10
HARUSBURG TELEGRAPH
A VI VWSPAJPER FOR THE HOME
Founded 1831
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X. J. STACK POLE
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Executive Board
X. P. McCULLOUGH,
BOYD M. OGLESBY,
F. R. OYSTER.
GUS. M. STEINMETZ.
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WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 17, 1919
True happiness
Consists not in the multitude of
friends
But in the trorth and choice. —BEN
JOHNSON.
PRIMARY RESULTS
THE returns of the primary
elections in Harrisburg and
Dauphin county yesterday
forecast a great Republican victory
at the general elections in Novem
ber. More than that, they prove
most conclusively that the rank
and file of the voters in both city
and county very distinctly favor the
present Republican party manage
ment in this district and endorse the
organization's choice of men to rep
resent the party in public office. Be
yond that, even, is the fact that
there can be no mudslinging in the
coming campaign, and, without ex
ception, the Republicans nominated
are above reproach and worthy of
support.
From the very outstart the at
tempt to create a factional split in
the party was ill-advised and cer
tain of defeat. The organization as
at present constituted has not in a
single instance sponsored a candi
date who has not made good in of
fice. The weaJtness of the Demo
cratic party in thie county is very
largely attributed to the fact that
the courthouse has been well man
aged and that the leaders of the
opposition have not been able to
find anything to criticise adversely
in the conduct of county affairs in
recent years.
Honesty and efficiency in office are
all the average voter wants. That
is what party organization is for,
and so long as an organization de
clines to give its support to any but
capable men of good reputation the
majority of that party's adherents
may be expected to stand by it. This
is what happened in the city and
county this time. Republicans,
greatly in the majority, have ob
served that the organization candi
dates in past years have handled
their offices well and honestly and
they have rallied to the support of
those men who this time have had
organization endorsement, believing,
and very properly so, that this con
stituted the mark of a good man.
So many candidates come forward
in the open primaries that a trust
worthy political leadership performs
a distinct public service when it does
what W. Harry Baker, as chairman
of the candidates' committee, and
lieutenant-Governor E. E. Beidle-
Triin did previous to the primaries.
In effect they said: "We are among
i the leaders of the Republican party
tn Harrisburg and Dauphin county.
We have been entrusted with the
weU&re of the party management
here. We are responsible to a very
considerable degree for the favor or
disfavor with which the Republi
cans of city and county hold the
party. For the sake of the party
and our own leadership, if for no
other reason, we must see to it that
good men are nominated, if possible.
Therefore, we have chosen from the
ttaAd those we believe to be best suit
ed for the places to which they
aspire and we endorse them. They
are as follows,'' and then they gave
to the public a list of those candi
dates who appear as winners in yes
terday's primaries
It was all in the open. There was
no concealment anywhere. Their
leadership had been challenged and
they came back with a request for
indication at the hands of the
'Wtoee. That they were vindicated
a Stance at the primary returns will
•how.
And what an outpouring of Re
publicans it was! How discouraging
ttte figures must be to the Demo
cratic bosses! How pitiful the hand
ful of votes their candidates receiv
ed as compared with the tremen
dous totals which the Republicans
rolled up. It is a noticeable fact
that the defeated Republicans, al-
DMt to a man polled more votes
than the victorious Democrats. The
art MttUy, satisfactory to
WEDNESDAY EVENING.
the Republican electorate. The big
gest Republican off-year victory in
the history of city and county ts
assured.
LET US HAVE IT
PROPOSALS that the President of
the United States be made a
member of the American Fed
eration of Labor and that all strikes
now In progress throughout the
country be immediately cancelled in
order to meet the present "perilous
situation" by which the "foundations
of our free democratic Government
are threatened," are novel, to say
the least. Just what advantage the
public would gain through member
ship in the Federation for President
Wilson it is rather difficult to deter
mine. The President does and
should stand between the employer
and the employe, between capltul
and labor, as the champion of the
public. His judgment should be as
free and unbiased as is possible, and
! membership in any union, whether
jit be that of employers or employes.!
; would hardly tend in that direction. I
I But there can be no contention I
| with the proposal to declare an in
jdustrial truce for six months. In
that time capital would be able to
j get its breath and the President
j would have demonstrated what it is
j possible to do in the way of reduc
ing the high cost of living. Both
sides would receive advantages
through such an arrangement.
It must be perfectly clear to every
body that so long as wages are in
definitely increased so long prices
will continue to advance, and strikes, i
which reduce production, always
have a bad effect on the market by
decreasing the supply, increasing the
I demand and, therefore, advancing
the costs. If business for the next
six months were able to adjust itself
to the existing conditions without
the constant fear of fresh demands
or cessation of production and the
President is at all successful in his
fight to lower living costs, we should
face whatever demands develop by
that time on a new foundation with
much more opportunity for sane
judgment than is now possible. By
all means, for the sake of both em
ployer and employe, let us have this
truce.
THE HIGH SCHOOL*
THE School Board is moving
along popular lines when it
plans for the erection of the
proposed new high school on the
Hoffman Woods site. There are two
reasons why no time should be lost
in this development. In the first
place, the old Central High School is
no longer fit for the purposes to
which it is being put, while the
Technical High School building is
very badly needed for additional
junior high school uses.
Once the school pupils of the city
are all quartered on the Hoffman
Woods site, it will be possible to use
the Technical school structure to
house all of the seventh, eighth and
ninth grade girls and boys of the
central part of town in the Technical
school, remodeled to meet the needs
of those grades, which will give Har
risburg three modern junior high
school buildings of sufficient capacity
to take care of our needs for six or
eight years and will combine the
high schools in a way that will give
the students of those grades what
will amount to all the advantages
they would receive did they attend
any one of a hundred of the minor
colleges of the country, and that
without cost of tuition or board. To
be sure, we must look out for our
finances, but at the best several years
must elapse before the proposed
"ibhanges can be made, so now is the
time to plan.
We are fast approaching a place
in the school history of Harrisburg
where we shall be able to compare
our educational facilities with the
best there is in the country, and while
the cost for the moment may seem
to be excessive the results will be
well worth the expenditure of any
sum that may be needed.
PUMPKIN PIE
THE poet who sang "the melan
choly days have come, the sad
dest of the year"—meaning
thereby, that autumn had arrived in
the offing with winter only hull dov.-n
on the horizon and coming along at a
thirty-knot clip, must have had his
mind on an empty coal bin. That,
it must be admitted, would be
enough to give anybody the blues.
But why look on the gloomy side?
There are a lot of things about the
fall season that might be worse.
Consider, for the sake of illustra
tion, our old standby of late Sep
tember and early October, th-s
lucious pumpkin pie. No, no, Mr.
Hallroom, we do not refer to that
thin, anaemic, discouraged looking
monstrosity peddled out over lunch
bars at ten cents per cut. Before
the war the price was five cents, and
dear at that.
This variety of the venerable and
venerated New England dish ts the
blaeksheep of an old and honorable
family, dating back, we understand,
to Mayflower Days in the vicinity of
Plymouth Rock. Unlike some ram- |
ilies of long lineage it has not run i
to seed, but keeps right on improv- !
ing with each generation. Only the
kind that hangs around lunch bars
and restaurants has deteriorated.
Pumpkin pie cornea each autumn
like a long-lost friend of our eany
youth. It is at once a reminder cf
boyhood days and sunlit summer
seasons, and a solace for the hard
ships of winter to come. Brown of
complexion, sturdy as to sire and
alluring as to general aspect, tlio
pumpkin pie that mother used to
make (does still, for that matter)
was a thing of beauty and a Joy
forever —for its flavor is a continu
ous delight that lingers lovingly
about the tongue on the bare
thought of its sweet succulence.
What days they were when, after
a frosty saoralag, we looted the COJO-
field -where the pumpkins grew and
bore home the golden, crooked
necked treasure, saw it mangled
and boiled, mixed with milk and
eggs and spices, and pushed into a
hot oven, to come out shortly as an
old-fashioned pumpkin custard.
May be it isn't very good verso,
but one can appreciate the senti
ments of the rural bard who wrote:
When the frost is on the pumkin.
An' the pumkin's in the pie.
An' the pie is in my stummtek.
Oh. how happy then am I.
Melancholy days, indeed! There
"ain't no such thing" for the fellow
with a full quarter-size slab of old
time custard pie before him.
fMtZce In.
By the Ex-Committccman |
Men who follow politics general
ly agree that no primary in recent
years when municipal and county
tickets were to be nominated was
ever marked by so many strenuous
contests as that of yesterday and
that the aggregate of the votes
polled will be tremendous for an
"off year." And by the same token
the amount of work done in organ
izing the various Judicial, county
and municipal contents, especially
mayoralty battles was unusual. And
likewise the work was very expen
sive.
The closeness of the contests i n
Philadelphia and Allegheny coun
ties will furnish themes for some
interesting speculation in regard to
next year, but the manner in which
men aligned with the Republican
State organization cleaned up In
various up State districts shows
that things are not going to be so
different in other sections.
Probably one of the strangest
things about the elections held yes
terday was the poor showing of the
Democrats. In counties where the
Democrats had been strong, they
did not poll votes anything like
what they used to show and in
most of the cities their registration
was away below former years. But
that did not prevent Democrats in
many places from having lights of
their own that were fully as inter
esting as the scrap in Dauphin and
the row over the hopeless place of
Democratic candidate for mayor of
Philadelphia.
—Superior Court Judge William
H. Keller Is as good as elected for
a ten-year term as a result of the
primary yesterday. He was the
only state-wide candidate and had
no opposition. This fact is a great
compliment to the former first dep
uty Attorney General, who was
named last winter and who will
begin his term in January.
—There was great interest here
in the fate of various judges ap
pointed by Governor Brumbaugh.
James M. Barnett seems to have
been the high man rather decisive
ly in the Perry-Juniata district,
while Judge S. L. Shull has had to
fight in Monroe-Pike. Many have
been interested in Judge H. G.
Wasson, of Allegheny, and Judge
George Henderson, of Philadelphia.
The latter was one of the men for
whom Governor Sproul took up the
cudgels insisting that he be nom
inated with Judge Joseph P. Mc-
Cullen, his own appointee. Judge
J. I. Brownson, of Washington, had
no opposition.
—ln Washington and Lehigh
new Judgeships were the objects of
tremendous battles and in Somer
set the Governor's appointee sat on
the bench and watched four men
contend for the honors.
—Just what would have happened
if the nonpartisan law would haie
remained In effect in the third
class cities is hard to say. In any
event the strenuous party contests
for honors indicate that partisan
spirit has been revived with a bang.
—ln about half of the counties
of the State judges will have to
sit as the returning boards for the
count of primary votes in view of
\the fact that County Commissioners
were candidates for renomination
and therefore debarred from sit
ting. The count will begin Friday.
—George J. Brennan in the course
of a review of some of the turmoils
in Pennsylvania politics in the
Philadelphia Inquirer comments
upon "the battle of millionaires" in
Allegheny county, the Chester coun
ty skirmish, the Luzerne county
free-for-all, and then remarks:
"Political storm signals are flying
in both counties of the Seventh Con
gressional district and Representa
tive Thomas S. Butler, known in
Washington as "the Fighting Quaker
of the House" when he makes the
rounds next year for renomination
will probably find many new faces
n the ranks of the entrenched coun
ty committeemen.
Delaware county is all torn
asunder with the row that has
broken out as the result of the
formation of the new Republican
League whicji has in its ranks
many who worked with the Anti-
Saloon League, and which now
looks upon Governor Sproul as its
leader."
—People here were much inter
ested in the announcement of the
selection of Prof. Emory R. Johnson
to be dean of the Wharton school
of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Johnson was formerly a public
service commissioner, a member of
the Tener board, on which he was
the rate expert. He was removed
by Dr. Brumbaugh in his reorgan
ization effort. Dr. Johnson was the
man who worked out the tolls for
the Panama canal and was regarded
highly all over the country.
—The State Game Commission
will probably not meet until next
week to select a secretary and other
officers.
—Col. Joseph H. Thompson, of
| the 110 th, will be one of the speak
ers at Freeport Saturday. Attorney
General A. Mitchell Palmer will also
be there.
—Congressman E. S. Brooks has
a postoffice in sight for Red Lion,
but is having trouble to get the
right site at the right price. /
A Last Word
Thing of a day! Fret out thy little
hour;
Whence thy unceasing plaint, thy
bitter cry;
And why in tears consume thy spirJ
it's power?
Immortal is thy soul, thy tears will
dry. .
Thy heart is racked and wrung by
love betrayed.
Beneath the strain 'twill break, or
cease to feel;
Thou prayest God to hasten to thine
aid;
Immortal is thy soul, thy heart
will heal.
—Alfred de Muaset,
HXimiSBTTRO TELEGKXPH
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No Wonder Germany Quit
By MAJOR FRANK C. MAH3N
Of the Army Recruiting Stution
A few days ago I was speaking
of the work, new in this late war, ut :
battalion intelligence officers, and \
the minute details they insisted j
upon getting. The fact that all those j
details were incorporated in re- |
ports, and that these reports finally
went to Allied headquarters, raiocd J
a question as to what possible use
the head of that great organization
could have for details first concern
ing a most minor and subordinate
part of the Allied Armies. You
know the saying, great trees fiom ;
little acorns grow;" so it is in thi* j
case. Some apparently insignificant
incident might presage an event of
the greatest import. For instance,
when raiding parties went into the |
Boche lines for information, nothing j
was too insignificant to notice, or |
bring back. So. it happened that
upon one occasion a man returned
with a postcard which he had taken
from the pocket of a dead German.
The card had a picture of some
little vitlage,but no name of a place
appeared. It also bore some writ
ing from a soldier to his brother.
No one would suppose that card
was of any use, but the orders were
that it should be forwarded with in
telligence reports, and in France
one obeyed orders. At general head
quarters, examination lead to im
portant discoveries. The village was
identified as one in Belgium; the
writer spoke of being in a certain
engagement, months past; the Al
lies knew which GermaJi divisions
were then engaged, and also knew
where they were located, with one
exception; of that division they had
lost all trace, and for weeks had
been deeply concerned over its lo
cation, since it was known to be an
assault division, whose appearance
on the front always signified a bat
tle. Now, by elimination, its where
abouts were known. That division,
which had been at Chemin des
Dames, was now way north in Bel
gium. Because of this fact, special
efforts were made to secure infor
mation in that section, and due to
these efforts, adequate preparations
were made which enabled the Allies
there to repulse an attack, the suc
cess of which would have had grave
results to our cause. In another sec
tor. an officer saw a flash of light,
one afternoon, coming from a hill
side. On this hill there were no
trees or bushes, and apparently an
untouched growth of grass. The
light did not look like a reflection
from glass or a similar surface, and
appeared for but a short interval. It
thoroughly aroused the officer's
curiosity, and the next day, at about
the same time, he had the hillside
watched by a number of men, scat
tered in our lines. They discovered
a dozen or more of these light spots,
all appearing and disappearing at
about the same time. Further in
vestigation showed that the hill was
fairly honeycombed. The Boche had
tunneled from his side of the hill;
had dug a number of machine gun
pits, and had them perfectly con
cealed. since the only openings In
the ground were in the grass, and
Just large enough to shoot through.
Undiscovered until an attack, those
guns could have worked havoc, had
our men attempted an advance. The
concealment was perfect, but Mr.
Boche failed to notice one detail. He
had not closed the entrance to the
tunnel on his side of the hill, and at
a certain time the sunlight filtered
through enough to make the light
spots appear. An amusing incident
is related of an English oversight.
The Tommies had prepared a per
fect imitation tree stump, hollow,
to permit a man to stand in it, and
watch the Boche lines. It was to be
placed right out in No Man's Land,
and was carefully made, to conceal
its artificiality. They were so ab
sorbed in the thing itself that they
wholly overlooked a detail in set
ting it up. They placed it where
no stump had been. The next day
the Boche put up a sign saying:
"How natural—an impudent En
glish stump." To one such blunder
on the part of the Allies, there were
ten on the part of the Boche; and
that contributed largely to their
downfall. It was the work of "Intel
ligence" to spot such blunders on
the enemies' part, and it .was the old
story of "two and two"—although
sometimes headquarters could
stretch it from four to six. A cob
web once saved a king; here a post
card perhaps Baved the world.
i
The Guilty Bard
The poet sang of Autumn Joys
And brown October ale,
Thus violating bone-dry laws,
And now that bird's in jail.
—Tennyson J. Daft.
"Lawlessness Never Won
a Strike" —John Mitchell
Death of the Leader Under Whom American labor Gained Its
Greatest Victories Recalls His Stand Against Radicalism and
Violence—Kept His Great Influence to the End.
THE careers of labor leaders
have, as a usual thing, been
short and full of trouble.
Many captains have climbed by the
pathways of agitation to the sum
mits of power, only to find that the
pathways on the other side of the
mountain lead down to the valleys
of oblivion. Fiercer than the light
that bears upon a throne is that
which spots the man in whose
hands labor has placed it cause, de
manding action and results. If his
counsels be radical, the third party
—public opinion—comes in and de
nounces him as a revolutionary. If
he tries to steer a conservative
course, he becomes a target for the
abuse of the radicals among his
own organization and he soon van
ishes in clouds of suspicion. If he
stages one big strike and wins, he
walks from that time on with a
Damocles sword over his head, a
center of greater expectations. If
he loses, he walks the plank and is
either engulfed in the waves of for
getfulness or swims ashore and
finds a haven in some political port.
So, many have come and gone and
few have remained to the end.
And among the few stands out
the figure of John Mitchell, in
unique relief, a. true and
"guide and philosopher and friend"
of labor's cause, a leader who held
until his death the other day the
confidence of his own and who won,
at the same time, the respect and
confidence of the men who were
opposed to him.
A Leader at 32.
No greater test was ever put up
to a leader than that of the anthra
cite coal miners' strike of 1902. A
young man, just rounding his thirty
second year, Mitchell found him
self at the head of an organization
o'f 350,000 men, grim and deter
mined toilers of the dark and under
ground worl.d, with heart burning
grievances that they were in no
humor to have poulticed with soft
speeches and specious promises. It
was a storm time of bitter emotions,
of violent denunciation and abuse,
of passion and prejudice on both
sides of the controversy. The at
mosphere was surcharged with all
the elements of a social cataclysm
that threatened to involve the en
tire industrial fabric of the nation.
Yet, in that time of storm and
stress, abating no Jot of the prin
ciples for which he was fighting,
yielding no point of the fundamen
tal rights of the organization he
represented, calm and silent amidst
the clamors of friends and foes
alike, he steered his course with a
clear head and a steady hand and
emerged from the conflict with a
victory which, if it did not involve
all the points at issue, established a
new epoch in the relations of capi
tal and labor—that of conference
and arbitration—and won for its
cause and its leadership a new and
unwonted respect and dignity. It
was in that fight that the American
people became acquainted with a
new type of labor leader. When, un
moved by the attacks of his adver
saries and the threats of his radical
supporters, Mitchell calmly offered
to submit the cause of the miners
to a commission to be appointed by
President Roosevelt and to abide
by its decision, he accomplished a
master stroke of' policy that was as
disconcerting to the representatives
of the eight great corporations op
posing as it was unexpected by the
public. By his action he brought to
his side the American spirit of fair
play, won the advocacy of the last
[ ing friendship of President Roose
velt and of other big public men,
and did more to advance the cause
of labor in the public confidence
than all the battles it had ever
fought before.
Related Political Honor
Mitchell came forth from thatj
great struggle a national personal- (
ity, and a man in whose pathway
all sorts of allurements and temp
tations were thrown. The doors of
political preferment were opened to
him. He was led to the top of the
mountain and shown the promised
land of political honors —governor-
ships, congressional nominations,
even a vice presidency were dangled
temptingly before him. Big busi
ness was willing to enlist his ser
vices. But he refused all offers,
political and otherwise, and stuck to
his post of leadership—though the
salary never exceeded 1 8,0 00 a year
—until ill health compelled him to
resign. For ten years he was at
the head of the miners' organiza
tion. During that ten years tie in
creased its membership from 40,000
members to 350,000; brought about
an increase in wages amounting to
almost 100 per cent; improved the
living conditions of the miners;
drove out the company stores; took
the children of tender age out of
the mines and placed them in
schools; and inculcated a policy of
keeping contracts inviolable that
won for his organization the respect
of the operators and the confidence
of the public.
What was the secret of Mitchell's
success as a leader? That he was
honest, that he was a man who
valued high his own personal in
tegrity, that he had faith in him
self and in his cause—these things
throw some light upon his success.
But perhaps the elements that con
tributed most to his ability to con
trol men and events are to be found
largely in the sanity of his vision
and the equability of his tempera
ment. He was a man who had a
broad view of the other man's phil
osophy. There was no hatred in
his composition. He realized clear
ly that the actions of men are de
termined largely by their environ
ment and the economic conditions
under which they have been train
ed.
Trade Unionism His Gospel.
The great object of his diplo
macy as a leader was to get other
men to understand his point of
view—not to disparage the points
of view of those who might be op
posed to him. He was not a
dreamer of Utopias. He had no il
lusions or panaceas. One will
search his utterances In vain for
the agitator's catchwords. He was
no builder for future social up
heavals. Like Carlyle, he believed
that "our grand business undoubt
edly is not to see what lies dimly
at a distance, but to do what lies
clearly at hand."
His only gospel was trade union
ism—in that he believed with the
sincerity of a religionist. It was
sufficient to solve all the problems
he saw confronting him. Only two
economic elements appealed to him,
the buyers of labor and the sellers
'of labor, and he sought for a com
mon ground upon which they might
trade. The demand of the work
ingman as formulated by Mitchell,
was for "an American standard of
living," a wage that would enable
him to maintain a comfortable,
sanitary home, with books and pic
tures, an ample supply of comfort
able clothing, a sufficient quantity
of good wholesome food and extra
money enough to send his children
to school and to lay by enough to
keep his family in time of illness
or at the close of his industrial life.
The majority of workingmen would
remain wage earners, he figured,
and the aim of trade unionism was
to obtain for them this "American
standard of living."
"Capital and labor", Mitchell said
once, "will both be sorely tried be
fore they work out their proper re
lations. I am not a Socialist and
do not believe in Socialism. I do
not believe it would be best for
the State to own and operate its coal
mines. I am a strict trade union
ist. I believe in progress made
slowly—by evolution rather than by
revolution.
"A Little at a Time."
"I believe a better day is in
store for the American worklng
man, but it has to come through
no radical change in the organiza
tion of human society. It must
come one step at a time and
through a slow, upward movement
by his own efforts. One thing at
a time and not all things at once,
is the way a better state will be
ushered in. I know there are those
who believe in an early realization
of a new social state, where all
men are to be economically equal.
But the principle that governs our
organization is that of trade union
ism, pure and Blmple—of labor's
Joint bargaining with capital for
a fair share of that which labor
helps to produce. We believe in se
curing this by peaceable means—
through arbitration if possible—
and, if not in this way, then by the
only remaining way left to us."
John Mitchell held the respect
and confidence of the employers of
labor as perhaps no other national
, leader of labor has ever done. One
SEPTEMBER 17, 1919.
thing; that contributed largely to
this attitude was the insistence
that the unions must abide by their
contracts. "A little at a time," was
his advise, when he was confronted
with the criticism that the arbitra
tion commission had failed to rec
ognize the unions. "Anything gain
ed is better than nothing, and the
big thing is the main thing—the
honor of our organization. That is
all a union has to stand on—we
must keep to our agreements, if we
expect others to keep to theirs."
Against lawlessness in any form
he was inflexibly opposed. Before
the strike commission of 1903 he
made his position clear on this
point in the following language:
An American First,
"I want to say, too, as to the
matter of lawlessness, that before
being president of a union, I am
over and above everything else an
American. I believe that every
miner should first be an American.
There is no man connected with
the organization who would con
demn lawlessness more strongly
than I would. If I did not do it
because I am opposed to lawless
ness, I would do it because it mili
tates against the success of a strike
and against the advancement of the
organization. I do not believe law
lessness ever won a strike. I have
an abiding faith in the American
people. I believe that when they
understand a cause to be right they
will support it, and without the
support of the people no great
movement can hope to succeed.
This is true of a strike. If the peo
ple of the country are not in sym
pathy with it, it must fail, and I
am sure that the sympathy of the
people will never be with those who
| violate the law."
He believed in the "strike" and
the "boycott" as the ultimate weap
ons of labor warfare, but viewed
them as "wasteful" and only to be
employed when all efforts for arbi
tration and peaceful agreement had
bee n exhausted. He was opposed
to the "sympathetic strike." At
the special convention held at
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in July, 1902, to
consider the calling of a sympa
thetic strike in aid of the anthra
cite coal miners, he said:
"Sympathetic strikes have many
adherents and the efficacy of such
methods appeals strongly to those
who, being directly involved in
trouble, do not always recognize
the effect of their action upon the
public, but the past history of la
bor movements teaches lessons that
should not be forgotten. So far as
my knowledge goes, I do not know
of one solitary sympathetic strike
of any magnitude that has been
successful: on the contrary the
most conspicuous among the labor
struggles have resulted in ignomin
ious defeat not only for the branch
of industry involved, but also for
the divisions participating through
sympathy. Each defeat should teach
lessons of Inestimable vatue in
framing the lines upon which pres
ent and future battles shall be
fought and won."
Recompense
Brief is the time for song,
Yet the brown thrush sings,
Careless of winters long
Or of vanished springs.
Grief is the lot of all,
Yet the meadows know
Only when gray rains fall
Will the harvests grow.
Swiftly the years are spanned,
No dreams abide;
But steadfast the great hills stand
Till the stars have died.
Sing then thy song nor care
If the winter near;
Know that the rains prepare
For the springtime's cheer.
Heed not the dying rose
By the season's stain;
Fair till eternity's close
Love shall remain.
—Arthur Wallace Peach in the
Christian Herald.
O'Ryan's Testimony
A rather remarkable statement
throwing some hitherto obscured
light on the lack of efficiency of
Secretary Baker's department dur
ing the war was made recently be
fore the Senate Committee on Mil
itary Affairs by Major General John
F. O'Ryan, who commanded the
27th Division in France,
The 27 th was a National Guard
Division and General O'Ryan testi
fied that it fought through the war
without any' American equipment
except coats and some trousers, All
the guns, aircraft, shoes, rifles, ma
chine guns, and even subsistence
supplies, he said, were supplied to
the division by the British, The di
vision's artlirery support, he added,
was supplied by British and Aus
tralian units. Exchange.
limting OUjat j|
Of one thing at least the people
of can be reasonably
ertain and that Is the prompt com
pletion of the memorial which It Is
proposed the citizens of Pennsyl
vania's capital city will erect to
honor their Bona in the war. Tills
memorial, designed to lit In with
the great plan to make the city the
civic center of the Commonwealth
and upon which Arnold W. Bruner
speaks to-day, will be built entirely
by popular subscription and In that
respect will be different from the
two memorials which now stand
here in honor of sons in war. It
will be considerably noted by nUie
ntiies and by reason of its proposed
location, part of a State plan.
Harrisburg, it might be Btated, has
been chary of erecting memorials
and this a reason, say many peo
ple, for breaking another record.
There is only one memorial erected
by this community alone. There is
no memorial to John Harris, the
settler and the man who did so
much to make the Susquehanna
safe. There is no memorial to the
men of Harris' Ferry, who went
to Cambridge, Quebec and Valley
Forge. There is no memorial to the
eminent men of Harrisburg who
took part in early State and National
government. There is nothing to
commemorate the regiment of Har
risburg men in the war of 1812. One
of the two memorials stands in
Capitol park, a State project, and
the other is at Second and' State, a
county affair. The Mexican monu
®tate of Pennsylvania
$30,000 and took ten years to build.
It has been moved once. Originally
with an appropriation of
i? 2..1 1888 - lt wa not finished
until 1868. There was one delay
after another. The obelisk, as the
State street memorial is often
called, was projected by the citizens
?i, the county. It cost something
like $13,600 to build and the county
commissioners hud to make an up
propriation for it. Started in Octo
-1867 > it was not linished until
181 6. In fact, it dragged until a
committee of citizens took hold of it
and overcoming contractors' red
tape induced Jehu DcHaven to com
plete it, which he did very promptly.
This memorial is 110 feet high and
ten feet each way at the base. It is
not generally known that it is four
square With the compass, which ac
counts for its peculiar position as
relating: to the streets.
• • •
And while memorials are under
consideration the suggestion is made
that it would be a very graceful
thing to include in the inscription
some reference to the service of the
women of Harrisburg in the war.
There were daughters of Harrisburg
who served in the army and navy
i egularly enlisted; there were
daughters of Harrisburg who did
splendid work overseas and there
were daughters of Harrisburg whose
labors in behalf of various activities
in this country, in camps and at
home, will never be forgotten.
More people have been going up
to the paying tellers' windows in
Harrisburg banks the last few days
with papers that they did not know
much about except that they were
worth more money than the average
man imagines. This week coupons
bqcome due on some of the Wat-
Bonds and while there were some
folks who did not know that they
were the same as money there were
precious few who did not know
that the thing to do was to cut
them off the bonds. Some people
cashed the coupons and then put
the proceeds on deposit, although
they could have deposited the
coupons without going to all that
trouble. But the point is the people
cashed coupons who never cashed
them In years gone by.
• • •
There are going to be some peo
ple in this community who made
"big money" on railroads and in
mills last year who may have to
explain to Uncle Sam from various
things that are heard. Federal
agents have been reported at diverse
times as looking up automobile
lists, telephone lists and other di
rectors to get a line on persons. The
idea is to see whether some of the
; people filed income tax reports.
; Railroad men last year were pretty
careful about their reports, say men
who work on the "roads" and that
it was the steel men who were care
less. The men in the mills say
a good bit the same thing about the
men on railroads.
• •
Some of the passenger cars run
on railroads entering into Harris
burg are a crime. They are old
wooden affairs that look as though
they have been taken off scrap sid
ings, and to folks used to the steel
coaches of the Pennsylvania and
Reading, it is a trial to ride in them.
Cars of almost every southern and
western railroad are to be seen not
only on local, but on express pas
senger service entering Harrisburg.
And everyone who gets out of them
breathes a sigh of relief and then
recalls the good, red-coated steel
coaches that we thought were the
least that could be given us a few
years ago.
The 1919 primary election in
Harrisburg will be remembered for
one thing at least and that is tho
number of cards, posters, placards
and signs that bloomed on the poles,
billboards, fences and dead walls of
the city. There has been nothing
known like it in recent years and
in some election districts boards
were tacked full of cards and placed
against the sides of brick buildings
that did not alTord much chance for
the tack pounder. The likenesses of
the candidates must have been known
to thousands of men, women and
children who had never seen thern
to know them and whatever appeal
they caVried must have been strong
if number of cards is anything to
go by. >
1 WELL mom PEOPLE
| —O. H. Cheer, given a medal for
his food administration work, lives
in Pittsburgh.
—Governor William C. Sproul will
preside at the Mercier meeting in
Philadelphia on September 26.
—President Judge H. M. Ed
wards, of Lackawanna county, lias
Issued instructions for probing of
mine caves in that county, follow
ing a fatal accident.
Major. Clarence J. Smith, for
mer Allentown newspaperman, is
home from France where he served
for nearly two years.
| DO YOU KNOW
—That Harrisburg sent many
books to the camp ltoraries
during the war?
HISTORIC HARRISBURG
.—Third and Chestnut streets has
been a church site for over 125
gear*.