12 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME Founded 1831 Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. Telegraph Building. I'cd-rul Square E. J. STACK POLE President and Editor-in-Chief P. R. OYSTER, Business Manager GUS. M. STF.INMETZ, Managing Editor A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Executive Board 3. P. McCULLOUGH, BOYD M. OGLESBY, F. R. OYSTER. GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Members of the Associated Press— The Associated Press is exclusively en titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news pub lished herein. AH rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. ■* \ A Member American rj Newspaper Pub- Ushers' Assoeia tion. the Audit "VM Bureau of Circu lation and Penn sylvania Associa raa B Bag Iff ated Dailies. jljl Eastern office IHI 5*4 ssiii n story. Brooks A IffgSllSl r Finley. Fifth LsBB CS flfiS m Avenue Building flsld&lgfejp New York City; HRnMR Western office It UlKjjg Story, Brooks & /"• 'SlFniiql Finley. People's Gas Building, Chicago, 111. Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a it"' ■iT r> week: by mail, $3.00 a year in advance. TUESDAY, AUGUST 26. 1919 There arc nettles everywhere, Rut smooth yreen grasses arc more common still: The blue of heaven is larger than the cloud. —E. B. BROWNING. COUNCIL SIZES UP CITY COUNCIL has sized up to the needs and desires of the community with respect to pub lic improvements and there will be small objection to the adoption of any of the items of the $490,000 loan, the ordinances for which were passed yesterday. Everybody in the city is convinced of the importance of transfer ring the Walnut street bridge fund to State street. That is evident from the support the movement has received in every quarter. The great memorial viaduct will be one of the landmarks of Central Penn sylvania for centuries to come, and the people will most heartily ap prove the transfer of the fund set aside for the smaller project to this newer and far greater develop ment. So, also, with sewers and street paving. These are matters that must be attended to at once and no one part of the city will be cared for at the expense of another. Part of the money will go to the east end and part to the upper part of town, so far as new drainage is concerned while the paving appro priation will be used wherever there is need for it. Harrisburg is one of the best paved cities in the country and it must continue to uphold that dis tinction. Indeed, since the first pav ing loan passed there never has been any trouble about getting money for highways. The ad vantages of paved thoroughfares are so obvious that everybody wants them. For years Harrisburg people have favored the establishment of municipal bathing beaches. They have only awaited opportunity to endorse such a loan as will come before them this fall. Their vote for the $40,000 proposed will be nearly unanimous, unless all signs fail. And aside from providing for the needs of our own people, these beaches will bring hundreds of ex cursionists and visitors to Harris burg every year. We can make Harrisburg a great watering place if we are so minded, and at present both city authorities and the people appear to be agreed that we should go ahead with the development of the Susquehanna basin at this point us a recreation place. Some years ago an intensive campaign would have been neces sary to carry a half million loan to success at the polls. But little urg ing tyill be necessary at this time. Our people are thoroughly convert ed to the need of keeping their city apace with the times—or a little ahead—and are willing to spend their money in any reasonable pub lic improvement that may have the recommendation of council. Welfare and community effort is taking form in many interesting in novations under the spur of the War Camp Community Service. In New York, for instance, blocks are being organized by the people and fre quently the organized service is called upon only for supervision of the community activities. When those most to be helped—men, women and children—in a given locality band themselves together for the good of all there is certain to be great bene fit and for that reason encourage ment ought to be given every com munity center. EXIT THE HAPSBURGS HERBERT HOOVER'S protest to Allied authorities against the re-establishment of the Hapsburgs in the affairs of Austria and Hungary has had the effect de sired. This family of marplots has had a baneful influence on South ern Europe especially and the TUESDAY EVENING, world in general for a century or more and it is high time that they be relegated to the limbo of deposed rulers. Had they succeeded in their at- I tempt to step back into power the I Holienzolierns would have been i next to set up a claim. The Allied counsel has done well in settling I for all time the ambitions of the I Hapsburgs to revive their kingship ! in Hungary, and its action in ihis instance will have an excellent ef fect upon others of their ilk who 1 have been watching with interest j every move of their play for a re turn to power. I Postmaster General Burleson is ! coming to Harrisburg for the State i convention of postmasters next week i and will receive on behalf of his de- I partment a portrait in oil of Benja ' mill Franklin, the first Postmaster i General of the United States. It will j be the gift of the Pennsylvania post masters. The postal clerks, it is in timated, would be greatly interested in a picture of Franklin on a voucher for increased pay with Mr. Burleson's autograph. THE LABOR PARADE IN SETTING forth the attractions of the Labor Day program we ought not lose sight of the labor j parade scheduled for the morning !of that day. The committee in charge is striving to make it the ; largest and most attractive of its kind ever held in Pennsylvania. No ; expense is being spared either for I music or costumes and a big turn- I out of representatives of the vari j ous trades. With the parade in the morning and the Kipona in the af j ternoon and evening, Harrisburg may look forward to a busy and colorful day. The planting of trees as soldier memorials while contributing at the same time to the attractiveness of highway has been well started in Lancaster county, where fifty Amer ican elms and sycamores, from eight to ten feet high, have been set out along the Lincoln Highway between Lancaster and Columbia. This is the beginning of the beautifying of the popular Susquehanna drive. The elms were selected by direction of the State Forestry Department, which recommends the employment of long lived, hardy trees for Lincoln High way beautiflcation. Beautiful trees will eventually hedge all main high- j ways in Pennsylvania, else we miss ' our guess. STRAWS SHOW TREND j NOTHING more significant of I the shifting opinion of the j great working population of 1 the United States has come to the i surface than the declaration by I representatives of the various plants of the Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company, operating under a col lective bargaining plan, that "the persistent and unceasing demand of workmen employed in all classes and kinds of industries for a short er day's work and an increased wage in order to meet the present high cost of living is uneconomic and unwise and should not be en couraged." These men believe that private j monopolies should be controlled, profits restricted to a rate that shall 1 be fair to the consumer, that un necessary exports of food and cloth- ! ing be restricted and that all stores i of hoarded supplies be uncovered and placed in the open market. All of which, as the definite ex pression of 30,000 men of a single corporation, suggests sanity of view and a hopeful trend toward real Americanism. ; Ambassador Fletcher is generally understood to be qualified as no other diplomatic representative in Ameri can service to handle the mixed and increasingly difficult situation in Mexico. He knows the Latin peoples and should it happen that in the pro posed commission to arbitrate differ ences between this country and Mex ico he is chosen to represent the United States we may feel assurance of intelligent treatment of the whole matter. The Mexican question can not be allowed to vex our people endlessly, and Fletcher may be trust ed to point the way out. JAPANESE DIFFERENCES THERE is significance in the Associated Press dispatch from Tokio giving account of the differences of opinion that have arisen in Japanese circles over Ja pan's policy toward China. The very fact that this dissension has found its way into the public prints is indication of its seriousness, for the Japanese government is very reticent and very little of its inside workings or disagreements reach the outside world. Perhaps, upon the outcome will hinge the extent to which the United States will have to go immediately into Far Eastern affairs. Maybe the Shantung inci dent will be settled by the Japanese themselves. At all events the Lodge | policy of guarantees for the protec- I tion of China is greatly strength ened by this new development. WANT TO TAKE PART? THE KIPONA celebration is YOUR celebration, Mr., Mrs. and Miss Harrisburger, and if you would like to have a part in it call up the War Camp Commun ity Service, and communicate your desire. Those in charge of the pageant will be happy to assign you to a place in the big show. There will a lot of fun for the spectators at the celebration, no doubt, but to have a place in the biggest event of its kind in the city's history will be an honor to which anybody may well aspire. It is YOUR Kipona and here is your opportunity to help make it a great success. fdUZa* U By the Ex-Commlttceman State-wide interest has been aroused by tho opening of the regis tration period in Philadelphia to day because of the great importance of the contest over the Republican mayoralty and councilmanic nomi nations to be decided at the Sep tember primary. These nomina tions are preliminary for the tirst election of officials to serve under the new charter which occupied so much of the attention of the recent Legislature. Philadelphia has different regis tration days from other cities for the Hist time and the lirst of the three days is looked upon by some people us a test of strength. News papers in the Quaker City are strongly urging the voters to go out and register, calling those who fail "slackers". The Public Ledger, for instance, says that many independ ents are "slackers" and that many of them are loud complainers. It is believed that the Yares will hold back their registration in order to size up the independent strength. Meanwhile the war goes merrily on and new attacks are made daily on the Vare strength and inlluence. Congressman J. Hampton Moore has issued a series of statements show ing how the Senator's control works to the benefit of the Senator and the Ledger says the issue is Mr. Vare. Mr. Moore is pointing especially to Philadelphia's chances and wliat a big asset is its river. —An Interesting illustration of the way the Philadelphia contest is viewed outside of the State is fur nished in an article in the Phila delphia Press from its Washington correspondent. The Press says that some of the National Republicans fear that defeat of Congressman Moore, who is backed by Senator Roies Penrose, might mean the de feat of the Senator next year and that already there is talk of a can didate against the Senator who will be stronger than recent opponents. However, Governor Sproul, ex-Gov ernor Stuart and C. H. K. Curtis, whom It mentions as possibilities, have been talked of before. The Press article says bluntly that "de feat of the Penrose faction jn this mayoralty tight would mean the re tirement of Senator Penrose in 1921 at the apex of his career." It would also end the career in Con gress of Mr. Moore. —The Press likewise says that the movement to nominate Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer for President is growing and that it is taken seriously, so seriously that opposition to him in the Senate and to his course us alien property cus todian grows out of fear of his prowess. —Washington does not take seri ously the Gifford Pinehot. boom. The conference held here last month has been measured up and while much has been made of it by the various means used by the for mer forester it is regarded as hav ing been more or less of a frost. Many former progressives have re fused to line up either for Pinehot for Senator or in an organization in side of the Republican party in line with his so-called "progressive" ideas. —Much that will be worth watch ing in Democratic State politics will develop at the convention of the postmasters of Pennsylvania to be held here next week. Virtually every Democratic leader will be here, the presence of cabinet offi cers being a good excuse for them to come to Harrisburg when the postmasters come to town. —ln spite of the manner in which some Democratic newspapers used to assail everything the Republicans did it is noticeable that they are not only using the organization methods employed in years gone by in Pennsylvania, but are improving them. The Democratic machine in this State is as good as the Demo cratic machine in any southern State when it comes to collecting cash. —While some Democratic leaders have heard of the plight into which tho Democratic organization in Dauphin county has fallen and know the lamentable showing made in the 17th, 18th and 20th Congres sional districts in 1918, it is said that they do not intend to criticize unless they are attacked for condi tions in their home districts. Then they may point to certain examples of lack of ability to keep up party spirit. —Judge John M. Garman will not be opposed for judge in Luzerne county. The Sherwood withdrawal is now announced as leaving the field clear. Talk that Sherwood would run independent for district attorney is not believed. —Things are growing interesting in York county just now and this from the Philadelphia Inquirer shows a trend that will be worth watching: "While a factional strug gle in the Republican ranks between the Lewis (Penrose) and Lafean (anti-Penrose) followers was preci pitated by the last-hour candidacy of George T. Eckert for county treasurer, and Stuart Lafean's switch from the fight for nomination as register of wills, Republican chances for snatching one of the county of fices from the Democrats at the general election is vastly improved. Lafean successfully evaded the ef fort to compel him to make his fight against a popular hero. Lewis has the only candidate who, at the pres ent time, seems to have any chance of overcoming the Democratic pre ponderance, as shown by the regis tration in the county." —Lancaster county Democrats are fighting just like the Dauphin Demo crats. A Lancaster dispatch to the Philadelphia Public Ledger says: "The County Commissionership is the only court house office to ■which the Democrats ot' this county have representation and they hold mem bership on the Board through virtue of a legal provision that makes it compulsory for the minority party to hold such representation. In con sequence there is invariably a heated contest at the primaries for the se lection of the nominee. This fall breaks the record, with nine aspir ants in the field, for in thin instance a nomination is tantamount to elec tion." —General E. C. Shannon, who commanded the 111 th Infantry in France, is Republican candidate for prothonotary in Lancaster; Major Q. O. Retizel, former legislator and former commander of a machine gun battalion, is a candidate for register of wills and Captain W. C. ltehn, of the 109 th machine gun battalion, for district attorney. In Schuylkill county Captain John 13. Scholottman, commanding Pottsville engineers in France, • is to be Re publican candidate for county con troller, and Major G. O. Santee for coroner. In Northumberland Cap tain C. K. Morganroth, of Shamokin, is candidate for district attorney. HAJFtRBSBTTRG TELEGKXPS WONDER WHAT VENUS DE MILO THINKS ABOUT? .... ByBRIGGS ! TALK ABOUT BGINIG FXR-LIEUO Met IF \ , T>,£>,vr T USED TO -.STILL I'D FeeL A I USELESS • HERE I HAD. MY ARMS ® AC K M\ND IT So MUCH -A HAs/e- EEEN STANDIUG I know WHAT LP Do ThouSanJ) YEARS AGO JOCD ER' JAY.' SrZsZr Thc eot the iTycES " s T "VL - L'£> HIKE UP THIS HAUE. CHAMGED A SWEATERS I COULD CaOWrJ OF MINE ! LITTLE. - MOT MUCH KfMVT IF I HAD ARMS AND HAMDS j -<Rj VMr -**{ \>^Yr[ I mever FELT BETTER ONE "THING - ( N<=UER WCLL YOU MAY GUESS' .JUST SO YOU ALWAYS IN MY LIFE - I HAVE HANS To uUOFRY ABOUT ALL You HK<= ASOUT ADMIRE ME -WHAT'S KEPT MY HEALTH AMP MY HAIR -■_\ DB£ IM THB MY ARMS A cooPLE oP AR MS. I S'PoSE I OUGHT To £ §£" LDOWNI- TELL - THAT'S GO.NG Bfc - A e "i! S,KS? V " TTLE ) (?SAS^) ] UGR .*7 W • j No Wonder Germany Quit By MAJOR FRANK C. MAHIX Of the Army Recruiting Station "One of the most daring and sue- 1 cessful stunts pulled off during the i entire war was the manner in which ! General Gouraud (French) broke j up the Boche offensive east of j Rheints on July 15,' said Major; Frank C. Mahin, of the Army Re cruiting Station, 325 Market street. | "The main part of General Gou raud's army was French, but he had | the American 42nd Division and the ! 369 th Infantry (colored) attached, as welt as a few other American ] units. You know on that date the i Boche started their fifth and last j offensive for the war and of all five it was to be the greatest. Paris was to fall, the French were to be crushed and victory was to perch on the Gerfnan eagle's shoulders, before the despised Americans could get their troops trained. But again the Boche miscalculated. They at tacked on a front of about 50 miles on both sides of Rheims. Down on the Marne near Chateau-Thierry they ran into a bunch of Yanks, known as the 3rd and 28th Divisions, who didn't have sense enough to beat it when they were licked and on the east friend Gouraud fooled them to a fare-you-well, so the at tack between these two outfits per force failed. Now our 'rotten poor' espionage, system which could not compare with the 'efficient' Boche told us days in advance that the attack was coming at 5 a. m., July 15, and naturally such a piece of in-; formation is of quite some little as sistance. If you know beforehand that a man is going to take a swipe at you at a certain moment his chances of damaging you severely with that swipe are decidedly slim. And so it was with this fifth offen sive. General Gouraud decided to take a chance and do something that had never been tried before, as he knew just when the attack was to come. The night of the 14th iie moved every battery in his area so that when the Boche bombardment came they wouldn't know where his batteries were and consequently they would be fresh and untouched when the Boche infantry came over. Fur ther, he decided not to fire at them until they were within our own lines and to just shell the tar out of them then. Before the bombardment started all our infantry drew back from the first and second lines into the third lines, giving about a mile and a half of trenches that were un occupied. For each group of guns a series of observation posts were built as strongly as possible, con nected with the batteries by tele phones and also furnished with rockets. One man was placed in each post and he was to stay there and be captured. That mile and a half of trenches was divided into zones which were designated as tar gets A, B, C, and so forth. As the Boche entered Zone A, the observer telephoned back 'A' and kerbang, came the most Intense barrage pos sible. When they entered Zone B the next observer telephoned 'B,' the artillery shifted their range and the Boche continued to catch—well, something unpleasant. Now all this time the French and American in fantry were sitting back in the third line trenches laughing up their sleeves while the Boche artillery pounded that mile and a half of trenches in front of them to pieces, and no one was there to get hurt except the observers. Our boys were simply waiting in safety until the Boche got close enough for our ' rifles to get busy, but meantime our machine guns, getting their firing data in the same way as the artil lery, were also barraging for all they were worth. Finally a few shat tered units approached the third line and then our riflemen and automatic rifles finished what the artillery and machine guns had started. For three days the Boche lay in front of that third line trench and on the ISth, when the Allied counter offen sive started at Soissons and on the Marne, Gouraud, too, attacked and drove the Boche back into his orig inal lines. What was the result? The Boche had lost about 100,000 men to take a mile and a half of shell-torn trenches and hold that strip for three days. But think of the nerve of General Gouraud in abandoning two lines of trenches, in putting all his faith in holding up that great attack on the one third line trench. If his scheme had fail | ed, all the valor of the boys down on the Marne would have been of no avail and the fifth Boche offen ] sive would have been a success. But it took one of the Allies to abso ' lutely break loose from all precedent and risk everything on what he was BERMUDAS HELPED COLONIES TO WIN REVOLUTIONARY WAR Powder With Wliloh British Wore Driven From Boston Came From Islands Where American History, 011 u Miniature Scale, Was Enact ed Before It Transpired Here. From a National Geographic Society Bulletin. THE Bermuda Islands suggest | the adventures of Robinson Crusoe in their colonization and present in their later chro nology a curious parallel to United States history, with the events con sistently predated by a number of years. A principal group of the British West Indies, some Englishmen sug gest the Bermudas should be ceded to the United States in part pay ment of the American war loans to Great Britain. The Robinson Crusoe comparison discovered and later settled, as the direct result of shipwrecks; and the settleis had to build themselves a bark to set sail again. As for the anticipation of American history, on a miniature scale, it may be noted that the colonizatiou took place seven years before the Pil grims landed at Plymouth, Mass., that witches were burned, Quakers were persecuted and miscreants were ducked, before similar occur rences are recorded in New Eng land; and that slavery was abolished in 1834. The Bermudians protest ed long before 1776 against the mother country's rule, until the island prisons were over full, but relief came, in their case. not through a declaration of freedom, but by the accession of Cromwell. But the essential point of contact of the American with the Bermudian arises the immortal Lafayette gal lantly helped the colonies conclude their way of independence, the Ber mudians supplied the ammunition to begin it. Furnished Colonics With Powder Sojicute was the need for powder in 1775 that George Washington wrote to the governor of Rhode Island that "no quantity, however small, is beneath notice." Learning that there was a store in Bermuda, and that the islanders were anxi ous to have the embargo lifted on food supplies from the colonies. Washington addressed a letter to the people of the island, who had shown themselves sympathetic with the American revolutionists, prom ising them ample supply of provi sions and "every other mark of af fection and friendship which the grateful citizens of a free countrv can bestow on its brethren and benefactors" if they would make tliis ammunition available for the Con tinental Army. The powder had been procured and with it the Continental Armv compelled the British to evacuate Boston. Not only the sale of the powder but the fact that Bermuda allowed the colonics to have salt, so incensed sure was a stroke of genius, a stroke of genius that went a long way to wards sending the Kaiser to Hol land." Femininity in the Fashions [From the New York Sun] Paris has been showing its new fashions in clothes for women, and in them "there is not the slightest suggestion of masculine, tailor-made effects." On the contrary, "soft materials are used generally, and flounces and panniers g ve the de- I signs a strictly feminine appear- I ance." The fears entertained by ! some timid souls that women's war ! time uniforms, built for convenience ! and hard wear, would leave a leg j acy of mannish modes are not ful ! filled. Woman will decorate her self, as she has for ages, in what seems to her most attractive and ! best adapted to display her charms. Beauty and Brains I [From the Philadelphia Record] Some one with nothing more im portant to think of asks why pretty ! girls are brainless. Before answer i ing the question it might be worth i while to establish the fact. There ! are no known available statistics. |No uplifter has deigned to gather : any. Thus the relation between I beauty and intellect remains a mat- I ter of personal opinion merely. The | burden of proof that the two quali ties are incompatible rests upon those who make the assertion. Many of the pretty women of his j tory were far from brainless. the governor of Bermuda that he I upbraided the citizens for treason I and feelings ran so high that he j was removed. His successor was a native of Salem, Mass., whose loy- | alty to the mother country was such i that he gave up large estates in the colonies rather than join the revo lutionists. He was connected, both by blood and by marriage, with the Winthrop family. Under his rule the island's full allegiance to Eng land was restored. He was succeeded by Henry Ham ilton, during whose administration the town of Hamilton was founded and named for him. This town to day is the seat of the island govern ment. It has a population of less than 3.000. Throe Hundred Islands Hamilton is on Main Island, or Bermuda, while St. George, the for mer capital, is on the island of that name. There are more than three hundred small islands in the Ber mudas group, of which only a score are inhabited. The total popula tion of the islands in 1916 was lit tle more than twenty thousand, of whom about one-third were white. Bermuda suffered during the war by the cessation of the American tourist patronage which had dou bled the entire island population in preceding seasons. The Bermudas attracted visitors because of their mild climate, which knew no frosts, and by their scenic beauty. • The evergreen islands are clustered with exotic plants of nu merous variety, their roadways are "bejeweled and scented" with sweet smelling flowers, their shores are penetrated by crystalline coral pools, and the waters about are noted foi their ever changing and vivid color. The islands lie off the coast of North Carolina about as far as Cleveland is from New York, and at about the same latitude as Charleston, Fort Worth and San Diego. They are 677 miles from New York. Juan Bermudez. sailing from Spain to Cuba in 1515, with a cargo of hogs, discovered the islands when a storm blew him to their shores. Apparently he left some of the | hogs there, for later visitors found the animals on the island. From hint the islands were named and thus originated the "hog money," coins stamped with a hog on one side and a ship on the other, which still are preserved in various collec tions. The islands were settled through Sir George Sonters, who be came impressed with their fertility >nd beauty during a sojourn en 'orced by the wrecking of the ship • hich was carrying him to Vlr -1 ginia. Money vs. Brains [From the New York Tribune] Money is the natural result of great business force in America, but it is never the force itself. The force is in the brain and will—the money is only the tool. Therefore, when the brain turns from the task that it knows su premely well to the task that it knows imperfectly the tool loses its power. We still feel that the pow- I er must be there, because we have seen its far-reaching effects in finance. But we are deceiving ourselves, j Money, by itself, can buy neither fame nor influence—ar.y more than it can buy true enjoyment. All these things must come from the directing mind. And, as we are gradually learning, the mind that can create a vast fortune may be no ' better than any of the rest of us when applied to politics or art or science or good manners. It mnyj indeed, blunder rather the more egregiously through over-confidence —as in the case of Henry Ford,' Col. Harvey and W. W. [Harvey's Weekly.] Some day Col. George Harvey will discover that President Wilson, while indorsing the Ten Command ments, has failed to submit them to the Senate, and to Senator Lodge the President's conduct will be "simply inconceivable." New York World. AUGUST 26, 1919. Yap [News Item.] The United States Navy Depart ment wanted the Island of Yap for vitally necessary cable landings, and could have had it, but President Wilson refused to make the demand at Versailles. What is Yap? It sounds like pap, Or a ginger snap. The kind you say twice In a trice. I can't make out What it's all about. This talk And squawk— If I only knew I'd squawk too. But I don't. So I won't. | Yap! Perhaps that's Jap j Anese | For "if you please." I Except that the Japs i Are not such yaps As to ask permission When they want an addition Of territory— But that's another story. Yap! Here it is on the map, • One of the Isles That lie many miles In the Pacific. The ocean terrific, In the group called the Ladrones, That's plural for "thief," who makes no bones In taking what some other fellow owns— But. of course, under the League. That cuts out intrigue. And all claptrap— Hurrah for Yap! Yap! II know a chap [Who's a yap; He's a wonderful talker, I And a chalk line walker, I (For other folks) j Holy smokes! But he's some globe trotter, And booty al'otter, Why, he'd just as soon Give away the moon (In his official capacity) To some one's rnpacity. He's quite without canker. He's not a Yap-hanker. And so, As you know, We lost Yap— Quel mishap! —William Wallace Whitelock, in New York Sun. .4 New Sunday Law Decision [From the Wilkes-Barre Record] A Philadelphia common jdeas court rules adversely against a strict interpretation of the blue law of 1794, and in favor of the Fair mount Park commissioners, who permit baseball, tennis and other recreational activities on Sunday. Judge Staake draws a distinction ordy on the ground that !f the games cause a nuisance the participants may be proceeded against in the criminal courts for the enforcement of the penal part of the act. LABOR NOTES Strikes are still threatening among the canneries of the West coast of Norway. Germany, as well as other coun tries, is suffering from a domestic labor shortage. Farm laborers in Ontario, Can., as a class, are receiving from $4O to I $5O a month. Of the over 175.000 building trades workers in Canada, 85 per cent of them are members of international unions. A large steel manufacturing plant in Conshohocken, Pa., will allow the workers to decide upon a three shift plan by vote. The increase in the male member i shop of British unions from 1914 to ! 1917 was about 25 per cent, while j the increase in the female member i ship for the same period amounted to more than 117 per cent. Retail clerks in Rock Island, 11$; Moline, 111., and Davenport, lowa, are organizing a tri-city local of Retail Clerks' International Protec tive Association. Female labor constitutes a main ! part in the factory economy of I Japan. In nearly 20,000 factories j employing not less than 10 opera- I tives each, male labor amounts to [ 42 per cent and female labor 58 per I cent of the total. ianmtrto (Efjat i Officials of the Hugh Nawn Con struction Company, of Philadelphia, which has the contract for building the section of the State main high way from Dauphin "Narrows" to Clark's Ferry, one of the most trav eled State roads in Central Penn sylvania, have put up to the State Highway Department the question what to do about the .taking of the stone for the improvement by the United States government. For the third time stone consigned to this concern has been commandeered right in transit, and the company has been compelled to suspend part of its operations and lay off its men. The situation brought about has not only forced continued closing of a road which is part of the entrance of both the William Penn Highway and the Susquehanna Trail into Har risburg byway of the picturesque Susquehanna river valley, but has all the elements of a controversy. The Nawn Company started work some time ago on the road and the United States Railroad Administration com mandeered some stone in transit for it, cuusing a delay. A few days later more stone coming front quarries near Bainbridge was taken and the latter part of last week eleven cars, some of which had gotten to within six miles of the place where they were needed, were taken by the Government. No explanation was given and as the contractor could not get any he complained to the State authorities. The State High way officials ,at once got into touch with Washington and found that the stone was being taken for repairing of a washout on a railroad. As every effort is being bent to complete the one hundred miles of State highway under construction as much as pos sible before frost sets in the possi bilities created same alarm, and stone materials being hard to get at any rate the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is still feeling the ex ercise of the war powers. • • People connected with the State Highway Department would like to know what is a "rabbitry." A day or so ago M. H. James, head of the bureau of information of the department turned up with a col lection of signs which he had con fiscated because they overhung State highways and were in danger of scraping off tops of cars as well as being against the law, anyway. One sign announced that a famous hotel was half a mile away, another gave information as to a garage, and the third read Spangdoodle's Rab bitry mi." "What's a 'rabbitry?' " asked Chief Clerk Howard Fry. "Guess its some kind of a hutch, place where they raise and keep rabbits," responded the ready Mr. James. "Mightn't it be a place for refresh ments?" was then shot at Mr. James. "How?" "Well, place where you got either Welsh or fried rabbits." • There are a couple of fellows who man wagons for removal of ashes from the State Capitol who have to do a lot of extra work because they wander off to talk while their wag ons are being filled by the labor saving conveyor. The conveyor con veys and if the horses get restless or move around the machine takes no notice, but goes on delivering. Almost every day when a driver has his wagon nicely adjusted and the ashes start to flow and he happens to go away a short distance there is some fly or other disturbance and the team moves just enough to have the ashes delivered on the concrete flooring. Then its a case of fill the wagon by man power. It may be said that Capitol clerks give much assistance from the windows when they discover a teamster in a plight. ♦ • 1 Capitol Park gardners are von i dering whether the big elms that line ' the old "Boardwalk" are now shed ding their leaves a bit earlier than usual this year. For the last week or so the leaves have been raining down on the lawns and the rakes have been in use over time. There are numerous signs of the approach of fall on the big trees on the Hill, and some of the men who take charge of them say that the old trees are showing their age. The oaks planted in the "row of tho governors" which is to girdle the park are being given careful atten tion as some of them did not thrive very well last year. * * * While many people are prejudiced against the blackbird because of the damage it does to the nests of other birds, its destruction of fruit and harming of crops to say nothing of its untidiness there is a good bit to say for the bird's services in rid ding us of pests. Of late years there have been many protests against the blackbird and it is now legal hunting from August 1, the season having been advanced a month. Here is what an observer has to say about the way the bird clears out locusts "I have watched i many a blackbird this year because j I wanted to see for myself whether j the blackbird was a terror to locusts and this being a time of the seven- I teen year visitation things were fa j vorable. Blackbirds will gather | around trees where there are locusts j digging into young bark and they j will bide their time and select their prey. Then they will pounce on the insect and crush it with a cla.v, eating at their leisure. And tho t number they destroy in a day is notable. There is some good to the noisy, troublesome bird after all." 1 WELL KNOWN PEOPLE General W. G. Price, Jr., the com mander of the new National Guard says that there are scores of highly ! qualified men of overseas service ' I anxious to enter the new Guard. Ex-Lieutenant Governor Frank | B. McClain says that it is the busi ' ness of the people here to supply 1 food at home first of all and to make the folks contented. I* Thomas C. Seidle, the Berks Rc ? j publican chairman, who is figuring jI in a controversy at Reading just 1 I now, is a referee in compensation and well known in the State. Attorney General A. Mitchell Pal -1 mer is due to make an address in s j Allegheny county next week. ■ I Col. Henry W. Shoemaker, the Altoona publisher, headed an ex pedition of Central Pennsylvania ■ history lovers into the section of > Snyder county where the last buf i falo hunt was held. ' 1 DO YOU KNOW . —That Harrisburg steel was used to manufacture parts of engines for light craft during p Ulc war? ! HISTORIC HARRISBURG ) First excursions were run to Har : I rlsburg by the Pennsylvania rail road in the forties.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers