22 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH FOR THE HOME Founded IS3I Published eveninga except Sunday by THE TELEGRAPH PR I SITING CO. Telegraph Balldlag, Federal Sqaare R. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief F. R. OYSTER, Business lfaqaper GUS. M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor JL R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager EzecatlTe Board 'J." P.' McCULLOUGH. BOYD M. OGLESBY,' F. It. OYSTER. GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Members of the Associated Press—The Associated Press is exclusively en titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this f aper and also the local news pub- Ished herein, rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. A Member American rj Newspaper Pub lAvnue_ Bu'ilffing, l Chicago, 111. Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a week; by mail. $3.00 a year in advance. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1919 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, : guit you like men, he strong. — l Cor. | ! 1 COMMISSION S WORK THE preliminary work of the | State Commission indicates the | purpose of the Commissioners! to make a thorough and compre- i hensive study of the big subject j submitted by Governor Sproul. It is obvious that the fundamental I instrument requires some changing j to meet present-day conditions, but j it is doubtful whether there is any! serious purpose to throw overboard j the fundamental instrument which has shown through the experiencej of years the wisdom of its provi- | sions and the comprehensive char- | acter of its several articles and ' sections. Radical proposals of every sort ! have been suggested here and there. but the sifting process will likely j prevent any serious disturbance of | the checks and balances which are i necessary in the basic law. Some 1 measure of relief, perhaps, may be necessary in enlarging the home rule of cities and this may be ac- i complished through a reclassifica- ! tion of the municipalities of Penn sylvania along the lines which were practically agreed upon when the j present Constitution was adopted, ; but which arrangement was over turned by the Supreme Court. It is probable, also, that certain weak- j nesses in the provisions affecting | the executive functions ought to be I carefully revised but withlout chang- ! ing the principles involved. There is a real atmosphere of j what might be called conservative j progress in the early stages of the ; Commission's work and it may be assumed that no hysteria will be permitted to influence its discus sions or conclusions. All outgiv- ; ing of a proposed constitutional j convention and intimations that the study now being made is simply preliminary to such a contention are purely gratuitous and so far as any official opinion has been ex pressed or implied are without jus tification. Generally speaking, the body of, twenty-five is striving to ascertain: through careful investigation and I study the real needs of the Com monwealth with respect to a revised or amended Constitution. When the problem shall have been thoroughly studied from every angle it will be time enough to talk about a new Constitution or revision of the old Instrument. Until then the people of the State may be reasonably as sured that nothing serious is going to happen. Don't forget the Toy Mission when you are buying toys for your boys and girls; the store people will be glad to deliver your contribution. WHERE PAPER GOES ADVANCE copies of the third annual report of the United States Shipping Board have just come from the press at Wash ington. we are informed. It is an cient history and most ,of it will never be read by anybody. It em braces 213 closely-printed box-size pages and all the real news in it could be summed up In a column. Yet there are those who wonder at the scarcity of white paper. IN GOOD HANDS HAVING approved the selection of a negro educator of high standing and character as sec retary of the colored branch of the association In this city, the Central Y. sf. C. A. directors have thus en dorsed an Important step in the ac tivities that have been encouraged among the colored people of Har risburg for some time. Many of our people favor this movement and now is the time for them to show their interest in sub stantial support. Work of this char acter cannot be carried on without funds and the branch of the Y. M. rKILA* liVJtJ.IN.UNU, I C. A. for colored people ehould have I the consideration and sympathy and I aid of all good citizens. It is in good j hands and the initial work has been I organized along practical lines. THE COAL STRIKE THE conl strike being at an end ! the effects of it will be felt upon industry for many weeks, if not for the remainder of the winter. The miners will go back to work at a minimum wage in crease of fourteen per cent. The operators will be able to sell every pound of coal they can mine. But the public will continue to suffer I until summer comes again. The miners have lost J40.000.000 in wages. The operators have lost I the profits on 35.000.000 tons of coal. The public has lost far more than that, and will continue to lose. The public not only pays the bill; it pays the interest, too. and the rate just now is very high. The government which finally brought the strike to an end could have done so earlier had it acted j promptly, but it is useless to com plain about that. The thing now to do is to create a governmental com mission for the settlement ot all such difficulties before they reach the acute stage. Such a body might have prevented the mine strike, which was a failure from whatever point it may be viewed. TAKE 'EM SHOPPING IF YOU want to get the real Christmas spirit take the little : folks on a shopping tour. Yes. we know you give 'em mone> j and turn 'em loose or you let ; mother take 'em to the toy shops. But what do you get out of that? The stores are simply brimming over with things that speak right out in meeting of the holiday sea son so fast approaching. You can get an inspiration by prowling about by your lonesome, but if you de sire to see in yourself a transformed Old Scrooge and get back to your childhood delight in the visitation of old Santa, go shopping with your boys and girls. Fun? Why it's more fun than Charlie Chaplin, and more re juvenating than a bath in the Foun tain of Youth. Throw dignity to the winds, cut business for an after noon, put your Christmas money in your pocket, take the youngsters with you and go shopping. You 11 find it a wonderful tonic and a great generator of old-fashioned Christ mas spirit. AH, HA ; NOW WE HAVE IT PROF. EINSTEIN. eminent Swiss mathematician, tells us that a "yardstick is shorter when it is pointing east and west , than when it is pointing north and south." We believe there is something in the theory and that it may have a wider application. Maybe that's why a pound ot butter looks so small in comparison with the price. And we guess that's j what's the matter with the buying | qualities of our fifty-cent dollars. j If we knew how, we'd spend all our money north and south, there by, perhaps, preventing our pocket books from being knocked galley west. THE ONLY COMPROMISE BY FALSE insinuation,the Demo cratic leaders are striving to place the Republicans of the Senate in an unfavorable light before the country, picturing the majority members as standing stubbornly against the League when a "compro mise" would have resulted in ratifi cation, according to their claim. The is that the Republicans did make all the concessions many of them felt they could without sac rificing American independence and American honor. When the general terms of the proposed League Covenant were made public, 39 Republican Sena-j tors joined in a formal declaration, that they disapproved of the Cove nant in that form and insisting that the League question should be elimi nated from the Treaty, peace terms agreed upon and then the subject of a union of nations for the promo tion of peace be taken up separately on its own merits. That was the Republican attitude. President Wilson would make no concession to the body which, under j the Constitution, must be consulted j and its approval secured before any ; Treaty can become effective. There j was no spirit of compromise in him. j He declared, in a speech in New | York the day after the Senators i signed their"round robin,"that when | the Peace Treaty came to the United States it would have the League Covenant so intricately interwoven in its provisions that it would have to be adopted. And so it came. Did the 39 Senators stubbornly insist upon their carefully formed judgment that the League question should be eliminated and taken up separately? They did not. Most of those 39 men, any one of whom is just as capable of serving this coun try as President as is Woodrow Wil son, and every one of them just as capable of forming sound judgment upon foreign affairs as is he, yielded that point, although a few stood out against the League Covenant even after the reservations had been made. Those of the 39 who voted for the Treaty with reservations did so notwithstanding their Judgment that it would be better to make a Peace Treaty without a League Cove nant included. They were willing, in a spirit of compromise, to yield their Judgment in an effort to se cure in legal effect the peace that has already been practically ac complished. The Republicans made this com promise. What compromise did Woodrow Wilson make or offer to make? 'poCtttco "peiuuAfkrtuua By the Ex-Committecman j y Governor William C. Sproul's speech before the Republican na tional committee is generally com mended for its Americanism, the only criticisms being by two Demo cratic newspapers which print frankly partisan editorials. The Philadelphia Inquirer praises it for its stalwart Americanism and the Evening Bulletin is well pleased with its sentiments. The Pitts- I burgh Gazette-Times says that the Governor "got right down to the fundamental need of tlie country, and the Philadelphia Press says it was sound and strong. The Philadelphia Public Ledger finds some objections, one being that it is "too colored by Pennsyl vania conservatism. The Pitts burgh Post in a violent Democratic article calls the Governor "a parti san" and invites the Republican party to keynote the speech as much as it wants, while the Democratic Philadelphia Record suggests that economy begins at home and takes a whack at the selection of Dr. William Draper Lewis as secretary of the Constitutional Revision Com mission. —L. W. Strayer, writing from Washington to the Pittsburgh Dis patch says that William B. Wilson will soon retire from the Cabinet together with Secretaries Lansing and Lane. Similar rumors have been heard from time to time and there is a hope here that if he should retire that he will consent to serve on the State Constitutional Revision Commission from which he resigned a few days ago in a letter received by Governor Sproul in Philadelphia. j —Just what effect Wilson's with ; drawal would have on the Demo cratic national committeeman fight in this State is a matter of specu lation. He would be for Palmer for president but between Guffey, Sterling and Dewalt there are some who have doubts. —Some of the Constitutional Com missioners take the position that if a large number of amendments are submitted to the electors, the voter will find it difficult to under stand what is before him and the amendments either will be defeated or enacted by a minority of the voting power of the State. In 1909 the Legislature submitted 11 ques tions to the voters. The highest vote cast on any of the amend ments was 323.000, while in the same election the candidates for State Treasurer received 811,000 votes. It meant that almost 500,- 000 Pennsylvanians did not vote either for or against the amend ments. —There are some members of the Commission who want the question settled as to whether or not there is to be a complete revision of the Constitution. They argue that this should be done at once and there is prospect that the matter will be brought before the body next week. If this is done the answer will be made that a decision cannot be reached until the committees have determined what sections of the Constitution need reconstruct ing. There js an element in the Commission that will fight for a total revision. —The Lancaster Examiner, one of the representative dailies in the eastern counties, takes the Gover nor's address as the theme of an editorial which says frankly that the Republicans have made mis takes in the past and that if they heed the word of the Governor they will make no more. The Ex aminer says that it recommends for "careful consideration," inasmuch as he has not made any announce ment. the Governor of Pennsylva nia, adding "He is on the right track to victory." —The Pittsburgh Post is not pleased with the work of the Con stitutional Revision Commission and devotes considerable editorial space to saying so. It is like a good many other newspapers of the State ap pear to be, opposed to a constitu tional convention. —Senator Penrose will probably remain at his home in Philadelphia or in the vicinity until after the Christmas holdays. He is notienam ored of the idea of going south, but wants to return to his work in the Senate. —ln the course of a discussion of the $400,000 spent in the Philadel phia mayoralty campaign the Even ing Bulletin sets forth these cogent facts: "Yet, there is no good rea son why a campaign for the mayor alty, the city council and a few other offices should not have been thoroughly and efficiently conduct ed and the voters fully enlightened on one-half or even one-fourtn of that amount. So far as enlighten ment is concerned, the newspapers of the city furnish more of it to the voters in a single week than the politicians and stumpers are ordi narily likely to do in a month. Of course, there was an extraordinary turnout of voters, both in registra tion and as electors, but a rate of about $1.25 as the cost for each man is altogether too much, even if it was all paid out legitimately." —Many of the State newspapers are telling of various changes about to be made in county offices. In Norristown newspapers it is In timated that some house-cleaning Is possible, while the Scranton Times prints stories of shakeups in that city's government and in the coun ty offices as well. Johnstown, Clear- Held, Erie and Greensburg newspa pers also intimate that changes will be in order. —York County Commissioners will elect McLean Stock, well-known here, as county solicitor. —Governor Sproul is expected to name one of the water commission ers soon after he comes here next week. —Judge Clinton A. Groman, of the Lehigh county court, reappoint ed Thomas J. Fretz and Peter W. Frantz prison inspectors, and named David M. Garrahan, lawyer, auditor of the accounts of the fee-drawing courthouse officials. John H. Sieger, Frederick C. Schlechter, Herbert Stauffer, George F. Kuhl, Allen H. Focht, Charles Webb, John H. Beidler ar\d Frank H. Frederick were appointed members of the board of road-viewers. —The Philadelphia Press makes this comment on the Sproul speech at Washington: "On the whole, the Governor has done very well in this, shall we say. preliminary heat. Whether or not he has yet deter mined to be a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, he has certainly put himself in the front row of Governors who are likely to figure in the Republican National Convention as favorite sons." Writing in the Philnde'ohia In quirer, George J. Rrennan thus clas sifies the Pennsylvania congressmen: "Of the Pennsylvania Congressmen, Thomas S. Butler, of the Chester- Delaware district, the dean of the delegation. has served twelve con HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH MOVIE OF A MAN PASSING THROUGH HIS ANNUAL BRAIN CONVULSION By BRIGGS DeCIOBS- To for -nsM IM \SfiCONDS (NJ 3o SCCOMDS CO*JC OM VOH-VT pftAULT COLD PERSPI R ATJOfO pEAOV To "lo GIV/C. WIPE <3-lv/e T LIP FOR CMRiSTfvAAS *" < j m 4-c vsecorJi>.s in 4S s£.con£>s in SO After a full CPCOMG3 RED IN! NEARLY ©URSTS RCASON ALMOST MINUTe OF THOUGHT rE Sloo D v s el &\\ies WAV EXERTION V i " secutive terms; J. Hampton Moore j comes next with eight consecutive j terms; W. W. Griest, of Lancaster six; Benjamin K. Focht, Lewisburg, with six terms, although not con secutively: Stephen G. Porter, Pitts burgh, and William S. Vare, Phila delphia, each five terms; G. W. Ed monds and George S. Graham, Philadelphia, Edgar R. Kiess, Wil liamsport; Aaron S. Krieder, Ann ville; John V. Lesher, Sunbury; John M. Morin, Pittsburgh, and Henry W. Temple, Washington, each four i consecutive terms; Thomas S. Crago, | Greene, four terms, but not consee- | utive; Peter E. Costello and George 1 P. Darrow, Philadelphia; Arthur G. Dewalt, Allentown; Malilon M. Gar land, Pittsburgh; Louis T. McFad den. Canton; Henry J. Steele, Easton, and Henry W. Watson, Langhorne, each three consecutive terms, and John J. Casey, Wilkes- Barre, and M. Clyde Kelly, Brad dock, each three terms, but not con secutive; Gay E. Campbell, Pitts burgh: John M. Rose, Johnstown, | and Xathan L. Strong, Jefferson, each two terms, and General Willis J. Hulings, Oil City; Milton W. Shreve, Erie, and Anderson H. Walt ers, Johnstown, each two terms, but not consecutive, and Edward S. Brooks, York: William J. Burke, Pittsburgh; Evan J. Jones, Brad ford; Samuel A. Kendall. Somer set; Patrick McLane, Scranton; John Reber, Pottsville, and John H. Wilson, Butler, are all in the first-term class. t Popular Interest Sought [From Pittsburgh Dispatch] The proceedings of the commis sion on revision of the State Consti tution just opened at Harrisburg should be closely followed by the public at large. Unfortunately the subject is too apt to be considered dry and of little popular attraction, yet the hearings and discussions, should be of the highest value to every citizen of the Commonwealth, involving as they do the fundamental law of the State and therefore af fecting the people in countless di rections, public and personal. Every one can recall suggestions, proposals and movements that have been sub ject to the provisions of the present Constitution, often to the dissatis faction of large bodies of opinion. This will doubtless be true of what ever revisions may be made or omit ted by the present commission. Yet this is the time to think these things out, to offer suggestions in the way of eliminations, amendments or addi tions. Properly considered, the Con stitutional' Commission should pro-1 vide the basis for general discus sion of the basic law, to the end that the people of the Commonwealth may consider it intelligently, to weigh proposals thoughtfully and later to vote intelligently upon whatever re port is submitted by the Legislature, whether for separate amendments or for a new constitutional conven tion to take up the whole question. The good citizen, that is the man or woman who takes an intelligent interest in the affairs of State and community, will follow the delibera tions of the Commission with the at tention the potentialities of the dis cussion warrant. This is the real politics, the science of government, and the better it is studied by the people the nearer we shall come to genuine popular government. Starved Saving For Family [From the New York Tribune] Somewhere In Russia a mother and her three children are awaiting the return of a husband and father who left them several years ago to acquire wealth in America. He will never go back. Frank Zabielski made the Journey half way around the world in his quest for a fortune. He had been living in a small basement room in Newark, N. J. f working hard and skimping and saving. His bank books show a balance of $1,125 in one bank and $92 5 In another. But he is dead. He died the other night in the city hospital. Newark, and his malady, puzzled the physicians until County Physician Warren made his report. Starvation killed Zabielski, the physician said. Mrs. Rachel Lippen, to whom Zabielski had entrusted the care of his bank books said he told her he was saving money to take back to Russia. The Silver Trumpet And the I.*)rd spake unto Moses, saying. Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them; that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assem bly, and for the Journeying of the camps.—Numbers x, 1 and 2. The Census IX view of the fact that the tak ing of the fourteenth census of the United States will be gin in a few weeks, the following items from a bulletin issued by the census bureau are interesting: The first census of the United States was taken in 1790, during the administration of George Washing ton. It related solely to population. A census of the country's manu factures was made for the first time in 1810. Under the present law a manufactures census is to be taken in connection with the decennial census and every two years there after. The sixth census, taken in 1840, was the first one to cover agriculture statistics, now one of the most im portant parts of the entire census. About 650 people were engaged in taking the first census. The 1920 census will require the services of ninety thousand. The statistics of the first census were published in one small volume consisting of fifty-six pages. The statistics of the 1910 census required twelve volumes having an aggre Princeton's Good Fortune [From the Philadelphia Press] . Everyone should rejoice at Prince ton's good fortune in getting lifteen million dollars or thereabouts from one benefactor at a time when all the machinery of the institution with its army of alumni is on high gear in a drive for another sum almost as large as Mr. Frick's be quest. Had the bequest come earl ier the drive for an additional sum of almost equal amount would probably not have been undertaken at this time. But the battle for an ; additional endowment of $14,325,000 j is already on. An unexpected gain j at another point is no reason for | stopping it. The university can j make splendid use of both sums. The : cause of higher education in this country will be broadened and ex tended by this great strengthening of one of its best known and long established institutions of learning. I Even with this endowment Prince ton will be no richer than several ; other American universities. It will | be considerably behind Columbia, for instance, which is the richest of them all. But Columbia and most of the other greater universities have many departments and sub divisions among which their income is divided, whereas Princeton will have only its College of Letters and School of Science to absorb its funds. No law or medical or divin ity schools will claim a share of the income from this new endowment. Its graduate college has its inde pendent and separate endowment. The Theological Seminary that bears the name of Princeton has no corporate or financial connection | with the university and is itself one of the richest of theological semi naries. Princeton University, though now ! highly concentrated in, its educa- I tional opportunities, will doubtless, | under the influence of these endow | ments, branch out considerably. I Such is the intention and in the | enthusiastic language of President Hibben, "this new and large endow ' inent means a bigger and a better I Princeton than its fondest graduate ! has ever dreamed." There is still jthe danger that Mr. Frick's bequest 1 from his residuary estate may prove less than expected. Federal and other taxes may still further de plete it, and the fourteen million drive may fall short of the goal aimed at. Allowing for all these possibilities, it still remains true that Princeton University is the re cipient of extraordinary good for tune and well deserves warmest congratulations. High Fares [From Boston Transcript] "Did you point out to him the beauties of the scenery?" asked the suburbanite who had hoped he had a customer for his home. "Oh yes," replied the agent, "he liked the scenery, said it was grand —the trouble was, he said, there was too much of it between the place and his office." Venuses Save Tailor's Dills [From the Ohio State Journal] Some of the girls in our wife's favorite fashion magazine look as if they were dressed to have their measurements taken for comparison with those of the Venus de Milo, but we suppose they really are just going to go to a party. grate of more than forty thousand pages. There were 6,361,502 farms re ported in the 1910 census, valued at more than 40 billion dollars. The 1920 census is expected to show more than 7 million farms. , It required eighteen months to complete the enumeration work for the iirst census in 1790. In 1920 the census bureau plans to com plete the enumeration work for the entire country in from two to four weeks and announce the population figures in less than three months from the date the enumeration work is completed. Every census so far has disclosed the fact there are more men in the United States than women. The ingenious machines used by the census bureau to count, sort and tabulate the information gathered by the census enumerators will take care of three hundred cards a min ute, the counting machine can do five hundred cards a minute and the tabulating machine is capable of handling four hundred cards a minute. Victors in Souvenir War The Home Sector, the ex-soldiers' j magazine, conducted by the former j editorial council of The Stars and Stripes, states that the desire to re turn with souvenirs of the land in which they fought oftentimes caused American soldiers to endanger life and limb in efforts to procure suit able exhibits to hang over the man tel in the house back home. According to the ex-soldiers' maga zine: "So far, about the only things sacred to the national memory of France, which have come through the American prying und lifting peril unscathed, are the stones of the Bas tile, which are solidly cemented in a modern sidewalk. "Even the most precious posses sion of the Louvre in Paris did not come through entirely untouched by vandallstic Yankee hands. Unfor tunately the Venus de Milo is of marble and too bulky to fit in its entirety even an army overcoat pocket, but these handicaps did not deter an American permissionnaire. The details are vouched for by an American woman who lived in Paris j during the great part of the war and j who is known by name to thousands I of doughboys. "One day a soldier, who was a member of a party she was guiding, approached her triumphantly: " 'See this little piece of stone?" he said, rolling a chip of marble between his thumb and forefinger. 'Guess what it's from. It's off the statue of the lady—the famous one without the arms that's kept inside that iron railing at one end" of the gallery. There was nobody around : when I was there, and I saw that 1 there was a loose piece near the bot- I torn. It came off awful easy.' "The Blarney stone is lighter than it used to be, if one can believe the ] boasting tale of an American soldier. The hero of this tale related how he had allowed himself to be swung by the heels out from the castle walls while he conscientiously knocked oft a piece of Ireland's sacred relic with a smaller and tougher rock." Harnessing the Giant [/"rom Atlanta Constitution] H!\fi movement that has been put under way by a group of America's foremost scientists and financiers in tended to speed up the development of the water power resources of the United States, would, if carried to the extent of its possibilities, bring about the solution of this country's fuel problem for all time to come. It is estimated that the undevelop ed hydro-electric power resources of the United States amounts to approx imately 100,000,000 horse power, having an annual value of not less than $5,000,000,000. These estimates are staggering: and especially so when considered in connection with the acuteness and enormity of the existing fuel short age that has been brought upon the country. The feasibility of the development of the hydro-electric resources of the country, and the economy and profit resulting from the substitution of electricity for steam power—and in many localities its use for domestic heating as well as lighting and pow er purposes—have been so thor oughly demonstrated by experience as to make further argument super fluous, and yet, in some of the most favored localities in the country re sort to a utilization of this source of energy has been most pitiably neg lected. DECEMBER 12, 1919. An American to Americans [From Pittsburgh Gazette-Times.] The business man of sterling Americanism spoke yesterday when Gov. William C. Sproul addressed the Republican National Commit tee. The Pennsylvania Executive got right down to the fundamental need of the country when he de clared that "we must prepare not only to clean up the government mess in which we find ourselves, but we must lay our plans for restoring our nation to the position of respect which it once held." Preparing and planning at this juncture mean get ting ready for the presidential elec tion next year when, by orderly constitutional means, a change of government must be made by the people. We have had almost seven years of impractical idealism to the great hurt of the country. The de mand now is for practical states manship at the seat of government to recover America for Americans, to establish better relationships be tween labor and capital, to revive economy and business management in administration, to secure a firm handling of the Mexican situation, to find a sound solution of the rail road problem, and to restore Ameri canism and constitutional govern ment. In war we wandered far from the accustomed paths if democracy; such temporary expedients as were necessary in the emergency which then confronted the country. But the Democratic administration ex hibits no ability, if it have the dis position, to relinquish its war-born powers to meddle with a great va riety of personal affairs. Paternal ism of government is growing rather than diminishing, costs are mount ing when they should be declining. The Wilson administration truckles to the fomenterp of unrest when it should, and would if it had prac tical business capacity, adopt firm policies in the interest of all the people. Gov. Sproul said: "If we will come down out of the fool's paradise of extravagance and ineffi ciency in which we have been soar ing and got back to work in earn est, our troubles and even our debts will soon vanish." He knows. He is representative of the practical busi ness capacity and statesmanship of the Republican party and it is a most hopeful sign of better things for the entire country that the Re publican party in this critical'period is united on principles and policies that are essential to our common welfare. Gov. Sproul truly sounded a keynote at Washington that will augment the rallying of the hosts of Americanism to the Republican | party banner. Eclipse Trip "Hoodooed" [From the Boston Globe] Word has been received from Prof. David Todd's sun eclipse expedition, Amherst College, attributing its bad j luck to the fact that the sailors were "hoodooed" by the number 13. The 'ship Elinor steamed away May 13; | thirteen sailors, were assigned to the : four life boats, there were thirteen port holes on each side of the vessel | and the ship became totally disabled ion the Equator June 13. When the Elinor reached Pernam i buco, Brazil, a storm smashed the sea wall of the harbor and crushed the hydroplane that was to take the Brazilians on a flight promised them by Professor Todd. At Bermuda the sailors conspired to desert the ship and were prevent ed by the captain's steaming at once j for the deep sea. • Professor Todd left the ill-fated ship, but failed to observe the eclipse and could not get other transporta tion home. Street Name Twisters [From the London Express] Some of our street names in Lon don are not beautiful, but at any rate, we avoid lengthy "tongue" twisters," such as they have on the continent. In Paris there is the Rue des Pre tres - Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, which is almost as bad as the Rue de la Montagne aux Herbes-Potageres in Brussels. But these are simple compared to another thoroughfare in a suburb of the Belgian capital, which boasts the name of Ongeschlldezilverenoeker nootjestraat. It is said to mean "the street of the little unpicked sil ver nut." Sore [Boston Transcript] Don'clia come 'round In yer leather coat Onless youse want to get our goat. Jest been nicked eleven for shoes. An' we puts de blame on guys like youse- iEtrotmg (Mfat People who have been visiting Harrlsburg since the coal situation became acute have been saying some things which indicate that they con sider the Pennsylvania State Capital fortunate in more than public im provements and public spirit. They have been remarking upon the fact that the city is one of 10,000 that does not have to bother about the fuel supply for its essential indus- Thoy m, Kht have added the State Capitol, too, because the Com monwealth's ofllcers have been most active in buying up the fuel that is dredged from the bottom of the river and have divided the output u that is to be had for effort with elec tric, heating, traction and other util ity companies' purchasing agencies. The State has stocked up a consid erable quantity of "Susquehanna beans" as some one facetiously termed the river coal that is called buckwheat by others and dredgings by still others. When the coal short age occurred in midwinter of 1!>18 the State Capitol was one of the places that kept warm and there was no cessation of business required. Incidentally, not a few people got a chance to see the building under pleasant conditions. Now the Capi tol bins are well tilled and as for the utilities they have huge mounds of coal stored In various parts of the city. There is one in particular near the Ninth street plant of the electric company and another at Second and Division streets. South Harrisburg having a few young mountains. The two squadrons of the river coal fleet, one above and the other below the dam. have been working without re gard to the weather and even mov ing flats filled with coal around on Sundays. The coal fleet men say that they will keep at work as long as the ice permits and that each one of the periods of high water that has occurred since September has brought down considerable coal. Last winter the coal fleet was busy most of the weeks and the marin ers are hoping that the weatherman will hold off until January before issuing orders for the ice bridge on the Susquehanna. Men who have been lnfnting in the South Mountain district say that the number of does in the woods at this time exceeds those of former years by twenty per cent, and prob ably more. The increase of deer under present day laws 1s shown by tlie comparison with other game. The other day eleven Harrisburg hunters conducted a drive through the mountains near the Cameron es tate and saw in all a total of eleven . deer, most of them does and one of them a young fawn. The same party scared up only three pheasants and old hunters of the district say that deer are actually more plentiful in that part of the country than the smaller feathered game which have been hunted very closely. "Unless some better protective measures are undertaken we shall shortly have no more pheasants in the South Moun tains, where they used to be very numerous and where the cover is as fine for them as in any part in all America," said one of the men who has tramped these woods for years and knows every foot of them. "I believe that foxes, owls and other beasts and birds that live on bird's are even more to blame than the gunners," he continued. "For ex ample, X was with a party of deer hunters the other day and from 8 in the morning until dark we saw only four pheasants, while one of our number saw a red fox which got away and another killed a big gray fox. Two foxes to four pheasants shows how the proportion stands, and the fox shot was fat and in the best of condition, showing that he had been feeding well." Harrisburg hunters have been impressed with the scarcity of pheasants this year and are considering ways and means whereby the numbers may be in creased. • • • "With the close of the hunting season in sight County Treasurer Mark Mumma and Deputy Josh E. Rutherford are preparing for the issue of 1920 dog licenses. Mr. Mum ma will go out of office January 5 but many applications are being re ceived now for licenses and they will begin issuing them soon. Treas urer-elect Oliver C. Bishop will come into office January 5 and for the first ten days he and his deputy will be kept busy issuing the licenses. The last day to secure a 1920 dog license tag is January 15. Incidentally, Dau phin county set a new record for the total issue of hunters' license, J almost 12,500 tags going out of the treasurer's office. Just before the fall season opened the treasurer was furnished 9,750 licenses, but these were issued before the rabbit sea son opened. • • • Sessions of the Constitutional Re vision Commission have been at tracting some attention from law students, a number of whom have been at the Senate chamber to listen to the reports. More wil> attend the debates which will begin prob ably next week. Hampton L. Car son, the former attorney general, said yesterday that he was just clos ing his student days when the con stitutional convention of 1873 was sitting in Philadelphia and attended the debates of that historic gather ing. [ WELL KNOWN PEOPLE " —Judge Mayer Sulzberger, of Philadelphia, who is attending the Constitutional Commission meeting as a member, is accompanied by his brother. —J. J. Flannery, prominent In Pittsburgh financial affairs, has been seriously ill. —Ernest L. Tustin, new director of welfare in Philadelphia, has gone to western cities to make some stud ies. —General W. J. Latta, former sec retary of internal affairs, made an address at the Philadelphia veterans flag presentation last night. —Major W. G. Murdock has been attending the reunion of Philadel phia engineer units. —Judge G. A. Baldwin, of the Beaver county courts, let nine radi cals go on promises to sever connec tion with a communist society, *"> —John R. Barbour, mentioned for the vacancy in Pittsburgh city coun cil, is president of the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange. y DO YOU KNOY | —That Harrisburg's Are de partment is one of the few en tirely motorized systems of cities of the third class? HISTORIC HARRISBtTRG —The Citizen fire engine was in Army service in 1863 when the forts were built on the west shore. It was used to pump water to the in treuchments. *
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers