BY P. GRAY MEEK.
Ink Slings.
—If Turkey keeps on heaping indig-
nities on our people we'll run our new
navy over there and soon put her in the
soup.
—The Liberty bell will take a new
lease on life and begin ringing ‘‘chest-
nuts” if its junketing tours are not soon
stopped.
—Official figures place the number of
inmates in jails and almshouses in
the United States at 82,329. GIDEON
MARsH is not among the number how-
ever. fs
—As every season opens we read that
some exploded base ball pbenom is go-
ing to play the game of his life. Such
statements always lead to the conclusion
that ball players, like cats, have nine
lives.
—1In all instances itis a case of the
office seeking the man, but the man is
usually so liberal minded that he makes
himself known in many ways just so
the office won’t have to wear itself out
finding him.
—Poor, poor Kansas! Last fall it
was floods and grasshoppers ; during the
winter cyclones and populists, last
week prairie fires, and on Sunday a
meteor knocked the arm off the statue
of JouN BrowN which HoRACE
GREELY built in Ossawatomie, in 63.
—-There are just seventeen lawyers in
the State Legislature, the smallest per-
centage of disciples of BLACKSTONE
there has ever been in that body, yet
there is just enough of them there yet
to keep the farmer, shoemaker and mer-
chant law makers rattled most of the
time.
—The name ‘Peacemaker’ is pain-
fully significant as attached to KRUPP's
one hundred and twenty-four ton can-
non. We should think that the most
desperate belligerent would be entirely
pardonable for changing front in the
face of such a preponderance of argu-
ment,
—Who wouldn’t be a paymaster in
the army and draw fifteen dollars a day
additional for having a good time in |
Paris? Lice HALForD should’nt be
censured. He would have been a fool |
indeed for not crawling into such a
berth. The fellows who made it up for
him are to blame,
—--The idea of objecting to the ap-
pointment of ISADORE ZACHARIAS to
be post master of Bainbridge, Ga. sim-
ply because he plays poker and seven-
up. Why if the people of the South |
keep on at that rate Kentuckians wiil
have to give up their bourbon and wipe
off the “Col.” before they can serve
their constituents.
—The scheming of French jailors can
be discerned behind the great project to
span the English channel with a $165,-
000,000 bridge. Possible by the time
the great structure would become a
realized failure. Panama canal con-
victs would be no more and a new
source could then be looked to to fill up
the French prisons.
—Miss Bess Davis, the Chicago
young woman who has just toured ten
thousand milesaround the country with-
out touching ground with her feet, has
accomplished a greater undertaking than
people generally conceive. The enor-
mity of the average Chicago girls feet
must be known before one can thorough-
ly appreciate Miss DAvIs’ big feat.
—At last after years of study and
profound meditation we have been able
to trace the genealogy of the common,
ordinary, every-day sucker back to a
talking fish which was caught on the
coast of Africa in 1754. Tt was taught
to say ‘‘papa, mamma,” and like words,
by the natives, but as time has evolved
the species we now find its articulations
to be ‘“‘cigawette,’”” ‘‘deah fellah” etc.
—The London Lancet sent a man all
the way over here to examine the water
of the Chicago river forthe benefit of
Europeans who will visit the World's
Fair. He reported the water not as bad
as it might be, buturged his readers,
who come over to drink it only after it
has been boiled, and to avoid ice water.
It looks very much as if the Chicago
brewers had tampered with the Lancet
representative.
—The editor of a very country week-
ly in writing of an old subscriber who
had taken the paper for forty odd years
and had never paid anything on it
since his first two dollars weighted
down the editors thread bare pants, call-
6d the old gentlemen, who had been in
to say that he was “coming in to pay up
soon,’’ “our venerable friend and sub-
scriber.” In someway the compositor
got it ‘‘vegetable’ instead of venera-
ble and when the paper was published
the old man studied a long time, won-
dering why the oditorshould call him a
‘'vegatable friend,”” For some reason
or otker he and his seven sons visited
the print shop and ‘cleaned’ the
whole force out. 1t is quite evident
that the only vegetable he could think
of ag describing himself was the beet.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION, 2
“VOL. 38.
BELLEFONTE, PA., APRIL 14, 1598.
NO. 15.
Something to Be Proud Of.
The naval display that is about to
come off in Hampton Roads and in
New York harbor, in which the great
powers of the world are to participate,
will gratity the patriotic sentiment and
national pride of the American people,
in the fact that their navy will make
a show of warships that will surpass in
number and equal in efficiency those
sent by European navies to take part
in the great Columbian naval parade.
The satisfaction that will be thus af
forded to patriotic Americans will be
heightened by the circumstance that
only a few years ago they were humil-
iated by the consciousness that they
had no navy worth speaking of.
The decay into which the American
naval establishment was allowed to
fall was a remarkable and a humilia-
ting episode in our national history.
It was certainly not in accord with the
maritime disposition and nautical rep
utation of our people. From their
very colonial origin they were famed
for their prowess on the ocean. In
their revolutionary struggle they did
not fear to grapple with England on
her favorite element. In their second
war with that pcwer, by their numer-
ous victories, they humiliated the *‘mis-
tress of the sea.” For years after they
maintained a navy, composed of sail-
ing vessels, which, although small,
was one of the best equipped and most
efficient that was to be seen anywhere
upon the face of the deep. Under the
exigencies of the "Rebellion our gov-
ernment developed an immense naval
force and it was believed that at the
close of that struggle the American
navy could haye held its own against
the navies of Europe which had not
yet acquired their great iron-clad ships.
But as soon as the Rebellion closed,
our navy for some unaccountable rea
son became the object ot shameful
neglect. No effort was made to main-
tain its strength. The repairs were
more for the purpose of spoliation
than preservation. Decay, superan-
| nuation and pillage almost obliterated
lit. So low became its condition that
| the weakest powers looked upon it
| with contempt, and if even third rate
| nations had heaped upon us the gross
| est international indignities we would
| not have been in condition to resent
| the affront.
| with stronger iron-clads than we had,
|
and it is remembered what a relief it
was when it turned out that Italy, a
much weaker pation than ours in
every respect except that of her navy,
was not disposed to push to hostilities
tbe misunderstanding we had with her
in regard to the Mafia difficulty.
Fortunately for the honor and safety
of our country this apathy in regard to
the condition of the navy has passed
away and been followed by a different
spirit. The old naval ambition so
natural to our people was revived by a
Democratic administration eight years
ago. It must be said that it was fully
maintained by the succeeding Republi-
can administration, and the joint ef
fect of their efforts in the way of naval
regeneration is seen in the fact that
the United States is able to invite the
nations of the world to join in a naval
parade, and is able to bear aloft her
flag as proudly as any of them.
The Right Man.
The President acted wisely in exer-
cising the greatest care in the selection
of a Commissioner of Pensions, his
purpose being not only to secure an of
ficial of the best ability as far as men-
tal and moral equipment was concern-
ed, but also one whose physical endur-
ance would stand the great strain which
the exactions of the office would put
upon him. A number of names were
suggested, including some who were
appliccats for the place but most of
them were deficient in the most essen-
tial qualifications. Some, who in oth-
er respects were exactly fitted for the
great trast, were too far advanced in
life to successfully grapple with its
difficulties. And that its duties will be
of the most exacting and laborious
character, under the reform policy that
will be adopted in regard to pensions,
may be taken as a matter of certainty.
The whole system has become per-
meated with abuses which have been
prolific of fraud and corruption, and
i to correct these evils where there are
80 many interests and influences work-
ing for their continuance will require
an official of unusual mental, moral,
and physical capacity.
In the selection of Judge LocHREN,
of Minuesota, for Commissioner of Pen-
sions, President CLEVELAND no doubt
believes that he has the right man for
the place, and what is known of the
Judge appears to fully jastify this be-
lief. He is known to be a man of
great capacity, of high moral worth,
resolute in his disposition, and of suf-
ficient endurance -to stand the strain
which the labors of a reform Commis-
sioner will impose upon him, He is also
an ex-soldier, who did heroic service,
having particularly distinguished him-
gelf at Gettysburg. In addition
to this military experience, which
will enable him to discriminate
between the worthy and unworthy
pension claimants, his training as
a lawyer and a judge since the
war give him the legal experience
necessary to a proper performance of
hig duties. The President has evident-
ly selected the right man to correct the
abuses of Raum’s and Tanner's ad
ministrations of the Pension Bureau.
Southern Prosperity.
The improvements that have taken
place in the southern section of the
Union, in all the places of material
progress, since the local governments
were wrested from the combination of
negroes and white scalawags, have
been of the most gratifying character,
indicating a spirit of advancement
which promises a brilliant future for
that important part of our country.
Industrial euterprises are branching
out into every form of industry, as is
shown by the monthly announcements
of new industrial movements, which
are particularly noticeable in cotton
manufacture, iron production and lum:
bering operations.
The multiplication of cotton mills in
the South is
i showing that the seat of that industry
ble fabric.
Chili, which was supplied |
| could have bullied us with impunity,
lis gradually shifting to the sections
{which produce the raw material.
The
advantage of the propinquity of cotton
field and cotton mill will in a few dec-
ades place the South in the foremost
position in supplying the world with
its most largely used and indispensa-
In the development of its
iron product, the South in the last dec
ade, can show a larger percentage of
increase than any other section of the
Union, while its inexhaustible forests
of wood valuable for every purpose of
joinery and cabinet work, are receiving
the active attention of southern enter-
prise.
The aroused energy of that section is
showing itself in the conventions that
are being held to give the most effect
ive direction to its activity. A con‘
vention has just been held with repre-
sentatives from all parts of the cotton
districts, the object of which was to
urge upon the planters the importance
of giving more of their acreage to the
production of cereals. The crops of
cotton recently produced have been go
immense as to reduce the price and di-
minish the profitableness of that spe-
cial product. Industrial thrift calls for
a more diversified agriculture, and it is
industrial thrift that is now governing
the movements of the southern people.
Another important convention is about
being held at Richmond in which all
tbe South is taking a lively interest,
the object of which is to devise meas-
ures to divert the stream of foreign im-
migration to that section. They want
to add to their colored labor element a
larger accession of white labor, and in
doing so they will not only benefit their
own section but relieve the North of
too large a proportion of the immi-
grants who seek our shores. The
South in every respect is on a
high road to industrial prosperity, and
every patriotic American, no matter to
what section he may belong, will re
Joice to see her prosper, aga part of
our common country.
——The bill now before the Legisla-
ture authorizing the erection of eel weirs
and fish baskets in the streams ‘of the
commonwealth, for the catching of eels
for a limited time in each year for a pe-
riod of four years, should be promptly
quashed. It is only a mask behind
which certain parties want to hide their
intention of robbing the streams of all
kinds of fish, for if eel weirs and baskets
are legalized all kinds of fish will be
caught in them.
especially remarkable,
Hypocritical Objections.
There was something more than or-
dinarily cheeky in the futile attempt
of the Republicans to oust Senator
Roacu from his seat in the United
States Senate to which the Legislature
of North Dakota elected him. He
made his appearance in the higher
branch ot Congress, not through the
process by which too many Senators
secure admission to that body: It was
not through the influence of money
used to purchase his way to that posi-
tion, but it was in consequence of the
high esteem in which he was held by
the people of his State that the 'Legis-
ture turned to him, after a prolonged
contest between other candidates, and
elected him by a vote in which. mem-
bers of both parties participated. In
this result Republicans as well as
Democrats paid a tribute to his high
standing in their community.
But after he had taken the oath as
United States Senator some of his Re-
publican colleagues discovered that
many years ago as a bank officer in
Washington, he had been a defaulter.
They made this the hypocritical basis
ot objection to his acting in a Senator-
ial capacity. They wanted to have
him expelled on account of this smirch
upon his reputation. Although many
of them hold seats which they eecured
by bribing State Legislatures they as-
sumed that Senator Roacm was too
dishonest a character to be a United
States Senator.
Nothing could be more contemptible
than such an assumption coming from
a Republican source in the Senate.
The motive is clearly comprehended,
bearing all the ear marks of its hypo-
critical intention. The Democratic
majority in the Senate is a close one,
and in objecting to Senator Roach it
is more the purpose of the Republicans
to reduce that majority than to re
move an objectionable character. If
the situation were reversed and it were
necessary to keep a couple of horse
theives in Senatorial seats to main:
tain a Republican majority, the Sena-
tors of that party would be found vot
ing tor their retention. The whole
policy of their party verifies such an
assertion. It is verified by the fact
that there has been noscruple in steal-
ing State Legislatures 1n order to gain
Republican United States Senators.
It is substantiated by the out-come of
every contested election in which Re.
publicans had the power to seat their
man, no matter how flimsy his claim,
or how objectionable his character.
In the case of Senator RoacH the of-
fense charged against him appears’ to
have been condoned by his subsequent
good conduct in the new country where
he weunt to re-establish his reputation.
That he succeeded 1n this object is
shown by the circamstances under
which he was chosen to represent
North Dakota in the United States
Senate. But if he had gone to that re-
gion, amassed great wealth, by crooked
speculation, bought ‘up the State Leg-
islature and made his appearance at
Washington as a Republican Senator,
he would have been received with open
arms by the Republican plutocrats who
have gained admission to that body
by such means.
——The new salary bill which has
just been reported by the State judi-
ciary committee increases the annual
pay roll of the State just $28,000. It
in.a well known fact that government
officials in many branches are receiv-
ing less remuneration than employees
of private concerns for work far hard:
er and requiring a greater degree ' of
responsibility. Whether the present
bill will meet the approval of the Gov-
ernor remaius to be seen.
——Postmaster FIELD, of Philadel-
phia, has resigned because he has been
an object of persecution ever since his
appointment. His honest convictions
led him to do things which provoked
the wrath of all the Republican brow-
beaters in the city, and in trying toserve
the people and his masters he spilled the
waters of dissatisfaction in all directions.
——Ravised playing rules have done
away with the 4x6 confines for the
pitcher and now we will hear no more
of the champion ball tosser being pound-
ed out of hig box.
——The hoop skirt is a horrible
thing for man to look at. It reforms
many women, nevertheless.
are expected to do, and who
An Idea for Pennsylvania Prohibition.-
? ists,
From the Philadelphia Times.
South’ Carolina has undertaken to.
regulate the drink traffic by going in.
to the business and keeping everybody
‘else out of it. The element of novelty
in the experiment is that South Caro-
lina is the first American State to im:
port what in Europe is known as the
Gothenburg plan.
The idea upon which this plan is
based is that drunkeness is unnecessar-
ily increased by the desire for large
profits on the part of those engaged in
intoxicating drinks. In other words,
private liquor dealers, whether - licen-
eed or otherwise, drum for trade and
offer inducements to men to drink.
Under the State plan this motive is
removed, and while alcobolic stimu-
lants are placed within the reach of
all who are not minors, no. one has a
money interest in inducing others to
drink,
The South Carolina experiment will’
be watched with a good deali of inter-
est. There are some absurd ‘provisions
in the statute, however, such:as allow.
ing only one dispenser of drink to a
county, which are likely to defeat its
purpose. : :
England Should Profit by Experience
With the Thirteen Colonies.
From the Pittsburg Times.
Mr. Gladstone's speech on the second
reading of the Home Rule bill cut the
ground from under the opposition. His
points that no incorporated union effect.
ed and maintained by force iad ever
prospered, that unions not ineerporated
but autonomous had been attended with
success and that in- all unions but one
principle can be applied — whether
they require permanent maintenance by
force—were strongly fortified by allu-
sions to the forced unions of Holland
and Belgium, Austria. and Hungary,
and Russia and Poland, as compared
with the voluntary unity of the United
States. The pascage of the Home Rule
bill seems now assured, and the foolish
talk of civil war in Freland in the event
ofits becoming a law is as wild as it is
unjustifiable. : :
From the Harrisburg Star-Independent.
People who closely watch the man-
ner in’ which voting is done in the leg-
islative bodies are surprised with the
lack of clear understanding onthe part
of very many legislators of all the bear-
ings and ohjects of the measures on
which they vote. The facts show that
bills become laws which those who en-
act them do not understand and have
no intelligent comprehension of what
will be their effect as laws. It is an un-
fortunate fact that too many men are
sent to ali legislative bodies who do not
interest themselves in the work they
take no
pains to inform themselves on all bills
as they should to enable them to vote
intelligently on them as they pass.
through the stages of legislation.
Visitors Must Pay to Hear What the
Wild Waves Are Saying.
From the Pittsburg Post.
The latest gouging story trom Chicago
is enough to make one’s hair stand on
end with terror at the thought of such
audacity in a civilized country. Seeond
thought causes one to take off his bat to
the genius that conceived such a
mastodonic thought. The Iilineis Cen-
tral railroad, which owns and controls a
large portion of the lake front, proposes
to build a fence inclosing its property
and then charge an. admission fee to
people who desire to stand on the beach
and watch the ripples or catch a little
of the ribald conversation of the wild
| waves,
Slandering the Newspapers.
From the Williamsport Sun.
A modern Ananias has made the
statement that the newspapers of the
United States ask for $6,400,000 worth
of passes to the World’s fair. As there
are only 19,000 publications in the
United States and as each publication
will not ask for more than halt a doz
en passes, on the average, the idiocy
of such a statement must be apparent.
The sum above mentioned would give
each newspaper office, whether large
or small, 676 tickets. The editor in a
small town could take the entire pop-
ulation to Chicago, if this statement
were true. But it isn’t; it is utterly
false. : :
A Sensible View of It.
From the Clearfield Republican.
Tura him out that political barnacle,
Col. Fred Grant, should be boomed
out of his $12,000 Austrian office as
soon as possible. Why should he be
left in office after the expiration of "his
term? He is strong and ablebodied
and has a good right to earn an honest
living as any of the rest ot us. Rotate
him out, that he may become an in-
dependent, selfsupporting American
instead of a tax consumer, which he
has been ever since his father sent him
to West Point twenty years ago.
Philadelphians Are Not Unanimous in
Your Opinion Mr. Editor,
From the Altoona Times, :
Postmaster John Field, of Philadel.
phia, who has shown himself to be an
able official, has sent in his resignation.
As the postmastership in Philadelphia
is a big prize, interest is considerably
aroused over the question of who shall
till the vacaney. :
Spawls from the Keystone,
—It snowed at Bristol Saturday.
be held June 3. i
—Rain extinguished the forest fires near
Reading Saturday.
—Reading wants $5,000 from Council
'baild a garbage erematory.
—Mrs. Charlotte Moulton, of Pottstown, has
passed her 102d birthday.
—There are four cases of smallpox .in the
family of Peter S. Machmer, Leesport.
—Northampton county’s Christian Endeavor
elected J. B. May of Bangor, president.
—Lehigh University, at Bethlehem, will
have a new laboratory, to cost $200,000.
—It is said that ninety-eight inches of snow
fell in Wayne county during the past winter:
—The fire in the Cleaver mines, near Ash-
land, still consumes hundreds of éons of coal
daily.
—At one swoop 2214 miles of Reading’s
street railways will be conyerted- into trolley
lines.
—The finding of a body, of a .newborn babe
at Shenandoah has started a search for a mur-
derer. :
to
i
In jumping upon a Pehnsylvatia Railroad
freight train near Pottstown, Jerry Campo met
death.
—Miss Kate Drexel, of Philadelphia, gave
$2000 toward building a new Catholic church
in Carlisle.
— Jackson Gearhart and Mms.Fannie Schuler
were arrested at Wilkesbarre- for eloping from
Utica, N.Y. f ‘
—Murderer Pietro Buccieri; of Reading, will
make one more appeal to the Board of Pardons -
to save his neck.
—On Friday and Saturday the Reading.
brought 3066 cars loaded with coal down the
Schuylkill valley.
—West Newton will be 100: years old in 1898.
In 1794 the town was laid out in lots, which
were disposed of by lottery. :
—Thirty ballast train men of the Pennsylya-.
nia Railroad at Reading won their strike for a
10 hour day and $1.35 pay.
—Rev. Dr. L, A. Gotwald, who is being tied -
for heresy in Ohio, was formerly pastor. of
Zion's Lutheran church, Lebanon.
—J. C. Van Nostram,a-Salesman, who was in.
Lancaster jail for embezzling money from J.
L. Metzgar & Co., has become insane.
—Assistant Secretary of the Interior:John
M. Reynolds, of Bedford, will go to Washing-
ton on Tuesday next to begin business.
—Although he fatally stabbed John MeCray.
for insuiting Mrs. Abe Hughes, of near Hunt-
ingdon, the husband: has not been arrested.
—Crawford county, with a population of 65
324, has 36 licensed. liquor houses. Erie coun-'
ty, with a population of 86,074, has 161 ticensed
houses. t
—Infuriated citizens are looking for William
Smith, of Coudersport, who is charge with
having caused the death of his young neice,
Theresa Hatter.
—The cavity from which a tooth was ex-
tracted from the mouth of Charles Bruch,
Muncy, has bled for eight days, and his con:
dition is critical.
—The report of the First National Bank of.
Towanda shows deposits to the amount. of
$1,000,000. This is a big showing for a town
the size of Fowanda. :
—Oil City is not on the gain evidently. The
empty houses are numerous and rents. have
gone down 10 per cent., says. the envious. Ti-
tusville @itizen. :
—Somebody’s negligence. allowed ‘an ex-
press.and a freight train to. collide on. the
Pennsylvania Railroad, at: Tomhickon, and
the mail clerk’s leg was broken.
—The Pennsylvania Railroad Company con"
templates erecting a number of cottages. at
Cresson to be occupied by the officials. of the
Canabria and Clearfield railroad.
—The reports of the seven nationak banks of
Lancaster shows that thoy have $3;135,961.56
on depasit. - This of course, does not in any
way includa the stock and surplus capital,
which, in the several banks, aggregates the
som of $2,382,000. !
—In the matter of ancient linen relies, Mrs.
Sarah Heston, of Pineville, says she can beat
Mrs. M. L. Worthington, of Penn’s Park,
Bucks county, and have a few years to spare.
Mrs. Heston isthe owner of a pair of pillow
cases marked with her great-grand-mother’s
maiden name, Phebe Smith, and dated 1772:
—One of the largest trees in Lancaster coun -
ty is to be found on the farm of Levi Sener,
at Sener’s Curve, on the Pennsylvania Rail
road, not far from Mountville, - It is a button
wood, and six feet from the ground the cir.
camference of the trunk is 2314 feet. On it
are nine branches that are each a fair sized
tree insize, and five of these are each esti-
mated to be seventy-five feet in length.
‘—Susan Smith, a dressmaker living at Hum _
boldt, Luzerne eounty, has brought suit
against Mrs. Andrew Papachs to recover ‘for
making a dress with crinoline. Mrs. Papachs
in ordering a new gown, had counted on sur"
prising her friends. As she looked in the
glass she eried with mortification. She pro
nounced the thing horrid and refused to ac-
cept it or pay Miss Smith for her trouble.
The latter won her suit, but all hopes for
further crinoline orders are shattered in the
mining reg sons. 4
~~A singular coincidenca in the moving line
occurred in Oxford last week, says the Press.
Two families of the same name came up
frora Cecil county, Md., with their household
goods on the morning train Wednesday and
moved into neighboring houses at the same
time. They were John M. Campbell, of Ris-
ing Sun, and John M. Campbell, of Perryville,
strangers to each other. They both took
houses of dentists—Dr. Boice's and Dr. Clem-
ent’s dwellings—who have removed to Phila-
delphia. The first named Mr. Campbell is en-
gaged in the warehouse business at Barnsley
and Sylmar, and the second Mr. Campbell is a
brakeman on the local Central Division train-
—The Berks county Auditors have filed
their report. They took no action upon .the
protest filed by Constable Lyon that the Coun-
ty Commissioners ba surcharged with the
bills amounting to $150,000, but will present it
to the court along with their report. The Au-
ditors find the present indebtedness of the
county to be $55,823 and the balance in the
hands of the Treasurer in March, $21,301.
The Commissioners’ orders during thé year
aggregated $343,308 ; ‘poor house, $56,332 ; pri-
son, $29,333, a grand total of $428,972. On’ the
Commissioners’ orders the sum of $4,000 paid
Ex-Recorder Dumm for indexing deed and
mortgage books, which was paid without the
approval of the Court, was disallowdd and
charged against the County Commissioners,
Jarius Reeser, Frunk Seidel and Cyrus Kauf-
man. The bills for beer, amounting to $36,
used at the poor house, were disallowed;
—The Pittsburg Republican primaries will
—