Demorralit- atc, BY P. GRAY MEEK INK SLINGS. —If we are going to do it at all we ought to get the local “Y” fixed up now. ——Congressman Mann probably regrets that the Beef trust didn’t make sausage of that horse. —The drive to save the Y. M. C. A. will be made next week. Will Belle- fonte unanimously join it? —In just 150 more days we'll all start training to show the camel what a miserable piker he is when it comes down to doing without a drink for a long time. All the European Kings in good standing are to visit this country but nobody need apprehend crowded con- ditions. There are not many Euro- pean Kings in good standing. —The wheat that looked fine when the light blanket of snow that had covered it melted is beginning to have that puffy appearance that repeated freezing and thawing of the ground brings. —Anyway, the brewers, the distil- lers and the anti-saloon league work- ers will all be in the same boat on -July 1st. Misery loves company so we wouldn't be surprised at all to see them all getting together in search of other jobs. —President Wilson has won the only two points he really had to fight for at the Peace Conference. The League of Nations and the freedom of the seas were his primary objec- tives and with them achieved in prin- ciple all the rest will be easy. —Sunday will be ground hog day, but nobody cares much what he does this year. If he gives six more weeks of delightful weather it will be very acceptable, but if he gives us six of real winter that will be acceptable, too, for really we have gotten off too easy thus far. —The strike in Belfast took on a really serious aspect when the grave diggers threw down their spades and joined it. With all the other discom- forts the general walkout of labor has brought to that distressed city has thus been added the unhappy con- dition that there is no use of her citi- zens dying because they can’t be bur- ied, even if they do. —It’s really amusing to read the eulogiums that our old friends, the editor of the Clearfield Republican and the Perry county Democrat, in- dite these days to Vance McCormick and Mitch Palmer. Time was when John Short and Jimmy Magee wrote serious and courageous stuff, but that was before they were charmed by the harmony of “Don’t Bite the Hand that’s Feeding You.” : —Don’t undertake to buy some oth- er persons war savings stamps. They can be redeemed only by post- masters and others undertaking to buy them for cash or in exchange for something else, are likely to get into trouble. The W. S. S. are to encour- age thrift in our people and a holder who gets temporarily hard up is not to be persuaded by unscrupulous per- sons to let them go at a sacrifice. The government is going to bring those who are trying to buy up the stamps at sacrifice prices to an accounting. —Many of the soldier boys are com- ing home to find that the girls who bawled on their shoulders when they left and vowed they'd be true soon figured out that one “steady” in the States was worth two in France. Such girls were “welchers” and never did deserve the love of these brave fel- lows who are well rid of them. They are not the type of girls who inspire such songs as “Dear Old Pal of Mine,” which they had to stop singing in the camps abroad because it brought such exquisitely painful memories of the really true women who were working and praying and waiting for the re- turn of their soldier lovers. —If the Benchoff bill, which was introduced in the Legislature on Mon- day, is enacted into law Bellefonte and many other Centre county towns will be large beneficiaries. It pro- vides that where state highways run through incorporated towns the State shall take over and maintain the streets traversed. In such an eventu- ality the State would have to main- tain west Linn, Allegheny from Linn to Bishop, all of Bishop, part of south Spring and all of Pine street. The Main and really only large street in Centre Hall would come under the provisions of the bill. The main street in State College, Howard and Miles- burg would also be in it and Union- ville would come in for a little too. —Everybody seems to have dug up a hammer since the armistice was signed. Knocking is everywhere and about everything. The politicians start it and it rattles its way along until it gets clear down to the fellow who knocks but doesn’t even know what he is knocking about. They knocked the government because the boys were not brought home from Europe fast enough and then, when they found we are demobilizing fast- er than England or France, they be- gan to knock because they are being brought home too fast. It may be all right for Senators and Congressmen to sow to the winds in this manner, but should they reap the whirlwind of Bolshevism many of the partisans who are applauding them now, and imitating them as well, will realize how dangerous it is to play upon the mind of the masses. We are going to have enough unrest in this country for a few years to come without ad- ding to it fictitiously frr partisan rea- sons alone. A LTITICT. RO V STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 64. BELLEFONTE, PA., NO. 5. Pinchot and Penrose. That spectacular political “sissy,” Pinchot, paid his compliments to Sen- ator Penrose the other day in more or less picturesque figures of speech. In an open letter to the Senator the late Forester declares that Penrose is known in the Middle West “mainly as the most perfect living representative of the worst type of politics in Amer- ica,” and adds “if you write the next tariff bill the people will believe, and they are likely to be right, that it is unduly favorable to special privilege and monopoly.” ' As a matter of fact no matter what Republican writes a tariff bill it will be open to that ob- jection. That is precisely the reason why special interests worked so hard for a Republican Congress. Mr. Pinchot’s purpose was to pre- vent the selection of Penrose as chair- man of the Senate committee on Fi- nance at the organization of the next Congress and in his zeal to that end reveals his ignorance of the processes of legislation. The chairman of the Finance committee of the Senate doesn’t write tariff bills or other rev- enue legislation. The constitution provides that “all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” It is true that the Senate has a right to amend or alter the bill but one Senator has as much right as another in this respect. For that reason his objection to Pen- rose on that score is without value or significance. The other things he says about Pen- rose are probably true but they might be said with equal accuracy of most of the Republican Senators in Con- gress. The people know that the great monopolies are their friends; that the party has always been the champion of the liquor interests; that they have worked against equal suf- frage and child labor legislation, and that they have been universally hos- tile to the interest of railroad em- ployees. They also understand that Gifford Pinchot has been an invaria- ble and in most instances enthusias- tic supporter of every political in- iquity, including the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, ‘and that his antipathy to Penrose is personal and not moral. But Mr. Ripchot’s. an ! bly his fund ntal objection to: Sen- ator Penrose is expressed in the state- ment that “the Progressives. know that you opposed Roosevelt in the Re- publican National convention of 1912, when the people of Pennsylvania had declared overwhelmingly for him. They know that you were largely re- sponsible for the split in the Repub- lican party in 1912 and the election of a Democratic President.” If that be true Pinchot is likely to make Pen- rose the most popular Republican in the United States by revealing the fact. If Penrose really made Wood- row Wilson President of the United States instead of either of the Re- publican candidates he deserves the highest reward. ——TIt is settled that “Dick” Bald- win has been chosen by the Republi- can machine to rattle around in Gov- ernor Sproul’s Senatorial seat after the 23rd of February next. A Commission Without a Scandal. When we come to consider the high character of the men to whom were delegated the work of carrying on Pennsylvania’s share of the Nation's war activity it is not surprising that the vast sum of money appropriated by the Legislature two years ago for that purpose has been handled with- out the breath of scandal. It is so unusual, however, that public funds should be cleanly, conscientiously and beneficially expended, that we cannot withhold public acknowledgement of the gratitude we feel for the work of the Pennsylvania Council of National Defense and Committee of Public Safety. That great organization, working in every one of the sixty-seven coun- ties of the State, became the model in efficiency not only for Washington, but for every other State in the Un- ion. Its varied activities are well re- membered so far as they were related to the public welfare and the speed- ing up of our industrial, financial and intellectual participation in the war, but the continual grind in the head- quarters, where splendid men and! women worked at the sacrifice of per- sonal interests, in order to keep the fire of patriotic endeavor blazing must not be forgotten. Because without it history would not be now compiling such splendid achievements to the honor of Pennsylvania. And the transcendent glory of it all is that those men and women so managed the colossal undertaking that less than half of the two million dollars appropriated were expended and that without even the breath of scandal. The recent illness of the Kai- ser may have been caused by infor- mation that the Krupp works at Es-' sen is employed on materials for the United States army. ——Put your ad. In the “Watch- man, ment. There is a good deal of waste of mental energy in challenging the va- lidity of the Prohibition amendment to the constitution of the United States. So far as the change of the instrument is concerned, it is an ac- complished fact. The pretense that it is invalid for one reason or another is absurd. The statement rather freely made that it is unconstitutional is sil- ly. The method provided by the con- stitution for amending the constitu- tion was precisely followed. Good or bad, right or wrong, wise or other- wise, the Sheppard amendment is a part of the fundamental law of the land. It was done, to be sure, but as our late friend Shakespeare said, “if it were done when ’tis done, then twere well it were done quickly.” But fighting the accomplished fact is no more preposterous than assum- ing that the adoption of the Prohibi- tion amendment will stop the drink- ing of intoxicating liquors. For many years the constitution of the State of Ohio prohibited licensing the sale of liquors but the sale of liquors in that State became so flagrant that the con- stitution was changed so that the sale could be licensed and regulated. While the constitution of Kansas pro- hibited licensing liquors were as abun- dant on sale in that State as any oth- er commodity. The enforcement of law, whether constitutional or statu- tory, depends on public sentiment. If a majority of the people are opposed to a law it will not be enforced. His- tory has completely established this fact. We have no idea that the contem- plated “billion dollar battle” against the Prohibition amendment, “based on inherent individual rights,” will be successful. Neither are ye persuaded that the Prohibition amendment is going to prevent the sale and use of intoxicants. The amendment prohib- its but prescribes no penalties for the violation of its provisions. islation is essential to the purpose and experience in Maine, Iowa and other States proves that the legisla- tion must be supported by public sen- vast majority of the voters are against prohibition, is well founded, the constitutional amendment will have no more effect than constitution- al prohibition had in Kansas and Ohio. ——The calamity howlers’ hopes that soldiers may remain in the serv- ice of the government, if they so de- sire, until they are certain of jobs. That knocks the menace of “a vast ar- my of unemployed” as well as a few other things. Greatest Work of Civilization. The Peace Conference is making splendid progress in its great work. The organization is about complete, the standing committees have been appointed and the subjects for their consideration assigned. The League of Nations has been unanimously agreed on and President Wilson’s proposition for the freedom of the seas has been tentatively accepted by all the powers concerned. There be- ing no controversy over the other fea- tures of the President’s program, it may be safely said that the burden of the labor of the conference has been discharged. It will require some time to arrange the details but it is not likely that any great differences of opinion will be encountered in work- ing them out. The spirit of altruism pervades an atmosphere of justice. This great result marks the high- est achievement of American effort and progress. The mobilizing of the man power and industrial forces of the country during the brief period which elapsed between entering the war and ending it was magnificent. But that was largely ascribable to the vast resources of the country and the great energy of the people. It was purely a triumph of physical strength intelligently and honestly applied. But this greater achieve- ment, this triumph of peace, is the re- sult of a superior intellectual force guided throughout by the highest i ideals and most unselfish endeavors. | It marks Woodrow Wilson as the mas- | ter mind and makes this country the | keystone of civilization. This result has been achieved un- { der difficult conditions. It has been | accomplished in the face of a sinister | opposition. In justice it must be said | that the trouble did not come from i abroad. It was conceived, delivered | and nurtured at home. For partisan | reasons a group of men, with treason i lin their hearts and the lust for spoils iin their minds, have been plotting | from the beginning of our participa- | tion in the war to defeat every move- ment of the President in the war and since the war in order that he might be discredited in the opinions of the . people. This criminal conspiracy has ' cost millions of lives and billions of treasure but in the result of the Peace Conference it is defeated. Concerning the Prohibition Amend- ! timent to make it effective. If the, “i claim of the liquor interests, that-a are diminishing. It has been decided- JANUARY 31, 1919. i Such leg- | for’ Non-Partisan Judges. The bill introduced by Senator Eyre, of Chester county, providing for the repeal of the non-partisan law | for the nomination of judges is likely to encounter a good deal of opposition from those who imagine they stand for purity in politics. The law was expected to accomplish much in the way of improvement in judicial stand- ards and was strongly supported by voters who hoped for such a result. But the expectations in that respect have been disappointed. Instead of eliminating partisanship from the bench it has fastened a rather low grade of politics in our courts and has made a bi-partisan bench in this State an impossibility and non-parti- sanship equally unlikely. The provisions of the constitution under the old system of nominations made minority representation on the appellant benches almost a certainty, But no other than a Republican in the favor of the party machine has been able to get near the Supreme or Su- perior court since that law was enact- ed. The Republican majority in the State is so great that it may easily be manipulated so as to give two Re- publican candidates the highst vote however inferior one or both of them may be to a Democrat aspiring to the honor. Then the two candidates be- ing Republican the question of merit is not raised and success or failure is determined by the favor of the ma- chine. Because of these facts we are in- clined to favor the repeal of the ex- isting law. As we have not seen the measure which Mr. Eyre proposes to substitute for it we are unable to ex- press an opinion as to its merits. But we have no hesitation in saying that the system of nominating that obtained previously to the adoption of the non-partisan plan was prefera- ble. We await further information concerning Mr. Eyre’s bill repealing the State-wide primary law. The present system certainly has faults but the proposed substitute may have more.. It is certain that public inter- ests have suffered by the elimination ° of State conventions but we could : have. conventions and a popular vote inations. ——Governer Sproul ginning by joining the naggers who are trying to destroy the President. There are a good many soldiers com- ing home and they think well of their | Commander-in-Chief. Perverse Political Action. The vote in the Senate at Washing- ton, the other day, on the bill appro- priating $100,000,000 to feed the starving people of Europe, affords new evidence of the perverse purposes of the Republican leaders. After a survey of conditions in Belgium, France, and other devastated sections of Europe, Herbert Hoover reported to President Wilson in Paris the ne- cessity of immediate and substantial relief. The President promptly ca- bled a request for an appropriation of $100,000,000. It ought to have been affirmatively answered in a day. But instead of that consideration of the measure was made a vehicle for tra- ducing the President and Mr. Hoover, for a month in speeches alike irrele- vant and without reason. Lenroot, of Wisconsin, who was re- cently elected to the Senate by the voters of Wisconsin under the false pretense that he had supported the President as a Representative, led the feeble talkfest and Cummins, of Iowa; Penrose, of Pennsylvania; Norris, of Nebraska; Harding, of Ohio; Johnson, of California, and a number of other misfit Senators, some of them on the Democratic side, supported him. In fact the opposition was so numerous and vehement that sympathizers with the sufferers and friends of the Presi- dent became fearful that the bill would be defeated. But when the test vote was taken last Friday only eighteen negative votes were record- ed. Some of those who talked against the bill voted for it. These incidents simply show the low level to which the Senatorial stan- dard has fallen. There is no patriot- ism on the Republican side of the chamber. Politics is the only influ- encing element. Justice and charity are alike perverted to the base pur- poses of creating party capital and in some cases the intelligence may prop- erly be overshadowed in doubt. Every man who spoke against the President under cover of the bill was willing to sacrifice the thousands of starving men, women and children in the hope that their action would harm the ad- ministration and probabiy many lives were lost through the delay. But the political purpose was fulfilled. The President was roundly abused. ——When the average Russian takes a mental measure of Trotsky he wonders why he had anything against the Czar. ——1It has been decided that Ger- many will not get her colonies back. But that punishment will not fit the German crimes. is starting . well but he can spoil an excellent be- : Democratizing New England. From the Boston Transcript. i { New England is no longer the Re- | publican stronghold that it once was. | Maine elected Senator Johnson, a Democrat, to the upper house of Con- | gress in 1910. , New Hampshire elect- ed Senator Hollis two years later, the first Democratic Senator from the | Granite State since 1852. Rhode Is- | land sent Senator Gerry, a Democrat, | to succeed the Republican Senator | Lippitt in 1916. And last year Mas- | sachusetts followed their example by i electing Senator Walsh, her first Dem- i ocratic Senator since the election of Robert Rantoul in 1851. Although all the New England States have Re- publican Governors, the majorities in . such one-time Republican States as i Massachusetts and Connecticut fell many thousands, and in New Hamp- shire Senator Moses replaced a Dem- ocrat by a very small vote. The drift hereabouts has been toward the party in power, and that drift has not been unnoticed by Democratic students of party tendencies here and at Wash- ington. Only the other day, when the retirement of Mr. McCormick as chairman of the Democratic National committee was announced, it was de- clared that his successor would prob- ably be Homer Cummings, the Con- necticut member of the committee. If a New England Democrat is now tak- en into the Cabinet the Democratic leaders in the nation will be acting upon the urgent advice of the late Postmaster Murray, who long before his death laid before them the results of his own reconnoissance. Meantime the Republican party is making no such advance in the solid South. There it is working along the same old lines that most af the Re- publieen organizations in New Eng- and are clinging to. The time was when the West was looked upon as the battleground in the pivotal polit- ical years. At present it looks as if this healthful distinction would be shared with New England in 1920. This, the Democratic leaders clearly see. Similar insight or foresight has yet to be shown by their political o ponents, in the face of the steady Democratizing of what was once the Inog solid of all Republican strong- olds. President and Senate. From the Philadelphia Record. For the fiftieth time, more or the Administration at Washi publican and Democratic, who sought to prevent the passage of the bill ap- propriating $100,000,000 for feeding . the starving people of Europe. Des- , pite the floods of sloppy talk, most of it positively nauseous in its stupidity and malignity, only eighteen Senators cared to go on record as opposing the passage of a measure so eminently humane and statesmanlike. Judging by the noise made by the wind ma- chines of the Senate, one might have supposed that there was really some popular antagonism to this plan of Mr. Hoover and the President. The collapse of the opposition shows how little basis there was for such a din. President Wilson almost invariably wins in these contests with the Sen- ate, because he is in the right and the Senators are in the wrong, and they are conscious of the fact. This oppo- sition to the Relief bill, following the uproar made over the President's trip to Europe and his project of a League of Nations, was purely factious and political, and represented no deeply- felt sentiments of the American peo- ple. So far as they can be known, they are strongly favorable to Mr. Wilson’s point of view. Some of our greatest Presidents have suffered from Senatorial cabals against them. Such obstructionists did all in their power to make life miserable for Jefferson and Madison, and some of Lincoln’s harshest crit- ics were in the Senate and in his own party. The administrations of Grant and Cleveland were especially the vic- tims of Senatorial snipers, whose members are not confined to one par- ty. The reputation of all these Pres- idents suffered no permanent injury from the attacks of such backbiters. The Presidents are remembered, and the Senators are forgotten. Such is the fate in store for the Shermans, Borahs, Vardamans, Reeds and oth- ers of that ilk. Where Will Willie Go? Frome the Philadelphia Record. If there is anything to the report published in Berlin that William II and his family will return to Germany as soon as the National Assembly has given the country a Constitution, it must be that the Dutch government has become a little more pressing in its wish, never concealed, that the for- mer Kaiser should not remain in Hol- land. William would much rather re- main in Holland than go home. A King in exile is a much more digni- fied figure than a deposed monarch in his own country. But if the allies are pressing Holland to press William out of his refuge, of course he will have to go home; all the other places are shut up. Switzerland is reported to have declined firmly to have William II on its premises. ——Gifts from the Beef trust are as damaging as gifts from the Greeks. But a good saddler of flesh and blood has something on a wooden horse. Congressman Mann may find some consolation in that. — A fairly generous supply of foreign mail was received in Belle- fonte the beginning of the week, most has triumphed over its enemies, Re-4 — SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. i ] — | —MTrs. Philip Cover, of Shippensburg, i has a lemon grown on a plant at her home ; that weighs 13, pounds and is 1614 inches { in diameter. I | | —Leaving a note in the cash register of an Allentown shoe store, where he was employed as salesman, explaining that he | looted the till because he needed the mon- ey to take a trip to Sayre, Pa., the police are looking for Albert M. Achey. —Half a block in the center of the busi- ness district of Emporium was laid waste by a destructive fire which caused $200,000 damage last Friday. St. Marys and Reno- vo sent assistance to the local firemen, who were unable to cope with the blaze. —Arthur Rainhard, of Williamsport, has been engaged to prepare plans for a pre- posed addition to the Clinton county court house. The present building is too small and it is planned to add a thirty-six foet extension, affording a smaller court room, offices, grand jury room, etc. —Four prisoners escaped from the Ve- nango county jail Sunday night, after they had beaten Sheriff James C. Harrah 80 badly that he was taken to a hospital, where his condition is serious. State pe-« lice sent from Butler are scouring the country in search of the fugitives. —Alvin McCutcheon, of Towanda, whe sued the Lehigh Valley for $50,000 dam- eges for loss of both legs in the yard at Athens, and who was awarded $10,000 in United States court at Scranton, the cage having been in litigation two years, has settled with the company at a figure mot made public. —From a beer manufactory to an ice cream-making place, is the transition in store for the Germania Brewery at Dan- ville. For many years beer has been made there, but with absolute prohibition fac- ing the country, it was sold to George A. Lahr, who will turn it to the new use as soon as possible. —Three armed negroes made a raid om the boarding house of George Kengers, near Brownsville, last Thursday morning, forcing three men, including the proprie- tor, to hand over almost $1000. From the proprietor alone, the bandits at the poiat of a gun secured $764, which Kengers said he was saving for a trip to Europe. —Mrs. Katherine Gardner, who for 17 years has been the superintendent of the Florence Crittenden Home in Scrantes, has been called to Chattanooga, Tenn., where she will take up government work for girls. Her successor at the Florence Mission in Scranton is Miss Elizabeth Curran, of Montrose, a trained sociologic- al worker. —While E. K. Bean, a Lansdale Jewelen was selling some victrola records to a cus- tomer a well-dressed stranger, who said he had a watch he wanted repaired,’ skip- ped behind the cases and calmly helped himself to nine $10 bills, leaving more than $100 in smaller notes, finished his conversation with the jeweler and made a get away with the $00. —Within one hour after he told bis brother that he was ill and thought that death was near, but refused to go home as ‘he wanted to die with his friends,” Proctor O. Persing, one of the best known Sunbury residents, dropped dead in the Eagles’ lodge, at that place. He was a prominent mining engineer and had been retired but occasionally made exploration: rips for the Schwab interests. —Detectives at Hazleton are continuing their search for two masked highwaymen, who held up and robbed Adam Sierro, a Lehigh Traction trolley conductor, of his fares and personal cash, amounting to $24, at the point of revolvers at the Latimer crossing late Saturday night as he left his car to turn a switch. Confederates secret- ed in the woods fired a volley at the car when Sierro attempted to strike one of the bandits with a switch iron, and the six passengers ducked to the floor. After re- lieving Sierro of his money, the robbers ordered him to give the starting signal and disappeared. .—J. Humphery Carpenter, of Avondale, speaks of his early days when he was a civil engineer running railroad lines in the neighborhood of Centre Hall, State College and the western counties of the State. It was then he became acquainted with Henry Clay Frick, a clerk in a dis- tillery in the Pittsburgh neighborhood. The panic of 1873 separated these two friends, who have not seen each other since. Mr. Carpenter came East and de- voted himself to the violin, teaching for many years at the West Chester State Normal school. Mr. Frick devoted his en- ergies to mining and railroading. —Understanding that Mrs. Mary Turac, a sprightly widow living at Pottstown, would marry him if he sent a keg of beer and a quart of wine around to her house, Peter Jamalki sent the drinkables. Going to her home a few evenings ago he foumd a celebration in progress to which he had not been invited, and was wrathy when he found Mrs. Turac’s boarders enjoying the “wet goods.” Then he had the woman arrested, charged with the larceny of his beer. At a hearing before Magistrate Ho- bart Saturday evening the case was quash- ed and Jamaiki had to pay the costs, thus making him a triple loser of his money, his beer and Mrs. Turac. —At an investment of $16,000, the con- solidated labor unions of Williamsport have purchased the St. Charles hotel prop- erty for a labor temple. The passing of the hotel, which has been conducted suc- cessfully for more than twenty-five years, marks its transition from one use to another for the third time. The proper- ty, standing opposite one of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad stations in that city, was built originally for a residence. Later it became the first home of the Williamsport hospital, and when that institution was compelled to seek larger quarters and bet- ter-equipped buildings, the property was turned into a hotel. The unions have formed a temple association, with S. Her- man Alter as president, and Wilson Bus- ler secretary and treasurer, to finance the project ahead of them. “No one to blame. You will find me at the bridge.” This was the sum and substance of a note Catherine Meikle, of Galeton, found on a table downstairs, after she had awakened in the night and not- ed the absence of her mother, with whom she slept. Catherine aroused the house- hold and made search. The fire whistle was sounded and many joined in looking for the woman who had disappeared. Two hours later, before daylight, Mrs. Meikle's body was found in Pine creek, where she indicated. Illness and worry caused the act. Her home life was ideal and she was one of the town's finest women. Her brother was an engineer on the Lusitania when it went down, but was saved. Of her six sons, Lieutenant Meikle is with every family who has boys over there receiving one or more letters. the colors in France, and Oliver is serving | his second enlistment in the navy.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers