10 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A. NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Founded JBSX Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. Telearrnph Building, Federal Square 11 1 ■ E. J. STACK POLE President and Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager GUS. M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Executive Board J. P. McCUJLLOUGH, BOYD M. OGLESBY, F. R. OYSTER. GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Mdmbers 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 fiaper and also the local news pub ished herein. ▲ll rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. t Member American Newspaper Pub- Bureau of Clrcu- Associa Avenue Building, i Chicago, 111. S ' Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a cmmraradißD week ;by mail. $3.00 a year In advance. WEDNESDAY, JULY 0, 191# The best preparation for the future is the present tccll seen to. George Macdonald. THE KIPONA NEWS that plans for the annual Kipona are under way will be good tidings to thousands who previous to the war enjoyed tho wonderful river festivities that marked the close of the vacation season in Harrisburg. It is proper that this year's celebration should be larger and more gorgeous than any of those in the past, for this is victory year and the men who will man the canoes and boats for the most part were in the service last year and are rejoicing in their return home. There is no prettier spot on a late summer day in all Pennsyl vania, or in any other State for that matter, than the Susquehanna basin opposite Harrisburg, and the "front steps" provide an ideal seating ar rangement for the thousands who go out to witness the spectacle. These neighborhood gatherings are good for us ail. They provide fun and frolic for those who cannot, for one reason or another, spend theii vacations away from home and they bring us all together on a common ground that makes better citizens of us. The nation's public debt on the first •>f June was $26,000,1100,000, an in crease of $1,096,640,750 during May resulting from new issues of certi ficates of indebtedness and payments on victory loan subscriptions. on our program will come the Inef ficiency Loan." HARRISBURG'S MEMORIAL A GENERATION ago it would not have been possible to secure the co-operation be tween the State and the city which now characterizes every step in the development of comprehensive and artistic plans for the improvement of the Capitol grounds and the out side environment for which the city is responsible. For years there has been intelligent co-ordination of all efforts having for their purpose the development of a city worthy tho seat of government of a great com monwealth. As a result of this neighborly co operation there has been a steady and consistent improvement along constructive and artistic lines. One after another the unsightly features of the original Capitol Park treat ment have disappeared and there has come a comprehensive plan which is being followed in the mak ing of beautiful surroundings for the imposing State House. The recent Legislature provided for the further treatment of the park and its most impressive fea ture will be the great memorial viaduct which will extend from the eastern edge of the park across the Paxton Creek Valley and the Penn sylvania Railroad to a point near Thirteenth street. This will consti tute the formal entrance to the city from the east and is certain to provo an enduring and practical memorial of the Pennsylvania boys who rep resented the State In the great war for justice and humanity. At the park entrance to the viaduct will be the artistic pylons which will contain on bronze tablets the names of the soldiers of the State in the recent world struggle. All of Penn sylvania will be interested in this memorial and it Is proper that It should be a feature of the Capitol Park. And now comes the Chamber of Commerce committee, which was charged with the study of a proper memorial for Marrisburg's soldiers and tailors, with a suggestion thut must at once commend itself as an admirable solution of the memoriul problem. On another page this eve ning the Telegraph presents a sketch of the proposed Harrisburg memorial which will be located ut the Intersection of State und Thir teenth streets. Again I luiTisburg co- operates with the State, inasmuch VvEDNESDAY EVENING, as the Harrisburg memorial will be a dignified and component feature of the memorial viaduct. It is the inspiration of Arnold W. Bruner, the great civic architect, who is develop ing the plans of tho State. This me morial will occupy a conspicuous site at the eastern approach of the memorial structure and is certain to attract the admiration of all who appreciate dignity and appropriate ness in the choosing of permanent memorials. While the marble bench and the bronze pedestal of the flag pole will at once hold the attention of all who enter and depart from the city, in fact that here has boon co-operation between the State and the city in producing this dual me ! morial will be the subject of gen ' eral commendation and approval. The Chamber of Commerce, as a ! leader in civic affairs, has earned the praise of the entire community in i thus promptly arranging for a suit ! aide memorial to those who rallied I to the colors in the greatest war of all history. "Watchful waiting" has been dis carded for "watchful preparedness" in the Administration's attitude toward Mexico. Any attitude will suit the Administration so long as it spells Inaction. NOT FOR US FROM certain not disinterested quarters comes the advice to Americans to resume the pur chase of German-made goods. NVe are told that the only way Germany j can pay her debts and make good her treaty obligations is by a re sumption of trade with the world, and that the United States should set an example to the allies in this respect by leading the way. Not for us! A bite of German I food would choke the man who, try- , ing to swallow it, chanced to think what the hand that packed it or grew it might have done during the war. A German toy made by one of the brutes who murdered the children of Belgium and France and ravished their mothers would be an insult to the sacred precincts of any American home. No, we in America can get along very well without German-made goods. We did during the war and nobody suffered, and now that we are trying to find work for our re turning soldiers and endeavoring to get business back on a peace basis, let us spend our money for Ameri can-made goods. American work men were not guilty of what the Germans did during the war. Their hands are clean. Let us respect them and patronize them and keep our money at home. Germany's debts must be Ger many's worry. We have enough of our own. Twelve old American battleships are to be Junked at once, but Bos'n Jo Daniels and his obsolete ideas will not go to the scrap heap until March 5, 1921. Anyhow, there will be no salvage on him. SWAT THE MOSQUITO FOR years Harrisburg has been "swatting the fly." Now it is turning its attention to the mosquito. The mosquito is a pest that can be banished more easily than the fly and at less expense. The City Health Department can get rid of the insects in Harrisburg in one season, if the people are willing to spend the money, and anybody who has nursed a bite or two or who has tried to shoo one of the little buzzing devils out of his bedroom between fitful moments of slumber on a hot summer's night would be willing to see the city treasury bankrupt itself in anti-mosquito campaign. We used to have yellow fever in many American ports, and once it got as far north as Philadelphia. The scourge was a mystery then, but now we know it was due to mosquito bites. And it is the same with malaria. Fortunately for us, the dam in Wildwood, the Paxton creek sewer system and the' sani tary dam in the river which covers most of the flats have relieved us of the malaria mosquitos, but we still have the menace with us, as the Health Department points out. end we ought to drain away or otherwise neutralize the swampy zones that now furnish such excel lent breeding places. A step in this direction will be taken when the city transforms the Italian Park swamp into a fresh, flowing lake. Familiarity with the mosquito has led us to look upon it as a necessary evil, which it is not. The malaria mosquito is likewise, if not a friend, at all events a companion of man. It cannot be called semi-domesti cated, but it is not ordinarily found far from human dwellings. Flying only at night, it makes sleeping per sons its special prey; whence the importance, as a safeguard against its attack, of well screened doors and windows, and even of net bed can opies when there is much malaria in the neighborhood. Malaria causes thousands of deaths in this country every year, and is the cause of a very great deal of sickness. But it is being grad ually eradicated by draining of mosquito-breeding areas. A reasonable expectation is that a century from now ntaluria in this country will be a relatively rare dis ease. As for yellow fever, it will be surely stamped out in those trop ical places which to-day are "foci" for the distribution of that dread plague over the world. The Postoffice Department haR re moved its restrictions on the ship ment to Italy of foodstuffs by parcel post. The P. O. D. should now equip this service with a sanitary corps, or the regulations should permit the mailing only of such foods as improve with ago. An American cheese would quadruple In value on the way over, which should be a valuable sugges tion to Congressman Bert Hncll, of Now York. He makes them. ' i ii j folOieeU ftai.KSijfrtuua, By the Ex-Commit tee man j Ind.cations are that the Republic i can State organization will get be | hind the candidacy of Superior i Court "Judge William L. Keller, of Lancaster for election for the full I term of ten years. Judge Keller I was appointed early in the year to serve until the first Monday of next January. Nominating petitions in his interest are being circulated in various counties. While no announcement has been made concerning him no one has entered the Held against him or has been talked of who is likely to se cure much backing and many in fluential Republicans are openly sup porting him. One of the surprises of the nomi nating petition circulation is the number of aspirunts who have asked for papers to become candidates for nominations for associate judges. These judges are to be elected in eight or nine counties and the con tests bid fair to lie as interesting as in the days when the liquor issue made them stirring affairs. —lt is regarded here as probable that Chief of Mines Seward E. But ton will be retained under the Sproul administration. No one else has been mentioned and no opposition to the chief has appeared. The salary of the office was recently advanced. —Reorganization of the State Agricultural Department will prob ably be undertaken at an early day as the outline has been prepared for the Governor. Under recent j legislation the commissioner of for estry also has to be reappointed. Some charges will also take place in the Department of Labor and Industry within a short time, author ity to make them being now vested in the acting commissioner under a recent act. —The election of 19'19 is not a general election and therefore no proposed amendments to the con stitution can be submitted to the people of Pennsylvania this year and furthermore the proposed amend ment establishing the graded tax falls because the resolution offering it to the voters specifically provided that it must be submitted in No vember, 1919, according to a deci sion sent to Secretary of the Com monwealth Cyrus E. Woods by First Deputy Attorney General Robert S. Gawthrop to-day. It is held that the decision is in accord with a de cision by Superior Court Judge Wil liam H. Keller when First Deputy on "a somewhat similar question un der date of July 10, 1917." -—The decision disposes of the question whether the constitutional amendments passed by the Legisla tures of 1917 and 1919 should be voted upon this year and knocks out the graded tax amendment en tirely. The graded tax amendment was passed two years ago and aguin this year, but unlike other proposed amendments it contained a provision that it should go to the voters this fall, being advertised three months in advance of the election. • Judge Gawthrop holds that the duty of the secretary of the Commonwealth is to advertise such amendments be fore a general election and that gen eral elections are held only in even numbered years. "It follows, there fore, that the publication required by the constitution cannot be made before the date fixed in the resolu tion for submission to the electors and that the amendment cannot be submitted upon the day named therein," says the judge. —Philadelphia municipal politics which kept the Legislature all stir red up have taken on a spurt us a result of meetings of the independ ents and of the Republican city com mittee. The independent element held a conference with the Town Meeting party and the Republican Alliance to discuss the mayoralty and the Philadelphia Record, Demo cratic organ, says that they met with the "secrecy of bombthrowers" and deferred action on a slate until August. Other newspapers are not so severe and indicate that there will be a winnowing Qf the list of possible candidates. —The city committee which is a Vare organization held its summer meeting yesterday at which Senator Edwin H. Vare called the people uniting to fight him "mongrels" and assailed their efforts as those of "outs trying to get in." The city committee met for the first time without the presence of the veteran David H. Lane and discussed the registration after several members had echoed Senator Vare's declara tion that the other side was en deavoring to go back to the old convention system without authority of law. —Selection of Philadelphia coun cilmen is the subject of some earn est editorials in Philadelphia news papers. the Kvening Rulletin saying that It should* be a matter for "spe cial exertion and vigilance" on the part of citizens. —The Scranton Republican is tak ing a big interest in the ballot leg islation and says editorially: "One of the final acts of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and one which will meet with the approval of the people of the Commonwealth, was to pass the bill requiring election officers to fol low the intent of the voter in count ing ballots on election days. It is understood that the local courts in reviewing elections have established a rule similar to that outlined by this new law. Some election boards have followed it and others have not. The purpose of the court in this mat ter, and the idea of the law as re flected in the new act is that where the Intent of the voter is clear it must l>e followed and the vote count ed. No ballot should be decided In valid where the purpose of the man casting the vote is obvious, for It is unjust and unreasonable disfran chisement." —Reading is going to have one of the most strenuous mayoralty campaigns in the State no matter whether the nonpartisan election feature of the third class city act is repealed or not. The candidates include Samuel E. Bertolet, Ex- Mayor W. F. Shanaman, Ren H. Zerr. George H. Boyer, William Abbot Whitman, and Frank Miller. TRADE BRIEFS There is a great shortage of scales of all kinds in South Africa, partic ularly counter and outside scuies. The 1919 rice crop is a failure In Coehln-Ohinu, and will probably not exceed 60 to 70 per cent, of a nor mal year on account of an exces sively dry season. During 1918 7.021 ships with ton nage of 1,308,984 entored the harbor of Ohrtstiania. Norway, against 7.- 768 ships of 1,669.194 tons in 1917 und 10,174 ships of 2.782.596 tons In 1916. 1 HAKRDSBTJRG TEEEOTSPH YOU CAN FIND EVERYBODY'S ELSE BUT YOUR OWN .... By BRIGGS I KNOW IT Camc ( I sofsi .You PICKED! weu -Voeu- HERe's f pio You jusT FIMC^ JuST ABOUT IN , I UP M v BALL- VAJKAT / ftuoTHen - BUT IT THAT BALL' I LOST HG R<* HGLW HGReS is IT A COLOMOL ? \ IS(J . T M|(JS . |T ||vl HeRB last A BALL ANYWAY V Yep "rtAT'i MlisJG - I wecK- MY WAmC lS WONDER WHO'S-? ) ' JUST SLICCD IT I ON IT- P ROV/ e ©*■* ( off THE ICTH Tee. J X Me IS TH FNRWAV . > —THANKS - / ,1 _ MV/CM 'BUGED j AH- HERE 'TIS —- ) SAY - THAT'S THCRE'S another - " , v no TISNJ'T eiTHFR- / °°R BALL-- we JUST BOT IT PROBABLY YEP ITS rUNC. WELL. I'LL use IT I .PROUS. IT OFF lO Th£ ISN'T MINE— SOMi*- anyway \ Tee— Vup ThaTS j— BodY'LL Claim it yIT COLONOL 3t y Prohibition and Wilson [Philadelphia North American.] With President Wilson openly hostile to the law and proclaiming his purpose to cancel it at the first opportunity, and with his Attorney General adding to the confusion, it could hardly be expected that the runisellers would take the law seri ously. The head of the Anti-Saloon League in New York state has clear ly shown where responsibility lies: By throwing a monkey wrench into the enforcement machinery, President Wilson is running true to form on the liquor question. In 11117 it was the prohibition forces and not the brewers that he asked to quit. In 1918 he sug gested that the operation of war prohibition be postponed a year. Last month he tried to prevent its going into efTect at all, even though he had signed it. and he now gives the liquor traffic to understand that he will come to its rescue if it can hold on irt the meantime His assurance that he will do away with the law en tirely at the earliest possible mo ment will be taken by the brew ers as an implied invitation to violate the law in the interim. His suggestion will tend to paralyze the enforcement machinery; no official can have any heart in en forcing a law which he knows may be wiped out at any minute. Responsibility for any disorder or confusion due to violation of war prohibition is now. located with the President. Congress was overwhelmingly for having war prohibition begin with the first of the present year. Presi dent Wilson pleaded for postpone ment to January 1, 1920. July 1 was named as a comprofnise, so that the liquor interests actually gained a six months' respite: and it was perfectly understood that that was all they could expect It is quite possible, however, that there will be a resumption of liquor selling for a brief period, in states which have not adopted state pro hibition, The war prohibition act automatically ceases to operate upon the conclusion of demobilization, the date of which is to be determined and proclaimed by President Wil son. The President's proclamation will mean that from that date until January 16 next liquor will have the same status throughout the country as it had before July I—the dry states will remain dry and the few wet states will enjoy the felicity of | a month or so of rum selling. Many persons are shocked and | incensed bv the mere fact that the liquor traffic continues. But a far more rerious aspect of the case is that this Involves widespread and flagrant defiance of law. The situa tion produced by the President and ♦Jinse under his direction has im paired the authority of the Govern-' ment and brought the institution of the law itself Into contempt. Noth ing could do more to encourage the lawless elements of society than this demonstration of official counte nance for wholesale defiance of a statute of the United States. When W. W. Gets Back [Phila. Press] Our Democratic contemporaries j are not likely to make as much | noise over the result of the special I Congressional election in the Fourth j Minnesota District the other day as I they made over a recent election in j the Butler-Westmoreland district of I I this State. In the Minnesota district the Democrats formerly had big majorities, ranging up to more than twenty thousand. Last Tuesday the Democrats lost the district in a three-cornered fight, in which the Republican vote divided, but both the regular Republicans and the Independent Republicans ran ahead of the Democrats. It is quite time that President Wilson got back to look after the party of which he is the self-proclaimed leader, but If he doesn't hurry there may not be much left for him, or anybody else, to look after. "No Beer, No Tips?" [The Pittsburgh Dispatch.] A. C. Stephens, president of the Ohio Hotel Association, discloses an other angle to the prohibition prob lem. With the going out of liquor, he predicts, the country will likely go on a tipless basis. Yes, you have guessed part of It. People do give up more easily, he says, and more gen erously when they have swallowed u few drinks. But thut is not all. With the passing of tips the waiters will want more wages und Ihe hotel men, pondering the vanishing liar profits, are figuring on waiterless as well as tipless duys to come. The war cut off the European supply of waiters anyway, and thoso that wore here jumped into more lucrative jobs, he says, a statement that will ustonlsh those who have heurd those stories of waiters, buying apartment houses und stocks and bonds with the princely tips they received. Kaiser Bill and Napoleon WHATEVER may be the deel- 1 sion of the Interallied Coun- j cil regarding William Hohen- j zollern, there Is much in his present situation which suggests the disposi tion ,which the Allies of another century made of Napoleon Bona parte. The late Emperor of Ger many also may have his Saint Helena and end his days in exile on I some far distant isle. Although the proceedings against j the Kaiser are without precedent and represent a new effort to. pre vent the recurrence of future wars, he, like Napoleon, is arraigned at the bar of the Nations as an arch disturber of the peace of the world. More exactly the situation of the War Lord suggests that of Napo leon just before his exile to the Island of Elba. The Allies had made good their invasion of France in 1814. Two million men were at hand to crush the remnants of that Grand Army which Napoleon had led into Russia. The Man of Des tiny, betrayed by many of those whom he had advanced to riches and power, was on April 6 constrained TO abdicate. "The allied sovereigns," to quote from the document penned by Bona parte's own hand, "having declared j that the Emperor Napoleon is the • sole obstacle to the re-establishment j of a general peace in Europe, the ; Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his | ot.th, declares that he renounces for himself and his heirs the throne of France and Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, not even that of life itself, which he is not will ing to make for the interests of 1 France." The Allies meanwhile had taken possession of Paris and there they held a council as to what should be done with Napoleon. The treaty which they finally drew up provided that he and the Empress Maria Louisa should retain their titles dur ing their lives. To him the sover eignty and the right of ownership of the Island of Elba was assigned with an annual income of $500,000, to be paid by France. The private property of Napoleon, however, whether as extraordinary or as pri vate domain was to revert to the j crown. Mock Sovereign of Elba . The Allies of that day believed ! that they had settled the affairs of | Europe for good and all in the con ferring of this mock sovereignty. Although for twenty years the mili tary operations of Napoleon had kept | France in a mad whirl of glory, and had terrorized the continent, wise i ones believed that the star of the I Man of Destiny had set forever. The j affection which many of the French ' people had for him, the dislike | which they felt for the Bourbons, I and misunderstandings among the I Allies themselves made it possible | for Napoleon to return and to con- I duct that brilliant yet unsuccessful Gne Hundred Days' Campaign which ended in his overwhelming defeat at Waterloo, i When the time came to decide j upon the fate of Napoleon after he I had broken his Elba purole, much j harsher conditions were imposed. Only a slight change in affairs would have resulted in his being landed on the coast of England and taken to London for trial, as is now pro posed in the case of the whilon Emperor of Germany. Napoleon became the prisoner of England by surrendering himself to her. The Kaiser in the first gloom of defeat when he fled from Germany had intended, according to all accounts, to surrender himself to the British. The reputation of the dwellers on John Bull's island for justice and fair play Is worldwide. This is evidenced not only by the original plan of William Hohenzol lern but also in the correspondence between Napoleon and the repre sentatives of Great Britain. The Kaiser took refuge in Hol land; the deposed Emperor of the French upon the Island of Alx. In the offing were warships of Great Britain. Before the break of day on the I*l th of July, 1815. the Duke of ltovigo went with' a flag of truce to inquire if a French or neutral vessel conveying the Emperor and bound for the United States could pass unmolested. As this request was not granted and he feared cap ture by the troops of the restored regime of the Bourbons, Napoleon decided to give himself up to the British. There was no triul In the sense of that which is now contemplated for the head of the Hohenzollerns Napoleon was rcgurded us the com mon enemy of Europe, and every country had been so embroiled thut there was none which could be culled neutral. The Allies were con tent to let Englund dlopose of Bo naparte us she wiled. The result of the deliberations of the Privy Council was made known on the evening of July 30, 1815, when Sir Henry Banbury, under secretary of state, came on board and read it to the Emperor. It was as follows: Napoleon's Sentence "It would be inconsistent with our duty toward our country and the Allies of his Majesty if General Bo naparte possessed the means of again disturbing the repose of Europe. It is on this account that it becomes absolutely necessary that he should be retained in his personal liberty, so far as this may lie required by the foregoing important object. The Island of Saint Helena has been chosen as his future residence. Its climate is healthy, and its local po sition will allow of his being treated with more indulgence than could be permitted in any spot, owing to the indispensable precaution which would be necessary to employ for the security of his person." Sir George Cockburn, to whom was delegated the task of conveying Napoleon to the isle of exile, was instructed to recognize him not as an Emperor but simply as a General. The deposed ruler's baggage was searched and $25,000 in gold and all his valuable personal effects were removed. He was permitted to re tain $2,500 with which to pay his personal servants. From the time of his departure until his death Na poleon may be considered as a poli tical offender condemned to impris onment for life. Dean Wears Knickers IDes Moines Register] Years ago Dean Holmes Cowper, of Drake University, after carefully studying portraits of men of Revolu tionary time and after having been presented with a frilly black satin evening coat by his grandmother, property of his grandfather, decided the clothes that men of modern times wore were highly unbecom ing, also uncomfortable. Dean Cowper firmly believed they had it all "over us" when it came to stylish, becoming, and well-fitted clothes. He tried airing his opinions and even, in some instances, advocated reform. He met with little enthu siasm. He abandoned active work on the idea, but he never gave up wondering if something couldn't be i done about it. Then the war came along and Dean Cowper got into a uniform. Not the least of the joys that Dean Cowper got out of the khaki, was the wearing of leather leggins and knee breeches. In March the dean was "demob ilized." He bitterly resented the long trousers which came with "ctt" clothes. He bided his rime. Waited until he found just what he wanted and came out yesterday morning with knee breeches, woolen stock ings. a stick, a natty sport hat, and a belted coat. And he refuses to listen to any thing but admiring comments. He is perfectly comfortable, and he says ho won't wear long trousers. "What will you do about evening clothes?" he was asked. "Well, I suppose I'll have to wear those long," then, suddenly getting an idea. "It wouldn't be half bad, though, would it—with black silk stockings and buckles?" Dean Cowper says .a gentleman is well dressed when his boots arc per fectly pol'shed and bis linen is clean. "And why shouldn't he dress comfortably?" "I look for lots of men to wear them now, after having been in the army," he declared. Convict Road Work The use of convict labor in the building of State roads results in the stjving of money and it has a bene ficial effect on the prisoners engaged In It, in the judgment of officials, mostly engineers, in charge of road work in twelve States that have tried the system thoroughly. The States are Arizona, Oklahoma, Florida. Maryland. Illinois, T.ouisi nna. Rhode island. New Jersey, Wyoming. Utah, Idaho, and Neb raska. They include practically every k'nd of country to be found In the United States the rolling country of the Atlnnt'c seabonrd, the swamps nnd sand olains of the South Atlantic and Onlf coasts, the Vnlley prairies, the Oreat Plains, the canyons nnd desert of the Southwest, and the eastern slope of the Rockv Mountains. Any rule that has been found to hold In nil tbrs- pieces would. It 's believed, be I'kely to apply unywhere in the United States. The reports have been, collected by the Department of Agriculture, which has supervision of all Federal highway activities. JULY 9, 1919. No Wonder Germany Quit NUMBER TWENTY-THREE "Who evfrr heard of silk burlap" said Colonel J. B. Kemper of the Army Recruiting station, 325 Mar ket street, Harrisburg, "and yet that is one of the things that helped win the war. The powder used to fire big guns has always been packed in cloth bags for convenience in handling. These bags in the past have been of canvass or similar material, but that wasn't good enough for this war. Probably half of the big gun firing during the war has been at night and it was discovered that the old fashioned powder bags burned during the powder explosion with quite a bright flash and that also they left consid erable ash in the barrel of the gun which scratched the gun when it was fired again. It was found that silk burned with much less flash, consequently making the location of the gun harder to detect, and fur ther it left practically no ash in the barrel. Still another considera tion favored the use of silk, its tensile strength is very great and the bags therefore hold their shape better. Now if the Boche located a gun by the flash they would promply shell it, killing or wound ing the crew and destroying the gun itself, also anything that would tend to prevent deterioration of the bar rel was so much saved. Thus it was good economy to substitute silk bags for cheaper textiles. The different sized guns used powder bags of dif ferent weights so for the smaller type guns it was not necessary to use as heavy silk as in the larger guns so silk of five different grades was used. "Tlie cocoons were brought from the Mulberry groves of Japan, China and India, the cocoons were bathed in hot water and the larger threads were unwound .and sent to the spindles with the native gum with which the worm holds its treasure intact still coating the threads. Now this gum would clog the machinery so it was found necessary to soak the thread in oil to prevent this clogging. The combination of heavy threads, gum and oil gave the so called cartridge cloth the appear ance of grey burlap. Most careful tests and chemical analyses, how ever, proved this material to be really pure silk. Gradually during the war the production of this ma terial increased until it reached some six million yar.ds per month and the signing of the armistice caught the War Department with seventeen million yards on hand. The question promptly arose as to what could be done with this vast amount of ma terial. So far as anyone could sec there was nothing to do with it but sell it for burlap and if this had been done you might have bought a sack of potatoes in a pure silk gun ny sack and never known it, but that seemed such an awful waste the silk experts of the Ordnance Department got busy and started experimenting. They finally evolved a cheap commercial 'process for re moving the gum and oil, dyeing the silk burlap into any desired shade or printing it with friezes or other figures popular in tapestries. The lighter grades are about the texture of pongee or silk Palm Beach cloth. Now this seventeen million yards are to be sold, not as burlap, but as high quality silk, and the next thing you know you will be wear ing a silk suit made out of cloth originally woven to contain the pow der that was to send a nice little shell over to visit the Boche; or perhaps you will buy a beautiful stamped tapestry for the parlor which was woven for the same good cause. And who knows but what the American silk powder bags will bring about a change in styles and make heavy coarsely woven silks all the rage next year instead of the present line qualities. Stranger things have happened." Tried the Two Extremes [From Ed Howe's Monthly] The wortd dislikes those men and women who talk a greut deal about their Ills. This is wrong, of course; a man with a bad stomach or a wo man with a weak heart should re ceive the tenderest consideration; but the fact remains that they do not. So I say very briefly that the "monthly" for June is as bum as my stomach, with which I have lately been having a siege. I have received advice ranging from that of an eminent professor at John . Hop kins University to that of a nigger man who says he knows a weed which, boiled In rain-water three hours, and a spoonful of the Jiilce taken three times a day. will afford complete relief, but so far neither the nigger nor the professor has done me any good. If I do not get better soon I shall send back the mopey of my subscribers, and de vote my time hereafter to grumbling at Adelaide, Stoning (fttgtt "Harvesting is in full swing prac tically all over Pennsylvania and much threshing is being done in the fields, probably more than ever before" said Secretary of Agricul ture Itasmussen to-day in discussing the crop conditions in Pennsylvania. "There is a shortage of labor in some sections, but I have covered a num ber of counties and have found farmers hard at work getting in the grain. There has been a tremendous acreage in wheat and rye this year in the southern and central coun ties and while there have been re ports of damage done by rust and pests it will be impossible to tell Just what has happened. Often pre dictions of loss made when the grain is in the Held are not borne out when the threshing is done. It looks odd in some sections to see the fields cleared of wheat without it being shocked. It is threshed right out in the field. "Secretary Hasmussen said that the "wheat belt" counties, which include Lancaster, York, Berks, Dauphin and the Cumber land Valley counties have a very large amount of land in wheat and that their harvest is well advanced and much wheat threshed. * "I must say from what I have seen that some of the oats does not look very well, but it may turn out better than hoped," said the Sec retary, who also said that while some reports of an alarming char acter had come about the fruit crop in the southern counties he prefer red to wait a while before saying much about them. • • • More actual road construction is under way in Pennsylvania now than probably ever known before in opin ion of men connected with the Stato Highway Department. Contracts have been let for over 330 miles with some operations hanging over from last year and contractors are at work in a third of the counties of the State. By the end of this month it is expected to have between 400 and 500 miles under contract and the greater part of it started. • • • Philadelphia has no monopoly on private bathing parties, newspaper accounts from that city notwith standing. Any afternoon during the hot weather one may seo them along the creeks in this vicinity. Parties don bathing suits at home, put rain coats over then and drive away in automobiles to some secluded spot where the water is deep enough and there is a good beach and enjoy an hour or two swimming. Motor cyclists in particular favor this form of diversion and while it is not so exhilarating as a splash in the surf it is a fine substitute. The other evening two parties, one a couple who arrived in an automo bile and a delegation of motorcycl ists of both sexes arrived at Good Hope mills and enjoyed an hour in the waters of the dam. But Good Hope is not the only favored point. There are many others. • One of the most beautiful drives in Central Pennsylvania will be along that section of the road be tween Amity Hall, above Clark's Ferry bridge, and Newport, a sec tion of the William Penn Highway which will be rebuilt next summer. This piece of road was formerly a part of the through highway from , east to west along the Juniata but was ruined by the heavy flood of i 1889 and was never repaired. Since that time traffic has been diverted : by a long roundabout way to New port which misses most of the pic turesque scenery of the river. The new highway will traverse the shoro of the river most of the distance I at a place where the stream looks . more like a lake than a river and i where the mountains come almost i down to the shore on either side t The new road will cut off a big slice of roadway for people driving . between Newport and Harrisburg National Guardsmen and men who have been following the mili tary end of things lately will be interested to know that Captain Clarence J. Smith, a former Allen town newspaperman, is the officer in charge of some of the parties of officers who have been visiting the battle front in France and Belgium. He is well known here as for years he was active in newspaper work and when the guard went to the Mexican border he was supply offi cer of the Fourth Infantry. He went over with the Keystone Divi sion and has been up and down the front several times since he was there when things were doing. WELL KNOWN PEOPLE —Representative James A. Walk er, chairman of the banks commit tee in the last House, was here for a visit. —Ex-Auditor General A. E. Sis son, of Erie, who is a member of the State Historical Commission, is much interested in marking of his toric sites. —John 8. Wurtz, who is in charge of the religious work at Philadel phia, has 1118 vacation Bible schools going. —A. A. Cochran, the Chester city solicitor who ruled that near beer cannot be sold, is well known here as he had often attended meetings of the Third Class city league. —The Rev. Dr. John Wagner has been pastor of Trinity Lutheran church at Hazleton, for forty-five years. —The Rev. J. W. Klein, a Reading minister, is a member of the city planning commission in that city. [ DO YOU KNOW 1 —That automobile travel to Har. risburg tills summer seems to bo greater than ever? HISTORIC H.VRRISBURG —Some of the supplies for Forbes' expedition which cut through por tions of the early highway through the southern tier were assembled here. Don't Blame Goldenrod [From the Scientific American.] A protest has recently been raised ugainst the time-honored project of adopting the goldenrod as the na tional flower of the United States, on the ground that this plant is a cause of hay fever and hence noth ing ought to be done that would en courage its prevalence. A state ment hus now been issued by Dr. W. Scheppegrell, on behalf of the American Hay Fever Prevention As sociation, In defense of the golden rod. It Is asserted that while the pollen of the goldenrod may cause trouble when applied directly to the nostrils or used In large quantities for room decorations, as a cause of hay fever out of doors it Is abso lutely negligible. "It is one of our most beautiful flowers," says Doctor Scheppegrell, "and well merits its selection us the national flower ol] <h* United Statea"
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers