6 Sift &tar-3niirp*n&»nt (AtoMiatetf m lffl) INMiMk' INK STAR PRINTING COMPANY, ' X»M IMDI TMrrt Stmt, Harriatan. ffa, « «iA| •• X) tractor*.- Bewaimt r. Mmu. , u u kchb. PTMlfeßt. W. Wad Low**, Vice PmMwl *• *■*«*■ W*. K MITIU, 'Secretary and TrMtinr. W H. V.'WAUAWU. «K.H WAWIII, V. Hvhmkl Bmun, J a., All communications should be oMroaaed to STAKIsnarBNDaNT, •«aln»ss. Editorial, Job Printing or Circulation Department Weordlnc to the subject uiattar. (lUrad at the Port Office in Harrisbuix as aacaad-claa* mat tar. •W)MALN A KANTAOR COMPANR, New York aad Chicago Kapraaaatatiraa. Saw York Oftaa, Brunswick Building. 223 Fifth Arena*. Bhli no OBca. Paopla's Uas Building, Michigan Arrant, Dalirarad br carriers at • ccata a week. Malted to sbbeeribeit tar Thraa Dollars a fear in ad ranee THE STAB'INDBPBNDBWT , Tka paper with the larfoai Uoat CirculaUoa ia Harriaborg and taarb; towns Circulation Baaalae* br THB ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN ADVBRTISSRS. Z Tit. CP HO NKA~ BBLu" Meat* Branch Kxohaaia Ha. 3200 _ _ CUMBBMCAND VALLBV Braaoh Biohawga. Na. 848-848 Friday, March 3, J913. —= i MARCH Sun. Mon Tues. Wed. Thur. Frl. Sat. 12 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, Ist. 31st: Last Quarter, Bth: New Moon, 15th; First Quarter, 23d. WEATHER FORECASTS Harrisburg am] vicinity: Raiu and warmer to-uight and Saturday. ' Eastern Pennsylvania: Rain or snow to night in north portion; rain in south portion. Saturday rain and warmer in | TV east portion. YESTERDAY'S TEMPERATURE IN HARRISBURO Highest, 40; lowest, 19: S a. m., 20; 8 p. in., 36. DOING AWAY WITH ILLITERACY Teaching men, women and children readin 'ritin' an' 'rithmetic," or. as educators would put it, eliminating illiteracy, seems to be making satis factory progress in this country. Statistics com piled by the United States Bureau of Education for use at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and which are worthy of passing notice, show that there were in 3i»lU iu this country twenty-two children out of every thousand, between the ages of ten and four teen. who were unable to read and write. Since "the numUcr was forty-two in a thousand in 1900, education seems to be having its victories. Despite the fact that four to five million adults in this -.vuntry are unable to read and write, indi cations are that this degree of illiteracy in the "United States cannot last many years longer. The risiug generation is doing its rising in the public schools, and these individuals when adults will at : least be acquainted with the fundamentals of edu- i eatiou. Even those who acquire no more knowledge j than that which is absolutely forced upon them by law will be able to make themselves understood in writing and to comprehend the written thoughts of others. Of the older folks of the*present day who cannot read and write many are from day to day leaving the old world whose educational schemes have meant so little to theiu. and are changing the figures in the faithful statistics by causing decreases in the total number of illiterates. << There will of course be illiterate immigrants ad mitted to the country from year to year despite proposed literacy tests for them. These persons will keep the statisticians busy on problems of addition and multiplication, but will also afford educators opportunities to spread useful knowledge among them, to deprive them of the illiteracy which is a bar to better things. The estimate of five persons illiterate in this coun try out of every hundred is certainly low compared with Belgium's eighteen. Austria's twenty-five, Hungary s forty-three and Russia's remarkable sev enty. It is depressing to thiqk that soldiers of those nations are being deprived of life before they have ever written a thought of their own or shared the "written ideas of others, while the money expended for military purposes might be sufficient to educate them and their descendants for several generations to come. LASTING RECORDS ON STONE The world is not awaiting breathlessly the Yale professor's finished translation of the code of Baby lonian laws said to be more than four thousand years old. which is now receiving careful attention at the University. Yet the existence of a tablet containing the earliest known law code must arouse some interest and especially some curiosity as to its contents. The large and irregular diorite stone discovered in Elam about ten years ago, which contains an in scription of laws enacted presumably in the time of Abraham, has come down through the centuries to the present age, long after the original laws have been forgotten. The ancients had a crude way of writing, but it was not by any means an unsure way. Had they kept their records by means of typewritten and printed documents, university pro fessors would not at this late date have any sur viving records to worry their heads about. " So lasting are the inscriptions on stone and so eiear, if only the keys to the translation are known, 0 .HAfrKTSBTTiro ST A K~IN DEPENDENT. FRIDAY EVENING. MAJttCH 5. 1915. that decipherer* are able to learn niore about man ners and customs in Babylonia two thousand years before Christ than the most diligent historians can possibly find out about conditions in even the most : highly civilized countries during centuries of the I Christian era after stone writing had gone out of I fashion and before printing had been introduced. Blank pages in the world's history are not at tractive. it is the right and the desire of the pres ent age to know as much as possible about the things that have been happening in the world iu former days. Althouglr it may seem strange that there are secure foundations for opening chapters in recorded history aud not for some of the much later chapters, the fault is not that of the historians, who simply produce epitomes of accounts handed down by their predecessors, but rather of those predecessors who neglected to hand down any sub stantial records. PRISONERS OF WAR MADE HAPPY An account from London about the treatment three hundred "restrained" German officers are re ceiving in Doniagton Hall, a hundred miles or so from the British capital, woxild lead us to believe that captivity and quiet security in such a place is much more to be preferred than freedom aud haz ardous activity in the thick of battle. The officers who are the guests of the English are said to be enjoying a most pleasant existence, living in one of the country's most beautiful old halls, having their wants attended to by captured German privates, eating good food and drinking good wine in a magnifieeut dining room with carved oak panels and polished elm ceiling, writing and lounging in rooms equipped for those purposes with deep and very comfortable upholstered chairs, small tables and a special postoffice, and attending to their religious devotions in a chapel in charge of a German clergyman. There is apparently nothing about the. life in Doningtou Hall to remind the occupants that they are prisoners of war, so long as they disregard the presence of the British soldiers on guard and pay no attention to the barbed-wire fences which are said to enclose the grounds. Were the "restrained" | foreigners of high birth to attempt to scale these forbidden fences or in any other way to manifest non-appreciation of British hospitality and desire to take leave of their hosts without giving suitable notice, they might, of course, be forcefully brought to a realization of the harsh fact that they arc cap tives in the midst of foes. As it is, with the Ger mans evidently considering submission the better part of suppressed valor, the British hospitality will probably continue uninterruptedly until ex changes of prisoners are made at some future time. The contrast between the condition of the prison ers in Donington Ilall and that of the active fighters at the front is so marked, if properly seen in the mind's eye. that a solution to the whole war ques tion is very naturally suggested by it. Let all the officers of all the contesting armies permit them selves to be captured, let hostilities thereupon close for lack of necessary leadership and let the bellig erent nations then endeavor to outdo one" another in hospitality to the prisoners, concluding the pay conflict in conviviality with toasts and much gen eral merriment. There is no .leaving that SOMEO.VE ought to repair the streets. Perhaps it is not so dtficult to find houses for rent iu Constantinople just now as in Harrisburg. The Sixty-third Congress appropriated $2,240,000,000. Even a nation at peace has some financial buWens to carry. The Congressional Record for the sessiou just closed will have 32.000 pages, as compared with 12,000. the average for previous sessions. Here is one instance in which talk is not cheap,—for the nation. The North Carolina House and Senate conference com mittees have agreed on the anti-jug bill which prohibits the receipt by any individual North Carolinian in any one month of more than half a gallon of whiskey or ten gallons of beer. Even that ought to provide enough ammunition for at least twelve good-sized jags a year. TOLD IN LIGHTER VEIN ; ' PLAYING SAFE "My brother is not so badly off. He is interned in one of the enemy's towns. They won't release him unless he I promises not to fight." "Wellt" "Of course, he won't promise."—Seattle Post-luteelli- j gence. WHY HE NEEDS AN AID "Who is that man who follows the general aboutt" "His aid." "But why does he need au aid hangigg around hiin all the time!" "Well, you see. the general has more medals than he can conveniently wear himself."—Kansas City Journal. REASON FOR HIS PEACE DECREE "Pa, Jimmy Green, the toughest fighter in our gang, has I reformed. He says it's wrong to fight." "Do you believe him?" "I would, but for one thing." "What's thatf" "He never talked that way until he broke his arm." ! Detroit Free Press. ADVANTAGE OF MARRYING AN ACTOR Famous Actor—"Oh, yes, I'm married, but I alwavs think it's kind o' tough on a girl that marries one of us travelin' men." She—"Still it might be worse. I suppose you're away from home most of the time." —Life. THE YOUNG BRIDE'S THEORY Mrs. Youngbride—"What small eggs!" Groeer —"Yes-s, they are; but I'm sure I don't know the reason." Mrs. Youngbride—"They took them out <& the nest too soon, I suppose."—Boston Transcript. HONEST MULE SELLER "Didn" Buff Jackson tell you dat mule he traded to you is a pow'ful kiekert" "He didn't 'zaetly tell me, but he tried to be honest, j He th'owed in two bottles of liniment an' a crutch without i no extry charge."—Washington Btar. For Protection against the serious sickness so likely to follow an ailmentof the digestive organs,—bikrasness or inactive bowels, you can rely on the bsßt known corrective Beecbanfc Pflts (Iha Unaat Sab al An Mha la tin WmH) Uw.ltc„ Sc. ;■" 1 i Tongue-End Top iCaSj Mules for British CtYilry The latest shipment of mules to Kngland is composed of such clean limbed, active beasts that certain army experts have proposed to the War De partment to use them for cavalry or mounted iufantry. In the British army the mule is used only for transport and the mountain battery work, not being regarded as suitable for other branches of the service, "but Britain's stock of cavalry horses is exhausted, and the heavy draught animals left on the farms are decidedly less active than the latest arrival of mules, Spanish and Mexican cavalry have always mode a liberal use of mules aud found them more service able than horses for work in rough count rv. Troubles of a Submarine A new story is told of the British submarine B-11, whose commander. Lieutenant X. Holbrook. received the \ ictoria Cross for braving the Darda nelles and sinking a Turkish battle ship. On entering the Dardanelles, the submarine sighted a Turkish patrol boat. The B-ll thereupon dived and remained beloiv for some time. On coin ing to the surface, the Turk was seen -steaming around in a circle. After an other ilisp, the commander found the patrol still on hand. Thereupon, the commander rammed and sunk her. The mystery was then cleared. The B-ll had -ouled a buoy and had been drag ging it about on the surface, so that all the Turks had to do was to follow the mark. Battle Robs Men of Taste One of the curious effects of shell ex plosion reported at the military hos pitals in London is the loss of the senses of taste and smell. Dr. Charles Myers states that he has met three oases of tais iu bis own experience. The men received no tlesh rounds at all. but be cause of their loss of senses thev could not distinguish by taste between sugar, quinine, acid and salt, which felt alike to the tongue. '•These cases apt ear to constitute a definite class among shellshock ef fects. says Dr. Myers. ''The shells in question appear to have burst with considerable noise, scattering much dust, but this was not accompanied by the production of odor. It is, therefore, dif ficult lo understand why hearing should be unaftectcd and the ill results con fined to the senses of sight, suiell and taste. The close relation of these cases to those of hysteria appears certain.'' * * " Fleet of Motor Ambulances A fleet of about seventy-li\'e motor | ambulances, each one bought by I English women and girls of the same given name, is being organized by the 1 Red Cross for service at the front. The I'ames seleetod for the ambulances in clude: Agnes, Alice, Barbara, Clara. Edith. Elizabeth, Gertrude, Isabel, Jes sie. Katherine, Laura, Margaret, Mary, j Xellle, Clive, Ruth, Sarah. Violet and j Winifred. Each car will bear the same I name as that of the girls and women who have contributed toward it. All the money collected front women named Josephine will go into the purchase of the Josephine ambulance, and so on. • * * Mines Exploded by Icebergs Icebergs have exploded a number of mines in the Gulf of Bothnia, according to reports brought to Hull by Swedish | v esse is. Xavigation is particularly ! perilous in the Baltic and tile Xorth ; sea just now. it is said, owing to the : mines which have broken loose from i their moorings during storms. Scandi i naviaii naval authorities patrol the I trade routes for these floating menaces, ; some of which have been visible latelv as far« north as Skagerack and the mouth of Christiauia Fjord. Hold First District Meeting The first nis