INK SLINGS. —-Harding ought to be an easy man to defeat. —Now if the Democrats should take Cox wouldn’t the fur fly in Ohio? — Besides Colonel Proctor has plenty of soap with which to “wash his hands of the affair.” —Again let us remind you that we believe the next President of the Unit- ed States will be a Democrat. — San Francisco will tell the world who the next President of the United States will be. Chicago merely nam- ed a runner-up. — Grover Bergdoll seems to be as unsuccessful in his search for that pot of gold as those who are still dig- ging for Captain Kid’s treasures. —They say the fly is in the wheat and the cut-worm is at the corn. My, what troubles we farmers have during the crop growing season and then we have them in the fall, too, for the barns are never large enough to hold the crops that the flies and the worms have not destroyed during the sum- mer. . — Bellefonte has again demonstrat- ed her ability to withstand the ravag- es of time. According to the tele- graphic warnings she was to have been blown clean off the map on Tues- day. You have this paper in your hand now so that you know she was still doing business at the old stand as late as Thursday night. —Reports from the south and west lately are to the effect that the bottom has dropped out of the leather and wool markets and that $2.50 shoes are in sight. Far-sightedness is one of our disabilities but we must say that it hasn’t become acute enough as yet to bring any such welcome sight as cheaper foot-wear within our range of vision. —Harding has announced that he will make few pre-election talks be- cause he believes “whirl-wind” speech-making beneath the dignity of the highest office of the land.” In other words, Hughes and Roosevelt and Taft were all grossly undignified when they swung around the circle telling the people who had a right to know just where they stood on the great questions at issue. Verily this country printer from Ohio stops not at shattering idols in the hope that the dust from their falling will ob- scure a real vision of himself. —The Republican national platform is broken down with its own weight of wind-shattered planks. It does not contain a single constructive thought. It reverses itself on the League of Nations, it is neither “wet” nor “dry,” it ignores suffrage and labor and is non-committal on every other vital ues ion presented to the country for solution. It is nothing more nor less than a Senatorial effort to throw dust in the public eye so that a President can be gotten into the White House who will do what Penrose, Lodge and other Senators of their ilk tell him to do. —During the week we have met quite a number of Ohioans and, nat- urally, the topic of conversation was the nomination of Harding for Presi- dent on the Republican ticket. With- out exception every one of the gentle- men we refer to were Republicans and men of consequence in their com- munities and in business affairs. With- out exception every one of them ex- pressed the opinion that Governor Cox would carry Ohio over Harding; a few went so far as to say that Am- bassador Davis could do the trick also and all but one of them said they would personally vote for Cox, Davis or McAdoo in preference to their own “favorite son.” —Dr. Finegan, state superintend- ent of public instruction, made his first visit to The Pennsylvania State College this week. While there he re- vealed a part of what is in his mind for the educational system of the Commonwealth. If, as a friend of the great Centre county institution of learning, you have read with appre- hension the current stories of the foundation of a great university as the seat of higher education to which all the common schools will guide the children of the State, let us assure you that it is not in Dr. Finegan’s plan to have such a university unless The Pennsylvania State College is its cap- stone. We make this statement here because we heard Dr. Finegan make substantially the same one at State College on Tuesday morning. — Those of our readers who are in- terested in politics may recall having read in this column of the “Watch- man,” issue of February 27th, a state- ment directing attention to the sig- nificance of the hurried visit of Sena- tor Harding to Senator Penrose be- fore the latter left for Florida. They might also recall another statement published in this column on April 23rd, after Senator Watson, of Indi- ana, had paid a visit to Spruce street, Philadelphia, calling attention to the interview he gave to newspaper men. He said, “Senator Penrose has in mind some man of the type of Senator Har- ding for the Republican nomination.” Our comment at the time was: “A nod is as good as a wink.” The “Watchman” is not pinning any med- als on itself as a prophet but in light of the fact that it so easily linked up Penrose and Harding and stead- fastly refused to believe that either Wood or Johnson would have a show we do sort of feel that its dope on the result of the big Republican game was about as good as anybody’s and a lit- tle better than most of them. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 65. BELLEFONTE. PA., JUNE 18, 1920. Impressive Lesson from Chicago. The action of the Republican Na- tional convention in Chicago last week conveys several lessons to the Ameri- can people, one of which should make a strong impression on the Democrats who will assemble at San Francisco ten days from today. It may be con- fidently assumed that General Wood was the favorite, by long odds, of the Republican voters of the country. It is equally certain that his candidacy was better advertised than that of either of the other candidates. It is not going far afield, either, to say that Governor Lowden, of Illinois, was best qualified of the lot for the service, though Senator Johnson has had considerable experience in public life and has good ability. But Wood and Lowden were bowled out of the running because of the vast sums of money which had been ex- pended in their behalf. It was shown by evidence taken before a Sen- ate investigating committee that $1,200,000 had been spent in behalf of Wood, and about half a million in behalf of Lowden. The Wood money was contributed by wealthy men who could afford to give it and the Low- den money came out of his wife's pocket. But the idea of squandering so much money was repugnant to the average mind, suggestive, at least, of corruption and the candidate so gen- erously favored by his friends and the one so profligate with his wife’s funds were turned down because of fear that voters would be repelled. Of the candidates who will ask the San Francisco convention for the priceless favor of a nomination for President, the only one who has spent considerable money in the pri- mary campaign is Mitchell Palmer and his expenditures were relatively great as those of the candidates rejected by the Republican convention. Moreover the contributions to his fund were from more objectionable sources. Be- sides the thousands of dollars con- tributed by beneficiaries of the candi- date, other thousands were taken, practically by force, from the meager- ly paid Federal officials in Pennsyl- vania who could hardly afford to give up the money. If Wood and Lowden committed an offense, Palmer is guilty of an atrocity. : “om he Governor Sproul wasn’t nomi- nated but he learned a lot about poli- tics during the convention which may serve him well in the future. He knows now that it is unsafe to mon- key with the real boss even though he be sick a’bed. The Republican Platform. The Republican platform excels in verbosity, in ambiguity and in vapid- ity. It has no other characteristic. It covers nearly a page of newspaper space and expresses neither principle nor policy. It denounces President Wilson for everything imaginable. That was to be expected for Senator Lodge is so obsessed with hatred of the President that he has no thought of anything else, and Senator Lodge present, and Senator Penrose absent, composed the convention. But the the platform is an anomaly. It ram- bles from pillar to post, denounces evils, misrepresents facts but offers no concrete remedies for anything. Obviously “too many cooks have spoiled the broth.” Of course the platform makers had a difficult task to perform. The party is faction torn and in the effort to satisfy the various parts of the whole it was necessary to dissemble. But even that was poorly executed and the insipid platitudes employed contradict each other. Upon the question of the League of Nations this is especially apparent. A sop is thrown to the irreconcilables in the assertion of a selfish purpose to de- mand reparation and a promise is made to the ear of the mild reserva- tionists in the assertion that the “Re- publican party stands for agree- ment among the nations to preserve the peace of the world.” But in its reference to conditions in Mexico the spirit of war is the dominant note. All in all the Republican platform is, as an esteemed contemporary states, “the most impudent and preposterous document ever adopted by a political convention.” It is an appeal to ev- ery element of the human mind that is execrable. There is a concealed “quid pro quo” in every sentence of the long drawn out and absurdly con- structed instrument and a poorly masked condemnation of every Ameri- can ideal expressed in our recent war activities. If the American people will stand for such sordid and sel- fish purposes as are expressed in the Republican planform they are un- worthy of the high place in civiliza- tion which the wisdom and patriotism of Woodrow Wilson has given them. ee ee ——Republican leaders have been boasting that they could “elect a yel- low dog” President this year, but it may be said that isn’t the reason that Senator Harding was nominated. Harding isn’t a yellow dog. 1 | Harding the Penrose Puppet. The nomination of Senator Warren G. Harding, as the Republican candi- date for President, is strictly in line with the logic of events. Any of the other candidates named might have been favored and if the Senator- ial investigation had not revealed the prifligate use of money in his behalf, Governor Lowden, of Illinois, would have been chosen. Senator Harding was the original choice of the Old Guard, and was indicated by Senator Penrose some months ago. But upon his failure to carry his own State for the nomination, Governor Lowden became the favorite of that element. But the too free use of his wife’s mil- lions in the primary contest interfer- ed with that plan and Harding became a necessity. Senator Harding is a nice, clean, colorless nonenity in politics and just such a figure as Penrose and his as- sociate professional political manipu- lators require to entrench themselves in power and license them to loot the country for a few years. He never had an idea above servile obedience to the party boss and never aspired to a higher station than that of member- ship in the party machine. For this reason he has been favored more fre- quently in recent years and because of these facts he was chosen as the candidate early in the campaign for nomination. That he was finally se- lected may be ascribed to the fact that Penrose was afraid to trust Sproul for a word from the sick room in Philadelphia would have made our Governor the candidate. From the Democratic viewpoint, however, it is probably better as it is. Governor Sproul would not have been a strong candidate for his labor record as well as his vacillation on various subjects would have counted strong against him. But Harding has noth- ing in his favor except that he is the choice of Penrose, which position he attained after careful consideration. If Harding should be elected and Pen- rose lives, the seat of government will be wherever Penrose happens to be and the purpose of government to perpetuate Penroseism and all that it implies. We are not ready to be- lieve that the people of the United States are willing to fasten such a yoke upon their necks. ; errs reese —— The nomination of Harding wasn’t the greatest achievement of the Old Guard at that. Taming Hun- gry Hi is no easy task and it is be- lieved that he is now sufficiently do- cile to eat out of Lodge’s hand. Punishment of Sproul. The failure of Governor Sproul to get the Presidential nomination of his party was disappointing to many of his friends throughout the State who had been “fed up” to the belief that he had a chance of such a party honor and favor. It is not likely that the Governor was himself fooled by the hopeful prophesies of the more or less sycophantic followers who were urging him. He is too old in the game of politics and too wise to the devices of politicians to be deceived by the transparent tricks employed to keep him in the field as an aspirant until the leading candidates had spent their strength. But many of his sin- cere friends were deceived and are disappointed accordingly. Governor Sproul might have been nominated in Chicago if he had been independent as a | less sincere and man. In fact there was a short per- iod during the primary campaign in which it looked as if he might be nom- inated in spite of the machine. It was because of that fact that Sena- tor Penrose introduced Senator Knox into the running. That was notice that Sproul was no more wanted than General Wood or Senator Johnson. As both Penrose and Mayor Moore, of Philadelphia, have since admitted Governor Sproul’s name was kept on the list of candidates only for the pur- pose of holding votes away from Wood and Johnson and the purpose ! was achieved with “neatness and dis- patch.” Possibly some of the friends of Gov- ernor Sproul will “forget and for- give” the trick thus played on them through the Governor, but all of them are not so amiably inclined. When the Governor exercised his constitu- tional right to select men of his own choice for important official services he became anathema to the machine and the bosses determined to humil- iate him. path of a laudable ambition point where a fall would prove disas- trous, they adopted the most cruel process of punishment, but the most certain and effective. So far as fu- ture political advancement is concern- ed Governor Sproul is done for and that is precisely in accordance with the plans. — Happily Colonel Proctor does not need the half million he spent in the effort to nominate General Wood and the other contribuvors to the fund may find an oil well in Mexico. In leading him along the | to a] | Third Party Movement Certain. The announcement by Mr. Amos Pinchot, following the adjournment of the Chicago convention, that there will ' be a third ticket nominated this year, | may be accepted as practically a cer- i tainty. Senator Johnson may have made such terms with the reaction- aries in his party as will exclude him from participation in the work of or- ganizing the new party, but there are plenty of others ready and willing to act and the California political fire brand will no doubt give it moral if | not material support. No condition could be more auspicious for such a movement. Organized labor is just- ly indignant at the action of the Re- publican convention and both the wets and the drys have reason to complain of its action on the subject. Last fall a tentative organization : was created for political service this year. Among those interested in the movement were, besides Mr. Pinchot, Mr. Owen R. Lovejoy, Herbert Bige- low, Glen E. Plumb, David Starr Jor- , dan, Bishop Charles D. Williams and many others. These are names to conjure with and it is said they had supporters in a number of the States. ' Their code of principles as indicated in advance literature may not appeal | to conservative minds but is certain "to prove attractive to a considerable | number of voters who have heretofore been affiliated with the Republicon ‘party. They declare for public own- ership of utilities, free speech, equal economic, political and legal rights . and other reforms. 1t is expected that the Farmers’ i Non-Partisan League which has al- | ready developed considerable strength in some of the northwestern States will affiliate with this new organiza- tion and a meeting has been called in Chicago for July 10th, to take the pre- liminary steps for putting a ticket in the field. A considerable sentiment in favor of Senator LaFollette as the candidate for President has already been expressed and the attitude of his friends in the Republican convention last week would indicate that it is not | without his sanction. In any event it ' may safely be said that the third par- 'ty movement is already under way and i is likely to give Penrose and his gang a good deal of trouble. 1 4 1 | ——What has become of the old- ! fashioned farmers who every year | planted a half acre or more in garden truck and regularly every Tuesday and Saturday mornings drove to Belle- fonte with well laden wagons to at- tend the curb market? Now-a-days Bellefonte is not only without such a market, but so few farmers bring fresh vegetables, berries, ete., to Belle- fonte, that a wagon loaded with gar- den truck is a real novelty in Belle- fonte. During the past few years Bellefonte council has made over- tures for an old-time curb market but farmers gave as a reason for not raising more truck the scarcity of farm help on account of the war. The war has now been over eighteen months and farmers continue to be short of labor, owing to the high wag- es paid in other lines of industry, and the outlook is no better for a curb market this year. This is one reason why every Bellefonter who has the ground to do so is cultivating his own garden. He is compelled to do | so in order to have the delicious green vegetables during the summer season. — Times used to be when the bor- ough lock-up was an institution in daily demand and a well trodden path led thereto. Today the calaboose is almost a relic of the dark ages. The path to the building is grass grown, large burdocks grow in rank profusion in front of the door and the iron fence partially surrounding it is rusted off and broken down. If this is one of the results of prohibition, the fact must be admitted that it is a com- mendable one, and the old lockup should be allowed to rot on its founda- tion as a memento of the times that { have passed and gone. . ——Summer will officially begin | next Monday according to the calen- | dar, and that is naturally supposed | to be the longest day in the year; but | the fact is that beginning Sunday | four days will be of equal length, 15 | hours and 17 minutes, the sun rising at 4:23 in the morning and setting at 7:40 in the evening. But the dif- ference will hardly be noticeable as today is only one minute shorter. eel lee. ——The nomination of Harding ap- pears to have given universal satis- faction. The Democrats are quite as well pleased as the Republicans and a good deal more sincere in their ex- pressions. ni to ——If Amos Pinchot gets his third party movement going Gifford may get some consolation out of Penrose’s disappointment. ——As a member of the village band Senator Harding, early in life, learned to “blow his own horn.” 1 NO. 25. — - - —— S———— | A Woman’s Description of Harding’s Nomination. | By Janet Stewart in the ! North American. THE COLISEUM, Chicago, June 12, | The tenth ballot is in % y it is evident that Harding will be i nominee. i Fifteen thousand people have gone mad in a frenzy not so much of en- ‘ thusiasm as relief. Hell is loose. In ' an orgy of dementia, aging, shrieking, reeling men linked to heat-and-excite- . ment-crazed women surge and sway in “an inconcievably restricted space. The noise would deafen any but ears already deadened to the cruelty of it. The world is in eruption. Nothing I not even the day of judgment, could : be so awful. It is impossible not to believe that | Harding has not been the breathless i hope of the whole Republican party | for the last seven years. Men who hate and distrust him | dance drunkenly in an agony of hap- piness at having him nominated over their months of protest. 2 If madness were infectious this would be a pesthouse of dangerous lunatics. ‘ As it is, it is a stampede of brain- bereft humanity, hemmed into a clos- ed hades of heat, yelling like jungle creatures and writhing like huge monsters in a bestial debauch. Sense has fled. Decency is dead, pa- triotism is paralyzed and realities are reeling. The lid is off and the world can go to hell. Men who could have had the best have chosen the worst and stagger with the success of their own defeat. The American flags pulse in the withering heat over the defeat of Am- erican prineiples, as they have over a thousand such defeats, and will again. The old guard that was announced so utterly slaughtered apparently nei- ther dies nor surrenders. Jonnson was right. It was a “fam- ily quarrel” and delegates throw their hats at each other in congratulation that it is over. In the bedlam, men and women em- brace one another for joy in having done what none of them wanted to. Bunches of Harding’s photographs float through the fetid air. A large portrait of him preceded by the colors of the United States leads a procession through the mass of dele- gates, : Wisconsin stands like a stiff little pisiand against the waves of unanim- AY id waa WE, TNE i . Pennsylvania, which any time since | the third ballot could have precipitated a nomination, is called. She casts sixty votes for Harding, and it is all over. Harding’s nomination is as- sured and other States come tumbling into the bandwagon. It is the climax. The achieving of the nomination leaves the revellers with no further heights—or depths— to which to go. The climax is an anti- climax. The official announcement of Harding’s nomination by comparison with what had gone before falls flat. To thousands it is like the awakening from a nightmare—or a debauch. An old political observer who has seen many national conventions re- called the scenes in the Coliseum in Philadelphia an the 1912. “At that time,” said he, “the con- vention was ruled by highwaymen, who lived up to their parts to the end. This time it is more like men who i had been robbing henroosts.” The nominating of Calvin Coolidge, of Massachusetts, for the vice presi- dency, drags the doubting of the dis- integrated Progressives and cements the family reunion. If to be a whirling Dervish is a state of bliss, the Republican party is tonight in paradise. An Old Guard Candidate. From the New York World. Senator Harding is the perfect flow- er of old guard politics. He is an Ohio country politician with the mind of an Ohio politician, and he sees the world through the eyes of an Ohio country politician. Being weak and colorless and mediocre, he appealed powerfully to the managing politi- cians who control the Republican or- ganization, most of whom are Sena- tors themselves. They know Harding, and they know that he will be a faith- ful agent of the organization. They have worked with him and they can prove that he never had an original idea or entertained a thought that was outside the routine of a well-trained and well-disciplined party servant. The Senator's friends are fond of comparing him with McKinley, but the resemblance is mainly superficial. Both came out of Ohio, but if Hard- ing is a McKinley he is a McKinley without McKinley’s personal charm, a McKinley without McKinley's ex- traordinary skill in managing men, a McKinley without McKinley’s wide experience in public affairs. Senator Harding was nominated be- cause the old guard Republicans want a President to whom they can give orders—a President who will take orders. Accordingly they present their puppet candidate in the person of Warren G. Harding, of Ohio. [E—————— Afraid of the Soldiers’ Bonus. From the DuBois Express. Running true to form the Republi- cans were afraid to include in their platform anything specific on the sol- dier bonus. The buncombe spread in Congress evidently is to be continued in the campaign, as they fear to pay the price of a definite promise. ——Subscribe for the “Watchman.” d Jefferson county. SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —A Clearfield contractor who has been remodeling the County National Bank im that town was unable to get some of the fixtures for the interior, shipped on ac- count. of a freight embargo. He found it necessary to have the fixtures placed im a refrigerator car, with a lot of ice to make the bluff stronger. The shipment was labeled strawberries, and came through in a hurry. —The Mifflinburg to Montandon auto bus line, which was operated by C. W. Klose, of Mifflinburg, made its last trip lasg week. ‘The bus line was started to SII a vacancy in the train service early in the morning and late in the evening, but, according to Klose, it didn’t pay for the gas and another transportation bubble burst. The public service commission granted Mr. Klose the privilege of dis- continuing it. —The T. W. Phillips Gas and Oil Com-~ pany has brought in a good gas well on the T. S. Brownlee farm, near Pekin, The well is now making about 4,000,000 feet a day. It is in the shallow sand and was secured at a depth of about 800 feet. At that depth it is not probable that the flow of gas will !ast long, as wells of that kind have created considerable sensation in the past, but do not have the staying qualities. —Two new fire wardens have been nam- ed by the department of forestry for Clearfield county. They are James D. Connelly and Grant Butler, of Clearfield, and they will serve in Lawrence and Pine townships. Mr. Connelly is Democratic candidate for Congress from the Twenty- first district. He is a member of the Clearfield fire department and took a com- spicuous part in extinguishing the recent forest fires in the vicinity of Clearfield. —Charles Sotousk, a burglar, of Schuyl- kill county, who hanged a Mine Hill wom- an in chains to her own ceiling and left her apparently dying after severe tortures, was committed to jail without bail by Justice Flynn, of Minersville. Mrs. Michael Pernosky, the woman, testified her life was saved only by the fact that the chains slipped. Later the burglar at tacked two women at Marlin, but was driven off with a hatpin by one of them. —Marion Heights, a coal region borough, on Saturday appealed to the Northumber- land County Commissioners for financial aid. It was declared the town is bank- rupt, without borrowing capacity, and with no taxes coming in for more than a month. Anthracite properties for which, it is alleged, more than $1,000,000 was paid, are assessed at $35,000, and, with this small valuation unchanged, there will be no relief for the next three years, it was alleged. - Because of no money, the maximum wage of teachers? ‘was only $85 a month. The commissioners will take some action this week. ; —Being his own banker has proven costly for George Mareno, of Chester, who for several years has been hoarding his money in an old trunk, which he kept locked in his room. When Mrs. Mareno and other members of the Mareno house- hold urged George to patronize a bank, after his savings had accumulated to a snug sum, he replied, ‘I don’t believe in them.” Now George thinks banks are the proper place to deposit money. He reach- ed that conclusion Monday when he found that the trunk had been opened with a cold chisel and hammer and one-half of his savings gone. The thief took $500 and left the same amount. Mareno says he had an even thousand in the trumk, —Mrs. Margaret Eichelburger, whose husband, LeRoy Eichelburger, was mur- dered as he slept at his home in West Grove, Chester county, on the night of June: 1, by Mrs. Mary Frances Dunlop, whose lover he was, after which she kil- led her daughter and herself, has retain- ed counsel at West Chester and will en- ter a suit against the estate of Mrs. Dun- lop for $25,000 damages for the loss of her husband. The papers will be filed in the courts within a short time and the case thus started. Mrs. Dunlop is reput- ed to have left an estate of between $40,000 and $50,000, although Robert W. Dunlop, the husband, declares that this will be reduced greatly by investments made by his wife in oil stocks through importuni- ties of agents some time ago. —Injuries he sustained due to a Kkick- ing mule won an $18,000 verdict for Wm. J. Varrol, of Mt. Carmel, in the Northum- berland county court, at Sunbury last week. The accident occurred at the Alaska colliery of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company in 1915. According to the testimony, the young man was driving a team attached to a trip of eight cars. One of the mules kicked and in dodging to get out of the way he fell un- der the wheels and as a result he lost the use of his right leg. The case was tried last year and ended in a disagreement after the jury was out twelve hours. This is the last suit for civil damages due to accident that will be tried in court, all such matters in the future being handled by the State compensation referee. Law- vers will lose thousands of dollars in fees as a result. = —Charging the father of her 17 chil- dren with cruelty, Mrs. Delmar ¥. Camp- bell, 46 years old, of Lower Augusta town- ship, Northumblerand county, has brought suit for an absolute divorce. At the same time she asked the Court for an injunction restraining her husband from disposing of any of the present crops on their farm. She alleges that the prop- erty is in her name and that it was deeded to her in 1909. She also as- serted that in 12 years he has collected and kept $11,500 of her money from products of the farm. Fourteen of the Campbell's children are living, seven are more than 21 years old and seven are under age. She says her husband’s un- kindness has lasted for some time, but does not indicate the nature of his alleg- ed cruelties. The Campbells have been married more than 30 years. —H. B. Loop, proprietor of the Upde- graff hotel; Thomas D. Casale, proprietor of the Casale hotel; James Burrows, pro- prietor of the New Federal hotel; ¥rank Hemig, bartender at the Updegraff and Harry Walker, bartender at the New Federal, all of Williamsport, were before United States Commissioner, W. D. Crocker, Thursday, charged with violat- ing the national prohibition act. The warrants were served by United States Marshal Harvey Smith, All waived a hear- ing and gave bail, the proprietors in $1,000 each and the bartenders in $500 each for their appearance at the next session of the United States court, at Scranton, October 18. The arrests were made upon information made by A. E. Rudisill, special agent in the enforcement of prohibition, and specific dates were giv- en when whiskey was purchased at $8 per half plat.