12 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH d. NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Founded 1831 Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH FHIXTIKG CO. Telegraph Building, federal Square E. J. STACKPOLE e President and Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager GUS. M. STEI.NI.IETZ, Managing Editor A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Executive Board 1. P. McCULLOUGH, BOYD M. OGLESBY, F. R. OYSTER, GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Members of the Associated Press—The v. Associated Press is exclusively en ' titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news pub lished herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. Member American Newspaper Pub- Associa- Bureau of Circu lation and Penn sylvania Assoc ia- Eastern office Story. Brooks & Finley, Fifth Avent: ■_ Building. Western office i Chicago. Ill; S Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a 4iMi'ialMt> week; by mail. $3.00 a year in advance. < 1 — " THURSDAY. APRIL 17, 1919 TVJien the outer eye grows dim, Turns the inner eye to him, Who makes darkness light, Fairer visions you may sec, Live in nobler company, And in larger liberty. Than the men of sight. —John Oxenham, INDIFFERENT THE TELEGRAPH has made an earnest effort to arouse inter est in the shade tree need of this city, but we admit failure in securing from the City Council any definite action in the matter of a commission which would have the planting and treatment of shade trees along our streets as its princi pal business. Action should have been taken long ago to protect the trees which are rapidly disappearing through ne glect and indifference, hut it is not yet too late to adopt practical meas ures for their preservation. Time was when the overhead wire cor , porations deliberately interfered in this matter for selfish reasons, but we doubt whether this influence is responsible for the failure of the municipal authorities to create a Shade Tree Commission under the law passed by the Legislature a few years ago. It seems more a matter of delib erate indifference. Alien enemies interned at different places in the United States for the period of the war are now being turned loose. It would seem that some definite policy should have been edeptod regarding' these anti-Ameri cans and thevr future residence in the United States. Uncle Sam has been entirely' too patient with a class of undesirables who have no sympathy with out institutions and who con stantly breed dissatisfaction among the aliens who are influenced by their antagonistic attitude toward our Governmi nt. OF INTEREST TO LABOR OFFICIAL figures of imports and' exports for the eight months ended February, 1919, show a gain in imports of manufactures for further use in manufacturing and manufactures ready for consump tion of $126,000,000 over the corre sponding eight months ended Febru ary, 1918, and a loss in exports of these same groups of $226,000,000, or a total loss byway of increased purchases from abroad, and decrease sales to foreign countries of $352,- 000,000, or at the rate of $44,000,000 monthly. These losses are with re spect to goods on which the great est amount of labor is expended, and they are symptomatic of a disease whose ravages will spread from now on unless steps are taken to effect a cure. The disease is free trade and the cure is protection. The aggregate value of imports of these two groups during the 1919 period was $720,000,000, compared with $594,000,000 during the 1918 period; of exports, $2,132,000,000 for the 1919, compared with $2,358,000,- 000 for the 1918 peilod. Imports of these two groups for the single month of February totaled nearly $75,000,000 in 1919, compared with $66,000,000 in 1918. And the Eu ropean embargoes on exports are not all off yet, nor has the drive on our free market commenced in ear nest, as it will as soon as peace is proclaimed. From Japan alone our imports for the 1919 period—eight months—to taled almost $200,000,000, or twice what they came to during the fu!l before the war in Europe broke out; front. Australia and New Zea land came $71,000,000 worth of goods, or. $20,000,000 more than for 1913; (,'hina sold us $64,000,000 worth of goods in these eight months, compared with $41,000,000 for the Cull year 1913; and our imports from Canada totaled $330,000,000, com THURSDAY EVENING, pared with $142,000,000 for the full year 1913. Some of this increase was due to higher prices, most of it to larger bulk. There is nothing to moderate this competition at the present time, but everything to en courage it, and a free trade Presi dent trying to persuade this country to accept a League of Nations cove nant which would have the bulge on our future tariff policies. The Republicans know full well. the time to prepare for this com petition was years ago, but now that they control the legislative branch they are going ahead to prepare. Investigations are being made by theni, even out of Congressional ses sion, and the results of those inves tigations will amply justify the re vision of the tariff on a basis of wholly adequate protection to all American industries. Australia has appropriated $2,500,- 000 for the construction of public work in order to take care of unem ployed returning soldiers. This is pending the completion of a larger scheme to provide work for the home coming Anzacs along more permanent lines. Pennsylvania is properly tak ing similar action in its road-builu- \ ing progiam and its other projects of public work. WHO DESERTED? A FEW Democratic newspapers continue to criticise former Senator Bailey of "deserting the Democratic party" in his recent condemnation of the President and his policies. But this is scarcely in accord with the facts. If there has been any party desertion it has been the President who has been guilty. | Whatever we may think of Bailey, i personally, there will be very gen eral agreement with him when he 1 says: The President lias proscribed the real Democrats of tnis country, and excludes them from all conferences Willi aim, Uiougii he lakes into his closest confidence semi-tiecialisls and socialists, with a lew honor able exceptions, every man hoiuilig an important political ofiice untler tnis Administration utilizes every opportunity to discreuu all men WHO autiere nrnuy to the lunua mentais ot a representative ueinoe racy: they stigmatize every man wlio believes in a failblttl observ ance ol tile Constitution as a re actionary,' and tney denounce those who deiend tiie right of private property as 'subservient lo me in terests.' llow, then, can any man who believes in the principles of the Democratic parly vote tor suvh men'.' They reject Democratic principles, and apply, in the eon duct ot our Government, principles which Democrats always nave op posed. if you and 1 help to elect such men to oltice, we have no right to complain at the manner m which they administer our public alTaiis. Further, Mr. Wilson has declined the advice and aid which big men | of all parties would have given him | gladly in the recent crisis. He per sistently luts clioscn small men for ; difficult places. He has wrecked his party machinery whenever he could raise himself a trifle on the wreckage. He has tried to run the Government —if not the world upon hir own personal theories, supported only by men of little known ability or who have their own axes to grind. His greatest weakness is his persist ent purpose in trying vainly to play a lone hand against the world —re- gardless of party obligations or the opinions of his countrymen. He has never acted in any great cntergeno until forced into it by overwhelming public sentiment, against which he has set his fat J until any other course than acquiescence was impossible, and immediately he has solemnly claimed credit for his action as the mature judgment of ripened consideration.. The President has done big things—great things— but a careful analysis of all the cir cumstances loading up to almost every instance of the kind affords proof positive that in those decisions which have redounded most to his credit at the moment he reversed his former thought and convictions completely and did what thinking men of all political faiths had been long urging him to do. But in every case it has been Mr. Wilson first and party second, or not at all. When he has been unable to bend the Democrats at Washington to his will he has quarreled with them personally and tried to ruin them politically. It is little wonder that Senator Bailey has revolted. In doing that, he did only what thousands of other Democrats did last November —re- pudiate the Wilson policies by going over to the Republican fold. The rumor from Washington is that fhcre may be some cabinet changes, and if so its a cinch the best men will walk the plank. CLEAX-UP WEEK MAYOR KEISTER has given proper expression to the senti ment of every progressive Harrisburger in his proclamation for the approaching clean-up week. There may be a resident here and there who cares nothing about the cleanliness of the city as a whole, but it is reasonable to assume that most Harrisburgers are proud of the reputation of the city as a clean and wholesome place in which to live. During the war there was a little let-down in the regulations regard ing the throwing of debris In the street, but this period is over and the municipal authorities are prop erly directing their attention to over coming the indifference of the care less individual. In a recent bulletin, the American Civic Association prop erly declares that-annual clean-ups will not save the day, but the yearly example of good housekeeping should have its influence upon those who are disposed to forget their obliga tion to the community at large. Dirty streets and unkempt private premises react upon the people and any neglect of the ordinary precau tions is bound to influence the com munity adversely. foCttcc* ck "PtKKOlfttffUtUL By the Ej-foiumltteemnn Important plans in relation to the Penrose fight for Philadelphia legis lation were agreed upon yesterday between Senator Penrose and various leaders of the Philadelphia and State organization, according to ait appar eutlvauthoritative article in the Phil adelphia Press, in the first place. Sen ator Penrose assured his adherents he would be in Harrisburg next Mon day night when the Assembly con venes after its week's recess. Up to this time it had not been known just when he would go. Arrange ments have been made to reserve rooms for him at the Penn-Harris. He may come to Harrisburg on Sun day, so as to be ready for business on Monday. It has already been said that the Penrose plan was to rush the Wood ward charter revision bills through the Senate and get them into the House for the final battle. —This principle has been extend ed. It was agreed yesterday that the Brady hills, which have been myster iously hanging on the second read ing calendar in the House for weeks without action, are to he transform ed into Senate hills. On Monday night they will he introduced into the Sen ate. It is not known who will be Uieir sponsor, though the logic of the Situation would call for either Sen ator Daix or Senator Woodward, as Philadelphia members allied with the Penrose side, the choice probably to be Senator Daix. . —As soon as the bills aro introduced I they will he referred to the Pommit jtee 011 Elections. Senator Oatlin was I the chairman of this committee. | (twins to his death, Senator William jE. Crow. State chairman, becomes the ranking member. These bills, the most important of which rips out the present registration commissioners, will he quickly reported out of the committee and sent through the Sen ate to receive their final shampoo in the House. —All the Philadelphia legislation .will he handled in the House by Floor Leader William T. Ramsey, of Delaware coutity, and Representative William J. Brady, of Philadelphia. —The items of the introduction of the Brady hills is the most startling of yesterday's developments. Another one of importance is that the begin ning of the Penrose fight will be made with the Daix bills on the Philadelphia District Attorney's of fice. One of these hills provides for fourteen Instead of the present ten assistant district attorneys, and the other gives the District Attorney fourteen detectives. —These It?Us grew out of the Fifth ward troubles and were introduced at the Instance of District Attorney Rotan. Senator Vare has announced his opposition to the bills and has demanded a public hearing on them. —The publie hearing will be held on Tuesday morning of next week. Im mediately thereafter the bills will be reported out favorably by the Com mittee on Appropriations, which has them in charge, and they will then take their place on the third reading calendar. They will come up for final passage on Wednesday and the Pen rose peop'e say they have the votes to pass them in the Senate. —No more striking instance of the tendency to concentrate legisla tive activity into on day instead of the old plan of distributing the work over three days is to be found than in the program for next Tuesday. The two branches of the Legisla ture have been meeting on Monday nights, working until nearly mid night, having two sessions and nu merous hearings the next day, the Senate adjourning for the week along about 6 o'clock and the House quitting before noon next day. Only a few hearings have been held Wednesdays. —Next Tuesday will propably be one of the busiest days of the whole session. In addition to two sessions in each of the two branches, there there will be a series of big hearings and a conference, the latter on the suggested amendments to the work men's compensation law. The hear ings will include Senate committee sessions on the Department of Con servation bill, the bill to allow the Public Service Commission to en tertain certain appeals by corpora tions, which is opposed by cities and boroughs; the mine cave bill and the assessors bill, while on the House side there will be a general hearing on military training bills and on several pieces of minor legislation, but there will also be meetings of committees in charge of municipal legislation, liquor regulation and educational bills. —lt is anticipated that a date for [closing presentation of bills in the House will be set and some discus sion about a date" for final adjourn ment is probable. —John T. Painter, appointed postmaster at Greensburg to suc ceed John 11. Mcllveon, who has been acting postmaster for the past three months, is said by newspapers to have no political alliances. He has been employed at the Greens burg postofhee for the past thirty years. For several years he has been assistant postmaster. John M. Zimmerman, the first Democratic postmaster during President Wil son's first administration, resigned before his term expired. Squire J. Truxal, of Greensburg, was then made acting postmaster, but ho re fused to accept the appointment. Mr. Mcllveen succeeded Squire Trux al, but did not want the place. Mr. Painter is thoroughly conversant with his work. He started to work for the Government when the free delivery system was first installed in Greensburg. KISSES AXD BEARDS It is so easy to understand what the Americans say, because they talk so loud—it is not the same loudness as of the French, and one day I have laughed to hear in a 'bus how two girls of the Y. M. C. A. have talked. There was one who was not at all pretty, except to be young, who has regarded a French gentleman who wore his beard long. "Look," she said, "what a horrible heard. Imag ine to be kissted by anyone like that." Then they have both laughed. The other one has said then: "I suppose his grandfather wore his beard long, so he does the same," and the first one has replied: "Yes, it is always like that. What was good enough for your grandfather in France is good enough for you." I was not to hear them speak so, because,' you know, they were very ignorant. For me, I do not think that they have known very much the emotion of to be kissed, or they would have understood that it is not whether or not one has a beard that makes the difference.— From the London Bystander's Paris .Letter. . HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH OH, MAN! By BRIGGS AO AVOFUU lot OF / Expense BuT T I U |s e iM Axjy f V CL*RS - ONJE RI6H Y / % VM.CL RO,M VOUR. > \ B^JJST^/WBLU \ AFTER AKJOTHEQ- J KHEALTH - THOSE . ' A M/PTHOUTIT . \_ _ / \ CIGARS MUST / ,/"/ ./ t^Aoy°c^C""D^ 6 rou (ILL BET V ou could\T~ ( N"I•*• \ EONSUMF T SMOULD \ SWE A LOT OF } / CL OT) RI \ r 6 £ "v (^/" ) \ Y °^ s f L S P A T ° AF S T" V De AR "/ BOOKS AND MAGAZINES "The City of Comrades,, is the title of a novel of Basil King to be published immediately by the Harpers. Mr. King here tells the story of a down-and-outer who pulled himself together and found his soul. The scene is laid in one of the most curious spots in America. The wise and the foolish live here, the high-born and the low, each for all and all for each, helping one another along. The down-and-outer is an architect, he drinks and the rest is easy to guess. At the beginning of the story he leaves a note, beautifully lettered as only an architect could letter it. for a girl whom he has never seen. It was meant as a leering joke, but "The City of Comrades" goes on to tell how this sordid jest became a command in the hand of Fate. The great number of Snaith en thusiasts will be delighted to know that D. Appleton and Company are publishing this week the entertain ing Englishman's new novel, "The Undefeated." It is said that the new story is of life in a small town dur ing war days and the havoc it plays in the life of a man and a woman. In the end they are regenerated through their experiences. James Morgan's Theodore Roose velt: "The Boy and the Man" (Mac Millan Company), has just appeared in a new edition with new chapters completing the story of Roosevelt's life. Mr. Morgan's airri throughout this book has been to present a life of action by portraying the varied dra matic scenes in the career of a man who had the enthusiasm of a boy and whose energy and faith illus trated before the world the spirit of Young America. The new chapters are entitled From White House to Jungle, and The Bull Moose and the Last Years. The volume is nicely illustrated. "His Wife's Job" is the title of Grace Sartwell Mason's new novel, which the Appletons are publishing on April 18. It is said to be about a frivolous young woman whose hus band goes to war and who has an unusual experience earning her own living. AN ILL-TIMED MYSTERY [From the Phila. Kvening Ledger.] It is perfectly obvious that the keynote of the coming Victory Loan campaign should be joyous. The shadow of appalling tragedy hung over the previous bond-selling en terprise. There was little evidence, even last fall, that the financial suc cess of the loan would mean an im mediate end of the slaughter. But the curse is lifted now and the money which the Government wants is to pay for the triumph of the right which has achieved. Vigor—plenty of it —should char acterize the campaign. It should, however, be cheerful energy, lusty and good-humored. Outside such a category fall the lurid posters bearing the ominous in scription, "Beware Poison Gas", and followed by a cryptic interrogation point. The loan committee confesses to knowing the precise meaning of these placards, which have appeared not only on walls and fences but actually on the boarded-up windows of some private houses. Residents of the Rittenhouse Square district had a little shock when they saw these flaming signs yesterday. The mental specter of Bolshevism appeared. But even though that spirit can in this in stance be laid, the posters are not eye-gladdening. Advertising that is alarming miss es fire. The display of these threat ening posters was not a good idea. Ingenuity should delight, not dis quiet, those to whom the appeal is made. Ninety-First Division National Army of Maska, Washington. Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Mon tana, Wyoming ant U t a Divisional headquarters arrived In France July 12, 19 18. Activities: Argonne-Meuse sec tor, near Vauquies, September 20 to October 3 (Argonne-Meuse offensive, September 26 to October 3); west of Escaut river, Belgium, October 30 to November 4; east of Escaut river. Belgium, Novetpber 10 and 11. Prisoners captured: 12 officers, 2,400 enlisted men. Guns captured: 33 pieces of artillery, 471 machine guns. Total advance on front line, 3 4 kilometers. Insignia: Green fir tree. The 91st is known as the West Divi sion." Design emblematic of the I far West. 1 First Yankee Division in the Argonne THE IST Division was transferred in the second phase of the Argonne Battle, front Cam eron's sth Corps to Liggett's Ist Corps. It was given the place of honor in the general attack of Oc tober 4, and a place of honor in the Argonne battle was bound to be costly though glorious. It was to drive a wedge into the German lines by moving up and down the slopes and over the crest of the thickly wooded hills on the east bank of the Aire. Since my return home I have been asked if Belleau Wood was our most brilliant action. One answer: "Bril liant in what respect? In battle efficiency? In courage?" For at the front we thought of divisions only in terms of efficiency. At home you thought of them in terms of sentiment, pride, and affection and of a great faith. I should place in even higher esteem than Belleau Wood the drive of the Ist and 2d Divisions toward Soissons in July and possibly still higher that < which the Ist was now to make. We had a dozen Belleau Woods in the Argonne. The Ist was a regular division, the pioneer of our divisions in France, the longest trained: but it was not regular in the old sense, being bet ter than regular to my mind, as we have understood the word regu lar in the past. Many of its young officers were out of the training camps, and the men who had filled the gaps in the ranks had come from volunteers or the draft in all parts of the country. It was amazing how soon that divisional machine made a recruit a veteran. "Buddy, you now belong to the Ist, and in the Ist we ." Thus the ni' 'iyte soon learned the ways of the t. I think that possibly when the Ist Division went into the Argonne Battle it was the most efficient American division thst ever wore shoo leather: if it were not, then perhaps the 2d was —as all men of the 2d will agree. We were all thrilled when the Ist took the place of the 35th and advanced over the THE LOCUSTS A great deal of misinformation and much superstition clings to the appearance of the so-called 17-year locust. While there is a great deal to excite wonder about this unique insect, the mystery which surround ed its sudden appearance two or three times in a lifetime has been fully explained. If people will b.ut remember what they have observed or read, there should not be a re vival of the old-time fear which pos sessed the people in past ages when the hosts suddenly arose from the ground. First, locusts are not poisonous, and will not "sting" peo ple or animals. They do puncture the tender twigs of trees for the purpose of inserting their eggs, caus ing ihe end of the twig to die. Second, they will not devour crops, as do grasshoppers, nor injure grow ing fruit. Third, their appearance is not a prophecy of anything, ex cept that they will not be seen again for seventeen years, or thir teen in the case of one brood. —Penn- sylvania Farmer. LABOR NOTES Compared with the work hours of the same trades in the United States, the hours of German me chanics are from 10 to 34 per cent, higher. Pennsylvania miners are seeking an agreement by which all the col lieries will operate a certain num ber of days each week so as to in sure equal employment. Williamsport, Pa., is to soon have a new Labor Temple which will house all the trade unions in that locality. The Central Paper Box Manufac turers' Association is making a stub born fight against the eight-hour law for women workers now before the Pennsylvania Legislature. The Spanish Cabinet has granted an eight-hour working day to the building trades throughout Spain. It has also approved a bill to insure workers against unemployment. Hundreds of mechanical and elec trical engineers In New York city are going to unionize their profes sion. - ground where the 35th had fought! | desperately. The dead of the 35th i were in groups in the Exermont raj vine. When the men of the Ist saw ! them they knew how good it was! j to be veterans under exacting, com- i i petent direction; for veterans do not' j bunch under the enemy's lire. This 1 ; is giving the enemy a target. I And Summerall was in command!' He had led the Ist in the drive to-! ward Soissons. He is a leader com- 1 I pounded of all kinds of fighting . qualities, a crusader and a calculat i ing tactician, who, some say, can be ! gentle as the sweetest natured chap-| j lain, while other say that he is i nothing but brimstone and ruthless j determination. The Ist, with Sum i merall in command! We knew it' | would "go through! It had always! gone though. This was the part cast for the Ist in the A.,E. F. "As per schedule," the brief di-J visional report begins the account] of this operation-—a report which! is the coldest prose I have ever read j for as hot a piece of work as I have] ever seen. 1 am not sure that among 1 his other names the general might j not be called "Per Schedule" Sum-! j merall. Four new German divisions were identified on the lst's front on the! ] first day's attack. Constantly, un-1 I daunted by casualties, the division | kept plowing ahead, blasting the j enemy's counter attacks before lie could bring enough troops to bear, ( keeping the initiative in its own ! hands. ! When the Ist came out, its losses | were more than 9.000 in killed and j wounded. Half of its infantry was I out of action. It had paid the price, I but it was the price of a vital suc | cess. If in future years you should j ever ride down the valley of the j Aire, as you look up at those hills ] which command nil the valley and j the gap of Grand Pre, you may con elude that not only the Ist, but the I other divisions which fought through their machine gun nests and under brush were capable of deeds \iich I make Lookout Mountain appear | somewhat less of a battle by com ■ parison than some of us think that 1 it was. A. P. Men in the War [From the A. P. Traffic Bulletin.] Some of them got to see real fight ing. Those who did not, as one of them aptly puts it in rhyme, "Simply did as they were told." The rhyrn ster is H. W. Peckinpaugh, who con cludes a letter detailing his war ex periences with this: "I'm glad to have had even a small part in it, albeit 1 must write' to the home folks: "Darling, here's your soldier bold Silver stripes instead of gold Shine upon his sleeve to-day 'Cause he did not sail away. "But, my darling, don't you bleat, For he did not get cold feet, Simply did as he was told, Silver stripes instead of gold!" Peckinpaugh almost got there. After waiting six months lie finally secured transfer into the 424 th Tele graph Railroad Battalion which was ordered for overseas. After being completely outfitted the "flu" epi demic caused a further delay. The battalion was on board the transport at Hoboken headed for Brest when the armistice put a period to his martial career. He is now located at Mitchell, S. D. In Defense of Policemen The policemen is a general sized man, with large feet and an extra large nerve. With no weapons save an abbreviated club and a high ex plosive vocabulary, he is expected to control crowds of infuriated citizens, chase murderers into dark alleys and bring them out in recognizable form, or capture gangs of desperate yeggmen without losing his hat or tearing his uniform. His duties re quire him either to walk thirty or forty miles a day, or to stand on one spot for hours at a time; so his feet have a better excuse for being large than have most feet. Police men are always ready to help child ren remember where they live, as sist ladles to cross the street, punch masculine flirts on the nose and ac cept the position of leading ma t in any riot, no matter how large or boisterous. Consequently they should not' be critized too severely when they sneak into a convenient garage for a nap and a cigar.— .Kenneth L>, Roberta In Judge. APRIL' 17, 1919. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR j TEACHER PROTES TS To the Editor of the Telegraph : I was sorry to see the enclosed article "860,000 teachers declared unlit. Cleveland, Ohio —"At least half the teachers in the I'nited States are not tit to teach. We ought to get rid of 330,000 of them," declared D. B. Waldo, president of the West ern State Normal School, Kalama zoo, Michigan, last night before more than 4,000 delegates to the North eastern Ohio Teachers' Association in convention here." in your issue of Saturday evening, April 12. Such an unqualified statement as this may create wrong impressions and hurt us in our campaign for State aid to increase teachers' salaries. 1 am sure that Mr. Waldo did not slop with this bare fact. It may be true that 330,000 teachers in ' the United States are not tit to teach and that we ought to get rid of them. If you had given the reason for this sad condition of affairs, it could have been used as an asset in favor of giving teachers salaries high enough to attract and bold the right kind of people in the teaching busi ness. Educational standards had to be lowered to keep the schools of the United States open during the past year, and it is to maintain the stan dards we have fought so hard to win that we are asking the Legislature to pass the Woodruff bill. Can you wonder that many persons unfit for the work are now teaching school when 20,000 of the 43,000 teachers in Pennsylvania alone make less than $(100 a year. I know that your paper has al ways been in sympathy with our cause, and I have many times thank ed you in the name of the teachers of Harrisburg for your splendid arti cles in our behalf. I am sure that the article in Saturday evening's paper was not published with any intention to hurt us. Nevertheless, 1 was sorry to see such an unquali fied statement go before the public. Sincerely yoqrs, ELIZABETH S. BAKER, Pres. Harrisburg Teachers' League. The Chapel on the Spree [From the Red Cross Bulletin.] On the right bank of the river bpree, bti kilometers from Frank fort. It is not hard to locate this former prison camp, just outside the ?. i Tllc a PP''oach is not uninviting. There are some fine old trees and a well-made road, over which peasant carts jog in the early daylight. Over the entrance to the prison grounds there is an orna mental urched gate, fashioned oddly out of birch trees. "Kriegsgefange ncnlager," we read about the arch_ wat prison camp." The gateway we ure told, was built by Russian prisoners, many hundreds of whom passed through its portals to suffer starvation and ill usage at the hands of their captors. It is still enough now. There are no pacing guards, with long bayo nets, beating their arms to keep warm, no slinking figures shivering across the prison campus, no cruard ed ranks of laborers, forced into the service of the enemy, passing through the little gate. The little chapel just inside the prison enclosure is quietest of all It has a friendly look. There is a group of sparrows, those feathered cosmo polites, twittering on the doorsill, holding heated arguments over an edible morsel in the snow. They scat ter frantically at the approach of human footsteps, carrying their dis cussion and the crust to the tree tops. There is a familiar symbol still faintly red, above the doorway a cross snow-powdered, "Built bv the American Red Cross—l9ls." There is an uncomfortable feel ing in our throat as wc push open the door, which has been forcod slightly ajar by the inquisitive river wind. For a moment the long pews seem to be tenanted again by bowed figures, Russian, Italian, Frenchman Briton and Yank, their heads bowed in their hands, asking! patience, forti tude and ultimate deliverance from the hands of their foe. On the deserted pulpit lies a book with an inscription inside its front cover: "The gift of the American Red Cross—l9ls." It is a well-thumbed book and many of its passages are marked. We close it quietly without disturbing the faded purple ribbon that runs through its pages. Quietly, too, for we do not want to make any noise in here, somehow, we puss out again into the snowy campus, pink in the sunset. Our eyes turn as if in a parting salute to the little plate above the door. Truly the Red Cross went all the way Ebetttttg (Eljalf Every now and then some story | about old Harrisburg comes around. and mukes you sit up and think; what it would be like, if it occurred i in our day, especially if the scene of the incident happened to be In] the meadows which spread out where I the river front and Market Square now exist, or in the vicinity of the bramble covered knoll which is the, official seat of government of the second State in the Union. It is somp stretch of imagination to go back to the times when Indians camped in sulky mood out near tho< spring which is the vicinity of Thir teenth and Walnut streets of to-day declined to go to the home of John Harris to meet the Lieutenant Gov ernor of the Penns or to imagine how the wife of John Harris blew out the candles on the supper table one night after an Indian had taken a pot shot at the family of the Set tler of Pennsylvania's capital be-1 cause the aborigine was sore at an English officer who happened to be visiting her. One would hardly! think of George Whitefleld, the fa mous colonial preacher, holding forth to settlers for miles around under shade of trees on the banks of the Susquehanna near Paxton creek and the people being so fas cinated by him that they left their I fields unplowed and John' Harris had I to literally order them to go home land work. These incidents were all back before the French and Indian War and well authenticated. Rut here is one which just came to light in some old family correspondence. It seems that in early days the idea of John Harris, the founder of the town, and William Maclay that the, knoll should eventually be the seat of the Capitol of Pennsylvania was something well known. They spent years and years working up senti i ment in favor of a capital on the | banks of the Susquehanna and long I before Harris laid out the town and Began selling lots in 1785 he had marked off what was voted the capi tal. Meanwhile the ground around the knoll was used for various pub lic purposes and a school was es tablished at what is now the corner of Third and Walnut streets on the Capitol park side. Just got this corner in your head the way it is now. One part is Capi tol •park, the commencement of the famous "boardwalk" to the State House trodden by generations of statesmen, politicians and the near grades of both, a bit soon to form part of a "circle." On the other cor ner the towering Penn-Harris Hotel: on another the Federal building and on another a line of stores and an other hotel. About 1790 a school house had heen built at this corner and the children of the town were there educated on small payments by their parents to the schoolmaster. The man in charge was either with out nerve or not a good shot because he made a number of complaints about the loneliness of the site and of the annoyance from animals * from the knoll which is now Capi tol Hill. Finally, according to old letters, there was great excitement in the town and the men got their guns and hustled up to the school because, a couple of bears had come down from the aforesaid knoll and the schoolmaster bad sent the youngsters home and was barricaed in the school house against the ani mals. There must have been a grand old time in infant Harrisburg that day. The center of the town was down around Front and Mulberry and after all the rivermen, traders, wagon repairers and other men had rounded up their youngsters and made sure they were all safe they went after those bears from Capitol Hill and ran them hack to the Blue Hidge. Probably the Penn-Harris corner was the rendezvous. That this incident occurred there is little doubt. There was a suc cession of school houses at that corner. As late as 1792 wild buf falo, presumably some of the herds which survived in the glens of upper Perry and Snyder counties, were found mixed up with the cattle of Harrisburg people turned out to browse in "Maclay's swamp" which might be located as between North and South streets along the river. Peter Snyder, an old Harrisburger, wrote how his brother and himself shot bear on the outskirts of the young city and in 1797 had a bat tle royal to down one big hear raider which had been chased out to "llanna's Woods," which would make Sixteenth and Berryhill streets the final scene of one of the most ex citing hunting episodes in a long time. From all accounts, and something is constantly being found in old newspapers to show the trend of things, the early Harrisburgcrs were rather slow in getting around to Market Square as the town center. The river front had an attraction that persisted, probably because it was the place where the beats dis charged their cargoes and was one of the landing stages of the ferry which was then sending over the Susquehanna that tide of immigra tion that was to make many of the cortimonwealths of the Southwest. The Harris warehouse, most of the taverns and the numerous wagon repair shops which abounded were all close to the river and the square was traverscd by a couple of creeks and in time of rains was so often overflowed that people sent unkind messagesg to John Harris asking whether he would furnish boats or dukeboards to facilitate travel about his town. The square was a fine place for skating in winter and some of the early newspapers refer to dahgers of untended bonfires being built in the civic center. And then, too, there bobs up every now and then seme thing about a race course along the river front and that shoot ing matches would be held on the river bank. * So it is not hard to see that Harris had his own troubles getting people to buy lots "up-town" and that a schoolhouse so isolated as Third and Walnut streets might verv well be visited by fears from Capitol Hill thickets. WELL KNOWN PEOPLE ————————j ,i —Mayor E. S. Hugentugler, of York, has designated May 5 as the start of "clean up week." —The Rev. Dr. J. P. Warner, prominent northeastern Pennsylvania I Methodist clergyman, wilt take a j trip to California after forty-eight ' years of service. DO YOU KNOW ] —Hint Hnrrlshurg postal business tins shown rapid strides in tlic last year? HISTORIC HARRISBURG —Recruits were raised here for St. Clair's army, Including some marka-fj men.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers