Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, February 17, 1893, Image 1

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    BY BP. GRAY MEEK.
"Ink Slings.
—Will Mr. Quay take up the war
against hoop skirts in kis Legislature ?
—«Crank’’ is said not to be an Amer-
ican word, yet how well it fits some
Americans. :
—Mr. QUAY has at last accomplished
something in the Senate. He offered an
amendment on Wednesday.
--No matter how trivial one’s service,
if it be done well he is bound to receive
recognition from some source.
—The policy with Legislators now
seems to be : Always get the best, for
then there 1s more chance for thieving.
—It is not likely that the Russian
rifle scandal will shoot any body who
would be missed very much by the
Czar’s subjects.
—Nineteen thousand microbes were
recently found in a bank note of Spain.
Look-out for a worse scandal than the
Italian bank affair.
—The Philadelphia policeman who
was chased up a tree and held a priso-
ner for two hours, on Sunday, by a mad
bull had plenty time to reflect on what
bully good sport it was.
—The Panama canal, Italian bank,
Russian and German rifle scandals have
had their day in the press ; the inaugu-
ration will come next, then what 2—Oh
yes, CorBETT and MiTcHELLare talk-
ing fight.
—If Ireland had only afew more
champions like that grand old man, Hon.
‘WiLLiaM GLADSTONE, her hopes for
home rule would soon materialize
from the illusion that now lures her
workers on in her cause.
—Governor McKINLEY, of Ohio, has
declared his intention of riding horse-
back in CLEVELAND'S inaugural parade,
all because GROVER attended the funer-
al of the lata ex-President RUTHERFORD
B. Hayes. McKINLEY'S gratitude
would be more appreciable if he should
decide on a tin horse for his mount.
--If the PENROSE bill, abolishing the
Public Buildings Commission, of Phila-
delphia, goes through the house as easi-
lyas it did through the senate the
boodlers, ringsters, and hangers on who
have been living off the taxpayers of
the Quaker city since the Commission
was formed will be hunting other jobs
ere long.
—W. H. WooDRING, the Northamp-
ton county Legislator who voted to re-
tain ANDREWS in HieEBY’S rightful
seat, now finds himselt laughed at by
Republicans, and his own constituents
in convention demanded his resignation
on Monday. Such a Jupas will hardly
be much affected because he is denounc-
ed by his own party, however.
--Senator elect JoEN MARTIN, of
Kansas, says he is a Democrat, but
agrees with the views of the Populists.
Mrs. LEASE, the would-have-been sena-
tress from the Sun-flower State, says
that MARTIN'S election means death to
the Populist party. They are 1n a
quandary out there now as to whether it
was better to have MARTIN kill it or
to have Mrs. LEASE talk it to death.
—Columbus, Ohio, preachers have
united with the State Board of Health
to try and suppress kissing. They say
it is unhealthy and the means of spread-
ing disease. What, with the labial
pleasantries taken away from them, need
the Ohio women fear from the adoption
of the hoop-skirt. Their friends will
have no occasion to get closer to them
than the new style will permit if kiss.
ing is to be denied.
—CLEVELAND has decided on five of
the eight men who will make up his
cabinet. The ones already chosen are
substantial evidence of the ability that
will direct the governmental wheels for
the next four years. Much of Mr.
CLEVELAND'S success can be ascribed to
his carefulness in selecting the right ad-
visors. He has always proved equal to
the occasion heretofore and undoubtedly
knows what he is doing now.
—The Princess of Wales has announc-
ed that she “will have nothing to do
with the crincline abomination,” which
speaks worlds for her common sense.
Her decision will be very apt to nip the
new fashion in the bud, so far as the Eng-
lish people go, but it is highly proba
ble that the wily Prince, thinking how
tar away from debutante actresses he
would be forced to keep, has brought
undue pressure to bear on her.
—New York Legislators are in favor
of a bill which has been introduced in
the house of assembly, at Albany, pro-
hibiting *‘the loan, wear or sale of hoop-
skirts or crinoline, within the State of
New York.” Itis but natural for men
to exert every effort against woman's
adoption of the unsightly hoop-skirt, but
when it comes to legislating against it
then they make fools of themselves and
pervert the prerogative they hold as
law-makers. Women dresses to please
man and with man’s disapprobation of
this revival of an old fad it is not likely
she will affect it long,
AT
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
Ce
©
Mats
“VOL. 38.
BELLEFONTE, PA. FEB. 17, 1893.
NO. TL
The Question of Reapportionment.
It is to be sincerely hoped that the
Republicans of the State Legislature
will not persist in maintaining the io-
famous gerrymanders to which the
congressional, senatorial and represen-
tative districts have been so long and
wrongfully subjected. The power to
commit it is no justification for the
continuance of a thing thatis so ob.
viously unfair and unjust. There is
everything to condemn it. Apart from
its political immorality, and its mani-
fest disregard of the intention ot the
law, which requires apportionment for
the purpose of representation, it prac:
tically results in the disfranchisement
of a large portion of the people.
An effort, so often heretofore defeat-
ed, will be made in the present session
to reapportion the State. Every prin-
ciple of honest politics, fair representa-
tion and good government demands that
the new apportionments be as equita-
ble and impartial as they can be made.
The Democrats offer a congressional
apportionment bill which is recom-
mended by its disposition to accord to
each party its just rights. If it leans
to either side it ratber leans in its lib-
erality to the Republicans. It con-
cedes to them all they have a right to
claim from their superiority in Phila-
delphia by giving them six districts
where they get their State majority
making it a perfectly equitable ar-
rangement to divide the balance of the
districts in the State equally between the
two parties, each to have twelve. Could
there be anything more reasonable and
just than this, particularly when com"
pared with the present division which
allows the Democrats, almost numeri-
cally as strong as their opponents in an
aggregate vote of over a million, but
ten congressmen ou t of thirty ?
There may be some kicking against
the eradication of the Democratic dis-
trict in Philadelphia and the increase
of two in the number of Republican
districts in: that city, but where could
such ‘a concession more properly be
made than in the locality which con-
stitutes the Republican stronghold and
where the Democrats show so little
disposition to maintain their strength
aad keep their organization in an effec
tive condition ?
It may not be too much to say that
the Democratic congressional district
in Philadelphia has been a source of
weakness to the party. It has been a
hot bed of factional strite and disrep-
utable dickering with the enemy. It
it has been of any use recently, its use
consisted in the opportunity it has
given forcorrupt bargains and sales. At
the last election it presented an exam-
ple of factional contention and politi-
cal “funny business’ that could have
no other effect than party demoraliza-
tion. If anything is to be sacrificed in
order to extend the representation of
the party in the State at large, and to
increase the measure of justice to the
hard working and earnest Democrats
ot the interior nothing could be more
suitably sacrificed than the congres-
sional district which exists chiefly ior
trading purposes, and is a scandalous
instrument of factional politics.
We greatly sympathize with the
Democrats of Philadelphia in their
present depressed condition. We wish
they were in better shape and not so
torn up by factional differences. But
their salvation is in their own hands.
Let them turn down the factionists.
Let them harmonize the misunder-
standings that prevent them from be-
ing a united and aggressive party. Let
them get together and turn over a new
leaf upon which shall be written,
“union, strength and victory,” and then
they may beable to send to the Legis.
lature such a representation that when
at some future time, the State is again
reapportioned, the Philadelphia Dem-
ocracy will show itself worthy ot
having. a congressman, and possibly
more than one,
——The Populists have become so
ardent in their work in the Kansas
Legislature that their governor has
called out the State’s militia to help
oust Republican members. Such a
state of affairs borders on the ridicu-
lous, but the funny side has not been
turned toward the forlorn hope of the
G. O.P,
—— Bellefonte must have a Den o-
cratic council before the great work of
reform can begin. Voters remember
this,
The Selection for the State Department.
Democrats should withhold their
criticism ot Mr. CLEVELAND'S selection
of Judge Gresmam for Secretary of
State, which we observe is being rash-
ly indulged in by dissatisfied members
of the party. It is true, that itis a
natural Democratic feeling to prefer
haying none but old, reliable and fully
approved Democrats in all the offices
under 8 Democratic administration.
This feeling springs not only from
strong political predilection, but it is
in accordance with JacksonTaN tradi-
tions.
But there are circumstances under
which even so commendable a feeling
may wisely yield to the demands of a
far reaching policy. © The last election
was a peculiar one. Elements were
engaged in it that made it a veritable
revolution, and nowhere did they exert
their force with such overwhelming ef-
fect as in the West. The factor that
was evoked in that section, producing
such wonderful results, came from out-
side of the Democratic party, and in no
individual had it a more conspicuous
and influential representative than in
Judge GresHaM. It con scarcely be
questioned that there is wisdom in
making a concession to that element
and showing such appreciation of it as
may have the effect of retaining it. To
the incredulous this may seem like
rainbow chasing, but it should be re-
membered that when the managers of
the last campaign resolved to make an
effort to capture some of the western
‘States, it was regarded by some as a
piece of business that strongly bore the
rainbow tints; but how splendidly was
the undertaking justified by the result.
Let it therelore not be said that an ef-
fort to satisfy and retain that element
is a delusive rainbow pursuit.
Besides, it should be borne in mind
by Democrats who may be disposed to
be dissatisfied with Judge GresmaM’s
selection, that the office which has
been tendered him carries with it but
lutle of the party patronage. No oih-
er that could be offered conveys so
great a compliment, and at the game
ume eo litle afiects the political posi-
tions which under this Administration
should and must be beld only by Dem-
ocrats. The functions of the State de-
partment relate almost exclusively to
our foreign relations, and the attaches
connected with it are chiefly veterans
who are usually retained on account of
their tamliarity with diplomatic ques-
tions. The Treasury, the Post office,
and the Interior departments are the
sources of official patronage, and it is
there where the opportunity of turning
the rascals out will .be presented, and
those great popular departments will
have men at their heads who we trust
will do their full duty to the Demo-
crats who are justly. entitled to the of-
fices under President CLEVELAND.
In putting Judge GREsHAM Into the
State Department, if it shall actually
turn out so, his assignment to that
place cannot be otherwise than gratify-
ing to the element that was of so much
assistance to the Democrats at the last
election, and whose future favor is
worth cultivating, and at the same time
Judge GrEsHAM’S position in the cab-
inet will in no way interfere with or
affect the full enjoyment of the substan-
tial fruits of victory by the Democrats.
It 18 an arrangement that should be
satisfactory to every responsible mem-
ber of the party.
Corruption of Public Affairs.
Alleged corruption in public life and
crookedness in official stations, supply
a favorite theme to those who are anx-
ious to bring us a political millennium.
According to their view of the situation
the entire public service is corrupt, and
every official circle is perverted by ob-
liquitous administration.
There is indeed too much cause for
complaint in this respect, and much
room for improvement is presented.
This is particularly the case since the
positions 1n public life have been so
largely filled by a party whose general
practices have had a tendency to cor-
rupt public service, and shich has in a
great measure depended upon money
as the chief factor in carrying the elec
tions. - But the American people, who
have a large stock of patience, event-
ually get tired of such a condition of
affairs and go in for reform, by a large
majority, as they did at the last Presi-
dential election. Such movements of
public sentiment may be depended upon
in this country for the correction of gov-
ernmental affairs when they become
too corrupt.
But does not the crookedness that
may be detected in public stations in
this country sink into utter insignid-
cance in comparison with what has
been developed in France? We are
compelled to blush for our sister Re
public when we read the details of a
fraud which includes in its perpetra-
tion the majority of the public men of
that country, not even excepting the
executive head of the nation. And
what makes the contrast with the Unit.
ed States the greater is that while such
a development of corruption may lead
to a revolution in France, the Ameri-
can people correct defects of that kind
by the more peacetul process of an elec:
tion.
Seeking Legislative Relief.
If the Republicanism of Philadelphia
will stand the ordeal it is now going
through inthe matter of the City Hall
extravaganceand the general corruption
of the political machine that manages
the city government, it will stand any
thing, and the citizens of that munic-
ipality might as well submit to being
perpetually misgoverned by the combi-
nation of bosses, ringsters and rounders
who coatrol its politics.
There was never such a display of
helplessness on the part of a great com-
munity as is shown in the case of the
City Hall difficulty in which Republi-
can maladministration has involved
the tax-payers of the Quaker City.
The building of that structure has al-
ready cost more than sixteen millions
of dollars and it is not yet finished. Its
copstruction has been prolonged
through a succession of years, supply-
ing a protracted source of plunder to a
ring of politicians who have made this
Job a part of the political machinery by
which they govern the city. They
Have managed to make. it personally
profitable to themselves, and useful in
supplying places for ‘a large force of
party workers. Daring the many years
in which millions have been squandered
upon the City Hall it has been one of
the strongholds of the political ring
which entrenched itself behind the ua-
limited and arbitrary powers given the
Building Commission by the law which
created it.
This is a remarkable situation for a
great city to find itself in, directly
traceable to the abuses which it has
allowed its Republicanism to fasten up-
on its municipal government. Alarmed
by the lavish expense imposed upon
them by the City Hall builders, its
citizens rise up against their oppres
sors and demand relief. The Legisla-
ture is asked to help them, but unfortu-
nately for their case nine-tenths of the
city representatives are the creatures of
the machine that is interested in retain-
ing the Public Buildings plunder. And
outside of the city delegation, the ma.
jority of the Legislature to which they
appeal for help are but the puppets of
the boss who cannot afford to lose any
of the appliances by which his ma-
chine is kept ranning in Philadelphia,
among which the City Hall jobbery is
one of the most serviceable. What as’
surance has the plundered city that
it can get legislative relief from such a
quarter ?
In the meanwhile the jobbing Re-
publican = politicians of Philadelphia
have put their city. tickets
in the field for the February elec
tion with their usual confidence of suc-
cess. If their candidates are elected
by accustomed majorities what right
will the city have to complain of being
robbed by a Building Commission
which is a part of the Republican ma.
chine, and with what consistency can
its people ask the Legislature to relieve
them of an oppression which they de.
liberately impose upon themselves by
their votes?
—— Bellefonte is head over heels in
debt. There is one way to stop further
extravagance. Elect a Democratic
council, a Democratic tax collector
and a Democratic overseer of the poor:
——The office of poor-overseer is
an important oue to the tax-payers of
Bellefonte, Elect J. H. Sanps, the
Democratic nominee.
~——TFine job work of ever discription
at the Warcaman Office.
A Grand Stroke for Ireland.
From the Altoona Times.
It was a grand demonstration that
was given in honor of Mr. Gladstone
when he introduced the new home rule
bill on Monday. It was a justtribute to
the man who is showing himself to be
the savior of down-trodden Ireland.
Now that the aged premier has spoken,
all doubts as to the features of the long-
expected measure have been removed
and it can besaid that the realization of
the reality is not an unpleasant revela-
tion to the friends of Erin. In the
main the bill comes up to all require.
ments that could be expected under the
present circumstances and it is certain
that Mr. Gladstone could not safely of-
fer more, Now that we have an accu-
rate forecast of the bill, it is in order to
consider again the fate of the measure.
Will it be able to overcome the opposi-
tion which the Tories and the Liberal
Unionists wi'l bring against it in parlia-
ment ? It was doubted at times since
the elaction of the present parliament
whether the bill would be able to go
through the house of commons, but now
the most reliable indlcations point to 1ts
passage there by a small majority. The
bill will then go to the lords, who will
undoubtedly reject the measure. ' After
this the future ‘course of Mr. Gladstone
is decidedly doubtful. He may use the
power of the house of commons and the
prerogative of the crown to bring the
lords to terms immediately, or there
may be a dissolution of parliament and
an appeal to the country on the home
rule issue, or, erhaps, the matter may
be laid aside for the time being, and
other Liberal legislation considered.
The latter is the least probable course.
The entire subject is of vast interest to
Americans, and the course of the home
rule bill will be closely watched.
ee ———
Let Him Lapse Intoa State of Tnnoc-
uous Desuetude.
From the Philadelphia Times.
Senator Stanford has some new ideas
on the old question of what to do with
ex-presidants. There has been no very
good opportunity of late to settle this
question experimentally, the stock of ex-
Presidents on hand having been at no
time inconveniently large. Mr. Har-
rison’s case will bring up the subject in
a practical form and already there are
many suggestions as to his future. He
has been recommended to practice law
at Indianapolis, to edit a paper at New
York, to become a J udge, to lecture, to
go'into railroading, insurance or some
other corporate enterprise. Mr. Stan- |
ford wants to make bim professor of law
in the Leland Stanford ey This
would be a very nice thing for Mr. Har-
risun, as Stanford pays good salaries and |
there are not enough students in his uni-
versity to make the duties of the pro-
fessors very exacting. At the same
time it would be a fine advertisement
for the young institution to have an ex-
President on its faculty, and as adver-
using in one form or another is the life
of a modern college there eould be no
question of his earning the salary, Be-
sides there is no telling how mueh his
political health might revive in the
glorious climate of California-
EI STU,
Why He Did It.
From the Indianapolis Journal.
The kicking Republicans and bolters
in the Senate drove the President to the
disagreeable necessity of nominating
a Democrat. If he, the President,
could have had his choice and the solid
support of the Republicans in the Sen-
ate he would have nominated a Repub-
lican, but they, by their selfish opposi-
tion to the administration and their
treachery to the party, compelled him
to seek Democrauc support for any
nomination he might make. It weil
becomes the kickers, sulkers and mis-
chiet-makers, atter having thus forced
President Harrison to seek Senatorial
support outside of Republican ranks, to
censure him for nominating a Demo-
erat.
Unwittingly Coralled.
Frem the Philadelphia Record.
When the Democratic party became
courageous enough to declare itself up-
on the tariff question without evasion it
was a logical result of that action that
such men as Carl Schurz, Wayne Mac-
Veagh, Judge Gresham and others of
like force and calibre should find them-
selves fenced inside the Democratic
lines, They are not converts. They
are old-liners who were out of place 1n
the Republican party, and like the
doves from the ark, had no place to rest
their feet until the flood of Protection?
ism and paternalism should have abated.
RES
He Would Get it Sure.
From the Venango Spectator.
Scores of hogs are dying in Butler township,
Luzerne County of cholera.— Philadelphia Re
cord. ‘
The friends of W. H. Andrews, the
Crawtord county seat grabber, should
see that he keeps out of Butler township
Luzerne county, until the disease sub-
ides.
The Season Will Soon be O’er.
From the Braymer, Mo. Bee.
If a body meet a body
Wading through the slush,
If a body hold her skirts up
Need a body blush #
We don’t like icy sidewalks,
They keep us on our guard ;
And to show our sentiments
We sit down on them hard.
—TIf you want printing of any de
scription the WATCHMAN office is the
Spawls from the Keystone,
—Lebanon cries for cheaper light.
—Lack of coal has closed several Lebanon.
schools,
—Lancaster will have an electric belt-line
railway.
Conrad Schall, of Pottstown, was found dead
in bed.
—Diphtheria has its clutches on the mining
town of Lost Creek.
—The first rails for the Hazleton and West
Side Trolley were laid Friday.
—Philadelphia capital is likely to build
Reading’s $500,000 trolley lines.
—Dr. H. M. Keller was re-elected president
of the State Hospital at Hazleton.
—The smallpox quarantine on the Shiley re-
sidence, Tower City has been raised.
—Falling from a freight train near Tripoli
George Stump had his back broken.
—Yough National Bank, Connellsville, capi-
tal $75,000, began business Saturday.
—State Senator John N. Neeb, of Allegheny
county, is at his home dangerously ill.
—Lack of order for coal led to the discharge
of 114 men at the Minersville colliery.
‘—New cases of diphtheria in McKeansburg
have given rise to a fear of an epidemic.
—Relic of the battle at Braddock will be
collected for the Carnegie Library there.
—Brakeman W. W. Reiff and G. W. Smith
were seriously hurt in a wreek at Fleetwood.
—Young men coasting on a sled at Girards-
ville, knocked down and killed Adam Sickle,
—Both of John Tich’s legs were cut off by a
train at Mahanoy City, while he was coasting.
—A catamount which he shot at Tremont
fell from a tree upon Constable Barrell's head.
—A load of iron pipes crushed to death
Frederick Durro, at Cranbury Luzerne coun-
ty.
—The Berks county Grangers, who met at
Robesonia, decided toask for farmer legisla.
tion.
—He could not guide his sled and it ran into
a creek, drowning Lester L. Trace, a Mead=
ville lad.
~The Lancaster City Bible Society celebrate
ed its 74th anbiversary Sunday in all the
churches.
—Sureharged by the auditors $2133, County
Commissioner Reed, of Schuylkill, has appeal
ed to conrt.
—The “Pennsy” Friday sent its first train
load of coal from its newly acquired colliery
at Primrose.
—Thieves dumped $100 worth of K. L.
Johns’ merchandise into a sleigh at Mt, Car-
mel and escaped. . ’
—Night work has been abandoned at the
extreme busy Philadelphia and Reading Rail-
road shops at Reading.
—A fire burned all Saturday night and Sun-
day in one of the shafts of the Packer Colliery
No. 4, at Shenandoah.
—The Reading Rolling Mill Company has
reduced wages owing to the low prices pre-
vailing for finished iron.
—Having swallowed saltpetre for Epsom
salts, Mrs, Edward Roache, of Shamokin, is
in a precarious condition.
—In Coal township, Northumberland county
there are 13 candidates for Supervisor—an un-
lucky number for at least 12.
—Theives have rifled the novelty store of
Joseph Miko, in South Bethlehem, of $166 in
cash and $100 Worth of goods.
—The Bessemer Steel Mill, of the Bathle-
hem Iron Company, which has been idle since
Christmas, will start on Monday.
—Separated for 18 years, Mary Kane found
her brother Michael in a Pittsburg asylum
and nursed him back to sanity.
—Pennsylvania Railroad officials arrested a
man named Haling, of Eddington, for steal-
ing an umbrella from a car.
Lehigh county Court sustained the Com-
missioners in striking off from the official
ballots an Independent ticket.
—It cost Thomas Pallis of Mahanoy City
$1000to call Assemblyman J. C. Coyle of that
place a Mollie Maguire.
—The Lutheran and Reformed churches
at Friedensville, Lehigh county, will cele
brate their centennial in May.
—An association of hunters have purchased
8000 acres of woodland in Fulton county, and
propose to nurture game and fish.
—T. P. Pardee, son of the late Ario Pardee,
who gave Lafayette College about $500,000
was elected a trustee of that institmtion.
—While Peter Burkett, a school teacher at
Virginsville, was at a funeral he was arrested
for whipping a child oi Gerion Lesher.
—In their night clothes the family of
Charles Fenstermacher, Slate Valley; near
Easton, escaped from a burning dwelling.
—Relic hunters nearly demolished the
home of the murdered; Kester brothers at
Hazleton. which was sold at auction Saturday,
—The “Easton Express” has issued a mag*
nificent industrial edition that speaks vol-
umes for the energy of its young proprietor,
Howard Mutehler.
—Employes of the New York, Pennsylvania
and Ohio Railroad went from the Western
part of the State to consult with President
King about wages.
—Although admitting that he had not been
divorced when he married his second wife, F
H. Steely, of Reading, goes free, because not
prosecuted within two years,
—Charged with a dozen robberies, Jeremiah
Keller and Peter Schmidt, who joined the
United States. Army, were captured in New
York and returned to Reading.
—Suit was brought by the city of Reading
against W. Coll, Francis Roland, J. H. Obold,
Jacob Miller, J, T. Jackson and J. H. Jacobs,
bondsmen of ex-Treasurer Obold, to recover
the defalcation.
—A pine tree was cut down in Liberty town-
ship Tioga county, a few days ago which was
literally a giant of the forest, It was. 105 feet
in height, and the lumber which it yielded
was sold for §100.
—L. D. WoodRutf, the veteran editor of
the Johnstown Democrat, was obliged to dis-
pose of his paper to Warren W. Bailey, of
Chicago; on account of inadequate support by
the people of that county.
—Colonel Thomas J. Grimeson, of West
Chester, Pa., died on Tuesday night. He was
a native of Cumberland county, and served
through the war With credit in a cavalry
regiment. The cause of his deafh was blood
poisoning from a wound received in the foot.
—Woodring, the member of the legislature
from Northampton county who voted to re-
tain Andrews in Highby’s seat, was on Mon-
day denounced by the Democratic county
committee of Northampton as having be
trayed his party,and was callad upon to re-
place to have it done.
eign his seat in the legislature.