wom TE
nT MRT
sy P. GRAY MEEK.
nk Slings.
—There has certainly been sufficient
grounds for talking about the weather.
—Voie yoar convictions next Tuesday,
but be careful about how yom are cone
vioted., :
't get mad it you get licked next
Tuesday. Remember that both of yon
can’t be elected for the same office.
—ALFRED Berr, the South African
mining King, is said to bavean income of
$100 per minnie. How nice it would be
to be ALPRED'S only son.
~The surest sign of WILLIAM JENNINGS
BRYAN'S greatness as an American citizen
is indicated by the concern his every pub:
lic utterance gives our friends, the Repub-
lioans.
—ABe HumMEL, the potorious New
York lawyer, is just beginning to realize
that while the law can be made to work
many ways it sometimes happens to work
the right way.
—Congress is showing signs of becoming
safe and sane. Reports from Washington
indicate that it will decline to follow the
President in the effort to secure a world-
scaring navy.
—February is a short month but she
produced both L1NcOLN and WASHINGTON
and every four years makes it possible
for some of the passe ladies of the land to
get in business for themselves.
—When frandulent President HAYES
retired from office he went to raising
chickens, When PENNYPACKER goes oud
of the gubernatorial chair be will bave to
go back to Schweoksville to raise bugs.
—Young Mr. ROCKERFELLER may ad-
vise his Sunday school class to ‘start
right,” bus we'll bet he dassens tell At-
torney Geveral HADLEY, of Missouri, what
his daddy is oroising away off somewhere
in a yachs for.
—Pittsburg is to have a greater Fourth
of July celebration over becoming a greater
city. A greater amount of fire works and
red liquor will be consumed than ever be-
fore and, of course, a greater number of
casnalties reported.
—Miss IDA TARBELL, the woman who
wrote up the Standard Oil monopoly, de-
clares that “lying is a national vice,” and
both Joux D. ROCKERFELLER aod HENRY
Ropers would have us believe that Ina
bas contracted the germ herself.
—One by one the Postoffice Department
finding their way
tary. On Tues:
—They may call BEN TILLMAN “fire.
eater,” ‘pitch fork” or whatever they
will be is, nevertheless, one of the very
few wen in the Upited States Senate who
has the brains to say someshing that the
public takes cognizance of acd the ability
to stand up and say it.
—Judgiog from the amount of fos that
is being made everywhere about the un-
fair advantage the great carrying oorpora-
tions have taken over the public in the
past every person who can command enough
hearing to make a fuss must bave been
riding on a pass heretofore.
—Mm. CHARLES 8. HENRY, of Shrop-
shire, England, recently gave a dinner to
all the voters in the district who helped re-
elect her husband to Parliament. Such a
thing would be impossible in this country,
for after a man is elected bere he can never
find anybody who wasn’t for him.
—The House committee on foreign rela-
tions has decided to report favorably on
Hon. Nick LONGWORTH'S bill to spend
$5,000,000 setting up our foreign am-
bassadors in better style. Why couldn’s
Nick have saved us thas expense by shar
ing his wedding presents with them.
~—For stealing nine cents DANIEL
FrrzeeEraLd and THOMAS COSTELLO
were sent to the Auburn, N. Y , peniten-
tiary for five years. But then DURHAM,
LAMBERT and the rest didn’t technically
steal when they took all that insurance
money from Pennsylvania policy holders.
—There iz skating on the roof of the
Bellevue—--Stratford hotel in Philadelphia,
which the press of that city speaks ol in
most complimentary language. How is it
thas the ubiquitous reporter bas nothing
to say abons the ‘‘skating’’ that is done in
the grill room of that great hostlery all the
year round ?
~*“Fashion,’’ a $1500 brindle terrier, is
to be one nf ALICE ROCSEVELT'S wedding
presents. The donor is sending a com
ward-robe for the precious pug—for
comb aud all. Insect powder is not in-
cluded because “Fashion” isa blue-blooded
terrier and not an entomologist.
~The “corrupt practice law’ which is
up to the Governor for bis signature or veto
defines very clearly what mocey may be
expended for legally in the conduct of elec-
tions, and it might results in good, but
article 6, which reads *‘for the payment of
and
ision every purchaseable voter in a dis-
trict might be legally employed to canvass
or solicit votes for a candidate or set of
candidates and in that way receive pay for
his own vote. The old law covering pur.
chasing of votes is satisfactory. All that
is needed is its enforcement.
persons actually employed in canvassing | wo
sp
From the statement in some of the town
papers it is to be inferred that she borough
bad vo debt until the present council came
into existence. For many years the debt
of the borough exceeded $100,000.00.
Some of this debt was paid somewere be-
tween 1893 and 1809, when the balance
$05,000.00 refunding bonds were issued,
bearing interest as 3} per cent. The settle-
ment for the year ending March 31d, 1902,
shows this.
Bonded indebtedness,...........coooenninnne
Other indebledness,..........coseeresis nse
Total voeerrsiveissesrnn ——. $120,760.00
Deducting the assets, .............ossemmmescrecss 17,828.53
Leaving a net indebtedness of..............5102,921.48
During 1902 the council made the new
loan of $25,000.00. This $25,000.00 was
simply changed from a floating debt owing
to varions persons to a funded debt bear-
ing 4 per cent interest.
The borough statement for the year end-
ing March 20d, 1903,shows that the debt of
the borough less all assetts was $104,319.-
25, Up to March 1903 the majority of the
members of the council were Republicans,
and whatever debt the borough bad up to
that time, was created under their admin-
istration.
It is not necessary to go into the show-
ing of annual statements farther than to
say thas the one for the year ending March
Gib, 1905, shows that the nes indebtedness
of the borough, is $110,415.77. The taxes
for 1905 for borough purposes not including
water tax amount to $20,255.31, very little
higher than in 1902, aod some increase
was caused by the fact that from the time
of the issuing of the $95,000.00 of refund-
ing bonds there vever had been a suffiient
tax levy to meet the interest and the re-
quirements of the sinking fund conditions
of these bonds, The purpose of the tax
levy is to meet the annual current expenses
of the borough the interest and the sinking
fund, and if these were all paid within the
year for which they are levied there would
not likely ever have been any increase in
the debt over the old debt of $95,000.00.
The valuation of all property in the
statement comes ont that she limit bas not
been passed after deducting the assets.
There is anotber side to this. The ma-
jority of the council organized in March,
1003, were and are yet Democrats. The
longest period thas council bas been under
the control of the Democrats in 45 years.
How did things stand when they took
charge of borough affaires ?
The wall and walk along Water street
were down, the street a mud puddie most of
the year. No sewer in the West ward, and
the ‘people besieging the council to put
down a sewer to lead from High street, at
or near Thomas street, below sown, so as
tosave them from contagions disease and
make their homes babitable. The people
of a portion of east Bishop street doing the
‘same thing for the purpose of keeping their
cellars from being flooded by every heavy
rain that passed over the borough. For
the purpose of clearing the foundation for
the soldiers monument it became necessary
to also put a sewer down High street.
These sewers were all pus in, and cost
quite a sum of money. The people in these
several localities are gratified over the work
of the council.
The walls along Spring creek, that never
had been anything but irregular, unsight-
ly, crooked, tumble down piles of stone,
bave been replaced by good walls. Water
street raised, graded and widened, and a
walk put down that will last as long as the
borough will need a walk. The improve.
ments made were absolutely necessary.
Everyone now commends the work. It
has added beauty to the town and value to
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The Senators and Representatives in the
Legislature which bas been in extra session
at Harrisburg during the month which
ended yesterday bave expressed a curious
notion of their constitutional obligations.
That is to say, that they have violated an
unequivocal mandate of the fundamental
law of the State in order to fulfilla pro-
vision of the same instrument the burden
of which is at least open to quession. In
other words the General Assembly in ex-
traordinary session bas reapportioned the
State into senatorial districts agreeably to
one provision of the constitution in a man-
ner which is specifically and emphatically
forbiden by another clause. They have
perpetrated a greater evil in order to avoid
the lesser.
For example, Section 18 of Article II of
the constitution declares that ‘‘the Gen-
eral Assembly at its first session alter the
adoption of this constitution, and imme-
diately after each United States decennial
census, shall apportion the State into sena-
torial and representative districts agreeably
to the provisions of the two next preceding
sections.’’ The last United States decennial
census was taken in 1900 and there is no
doubt that the cbligation to make the ap-
portionment was oo the General Assembly
which sat in 1901. It might be held that
the Legislature of 1903 was still within the
limits of the obligation. Bat the duty was
neglected in both those sessions and even
during the session of 1905 it received no
attention. This year, however, when more
than balf the period between decennial cen-
suses bad elapsed and when the matter of
the population of districts has become
simply a matter of conjecture, the subject
has been taken up with a zeal which bas
shut out judgment and an unconstitutional
apportionment bas been made.
Section 16 of Article 11 of the constita-
tion, one of ‘‘the two next preceding,’
enumerated in that above quoted, positive-
ly asserts that in making a senatorial ap-
portionment ‘‘no county shall be divided
unless entitled to two or more Senators.”
Yet in the apportionment made doring the
py
at all to ges one. There was no oksible
excuse for this violation of the fundamental
law. Lancaster with less population than
Berks could have been given one Senator
as Berks was and Lebavon attached to
Dauphin making a district only a trifle
larger than that of Berks and less than
some of the other distriots.
In view of these facts there is no escape
from the conclusion that our General As-
sembly ‘‘choked on a goat but swallowed a
camel."’
An Exposure Kuevitable.
That the railroad corporations will be
brought te an accounting no longer admits
of doubt. It may he thas the CREASY reso-
lution intredaced in the Legislature the
otber day will fail of its purpose. It is
possible that as president BAER of the
Philadelphia and Reading asserts, the cor-
porations of that class are sheltered under
rights vested before the constitution was
adopted. Tt is not unlikely either that the
resolution introduced in the House in
Washington by Mr. GILLESPIE, of Texas,
and the movement inaugurated in the
federal Senate by Mr. TILLMAN, of South
corporations are potent and it takes time
to bring them to terms.
The CREASY resolution will fail, if it
fails at all, because the Governor and the
Attorney General are servile instruments
of the corporations. The Attorney General
will report that Article 17 of the constitu.
tion is not automatic aud shat in the ab-
sence of legislation it is without force or
effect. The same reasoning will produce
the same result in Washington. But abler
lawyers than the Attorney General at
Washington and Harrisburg allege that the
constitution of Pennsylvania and the anti-
discrimination law of Congress supplement-
ed by the common law will achieve the
purpose desired. In other words the vio-
lation of the laws by the railroads is a
criminal conspiracy and can be stopped.
“The immunity which the railroads enjoy
through the favor of the law officers of the
State and the United States, is therefore,
only temporary. The time will come,and it
may be in the near future, that such an in-
vestigation of the railroads of Pennsyl-
vania will be made ua bas recently exposed
the rotteaness of the insurance companies
of New York. Suppose for a momens that
was compelled to tell, under oath, of the | ru
the president of the New York Life and
pelled to do. We don’t say that the re |
sult would be the same but we do say that
the public would be surprised.
S—————————————— !
—There is no sign of ANNA GouLp's
going “down for the Count” in that fight
alter qf
just
of hers with the recreant CASTELANE.
Lincoln Steffens’ Fall.
Mr. LixcoLx STEFFENS is rapidly spoil-
. For years
be bas been aseailing the iniquities of pub-
lio life with a courage and intelligence that
has challenged popular endorsement and
praise. Aiming over the heads of the small
criminals and dependent boodlers he has
fired his shafts as the big rascals and shown
that the public venality and political im-
morality under which the country is suffer-
ing is ascribable, pot to the miserable
wretches who accept bribes for sinister
services, but to the wealthy and powerful
bribe givers who induce them to thus
Bat he appears to
bave [allen under the influence of Roose-
VELT andl become as great a sycophant as
ing an admirable
prostitute themselves.
the others.
For two or three weeks Mr. SIEFFENS
has been publishing articles in the metro-
politan Sunday papers on the public life of
the National capital. From the first of
this series bis purpose seems to have been
to land RoosevELT and condemn every-
body else. The sense of justice which bas
hitherto kept him away from political dis-
crimination and held him to the line of
exact fairness has been abandoned in this
Washington exposure. As an instance he
states in the article published last Sanday
that the President “made a deal’ with
“Not content with the con-
stitutional method of recommending legis-
lation,’’ he adds, ‘‘he had recourse to an
understanding (most informal, of course,
bat definite) with Mr. CANNON to use
their united powers to ‘jam through’ cer-
the Speaker.
tain measures.”
One would suppose after having read,
Mr. STEFFPENS’ article on the corruption of
Philadelpbia, St. Louis, Ciucionati and
that he would be vehement in
his denunciation of soch a ‘‘deal.” He
does condemn it in mild pbrases. But
the President's contemptuous
opinion of Congress he adds “‘there isa
ike for us in thas. If our repre-
should be, we
other citi
sentatives aren't
the shape of p
phant.
at they
who are.”
i
ioe
yy bribes Ul
ihe people are to
blame and the culprit is entitled to praise. |
Mr. LINCOLN STEFFENS bas simply writ-
ten himself down a hypocrite and syco-
Secretary Taft's Subterfuge.
The Secretary of War has asked Congress
for a special appropriation of $100,000 for | for Governor
the purpose of increasing the military force
{in the Philippines. Two regiments in ad-
dition to the present strength of the army
of ocoupation is needed, he gravely alleges,
because of threatened disturbances in
China. The inference is that he wants to
be ready at all times to take a hand in al)
Asiatic affairs on the slightest provocation
and at the earliest moment. He lays him-
self open to the suspicion of insincerity,
however. There is nothing in the news
from China to indicate impending trouble | the
of a serious nature. The government of
China appears to be able to take care of its
own affairs.
The truth is that the Seoretary of War is
merely indulging in a subterfuge when he
offers the troubles in China as an excuse
for increasing the army in the Philippines.
J. KENNEDY JOHNSTON last week was en-
tirely without warrant and decidedly un-
truthfal. It charged him with not having
settled his 1903 duplicate, whereas she
facts are that it was all settled some time
ago except the school tax avd he has bad
the money in readiness to pay the treasurer
of the sohool board the moment the board
passes on the account.
A
——Governor Pennypacker, last Thurs-
day, sent to the Senate for confirmation
the appointment of Col. Lloyd B. Huff, of
Greensburg, as a member of the board of
trastees of the Pennsylvania State College.
——
From the Philadelphia Record.
Bank Commissioner Berkey, who has
jon been most uncovered |
I imag
is one of the to
and control distiibution of the
iwuend 101s of mare dr Jets hugetif JSsottas.
Many of these reforms conld have been
safely postponed to the regular session of
the General Assembly, in January, 1907.
Bat there oould be no ; of
this bill to keep the machine in control of
the State Treasury after its indignant re-
pudiation by the people.
Where Will Republicans Find Sach a
Man,
From the Wilkes-Barre “Record,”
It is as sure as the uoalter
deccee of
fein
iiiites
iE
I
il
t
8
minutes the court adjourned. But imme.
diately afser the court convened again the
laboring man who bad struck for shorter
The greater lorce there is required to keep | the
the Filipinos in subjection. The unalien-
able right to self-government is being as-
serted or at least felt more geuerally in
the Asiatic archipeligo as ednuation be-
comes more widely diffused. The public
schools are doing the work for them which
the spirit of inquiry did for the American
colonies previous to the Revolution and are
likely at any moment to produce a new
Declaration of Independence.
It is to prevent such a result that Seo-
retary TAFT wants an extra $100,000 for
the military establishment in the Philip-
pines. He intends to maintain peace by
killing or co-ercing any who contemplate
war, just as the British sovereign in 1775
undertook to preserve the peace in the
American colonies. He probably feels that
it wouldn’s be safe tostate the facts in
plain terms. There is a good deal of old-
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—Easton sportsmen are going to try im+
porting quail from Kansas for propaga-
tion.
—8ilk making is becoming an important
industry in Pennsylvania. There are now
262 mills in the State. ;
~There are twenty less applicants for
liquor licenses in Clearfield county than
there were last year,
~The state pure food agents spread their
dragnet in Clearfield and vicinity a short
time ago and it was a big net for they
. gathered in 29 dealers on the same charge.
—The Northern Cambria trolley line, con.
necting Patton, Carrolltown, Barnesboro,
Spangler, 8t. Benedict and other smaller
towns in that section, has finally been placed
in service.
~The Mount Union silica works have
spent $25,000 in improvements within the
past year. Their capacity will be doubled
when the kilns and tunnels now being erect-
ed are completed,
—~Eleven days’ absence in thirty-nine
years is the record of Miss Emma Murrasa
Middletown school teacher. This break in
the record of continuous service was due to
a fall down stairs.
—Shamokinites who want a federal build.
ing insist that it shall cost not less than
$100,000. Chief Burgess Shuster says Con-
gressman Samuels is working hard for the
bill and has assurances it will pass.
—Dr. Robert M. Smith, a Williamsport
dentist, while on a business trip to Clearfield,
died on Wednesday at thy Leonard house of
heart trouble. He was aged 48 years, and
10 | is survived by his wife and one child.
~For eleven years, Patrick Rafferty, who
conducts the Union Hotel, at Roulette,
Potter county, has not taken a drink of
water, and he probably never will, prefer-
ring tea, coffee and milk as his beverages.
~The board of control of the Newton
Hamilton Camp association held a meetieg
at Altoona, last Friday, and arranged to be-
gin camp meeting next summer on the 9th
of August, and continue twelve days. Al-
ready seventy tents are engaged.
—One of Clearfleld’s business men three
years ago purchased five hundred shares of
Keystone Telephone company stock in
Philadelphia for 76 cents a share and last
week realized $8,000 for his holdings. This
would indicate that the telephone business
must be a lucrative one.
—To overcome his wife’s dread of burglars
and fires, W. 8. Pleiffer of Roulette, near
Coudersport, bas fitted out his house with an
slarm system elaborate enough for a city.
Sixteen miles of insulating wire and a dozen
gongs make up this system and Mrs, Pfeiffer
isn't a bit scared any more.
—Northumberland county has 107 murders
on the records and only one execution.
The latest murder occurred on January 30th,
when William Redinger, of Mt. Carmel,
|
brick at James Simmon, of the same
Aint fr ‘eatignorin Lt’ . oo.
was out to the various headquarters
along the Pennsylvania railroad last Friday.
~The Allentown Board of Trade st the
| beginning of last year resolved to locate a
| round dozen new industries during 1905 and
in October last the last ove of the twelve
was landed safe enough. Allentown "is said
to bave a Board of Trade which surpasses
even Williameport's noted Board of Trade
in point of bustle and actual results,
| «Tho Northumberland county court has
been getting after the gambling dens in
Sunbury. Itis reported that one Sunbury
man has lost $11,500 in one of these resorts
snd that he is willing to testify that he can
give the names of three hundred other men
who have lost money in them. Three of
the proprietors have pleaded guilty and the
court will close up the places.
—Despondent over family affairs, Monroe
Shamokin, Tuesday evening about 5 o'clock
chose a borrinle method in which to end his
life. He sat down, tied a stick of dualin to
his bead, lit the fuse attached and when the
spark reached the concussion cap there was
| an explosion and the suicide was instantly
killed, the top of his head being blown off.
—=A bill in equity, which may involve
hundreds of dollars of expenses, has been
filed in Greensburg. It was brought about
over the alleged refusal to pay a bill of
twenty-four cents. J. J. Ray, a resident of
West Newton, it is claimed, owed the electric
light company a bill of that amountand
refused to pay, and the company took the
Halt wwe of dis house. The lawsuit is the
result.
—Bold thieves cut their way into the sta-
tion houses at Crabtree and New Alexandria,
Westmoreland county, on Sunday morning.
At Crabtree they secured $14 in money and
tickets, the value of which is not yet certain-
ly known. At New Alexandria the agent,
John Grey, bsd removed all but a little
"| change from the cash drawer. Some tickets
were taken, however, and several other