10 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Founded 1831 Published evenings except Sunday by THE. TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. Telegraph Building, Federal Sguare E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager til's. M. STEIXMETZ, Managing Editor A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Executive Board J. P. McCULLOCGH, BOYD M. OGLESBY, F. R. OYSTER, GUS. M. STEDCMETZ. J Members of the Associated Press—The ! Associated Press is exclusively en- i titled to the use for republication ' of all news dispatches credited to i it or not otherwise credited in this I paper and also the local news pub lished herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. , /Member American Newspaper Pub -' Chicago, 111. Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., aa second class matter. . dBBa _ By carrier, ten cents a week: by mail. IJ.OOa year in advance. lAve, there are many round Seeding they care; 'J Pray, there is One at hand Helping thy prayer; Pight for the love of God, Sot for renown; Sot in thine own. Strive, but in His great strength. —Cowen. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4. 1919 SENATOR HALE'S SPEECH SENATOR HAI.E speaking be fore the Senate yesterday ex pressed a doubt as to the popu larity of President Wilson's peace, program in the United States. TheJ Senator might have added that since Americans do not know precisely what Presides". Wilson's program is, they, of course, are not in posi tion to expr.ess intelligent opinion concerning it. But so far as Presi dent Wilson has confided in his fel low countrymen, there is room for debate as to how his so-called "peace principles" have been ac • cepted. In the light of the recent Congressional elections it might be argued that a majority of Ameri cans have little sympathy with the President and his doctrines, but many things other than the Presi dent's ideas as to world-wide peace entered into the overwhelming de feat of his party's candidates at the polls, so judgment based on that score would be faulty and in large degree unfair. However, it is trqe that while the country accepted at its face value President Wilson's declaration • the purpose of the war was to "make the world safe for democracy" the average American had no thought of maintaining an irmy abroad indefinitely to keep Europe "safe for democracy" after t had been made safe through the orce of American arms. There are by-ways in European politics that nobody but a European inderstands. The President is learn ing more about these now than he • ver dreamed of before. >lt was all ery well to pool interests and to :orget differences and ambitions vhen the Hun was at the gate and he fate of. France, and Italy and inglund was hanging in the balance. 3ut now that victory has perched upon the allied banners it is but tatural that old feelings and desires should come to the surface and that •)ld political methods and diplomacy inged by national • and factional feelings should make themselves felt at the peace conference. We in America are 400 years ahead of Europe in- freedom and honesty of thought as to the relations of our iovernmenl with other governments. We have none of the traditional animosities, neighborhood feuds ana .neaking desires for national expan sion at the expense of the other ellow. We desire nothing more than fair treatment for ourselves tnd honest dealing with our nelgh jors. We who are of. this mind and uat e not come into contact with European politics first hand cannot understand fully, the difficulties that lie before country if the President neans to attempt to carry out the lollcy that has been attributed to ilm with respect to intervention jn European affairs to the extent or helping police unruly Bections or he continent, and possibly of Africa tnd Asia as wall. But as a matter >f principle we are opposed to it. A'e have enough problems at home o keep us- busy. We can do far nore for the uplift, of Europe by irecept and example in democratic .-overnment as we administer and ■njoy It at home than we can by - eating it into the heads of unap ireciative Europeans through the ..nd of a military policeman's club. The President is skating on very hln ice in Europe, both with re pect to support at home and ability e carry through his program abroad. He is proceeding us though he had TUESDAY EVENING, the full approval of the American people. He is more autocratic than any of the erstwhile autocrats of Europe. His "big stick" democracy is not in keeping with his democratic pronouncements. He should pause and consider the kind of treaty the United States Senate will ratify be fore attempting to commit the country to his own personal beliefs and desires. THE TIME IS RIPE THE decision of Governor Sproul to press for early commence ment of the big Capitol Park development plan ought to be the signal for Harrisburg and Dauphin county to get busy on the joint city hall and courthouse project to j which thy are committed, j The city must keep pace with the State in the creation of a civic cen ' ter about the enlarged zone and ground'can be bought now at rea sonable prices fronting on the park which will be greatly enhanced in \aiue by developments during the next few years, if not .removed from I the market altogether.. The financial situation of both city and county is favorable to the neces sary loan, but much preliminary lyork most be done before the pro ject can be taken to the voters of either the municipality or the county at large; and now is the time to get under way. The sale of the old courthouse site would more than purchase such a plot as would be needed on the park zone. Disposal of the jail site would buy a farm and pay for part of the erec tion of a jail outside the city, where prisoners could be housed in a sani tary manner and made to work for their keep rather than be encour aged to become chronic loafers, as at present. Much of the steel work in the prison could be transferred, bodily to the new Jail, thus reducing cost of construction, and cutting the size of the bonded debt necessary to finance the two improvements. EXCELLENT SELECTIONS Governor william c. SPROUL not only demon-! strated his keen interest in the official historical activites of the State, but his recognition of ability last evening in his reappointment of Dr. Thomas Lynch Montgomery to be State Librarian and chief of the State Museum and his selection of William Perrine, the gifted ed itor of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, to be the gubernatorial; successor on the.State Historical Commission. Both are pre-emi nently qualified for the places. Dr. Montgomery was named for his fifth term of four years as head of the institution which has risen to the front ranks of State libraries and which through its museum has become an exceedingly valuable ad junct to the educational. system of the State. He is no iii|)gin a Phila delphian or a Chester countian. He belongs to us in Harrisburg and we are proud of his work and appre ciate the abiding interest hp has taken in the collation of historical data of our community. Mr. Perrine is well known to men by his vigorous editorials in the great Philadelphia afternoon news paper and his enlightening sketches of Philadelphia life, the accuracy with which he has written of events in the history of the State and its metropolis and his authoritative ref erences to political affairs. He has many times complimented the pro gressive spirit of Harrisburg and the hospitality of its people- In, naming William Price, the Pittsburgh philanthropist; to the State Board of Public Charities, and reappointing Thomas J. Lynch as State Water Supply Commis sioner the Governor has chosen men of signal ability and value to tie Commonwealth to be with him.. "SLACKER"' MARRIAGES STRANGELY enough, it is from Salt Lake City that we get a true analysis of how it hap pens that the larger number of di vorce cases in court at this time in volve young men within the draft age. Says the Herald of that place: Humorists have made much of comparisons of war and the mar rlage stiitc, often overdmwinsr the picture, but occasionally sea soning it with the salt of truth. " hat the entertainers have said in Jest is based on fact, and is revealed in the divorce courts. The deluded look upon mar riage as the cure of the ills of discontent, forgetting the essen tial qualities of a happy union. The man without the courage to face war does not possess the character of a good husband. In hiding behind a petticoat to avoid conflict, he has merely buried his head in the sand. Time is relent less, and sooner or later must present problems even more com plex than the original enirma. Being without the courage to face war. he lacks th'e stamina to face the trials and tribulations of 'mutual misfortunes. As a hus band he ia no more stable than he was as a warrior, and he solves his problems by running away from them. A coward at heart he deserts a holy union in selfish protection. , The wreckage of the matrimon ial craft ot> the first days of war can serve only as a beacon'light to the coming generations. The man who won't fight for his coub try won't fight for his wife and tamily. He is to be discovered before misplaced confidence be comes a lasting regret. It is not entirely a masculine problem, be cause the girl who marries to quit work too often find* her hours increased and her pay Te duced. Divorces fail to solve these problems, for they only e ease burdens where there should be no burdens. All this is pitifully true. Yet we can scarcely sympathize with the young women who married young men to keep them out of the Army. Having stultified marriage by such wicked connivance, how can a wife expect her-husband to take the wed ding ceremony seriously. A "das tard in war" is invariably a "lag gard in lovi," and the man who hides behind a woman's apron is not one to become a husband of whom a wife may be proud. ir^ — : il "PO&TCC* IK By the Ex - Committeeman j —Passage of the resolution ratify ing the prohibition amendment on ! second reading in the House last night was one of the most interest ing things in recent sessions. Gen erally the "wets" have slaughtered "dry" legislation on that stage. laist night it went throughout without a chrip in opposition and the ways -Were cleared for the battle to-day, —There was a Vallying of liquor forces in the House, many of the old timers being on hand and there was much discussion of the plans for to day and many claims to say nothing of the unkind remarks about men who had sensed the demand of the people of Pennsylvania that their state let into the parade. During the evening mutterings of Intention to. "put out of business" and to | "scalp" certain leaders for their re fusal to have members vote "wet" [at this time were heard about the corridors, but they did not disturb anyone but the men who made them. Some of the rampant "wets" even w-ept so far as to verbally assault the Governor for the stand he has taken. It did not disturb him, either. —The Senate last night arranged for the memorial to the late Senator James P. McNichol, long one of the dominating figures of Pennsylvania politics. It will be held March 11 and a committee of eight will ar range it. Governor Sproul and Audi tor General Snyder, former col leagues. will be speakers. —Representative John R. K. Scott, fresh from the trial of the Philadelphia mayor, arrived last night and 'immediately called his committee —judiciary special. It organized by election of Representa tive Joseph Marcus, of Allegheny, as secretary and started work. —Ex-Representative J. Ren Wylie of Allegheny, was in the House to see former comrades. —A bill to raise pay of Philadel phia municipal court judges to $lO,- 000 a year appeared last night along with numerous measures for relief of court criers and other officers who need the money. —Teachers seem to have sensed the opposition growing to the salary increase and are coming here to see members. The disposition is to re quire local districts to match the state grant, —State Printer J. L. L. Kuhn is reported as discussing a bill for his relief, contending that he lost money on the state contract. —The way the State Board of Charities appointments were con firmed last night by the Senate was interesting. Everyone went through just as did the other nominations. —Governor Sproul, having with drawn his own nominatiqn as a member of the State Historical Com mission. named William Perrine, the noted Philadelphia editor as his suc cessor. —The Senate law and order com mittee got into action last night with favorable reports of the bills for refunds of liquor licenses and in stalment licenses. —Municipal court nominations sent to the Senate were confirmed last night. —Ex-Judge A. A. Vosburg, of has been appointed the auditor general's attorney for Lack awanna couqty. —Ex-Senator John M. Jamison, prominently mentioned for the Re publican nomination for congress.in the Westmoreland district, was a member of the Senate in 1909 and 1911, and is well known here. —According to rumors which are being heard at the Capitol there is a chance that there will be some changes in the State Board of Cen sors of Moving Pictures. Thus far no legislation on the subject has come in. —Governor Sproul is taking a big personal interest in the telephone case injunction which was present ed to the Dauphin county court to day. The legislators are watching developments with attention as the proceedings will have wide bearing in -relations with the United States government. —The numerous amendments to the borough and township codes are being assembled for consideration later on. The committee in charge of composed of members from the smaller communities, and the chances are that there will be cau tion in regard to making changes. The borough people are taking con siderable interest in the Powell bill to make the membership of borough councils seven elected for four-year terms. "And There Is No Peace" The god of love, the god of strife — Twin brethren, they, and lords of all; And, at the trumpet call of life. They answer to one battle call. The bowman, armored Mars— Eros and Ares —one in name, Th%y lead, as one, through li'e and wars, For life and warfare are the same. • In bleeding heart and crimson hand That show the quick blood of the race. Their banners float in every land Whereof the ocean stil. hold trace. The fertile seed of life they sow. And water it with blood and tears; By blood and tears the nations grow Through all the upremembered years! The- hand shall not put up the sword Until the beating pulses cease, And, all its crimson banners low ered. Life yields the victory to Peace' E. BUHLER.' In the N. T. Times. LABOR NOTES In Japan stonemasons earn about 11.30 a day, while bricklayers and carpenters are paid $1.20 a day. The total membership of overl - 200 unions in England is put at nearly 4,500,000. A Sheffield (England) Arm which has been making shells for the army will make flies and springs. The Spanish government is con sidering the socialization of import ant industries in that country. The Omaha (Neb.) City council •has passed an ordinance prohibit ing organization among city fire men. • ! _ „ Wages are very high in Odessa Rugsia. and amount to virtually a confiscation of capital.' , Newark (N. J), carpenters have been granted an increase of 10 cents an hour, which brings their daily wage up to $6.40. During October alone over 66,000 women were placed in Jobs by the Woman's Bureau of the United Suites Employment Service. SXIUUSBURO TLFSBFTR TELEORXPH AIN'T IT A GRASP AND GIORIOVS FEELUPT .... ... ... By BRIGGS WHCM VOO SIT ALL" "AND YoJ VV*ITCH A|_V_ IHf "* Arvli> VU AA£> WMITA GR-R*°"HANI>. AND yqgr- jIETTEftS TO THE EDITOR | Our Natural Resources To the Editor of the Telegraph: The end of fighting in France! opens many a question at home. | During the war the hearts and minds j of the men and women of America were overseas, but with the coming ! of victory we can turn again to home ! affairs. It is right and fitting, there-] fore, that the friends of Conserva-1 tion should inquire once more as to I the status of the conservation move ment. It is particularly right and | fitting at the moment when Theodore I Roosevelt, the man to whom this! movement was most indebted, has' left us conservationists as heirs to | the task which he began. The people of the United States i own natural resources of enormous | value—lands that contain more than six hundred million barrels of oil. four hundred and fifty billion tons of coal,.two million acres of phos phate lands, and more than fifty million undeveloped water horse power. Legislation is now ' pending in | Congress to trade or give all thisj away. While public attention was | absorbed by the war, measures to j dispose of these resource quietly I passed both the House and Senate.! As usual the House bills are mainly I sound, the Senate bills thoroughly! bad. There is serious danger that the latter will be jammed through] in the dying hours of the present session. The Senate, on January 7," 1918.1 after very brief consideration, passed \ a bill (S. 2812),- dealing with the! coal, oil, gas and phosphate re-! sources now in public ownership. | This measure, masquerading as a j leasing bill, would surrender, with i the title, all control of waste, output,' price, and labor conditions. It | fosters speculation in coal, oil, gas. and phosphate, and gives no assur-: ance of prompt development. Even : the leasing provisions afford no pro tection to the public against extor tion or monopoly. Still worse, it gives title to fraudulent oil claim ants, many of whom have already had their claims denied by the courts. Finally there is a joker which would overthrow the present lease law for coal lands In Alaska, for which we fought so long and would turn them over forever to private hands. A bill for the leasing of these same resources was passed by the House on May 2 5,'1918. This meas ure (H. R. 3232) is much fairer to the public interests than the inde fensible companion bill passed by the Senate. On December 14, 1917, the Sen ate passed a bill (8. 1439), provid ing for the granting of franchises for waterpower on navigable streams. It is substantially the no torious and I disreputable Shields Bill of the previous Congress, which was defeated by public condemna tion. The House did not approve it, but passed instead an entirely new bill, drawn by the Administra tion and covering water power not only on navigable streams, but also upon public lands and national for ests, and international waterways. When this Administration bill was first introduced 1 endorsed it heartily. The House Committee on Water Power later wrote in a new clause, the most vital in the bill, which was very properly opposed by the President. Nevertheless, on September. 5, 1918, the measure passed the House with this clause included. The two sets of bills are now in | conference. The Senate measures; both on minerals and on water j powers are worse than the notorious Ballinger bills, —more hostile to the public interest and more hClpful toj corporate monopolies. The House, bills are entirely different and vastly better. As "you know, a bill reported I from conference cannot be substan tially amended in the House or Sen-1 ate. but must be accepted or reject-1 ed as it stands. The danger is that the bills reported by the conference, both on ipinerals and on water pow er, may be like the Senate bills, and unlike those of the Rouse, and that in the confusion of the closing hours they may pass. The men who. with out regard to party, strive to de feat the passage of the Senate meas ures, or any measures like them, will deserve well of their country, > The vaßt natural resources which are still held by the people can. br made to supply a sound and solid basis for reconstruction. Properly conserved and administered, they might almost'wipe out our gigantic national debt.' There is no good rea son why they should go to make more millionaires instead of helping our people to pay for the war. • In the public interest I ask you to give these facts the widest publicity at your command. Sincerely yours, OXFFORD PINCHOT. General Wood's Work KRO.M HARVEY'S WEEKLY GENERAL LEONARD WOOD has inaugurated a line of work at Camp Funston which will be of far-reaching value to the large force of men under his com mand as well as to the country at large. In addition to their army training, the Camp Funston men have educational facilities such as would be beyond the reach of very many of them elsewhere. By arrangement with the Kansas State Agricultural College, which is at Manhattan, Kas., only a few miles from Camp Funston, instruc tors from the college give frequent lectures at the camp on all branches of agricultural work—stock raising, land fertilization and so on, in cluding agriculture, in its broadest sense. As most of the men under General Wood's command are from the farming population, this course of instruction should be invaluable to them on their return to civil life. In addition to that, the college lias offered to take three hundred men in the institution's workshops and laboratories and instruct them in a course -of mechanical engineering. General Wood has taken full ad vantage of this offer. There will be barracks near the college, and as many men as possible will be quar tered there and comfortably cared for while receiving the instruction so generously offered. At the camp itself instruction in various lines of study is going on. The mornings, weather permitting, are devoted to' strictly military in struction and army work, while the men generally have the rest of the ABSORBED THE SOLDIERS (From the Pittsburgh' Dispatch) One of Canada's most prominent bankers at present in New York ventures the opinion that the United States will find the reconstruction difficulties less serious in the reali zation than in contemp'ation. That, he informs an interviewer, was the experience of the Lady of the Snows, and he cannot see why our obstacles should be more formidable. The shift from war to peace conditions as he truly remarks was not more Sudden in one country than another, and that Canada has no claims for monopoly in any factor that would minimize or banish , her reconstruc tion embarrassments is a statement with which there will be no disagree ment. Canada, he asserts, made the turn over with a minimum of friction and disturbance. The rush of returned soldiers, he says, merely supplied a. labor force which for a long time has been seriously needed, but was absent. Instead of flooding the country with a host of idle men he st.vx there were few men without worlc, as, with the coming back of a sufficient labor force, the various governmental authorities immediate ly resumed operations on tho long list of public improvement enter prises on which work was aban doned at the outbreak of the war. The Wellard Ship Canal is one of these projects, on which thousands of men have been put to work, or will be employed In full force as soon as an organization is effected. Other public work has been resum ed where war stopped it, . and he notes that the fear of an unemployed army has disappeared. TheSwnte pleasant experience, he believes, will be encountered in the United States once the actual beginning is made to absorb the labor.' PRAYED BEFORE VOTING (From the Minneapolis Journal) A little woman of worn face and bent body, old and with a shawl about her head, came to the polling place to cast her vote. She stopped before an American flag' above the booth, closed her eyes and moved 1 her lips. A bystander smirked, touched his fingers" to 'his forehead and nodded in the direction of the woman. ' "You are mistaken," said a man who understood. "The woman is a Czech, born in Bohemia. • Casting a ballot is fn the nature of a sacrament to her. The flag of th* United States is to her the symboLof the liberator. For five hundred years Bohemia has prayed for deliverance, and America has promised Bohemia deliverance now. TO'-vpte. in this free country to this woman is a solemn!rite. There fore, she prays before the'flag as she would in a church." ' , - ■ time to spend in improving them selves in general study. The illite rates, of whom there is a not very large but by no means negligible percentage, have full opportunity Tor instruction in the elementary school branches which, outside of the army, many of them would feel more or less humiliated in asking for and accepting. This is putting the army, while ' we are on a peace basis, to the very best use that could be made of it. it is making it a sort of university, which is not only creating American soldiers—and American soldiers are second to none in the world but which is also lifting to a higher level the standards of American citizenship. There is in all this a breadth of vision and an intelli gent patriotism quite characteristic of General. Wood. It is worthy of him at his best, and that is saying a great deal. Whatever this admir-i" able soldier's personal feelings may be at the all but feminine petty spitefulness to which he has been subjected, he has utterly sunk such feelings and has given himself as whole heartedly to the duties in the field to which he has been confined as has any man in the service, eith er here at home or abroad. That his men at Camp Funston are de voted to him is a matter of course. They have been devoted to him wherever he has been in command. He measures up. to the highest standard of the American army of ficer and gentleman, and when you have said that you have said about all that could be said in praise of any man. A SEW BROTHERHOOD (David Jayne Hill in the North American Review). Our interest and our policy are, therefore, plain; first of all, to hold fast to our freedom; and, next, tp prevent from falling into desuetude that unwritten charter of Union which 'constitutes the Entente .of Free Nations, cherishing its unity of purpose as the most precious of human achievements. It is a moral, not a legal unity, that has given us the victory. Uncovenanted armies have gathered from every quarter of the globe to assert the determination of the free nations that the rule of arbitrary force shall be ended. Our sons and brothers have been among them. Together they have faced death and have shed their blood, and men of many nations sleep in com mon graves. It is the most splendid assurance for the peace of the world and the rule of justice that can be imagined. The. sense of comradeship in a holy cause cannot perish. A new Brotherhood pf Men has come into being. Let us not mar its simplicity by distrust or controversy, or try to force Upon any of our co belligerenU any untried theory of legal union which might be honestly rejected, or accepted with doubt and reluctance. The battle has been fought in the name of freedom. Let us reipain free in the hour of vic tory. The Evil Spirit Upon Saul And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with, his javelin in his hand; nnd : David played' With his hand.—l Sam uel xix, 9. THE AIRPLANE Stallion, paced by the lightning, saddled of cloud. With head-wiqd Bpurs meshed in his plunging planks, A piston unharnessed, through Hi malayan banks Of mist like, tomahawk 'through gauze he plowed. Miles at a stride', hot hoofbeats drumming loud , As if the Jostled stars, having broken ranks, Were panting stertorous at his ' heels,' in pranks. .This made rdorbit of the spheres en , dowed. • Thewed -like Bucephalus, winged Michaelwise. ' He dared the locked vaults of God —-a shibboleth Of passionate blasphemy in each sndrting breath; Spurned the racked tanbark of the outthundered skies And,'neath a salvo of unbodied cries, Collapsed.on a pulled tendon, won to death. —STANLEY KIDDER WILSON. -J-i • >■', .i* > r.' '• t .r.. FEBRUARY ;'4, 1919._ Government Food Trust \ (From tlie New York Sun.) By jthe sudden ending of the war this country now finds itself stocked fabulously with surplus food. Millers are shutting down their mills because there is more flour on hand than can be sold. Packers are building new storehouses by the acre because, with all the new beef and hog supplies coming in, they cannot take caro of a greater quantity of surplus meat products than they ever had to hold before. The granaries, the elevators, the cold storage plants, the terminal warehouses, all the places where food may be handled, stored and kept, are bursting with oversupplies. Yet. while American consumers are groaning under the crushing burden of the high cost of living—the famine prices they are asked to pay in a land of plenty and in a season of feast—the united States Government keeps up the inordinate food prices. The United States Government, ex-' ercising to the limit its war control of food, does everything In Its power to hold food supplies back from our own consumers in peace so that it may continue to Jack prices high above their reach. The United States Government, as a specific example, again fixes the price of hogs for February, as for January, at $17.50 a hundred pounds. A war pricel A starvation price! And on January 1 there were at ter minal points such stocks as 295,000,- 000 pounds of frozen meats; of cured beef, 36.000,000 pounds; 12,000,000 pounds of lambs and mutton; 60,- 000,000 of frozen pork, 351,000,000 of dry salt pork, 295,000,000 of pickled pork, 100,000,000 of lard. Virtually every day since the first of the year those stocks of surplus meat products have been piling up. Furthermore, not in years and years has there been back on the range and the farm auytijlhg like the su perabundance of live stock on the hoof there now is; waiting to go to the slaughter houses, the packing plants and then into coid storage when there is room for it. A week ago the Agricultural De partment reported on the farms 44,- 399,000 cattle, increase of 287,000 over last year; it reported 49,863,000 sheep, an increase of 1,260,000; and 7.5,587,000 hogs, an increase of more than 4,600,000. All the while the American con sumer pays fifty cents a pound for ham. as if there wern't a hog on earth. All the while the American consumer is dreaming of the happy past when he could buy mutton. All the while, the American consumer Is figuring whether he can pay for beef the prices which not so long ago were hone too low for canvasback duck. From all political parties in the past generation the American peo ple have heard a great deal about the criminal greed, the wanton bleed ing of the public, by private food trusts. Why, there never before was a trust Of any sort or description that would not shrink into pallid nothingless before the United States Food Administration trust which, the more there i in the land to eat, the higher marks the food prices for more than 100,000,000 consumers within our own borders! Order of the Golden Star The Sunday following the signirtfc the armistice a slight, white haired rector stood in the pulpit of All Souls' Church in Omaha and an nounced to his congregation that a meeting would be held that after noon to formulate the organization of a society to perpetuate the mem ory of those who had made the su preme sacrifice for the victory that all the world was celebrating. "Any one who lias lost a blood relative in this war is eligible to the society,".' he stated, without com ment of any K.ind. His voice was firm and kindly; no eulogy was ten dered the dead, no tribute of praise was offered but his congregation understood, for a few months before the Rev. T. SI Mackey's son had died in a training camp while awaiting ordty-s to go across. The Order of the Gojden Star is the name of tlii society that had its 1 beginning in the heart of a father 1 and its first meeting In a church on that memorable Sunday of world wide thanksgiving. Almost imiAediately the member ship outgrew'Omsha and its vicinity. Letters came - from all over the United' States asking for enrollment in the society, and so great has heen the response that the Rsv. Mr. Mac key announces tnat. a uational con vention will be held very soon, either in Chicago Or Detroit, to give voice to plans of its membership. The badge of the ordef is a gold star. .. / \ • ' v " Eufniitg (Eljat Are Harrisburg people mipersti tious? Well,"it'might "be said thai some of them- are. There are a number Of people who refused . yes terday to consider putting away clothes tn mothballs before the lo cust blossoms arrive Just because the groundhog must Jtave.been blind not to have seen his shadow on Sun da>\ There are some who will not' start an enterprise att*'trtp on Fri day. But yesterday ah opportunity was afforded arouqd ''Locust and Court" to test whetliei 1 people A*"?- bothered by superstitions* A ma* was working on the Miller building and had a ladder resting against the second story. There was room fo* people to walk on the pavement be neath it Did they?i They did not. The first two men Who came along crossed the street to'the federal building sidewalk at a right angle. They never looked at each other. They just went along. A woman with a basket made a detour to the street. A messenger boy skipped out to the curb. Even a man with a crutch took to the street.- And the man working on the job did not walk under the ladder. He walked around it All this took place in about four minutes. And on the other side of tho street how many people walked on the big cellar doors of the Telegraph building in three minutes . Just one. And the one who did was a big colored man. Two women daintily walked around it A newspaper reporter walked to the edge and escaped Us influ ence. A policeman took to the curbside and a couple of men stop ped to read the bulletins and walked along the side. No wonder people believe in the groundhog. Speaking about groundhogs and the weather some' people have been calling up Observer Demain for in formation and have elicited the fact that some of the most atrocious weather has occurred in February and that the coldest weather we have ever had came in the second month. The abrupt fall in tem perature which marked the winter or 1912 and made a record until last year was in the middle of Feb ruary and everyone remembers what last 1 ebruary was like. February is somewhat noted for the weather ,^ rin K s and along about 1903 there were people who said they heard frogs starting in the swamps near the city on January 23 and who repented in February in fur coats. • • • Here is a story of a family. The father of the family became much Interested in the subjects his daugh ter was Studying away at school and contributed some essays of his own. She used the father's thoughts and words and sho did not draw such good marks. Then, says fay inform ant. she took; to tearing up what father was sending an£ writing her own. The principal noted some tliingr and wi'otc a letter of con/jratu lation to the parents. The remarks of friends to that father are dic tated by the same kindlly impulses that lead golf fiends to telephone one of their former number who is just recovering from influenza that the weather is exceptionally fine for winter sport on the greens. Speaking of Influenza Dr. J. M J Raunick, who handled the city's end of things during the epidemic, is making a series of studies of the cases that were reported to him. He is finding all sorts of slants and has found the manifestations totally un ijke many recorded cases. The doc tor thinks he will finish his study in, about a year. ••• • ~ "Quit irritating the groundhpg. Jtlst think, how we were wading through snowdrifts a year or so ago," is the remark which it is said Felix M. Davis, superintendent of the Harrisburg Railways, is said to have made. Mr. Davis said last winter that he had slopped keeping track of the separate snowstorms and if the remark about the ground hog I? correct he probably meant it. * • C. Tjaurence Shepley, formerly of the Harrisburg Telegraph and iate of the Patriot, who has retired to go into the insurance business, one time went to the State Library to interview a man on some local his torical matter. He started to talk to him and discovered that It, was his old professor at Lebanon Valley, Prof. H. H .Shenk, chief of the di vision of records. • • Norris L. Longaker, the well known district passenger 'agent of the Pennsylvania railroad, at this point, spread a lot of trouble around this city last week with a story he brought up from down along the Philadelphia division somewhere. With eyes bulging he rushed up to aparty of friends upon his arri val from a trip to Philadelphia and said; "Say, fellows, do you know what I saw down along the line?" "Mo." chorused the assemblage, "What?" "Why," said Norris, "A. fellow down by a big eddy In the river had two fishing lines in the water. Hon est. the first of the season." Norris, it may be added, Is a fish erman. So are his friends. And now the flsh(ng bug is at work thus early In the season In Harrisburg, and you know who.turned it loose. Speaking of angling, the Bullhead Fishing .Club, a more or leas well known organization in Harrisburg, 'held its annual meeting and dinner the other night and Captain George F; Lumb, of the State police depart ment, was unable to attend. Next day. he called up a fellow member to find out how the cele bration .had gone. "And who was elected president?" he asked. "Weil." replied his friend, "all the fellows seemed to be in favor of Rudolph Splcer for the place." "Good," said the captain, "I'm glad he was elected." . r "Oh, but he wasn't, "came the reply. "All the fellows were for him,- but they were all toe bullhead ed to nominate him-" 1 WELL KNOVN PEOPLE 1 —Mayor A. L. Reichenbach, ef Allentown, will tako a trip to Cuba for his health. t —Henry A. S. Stewart, promtnedt in Pittsburgh affaire, la at Miami Florida, for thii month. I DO YOU KHOjT I —Harrisburg made engines fag for Frestch patrol boats. r r f,' . Historic Harrisburg V used to be regular buttav tins carried by Harrisburg newel papers in the thirties on tharang* vale of canal boats. . < g %." HMiiif. • m. . '1