Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, December 24, 1920, Image 1
INK SLINGS. —Speaking from a purely personal view point the event that looms big- gest in 1921 will happen on April 15th. —At the present price of eggs and chickens a four pound hen that is lay- ing will pay for herself in two and one half weeks. — The thing that we desire most STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. — Michael Emig, 19 years old, was found dead in the bed of a boy friend, Roy Schroll, of New Haven, with whom he slept Saturday night. The death of the Emig boy did not become known until Sunday noon when Schroll went to awaken him. Heart failure is said fo have caused his death. —An unusual plea was made last Satur- day by the American Car and Foundry company, of Berwick, for the employees to observe only one Christmas. Men of a dozen or more nationalities are employed, and each has his own Christmas, with the result that the plant always is badly crip- pled from December 25th to January 10th. 920. NO. 51. Running True to G. O. P. Form. from you is your good will and co-op- eration in making the “Watchman” better in 1921 than it has ever been VOL. 65. BELLEFONTE, PA. DECEMBER 24, 1 pi Mg — - ——— snes _. —Waybright Rice, aged 0 gler- ville, Adams county, was found dead along before. — Tuesday was the shortest day of the year. The price of coal has been falling so we don’t view with such alarm that old saying that as the days lengthen the cold strengthens. — Among the new leaves that will be turned over next Saturday the one with the picture of the water-wagon on it will not be pondered over so hes- itantly as it has been in the past. —If it were ours to give your Christmas season would be the very happiest you have ever known and your New Year would make all the air castles you have ever built turn real. Make the little folks happy to- morrow. Let them know why it is a festal season. They will be the men and women of the land two decades hence and as the twig is bent so the tree inclines. —Maybe next year the price of pa- per and other essentials will be down to the point where the “Watchman” can resume the issue of the Christ- mas editions that featured this sea- son regularly before the war. — Brownsville, Texas, will vocifer- ously swell the sob chorus that is com- ing out of Villa’s new principality in Mexico, because some one stole two hundred of his horses. The old ban- dit was probably walking in his sleep and did it himself. —The Altoona Times—Tribune re- marks that “liquidating one’s debts to society is a pleasant Holiday pas- time.” Does this mean that president Henry W. Shoemaker and treasurer John D. Meyer have been invitin’ par- agrapher Schwarz round for an occa- sional “hot scotch.” —A cute gentleman in a small com- munity up in the northeastern part of the State got the public endorsement for postmaster of the village because he promised to sell three postage stamps for a nickel. He was appoint- | { ed and made good by giving his back- ers two twos and a one. —Keep your eyes open, everybody. | The proposed new law for the relief | of the farmers looks good in print and | sounds good to the ear, but in opera- | tion we fear neither the farmer nor, the consumer will derive any of the benefits. Such measures are usually | for the relief of the speculator and the | broker. The first meeting of the League of Nations has adjourned and all re- ports from Geneva are to the effect that more real constructive work was accomplished than the most sanguine of the delegates thought possible. As a killer of such things our Uncle Harding hasn’t proven. a great suc- cess, thus far. —During the war we were urged to give until it hurt. We were giving of material things then. Only foolish persons would think of giving that way at Christmas time, for there is no need of it. The real Christmas gift is your good will and you can give and give and give of that and the more you give the less it will hurt. i | { __If there is a new congressional apportionment made on the basis of the census just completed Pennsylva- nia will gain eight members in Con- gress. As near as can be determined the central part of the State will be entitled to one of them, but just how the new District will be carved out of the one now existing is left to conjec- ture. And now Prof. Taft has made the happy discovery that his party would be willing to take the United States into the League of Nations if we Democrats will only refrain from re- minding them that it is President Wil- son’s League. Poor Taft! Once these columns greeted him as a man who had broken the shackles of partisan politics and was finding his way into the light of great statesmanship. He must have wandered round in a circle. —Our Christmas present to you is this copy of the “Watchman.” This year happened to have fifty-three Fri- days in it and so we couldn’t very well drop three issues in order to keep our volume down to fifty numbers for the year, so there was nothing left for us to do but publish a gratuitous edi- tion. As subscription and nearly all of the advertising space in this paper is sold on the basis of fifty numbers in a year you will understand that the extra Friday means that we publish a paper this week for which we receive practically no return. — Tomorrow will be Christmas. It is a day apart from all others of the year, for it is the natal day of the Christ. The world is troubled and full of sorrow. Social, financial, business cataclysms are flashing on the hori- zon and, whether they prove real or illusionary, what matters it so long as hope remains to us. The babe of Bethlehem is the world’s hope child. When He came the lamp of the soul was lighted. With it burning your tomorrow will be joyous, no matter what troubles lower. With it gone out Christmas day and all others will be black dispair. Important Events Present and Future. Governor Sproul and General At- terbury, vice president of the Penn- sylvania Railroad, were in Marion, Ohio, on Monday, where they spent three hours in conference with Sena- tor Harding and enjoyed his hospital- ity at luncheon. The incident was in response to an invitation from the President-to-be, in pursuance of his plan to assemble the “best minds” of the country to discuss administrative policies. A day or two before Wil- liam Jennings Bryan and Senator Reed, recreant Democrat of Missouri, were guests and simultaneously with the visit of the distinguished Pennsyl- vanians the perfidious Senator for Tennessee, Mr. Shields was with him. The association of these party trait- ors with Governor Sproul is not in- tended as an aspersion. Governor Sproul and General At- terbury were somewhat reticent upon the purpose and effect of their visit to Senator Harding upon their return to Pennsylvania on Tuesday. They ad- mitted however that the personnel of the Harding cabinet as well as the policies of the Harding administration were discussed. It will be remember- ed that Senator Penrose in one of his recent Atlantic City interviews sug- gested Mr. Atterbury as an available for the office of Secretary of War. Mr. Atterbury protests that he has no am- bition in that direction. In fact he knows comparatively little about cab- inets but is an expert on railroads and possibly his talk was in relation to the federal administration of rail- roads and wages of railroad em- ployees, a subject to which he has given much thought. While Governor Sproul was equal- ly “close-mouthed” upon the confer- ence, upon his return to Harrisburg, we learn from our esteemed Harris- burg contemporary, The Telegraph, that he dropped a hint of ominous character among his capital city chums. That is he intimated that he has been made the bearer of a mes- sage from Harding to Senator Pen- rosé which he is to deliver in person. Some of the recent Washington dis- patches have contained comments up- on Penrose’s frequent interviews to the effect - that they have not been pleasing to the party .managers. Pos- | sibly the Harding message is along | that line and in view of the recent | harmony deal between Penrose and Sproul, in that event it might become a matter of considerable public inter- est. We shall await developments with some impatience. —— The late Mr. Barnum must have had Russia in mind when he said “the people like to be fooled.” Mr. Taft’s Baby Plea. Our fat friend, William Howard Taft, complains that the Democrats of the country are making it impossi- ble for the Republicans to put the United States into the League of Na- tions. Some Democratic newspapers are insisting, he says, that no matter what amendments are made to the League, if the United States joins it, President Wilson will get credit. When the League was first formed and the covenant presented to the Senate for ratification, the former President was very enthusiastically in favor of it. But at that time President Wilson seemed to be theidol of the world and it looked as if he might have an opportunity to name a Justice of the Supreme court. Later party prejudice changed public sentiment. In a series of speeches made by Mr. Taft while the treaty was under consideration in the Senate, he said it was the paramount duty of the Unit- ed States, not only to our own people but to the world, to enter the League. At that time not only a few Demo- cratic papers but the whole world freely gave President Wilson credit for creating the League and writing the covenant. But that fact didn’t im- pair its value in his mind then. He wanted a seat on the Supreme bench and Wilson might have had an oppor- tunity to appoint a justice. Now he knows President Wilson will never have a chance to appoint a justice and one opposed to Wilson and the League will have. Therefore the name of Wilson is anathema. This sudden but complete change of attitude creates a standard by which William H. Taft may be justly and accurately measured. He is a pro- fessional office seeker. Almost from the day he emerged from college he has been on the pay roll, and having accidentally slipped off when Wood- row Wilson was elected President he is ready and willing to sacrifice both principle and conviction to get back. But we hardly expected him to put up the baby plea in justification of his present absurd attitude, that we can’t join the League of Nations for the reason that President Wilson would get credit by the act. Presi- dent Wilson’s place is fixed and no word from Taft can either take from or add to it. Wrong Policy of Steel Makers. First Session of League a Success. : | From the Philadelphia Record. The arguments which labor have presented from time to time in favor of what they call “the closed shop,” have not been convincing. The right of a man to work at whatever price and in whatever place he can find employment that suits him has | never been shaken. Like those of | “life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- piness,” it is unalienable. Industrial | agitators might argue until blue in | the face to the contrary without mak- ing an impression upon well-balanced and rational minds. But the recent action of the certain makers of struc- tural steel will go a long way toward justifying the policy for which the labor organizations contend. The monopolists have done for labor what its friends couldn’t do. Testifying before a committee in- vestigating building conditions in New York, the other day, Mr. Grace, president of the Bethlehem Steel com- pany, declared that his corporation and the Steel trust had agreed upon a purpose to refuse to sell structural steel to any builders who employed union labor. Modern building in cities is practically impossible without structural steel. There is an old ad- age that bricks cannot be made with- out straw. It is equally certain that “sky-scrapers” and big business blocks or buildings are impossible without structural steel. A twenty or thirty story building of stone or brick without the reinforcement of structur- al steel would be a menace to life. Therefore the labor leaders may justly argue that if the structural steel makers may join in a policy such | as that declared by Mr. Grace organ- ized labor may unite in a purpose such | as is employed by the “closed shop.” | It is true that two wrongs fail to make a right but reprisals are justi- fied when self-preservation is the ob- ject in view. It is safe to say that a majority of wage earners throughout the country are members of labor Un- ions. It is probable that in the cities in which structural steel is so impor- tant an element in building operations, two-thirds of the working men belong to Unions. The policy announced by the makers of this material is:there. fare rankly and frankly wrong. © ' ——Coal profiteering may be a na- “tional disgrace, as an esteemed con- temporary declares, but the profits in i profiteering in coal go a long way to- ward electing a President of the Unit- “ed States. ree peer ee ee. Doubtful Economic Expedient. | We very gravely doubt the wisdom , of the pending legislation to levy a { heavy tariff tax on certain agricultur- | al products, especially wheat, pota- | toes and live stock, for a limited per- iod of time. The purpose of the leg- islation, according to those responsi- ble for it, is “to shield agriculturists from further price decline.” The high cost of living has so endeared it- self to certain Congressmen that they have become alarmed at the first sign of a break in prices. Naturally their sympathies go out freely and effusive- ly to the farmer. We own to a deeply-seated and earth” and the fountain of industrial prosperity and social contentment. pretty nifty time of it. To be sure he has had to be content in a few instan- ces with a Ford “fliver” which was sometimes passed on the improved highway by a Packard or other ex- pensive car occupied by an acquain- tance. But our probably too provin- cial mind runs on lines limited to Centre county and adjacent territory and we are unable to see how a tariff tax limited to one year will benefit the farmers within that area while the effect of naturally increased prices of necessaries on the community is clear- ly perceptible. most of the western and southern wheat of the last harvest is already in the hands of speculators and the live-stock securely penned up in the corrals of the beef trust. If that be true the grain speculators and the beef trust stand to win more from a tariff tax on agricultural products within the next year than the very considerable majority of the people who stand in the relation of “ultimate consumers.” Of course the Republi- can machine owes a good deal to the grain speculators and the beef trust for generous campaign contributions and gratitude is a fine virtue. But paying debts with other people’s mon- ey is not entirely commendable. r—————— i ————————— —1If Lloyd George really wants to settle the Irish question there are var- ious ways but the most promising is his retirement from public life. ————————— A —————————— ——Anyway so long as the Blue laws are on the statute books there is nob much danger of painting the town red. leaders | broadly-bound sympathy for the far- mer. He is easily “the salt of the During recent years he has had a While we have few if any of the | statistics at hand it occurs to us that | The League of Nations closed its first session at Geneva on Saturday ! evening under most favorable condi- ! tions, according to the associated | press dispatches. In farewell speech- | es Paul Hymans, president of the As- i sembly, and Dr. Guiseppi Mottay, | president of Switzerland, the report | declares “told the delegates that the first assembly had proved the League | as a living organism and a success.” : The delegates who participated most actively in the work of the assembly concurred in this view and expressed ! the opinion “that it has done all that could be expected of it, if not more.” | This must have been unpleasant in- , formation and unwelcome intelligence ‘to the Republican machine of the United States. io In fact the entire record of the ses- sion must have been a sad disappoint- ! ment to those in the United States Sen- ate and out of it, who hoped for the ! contrary results. If the assembly had | failed Senators Knox and Lodge : would have been ready with the tra- ditional “I told you so.” When the | Argentine delegates withdrew from the body both those gentlemen | promptly expressed their gratifica- tion. The incident was interpreted by them as a sign of disintegration. But | nothing of the kind happened. In- | stead every day and every act strengthened the organization and added to its stability. In fact among | the closing events was the addition of four nations to the roster bringing the membership up to forty-six. During the recent campaign former Justice Hughes and other oppo- nents of the League held up before the eyes of the voters a bogie of six votes for Great Britain against one for the United States. As a matter of fact throughout the proceedings the representatives of the British do- ' minions asserted their independence and on the closing day of the session a controversy between the delegate for England, Arthur J. Balfour, and “those of Canada, C. J. Doherty, and of ' South Africa, Robert Cecil, tured the proceedings and ¥ i i e hep and fraudulent -and that President Wilson was right. ae] ——Up to the present time there ‘has not been enough snow in the mountains and woodlands to cause any ! hardship to small game in the matter | of getting enough to eat, and this is a | good thing for the game. During the | small game hunting season very few . pheasants were killed hereabouts and quite naturally hunters were of the : opinion that the birds were very scarce. But during the past week men . who have been in nearby woods on the hunt of Christmas trees aver that they | saw more pheasants than ever before. . Such being the case these birds should : be looked after during the winter, es- | pecially, if a deep snow falls. Sports- | men should unite in putting out feed for them so that they may survive un- | til next year. If they are so plenti- . ful now, with sufficient feed to keep | them over ought to result in plenty of birds and good shooting next fall. i eee flee No Paper Next Week. For six months the employees of this office have worked hard and faith- fully to give the very best paper pos- sible to produce to “Watchman” read- ers. Now that the Christmas season is here it is only right and proper that they, too, shall have a holiday, and for that reason no paper will be issued from this office next week. Therefore when you fail to get the “Watchman” next Friday morning, don’t be disap- pointed, but look for it on the morn- ing of the Tth of January. The “Watchman” office, however, will be open to all its friends next week, just as usual. In the meantime we wish | for all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. ——Probably the real reason the Republicon = machine opposed the League of Nations lies in the fact that it requires members to raise the stan- dard of labor up to the standard in this country rather than dragging that standard down. ——Congress is determined to keep prices up even if it has to put a tar- iff tax on every necessary of life. It looks as if the Republican party wants nothing to come down except wages. ——While exact figures are not at hand the Christmas business at the Bellefonte postoffice this year has ex- ceeded any former year. ——Constantine may get on the Greek throne but he will have a hard time getting gasoline to run the ma- chine. —Two years ago at this season, we were saying good-bye to the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania. ion was false It is rather diverting to note that a lot of Republican women, some of whom before the eletion were ex- tremely voluble and foolish in their chatter about Providence being on the side of the G. O. P. and its splendid leaders, including Senator Penrose, are now in a flutter of excitement lest the gang should prove reactionary at the coming session of the islature. They fear that Grundy and his fellow- manufacturers may attempt to repeal or emasculate the legislation passed for the protection of working women and children, and they are ‘beg Democratic women to stand with them in opposing any such backward steps. Having aided in flimflamming the vot- ers by floods of twaddle about “Wil- sonism,” whatever that may be, and misrepresentation of the peace treaty and the League of Nations, they are now apprehensive lest they themselves fall victims of the sweeping victory secured by such unfair means, : So long as Governor Sproul, who is a liberal-minded man, remains in of - fice it is not at all likely that he will alow the Grundyites to tear to pieces the laws that limit the hours of work for women and that prevent the ex- ploitation of child labor. The antag- onism that exists between the two Re- publican factions, the Sproul-Crow and the enrose-Grundy, is a further protection against retrogression in this matter. But it is significant that no sooner are the Republicans firmly seated in the saddle than talk begins of undoing all the beneficent work of the past ten years. e other day the United States Senate passed a bill in- tended to prohibit strikes by railroad men, sailors and others engaged in the service of common carriers. The New York investigation of abuses in the building trade has brought out the significant fact that that stinguish- ed Republican, Charles M. Schwab, is engaged, through the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, in pushing a movement intended to crush trade unions by de- barring their members from work in- valving material made by his compa- ny and others associated with it. They want an open shop for their products, but when it comes to the employ of labor they m losed sh are just waking up to it. Before long the workers also will find that ‘the tone of the incoming Harding Admin- istration will be very different from the eminently fair and sympathetic stand of the Democratic party under the Wilson Administration. If they have to put up a fierce fight to main- tain the rights already won they wil have only themselves to blame by rea- son of having taken any active part in placing reactionaries in power No Taxation Relief. From the DuBois Express. The business man might as well rec- oncile himself to the present system of federal taxation for at least one more year. There is not the slightest reason at this time to believe that the present Congress or the incoming one will be able to revise or reform ex- isting taxes until late next summer or autumn. Even after this job is fin- ished, the Treasury must have a few weeks in which to prepare the regu- lations and organize the collection ma- chinery before a new tax system can be put into full operation. : It is quite true that both political parties by platform pledge and spe- cific promises on the part of their can- didates have held out the hope of an early overhauling of the war taxes which were imposed hurriedly to meet an emergency. But pledges are one thing and performance quite- another. Political leaders might easily promise quick relief from burdensome taxes but parliamentary leaders know that it is not so easy to carry those prom- ises into effect. ‘As a matter of fact, members of the Republican organization of the House and Senate are totally at sea upon the question of federal taxa- tion. They are not sure, in the first instance of the amount of money it will be necessary to raise for the com- ing fiscal year. Nor are they sure of any means of exacting that revenue from the American people. Some of them talk blithely of a “billion dollar tariff,” and yet most men who think at all must realize that any tariff which would net a billion dollars, on paper, would be so high as to become prohibitive, if put into operation. Traffic will bear just so much duty and no more. Imports will cease if the tariff is so high as to make them unmarketable in this country. Again, the country has been told over and over that the tax upon busi- ness profits would be repealed, no doubt, but not until the House and Senate have found some substitute for that levy. The revenue derived from the profits tax is still needed and must be raised from some source, but no Congressional leader has yet appear- ed with a workable scheme for abol- ishing that tax and for the substitu- tion of another as productive of fed- eral income. —If Harding doesn’t show better judgment in seeking Republican sen- timent than he did in searching for Democratic opinion, his conferences will have little value. Senator Reed and Mr. Bryan are not what you would call Tribunes of Democracy. the road between his home town and Arendtsville. He had started in his auto- mobile for Gettysburg when his machine stopped. He started to walk back home for some gasoline and had gone about & half mile when he fell. Several men from Biglerville coming along the road found him. —The best industrial news that has come to Reynoldsville, Jefferson county, for some time came with the announce- ment that the Pennsylvania Hide and Leather company would start the tannery there within the next few days with a full crew of men. The tannery has been oper- ating right along, but with only about one-fourth of the regular number of em- ployees. i —Governor Sproul has issued death war- rants fixing the date of electrocution of Charles C. Collins and Charles C. Reineck- er, of Adams county, for the week of Jan- uary 31st. The week of February 7th has been set for James Davis and Anton Web- er, of Allegheny county, February 14th for Frank Dombek, Allegheny county, and Sydney A. Brown, Delaware county, and February 21 for Antonio Insano, of Jeffer- son county. —Alleging that she sustained serious in- jury at the hands of the defendant on ac- count of the over-crowding condition of the car in which she was a passenger, Mrs. Nellie Murphy, in her own right, and George W. Murphy her husband, have en- tered a suit in trespass against the Altoo- na and Logan Valley Electric Railway company, through their attorney, R. A. Henderson, to recover damages in the sum of $20,000. —Dr. M. R. Derk, of Jersey Shore, a vet- erinarian, had an exciting experience the other day when he was called to the farm of T. B. Cotter, near Jersey Shore, tc take a tuberculosis test on the cattle. Mr. Cot- ter has a large Guernsey bull that he keeps chained in a stall but in some manner the chain was broken so when Dr. Derk went into the stall the bull turned on him, strik- ing him on the right leg, the force throw- ing him across the stall. The doctor is able to be about on crutches. ‘ _Alleging that his wife, Mary Covely not only threw dishes and stove fixtures at him, but attempted to poison him, John Covely,-a mechanic of Lower Macungie township, Lehigh county, 2a f y : oy - ou ; 1 with a butcher knife, causing him to flee, Mrs. Covely is 23 years old. — Mrs. George Georgel, the Elk county woman who is charged with a variety of crimes in connection with alleged mistreat- ment of a girl taken by her from the Elk county home, is having her own troubles 1 | in securing bail for her release from jail. Mrs. Georgel was originally arrested on two counts, for which bail was fixed at $3000. The sum was secured and immedi- ately a third count was lodged against her. Then the fourth and fifth until bail was boosted to $5000, and secured. A sixth charge, alleging attempt to commit mur- der, was made and thus far she has not been able to secure the bail. —By the giving away of the soft, rain- soaked earth at the edge of the road, a for- mer Clinton county treasurer, and occu- pied by himself, his son and William Mox- ley, all of Renovo, left the road between Shintown and Renovo early Saturday morning, while the party was returning from their hunting camp. All were hurled into the Susquehanna river, ten feet below. The car was overturned and Fisher was caught under it. The water at that point is about five feet deep and he had a nar- row escape from drowning. He was res- cued by his son, who escaped injury. He was badly cut and bruised on the head, face and body, while Moxley suffered a dis- located shoulder. S __ With the decision of Judge Charles Corbet, of Jefferson county, the case of Winslow township against Amos Strouse ends. During the last four years the case has been before the court in a number of forms. During the years 1913 and 1915, Strouse was treasurer of the road fund and upon the settlement of his accounts the township auditors alleged that he was indebted to the township in a sum upward of $2000, He was under $10,000 bond, and action was brought by Thomas Wood. chairman of the township board of super- visors, against Strouse and his bondsmen to recover the alleged shortage. In his decision, Judge Corbet declared: “The de- fendants do not owe the plaintiff, viz, Winslow township, anything and judg- ment is therefore entered in their favor.” — Thomas Tavro, of Denholm, is in the Lewistown hospital suffering with paraly- sis. During the eleven years that he has been in America he has played the part of the primitive man, subsisting chiefly on roots, berries and fruit that he picked from the waste land in that vicinity. His companions say he has practieally lived on frozen apples for the past month. He also gathered up scraps that were thrown from the dining cars of passing trains, claiming that he was living against the time when he could return to Italy and live like a gentleman. - When section foreman Leon- ard, under whom he is employed as a la- borer, went through his effects at the boarding shanty where he lived alone he found cerificates of deposit aggregating $20,000 in the bank of Rome and in addi- tion to this he had $102 about his persom, $50 on deposit in bank at Mifflintown and it is known that he was a liberal pur- chaser of Liebrty bonds during the war which he sent to a safety deposit vault in New York for safe keeping. Fellow coun- trymen of Tavro say that he is the owner of a large vineyard in Italy whichis work- ed by his wife and sons who deposit the money thus earned in the bank of Rome and send the certificates to the husband and father in this conntiry.