6 ' HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A VEWBPAPER FOR THE HOME Founded 1831 Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. Telegraph BalMiag, Federal Sqaare *: : i i E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief v- F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager Gl'd. M. STEINMETZ. Managing Editor A. R. MICHEXER, Circulation Manager Executive Beard P. McCULLOUGH, BOYD M. OGLESBY, F. R. OYSTER, GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Members of the Associated Press—The Associated Press is exclusively en titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news pub lished herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. A Member American rl Newspaper Pub tt' ~lerS h " A " Bsoci *" Jg33ffiS9M Bureau of Circu hg/BMPfIMB latiou and Penn sylvania &31 931 jlfifi (fl Eastern office taStEfUl Story, Brooks & fpM S IfU rw Flnley. Fifth Avenue Building, a'a'T' Building" -l Chicago, 111. • Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., aa second class matter. - - By carrier, ten cents a ,"3tweek: by mail, $3.00 a year in advance. When thou hast thanked God for every blessing sent, What time tcill then remain for mur murs and lamentf —Trench. SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1919 FOR A SHORT SESSION THERE is very general approval of the suggestion that the Legis " lature shall have a short busi ness session. Owing to the read justment period following the war it is extremely important that all in terests be disturbed as little as pos sible by new law making or restric tions of any sort at this time. We been passing through a long and trying period of regulation, much of which was made necessary by the war, but since hostilities have ceased there ought to be as little as to further disturb the com mercial and* industrial life of the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania has had an impor tant part in winning the victory over the Hun and Governor-elect Sproul has indicated in recent addresses a clear perception of the conditions which now surround our normal life. It is no time to indulge in theories and the people will be content with mighty little in the way of new legis lation. The average citizen just now wants to be let alone to think over his own problems and work out their solution. The election of Dr. Hugh Hamil ton as president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Historical Societies is n line tribute to a Harrisburg man. who has devoted much of his time to a careful study of the early his tory of the State, and who has writ ten numerous papers and pamphlets on the subject. Succeeding such* men Governor-elect William C. Sproul, the office carries with it no little honor, but it as far from being merely honorary. In that the Federa tion is a live, working organization of men and women interested in see ing to it that contemporary as well as past history is properly recorded and due credit given where it be longs. Governor-elect Sproul/ who, as head of the organization, did much to bring it before the public in a favorable light, is deserving the vote of confidence the Federation gave him. It will be of vast assist ance to him and the State History Commission in the difficult work of gathering and linking up records of the multitudlous activities of Penn sylvania in the world's war. BAKER PASSES THE BUCK MR. Baker complacently passes the buck to Congress by de claring that additional legis lation will be necessary before hs can pay any money to men in hos pitals. in a letter to Speaker Clark of the House he asks legislative au thority to prepare rolls for payment of soldiers who have returned for treatment in government hospitals. He whines that bitter criticism of the War Department has resulted from the loss by many of the men of their papers and records, with con sequent delays in their payment. If there has been an instance dur ing the prosecution of the war when Secretary Baker ha 3 admitted the inefficiency of his department or any branch of It it lias not come to our attention. In every case where sup plies of the most vital nature have to reach our armies at the front"* he has either skillfully side stepped responsibility or . brazonly asserted that everything was going according to schedule. When the French came to our rescue with of feVe of airplanes, cannon and tanks Mr. Baker allowed- the inference to ho drawn that such a course was part of the War Department pro gran*. On occasions ho has not hesitated to resort to seemingly de liberate misstatements of fact, as witness the notorious history of air craft production. One of the Sec retary's most frequent subterfuges In escaping criticism has been to de clare that further legislation from Congress was necessary to meet difficult sltutttlonp, thus leading the country to believe that Congress was SATURDAY EVENING* responsible for delays In our war program. At the present moment the most crying need of our soldiers Is pay ment for the months of toll, danger and sacrifice In France. Congress, at the beginning of hostilities, doubled the compensation of enlisted men of the Army and llxed S3O per month as the basic pay of a private. But In spite of the far-sighted gen erosity of our lawmakers most dis tressing stories are coming to light every day of the non-payment of our men, an* consequent suffering to them and their dependents at home. The worst conditions prevail in the case of the wounded who have been in French hospitals. In some in stances men who have been brought home on hospital ships and placed In hospitals in the United States have not received a cent from the Government for eight months. In at least one case a public beneflt wns held by sympathetic friends to raise funds for ordinary comforts /or soldiers wounded in the defense of a country whose Secretary of War was unable to devise a way to pay them the money they had earned in the trenches. As a sample of the generous way in which Congress has placed huge lump sums in the hand of the Sec retary for the payment of the Army we quote from two typical appro priation acts. The Army Act of last July reads in part as follows. "Officers of the line: For pay of 87.183 officers, $201,654,279." "Enlisted men of the line: For pay of 1,964,376 enlisted men of the line, *776,468,721.04." The deficiency appropriation Act of November 4th reads: "For pay of officers and enlisted men of the line and of the staff de partments, nurses and enlisted men of tho Philippine Scouts, as author ized by law, *696,32 7,159." In those two laws alone Mr. Baker has had given to him without limitation over a billion and a half for pay alone, which has been sup plemented by additional millions in other acts. It has been up to Baker to distribute the money, a duty that he has shamefully neglected. In the light of the facts It is puerile and disgusting for the Secretary of War to shunt responsibility for the finan cial plight of our soldiers on to Con gress. Harrisburg will not be able to en tertain all the guests of the city next Tuesday, but the hospitality of our people will be stretched to the ut most limit to accommodate all who come to participate in the Inaugu ration of the Governor-elect. It will not be a question of a rfeal welcome so much as a problem of providing a place at the table for all who come. "DRY" BENEFITS WE may expect to hear a great deal during the next few weeks about the loss of rev enue as a result of the country go ing on a prohibition basis. This is the stock argument which has been dinned into our ears for many years. Of course, there will be a reduction of revenue from liquor licenses, but there will, also be a large reduction of expenses in the courts and the criminal processes. In many states where liquor has been banned for years it has been demonstrated that the reduction of criminal expense has more than equaled the loss in liquor revenues to say nothing of the happier condi tion of tfie people as a result of the suspension of the liquor business. GOOD CITIZENSHIP WOULD you bo a good citizen? Then sjudy tvcll this defini tion as given by Theodore Roosevelt at the Dr. Nicholas Mur ray Butler dinner: In the unending strife for civic betterment small is the use of those people who mean well but who mean well feebly. The man who counts is the man who is decent and who makes himself felt as a force for decency, for cleanli ness. for civic righteousness. Ho must have several qualities: first and foremost, of course, he must be honest, he must have the*root v of right thinking in him. Thrft is not enough, in the next place he must have courage; the timid man counts but little in the rough business of trying to do well the world's work. And finally. In ad dition to being honest and brave, he must have common sense. If lie does not have It, no matter what other qualities he may have, he will find himself at the mercy of those who. without possessing I his desire to do right, know only too well how to make the wrong effective. CommonikTstn Propaganda M. Radek, chief of the ptJishevlk propaganda,- says: "Tho money sent to Berlin to finance the revolution was as nothing as compared to tho funds transmitted to New York for the purpose of spreading Bolshe vlklßm in tho United States." And yet there are people who say that anarchy thrives only in poverty and starvation. —San Francisco Chroni cle. lEuenitig Qlljat Almost without people realizing ! Dauphin county has become one < the big counties for hunting c small game in Pennsylvania and tt number of licensed hunters is u around the 10,000 mark, whjch lis been attained by comparatively fev The average man does ,not considc Dauphin as one of the'gamo cour ties, probably because there Is n large game, but as matter of fact i is one of the goqd quail countle due to tho care given to "Bo White" by many spgrtsmen and t the numerous docks of birds rt leased in this section. There ar some farms in Dauphin count which are closed to hunting Jus because of the quail, as the farmer realize their importance as destroj ers of potato bugs and other pest Probably more experiments hav been made with pheasants an grouse In Dauphin county than th average man is aware of and plans being considered mature thei should bo better hunting than ev along the Swatara and in the va! leys above First Mountain. State game authorities are ver hopeful regarding