USA > Pennsylvania > York County > York > York County and the World War: Being a war history of York and York County > Part 26
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In district No. 1. which included the city of York, direction of the different departments was as- signed as follows: Chairman of district, Grier Hersh; finance, Francis Farquhar; publicity, R. E. Winchester, who later was succeeded by Wadsworth N. George; legislation, Henry Wasbers; allied bodies, Edward Leber: medicine and sanitation, Dr. A. A. Long; civic relief, Wilbur Throne; food supply, John H. Rutter; materials. E. W. Gardner; industrial plants, S. Forry Laucks; motor trans- portation, James Rudisill: civilian service, A. B. Farquhar; military service, J. E. Baker; guards,
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police and inspection, Ray P. Sherwood; railways, Gordon Campbell; war camp community service, Edward Leber.
The work of organization reached throughout York County. From its inception the war council greatly facilitated all civic service for the winning of the war.
Throughout the period of the war, the York County council of national defense, with its various well organized divisions of loyal men and women proved 100 per cent efficient as a unit of the Pennsyl- vania council of national defense. The executives of the city Liberty Loan committee in the several successful campaigns were: Ellis S. Lewis, chairman; J. Warner Heinekamp, assistant chairman; secretary, Eugene F. Weiser; Francis Farquhar directed the work of the industrial committee in the Liberty Loan campaigns in the city. This committee proved a strong factor in putting York over the top in the fourth Liberty Loan campaign. An epidemic of influenza had spread while the campaign was in progress. A ban was placed upon public assemblages by the State Health Department, thus hampering the work of the campaign. The formation of a $1,000 club at this critical time saved the Liberty Loan in York, putting the city over the top gloriously. The industrial committee was again active in the Victory Loan campaign in York and attained results such as contributed to the success of that memorable campaign.
The first campaign to be carried on by the war council was that of the third Liberty Loan. After that campaign the war chest was created, with Francis Farquhar as manager. The war chest took in all war activities, including Liberty Bonds, food administration, council of national defense and others, when there was need of financial aid over and above federal appropriations. Early in the work of the war council it was decided that every war activity which carried on a national campaign would receive from the war chest whatever came to York county plus a percentage to be added, which per- centage should be the percentage that the whole United States exceeded the allotment of the entire nation. This arrangement proved satisfactory to all headquarters' campaign managers. When the epidemic of influenza reached York County, the war chest contributed to the Red Cross enough money to finance all the work at the emergency hospital and similarly financed the emergency work for the Visiting Nurses' association.
Too much cannot be said in praise of the effective work of the Four Minute men, an organization of speakers which was first directed by Robert C. Bair and subsequently by George Hay Kain. Speakers were provided by this organization for theaters, churches and various public meetings in the many campaigns of the war period. This division of the work included the song leaders who were directed by M. B. Gibson, whose untimely death occurred some months after the close of the war activities in which he had figured so prominently before the public.
The York County Liberty Loan committee conducted five successful campaigns. In June, 1917. the people of the county were suddenly called upon to raise an allotment of $2.268,000 for the govern- ment by the purchase of bonds. The amount subscribed in that first campaign was $2,274,500. The number of purchasers of the first loan was small. The general public was faced with a new problem which was not comprehended. There were many people who were unfamiliar with the system of floating a loan. Many did not know what a bond meant. Therefore subsequent campaigns were made educational and the public was quick to learn. The organization in the first Liberty Loan campaign developed into a fine and efficient body. The work of the women in the several Liberty Loan campaigns is a testimonial to their energy and their patriotic zeal. In four of the campaigns the women worked as a separate organization from that of the men. In the fifth campaign the com- mittees of men and women were merged and they co-operated in the work. The record of York County in the five loans is here given :--
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First loan, allotment $2,268,000; subscribed $2,274,500. Second loan, allotment, $4,000,000; subscribed $4,126,400. Third loan, allotment, $4,314,030; subscribed $5,115,600. Fourth loan, allotment, $8,698,370; subscribed $8,714,450. Fifth loan, allotment $6,284,373; subscribed $7,571,900.
Total allotments, $25,564,773; total subscriptions, $27,802,850; over subscription, $2,238,077.
The Food Administration of York County entered upon its work about the middle of December, 1917, with Grier Hersh as county administrator and D. D. Strite, administrator in the city of York. During the summer of 1918, D. D. Strite resigned and was succeeded by Harry S. Ebert. Miss Mary R. Koons was woman deputy adminstrator for York County. Mrs. R. S. Cannon was woman deputy food administrator for York City. V. K. Keesey was legal advisor to the food administration. The problems of the administration in York County were varied, but were judiciously met. At no time was there serious objection to enforcement of the regulations to conserve food. In dealing with the butchers, bakers, wholesalers, and retail grocers, the policy of the York County administrator was to impress upon them that all the regulations were serious and should be obeyed. He had the most cordial co-operation of all the trades engaged in the distribution of foods. The few enforcements made were resorted to more as an exhibition of publicity than as punitive measures. The hotels, restaurants and boarding houses of the county co-operating with the food administration, by persistent observation of the food rules, saved 20 tons of sugar, 315 tons of meat and 520 barrels of flour. The bakers vf York County suddenly called upon to produce a Victory loaf of bread, by united effort proved equal to the emergency and adhered strictly to all food regulations. By self regulation the grocers of York County prevented profiteering and by constant effort maintained the cereal substitutes and sugar regulations.
In the peace parade held in York shortly after the signing of the armistice the Food administration was given the head of four divisions. The administration's formation consisted of the women's home economic committee, numbering about 100, the various deputies and about 300 grocers, hotel men and bakers. The office staff, with the administrator marched at the head of the parade. The women's division had a float representing Columbia feeding the Allies. The York County Fuel administration was successful in the regulation of the consumption of fuel in York County. Robert E. Gephart was the fuel administrator. He had the co-operation of the coal dealers of the county, as well as that of the general public. The order for heatless Mondays was strictly observed here. As a result of the observance of the fuel conservation regulations, York County saved a large amount of coal at that critical time when it was needed for the ships to carry munitions and supplies to the allied armics in Europe. All of York County's war activities organizations found patriotic response on the part of the people to every call made upon them to help win the war. There prevailed among the people of the county all through the period of the war that same spirit for loyal service to their country, as was displayed in the time of the American Revolution and during the Civil war. No county in the United States can show a more creditable record than that of York County in the world war.
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YORK A CITY OF THRIFT
BY WADSWORTH M. GEORGE
Y ORK, the county seat of York County, has in a period of one hundred seventy-eight years developed from a meager settlement of log cabins into a thriving industrial and agricultural center, having the distinction of being the third city in Pennsylvania in variety of its manufac- tured products. The city has within its limits five hundred and twenty-five large and small industrial plants which turn out for the markets of the country and the world at large nearly one hundred kinds of manufactured products. It has long been the favorite statement of after-dinner speakers in referring to York as an industrial centre to declare that nearly every staple article of commerce from the tiny tack to monster refrigerating machines are produced in the enterprising city on the banks of the Codorus. This claim is no exaggeration. Its plows are used in South America, its water wheels harness the streams of the Scandinavian peninsula, its wagons track across the Transvaal veldt, its automobiles and motor trucks are used in Asia, its silks clothe fair women of many lands, its ice machines are used in every country of the tropics, its tacks are sold on both sides of the planet, and false teeth manufactured in the largest tooth factory in the world are shipped as far as New Zealand and Aus- tralia. The names of York manufacturers are to be found on machinery and structural steel and iron in Egypt and the Holy land. People of many races play upon fine toned musical instruments made in York. The largest. oldest and most modern commercial body plant in the world is located at York. Among the world's largest industries located in this thriving city are an ice machine factory, a wall paper mill, a chain plant and the tooth factory already mentioned. York has not only the largest wall paper mill in the world but there are several other mills of less capacity manufacturing wall paper that place York on the map as one of America's leading centers engaged in this trade.
During the four years of the world war, York manufacturing plants furnished munitions and other supplies to the armies of the warring countries. Foremost among important supplies furnished for the war were chains, vast quantities of which were shipped abroad, and army truck bodies of all kinds, also the official Red Cross Ambulance. A partial list of things made in York will be interesting to show that the claim that this city is third among the cities of Pennsylvania in variety of industries is not idle. There are made in York: Automobiles, awnings and tents, blank books, bricks, boots and shoes, chains, cigars, cigar box labels. cigar boxes, brooms and brushes, rag carpets, rugs, carriages, dental supplies, electrical apparatus, fertilizers, files, flour, furniture, hardware, horse collars, harness, hats and caps, shirts, sweaters and underwear, knitting mill machinery, hosiery, baking machinery and equipments, powder mill machinery, lime, lime products, and cement, malt, beer and soft drinks, locks, safes and vaults, mattresses, monuments, proprietary medicines, flavoring extracts, silks, silk ribbons, surgical tape, neckties, suspenders, scales, ice machines, cultivators, chocolate, caramels, and other candies, orange sorters, cotton gins, fiber machines, harrows, gasoline tractors, turbine water wheels, spokes and wheels, smoking tobacco, traction engines, threshing machines, separators, pianos, violins, ukeleles, incandescent lamps, engines and boilers, rolled steel stacks, malleable iron, corrugated iron and metals, brass castings, tacks, iron and wire nails, wall paper, roofing paper. paper boxes, stereotype plates for books and magazines, car ventilators, canned goods, preserves and jellies, crackers, cakes, pretzels, bread, potato chips, wire cloth, toys, parts for automobiles, motor trucks, carriages, wagons, weeders, art glass windows, mirrows, washing machines, and automobile and truck bodies.
The growth of York always has been steady, never spasmodic. While in varions periods of its development from its early days down to the present, there have been booms, these have always been on a sound and substantial basis and never erratic or ephemeral. Figures showing increases in pop- ulation from 1820 down to 1919 demonstrate the steady manner in which York has grown. These
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figures are here given: 1820, 3,546; 1830, 4,216; 1840, 5,821; 1850, 6,963: 1860, 8,605; 1870, 11,105; 1880, 13,979; 1890, 20,795; 1900, 33,708; 1910, 44,750; 1919, about 65,000, according to police census directory compilation.
During the periods between 1870 and 1880. and between 1890 and 1900. York's population was increased greatly through annexations, populous communities having developed nearby which were taken into the city limits.
Since 1870, there have been built in York an average of five hundred houses a year. Since the entrance of the United States in the recent war the high cost of building material has, in a measure, halted building enterprises in York. The outlook, however, for future building is not discouraging. New industrial plants are being located here and with the restoration of normal conditions York will undoubtedly resume its building activities and it is reasonable to believe that the time is not remote when this city will attain the 100,000 mark in population. York of today has an area of 2250 acres, embracing 15,000 modern homes with 13,000 voters. The assessed valuation of real estate in the city is $32,347,578, according to the triennial assessment of 1918.
York County being one of the tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing counties of Pennsylvania, heavy revenue is paid into the internal revenue office at York. The revenue receipts of this office exceed those of Lancaster and Harrisburg. In 1918, the sales of cigar, tobacco, beer and proprietary medicine stamps at the York internal revenue office amounted to $1,896,205.40. In nine months in 1919, the stamp sales in the office amounted to $1,737,989. 77, and it was said by the collector that there was prospect that the two million dollar mark would be reached in stamp sales. The volume of mail handled at the York postoffice has increased greatly from year to year in the past ten years. The normal increase has been seven per cent and in the past year the increase has gone beyond that average, having attained 12 per cent.
There are within the limits of York sixty miles of highways, sixteen and one half-miles of which are paved, while the remainder of the streets are macadamized. The city has thirteen miles of electric railway, while five suburban trolley lines reach populous sections of York County. These lines are operated as one system by the York Railways Company. There are seventy miles of water mains, which supply filtered water to the inhabitants. The water supply plant is located south of the city and consists of a pumping station, filtration plant and two reservoirs with a capacity of 40,000,000 gallons. The pumping station is equipped with engines having a pumping capacity of 10,000,000 gallons daily. The filter plant capacity is 4,000,000 gallons daily. In addition to this water supply, the company operating the plant has in recent years constructed a large impounding dam of enormous capacity in Springfield township for use as a reserve supply in the future. Analysis by leading scien- tists show the city's water supply to be the purest in Pennsylvania and unsurpassed in the United States. After filtration the water is conducted by pipes to the clear water basin built of masonry and covered with arches and earth, holding over 2,000,000 gallons. From the time the water leaves the filter plant until it passes by gravity through the large distributing system. it is constantly kept free from pollution and is delivered to the consumer clear, cold and sparkling. The average result of many hundred tests of this filtered water shows an efficiency of 100 per cent as to turbidity, 100 per cent as to color and 99.50 per cent as to the removal of bacteria. The water is therefore practically sterile. Its purity has eliminated cholera infantum and reduced the typhoid fever rate of the com- munity to a remarkable degree.
The City's disposal plant and sewer system cost approximately $850,000.00. There are forty- nine miles of sewers. Collection and disposal of garbage costs the city $27,000.00 a year. The contract is held by a corporation operating a samtary reduction plant outside the city.
The York Gas Company has a plant of large capacity and a distributing system consisting of fifty miles of mains. The York Haven Power Company, with a plant located on the Susquehanna river at a distance of twelve miles from York, supplies electrical power for part of the city's public
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utilities, such as the street railways, the lighting and telephone systems. Manufacturing establish- ments are supplied with power at moderate rates. Current is transmitted by the plant at York Haven to a light, heat and power plant of the Edison Electric Light Company in York by means of a system of cables.
The Edison Electric Light Company includes in its utilities a public steam heating system and a new and modern electrical plant which also furnishes power to the city's public utilities. With the several utilities enumerated above, York is well supplied with water, its streets and buildings are well lighted and its buildings are well heated. Among the many advantages of York are its public markets, abundantly supplied with products from the fertile farms and gardens of a rich agricultural section. From the earliest borough days down to the present, a curbstone market has been conducted in Center Square, twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays. There are in addition four large market houses open to the public at stated hours throughout the week, so that the citizens of York are peculiarly fortunate in the facilities offered them in the markets where prices in the past have been moderate. Even in the present day of high cost, food supplies of a great variety are sold in these markets at prices which are comparatively low when quotations in the public markets of other cities are consulted.
The telephone service of York is supplied by the American Bell and the York Telephone Companies, whose lines extend to all important points in the county and are connected with the long distance systems. About four thousand telephones of both companies are in use in the city. The lines of two great competing telegraph companies, the Western Union and the Postal, enter York. The York Telephone Company recently installed the automatic dial system, which has greatly facilitated service. This company has a total of two thousand lines over the city and county and has installed the dial systems in five of its exchanges in the county.
The York Volunteer Fire Department is one of the best organized and most efficient in the state, and is a credit to the city. The department consists of eight companies and each company has a fine modern fire-house. A modern fire alarm system is in use and all apparatus is motorized, most of it having been made in York and recognized as the best. The efficiency of York's volunteer fire depart- ment is demonstrated in the small losses from fires. In nine months in 1919 the entire losses from fires in the city did not exceed $6,500. The Veteran Volunteer Firemen of York have an association and their own building in which they meet and which they use for social purposes. Two of York's fire companies, the Laurel and the Vigilant, are among the oldest in Pennsylvania, having been organized in colonial times.
Under the Clark act, the commission form of government has been adopted by York. The present municipal government consists of a council of five members as follows: Mayor and presiding officer; superintendent of fianance and accounts; superintendent of public safety; superintendent of highways and public improvements; superintendent of parks and public property. In addition to the council there are these offices: city treasurer and city controller, filled by election, and city clerk, city solicitor, city engineer, director of public health, city assessor, scaler of weights and measures, chief of the fire department, assistant chief of the fire department, plumbing inspector, and clerk to the mayor, all filled by appointment.
The police department of York is composed of fifty-five officers as follows: a chief of police, two sergeants, two house officers, twenty-four patrolmen, six traffic officers and one motorcycle officer.
The school system of York is directed by a board of nine controllers which chooses a city super- intendent of schools, a superintendent of buildings and grounds, a medical inspector of schools, a solicitor, a secretary, a treasurer and tax collector and a truant officer. The teachers are elected by the controllers and number two hundred and twenty-three, including supervisory principals. The schools are well organized and are established in twenty-nine buildings, the total valuation of which is $1,500,000. In accordance with provisions of the state school code, the salaries of all teachers have been uniformly increased during the past year. Continuation schools have been established for boys
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and girls who are employed in industries. The York High School has a co-operative industrial course, which was one of the first to be introduced in Pennsylvania and which has become a model copied by other cities throughout the country. There are five manual training schools and various departments of special instruction, such as music, drawing, business and commercial courses, domestic science, sewing and garment designing, foreign languages, sex hygiene. A dental clinic for pupils recently was established. The total enrollment of the schools is seven thousand two hundred and eighty-four. Other educational institutions of York are the York Collegiate Institute, the York County Academy, founded in colonial times; two schools of business, a Hebrew school, and five parochial schools, consisting of four Roman Catholic and one Lutheran. One year ago the public school principals and teachers formed an organization for their advancement. This has become an eighty per cent organization with prospects of a one hundred per cent membership. There are two public libraries, the one in the York High School building and the other in St. John's parish house, including the Wood consulting library, containing many rare volumes.
The twelve substantial banking institutions of York have resources aggregating $25,587,126.82, according to a compilation of the business of the city made in 1918, one of York's most prosperous years. These institutions consist of seven national banks, two state banks and three trust companies. These banks and trust companies are carefully managed, are progressive and have played an important part in the development of York industrially and commercially. In 1918, the aggregate deposits subject to check amounted to $8,784,065.77, while the aggregate interest and saving deposits were $5,459,608.62. There are invested in industries in York more than $22,000,000. The payrolls of the industrial plants aggregate nearly $10,000,000 a year.
There are in the city eight public parks and plazas and a large public athletic field, which is owned by the city school district. York's public buildings consist of a court-house erected at a cost of $500,000, a handsome federal building the cost of which was $450,000. a commodious municipal building, a jail, an almshouse, and a state armory.
One of the institutions which has been a factor in widely advertising York is the annual exhibition known as "The Grand Old York Fair." which is conducted by the York County Agricultural Society organized in 1852. The society's exhibition grounds, located in the northwestern section of the city, embrace seventy-five acres of level ground on which there are a large office building used by the society, a main exhibition building, an annex, a horticultural hall. several smaller exhibition buildings, com- modious buildings for exhibiting poultry and livestock, a grandstand with seating capacity of seven thousand five hundred and a level half-mile race course, with ample stabling facilities. The value of the society's property is $550,000. The society since its organization has held sixty-six annual ex- hibitions with ever-increasing attendance. The fair is held four days in the first full week of October of each year and the attendance often reaches one hundred and eighty thousand for the four days. The York fair is known from coast to coast as the largest twenty-five cent fair in America.
The theaters of York are ten in number, including an opera house, and a Keith vaudeville house, and represent an investment of $450,000.
Where to go to church in York is a matter in which the religiously inclined visitor is offered ample choice, as there are eighty churches, missions, and religious organizations. Several of the churches were organized in colonial times and were among the first west of the Susquehanna river. Some of the handsomest church buildings in the state are to be found among those of York. Sixty per cent of the inhabitants have membership in the churches, which are liberally supported financially.
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