The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1915-03-12

er, it is said, she spoke we'll of the r.v.
er men. All the raftsmen of that per Cd
knew q pilot known as "Uncle Ben. -
Some of his descendants live in the
vicinity of Harrisburg now He was a
logician of the practical type.
''Uncle Ben Teaches Lesson
A fellow worker steered the raft on
which they were floating, within foot
of a rock, and when "Uncle >Ben,' the
pilot, ehided him for SO close call he
excused himself by saving ga miss is
as good as a mile. y "Unele Benz dis,
sented and they came near to blows in
the hours argument that followed.
Next morning when the steersman
awoke. lying on the raft with only a
horse blanket for bed, he was in a
rage because some one while he slept
hal placed a pntrid fish within an inch
of his nose and he had been smelling
the odor all night. 4" Uncle Ben - con
doled with him, but this time chided
him for his ill-temper, since ga miss
was as good as e mile,'' and the fish
had not touched his nose. Thereafter
that particular raft was steered as far
as possible from danger.
think it is now generally conceded
by experts Shat the Susquehanna is too
wide and too shallow, and too suscept-
able TO drift to be kept navigable to
steambo cats, even if Congress could be
induced to appropriate the millions that
would be necessary TO form a channel,
build locks around the various rapids,
and thus render it temporarily navi-
gable.
Besifies an attempt to do so would
mean ar endless war with the rai!roads =
of the State that were unabled ng
since to perfect their monopoly as clm,
mon carriers, by blotting out the canal
system of the State.
And yet, where is the Harrisburger
who dares to deny that the Su.ouehan
ma is naviaable, when he stands on its
shores and witnesses dozen or more
steamboats, engaged in mining and
transporting black diamonds from the
very bottom of the river, and then re-
members that, in or near Harrisburg
a5out $4,000 tons of anthracite coal
are thus savei and utilized annually.
that otherwise would be not only was,-
ell, hut left to fill the stream and ul-
timately force it out of its banks. at
Hood time, as destroyer of property.
And then when he remembers the
millions Of tons ALREADY on the way in
creek and river channels, due to arrive
in Harrisburg long before the present
supply is exhausted, he should feel
grateful for the providing of Provi-
dence and their utilization, through
man $ ingenuity in ap2ropriating the
steamboat; though such boat may be
low, leaky AMI devoid of beauty. This
coal though losing much of its carbon
through exposure to weather and water
is yet boon TO the manufacturer, and
g source of JOY to the laboring man,
who secures his bread through the labor
required in lifting and transporting it.
IT tired of looking at the uncanny
steam coal boats let the fastidious
Harris5urger turn his attention to the
many sand boats, plying Susquehanna IS
wave, and then admit that the Susque-
hanna is really navigabe. And who
does not know the value of sand7 Why
there is not cowardiy iingo, or a
speculator in human blool, clamoring
for an American war, that does not
daily pray to his God Mammon. that
President Wilson may have more sand.
But we are opposed to war, unless it be
fought out as Artemus Ward said he
was willing the war of his period should
be- fought out, viz:-bv his first wife s
relations; but our relations are quite
content with Wilson S quantity and
quality of sand. Surely President Will