8
HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH
4 KEVPBPA.PER FOR THE HOME
Founded 1831
Published evenings except Sunday by
THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO.
Telegraph Building, Federal Sgaare
E. J. STACK POLE
President and Editor-in-Chief
F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager
GUS. M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor
A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager
Execatlre Beard
i. P. SfcCULLOb'GH.
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 newa 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
Newspaper Pub-
Avenue Building,
- Chicago, 111! S
Entered at the Post Office in Harris
burg, Pa., as second class matter.
. . By carrier, ten cents a
CHHKiSSv® week ;by mail. JJ.OO a
' "Rigs year in advance.
MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1919
Kind words produce their oirn image
in men's souls, and a beautiful image
it is. — Pascal.
CAN IT BE TRUE?
BRING your beau to church,"!
urges the Rev. Clayton Albert
Smucker. pastor of Stephens'
Memorial Methodist Church.
Good advice, to be sure, but is it
necessary? We hope not. Why,
Doctor, dear, back in our day and*
generation of young manhood.which
is not so far in the past that our'
memory fails to recall very distinct- j
ly its palpitating experiences, you ,
couldn't keep us away from church j
when the dear girl who now presides ;
over our domestic destinies was j
among those present. Always on
such occasions we swelled the con
gregation by one —and if we could
spend the whole evening by her side
in the family pew, why the preach
er's vision of future heavenly bliss
held no attractions for us —we
knew it could be but a poor imita
tion of that which we for the mo
ment were enjoying.
Why did we go? Well, there were
two reasons. One was the witchery
of her own charming presence and
again there was the fear of "that
other fellow." Oh, Doctor, dear,
if you are looking for a sermon sub
ject, you will find it in that wretched
kill-joy, the other fellow. Preach a
sermon on the virtue of letting the
other fellow's girl alone and you j
will make a staunch friend of every
young man in Harrisburg who boasts
"steady company," but you may not
make much ,of a hit with the girls.
Come to think of it, though, that
"other fellow" did serve a useful
purpose occasionally, when a iate
dinner or other untoward circum-1
stances drove us to the necessity of
meeting her after services for that'
delightful but all-too-brief jour
ney to her parental domicile. The
chap who invented the saying; "The
longest way around is the nearest
way home," must have based it on
after-church walks with his girl.
Well, at such times, we restrained a
desire to . loaf around outside until
the sermon was over, because we
knew front painful experience that
the villain aforementioned would
be lurking about and it behooved
us to be inside and well to the fore
if we were to make sure of the favor
and company of the lady in question.
And so we got a reputation for
church attendance that otherwise
might not have been the case, and
so did many other young gallants
we knew.
It was never necessary to urge
the girls to bring their beaus to
church in those days. The trouble
most of them had was keeping free
of 'em for an evening to give some
other young chap a chance, and if
human nature has changed so much
in a generation, we don't wonder
folks are alarmed for the future of
civilization. Are you sure you aren't
barking up an empty tree, Doctor?
Commissioner Lynch Is showing a lot
of energy In the resurfacing and re
pairing of the highways of the city.
May we not hope that the Department
of Parks, will manifest a like zeal in
looking after the shade trees of Harris
burg which have been so long neglected.
Meanwhile those tree stumps along
Walnut street In front of the Federal
building should be displaced by thriving
young trees.
AN IMPORTANT PLACE
NO appointment that Governor
Sproul will make will be of
more importance or have a
sreater effect on the future life of
Pennsylvania people than that of
State Superintendent of Public In
struction. Doubtless, it is for that
reason that the Governor is pro
reeding with great deliberation in
his selection of a man. The whole
lystem of education in Pennsylvania
needs revision, not because it is bad
ts it stands, but because it is an
tiquated and does not measure up
lo the requirements of the recon
itruction period. Whoever is chosen
MONDAY EVENING,
will have a difficult and arduous
task on his hands.
Much progress has been made
since the State Board of Education
came into being, but by the very
nature of the situation brought about
by what amounted in more or less
degree to> dual responsibility, the
activities of the Board have been to
a large extent limited.
We have come to a period in the
school history of the State where the
need is urgent for a big, unbiased,
energetic, devoted man to head our
Department of Education. ' He must
come to his duties unprejudiced,
keenly alive to the diversity of opin
ion with respect to the relative im
portance of this or that method or
branch of school work and desirous
solely of evolving a system for Penn
sylvania, not only abreast with those
of other progressive Commonwealths,
I but in advance of them.
| Much of the misunderstanding re
i garding the doings at the Paris Peace
j Conference is the result of the failure
Ito make good the promise that there
j should be publicity of the most pitiless
j character. President Wilson gave his
; countrymen to understand that there
j would be no secret pow-wowing in the
(settlement of the world war. but there
| has been nothing else from the begin
ning of the negotiations. And because
| of the concealment of the moves behind
the screen, there has been much misin
formation that has had a tendency to
upset the public mind everywhere, per
haps the most satisfying thing that has
come out of the atmosphere of rumor
and uncertainty recently has been the
statement that "Germany must pay up
to the last farthing of her power."
Nothing less will satisfy the American
i people.
FOR A MODEL CITY
COLONEL EDWARD MARTIN'S
effort to make Harrisburg a
model city from the standpoint
of health and sanitation will meet
with the hearty support and cord'ai
co-operation 'of every loyal Harris
burg man and woman. The State
Health Department has done a great
work in Pennsylvania, but it is cap
able of doing much more, and
Colonel Martin at the very outset of
•his administration clearly indicates
i that he has the vision, energy and
| ability to carry out the work so well
begun by the late Dr. Dixon, and to
[improve its service and add much
to its scope and usefuiness.
Harrisburg should grasp at the
opportunity afforded by the Commis
sioner's offer. Both the city and the
State have much to gain by the ex
periment. Harrisburg has consider
able that may be improved, but it
was not because this city is a "hor- j
rible example," we ihfajt!
Colonel Martin chose it from among
all the municipalities of the State j
for purposes of demonstration. His j
proposal is in full accord with the
I
policies of Governor Sprou! with re- :
spect to the Capital City, its develop
ment and its future. Recognizing!
the desire of a great majority of our j
people to help themselves to the ex-j
tent of their resources and ability,.
the Governor has wisely decided to :
give whatever may be required in •
addition to make of Harrisburg a city
of which all Pennsylvania may be'
proud and which shall be an ex- {
ample for all such as aspire to the!
best that modern life affords in liv
ing conditions, civic development
and beauty.
Thousands of people come to Har
risburg even - week to visit the seat
of government, and Colonel Martin
has wisely sensed the importance of
sending them home impressed with
what they have seen here and carry
ing with them lessons in public
health and sanitation that will ren
der fertile the ground of other cities
for the seed the Health Department
desires to sow.
Properly conducted, a campaign
such as the Commissioner contem
plates can be of vast good to both
city and State. He will find the
people here ready and willing to
assist to the limit. The conference
at which* preliminary plans are to be
discussed should be largely attended,
and doubtless will be.
MAKE THEM WELCOME
ALL the returning soldiers
should be given the most cor
dial welcome home, and the
great reception which is being plan
j ned here for the Fourth of July,
ought to be kept constantly in mind
I by our people, to the end that the
demonstration may be worthy the
men who have rallied to the colors
and acquitted themselves with
great honor. •
So far as possible there ought to
be union of effort in this homecom
ing reception and parade, but the
uniting of the forces of the home
folks need not interfere in any way
with proper receptions of consid
erable units which may arrive from
time to time before the Fougth of
July.
*PottttC4 ot
By the Ex-Committeemiiji
Reports presented at the meeting
of the Executive Committee of the
Palmer Democratic State machine
at Philadelphia a few days ago, are
said to have been the most dis
couraging to reach the banded Dem
ocratic factional bosses since the
day after the May primary when
Judge Eugene C. Bonniwell was
shown to have upset their nomina
tion for Governor. The meeting
was called for last Friday for a
series of confidential chats about
the situation of the Democratic
machine in Pennsylvania. which
has been creaking and jingling in
every joint since last summer. The
only official announcement was that
some "gumshoe" men were to be
started out through the State after
the Victory Loan Campaign to see
what ails the Palmer faction.
