TR, TN Denon BY P. GRAY MEEK. » INK SLINGS. . —Fifteen years ago, on Tuesday, the Maine was sunk in Havana harbor. —SoLOMON had seven hundred wives and still we persist in referring to him as the original wise man. : . —They call the Lulu Fado the Lulu Fido now probably because its the boss dog in the dancing tanyard. —Most of the snow has disappeared and notwithstanding that much of it went away with a rain the streams had little more than a two foot flood. —HENRY and SoL and “Dock” and the cart have cleaned up the paved streets in town so nicely that the advent of a robin would almost deceive us into think- ing that spring is here. —Under the old system we would be announcing in this issue who had been elected to borough and township offices in Centre. county. The election would have been held on Tuesday last. —This week last year was bitter cold. The ground-hog was getting in his. best licks as a weather maker. Two years ago during this week the entire season’s ice crop was being harvested and Belle- fonte was in the throes of a small-pox scare. —If vou want to find out how fasta “slow” note moves attend a public sale, put your name on one of them and then forget to make calculations for meeting it when the year is up. That will show about as well as anything we know of how fast time really does fly. —Last Sunday was anything but a pleasant day, but the churches of the town had unusually large congregations. We give that to Dr. ORR’S work here and pray that the church going habit will grow so fast on everyone that all of the many inviting places of worship we have may be filled to overflowing every Sunday. — Count VON REVENTLOW insults the German Americans when he impugns their loyalty to Uncle Sam, should the latter find it necessary to resort to force in compelling Germany to recognize his rights. Of a certanity the sympathy of the German born citizen of the United States is with the Vaterland in the great struggle now going on. Why shouldn't it be? But they have a flag of their very own to defend now and we don’t concur in VON REVENTLOW’S opinion that they would desert it to uphold the flag of an Emperor. . bill requiring courts to- render a decision on cases tried before them in less than nine months is before the Pennsylvania Legislature and most every- body will join the WATCHMAN in the hope that it will become a law. Courts are chosen to do justice, but often their pro- crastination in the matter of handing] down decisions on cases promptly has resulted in great injustice being done to the litigants. We have one case in mind where an opinion was needlessly with- held so long that the final decision in favor of the plaintiff came too late to be of any use to him at all. —Some years ago the late CHAS. CRUSE issued a letter to the smokers of Belle- fonte in which he stated that if all of them were to join in a movement to use half of their cigar requirements from the brands made at home it would support forty high salaried cigar makers and, under the law of five to a family, make comfortable living for a population of two hundred new people in our town. In these days when we are’ thinking so seriously of the “Made in America” idea wouldn’t it be well to act upon the sug- gestion of the young tobacconist, whom most of us remember, and apply it to all branches of trade. Everybody doing business in Bellefonte helps to make the other fellow’s taxes lighter, his rents lower and his living more agreeable. The more prosperous each individual is the happier the community becomes. Let us pull for Bellefonte. —Oftentimes laws are brought into being merely because some persons have little idea of what common decency means and seem to be trying to find out just how far public patience can be im- posed upon. For example, there is no law requiring automobiles to run care- fully when traversing muddy streets along which pedestrians are passing. This is the time of year when our streets are more or less like mortar beds and ‘automobiles flying through them send a spray of filthy, slimy liquid out at both sides oftentimes for a distance of five or six feet. On Water street especially this is a daily occurrence and as the street is narrow everyone passing along the walks is subjected to a very objectionable shower when a thoughtless driver goes racing along. We have seen so much clothing polluted or ruined by automo- biles that we have wondered just how long the people are going to stand for it. It won't be long and our thought in making this suggestion to the thought- less driver is that it would be a great deal better to have a little care for pedestrians now before they rise up in righteous indignation and demand a law that will take damages from such drivers or compel an ordinance that will reduce the limit of speed to a point where such filthy showers are not thrown out. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 60. BELLEFONTE, PA.. Those Notes to Germany and England. Congressman Farr’s Quack Remedy. The notes simultaneously dispatched by the State Department at Washington to the governments of Germany and Great Britain, in relation to the declared policy of Germany to destroy merchant ships in certain sea zones which ought to be neutral, on one hand, and the purpose of Great Britain to use the American flag for the protection of her commerce, on the other, expressed the true sentiment’ of the American people in emphatic but . friendly ' terms. ought to have been done in the circum- stances. It ought to serve the purpose for which it is intended. Germany and It is precisely what | Great Britain must understand that the first duty of the American government is to conserve the interests of the Amer- ican people. , The British maritime laws contain a provision that in order to avoid capture a British merchant ship may raise the colors of a neutral power. The principle | asserted in this provision has been, to some extent, at least, recognized by the laws of nations. But it is an expedient of “doubtful morality and questionable value at best and in view of the procla- mation of the German admiralty, that vessels in the sea zone defined, will be attacked regardless of the flag they carry, it can promise no protection to British ships and may cause vast harm to American or other neutral vessels. The polite but positive admonition against the common or careless adoption of the ex- | pedient by British ships should, accord- ingly, receive prompt attention and com- plete obedience. With respect to the cause of the note to the German government there can be offered no excuse. The right of search, where there is suspicion of vessels car- rying neutral flags,is well established and long existent. But the right to attack and sink neutral vessels and murder their crews in the open sea has never be- fore been asserted or even claimed by any belligerent nation and if in pursuit of a policy thus usurped, American ships should be attacked while carrying car: goes not contraband, and their crews every neutral citizen or subject of any country would rise in indignant resent- ment of the outrage. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the German government will give heed to the note in question. ——No doubt Senator WILLIAMS is cor- rect in his estimate of the value of long speeches from an intellectual view point, but thirteen hour speeches are not made to be listened to. They are intended to kill time and they do that, besides mak- ing people tired. The Full Crew Law. Thirteen of the railroads operating in this State have combined in a campaign for the repeal of the full crew bill passed by the Legislature two years ago. Most of these railroads are foreign corpora- tions with comparatively little trackage and few men operating in Pennsylvania. But they swell the volume of “sinews of war,” and make the lobby formidable and imposing. The reasons they give for the repeal of the measure is that the extra brakeman on the several crews costs a good deal of money and that he is not needed either for service or safety. That is a question upon which the train- men entertain a widely different view and though compared with the lobby they are poor, they certainly have a right to be heard. Railroading is vastly different from what it was half a century ago. Then thirty cars of fifteen to twenty tons ca- pacity composed a train which ran at a snail's pace compared with the high grade freight flyers in use now. But the crew consisted of six men as the law re- quires now. True the brakemen had to operate the brake wheel and the coup- ling of cars was more hazardous than the present system of automatic coupling. But the trains operated now contain from sixty to one hundred cars of fifty to sixty tons burden and the least dis- turbance of the regular order may cause a wreck which will cost the lives of part or all the crew. The engineman, the fireman and the flagman have their special duties to perform and the care of the train devolves upon the brakemen. One trouble with railroad ‘managers is that they take a gloomy view of every incident in connection withthe operation of trains. When the Interstate Com- merce Commission was created they de- clared positively that bankruptcy would be the result. When they were forced to equip the trains with air brakes they lamented that insolvency was inevitable. But these innovations did them good in- stead of harm. ——Probably a searching investigation will reveal the fact that the “get-rich- quick” mania is the principal cause of the high price of wheat. ‘price would go down and the farmer ; crop of India will be available so that the Congressman FARR, of Scranton, has introduced a resolution “authorizing the President to declare an embargo on wheat and the products thereof.” Con- gress has already that right and once ex- ercised it in order to prevent a famine in this country. It didn’t work very well and men of intelligence have avoided reference to it, whenever possible, ever since. Soon after the beginning of the European war there was a considerable demand, presumably from an element that lacked in mental development, to induce the President to take the step. But he evasively, no doubt, replied that he had no authority under the constitu- tion to act in that way and Mr. FARR has | undertaken to vest in him the power. There has been considerable demand for American wheat and flour in Europe since the beginning of the war largely for the reason that we had a bumper crop and there was none available from other sources. The result was that the surplus of our crop has been taken at high prices and the farmers, while not getting all the advantages, have done so well that automobiles are almost as common on the farm as reapers and binders. This makes things bad for the calamity howlers for the reason that the calamity howl fails to appeal to the farmer in his automobile. But if the export demand should be shut off the’ would promptly join in the calamity cry. At present the Argentine markets are being drawn upon for wheat by Great Britain and in a short time the immense demand upon this country is likely to be greatly diminished. France, Italy and so far as possible Germany, will continue in our market and it is safe to conjecture that our surplus will be taken up and at good prices. But unless those in au- | thority have completely lost their under- standing there will be no embargo for that would destroy prices altogether and afford no compensatory advantage to farmers or others in this country. Con- gressman FARR is an economic quack. remedy. ——Democratic Senators have resisted cloture in the United States Senate for many years, but “circumstances alter cases” and there weren't so many Sena- tors to consume time in senseless talk- fests when the Damocrats jwere fighting for the freedom of speech in that body. False Pretenders Called to Account. The Montgomery county manufactur- ers’ association is having the trouble of its life. It is in about the situation of a: boy hanging on to a rapidly moving vehi- cle. If .he holds on he doesn’t know what may happen and if he lets go he may break his neck. The Montgomery county manufacturers’ association start- ed an investigation, some time ago, and can’t get it stopped. The other side of the contention insists on probing deeper and every turn of the probe is like strik- ing the nerve of an aching tooth. The present indications are that the mem- FEBRUARY 19, 1915. “Repeal of the Anthracite Coal Tax. We cordially agree with Governor BRUMBAUGH in his opposition to the re- peal of the anthracite coal tax law of enacted and it is more than likely that the courts will declare it unconstitu- tional and void. But the coal corpora- tions have collected six or seven million dollars from the consumers of coal to réimburse themselves for the payment of the tax, and it should be allowed to stand until its validity is judicially deter- mined. Then, if it is declared invalid the repealer ought to contain provisions for just restitution, not to the wholesale and retail coal dealers but to the con- sumers who paid the excess price. ‘The idea of taxing anthracite coal originated in the crazy-quilt brain of SAMUEL W. PENNYPACKER. His purpose was; probably, to silence a public demand for a decrease in the price of coal. The Legislature to which he submitted the proposition laughed it off the calendar, but the freak body which masqueraded as a General Assembly, through several months in Harrisburg in 1913 enacted it into law. Immediately after its passage the coal barons added about double the amount of tax to the product of their mines and as rapidly as the payment of the tax came due they put the money into. their own pockets and instituted proceedings in court to have the law de- clared unconstitutional. The repeal bill if enacted into law would simply ratify and confirm the right of the coal producers to rob the con- sumers of the amount that the increase in price totaled. divide with the dealers thus placing three or four million dollars to the credit of each party to the robbery and the con- against such juggling of the interests of the people. That the law is unconstitu- tional we have no doubt. But the fact should be legally and officially declared by the courts and the proceedings toward restitution instituted immediately after- ward. That is the only just way to dis- ISE tion. : of pose. of this. Esto — Representative LEIGH ler, has introduced a bill in the Legisla- ture providing for a codification of the marriage laws. It provides that neither of the contracting parties shall be insane, a drunkard, criminal, epileptic, of un- sound mind or have any transmissable disease. It also prescribes just who and who cannot. marry and also requires ap- plicants to present a certificate of free- dom from disease. A place will be: established in each county for conduct- | LS. 1913. The law never ought to have been | ecg NO. 8. Prosperity at the : Ere Leslie’s Weekly. : i e year 1915 will be an epoch-making ! year for the United States if we move in | the light of the experienced statesman- | ship. Four potential influences are at work to develop a permanent ‘export | trade for us at a time when we are Over- { crowding the domestic market. We are : compelled to seek outlets abroad for the | products of our labor and capital or to ! entail suffering on both. These four po- tential, far-reaching influences are as follows: ; Fo id The opening of the Panama canal, gen- erously built by the United States for benefit of the world at the cost of ,- 000,000. ; <i me .» The establishinent of a new banki system which will enable our matic banks to establish. branches abroad and i us financial independence from Europe in our international banking. This means that the American dollar as well as the English pound sterling will become the basis of international ex: Door. change. : The withdrawal or crippling of foreign shipping to the extent of 5,000,000 tons —almost one fourth of the. world's ton- nage—from the carrying ‘as are- sult of the war. This terrific struggle ' has driven German and Austrian tonnage off the sea and into the docks. It has | compelled France and Great Britain to requisition 2,000 steamers for the trans- portation of troops and supplies and for other uses of war, and thus crippled for- eign commerce. Ey —_— SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Operations will begin on the construction of the new State Industrial home for girls at Muncy as soon as the weather will permit. ~—Orders have been issued by the B. C. Frick ; Coke company, Connellsville, Pa., for firing 515 additional ovens, making a total of 855 for the week and 3,355 for two weeks. —A sled containing - twenty-two residents of Ralston, Lycoming county, skidded and went over a ten-foot embankment into a wire fence the other evening, badly injuring six of the party. —Jacob Oversby, of Colver, Cambria county, was found dead in one of the mines of the Ebens- burg Coal company. Heart disease is supposed to have caused his death. He was aged 45 years. —Arthur Reeping, one of the young men who attacked and killed Arthur Wedge, a Westmore- land county farmer, has been found guilty of murder in the first degree by the court at Greens. burg. . —The Punxsutawney, the Lindsey, the Big Run and the Reynoldsville water companies are to be the subject of a joint receivership. The re- ceiver will be appointed by the Jefferson county court. ' —That work will soon begin on the proposed new line of the New York Central railroad from Keating to Avis is practically assured, as real es- tate purchdsing agents are again acquiring land for right of way. ; 2 _—An enterprising thief in Williamsport stole thirty-one dozen of eggs early one morning while William Pewterbaugh, the owner, was putting his team away, preparatory to arranging his stand at the market. - —John Allbright, station agent of the Balti- more & Ohio railroad at Sandpatch, Somerset county, a resident of Meyersdale, fell under a train while trying to board it and had one leg cut off as well as sustaining other injuries. —Walter J. Drake, a resident of Lock Haven, | has sued the city to recover damages to the amount of $5,000 for injuries sustained in a fall on an icy sidewalk last December. His left leg was fractured and other injuries sustained. —T. Clark Shaffer, a leading lumberman of In- diana county, recently fell from the bed of a wag- on to the ground, striking his head on a rock and causing a fracture of the spine at the base of the skull, resulting in his death six hours later. He was in his 58th year.. —Directors of the Pittsburgh Coal company on Monday authorized the sale of 11,530 acres of coal lands, including improvements, to the Mononga- i hela Coesolidated Coal and Coke company, for approximately $9,343,333. The transfer and pay- The enormous extension of our export | Ment Will be made before July first. : trade by the demand for ammunition,{ —Mrs. Julia Kunkle, of Johnstown, was fined food, clothing and other supplies of man- | $100 and costs for hitting her husband] over the ufactured material and the increasing de- | head with a poker, by the mayor ata hearing giv- mand for the raw material which we |en to her and her husband on Monday. The alone are able to furnish to the warring | mayor imposed a penalty of $3 and costs on the Possibly they would sumers would get nothing. We protest | | hough she NER, of But- world. ; Thus we are the most favored of all nations, if we are wise enough to recog- nize and make the most of this wonder- ful opportunity. . It is one that seldom comes to any nation. Prosperity stands knocking at our dcor. the way? Destruction of the Washington. ne From the Philadelphia Record. ington, the report of whose sinking at Smyrna by a Russian war ship has been confirmed by Ambassador M rightfully flew the flag United Cot id registry, may obtain certificates of 0 the United States, and thereafter they | may hoist the flag of the nation over these certified ships and the latter will | be protected by this government to the { extent as if they had been officially regis- tered. Quite a number of such vessels ‘ have been engaged in the coasting trade ; of the far east, of South America and of the near east, and the Washington was " probably one of that class. Until the recent enactment of a law by certain foreign-built vessels, the ships of Will the demagogues continue to block It is possible that the steamer Wash- orgenthau, States and was entitled to protection; was. not registered as an. »W ere ship and sea letters from any consul of | ing examinations upon application, the this class, bei nau eing as a rule constructed fee of which is to be $2.50. The mar-' abroad, could not trade with any port of : riage license is to remain at $1.00, which ' the United States; and they would still would bring the preliminary expense up ‘ be excluded from the coasting trade of ; «ie ~ | this country. In every other respect to $3.50 before reaching the minister; they stand on the footing of regularly but under the proposed codification the | registered vessels of the United States. latter can be dispensed with as two peo- | While they share these advantages, how- husband for having resented the poker blow and creating a disturbance. —Whiskey Run, a mining town in Indiana county which has the reputatation of sheltering more bad foreigners than any other mining town in that county, is likely to become extinct, the | mines there having been closed for an indefinite period, and the goods of the company store hav- | ing been shipped to Iselin. —Four katy-dids and two grasshoppers, alive and kicking, were on exhibition at the Latrobe high school last Monday as evidence either that spring is here ahead of time or that the katy-dids and the grasshoppers have got hopelessly mixed up over the calendar. They were captured on an adjoining farm on Sunday. —The next session of the Allegheny conference of the United Brethren church will be held at i | «+ —While sitting at the breakfast table in her" high chair Mary Cecelia Maiers, an 8-months old * child of Latrobe parents, was strangled to. death during the absence of her mother in an upper : room. The child slipped from the chair, her neck ' becoming wedged between the step of the chair and the table. The little one was dead when the’ mother returned. | —While Misses Emma and Ettie Cunningham | were driving from Huntingdon to their home in * Hartslog valley, last Thursday, with their horse i Congress permitting the registration of , and sleigh, one of the shafts broke, scaring the | horse. The latter ran away and the sleigh, strik- ing a telephone pole, the sisters were thrown out with great force. Miss Emma Cunningham died . in a few minutes from a broken neck and Miss Ettie had her arm broken. —If the Public Service Commission this week’ approves the application for a charter to the. Fort Loudon Electric Railway Company, Fulton ple can marry themselves in the pres- ence of two reputable witnesses. —And now it is stated that Mr. A. MITCHELL PALMER has been commission-. ' or was engaged in any unneutral service, ed to select for the Democracy of Penn-: ever, they have no greater claim to im- : munity than other American ships. If i the Washington was carrying contraband such as transporting troops or war ma- terial for the Turkish government, she was exposed to capture or destruction by ! county will have the first rails laid within its lim- | its. At present the county has neither steam nor i trolley lines. The new road will run from Mc- | Connellsburg to Fort Loudon and will there | connect with the trolley. toChambersburg,’a part of the valley traction system. —Frank Krumbine, aged 40, a Schaefferstown sylvania, fifty Democratic postmasters any of the enemies of Turkey. In this ' tobacco grower, shot himself in the head on papers. Finally the Secretary of Com- ‘they deserve it all. bers of the organization will be held up to public ridicule if not contempt. These wealthy beggars of government favor undertook to discredit the UNDER- ! wooD tariff law by declaring that it had | destroyed their industries and they an- noyed the President and tired the public by writing their doleful complaints to Washington and” printing them in the merce called their bluff by sending an expert investigator to look into their grievances. He made a close inspection of the several plants and discovered that all their troubles were ascribable to causes other than the tariff law, that in every product of their tactories the im- portations have diminished since the UNDERWOOD law went into effect and that the pauper labor of Europe has nothing to do with the case. who are to be given places within a few weeks. The WATCHMAN would be glad to see a job like this accomplished, but it has grave doubts if Mr. PALMER and all the other fellows who are now posing as party leaders in Pennsylvania can agree in fifty months, on the half of fifty postmasters for these places now ripe. ——On the second page of this issue of the WATCHMAN reprinted from the Christian Advocate, is Angela Morgan's which is attracting such widespread at- tention. Mrs. Andrew Carnegie bought had mailed more than fifty thousand copies to all parts of world. ——1It is not surprising that Mexico is Of course the exposure of the fact that they had been “bearing false witness,” four years the people of that unhappy | war that they had been deliberately falsifying . country have done nothing but fight and fighting never did promote solvency. the facts for political effect, was humil- iating. But the Secretary of Commerce | is not satisfied with that punishment and | proposes now to make an examination of their books in order to lay before the public the fact that their own records prove their perfidy and unworthiness of | belief. It is a pretty severe penalty but | A man who will deliberately lie to the injury of others in order to make a point in politics is so despicable by nature that his exposure is on the verge of bankruptcy. For nearly | ——The signs of returning prosperity are noted everywhere but the calamity howler refuses to either look or listen. His object is to grevent prosperity and | he is working over time. ~——1If ocean freights for outgoing car- goes are abnormally high, it is comfort- ing to know that the burden is upon the consumers and they are at the other end of the run. : : poem, “The Battle Cry of the Mother,” the pcem from Miss Morgan, and has | event her owners would have no claim : Tuesday and died instantly. He is said to have | against Russia, and there would be no dreadedthe approach of Aprill, on which date he basis for a protest by the United States. : had a large number of obligations to meet. Bank * Examiner Logan, who is investigating the affairs : of the First National bank, Schaeffertown, could i | not tell that afternoon whether Krumbine had any From the Harrisburg Star independent. notes or any other obligations to pay at that insti- | The statement from Rome that Italy’s : tution. : id military preparations may now be re-| —A party of Trout Run men, headed by W. W. | garded as terminated, points to the un- Weis, have been feeding a herd of thirty-one i likelihood of that country’s intervention ! deer which are unable to secure food because of lin the war, unless of course a contin- | the hard crust on the snow. The deer would ' gency not yet anticipated arises. The | starve to death if they were not taken care of. season is not favorable for an Italian en- | Word reached the men that a deer which was in | trance into the conflict, and certainly the a very bad condition from lack of food was in the ! present war situation gives no promise | woods and they procured a sled and went after + of changing very suddenly. What may : ie. It wasplacedin a box stall in a barn and { happen later depends largely on whether | will be nursed back to its former strength. "any of the belligerents tread on the toes ; of Eurepe’s boot. Hay | ———————— i Italy’s Intervention Unlikely. i ~ —George Ruhl, a Clinton county farmer, visit- The disinclination of Italy to plunge A ©d Lock Haven with asled load of butter, eggs into the fight has surely a nge | and other produce a few days ago. The pin on | aspect of things somewhat. The Ger- the end of the sled tongue pulled out and the | man Admiralty had been led to hope for team ran away. Ruhl was thrown out and "the aid of Italy’s fleet in the Mediterra- | dragged along the street for a considerable dis- "'nean, judging from the assurances of tance holding on to the lines. The horses were the Berlin. foreign office before the | Stopped finally when it was learned that the that the co-operation of the chief damage had been sustained by the farmer's kingdom could be expected if hostilities garments which were badly torn and covered | broke out. It is not clearly explained A With dirt. {how Italy’s hostile attitude toward L 1 A —Aroused from his slumbers by a noise in his Austria was reconciled at the time with | room, Genrge Grove, of Chambersville, found : the expectations of the German foreign ' himself looking into the barrel of a revolver ear- i : : : i | ly Saturday morning. A masked man was hold- | Italy evidently is partial, but it had’ ing the weapon, while another man wasfransack- better, for its own good, remain peace- | ing the room. Grove was forced to tell where ful. It is not being compelled to fight, | his money was secreted and while one of the rob- and had better rest its interests with di- | bers stood guard over him with the revolver, the plomacy rather than with war. It hashad other secured about $85 in currency and escaped enough of trouble with its earthquake. | from the house. Entrance to the building was gained by removing a pane of glass in a first floor window. There is no clue to the burglars. —Walter J. Drake, a jeweler, has instituted suit The Secret of Naval Victory. From the New York World. .{ is doing his best to keep men from going same as he has always done it. {a necessary precaution to protect th —_, et } Protect tI) Whether fashionable or not, the Eon ' farmer will be expected to practice the ——BILLY SUNDAY declares that God “one step” the coming season, just the The secret of victory on the sea under modern armament conditions lies in the ability to be there at any time with the largest guns and the fastest ships. To the superior speed and gun-range and caliber victory goes with a precision that "| against the city of Lock Haven claiming damages in the amount of $5,000 on account of injuries sustained on a pavement in front of a building ‘owned by the Scott-Christ estate. It is claimed by the plaintiff that about nine weeks ago he was ‘walking down east Main street on his way to lunch and when at the east side of that building, to hades, and adds that he is alsc on the job for all he is worth. Thus BILLY con- | nects himself with good company. ——Have your Job Work done here. eI may be safely said that HOBSON will not exercise his choice when he re- tires from public life a week. from next ' Thursday. is fairly mathematical in its nicety. which is located at Main and ‘Grove streéts, ie One way to. guarentee the safety | Spud on heise ud a, rasan Hi eg and of American oversea tourists is for them , is alleged, may be permanent and Mr. Drake to travel in American ships. _ seeks to recover damages. SAT ARR
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers