Demon Wc BY PRP. GRAY MEEK. Ink Slings. —The thing that seems most certain to follow the flag is not the constitution, but the DINGLEY tariff schedule. —DLet us hope that the developments in China will not be such as to justify the heathen in exclaiming: ‘‘When thieves fall out honest men get their dues.” —The Boers are presenting daily evi- dence of being able to do business at the old stand and to take the British soldiers about as fast as they appear on the veldt. —An American horse has won the great English Derby. Though the horse’s name was Volodyovski he won by more than a nose. —It doesn’t prove that a baby is part an- imal because it is born with a dear face and bare nether end, as one of our grave old friends from'Pennswalley would have us be- lieve. —While the young men who cut such a figure in the 1901 class yesterday wouldn’t be considered very fast by horsey men, they are all equipped to get there} with both feet as the years roll on. —BENNY FocHT’S fish basket bill isa vicious bit of legislative undertaking, that ought to be killed instanter, but after all it might prove to be a good thing, if only some of the ‘‘suckers’” at !Harris- burg will be caught in it. —If Jim BLAINE had been living he might have remarked that the resolutions adopted at Tuesday’s convention . were a work of super-erogation, but as there wasn’t much else to do something had to be super-erogated to put in the time. —The State of South Carélina is not to be torn up by a fight between Senators TILLMAN and McLAURIN, both of whom resigned. The latter has recalled his resig- nation ; having evidently thought better of his threat to break BEN’s pitch-fork up and run tke tines into his political carcass. —CHAUNCEY DEPEW evidently forgot where he was at when he stated that third term boom-let for McKINLEY in Chicago on Wednesday. Of course he meant it as a joke, but the fact that it wasn’t one of his post prandial efforts might deceive some people into thinking he was serious about it. —Good old, rock-ribbed, protective-tar- riffed, single standard, imperialistic, Re- publican Pennsylvania narrowly escaped having a lynching at McKeesport jon Mon- day night. What a pity it was that the " hemp-stretching ceremony was not carried out. It would have been such ripe fruit for the southern newspapers. . —1It is probable that the Legislature will pass congressional and judicial apportion- ment bills at this session, but there is scarcely any likelihood of anything being done in the senatorial or legislative dis- tricts. There are too many fellows in the House at Harrisburg who are satisfied with their jobs to take such a risk as a general change would engender. —Two more cadets have been sum- marily dismissed from West Point and not even given travel pay to go home on. The young men who are thus suddenly dropped from under uncle SAM’S sheltering coat tail will soon realize that it would have been a far easier job for them to have heen good at the Point than to hustle for a liv- ing like most civilians have to. : —The earth under Butte, Montana, is said to be sliding and splitting, which is not to be wondered at. Judging for scenes witnessed in that city on a Sunday not so many years ago we infer that it must have been in dangerous proximity to the infern- ~ al regions then and the wonder is that it has taken the sulphur fumes this long to find their way out. .—The miners of the anthracite regions have abandoned their intended march on Harrisburg and are now raining letters, thick and fast, in on the Legislators at Harrisburg. They hope in this way to get their special legislation through at this session. We would advise the poor toil- ers to get some kind of a railroad franchise preamble to their measures and then watch them slide along toward the Governor's signature. —BRYAN believes ‘‘that we have the best government ever conceived by man and that it will remain the best govern- ment, if the Supreme court will let it alone.”” Certain it is that the more that body of reversible jurists have to do with it the less respect the masses will have for it. The common people may have very meagre ideas of what law is, but they know just as much about what is right as any one else and they know that the Supreme court’s rulings in the Cuban, Porto Rican and Philippine questions are not right. —Senator HANNA'S idea that the ‘‘weal or woe’’ of this country depends upon the activities of husiness men in public affairs will scarcely be concurred in by many. If, for instance, all of the business men took the same selfish, pernicious interest in gov- ernment that MARK does there would be no doubt of the‘ woe’ that would follow,nor of its cause, but fortunately for the country the professional man, the mechanic, the farmer and the laborer takes an interest and the‘‘weal”’ that we meet with is just - as much due to their efforts as to those of the business man. ! STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. _VOL. 46 BELLEFONTE, Dangerous Legislation. For the past several days the politicians and capitalists of the Commonwealth have been all agog over a couple of bills that are pending in the Legislature. They were introduced at the afternoon session of last Wednesday in the Senate, referred to com- mittee, reported out again and put on the calendar for first reading within thirty minutes of the time that they were first heard of in the chamber. Then a recess of a couple of hours was taken and when the session was resumed the bills were read the first time. A session was held on Decora- tion day at which they were read the sec- ond time and on Friday morning at nine o'clock they were passed finally just forty- four hours from the moment they were read in place. If they had been unim- portant measures that would have been less surprising, though the most urgent condi- tions have failed, hitherto, to secure equal expedition. But they completely change the corporation laws of the State, vacate every protection against seizure of property and put in the hands of a few politicians powers greater than were ever conferred before under any circumstances. Commenting upon these measures the Philadelphia Times remarks: ‘‘The new railway bills now in course of rapid transit through the Legislature return to the worst features of the old system and antagonize the whole spirit and purpose of the con- stitution.” The Public Ledger of the same city, after characterizing the measures as “extraordinary legislation,”” remarks “there is no promise of good to the pub- lic”’ in them. The conservative and al- ways accurate Record of Philadelphia ob- serves that ‘‘the only business which these bills, if passed and signed by the Governor, would encourage would he speculation in pocket charters of trolley lines.” The Philadelphia Press is almost vehement in its denunciation of the measures and the manner in which they have been railroad- ed. The Pittsburg Post says ‘‘that they are intended to give a political machine greater power is very likely, but that is something we have hecome accustomed to in Pennsylvania.”” In fact the leading papers are of one mind in the matter. They universally«condemn the proposed legisla- tion as iniquitous and fraught with danger to the public. There are so many objections to the bills that it like supererogation to refer to them in detail. Probably the most important is that it restores the system of secretly pro- curing charters which worked such dis- astrous results before the present constitu- tion was adopted.” Then, as one of our con- temporaries has stated, charters were ob- tained clandestinely and when conditions justified the organization of corporations, or made them necessary, those concerned usually found that the charters bad already been issued to men who demanded a liberal bonus to surrender the franchises. For that reason a provision was put in the new corporation law requiring publicity. This removes that safe-guard and re-opens the way for blackmail or the destruction of personal rights in property. It would be impossible to imagine a greater danger than that. But while it is the gravest it is not the only objection to the measures. There are plenty of others. They not only permit but encourage speculation in franchises, for they distinctly authorize corporations to sell or lease their franchises or buy or lease those of other corporations. Another serious menace to public inter- ests in the bills is in the provision which conveys the right of eminent domain. That is a power which has always been jealously guarded and sparingly granted by the Legislature. The most exacting conditions have always been imposed on corporations vested with this right which, unless thus restrained, may work disaster. But there is no care taken to limit the grant in these bills. Private property seized in pursuance of the measure must be paid for but that is all. There is no necessity for guaranteeing protection to other property. The fact that a corporation organized under the pro- visions of these acts wants something in the way of real estate that you have is sufficient. Condemnation follows and there is no redress. A Legislator who would sacrifice the interests of his constituents and imperil the vested rights of the people by supporting such legislation is a public enemy and should be so regarded by the people whom he outrages. ——The provision in theInew fish law, making it an offense punishable by a $10 fine for any one person to catch more than fifty trout in a day, is a good one. It is an act that will shave the bristles off many a fish hog and have a tendency to- ward preserving the smaller fish, since every angler who has been in the habit of making large catches in aday will hereaf- ter take only the large fish, so that his catch will make up in weight for its pau- oity of numbers. The provision is a good one and should be enforced. — Suboribe for the WATCHMAN, The Ultimatum Issued. The government at Washington has is- sued an ultimatum to the Cuban constitu- tional convention, the public is informed through the newspapers. That body must accept the PLATT amendments absolutely and with out qualification is the sum and substance of ‘this imperial, shall we say, ukase. It had accepted the amendments with a sort of codicil. That is to say while the representatives of that body were in Washington just before the President start- ed West on his ‘‘royal’’ journey, Secretary of War RooT took them into his confidence. The President has noright to alter an act of Congress, he told them in substance, but as a matter of fact the whole thing is to be taken in a Pickwickian sense. In other words, he assured them, while the PLATT amendments said one thing they are to be interpreted as meaning another and if the Cubans would accept them that would be the last of the matter. With such assurances, freely given, in their minds, and plenty of champaigne and terrapin in their stomachs, the Cuban Ambassadors melted amazingly. The au- thorities at Washington aren’t such bad fellows after all they unanimously agreed and as it is necessary to make a pretense of accepting the amendment in order to get rid of the army of soldiers and office hold- ers who are eating out their substance, if one may be permitted to quote from the Declaration of Independence in this con- nection, and as it is only a figure of speech without meaning as Mr. Roor stated, we may as well gulp it down. There can be no harm in sugar-coating it a trifle, how- ever, they probably reasoned, and in order to be on the safe side they incorporated in the acceptance the interpretation which Mr. Root put on it. There could be no objection to that, they probably thought, but they were mistaken. As a matter of fact there was very se- rious objection to that. It wasMr. RooT’s statement, not the PLATT amendments which was to be interpreted in a Pickwick- ian sense. In other words the canting hypocrites at Washington intended to cheat the Cubans and after getting them to accept the PLATT amendments which are a direct violation of the selemn pledge of Congress, the palpable purpose was to put their necks on the block ‘and chop their heads off. If the Sultan of Tarkey, the Shah of Persia or the Empress Dowa- ger of China had been guilty of such an act of treachery, it would not have heen sur- prising. But when the christian Presi- dent of the United States, a man who blathers platitudes in Sunday schools and talks cant phrases in class meetings, is guilty of it, it is time to pause and reflect “whither are we drifting.” It is a shame far beyond condonation. The President’s Predicament. Our insular affairs are in a sad state of confusion. Having bribed a venal Supreme court to give legal character to acts of usurpation in Porto Rico, the administra- tion is now confronted with the fact that acts of usurpation in the Philippines stand condemned. This is an exceedingly un- pleasant situation. Of course the Presi- dent could send for the five Justices who have already put dishonor upon the bench and compel them to reverse themselves once more. SHIRAS,who reversed himself, presumably for a consideration, on the in- come tax question could do it without bat- ing an eye, and McKENNA, whose opinion was purchased on the Porto Rican case hy appointment of his son to an office, wouldn’t hesitate to comply. But it would be hard on the public. In others words so bald a declaration that the majority of the Judges of the Supreme court are influenced by corrupt considera- tions or wheedled this way or that accord- ing to the exigencies of politics or the ne- cessities of the dispenser of patronage might cause a great many people who are now quietly going along in the expectation, as Justice BROWN stated in his opinion, ‘ ‘that there is no real danger in it,”’ to open re- volt. There is no doubt that a vast major- ity of the people of this country are patriot- ic. It may safely be predicted that one half of the supporters of the President would abandon him if they believed that his policy meant imperialism. The rever- sal of the Supreme court at present, there- fore, under such circumstances, would be a hazardous step for the administration and it hesitates to take it. Something must be done, however, and that quickly. The decision legalizing the acts in the Porto Rico case clearly stamps with invalidity his acts in the Philippines. Secretary Root has plainly told him that, and as candidly declared that the only remedy is a special session of Congress and the passage of a law for the Philippines similar to the FORAKER act for the govern- ment of Porto Rico. That is the alterna- tive and the public is waiting with uncon- cealed and curious interest his determina- tion on the subject. Itisimpossible for an outsider to conjecture which course will be adopted. There is no certainty that Con- gress would act in the way desired in view of recent events. But it is probably the safest expedient. = Reversing the court would he awful. PA., JUNE 7, 1901. NO. 23. A Good Convention and an Excel- : lent Ticket. The Democratic county convention of Tuesday last was an agreeable surprise to those who have been in the habit of attend- ing these gatherings. Both in the charac- ter of men who attended as delegates jand in the number of districts represented it excelled any off year meeting that has been held for many, many years. Of the fifty- four election precincts in the county, fifty- one of them had its representative present, and of the eighty-six delegates, comprising a full convention, seventy-nine were on hand to answer to their names. And this in an off year when there was no contention as to the candidates and when bat two nominees were to be ¢hosen. Certainly such a showing augurs well for the epirit and determination of the Dem- oeracy of the county. It gives promise that although the ticket is small and that there may be no exciting campaign, no bitterness around or no meetings, or hur- rahs about the coming election, that the Democrats appreciate the sitnation and will be at the polls to see that no snap game is taken by the opposition this fall. And as the convention was good so is the ticket it made. Both of the gentlemen named have filled the positions for which they were nominated, and both have filled them to the entire satisfaction of the pub- lic, ‘as well as with credit to themselves. It is no reflection on others who have pre- ceded them, to say that in all the history of either the Prothonotary’s or the District Attorney’s office of this county, they have never heen filled better, or the duties per- ta ining to them more conscientiously per- formed than they have by the present oc- cupants of the offices. Both Mr. GARDNER and Mr. SPANGLER, since their election three years ago, have frlfilled every expectation of the party that chose them as its candidates. They have been careful, efficient, prompt and oblig- ing. As public officials they have been a credit to the county, as well as to the par- ty they represent. The records of their offices have been carefully and neatly kept. The work they were chosen to do promptly aut satisfactorily attended to, and in every way, and under every condition, they have proven themselves worthy the confi- dence of the people and the position they occupy. The party may well be proud of them as its candidates, and the people should, and if they are wise will re-elect them by over- whelming majorities. The Capitol Building. The machine managers have consented to a reduction of half a million dollars in the appropriation for the new capitol build- ing. It was started at six million dollars and its sponsors protested that it couldn’t be erected, or rather completed fora vent less than that. But after two or three severe jolts in the Senate a million was lopped off and an agreement made that an electric lighting and heating plant should be added to the original specifications to he met out of what was left. Now the total is reduced to $4,500,000, and the machine is grabbing at that as though there is a million or two left for them. ‘ And they are right in their conjecture. The original sum of six million dollars might have heen expended in the comple- tion "of the building without wasting or misappropriating a penny. But the ma- chine never intended to provide such a building. If the six millions had been ap- propriated a four million dollar building might'have been constructed. Out of the five millions the people might havelgotten a three million dollar building. But what-: ever amount is appropriated the machine intends to get a couple of millions to divide among the party pensioners and if the pending bill becomes a law it may be set down as certain that the State will bave to get along with a two million dollar capitol. This is a shame, but it is a fact neverthe- less. If has been revealed in every action of those who have been pressing the mat- ter. When they protested that a large amount of money was necessary because the wealth and dignity of the Common- wealth demanded a magnificent structure they were told to name an irreproachable, building committee and they could have any amount of money they asked. But they preferred to take a less sum with a commission that suited their purpose and now they are down to $4,500,000 and in fact acknowledge an intention to steal the difference between that and the original sum. ——The Pittshurg Post evidently leads them all in circulation in Pittsburg, for ac- cording to the swoin statements made by the five official papers of that city the Post is nearly twelve thousand ahead of its nearest competitor in average daily ocir- culation. : Er ———— ——~Subscribe for the WATCHMAN. ‘neighborhood is unjust to the customer McLaurin Withdraws His Resignation. Senator McLAURIN, of South Carolina, has literally jumped at the opportunity to withdraw his resignation. Some days ago, during a ‘‘jawing match’’ between bimself and Senator TILLMAN, that resourceful gentleman taunted McLAURIN into a joint resignation. ‘I will resign if you do,’* Mr. TILLMAN remarked, and in an un- guarded moment McLAURIN agreed. The joint resignation was promptly written and signed by TILLMAN. After some difficulty the signature of McLAURIN was obtained to it also. It was then that he discovered. what a grave error he had committed. Until then he had no idea of his own un- popularity. But he wasn’t long in finding out the exact state of affairs. The satisfaction of the people that the traitor had been elimi- nated from the public life of the State was expressed freely, loudly and in all direc- tions. This expression admonished him that he had made a blunder. He probably thought at first that the patronage of the administration and the corruption fund of the Republican national committee would serve to secure his re-election. But he dis- covered that in this he was mistaken. All the money of a MORGAN syndicate wouldn’t induce the people of South Carolina to re- store a traitor who had betrayed them to power. Probably he procured the letter from the ‘Governor asking the Senators to withdraw their resignations. It was the only possible way for him to get a chance to re-occupy his seat, and he availed himself of it so quickly that it must have made the Gov- ernor dizzy. ‘‘For the sake of the peace, prosperity and happiness of the people of this State,”’ he wrote ‘I am willing to hold on to my commission as United States Senator and continue to serve the State.’ That is rubbish and hypocrisy. For the sake of remaining two years more in pub- lic life he holds on to his commission and for no other reason. An Interesting Statement. In a speech in the British House of Commons the other day Sir ALFRED HICK- MAN, formerly President of the British Iron Trade Association, declared that the American manufacturer has a protected] market which enables him to make such enormous profits at home that he can af- ford to sell at a loss abroad. § This is an in- teresting piece of information ¢oming from such an authority. It means that the producers of this country are taxed on their necessary tools and implements in order that their competitors in the labor market may buy cheaper than the British manu- facturer can afford to sell. The labor market is the same the world over. If the opportunities for the working- man are greater here than in Liverpool or Manchester, England, the laborers of those cities come here. There are no duties to pay, no custom house charges of any kind. In fact whenever labor gets too indepen- dent here agents of the employers are sent abroad to spread the information among the laborers there, that they can do better on this side of the water, and they come. But the things they eat and wear and the tools they use are not equally free. On all those things the workingman of America, whether he is an alien, a naturalized citizen or a native must pay taxes. What satisfaction the American mana- facturers derive from the exportation of products at a rate below the prices charged to home consumers has never been reveal- ed. Of course it is desirable to have ample market facilities. A well established foreign trade is a source of safety both to employer. and employe in case of over production for the home trade or local industrial paralysis for any reason. But foreign markets built up by processes that are unjust to home | consumers are obtained at too high a price, and overcharging home consumers in order to undersell foreign rivals in their own who is overcharged. ‘Get Busy.’ From the Albany Argus. There is a whole sermon in the parlance of the day, ‘‘get busy’’—that is, get to do- ing something; get to work; be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. A dozen synonyms will suggest themselves for the colloguialism, yet it has, perhaps, a preg. nancy of meaning and a rugged force whic none of them quite duplicates, as is often the case with the living speech of the people, as compared with the dead speech of the books. . / ‘Get busy’’ is the gospel of today. The man who does not get busy is distanced from the start. The stress of competition, the eager pursuit of wealth and advance- ment, leaves no chance for the man who idles his chance away. Get busy at some- thing; even if it is not quite what you like do the best you can, and hope for better things. But while you are hoping, do not stop working. Get husy—keep busy. Get busy for the good of the community. If it isn’t all it should be, try to make it better, more prosperous, more progressive. Don’t sit like a big frog, croaking all the time, and never trying to do anything else. Get busy in a hopeful, helpful, enterpris- ing way. The man who gets busy has no. time to be a busybody; his only interest in the affairs of others is to help where he may. Spawls from the Keystone. —Two hundred carpenters at York have struck for $2 for a nine hour day’s work. —Pensions Lave been granted as follows :. John Harrington, of Altoona, $3; Maxwell Boultrie, of Altoona, $17. —A hail and rain storm in the northeast- ern part of Northumberland county severely damaged grain and fruit. —Jacob Deater, 70 years old was run down by a train on the tram road of the Laurelton Lumber company, at Laurelton on Tues- day and killed. —Alfred Low, a well-to-do farmer of Mt. Pleasant township, Columbia county, has dis- appeared and is thought to have committed suicide by drowning. —Edward Green, of Marcus Hook, who is 100 years old, was struck by a trolley car at Chester on Monday, and was taken to the hospital in a serious condition. —The communion railing in the new church at Loretto will be a massive affair of polished Mexican onyx, and will cost $6,350. It is about seventy feet long. —The passenger traffic to the Buffalo ex- position isincreasing every day. During the month of May several hundred more tickets were sold than the month previous. —Twenty mules and a large quantity of hay and grain were burned with the stables of the Maplewood Mining company, near Rathmel, Sunday night. Loss $5,000. —What is expected to prove one of the strongest gas wells in the State was struck at Swanville, Erie county, on Monday, and prep- arations have been made to pipe the gas to Fairview. —The June term of Snyder county court closed on Tuesday, the session having been but two days long. There were no civil cases for trial. Three petty criminal cases were disposed of. —A portrait of President James Buchanan, the gift of his niece, Mrs. Harriet Lane John- son, of Washington, D. C., was unveiled on Tuesday in Keil Memorial Hall, at Mercers- burg Academy. —The Jamison Coal and Coke company, which already operates two mines and two hundred coke ovens in the Crabtree region, Westmoreland county, is about to make ex- tensive additions to its plant. —The tramp who was found hanging to the limb ofa tree near Logansville, York county, has been buried in the Dunkard cemetery, unidentified. Just one year ago another tramp committed suicide at the same place. —There are sixty cases of typhoid fever at Cross Forks now. Nearly one-fourth of the population is affected. Nurses have been summoned from Corning, Elmira, Bradford and Williamsport. The epidemic is due to impure water. —The annual meeting of the Pennsylvania State Bar Association will be held at Bedford Springs, where the sessions will extend from June 25th to June 27th. This is the second time the annual convention has been held at this mountain resort. —The Rev. I. N. Moorehead, pastor .of Grace Methodist Episcopal church, Williams- port, has been. inyited to become the pastor of the Fowler Memorial church at Minneapo- lis, Minn. The reverend gentleman is con- sidering the invitation. —The unusual sight of six engines con- nected with one train was witnessed on the Beech Creek railroad the other day. The train consisted of 45 cars, and it required the combined efforts of six locomotives to draw the train between Viaduct and Gillintown. —The Pennsylvania railroad company has approved the application for a parlor car on the Tyrone and Clearfield, and Bald Eagle Valley divisions between Curwensville and Lock Haven. The coach will be attached to the route just as soon as the Pullman com- pany can furnish the cars. —The friends of Judge Dean of ITollidays- burg, who wrote the dissenting opinion in the “‘ripper’’ bill case, state that he will soon re- tire on half pay. He has been in ill health for more than a year. His term expires Jan- uary, 1904, under the bill recently signed by Governor Stone. Judge Dean is suffering from rheumatism and may not be able to sit during the term just begun. | —Bees almost killed the young son of Mil- lard McBride, of Bloomsburg on Tuesday. The lad was playing in the yard when at- tacked. His cries attracted the attention of his mother, who swooned upon seeing her child is such awful agony. She quickly re- gained consciousness, however, and rushing into the swarm rescued the lad. He was hor: ribly stung, and it is doubtful if he will re- cover. —The boiler in the steam sawmill of Frank Swartz, in Gallagher township, Clinton coun- ty, exploded late Friday afternoon, killing the fireman, George Helms, injuring Harry Cryder and Andrew Conway and completely wrecking the mill. Helms was killed in- stantly, a large fragment of the boiler struck him on the head, tearing it from his body. All the clothing was torn from the body of Frank Swartz, but he escaped injury. —Attorney General Knox has determined to contest the general jail delivery order by the Pennsylvania legislature so far as it ap- plies to federal prisoners in this state. The test will be made through United States dis- trict attorneys, and it is understood the first case is likely to be that of William Moore, a prisoner serving a term of four years and ten months in the Western penitentiary fot rob- bing the post office at Barneshoro, Cambria county, in August, 1897. Moore was arrested by Officer Barr, of Tyrone, and while in the Hollidaysburg jail attempted to commit sui- cide by cutting his throat. —A sewing machine fraud is operating in various localities and may turn up in Centre county. His method of operation is thus de- scribed : ‘He would visit the homes and get the consent to clean the sewing machine, and while doing so would remove some part then show a broken piece of machinery, telling the lady that it would have to be replaced ata cost of a number of dollars, he of course having the proper piece to fit. He would then put in the original piece and receive his compensa- tion for the work. If he thought he could deceive his patron further he would find a second broken piece and thus add more to the treasury.” A number have been fleeced in this manner and the residents should be shy of machine repairers.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers