Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-07-19
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sion of the work of the State Sc
lective Service headquarters, other
wise the center of the army draft
organization for Pennsylvania, can
be gained by the fact that year
ago the whole force in charge of the
launching of the draft in the second
largest state in the union consisted
of seven persons and now there are
over sixty. The state draft system
was started to work in Pennsyl-
vania in two rooms on the second
floor of the Miller Bros. building at
Locust and Court streets, being in
charge of Coils. Frank G. Sweeney:
Lewis e. Better and j. Warner
Hutchins. There were a couple OF
clerks and stenographers, but it was
not until couple of carloads of
forms and paper arrived that any
idea of the scope of the work could
be obtained. Then more people were
added and rooms were securedA son
Second and Court streets to handle
the supplies and the force over
flowed the two upper floors. Then
Major w. G. Murdock and later Col.
Howard s. Williams, now in France
came along, and floor in the Frank
lin building was annexed. By cold
weather the headquarters was a hive
and finally in the winter time the
first floor of the Board of Trade was
secured and Major Murdock put in
charge. The whole force moved and
now the place fairly huns. OF the
original force only Miss Grace Wad-
lin, who is in charge of the shipping
division, is the only one now on the
list. j. Hillary keenan,, of Green's
burg, became chief clerk when the
new headquarters was opened and
Leroy K. Lafean, of York, took up
the strenuous job of handling the in
ductions. 1t Is only a question of
time until the headquarters will
need more room as the supplies are
scattered and the lower hall where
the force is grouped is one of the
busiest places in Harrisburg, the
Western Union telegraph operating
room no exception. The headquar-
ters not only has to handle the calls
and the reports, but to keep record
without end. In spite of the rapid
expansion of the system and the un-
certainties of what was coming next
the headquarters has made the draft
in Pennsylvania a success in the
highest sense of the word and mainly
by working fourteen hours a day
and taking no Sunday rest.
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Cyrus E. Woods, who has been
spending a fortnight in western
Pennsylvania, was here yesterday
accompanied by Mrs. Woods on the
way to the Reserve Militia encamp-
ment at Mt. Gretna. He will at
tend the review to-day and visit
several of the eastern counties the
remainder of the week.
Quite a number of young men in
this section of the state have been
taking. advantage of the special in
duction calls announced at state
draft headquarters, whereby they
can be sent to the University of
Pittsburgh, Lafayette, State and other
colleges for training of a mechani-
cal kind. The calls are open until
next Monday to registrants of 1917
and 1918 and grammar school and
high school graduates who are avail
able for general military duty, es-
pecially those with a mechanical
turn can be sent. They are being
trained for all sorts of service in and
behind the lines and will be quar-
tered in the colleges while being
trained. Probably a dozen from this
city have been specially inducted in
the last week and the number of in
quiries reaching state headquarters
shows how highly the chance Is re-
garded.
Harrisburg gardeners are going to
have a lovely crop of weeds to buck
against next summer if the signs are
right. Just now the fields are bright
with the blue of the chicory, the
white of the wild parsnip, the brown
of the burdock and other plants
which may have medicinal, but 10
other use, and which come after the
yellow of the wild mustard and the
dandelion. These weeds have in
creased amazingly in and about Har-
risburg and are exceedingly sturdy
and hard On soil. Just to show how
they can be carried it may be caid
there are seven different varieties of
pestiferous weeds in the federal
building lawn.
The register of visitors to the
State Capitol is always very inter-
esting to the Harrisburg man whG
likes to go and see what is in the
State House, but only about one-half
of the people who enter the building
on sightseeing bent take the trouble
to put down their names. In the
last week there have been people
from over Il uOZen States ana from
Cuba and Mexico at the Capitol.
1t is nothing unusual for Chinese and
japanese and even Hindus to register
on Capitol Hill and before the war
Europe was represented several
times a week.
Putting up" eggs seems to have
become a popular pastime in Har-
risburg homes and is to a certain
extent taking the place of the pre-
serving OF blackberries, raspberries
and ether small fruits which are
short in supply this year because
there a1e so few hands to gather
them. Eggs have been developing
some startling midsummer prices
and the preserving of them for win
ter use in that chemical known as
"liquid glass is now household ac-
tivity in Regina street, as well as
Front.