Beworai tcan. BY P. GRAY Medk. S—— Ink Slings. 1 —Because the world owes you a living | that is no reason why you should be ever- | lastingly trying to keep' the printer from making his. —By drinking embalming fluid under the impression that it was whiskey those two Iowa men were unwittingly laying themselves out.’ —As naturally as the duck takes to water does the great daily paper turn to the Cuban war, now since Greece and Turkey are quieted down again. : —There are eight hundred and ninety- three more men than women in Centre county and this fact possibly accounts for 4 the number of white topsies that appear at every term of court. —The town of Beaver has a population of a little more than fifteen hundred souls. Philadelphia has more than a million. Doesn’t it seem strange that one of the one’s fifteen hundred should be ahsolute monarch of the other’s million or more ? —Ambassador BAYARD is home from England and with him comes the log of the Mayflower. It had been in Lambeth palace library since its discovery, in Lon- don, in 1846. It will now be deposited with, the archives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as one of the most precious treasures. —It is little wonder shat anarchism, socialism and all the other pernicious isms are growing so strong and menacing to our free institutions. The centtMization of wealth, the corruption of legislative bodies and the failure of the working classes to live on the scanty wages they can earn are all conditions that are working to the end of a mighty and disastrous social upheaval. —The Reading iron company will re- duce the wages of all employees, on June 1st ; four hundred men have struck against a reduction by Spang, Chalfont, & Co., of Etna, Pa. ; and two hundred men are out of work because they would not ac- cept a reduction proposed by the Eleanor iron works company, of Hollidaysburg. So much for prosperity and its advance agent. —Even the Philadelphia Times is seeing the hand writing on the wall. It warns tariff tinkers, in flaming red letters, that BRYAN polled six million, five hundred and two thousand, six hundred and eighty- five votes. So hedid and all the deserting gold sheets in christendom won’t keep him from being President four years hence, if he keeps up the noble career he has led since coming before the public, at Chicago, nearly a year ago. —The WATCHMAN was not so far wrong, after all, when it asserted that the State would be ealled upon to pay the expenses of Quays sham senatorial ifvestigation that was promised would not cost the State a cent. At the opening of this session of the Legislature we asserted that the tax- payers could expect a bill for about $100,- 000. Sure enough, one was introduced, on Monday, asking for $65,909.36 to de- fray the expenses of the investigating com- mittee that investigated nothing. —The bill prohibiting employers of labor from discriminating against men who be- long to labor unions is on a fair way to be- coming a law, but of what use will it he after it is passed and approved by the Gov- ernor, if such should be the case. Em- ployers will go on employing whom they please, just the same as ‘‘pluck-me’’ stores are-run and just the same as the semi- monthly pay law is ignored. Republican legislation is for the capitalist, not for the laborer. —The action of nineteen Philadelphia ward leaders in going clear over to Brig- antine Beach .at Mr. QUAY’s call, last Sunday, just to see what he would have of them in the manipulation of city politics was a most disgusting revelation of the servility of that city to bossism. Only the day before it had worked itself into a very frenzy of jubilation over the unveiling of a magnificent bronze equestrian statue in memory of the man whose every public utterance and action is voiced in LINCOLN’S memorable epigram : ‘‘This is a govern- ment of the people, for the people and by the people,”’ yet this action of the leaders in that city proclaims that down there they need a revised reversion to read : A gov- ernment of a boss, for a boss and hy a boss. * —Our friend MATT SAVAGE, editor of the Clearfield Spirit, is nothing if not original, but the little stroke of genius dis- played in the last issue of his paper takes the rags right off all the bushes in the field of journalistic slickness in Clearfield coun- ty. Under thecaption, ‘What the Penn- sylvania Législature has Done for the Tax- payers ‘of the State,” there is an entire column on the editorial page of the Spirit that does not have so much as a line of reading matter in it. Thespace is entirely blank and of course fits the case to perfec- tion, for it means nothing and that is just what the Pennsylvania Legislature has done. That isn’t exactly what brother SAVAGE was after, however. He was kill- ing two birds with one stone, we’ll bet. He was ‘‘behind’’ with his paper when press time came and the happy thought of the blank column under such a head made up for the column of matter they were behind. We all get caught that way, but the trouble is that most of us are not smooth enough to find these slick ways out of it and have to resort to the boiler- of emmralic . » pV” RO STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 42 BELLEFONTE, PA., MAY 21. 1897. NO. 20 Free Silver as a Present Issue. In a recent editorial the Philadelphia Press announced the fact that the Demo- crats are ‘‘still for free silver.” This an- nouncement is made in a tone indicating yi, as if it were astonishing that the emocracy should adhere to Democratic principles. The utterances of Democratic newspa- pers force the Press to the conclusion that in the approaching state elections ‘‘there will be a strict adhesion to the free silver plank on which Mr. BRYAN ran for Presi- dent. This should not give occasion for sur- prise. There were some foolish people who came to the conclusion, after the last presi- dential election, that the free silver cause was annihilated by that result, and that nothing more would be heard of it as a po- litical issue. But they only displayed their folly in believing that a movement like that of last year, in support of a mon- etary principle based on a requirement of the constitution and eminently Democratic in its Character, in which six and a half million of voters took part, was merely a political flurry that had no permanent sig- nificance. Nothing could exceed the foolishness of such a belief, and those who are surprised that free silver continues to push itself to the front as a leading issue of public policy, prove their political imbecility by such surprise. The free coinage of gold and sil- ver, at the ratio which the relative value of the two metals had maintained for centur- ies, is not a new Democratic doctrine. It is not an innovation upon the policy of those Democratic leaders who were instru- mental in framing the constitution of the Republic. When the Democratic party, under the leadership of WILLIAM J. BRY- AN, demanded that the free coinage of the two metals should be restored, they merely asked for the restoration of a monetary policy which the founders of our govern- ment had authorized, and which had en- dured for three quarters of a century, until a comparatively recent period, when it was surreptitiously substituted by the contract- ing policy of gold monometallism to serve the greedy interest of the money dealers. It should not be surprising to any but political simpletons that so old and sound a Democratic doctrine as that which ac- cords the equal right of coinage to the two monetary metals, should continue to be a leading insistence of the Democratic party. It may, however, be a question of policy among Democratic leaders whether free sil- ver, or, in other words, equitable coin- age, should be made an issue in this year’s elections, it being the opinion of some that the contest should be conducted on state issues. But in regard to this mat- ter there can hardly be a mistake in believ- ing that policy would go hand in hand with principle in putting free silver coin- age prominently forward in the platforms of this year’s Democratic state campaigns. The Press affects to be surprised that there is an appearance of such an intention on the part of the Democrats, but it will have no reason for surprise if such a campaign issue, put for- ward this year, will greatly contribute to the defeat that is in store for the Republi- cans. Wanamaker’s Lamentation. Good JOHN WANAMAKER is notin a happy frame of mind concerning the pres- ent condition of the Republican party. He is distressed by prosperity’s backward- ness in coming forward in response to the invitation of its ‘advance agent,’’ and his pious soul is grieved by the wickedness of the corrupt bosses who are running the Re- publican machine, of whom boss QUAY is the most frightful example in holy Jonn’s estimation. The troubled feelings of this Republican saint found expression in an address he made last week to the business men’s league of Philadelphia, an organization which strongly sympathizes with WANA- MAKER'S despondent view of the Republi- can situation. He spoke to them of the obstacles with which bad men like MAT QUAY and his henchmen were obstructing the reforms in the State government which are the earnest desire of good men like himself and the members of the business men’s league, and he used language that might be construed as meaning that QUAY and his gang were no better-than ‘savage Turks.” . He, moreover, deplored the fact that ‘ ‘the country is not prosperous,’ feelingly portraying the disappointment that has followed the last presidential election which ‘‘was fixed as the date of the begin- ning of good times,’’ but instead of pros- perity there is a condition of things that will “turn the people to any leaderships that offer promise of better times, believ- ing that worse times can never come than those now existing.”’ It is thus that holy JOHN bewails the situation.: But when the cause of his lam- found to arise from the fact that QUAY is allowed to run the party machine in the plate relief. State instead of WANAMAKER. entation is subjected to inspection it is’ No man did more than the Philadelphia political merchant: to-elect the Republican President and bring about the Republican policy that has been such a disappointment to those who were led to expect that it would give the country better times. In view of this fact, what is the pious fraud making all this fuss about? In what way is MAT QUAY and his gang more responsi- ble than WANAMAKER and the business men’s league for there ‘‘not being any no- ticeable improvement of the wretched times.” Business continues to be de- “pressed, and it will become still more de- pressed, in consequence of the monopoly tariff measures of this administration, and surely there was no stronger advocate of such a line of policy than.was JOHN WAN- AMAKER. And when the dry goods politician snif- fles his lamentation about ‘‘the political re- ligion of the country falling lower and lower” under the corrupting influence of bosses like QUAY, is there not downright hyvocrisy in such complaints, when made by a man who at one election was the chief agent in contributing nearly half a million dollars to the Republican corruption fund, and who has done more to bring politics under the debasing influence of money than any other man in this State ? Of the two, QUAY is the less reprehensi- ble corruptionist, as he does not attempt to hide his faults under the cloak of religion. Renewed Interest in Cuban Affairs. Interest in the Cuban situation has been revived by the report of sufferings endured by American residents on the island, caused by the tyrannical and cruel prac- tices of the Spanish military authorities. The island is being converted into a desert, involving great injury to Americans, and destruction of property owned by those over whom it is the duty of this govern- ment to extend its protection. * The recent increase of this suffering which now demands American sympathy and relief, is caused by the military ev- lutions which force the residents of the country districts to abandon their planta- tions and concentrate in the towns. The object is to destroy agriculture and in that way deprive the rebellion of the means of subsistence ; but while the rebels are to be subjected to this process of starvation, thousands of non-combatants, driven to the towns, must also starve, and among these are a number of American resident- who were cultivating Cuban plantations, and are thus not only deprived of suste- nance, but have the double misfortune of seeing their property destroyed. This is the latest stage of the Cuban hor- ror, which, brought to the attention of our government and people, has revived Amer- ican interest .in the distressful affairs of that unfortunate island. It is no longer a question of whether it would be proper to recognize the belligerency of the insurrec- tionists, but this government has imposed upon it the question whether it will allow a number of American citizens in Cuba to starve, in addition to the endurance of other outrages practiced upon them by the Spanish authority. : 0 It was for such a reason as this that Pres- ident MCKINLEY sent a message to Con- gress, on Monday, asking for an appropri- ation of money for the relief of the suffer- ing Americans in Cuba. The amount of $50,000 for this purpose was promptly voted by the Senate. The House was equally disposed to render assistance, but the appropriation was detained by the tobjection of Mr. BAILEY, of Texas, who desired to couple with it the recognition of Cuban independence. The suffering Americans should be help- ed, but it will be but a half-way measure unless action is taken by our government to stop the war. This will have to be done ultimately, and why should it be delayed and thus expose the hapless island to more unnecessary blood-shed, and to misery that could be prevented ? ——The condition of the merchant marine of the United States has long been known to be in a most dilapidated condi- tion, but no one knew that there is really nothing of it at all until th- navy depart- ment started to find an American hoat to carry America’s gift of grain to starving India. One could not be found and a foreign vessel will have to be chartered and granted special permission to fly the Amer- maritime commerce that used to he one of this country’s greatest resources is indeed a pretty commentary on the usefulness of tariff laws, . ——Philadelphia went into ecstacies of delight while the United States cavalry troops were encamped jn Fairmount park, but now that the troopers have gone and it has been announced that it will be neces- sary to plow up and reseed the site of their camp they are becoming wild with rage down there because those omnipresent signs: ‘Keep off the Grass,” went un- heeded. ——Subscribe for the WATCHMAN. ican flag. Such a déplorable condition of ‘A Scheme for Contraction. From a recent declaration of chairman DINGLEY, published in a newspaper inter- view, it would appear that the object of his tariff bill is not only to benefit certain fa- vored interests by excessive tariff taxation, which will oppress consumers for the ad- vantage of monopolies, but also to produce a contraction of the currency by which the money dealers may have their interests pro- moted. His purpose is to produce a great treas- ury surplus which is to be effected by the revenue features of his bill in conjunction with the internal revenue to be derived from the tax on beer, coffee, tea, sugar and other commodities which are now but lightly taxed, or not taxed at all. By this means it is intended to produce a surplus of a hundred millions a year to be added to the existing surplus, $228,000,000. This will enable-a large amount of greenbacks to be redeemed and withheld from_circula- lation, causing a contraction of the curren- cy which will largely increase the advan- tage of the money loaning fraternity. This scheme of impounding the green- backs, thereby reducing the volume of cur- rency needed for business, is not only exciting the opposition of the Democrats who supported BRYAN, but is arousing the disapprobation of Republicans who are op- posed to making money scarcer by holding a large surplus idle in the treasury. There are Republicans who are willing that the taxing power should be used for what they erroneously consider the protection of in- dustry, but they are not willing to follow DINGLEY in laying excessive taxes to raise a large fund that may be kept out of circu- lation and thereby contract the currency. This would be done ‘in violation of the currency law which requires that when greenbacks are redeemed they shall be again reissued and circulated. Even Sen- ator GRAY, of Delaware, a Democrat whose opposition to free silver was so strong that he could not support BRYAN, is get- ting his eyes open to the contraction fea- ture of DINGLEY’S scheme. In speaking of it he says; “A bill which proposes on one hand to take millions by way of tax- ation out of the pockets of the people to be paid as bounties to favored classes, and on the other to take additional millions be- yond the requirements of governmental expenditure, to lay idle in the treasury, and thereby produce a contraction of the currency, would seem to lack any feature that could commend it to popular favor.” It is to be hoped that every Democrat who allowed the ‘‘dishonest-money’’ and *‘50-cent dollar’’ humbug to frighten him into the support of Republican gold mon- ometallism, may, like Senator GRAY, get his eyes to the scheme of contraction im- that is embodied in DINGLEY’S design to pound the greenbacks. Republican Logic and Good Times. Brother WANAMAKER'’S attack upon the Republican administration for the non-ap- pearance of the prosperity that was promis- ed, is exciting much feeling and resentment’ in Republican circles. Some of the organs declare that it is unreasonable to expect that prosperity should come right aleng with the advance agent. but that he should be given some time to put in shape the measures that are to make everybody pros- perous and happy. But WANAMAKER’S complaint is not illogical. The people had a right to ex- pect that prosperity would come right along with MCKINLEY. They had reason to believe from what they were told that it wouldn’t be a step behind the advance agent. They were promised that the two would travel together, and all the declara- tions and representations of Republican leaders an gans encouraged that, expec- tation. When CLEVELAND was elected the sec- ond time didn’t they say that the prostration of business and hard times were the imme- diate, effect of his election? There had been no change in the laws and the tariff was the same, but they declared that pros- périty collapsed as the instantaneous se- quence of the election of a Democratic President. They should not now try to dodge the effect of their own logic. If business prostration came as the immediate result of CLEVELAND'S election, why should it be unreasonable to expect busi- ness to revive and prosperity to set in at the very start of MCKINLEY’S administra- ‘tion, as the direct consequence of the res- toration of Republican rule ? It was natural for the people to draw such an inference from the declarations and claims of the Republican spellbinders, and it won’t do now for the latter to say that the people should have patience and give MCKINLEY time to bring along the pros- perity he promised. If the mere loss of a President by the Republicans, in 1892, brought an immediate collapse, shouldn’t their gain of one, in 1896, have brought an immediate revival. ——Mr. McKINLEY knows what it is to break up, but he won’t have a corner on the sensation after his administration’ is finished. ‘There are too many others who are doing it daily. EAN It Ism’t the Investigation it is the Junket the Legislators are After. From the DuBois Express. The miners who hope for a better condi- tion of affairs through legislative action at Harrisburg are hoping against hope. The legislative committee which is traveling around taking evidence at a big cost to the State is entirely unnecessary and a good deal of afarce. If the Legislature had needed en- lightenment on the condition of affairs in the coal regions it could have got it direct from Members who know the situation in their respective districts. If Representatives Har- ris and Alexander and Senator McQuown are not familiar with the condition exist- ing in the Clearfield mining region; Messrs. Mitchell and Smith, in Jefferson county; and Messis. Hyde and Dixon, in Elk, and other Members in their own districts, who is? They met hoth miners and operators during the campaign. They live amongst them. They have opportunities to talk with them frequently. What information can a legislative committee, which is look- ing into the question for a week or two, give men who have been thoroughly con- versant with the condition of affairs for years ? Laws have been enacted to remedy nearly every evil at present complained of, but they amount to very little and there is no assurance that any new laws would be more effective. Let the Blame Rest Where It Belongs. From the Northumberland Democrat. Suppose William Jennings Bryan had been elected President of the United States; suppose that the trade conditions following his election had L#.n exactly as they are reported from day to day by-Dun and Bradstreet ; suppose the same bank failures had occurred in Chicago, St. Paul and else- where ; suppose wages had been reduced on the same number of railroad systems ; suppose the cut in wages had occurred in Lynn and other manufacturing centres; suppose everything had happened exactly as it bas since McKinley's election, would not these unhappy events be attributed to Bryan's election? Would not a grand howl and stentorious “We told you s80’’ be going up all over the country? Would not the country be convinced that it had made a mistake in choosing the Democratic candidate ? — Blaine Was Really a Free Trader. Frem the York Gazette. . What would James G. Blaine say of the senate tariff if he were alive ? It is pretty safe to predict that this magnetic states- man would have the whole Republican party up in arms against the nondescript bill reported in the Senate, if he were alive to-day. Blaine appreciated th portance of extending trade from this country to all parts of the world and he was always op- posed to tariff measures which tended to destroy or curtail the trade we have. Both Dingley and Allison would be polit- ical and economical outcasts if Blaine were alive to make one speech against their bill. Yes, Isn’t It Wonderful. From the Easton Sentinel. The promised prosperity boom struck the town of Lodi, Ill., with so much force | that one-half the place is in the hands of receivers, and the other half is paralyzed. Nine business firms assigned last week in the place, as a result of the failure of John Sheldon’s bank. Sheldon fled to Chicago and is supposed to have committed suicide by jumping into the lake. Isn’t it simply wonderful how the gold wave is sweeping over the country ! \ Give Us an Income Tax. From the Altoona Times. Congressman Cochran, of Missouri, has presented in the house of representatives an amendment to the national constitu- tion, allowing the imposition of an income tax. This measure ought to he pushed and passed through all the stages requisite to its becoming a part of the organic law of the nation, for there can be no fairer tax- ation than that imposed on incomes. McKinley’s Message on Cuba. The President Asks Congress to Make Provision at Once to Relieve American Citizens in the Ruined Island.—An Appropriation of $50,000 Wanted. WASHINGTON, May 17.—The President to-day sent the following message to Con- gress : : ‘“To the Senate and the House of Repre- sentatives of the United States : : ‘Official information from our Consuls in Cuba establishes the fact that a large number of American citizens in the island are in a state of destitution, suffering for want of food and medicines. This applies particularly to the rural districts of the central and eastern parts. “The agricultural classes have been forced from their farms into the nearest towns, where they are without work or money. : Th / - “The local authorities of the several ‘towns, however kindly disposed, are una- ble to relieve the needs of their own people ‘and are altogether powerless to help our citizens. ‘The latest report of Consul Lee esti- mates six to eight hundred Americans are without means of support. I have assured him that provision would be made at once to relieve them. To that end I recommend that Congress make an appropriation of not less than fifty thousand dollars to be imme- diately available for use under the direc- tion of the Secretary of State. - “It is desirable that a part of the sum which may be appropriated by Congress should, in the discretion of the Secretary of State, also be used for the transportation of American citizens who desiring to return to the United States are withont means to de so,” WiLLiAM McKINLEY. Executive Mansion, May 17th, 1897. ——Subscribe for the WATCHMAN. Spawls from the Keystone. —The national Slavoni¢ society convened at Wilkesbarre Monday. —A blast at Cameron colliery, near ‘Sha- mokin, killed Charles Barrent. —A telephone factory is.to be erected Hy Pittsburg at a cost of $75,000. ~Owing to sharp competition the Reading iron company will refluce wages on June 1. —The Scranton heating company has the _| contract to heat the Scranton federal build- ing. —A delegation of Philadelphians visited Reading and inspected that city’s sewer sys- tem. —A wreck at Avon, on the Lebanon Val- ley railroad, demolished 13 freight cars Mon- day. —Top coal fell at the Black diamond col- liery, near Shamokin, and fatally hurt Frank Shock. % —While picking coke at East Lebanon, 11 year-old George Baylor fell under an ash car and was killed. —David Morgan, aged 10, of Plymouth, fell into the Susquehanna river at Plymouth, and was drowned. : —York’s contested election cases for the mayorality and city treasurership will be re- sumed to-day. —Ex:chief of police George Rudloff was shot in the head by an air gun he was clean- ing at Mahanoy City. —Burglars got $996 and some diamonds from the Globe warehouse safe, at Allentown late Saturday night. —Ex-district attorney Lewis Potter, of Perry county, has heen paralyzed at New Bloomfield, and may die. —President Thomson, of the Pennsylvania railroad, inspected the round houses, shops and yards at Harrisburg Monday. —Well-known J. J. Smith, chief of the Easton fire department, has been stricken with paralysis, and his recovery is not ex- pected. —The great council of Red Men of Penn- sylvania opened at Mauch Chunk Tuesday and was preceded by an elaborate reception Wednesday evening. —John Field, ex-postmaster of Philadel- phi-, delivered an address in the Methodist church, Pottsville, at the seventh anniver- sary of the local Young Men’s Chmstian Association. —The Rus of Frank Reed at Clear- field, was Warglagized about 1 o’clock on Sun- morning and some time later the house of John I. Irvin on Second street was entered. At the latter place the thief was heard and captured. Mr. Irvin and son cornered the intruder with a revolver and held him until Sheriff Smith arrived and took him to jail. He was a colored man and gave the name of Wilson, of Mt. Pleasant. ~ —The Vallamont company has tendered a lot of ground at Williamsport, which is to be operated on the Pingree plan for the benefit of the poor. About thirty-five or more ap- plications have been made. Altogether a space, 1,200 feet by 150 feet has been placed under cultivation, over fifty bushels of po- tatoes having been planted. It is now deem- ed that the potato patch will prove a success since only such persons have applied who are known to be industrious in their habits. —A bad accident occurred on the B. (. road about a mile above Clearfield Junction Saturday morning. The unlucky engine, which has already killed two men, was going up the mountain and ran off the track near a switch, striking two engines, which were standing there. Engineer George Duke jumped from his cab, and swears he will never again turn anotirer wheel on that en- gine. The engineer of cne of the other en- gines was badly injured, and the morning passenger train was detained five hours. —The first Lutheran church of Altoona, one of the finest structures of the kind .in the State, will be dedicated on next Sunday. On’ Saturday evening some of the former pastors of the church will deliver addresses, among the number being Rev. M. J. Fiery. of Potts- ville. The services, on Sunday, will be in charge of Rev. H. H. Weber, of York, and in the evening Rev. Dr. Orb, of Wilkensburg, will preach the dedicatory sermon. It will be a big day for the Lutherans of Altoona, it being the mother church of that denomina- tion in that city. —On account of the mad dog scare last week the borough council of Everett caused the following notice to be posted up: “‘All owners of dogs will after the date of this no- tice, for the period of ninety days be requir- ed to muzzle their dogs. All dogs found without muzzles will be impounded and if not reclaimed within forty-eight hours will be killed. Persons outside of the borough limits, who come to town accompanied by their dogs will be subject to the same restric- tion.” The aboveinotice was posted on Mon- day and already a large number of dogs have made their exit from the streets. —A sad drowning aeeident occurred lost Friday shortly after the noon hour near the home of Filmore Piper, along the Juniata river, about two miles east of Petersburg. Two of his sons were engaged dragging the brush and trimmings from an orchard to the river, by means of a horse and chain, the one lad, Lloyd. aged about 11 years, riding on the horse. While turning in the stream to | come ashore after dropping a load, the horse stumbled, but regained his feet, and instead of coming to the shore started to cross the stream. When near the opposite shore the horse again stumbled throwing its rider into deep water, from which the lad was unable to extricate himself, and he was carried down the current. —Wahile. walking the sidewalk on Main street in Galeton last Friday, a man named Anson fell over the railing and broke his neck upon the stones thirty feet below. Mr. Anson had been employed in the woods near Galeton, and, it is said, had been visiting some of the ‘‘pig’s ear’s,”” which had unfitted him for walking along the elevated walks, for which Galeton, is celebrated. The main street of that borough is hung loosely upon the side of the mountain, and at the places where the railing is low or broken down it needs a steady foot and a level head to navi- gate safely. But a few months ago a horse and driver went over the bank on the same street where Anson lost his life. . rE