Deora; acm. INK SLINGS. .—1In thirty-two days spring will be here. Will your coal pile hold out? —At last the farmers are beginning to waken up to the fact that they don’t need tariffs half so badly as they need a restored Europe. —Bellefonte hasn’t felt the depres- sion quite so much as many other towns for the reason that she didn’t have the plethora of “war brides” they had. —Women’s dresses are to be two inches longer in the spring. What news for the dames whom nature didn’t design for the short skirts in vogue now. —Just now a Free State is not a very happy state for Ireland. Mr. De Valera ought to be deported long enough at least to give Michael Col- lins a chance. —1It takes half a million Russian rubles to make a dollar, but based on what it takes to make a ruble they are probably not worth any more than : the mark-down quotation of Satur- day. —1If the young man who vamoosed with the twenty dollar bill in Belle- fonte last Friday is apprehended we can see no greater way of uplifting ' the personnel of the community than by putting him somewhere where he won’t have opportunity to reproduce his kind. —The Altoona Tribune thinks “it v.wuld be a preposterous thing for Blair county to send a Democratic Congressman to Washington.” It wasn’t so long ago that Blair county had a hand in sending a Democrat to Congress and it wasn’t such a prepos- terous thing at that, for Blair coun- ty came very much nearer having a place in the sun when Warren Worth Bailey represented the district than it has had since. —We have not learned whether Governor Sproul’s appointment of brother Harter to membership on the Snyder-Middleworth park commission was made with or without prior ref- erence to the Hon. Harry B. Scott. Since the position carries no salary and only the remotest possibilities of “pickings” we fancy that it was pure- ly personal with the Governor, con- sequently not designed to bring Tom into accord with the Scott Senatorial ambitions. —It has been estimated that a high school education is worth nine dollars a day to its recipient. Based on the wage scale of 1913 uneducated laborers earned an average of $500 per year while the earnings of those with a high school education earned just twice as much. Assuming that it would require eighteen years of one hundred and eighty school days each to acquire such an education and, as- suming that the normal person works forty years, it will be seen that the twenty-one hundred and sixty days he | spent in school have added $20,000 to his earning capacity; to be exact each day in school has been worth $9.25 to the educated worker. —The United Mine Workers, in ses- sion at Indianapolis, have announced that they do not intend to demand an increase in wages, but will insist on maintaining the present scale. The miners are queer economists. Thous- ands of them have been out of work for a year or more because they will not work for less than the present scale and it makes the cost of their product prohibitive to industries waiting to resume operations on a pre-war basis. If the miners, who ‘have been out so long, had accepted a reduction a year ago they might have been at work instead of being idle and in that event would be far better off than they are today. —The DuBois Express of last Wed- nesday published a very caustic and timely editorial comment on the pro- visions of the penal code of Pennsyl- vania that prescribes punishment in “solitary confinement.” We agree with the Express, but we don’t view the situation with the same horror, for the reason that “solitary confine- ment” has come to be little more than judicial phraseology. In none of the great penal institutions of the State are prisoners actually kept in “soli- tary confinement.” In the old and new western penitentiaries no approach even is made toward “solitary confine- ment” and while there is an appear- ance of it in the eastern institution it is almost wholly a temporary punish- ment for infraction of the rules. —Every one of the objects of the proposed taxation for raising funds with which to pay a soldier bonus will hit the soldiers themselves so hard that it is a question whether many of them would profit at all from a boun- ty so raised. Taxes on gasoline, horse-power of automobiles, chewing and smoking tobacco, parcels post packages, theatre tickets and cigar- ettes all strike harder at the pockets of the young men of the land than they do at those of the fellows who were too old to be accepted for serv- ice by their country. The bonus for the soldiers is in reality a very grave problem. In principle all will agree that it is wholly meritorious, but the more the matter is discussed the more President Harding and his Congress plead one reason or another for delaying it. Personally, we feel that we can never discharge the debt we owe the boys who went to fight a battle that was more ours than theirs. It is an obligation that can never be discharged, but we can always pay on account of it with honor and helpful- ness, the value of which cannot be es- Le —————— ce a —— — SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —The Indiana county Red Cross is call- ing for emergency nurses to combat the various types of contagious disease that are gaining headway in that region. —Williamsport High school has receiv~ ied a contribution from J. Ogden Armour of $25 toward the purchase of a pipe or- gan for the school. The gift was presented through a member of the orchestra. —Collins Ross, a Huntingdon county boy, who shot out the eyes of another boy near Shaffersville a few weeks ago, was sentenced to pay a fine of $200 by the STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. court. Collins fired at a wild goose. —Warning is sent out of a check Kkiter VOL. 67. BELLEFONTE, PA., FEBRUA Senator Pepper’s Painful Garrulity. Mr. George Wharton Pepper has become painfully garrulous since he donned a Senatorial toga which does not seem to fit. In New York the oth- his admiration for a party boss whom shamelessly traduced all the Demo- crats in the Senate because they re- fused to ratify the purchase of a seat in the body by a man who had been convicted in a federal court of bribery and corruption. In this he was as in- accurate as to the facts as he was sions. He said the Democrats, be- tisan. cans voted with them and all other Republicans, including Pepper, san. headlong into another equally absurd. Governor Sproul coveted to purpose by an outburst of public pro- test. Then Brigadier General Atter- bury is reputed to have select- ed Pepper for the favor. At- terbury probably would have pre- ferred Sproul as the safer if less ser- vile, servant of corporate interests, but his appointment was palpably in- expedient. Sproul simply ratified At- terbury’s choice by directing that a commission be issued to Pepper. _ In voting for confirmation of the pressed one of the purposes for which General Atterbury had chosen him, and in maligning the Democratic Sen- ators at a banquet in honor of Boss Barnes, of New York, Mr. Pepper simply expressed the views of General Atterbury on the subject. In ex- pressing - gratitude = to. Governor Sproul, in Lancaster, Mr. Pepper only expressed General Atterbury’s appre-. ciation of Governor Sproul’s favor to corporations in general, and that mag- nificent organization with which Gen- eral Atterbury is affiliated in partic- ular. What Mr. Pepper says or thinks in such matters is of no consequence except for the fact that it is what General Atterbury thinks or says by proxy. The administration at Wash- ment can’t get money to pay bonuses to the soldiers, but it can find abun- dance to pay subsidies to ship owners. The School Question in Fact. In the controversy between Audit- or General Lewis and Superintendent of Public Instruction Finegan both disputants seem to have lost sight of the main question. Dr. Finegan pro- tests that he has set out to make the educational system of Pennsylvania “the best ever.” That is certainly “a consummation devoutly to be wished for.” But the trouble is most people imagine it is costing too much. Most of the owners of Ford flivvers would prefer a Packard or Pierce-Arrow, but can’t afford such luxuries. Nearly every Pennsylvanian would like to see our school system fixed on the highest level, but feel that this is a bad time for extravagance even in the most commendable purposes. Mr. Lewis complains that Dr. Fin- egan has been neglectful in making requisitions on the State Treasury for funds to meet the necessary school expenses, and Dr. Finegan protests that the State fiscal officers have fail- ed to collect the money to meet req- uisitions. In this aspect of the dis- pute they are probably both right. Dr. Finegan has certainly made requi- sition and procured funds to pay his expensive staff and the fiscal officers have honored his requisitions for such purposes. But the schools are crip- pled for want of money to meet re- quirements, and this is the just cause of complaint which the people are making all over the State. And it is a just complaint. The fact is that the State owes the several school districts and the teach- ers’ retirement fund something like ten million dollars and it appears that there are no funds to pay these enor- mous sums. Why this is the case is left to conjecture. It certainly isn’t altogether Dr. Finegan’s fault, though he is blamable for making his staff top-heavy and extravagant. The fault is in the system which has been in vogue in the State for years. The liberal appropriations for education are false pretenses to satisfy one ele- ment of the public, while the fiscal of- ficers are using the funds for partisan political purposes in other directions. If the pending controversy reveals the timated in dollars and cents. facts it will be worth while. as Senator. The truth is that Gover- | nor Sproul can scarcely be charged | tions. with the appointment further than | Senators refused to ratify it and now compliance with the desires of anoth- | have given as a substitute an imita-! get from them any assurance of a er. There was a vacancy which tion of the work of the Vienna con-!united purpose in this behalf.” His fill | ference with the United States instead work ought to have achieved better himself but was frightened from the | of Napoleon swinging the big stick. ington is convinced that the govern- Harding Submits the Treaties. President Harding was at his best in his address in submitting the treat- Democrats Called to Duty. i State chairman Bruce F. Sterling has issued an appeal to the active ies adopted by the Washington con- | Democrats of Pennsylvania to assem- | ference on the Limitation of Arma- | ble at Harrishurg next Friday for er evening, in paying the tribute of . Colonel Roosevelt once vehemently de- ' nounced as a public thief, Mr. Pepper ' ments. In the exudation of oily and odorous hypocrisy he has the best ef- forts of the late Mr. Podsnap “skin- ned a mile.” In praising the work of the conference he appears to be whol- ly unconscious and entirely oblivious of the fact that he is stultifying not { only himself but all his Republican as- reckless and immoral in his conclu- ‘every respect. | cause they voted as a unit, were par- | But nine reputable Republi- { In Lancaster on Saturday evening, macy,” at a banquet in honor of some other | states, “let it be so called.” But it party boss, Mr. Pepper side-stepped developed nothing of the kind. The the Newberry pitfall and plunged | Versailles conference suggested a new | sociates in the last Congress who vot- ed against the ratification of a treaty which had every merit that those he presented possess and was better in In fact these treaties can have force only through the op- eration of the League of Nations. But President Harding was elo- voted : quent in presenting the work of the as a unit and must have been parti- | conference to the Senate. “It has de- veloped a new world school of diplo- the President unctiously school of world diplomacy by declar- He expressed profound gratitude to ing against secret agreements and al- Governor Sproul for his appointment | liances and gave it clear expression in the covenant of the League of Na- But the bigoted Republican In so far as it will promote peace it is valuable. But even appraising the work of the conference in the most friendly spir- it it doesn’t promise much. The meet- ing in Washington gave the statesmen of China and Japan an opportunity to consult together and come to an agreement on certain points in dis- pute. of the Asiatics and gives Harding lit- tle reason for strutting. The so-call- purchase of a Senatorial seat by a|ed naval vacation and the inciden- Michigan millionaire Mr. Pepper ex- | tal scrapping of war materials was the logic of events that worked itself . to completion. In fact the conference has achieved nothing of enduring val- ue but it has done no harm and for that reason its work may as well be ratified and the sooner it is done the better. . Sed : —We regard the recent declaration of President Harding in favor of a restoration of the old convention sys- tem and abandonment of the direct primary as the most constructive sug- gestion thus far promulgated by his administration. ee e———— eee eee. As to Economy and Efficiency. The insincerity as well as the ab- surdity of Republican candidates for office promising economy is revealed at every glimpse into the records of the present State administration. Yet Mr. Mackey, who imagines he is run- ining for Governor, and Mr. Beidle- man, who is laboring under the same delusion, have already announced platforms of economy and efficiency and Senator Vare and other party bosses are proclaiming economy and efficiency as the basis of their hopes for victory this year. Beidleman and Mackey are both associated with the Sproul administration and each con- tributed a share toward the profliga- cy of the last Legislature. We have heretofore referred to the rapid multiplication of expenses in the Department of Public Instruction, | the Department of Public Health and that of Public Welfare. Within a few ; days, through the enterprise of a Har- risburg contemporary, the public has been permitted to take a peep into the profligate operations of the Highway Department. This department was established in 1903 and the act creat- ing it provided for a salary list of $8,200. This roll has been gradually increased, by act of Assembly and without any authority of law, as the case required, until last year there! was expended for salaries in the de- partment the vast aggregate of $1,487,087. State Treasurer Snyder, who also thinks he is running for Governor on an economy basis, stated before the reorganization commission the other day that there are at present overdue obligations against the State amount- ing to upwzrds of $18,000,000, and the available funds to meet these de- mands are only $762,896.57. The nomination and election of either of these candidates, or for that matter any Republican for Governor, will be interpreted as an endorsement of the profligacy and a license to continue it. The only hope of relief lies in the election of a Democratic Governor and a Legislature that will support him in genuine economy. a —Public schools in Lycoming coun- ty have been compelled to close be- cause the State owes them money and can’t pay. Verily such a condition has never existed in the grand old Keystone State before. ——Borah and “Hungry Hi” may be reconciled by Harding bunk but Jim Reed never will consent. But that was purely the work | consultation. He says that “a faction- tal fight in the Democratic party this i year would give aid and comfort to ‘the Republican machine that has too {long dominated the affairs of the ‘State government.” He invites the active Democrats to come together i with the purpose of averting such a ‘fight. The response ought to be prompt and cordial. Every Democrat in the Commonwealth ought to feel it his duty to contribute to the success of the undertaking. Every voter who desires to rescue the people from toils and spoils of misgovernment should be interested. . Chairman Sterling doesn’t seem to ‘be in a hopeful frame of mind. He 'says: “I have met representatives of ‘the opposing factions separately and together. I have urged upon them the service which a united Democrat- ic party may give to the people of the | State in the present situation. The 'men with whom I have talked all agree that conditions are intolerable | and that the Democratic party is the ‘one instrument for the redemption of the State, but I have not been able to 1 | results. His hypothesis is obvious. His purpose is commendable. His reward ought to be a complete suc- cess. | To this end we hope the meeting in { Harrisburg next Friday will be large- ly attended and earnestly enthusiastic. i The incentive is certainly great. The Republican machine has looted the ! treasury, debauched the morals and destroyed the character of this great Commonwealth. The purpose of the conference is to rescue the govern- ment from the despoilers. There can be no differences of opinion as to the necessity of this work or the import- ance of promptly undertaking it. If there are differences as to the meth- ods of procedure they can and ought to be reconciled. The plan of chair- man Sterling is feasible and should be "supported cordially by all Demo- crats of the State. ——We are not asking Republicans to become Democrats. We are not condemning the rank and file of that party because their leaders have be- come so arrogant that they have neither consideration for the tax- payers of the State nor shame for . their outrageous practices. All we 'are asking is that those Republicans who believe that the thing has gone too far, that a good cleaning out in Harrisburg is absolutely necessary, will join Democrats in an effort at house cleaning. Mr. Beidleman’s promises of an economical administration, if he : should be chosen Governor, are being laughed at. As a salaried officer of "the State he permitted his law firm ‘to charge and accept $5000, for serv- ices which he was already supposed | to have been paid for through his sal- |ary. There are too many of the Bei- ‘dleman stripe around Harrisburg now and the public is in no mood to add another. meee flee. —If Boies Penrose in his grave could reason he’d probably wonder why he hadn’t made a servile and effi- cient tool of George Wharton Pepper long ago. en —————— oe ————— One of the Legion Posts in Georgia wants Senator Watson im- peached. That is too expensive an op- eration. A stiff kick is what he needs. ——The volume of paper currency in Russia is now eleven trillions of | rubles. The rag man will certainly have a rich harvest in the future. ——Mr. Edison frankly declares that he wouldn’t vote for Henry Ford for President and it may be said that that makes it unanimous. —— Tt is to be hoped that the prac- tice of killing movie magnates will be discontinued before Will Hays gets into the harness. ——One difference between Lincoln and Harding is that Harding thinks it is possible to “fool all the people all the time.” Eel Meantime wouldn’t it be a good idea for the Republican Senators to invite Oscar Underwood into their caucus ? — There are those who believe that George Wharton is the poorest product of the famous Pepper distil- lery. it ol —If the treaties put nobody un- der obligations of any kind to any- body else what use can they possibly be? RY 17, 1922. ° NO. 7. From the Philadelphia Record. including Mr. Harding, treaty of Versailles. his mind while he was speaking. shameless insincerity. the United States. is two-fold: member of the League. lican charge was false? der of rights. Mr. Harding says: only one that refused. that thing or not. assume any moral obligation. publican Senators rejected. the treaties the Pres: the participants. obligaticn, then son. Is there a moral obligation? defense.” But he also says: valueless. on each only to keep them, and with other nations concerned. and therefore valueless.” advocating their rejection; consequence of their acceptance. Cutting the Vast British Debt. From the New York Herald. lions of dollars. mately $1,200,000,000. ain, | more of population. | er. Thimble-Rigging with Obligations. It is impossible to read the address of the President to the Senate—fol- lowing the precedents established by President Wilson—without recalling the fight of the Republican Senators, against the The President had the fight against the treaty of Versailles very much i e was at much labor to convince the Senate that the products of the con- ference were free from the objections urged against the product of the peace conference, and he only succeeds in convicting his party of flagrant, The most persistent attack upon the peace treaty was the charge that it infringed upon the independence of The reply to this If it infringed the inde- pendence of the United States, it in- fringed the independence of every Shall we say that 51 nations are indifferent to their own independence, or that the Repub- The second reply is that the treaties prepared by the conference do involve, according to the President himself, some surren- independence and national i “All the signatories have given up certain rights, which they had, as their con- tribution to concord and peace.” Well, that is all that any nation was asked to give up in entering the League of Nations, and the United States is the The next most malignant attack up- on the peace treaty was the charge that it would commit the United States to certain action in the future. The only action that members of the League are committed to is the eco- nomic boycott. If that be insufficient, the Council is to advise the members what action should be taken. It still remains with each member, being a sovereign, to decide whether it will do Undoubtedly there is a moral obli- gation upon every member to contrib- ute its share to the ends agreed on. |S° The Republican Senators refused to The moral obligation to do something was repudiated by the Lodge reservations; it was asserted in Chief Justice Taft’s substitute for Article X, which the Re- Now, there is a moral obligation in sn The agreement of the nations in the four-Power treaty to confer with each other is either an agreement morally obligatory on the participants to pre- vent a violation of the treaty, or “these are mere meaningless treaties If the Sen- ate shall ratify these treaties it will assume moral obligations on the part of the United States, and the Senate refused to accept any moral obliga- tion in the peace treaty. We are not we are pointing out merely the inescapable Great Britain’s national deadweight debt bulked last year to the incompar- able total, so far as real money 1s con- cerned, of more than thirty-eight bil- Not only was this the outstanding war debt of the world, but it was borne on the shoulders of a population not nearly one-half so large as our own. Yet in 12 months the British nation succeeded in reduc- ing that staggering load by approxi- If the United States cannot make heavier cuts in our national debt than the British have shown they could make in theirs it will not be because we lack the productive power, the in- come and the resources of Great Brit- for we have vastly more of all those assets just as we have vastly But the United States, great as it is in territory, superior as it is in number of people and powerful as it is in financial reserves, is not on the road to getting out of the debt when it recklessly rushes into one new spending scheme after another, wheth- er a bonus distribution or some oth- who is visiting Pennsylvania cities offer- ing checks purporting to be signed by some reputable citizen who doesn’t have a telephone. Watch for checks of $49.05, his favorite amount. —A large memorial theatre is to be built this spring at Mount Carmel at a cost of about $100,000. Sons of Veterans are push- ing the movement and the American Le- gion will have headquarters in the build- ing when completed. —Two men sentenced in Jefferson coun- ty court to pay a fine of $1,000 each and serve a year in the work house for selling liquor without license have appealed to the Superior court, claiming that the ‘Woner act is not constitutional. —In an action of slander, a jury at Clearfield on Saturday returned a verdict of 6 cents for the plaintiff. Mrs. Lillian Young was the aggrieved party, and the defendant was Mrs. Verna Rothrock, both of Cecoper township. Two women were on the jury. —Improvements and extensions to cost $800,000 have been begun on the power plant of the Pennsylvania Edison compa- ny, at Easton, Pa., company officials an- nounced last Friday. The company sup- plies electricity to Easton and surround- ing towns. —Miss Mabel T. Myers, of Castanea, while driving along Bald Eagle creek road, had her new Maxwell touring car destroyed by fire, which broke out under the rear seat. Its origin is unknown, but it was none the less destructive, burning the top, sides and seats and singing the lady’s hair before she could jump out of the car. —A wholesale fruit dealer at Sunbury opened a car consigned to him a few days ago and found a young man imprisoned for two days, coming from Baltimore. He was almost perished from cold and was taken to the dompany offices, warmed and fed, then provided with means to go on his way to Denver without traveling in a fruit car. —Penn township, Lycoming county, is going to close its schools for lack of funds. Not all of the State appropriation for last year has been paid, and none of this year’s appropriation has arrived. The people are taxed to the limit. There are seven schools, with 135 pupils, and some of them have already completed five months. Others will stop as soon as they have done —Superintendent W. A. Hutchinson, of the Lewistown schools, has arranged for the purchase of a trophy cup. An orator- ical contest for the schools of the Juniata valley will be held in the last week of April, Mount Union, Huntingdon and Newport have already filed their applica- ms as members of the league, while oth- ent has laid be-{ er High schools h fore the Senate, or there isn’t. If |} . Re seul vue there isn’t, then the agreements are of no future value; they are mere ex- pressions of the present sentiments of If there is a moral if the Republican Senators ratify these treaties they will do for President Harding what they refused to do for President Wil- The President says there is, and says there isn’t. He says: “There is no commit- ment to armed force, no alliance, no written or moral obligation to join in “it has been said if this is true these are mere meaningless treaties, and therefore, Let us accept no such doc- trine of despair as that.” Then he be- lieves there is a moral obligation up- arty to these treaties, not but to enforce them; for if they shall be violated the parties to them shall confer upon what is to be done about it. Do na- tions have to enter a treaty in advance that in certain contingencies they will confer with each other about a mat- ter of importance to them? Of course, no such treaty is necessary; nations will always confer with each other on everything that concerns them, and no nation will go to war, or ever did go to war, without conferring with the nation it was at controversy with, part. —Three Danville factories are to resume operation this week and will give work to more than 600 men who have been idle or working only part of the time for the past year. The Danville Structural Tubing works, the American-Swedo Iron compa- ny and the Danville Stove works are the mills which have resumed work. The Reading Iron company will also put on a large force of men this week. —The tables were turned in a suit be- fore Alderman Anthony ,of Lock Haven, in which Louis Simcox, an aged resident of Pine, was accused of assault and threats to kill Frank Michol. When Simcox ap- peared to defend himself he was found to be so badly beaten up that the prosecutor became defendant and was sent to jail in default of payment of costs. Michol now faces an assault and battery charge. —Judson T. Snodgrass, once cashier of the bank of Conneautville, who last week pleaded guilty to charges of larceny, for- gery and falsifying as a result of his speculations as an official of the bank, also confessed he embezzled funds of the Conneautville Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was treasurer. Funds amount- ing to $1500 for memorial windows went with the rest of the money. Snodgrass was sentenced last Saturday to not less than twelve nor more than fourteen years in the western penitentiary. —Knisley Wagner, 17 years old, drowned in the swimming pool Lewistown Y. M. C. A. last Thursday night. He was subject to epilepsy and had to leave school only recently on that account. He accepted a position as under- secretary at the “Y,” and in this capacity had a key to the swimming pool, which was closed for the day. It is believed he went to the pool for a plunge and was seized with an attack and drowned with- out a struggle. The father, Ross Wagner, going to the “XY” to ascertain why his son did not come home, found the body float- ing in the pool. was at the —William Doyle, of Locust Gap, on tri- al in the Northumberland county court at Sunbury last week for the murder of his wife, whom he shot and killed July 13th, last, was convicted of voluntary man- slaughter. After the verdict was read and he was taken back to jail, he remarked to Sheriff Martz: “This is the end of a per- fect day,” and chuckled. The murder was most atrocious, according to witnesses. Doyle is said to have shot her in the back as she walked away from him, carrying their baby. At the trial he testified against the dead woman’s good character and pleaded emotional insanity, saying he didn’t remember what he had done when he shot. —In these days, when workmen are plentiful, it is not often that a man is sued for quitting a job and taking another, but such a case was heard before Jndge Koch, at Pottsville, on Saturday. The Pottsville Baking company asked for an injunction against William Gilmore, a for- mer employee, which, if granted, will pre- vent Gilmore from working for the Man- deck Baking company ,of Cumberland county. The Pottsville company alleges Gilmore agreed that he would not quit their service for that of another company without giving six months’ notice to that effect, which he failed to do. Court took the issuance of a permanent injunction against Gilmore under consideration. a