Buin BY Be. GRAY MEEK. Ink Stings. —The more HANNA gets on the stump the worse the Republicans are ‘‘stumped.”’ —It isn’t always necessary to take oft your shirt for people to see your back- bone. — Ask THOMPSON whether he is a HAST- INGS or QUAY man and see him look wise and offer you a cigar. —WETzEL and KEPLER are gaining ground every day. Both are meeting the people in a straightforward ‘way that is what the people like. —The soldiers in the Philippines are complaining of short rations. MARK HAN- ~A’s full dinner pail racket is not being worked very extensively in that section. — WETZEL has been tried at Harrisburg. No man in Centre county can say aught against him, either politically or privately, and the people have so much confidence in him that he will be re-elected with an in- creased majority. —Why vote for ALLISON for Legislature, He is a very nice gentleman, but he doesn’t want to go to Harrisburg. He had to be coaxed for days before he would consent to be the means for pulling HASTINGS’ chest- nuts out of the fire. —A vote for WETZEL and KEPLER is a vote for two men who stand fairly and squarely for the people. They are not the creatures of any one man or clique and can be trusted to represent everybody in the county when they go to Harrisburg. —_ Because his nomination is equivalent fo an election don’t forget to mark a vote for FREDERICK RoBB for jury commis- sioner. He is such an honorable gentle- man that his name would give tone to any ticket, so let us return our compliments to Mr. RoBB by giving him a rousing vote. — The truth has finally become known. American soldiers have been guilty of looting in China. They seized $400, 000 in gold at Tien Tsin, which was looting, since we had no war with China and the seizure could not come under the head of con- fiseations allowed under the rules of war. —QUAY called to see President McKIN- LEY on Sunday, the object of his visit be- ing to tell the President that he will be re-elected by a larger electoral vote than he had four years ago. How it must have tickled McKINLEY, for QUAY knows, you know. Only two years ago he said he was going to be re-elected to the Senate. You know how that turned out. -—The Sulu island agreement, by which President McKINLEY is paying the black Sultan of thas island $10,000 and guaran- teeing him immunity in his slave holding | - and selling and in his polygamous habits, should he enough to doom him to defeat, were it not for the army canteen. The latter disgrace, in itself, ought to be enough to change all right minded people from the notion of continuing such an administra- tion. —The people of Dresden, Ohio, raised by popular subscription, enough money to secure a steel mill that employed 250 men. The mill was started and many of the operatives built comfortable little homes. The steel trust came along and bought the mill and a few months later it was closed. Itis falling into decay now, many of the workmen are gone, but the ones who had their homes partially paid for are stranded and to-day are probably wondering, with the other people of Dresden, whether MARK HANNA was not lying when he said ‘‘there are no trusts. —BrYAN’s tour of New York State is quite different from the visits he made four years ago. Then the people held aloof, they regarded him with suspicion and only looked at him out of the corners of their eves. How different things are now. Everywhere in the Empire State he is received with open arms and wildest enthusiasm. It is this change that has sent HANNA to the stump and in his effort | tostem the BRYAN tide he has not even hesitated to tell most palpable lies. Why he actually said : ‘“Chere are no such things as trusts.” : ——An effort is being made to have a passenger ' train ‘run over the Clearfield branch on Sundays and sister ANNIE WiLLIAMS, of the Philipsburg Ledger, is firnist it, hut then she need’nt be regard- ed seriously. You know it was only a few " weeks ago that the Ledger was swearing— with about the same grace that a woman throws a stone—that the HASTINGS harmo- ny convention was an outrage on Re- _publicans and that if all who were not Jadies wonld be men they would show DAN a thing or two. as any other Republican vaper for DAN’S ticket now. —The Bellefonte minister who took it upon himself to cast aspersions on several newspapers of the town, in his sermon last Sunday night, is like a great many others “of the clergy who are heard from in such foolish ways all over the country. In the first place, he would probably never have heard of the boxing contest he made ‘the crusade against had it not been for the publicity given it by the papers. In the second place, if he scans the papers care- fully this week he will find that bis ex- ception to the papers that ‘‘didn’t have the _ manliness or courage to suppress such news’’ is at heart just as ‘bad as the rest of us. And in the third place, we do mot think we are Hating it on broadly when we assert that the timate newspapers: of the land are just as vi in the con- servation of good morals and enlighten- The Dangerons Power of the Auditor General. Well, the Ledger is as hot | ment of the Jeo le thereof as the clergy. ever has or will l be. i STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. — UNLIMITED IN AUTHORITY, UNRESTRAINED IN ACTION. A Power that Can Increase or Decrease Taxation at Will That can bleed or Favor Corporations as Party Necessi- Where Favoritism can be shown at the Expense of the Taxpayers and Corporations be Re- paid for Campaign Contributions. An Office that has no ties May Require. Dread of Auditor, or Fear of Courts. It is not risking too much to assert that few of the 6,000,000 people, and very few of the 1,200,000 voters, in Pennsylvania, The Ring have any adequate conception of the importance and Understands Importance influence of the office of Auditor General. The of This Office. framers of the new constitution undoubtedly foresaw the tremendous power of this office and its close relation with the executive administration of the state government of the treasury department, and they so fixed the term of these respective offices that, ordinarily, the elections to them ‘should not be concurrent, making the ten- ure of the Governor four years, of the Auditor General three years, and of the State Treasurer two years. It thus happens that only once in twelve years are these offises filled at tha same election. The purpose of thisarrangement was un- doabtedly to prevent a concentration of control in one political or partisan dynasty. That this was a wise conception, may be gathered from the brief review of the enormous and ever increasing power of the-Agditor-General’s department un- der our peculiar system of state government. In these days of popular indifference to strict supervision of public officials, auditing officers, local and general, have come to be regarded as “‘aunditors who don’t andit’”’—like ‘‘direators who don’t direct.” It required the vigorous and healthful example of Robert E. Pattison, as Comptroller of Philadelphia, to awaken the people of that city to a sense of the fact that the Comptroller's offize, was the centre of political power, as well as the most effective check and curb upon rascality and inefficiency in executive depart- ments. The people in Pennsylvania, however, have never been thoroughly aronsed to a sense of the fact that the office of Auditor General is the most powerful, for good or evil, in their system. A glance over the laws creating this office, as digest- ed in “Purdon,” or even as set forth in Smull’s Hand Book, affords an inade- quate suggestion of its actual importance. It is true it appears, from these au- thorities, that he can exercise large executive, and even judicial, powers ; but only those who have become familiar with our Pennsylvania system of collecting and disbursing revenues—and such are comparatively few—thoroughly appre- ciate why the ruling powers seeks to get and keep control of this office, and seldom allow any man of original ways of thinking, of stern and unbending integrity, and with courage to defy the party hosses, to be nominated and elected to it. Sach a one they were compelled to take in the person of General Gregg, when the Bardsley defaleations had aroused public indignation ; but they soon dropped him, and have neither sought nor found any of his kind since. The taxation system of Pennsylvania is a novel one. If is well calculated to raise large revenues, for the purpose of those who Both govern it, without the general public being made Assessor and Collector even so sensible of the burthens of taxation as they of Corporation Taxes. are under the indirect methods of raising revenue ; by tariff. For many years, the delusive and de- luding cry of the Republican politician has been that ‘‘real estate is not taxed in Pennsylvania for state purposes.” The direct burden of taxation was cunning- ly lifted from the farmer and imposed upon the corporations of the State, long before the eyes of the rural tax-payer were opened to the fact that though he had been relieved from state taxation, he had had a triple burden imposed upon him by the relief of corporate property from local taxation. It is not onr purpose, . at present, to discuss this complicated, though burning, question, but only to point out that the importance of the office of Auditor General is vastly enhanced by the Pennsylvania system of miking the State the assessor and collector of sub: stantially all corporate taxes. : : In round numbers, the revenues of Pennsylvania are $15,000,000, while the ordinary and necessary expenses of state government scarcely exceeded $3,- 000,000. A large proportion of the expenditures of Pennsylvania are for objects primarily of local concern, such as schools, charities, penal and reformatory insti- tutions, judiciary, and the like. Of its revenues, approximately, $1,000,000 is gathered from persona! property, another $1,000,000 from collateral inheritance taxes, $2,000;000 from licenses, and the greater portion of the balauce—probably $10,000,000—from corporation taxes, in one form or another. half a million comes from bonuses on charters, and the enormous balance consists of taxes imposed on eof poration capital, loans, gross receipts, gross premiums, : bank stocks, etc. While the rate of taxation is fixed by. the Legislature, the assessments and the collection depend on the intelligence, the integrity and efficiency of the Auditor General’s department. True, the State Treasarer, in a perfunctory way, joins in what are called ‘‘settlements’’; but the actual work is done in the office of the Auditor General. ..When he is a mere figurehead, the source of authority and power is his corporation clerk; and, when he himself is ‘‘the power behind the throne’ and domiuates the corporation ‘clerk, the amount of tax that shall be assessed against a corporation, the promptness with which it shall be paid, whether any tax shall be assessed against it or not, and if assessed, ‘whether it shall be collected or not, and whether; after having been assessed and col- lected, it shall be remitted or not, depend absolutely upon the ‘Auditor Gen- eral, and the Commonwealth of Pennaylvanis, is whelly at his merey } in in hess su- premely important matters. The value of capital stock, for example, is a subject for the exercise of the best judgment, lay and ‘legal, and is one over which the most eminent lawyers and the most learn- ed courts have battled for many years. The deci- . sions of the highest courts of the Commonivealth ) and country upon this subject present. illnstrations of the finest tairsplitting, ” Notwithstanding long campaigns ‘waged in the courts for the ascertainment of principles of taxation, the ‘whole subject, yet practically remains within control of the Auditor General. In the case of cor- porations whose aggregate taxes, in single cases, exceed more than half a million dollars, whoke property rans into hundreds of millions; and in casé of the thous- ands upon thousands of corporations of every magnitude, character and degree, who fill the coffers of the State, the power of the Auditor General to say what what their taxes shall be, and when they shall pay them, or what taxes claimed to have been improperly paid shall be remitted to them, is literally to hold the pursestring of the Commonwealth. The Auditor General may examine the books, papers and accounts of every corporation, institution or company having accounts Has Power to Revise, Reduce or Remit Taxation. BELLEFONTE, PA., OCT. 19, 1900. Not more than ta settle with him. He can compel witnesses, books, papers and documents, . He can commit to prison recaleitrant witnesses, He setiles all the accounts of the Legis lature and the several departments. He may revise and re-settle accounts erroneously or illegally settled, re-open accounts, impose liens on all veal estate of the persons and corporations indebted, escheat estates, pass upon collateral inheritance cases, and, it local courts fail to do so, he may audit the accounts of county officers. Indeed, their returns all pass under his scrutiny. In all these cases he may remit, re- duce and abate the amounts due the Commonwealth at his own sweet will'or abi- ritrary caprice, without fear of detection or danger of review. When it is considered that it is wholly within the power of this officer to increase or decrease the taxation of great and small corporations: by hundreds of thousands of dollars; to permit their officers to withheld payment for a long period, or to compel them, by sharp pro- cesses, to rigorous accountability; when he may allow some couiity treasurers to withhold the taxes due to the Common- wealth for months or years in the interest of local banks having their deposits, or compel other county treasurers to make prompt payment, and then, for long months, withhold from counties their three-fourths share of the personal prop- erty tax; when every member of the Legislature and every judge in the Common- wealth may receive his salary prematurely, at the time fixed by law for its pay- ment, or may be compelled to wait unduly for it; when the objects of the State’s charity may receive their benefactions promptly aud keep large balances in their treasuries, or be literally ‘‘starved to death,’’ at the mercy of the Anditor Gen- eral,—one can form some idea of how important the incumbent of this office may be and how far-reaching his political influence. Suppose, for instance, that a great corporation, feeling the stress of bard times, wants its capital stock valued at $50,000,000 less than its’ actual value, and can prevail upon and persuade the Auditor General to accede to its wishes. Suppose that it makes manifest $10,000,000 of its corporate loans are held out- side the State,—whether this demonstration shall be accepted, or the party claim- ing it be driven into expensive, tedious and unpopular litigation, depends whol- ly on the caprice of the Auditor General. Suppose that, when the payment of one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand or five hundred thousand dol- lars of corporation tax is due, it suits its management to delay payment four, six or cight months, Suppose that a local bank, which has $50,000 of county mon- ey, can prevail upon the Auditor General to not require payment of the personal property tax to the State. Suppose a man, with a grossly inflated bill for pub- lic printing, or a contractor for state supplies has a claim of from fifty to one hundred thousand dollars, with forty per cent. profit in it, which can be quietly slipped through the Auditor General’s office, or made the subject of angry con- tention and costly: litigation in the court, accordingly as that officer may want to do his official duty or to favor a political henchman. What is not the exercise of the power and authority of that office worth when in the control of a cor- Where an Unscrupulous Official Can Exact Party Tribute. rupt man, who wants to enrich himself, or of an unscrupulous politician; who wields his power for the benefit of his party or his faction ? A thousand examples might be suggested, and ten thousand be ‘drawn from astual experience, to show there is- not an officer of the state government, there. is not a corporation in the Commonwealth, ‘there is not a county in the State, there is scarcely a bank from Philadelphia to Erie, that cannot be made to feel the influence and power of this office, to court its favor, to fear its frown and to dread its antagonism ! Then consider the power of what ia called the * ‘Beard of Public Accounts,’’ of which the Auditor General is the head and front ! Additional Powers After taxes have been settled jand even paid to and the State, this Board has the power tore-open and Opportunities. to practically repay them, by giving the cor- porations from which they were received what is known as ‘‘a credit settlement.’”” It often happens that tax laws are® passed and taxes paid under them for years, when some legal objection is raised and the law is found to be defective, unconstitutional or incapable of enforce- ment. After the State has received large revenues under it,appropriated and ex- pended them, then come the big corporations, with their claims for repayment. If the Auditor General is in a complacent mood, he and his associates on the Board of Accounts have the power, unchallenged by any court or Common- wealth’s officer, to allow them. Sometimes, of course, these are just and ought to be paid. ‘ Sometimes, their ‘allowance is a matter of gross favoritism, and such claims are taken by speculative lawyers on large contingent fees. Then itisa boon for the corporation or counsel to have an Auditor General to suit them. He can drop a hundred thousand dollars into the lap of a favorite corporation, or a fee of twenty-five thousand dollars into the pocket of a congenial counsel. The power of the Board in this respect is . reviewable by no court, nor is there any check upon its exercise by any other department of the Commonwealth. The Auditor General, State Treasurer and Attorney General alone may resettle any account alleged to have been‘‘erroneously or illegally settled.”’and,in the exercise and discharge of this duty, there is practically no limitation upon their equitable powers. They may say, in one case, that it is against the policy of the Commonwealth, and, in a precisely similar case, that the revenues of the State will admit of such a settlement, and the party that is discriminated against has no appeal. ‘We have thus tried to show that neither the Legislature, in its power to raise, waste or save money; nor the Governor, in his boundless rights of approving and vetoing revenue or appropriation bills, is neariy so likely to use or abuse its or hie respective powers for the welfare or detriment of the Commonwealth as the Auditor General. We doubt if in any State, other than Pexnsylvania,any. officer, has vested in him such powerful and far-reaching influence. | We direct notice to it at this time, not only that the attention of the gob ple of the Commonwealth may be called to the importance of the office, and that they may understand the anxiety of the Republican State Ring to retain con- trol of its un 1 limited authority, but that an incoming reform Legislature may ‘consider whether or not some check and sab should not be: created upon its: enormous power. | lick Creekat a cost of $25,000. “| expects to ships its frst «coal to the. market from its Chicago headquarters, makes pub- ‘is systematically tampered with by ‘the | department, and that a regular system of | espionage of Democratic: letters and doeu-, ments has been established at Washington | and elsewhere. The committee has proof | ‘| of the opening of letters, the tampering with docunients and the abstracting: of | ‘other rascally acts impossible to excuse or /|'palliate on the ground of accident. The ‘| campaign committee has also discovered that thousands of Democratic documents, | as | Mark Hanna's last movement, and it is to |. be remembered that, the ie postmaster general Dirty Work for a au Dirty Cause. From the Pittsburg Post. i The Democratic National’ conimities, lic the fact that the mail of the committee Republican organization thirough the postal Democratic documents: and the insertion in their place of Republican appeals and. properly addressed, have not been received and cannot be traced. Probably this is | realm of Ashbridge is not quite so in suppressing Atkinson's anti-imperial documents assumed a power only tolerated in despotic European governments. All this is simply an extension of the censor- ship established in the Philippines,so that, according to General Otis, nothing should conie through that “would hurt the ad- winistration.” 2 13 dial uta do AA A Tale of € Two. ‘Cities. Fiom the. Phila. Record... Chairman Hanna declares that the Croker «domination in New York is the nearest ap- proach: to iniperialism in the United States. The careless Obioan evidently forgets his friend Ashbridge, of Philadelphia. ' The populous |, as that controlled by Croker, Ea tthe despotism is more complete. i --—Subsoribe tor the Wairoa. ih 3 a nn = Spawls from the Keystone. <<. =A number of prominent women of Mil- \ z ton have declared their intentions of ivrining a suffrage club. —Lock Haven has 1,269 pupils attending the public schools, and , between 700 and 800 children of the legal age do not attend public schools. —The wages of the workmen were redue- ed from 5 to 10 per cent. at Joseph E. Thropp’s iron furnace at Everett a few days ago- —The contract for lighting the streets with electrie lights will expire shortly, and there is talk of erecting a plant to be operated by the borough of Manheim. —Finding a broken bicycle at the bottom of a steep hill near Williamsport, Farmer Amos Small searched in the bushes, and find- ing 15 year old Charles Smith . nearly dead, took him te the hospital. + —Unless a logging flood occurs before Nov- ember 1, the seventy million feet of logs in the river between Williamsport and Mahaffy will have to banked for the winter entailing an expenditure of thousands of dollars. —Henty Edgar, well known ' miner. died Monday night at his home at Graham station, where he has resided for a number of years. He was aged 70 years, Besides his wife he - is survived by several grown op sons and daughters. i : —CGleorge Marks, of Baresburd Wis severe- ly injured Saturday by falling ftom a chair. It seems that Mr. Marks was climbing up on a chair to do some work when the chair gave way and he fell to the floor. His back and arms were completely paralyzed: - —Andrew Snyder, of Johnstown, was ac cidentally shot Sunday by Herman Wishaaer, at Wishauer’s home, near South Fork. The bullet entered the back at the loin and went up to the lower rib on the right side and lodged back of the kidueys. “~The Sheriff of Potter county has adver- tised for sale the entire furnishings of the new. Baptist church at Coudersport. The list of articles advertised includes the pipe organ and 300 auditorium chairs. It seems that two factions of the church are at swords’ énds and the sale is the result. —Simon Saylor, while Badia corn on his farm Saturday afternoon, three miles from Meyersdale, Somerset county, was struck by a load of turkey shot fired by a hunter who had shortly before raised a floek of wild turkeys. Mr. Saylor, who was mistaken for one of the turkeys, is not expected to re- cover. Jo Polinkash, who quietly walked out of the Somerset county court house during the marder trial week before last, has not been heard from up to date, although several hatless men have been seen and heard of in various parts of the county. Jo’s associates (there are ten. of them,) who were found guilty of voluntary manslaughter; have asked for a new trial. i —The extensive improvements at the plant of the Graff Coal company, at Blacklick, In- diana county, are now completed. The work included the construction of a lateral railroad from the opening of the mines to the railroad and the bnilding of a bridge across Black- The company this month. —A real “Jack the Kisser’ has made his appearance in irwin and his regular haunts are in the upper end of the town. During the past week several women have been ac- costed, and women in that portion of the town are becoming afraid to venture out of their homes at night. A sharp lookout is being kept for the man and if caught a lively ex- perience is promised him. —The large brewery in Carrolltown belong- ing to Henry Swope, was totally destroyed by fire Friday afternoon. The fire was dis- covered about 2 o’clock and in two hours the brewery was a total loss. The damage amounts to $15,000—$10,000 on the brewery and $5,000 on an ice machine which it con- tained. The former was insured for $7,000 and the latter for $3,000. The fire was dis- covered at the hack of the building. ' Itsori- gin is unknow. —The plant of the Lock Haven Wood Working company, together with the old nail mill plant, were destroyed by fire Satur- day afternoon, The flames were first discov- ered in the sawdust and shavings under the | floor near the eastern end of the building. Asthe building was ‘of frame and all the ma- terial for handles was dry, the flames reduced the building to ashes in a very short time, The estimated loss is placed at. $0, 000. The insurance is $5,000 —Mrs. Louis LaChanéé, of Houitzdsle, fell through the covering of a dry well, fourteen feet deep, last Saturday a week and came near dying of suffocation. She was not bad- ly hurt by the fall, but the well was so fall of gas that it almost proved the death of Mrs. LaChance and her rescuers. It was not un- til the fourth man was let down into the well that it was possible to get a rope around the unfortunate woman and draw her to the surface. She remained uneonscious for some time after she was rescued, but after vigor- ous efforts was finally brought to. —While a party of men were at work (on thie Pennsylvania railroad at Pemeroy, last Friday, a large earthen jar of gold coin was unearthed, and for a time the wildest excite- ment’ prevailed among the men who fell oyer | top of one another i in their efforts to secure the shining pieces. Changes are being made in the line of the railroad at Pomeroy, and one of the large steam shovels raises the earth from the bank and deposits it in gondola cars to be hauled’ away. The huge shovel had scraped up the stump of a tree which ‘was placed ou the car. The shovel was then swung back to scoop dirt, from ‘where ‘the stump stood. In swinging the shovel, ito the car the scoop came in contact with, the side of the car and a huge earthen vessel fell from the scoop to the railroad track and was brok- en into pieces. The workingmen heard the | crash and upon looking around saw a pile of | round, glittering pieces of metal on, the. track. There was a grand rush and soon men were : ness to get some of the metal, which proved ‘to be Spanish gold coin. Some of the men secured as much as $100 in gold pieces. The ‘report of the finding of the money spread rapidly and a short time a number of people | were on the scene and every foot of earth ‘within half a mile was turned by the throng with the expectation of nding ware, gold. 0H § uy
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers