Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, June 20, 1890, Image 1

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    (istics of thehog, but it would be diffi-
BY FP. GRAY MEEK.
Ink Slings.
—The men who nominated General
HArRIsoN at Chicage isn’t now going
around bragging about it.
—In the Press teachers’ contest it
looks as if the opponents of Miss GRANT
for the first prize will be forced to ‘‘an
unconditional surrender.”
—QUAY must beat HASTINGS or ac-
knowledge himself beaten. It is a
square issue between the old State Boss
and the young Boss of Centre county.
—Municipal ambition is breaking
out in rebellion against the census tak-
ers all over the land, and disappointed
citizens are clamoring for “a fair count.”
—Now that “our Mary’ is married, it
is to be hoped that she will bid John
Bull good-bye and settle down in her
pative land like a good American
girl.
—The New Yorkers are boasting of
the wonderful growth of their city, as
shown by the census, but they haven't
a word tosay about the growth of the
Grant monument.
—Nothing but the expense of getting
a now one deters Mr. HARRISON from
discarding ‘‘grandfather’s hat.” It is
by the practice of economy that his Ex-
cellency intends to save at least three
fourths of his salary.
— After all, QUAY would be greatly
missed if his enemies should sit down
on him and squelch out his political
entity. He supplies politics with a
piquant flavor like that which sin im-
parts to human existence.
—The manner in which the Harri-
soNs have become the owners of a sum-
mer cottage presents an unfavorable
contrast to the way in which GROVER
CLEVELAND purchased Oak View and
paid for it out of his own pocket like a
man.
—The way the Republican papers of
Bellefonte talk is calculated to impress
the uninitiated with the belief that
Hastings is the only Republican can-
didate for Governor and that Mar
QuAY is a person of no influence in his
party.
—GrovER CLEVELAND has received
another notice of his nomination for
President by a college fraternity. When
all the Professors are coming over to
the Democracy it isn’t astonishing that
the college boys flock in the same di-
rection.
—The clause in the McKinley bill
that allows any one to bring into the
country $500 worth of foreign-made
clothing free of duty, is intended as a
concession to the dudes. Another evi-
dence of the Republican party’s friend-
ship for the industrial classes.
—The New York Sun just now is de-
voting much attention to the character-
cult for that paper to find anywhere a
better illustration of the bestiality of
that animal than is furnished by its edi-
tor’s treatment of Mr. CLEVELAND:
—The grass season is so plentifully
supplying the White House larder with
butter from STEVE ELKINS’ dairy farm,
that the thrifty housewife of the execu-
tive mansion is appreciably supplement-
ing BENJAMIN'S salary with the pro-
ceeds of her sale of that article to the
cabinet families.
—That our high tariff has stirred up
the gall of the Gauls is evidenced by
the imposition of a prohibitive tax on
Indian corn by the French Chamber of
Deputies. The protection afforded to
their cabbages by the McKinley bill
will hardly compensate the American
farmers for the loss of their corn trade.
—The unseating of Democratic con-
gressmen is a sure way of getting rid
of them, but it-is open to the objection
of being too slow, and therefore the Re-
publicans propese to improve upon it
by passing a Federal Election law that
won’t allow any Democratic congress-
men to be elected at all.
—Mrs. HARRISON is represented as
having recently said that if Benjamin
had taken her advice there wouldn't be
a Democrat left in any of the govern-
ment offices. This was very unkind in
the lady of the White House, consider-
ing the circumstance that for four years
her Republican father got hi: bread and
butter from a place which the forbear
ance of Mr. CLEVELAND allowed him to
hold on to in one of the departments
under a Democratic administration.
—We can’t entirely agree with the
editor of the Oil City Derrick that in
sending a letter with a remittance
to an editor it isn’t necessary to begin it
with the usual formula, “Please find en
closed,’ as it doesn’t require any coax-
ing to induce him to accept its con-
tents. Isn't the look of pleasure that
overspreads his countenance when he
cpens the letter and gets the first
glimpse of what it contains, evidence
enough that the word “please” wasn't
superfluously used ?
VN)
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 35.
BELLEFONTE, PA., JUNE 20, 1890.
NO. 25.
Don’t Want Ballot Reform.
Pennsylvania is not the only State
in which the Republican managers are
opposed to ballot reform. Up mn Maine
the party leaders are following the ex-
ample of the Pennsylvania legislature
in discouraging any movement to se-
cure honest elections by the adoption
of a reformed ballot system.
The recent Republican State con-
vention in Maine deliberately refused
to put in their platform u resolution
favoring the Australian plan of voting.
While rejecting the only effective means
of bringing about a fair and honest way
of voting, they made a hypocritical
declaration in favor of “an election
system free from corruption and fraud,’
and indulged in the customary parti-
san cant about “a free ballot and a tair
count in national elections.”
[t cannot be doubted that, unless
there is true ballot reform on some
such plan as is furnished by the Aus-
tralian system, the work of those whose
business is to corrupt and pervert elec-
tions cannot be checked. The Penn-
sylvania legislature was fully impress-
ed with this fact when at its last ses-
sion it declined to give ballot reform
on the Australian plan any considers-
tion whatever. And the Maine Re-
publicans acted from the same motive
in omitting an Australian ballot plank
from their platform. “The grand old
party” doesn't want to dispense with
the crooked methods and appliances
by which it has'been in the habit ot
carrying elections,
ee ———
Taxing Medicine.
It was with the greatest difficulty that
the outrage upon the pablic health in
the imposition of a tariff on, quinine,
wag terminated by putting that medi-
cine ou the free list. The McKinley
bill contemplates a similar offense to
the sick people of the country by rais-
ing the daties on such important medi-
cines as sugar of milk and codliver oil.
Why they should not be free is diffi-
cult to be seen by any except those
who are crazily determined to tariff
everything. The President of the
New York Board of Pharmacy pro:
tests against increasing the expense of
sickness by the Republican policy of
increasing the cost of medicines. But
it may be believed that the raised du-
ties on sugar of milk, codliver oil, me-
dicinal waters and other medical ar-
ticles are intended to favor syndicates
that have control of them in this coun-
try, as was the case with quinine un-
til the tariff on it, maintained for the
benefit of a few monopolists, had to
yield to the adverse pressure of popular
indignation.
——Some of the foreign countries
which will be injured by the McKinley
tariff bill are preparing to make repri-
sals. Mexico's silver lead ore will be
shut out by the bill and Mexico ‘has
advaneed the duty on our corn in re-
taliation. Holland is going to increase
the duty on our kerosene in return for
McKinley's prohibiting the importation
of her Sumatra tobacco, and the French
propose to double the duty on our
maize on account of the new tariff’s un-
friendliness to French importations.
Other nations will also hit back, and
the American farmers will be the ones
that will suffer most in consequence of
these foreign reprisals.
Sensitive Cities.
Both Chicago and St. Louis are dis-
satisfied with the census. The news-
papers of the former city declare that
a great number of families within its
limits have not been enumerated, and
that it is likely that the omissions have
been go extensive as to make the enu-
meration little better than a farce.
This ig, of course, an exaggeration, and
is probably intended to answer as an
explanation why the population of
Chicago does not appear to be as large
as that of Philadelphia, it being
the ambition of Chicagoans to outrank
the Quaker City in size. In St. Louis
the people are boiling over with as
sumed indignation over the work ofthe
census men, it being charged against
them that they did not count more
than three fourths of the people of that
city. It isn't hard to understand that
St. Louis finds it necessary to have
some excuse for being badly bzaten by
Chicago ir point of population. The
western cities are all very ambitious
and very sensitive.
Dangerous as Well as Disgraceful.
The passage ot the Disability Pen-
sion bill, which will add a hundred
millions annually to the already im-
mense expense involved in the payment
of pensions, furnishes additional evi-
dence that a reckless majority in con-
gress have made up their minds to pay
their election obligations and continue
their hold on the soldier vote by using
the treasury surplus for that purpose,
regardless of consequences.
The extreme to which this pension
business is being carried is a scandal
and disgrace, not only to those who as
politicians and members of congress
are directly responsible for it, but also
to the people who tolerate it, and par-
ticularly to the soldiers who are made
to appear as huckstering their patriot-
ism for a share of the plunder of the
public treasury. The history of noother
nation ever preseated anything more
shameful and dangerous. Nowhere
else bat in this Repulic was there ever
adopted a deliberate plan to corrupt a
large class of people for a political and
partisan object, and nowhere else was
the public treasury used with such a
design,
These pension bills do not emanate
from a sense of gratitude for theservices
which the soldiers rendered the coun-
try. That sentiment .has nothing
whatever to do with the passage of
pension laws which make no discrimi
nation as to the uecessities, or the
character, length or value of the ser-
vice, of those who are made the recipi-
ents of this public bounty. It has no
other purpose than to purchase the
political support of those who are
benefited hy this wholesale and indis-
criminate pension system, and for this
reason it presents a danger which
should alarm every prudent and patri-
oticcitizen. The demoralization of pub-
lic sentiment that is involved is more to
be deprecated than the waste of the
public money.
»
State Convention next week, and a
Harrisburg dispatchistates that he “has
engaged his old room at the Lochiel
Hotel.” That room is associated with
the political career of the Boss. It
was there that Cris Magee found him
in a state of mind bordering on distrac-
tion through fear of the consequences
of his raid on the state treasury, and
uncertain whether to get out of the
scrape by cutting his throat or jump-
ing into the Susquehanna river. The
associations of that room render it a fit
place for the Boss to receive the gang
of office-seekers, party dependents, ma-
chine politicians and political adven-
turers that will compose the bulk of the
Convention.
Petty Vetoes.
The President has again exercised
his negative power by putting his veto
toa bill for a public building in a
townsomewhere down in the Southwest.
His Excellency however, is not much
disposed to interfere with the action
of this model Republican congress.
It can do almost any outrageous act
without exciting his disapprobation, but
when money is appropriated for a
building mn some Democratic Southern
town he feels it his duty to draw the
line.
But there are other acts of this con-
gress which Mr. Harrisox could more
creditably make the subject of his
negation. The Disability Pension bill
‘is a measure which he could disap-
prove of with great advantage to the
country. it will assist in swelling the
total cost of pensions to the enormous
figure of $150,000,000 a year, and for
no other object than to secure and re
tain for the Republican party the sup-
port of a certain class of voters. Mili-
tary service to the country is thesmall-
est consideration in the transaction.
Votes are its chief object. In fact, its
purpose is for politics only.
There could not be a more proper
subject for a veto than such a scheme
to use the public treasury as a means
of increasing the Republican vote. But
disapproval of such a party expedient
could not be expected of a man of Mr.
Harrison's mental and moral caliber:
The vetoing of bills for government
buildings in Democratic towns is in
size,
he 8 i ini ves
some of the most noted incidents in | sibly to preserve and protect the politi
better proportion to a character of his’
Mischievous Partisans,
We can not commend the taste or
temper of the Democratic journals that
are trying to introduce an element of
enmity in the contest between Mr.
Warrace and Mr. Parrisox for the
Democratic nomination for Governor.
Fortunately there are not many of
these extreme partisans, but the few
there are seein to be doing ail they can
to array the Democratic party of Penn-
sylvauia in two hostile camps on the
Governor question. They carry their
personal attachment to their favorites
to too great a length, There is no oc-
casion whatever for the introduction of
such warfare.
Nothing could be in worse taste than
for a Democratic journal to assume
that it opposes ParrisoNy because he is
Quay’s candidate, or that it objects to
WirLace because he is favored by the
corporations. Yet we find extremists
indulging in this mischievous kind of
foolishness. Neither of these charges
is true. Mar Quay is far from want
ing to see ParTIs0N nominated, and the
corporations expect no favors from
Warrnace. In fact, each of them has an
element of strength peculiarly his own.
Mr. Parison could draw the larger
support from the opposite party; Mr.
WaLrace could more thoroughly or-
ganize the party that would nominate
him. Which of them would afford the
greater advantage to the party m a
contest with the enemy is the question
to which the convention should address
itself, without giving consideration to
any other object than success.
prm————
——Mr. Vaux has made his maid-
en speech in Congress. Its subject, did
not relate to tariffs or any of the finan-
cial or political questicns that usually
furnish the burden of congressional
harangues, but it was about the public
and private services and virtues of his
predecessor, Samurr J. Rawvarr. The
new representative of the famous
Third District is a modest man and
' will not launch into party questions un-
——Itis now definitely announced i til he shall have been longer in his
that Quay will attend the Republican |
seat.
vy
Where It is Most Needed.
While the Republicans are preparing
! to enact a Federal Election law osten-
cal rights of the citizens, it may not be
out of place to consider where some"
thing of that” kind is really
needed and would operate with
good effect. In fourteen northern States
3,386,399 Republican voters elect 126
Republican congressmen, and 3,074,-
165 Democratic voters elect 47 Demo-
cratic congressmen. The same is
respectively the case with Presiden-
tial electors. Now, although there is
the merest fraction of difference be-
tween these two political forces, yet the
one elects nearly three times as many
congressmen and electors as is allowed
to the other. These figures show that
at least a million and a half of northern
Democrats are disfranchised, so far
as federal elections are concerned—de-
prived by Republican gerrymandering
of the representation which their num-
bers entitle them to.
Is there anything in the alleged dis-
franchisement of the Southern negroes
that can be compared to this? Yet
the political desperadoes who have
committed this wrong upon Northern
Democrats are arranging to bring the
congressional districts of the South al-
so under their control by means of
federal election laws the machinery of
which they propose to keep in their
own hands.
Things have got to such a pass
that any kind of legislation, however
disreputable or obnoxious, can be pass-
ed through State legislatures. Of course
the passage is facilitated by the lubri-
cating effect of boodle. Thus there
remains but little doubt that the Lou.
isiana Lottery gamblers will succeed in
inducing the Louisiana legislature to
give their charter an extension of
twenty-five years. The lubricant that
will be used to slide this nefarious
measure through the State legislature
is the huge bribe of $1,000,000 to be
paid the State annually, with, no doubt,
personal compensation to such mem-
bers as shall be induced to vote for its
passage. The legislative virtue of
Louisiana does not seem to be a bit
higher than that of Massachusetts
where a fund of $100,000, in shares of
$10,000, was receatly used to. assiet in
getting a railroad bill through the State
Senate.
A Tempting Field.
A meeting of the State Board of
Agriculture which took place in Wells-
boro last week, wasattended by alarge
number of representative men, includ-
ing Governor BEAVER, Supreme Judge
H. W. WiLLiams, and other persons of
prominence. The farmers of the
neighborhood, however, thought that
there was too much of a representation
of lawyers and politicians at the meet-
ing, and therefore did not give it much
countenance. It may be that they were
not mistaken in believing that there is
getting to be too many “professional”
farmers whose interest in agriculture is
just now being prompted by the design
of making it the source of political ad-
vantage. “Farmers’ Alliances” and
the different granger organizations of-
fer a very tempting field ot activity to
the political manipulator.
—— Senator Hoar has introduced a
resolution for an amendment to the
constitution to make postmasters elec
tive. Such a measure in some respects
might be beneficial, but it would be
likely to produce a large proportion of
poor postmasters. It isn’t always the
case that the character of public offi-
cials is improved by their being made
elective. Judges made at the ballot
box hardly size up to those that
usen to be made by appointment.
a AERA .
More ‘Presidential Gift Taking.
The gift-taking that was such a
blemish to the Grant administration,
has been revived by the peoplelwho are
now connected with the Presidential of-
fice. A seaside cottage presented to
Mrs. HarrmoN by JonNn Wana!
makur and other wealthy Phila-
delphians, bears an unpleasant
resemblance to the presents which
were accepted by President Grant and
members of his family while they oc-
cupied the White House, and which
contributed so largely to the stock of
i scandals that clouded the Presidential
reputation in thoee days.
Gaft-taking by the head of the nation,
or those in near relation to him, was
discontinued -after the Grant regime,
particularly while the executive office
was occupied by Grover CLEve-
LAND, who, whether he needed a span
of horses, a carriage, or a cottage, ob-
tained it by regular purchase, paying
its price in hard cash like an honest
and honorable man and conscientious
and high-minded public officer.
But one of the most scandalous
practices the chief officer of the nation
can engage in is resumed by Mr. Har-
RISON who at the very beginning of his
administration put himself under obli-
gations to a western carriage manufac-
turer by aceepting several of his vehi-
cles as a present, and is now indebted to
a set of wealthy Philadelphians for
valuable property at Cape May, which
cannot be made to appear in any other
light than as a gift to the President un-
der cover of a deed to his wife.
Imperfect Census Work.
Complaints of the inaccuracy and in-
completeness of the census are heard
from every quarter. In Philadelphia
the defective work has attracted atten-
tion and aroused public indignation.
It is charged, upon good authority, that
persons have answered the scheduled
questions, or not, at their own discre-
tion, schedules left with parties to be
filled out have not been’ called for by
the enumerators, and still others have
not been visited at all by the census
takers. Itis a known fact that some
enumerators, having neglected their
work, are prepared to make improper
and incomplete returns, in many in-
stances omitting scores of names. Un-
der these circumstances there is a set-
tled conviction among the people of the
city that the census of Philadelphia
will be a botched job and entirely un- |
reliable.
The same complaint is heard from
other quarters. There is everywhere
eviiences of incomplete and slovenly
work. But it is not entirely the fault
oi the enumerators. Those who cat
out the work loaded it with superflu-
ous, senseless and offensive questions
which were obnoxious to a large class
of people and inclined them to give the
enumerators an unfavorable and even
hostile reception, If the work of
the enumerators had been confined to
such matters as legitimately come
within the scope of a census, more per-
feet and satisfactory results would have
been obtained.
Spawls from the Keystone,
2 —— Boks iy
—Gypsy women tried to kidnap'a child, at
Carlisle. : gy
—Lancaster county grapes have been dam-
aged by hail. 3 a8
—Strawberry pickers near Haurisburg. went
on a strike.
—A powder magazine at Mount Hope was
burglarized.
—The oats crop of Pennsyluania will be
nothing to boast of.
—“Annie Rooney” was arrested. in a Pitts-
burg speak-easy. ;
—A girl in Pittsburg has just passed a law
student's examination. t
—Light strawberrles picked in Lancaster
county weighed a pound.. :
—In one portion of Reading there was a
shower of toads last week, i :
—The Postmaster figh at Pottstown. will be
aottled by a newspaper ballot.
—"“Penny-in-the-slot” machines have crea-
vad a dearth of pennies at Pottstown.
—John Still, of Leopard, aged, 82 years, is
about to marry Ella James, aged 26..
—A Mount Carbon woman discovered an in-
truder in her room by a flash of lightning.
—A gang of forty men scoured the woods
at Honeyurook searching for Elisha Fitch.
—John Richberg, of Greensburg, died of
overloading himself with whisky recently..
—The mind of Charles Cheerman, of Easton,
has been unbalanced by-cigavette smoking,
—The nineteen public schools of Harrisburg
will each be presented with a flag on July 4.
—In one hour 153 rats were killed in. a
Doylestown shed which was being demolished.
—George A. Engle, residing at Pottsville,
has a Mexican cactus which bears 200: blos-
S0ms.
—Harrison A. Henry, of Lynnport, fell un-
der a mowing machine and was terribly man-
gled. Jaa
—An electric car at Harrisbnrg was: struck
by lightning and the apparatus was burned
out.
—Burglar Wilson, in the Pottsv Ye jail, made
a key out of a buckle and unlocked his
shackles. bd
—A concert given recently at’ Reading was
listened to in Philadelphia and Washington by
telephone. bd 010 J
—The old Boose farm, at Bristol, for nearly
a century controlied by the same family, was
sold last week. : ‘
—Mrs. Margaret Walter,of Westtown,Chéster
county, has a rose bush which contains 1000
roses in full bloom. Mi
—J. K. Suyder, of Centreville, while eamp-
ing, had the experience of a rattlesnake erawl-
ing up his trouser leg. La
—John Brun, of Annville accidentally, shot
hiraself in the head while handling 3 musket,
and it is feared he will die.
—The amature editors of a ciass paper at
Lehigh College were censured by the Presi-
dent for satirizing the professors.
—Mayor Frichey, of Harrisburg, had issued
an order to his police to arrest all persons
caught betting at baseball games.
—John T. Gross and J. B. Hendrieks, of
Norristown, captured 200 frogs along the banks
of a Bucks county stream in one night.
—Harry Shinton, 8 years old, was struck by
a shifting engine at Shawnee Furnace, Colum-
bia, on Friday, and fatally injured.
—A great mass of worms, measuring three
feet in length and one foot through, was' seen
moving along over the ground at West Chester.
—The annual inspection and parade of the
Allentown Fire Department took place on Sat-
urday afternoon, when nearly 1000 men were
in line. 3
—William B. Wolf, proprietor ot the Bricker
ville Hotel, near Litiz, died reeently of stings
received while trying to capture a swarm of
bees.
—A Hungarian, while picking coal on the
Lehigh Valley Railroad, at South Bethlehem
an Friday afternoon, was run over by cars and
cut in pieces.
—At a birthday celebration at West Chester
all the guests brought the host a present of a
pitcher. She received eighty-one of these
articles. i
—The corner-stones of the Reformed church
at East Berlin and the Lutheran church af
Mount Joy were laid no Saturday with appro.
priate exercises. :
—William Osman, of Allentown, atte mpted
suicide on Monday evening by hanging
himself in the attic of his house. He was dis-
covered by his wife and cut down when half
dead.
—Miss Reeser,of York, was walking bare-
footed through the orchard when a snake bit
her on the toe. The girl experienced no
inconvenience, but the snake was found dead
on the spot soon after.
—William Remaly, a Moore township (North-
ampton county) farmer, hanged himself with
a handkerchief and rope to the limb of a tree
on the outkirts of Nazareth, on Thursday even-
ing. No cause is known.
—Two of Bristol's citizens have got stakes
up on the population of the town, one betting
that she will count up to 8000, while the other
thinks 7000 will be the limit. Brislol’s popula-
tion at her last census was 5000.
—A straw vote on the gubernatorial question
taken at the Pharmacutical Convention at York
resulted as follows : Hastings 58, Pattison 36»
Delamater 7, Wallace 5, Montooth 4, Black 1°
Osborne 1, McCormick 1. >
—The Reading Railroad Company having
announced that employes in Reading will
hereafter be paid by check after bank hours
on the day of payment, the employes will pe-
tition for payments in cash enclosed in en-
velopes.
—The farmers in tha vicinity of West Grove
do not seem to be mu~h in favor of the Nation-
al Farmers’ Alliance. A meeting was called
for Wednesday evening, but it was so slimly
attended that it was adjourned without organ-
ization.
—The fifty-four silk ribbon | weavers in the
employ of Fichter & Martin, of Bethlehem:
are on a strike against a reduction of 10 per
cent. in wages. The weavers have offered to
arbitrate, but the firm wants it done through
the foreman, which the weavers refuse.
—The wharfmen at the Glendon Iron Works
who struck some time ago for an increase of
pay, are being taken back because the men
sent to take their places are unable to do the
work. The strikers are now earning, by work-
ing on percentage, $2 per day instead of $1.30
—Alexander Curatz, a Hungarian, aged 22
years, on Tuesday attempted to wreck a train
on the Lehigh Valley Road by placing obstruc-
tions on the track between Black Ridge and
Tomhickon. He had been ejected frem a
train for failure to pay his fare. The obstruct”
1ons were removed in time to prevent an ac
cident.