BY P. GRAY MEEK. Ink Slings. —And the Governor is the big Boss, still. —Oh, Unreliability ! thy name should be ‘“War bulletin.” —General COXIE seems to be silenced as effectually as was Admiral MONTEJO at Manila. ~—The growing suspicion is that CORBETT and FITZSIMMONS are at the bellows of the war bulletin factory. —Speaking of ‘‘events,’’ what’s the use of college boys trying to break the running record with CERVERA in the field ? “My Heart is With the Dead,’’ is the latest song out. It should be dedicated to Mr. GIVEN’s late gold Democratic state or- ganization. —If an occasional one of our victories would only keep for about twenty-four hours, it would save a deal of work in our efforts to appear confident. —There is a lingering suspicion among the people that General Indecision is still in command of the administration and its forces about Washington. —DMost of our war news comes from the wind-ward passage, which explains the big amount of blow in comparison to the small amount of truth there is in it. —Since the Hon. JOE SIBLEY pricked he head of the Oil City Derrick’s BOYLE, with a libel suit, the little truth it contain- ed has run freely without a bit of squeezin’. —Old Probability has let up a little in the rain business, but the fellow who is do- ing the lying for the newspapers as to how we are wiping out the Spanish is as busy as ever. —The Bucks County Railway Company has voted to have its road managed and run by a man named Mr. Booze. If there is anything in a name its cars ought to be “full”? all the time. —The U. 8. Supreme court has declared the State oleomargerine law unconstitu- tional, and we suppose there is nothing for us farmers to do hut to accept the decision for butter or worse. —After all there isn’t much difference between this war and the one of old waged by JosHUA—against Jericho. He won by blowing his own horn—we’re trying to win in the same way. —If the stock of blank commissions only holds out President McKinley will have congress solid. There is nothing that lines a congressman up to the work wanted like a commission for his son. —Gov. Hastings we are told feels proud over his victory in this county last Tues- day. Possibly he does. We have known persons who could feel proud over results that others would be ashamed of. —And now the Governor can feel that his administration has had an endorsement. By a tight squeeze, and an abundance of boodle, he got a bare majority of his own party, here at home, to say they ap- prove it. —We always understood that ANANIAS was somewhat of a liar, but if he could compete for a single day with the fellow who furnishes the war bulletins for the public, he was better up in his profession than most people imagine. —One of our exchanges complains that the new state capitol will be nothing but a barn. Possibly it will. But from the kind of ‘‘roosters’” that will be sent to oc- cupy it a chicken roost would be more ap- propriate and amply sufficient. —So far, in the political campaign, the WANAMAKER papers have knocked STONE out, as a candidate for Governor, just about as often and effectually as the war bulletins have demolished the Cape Verde fleet. And still both wars go on. —By the time our Democratic friends out in Clearfield get through washing their dirty linen, there’ll be about as much of the Democratic party left in that county, as there would be of a cake of toilet. soap after a week’s wash at a county poor house. ——The New York Sun seems to think there is a vast difference between bonds and taxes. Possibly there is, but our un- tutored financial mind fails to appreciate it. To us it looks as if honds and taxes hold the same relation to each other that sin and heli do—the one the sure road to the other. —The Governor's friends used the tactics resorted to by QUAY in his state chairman fight two years ago. They made the other fellows believe they were licked and they didn’t waken up to discover that they wasn’t until after they were ; and now they are madder than a cross hen because they didn’t find out ‘‘where they were at’’ until it was all over. —Mr. CARNEGIE’S papers are just now ‘‘pointing with pride’ to the manner in which his armor plate, on the Baltimore and Olympia, withstood the ‘‘shock of hat- tle” at Manila. ‘Shock of battle,” is good. That’s about all the armor plate had to stand if reports of Spanish marks- manship are correct. —Somehow or other the “gold stand- ard” don’t size up to the situation all the time. Over in Spain they have their bonds made payable in gold and they are worth only 36 cents on the dollar. After all, the ‘‘standard’’ depends very much on what is back of it. Gold bonds in Spain are worth less by one-half than silver bonds are in Mexico. TD emaoralic: a STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 43 The Effect of Stupid Strategy. One of the disadvantages of our inade- quate naval force that is so seriously im- peding the operations against the enemy is the fear of a Spanish attack on the exposed Atlantic coast. To guard against this ap- prehended danger a good portion of our small navy has been detached from the fleet which is of insufficient strength for all that is required of it in the operations against Cuba. The apprehension of an attack on the Atlantic sea-board is, in all probability, a matter of the imagination. The strategy that divides our naval force in order to pro- tect the seaports is much like the strategy which during the civil war kept a large part of the army in reserve for the protec- tion of Washington. If the force that re- mained practically idle had been promptly forwarded, for the reinforcement of Mec- CLELLAN, the Peninsula campaign would have had a different conclusion. As Wash- ington would have been more effectually protected by successful operations against Richmond, so our Atlantic cities could be given a better defence by our ships attack- ing Havana and giving the Spaniards all they could attend to in that quarter. There was something almost ludicrous in the naval strategy board keeping Ad- miral SCHLEY’S fleet lying inactive for weeks in Hampton Roads so that it might be ready to beat off an imaginary Spanish raid on our Atlantic cities. While this sort of strategy was keeping our divided navy too weak for effective action against Havana, the unprepared Spaniards were given time to organize the fleet which after long delay made its appearance under their Admiral CERVERA. The blunder of detaining Admiral SCHLEY so long near Fortress Monroe to protect a coast that was not in danger, has become apparent. In the history of this war it will be mentioned as an exhibition of strategetic stupidity. After the opening of hostilities it should have been evident, to the most ordinary military comprehen- sion, that Spain was not in condition for immediate naval operations, and if at that favorable opportunity every ship in our navy, together with as much of the regular army as could have been speedily mobilized, had been promptly moved on to Havana, as DEWEY moved on to Manila, it is almost certain that the enemy would have been found unprepared for successful resistance. The Spaniards are bound to he driven out of Cuba. The valor of Ameriean sol- diers and sailors may be relied on for that heroic achievement, but it is to be regretted that stupid strategy and the half-hearted action of a reluctant administration, will enlarge the amount of blood to be shed, and increase the difficulty of the final vic- tory. A Power That Should Belong to the People. The constitutional amendment changing the date of Presidential inaugurations from the 4th of March to the 4th of May has re- ceived the necessary majorities in Congress and will now go to the State Legislatures for their indorsement. As a matter of comfort it is certainly more desirable to have inauguration cere- monies come off in pleasant than disagree- able weather, which appears to be the mo- tive for this amendment, But it is ques- tionable whether the subject is of sufficient importance to call for a change of the con- stitution which should not be meddled with except for reasons of the highest im- portance. Another constitutional amendment, of a far more momentous character, is pending in Congress, embodying the proposition of making United States Senators elective by the people. The resolution for such an amendment passed the House last week by the almost unanimous vote of 184 to 11, showing that the popular representatives in Congress are fully impressed with the evils connected with the present methods of electing the members of the Senatorial body. The practices that are resorted to in the election of Senators are gradually hecoming more scandalous. Money is used as the agency by which the Senatorial office is gained, it having become the practice for rich men to buy the coveted honor, result- ing not only in the debauching of State Legislatures, but in converting the Senate into a body of plutocrats who act together for the interests of their class. This evil has grown until there is presented the no- torious case of MARK HANNA, who has been found guilty of buying his election to the Senate by an investigating committee the majority of which was composed of members of his own party. This evil has culminated in the purchase of the Sena-- torial office by the corrupt rascal who was the chief agent in the political debauchery through which the Presidential office was secured for McKINLEY by means of money. A halt must be called in such corrupt practices if we want to preserve our popular institutions, and the beginning of such a reform should be made by an amendment to the constitution that will put a stop to the practice of securing the Senatorial of- fice by bribing State Legislators. The Only Remedy for State Misrale. To the immediate interests of Pennsyl- vania the result of the pending state con- test involves greater consequences than those that will result from the war with Spain. The people of this State have to deal with the enemy that has Corrupted its politics ! Debased its Legislature ! Perverted the functions of its public offices ! Misapplied its revenues ! And looted its Treasury ! These charges are not mere partisan rhetoric employed for political effect. Public intelligence has full knowledge of their truth. Apart from the people’s observation and experience of these cor- ruptions and abuses, the fact of their exis- tence is testified to by witnesses as compe- tent as JOHN WANAMAKER and the many Republicans who have joined him in mak- ing an open contest with the profligate bosses and ringsters, whose rule inflicts a common injury upon the State, from which the members of all parties suffer, but the disgrace rests chiefly upon the Republican organization, which has become intolerable to its decent membership. There can be no question as to the reality of the iniquities. No doubt can be entertained as to the thorough viciousness of the state gov- ernment. Those who are responsible for such po- litical and governmental debauchery are clearly identified. The approaching elec- tion will determine whether the peo- ple are capable of correcting condi- tions that are injurious to both their puh- lic and private interests. The issue is too serious to be trifled with. The remedy can be effected only by a union of the better popular element, taking as a basis for such union the party that can bring the strongest force against the prevailing mis- rule, and which by its past history and re- cent example has proven its capacity for hon- est state government. Such a union of the other reform elements with the Democratic organization can effect the redemption of the State, which will be vainly attempted by a divided force wasting its scattered strength against a strongly entrenched political machine. Military Favoritism. President McKINLEY could never be re- garded as possessing a strong character. The man who in all his political connec- tions has been used as the instrument of capitalistic interests, and yielded to the will of parties who have a mortgage on him, must be naturally weak. That the chief executive should be a weakling is un- fortunate under any circumstances, but it is particularly so when the country is en- gaged in war. Such defect in the President’s character was displayed in his shuffling indecision when hostile action against Spain was de- manded by an almost universal public sen- timent. He is now giving a further il- lustration of his weakness in allowing fa- voritism to govern his military appoint- ments. At a time when the success of the army requires that it should have the ser- vice of men experienced in military affairs, the influence of politics and wealth has been so exerted upon the President, that he has selected a long list of sons of senators, congressmen and millionaires for such im- portant military positions as Assistant In- spectors, and Adjutant Generals, and aids on the staffs of commanding officers, a pref- erence that does injustice to deserving sub- ordinate military officers who have been trained for such service. Qualification has heen entirely disre- garded in these army appointments. The only reason for their having been made was the ‘‘pull’’ which the inexperienced and unfit aspirants had on the appointing au- thority. Such unworthy preference is not only calculated to injuriously effect the ef- ficiency of the military force, but it is of so offensive a character as to deter self-respect- ing men from enlisting in a service where such favoritism is extended to aristocratic nincompoops. Is it Over? Although Gov. Hastings won his fight on Tuesday, that does not say by any means ¢ that it has settled the Republican troubles in the county. Had it been an over- whelming victory, or had less objectional methods been resorted to, the situation, in the future might have been different. Manliness requires of one when fairly beaten, to submit, but if the allegations made by the QUAY men, since the adjourn- ment of the convention, have any basis, there is every reason for them to revolt, and revolt in such a way as will teach tricksters and corruptionists, that their ways are not the ways of the people. We know nothing of the secrets of the two sides, only what we hear on the streets, and if one tithe of what is told is correct, there is every excuse for the contest to be carried to the State Convention, where the charges now made if proven, would leave no doubt as to what the final result would be. BELLEFONTE, PA., MAY 27, 1898. A General Incumbent Duty, The question of governmental reform in this State imposes a duty upon all classes of its citizens without regard to their past 3, Piel affiliations ! ere are no intelligent citizens who do ndt admit the existence of gross abuses in every departmentof the state government. That the Legislature is utterly corrupt is a fact which the scandalous acts of recent sessions have deeply impressed upon the public mind. That there has been an abuse of the exec- utive power, has appeared in its co-opera- tion with the Legislature in unduly favoring corporate interests and in saddling the ex- pense of new offices and increased salaries on the tax-payers. : That the State funds have heen grossly misused needs no other evidence than the extravagant increase in general state ex- penses. When this governmental licentiousness is known to have its origin in a sys- tem of machine politics that has in- vested a boss with the power to se- lect the state officers and control the law- making body, it should not be difficult for the people to determine the remedy for such a state of affairs. The boss must be deprived of his power by smashing the machine at the polls. Upon no class of citizens is this duty more incumbent than upon the honest members of the Republican party who see their organization made the instrument by which these abuses are practiced. The better element of the party is in revolt against this vicious domination, but its an- tagonism to the machine will lose much of its effect 1f it shall spend its strength in side movements instead of helping to de- liver a united blow for the redemption of the State from the protracted misrule of the most corrupt leaders that ever usurped the control of a political party. While it is due from honest Republicans that they should break away from their party machine in order that good govern- ment may be restored to the State, the Democrats, for the same end, have a duty to perform by removing such causes of dis- sension as may divide their ranks and im- pair their effectiveness in the coming con- test. No other issues than such as relate to the state government can be regarded as having any legitimate connection with the pending state campaign, and it will be an ill service, to the cause of state reform, if any part of the Democratic vote shall be alienated by the introduction of extraneous issues. Speculation the Cause of Dear Bread. The conspiracy of the wheat speculators, headed by LEITER of Chicago, has in- creased the cost of every poor man’s loaf of bread. There was a natural increase in the price of wheat, caused by the failure of foreign crops and the farmers, whose labor raised the grain, were entitled to the ad- vantage resulting from such a rise, but there has been an artificial advance in the price, produced by the speculative process known as ‘‘cornering the market,”’ and it is on account of that method of speculation that the people must pay more for their bread. People of affluent means, and those in moderate circumstances, suffer no hardship from this increase in the cost of bread. That they must pay more than they should is their chief grievance from extortionate prices. But tke poor, to whom every cent taken from their scanty wages is of ac- count, are the victims who are made to suf- fer in order that LEITER and such as he may gratify their greed by increasing their millions. There is indeed a defect in the body poli- tic and something wrong in the laws, when there is no way of preventing the monopo- list and forestaller from preying upon the people. Our legislatures and courts fail to furnish a defense against such spolia- tion. Public policies rather favor the pred- atory class that practice monopoly and corner markets. In fact it has been the business of legislatures and courts to pass laws and render decisions for the advant- age of such ‘‘business interests.”” The party that protects trusts has no disposi- tion to interfere with the practices of the grain speculators that threaten the poor with starvation. Too Blind to See, and the Country Suf- fers in Consequence. If there was any occasion for President McKINLEY to get Congress together in ex- tra session, which he did a year ago, his object in doing so should have heen to call its attention to the inefficient condition of the national defences and to urge a proper strengthening of our navy. The dullest statesmanship should have been able to see that war with Spain, growing out of the Cuban trouble, was inevitable. But the extra session was not called for so high a purpose. It was designed for entirely dif- ferent work. The monopolies that had contributed their money for McKINLEY’S election were so clamorous for more ‘‘pro- tection’” that Congress had to be im- mediately convened, and the result of its legislation was not better defences and a stronger navy to protect the country, but more than a hundred trusts to rob it. NO. 21. ‘Both Weakness and Wickedness. From the New York “Times.” It is not the unknown names in the list of appointments to the army that have sickened the public. It is the names that are well known through no act of the wear- ers of them. It is the appointment of a John Jacob Astor to be a lieutenant colonel, the appointment of a grandson of Ulysses S. Grant, the appointment of a son of James G. Blaine, the appointment of a son of John A. Logan, the appointment of the son of this Senator and this Representative, the appointment of two sons of Calvin 8. Brice. There is plainly no sort of relevancy in such appointments to the good of the service, which is the object which an intelligent and patriotic President would continually bear in mind. Every such appointment is distinctively injurious to the service, for it distinctly tends to demoralize and debauch the service. What can be the feelings of an officer, who for a decade or a score of years has zealously studied his profession and strives to master it, in the hope that when war came his preparation would win him notice and preferment, when he finds men put over his head because they are the sons of their fathers, or the grandsons of their grandfathers, because their grandfath- ers fought for the country, because their fathers are Senators, or came from Ohio, or because they themselves are known as ““multi-millionaires.’’ One such appointment is enough to in- jure the tone of the army. Twenty of them together constitute as deadly a blow against the efficiency of the army as the President could administer if he had taken the advice of Sagasta and Blanco instead of the Sena- tors and Representatives and political job- bers whose pressure he has shown himself unable to resist. Such weakness is as bale- ful in its results as deliberate wickedness. Another Democrat Who Wants to Win. From the Milton State. A number of state Democratic editors met in Harrisburg on Wednesday and formed a permanent state organization. The approaching campaign was discussed and it was the opinion of those present that it would be good politics to confine the gubernatorial canvass to state issues. This proposition will, we think, meet with general favor among Democrats. The Chicago platform has been twice reaffirmed since 1896, by the Pennsylvania Democ- racy, and its declarations are too deeply rooted in the minds of our people to be for- gotten or become less popular, if eliminated from the contest. If the state convention determines that it is expedient to make the fight against the corruption, extrava- gance and misrule of the Republican party in Pennsylvania this year altogether upon local issues, the declaration at Chicago are none the less the recognized palioy of the party. There is nothing to be” gained by forcing national issues to the front in this campaign and it might be prejudicial to party success. Want a Campaign on State Issues. From the Williamsport Sun. The general consensus of opinion among the leading Democrats of the State is that the campaign this fall should be fought on state issues alone. It would be an error for the Democrats to attempt to conduct the campaign on other than state issues, for the people of Pennsylvania are not disposed to place any confidence in the party unless it shows that it intends to fight the corrupt power that has robbed them for so many years. If the Democrats confine their con- test to a struggle against Quay and Quay- ism, and against the robbery and corruption which have disgraced the State so long, they will draw to them a large following of the more conservative voters of the State and stand a better chance of winning than has been presented for the past quarter of a century. Unless the Democrats seize this opportunity of overcoming the disreputable rule that has made the Keystone State a reproach and a byword, they will make a serious mistake. How it Would Work. From the National Intelligencer. If the Congress should pass the House bill now before the Senate, authorizing the issuance of $600,000,000 three per cent bonds, what would be the total obligations of the government? Let's see. The bonds are to run ten years. John Doe buys $100. He gets a bond with a coupon attached for $130.00 Richard Roe buys, $1.000, and gets bond and coupon for $1,300. Money- bags buys $1,000,000, and get bonds and coupons for $1,300,000. It will thus be seen that when the $600,000,000 are sold your Uncle Samuel has obliged himself to buy $780,000,000! What do you think of it? Are you in favor of such financier- ing at this time? Would it not he patri- otic and just to coin the seignorage and is- sue legal tenders until we have money enough to do the business of the nation ! If the National credit is good for bonds, it certainly is for currency. Is Quay Preparing to Unload Stone? From the Philadelphia Times (Quay organ.) The lesson of these closing primary con- tests in the Republican party is one that wise leader will not over look. It means that the Republican people do not want Colo- nel Stone as their candidate for Governor, and that if nominated it will be accepted as a nomination dictated by personal in- terest and to serve factional ends. . Such a nomination must mean a Republi- can rebellion of the most formidable char- acter ever known in Pennsylvania, and the possible defeat of the Republican can- didate for Governor, with a Legislature that would be entirely chaotic on the Sena- torial issue. Slated Again. From the Chicago News. It is said the Duke of Veragua is slated for minister of the colonies in the new Spanish cabinet. The duke, it will be re- membered, was slated for several things when he visited this country, chiefly, how- ever, by the proprietors of hotels at which he stopped. Spawls from the Keystone. —The Philadelphia horse show attract ed unusually large crowds this week. —Clearfield Odd Fellows have purchased the Hill block on Market street for $5,500. —Major Robert C. McNamara, who is now in camp at Chickamauga, has sold his interest in the Bedford Gazette to banker, E. F. Kerr. —John Smith, aged 82, a retired farmer, at Bristol, who, when a boy shook hands with General Lafayette, died at his home in that village on Monday. —I Heston Todd, on his farm, near Valley Forge, picked up a seven-pound cannon ball near the grave of John Waterman, the Revolutionary Rhode Island general. —Nearly four hundred delegates were in attendance at the state medical society at Lancaster last week. This is the largest meeting of the society since 1876. —Roy Baldwin, a woodsman, was taken to the hospital at Williamsport, on Sunday night with his skull crushed, the injury having been inflicted by a tree falling upon him. —An explosion of gas at the York Farm colliery near Pottsville on Saturday last, severely injured six miners, two of whom, John Hahner and John Mitre, will probably die. —The Democrats up in the Hazelton dis- trict of Luzerue county have gotten into a row between the Garman and anti-Garman factions, and two sets of delegates to the state convention is the result. —H. L. Castle, the county Prohibition chairman, at Pittsburg says Dr. Swallow will take the stump July 1st. and that national chairman Dickie had promised to find $10,- 000 as a campaign fund for Dr. Swallow. —John Lewis Hand, a fifteen year old boy of Tyrone, died in that place on Sunday of lock-jaw. Two weeks ago he cut his foot slightly but paid little attention to the cut and thought it was entirely healed ’til Thurs- day when lock-jaw set in. —Last Sunday Ammon Hollinger walked along the Hammer creek in Lancaster coun- ty, where he saw a monster German carp struggling in shallow water. He secured a club and dispatched the fish, which when put on the scales was found to weigh twenty pounds. —Overheiser & Co., of Williamsport, have secured a contract from the government for all the tent pins they can possibly turn out in 100 days. They are now running several machines in day light and are wiring their place for work at night. They think they can turn out over 10,000 pins a day at pres- ent. —Near Rauchtown, Clinton county, a few days ago a young child of Oliver Weidler, while playing on the grass, picked up what it thought was a piece of sausage. The ex- clamations of the child attracted the atten- tion of a member of the family who was horrified to see a rattlesnake in the child’s hand. The reptile was killed and measured over three feet in length. —They are having a surfeit of libel suits over in Somerset county. Messrs. Koontz & Kimmel have sued the proprietors of the Herald and threaten to sue the Myersdale Commercial for libel, while representative Hicks, on Friday last, brought action of the same kind against J. A. Lambert of the Standard, and threatens P. L. Livingood, of the Somerset County Star, published at Salisbury, Elk Lick postoffice, a similar dose. —The number of children poisoned as is supposed by ice cream in Williamsport Satur- day afternoon at a Christian Endeavor rally is much larger than was reported and the number is now estimated at nearly one hun- dred. Some of the children are reported to bein a critical condition. The complaint of which the children are the victims is know in medical parlance as tyrotoxicon, the result of the use of milk before the animal heat has had time to evaporate. —Between 2 and 3 o'clock Saturday morn- ing artist Roger Davis's home and studio, in Paint township, Somerset county, was burn- ed to the ground and Mr. Davis, who was the only person in the building at the time, had a narrow escape from being roasted alive. The building was erected soon after the great flood by Mr. Davis and it issaid that his studio was among the best in the state. Mr. Davis's loss will likely reach $4,000 or $5,000. —Charles Cullen, the night operator in the signal tower of the Penusylvania railroad at Lilly, was severely shocked by a bolt of lightning which ran into the tower on the wires during the heavy storm Thursday night. He was found unconscious and taken to his home, where he was revived after con- siderable difficulty. Physicians say it will be several months before Mr. Cullen will be able to resume his work at the telegraph key. —Oscar Reinhard, Jacob Reinhard, Charles Drey and Frank Eidel were, on Monday, bur- ied in the cave-in at the ore bed of Hartzell & Swartz, at Meyersville, Lehigh county, and were so firmly pinned down under a mass of earth and rock that they could not be taken out for two days. They were work- ing on a newly-discovered vein, and were about 50 feet below the surface when the props suddenly gave way and they were covered with several hundred tons of earth and rock. —Adam Wilson, a well-known resident of Aliport, Clearfield county, was killed Friday afternoon at Colorado mine No. 3, operated by Ellsworth & Dunham. The exact time of the accident is not known. He was found about 2:30 in the afternoon. He had brought some mine cars out, and, failing to return, one or two of the men came out of the drift to investgate the matter, and found his life- less body lying on the tipple, having evident- ly been run over by one of the cars, the front end of which was still on his back. —William B. Wilson, a young hoy of six- teen years old, was killed in Altoona Satur- day night by taking hold of a small wire some boys had thrown over alive guy wire used to steady a street lamp. The damp weather caused the current to leak into the guy wire and a number of children, who were striking the wire to make the sparks fly, became so annoying that Wilson at- tempted to pull the wire down. Instantly the current paralyzed his muscles and he rolled over in horrible agony unable to let go the wire ’til finally, in his last struggle it was wrenched from his hand.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers