Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-25
America is for equal privileges for
men and women along all lines.
Pee;t;c4 ;~
Pe~~s4esa~io
By the Ex-Committeeman

vania. 1t will be one of those cam
paigns for which the Democracy oil
Pennsylvania is noted and will prob
ably be the start of one of the most
entertaining twelve month periods In
a political way in a long, long time.
And that is saying a good bit when
reference is made to the disjointed,
| disorganiZed, discredited Democratic
party in Pennsylvania.
| Some time ago, the members OF
the executive committee of the
Democratic State committee met in
| Philadelphia and when the cards
were put on the table, it was found
that the gubernatorial campaign of
1918, when the Democratic national
committeeman from Pennsylvania
repudiated the choice of the major
ity of the voters of his party for
Governor of Pennsylvania, had we'll
nigh wrecked what little of the ma
chine was left. 1t was then deter
mined to start out afresh and organ
ize the State from top to bottom in
advance of the Presidential cam
paign of 1920. which means that the
Palmer partisans were afraid that
they were going to be beaten when
the time came to elect national
delegates.
Meanwhile some quiet work has
been under way and the reports OF
the men, who have been inquiring at
various points. indicate that not only
is the Bonniwell faction strong, but
inclined to militancv. The intimation
from Washington that the Pennsyl-
vania delegation might be asked to
endorse Attorney General A. Mitchell
/ "a fo Drnc;Ianf In ~ Vn
accentuated the party factionalism.
And now it is announced that the
Attorney General is to attend the
meeting of the Democratic national
committee at Chicago next month as
the national committeeman from
Pennsylvania. This has made the
Bonniwell men more determined
than ever to give Palmer and his
pals the fight of their lives next year.
A call of Congress in special
session at the earliest possible day,
without waiting for the conclusion
of the treaty of peace, was advocated
here to-day by Congressman B X.
Focht, of Lewisburg, who was on his
way to Washington. Congress
should be called at once to take up
matters pertaining to the country,
matters of vital interest. We have
enough to take up without waiting
for the peace treaty" said the Seven
teenth PENNSYLVANIA district Con-
gresham. The country is in the
midst of serious problems and we
should be at work on them. We
should enact a new tariff law as soon
as we con do it. not only for revenue,
but for protection. England has
been manufacturing at a great rate
and we will have all kinds of things
coming here and underselling our
Pennsylvania products, to say moth
ing of those of other States. l can
see no earthly use of waiting any
longer. | think l am voicing the
sentiment of the people of my dis
trict in this matter and that n lot
of Pennsylvanians in other counties
think the same way"
Governor William C. Sproul will
not be forced to wade through hun
dreds of settlements made by various
departments of the State government
from bills for disinfectants to travel
ing expenses of Capitol clerks,
which have weighed down the desks
of his predecessors through several
administrations, because of the struc-
ture of checks and counter checks
on expenditures which has been
built up by the Legislature. The
Governors office to-day announced
the approval of the Crow bill, re-
quiring that the Governor shall be
compelled to act only upon such
matters as the constitution provides.
This means that the warrants,
claims and vouchers of the Depart
ment of Public Grounds and Build
e.
tol; expenditures of the Health,
Labor and Industry. Forestry and
other Departments need no longer
be acted upon by the Governor, but
take the regular auditing course,
which will probably be expanded
to meet them. The act will eventu-
ally carry with it abolition of the
office of the executive controller,
which will be legislated out in a
bill to be presented soon. Samuel
c. Todd, the executive controller,
is understood to be booked for an
other place in the State government
1t is probable that a new system
will be devised for the Public
Grounds auditing either in bureau
in that Department or in the office
of the Auditor General.
The bill is the outcome of years
OIL comment upon. tne way the Gov
ernor has been handed routine work
to do, leaving little time for big ad-
ministration or constructive matters
One of the interesting signs of
the times is that Reading is getting
things in order to become q second
class city after the next census. The
Berks county seat was only a few
thousand below the 100000 mark
at the last census and is believed
to be we'll over it now. In fact,
some Reading people say that the
city can show close to 120, 900 when
the next census is taken. There will
be big changes in the city govern
ment when it becomes a second
class city.
When Reading leaves the third
class city class, the honor of being
first will lie between Erie and Will
kes- Barre. both of which have been
expanding rapidly. Harrisburg will
be close up. So will Johnstown.
Chester could be near the top of
the list if it could annex some of
it's adjoining towns.
The legislators from third class
cities opposed to the nonpartlsan
feature of the Clark act. are said
to be scheming to get the Wilson
bill back on the calendar. It was
heavily defeated last Monday night.
In all probability, there will be
fight in the House on the action
of the committee on ways and
means in deciding to report mega
tlo JIorna hill fa ro-a.t