Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-07-23
EVENING CHAT

There isn't going to be any vacation
for the members of Pennsylvania's
| Public Service Commission Under the
act the commission must meet twice
monthly and even if the members were
| inclined to comply with only the letter
of the law and have purely formal
meetings with just a quorum present
there is so much business piled UP
| that vacations would upset things and
make the task of the commissioners
doubly hard in. the fall. The job OF
being commissioner is by no means
any cinch, as every day sees COM
plants appear and questions without
number are turning up so constantly
that 1t takes hustling to keep the de-
cisions worked out. The plan now is
for the commissioners to hold regular
sessions in August and attorneys who
are compelled to appear are not in the
most amiable frame of mind. The
amount of business before the COM
mission is far and away beyond eX-
pectationS and as far as possible cases
of the same character are being
grouped so that they can be disposed
OF when precedents are established.
The organization of the bureaus is now
being perfected and two houses in the
Capitol Park extension district which
Will not be needed for a couple of
years are being fitted up as temporary
quarters for commission officials who
cannot be accommodated in the suite
in the Capitol. One of the odd things
about the congested condition of the
commission is that on the floor above
there are five fine offices and one of the
finest courtrooms in the country, re-
served for the uses of the appellate
courts, which occupy them about three
days a year, the Supreme Court not
using them at all this year. The State
Board of Public Charities uses one
suite five times a year and the Board
of Pardons the courtroom ten times a
year. Yet they are maintained in
splendid, though solitary, state, ready
for the courts which sit here in March
and in May and then for about sew
enty-two hours
A good many people may say things
about motorcycle and automobile driv-
ers may give them terms anything but
complimentary, but the fact remains
that the average runner of the road
devir' is pretty careful. This was illus
trated when a rider of a machine was
found sitting beside the river a short
distance above Coxestown while his
half-wrecked machine was lying on
the river bank above him.
What's the matter?" was asked
him.
The cyclist scooped UP some water
to stop his bleeding nose and said:
Tried to avoid hittin' a dog and near
broke my neck"
The man who stopped commiserated
with the battered cyclist and was as
tonished to hear him start to sniffle.
He remarked that he hoped the ma
chine was not hurt.
'Tain't that or me. The blanked
dog barked at me when 1 fell after
tryin' to keep from hittin him." re-
piled the rider.
Where's Willie?" inquired an anx-
ious mother in Derry street near Sew
enteenth yesterday afternoon.
A couple of kids standing near by
snickered.
"Willie!" shrilled the mother
"Will-ie!"
~'Here," piped a childish treble
1t happens that here" was about
two-thirds of the way up one of the
tall steel latticed power transmission
poles at Seventeenth and Derry. These
poles are about ninety feet high and
carry enough current in their wires to
jolt a train of steel "battleships" full
of coal.
Willie came down and was marched
some blocks to his home asking
"WhathevIdone?
People who disregard the warning
signs of the Motor Club of Harrisburg
to detour around the paving in Derry
street between Eighteenth and Twenty
third has brought a number of people
to grief. The other day four automo-
biles went by the barriers in an hour
and after running over concrete or
plain, ordinary trenches for block or
so stopped and began to kick. One
man who went on the concrete as fast
as he could stopped suddenly and re-
turning began to swear at the men
who stood about because of the man.
ner in which the city kept its streets.
When 1t was explained that the street
was being paved he said he did not see
any signs. They were shown to him
and he declared that the city was no
good. Another man ran from Twenty
third to Nineteenth on the torn-up
street and talked of suing for damages.
Among visitors to the city yester-
day was Colonel w. Hayes Grier, for
.mer superintendent of public printing,
soldier, editor and Democrat. The
colonel came to the city TO see If the
Susquehanna was still flowing and met
a number of his friends. He is hale
and hearty and takes a big interest
in politics.
The interesting article in the Star
Independent last night about "the
riots of seventy-seven," whose ami
versaries occur this week, attracted
older citizens and there were many
anecdotes related about the stirring
times. In those days City Clerk Mil
Ter was connected with the telegraph
and when the troubles started he Just
camped about the office, being ready
for every emergency from opening fire
to getting out an extra. The badges
worn by the posse in those days are
preserved by number of citizens.