6
HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH
FOR THE HOME
Founded 183 1
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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
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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
<nd a half to twenty, the bulk being
■etween six and. (en, while the in-
Ide diameter varied from two and
t quarter to four and a quarter
nches. not many having the same
izes in this respect, while the out
tde diameter had all sorts of small
inferences between two and five
nches. Many of the latter varied
n such small measurements as thlr-"
y-second and sixty-fourths of an
nch and towns which are not far
ipart had half of three-quarter-Inch
'nidations. This is the first time the
date has undertaken such a survey
nd the officials say that the results
>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* _