Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-17
Paestsca IT.
Psn~ssssan;a
BY the Ex-Committecman

The Democratic party in Pennsyl-
Vania seems to have been destined
Tor trouble from the. days of Porter
certainly, 1T has furnished more in
teresting political history than any
other party in Pennsylvania and it
is punctuated with brawis.
The home of the National chair
man, 1t fell down in 1918 when the
president called for more Democratic
oohgressmen and may lose one on
its list after all. Its titular CHIEF
/ talns repudiated the choice of the
party voters for the Democratic nom
ination for governor and the people
OF the state promptly defeated the
! Democratic ticket more decisively
tnan even in 1914.
ana now the distinguished soldier
Selected by the Democratic state
Executive committee for the Demo-
.Lauc congressional nomination in
the Westmoreland district bonds
pack the honor and the committee
is IN the humiliating position of hav-
ing advertised too soon. Aspirants
Ior the Democratic congressional
nomination in the 22nd district seem
10 pc as shy as they were in the 18th
iast autumn when the leaves began
to fall.
The Philadelphia Record furnishes
further entertainment by consider
aole yardage to demonstrate q theory
that the refusal of Senator t. l..
Eyre or Chester, to vote for i'm
mediate confirmation of a commits
sioner or fisheries heralds dislocation
OF Republican harmony.
-Tbn
says one of the most important mat
ters for Governor Sproul to decide
is whether the constitution is 70
be revised in his term. The governor
VIII nave considerable to say about
the proposed changes in the third
class city law, on which the Wilkes
Barre Record has decided opinions.
holding that the present system
should remain.
ON the subject of proposed efec
tlon law changes the Philadelphia
INQUIRER say editorially:
Ihere is no doubt but that the
nonpartisan judiciary feature of the
direct primaries is open to abuse.
The intention is good enough, but it
mas been demonstrated that the can
aldate with the biggest bankroll has
an advantage over those who are not
so fortunately situated with the
goods of this world. But the fear
OF impairing the principle back of
the direct primary laws may prevent
any changes, however desirable"
The Philadelphia Press seems to
scent n possible disturbance of the
serenity of the session in the course
of a review of politics published
yesterday and gives considerable
space to Larry Eyre's objections to
Commissioner Butler as one possible
source of trouble. In regard to the
public service changes last week the
Press says:
There is tendency to see a
slap at the Wares in the Governors
action. 1t is not probable that he
had any such intention, but the fact
remains, that in Ryan and Magee
the wares do not lose active allies,
while the men who replace them
cannot be considered by any stretch
OF the imagination as friendly to the
wares. However. on the other hand.
they cannot be called active Penrose
men, although their sympathies are
closer to men associated with that
wing of the party. The Governors
answer would probably be that in the
new appointments he has removed
the commission further from politics
let the ak fall where it may"
Representative w. G.. Sarig. of
Berks. is distressed. He says that
the corrupt practices act is a farce
and that he has one with whole sets
of teeth in it. Mr.. Sarig has pre-
sented several bills this session and
most of them recall e. Lowry Hunes'
ambitious program of legislation. To
the best of recollections that was post
marked 1913. The educator from the
village of Temple was quite an ac-
tive member last session, but the
reduction of the Democratic strength
in the House to the significant figure
of 23 has probably made him cautious
about dashing into the aisles.
Some interesting news about Phila-
delphia board of viewers of vacancies
is being printed. Among the can
didates for places are Col. z. Beitler
and William III. Ball. who was private
secretary to the governor from 1915I
to 1919.
Over in Lehigh county the Demo-
cratic Treasurer who was made n
target by the county commissioners
over bank deposits has turned and is
demanding that the commissioners