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> V<JU'R6 • •'.
ALOMe INI T.H£ fOYt-n CPM.E AMD GO 4*4. LONfevSOMe AND bluf
OP A ,sweu HOTGL JM ' - TwW A*.D Th*c:S AMD GOT tsi o QnC To
A £TR.ANG£. CLTY . _ 1 1 _ <~,Q OCX V/ITH '
• • ' f// ' ' ;;•'
jll^ 1 '
• \NH6N — SUDDENLY - YOU -A F<UB{MD,YEJ HON T Q H _ BOY"' aim T IT A
NAME.IS CAueD - rou ARE" Know WAS INI TOWKI IS
BEING ••< PAGPD ' ' PAGIMG IT>U 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