BY P. GRAY MEEK INK SLINGS. —1Is Austria’s growing impatience for peace the rift in the cloud we have all been longing to see? —“Warm rooms for rent” are the signs that are attracting most atten- tion in Bellefonte just now. —So far as the central heating plant and Bellefonte are concerned every day will be a heatless day after tomorrow. —Snow surely has played havoc with railroad transportation, but far the worst is yet to come if the snow goes off with floods. — After the family prayers on Sun- day evening it will be appropriate for some Bellefonters to sing “The End of a Heatless Day.” —We hope that no scandals grow out of the enforced doubling up that will be necessary to keep Bellefonters warm after tomorrow. ——The weather man is giving Garfield as much trouble as he is giv- ing McAdoo concern. But both gen- tlemen are doing their best to over- come adverse conditions and the indi- cations point to complete success. —News reports have two of the Romanoff girls attending meetings and espousing the cause of the Bol- sheviki. What a lot of entirely new and, no doubt, interesting experiences are in store for the daughters of the former Czar. They can be real girls now and have a real girl’s fun out of life. —A disposition to do big things in an unostentious way prompted a gen- tleman, who doesn’t live a thousand miles from Snow Shoe, to present the Bellefonte hospital with a car load of coal on Tuesday, with the request that “nothing be said about it.” We vio- late his confidence only far enough to let the public know that there are such people living in Centre county. —A lot of people who, for years have been under the impression that they have been paying too much for steam heat are now going to find out just how much the luxury they have been enjoying has been costing some- one else. The coal bill, the ash-man’s charges and the time and trouble of firing a furnace or stoves will be apt to revise the ideas of many in our midst. —Tomorrow the Bellefonte steam heating plant will give up the ghost and put the burden of heating nearly two hundred homes and business places up to the individual occupants. The situation is serious for the rea- son that many are without stoves and ‘the extra demand for coal can not be met unless the local yards are given a far larger supply than they have been able to get thus far. —The latest political gossip in State politics is to the effect that Pen- rose and the Vares have gotten to- gether on another peace program. The ash cart statesmen are to be giv- en right of way in Philadelphia and Penrose is to have the pickins’ in the rest of the State. Will Pennsylvania permit this destructive combination to go over the top again. It seems to us she has suffered enough at the hands of these political Huns. —Friends of the soldiers who have enlisted from Centre county, atten- tion! An order has been issued that unless every man who enlisted on or before October 15th, 1917, makes ap- plication before February 12th next he will be debarred from getting any advantage from the governments’ war risk insurance. It is too great an opportunity to miss. Read the plan in another column and telegraph your boy to get it at once if you consider it favorably. —A Patterson, N. J. grocery has been ordered to stay closed for a month as a penalty for having sold four hundred pounds of sugar to one customer, all of which goes to show that it doesn’t pay to monkey with the regulations laid down by the Food Controller. Mr. Hoover hopes to have his plans bear fruit through the vol- untary compliance of all with his reg- ulations, but he means to force com- pliance if we are not patriotic enough to give it voluntarily. —Talking about retaining your mental poise at all times its a mighty difficult thing to do when you are ob- serving a wheatless, meatless, heat- less day and then just about the time you want to go to bed and forget it all you discover that the accumulation of ice and snow on the roof of your house has started leaks that send you scurrying to the cellar for tubs in which to catch the drips and then you look hopelessly at the ruined ceilings. There ain’t no such thing as an even temper then. —While there never was doubt in the minds of reasonable persons that Secretary Baker was doing all that was humanly possible in the conduct of the War Department his statement to the Senate committee on military affairs, last Monday, ought to finally and effectually put a quietus to the unfair criticism of his work. No more candid, no more reassuring statement has come from any public official. Furthermore, the Secretary has re- vealed, just what might have been expected, that in every critical stage of the progress in our preparation for war he sought and accepted the judg- ment of the best trained men in our army. If their judgment is not to be relied upon then what have we main- tained a military establishment at all for. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. yor. BELLEFONTE, PA.. FEBRUARY 1, 1918. NO. 5. Duty of Senators Penrose and Knox. | That an overwhelming majority of the people of Pennsylvania favor the enfranchisement of women no longer admits of doubt. When the question was submitted in 1915 the popular voice was stifled by political ma- chinery and the true verdict was not given. The considerable total vote for the amendment to the State con- stitution, therefore, expressed simply the sentiment of an advance guard in a rapidly augmenting force. Since then the world war has served the purpose of arousing popular senti- ment on the subject and public opin- ion has been reversed. The service of the women of the country in pre- paring for and supporting the govern- ment in the war has completely turn- ed the tide of thought. In the last Presidential campaign both the great parties were pledged to the principle of universal suffrage. The Democratic party expressed a preference for individual State action in the achievement of the result and the Republican platform was purpose- ly ambiguous. But liberally inter- preted both promised the enfranchise- ment of women and good faith re- quires the fulfillment of that promise by the surest and speediest process. Personally we would prefer action by individual States if there were a rea- sonable hope of success in that course. But there is no probability in that di- rection. employing the machinery at its serv- ice. The alternative is in the nation- wide process. An amendment of the Federal constitution forbidding any State to limit the franchise on ac- count of sex will accomplish the re- sult. It is neither a new nor novel ac- tion. The Fifteenth amendment, adopted by Congress in 1869, created the precedent. Both the Pennsylva- nia Senators, Simon Cameron and John Scott voted for it and all the Republican Representatives for the State voted the same way. The amendment was ratified by the Legis- lature of the State within a month, every Republican Senator and Repre- sentative in the General Assembly having ‘concurred. There is no party principle, therefore, forbidding ‘Re- publicans to support such a measure. An amendment to the Federal con- stitution enfranchising women is now pending in the United States Senate. It passed the House some weeks ago and will be called up for considera- tion in the Senate within a short time. In behalf of the women of Pennsylvania we appeal to Senators Boies Penrose and Senator Philander C. Knox to support the amendment. They are pledged by their party plat- form to this action. They are bound by every principle of honor and obli- gation of promise to support the measure. They are restrained neither by precedent nor tradition of party in the matter. The women of Penn- sylvania have earned this measure of justice by patient, helpful and efficient work in the war. Only the other day the Republican National committee of which Senator Penrose is a leading member appoint- ed an auxiliary committee of women | to help that party in the impending political activities. What right have Republican leaders to ask favors of the women of Pennsylvania when they deny them a privilege that is essen- tial to full and free citizenship? It is true that the Democratic National committee set the example by naming such an auxiliary and that the action of the Republican committee was a sort of forced process. But it carries with it the obligation to be just to the women of the country and we earnestly appeal to Senators Penrose and Knox to “prove their faith by works.” ———Of course by this time we have gotten pretty well used to buying su- gar in one and two pound lots, coal by the bucketfull and flour by the 24 pound sack, but the knockout blow came on Wednesday when we asked for three cent stamps at the postoffice and were told that they were entire- ly out and we had to take two’s and one’s, thereby making us do just double the amount of licking. ——And President Wilson looks like a man who could use that “short- er and uglier word” if he wanted to and would if Chamberlain persisted. When the time comes that cof- fee is the only fluid served at banquets visiting statesmen will be in less dan- ger of saying things. ——The harmony deal doesn’t take in Denny O’Neil, however, and Denny thinks he is important enough to be reckoned with. ——1If the meat packers are tried in the criminal courts the jail popu- lation will be perceptibly and proper- ly increased. resign now Roosevelt might give him a job as office boy which is about his The minority would be able ! to delay action for a generation by | size. Secretary Baker’s Statement. ™ Secretary of War Baker’s reply to Senator Chamberlain was as complete a narrative of achievement as has ever been framed in language. It was not a defense of the War Department, the President or the military officials di- recting the operations in preparation for war. But it was a clear, concise and conclusive review of the work that has been done by the government under adverse conditions in master- ful manner. It served to fully refute the vicious charge that the War De- partment “has broken down” and re- vealéd a measure of efficiency and achievement which must be gratifying to every patriotic heart in this broad land. After submitting documents which disproved the charge that the physic- al condition of the army had been neglected Secretary Baker added, “no army has ever been assembled nor can any be which does not bring together those who heretofore have been ex- posed to communicable diseases to which they are not immune and the most that can be done is to meet those conditions with every device and sug- gestion which science and care can devise? That has been done in every instance with a few exceptions and every delinquent medical officer was properly punished for his neglect. Nothing more could be done in the circumstances. With respect to their alleged delin- quencies the Secretary was equally specific. He showed that a vastly greater army than the public thought of has been organized and equipped and instead of 50,000 men which his principal critic said ought to be sent to France during 1917 more than ten times that number are now there while it has been made possible to put 1,500,000 troops into that country within the first few months of the present year. His statement is a perfect vindication of his industry, ef- ficiency and ability, and it put to shame every critic who has been carp- ing at his heels during the past sev- eral months. — Curiously enough the letter at- tacking the management of the army cantonments from an anonymous father was addressed to Senator Wadsworth, floor lobbyist of the beef trust and loaned to Senator Chamber- lain to attack the administration. Present | Duty of the Allies. The German Chancellor and the Austria-Hungarian Foreign Minister simultaneously replied to President Wilson’s peace proposals a week ago and followed much the same lines. The Chancellor said that an agree- ment could be reached without diffi- culty on the first four of the Presi- dent’s fourteen points and the For- eign Minister said that “an exchange of views between America and Aus- tria-Hungary might. form the start- ing point for a conciliatory discussion among all the States which have not yet entered into peace negotiations.” But beyond that neither of them holds out any offer which might be accept- able to all. In fact they are distinctly in the opposite direction. The four points upon which the Chancellor could agree are open cov- enants, freedom of the seas, removal of economic barriers and reduction of armaments. Each of these is a neces- sity of the future of Germany and Germany would probably violate the first at the earliest opportunity, for secret and intriguing diplomacy has been the long suit of the German Em- pire for a quarter of a century. As to the other points the Chancellor’s propositions are as impudent as they are absurd. Count Czernin’s sugges- tion of an exchange of views between America and Austria-Hungary with the idea of “starting a conciliatory discussion” is equally preposterous. It could lead to nething but disap- pointment. The plain truth is that neither Ger- many nor Austria-Hungary want peace upon terms other than such as will inure to their advantage and beth or either of them are or is will- ing to make any sacrifice of honor and justice to acquire such a peace. In their peace negotiations with Rus- sia they are simply “sparring for time,” in order to recruit their deplet- ed forces and give rest and strength to their almost exhausted armies. It is a waste of time and a compromise with honor to parley with them upon any question. They must be licked good and hard before lasting peace can be obtained and it is the present and immediate future duty of the al- lies to perform the work. — Roosevelt's dramatic visit to Washington to support the Chamber- lain attack on the administration turned out bad. Now if the mischief- making blatherskite will take himself out of the public view he will serve a better purpose. ——The Philadelphia Ledger seems to be afraid that some inside infor- mation concerning our military oper- ations will not reach the Kaiser in time. stead of Disease.” There should be more than passing interest for Bellefonte readers in the articles by Henry Smith Williams, LL. D., M. D., “Why Die Before Your Time.” reprinted in the “Watch- man” from Hearst’s Magazine. Dr. Williams tells of a good many things that are new not only to the average layman but perhaps to the average physician as well. He is fortunate enough to have been on the firing- line of the pioneer movement and some of the discoveries, of which he speaks, are so recent that they re- ceived first publication in technical journals almost coincidently with their presentation in his articles. Statisticians tell us that, while there is’ a reduction of mortality in infan- cy and early adult life through the conquest of certain communicable dis- eases, the degenerative or regressive | diseases, which affect chiefly those in | middle life and old age, are steadily {increasing and that this phenomenon ‘is something almost peculiar to the United States. It is not exhibited in the mortality statistics of the lead- ing European countries as these show improved mortality at every age period. In the United States reg- istration area, the mortality from diseases of the heart, blood vessels and kidneys increased 41 per cent. during the period 1890-1910 while in England and Wales during the same period there was a decrease in the mortality from these maladies. In an attempt to account for this, Prof. Irving Fisher, of Yale, says, “It seems evident that unless this increaseed mortality is due to some unknown bi- ologic influence or to the amalgama- tion of the various races that consti- tute our population, it must be as- cribed, in a broad sense, to a lack of adaptation to our rapidly developing civilization. Whether or not there is one principal cause that determines the unfavorable trend of mortality in this country as compared to other civilized nations has not yet been con- clusively shown.” Dr. Williams takes up in sequence a popular study of each of the five preuliarly fatal maladies—(1) organic heart-disease, (2) pneumonia, (3) tu- berculosis, (4) Bright’s disease or nephritis, and (5) cancer—with ref- erence to the newest pronouncements of science regarding their causation, treatment, and in particular, preven- tion. While pneumonia and tuberculosis are not usually classed with the de- generative diseases, in a recent tabu- ation of statistics of 126 victims of pneumonia, only five were under twenty-five years of age and among 163 victims of tuberculosis, only 36 were below the age of twenty-five, and of these all but twelve were above adolescence. So that the matter has added interest and importance if we reflect that the five fatal maladies in question claim their victims very largely from among the ranks of the adult population. That our community has not been exempt from its toll of deaths from these diseases is patent to anyone who gives the subject consideration, apart even from the matter of statis- tics, for it is an acknowledged and re- grettable fact that many of our iead- ing men have been cut off in the prime of life and at the period of their greatest and most brilliant ac- tivities. Calling to mind—just a few are: An Ex-Governor dying of pneumonia, at fifty-two years of ‘age; a talented young lawyer, of apoplexy, at forty- two; another, of Bright's disease, at fifty-three; another, of organic heart disease, at about the same age; anoth- er, slightly older, of apoplexy; a young business man of thirty, whose death was mourned by the entire town, of pneumonia complicated by Bright’s disease and, just within the past year, three unusually touching deaths—a man, prominent and of wide business interests, of pneumo- nia, aged fifty-three; a physician, dear to us all, of cancer, at fifty-six and another, yet younger, forty-six, pri- marily of heart trouble. Only a few? But the number can be multi- plied as we too well know. And now for vital statistics of this borough, taken at random, of adults over twenty-five years of age, for one month and we have: Age Cause 29 Hemorrhage from lungs 38 Chronic valvular heart trouble 42 Pneumonia 56 Cancer 59 Cardiac dilatation 66 Cancer 68 . Dilatation of heart 7% Bright's disease In the eight deaths of adults, over 25 years occurring during this month there are seen to be 3 from heart-dis- ease, 2 from lung disease, 2 from can- cer and 1 from Bright’s disease. Another month, also taken at ran- dom— Age Cause 42 Lobar pneumonia 51 Acute Bright's disease 57 Cancer a Chronic nephritis 68 Apoplexy 68 Arterio-sclerosis (Continued on page 5 column 1). “Let Us Make Health Contagious In- { { i BOOST YOUR TOWN. From the Springfield Republican. If you think your town’s the best, Tell ’'em so, If you'd have her lead the rest, Help her grow. When there’s anything to do Let the fellows count on you, You'll feel bully when it's through Don’t you know ? If you want te make a hit, Get a name; If the other fellow’s it, Who's to blame? Spend your money in your town, Thus keep your prices down; Give the mail concerns a frown— That’s the game. If you're used to giving knocks, Change your style; Throw bouquets instead of rocks For awhile; Let the other fellow roast, Shun him as you would a ghost, Meet his hammer with a boast And a smile. When a stranger from afar Comes along, Tell him who and what you are— Make it strong; Needn’t flatter, never bluff, Tell the truth, for that’s enough; Join the boosters, they're the stuff, You can’t go wrong. Let Us Hope for Revolution. From the Johnstown Leader. Signs are multiplying that unrest is growing in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Hunger is sapping the vi- tality of the people. The rigors of a terrible winter are dissipating what- ever enthusiasm the people may have ever had for the war precipitated by Germany. Strikes and rioting indi- cate the desperate straits which have been reached by the overburdened people of King Charles. And now we have intimations that the Empire is on the brink of revolu- tion. Let us hope that revolution may, come, if it shall result in the demo- cratization of the unhappy country. Deprived of Austrian support, Ger- many’s cause will collapse ike a house of cards. Statements of the war aims of the Allies by President Wilson and Pre- mier Lloyd George have tended to clear the film from the eyes of the long deceived Austro-Hungarians. They know now that we seek n-thin more than a democratic peace—a tast- ing democratic peace—for the nations of the world. And they are in accord with that hope and aspiration. . Germany, .in showing the cruel claws of the militarist-annexationist at the Brest-Litovsk peace delibera- tions with Russia, has revealed to the present Russian leaders the nature of the autocracy with which they are at- tempting to deal; and it has served to show the people of Austro-Hunga- ry the character of an ally in which they had, up to this time, placed some measure of confidence. Let the revolution come—quickly. It will mean an early and lasting peace. Britain Sends a Half Million More. From the Altoena Times. Great Britain is to recruit half a million additional men into the Brit- ish army at once. The rush of the Germans from the east to the west makes this necessary. Something must be done to stem the tide until America gets into the game in earn- SS rand that is what Britain is going o do. If necessary young men will be stripped from the industries regard- ed as essential to war service, as man power is the present important thing. It is calculated by the British author- ‘ities that the conduct of Russia will release 1,600,000 men from the east- ern front. It is necessary to re-en- force the allied fronts to meet this on- slaught. America cannot do so at once, so Britain must. There are at present four million on the army rolls of Britain, it is stat- ed, and the total armed forces which have been enrolled reach to seven and a half millions. But, more must be got and more will be got. This ought to be an incentive to America to hasten. It shows how imperative is all haste and what can be done, for if Britain can put out seven and a half millions in three years and a half, we ought to get out a few millions in a year. By keeping up the man force victo- ry is assured, the British authorities contend, and they are doubtless right. The Hun is being held now and we | must be sure that he will not only continue to be held but that he will be put on the run. Task Ahead Not Easy. From the Omaha Bee. Americans should not be misled in- to unwarranted security by talk of Germany’s impending collapse. No more dangerous or insidious form of propaganda is possible than this. Hope and desire for an early conclu- sion of hostilities is natural and com- mon to all, but nothing exists to jus- tify a belief in such a consummation. Our people may be assured that the Kaiser does not intend to surrender until beaten; peace by negotiation is a remote possibility and the German nation never was more united than now. This means that the big job be- fore us is not easy; our government will require. the sacrificing support of all its patriotic citizens for many weary days yet to come. We will win the war, but it will be no holiday march. , Deedles and yarn. “3 SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Miss Rebecca Spring, daughter of Sheriff Spring, of Williamsport, is teach- ing the female population of the Lycom- ing county jail to knit socks and scarfs for the soldiers. The Red Cross furnishes —William A. Hibler, aged 18. years, .a track hand in the employ of the Pennsyl- vania railroad, and residing on the oppeo- site side of the river from Hyner, Clinton county, was struck by the east-bound pas- senger train a mile west of Ritchie station and almost instantly killed, last week. —MTrs. Margaret Dorsey, 81 years of age, at one time owner of the Dorsey oil farm at Adams Station, Butler county, and oth- er property valued at $50,000 and having an income from oil royalties of $200 a day, was taken to the Butler county Home a few days ago. Mrs. Dorsey became the prey of swindlers. For several years she had been living in poverty. —Henry Soladi, aged nineteen years, and his brother Charles, aged twenty- four, both of Schuylkill county, are in jail at Sunbury, confessed murderers. After their arrest in DuBois on Saturday they confessed to having held up and shot Charles Schleig, near Shomokin, several weeks ago. Henry confessed to doing the shooting. They were taken to Sunbury om Sunday. —Alton B. Deidigh, of near Balin, Perry county butchered a Poland China hog a few days ago that dressed 784 pounds and from which he took seven and one-half cans of lard, fifty pounds to the can, or a total of 375 pounds. The lard alone was sold at 30 cents a pound and netted the ‘sum of $112.50. A few of this breed of hogs would put the owner in the million- aire class. —Mrs. Emma Lorah, of Wilkes-Barre, who was suing the Commonwealth for damages because her son, Bruce Lorah, was killed on a target range by a natiom- al guardsman four years ago, reached am agreement with the Commonwealth when her case came to trial in Dauphin county court Thursday and dropped proceedings when the State agreed to pay all costs and give her $875. —Fire at an early hour Sunday morn- ing destroyed the Williamsport private hospital, and endangered the lives of over a score of patients in the building, which was a three-story brick structure in the centre of that city. Ambulances were hur- ried from other hospitals and all patients were finally removed without loss of life. The fire is believed to have been caused from an unguarded gas jet. —Dr. E, H. James, retired, and for many years well known throughout the State as a physician and surgeon, died at his home in Harrisburg late on Sunday. For twen- ty years he had been the Pennsylvania Railroad company surgeon at Harrisburg. He was sixty-one years old and was born in Orbisonia, Huntingdon county. His father was a celebrated physician and his two brothers are engaged in the medical profession. —Mrs. Esther Kline, of Easton, is the defendant in a suit at law brought against her by David Bear, of Pittsburgh, who wants to recover $1,500 from her for dam- ages suffered by him in August last, at Atlantic City, N. J., in a collision between two automobiles, one owned by Mrs. Kline and the other by Mr. Bear. The plaintiff alleges that Mrs. Kline's auto was driven # a high speed, carelessly and negligent- ly, resulting in a collision in which he lost $1,500 in several different ways. —Removing the cap from a gas connec- tion in the basement, and leading a pipe secretly to his room, George Santee, of Hazleton, aged thirty-one years, commit- ted suicide by inhaling the fumes early last Thursday. His sister-in-law, Mrs. John Wilman, aroused by the cries of a child, was blown out of the side of a building as the result of a terriffic explo- sion that occurred as she lighted a lamp. The house wos wrecked. John Wilman and Mrs. Louise Santee, aged mother of the victim, were badly burned. —The jury in the case of Alice Bierly vs. the New York Central Railroad com- pany, sitting at Corning, brought in a verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $7,500 at nine o'clock Tuesday night of last week. The plaintiff had sued to re- cover for the death of her husband, Hen- ry Bierly, a Central brakeman, who was killed a few months ago while at work im the Avis yards, when he was thrown from a box car on which he was riding as it was “kicked” into a string of cars by .a switch engine, and crushed to death under the wheels. —J. E. Sutton, a driver employed by the Adams Express company, at Altoona, was arrested on Saturday and given a hearing on the charge of embezzling funds to the extent of $95.21 during the past two months. W. H. Spare, an agent for the company, made the information before Al- derman J. C. Gorsuch. Sutton was com- mitted to jail in default of $300 bail, hav- ing been held for court. A series of sys- tematic thefts involving drivers of the company started last summer and has continued steadily despite the efforts of the agents to break up the practice. —J. Brady, Frank Sherman, James Bo- land and James Ryan were arrested at Stormstown en Tuesday and taken to Al- toona by Pennsy police, on the charge of robbery, which was preferred before Squire J. W. Anasman, Indiana, Pa., fol- lowing a series of bold thefts affecting passengers and patrons of the railroad. Inspector M. G. Turney, of Altoona, aided Captain Baumgardner, of the Indiana di- vision police, in making the capture. The quartette is alleged to have taken $160 from one man, $60 from another, and were implicated in several larger appropria- tions, it is claimed. The prisoners were taken back to Indiana on Wednesday. They were Bertillonized at police sta- tion before departing. —Blair L. McKillip, a young contractor of Hollidaysburg, last Wednesday had the greatest run of luck possibly ever exper- jenced by a young man in that community. During the day, he was married to one of Bedford county’s prettiest girls. The cer- emony had hardly been performed until he received a telegram annourcing that he had been awarded a contract by State Highway Commissioner J. Denny O'Neil for the construction of state road in Clear- field county, at his bid, upwards of $40,- 000. Scarcely had the excitement occa- sioned by the pealing of the wedding bells and the announcement of the contract awarding died out, than he was informed by telegram that he had been drafted as one of the class A 1 men from the First district of Blair county, which contingent, according to word published on Monday will leave for camp about February 15th. Mr. McKillip and bride are now off on a honeymoon trip to eastern cities. :
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers