Beara Wits BY P. GRAY MEEK. Ink Slings. —Annexing Hawaiia seems like an at- | tempt fo tie a small sized mill-stone about uncle SAM'S neck and drop him into the Pacific. — Bellefonte is not nearly as bad off as plenty of other towns we know of, yet just last night a hard working man remarked that it just took the hardest kind of pinch- ing to feed his family and clothe them re- spectably. — Granted that the average girl gradu- ate imagines she could set the whole world afire—if some one else would only furnish the matches—we still hang onto a negative argument on the ground that she can’t strike the match. — CLEVELAND has been honored with the degree of L. L. D, by Princeton Univer- sity. Now the great Democratic party wants to confer the degree of B. T. M. P. on him and he will be fixed up. Although he has more claim to the latter, which means bigger than my party, than he hae to the former, no one will object if he will only remember to sign himself as sheriff of Buffalo, L. L. D., B. T. M. P. —_No one would have recognized ‘‘flag day” in Bellefonte, on Monday, either from any demonstration, or anything that was said or done. In fact the banks, schools and other public buildings had as little show of the ‘‘national colors’ about them, as our citizens seemed to have care for the _day on which some people plant their patri- otism before the public, under the impres- sion that they are passing off as patriots and doing a great honor to ‘old glory.” —The Sultan of Turkey has at last made up his mind that he can accept an Ameri- can ANGELL as United States minister at Constantinople. When he first heard of Dr. ANGELL’S appointment to the mission he objected, but no one seemed to know why. The WATCHMAN will possibly throw some light on the situation when it suggests that the name ANGELL sounded entirely too good for the ‘‘sick man of Europe’s’”’ murderous heart to put up with. —CHARLEY BELL and E. R. CHAMBERS are hoth reported as being aspirants for the position of deputy collector in the revenue service. This position was generally con- ceded to Centre county until collector HERRING added it to the emoluments that Clinton county enjoyed. Whether it will get back here under the MCKINLEY admin- istration we do not know, but can certify to the fact that in addition to the above two candidates there are a thousand other Republicans, within the limits of the county, who are anxiously watching for just such a plum. —German manufacturers are beginning to find out that American made bicycles are driving their own product out of their home market and are asking thg govern- ment to prohibit the importation of Ameri- can wheels into Germany. For once we have scored on the low priced foreigners. The bicycle was first made abroad, but now the American genius has brought it to such a degree of perfection and cheapness that the world is our market. Such exclu- sive measures as the DINGLEY tariff, how- ever, will soon set the world against us, for if we are not to be liberal in permitting competition at home then we can expect no liberality in entering into it abroad. —The jingoes are at it again and this time it is a revival of the old Hawaiian annexation scheme. Just what the United States would have to gain by assuming the protectorate of about 70,000 Chinese, Japs, Portugese, half-breeds, Hawaiians, and British when there are only 1,974 Ameri- cans on the island, it is pretty hard to tell, but HARRISON wanted it done and it is altogether likely that MCKINLEY will en- deavor to force it through after the tariff bill is disposed of. If they want something for buncombe so badly why don’t they recognize the Cuban patriots. That would be an honorable and popular act. — President MCKINLEY has done for Mr. QuAY what President HARRISON re- fused to do—appointed his son to a captaincy in the regular army. Young QUAY was graduated from West Point, in 1888, and his father undertook to boost him up faster than the army promotions occur, but President HARRISON refused to lend assist- ance to such partiality and QUAY Sr., left the white house in a rage and never re- turned while HARRISON occupied it. —Inasmuch as there are no places for this year’s class, graduated from West Point, the new soldiers will have very little chance to be soldiers at all, unless they rally the scattered COXEYITES and get up an army of their own. —The disgusting truck that Republican papers are teeming with just now because the faculty of the University of Virginia saw fit to accord about the same honor to WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN as it might have to any other good American citizen, speaks only too pfathly of the narrow big- otry of the writers of such articles. It is not a crime to be a Democrat. Any man who choses may be a Republican, Prohibi- tioniste are good people and even the gold- bugs and silverites are made of the same stuff, breathe the same air and are inspired by the samesentiments that other Ameri- cans are, yet some people are that narrow that they can see no good in any other view than their own. These are usually the mental weaklings whose shallow prating foments trouble and disorganizes society everywhere. . 7 AOS © alone = SS TiTumwenTs germpesALUMeN, wn CC . 42 BELLEFONTE, PA, JUNE 18,1897. = NO. 24. Our Country’s Flag. Every patriotic American loves and re- veres the flag of his country. To him it is the emblem of the majesty and glory of the republic, and it symbolizes the govern- ment that has for its foundation the prin- ciples of constitutional liberty, and for its highest aim the personal freedom of its cit- izens and. the equality of all before the law. : It is not because the American flag is the most beautiful of all the national ensigns that wave on land or sea, but it is on ac- count of what it represents, and the glor- jous memories which the heroism of our forefathers have associated with it, that the true American accords it his devotion. It is the flag, as a symbol, that is honored on those occasions set apart as flag day as a special expression of our love and rever- ence for it as was the case last Monday. But in this flag worship may it not be possible for us to overlook the principles which the flag stands for? At this very time does it not appear as if the American people, while adoring the banner of their country, are allowing the sacrifice of that which that banner symbolizes ? The American flag represents a govern- ment of the people, by the people and for the people ; yet wesee that the influence which is gaining the’upper hand in controlling the government is not a popular influence. We see that wealth and not the will of the people is becoming the controlling power. The election of the President, as well as of Senators and Representatives, has be- come a question of money, vast sums for the influencing and corrupting of such elec- tions being employed to effect the object of those who propose to use the government for their personal gain and the advan- tage of the class to which they belong. Interests that design to profit from this perversion of popular government furnish the means of corruption, which has grown to the proportions of millions, by which the presidential office is bought like a pur- chasable article in open market. It is seen that those who thus buy the government run it in their own interests, as such was the object of their purchase. Sueh legislation is furnished as will favor special interests. The beneficiaries of fiscal laws are allowed “to dictate their specifica- tions. [Exactions are imposed upon the general mass for the profit of the class that pay for this advantage. Such combinations of wealth as increase their gains through the agency of trusts and other forms of monopoly, have not only the higher branch of Congress com- pletely under their control, but are rapid- ly absorbing the membership of the Senate, which is becoming an assemblage of mil- lionaires. Not only can wealth claim the owner- ship of the legislative and executive branches of the government, but it is able to exert such an influence over the federal courts as to secure their decision against la ws that may conflict with plutocratic in- terests. The currency is regulated so as to in- crease the profits of the money dealers, and the treasury so managed that the sales of bonds are necessitated, thus giving the banking class a chance to secure a share of these special advantages. When to this subjection of the general government to the money power is added the corruption of state Legislatures, that are ready to sell their service to any that may have money to buy legislation, it is seen what a wide departure has been made in public affairs from that government of the people which-the flag is intended to symbolize, and how, in this surrender to the power of wealth, the public is being crucified on a cross of gold. Six Months of Shame. The present scandalous session of the Pennsylvania State Legislature is drawing to theclose of its sixth month. Most of its time has been wasted in‘doing nothing, or worse than wasted 1m factional conten- tion, or in the profitless consideration of measures which it has been unwilling or unable to pass. It started out, nearly six months ago, with work of reform cut out for it by the party boss, which has utterly failed, either be- cause it was not intended to succeed, or because measures of reform were beyond the moral capacity of such law makers. There has not been a single measure passed that can be counted as a benefit to the people. What might have been to their advantage has been neglected or defeated. The ballot law has-been left with all the defects that are promotive of fraud and conducive to dishonest elections. Its amend- ment was purposely prevented in order that the Republican party might have the advantage of a corrupt ballot. This was the avowed intention, openly proclaimed by those who opposed and defeated the re- form of the ballot law. Bribery has made manifest its corrupt presence in the capitol, and it has been at- tended with the disgraceful determination to keep it concealed by preventing investi- gation. With the finances of the state fearfully embarrassed there is no abatement of the disposition _to waste the public means. Payment of such dishonest expenses as those contracted by the ANDREWS investi- gating committee, and other charges equal- ly scandalous, is demanded, and no doubt will be allowed in the appropriation bills, although there is not money enough in the treasury to meet the State's legitimate obligations. The sixth month of the session draws to aclose, and, with the time shamefully wasted, this incompetent and demoraliz legislative body finds itself unable to de- vise the means of supplying the deficiency of revenue caused by its profligacy and that of its predecessors. It flounders in its ef- forts to raise the revenue needed to run the state government, and may require another month before it can devise some plan of taxation that may save the state treasury from the bankruptcy that threatens it. At the end of the longest session on rec- ord, the Pennsylvania Legislature ‘pre- sents a spectacle at which every honest cit- izen of the State has reason to hang his head in shame. Prosperity for Chicago. The people of Chicago are seeing pros- perity coming to them in rather a singular way. : : At the last presidential election they gave a tremendous majority for a return of prosperity, and also for the rescue of the country in general and Illinois in particu- Jar from the designs of the free silver an- archists who were said to-be conspiring to ruin everything. : The reward they earned by that grea achievement has been given them by the Illinois Legislature through the bills it has passed for the promotion of their. prosperi- ty. One of them was the bill jammed through at a cost of about $1,000,000 to the Chicago street-railway combine. As the fruit of this large expenditure of money the combine gets the streets of Chicago for fifty years without having to pay a cent to the city, and also is permitted to charge a five-cent fare on each section of its road during the whole period. A bill almost equal in its enormity was bought through the Legislature by the con- solidated gas companies of Chicago, by which they are empowered to subject the citizens to any extortion they please in the price of gas. This bill was not quite so expensive as the YERKES street railway outrage, as it is said that it did not cost more than $250,000 to put, it through the Legislature. It is questionable whether the prosperity of the citizens of Chicago was advanced to any considerable extent by the passage of these acts of legislative piracy, but there is no question but that the corporations who got the bills passed, and the Legislators who got the money for them, have pros- pered. It will not be out of the way to mention that during the four years that Governor ALTGELD was in office, and while the Dem ocrats had control of the Legislature, the street railway and gas companies of Chicago did not dare to come forward with their rascally schemes, as they were sure they would receive no favor from either the Democratic Governor, nor the Democratic Legislature. the Coal Miner. There was no class of men, black or white, intelligent or ignorant, rich or poor, who stood up more unanimously, or voted more vigorously last fall for the ‘‘advance agent of prosperity’’ than the coal miners up in the anthracite region. They commenced before breakfast to ‘‘whoop-er-up for the good times that were to come immediately after the closing of the polls and they kept whoop-in it up until after supper, and then went home to dream of the full bellies and fat times that would come : with the morning and ‘the viec- tory they had won. The victory and the prosperity are both here and the miner knows now what Republican promises mean for him. It is not the demand for work, the good wages, the well filled stomach and the warmly covered back, that they looked for, nor do they secure the plenty and comforts they dreamt of. What they got in place of what was promised them is bet- ter told by the joint legislative committee —made up of Republicans—appointed _to investigate the condition of the miners in the anthracite coal region, which has just made it’s report and among other things says : “The testimony taken,’’ shows conclusively the deplorable condition of affairs for a per- iod covering about two years, and PARTICU- LARLY SINCE THE 18T OF JANUARY OF THE PRESENT YEAR, since which time the men in and about the collieries have been employed not more than two or three-fourth days per week, upon which, in many instances, they are compelled to support large families.” " ——1If Mr. MCKINLEY would attempt to annex some prosperity to the United States and leave Hawaii alone there would be far more rejoicing among the masses than there will be should he succeed in tying a horde of half-breeds onto us. ‘the same ower tariff there was an equal week, earning on an average about per. A Farcical Entertainment. The banquet given to the commercial delegates from the South American coun- tries at the Philadelphia Bourse, some weeks ago, had much the appearance -of a farce. Its absurdity consisted in the fact that while the hospitality it expressed was de- signed to bring about closer commercial relations with the countries those delegates represented, the Republican Congress was engaged in strengthening the tariff wall that will more effectually obstruct that commerce. The Philadelphians who were the enter- tainers on that occasion were zealous sup- porters of the tariff that is calculated to frustrate the object for which the entertain- ment was given, and as if to complete the absurdity of the thing, the chief guest and speaker at the banquet was President Mc- KINLEY whose tariff policy can have no other effect than to prevent the commercial intercourse which the banquet was intend- ed to encourage. These Spanish Americans afterwards went to New York, where they were also the objects of hospitable attention. But in the midst of the New York entertainment it occurred to Senor ROMERO, the Mexican wepresentative, to make a few remarks. He id, in effect, that while the American merchants were doing the agreeable to them in such handsome style for the pro- motion of commerce, the American Con- gress was getting up a tariff that would be the destruction of commerce between the South American countries and; the United States. The people of those countries had wool, hides and other raw materials which taey wanted to exchange for our products, ad which our manufacturers could turn to god advantage, but the DINGLEY tariff would bar out their raw materials, and un- dr the circumstances it was difficult to see what chance there would be forthe South American trade which the American mer- chants appeared to be so anxious to secure. There was much truth in Senor ROMERO'S remarks, but there are interests involved in this matter which the South American representatives may not be aware of. The Republican tariff makers are bound to look 3 the interests of the Chicago beef trust wAich will be benefited to the amount of $10,000,000, annually, by the duty on hides. That trust was a liberal contributor to the Republican campaign fund, and what is the South American trade in comparison to suchan obligation ? The people who use leather and wear shoes will be the losers by this hide wax, but that is of no consequence when the Republican party has to pay the election debt it owes to ARMOUR and the other beef barons who compose the trust. As regards the duty on wool, which is another obstacle to South American trade, that tax isdemanded by the wool raisers who feed their flocks on the cheap lands of the Rocky mountain States. The votes of four or five Senators from those States are required to pass the DINGLEY tariff bill, and they won’t vote for that scheme of plunder ualess the wool raisers of their section are given a share of the spoils. This is the situation that interferes with commercial relations with South America whose chief commodities of trade are wool, hides and other raw materials. When these are kept out by a high tariff, banquets, for the promotion of South American trade appear to be rather absurd entertain- ments. The export of butter from the United States to Europe rose, in 1896, from 9,539,- 000 pounds to 21,933,000. : This great increase was made under a lower tarff than MCKINLEY’S. Under increase in the exportation of all other kinds of American products. We are row to return to the higher rates of duties, esacted by the DINGLEY bill. Is it probable that the great increase of American exports, particularly in the agri- cultural ling, that sprung up so remarkably under the lower WiLsoN tariff, will contin- ue? Foreign countries are already threat- ening to refiliate by imposing duties on American faim products. The foreign trade which, under the en- couragement, of lower duties, developed last year with such great advantage to American exporters, will be destroyed in the conflict of tariffs between this country and foreign ®muntries that will be justly provoked intdtreating the Americans with a dose of theinown tariff medicine. Many of thefarmers have been deluded into the belie] that a higher tariff will benefit them. The decline of their exports to Europe will surely follow the increased duties of the DiNGLEY bill. They will find that its on}y effect will be to increase the cost of theirclothing and other necessa- ries, and make it harder for them to meet expenses, whileghey will see such countries as England, France and Germany dispens- ing with Amelican butter, meats and grain, and looking for those commodities in countries whith give them a more equal | next year, but not now. A Good Suggestion. EDITOR WATCHMAN : The Legislators are racking their brains to find something to tax in order to raise rev- enue to meet past and present extravagances, by increase of salaries and investigating com- mittees, etc. . I can suggest where there can be a million raised without trouble. Tax every per- son riding on a free pass on railroads, particu- larly Members of the Legislature and Judges of courts, ten dollars each. The framers of the constitution wisely pro- vided against this indirect way of bribery by the railroad companies hut the Legislature has made no provision to carry the mandates of the constitution into effect, which they have sworn to support. s A TAX PAYER. . The “Advance Agent” Now to Arrive via. Hawaii. From the Pittsburg Post. It is not in evidence that prosperity is to come from the new tariff, and it is an even chance if the bill in process of formation will equalize government receipts and ex- penditures. Tariff prosperity may come It wonld be ‘‘childish’’ to ask it, now say the boomers of the last campaign. The attempt to re- coup the fortunes of the administration by a Cuban sensation is also a failure, and, as something must be done, we are now as- sured salvation in that respect will lie in the revived scheme to annex the Sandwich islands. In the closing hours of his admin- istration Mr. Harrison negotiated a treaty of annexation, but Mr. Cleveland with- drew it from the Senate, to the very great satisfaction of the American people. Commissioners from Hawaii arein Wash- ington, and have been working for some time to create a feeling in Congress in favor of annexation. They have progressed so far that the alleged terms of the new treaty have been published, and as soon as the ‘tariff is out of the way the power of the administration will be used to push the treaty through the Senate. Itis quite possi- ble annexation may be accomplished in that way without action by the House of Representatives. That depends upon Reed, of course. Let us see what a heterogeneous mass of humanity it is proposed to bring in. The population of the Hawaiian islands consists of 72,517 males and 36,503 females —two men to every woman. According to nationality the males are classified in the Hawaiian census of the present year as fol- lows : Japanese, 19,512 ; Chinese, 19,167; Hawaiians, 16,399 ; Portuguese, 8,202 ; half-breeds, 4,249; Americans, 1,974; British, 1,406, with a scattering of Ger- mans, Scandinavians, French and South Sea islanders. Just how good times and reyived pros- perity—more work and better wages—are to result from the masterpiece of folly in- volyed in the annexation of this mongrel population is just about as difficult to cipher out as how the same beneficent re- sults are to flow from adding to the gains of the sugar trust some twenty millions a year. But Still it is the McKinley Boom. From the Clearfield Spirit. The Republican leaders of the Hanna faction of the party are whistling loud as they go past the graveyard. On the other side they can see lots of business prosperity and right here and now through a subsi- dized press as usuai they are trying again to fool the people. They are out in great heavy headlines proclaiming that prosperity is already here and assert that he who doubts is a ‘‘croaker.”” It will go hard for the working men in ‘this section to believe that they have steady paying employment, lots to eat, lots to wear and lots to spend when they have neither work or wages. But the ‘‘city dailies’’ owned by corpora- tions mean to do it-or bust. They Can’t Unlock Their Shops Any too Soon. — 5 From the Boston Herald. Now that President McKinley has heen made the recipient of a wooden key of prosperity, a foot long, gilded and berib- boned, from a southern admirer, the por- tals might as well be opened to let things begin to hoom at once. Having Their Turn Now. From the Philadelphia Times. While Senators make the tariff to suit their own localities, the people’s turn will come when it comes to turning the grind- stone. Victoria is Blind. Her Affliction is a Recent Culmination, but it has Been Threatened for Some Time. . ~ : LoNDON, June 16.—The whole aspect of the coming jubilee has been suddenly changed by the painful information which comes from a source that makes it impossi- ble to doubt its accuracy. It is announced, bn the authority of one of ‘the royal phys- icians attendant upon her majesty, that “the Queen is almost totally blind.” No details of the sad news are yet available, beyond the fact that the affliction is a re- cent culmination, although it had for some time been threatened. If the cause of her majesty’s blindness is cataract, which is the commonest form of impaired” sight in advanced age, ‘it, of course, is possible to cure it by a simple delicate operation. No information is yet vouchsafed on this point. Infact, it was hoped that the pitiful truth that the aged Queen would be unable to see the millions of her subjects who will pay homage to her on next Tuesday would be withheld po their knowledge until after the jubi- ee. This is the true reason why she will not ride alone in the procession and why she will not leave her carriage at the services to be held at St. Paul’s cathedral on Tuesday, and it is semi-officially announced that she will be unable to respond to the greetings that will be extended to her along the line of the royal procession. It also explains, possibly, the recent re- chance in trade. | vival of the gossip of a regency under the Prince of Wales in the near future. ¢ Spawls from the Keystone. —The seventeen-year locusts have appear- ed in many portions of Schuylkill county. —York county Republicans think of noth- ing but getting postmasters appointed. —Rev. John Walsh, the Pittsburg priest reported assassinated at Cape Town, died in Sierra Leone of fever. —The sheriff has levied upon the hard- ware store of P. S. Greenawalt, at Lebanon, on an execution for $8,000. —A compromise ticket for State delegates Tioga county on Saturday. —A United Brethren church under con- struction at Laughlinstown, Pa., was badly damaged by the storm Sunday night. —Arch street, in Allegheny City, will be widened by demolishing a dozen houses. The work will cost about $100,000. —The legislative prison investigating com- mittee began the investigation of the West- ern penitentiary on Monday last. Rev. W. H. Shaw, of the Methodist church at Hummelstown, is in a critical condition from an attack of neuralgia of the heart. -—Bicycle riders in the neighborhood of Pheenixville are being worried by some mis- creant who scatters tacks along the roads. —After a hard fight Gen. Gobin succeeded in securing two of the four delegates elected from his own county, for auditor General. —The 14-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack McCreery, of Derry, was struck by a train near Coopersdale and will probably die. —Winfield Scott Shaffer, who disappeared from Mercer, Pa., 20 years ago, has been heard from at Portland, Ind., where he is dying. " —Three cows belonging to Andrew Van Syckle, of Upper Makefield, Bucks county, died recently of a disease which resembled hydrophobia. —Lycoming county leads the State with three candidates for Governor—attorney- general McCormick, Colonel Coryell and State Senator Cochran. —The Pennsylvania railroad company has purchased ground for a new depot at Millers- burg. Work will be commenced in a short time on the new structure. —Going into one of the chambers of the Phenix colliery at Duryea, Martin Smith ignited the gas with his naked lamp and was suffocated by the after-damp. —The Chester county Democrats are not expected to make any nomination for the late judge Waddell’s successor, but leave the field clear to the Republicangactions. —A gang of thieves has'Ween operating in Londonderry and adjoining townships in Dauphin county, and the houses of Albert Foltz, John Zeiters and Harry Ulrich have been entered. —The Republicans of Blair county have nominated A. I. Harr for sheriff, and chosen as delegates to the state convention E. G. Bobb, H. E. Gross, S. A. Hamilton, J. D. Hicks and William Orr. —The statement of the Twin Shaft Relief Association, made public recently, shows a total of over $74,000 collected for the relief of the widows and orphans of the miners who were never rescued from their graves in the mines. —The executors of the estate of the late A. P. Whitaker, of Franklin. have disposed of the ‘Venango Spectator,” the only Demo- cratic paper in Venango county, to J. P. Donahue, of Pittsburg, who will assume the management. ? —Foley Bros., of Olean, last week com- pleted the Soldiers’ monument to be erected in Kane. Thisis one of the largest monu- ments in McKean county, standing over twenty feet high, consisting of a pedestal, surmounted by a soldier at parade rest. —Joseph E. Balliet, one of Allentown's best known citizens and for forty years con- nected with the Allentown National bank, died on Saturday. For thirty years he served as deputy county treasurer and at one time filled the office of county auditor. > —Judge Brubaker, of Lancaster, has pre- sented to the Lancaster county Historical Society a collection of interesting’ historical papers including two copies of “Der Deutche Porcupein’”’ printed in Lancaster in 1799. One of these German ‘‘Porcupeins’’ is a me- morial number of the death of General Wash- ington. : —Two young men and two young ladies of the State Normal school in Indiana county were expelled from the institution recently for taking an evening walk in the country. The other students of the school expressed their disapproval of the action of the faculty by making a demonstration when the an- nouncement was made. —Jennie Fessler, a pretty fourteen-year- old girl, who resides at Mt. Carmel, has been in the habit of piercing her forearms with needles and leaving the sharp and dangerous obstacles in her flesh. Recently the girl's parents took her to Dr. Millard, and the physician extracted twenty-one needles from one of her arms. The girl says she has over one hundred more in her flesh. —Linn, the 10-year-old son of Alex. Antes, of Centre Clearfield county, was badly gored by a cow on Friday last. He had gone into the stable to tie the animal, when she tossed her head up quickly, the horn entering his abdomen and inflicting a wound that allowed the bowels to protude. Hopes are enter- tained, however, for his recovery. —According to the Bedford Gazette Bed- ford has seen the day when she was able to boast of having several cows that Knew enough to open gates and destroy gdrddns. But W. S. Fletcher has-a cow that takes the cake, for in addition to opeming gates she goes to the hydrant, turns on the water and tukes a drink of pure Bedford ‘‘dew.” She has.not vet learned to close the hydrant. —On the 12th of last May Peter Engleman, of Lower Milford township, hearing an un- usual commotion in his chicken house, went* to investigate, and captured Allen Stauffer, a wagon containing ninety-six chickens, be- sides a bicycle and some clothes. Neighbors came who identified some of the chickens, and six cases on the charge of larceny against Charles and Allen Stauffer ensued. Allen pleaded guilty, but Charles succeeded in proving an alibi and was acquitted. One of the witnesses identified his chickens because when taken to his’ home they immediately went to their roosts. . was voted at the Republican primaries in