Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-05
Ehrtttt1g Graf


Men connected with the State
Employment Bureau, the Public
Safety Committee and the Federal
Government say that one result of
the combination of these agencies
has been the virtual disappearance
from business of our picturesque
and sometimes rather unscrupulous
acquaintance, the labor scout. The
scouts business was to get men to
take new jobs. When there was q
big construction operation or a
shortage of men for some special
work and lately to furnish hands
for the big works engaged in. mu-
nitions the scout was in demand.
He always managed to get the men,
even If he did not make them stick
and som etimes the men went after
him with clubs. According to a man
who has given much attention to the
problems attending mobilization of
labor the tactful manner in which
Director Lightner, of the State EN-
ployment Bureau, took up the mat
ter with the big employers and the
confidence the heads of big works
had in Edgar c. FELTON,, who devised
the plan adopted by the Committee
of Public Safety brought this about.
When the big shipbuilding opera
tions began there were signs that
the scramble for men which mark
ed the munitions boom of a few
years ago would be repeated and
the scout who robbed railroads,
contractors and small mill owners
to get gangs for the big works only
to have some other big works scout
| come along and take most of them
| away was in his heydey. But it did
not take the heads of the big es-
adjustments long to see that they
| were in danger of being worked and
they sent their chief scouts to the
state agencies. The shipbuildinS
! people did the same thing. And
now when a man shows up at a
state Office who is fitted a place is
| found for him where he is most
needed and when the shipbuilding
| gets to a point where men qualified
| in certain lines the Public Safety
authorities are able to call on half
a dozen big works for the men and
they are sent. Each establishments
head knows that Mr.. Felton'is draw
| ing on his rivals, too, and the re-
| suit is that men are drafted and
| things go on without disturbance.
In other words, the labor problem
as far as mechanics and unskilled
| labor are concerned is being work
ed out and probably the farm labor
situation may yet be solved.
Death of James e. Roderick, State
Chief of Mines, leaves DIR. Nathan c.
| Schaeffer, State superintendent of
Public instruction, as the only head
| of a department of the state govern
ment whose service goes back more
than fifteen years. DR.. Schaeffer's
| term as superintendent of Public
| Instruction began almost a quarter
of century ago and he has more
| commissions than any one else on
the Hill. The only rival to him was
the late Adjutant General Thomas
]. Stewart, who had been head of
| a department, but not always the
| same department, for q longer per-
! iod. General Stewart was Adjutant
General for over twenty-five years,
longer than any one else in the his
tory of the state. DR.. Schaeffer
| came into Office on June l, 1893.
Mr.. Roderick became Chief of
Mines on May 1, 1899, and held the
place continuously. The ranking
state official in point of service after
DR.. Schaeffer now becomes State Lii
brarian Thomas Lynch Mntgomery.
whose fifteenth anniversary as head
of the Library was on Sunday, Feb
| ruary d. Inen comes COMMISSIONER
| of Forestry Robert S. Conklin, who
dates from 1904; Commissioner of
| Health Samuel G. Dixon and Su-
perintendent of State Police John
G. Groome, now on leave, being later
appointees, but not much. The
deaths within a year of Secretary of
Internal Affairs Henry Houck, Ad-
jutant General Stewart and Chief
| Roderick, all officials old in service,
is a striking coincidence.
George D. Thorn, Chief Clerk of
the State Department, is the recip-
lent of many letters these days be-
cause he has just issued his pamph-
let telling the dates and facts to re-
member in connection with the cleo
tions of this year. Some of the
people who write to him have done
so for years and they are inclined to
be humorous. One wrote for copy
of Thorn on Elections" while an
other asked If he could be spared a
couple of copies of "Thorn's Poll
tical Gospel" Next thing Mr.. Thorn
will have to be getting out auto
graphed editions.
Harrisburg friends of Louis Sea-
ber, who for years was one OF the
correspondents of the Philadelphia
North American in this city, will be
interested to know that he is now
about at the top of the Boston
branch of the big Aver advertising
house. Mr.. Seaber handled legisla-
tive sessions and reported the Capt.
tol trials and when one recalls the
way he went after q story or fol-
lowed out a lead in the troublous
days of a decade ago in Pennsyl-
vania politics his success can be
| aas silv understood,