BY P. GRAY MEEK INK SLINGS. —_This weather makes one feel more like spending a vacation in Florida than in Maine. — Wheat has ripened very unevenly in Centre county and made the har- vesting of it a difficult matter. — The recent cold weather has had the effect of giving the late potatoes and the late corn a serious set-back. — Poor old John Barleycorn! Every time Congress sits in consultation on his case he is given a shorter lease of life. —If you haven't planned for some satisfactory heating system for your house or business place go to it at once. Last summer you deluded your- self with the hope that the Steam Heat Co. would eventually come to your rescue and you nearly perished. —Many readers of the “Watchman” enjoyed Empey’s “Over the Top” im- mensely when it ran serially in this paper several weeks ago. We are going to start a great new war serial next week, when we will begin the publication of Lieut. Pat O'Brien’s “Qutwitting the Hun.” Get in on the start of this story if you want to know how a clever American Irishman evad- ed all the Hun pussyfoots that the Kaiser's military organization could get on his trail. __Senator Penrose’s idea of conserv- ing food and fuel is to let the produc- ers push the prices so high that indi- viduals won’t be able to buy them— that is, all individuals except the very wealthy class to which the Senator be- longs. Which idea are you for: * The Senator’s or that of the administra- tion which regulates prices so that we can all have the necessities and then appeals to our patriotism and spirit of fair play to curb our purchas- es to the point where there will be enough for everybody. — Now is the time for Congress to seize the opportunity of making it un- lawful for any newspaper, magazine or other publication of general circu- lation to be issued in this country in any other than the English language. What's the use of trying to American- ize our foreign residents if they be fed up in their foreign language con- tinually? Make it necessary for them to learn to read and speak English and there will be a speedy break-down of cliques of nationality, a freer inter- course among all our peoples and an elimination of the dangers that lurk in spoken tongues that all do not un- derstand. — Let us begin now to advocate the slogan “Berlin or Bust.” We have a million men in France now and soon there will be two million of the best fighters the world has ever seen over there and, if needs be, more and more millions of the same kind will follow them. We can help our allies lick the Huns or do it ourselves for that mat- ter, but no final decision should come on French or Belgian soil. Germany should be invaded and given a taste of what France and Belgium have suf- fered, for unless it is her people will not have the chastened spirit they should have when their representa- tives to sit around the peace table are chosen. — Philipsburg, having adopted the borough management plan, under which one man will make all purchas- es, pay all bills and manage all of the business of the borough, has estab- lished a bureau of complaints. This looks to us like a bad start. Any change of system so radical as that from the old councilmanic way of do- ing things to a modern business pro- cedure is bound to provoke criticism and needless complaining while it is being put across. After that is done and the people have had a taste of the beneficent results the bureau of com- plaints would be a valuable assistant to the manager, but before, it will be only an irritant. —Agents of the State Department of Labor and Industry are arresting employers of child labor and at the same time all the boys and girls in the country are being urged to do some- thing to help win the war. What an anomalous situation. Centre county, for instance, has enrolled boys under sixteen years of age in the Boys Working Reserve and some of them are already doing valiant work on the farms of the county. The case in question comes from Williamsport where a boy under sixteen was work- ing in a shoe-shining parlor and prob- ably releasing a man for a man’s sized job somewhere else. It seems to us that during the war, at least, the ubiquitousness of a lot of inspectors might be adjourned in all lines except where life and limb are in danger. —tThanks largely to the careful sur- vey and splendid work of John L. Holmes, of State College, who hap- pens to be county manger for farm la- bor for the Council of National De- fense and Committee of Public Safety of Pennsylvania, there has been no real shortage of farm labor in the county this season. Mr. Holmes has been working with the result that he has supplied every call made upon him and his emergency organizations in Bellefonte and State College have sent out all the men they have been asked for. There isn’t much blow made by the various sub-committees in Centre county that are doing war work, but the fact that we are getting on so smoothly in all branches of endeavor may be accounted for by the activities of the men to whom the work has been assigned. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA. JULY 12, 1918. _ NO. 217. President Wilson was true to form in his great speech at Mount Vernon on the Fourth of July. He has lost no part of his vast force of expres- sion. His speech is like a new decla- ration of freedom not only for the whole world. It was appropriately delivered at the tomb of Washington and though his audience was small it was heard around the world and will command attention wherever the English tongue is spoken. It marks him anew as the accredited and hon- ored spokesman of civilization. His voice is the voice of justice, his speech the utterance of truth. No other living man could have delivered his message. The President lays down four fun- damental principles essential to the ending of the world war. Arbitrary power anywhere that can separately, secretly and of its single choice dis- turb the peace of the world must be destroyed forever. Every question of territory, sovereignty, economic or political relationship must be settled by the people concerned “and not up- on the basis of material interest or advantage of any other nation or peo- ple.” The consent of all nations to be governed in their conduct toward each other by the same principles of hon- or and of respect for the common law of civilized society and the establish- ment of an organization of peace which shall make it certain that the combined power of free nations will check every invasion of right. In other words as the President con- cisely phrases the conditions prereq- uisite to. peace: “What we seek is the reign of law, based upon the con- sent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of man- kind.” Nothing less will satisfy and the full strength of the United States in men and materials will be freely offered to achieve such a result. We are now performing wonders in the preliminary work. We are building ships faster and better than has ever been done before and we are supply- ing food and munitions in ample quantities to keep the million men al- ready on the firing line and the other millions to follow in courage and con- tentment: ; ’ : — Captured by the Germans, un- dergoing all kinds of horrors while effecting his escape and then writing a thrilling account of his experiences is what Lieut. Pat O’Brien did in his story of “Outwitting the Hun,” which will begin in the “Watchman” next week. Don’t fail to read it. “Daniel Come to Judgment.” Senator Penrose’s more or less sar- castic speech in opposition to certain features of the Agricultural Appro- priation bill was not altogether a ven- ture in persiflage. It was in reality one of the most serious features of the present session of Congress. It marked the beginning of an organized movement to embarrass the President in his herculean work in the war against autocracy. President Wilson is gaining too firm a place in the af- fections of the people to suit the pro- fessional spoil-mongers whom he has separated from the patronage trading posts and they are arranging for a “drive” against his lines. ' Penrose has taken the initiative because he has least regard for public opinion. But the Senator won’t fool many people by camouflaging treason in the guise of humor. He pretends to dis- cern much folly in an appropriation for the purpose of lessening the de- structive activities of vermin and fairly falls into a paroxysm of laugh- ter at the proposition to conserve food for the poor by limiting the price. “Price fixing,” he declares, “interferes with the fundamental laws of supply demand the government has indulged in. Low prices curtail production and stimulate consumption, and then to restrict consumption we have these Hoover boards and Garfield boards with appropriations running tens and twenties and fifty million dollars to keep the people from consuming.” sion to the laws of supply and demand which as tariff champion he has op- posed all his life, he ‘proceeds to ex- emplify his faith. “Why,” he says, “the way to keep too much sugar from being consumed is for sugar to go up in price, even if it is twenty or thirty cents 2 pound, and it will automatic- ally regulate itself and the consump- tion will be curtailed.” Sure it will and as certainly we have “a Daniel come to judgment.” Only the very wealthy can consume at such prices and while the less fortunate may de- cay from malnutrition, the Senator’s jovial companions and plutocratic as- sociates may sweeten their foods to their heart’s content. —Doesn’t your heart just swell and thump with pride at the way our boys “carry on” “over there?” The pace they are getting leaves no doubt in our mind as to what is going to hap- pen when we get there in force. people of the United States but of the Wilson’s Mount Vernon Speech. | Punishment Must be Adequate. | , The Federal Trade Commission has made report of its investigation of prices of meats and flour and to say !its findings are startling is a mild ex- | pression of a disgraceful fact. It | states that the millers have been , making three times the normal prof- it on flour and that the packing hous- ! es have “embraced every device which is useful to them without regard to the law,” to wring excessive profits from the consumers of meats during the years since the beginning of the world war. In other words these “malefactors of great wealth” have been coining the suffering of our sol- diers and the privations of our people into dirty dollars in order to multiply their already vast wealth. During the Spanish war these des- picable hyenas in human form, not content with the excessive profits which opportunity afforded them, sup- plied soldiers in the field of battle with rotten meats, thus making pes- tilence a more destructive agent than the bullets of the enemy. The same crimes would have been perpetrated, no doubt, during this war if the ad- ministration of the government at Washington had been less vigilant or more indifferent. But they have done whatever they could to loot the gov- ernment and defraud the people and professing patriotism have deliberate- ly given aid and comfort to the ene- my by adding to the privations of the people and the miseries of the sol- diers. There is only one form of punish- ment which fits this crime against the country. That is death and the only regret possible in the penalty is that it must be administer- ed in a humane way. It is reported that a sort of fine is to be put upon the millers and probably the same punishment will be applied to the meat packers. But that will not sat- isfy a public that has been outraged beyond endurance. The Armours and Swifts and other miscreants who have been practicing these crimes could easily pay any fine that the imagina- tion might estimate out of their un- holy profits. No doubt they would be willing to divide but it won’t do. The punishment must be physical and adequate. . and demand and is the most vicious Having thus proclaimed his conver-. ——A Florida newspaper declares that that State is capable of produc- ing sufficient sugar to supply the whole country. If that be true let the good work begin. After awhile there will be scarcity. Labor Troubles of the Country. It ought not to be necessary to ad- monish any employers against com- peting with the government for labor. The materials and munitions of war must be provided in abundance. This result can be achieved only by giving concerns engaged in supplying them the “right of way” in the labor mar- ket. The army and navy have taken a large toll from the working force of the country and will continue to draw in even greater numbers for a time. And as the force in the serv- ice increases the need of supplies mul- tiply and the urgency is augmented. Because of these obvious facts it should be the aim of every employer to aid rather than impair the indus- trial force of the government. Of course the civil population of the country must be maintained and such industries as supply the necessaries of their maintenance must be kept in motion. Clothing is as necessary to non-combatants as to the troops and food must be supplied in sufficient quantity to support health and vigor. But one of these agencies need not prey upon the other in order to keep both in operation. In other words by the complete conservation of all the industrial power of the country the complement may be kept up and each element made to help the other in the work. There is no natural antago- nism between the civil and military necessities of the country. For the existing troubles both sides are to blame in part. The system adopted in the beginning in awarding contracts was faulty in that it created unnecessary and unnatural competi- tion among employers of labor. Some contractors found it advantageous as well as profitable to offer high wages and allure workmen to leave other jobs in order to get the advantages thus offered. ‘This condition of affairs no longer exists, we believe, but it never ought to have existed and should not be allowed te recur. And speaking of competition in labor one war industry should not be allowed to prey upon another. Every working man ought to get ample wages for his maintenance and nobody ought to ask more. man” enjoyed its rest last week but it is too fearful of getting an answer that it doesn’t want to hear to ask you if you did. —Even July has been acting like it thought the fuel administration busi- ness ought to be an all the year’s job. execution of the . party organization. —Yes, thank you. The “Watch- | Mitchell Palmer and the Party. i One day last week Judge Bonniwell, Democratic candidate for Governor, {and Senator Sproul, Republican nom- 'inee for the same office, happened to ‘be in Stroudsburg, the home of A. ‘Mitchell Palmer, member of the Dem- . ocratic National committee for Penn- sylvania. Mr. Sproul was the guest of Mr. Palmer and introduced in the community as the personal friend of the Democratic National committee- man. Judge Bonniwell was cordially and generously entertained by unoffi- cial Democrats who recommended him to the favor of the voters as a man fit for the office to which he aspires and for which he was recently nomi- nated over the hand-picked candidate ‘of Mr. Palmer. ; In the primary election vote Judge Bonniwell carried Monroe county for the Democratic nomination by a very large majority. But in the annual “meeting of the Democratic State , committee three weeks later Mr. Pal- mer appeared, as a substitute, and voted to deprive the candidate of the right to have a personal friend as manager of his campaign, though he ‘ admitted on the floor that it was a | reasonable and just right. Northamp- ton county gave Judge Bonniwell an overwhelming majority at the prima- ry but in the State committee Park Davis, of Easton, voted, as a substi- ‘tute for the committeeman, to deprive the candidate of the right to which Palmer declared he was justly enti- tled. Palmer and Davis had entered .into a conspiracy to nominate a Nor- ‘thampton county friend of Davis for Justice of the Supreme court. | The Stroudsburg incident reveals the purpose of Palmer in depriving ithe Democratic nominee of the right (to which Palmer subsequently admit- ited he was entitled. The action of Park Davis in misrepresenting the community in which he lives by vot- ing with Palmer to deprive Judge Bon- niwell of a just right, reveals the con- spiracy to nominate a Northampton county friend of Mr. Davis for Justice of the Supreme court. And taken to- gether these incidents expose to pub- lic view and deserved popular execra- tion the reasons why Mitchell Palmer “clings so tenaciously to control of the pal asset of the patronage brokerage business of which he is the head. lars before July 20th in order to pay for a car-load of paper that is now in transit. To be absolutely honest we haven’t nine hundred cents to our credit in bank. We have a lot depos- ever, and we’d like to draw it right now. If you happen to be one of the fortunates with whom we have left a subscription account stand for a year or more won't you please send the amount in at once. ——1If Penrose isn’t careful thoughtful persons will begin making comparisons between the management of this war and that of the little “tiff” we had with Spain some twenty years ago. That affair was managed by his party and will hardly stand as an exemplar of efficiency. — Germany is not likely to rob the western front by sending troops to help Austria on the Italian front. Self-preservation is the first law of nature and Butcher Bill needs all the | force available where his flesh and blood is operating. — Conditions in Russia are going from bad to worse but have not reach- ed the hopeless stage. “A little lea- ven leavens the lump” and when time develops the fittest means of rescue will be devised. — It may sound harsh but a care- ful analysis of conditions compels the impression that most men are prof- iteers and that lack of opportunity is all that prevents exposure of the fact. — Emperor Karl of Austria shows the malign effect of keeping bad com- pany. He congratulates his army on the Piave on their victory. He prob- ably means their escape. — Nobody ever knew why Roose- velt got the Nobel prize in the first place but now that it is to be put to such good usé nobody will care. — Colonel Arthur Lynch must ‘have some evil design on Ireland. Otherwise he never would have invit- — In order that the sea may be made free for war ships Germany is trying to sink all the hospital ships in commission. ; — The Sultan of Turkey is dead but he never will be missed. His suc- cessor will probably be just as bad. —_If there were no hospital ships afloat the German U-boats would have no congenial employment. — Keeping the war gardens grew- ing may help to keep the home fires burning. » It is the princi- —We will need nine hundred dol-! ited with readers of the paper, how- ! BUSY DAYS FOR OUR BOYS IN FRANCE. ' Another - Interesting Letter from a Bellefonte Soldier On Duty “Over There.” Somewhere in France, June 13. I suppose you think I write by jerks, and I guess you are more or less | right, but there are times when we are | very busy and few times when we are !not. As this is one of the latter I will clean up some of my correspond- ence. First of all, I would like to | drop into Bellefonte all of & sudden {like and have a good Sunday dinner, ‘but I guess that event will have to wait awhile. : Back home we thought seeing an aeroplane was some sight, didn’t we? But they are like the birds in the air, so numerous. There are thousands of things I would like to write you, and 1 know you would like to hear them, but it can’t be said. nese coolies, trying to tell them what to do. And when you work them too hard they hold up their litfle finger and say “Mellican man no geod a la.” This life is certainly full of exper- | jences, and let me add, excitement. I have almost forgotten there is a Sun- day and as to the days of the week, one can’t keep track of them. The weather here has been ideal summer weather for three weeks now and I hope it will continue. I have not received a copy of the “Watch- man” since the March 80 issue and I don’t understand what has held them up, as all my other mail seems to be coming through on time. Was glad to hear that all at home are well, as that is the greatest news to me, so far from the old home town. The boys I came to this post with are Baker Royer, of Lancaster, a State College man class of 1916; Sel- lers Kite and William Morgan, of Philadelphia; Thomas Allen, Walter Tag and Arch Colby, of New York city; Lewis Silverman, of Chicago; a chap named Simmons, from a town in New York State, and Robert Mc- Rae, of Springfield, Mass., and as I never ran into a better bunch.I am fixed 0. k. Our commanding officer is first lieutenant Geo. Coombes. ~ We have been quite busy here late- ly and are working tonight, it now be- ing 9:30 o'clock. I sprained my arm lifting the other day, and as it is a little bum today I am net doing much heavy work, only helping every now and then when needed. I have been | developing some muscle lately, as we + have quite a bit of strong arm work 'to do, and I am trying to do my share. What do you suppose I ran into to- ‘day? Something I suppose you nev- ler saw. I managed to get them from one of the Chinamen we have work- ing here. They were a couple of cooties, insects that sneak in under your undershirt and play around on your hide. It kind of took me down a peg when I discovered them. At first I though of organizing a base- ball team but as I didn’t relish the idea of them using my back for a ball diamond I immediately proceeded to rid myself of them, and hope it will be final. Some of these days I intend having a picture taken to send home. We have been pretty busy in the warehouse lately and it is some job. I can imagine that everything is being done over there that can be done for the successful prosecution of the war, and I can assure you that the boys over here are doing their part. I thought a few days ago I would get a chance to accompany a consignment of cars to the place where Bucky Smith and Sam Rhine- smith are located but it was not my luck. I have been smoking some genuine Bull Durham lately, some I managed to get off of some troops that were over only a short while. Wil! close now with best wishes for all Belle- fonte friends. CHAS. E. GATES. Outwitting the Hun. The “Watchman” next week will begin the publication of the tale of Lieut. Pat O’Brien, “Outwitting the Hun,” an intensely interesting story of the persenal experience of this dar- ing Irish aviator who was captured by the Germans, later made his es- cape and is now sending his story broadcast over the country in an’ ef- nations at war with Germany. Read the opening installment in next week’s issue and we feel sure you will want to finish the story. ooo — __A party of Ebensburg people motored to Penn’s cave on the Fourth and returning home told a story in effect that they had seen a man har- nessed to an old-fashioned plow, with his wife doing the driving, shovel- plowing potatoes in a field near Penn’s cave. — Even if those Austrians did trust inthe German Gott, they proba- bly neglected to “keep their powder dry.” Imagine me bossing a gang of Chi-: fort to show up the true nature of the Hun and enlist the full support of the SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. — Oke C. Finberg, of Houtzdale, is im the “missing” column of the casualty list cabled from France on Sunday. _Ex-Judge Harold McClure, of Lewis- burg, was last week appointed by Gover- nor Martin G. Brumbaugh to fill the va- cancy existing on the State Public Serv- ice Commission since the death of Robert K. Young. He will qualify immediately. —On July 1st the Petersburg Co-opera- tive Grain and Supply company began business at Petersburg, Huntingdon coun- ty, taking over the Gregory store proper- ty which was purchased some time ago. Quite a number of the farmers of Shavers Creek valley are interested. H. H. Kell, a Petersburg merchant, has closed out his business and will be the manager for the new company. —Mr. and Mrs. James Smell were burn- ed to death and a property loss of $25,000 entailed in a fire which wiped out a busi- ness block in Montrose, Pa., on Sunday. Five buildings were destroyed. The fire is thought to have started in a laundry. Aid rendered by the Binghamton fire de- partment prevented other buildings from being ignited by the fire, which for a time threatened the entire business section. —A. Roy Chase Esq., of Clearfield, en- tered suit in the Prothonotary’s office at Clearfield on Saturday on behalf of Mer- cie E. Graffius, who seeks to recover $5,000 from the Stott & Hartley Coal company, of Philipsburg, for coal removed from a tract of land in Decatur township, Clear- field county, owned by the plaintiff and which she claims was never leased to the coal company. The mining of the coal be- gan in March of 1917. —Four highwaymen beat Joe Korkas te death and fractured the skull of his com- panion, Joe Karpollo, near West Newton, Westmoreland county, Saturday morning about 2:30 o'clock. The victims of the thugs were Austrians and recently em- ployed at mines near Ebensburg. They had gone to Westmoreland county to spend the Fourth. The highwaymen got away with a loot of about $55, but local constables and state police are on their trail. —Maggie Smith, of Lewistown, was lock- ed up last Thursday night on the charge of larceny, officers claiming she had taken $37 from a man which she had stowed away in her mouth when she discovered her arrest was imminent. Sheriff Davis - forced the woman's mouth open and with the aid of an electric searchlight recover- ed $17 of the money, but said he did not have the power, without an order from the court, to order the use of a stomach pump in an effort to recover the remaining $20. —Smiths Mills, Clearfield county, is seemingly the star spangled banner burg of the United States. The village has a population of only 550, with about 100 houses, but has gone many times over the top in the third Liberty loan campaign. Its allotment was $5,500, but the thrifty and prosperous villagers subscribed a grand total of $183,000 for the bonds, giv- ing them an honor flag bearing 34 stars. So far as known the achievement has not been equaled elsewhere in the United States. —The Penn Garment company, of Wil- liamsport, has just received a government contract for 12,000 army uniforms to be delivered in eight weeks. And if this con- tract is completed satisfactorily, the com- pany has the assurance of larger orders in the future. General Manager Planken- horn secured the contract in New York, to which city he was summoned to show sam- ples. The plant will have to be enlarged and more employees taken on to get the order out in record time. This is the larg- est contract for army uniforms the compa- ny has yet secured. —Men connected with the State govern- ment who have been observing the devel- opment of the farm tractor service in Pennsylvania say that about 1700 tractors are employed in the fields this year and that the number will be materially in- creased by fall and very largely by next summer. The State has 35 tractors and if needs arise it will increase the number. The other tractors are owned by farmers, commercial organizations, chambers of commerce, farmers’ clubs and other asso- ciations, while the number operated as threshing machines in certain territories has increased rapidly. { —Last Friday was a Jonah day for Da- vid W. Corson, of Mifilin county, a veteran of the Philippine war, who lost $57 of his $59 pension money while on his way to Lewistown to pay some bills. Corson had his skull fractured in the islands in 1899, when a horse was shot from under him and as he attempted to regain his feet a native hit him over the head with a heavy rifle. He has been under seventeen opera- tions in eight years and has been confined in a straight jacket forty-seven days at one time while suffering from convulsions. The money was his pension for three months and represents the support of his wife and six children. — Because he alleged his wife lived with him on the instalment plan, Charles M. Qister, of Milton, was recommended an ab- solute divorce, by Edwin Paul, special master appointed by the Northumberland county court in his report last Friday. Ac- cording to the findings they were married October 19th, 1910, at Milton, and she de- serted. him March 27th, 1911. During the period of their living together she would live at home two weeks, then disappear two weeks. Returning at the end of that time the wife would stay home two weeks more and again do the disappearing act. Finally she went away and said she would never come back. He asserted that he walked twenty-two miles to Jerseytown to try to get her home, but failed in his mission. —Fire, which started from a motor in the duplex heater house of the Aetna Chemical company at Mount Union, on Tuesday of last week, destroyed four buildings comprising the entire recovery and purification departments and the main portion of the plant. About 450,000 pounds of gun cotton and much valuable machine- ry were consumed. The loss is estimated at $900,000. There was no loss of life, but several employees were severely burned. The company announced that it would re- quire four or five months to rebuild and that the fire would delay its plans for moving its plant at Oakdale, near Pitts- burgh, to Mount Union. An explosion at the Oakdale plant recently resulted in the loss of more than 100 lives. The Depart- ment of Labor and Industry on Friday is- sued a statement that the report of the in- spectors on the Mount Union fire setting forth that further inquiry would be made to determine the exact cause. It is stat- ed that the fire has not in any degree in- terfered with the production of munitions at the plant.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers