+ Denon. . BY P. GRAY MEEK. Ink Slings. —Congress is in session again. The Lord keep and preserve the country. —The crop of Eurcpean wars is not near- ly so promising as it was earlier in the season. — American pigs are being butchered right along now, but the Spaniards are not doing it. —Thev all listened with rapped atten- tion when REED’S gavel fell at the open- ing of Congress. . —-Tts the prediction of the goose-bone that the crop of winter will be ample for all needs and purposes. —Tt is generally supposed that the ex- pectations of the new flour trust is to suc- ceed by grinding the people. —TIt is not to be wondered at that dent- ists are a doleful looking lot. It’s their business to look down in the mouth. —From the reports that are coming in the blizzard factory must have been work- ing double turns the past two weeks. —The prosperity the President speaks of is greatly like thestorms of the past two weeks—only in spots and mostly wind. —They could hurry up that peace com- mission business by confining them to ALGER’S army rations for about a week. ——If one was to judge of its merits by its length the President’s message would rank far above the declaration of Independence. —The President’s message may not have been much for the rest of the country, but it was no slouch of a boom for the paper mills. —Philadelphia justice is all right when it comes to ‘‘salting’”” women for pulling each other’s hair, but it will be found to be entirely inadequate in Mr. QUAY’S case. —Although not a preacher or even an exhorter, yet we feel it a duty we owe to our fellow man to kindly warn him that this is particularly the time to take care of the sole. . —The Lebanon Star is authority for the statement that the women are on top in Alaska. The information is decidedly in- definite, but that is all the further the Star goes with it. —Governor-elect ROOSEVELT has got his one leg over the political traces already and the kicking that's going on about it threat- ens to end in a badly demoralized out-fit, or a greatly subdued political wheel-horse. —The business of Philadelphia florists must be seriously affected by the indis- criminate and profuse manner in which Col. McCLURE of the Zimes and former judge JAMES GAY GORDON are throwing bouquets at one another. —According to the statements published by the Democratic and Republican state committees in Ohio it cost the former $2,- 446.52 to run the last campaign, while the latter expended $30,000. Let us see, oh yes, the Republicans have HANNA'S bar’l to draw on out there. —One of the most substantial reasons that labor is always oppressed is because many misguided laborers sell their votes on election day for a dollar or two and lose the opportunity of voting for conditions under which they could earn a dollar or two every other day of the year. -—BRIGHAM H. ROBERTS, one of the new Congressmen from Utah, has three wives. He has decided not to introduce any of them into his Washington life. If it takes three wives to keep BRIGHAM in shape in Utah what won’t the Mormonistic Con- gressman do without any in Washington ? —If we are to have an imperialistic policy what is the use of a President. What we want is an Emperor, and why not ele- vate MARK HANNA to the position at once and make it an hereditary one. Wouldn’t it sound fine in history some day to read about the reign of the house of HANNA ever the American empire. —It is now reported that KEELY’S secret, if he had one, is not lost to science at all. The dead crank or genius—whatever the future may discover him to have been—has left a manuscript of two thousand pages. It is quite probable, however, that glean- ing what his new agent of power is, from such a voluminous description, will be as much of a mystery as the motor itself was. —It is a downright shame that his father didn't leave FRANK GOULD any more than ten million dollars. How is that poor hoy to struggle along, anyway? Things are coming to such a pass that there will have to be some legislation that will compel such parents to make provision for their children that is ample. Think of it. If he wanted to subscribe for the WATCHMAN for a year he would have only nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars left. We'll bet he don’t subscribe, just on that account. —The good women of Macon, Georgia, who placed fine choirs to sing temperance songs at every polling place in the city, at the recent election, when a prohibition amendment was in issue, might have known that they were just pouring water on the other people’s mill. Beer and music mixes everywhere, even in Boston, and that is probably the reason the Macon women were so badly beaten. Of course the liquor people had rival choruses out and at one place while the women were singing ‘‘Vote as You Pray’’ the negro band, that had been hired by the other side, struck up “There’ll be a Hot Time in the Old Town To-night,’’ and there was. STATE RIGHTS A UNION. _VOL. 43 _ BELLEFONTE, PA., DECEMBER 9. 1898, NO. 48 If we are to Have a Change Let It be an Effective One. A number of our exchanges are agitating the question of ballot reform, and the queer thing about the situation is that the same people, and the same papers, that forced the present unwieldy, unfair and fraud-protecting system of voting upon the State in 1891 are the loudest in their clam- ors for a change. It is to their credit, however, that, seeing the mistake they made, they are anxious and willing to rec- tify it. Whether these people who were so sure that the law and the system we now have were destined to correct the wrongs and prevent the abuses we suffered under the old system of voting, are the persons to point out how the evils, that are fostered and protected by the present law, can be remedied, is a matter of serious doubt. Of course they have a little more expe- rience now than they had eight years ago, but intelligent men who couldn’t have seen, at that time, that the abortion they were giving us as an improvement on what we then had, must result in the most dis- graceful failure, will scarcely size up to the requirements of originating a system that will accomplish the end all good citizens seek. Tosimply change the ballot, as is now suggested, to one of smaller dimensions, and on which the names of all candidates of all parties will be printed in one column, will remedy but one defect—that of the size of the ballot. It will not prevent a biggoted and partisan judge from ruling off the ballot the name of any candidate he may desire to defeat. It will not prevent the same kind of a judge from declaring conventions of the people illegal, and pre- venting candidates of their choice being voted for. It will not take from this same kind of a judge the power to dictate as to bow conventions shall be held and wheth- er their nominees can have a place on the ticket; neither will it prevent the bribery and bulldozing that the present system pro- tects, nor will it insure an honest count and return of the vote cast, or give the people an opportunity to prove fraud committed, by the presentation of the ballot box and ballots. It will not end the system of false “registration.that is resorted to.in the larger cities, nor wilk it stop the business of buy- ing votes by the “wholesale, through the payment of taxes. : The lessening of the ballot will end none of these evils. In facet a change from the blanket sheet now used, where a single mark at the head of the column constitutes a vote for the entire ticket, to a ballot that will require a mark opposite the name of every candidate voted for, will only com- plicate matters more, and make additional excuse for voters to ask aid in marking their tickets—just the excuse that bosses and bribe givers want. It is this very mys- tification and mixture of the ballots; the printing of them in a form that the ordina- 1y voter does not fully understand or com- prebend, that gives the opportunity for successful bribery in every election booth in Pennsylvania. Itis where the briber or his agent sees that he gets just what he pays for. And as long as there is a booth and there is necessity for aiding a voter in marking his ticket, just so long will bribery flourish. If we are to have a change in methods of voting, let us have a complete, effective and radical, change. A change not only in the manner of voting and the size of the ballot, but a change that will assure to the people the privilege of making their own nominees in their own way; that will en- able them to place the name of any candi- date they desire to vote for upon their bal- lots; that restricts, the right of voting to those only who attend to having them- selves registered and who appreciate that right sufficiently to pay their own taxes and properly qualify themeslves, and that will, after the election is over, allow the use of the ballot box and ballots, to prove or disprove frauds. The WATCHMAN is for a change, “hut it is for a change that will simplify and cor- rect our present System, and not one that can be used, as the present one is, as a cover for all kinds of frauds and a bribing place for evils and wrongs that were never dream- ed of under the old law and the former manner voting. —According to a bill for vie re-organiza- tion of the army, which has been framed by Maj. Gen. MILES, the force is to be mustered up to one hundred thousand men—one sol- dier for every thousand inhabitants of the United States and two for every thousand in the dependent colonies. Now that we have thrown down the gauntlet to the world we will have to get in shape to de- fend our four thousand miles of coast line, twenty-seven principal ports, Cuba, Porto Rico, the. Philippines, Hawaii, ete. It will come good and high, but MARK HAN- NA says we must have it. —‘Marry is haste, repent at leisure.” The United States seems wedded to the policy of imperialism. We predict a mighty expensive and humiliating suit in the inter- national divorce court before the present generation shall have passed away. The Message. Whatever else may be said of Presi- dent McKINLEY’S message to Congress, which was read to that body on Monday, no one will claim for it either brevity or pointedness. In length it occupies over eighteen columns of newspaper space and in information is as scant as it is prolix in words. Three-fourths of its space is devoted to the war, its causes, its managements