12
HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH
A. HEWSrEPER FOR THE HOME
Founded 18S1
Published evenings except Sunday by
THE TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO.
Telegraph Building, Fed-ml Square
E. J. STACKPOLE
President and Editor-in-Chief
F. R. OYSTER, Business Manager
OUS. M. STF.INMETZ, Managing Editor j
A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager
Executive Board
/. P. McCULLOUGH,
BOYD M. OGLESBY,
F. R. OYSTER. .
GUS. M. STEINMETZ. j
Members of the Associated Press—The
Associated Press is exclusively en- j
titled to the use for republication j
of all news dispatches credited to j
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.
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PI Newspaper Pub- '
Ilishers' Associa
tion. the Audit j
Bureau of Circu
lation and Penn
sylvania Associa
ated Dallies.
Eastern office
Story. Brooks &
Avenue Building, j
New York City:
Western office. .
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Gas Building :
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Entered at the Post Office in Harris- |
burg. Pa., as second class matter. j
By carrier, ten cents a
week: by mail. >3.00 a
year in advance.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT, 3. 1919
I am responsible before God for
the tcork I might have done and did
not do. —R. A. TOIIREY.
ABOL'T ANNEXATION
WHAT is being .lone to pro
mote the annexation of adja
cent boroughs in the move
ment started some time ago by the
Chamber of Commerce? We must
have action soon or it will be too
late to do anything at the November
elections. One borough, at least, is
ready to fall into the arms of Har
risburg. Paxtang is willing at any
time to become a part of the city.
What is being done byway of ex
tending a welcome.
L At the outset of his taking over the
Lrallroads Mr. McAdoo declared war on
private pass evil among families
of'railroad officials. Yet in a report
from Director General Hines to the
Senate on the number of railroad and
Pullman passes issued to officials of,
the railroads and their families and j
outstanding as cf July 1. 1919. Mr. Mc- i
Adoo, his wife, who is a daughter of
President Wilson: his son, Robert H.
McAdoo. and a daughter. Miss S. Mc-
Adoo. are listed in the report as Pull
man pass holders. Mr. McAdoo is de
scribed in the listing as "special coun
sel for the State of New York." Thou
sands of passes are declared to have
been issued during the McAdoo
regime. Seems to be a question of;
"Me and my son. John." etc.
THIS IS NOT RUSSIA
JAMES MAL'RER convinces no
body that he is the victim of a
State Department "frame-up"
by "absolving himself of all blame"
for whatever may be found in his
baggage. In the first place, the State
Department never has attempted to
"frame-up" anybody and, secondly,
Maurer is not so important as to
become the subject of international
intrigue. What is in his baggage
remains to be seen, but nobody be
lieves that the United States Gov
ernment has had any hand in adding
to or taking from the trunks as
packed by their owner. This is not
Russia.
MENACE OF DISEASE
THERE seems practically no dif
ference of opinion among city
and county officials regarding
the importance of a joint contagious
disease hospital, but no definite plan
has yet been adopted for the erec
tion and maintenance of the pro
posed institution. Through the co
operation of Colonel Martin, head of
the State Department of Health, and
his associates a design for a proper
building of the sort needed here lias
been submitted to the city and
county officials and been discussed
at one or two conferences.
1J is the hope of the State health
officials that Harrisburg may become
/•J model city with respect to sani
tation and all safeguards for con
serving the health of the people. To
this end the city and county authori
ties will undoubtedly co-operate with
the Commonwealth and we may con
fidently expect that within a short
time some definite agreement will be
leached for the erection of the hos
pital so much needed artd as a
proper precaution against a recur
rence of any such epidemic as the
influenza of last year.
Harrisburg and the county cannot
afford to weigh the cost as against
the health and safety of the com
munity. While due consideration
must be given the expenditures of
the public funds, the greater respon
sibility of the care and welfare of
the people must have first place in
the decision of the problem now
waiting solution.
Such an institution as Is under
consideration should no longer be
discussed as a "pest" house. Wo
have gone far along the road beyond
that point. The hospital which must
be provided for the treatment of
contagious diseases should he one
with modern equipment, so that the
very best care may be given those
suddenly overtaken by a communi
cable disease. Every citizen has an
interest in this matter as every citi
zen is in danger of contact with cou
I
WEDNESDAY EVENING, HARRESBTTRG TELEGRXPEC SEPTEMBER 3, 1919.
tagrion of one sort or another. Of
course, such a building would involve
a considerable expenditure, but we
do not always put in cold figures the
monetary loss to a community
through the invasion of death or ill
ness of the people.
We believe that the citizens of
Harrisburg and the county will ap
prove any proper action on the part
of the authorized officials, and, as
epidemics and disease have no
schedule, the importance of a prompt
decision is obvicus.
Harrisburg is delighted to have as j
jits guests this week the postmasters;
!of Pennsylvania. They will find here;
' at the seat of government of an im- j
j peria! Commonwealth no mean city, j
1 and here's hoping that every moment '
I of their leisure during the sessions of
j the organization may be a further op- j
| portunity on the part of these men of
j letters to inspect Harrisburg and
I learn more of what we are all happy j
! to believe is a modern and progressive >
| community.
GET YOUR PETITIONS j
ET your Daylight Saving peti- j
tions!
They are ready for you at
the Telegraph office, and may be had
by anybody who cares to circulate
them. If inconvenient for you to
call, send your name and address
and a blank petition will be mailed
Ito you. Fill it with the signatures
'of your friends and return to the
Telegraph as soon as possible.
The Third Class City League,
adopting the resolution offered by
Mayor Daniel L. Keister. has taken
a big step forward in Daylight Sav
ing. All of the cities of Harrisburg's
class throughout the State are now
pledged to work out a plan whereby
the extra hour of daylight we now
enjoy may be saved to us next year.
Back up the delegates to the Thirtl
Class City convention by going on
record as favoring a continuance of
the evening hour of light, without
which the twilight baseball leagues
will go out of existence, countless
home-gardens will be blotted out
and a great measure of pleasure and
recreation taken from the working
people of the country-
Get your blank petition at once.
Fill it with signers and send it back
to the Telegraph. There is no time
to lose.
HANSON GOES FISHING
/{T AM tired out and am going
I fishing." said the fighting
mayor of Seattle, in explana
tion of his resignation. Mayor
Hanson became famous a year ago
when anarchists set out to take over
the city. When matters reached a
critical stage, Mayor Hanson sup
pressed the revolution by the prompt
exercise of common sense and cour
age. With one thousand extra police
armed with rifles and shotguns and
with instructions to shoot on sight
anyone causing disorder, Seattle |
rapidly became an extremely peace- j
ful and orderly city.
"It was an attempt at revolution i
which the Bolshevik element ex- j
pected to spread all over the United ;
States." said the retiring mayor. "It •
never got to first base and it never
will if the men in control of affairs
will tell all traitors and anarchists
that death will be their portion if l
they start anything." •
It is the opinion of Mayor Hanson
that the labor unions must cleanse
themselves of the anarchistic ele
ment or suffer in public esteem. He
takes the position that the first duty
of the citizen is to maintain law and
order, and that union men and busi
ness men and churchmen must first
of all be citizens. Concluding his
comment on the Seattle episode, as
printed at the same time, he said: |
Let the National Government
stop pandering to and conciliating
the men who talk against it. Let
us clean up the United States of
America. Let all men stand up
and be counted, if the majority
of the people of this country are
disloyal and owe superior allegi
ance to some other country,
or some other cause, now is the
time to find it out. We refuse
to treat with those revolution
ists. Unconditional surrender are
our only terms.
In dealing with the Bolsheviki
during the hectic period of the out
break at Seattle, Mayor Hanson de
clared that with this element there
should be fewer conferences and
more cemeteries.
The most favorable indication of
returning sanity throughout the
country is the unmistakable trend of
intelligent protest among working
men themselves against anarchistic
and unreasonable demonstrations
growing out of wage disputes. There
is also a disposition to enforce labor
agreements and to discourage recent
tendencies toward disregard of com
pacts between employers and em
ployes. The light is breaking in
many places and peace may not be
so far away as it has seemed re
cently. Let's get back to common
sense and fair play in our dealing
with each other and the old world
will not look nearly so blue.
But we can't all go fishing.
There has recently been introduced
in Congress a bill to authorize the
Secretary of War to produce for sale
duplicate negatives and prints of mo
tion pictures, lantern slides and . en
largement of still pictures in the pos
session and control of the department.
This would seem to be a most 'Com
mendable move, inasmuch as the peo
ple of the United States ought to be
able to see for themselves what trans
pired In Europe from the time the
Yanks arrived In France until they re
turned home, and they are the owners
of the films.
Ik
By the Ex-Commlttccman
Attention of men who follow poli
tics in Pennsylvania is being turned
somewhat toward Harrisburg to-day
because of the gathering in tl.e
State Capital of the postmasters of
Pennsylvania. In fact, what de
velops here the next few days will
divide interest with the registration
in various cities. The postmasters
assembled'here are the most repre
sentative gathering of Democrats of
the Keystone State to meet here
since the session of the Democratic
State committee. Just us in 1915
their convention is regarded as the
occasion for high party councils.
This year the scouts of the Demo
cratic State committee bosses have
been out sounding the sentiment of
the leaders of county and lesser size
to see whether the party machine
in Pennsylvania was seriously dam
aged by the Bonniweil insurrection
of last year. The truth is that it
was and it will now be ascertained
what the postmasters and the vari
ous leaders who will gather here
with them think about it
Another important matter will be
what the Democrats at large think
of the possibility of the president
running again as some folks appear
to believe he plans to do as a re
sult of his recent suggestions on
living, labor and laws. But still
more important will be to discover
whether the Democrats of the State
are for A. Mitchell Palmer, Attor
ney General of the United States, in
sufficient number to warrant liim
making a fight for the delegation
from the Keystone State to the
next National Democratic Conven
tion.
Some of the best known Demo
crats of the State are here to-day
and the gathering reminds one of a
Democratic State committee meet
ing day.
—Two weeks from to-day the pri
mary election for the nomination of
I candidates for nine county offices
and a Judgeship will take place. For
these designations there are no
fewer than forty-five aspirants, most
of whose faces are now adorning
telegraph telephone and all other
poles that mark the arteries of travel
throughout the county," says the
Wilkes-Barre Record.
—The return of Paul J. Sherwood's
name to the ballot after a brief ab
sence has renewed interest in the
judicial situation.
—The Altoona Tribune gives ex
pression to this relief: "Thus far
in the campaign for the Republican
nomination for city and county of
fices there has been a decided ab
sence of bitterness. The mud-sling
ing tactics of the past have been
widely discarded and each aspirant is
running on his own merits. The ex
ceptions to this rule have been com
paratively trivial. We are pleased
to observe the situation and trust
the present amicable rivalry may
continue for all the future."
—Jesse W. Bower, Williamsport,
assistant city assessor, has been ap
pointed an inspector of the State
Department of Inspection by Clifford
B. Connelley, acting commissioner
of the department of labor and In
dustry. He reported for duty yes
terday.
—One Scranton Republican says'.
"Referee George V. Beemer, of the
third State Workmen's Compensa
tion Board district has entered the
field at the solicitation of his many
friends for nomination as council
man of the borough of Clark's Sum
mit. There are five councilmen to
be chosen by the people at the fall
elections and with the entrance of
Mr. Beemer in the race twelve candi
dates have now filed notice of in
tentions to make a play for votes
at the primaries that will determine
whether or not their names will ap
pear on the regular tickets in Nov
ember. Mr. Beemer has been a
resident of Clark's Summit for about
twenty-five years. He is one of the
heaviest property owners In the bor
ough. and previous to appointment
as referee for t)ie compensation
board, becoming effective January 1.
1916, he was for years superinten
dent of the Hillside Home. In poli
tics Mr. Beemer is a Republican.
—Congressman B. K. Focht, of
the Seventeenth district, has at
tracted much attention by san e re
marks on the wood pulp situation
regarding newsprint and the. likeli
hood of greatly increased prices,
with the curtailment of supply; "I
was a member of Congress," said
Mr. Focht. "when the reciprocity
treaty was up for consideration, and
to which I observed a 'snaky' look
ing rider respecting the tariff on
wood pulp and sulphide under a
cost price of four cents per pound.
This repealer was evidently over
looked by President Taft who urged
the passage of the reciprocity meas
ure against the wish of a majority
of tin. Republicans then in the
House. The treaty, it will be real
ized, was rejected by Canada, but
the wood pulp repealer became oper
ative. The market in this country
was supplied by an abundance of
newsprint material from the Domin
ion, but it was not long until the
newsprint plants of this country
moved to Canada and then the prices
ot' the article commenced to climb.
We now have the same result with
news paper Just as it will be with all
other commodities which are allow
ed to come into this country with
out duty tariff standing against
them."
—The Pittsburgh Gazette-Times
has coined a new name for the fol
lowers of the Leslte-Babcock com
bination calling them Maxmen. The
contest for the county nominations
in Allegheny is waxing very strong
and the registration next week will
be a big one.
—Some of the Democratic lead
ers throughout the State are said
to have told Palmer's pathfinders
that it is not going to be an easy
thing to line up the Democrats for
him and that the disaffection in
the rank and file is strong, while
there is little doubt of the strength
of the Bonniweil faction.
—The Democratic State machine
lis now being overhauled in the
windmill preparatory to going out
on a collection tour which will start
here during the coming week.
—Several efforts to cut down the
number of councilmen in boroughs
under new laws have been started
In various counties. In Columbia
county the effort to reduce coun
cilmen from three to a ward to two
was thrown out of court because
candidates had filed petitions.
—The North American says that
Governor Sproul is interested in
the re-election of Mayor W. S. Mc-
Dowell, of Chester, who was a
marshal of part of the Inaugural
parade, and against Representa
tive William T. Ramsey, who is
fighting McDowell.
The Day of the Lord
The great day of the Lord is near,
it is flear, and hasteth greatly, even
the voice of the Lord: the mighty
man shall crv then bitterly.
Zephanlah 1, 14. x,
MOVIE OF A MAN "HOLDING THE WIRE" By BRIGGS
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No Wonder Germany Qait
By MAJOR FRANK C. MAHXN !
Of the Army Recruiting Station
"When Stephen Montgolfler and ;
his brother Joseph, in November,
1782 sent a sheep, a rooster, and a
duck into the sky, lifted by a paper I
bag inflated with hot air, these i
Columbuses of ballooning could !
scarcely forsee the importance that
their invention was to have in the
great war 135 years later. "To the
humble observation balloon in
France rather than to his dashing
hero of a cousin, the airplane, must
go the chief credit for that marvel
ous accuracy which long-range ar
tillery attained during the great :
struggle. The balloon itself was |
spectacular enough once its true
character was known. The fact that
the American production of obser
vation balloons during our nineteen
months as a belligerent was a com
plete and unqualified success makes
the story of ballooning in France of I
particular interest to the American |
reader. After the animals of the j
Montgolfler barnyard had made as- I
cent, two friends of the brothers, M.
Pilatre de Rozier and Girond de !
Villette, essayed to be the first hu
man beings to take an aerial flight,
ascendiqg to a height of 300 feet and
returning to earth sound of limb
and body. Thereafter and until the
great war in Europe the balloon
remained the awe of the circus and
country fair grounds and the delight
of the handful of sportsmen who
took up the adventurous pursuit;
but, except for a litited use of cap
tive balloons in our Civil War and
in the siege of Paris, in 1870 and
1871, the baloon had no important
military use. The hot-air balloon
never could have become of great
value to armies. In the first place,
it would descend when the balloon
cooled off. This defect was over
come by the use of lighter-than-air
gas. Moreover, the free balloon was
subject to the whims of the breezes.
To overcome this characteristic the
balloon must be fastened by a cable
or propelled by a portable engine.
It was obvious, however, to military
experts that a stationary observation
post anchored thousands of feet in
the air would be ideal in war opera
tions; yet for all of this obvious
need, until the great war military
science had perfected nothing bet
ter than the spherical balloon. The
spherical, anchored to a cable, bob- !
bed aloft in the gales and zephyrs
as a cork does on the ocean waves.
Although there had been some ex
perimentation with kite balloons be
fore 1914, it was not until the great
war had been in progress for some
months that the principles of
stream—line shape were applied to
the captive balloon; and the kite
balloon, the well-known "sausage."
made its appearance, to be the tar
get for enemy aerial operations and
the chief dependence of its own ar
tillery. The term "kite balloon" ef
fectively describes the captive ob
servation balloon as we knew it in
the war. It rides the air on the
end of its cable much in the manner
of an ordinary kite, and some of
the early "sausages" even flaunted
steadying tails such as kites carry.
These principles applied to the cap
tive balloon gave to its observation
basket a stability unknown by the
pioneer aeronaut under their spher
ical bags. In the first stages of the
war the artillery relied principally
could locate the targets fairly well,
upon airplanes for firing directions.
But, while the airplane observers
they frequently lost touch with their
batteries because of the difficulty of
sending and receiving wirelesss or
visual signals upon their swiftly
moving craft. This disadvantage
brought the captive balloon into use,
gradually at first, but before the
end of the war on a scale which
had practically displaced the air
plane as a director of gun fire. The
balloon came to be the very eye of
the artillery, which, thanks to the
development of this apparatus, re
ciprocated with an efficiency beyond
anything known before in the his
tory of warfare. The balloon pro
duction was one of the most import
ant and successful of all our war
projects. Although we had a limit
ed knowledge of the subject in the
beginning, our balloons stood the
hard test of actual service and could
bear comparison in every way with
the best balloons of Europe, where
the art of balloon building had been
in existence for many years. Once
our production actually started, we
never had any shortage of balloons
for our own army: and soon we
j would have been in a position to
I produce the observation balloons for
I all of the armies fighting Germany,
, if called upon to do so.
FEW MEN CONSIDER DEATH
Only a Surprisingly Small Proportion of Persons Leave Wills.
[Bruce Barton in Collier's Weekly.]
: —■—:: — 1
ONE who is at all curious in such|
matters cannot fail to be j
amazed at the inconsequential \
fashion in which men transmit the
money that has represented the j
work and savings of their lives.
Death, like birth, is an inevitable
fact in human experience; yet the
average man lives as though he weie
to be the one exception to the com
mon rule and might conHdently ex- J
pect to live forever. In nine cases |
out of ten he does not take even the
rudimentary precaution of making a
will.
One of the larger trust companies
in New York recently made an ex
amination of the records of the sur
rogate's court in New York County j
and discovered that the average
number of wills offered there for
probate hardly exceeds 2.50U a year.
Assuming that the population of the
county is two million, and that the
death rate is 5 per cent, this would
mean that less than 3 per cent, of
the men and women who die in the
community where wealth is popu
| larly supposed to be the subject of
! universal concern make any provi
! sion whatever for the distribution of
their property, or its safeguarding
after their death. That this repre
sents a general situation throughout
the country is indicated by the es
timate of a recent investigator, who
states that "more than 9 7 per cent,
of Americans die without making a
will."
There are two reasons for this, of
course. In the first place, as Cicero
long ago pointed out, "no one is so
old as to think that he may not
live a year." If it be winter, the
average man, of any age, is sure
that he will carry on to see the
robins return and to breathe fresh
life with the spring; and in summer
he knows full well that he is not
destined to pass out until he has
harvested this year's garden crop.
| It was so in Cicero's time; it is to
j day. Death is never imminent: wo
j take a day off to attend the funeral
Governor Sproul
[From the Salt Lake Tribune.]
Governor Sproul of Pennsylvania j
is of presidental size, in the opinion J
of all who came in contact with the j
chief executive of the Keystone !
State during his visit to Salt Lake !
I and the intermountain country.
The Governor is a Republican j
| from the ground up and a practical j
man of much more than ordinary j
ability. He has the good will and j
respect of the citizens of his home !
State without regard to politics and
would make- an invincible candidate
if put forward by the Republican
party for the office of President.
Many men have been mentioned
in connection with the Republican
nomination next year but so far
there does not appear to be any
pronounced favorite. A poll taken
by the Portland Oregonian showed
former President Taft In the lead
in the Webfoot State, while Gov
ernor Lowden will be the favorite
son of' Illinois In the next conven
tion.
The names of other good and
strong men have been suggested, but
we feel sure that none of them is
more worthy of the high honor than
Governor Sproul of Pennsylvania.
Pleasing to Republicans
[From the Philadelphia Press.]
The Democratic demand for the
removal of Burleson for the good j
of the party, which has been rolling i
into Washington for months, got so \
big and noisy that even the Presi- j
I dent heard about it, and now it is j
announced that he will stand by .
Burleson. We expect this will be
a popular decision with Republt- i
cans, who cannot much object to
having Burleson carried Into the
next Presidential campaign.
Won't Help Germany
[From the Philadelphia Record.]
Some Senators are unduly excit
ed over the probability that von
Ludendorff's book will be published
in this country. They profess to
see in It German propaganda that
might Infect the American mind and
corrode our morality. What we
have seen of extracts from the re
collections and romances of von
Ludendorff, von Jagow and von
Bethmann-Holiweg would not help
the reputation of Germany much.
I of the man whose desk was next tc
i ours in the office, and returning from I
' the cemetery we say to ourselves: j
j "1 ought to put my affairs in shape:
|so that my wife will be all right j
;in case anything should happen to!
: me." But we do not do it. "I'm I
I right in the midst of things now," |
we say. "In another ten years I'll
have something worth writing down |
in a will. Then'l'll want to think!
the matter over carefully and ar-
I range a fair division between my
I j wife and the children and the rela
; tives; but it's hardly worth while
: troubling about now." The mau in
• the Scriptures is typical of most ofj
! us. "Things are going well with
j me," he said, in effect; "I will pull |
l down my barns and build greater." ]
j And that night his soul was re
! quired of him.
1 And the second reason why will
i making is not popular is because
there is a general impression that a
will is a luxury for the rich. It is
expected that Mr. Million, when he
dies, will leave his estate carefully
guarded by a long legal document;
but the man who has nothing but!
j a house and lot and five hundred I
dollars in the bank assumes that it!
isn't enough to bother the court j
; about. So he dies, and his wife,
who might, under a proper will,
! have entered into the enjoyment of
• his estate at once, with very little
illegal formality, finds herself com
. ! pelled to give bond, and go through
i'an immense amount of red tape; and
is fortunate If she is not involved
f; in a family feud before the nego
tiations are completed. Even if she
i comes through safely, she has paid
L more than she can afford in feesi
II and charges all of which would i
; 1 have been largely obviated by a
: | proper will.
i j The rich man's estate will stand it.
:; There will be enough left for his
t heirs even after the courts and law
- yers are through. A will for him
. is more or less of a luxury; but it
-lis a necessity to the man of small
j I means; and the smaller the estate
1 i the more essential.
The Cottonwood
"Sleep on, all's well,' the Cotton
wood says,
i As it flutters in the breeze.
Towering a silent monitor
Above the neighbor trees.
ilt gets scant praise from nursery -
j man, ,
j Though 'tis a friendly tree;
[ It sighs and murmurs all day long,
It sings to you and me.
Each gentle zephyr starts Us leaves
To trembling on the tree,
While a breeze will set them spin
ning
"Like fairies mad with glee."
A gale brings wild commotion.
The cottonwood bows its head.
The leaves whirl like "green butter
flies,"
A few short years, 'tis dead.
But its life, while short, is joyous,
So 'tis a happv friend;
Welcome the kindly cottonwood.
And love it to the end.
Annie L. Daen
The Fighting Christian
[From the New York World.]
When American soldiers went to
France each was provided with a
copy of the New Testament, and
i as a result France now wants 20,000
j French New Testaments. Cromwell's
! pikemen may not each have had a
i Testament but they believed in It,
j and the Roundheads "hummed a
I surly hymn" as they went Into ac
| tion and gave such an account of
i themselves that their fame spread
through Europe. Sergeant York is
; another famous example of what a
Christian can do when he is fighting
mad.
Just a Little Problem
[Kansas City Times.]
Congress now hopes to remedy
the excess profits tax so the dealer,
and not the consumer, will have to
pay it. If Congress can succeed in
doing that, all other little problems
like perpetual motion and making
water run up hill and keeping wo
men from talking too much will be
taken up and solved and progress
will have no further direction In
which to progress.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR j
A Road Protest
To the Editor of the Telegraph:
The people of Mifflin county and
the traveling public generally will
be pleased to have the Telegraph
publicly voice a crying grievance
occasioned by the neglect of the
State Highway Department to make
a road fit for travel of that section
of the William Penn Highway be
tween Lewistown and McVeytown,
so it can be dignified by the title
"State Road," instead of disgraced
by it as is the fact in its present
deplorable condition.
The season for road making is
fast waning, and up to this time
a very limited and insufficient
amount of work has been projected
or accomplished, notwithstanding
reiterated promises by the depart
ment to put it in good travel con
dition this summer.
On a recent Sunday, over a hun
dred automobiles bumped over the
holes, ruts, and washouts of this
section of State road, which if it
were still under township super
vision would have been reported to
court long ago.
The condemnation of it by tour
ists is general, and accompanied
by considerable force of expression.
The W. P. Highway is acknowledged
to be the only direct route from the
east to Mt. Union, Huntingdon, and
the west, and between its connec
tions with permanent State roads,
construction deserves more con
sideration than it has yet received,
at least so far as the link In it re
ferred to is concerned, which is
i only an excuse for a road, a dis
| comfort and added expense to all
who travel this way.
JUSTICE.
Post Office Pay
[From the New York Sun.]
i Civil service employes of the post
offices presented an argument to the
President which may deserve public
attention, although Mr. Wilson by
his response to the employes' rep
resentatives seemed to give it no
weight. He classed postal clerks
and carriers with railway shopmen,
saying that they, too, should wait
for relief by a lowered cost of living.
This, those who appealed to the
President assert, ignores the fact
that postal employes have not been
benefited by pay increases a s have
the shopmen; that the clerks and
carriers, receiving but a trifle more
now than they did during many pre
war years, are still paid from 30
per cent, to 40 per cent, less than
shopmen and therefore have that
much less with which to buy food
and clothing for their families.
If the President's decision is
adopted by Congress, which is en
gaged in an investigation of the
pay of postal civil service employes,
it is probable that many large post
offices already handicapped in ef
ficiency by the retirement of old and
skilled employes and by inability
to obtain competent men to replace
them will be badly crippled by still
more numerous losses of experienced
clerks and carriers who will seek
jobs in better paid service.
Correctly Stated
[From the New York Sun.]
To call General Pershing's refusal
to testify on Saturday in Paris be
fore the Sub-Committee on Expendi
tures in the War Department an
exhibition of "indifference and con
tempt for the wishes of the people,"
as Representative Bland of the com
mittee does, seems, under the cir
cumstances, to characterize it with
undue harshness. The committee
called General Pershing on the eve
of his departure for home. Its sum
mons reached him after his records
and files were packed for shipment.
He was busy winding up the affairs,
military business and social, of an
army of 2,000.000 men in a foreign
country. He could not have exact
ness and certitude the committee
would naturally desire and expect
and there was not sufficient time
for him to satisfy the committee
men even with generalities on the
subjects concerning which they
sought enlightenment.
| DO YOU KNOW
—That Harrisburg distributes
mail supplies to more than a
score of towns?
HISTORIC HARRISBURG
—The first branch post office was
opened in the Capitol in the thir
ties.
lEwntng (Efjat
The city of Harrisburg which has
again as its guests, the State Post
masters' Association, has been a
center of postal activity for moro
than 150 years, although it was not
until 1791, six years after the town
of Harrisburg was laid out on the
settlement made by John Harris,
some fifty years before, that the
j United States formally established
| a post office here. There have been
j eighteen postmasters, some of them
' men of unusual capacity, farseeina.
securing for Harrisburg the facili-
I tics which make it to-day the dis
j tribution point for mail and sup
| plies for many towns around. 1>
| the number there has been one
I postmistress, who was a woman of
| marked ability and who held office
| for eight years. There have been
at least ten places definitely located
for post office uses in Harrisburg
and the present Federal building,
Jointly used by other Federal d*
partments, dates back some forty
years. Away back in French and
Italian war days, Harrisburg was a
post station where horses were to
be had for the coaches which canto
by occasionally with official letters
and such letters as were intended
for the hardy colonists in the Cum
berland valley. The post road, if
it could be called such, was the
Lancaster pike which was extended
to Harrisburg about 1740. John
Harris' ferry, the first enterprise of
Harrisburg, furnished the means
for these early coaches to cross the
Susquehanna and continued down
through the Revolution to be a link
in the cross-county transportation
system with ever increasing im
portance. There are frequent ref
erences in old letters to the arrival
of a post coach from Philadelphia
and of wondering when the next
would leave the Ferry for the me
tropolis on the Delaware. Acco
ing to well authenticated records
Garlisle and Lancaster were the
points from which Harrisburg got
its postal service supervision for a
few years after the Post Office De
partment was established under
Franklin.
This first Harrisburg post office
was secured in 1791 and John Mont
gomery. a member of a prominent
family, was named as postmaster.
A few years later John W. Allen,
one of the owners of the "Oracle of
Dauphin," the first newspaper to
be printed here, was named as post
master, but only held the place a
few months when John Wyetli, the
first Harrisburg newswriter pub
lisher of the "Oracle" and book
seller, very much of .a prominent
citizen judging from the old news
papers and records, was appointed.
Mr. Wyeth had the office at his
printing office in South Second
street in the vicinity of Mulberry,
then a very busy part of Harris
burg. Once owing to some rush
of work he moved the office to his
residence at Second and Mulberry.
John Wyeth was an appointee of
George Washington and gave wav
in 179 8 to John Wright, the school
master. It is interesting to note
that the office was moved around
from house to house, but always
was in South Second street or in
Mulberry or Chestnut for ten years
after it was established. Most of
the time it was in the residence of
the postmaster. Mr. Wright was
the first postmaster to move it "up
town" and he is said to have locat
ed it at Front and Walnut streets
because the "upper ferry" which
was also known as "Maclay's." was
used for the coaches to cross the
river. This "upper" ferry is not
much heard of, but was quite an
enterprise for some years being lo
cated above State street. Mr.
W right was succeeded by his wife,
who was given the handsome sal
ary of >sou a year, the increase be
ing granted her because the State
government having come here in
1814, there was a business jump.
Mrs. Wright is announced in news
papers of 1822 as having moved the
post office to South Market Square.
She died a year or so later and is
given respectful mention in the
early newspapers.
• •
James Peacock, one of the found
ers of the Harrisburg Public Li
brary and whose portrait is in the
present Library, was the third
newspaper man to become post
master of Harrisburg. He publish
ed the Republican, and was ap
pointed by the promulgator of the
Monroe Doctrine. He held office
for over twenty years and moved
the post office around considerably,
the locations having been in Front
street near Market, in Second
street near Walnut, Third and Loc
ust, where it was to be located
years after and finally he bought
k'o. 7 North Market Square and
located the office there. From all
accounts Isaac McKinley continued
! that location, but A. J. Jones mov
ed it to the site of the Market
Square Presbyterian Church, which
was then a banking and business
building. John H. Brandt, remem
bered by o'der citizens, held the of
fice for a time and Dr. George W.
Porter, who was appointed by
James Buchanan moved the office
to the Porter residence in Market
street near Fourth. The post office
was moved twice under George
Bergner, the publisher of the Har
risburg Telegraph, who took office
under Lincoln, but remained in
Market street. He finally located
it at 314 where it remained many
years; in fact, until it was located
in the present building. This was
authorized in 1875. construction be
gun in 1877 and completed in 1882,
being enlarged in the last ten years.
The office was temporarily located
in the old P. K, Boyd residence at
Third and Locust, northwest cor
ner, during the remodeling.
Mr. Bergner was out of office a
year during which General J. F.
t Knipe held the place. Mr. Bergner
died after his reappointment and
Henry Gilbert filled the office until
an agreement could be made upon
a postmaster which fell upon M.
W. McAlarney, publisher of the
Harrisburg Telegraph, who held of
fice for eleven years and among
whose successors have been no less
than three men connected with
newspapers, including the late Hon.
B. F. Meyers, the noted Democratic
chieftain. William Rodearmel and
E. J. Stackpole. immediate prede
cessor of the present P. M.
| WELL KNOWN PEOPLE ~
—Postmaster John A. Thornton,
of Philadelphia, prominent in this
week's convention here, has been
an activ? factor in Philadelphia
politics for years.
—Ex-Mayor Jacob E. Weaver, of
York, has been elected head of 'the
York county firemen.
—Judge Isaac Johnson, of Dela
ware county, was speaker at the
opening of the Darby celebration.
—William Findlay Brown, assist
ant district attorney of Philadel
phia, has returned from a visit ta
the seashore. '