Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-04-26
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among the members of the House of
Representatives from interior coun-
ties which occurred yesterday at
the Capitol recalls the days of the
session OF 1907 when S. Taylor
North, of Punxsutawney. afterwards
chairman of the appropriations COM
mite and later a Congressman, or
ganized the members outside of the
big cities and made a tremendous
fuss for a time. The organization
formed yesterday is to be known
as the Rural Members League. In
1907 the followers of North, who
made fight against what he styled
city domination" objected to any
identification with rural counties
and were dubbed members of the
Country Club" The organization
erected this session was promptly
| nicknamed the Farmers Alliance"
However, it contains members from
districts which are not rural by any
means and If handled right, can
come pretty near forcing various
things in the House. The balance of
! power in the lower branch is some
| thing interesting to watch and the
League may cause some decidedly
entertaining features. One of the
chief matters against which the new
organization has taken stand is
| the proposition to secure new basis
| for legislative apportionment. This
would have to be done by consttu-
! tional amendment and it is already
in hand in the form of a resolution
| which would make the House con-
| sist of 100 members. The rural leg
islators say that If this went through
| would hnf 1n -
| population would have the members
and that the country would have
very little. Now, under the present
| constitution, each county has mem
ber of the House and big rural coun-
ties like York and Lancaster have
four and five. The rural members
contend that if a change is made and
the membership reduced they will
get the worst of it.
Announcement of the plans for the
improvement of the Capitol Park
Extension zone made to the mem
bers of legislative committees on
Tuesday night by Governor Brum-
baugh and Arnold w. Drummer,
creator of Clevelands civic center,
have attracted much attention and
the lawmakers are studying the
proposition. The plan of making a
great central court just east of the
|
and so does the proposition for four
rows of red oaks.
Mayor Miles B. Kits, of Erie, who
was here yesterday to attend the
hearing on the Beidleman third
class city bill, is firmly of the opinion
that home rule is the solution for
the governmental system of the mu-
inequalities of the third class. when
you consider" said he, that this
State has communities representing
more diversified industries than any
other Commonwealth you can see
very readily that each should have
the government suited to it. Now
start in with Chester on the Della
ware and you have port and manu-
featuring town. Then you go to
Reading and Coatesville, which are
different. Here is Harrisburg and in
the next county York which is a
town of many industries. Then you
go into the hard coal regions, then
to Altoona and Williamsport Then
you have soft coal, coke, iron and
steel and oil towns and then a lake
port. There is no collection of cities
in any State like it and my point is
that each one should have a gov
ernment suited to its local conditions
and under a general State regula-
tion."
Banking Commissioner Daniel f.
Lafean tells q good story about u
campaign of q couple of years ago
when he was campaigning with Con-
gressman NJ. M. Garland, of Pitts
, burgh. Mr.. Garland had story and
from what Mr.. Lafean says he work.
, ed it hard. The eXigencies of cam
paigning once brought about situa-
tion where q colleague of Mr.. Lafean
was called upon to address an over
flow meeting while Mr.. Garland was
speaking at the main meeting. This
colleague told the special Garland
story. Soon after Mr.. Garland and
Mr.. Lafean went to the overflow and
when the Pittsburgh man started to
tell his story, which was good one
by the way, he did not get a smile.
He put all of his ginger into it and
never Il laugh was heard. He re-
marked to Mr.. Lafean that the audi
ence was cold and the York man
sympathized with him. A day or so
later Mr.. Garland was asking the
man from York few questions
about who set up a scheme on him.
Thomas Henry Redmond, a resi-
dent of West Philadelphia, and
father of Andrew Redmond, of this
city, has the joke on the officers of
the United States army recruiting
|
mond is 81 and appeared at the Office
to see how things were going. lie
asked to enlist and the officers at
once saidsthat they would take him,
his apparent age causing them to re-
gard the offer lightly. But the tables
were turned when it was found that
Mr.. Redmond met every test except
that of age. He was complimented
upon his splendid physical strength.
John d. Herr, former assistant
State zoologist, has written an inter-
esting article in the Pennsylvania
Farmer on weeds. Mr.. Herr says
that the direct loss to farmers
through weeds is much greater than
the average man realizes and that
weeds allowed to go unchecked on
one mans land make trouble for
many more because the winds take
the weeds for miles, Mr.. Herr's sug-
gestion to people at this time when
everyone is gardening is to kill the
weeds before they blossom and go
to seed.