6 HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH FOR THE HOME Founded 183 1 Published evenlngu except Sunday by THE. TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO. Telegraph Building, Federal Square E. J. STACKPOLE President and Editor-in-Chief F.'R. OYSTER, Business Manager GUS. M. STEINMETZ, Managing Editor A. R. MICHENER, Circulation Manager Executive Board J.* P. McCULLOUGH. 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 this paper and also the local news pub lished herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. Member American Newspaper Pub lishers' Associa tion. the Audit Bureau of Circu lation and Penn sylvania Associa ated Dailies. Avenue Building. Western office'. Story, Brooks & Gas' Building. Chicago, 111. Entered at the Post Office in Harris burg, Pa., as second class matter. By carrier, ten cents a week: by mail. 53.00 a year in advance. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1919 Vow trill find as you look back upon your life that the moments that stand out, the moments ichcn you have really lived,'are the moments ichen you have done things in a spirit • of love. — HENRY DRRMMOND. THE RAILROADS* RETURN PRESIDENT WILSON has lifted ; a load of worry from the minds j of those who feared he might ; carry out his threat and return the 1 railroads to their owners January j 1. without that legislative prepara- , tion so neces3:iry to a successful I transfer of the transportation sys-1 terns. The interval between the pres- , ent and March 1 is ample for Con gress to work out a proper program ) of action. The people of America want to see j the railroads out of the hands of j the government. They know that, j whether in private or public hands, ; the systems must have more funds ■ if they are to live, and they are j pretty well convinced that the neces- ; sary increases in freight rates will j he less burdensome if the roads are back in the hands of the companies, ! with restoration of competition both in tariffs and service, than would be , possible wth the present extravagant ■ methods in force. But let nobody suppose the re- ; turn will be without discord. Much depends, of course, upon the patriot ism and wisdom of Congress with respect to its course regarding the ! railroads. Peanut politics or favorit- : ism must play no part in this tran saction, if the public is to be pro- j tected and the roads given their ' just dues. Neither the Cummins nor the Eseh bill is satisfactory in its present form. But the Cummins proviso for the creation of a Trans portation Board to relieve the over worked Interstate Commerce Com mission is a step in the right direc- j tion. Its antistrike provision, how- i ever gives fair promise of precipi tating a strike even before it is en- j acted. It is a useless, even pernicious clause, for it must be evident to i anybody that if the railroad men | want to quit work all together some j day they would be protected in peace 1 times in so doing by their individual i rights under the Constitution, even 1 though such a strike might be a na tional catastrophe. Hard common sense and fair play must characterize every eons;dera- | tion of Congress in the railroad j transfer if the interests of all are to be properly protected. HARRISBURG ARMORY LANCASTER is losing no time in ; providing an armory for military forces of the State j with headquarters in that city. The j other day a dinner was given in < honor of Adjutant General Beary' and $7,000 was subscribed to the I armory fund. This amount will be | increased to at least $25,000. Lan caster is going to provide a fine lo- j cation and the State will erect a j building with accommodations for at least four units of the new Na tional Guard. The armory committee of the Chamber of Commerce here will have a conference with the State military officials in a few days and will then outline its plans for the new armory which this city must have to house its several units of the Guard. ' MORE PAY IS JUSTIFIED DECISION of Congress to increase the pay of soldiers disabled in the war with Germany will have the approval of the country. No man wounded to the point of be ing unable to make a living for him self should ever be found selling lfead pencils or? a street corner or engaged in any other semi-charitable means of ekeing out a livelihood. Some day, perhaps, it will be necessary to SATURDAY EVENING, place many men of the A. E. F. on the Nation's pension list, but at present the people of the country will be in accord with the sentiment expressed by the American Legion, which is that for the preserrt only disabled men should receive pay, and they generously. Banking Commissioner Fisher is taking the people of Pennsylvania into' his confidence in a way that is refreshing and most encouraging. His recent report on the building and loan associations of the State shows that these associations helped to buy 30,860 homos during last year. Mr. Fisher is a thorough student of affairs and, with his practical mind and his broad vision, is bound to enlarge the usefulness of these helpful organiza tions, especially in this period of de ficiency in homes. READ IT IN VOIR HOME GENERAL PERSUING S visit to the old home town in Missouri the other day was the occasion of a number of very interesting and human incidents. Nothing occurred during the day, however, which "more graphically illustrated the Pershing character than his little talk to the towir's folk front the front porch of his old home. He said: It was here that I learned the lessons of patriotism and devo tion to duty. These lessons were handed down to me in my youth bv mv father and my mother. It was here that I learned a deep sense of duty to my country and to my God. The lesson of service was taught to me by my parents, whose staunch characters im pressed it upon me, and caused me to follow the path of duty. Whatever service 1 may have rendered in co-operation with or in command of our young man hood I owe to my mother's early teachings. Many of you knew her and loved her. Too often we have been slow to values the in tluence of our mothers. In late years I have come to realize it. During the war it was borne in on me. We all felt that the wonderful loyalty and devo tion of the women of America were sustaining us. I am very much overcome with emotion to be thus honored to-day. The cir cumstances are overwhelming. To receive such an emblem in the old yard where I romped as a boy brings a choke in my throat, and 1 can't just say what s in my heart. No honor has come to me greater than this in the midst of those whom I love and cherish. This is an address which should be read in every home. It shows devo tion to friends of his youth and high patriotic ideals. It is altogether an admirable touch of the Pershing character. NOW THE TIME TO BUY NOW that the Christmas shop ping season is over and the merchants have on hand many broken lots of goods which are usually sold at comparatively low figures in order to clear the shelves for the early spring trade, the wise buyer will go Into the markets to meet his needs. It is a fact that there is more old clothing being worn in Harrisburg now than ever before. Many men and women, discouraged by the pre vailing prices, simply declined to make purchases and have been get ting along with their last year's garments. Now comes the time that these provident ones can go into the markets with some hope of getting real bargains. The Jan uary sales this year ought to be more widely patronized than ever before. A COMMUNITY SERVICE THE Chamber of Commerce per formed a real community serv ice Chrisamas evening when it financed the Christmas pageant in Capitol Park. Few people realize the extent of the Chambers - activities along these lines. Through the Social Service Committee and with Mrs. Ley in cvharge, activities of the kind arc being encouraged all over the city. The money is well spent. Thousands of people are being given places in the affairs of the city and are being made to feel that they are rendering real help in the develop ment of its neighborhood spirit. The more community affairs we have the better for Harrisburg. IT IS TO LAUGH HOW Chinamen who have vis ited this country must snicker over the announcement that Americans have endorsed the move ment now afoot in China to save Chinese girls and women from foot gear that distorts their feet and ham pers their movements. What a great joke it is that a nation given to the wearing of high-heel, sharply pointed shoes should turn its attention lo helping the women of China to proper footgear. May be, after Chi nese women have learned to wear low-heeled, sensibly designed shoes they will send delegates to the United States to teach our women the folly of present-day shoe styles. CUTTING DOWN ARRESTS ARRESTS in Harrisburg have been reduced by forty-five per cent, through the operation of war-time prohibition, the records show.' This reduction in court costs should prove interesting to those who have been laying stress upon the great losses incurred by the pub lic treasury through the cutting off of liquor license fees. But there is a bigger, more im portant side to the prohibition ques tion than that of finance, merely. It ought to be worth a lot to any community to cut the number of its arrests in half; in other words, to have only fifty per cent, of the num ber that had come to be regarded as normal. Back of the fewer arrests lies a lesson in good citizenship. It is evident that under prohibition the laws are being obeyed to a greater extent than heretofore and that peo pic are more orderly, which is well worth any loss we may experience by striking jthe bar-rooms oiT our lists as contributors to the public budget. fiUtleo U By the Ex-Committeeman Men about the Democratic State windmill are wondering what is back of all the activity being mani fested by William Jennings Bryan in discussion of Democratic Na tional affairs. The appearance of the Xebraskan in Washington the other day and the cordial manner in which he was greeted have caused much talk from one end of the country to the other, and there are some who say they would not be surprised to see a Bryan boom started one of these days as a try out anyway, because* they cannot believe he has ever given up the idea of being in the White House. In this State, especially among the Democratic machine men, the inter est is not so much whether Bryan will be a candidate, but whether he will not try to dominate things as he did in 1904 at St. Louis and as he did more or less at Baltimore in 1912 and, if he finds no Sentiment for him self, to endeavor to put over some favorite. Tile point is that Bryan is not any too much in love with the President and has never been strong for Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. He still has a lot of strength in Pennsylvania and his appearance in a primary campaign when dele gates are elected in this State would be absorbing in party interest. —District Attorney-elect Cyrus Palmer, Schuylkill, has an nounced the names of his four dep uties. The appointees are: Roy Hicks, of Frackville; Martin Duffy, of Pottsville; Edward Magennis, of Girardville, and Z. T. Rynkiewicz, of Shenandoah. —The new board of Lycoming county commissioners organized by electing Joseph H. Nicely president, and appointing Lloyd O. Bower, in cumbent. chief clerk; Lieutenant Blanchard Antes, second clerk; Wil liam H. Spencer, solicitor, and Grant Flexer. sealer of weights and meas ures. G. M. Kuhns, former legisla tor and speechmaker extraordinary, will lie chief clerk to Lehigh county commissioners. —ln discussing the work of the State Consiitutional Revision Com mission, the Philadelphia Inquirer predicts that it will take some steps in regard to the regular apportion ment of the State for election of Congressmen and legislators and re marks: "Experience has shown that members of the Senate who get to gether at Harrisburg follow a com munity of interest policy, each look ing out for his individual future, and each with proverbial 'Senatorial courtesy,' respecting the desires of his fellow Senators where they are not conflicting. The result has been that no attention is paid to the con stitutional requirement for a new ap portionment every ten years. The apportionment of Congressional dis tricts and judicial districts is affected by like influences. There has been no apportionment of Pennsylvania into Congressional districts since 1906. The apportionment of Con gress approved August S, 1911, gave Pennsylvania 36 members of the Na tional House, an increase' of four. These additional Congressmen were elected at large in the following year, anft the Legislature not having made any apportionment since, there will be four Congressmen elected at large next year. A new apportionment would increase Phil adelphia's quota, which is now fixed at six." —Among the legislative booms heard of are representative R. S. Spangler, of York, speaker of the last House; Hugh A. Dawson, of Seranton, chairman of the ways and means committee; Richard Powell, of Luzerne county; W. J. McCaig, of Allegheny, chairman of the House appropriations committee, and A. B. Hess, Lancaster. Representa tives Clark M. Bower, Perry; Albert Millar and D. I. Miller, first Dau phin; J. S. Shellenberger, Juniata; Ross L. Beckley. Cumberland, and G. F. Conterer, Fulton, will be candi dates for re-election. In the second Dauphin district Lawrence Hetrick, of Progress, will bo a Republican candidate, and George H. Stewart, Jr.. of Shippensburg, will run in Cumberland. —The Rev. T. J. Ferguson, of Cumberland county, will be a candi date for Senator, and D. E. Long, former superintendent of public printing, a resident of Franklin, has also senatorial aspirations. —Mercantile appraisers will be appointed next Tuesday. Auditor General Charles A. Snyder, who will make the appointments, has insisted in certain cases in selecting his own men instead of some suggested. The Auditor General expects the new appraisers to start work early in the new year and will call on them for early reports. The annual winter rumors of changes in departments at the Capitol are being heard again. They always commence to circulate when the primary election is ahead and because last year there were not many changes made it is believed that the much-discussed houseclean ing may be started on the Hill. In any event, county leaders appear to be visiting Harrisburg pretty reg ularly. —Appointments which are inter esting Capitol people are water sup ply commissioner and assistant man ager of the State Insurance Fund. —Judge Milton A. Henninger, the new Lehigh judge, insists on making his own appointments and will have a crier, stenographers and other offi cials. —Fountain Hill has enlarged Its limits and is a lusty neighbor of the city of Bethlehem. —Overbrook is a new borough in Allegheny county which is getting ready to hold its first election. —Pittsburgh politics, which have been rather quiet since the Novem ber election, are all stirred up again over defiance of the City Council by the Mayor's secretary. The Pitts burgh Gazette-Times says of the sit uation: "The insubordination of M. H. Gottschali, the Mayor's secretary, who is declared to have flagrantly de fied the authority of Council by re fusing to appear before it, resulted yesterday in the elimination of the position from the 1920 budget by Council, sitting as the finance com mittee. The action, according to statements made at the meeting, fol lowed the persistence of Mr. Gott schali in refusing, first a request and then a summons, to appear before Council, and was taken because of the failure -of Mayor K. V. Rabcoik to act, after having been informed by Council that he must either dis charge Gottschali or secure his re signation." —Senator Boies Penrose Is slowly recovering his strength at his home in Philadelphia and is able to see a few visitors. All efforts are being made now to get the Senator into shape to resume his work at Wash ington the middle of January. HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH IT HAPPENS IN THE BEST REGULATED FAMILIES By BRIGGS f " ( NO LISTPhj" I AREM ~ rbo goiktc, I \ , pour want To take "THAT ]y Vyy/V/S, I To 9S<= j 8A& Voo / KikiD OP SLOPPV vaJEArweft - TriiS J M> cffljjf A^flO,' \ Foo Christmas ? / oLp bag is PLewrY <3ooD S D r ~ AWJO > \ El'JOUfSw *" > \AJA*JTA SAVE That / V — nJice OME foc? summer AV /V/ ■T V ~~~ \Si' To - " - 4!--- Take the pretty Plaid BaG <- J X c w .,kt ! r Trik. i„. J? SH6 GAYE Tbu FOR CHR I -STMA-S . Responsibilities [Elizabeth Frazer in Saturday Even ing Post] Neither the arm power of indus try nor the money and brain power of capital is perfect, sacrosanct or infallible.. Roth are at bottom driven by the same primitive urge: Self-interest, a bigger place in the sun. Both need a lot of watching. Both have certain inalienable rights—and with those rights go certain inalien able responsibilities. Both sides do a powerful lot of yelling about their rights; but 1 have yet to heat since my return from Europe either side rise up in meeting and testify ltow he meant to tackle his respon sibilities. Both sides are deaf mutes when it comes to that angle of the theme. And that significant deaf and dumb attitude on the question of responsibility is the nigger in the woodpile in both camps. Speak up, honorable gentlemen, who represent workers, and likewise honorable gentlemen who represent employers! Bury the hatchet of your differences—your just and inalien able rights—and let us hear you orate for a while 011 your just and inalienable responsibilities. Chin music on such subject would seem beautiful as the fabled divine har mony of the spheres to the invisible third party to the contract—that poor, meek, long suffering contin gent, ground between the upper and the nether millstones of the strug gle, which is called the general pub lic. Increase in Immigration [From the Washington Star] During the fiscal year which closed June 30, 1919. there was an increase in immigration of aliens to 141,132 as compared with 110,- 618 in the fiscal year 1918, accord ing to the annual report of A. Cami netti, commissioner general of im migration. During the fiscal year 123,522 emigrant aliens left the country for permanent residence. Creation of an additional office of assistant secretary of labor with jurisdiction over all immigration matters, deportation of alien draft slackers and strengthening of the border patrol service against unde sirables are among the recommen dations in the report. Suggestions that immigration be suspended completely were opposed by the commissioner general on the ground that it would have an "in jurious effect on our efforts to fur ther American commerce and en terprise in foreign countries." The commissioner instead urged contin uance of war-time passport vise reg ulations and assignment of immi gration bureau representatives as consular officers to aid in excluding undesirables. Only two aliens were excluded from the country during the year on anarchistic grounds, while thirty seven aliens in the same class were expelled from the country, and oth ers are now awaiting deportation. Villages Xot to Be Rebuilt [From the Stars and Stripes, Wash ington.] Fifteen villages in the Aisile dis trict. destroyed by war, will never be rebuilt. There are 17 towns in the Maine district which will be abandoned, and probably 100 in all of France. For many ears, at least, the soil on which the villages stood will not even be tilled. It will become a permanent no man's land. According to government advices, the sites of these villages are too dangerous to be used again. In or der to avoid loss of life the govern ment has purchased the land on which the villages stood jjnd will keep possession of it until it can be made safe. These sites are the ones often fought over, on which the ground has been turned over and over again, burying explosives of all kinds to unknown depths. There is no trace of buildings left in the 15 villages, so the refugees faced more than the usual hardships. They returned, however, and lived in the worst makeshift caves and dugouts. Only signs maintained by the gov ernment will mark the sites of the villages warning people of the lurk ing dangers. Self Protection [From the Kansas City Times.]* Massachusetts is experiencing a wave of reaction against prohibition. The drys, having a lot of idle time on their -hands, were understood to be plotting a ban on beans und cod fish - V The Difference [From Kansas City Star.] The difference between saving coal and saving daylight is that we had the dayligi t to suve. FACING OLD PROBLEMS. Frank H. Sinionds in the American Review of Reviews. IDO NOT went to seem to prophesy, but it is fairly certain that the Rumanian question will be to the fore for some years to come, will take more than some compro mise made in Paris or Washington, really to reconcile Southern Slavs and Italians to any conceivable solu tion of their Adriatic dispute. There is no absolute right or wrong in any of these complicated race differ ences. If I were an Italian in Fiurne I should prefer to light to the death than become a subject of the pres ent king of Serbia. If I were a Ser bian, a Jugo-Slav, I would make any sacrifice rather than permit my country to be excluded from the sea and thus placed in economic servi tude to the Italian. Self determina tion is an admirable principle, but it becomes inapplicable when, as in the Banat, no race has a majority and a separation on the basis of ethnic ele ments leads to an economic mon strosity. As to a real world settlement, we shall not have it until Russia achieves some form of order, until Germany decides to live in conform- Orange Trees in North [Joseph E. Chamberlin in Scrib'ner's Magazine.] Marvels of adaptation will be achieved, but they will not be achieved without confidence and that kind of patience that outlasts life. I had a friend, a Spaniard, who though he lived in New England and knew the bitterness of its winter winds as well as any one, asked me why we did not raise oranges in Massachusetts. And let me ex plain that this Spaniard was not a fool, but as wise a man as I ever knew. He told me that fur up on a certain high mountain in Spain, at whose summit the snow some times lies ail summer, there is a monastery which is occupied by a most patient order of monks. For centuries these monks, each gen eration taking up the task when the one before it had laid it down, carried the growth of the orange higher and higher up the mountain, until at last, acclimated, the trees grew and throve and produced their sweet fruit in the monastery gar den: and no bitter winter wind can longer wither them. "Why do you not, then, do the same?" asked my Spanish friend. If we were like the monks of Montserrat. or like Coburn of Kan sas, perhaps we might eventually have oranges growing in Berkshire and Westchester orchards. If there is now some enthusiast who is seek ing to cover the barren slopes of the Catskills with oiange groves, I shall at least associate myself with him in spirit. Gov't Must Be Supreme [From'Kansas City Times.] In dealing with Alexander Howat, the Kansas mine workers' leader, Judge Anderson could adopt no other course than the one he laid down. So long as Howat flouted the order of the court the court could deal with him only as it would deal with any law breaker. Judge Anderson met the issue squarely. "This man has openly and defiantly disobeyed the law," he said. The question, the court rdded, was whether the Government or the organization Howat represented was supreme. The court ruled in fa vor of the Government, and it was a logical conclusion to the ruling, valuable to the purposes of the re cord in the ease, that Howat should have personal experience of what' happens to citizens who imagine themselves to be above the law. The country owes a big debt to Judge Anderson. He has decided the most important point involved in the coal strike. Others can set tle the details es Justice hetween the miners, the operators and the pub lic best warrants, hut the case be tween the sovereignty of law In America and its challengers has been settled by Judge Anderson and set tled right. Whatever Is left over is mere incident. Meant What He Said [From the Boston Transcript.] "Isn't that an odd sign. 'Cigars for Smoking?' " asked the man in the tobacconist's shop. "Oh, I don't know," answered the proprietor. "I have cigars for smoking, and then I have cigars for Christmas presents." ) ity with the principles of Western civilization, until the smaller races of Middle and Southern Europe reach a modus Vivendi, in so far as i the Paris Conference undertook to ' reorganize the world on a perma j nent basis and become a sort of super-governing body, it failed. It i could not punish and placate Ger many. It could not crush and toler ate Bolshevism, it could not pre serve the solidarity between its com ponent parts, when the several paits quarrelled over details in the settle ; ment. The alliance against Germany i could, in spite of obvious ditlicul j ties, incidental to all alliances, make ! war, because it was equally a mat- I ter of life and death for ail the al i lies to defeat the German. No such \ unifying influence compelled co-op | eration in peacemaking, the French -1 man who would fight to save Franco I from the invading German would j not go to Russia to crush Bolshe | vtsm. With the coming of the Ar mistice separate nations automatic ally resumed their own individuali ties and the effort to preserve the old 1 conditions failed completely. Empty Stomachs in Europe [Elizabeth Frazer in the Saturday Evening Post.] It's the empty stomach that makes your true radical; and the empty stomachs in Europe would make the American workingman look like a caricature of Taft. "Madame," said a woman one day, halting me on a street in Brus sels. "for the sake of humanity, and because you are a woman, stop and listen to me." I listened. "I came down here from t'liarleroi, where my three children are, to see if I could get relief from the commit tee. But the head of the committee, whom 1 must see, she is not in town, and they told me to wait. But 1 have waited two days—and still she does not return. And now 1 have spent all that I have, and I have no way to return to my chil dren in Charleroi. The committee tell me to wait. But I have no money to wait —and I have no money to return! r ask myself: 'What are my children doing?' Madame, I think I am about to go mad." I poured some money into her hand and she ran off, sobbing, toward the station. "Do you suppose she was a fraud?" I asked a Brussels member of the relief committee the" next day." "Alas, no," she replied. "Our poor country is full to overflowing with just such cases of desperate need." As a contrast to the above, the other day there defiled past my win dow in New York a Kussian Bo'she vist parade—afterward dispersed by the police. The paraders, I ob served, were comfortably clad, with sturdy shoes and warm suits. Their faces were not gaunt or pinched No abdominal emptiness here. The vacuum was above the collar bone. The Vision [Grace S. H. Tytus in Harpers Magazine. ] Across the dreams of years a little hill Obtrudes its shining outline; very -still The sunshine lies upon it, and wild bees, Like fairy galleons, sail its heather seas. We knew the path so well—and then the way Began to fade a little, till to-<]ay Our unfamiliar feet on that same sod Can scarce make out to find the paths we trod. Only our hearts are loyaj—for our will Has always faltered ere we reached that hill! Can we not stay our feet, lest we forget. And, thanking God the way is open yet. Set them, before It is too late, to seek The old green pasture, and the henther peak? liy the Blood of Christ If ye call on the Fnther, who without respect of persons Jiydgeth according to every man's work, puss the time of your sojourning here in fear; forasmuch as ye know that ye be not redeemed with corruptible things; but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.—l Peter i, 17 to 19. DECEMBER 27, 1919. Origin of Watered Stock [From the New York Evening Sun.] There are more ways of profiteer ing than raising the rent. One of the most alluring forms of "goug ing" has just been exposed in the seizure of 50.000 live hens whose crops were full of $15,000 worth of sand and gravel, which increased the weight of each hen about one pound. In its final analysis profiteering is said to be nothing more than deuling in watered stock, or, as the econo mists would say, the artificial infla tion of values, and recalls the epi sode from which originated the term "watered stock," a phrase coined in Wall Street nearly two generations ago and since circulated throughout the world where barter is carried on in accordance with trade usage and customs. Some of the older manipulators in "the Street" say that the phrase "watered stock" is due to an inspir ation of Daniel Drew, although some credit it to James Fisk, who with the late Jay taught Wall Street a few quips and quirks in finance that it had never known before. Fisk, it is said, never could get away from the idea that the sharpest manipulators in the finan cial district were, after all, as bucolic in their methods as the veriest "hay seed" of Alfalfa Center. Fisk him self had been a farmer and he had a deep-dyed respect for the rural gentleman who possessed "hard baked" sense. He was one of that class. When Fisk commenced to burgeon out in Wall Street those who had cynically regarded his somewhat rapid rise as a stroke of downright luck pried into his antecedents, especially after the brilliant financier, by an alchemy all his own, proved how a five-million dollar concern could easily trade on assets of five times that amount. Rumors were set adrift in "the Street" to the effect that before Fisk came into the arena of finance he had taken a flier in the raising of livestock wiiich was sold on the hoof by weight, and that just before the cattle or horses or hogs were driven on the scales Fisk Contrived to have them gorged with water, he, in the meantime, having subjected them to 12 hours' thirst. Of course the weights shot up in a few minutes and an 800-pound steer, with five gallons of water aboard, weighed 840 pounds. Some one, it is said, discovered this plan and thereafter Fisk's livestock were alluded to as "watered stock." Colored Sews From Russia [Alonzo E. Taylor in the Saturday Evening Post.] The best information as to eco nomic conditions in Russia is ob tained from Americans who have long lived in Russia—engaged in business enterprise or management of industrial plants—who have per sonally not been disturbed by the revolutionary government and who have gradually come out because they have grown tired of unsatisfac tory conditions of life. They state that communism is a failure and explain the reasons for it. The writer has not found them embittered and they will return to Russia as soon as communism is re placed by capitalism, irrespective of the form of government. The neu tral nations, especially Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland, have maintained fairly close contact with Russia, and the information avail able in these countries corroborates that obtained from Americans, Information brought out by writ ers who have made hasty trips into Russia for purposes of propaganda, for or against the present regime, is usually so devoid of data and so ob viously motivated as to be of little value. Americans who have looked over Russia since the advent of the soviet government belong to one of three groups: Those who have talked with Eenine, those to whom Eenine has talked and those who have talked to him. One Cent [From the Omaha News.] An Ingenious professor of mathe matics has figured out that 1 cent, invested at the beginning of the Christian era (1,919 years ago) at a rate of interest equal to' the Gov ernment Elberty Donds, that is, 4\i per cent, with interest compounded to date, would make 100.000 globes of solid gold, each the weight of tjhe earth. The earth weighs six and twenty one cipher tons. Rut the 1 cent with its accumulations reduced to a mini mum weight in gold at the rato of S2O in tre ounce, would, he says, make 100,000 planets of tho earth's weight! The morul is: Save the pennies! Comparatively few of the cities and boroughs of Pennsylvania are equipped with Are hose that has the same sized couplings and there is such a diversity that State lire pre vention authorities have taken up the matter In an effort to secure uniformity. Owing to complaints which had arisen because of com-*' munities being called upon to render tire service to others and the dis covery that the couplings did not fit. a survey was made by men of the State Fire Marshal's Department, now the State Bureau of Fire Pre vention. and data prepared from re ports obtained from 752 of the mu nicipalities of Pennsylvania having tire departments showed such a di versity of sizes of coupling that the situation is declared to be "serious > owing to the varied assortment In ac tive service." In the report following the survey it is stated that the ques- f tion of coupling"isquite as important as securing of modern apparatus'* for which many of the cities and **' boroughs arc now spending large sums of money. A systematic effort • s to lie made to call the results of the survey to councils and organi sations of firemen. Some of the re mits showed that the thread per nch on eouples varied from three x plain why calls for help from .'arlous places could not be satis factorily carried through after ar lval ol firemen on the scene of the are. The State authorities will call • ttention to the Importance of adop tion of a standard that will enable •ompanies to go anywhere and ren ler service. • • • * A series of soldier experiences at hristmas time during the war, ap- I jearlng in The Telegraph of Tues iay, nttracted more than ordinary " ittention, but one of the most in foresting was not included and it is worth telling here. Col. Edward II -Jchell recently elected head of the American in Harrisburg, was one of those who participated. It was Christmas 1918 at Neufchateau, France, where the Colonel was sta tioned. After the inspection at 8.30 o clock the officers and enlisted men marched with shining boots and carefully brushed uniforms to the Red Cross hut in the rear of the own. Here they were met by tbe * Ited Cross workers, who presented aeh , man with a pair of woolen dockings filled with O. D. Handker chiefs, toothbrushes, toilet articles in general, pipes, tobacco and o'her articles. Later the officers bought dozens of turkeys from the French at $1.50 a pound and gave the en listed men a great Christmas feast, and were in turn entertained at vaudeville. But the crowning event of the day was the Christmas tree which the men prepared for four little French children whose father W was in a hospital and their mother working to support them. They , gathered the little folks together, all togged out in their best bib and tucker,and presented them with gifts of candy, food, warm clothing and money, not to mention all the toys that could be gathered together. Then the officers sent for the bashfui mother to witness the joy of her lit tles ones and when she arrived she broke down and wept for joy. The officers pronounced It a lovely Christmas, even if they were far from their own dear ones and homo sick for them. • • The Harrisburg Assemblies, which were revived last night after an in terruption due to the war and the absence of many young people in Army or Navy or other war duties, have had an interesting social his-V tory. Over 100 years ago there were dances given here at the homes of prominent citizens which were called Assemblies, taking the name from a dancing class that used to he held every now and then at "Captain Leo's," as one of the old newspapers puts it. Captain Lee was the land lord of the Washington House, which was the Penn-Harris of before 1800 in Harrisburg. In the fifties there were dances held under the name of the Assemblies and the names of the committeemen included ± families which had been active in the earlier dances. The Assemblies, which have just been recommenced, were held in an almost unbroken line from shortly after the Civil War, so that they have a history that is f fairly continuous for about 50 years. • Combination of winter weather and new sleds and skates have caused Harrisburg police authorities some cogitation the last few days because of the dangers of coasting and skating on streets. The slopes off "The Ridge" and the Allison Hill streets have just been pre-empted by the youngsters with their new sleds and the Ynotormen have been ask ing the policemen what they are goihg to do nbout it. The average policeman was a boy once himself, but most of them have children, and it is rather difficult to adjust mat ters. In some parts of town the authorities have left it to the boys who have posted pickets to warn of approach of cars and to make motor ] ists slow up. Incidentally, automo j bile drivers can help by staying away from the coasting sections when I there is another way around. WELL KNOWN PEOPLE | —Commissioner of Labor and In ' dustry C. B. Connelley, who has been w j ill, has recovered and is attending to I work again. —Obi. Edward Martin, State Com- / { missioner of Health, has been mak > ing some inspections of dispensaries. / Highway Commissioner Lewis S. Sadler continues to decline to make speeches, although being asked al most dally. Arnold W. Brunner, the Capitol Park architect, has given up his southern trip so as to be able to com plete the plans for the State work. The Rev. L. W. Haines. Norrls town minister, is seriously ill. He is well known here. • Ci t y F.ngineer Nuebling, of Rending, says that city must either increase water rates or go dry. f DO YOU KNOW I I 1 | —Tlint Harrisburg has boon j sending many tons of knitted ! goods to coast cities for export? HISTORIC HARRISBURG —The first water system wirl projected for Hnrrisburg In the | thirties, but did not materialize tat twenty yetw* _