Dewar Mada | 8Y P. GRAY MEEK. Ink Slings. — Vote for WETZEL, KEPLER and ROBB. — BRYAN is still making speeches and every speech makes thousands of BRYAN votes. — Georgia went Democratic by 50,000, a sure indication that that part of the South is still solid. ——The Philadelphia Zimes has come out for Bryan and henceforth will be a straight Democratic paper. —Jiv CorBETT and his wife are report- ed to have made up their differences and are living together again. How happy New York sassiety ought to be. ——WETZEL has been tried and found to be an honest, faithful, capable repre- gentative of the people. Why put in his place men who are pledged to be the rep- resentatives of DAN HASTINGS. —QuAY'’s flaming cross must have burnt his fingers. He began what was to have been a stumping tour of the State at West Chester on Tuesday night and the very next day he said he was tired stumping. —1It is reported that President McKIN- LEY has requested HANNA not to make any more trust speeches. We don’t believe such a report, because the President doesn’t seem to have backbone enough to tell HANNA that he must not do a thing. —The seven hundred employees of the Reading Iron Co. at Danville have agreed to return to work at a reduction of 25 per cent. in their wages. This means that they will have to have a quarter section cut out of their dinner pails or they won’t be full. ——SAM DIeHL and JOHN MURRAY can tell you what it means to belong to a party that is run by one man. Both of them thought that the Republican voters of Centre county would have the say as to who would be the legislative nominees, but they found out they were not even consulted by the boss. ——Hon. WILLIAM M. ALLISON, the Republican nominee, is a gentleman and a scholar, but that doesn’t overshadow the fact that he was given a place on the ticket at the dictation of one man, and to the exclusion of others who had spent their time and money; thinking that the Repub- lican party in Centre county was a free or- ganization, instead of a catspaw for HAST- INGS. : : —If HANNA has really deposed boss PLATT as the dictator of Republican poli- tics in the Empire State and set himself up as the alpha and omega of the organization the QUAY and Insurgent forces in Penn- sylvania had both better keep an eye open for the fat old trust defender from Obio. It would be just like him to come right in- to Pennsylvania and demand the spoils of office that his party receives in this State. ——Every member of the board of di- rectors and every official of the New York ice trust, behind which Republicans try to hide the sins and robberies of all other trusts, is a Republican. Not a single Democrat had a vote at its organization, nor is there one who has an official voice in its management. Just remember these facts when you hear Republicans talk about this Democratic (?) trust. —QUAY says that if BRYAN is elected “his firm underjaw and black eye will close your mines and factories and adverse- ly affect your wages.’”’ He said this in a speech at Lewisburg on Wednesday night, but he didn’t dare say who had already closed the anthracite mines of this State and adversely affected the wages of thousands of others and that at the very moment he was talking fifteen hundred plumbers were quitting work in Pitts- burg. : —We hope that the agitation that is springing up in many parts of the State in favor of the whipping post’ will ‘bear fruit in the adoption of that eighteenth century method of punishment. Here in Centre connty we have numerous offenders for whom a term injail has about as much ter- ror as banishment to the Sultan’s harem would have for ex-Congressman ROBERTS. In fact there are many who court jail sen- tences, but a few lashes at a whipping post would be a very different thing. : —QUAY started across the State with his cross of fire on Monday night. He began the march at West Chester, but will prob- ably get switched off se that he ends it up on Indian river. As he remarked, him- self, his ‘career had mot been exactly pleasant sailing upon summer seas,” but the majority of people will take exception to his statement that he has had no time for recreation. There has been more recre- ation than anything else in QUAY'’S sena- torial career. —MARK HANNA says that anyone who puts a straw in the way of the settlement of the coal miners’ strike ought to be hanged to the nearest lamp post. The strikes area very serious proposition to MARK just uow. With every new one that breaks out he sees McKINLEY’S chances drifting further on the sea of uncertainty and it is little wonder that he would ‘have those who precipitate or prolong strikes strang up. After the election it will be different. It McKINLEY gets in HANNA won't carea | picayune whether labor has to starve in strikes or whether the dinner pail has any- thing in it or not. ; ; STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA., OCT. 5, 1900. Supporting Those Who Sustaln Him. JRE Mr. ANDREW CARNEGIE is back from Skibo Castle to tell the people of this country that the hope of the business in- terests and the welfare of wealth is in the re-election of McKINLEY. The business interest that Mr. CARNEGIE speaks for particularly is the great armor plate trust that is now demanding $450 per ton for armor plate that can be produced for less than $200, and the wealth, the welfare of whieh he is so seemingly anxious about, is that which he has already accumulated, and which he hopes to add too, through government contracts at the excessive prices he has been allowed, and expects to secure, through the favoritism of Mr. Me- KINLEY’S heads of departments. Last spring, when Mr. CARNEGIE was in this country gathering the harvest that he annually reaps from his over-grown trust, Congress had not passed the act anthoriz- ing the Secretary of the Navy to contract for thousands of tons of armor plate. There was a question then about the quality of some of the plate that his concerns had been furnishing the government. Much of it had heen pronounced imperfect and the amount to be paid for it was in dispute. Under the impression that he was not to receive the sum demanded, and that no other contract would be given for some time, his political views took loose rein and ran in other directions than those of selfish interests and the welfare of wealth. He could afford to look at conditions as conditions existed for the people. He could find no good in McKINLEY’S re- election or purpose. Untold dangers and never ending troubles he predicted would be the result of a continuation of his policies. Then imperialism and militar- ism threatened the foundation of our gov- ernment and blighted the hopes of future generations. Then everything near and dear to the American heart demanded that McKINLEY and all that he stands for be defeated. But that was when there were no merce- nary opportunities offering to warp his judgment and no contracts in the balance to weigh against the welfare of the people. It is different now. Mr. CARNEGIE hopes to receive $450 per ton for a prod- net that costs him far less than half that amount and. the prospects of that hope hinges upon his support of the administra- tion that has the contract to let. * In the minds of trust magnates money is much more important than all else. It is this that guides and governs the actions of the chief of Skibo Castle. Where the carrion is, there will the vultures be gathered. It is this that makes the CARNEGIES, the ROCKEFELLERS and the beneficiaries of trusts generally for McKINLEY. Possibly the people will be wise enough to see that what is for the welfare of trusts is mot what is best for them. If they are, Mr. CARNEGIE’S demand for the re-election of McKINLEY will but show, them that the right road for them to travel is the one different from that he ‘would have them follow. ; "Deserves no Sympathy. The farmer who believes it a political duty to vote even a portion of the Republi- can ticket can care but little for his own interests. hfe : If he votes for the head of it he casts his ballot to endorse imperialism, with its ever- lasting and ever increasing taxation. He gives approval to militarism, that loads him down with standing armies and paves the way for the conscription of bis own sons. He endorses trusts, that rob him at every turn ‘and sustains tariffs, that add to the price of everything he purchases and leaves his products and labor to the competition. of the wide world. Eqs If he casts his vote for the state ticket, that will appear in the same column with the McKINLEY electors, it will be taken as an endorsement of every corrupt practice and purpose of the state ring. It will be a ballot to encourage the efforts of those who. have disgraced the State and robbed its people for years past; to endorse the looting of the public school fund that favorite bank balances might be greater, ‘and the local school taxes higher; to con- done the effort made to ‘lessen the value of pure butter by protecting the smug- glers of oleomargarine; to say that taxa- tion shall remain as it is and that all efforts to equalize it,s0 that corporate capitol shall bear its equal share of the burdens of goy- ernment, shall be strangled in their incep- | tion. "Tt i for wrongs, that fall heaviest upon ‘himself, that the farmer votes to endorse or encourage when he votes the Republi can presidential or state ticket. / And yet there are intelligent, well mean ing men among them who continue vot- ing against every interest they have, sim- ply’ because political ‘prejudiee inclines theny ‘thas way: - 11 d6ite md teh As long as there are such there will be men for whose acts no excuse can be made and for whose condition sympathy : would be wasted. 1 | them. Has Found His Level. JAMEs H. EcKLES, whom Mr. CLEVE- "LAND pulled out of obscurity in Illinois and gave some prominence and importance by making him his comptroller of the cur- rency, is said to be preparing to make speeches for McKINLEY. This, to those who know him, will be no surprise ; neith- er will it, to the least extent, change the political atmosphere of the country. This creature of greed, for it is purely greed that actuates his every effort, never voted but two straight Democratic tickets in his life, and these were cast before his appointment to office. While drawing a salary as a Democratic official he never opened his month for his party and during the last two years of his official existence he made no pretense of being a Democrat. As comp- troller of the currency his chief efforts were pnt forth to cover up the rottenness that existed in financial institutions under his control, and in conspiracies with de- faulting National banks to deceive the public as to their actual condition. It was this diminutive specimen of polit- ical manhood and this colossal example of official turpitude who addmitted on the witness stand, in the case of the fleeced de- positors of the Chestnut street National bank of Philadelphia, that his department had evidence of its rotten condition a year prior to its failure, but refused to expose it for fear of the effect it would have on the efforts the gold Democrats were making to defeat Mr. BRYAN. That this physical and political tom-tit should ap- pear on the stump in defense of an admin- istration, that is run by the trusts it bas given birth to and in the interest of the public thieves it has pushed to the front, is fitting in every way. It is but the joining of hands of men of like greed and like pur- poses ; the combination of individuals of the same low grade of political morals and the same lack of political principle. In the company of the EGANS, the NEELY’S and their likes, JAs. H. ECKLES has but sought his equals. The Democracy may well congratulate itself that he can no longer be pointed to as part of it. ——1It was an easy trick to force ALLI- sox and THOMPSON onto the Republican ticket, but it won’t be so easy to make the Republicans of Centre county vote for They have too much manhood to be driven, like cattle, by the lash of one man. Politics in Place of Prosperity. After a close down of over three months, in order to reduce supplies on hand that there might be an excnmse for increasing prices, the American Steel and Hoop com- pany, one of the greediest trusts in the country, started its mills on Monday, with the prices of the different kinds of iron they manufacture advanced over 15 per cent. and the wages of their men re- duced $1.37} cents per ton. The Republic Iron and Steel company, another concern of the same stripe, started a number of its mills on the same day and with a similar reduction of wages for its employees. M4) ; That they could well afford to start up when they can make their. iron at $1.87 less, ‘and put it on the market at 15 cents | more, per ton than they were getting when they closed down, it don’t require any ar- gument to prove. But that this starting up is going * to help along Mr. HANNA'S campaign ' we have very serious doubts, much as he may point to it as evi- dence of MeKINLEY prosperity. The fact that the greed of these eoncerns had to be satisfied by the reduction of the wages of their workingmen before they would move a wheel, and the additional truth that only certain’ mills, located in States where political effects are needed, were put in operation, shows how. little prosperity had to do with these concerns. Down in Alabama, where a number of the mills belonging to these trusts are locat- ed, no movement has been made to start any of them. : Alabama is a Democratic State and the vote is not changed or con- trolled by the starting or stopping of an iron mill. Ohio, Indiana and. Illinois, are in doubt, and in these States all the mills ‘of these two concerns are to be run on full time, until the election at least. It is one of the ways the trusts have of helping those who help them, although they do it at the expense of the public and their workingmen. ~ Possibly there are people who will be idiots enough to believe that this starting of the trust's mills, is an evidence of pros- perity. There are those who are green enough to believe anything. ——THompso¥ turned his back on hia old friends, the QUAY people, to be one of DAN HASTINGS cat’s paws. Are you go- ing to vote for such a man to represent you at Harrisburg? =~ —Vote for mien who are not bound to do ‘the bidding of one man at Harrisburg. WerZEL and KEPLER are not the creatures | LHR ELLE Another One on the Way. Mr. HANNA goes on denying that there are trusts, and the trusts go on forming, and growing and fleecing the people, just as if there wasno HANNA to be made a liar of or no political prospects to darken by their sordid greed. The latest one of these to be organized, or about to he given birth to, is the stove trust. It is spoken of by those who are to be its sponsors and beneficiaries as a ‘Mammoth Stove Enterprise’’ and not asa trust. Itis to have the ear marks of in- dustry about it, but its principal pride will be the size of its financial paunch, and its chief desire the satisfaction of its craving for the earnings of others. The winter is coming on. The people will need stoves. The masses must have them, for the use of steam, hot air and such kind of heatas can be furnished independ- ent of the stove maker, is for the few only. The many must continue the use of stoves, or freeze, and where are financial pickings easier to gather than from the pockets of the many—the people? On the 16th of the present month repre- sentatives of 400 stove making concerns scattered over the country are scheduled to meet at the Auditorium, Chicago, for the purpose of forming a National Stove Manu- facturing Company, to be capitalized at the modest sum of $60,000,000 and bond- ed ta double that amount. Think of it! Four hundred stove con- cerns iin one ! A single stove manufactory for tk is entire country ! A single power to fix the price and terms forall the stoves the eighty millions of American people must use—a power greedy to voraciousness and in pogition to crush and control all compe- tition.. ‘What a field for the avarice of combined capital ! What a prospect for the gratification of the gluttony for riches that grows under the fostering care of Me- KINgEYism. And still HANNA insists that there are no trusts. hi Well, the stove buyers of this country, who, after the 16th of the present month, must use a trust furnished stove, manufac- tured from tariff protected and trust con- |. trolled metal, are very liable to ascertain that there are such organizations as trusts, and to understand exactly what a trust means and why Mr. HANNA is so anxious to fialeé believe that there are none. ——WETZEL and KEPLER are gaining ground every day. The intelligent people of Centre county have enough independ- ence to resent such methods as were re- sorted to by HASTINGS and a few others at the last Republican county convention. Out For Bryan. The Philadelphia Times, in a most forci- ble editorial, on Monday last,shows its de- testation of McKINLEYism and frankly an- nounces its purpose to support BRYAN, and give its efforts and influence to the cause of the people and Democracy here- after. In its announcement it attempts no excuse for its former advocacy of Me- KINLEY, but in plain words, and with an earnestness that shows the depth of its conviction, admits the error of its judg- ‘ment, and pledges its most earnest work to assist in undoing the wrongs that Re- publicanism is fastening upon us as a peo- ple. There is no discounting the effect that this determination of the Times will have upon the political situation, not only here in Pennsylvania, but throughout the entire country. It has always been a'great paper. It can be nothing else while Col. ‘McCLURE remains at its head ; and the vigor with which it strikes out in defense iof the cause of the masses, and against the greed of trusts and imperial ambition, is evidence of the good work it can do, and its determination to do to the extent of its power that which it undertakes. _ That the Democracy is to be congratn- ‘lated on this most important acquisition goes without exying: It shows the ‘diree- ‘tion in which the political tide is running. It will awaken every Democrat to a full sense of the situation. Iv will encourage and enthuse those who are making this great fight for the welfare of the people and will serve as the reserve force of an | army that appears when most needed and its work can be most effective. Verily there is hope for those who war against imperialism, trusts and militarism. A Costly President. ei It is now stated that the imperial cam- paign corruption fund has reached the co- lossal sum of $41,000,000. Mr. McKINLEY'S total vote in 1896 was 7,104,779. ' Ttis not expected to be as large in November as it was at that time, but if it should be, Mr. HANNA, should still be able to pay each voter $5.75 who casts his “ballot for him. Mr. McKINLEY may not be a very high priced man but it seems to be taking consid- ‘erable of a sum to convince the people tha! they want him for President. ' i ——Bubsoribe for the WATCHMAN. Republican extravagance. ‘respect and CY ~2 2 NO. 89. Licensed Prostitution in the Philippines. From the Easton Sentinel. ‘William E. Johnson, special correspon- dent of the New Voice, writes to that paper from Manila a vivid description of the state regulation of vice that has been put in force there by the United States military authorities, which is revolting beyond description.’ : : Rev. Wilbur Crafts, D. D., publishes a letter to the same effect from a Methodist missionary, whose absolute reliability is vouched for by Rev. A. B. Leonard, D. D., secretary of the M. E. board of missions. Henry B. Blackwell, in commenting up’ on this abominable law in the Woman Journal wrote : ¥ “It discloses the shamefal fact that the state regulation of vice, which exists no- where in this country, having been abol- ished years ago in St. Louis by an uprising of the good women and men of that city, has been introduced and is being openly enforced by the army authorities in the Philippines. : Houses of prostitution are established, maintained and supervised by the United States. To this depth of moral degrada- tion has the curse of militarism already de- graded our government. A system out- grown in England and rejected in Ameri- ca is to-day in force in the Philippines. This hideous disgrace to manhood, this cruel insult to womanhood, this menace to domestic purity, this system of personal degradation, is almost always the accom- paniment of ‘a standing army. ! Will the women of America thus submit to the misuse of their taxes in thus legal- izing vice in Manila? If so, their children and children’s children will have to pay the penalty. ‘When thousands of diseased and demoralized soldiers return to Ameri- ca to draw life pensions and marry intio- cent girls, the vengeance of violated law will fall heavily upon the American peo- ple. This state of affairs is a striking object lesson in the need of woman suffrage on the ground that it would make the intro- duction of that system impossible, It'isa significant fact that Major Ira Brown (let his name be infamous) has recommended to bis official superiors a more general and elaborate system of regulated vice, which has been favorably considered, but post- poned until after next November, for fear if permanently put into effect it may cost the administration votes.””" * 3 The National American Woman Suffrage Association has sent a strong protest to President McKinley, who is’ commander- in-chief of the army, to put a stop to this national disgrace. Set? ' Imperialism Comes High. From the St Louis Republic. It-will amaze the average American to Spawls from the Keystone. —The quartet of counterfeiters who were placed in the Clearfield jail by Detective Flynn and his assistants, were transferred to the Ridgway jail Saturday by U. S. Mar- shal Blair. —While gathering chestnuts Saturday, 16- year-old Frank Plankenhorn, of Williams- port, fell from a tree twenty-five feet to the ground. His right leg was broken and he was injured internally. He may not re- cover. —Contracts were signed Monday at Bed- ford for the sale of the Bedford Gazette the on- ly Democratic newspaper in the county. The new owners are R. C. McNamara, Samuel Working and William L. Ryan. Mr. Mec- Namara will be the editor. The price paid was $9,000. —A letter from W.L. Hicks, Esq., of Tyrone, to his son Howard speaks of the splendid sport the forests of Washington af- ford, and rehearses in brief some of his hunt- ing experiences since he landed in that state. The catch up to date of the letter was two elks and two antelopes. —The 23rd annual reunion of the Seventh Penna. Volunteer Cavalry association will be held at Watsontown Tuesday and Wed- nesday, Oct. 23rd and 24th. Business meet- ing 3 p. m. Tuesday, Oct. 23rd. Card orders for reduced railway fare will be mailed on applieation not later than October 20th, by the seéretary. —A few nights ago, William Kester, a glassblower of DuBois, was driving to his home, near that place, when he was held up by four men. Two of the men held his horse while the other two with drawn revolvers made Kester hold up his hands. They searched his pockets, but all that they got was a penny. They then allowed Kester to drive on. —The low stage of water in the pool of the Lock Haven dam has brought to light near the boom island a box car that was brought there by the big flood of 1889. During the years since that deluge the car has lain ab the bottom of the river unnoticed. An in- vestigation of the car shows that it contain- ed barrels of cement, but where it came from is a mystery. a —In opening the high school at’ Harris- burg Thursday, Principal Baer gave a short talk on the use of cigarettes, showing where they were injurious and the bad results which follow the practice. He added that the high school was no place for a cigarette smoker. He was not wanted there, and in the future any scholar caught using them would be instantly dismissed. —The drouth near Mahaffey is doing much ‘damage to the late crops. The Susquehanna river at that point has dwindled toa mere ‘brook in size and fish are dying by the wholesale. Railroad traffic is impeded by the scarcity of water, locomotives being com- ‘pelled to go forty miles fora supply. Hun- dreds of wells have dried up, and pure drink- ing water is a rarity. As a consequence typhoid fever has set in. —With his dogs faithfully watching by his dead body, James Chapman, aged 19, was found in an old house near his father's home, on Jacoby mountain, Lycoming coun- ty Sunday. Inthe young man’s right side ‘was a terrible wound caused by a heavy learn that the net increase of new offices a ally oreated hi the “iss Raguid ion ‘charge of buckshot. Chapman, accompanied nual salaries aggregating some $2,593,015. | by ‘two dogs, had gone out” coon hunting .77 ; that there was also an net increase of $2,641,647.84 annually to pay the’ sal- aries of new officers out of ‘‘lump’’ appro- |. priations, and that the sum of $133,529075 further added to the tax burden to meet the increase of salaries of Federal office- holders already in office. These several items reach a total increase of $5,368,193.36 —and all for new offices created or salaries increased. 1t is not strange that under this system of reckless extravagance the last Republi- can Congress, with the approval of Pres- ident McKinley, increased the appropria- tions, exclusive of Spanish war expenses, by $24,624,841.48 over the amount appro- priated for the last fiscal year. It is not strange that, with the National Treasury thus thrown open to: Republican looters, the first three years of: President McKin- ley’s administration show an increased cost to taxpayers, above the ' cost : of the last three years of President Cleveland’s administration, and exclusive of the esti- mated expense of the war with Spain and with the Filipinos, of @$84,329,549.12. And it is certain that this rate of increase in ordinary expenditures will be maintain- ed in the closing year of Mr. McKinley's administration, which will inevitably ex- ceed the Cleveland administration, in its cost to taxpayers, by at least $100,000,000. There is no showing in all American his- | tory to equal: this staggering exhibit of It is, indeed, imperial. i 1 ; An imperial President and. his imperial Congress have been swift to place upon the American people the first stamp of empire —a tremendous tax burden for the benefit of imperial bureanerats and the strenigth- ing of the imperial machine. When it is Saturday night. It is supposed that he acci- dentally shot himsely. —The men, who were assisting in running the limes on the Hopkins’ forestry reserva- tion have returned to Lock Haven. They state that they never saw the like for snakes in that section of the state. They report that a Mrs. Ransdorf killed this season fifty- three rattlesnakes and three copperheads; Theo Huff and his sons killed on Fish Dam run forty-three rattlers, aud that another party killed nine blacksnakes and thirty-six rattlers. One of the latter had twenty-six rattles. —The sheriff of Lycoming county has been compelled to get after some people who have been violating the fish laws. During the past summer the river and other streams throughout the county have been covered with fish dams and other similar unlawful devices. They have taken thousands of fish from the water in’ this manner.’ This is a too common complaint. The sheriff has not ‘Vet arrested anybody, but he gives notice that he will make arrests if his proclamation is not respected. | —FEarly Wednesday morning Dayton’s large shoe factory in Williamsport was de- stroyed by fire. The origin of the flames is not known, The loss on building, stock and machinery, is placed at $190,000; eighty per | cent of which is covered by insurance. Sev- ‘eral of the surrounding buildings among them the First Baptist chapel, were damaged tothe extent of $10,000, all of which are partially covered by insurance. Five fire- considered that this outpouring of millions’| men were injured. The firemen were pout- of dollars for supeifluons officials in the civil service is yet to be supplemented by the imperial war budget, the American people will begin to realize what empire means in dollars and cents. 7 A —————— What They Are Working For. From the Baltimore Sun—Ind. Dem. Mr. Bryan Has emphatically subordivat- ed silver and states that it sinks into in- significance when compared with the ne- 3 cessity of preserving our free institutions and republican form of government. It is the imperialists who are trying to make silver an issue in order that they may ac- quire foreign territory, hold millions of Asiatics as ‘‘subjects,’’ heap favors mpon the trusts, vote subsidies to ship owners, legislate for privileged classes and band the country over to the pl stoeratic ele- ments which have been exploiting it dur- ing the administration of Mr. McKinley. A Shock that Was Probably Felt in Centre County. From the Philadelphia Press. fake The appointment of ‘Governor Stone's ‘law partusr to the vacancy on the Supreme court bench has been a great’ shock toa ‘group of political judges of the Common ‘Pleas ‘courts. ' They dou’s see how the ‘Governor could be so ungrateful as to over- look them when they ‘have not hesitated to sacrifice both’ judicial ‘dignity and the confidence of the r Quayism. It was a'severe blow, and they regard the Governor's. personal selection with much disfavor. le to serve T ing water on the interior of the building, when one of the high standing walls fell over. The men made a basty scramble, but ‘several were struck by the falling bricks. —The funeral of the late Judge John J. Metzger took place at: 2 o'clock: Monday af- ternoon from the family residence, on West Fourth street Williamsport. It was one of ‘the most largely attended ever held in Wil- ‘liamsport. The services were conducted by Rev. J. M. Anspach, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran church, assisted by Dr. E. J. Gray, president of Dickinson Seminary, Services at the grave in Wildwood - were conducted by the Masons. A largely attended meeting of the bar was held at the court house in the morning, at which eulogistic’ speeches were made by many judges and lawyers. —About a year ago farmers in half a doz- ‘en or more townships of Washington county gave an option at from $16 to $20 an acre on coal lands embracing some 50,000 acres. The option expired on Monday last, bat previous to that time a demand had, been .magde for the lands by. the holder of the “option. . The farmers, however. had conclud- ed that as they did not want to part: with ‘their property at the price fixed—it is now ‘considered to be worth a great deal more— they will fight the matter in the court. ] he basis of legal contention on their part will be that the options were taken separate: ly and not collectively, a distinction in’ such cases not easy to comprehend.