Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-23
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By the Ex.Comnitteeman

According to stories which have
come to the Capitol. the folks back
home in certain Democratic communi-
ties are somewhat inclined to be crit
ical of the attitude of various Demo-
cratic members in the Legislature, es-
pecially in the matter of the support
of the President, and to feel that the
Democrats should have been more
active than they were in the House.
The debate attending the Walter
resolution about a week ago has been
the theme of much discussion and
many copies of the Legislative Journal
showing the exact statements made
have been sent out from the "Hill' in
reply to requests from men all over
the state. These statements and the
record of the vote have been coming
| back to plague certain Democrats.
In Reading there have been reso-
lutions presented at meetings denounc-
ing the position taken by some of the
! Berks county members in the Walter
resolution discussion.
A meeting of the Democratic ring.
masters committee will be held here
| soon to put some ginger into the
Democratic members who have been
making a sorry spectacle of them
selves. Some of the ringmasters are
said to feel that the minority has
| played a part so totally out of keeping
with what might be expected that they
want the wandering sheep corralled
and told what to do. The Democratic
! legislative campaign has been series
of failures.
! The Democrats have not even de-
manded action on their much adver-
tised measures and the fact that the
/ ringmaSters were caught at some
| bipartisan politics in handling their
corrupt practices act has not been
overlooked.
| An interesting review of Luzerne
county politics sent from Wilkes-Barr
says: while harmony prevails among
Republicans, affairs in the Democratic
ranks promise to be stirred up with
} the return of William r. Mclean, the
. Democratic state chairman, from the
, border, where he has been for several
: months. Mclean and his followers
will seek to retain control of the
county Democratic organization, but
! Judge John NJ. Garman, who bosses
the other county wing of Democracy,
is already preparing to win over the
| county organization. Garman accom-
| plished this four years ago when the
/ Garman candidates for prothonotary
and clerk of the courts were selected.
| These candidates, vested with the
power of choosing a chairman, forgot
all about Mclean and named A. w.
| Betterly, the Garman selection, for the
| Office. Judge Garman is planning to
do the same thing this year. He will
have his candidates in the field against
the Mclean entries. and this contest
| is apt to become very lively The
Democrats have control of most of the
county officers. Mclean is credited
with the glory of these victories and
| a defeat at the hands of Garman would
be considered a stumbling block for
Mclean as county chairman and also
as chairman of the state"
The Philadelphia Record to-day
says that there is going to be a grand
old row in the House of Representa-
] tives next Monday night when the Nc
Nichol men will endeavor to have the
bill to take the police out of politics
put back to the calendar.
| The latest Democratic move, the
investigation of the election of Con-
| gresham Bleakley, has been under
taken by the United States grand jury
at Erie. The ringmaster is L. Lowry
Humes, United States district attor-
ney.
| Pittsburgh people have started to
impeach magistrates as the result of
the vice probes.
! Considerable interest has been
aroused at the Capitol by the attack
made on the proposed bond issue for
roads by State Treasurer Young in a
speech at Altoona. 81 am very earn
estly opposed to bond issue for high
way improvement" said Mr. Young,
addressing the chamber of commerce
at luncheon yesterday, because I re-
gard the state revenues as ample to
provide all the money that can be
legitimately expended each year for
this purpose. In fact, don't know of
any purpose for which bonds would
be necessary, unless it would be for
the improvement of the ports at Lake
Erie and on the Ohio and Delaware
rivers. If we improve these ports of
exit and entry, Pennsylvania can be
made the center of the commercial
activities of the world. If only men
of vision could see the possibilities of
this Commonwealth, every State in
the Union and the world at large could
] be made tributary to Pennsylvania"