Harrisburg telegraph. (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, December 14, 1918, Page 8, Image 8

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    8
IURRISBIIRG TELEGRAPH
A VBWBPAPBR FOR THE HOME
Founded 18S1
Published evenings except Bunday by
THE TBLIUIUPH PRINTING CO.
Telegraph Building, Federal Square
E. J. STACKPOLE
President and Editor-in-Chief
V. R. OYSTER, Business Manager
QUS M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor
A. R. MICHENER. Circulation Manager
Executive Board
J. P. McCULLOUOH,
BOYD M. OGELSBY,
F. R OYSTER.
GUR 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 published
herein.
All rights of republication of special
dispatches herein are also reserved.
P
A Member American
Newspaper Pub
'iEl 12 j| ® a . B l er n
if Sulfas if Building.
Entered at tho Post Office In Harrls
burg. Pa., as second class matter.
By carrier, ten cents a
OMMfI week; by mail. S3OO
'*4aSsisafl& > ' g year In advance.
Nothing is denied to well-directed
labor; nothing is ever to be attained
without it.—Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Our best is bad, nor bears Thy test
at ill, it should be our very best.
—Browntng.
SATURDAY EVENING, DEC. 14
i
GERMANY'S FUTURE
WHETHER or not the people of
Germany are repentant of
their past transgressions Is a
doubtful question that only the
future will answer, but this much
seems certain —that they will come
out of the prhsent chaofllc state of
affairs with a more or less conser
vative republican form of govern
ment hs the choice of a vast ma
jority of the people. We are hearing
very much A l,B t now of Bolshevik
ism in Germany, but the recent elec
tions in several states show the old
established Socialist party to be even
more overwhelmingly in favor there
than the Republican party is in
Pennsylvania. The Spartacus group
—which corresponds to the Bolshe
viki of Russia —is making a lot of
racket, but the Socialists are getting
the votes. The Liebknechts, who
seek for their own hands the pow
ers so recently wrested from the
Kaiser, are steadily declining in
favor. If Germany puts down
'JJolshevlkl idea and adopts a stable
form of republican government, it
will be greatly to her own advan
tage and to that of the world at
large.
Meanwhile, Germany must be
made to feel the sting of the lash
she used so long over the bared and
bleeding shoulders of helpless na
tions. She must pay for their blood
in the toil of her hands and the
sweat of her brow. She may work
out her own internal troubles satis
factorily—and it is to be hoped will
do so and very soon—but the world
is not Interested beyond that. Ger
many in sackcloth and ashes,
acknowledging her sins and sin
cerely sorry is a picture none of the
correspondents has as yet sent us,
but that is a state of mind Germany
must reach before becoming a can
didate for membership in the con
gress of nations.
We are Joyouely turning to the arts
of peace, but not so fast that we can't
Watch the kind of peace that is being
turned out at Versailles. American
foldlera fought for something, and it
muen't be muased up by theorists
here or abroad.
THE MOON BILL
THE country will watch with
much Interest the course of the
Moon bill to make the tele
phone and telegraph lines of the
company public property. It is an
administration measure fathered by
Burleson, wrecker-ln-chlef of the
postal system, and has the backing
of President Wilson, who proposes
to take from their owners the prop
erties they have developed at their
own risk, investing millions in what
some of the government experts
were pleased to term in the caso of
the telephone, "an interesting toy-of
doubtful value."
The trend of telephone rates has
been constantly downward Under
private ownership. Will Mr. Burle
son assure us that rates would be
still'further reduced with the gov
ernment In control? Can he guar
antee the excellent service We are
how getting? Or would ho do as
lie has done with the postal depart
ment —cut down the number of em
ployes, keep wages so low that good
men leave for more luaretlve private
employment, raise the tariffs and
wreck the syste.Tt? These are the
reeulta of hid efforts in the Poet
Office Department. Have we any
Veason to expect anything better of
a telegraph and telephone system
operated in accordance with the re
markable notions of this genius for
mismanagement?
Unless we greatly misjudge, the
SATURDAY EVENING,
public-at-large has no stomach tor
the experiment. The people are
familiar with the dismal failure of
Burleson as mall director and even
those who sincerely favor govern
ment ownership realize the folly of
constituting him the head of two
great lines of business concerning
which he knows nothing.
There is no demand for public
ownership outside a very limited,
but noisy circle. But there is a very
distinct feeling against it. Its advo
cates are few and lukewarm; Its
opponents are legion and very posi
tive In their views. Congress, we
imagine, will go slow with the Moon
bill.
The people of Dauphin county and
its chief city—the county seat—will
not be satisfied with any scheme of re
pair and enlargement of the present
antiquated and inadequate court
house. There must be no more penny
wlse-and-pound-foolish experiments.
We have outgrown the provincialism
of the past. Let's have a real eity and
county building.
MUST BE PROTECTED
LAW-ABIDING liquor dealers
of Harrlsburg who have been
supporting Mayor Keister in
his effort to break up "bootlegging"
in Harrlsburg are meeting with the
same kind of opposition that has
brought tho business in general to
its present state of ill-repute. If
saloonkeepers—not all, but a great
majority.—had not tied up their
trade with the disreputable elements
of the community; If they had
not violated every decency and
half the laws in their chaße
for the dollar, it Is very doubt
ful If prohibition sentiment would
be so overwhelmingly strong it
now is. The saloonmen have sown
the whirlwind and their harvest time
is fast approaching.
If "bootlegging" is not stopped
here, the government promises dras
tic steps. All the hotelmen would
suffer in that event for the crimes
of the lawbreakers. So long as the
liquor business is legalized—wrong
though it be —so long it should re
ceive the protection of the law,* but
in the present instance the inno
cent may have to suffer with the
guilty,. which seems scarcely fair.
At all costs, soldiers in Harrisburg
must be protected from the tempta
tion of drink, even though it be
necessary to close every liquor selling
place in the city.
Under the cut of a big cannon the
Postal Company prints this: "Loaded
—The lines of the Postal Telegraph
Company in August, 1918, earned for
Postmaster-General Burleson $320,000.
He pays us $140,000. He keeps SIBO,-
000, for which he did absolutely noth
ing! This in America!" Lucky he
turned over $140,000.
A PATRIOTIC SERVICE
THE P. O. 8. of A. has set a very
excellent example for the other
patriotic societies of the country
I in deciding to undertake a campaign
of education against BolshevlWgm in
the United States.
The P. O. S. of A. is made up of
every-day Americans from every
walk of life—embracing in its mem
bership working men, business m.en,
professional men and men in public
life; mechanics, teachers, merchants,
physicians, Governors, United States
Senators; and it is pledged to up
hold tho constitution of the United
States. A Bolshevik would stand
about as well in a P. O. S. of A. lodge
room as the ex-Kaiser would at a
French peace celebration. The or
ganization has undertaken to make
the Bolshevik as unpopular in Amer
ica as Wilhelm is in France, and has
wisely decided to accomplish its pur
pose by education —wlilch is a far
better word these days than propa
ganda.
The honest man wko knows what
Bolshevlklsm really means abhors
tho doctrine, which is .worse than
czardom or kaiserisjn. Education is
all that is necessary. Once the peo
ple know the Bolsheviki for what
they really are the word will die a
natural death in the United States,
it will be so little used.
JOBS WAIT THE MEN
WITH each succeeding day
there Is additional evidence
that there Is no need to have
concern over the problem of find
ing Jobs for the soldiers when they
return from France. The Jobs are
waiting—anxiously waiting. Ac
cording to the Topeka Capital, the
Kansas State Board of Agriculture
Intends to adopt a resolution urging
that the Army be demobilized as
rapidly as possible In order that
Kansas farmers may be assured of
all the help they will need next sea
son.
The farmers of Kansas, says the
Capital, have sown 10,000,000 acres
to fall grain—a record acreage—
and there will be more seeding In
the spring if help is available. Kan
sas authorities want the boys sent
back to their local boards to be mus
tered out, thus landing them in the
same communities from which they
were drawn, and preventing conges
tion in some parts of the country
and scarcity of help In others.
The suggestion is a good one. The
men and the Jobs will get together
if given a chance. The Federal em
ployment service at Washington has
been working itself into a frenzy of
late over the greatness of its task
of finding Jobs for the men and
finding men for the Jobs. There is
no need to worry. The c<juntry is
going ahead as never before. Let
officialdom get oft the track.
Four billion accounts of the War
Department have yet to be audited.
And the President has frequently de
clared that Secretary Baker is about
the finest public official this country
has produced.
T >otiUc* u
'^LKKQyIvaHUI
By the Ex-Oommltteeman j
A strongly centralized Department
of Agriculture without any commis
sion, but with the duties of each
bureau clearly defined and every
body under one secretary of agri
culture Is believed to represent Gov
ernorelect William C. SprouPs Idea
of the way the Pennsylvania De
partment of Agriculture should be
worked out. It is not believed that
It will be long in coming after the
Legislature gets started. Members
of the State Commission of Agricul
ture, who held their final meeting
of the year here a few days ago, are
believed to have seen the hand
writing on the way and that is prob
ably why they made no recommen
dations, but merely worked out a
plan for a budget covering the de
partment as at present constituted.
—The name of Lieutenant-Gover
nor Frank B. McClaln has been
§galn heard as a possible secretary
of agriculture because the lieuten
ant-governor gave special attention
of the Council of National Defense
to the agricultural end of the work
and is said to have seen the places
where the field services of the state
and national governments failed to
meet up.
—There is much activity in the
department's bureau how, but the
opinion is that the resignation of
everyone will be asked early and
those to be retained will be notified
of reappointment. Secretary of
Agriculture Charles E. Patton plans
to retire to his farm in Chester
county after his term ends. The
state board of agriculture will meet
In January, but some people here
think it will be abolished after
that.
—All but four of the counties of
Pennsylvania voted in favor of the
$50,000,000 road bond issue at the
November election, a striking con
trast to the election of 1915, when
till but twelve voted against it. The
majority in favor of the amendment
this year was over a quarter of a
million votes or six times the ad
verse majority when it was submit
ted five years ago. The four coun
ties opposing the amendment in
1913 were Cumberland, Perry, Ju
niata and Union, when they polled
a combined adverse majority of 1,-
081. Five years ago these same
ment by'over 6,600. With only the
counties were against the amend-
Philadelphta and Allegheny votes
the amendment would have won and
without the majorities from the two
big counties it would also have won
by over 125,000. Lackawanna, Lan
caster and Lycoming, which were
for the amendment in 1913 gave
larger majorities this year. Gover
nor-elect William CI Sproul will de
cide upon what form the legislation
to carry the into effect
will take and because of this spon
sering of the resolutions for the
amendment he will have a great
deal to do with the matter.
—William A. Magee, public ser
vice commissioner, and ex-mayor of
Pittsburgh, writing in the North
American about a new constitution,
say's: "In order to obtain home rule,
recognition must be given in the
constitution to the face that there
are almost as many classes of cities
as there are cities, by reason of the
diversity of circurAfctances and con
ditions. Heal municipal home rule
does not contemplate independence
of the Legislature or of the central
administrative departments at the
Capitol. Ultimate supervision by the
central power of the state is not de
nied in municipal home rule char
ters. What the people want Js full
local coqlrol of all such matters as
specifically pertain to the locality,
instead of being yoked up with oth
er cities in other parts of the state,
which have entirely different prob
lems. As to general and ultimate
matters let the Legislature rule. As
to local and particular matters let
the people of each city rule. This
is an impossibility under the local
and special legislation clause."
•—Duncan Sinclair, of Fayette, is
a candidate for chairman of the
House appropriations committee.
—The program of the legislation
of the State Grange will be exten
sive. At the Tyrone conference
resolutions were adopted favoring
ratification of the national prohibi
tion amendment; appropriation of
more money for public schools,
limiting teaching in elementary
schools to English language; ex
tension of vocational training in
township high schools; revision of
the tax laws; use of army trucks in
rural parcel post service and call
ing convention of diversified inter
ests of state at Harrisburg prior
to February 1 to map out construc
' The Wilkes-Barre Record in
tlve program of road building,
discussing the Luzerne congressional
district contest says: "A contest
will likely follow, and possibly an
appeal to the Supreme Court, but
the burden of the contest will fall
on Mr. Carpenter. The action of
the court comes with startling sud
denness and was taken, it is under
stood, without notice to the ptrties
in Interest. It will be interesting
to see who. reasons are given for
the selection of the six returns for
certification, while the
others are discarded, as substantial
ly the same objections were offer
ed to the returns from the six camps
as were pressed against the others.
The Altoona Tribune serves this
notice in an editorial headed Pri
maries and Ostracism." It says It
is intimated that every man who
chances to belong to the minority
element of a political party at a
primary ought to be ostracized by
the victors, no matter how enhusl
astically he supported the entire
ticket at the general election. This
Is a very foolish and - mischievous
idea and "its practice has caused con
siderable harm in the past. A pri
mary election is a partisan expedient
for deciding the claims of rival can
didates for the Various nominations
to be made. Where there are sev
eral aspirants for the same otfice it
is not treason for member® of the
party to differ in their choice of can
didates."
Consolidation of Tarentum and
Brackenrldge is being planned byhe
councils of the two boroughs. Last
night Tarentum council named a
committee to prepare a consollda
.tlon agreement. Brackenrldge coun
cil recently appointed a similar com
mittee As soon as the agreement
Is approved, consolidation ordinances
will be passed authorizing an elec
tion in each borough. In the 1910
census Tarentum had a population
of 7,414 and Brackrfhrldge had 3,134.
It Is estimated that the present com
bined population is about 15,000.
There is a movement to call the new
horouzh Allegheny,
faARBISBtTRq TET EGRATO
THE DAYS OF REAL SPORT
/SP/7 — —7£ DI SCUS SfON
McAdoo's Change of Base
(From Philadelphia Inquirer>
Director McAdoo has taken the
Nation off its feat by his proposal
to keep the railways under national
management for five years. Coming
so soon after the President's an
nouncement that he had no "con
fident judgment of his own," it is dis
concerting to read that he wholly
approves the McAdoo plan.
Mr. McAdoo lays down three pos
sible plans of conduct which are
not quite the three which the Presi
dent mentioned. Each supposed that
he had closed the entire subject
with respect to alternatives, and
both were wrong. It is not at all
necessary to follow any of the three
or six plans, because others are
available.
It Is entirely possiblo for the rail
ways to be turned back to the own
ers within the statutory period with
proper compensation and rehabilita
tion and with legislation which will
permit the completion of plans long,
desired by the managers, but ever
opposed by the Interstate Commerce
Commission. The government easily
can provide for the national incor
poration of all railways, for their
assimilation into groups and for fi
nancing them by public funds on a
basis that will be Just to all. It can
also provide a regulating body of
experts with worldly wisdom.
All this might easily take up the
statutory time as at present allow
ed, or it might take less. In any
event, we ought to settle the matter
in honesty and fairness. It is with
great regret that we are obliged to
say with all his success as Secretary
of the Treasury, Mr. McAdoo has
failed as Railway Director. When
he says that his plan will eliminate
the subject' from politics he is mis
taken. He is simply making the
greatest poljlcal issue of modern
times. It is apparent that he wants
to postpone the subject until after
the election in 1920. It is to be hoped
that he has no personal interest in
making such a suggestion.
At the earliest possible moment
that constructive legislation can be
secured the railways should be re
turned.
WHO ARE THEY ?
BY EDITH M. THOMAS
"I still have some frieiula in Amer
ica."—The Kaiser
The Kaiser has friends In America?;
Pray,
Where do they live, and who are
they?
Speak—for he needs them all, to
day!
Friends In America? Are they
these —
The kin of the lads who have fought
overseas,
Now flinging our flag to the German
breeze?
The Kaiser has friends in America?
Who?
They who remember —and woep
anew,
The deed that was done by his pirate
crew? ' •
Friends? Are they those the Father
land lost
In the year '4B, who counted no cost,
But Freedom they chose —and the
ocean they crossed?
Friends of America? Well, if so,
Silence is golden—they've come to
Here is no place for Liberty's foe.
know;
Friends in America? Still, I say,
Where do they live, and who are
they ?
Cite them—extradite them —the only
way!
—New York Herald.
McAdoo's Railway Medicine
[From the New York Sun]
Director General McAdoo makes a
lame argument for extending—right
now —the government's operation of
the railroads to cover five years from
next January. It is true enough, as
ho says, that the government has not
had a chance yet to show whether it
can make a reasonable success out of
Its experiment, which thus far has
been an undoubted failure. It may
be that even in the next two years
there would not be time to prove the
merits of government operation one
way or the other. It is beyond ques
tion that the present statues govern
ing the Director General's powers
are faulty. And it is as clear as sun
shine that the government has so
tangled up the whole railroad situa
tion, has so completely transformed
the normal business of the carriers
and has so utterly demoralized the
individual units that to turn the
roads back abruptly to their owners
would cause nothing less than a na
tional disaster.
But, while all those truths stand
out big and startling before the eyes
of everybody, it does not follow that
a single conclusion of the Director
General is either logical or lucid.
The Return of the Soldier
[From the New York Tribune] ,
AS our soldiers return, boat by
boat, wounded or well, maim
ed or whole, we are all of us
stirred deeply by our sense of obli
gation, our desire to do something,
anything, everything, for these fight
ing men of our own flesh and blood.
Both this emotion and a most ad
mirable plan for putting it into ef
fect are expressed with rare elo
quence and conviction in Secretary
Lane's annual report. Anything but
a statistical digest is this unusual
document. It is for every American
to real and enjoy. Here, for in
stance, is Mr. Lane's picture of the
soldier's point of view:
"And in their look will be a query,
one though over in the trench at
night and on the long, slow 'slog,
slog, slog' of the day's march:
'What is my life to be when I get
home? Am I to go hustling for a
job or. will the old place be mine?
But .if a girl has that place and
wishes to be her own mistress in
the future —what then? School?
Oh, I can't go back to school. When
I left I was only twenty-one, but
now I'm thirty-one. And I have
lived with men, fought with them,
been sometimes bested by them,
learned to know them in all their
many littlenesses and their great
goodnesses. 1 am back now, back
for a man's life. This America that
called me out has called me back,
and it will have something for me
to do. N Now, what is to be my
chance?' "
Young and old, the returned sol
Have Ceased to Function
[From the Wilkes-Barre Record]
Any fair-minded person will make
allowance for the fact that in pre
paring for and conducting a war of
the proportions that we have experi
enced, mistakes are inevitable. For
the most part' President Wilson re
tained at the head of departments
men who had been chosen for peace
ful duties, unacquainted with many
of the tremendous new problems that
canie to the fore.
Under the best of conditions mis
takes would have been unavoidable,
but there have been some mistakes
for which it is impossible to rake up
an intelligent excuse. They do not
pertain so much to the conduct of
the war as to the accommodations
that mean so much to those who are
tn the war and to the anxious peo
ple they left behind.
There seems to be no rational , ex
cuse whatever for the delay In send
ing out pay checks to tens of thou
sands of dependents of soldiers and
sailors for whom the government
promised that provision would be
made. Some of the newspapers print
heatrcnding stories of suffering
where wives, children and aged par
ents have looked day after day in
vain for the remittances that neves
come. It is a*, hard thing for these
people, who never have been sub
jects of charity, to be compelled
to appeal to charity for the aid that
is their due from the government. An
appropriation was made to supple
ment the amounts to be deducted
from the pay of the men, but it is
held up somewhere, and the only
explanation given is that the work is
so far behind that it cannot be reach
ed. Yet we read of thousands of
clerks in the department officers do
ing less than half the work they
would be compelled to do in private
employment. . There has been a la
mentable lack <*f efficient manage
ment somewhere.
Took Them at Their Word
Here Is a good story, from the
lips of a former navy man, who was
serving under Admiral Beatty—
then captain—at the time the inci
dent occurred.
Beatty had under his command
two very "hard cases" of men who
were always being brought before
him on one charge or another. One
day he asked them what punish
ment they considered they deserved.
"Shot at sunset, sir," replied one
man cheekily and the other con
curred.
"Right," said Beatty. "March them
away."
At sunset the prisoners were
marched on deck and halted right in
line with the turret guns. They were
then blindfolded, and Beatty order
ed one of the gun crew to load and
Ore.
It is impossible to train any of a
boat's guns on its own deck, but the
men forgot this in the excitement of
the moment. The shock cured them,
and they never troubled Beattv
again.—Answers, London.
dier faces exactly this problem. He
has given up the boy's normal prog
ress or, if he is older, he has
broken his lifework in a fashion
most difficult to restore. This he
has done for the country of us all.
How can we help these men to come
into their own again?
The plan which Mr. Lane proposes
is to offer every soldier a chance to
gain a 'farm of his own for the
working of it. The national land,
which was used to reward the vet
-1 erans of the Civil War, is practical
i ly exhausted. But other free land
• can be obtained in abundance—by
i irrigation, by drainage, by develop
ing cut-over lands, by arrangement
, with the states for the cultivation
. of abandoned farm land. There is
, no question of the land, there is no
question of the urgent need of
i stimulating farm life. As Mr. Lane
L says, "the passion for the city is
' upon us." For our own economic
I salvation we must encourage the
i new farm idea, of a farm village as
a center, offering the best of schools,
i churches and amusements.
Qpr farm plan, for our soldiers
i must be most liberal. Canada is of
, feeing each man a farm of 160
, acres and $2,500 with which to lm
• prove ia. The United States will not
. do less. The total appropriation of
: $500,000,000 suggested by Mr. Lane
t seems small indeed in proportion
, to the vast service rendered by these
> men. The details remain to be
' worked out. The essential plan will
receive the instant approval of every
■ loyal American.
LABOR NOTES
President Morgentlialer of the Pa
cific District Council of Electrical
Workers appeared before the State
Railroad Commission to urge thnt
the light and power companies of
Southern California be compelled to
comply with the state law relative to
safeguarding the lives of electrical
workers.
Seattle (Wash.) Photo-Engravers'
union has entered into a new agree
ment with their employers which
sets ti new standard for that section
in the industry. It is a flat scale and
runs for two years and calls for
$34.50 for the first year and $36 for
the second, with a 4 4-hour week.
A conference of delegates repre
senting 2,500,000 British trade union
ists adopted a resolution providing
for the establishment of an interna
tional trades union bureau to secure
closer relationship between British,
American, Colonial, Allied and neu
tral workers, with a view to formu
lating a trades union policy during
and after the war.
The annual convention of the
Trades and Labor Congresq of Can
ada will be held In Quebec beginn
ing September 16.
The majority of railroad workers
in Japan are women who are doing
everything except running and firing
the engines.
The annual convention of the In
diana State Federation of Labor will
be held in Fort Wayne beginning
Wednesday, September 25.
La Crosse (Wis.) Coopers' Union
has established the Mlnneapolls-St.
Paul wage rate of 60 cents an hour.
Former rates were 41% cents.
Secretary of Labor Wilson has an
nounced the establishment of a wo
men's division In the Department of
Labor as a recognition of the great
importance of the work of women In
Industry and the necessity for a na
tional policy in determining the con
ditions of their employment.
President Wilson has signed a bl'.l
which empowers the Department of
Justice to equip the Atlanta Federal
Prison that prisoners may be em
ployed in the manufacture of tents,
canvas mail bags and other material
for the government. The attorney
general may set wages to be paid the
convicts.
Metal workera at Winnipeg, Can.,
are earning $37 to S4O a week. In
two years increases have boen from
38 to 60 per cent.
In Francq all the food is being
raised by women workers. They
work 12 hours a day, with a two
hour recess at noon.
Mourners in Darlington; Eng.. re
cently hgd to dig the graves of their
dead relatives, as the grave-diggers
had gone on a strike
DECEMBER 14, 1918.
BOOKS AND MAGAZINES"]
John T. Faris, author of "The
Romance of Old Philadelphia,"
(Lippincott), a study of the ro
mance of Colonial settlement, has
woven Into one fascinating narra
tive many life stories gathered from
old manuscripts, rare books, and
genealogical records. The center of
life in America in early days, Phil
adelphia's story has never been told
so humanly and humorously be
fore. .1
"Passed as Censored"—"The oth
er evening a message was tlashed to
us to put out all lights and out they
went . . but nothing happened.
But before nightfall of the second
dark night, we began to hear rumors
of captured Zeppelins,and next morn
ing the papers were full of four cap
tured (possibly (lye), only one of
them undestroyed by its occupants,
all of whom were either killed or
captured. And the intact one was
so near here that we motored down
to see it. I have never seen such a
monster in my life —it is inconceiv
able even though the sutanlc crea
tion is familiar from various pic
tures. Its stern lay on top a big
hill while 1 its huge black, glistening
body overstretched a valley, its
front end lying across a small
stream, and its nose almost poked
into the road on the other side of
the valley. It was bigger than any
ocean liner I had ever seen, and' is
believed to be the first and only
Zeppelin captured practically in
tact.''
Dan Beard, whose "American
Boys'. Book of Signs, Signals and
Symbols," has Just been published
by the Lippincotts, was the founder
of the Boy Scouts movement. lie
is National Scout Commissioner,
Boy Scouts of America, and the
most popular writer on all subjects
connected with the scout life.
"Four Years in the White North"
By Donald' B- MaeMillan. Har
per & Brothers, publishers, Price,
$4.00. .
The thrills, privations, hardships
and wonderrul discoveries of the
Crocker Land Expedition during
four years of exploration in North
Greenland are here told. Long
journeys across frozen sounds and
wind-swept plateaus are described
—the intense anxiety felt by the
little bund of men over the non-ar
rls'al the relief ship—the hunting
of walrus, caribou and bear. A full
account of the scientific work.
"Doctor Danny." By Rut£ Saw
yer.- Harper & Brothers, publish
ers, $1.35. From'the beginning
when Padriac pipes past the Lazy
Bush on to the end where Doctor
Danny fulfills his love promise, we
have Doctor Danny's own story,
glimpses of which we saw in "Her
self, Himself, Myself." i
Pennsylvania's Great Revenue
(Prom the Philadelphia Iriquirer)
During the fiscal year just ended
j Pennsylvania had an income of $44,-
000,000, ap Increase of about ten per
cent, over the previous year. There
are living men who can remember
when the total income of the United
States government was not so large
at this sum. No details are offered
of the total expenditures, but it is
known that there is a comfortable
surplus in the treasury The com
monwealth expended much less than
anticipated for war work.
Every item In license taxes shows
an increase with the exception of
that for sale of liquors, which shows
a slight decrease.- ( The state received
a little more than a million and a
half from this sourco, which next
year may be nil. The tax on Inheri
tances shows a large gain, amount-
I ing to nearly six millions, of which
I more than one-half was from col-
I lateral bequests. As the Federal
j Government proposes a great in
| crease in all kinds of inheritance
' taxes it can be seen that this will
be a heavy burden on some persons.
. While the tax is popular it has the
' disadvantage of being a tux on
'capital and not on income, and to
j that extent reduces tuxlng power.
| For purposes of comparison it
I may bo stated that the' revenue of
| the slate in 1910 was less than $29,-
000,000. The coming Legislature
will not only have large revenues to
dispose of, hut is now authorised to
float $50,000,000 for good roads.
This will relieve the annual budget
for good roads to some extent and
! promises rapid construction. • Sl
On the whole the financial posi
tion of Pennsylvania is bolter than
that of any other state In the Union.
It has no debf'hnrt'obundaht reve
nues for nil needed purposes. Gov,-
ernor Sproul will take charge under
unusually happy auspieu. I
Eumttg <Ef|at
■ , ,! ■ l .
Fully 12,000 of the applicants for
automobdle licenses during 1918
asked for special numberß and the
list of those asking for tags with,
certain figures or combinations for
1919 bids fair to go as high. Ten
per cent, of the applications
coming In make requests. Some o<
these fail to get very far because
the requests are made In latters and
not on the application blanks and as
thousands of applications are being
received every day they cannot be
sorted out. In order to handle the
rush of applications George M. Brus
star, the registrar of the State High
way Department's automobile di
vision, has ordered the attaches of
the tag bureau to work three shifts,
eight hours to a shift and it Is cal
culated to handle 9,000 tags every
twenty-four hours. Up to January
1, 1918, there had been 83,000' sets
of 1918 tags issued, but by January
1, 1919, It is hoped to run the num
ber to 150,000. The cash received
for new licenses has broken every
record thus far, the aggregate up to
yesterday having been $420,860. On
the same date of 1917 the cash re
ceived for 1918 licenses amounted to
$298,627. The pneumatic tired ve
hicle licenses issued thus far for 1919
number 32,951 and solid tired 5,111.
• * *
Many thousands of dollars of un
claimed bank deposits and property
are involved in the appeals from
the decision bf the Dauphin county
court on the ascheat acts to be heard
in Philadelphia by the Supreme
Court. Owing to the importance of
the cuses the argument has been ad
vanced.
• • *
Just as an illustration of what
hunting really amounts to in Penn
sylvania It may be said that the
State's licensed sportsmen have
killed over 7,500,000 rabbits, more
than 4,800 and almost half a million
grouse in three seasons, and it is ex
pected that the reports of the kills
of the 1918 which are Just being
assembled will add materially to the
bag of all sorts of legal game with
the possible exception of cottontails.
State Game Commission statitsiclans
have been at work on the figures
from other seasons so as to have
them for comparisan with the totals
for the season of 1918, which comes
to an end to all intents and purposes
to-day as deer, bear and rabbits,
which have furnished the bulk of
the hunting for the last fortnight,
may not be shot after the sun sets
to-night. December. 15 is the end of
the season but it falls on Sunday.
No grouse could be shot this year,
but the figures for 1915, 1916 and
1917 show that 498,631 were shot,
tho result being that in soma sec
tions the grouse were almost exter
minated. In the same years the hun
ters of the state killed 69,062 quail;
69,338 wild waterfowl; 69,831 quail
and 3,708 ring-necked pheasants. The
deer kill in the same three years is
given as 4,812, with 991 bear killed
in the same time and 42,550 "coons."
The estimate on wild turkeys is that
there were 11,601 killed. The figures
on rabbits were gathered under spe
cial instructions by Dr. Joseph Kalb
fus, secretary of the State Game
Commission, and show a total of 7,-
607,310 or more than 2,500,000 a
year. In the same three years tho
total kill of squirrels is given as
765,856. ,
• *
Presbyterian clergymen who were
attending the sessions of the Synod $
of Pennsylvania thronged the State
Capitol yesterday afternoon, being
given special escorts through the
building by Superintendent George
A. Shreiner. •The whole, building
was opened for them and the legisla
tive halls were lighted up. It was the
largest number of clergymen gather
ed in the building for some time
* • *
Farmers in the country around
Harrisburg are certainly taking ad
vantage of the open weather condi
tions to clear off the lands and get
rid of weeds and cornstalks. The
smoke of tires can be seen on many
of the farms and from all accounts
farmers and truck gardeners are
taking advantage of the pleasant
weather to clean up ground for next
year's planting. L. H. Wible, the
statistician of the State Department
of Agriculture, has reported an in
crease in wheat acreage and looks
for planting of corn all
through this section next year. Dau
phin county bids fair to come more
and more into its own as an agri
cultural county, in which it has
great possibilities, as the local mar
ket commences to realize what it
can raise.
♦ •
Lieutenant-Governor Frank B.
McClain is going to be Santa Claus
again in Lancaster this year and
as the war is over he expects to give
tho little orphans at the Children's
Home In his city something better
than ever. For years it has been
one of the delights of the Lieuten
ant-Governor to enact the part of
Kris Kringle at this institution aftd
It has gotten to be something that
even the grownups enjoy. This
year the Lieutenant-Governor, who
has borne a burden of war activity
of which few people know, and han
dled immense sums of money with
all that such responsibility brings,
plans to get his relaxation at the
Home. * <
[ WELL KNOWN PEOPLE [
—Col. George Nox McCain, the
former newspaper correspondent, is
1 directing some of the publicity work
for the Council of National Defense.
—James F. McCoy, former manag
ing editor of the Philadelphia Press,
has been engaged 6n newspaper work
for the State Food Adminis'tration.
—WlUiam P. Gallagher, chief cleric
of the State Senate, started in
as a Wilkes-Barre newspaperman.
—Henry M. Eaton, active in Phil
adelphia newspaper work, is now in
Washington.
—Harry Proctor, of the Philadel
phia Evening' Bulletin, has been com
piling an interesting series of stories
about the Pennsylvania division.
Robert M. Ginter, managing editor
of the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times,
used to be a Waslhngton correspond
ent.
—Walter Darlington, of the North
American, has a fad. It is badges
worn at political cenventlons and tea
has a great collection.
---John S. Ritenour. long activr In
Westorn Pennsylvania newspaper
wqrk, is one of the officers of the
Humane organizations in that sec
tion. 4.,,. 1
| DO YOU KNOW |
itx n - i St
—Tliat Ilarrishurg's first news
paper was Issued in 17927
HISTORIC HARRISBURG
—Market Square was a duck phnd
for the first years of Harfls
burg life. ■"?<