8
HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH
A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME
Founded 1831
Published evenings except Sunday by
THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO.
Telecrapli Building, Fcd*ral Square
" ■■
E. J. STACKPOLE
President and Editor-in-Chief
T. R. OYSTER, Business Manager
GUS. M. ST.EINMETZ, Managing Editor
A. R. MICHENEIt, Circulation Manager
Executive Board
t. P. McCULLOUGH,
BOYD M. OGLESBY,
F. R. OYSTER,
GUS. M. STEINMETZ.
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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.
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r 3 Newspaper Pub-
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Entered at the Post Office in Harris
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MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1919
The peace of God, which passcth all
understanding, shall guard your hearts
and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. —
Phil. IV. 7.
POPULAR UP-STATE
PHILADELPHIA is never quite
happy unless in the throes of
a political campaign. Joseph
Hampton Moore, who proposes to
buck the Vare organization as a
candidate for mayor, has injected
a refreshing spirit of independence
into the situation. It is well that
the political stage should be set for
the big show of 1920. Mr. Moore
is a regular Republican, with a high
appreciation of the principles of his
party,and throughout the State there
will be increasing interest in his
canvass for the chief place in his
home city. As this is the case of the
office seeking the man the father
of the inland waterways develop
ment will have the good wishes of
thousands of his fellow citizens in
Pennsylvania.
Lansing and George occupied rela
tively the same titular positions at
the peace conference, but the Pre
mier of the United States, according
to his own testimony before a com
mittee of the United States Senate,
appears to have been willing to play
the role of a numerical unit of the
delegation without portfolio. It is
difficult to imagine Root, or Knox,
or Taft, or other of the great line of
statesmen who have served in the
office of Secretary of State suffering
themselves to be eclipsed utterly by
the autocratic and self-appointed
of the Peace delegation from
this country.
AS TO INDEMNITY
LIEUTENANT - GOVERNOR
BEIDLEMAN in a stirring
speech before the Republican
committee workers the other evening
voiced the opinion of many people
when he questioned the propriety
of the Washington administration
assuming to speak for the country
in declining any part of the Ger
man indemnity fund. The Lieuten
ant-Governor evidently believes with
Colonel Harvey that even if the
exaction of a large sum from Ger
many would destroy her industrial
and commercial potency for the
next hundred years we should say,
"Lay on!" Commenting further on
this matter the distinguished editor
of Harvey's Weekly says:
"It will b e better for Germany
to suffer through making repara
tion for her crimes than for
her victims to be left to suffer
still more for lack of such re
paration. Nor do we think that
the prosperity of all the rest of
the world depends upon the im
mediate and complete rehabilita
tion of Germany. We can get
along very well without her. We
may, of course, be quite sure that
Germany will pay not a cent more
than she is compelled to pay,
and that if we begin scaling
down the indemnity, she will
continue to whine for its still
further reduction. Instead of
abatement, we should say that
the entire sum prescribed should
be exacted without reduction of
a cent, and with this additional
proviso, that if then an ex parte
commission of the Powers finds
that she is able to pay more, a
further payment shall be ex
acted."
It has never been quite clear
why the United States should be
so philanthropic as to bear its share
of the burden of a great war and
then refuse to exact from the guilty
author of that war all the repara
tion possible. Colonel Harvey can
not sec that President Wilson has
anything to say about it. "If he
had" put into the treaty," says the
Colonel: "a stipulation that the
United States should have no share
in the indemnity, the Senate might
make it valid with its ratification:
though we doubt if it would. But
there is nothing of the sort in the
treaty, and we are very sure that
no private and unwritten under
standing of the President's with the
rest of the Big Five, to that or to
any other effect, is of the slightest
forco. At the rlsl: of being regarded
MONDAY EVENING,
as sordid, we must say that it would
seem to us hopelessly quixotic to
refuse a share In the indemnity, to
which every other Power considers
us to be 'ndlsputably entitled. There
is not an argument against our do
ing so that Is worth the breath it
takes to utter it. The question Is, at
any rate, one which should be de
cided by Congress."
The trouble with the whole treaty
matter has been the failure of Presi
dent Wilson to give full recognition
to the constitutional prerogatives
and rights of Congress, espccially
the Senate as a co-ordinate treaty
making power. But we are grad
ually getting down to brass tacks
and with the passing of the days the
situation is being clarified through
the forceful expression of American
sentiment.
I If the wails of pain which ema
jnate from local Democratic ring quar-
I ters indicate the physical und mental
| disturbance resulting from a mid-
I summer meeting of the Republican
! committee, what will be the condition
I of the patient later in the year?
FAILURE OF DISHONESTY
J' OHN EDWARD ADDICKS, who
once boasted that he would
"buy his way into the United
States Senate if he had to purchase
tlft whole State of Delaware," is
dead, a poor and disgraced politician
without friends and without the re
spect of a single living soul.
Such wholesale bribery as was
practiced in Delaware during the
period of Addicks influence in State
politics there has never been known
elsewhere in the United States.
Thousands of dollars he poured out
in every election, and for a time it
looked as though he would bo elect
ed to the Senate, although it is
doubtful if he ever would have been
able to convince that body of his
right to sit therein, but he never
quite succeeded.
Dishonesty in politics some times
—too often, indeed —succeeds tem
porarily, but eventually the people
take matters into their own hands
and turn the rascals out. At all
events, the day of the Addicks typo
is past, never to return, for which
the country may well rejoice.
County Detective Walters will re
tire with a record of efficiency second
to none serving in a similar ca
pacity. "Jim" is a student of human
nature and naturally a philosopher
and these qualities have made him
a valued public servant.
A POPULAR MOVE
YEARS are sometimes required
to educate a community to ob
vious needs, but now that the
City Council has taken the proper
course in securing expert advice on
bathing facilities in the river we
are able to see the fruits of persist
ent effort in crystallizing public
sentiment on any good thing. It
were well, however, to have the
plans and the final details worked
out during the present summer so
that the people may intelligently ex
press themselves on the proQDScd
loan at the November election.
Don't wait until you are asked to
make your contribution for the ne
cessary and proper expenses of the
Kipona carnival. When others are
willing to do the work it ought not
to be necessary to make more than
one appeal for the comparatively [
small sum required to meet the ex
pense of the big day on the river.
All contributions will be acknowl
edged by V. Grant Forrer, the secre
tary of the Greater Harrisburg Navy,
through the newspapers, and the
budget having been carefully revised
by the executive committee, subscrip
tions to the fund ought to be imme
diately forthcoming.
"CHORUS GIRLS KICK"
THE Kansas City Star of last
Thursday contained an article
headed "Chorus Girls Kick,"
and there seemed small enough
justification for the publication of
such an item, for to kick is one
of the chief duties of the chorus
ladies, until one on reading farther
discovered that the term was used
figuratively.
The girls of Chicago theaters, it
appears, complain that the salary en
velope no longer meets the hall
room rent, the cheap restauranc
lunch and the dressmaker's bilis.
Some of us may have imagined that
the trifling costume of the average
member of the chorus would not
have been worth making an inven
tory of in a list of living expenses,
but apparently the airy trifles cost
as much as some of the lace and
satin remnants that pass for bail
gowns in polite society.
The fewer clothes they wear the
higher the cost, the girls say. Some
of the advance photographs of cer
tain Broadway shows indicate that
the chorus ladies over there have
met the problem by discarding even
the poor excuses they used to wear
and dressmakers no longer have
any terrors for them. Perhaps the
threatened strike is a step in that
direction in Chicago, or are middle
west morals above that sort of a
compromise with the high cost of
living?
The fact that a number of the New
York theaters were crowded the other
night at the usual show hour when
the curtains were rung up on empty
stages, because the actors and act
resses had struck Just before the
opening hour without notice to the
managers, brings into illuminating
prominence a feature that is strongly
disregarded in all such controversies
—the rights of the innocent public.
Those who make possible theatrical
productions by their generous patron
age were apparently given no con
sideration by the actors and actresses
who expect their plaudits and their
cash night after night. The innocent
third party in every strike contro
versy is the one that is compelled to
bear the burden without regard to the
i merits of the case.
By the Ex-Committeeman
Following a slim meeting of the
Democratic County Committee 011
Saturday afternoon, at which not
even Chairman Stucker was present,
some of the Democrats who had
been talked of for county office gut
up courage enough to announce
their eandiducies formally. Among
them were James G. Miles, deputy
register of wills, who earlier in the
week said he was thinking of run
ning for city treasurer, and who
confirmed the rumor; J. Clyde My
ton, head of the Harrisburg Motor
Club and well known throughout
the county, who wants to be sherilf;
John J. Mates, Wllllamstown; S. E.
Klinger, Steelton, and N. Y. Parthe
more, Harrisburg, for poor director.
Dr. G. Willis Hartman, perennially
on the Democratic ticket, is talked
of for mayor, and J. Dress Panned
is being put forward as a possible
candidate for district attorney. Tlio
overwhelmingly large Republican
returns in the registration reports
from the county have discouraged
the Democrats and it is not expect
ed that more than a formal show
of opposition will be made to the
Republican ticket following the
primaries.
—The Philadelphia Record, Dem
ocrat, thinks Congressman Moore
would make a good mayor for Phil
adelphia. It says: "With charac
teristic promptness Congressman J.
Hampton Moore will to-day set In
motion the machinery for a vigor
ous light against contractor rule as
candidate of the independent forces
for the Republican mayoralty nom
ination. To-day he will organize his
own committees to take charge of
the details and the dust will begin
to fly in the most determined pri
mary battle that has been staged
in Philadelphia for many years.
"If elected mayor, Mr. Moore
pldegcs himself to rigidly enforce
the provisions of the new charter
bill, especially those which provide
that the city shall do its own street
cleaning and garbage collecting.
The Congressman, who arrived 111
this pity from Atlantic City last
night, in an interview to newspapei
men said: 'Again I say that the
charter is law. If it provides that
the city shall do its own street
cleaning and garbage collecting, I
would certainly as an administrative
officer live up to the law. What can
didate will dare say that he will not
comply with the law? As a cam
paign issue I would like nothing
more than that my adversary
would make that statement.' "
—Demands for national owner
ship of the mines, as well as the
railroads, is contained in the plat
form of the Union Labor party of
Schuylkill county, which is connected
with the Grangers. The following
ticket has been placed in the field:
Orphans' Court judge, James J.
Bell, of Shenandoah; district at
torney, Cyrus Palmer, of Pottsville;
treasurer, M. J. Donahue, of Potts
ville; controller, Cornelius Boner,
of Tamaquu; prothonotary, J. Shol
lenberger, of Schuylkill Haven;
recorder, James Deitrich, of Tower
City; register, John Strembo, of
Mahanoy City; county commis
sioners, Neil Ferry, of McAdoo, and
W. H. Stout, of Pinegrove; poor
directors, Charles Fenstermacher, of
Ashland, and John Dando, of Min
ersville. Representative Palmer,
nominated for district attorney, also
will be the Republican nominee. He
has been indorsed by the labor
party.
—Startled by the fact that they
have been surcharged $5,298.24 "for
gross negligence," the Board of
School Directors of Monroe town
ship, Snyder county, have come for
ward with an announcement through
their attorneys, Ulrich and Coryell,
that they will appeal in a few davs
from the surcharge of the investi
gating auditors. That means the al
leged shortage in the accounts will
be aired in all its details in the
Snyder County Courts, and promises
to establish a new standard for sen
sations in the handling of public
moneys. The Monroe township
school scandal has been before the
public for the past year. The first
step was the attempt to prove that
1:M Helser, the secretary of the
board, was over $5,000 short in his
accounts. Note forgeries, check
forgeries, strange bookkeeping and
a host of other irregularities with
a questionable SIO,OOO bond issue to
cap the climax are just a few of
the perplexing problems which have
developed.
—Congressman John W. Baer, of
North Dakota, spent Saturday at
Heading as a guest of members of
the family of that name, after hav
ing been present yesterday at the
annual Baer family reunion at Kutz
town Park at which lie made the
principal address.
—Mayor Hoagland, of Williams
port, received from the executive
committee of the City Planning
Committee a request for the city
administration to appoint a city
planning commission.
Where the Blue Phlox Grow
[Prom the Toronto Mail and Em
pire.]
Ere the day meets the night in the
gloaming.
There's a spot where I love to go;
And I never have tired of roaming
In the wood where the blue phlox
grow.
Though the world's full of sorrow
and sadn-ess,
Though our hearts tremble oft at
the gloom,
Vet nature seems smiling with glad
ness,
In the wood where the blue phlox
bloom.
—Christina W. Partridge.
Roosevelt Memorial
Announcement was made to-day
by Colonel William Boyce Thomp
son, of New York City, president of
the Roosevelt Memorial Association,
that the organization to collect the
fund of $5,000,000 during the week
of October 20-27 has been completed
in most of the States.
The plans of the Roosevelt
Memorial Association include a
magnificent monument at Washing
ton and the establishment of a pub
lic park at Oyster Bay, in which may
be included eventually the Roose
velt home at Sagamore Hill with
its contents, thus preserving it for
national use like Mount Vernon and
the Lincoln Home at Springfield, 111.
Cleaning House
[Prom the Louisville Courier-Jour
nal.]
"Would it be all right to beat a
grass rug?"
"I don't know, my dear. Perhaps
I'd better Just run the lawnmoker
over it."
_ /
HAHRISBURG TELEGRAPH
t WHEN A FELLER NEEDS A FRIEND BY BRIGGS
THE. FIRST
No Wonder Germany Quit
XI'MUEK FORTY
"The Allies went Germany one
better in almost everything they at
tempted," said Major Frank C.
Mahin, of the Army Recruiting Sta
tion, 325 Market street, Harrisburg.
"In spite of the advantage they had,
by reason of years of preparation,
and their much-vaunted superiority
in pure and applied sciences, the
Boche completely fell down in some
of the departments of the great
game; or at best, made crude at
tempts when compared with that
accomplished by the Allies. One field
in which the Allies were supreme,
was in that of sound ranging. By
this system, through use of delicate
instruments, we could determine al
most the exact position of an enemy
battery, simply from the sound of
its firing. A wonderful feature of
the system was, that the more deli
cate and expensive instruments
used, could be located safely in the
rear; while the more important—
in that they were placed near the
front and were first to detect the
sound, upon which the functioning
of the whole system depended, had
practically no intrinsic value. To
describe the workings of the system,
with all details of the instruments
used, and the principles involved,
would require a knowledge such as
warrants a foot or two of scholastic
degrees after one's name. Briefly
the story is this: Placed near the
front, at sufficient intervals, and at
points of which the map locations
were known, were at least three
sound detectors—the instruments
just referred to. When a Boche gun
fired the sound came to these de
tectors, possibly reaching all at the
same time, but generally at inter
vals of a few seconds, or fractions
thereof. These detectors were con
nected by wire to a central station,
where through electric current, the
other instruments recorded the de
tected sounds and measured the in
tervals between in fractions of sec
onds. By use of principles of
physics, time measurements thus re
corded, were translated into units
of distance, and corrections were
made for direction and velocity of
wind and humidity. With higher
mathematics applied, the data thus
obtained, determined the curve,
called an hyperbole, upon which the
source of sound must be. At least
two curves were determined, and it
followed, since that point lay on
both, it must be at their intersec
tion. On an ingeniously arranged
board, upon which the detectors' po
sitions were located, as well as ref
erence points of the map of that
locality, these curves were plotted,
and one was able to immediately
tell just where the Boche gun was.
Our guns then could be brought up
and fired at will. Up to the time we
entered the war, our French and
British Allies had been working out
and applying this system. Room for
improvement was found in nearly
all of the instruments used, and
experts of our Bureau of Standards
went to work on the problems. They
finally designed and built a set.
which was adopted as a standard
and we were in a fair way of being
well equipped. So far as I've ever
heard, the enemy had nothing 1:,
compare with this system; or, if he
had, it was a crude affair, judging
from the results he was able to at
| tain. As will be readily seen, the
I Boche had no chance to effectually
\ conceal his batteries. He could
hide them from the eyes of our
aviators, and their cameras; he
might conceal the flash of dis
charge, but he could not muffle the
sound. When a battery's location
is known, it can be destroyed at
will. It was sure to be located, for
the alert and almost infallible in
strumental watchmen were on the
job twenty-four hours a day, and
Mr. Boche was certainly up against
it."
Lament of the Rebellious
Behold, O Lord; for I am in dis
tress; mine heart is turned within
me; for I have grievously rebelled;
abroad the sword bereaveth, at
home there Is us death.—Lamenta
tions i, 20.
Daylight and Increased
Production
IT IS to be hoped that the Presi
dent will again veto the repeal
of the Daylight Savings Law
which, by reason of some mysterious
political influence, has been put
through both Houses and, as a sep
arate measure, is once more up to
him.
The Daylight Savings plan real
izes three great results in city com
munities economy, health, and in
creased production.
Increased production is the great
est of these.
The objections to the change of
time are mainly that it affords a
certain amount of discomfort in
Western farming communities; but
it does not cut down production
there.
The success of the great reor
ganization now going on, of the in
dustrial forces of the. Nation from
war to peace, depends more than
anything else, upon increasing pro
duction. The aim of all efforts to
harmonize capital and labor is to
make it possible, through increased
production, to give labor better
wages and to afford to make labor
life more comfortable and enjoy
able.
A strike at the Daylight Savings
plan is a blow to increased produc
tion, from which all these benefits
come.
It would seem that the farming
community should be willing, for
the present, to defer its objections
to an arrangement of such incalcul
able benefit to the great majority,
until the country is on a settled
basis of prosperity.
The farmers have done great work
during the war and are receiving
a great money reward by reason of
a high price for wheat fixed by the
Government, with the effect of rais-
TRADE BRIEFS
Intensive campaign for the Swed
ish market has been opened by
British textile interests, immediate
deliveries being offered, with six
months credit and 6 per cent off
in thirty days.
A cablegram has been received
from the American Consulate-Gen
eral at Hongkong, British China, to
the effect that catalogs and price
lists are desired immediately, for
machinery for the manufacture of
the Japanese style of safety matches.
According to a report from Christ
iania Engineer Hermond Peterson
has recently patented a device for
the production of electrical current
for radiotelegraphy. The electricity
is received by an accumulator, which
releases it at certain intervals. The
system is sparkless and the sounds
are clearer than in the older in
ventions.
The Bureau of Foreign and Do
mestic Commerce has received from
the Consulate-General at Rotter
dam, the Netherlands, a list of im
porters of raw cotton in that
country, copies of which can be ob
tained from the bureau of its dis
trict or co-operation offices by re
ferring to File No. 110191.
The Eondon manager of an old
establised Russian company, with
forty branch offices in Russia, states
that a considerable amount of busi
ness is now being done in southern
Russia, and that the outlook is very
favorable. The goods are being
shipped not to order but to repre
sentatives of the firms making the
shipments.
Looking For Bids
[From the Washington Star.]
"Did you ever use money in an
election?"
"No," said Senator Sorghum. "I
have been accused of it, but I have
always found that when you began
to hint at money anybody with a
vote to sell got his mind entirely oft
the election and wanted to turn it
into an auction."
ing the prices of all other farm
products.
Their inconvenience from the
Daylight Savings law comes mainly
from too early milk trains. This
could be easily adjusted by the rail
roads and should be. It develops
that a very large number of farmers,
and especially of farmers' wives, are
in favor of retaining the Daylight
Savings law. It has increased en
ormously the production of food
stuffs through the work of amateur
farmers to the extent of hundreds of
millions of dollars' worth of garden
truck. But far greater has been the
increased production In factories,
through the saving of daylight under
this beneficent law.
It Is not that the East does not
appreciate how much is due to the
farmers of the country for their
splendid service to the whole com
munity. Mr. George L. Walker, in
the Boston Commercial, in a lucid
article on what the farmer did for
the war and what he is now doing,
says:
"The American farmers have
demonstrated conclusively that they
are the most dependable men en
gaged in any single calling. Though
hundreds of thousands of their em
ployes were enticed away by offers
of high wages to work in ship
yards and munitions factories, and
other hundreds of thousands, to
gether with perhaps a million of
their sons, were called to the
colors, they did not threaten to
strike and uttered a few protests;
but with all these handicaps they
added to their working hours and
increased the country's cereal har
vest by more than a billion bushels.
The potato crop of our first year in
the war exceeded all previous rec
ords, the efforts of the farmers en
abling this country to provision its
own Army and help enormously in
the feeding of the Kt' ipean Allies."
—The Bache Review.
Billions in Junk
[From the Outlook.]
"Junk" to most people means
worthless rubbish. But a report of
the United States Chamber of Com
merce estimates that the total value
of junk annually salvaged in the
United States aggregates more than
$2,000,000,000, a clear saving of two
per cent of the total annual manu
factured output of the country. In
a bulletin the United States geologi
cal survey reports that secondary
metals, including brass, lead, zinc,
copper, tin and aluminum—secured
from scrap metals, etc.—recovered
in 1916 were valued at more than
$265,000,000. One of the serious
causes of Juvenile crime is said to
be the ease with which stolen Junk
can be sold.
The Smaller World
[From the Toledo Blade]
By death upon the battlefield,
starvation in prison camps, un
checked disease, the breaking down
of peace and order, it is estimated
that the world has lost 25,000,000
souls. It is further estimated that
there are 12,000,000 fewer persons
living than there would be nor
mally because families were parted
by the war, marriages did not oc
cur. So when we speak of the
world being made smaller we need
not necessarily have aerial achieve
ments in mind, but the grim reaper
and that which might have been.
Flattery
[From the Washington Star.]
"Flattery," said Uncle Eben, "is
generally a scheme foh easy money
makin', wlfout even goin' to de
trouble of fixin' up a gold brick or
a sachel of green goods."
A Puzzling Missouri Question
[From tho Chula News.]
Under an old law a man's house
is supposed to bo his castle, but it
I still remains to be seen what his
1 cellar is.
AUGUST 11, 1919.
Government Ownership
[From the Wilkes-Barre Record]
Threat of an intensive campaign
by the railroad brotherhoods for
Government ownership, with a plan
of profit-sharing, cannot be lightly
considered oh the ground that pub
lic sentiment, Congress and the
President are opposed to it. The
experiment with Government opera
tion during the war period has dis
pelled much of the sentiment there
was in favor of Government owner
ship prior to that period, but the
votes and the influence of the rail
road men are powerful, and it is
well known that on various occa
sions Congress has yielded its con
scientious convictions to such pres
sure. If the railroad men insist
that the lines shall not bo turned
back to their former control and
back up this insistence tvith the
threat of a general strike—there
have been intimations of such a
course,—it is possible that the
President and Congress will do aa
they did when the brotherhoods de
manded an increase of wages
through executive and legislative
intervention a couple of years ago
—surrender.
Representative Sims has in pre
paration a bill patterned after the
plan advocated by the brotherhoods
acme months ago. It includes pur
chase by the Government of all rail
road lines upon a valuation to no
determined by the courts, and pay
ment of the properties by the is
suance of four per cent, bonds;
operation by a directorate of fifteen
five of the directors to be chosen
by the President to represent the
public, five to be elected by the
operating officials, and five to bo
chosen by the classified employes;
equal division of surplus, after pay
ing fixed charges and operating
costs, between the public and the
employes; automatic reduction of
rates when the employes' share of
the surplus la more than five per
cent, of the gross operating reve
nue; regional operation as a unified
pyriem; building of extensions at the
oxptnse of the communities bene
fited, in proportion to the benefit.
This is not outright Government
ownership and operation. It is
ownership by the Government in
providing the money, but joint op
eiation by the Government and the
employes and joint division of trie
profits, if there are any. To obli
gate the Government to the ex
penditure of some $20,000,000,000
through a bond issue at a time
when world finances are in a pre
en-ious state, would be an exceed
ingly risky piece, of business. But
that if not the sole reason for hesi
tation. It is well known what Go"-
eri.ment ownership or operation of
a public utility means. It means
politics, based on the motion
th'it when the Government takes
hold of a thing there is some magic
influence over finances that makes
them come out right at the end.
Congress and not employers would
deal with questions of wages, and
under the stress of political pres
suie from a host of railroad men,
the.ir relatives and friends, it is
hardly a question as to what Con
gress would dc in the face of wage
demands; and for the same reason
it is hardly to be doubted that Con
gress would yield to community and
sccfional clamor for improvements
in service and a lowering of rates.
The chicanery practiced by con
gressmen in voting hundreds of mil-
I lions of dollars for public buildings
in towns where the postal revenue
hardly pays for the services of jani
tors, and for improvement of navi
gation in streams that almost run
dry part of the year, all for the
;ake of political capital, makos one
extremely skeptical as to the results
of Government ownership of the
railroads.
The public is in favor of a return
of the lines to private operation as
soon as possible, with, however, a
change from previous conditions, in
that the Government shall have
larger measure of supervision than
heretofore. If this program fails it
w v ill be because the brotherhoods
are stronger than the Government.
October Weather
[From the Philadelphia Ledger],
It seems that the Prince of Wales
has just heard about our "Indian
summer" and is worrying about the
kind of weather that prevails in the
United States at the end of October.
Naturally, familiar with the fogs
and damps of the raw autumns of
England and northwestern Europe,
persistent oceanic climatic condi
tions which led the French revolu
tionists when they reformed the
calendar to label October "Bru
maire," or foggy, the young Prince
is quite unaware that the contin
ental climate which we share with
Canada normally gives us an Octo
ber of blue and gold brilliancy,
with clear, crystalline skies the rule,
and the only interruption to this
type of weather, with its sharp tang
or early frost in the air, is the re
turn of the dreamy, lialcyonic days
which suggest the return of the
summer and have been called poet
ically "Indian summer" ever since
the early Colonial days. The phe
nomenon of Indian summer has al
ways interested English writers,
though most of them who have dis
cussed it are in error as to its
causes, and the phrase long since
has played its part in English liter
ature as a synonym for the peace
ful, tranquil, golden evenings of life,
the second summer of one's declin
ing days. It is true the meteorolo
gists have shown the physical sim
ilarity of our "Indian summer" to
"Saint Martin's summer" of No
vember and "Saint John's summer"
of December, which figure in Eu
ropean folklore. But "Indian sum
mer" in October has a quality all
of its own as the last gorgeous hues
of the maple and dogwoods and the
oaks color the vistas and make late
October the most delightful time of
the year. So the Prince need not
worry about our October weather;
if it be normal it will be quite as
continental and as "American" as
anything else that he will experience
over here and quite as stimulating,
and a golden memory he will never
forget.
Simple Rule of Living
[From the Utica Observer],
As the increase in the supply of
money will not solve our problem,
we can not look to government aid
in doing it. The solution rests with
individuals, and their only possible
ways of reaching it are to make
abundance take the place of scar
city by producing more through
their own individual efforts and by
using such economy as lies within
the scope of reasonable living. We
may discuss theories by the hour,
write by the ream papers which
deal with economics, listen to de
bates until we are deaf, and we will
finally be compelled to come back
to the simple rule that has gov
erned man since the days of Adam.
The ground mußt be tilled and the
field must be harvested, and the
wheel must be driven, and we must
eat our bread in the sweat of our
face.
Did He Get Lit Up?
[From the Boston Transcript.]
Mrs. Blunderby (to her caller)
My nephew hasn't been feeling well
lately and the doctor gave him an
illun^lnant.
f&mrittg (tljai j
"If every man who tells me he
is going to join the Y. M. C. A.
gymnasium classes this fall does so
we will have to enlarge the gym
hall," said Physical Director Miller
yesterday. "The outings this sum
mer, with their sports and athletic
events have aroused many Harris
burg men to their need for physical
exercise," he continued. "Our
classes have kept up right through
the summer. Dozens of men meet
to play volley ball, to romp through
their exercises and wind up under
the showers. More men are coming
to the 'gym' now than used to at
tend the regular winter classes."
* *
The problem of space at the Har
| risburg 'Y* is becoming very serious
indeed. The time is almost at hand
when a new building will be neces
sary if the association is to meet
its opportunities for good in the
community, but the cost is almost
prohibitive and Secretary Robert
Reeves is almost at a loss to know
how to proceed. The association
has grown rapidly the past five
i years. It has become a headquar
i ters for young men back from the
army and is more popular than ever
among the younger men of the
I community. There is some talk of
j enlarging the present structure but
more of an entirely new building.
• •
| Robert Walton, of the East End
I Fruit and Vegetable Farms, near
Hummelstown, is one of the few
growers of this section to come
through the cold snap of late spring
with a bumper crop of fine peaches.
Hq already has orders for carloads
from Maine, but will sell most of
the fruit locally. Walton's trees
were in fine condition before the
cold wave. He fed them with ni
trate of soda. To this stimulation
he ascribes the fact that his buds
came through safely while other
growers got only from one-half to
one-third of a crop.
The Harrisburg Silk Mill manage
ment is being- congratulated on the
way in which it has improved lU
grounds and buildings. The stretch
of grass in front of the mill 011
the North street side is a plot that
any landscape gardner could well
be proud of and the vines which
are beginning to crawl up the walls
will In a short time make a com
pletely green mantle over the less
sightly red brick. Unfortunately,
however, the effect of this im
provement is rather dimished
by the ugly woden fence which
runs along the Front street
side of the property. It would
seem to be much better if
the mill might put a high box
hedge about the yard, as such a
hedge would serve the same pur
pose as the fence and be much pret
tier from both sides. The hedge
could be planted and allowed lo
grow to a fair height before the
fence was taken down.
AVord has been received that all
would-be flyers In the city will have
a chance to gratify their taste for
sensation in a short time when a
company such as the one operating
at Atlantic City will have a few
planes here. Formerly the same
company tried to send its planes to
Harrisburg, but the Government
would not allow them to use Its
landing field and consequently they
could not come here. Now, how
ever, all those who want to take a
peek at Miss Penn and other ob
jects from another angle may do
so. The charge for playing with
your insurance is said to be very
reasonable.
• • •
Eighth ward youngsters have
some hard feelings about the men
who are guarding the long lines of
army trucks parked in Capitol Park
extension awaiting distribution by
the State Highway Department to
various parts of the State for use
in the maintenance of the highways.
The trucks offer a rare invitation
to the kids to play "war" and to
pilot imaginary truck trains across
deserts and through lands filled with
hostile Indians. But the guards do
not allow any one to go near them
and the boys have to fight their bat
tles on the level spaces south of
State street.
The proposed visit of the Prince
of Wales to America recalls to
mind the visit of the Prince's grand
father, afterwards King Edward VII
to Harrisburg a few years before
the Civil War. The Prince stopped
at the Jones House, later the Com
monwealth, on his visit through the
United States and was dined by
Governor Curtin and given a recep
tion in the hotel. He was accom
panied by the Duke of New Castle
and a number of English officials
who were lavishly entertained in
homes of Harrisburg citizens. The
Prince visited the old Capitol where
officials were presented to him.
An interesting Russ'an story
comes from a soldier who was with
the Second Division and spent one
of the early months of 1918 with
the French in the Champagne sec
tor. He noticed a huge cemetery
literally jammed with crosses mark
ed with queer names. The French
gave him the story, which is this:
In 1915 the Russians had sent a
regiment of infantry to co-operate
with the French in their defense of
Kheims. The men were wonderful
lighters, but very poorly trained and
with an unbelievable lack of dis
cipline. When the gas attacks
along the front began in the north
and started to creep down the lino
toward ltheims, gas masks were is
iued by the French to guard against
a possible attack. The Russian regi
ment was naturally included among
the others. The officers of the regi
ment, who turned out later to bo
German spies, sold out their men by
telling them the masks were use
less. Accordingly the men threw
their masks away and carried bread
and wine bottles in the mask bag.
One morning the telltale hissing of
the early gas attacks was heard and
soon the greenish white cloud started
to roll toward the French trenches.
The officers had kept their masks
and now put them on; the men were
without protection. When the gas
attack was over, 2,500 men from a
regiment of nearly 3,000 weao dead;
the others were so badly gassed that
most of them died later.
Peace Time Prices
[From the Philadelphia Press.]
The Government can do some
thing. probably a good deal, to re
duce the cost of living by the simple
process of letting go and allowing
industry to resume its natual course
in its natural channels. No doubt
many of the ill-effects of Govern
ment interference will remain per
manently and pre-war prices will
not return, but a settling down of
prices to a more healthy level is
the most vital and urgent demand
of the times. We are glad that the
President is considering and Con
gress is proposing to investigate this
subject. We are now at peace and
should be able to enjoy again some
thing like peace prices.