Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, November 26, 1920, Image 2

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    Demorralif: acm,
“Bellefonte, Pa., November 26, 1920.
a ———————————————————
ALL RIGHT IN THE END.
1 want to believe in the happy old way
That all will come right in the end some
day,
That ie will be better and days will be
sweet,
That roses will carpet the world for men's
feet,
That love and
trust
Will lift us from sorrow and shadow and
dust.
I want to go toiling with this in my heart,
That every day brings us the joy of a
start
Fresh with endeavor and duty and truth,
As we swing to our tasks with the vigor of
youth,
Singing the music of love and of cheer,
Till clouds drift apart and the storms dis-
appear.
affection and honor and
I want to go trusting that this will be so
As out to the toil and the tumult we go;
That hearts will be kinder and life will
grow bright
With the blessing of labor that leads to
the light;
That troubles, like bubbles, will burst and
away,
And all will come right in the end
day.—Baltimore Sun.
some
HOISTING LIVES.
With a quick pull at his levers,
Dominicus Sprague, night engineer at
the Redstone Company’s hoisting
plant over the B. J. & M. ventilation
shaft, sent the empty bucket hurt-
ling down into the gloom.
“I’m done at the end of this month,”
he confided to his assistant, Ralph
Sturdee. “I won’t go on hoisting men
up and down with that old cable.
We've turned it end for end, and
spliced it in half a dozen places; but
it isn’t safe. The whole plant's the
same way; everything’s going to rack
and ruin.” ’
“Frank Elmore heard a rumor in
Templeton that the Redstone was hav-
ing hard sledding,” said Ralph.
“When a company with capital to
handle only six jobs undertakes to
swing a dozen, it’s easy to tell how
the last end of the list’ll fare,” was
Sprague’s comment. “That's why
they've been trying to finish this shaft
with the old gear Bleckwell & Brown
used; but they’ll have to find some
one else to do their hoisting.” ;
“When you go, I go too,” said
Ralph. : :
It was nine o'clock of a night in Oc-
tober, and a forty-mile gale was
whistling over the engine house. The
walls and floor shook, the windows
rattled, the flames in the cracked lan-
terns flared and smoked.
The building stood over the thous-
and-foot ventilation shaft that was be-
ing driven down through the solid
rock of the Allegheny spur to meet
the four-mile tunnel of the B. J. & M.
Railway. The pit was a black, gap-
ing, ugly hole, twenty feet across,
covered by a platform, in the middle
of which was an opening, five feet
square, directly under the hoisting
drum.
Two hundred feet below, a dozen
men were toiling. Up from the dis-
mal abyss rose thin, distant voices, the
clink of picks and the scraping of
shovels. There was a ladder on the
side of the pit, but the workmen rare-
ly used it; they preferred the quicker
and easier trip in the bucket.
A few minutes after nine o’clock an
automobile stopped outside the engine
house, and presently four men enter-
ed. All were young, apparently not
more than thirty. One of them, a
sturdy fellow, with rosy, clean-cut
face and twinkling eyes, handed an
envelope to the engineer.
“J've a letter from Mr. Penfield,” he
said. “We'd like to look your plant
over.”
Mr. Penfield was the manager of the
Redstone company. .
The four inspected the premises
earefully, making frequent comments
in low tones to one another.
“Technical-school fellows!” the en-
ineer grumbled under his breath.
ink they know it all!
their kind before.”
At last they had looked at every-
thing except the shaft. Sprague had
just hoisted a bucket of rock, and
Iph had tipped it into the little
dump car on the track beside the plat-
form.
“Guess we'll go down,” said the
spokesman. “Safe, isn’t it?”
“The cable ought to hold you,” said
Sprague. “But you'll have to run
your own risk; I won’t guarantee any-
thing.”
“How much does that load of rock
weigh ?”
“A ton or more,” answered the en-
ineer.”
“That’s all right. We won’t foot
up seven hundred,” said the stranger.
“Come on, boys!”
They clambered aboard and drop-
ped out of sight. Sturdee pushed the
car out on the dump. Soon the buck-
et was at the bottom, and Sprague
stopped his engine.
Presently the rattle of rock told
him that the conveyor was being load-
ed. That meant that the visitors in-
tended to stay down over one trip.
Before long the hoisting bell clanged,
and the engineer pulled his levers.
The bucket was half way up, when a
shrieking gust of wind made the old
building tremble.
Slam—crash. Sprague heard the
tinkle of breaking glass.
“Window blown!” he muttered.
He could not see the window for
the boiler cut off his view of it; but
the hurricane itself, now suddenly un-
lashed inside the building furnished
proof enough of what had happened.
Crassh-sh! Could that old lantern
have been blown from its nail.
Sprague felt uneasy, but he could not
leave his levers. at made Ralph
so long in dumping that car? 2
Suddenly he sniffed apprehensive-
ly. Smoke? :
Yes! And worse. « A red, dancing
light began to flicker beyond the boil-
er.
Just then Ralph appeared, pushing
the car. He raised a yell:
“Fire! Fire!”
Quick!” shouted Sprague. “The ex-
tinguisher!” z
Snatching the extinguisher from the
,
I've seen | OF
shelf Ralph began to spray the
flames; but as fast as he put them out
in one place, they burst forth in
another. Running along the oil-soak-
ed floor they licked the walls; soon
the platform over the shaft was afire.
Fanned by the forty-mile gale that
swept through the window, the flames
spread with incredible speed.
“The men!” gasped the engineer,
with a look of horror on his face.
Sixteen lives in peril two hundred
feet below—and the bucket their only
hope! The ladder? Sixteen climbers,
mad with fright, crowding on one
another’s heels. By the time the first
could reach the top, the building
would be a seething mass of flames.
It would drive them back. The smoke
would settle. Burning timbers, parts
of machinery, the heavy drum itself,
would fall into the pit. Scorched,
blinded, suffocated, one by one they
would drop from the rungs and go
plunging down to death. |
Sprague’s face was grim and white.
Before the flames should drive him
from his levers, he must get the men
out. And first of all he must hoist the
load of rock. ;
Round the drum whirled the cable.
At last the white, ten-foot mark ap-
peared! Then the bucket! As Ralph
tipped its contents crashing into the
car, the engineer clapped his mouth
to the speaking tube.
“Below there!” he shouted. “The
building’s afire, and we can’t put it
out! Stand by everyone, to come up
in the bucket!”
He jerked at his levers, and down
the bucket swooped. Ralph plied his
extinguisher frantically, but still the
flames gained.
“The wind beats us!” he groaned.
“If it weren’t for that, I could put it
out.” :
Sprague stood in silence, with his
hands on the levers and his eyes on
the drum. It was his last hoist with
the old cable. It promised to be a
fearfully hot one, for the flames were
creeping toward him.
“P’li stand it,” he said to himself
with teeth clenched. “I’ll have ’em
up, if the gear holds.”
A cable mark told him that the bot-
tom was near, and he slowed the
bucket down to a stop. Ralph flung
himself flat on the platform and peer-
ed down the shaft at the dim lights
clustered at the bottom.
“They're piling in!” he shouted.
A lantern swung wildly below.
“Hoist away!” he cried.
The drum whirled. The bucket had
never come up so fast. A serpent of
flame writhed along the board at
Sprague’s feet; before long the fire
would be all around him. Ralph di-
rected a spray of chemical toward the
engineer.
“Never mind me!” ordered Sprague.
“Fight it away from the shaft!”
It was to be a battle of seconds.
His judgment, his skill, his endurance,
were pitted against the gale fanned
fire; he must hoist fast, but not too
fast. Sixteen lives. More than a ton
and a quarter of weight. What if any
of the old machinery should give
way!
Sprague’s thoughts flew to all the
various weak spots, one after another.
Of thousands of hoists this was the
one when the gear must hold. His
eyes were fastened on the slim rope
of twisted wire, running up through
the center of the black square.
They had reached the ten-foot
mark!
“Here they are! Here they are!”
Ralph yelled in triumph.
Up through the opening in the burn-
ing platform burst the bucket, packed
with men close as sardines. As it
stopped, they tumbled out pell-mell.
“Everybody safe?” shouted
Sprague.
“Only fourteen! There wasn’t room
for us all, so Blair and McCormick
started up the ladder.”
The engineer’s exultation gave way
to despair.
“They'll never make it!” he mutter-
ed. “Before they can climb up, the
top of the shaft’ll be ablaze.”
He grasped his levers again. “I’ll
stand here and hoist them out, if I
burn to death.”
“But how'll they get into the buck-
et?” one of the men asked. “It’s sev-
en feet from the ladder.”
Ralph snatched a coil of rope from
the wall and sprang into the convey-
“I'll go down and throw ’em the end
of this line. They can pull the buck-
et in to the side of the shaft, and I'll
hold on to the ladder until they can
get aboard. Lower away!”
Sprague obeyed. The flames were
all round him now. Could he stick to
his post until the men were safe?
One of the rescued men was fight-
ing the fire around the shaft. Anoth-
er had thrown himself prone upon the
unburned edge of the platform, and
was watching Ralph’s swiftly drop-
ping lantern. On a sudden he saw it
violently swing. Ralph had reached
the two climbers.
“Far enough!” yelled the watcher,
and then a few seconds later, “He's
got ’em! Hoist away!”
At the same instant the flame drove
him back from the platform; it ringed
the opening now.
Only Sprague and the man at the
top of the shaft who was playing the
extinguisher remained in the engine
house. The room was alive with
flame. It scorched Sprague’s shoes
and overalls and jumper; it burned
his hands and face. He was suffering
torments, but still he stood at his post.
Once more the white mark!
With a tremendous self restraint
the engineer kept his blistering hands
upon the levers, until three heads
shot up through the smoke and fire
seethed over the pit. :
Out of the bucket sprang Blair, Mc-
Cormick and Ralph. Sprague’s task
was finished. Ablaze in a dozen plac-
es he leaped for the door. Several
pairs of hands Grapeel him outside
and extinguisheed the flames. ;
The four strangers came up to him.
“We shan’t forget we owe our lives
to you,” said one; and the others
echoed him.
Sprague felt embarrassed. He was
in no mood to be made a hero of; be-
sides, his burns smarted. There was
a lump in his throat as he watched
the flames rapidly eat up the engine
house. With all its faults the old
shack and its machinery had given
him a good living.
“Well,” said the spokesman of the
visitors, at any rate we've been saved
the trouble of traring down the build-
ing. We'll hav: a good electric plant
up in short order. Of course you'll
stay with us, Mr. Sprague? The
company’s reorganized, and you won't |
have any more trouble about getting
repairs made.”
e engineer could hardly believe
his ears.
“But I’ve lived with steam all my
life,” he stammered. “I don’t know
anything about electricity.”
“Not too old to learn, are you?”
said the other laughing.
“No ”
“Then its settled. We'll send up an ,
electrician to teach you how to run the
plant and he can stay as long as you
want him. You get a raise of five dol-
lars a week; and so does your assist-
ant. I’m your new boss. Between us
we'll put that shaft down eight hun-
dred feet farther, until we strike the |
tunnel.”—The Youth’s Companion.
HOME THRIFT PLAN
YEAR.
Last year the government launched
a great movement to teach and incul-
cate thrift among the citizens. That
work had a salutary effect on the pub-
lic, the wave of extravagance has
passed. This year the United States
government is continuing the thrift
campaign along somewhat different
lines. It still appeals to the adults
but it is carrying the work directly to
the children. Lhe habit of thrift
must be continually practiced and
should be begun young. Parents,
teachers, Sunday school clubs, lodges
and all sorts of organizations are ask-
ed to assist in the movement and to
be sympathetic to it.
A definite program has been ar-
ranged and a schools savings plan has
been worked out. Every pupil will be
encouraged to save and buy at least
two $5.00 government savings stamps,
during the whole school year. The
cost of the two stamps, averaged over
the year will be $8.35; this would
mean a saving of 16 cents every week
by each pupil. Since we have 1,176,-
520 school children in Pennsylvania,
it can be soon realized what this
means to the government in invest-
ments.
The two stamp quota is intended as
an objective for the pupils and it will
stimulate the interest and encourage
small savings. On the basis of two
stamps per pupil each school will have
a definite allotment, no heavier than
any other school and it also has a
standard to work toward. It has been
figured out that while many pupils
can not save enough to buy their full
quota, it is certain that many others
can go beyond that, and so fulfill their
allotment.
Parents are urged to support this
among the children and help to make
it easy for children to earn and save,
rather than hard. Every school in
our county should be one hundred per
cent. school, in that every pupil is sav-
ing something and is buying thrift
stamps. At present Centre county
ranks first among the forty-eight
eastern counties of the State in its
$1.77 per capita savings, invested in
thrift stamps and treasury savings
certificates. Other counties are push-
ing hard to hold first place.
Each thrift stamp costs 25 cents,
They may be purchased at the schools,
banks, or postoffices. When the thrift
card is full, it may be exchanged for
a $5.00 savings stamp. These stamps
may be bought for $4.23 during De-
cember. Twenty of these may be con-
verted into a treasury savings certifi-
cate worth $100.00 at maturity. If
bought now it costs $84.40. So every
person may save in small or large
sums.
The $5.00 government savings
stamps may be redeemed at full cost
price, plus the interest, upon ten days’
notice. The $1000.00 and $100.00
treasury savings certificates may be
redeemed upon demand, two months
after purchased.
Thus the thoughtful investor sees
that these investments have an inter-
est rate of four per cent., compound-
ed quarterly. They mature in 1925,
so it is a short-term investment; they
have a quick redemption, they are not
subject to market changes, they are
exempt from taxes, they are registe:-
ed and loss is impossible. In all ways
they are a valuable investment, not
only for children but for the man who
is earning. To him the government
says: Save, for the education of your
children; save, for a home of your
own; save, for the “rainy day;” save,
for comfort after you reach the age of
65. Save systematically and invest
regularly in government securities,
the safest, easiest and most conven-
ient way of accumulating money. It
works for you while you sleep.
emer ae etn.
Favors Women for Jury Service.
Federal Judge Charles B. Witmer,
of Sunbury, who presides over the
United States court for the Middle
District of Pennsylvania, which meets
periodically in Williamsport, favors
the selection of women for jury serv-
ice in his court. Judge Witmer takes
exception to a public utterance by a
Scranton judge who is opposed to
women as jurors.
Judge Witmer made the following
statement: >
“All women who are qualified and
who desire their names placed in the
federal jury wheel will be obliged.
There is no way in which their re-
quests for the right to serve as jurors
may be denied, for the Constitution of
the United States calls for trial by
jury of your peers and your peers are
those qualified voters in the district
from which the jurors are drawn. The
women voters have the same right to
serve upon the juries as the men vot-
ers have and to bar them would be to
discriminate against them. The con-
stitution of the United States forbids
discrimination.”
FOR THE
in Florida to Grow Silk
Worms.
Italian specialists in silkworm cul-
ture will establish the industry in
Florida next year.
They will plant 75,000 mulberry
trees and import a colony of silk-
worms of English, French, Russian
and Italian origin. Thomas de Pam-
philis, head of the American silk in-
dustry is there and is completing ar-
rangements to build a silk mill in con-
nection with the worm cultivation.
A capacity of 10,000 worms per
crop will be provided for in the new
building.
Italians
LESSONS IN CITIZENSHIP.
Democratic Party.
What are the reperesentative bodies
of the Democratic party in Pennsyl-
vania ?
Answer: 1. The State Committee,
2. The State Executive Committee.
3. Division Committees. 4. County
‘ Committees and such subordinate
| committees as the rules of the re-
spective County Committee shall pro-
vide.
: What power have the County Com-
mittees of the Democratic party?
{| Answer: The County Committees
“are authorized to make special rules
to be operative in their respective
counties for the selection and organ-
. ization of the members thereof sub-
ject to the State Executive commit-
tee’s approval.
What are the Division Committees
of the Democratic party?
Answer: The Division Committees
of the Democratic party are members
of the State Committee within the re-
the State of Pennsylvania has been
divided by the chairman of the State
Committee.
Who are the officers of these Divis-
ion Committees? :
Answer:
who may or may not be a member of
the Division Committee, but who must
be a resident Democratic voter of the
a secretary and treasurer.
When and where do the Division
Committees meet?
Answer: Each Division Committee
meets for the election of its chairman
and for the transaction of any busi-
ness that may be proper, on the fifth
Wednesday following the third Tues-
day of May in each even numbered
year at Harrisburg and at such place,
and at such an hour as the chairman
of the State Committee shall appoint.
What is the State Executive Com-
mittee ?
Answer: The State Executive
Committee of the Democratic party
consists of the chairman and secre-
taries of the State Committee, and the
chairman of the Division Committees.
Executive Committee?
Answer: The State
Committee of the Democratic part
acts in an advisory capacity to all
Committees and performs such duties
as are delegated to it.
and how are they appointed ?
Answer: The chairman and secre-
taries of the State Committee are the
chairman and secretaries of the State
Executive Committee.
When does the State Executive
Committee of the Democratic party
meet ?
Answer: This Committee meets
upon the call of its chairman.
What is the State Committee of the
Democratic party, and when does it
meet?
Answer: The State Committee of
the Democratic party is made up of
members elected by the qualified elec-
tors of the State, and meets biennial-
ly for organization as is provided by
the Uniform Primary law of the
State.
Who are the officers of the Demo-
cratic party State Committee?
Answer: This Committee, at its
biennial meeting, elects its chairman
and treasurer for a period of two
years.
Who are eligible for election to
these offices?
Answer: Any Democratic elector
of the State is eligible for election to
these offices.
What power has the chairman so
elected ?
Answer: The chairman of the
State Committee so elected, by and
with the consent of the State Execu-
tive Committee, conducts all State
Campaigns, subject to the approval of
the State Committee.
The chairman shall appoint a sec-
retary and a resident secretary of the
State Committee, and the latter shall
be in regular attendance at the State
headquarters.
The chairman is entitled to vote on
all questions in said committee.
It is the duty of the chairman of the
State Committee to call all meetings
of the State Executive Committee,
giving in writing ample notice of such
meetings.
How are vacancies, happening in
Democratic nominations after the Pri-
maries, for any office to be voted upon
by the electors of the State filled ?
Answer: Such vacancies are filled
by the State Committee which has the
authority to make and certify such
nominations.
How are vacancies happening after
the Primaries in any Congressional,
Senatorial or Representative district
filled ?
Answer: Such vacancies are filled
by the State Executive Committee.
How are vacancies in an electoral
division filled ?
Answer: Vacancies in an electoral
division are filled by the subordinate
committee in whose district such a va-
cancy or vacancies occur.
ELECTION OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-
PRESIDENT.
Is there any higher Committee than
the State Committee in every party
organization?
Answer: Yes, there is the National
Committee in every party, which is
above all others. It consists of one
member for each of the States and
Territories, and issues all orders for
the welfare of the party it represents,
through the various State committees.
What would you say is the central
object of all party organization?
Answer: arty organization has
always had for its chief object the
Presidential nominations.
Describe the method of nominating
the candidates for President and Vice-
President in our State.
Answer: In the spring of a presi-
dential year, the permanent local com-
mittees of the lowest grades in each
of the great parties, in response to an
order which has come down to them
through the State Committee from
the National Committee, call upon the
voters of their party, within the town,
election precinct or ward, to take ac-
tion, in a primary meeting, sometimes
called a caucus, upon matters relat-
ing to the nomination of a candidate
for a President and Vice-President.
At this Primary meeting, delegates
to a city or county convention are
elected; sometimes these delegates are
What officers has this Committee |
' Presidential
spective political divisions into which
Each of these Division
Committees shall elect a chairman’ ed
division and this chairman appoints
What are the duties of the State
i
Executive
instructed to act in the interest of
some special man as candidate, and
sometimes being left free to act as
their judgment directs. :
At the city or county conventions,
delegates to a State convention are
elected, and these delegates in turn
are sometimes instructed to vote for
a special candidate if the county con-
vention favors a certain man.
Philadelphia and other cities in the
State send their delegates direct to a
Congressional District Convention,
and each of these district conventions
chooses two delegates to the National
convention, and also selects a candi-
date for Presidential elector.
The State convention, which econ-
sists of several hundred men, passes
resolutions expressing the political
views of the party it represents with-
in this State; names its choice for
and Vice-Presidential
candidates, and elects four delegates-
at-large to the National convention.
It sometimes selects candidates for
Presidential electors.
How many delegates is Pennsylva-
nia entitled to have at the National
convention ?
Answer: Pennsylvania is entitled
to seventy-six delegates in the Na-
tional convention.
How is the number of delegates to
Which each State is entitled determin-
Answer: Each State is entitled to
twice the number of its representa-
tives in both Houses of Congress.
When and where does the National
convention meet?
Answer:
ventions have been held, usually about
June to July, the delegates from the
States and Territories, assemble in
the National convention of their party
in some convenient city.
Are the National conventions usu-
ally large bodies ?
Answer: Yes, always more than a
thousand members.
What is the method of procedure in
the National conventions?
Answer: There are usually several
days of discussion, and then the prin-
ciples of the party are shaped into
what is known as the party platform,
and the candidates for President and
Vice-President are chosen.
What then follows?
Answer: After all the political
parties have named their candidates,
the struggle for election begins. Po-
litical meetings are held; the claims
of the various candidates and plat-
forms are urged upon the voters.
How long does the campaign con-
| tinue ?
Answer: The campaign continues
until election day, which is the first
Tuesday after the first Monday in
November.
For whom do the voters cast their
vote? Is it for a President and Vice-
President ?
Answer: No, they do not vote for
the President nor Vice-President, but
for electors as Article XII of the Con-
stitution provides.
The electors, chosen in November,
meet in their respective States in Jan-
uary and vote by ballot for the Pres-
ident and Vice-President.
The results of this voting are sent
in sealed packets from the various |d
States, to the President of the Senate
at Washington, and on the second
Tuesday in February, Congress meets
to count the votes. “The person re-
ceiving the majority of votes for
President shall be President, if such
number be a majority of the whole
number of electors appointed, and if
no person have such majority then
from the persons having the highest
numbers, not exceeding three, on the
list of those voted for as President,
the House of Representatives shall
choose immediately by ballot the
President; but in choosing the Pres-
ident, the votes shall be taken by
States, the representatives from each
State having but one vote, a quorum
for this purpose shall consist of a
member or members from two-thirds
of the States and a majority of all the
States shall be necessary to the
choice.
The election of Vice-President is
accomplished in the same manner,
only if no person receives a majority
of the whole number of votes cast for
Vice-President the Senate elects the
Vice-President from the two highest
names on the list. Article XII of the
Constitution.
Five Counties to Appoint State Schol-
arship Winners.
The county school superintendents
in Blair, Cameron, Centre, Dauphin
and Wyoming counties have been no-
tified by The Pennsylvania State Col-
lee that it will be their privilege to
select through competitive examina-
tions in their respective counties, a
High school graduate to enjoy the use
of the McAllister scholarship for one
year at Penn State. Freshman schol-
arships are given annually in each of
the five counties showing the highest
ratio of students enrolled in the col-
lege to the population of the county.
The boy or girl making the highest
rade in the examination to be held
efore June 1 in each of these coun-
ties will be given credit for $90 upon
entering Penn State.
Blair county now has 99 representa-
tives in the Penn State student body;
Cameron 14; Centre 150; Dauphin 115
and Wyoming 15. Cameron, Centre
and Dauphin appointed scholarship
winners during the present year. In
addition to the McAllister scholarship,
Cameron county also has the privi-
lege of appointing one prospective
Penn State student to receive the ben-
efits of the Charles F. Barclay schol-
arship, amounting to $100 a year.
Faith Unswerving.
Abe Carter was a pious, hard-work-
ing old darky, much respected by the
white people of the community. But
evil days fell upon Abe. The boll wee-
vil destroyed his cotton; his adopted
baby died of the whooping cough; his
wife died of a fever; his horse was
killed by lightning and a cyclone de-
molished his cabin. ;
The Episcopalian minister, hearing
of Abe's extraordinary misfortunes,
called to see him. “Abe,” said the
minister, “you have been sorely afflict-
ed, but you must trust in the Lord;
you must believe it is all for the best.”
“Yas, suh, boss,” said Abe. “Yas,
suh, I does. I feels I is in de hands
ob a all-wise an’ unscrupulous Provi-
dence.”—Seattle Argus.
After all the State vor- |
FARM NOTES.
i —1It 1s better for every one concern-
ed to let the slacker cow feed some-
one as beef, than for the farmer to
| feed her.
! —A ranchman in Arizona has a cow
which recently gave birth to quadru
' lets, two bulls and two heifers, weigh-~
"ing 15 pounds each.
| —European corn borer has been
' discovered in Canada, according to
- the United States Department of Ag-
riculture, and warns against this new
source of infection.
{ —One reason corn has lodges so
| badly is that the corn is afflicted with
‘a root disease which causes it to go
down even in a light storm. Experi-
ments have shown that this disease is
transmitted at least partly through
‘ the seed. Seed should be field-selected
from healthy stalks.
—If you own a dog that will be
move than six months old on January
1 15, 1921, get a license tag. Get the
i tag at once, and save the confusion
| apd rush of waiting until the last min-
ute.
i This is the advice of the Pennsylva-
| nia Department of Agriculture to the
! dog owners of the State. The Dog
Law of 1917 prqvides that all dogs
be licensed on or before the fif-
must
| teenth day of January of each year.
| _ The County Commissioners of the
sixty-seven counties of the State have
i been supplied with the 1921 license
| tags and the county treasurers are
now in a position to issue the licenses.
In the meantime, special agents of
the Department are continuing to as-
sist in the rounding up of delinquent
dog owners who have failed to take
out a license for 1920 and many pros-
ecutions are planned for the remain-
der of November and December.
But if Jou are a dog owner and
have paid your 1920 tax, secure your
1921 tag and license immediately and
be on the safe side. Dogs unlicensed
on January 15, 1921, will be regarded
as outlaws and may be killed while
the owners are liable to fine or impris-
onment,
—It is not impossible for any one to
feed sheep so that they will live dur-
ing the winter, but there is some art
attached to feeding them during the
cold months so that they may return
the largest profit possible. What the
owner does, when he does it and how
he does it, will, barring accidents, de-
termine the results to be obtained.
There is no animal more particular
about its food than the sheep, and the
feeding must be done regularly.
.The first meal of the day should be
given early in the morning and the
last one in time for them to finish be-
fore dark. Whether the noon feed
should be given or not depends on the
quality of the food and also on the
general condition of the animals.
Should the food not be of first quality,
but as good as can be had at the time,
there should be shorter intervals be-
tween meals, and a smaller quantity
should be given each time than when
better materials are fed.
Two things which are required are
plenty of room and a clean place. The
sheep should not be crowded and their
food should never be placed on mud-
y ground or in racks or troughs
which are not clean.
A great many flocks are wintered
on poor hay or on hay not suited to
the needs of sheep. It is important
not only to consider what kinds of
feed are best, but what kinds that are
suitable that may be obtained with the
least trouble and expense.
Sheep love a variety of foods, and
this liking should be gratified when-
ever it may be done without excessive
cost. Home-grown foods should be
largely used, especially roughage.
Alfalfa and clover furnish the very
best kind of hay for sheep. Rowen,
composed of mixed grasses carefully
cured, is a good substitute. Neither
timothy nor red-top make suitable
hay for sheep. Their stalks are too
large and hard and they have too
small a proportion of leaves.
Blue grass answers very well if it
is cut early and is carefully cured, but
if it stands too long or is not properly
dried it will not be satisfactory. When
it is grown for sheep the land should
be heavily seeded, so that the hay will
be finer than that from only a moder-
ate seeding.
Bright cornstalks or nice oat straw,
in small quantities, can be given oc-
casionally with good results. But to
any roughage that is not composed of
leguminous plants there should be
added some kind of grain.
A mixture of oats and wheat bran,
three parts of the former and one part
of the latter, given at the rate of half
a pound a day, will be a good ration
for sheep of average size. Should the
hay be course, it is best to add half a
pound of linseed meal instead of oats
and bran.
A small quantity of roots each day
will help keep the sheep in good con-
dition.
Whatever the materials that are
used, the feeding must not be govern-
ed by inflexible rules: Different sheep
vary in their likes and dislikes of
feeding stuffs and in their capacity to
use the various kinds to advantage.
Therefore, the effect of the feeding
should be watched and good judgment
used as to continuing or changing the
rations. Allowance should also be
made for the varying needs of sheep
at different periods. This is especially
true in the feeding of ewes that are
pregnant. A few weeks before their
lambs are due the quantity of grain
which they receive should be gradual-
ly increased.
The secret of effective permanent
improvement in any flock belongs
rather to the man at the head of it
than to an indiscriminate expenditure
upon fresh blood. Successful im-
provement can only be established up-
on the foundation of some well-defin-
ed purpose, and unless the flock owner
knows what he is about, either or both
had best wait until assured of the
services of somebody who does. A
suitable ram must be employed—one
possessing marked evidence of the
qualities to be strengthened in the
progeny. :
In selecting rams reliance must not
be placed too much upon outward ap-
pearance, as the wool often has a de-
ceiving quality. It is impossible to
judge a ram of any age by simply
glancing over him. He is too import-
ant a factor and has too great an in-
fluence on the successful breeding of
sheep for anyone to employ its serv-
ices without the most thorough and
rigid examination.