Y P. GRAY MEEK.
Ink Slings.
— Fortunately a tariffed egg will take
the Easter coloring as readily as one
that comes untaxed from the hen.
—There would be more birds to sing
on Easter morning if there weren't so
many dead ones on Easter bonnets.
—We would say to Mr. HARRISON,
who is contemplating an occidental
journey, “Go west and the farther west
the better.”
—If ex-Speaker REED should extend
his European visit to Russia, being a
czar, he would feel as if he were on his
native heath.
—Considering the adverse judgment
which the people passed upon FoRAKER,
it is surprising to see him urging that
the people should elect United States
Senators.
—The Soldier’s Orphans’ plunder may
be partially recovered, but how can the
State efface the obloquy of having made
her soldiers’ children the prey of a set of
vampires ?
—The average citizen won’t con-
sent to like a tariff that raises the
price of his necessaries, even to please so
distinguished a person as the President
of the United States.
.--An English writer predicts that the
world will eventually dry up. But the
vaporous authors of such predictions will
have dried up long before the world
shall have lost its moisture.
—Mrs. ELLEN Parton, a Kansas
poetess, dislocated her jaw the other day
while yawning. This may have been a
retribution for the production of verses
that made her readers yawn.
—The Penobscot has an ice-jam, a
mile long, that is packed from the bot- |
tom to ten feet above the surface. Such
a frigid accumulation is enough to chill
the enterprise of any ice trust.
—Ex-Mayor CARTER HARRISON, of
Chicago, may not be able to see it, but
nevertheless there is a general impression
on the public mind that he is a back
number, and very far back, too.
—-If a heartless legislature should dis-
continue the publication of the Legisla-
tive Record it would be a great depri-
vation to those who have derived a
pleasure from the perusal of its thrilling
pages.
-—Teaching hygiene to boys with
their pockets full of cigarettes and girls |
with their mouths full of chewing gum,
both of which are injurious to health, is
one of the humbugs of our present com-
mon school education.
. -~The accident that recently befell
the Galena may be a loss to the navy,
bat if her damaged hulk shall be judi-
ciously worked at some navy yard in the
campaign of 1892 it might be aconsider-
able gain to the Republican party.
— Italian war ships that might visit
our shores with hostile intent would
profit by taking warning from the mis-
hap that befell the Galena. The United
States hasn’t a formidable navy but its
coast has some very dangerous shoals.
—-VIcroriA in her recent trip to the
south of France gave Paris the go-by.
This was intended as a punishment to
that city for its impolite treatment of
her daughter ; but the gay capital prob-
ably will lose none of its gaiety on
account of this infliction.
—Colonel INGERSOLL is douing very
little lecturing, his time being almost
exclusively devoted to the practice of the
law. He finds that there is more money
in cross-examining a witness out of his
senses than in misleading the senses of
an audience by atheistic sophistry.
—The Ministers ent abroad by this
high tariff administration, who clamor-
ously urge European governments to
remove the restrictions on articles of
import from this country, are furnishing
specimens of American cheek that can’t
fuil to be interesting to the effete for-
eigners.
— Ex-Speaker REED has started on a
trip to Europe. No doubt he will meet
the Speaker of the House of Commons,
but as that functionary presides over a free
deliberative body it isn’t likely that he
will accept any pointers that the Amer-
ican czar may be disposed to give him
on parliamentary despotism.
--The Maine Republican Legislature
is greatly embarrassed on the ballot re-
form question. The people are angrily
demanding it, but the reluctant leaders
know that honest elections will be death
to the Republican party. There was
never a clearer case of location between
the devil and the deep sea.
—A contemporary laments the defeat
of Esteg forthe United States Senator- ;
ship in California, for the reason that |
“it deprives the Senate of one of the |
most brilliant neckties in the country.” |
The magnitude of this deprivation is |
increased by the circumstance that Ks- |
TEES millions enable him to adorn that |
necktie with a diamond-pin that would
have given additional briliiancy to the
millionaire's club that holds its sessions in
the senate chamber. But then, as to |
neckties and diamond pins, FELTON,
the successful candidate, has equally |
ample means to indulge in resplendent
ve:kwear and jewelry.
A
(IF
oN rr
cratic
Bo)
ata;
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 36.
BELLEFONTE, PA., MARCH 27, 1891.
NO. 12.
Keeping the Door Open for Election
Bribery,
In examining the so-called Reform
Ballot Bill which has passed second
reading in the House and will proba.
bly pass that body finally this week, we
find it encumbered with many compli-
cated details which would seem to be
intended to prevent simplicity of opera-
tion and make it difficult to be under-
stood and practiced by the less intelli:
gent class of voters. A law that is de-
| signed to regulate public action in
"which every class of citizens will per-
sonally and directly participate, should
' be made as simple and intelligible as
| possible, so that it may be within the
‘comprehension and capacity of all.
But so unquestionable a requisite as
| this is overlooked or rejected by those
| who have assumed the duty of furnish-
ing the voters of the State with an al-
leged reformed ballot law.
But the intrizate character of the
| bill is not its most objectionable feature,
| There is reasonable suspicion that the
| Republican legislative managers, find-
| ing the unwelcome task of reforming
the ballot thrust upon them by public
| demand, are not over-jealousin a work
! the effect of which they have reason to
| believe would diminish their party ma-
jorities, and that they are exercising
their ingenuity to frustrate the ob-
! ject of a law intended to secure honest
“elections. That such is their purpose
| is evident from the manner in which
| they are manipulating the bill that
was drawn up by the Ballot Reform
| Association and which can be credited
| with being honest in its original inten-
tion.
One of the principal election abuses
| which a Reform Ballot Bill should cor-
[rect is that of bribery. By the real
| Australian system this abuse is pre-
| vented through the enforced secrecy of
‘the ballot. The election corruptionist
{ will iot invest his money in bribing a
| voter unless he has assurance that the
| vote will be cast according to contract,
| and he can not have that assurance
| when the ballot is entirely under the
control of the voter in the secrecy of
| the election booth, with no means of
| any one knowing how itis made up.
[Tt isin this way that the Australian
| plan of voting effects a complete cor-
| rection of the evil of election bribery.
| That the political managers, who
have the benefit of a large boodle
fund drawn from various sources of
corruption, are not willing to surrender
the advaniage of election bribery is
shown by the manner in which they
have manipulated the following sec-
tion of the Ballot Bill as originally
drawn by the Ballot Reform Associa-
tion:
tion that he can not read, or that by blindness
or other physical disability he is unable to
mark or otherwise prepare his ballot, the said
ration of disability under oath or affirmation,
and he is hereby qualified to administer the
same, and the said officer shall then direct
two officers belonging to different political par-
ties to aid the said voter in the preparation of
his ballot, such preparation being made in a
shall thereafter give no information concern-
ing the same.
Nothing could be more proper, for
the purpose of secrecy, than the provi-
sion that the incompetent voter shonld
be assisted in the preparation of his
ballot by sworn officers who would be
disinterested in any object or purpose
of frand. But this did not suit the Re-
publican legislative managers in charge
of the bill, for we find them changing
this section by striking out the provi-
sion that the judge of the election
*shali direct two officers belonging to
different political parties to aid the said
voter in the preparation of his ballot,”
and substituting the amendment that
the judge of the election shall “permit
the voter to select a person’ to aid him
in such preparation.
There could be no other object® in
this alteration than to enable the brib-
| er to get in his work. The disreputa-
| ble voter who may have sold his vote
“can claim that he is unable to prepare
ballot on account of inability
to read, and needs assistance, and as
the amendment allows him to select
his assistant,the briber can be called in
to the privacy of the booth and be given
the occular demonstration upon which
the payment of the bribe shall depend.
Is it not evident that in this way it
is intended to defeat, to a considerable
extent, one of the safe-guards of the
Australian system? The man who is
base enough to sell his vote will not
las
If any voter declares to the judge ofthe elec-
officer shall require him to make such decla- |
voting compartment by the said officers who |
hesitate to swear that he is unable to
prepare his ballot, requiring the assis-
tance of some one whom he may select
for the purpose, and when it is consid-
ered that there are thousands of such
characters in the cities and large towns
of the State, unknown to the election
officers, and available for the operation
of the election corruptionist, the extent
to which bribery may be effected un-
der the protection of this amendment
is guite apparent,
That the Republican
managers made this amendment to the
Ballot Reform Association’s original
bill for the purpose of keeping the door
open for bribery, is susceptible of the
following corroborative proof: The
section providing the penalty for viola-
tions of this act originally said:
“A voter who shall allow his ballot
“to be seen by any person with an ap-
“ parent intention of letting it be known
“how he is about to vote, or who
“shall make a false statement as to
“his inability to mark his ballot, or
“shall cast or attempt to cast any
“other than the official ballot,” &e.,&c.,
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor pun-
ishable by the penalty prescribed.
In amending this section the Repub-
lican “ballot reformers” have struck
out entirely that part relating to the
voter “who shall make a false state
ment as to his inability to mark his
hallot.”” What other object could this
erasure have than to protect the dis-
honest voter who swears that he is un-
| able to prepare his ballot in order that
| he may call in his briber, in the guise
of an assistant, to see that his ticket
has been prepared in accordance with
the corrupt bargain between them ?
It is clearly evident that these
changes in the original bill as prepared
| by the Billor Reform Association, have
been made hy the Republican managers
with the object of retaining the advan-
“tage of bribery at the elections. The
lIarze number of foreign voters who are
unable to read and many of whom are
purchasable, in addition to the criminal
class of voters that are always ready to
be bought, offers a field for such elec-
toral dishonesty, the advantage of
which the Republican politicians are
determined not to be deprived of, as is
plainly shown by the amendments to
the bill that leave open a door for the
operation of the briber.
Ir —— C————
More Offices Projected.
There is a proposition before the
Legislature to increase the number of
State officers by the creation of a De-
partment of Agriculture and Geology,
elected by the people. ven if there
| were a necessity for such an officer
| there seems tu be an incongruity in the
combination of agriculture and ge-
| ology.
The Commissioner is to receive $3,-
000 a jear; three clerks’ salaries rang-
ing from $1,200 to $1,500, and one
messenger with a salary of $1,000 an-
nually. With the approval of the
Governor experts for special investiga-
tion, whose expense to the State shall
not exceed $5,000 a year, are also au-
thorizea to be appointed. The Com-
missioner of Agriculture shall be the
chiefadministrative officer of the Board
of Agriculture and Geological Survey,
and shall have the supervision of roads
and highways so far as such supervision
now is or may hereafter be required by
any law having in view the appropria-
tion of moneys of the State for the
construction and improvement of roads
and highways.
This has a nice appearance on paper
and has a business-like look, but isn’t
it in the line of unnecessary multiplica-
tion of offices? Is the farming interest
of the State in need of a Commissioner
of Agriculture, and do the roads re-
quire a State supervisor ?
|
1
|
In the House on Tuesday the
Revenue bill, known as the Granger's
tax equalization bill, was passed final-
ly by a vote of 128 to 41, after having
been subjected to considerable amend-
went. It has been sent to the Senate
committee where, it is feared, it will be
robbed of the features which would
make it of any account to those who
suffer from unequal taxation. The
corporations and money interests that
are opposed to tax equalization have
always found their strongest citadel in
the Senate.
legislative |
There Should Be No Let Up.
There was nothing new'in the receat
developments of the Soldier's Orphans
School plundering, for the exposures
made some years ago that were not at-
tended by the needed correction left the
impression on the public mind that the
rottenness in the Orphan School sys-
tem still went on. It was well, how-
ever, that the matter should again be
brought to the attention of the people
and the Legislature, and it is encourag-
ing that the latter has acted with
promptness in adopting measures for a
full investigation of the management of
these charitable institutions.
The charges against the men who
have been amassing wealth at the ex-
pense of the wards of the State are
specific and direct, and the committee
that has been appointed to investigate
the abuses practiced in the manage-
ment of the schools have had the way
clearly pointed out to them. There is
no excuse for allowing sham patriotism
or Grand Army claims to stand in the
road. It was through such false pre-
tense that the correction and punish-
ment of this robbery was prevented
when a previous investigation was set
on foot, and it was through that influ-
ence that the greatest stigma that
Pennsylvania has ever suffered was
allowed to be continued.
The patriotic gratitude of the State,
as shown in its care for its soldiers’
children, should no longer be allow:d
to serve as the cover under which job-
bers and demagogues shall grow rich
by a system of State robbery that is
peculiarly infamous 1n that it victim-
izes the orphans whom the State
would cherish and protect.
——At a large Democratic meeting
at Bloomington, Tll., to ratify and re-
joice over the election of General Par:
MER to the United States Senate, reso-
lutions were passed declaring that the
[llinois Democrats in 1892 would not
make silver the issue, but that it
would stand solid for CLevELAND for
President, with but one great issue, and
that the tariff.
well as a Paimer demonstration.
ed
A Question That Won't Settle.
President Harrison is greatly dis-
quieted by the criticism to which the
' McKinley tariff is being subjected. It
lis the pet measure of his aaministra-
tion and naturally it pains him to see
it so roughly overhauled. He thinks
| that the people should patiently bear
its exactions until they become use to i
“over which shall be placed a Commis- |
| sioner of Agriculture, who shall be |
them and then in time they may learn
to like them. In his opinion it is al-
most wicked to continue agitating the
tariff after the McKinley law has set-
tled the question; but the St Louis
G'lobe- Democrat, the leading Republi-
can paper of the Mississippi valley,
does not argiee with the President that
the McKinley measure has settled the
tariff question. It declares that it will
“split the Republican party unless the
Republicans themselves prepare a bill
making a moderate and safe reduction
in duties and push it through.” Aud
to this proposition it adds the follow-
ing warning :
If it be neglected, at least half a dozen Re-
publican senatoria! votes in the Northwestern
States will undoubtly be lost. The sentiment
of the Republican masses in the West is over-
whelmingly in favor of a discriminating and
reasonable reduction of customs duties on
many of the leading articles of importation,
and it the party desires to maintain its sway in
the senate, to head off free trade and free sil-
ver, and to keep itself in shape to wage a suc
cessful canvass for the Presidency, it will give
this sentiment the consideration which it de-
mands.
Appearances are very favorable for
the Republican Senate having the op-
portunity of acting upon a bill making
“a moderate and safe reduction’ of the
McKinley duties, which in all proba-
bility the Democratic House will pass
at its next session, with an equal pro-
bability that the Senate will concur
with the House. And then it will be
! seen what the President will do.
——The Philadelphia Telegraph,
which everybody knows is a Republi-
{ can paper and an advocate of protec-
| tion, and withal a very able journal,
| says the McKinley tariff “has alto-
| gether failed in its alleged object of
| aiding the poor by raising their wages.”
This is very true, and is it not equally
true that it aids in oppressing the poor
by increasing the price of the necessa-
ries of their daily living?
There Can Be No Other Inference.
It is reported that some of the Re-
publican machine politicians, headed
by Collector of Customs Cooper and
Collector of Internal Revenue MARTIN,
held a conference in Philadelphia on
Saturday and determined that it was
not expedient for the Legislature to au-
thorize the calling ot a constitutional
convention relative to ballot reform,
and that they instructed Speaker
TrowmpsoN and other Republican legis-
lators to that effect.
So impudent and irregular a proceed-
ing as Republican United States offic-
ers instructing the State Legislature
what it shall do is not surprising, as it
that regulates the party, nor should
iv occasion surprise that a constitution-
al provision which would secure honest
elections is not favorably regarded by
the Republican managers.
nothing that is so little desired by
them as a constitutional saf> guard
thrown around the ballot that will
thoroughly protect it against fraud,
bribery and intimidation,
The purpose of a constitutional con.
vention in relation
is to surround the voter with the
protection of perfect secrecy in the ex-
ercise of the election franchise, which
under present provisions of the consti-
tution no election law can secure to
him. When the question of strictly
honest elections is up for consideration
and action, as it1s in this ballot re-
form movement, can there be any oth-
er motive for opposing a constitutional
convention than the desire to main-
tain as far as possible the impurity of
elections? Nothing else than this is to
be inferred from the determination of
the Republfcan leaders that there shall
be no amendment of the constitution
relative to the election laws.
Withholding the Supplies.
The meeting was” sig- |
nificant *n that it was a Cleveland as
The money supplies which have been
{£0 liberally furnished in this country
for the support of the Irish national
| cause have greatly diminished since
PARNELL'S immoral escapade and the
outbreak of the contention between the
factions. When DiLLoxy and O'Brien
appeared in this country before the
scandalous disclosures of the divorce
court, and asked pecuniary assistance
for the united Home Rule party, $30,
000 was raised at the first meeting
to which they appealed. The other
day the envoys of PARNELL made their
appearance before a meeting in New
York for the same purpose and it was
with difficulty that only $4,000 was
raised. The Irish-Americans of Cin-
cinnati have determined not to support
or encourage either the Parnellites or
the McCarthyites, and the American
friends of Ireland are generally coming
to the same conclusion. This is as it
should be. The Irish national cause
is one thing and a factional fight is an-
other that is entirety different.
Fish Legislation.
A good deal of law has been enacted
in this State ‘or the protection of fish
and fishermen’s interests, and among
the objects of hostility were the fish
baskets which capture the finny orey
by the wholesale. It was thought that
the fish-basket question was pretty well
settled, when Senator Brown, of York
county, bobbed up the other day with
a bill restoring these objectionable ap-
pliances by which the rivers have been
nearly depopulated. It provides that
they may be used, but only between
the 15th of Avgust and the 15th of
September,and shall be dismantled dur-
ing the other months. This proposi-
tion is likely to be strenuously opposed
by the Fish Commissioners, but it is no
doubt intended to satisfy the fisher-
men who want to have a whack at the
eels in the fall of the year.
—— The National Democrat says :
BexsamiNn Harrison will be renomi-
nated in 1892 by the Republicans and
be beaten out of sight. We make this
prediction confidently, and with joy
we shall await the fulfillment.’—We
are not as confident of such a gratify-
ing consummation as our Washington
contemporary professes to be. The
Republicans are as well assured as are
the Democrats that Harrison would
be hopelessly beaten, and stupid as
the old party is in many vespects, we
can hardly believe that it is stupid
enough to deliberately commit suicide,
is in conformity with the machine rule |
There is |
! ser contained the signatures of a great
to the ballot |
sia, blew out his brains at Wilkesbarre.
—A 32-year-old dove belonging to Mrs.
Joshua Yong, of Greencastle, died the other
day.
—John Steiner, of Adamsburg, who lately re-
ceived a patent for a splics bar, has an offer
of $10,000 for it.
—A marriage license was refused at Harris+
burg to a woman because she had not paid the
costs on her divorce.
ETI SRT AEE TE
y U. <= Spawls from the Keystone.
wt TAT = fo =
3 —Adolph L. Reichard, a victim of dyspep-
—1It is proposed that the Pennsylvania build-
ing at the World’s Fair shall be a fac-simile of
Independence Hall.
—The Commission to revise the Mining
Laws has organized with William Connell, of
Scranton, as President.
—William Moyer’s three children died to-
gether of measles, at Sticklersville, Lebanon
county, and another is dying.
—Diphtheria has carried off four of Bernard
Conville’s family at Coal Castle, and the re-
mainder are prostrated by the disease.
—In refusing licenses for many places in
Johnstown, Judge Barker was influenced by
photographs of the shanties occupied by appli=
cants.
—The students of Franklin and Marshall
College have come to blows over the publica-
tion of a new paper by a number of the stu-
dents.
L. E. Angell, the popular coke shipping
agent and Fayette county politician, died at
! his home at New Haven from hemorrhage of
the lungs.
—New Castle parties are leusing coal lands
along Twolick creek, Iadiana county, with
| the intention of opening anew coal field in
that district.
—The report of the children’s aid society
| of Greensburg shows 150 children cared for
| in the past five years, and sixty-seven inmates
at present. >
—A petition for a license for a new house,
presented to the court from Altoona byJ. Hes-
many women.
—While shaving himself at his home at Up-
land, Delaware county, Edward Morris, an old
and prominent citizen, dropped dead from
heart disease.
—In court at Reading Judge Endlich re-
buked some of the Aldermen and Constables
for bringing cases with no other object than to
increase their fees.
—-Mrs. Gabriel Kepner, of Maish Hill, near
Williamsport, went to the house of a debtor of
her busband and demandedithe money at the
point of a pistol. :
—G. E. Rich, of Mansfield, O., a horse dealer
left his pocket-book containing $600, in a hotel
! water-closet on Saturday at Reading, and he
hasn’t seen it since.
—Aaron Kern, an 89-year-old farmer, of
Chapman’s, Lehigh county, was buried last
week from the house in which he was born,
married and died.
—Natives in and around Mount Carmel
amuse themselves by mercilessly beating Po-
landers and other foreigners who are not
wanted in their midst.
—John Wilt, of Oil City, charged with per-
jury by H. H. Wilson, of Townviile, Crawford
county, has disappeared and is believed te
have gone to Virginia.
—The Lehigh Iron Ccmpany, at Aineyville,
Lehigh county, have, announced a reduction
of 10 per cent. in the wages of their hands on
account of the dullness of trade.
—Saturday morning the dead body of Wil-
liam M. Siricker was found floating in the Tul-
pehocken creek, near Reading. He had been
missing since February 7.
—Superintendent Baker, of the Pittsburg
| Board of Health, has discovered the existence
of five cases of spotted fever in the Laurence-
vil le section of the city.
—The School Directors’ Association of
Montgomery County met at Pottstown, and a
vote taken showed the majority to be opposed
to free text-books in the public schools.
—Jeremiah Zimmmerman and Charles
Faust were fatally,and E. Lindenmuth severe.
ly burned by an explosion in the dry-house of
the Brandonville Powder Mill, near Pottsville.
—Three letter carriers of Wilkesbarre
were dismissed, charged with collecting money
on letters with “due” stamps attached and
failing to turn it over to the proper authorities.
—Near Apollo lives a family named Hill, of
whom five generations of the females are
now living. The great-great-grandmother
is 8614 years old and the baby is 214 years
old.
—The Trustees of the Evangelical Church
at Shoemakersville, have welcomed pastors
appointed by Bishops of both factions, while
in Reading churches the congregation will di-
vide.
—John Dorsey, a prisoner with fifteen days
yet to serve, has been taken in custody from
the jail at Sunbury to see his dying wife whose
twin children had aied before he could be noti-
fied.
—Sixteen horses, driven by A. B. Sutton, of
Philadelphia, stampeded on the road between
Hazleton and Nanticoke, causing his team to
run away and injure him and kill one of the
horses.
—The citizens of Runlock Township, near
Wilkesbarre, took offense at Frank M. Price’s
uncleanliness, and going to his room took him
out to the yard and scrubbed him with horse
brushes.
—A woman leeturer was stranded in Lancas.
ter, and the p. lice had to help her out of tawn,
Ouly ten tickets for her lecture on “Infidel=
ism” were sold, and none of the persons ap-
peared at the hall to listen to the discourse.
—Charles Stubbs, a porter at the National
House, York, an Englishman by birth and
about 21 years of age, was on Monday held
in $1,000 bail on a charge of feioniously ass
saulting the 8 year-old daughter of P: Ii
Strine.
—La grippe has taken a strong hold on the
inhabitants of Pittsburg and Allegheny. The
police and fire companies have been badly
crippled by the prevalence of tho disease, and
a number of mills and works have been come
pelled to close down.
—Tho Bowmanites heve concluded not to
male any further attempts te gain possession
of the four Evangelical churches of Allentown
but will hold services in another hall, begining
next Sunday, until the meeting of the General
Conference in October.
—The employes of the Pennsylvania con-
struction shops at Uniontown, received two
weeks of their back pay Monday. Two
week's pay is still due and the men say they
will not strike a lick until paid in full.
The trouble is said to be that the Columbia
iron and steel works owe the construction
company $70,000 for worl and are slow in pays
ing it.