the purchase < quail from the Mexican highland for stocking Central Pennsylvanh Contracts were made last summc and correspondence indicates tttt there will be good birds to ship. ] is not the intention to have th birds started from Mexico until th weather conditions here are suitabli The shipment of quail into Penr sylvania in mid-winter some yeai ago was disastrous and it is no the plan to wait until temperatur and food conditions here approx* mate the habitat in the platea where tho birds are trapped. Mean while, some encouraging report about people trapping quail for sal keeping and feeding during winte in co-operation with the commissio are being received from Suaqut hanna valley counties. There is als much interest being shown in plar for trapping and feeding pheasant The state will pay for tho feeding t trapped birds, but require that the shall be liberated where game wat dens direct next spring. Several es cellent quail traps have been trie out under tho supervision of D Joseph Kalbfus, secretary of th State Game Commission, and nea Middletown good results have fol lowed. Some trapping lias als been done,in York and Cumbe'rlan counties. It is probable that from two t three hundred deer will be put chased by the State Game Commit sion and distributed through gam preserves in various sections. Som will be plnccd in reserves in th central section, some in Schuylki county and the Juniata valley, an others in the Lykens valley regio of Dauphin county. The funds at in hand to purchase the animals an the only difficulties will be to obtai good specimens and to get titer safely delivered. The animals wi be secured in the next sixty day and liberated in the early sprint Home time ago steps were taken t buy deer in Michigan and othc states, but the results have not bee tabulated as some persons who ha animals decided not to sell. Dee suited to the conditions in Pennsyl vania will be bought wherever pot siblo ffo that therfe will be animai for the new preserves to be estat lished. Deer are not unknown i this county, but like the wild tur keys, which used to be so abundan they cling to the mountain region and are very shy. There used to be some good fo hunting in this county forty yeai ago but there is nothing doing noi and only an occasional red and ver rarely a grey is caught in the eas tern section around Hershey or u in the Wisconisco valley. As a matter of fact there is n reason why Dauphin county wit seven' or eight valleys traversing i its numerous streams, the mountai land that belts tho central sectio and the woodlands along the Cone wago. Swatara and Mahantong should not furnish excellent huntin and fishing. State game authoritie are more than willing to co-operat in distributing quail, pheasants an wild turkeys but want assurances c co-oieration from sportsmen an farmers. Dozens of pheasant egg have been offered for hatching i, this county without takers and i some sections not so very far awa from Harrisburg quail were froze to death last winter. Hunting wi not only give Harrißburgers oppot tunities for fine sport, but also th chance to see the beauties of thei own county which are known to a too few. Announcement through the colum of tho Telegraph yesterday that Ro Stannard Baker will act as publicit calle the recent revelation tha agent in the peace conference, re Baker and David Grayson are on and the same person. Baker wa formerly a magazine writer. Break ing down in health lie wont to Am h'erst; Mass., where he lived on farm with his sister for five yeari After this five years of country ai he began writing again and to-da the world knows and loves Davi Oraypon's "Adventures in Conteii ment," "Adventures in Friendship, "The Friendly Road," "Hempfleld, and "Groat Possessions." In thes volumes he has caught the spirit c the open road. Through the efforts c Mrs. Neal Wyatt Chapline, of Sara sota, Fla., a Graysonian Club tvn organized with hiking and study t nature as the object. The idea ha spread and in many towns and vi lages are to be found Graysonia clubs. Writing from one of the great go\ ernment army hospitals, a Jiarrif burg soldier tells of a dance give by a number of the wounded me at which were present hospiti nurses, Ited Cross workers and m< tor messenger women. dam was unusual in that the grant march—a Joyous affair—was led t a major walking with two canes an foHowed by nil manner of crij pled soldiers on crutches and whe chairs, but never a sign of gloom o any face. It was the spirit of- tt Americun soldier which had not su fercd through the hell ot war. A the participants in this unusui dance wore carnival caps and wei showered with confetti by the friends in the gallery and on tl floor. • • • Some day Harrlsburg will have zoo all its own and the natural loct tion is Wlldwood Park where lltt is necessary to be donft save pr< vldlng the animals and the birds, ar these should be largely the nath furred and feathered denizens < Pennsylvania. A natural hablti for the bear is the bluff on the eas em side of the park add there also a natuVal field in the park fi deer. The children of w [ bless the ronn or woman who pr< ivldes for their education and enSo: ment in starting the AJ'ildwood sSoo