6 ( Betabiuhed in 1878) Published b * THE STAR PRINTING COMPANY. ' f Star-lnd*p»'idant Building. M-JO-22 South Third Street. Harrisburg, Pa* " Kvary Evening En opt Sunday Offietri t Dincttr*. BBMAMIK F. METERS. JOHN L. L. KOHN. President. WM. W WALLOWBR, W MKVKU Vfte President. *• NETEM WH. K MITERS, Secretary and Treaiurer. WM. W WALLOWIR. WM H WARNER, V. HUMMEL BERQHACS, JR., Business Manager. Editor. All communications should be addressed to STAR INDEPENDENT, Business. Editorial. Job Printing or Circulation Department according to the subject matter. Entered at the Post Office in Harrisburg as second-class matter. Benjamin & Kentnor Company. New York and Chicago Representative!. Hew York Office, Brunswick Building. 2:25 Fifth Avenue. Chicago Office, People's (Us Building. Michigan Avenue. Delivered by carriers at 6 cents a week. Mailed to subscriber; tor Three Dollars s /ear in advance. THESTAP.INDEPSNDENT The paper with the largest Horns. Circulation in Harrisburg and aearby towns. Circulation Examinee by THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN ADVERTISERS. TELEPHONES! BELL Private Branoh Exchange, No. 3280 CUMBERLAND VALLEY Private Branch Exchange, No. 245-246 Tuesday, December 8, 1914. DECEMBER Sun. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 MOON'S PHASES— , Full Moon, 2nd; Last Quarter, 10th; New Moon, 16th; First Quarter, 24th. WEATHER FORECASTS Hacrisburg and vicinity: Cloudy to night and Wednesday; not much change X in temperature. Eastern Pennsylvania: Cloudy to- JT night and Wednesday; not much change in temperature; moderate north winds. ACTIVITIES OF THE CENSORS The statement whieh comes from New York that women by the thousands are committing suicide in European countries because the censors have pre vented news concerning their husbands, sons and brothers from reaching them, may be authentic or it may be a great exaggeration. That it has some foundation in fact, however, seems likely. At any rate, it does not serve to increase our respect for the censors. The industrious English censors have been keep ing ba&k news of importance from the entire world. They have censored even messages of the King, have sliced and slashed items of interest, Jn many instances, without reason. The people of Great Britain are in an uproar about it, and although our concern is not so immediate on this side of the Atlantic, we can find much to criticise in the way in which the news is being handled. Granted that secret moves of armies and of ves sels are not events which should receive publicity, because of the help such information would afford the other side, yet things which have occurred and cannot be changed need to be announced as a matter of public record. The censors have no right to stand, as it were, between the events of the war and the public, and hide the progress of affairs from view. The people of England ought to be able to stand the news of a calamity to their side, and they have asserted that rather than do harm, such news would stir up in creased zeal among them to serve their country, and spur them on to greater efforts. The French government is about to publish a periodical giving news of the war and comments on it from the French point of view. The Germans are now seeking with great diligence to set the world right from their viewpoint. Yet the American pub lic, if its wishes were known, would doubtless prefer more detailed statements of facts through the cen sors, on which they might base independent con clusions. TO MAKE A LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR USEFUL Mayor Frank B. McClain, of Lancaster, Lieuten ant Governor-elect, is regarded by Laneasterians as a rain-maker. There's a reason. About a month ago, when everything in the vicinity of Lancaster was parched by the drought and the city water supply was scant, Mayor McClain issued a procla mation calling on the citizens to refrain from using the water extravagantly and to make use of it only when necessary. Old Jupiter Pluvius must have been reading the news in and about Lancaster. He took pity on the community, and the next day it rained sufficiently to relieve the drought. A few weeks later the same dry conditions pre vailed and things were worse than before. On Saturday last Mayor McClain again issued a procla mation to the Laneasterians warning them that the water must be used sparingly, and he set a watch to see that his warning was not disregarded. That evening it rained and continued to rain all day Sunday and all day Monday and it has been raining ever since with a few variations in the form of snow and sleet. Now the people of Lancaster are wondering what they are going to do for rain hereafter in times of drought when Mr. McClain is not in the Mayor's chair. However, as Mr. McClain goes into the chair of the Lieutenant Governor the entire state might utilize him when rain is needed and get him to issue HARRISBURG STAR-INDEPENDENT, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 8. 1914. a proclamation calling on the entire people to refrain from using water unnecessarily. Then it can be seen whether his influence in the matter of rain-making is statewide. The question often is asked: Of what use is a Lieutenant Governor? Perhaps Mr. McClain, when he enters upon the duties of that office, will be able to answer the question satisfactorily. BETTER MARKET FOR MUNICIPAL BONDS The recent experience of the city of Philadelphia in disposing of an issue of $1,125,000 bonds sold "over the counter" at par, bears witness to an im proved condition in the market for high class mu nicipal securities and proves that such loans can now be floated on a four per cent, basis, despite the disturbing effect on finances of the world caused by the European war. In discussing the success of this "over the counter" sale, Cyrus D. Foss, secre tary to the Mayor of Philadelphia, said: With individual small investors eager to purchase these bonds, neither hanks nor the Sinking Fund Commissioners took a dollar of them, and it is the first time within the memory of any city official that a loan has been floated without any help from either of these soufces. Philadelphia's ability now to sell four per cent, bonds at par without any difficulty and without the necessity of calling on hanking houses to under write them, may be taken as an judication that con ditions have improved materially since the start of the war at which time it is doubtful if even such gilt-edge bonds could have found a market except at a considerably higher rate of interest. This may be taken as proof that there is plenty of money to put into safe securities once the psychological de pression that has temporarily robbed investors of confidence has been removed. DOCTORS IN DEMAND In Germany doctors are at present in urgent demand. Civilians are realizing how great has been their dependence upon the men of the medical profession, now that a great number of these men have been called to the front to care for the soldiers. To a request of the Leipsic Physicians' Assoeia- • tion that licensed doctors and unlicensed medical students be released from their obligations to serve j at the front, the Prussian War Ministry has replied that the physicians and surgeons are so badly needed where the tiring is heavy, that none can be dispensed with except for service in communities which have been entirely stripped of medical men. There is no telling what diseases may spread, or what suffering may be undergone in towns which the war has deprived of medical protection. While the doctors are on the firing line endeavoring to lessen fatalities among the nation's soldiers, the women and children and weaker men who cannot qualify as fighters, are left in the towns unguarded against the insistent ills of human kind. As much as the soldiers need the doctors, to such an extent civilians miss them. We may not appreciate our medical men in this country as we ought by merely hearing of the urgent need for doctors which is making itself felt abroad. We would perhaps need to experience that dire necessity ourselves before we could fully un derstand what physicians mean to the great mass of the people in any community. Perhaps the success of one school master in the White House is what has influenced the friends of Dr. Brumbaugh to start a presidential boom for him. Sleet on the wires is more effective in holding back the news even than the war censors in Europe. If you think you own a summer cottage along the Jersey coast, better see if it still is anchored there when the storm blows by! The request for charity are many this season but the good people of Harrisburg recognize that the need for their aid is the greater and they are quick to respond. Fashionable young women of America are not violating the laws of neutrality simply by wearing their hair in French rolls. TOLD IN LIGIITERVEIN POOR BURGLAR "A burglar got into my house about 3 o'clock this morn ing when I was on my way home from the club," said Jones. "Did he get anything?" aaked Brown. "I should say he did get something," replied Jones. "The poor devil is in the hospital. My wife thought it was me."—Cincinnati Enquirer. ONE BENEFIT OF WEALTH The man who has a million dollars and feels poor may be more unfortunate than the guy who has $7 and feels rich, but the millionaire has a more intimate acquaintance with that part of the anatomy of a steer from which the porterhouse is cut. —Houston Post. NO GENTLEMAN Bervant—"What was the name of the gentleman that had room 14 last week, mum—the gentleman that stole the overcoat and bolted!" Landlady—"Please don't refer to him as a gentleman, Janet!"— Chicago News. BUSINESS ONLY As a general thing when the man at the table ties the napkin around his neck he did not come there to indulge in table talk. —Galveston News. THE CONTRADICTIONS OF LAW Ohio has a law which compels newspapers to tell the truth. Texas has a law which compels them to suppress it. —Waxahachie (Tex.) Light. HELPLESS FATHER Children are taught to be kind to dumb animals, and something should be said about imposing on Father. Atchison Globe. TRANSPARENT A volunteer soldier, who had gone with his regiment to Cuba during the Spanish-American war and returned, as most of the men did, extremely emaciated, got off the train at his home town and was met at the station by one of his fellow towusinen. The latter's greeting to the returned patriot, who had lost flesh, but not his sense of humor, was: "Well, I see you're back from the front." v "You do, eh!" exclaimed the militiaman. "I know I was thin, but I didn't know it was as bad as that!"— Exchange. PURE RICH BLOOD MADE DY HOOD'S Pure blood enables the stomach, liver and other digestive organs to do their work properly. Without it they are sluggish, there is loss of appetite, sometimes faintness, a deranged state of the intestines, and, in general, all the symptoms of dys|>epsia. Hood's Sarsaparilla makes pure blood, and this is why it is so very successful in the treatment of so many ailments. Oet it to-day. ' Adv. [Tongue-End Top ics | Mr. Barrett As a Poet The memorial poejn read at the Elks' memorial ceremony in the Ma jestic theatre on Sunday last, is from the pen of John E. Barrett, of Scnain ton, at present postmaster of that city, and like everything in the way of verse that Mr. Barrett writes, it is a gem. Mr. Barrett is the author of the State song, "Pennsylvania," a sonor ous and lofty hymn to the old Key stone State that has met with much favor and is 9img in the public schools. All his life his pen has been turning out prose and poetry, "'worth read ing. '' When a youth he was a clerk iu a Scranton store, but his contributions to local newspapers attracted attention and the late Congressman Joseph Strati ton gave him a place as reporter on the staff of the Scranton "Repub lican,' at that time the greatest news paper of the anthracite regions. * , * Introduced to the Lord When Scranton and "contagious territory," as Barrett wouild say,- de manded that a new county be made with Scranton as the county seat, Mr. Barrett was sent to Harrisburg to work up sentiment iu fav6r of the new county. Governor Hovt had just been inaugurated and he was enlisted in fa vor of the new county and it was es tablished. Mr. Barrett was sent to the State House nf Represen tatives and he was instrumental in having legislation passed that put the new county on its feet. While here during the legislative session Barrett was correspondent of the Philadelphia "Press" under the managing editor ship of the late Moses P. Handy. He was present on the day tho House or ganized, when it is customary for the chaplain to open the proceedings with prayer. Barrett, in noting this fact, in his story to the "Press," wrote: j "The chaplain here introduced the new members to the Lord." Handy, who was a bit of a wag himself, let the expression go, and thereafter the new members were the butt of the joke. « • » * Starts the Scranton "Truth" Barrett afterward established the Scranton "Truth," an evening paper, one otf the best that Scranton has ever had. After years of hard toil in the newspaper work he was made post master in Scranton, and is now on Easy street; but he beguiles his rest hours with writing poetry, and the beautiful memorial poem read at the Harrisburg EJks' ceremony was one of his latest etforts. BRUMBAUGH US BE ffILLGOVEM Declares He Will "Go It Alone" If Men of Party Fail to Support Platform Pledges MENTIONED FOR THE PRESIDENCY Congressman Vare Tells Washington Dinner Party That Governor-Elect Is Pennsylvania's Candidate For the White House in lUIO (Special to the Star-Independent.) Washington, D. C., Dec. B.—Govern or-elect Brumbaugh asserted his inde pendence of any persons who might in terfere with him in the fulfillment of his platform pledges to the people of Pennsylvania in a speech last night at a dinner at the Shoreham hotel given by Representative William 8. Vare, at which Dr. Brumibaugh was the guest of honor. Almost all of the Pennsylvania Coingressmen and those newly elected in November were present. The Governor-elect, who had been introduced by Representative Vare as Pennsylvania's candidate for the Re publican Presidential nomination, de clared that he desired the assistance of adl who stood pledged with him to the XMAS GOODS A little different—a little better GORGAS 1« N. Third St. and Penna. 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