The truth is that the demoraliza
tion of the so-called reorganization
forces of the Pennsylvania Democ
racy, begun when its leaders grab
bed the places and the limelight and
forced every one to listen to praises
of themselves, was hastened by the
Bonniwell raid and brought close
to rout by the rising popular senti
ment against the national adminis
tration. The situation was found
so. bad when the bosses met Friday
in Philadelphia, that not even an
attempt was made to advertise the
Butler-Westmoreland Congressional
election and it was decided that
every Congressional district was to
be visited as soon as possible.
The Palmer people want to con
trol the delegation from Pennsyl
vania to the Democratic national
convention of 1920. Hence the nerv
ousness.
j —ln opinion of some people who
• have been studying the legislative
situation, the recess will not be such
I a bad thing for the General Assem
j bly after all. It is admitted by some
that it has been "loafing," as the
Philadelphia Inquirer says, but at
the same time much of the loss of
time has been due to the lack of a
comprehensive program. There was
an excellent list of ideas, but the
bills were not ready when many ex
pected they would be and situations
developing during the session as a
result of finances and general condi
tions have also complicated mat
ters. While these are being ironed
out for consideration of the Gover
nor when he returns from his rest,
some agreements may also be reach
ed on those biennial disturbers,
Philadelphia bills.
—lt is not believed that much
time will be lost after the Legisla
ture reconvenes. A number of hear
ings arc scheduled, but they will be
over before May I and the appro
priation bills can be made ready for
action in less than a fortnight from
to-day. When the lawmakers come
back they will either have their
work cut out for them or there will
be such uncertainty that the session
will be wound up in short order.
—The Philadelphia Press in an
article by Odell Hauser rakes the
House for its way of doing business
and after saying that the charter
revisionists are busy discussing their
bills remarks; "So. all told, the
coming week's recess may be used
with profit both by the leaders and
by the members. On their return
the sessions will be very busy. It
would be a good thing, therefore, if
the sloppiness in procedure which,
.the Senate is not altogether guilt
less of, either, could be corrected." |
—The Ohio Legislature has de
cided to start a recess on April 17
and return to Columbus on May 5
to finish up. New Jersey closed
without a recess.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer calls
attention to the fact that returned
soldiers are smashing some plans in
various counties. It mentions that
Victor A. Daniel will run for re
corder in Lehigh and B. J. Mover
for county treasurer in Snyder. The
politics in the latter county will be
real strenuous.
—The Philadelphia Public Ledger
says: "All talk of 'ripper' legisla
tion in connection with the Phila
delphia charter revision bill was dis
counted yesterday when it was
learned that the Woodward bill will
be pushed by the Penrose forces in
the Legislature substantially in the
shape in which it was introduced.
There will be minor amendments to
the bill, amendments designed to
iron out minor defects in the meas
ure: but despite persistent reports
of 'ripper' amendments, which the
Penrose men declare were set afloat
for the purpose of befogging the is
sue of charter revision, it was defi
nitely said yesterday that no such
amendments are proposed. The Pen
rose leaders have virtually completed
their legislative program. Senator
Penrose undoubtedly will go to Har
risburg when the Legislature recon
venes to take charge of the fight on
the Woodward bill and the Brady
bills."
Nations Scramble For Arctic
Spitzbergen for centuries was a
poor relation of civilized countries,
[none of them thinking it worth
claiming, but the discovery of im
mense deposits of coal has caused
Germany. Great Britain, Russia and
Scandinavia to scramble for owner
ship. The Peace Conference or the
[League of Natons will have to ad
just the claims.
An American firm had begun in
1914 to develop the field. But Spitz
bergen is no man's land and has no
law. So no man was bound to re
spect the holdings or doings of any
other man. An international tribun
al met before the war to adjust the
situation, but the war ended its
work. Germany and Russia, though
neither had any rights in Spitzber
gen. divided control of it in the treaty
of Brest-Lltovsk. and England sent
a naval expedition. Denmark and
Sweden asserted tentative claims and
Norway alleged that it had discover
ed the Arctic archipelago in 1200
and ought to own it.
Teace brought the Spitzbergen
controversy to light again. The Paris
conference probably will settle the
I matter once for all. —From the Spo
kane Spokesman-Review.
Slate Aid as Right, Not Favor
State aid for private and semi-pri
vate charities, as it has been given in
Pennsylvania for many years, has
been apportioned without system and
often with but small relation to the
real merits of the institutions re
ceiving State money. We have in
theory a system of supervision, but
the Legislature is not bound 1o fol
low the recommendations of its ap
pointed advisers in the Board of
Public Charities, and the appropria
tons habitual'y go by favor or tradi
tion. Tainted by the suspicion of
log-rolling, worthy institutons are
unjustly discredited, others get an
undue share of the public dole, and
the aggregate actually allotted is
often greater than the sums avail
able. —Philadelphia Public Ledger.]
FIARRISBURG HFRJDFE) TELEGRAPH
WHEN A FELLER NEEDS A FRIEND .... BY BRIGGS
/ VJSLI. UELL J ///V
I (■?; VI .*, |1 COLO-S>AI I
WHEN YOUR FATHER TAKES YOU TO THE .
C*RCUS AMD JUST AS YOU GET TO THE
ENTRANCE AND YOU HEAP THE BAND PLAYINJG
FOR THE GRAND OPENING VAGRANT FATHER MEETS
AN OLD TLN\E FRIEND
Where Germany's Chance Lies
[Charles Downer Hazen in the
Atlantic Monthly.]
The one outstanding landmark in
contemporary Russia is that set up
Oh iUirch 3. 1918—the treaty of
Brcst-Litovsk. That treaty has never
been recognized by nny of the vic
torious Allies; nevertheless, it dogs
them night and day in the time of
triumph, embittering peace, if not
preventing it, darkening counsel, and
putting a strain upon friendship.
The treaty of Brest-Litovsk may be
repudiated by the conferences of
Paris; it may be dead as far as Ger
many, its chief author, is concerned;
but it is far from being a negligible
factor in the history of the present.
On the contrary, it, and the things
it represents and embodies in its fell
phrases, are bound to exercise a
profound and disturbing influence
upon the future.
By that treaty Russia renounced
an enormous territory, more than
twice the size of the German Empire,
and a population nearly as large as
that of Germany, 63 million people.
Germany may not get what she ex
pected and intended to get from hav-,
ing imposed these monstrous terms
upon a defeated and demoralized
foe, but she will at least have the
satisfaction of knowing that the
| might of her blows, aided by the
ductility of Russian "reformers,"
who, having renounced the patriot
ism as a bourgeois and capitalistic
quality, found it not difficult to re
nounce an imperial territory, have
profoundly transformed Russia as a
factor in international affairs.
Of course, out of this vast domain,
a domain stretching from the Baltic
to the Black Sea. Germany intended
to create a number of small states
which might receive German made
kings, or which, at any rate, would
be German satellites, parts of the
German political, military and econ
omic system. She will be forced to
let go the political and military con
trol for the time being; but unless
the conference of Paris can invent
safeguards more promising than any
yet suggested against economic pen
etration. Germany may confidently
look forward to a vast extension of
her influence in all Eastern Europe.
The barrier offered by a string of
small states and a reduced and
weakened Russia will constitute a
less serious abstacle to German econ
omic ambitions and German intrigue
than was offered by the Russia of
1914, and particularly because these
eastern neighbors, less developed
than Germany, and devastated as she
has not been, will be strongly tempt
ed to look to her for the things
which they need, and which she can
furnish more cheaply and easily than
other nations, because of geographi
cal proximity.
Whatever amputations may be
made in Germany herself, in Alsace-
Lorraine. Schleswig. the Polish Pro
vinces, the one ineluctable fact that
will remain will be this: Germany,
with approximately 70 million in
habitants, will have as neighbors on
the east and south, numerous small
states, several of them new and of
uncertain viability. Formerly she
had two great states as neighbors—
Russia and Austria-Hungary. Both
of these states have been broken
into fragments. Germany has not
been. Her potential role in Eastern
Central Europe has been improved
as a result of the war.
Woman Earns Easter Bonnet
Tf Mrs. M, J. Porter should pay
$32 for a spring hat it will be no
body's business but her own, as she
came by the money unexpectedly re
cently, and it is all hers. She noticed
an old wolf around a tree stump,
and when she investigated she found
eight young wolves. She killed them
all, and as the bounty on wolves
was $4 a head, rfhe came out ahead.
—[From the Leon Reporter.]
A BREEDER OF SLUMS.
[From the Literary Digest.]
AX intimate relation that we are
in danger of ignoring is point
i ed out between a five-cent fare
J and a decent life. Xo one denies that
' there is "a natural right of every
| man to live decently, and in an en
] vironment that has some element of
i attractiveness, even actual beauty."
i While stating this claim, Mr. Ralph
Adams Cram points out that sinco
1 the last decade of the eighteenth
! century down to the outbreak of
j the war. living conditions, at least
i for workmen, have been growing
steadily worse. Sporadic improve-
I ments notwithstanding, industrial
. cities furnish "slums that in their
| ugliness and their disease-breeding
iand vice-breeding conditions were as
bad as any recorded in history." Mr.
[Cram, who is a well-known archi
tect and is chairman of the Boston
City Planning Board, dwells in Re
[construction (Xew York) on the re
| lation between high street-car fares
.) and city slums in a way to arrest
' attention:
i "We confront the necessity of
j building a new world on the ruins
of one that has fallen, not without
[ some signs of discredit. We have
t the free choice of building up a
1 new era of real civilization or of re
verting to another peiiod of Dark
' Ages. On the choice we make de
; pends the future of the world for
j t.he next five hundred years. What
jis our choice? Are we going to
i yie'd to the reactionary, status quo
'.influences now showing themselves;
[are we going to submit to the Bol
shevik anarchy that, whatever its
' pretensions, can have issue only in
| barbarism equal to, if profoundly
I different from, the barbarism of the
[nineteenth century; or are we going
,to learn the lesson of the war.
[scrapping our old superstitions and
| our old methods as we scrap the
HIS LETTER
j Beyond the steel and the fire
Gleams the old desire,
j War has not taken wonder away.
! More poignant where its lightings
play
; The appeal of beauty's lonely cry!
II shall go dreaming till 1 die.
; I see wind burnished coin bright
towns,
And roads that shine across the
downs;
j A dusk of forest and a line
I Of light that silvers the design
| Always the shadowed and the bright,
A halo for the blackest night!
[—lslands where I have never been;
'The rainbow toppling down the
green
j Of tilted seas that rake a ship;
i The molten lava streams that slip
From fiery crater rims and fill
The dark with rose and daffodil;
Lakes mountain hid and spiritual;
The undiscovered waterfall
Like a white feather through the
trees.
The undiscovered bird in these
Singing, always alone, alone,
The lovely voice of the unknown—
This is Romance chameleon clad
That called me when I was a lad,
That calls me now to follow well
[Through blighted Picardy to hell.
Through hell to some elusive bliss
I Of new adventure after this;
jTo follow without asking why!
I So you will know, if I must die
[Upon this last and strangest quest,
It did not differ from the rest
In simple wonder dark and bright,
A halo for the blackest night:
And freedom like the unknown bird
Was a wild voice I had not heard,
| Was a pure voice I fought to hear!
[These words to you. my very dear.
Beyond the steel and the fire
Gleams the old desire. v
—Grace Hazard Conkling in the At
lantic Monthly
slums which are one manifestation
thereof?
"One question immediately arises
with regard to this second consider
ation, and that is transportation.
To make decentralization possible,
transportation must be quick, regu
lar, reliable and cheap. As a matter
of fact, it comes in the end to the
question of a five-cent fare. In Bos
ton and many other localities we are
confronted with a situation which
works absolutely against this funda
mental necessity of decentralization.
The situation in Boston at the pres
ent moment is one which is working
in the opposite direction through a
progressive increase in fares on
steam and electric railways. We be
gan at five cents and remained there
for many years. We then went on
to seven cents, have recently ad
vanced to eight cents, and there is
now a veiled threat that before long
the minimum fare will be ten cents.
"I believe that every one inter
ested in the question of decent hous
ing and in building up decent citi
zenship. should set his face against
this scheme of doubling the fares or
our street railway service. In sanc
tioning this increase in rates. Bos
ton places itself absolutely out of
line with the most progressive com
munities in Europe. In England,
France, Belgium, and I think Ger
many. the tendency has been and is
now in the other direction—that is,
toward reducing fares instead of in
creasing them. In Brussels, for ex
ample, I am told that many work
ing people live twenty miles outside
the city because they can obtain sea
son tickets enabling them to come
in to their work in the morning and
go out at night on certain specified
trains, the total cost per week being
| twenty cents, or less than two cents
per trip."
1 The Dusk of the Immortals
Along the silent gallery
And up the empty floors
Dim figures move from desk to desk,
And vanish through the doors.
And phantoms in the buckled shoes
And queues of long ago
Touch heads in confidential groups
Or hurry to and fro.
Xo busy pages pass in haste,
Xo gavel sharply raps,
Xo oratory shakes the dome
With verbal thunderclaps.
Xo bills are molded into laws
Or eloquently spurned,
Xo long debates are lost or won,
For Congress has adjburned.
But after it disbands, th& great.
Who wrought with heart and hand
The fabric of our liberty
Through storm and stress to stand,
Washington, Adams, and Monroe,
With all their glorious train
Of patriots, return to walk
The halls of State again.
Dike shadows in the dusk beneath
The famed rotunda vast.
They come, a mighty company,
Immortals from the past, /
To see if Freedom's bodyguard
Has kept these latter years
The high and holy covenant
She signed with blood and tears.
—MINNA IRVING, in the New
i York Times.
When the Foolish Take Root
I have seen the foolish take root;
but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
His children are far from safety,
and they are crushed in the gate,
neither is there any to deliver them,
i—Job v, 3 and t.
r APRIL" 14, 1919.
FEDERAL DICTATION
[From the Philadelphia Inquirer] !
Has the Commonwealth of Penn
sylvania the right and the power to
regulate Its own domestic affairs
and to enact and administer its own
laws, or must it submit to the dicta
tion and control of the Federal auth
orities? That is the question which
has now been clearly and inescapably
raised in connection with the case
of the Commonwealth of Pennsyl
vania ex rel. William I. Sohaffer,
Attorney General, plaintiff, vs. The
Bell Telephone Company of Penn
sylvania. defendant.
As The Inquirer recently explain
ed. the Attorney General in this
case filed a bill in equity praying
for an injunction to restrain the de
fendant company from charging,
for the use of its lines within the
State, rates different from those ap
proved by the Public Service Com
mission. A preliminary injunction
was granted, and on a motion for its
continuance an answer was entered
by the defendant company in which
it disclaimed responsibility upon the
ground that it was acting under the
direction and orders of the Post
muster General.
Was that a good defense? The
County Court of Dauphin county,
before which the equity proceedings
were instituted, adjudged not. After
listening to Attorney General
Schaffer's learned and convincing
argument, that tribunal decided that
in issuing the orders upon which the
defendant company rested its excul
patory plea, the Postmaster General
had exceeded his lawful authority.
It found that he had not been em
powered to pursue the course he
did by the Congressional resolution
under which he acted, and it also
held that his procedure could not
be justified upon the ground the
President, in the exercise of his war
power, had sanctioned the steps
which had been taken, and that the
Presidential discretion in the prem
ises'was not subject to a judicial
review. The court found that
whether in any particular case the
President possessed the power which
he assumed to use was a question of :
fact determinable form the purposes
of the use.
In these circumstanfces, as Post
master General Burleson could not
claim intangibility as an official for
an act which, being unwarranted,
was done as an individual, the pre
liminary injunction was continued
until final hearing, and the sound
ness of the principle upon which the
petition filed by the Attorney Gen
eral was based having thus been
recognized, notice was served by liim
on all the other telegraph and tele
phone companies in the State to
continue the rates fixed by the Pub
lic Commission and to disregard
those which Mr. Burleson had'eom
manded them to adopt, lmmedately
counsel for the Postmaster General
went into court and applied to
Judge Dickinson for an order re
straining Attorney General Sohaf
fer, the Public Service Commission,
and its individual members from In
terfering with Mr. Burleson's opera
tion of the telephone and telegraph
companies of this State upon the
ground that lie is acting as Presi
dent Wilson's representative.
Judge Dickinson may well have
I hesitated, as he is reported to have
done, about complying with this ap
plication, not only because it had
been made without notice to At
torney General Schaffer, and there
'foro without giving him any oppor
tunity to resist it, but on account or
the larger issues involved; but, how
ever reluctantly, the restraining
orders asked for were granted, with
the result that the decree of the
| Dauphin County Court has been in
i directly repudiated and that thou
! sands "of dollars will be collected
I from the public in excess of what is
rightfully due.
It is a pity that such a conflict
las this should have arisen, but now
it will have to be fought out. and
I Attorney General Schaffer may be
I trusted "to make the strongest pos
i sible defense of Pennsylvania s
rights.
SEEDS
| [George F. Burba in the Columbus
Dispatch.]
If we knew something about seeds,
i and the germ of life therein, we
I would know a great deal more about
Nature than we de. For the truth
is nobody seeme to know anything
I about seeds, except that they contain
j a germ of life that reproduces the
kind of plant the seeds grew upon.
I Under the microscope the germs all
look alike —that of the big oak tree,
that of the tender trailing vine.
There is no way of knowing one
germ of life from another except by
the overcoat it wears.
The cocoanut is the seed of the
cocoa tree and the grain of corn is
the seed of the plant we call corn.
But the germ life in the cocoanut
is a very small affair, as is the germ
in the grain of corn. The "over
coat" is the kernel of corn, as is
the big rough thing we call the co
coanut, and both seem intended only
to protect the germ and furnish food
for it when it sprouts.
Some seed ure so small they can
' hardly be seen. But, however small
I they may be, each has within it the
j spark of life that reproduces a plant
I exactly like the one it grew upon.
| Seeds behave themselves in dif-
I ferent ways. That is to say, there
! are some seeds whose germs will
! remain alive indefinitely, unless the
seed Is planted in the soil, and others
whose germs die within a year if
the seed is not planted.
Then there are seeds that come
up only the second year after they
are matured. This is the case with
the cockle burr—a sticky sort of
seed that fastens itself into your
clothing as you tramp through the
fields. There are two germs of
cockle burr. One of them comes
up the spring following the sum
mer it ripens; the other germ lies
in the ground for still another year,
coming up the second spring. Thus
if you were to prevent any cockle
burrs from growing this summer—
I if there were not a single cockle burr
come to maturity this year—next
year the germs that prefer to lie
in the earth two years would spring
up and we should have a fine crop
of cockle burrs.
LABOR NOTES
A British dyestuff concern has been
organized for the purpose of controll
ing the. business heretofore held by
German firms.
The output from the coal mines in
Great Britain during 1918 amounted
to over 227,987,000 tons.
Nearly 28 per cent, of the factory
workers In India are employed in cot
ton and spinning and weaving mills.
Cereal mill workers in Cincinnati
are being organized by the Interna
tional Union of United Brewery, Cer
eal and Soft Drink Workers.
Representatives of the Federation
of British Industries, of the National
Alliance of Employers and Emploved.
and of labor generally, met in London
recently to consider the scheme out
lined in the recent reports for the
Motfsing committee relating to the in
formation of Public Utility Societies
as a partial means of solution of the
housing problem after war. The fed
eration delegates represented over
16,000 firms, while the trade union
representatives stood for a member
ship of a million and a half. ,
lEbenittg (Eljal
Officials of the State Library, who
have been making: studies of the
legislative enactments of the last
century and a half in Pennsylvania,
to-day, called attention to the fact
that Susquehanna river fishermen,
who have been making some vigor- *
ous protests aguinst the State fish
code provisions in regard to seines,
fish baskets and the like, were doing
the same thing just one hundred
years ago. The legislative records
and the newspaper accounts of pro
ceedings which were proportionately
greater than those given in newspa
pers nowadays, show numerous
memorials and protests from the
Susquehanna fishermen. The Oracle
of Dauphin, published in this city,
in its issue of almost 100 years ago
to the day, voices protests of fisher
men against an amendment to the
fish laws. This amendment, which
was upproved on March 26, 181!),
was aimed to put a stop to the
wholesale fishing in the Susquehanna
because it provides a penalty of $25,
"in addition to those now provided
by law," for any person who should
use or aid in use of a net or seine
in the Susquehanna, between the
i Maryland line and the forks of the
river at Northumberland, between
April 1 and June 15. The river con
tained many shad and other fish
which have since disappeared and
the arguments used against the act
of 1891 were much like those insist
ed upon by the State authorities in
their effort to prevent use of dip
nets and seines before fisheries com
mittees of the Legislature this month.
* • •
State Highway Department offi
cials are looking forward to an early
start on some of the main highway
■ contracts and from reports coming
here, several of the big contracting
firms have commenced assembling
equipment, material and labor on a
scale which indicates that they re
gard Pennsylvania business pretty
highly and that the building will be
done on heavy construction scale.
The advent of these big firms is be
ing hailed here not only because of
the chance of lower prices through
their use of superior facilities, but
that the small bidder, sometimes
backed by only a bonding company
and who has made considerable
trouble for the State construction
program in years gone by, will be
eliminated.
• • •
The Pennsylvania Slate Compen
sation Board has laid down the rule
that compensation cannot be grant
ed in cases where men inhale fumes,
unless it is expressly shown that
death or injury was #irectly due to
i such occurrences. In a series of
j decisions hunded down this year, the
j Board has declined to accept state
ments that men employed in explo
! sive and other factories, men died
I from pneumonia caused by the
j fumes. In several claims it was as
iserted that fumes from TNT caused
j pneumonia and in others that bron-
I chilis, superinduced by inhalation of
| the fumes, resulted in lobar pneu
| monia. The Board has declined to
I accept any such claims unless actu
lally proved that death was directly
due to fumes doing violence to the
(Physical structure of the body.
• •
It is probable that the Pemisyl
| vania Legislature will enact a reso
lution providing for an investigation
into health insurance and abandon
the proposed Industrial accidents
commissions for investigation of
such matters. A study of the health
insurance and old age pension prop
ositions, especially in industrial com
jmunities, was begun under action in
j 191< and it is now planned to con
j tinue the old age pension inquiry
| along certain lines and to make the
health insurance investigation one
of wide extent. The reports would
be called for in the session of 1921.
| when the proposed constitutional re
[ vision commission would also report.
The ground is taken that conditions
now are of such a character that
enactment of laws to create certain
systems or make changes would be
inadvisable, as they might have to
be changed in a few years.
• •
j Thousands of voung peach, apple
land other fruit trees will commence
j bearing in countries in the lower
| tier of counties in Pennsylvania this
year, as a result of the extensive
| orchard extension plans launched a
jfew years ago. In the Adams-Vork
i Franklin district alone, thousands of
| apple trees will begin bearing this
year, while In Cumberland county
j there will be a great increase in the
I peach production. Reports coming
j here also indicate a considerable in
crease mi the bearing trees in or
chards set out in Western Pennsyl
j vania counties, notably the south
western, while northeastern counties
will have a number of bearing trees,
although not so numerous as the
southern counties. While the Adams
county district has increased its trees
more than any other, the western
counties have been planting orchards
generally and will be big producers
in a few years. Governor William
C. Sproul is extensively interested in
orchards in the Susquehanna valley,
which were set out some years ago.
1 WELL KNOWN PEOPLE
—Philip W. Blake, Allentown
Commerce Chamber secretary, says
a new station is coming for that city.
—T. Ellsworth Davies, the Scran
ton coal land expert, has been en
gaged in Northumberland county to
get the values revised.
—Charles L. Huston, Coatesville
manufacturer, lias been chosen a
commissioner to the Presbyterian
General Assembly.
| DO YOU KNOW
—That Harrl.sburg has been im
proving its churches faster than
any city of its size in the State
the last ten years?
HISTORIC HARRISBURG.
—Just 100 years ago advertising
for the organization of the Union
Canal Company, formed here, was
begun.
Now, When It Flowereth
Now. when it flowereth.
And when the banks and fields
Are greener every day,
And sweet is each bird's breath,
In the tree where he builds
Singing after his way—
Spring conjc to us with, hasty step
and brief.
Everywhere in leaf,
And everywhere makes people laugh
and play.
Rinaldo d'Aquino (Thirteenth
Century; tr. from the Italian by
D. G. Kosscltij.