sm an GRAY MEEK. Ink Slings. BY P. | —The weather got warmer immediately Congress had assembled. -—The silver Democrats of Indiana are holding out the olive branch to the foolish ones who went rainbow chasing last year and failed to find the pot of gold. —The President’s message makes up in length what it lacks in substance. All Presidents have to write messages to Con- gress, but few Presidents put much in them. —The instability of the French govern- ment is effectively illustrated when a cabi- ‘net is in danger of falling because the right or wrong of putting a soldier to jail cannot be settled. . —The President’s message has assured the country of one thing, at least, and that is that the United States are to continue as passive witnesses of all the butcheries and outrages that Spain cares to perpetrate on Cuba. —DURRANT’S last hope is reported to be gone again, but the country has heard so much of this San Francisco murderer, whose execution has been delayed so long, that no one will believe his last hope gone until he has fallen through the trap. —Instead of running away off into the Pacific ocean to find a lot of undesirable blacks to add to our population the Con- gress of the United States could do a far more profitable work by. staying at home and providing something for the people we have now to do. —The Governor of Kansas offer to send a car load ‘of jack rabbits to the hungry in Washington has been accepted. It is not positively known whether the consignment is really for food or to furnish rabbit feet for the political gamesters who will hang about the capitol this winter. —Congressman GROSVENOR has a repu- tation for getting way up in the air when he figures on election results, but he land- ed on bed rock, on Tuesday, when he at- tacked civil service by saying that it ‘‘favors a few and is un-American.”’” If GROSVEN- OR never hit the nail on the head before in his life he did it then. —JOE RICE, the Wilkesbarre wheelman who rode in the great six days’ race in Madison Square garden, New York, last year, is riding there again this week. He made a phenom of himself then by riding 1,882 miles, while feeding himself on pie and ice cream. If it weren’t so costly he might have tried champagne and terrapin this trip. —Maj. Moses P. HANDY, special com- missioner of the United States to the Paris exposition of 1900, thinks that he ought to have about one million dollars to show us off properly to the world. From the earliest of time Moses was a great leader, but this later day name-sake seems to have struck a gait that will make us all hustle a little. —Emperor WILLIAM seems to have been taking up MARK TWAIN'S end of the string when he alluded ‘‘to the dash of French civ- ilization which is mixed with the blood of the Haytian negroes.”’” You will recall that when MAX ADLER, the French-writer, said that the people of the United States are so busy making money that they do not even take time to find out who their grand- fathers are, MARK TWAIN retorted that it would keep the average Frenchman busy to tell who his daddy is. —The squabble about the christening of the battleship Kentucky has developed some traits of blue grass character that was not generally believed to exist prior to the time it broke out. The fair women of Kentucky have always been synonyms of all that is modest and sweet in woman- hood, but the display that Miss RICHARD- SON has made of herself in her attempt to capture an honor, to which there seems to be some question of her right, knocks the Kentucky woman off her pedestal of reserve and classes her with the hustling, scufiling seekers after notoriety, no matter how it is to be obtained. —The condition in which the body of HARRY SAUNDERS, the colored man who died in the Williamsport hospital, last Sat- urday morning, was in when it reached this place was an outrage on decency. The fact that it came from an institution of that sort in a city of the size and enlight- enment of Williamsport heightens the dis- grace that must attach to some source. SAUNDERS had had the front part of his left foot smashed by a railroad train and was carried to the hospital, where he died very suddenly a few hours later, The hos- pital authorities say that it was in the midst of an operation that he expired. The body was then dumped into a casket and reluctantly turned over to the dead man’s father. The latter says that he supposed it was in a condition for decent burial, com- ing from the place it did, and did not look at the body until it reached here, when it was found that the dirty, grimy clothes were still on it and a muddy shoe covered the uninjured foot, from which it was evident that the clothes had not heen removed from the unfortunate fellow for the operation. The whole appear- ance of the corpse was so shocking as to make it seem impossible that it had come out of a christian city like Williamsport. He was only a poor negro, and, though one of God’s lowliest creatures, he should have been treated in a christian manner either dead or living. _VOL. 42 °° STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. The President’s Message. Those who expected of President McK1N- LEY’S message that it would contain posi- tive and forcible enunciation of govern- mental measures have been disappointed, but in its weak suggestions and nerveless evasions there is no disappointment to those who more correctly understand Mr. McKINLEY’S character. A perusal of the message would lead one to believe that the President has no posi- tive policy ; that he has nothing definite to suggest to Congress, but will depend upon that body to shape the policy of his ad- ministration. On no subject does the message show greater weakness than on the question of the currency, if we except the Cuban ques- tion, on which issue it may be regarded as pusillanimous. Nothing could be more non-committal than what he says about the monetary situation. He is neither for the extreme measure of the gold monometal- lists, as advocated by his secretary of the treasury, nor does he commit himself to the principle of bimetallism. He appears to grope aimlessly around the money ques- tion. For the manifest defects in our system of currency all that he ventures to suggest as a remedy is that at some future time, when the situation shall be more favorable, the treasury notes that have heen redeemed shall be re-issued only in exchange for gold, which is recommended as an ex- pedient that will prevent the working of the ‘‘endless chain’’ that was such a financial bug-bear to Mr. CLEVELAND. As a supplement to this remedy he further recommends that the national bank circu- lation be enlarged to the full value of the bonds deposited as security ; that national banks with a minimum capital of $25,000 be authorized to do business, and that the bank notes be not of a less denomination than $10. If, however, the gold reserve should be attacked by raiders presenting legal tenders for redemption he would have the secretary of the treasury continue the ruinous practice of borrowing gold for the maintenance of the reserve, a policy cal- culated to continue the ‘‘endless chain’’ to the profit of the gold sharks. This is about the sum and substance of President MCKINLEY’S monetary policy, as expressed in his message, and it must be said that nothing could be further from meeting the requirements of so momentous a question as that of the currency. If the message is weak on the money question its weakness in that respect has almost the appearance of strength in com- parison with the policy it recommends in regard to Cuba, and the course it would have Congress pursue in the treatment of a people whose long endurance of Spanish tyranny justified their uprising against their oppressors, and whose suffering from Spanish outrages entitles them to such sym- pathy from this nation as would he express- ed, at least, by a recognition of their bellig- erent rights. But the President has noth- ing to say in behalf of the struggling Cu- bans patriots. He has no words that would urge Congress to end the cold-blooded in- difference of this government to the wrongs of a people who for nearly three years have vindicated their right to freedom by main- taining an unequal conflict against their OpPressors. The American people, who expected that this Congress would at least give the Cu- bans the encouragement of recognition, hear no words from the President advising that either Cuban belligerency or independence be recognized, but, to the contrary, on the promise of better conduct by a nation that has broken all its pledges to the Cubans, the message recommends a longer ‘‘wait’’ until the ends of Spanish deception and cruelty may be accomplished. We doubt not but that the President, personally, sympathizes with the Cubans, but he lacks the courage to advise a course that is due from this nation to a people struggling against a most oppressive tyranny. How different is the position of President McKINLEY in this matter from the utter- ance of the Republican platform, which, after declaring that ‘‘Spain has lost control of Cuba,” declares that the government of the United States should actively use its influence and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the island.” What chance is there for Cuban ‘‘inde- pendence’ when President McKINLEY pursues a weaker and more indifferent pol- icy than that which, during the CLEVE- LAND administration, excited the denuncia- tion of Republican jingoes ? ——Chief of police H. H. MONTGOMERY has heen appointed special officer by the Bellefonte school hoard to see that the youngsters attend school, as prescribed by the new school law. The board has had pamphlets printed, defining the duties of parents under the law. The officer reports that most of the excuses that are given for non attendance are because the children do not have clothing or shoes fit to'wear. It is his opinion that most of such excuses have no foundation in the fact. Mr. Bryan Will Remain on Deck. There have been reports that WILLIAM J. BRYAN had expressed his intention to retire from politics. Such rumors may have sprung from the desire of the goldbugs that so formidable an opponent should cease to antagonize their policy by a cessa- tion of his political activity. If this was a case of the wish being the father of the thought it has proved to be entirely vain, as we have the assurance of Mr. BRYAN’S own words that he is not going out of poli- tics just yet. In reply to an inquiry as to the truth of the report of his intended retirement he has written to Congressman GAINES, of Tennessee, effectually exposing its untruth by saying ‘I expect to remain in politics all my life. Whether I shall ever run for office again depends on circumstances.” It would indeed be a great misfortune to the country if it were deprived of Mr. BRYAN’s political service. This may be said without regard to the eventuality of his being again a candidate for the Presi- dency. Circumstances will determine what occasion there may be for his service in that capacity; but he has proven himself so staunch an advocate of true Democratic principles, at a time when the fate of the Republic depends upon the success of those principles, and so able and fearless a trib- une of the people that the nation will prof- it by his service in whatever capacity he may render it. He is a born leader and he may be trusted to lead in the right direc- tion. It is not merely in his advocacy of silver, as a part of the constitutional currency of the country, that he is serving the cause of the people and maintaining a Democratic principle. There is in his championship something higher than the mere question of money. It involves the preservation of popular institutions and free government. That the people should have a free and sound currency, uncontrolled by the mone- tary monopoly which the gold standard is intended to establish, is a matter of great material interest to them, but it is trans- cended in importance by the enforcement of those principles of Democratic govern- ment and essentials to civil liberty which were so forcibly re-asserted in the Chicago platform and so ably and fearlessly main- tained by WILLIAM J. BRYAN, whom the country cannot afford to have retired from political life until it shall be determined that the will of the people, and not the banded interests of wealth. shall rule this nation. The Power of the Speaker. The reports in the papers as to what speaker REED will allow the House to do, and what he will not permit, make it look as if we have no longer a representative government. Thus it is said that he will not allow any action of the popular branch of Congress that may get us into difficulty with Spain ; he will not permit the House to indulge in extravagant appropriations, and he will prevent legislation that would have for its object the tinkering of the currency. These are public questions which, ac- cording to our theory of popular govern- ment, should be determined by the repre- sentatives of the people, but according to the new practice established in Republican legislation it is for the autocratic will of the speaker to say what is proper to be con- sidered and acted upon by those represen- tatives, and what is not. The one-man power is set up as superior to the old con- stitutional practice of popular representa- tion. We find no fault with the speaker’s ob- jection to the continuance of the outrageous extravagance of recent Republican Con- gresses. We do not consider him wrong in being averse to the currency legislation that is being projected by gold-bug currency “reformers.”’, What strikes us as being decidedly out of order is that it should be accepted that he, as the presiding officer of the House, can arrogate to himself the right to select the subjects upon which the people’s representatives may legislate. The concession of such a right is but a substitu- tion of autocratic power for the free action of popular representation as provided by the constitution. The welfare of the Republic requires that we should not in any particular lose sight of what that basic document requires. However, without agreeing to speaker REED’s assumption of autocratic power, we can heartily approve of his reported aversien to the kind of currency reform for which the gold monometallists and bank interests will solicit the favorable action of Congress. The basis of this alleged re- form is the retirement of the greenbacks, which the speaker is said to be most de- cidedly opposed to, it being his opinion that ‘‘the demand for currency reform is largely manufactured by professional finan- ciers,”” who propose to advance the bank- ing interest and benefit the gold dealers by the contraction which would result from putting the government’s paper money out of circulation. Unacceptable Advice. It is hardly probable that the American people can be induced to forego the advan- tage of government paper money by the bait held out to them by Mr. C. D. ADAMS, an ex-president of the Union Pacific rail- road. That persuasive, but rather suspi- cious financier, who recently returned from Europe, represents that it is the opinion of German capitalists that American prosper- ity would be greatly promoted by the re- tirement of the greenbacks, and that there would be a great increase if German in- vestments in this country if that form of paper currency was gotten out of the way. That this should be the expression of the German gold-bug class is quite natural, as the calling in of the paper money issued hy our government would be in line with the conspiracy of the capitalistic interests in Europe, as well as this country, to bring the currency of the world on a strictly gold basis ; but it is likely that the American people have a better understanding of their own monetary interests than have the Ger- man capitalists, and are not prepared to be- lieve that they would be benefited by the retirement of a safe and convenient form of paper money which can be cheaply kept in circulation in comparison with bank is- sues based on gold bonds which require the payment of interest. Nor is it probable that our people will see anything particularly alluring in the proposition that if they will retire the greenbacks European capitalists will make larger investments in the United States, the interest on which will increase the drain of our money to foreign countries which, of course, would be required to be paid in gold. Foreign investments in this country are of doubtful advantage to American in- terests, but the disadvantage is obvious when under the gold standard the interest to be paid on them is double what it would be if a bimetallic system prevailed. Mr. ADAMS must hold out a stronger al- lurement if he hopes to induce the Ameri- can people to dispense with the excellent paper money with which their government has supplied them, and, moreover, they will be shy of taking monetary advice from a person whose financial ethics were de- ved from Pacific railroad management. Completed Its Mission. At the recent annual meeting of the Cob- den club it was made to appear that the membership of that renowned English free trade association had dwindled to twelve persons, one of whom was a woman. It was never definitely known how nu- merous that organization was when it was in its prime, but it is certain that it was composed of a limited number of intelli- gent people who entertained practical views on questions of public economy and greatly benefited England by assisting her to get rid of most of her fiscal barbarisms, chief among which was the unenlightened no- tion that she benefited her trade interests by depressing them with tariff encum- brances, an uncivilized impression that still prevails in the United States. The Cobden club, having done its part in the performance of a great and beneficent work, has naturally declined in member- ship, as there is no further occasion for its activity in bringing the English mind to a comprehension of correct public economy. It is further reason that there are no more than a dozen still belonging to the cele- brated association. It is not stated wheth- er they are rich, but each of them will have to be a multi-millionaire if the Cob- den club is to continue sending over the vast amounts of British gold to this coun- try at every presidential election that the Republicans have charged them with doing for the purpose of defeating protection to American industry in the interest of the pauper labor of England. It is probable that this fiction will be continued with the pertinacity they dis- played in waving the bloody shirt. Petered Out Ignominiously. And so it turns out that the great Ameri- can Protective Association, known by the abbreviation of A. P. A., has been brought to a timely end by a sheriff’s sale. Its su- preme head quarters, at Washington, were levied on and sold under the hammér some time ago, thus bringing to an ignominious conclusion the career of an organization which aspired to control the politics of the country by a combination of political and religious influences. This is another illustration of the fact that the American people have no use for organizations that are conducted on dark- lantern principles and by underground methods. The fate that overtook Know- nothingism, some forty years back, has been repeated in the extinction of the A. P. A Public sentiment in this country has in these two instances given sufficient indica- tion of its aversion to oath-bound practices in influencing either politics or religion. It was only last year that the A. P. A. assumed to dictate to political parties and to call presidential canditates to account. The arrogation of such importance furnish- es a laughable contrast to the whack of the sheriff’s hammer that knocked off the fur- niture ‘of its head-quarters to the highest bidder. BELLEFONTE, PA.. DEC. 10. 1897. Dz 2 —— An Increasing Deficit. The treasury deficit is mounting up at a lively rate, or probably it would be more correct to say that the government’s means of meeeting expenses are going down with unprecedented rapidity. Since the begin- ning of the present fiscal year, during most of which the DINGLEY tariff has been in operation, the shortage, up to the first of the present month, has amounted to $46,- 581,120. - This is a decidedly poor showing for a tariff which it was claimed was expressly intended to produce more revenue than the WILSON tariff that was blamed with being so deficient in that respect as to produce the financial embarrassment that brought on the business collapse from Which the country has not recovered. In the three years during which the WILSON measure was in force the deficit amounted, in round numbers, to $86,000- 000. It appears that in something less than four months the deficiency of revenue under the DINGLEY act amounts to more than half of what the shortage aggregated dur- ing the entire period of the WILSON tariff, and there is an interesting problem in the question what the DINGLEY deficit is likely to be in three years if already, at the end of four months, it amounts to $46,000,000? There was never a greater fraud practiced upon the American people than when the claim was set up by the Républicans that DINGLEY’S tariff legislation was in- tended to produce more revenue. If they had gone before the people at the last pres- idential election and said that their pur- pose was to enlarge the tariff duties for the benefit of special interests, which they have since done, they would have been badly defeated, but they pretended that their object was to effect an increase of revenue needed for the purposes of govern- ment, with the result that they have in- creased the deficit by passing such a tariff as was needed for the profits of the trusts. Drawing Class Lines. From the Easton Sentinel. The lines between the rich and poor are being more closely drawn in America now than ever. Great fetes are reported in the palaces of the wealthy, while in the same journals are recorded instances of starvation and misery untold in the hovels of the poor. We are fast imitating the aristocracy of Europe, whose lordlings dictate the meth- ods and practices of American society. Not only in private life, but in public station snobbery has attained a foothold. From the White House at Washington, in which dwells the servant of the common people, it is reported that more elaborate plans for entertainment are being made than were ever known before. There are to be fewer public functions and such as are permitted are to be materially short- ened. But the number of private and of- ficial receptions are to be greatly increased and rules requiring cards, ete., are most stringent and will be fully enforced by the greatly increased force of attendants that now swarm the White House. The plac- ing of all such attendants in uniform is an- other innovation borrowed from European courts. And the American working man stupid- ly wonders what it all means to him ! And the army of idle men increases, while the prices of livi ing advance ! Can such things be in the evening of the Tw entieth century ? “After us the deluge.” Joining the Silver Ranks. From the Pittsburg Post. We used to hear at the height of the dollar wheat boom of silver and Bryan Re- publicans in the West confessing their mis- take and again joining the grand old party. The reports were vastly exaggerated, and now there is a glimmer of a contrary drift. Lionel A. Sheldon, of Los Angeles, Cal., formerly a congressman from Ohio, then a governor of New Mexico and lately a dele- gate to the St. Louis convention which nominated McKinley, has made public declaration of his intention to join the sil- ver Republicans in opposition to the party as.at present led. He believes bimetallism offers the ouly remedy for the hard times, and declares that no tariff bill can be passed which will yield sufficient revenue, and that we ought to have a Federal in- come and inheritance tax. His defection has caused a stir in political circles on the Pacific slope. The failure of the Wolcott commission is quite likely to increase the number of silver Republicans in the West who follow the lead of Senator Teller. Nearly a Million Wanted. WASHINGTON, Dec. 7.—The President to-day submitted to Congress the report of major Moses P. Handy, of Chicago, special commissioner to the Paris international ex- position, giving the details of his mission. The commissioner recommends that $919,- 600 be granted for a creditable display on behalf of the United States. The President says : ‘‘The United States will be placed on a footing with the most favored nations, and will have a location commensurate with the dignity and im- portance of the country, and adjoining in every case countries of the first rank. I earnestly commend the report of major Handy to your consideration, and trust that a liberal appropriation may be made.”’ The French republic at Chicago in 1893 spent $1,000,000, and reciprocal liberality on the part of this government is asked. ——Subscribe for the WATCHMAN. Spawls from the Keystone. —Several hundred children in Reading are out of school because of insufficient clothing. —The constables of Franklin county have organized a branch of the state constables’ association. —The Dauphin county constables have organized a branch of the state constables’ association. —Judge Walling, of Erie, has declared un - constitutional the fraudulent debtors’ act of July, 1897. —Nearly 250 tramps are living at Schuyl- kill county’s expense in the county jail at Pottsville. —The state horticultural society will hold its annual meeting in Lancaster January 18th and 19th. —Falling from a train Monday at Cresco, George Davis was instantly killed, the car wheels crushing his head. —DMarriage is fading in popularity in Clear- field county, where last week not a single license was issued. —All the cotton and woolen mills in Read- ing and vicinity report business much im- proved and the outlook excellent. —The Pottsville benevolent association, an organization which for years has been dis- tributing charity, is without funds. —Zion’s Lutheran church, at Minersville, erected to take the place of a structure built 50 years ago, was dedicated on Sunday. —The Beaver county grand jury has in- dicted Joseph Beaver and Arthur Bair for murder for the death of Don Sullivan. —A knitting machine factory, to employ 40 hands, will be erected in Allentown by Emil Hirner and Amandus Henninger. —Charles T. Hull, cashier of the first national bank of Athens, has been held in bail on the charge of embezzling $1373.75, —Pricking a stick of dynamite with a hairpin, Mrs. William Haines, of Mont- gomery, near Williamsport, had three fingers blown off. —Armor plate for the United States battle- ship Alabama was shipped by the Bethlehem iron company Monday night to Cramps’ shipyard. —Rev. J. F. Shearer, of St. Mark’s Luth- eran church, Conshohocken, announced his resignation Monday to take effect three months hence. —Reading stove and bolt works report an increasing volume of trade and the employ- ment of more hands as compared with last year at this time. —Saturday marked the close of the naviga- tion season on the Schuylkill canal, and the boats are now preparing to go into quarters for the winter. —Benjamin F. Leinbach, for seventeen yearsa school teacher, is a candidate for the legislative nomination on the Democratic ticket in Berks county. —Hottonagitchi, a half-breed Comanche Indian, after walking from Colorado to Potts- ville, is in prison in the latter place for dis- orderly conduct. —Captain Philip Lautenslager, of Com- pany C, national guard of Pennsylvania, at Chambersburg, will shortly retire from com- mand of the company. —Margaret Barrett, aged 90, who wan- dered away from her home in Carbondale a week ago, was found dead on the mountains near that place Monday. —John McKinley, a peddler, was found unconscious Monday ina cell in the Lan- caster police station, where he had broken a gas pipe, apparently bent on suicide by in- haling gas. —For filling out money orders to the amount of $340, with himself as payee, and obtaining the cash, William Eckenrode, son of the postmaster at Carrollton, is in custody at Greensburg. —Two Williamsport men a few days ago paid $20.90 in fines and costs for conducting a raffle for turkeys and chickens in that city. The chief of police gives notice that raffles or any other games of chance will not go in Williamsport. —A dispatch from Washington states that ex-Congressman F. C. Leonard, of the Ly- coming district, will be appointed collector of internal revenue in the Twelfth district, to succeed Grant Herring. Herring's term will expire January :O0th. —The Kenmore hotel at Mahaffey was i destroyed by fire Monday morning. Many of the guests escaped with only their night clothing to protect them. The building was erected in 1894 and cost $20,000. It was own- ed by Miles Wrigley, but the hotel was man- aged by J. B. McCrossin. —Charles Doran, proprietor of the Grand Central hotel at Olean, N. Y., and Frank Wright, of Buffalo, have leased about 10,000 acres of land near Oswayo, in Potter county, and are putting a test well at Andrews Settle- ment. They believe the land which they have leased is in a direct line between the Bradford and Elkland oil fields. —The Altoona, Clearfield and Northern railroad, which 1s the connecting link be- tween Altoona and Philipsburg, was sold Monday to Samuel P. Langdon, of Philadel- phia, who represents the projected Pitts- burg, Johnstown, Ebensburg and Eastern railway. The amount of purchase money closely approximates $200,000. —A number of farmers near Jersey Shore will raise sugar beets next season. Samples of these will be analyzed for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of sugar they con- tain. Persons interested in the growth of sugar beets assert that Pine Creek farm land is especially adapted for their culture. The large amount of lime stone in that immediate vicinity makes Jersey Shore a favorite place for a factory, as limestone is extensively used in the manufacture of beet sugar. —At Altoona Sunday evening Mrs. Cora Krause, after lighting the gas, threw the burning match to the floor. It fell into a can of varnish and immediately there was a loud explosion. The burning fluid flew over Mrs. Krause, igniting her clothing and set- ting the room on fire. Members of the fam- ily ran to her assistance. Her clothing was torn off, when it was seen that the woman was terribly burned from the head to the waist. A physician did all he could to alle- viate her sufferings. The flames in the room were extinguished after causing fifty dol- lars’ worth of damage.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers