BY P. GRAY MEEK. INK SLINGS. —So far as groundhogs* residing in this vicinity are concerned they certainly had no chance to see their shadows on Tues- day. —European fiction-writers seem to have taken charge of the correspendence . bureau and to be putting in extra time on the job. —The physician who declares that it is possible for a man to hold his breath for two minutes, evidently has no personal - acquaintance with Secretary BRYAN. —That New York charity organization that spent $1432.92 in salaries and only $90.00 in relief work last year, is evident- ly a believer in the doctrine that charity begins at home. —If things keep going on as they have been, a lot of fellows now in the trench- es throughout the European war zone won't be bothering about the condition they are in when the spring fighting be- gins. —*“A Long Way to Tipperary” was written by HARRY WILLIAMS, a resident of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1912. Knowing this there doesn’t appear to be a very ‘flagrant violation of neutralty in any American’s singing the song. —From the result of that shooting just across the border in Mexico, a few days ago, we should judge that General VILLA was neither seriously injured nor suffering from his wound. In fact, re- ports tell us he was only about “half shot.” —It is now reported that Mr. PALMER will refuse to be a candidate for re-elec- tion to Congress nor will he accept an appointment by President WILSON. The latter statement’ only shows how little the fellow who started the re- port knew the individual he was talking about or cared whether he told the truth or not. —The notice of the Postoffice Depart- ment to post masters all over the coun- try to reduce expenses wherever possi- ble without impairing the efficiency of the service is rather interesting. If any compliance at all is possible it is equiva- lent to an admission that there has been waste and mismanagement in the offices effected. —Happy sounds are these that we are beginning to hear favoring the abandon- ment of so many commissions in our government. The WATCHMAN has al- ways believed that we send Congressmen to Washington and Members to Harris- burg. for, the purpose. of making. laws, but in recent years it seems to have been the fad for them to take their seats, draw their salaries, then turn the work over to some commission or other. We don’t recall any commission excepting the one that was appointed to codify the school laws of the State, that has done more than spend barrels of the people's money and are still of the opinion that we ought to do away either with Legis- latures and Congresses or Commissions. —While Dr. ORR’S Monday night talk in the armory on “Faith” was so simple and so splendidly illustrated that it ought to have been understood by all, some of his side trips into the psycholo- gy of religion must certainly have star- tled a few of his congregation. “Experi- mental religion” is as real to some as it seems impossible to others. Rarely do we find two people with the same per- spective and the same temperament and while there can’t be anything else than unanimity of thought as to the funda- mentals of christianity there will always be a difference in the manner in which people give expression to their concep- tion of them. After all religion in itself is merely the outward form a christian employs to express what he feels, there- for it seems to us perfectly natural that it should vary in exact accordance with the characteristics of the individual christian. —We said repeatedly during the cam- paign last fall that we couldn’t under- stand what Mr. HARRY Scott, of Phil- ipsburg, warted to go to Harrisburg as a Legislator for. We tried our best, of course, to save him from himself, but the people wouldn’t have it our way and now he is the Honorable gentleman who represents us in the General Assembly. With the hope that Mr. Scorr will do some work that will really merit the handle we will take pleasure in attach- ing to his name ever after this, the WATCHMAN makes the suggestion that he become the originator of a propaganda among his fellow Members to build noth- ing but brick roads in Pennsylvania. Be- lieving that in the last analysis brick will be found to be most durable, cheap- est and most satisfactory some one ought to start the agitation and keep it up and years hence it may be a great honor to be referred to as the father of brick highways in Pennsylvania. Ma- cadam roads vary in cost from $8,000.00 to $12,000.00 per mile. Brick varies from $12,000.00 to $16,000.00. But it costs $1000.00 per mile per year to properly keep up a macadam road whereas the cost of upkeep of a brick road is only $75 per mile per year. Knowing these facts anyone can see which would be cheapest in the long run, aside from the inestimable comfort of having freedom from dust. Think the matter over, Mr. ScorT, for here is a chance for you to do something worth while and enduring. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 60. BELLE FONTE. PA. FEBRUARY 5, 1915. President Wilson's Veto. In vetoing the Immigration bill Presi- i President WILSON delivered an address | dent WILSON followed the example set by President CLEVELAND and concurred in by President TAFT. The literacy test was the reason given in each case. It is obnoxious to the spirit of our institutions and the traditions of our government. It is un-American and un-Democratic. If it had been adopted in the beginning thous- ands of excellent citizens. would have been denied the right of asylum and the development of the country would have been retarded. It is a vicious growth from the seeds of prejudice and bigotry and has never prospered and will never prosper in a soil of liberty and independ- ence. Let us hope that it is now stifled forever. The purpose of our naturalization laws is to keep out of our population the criminals, paupers and infected people of foreign lands. The literacy test doesn’t achieve or even make for that result. The criminals who seek entrance are not, as a rule, illiterates. The anarchists who come to plant the poison of their evil purposes are well equipped educa- tionally. The indigents who apply for admittance are sometimes well read and well informed. Both of these objection- able elements could meet the literacy test easily. But industrious, thrifty and well disposed men and women who are seeking opportunities to live well and lead just lives would be rejected because the conditions they left denied them edu- cational facilities. The measure which has been vetoed would not improve the quality of immi- grants. It would simply decrease the quantity. The anarchists, forgers and murderers would have no trouble in answering the questions which would be put to them. But the healthy and hope- ful young men who came from the rural regions of the old world where there are no public schools would be deported and the country would be the greater loser. Some of the children of illiterate immi- grants have been among the best and most useful citizens of this country and is not only undesirable but actually harmful. The President will be com- mended for his act. | legislation which would exclude that type ——The encouraging news comes from Washington that the leaders in Congress favor economy and think of cutting ap- propriations “to the bone.” only wise way to deal with revenue defi- cits and we hope that the “pork barrel” will be smashed. Our-Public Charities. The report of the Board of Public Rnon-partizan provision in the election Charities, submitted to the Legislature 1aws, so far as it relates to judges, is an on Monday evening, is an unusually in- teresting document. It shows the expen- ditures of the State for charitable purpose for a period of sixty-five years and the rapid increase in recent years is astonish- ing. For example in 1850 the total was $124,934 while the appropriations of the last Legislature reached the enormous That is the : | | | { | aggregate of $12,728,766. In the early period covered by the report, however, | the increase was comparatively trifling. In the 90's the high pressure was put on when political exigencies required large campaign contributions. Then hospitals and other charitable institutions were created for trading purposes. ! But the merit of the report centres in the recommendations for future opera- tions. The habit which has grown com- mon of appropriating large sums for im- provements in institutions not under State control is condemned and a more rigid account and closer inspection of the semi-public institutions is suggested. That will not impair the efficiency of either for theservice they are expected to perform butit will work a considerable saving to the people of the State. Money appropriated by t!.e Legislature to private institutions operated for profit is misused, however honestly it may be disbursed. The people should only be asked to pay for operating expenses of State institu- tions. Commissioners are not inclined to adopt a cheese-pairing policy, either. They wisely recommend liberal appropri- ations to charitable work and indicate a purpose to maintain the public institu- tions at a high standard of efficiency. This will also meet with popular appro- bation. Pennsylvania is rich in resources and her people are generous in mind. The unfortunates like the poor, “we have always with us,” and suffering must be ‘except how to compiain. Of course it ' made at the instance of reformers, have ' vert the electoral conditions to their own alleviated. Therefore the people will re- joice that there is not likely to be any curtailment of the volume of charity, . though happily there is a prospect of im- provement in the method of dispensing it. No deserving institution will suffer. ———Whether the ground hog saw his shadow or not on Tuesday is a matter of little concern to the fellow with a fairly full coal bin. 'and men of understanding instead of “given $250,000,000 tc philanthropy, as his | will be a change. Hopeful Indications of a Change. to the American Electric Railway Associa- tion, in session at Washington, last week, in which he expressed a truth that he might himself ponder, if his purposes with respect to Pennsylvania patronage have been accurately stated in the public prints. “I have always maintained,” he declared, “that the only way in which men could understand one another was by meeting one another. If I believed all I read in the newspapers, I would not understand anybody. I have met many men whose horns dropped away the mo- ment I was permitted to examine their character.” The horns had been devel- oped by misrepresentation and malice. In some way and at some time Presi- dent WILSON fell under the influence of a group of selfish political mercenaries of this State, who poisoned his mind in re- lation to the faithful Democrats who had borne the burden of the party organiza- tion during its long period of adversity. These party traitors had opposed the candidates of the party in every cam- paign in which they were not represent: ed on the ticket and gave it scant and in- sincere support even when one of them had a nomination. But when President WILSON was inaugurated they got hisear and maliciously traduced and deliberate- ly slandered the very men who had put them in place. And President WILSON, not knowing the facts, accepted their statements and fed their selfish ambi- tions. po If President WILSON ‘understood the men who contributed their time, energy and money to the maintenance of the Democratic party and the preservation of its principles during the time it was in a hopeless minority and who unselfishly relinquished to others their claims to party favor when their industry and fi- delity worked out a victory, now and then, the horns which malignant traduc- ers have developed in his imagination would drop out of his mind and the trad- ers and traitors would be scourged from his confidence. We sincerely hope that his appropriate fgilive of Speseh will be ap. plied to the party conditions in this State and feel certain that in that event there U1 3 ——BILLY SUNDAY is recruiting the army of prohibition in Philadelphia with startling rapidity but it’s a long, long way to theelection and results are un- certain until the official count is com- pleted. Proposed Ballot Law Change. It is universally admitted that the absolute failure. It has not eliminated politics from the choice of judicial offi- cers and has vastly decreased the oppor- tunity of the voter to make wise selec- tion of candidates at the ultimate test. In the selection of municipal officials in cities of the third class, it is little, if any, better. The officials are chosen on po- litical lines and being fewer in number than councilmen under the old plan, each of them is capable of doing greater harm, and as a rule, according to the newspapers of cities of that class, he ex- hausts the possibilities in that direction. The truth of the matter is that our election laws have deteriorated in the ra- tio that so-called reformers have been al- lowed to create them. The BAKER bal- lot law was the product of an agitation begun by reformers who knew nothing proved a failure and every change which has since been made, and all have been made things worse. The politicians per- use and in every case are able to make the restraints in voting cloaks for fraud. If intelligent men, with some understand- ing of politics would draft a ballot law there might be some hope of getting honest elections. But the deficiencies in the existing laws do not justify the drastic measures which the Republican machine is said to have in contemplation now. Such atro- cious political deals as took DRAPER ‘LEWIS off the Washington party ticket and substituted the candidate of another party, and one who couldn’t possibly have been nominated by the Waskington party, ought to be prevented. But a law making independent parties impossible and independent candidates out of the question would work harm instead of good. The ballot laws are bad, but changes must be made with the view of improvement rather than impairment professed reformers must do the work. ——Possibly Mr. ROCKERFELLER has son declares, but it is a safe bet that he kept enough to live comfortably the rest of his life. | f i Concerning the Constitution. gs The expense of a constitutional conven- tion is not a valid reason against it. If a new organic law is needed the million dollars, estimated as the probable cost, should not stand in the way. Amend- ments to the present constitution have cost nearly that much in the last six years and are likely to cost that much more in the next half dozen years, if it is allowed to stand. The present constitu- tion was adopted in 1874. It served its purpose admirably for several years though the Legislature failed to provide for the enforcement of many of its most important provisions. But the numerous amendments proposed within the past few years indicate that it has outlived its usefulness. There is a good deal of hazard, how- ever, in undertaking a framing up of a! new constitution.. For the past several | years the public mind has been in a sort | of frenzy and some of the follies which demagogy has brought forward would be practically certain to insinuate themselves | into any fundamental legislation which might be framed at this time. The initia- tive and referendum, the recall and other. populist vagaries might be provided for in a constitution prepared and adopted at this time, whereas it is practically certain that within a few years all these caprices will haye passed out of the popular mind. For'that reason it might be as well to wait awhile. Public sentiment will be in a better frame later. ; The reasons given by the author of the pending bill for wanting a new constitu- tion will hardly excite enthusiasm, how- ever. Mr. RONEY gives as the principal reason his desire for "the establishment of a State wide Common Pleas court.” Unless such an arrangement would cur- | tail the number of Judges we can see no merit init. A “graded system of taxa- tion” might be of doubtful utility, though the “removal of restrictions that now hamper labor legislation,’”” and “home rule for cities and incorporated boroughs,” are desirable and would be worth the a convention. There is also election laws and need for the better regulation of State charity appropriations. —*“Ezekiel, let that woodchuck go!” Let him scamper around to his heart's content. Even if he roamed around all day Tuesday he failed to see his shadow, so was not frightened enough to go back into his hole and pull it in after him. And now we'll see if there is any truth in this old groundhog saw. Everybody can remember that the hog saw his shad- ow last year and we certainly had six weeks of hard winter afterwards. So far we have had nothing but a hard winter since Thanksgiving day, even last Friday and Saturday mornings being below zero. But now the groundhog prophs prognos- ticate a breakup and naturally milder weather and an early Spring and that at least is comforting. Easter this year comes on April 4th, and that also pre- sages an early Spring, so be an optimist and look for better weather, more work and better times in every way. —=We have heard the name of J. LINN HARRIS, of Bellefonte, mentioned among the possibilities for appointment to Commissioner of Forestry under the BRUMBAUGH administration. While we do not know that Mr. HARRIS is even in a receptive mood, so far as the accept- ance of such a post is concerned, we do know that should Governor BRUMBAUGH prevail upon him to take the head of the department he will secure to the service aman who will render a splendid ac- count of his stewardship. Practically all of his life Mr. HARRIS has been active in the luinber business and during the past four years most earnestly interested in the work of forest conservation, so that he would bring to the office a de- gree of intelligent ‘administration most desirable. —Judging from. the names we hear mentioned as possibilities for Republi- can candidates for county office we are led to believe that the opposition is lay- ing plans for a wonderfully aggressive fight in Centre county next fall. Some one with an eye to workers, locality and money seems to be making bullets pret- ty fast, but of course there is always the question as to whether the rank and file will shoot them. ——In another month RICHARD PEAR- SON HoBsoN will be a private citizen and meantime every body else has something to look forward to gratefully. ——The war has cost nearly six bil- lion dollars already, without counting the incidental expense of lost commerce and high living. ——Everybody in authority in the war zone continues to deny responsibility for “have been the case had he The Issue of “Hallism.” From the Lock Haven Express. Already the reorganizer Democrats have resurrected their old ghost from the closet and are putting in shape celestial choir for a grand rendition of the old scare chorus, “Hallism.” The people of this county are perfectly famil- iar with the results of the recentelection, and at the same time they know that the Hudge from the extreme opposite end of the district” took no part, directly or in- directly, in the contest in this county. i There was no bi-partisan combination between Democats and Republicans, but there wasa mighty revolt within the Democratic party itself. When the smoke of battle cleared away the confi- dent reorganizers were found to be ly- ing on the flat of their backs, kicking up in the air like a lot of roaches. ‘What else could be expected to hap- pen a self-appointed leadership that set up a little oligarchy of its own prior to : the primary election, and decreed who should be permitted to run and wiio should be boycotted and side-tracked for the nomination for local or district of- fices? This arbitrary action on the part of the Palmer and McCormick beneficia- ‘ries naturally resulted in a wave of in dignation that took on practical and con- ‘ crete form at the polls in November. Having nominated their slate by the help of automobiles, a slush fund and other despicable (but at the same time notorious methods in some of the rural districts) the new Board of Governors of the Clinton Democracy began to harp on the old string “Hallism,” notwithstand- ing the fact that a few years ago, when the Hall star was more in the ascendan- cy, you could not separate them from hanging on to the coattails of the presi- dent judge with a dynamite bomb. Judge Hall, however, did not come into the county, the old line Democrats, who were denounced as rank bipartisans, held their peace, but when election day came they quietly went to the polls and exer- cised the right of franchise as granted them by the Constitution. Veto of Immigration Bill, From the Altoona Times. No matter what action he might take on the immigration bill, with its much-dis- cussed literacy test, President Wilson was doomed to be damned. Now that ‘he has vetoed the measure, following the example and adopting the reasoning of former Presidents Cleveland and Taft, he {is not more severely censured than would bill. Sentiment is squarely divided, and there could be no compromise when the difference between advocates and oppon- ents of the literacy test is irreconcilable. As President Wilson stated in his veto message, the effectuating of the drastic bill with its restricting features would have completely changed the policy of the nation toward immigration. He does not believe that a majority of the people of the United States seek or are ready for this change. And we believe that the President has accurately gauged public sentiment. : ; While as a general proposition we be- lieve that the literate immigrant is more desirable than the illiterate stra ‘ger at our gates, we are not satisfied that edu. cation is always an assurance of many desirable citizens and leave in many edu- cated undesirables. With public intelli- gence in the United States none too high, at the best, it comes with rather poor grace to make demands upon the seeker after an enlarged opportunity that would bar many of our own people were they to knock for admission. If the literacy test had been in effect a century ago, the ancestors of many of those who are now demanding its enact- ment would have been turned back when they landed at our shore. Some of us approach the subject of immigration as though all our ancestors had always re- sided in this country. Mr. Hearst Approves the Veto. From the New York American. ’ In his veto of the immigration bill President Wilson has done and said pre- cisely the right thing. It is deeds, not words, that count, and in view of this action” Mr. Wilson's earlier remarks about “the worthless immigrants who come to our shores” can be forgotten. Indeed if his present position should be due to a desire to counteract the effect of these earlier utterances, that should not in the slightest degree detract from his credit. It is, perhaps, more to his credit that he changed his mind in the right direction. It comes with the bet- ter grace and the more convincing effect from a President who, because of his own academic cultivation, might have been expected to take the side upon which so many of the collegians have ranged themselves. © German Atrocities Discredited. From the New York World, Information in possession of the State Department in Washington shows that of the thousands of Belgian refugees in England, none are victims of German atrocity. This confirms the results of the World's own investigations. We have run down report after report of atrocities and have yet to find one that stood the test of investigation. The charges of fiendish mutilations commit- ted by German soldiers seem to have as little substantial foundation as the Ger- man charges that Belgians were in the habit of cutting out the eyes and cutting off the ears and noses of German Help! Murder! Police | From the Columbia State, As we understand the situation, this is the first White House baby since Theodore Roosevelt was there. the war. Probably it just happened. —Have your Job Work done here. SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. by John McKenzie, a Johnstown desperado, is | dead and McKenzie faces the death chair. —Williamsport is just now suffering from an epidemic of whooping cough, measles, chicken- | pox and other minor contagious diseases. —Mrs. Canno Hallo, residingat Ernest, Indiana county, while ill wandered away from her home one night last week and was frozen to death. | She was aged 33 years. : i —Cherry Tree is expecting a big boom in business next spring. The mines are working better time already and the iron company’s orders are increasing. —John Houser, a well-known lumberman, while engaged in loading logs near Wallaceton, drop- ped dead from heart trouble. He was aged 43 years and is survived by his wife and three small children. —The Blairsville enameled ware plant, which has been closed for some time on account of financial trouble, has been taken over by H. L. { Taylor, its largest stockholder, and will soon their | resume operations. —An incendiary placed oiled waste in almost every room of a vacant house in Patton, the property of P. C. Stritmatter, and kindled sev- eral fires. Yet the blaze was discovered and the hou.e saved from destruction. —It is said that engineers are about to go to work on the proposed road between Johnstown ' and South Fork, the construction of which is urged by the Johnstown Chamber of Commerce and prominent residents of South Fork. —At this late day one Balmos George, of Mount Union, advertises that he lost the sum of $230 last October. The lost money, covered with cloth, was enclosed in an envelope bearing the address, ‘ “Harbison-Walker Refractories company.” —By a contract closed between Thomas A Edison and the Cambria Steel company, the former has obtained the right to build a plant to extract benzol from coke gas. Construction of the plant, costing $250,000, has been started. —A gas explosion at the residence of Mrs. Mary Harter, in DuBois, resulted in the death by suffocation of Miriam Catherine Harris, the 2-year-old grand-daughter of Mrs. Harter, and the almost complete destruction of the house. —Van Horn, the murderer of aged Mrs. Ful- mer, of Wilhumsport, says his crime was the re- sult of a sudden notion while he wasin Mrs. Ful- mer’s house telephoning. He admits that he has been a loafer all his life and accuses rum of un- doing him. —His mind unbalanced by a religious mania, H. H. Woods, a B.& O. telegraph operator, lo- cated at Harmony, Butler county. Pa., shot and killed his wife, aged 35, and three daughters, aged respectively 15, 6 and 2 years, and then kill- ed himself. —The Methodist church at Oriole was de- stroyed by fire Sunday morning, entailing a loss estimated at $2,500, of which $700 is covered by insurance. The parsonage was on fire several times, but was saved through the efforts of a bucket brigade. —The Rev. J. Max Lantz, pastor of the Metho- dist Episcopal church at Curwensville, was re- * | cently arrested charged with having killed a doe during the hunting season. The offense was committed in Centre county and the fine was paid at Snow Shoe. —Julian Crozier, formerly treasurer of the Clearfield Textile plant, has been killed in the fighting in France. He left Clearfield about six months ago to join his regiment in the French army and was struck and killed by a fragment of a shell the day before Christmas. —Fifteen residents of Kittanning have brought Sous aggregating S130,000 against the Kittanning Water company for damages incident to ascourge of typhoid fever which swept that town last fall, due the plaintiffs allege, to impure water sup- plied from a contaminated storage reservoir. —Mrs. A. L. Ritchey, of Bullskin township, Fayette county, has brought suit in the courts of that county to recover $50,000 damages for the death of her husband, who was killed on the Pennsylvania railroad near A. O. tower a year ago. The Ritcheys were residents of Youngwood at the time. —It is said that one Jesse Lee, of Mahaffey, Clearfield county, was befooled by a widow whom he sent $5 to pay her car fare to Mahaffey, she having made Mr. Lee think she was eager to marry him. It may comfort him to know that it cost .he handsome widow $1,000 for this and similar tricks. —Charles A. Phillips, who murdered Emanuel T. Leib, at his home in Muncy, may not be tried until the June term of the Lycoming county court, as he is said tobe in a serious condition physically. Van Horn, who murdered Mrs. Ful- mer, is likely to be tried. First degree verdicts will be asked for in both cases. —A modest Lancaster county miller, with 25,000 bushels of wheat in his mill, that cost him a trifle less than a dollar a bushel, is contemplating $7.50 a barrel for flour with some degree of com- placency, the while he looks around his neigh- borhood to invest a fortune the European war has made him. It’s an ill wind, indeed, that blows no good. i —William C. Gessner, captain of company D, Fourth infantry, N. G. P. of Allentown, was ar- rested on Monday on a warrant issued on com- plaint of a surety company, charging him with the embezzlement of about $900 of State funds. He gave bail for a hearing. It is understood that he has been dismissed from State service by Adjutant General Stewart. —Thomas A. Prideaux, of Smith Mills, Clear- field county, aged 75, collapsed in the Masonic temple, Williamsport, while attending a con- sistory meeting, and for a time was in a serious condition. His sons, Dr. H. T. Prideaux, of Cresson, and Dr. W. A. Prideaux, of Twin Rocks, Cambria county, were summoned and after he had recovered somewhat removed himto Cresson. —F. W. Zettle, residing on the old Reeder homestead in Georges valley, Centre county, was deprived of the sight of his right eye recently by a singular accident. He was attempting to tie a calf which had already grown short horns when the animal threw up its head, one of the horns penetrating his eye and cutting a hole in the eyelid. It is hoped the other eye will not be affected, —Samuel Rosen, of Northumberland, a cloth- ing merchant, has been held without bail for trial at court by a magistrate of that town on the charge of arson. On Monday night of last week a fire of suspicious origin, destroyed his stock, valued, it is claimed, at $1,500, upon which he had an insurance of $3,000. Suspicion rested upon Rosen and the state authorities were notified and a deputy marshal was sent to Northumber- land, who found that kerosene had been placed near a stove and on electric light wires. On this evidence Rosen was arrested. : —Thirty of the 100 head of white tail deer con- tracted for from large Michigan preserves for propagation and restocking purposes in the woods of Pennsylvania by the State Game Com- mission have been received and set at libertyin - the covers chosen for them. These deer are hard to catch, but they are being shipped 10 at a time as they are caught and turned loose at once so that they will not be injured by being kept in captivity too long. One or two out of every bunch of 10 are bucks, the remainder being does. Ten have been turned loose in Fayette county, not far from Uniontown, 10 have been consigned ‘to Jefferson county and 10 to the northern part of Cambria county. More will follow, most of | which will be distributed in western Pennsylvania counties. —Daniel Carpelli, who was shot some days ago *
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers