INK SLINGS. —The January thaw has not put in an appearance as yet. —No, dear, all these fellows we hear about as having “a hen settin’” are not going into the chicken busi- ness in the spring. Holland has concluded to join the League of Nations and that car- ries with it an agreement to surren- der William Hohenzollern for trial. —While Mr. Bryan's prediction that the peace treaty would be ratified last Friday was not fulfilled we are like the late Dr. Munyon in the belief that “there is hope!” —According to Admiral Sims’ own testimony he convicts himself of be- ing peeved because his opinions weren't accepted as being superior to those of any other person in the naval oragnization. —1In actual degrees of temperature it was not, but the bitter wind that blew, coupled with the temperature of about twelve degrees at mid-day made Sunday the coldest day we have had thus far this winter. —Cross-roads in Centre county are all drifted shut and had it not been for the sleet, on Tuesday, that put a crust on the very light snow that fell all day Monday another gale would have blockaded all roads hopelessly. —The young lady who doted on Manhattans because, as she explain- ed, she loved the Maraschino cherry that was in them, will probably turn up her nose at the cherry now, be- cause it isn’t fresh from a bath of whiskey and vermouth. —March 16th and 17th will be reg- istration days in boroughs and town- ships and May 18th will be primary election day. Four parties will be en- titled to nominate candidates, viz: The Republican, Democratic, Social- ist and Prohibition parties. — The circus business ought to be better than ever next season for piles of old tanks will have to depend on the traveling menageries for glimps- es of cavorting, fantastic animals that once passed in review as they laid in bed recovering from a plunge in the fountain of Bacchus. —1It is grim reality now. There is no more hoping that something will turn up to sprag the wheels of the water wagon and fellows who were never known to be tight before have forgotten entirely that there ever was such a combination of words as: “Won’t you come around to my house and have one?” —_Chicago is in the throes of anoth- ér epidemic of influenza. Already it has almost reached the high point of last year’s epidemic. It is prevalent in many other parts of the country and our readers will be the better off if they take the very best care of themselves possible. Treat the slight- est cold as promptly and thoroughly as you can. Take no chances on its developing into flu. —Of course we don’t know how the appointment of William E. Tobias as their postmaster will please the peo- ple of Clearfield, but it looks to us like good politics. Mr. Tobias made the fight for Congress three times in this District and once, at least, he would have been elected had he receiv- ed any support from the state and na- tional organizations. He merited this recognition at the hands of his party and it goes without question that he will make a very capable official. —In principle we regard the stand taken by the States of New Jersey and Rhode Island concerning the en- forcement of the eighteenth amend- ment as altogether tenable. In spir- it, however, it is all wrong. There can be no doubt of the fact that the country wants prohibition. If it has been secured by a process that abro- gates the vested rights of States a fundamental principle of democracy has been violated. Be that as it may the purpose is beneficent and the States might well waive their rights in this instance, which they would probably do were they sure that the eighteenth amendment will not be used in the future as a precedent through which further and less meri- torious encroachments will be at- tempted. tre of it all by having the public be- lieve that much more could have been done. He is suffering with the exag- gerated ego. The malady of self-con- ceit was symptomatic in his testimony before Congress and we fancy that all this fuss is not so much because some one did or did not get a “D. S. M.” or a bit of gold lace as it is because the Admiral himself is not acclaimed as having won the war single handed. —From our way of thinking the re- tirement of Admiral Sims from serv- ice would be the best thing that could happen for the morale of the United States navy. If one department of our government functioned well dur- ing the war, achievement led us to believe it was the Naval Department. It was off with the crack of the pistol. From the moment our first flotilla reached foreign waters the synclinal curve of submarine destruction began to decline. More than two million sol- diers were convoyed across three thousand miles of sea without a sin- gle loss and a bridge of ships over which supplies were carried to them was kept practically unbroken. Sure- ly this was achievement never before approached in the history of the world. In it was enough honor to add lasting fame to the memory of all who had a part in it, from the humblest gob to the ranking Admiral. And now Admiral Sims would dull the lus- PITICL —— 7 9 12 RO STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA., JANUARY 23, 1920. Dangerous Usurpation of Power. The effort to draw a parallel be- tween the action of Congress in re- fusing to seat Victor Berger, of Mil- waukee, and that of the New York Legislature in refusing to seat five Socialist members cannot succeed. There is no analogy. Mr. Berger was refused a seat not because of his po- : litical opinions or for the reason that his opinions upon political questions are different from those of the major- ity of members. He is under sentence of a court of justice for the violation of the laws of the land. He was con- victed after a full and fair hearing and sentenced according to law. the exercises of the right to determine the qualification of its members Con- gress decided that he is unfit. It was a reasonable conclusion. The five Socialist members of the New York Legislature are not even charged with crime. Upon the as- sembling of the body the Speaker de- clared they would not be admitted to membership for reasons that would be made public afterward. In pursu- ance of that statement a resolution was subsequently introduced and passed denying them the seats to which they had been elected for the reason that “they entertained views on public questions inimical to the interests of the State of New York and the United States.” How did the Speaker or the House or the Members of the House know this? had been submitted on the subject. They had never even been legally ac- cused. The action of the Legislature of New York was a dangerous invasion of the rights of the men denied their seats and of the constituencies that ! elected them. Possibly they are un- worthy of the honor bestowed upon them by their election. But that fact ought to be clearly shown by legal process before sentence is pronounced. In the case of Berger the proof was presented and the sentence of impris- onment legally pronounced. In the case of the New York Assemblymen an extraordinary and probably unjust sentence.was_given before trial and without accusation. It was an usurp- ation of power that cannot be justi- fied and ought not to be condoned. We have no sympathy for socialism but great respect for justice. Rhode Island has been given permission to bring suit to test the validity of the eighteenth amendment and the chances are that the privi- lege of paying the costs is included. Sims a Creator of Confusion. In his controversy with the Secre- tary of the Navy Admiral Sims is doing more to demoralize the service than the acts of which he complains could have accomplished in a hundred years of constant repetition. Because of a disagreement with a board ap- pointed, to award tokens of apprecia- tion for distinguished service, the Ad- miral accuses the Department of all sorts of faults and reveals some se- crets, if he is truthful, that no hon- orable man and faithful subordinate would have exposed under any cir- cumstances. In fact he has indulged himself in a tirade of faultfinding which might easily be interpreted as insubordination and punished by the severest penalty imposed for that of- fense. It is unfortunate that Admiral Sims is not in accord with the board of awards in the distribution of hon- ors earned by men of the navy dur- ing the world war. A great deal of “distinguished service” was rendered and as Admiral Schley said in dis- cussing another naval dispute, “there | is enough honor to go around.” But Admiral Sims’ opinion hardly justi- fies him in arraigning the Navy De- partment with offenses of omission and commission sufficient to condemn every high official in the Department of treason. It may be admitted that in the early period of the war some of the demands of the Admiral were not : complied with promptly. But he should have taken into consideration the fact that the government was not fully prepared for war when hostili- ties began. Admiral Sims was a most capable | and efficient officer and the country is justly grateful for his distinguished service as Commander-in-Chief of the naval forces in the war zone. But even at that he “wasn’t the whole cheese.” He is entitled to a medal and probably the biggest medal of the lot. But others in the service per- formed their part to the best of their ability and they had important parts too, and there ought to be no quarrel with a board of award that did its best to do full and exact justice to all. It is a safe guess that nobody wanted to It is equally | certain that nobody played favorites | offend Admiral Sims. in distributing awards. If the war has really brought thrift to the country it was worth all | it cost in currency and if it has made the world safe for democracy all oth- er accounts are balanced. In! The men ; had never been tried. No evidence | | Republican Plans Changed. The Republican program for this | State has been changed since last i week, according to the “dopesters” of the daily newspapers. A week ago it ' was confidently declared that Colonel - Martin, of Greene county, was “slat- ed” for the nomination for Auditor General. This was a matter of geo- graphical expediency, no doubt, for ‘with Sadler, of Cumberland county, : for Justice of the Supreme court, and Snyder, of Schuylkill county, for State Treasurer, Lewis, of York, for the only other office would make a . badly balanced ticket. But leaders i more experienced than Governor : Sproul have probably assured him | that geography has nothing to do with the case. The faithful will fol- low under any conditions. So the present plan is to nominate Sadler, Snyder and Lewis and give three of the four nominees for Con- gressman at Large to the counties west of the center, with Chairman Crow and three or four delegates-at- large to the National convention thrown in. Mr. Grundy, fat-fryer-in- chief, has consented to accept Crow and that removes the only element of opposition to the re-election of the chairman. His terms are rather ex- acting, it is true, for he demands a voice in the disbursement of the slush fund as well as in the collecting of it, which is reasonable. Pittsburgh will get one Congressman-at-Large and three delegates-at-large to the con- vention and the other western coun- ties may go hang. The truth is that the only matter of importance to the Governor and his date for Justide of the Supreme court. Judge Kunkel, of Harrisburg, | is not to be thought of in that connec- | tion for various reasons. He has not been forgiven for allowing the capitol | grafters to be convicted in his court, | and his attitude on corporate prob- ! lems likely to be before the court | within the next twenty years, is not | satisfactory. Judge Sadler, on the | other hand, is considered safe, and | that is what is wanted. All other | Make the Treaty an Issue. President Wilson and Senator ‘Lodge appear to agree on one point. The President having recommended an appeal to the voters on the ques- tion of the ratification of the peace treaty, the Senator declares he will welcome such a referendum. That being the case there ought to be no trouble in effecting the arrange- ments. As Mr. Bryan said in his Jackson day speech, the treaty ought to be ratified at once and the propos- ed referendum would entail delay. But the Democrats would not be to blame for that. Not only the Presi- dent but all the faithful representa- tives of his party have been urging action and the delay is entirely as- cribable to the opposition of the Re- publicans. We believe that a vast majority of the people of the country desire the ratification of the treaty without res- ervations. A fraction of the others favor ratification with slight reserva- tions. A small portion of the Republi- can leaders are opposed to the treaty on any terms and another small frac- tion opposes it for the reason that they imagine ratification would be a personal triumph for the President. These elements of the population, merging their sinister purposes, are strong enough in the Senate to pre- vent ratification for the present and probably may succeed in delaying it until after the Presidential election. In that event there is nothing to be lost by adopting the President’s sug- . gestion. machine is the selection of the candi- Mr. Bryan's offer to surrender to the Republican irreconcilables by ac- cepting the terms proposed by Lodge ' will not be accepted by the Democrat- _ic Senators or the Democratic people. | considerations must give way to.that. | The Republican leaders have acquir- ed large corporate interests which must be conserved. ! welcomed in Russia according to the | press dispatches, which is a semi-of- | ficial assurance that she will be plot- | ting against the government in the | near future. 1 Like Just Retribution. There may be a compromise on terms which will preserve the substance of the treaty and give the United States | her rightful place in the councils of ; the League of Nations. A week ago there was reason to hope for such an issue of the controversy speedily. But Mr. Bryan has heartened the oppo- sition and instead of expediting the ratifi:ation, as he professed to desire, he hus retarded it. In view of all the facts, therefore, it would seem to us wise to make the matter an issue in the coming campaign. — Emma Goldman was warmly Ten millions of dollar’s worth of | whiskey was seized by revenue offi- ‘cers in New York one day recently, | and confiscated under the provisions : of the law for the enforcement of the ! Prohibition amendment to the consti- | tution. The liquor had been shipped to New York from various points for i export but failed of embarkation. It ' is said that other large quantities are ‘held on the way to tide water for. { shipment, and will be taken at the | convenience of the revenue officials. : Fine. : ! The Prohibition amendment didn’t | become operative until a year had i passed after its ratification by three- | fourths of the States, during which | time the owners of the liquor were at liberty to dispose of it in a legitimate | business way. The law allowed the owners of the liquor more than six | months, after the expiration of the time for sale for domestic beverage | purposes, to dispose of it for export. i But the owners of the liquor held if, | in hope of increased profits, until all | the time limits had expired. Any time within the six months, since the first of July, the owners of | the liquor might have disposed of it at a profit of, say one thousand per cent. But an abnormal cupidity in- duced them to hold it for a ten thous- and per cent. profit. At a fair valua- tion every drop might have been dis- posed of and converted to useful pur- poses, if there are useful purposes for it. But in the expectation of re- alizing vastly greater profits they held on until now, and they have lost all and justly. Greed has cost them | not only profits but principal. The first thought that entered the heads of the owners of the whiskey after the Prohibition amendment be- came a certainty was to make the most out of the possibilities before them. They at once ran the price up out of reach of the average man. For medicinal purposes it was made im- possible for poor people by lust for profits. The loss that has come to the profiteers by the seizure seems very much like a just retribution for criminal usury. The sufferers will have little sympathy. ———Clemenceau now knows some- thing about the ingratitude of Repub- | lics but he might have got a tip in ad- vance if he had consulted Woodrow Wilson on the subject. ——It’s lucky that Admiral Sims kept his mouth under control until - after the war. ~ ——An esteemed contemporary ob- serves that “all the world is getting back to a productive basis except the | United States.” The Republican Sen- ators prefer politics to prosperity. Hunting Expansion Joints. A small force of men digging holes in the streets of Bellefonte the past ; week or more looks so much like the old days of the steam heat service that many people have been wander- ing if an effort were being made to unearth its skeleton. While the ob- ject isn’t intended to bring into being the old company it is hoped to at least unearth a skeleton that is believed to have reposed in its closet during the past thirty or more years in the shape of expansion joints over which suits entailing patent rights are now hang- ing fire. Inasmuch as Col. H. 8. Taylor is probably the only man now living in Bellefonte who knows any- thing about the matter, and he isn’t saying anything, it is not definitely certain that the joints in question were ever used in Bellefonte but any person who recalls the days of the old steam heat service will not question the fact that there were lots of ex- pansion joints in its service on the streets—so expansive in fact that traces of them could be seen on every thoroughfare. As a matter of fact almost everything about the service in those good, old days was expansive except the steam the public didn’t pay : enough for and kicked just as much as if it did. But those days are past, already to the regret of many, and we hope that now the men who are hunting expansion joints won’t find enough of them to despoil the en- tire street service in the event any | person can be inveigled into tackling the steam heating problem in the fu- ture. in the woods and valleys to make it extremely difficult for the birds to get enough to eat. This is especially the case with pheasants and wild turkeys, which do not migrate but winter in the dense woods and depend for their feed upon adjacent fields. While it may be a little trouble and some ex- pense to feed the birds farmers who live near the mountainous sections in- ' habited by either pheasants or quail ought to be willing to contribute a lit- tle from the bountiful harvests reap- ed last year to help keep these birds alive. Do it from a humanitarian standpoint, whether you get paid for it or not. If there were a vacancy in the The snow is now deep enough ! NO. 4. No Special Obsequies for Old John in Bellefonte. i The official passing of the liquor traffic by constitutional provision, at 12:01 o’clock last Friday night did not create even a flurry in Bellefonte. The main reason was undoubtedly the fact that there was nothing in stock with which to create a flurry, or any other kind of excitement. None of the hotels had any stock on hand and the few clubs that had not used up their supply had previously apportioned it among the members in good standing so that there wasn’t any supply of the “oh, be joyful!” for anybody to get joyful on, had they felt so inclined. But the general public had accepted . the situation with the true American spirit and at no time felt any doubt as | to the result, so that there was no | skirmishing around late Friday night | in an attempt to get an eleventh hour | jag on or lay in a supply. In fact, i the stuff was simply not to be had. | Of course, by this, we don’t wish to i convey the impression that there isn’t | any liquor in Bellefonte, because there iis. But it is all in private stocks and ‘as one man said, literally guarded with double barreled shot guns, and those who have it aren’t giving it away to satisfy the thirst of any man. And just who has it and where he keeps it is a fact that even the census enumerators didn’t find out. - It might here be added that a gov- ernment inspector came to Bellefonte on Friday and remained over until Saturday. Whether he came here for the purpose of seeing that there would be no infraction of the eighteenth amendment is of course not known, but if that was his purpose, he had lit- tle to do. At noon on Saturday the church bells of the town were rung in token of the world-wide victory for prohi- bition, and on Sunday all the minis- ters made it a point in their services. And thus ends, for the present, a icustom that has been in vogue i through all the ages of man. That ; much good will be wrought out of the | abolition of strong drink is undoubt- edly an incontrovertable fact, and only. time will tell what the result will be | { nation wide. ; | As to what will become of the sev- | enty-five or eighty million gallons of | whiskey, not counting wines, now tied | up in this country is a question that L will probably be disposed of by the government at some future time. But we might suggest that some of it be kept as a sort of curiosity and several hundred years from now the govern- ment might make big money by ex- hibiting it as the sort of stuff that men and women used to drink with { the result that it made them wabbly ‘in their legs, light in their heads and willing to fight their weight in wild cats. ——1It cost the government $2100 to maintain the advanced Reserve Offi- cers’ Training Corps work at Penn State College for the three months ending December 1st. This sum was recently paid the upper class students listed in the advanced military course. They are paid at the rate of forty cents a day. Forty-four men are en- gaged in the advanced work, and twelve of these will complete the course and be graduated in February. ——The road supervisor’s conven- tion of Centre county will be held in the court house on Friday of next week, January 30th, at 10:30 a. m. A full turnout is desired. ——W. E. Tobias, of Clearfield, Democratic candidate for Congress in 11916 and 1918, has been appointed | postmaster of Clearfield by President i Wilson. The Regular Order of Business. From the New York World. A guileless young person who works for The Tribune, in Washing- ton, telegraphs excitedly to our ' friend and neighbor that the Demo- . crats are in a state of “panic” over a | report that William J. Bryan is to head the Nebraska delegation to the Democratic National convention and will be a candidate for the nomina- | tion. Although we like to believe every- | thing we see in print, we suspect that | the panic existed only in the callow ‘imagination of The Tribune's corres- pondent. No Democrat old enough to vote could be astonished by a report that Mr. Bryan was going to a Demo- cratic National convention and would be a candidate. We should as soon expect to seeHester street in a panic over the appearance of a pushcart. | National conventions are creatures ' | of tradition, and no Democratic con-' vention is formally convened until ' William J. Bryan has opened his ' headquarters and made overtures for | the nomination. That is as necessary | as examining the credentials of the | delegates. If the Washington Demo- crats heard the report that The Tri- —— SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —C. W. Randolph, of near Houtzdale, cut down a bee tree the other day that netted him 136 pounds of honey. The tree was located by his wife last summer while she was out picking berries. —A class of m¢re than 400 Masons will receive the Scottish Rite degrees at the anniversary meeting of Williamsport Com- sistory next week, and it is expected that ; 1,000 visitors will be in attendance. —In these days of constitutional prohi- bition and no whiskey, it is interesting te note that according to a bill found in the garret at the home of Mrs. J. A. Ziegler, Hanover Junction, York county, whiskey sold for 40 cents a gallon in 1830. —While reaching for a sled tongue hanging on the wall of his barn, Abram C. Smith, of Utahville, Clearfield county, fell to the floor and rolled under a horse, and during the fright the horse trampled its owner to death. Mr. Smith was one of Utahville’s best known citizens. —The Rev. Joseph Welch, of Philadel- phia, who was removed as chaplain of the eastern penitentiary by Governor Sproul last week on recommendation of the State Board of Charities, which investigated conditions in the institution, died on Sun- day. He was 83 years old and was chap- lain of the penitentiary for thirty-eight years. —Charles F. Ebert, a member of the Wil- liamspore police department since 1910, committed suicide at his home in that city, about 1:30 o'clock on Saturday. Mr. Eb- ert had gone to the third floor of his home and a few minutes later a shot was heard. An investigation revealed the fact that Mr. Ebert had ended his life with a revolver. He was dead when found. —Five persons, two women and three children, lost their lives in a fire at Shunk, in the extreme northwestern part of Sul- livan county, Saturday night. The sole survivor, Herbert Forest, aged forty-nine years, is in the Williamsport hospital, suf- fering from serious burns, sustained in he- roic attempts to rescue his aged mother, his wife, two daughters and a son, whe were victims. —Jesse Allen, the colored man of Al- toona, who was convicted of second de- gree murder for the killing of Granville Davis, at the January term of criminal court last week, was sentenced at a ses- sion of the county court held at Holli- daysburg Monday morning by Judge Baldridge, to serve a term in the western penitentiary of not less than fourteen years nor more than sixteen years. —Hugh Summers, 83 years old, is dead at his home at Burnham, Mifflin county, Deceased was one of the oldest employees of the Standard Steel works, he having been in their employ sixty years. When the Civil war broke out he was exempted from the draft on the grounds that his service was essential to the making of war material in the plant. He was a great deer hunter and probably killed more deer than any other man in Mifflin county, —James H. Houser, 75 years of age, of Hillsboro, is all ready to die now. In fact, he has already buried himself. Believing funerals should be enjoyed while living, he has had his staged recently, Many friends attended. They sang “Nearer my God to Thee,” and a lot of other funeral | songs after a minister delivered Hou burial service. Houser has prepared hi: a church in Hillsboro, and at the Houser home. —Property that cost the government $20,000 has been sold by the Kane Manu- facturing company to a junk dealer of that McKean county town for approximately $2000. There were 80,000 pounds of chains for use on wagon tongues and iron for wagon boxes and dump wagons. The ma- terial was left on hand when the armis- tice was signed, the company having a contract with the government to manufac- ture wagons and dump wagons for use i the war. : —The largest referee's award ever awarded a McKean county claimant under the Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensa- tions act was made last Tuesday by Ref- eree G, Scott Smith to Mrs. Mary Slotta, of Degolla, Pa., the award being for her- self and six children in the amount of $6,017.01. Mrs. Slotta received this money for the death of her husband, who was in- stantly killed on October 6th, 1919, while at work for the Custer City Chemical com- pany, at its plant at Custer City, Pa. —Pennsylvania Railroad company police have been working on a series of car rob- beries on the Pittsburgh division for the .past few weeks and as a result of their ac- tivities R. W. Glenn, C. and Ira J. Ellen- berger, were arrested at Pitcairn on Sat- urday. R. W. Glenn was shot by one of the officers and is now in the Westmore- land hospital at Greensburg, while the other two have been lodged in jail. The three were surprised as they were about to get away with a large amount of goods they had removed from the car. —Alleging that her good name has been injured by “false, scandalous, malicious and defamatory” charges, made by Mrs. A. C. Smith, of South Brownsville, whose husband is one of the most prominent physicians in the Monongahela valley, Mrs. Bertha Brown, a trained nurse of South Brownsville, has entered suit at Union- town against Mrs. Smith, charging slander and asking $50,000 damages. Mrs. Smith recently sued her husband for a divorce i and named the nurse as correspondent, al- { leging that he spent most of his time in | the nurse’s home. —DMiller & Hartswick, attorneys repre- | senting Wasco Logden, of Beccaria, Clear- | field county, entered suit Monday against | Dr. W. Steele Bryan, a Ramey physician. | Logden says that he is a coal miner, and on October 4th last suffered a fractured left arm from a fall of rock. Doctor Bry- an was called to reduce the fracture, and | the plaintiff says he did so carelessy, neg- , ligently and unprofessionally, and as a re- sult the bones failed to knit together. He says he suffered great pain and considera- ble expense in having the error corrected, and is now asking damages not to exceed . $15,000. —The will of Thomas Lilley, West Brownsville coal operator, which directed that his estate of $2,500,000 remain intact for ninety-nine years and then be divided, will be contested by Walter and C. E. Lil- ley, nephews, and by W. H. Ulery, who sets forth that he is interested personally in the estate. Lilley, always eccentric, never married and if the provisions of his will are followed the big estate probably office of floor leader of the Republi- bune correspondent prattles about, | will be divided among grandchildren and cans in the Senate it is a safe bet that Senator Lodge would not be chosen. ———Subscribe for the “Watchman.” they were not in a state of panic. On the contrary, they settled back com- fortably, knowing that the campaign | was proceeding according to the reg- ular order of business. . | great-grandchildren of his mearest rela- tives, The Lilley Coal and Coke company, ! of which he was president and in which | he held a controlling interest, is the chief | asset in the fortune. own obituary. The ceremony was held at