8
HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH
A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME
Founded 1831
Published evenings except Sunday by
THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO.
Telegraph Building, Federal Sqaare
i
E. J. STACKPOLB
; President and Editor-in-Chief
F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager
GU3. M. STEINMETZ. Managing Editor
A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager
Executive Board
J. P. McCULLOUQH,
BOYD M. OGLESBY,
F. R. OYSTER,
GUS. M. STEINMETZ.
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titled to the use for republication
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lished herein.
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God help up all to kindly vieso
The world that ire are passing throughl
—Lydia Jfarlo Child.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 12, 191
WHY NOT COMMUTE?
PRESIDENT WILSON is coming
home from France for the end
of Congress, but he is going
back again. If necessary he will
come home a second time and go
back immediately for another ses
sion. In the interest of economy
would it not be well for the Presi
dent to buy a commuter's ticket?
GOOD SELECTIONS
OVERNOR Sproul gave recog
f y nition to merit and hard work
when he re-appointed Adju
tant General Beary and Fish Com
missioner Buller yesterday. Both
have demonstrated their fitness for
the work of their departments.
General Beary did a particularly
good job In tho organization of the
Pennsylvania Reserve Militia to take
the place of the National Guard
when it went into Federal service
and in a few months placed In the
field a well equipped, soldierly or
ganization that to all appearances
might have been years in develop
ing. His motorizing of the trans
port branch of the service and re
plenishment of the Stat? arsenal's
depleted stocks during a period when
industry was working at capacity
for the national government was
a feat of which any man might have
been proud, especially since the pur
chases were made for the most part
at figures far below the market
prise to ordinary trade.
Mr. Buller lcnpws .more about the
fisheries of the State than any one
other man. He has had long ex
perience as commissioner, but pre
vious to that spent years in the
study of fish culture and its prac
tical application, getting his first ex
perience as early as 1871 in the
old Donegal fish hatchery on Gen
eral Cameron's farm. He has the
confidence of the fishermen of the
State and with a freer hand than he
ever has had before may be ex
pected to do big things for the
streams of Pennsylvania during the
next four years.
Changes in the Public Service
Commission wpre to have been ex
pected. It had been repeatedly
charged that the appointment of
Magee and Ryan were largely politi
cal and it is'but natural, when the
opportunity offered, that Governor
Sproul should surround himself with
men not only well fitted for the du
ties of the commission but friendly
to himself and his administration as
welL
A BIG PROBLEM
THE housing luncheon of the
Chamber of Commerce Friday
should be largely attended.
Housing is one of the biggest of
Harrisburg's problems, just as it is
that .of most other growing cities.
Last year we found that housing
was a great war need; now we know
that it is just as great a peace need.
The day is past when the specula
tive builder rushes into large opera
tions. The return on real estate de
velopment was not in the years just
preceding the war what it once was,
due to the fact that people would
not accept as homes the shacks they
once were-content to rent or buy.
They wanted something " for their
money. As a result of this demand
for better houses the profits on
building gradually decreased a year
, or two ago and caused a diminuation
of tho How of capital into building
enterprises. This has been largely
responsible for "the shortage of
dwellings that the city is experienc
ing, and the consequent advance in
rentals for houses available. Per
haps tho fictitious values recently
placed upon much Harrisburg real
B estate by sharp advances of rents
in -the ftast year may again turn
I speculative builders toward big de
f vtlopments ol . the kind that once
f marked the growth of the city, but
if so new last's regulating the erec
tion of houses should be engcted in
TUESDAY EVENING,
order to prevent a repetition of the
evils that now exist to a degree abso
lutely disgraceful.
Uncontrolled speculation would be
so closely akin to exploitation that
It is to be hoped that it will not be
permitted here, much as we need
dwellings at this moment. The
community must have a hand in its
own development, even though the
money for that development comes
from the pockets of those who are
operating for profit. We cannot per
mit a renewal of the old-time shack
building. The houses of the fu
ture must be good to look upon and
scientifically correct from the stand
point of tight, room and fresh air.
They must be substantial, but not
so elaborate as to demand rentals
I beyond the power of the average
: renter to pay. There should be
provision for the purchase of homes
| by those who desire to do so, and
I large savings ought not to be re-
Quired for first payments.
A housing company, based on rea
sonable profits and organized for the
purpose of giving the city a
building development, would bo use
ful in setting an example for other
builders, but it would not meet the
needs of the community fully for the
reason that, by the very nature of
things, its capital would be too small
and ,its opportunities too limited.
The community itself, if not the
Federal government, soon must go
more seriously into the matter of'
housing than is now anticipated.
The matter of regulation must be
supplemented by that of land values,
land control and very likely of
financing as well. We have a prob
lem here that is not only serious, but
which has so many angles that it
deserves the earnest individual and
collective thought of all our people.
We cannot hear too much about it.
The luncheon should be well at
tended. ,
OLXwrrfi them
THE best news that the press
dispatches have carried In
many a long day is that the
Government has arranged for the
deportation of fifty-four aliens who
have beqn stirring up trouble in this
country. It Is to be hoped that this
is merely a beginning. A vigorous
effort should be made to send all
such back whence they came. What
labor and business both need is a
period of quiet in which to read
just themselves to the ways of
peace. The more agitation,
worse fo'r both. It is all very well
for native-born Americans to strike
as a last resort in dispute with em
ployers, but for a foreigner to come
into the United States anfl delib
erately set about to stir up disorder
and foment disagreements between
workers and employers Is injurious
to both sides and ought not to be
permitted.
Level-headed labor leaders and
practical businessmen both under
stand that this is no time for strikes.
When men are being laid off in
many lines of industry is not the
moment to ask for increased scales
of pay or shorter hours. The time
for that sort of thing is when busi
ness is booming and labor is at a
premium. Just now we are facing
a time when businessmen are sore
ly burdened and when the whole
industrial situation is chaotic. The
businessman who is looking for or
ders and trying to make ends meet
under very trying circumstances is
not in position to meet labor de
mands and the natural tendency Is
to close the mill rather than operate
at a loss.
The big men in the labor world
are shrewd and far-seeing. They
know this quite as well as do busi
nessmen and they are guiding
themselves accordingly. They are
interested in quieting the unrest
that exists, rather than in promot
ing it. They know that these aliens
are merely troublemakers and that
they are quite as much the enemies
of the workingman as they are of
the manufacturer.
The I. W. W. agitator and the
Russian Bolshevik are as much
alike as twin brothers usually are,
and we want neither in this coun
try. The foreigner who comes to
the United States to work and to
become a good citizen is welcome.
But the alien who comes to stir up
strife and to teach un-American
ideas should be deported. The time
is here when business and labor
should sit down quietly together
and talk things over for their mu
tual benefit, but they need no ad
vice from the anarchists of Europe.
RESTORE CONFIDENCE
PRESIDENT WILSON used to be
a strong advocate of what he
has termed "pitiless publicity,"
but in view of what has transpired
during the last year or two in the
conduct of public affairs the aver
age intelligent citizen is forced to
the conclusion that "pitiless pub
licity" in the President's mind must
mean the absence of publicity of
any sort.
The United States is vitally inter
ested in everything that is now oc
curring in Paris at the Paris con
ference, but the people are per
mitted to know mighty little of what
is actually taking place, and that
in most cases not until after the
fact. It woulS seem in the very na
ture of the case there must be tre
mendous protest before long from
the body of the people against the
autocratic tendencies of the pres
ent administration at Washington
and Paris.
Men of all parties and of no par
ticular party are stepping out of
their to say what they think
regarding the unusual spectacle of
the American people submitting to a
one-man interpretation of their wills
ahd dictation of the country's poli
cies. As has been declared in Con
gress over and over during the last
few weeks we are in an impossible
situation. Out of it all must come
some reasonable conclusion that will
restore American confidence in
Atnerican Institutions.
IK
By the Ex-Commlllecman" j|
Replacement of William A. Ma
gee and Michael J. Ryan as mem
bers of the Public Service Commis
sion by Sidney Ray Shelby, of Union
town, and Samuel M. Clement, Jr.,
of Philadelphia, by the Governor
yesterday afternoon and the prompt
action of the Senate in confirming
the appointments is held about the
Capitol to remove the last of the
ardent Brumbaugh men from the
Commission. The men who remain
are not active politically and neither
of the new commissioners has been
a leader in partisan affairs in recent
years.
Both of the retiring commission
ers were close friends of Francis
Shunk Brown, the former attorney
general, and were more or less "poli
tically antagonistic to the friends of
Governor Sproul. Judge Harold M.
McClure, of Lewisburg, reappointed
and confirmed, was a Brumbaugh
appointee, but always regarded as a
friend of Sproul as much as of the
ex-Governor. He is one of the strong
men of the commission and has
handled a large afount of work,
since he becaiHe a commissioner
last summer and was influential in
framing the issue with the Federal
government over control of utilities
whjch found expression in the ac
tion of the attorney gyneral against
tho new telephone rates and the
Commission's opinions denying Fed
eral right to fix intra-state freight
rates.
—Samuel Jr. Clement, Jr., is more
of a personal appointment than any
thing else. Mr. Shelby has been
law partner of 'State Chairman Wil
liam E. Crow, the Fayette County
Senator, since 1907 and is a very
able attorney. He will be the south
western, Pennsylvania Representa
tive. as far as geography is con
cerrfed and is said to be well versed
in the probelms which arise in the
bituminous and coke sections which
have been productive of much liti
gation before the commission. His
term runs until 1928.
—The Capitol is speculating about
any further changes and some peo
ple believe more will be made, but
the Governor has a way of keeping
his own counsel. There are four
members of the commission remain
ing.
—There is small doubt but that
Mr. Magee, who has a love for poli
tics. in which he is skillful, will
make things interesting in Pitts
burgh for some time to come and
probably be a candidate for the
mayoralty which he lost in 1917 af
ter a sensational contest. He was
one of the men named by Dr.
Brumbaugh in 1915 when he reor
ganized the commission and threw
off most of the Tener appointees and
resigned to be a candidate for mayor,
being reappointed -last year. Mr.
Ryan succeeded Thomas B. Smith,
mayor of Philadelphia after an in
terval.
■ —The objections of Senator T.
1,. Eyre, of Chester, which prevented
the conformation of Commissioner
of Fisheries Nathan R. Buller along
with Adjutant General Frank D. ;
Beary yesterday afternoon is an out
break of the feeling which led to'
the commissioner's rejection in 1917.
The hold-up is regarded as only tem
porary and it Is thought that Mr.
Buller will be confirmed. If he Is
not some possibilities in regard to
Chester appointments may be ex
pected.
—Senator Max G. Leslie, of Pitts
burgh, evoked some criticism yes
terday when he had a committee act
on the Allegheny judge bill in the
morning'before the meausre reached
the Senate from the House. The
bill got on the calendar in due sea
son.
—Members of the legislature to
day were discussing the finished
form in which the administration
Highway bills have been presented,
recognized as the big thing in the
Sproul program, is set forth in the
bills and while the figures were
rather startling to some of the rural
members they were held to be a
plain statement of what the (people
want is going to cost. As soon as
the map is completed there will be
no doubt about rapid action in the
Legislature.
—Governor Sproul continues to he
in demand for speeches. He is to
speak almost every day this week
and has a number of days for next
week, including the Harrisburg
Chamber 6f Commerce reception
—-Highway Commissioner Sadler
was host to the Senators last eve
ning at his country home near Car
lisle. During the evening Presi
dent pro tern Buckman, who was
recently married, was presented with
a bag of gold, the gift of his fel
low members.
■ —Auditor General Charles A.
Snyder will make his plan for a
pilnimum wage for teachers a big
issue. He Intends to go right through
with the proposition he says and
rural members are discussing it with
him.
The Chevron.</
Do you know wl\at the chevrons
mean?
A red "V" Inverted is worn on
the left sleeve between elbow and
shoulder by the discharged sbldier.
A gold "V" is worn on the left
cuff of coat or overcoat (or both) to
indicate six months of service over
seas. One chevron is given for each
six months.
A similar blue chevron is award
ed for less than six months.
A gold "V" worn on the right cuff
signifies that the wearer has been
wounded, gassed or injured in the
performance of duty.
A silver "V" is put on the left
cuff for six months' service in this
country.—The Philadelphia Public
Ledger.
Childnood's Explanations
"Ma. don't it smell solemn!''whis
pered a little girl to her moOier in
church. Another little tot on see- I
ing her white-frosted birthday cake,
remarked: "That's a lovely cake.
It looks Just like a cemetery." Still
another was heard defining a "soul"
to her playmate thus: "Well, Helen,
you see it's this way: When a cow
dies it's beef, and when a pig dies
it's pork, and when you die you're
a soul." —From the Boston Tran
j script.
We Shall Not Sleep
To those who are easing , Ger
many's load and showing signs of
I a compromise with the b€ast is re
spectfully suggested another reading
of McßaCs poem, "In Flanders
Fields":—
"If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies
grow
I In Flanders fields."
' —The Herald.
HAHRISBURG TELEGRAPH
a !
WONDER WHAT A MAN THINKS ABOUT WHILE DANCING WITH HIS WIFE?
■
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'To DArsice whether <a£6 7mat\s a SWELL I' * U6ul MV ,<?>•
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AS VjeiL BE -r c,, _ I A CHS -. ILL. BE GLAD
AMD GO Through Se lJckv 1,,T T I WHftAl TH'S DArJCE
* WITH -7- MAYOC ARC LUCKY - BUT 1 HAff Aj OUeR- I KrJOCU A.PLAC6
Thw The VJirj ■ , l S ' POS £ ,T i H,S n . VO RATHER" B.S TrtAN HERE
I/UILL IST v,S OMIFORM AMD WONDER \AjHtf3 f-AAKir*a ALL THE
;'.v^:r^r £ rw.T„ j e^ ,tL H *" e to
CD'J WIFE .JUST BE - GOT A AWFUL ThiSST 9, CMCORa
r„„- - - £T
Goiw hcw I D
WARNING
As long as you never marry me, and
I never marry you,
There's nothing on earth that we
cannot say and nothing we
cannot do—
The flames lift up from onr blowing
hair, the leaves flash under
our feet
When once in a year or a score of
years our hands and our
laughters meet!
For east and west through a sorry
• world we pass with our Joy
to sell,
And they that buy of onr song and
jest, they praise us that we
do '♦veil,
But few can sell ns the mirth they
buy, and few be that know
a song,
And for all of the praise of the
kindly folk, their speeches
are over long!
But two of a trade, one always
hears, might get in each other's
way.
And you might be wanting to sing,
God wot, when I desired to
play.
[(Oh, it's rather a danger with folks
like us and our sparks that
are flying free)
But I never, never must marry you,
and you never must marry
me!
But when we take breath from
songs at last, to be what the
rest call dead, I
They'll sigh, "Ah, noble the songs
they made, and noble the
jests they said!"
And they will inscribe on our
monuments regret that our
day is done—
But wo wall be off in an excellent
place, and having most ex
cellent fun —
Oh, very proud from a golden cloud
you'll stride in your crown
and wings, _
Till you hear my little earthly laugh
from behind my golden harp
strings;
And you'll lay your gemmed theorbo
down on the nearest star or
moon.
And carry ,me off on a comet's back
for a long, wild afternoon.
And while we're lashing the comet
un till it misses St. Michael's
Way,.
And laugh to think how the seraphs
blink, and what the good
saints will say,
We'll heave a little sigh o? con
tent—or a wistful one, maybe—
To know that. I never can marry
you, and yon never can marry
me! .
Margaret Wlddemer in the Bell
man.
LABOR NOTES
The Scottish Institute of Account
ants has decided to admit women to
membership on the same terms as
men.
Our automobile industry employs
half as many people as are employ
ed by all the railroads of the United
States. •'
There is not sufficient labor avail
able in the Tee-side (Eng.) district
to lift the iron from stock or to load
the trucks.
Special classes on labor subjects
are being established throughout
Northumberland, Eng., by tjie mi
ners' lodges.
A "keep the children in school"
campaign will be launched soon by
the children's bureau of the United
States Labor Department.
Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Ire
land. have "broken all records by
completing a standard ship in five
days after the launch.
Tile British Board of Agriculture
is invitirig the co-operation of the
educational authorities in the estab
lishment of women's institutes.
Metal workers at Winnipeg, Cana.
are earning $37 to $4O a week. In
two years increases have been from
38 to 50 per cent.
British engineering and shipbuild
ing trades unions have asked for an
advance in wages of 100 per cent,
above pre-war rates.
Aerodrome contractors from
Great Britain are at present in Dub
lin for the purpose of employing
men for their work In England.
Organized waitresses are working
for an eight-hour day, one day a
weelf ofT, and a wago scale of ot
(least $6O per month.
The Parable of the Prodigal Father
By RI.AIvE YV. GODFREY
A CERTAIN man had two sons
and the youngest of them said
to his father, "Father, give
me the portion of thy time, and thy
attention, and thy companionship,
and thy counsels which falleth to
me."
And he divided unto them his
living in. that he paid the boy's bills,
and sent him to a select prepara
tory school, and to college, and
tried to believe that he was doing
his full duty by the boy.
And not many days after the
father gathered all his interests and
aspirations and ambitions, and took
his journey into a far country, into
a land of stocks and bonds and se
curities and other things that did not
interest the boy; and there he wast
ed his precious opportunity of being
a chum to his own son. And when
he had sp'ent tho very best of his
life and had gained money but had
failed to find satisfaction, there
arose a mighty famine in his heart;
and he began to be in want of sym
pathy and real companionship.
And he went and joined himself
to one of the clubs of that country;
and they made him chairman of the
house committee and president of
the club, and sent him to congress.
And he would 'fain have satisfied
SLAVS AN ANCIENT RACE
[From the Toledo Blade]
'The average American thinks of
foreigners by extremes, either ful
' some overestimate or supercilious
indifference due to ignorance of'the
foreigners' real character.
Uninformed Americans think of
the Slavs as a vague, not sharply
defined race occupying Eastern
Europe in general.
Just now public attention is fixed
on the Poles and Czecho-Slavs, who
are contending the territory of
Silesia, in the Southeastern corner
of Prussia lying between them.
Before the Germans, the Slavs
were. They occupied a large por
tion of the territory in the heart of
Europe, between the Adriatic on the
south and the Baltic on the north.
They were peaceable, democratic,
libert>loving persons, within their
separate clans or tribes, of which
tradition names at least sixteen.
They were agriculturists and hor
ticulturists. The early German got
his knowledge of agriculture from
the Slavs, likewise many of the arts
of peace. Many German words are
derived directly from the Slavic. The
German w<jrd for plow, "pflqg," is
purely Slavic in origin.
Long after the Slavs had developed
agriculture and democratic laws,
the Germanic tribes to the north and
west were still warlike, predatory
barbarians, who thrived by preying
011 their neighbors. The Slavs reach
ed at last the stage of quarreling
and bickering among themselves,
through which all children and free
peoples pass, and which weakened
their united defense against their
predatory neighbors. One by one
the Slavic tribes were conquered
and made vassal to the warlike
tribes which gradually developed
into the Germany and Austria-Hun
gary of modern times.
The fundamental and racial traits
and possibilities are still there,
quickened by the touch of modern
j civilization and surviving centuries
I of cruelty and oppression, and now
fired with the joy and hope of com
plete liberty and national unity.
Poles and Czecho-Slavs are, of
course, ef common Slavic origin.
Their differences will compromise
without serious difficulty. ,
By inherent quality, by older and
finer traditions of industry, laws and
arts, the Slavs of Germany and Aus
tria-Hungary should for ages have
been the law-givers and masters of
the Teutons, who gloried always in
the shedding of blood as a means
of securing loot, land and tyran
nical power over their neighbors.
I)R. F. E. DOWNES
(From the Journal of ' Education.)
Dr. Frederick E. Downes, super-
I intendent of Harrisburg for the past
thirteen years, has been heartily gs
' well as unanimously elected presi
dent of the Pennsylvania State as
sociation, which will hold Its meet
ing under his administration in
Philadelphia.
Dr. Downes has demonstrated un
usual ablity. As a school adminis
trator, as a leader- of teachers, as an
inspiration to youth, as an. ener
getic 'civio. force. Dr. Downes has
placed .himself among the foremost
educators of the state.
himself with the husks that other
men did eat and no man gave unto
him any real friendship.
But when ho came to himself he
said, "How many men of my ac
quaintance have boys whom they
understand and who understand
them, who talk about their boys and
associate with their sons, and T per
ish here with heart hunger, I will
arise and go to my son, and will say
unto him, 'Son, I have sinned against
heaven, and in thy sight; I am no
more worthy to be called thy father;
make me as one of thy acquaint
ances.' "
And he arose and came to his
son. But when he was yjet far off,
his son saw him and -was moved
with astonishment, and instead of
running and falling on his neck, he
drew back and was ill at ease. And
his father satd unto him, "Son, I
have sinned against heaven und in
thy sight, am no more worthy to be
called thy father. Forgive me now
and let me be your friend."
But the son said. "Not so, I wish
it were possible; it is too late. There
was a time when I wanted compan
ionship, but I got the wrong kind,
and now alas. I am wrecked in soul
and in body and there is nothing
you can do for me. It is too late,
too late, too late.
i Try It Again
By Robert Freeman'
I played ith my blocks, I was but
a child,
Houses I builded, castles I piled;
But they tottered and fell, all my
labor was vain,
Yet my father said kindly: ""VYe'll
try it again!"
I played with my days. "What's
time to a lad?
Why pore over books? Play! Play,
and be glad!"
Till my youth was all spent, like a
sweet summer rain.
Yet my father said kindly: "We'll
try it again!"
I played with my chance. Such
gifts as were mine
To work with, to win with, to serve
the divine,
I seized for myself, for myself they
have lain.
Yet my father said kindly "We'll
try it again!"
I played with my soul, the soul that
is I;
The best that is in me, I smothered
its cry,
I lulled it, I dulled it—and now, oh,
the pain!
Yet my father said kindly: "We'll
try it again!"
Encouraging View of Mexico
[From the Springfield Republican]
Ambassador Fletcher, now in
Washington, presents an encourag
ing view of the Mcxicun situation,
: ajul compliments President Car
ranza, whose executive ability is
gradually winning results in the re
orgarfization of the country. This is
a very different view from the one
that is current in certain financial
( circles heavily interested in Mexi
can oil fields. These interests are
naturally perturbed by the threat
of virtual confiscation pf their prop
erties through taxation by the Mex
ican government, under the provis
ions of the new constitution which
vest in the nation direct ownership
of all deposits of minerals, includ
, ing petroleum, even where t)ie land
had been already leased or acquired j
by private individuals or corpora
tions. The inviolability of contracts
and property rights secured before
the present constitution was adopt
ed is at stake.
The American ambassador points
out that no official decroes have
been enforced and no taxes collect
ed thus far, by reason evidently of
diplomatic representations. He ex
presses the optimistic belief that
ultimately a law would be passed
recognizing the rights of American
citizens acquired under the laws of
Mexico in good faith, and at the
same time be in harmony with tho
sovereign rights of Mexico In re
spect to taxation and regulation of
industry. Yet an alarmed group of
investors in Mexican oil lands has
sent a special commission to the
Paris Peace Conference —with what
! object it is difficult to understand.
- Missing Since 1917
What has become of the old
; fashioned propagnmUst wtuttthouglit
that nobody but the Gerinpis could
make dyes?— From tiny Toledo
Blade.
FEBRUARY 12, 1919.
I LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
'
HERO WORSHIP
To the Editor of the Telegraph:
Not long ago since I read in an
Indiana paper a letter to which I
would like to reply in The Tele
graph. It was signed by one Ann
Clark Urmston, who seems to think
President Wilson, the nation's only
hero. She said: "He will live and
go down in history a greater man
than Lincoln or Washington." Can
she tell us what makes Wilson so
great? Did ho ever go out, with
loyal men to face the bullets of the
foe, cross a river filled with ice floes
at night with an army, fight a well
trained enemy with half-clothed,
half-fed men, himself sharing their
hardships, bring order out of chaos
in a new-born country, as did our
immortal Washington?
Has Wilson ever freed a race of
people from bondage of slavery, as
did Lincoln? What has Wilson done
so heroic? He fooled the people
into electing him the second time
by "keeping us out of war" (until
he was elected). He stayed quietly
and safely at home to send millions
of our boys "over there"—thou
sands never to come back. The boys
faced trenches, the bullets, the
shells, the gases—the hell of war!
After it is over and no danger, Wil
son, the heroic, must go when he
could have sent a commission and
when such a thing was unheard of
before as a President (trailing with
I his wife in costly and exquisite sat
ins and furs, to be honored by Kings
I and rulers) to be the head of a peace
commission.
( It appears to some ordinary obe
servers that the ovations being ten-
I dered him in Europe are not so
[ much the worship of a great world
hero as qn expression of thanks and
1 gratitude to the chief executive of
a nation that offered help in their
time of need. He waited. with
trady hand, to enter the war till it
was nearly over.
Can Ann please tell us in what
Wilson is such a hero? He didn't
give up a son to face Hun atrocities:
he didn't even furnish a son-in-law.
He didn't offer to go himself and
give four boys, as did our late be
loved Roosevelt. If Wilson is truly
great, the abuse or cViticism will
not "weaken him," as Ann fears.
He,asked to have "the world
made safe for democracy," which
all of us loyal, patriotic men and
women tried to do. We willingly
gave our dollars to the Red Cross,
we bought Liberty bonds, we gave
our sons—then, when the President
"heroically" came out and requested
voters to send only Democrats to
Congress, people, began to under
stand that by "democracy" he meant
—just the Democratic party. Ac
cording to Ann, I suppose all the
thousands of voters who flung this
"heroic" call for Democratic votes
to the winds and voted as they had
a right to vote in a free republic
should be called "traitors" and
"enemies" to their country. To
many minds "our country" and the
"Democratic party" do not mean the
same thing.
If "he can be pointed out for a
decade (which is ten consecutive
years) as the greatest leader of our
American people that time has ever
produced," some of us must change
our conception of what constitutes
a leader. If Wilson is one, the peo
ple do not seem to follow his lead
ing with much docility.
Perhaps Ann Urmston, "just to
show them up" and "have their
names left to tell what they were,"
while she is waiting for the record
to produced, will "show up"
wherein Mr. Wilson is "one of the
greatest heroes our country has ever
had."
When, we think of the great and
noble Father of Our Country, we
think with reverence and love;
when we think of good, old, honest
Abe, the emancipator, our hearts
swell with love and pride and an
awe for the great, loving, martyr
spirit that was second only to the
Savior.
When we think of Wilson, we
thfnk he commandeered a big un
dertaking—ufter he was forced to
by a big wave of pqblic opinion.
When we think twice, we are fear
fully afraid he may get stuck in
the mud—-not the mud of Flanders,
but that of political intrigue, and
perhaps cut a sorry figure after all
MRS. LULA A. HARTWELL,
Transparent
Now everybody can see what goes
on in the Treasury; it is under
Glass.—From Life.
Holiness of the Law
Wherefore the law is holy and the
commandment- holy, and just, and
good.—Romans VII, 12,
letting (Eljat
Reference was made in this eol
umn yesterday to the famous Tlsil
of Abraham Lincoln to Harrisbur*
on Washington's Birthday in 1361
when he was on his way to Wasta
lngtonfor for his inauguration. It
was one of the rod letter days c 4
Harrlsburg and on Lincoln's Births
day it is lilting to reprint a few ex
tracts from the flies of the Harrv
burg Telegraph of those days *
show how the people of this city tv
ceived him. Harrlsburg had Just be
come a city and not only its peoj
pie, but the folks for miles an4|
miles around came hete to see I£V
coin. This section, led by Camera
and his friends, had gone heavily
for Lincoln and, as in the days of
the War for Independence, was in
tensely loyal. It was with Curtin to
a man. Lincoln's visit was marked
by a parade, a reception and speech
at the Jones House, later the Com
monwealth: a visit to the Capitol
and to the Pennsylvania railroad
roundhouse. It is a matter of his
tory the wonderful greeting he re
ceived when lie made his short
speech at the Jones House and how
he was acclaimed in the streets and
cheered at the Capitol. It was a
fine, clear, cold day, and all Har
rlsburg was. out. The Harrlsburg
Telegraph tells of some of the
events which are not so well remem
bered or recalled. It says in one
part of its story of the day, "The
flag raised over the cotton mills
(now the Harrisburg Silk Mills, at
Front and North streets) was
bought by the hundreds of employes.
After it was flung to the breeze the
'Star Spangled Banner' was sung."
Then conies an interesting account
of the railroad men's part in the
day. "At the roundhouse of the
Pennsylvania railway," says the
Telegraph's reporter of that far-off
day, "a mast ICO feet high was
reared and the employes sent up a
fine flag fifteen by twenty-five feet.
Flags were also raised on many oth
er buildings." In other words, the
railroad men of that day did Just
what they did when the war with
Germany broke out, and put out
their flags. The old-time reporter
estimates that there were between
four and five thousand "military
men" in the city for the parade, and
says that speeches were made by
Lincoln and Curtin. One part of
Lincoln's speech is notable and is of
interest in this wartime: "While I
have been proud to see to-day the
finest military array I think I have
ever seen, allow me to say in re
gard to those men they give hope
of what may be done when war is
inevitable." Those men did demon
strate what they could do at Fred
ericksburg, Gettysburg and many
another field, Just as their grandsons
have , done in France in the last sis
months.
The real story of Lincoln's trip
to Washington will probably neve*
be written. Some interesting ac
counts have been told by old Har
risburgers of how the train, which
was supposed to go south by th*
Northern Central to York, wai
quietly moved to Second and Vine
streets and there Lincoln boarded it
for Philadelphia. William Perrin*
has written in the Philadelphia
Evening Bulletin a most interesting
account of the incidents of the trip
in Philadelphia and some recollec
tions of that time have been con
tributed to the Philadelphia even
ing newspaper.
• • •
The Lafayette cannon which has
again been "discovered" at the State
Arsenal has been state property fpr
about seventy-five years and has
been in liarrisburg for probably
fifty. The cannon was one of sev
eral given to the States by the mar
quis when he paid his visit to the
United States in the twenties and the
cannon was part of the state's ord
nance and forgotten. It was moved
from the old arsenal In Capitol Park
and every now and then turns up in
some inventory at the military store
house. This time it will be given
mountings in accord with its .his
torical value and be displayed with
the interesting collection of artillery
which the pieces at the State Ar
senal can make with a little atten
tion. Adjutant, General Beary is
anxious to make the display of can
non at the arsenal illustrative of the
changes which have occurred • In
ordnance in the last century. There
are many old cannon about .the state,
some neglected and some damaged,
which could be made one of the fea
tures of the arsenal.
• •
Speaking of military matters, the
movement to place the flags of the
Pennsylvania National Guard regi
ments in the rotunda of the Capitol
is finding general support among
legislators, some of whom have
members of their families in the
Keystone Division and are anxious
that regimental flags which the or
ganizations took into the federal
service should be put beside the
Civil and Spanish War flags if the
standards carried by the 110 th and
112 th and other regiments can not
be obtained from Washington when
the war is over and the men are
mustered out.
•• ♦ .
Draper Cooper, son of Mr, and
Mrs. E. N. Cooper, of Camp Hill, and
an officer in the United States Army
Medical Corps, has no superstitions
about crossing the Rhine. He
crossed the river on the thirteenth
of December, which some people re
call as a Friday.
WELL KNOWN PEOPLE
•—Banking Commissioner John' S.
fisher spoke to Philadelphia bank
ers today.
—Governor Sproul is to address
tho Scotch-Irish dinner In Philadel
phia this week.
—Lieutenant Governor Edward E.
Beidleman will bo one of the speak
ers at the Williamsport dinner to
night.
—The Rev. Hhompson W. Mo-
Kinney, of Coatesville, says that
when the soldiers come home therf
will be a revival of old fashioned
worship.
—George Wharton Pepper, speak
er at tho Philadelphia Roosevelj
meeting, was a close friend of tM
late president and used to hike with
him occasionally.
—Franklin ®. Edmunds, Jh'il
delphia lawyer, is working amon*
the soldiers overseas in the Y. M
C. A. activities. I
DO YOU KNOW |
—That the mid-whiter farm pro
ducts show will be greatly enlarged
next winter?
Historic Ilarrlsbnrg
—After the war of 1819 tber*
were almost a dozen military com
panies in Dauphin county,