and its results—facts that have been before the people for months and results that are known to every newspaper reader fully as well as they are to the President. In all the long, dreary, columns of type that are used to tell us why the war was declared, how it was managed, how many and what proclamations he issued and what he, and others appointed by him, did, not a new fact is given to the public, not a sug- gestion is made as to the policy that should govern our new conquests, nor is the faint- est idea as to how we are to be benefited, from the annexations his policy has brought about, broached. After getting through with the war, the President tells us we are at peace with the rest of the world but, that conditions that now exist make a permanent increase of both our army and navy a necessity—a nec- essity that brings with it the excuse for greater appropriations, enlarged oppor- tunities for jobbery, and the certainty of more debts, more taxes, and more oppres- sion for the people. In addition to an increase of both army and navy, and the consequent additional expenditure of hundreds of millions of dol- lars to equip and maintain them, he favors the subsidizing of American vessels to ply between the ports of our newly acquired islands and this country; the completion of the Nicarauga canal, a matter of a couple hundred millions more; the education of the white children in the Indian territory ‘at public expense; the appropriation of a suflicient sum to fittingly prepare for, and celebrate, the centennial of the founding of | Washington city, and after these recom- mendations for the expenditures of hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars, re- news his propositions of 1897, for the with- ‘quent curtailment. of He currency of the country. In all the long document that is full of sug- gestions and recommendations as to where and how additional millions can be expend- ed, that points out opportunities for the rankest jobbery and that raises expecta- tions of the lavish and illimitable expend- iture of public moneys to assist private enterprises, it has not a word of hope for those from whom this money is to be drawn, nor of encouragement for the masses who have been looking to him as the ‘‘ad- vance agent’’ of a prosperity that was to give the masses a taste of the ease and comforts enjoyed by the few. As a whole, the message is a long, dry, common-place document that will satisfy the expansionists, meet the approval of political jobbers and leave the people to wonder where they are to be benefited, or how their condition is to be bettered, by anything it says, promises, or recommends. Wants More Time. It is now hinted that Senator QUAY’S attorneys will make the excuse, next Mon- day when his case is called for trial, that the experts employed to go over the bank books have been unable to complete that work, and will ask for a further extension of time to prepare their defense. Before the election the big boss and his political. clique could hardly say loud enough how anxious and ready they were to have the case determined and now, after three or four weeks time for preparation has been given them, it is doubtful if they will be ready to go on with its hearing. If it can be delayed a week or ten days longer, the excuse can then be made that the present district attorney, whose term ends with January 1st, could not finish up the case, and a further extension of time could probably be secured. In this way the trial might be delayed until after the election of a United ‘States Senator, and it looks very much as if this might be the ‘‘nigger in that wood pile.”’ ——If our very honorable friend, the editor of the Gazette, would like to know who set him the example of printing the county statements ‘‘at a fraction over $11 per thousand’’ he might refer to the com- missioner’s accounts in Feb. 1896, and see that it was the WATCHMAN. He prefers to go back twelve years for his comparisons to a time where everyone knows the coun- ty statement contained just double the amount of items that the last one did and prices for paper and workmen both were higher than they are to-day. How- ever this has nothing to do with his getting $175 for a job that the Republican offered to do for $50 less. If in letting the public know of this steal we have done no other good we have.at least given our friend an op- portunity to show that he is not ‘‘tight’’ when it comes to spewing out of his addle- pate. Words cost nothing, but ask him for something that does and then grow gray headed waiting ’till you get it. How County Expenses are Increasing. Twelve years ago the total county ex- penditures reached the sum of $42,911.88 Of this amount $5,930 was for new bridges and repairs to old ones, and $5,678.06 was expended on repairs to and refurnishings for the county buildings, making the total ex- penditure for all county purposes, except the two named, a little over $31,000. Last year, under the management we now have, the county expenditures, all told, were $61,257.13, of which $3,631.08 went for bridges and $1,195.28 for county build- ings, making the amount expended for other county expenses $57,424.74, an in- crease of over $26,000.00. Can any one who isin any way con- nected with the management of county af- fairs tell us the necessity . for this extraor- dinary increase in expenditures for the county. We do not have a day’s more court than we had in 1886. In fact we have less, or abundant reasons for having less, because the long and expensive land title cases, that lumbered our dockets and kept jurors and the court weeks hearing and deter- mining, are almost unknown now, and no new class of litigation has come to take its place; there are no more assessors now than there were then; there are no more constables to make returns and be ‘paid than there were at that time; there are ‘but few more election officers now than : then, and neither mileage nor the pay for "those who have to attend court bas been increased, nor has the number of officers, or work for which the county is required to pay been enlarged, and yet the expendit- ures were almost double in 1897 what they were in 1886. Surely there is some reason for this or else the management of county affairs, as now conducted, amounts almost to crimi- nality. If there has not been increased work to do in the assessment and collection of tax- es; in holding elections and making re- turns; in the business of the court and in the other matters pertaining to the general county management, and there has not that we know of, why, in the name of all that is fair to the tax-payers, have the county expenditures ‘béén almost ‘doubled’: in’ twelve years ? Possibly the commissioners or some one representing them will tell us. It is true that the board of commissioners, when the county expenses, exclusive of re- pairs to the public buildings and county bridges, was but $31,000 a year, managed to do their part of the work at an expense to the tax-payers of but $1,549.00 while the present board makes out to get from the county treasury $2,845.87 for doing the same work. It is also true that the county printing at that time cost the county all told, but $736.76, while the fa- vorite organ of the officials who are man- aging affairs, drew out of the treasury last vear, alone for county work, $1,106.08, and this in addition te almost $400.00 paid by the county for work done by other print- ers. $500 of this increase could, however, be charged to the cost of ticket printing for spring and fall elections—work that was not paid for by the county twelve years ago, but how to account for the other $300 increase, is a matter that only the commis- sioners or those closer to them than we are can tell. It is possible the commissioners have plausible reasons for this increase in county expenditures, that has necessitated an in- crease in tax-valuations, as well as in mill- age, and a consequent increase in taxation to every individual in the county. If they have the tax-payers would be glad to knotv what they are. It is also possible that they can give some reason for sitting round the court house every day in the year and charging the tax- payers $10.50 a day for doing so, when all the duty they perform could be done carefully and satisfactorily in two days each week, ex- cept during the weeks court is in session. If they can the tax-payers would be de- lighted to have them do it. It is neither possible that they can, nor probable that they will, make explanation as to why they paid the Gazette forty-nine dollars more for a job of printing for the recent election, than the Republican offered to do the work for, consequently we will not ask an explanation of this. But it is work of this kind—favoritism -of this char- acter—that will partly, if not wholly, ac- count for the increase of county expendit- ures from $31,000 to over $57,000 a year, and the increased taxes that the people are beginning to feel. ——Of all sad words of tongue or pen the saddest to DANIEL HARTMAN HASTINGS are the ones he is putting in the message he is working on now; because they are the last ones he’ll ever get a chance to sign as Governor. —Because a woman can’t vote is no in- dication that she is either an idiot, a pauper or a criminal, yet that is the class she is put in by the constitution. ——-The pity is that there aren’t more of the Luzerne county ty pe of justices in the State. The other day one of them became incensed at the impudence of a wife beater who was being tried before him and he just pulled off his coat and punched the offend- er until he cried for mercy and promised never to be guilty of such an act again. Every county in the State would be saved many dollars in costs if there were more justices with back-bone enough to settle petty cases that come before them, instead of sending them up to court for jury trial and its attendant expense. We do not mean to imply that a wife beater can be given full justice by a good punching, but we do endorse the spirit of self reliauce in this Luzerne county magistrate. ——The Lancaster Intelligencer is calling the receiver of the traction eempany’s property in that city to task for not paying the creditors of the line—a duty that he was appointed to perform. Who would have thought that two such intelligent gentlemen as editors STINEMAN an@ FoLTz could have been so dumb as te imagine that a receiver is expected to pay anybody. His business is to receive and whatever there is left after he gets done receiving goes to the ‘unhappy creditors” who ap- pointed him. At least that is the way such things usually turn out up this way. Convening of Congressmen. The Senators and Representatives Met Yesterday to Begin the Closing Session of the Fifty-fifth Con- gress. Galleries were well Filled—Long Lines of People in the Corridors Anxious to Gain Admission— The Reading of the President's Message Received with Very Careful Attention in the Senate—The Usual Resolutions Offered and Adopted. WASHINGTON, Dec. 5.—When the Sen- ate convened to-day to begin the closing of the Fifty-fiftth Congress, the chamber pre- sented a notable and beautiful appearance. At 11 o'clock the public and private gal- leries were filled almost to their capacity with a distinguished assemblage. Includ- ing many ladies in brilliant attire. On the floor of the Senate the display of flowers was unusually beautiful, even for the op- ening day of a session of Congress. The odor of the flowers filled the chamber. The memorable scenes enacted in the chamber during the last session, and the momentous events that have occurred since /Congress last adjourned, created » feeling of intense expectancy ‘on the part of both the spectators and the members of the Sen- ate. This was manifested by the long lines of people in the corridors anxious to gain admission to the galleries, and by the early arrival of the Senators on the floor. Through the courtesy of the Vice President the mem- bers of the joint commission were admitted to the floor of the Senate and were the recipients of much attention. Just before the session was called to order, several well-known members of the diplomatic corps appeared in the diplomatic gallery. HOBART RAPPED FOR ORDER. Promptly at the stroke of 12 o’clock, vice President Hobart entered and ascend. ing to his desk, he rapped for order. Rev. Mr. Milburn, the venerable blind chaplain, in a profoundly impressive man- ner returned ‘‘devout and reverent thanks for God’s goodness to us as a nation and for His care of us since we last gathered in this chamber.” A call of the Senate developed the pres- ence of sixty-seven members. USUAL RESOLUTIONS A DOPTED. Mr. Cullom, of Illinois, offered that to appoint a committee to inform the House that the Senate was ready to transact busi- ness; Mr. Hale, of Maine, that fixing the hour of the daily meeting at 12 o’clock noon, and Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, that to appoint a committee to notify the President that the Senate was awaiting any com- munication he might desire to make. A$ 12:25 p. m. the committee appointed to wait upon the President reported the performance of its duty, and announced that the President immediately would communicate with the Senate in writing. Scarcely had the report been made, when Major Pruden, executive clerk of the Pres- ident, entered the chamber and presented the message. Vice President Hobart laid it before the Senate at once, and its read- ing was begun at 1:28 p. m. Many persons remained in the galleries throughout the reading. Not the slightest demonstration occurred during the reading of the message. The message contains 20,000 words and is too long for publication in this issue of the WATCHMAN. In substance it is as follows : ] It is devoted largely to the history of the war. The leading features of the message follow. The administration will continue the military occupation of our new possessions until Congress passes new laws govering the same. Congress has been asked to assist the Cubans to form their government. The prospects for better relations with Canada are very bright. The President approves Secretary Long’s recommendations for increasing the navy and also approves increasing the army to 100,000. As provided for, the President will mus- ter out the entire volunteer army. He recommends the creation of the rank of admiral and vice admiral. He gives an account of how the $50,- 000,000 of the currency appropriation was expended. The message is silent on tariff and fi- nancial reforms, but states that the worth of the present money standard has been proven. He recommends the construction of the Nicaraguan canal by national aid. At 3.46, on motion of Mr. Platt, of Connecticut, the Senate adjourned. Concluded on page 4. Spawls from the Keystone, . —Governor Hastings on Thursday began work on his message to the Legislature. It will be the last message of the administra- tion. How sad. —A defective flue started the, flames in the dwelling of Robert Bastian, Jersey Shore, Sunday evening, and destroyed the house. Some of the household goods were saved. Loss $1,800; insurance $1,300. —Hamilton Humes, Jersey Shore’s well known banker, while walking along the street, was bitten on the arm by a dog owned by Samuel Junod. An ugly laceration was inflicted. The dog was killed. —At Williamsport Tuesday a horse driven by William Snyder, was felled to the ground by a dropped trolley wire brushing against its harness. The horse was cut loose from the harness and was soon on its feet. —Henry and LeRoy Nuss, father and son convicted at Williamsport for attempting to burn the opera house at Muncy, were each sentenced to the eastern penitentiary for a term of three years and six months. —While several Italians were playing cards in a shanty near DuBois Sunday night, a dis- pute ensued, during which James Moore stabbed Dennis Cupenello in the neck. The wounded man died shortly after. Moore skipped out. —Jim Stoddard, of Osceola, whois back from the Klondike, is a living proof of the claim that this trip is a sure hair restorative, for he took a head as bald as a billiard ball away with him and returns with a fine growth of hair. —At Milton Saturday night the nail mill of Godcharles & Co., was partially destroyed by fire. A spark flying into a barrel of oil started the flames. Loss $30,000, covered by insurance. Sixty-five employes will be thrown out of employment. —A dispatch from Johnstown says the body of John Varner, the aged resident of Adams township, Cambria country, who dis- appeared from his home several days ago, was found Sunday layingin a snowdrift near the old Portage tunnel. He had been dead probably two days. —Joyce Bair, the 7-year-old son of the ed- itor of the Philipsburg Journal had his left hand caught in a cog wheel of a job press on Saturday. One finger was cut and another badly lacerated and bruised. The little boy had an old glove on his hand, which served to protect it from greater injury. —While Robert H. Housel, a well known lumberman of Williamsport, was riding in a car to the Church of the Covenant Sunday morning, he suddenly sank to the floor. He was carried into a physician’s office, but he had already expired. He was nearly 81 years old. He is survived by three children. —Recently under the heavy weight of a freight train a span of the Cumberland Val- ley railroad bridge at Harrisburg sank twelve inches. The defect in the bridge is supposed to have been caused by broken bolts. During the past several months the bridge has been in constant use and subjected ‘80 a terrible strain. Min Jean K. Baird, SriarLy ok Reiiovo, and who was a candidate for county superin- tendent three years ago, has been awarded a prize of twenty-five dollars by the publishers of a Baltimore Sunday school journal for an essay written on the subject, ‘‘How Pay Day Affects the Sabbath. Miss Baird is at present teaching school at Bradford. —The people of Clarion voted at the late election to buy a poor farm and erect a county home thereon. The sooner all the counties in the State take this step the bet- ter, but until they do, the charitable citizens of counties having poor houses, but adjoining those which do not, have a du:idedly un- pleasant time dealing with or from over the line. —Messrs. Howard & Perley, of Williams- port, have leased many acres of land in the Kettle creek region for test purposes. The lands extend well into the oil and gas belt recently opened at Gaines, and experts say there are strong indications of the presence of oil. The Gaines oil wells continue to flow at the rate of from three to five barrels a day and this without shooting. The gas is being used as fuel. —George M. Schell, of Hastings, who left about five weeks ago for Havana, Cuba, with the intention of going into business, has re- turned from that island. Mr. Schell spent about five days in Cuba and during that time lost twenty-two pounds and this was while boarding ata $7 day hotel. This induced him to think that he was taking the yellow fever and caused him to hasten his journey home. There is now no need for people with exaggerated bay windows resorting to the use of anti-fat to reduce their flesh. It has been fully proven that a dose of tropical cli- mate is a sure cure for disease incident to surplus avoirdupois. —Frank Epley, who is under charges of highway robbery, burglary and larceny, in Lycoming county‘ was summoned to court at Williamsport Friday as a witness in another case. After court had adjourned the sheriff was called to another room and when he re- turned a moment later Epley was gone. Chief of police Wise, county detective Goeh- rig, constable Munson and a number of others were in the room at the time, but none ap- peared to have noticed his escape. The po- lice force were turned out to capture the man. Patrolinan Simmons jumped a freight and captured Epley in a car at Trout Run. Epley was returned to jail. —The Thomas Beaver mansion, at Dan- ville, has been sold, and the extensive and finely appointed old homestead, which for six or seven years has stood idle, is at last to be put to practical use. The mansion is to be made a branch of the mother house of the Sisters of Christian Charity, of Wilkesbarre, while the comparatively new aud handsome stable, with one or more of the buildings will be turned into an orphanage. The purchase was effected Monday. The price paid, con- cerning which no definite information has been 1eceived, was probably $8,000. The to- tal cost of the building was not much less than $100,000. The mansion will be occupied by the sisterhood, if possible, before the new year. The orphanage, of course, will not be ready for occupancy until some time later.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers