Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, May 24, 1895, Image 1
Bl » ik BY PRP. GRAY MEEK. Ink Slings. —Jack Frost has stepped in to share honors with the cut worm as a produc- er of short corn crops. —A boy in his bare feet has just ag much right to wear a fur cap as a girl who wears a lawn dress has to top it off with a fur cape. — When cucumbers are set before you for the first time in the spring you usu- ally eat them with a relish and then re- member them with a pain. —Men who lead dual lives are im. postors upon a community and should be shown that their hypocrisy will not be tolerated by decent people. — Compulsory education has become a law and the kid catcher will now be- come a new official, whose particular qualification will lie in the speed of his legs. —Don’t pretend that you are honest, while trying to take advantage of your neighbor. Let us tell you right here, it won’t always be as cool as it has been the past week. —The knock out of the income tax law has frosted the budding hopes of the fellows who anticipated negotiating loans for summer outings on trumped up tax receipts. —Dr. JouN HALL, in advising peo- ple to “buy books first and clothes after- ward,” must have thought it possible for the world to be happy in mother EvE’s raiment of leaves. —Pittsburg has been beseiged by Presbyterian ministers during the week and the good effects of such a holy gath- ering will be noted in that city for a long time. No matter how bad. a place may be, the influence of christian work- ers can always be felt. —The Turkish outrages continue in Armenia and the most atrocious crimes are recorded against the Sultan’ssub- jects. The out-side world seems imbued with a religious zeal to say nothing and take consolation in the hope that the stories of the cruelties are overdrawn. —The gold craze has struck Newton Hamilton, Mifflin county, and property owners are as wild as March hares over there. What a pretty commentary it would be on that great camp meeting ground if gold should really be found in paying quantities and it would become a second Creede or Butte. —The color line has been broken down by an exclusive woman’s club in Chicago and the negro woman now need only present character and intelli- gence to gain admittance. After all beauty is only skin deep and itis a most honorable procedure on the part of these Chicagoans to decide on the recog- nition of merit, no matter in what race it be found. —Secretary CARLISLE might not have voiced the sentiments of every one in- terested in the currency question in his speech at Covington, Ky., Monday evening, but it is pleasant to know that he is sincere in what he says. The Sec- retary is not a candidate for any office within the gitt of the people and cares little how his views are received, hence his remarks on the currency can be looked upon es free from bias or cajolery. — Ignorance is not a sufficient excuse for violaticn of the law and the forty- three Philadelphia clergymen, who are trying to escape punishment on that ground, for not having reported mar- riages to the Register, should be balked and given something that they will re- member. Ministers of the gospel, who think that their sole duty is to propound the Divine law, are not fit to preach to any one. —! ‘BIRDIE’ SUTHERLAND, & pretty London Gaiety theatre actress, has brought suit for breech of promise . against the eldest son of Baron TWEED- MOUTH. The young nobleman fell in love with her at first sight, and she with him, but his dad decided it shouldn’t be and sent the boy oft to Canada, where he has forgotten all about “BIRDIE,” who has retained enough council to make her won’t-be-father-in-law poor. mouthed. —The Scranton Times questions the sagacity of President CLEVELAND'S sug- gestion that ‘‘the Indian should be made a citizen.” It says: ‘‘there is no teli- ing what a man, who trades a new gov- ernment coat for a bottle of whiskey, would do with such vested rights.” Of course it would be problematical, but the Indian couldn’t possibly do worse than the element that turns the political tide to-day for a pint of whiskey or a fifty-cent piece. —* Them good for nothing, senseless Democrats, they’d like to run the coun- try to the devil.” That is the expres. sion that confronted us so often when we were defending the WiLsoxn bill. This Democratic hades into which the old ship of State is surely gliding seems to be such a happy place that all are glad to get there. Increased wages, no strikes and plenty of work doesn’t make such a bad haven for a people, lost under a tariff robbing pilot like McKINLEY. Aemacral (& £ REG STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 40 The Income Tax a Dead Letter, It is a regretable fact that out of the nine justices of the supreme court of the United States only four - ere able to see a just and equitable manner of laying taxation in the income tax, pass- ed by the last Congress. Possibly it is best that the whole thing has been de- clared unconstitutional and that the justice, who has been able to change his mind since April 8th, has been capable of turning a judicial somersault, to the chagrin of the treasury depart- ment and the joy of the moneyed few who are thus upheld in their escape from their share of the burden of gov- ernment support. When the income tax law became operative there was a great hue and cry raised, by those whom it would ef- fect, with the hope of its overthrow on the grounds of its being inquisitorial in its nature. This sentiment raised against it resulted in a united effort to test its validity. Various cases were tried before district courts, all of which sustained the law and an appeal was then carried to the supreme court of the United Siates, Prolonged argu. ment was heard there, which resulted in a decision handed down on April 8th. In that decision the court ruled that while there were certain flaws in the law, it was valid as a whole. In that finding taxes on incomes from rents and lands were considered direct taxa. tion, hence they were in conflict with the constitution. The law was also considered invalid so far as it related to incomes from state, county or mu- nicipal bonds, but in all other respects it remained as it had passed Congress. Though the friends of the law were much disappointed at this finding, they concluded that half a loaf would be better than no bread and accepted it. The revenues anticipated by the treasury department were necessarily decreased by this action, but still $16, 000,000 revenue was expected from the clauses left operative. Those who had succeeded in its par- tial overthrow were not content, how- ever, and the case was pushed still further with the hope of completely destroying the law. At the first hear- ing justice JAcksoN was absent and at that time the vote stood four to four on the validity of the law as a whole, but justices Suiras and Brow, taking exception to the two clauses mentioned above, succeeded in having them eliminated. When the court met, to hand down its second finding, last Monday, it had already been known that the law would be declared invalid by a vote of five to four, but it was not known un- til the session that justice SHiras must have changed his mind, since Justices HarLaN, WHITE, BRowN and Jacksox all dissented at the finding and the three former spoke their opin- ions in a way that was terrible in its impressiveness, The fate of the law is a sad one in- deed for the country, though it is bet- ter that the whole thing should go by the board than have the distorted, emasculated remnant that was left of it after the first decision. The original bill would have turned $40,000,000 in- to the treasury, collected from a class of people best able to bear it and least subjected to the burden of taxation. Under the revised law this revenue would have been cut down to $16,000, 000 which it were better to do without than strive to maintain a law stripped ot its principal features. RRR IR TRATION a ——We thought that possibly our State Legislature might get through thie session without making a fool of itself by passing resolutions condemning the administration for not tackling the British lion on the Nicaragua question. Considering the amount of fool ma- terial among the lawmakers at Harris- burg, it was rather hazardous to ex- pect that they would not commit this folly, and the result has shown that we were mistaken, at least as far as one branch of the Legislature was con- cerned. The Senate passed a resolu- tion in which the government was condemned for not making a jingo dis- play in behalf of the Nicaraugans. A similar resolution was brought into the House by the fiery and ferocious Focur, of Union, and very singularly that body did not have the same pre- ponderance of jackasses as kicked up their heels in the Senate, and conse- quently the resolution failed to pass. BELLEFONTE, PA., MAY 24, 1895. Senatorial Aberration. Senator Morcax, of Alabama, is a peculiar political character. Although a Democrat it is hard to tell exactly where he stands. He gave the party trouble when at the last session of Con- gress Democratic tariff reform was un- dergoing the crucial test in the United States Senate. He has managed to fall out with President CLEVELAND and refuses to harmonize with the poli cies of the administration. The political aberration of the Sena. tor has continued for some time, but was observed to commence after Presi- dent Harrison had appointed him a member of the commission that was entrusted with the settlement of the Behring sea question in connection with the seal fishery. The point he advanced in that controversy that seals were domestic animals indicated a con- dition of mind that would admit of al- most any kind of vagaries. It was a sad example of the mental effect of a Democrat accepting a position under such an administration as Bex HaARrrI- SON'S. Senator MorGax has been politically unbalanced ever since that time. The latest evidence of it was the declara- tion he recently made in which he cen- sured the administration for not pre- venting England's procedure against Nicaragua, and intimated his belief that the English are acquiring a foot- hold in Central America with the knowledge, consent and connivance of Ambassador Bavarp and President CLEVELAND. Such a wild accusation betrays either a malicious feeling toward the administration, or a weak ambition to be the champion twister of the British lion’s tail. ————————— ——1t is claimed that those who are suffering from the extortion of the Chi- cago beef trust can find relief by ab- staining for a while from that kind of diet, and that their health will be bene- fitted by such abstention. But how are the consumers of coal oil to be re- ernor HastiNGs has fastened upon them. It cannot be expected that they will sit in darkness. They must have light even if a monopoly compels them to pay double price for it. A New Republican Issue. The Moxror doctrine is being made the political hobby of the Repub- lican party. Ifthe administration fails to take up the quarrels of every petty South American republic, or declines to make a frantic grab at the British lion’s tails at every opportunity, the cry is raised that the MoNroE doctrine has been betrayed. It is not difficult to see the object of this extreme American sentiment dis- played by the Republican jingoes. The old issues upon which they have carried elections are played out and they want a new one. They can no longer make use ot sectional animosity, the tariff is a dead issue and they are afraid of the currency question. Their need of something new, that may be used to excite public sentiment, has in- duced them to try what may be done with the MoxNror doctrine and the American eagle as political issues. There are intimations that Tox Reep and the other Republican lead- ers of the next House of Representa- tives will not meddle with the old questions of tarift and finance, but will devote most of their attention to the exploitation of an aggressive foreign policy, and to condemning the admin. istration for not allowing the eagle to indulge in a louder scream and a broader flight. It is expected that more political capital can be made out of such tactics than by committing the party on the currency question. SE —— The, merited rebuke which President CLevELAND added to his en- dorsement of Secretary HERBERT'S re- tirement of Admiral Ricmarp W. MEeapE has totally eclipsed the lustre of many of the achievements of that heroic officer during his earlier service to the government. Itis a pity that such a man ehould have allowed petty an escutcheon so brilliant in the past. The navy loses a brilliant! officer in Admiral MEADE's retirement, but the navy has no use for a man who can forget his duty. whims, in these later days, to tarnish, What Is Sound Money ? The question of “sound money” is one that is of the greatest importance to the people of the United States, and such being the fact, it is equally im- portant that correctness should be en- tertained as to what constitutes “sound money." It is announced that the tour of Sec- retary CARLISLE through the South will be especially intended to instruct the people of that section upon this lieved from the grip of the Standard oil company which the action of Gov- ! subject, and we have confidence enough in the Secretary to believe that he will tell them that ‘sound money’’ is the kind which is authorized by the constitution, consisting of a currency supplied by the two precious metals, at a just ratio of value, neither of them to be degraded by an arbitrary dis- crimination that would lower its stand- ing as a monetary material, In addition to the constitution, he could employ other high authority in instructing the southern people as to what is “sound money,” by calling their attention to the last national platform of the Democratic party, which demanded “the use of both gold and silver as the standard money of the country, and the coinage of both gold and silver without discrimination against either metal, or charge for mintage, the dollar unit of coinage of both metals to be of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value.” This definition, as given by the Democratic platform, should be suf- ficient to enlighten the southern, as well as the people of every other sec- tion, as to what is “sound money.” It is to be observed that it does not recommend the debasing of silver to a subordinate capacity, as unfit to be the equal of gold for monetary pur- poses. The equality of both metals “as the standard money of the country” was the doctrine of the plat- form in which a Democratic adminis- tration ame into power, and by a con- tinuance of this doctrine it will be pos- sible for Democratic administration to be prolonged. ——The action of the Speaker of ! the House in issuing a warrant for the arrest of all absent members, the other | day, was plainly in aecord with his sworn duty, The State would not have held him to account, however, had he seen fit to let all the delin- quents remain away, thus breaking a quoram and ending the session. When the amount of work that has been done at Harrisburg is taken into consideration it. would have been a blessing had such a happy opportu- nity been seized upon to end all further chance of obnoxious legisia- tion. OS — The Retirement of Admiral Meade. The one subject of conversation in Washington and government maritime circles for the last few days has been of admiral Ricuarp W. MEADE and the unfortunate burst of confidence, to a newspaper reporter, that was insubor- dinate in effect and resulted in his prompt retirement from active service. The story leading up to the unpleas- ant outcome, that has lately ‘almost startled the world, is a familiar one. To recount it would be simply to tell of the petulance of a brave man get- ting the better of his discretion. Ad- miral MEADE possesses a great, strong mind, full of honest convictions, though faulty some of them, which he had al- ways expressed in their place, hereto- fore, but goaded by an imaginary of- fence on the part of the navy depart ment, he recently gave expression to a most vigorous attack on the manage. ment of that arm of the service. When called to explain, he neither denied nor affirmed the remarks credited to him and straightway asked for his retire. ment. This Secretary HERBERT pro mptly granted, and every fair mind applauds the dignity with which Presi- dent CLeverLaxp added his rebuke to the official dismissal. ; However long and honorable a ca- reer Admiral MEapE has had his duty to his superiors remained just the same as it was the first day he entered the government service and the unpleas. NO. 21. The New School Law, From an Exchange. Spawls from the Keystone, —Pie socials are a Lancaster fad. —A canal boat on the Lehigh Canalehas been named Trilby. —A letter-box thief has been opera ting. extensively at Allentown. —Thieves raided the sub-post office in | Newberry, Williamsport, —Sunday baseball playing at Reading has been killed by the Mayor. —DMine cars at Wilkesbarre cut into & hundred pieces John Loritze. —Thirteen fires in Reading last month aggregated only $500 in losses. —A ton of powder was stolen from the Blue Ridge Works at Allentown. —The funeral of Colonel John M. Wether- ill occurred Monday at Pottsville. —While watching a ball game at Cen. The compulsory education bill, i which has been signed by the Govern. | or and is now a law, requires that every child in the Commonwealth be. tween the ages of 8 and 13 years shall attend for at least 16 weeks in each year a schoel in which the common English branches are taught. Only such children shall be exempted from these provisions as are certified by parents or guardians to be mentally or physically incapacitated, or who live two miles from a public echool or who are being otherwise instructed in the common branches and are so certified by the principal of a school. A fine of $2 is provided for the first offence of anyone against the law, and $5 for each succeeding offense. An appeal to the Court of Quarter Sessions is allowed to the negligent parents or guardians. Boards ot school direstors or controllers are authorized to ap- point truant officers to better enforce attendance at school. A census of the school children in" every voting district must be taken by the district assessor at the same tirse that the annual assessments is made, and certified to the secretary of the district school board. Each teacher ia required to report to the school board secretary monthly the names of all children who have been absent with- out satisfactory reason for five succes- sive days. The school board secretary must then proceed against the parents or guardians of the child. A plea of poverty, made by the parents or guar- dians, if sustained by the evidence, is expressly declared a sufficient excuse for non-compliance with the act, and in such a case the cost of prosecution is to be paid by the school board. The failure of any school board sec- retary to comply with the provisions of the law is declared a misdemeanor, aad he is liable to a fine not exceed- ing $25. TRE AE CATON ny Indians Who Merit: Citizenship. From the Lancaster Intelligencer. The President's letter upon the pro- posed granting of citizenship to the five civilized tribes of Indians, is of timely interest. : There are in the Indian territory five tribes of Indians known as the civ- | ilized tribes, numbering about fifty} thousand men, women and children, and holding more than forty thousand acres of land. These Indians have large herds of horses and cattle and several prosperous towns and villages, and although their politics have been turbulent and often bloody they may be considered well advanced in civili- zation. Many of them are well educa- ted and some are college graduates. Of course the great tribal wealth of these Indians has attracted the whites, and the last census shows that there are 129,000 persons not Indians living in the territory of the civilized tribes, many of them claiming to be Indian citizens, having married Indian wives. Hand Made Lightning Bugs. From the Lancaste r Intelligencer. If the electricity sharps keep on with their discoveries we may some day ere long be able to dismiss the night, get along without labor and travel whither we will by pressing upon a button while sitting in a chair. Now we are told that we may have the night illuminated with the phos- Ppiuseons of the fire fiy and with a ight so innocent and free from heat that we may carry it about in our pockets and have its licht whenever we want it by touching a button. An ar-. rangement of this sort will be very grateful to people who do not care to have electric wires about their premises, that may set things afire and knock things over, when they are out of shape. A light that is less energetic in its dis- order will suit them better. The old- fashioned candle would be hard to beat if it did not drip grease about; and a phosphorescent candle will be just the thing. ETC A Marvelous Suecess in the Shoe Busi- ness. From the Mercer, Western Press. Slowly but very surely the better times which the Wilson tariff fore- shadowed are coming. Here is a late instance : The shoe business of Haver hill, Mass., for the week ending Fri- day has again broken the record, the shipments reaching the total of 11, 766 cases, more than 800 ahead of any previous week's output. A falling off was expected, and business keeps steady, making the sales by all odds the heaviest that city has ever known. The McKinley tariff or the prospec: tive Republican Congress can have nothing to do with this business ae- tivity, we are sure. Work for the Foolkiller. From the Pittsburg Leader (Rep.) The Pennsylvania senate has passed a resolution condemning Cleveland for not going to war with Great Britain on the head of the Nicaraguan storm in a teacup. Where's the fool-killer, any- ant duty his action has brought upon | the President and Secretary HErBERT has been a sad one to them. whom would far rather have seen so brilliant a career ‘ended in warmest ecomiums. Both of | | | | | i how ? A ———————=—=————————— He Is Out of the Race Even Now. From the Du Bois Express. The Youngstown, O., mills and fur- naces are running on full time. Me- Kiuvley will soon be convinced that it will not be advisable to run for Presi- tralia William Burke dropped dead. —Reading brickmakers have struck for an advance of 50 cents a day in wages. —A trolley car at South Williamsport fatally crushed little Hugh McMonagle. —Tramps robbed and fatally assaulted Thomas Maloney, of Brinton, near Pitts. burg. —Owing toa lack of local support. Erie's proposed centennial celebration may be a failure. —Work is about to begin on the fuse factory at Royersford that will turn out 1000 a day. —The various industries located in and near Tyrone are all running at their full eapacity. —Three murder eases are on the list for trial at the next term of the Indiane county court. —Jumping from a trolley csr, Mrs Matilda Fenstermaeh, of Bethlehem, lost a legrand has died. —The African Methodist Conference in York will make Rev. Dr. J. B. Small, of that city, a bishop. —Flaccus & Co.'s plate-glass workers, at Tarentum, struck for union wages, and closed the works. —There is talk of a Greater Bethlehem to join the three boroughs, although they are in two counties, —In ten years Northampton County's annual expenditures have increased from $106,700.24 to %206,917.94. —Carbondale’s: trolley strike has been settled by arbitration, all the old men but two being taken baek. %—~Three out of eleyen Reading builders are willing to pay striking bricklayers $2 a thousand instead of $1. —A big break in the bank of the Del- aware & Hudson Canal at Honesdale will stop boating for a week. —A. Legislative committee inspected Pottsville charities on Saturday with an eye to the appropriations. —Burglars stole $300 eash trom David Armstrong’s residence, at Bloomsburg, while the family was absent. —Toboggan slides: make so mueh noise on Sundays that two Allentown churches have made a formal protest. —A new breaker at Shenandoah City Colliery is being completed by the Read- ing €ompany at a cost of $50,000. —¢€. S. Krick has been appointed super- isor of the Pennsylvania Railroad be- tween Pottstown and Pottsville. —While Farmer Frederiek Funk slept, a trolley car near Columbia smashed his wagon and badly injured the driver. —John Kilroy, a breaker boy at Eagle Hill Colliery, was mangled to death by being caught in the coal scraper line. —Winifred Santee was Saturday ap- pointed fourth-class postmaster at Sy. bertsville, vice A. W. Santee, deceased. —Pireman John M. Worth, of the Penn- sylvania Railroad, at Lancaster, eut his head nearly off with @ butcher knife and died. —Ex-Senator Lewis. Emery, of Brad. ford, has gone to Europe to anchor the foreign end of the United States ©il Pipe Line. —A new washery that will turn out 500 tons of coal a day is being built near Potts. ville by the Philadelphia & Reading Com- pany. . —A system of retrenchment has begun in the works of Coxe Brothers, 25 me- chanics at Drifton having been suspended Monday. —Reading hat manufacturers, who em- ploy about 1800 hands, are debating whether or not to restore former wages to end a strike. —In a Court opinion as Willmamsport. Judge Metzger said that preaehers are quasi.ofilicials and may be eriticised ac- cordingly. —For the death of his som, resulting from a. collision at Harrisburg, James Me- hafiie recovered: $1200 from the Citizens’ Trolley Compaay. —Gettysburg battlefield was visited Sunday by Brigadier General Louis Fitz. gerald and his staff, of the First Brigade. New York National Guards. —The bold outlaws, Daniel Landis and George Williams, who gagged an@ bound six people near Lancaster a waek ago, were held for trial Saturday. —It is probable that Huntinggion bicy- clers will be required to carry bells on their machines in daytime, and lamps.at night, as a safe guard to pedestrians. Twenty years in the penigentiary was. the sentencefimposed upon James Hen dricks, eonvicted at Wilkesbarre of com- plicity in the murder of Barney Reick. —The industries in Harrisburg are gen- erally showing improvement ; the steel works which employ nearly 4,000 hands, are on full time and the product heavy. —A new trial was granted as Pittsburg Saturday to C. S. Wright, general freight agent of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad: convicted of violation of Interstate Com- merce laws. —Joseph Raymond, receiver, and Joseph Campbell, director, of the defunet Middle - town bank, were arrested Saturday at the instance of Bank Examiner Thompson, who has been making an examination. —Johnsonburg, through the untiring efforts of its board of trade, has secured a, large plate glass manufacturing plant. The Breeze says that the necessary funds have already been subscribed and the site selected, and work on the plant will be begun in a few days. This industry will give employment to a large number of dent on a “hard time" platform. hands.