Bemorralc: Wace BY P. GRAY MEEK. INK SLINGS. —The ice harvest in Centre county has been an excellent one. —Brumbaugh is some spender when the tax payers put up the mon- ey. ' —If you want to dance you must pay the piper and if you want steam heat you must pay the coal man. —Our troopers are all back to sim- ple life again. They were paid off and mustered out on Tuesday after- noon. —Another of the old Democratic landmarks of the county disappeared when Sol. Schmidt, of Philipsburg, passed away. 3 —It is not birth-control, but self control the individual needs to learn. Alcoholism is only one of the many forms of intemperance. —It was always our luck to get in wrong. Now that we have a year’s supply of paper in stock the paper market is going down. —Those who prayed for mild weather in January, in order to save coal bills, evidently didn’t have much faith when they were doing it. —So the State had to pay for the dinners of the two hundred and nine- teen admiring friends who followed Governor Brumbaugh to Juniata col- lege. —Read Col. Maxe’s toast to water in column five of this page. We es- pecially recommend it to the careful consideration of our Temperance friends. —The President has beautiful thoughts of a world peace movement. Let us hope that they will impress the world to the end that they may soon become realities. — Representative Harry B. Scott, of Centre county, has been placed on the following House committees: Corporations, appropriations, rail- roads, forestry, manufactures, and public health and sanitation. —If you enjoy reading a good seri- al story don’t fail to start reading “K” which begins in this issue of the “Watchman.” It is Mary Roberts Rhinehart’s best book and she is one of our best writers of fiction. —Switzerland is getting ready to defend her neutrality. She would be far better off were she to permit its violation under protest. What would be the use of such an unequal fight should Germany decide to go through. —Woodrow Wilson’s address to the | United States Senate will go down in history as the most momentous utter- ance of modern, if not all, times. Its diction, of course, is splendid, its pur- pose entirely altruistic and its hope utopian. —Of course it was to be expected that the Republican Legislature of Pennsylvania wouldn’t permit the Democrats to start an investigation of the Departments in Harrisburg. “If you want to find out who’s boss here start something.” We did and we did. —You think you have nothing to be thankful for, do you? Well, what if you lived onthe top of Quaker, Res- ervoir or Bunker hills and had to make from four to five trips to and from your home with the streets a glitter of ice, as they have been sev- eral times this month. —Governor Brumbaugh did well when he said he wanted to make Pennsylvania the sweetest, purest place in the world to live in. Then just to show that words and deeds don’t always square with each other he even permitted bills for buttons, lace, dress shields, flowers and candy bought by his wife to be charged up to the State. Surely he is the one grand hypocrite. —And the Board of Charities re- ports that Bellefonte and Centre county have done little in the way of contributing to the support of the Bellefonte hospital. It is to laugh. The State gives the institution a beg- garly $6,000 a year. The payroll for superintendent, nurses and care tak- ers practically consumes all of that sum. Who provides the foods, the medical and surgical supplies, the heat, the light, the repairs and re- placements? Who put in the operat- ing room? Who put in the elevator? Who put in the X-ray machine and laboratory? Who is now installing the pathological laboratory? Who did five times as much for the Belle- fonte hospital as the State of Penn- sylvania has done? The people of Bellefonte and Centre county have. Everybody here knows that. The Board of Charities pretends that it doesn’t know it, because it wears the seat of its pants shiny sitting in Harrisburg sending messages for peo- ple to carry information to it. And when they fail - to crawl in on their bellies and plead for something they have every right to stand up and de- mand it promulgates recommenda- tions based on untruths. VOL. 62. President Wilson’s Peace Plan. In his address before the Senate on Monday President Wilson not only laid new lines for the government of the United States to follow but enun- ciated new policies for the civilized world to pursue. The expansion of the Monroe Doctrine until “no nation should seek to extend its policy over any other nation or people, but that every people should be left free to de- termine its own policy,” is the essen- tial basis of enduring peace. So long as powerful nations continue to op- press those that are weak, so long as rich nations refuse to recognize the principle expressed in the Declaration of Independence “that governments derive all their just power from the consent of the governed,” there can be no lasting peace. President Wilson proposes that the government of the United States shall lead a world-wide movement to accomplish permanent peace and sug- gests as a preliminary step that the present war be terminated on a basis of compromise rather than conquest. As the President puts it “it must be a peace without victory,” for another peace would be “forced upon the loser” which “would be accepted in humiliation, under duress, at an intol- erable sacrifice and would leave a sting, a resentment, a bitter memory.” Such a peace would continue only until such time as one or another of the belligerents could develop re- sources to renew the war and resume the work of slaughter and destruction. A peace of that kind would not be worth while. The President seems to have over- looked one essential element in the achievement of his hopes. Peace pred- icated even upon “the equality of nations” and “the equality of rights,” must be supported by the principles of justice and honor, if it is to endure. Germany, after years of preparation, violated Serbia, Belgium and Rumania and there should be reparation as a preliminary to peace. Germany vio- lated tréaties solemnly made and there should be guarantees that such outrages would not recur. No doubt the President relies upon the forces, moral and material, of civilization to accomplish this result. In a compact to penalize perfidy there is some se- curity and in any event the proposi- tion is so beneficent and deserving that it ought to succeed. Only Investigation Worth While. Obviously Attorney General Brown was bluffing, the other day, when he intimated that he may employ E. Lowry Humes, United States Dis- trict Attorney, of Pittsburgh, as spe- cial counsel for the State administra- tion in the event of a legislative in- vestigation. He probably imagines that Senator Penrose is very much in dread of Mr. Humes because that gen- tleman procured the indictment, some time ago, of a number of brewers for contributing to the Republican cam- paign fund. But the purpose of the Attorney General is not likely to be fulfilled. The dread is more imaginary than real. The indicted brewers, cor- poration officials, have not been con- victed. But the incident reveals the mental terror of the State administration. It proves conclusively that the Attorney General does not want the investiga- tion he professes to welcome. He probably hoped that the mention of the name of Attorney Humes would frighten Penrose from his plan, not to impeach the Governor, but to hu- miliate him. If Humes had anything on Penrose, personally, that might have been the result of the threat. But as a matter of fact the Governor was as deep in that mire as Penrose was in the mud. The slush fund con- tributed by the brewers, if there were such a fund, was as much for the benefit of Brumbaugh as for Penrose, both having been candidates of the Personal Liberty party in 1914. The threat of the Attorney General to employ Humes, however, is an ad- ditional reason why the investigation should be pressed and no doubt will be an incentive to the Democratic minority in the Legislature to insist upon the adoption of the Sarig reso- lution. The investigation contemplat- ed by Penrose will not be in the inter- est of better morals or methods. An Attorney acting under the direction of Attorney General Brown will not aim to conserve the public interests. But an investigation under the auspices of the Democratic minority in accord- ance with the provisions of the Sarig resolutien will achieve the desired re- | sult and should be compelled. BELLEFONTE, PA.. T STATE RIGH Fault of the Sproul Resolution. The only fault that can be found in the resolution to investigate the Brumbaugh administration introduc- ed on Monday evening by Senator Sproul, is that it is shamefully one- sided. It is a step in the direction of proving the charges against the Gov- ernor made by Senator Penrose, dur- ing the campaign for Speaker of the House. But charges were made by the Governor and his friends against Senator Penrose with equal freedom and no provision is made to either prove or refute them. Because of this fault the movement is morally weak. It gives the public full liberty to condemn Penrose on the ground that “silence gives consent.” In other words it is a tgcit confession of guilt on his part. That the Governor has violated the laws, betrayed his sworn obligations and prostituted his powers and privi- leges can hardly be questioned. Pay- ing for personal pleasures out of the public funds ‘is susceptible of but one interpretation. Charging to the State board bills of his house serv- ants and cigar bills for his own use is simply embezzling funds. Paying for fruits, butter, groceries, game, fish, meats, milk, pressing clothes and laundering shirts for the use of him- self and family out of the funds in the State Treasury was plainly mis- appropriating public money. More- over it was the cheap type of graft- ing—sort of petty larceny, an almost unbelievable condition. But even at that an investigation of the official life of the Common- wealth ought to be made more com- prehensive than that which the Sproul resolution contemplates. For these reasons the resolution offered three weeks ago by Representative Sarig, of Berks county, ought to have been adopted and made the basis of the investigation. It covered every accu- sation made on either side and placed all malefactors on a common level. Possibly such an investigation would have left the Legislature without a quorum but that would be no irrepar- able calamity. Outside of the supply bills there is no legislation pressing and a thorough cleaning out on Cap- itol Hill would be wholesome. It is only a question of time but we hope Tom Lawson will be brought to justice before long. Lawson May Get His. The alleged “leak” from the White House to Wall Street which appeared to be so much a sensation a week ago has fallen back into a somewhat com- monplace incident of Washington life. Sherman Whipple, a capable Boston lawyer, has been retained by the House Committee on Rules to con- duct the inquiry and it is believed that he will eliminate such ornate perjury and scandal embellishment as Lawson hoped to develop. It may be shown that intimation of the Presi- dent’s purpose to issue his peace note at some time had been conveyed or was conjectured in Wall Street. But it is reasonably certain that no mem- ber of the President’s official family betrayed him or profited by the inci- dent. It is well known all over the world that Thomas Lawson, of Boston, has been for many years a financial harpy taking profits from false statements and misinformation regarding public men and measures. Upon suspicion he probably invented and promulgat- ed the scandal in question and took advantage of it to circulate a blanket libel upon a lot of prominent men in politics and commerce. Naturally he imagined that out of such a situation there would be opportunity for his peculiar sort of speculation. For a time it looked as if his purpose would be fulfilled. Ast present, however, the signs are disappointing to him. The truth will be revealed beyond question but there will be no public scandal. There are reasons to hope, never- theless, that out of his evil plans some good will come. In other words there is a chance that Lawson will get what is coming to him and that ingthe prison he will have time and oppor- tunity to repent his long life of crime. Hundreds of men and women have AND F suffered from his rapacity in the past | and so long as he is at large other thousands will be in danger. But if | justice is meted out in full measure | as the result of his last vicious and | venemous exploit, the danger will be averted and one arch-conspirator will be removed from his sinister activi- ties. That will be something worth while. DERAL UNION. JANUARY 26, 1917. Brumbaugh’s Biz Contingent Fund. If Speaker Baldwin will carry out his purpose of exposing the profligacy of the Brumbaugh administration he will contribute liberally to the gayety of nations. A few years ago, the Speaker states, the contingent fund of the Governor was $4000 a year and now it is four or five times that much and the people have a right to know not only the amount of the in- crease, but the cause of it. The Gov- ernor has little occasion to be absent from the capitol on official business, and $4000 will pay a good deal of car fare. Absence from the capitol on business other than official, is purely personal, and the expense of such ab- sences ought not to be charged to the public treasury. There are reasons, of course, for the four-fold increase of the Govern- or’s contingent fund. The Governors during the closing years of the last century were plain people who inter- preted their obligations by the terms of the law. Brumbaugh is different. He is not a plain person. He is a show feature and travels about in order to gratify the people with a view of his shaggy eye-brows and splendid shape. Moreover those old- fashioned Governors were content to travel in modest manner when called away on official business. Brumbaugh, on the other hand, must have a lot of people with him and his trips throughout the State are like the tri- umphal journeys of monarchs. Moreover Brumbaugh is a reformer and that makes a vast difference. He has upon him an obligation of up- lift which did not press upon the shoulders of his predecessors. Bishop Russell, of North Carolina, in a recent address in Washington said “I fear the saint in politics,” and added that if he were authorized to alter the Litany he would insert, “from all the Saints on earth, O Lord deliver us!” Brumbaugh is conspicuously one of the saints on earth and such luxuries It might be difficult - expensive. prove the additional value for the increased cost but it is a safe bet that Brumbaugh believes that he is worth the price to the people of Pennsyl- vania. —-The annual meeting of the Hayes Run Fire Brick company was held at the offices of the company at Orviston last Friday. All the old officers and directors were re-elected for the en- suing year. The reports of general manager C. W. Keller showed that the plant had been running at full capacity during the past year and that quite a number of orders are booked ahead. Ellis L. Orvis is presi- dent of the company. 3 ——Brumbaugh had a fine time last summer junketing over the State highways and flattering the farmers. But if you dance the piper has to be paid and the pending investigation is a notice to settle. Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor, ought to devise some plan to avert a strike of the employees of his office. A strike there for fair wages would look bad. ——Anyway the war appears to have taught England how to make shells, a lesson our own manufactur- ers of munitions will have to learn if they want to stay in the market. — President C ——It will tax Teddy’s mental ca- pacity to find a flaw in the President’s last message to the Senate. But itis a safe bet that Teddy will willingly give the time. — The statement that the price of cabbage has gone so high that it is no longer possible to make cigars of it ought not to be very discouraging to smokers. ——The Vares fooled Penrose twice in succession. Brumbaugh and Mayor Smith are twin disappoint- ments. But look out for the future. ——The promise of a lively session of the Legislature is strong but we may have to hold our noses while reading the proceedings. ——On and after February first all the Philadelphia papers will cost fif- ty cents a month in Bellefonte, or at the rate of $6.00 a year. ——1Tt looks bad for the Republican machine of Pennsylvania but danger suggest compromise and the danger is great. ——England’s mastery of the sea sems to have slipped a cog again and the German raider is levying the cost. NO. 4. The Situation as to Mexico. From the Harrisburg Star-Independent. The bulk of the American people is anxiously inquiring about the rela- tions as they now exist between this country and Mexico since the joint commission appointed to adjust the difficulties has ended its labors after wrangling five months without accom- plishing anything definite in regard to the future status of the two coun- tries or settling any of the vexed questions presented for disentangle- ment. While Washington officials ad- mit there was nothing of a tangible nature resulted in solving the prob- lems on which the two governments were at variance, the claim is made that the long drawn out conference has resulted in an interchange of views that will prove beneficial to American interests in Mexico in the future as well as in the enlighten- ment of Mexican dignitaries as to conditions in this country. This summing up of the results achieved by the joint commission will hardly satisfy that great body of Americans which hoped for a more satisfactory solution of the imbroglio so long apparent in the Mexican situ- ation. In fact it seems to be the con- sensus of opinion that the game was not worth the candle in creating the commission in the first place after Carranza showed his ingratitude by endeavoring to thwart every action of the American authorities following the punitive expedition into Mexico in pursuit of Villa. The de facto Presi- dent of the southern republic was not in sympathy with this government from the very moment steps were taken by the latter to capture the bandit. ‘But the joint commission was cre- ated, nevertheless, and its members for five months have had the time of their lives in moving about from time to time enjoying the hospitality of seaside and other resorts at the ex- pense of Uncle Sam. For that the commission cannot be blamed. The blame lies in the fact that the mem- bers could do nothing except that which was sanctioned by the heads of the respective governments for whom they were acting. The com- mission’s hands were practically tied, in that it had to report its findings to First Chief Carranza or to the Wash- ington administration, and that was all the authority the members had. It is well that the sessions are ended 2nd the joint commission made his- ory. Col. Bob Maxe’s Toast to 4 From the Medical Journal. “Mr. Toastmaster, ladies and gen- tlemen, you have asked me to re- spond to the toast, ‘Water,’ the pur- est and best of all of the things that God created. I want to say to you that I have seen it glisten in tiny tear- drops on the sleeping lids of infancy; I have seen it trickle down the blush- ing cheeks of youth, and go in rush- ing torrents down the wrinkled cheeks of age. I have seen it in tiny dew drops on the blades of grass and leaves of trees, flashing like polished dia- monds when the morning sun burst in resplendent glory o’er the eastern hills. I have seen it trickle down the mountain sides in tiny rivulets with the music of liquid silver striking on beds of polished diamonds. I have seen it in the rushing river rippling over pebbly bottoms, purling about jutting stones, roaring over precipit- ous falls in its mad rush to join the mighty father of waters, and in the mighty father of waters I have seen it go in slow and majestic sweep to join the ocean. And I have seen itin the mighty ocean on whose broad bo- som float the battle fleets of all na- tions and the commerce of the world, but, ladies and gentlemen, I want to say to you now that as a beverage it ——is a flat, miserable, insipid, abso- lute and unmitigated failure. Reforesting the State. From the Philadelphia Record. So far as we know nature is making no more coal. But the rivers will run as long as man has any use for them, and with electricity the waterfalls can be utilized for the production of light and heat and motive power. Trees we have sacrificed recklessly because there were so many of them in our country. Originally there were far too many of them. Now that they are getting scarce it is possible for us to replenish the supply and, hap- pily, Pennsylvania is taking a leading part in repairing the ravages of the ax men. About 21,000,000 trees have been set out on state and private lands, and how much more can be done may be inferred from the report of the state department of agriculture that 5,000,000 acres of barren land can be reclaimed by reforesting. ‘A few railroads and paper manufactur- ers are planting trees and the next generation is likely to reap the benefit of an increased timber supply. A Matter of Punctuation. From the Christian Herald. A bachelor had been persuaded by the Ladies’ Aid of a church to speak at an entertainment provided they would furnish him with subject mat- ter. In a spirit of mischief he had been given as subject, “Woman: with- out her, man would be a savage.” On the night of the entertainment he arose and said: “My subject, which I consider a very fine one, 1S never- theless not of my own choosing, but has been furnished’ me by the ladies, and is—Woman, without her man, would be a savage.” —— Subscribe for the “Watchman”, SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Because the big auto truck of G. G. Harlan, of Mauch Chunk, frightened Frank Heydt's team of horses so that they ran away and injured Mr. and Mrs. Heydt, Heydt has a suit on for damages for 5, 000 at Mauch Chunk. —The Renovo Fire Brick company, of Drurys Run, have sold their entire plant to the Elk Fire Brick company of St. Ma- ry's. The new company is making many improvements and have employed more men. They have also enlarged the plant. —Judge Charles Corbett Thursday morn- ing, the 18th, refused all applications for liquor licenses in Jefferson county. This is the second successive year that all licenses have been refused in that county, the court having turned down all applications last year. ~—Frank Holden, , of Waterville, Ly- coming county, who confessed to starting twenty fires on State forestry lands along Pine creek during the deer season to drive deer hunters out of that section, was Thursday sent to the Huntingdon Reform- atory by Judge Harvey W. Whitehead. —Pittsburgh capitalists have secured options on a tract of 354 acres of coal in the Westover basin in Barr tewnship, Som- erset county, the only tract in that seec- tion that has never been placed in the market. A deal may be closed for its purchase, in which event an extended op- eration will be launched. 99 —For the fourth time in the past two months thieves early Saturday morning forced an entrance to the home of Robert Wisegardt, of near Vail, and were suc- cessful in making good their escape with a small sum of meney, possibly in excess of $2, several suits of clothing and a num- ber of less valu .ble articles. Their iden- tity is unknown. —A new company composed of T. Lar- ry Eyre, of Chester; Clark Bros., of Glen Campbell, and A. M. Liveright, of Clear- field, has put a force of men to work in opening a new coal mine in the Ringgold and Owens farms, not far from Clearfield. The operation will be the most extensive in that section. The company will build a number of houses near the mine to ac- commodate its employees. —“Guilty of murder in the first degree,” was the verdict at 11 o'clock on Thursday night, January 18th, in the Blair county court, in the case of Frank Alfred Wendt, charged with the murder of constable Michael McGinty on October 13th, 1915. The verdict came after three and a half hours deliberation on the part of the jury. Walter Wendt was convicted of murder in the second degree the week previous for the same crime. —The State Department of Health has assumed charge of a case of epidemic spi- nal meningitis at Bradford, the patient be- ing Albert Meese, a member of Company C, Sixteenth infantry, which recently returned from the Mexican border. It was stated at the capitol that he had been ill about a week, but had not been exposed to any members of the company since his return and that there had been no cases in the organization. —The State Highway Department will ask the State Legislature to appropriate $21,000,000 for the construction of new roads, repairing and maintenance of old ones and purchasing toll roads during the next two years, according to the budget of the department announced at a con- ference just held between representatives of the department, the State Motor Fed- fratinn ang “ha State (Grange. The money will be asked FOF il two iusixlimencs of $10,500,000 each. —Constable Joseph Wade, of Snow Shoe, reports a most remarkable snake story. While he and several other men were near the entrance to the Kelley mine, No. 4, about six miles from Snow Shoe and two miles from Cato, on Thursday morning, the 17th, they found a four foot long black snake crawling along in the snow. The snake was killed with a club. It is sup- posed the snake had taken winter quarters in the coal mine and in some manner was frightened out. —With a glare in the sky that could be seen for many miles east and west through the valley of the Juniata, Recovery Build- ing D of the Aetna explosives works at Mt. Union, burned up between 7:15 and 8:40 Wednesday evening, with fifty thous- and pounds of smokeless powder which had just been stored in it to pass through the final drying process. There was no ex- plosion. Three men in the building escap- ed the fast spreading flames by sliding to safety through the chutes. -—The powernouse of the Buffalo & Sus- quehanna Coal company mine, known as Shaft No. 3, situated two miles from Du- Bois, was destroyed by fire Wednesday morning, entailing a loss of $40,000 and an indirect loss due to the shutdown of the mine that may approximate $100,000. The fire was caused by an explosion in the air line, and was due to spontaneous combus- tion, the air friction igniting the gas generating from the oil used. Explosions of this nature are not infrequent, but this explosion was of unusual violence. —cCoroner Samuel C. Jamison, of Pitts- burgh, is investigating the finding of 27 bodies, negroes and negresses, stored in a stable loft in the rear of the undertaking establishment of A. IL. Ballard, negro, in that city late on Monday by health inspec- tors. Ballard claims that he took charge of the different bodies at the time of their death and prepared them for burial, but placed them in the loft when relatives did not have sufficient money to pay for the burials. Death certificates have been found for all but two, the coroner says. —Hot trails are being followed by Chief of Police Davis, Constable Coop and De- tective Azzara that are "expected to re- sult in the roundup of a gang of men who have been committing burglaries in the neighborhood of Barnesboro the last few weeks, the latest of which was the looting of the Binder hardware store and the Nicholson poolroom the same night, goods to the value of $100 being taken. The thieves appear to have a preference for jewelry and cutlery. They appeared to know the premises thoroughly and the officers worked on the theory that the burglars are local people. —Coal operators and miners will be in- terested in the announcement of Judge Singleton Bell, of Clearfield county, that January 31 is the date fixed for final hear- ing in the injunction proceedings of the Association of Bituminous Operators of Central Pennsylvania vs. the Moshannon Coal Mining Company, to restrain the compay from payig its employees more than the rate of wages called for in its scale agreement. Judge Bell stated that an effort is being made to have the hear- ing at an earlier date, but there are many who believe that others will attempt to postpone the hearing until after the flurry in the coal market is over.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers