8 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A. EEWBPA.PER FOR THE HOME Founded 1831 Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. Telegraph Building, Fcil-ml Square E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager QUS. M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Executive Board It P. McCULLOUGH, """" BOYD M. OGLESBY. F.' R. OYSTER, GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Members of the Associated Presa—The Associated Prees 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. IAII rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. A Member American rj Newspaper Pub tlishers' Associa tion. the Audit Bureau of Circu lation and Penn sylvania Aasocla ated Dailies. Eas eru office Avenue Building, New York City: Western office. Story, Brooks & Finley, People's Gas Building, Chicago, 111. Entered at the Post Office in Harrls burg. Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a CSsiiyjjJSSsO week; by mail. $3.00 a year in advance. MONDAY, JULY 21, 1919 And ichatsoever ye do, in t cord, or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, <7irini7 thanks to God the Father through him.—Col. 3 ;17. OLD RAISULI AGAIN AND now that the big war is over along comes old Raisuli again to let folks know that the proposed League of Nations means nothing, absolutely nothing, in liis young life. It's been a long time since Raisuli was killed the last time. As we remember it, just previous to the Kaiser's rush of blood to the head back along in May, 1914, Raisuli was shot to death by a party of French cavalrymen while attempting to raid an outpost in Morocco. During the grand melee in which Europe has since engaged Raisuli apparently confined himself to the plain or garden variety of banditing and even refrained from informing the world, through some fresh outbreak of deviltry, that the rumor concerning his untimely de mise was exaggerated. But he is on the rampage again and we may expect to hear of his death at the hands of avenging , soldiery almost any time. Raisuli, like Villa, seldom remains dead longer than three or four weeks. To our own personal knowl edge, attained through long and close association with European cable dispatches, Raisuli has been put to death at least twenty-three times. He was burned at the stake twice, beheaded three times, hanged five times and shot at least eight times, not to mention reports of his hav ing been carried off by cholera, smallpox and typhus. But after each experience he turns up smil ing and proceeds to crowd himself back on the front page with a flourish of trumpets and a rattle of sabers as he begins a new ."holy war" or raids a city for his own personal benefit. Just how to get the old rascal out of the way for all time is a problem, but it is suggested that perhaps Villa might be induced to go abroad and settle in Raisuli's territory. May be that wouldn't good with re spect to Raisuli, but it would at least take the Mexican terrorist out of the running as a rival of the Moroccan bandit. Several of the candidates already In the field for municipal offices are understood to be already considering retirement from the field. Elimina tion of the nonpartisan feature of the Clark act will serve to reduce the multiplicity of candidates which has been more confusing than anything else in recent years. LET US GQ RACK LET US go back to the simpler ways of living we knew twenty or twenty-five ago and we shall rid ourselves in a moment Cd much of the "high cost of living" concerning which everybody is so vigorously complaining. Who ever heard of ten dollar silk shirts in those days, or silk stock ings except on the most festive oc casions? What man in those times invested ten or fifteen dollars in a Panama hat or wore two dollar neckties? Who ever heard of silk pajamas and underwear at four and six dollars a garment? Only a few of the very rich paid those prices for their clothing in the old days, but the most extravagant ly priced garments are regarded now as none too good for everyday wear. A Harrlsburg haberdasher said the other day: "Yes, we sell more high priced shirts than ever. Young working men buy ten dollar shirts and think nothing of it We can scarcely find a market for the cheap er grades of stockings. The only people who are dressing sensibly are the older working men and the busi ness ,men who do not believe in spending money foolishly. We have little call for cheap garments." There lies the trouble extrav agance. If we were content to k back to the cheaper grades of MONDAY EVENING, shirtings, to hata like our fathers wore, to cotton sox and the simplest of undergarments our pay envelope would go farther and prices In evitably will drop. One cannot blame merchants for charging high prices when patrons insist on buy ing only high' priced goods. Let us go back to simpler tastes and we shall all be happier and our pocket books will be heavier. There never was a time when clothes made the man and he who dresses above his income is not only laying up trouble for himself from a financial stand point, but makes himself ridiculous in the eyes of his fellows. The clerk or the apprentice in a ten dollar shirt makes himself only a laughing stock for wiser folks, but he Is a tragedy in economy. A Boy Scout in one of the Central Pennsylvania troops demonstrated the practical training of the organization the other day when he saved the life of his little brother after a largo copperhead snake had fastened its fangs in the boy's foot. Out-door recreation and the teaching of self reliance to large groups of boys in every city and town will do much to give the State sturdy men. FOOD HOARDING THE Federal Department of Agri culture makes public the fact that there are almost unbeliev ably large quantities of foodstuffs in the cold storage houses of Chicago. Of course, it is always wise to have in reserve a generous sur plus of provisions of all kinds, but Just why it is necessary to have on hand at one time 360,000.000 dozens of eggs, which is equivalent to about thirty dozens for every man, woman and child in the United States, is not apparent. Nor does it seem reasonable that at a time when beef is being advertised by the big packers as unusually plenti ful and the people are being ad vised to eat it in generous quanti ties. that it should be hoarded by the million pounds. The whole food situation will bear the careful attention of Congress. It should be probed to the bottom. Early in the year it was feared that radicalism might be encouraged by unemployment, but there is equal danger that discontent engendered by unreasonable prices may have equally disastrous results. The pro fiteer is the father of the Bolshevist and neither has any place In Amer ican life. We should get* rid of both. Blair county prisoners are proving good road builders. Their work has been so satisfactory that they will be kept on the Job until fall. These prisoners live in a big tent along the highway and have their own cook. They receive three dollars a day, out of which they pay the exact cost of their meals. It will occur to most people that this is & humane way to treat prisoners and at the same time save the county expense. EXAGGERATED EGO HENRY FORD'S own testimony in the libel suit he has brought against the Chicago Tribune may not show any disloyal ty on his part in his country's con duct of the war with Germany, but it could easily be used to convict him on a charge of exaggerated ego. Confessedly ignorant of the common places of history, admittedly lame in literature, political economy and Statecraft, he yet offers, with all the assurance of full knowledge that comes only from long study, his own personal opinions as sovereign reme dies for all the ills of the world. Having made a most remarkable success in one field of endeavor he sets himself up as a wiseacre in all lines; a sort of superman, cocksure of himself und*r any and all con ditions and able and willing at all times to advise his fellowmen on any of the problems that have been puzzling humanity since the days of Adam. "History," he says, "is bunk." "Benedict Arnold is a fellow in the factory who does a little writing." Paid press agents turn out reams of "ideas" for him on all manner of subjects. He manufactures inter views on the same lines as his fac tories turn out automobiles, but with far less profit to himself. The fellows who hack out his newspaper notices give him more jolts than he would get in one of his own cars on a rough road. It was Patrick Henry who said that he knew no light by which his feet were guided but that of ex perience; the history of men and the record of events. But Henry Ford knows no such limitations. He gets a new idea, or one of his pub licity men devise one for him, and, presto, he has a thought that put into practice would revolutionize the world. Why is it that so many of our business, professional and mechani cal geniuses, having become famous in one line of endeavor, immediately come to the conclusion that they are qualified thereby as philoso phers. preachers, economists and statesmen? Perhaps nothing in the framing of the League of Nations has so ser iously disturbed those who are honest ly endeavoring to reach a proper con clusion regarding the document as the apparent Indifference of those at the peace table to the suggestions of ex- President Taft and ex-Secretary of State Root. Both these big Americans submitted amendments which mot with immediate favor at Paris and in tho United States. The ignoring of the changes proposed in the original draft of the treaty and League of Nations by two of the most able men of tho country has caused resentment in some quarters and honest doubt as to the fact in others. The Rev. Dr. J. Bradley Markward will leave Harriaburg with the ap preciation and good will of a com munity with whose progress he has been prominently identified. His go ing is the city's loan 'politic* CK 'pttutCifCooKta By the JEx-Conynlttemnnn 1 ■ . ■ ee—■— g The Democratic State machine is again in the limelight. The same [ Palmer-McCormick machine that ! has run the party organisation in Pennsylvania for the last seven or I eight years, and was made national- I ly famous by repudiating the candi ! date of the voters of its party for Governor when its own slated can didate was licked, Is endeavoring to get into a position to boss the elec tion of Democratic national dele gates from the Keystone State next year. And have the federal office holders pay the bill. This is no new performance. It has been gono through with quite as regularly as various things which Palmer, Mc- Cormlck and their pals condemned in others'in years gone by and which their official organization has been careful to follow. The Philadelphia Public Ledger which devoted much timet, space and effort to running down the way the Democratic State machine garn ered in shekels from federal office holders in southern Pennsylvania counties few years ago. is out with a first page story telling how the Democratic State committee, pre sided over by A. Mitchell Palmer's hand picked State chairman. Law rence H. Rupp, of Allentown, is sending letters to postal employes asking for contributions to help run the works. The Ledger says the Democratic State committee is try ing to "mace" federal employes. Warren VanDyke, secretary of the State committee, who signed the let ters, excuses the action by saying that It has no novelty and that any way, the Republican State organiza tion collects from people on the State pay roll. This activity of the Republican State organization, which has been confined to the State government, has always been de nounced by the McCormiek news papers and their ilk as something dreadful. They have wept over the poor officeholders on Capitol Hill who made contributions. Accord ing to the Public Ledger the send ing of the letters asking for contri butions from federal employes violates the national civil service law. But the Democratic machine, which is jingling in many Joints be cause of rough going experienced since the primary of 1918, has to be patched up for the race for control of the presidential convention dele gation from this State next year, which the Bonniwell faction is al ready preparing to enter. —The Democratic State machine is also being belted by some southern Pennsylvania Democrats for abolish ing the job of Revenue Collector Ben Davis, of Lancaster, and tack ing his historic revenue district to that of Philadelphia when the Scran ton district, close to the home health of A. Mitchell Palmer is undisturbed. Davis, it will be recalled, was an ardent partisan of Vance C. McCor miek in the "reorganization" of the party and in the gubernatorial cam paign of 1914. He has made fights Ue and again for McCormiek and Palmer In Lancaster county and has kept his lance pennons bright for any fray in their behalf in any part of his district. Some of his friends are saying unkind things about bosses. —An interesting local viewpoint is furnished by the Lancaster Ex aminer which says editorially "The love of a Democratic administration for this community has been exem plified most definitely." and remarks in a first page story: "At least fifty revenue deputies will have to seek •pastures new' and the local collec tor, Benjamin F. Davis, will lose an office paying $5,000 per annum Lancaster will be a 'way station" of the Revenue Bureau. Only several clerks will be employed to take care of the sales of cigar and tobacco stamps. It will only be a short time un til the results of the sleuthing through the State of Parke H. Davis and Bruce Sterling, the Palmer emissaries will be revealed. They have been out setting up pins for the battle of 1920, but have found In a number of districts that the Bonniwell crowd has also been busv and hatched the finest line of fight's for Democratic county nominations in a long time. The Holstein can didacy here, the Mycr candidacy in Allegheny county, the situa tions in Lackawanna, Luzerne Berks and other counties are all part of the game. Even the Democrats n such strongholds of Republican ism as Delaware and Montgomery have been set to fighting for empty honors this fall. —-Abner I. Hartman has been re nominated for postmaster of Leba non. which also contributes to the serenity of the Democratic situation in the Eighteenth congressional dis trict. —Senator Horace XV; Schantz, of if? c °unty, has announced his candidacy for the new judgeship in Lehigh county. The Senator was the first Republican Senator elected In the county in a century and won his toga in the flower time of the Demo cratic reorganization" in Penn sylvania. His friends sav he will cut a formidable figure in the non nscrH?,.nKCOnt£',t which used to be a Democratic stronghold, but is now debateable land. John E. Sones, former Legisla- Pottsvllle. is out as a can didate for Orphans' Court judge tn Schuylkill against Judge Mac Henry Wilhelm. M. A. KUker, of Glrard \ille, may also run. —Representative Jacob Hamilton showery coun ty, win run for sheriff of that county with the strongest kind of backing. inei dentally ex-State Senator C. I Baker wants one of the Democratic nomi nations for county commissioner In Montgomery. —Odell Hauser. writing In the- Philadelphia Press, supplements an interesting review of the records of members of the House by summariz Ing the records of the Senators. Each gets a notice, some of them is apt and happy characterization —Oiftord Plnchot broke looie at the meeting of the Snyder county granges on Saturday and flayed Senator W. C. McConnell because of his legislative activities, notably the water eminent domain prohibi tion repealer. John A. McSparran master of the State Grange, also spoke. —Representative Cyrus M. Pal mer, who is a candidate for the Re publican nomination for District Attorney of Bchuylkill county, will have opposition from former Repre sentative R. j. Graeff, of Tamaqua. Roy Hicks, of Frackville. and Mar tin Duffy, of Pottsvllle, are also candidates. The latter is an As sistant District Attorney under Dis trict Attorney Whltehouse and is at present on the high seas, hasten \ ing home from France to get into ' the fight riAimiSBtJRG TELEGRXPS WHEN A FELLER NEEDS A FRIEND BY BRICGS VVH(:R£ IS IT - ( /• WHERE IS IT f \ /' Vbo'RE A SWELL I SS ' CADDY You ARE- / WHY DOM'T YOU ( WATCH WHERE THE ekfa&L f 1 /\ BALL, goes!.' f r MgV DOY ( \ NOVU lT s pros'LY ) M WHERE DID LOST MY ball CO . / Or —vr — 7% t didn'T YOU \ ± ltN<? " ft'v ' • x * - \\|/ // on a hot Day for A ' Couple players who /Caiot Keep cm the. Fairway- No Wonder Germany Quit NUMBER THIRTY-SEVEN "For hundreds of years aggres sive armies have idulged in what is known as 'harassing' the enemy," said Major Frank C. Mahin, of the | Army Recruiting Station, 325 Mar- i ket street, to-day. "In wars of the I past this kind of work has been done j by individual sharpshooters, or at the most groups of live or ten ad venturous spirits. The American has always been particularly good at 'harassing,' having had a great deal of experience against the In dians. In the late war, however, harassing has been done not only by snipers, but to a far greater de gree by artillery and machine guns. Every night the artillery shells cross roads many miles behind the en emy lines, shells them at irregular intervals with the hope of catching troops or vehicles and inflicting damage. "Trails, roads, cross roads, main communicating trenches, within two miles of the tront are harassed in termittently by the machine guns from dusk to dawn and now and then during daylight. After we would get a quiet sector nicely warmed up it was nothing unusual for our machine guns to fire as many as five or six thousand shots per gun per night in harassing fire only. Since the roads and trails must be used during the night and you never know what minute you will get shot up on them it is de cidedly unpleasant to say tlje least. "But the ideal weapon for harass ing is the 37 millimeter cannon. During the day, due to its speed of action, it can be used on moving targets, hidden behind a hill but reported to the gun from an obser vation balloon. Sometimes at night we would locate a Boche machine gun that was harassing us and the next day we would train a 37 on that spot and wait till the Boche started to fire that night. Just as soon as they opened up, the 37 would send over ten or fifteen pound and a quarter high explosive shells and that machine gun would then and there go out of business. The 37 can fire 25 to 30 shots a minute, so it wouldn't take very many sec onds to shut the Boche up perma nently. When we had shown that we knew a machine gun position the Boche would go to work and build a new one which would take several days and for that period we had a little peace. The great trouble, however, with night harassing is that you don't know whether or not you have hit anything. Directly in our front during the month of August was a village that was never shelled and was still occupied by the wo men and children, as well as some Boche soldiers. The road leading into the village came around the I side of a hill and was in plain sight i for about 150 yards. We got tired | watching Boche soldiers going back and forth over that stretch of road, I so one afternoon we set up a 37 and waited. In a few minutes two wo man came into view followed by a wagon with two Boche soldiers on the seat. The range was about 2,- 100 yards (a mile and a quarter), but that didn't matter. We fired one shot and the rear half of that wagon I just disappeared. The two women gathered up their skirts and flew, the two Boche made a flying leap and landed on the horses' back and away they went for the village, with the remains of the wagon flying be hind. The women had about 50 feet start, but they were making such speed they beat the horse over the 100 yards stretch by at least 75 feet. We waited a few minutes and two Boche appeared carrying a keg of beer on a stretcher, the 37 let go and frcm their actions the shell passed between those two Boche. The front one fell on his face and the rear one went over backward. The former quickly dove into a clump of bushes along side the road, a nice little shell followed him in about three seconds later; he never came out. The other man War Orphans THE children of France have not yet emerged from the shadow of the war. With peace as sured, and a happier future open ing before them, it becomes increas ingly evident that the child life of Franco has suffered a shock from which it is difficult to rally; while the birth rate has dropped to 8 to each 1,000 populat.on. The Fatherless Children of France, an American organization co-oper ating with a similar one in Paris of which Marshal Joffre is the head, reports that of the children receiv ing American and to the extent of 10 cents a day under its plan of secur ing American godmothers for the little French war waifs, its record show an average of 700 children's deaths per month since the armis rolled into the gutter and stayed there. We made a slight correction in the aim of the gun and waited. In about fifteen minutes we saw Mr. Boche appear, crawling cautiously flat on his tummy towards the keg. Still we waited. He got well out into the road and lay still, evi dently waiting to see if anything would happen. Nothing happened, so he crept on slowly. He got to the keg, reached up and started to roll his precious beer towards the gutter. Bang! went the 37 and the Boche were minus one perfectly good keg o.f beer and one perfectly good soldier. It was such work as that that made the Boche hate, loath and detest that sweet little Allied weapon, the infantry 37 millimeter gun, that shoots stralght er and faster and farther than a rifle." The Draft Records [From the Pittsburgh Dispatch.] The carelessness illustrated by Chairman Graham's description of the present location and condition of the selective draft records dump ed in waterlogged cellars or left out in the weather at Washington bar racks is not conducive to respect for War Department efficiency. It may be charitably assumed to be more the result of subordinate ir responsibility than deliberate derelic tion higher up, but it is a discredit able exhibition. It is easier to imagine unthinking clerks saying to themselves "the war's over," and wishing to rid themselves of the ac cumulated detail than a responsible official so disposing of these docu ments. They may have served their pur pose of mobilizing America's armies but by all accounts the military rec ords are still far from completed. Questions may arise at any time that may make necessary reference to these records so carelessly dumped in barrack cellars. Besides, many of these records contain intimate and personal details that should be pro tected from possible abuse. With all the waste material, printed and written, that clutters Washington, surely room might have been found for the records of the men who went to war or, if deemed finally of no further value, they should have been properly de stroyed. Red Tape and Food Bargain ing [From the Philadelphia Ledger.] It is unfortunate that not only Philadelphia but other cities cannot take advantage of the bargain food supplies offered by the War Depart ment, owing to the red tape which surrounds the purchasing of supplies ! for municipal institutions. It is also unfortunate that we have no peace- I time food administration that might ■ be able to secure a large part of ! these surplus supplies of the United States Government and handle them I In a way that would benefit the com. I munity and the average consumer. tice. The help of the American god mothers came too late to save tnese undernourished nerve-shocked little ones. Mrs. Walter S. Brewster, of Chi cago, vice chairman of the Father less Children of France, has been appointed chairman of a campaign to secure American aid for the 60,- 000 little war orphans whose names were on the lists of the organiza tion as "unadopted" before the sign ing of the armistice. Ten cents will care for a child for an entire day; $3.00 for a month; while for $36.50 a year the donor may select a child from the lists at the organization's headquarters and be placed in cor respondence with it. To adopt a child or make a donation write for information to Mrs. Walter S. Brewster, Room 634, 410 S. Michigan avenue, Chicago. Dr. Grenfell's Reindeer [From the New York Times.] Dr. Grenfell's letter gave much in teresting information about his ex periences with reindeer since he brought a herd of them to Labrador in an effort to increase the food sup ply of that harsh ind unlovely land. The effort, as his figures showed, was far from a failure, for the animals prospered and multiplied rapidly, and. while they were not found to be as good as dogs for drawing sledges, their meat and hides far outbalanced their inferiority in the matter of transportation. Also, they did not attack and kill their masters, as the Arctic dogs, ac cording to Dr. Grenfell's surprising statement, not infrequently do. A sad feature of Dr. Grenfell's ac count of his reindeer enterprise was his revelation that he had much trouble with poachers, some of them residents and others sailors on ves sels from the south, who killed the animals in equally ruthless and stupid indifference to the fact that they were domestic, not wild, ani mals. and to the fact that such un regulated killings, if long continued, would exterminate the herds. There, as elsewhere, it seems, the sort of wisdom that can take into account anything except the immediate dol lar and to-day's dinner is far from being possessed by everybody. In other words, Labrador has its pot hunters, who, if allowed to have their own way, soon leave nothing to hunt. While the war was on, the Labra dor reindeer herds could not be properly protected, for lack of skilled attendants, and they are now much decreased from what they were, but it has been proved that land former ly considered worthless can support great numbers of these valuable ani mals, and presumably they will soon receive again the attention they de serve. , Fall Fertilizers [Pennsylvania Farmer.] Farmers are now giving attention to fertilizers for fall use. The down ward tendency in prices is a hope ful relief from conditions prevailing throughout the war period. A-little careful study of furmulas and soil needs will add even greater saving. Farmers may well investigate the standardized analysis toward which the fertilizer companies are now working. The purpose is to elim inate the fractional analyses and es tablish certain standard grades for use on different types of soil and for different crops. This would also eliminate the very low grades of goods which have always been ex pensive when considered from the standpoint of fertilizing elements contained. It may be put down as a rule that the man who buys mixed fertilizer on the basis of low price per ton pays most for the available plant food he actually gets. Fer tilizers should always be purchased en the basis of composition and quality and not on the basis of price per ton, JULY 21, 1919. Give Washington Chance [From the Kansas City Times.] Considerable opposition to the proposal to try the ex-kalser in London appears to have developed in England, where It has been seized upon in some quarters as an oppor tunity, not to sympathize witji Wil helm but to criticize Premier Lloyd George who announced the govern ment's intentions. The ostensible grounds of the op position are that such a proceeding would not be in good taste in King George's capital. The king is Wil helm's cousin and tho ex-emperor has frequently been a guest at the English court. To bring him there now, a captive, the central figure in a show that might be likened to I a pagan triumph, is urged to be a course somewhat too theatrical for the British character to sustain with proper dignity. There is a suspicion that some of this sudden accession of grave and austere decorum proceeds from poli tical opponents of the prime minis ter. Their attitude may be a good deal like that of the Puritans to ward bear baiting, of which Macau lay said that they were against it, not because it gave pain to the bear but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. Some Englishmen seem to be afraid Mr. Lloyd George is going to get too much popularity out of the proceedings against the imperial exile. They are not so much against trying him as against trying him in London. They think it would make a very proper show for Paris, I or Geneva or Washington, but is not to be thought of where the prime minister is likely to derive any benefit from it. Well, rather than have any fuss about it perhaps we ought to offer Washington as a candidate for the doings. Washington hasn't had any of the big war shows. All the other capitals have had excitements of some kind from bombardments to revolutions, but all Washington has had was some senatorial fireworks end a demonstration for beer on the Capitol lawn. We would seem to deserve at least one reel of this his torical picture show, and we always did like trials, especially when we know what the verdict is going to be. Crisis in the Export Trade [From the New York World.] The price of exchange on London in this market has reached the un precedentedly low level of $4.32% to the English pound sterling, and the tendency is still downward. This represents a fall of over 53 cents from par and is a situation, along with a much greater depreesion in French and Italian exchange, which cannot continue without serious consequence to the export trade of the United States What this extraordinary state of the foreign exchange means in plain language is that Great Britain, France and Italy have no commodi ties to send out with which to pay for continued large imports from the United States. And they have neither gold nor American securities to send here in place of goods. Importers accordingly are buying little exchange in the New York market. That market more and more lacks their support. American exporters of goods, on the other hand, are compelled to sell their bills at lower and lower prices until the point is reached when they will contract or halt their Operations. Prices for them are at the vanish ing-point of profit. For the Ameri can importers it is the other way. but they cannot get the goods from Europe with which to realize the rising profits. It is no longer a theory but a condition that confronts the Ameri can export trade. It must choose between taking pay in promises to pay until Western Europe has crawled up out of the ruin of war, or it must prepare for a great con traction of volume. Investigate Street Railways [From the Scranton Republican.] A Federal commission, holding its ' sessions in Washington, yesterday began to inquire into the ills of the street railways of the country. In this connection it is stated that more than half of the street car lines in the United States are in receivers' hands or threatened with financial ruin because of increased war-time costs and the natural dislike of the people to have fares largely in creased. The Federal Electric Railways Commission, which is conducting this inquiry, was appointed by the President to find, if possible, a solu tion for the street car problems. Its authority is limited to inquiries and recommendations. However, there is an intimation in the dispatches that all the moral force of the Federal Government is back of the commission, which in cludes in its membership authorities on questions that will come before It. Among those who will be called to testify are mayors of cities, mem bers of the committee of one hun dred selected by the American Elec tric Railways Association, transpor tation experts, labor representatives and financiers. It is important, now that this question has been taken up, it should be given a thorough airing. It seems to be the hope of tho street railway men that the commis sion will be able to recommend something which will supply perma nent national assistance. Give Up Knighthood [Bombay Correspondent of the Lon don Express.] Sir Rabindranath Tagore has written to the viceroy asking to be relieved of his knighthood because he protests against the recent meas ures taken in the Punjab to quell local disturbances. He alleges that these measures were carried out with a severity that has no parallel in the history of civilized govern ments, barring some conspicuous ex ceptions. and says: "The time has come when badges of honor make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of hu miliation, and I, for. my part, wish to stand shorn of all special dis tinctions by the side of those of my countrymen who, for their so called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings." Sir Rabindranath Tagore, the fa mous Indian poet, was awarded the Noble prize for literature in 1913 and knighted in 1915. A Demolished Argument [From the New York Herald.] The fact seems to have escaped those fervid partisans who are hurling epithets at critics of the covenant of the League of Nations, but nevertheless it is a fact that the announcement of resumption of business with Germany completely destroys the partisan contention that in holding up ratification of the peace treaty until they can bo sure of what it means Senators are reopen ing war or delaying the arrival of peaoa. Etontttg Otyal When does an egg become stale Is the biggest question of the hour In the Pennsylvania State Govern ment Just at this stage of prepara tion to enforce the new laws of 1919 and it is the cause of more cor respondence with certain branches of officialdom than even appropria tions. It will affect not only a quarter million egg producers but thousands of people in the provision | and grocery trade and interest over a million buyers and eight times that many consumers. From being a rather obscure bill in a session of the general assembly filled with dis cussion about city charters, rates of compensation for injured workmen, what constitutes a drink that has "authority," salaries of teachers and lights on farm wagons, the measure has become a law interesting most of the population of the State and calling for an official ruling as solemn as the amount of nourishing matter that may be permitted In milk. Under the new law, effective at once, eggs which are stale may not be offered for sale as fresh. This does not affect the cold storage egg directly as under the new law ex tending the time of storage for all provisions everything that has been so handled must be plainly marked as cold storage food. The stale egg occupies an intermediate position and when the time came to rule about it State officials found people had varying notions and some of the letters that reached tho Capitol sug gested that eggs be tested by being put into water or held up to the light. Some people suggested a week as a limit of "freshness" and a few ex tremists wanted forty-eight hours. Differences of opinion were so marked that Director James Foust of the State Food Bureau, took the whole matter to Secretary of Agri culture Fred Rasmussen and then they decided to call in the chemist of the bureau and find out how long an egg. kept under ordinary condi tions stays wholesome, the exper ience of chemists and food agents and get the consensus of opinion of Just when "fresh" must be replaced as an official designation by "stale" and how the thousands and thou sands of retailers of eggs have got to handle eggs so as to stay safely inside the law and not lose money and customers. Tho chemists are coming here to-morrow with results of tests and all sorts of data and will spend a day at it. • • * July's unprecedented wet weath er seems to have either drowned out the seventeen-year-old locusts or sent them back into their dugouts to wait for pleasanter skies. May arid June reports of presence of the tree damaging pests in Dauphin and Cumberland counties have not been followed up since the last week of June by anything like what was ex pected and some of the amateur naturalists here are inclined to be lieve that the weather man has put a damper on the activities of tho locusts. Numerous specimens were dug out of the ground all through the lower half of the Cumberland valley during the spring and sent here for identification, but the ravages of the pests seem to have been "spotty" during the early sum mer and to have been materially lessened since the coming of the un usually rainy season of July. Tho question is one which has been taken up by tho Harr.sburg Natural His tory Society members and high school instructors in natural history in schools as something well worth observing. • • With few exceptions almost every armory of the more than forty own ed by the State has been prepared for the organization of the units of the National Guard of Pennsylvania and reports* made to the State i Armory Board indicate that by fall all will be in readiness. Most of the armories have been occupied by Re serve Militia units which have also used the ranges. Just what effect the ruling of the War Department cutting down the Pennsylvania Guard to 7,000 men will have, has not been determined and will be the subject of a conference between Governor William C. Sproul, Major General William G. Price and Adjutant Gen eral Frank D. Beary. It is possible that places which were originally planned to have companies of in fantry will have platoons as has been the case with the Militia. The new Guard will be about twice as large as the Militia, but have more auxiliary units. Owing to the great interest in military matters there is a possibility that there may be in dependent organizations formed as was done after the Civil War. Some , of these organizations, which were kept up by their communities, were eventually merged with the National Guard. They would not be officially encouraged now, however. • • • The fact that the Beaver Memorial Library at Danville may be com pelled to suspend service unless it gets financial assistance has attracted some attention here, because reports from a number of places indicate that public libraries, like everything else of a public character, have been hard hit by prices. Some of the old established libraries have been forced to curtail their service. T WELL KNOWN PEOPLE f —The Rev. Cloyd Goodrlght, of Uniontown, is the new president of Bethany College. —William A. Wltman, famous for his pagoda at Reading, is a candi date for mayor. v —Meredith Jones, active in the "mine cave" situation, will run for Council at Scranton. —S. A. Farrell, of Johnstown, has been elected one of the national of ficers of Woodmen of the World. -—A. D. Neidell, Mayor of New Castle, is a student of street car service problems. —The Rev. D. A. Lambing, of Scottdale, has finished forty years in the priesthood. —John W. Morrison, former legis lator, has been secretary of one of the Reading fire companies for thirty-seven years. —Benjamin Rowland, prominent Philadclphian, has gone on a trip to Alaska. —Judge John M. Patterson, men tioned for mayor of Philadelphia, is an authority on Dickens. [ DO YOU KNOW ) —Harrisburg has Liberty Bonds owned in a higher per cent, of its homes than many realize? HISTORIC lIARRISBURG Some of Congress' records were 4sent here during the Revolptlo* _
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers