2 TROUBLE 111 SCARCITY - OF WAR STAMPS Coatlnued From First I'aftr. is not understood. Work cannot pro ceed until interpretations of the law come from the office of the Attorney General in Washington, through the State Attorney General's office at the capitol. Even copies of the provisions of the act itself, given in briefest form, are not generally available to the public, because a large enough supply has not been received here from Washington. All the provisions of the stamp tax act cannot be fully understood and en forced until more complete information comes from the federal government au thorities, according to the local tax col lectors. Realizing the difficulty which private shippers would encounter in trying to get revenue stamps to carry on trade to-day express companies laid in a sup ply of some kinds of the stamps and these were sold to patrons of the com pany. - Express companies are not re quired to do this by law. Stamp sup plies were laid iu merely as an accom modation. Express Companies Give Aid There would have been many disap pointed persons to-day ap milk and bread shipments are maae out of Har risburg at all hours during the night, and after midnight the new revenue stamps had to be used. Private ship pers, under the law, are supposed to get the stamps from th 0 revenue offices which could not supply them. The ex press companies placed themselves in a position to help shippers. The American Express Company had on hand a supply sufficient to car e for the business going out of the Harris-1 burg office to-day and an order for moro, stamps for use to-morrow was for warded to Washington. The Adams Express Company supply came through I the superintendent of ' this district,! from Lancaster, according to the cash- i ier of the local offioe this morning. When asked if concerns other than j those that use the express made appli- ■ cation to the Adams Express Company i for stamps an employe in the cashier's office said: '"Several of the banks received sup plies from this company this morning. Of course, they are shippers, but to a very small extent, and the stamps will \ be used for other purposes." The revenue office has been one of! busiest places in the city for the i last forty-eight hours. There are but j three men in charge, and they combined > yesterday and last night to care for the | needs of more than a thousand anxious J tax pavers, continuing their efforts to- j uay to meet the requirements of hun- j d/els of men and women. They did I not leave the office until 2 o'clock this j morning and expect to work until after I midnight to-night. Additional electric ; lights have been put in for the strenu-1 ous workers. Deputy Bricker Rushed The whole routine of tne revenue of-1 lice has been upset. The regular work, such as collecting the ordinary tax on i < igars and tobacco, can be done only at hastily snatched intervals. The bulk 1 of the business to-day of Deputy Col lector Bricker, who has gotten not a i moment's rest, has been to deal out j quantities of stamps worth fractions of < a cent, keeping a record of all sales, in- j finding the names of purchasers. He lias been giving out a steady stream of information on misunderstood points of j the stamp tax act, and not least of his 1 duties has been to make change for purchases of all odd amounts imagin- j able. The revenue office has become' over night a combination stamp empor-1 ium. information bureau and bank. The revenue office has 'been selling what stamps it has in stock, but that supply is limited. It has only proprie . tarv stamps, or stamps to be used on } perfumery .and like articles, and only j some of the denominations of those. It J has been called upon constantly all day for documentary stamps, and has sent ! all applicants to the liarrisburg Nation al bank, which has gotten several thou sand dollars worth of the stickers di- \ rect from Lancaster, the distributing point of this district. Otrtier banks in , the city have barely enough of the doc- i umeutarv stamps for use on their own i documents and have not put the stick-1 ers on sale to the public. Telephone Company's Troubles At the local postoffice little is known j about the revenue stamps and it is thought unlikely there that the stamps ! will be placed on sale over the postof fi.-e counters, although that plan was I followed during the Spanish-American j war, when a similar stamp tax was lev-! ied by law. As for the tax on telephone messages, S. B. Watts, local manager of the Bell Company, this morning told how the company had prepared to eollect the tax. "The preparation for the collection of the one cent tax on all messages of 15 cents or over has been a big job for the telephone company," said Mr.i Watts. "A special piece of mechanism had to be devised and placed on many coin box telephones. This meant chang ing thousands of coin box telephones in, the sy.»f' in. a tremendous job in itself.i • Thtv'fax of one cent is to be inserted) a«/flirected by the operator in the quar i t/r slot of the coin box by the person niio sends the message. "Special preparations for billing Tegular subscribers correctly for the tax imposed on their messages of 15 j cents and over also had to be made.) New collection routines had to be pre-) pared and new systems of accounting! worked out. The telephone company has advised all telephone users of the new law and the methods put into effect! for collecting th e tax. Notices giving; full directions have been placed on all j ' public telephones and all subscribers: have been advised by means of a cir-1 cular enclosed with their monthly bills. | This circular explains the method of! making the charge for the tax and! gives a digest of the law reiating to it." Despite the temporary inconvenience, von- little apprehension is felt on Capi-' tol Hill among the departments as to work being hel l up or retarded for anv grcat period by the now war tax re-; quirements. All of the department* are ; awaiting a proper understanding of the j ' law and then it will be lived up to to;' the letter. Insurance Companies Must Pay 1 , At the Insurance Department, Com-|, missioner Johnson said that his depart- t nient is required to use the war tax|i stamps on the licenses issued to agents, < but this far had not been called upon.| "In the matter of insurance policies,] which have to be stamped," said Com missioner Johnson, "the companies is-)] suing the policy must pay for the i 1 stamps. There is nothing in the law to it prevent the insurance companies from I HARRISBURG STAR-INDEPENDENT, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 1. 1914. collecting from the applicants the amount of tax required" Under the state law the insurance broker is forbidden to pay the tax out of his commission, and this compels the party taking out the policy to pay it, should the company decide upon that course. ! At the State Department all papers 1 and bonds must be stamped, but the people who file them must pay. Tho i department will pay for the stamps I when it issues copies of certified pa | pers. All applications for charters must be stampel. The first application ! containing a stamp was file.l this morn - ing by a Stroudsburg automobile com i paoy. The deportment will furnish the ' stamps for its express packages and so forth. At the Adjutant and other departments where bills of»lading for shipment of goods, telegrams and tele j phone calls are in use every day, the : State will pay. General Stewart tried | to get stamps yesterday but could not j and to-day sent S2O to Collector Kirk endaJl in Lancaster asking for "S2O | worth of war tax stamps." The warrants issued by the Auditor General and the checks issued by the State Treasury are not required to be stamp««l. Extra Police for Stamp Buyers By .Immt iatnl Press. New York, Dec. 1. —A throng of more than 10.0 M persons stormed the United States Internal Revenue offices j in this city to-day endeavoring to buy the new war tax stamps that have to | be affixed to many documents and pro j prietarv articles. Thousands who had : to wait in line for an hour or more be j came so demonstrative that extra police : were called to keep them quiet. I Collector Anderson estimated that ! 20,000 persons will have received the , stamps before night. Tne crowd of applicants seemed j 1 greater in the afternoon than in ] the forenoon and Collector Anderson ' summoned assistance from Washington. : Because of the inability of his clerical | force to handle the throng he issued a | ! statnrent announcing a stay in the war j tax penalties "until such time as the 1 office is able to handle applicants I proimpitiy.'' FEIHALE WAGES6.SO A WEEK Eight Thousand New York Women Workers Received Less Than That i Sum Last Year By Associated Press. New York, Dec. 1. —During the busy season last year, of 16,000 women workers in this city, 8,000 received] less than $6.50 a week's wages, accord-j ing to Howard B. Woolston, director' of the Wage Investigation of the State, Factory Investigating Committee, who l to-dav summed up the findings on wages in New York City at the first of j the preliminary hearings of the com-! mission to be held here. "Half the wage earners throughout 1 the State investigated by the State Factory Commission get less than $8 a week,'' said Mr. Woolston. '' Out of a total of 104,000 persons, one-eighth earn less than $5, one-third less than $7, two-thirds received $lO or less, and only one-sixth make sls or more. I "It is difficult to see how a girl; manages to live properly on $6 or $7 : a week. A typical weekly budget shows j how near the ragged edge many exist:' Clothes. $1.50; room, $2; food, $2.50;' car fare, 30 cents; incidentals, 20 ] cents. j "Our figures show that at a mature j age aiul after years of experience in j the business, half the women do not ■ attain $lO nor do the majority of men reach SIS." PRESBYTERIAN COMBINE Missouri Supreme Court Pronouncoe Consolidation Valid By Associated Press. j Jefferson City, Mo.. Dee. I.—-The consolidation of the Presby'erian church (Xortb) and the Cumberland Presbv ! terian church is valid, according to a j decision of the Missouri Supreme Court) to-day. The property of the Cumber-j ! land church at Marshall, Mo., under j the decision of the court becomes the ! property of the Presbyterian church, re gardless of the fact that it was paid for jby members of the old Cumberland | church. All the .judges concurred ex-j ! cept Judge Graves. The decision was on a case appealed I from the Circuit Court at Marshall in; | which the Cumberland church sought j recovery of its old property and claim ed that the consolidation of the two' branches of the Presbyterian church was illegal. The Supreme Court ruled that civil ; courts have no right to interfere with th-e decision of the highest tribunal of the ehurch in purely ecclesiastical af fairs. Under this decision Missouri Valley College at Marshall will become the property of the Presbyterian church. FBIVATE BANKRUPT Angry Depositors Storm Three of His Brooklyn Offices By Associated Press, Now York, Dee. 1. —sed by ■ several South American countries, must be entirely voluntary on the part of the European belligerents in the view of President \\ ilson. He told callers to day he had discussed tthe question 1 briefly with Secretary Bryan and Act ing Secretary Lansing, of 'the State De partment, but no conclusion had been | reached. The American countries naturally would have no control of the water's outside of the three-mile limit, border ! ing on their territory, the President said, and could place no restrictions on tho o 1 ; orations of the fleets of other na tions except within the three-inile limit. Praises Good Spirit of German Army Berlin, Dec. 1, Via London, 4.55 I'. M.-—Addressing a committee of the Reichstag to-day, Dr. Von Bethmann (Uollwege, the Imperial Chancellor, spoke in praise of the good spirit shown by the German army and navy and t>he unity of the German people in the present struggle. The Reichstag meets to morrow morning. Tho Chan cellor will then express, before a full sitting of the body, his views on the general political situation. U. S. Relief Committee Nails Lie London, Dec. 1, 4.25 P. M. —The American Belgian relief committee to day characterized as wholly without foundation the statement published in the "Echo Beige'' November 29 that the German authorities in Belgium were taxing flour sent from the United States for the starving people of the country at t>he rate of 2.60 per 100 hUograms. This statement came to London by way of Amsterdam and was cabled" from London to the United States. New York, Dee. I.—L. W. Bates, vice chairman of the American commis sion for Belgian relief, received the fol lowing cablegram to-day from H. V. Hoover, chairman of the commission, in London: "Absolutely no truth in re ports of duty or tax put on any food stuffs sent into Belgium by this com mission." No Peace Message From Qneen WaAington, Dec. I.—President Wilson said to-day that as far as he, knew, Henry Van Dyke, Minister to the Netherlands, who will call at the White House to-morrow, does not bring any peace message from the Queen of Holland. He added he did not think i ,Mr.- Van Dyke's visit had any special significance. Arranging Exchange of Prisoners Berne, via Paris, Dec. 1, 6.25 A. M. —Gustave Ador, the chief of the Geneva agency for prisoners of war, is arranging with the belligerent gov ernments for an exchange of prisoners who are seriously wounded or so crip pled as to render them unfit for fur ther military service. Shipload of Supplies for War Zone St. Louis, Dec. 1. —A shipload of food, clothing and toys will be sent by residents of Missouri to the sufferers in the European war. The committee in charge decided to ask the governor to issue a second proclamation declar ing December 19, "Ohaxity Day." COLLECTIONS TO CONTINUE ATTABERNACLETHIS WEEK W. O. T. U. Members Will Facade on Streets To-night—Delegation Will Be Here From Lebanon—Disorder Prevalent at Last Night's Meeting The taking of collections will con tinue this week at the H tough taber naclo, because of the failure of Sun day 's congregations completely Do wipe out the $19,000 budget. There is ft balance of about $3,000 still to be raised. If this amount is to 'be mado up before the end of the week, tlhe col lections at the tabernacle will have to be larger than the average has 'been on ordinary occasions so far. It had been the wish of Evangelist Stough to wipe out the budget prompt ly,'and then take offerings for the Bel gians, anil for local charitable pur- I>oses. It may now be impossible to taka such offerings. W. C. T. U. Members March To-night This will be W. C. T. U. night ait the tabernacle. Members of the women's temperance organization will meet at the Market Square Presbyterian <iehl are making their annual inspection of business places, ordering rubbish removed pre paratory to the ■Christmas 'business rush, which a!'way a makes more or less rub bish and waste paper. The Chief Justice "There are very few people who know the pro|>er designation of the man who presides over the supreme court," said the secretary of the sen ate. "Generally he is referred to as the chief justice of the United States su preme court. In fact, he is the chief justice. That's his official title. Most of our presidents in nominating men for this office have fallen into the er ror of giving him the long title. When George Washington nominated Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut for thus post he described it as chief justice of the supreme court of the United States. Andrew Jackson made the same error in nominating Roger B. Taney. So did Abraham Lincoln when he appoint ed Salmon P. Chase. Grover Cleve land was the first president to give the correct designation. When he appoint ed Melville W. Puller he nominated him to be chief justice and nothing else."—Washington Star. Fiction and Fact "Charlie got his ideas of married life from the comic papers." "Weill" "He says after he got married he was agreeably surprised to find that his wife could get a satisfactory hat for! ss.—Louisville Courier-Journal. I FORESTER BILL PISSES. 3 TO 2 CMtlaaH Prom First Pagt, "Wild be establishing a precedent, for n ° other city has selected a forester' without creating the tree commission. They also claimed that in the many cities in which tree oommiMioM have cheated the plan is working splend idly awl that to adopt the Taylor ordinance wouki merely be experiment. (ommissioner Taylor and his Re publican colleagues argued, however, that the power of governing the trim ming and planting of shade trees should remain with the Oitv Commission; that powers which rightfully should be in the hands of the City Commissioners woukl be taken from them if the Tree Commission plan were adopted; that the citizens individually would be com- P 6 to pay for the planting of trees under the tree commission plan whereas the Taylor ordinance provides that all incidentaJ expenses shall be borne by the city out of its general revenues. It was argued further that a tree commission would have to employ a forester, such as is intended by the Taylor ordinance; that the City Com mission is equally competent "to em play such an official; that the tree commissiiofi would receive revenues o\ er which the City Commissioners would uever gain control and that if the tree commission act of 1907 once were accepted by the city it would be accepted for all time. Hold Lively Debate during the controversy Commission er Taylor said it was his plan original ly I°, " Ulke the salar y of the Forester *1,500. Later he reduced it to $1,200 and eventually cut it to SI,OOO. The Mayor asked Mr. Taylor wheth er his opposition to the Tree Commis sion measure was not du e to the "prob ably personnel af the commission." To that Mr. Taylor said: "I have nothing to do, individually, with the appointment of the Commission. It would be up to this body. But I did say that if a Commission were created, I would feel that its members should Oe competent men." The Mayor mentioned the fact that K 0 ™;; McFarlnn*, former president of the Horrisburg Park Commission, is opposed to the ordinance creating the post of Forester and "has said that it ■will give too much power to ou e man" and the Mayor added that Harriaburg really has been successful with its com missions. "That may be true, but I am going to right here," began Mr. Tavlor, tiiat the 1 ark Department has been run just as well if not better this year U was formerly when we had a park board. That i s a pretty broad state ment but I will be prepared to show it at the end of the year." Mr. Taylor said'he thinks "it is pretty small for any one to sa v that certain members of the City Commission e playing politics in that thev now ar e attempting to create another post '' and Mr. Bowman added; f„, YM ; ° ne news P*P®r has gone so far as to accuse this body of plavine to corporations. That is not fair'" Mayor's Idea of It '', o h'" b . p Pa" the Mayor, "I don't think that is the fact. I take it that the newspaper meant it would be pos "•« "Thev are attempting to pollute the J?'"/ 1 »7 ith thin K 8 which are not Thi«* watt'h were severely criticised 'by I)r. Chopin. "For the sake of those who come after stop fill ing your columns wHtli tommy re*., hot air and dope, ' he said. "Do not be al ways seeking novelty. Most that is now is bad. There are plenty of ohl truths w>luoh all of our 100,000,000 people have not vat horned.'' ■Among the fallacies being spread to the detriment of real public health work, Dr. Chapin cited what he called the " old heresy about the all-impor tance or dirt in the causatiou of dis ease." iHe said that it is doubtless true tlhat whatever encourages cleanliness tends to discourage the habits which favor infection, but he believed thai "to fight all kinds of dirt instead of limiting attacks to dangerous dirt is misleading and futile." Dr. Chaplin especially criticised much of the publicity on tho relation of air to disease. Ho stated that the old theory of exhaled |>oiwns had been de molished; that germs rarely floated in the air; that' we are still in profound ignorance as to t'he relation of humid ity to disease; that most of the sup posed effects of foul, unventilated voom> have been shown to be duo to tempera ture and odors. ' 'Food adulteration, except in a few instances," he said, "is an economic, not a health problem. As to partially decayed foods we know nothing atHwt their relation to health. The clean handling of foods is most desirable from a sanitary standpoint, but real cleanli ness is most difficult of attainment. ■Much that appears is carelessly written and the emphasis is placed on the wrong thing, as when dust absorbs all the at tention and nothing is said about dirty hands.'' HOMELESS MEN A PROBLEM The Two Detention Cells at Police Headquarters Are Crowded With Wanderers Nightly The coming of cold, inclement weath er is bringing the gentlemon of the road from exposed places to police headquarters for night's lodgings and two detention cells are frequently call ed on to house as many as thirty men at a time. Some of the haunts of the wanderers are becoming uncomfortable on account of the cold and inclement weather while other favorite places are being too well guarded. The grand stand on the Tri-State grounds at Island Park was a favorite place as long as the wind did not howl and then the open hearth at the Central Iron and Steel Company would be the place frequently sought, but sleeping at the latter place has been made un conformable by special policemen and the men apply at police Headquarters. Last night twenty-six homeless men were kept at headquarters. It is becoming more and more a problem. In cubic feet of breathing space the cfclls, now being -used for this purpose, would house about four men comfortably, but it is an unusual night when this number is not trebled. The desknian at police headquarters has a book in which he keeps a record of the "lodgers" and it is filling more rapid ly thai the docket, in which is kept the number of arrests. The lockup under the court house, which was a favorite haunt of the homeless men, was closed by the citv Board of Health. GENERAL VILLA IN A WRECK j Has Narrow Escape When Troop Trains Collide and Thirty-two Prsons Are Killed Mexico City, Nov. 30, via El. Paso, Dec. I.—General Villa entered the caip i'tal to-day at the head of about 25,- 000 troops. He arrived during the aft ernoon in the suburbs, wbete he remain ed d-uring the evening, receiving dele gations ami foreign eon&uk. Vi 1 hi. will not enter the capital part of the city until tihe arrival of Provisional Presi dent Gutierrez. General Villa issued the following statement to the Associated Press: '' My only mission is to restore or der in Mexico and not to take personal revenge on any one. I promise that order will be restored at once. I am acting as the subordinate of Provision al President Gueterrios and the Na tional convention. '' The provisional president is now th supreme power in Mexico and I am merely acting as field commander of tihe armies. All foreigners ami foreign property will be protected." General Vitla had a narrow esca«po from death just before his entry into the city. His train collided with the train of General Oliao above Tula. Thirty-two persons were killed and forty injured. One inile below the scene of the wreck six mines were fouud connected with a battery con coaled in a ravine. The general's train passed over these mines, which were not discovered until the next morn ing- Coroner's Inquest in Cunning Fatality By Associated Press. Hagerstown, AM., Dec. I.—This aft ernoon testimony was taken before Cor oner JoOin Ankeney in the inquest as the rewiH of the death of Max Howard, 15-yoar-old boy, who was killed by a gun in t>he hands of Prank Norris, a boy companion, on Thanksgiving Day. TWO MEN QUIT PENNSY SERVICE AFTER 49 YEARS Continued From First Pace. young. However, he enlisted when he was 17 years old. He was made a pris oner in a charge at Gravel Run when he attempted to capturo a Confederate battle flag. Ho served under Captain John-R. Miller in Company H of the 210 th Pennsylvania infantry. After the close of the wai he returned to his position with the Harrisburg Car Com pany and it was with the company that ho learned liis trade. Leaving the car company 33 voars ago, he took a posi tion with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and had been with it ever since. The men with whom he worked recently gave him a flue leather cover-.-d rocking chair and a silk umbrella as a token of their high esteem for him. Mr. Heller has been employed as a clerk in tho general office for the last 11 years. CAPITOL HILL JUNK SALE ATTHECAPITOL Legislative Bills, Calendars and Old Department Reports Sold Un der the Hammer A sale of junk paper, no longer of use, old white and pin* legislative bills, valeircifl rs an