Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-05-04
EVENING CHAT

| Ahe otlce OF secretary or Interna1
Affairs, TO which DR.. Henry Houck
succeeds to-day under the constitu-
uonai provision for a four-year term,
mas existed under one name or an
other from the days of William Penn.
Except for Governor, there is nothing
oider in the scheme of Pennsylvania
government and II is interesting to
note in all the long line of officials
none has held the position longer
than DR.. Houck. and il he lives out
mis- term. as We all know he will, he
| VIII have established record for
| tenure of the place. There is no
record of the office in the Colonial
days before the coming of Penn. but
when he set up his provincial gov
| ernment he installed Silas Crispen as
surveyor general. his commission dat
ing 1881. In 1701 the commission
| ers OF property assumed the duties
Tor time and then ii went back to
surveyors general In the office in
| provincial times were the offices of
| secretary OF the land Office. keeper OF
| the great seal. master OF rolls. reg
/ lister general of wills and receiver
! general. some of these places being
held by the head OF the department.
an early precedent for dual office
hoiding. Under the Commonwealth
| the department was known as the
land office, because it dealt largely
with the lands, and the chief was the
secretary of the land office. This
began in 1871, and in the department
were master of rolls. receiver gen.
eral. comptroller general and es-
| cheRtor general. The master OF the
| rolls was merged in the office of sec
Tetary of the commonwealth, re-
ceiver general with the State treas
urer and the auditor general took
over the other jobs. The secretary
of the land office went out of office
in lSi2 and his duties devolved on
the surveyor general. whose office
dated from 1881. From .17S1 until
1850 the surveyors general were
named by the Governor and then
they were made elective. The de-
partment of secretary of internal af-
fairs was created by the Constitution
OF 1878 and IL took over the office
OF the surveyor general and the chief
of statistics. Seven men have been
secretary. William McCandless was
the first Thomas j. Stewart held il
four years and resigned to become
adjutant general. which office he has
so ably administered ever since. Isaac
r. Brown, later on elected TO the
office. succeeded him. James ".
Latta, of Philadelphia, served two
terms. DIR. Houck is the first TO be
elected for three.
In connection with the issuance of
a charter as a third class city to
Coatesville it is interesting to note
that the State once received back
from city Of the third class all of
the franchises conferred. This was
Parker City. It still exists in Arm
strong county. but is mere shell. 1T
grew up in the oil days and was a
pretentious and fourishing munich
N..fs h..V 49, nj sNe
population dwindled and now ii is
mere borough with rows of empty
houses. II decided that city govern
ment was too expensive and quit.
Dr. II. A Surface. the State Zoolo-
gist, says that this is the time of the
year to spray for the woolly aphis.
The aphis looks like a feather. 1t
turks on fruit trees and once IL gets
a hold in a crotch of an apple tree
il is the hardest thing TO get out.
Some times it looks like mere speck
of white. but il fastens on break
in the bark and saps the life of a
tree. Its ravages have been extern
sive in this State, and, next TO the
scale, it is the most troublesome of
pests.
Among the visitors to the city yes
terday afternoon was Richard E.
Cochran. OF York. former DeputyI
Secretary of the Commonwealth. Mr..
Cochran is one of the prominent at
torneys of York and was here on
business with the State governmental
departments.
Upper end people are observing
with a good bit of interest the course
Of the Beidieman bill for bridge to
span the Susquehanna between Mill /
lersburg and Crows Landing. This
for a bridge for over half a century,
as it is at the end of the Lykens val
ley and would connect with a point in
Perry county where there is a con-
vergence of roads. Incidentally
should the bridge be built it would be
the only one for foot travel between
Clark's Ferry and Selinsgrove. For
many. many years there has been
ferry between these two points, as
there is at many another portion of
the river. \ bridge there would mean
much convenience for travellers, as
it would connect important State
highways and avoid tedious ferrying.
The steamer Gulflight, which was
torpedoed by a German submarine
and which threatens to become an
International matter, was owned by
Pittsburgh people. 1t belonged to
the Gulf Refining Company, which is
almost exclusively owned in this
State. This company was one of the
first TO develop the Texas oil fields
and a large amount of Pennsylvania
dollars are invested in the oil lands,
machinery, tanks and ships.