£ ‘Bent BY P. GRAY MEEK. INK SLINGS. —Let’s all go to Florida ’til April 15th. Of course you have become accus- tomed to writing it 1918 by this time. —Nobody is worrying about how thick the ice is. Everybody knows it is thick enough. ; —Away with the fellow who was longing for the return of “an old fashioned winter.” The trouble with “gentlemen’s agreements” is that in most cases they are criminal conspiracies. —Anyway the farmer who has to haul his water in this zero weather doesn’t have water pipes to thaw out and bust every morning in the week. The best in the world of every- thing is none too good for the soldiers “over there” or “here” but the deserv- ing poor at home should not be allow- ed to suffer if it is possible to prevent it. —Here’s hoping that you all will have the happiest and most prosper- ous New Year that you have ever en- joyed, but candor compels us to add that we can't now see how you can possibly have it. —Again let us remind you that everything has gone up in price but your old, reliable, home newspaper and let us also remind you that it will go up financially unless a lot of read- ers come across with some maz ima ere long. —The sight of coal-wagons making regular trips on Bellefonte streets on Sunday was probably the first of its kind ever beheld here and to make it all the more unusual the coal was so searce that it was being parceled out in bushel baskets. —If the government would roll sugar and coal into sheets and stamp them Liberty Bonds it could sell an issue of ten billion without a drive at all and the pretty part of it would be that none of them would ever turn up for redemption. While damning the administra- tion with faint praise the Philadel- phia Ledger is maintaining an enemy propaganda which does vast harm. During the Civil war the Philadelphia Age was gutted for a less offensive tone. Ant The Times succeeded The Age and The Ledger The Times. —1If you want to add insult to in- jury just take up about half an hour of fuel administrator Harry Keller's _gime interrogating him as to why you can’t get coal. Ordinarily Harry is the most amiable of gentlemen but we fear that unless general relief comes soon he will have to be “done over” before he will be fit to continue in the exalted station he holds in the Re- formed church. . —We noticed that our contempo- rary, the Republican, announced in its pre-Christmas edition that its ed- itor intended “hanging up his stock- ings.” Shortly after reading the threat wg observed the gentleman walking up High street with a pair of arctics on. If you have ever noticed the same thing you will agree with us that it must have been an all night's job for poor old Santa if brother Dor- worth’s stocking was full on Christ- mas morning. —Worn out completely with the burden of faithfully doing his work Ed. Woods slipped away to rest al- most before his most intimate friends knew that he was done. For twenty- three years he had served this com- munity as a mail carrier and only those who knew how he fought as an older man to retain the dispatch he had in his earlier days can appreciate how his heart and his mind and his nerve were doing it all. He has gone; tke service has lost a most faithful employee and the community a man of whom every one will speak kindly. —If ever the writer was obsessed with a passion to steal it was Wed- nesday evening. After pounding the editorial fingers and filling the ubig- uitous eyes with splinters of coal in a vain endeavor to hammer a lonely bucketful of big stove coal down to a size that would burn in a small kitch- en range we walked down to the rail- road station just in time to see a big hundred thousand car of chestnut roll- ing in on the Lewisburg freight. We have never forgotten the impression that the elephant car in the first cir- cus train that came into Bellefonte made on our youthful mind, but won- derful as it was the sight of that car of chestnut thrilled just as much un- til we discovered that it was only for Bellefonters to look at while it was passing through to State College. —The community spirit is growing in Bellefonte. It is a hopeful sign. Recall the great crowd gathered in the Diamond Christmas eve to sing, give thanks and celebrate the end of the successful Red Cross campaign, then remember that it was only a few hours later, early in the Christmas morn, that choristers were all over Bellefonte carolling the glad tidings of the Christ-child’s bixth and again, in the afternoon of Christmas, a “picked-up” band gave concerts in various centers of the town. was this done? Only because some were hopeful of adding a little of brightness and good cheer to the lives of others. What a dreary world this would be indeed if only the spirit of selfishness germinated in the human | heart and how much brighter, even than it is, it could be made if every- one would cultivate a spirit to do a bit to make the other fellow’s load a little lighter. — VOL. 63. Wise Suggestion to Democrats. The Democratic Association of Har- risburg, has sounded a note thit ought to be taken up by all the local organizations of the party through- out the State. It is a demand for the restoration of the party State conven- tion whenever a State ticket is put in the fiield. The convention would not be for the purpose of selecting candi- dates. The State wide primary per- forms that service, wisely or other- wise, and may be trusted in the fu- tive. The business of the convention would be to “formulate into a party platform the fundamental principles on which the Democratic party stands as well as give expression to the pre- vailing views of the voters” as to can- didates. The Democratic Association of Har- risburg is vastly different from the average political club. One of the bids the introduction of intoxicating liquors into the club premises upon any condition or pretext. Prohibition is no part of its creed but the mem- bers hold that the sale or use of in- toxicants should be kept under the regulation of the law and that party clubs are, or should be, maintained for other purposes than the dispensing of booze or serving as a cloak for in- dulgence in liquor. club is composed of men devoted to the principles of the party and its meetings are for purposes other than reckoning profits of the bar during the week. Party conventions are not only use- ful but essential for the purposes ex- pressed by the Harrisburg associa- tion and they are equally valuable as a medium of developing party leaders. Since the abandonment of party con- ventions there has been no way of getting acquainted with local party workers. Under the convention sys- tem nearly every year developed some talented young man who was encour- aged into political activity by the old- er party managers and thus new blood was supplied to the organiza- tion and new zest given to the labor of promulgating party principles and promoting party success. For five years a bunch of office holders, as- sembled- in ui’ .ant ¢ity, have mo- nopolized party management. — The Secretaryship of the United States treasury is a big job but controlling all the railroads of the country is an undertaking that bulks vastly bigger but happily Mr. Me- Adoo measures up to the proportions. Another Run In by Snyder. Auditor General Snyder threatens another “run in” with the Brumbaugh administration. This time it is the administration of the Workmen's Compensation Insurance Fund that has aroused his indignation and a cur- sory view of the subject from this distance justifies his action. It seems that the appropriation to that fund was made by the Legislature with a distinet understanding that no divi- dend would be declared in 1917, in or- der “that the fund might be made self-sustaining.” Nevertheless, the was declared last year but that the current expenses of the service were not paid. For this reason he demand- ed an audit of the bureau by men of his choice. The Auditor General has undisputed authority to audit the accounts of any department of the State govern- ment. But the administrator of this particular bureau didn’t want his ac- counts to be audited and appealed to the Attorney General who instructed him to refuse access to his books by the Auditor General. Thereupon the Auditor General promptly refused to approve warrants for salaries of some of the employees of the bureau. How he proposes to carry out his pur- poses has not been revealed. The last time he undertook such a thing the Dauphin county court decided against him and he has not appealed. But the salaries in dispute were promptly paid after the decision and that seems to have been the end of it. The courts of Pennsylvania have so often declared the constitution uncon- stitutional that little surprise was ex- pressed with the result of that piece Why ! of litigation and it is not likely that ' General Snyder will take another ! chance of judicial rebuke. But in the | larger court of public opinion the de- | cision is more than likely to be in his { favor. It will be reasoned, naturally, that if there is nothing to conceal in ' the financial administration of the In- surance fund, there would have been { no objection to the audit. The contro- versy certainly impairs public confi- dence in the bureau, if it doesn't de- stroy popular faith in the administra- tion, and however it ends it is harm- ful. ——John Barleycorn is badly cvip- pled beyond question but it looks as if he may limp along for a couple of years yet. Only a few Legislatures meet this year and extra sessions are expensive and unpopular. PULICTL ture in the exercise of that preroga- | provisions of its fundamental law for- Naturally this Auditor General alleges, a dividend | & Helping the Enemy is the Aim. Viewed iron ..ny # « he pending linvestigations in W ' _.gton serve no other purpose thai aiding the ene- mies of the country. A disappointed | inventor testified before one of these | inquisitions that our army abroad is | without adequate equipment for no | other reason than that his gun was ‘put to test before it was adopted by ‘the government. Some time ago the | President, in a non-partisan | suggested that it would be wise to re- elect Knute Nelson, of Minneapolis, ‘upon a crazy competitor for the of- | fice published an absurd story to the | 0 ! improving on that side of the battle line. | effect that our troops were badly ‘handled at their port of disembarka- tion in France and suffered greatly in | consequence. | These statements, both false, are ‘equally heartening to the cruel Huns who are striving to make autocracy the governing agency of the world and annoying to the faithful authori- ‘ties at Washington and the soldiers in the trenches, who are offering their tall to prevent that result. That they ‘have not worked greater harm is due "only to the fact that confidence in the ‘President discounted them in the be- ginning. No intelligent man or wom- an in the country believed the mali- "cious lie issued by the ambitious Min- nesota Congressman who went to France to pick flaws in the manage- ment of affairs there or at home and the story of the disappointed invent- or who lost patience without reason. i There may have been mistakes made in the management of the war | preparations but they were of the thead rather than of the heart and the {moment they were discovered they | were rectified. But nothing could be gained, or even hoped for, by magni- | fying them into crimes. The Presi- dent and those about him are ready tand anxious to take the advice or in- {formation of any well-meaning citi- zen and follow it if it is fit. But no public official will pay attention to complaints based on disappointed am- bitions and issues for evil purposes. The pending investigations are not in- tended to help the President in solv- (ing the problems before him. They are intended to embarrass him and help the enemy. En ? Another Bellefonter was turn- ed out of the Brumbaugh administra- tion on Monday when Fred Thompson, 'who during the past six months has been a messenger in the Department {of Labor and Industry, was summari- ly dismissed. Fred’s position payed {him seven dollars a day. | Railroads Taken Over. | The taking over of the management ‘of transportation by the government iat Washington is a wide departure {from the traditions of the country and ithe policies of the Democratic party. ‘But it seems to have been a necessary I step in the prosecution of the world war now in progress and coming near- ‘er home every day. Without inten- | tion, probably, and certainly without | malice, the transportation service of 'the country had failed of its purpose. | With plenty of food in the country | foodstuff failed to reach the centres | of population and suffering was the | | result. With abundance of coal only ja short way off the public was suffer- {ing from fuel famine. | The purpose of the President in taking over the railroads was to ob- | viate these grievous faults. It might ‘have been accomplished in another way. That is to say the laws forbid- | ding pooling might have been repeal- ‘ed or revoked and the shortest routes ‘adopted in carrying freight. But that ‘would have involved greater hazard. One method is quite as revolutionary as the other and ‘revolutions never go backwards.” The chances are that the old system will never be restored but no right of property in the cor- porations has been relinquished by the share holders and no injustice is done either to the public or the own- ers of the property by the method adopted whereas by the other method both might have suffered. The President has challenged pub- lic confidence, moreover, in the selec- tion of an administrator of this great trust. Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo is a man of great ability, un- questioned integrity and proved pa- triotism. He will not undertake the ex- ploitation of the property committed to his care or introduce the element of selfishness into the management of the business. His wide experience as a railroad builder and his splendid success as a financier guarantee the best results from his labor. In all probability the only perceptible dif- ference in the future and past man- agement of the railroads will be greater efficiency and better service. | will hold its last meeting next Mon- The Kaiser proves his devotion to the Gott he falsely pretends to jn ang the new council organized. worship by desecrating churches wherever he finds them. ———The most direct route ought to officers will be sworn in for duty next get trains to their destination in the Monday. Bellefonte will have a new shortest time possible no matter who burgess and several new councilmen pays the freight. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA. JANUARY 4, 1918. ' pectation but well within the range ‘of possibility. It is true that Germa- ‘ny and her allies are fighting desper- | | there spirit, | { garding food resources are conflict- ‘to the United States Senate, where- | {have occasionally forced the allied d lin Bellefonte at nine o’clock yester- ‘suffering was the temperature of the | | NO. 1. HY HE HATED THE KAISER. Toye yrge’s Sanguine Expectaio i Je ge, Premier of Englai ay an Unknown Jingler. p odic. the end of the war withiu Lac | My Tuesdays are meatless, My Wednesdays are wheatless, I am getting more eatless each day. My home it is hegtless, My bed it is sheetless, They’re all sent to the Y. M. C. A. piesent year. That is a sanguine ex- ately and that the depleted ranks of her armies are being restored to full | strength after each slaughter. But, is a limit to everything and German resources must become ex- hausted sooner or later. Reports re- The barrooms are treatless, My coffee is sweetless, Each day I got poorer and wiser. My stockings are feetless, My trousers are seatless— My, how I do hate the Kaiser! ing and estimates of remaining man More Peace Talk. power differ widely. But it is abso- From the Johnstown Democrat lutely certain that conditions are not | Should it prove true that the cen- ) 3 3 © | tral powers in their negotiations with The force is not increasing in Russia have agreed to a general peace morale or materials. on the basis of “no annexations and For more than three years of al- | no indemnities,” a step has been taken most constant sacrifice Germany has | which may lead to the great end not gained a foot of ground either in | Which every lover of humanity must France or Flanders. Desperate drives | hope the world is soon to reach. The Proposal 2 vio oom) ois oes not meet the demand of Presi- troops back a few feet ora few|gont Wilson for an end to Hohenzol- yards. But counter attacks restored | jernism. But probably no one has ex- the lost salients and in most cases | pected Germany and her allies to act added to the advantages previously |at once and forthrightly in accord- enjoyed. In Italy, by perfidious ance with the Presidential mandate. means, a considerable victory was won | In agreeing to a general peace on the some weeks ago. But within a week | basis of sno annexations and no in- conditions have been reversed and demnities the central powers go nearly all the moral effects of the about as far as it would be reasonable : to expect them to go at the outset. stolen victory have been lost. Mean- | The rest might become a mere matter time disappointment is breeding dis- | of keeping on. content in Austria-Hungary and the| Nor do the central powers say a pangs of hunger are beginning to as- | word about reparation. This leaves sert themselves in all sections of the | Belgium out of the calculation. It Empire. | leaves her to heal her wounds as best Lloyd George may be over sanguine | she may. And of course Great Brit- in his estimate of the time that victo- | 2in. Will scornfully reject any proffer I J on ry will crown the righteous struggle he Sr ET hon of the allies for liberty but he cannot | 1 1 be far wrong. The United States has | rl in Je Linde Jor IIS Yannis hardly got started in the work injected without real fault of her own. which from this on she is destined to President Wilson's chief insistence take the leading part. Experts all is on the overthrow of Hohenzollern- over the world have freely expressed |15m and the establishment of respon- both surprise and admiration at the sible government in Berlin and Vien- energy and intelligence revealed by Pp Whether a war-worn people in ; x 3 ermany and Austria will respond to those in authority here in the work his demands when these shall have of preparation and when our splen- had time to soak in is problematical. did troops go against the enemy in |There are accumulating evidences full force next spring things will |that a response is feared by the Kai- move forward with a rush. Autocra- | ser and his Junker friends. Their ef- cy will be eliminated and the kultur forts now to advance peace talk to which means cruelty will be ended for the stage of actual negotiation is in- all Je. dicative of that fear. If they were at a | \ TECIRT rave of AE Mg ponse to the President’s appéal, it seems probable that they would not today be suggesting a basis of peace which only a little while ago they were rejecting with scorn. The present talk may come to noth- ing. It may be more or less insin- cere and possibly it may be mischiev- ous in purpose if not in effect. But the fact that it is heard is important. It implies a situation that is encour- aging. It indicates a war-weariness that when sufficiently advanced must compel an end of bloody strife. Wars before now have been brought to a close simply because armies refused longer to fight or because nations de- clined further to support their fight- ing forces. May this not become the case in the present awful struggle? May not the central powers be making a confession of this very thing in their present pacific proposals? The soldiers themselves refuse ! to believe the stories of unfavorable | conditions in the camps but they are not expected to know as much about such things as the slackers who are trying to make themselves dissatis- fied. Honor Roll Attracting Attention. The “Watchman’s” honor roll of young men who have volunteered or been called for service in the present war from Centre county, published in our last issue, attracted cousiderable attention and quite a list of names of young men who have volunteered for service and whose names did not ap- pear on the list have been sent in since. While the list is not published this week because of the large amount of other news, it will be carried in type and when enough additional names have been secured it will again be published. For this reason we ask all friends of the “Watchman” to send us promptly the names of any young men they know of who enlist, and we will gladly add them to the list. In this connection we might men- tion the fact that we were handed a letter this week from a former Cen- tre county boy whose name was not on the list in the person of Miles Walker Lucas, a son of Nelson Lu- cas, at present in Washington. The young man is in the medical depart- ment at Fort Washington, Md., and in his letter he states that he is proud of the fact that his family has been represented in the past four wars. His father fought in the Civil war, as a member of the 45th regiment; his brother Clifford served in the Span- ish-American war in the 1st District of Columbia volunteer infantry; his brother Calvin fought in the Filipino insurrection in the U. S. medical corps and now he has volunteered for serv- ice in the present struggle. How to Get More Coal. From Leslie’s Weekly. Nothing should be allowed to inter- fere with the one great end—a larger output of coal. Small, inefficient, poorly-located and unprofitable mines should be closed down and all availa- ble miners employed in the large, well equipped mines where transportation facilities are the best. The industry could then afford to pay these unprof- itable mines a royalty of so much a ton while being closed down during the war. Operators feel, too, that the fuel ad- ministrator should be one who has the coal industry. The President gave a Replogle power to control iron and steel, a Pillsbury to control flour and a Hoover to control food. It is even el, upon which all other industries de- pend, should be in the hands of one who has had lifelong experience in the coal industry. Why would it not be a good plan to appeal to the loyalty of the coal oper- ators, to put them on their honor, and abolishing all restrictions and red tape to give them a free hand to speed up production fo meet the war needs of the country? We are not getting the required coal by present methods. Coal operators are patriotic and want to do their part in winning the war. Give them a free hand for a month and see if results do not justify the trial. ——One thermometer in Howard registered 24 degrees below zero yes- terday morning. It was 16 degrees below at several points on High street day morning. The Only Big Job. From the Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph. The one job before the United States government and people, includ- ing Congress, is to win this war. Every other consideration, including that of discrediting this or that offi- cial or individual, should be subordi- nated to the single great undertaking of bringing about victory and the re- turn of peace. The rapid-fire inves- tigators at Washington might better occupy themselves with constructive rather than destructive activities. Hearty co-operation, instead of quib- bling and quarreling, is the need of the hour. ——There are few reasons for re- gretting the passing of the old year. It marked a period of excesses in many evils and not the least cause of last week. —— The Bellefonte borough council day morning, and immediately there- after the new members will be sworn ——The new borough and township |! to take the oath of office. to the “Watchman” office. 1] certain, that thereswou'y ny ip- had years of practical experience in | more important that the control of fu- SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. — “Here letters” and $5 each were sent to James Steel and William and Richard Ritter, Lewistown boys, for discovering a broken rail on the Pennsylvania railroad. —(Cleston L. Greenly, of Williamsport, and Miss Margaret Stivanson, of Kittan- ning, Pa., were married last Thursday in Williamsport. Mr. and Mrs. Greenly are both totally blind. —Caught in the belting of a gasoline engine, which he was operating late Mon- day afternoon, Henry Kramer, a tenant on a farm in Rapho township, received in- juries which resulted in his death about an hour later. —H. F. Wike died suddenly Wednesday morning while sitting in the waiting room of the railway station at DuBois. Mr. Wike fell from his seat after he had been in the waiting room for some time, and died within a few minutes. —James Cornelius, an employee of the Ginco Clay mines, up Paddy's Run, Clin- ton county, was kicked by a mule on Tues- day morning and very seriously injured. His chin was nearly cut off and he was bruised all over the body. —Mrs. Alex Walker, of Berlin, while at- tending the funeral of Mrs. Charles Eskin, fainted and fell from the chair where she was sitting during the service and suffer- ed the fracture of her right ankle. Mrs. Walker was immediately taken home and owing to her advanced age her condition is thought to be serious. i, —Major-General Charles M. Clement, of Sunbury, has resumed his law practice and is now about his office work daily. The General was appointed auditor of pub- lic accounts by the court last Monday. His duties will be to go over the accounts of Edgar Summers, prothonotary, and John I Carr, register and recorder. —Williamsport manufacturers have unanimously decided to offer their manu- facturing plants to the government for the purpose of speeding up war preparations. Questionnaires will be filled out by all the manufacturers and these will be taken te Washington this week. Over thirty di- versified industries have joined the move- ment. —The Lewistown & Reedsville Water company have increased their water sup- ply approximately 1,000,000 gallons every twenty-four hours by adding new streams to their source of supply in the Seven mountains. The streams in that section of the State are very low for a continued freeze and a shortage of water was daily anticipated. —Rev. 8S. 8S. Bergen, a Presbyterian minister who for twenty-three years preached the gospel in Huntingdon and Mifflin counties, expects to retire in the spring after forty-five years of service as an ordained minister. Rev. Mr. Bergen’s last charge in Pennsylvania was that of Petersburg, Bethel and McAlevy's Fort. He removed about six years ago to Fra- zeysburg, Ohio. —Raymond Allbright has entered suit at Clearfield for damages against W. K. Kephart, David Mease and John Douglass, supervisors of Decatur township in which he seeks to recover $150 for the loss of a horse, which broke a leg in a chuck hole on the township road near Jeffries. The horse which was shot was valued at $160, and the suit calls for an additional $50 for inconvenience occasioned by the acci- dent. “Mrs: Hv Reénmninger; of ~Middlebusgy gave a Christmas dinner to her five daughters at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Steininger. On the Christmas tree in the center of the table hung five envei- opes with the name of each child and in each envelope was a chock for $1000 as a Christmas gift. Her children are: Mrs. George Steininger, Mrs. John Moyer, Mrs. L. C. Bachman, all of Middleburg; Mrs. Enterline, of Danville, and Mrs. Wehr, of Mifflinburg. — There are now six cases of small pox in Indiana county, one of which is locat- ed in Indiana; three in Creekside; one in Starford and one in Marion Center. Coun- ty Medical Inspector, Dr. William A. Simpson, of Indiana, is taking active measures to prevent a spread and epidem- ic of the disease and families have been cautioned to be extremely careful. It is understood that the small pox cases de- veloped in Marion Center, incident to the sickness and death of Mrs. Behe, who it is believed had contract»! the disease short- ly before her death, the ultimate cause eof which however, was apoplexy. —The papers for the commutation of the death sentence of Henry Ward Mottern, of Jefferson county, were sent to the Govern- or on Tuesday for action. The Board eof Pardons in its reasons for commuting the sentence, says that Mottern’s case is bound up with that of Ernest Haines, who was acquitted on a second trial for the killing of his father, and that its members do net think justice will be done by compelling one of the boys to suffer the full penalty while “the other is permitted to enjoy complete freedom, nor on the other hand are we dispesed to recommend the appli- i cant for pardon, as .there exists no ques- | tion as to his guilt.” —Dr. Nathan C. Kartub, aged 28 years, seif-confessed murderer of John Zofag, was convicted of second degree murder at | Butler late Saturday night, and was giver | | the extreme penalty, not less than nine- i teen years and ten months nor more than | twenty years. Kartub confessed that he | administered poison to Zofag, in the hope | that he could collect $5,000 life insurance, i carried by the latter. For conspiracy te | defraud a life insurance company Kartub i was sentenced to serve not less than two or more than three years in the Western ' penitentiary and was fined $1,000. For de- frauding a life insurance company he was , sentenced to pay an additional fine of ' $1,000. The sentences run concurrently. | Dr. Kartub is a member of a prominent , Pittsburgh family and a graduate of the | University of Pittsburgh. —Dr. John W. Miller, aged 40, a well i known osteopath, of Sunbury, was almost instantly killed in that place on Monday morning about nine o'clock when his Bu- ick roadster was struck by a Reading train on Front street and carried 200 feet along the track. When the train was brought te a standstill the engine and the demolish- ed automobile were 100 feet out on the river bridge. Before trainmen could reach , the front of the engine, Dr. Miller had fallen between the ties to the rocky river- bank thirty feet below. His skull was crushed open and his brains were par- tially dashed out. In spite of his terrible injuries the Osteopath lived several hours at the Mary Packer hospital, where he was rushed following the accident. Both his legs were ground off at the hips. Sur- viving him are his widow amd twe chil« dren.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers