The Hershey Press 1912-09-26

              "High Cost off Living8'
Caused hw Mima, asseirts H©inu Ee Wn Chaffm
On Thursday evening at 6.30 o clock, m front of
the Y. M. M. A. building on Chocolate Avenue, the
Hon. Eugene W. Chafin, the- Prohibition candidate
for President, gave a short address of about 20
minutes to an audience which was a goodly-sized
one, considering the very short notice upon which
the meeting had been called..
Captain Stanley with his tin tooter called the
crowd together by singing (?) some 44 verses of a
song (everyone just like the 1st) in praise of the
Prohibition candidate. That music. (?) was just
awful, more calculated, it struck us, to make a
crowd run away than to assemble! We think the
captain and an old army mule would make a hit
with their joint melodies.
As her wont is, Hershey did her best to greet her
distinguisht guest, (the first of the five presidential
candidates to speak within her borders), by having
the whole town well sprinkled—a. sort of cold water
Chautauqua salute in honor of the Prohibition
candidate.
So its certain Mr. Chafin was the only "dry"
thing around at the time;—unless indeed,; some of
his audience were in that condition, tho as to that,
we can't speak.
We've read the Prohibition platform, and it is
much more elevated than the one. furnisht the
speaker on this ocasion, which was merely a dry-goods
box top about four feet square,, planted in the
mud;
The Hon. Matthew O'Brien, a lawyer from Wash-ington,
D. C;, made a breezy introductory speech of
a few minutes, which, like the one that followed,
was chuck full of ginger. He lambasted Taft,
Teddy, and Wilson, charging, we guess, truly, that
all three were neutral on the liquor question, not
daring to say a word, against the sacred Rum Trade,
no, not even the valorous Roosevelt, always ready
with an opinion about anything "from a game of
foot-ball to the size ,of our families!"
Mr. O'Brien then presented the Hon. Eugene W.
Chafin, of Tucson, Arizona, a tall, broad-shouldered,
fine looking man of about 60, with a high forehead
and an intelligent face.
He announced the "High Cost of Living" as his
theme, and proceeded, with an array of unanswera-ble
statistics to lay the cause of it to the Liquor
Traffic. He also made a powerful" arraignment of
the great parties for their cowardly attitude on "the
greatest question in the world to-day—the liquor
question" and gave in support of his contention
that "Hum was the chief cause of hard times, an
array of facts relative to the ruinous making, and
the far more ruinous consumption, of liquors
that was startling.
These facts of the speaker, his; premises, are un-deniably
true, and there is probability
enough in the conclusion he draws, to
make" thotful • good citizens sit 'down, and
think hard. For altho these evil conditions due to
the rum traffic have long been in existence, certainly
for over 25 years, who shall say that to-day's, hard
times are not the culmination of all this fearful
double waste of our resources of food and men ? .
Let's give in brief some of these damning,
appalling PACTS about Liquor making and Liquor
drinking: Nearly 1,000,000 men , are engaged in
making and distributing liquor. They support
families of 4,000,000 more—an army of 5,000,000, of
non-producers, but all consumers of food, clothing
and shelter. ¦": ' - '
The traffic yearly sends 200,000 men. to jails and
penitentiaries, all non-producers, ; but consumers.
Then add to this army, the policemen, employees,
etc., of poorhouses, jails, penitentiaries, mad-houses
and hospitals for the dependant classes caused, by
Rum, and you have a total army of nearly 10,000,000
of non-producers, but all consumers!
Go view the $1,000,000 palace of the brewer,
Adolph Busch, in Passadena, Cal., and you will un-derstand
how the $1,000,000,000.00 earned by the
laboring people is yearly turned over to the Liquor
Interests ! Because of that traffic 1,000,000 fallen
women!:
The speaker said that the production of beef had
increased only 3 per. cent., while the consumption
had increased 20 per cent.; that the 106,000,000
bushels of grain wasted in making beer and whisky
would, if turned into beef, have equalized this in-creased
consumption.
.Whether or not all the charge of hard times can
be. laid at the door of the brewery and the distillery,
certainly very much of it can be.
Mr. Chafin spiced his discourse with many
pungent allusions," some witty, pome sarcastic,' at
the expense of the other party -leaders and plat-forms,,
closing with the declaration that of the five
candidates Debs,.was certainly out of the race,
Taft ditto, Roosevelt likewise, and only Wilson and
the Prohibition candidate left. "Choose ye, ye
voters!" •
Hershey was complimented by the- speaker for be-ing
a dry town.
The audiences frequently applauded the speaker,
and liberally chipt in when the hat was passed.
After, shaking hands with a number of gentlemen,
and especially with the small boys, Mr. Chafin
left on the "7.25 o'clock train for ; Harrisburg, where
he was billed to speak twice, making about 8 or 10
speeches delivered by him since his first at Myers-town
in the morning.
Hershey appreciates the compliment paid "the
wonderful six-year old town," by. the distinguisht
gentleman. Come again,, and with better notice we
will give you a turnout worthy your excellent dis-course.
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''Some P©tetoess,s,
Hershey gets there again! Hershey's some pota-toes—
never you doubt that, if you do, just read
what follows here :
Elam Herr, one of our thrifty farmers, living at
Derry Church^-has just dug from his one acre lot
opposite the residence of Dr. M. L. Hershey, the al-most
unheard off quantity of 360 "bushels of pota-toes,
all large enough to be marketable!
These prolific tubers were of the Rural New
Yorker variety. The lists are now open, and any
farmer,. gardner, professional or amateur, who
thinks he can compete, please shy his castor in the
ring. . . V.
The Readlmg's Little
New Depot
That cosy-little waiting room now building on the
north side of the track, is being completed, and will
soon be ready for passengers.
It is well built out of native limestone, and has a
big: slate overhanging- covering for all the ' "world
like a "merry widow", hat—more roof than depot, in
fact! [ They . say it was modeled after the extensive
hea"d-gear of one of our Hershey belles—of course,
we're not going to say which one, and since there
are so many of 'eni, we're quite safe in giving out
this interesting little piece of gossip.
The room in the little building is to be heated by
steam, we presume, for we observe that a pipe from
the main depot has already been partly laid in a
trench running in that direction underneath ' the
tracks.
This will prove a great boon to west bound travel-ers.;
But inasmuch as, it will-be followed by a clos-ing
up of the passageway : over : the tracks at that
point, and will require all passengers to climb some
42 stairs .to go to their homes* and also compel the
general public to do the same, or by a roundabout
way cross the bridge in order to come at the Park
or that part of the town, it will not be viewed by
some people as an unmixed blessing by any means.
' The Reading Company owe it to the founder of
this thriving town, and its people as well, to put a
tunnel, passage way under the tracks for their ac-commodation.
.'For' has not the Founder "made the
solitary place glad, and the desert' to rejoice and
blossom as the rose?"
:Ai any rate, so far as the rich fruitage of freight
and passenger returns that now annually (and in-creasingly,"
too) isi . gathered into that railroad's
garners, it is clearly a case of the "desert blossoming
as the rose."
Come now, Mr. President Baer, show your appre-ciation
of this wonderful town that has only started
on its unique career, by giving to it these public
railway conveniences, which in the end will repay
you a handsome interest on the trifling outlay.
Except for the fact that these Hershey hills ha^ve
already developed ah abundant climbing muscle for
the inhabitants, these steep, 42 steps would mean
something serious; but for the aged (and the feeble,
we were going to say, only there are none "in these
diggin's,") it will prove a real hardship.
lira Hojraor off Miro
Hershey's Rethunmi
In honor of Mr. M. S. Hershey's return from his
European jaunt, Mr. Krause, the manager of the
Hershey Cafe, with the keen eye and watchful fore-thot
he always has for his guests' comfort had the
cafe alcove trimmed with the old-fashioned flowers
that in "ye olden days" grew around the Hershey
homestead. '.' ,..
Vases filled with zinnias, marigolds, phlox and
mignonette, were tastef ully - displayed on the;
various tables, while the large vase that adorns
the center of the room, contained a handsome sword
fern among whose gracefully pendant, fronds superb
specimens of cockscomb of .a deep royal purple
were visible—making complete the pretty floral
picture.
Hershey has at last gotten its long desired and
certainly much needed dentist. We are happy to
announce that_,Dr; H. G. Mumma, late of New Hol-land
where he has been practicing- his profession
for the past four years, has located in our town.
He will have his office on Chocolate avenue a. few
doors below- the Hershey store. Himself and family
will also reside at that place.
We wish to bespeak for the Doctor a generous
patronage from the Hershey folks, whose motto al-ways
is "Help one another."
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A JDefatast C©E™e^
to Harshey
Classes in Millinery Sewing, and Domestic Science,
and Gymnasium work, at the Y. W. C. A. will open
in the middle of October.
Those desiring to enter these classes will please
register at an early date.
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¦ Vl'1*.' T
SewJimg Classes
to Gpeim