the • word to the French soldier in the great war arose from its apt descrip tion of his unshuven state. , The French speak of tjielr "brave poilus," which they would not do If they were using poilu as a synonym of bravo. Why Meat Is High One does not need to be a patri arch to remember the happy days when he could buy tlie choicest por terhouse steak for twenty cents a pound, and otjicr meats In propor tion. But those who think the war is responsible for all of the Increase would do well to realize that had there been no war at all we might be as badly off. In the last fifteen years the estimated rlB In popu lation is about 20 per cent, .but In the same period there has been a decrease of two per cent, in the to tal of beef cattle hfire. The result is obvious In the Increased cost of meat, of shoes and leather. Nor is beef the only meat supply that has not increased in proportion to the population. It is only a part of the whole agricultural problem. "Back to the lund," or import laj>or, sums up the possible alternative so lution. And how many uro really go ing back to the land?— Washington Star. \ Old Mystery Solved A commercial traveler, on leaving ; a certain said to the pro prietor: "Pardon me, but with what material do you stpff the beds In your establishmentT' "Why," said the landlord proudly, "with the best straw to be found in the whole country.'V * "That," returned the traveler, "le ! very Interesting. I now know w.hence | came the' struw that broke the j camel's back."—Ttd-Bits, London. I The Law We know tha> the law ]s good. If! a man use It lawfully.—l Timothy, I. e. i Clear Up Cyclop's Riddle [From Phila. Evening Ledger] The most singular of all mys teries—the loss of the great collier Cyclops—ls dismissed in a few uni forming lines in Secretary Daniels' extensive report of American naval activities in the war. The naval de partment professes total ignorance concerning the fate of this valuable vessel and its human freight Unless the government is hiding something—a proceeding wholly in defensible now that hostilities have ceased—its attitude now puts the so lution of the riddle squarely up to Germany. If she knows the answer she should immediately be made to disclose it Just as she has revealed the location of mines and shown her hand regurxling submarines. Not only the relatives of those sailorswho disappeared with the ship but the public in general has a right to information on a subject unparal leled in modern sea annals. Henry Hudson, adrift in a small boat in a bay that now bears his name, was presumably shipwrecked. So was the diuinllcss Frenchman adventurously expisudog>tlui*Fju:i&.- Back fifty years ago a vessel that failed to reach port could be au thoritatively asserted to have fallen a prey to the perils of Iceberg, fog, reef or stoini. But waves do not de stroy staunch up-to-date craft such as the Cyclops. Icebergs are non existent in the Tropical Atlantic, where she vanished. Echoes of a col lision would reverberate. There is the faint possibility that she was captured, but in that case something would almost certainly have been heard from the prisoners by this time. The hope that there are survivors is scant indeed. But unwarrantably meager is the Navy Department's handling of the case. If it has conjectures it should 1 divulge them, and following those should come rigid inquisition of the- German authorities until the truth is i knowji. WISE SAM GOMPERS i j ItFrom the Philadelphia Bulletin.) , Forty leaders of organized labor j in New York City, including some of j national reputation, listened yester l day to a protest from the lips of I Samuel Gontpers against the pro- I posed plah for the creation of a I Labor Party as an active factor in nutiona! and state politics, an<i ad journed without faVoralile action. The president of the American Federation of Labor, of native | shrewdness and ability, which has : been markedly developed by long I years of experience, deserves at j lentive ears from who. are 1 younger in their service find who are quite apt to borrow their ideas-from , abroad, rather than to form niem , on the basis of their own knowledge and best Judgment as to cond,tions | in the United States. There have been "Labor" parties, I under one name or another, in the United States, but hardly their" names are to be found 'on the reo ] ords to-day, much less any list of their activities. Labor's interests, however, have not been neglected Either of the greut political factors is, in itself, a labor party,dependent upon workers for its strength,* and if they were not representative of labor ID their organization, -would necessarily be mindful of Its cause | as a matter of practical politics. Mr. Gompers knows the potency lof labor as a factor in American j politics, and doesn't propose to sac ! rlflce It by the separation and isola tion of that force for independent - actipn. ***** , / TRADE BRIEFS i The leading Portuguese merch ! ants of Bahai completed the organ , ization of the Portuguese Chamber !of Uonimerco and Industry. The | object of the association is to pro mote and develop 'commerce and I Industry und to establish better re , lutions between Brazil and Portugal [ Food products and chemical pro ! dufcts are the needs of a man in I France. | in the Province of Bengal, India, - 26,486 animals died of contuglous I (lisrases during the year %917-18, as : against 8,415 in the previous year. ! Cotton and woolen clothes are the needs of a man in France. • A wholesale merchant in Switz erland is in the market for cotton goods, textiles and miscellaneous goods. These goods are desired for the wholesale trade for the island of Cyprus and goods are to be' shipped direct. I Spark plugs and motor- parts of j different kinds are desired by a~ ! man In Arabta. '> As the demands for klleuyu' grams in South Africa Is Increasing, the Union Government has issued a pamphlet dealing with its rtiaract*ri istlcs and • advantages as a cattle . fodder. iaroutttj (Eljat The days when the newspapermen sent to a strange town for a atory bought a cigar for the hotel clerk or tried to buy tigs from the grocer byway of opening the way for local information are passed and now a man can get a line on a community by glancing through a telephone directory. And he can get started without setting tongues wagging. Some newspapermen have told how they got to know the names of the "main people" by lying In bed read ing the telephone directory In their room in the hotel ornamenting the big town quite a few mtles away from the place where they had to go to work. And by the same token you can get a line on the way your town is growing if you only use your wits and cease thinking that news papermen people have uncanny ways of finding out things because they use their eyes. It used to be said that Leonard H. Kinnard made the Bell Telephone directory here im pressive for its lists of names be cause he studied the city directory first and got to know what the town looked like. Now the telephone directory gives you a pretty fair line on how Harrlsburg Is growing. I don't mean by the number of sub scribers, but by where they live. It was quite a shock the other day in hunting a number to find alongside of it a street address, which by the simple process of recalling what numbers began at the streets which have names and putting it beside the numbered street, gave a loca tion which a year ago was the mld dio of a l|eld. And then you get on Uerry street which makes yau think you are out in West Philadel phia where the march of the num bered streets is so fast that the en gineering corps have to put on extra power in the mornings to catch up with them to start work. Or you will find that a number devoted to memories of a store where you bought some things you liked a few years ago is now a tier of flats and that a corner out on Allison Hill where you got out of an automobile one evening two summers ago and bought ice cream at a Sunday school class festival is new a drugstore. The'days have come when wo are commencing to refer to numbered streets in the twenties and thirties without wondering where they are and putting just a bit of local pride into the enunciation of the high number when we have a stranger , With us, but there is more than one Harrisburger who has felt like tak ing to Wlldwood when a visitor finds that he does not know the strepts or the numbers of the attractive section known as Cameron extension and that his recollection of Twelfth street stopped when the days it did not go much below Lochtel Hill school. I know two men of affairs In this city who bought a nice din ner for some one else because they insisted that a certain number would be a brickyard. That was a few years after George Shreiner got busy in the section above North street and east of Fifteenth. The last recollection some people have of a big property near the Reservoir is that there used to be an orchard somewhere near there where they forgot p:.rt of the decalogue a few y hours after attending Pine Street church services. That it is Bftllevue park and one of the most pleasant sections may serve to bring this iMirm-fr long ago a rather active businessman who .was look- w lng over a layout of the city tn City Engineer Cowden's den figured out that a certain street corner was right in the middle of the Calder farm and that it is now Cloverly Heights. ■ • • * • Sonic of the biggest magazines in t.he country carry advertisements of indispensable office appliances made in Harrisburg and I casually .men tioned the address given as the office jto a friend last evening and he in j formed me that there was no such | street. But there is, physically and I officially, and what is more there is ! A plant which is a great asset to ! Harrisburg and as fit a subject for | local pride as Harrisburg engines, I boiler plates, book binding machin- ' Cry or any of the other things which we have been making here for years and which sent our fame around the world before the Columbian Exposition. " People are just com mencing to refer to Schuylkill, Wiconisco, Mahantongo and other streets in the upper part of the Tenth ward the way they did some twenty or more years ago when the downtowner used to ask where Camp street came in and what was the idea of cutting a street through a furni and calling it Seneca. They are gradually getting out .of their heads that Pentwater is not the name of a trolley park but of a highway that will be lined with homes some day before long. Pak tung avenue brings up the thought Of oi>e of the most charming resi dential sections with plenty of shade, a wide roadway and handsome homes instead of the idea of a merry go round. Some people would be# surprised to know that Royal Ter race is built up instead of tacked up on the side of a real estate office and that darkest Sibletown is now a Balkan community and already giVinjj signs of a change. Reily and the other uptown streets have Jumped the railroads and cleared Paxton creek and are getting ready to scale the bluff where we almost got a college for Harrisburg about two decades ago. Things are going to move around this city when the Brunncr plans start working and there will be a new list of develop ers who will take up the work of GusWildman, Baughnian, Girvin Grove, young Joe Shearer, Gettvs 'Alec Miller, Shirk, Strohm, Chris l.ong, and the other builders . who added many an attractive house to Harrisburg and turned vacant lots Into telephone numbers. The moral of this lecture is that there may be pleasant days coming this month after all and a Sunday afternoon walk is a mightly aid in getting to know your own town. f TOL KNOWN PEOPLE | . —Morris I* Cooke, former dlrec- * tor of public works of Philadelphia, has written a book on civic affairs. H. G. Hinkle, the Altoona city manager, is now working on plant to readjust the olty's business to chdnged conditions and new laws. > [ DO YOU"KNOW That sonic of llarrisburg's plans for municipal improve ments gave the idea to towns in Western Canada? ftISTOIUC HARRISBURG Members of the Penn family re- A sided here for years after the French and Indian war and were on inti mate terms with Harris and Maclay,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers