Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-20
Enfntug Gf1at

tin G. Brum baugh to give a resident
of an eastern county of Pennsylvania
permit for a quarter barrel of
beer will be given a severely plain
reply at the State Capitol, but the
letter seeking gubernatorial ap-
proval of the purchase will be filed ON
the Hill as one of the curiosities of
the year. The Governors office gets
numerous crank letters and all sorts
of requests. That has been the case
for years and years and successive
governors have had their mails bur-
dened with every kind of begging
letter from blunt asking for $5 to
intimations that an appointment to
a well-paid job without much work
attached would be acceptable. But
the letter asking the permit stands
unrivaled. 1t is written in pencil
and does not contain any punctua-
tion. although literally sprinkled
with capital letters. Under a rule
of the office the name was not given
out. The letter is as follows: IT
write you to ask you II You would
kindly give me a Permit 90 get a
quarter Barrel Beer as my little girl
is two years old and I Would like
to give her a Little time Just among
ourselves and know body else will
be their I would Thank you very
much If You would do that much
for me Kindly let me know for next
Sunday and oblige me-"
The old tradition that Pardon
Board applications Nos. 1S and 2S
both cannot win and that either one
is bound to go down has been broken
this week. Both won. For a long
time No. 13, ordinarily Stunned in
making pleas, has been a winner.
The numbers are given arbitrarily
in the office where the list is made
up and while some people have OBJ
! jected to having No. 13 it has gen.
orally been lucky And when not
it has seemed as though No. 23 won
But as a rule both did not. This
week the Board recommended clen1-
ency in both instances.
George D. Thorn, the compendium
of knowledge on election laws and
similar matters on Capitol Hill, tells
a story of an Adams county woman
who was not ruff1ed. This woman
! was called up on the telephone and
a man exclaimed excitedly: Right
after you left the house the roof
| caught fire; it's on fire now"
What? Is that so? Is there any
thing more?" she asked.
"Well, that's all I can think of
now" replied the astonished man.
Much obliged"
William H. Ball, secretary to the
Governor, got new way of BEING
identified the, other day. He had
letter at the post office or rather
Uncle Sam had it for him and 1t was
to be delivered to him alone as II
was executive business. When he got
to the office the man did not know
him. There was no one in sight VINO
did, either. And he did not have
any letters in his pockets and no
even a card. Suddenly he got &
thought and handed his watch tc
the man. The clerk was bit non
plussed when the secretary unhitch
ed the timepiece and when he hand
ed It in he was still further up {
tree. There's my name; guess tina
will do" said Mr.. Ball. opening th'
case. He got the letter.
The propositions involved in tn
proceedings to test the reasonable
ness of the new steam heat rate
of the Harrisburg Light and Powe
Company are of a character which
will mean the expenditure of hun
dreds of dollars, perhaps thousand
by the time it is ended, and 1t is in
teresting to note that similar pro
ceedings are under way in com
plants from at least twenty-fv'
PENNSYLVANIA cities or boroughs. l
has come to be a common saying a
: the CAPITOL that whenever a rate 1
advanced a shower of complaint
follows.
George ]. Brennan, writing in tn
Philadelphia Inquirer, remarks upo
the tremendous spread of interest /
G military training, especially of stu
s dents and schoolboys, and pays trio
q ute to the work of Gabriel II. Moyel
n of the auditor generals departmen
and other men who have been ure
ing it. In the course OF his enter
tanning column he says: I'm Gov
ernor-to-be William c. Sproul, tn
champions of military training e>
pect to have an ardent supporter. HI
son Jack" who voluntarily entere
the regular army shortly after nos
tilities broke out, and won the ran
of lieutenant, and who is just RI
covering from being "gassed" on III
banks of the Marne, typifies tn
spirit of the Sprouts on the questio
of military preparedness. A men
ber of the Military Training Con
mittee in voicing the faith of hln
self and his colleagues in the SUI
port of the next Governor, sai6
when Sproul lands in the ExecutiV
mansion there will be an end
the pull-back policy of fossils WIN
are now potential in the state edit
cational department and tru
American spirit will be injected int
every branch of the state goverr
ment. 1t may be decided IN pla
of good will and fairness to pensio
some of the antiquated attaches :
the school system, but. there will b
a broader and more democratic aC
ministration ali around as far as tn
schools are concerned. Sproul ca
also be counted upon to aid whe
the next drive is made against til
mossbacks in the Board of EducG
ton in Philadelphia, as well as thos
employees of the board who will haN
been mainly responsible for the Dc
lay in the introduction of militar
training in all of the high schools