10
HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH
4. NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME
Founded 1881
Published evenings except Sunday by
THE. TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO.
Telegraph Ilulldlng, Federal Aqatire
B. J. BTACKPOLB
President and Editor-in-Chief
F, R, OYSTER, Business Manager
GUS. M. STEINMET& Managing BMtor
A. R. I.IiCHENER, Circulation Manager
Executive Hoard
3. P, McOULLOUOH,
BOYD M. OQLKBBY,
P. R, OYSTER,
GUS, M. STEINMETZ.
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lished herein.
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 80, 1919
THE PHONE RATES
BRIEFLY the telephone rate case
started in the Dauphin county
courts yesterday is a contest
to ascertain, thJ 'power of the fed
eral government over intra-state
business. As such it is of tre
mendous significance. Upon the de
cision will hinge Issues of great Im
port.
AVo are now to And whether the
State retains its power of police
rights or whether the national gov
ernment is empowered to overstep
the acts of tho Stato Legls'ature on
matters pertaining to Pennsylvania
alone, and in nowise of an inter,
state character, In effect, tha Pub
lic Service Commission asksi "is the
United States government to be per
mitted to step In and run oup State
government for us with respect to
our own local affairs, or does the
doctrine of State rights under the
constitution still hold good?"
There could be no contest of au
thority did the government own the
telephone lines, but there is a very
grave doubt as to the federal gov
ernment's legal right to step in and
defy State laws regulating corpora
tions chartered by the Common
wealth and already limited by State
law with respect to What they may
and may not do.
Unless the United States Attorney
General's Department has a card up
its sleeve which it hus not shown,
Mr. Burleson's phone-control appears
about to receive a painful Jolt.
HARBINGERS?
BUTTER Is dropping In price,
eggs have fallen off flvo to ten
cents a dozen, and potatoes
are' cheuppr. That's good news.
Maybe the farmer won't feel that
way about It, but there will be much
rejoicing among thoßO poor down
trodden souls, tho "ultimate con
sumers," and they are numerous
enough to organize quite-a little cele
bration if they set about It, Also,
loaves of bread are growing, even if
the price isn't shrinking in propor
tion, and restaurantkeepers now
serve three slices Instead of-two.
It's going to be a grand sensation
tb walk Into a restaurant and order
"two fried eggs with bread and but
ter," calmly and nonchulently, just
like that, without either trying to
look like a millionaire or feeling
that you have robbed the baby of a
pair of shoes.
We like to think that during the
war we did our part cheerfully to
help Mr. Hoover food the starving
Belgians and sundry other hungry
folks In Europe. We did our bit joy
fully and look back upon our self
denials with sutlsfuction as having
helped In a small way to win tho
war. But now that the fighting is
over and there is admittedly a sur
plus of food In tho country, even
beyond tho needs of Europe, we have
a sneaking feeling that we ought
not to bo required to pay starvation
prices In the midst of the greatest
plenty tho world has ever known.
And so we note with exceeding Joy
that prices of certain grocery staples
are receding and entertain the hope
that these are but harbingers of
what is In store.
THE HIGHWAY PROGRAM
GOVERNOR SPROUL and High
way Commissioner Sadler are
determined to get the State's
great new highway program under
way at the earliest possible moment.
This Is good politics, good states
ship and good business. Senator
Sproul, author of the original State
highway bill, Is especially* well
equipped to help Mr, Sadler In thb
preliminary work, He knows more
about the roads of Pennsylvania, the
errors and accomplishments of past
■administrations, tho need of the
THURSDAY EVENING
State and the desires of the people
than any other one man. Mr. fladler,
himself a good roads enthusiast and
able businessman, 'will learn a lot
from tho Chief Executive during the
framing of the program and will
bo able to start work under cir
cumstances that promise most ex
cellent results.
The people want good roads. The
vote on the loan showed that. They
want them as soon as possible. And
the. State needs them badly. These
alone would be ample reasons for
pushing tho highway development
plans, but there is the business side
as well. Thousands of returning sol
diers and others out of war work in
dustries that are closed could be em
ployed profitably by the State in road
work, Now Is the time to get the
roads and if wo can do that apd
provide work for those needing it,
we shall ,have killed two large fat
birds with one stone.
HOME GARDENS
SHIRLEY B. WATTS, in charge of
the Chamber of Commerce gar
den work, advises those who de
siro plots to mako application early,
as there Is a likelihood of there being
more applicants than garden plots
Last year we had War Gardens, this
year Victory Gardens. Although the
names differ tho gardens are the
some and thoso who learned how to
grow vegetables during the war
porlod will not want to give up their
gardens,
There 1s just as much Importance
attached "to food production as there
was lost year. Wo are exporting
provisions by the million tons and
wo must grow more if we do not
expect to go abroad.
"HOME RULE"
THE municipal rule" res
olution which Senator Beidle
man fathered last session will
come up again in tho Legislature this
year, according to the forecasts of
those in touch with affairs. It Is to
bo hoped that It will be adopted.
Its opponents contend that such
an amendment to the constitution
would wreck all uniformity of city
regulation and create a condition of
assessment, taxation and accounting
chaotic In the cxtremo, upsetting the
standards of method that State au
thorities have been striving to create.
That, to be sure, would be a possi
bility under law permitting each city
to adopt its own form of govern
ment, but It Is not likely i*hat tho
fear would be realized.
At all events, people are better |
content with a government of their
own creation than they are with reg
ulation handed down to them by an
authority that presumes itself to be
wiser than thby are themselves. One
of the rcasotis for dissatisfaction
with our city laws Is that they can
not be changed to meet purely local
or newly arising conditions without
appeal to the Legislature. Willy nllly,
Harrlsburg for example must be gov
erned by the law laid down for Erie,
although one Is an Interior railroad
and manufacturing town whereas
the other has its maritime problems
of fisheries and ports,
We ought to be given this oppor
tunity for self-government In order
to frame laws to meet pur local
needs. Surely even those Job-holders
of the Third Class City League who
can see no (laws In the flimsy, moth
eaten old Clark act must admit we
are entitled to that American right.
BRITISH BIG BUSINESS
THE day of the 'big business,"
after tho American pattern, if
not yet on the same scale, has
definitely arrived," says the Liver
pool Post In a review of last year's
trade and finance of Great Britain,
"it was a year of great combines,"
adds the paper,
Americans will rcwril the abuse
to which "big business" was subject
ed by the Democratic party from'
1890 up to the time wo got Into the
war, when the Administration even
tually found It. necessary to enlist
the services of some of tho captains
of industry, formerly subjected to
Its curses, to bring some sort of or
der out of bureaucratic chaos.
The. advantages of trade combina
tion, along American lines have
come to be appreciated in Great
Britain, and tho efficiency born of
those combinations will be a promi
nent factor In the British competi
tion which- America will very soon
be called upon to face at the same
time that the Demoorutlc reaction
aries are resuming their attacks on
the "octopuß," the "wicked trust,"
and the "hoggish profiteer,"
But fortunately those attacks will
come from a party ousted from con
trol-of government, while the func
tion of the incoming Republican
party will be, no) to destroy, but to
regulate combinations with respect
to trade, and "prosecution Is very
different from persecution."
PIEZ IS RIGHT
REPORTS of a njeottng of the
National Murine League at
Philadelphia recently contain
the Information that Manuger
Charles Plez, of tho _ Emergency
Fleet Corporation, "camo out un
equivocally for private ownership of
America's merchant marine."
In this he Is absolutely right. The
only useful merchant marine Is the
busy merchant marine, A thousand
ships tied up at a dock ure no more
use than a thomund ships at the
bottom of the sea. The private owner
Is under the financial necessity of
finding business for his ships, A
government operator will take busi
ness if It comes, but he won't go
after It,
Private ownership stimulates Initi
ative and enterprise, Gov-
I eminent ownership Btlfles Initiative
and leads to dry rot. Plea has been
in business long enough to know
this,
During the war emergency there
was need fpr government action In
the production of ehlpe, There mlit
still be fulfillment of government
contracts and Undertakings. • But It
Is up to Congress to work out a per
manent policy of dovelopmeht and
maintenance of an American merr
chant marine. \
The American flag must stay on
the ocean and wo must never again
be in a position where an emergbnpy
will compel us to depend upon the
stilpa of other hatlons to transport
our soldiers or supplies.
I>oeazc* in
By tho Ex-Committeeman
-
Now that the War Service Bureau
has been abolished and* the collec
tion of data plated upon a definite
basis for the writing of the history
of Pennsylvania in the great war It
Is expected that Governor Sproul
will make* some changes In the State
Historical Commission, which is
collaborating with the AA'gr History
Commission, so that the Historical
Commission can take up actively
the work of perpetuating the history
of the state in earlier wars while
Dr. A. E. McKinley gets together
the Information about the sons of
the state in the war with Germany
and Austria.
The Governor is said to have some
plans for the Historical Commission,
of which he has been chairman and in
which he is' interested. His own
nomination to that body he with
drew and he has two vacancies.
The. men the Governor is said to
- mlnd arc William Perrine,
n?.n°*i *s® IJhilad elphia Evening
Bulletin, whose writings are widely
r * i # antl who has a wonderful fund
or Information on historical matters,
Ke w - Rush Glllan, of the
I'ranklin county courts.
People at the Capitol are watch
ing with a great deal of interest
developments in regard to the Pub
lic Service Commission and the De
partment of Agriculture. It is not
believed that Governor Sproul has
made up his mind as to the size of
the commission, although there is
much talk of a reduction to five.
This will not mean, say people on
the Hill, that the Secretary of In
ternal Affairs will have anything to
do with the commission. The Gov
ernor has been asking many ques
tions about the opinions of people
relative to the commission. The
story that a reduction to five is prob
able is going the rounds.
—Now that the appointment of
Thomas F. McNichol as a municipal
court judge in Philadelphia is prac
tically out of the way there is much
speculation about the other men to
be named. . .
—Belief is expressed that the
Goverrior will accept the resigna
tions of the State Commission of
Agriculture along in the spring. The
bills to change around the bureaus
In the Department of Agriculture
and to make things more up to date
are understood to be under prepara
tion.
—Governor Sproul's remark that
he favors a light anthracite tax is
being much discussed among legis
lators. It is felt that the anthracite
region should have something for
tho coal that is being tuken out, but
Just how to tax hard coal without
taxing bituminous is regarded by
many on the Hill as a knotty prob
lem.
' The Age of the Earth
A r ast age, be the of
sequoiap or Egyptology, always af
fects the thoughtful reader with an
awfhl fascination. How much more
so, then, when the occasionally elo
quent scientist Is discussing the age
of the earth! Harlow Shapley of
the Wilson Solar Observatory hsls
recently undertaken this computa
tion, basing his theoretical estimates
on the various findings of eminent
geologists and astronomers.
We gather from this technical
dissertation in the publications of
the Astronomical Society of the
Pacific that the most available
media for measuring the earth's an
tiquity Is, perhaps, the scratcliings
of time on the rocks of the world.
For example, "It now appears," he
writes, "that the oldest known
roCks, the granite-gneisses of the
Laurentlan system in Canada, were
In existence nearly a billion and a
half years ago." Barrell remarks,
in the Bulletin of the Geological So
ciety of America, that "surprising
as it may seem, the date known
with the greatest precision lies far
back in Precambrian time. Frpm
Norway, Texas, Quebec and German
East Africa uranium minerals asso
ciated with granite give an ""age \
which approximates 1,120 million ]
years."
Mr. Shapley has quoted Prof. Jo
soph Bnrrell of Yale University. In
the bulletin mentioned the latter in
troduces his discussion with the fol
lowing impressive lines:
"The flight of time is measured
by the weaving of composite
rhythms.—day and night, calm and
summer and winter, birth
and death—such as these are sensed
in the brief life of man. But the
career of thg earth recedes into a
remoteness against which these les
ser cycles are as unavailing for the
measurement of that abyss of time
as would be for human history the
beating of an insect's wing. We
must seek out. then, the nature of
those longer rhythms whose very
existence was unknown until • man
by the light of science sought to
understand the earth. The larger
of these must £>e measured in terms
of the smaller, "and the smaller must
bo measured in terms of years.
Sedimentation is controlled by theni,
and the stratigraphlc series consti
tutes a record, written on tablets of
stone, of these lesser and greater
waves which have pulsed through
geologic time."
Friends a Hindrance
Paragraph from the Queensland,
vyuitraltan, newspaper:
"Dave Lewis begs to notify that
he has started business on his own
hook as an' un-to-date restaurant,
and hopes that his many friends will
damn yell stop away and give him
a chance."
A Self-Acting Jury
A Jury recently met to Inquire Into
n case of Afjter sifting
through the evidence the twelve men
retired, and, after deliberating, re
turned with the following verdict:
"The Jury are all of one mind—
temporarily insane" From the
| Jersey Journal.
HAMUSBURO TELPORAPU
IT HAPPENS IN THE BEST REGULATED FAMILIES ... ByBRIGGS
■ I .1 1 •' ' " ' :
/ IT II W SEAR TH.'MG \ - F THINK OF TNE VJH^\
F THAT CVSR HAPPSMED TO \ / TH4! ANJD POVCRTV J I J
' % Y Y WMS OF A.M 7
1 SPBWT NOW FOR Y
4 •'■• t ' ' / /• .. "
T
OP THE PACREAAE f~ AND THCPJ WE \ /'HOW")
I IW CRIME THAT WILL OF ( ENJOV A COVJ/MTRV J /He*e-Sj V. /
/ COURSE RESULT- \ THE Y>~\ OP HAPPY HEARTS Y H V6O /
F FIRST OF .JULY WILL 8£ AWO HAPPY X T
SOOM AJ'< GOODNESSY
The German People Willed It
[From the New York Tribunal
Herr Rudolph Klrchner is entitled
to honorable mention as a German
journalist who intLepidly explores a
new and un-Prusslan field of
thought. Writing in the Frankfurter
Zeltung Klrchner says:
"Our government has cheated us
—but the people have cheated them
selves as well. Who insisted with so
much vehemence on the submarine
war in Its most ruthless form? Was
it only Trlpitz and his henchmen?
Was it not the German people them
selves that made the task of those
sinister chauvinists so supremely
easy? Is it conceivable that every
precept of reason, moderation and
humunity could have been trampled
upon so shamelessly and so often had
the musses of the German people
seriously set themselves against the
folly of their rulers? Who is re
sponsible for Belgium? Who for the
annexations in the East? For tlfe
brutal peace of Brest-Lltovsk ? The
people let the rulers have their own
way about it. We measured the in
ternational situation by the accuracy
of a German long-range gun. ♦ • •
We Germans, at least those of Its
who were not .imperialists, thought
of this war as one of self-defense.
But how could we reconcile this idea
with our invasion of Belgium, wjiich
proved that our rulers considered
breaking the law of nations a mere
matter of routine? The whole Ger
man people applauded the act and
n-.uny others of the same brand."
This is not repentance—far from
it. But it is admission. Its tone con
trasts favorably with that of the ap
peal issued, soon after the signing
of the armistice, by a group of Ger r
man writers beaded by <3erhart
Hauptmann. This appeal invoked
"brotherly- love as the guiding prin
ciple of humanity" and urged the Al
lied nations to forget the past and
work for the future. "There is no
hatred in our hearts," Hauptmann
and his friends asserted, apparently
qulte'willing to forgive the Uelgiuns,
for instance.
After all, it may be that Kirchner
is not more honest than the rest of
his colleagues—only a little more
diplomatic. He is, on the verge,of
the stupendous discovery that hon
esty pays—surely, a novel concep
tion for the Prussian mind.
"The Admiral Goes Ashore"
It is one of the'traditions of-the
navy that when a beloved admiral
hauls down his flax and gocp ashore
in response to the cull to other or
higher duties the officers of his ilect
or squadron personally man the
barge, bend to the sweeps and row
hint from his flagship to the landing
place. After the death 8f the late
Rear Admiral Coghlan the following
lines, which perhaps are no less ap
propriate to the pussing of Rear Ad
mirul French E. Chudwlek, were
found pinned to t-he bulletin board
qf the Army and Navy Club:
The barge is at the gangway,
An officer mans each oar,
For the voyage of life is ended—
The Admiral goes ashore.
Ashore to the rest of the warrior,
Ashore from life's stoi*y sea,
Where the Captain of all the Navies
Will welcome him on the quay.
And we who knew and loved him
Will miss the firm clasp of his
hand,
The happy, friendly greeting.
The ringing tone of command.
Man the side in'slldnce
While the parting cannons roar;
A gallant gentleman leaves us—
The Admiral goes ashore.
—New York Herald.
LABOR NOTES
The American Bridge Company of
Ambridge, Pa., holds classes of in
struction four nights a week for its
employes.
Mere than 50,000 workers employ
ed by the Ford Motor Company are
now receiving a minimum wage of
's6 per day.
The wage scale of the railway
workers In England has befcp more
than doubled since the beginning %f
the war.
About one-fourth Of the popula
tion of Hawaii are engaged in the
grooving of sugar cane and the man
ufacture of raw HUgar.
Newbiggcn millers in Northum
berland, England, are demanding
that the system of working in three
shifts be changed to two shifts.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
FAIR PLAY FOR JERSEY
To the Editor of The Telegraph:
At the convention of the National
Dry Federation in the Chestnut
Street Auditorium, an address was
delivered on Wednesday afternoon
by Clinton N. Howard, chairman of
the campaign committee of the Fed
eration. In this address Mr. Howard
very dramatically said:
"In one year and eight months
after the first state ratified t'he
Amendment] it was done! The Re
cording Angel called the roll, and
forty-two states answered, 'Dry!'
Pennsylvania, the Gibraltar of the
trade, will ratify; New York, the
.Empire state, will ratify; the late
Rhode will ratify; and New
Jersey—Oh my! Oh my! Oh you
sweet potato state! Oh jvou mos
quito state! New Jersey has never
ratified any of the eighteen amend
ments to the constitution! Not one!
She may not this time, but let her
stew in her own Juice until January,
1930. One more year pf disgrace,
and Uncle Sam will hang her out
today!
"Hush, New Jersey, don't you cry!
You'll be weaned and spanked bone
dry.
Eighty million people have voted to
ratify."
The facts do not sustain Mr. How
ard's statements with reference .to
ratifications by the state of New
Jersey.
The first ten amendments (twelve
were proposed by Congress, but
two failed of ratification) were sub
mitted to the several state legisla
tures by a resolution of Congress
pussed on the 25th day of Septem
ber, 1789.. They were ratified by
New Jersey on November 20, 1789,
the first state legislature to act. on
the amendments. The acts of the leg
islatures of states ratifying these
amendments were transmitted by
the governors to the President, and
by him communicated to Congress,
following ratification by Congress,
December 15, 1791. *
I do not have at hand the records
of ratification of t,he eleventh and'
twelfth amendments, The eleventh
amendment was declared by the
President, in a message to the two
Houses of Congress, January 8,
1798, to have been adopted by the
legislatures of thrcerfburths of the
states. The resolution proposing
the amendment was Con
gress March 5, 1794. The twelfth
amendment was submitted to the
legislatures of the several states by
a resolution of Congress passed De
cember 12, 1803. It was ratified,
ae'edrding to a proclamation of the
Secretary of State dated September
25, 1804.
The resolution proposing the thir
teenth amendment was passed by
Congress February. 1, 1865. It was
ratified by New Jersey January 28,
1866, a month after the amendment
had been declared ratified accord
ing to a proclamation by the Sec
retary of State.
The • resolution submitting the
fourteenth amendment was passed
by Congrehs June 16, 1866. New
Jersey ratified fhls amendment Sep
tember 11, 1866, being the fourth
state to vote in. favor of ratification.
The amendment wrfs declared rati
fied by three-fourths of the legisla
tures, according to a proclamation
by the Secretary of State, July 28,
1868.
On February 27, 1869, Congress
by resolution submitted the fifteenth
amendment to the several states for
ratification. On February 21, 1871,
the legislature of New Jersey rati
fied this amendment.
July 12, 1909, the sixteenth
amendment was proposed to the sev
eral state Tor ratification by resolu
tion of Congress. On February 5,
1913, the legislature of New Jersoy
voted in favor of ratification. The
proclamation of the Secretary of
State, declaring the amendment duly
ratified, was issued February 25,
1613.
The last amendment prior to the
pendfng one, being the seventeenth,
was proposed' by resolution passed
by the two Houses of Congress on
May 16, 1912. On March 18, 1913.
it was ratified by the legislature of
New Jersey. And on May 31, 1913,
It was declared a part of the Con
■tiutton of the United States, ac
cording to proclamation of the Sec
retary of State."
As Mr. Howard has access to the
records from which the forpgoing
facts are taken, it is difficult to ac
count for the statement which he
made in his eloquent address, so
palpably at variance with these facta.
EUDIA.
TRIBUTE TO M PHERSON
To the Editor of "The Telegraph:
A friend sends me a recent copy
of the Telegraph, containing an
obituary of Judge John B. MePher
son, of the U. S. Circuit Court.
Allow me to present a tribute of
sincere regret at the demise of my
dear old friend Jack. We were
chums at the old llarrlsburg Acad
emy in the late 'sos of the last cen
tury, when Prof Kemble was the
principal and Dr. Deemy his assist
ant. i
There were fifty or sixty students
in the school then. Of course the
majority have gone over the Great
Divide. 1 have lost track of the sur
vivors, as 1 have not lived in Harris
burg for fifty years. I recall Clay
McCauley, of whom I read about
two years ago as a missionary In
Japan. Then there were two of the
Gross boys, one of whom became
Mayor of Harrisburg. The DeWitt
brothers, sons of Parson DeWitt, of
the Presbyterian Church, werq
bright boys, and one followed the
footsteps of his father into the min
istry; Mort Felix, whose father was
in the soda water business; the Al
ricks boys, Devi and Hamilton; Cal
Rnhm, whom 1 met thirty years
ago as a civil engineer in the build
ing of the Brooklyn elevated rail
road. Vance McCormick, now of na
tional fame, bad not yet appeared
upon the scene at the Academy. The
husky farmer chap, Fox, from Dau
phin, saved Jack from drowning
near the big rock opposite South
street, while Cal ltahm and I looked
on helplessly from the Devil's Hole,
under the bank.
Juck McPherson and I were in a
little Latin class by ourselves when
we were twelve years old. When
the Rev. Dr. DeWitt visited the
school Prof. Kemble would trot us
out to parse and conjugate, much to
our juvenile embarrassment. Our
roads in life separated early—he to
Princeton and I into the printing
office, the refuge in those days of
boys not entering the learned pro
fessions.
I did not see Jack for twenty
years, but my loss was compensated
for in the summer of 1917, when I
received a delightful letter from
him from Bar Harbor, Me., reviv
ing memories of the happy days at
the old Academy, when we pilfered
potatoes from his grandfather's cel
lar at the corner of Front and Chest
nut streets, and roasted and ate
them on the bunks of the picturesque
Susquehanna.
Judge McPherson came of sturdy
old Scotch stock, just, honest and of
undoubted integrity.. He was an
ornament to the bench, and his
place may not be easily filled. , ®
United States courts are the last
refuge for the American in search
of even-handed Justtce. VV e need
big men like McPherson to expound
the law In these days of rebellion
against authority and order.
I trust that you may find room
for my little reminiscent tribute to
my old friend Jack, whom 1 loved
for his noble traits and manly char
acteristics.
EDWARD FEENEY,
688 Tenth street, Brooklyn.
TRIUMPH
(From the Sonnet.)
Hoar's measure gave 1. Is it aibfor
got?
Winds cannot blow or beat it Into
dust, ,
Or waters it, or moth and
rust
Corrupt it Into ijught that it was not.
For what is more remembered than
the spripg.
The scarlet tulips running through
the grass
By a wet wall, ana gone with but
Alas?
(X know not how I know this old
thing) .
How now, poor one, that loved me
for a space? 1
Mine is the trimph of the tulip
flower;
My ruined April will not let
you by;
To east my laughter, and to west my
face.
Housed with you ever, down some
poignant hour
There drifts the scrap of music
that was I.
—Llzette Woodworth Reese.
Bryan Gets Taste of Victory
It must be conceded that Mr.
Bryan's prohibition campAlgn has
given him the only reully big vic
tory he ever enjoyed, but it would
be rash to predict that it will ever
make him President. —Buffalo Cour
ier.
JANUARY 30, 1919.
A FRONTIER NEEDED
[From the Erie Herald]
The frontier was the great Ameri- j
canlzer. When Englishmen. Irish-1
men, Germans and Scandinavians
forced the point of a wedge of civili
zation pushing into the forest the
pressure of common work moulded
them into Americans.
The little frontier society, passing
in a few years from the semi-sav
agery of the hunting and lishing
stage to contemporary civilization,
blotted out racial differences. Such
co-operative neighborhood under
taking as log-rolling, house-raising
and corn-husking built a common
citizenship in doing common tasks.
The foreign colonics of the great
cities came with the disappearance
of the frontier. As nationalities drew
trade, political and residential lines
they built race partitions in our
"polyglot; boarding house."
Then came the great common task
of the war, when we carried the
frontier of American * democracy
overseas. The national army became
the great Amerlcanizer. It did the
greatest common task in history.
Men who march, eat, sleep, fight and
suffer the danger of injury and death
in u common cause lose sight of race
differences. Fifty nationalities
marched away to the Great Crusade
and came marching back Americans
all.
Americanism is the child of the
frontier. It was born of the conquest
of a continent. It develops only in a
crusade against common difficulties.
We need a frontier and a crusade to
day. Nothing else does the work.
Teaching English does not make
Americans. Teaching civics Is not
enough. These only supply the neces
sury tools for the work of American
ization. They may be misapplied.
They have been used for the destruc
tion of Americanism.
It is the frontier, the crusade, the
[common task that makes, us Amer
icans. The frontier is before us. The
crusade is calling.
Society is advancing. Its problems
| were never more urgent. Its frontier
lis now social and political, rather
than geographical and primitive.
But the call still goes out for fron
tiersmen, pioneers, crusaders.
Instead of forests, prairies, deserts
and swamps,-we must now advance
ugalnst Ignorance, disease, poverty
and injustice. Instead of foreign
autocrucy, we fight against domestic
greed and tyranny.
It is along thAt way that society
advances. There is the great com
mon task that calls for pioneers and
crusaders and a common army of
AVnertcan citizenship. Doing that
work In common will make us all
Americans.
Mn. Burleson in a Corner
(From the New York World)
It must be said that Postniuster
General Burleson did not fare very
well before the House Post Office
Committee in showing why
Government operation of the tele
graph and telephone service should
be extended for two years more or
why It was ever assumed.
The argument of the war as mak
ing such action imperative is weak
ened a trifle by the fact that Mr.
Burleson was on record before the
war in favor of Post Office control
of these enterprises.' * • • ■
When Mr. Burleson urges con
tinued Government rUntrol after the
wur as a transitional .measure of
necessity in getting back to peace
conditions, he is met not only by
that same pre-war record of per
sonal predilection- but 'by questions
from the committee of, Why two
years and why not for many other
industries besides?
Burleson took'refuge In'the "contra-
And when to these questions Mr.
dletory, overlapping, vexatious con
trol of forty ■.eight. states," and so
on, one of the committee came back
with the statement that 95 per cent,
of these services are purely local.
The Postmaster Qenerul's reply to
that is unrecoded and probably un
recordable. *
If Mr. Murleson favors a virtually
indefinite continuance of present
government control in the purposd
of offecting ultimate government
ownership of telephones and tele,-
graphs, his position is quite under
standable. Otherwise it is not.
And so far as he finds support in
such a position from owning com
panies, that also is understandable
in view of the assurances which are
theirs that a sale to the government
would be at good prices, with gov
ernment guarantees meantime of
the old profits and dividends.
Germany's Job
Having junked the Junkers, Ger
many's job is to can the Spartacam,
and show * them they are Sparta
cants.—From the Chicago Tribune,
lEmtiitg Qttjat
Governor Sproul received a lett
which amused htm greatly, the ol
er day from a lady In Chester w
Is very much Interested In Ch
Welfare Work. The story as It vi
n *° Governor by t
philanthropic lady was as follows
That famous Chester charact
Jimmy the Goose, was leading a f
lorn looking horse out Concord a'
nue the other day and was sollloqu
jng. partly to himself and partly
the ancient animal. He said:
is a d bad road! But never mi
old hoss, when Bill Sproul gets to
Governor we'll have goods roads
Bill is great for good roads and,
always keeps his word.'
1 his is a sincere* tribute as co
T lom one Chester's dereli
and I am sure you will appreciate
as such."
• • *
The slate government of Pennt
vania Is getting the apple ha
Governor William C. Sproul, who 1
always been a devotee 'Of the ap]
as becomes the owner of a couple
\ery fine orchards and some fan
and he has set the example for
llcials by having some apples on
desk. Prof. Frederic Rasmussen,
new Secretary of Agriculture, ii
strong partisan of the Pennsylva
apple and says that the Keysti
state raises the best pippins to
found anywhere. He has them ab
his office and hands them to call
who come to talk about fruit cult
as examples of what Pennsylva
raises. The Farm Products si
here last week caused numer
boxes of choice apples to be bou
they hav , e been much used
tne Capitol and apples for lunch i
in place of afternoon cigars h
become the fashion.
Harry S. McDevltt, secretary
the Governor, has L.framed for
Governor's office a*copy of the
flcial invitation to the inaugural,
of the tickets, a part of the dlagi
of the stand showing where the G
ernor stood when delivering his
dress and one of the inaugi
medals.
.• * *
The appearance of Attorney G
eral William I. Schaffer Id the D
phln county court yesterday acc<
panied by all of his deputies '
the tlrst occasion of the kind a
here in years. It was also the 1
appearance before the court, wl
has special powers in state cases
the new chief law officer of the C<
monwealth. They were all admli
upon motion of Lieutenant Gover
Edward E. Beidleman and w
made full fledged members of
bar. In most proceedings the d
tics have appeared singly, or at
most two together. The whole
were with Mr. Schaffer.
• * •
William Jennings Byran told ol
interesting hobby of his while at
dinner given to newspaper co
spondents at the Penn-Harris.
tries to get the cartoons of him
which have "punch" and mentlo
two which he had gotten after 1
seardh. One represented himself 1
ing tea with the czar and discus;
important uplift schemes, while
other was on his campaigns.
cartoon," said the Colonel, "g
the pictures of the Presidents of
United States and besides each
was a picture of myself. Undern<
was the line, "The Presidents of
United States and men who have
against them as far back as we
remember.' "
The Inauguration -weather ae
to be a topic of conversation
only In Harrlsburg, but In the st
The other day a couple of trol
men were talklpg and one a
"This has been a great month
weather, but that Sproul he cert
ly had the luck on Inauguration d
In the Capitol, Thomas H. Oai
chief clerk of the House, was c
pllmentlng TTarrisburg on Its we;
er for the big day. "Your town
right there with Sproul weather
the favorjte son of Delaware coui
wgs his comment.
"One thing that the mild wi
has done which Is good for pec
although as a general health pr<
sitton it might be considered as
favorable," remarked a physic
"That is It has gotten them to w
ing. More people are 'hoofing
than known for a long time an
helps their digestion and genet
well being."
The manner In which rooms
being snapped up around Hai
burg is worth noting. Men who 1
come here for the Legislature
complaining and there are m
people who would like to spend n
time here if they could get ro<
The Legislature means about
persons her for the winter.
| WELL KNOWN PEOPLE
—General C. T. Menoher.who c
manded the Rainbow Division,
native of Somerset county.
—General L. T. W. Waller, of
marines, who Is now making
home In Philadelphia, has been n
ing a series of Interesting addre
—General E. T. Jadwln, who
formerly in charge of the Ur
States engineering work at F
burgh, is due home in a short t
—General P. C. March like
meet old college friends of his
at Lafayette and West Point.
—Genoral Marlborough Chur<
head of the military lntelllgenci
vision, used to be In artillery.
[ DO YOU KNOW
—Tliat Hnrrixburg-made m
nitions arc in use among t
Ithlnc occupation army?
HISTORIC 11ARRISBURG
o—Early guilders used to
stones out of the river for fou
tlons and seldom had to go far,
A Quick Change
(Froni the Outlook.)
Most readers are familiar witl
story of the German bank in an
erican city which, finding Its l
unpopular, changed It to the "I
man Bank." Here is anothei
ample on the samejtnes: A po]
New York City German restat
was called Kloster Glocke (Clc
Bell), and its front was deco:
with a large bell as a sign,
name has been changed to the '
erty Bell," and the bell of thi
monastery now does duty as a
Ilea of the one which rang ou
dependence to the colonies.
The Feast of Belshazza
> Belshazzar the king made a
feast to a thousand of his lords
drank wine before the thousan
Daniel, v, 1,