—tn
States Minister the Chinese government
®
?
@
BY P. GRAY MEEK. \
{ Ink Slings. !
—The difficulty with Italy has blown
over and Baron Fava sorrowfully wish-
es that he hadn’t been in if.
--The ill teeling which HARRISON
displays toward BLAINE in regard to
<<:
GE
CIT;
AY WAN
4,
Reciprocity is no doubt reciprocated.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
Leia
—It will be a wise trout that shall re-
gard with suspicion the seductive fly
VOL. 36.
BELLEFONTE, PA., APRIL 10, 1891.
NO. 14.
that ripples the surface of the water on
15th of Apri
-—The newest ladies’ plaid hose come
as high in price as $7 a pair. How"
high they come otherwise it is not sup-
posable that we should know.
—BeNjAMIN HARRISON is by no
means a humorous character, but there
is a probability of his affording the
country a great deal of fun in 1892.
—The very fact that an Australian
ballot law would dislocate the crank of
their machine is sufficient reason for
the Republican managers opposing such
a measure.
—Soon the grass will be greening
along the highways, but what avails its
succulence which has been made contra-
band to the poor man’s cow by the fence
law of 1889 ?
—The $12,000 connected with the
China Mission is sufficient to induce the
Honorable HENRY W. BLAIR to run
the risk of a snubbing from theindig-
nant Celestials.
—If the blackthorn has effectually
knocked out PARNELL it can be for-
given for all the cracked crowns it has
been responsible for in the lively an-
nals of old Ireland.
—If the Star-Eyed Goddess can’t see
any danger in the stream of foreign
criminals, anarchists and paupers that
is pouring in upon our shores, she might
as well have no eyes.
Election of United States Senators by
the People,
The prevailing influences that elect
| United States Senators, and the char-
acter which that body has assumed un-
derthoseinfluences,lead reflective minds
to consider the necessity of a change
in the method of electing the senatorial
representatives of the States. Money in
too many instances has become the
means of electing these representatives,
and the Senate is rapidly degenerating
into a millionaire’s club. This evil is
attributable to the purchasable char-
acter of the State legislatures to which
has been committed the power of choos-
ing United States Senators. The rem-
edy would be to transfer this power di-
rectly to the people.
Oa this subject congressman Hor-
MAN, of Indiana, than whom there
could not be better authority, in a re-
cent interview said :
I will venture my reputation for good judg-
ment upon the prediction that almost the first
thing done at the opening of the Fifty-second
Congress will be the passage of a resolution to
amend the Constitution, requiring the election
of Senators by the people, and it will become
a law. There is a strong sentiment in favor
of it and the change is almost at hand. The
measure wiil be introduced in the House as
soon as Congress meets and there will be little
delay in its passage. It will go to the Senate
early enough to give them plenty of time to
act upon it, and Senators, whether they like it
—By accepting him as the United popular sentiment will. demand the change,
and for Senators to oppose it would be con-
would teach a lesson of magnanimity ?
that might not be Jost upon even so
small a mind as BLAIR'S.
—The news that he is no longer ex-
cluded from the German empire will
hardly evoke a grunt of satisfaction |
from the American hog, although it
their fates to the will of the people.
that the present method of electing Senators
will very soon be done away with.
From the experience we are having
of such elections there are few wh)
will not admit that a change would be
o beneficial. The Doylestown Democrat,
means dollars to his owner. ;
: ; however, opposes the proposed
~-It was the experience of history | change for the reason that it
that the STUARTS made abominable rul-
ers. May it be Philadelphia’s experience
that there is at least one STUART whose
rule will not be an abomination.
would be a step, and a pretty long one,
toward changing constitutional tneth-
ods, and might lead, finally, to an in-
fringement of State rights.” The er-
ror of this position consists in the idea
that changing the elective power from
the State legislatures to the people would
antagonize and overthrow the principle
—The expense imposed upon Weést-
moreland county and the State of
Pennsylvania by the Hungarian riot in
the coke region is an illustration of the
economy of imported cheap labor.
—There is so mugh politics in Phila-
delphia policemen that the Mayor may
find that nothing short of a surgical op-
eration, such as cutting off their heads
officially, will take it out of them.
—Hon. WARNER MILLER'S life has
been checkered with hazardous adven-
tures. The peril of shipwreck has fol-
lowed the danger he encountered in
falling “outside the breastworks.”
—1In appointing GEORGE RovEY, one
of DAVE MARTIN'S lieutenants, as di-
rector of public safety, Mayor STUART
of Philadelphia spells reform with so
small an r that it is positively micro-
scopic.
—WiLLiam HENRY HARRISON was
dead exactly fifty years last Saturday.
After the expiration of his Presidential
term BENJAMIN HARRISON will be
as dead politically as his grand-father
is physically. Both deaths entirely
natural,
—P. T. BARNUM bas gone where it
may be believed all good showmen go,
and probably it would have been a satis-
faction if he could have taken his
circus with him, buat it is questionable
whether ‘the greatast show on earth”
would furnish suitable amusement for
the angels.
by the S:nate. Are not the people
the sovereigns, and would not senator-
ial representatives elected directly by
the people represent the sovereignty
and protect the rights of the States as
well as it can be done through the de
legated medium of State legislatures?
We think thatit would be really a
higher expression and more direct
manifestation of State sovereignty.
It is well enough to consider the in-
tention of the framers of the constitu-
tion who designed that the Senate
ereign capacity, as the Democrat com-
mendably does; but it was impossible
for them to conceive of the conditions
that exist at present in the Repub-
lic and influence the election of
Uaited States Senators. The wildest
fancy at that time could not pic-
ture the growth of wealth and of the
money power which eventually should
control the action of legislatures and
make the election of United States
Senators a matter of purchase.
Would the fathers have considered a
collection of millionaires, holding their
senatorial positions through the power
of their money, as legitimately repre-
senting the sovereignty of the States?
This is the evil that is to be overcome,
and isn't it a blind and unreasoning
subserviency to the work of the found-
ers to allow the cont*nuance of an evil
which they would have avoided if they
could have foreseen it?
—The Galena is by no means a hope-
less wreck. There is enough left of her
to warrant repairs that will employ a
force of political workmen sufficiently
numerous to carry the congressional dis-
trict where her hulk may be located, if it
should be close. Not everything is worth-
less that is wrecked.
—EDMUNDS’ retirement from the Se-
nate will be sweetened by the reflection
that he did the handsome thing for the
maple sugar of his native State, and his
memory will fondly revert to the “cold
tea” which so often solaced the weary’
hours of senatorial duty.
——On the 6th inst. the Grand
Army of the Republic celebrated the
twenty-fifth anniversary of its estab.
lishment, the first post having been
formed at Decatur, Illinois, on the 6th
of April, 1865, with a dozen charter
members, At its last annual meeting
in Boston it was reported to havea
membership of 427,981. This organ-
ization has no doubt been prodactive
of some good, partienlarly as an order
personally beneficial to its members.
But as it has been used as a political
machine, and has been chiefly instru-
mental in inflicting the country with
an extravagant,reckless and oppressive
pension system, the general effect of
its influence has been injurious, A
factitions sentiment of patriotism and
the fear of political consequences have
shielded it from the criticism it de-
serves,
— One of the amusing features of
the nest Presidential campaign would
be the predicament of the New York
Sun if CLEVELAND should be nominat-
ed. Tne fun of such a dilemma would
make it almost worth while to nominate
GrovER even if other considerations
shouldn't recommend him.
--Mr. BLAINE'S inquiry about the
Itahan murderers who escaped from
this country and whom the Italian au-
thorities refused to give up, looks very
much like an afterthought consequent
upon Italy's prompt action in the Ma-
fia matter, and is entitled only to such
credit as belongs to delayed duty.
or not, cannot atford to defeat the measure. A |
strued tosiguify a fear on their part t~ trast |
I predict |
of State sovereignty that is represented |
should represent the States in their sov-
It Should be Stopped.
The two terrible incideats of the
lynching of Italians at New Orleans
and the shooting of Hungarians in the
coke region for conduct on their part
that made such violence unavoidable,
imperatively call for some action by
congress that will stop the immigra-
tion of a class whose presence here un-
der any circumstance is not desirable,
and who are proving to be a dangerous
element in our population.
The influx of this class of
grants is increasing alarmingly each
year, that of the Italians amount
ing to over 30,000 in 1890, while the
Slavic immigration almost equals that
of the Dagos. These people are ignor-
ant, debased and to a large extent
criminal. They are unfit to be citizens
and are dangerous as residents. Many
of those who come from Italy are as-
sassing and galley slaves who have
been compelled to leave their native
country on account of the commission
of crimes, The Mafia at New Orleans
belong to this class, and doubtless oth-
er sections of our country contain mem-
bers of the same criminal association.
Why should the United States furnish
an asylum for such people? Is there
any good reason why our country
should be overrun by European bar-
barians, assassins and pauper laborers?
There is, however, a reason why
| they are among us. Certain interests
| that derive great advantage from the
immi-
| protection which a high tariff affords,
want the additional advantage of cheap
labor, and it is through this source
that this obnoxious immigration re-
I ceives encouragement and assistance.
| Laws have been passed to prevent the
importation of contract laborers, but
there is eyidence that they are evaded.
| Tae situation, however, has reached a
| stage that calls tor stringent action in
shall fail
this matter, and if Congress
| to adopt measures that will check the
Vinflax of this kind of people it will be
criminally indifferent to the welfare
and safety of the country.
Election Expenses.
The Ballot Retorm Association of
Pennsylvania, after having furnished
the Legislature with a bill for the es-
tablishment of the Australian ballot
system, has supplemented this work
by bringing before that body another
bill which is intended to compel can-
didates and their agents to publish a
| statement of all money received and
paid out by them in election cam-
| paigns.
| The Association appears to be mov-
‘ed by a commendable disposition to
improve our election methods, and it
"certainly deserves better treatment than
it is receiving from the majority in the
Legislature which has emasculated its
ballot bill with the object of making
it less effective as against electoral cor-
ruption and dishonesty, and would like
to sidetrack it entirely if it could see a
way of dodging public condemnation.
We have shown in a former article on
this subject that an alteration has been
made in the bill with the evideatly de-
liberate intention of retaining to a con-
siderable extent the advantage of brib-
ery at the polls—an advantage which
the dishonesty of a party that coutrols
large sums of money cannot afford to
lose. The association, if it has any
influence with the majority in the Leg-
islature, should exert it to prevent the
emasculation of its ballot bill, if there
is any probability of its being passed
at all.
But the bill relating to candidates’
expenses is a good one if its provisions
are as reported in the papers. We
have not seen it, but an exchange
summarizes its most important features
as follows:
Sections two and three require candidates,
organizations, committees,or bodies of citizens
acting in a political capacity, to file within ten
days after any primary, municipal or general
election a statement in detail, showing all
moneys expended, to whom paid, and for
what purposes, together with receipts or
vouchers for all payments exceeding twenty
dollars. The statements cf political organiza
tions or committess must also contain a de-
tailed statement of all moneys received and by
whom paid. These statements are to be sworn
to by the candidates and officers of organiza
tions or committees making them. Whan re-
lating to the election of State officers, mem.
bers of Congress and of the two Houses of the
State Legislature they must be filed with the
Secretary of the Commonwealth, and, when
relating to other officers, with the county com-
missioners of the county in which the elec-
tion takes place. The statements must be pre-
to the inspection of any citizen. The penal-
ties [or tha violation of this act is a fine not
ex~eeding $1,000, or imprisonment for not
more than one year, or both, and, in case of a
candidate, forfeiture of the office to which he
is elected.
Surely something should be done to
reduce election expenses and relieve
candidates of much of the burden they
are now compelled to bear, and, what
is of more account, prevent the corrup-
tion that results from the use of money
in our elections. But the ingenuity
of those who rely upon money to se-
care their political ends is so skillful
in is expedients that it is doubtful
whether any law, however stringent,
could entirely prevent corrupt prac-
tices at the polls.
IIonesty the Best Protection.
A journal which contends that the
money of the State should be held in saf-
er custody than is afforded by the pres-
ent loose and insecure manner of keep-
ing it, seems to think that one way of
effecting its greater safety would be to
double the salary of the State Treasurer.
We agree with this anxious contem-.
porary that the money in the treasury
should be more effectively protected,
but we fail to see how increasing the
salary of the Treasurer from $5,000 to
$10,000 will increase the protection re-
quired. Considering the work he has
to perform, the salary of the Treasurer
isample. The work of the office is at-
tended to by the chief clerk or cash-
ier, assisted by subordinate clerks,
the Treasurer dropping in occa-
sionally to see how his subordinates
are getting on with their duties. The
sense of his responsibility is the only
incentive to a careful supervision of his
office, and is it likely that it would be
improved by doubling his pay? If
$5,000 will not make him a sate custo-
dian it is nonsense to think that
$10,000 would do it.
The salary was increased some years
ago from $1,000 to $5,000 with the be-
lief that the increased pay would leave
him no excuse for speculating with the
State money; but it does not seem to
have had that effect,norisitlikely that
a further increase would produce the
desired result. There are bank cash-
iers whose salaries don’t begin to equal
the pay of the State Treasurer, and yet
the money of such institutions are safe
in the hands of the cashiers that are
honest. If there is no honesty,of course’
there is no safety, whatever the salary |
may be.
"A Like Effect.
Mexico has a tariff, and judging
from the extent of the duties imposed, |
| tually this ignorant mass, imported for
it is a very “protective” one. Oa $26,
518,664 worth of goods imported in
1889 there were collected duties amount-
ing to $22,477,962,0r an average of near-
ly 90 per cent. As the foreign impor-
er is as little disposed to pay the duty
under the Mexican as he is under
the American tariff, notwithstanding
the pretty fiction that he is such an
accommodating individual, the Mexi-
cans therefore find the price of their
imported commodities nearly doubled
by their tariff. And what benefit have
they to set off this imposition? It has
had the effect of inducing Englishmen,
Germans and Americans to establish
some factories, and large profits are
made,but they go to the countries where
the proprietors are from, and the poor-
ly paid operatives are among the vic-
timized consumers who are taxed for
the benefit of these foreign capitalists.
The same thing to a considerable ex-
tent is going on in the United States.
The enormous profits which our high
tariff affords are inducing foreign capi-
talists to go into manufacturing in this
country. Small wages are paid to la-
bor, even imported pauper labor being
used for the purpose; great gains are
made through the effect of a monopoly
tariff, and capitalists in England pock-
et the resultant wealth. We are much
like Mexico in this respect, and from
the same cause—zxorbitant tariff du-
ties which increase the price of the
things that are needed for the every
day use of the people, while the gains
go nto a comparatively few pockets.
——The Republican “steering com-
mittee” in the State Legislature have
a troublesome time with the Baker
ballot bill. They would like to steer
past any measure that would furnish
ballot reform, and they would do so if
there wasn’t danger of exciting public
served for the term of six years, and be open | wrath. The upshot of the idilemma
will likely be a ballot reform bill that
will reform as little as possibl e.
A Question of Duty.
It having been reported that unless
the Legislature pass appcrtionment
bills that the Governqr can approve he
will call an extra session, the Press
severely denounces such a contingency
and refers to ‘the extravagant tolly of
eight years ago.” It was Republican
delinquency that compelled the Gov-
ernor to eall the extra session of 1883.
Whether upon a repetition of that delin-
quency he will adopt a course similar to
that of eight years ago, remains to be
seen,but it isn’t probable. In regard to
what the Press has termed extravagant
folly, the Pittsburg Dispatch forcibly
says:
The Governor at that time called the Legis-
lature together to perform a constitutional
duty which it had left undone. The act was
brought up against him in the last campaign,
and it was promptly answered that when a
Governor calls upon a Legislature to do work
required by the constitution, the Legislature
isresponsible for the extravagances it com.
mits. We have failed to find in the vote of the
people at the last State election any evidence
that the people condemned the Governor for
the extravagant folly of the party friends of
the Press.
We will let our readers determine
which of these two Republican papers
has the clearer and more correct idea
of a Governor's duty under the circum-
stance of a Legislature failing to do its
duty with respect to apportionment
bills.
A Commentary on f[mported Cheap
Labor.
The bloodshed that has attended the
strike in the Westmoreland coke re-
gion is deplorable, but it was the na-
tural consequence of the excited coundi-
tion of a multitude of ignorant men
who believed that they had been
wronged in the matter of wages. As
long as this belief impelled them to go
no further than to stop working for
wages they considered insufficient,
they could not be charged with doing
anything wrong. But when it prompt-
ed them to riot and the destruction of
property, they became wrong doers and
invited the violence by which their
| violent proceedings were met and re-
pelled. Bloodshed followed as inevita-
bly as one evil begets another.
The people who lost their;(lives at
Morewood by being fired upon by the
Sheriff's deputies were exclusively for-
eigners, belonging to the class that
has been brought from Europe to give
coal operators and other industrial
proprietors the benefit of cheap labor.
The real purpose of their importation
was effected for a while, to the detri-
ment of the native laborer, but event-
its cheapness, learned to ask!for better
wages, and the refusal to comply with
its demands brought on the difficulty
which has resulted in the stoppage of
industrial operations, riot, destruction
of property and loss of lite. Altogeth-
erit is a nice commentary on the bene-
fits of cheap labor imported for the ad-
vantage of tariff protected operators.
Naval Improvement.
There can be no denying that the
threatening attitude which Italy ap-
peared to be takin} on the Mafia ques--
tion produced something of a scare in
view of our defenseless situation as
against a strong naval power. We
were conscious that we had no navy
worth speaking of, while our antago-
nist had one of the strongest in the
world, and hence the alarm. Fortu-
nately the danger of a collision with a
power so evidently superior has passed,
if it ever existed, and the frightful pre-
sence of the Italian iron-clads in our
waters,with no means of resisting them,
will not be real ized. ;
After such a warning as this there
is no doubt that there will be an ur-
gent demand in the next congress for
a more plentiful supply of ships capa-
ble of meeting the formidable vessels
of Euarope. Under the stimulus of
this recent experience the danger is
that the matter of naval improvement
will be urged to a needless extent, and
that unnecessary expense will be in-
curred. There is need of a larger and
more efficient navy, but its enlarge-
ment should not go beyond the con-
struction of a sufficient number of the
larger class of ships to protect our ex-
posed seaports, with an adequate con-
tingent ot cruisers to take care of our
foreign commerce when a reduction
of the present restrictive tariff will al-
low us to have a foreign commerce.
The navy we should build should be
exclusively for a defensive purpose.
Spawls from the Keystone.
—Pottsville’s new grain elevator will cost
£25,000.
—A weasel at Schartelsville killed sixty
chickens.
~The grain outlook in Berks county is
promising.
—The cigarette law is being enforced at
Williamsport.
—A firm at Hereford wilt propagate skunks
for their fur.
—A new opera house occupies the old jail
site in Lebanon.
—Carlisle’s Agricultural Society starts with
a $12,000 capital.
—The pesky sparrow is devouring Dauphin
county pear buds.
—An East Bangor bull gored a 3-year-old
Italian girl to death.
—Pittsburgh’s total revenues during the last
year were $1,172,924,
—Reading’s estimated expenses for the
coming year are $544.950.
—The grip is causing havoe at Dryville, on
the East Penn Railroad.
—Tioga county, the Wellsboro Gazette says,
is without a licensed saloon.
—Wyoming Valley Methodists wont admit
women to the General Con ference.
—During last month 2392 yards of carpet
were made in the Allentown jail.
—Miss Alice Townes, of Pittsburg, dropped
dead while preparing for a wedding.
—A Bethlehem saloon-keeper prohibils
gaming in his place on church holidays.
—The anniversary of Lee’s surrender, April
9, will be observed by Columbia veterans.
—Robert White, an epileptic patient at the
Wilkesbarre Hospital, had forty spasms a day*
—Eighty-year-old Mrs. Jacob Dubbs, o
Fredericksburg, was killed by falling down-
stairs.
—Over $70,000 were paid into the the Lan--
caster County Treasury by liquor dealers this
spring.
—The Commission to revise the Mine laws
will ask for the appointment of more Mine In--
spectors,
—Howard Kauffman, son of Engineer Kauff-
man, of Sunbury, was killed by eating wild
parsnips. /
—Benjamin Buckwalter has just paid his
fifty-second annual subseription to the Laue
caster Etaminer.
—Wads of cotton disguised as chicken ero--
quets was an April 1 tid-bit on the bill of fare
at a Lebanon hotel.
—Paris Haldeman, President of tle Chickies
Iron Company, sailed on his thirty-fifth trip to
Europe last Monday.
—A 17-year-old suicide in Washington coun-
ty broke his neck and severed his jugular
with the same bullet.
—A general alarm of fire called out the peo-
ple of Northumberland on the 1st to learn that
it was an April fool joke.
—Asher.Reuner, of Easton, who shet hime-
self a few days ago, says he did it to escape ar-
rest for deserting his wife.
—John Schlosser, an Allentown cobbler and
barber, was mending a pair of shoes on Tues--
day when he dropped dead.
—A country milk wagon was struck by a
train at Lancaster, and the ground around was
strewn with milk and money.
—The famous nickel mines at Gap, Lancas-
ter county, are shut down because the ore: is
now too poor to be profitable.
—The trial at Washington of Kincaid for the
murder of Taulbee was again interrvpted by
the illness of one of the jurors.
—A young man not yet of age testified: bef
fore the Pittsburg License Court that he could
bay liquor anywherein the city.
—Twenty-five military companies have aske
ed for permission to parade on Decoration:day
as escorts to Grand Army Posts.
—During the past sixty days 127%4 tons. of
‘mail matter was sent from and received. at
Lancaster on the through trains.
—Louisa Hoffert, the oldest Moravian and
one of the first white children, born in South
Bethlehem, died Tuesday, aged.23.
—A. Lancaster man recently received. $50
through the mail, with a letter stating that it
was stolen from him forty years ago.
~The opponents of Burgess Riley, of. Seuth
Chester, have presented a petition to the coun-
ty court asking that his license be revoked.
—A Jersey Central Railroad brakeman fell
from his car and was dragged, five.miles. over
the stones and ties,elinging to the brake-chain,
—At McKeesport, John A. Musgrave has
been arrested for raising a one dollar silver
certificate to a five dollar note and passing it
as such. :
—Robert Herman's horse {rjeduto, ross a
railroad bridge at Slatington, stepped through
rolled over and fell, thirty feet on his back to
another railroad dead.
—T. 0. Vanalen, the head ot the firm.of Van-
alen & Co., operators of. the Noxthumberland
Iron and Nail Works, at: Northu mberlapd,died
in Danville on Monday..
—“Charlie Guttersnipe,” a Lancaster char.
acter, has. been evicted from the. miserable
shanty he called home, and he and;his family
are now.living in a barn.
—Mary Anne Dener, of Macungie, bequeath
ed $5 to each of her children, and: the rest of
her estate was apportioned among the chil
dren of a deceased son.
—Charles Lewellyn, of Washington county,
is a lightning calculator of a.pronoynced type.
The boy is only 5 years old; but. can. solve the.
most difficult problems ofi mathematics.
—Peter Gernet, a farmer of Hanoverville,.
Northampton county, was found dead ia a field:
Tuesday evening with a revolver by his side
and a bullet.in his head.. No eause is known.
—Leaping from an. uncoutrolled timber:
train-car that darted down the mountain side
at Glen Union, Clinton connty, Superintendent:
Harry M. Grove fell under the wheels. and
lost his life.
—Aliee Lehn, aged 19, tried to pull a gum
from under a bed at her home, near Harris-
burg. The piece was discharged and the load
entered her right breast, inflicted a terrible
wound, but ske will recover.
—William Sweet, of Oil City, a brakeman,
had his head cut off by a train on last Satur-
Jay week. Harry Meadows took his place,
and was killed in precisely the same manner
by the same train a few days later.
—Tho sheepskin deeds considerably over
100 years old were placed on record a few days
ago for the first time at Pottsville. By one of
them thirty-two acres in Burnswick was con-
voyed for the consideration of five shillings.
—Joseph Johannes, a Han with pneumonia,
was cast out of a quarryman’s boarding-house,
on the Lehigh Mountain, as being unable te
pay. He lay for three days and nights on the
ground in a floorless quarry shanty, and was
‘ then taken to tha Lzhigh County Almshouse,