BY P. GRAY MEEK.
Tuk Slings.
—It looks like $1.25 wheat.
sell yours for 70 ots ?
ROOSEVELT can give King ALFON=0,
of Spain, some pointers on using the navy
to amuse the baby.
— Dollar wheat was the record in Chicago
on Monday, but seventy cents is about the
limit in Centre county.
~—Strawberries are ten cents a bushel in
Huston, Texas. They are ous of season for
Jin MeNicHoL's breakfast food.
—The moderates being on top in the
Russian Douma they won’t have so far to
fly when the next explosion occurs.
~—COREY has at last married his actress.
Let us hope that another Pittsburg scandal
has been removed from the stage of pub-
licity.
~The Legislature has adjourned and
many a man has left HarrisburgQlor fields
in which he wiil have to do real work for
a living.
—There is English authority for the
statement that cigars and cigarettes are
germ killers. The latter are also warranted
to kill boys.
—A ‘Bloomer’ social is the latest
church diversion gotten up for the purpose
of raising money and DuBois people are
going to try one next week.
—There was snow and frost in Kansas
and Nebraska on Tuesday ; while we were
sweltering in almost torrid heat. Surely
the weather man must have slipped more
than one cog.
—The New York Mail says ‘‘the women
teachers who want men’s salaries will prob-
ably get them.”’ Of course they will if they
get the men. That is one of the chief char-
acteristics of woman.
—The Mesta bill is designed to put an
end to Pennsylvania ‘‘bucket shops.”’ [The
lady who thought the ‘bucket shop’ man
was a bucket maker had better lay in a
supply of the vessels at once.
—The Black hand, yellow jonrnals,
anarchistic reds and the green bugs are
giving this country a combination of colors
that will call forth its most watchful care
to keep from hecoming too popular.
—-The NoRTH bill having died in the
Senate United StatesSenators will continue
to be elected without an expression of popu-
lar choice and that means that the ‘‘Boy’
PENROSE will continue to misrepresent
this State in Washington.
—Governor STUART was forced to resort
to all the ‘‘squeeze’’ at his command to
force the legislature to redeem a few of
the platform pledges he had made. TItis
bad enough, but with a more pliant man
in the execative chair it would {have been
the same old gang record.
—The state pension bill is up to the
Governor and he will sign it. This will
necessitate a considerable cut in all the ap-
propriations for charities but if we had
back some of the money that was stolen in
thas thirteen million capitol grafs all conld
be taken care of without sacrifice.
—With Japan and Germany both pro-
claiming their great love for the United
States this thiug of intervational infatua-
tion is coming to the point where the
Mikado and the Kaiser will get to fighting
over fair Mies Columbia. We can stand it
as long as they don’t get too gummy.
Dia you
~The total appropriation passed by
the recent Legislature for State College was
$513,000, and for the Bellefonte hospital
$16,000. If Governor Stuart is just as
liberal in his treatment when he comes to
sign the bills these two institutions
will get no more than they deserve.
—In all prebability our Senator, GEORGE
M. DIMELING, will be the minority candi-
date for speaker of the Senate. While there
is no chance of his election it is quite an
honor for the young Senator to be named
in connection with the speakership and we
congratulate the district upon having a
Representative so well thought of.
—Itf GILBERT 8. BURROWS, burgess of
Sunbury, and the very efficient court re-
porter of Centre county, knew himself when
he eaw his picture as it appeared in the
North American on Wednesday alongside
of Bishop DARLINGTON, of the Harrisburg
diocese of the Episcopal church, he must
bave been looking through the same kind
of eyes as ‘‘see ourself as others see us.”
—It is indeed a compliment to Prothono-
tary ARTHUR B. KIMPORT that no one de-
sires to contest his re-election to the office
he has so creditably filled for the past three
years. Mr. KIMPORT is recognized by
those best qualified to know as one of the
very best court officers Centre} county has
ever had and that he shoanld be given a sec-
ond term without the organized opposition
of the Republican patty is an earnest of its
good wishes and a compliment seldom paid
public officials in this county.
—The action of Col. CHAMBERS in de-
clining to permit the use of his nameasa
candidate for the nomination of his party
for District Attorney is a decidedly wise
move. That office bas always been looked
upon as one for the younger attorneys and
not to be songht by the older men of well
established practice. Besides, Mr. Rux-
KLE'S re-election is a certainty and it could
only have heen an enemy of Col. CraAM-
BERS who undertook to lead a man of his
prominence in his party into a contest
where sare defeat for one of the minor of-
fices in the county would certainly dis.
credit him in the State.
STATE RIGH
TS AND FEDERAL UN
ION
NO. 20.
ns 52
Confession of a Corraptionist.
In supporting a resolution to extend the
session a week Representative GARNER, of
Schuylkill county, on Monday evening
last, stated that he had supported corrupt
legislation for the Philadelphia banditti in
consideration of the promise that Igeislation
in the interest of the miners would be en-
acted and that the promise has been viola-
ted. For that reason he wanted the session
continued another week in order that
the pledge might be redeemed. The chances
are that GARNER would be disappointed
and displeased if the legislation in the in
terest of the miners had been euvacted. He
is about the worst specimen of the legisla-
tive ‘‘rooster’’ that has heen on exhibition
in the General Assembly for may years.
A year ago when GARNER was asking
for a renomination as the candidate of the
Republican party for the Legislature, he
made a similar speech. The conscience of
the community bad been considerably
aroused by preceding events and it seemed
to him wise to pretend to be a reformer.
With that idea in mind he addressed his
constituents and declared that during pre.
vious sessions of the Legislature he ‘‘had
sold himself body and soul to the machine
in order to secure legislation for the miuers,
and that he had been cheated.’” But he
wouldn't be cheated again, if re-elected,
be protested, because he would have noth-
ing to do with the machine. Before the
session was a week old he was trailing
around after the machine managers beg-
ging them to deceive him ‘lor a considera-
tion.”
We can bardly imagine anything more
detrimental to the interests of the miners
orsubversive of public morals than the pres-
ence in the public life of the country of
such political corraptionists. He assumes
to be independent at intervals mainly in
the hope that he will be ‘‘induced’’ to be
silent aud io every emergency he is by all
odds the most servile tool of the machine.
His double confession of trafficking in leg-
islation, which is a violation of the consti-
tution and his oath of office, should condemn
him to the everlasting contempt of every
citizen of his district and guarantee him a
perpetual retirement into an infamous ob-
livion. The miners are entitled to better
representatives in the Legislature.
y =
Some Legislative Evils.
Representative NEsBIT, of Northumber-
land county, is outraged in his mind be-
cause of the methods of legislation in the
General Assembly, They count majorities
when there is less than a majority present
and such confusion that only a fraction
votes. Bills which require a two thirds
vote are declared passed and sent to the
other chamber or tothe Governor, Mr.
NEesBIT declares, and for that reason he he-
lieves there ought to be improvement.
That is literally true. The constitution is
‘violated time and again every day and the
Senators and Representatives violate their
oaths of office as frequently.
But Mr. NesBIT fails to suggest a rem-
edy for what must be to all observers a pa!-
pable evil. Publicity isa corrective, no
doubt, but hardly a care. Instead of com-
plaining in the newspapers, therefore, he
ought to bave arisen in his place every time
the outrage was perpetrated and protested
with such vehemence and persistency that
public opinion would necessarily be influ-
enced by his action. The law hreaker is a
coward as a rule, and if those who pervert
their power in the Legislature to violate
the constitution were called to account
with proper emphasis the bad practice
would be discontinued.
There is another evil in legislation which
may be regarded as twin to that against
which Mr. NesBIT complains. The consti-
tution provides that every bill enacted
‘shall be read at length three times on
three separate days.” Asa matter of fact
in the Senate, at least, bills are not read at
length at all. The other Friday, for ex-
ample, with a Seuator other than a presi-
dent pro tem. in the chair and less than
half a dozen Senators present, bills were
passed without even reading the entire ti-
tle. Sevators who permit such a travesty
on legislation violate their oaths of office
and are morally guilty of perjury.
——The Churchman, the official Epis-
copalian paper of the Harrisburg diocese,
suspended publication with the May issue
which came out last Saturday. The paper
has never paid for its publication aud in the
hope that its list coald be built cp so thas
it woald be sell-supporting Rev. Edwin G.
Richardson, of this place, was sent by Bish-
op Darlington to canvass the State ip its
interest. Bat he did not meet with enough
success to make the paper a paying institu.
tion, ‘hence its discontinnance.
———Among the decisions banded down
by the Supreme court on Monday was that
in the case of the Nittany Valley railroad
company ve. the Empire Steel and Iron
company et, al., in which the decree of the
lower court was affirmed.
A ——
———New potatoes are now in market
| and are selling for $150 per bushel.
BE
The Soldiers’ Pension.
The Republican leaders are greatly per-
turbed over the passage of the Soldiers’ |
Pension bill. It passed the Senate with
only one opposing vote in the expectation
that it wonld be defeated in the House of
Representatives and it passed the House by
the same overwhelming majority in the
hope that the Governor will veto it. Ae-
cording to report from Harrishurg, bow-
ever, this expectation will be disappointed,
The Governor will sign the measure, gossip
alleges, regardless of results. That action
will necessitate some deep cutting into the
appropriations for local charities, but the
Legislators rather than the Governor will |
suffer on that account. |
The pension bill will involvean expen- |
dirure of five or six millions of dollars an-
nually. It isn’t a prodigions sum when |
the resources of this great State are con- |
sidered. Bas it raises the volume of ex-
penditures considerably above the total of
the revenues and will inevitably lead to
treasury deficits and hankruptey. ot
course the calamity may be postponed for
a period by cutting the hospital and other
charity appropriations. Bat these instito-
tions are of great service as well as of in- !
finite advantage to the communities in|
which they are located, and crippling them
will work hardships on many deserving
people. The benefit to the veterans of the
war, meritorious as it is, will hardly com-
pensate for the damage to the hospitals.
The measure was introduced in good
faish, of course, bat i$ wasn’t passed in
that spirit. Senator COCHRAN, duringa
visit in Maine, met a man who had long
been a resident of Williamsport, who said
he returned to the State in which be en-
listed because it paid a pension and he
needed the money. But in providing for a
pension to the soldiers of the State the
Legislature of Maine also provided reve-
nues to meet th: expenseand thus perform-
ed a patriotic service in a business and
statesmaulike way. Our boss-ridden and
machine controlled Legislators neglected
the moss important feature of the affair
and pensions soldiers at the expense of
others also deserving.
Fisher Would be a Farce.
Itis practically settled that Senator Joux
8. FisuER, of Indiana county, will be the
Republican nominee for State Treasurer
this year. His only competitor for the fa-
vor, so far as the public is informed, is
Representative Jou 0. SHEATZ, chairman
ofithe House Committee on Appropriation,
and the ‘‘bad blood” engendered between
the two Houses of the General Assembly
toward the close of the session appears to
have completely eliminated Sugatz. For
some reason the chairmanship of the House
Committee on Appropriations has come to
be regarded as a stepping stone to the State
Treasury. This year it has failed of that
result for the reason named and others.
The exigencies of the Republican ma-
chine are more than usually acute. The
exposure of graft in the construction of the
capitol and the intense factional enmities
among the leaders have practically de-
stroyed all chances of victory in the ap-
proaching contest. In fact the hope of
election under ordinary conditions has been
abandoned and the energies of the party
are bent to the effort of securing a majority
in the next Legislature in order to com-
pass the re-election of Senator PENROSE.
With that idea in mind a tentative agree-
ment has been entered into to vominate
Senator FISHER for State Treasurer and
side-track Justice ELKIN, who covets the
senatorial seat,
The plan is to boost FISHER asa graft
prober, he being chairman of the joint
committee investigating the scandal. He
has shown some zeal in the work and con-
siderably surprised some of his friends by
the earnestness with which he has pursued
the purpose. Bat his former senatorial
recora will greatly interfere with the suo-
cess of any reform campaign and the alli-
ance with PENROSE proves that there is no
sincerity in his professions of improved po-
litical morals. In view of all the facts,
therefore, it may be predicted that a re-
form campaign with Senator FISHER as the
candidate will speedily be transformed into
a roaring farce. Is would be a palpable
false pretense.
~———Notwithstanding the fact that the
plant of the Barnesboro Star was entirely
destroyed in the big fire which visited
Barnesboro last week editor Jobs C. Mil.
ler was not discourrged but went to work
at ence and with the assistance of the of-
fices in Spavgler and Carrolitown got out a
half-size issue of the Star on time. It is
hig intention to equip a new plant just as
soon as possible.
~The Haupt brothers are now at work
putting up the walls for the new parish
house of the Episcopal church with their
patent concrete blocks. They make a very
substantial as well as attractive-looking
wall and if they will stand the usages of
time and the elements shonld be preferable
to the solid stone.
EFONTE, PA., MAY 17, 1907.
A Legisiative Anomaly.
The esteemed Pittsburg Chronicle Tele-
gravh is very mueh pnt out on account of
! legislative conditions at Harrisburg. The
| picture of the leader of the Democratic |
opposition of the Peonsylvania House of |
: Representatives,” sass our esteemed Pitts- |
burg contemporary, ‘‘not ouly standing up
in his place ax the champion of the rede vp- |
tion of the pledges of the platform of the |
Republican State convention, but being
given cordial support by Republicavs, is |
one of the curious and unsanslactory feat-
ures of the lass days of this legislative
session.” The reference isto Representa-
tive CREASY'S effort, last week, to compel
| the Republican majority of the Legisla-
tare to fulfill the reform promises of the
Republican State platform.
We acknowledge to something incongra-
ous in the spectacle in question bus are
unable to imagine why it should be ‘‘un-
satisfactory’ to our esteemed coutempor-
ary. Mr. CREASY is not a Republican but
there is no partisanship in common honesty
aod all he did in the matter was to urge
upon the majority the obligation which its
platform pledge put upon it. If there had
been even a remote probability that the
majority in the Legislature would bave
fulfilled its pledges withont the urging, or
if here bad been a single Republican mem-
ber of the body who had sufficient con-
science and courage to perform the duty,
Mr. CREASY would probably have remain-
ed silent. But there was none.
Therefore we can’t understand the com-
plaint of our Pittsburg contemporary.
McNicHOL, DURHAM und PENROSE have
a right to complain because they are oppos-
ed to reformed legislation and like the
late Mr. TWEED prefer to be left alone.
Bat we can’t imagine that our contempor-
ary is infloenced to its expression ty such
reasons. It is more or less tied up with
the machine and in sympathy with the
iniquity which has made that organization
both notorious aud odious. But it can have
no reason for objecting to the talfillmens of
the platform pledges of its party and if thas
be true must bave objected to the spectacle
to which it refers because of regret that the
service was left to a Democrat. .
Rooscvelt Snubbed by Hughes,
President ROOSEVELT has determined to
withdraw his active support from Governor
HuarEs, of New York, according to dis-
patches from Washington. It is not be-
cause the President has become reconciled
to the enemies of the New York Governor,
for there has heen nochavge in that re.
spect. Bat Governor HUGHES wasn't ap-
preciative, apparently. He didn’t set high
enough value on the services of the Presi-
dent in his beball. Asa matter of fact he
didn’t set any value on them at all and
fravkly indicated to the meddling TEDDY
that he was “‘butting in’’ to affairs whioh
didn’t concern him.
And that is precisely what he was doing.
In meddling in the political contentions of
States the President is not only usurping
authority which he doesn’t possess and
ought not to, but he ‘is violating the most
eacred traditions of the office which Le has
in various other ways prostituted. Take
the present campaign in Ohio, for example.
The President is there, every day, bribing
politicians by the promise and bestowal of
patronage to support the aspiration of Sec-
retary TAFT for the Presidency, and there
are a good many who believe that it is not
becanse he favors TAFT as his successor hut
because he thinks men chosen to support
TAFT are likely to switch to him.
We have always entertained a high re-
spect for Governor HuGHES, of New York,
and know of no more substantial founda-
tion for such an estimate of him than his
rebuke of the President’s meddling in the
local political affairs of New York. He
has no more right to interfere in such con-
tests in that State, except as a private cit-
izen, than he has to take part in a contest
in one of the provinces of Canada. Bat he
bas interfered and in a mauner which
would probably send any private citizen to
the penitentiary for bribery and ought to
condemn him to the fall measure of popular
reprobation.
~The Lock Haven Daily Democrat
surprised its readers last Thursday by com-
ing ont in a neat and attractive eight page,
six column felio instead of the blanket sheet
it used to be. The Democrat has always
been a very readable newspaper, always
filled with live, interesting matter, and
this mark of progressiveness on its part is
a good criterion that it is meeting with the
full measure of success it deserves. May
it continue to prosper in the future as
it has in the past.
———At a meeting of the directors of the
Whiterock quarries, held Wedne:day
morning, a semi-annual dividend of three
per cent. on the capital stock was declared.
It was made payable on June 1st. While
the rate was not established as permanent
it was made as the minimom and what.
ever increase the business warrants will be
added from time to time.
so
How the Expenses Are Increasing.
Increased Expenditures in the Old and Immense
Sums for New Departments. No Reform or no Ben,
ficlary Legisiationto be had from the Present Re-
publican Legisiature.
Special Correspondence:
Harrisburg, Pa., May, 14th, 1907.
The General Appropriation bill absorbed
the bulk of legislative attention last week
and well it might for it is fearfully and
wonderfally made. The General Appro-
priation bill is that which provides for the
expenses of the Legislative, Judicial and
Executive Departments of the government.
Every Senator and Representative is con-
cerned in it for the reason that its passage
is essential to secnie hisealary and sapplies.
Besides most men are interested in the
schools and charitable and penal institu-
tions and the provisions for their mainte-
BAUS Are) Sonisived in that bill.
As Jos ings once said ‘‘ comparisons
are odorous’ but I have taken the trouble
to compare some of the items in she bill of
this year with those of other yeas in order
to discover, il possible, the cause
constant increase in taxation. In
I have learned that the entire epst of the
Executive Department in 189: ia khich was
at the close of Pattison’s administration as
shown in the General Appropriation bill of
that year amounted to D while the
appropriation this year $59,000
There bave been uo new offices created in
that department in the interim and no in-
creases of salaries, but the expenses have
heen increased in some way to the extent
of $8,800. Thas isa were trifle, however.
For example in 1893 the ex of the
State Department were $65,800, while this
year they amounted to $111,000, a differ-
ence of $46,000. The increase in two
years, that since 1905, is $8,500 and if the
political revolution of 1905 had been post-
poned until now the chances are that the
increase would bave been much greater.
The Auditor General’s Department has
dove fairly well in this also. In
1893 the cost amounted to 800 while
this year they are $159,700. e cost of
administering the Treasury BeButmens in
1893 was $38,400 which in bad ex-
panded to $72,766.60. The appropriation
this year is $72,000 flat, a decrease since
1905 of $766.60. It may be remarked
parenthetically that it is the only depart.
ment that has heen decreased as all.
SOME OTHER VAST INCREASES.
The greatest increase is in the Depart-
ment of Public Grounds and Buildings,
but that in some others is ample to make
one ‘‘sit up aug take notice.” In 1893 the
expense the Attorney Genelaly office
was $27,000, a modest snm for mport-
ant work performed in that . Two
years ago is had increased tc 906,208.34,
still a reasonable figure. But théappropria-
tion for that Department this wp been
raised to the enormous total of $116,146.-
99. Attorney General Carson was respon-
sible for this trippliog of expenses, of
course, for the new Attorney Generalhas
hardly got the bogus mahogany chair
warmed and the estimates were made on
the expenses of last year.
The Departments of Internal Aifairs has
increased in cost of operation from $30,200
in 1893 to $187,000 this year, the Judicial
Department from $1,185,200 in 1893 to
$1,980,392 08 this year and if the machine
managers of the Legislature bad not been
restrained by the fear of the veto axea
good deal more would have been added.
The cost of the Legislative Department
was $410,000 in 1903 and is $507,470 now.
There was no such pretentious Forestry
Department in 1893 and two years ago it
was efficiently conducted by Dr. Rothrock
for $23,000. The appropriation this year
for that department is $181,000 and all
things considered we are getting off pretty
well at that.
The Department of Mines and those of
Factory Inspector, State Police and Fisher-
{es have also been created since 1893, but
they show the spirit of progress in the di-
rection of expense. That of Mines, for ex-
ample cost $320,841.93 two years ago and
is set down for $370,383.60 this year. The
cost of working the Department of Factory
Inspector in 1905 was $174,800 and this
year it is $181,568, while the Department
of Ficheries cost $87,700 last year and
stands to get $144,200 this year, an increase
of $56,500. The State Highway Depart-
ment is another new one and promises to
be the ‘crowning iniquity’’ of the lot. In
1905 it used up $74,800 while the appro-
priation this year amounts to the encrmous
total of $277,800 and as u matter of fact it
was trying to get fifty millions.
POLITICAL INSTRUMENTS OF MACHINE.
The Highway Department, the Health
rtment and the Department of State
Police are the political instruments of the
Penrose machine aud there is no way to ac-
ourately measure their potentiality. The
Highway Department bas road builders,
inspectors, engineers, and hosts of others
under its control. The Health Mepartment
can muster even a more numerous army of
dependents through its various bureaus.
In the bureau of Vital Statistics alone, for
example, there is a chance for three men in
every towunship, all of whom will be re-
quired to earn the favor that is bestowed
upon them. The State Police could achieve
wonders, moreover, if ‘‘things were as they
used to be.”
There was a strenuous effort made dar-
ing the present session of the Legislature
to double this force and though at this
writing it seems to bave failed irretrievabl
there is nothing absolutely certain in this
world but‘‘death and taxes.” I notice,
however, that there isa suspicious item in
the General Appropriation bill under the
head of the Forestry Department. Am
the appropriations for the department
one ‘“for the payment of the Forest Rang-
ers, two years, the sum of $75,000.” We
ster’s Dictionary defies a Ranger as *‘one
of a body of mounted troops, formerly arm-
ed with short muskets, who range over the
country and often fight on foot.’
Possibly the machine is to be consoled
for its dissappointment in not griting tie
State Police force doubled by this expedi-
ent. Of course the amount of mon
in the alause of the appro on
Bint quoted would not maintain a very
[Continued on foruth page.)
—The Clearfield Raftsman’s Journal
seventy-five families have left that
since January 1, and that the voting popu
tion has been reduced fully two hundred.
—Lewis Peters and Tilghman ’Schenck, of
Ironton, Lehigh county, caught a carp
measuring thirty-four inches in length and
twenty-four inches in circumference and
weighing twenty-four pounds,
—Because nine finishers at Hendel’s facto-
ry, at Edison, Berks county, refused to work .
on Ascension day and were discharged there.
for, forty-five finishers went on a strike. No
men could be found to supply the vacancies.
—Mr. and Mrs. Isaac H. Wenrich, of Bern.
ville, Berks county, have just celebrated
their sixty-sixth wedding anniversary and
are the oldest married couple in the county.
Mr. Wenrich is 88 and his wife 85 years of
age.
—William Whittaker was found guilty of
murder in the first degree at Sunbury for
the murder of his wife in December, at Sha.
mokin. If he is executed it will be the third
execution out of 114 murders committed in
Northumberland county.
—Forty-one mules were burned to death
in a barn in the Woodward mine of the Del-
aware, Lackawanva and Western Railroad
company, near Wilkesbarre, on Wednesday.
The fire was 1,000 feet below the surface, but
did not spread to the coal.
—Miss Nellie Conser, a successful young
telegraph operator, is one of the few women
ever set at work on the block signal of the
Pennsylvania railroad. She is stationed at
Shindel, Snyder county, and upwgrds of for-
ty freight trains and four express trains pass
the tower daily.
—To Thomas Stolz, of Muncy, goes the
honor of having shot one of the largest black
hawks of the year. Standing at a distance
of 300 yards he picked the bird from a large
buttonwood tree, the bullet piercing the
wing and body. The hawk measured five
feet six inches from tip to tip of wings.
—William Edler, aged 95 years, died at
his home in Williamsport. He was at one
time a partner of Peter Herdic in the coal
business, was a boatman when boating was
one of the great industries of the state; was
a member of the Methodist Episcopal church
and at various times of select and common
council,
—The Luzerne county court presumes that
Harry Leek, a Hazleton soldier boy, is dead.
Recently a decree was made that if he does
not return to the city within twelve weeks
his estate of $1,500 shall go to his sister Ida.
Leek enlisted in the United States army,
and went to the Philippines. It is presumed
that he was killed.
—The largect slate deal that has ever been
made in Penusylvania took place at Tama-
qua on Thursday when a combine of inter-
ests was effected which will be capitalized at
$500,000. The interests embrace some half a
dozen firms operating a number of quarries
covering an extent of 240 acres of the finest
beds of slate in the state,
~—An unknown man, wearing neither
shoes, hat, coat nor vest, last week wandered
into the camp of some woodmen near Bris-
bin, Clearfield county. He is rather a fine
looking man, aged about 32 years, and the
only information that could be got out of
him were the words ‘Scranton’ and ‘‘street
car.” He was taken to the Clearfield coun-
ty home.
—George Fralick, aged 25 years, was kill.
ed while a eonstable was searching for him
with a warrant for his arrest charged with
striking Emma Johnson with a hammer.
Fralick, it is said, was suffering from mental
trouble. A week ago he left his home and
was not seen by his family until his father
identified his dead body at the railroad de-
pot in Harrisbu:g.
~Maude Welshons, who lives near Rauch
town, Nippenose valley, Clinton county, at-
tended the public High school at Oval dur-
ing the past winter for a six months’ term,
walking more than a thousand miles in
going to und from school. Lulu Zerbe,
another pupil, walked 850 miles, and John
Bangson, Luther Trostle and Pearl Shudle
walked 560 miles each.
—-Having insulted the American flag,
George Pegg, a Canadian, was Saturday fore-
ed to carry the national colors frem Sunbury
to Northumberland, with the pleasant alter-
native of being tossed into the Susquehanna
river. Two hundred fellow workmen fol-
lowed Pegg to see that he did his job proper-
ly. and then forced him to apologize. Pegg,
who is employed in the dye works at Sun-
bury, pointed to some representations of the
Stars and Stripes on the mill walls Friday,
and said sneeringly: ‘‘They ought to be the
union jack, instead of what they are. The
American flag is no more than a dishrag to
me.”
— Before the end of this month the Penn.
sylvania railroad will have planted 550,000
more young trees, in its prospective forests.
This will make 2.250,000 trees started on the
several tracts aggregating 1,000 acres. The
work is conducted along scientific lines,
under the supervision of E. A. Sterling, re.
cently appointed forester for the company.
This spring’s planting will be near Altoona
and at Mount Union. A nursery is being
created at Hollidaysburg, Here the young
trees for future planting will be raised from
seed. Red oak, locust, catalpa and Scotch
pine are the four species selected. From fif.
teen to thirty-five years will be required for
the trees to grow large enough to be cut for
posts, ties and other uses. The Pennsylva-
nia railroad system last year used 5,125,000
ties.
—The King’s Rock Cement company has
been formed in Lycoming county for the
purpose of developing the cement rock quar-
ries on King's Rock farm in Pratt township.
The company will manufacture hydraulic,
Portland, Rosendale and natural cement,
and the operation, which it is ex| will
be in full blast by November, 1907, will turn
out two thousand barrels a day, During the
first year the owner of the property is to re.
ceive no rental! or royalty, but after that
year the royalties increase annually until
1914. Tn 1909 2} cents per barrel on 3,000,
000 barrels; in 1910, 3 cents on a 3,000,000
output; in 1911, 3} on 4,000,000; in 1912, 4
cents on 5,000,000; in 1913, 4} cents on 6,-
000,000; and from {1914 to the expiration of
the contract 5 cents on a 6,000,000 outpit.
At the end of eight years the owner is given
the privilege to buy the plant for $500,000.