BY P. GRAY MEEK.
INK SLINGS.
—_Wheat sold in Bellefonte yester-
day at $2.25 per bushel.
— This is the kind of weather that
conserves the coal piles.
—Most anybody can raise the dust
in Bellefonte these days. :
__We are not having many of those
April showers that are supposed to
bring May flowers.
—Every potato, every onion you
raise will make potatoes and onions
that much cheaper.
—A German U boat fired the first
actual shot in the war between the
United States and the Kaiser.
— Of course the crop area will be
greatly increased this year, but in-
creasing the crop product is a differ-
ent thing. That takes work.
—The opening of the trout fishing
season was really not a very auspi-
cious one. The water was in fine con-
dition, but the weather was too cold.
— Let us have selective conscription
by all means. It is the only fair way
to raise an army and has none of the
odium of the draft because it is not
a measure of last resort.
—The President of the United
States calls on all of us to do what we
can to make the burden of war that
much lighter by making the soil yield
as much of foodstuffs as possible.
—Capital punishment will not be
abolished in Pennsylvania at this
time. The Legislature on Tuesday
defeated the bill to make life im-
prisonment the penalty for murder.
—Suffrage for Pennsylvania wom-
en was defeated by only three votes
in the House on Tuesday. Wonder-
ful how the ladies are progressing by
their determination to keep everlast-
ingly at it.
—Now is the time to rouse our-
selves to war's exigencies. It is no
time to wail and lament and go on
short rations after the seeding time
is past. The wonderfully fertile soil
of our county is waiting to do its
share toward supplying food for us
all. If we don’t do ours we will have
no one to blame but ourselves.
—The appropriation which the
County Commissioners have made to
encourage intensified farming in Cen-
tre county may prove the wisest ex-
penditure of money ever made. It
will mean only 5§ cents a year to each
of the taxables, but suppose it means
more wheat, more potatoes, more
corn, more oats. We will get our
money back in the first sack of flour
we buy or in the first peck of pota-
toes.
—Don’t think because you raise
your own potatoes that they will cost
you nothing next fall. Your potatoes
will cost you just what other people
will have to pay for theirs, for the
reason that if you do not eat them
you could sell them at the market
price and that fixes their value,
whether you eat them or sell them.
The more potatoes we all raise the
less they will cost any of us, for a
bumper crop will lower prices.
If the Kaiser defeats the Allies
we can make up our mind that the
Kaiser will bring the war right home
to us. Think of your wives and
daughters being carried off to be the
victims of the Kaiser's soldier’s lust,
as have the girls and women of Bel-
gium and France. Think of the hor-
ror of it! And it is not an impossi-
ble eventuality. It is a real horror
that stalks on the horizon of war.
You may not be able to fight, but you
can grow food to keep the men who
will fight to defend the sanctity of
-your homes in fighting trim.
—The Commissioners of Centre
county are in line with the great
‘movement that is sweeping over the
country in response to the President’s
call to develop our agricultural re-
‘sources to their maximum efficiency.
All honor to such forward looking
men! Few are living now who re-
member the distress of Civil war days.
But the tales of want and misery that
“have been handed down to us admon-
ish us to begin now, RIGHT NOW, to
work and save against conditions, the
Lord only knows what they might be,
-that will confront us this time next
year. In the great cities of Germany
‘the public sewers where all the un-
mentionable filth of millions of people
is deposited are actually being flush-
ed out by the government and pollut-
ed foul water filtered and the deposit
treated to extract the fats and grease
from it. Germany is in that need to-
day. What might our situation be a
year from now. Again we say all
honor to the Board of Commission-
ers, who on Wednesday morning
unanimously voted a thousand dollars
to help spread information and help
among the farmers of Centre county
that will help them to produce more
crops. We of the towns will cheer-
fully pay the paltry tax it will im-
pose because if it helps the farmers
~ it helps us.
STATE RIGHTS AN
D FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 62.
BELLEFONTE, PA. APRIL 20, 1917.
NO. 186.
Roosevelt’s Absurd Ambition.
With impudent persistence Theo-
dore Roosevelt continues to press his
absurd ambition to enlist as a Major
General: He has had no military ed-
ucation, his only military experience
was a few months of blundering in
Cuba during the Spanish-American
war and his pretense of military in-
telligence is false and fraudulent.
Yet he outrages every principle of
decency at every opportunity, by
pleading with the man he has vilified
and traduced to give him a commis-
sion as Major General with authority
to take a body of soldiers into an
alien territory and sacrifice them,
probably, as he would have sacrificed
the Rough Riders in Cuba if the col-
ored cavalrymen hadn’t rescued them.
The question of sending troops to
Europe to participate in the trencn
operations is a purely military one
and should be solved by military ex-
perts. Roosevelt doesn’t know
whether it would be good or bad for
the cause we have espoused and
probably doesn’t care. But he knows
that such service under the circum-
stances he hopes to create would
help to keep him in the centre of the
stage and furnish food for his abnor-
mal vanity. That is the only reason
that he desires to engage in the war.
It is the sole purpose of his planning
and importuning the President to give
him the command he desires. Inci-
dentally it is a substantial reason why
his request should be denied.
If the general staff of the army de-
sires to have Roosevelt in commission
as a Major General the chances are
that he will be appointed. The Pres-
ident is not a military man though
he has revealed singularly good judg-
ment in all public matters. He is
Commander-in-Chief of the army and
navy and has the power of appoint-
ment and dismissal of officers. But
he will hardly take from civil life a
rip-roaring, and not too well-balanc-
ed plunger. and pass him over the
heads of scores of trained and ex-
perienced officers to “command of a
division in Flanders or anywhere else.
That is what Roosevelt is asking him
to do and those who remember the re-
cent campaign will wonder what he
bases his claim to favor on.
——Magybe, after all, the Hinden-
burg line is simply the bread line in
German cities.
Seven Billion Dollars Voted by House.
The vote in the House of Represen-
tatives in Washington on Saturday
was magnificent. Without a single
protest the vast sum of seven billion
dollars was voted, not in defense of
our territory, not entirely in defense
of the lives of our people, but in de-
fense of our ideals, of the principles
for which the government of the Unit-
ed States has stood from the begin-
ning. It is a vast sum of money, the
largest sum that has ever been dis-
posed of by a single act of Congress
before and it provided for the great-
est war fund in history. But it was
voted unanimously, after mature de-
liberation and with a perfect under-
standing of its purpose and meaning.
But it.expressed with perfect ac-
curacy the sentiments of the people
of the United States. When the Presi-
dent severed diplomatic relations with
the German empire he reflected with
singular fidelity the desires of the
people of this country. German
brutality had so outraged the popular
mind of America that it was felt that
friendly relations were incompatible
with national honor. Subsequently
the declaration of a state of war be-]
tween our government and that of
Germany was equally in accord with
the feelings of the people of the Unit-
ed States. Finally the proposition
to give force and potency to what had
already been done by voting tke neces-
sary funds in the national order of
things.
As the President has said we are
not fighting a selfish fight. We are
entering into the world war not for
aggrandizement or conquest. Our
purpose is to expand and diffuse the
beneficent principles of freedom and
liberty and we must be as generous
as we are courageous in that under-
taking. We will not only give the
seven billion dollars voted by the
House of Representatives on Satur-
day but seven times that sum if i
is necessary to achieve the high pur-
pose which has influenced us thus far.
Probably before the end of the present
week the Senate will have concurred
in the vote of the House and the
sinews of war will be moving toward
the centre of activities.
Refinement of Ingratitude.
With practically the whole world at
war evil passions run riot in all di-
rections. Men forget the amenities
of life and plunge headlong into cru-
elties which at other times would be
abhorrent. Gratitude is forgotten
and favors and friendships of the past
are treated as contemptuously by in-
| dividuals as treaties are by nations.
Mere emotions of the mind are syn-
onymous with “mere scraps of paper.”
The “times are out of joint,” the pub-
lic temper disordered. Even the sea-
sons appear to have been disarranged,
and winter, like a wanton, “lingers in
the lap of spring” to the distress of
husbandry and the amazement of
scientists who are wrestling with the
problem of the cost of living.
But even such a flood tide of pas-
sion as has surged over the world
fails to justify the atrocity which has
recently been perpetrated by the Pro-
gressive party in renouncing alle-
giance to Mr. George W. Perkins, the
“angel” of Roosevelt and the pay-
master of the campaign of 1912. Ata
meeting of the national committee of
this organization the other day a
resolution repudiating both Roosevelt
and Perkins was passed by unanimous
vote and with great enthusiasm. Of
course Roosevelt, who is a liability
rather than an asset, might be thrown
overboard easily for he never con-
tributed a cent to the cause. But Per-
kins was a veritable cornucopia out
of which flowed constantly a stream
of gold.
Ingratitude is the basest of all evil
passions and this repudiation of Per-
kins is the refinement of ingratitude.
Bill Flinn was liberal in contributions
to the party slush fund but he operat-
ed in such an atmosphere of selfish-
ness that he worked injury rather
than help. But Perkins gave out of
his tainted millions so unctiously and
cloaked his sordid purposes with such
skill that he fooled thousands of sim-
ple minded people into the belief that
his purpose to benefit the Harvester
trust was the purest altruism. These’
facts ought to have been remembered
by the members of the committee who
repudiated him the other day and
should have shielded him from the
humiliation which was put upon him.
——1TIt is to be hoped that Senator
LaFollette will carefully read the
President’s admonition against trea-
sonable conduct during the war.
Opposition Without Foundation.
Those in and out of Congress who
are opposing the administration army
bill for the reason that it provides for
conscription fail to learn the lessons
of experience. It is true that popu-
lar prejudice exists against enforced
military service but it is without rea-
son. Conscription is the most equal
and impartial method of raising an
army of large proportions. It is the
method under which the rich and poor
stand on a common level. The mil-
lionaire has no greater opportunity to
shirk his obligation to serve than the
pauper. If there were no other rea-
sons in favor of the system, therefore,
that is sufficient. But there are other
and equally potent reasons.
Raising an army by volunteer en-
listment, however high the spirit of
patriotism may run, is a slow process
and if a large army is required it is
almost impossible. The experience of
this country during the Civil war is
ample proof of this fact. There is
neither the lack of courage nor pa-
triotism in the reluctance of men to
enlist for military service. It is be-
cause the obligations to family, busi-
ness or society hold them back. They
can’t bring themselves to the aban-
donment of family or dependents un-
til preparations for their maintenance
have been made. This delay consumes
time urgently needed for drilling and
disciplining the force to make it effi-
cient.
At the beginning of the present
European war Great Britain was as
ill prepared as the people of this
country are now. The people there
were opposed to conscription and
though subsequent events have shown
abundance of patriotism and splendid
courage enlistments were slow and
the few men in the field suffered be-
cause of the meagerness of the force.
Finally conscription was adopted, the
army increased with surprising ra-
pidity and since that the tide of vic-
tory has been running in the direc-
tion of the allies. In the end it
amounts to the same thing. The ar-
my must be created and the sooner it
is mustered and made efficient the
sooner the war will end.
| just to his employes and to the em-
Last Call of the President.
!
|
The last call of the President is not |
| for soldiers or sailors. Putting the |
navy upon a war footing and enlist- |
ing a great army are the simplest |
parts of our great tasks he says. The |
people are patriotic and ready to |
meet the hazards of war. But equip- |
ping and manning war ships and set- |
ting squadrons in the field gets us no |
where unless provision has been made |
to feed and clothe them. It is to this;
important work that President Wilson
invokes the help of men and women,
old and young. He asks all “to do
their bit” in this essential task.
Growing food stuffs, building ships
and creating implements of war is as
necessary as meeting the foe on the
field of battle and in this work all
may help.
The appeal of the President is not
entirely to the physical element of the
population, however. He addresses
himself to the patriotism when he
admonishes against that selfishness
which would utilize the necessities of
the country for the purposes of mak-
ing big profits or getting rich quick.
Men and women are entitled to re-
ward for their labors and no right-
thinking person will begrudge fair
profits on the product of the soil and
the mills and mines of the country
to those who make them productive.
But exactions which cause suffering
and want either among the soldiers
and sailors in service or those depend-
ent upon them at home, in order to
multiply rewards, are worse than
slackers, as bad as traitors.
This call of the President is, there-
fore, to the unselfish patriotism of the
merchant, mechanic, miner and farm-
er and to both sexes engaged or capa-
ble of engaging in productive indus-
try. It appeals to the employer to be
ployes to be fair to their employers.
There can be no hardship in yielding
obedience to this request. After the
war is over differences between labor
and capital may be adjusted in the
old way -but any interference with
the productive industry of the coun-
try at this time and in these circum-
stances would be dangerous if not
actually disastrous to the country. As
usual the President phrases his ap-
peal forcefully and happily.
Save the Potatoes.
A prominent grocer of Bellefonte
came into the “Watchman” office this
week and asked us to sound a warn-
ing to the public at large to save the
potatoes for seed. In fact he put it
in these words: “That if the people
don’t quit eating potatoes there will
not be enough to put out even a mor-
mal crop, let alone the abnormal crop
that the farmers and everybody else
should plant.” He avers that he has
made a canvas of the home growers
and they have no potatoes to spare
and it is almost impossible to buy
them in the open market at any price.
This is naturally a very unusual con-
dition in the United States but the
people ought to adapt themselves to
getting along without potatoes until
the new tubers come in market and
thus save the old ones for the much
needed seed.
— There is less danger of militar-
ism in this country now than ever be-
fore. The average intelligence in the
United States has long since learned
from the experience of Germany that
militarism is a delusion.
— There is some comfort in the
fact that Roosevelt will not be able
to “butt-in” at the proposed confer-
ence of the English, French and
American dignitaries to be held in
Washington.
—Vare and McNichol might com-
promise by disbursing the proposed
two million or more on a fifty-fifty
basis. They both know that there is
a good deal of graft in a hundred
millions.
— If the English and French
drives on the Western front of the
great war continues Germany will
soon be willing to accept any kind of
peace that happens to come along.
There is a possibility, more-
over, that the Hindenburg line is one
of those distressing creases which
form on the Kaiser's face when he
reads of the operations in France.
— If the Kaiser were a business
man he would have known that war
is a poor business enterprise. It costs
too much to lose and brings too little
if it wins.
FILL UP THE RANKS, BOYS!
Fill up the ranks, boys!
Enlist, gallant sons!
Your country is calling,
COME, SHOULDER YOUR GUNS!!
Advance with full courage,
Be valiant and brave!
Strike, strike in your might
Our Republic to save!
Fill up the ranks, boys.
Respond one and all!
From ocean to ocean
Comes ringing the call.
@Gird on your full armor
As forward you go,
With Right on your side
You will conquer the foe.
Fill up the ranks, boys!
Come, rally today!
The Nation expects you
To enter the fray.
Be brave, ev'ry one, let
Your courage mount high,
United give battle
To conquer or die!
ALFRED BEIRLY.
Chicago, Illinois, Doctor of Music.
Fishermen Must Avoid Water-Sheds.
‘The Pennsylvania Department of
Fisheries has been receiving many in-
quiries from fishermen throughout
the State in reference to fishing in
bodies of water which are on the wa-
ter-sheds of the several cities of the
State and which have heretofore been
open to the general public for fishing,
complaining that these bodies of wa-
ter are now guarded by the National
Guardsmen and that fishing is pro-
hibited.
In view of the state of war which
exists between the United States and
Germany, the Department of Fisher-
ies requests the fishermen of the
State of Pennsylvania to co-operafe
with the military authorities in every
way possible and to remain away
from the protected water-sheds, thus
avoiding much trouble.
While the law allows fishing at the
breasts of dams with rod, hook, and
line, this privilege, due to the present
conditions, has been withdrawn in
many instances, and no fishing of any
kind is permitted.
The Department of Fisheries feels
sure that the fishermen and ‘wt pub-
lic in general will heed this warning
and co-operate with the authorities
in charge on the various water-sheds
throughout the State.
Don’t Get Excited.
Last Friday morning when officials
of the Centre County Lime company
discovered they were short one fifty-
pound box of dynamite the story was
heralded all over the town and even
telephoned to Harrisburg -and inter-
mediate points that two hundred and
fifty pounds of the explosive had been
stolen and two Austrians were mis-
sing with it. The truth of the matter
is that the company is one box short
of dynamite and they believe it to
have been stolen, but by whom they
do not know, but they do know it was
not by Austrian employes, as no for-
eigners of that nativity work there.
Another incident last week was the
discharge of an Austrian interpreter
at the new penitentiary because he
seemed unduly intimate with a Ger-
man prisoner and immediately it was
reported around that all kinds of plans
and photographs had been found in
his luggage, when the fact is that
nothing but letters in the Austrian
language were found. Therefore it
behooves all of us to keep cool and not
get excited. There may be men in the
community who are not too friendly,
but if they show it in their actions
they will be promptly taken care of by
the proper authorities. »
— The Senior class of the Belle-
fonte High school gave a reception
on Tuesday evening in honor of the
members of the class who have vol-
unteered for service in the navy,
namely: John Smith, Linn McGinley,
Robert Taylor, Malcolm Wetzler, Al-
len Cruse, William McClure and Wil-
liam Malone, and Gideon Payne, who
has joined Troop L. Each of the
eight young men was presented with
a small silk flag.
——The board of road and bridge
viewers will meet in the grand jury
room on May 14th to hear and consid-
er petitions for a public road in Gregg
and Miles townships, leading from a
point at the home of John Gingerich,
in Gregg township, to the home of
W. H. Limbert, in Miles township;
and for a county bridge over the Bald
Eagle creek near Snow Shoe Inter-
section in Boggs township.
A———
— On Saturday of last week Wal-
ter Cohen bought the entire grocery
stock of G. Edward Harper at receiv-
er’s sale and moved it to his store in
Crider’s Exchange. r
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
— Fire on Tuesday destroyed the Ralph
Gregory home at Petersburg.
— Johnstown now reports 24 cases of
scarlet fever, 38 cases of measles and 29
cases of chicken-pox.
— Howard James Lowrie, a Scottdale
resident, married over six years, has just
discovered that i§ married to the wife
of another living men. So he has asked
the Westmoreland county court to annul
his marriage.
—It is not probable that any suspension
of work will occur in district No. 2
United Mine Workers of America, the Du-
Bois Courier announcing that a joint
meeting of miners and operators will be
held soon, when differences may be ad-
justed.
.—James Belford, a young man residing
near Mahaffey, the other day attempted to
commit suicide because his sweetheart
went walking with another fellow. The
bullet from his revolver passed into his
shoulder. Belford is in the Clearfield hos-
pital and he will recover.
— Judge Bell has dissolved the prelimi-
nary injunction asked for by the Central
Pennsylvania coal operators against Con-
gressman Charles Rowland, the claim be-
ing made that Rowland had increased
wages to his miners contrary to an agree-
ment among the operators:
_D. E. Parks has offered to contribute
: $25,000 toward a union church or a fed-
eration of the four Protestant churches in
Wbensburg. The denominations repre-
sented are the Congregational, the Metho-
dist Episcopal, the Baptist and the Christ-
ian. They have a month to decide.
—Prathonotaries throughout the State
have received information from the natur-
alization department that final citizenship
papers are not to be granted any subjects
of nations mow at war with the United
States. The same letter sets forth that
the prothonotaries are not, however, jus-
tified in refusing first papers.
Extensive developments are to be made
in the coal fields of Elk county during the
next few months. Several mines will be
placed in operation in the vicinity of Trout
Run and Benezette, where valuable veins
were struck last fall. The most important
mines to be opened will be those located
at Trout Run and owned by the Hall-
Kaul company, which contemplates build-
ing a railroad from the mines to St Marys.
—QGeorge E. Sponsler, of Lime Ridge,
has donated one hundred lots near Ber-
wick to any one who wishes to farm them
during the coming summer. These lots
ar- all near the steel plant and all any
one needs to do is to get in touch with
Mr. Sponsler, and arrangements can be
made whereby the one who cares for them
may have all the vegetables he raises
without cost other than the labor and
price of the seeds he may buy.
—D. M. Clemson, of the Carnegie Steel
company, Pittsburgh, Monday handed over
to H. J. Heinz, director of the department
of the food supplies of the Pennsylvania
committee of public safety, 150 acres of
land which had been bought for manu-
facturing purposes, but will not be used
this year. Mr. Clemson in his letter said
he and his associates had purchared trac-
tor plows, and the land would be given to
the committee plowed and ready for plant-
ing.
— The First Methodist church at Sharon,
of which Rev. J. Bell Neff is pastor, was
practically destroyed by fire on Sunday,
entailing a loss of $30,000. The fire is
thought to have started from a defective
flue. A large American flag, suspended
in front of the building, was in imminent
danger of being burned. When the pastor,
the Rev. J. Bell Neff, asked that it be
saved, two foreigners climbed a telephone
pole and rescued it. The crowd gave
vociferous cheers.
__At a conference of managers of the
Western Union Telegraph company held
in Altoona Tuesday it was decided to pay
the salaries of all the employees of the
company who have been in the service
more than one ‘year and who have joined
the National Guard, provided such half
pay plus the compensation received from
the government does not exceed the full
salary paid by the company. This policy
will be maintained until the end of the
service of the employees of the telegraph
company.
— The finishing department of the Aetna
Explosive Company, at Emporium, which
was destroyed a few weeks ago by a
mysterious explosion and fire, has been
rebuilt and is expected to be ready for
operation this week. The officials of the
plant are taking extra precaution to avoid
any attack on the plant by German spies
and since last week’s explosion at the
Eddystone plant, near Chester, the guard
force at the plant has been doubled. The
mammoth searchlight on the hillside which
throws its powerful rays about the plant
each night is also closely guarded.
Pittsburgh manicurist, who was engaged
to James A. Kilkenney, a clerk in the
employ of the Pennsylvania railroad for
three years, and often sat on his lap but
never discovered that he had two wooden
legs, was awarded $750 damages as heart
balm by a jury in common pleas court, in
that city. Counsel for the defendant ar-
gued that a person who would testify that
she was engaged three years, and sat on
his knee, and say she did not know he
had wooden legs, was not worthy of be-
lief, and her testimony could not be relied
upon.
Between 250 and 300 employees of the
Rich Hill Coal company, in Hastings, re-
turned to work Friday morning following
a strike of more than two weeks. The
men held a mass meeting Thursday even-
ing, when a proposition submitted by J.
H. Allport, head of the company, was ac-
cepted. It is understood that this propo-
sition is that a certain official of the com-
pany work a ten days’ notice and then
leave the service of the company. Some of
the unmarried employees of the company
have left Hastings, but none of the mar-
ried men moved away. Almost all of the
men who remained in town secured work
at other mines.
— Steve Lucas, of Ernest, hanged him-
self in the Indiana county jail last Fri-
day. Lucas was fouud near Cummings,
Indiana county, early Friday morning,
wandering around with only his night
shirt on. He told the constable that he
had been robbed and then forced out into
the cold without his clothing. He was
taken to Indiana and preparations were
being made to take him to Cummings in
the hope that he could point out the men
whom he said robbed him. ‘When the
sheriff went into the jail shortly before
twelve o'clock he found him dead. He had
used a blanket to hang himself and death
resulted from strangulation.
— Pretty Anna Mary Moore, the young