12 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH A XEWBPA.PER FOR TEE HOME Founded 1881 Published evenings except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. TelegTaph Building, Fcd-rnl Square E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief V. R. OYSTER, Business Manager GUS. M. STFINMETZ, Managing Editor A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Exeeutlvo Board I. 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 ot all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this fiaper and also the local news pub ished herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved, A Member American r!| Newspaper Pub- Ilishers' Associa tion. the Audit Bureau of Circu lation and Penn sylvania Associa ated Dailies. Eastern office. Story. Brooks & Finley, Fifth Avenue Building, New York City; Western office, Story. Brooks & Finley, People's Gas Building, Chicago, 111. Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., cs second class matter. By carrier, ten ccntß a > week; by mail, $3.00 a year in advance. THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, li19 If ice have only hoped in Christ < in this life, vc arc of all men most pitiable. —l Coit. 15 :10. UP TO WEATHER MAN IT IS all up to the Weather Man. If the skies smile Monday, Harrisburg is in for one of the biggest days in its history, what with the labor parade in the morn ing and the Kipona celebration dur ing the afternoon and evening. Harrisburg is preparing to ob serve Labor Day as never before. And surely there is ample cause for rejoicing. Last year this time thousands of our young men were fighting the good fight in France. Our hearts were with them. We waited only fcr the next issue of the newspaper and hung for hours over the dls- , patches from Europe. We had no | stomach for merry-making. But this year how different! The j war is over and our soldiers for the 1 most part have laid aside their uni- i forms and are back at their usuai j tasks. Even with the grave problems j before us our hearts are glad and ; tfe look forward to the holiday as an opportunity for the public ex pression of our joy. There may be rough seas ahead, we realize, but we have faitli to look past them to calmer days and we have the heart to tl.ank God for the measure of victory he has given us and for tho safe return of our boys. Those who are arranging Mon day's big program have striven mightily to please us and we ate ready to enter merrily into the spirit of the occasion. We repeat, it is till up to the Weather Man. Representatives of the third-class cities, including Harrisbjrg, arc headed in the right direction at the Allentown convention. They want more home rule and a reclassification of all cities to the end that there may be less infringement upon the rights of each other through the big fellows trying to adjust themselves to the needs of the little municipalities and the other way around. Most cities can work out their own solu tion if given the chance. IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY THE cavalier manner in which the President treated questions put to him by Senator New at the White House conference should not blind the country to the deep significance of those interrogations and Mr. Wilson's answers. "Mr. President." inquired Sen ator New, "would our position in the War of 1812 and the Spanish- American War have been secure under the League covenant?" "Oh, Senator, you can judge of that as well as I could," irritably replied the President. "I have tried to be a historical student, but I could not quite get the League back into those days clearly enough in my mind to form a judgment." The only way to get a clear un derstanding of the workings of the League is to apply it to the inter national situations in which the country has found itself in the past. Had tho President been courteous enough to have answered Senator New in the spirit in which the ques tion was presented, he would have been forced to admit that the ag gressions of England upon our com merce in 1812 clearly would have been a matter for the League Coun cil to pass judgment upon, and we could never have resorted to war, as we did, in vindication of our rights upon the high seas if the League had been in existence at that time. Moreover, the League Council might easily have decided the dispute in favor of England, and prevented us from protecting our honor by force of arms. In the Spanish War, had the League of Nations been in existence, the council would have assumed jurisdiction. Spain and the United States, being parties to the dispute, would have been excluded from the •'"liberations and the question would -.*. .been settled by seven foreign THURSDAY EVENING, representatives, every one of them , jealous of the growing power of j the United States. There can be | no doubt that the decision would j have been adverse to the United I States, and we would have been ; forced to swallow the insult of the destruction of the Maine and to ! watch helplessly the continued . cruelties of Spain toward the Cu- ( bans. The President finds it not worth j his while to determine how the League would have affected your 1 past history, but he looks serenely ' into the future with $ calm as surance that the undreamed of con- ! tingencies that may develop will be cared for by the League and peace ful solutions provided. The Presi ! dent finds it easy to make conven j ient assumptions for the years that ! are to come, but the ordinary citi- ! 1 zen will form his conclusions of the effect of the League upon our National life by applying the plain provisions of the covenant to the i concrete instances of our past his- , tory. There is no room for specu- j lation there. France would never have been permitted to lend us the aid in the ; Kevolution that practically saved the day for our cause and set up this country as an independent Na tion. Our coercion of the Barbary pirates through the immortal Decatur and Summers would never have been permitted by the League. The impressment of American sea men in 1812 by Great Britain would | have continued for all that the j United States could have done to prevent it. We could never have | compelled the Southern States to j remain in the Union, because to do | so affected the peace of the world, j Those wars would have been avert- ; ed, but other wars against the su- I preme power that attempted to . dictate American policies would in- j evitably have occurred, the whole j course of American history would j have been altered and our material ■ growth would have been immeasur ably retarded. These are facts that even the j most ardent advocates of the j League plan must admit, and they I shed some light on why experienc- | ed statesmen of both parties in the j Senate are holding out for reserva- | tions and interpretations. Insofar | as possible they want to safeguard i the interests of the United States I in critical periods that are bound j to come with the passing of the y ears. If the proposed Government grocery | stores are conduced with the same i disastrous results as the railroads and wire systems we may reverently pray "good la. 1 deliver us!" THE NEW SCHOOLS j THOSE who were privileged to inspect the two Junior High Schools yesterday, as the the guests of Robert A. Enders, President of the School Board, were impressed with the skill the arclii-! tocts have displayed in handling I their difficult problem. Even the! remodeled and enlarged Camp Curtin building is a fine example of the modern school house and it is doubtful if there is a better build- j ing than the Edison in the whole j country. The only regret is that! the children of the central part of ] the city cannot enjoy the privileges j of such surroundings for the next j year or two, until the Technical High building can be vacated and | transformed with the erection of j new high school buildings on the I Hoffman's Woods site. Eyen so, we ought to be thank- < ful that the School Board has been; able to get so much out of a situ-1 ation that less skillfully handled ! would have resulted in a discourag- 1 ing setback of the entire school sys- I tern in Harrisburg at great expense I to the taxpayers. The development! of school construction during the l last few years is amply shown in! the two Junior structures. Iheyj arc school houses of which any cily j might be proud, and not the least' of their advantages is that they are! so equipped that they may be used for neighborhood entertainments I and their gymnasiums and shower- i baths made available for the use! of the young people of the city. At last the school house must wori: more than six hours a day, and the people are getting something worth while for their money. REGISTER TODAY REGISTER to-day! Never in the history of the \ republic was it more import ant for the red-blooded American | to go to the polls and cast his bal lot according to his best judgment as to candidates and the dictates of his conscience as to principles. Elsewhere in the world men are making war to win for themselves the privilege of the ballot. Here in America we have it—and it is our own fault if the right type of men are not elected; if our own beliefs and desires are not enacted into law. We are fond of saying of America that "the people rule." But the people do not rule unless the people vote. Polling places open from 2 to 6 and 7 to 10 o'clock to-day. Be a 100 per cent. American. Go register! CITY LAW CHANGES THE Third-•- Class City League, which is apparently recover ing from its severq attack of Clarkactitis, is able at last .Jo look with unjaundiced eye beyond- the doubtful virtues of that mongrel laty toward better things for the smaller municipalities of Pennsylvania. The League convention in Allentown, for example, has gone on record for home rule for the cities of the Com monwealth, for the reclassification of cities and for changes in the civil service statutes. The League is on safe ground here. Home rule is our right, al- I though the Legislature has refused j I to recognize it, and it has been evi- 1 | dent for years that the present I classification of cities is neither fair Ito the people as a whole nor con ; ductive to good government. And jas for the civil service laws, espe- J cially that governing the police, ! there are times when observant men are prone to wonder if it would not ! be better to repeal them altogether. ; At least that has been our exper- I ience in Harrisburg. fUttic* U By the Kx-Oommittccman ) U - ' | The only thing about which men j active in politics appear to agree ! concerning the registration of Tues i day is that the listing of names the (first day of the three set aside for ;thc purpose broke all records. The | champions of Congressman J. j Hampton Moore claim that the huge j figures mean the nomination of Mr. (Moore beyond a doubt. Senator Edwin ii. v arc and other men back of Judge John M. Patterson says that it is a foregoing conclusion that the Judge will win. The figures surprised both sides. —However the general impression among men who observe politics in Philadelphia is that the Philadelphia reformer and independent, the man whom ilie newspapers have been calling a "slacker" went out to regis j ter. The conclusion of many here is that the Moore people have the best of it. From all accounts the | Vare people did not exert them j selves, sort of leaving the first day !to the Moore people, to show in a I practical way what they had in the | way of strength. The Moore people | seem to have shown. Now the Vai es may be expected to muster their (strength and the Moore people, (spirited by the record-breaking | registration, to redouble efforts. I —The tremendous registration at tracted much attention all over the j State, and it was the general im | pression that unless the figures for the day went over 125,000 the Moore people were done for. They I have gone far beyond that figure. —Philadelphia newspapers gen ■ | orally claim that the big regis tration is favorable to Moore. The Congressman says in the Philadel ; phiu Inquirer that "we have taken I our first trench in fine style." The Inquirer says that the big registration j hit the Vaie camp like a cyclone, j and gives the figure as over 185,C0u. The Public Ledger says that the big j 1 registration "startled" the leaders, j and editorially declares that Phila-1 delphia is awake and will no longer "let Vare do it." The evening news papers geneially declare that the registration "shocked" the Vare leaders. Senator Vare claimed the registration was all favorable to i Judge Patterson. —The Press says editorially "The very large registration on Tuesday justifies the laith that this year is to be one of political revolution m Philadelphia; that Vare will be broken down." While the North American declares "It is an unmis takable fact that the registration campaign carried out in the inter ests of Moore by the Republican Alliance and the Town Meeting I party is responsible for a greater I part of the increase over the regis tration of four years ago." —A Democratic view given by the Philadelphia Record says: "Both sides claimed a political victory, but there was no disguising the fact that Vare chiefs were panic-stricken and that they suddenly realized that Congressman J. Hampton Moore will be supported by a tidal wave of votes at the primaries." —At Washington Congressman W. S. Vare told Congressmen that Pat terson would win as a result of the registration and that there would he some sensations sprung in Phila delphia affairs. | —The North American says that ; Senator Vare's right to vote in ( Philadelphia will be challenged. ! —Just as the State aj large watch jed the first day of the Philadelphia j registration to see how the wind j was blowing, the registration which starts to-day in the third-class | cities will be closely followed. The i general belief is that because of the j revival of interest in municipal I elections, due to the repeal of the j nonpartisan law, the many county j contests that there will be large ( registration in every one of the (thirty-five third-class cities. I —Pittsburgh and Scranton news j papers are commencing to call their I voters to remember that the second | class city registration starts next j week. [ —The Wilkes-Barre Record prints this comment on registration: "Newspapers in all the Pennsylvania cities are again exhorting the citi zens to turn out and register, that they may be qualified for voting. But every year a host of citizens do not take the trouble to give up a few minutes of their time to walk Ito the near-by polling place. The great majority of them would walk a mile to save fifty cents. They | have no concern in saving many dollars in taxes." —At Beaver the courts have just finished hearings on a petition filed to prevent the County Commission ers from placing the name of Miss Wilhelmina H. Behnaman upon the Republican primary ballot as a can didate for the office of County Clerk of Courts. When Miss Behnaman who has been acting as deputy in the office of Clerk Hamilton filed her petition, it was accepted hy the Commissioners, while objections were filed on the grounds that Miss Behnaman had no legal status as a. candidate and could not take office if nominated and elected. To de termine the legality of the proceed ings. a petition was filed by other candidates for the nomination and the Commissioners were ordered to withhold the placing of the woman's name upon the ba'lot. Miss Behna man is the first woman in the State to seek election to the office of County Clerk of Courts. —The Philadelphia Evening Redger is objecting to the flood of abuse started in tbo city's Mnyorlty fidgit. It says: "Judge Patterson, if he is wise, will call off his friends who are making personal attacks upon Congressman Moore. The pub lic was assured -that this was to ho a campaign without offensive per sonalities. but no sooner was Con gressman Moore selected as the can didate. of the independents than Coroner Knight made a nasty at tack upon his patriotism. And now Thomas Robins follows the examp'o of the coroner. An attempt also has been made to mislead the public on the congressman's labor record. —The Philadelphia Evening Bul letin wants a test of the "Blue Raws," saying "It would be alto gether desirable if those who are HAWUSBnRO TELEGRAPH WONDER WHAT A SEVENTEEN MONTHS OLD BABY THINKS ABOUT By BRIGGS W6N MY FOti<J 3tT - see- WHAT D<D \ -AMD AF T6R I SET WHSN | WANT A DRINK Down To a meal Thgt Xelu You - T WORKS it w mv mouth i RUB ALL | HAVE To SAY is t G r-"^ LV a S , L I P | wLp EVE.RY TiMie. A HAND MY HAND OH MY WAh' - Now WATCH Handout ALL I HAVE W(Th * FORK IN IT stummick AND it To 3AV IS • nuih muni comes OUT with a makes my Folks all WAH hum' AMD WIGGLE MY (CHUNK OF something LAUGH HyCG EVER'ThinG "TONGUE and I GET ON lT SOME REGULAR FOOD * /<r> . __ = 'fk4 Jj/ 11/ SI ■■ V 'JLf. *v^i Se £ THAT HAN.D Vou know it chokes _^ eu '- - ,v/ e got several first I WANTA Shoot ovT with a n s to dr.nk -my eYsS 1)0 AnD ' Show You Another GLASS of waTeR in <=> e 1 all red TOO MUS Be on my way "Tooth That came it ? That's what my father laughs Through lately. I Call SERV.CE a lve * oT dissatisfied with Judge Staake's de cision in the case of the Park Com mission and the Sunday law were to carry it in an appeal to the Su preme Court of Pennsylvania. The time has come for the highest court of the State to take up this whole matter and pass judgment on it in the light of the modern conditions of life in our great cities. Gave Up Self For Children Prince Rupert, B. C.->-Babies are funny things. Between a gurgle and a dimple, they sometimes change a man's whole nature. A chubby little hand is now and then as powerful as the hand of destiny in swinging a man's life into new channels. The prospectors trudging along the ttail north of Hazleton were murdered in 1906. Gun-a-Nook, an Indian of the Babine tribe, who had quarreled with them, fled into the mountains. The tragedy arous ed the frontier. Gun-a-Nook baf fled his pursuers. The pursuit set tled down to a systematic search. It lasted thirteen years and cost the Canadiaan government $50,000. Gun-a-Nook found sanctuary in the wild, broken Kitiwanga country between the Skeena and Nass rivers. He kept always on the move. To every outlying settlement and trading post, Gun-a-Nook was a name of terror. Gun-a-Nook married a daughter of his people. His squaw shared his wanderings and adventures. Chil dren were born. Their laughter filled the lonely lodge in the wilder ness. They grew into sturdy young sters, skillful with how and arrow, in trapping and fishing. Gun-a-Nook slipped into the vil lages of his tribe occasionally. He saw the children going to school. They spoke English and read out of white men's books. He marveled at their knowledge. The smallest pap poose was wiser than he. When he thought of his own children out in the wilderness growing up in ig norance, his heart was sore. He wanted them to have their chance for an education. He pondered the situation long. He could enjoy freedom to the end if he wished. But freedom for him meant his children doomed to savagery and ignorance. Only his surrender could give them the ad vantage of schools. Surrender meant perhaps death on the gal lows, hut a new and higher life for his little ones. He decided to pay the price. So Gun-a-Nook, Indian of old traditions, outlaw, desperado, fugi tive for thirteen years, came down out of the mountains the other day into Hazleton and sacrificed him self for his children by giving him self up. He is now at Vancouver awaiting trial. Proteus Up to Date How well he plays each classic part, With skill that keeps no narrow ranges! And his extraordinary art Quite outdoes Proteus in changes. To-day, pacific and serene — To-morrow, in him Mar's fire smoulders; The curtain lifts; another scene: Atlas! the world upon his should ers! He sees into the future dim. And Argus with his hundred "I's Is." In vision no fair match for him Who peers through Destiny's dis guises. As Jason journeying for the fleece, Across Augean waters sought it, Our hero, like his pard of Greece, Went out to foreign lands and got it.* The role of Bacchus, he foreswore. But now we hear the late report is. That he will take the part once more Of Bacchus, nicknamed Aqua Fortis. And now what part? amazed, we cry. And now what part! his country wonders; Ajax, of course, who will defy A nation's lightning and its thunders. J. B. M.. • Fleeced. The Wise Became Fools Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of an uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible I man, and to birds and four-footed I boasts and creeping things. Where | fore God also gave them up to un cleanness.—Romans i. 22 to 24. THE PLAINT OF THE WIDOWED WILL somebody tell us what is so superlatively funny about the state of widowhood — to other people? We presume there must be some thing humorous in the situation or j it would not be held an appropriate | target for wits, but the widowed; themselves find it hard to locate thel joke. It certainly cannot consist in b e -1 ing left a widow with a family of i small children to rear on insufficient! means, or no means at all. It can- j not be the still more puzzling prob- I lem presented to the widower earn-1 ing barely enough to support his young family when their mother wasj at the domestic helm, but whose! salary will not pay a young woman i to do the work and an old one to • watch her do it, and play propriety.! It cannot be the puzzled loneliness! of ' the widow whose husband's i prominence made her an object of! attention in society, but who now finds herself left out of the reckon ing as mateless or of the widower' who had thought if he were single ; again he would be "one of the boys" i as of yore, but who finds that his! assumption of the role is regarded < as ludicrous. Still less can it be found in thel widowed of either sex who have buried the one love of their lives I and who feel the utter uselessness of trying to replace it in this wot Id. Yet let a man and a woman, both of whom chance to be widowed, be seen talking together and broad j j smiles overspread the faces of all' Lewis Emery, Jr. I Lewis Kmery, Jr., passed his ' eightieth birthday in the quiet ol' I his home at Bradford on the Htli ! of this month. He will sail for Peru in a few days, where he ex pects to remain for a year. Lewis Emery occupies a peculiar niche in Pennsylvania history. In 1906 he was a candidate for Gov ernor against Edwin S. Stuart. Ex- Mayor Stuart, as was not unusual, had the indorsement of two parties, the Regular Republican and Citi zens' party. Lew Emery saw Stuart and went him three better, for in addition to the Democratic indorsement, though Emery was an Independent Repub lican, he also had the Common wealth, Lincoln, Referendum and Union Labor party indorsements. Emery is a born tighter. He is now lighting the hand of time, for in spite of his eighty years he is up to his eyes in business. He has large mining interests in Peru. H:s primal object in return ing from Peru to this country last June was to give some information to the authorities in Washington on the proposed tariff on chemicals. In addition to his interests in Peru he has a beautiful residence on the island of Jamaica. When the altitude of Peru gets on his nerves he runs down to the coast and takes steamer for the Spanish Main and his island home. Think of a man who for forty years was active in Pennsylvania politics and now at the age of eighty is making long sea voyages and plunging into great business enter prises with the vim of a man half his age. Lew Emery is certainly a wonder. —George Nox McCain in Philadel phia Evening Ledger. LABOR MOTES Official figures recently compiled show that Birmingham has the high est unemployment rate of any city in England, reaching a total of 724 per 10,000 of population of greater Birmingham. As the only full-fledged woman member of the International Asso ciation of Machinists, Miss Hannah Black, of Glasgow, Scotland, at tended the seventh annual biennial convention of the National Women's Trade Union League held in Phila delphia recently The coal output in Scotland last year was 36,121,424 tons, a decrease of 2,355,526 tons, compared with 1917. The number of persons em ployed was 124,477. Of this num ber 96,558 were employed under ground and 27,919 above ground. The Society of Technical Engi neers in England is forming a union of brain workers, beginning with ; the engineers and extending in time jto all ranks of qualified men, in cluding doctors, scientists and chem ists. It has been calculated that at least 500,000 men come within the scope of the new union. observers. We recall a case in I point. A widow's young son had joined! the regular Army during the early j enthusiasm of the Spanish-Aineri- ■ can War, misrepresenting his age to do so. On being assigned to the Philippines, he weakened and ap pealed to his mother to get his dis charge under the "Baby Act." The mother doubted the wisdom of this, as it would remain a stigma on his reputation and probably injure his character. Distrusting her own judgment, she consulted three men, her brother, and two acquaintances, father and son, the father a Civil War ex-Captain, and the son an of ficer of the Spanish War. All three I of these men advised her to let the boy abide by his own choice. But the point apropos was thjs. One day the mother met the elder officer, a widower, on the street, and being very concerned, stopped to talk with him about the matter. She then crossed the street and entered a grocery to give an order. She found the grocer and his clerks as sembled near the front door, and they seemed hardly able to wait on i her from laughter. People must! have their fun doubtless; but were that distressed mother and gallant old soldier fit subeots for jokes? When we see widowed people talk ing together, or with bachelor or maid, let us suppress our smiles, at least until we are sure they are dis cussing matrimony. They are many other subjects which may engage their attention, and on which they can converse intelligently. E. U. V. in Kansas City Star. I The Rustic of Yesterday What has become of the country folks? I The farmers we used to see j Who came to town on Saturday morn And hitched to a friendly tree. Hitched to a rack in the public square, Hitched to a lamp post or anywhere, With never a sign that said "Not there." In the days that used to be. What has become of the country folks? Who used to smell so good; Their clothes perfumed with the odors sweet Of birch and hickory wood? They smelled of the smoke of burn ing brush, Had pie for breakfast and cream for mush Had grain to spare for the grateful thrush. Which sang like it understood. What has become of the country folks? Who traded at Cheap John's store? They came to town by the wagon load And lingered about the door. Took tea and coffee for eggs and wood, Ate cheese and crackers and called it good, ! Then talked of affairs in th# | neighborhood i And friends who would come no more. | What has become of the eountrv folks? I Oh it's all quite plain to see I They've all been changed into city folks, ' Yes, even as you and me. Old Dobbin's gone from the hitch rack bar Once wearying miles now are miles not far, And they smell of the smoke of a motor ear— The rustics that used to be. —William Hershell in the Indian apolis News. What Others Think [From Kansas City Star] The President's chief objection to reservations written into the Peace Treaty so as to be effective, seems to be that other nations might seek to make their own reserva tions. So the value of the whole Covenant might be impaired. But what other nations are seek ing to have the provisions of the League Covenant altered? So far as the American people know, no other nation takes the League seriously enough to care to insist on any changes in its provisions. Public Amusements I am a great friend to public j amusements, for they keep people away from vice.—Dr. Samuel John- Jaon. AUGUST 28, 1919. No Wonder Germany Quit By MAJOR FRANK C. MAIIIN j Of the Army Recruiting Station I I "Of the things that helped lick the Boche which few people realize was the change numerically on the West Front during 1918. Of the vast numbers of men in an army, a very considerable percentage are not combatant troops. And of the com batant troops, many are artillery, signal corps, engineers and soforth. The result is that for some cen turies, military men have figured the strength of an army not on the number of men, but on the number of rifles and sabers available for effective fighting. In this war the cavalry with sabers passed out of the reckoning, as soon as the arm ies settle down to trench warfare, so the fighting strength was calcu lated on the basis of effective rifle only. As you know, Russia broke down completely in the winter of 1917 and the Germans started swinging their troops from the east front to the west front. Swiftly their number mounted, while the Allied strength was virtually at a standstill. You have read of the millions of men of the West Front and naturally you believed they were all fighting men and about half of them were of one sort or another but the rifles, the effective rifles, made a poor showing comparatively speaking. As it takes six or seven men behind the lines engaged in manufacturing, shipping and soforth, for every man on the firing line, the disproportion is not as great as it first appears. As the German power grew, they started their great of fensives, and the figures for April 1, 1918, show the Boche with 1,569,- 000 rifles on the west front while the Allies had only 1,245,000 to op pose them. In other words, the Boche had a superiority of 324,000 effective riflemen, and as all arm ies had practically the same pro portion of artillerymen, machine gunners, signal corps, engineers and soforth, the Boche actually had in the vicinity of a million more men on the west front than the Allies had. We have gotten so accustomed during this war to speaking in terms of millions of men, that few people realize what a difference of 324,000 effective rifles mean. It means at least seven times as many as were in the Union Army at Get tysburg. Now do you begin to real ize what a superiority Germany had. seven armies such as the North had at Gettysburg. Also do you now see why Germany felt so sure of win ning in the spring of 1918, and why the Allies felt so depressed. And still further, it was known on the • first of April that there were still I a considerable number of divisions on the Russian front that were to be swung to the west front, and the Allies' only hope of matching the Boche superiority of numbers was with untried, partially trained Amer icans. By June 1, the Boche had made three great offensives; their loses had been tremendous, yet their rifle strength had grown by 70,000 or to 1,639,000, due to the arrival of those divisions from Russia. The Allies too had lost heavily, but Amer ican troops had been tried and found excellent and they w<jre arriving ten thousand a day. From the first of April infantry, machine gunners and artillery had the right of way on the troop ships, so the Allied rifle strength was swiftly mounting and the difference between the two arm ies had been reduced by American arrivals from 324,000 to 143,000. During all the desperate fighting of June, every man the Boche lost was a rifle less, as their last pool of reserves and replacements was used up so that Vy July 1 the Allies had overtaken and passed them by 144,- | 000 riflemen. But most of the ] Americans were still too untrained for battle use. By the first of Au gust we were better prepared and the Allies had started to attack. Then was when the Boche losses mounted swiftly and irresistibly. Day by day thousands were killed, wounded or captured and day by day the Allies grew stronger as the Yanks came in. On November 1 the Allies' rifle strength was actually 619,000 greater than the Boche. So thf.t seven months from April 1, to November 1, there was a change in rifle strength from a Boche supe riority and the change amounted to 94 3,000 rifles. The Boclie strength during the seven months decreased from a hight point of 1,639,000 to a final strength of 866,000 or practi cally to half, No wonder they quit," Setting (Eijat I Not only will cards of candidates and advertising signs placed on poles or on fences on the line of Penn sylvania State highways have to come down under the new order just issued by Highway Commis sioner Lewis S. Sadler, but such signs as were placed by municipali ties and motor clubs announcing dis tances from places must be removed if they are within "legal limits of State highway." The effect of tb-- order which was issued yesterd* became apparent here to-day wh numerous inquiries began to be mats, about the fate of direction signs placed by various organizations. I' was also borne home to some candi dates whose advertising managers had posted cards along the low fences which the State has erected for safety at certain points on the roads. "No distinction can be made in signs if they are on a State high way. It is the law and we must carry it out," was the statement made by an official of the State Highway Department. "There have been some signs erected by motor clubs showing the distance to the State Capitol, for instance, but where they are on the highway the law forbids them to remain. This is unfortunate, but people in charge should first ascertain what are the rules and erect their signs accord ingly." The rule is that any kinds of signs, advertising, direction and "boosting" may bo erected along State highways as long as they are on private property and the owners agree, but they can not be tacked on poles or fences on the State prop erty. Literally thousands of signs, some of them handsome and ex pensive affairs; some embellished with mirrors and others of espe cially fashioned iron will have to be taken down forthwith, according to the State officials, if they are not removed by the owners or the people who placed them in position the department's men will take them away. Candidates have been advised to have their cards placed on pri vate property as the road fences can not be used for them. In these days of preparation for the lvipona many people are talk ing about the water sports of the past and a newspaper of the middle fifties has come to light telling of the organization of the Flash Boat Club and the fact that it was going j to buy a large six oared shell was to be ordered from Philadelphia. I This club turned up in the newspa pers almost to the time of the Civil war and among its officers were William Seiler and T. Rockhill Smith. It was one of the ancestors of the Harrisburg Boat Club which built the old boathouse just above the pumping station on Front street and across the street from the old Outdoor Club, a forerunner of the Country Club of Harrisburg. The Harrisburg Boat Club has already been mentioned in this column. Its boat house was sold before the flood of 18S9 to an organization known as the Harrisburg Canoe Club which did much to popularize canoeing on the Susquehanna. In those days not many people knew the delights of canoes and there were few owned in the city. The Canoe Club lasted until the middle nineties, using the old boathouse with its long incline down to the water and giving Har risburg its first sight of the present so called "war canoes." Among the men In it were Martin W. Fager, Charles S. Snyder. George G. Mc- Farland, Hugh Pitcairn, Jr., Harry Kerper, Harry Martin, Edward Flickinger and others well known. * * • Island park is commencing to be a great roosting place for blackbirds, some of the birds which used to flock around in Capitol park in the even ings having taken to the river is lands, probably to arrange for good seats for the Kipona In any event several big flocks have been seen in the trees on the point of the is land and have been making them selves very much at home in that isolated spot. They seem to know that being a city park it may not be used as a hunting ground. It is a well known fact that many ; of the pithiest expressions and best ■ poems recorded in history have been uttered without the authors being aware at the time that they had produced anything remarkable. I An incident of unconscious humor came to the knowledge of the writer i recently. A lady who, for many ' years, was a prominent and efficient ■ Adams county teacher, having re • tired from the profession, lives in i her own little snug home to which 1 a large garden is attached. Recently i in describing to a correspondent in i Harrisburg what she raised in her ! garden, she ended by saying: "I eat what I can, and what I can't i I can." When the correspondent • conplimented her on her neat poem, ' he was surprised to learn that sho : had written the sentence entirely - unaware of the very clever play on ■ words she had perpetrated. Eleven different kinds of weeds I were identified by a friend who is s interested in botany on one block ■ of North Front street which is not ' built up a few days ago. These weeds I include some which are most easily s eradicated and some which are a 1 pest with variations. Some of tli i weeds, this man pointed out, couhX > only thrive when they escaped. •. Others, he said, were evidently car t ried from the country. The fac® i remains that failure to keep vacant ■ lots trimmed enables some of the 1 most annoying weeds to flower and • scatter seeds, just as do dandelions, • and when the time comes to make • a garden It is trouble, and expensive. ill" WELL KNOWN PEOPLE l f —Dr. W. H. Lewis, head of the 1 William Penn High School is to ad -1 dress the Lackawanna county teach | ers next week. 1 —Judge John M. Garman, of ' Wllkes-Barre, will address the \Vy -1 oming county grangers at their ' meeting Saturday. " —Governor William C. SprouJ has been invited to attend the annual f meeting of the Federation of Wo -1 men's Blubs at Scranton in October. 1 —Captain William Mayer, return " ed from overseas duty, will com ; mand Troop Bof the State Police. • He served in the military police' 7 abroad. 1 —William H. Menges, prominent • in Luther League affairs, will pre -3 side at the State meeting at Lehigh • ton. \ |DO YOU KNOW ( 3 —That Harrisburg sells big I quantities of shoes for export 5 every year? . t ' HISTORIC HARRISBURG —ln old days Paxton Creek wa|f ' a big source of power for grlat mlUtv
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers