12 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Founded ISSI Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. Telegraph Building, Federal Sqaare E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager GUS. M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Ezeeatlre Board S. P. McCULLOUGH. BOYD M. OGLESBY. F. R. OYSTER, GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Members of the Associated Press—The Associated Press is exclusively en titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this faper and also the local news pub ished herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. A Member American Fj Newspaper Pub- I Associa- Bureau of Circu lation and Penn- Assoc la- Eastern office Story. Brooks & F h ' Chicago, 111 S Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a tffig-> week: by mail. $3.00 a year in advance. THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 1019 The way to find out truth is by other's mistakes. — Seldon. A SINGING NATION new song sheets of the War Camp Community Service bears this inscription: "A Singing Nation to Welcome a Victorious Singing Army." There is much more than mere sentiment back of this motto. It is a good catch sentence, but it ex presses a truth as well as a hope. | For in the past few years we have become a singing Nation. When first the Rotary clubs of the coun try joined the college boys in mass singing, sedate and dignified person ages, who did not understand, look ed askance and shook their liead3 In doubt. But the contagion spread, and now, to use an old slang phrase j descriptive of another type of popu lar diversion, "everybody's doing it." Doubtless the war did much to increase the popularity of the so called community singing. But it was coming anyway. It is the evi dence of a spirit that speaks weil for the future of the Nation, for a singing Nation, like a singing army, is a victorious Nation. Men sing from exaltation of soul, from exu berance of spirits. The man who sings sees visions and dreams dreams. Only sullen, hopeless or vicious peo ples are silent. The young, the vigorous, the upward-looking, for ward-going peoples of the earth are those who sing. We sing and there by express our confidence in the fu ture, our will and desire to be up and doing. Thank God that we are a singing Nation and that our army comes home as it went away, sing ing. There will be general approval of the efforts of the Legislature to es tablish military training in the schools of the State. This training will mean more for the boys of the present generation than now appears on the surface. It will develop physical strength, discipline, obedi ence and respect for law and order, and In this day will do as much as any other thing to steady the rising generation and defeat the horde of theorists and Bolsheviks who are pre suming on libery to develop a dan gerous license and disruption of our American institutions. UNCLE SAM'S TREES POSTMASTER SITES as custo dian of the Federal Building, has found it desirable to remove the surviving shade trees along the property on Walnut street. May we not hope that the unsightly stumps of these trees will give way to new trees that will be encouraged by a wider area of space in the side walk and protection gratings. While it is difficult to get the best results in tree planting along paved streets and granolithic sidewalks, it has been found possible to provide sufficient space by increasing the area of planting and protecting the same by a sidewalk grating. Uncle Sam is abundantly able to care for the artistic features of his property and we have no doubt Postmaster Sites will do what is pos sible to restore the shade tree effects around the Federal building. All credit to the Public Service Commission for its effort to get the Federal Railroad Administration into line in the matter of subways at rail load crossings. Pennsylvania is in the midst of a great highway era. and it is important to get rid of as many railroad crossings as possible. Federal control of railroads should not inter fere at any point with the public spirited efforts of the Public Service Commission. ANTI-BOLSHEVISM EVERY man and woman in Amer ica should read the full page advertisement, "The Frozen Breath of Bolshevism." published In the Telegraph Saturday afternoon. It is the story of poor, prostrate, hopeless, helpless, starving, bleeding Russia in language nobody could fail to understand. It is the first of s series of advertisements to be pub lished in this newspaper by patriotic, Americans who want their fellow THURSDAY EVENING, BARRISBURG I TELEGRAPH APRIL 10,1919. countrymen to understand just what kind of "government" Trotzky and Lenine wish to force upon the world. The more we see and know of the frightful conditions Bolshevism brings in its wake, the more we will want to combat the insidious efforts of its agents to bring the same kind of ruin to America that they have wrought in Russia. Trotzky and know that they can continue in power only a short time in Russia, unless they can persuade other countries to turn Bolshevik, thereby opening up new sources of revenue to them and new opportunities for robbery and murder. America must stand steadfast I against the wiles of these monsters, j not only fo-r her own sake, but in I order that the people of Russia, a ! great majority of whom have had j their fill of Bolshevism, may be en i couraged to assert their rights and ! throw off the yoke. Now that the Chamber of Commerce has set in motion a plan for a great I homecoming celebration for the re \ turning soldiers on the Fourth of July, it ought to be possible to con | centrate all associations and commit j tees on this one big celebration. It j would be unfortunate, perhaps, to j have a division of effort along this line. We cannot show the men who j have rallied to the colors too much j honor, but it will be wise for all of | those who are contemplating a home j coming celebration to unite their ef fcits in the big Fourth of July parade. ISPANGLEIUS GOOD POINT SPEAKER ROBERT S. SPANG LE R was exactly right a few i days ago when he called the | big city legislators to account for i hiking home on Tuesday and pre | venting work being carried out as t hoped in the lower branch of the Legislature. He properly said that it was unfair to the members from distant counties who have to stay here and emphasized the fact that the pecple of the State expect at tention to work even though the salary allowed is an anachronism ! and the cost of living sky high. Thanks to a superior organiza tion, the best of any in a State Legislature, the Senate of Pennsyl vania seems able to clear up its work in two days. It is true that j it has been aided in this by adher- j ence to the thought of the fathers | that the upper house should be a j check on the lower, as the lower is , supposed to be on the upper, and that there are many people who disagree strcngly with the way the j Senate is run. But the fact remains that it does handle its work ex- j peditiously. It is also rare that it j passes bills for the House to kill.' As tar as the House is concerned, ! it has evolved a policy of passing | many useless bills and In spite of! predictions to the contrary, the com mittees of the lower branch have put out an awful lot of legislative material. But the members of the House are not keeping step with their committees. Instead of stay ing here and working to push through the bills, seme city mem bers have been following the Sen atorial plan of going home Tuesday, endangering quorums and prevent ing disposal of bills which serve to clog House calendars on Mondays and Tuesdays. WAS BARN I'M RIGHT? IF THE people can forget in less than three years, how adroitly they were fooled in 1916 by the "kept us out of war" slogan, they deserve to be fooled again with a "league to prevent war" slogan. Mayr KeLter's appeal for a clean up week starting May 4 will have an immediate response throughout the city. Harrisburg has a wide reputa tion for municipal progress in the up-to-date conduct of its affairs. A clean city is a recommendation that gees far beyond anything else in the way of a municipal asset. Sanitation stands at the head of every provision for the comfort of the people, and it is highly important that at least one week of the year should be devoted to cleaning up private premises. Too often housekeepers grow careless and depend upon municipal cleaning out fits to do what they should do them selves. Mayor Keister would do well to fol low his proclamation with frequent appeals to all classes of our citizens to co-operate in a great clean-up week. A GOOD MOTTO THE city of Chester has formed its own little League of Nations, embracing in its membership all of the foreign-born residents of town, and the league has adopted as its motto: "America first, last and all the time." Would that more American-born residents had the same motto. These newcomers know that the L'nited States is the best country on earth in which to live. They know that there is more opportunity and real freedom here than in the parts of the world from which they came. They know that wages are higher and that we in America get more for our money in the way of comfort 3 and luxuries than do the people of any other country anywhere. , We do not need to have any fears as to where the very large bulk of our foreign-born population stand. They demonstrated their loy alty during the war. They are for the most part good citizens now and their offspring will be the backbone of the Nation in the next generation. As an evidence of this, note the re ports of local public school teachers, who assert that many of the chil dren of foreign-born parents are their best pupils. It will be re membered, also, that the winners in the Colonial Dames essay contests last week were all daughters of cit izens who were born abroad. Let us look to our own patriotism. That of the average foreigner who has come to this country to live and make hiuuy is above suspicion- fdiUc* Lk ""PtKKO^tcanXa By the Ez-Committeeman i Issuance of the warrant for arrest of William S. I.cib, former resident clerk of the House of Representa tives and for years Schuylkill coun ty leader, at the direction of the At torney General last night, made ev eryone forget that the legislature had gone home for the Easter va cation and the probable results of the action will be the big theme in State politics for days. The State administration is determined to go through with the matter. —The adjournment of the Legisla ture, without any of the protests which it was declared were going to resound in the hall of the House of Representatives caused consider able amusement and the story goes that two or three of the men asked to get up and object yesterday, de clared that they had personal mat ters at home which had to be at tended to. —One of the incidents of the week was the meeting of the representa tives of the third-class cities and boroughs here yesterday to arrange for the protest against the Eyre bill and the fact that opposition to the Public Service Commission was so strongly manifested. Another thing which may have effect on State pol itics was the reporting out of the bill to provide counly boards of as sessors elected by the people, which will overturn the Luzerne board and affect every county. j —lt took several conferences be- I fore the House committee on coun i ties and townships determined to I make the Jones hill establishing a ! hoard of three county assessors, to |be elected for four years on party tickets with minority representation, apply to every county in the State. I outside of Philadelphia and Alle j trlieny. The bill originally applied [to counties having less than 150,000 ] population, but the committee de • eided to incorporate into it the idea j of the Palmer bill designed to give j Schuylkill. Westmoreland, Berks. Lackawanna and counties similar in population, an elective board. The J limit of population was first raised to 500.000 and then to 1,000,000. The committee then made up a scale of salaries ranging from $4,000 down to $750. The bill would authorize the assessors to district the county and name sub-assessors. Bights of; appeal to the county commissioners! and courts would also be arranged, j -—The most important administra tive feature of the bill would be that it would provide for quadrennial in-> stead of triennial assessments and ! that the board would be sitting fre- j quently to record changes and to make investigations such as are now in progress in Dauphin and other' counties over the anthracite fields. —Together with the bill the com-! mittee decided to report out the i .Tones bill to make seven classes of I counties as follows: First, 1,500.000 | and over: second. 800,000 to 1.500.-1 000; third. 250.000 to SOO.OOO; fourth. 150.000 to 250,000: fifth. 100.000 to 150,000; sixth, 50.000 to 100.000:: seventh, 20.000 to 50,000. —The State administration bill to reorganize the State Department of Agriculture, which was placed on the postponed calendar when reach ed in the House of Representatives yesterday, was involved in some "agricultural politics" late in the day when the members of the legislative committee of the State Board of Agriculture called tipon Secretary' of Agriculture Frederik Rasmussen ! for an explanation of what the bill meant. The Secretary told them very blandly that the bill embodied the ideas of the Governor and that it was felt that the best interests of Pennsylvania agriculture could be served tinder a centralized authori ty. While no request was made by members of the committee for re storation of the hoard which it is proposed to abolish after forty years j of various meetings for debates, that thought is presumed to have been in the minds of some of the Secretary's visitors. A few of them pointed out that the board was a valuable adjunct to the agricultural branch of the Government and should be retained, while others referred to the Jennings bill to re-establish the board and give it an executive com mittee to have a hand in the man agement of the department. They did not get very far. The commit tee present consisted of Louis Pio lett, Wyoming county; Dr. E. E. Tower. Susquehanna: J. Aldus Herr, Lancaster; P. S. Fetistermacher, Le high. and Clark M. Bower. Perry, the latter being a member of the House and all of them prominent in the board. —Lancaster and Berks counties are about to get rid of their present jails. New ones, along modern lines, will be erected and in the case of Lancaster cause of complaint elimi nated. —The Pittsburgh Civic Club is out in a hot protest against the school board "ripper." This is not a good year for "rippers" applicable either to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. —Judge John G. Harman, former legislator from Columbia, is sitting in the trial of the Lackawanna coun ty primary fraud cases. Quashing of the indictment has been refused. —The Pittsburgh Post. Western Pennsylvania's Democratic beacon, is presenting some facts about the bills to revive the Department of Internal Affairs. It seems to prefer the abolition of that branch of the Government as proposed by John K. Tener in 1913 instead of the in crease of its business. In a review of the bills signed Saturday affect ing the department and those pend ing it says they would not only in crease powers and places, but give the secretary authority to fix sal aries. The Pittsburgh Gazette-Times also notes the movement to build up the department in advance of the induction of James F. Wood ward next month. THE CHANGE All the daytime I belong To the Solemn-coated throng Who with grave, stupendous looks Study cash and ledger books, Staid and slow. On sad business to and fro. But when twilight comes. I range Over topics new and strange. Wasting aM my leisure hours On fay birds and phantom flowers, Or T sing Some mad fling Through the impish evening. Yes, and when the moon goes by Rocking in a foamy sky, Then I swear I'm more akin To the laughing Cherubim Than to those grave men who go, To and fro. to and fro. On sad business to and fro —George Rostrevor, "Escape and fantasy" (Mactaillan). ' OH, MAN! By BRIGGS ILL - THCRES OMY\ ' TE " LC YOU VJS/^"R \ / - AND Trt6R.es ALWAYS \ j OWE WAY TO REALLY \ NOTWIW6 L.KC A LTTL€) / THE LITTLE OLD WELCOME 1 GE? THE "° VSE AMD GAPD6K. OP / P„O~ TH£ V/-KP6 - SH6 S / OP LIFE AMD THAT S YO<JR V/ERV OVAJM) -• THIS ( GEEM A RE<SUL> PAL THP RRLRCY C ' TY L ' F6 TO ME "BILL- -.P VT HADN T THE COUMITRY STOP Y OU AJYTHPW6 - ITS Tbo I BEEW POR HCR-BLESS I You OOSHTA COME OUT y ARTIFICIAL-- J \ HER HEART - WHAT'D I J SOMETIME AND SEE J -P V ** \ HAv>e AMOOWTED TO ? R P H ~ "— ~~~ \ F~~. % /VWAIT "TILL I CAU?\ FI FIXED TT~ALI\ / MOV~ BOOT A } /UP THE VM.FE AMD R|(&WT _ , TO( _ 0 FFT L.TTLE E*TY UI".;1 - "V 4 H" 'HAD A-/ \ TOHISHT / -J- £PT OOT- IT'LL I i BUSINESS I • '* xv A NOTABLE OPINION [From the Philadelphia Press.] The recent opinion of Judge Kun kel, of the Dauphin County Court, denying the right of the President and Postmaster General to set up new and higher rates for private telephone users in Pennsylvania has not received the attention that its importance deserves. The Federal Government under cover of its war powers and war necessities has been running amuck among the supposed reserved rights of States, prostrating them at its pleasure. , VVe are now at peace practically, though official peace is still in the future. Can the Federal Govern ment, while waiting for the League of Nations, employ some portion of its leisure in raising private tele phone rates in Pennsylvania? Jus tice Kunkel holds that it has no such right and he has issued and has con tinued an injunction restraining the Bell Telephone Company from charg ing rates for the use of its lines within the State different from those approved by the Commonwealth's Public Service Commission. The injunction, though nominally agninst the Bell Telephone Com pany, is really against Postmaster General Burleson, under whose or ders the company is acting. The latter, in turn, was controlled bv the President of the United States, "who, on July 22. 191S, directed that tele phone systems shall be controlled and operated by the Postmaster General "so long and to such an extent and in such manner as lie shall determine." This is stronger than the act of Congress which em powers the President "whenever he shall deem it necessary for the na tional security or defense to take, possess and control telegraph, tele phone. radio and cable systems and to operate them in such manner as may be needfull or desirable for the duration of the war." The fighting is over, though the i end of the war still awaits the issu ance of a Presidential proclamation. Peace came on the eleventh of No vember last, and one month later, on December 12, the Postmaster General directed that Mr. Jones should pay more for talking over the telephone with Mr. Brown than heretofore. Was that necessary for the national security or defense? No one can pretend that it was or, is and therefore it does not come within the act of Congress. Post master General Burleson exceeded his powers in issuing this order and has brought himself into conflict with our State Public Service Com mission. A Pennsylvania Court, at the instance of the Attorney Gener al of this State, forbids the 'Federal order to be carried out. This will soon bring to the Su premo Court of the United States for review, a Federal question of the first magnitude. It bears on the exercise of war power by the Presi dent and his subordinates and agents and the use of that power for pur poses that can have no relation to t.be national defense. It is difficult to deal with the President of the United States, as he is the sole judge of his official discretion. If he acts within his discretionary pawers. his act cannot be challenged, but if he goes beyond his powers and attempts to do what he has no right to do, then a Common Pleas Court may enjoin him or the per son or corporation through which his authority is exercised. This, at! least, is the view of Judge Kunkel j and bis Bell Telephone decision pro-1 mises to be a leading case of the! very highest importance. THEODORE ROOSEVELT j We can not think of him as of the j dead. Tho ancient dead whose ghostly | caravan Threads the dim ages since the j world began. We can not see that high erected head Lie in the dust whence all the dream has fled; Stern, mighty Death has neither power nor plan To rule the spirit of the valiant man Who unto Immortality is wed. Life is the pulsing, radiant victor here, For he and Life together held the day Down many a stern, beleaguer'd road. Wherefore, as falls our unashamed tear, We flume our greetings on his sturward way To Life's unfading and supreme abode. • —By John Jerome Rooney. i I The Attorney Who Now Runs the Railroads For The Government [From the Literary Digest.] ;j.{f A X odd prank of fate," which] j somehow or other seems to ' j be always up to something | j prankish, now appears in the fact j ;that Walker Downer Hines, attorney \ for railroads and their defender j against Government control, should! now be serving the Government as Director-General of Railways. And jit is The Nation's Business that 1 points out this surprizing somer- i ] sault. As railroad counsel and offi cial, says a writer in this periodical. } "He opposes rates named by the i j Interstate Commerce Commission. ] He opposed any more railroad legis- I lation at all. He declared himself i i against Government ownership, say-| ' ing that it would cause delay in | 1 getting action from political or Gov- j ernment railway managers. Now ! he is Government manager of near- j ] ly all our roads and . runs .the job j j beneath the roof of the Interstate j I Commerce Building! "The somersaulting here obviously j | was done by the situation and not i jby Mr. Hines. It all goes to show] i what a war can do to a country t. ! when it tries. It has set Mr. Hines i jto solve a problem more vast and ; | baffling than any railroad man has i ever faced before. And now he is > at it at least ten hours every day— l absorbed." It was while acting as counsel for j the Louisville & Nashville Railroad ] that Mr. Hines found and develop- 1 ed the opportunity that brought him j forward. The railroad came into | conflict with the Interstate Com- ■ merce Law; and in consequence Mr. I Hines mastered the intricacies of ( that statute with a thoroughness | that led to his call to New York j as counsel for the Atchison, Topeka Santa Fe Railway Company and to his subsequent prominence in rail road affairs. Thus we read: "In the last fifteen years. Walker Hines has been appearing in the highest courts of this country argu- j 1 ing intricate railroad issues, several | times summing up before the Su- i preme Court in masterful fashion ! the labors of batteries of other legal celebrities His brief in the Minne i sota and North Carolina rate case lof 190S is one of the finest ever | written. Before the Interstate Com- 1 j merce Commission he represented j the anthracite carriers in the coal- | rate investigations, the Santa Fe in j the famous Five Per Cent Case, the I New Haven stockholders in the Com- ! mission's investigations of that road. I "He has pleaded for all our ex press companies united against re ducing their rates. In all these his- I , toric conflicts Mr. Hines displayed . I that modern legal eloquence which .lis overwhelmingly effective by rea- I son of its very simplicity and direct ,l ness. "From his seventh year, when he , made his first dollar selling tomatoes for his mother, to his sixteenth year, , when he became a shorthand re porter. in the circuit court of his ■ State, to his twenty-third year, when , he finished a university law course in one year, to his thirty-first year, when he was appointed First Vice- President of the Louisville & Nash ' ville, he has always exhibited the 1 same conscientious devotion to his duty, the same exhaustive thorough -1 ness. He has a natural endowment ] of genius in a precocious mind; but I the real secret of his wizardry in ' bringing order out of the chaos of i thought is his method of studiously exploring any problem to its depths ! before attempting an answer. His ] zeal for getting facts first hand has ! often appalled men of lesser resolu tion. As one of his closest friends | declares: 'When Walker Hines quits ] a subject, it's finished.' Mr. Hines was born in Russellville, ] Kentucky, February 2, 1870, and his I chief regret is, we learn, that he was I not born on a farm. Says the arti i cle further: I Nobody here remembers having I seen Walker Hines play games, I j , am told in a letter received from an I old friend of the Director-General, still living in the Kentucky town ' where his boyhood was spent. He was a youth without humorous epi- I sodes. He was always very studious, i He was devoted to his little sister ' and worshiped his widowed mother.' who was a model Southern woman ! 1 and one of the very finest women I God ever made. ' "And yet Walker Hines, take him the year around, is one of the most 1 normal American men of business. He has an ideal home life with a > wife and a daughter of sixteen. He takes long walks when he can. On ! his vacation he rides a horse, sails a J boat, or starts out In pursuit of! one of those pestiferous golf-balls, j I He was born with good health—and has conserved it. And he reads for amusement: one evening it is Bab Ballads, the next Boswell's Johnson. He doesn't smoke. He sleeps soundly. "No, if you wish to know Walker Hines as he is, you must know him at work. If the aspiring youths of the coming generation are to have inspiration from his life, they will find there no log-cabin birthplace, no chapter of picturesque cow punching on the western plains, no dramatic moments of high wit or sudden daring. His achievement is something more modern, more diffi cult." As to the ideas about Government entertained by the new head of the railroads, we learn, "He believes with our forefathers that that country is governed best which is governed least. Yet he | says government is a serious task; it is a big man's job. The greatest defect In our system of government, he has argued, is its failure to fix responsibility. We have outlived the necessity of longer heeding Monte squieu's guaranty of democracy, a separation of legislative and execu tive functions. In other words, we must cease passing the buck in Washington, in our State legisla tures. our county scats. This slang is not Mr. Hines's, though the ! thought is. "As to politics, Mr. Hines is a Democrat. He confesses he is a ! radical in his social thinking. He believes that the industrial processes of the United States would profit by being socialized more than they are. !As to a violent upheaval in this i country, we have at hand the means lof copying with every crisis that can impend. "Mr. Hines's first public message on taking office was a plea for a better understanding of our railroad j problem. "A vigorous difference of opinion will not shock or disturb him. He will meet it calmly. He will gener ously and patiently examine everv issue that is raised. He will go to the very bottom of this problem." ANARCHY ■I saw a city filled with lust and shame, j i Where men, like wolves, slunk' through the grim half-light; i And sudden, in the midst of it, there I came One who spoke boldly for the cause of Right. And, speaking, fell before the brut ish race Like some poor wren that shriek ing eagles tear. While brute Dishonor, with her bloodless face. Stood by and smote his lips that moved in prayer. "Speak not of God! In centuries that word Hath not been uttered! Our own king are we." And God stretched forth His finger as He heard And o'er it cast a thousand leagues of sea. • —By Lieut.-Col. John McCrae. LABOR NOTES City laborers at Milwaukee have been Increased 5 cents an hour. The pay offered harvesters by the Holderness, England, Agricultural Club is $16.80 a week, with beer and tea. Salaries of officials of the Amal gamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners have been advanced by 25 per per cent. | Boston, Mass., eamsters' union has secured an increase of $3 a week and an additional 10 cents an hour for | overtime. ! he state horticulturist In Nebraska I are carrying on a campaign to Inter j est farmers in the planting of home orchards. Coal miners in the Fernle. B. C., district have asked the Government to protect them from gaseous mines. Italy, at the end of the third year j in the war, had built up a number of i enormous ordnance factories, one em ploying <O,OOO people^ SACRIFICE [By J. Corson Miller.] Sing not to me of eurthly power, For winds make sport of the dust of kings; In many an immemorial hour Men fought and bled for trivial things. Sing me the prayer that lifts from [ some white heart, As Earth's immortal part. For deeds that live to gain reward, And dreams that barter Love for Pa me; These all shall die as with a sword. And be forever linked with shame. The great white visions born of pain and death. These have eternal breath. And as a comet sweeps the sky, To reappear through cycling years, So shall Love's deeds supreme and high Enkindie hope again from tears. Sing me Love's utter sacrifice and loss — Christ's death upon the Cross. "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" The rehinding of a hook in a pub lic library is one sure test of the hook's popularity. The book that goes oftenest to be redrest from one public library is "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and this fact leads Frank Parker Stockbridge, writing in the New York Sun, to a little speculating on the answer his librarian fur nished: " 'Every year there is a new gen eration of young readers coming along who have never read 'Uncle Tom;' we keep a dozen copies of it in circulation all the time. | "One wouldn't expect to And 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' in active de mand south of Mason and Dixon's line; but only a few days later, cu riously enough, the title of Mrs. Stowe's epoch-making work popped up in a list of the six most popular hooks of the month reported by a library in Texas! "If I believed that coincidences run in threes I would expect to see before long the announcement of a revival—with an 'all-star' cast, per haps—of 'Uncle Tom' on Broadway. One of the wisest theatrical man agers I ever knew found it profit able to revive 'Uncle Tom' for a month's run every four or five years. And New York must be the only spot outside of the still unrecon structed corners of the South whose inhabitants have not had a chance to see 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' in one or another of its dramatic forms within the last few years. "My librarian friend thought be was doing pretty well to keep a dozen copies of the book in circu lation all the time. Allowing a week to each reader, that would give six hundred persons their introduction to Eliza and Degree, to Topsy and Little Eva and Tom himself, in the course of a 'year." Loosely Drawn Bills '{From the Scranton Republican.] Governor Sproul, in the veto of an Importunt measure that reached him last week, warned the Legislature against the passage of loosely drawn bills. Both Houses had adopted what i 3 known as the Stadt'andcr bill, au thorizing counties, cities and bor oughs to make appropriations for entertaining, aiding and caring for returned soldiers, sailors and ma rines. It is generally admitted that this is a very desirable measure in view of the various movements Inaugu rated in the State to finance, liber ally, the committees planning proper receptions for the soldiers heroes re turning from abroad. In his veto message the Governor points out that the bill is a com mendable one, but "it is so loosely drawn as not to be e'early under stood," and in its present form might "give rise to grave abuses." To pre vent that, the bill was vetoed. It is obvious that any measure of Importance, such as the one under discussion, should be carefully scanned by a competent lawyer be fore its introduction into the Legis lature. The courts have been bur dened with work in this State be cause a large proportion of the bills passed by the Legislature, are word ed in such a defective manner that they do not make their purposes clear. Different Views Some people call a spade a spade. But other folks abuse It And call it simply awful names 'Most every time they use it. —Tennyson J. Daft, in Kansas i City Star. , Stoning (Elfat|| Borings made with a view to de-< termining what foundations couldi be obtained for the proposed Moa-i orial bridge to be constructed u Jbl part of the Capitol park improTe-1 ments, have demonstrated that noC only is the State Capitol of Penn-' sylvania founded upon a rock, buti that for the whole length of the viaduct there is rock foundation available at a comparatively short distance beneath the surface. The engineers in charge of the boring* have made a preliminary report with some samples of what thev struck at about iifty feet and it has been most gratifying to the men planning the great structure which the Legis lature will soon be asked to author ize. The dike of trap rock which crosses the Susquehanna and has an outcrop at what has long been called Maclay's rock at the foot of South Street, known to generations of boy swimmers as "Biggie," goes through Capitol Hill and some of the borings developed ii not far below the sur face. The trap dike separates the hard shale and slate from the lime stone, which is so abundant in the lower end of the city. For the most part, the borings struck a very hard shale with some specimens of trap. The whole situation in regard to the foundations is all that could be wished and there will be no diffi culty in the region of the old Penn sylvania canal line or Paxtang creek. In older times the creek used t<v ronm about the whole valley between what is now the Pennsylvania rail road and the hnse of the blufhe which make AJJison hill. Before that it was the old river bed and some engineers wondered what they w'ould strike. They no longer have any misgivings on the subject. Men who have been out looking* over the streams in Dauphin and Cumberland counties recently stock ed with trout by the Slate authori ties, say that the fish are showing excellent of vitality and that there should be some good sport. Not only brook, but brown trout were distributed in these streams last fall and followed up during the early months of this year. Inspections have shown that they are doing well. Reports are current that when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company ?i 1 ! 0n " see *- financially again that is, when the government funds are forthcoming—a new building development will be started at Enola and a largo number of handsome houses erected for railroad men who will reside there. This news comes from a reliable authority, and while no railroad official will be quoted to that effect, it is regarded as fore casting the plans of the company pretty accurately. There had been rumors that with the completion of the big yards at Marietta those at Enola might lose some of their im portance, but this is denied by those who know conditions and there is every indication that with the re sumption of business on a large scale and the consequent increase in traffic Enola will become more than ever a freight center on the PennswJ, lines. Incidentally it is pointed out that Knola is one of the few towns of its size on the Pennsy main line that lias no passenger station. Only freight is handled in the vards there and excellent street car facilities from llarrisburg make passenger connections unnecessary. Many of the men who reside there own ttoeir homes and most of the time houses to rent are at a premium. "A town that can build as One a high school as this will do a lot for the deeper Susquehanna pro ject,' said Eli N. Hershey, presi dent of the Harrlsburg Rotary Club, speaking before the Columbia Mer chants' and Manufacturers' Associa tion the other evening. And the visiting Rotarians from Harrisburg applauded vigorously. For Columbia has indeed done well in the matter of its new high school. Many a town of twice or three times its popula tion cannot boast of one so good. Indeed there are few towns in the State that have done so well. When the old high school was outgrown the school board wisely went to the lower end of the borough and pur chased the large open tract of ground at ono time occupied by the town reservoir and in the cen ter of which had been erected a large building used as a military academy. But having acquired more land than was required for the school building proposed, did the thrifty citizens of Columbia do as our own penny-wise found-fool ish directors did when thev sold oft the old reservoir lots at Forster street and kept only enough for a school house that now cannot be enlarged or extended to meet grow ing needs? They did not. They kept all the ground and let the trees stand. Indeed they went so far as to retain the rear of the old aca demy mansion and built a modern high school building with big audit orium, stage and all the equipment of an up-to-date high school right across the front. So now Columbia's high school site problem is intelli gently solved for all time to come, even though Columbia outgrow Philadelphia in population, and the people arc proud of their work. WELL KNOWN PEOPLE [ —R. A. Mercer, Bradford county lawyer here yesterday for a hearing, is a son of the former chief —Colonel Edward Martin, Stata Commissioner of Health, has been playing golf for years and works as hard at it as his professional and official cares permit. —Governor William C. Spronl Is reported as improving at Hot Springs. \ DO YOU KNOW —That Jlnrrisburg has dovel oped some of tlic finest river bank treatment In the country and that it Is mueh admired, by visitors from Canada? I' HISTORIC HAItRISBCRG. —Th'e State used to have an am munition loading plant in tha old State arsenal in Capitol park. To a Post Office Ink Well How many humble hearts bar* dipped In you, and scrawled their manu script! Have shared their secrets, told their cares. Their curious and quaint affairs! Your pool of ink, your scratchy pen. Have moved the lives of unborn men. And watched young people,. breath ing hard. Put Heaven on a postal card. —From "The Rocking Horse" <Do i ran). By Christopher More!*, ?
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers