a
Deworeaic Walch
BY P. GRAY MEEK.
Ink Slings.
—The fact that a tariffis a tax is be-
ginning to be grasped by the agricultural
understanding.
—For a woman whose family are the
perennial objects of public charity Vic-
ToRIA holds a very high head.
—TANNER with a brilliant coat of
whitewash will be one of the most beau-
tiful and interesting objects connected
with the Harrison administration.
—The bitter experience of the tariffed
housekeeper is not in the least sweetened
by the fact that sugar furnishes the medi-
um of one of his heaviest tax burdens.
—Chicago has a very large foot, but
we doubt whether she can put it down
with sufficient force to compel the Co-
lumbus centennial to be held within her
borders.
—An increased majority rolled up
by the Democrats of Kentucky on Mon-
day is sufficient evidence that the ¢Star-
eyed Goddess’ can’t be caught napping
in the blue grass region.
—The empty stomachsof the working
men who are out of employment require
more substantial filling than that which
is supplied by the tariff resolutions of a
Republican State Convention.
— Wages are being whittled down to
so fine a point under the Harrison ad-
ministration thatthe laborer is beginning
to require a microscope to bring them
within his ocular comprehensicn.
—There can be no question that the
New Yorkers have the best claim to the
Columbus centennial exposition, but their
right to ask other people to bear the heft
of the expense isn’t quite so clear.
—Quay’s absence from the Conven-
tion on Wednesday was conspicuous.
But what would hehavebeen there for ?
‘Weren't the boys told what he wanted
them to do, and don’t they always obey
his orders ?
—By the time Harrison gets through
his administration ‘the grand old party”
will be badly in need of a dose of Dr.
HammoxnD's elixir of life. But we be-
lieve that the Doctor doesn’t claim that
it can effect a resurrection.
—Spectacles of double magnifying
power aren't strong enough to enable
the wage-earner to see the benefits that
were to result from a Republican tariff
victory. Lick’s big California telescope
would fail to make them visible.
—The Republican State Convention
last Wednesday put Boss QUAY’s collar
on with its accustomed docility, but it is
not too much to believe that it can’t be
put around the neck of the State next
November without some lively kicking.
—“Strong platform,” says a neigbor-
ing Republican paper, speaking of the
one issued by the State Convention on
Wednesday. Very strong, indeed! That
part indorsing QUAY and TANNER is a
little too strong for fastidious olfactories.
-~The New York Sun gave it as its
opinion that Carlisle’s and ‘Watterson’s
“free trade’ foolery justified the Repub-
licans in hoping to carry Kentucky. A
Democratic majority of about 30,000
sadly interferes with a very wise “I told
you so” from the sapient Sun.
—The papers are commenting upen
the fact that the author of “Home,
Sweet Home” hadn’t a home that he
could call his own; but his charming song
would not have been a bit more charm-
ing if he had been the cwner of a Queen
Anne villa with all the modern im-
provements.
—President HARRISON is to be thank-
ed for appointing as Commissioner of
Education Professor W. T. HARRIS who
as an earnest tariff reformer showed his
faith in the doctrine by voting for
CLEVELAND last year. Tariff reform is
2 matter depending upon education and
Professor HARRIS is the right man in
the right place. _
—When the honest farmer and the
sturdy mechanic see the inroad that the
Sugar Trust, the Salt monopoly and
other thievish combines are making
upon the contents of their pocket-books,
it is a good time for them to give CLEVE-
LAND'S tariff reform message another
reading. Itis a document that affords
very instructive information at this pe-
riod.
—Just think of it! Sixty thousand
coke workers out ofemploymentin Penn-
sylvania, to say nothing about other
classes of idle laborers, while the plat-
form of the Republican State Conven-
tion rattles away as glibly about the
good which the tariff’ is doing the work-
ing people as if they were getting the
twodollars a day and roast beef that were
promised them at the last election.
—A
speaking of the Tanner investigating |
committee, gives vent to the following
remarkable expression :
crate and Mugwamps who cackled
about the investigation a few days ago, |
are now holding their breath in death- |
like stillness.”—There is some truth in
this. The obvious intention to white-
wash Tax~NER is enough to make the
whole country hold its breath.
Republican contemporary, |
“The Demo- i. i !
t likely to pass the balance of the season |
Demacralic
VOL. 34.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA., AUGUST 9, 1889.
NO. 31.
Backing Out ot Their Position.
The Republican organs are showing
uneasiness concerning the failure of the
tariff to furnish the protection that was
promised in the last campaign. - Last
year it was held by them that the
maintenance of what they called pro-
tion would insure to the laboring peo-
ple steady employment and good wa-
ges. They insisted that the prosperi-
ty of the wage earners depended upon
the tariff.
The present depression does not tally
with their representations of a year ago.
The continuance of the tariff was se-
cured by Harrison's election, and yet
there are more working people out of
employment than there has been for
years, and wages are being cut on every
nand.
This is an awkward situation for the
tariff shriekers, and they attempt to
get out of it by saying that wages are a
matter regulated by the law of supply
and demand. But this is not what they
told their deluded followers when they
were after their votes last year. The
tariff was then represented as being the
thing that would secure good wages,
The Democrats insisted that a tariff
had nothing to do with it, but that wag-
es depended entirely upon the de-
mand for labor. So it isseen that the
Republicans are now trying to shield
themselves behind the Democratic po-
sition on this question.
We observe that one of our Republi-
the tariff promises of a year ago have
not materalized, putsit upon the limited
demand for labor, saying that “when
the demand is large and the supply
small the prices are high, and when
the demand is small and the supply
large the prices are low.”
This is good Democratic doctrine,
but is it not a nice commentary on the
effects of this boasted tariff that after
its long supremacy the demand for la-
bor has sd diminished that wages have
been reduced to the starvation point.
Cause and effect in this case are entire-
ly natural. The tariff restrictions have
so limited the tharket for the produc-
tions of American industry that it has
been overstocked and labor suffers in
consequence. Supply and demand cer-
tainly govern wages,and, thanks to the
operation of the tariff, the labor supply
is such that the working people are at
the mercy of the employes.
A Farmers’ Convention.
That the farmers are learning very
rapidly on the tariff question is be-
coming apparent from various indica-
tions. In New York State they are go-
ing to make still further advances in
knowledge on this subject, as they pro-
pose holding a State Farmers’ Union at
Syracuse on the 6th of next month, at
which the subject of the taxes to which
they are subjected will be considered,
the principal one of which is the tariff
tax. In their address calling the meet-
ing they say :
The farming lands of the state have actually
decreased in value m the last ten years more
than 25 per cent. largely in consequence of in-
creased and unjust taxation. Personal proper-
ty has actually increased faster during that
time than in any other period of our history,
and to-day far exceeds in value real estate. At
least one third of the farms and homes of the
working people are mortgaged for half their
value. Real estate in cities has increased in
value, and pays an unjust proportion of the
taxes, but the capitalists who own it recoup
their taxes in increased rents, so that substan-
tially farmers and laborers pay all the taxes.
When the farmers get together in this
way the discussion that will ensue will
open their eyes to the manner in which
they are being robbed under the plea
that it is for the benefit of the indus-
tries of the country.
President Benjamin Harrison
will this week go on a visit to James
Gr. Brave at Bar Harbor, It is scarce-
ly half a year since his inauguration,
but he has already been away from his
post of duty longer than CLEVELAND
was during his entire administration.
Frequent pleasure trips have been
| made, at the government expense, down
| the Potomac; Cape May has been visit-
|
|
1
|
led; Deer Park has for the past six
divided the President’s time
i with Washington, and now the head of
the government will bob up serenely on
the rocky shores of Maine, and will be
| weeks
there. Weare not among those who
think that a President should have no
recreation, but we allude to Mr. HaRrRI-
soN's disposition to be away from his
work as a notable contrast to the stur-
dy manner in which Grover CLuve-
LAND stuck to his post of duty.
can neighbors in trying to explain why
The “Press” in a Humorous Mood.
By its frequent allusions to the bene-
fits conferred on the working people
by a protective tariff, and its disposi-
tion to apply the term free trade to
tariff reform, the Philadelphia Press
has established quite a reputation as a
joker. Such humorous efforts have
afforded much diversion to that class of
its readers who appreciate a joke. The
subjoined extract from our jocular
contemporary, in which the appoint-
ments made by Mr. HarrisoN are
made thesubject of its amusing remarks,
must be considered the best thipg that
the Press has ever gotten.off in the
funny vein :
Look at the record. A good share of the im-
portant offices have been filled, and yet the se-
lections to which even the’ Freée-trade Demo-
crats have been able to find exception can be
counted on the fingers of one hand. There
have been no thieves and no gamblers, no bal-
lot-box stuffers and no jail-birds put in office.
The country has not been shocked, as it was
four years ago, by reading every "mornin of
men of the most objectionable record nomina-
ted to responsible positions. The government
has moved steadily forward, the mistakes of
the last administration have been corrected
and the people shown that there is a steady,
experienced hand at the helm.
The cream of the above jokegrises to
the surface in the humorous invitation
to “look at the record.” The record,
so far, isn’t a very long one, extend:
ing over only abont five months, but,
short as it is, it justifies the comic treat-
ment ofthe Press. “A good share of
the important offices have been filled,”
it says. That's so, and prominent
among them is the office of Postmas-
ter General, bestowed upon its incum-
bent for no other reason than that he
furnished the bulk of the money with-
out which the predetermined scheme of
effecting Mr. Harrison's election by
purchase could not have been carried
out. The humor of the Press's
allusion to the high character of the
Harrison appointments is especially
provocative of merriment when applied
to WANAMAKER'S case. It has almost
an equally rib-tickling effect in its ap-
plication to the appointment of Crark-
soN. That worthy was Quav’s part-
ner in putting the campaign boodle
where it would produce the most votes,
and he did Mr. HArrisoN’s cause an
eminent service in helping to steal the
mailing lists of the Prohibition organ.
And then there's TanNer. The
Press must have had TANNER 11 its eye
when it gave vent to its comical lauda-
tion of the Harrison appointments, It
couldn’t have selected a more jocose
subject for the diversion of its readers.
Although the administration is scarcely
six months old the Commissioner of
Pensions has already brought such a
scandal upon it that a special commit.
tee has been appointed to give his con-
duct a coat of whitewash. TANNER, as
a specimen of excellent official selec-
tion, is as funny as a character in a
comic almanac.
But is he a funnier specimen than
GeorGE P. Fisuer, whom Mr. Harrr-
soN has appointed First Auditor of the
Treasury? IiIsHER, as District Attor-
ney at Washington, in Boss SHEPARD'S
time, was so evidently in collusion
with the Star Route thieves that the
New York 77ribune denounced him as
“the bulwark of the Ring,” and “a dis-
grace to the whole nation,” and Presi-
dent GraNT demanded his resignation.
Unquestionably Fisuer’s case helped to
stimulate the flow of the Press's humor-
ous remarks concerning the high
character of Mr. Harrison's official
preferences.
In this connection it wouldn't do to
overlook Cnarres IHEepers—and we
trust that our jocular contemporary
didn’t overlook him—whom Mr. Har-
rIsoN has appionted chiet of a divi-
sion in the Sixth Auditors office. On
account of disreputable conduct he was
dismissed with disgrace from the ser-
vice of the Associated Press last spring.
And what a neat joke our Philadel
phia contemporary gets off in the re-
mark that “no thieves and no gamblers,
no ballot-box stuffers and no jail-birds”
have been put in office since Mr. Hag-
RISON took the reins. This will be en-
Jjoyed as something peculiarly facetious
by those who are acquainted with the
fact that Assistant Post Master General
CrarksoN has already given appoint-
ments to a burglar, a convicted keeper
of a disorderly house and a man who
{ has been punished for sending obscene
{ literature through the mails, with the
|
returns from the criminal calendar far
{ from being all in yet.
| The old Philadelphia organ can make
itself very entertaining as a joker when
itapplies itself to that way of amusing
its political readers.
An Indictment Against the Sparrows.
The injury which the European spar-
rows are inflicting upon this country is
attracting increased attention as the
magnitude of the evil is becoming more
obviots, The Department of Agricul-
ture, in giving .attention to this matter,
makes out a bill of indictment against
these feathered invaders that contains a
number of very serious counts. They
are charged with doing injury to grain,
fruit and garden’ produce, and in addi-
tion to this they are held responsible for
driving away the native song birds.
The Philadelphia Record thinks At
strange that the sparrows should affect
the American songsters in this way
while in the eastern continent, where
they originated, the song birds, such as
the linnet, the goldfinch, the bullfinch;
the lark, the nightingale, &c., are not
disturbed by them. This may be ac-
counted for by the circumstance that
in the evolution of nature the song
birds and the noisy sparrows of Europe
were developed together and became
accustomed to each other. The ap-
pearance of the noisy and pugnacious
intruders in American bird society has
taken the natives completely by sur-
prise and disturbed their equanimity.
It is doubtful whether the wide berth
that is being given to the interlopers
by our songsters is because the latter
are forcibly driven away. The blue-
bird, which appears to be most affected
by the sparrows, is a very courageous
bird. In several encounters we have
observed, individuals of that family
have been more than a match for the
combined attack of a number of spar-
rows. But it would seem that the
American song birds are withdrawing
from contact with the sparrows in sheer
disgust with their noisy chattering and
general ruffianly conduct.
A Flagrant Case.
Among the office-holders at Wash-
tngton turned out by the Harrison ad-
ministration is E. W. Oysrter,a Repub-
lican who was permitted to hold on
under CLEVELAND. It would have been
the correct thing if he had been dis-
charged four years ago, according to a
long recognized political rule, but he
was retained notwithstanding his poli-
tics, as hundreds of other Republicans
were retained, and proved himselfto be
as efficient an officer under a Demo-
cratic administration as he had been
under several previous Republican ad-
ministrations. There was no question
as to his fitness. But the pressure for
places was so great when Harrison
came in that this Republican, in whose
case a Democratic administration could
overlook his politics for the advantage
of the service, was turned neck and
heels out of his position. This was
bad enough for a party whose candi-
date and platform had given pledges in
favor of civil service reform, but the
flagrancy of the case was increased by
the Harrison people trumping up a
charge that Oyster had opposed the
election of Harrison and therefore de-
served to be turned out. There could
not be a more direct admission that
they regard the offices as something to
be given as a reward for party ser-
vice.
The Department of Justice (?) at Work.
The country has not forgotten the
Star Route rascality which disgraced
the administration of the postoffice de-
partment during GRANT'S term. Bra-
py, Dorsey & Co., who were promi-
nent in Republican politics at that time,
and have resumed their prominence
since the “grand old party’ hasreturn-
ed to power under HARRISON, were in-
dicted for robbing the government in
the Star Route transactions. Justice
failed to inflict proper punishment upon
them, although indictments have been
hanging over their heads since that
time. But as it wouldn't do to have
their usefulness to the party hampered
by such obstructions as indictments the
department of justice has secured in
open court a nolle prosequi that relieves
from prosecution the Brapys, the
Dorsevs and the entire gang whose
looting of the postoftice department in
the years gone by brought them within
the shadow of the State's prison. The
Harrison administration needs their ser-
vices and hastens to put the depart
ment of justice to work to shield them
from the justice that demanded their
punishment years ago.
Philadelphia Waking Up.
It is high time for Philadelphia to
make an effort to recover the place she
has lost among the commercial cities
of the United States. In the first quar-
ter of this century she was in the lead,
but now she can be considered hardly a
rival to any one of a half dozen cities
thav have slipped past her in the race.
Some of her business men appear to be
waking up to thi?funpleasant and hu-
miliating fact, and are taking steps to
regain the superior prominence which
their city has been allowed to lose.
The entertainment that was given to
western merchants invited to visit the
city by the mercantile firm of Hoon,
Boxsricut & Co., the other day, was a
movement for the establishment of
closer relations between the wholesale
trade of Philadelphia and the retail
dealers of the West. The field which
such movements as this is intended to
reclaim, is one from which Philadel-
phia for some years past, ‘through the
supineness of her business people and
the superior activity of her rivals, has
not reaped a proper share of advantage.
In other respects the city has allow-
ed herself to fall behind. She has suf:
fered from railroad discriminatiomwith-
cut making an earnest effort to pre-
vent it. It has been a pitiful sight to
see trade diverted from Philadelphia
by railroads in which her people had
invested their money. She has negligent
ly lost her grip on the great natural re-
sources of the State of which she is the
metropolis, until the coal, the iron and
the petroleum of Pennsylvania have
contributed more to the prosperity of
rivals outside of the State than to her
own. Her shipping has been lost
through a want of enterprise in main-
taining a position which at one time
was the first, and her later distinction
of being the leading manufacturing city
is no longer hers in consequence of the
more energetic rivalry of bota« New
York and Chicago.
It is gratifying to Pennsylvanians,
who feel a pride in their metropolis,
to observe that her business men are at
last awaking from their lethargy and
adopting measures that may again
place Philadelphia in a leading posi-
tion among commercial cities.
Not a Serious Dispute.
The Canadians are not pleased with
the way one of their sealing ships was
overhauled by the United States reve-
nue cutter in Behring Sex,and threaten
the vengeance of the English govern-
ment for such treatment of a ship car-
rying the English flag. An Ottawa
paper says that the American govern-
ment will have to apologize for the act,
and that if this is not done the Yankee
navy will be swept from the sea by the
superior naval power of England.
It is not in the least probable that so
dreadful a thing as this will happen.
The British authorities do not appear
to be giving themselves much concern
about the difficulty into which the Ca-
nadian sealer got itself, and if any no-
tice is taken of it we may expect to see
it come in the shape of a proposition to
negotiate a settlement of the points in
dispute concerning the ownership of
Behring sea, without any bluster about
wiping out the Yankee navy. Nor are
the Americans attaching much interest
to the case, as it is generally understood
by them that the revenue cutter is do-
ing police duty in Behring sea for the
benefit of the Alaska Fur Seal monopo-
ly.
The great JoaN L. SULLIVAN is
now an inmate of a Mississippi jail.
By Governor Lowry's persistence in
hunting down the prize-fichters who
violated the law of his State, he has
succeeded in corraling the most noted
of the bruisers, who no doubt will be
subjected to the pains and penalties |
provided by Mississippi law for such
an offense as prize-fighting. What-
ever opinion of Joux L. may be
entertained by decent people, it
must be admitted that there was a cer-
tain degree of manliness in the man-
aer in which he submitted to the de-
mands of the law. Ie made no espe-
cial efforts to evade it, there was no
appearance of shirking in his conduct,
and when he found himselt in the toils
there was no such ruffianly and trucu-
lent resistance as might have been ex-
pected of a man of his vocation and !
habits, The most peaceable citizen |
could not have bowed more submis- |
sively to the requirements of the law.’
Spawls from the Keystone.
—Rowdies took possession of a Pottstown
cemetery on Sunday last and turned it into a
beer garden.
—The Easton Express reports. that the. rains
have penetrated “seventeen feet into the bow=
els of the earth.” W
—A warrant has been issued bya Norris.
town Justice fora man charged with blas-
phemy. He is a fugitive.
—A son of Abram Herr, of Strasburg, Lancas.
ter county, was gored by a bull on Wednesday,
and was dangerously hurt.
—Some of the Scranton barbers operate on
Sundays, but with the blinds down, “in defers
ence to public sentiment.”
—Abraham Kindig, of Harleysville, uses a
hatchet that is over a hundred years old. It
belonged to his grandfather.
—The Lancaster School Board has passed
resolutions asking the teachers to use every
effort to prevent hazing in any form. .
—Simon Collins, of Marietta, who is stone.
blind, has a patent on a brush handle. He de-
signs boats and works the typewriter.
—Lancaster prison officials are unanimous
in the belief that James H. Jacobs, the cons
demned murderes, is feigning insanity.
—George Calder’s cotton-mill, at Lancaster,
was sold by the Sherift last week for $16,000s
subject to two mortgages of $30,000 each.
—John Kutz, President, and William H.
Heffner, Secretary of the Keystone Agricult-
ural Society, both died at Kutztown last weelk,
—A Bridgeport boy of 4 years was found
walking in his sleep through the town at mid.
night. He told the policeman he was going to
pick blackberries.
—Burgess of Newton has directed the High
Constable to arrest all persons seen drunk,
obstructing the side walks or heard swearing
on the public streets.
—A “terra cotta lumber company” has been
organized by Pittsburg financiers. The lum-
ber is made of sawdust and clay, and is expects
ed to supersede lath and plaster.
—W. R. Hughes, a contractor of Harrisburg,
* has brought suit against the clergyman and
Trustees of Corpus-Christi Catholic congregas
tion for $362 for building supplies.
—William Sweitzer, a Steelton lad, seeing an
old box passing down the canal pulled it as-
hore, and found in it forty-seven fine cat fish,
which he disposed of at a profitable figure.
—MTrs. Elizabeth Miller, of Host, Berks coun.
ty, was stricken with paralysis while returning
from a neighbor's on Wednesday, and falling
by the roadside died in the arms of a tramp
who happened along.
—The Allentown Democrat of this week says;
“The practice in this section of feasting at
funerals is of long standing, but its propriety
is to be doubted, and we think it is about time
that it be abandoned.”
—At Washington, Pa., the other night a lady
lost a pocketbook containing $3000 during a
ride upon the merry-go-round. Aftera scara
that made her dizzy the pocketbook was found
being kicked around the floor.
—James Huston, New London township, has
in his possession the reaping implements of
four generations, beginning with his great
grandfather, who reaped the very ficlds that
his great-grandson now cultivates.
—Some time in May last Jesse Shallcross,
who has an ice-making plant in Coatesville,
froze sixteen shad in cakes of ice as an experi.
ment. A few days ago the cakes were cracked
open and the shad cooked. They “ate beauti-
—Mrs. Andrew Guldaman, well known in
Reading as the ‘“‘water-cress woman,” while
hunting the plant a day or two since, fell into
a deep fish-pond, but saved herself from
drowning by grasping an overhanging branch
of a tree.
—Mrs. Annie Edwards, in order tostir the
sympathies of a Pittsburg Squire before whom
she had been tried for misdemeanor, cut her
gums and tried to make it appear a case of
hemorrhage. The trick was detected and did
not avail.
—Miss Dinnie Ker!, of Wilkesbarre, who
was buried a couple of days since, was the
twelfth member of the family who has died
within a few years. Her aged parents, who
have but one child remaining, cried bitterly
during the services.
—When the fastest train on the Nypano Road
thundered intc Meadville a couple of days
since two of the dirtiest, grimiest boys on
earth got off the break-beam and crawled from
under the train. That they escaped death in
such aride is miraculous.
—Some of the soldier element of West Ches-
ter find fault with the attitude of the soldier
figure on the monument at the Park. His
hand rests over the top of the mulzle of the
gun, which is said to be in bad taste from 3
strict military point of view.
—The pay envelopes in a Pottstown mill bes
came mixed several days ago, and a lad entite
led to $1.54 received $11.54. Suit was brought
and judgment given for the firm, but the sum
cannot be collected until the boy becomes of
age, which is five years hence.
—Mrs. Steelem, of Pittsburg, feeling nerys
ous two nights ago, looked under her bed be-
fore retiring, and found a man hiding there
whom she pulled out impulsively and flung
him down the stairs before she could collect
herself sufficiently to rouse the neighbors.
—Robert Carney, of Minersville, has two
thoroughbred silver-haired skye terriers that
were born on the day of the flood, and were in
a box with their mother. The box floated till
it hit against a tree. The mother jumped out
on the debris, caught the side of the box with
her teeth and held on till all were saved.
—A Pottstown paper prints the following,
but no affidavitis appended: “On the farm of
D. 8. Livengood, near Fegleysville, Montgome
ery county, one day last week one of his cows
gave hirth to a pair of twin calves in the morns’
ing and another pair in the evening. The one
pair was an Alderney and the other a Dure
ham.”
—E. Y. Gilbert and Peter Seasholtz were sit.
ting under an awning with their feet againsf
the iron posts at the Merchants’ Hotel in Potts.
town, when one was suddenly doubled up in
his chair and the other flung to the pavement,
Lightning had struck an electric wire some
distance off, and the current had communicates
ed to the awning post.
—William McClellan, the champion oats
eradler or South Whitehall, forged ahead of
the other cradlers several days since, and on
reaching the end of the field he rested on his
cradle in waiting for them, meanwhile imitate
ing a harpist on his inplement, and in so do-
ing he gave himselfsuch an ugly cut on one of
his hands that a doctor had to fix it.
—A citizen of Chambe rohare reaching home
late at night, when all the lights were out,
heard a strange noise in the parlor. He advance
| ed to the door and ordered the burglar to come
out and surrender. No response, but the noise
continued. Then a pistol-shot rang out—the
all lodging in the parlor ceiling—and the citi.
zen’s dog, which had been tearing stuffing
| from the sofa, came out with a guilty whine,
and was kicked out of a side door for the night.