10 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH FOR TUE HOME Founded 1831 Published evenings except Sunday by THB TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. Trlmropli Building, Federal Square '' * I E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief F. r K. OYSTER, Business Manager GUS. M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor ! !A. It. MICHENEI> Circulation Manager j Executive Board 'J.'P. McCULLOUGH, *" BOYD M. OGLESBY, F. R. OYSTER, GUS. M. STEINMETZ. j Members of the Associated Press—The Associated Press is exclusively en- 1 titled to the use for republication ! of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news pub lished herein. JAH rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. A Member American r] Newspaper Pub flishers' Associa tion. the Audit Bureau of Circu lation and Penn sylvania Associa- I ated Dailies. Eastern office. Story. Brooks & Finlcy, F.i ft h Avenue Building, New Y'ork 'City; Western office. Story, Brooks & Finley, People's Gas Building, ! Chicago, 111. - Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a eek; by mail. $3.00 a "r In advance. t MON DAY DECEMBER 1, 1919 * I And. having thus chosen nur course, let us renew our trust in (lot! and go forward without fear and with manly hearts. —AM: AMII A M LIN COL .V. * ! A COAL SUBSTITUTE IT IS becoming more and more ap parent that we must have a sub- i stitute for coal. Here we are i with a soft coal strike on our hands, thousands of people out of work, thousands more suffering for lack 1 of household supply ifnil no surplus at hand to meet the deficiency. If : we were prepared to use fuel oil or I electricity generated by water power, as is possible in thousands of com- i munities scattered over the land < where streams are now simply run ning to waste, we should not be at i the mercy of the coal operators and •the miners every time they get into ' . a dispute and both sides would he t far more reasonable, knowing that if, by reason of a strike or a shut down at the mines, manufacturers or householders would put in either oil burner apparatus or electric heat ers with the likelihood of never again using coal, they would hesitate be fore cutting off their own noses. We have been warned time and time again that the coal supply is limited in quantity and that sooner or later we shall have to come to some other form of heat generation, but the period of famine has ap peared so remote that we have thought little about it and have con tinued to shovel in coal. Now comes the announcement that great New York office buildings, such as the Woolworth and others of that type, are to be heated by oil burners of . the kind used to drive big steam ships, and there is increased talk of water power development. The general use of oil and electricity cannot come too soon, no matter how abundant the supply nor "how cheap coal may be in comparison . ■with other forms of heating. We have arrived at the period when wo can no longer depend upon it as our sole means of making power or heating homes, and the time is ripe for somebody to come along with such a device as will enable us to burn the cheaper grades of oil effi ciently and economically and for the Government to encourage in every way possible the use of watcrpowcr for the generation of cheap elec tricity. Wi 11. anyway, we were saved the agony of turkey hash this year. THE GRADE CROSSINGS plan proposed for the. Pub lic Service Commission to make a survey of all grade crossings in the State and find out what must be done to get rid of them is one that should be put into effect as soon as the Commission can find the funds to make the study. There have been discussions of .grade crossings and some high sounding remarks on the subject of' their abolition, but us a matter of' fact few people know much abou.l them, their characteristics, their economic value, their dangers anil i their cost. It is estimated that there arc 12,- 000 grade crossings in Pennsylvania end more being added every week.J To abolish them, that is to make . everyone a crossing either overhead or underneath, would take half a billion dollars, ten times the revenue of the State in the fiscal year just closed. And maybe even that could not cover all the damages that would be demanded. There are crossings which could be closed up because they are sur vivals of old days when roads were laid out and have no value except to a couple of property owners who could just as well "go round" some other way; there are crossings so dangerous that they should be boarded up and people made to go i ..half a mile at least for the safety of their own necks, and there arc crossings which are made menaces by billboards, houses and other ob jects, to say nothing of trees and brush that should always be kept 1 down. All these and others in the class that could be remedied, such • * N, MONDAY EVENING, HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH - DECEMBER 1, 1919. as those which by change of grade could be made reasonably safe, should be listed and the job figured out. And, meanwhile, as automobile travel increases and railroad business keeps on growinV, men who run motor cars and who handle freight trains and the general public, could be instructed in a few simple pre cautions known as safety first, in cluding not trying to beat the train, keeping control and avoiding that pleasant pastime so productive of inquests and known as crawling un der the gates. Do you remember those good old days when an egg sandwich sold for a nickel and if you asked for it the restaurant man put a slice of onion on top? LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE j IT WOULD be most interesting, j though it cost a lot of money, to j have the League of Nations pro- j posal go before the people in a direct ; election, as has been proposed by , Senators Lodge and Harding, but it j would not do to submit the League | j merely for adoption or' rejection, j if the President should accept this ; suggestion the plan to haie a fair j trial would have to go to a vote, | both in its original form and with j the reservations approved by a ma- ! jority of the Senate attached. Just why our Democratic friends , should hesitate about submitting their treaty to the people direct is difficult to understand, since Presi dent Wilson based his whole conten tion upon the personal conviction that a great majority of the Ameri can people favored the League plan as drawn at the Peace Conference Those Democrats who have expresse anv opinion upon the matter say that j they want to keep the League out t [of politics. in other words, they I propose to have it adopted or re jected in its original form, whether or not a majority of the people of the United States approve it or not. In taking this stand they, of course, merely follow out the thought of the administration when it barred membership of the Senate and representation of the Republican party from participation in the con ferences leading up to its adoption by the Peace Commissioners Mr. Wilson was determined that, although a united country had made the vic tory over Germany possible, a parti san American commission should sit at tlie peace table, even though the , country itself had just repudiated the Democratic administration by elect ing a Republican Congress. So now. perhaps, he feels that appealing to the country after he had gone over the heads of a majority of the peo ple in a most high-handed manner might not he good for his pot pro rtosals. V . To put the matter more simply, the treaty having been drawn by the minority representation in the Gov ernment is to bo forced down the throats of the majority willy nill> and the people as a whole, so far as the Democratic bosses arc con cerned, arc to be utterly ignored. From the standpoint of reason and our much-vaunted democratic form of Government, the suggestion of Messrs Lodge and Harding appeals to the average man, politics aside, as offering a way out of the difficulty to which nobody could object as being unfair. Save your coal and burn wood, is tlie advice of one conservationist, but he fails to tell us how to get the wood. NOT SURPRISING ALLENTOWN'S celebrated City farm, conducted as a so cialist experiment, has gone out of existence. The socialist dcR - ing into agriculture resulted in a city deficit of $26,000 in two years. At a recent meeting Allcntown s City Council accepted a bid to rent the farm for five years at $2,000 the first year, $2,200 the second year and $2,500 a year thereafter. The property was bought for $122,000 and is encumbered with a mortgage of $120,000 at 5 per cent., so that the rental derived is less than half the annual interest of $6,000 on the mortgage. Public ownership in the United ' States has not been a success. It is just as well that we had to try the experiment as a temporary ex pedient of the war, for it left us in position to let go the nag's be fore the pace got so hot us to drag us into the slough of national bank ruptcy. Allcntown's experience has been on a small scale, the experience of the Federal Government with the railroads, the wire sistems and the "building of ships, and Spending j money without the necessity of pro-1 i ducing a profit promotes extravu- J gance and inefficiency. The most I satisfactory business or industrial 'enterprise for (ill concerned is that which is earning a decent dividend on capital invested. A privately conducted business will sell its I product at lower figures while earn ing a profit than the same kind of an industry operated under the Gov ernment without profit, and often with a subsidy added. But worse even than that is that Government controlled business means Govern ment controlled mon. Instead ot increasing individual liberty Govern ment ownership makes for depend ence and robs men of enterprise, initiative and independence. There is nothing surprising in Alientown's experience. The farm's failure was precisely what might have been expected. It was founded on a false theory. The Gov ernment ownership dose lias been bitter medicine, but already we are beginning to feci its beneficial cf -1 fects, even though the doctor's fee does seem rather high. Soma of us would tickled to 1 death ir we were to be insulted with a fourteen per cent, raise of pay. ""PofctUco tn, "Pouva* fjUcuvui By the Ex-Committeeman Senator Boies Penrose's serious ill ness will keep him out of political matters for from eight to ten weeks and in matters pertaining to the Re publican State organization Governor William C. Sprout and State Chair man William E. Crow, two close per sonal friends, will look after affairs. The Governor has long been urged by the Senator to take a part in national politics and will probably be heard of considerably in the next month or so at Washington and elsewhere. Announcement that the Senator had become gravely ill did not sur prise some of his friends, especially those who know the attention he gi\es to affairs at Washington and. his indefatigable work in connection with the Senate. The Senator has reached the apex, as they say in Washington, but his Pennsylvania friends have known ever since ho was here last summer during the legislative session that he Was also working harder than he ever did. And Penrose has always attended to business without regard to hours. —Governor William C. Sproul is said to be very much in the minds of men prominent in national affairs as an available candidate for Presi dent, although Odell Mauser, writing in the Philadelphia Press; says that the managers of the Leonard Wood campaign believe that they have Sen ator Penrose for Wood. However, the general belief up the State is that if the Governor will permit his name to be used the Keystone State delegation would be solid for him and lie could be assured of votes out side. —Mayor-elect J. Hampton Moore, I who still writes a gooik bit in the | Philadelphia newspapers, says in ti | letter in the Evening Ledger: "What 1 is it all about? Governor Sproul .is | already on the hustings doing double 1 time as a speechmaker and he gets ; lietter as he goes along. Some peo ple suspect the* Governor has some thing in his mind, although the Gov ernor states frankly that he consid ers it a duty not only to get in touch with the people, but to keep pobteil as to their needs. But Lieutenant Governor Beidleman and Auditor General Snyder, there's the rub! For high-grade oratory they are in con stant demand, and generally amen able to persuasion. They say noth ing for themselves, but some people say' that if Governor Sproul should be. looking for some higher station— the trimming of 'Attorney. General Palmer a?s a presidential candidate, for instance—they would lie willing that is Beidleman or Snyder would be willing -to take the Governor's place. It is curious how these notions get about, but they do obtain a foot hold." —From what people at the State Capitol who have been observing the trend of thought regarding pro posed constitutional revision have to say there does not appear to be any widespread demand for material changes in the "general scheme of State government, but rather for a broadening of the provisions relative to the smaller division's. Much of the dissatisfaction with the constitution that has been heard of in the last two or three years has come from the municipalities. There have also been complaints voiced by counties. Careful note of the points brought out at legislative hearings and at various meetings of State-wide im portance has been taken by students of (he constitution at the Capitol, and these matters seem to be more in tlie public mind than others. Two subjects which are likely to be among the first to be suggested when tlie Commission begins meetings will be classification of counties, cities and boroughs for facilitating govern ment and debt limits. —Another subject which is going to attract attention will be appor tionment. Years ago the point was raised in legisative halls that an ap portionment bill that would bo fair and at the same time constitutional could not be passed and tlie State has been getting along, without very much complaint, with congressional and judicial acts passed in 1901, with some few changes to the latter, and senatorial and representative appor tionments enacted at the special ses sion of 1908. That historic gath ering adopted a senatorial apportion ment that split a county and the late Samuel W. Pennypacker, then Governor, when informed that it was not constitutional, predicted that the question would not be raised. The census of 1920 will be practically completed by the time the Commis sion makes its report to the Legis lature of 1921 and it will have some figures upon which to work. —James H. Maurer, of Reading, stands in a fair way to be "sacked" as chairman of the State Old Age Pension Commission unless he lakes warning from some of the signs. Maurer was named as chairman of the Commission a couple of years ago and continued, his plan to go to Europe for further study of tlie sit uation having run counter to the ideas of National officials with the result that ho was ta"kcn from the dock, while his trunk went to Eu rope. Since then Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer has Renounced Maurer in the legislative halls where he sat as a member from Reading and presented tlie original Dili for thi- Commission. Inquiry has boon under way at the Capitol as to What lias been assembled in the way of data that can be of service and it has been found that while some one has been very busy in gathering in formation the members of the Com mission outside of Maurer did not know much about what was going on. . —illness of Dr. Thomas E. Fine-' gan. State Superintendent of Public Instruction, will, prevent further or ganization of new bureaus in the department until bo recovers ids health. When stricken down on the eve of the Educational Congress, Dr. Finegan was planning to complete his organization of the rural educa tion bureau, which ho intends to make one of the great features of his administration. While connected with the New York system Dr. Fine gan had charge of rural education and has been spending much time in studying the problems in Penn sylvania. People who have special ized in this work will be selected to build up a new plan. —Time for filing tlie expense ac counts for the November election will expire on Thursday throughout Pennsylvania and (here have been a pumber of inquiries made at the State Department as to what would happen if none was filed by a Candi date. The answor is that failure to file might lead to proceedings to stop assumption of duties. Very few State accounts have to be filed this I yeur. —Auditor General Charles A. Sny der is being congratulated-By many friends all over the State on the suc cess attending his work in the re cent fiscal year. Mr. Snyder made certain promises tn regard to pro ducing revenue if given the laws, lie has made good, rather better than expected by people on the side lines, und established himself us a THE DAYS OF REAL SPORT ByBRIGGS c - e ) | cil o SMi] . - Ai-FORD J" WASTCT [ > i S/. )jl I good estimator, a zealous collector • and exponent of business efficiency. -Mayor-elect J. Hampton Moore, | says the Philadelphia Inquirer, has ; asked for a simple inauguration, lie t does not want any parade such as j that attending the last mayoralty in augural in that city. The new mayor has followed up appointment of Dr. c. L. Furbiisli, the sanitary expert, j us director of health, by naming ex- ; Senator Krnest L. Tvistin as the first | director of welfare under the new charter. The new mayor continues j to receive jnuch favorable newspaper comment, especially upon his notice to jobhunters to go see the Civil Service Commission. Scranton dispatches corroborate the Scranton Times' story about a new lineup in the Scranton city gov ernment. It is said that the new deal is among councilmen and that it mav make things uncomfortable . for Mayor A. T. Connell. However, the mayor has sailed through some stormy seas. —Some new ballot problems will come up in the Mercer county court this month when the contest over the vote of the First ward of barren is listed. „ —The Philadelphia Press says that Congressman John A. Lesher, of the Sixteenth district, may slip out of Congress and that A. W. Duy, the Bloomsburg leader, may succeed him. . „ ~ —Chester's first big fight starts to night when the board of education will meet. The McClures will join issue with the Sproul forces to ton l'—Judge H. O. Bechtel, of Potts- , ville, will be a candidate for Demo cratic national delegate, but has not indicated what he thinks about 1 al mer. Bolshevism's Failure [From the New York Telegram.] | If any other nations of the .earth have been keeping hands off Bus sia for fear Lenine and Irotzky, | with their Soviets and Bolshevism, j had perchance stumbled upon the correct form of government they] can disabuse their minds of that j idea, at least so far as that most important essential, ownership ot the land, is concerned. According to a young woman re cently escaped from Russia when the Bolshevik government came into power, "it at once inaugurated a plan to put the land into the hands of the people. A Peasant who owned more land than lie and his' immediate family could farm was culled "a list " The land that j he was leaving idle or farming with the aid of a hired farm hand was I taken from him. i "Their plan was to take this land i and give it to the farm hand, tho j idea being that every man should work for himself and get the lull . product of his labor. The same rule, applied to the ownership of live j Stock. ~ ~ „ . | "This seems very idealistic anil j good, but in practice It did not j ■work out. Human nature interven- | ed, and the plan injured rather , than benefited the people. The pea sant. realizing that there was nothing In it for him if he worked hard and economized, because his surplus production would be taken from him, worked and saved only to the extent necessary for his own needs. It beanie a case of every man for himself. It took out of men their ambition to work and save, j This one reform, tried out in good | faith by the Bolshevik government, has contributed as much to the food i shortage and famine in Russia us j any other single factor." I Perhaps it was knowledge of this | that very recently determined the | American farmers lo refuse to go j into conference In Washington with organized labor, organized labor is at present constituted, with tho radical element in control. Health of I lie Nation [From Harvey's Weekly.] "Health Week" is. we are told, really to he ten days, with an addi tion running on for a fortnight more. It is the period, from December 1 to 10, assigned for the sale of Red Cross Christmas seals in behalf of the campaign against tuberculosis, The sale will be continued, doubt less, until Christmas, by which time it is hoped to realize receipts of $6,- 500,000; every dollar of which can doubtless be used to advantage for the health of the people; Thanks to various agencies, among ] which this work of the Red Cross is j by no means least, tho "great white | plague" is being deposed from Its old supremacy of dcstructiveness and dread. That is, of course, no reason for slackening the campaign against it or for withholding purchase this year of a single Christmas seal. On the contrary, it is one of the strong est reasons for pushing the campaign with increased vigor. There is noth ing more encouraging and inspiring than success. UNCLE SAM RAN RAILROAD IN STRIKE AFTER CIVIL WAR With Washington. New York ami Other Cities "Reeling- iy Dissipation," ami Cost of Living Mounting lligh, lailior Unrest Grew Then. Just as It Has Now. WASHINGTON That familiar saying "History repeats it self," gives a great deal ot' comfort in these times of strikes, ex travagance, fear, doubt and social and industrial unrest. It should "buck up" those who are asking, "What, is the world coming to?' This'is not the first time this coun try has experienced these conditions, later to emerge into years and gen erations of unexampled individual anil national happiness. By the same token, it is destined to do so again. Immediately after the Civil War the countrv was more disturbed and the outlook darker than now. Writ ten history only sums up. The un folding of events is best followed in the daily newspapers of the time of their actual happening. From this source and from reports of various commercial bodies, together with those of societies and state and na tional institutions facts are presented which show how similar in many phases are the old struggle and the new. The Extravagance "f '#•"> Writing of the reckless prodigality of the American people in 1865, a New York correspondent of the Lon don Times says: "This war has brought the levity of the American character out in bold relief. The indulgence in every variety of pleasure, luxury and ex travagance is simply shocking. There is something saddening in the high glee with which the people here look upon grievous national calam ity. The jewelers' shops in all their cities have trebled their trade, the love of fine dresses und ornaments on the part of women amounts to madness. They have money and thev must enjoy it." The New York Independent adds: "Ask Stewart about the demand for camel's hair shawls. His answer is, 'Monstrous!' Ask Tiffany what kind of diamonds are called for. He will reply: 'The prodigious; near hen's egg size as possible; price no object.' "Ingrain carpets won't (lo at all; Brussels and velvets are now used from basement to garret." From the files of the New York Herald it is seen that interest in horse racing was keen and that grand opera enjoyed great prosper ity. The theater never had been more crowded. "War and high prices," says the Herald, "eanrtot terrify-the Gotliam ites. As long us life remains in them they will keep up their reputation for jollity and good fellowship." Gayety was epidemic in Washing lon. Frederick W. Seward, Assistant Secretary of State, in a letter said it was a sign that the people had given up mourning and grumbling and were devoting themselves to festivi ties. The Springfield Republican de clared that Washington was drunk and reelitlg in a whirl of dissipation, whore only ihe best women devoted any time to home, husband or chil dren. Reaction From the Strain The reason for this outburst of jollification was ascribed to reaction from the strain of war and tho, pi out i tlf ii 1 supply or money In the hands of all classes. "Nowhere in the world," wrote the same 1-iondon Times correspond ent, "is the laboring man so pros perous uw ill America. If there is a country in which labor is petted, humored, and put ]n clover, it is here." Suddenly when the war ended, peace in the industrial world gave Way to discontent. Wages remained stationary und prices for commodi-, ties rose. This was due to the in- Winter's Joy Inside the house there's cheer and mirth, A log is glowing on the hearth, • A great big lamp is burning bright, Dispelling all the gloom of night. ! There's nuts to cruck nnd tales to | tell. | A dress to make for Rosabel. ! 'A song to sing, a book to read, i A dozen joys the night to speed..' • To find the ' best we need not roam — - It lies within the walls ot home. So, though the winds blow cold and drear, Winter's the best time of tho year. J—Kutherino Kdclman. fiiition ol" tho currency caused by the introduction of paper money, "Lu bor," says one writer, "assumed an attitude of liostility toward employers and took concerted measures for self-defense." The situation in New York, he safS, was typical of the period'. Necessities Juni|K> sending them to masters. Pennsylvania's new series of farmers' institutes designed to be a place wliere the troubles of the farmers can be told to State experts and where lecturers familiar with the special products of the neigh borhood have been assigned, started ■to-day in four counties and will run until Christmas week. A new series will be started after January 1. Sec retary of Agriculture Frederik Ras mussen, who worked out the now plan, says that he wahts to "hear the grouches" and to give the farmers some pointers through carefully se lected experts on how to put dollars into their pockets and more food into the channels of trade in the State. Special attention will be given at the institutes to the mar keting situation and the advantages of shipment or of local distribution will be discussed. As far as possible the institutes will stimulate local markets. One of the places where the institutes start, Hogestown, in Cumberland county, has had an in stitute for the farmers of the Silver Spring district for more than twenty years. Other places in this county to have institutes will be 'Newburg to-morrow, Plainfield Wednesday and Newville on Wednesday. The Franklin county series will then start lat Mcrcersburg, also a rallying point for farmers. Susquehanna county will have institutes with dairy farming as a specialty all week, Greene with sheep and st'oclc raising speakers and Cambria with specialists on potatoes. The Cum berland valley speakers will discuss general farming with attention to wheat and fruit growing, which are two big lines in that fruitful region. Pennsylvania has very few drug addicts amftnff tlie skilled workmen in its iron and steel, coal, railroad and other typical industries, accord ing to Dr. Thomas S. Blair, chief of the division of drug control of tho State Department of Health, who has been making a study of the situ ation. The addicts are among the floaters in industry. There have been very few found among the men who are known as the regular force of a plant or concern and who arc the backbone. The same discovery appears to have been made in a sc ries of studies of the, effect of prohi bition upon men who drank regu larly. The drug habit did not appear to affect the convivial drinker, but the men who had lost • places through drink seemed to furnish most victims for drugs. The studies were made in dozens of places in the State and some of the results showed that small drug stores were, doing a thriving trade in what used to be known as household remedies. Pennsylvania hunting laws do not permit going after game on Sunday, but there is certainly nothing in the public mind that prevents any one. from starting out to hunt on Sunday if the appearance of many motor ears seen yesterday afternoon havo anything to do with it. There were a number of automobiles speeding up the Susquehanna valley and down Ihe Cumberland which were loaded with gunners and their para phernalia, with tho dogs looking out and thoroughly enjoying modern ways of reaching • the hunting ground. Men who have been ob serving hunting say that there has been more of it on Mondays than on any day, not even excepting time honored Saturday. WELL KNOWN PEOPLE ] Col. John C. Groome. who is just homo from Russia, declares tnat. Germany is plotting another war nnd is using Russia and China as the storehouses. Charles W. Gilbert, Philadel phia newspaperman, is writing some impressions "of the peace conference which arc notable because of their keen analysis of some things which ho terms "bunk" although they loom large in the public eye. Attorney General William I. Schafter has resumed his mile in the morning walks after his recent se vere illness. I DO YOU KNOW 1 —'l'liat JJarrisburg contains more battle flags than any other town in tlie Middle States? HISTORIC lIAURISIUTRG —The tirst armory seems to have been locutod on* Walnut street where men kept equipment after the mus-. iter days during which euch mam I took his gun and uniform home with* [him. | * .