EE — All Officialdom in Harris~ burg is Putrid in Vice and Crime. RASCALITY SANCTIONED Big and Little Abuses Go On Under the Eyes of High Officials.—Prom- ises of Reform Without Perform. ances Admonish People, Only Rem- dy is Election of John G. Harman, (Special Correspondence.) Harrisburg, Pa., Oct. 8. There are plenty of opportunities for reform om “The Hill,” without waiting for the court proceedings in the graft cases. In fact Mr. Berry has just inaugurated a new line of improvement in the public service. It isn’t a matter of vast importance but it is a “straw” which indicates | the course and measures the velocity of the reform wind in official life. In fact you can sometimes get more information from small things than can be obtained from larger affairs. The smaller a crime the meaner it is at least some times. Public patronage is the currency used by professional politicians to bribe men to perform political crimes, It was “the mysterious influence which changed a minority into a ma- jority over night” in the convention which nominated Pennypacker for Governor in 1902. It was on ac- count of the potentiality of this force in that way that offices have been multiplied so rapidly in recent years. The currupt State Highway Depart- ment is the spawn of that evil. The Bureau of Vital Statistics was creat- ed on that account and new and needless clerkships were authorized in all of the Departments in order to supply places for dependent politi- cians. This “thirst for place” developed the evil which Mr. Berry has just attacked. It is an expedient to make one office satisfy two men. The plan | is as simple as the practice is con- temptible. For example there is an office which pays $5 a day. A man in Pittsburg or Philadelphia or else- where is appointed to the place. He remains at home attending to his | own affairs and employs a resident of Harrisburg to perform the work for say $2 a day. The appointee has | a “pudding,” The substitute enjoys a | “‘snap.” How Official Grafters Heip the Party. | Both these agents of the “system” | work their relatives and friends for the party. The $2 a day man in Harrisburg who does the work has | a large family, as a rule, and not! too easy a time making ends meet. His relatives hustle to “hold his job,” and the grocer and butcher and bak- er who serve him are interested. The $3 a day man elsewhere ‘toils not, neither does he spin,” but he chews | the string of the pudding and en- joys the luxury of ‘‘easy money.” Of courge he works every poasibl | means to continue the source of; graft. The law forbids this “‘farming" of | public patronage and Mr. Berry has ' the work and, it is alleged and I be- | =~ What could Lieutenant Governor! lieve, not only he but two of the ' other bidders get a rake off while | his Jamestown speech the other day, Runaway Endangered Governor Stuart the State “pays the freight.” It is clearly a conspiracy to rob the State. | There could hardly be a clearer case | of collusion and yet the Governor takes no steps to stop the crime. . ‘I'he Legislative Record Job. Reference has also been made in a previous letter to the corrupt collu- sion in awarding the contract to print the Legislative Record for the session of 1907. On the day fixed for letting that contract the printer who received it was in the inner office of the officer of the Senate who made the award and another printer sat in the anteroom. About a minute before the time for opening bids the official approached the man in the anteroom and asked if he had a bid to submit. He replied in the negative, the official returned to his office, and soon afterward announced that the contract had been awarded to the only bidder. The contract price under the award thus made was nearly three times what the work had been done for the previous session. Of course that is not in itself an evidence of either conspiracy or collusion. But it is alleged that during the period between which the official Lad spok- en to the man in the anteroom and the announcement of the letting the bid had been changed and the price nearly doubled. In other words the bidder having been informed that he was the only bidder and that the award would be to him however ex- orbitant his price, changed the fig- ures to a price which was little short | of grand larceny. The corridor gossip concerning’ this conspiracy got so insistent, dur. ing the session, that an investigation was ordered by the House of Repre- sentatives. Representative Habgood of McKean county was made Chalr- man of the Investigating committeas. | He was informed of all the facts and even had a conversation with the man in the anteroom at the time of | the letting. But he reported that | while the price was high there was no evidence of collusion and besides | the publisher had promised to make | a better “Record” than any of its | predecessors. It may have been only | a coincidence that Mr. Habgood was | elected President of the State | League of Republican Clubs a few | days ago. ; | All the Departments Are Putrid. | The fact is that every Department of the State government is rotten with corruption. There are not only | an excessive number of employes in | every office but there is grafting everywhere. The Highway Depart- ment makes no contracts for road | building or improvement that does not yield a bonus. to somebody on tne inside. The Health Department has become a veritable asylum for political pensioners. Not long ago the son of ah influential citizen of this town came home from school to spend his seven weeks’ vacation. He was immediately given employment | in the Health Department. After. standing around the office for two weeks he was given a ‘‘vacation” of i three weeks on full pay. Then he returned, worked two weeks and went back to school. He enjoyed a lucrative rest at the expense of the State. But it looks as if that is what | tog Health Department is for, | eantime we hear much about | prosecuting the capitol grafters and netaing concerning these other loot- ers who are working like rats in a | cheese cellar. They tell us that Gov- | | fathers are as dear to the hearts of Murphy have meant when he said in | “as Pennsylvania and Virginia were alert one hundred and thirty years ago to-day, each to strike down that . which threatened to harm the other, so must Pennsylvania and Virginia be alert now when different foes must be conquered! We haven't heard that there is anything the matter with Virginia and we can’t see how Virginia can help us in our troubles. The remedy which we must apply is an aroused public con. | science to guide us at the polls and | Virginia can’t participate in our elee- tions. It is true that the people of that State can sympathize with us in | our lack of civic virtue and seif-re- spect. But we must cure our own {lls with our own votes and the time to begin is at the approaching eleo- | tion and the way the election of Mr. John G Harman to the office of State Treasurer. | The Philadelphia machine shows | the same indifference to the interests and will of the people as it did be- fore the outbreak of two years ago. The people of that city restored the machine to power last winter by the election of Mayor Reyburn and it is indulging in a riot of bossism and a deluge of political immorality. If | Sheatz in elected the State machine will be quite as daring as that of the | city and the looting and grafting | will be resumed and continued inde. finitely. Happily, however, there is | no danger of such a result. Sheats will be defeated as badly as Plum- | mer was two years ago if not worse. The highjink of the Philadelphia ma. | chine just came in time to admonish the people of the danger of restor- ation in the State. Manifestly President Roosevelt | has gone mad on the subject of Fed- | eral authority over the affairs of the ' States. He wants to completely revol- | utionize our form of government in order to gratify, his inordinate lust for power. But the people are not likely to sympathize with such ab- surd notions. The history and tra- ditions of the government of the the people to-day as they ever were and though Roosevelt has been a popular idol he will lose out if he | advocates such nonsense as was ex- pressed in his St. Louis speech last week. If every Democrat in Pennsylvania votes for the splendid candidate of | the party for State Treasurer next month his majority will be equal to the largest that has ever been re- ceived by a candidate with the single exception of that cast for Roosevelt | three years ago. And there is ng | reason why every Democrat should ! not vote for him. He will be an! ideal public official. Capable, cour- | ageous and honest he will do what- | given notice that he will pay no | ernor Stuart is a model of official | ever is possible to restore the pub- | employes who perform no work. He! is entirely willing to pay the substi- | tutes the full salary of the office be- | cause the law provides for it. he is not willing to furnish the shy- sters with money coined from the | sweat of ihe faces of others. The | dec. ion has created consternation | among the beneficiaries of the ‘‘svs- tem.” Every last man of them is ready to denounce Mr. Berry as a meddler. They are a unit against John G. Harman who would pursue the same wholesome policy. The office holders are having other troubles at present, moreover. The «collector of ‘voluntary contribu. tions’ is working the employes just now with a rigor never before wit- nessed. Within the last ten days every official on “The Hill" has been potified to pay a percentage of his salary into the campaign corruption fund. This is a good deal of a bur- den every year but this year it is ®,orse than usual. Living is expen- give and in addition to the contribu- tion the clerk has to pay the ex- penses of a trip home to register and another to vote. The Public Printing Conspiracy. 1 have referred on two or three occasions to the State Printing job but thus far have been able to dis- cover no signs that the reform im- pulses of the Governor have turned his energies toward the correction of this abuse. The present State Print- er was the highest bidder for that Juicy party plum instead of the low- est, as the law requires. The way it happened was this. Four or five men or Re bid for the contract and each deposited a bond for the per- formance of the work in the event the award was to him. The lowest bidder got the contract and the bonds of the others were returned to em. Thus far the law had been serupu. ously complied with. But the scheme. ing set in at once. The lowest bid- der made some absurd excuse for re- fusing to accept the award and it was offered to the next lowest bidder who also declined and the process was continued until the highest bid- der was reached who got the con- tract at an exorbitant figure. One would have thought that the forfeit- ed bond would in some measure re- compense the State for the difference in the rate between the highest and lowst bid. But no such result fol- lowed. The “system” never con- templates recompense to the State for anything. Here is what actually occurred. The forfeited bond was promptly re. turned to the delinquent bidder, not- withstanding the legal obligation to hold it, and the highest bidder was declared State Printer. He simply let one of the lower bidders take up integrity and that he will purge not oniy the State but the party, of crooks and corruptionists. But! the absence of performances. The | talk of the prosecution of the capitol grafters is declamation to the gal- leries. A year ago the boast was that the Insurance grafters would be fitly punished. They made us almost imagine Durham in prison stripes. But there has been no prosecution of the Insurance grafters. Durham is still the Party leader of Philadelphia and the Republican committee of Chester county, the otner day, set Auditor Aeneral Snyder up as an exemplar of political morals and civic virtue. The Machine Can't Reform. You might as well try to bleach linen by plunging it into a pitch bath, as to reform the official life of Penn. sylvania while the Republican ma- chine is in control. The managers of that organization are compelied to continue their iniquities. With them it is graft or gravel. If they can't remain in office they must go to prison and they have debauched the electorate to such an extent that most of their voters have to be bought. Vast sums of money are necessary to buy their majorities. Ballot box stuffing is a hazardous enterprise now and boodlers demand compensation according to the haz- ard. The remedy is in the election of John G. Harman to the office of State Treasurer. Berry began the work of political regeneration and Har man will complete it, G. D. H. John O. Sheatz was never a re- former either in the Legislature or out, In the Legislature he voted for some of the most iniquitous measures and out of it he has sup- ported some of the most notoriously bad men. Twe years ago, for exam- ple, when all reformers were align- ed against J. Lee Plummer, Sheatz stood with the machine. To rank him as a reformer is not only absurd but it is actually dishonest, We rise to remark that nearly a month has elapsed since John @. Harman challenged John O. Sheats to discuss the question of minority representation on the Board of Pub. lic Grounds and Buildings and there hes been no reply to the challenge. The delay indicates that Mr. Sheatz’s mental machinery works entirely too slow to be effective in the office of State Treasurer. lic life of the Commonwealth to the | high plane which was once an honor | But what merit is there in promises im | to the people. If Governor Stuart wants to do ' some efictive reform work througa the medium of the criminal courts he has a splendid opportunity to manifest it by beginning on the In- surance grafters who were investigat- ed last year, Insurance Commissioner Martin was among those who were condemned in the report of the Committee but so far from that having any adverse effect on Martin's standing at the Gov- ernor's office the indications are that he is still in the highest favor. At any rate he continues to hold his office and draw the salary. Dave Lane is again instructing the voters of Philadelphia to stuff the ballot boxes at the coming election. If the voters of Philadelphia are wise, however, they will pay no at- tention to Dave Lane's advice. TI'al- lot box stuffers will go to jail this year. The style of treating that sort of calendar has vastly changed within a eccuple of years. Even crooked Dave Lane won't be immune from punishment this year if there is anything doing in his line of poli. tical work this year, A citizen has not performed his full duty in the election of this year when he casts his own vote any more than a man discharges his full duty when he notified the police that a crime is being committed. He ought to assist the police in prevent- ing crime just as he ought to urge his neighbors to vote to rescue the tate from the desperadoes who are deapoiling it. Let us all do our full duty this year. The corrupt and contented City Party men of Philadelphia may have, like the dog, returned to their vomit, but the vast hosts of inde- pendent Republican voters in the interior of the State who voted for Mr. Berry two years ago will vote for Harman this year. They have not been purchased, dragooned nor deceived Into supporting Sheats. : John and went to his place of business, : waited he sharpened a large knife on | in the cellar with his throat cut. He HAD NARROW ESCAPE at Jamestown Fair, Norfolk. Va., Oct. 5.—Governor Stu- art, of Pennsylvania, and President Harry St. George Tucker, of the James- town Exposition, had narrow escapes from serious injury and possibly death, on the outside of the exposi- tion grounds, prior to the commence- ment of the Pennsylvania day cele bration there. A runaway team, attached to a car- riage in which were members of Gov- ernor Stuart's staff and others, dz ed into the Pennsylvania sol'le:s, missed by a hair's breath the ca i “¢ ahead, containing Governor Stu:r! and President Tucker, who would hoth have been dashed into the water below had they been struck. The run- away horses were stopped by soldiers striking them in the head with their guns. No one was seriously hurt. The accident occurred on the long, deep-water pier. . At the main entrance to the audito- rium Governor Swanson, accompanied by a large and distinguished party of exposition officials, prominent Virgin- fans and others, met Governor Stuart and the Keystone state officials, and the governors of Virginia and Penn- sylvania proceeded, arm in arm, to the stage, where the exercises were held, with Henry F. Walton, chairman of the Pennsylvania executive committee, presiding. Addresses of welcome by Mr. Tucker and George Swanson were responded to by Governor Stuart, and the oration was by Lieutenant-Governor Murphy. AID CAME TOO LATE Check to Pay Judgment Came After Bottler Cut His Throat. Philadelphia, Oct. 8.—Hyman Hun- gerleider, aged 52 years, a bottler re- siding in the southern section of this city, committed suicide by cutting his throat under unusually tragic condi- tions, Unable to meet a judgment which was due, he took his 6-yearold son not far from his home. While the boy a grind stone, and when he had fin- ished he sent the child home, telling him to bring his mother to the bot. tling establishment at once. The boy ran home, and when the mother re turned she found Hungerleider lying died in a short time. Half an hour after the man ended his life Mrs. Hun- gerleider received a letter from New York. which contained a check suffi- | cient to cover the note which had driven her husband to suicide. ' - PRESIDENT GOES HUNTING Roosevelt After Big Game In Louls | iana Canebrakes. Stamboul. La. Oct. 7.—The presi | Lyon & Co. dent spent Sunday quietly in his camp i on Tensas Bayou, and began his hunt | this (Monday) morning. This report is not official, but comes through natives | who are keeping as close an eye upon the movements of the chief executive | as courtesy will permit. Scouts express confidence that some bear will be bagged, and they are even more assuring on the subject of veni- son, They say the woods are full of deer, of the Virginia variety, but the disquieting rumor has gone abroad that many of them are dying of ths disease known as black tongue. The The party will be augmented by the ad- dition of a Mr. Metcalf, a guest of Mr. Mcllhenny and Mr. Parker, who will escort the negro bear killer, Holt Col- ler, who will bring with him 21 of his own dogs. There will be, therefore, three professional hunters in the crowd, Collier, Ben Lilley and a negro named Brutus Jackson. All have their their own dogs. Robbed, Beaten and Bound to Track. Cleveland, Oct. 8.—Beaten into in- sensibility by thugs and bound hand and foot across the railroad tracks in the Pennsylvania yards here, Samuel H. Shaw, a sailor of Port Huron, Mich., narrowly escaped being ground to death by a freight train. Shaw was robbed by three men, who after knock- ing him senseless, bound him to the track. He was discovered by the en- gineer of the train, who barely man- aged to stop a few feet from the pros-! trate man. Dr. and Mrs. Rowland Acquitted. Raleigh, N. C,, Oct. 7.—The jury in the Rowland murder trial returned a verdict of acquittal. There were few people in the court room at the time. The jury took the case late Saturday. Dr. and Mrs. David Rowland were jointly charged with poisoning the wo- man’s former husband, Charles R. Strange. Thaw Trial December 2. New York, Oct. 8.—Harry K. Thaw's second trial will begin on December 2, This agreement was reached between District Attorney Jerome, Martin W. Littleton, counsel for Thaw, and Jus- tice Dowling, of the supreme court It was announced that Justice Dowl- ing will preside at the trial. Boy Shoots His Brother. Pittsburg, Oct. 7.—Angered becauss his 18-year-old brother, George, chided him for remaining away from home all night, in the absence of their mother, Moses Rosenberg, 16, shot George through the heart, killing him. The boy was arrested. Acquitted and Killed by Lightning. Dallas, Texas, Oct. 8.—Dock Willis, a young planter acquitted last week of the murder of Sheriff Edwards in Shelby county, was struck and killed by lightning just over the state line fn Louisiana. EI SHOES — FOR —— The New Season Came in nicely. The late styles are on exhibition and all are invited to look them over. We offer the best in styles and makes and always save yon money. Yeager & Davis BELLEFONTE, PA. — — LYON & CO. Lyon & Co. We are showing new Fall Goods all over the store, every department is bright with new goods. new and stylish in Dress Goods. Everything that is A full line of Plaids from 10c. up to the all Wool and Silk mixed at $1.00 per yard. All Wool novelties in the new checks and stripes all new colors from soc. to $1.50. The largest line of Black Dress Stuffs and best assortment of Black Dress Goods in the town. Everything new. Broadcloths, fancy weaves, stripes and figured effects from soc. to $1.75. voils, The Wool Batist and novelty checks. Special line of Grays in LADIES’ WINTER COATS. A large assortment of Ladies’ Coats in black and all the new colors in the new loose and balf fisting models and fall lengths, lined and ualined, from $7 to $25.00. MISSES COATS. Misses Coats, everything in the new plain cloths and plaids, all the new colors and models from $3.90 ¢o $18.00. CHILDREN'S COATS. Children’s Coats, new styles, and all the latest color” ings. Also white, all colors, in Bear Skins and Astra- kao and lowest prices. Caps to matoh. NOTIONS. Everything new in Trimmings, Notions, Laces and Embroideries, Hosiery, Gloves and Corsets. CLOTHING. We have just received a new line of Men's, Boy's and Children’s Clothing. Men's Suits from $5.00 to $20.00. Boy’s Suits from $3.50 to $10.00. Children’s Suits from $1.50 to $5.00. Men's Overcoats from $3.50 to $25.00. Boy's Overcoats from $2.50 to $7.50. Children’s Overcoates from $1.00 to $5.00. SHOES. A full line of Men's Working Shoes. A fall line of Men’s Dress Shoes. A full line of Boy's Working Shoes. A fall line of Boy's Dress Shoes. A fall live of Ladies’ and Children’s Shoes. UNDERWEAR. : A complete line of Men’s, Women's and Children's’ Fall and Winter weights in Wool sud Cotton Underwear. — Come in and see all our new goods before you buy and you will save money. Lyon & Co. 7-12 Allegheny St., Bellefonte, Pa.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers