12 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH [A.4KEWSPAPER , FOR THE HOME Founded 1831 Published evenlnga except Sunday by THE. TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. Telegraph Building, Federal Square E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief F.~R. OYSTER, Business Manager GVS. M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor lA. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Executive Board 'J.P.' McCULLOUGII, " "BOYD M. OGLESBY, F. . R. OYSTER, GUS. M. STEINMETZ. Members of the Associated Press—The Associated Press is exclusively en titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in t.liis paper and also the local news pub lished herein. 'All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. A Member American PI Newspaper Pub- Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. , . By carrier, ten cents a trfcjjv •."AcfMi. week; by mail. $3.00 a year in advance. FRIDAY,. DECEMBER 26, 1919 What thou hast in store This coming Itear, I do not stop to ask; Enough if dag by dag there it,nrns before me Mg appointed task; 1 seek not great things, For I hare learned liow rain sueh seeking is, But let me seek Thy will, O King of Kings, And find, therein my bliss. O. E. FUU.kb. (10 TO IT, ADMIRAL OF ALL the officers in the serv ice who have Buffered from abuses of power and influence under the Wilson administration. Admiral Sims alone lias dared speak his mind in public, liis letter to | Secretary Daniels contains censuro for the head of the Navy in every line. There can be 110 dodging of responsibility, and* thle Secretary's reply is weak and self-convicting. The Admiral clearly proves that fa voritism was shown in the award of service medals and the implication is made that the Secretary's own son-in-law, who was given the high est award, even though he lost his ship, was one of those Mr. Daniels chose for special distinction. As Admiral Sims says, the com mander of the fleet is the oniy man competent to judge the merits of the men under liim and if his recom mendations in tho matter of awards for service and personal valor are to bo set aside, then the whole merit system in the Navy fails, much to the hurt of the high morale that has marked it on every occasion when its services were io demand. Americans generally will admire the straightforward methods of Ad miral Sims. It is a tine thing to know that the ranking officer of the Navy is a man of strong personal convic tion, as willing "to enter the lists of diplomacy against unfair methods of government as lie was to face the Hun on the high seas. UP TO ALL OF US IN THE sending out of a calendar for the new year one of the big corporations at Voungstown makes this comment: It is accompanied by our fervent good wishes aiid the hope that we, who hold service to our customers as our greatest obligation, may be able during the year to render this service unhindered by conditions such as have attended much of the year just ending. The industrial and commercial skies will brighten with the growth of understanding that real peace and prosperity can come only through productive i effort on the part of each indi vidual in his chosen field ofc labor. There is a whole sermon in the! last paragraph of this statement: and the emphasis must lie placed | by every Individual upon the last j clause which places the rosponsibil- ' ity squarely upon the shoulders of, each one of us. We can get hack , to solid ground only through real' effort and by co-operating along till j legitimate lines of endeavor. A WISE CHOICE GOVERNOR SPROUL could noti choose a better qualified man than former Lieutenant Gover nor Frank B. McCloln, of Lancaster, for head of a Fair Price Committee in Pennsylvania. Mr. McCluin was one of the most active representa tives of the State government on the National Defense Commission during the war and he is familiar with every line of food production and sala from its source to the ultimate con sumer. He Is aggressive and cour ageous, but, with all, wisely conser vative, and the public' can ejtpect absolute fairness at his hands, so far as that is humanly possible In price regulation. But let nobody expect too much from the work of Fair Price Com mittees, efther statewide In scope or local. It IS to be suspected that Governor Sproul has his own ideas as to their limitations, as have thou- FRIDAY EVENING, sands of others who watched their vain efforts to keep prices at a rea sonable level during the war. Some benefits to the consumer may have resulted from the publication o'f prices, but as a general thing the dealer whose prices were below those published by the committee went up to meet the "fair" figures, while .those above paid little attention to them. j THE COAL COMMISSION WE HAVE heard a great deal of the evils of legislation by I commission, but never has ! such a body of men held greater control over the welfare of the country than the commission for the investigation of mine wages and coal prices to lie appointed by the President under the terms of his settlement With the strikers. That commission will be clothed not only with power to fin wages at any figure that may be agreed upor. bv the miners and operators, but to pass that increased cost of production along to the consumer of coal in the shape of increased prices. * Of course, the commission directly cannot make those changes. It can merely submit recommendations to the President. But Mr. Wilson has already indicated, in his statement outlining the terms of compromise for the coal strike, that he wilt ac cept whatever arrangement the commission may make. Under the provisions of the I.ever Act the President has full power "to fix the price of coal and coke, wherever and whenever sold, either by producer or dealer." He also can "establish rules for the regulation of and to regulate the method of produc tion" of coal. Under the latter au thority he can fix wages. After those scales of wages and prices have been promulgated by the President, there is 110 recourse for .the public short of repeal of the Lever Act itself, under which his power is derived. It has been the policy of Con gress for many years to favor legis lation prohibiting combinations in restraint of trade. Such combina tions were considered as imposing an unfair burden upon the public in the shape of unnecessarily high prices, and to furnish a means whereby certain classes of our citi zens were able to enrich themselves at the expense of the others. But no business combination has ever been conceived that would 'exercise the complete monopoly to be en joyed by the coal industry from this time on. It will be able to dictate the prices of its product at all times and from that dictation there will lie no appeal. Far from being in terfered with by the courts, it will enjoy the complete protection of the Administration, acting well within the powers granted to it by a Demo cratic Congress. With the knowledge that in creases in coal costs may be passed along 1o the consumer, the operators will readily capitulate to any de mand the miners may make. The miners are well aware of that fact and have as little regard as the operators for the public as a whole. That being the case, how long will it lie before the miners are renewing their demands for a six-hour day, a tlve-day week, and a sixty per cent, raise in wages? There is nothing in the agreement under which the mines have resumed operations that prevents oilier strikes whenever the miners may think such a procedure will further their cause. Even though the award to lie made by the President's commission may give the miners far more than the terms of tlie tentative settlement now in force, there is no ineiins by which they may be made to accept the ar rangement permanently or even temporarily. Immediately the award is made, a strike may be called for still better terms. Although the President's follow ers are hailing his notion in the coal strike as a tremendous stroke of executive genius, in reality it but paves the way and provides the means for an interminable struggle between miners and operators on the one hand and the public on the other Until some other arrange ment is made the public will always be the loser, by reason of its minor ity standing on the all-powerful commission. , SIGNS OF PEACE SIGNS are not lacking that on both sides of the political fence at Washington njembers of the [Senate are growing restive over de ! lay in getting some final action on | the Peace Treaty. It ought to be | possible to .have the Senate adopt the treaty with such reservations as will protect America and at the same time prove acceptable to a majority of the Democrats. j That, we believe, is what the 1 American, people want. They are not (opposed to the treaty in any form What will leave their independence |,'lllll liberties unendangered and tin ' questioned, and they would breathe ! a sigh of relief if the whole tiling | were done with and out of the way. I They are not as much interested, possibly, as lliey ought to be, in the affairs of Europe, but they ure might ily interested in every (mention of a domestic nature,and it is evident that before we ran reach a peace basis at home we must have returned to peaceful relations with the world at large. We are Just now in an impos sible position. The fault mainly lies with Presi dent Wilson's refusal to regard the rights of America lirst and our rela tions with Europd secondly, but there are hhrd beads on both sides and.the American people are becom ing more and more Impatient of un necessary delays. Those who are interested politi cally should take theao thoughts to themselves, if they have any regard for their own purty preferences and personal interests in the coming campaign. r— — 1 T>eacc ftv.HHjUa.tuA By the Ex-Committeeman Probably the matter that is giving most concern just now to folks who follow politics in Pennsylvania is the advance in the tax rate that is being made in almost evqry city and bor ough in the State, while compara tively few counties have put up their millage for 1920. The cost of mu nicipal government has been jump ing in Pennsylvania, along with the cost of pretty nearly everything else, and more than one council has been faced with the alternative of curtail lnS n S .f ,V e or P ut ting up the tax. And in 9S per cent, of the cases the cities appear to be taking the latter course. Increases in rates in both of the big cities have called forth some sharp comments and it is not im probable that eurlv action will be iuken not only in the great munici palities, but in the third-class cities as well, for study of tho govern mental system front a scientific standpoint belore taxpayers' organ izations and similar bodies start to 19"] antl Provide issues for a nn/\°,iV lin! V and Erie wi " present some interesting studies in the next J ear, as they are both going into the , y< ; u ' administrations elect ed under the third-class citv code. tiFkofl 'men being chosen on party !L .? n within another vcar they will automatically go into the V.'. sir," she said. Sitting alone at home one evening, 1 her lingers wandering idly over the j noisy keys of the family adding ma- j chine—for the Stephanov'itski girls, | like all others in their set, simply j had to have an adding machine to I keep track of their social acquaint ances under the new system—the | •fair 4's fair forefinger alighted l'orj the ltrst time and by the merest i chance upon the fatal 1 key. Imme diately the instrument registered— and there dropped into her lap a re cord slip with this strange device: 1. She gazed at it in .amazement. Then slowly the memory of those dear dead days beneath the old euca lyptus tree stole in upon her and she saw it all. She had got his number. , rushing out into the night she dis- I patched this telegram to the man she ! loved: "Come l, come all. (Signed) 4." i It was a 4 to 1 shot—but tijen life, for 1 had ever been but a game of chance, and what, after all, had 1 to ! live for but for 4'.' So he canceled all other Social en- 1 gagements and reached her side that 1 very evening. "You know, dear," he told her ten derly, "there's only one 4 in this world for 1." Breaking A wag [From the New York Tribune.] The Cleveland Plain Dealer, a rep resentative Democratic njwspapc-r of Ohio, lias been a strong and con sistent supporter or the Administra tion with reference to the league and peace project. But the Plain Dealer, in vlj/v of the facts, is not willing to stultify itself by lodging responsibility for the I treaty hold-up elsewhere than whne it belongs, it finds that particuU r responsibility rests with the Presl- I dent. It says: "The treaty can be | laid before the Senate again only ! upon his volition. The treaty is in I the President's hands. Kesponsi ,for initiating its ratification is | upon him." | in New York Administration or igans, in an endeavor to serve parti-' | sail ends, continue their efforts to i place the blame on (he Senate. They . juggle the facts. The combination i of the Borah-Johnson irreconcilubles , and ttie Administration Senators dc -1 feuted ratification, and now the |. treaty is not under parliamentary I consideration because the President i wills it so. | The situation is too plain to permit I misrepresentation to be long success i ful. Other Democratic, newspapers/ i will testify to (he truth, as The Plain i Dealer does. i " Not Meant For Him [From the Spectator, Condon] j Judges on the bench have some times been assaulted. A litigant I once threw an egg at the late Vice - j Chancellor Mali lis In nn 'English court. The judge had the presence of mind to duck his heud, and at the same time he established a repu tation as a humorist by remarking that the present must have been in tended for his brother. Bacon, the vice-chancellor who was sitting in an adjoining court. Kidding the Help [From the Punch Bowl] Chambermaid —I found 16 cents in your bed this morning, sir. Professional —Ah; my sleeping quarters, no doubt. | Lure. of Spicy Zanzibar | [William Ashley Anderson in Harper's MuguzineJ j Aden, from which I had but re j eently departed, is a man grown I gaunt and rugged in honest strife; | but Zanzibar is a courtezan, whlm- I steal, gay, sullen, presenting many aspects. I Warm, rich, beautiful, concealing | with dissembling art its sinister j spots, it lavishes its charms, intoxi cates with its beauty, smothers with : its opulence; or suddenly, after a , smoldering silence, it rends itself ' with rage. The screaming tornado • rips its garments of verdure to tat ters, bony lingered pestilence goes leering down its dark alley ways, | fever shakes the life out of its vlc ! Urns. And afterward, the bright ; sun sparkles upon the ruin washed I foliage, and the island smiles again • witli the innocent radiance of a j maiden. ; Zanzibar Town is the great me jtropolis of the east coast. It is Rome ito the dusky pilgrim; it is Paris to jtlie reckless wanderers from tlie. 'Bantu folk of Cape Delgudo to the j sons of the corsairs of Oman. Its clubs, its coffee shops, its cinemas, i its durk. arched rooms where dusky belles from India, Arabia, the Somali coast and Zanzibar, giggle and shrill and dance monotonous dances; its spreading mango trees under whose shelter tlie torches burn, and the torn toms beat the measure of night long ngomai; its shops tumbling with riches of roughly curved ivory and ebony, or ! hammered Cingalese silver and gems; its bazars, gaudy with cheap cloth—kikoys, hodrunks, kanzus— bright with prints of flags and ships and emblems of royalty; the great ships lying in its rouds, pouring into Hie lap of black Africa the increas ing luxuries of Europe; the dhows bearing commerce from the Persian Gulf, the Seychelles and Madagas car—all, all and more, contribute to thy he comes back. "Yes. sir," says he. "There is a package in the hat-cheek room for you." "Bring it in," says you. So the package comes in, all nicely wrapped up in plenty of white paper. It is handed over the table to you with as much ostentation as the waiter can contrive. And you open it, and there is a bottle or sev eral bottles of wine. "Frappe it," says you. "And •erre." lEontttigGffat i' 1 This is a tribute to those who I*l a. d o Harrlsburg's most lavish < hrlstinus possible. It seems to be generally agreed that never was so much money put into preparations I ° r the Kreat holiday in the history aia c ;ln