BY P. GRAY MEEK. INK SLINGS. —Montenegro is ridiculously small but | the whole country must be sand. —Well, the new tariff bill is before | Congress and all good Democrats are for it, sink or swim. | —Why wasn't it just the proper thing for the President to read his message to Congress. It was his message. —Up to this time the gentleness of this spring has been something that poets might sing about, but no one else. —What Bellefonte needs most is more | boosters and fewer of the kind who sit tight for the profit that comes from the boosting of others. —By sending WALTER HINES PAGE to the court of St. James President WILSON has proclaimed the ideal doctrine of Democracy that brains, not money, count. —Many a trout that is only six inches {ong today will be eight or ten before the fellow who brings it home next Tues- day gets through describing his catch to his friends. —The weather has been too cold to bring out the snakes, but take no chances when you start fishing next Tuesday. The bait bottle may be as necessary as the bait can. ——The House of Representatives, on Tuesday, passed, finally, the bill to create a state pension for veterans of the Civil war. It also passed the bill making the violet the State flower. —With a committee chairmanship the first crack out of the box Brother Hon. WARREN WORTH BAILEY, of the Johns- town Democ: at, must certainly have been preceded to Washington by his fame, or —a little pull. —Naturally a great howl is to be ex- pected when the bottle is taken away from the tariff pampered infants. But only those that have been nursed beyond the strength of their own legs to carry them will be wobbly. —Secretary BRYAN thinks that if per- sons who are spiritually lean would get to looking lean it would be easy to give them spiritual food. Of course persons who are spiritually lean rarely look the part but a blind man can almost see that they are in that condition from their actions, --It is safe to say that every person who isn't liable to the income tax would be only too happy if his income were sufficient to make him so. It is equally safe to say that every person with an in- come of over $4000 a year will be very unhappy because he will be compelled to pay a tax on it. —It remains to be seen whether direct elections of United States Senators will help any in States like Pennsylvania. There is very little to show that our Governors and other state officers have been superior to our Senators, yet they have always been chosen by the direct vote of the people. ~The Hon. BiLL FLINN, the Boss Bull Moose of Pennsylvania, is back from Florida cured of everything but the itch for office. Accordingly his friends are announcing that he will permit himself to be chosen Mayor of Pittsburgh and later will condescend to go to the United States Senate as the successor of Senator PENROSE. —=(Of the twenty-four Republican Congressmen elected from Pennsylvania last fall, eighteen of them announced their determination, at the organization of Congress last Monday, to act with the regular Republicans, and to stick to the g. 0. p., while six of them—KELLY, TEM- PLE, HERLINGER, WALTERS, LEWIS and RUFLEY, repudiated their former political allies and declared their purpose of act- ing with the Bull Moosers hereafter. —For the benefit of the sixteen or more applicants for the postoffice at State College and the same number of anxious Democrats who want to be post- master at Philipsburg we take pleasure in announcing that Mr. VANCE McCoR- mick and A. MITCHELL PALMER have both informed friends that no applicant for office in Centre county will be seri- ously considered unless approved by Mr. CHARLES R. KURTZ. And, incidentally, it might be mentioned that county chair- man KIMPORT is very anxious to have his Uncle SAM made postmaster at State College and as county chairman KiM- PORT gave Mr. KURTZ the opportunity to become dictator of patronage in Centre county, it looks as though “Uncle Sam” has the field all to himself. —It will be very pleasant to have Mr. Secretary of State BRYAN come into Pennsylvania to tell the Democrats in the Legislature what they should do. Mr. BRYAN is always interesting, always epi- grammatical and food for thought issure to follow the deliverance of his address. But while he is talking for the benefit of the Legislators he might digress lohg enough to tell the new leaders of our party that “more flies can be caught with sugar than with vinegar.” What the Democracy of Pennsylvania needs more than anything else is votes. It can't get votes unless it presents a united front to the enemy and it can never pre- sent a united front unless the so-called Reorganizers try some other method than that of making the state organiza. tion a closer corporation than it has ever been before. t PLOT VOL. 58. Electing Senators by Direct Vote. Almost as soon as the amendment to | | the Federal constitution providing for the election of Senators in Congress “by direct vote of the people,” was passed delphia Ledger suggests another amend- ment abolishing the Senate. “That would simplify the processes of legislation,” he says, “would save the taxpayers an enor- mous sum of money for the support of a body which has outlived its days and would bring the legislative branch of the government into closer touch with the people, to their confusion and loss, doubt- less, but within the ready reach of every wind of demagogy that might blow.” Precisely so, but wherein is the advan- tage. The Senate was created by the Fathers | of the Republic to express and pre- serve the autonomy of the States. Asa, guarantee of this result it was provided that each State should have two Sena- tors in Congress irrespective of the mat- ter of population and thus Nevada with | her less 100,000 inhabitants has equal voice in conserving her interests in one | branch of Congress as Pennsylvania with | 7,665,111 inhabitants. Under such con- ditions a combination of the smaller States could easily prevent legislation | inimical to their interests which might | be proposed and pressed even though a | few of the larger States were to combine | in its favor. | The merit of the proposed method of electing Senators in Congress remains to | be shown. Some have grave doubts about its beneficial effects. Possibly it | will work all the advantages that are | claimed for it and possibly not. But it may safely be said that nothing would be gained by abolishing the Senate. On the contrary, as the writer in our esteem- ed Philadelphia contemporary suggests, it would likely result in confusion in the beginning and the complete destruction of our form of government ultimately. Ours is a respresentative government and. those who conceived and created it had that sort of government in mind when they establféfied a Congress consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives and they were wise in their day and generation. ——1If there is a real investigation of the Panama canal operations from the beginning many good men and women will wonder how they ever conceived sentiments of respect for THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Recreant Democrats at Work. There will be insistent and persistent efforts to divide the Democrats in Con- gress on the tariff question. The tariff- mongers and tariff-pensioners have at last come to understand that they cannot prolong their graft operations by con- contributing to the slush fund of the Republican machine. The Republican ma- chine is no longer in control of the legisla- tion on thatsubject. But the mongers and pensioners will not cease their efforts or curtail their disbursements on that ac- count. On the contrary they will now direct their energies toward and distrib- ute their boodle among recreant Demo- crats, the consideration for their favors being efforts to divide the Democrats in Congress. Governor Foss, of Massachusetts, left the Republican party a few years ago for the ostensible reason that its protective policy was inimical to public interests. In the light of recent events it may be said that his real reason was that he couldn't get office from the Republican party. In any event the Democrats of Massachu- setts took him up at once, elected him to Congress first and then to the Governor- ship twice. Then he got a notion into his head that he ought to be nominater for President by our party. He was not nominated, however, and now he is back- sliding on the tariff question. In a long message to the Legislature he declares that the protective policy ought to be preserved. Of course Governor Foss is mistaken. The protective policy of the Republican party was condemned by the electorate in the Congressional election of 1910 and again in the votes for President and Con- gressmen in 1912. In both those verdicts of the ballot box the people declared for a tariff for revenue only as will be express- ed in the bill which will beenacted during the pending extra session of Congress. The revenue duties will afford some pro- tection, of necessity, and it will be wise- ly worded with that object in view. But it will not and ought not be a protective tariff. That form of graft has gone on too long already and ought never be tolerated again in this country. ~The new Ambassador to the Court of St. James is not a multi-millionaire but he will cut a respectable figure with- | i | ting the question, failure to do so is bad | do business but for the business they do. RO mmr ERR AND FEDERAL UNION. STATE RIGHTS The The State Railway Commission has | From the Harrisburg Patriot. The resolution proposing to amend the | constitution so as to provide for female | performed no better service since its or- suffrage was again saved from final de- | ganization than that expressed in its re- feat, last Monday night, by the casting | cent proposition to fix schedules for tele- vote of the Lieutenant Governor in favor | phone charges. The telephone is no of postponement. Upon the test of the | longer a luxury. It has become as essen- week previous the ayes were twenty-one | tial in the conduct of business as a build- | and the nays twenty-one, eight Senators ing or light and heat. Yet the telephone | being absent. On Monday night the | companies have continued to exercise ar- | vote was twenty-two to twenty-two, with six absentees. Twenty-six votes are re- they were performing a private rather quired for a constitutional majority so | than a public service. This cannot con- | that four of the six absentees will have tinue longer. It is absolutely unjust to to vote for the measure to secure its pas- | the public and a menace to the commer- | sage. One of those, who it is believed | cial prosperity of the country. Because | would have so voted, is dead and another ' of these facts telephone rates must be so ill as to make his appearance on the | regulated and upon a basis which will floor, during the session, unlikely. protect the public. | In the face of these facts it is not easy | For a good many years telephone com- to see why the advocates of this measure | panies have been charging more for their are so persistent in their efforts to retain service than a just recompense. In some it on the calendar. It has hardly a cases there may have been reason for chance of passing. It is not certain that | this, such as when local companies per- the result would be achieved if it did’ pass. The people are surprisingly indif- | portion to the amount of work perform- | ferent upon the subject. InStates which ed. But local telephone service like lo- | have adopted female suffrage less than a ‘cal transportation service benefits the | openi majority of the voters supported the community served and is entitled to re- | | proposition in every case. The cam- | ward in proportion to the good accom- paign in California, recently, was con- plished. In other words local telephone ducted with the greatest vigor and activ- | companies honestly organized and eco- ity and less than one-third of the elec- nomically managed have a just right to torate voted for suffrage. In Pennsylva- ‘charge sufficient for the service render- nia it may be doubted if even that pro- | ed to pay legitimate profits. But dishon- portion of the voters would take the estly organized and profligately managed | trouble to support it. they have no right to penalize communi- | Of course the excuse given is that the ties for their own slothfulness. i people have the right to vote on any | Telephone corporations are public ser- question and that as the conventions of | vice institutions and depend upon both parties declared in favor of submit- public not only for their opportunity faith. As a matter of fact neither of the That being the case they should be will- great parties deliberately pledged the ing to perform the service they are char- Legislature to enact such legislation. | tered to do at as little expense and in- The Republican convention was stamped- | convenience to the public as possible. | ed by ROOSEVELT and BILL FKINN and We believe some of them are willing to deliberated upon nothing while the Dem- | meet these conditions but others protest ocratic convention treated the subject as that the very suggestion is an encroach- a joke. Less than one in every ten del- ment upon their rights as artificial per- egates in the convention voted for the sons created by the State or the commu- platform and even fewer knew that it nities in which they transact business. | contained such a'pledge. The defeat of must divest themselves of such no- the proposition, therefore, is no violation tions and conform as nearly as possible of faith with the people. . to fair regulations. ——A Philadelphia contemporary ad- ——Owing to the continued high and mits to a debt of gratitude to Judge murky condition of the water it has been STAPLES, of Monroe county, who presid- impossible to size up the various trout ed at the trial of grafter CLAY and sen- streams in Centre county and form an tenced him to a term in the penitentiary. opinion as to whether trout will be plen- But the politicians of that city are not tiful for the opening day of the season likely to discount the obligation or even (next Tuesday) or not, and the scores of be willing to pay it at maturity. fishermen who are sure to go out that morning will have to take pot luck for it. The trout that were put into the streams : last fall from the Bellefonte fish hatch- Congress assumed the unusual form of a ooo and as it is well known that trout personal address delivered to both | ere pretty scarce last year, the outlook branches in joint session. It was an in- | io noe very favorable. Of course there novation, the effect of which is a matter |, me trout in the and the of conjecture. Before the event opinions | ,.;, who can locate the pools in which differed upon the subject. The first two B tents, 'W, ~ Cami Sey Jisgort will So the Jeky ote pent invariably adopted that method of giving | —— to the Congress “information as tothe Governor Tener last Friday sign- state of the Union,” and ‘“recommeding ed the bill empowering the inspectors of such measures as he shall judge neces- the new western penitentiary in Centre sary and expedient.” But JEFFERSON county to purchase live stock and farm- adopted the easier process of communi- jng implements, and to charge the cost cating in writing. All the Presidents of same against the several counties in since have preferred the Jefferson policy the district in proportion to the number and the action of President WILSON was, of convicts from each county; and to re- therefore, novel. move buildings, machinery, appliances The President's message was as unus- ' and materials from the old penitentiary ual in another respect as in the manner at Pittsburgh to the new institution in of its delivery. It contained little, if any, Centre county. The bill providing for more than a thousand words and dwelt an appropriation of $600,000 to continue entirely upon the subject of tariff. There the work on the new institution during are a few words near the close which the next two years has not yet passed touch upon the need of currency reform. the Legislature. But this digression emphasizes the single- | r— ness of the President's purpose to alter, ——In last week's WATCHMAN appear- the tariff schedules “to meet the radical ed anitem relative to the large amount alteration in the conditions of our eco- of building to be done at State College nomic life which the country has witness. this summer and the number of new ed within the last generation.” If he residences was given at from thirty to had been less specific upon this point fifty. A prominent resident of State Col- the dangers of failure would have multi- lege this week told us that we were too plied. In concentration of purpose there low, as contracts had already been made is hope and strength. for just fifty-two new buildings, not The message is hardly a message, counting anything the College may do meausured by those of other Presidents in that line. of recent years. It is more like a confi- dential talk of a scientificand earnest man who feels that he has a mission to fulfill. { i i 1 l The ——A free lecture, on “The Battle of Gettysburg” will be given in the audi- The duty of lessening the burdens of the ‘orium of the High schoel of "Chursity people has been laid Congress | : G Kieff and the President. ym will-be- Mr. L : who will visit Bellefonte, at that time, as of this obligation the President address- the representative of the Chautauqua ed Congress to verify for himself the ,.ooation to make arrangements for “impression that the President of the the summer entertainment. United States is a person, not a mere de- - mee partment of the government, hailing Con- ——If the English suffragettes really gress from some isolated island of jeal- believe that they may accomplish their ous power.” The occasion was worthy ends by the methods they have pursued of the event and the event a wholesome they are not sufficiently intelligent to innovation. enjoy the right of suffrage. Voting is a great privilege and should be limited to ——Yale students are lusty of lung and hard of muscle, as a rule, and by reason of that fact they may manage to —————————————— ~The fellow who shook his winter flannels last week has had another kind inkle furctl HE keep former President TAPT in the lime light for awhile. of shake this week. form local service at large cost in pro- 0 2 | SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Six men suspected of robbing New York Cen- tral freight cars are in the Lycoming county jail. ‘They were arrested at Jersey Shore and are be- lieved to have turned over their booty to con- federates. —Two dead babies within a fortnight found near Clearfield, making four within a year and a-half, have aroused feeling that something should be done to bring the guilty to justice, but as yet no efforts appear to have been made. ~The effort being made to secure a pardon for Jack Keeler, the slayer of Joseph Roessner, the Clearfield brewer, is finding bitter opposition, a counter petition, largely circulated urging that no clemency be shown the convicted murderer. —A coroner's jury has decided that the eight men who were killed when stone carsran away on the incline of the Derry Sand company, came to their death through their own negligence. The men had frequently been warned not to ride the cars. —By a decision of Cumberland county court, the property of the Cumberland Clay company will be sold at public sale as the result of the fail- ure to meet the payment of a mortgage for $75. 000, given by the Farmers’ Trust company of Carlisle. ~The Pennsylvania Lime and Stone company, with quarries at Water Street, has made an as- signment for the benefit of creditors. Frank W. Stewart, a Huntingdon man, is assignee. Peters. burg and Huntingdon business men compose the company. ~A strike, a shutdown and a break down in the machinery which necessitated repairs formed a combination which has resulted in a total of two months’ idleness for miners at the Eriton shaft, near DuBois. Work has been resumed this week. —A reward of $100 is offered by Mrs. Harry Phelps, of Union City, for any information that will lead to her husband's whereabouts. He mysteriously disappeared from his home at Union City on Sunday, March 16th, and has not been seen since. —Between 6 and 7 o'clock on Sunday morning, in the icy waters of Stone creek,near Huntingdon, twelve persons were baptized into membership in the Christian Alliance chapel. Twenty were ex- pected to receive the sacrament, but only twelve braved the wintry weather and chilling bath. ~Mail clerk Jerome C. Bender, of Mifflintown, who carried the mail from the Mifflintown and Mifflin postoffices to the railroad station, is under arrest, charged with rifling the mails. He offer- ed to resign when suspicion first pointed his way, but was too late. He is now said to have con- fessed. —Big rewards are offered for the arrest and conviction of the fiend who assaulted 12-year-old Bessie Miller, near Armhurst, a few days ago. The Westmoreland county commissioners have offered $500 and "Squire Truxal, of Greensburg, a close friend of the family, adds $200. The little Mr. Wilson to The Congress. President modern Not one person in a message Roosevelt he had done it was apt to as a nervy romancer. But any man of ordinary read and comprehend first message in five minutes, and as it deals with only one ount interest tariff, involving the cost extension of our commerce, tition in business to their comfort and it, understand it We have no profess to see in Mr. practice of delivering his larity Wilson's Washington and Adams,in message himself, any sim to a speech from the throne at — Pronto’ of A girl's recovery is now hoped for. dor He Wilson by the vice presi. --Sidney White, aged 15, was drowned in a dent of the Mexican for moral | 9¢eP pool of water near Greensburg. With another boy he was playing and floated a mortar box as a boat. When the box began to sink the boy jumped and was drowned. His companion gave an alarm, but before he could be taken out of the water his life was extinct. knowl of the conspiracy and of be- ing aware that the officials were to be | =—Potatoes are down from 20 to 50 cents a slain. Pending a ves- | bushel in Lancaster county. Many farmers held Mr. Wilson ought to be back their supplies in hope that the market would the loss of time. The try | 80 up, but the coming of warmer weather has will hope the Ambassador will be to | forced them to place the supplies on the market. Yindicate Himgelt, but if guilty he d | At a sale of upwards of 200 bushels at Lititz the not be allowed to hold his i price went as low as 20 cents a bushel. nd in Mexico have not ’ pid re IL, ed since the Rector 5 the pri John Wintersteen, chauffeur for a music com- murderous administration, and * #8 | pany of Williamsport, narrowly escaped injury the situation is it cannot be rendered | when a big truck owned by the company worse by recalling the present - tative from this country, i a. miles north of Sonestown, Monday after- The filing of | noo ~The Williamsport Young Women's Christian association has recently moved to more com- modious quarters in the old Crawford house. The building is well adapted to its new uses and will enable the association to care for fifty board- conduct before and during the revolution in the city of Mexico. It is due the country that this case be ers. The hotel dining room will make a fine Slearsd WL due bassaior Wien gymnasium and the former bar room will make a plain, and to reach an ultimate conclusion Jes: clay dining : —One of the Grove brothers at Milton went to the stable with a bunch of bills and checks stick ing in his hind pocket. Later in the day he dis- covered that he did not have the money and after a long search went to the stable and found the remnants in his pet colt's stall. About $15 was lost as there was not enough pieces to identify the notes, but the other securities were all right. —Several charges are laid up against Duke Palmer, now in the Indiana county jail. He had a dispute with friends, bought a revolver and then, at another store, bought the wrong kind of cartridges. When chief of police Harris ac- costed him, he pulled the trigger three times, The chief's life was saved by the fact that the cart ridges wouldn't work. After he was lodged in jail smoke was seen coming from his mattress. —W. M. Calver, a United States postoffice what tardily yet prom mit of the enactment py g i 8 » Hp Li : : H i . i & : 2 ghey 7 8 gf £ i 8 i i : i tT g § { 3 § : produced the health certificate, Leissenring and Fannie D. Austin, both of Shore. ripe feiss i 3 ¥ iss £
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers