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BY P. GRAY MEEK.
ma
INK SLINGS.
__Will Edison prove the wizard who
will combat the U-boat?
—_The recent rains have brought a
much needed rest to the amateur
back-yard farmers.
—A lot of farmers sold wheat at
$3 a bushel this week who never got
such a price before.
— Will the high price of shoes bring
back the army of barefoot boys we
used to see on our streets?
__ Instead of making Memorial day
a national play day let us make it a
real Memorial day this year.
— Gen. Joffre will be forced to con-
clude that the effervescent French
haven’t much on the effervescence of
Americans.
—Some men are surprised at how
much they can actually get done in a
day when the conditions are not pro-
pitious for fishing.
—Our sympathy goes out to the cit-
jzen’s heat committee which was
looking fcr 2 warm enough April and
May to save a little in coal bills.
—Talk about playing the stock
market. That Centre county farmer
who held tight to his 1600 bushel
wheat crop until he got $3.00 the
bushel for it on Tuesday was sure no
piker.
—There is a bill before the Legis-
lature to increase the salaries of our
lawmakers to $2500 a session. It
strikes us as being a good thing, for
then there may be a possibility of
getting $2500 men into the Assembly.
Marshal Joffre is having the
time of his life. His western trip was
a continuous ovation and in the east
he is being lionized and burdened with
compliments at every point. Even
licking the Germans could hardly af-
ford him more pleasure.
— Rhode Island doesn’t have to
teach Pennsylvania how to make corn
bread palatable. The wives and
mothers of the Keystone State have
long known how to get the best out of
a sack of corn meal and even the Vir-'
ginia corn pone has nothing on Penn-
sylvania corn bread.
—We are waiting for our resource-
ful and always ultra Basket Shop to
put a potato basket on the market. A
dainty potato basket dangling on the
arm of milady will mark her as among
the elite more certainly this summer
than any other of the productions the
Shop has ever put out.
—If you haven’t been able to get all
the seed potatoes you want plant
some field in beans. A peck will plant
an acre and a fair crop will yield for-
ty bushels. Beans are now eighteen
cents a pound and going higher.
They have great food value and ought
to form part of your crop.
—The new war tax revenue bill
soaks it onto old King Alcohol, but it
hits ginger ale and raspberry vinegar
equally as hard. Uncle Sam fired the
best shot in his navy for getting
drunk, but he doesn’t stand for class
legislation when it comes down to tax-
ing beverages for war purposes.
— Don’t send our soldiers to France
until they are fully equipped and
trained for the fight. The world will
expect more from the men fighting
under Uncle Sam’s banner than it has
any right to expect and if through in-
adequate equipment and training they
should fail to come up to the almost
impossible achievements that will be
expected of them the morale of all of
the allied forces will be affected.
—The report of the proceedings of
the Bellefonte council, which appear
in another column of this issue, gives
vise to the suspicion that there is der-
eliction on the part of the police of
the town. Mr. Flack, who is chair-
man of the Fire and Police commit-
tee, informed council that he had
spoken to the policemen about the re-
peated violations of the automobile
trafic ordinance and had been told
by one of the officers that they are
working under the instructions of the
Burgess. If this meant anything it
meant that the Burgess had told them
to wink at the infractions of the law.
Now the “Watchman” doesn’t believe
the Burgess stands for any such thing
and it thinks it high time for him to
clear himself of this implied conni-
vance with the police to make impo-
tent an ordinance of council. We
can’t understand why a traffic sema-
phor on the Diamond is going to help
much when careless drivers are shoot-
ing along other thoroughfares, with
cut-outs wide open, at a forty mile
clip, very often. It is even said that
one of the officers rode up High street
some time ago in a machine with the
cut-out open and said nothing about
it. To our mind, council had better
have the ordinance taken off the stat-
utes than tolerate its contempt and
if it wants it enforced it can do so,
because council, not the Burgess em-
ploys the policemen and it can employ
policemen who will at least demand
respect for the ordinances it passes.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA, MAY 11, 1917.
NO. 19.
Present Duty of Congress.
There is entirely too much talk in
Congress. Legislation essential to
meet conditions almost certain to
arise in the immediate future, which
ought to have been completed last
week, is still the subject of senseless
discussion in one branch or the other.
«Nero fiddled while Rome burned,”
and these toy statesmen are wasting
time in a sillier fashion while the
country is menaced with disaster. A
state of war has been declared and it
is the duty of Congress to provide
means for any emergency. But the
Senators and Representatives, appar-
ently entranced by the music of their
own throats, are talking tiresomely
about trifles while the enemy is pre-
paring to strike.
The time for talk has passed and
the time to act is here. 1t is necessa-
ry to mobilize the industrial forces of
the country as well as to organize the
military arm and these results cannot
be achieved by discussion on the floor
of Congress. Nobody wants to harm
the country. No public official is
striving to acquire authority for sin-
ister or selfish purposes. Therefore
the authority necessary to mobilize
the industries and organize the mili-
tary should be bestowed upon the
President freely and promptly. Those
who are retarding this result are con-
sciously or unconsciously “giving aid
and comfort to the enemy,” and in
time of war that is treason punisha-
ble by death.
The people of the United States are
practically a unit in support of the
President in his onerous endeavors to
meet the conditions confronting the
country. They are giving freely of
their means and are ready to offer up
that greater tribute of loyalty by
baring their breasts to the bullets of
the enemy. But: Congress interferes
with their sublime purposes by dilly-
dallying and declaiming individual
prejudices’ and sometimes absurd
opinions upon: questions that have
neither significance’ nor importance.
This foolishness should be stopped at
once. Enact the necessary legislation
to put the country in shape for a pro-
longed and bloody war and that ac-
complished, adjourn.
— The Governor failed to issue a
proclamation the other day and the
Harrisburg Fire department sounded
a general alarm.
We Are “Doing Our Best.”
The response of the people of the
United States to the call for sub-
scriptions to the “Liberty Loan,” is a
greater lielp to the British and French
troops in Flanders than a division of
troops could possibly afford. Since
the offer of the loan subscriptions
have been received at the rate of
twenty millions of dollars an hour.
At this rate the entire sum will soon
be subscribed and as much more as
may be needed is certain to follow.
Moreover it guarantees full meals and
ample equipment to the troops in the
trenches and that is the best moral
support that can be given to an ar-
my. With a full stomach and plenty
of ammunition and arms a force is
doubly supplied.
The fight in Europe has become our
fight and we are under moral obliga-
tions to bear a fair share of the bur-|
dens. Money is the sinew of war but
it is not the principal burden and in
the course of time it will be our duty
to send troops to the firing line. But
the time for this will not arrive until
our newly enlisted force is sufficient-
ly trained to take care of itself in bat-
tle and in camp. In the Spanish war
diseases that might have been avoid-
ed took more lives than bullets and it
would be a crime to repeat that ex-
perience now. We must make the
men efficient before we ask them to
face the hazard of the trenches, the
firing line or the camp. |
But financing a war is an impor-
tant part of the work and the prompt
response to the call for money indi-
cates a perfect willingness to meet
the obligation. The first call is for
two billions and that amount will be
subscribed twice over within a fort-
night if the present rate of subscrip-
tion is kept up. Other calls will fol-
low in succession until the full sum of
seven billions, authorized by Con-
gress, has been taken. Meantime
preparations to participate in the op-
erations on the firing line will be fin-
ished and the Stars and Stripes will
appear side by side with the Union
Jack of England and the Tricolor of
France. But we are “doing our bit”
in the sensible way.
i
Mistake of Chairman Saunders.
There was little wisdom and abso-
statement the other day, attributed
to W. L. Saunders, chairman of the
Naval Consulting Board, to the effect
that an instrument had been invented
which would stop the operations of the
U-boats of Germany. The invention
of such an instrument would bring
the ‘war to a speedy and satisfactory
conclusion. There is no possible hope
of the success of the German cam-
paign except in the undersea craft.
That is an actual menace against the
civilization of the world. It express-
es a reversion to the methods of bar-
barism. As we stated last week it in-
dicated the mastery of the seas by
piratical agencies.
If Mr. Edison has discovered some
process by which these murderous
monsters may be eliminated from
their activities, it will be a consumma-
tion upon which the whole world may
rejoice, because we assume that the
world still aims toward a higher civ-
ilization rather than in the direction
of barbarism. But in that event the
fact should have been held in conceal-
ment until the proof had been pre-
sented. Mr. Edison realized this fact
for he promptly announced that no
such scientific triumph had been
achieved, though admitting that he is
striving for such a glorious result.
After the battle’has been won it may
be proper to boast. But while the re-
sult is in doubt it is better to remain
silent.
Mr. Saunders meant well no doubt.
The. reports of the destruction of
commerce by U-boats were spreading
dismay in the public mind. He desir-
ed to allay the popular apprehension
which was assuming dangerous form.
But he adopted the wrong method of
achieving his purpose. If he had tak-
en the President or Mr. Edison into
his confidence, they would have ad-
vised against his expedient. The av-
erage American citizen is intelligent.
He isn’t fooled by temporary misfor-
tunes or appalled by fleeting adver-
sities. The U-boats have been in-
flicting damage to an extent that is
to be regretted, but they are not even
menacing the food supply of Europe
and are not likely to inflict irrepara-
ble harm. I
Provisions of the New Fish Code.
Every true disciple of Izaak Walton
in Pennsylvania will cordially endorse
the provision in the fish code now
pending in the General Assembly,
which forbids the use of “nets, spears
or gigs in the inland waters of the
State excepting in the Susquehanna
below McCall’s Ferry dam.” In this
provision is shown the fine sporting
spirit of our capable and conscientious
Commissioner of Fisheries, Mr. Na-
than R. Buller, why there should be
any exception is left to conjecture but
the depth of the river probably ac-
counts for it. Gigging would be bar-
ren sport in twenty feet of water and
the use of nets below McCall’s Ferry
is for shad fishermen.
The provision putting the opening
of the bass season back to July first,
however, will not meet with such pop-
ular favor. A few years ago the bass
season opened on Decoration day and
we have never heard a real substan-
tial reason for changing it to June
15th. It was alleged that the spawn-
ing season was not over at that time
but that claim has never been proved
and the suspicion that the purpose
was to prevent the holiday fishing in-
dulged in by vast numbers of wage
earners who can afford the time to
fish only on holidays has never been
shaken. The tendency is to make
hunting and fishing sports for men of
leisure and wealth and shortening of
the season makes for that result.
No thoughtful man believes that the
present scarcity of fish in the inland
waters of Pennsylvania is ascribable
to the taking of fish with a hook and
line. The fecundity of fish is an am-
ple answer to ‘that claim. Fishing
with nets and gigs is objectionable on
that account for it enables a few fish
pirates to take fish by the thousands
during a night, and giggers and sein-
ers who go for fish that are not game
never discriminate when they draw
their nets or cast their spears. The
pending legislation should be amend-
ed therefore to set the opening of the
bass season on June 15th, as at pres-
ent. It is short enough at that and
no good is achieved by the proposed
change.
——Wheat has been selling in
Bellefonte this week for $3.00 a bush-
el, and corn at a dollar seventy cents.
Roosevelt’s Magnificent Army.
|
In defiance of the President, the
lutely no advantage in publishing the Congress and the Army Staff “Coinel”
Roosevelt is proceeding with the or-
ganization of his army for service in
| Flanders. And what ap army it is?
It will be a “force de luxe.” Of the
: 180,000 already enrolled most of them
are millionaires and none of them is
now working for less than $2,500 a
' year while the majority leave jobs
worth from $30,000 to $50,000 annu-
‘ally. There are comparatively few
' cow boys and positively no rough-
! necks in the bunch. They will prob-
!ably “dress for dinner” ever evening
; and have music and dancing in the
| mess tents. No army in the history
! of the world has been as magnificent
as this contingent organized by
Roosevelt.
We are gravely assured that the
families of these millionaire soldiers
i will not be subjects of charity in the
event of the death or disabling of the
volunteers. That is gratifying infor-
mation to tax dodgers though we have
never heard complaint of the burden
of maintaining soldiers’ families after
death or disability among citizens of
the Republic that are worth while.
We pay pensions freely and the mites
necessary for the maintenance of our
heroic dead are cheerfully given. But
the Roosevelt press agent imagines
that an assurance that his army will
require no contributions is an over-
whelming reason why the authorities
should surrender to King Theodore the
command of our armies.
All in all the literature of this
Roosevelt army propaganda sounds
very preposterous to a reasoning
mind. It suggests the conversion of
the world war into comedy. It reads
like the “paper” of a Wild West show
posted on the barns and fences of a
credulous community. Former Sena-
tors in Congress, former Ambassa-
dors to foreign courts and former
: willing to accept the hazard of bat-
416 in defense of the sacred principfes
of our government, as they ought, but
they will hardly enlist as privates in
order to make a holiday in France for
Roosevelt and restore him to the are-
na of politics from which he has been
expelled because of perfidy.
— We have experienced some very
peculiar weather this spring but that
of this week has certainly been a rec-
ord-breaker. Following the cold and
wet weather of last week it began to
rain again on Sunday night and has
rained more or less all week. Wed-
nesday morning it grew so dark that
it was necessary for automobilists to
use lights when running on the
streets, and the various trains came
in with the headlights burning.
Notwithstanding the dreariness of
the weather and the depressing
effects thereof on the spirits of
everybody, the rain was badly need-
ed. In some parts of Centre county
where farmers depend entirely on cis-
tern water, their supply was so low
that they were hauling water for their
stock. But the rain we have had the
past week replenished cisterns with a
good supply and the ground is now so
thoroughly soaked that the grain and
grass should be helped amazingly.
‘Harmon M. Kephart succeeded
Robert K. Young as State Treasurer
on Monday and thus Penrose planted
another pin marking his progress in
the work of eliminating Brumbaugh
from the public life of Pennsylvania.
——Balfour has nothing to com-
plain of concerning his welcome to
this country. It has been alike cor-
dial and sincere and it expressed in
perfect form the relations between
his country and ours.
——An esteemed contemporary
wants us to “eat less and do more.”
As to doing more we have little to
say but the question of eating less is
not likely to be optional in the future
unless prices decline.
The Legislature promises to
adjourn about the middle of June but
as a matter of fact the operations of
the Legislature are of little interest
and the date of its adjournment of
less consequence.
—— The acreage sown to corn, oats
and potatoes thus far this season in
the United States breaks all previous
records. This does not include back
yard and farm lot planting.
——Whatever may be said of the
future of Germany it is certain that
the Hohenzollern dynasty is fighting
for its life and with a very slim
chance of winning.
members of Presidential cabinets may |
has
os | answers end that hie ow. 18
Questions Asked of Those Coming
Under the Conscription Age.
Agents of the federal government
have issued a supply of cards to be
used for the registration of those eli-
gible for service in the army under
the provisions of the conscription law
which will be passed very shortly by
Congress.
Congress has not yet agreed upon
the age limit of those who will be lia-
ble for the service, but the measure
will likely be passed within a few days
and the registration will begin very
shortly thereafter. .
There are two cards, one of which
contains a dozen questions which the
eligible must answer and which he
must verify by his signature, while
on the back are three questions to be
answered and signed by the registrar.
A registration certificate is given to
each person registering showing that
the holder has submitted himself to
registration and has been duly regis-
tered.
The list of questions to be answered
are as follows:
Name in full and age?
Home address, including street
number ? :
Date of birth?
Are you a natural born citizen, a
naturalized citizen, an alien or have
you declared your intention?
Where were you born?
If not a citizen, of what country
are you a citizen or subject?
What is your present trade, occu-
pation or office?
By whom employed ?
Where employed ?
Have you a father, mother, wife,
child under 12, or a sister or brother
under 12, solely dependent on you
for support, specify which?
Married or single and race?
Military service you have had,
rank, branch, years, nation or State?
Do you claim exemption from
draft, specify grounds?
On one corner of the card there is
printed these words: “If person is of
African descent, tear off this corner.”
The questions to be answered by the
registrar are as follows:
Tall, medium or short; slender,
medium or stout?
Color of eyes, color of hair, bald?
Has person lost arm, leg, hand, foot
or both, eyes or is he otherwise disa-
bled ? :
The registrar must
S certify that the
person registered hi
his own
cssed the
signature and that all of
of which the registrar has knowledge
are true, a blank space being provided
for any exceptions.
The registration certificate which is
filled out by the registrar and is turn-
ed over to the person registered is a
green card, signed by the registrar
and which bears the insignia’ of the
United States. It is to be kept by the
person registering and sets forth that
the holder has complied with the proc-
lamation of the President of the Unit-
ed States by submitting himself to
registration and that he has been du-
ly registered on the date specified.
The holder of the card is supposed
to carry it with him so that, in case
he might be questioned by any one in
authority in regards to his compliance
with the President’s proclamation, he
can show it. Should any male coming
under the conscription age to be fix-
ed by Congress not be able to produce
the registration certificate or card,
after the time has passed for regis-
tration, he is liable to arrest by the
United States authorities for not com-
plying with the proclamation of the
President.
War Tax Legislation to Raise Sinews
of War is Before House.
Washington, D. C., May 9.—War
tax legislation was to be introduced
in the House today. Through it the
nation expects to raise $1,800,000,000
for war expenses during the ensuing
year. Meantime the Senate Finance
committee proposes a brief period of
hearings with a report soor. after the
House acts.
Tariff duties, income and inherit-
ance taxes, increased postage and in-
creased taxes on many commodities
will be the means whereby the sin-
ews are raised. A 10 per cent. raise
is tacked on all tariffs; the normal in-
come tax is doubled, while the sur-
taxes are raised and the exemptions
lowered.
For single persons, the income tax
starts at $1,000; for married persons
$2,000. The surtax is graduated, run-
ning up to 83 per cent. on incomes
above $500,000.
The normal income tax will be 4
per cent. on individual and 6 per cent.
on corporations.
Postage stamps will cost 3 cents
and postcards 2, while magazines and
newspapers will pay heavier rates.
The bill would lay a 16 per cent. on
excess profits; and a tax up to 15 per
cent. on inheritance.
New taxes include levies on insur-
ance policies, telephones, electric pow-
er, oil and pipe lines.
An amusement tax of 1 cent per
each 10 cents or fraction of 10—ticket
cost is imposed, thus hitting all movie
shows and theatres.
Liquor, tobacco and soft drinks will
bear a far heavier burden than at
present.
— The May term of court will be-
gin next Monday a week and unless a
number of violators of the law go in-
to court in the meantime and plead
guilty it promises to be rather a busy
week, as some interesting cases are
down on the docket for trial.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—The mining plant and equipment of.
the Suppes Coal company, of Johnstown,
has been sold to W. H. Hall, of New York
city, representing Johnstown capitalists,
the consideration being in the neighber-
hoed of $150,000.
——John Manlove, of Lilly, gets credit for
killing perhaps the largest catamount in
Clinton county for a period of at least five
vears. The cat was dispatched Friday of
last week and put up a desperate struggle.
Manlove and a cousin, Robert Manley, were
scouting in the region of Oak Ridge, when
they came upon the cat.
—-The fifteen hundred striking employ-
ees of the American Car and Foundry
company, voted virtually unanimously
Sunday night to accept the company’s of-
fer of a ten per cent. increase in wages and
all returned to work on Monday. The men
had demanded a twenty per cent. advance.
Only the freight car department was af-
fected by the strike.
—Levi Smith, aged about 65, a wealthy
Pennsylvania oil operator, dropped dead
of apoplexy on a New York Central train
as it was pulling ipto Elkhart, Ind., on
Monday. Smith was en route from San
Francisco to his home in Warren, Pa.
Papers in his possession indicated that he
was prominent in Mystic Shrine and
Knight Templar circles.
—Half a dozen robberies have occurred
in the Juniata valley during the past few
days and it is the opinion of the authori-
ties that a well organized band of yeggs
recruited from the big cities are abroad.
The work of safe blowing and forcible en-
try are said to bear the earmarks of the
professional and merchants, postmasters
and others upon whom they prey have
taken every precaution to protect their
valuables against them.
—The West Branch Knitting company,
of Milton, has been given a contract by the
United States government to furnish 250,-
000 cotton undershirts for the men of the
United States navy, delivery to be made
within six months. Edward Hecht, of
Lock Haven, is president amd principal
owner of the plant. The factory will add
enough employees to its present force to
get the clothing in Uncle Sam’s hands
within the stipulated time.
—At seven o'clock last Wednesday even-
ing a lever was pulled at the Pemberton
operation of the American Lime & Stone
company which set off thirteen holes, six
inches in diameter and 165 feet deep,
charged with high power dynamite, and
let loose from the solid mountain side ov-
er 150,000 tons of material, which will last
the large corps of laborers there for from
nine to twelve months. This was the
largest blast for some years.
—Conductor William H. Collier, aged 50,
of Altoona, was killed and brakeman Wil-
liam J. Waite, aged 35, of Tyrone, mirac-
ulously escaped death on Monday when
their train, which was parted to examine
the coupling knuckler of two cars in the
Pennsylvania yards at Altoona came to-
gether without warning, due to a misun-
derstanding of signs. Collier was caught
between the drawheads and squeezed to
death, Waite was pushed aside when his
conductor was caught.
. —A forest fire in Cresson township that
threatened the state tuberculosis sanator-
jum grounds and: burned over a small area
in that preserve was reported Saturday to
district forester, W. D. Ludwig, of Johns-
town. = Fire warden Con V. Freidhoff of
rs:| Summit, assisted by 14 patients at the san-
atorium, succeeded in extinguishing the
blaze after it had burned over about three
acres. The fire is thought to have started
from a burning brush pile and an investi-
gation is being made that likely will re-
sult in arrests.
—Nineteen minutes of deliberation suf-.
ficed the jury in the case of Ellis D. Fri-
gar, accused of murder in the first degree
in the killing ef Edward Boland on the
Neill drive, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia,
on the night of August 22, to free the pris-
oner in the court of Oyer and Terminer,
that city, on Thursday night. The ver-
dict of acquittal established a record for
speed in capital cases for recent year§ in
that county, and the oldest court attache
could not remember when an issue was de-
termined in a shorter period.
—An order for twenty-five F-25 cars of
the all-steel, 200,000 pounds capacity type,
especially adapted for guntruck service
and moving armor plate, was placed Sat-
urday morning at the Altoona local offices
of the Pennsy. Work on the new equip-
ment is to be rushed as fast as possible
that the cars may be put in service with-
in a month or two. The material is to be
ordered at once from the steel mills and it
is expected the Altoona car shop forces
will be able to complete and deliver the
ears within a month from the date the
work is started.
—Ray Stiner, 14 years old, and Cora
Stiner, aged 6, were burned to death when
fire early Thursday morning destroyed
the home of John Stiner, a Center town-
ship, Columbia county, farmer. The fath-
er, one other son and four daughters es-
caped by jumping out of a second-story
window. Stiner was badly burned in his
heroic efforts to rescue his children and
inhaled some of the flames. He is in the
Berwick hospital, in' a serious condition.
Mrs. Stiner, at the time of the fire, was
with her mother, at a nearby farm, strick-
en with paralysis. She collapsed and was
also removed to the Berwick hospital.
—Monday holds the record for haircuts
in Greensburg. It is estimated that en
that day 3000 men underwent the shear-
ing, notwithstanding the extremely cool
weather for this time of year, in order to
take advantage of the old twenty-five cent
rate. Tuesday, May 1st, a new rate went
into effect, and hereafter haircuts will be
thirty-five cents. Thirty barbers operat-
ed on the men of that community for ap-
proximately fifteen hours Monday. The
net proceeds at the old rate were $750. A
total of $300 was saved by the ultimate
consumer, so to speak, for had he waited
until Tuesday, the barbers would have col-
lected $1050 for the same work.
—Arthur Barber, aged 38 years, a young
farmer living near Glen Campbell, acci-
dentally killed himself early Tuesday
morning, May 1st. There had been a dog
annoying the family Monday night and
Tuesday morning. Mr. Barber wanted to
go out early in the evening to kill the an:
imal, but his wife got him to remain in-
side. About 4 o'clock Tuesday morning
Mr. Barber arose and taking a gun, went
out into the yard. He was in his bare
feet and while walking, slipped in the soft
clay. In falling, the gun was discharged,
the full load of one barrel entering the
man’s head, blowing off practically all of
bis head. Barber's wife heard the shot
and after waiting a short time went out
to look for her husband. She found his
dead body instead of a dead dog.