Bema td
INK SLINGS.
—June, and the month of roses.
—For once we had a Memorial day
without a thunder storm.
—Are we not gradually transform-
ing Memorial day into a gala day?
—XKickers never help a town along.
The mule isn’t pulling any of the load
when it kicks.
—Of course we're getting old, but
we don’t believe these new flesh col-
ored stockings are much of an acqui-
sition to the scenery of the modern
girl.
—Soon we’ll be talking about a safe
and sane Fourth of July and the po-
lice will be busy keeping the kids
‘from throwing torpedoes and shooting
crackers before the appointed time.
—Any one who thinks the night
noises in Bellefonte are not something
that the nerves of a lot of our popu-
lation can't stand up under long
ought to take lodgings for a few
nights on High, Spring, Allegheny,
Bishop or west Linn streets.
—Those of you who think there is
nothing doing .in Bellefonte should
take a walk around and see the
amount of mew building that is just
completed or in course. Our memory
runs not back to a time when there
was more in the same period.
—The man who is elected Governor
of Pennsylvania will govern best if he
governs the people less. The arm of
the law is reaching too far into the
conduct of life. Its inquisitions are
constantly becoming more irritating
and driving toward the point where
respect for the law is shattered.
—~Connie Mack’s Athletics have been
bobbing into and out of the first di-
vision for some time and that is some-
thing, at least, for the A’s have been
in the cellar so many years that their
ability to climb three or four steps to-
ward the first floor is evidence that
there is a return of the strength they
had years ago.
—Our candidate for Governor is in
the matrimonial as well as the polit-
ical field. He is going to marry a
Massachusetts lady some time this
month and as she is Ceres in the Na-
tional Grange and can make a snappy
speech it is altogether likely that the
MecSparrans will double team Pinchot
on the stump during the campaign.
~ —Probably never before did the
Union cemetery in Bellefonte haye the
appearance of beauty that it displayed
on Memorial day of this year. The
spring has been propitious for both
grass and flowers, so that nature
worked lavishly with human hands to
effect a scene of beautiful tribute to
the memory of loved ones sleeping
there.
—The Hon. John M. Flynn, out-
standing Democrat of the Pennsylva-
nia Legislature for years, has receiv-
ed both the Democratic and Republi-
can nominations to succeed himself as
Representative from Elk county. Mr.
Flynn has made a very useful Mem-
ber of the House and Elk county has
been wise in continuing him in the
public service.
—How prone we are to forgetful-
ness and indifference. How many old-
er heads were uncovered as the flags
went by on Tuesday? And won’t our
children, who are being so devotedly
taught to honor the flag by their
school teachers, regard that splendid
training lightly when measured by the
degree of reverence they notice their
elders give it?
—Col. Fred Kerr, our nominee for
United States Senator, and William I.
Betts, our nominee for the upper
house of the General Assembly of
Pennsylvania, were in Bellefonte Sat-
urday greeting friends and making
new dcquaintances. Both gentlemen
made good impressions here and in-
spired local Democrats with the con-
viction they have that this is going to
be a Democratic year and there is a
splendid chance to clean up Pennsyl-
vania and send a real friend of the
soldiers to Washington.
— Another balloon race is on in this
country and three or four days from
this date we’ll probably hear of the
thrilling rescue of one of the crews
from the waters of some lake or the
desolate mountain wastes of Canada.
All these things seem foolhardy and
to no purpose to those who think not
far ahead, but while there is foolhar-
diness in such ventures there is also
purpose, for who can say that the next
generation will not be traveling by
air as comfortably and safely as this
one is now riding by rail. There is
nothing accomplished without the ele-
ment of risk that pioneers are ready
to take for the excitement of the
game. A Columbia there might have
never been had there been no Colum-
bus.
—It cost Gifford Pinchot ninety-
three thousand two hundred and fifty-
three dollars to get the Republican
nomination for Governor, while At-
torney General Alter spent a little
over eleven hundred dollars in the ef-
fort to defeat him. The campaign
for election will cost Mr. Pinchot, or
his friends, double the enormous sum
spent at the primaries. He is a very
rich man, of course, but do you think
any sane rich man would spend the
third of a million for the honor of
being Governor of Pennsylvania? If
his friends contribute the cost of the
campaign for election and he wins
will he owe them anything or will he
not? Think about that before you de-
cide that Mr. Pinchot is altogether al-
Demeral
—
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A
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA., JUNE 2. 1922.
NO. 22.
VOL. 67.
Pinchot’s Campaign Profligacy.
The ambition or obsession of Gif-
ford Pinchot to be Governor of the
State of Pennsylvania has caused a
new high level for campaign expens-
es in the east. Some of the bonanza
kings in the mining States and two or
three of the lumber barons in the mid-
dle northwestern region may have
spent more money in purchasing po-
litical honors. But no candidate for
any office in any State .=2ast of the
Ohio river has ever spent as much
money for a nominsziion as was paid
out by Gifford Pinchot in the contest
just ended in a meager majority in
his favor. According to his sworn
statement filed in the office of the Sec-
retary of the Commonwealth he and
his wife paid $111,753.97 for the votes
cast for him.
Of course this is not all or nearly
all the money used in the campaign
for the nomination of Pinchot. The
Pinchot campaign committee reports
expenditures amounting to $133,014.-
68 which includes no contributions of
the candidate and his wife. But there
were other agencies and committees
equally liberal in disbursing. The
Pinchot committee for the city of
Philadelphia spent a lot of money and
is already assessing employees of the
State to make up a deficiency of some-
thing like $1100.00 in its accounts.
Other local committees in every sec-
tion of the State spent money freely
and the probabilities are that taken
altogether the cost of the Pinchot vie-
tory will reach the proportions of the
Newberry corruption fund in Michi-
gan.
The advocates of economy in gov-
ernment will find considerable difficul-
ty in developing a hope for cheaper
administration in the event of Mr.
Pinchot’s election to the office of Gov-
ernor. Candidates who will spend so
profligately to gratify a selfish ambi-
tion are not likely to curtail in expen-
ditures when other people’s money is
available to pay the bills. The prin-
cipal complaint against the Sproul ad-
ministration is profligacy and the
principal complainant during the pri-
mary campaign was Mr. Pinchot. In
his political operations during the
brief period of ‘the campaign it can
hardly be said that he set an example
of economy. Does he expect us to be-
lieve that a “leopard can change its
spots.”
That the Attorney General in
Washington has organized an espion-
age on Senators and Representatives
in Congress is somewhat startling but
it must be admitted that some of
those statesmen need watching.
Juggling of State Funds.
It is not easy to see what the At-
torney General hopes to learn from
the hearings in relation to the jug-
gling of accounts between the State
Treasury and the State depositories.
The expert accountants have made in-
vestigation and reported that the
sworn monthly statements of the
State Treasurer as to the balances in
banks were false. The bankers, so
far as they have spoken at all, confirm
the statement of the experts and the
State Treasurer practically admits the
charge but protests that the Stata lost
nothing through the operations. In
other words he admits the juggling
but declares the only effect was to
benefit favorites. :
The discrepancies in the accounts
show that an average of about $300,-
000 was held by a favorite bank in
Pittsburgh for a period of three or
four years without payment of inter-
est. The law requires depositories to
pay two per cent. interest on depos-
its, so that the State lost and the fa-
vorite banker gained $12,000.00 a year
in one particular case. In three years
the total loss to the State and gain to
the banker was $36,000.00, a rather
snug unearned increment. Possibly
this sum will be increased as a result
of the public hearings, but that is not
a matter of great importance. The
cause of complaint is that the accounts
have been juggled and falsely certi-
fied under oath.
It is worth while to know that the
favorite banker in the case is the man
the Republican machine had fixed up-
on for election to the United States
Senate to succeed Senator Crow, and
that if adverse party exigencies had
not arisen the plan would have been
carried out. He was entirely satis-
factory to General Atterbery, Gover-
nor Sproul and the Steel trust. He
had obligingly given the State Treas-
urer signed checks enough to cover
any treasury deficiency and would
have been equally generous to the
corporate interests in dispensing fa-
vors in legislation. But the untimely
exposure of the financial juggling
“spilled the beans” and it was neces-
sary to take the Steel trust lawyer for
Senator.
em —
——Former State Treasurer Kep-
hart was an expert juggler in figures
but in attempting to juggle figures of
truistic in this fight.
speech he has proved a flat failure.
Pinchot in a Bad Plight.
i
The Republican nominee for Gov-
ernor, Mr. Gifford Pinchot, seems to
have “jumped out of the frying pan
into the fire.” During the campaign
for the nomination he said a good
many things about the “contractors’
combine,” the “corrupt machine” and
the “profligate conspiracy” which
made many of his supporters believe
that those who composed the opposi-
tion to him were unfit associates for
decent men. Probably most of his
charges were well founded. The rec-
ords of the State government certain-
ly indicate a lamentable absence of
personal integrity and official efficien-
cy. The public funds were squander-
ed and the figures juggled in a way
that can hardly be explained or ex-
cused.
But now that Mr. Pinchot has been
nominated by a perilously narrow
margin he finds that in order to secure
his election it is not only necessary
for him to associate with this disrep-
utable bosses but to pet and coddle
them. He was admonished in ample
time of the situation that now con-
fronts him but paid no heed to the
cautionary signals. Even his compet-
itor for the nomination warned him
that he was conducting a factory for
the manufacture of ammunition for
the Democrats. But he plunged head-
long into the mire of corrupt politics
and exposed the rottenness of the sys-
tem of which he was a part and the
unfitness for public service of those
who were responsible for it.
Now he finds himself obliged to de-
pend upon the resources of those he
maligned or exposed for the fulfill-
ment of his ambition. And he seems
entirely willing to so stultify himself.
His first visit after his nomination
seemed to be assured was upon W.
Harry Baker, the head and front of
the offenders. He next invited his de-
feated opponent to a friendly consul-
tation and almost immediately ex-
changed felicitations with Governor
Sproul. He still protests that he
doesn’t want Mr. Baker for chairman
but will allow his associates on the
ticket to select him and thus fool
Grundy while gratifying Vare, Leslie
and Eyre, the conspirators.
may not succeed. Grundy is not an
imbecile.
Senator Pepper favored Baker
for chairman until he heard of Pin-
chot’s campaign expenditures. That
put the Forester into the Newberry
class and changed Pepper’s mind.
Good Organization Essential.
In the impending political contest
in Pennsylvania the Democratic party
has its victory half won. With an ad-
mirable ticket, perfect harmony and
high purpose to inspire confidence it
only remains for us to apply ourselves
to the work with intelligence and vig-
or. The opposition is torn with dis-
putes and dissensions. The Republi-
can candidate for Governor is hated
by more than half the voters of the
party and those for Senator are dis-
trusted by an equal proportion be-
cause of their affiliation with preda-
tory interests. No political organiza-
tion ever entered into an important
campaign so completely handicapped.
All the Democracy of Pennsylvania
needs to assure victory is an efficient
and honest organization. In recent
years the spirit of political integrity
has been absent from the seat of par-
ty control and direction. The aim had
been to retain control of a minority
party rather than secure victory. To
change this purpose is an essential to
success in the impending contest.
Every right minded Democrat in the
State should direct his or her ener-
gies to this purpose. We must have
an organization which will devote its
efforts to the achievement of success
instead of one interested only in the
distribution of the spoils of victory.
Within a couple of weeks the rep-
resentatives of the party will be as-
sembled at Harrisburg for the pur-
pose of reorganization. Those charg-
ed with this work have the future of
the Democratic party and the welfare
of the people of Pennsylvania in their
hands. If they act wisely nothing
can prevent a complete victory next
fall. The present is not the time for
factionalism or selfishness. At the
meeting at Harrisburg only the good
of the party should be considered and
if that is done the fortune Mr. Pin-
chot has spent in buying a nomination
will be money wasted. The organiza-
tion is the essential thing.
——There is nothing new under the
sun. Surgical operations were per-
formed 3000 years ago and flying ma-
chines discussed before that time.
rr — A —————————
The armament conference cost
this country $252,000 and it saved
Great Britain many times that amount
of money.
——————— lp ee————————
——The tariff debate continues in
the Senate but the prospects of a vote
on the bill show no improvement.
But he.
| Pinchot is Not a True Reformer.
|
Mr. Gifford Pinchot shows little re-
spect for the intelligence of the peo-
ple of Pennsylvania in claiming that
his election to the office of Governor
will reform the methods and correct
the abuses in administration from
which the tax payers have suffered
for more than a quarter of a century.
His record in office justifies no such
claim. The constitution forbids the
increase of salary of any officer while
in commission. When Mr. Pinchot
was appointed Commissioner of For-
estry the salary of the office was
$5000.00 a year. Subsequently
through the exertions and influence of
himself and the Governor the salary
der the provision of the constitution
he could not accept the increased sal-
ary. The purpose of the provision
was to prevent juggling.
Mr. Pinchot took a solemn oath on
entering upon the duties of the office,
to “support, obey and defend the con-
stitution.” His tenure of office was
four years. He had a right to resign,
of course, if he were not satisfied with
the salary or duties of the office. But
he knew the salary and understood
the duties of the office when he ac-
cepted the appointment. And he en-
tered into an arrangement which
might really be called a conspiracy
with the Governor that he would be
reappointed and then resigned. In
fulfillment of the plan he was
reappointed the same day, thus
defeating the purpose of the framers
of the constitution by “trick, artifice
and fraud,” as the lawyers would put
it. He got the increased salary in
spite of the constitution, not because
of the law. .
Mr. Pinchot is a very rich man and
hands out to the public a claim that
his public service is wholely altruist-
ic and solely for the public good. The
$5000.00 salary would have amply
paid his expenses in office and left
him a fair recompense for his labor.
There would have been no need to
draw upon his inherited millions to
supply his wants, even if he had giv-
en his altruistic impulses free rein.
By# lie wanted the additional three
thousand doilars and resorted to a
rather shabby expedient to get it.
Ruggedly honest men do not adopt
such methods to increase incomes al-
ready more than ample. A man who
will thus flout a pledge given to
“support, obey and defend” the con-
stitution is not a real reformer.
—Prohibition Commissioner Haynes
is of the opinion that the home brew-
ing of beer is only a fad and will pass
soon, while illicit distilling of whiskey
is on the increase. We don’t know
anything about the illicit distilling
part of Mr. Hayne’s prognostication,
but we are inclined to the belief that
unless a blight is sent upon the hop
vines in the country there will always
be home brewing of the product there-
of.
reese fp fees
Candidates Expense Accounts.
The people of the State have been
amazed at the amount of money spent
by Gifford Pinchot and George War-
ton Pepper during the primary cam-
paign, but even their extravagance
don’t figure up prorata with the num-
ber of votes they received as do the
expenses of Frank T. Choppening, of
Clearfield county, a candidate for the
Republican nomination for State Sen-
ator in this district. According to his
sworn statement Mr. Chopenning
spent $1289.69 and received 631 votes
in Clearfield county and 77 in Centre
county, a total of 708 votes. Thus
each vote cost him a fraction over
$1.82. Harry B. Scott, the successful
nominee, spent $1669.84, while Wil-
liam I. Betts, the Democratic nominee,
spent only $73.50.
For the Republican nomination for
Congress the Hon. William I. Swoope
acknowledges contributions of $1500.-
00, and appends a list of expenditures
which, however, are not totalled so
we are unable to give the amount.
A number of candidates filed state-
ments of expenses as less than fifty
dollars.
——Several persons are claiming
credit for the Pinchot victory but the
real architect of that achievement is
modestly silent. The fact is, how-
ever, that Buck Devlin, of Philadel-
phia, turned the trick.
——One of the famous Bayards is
mentioned for United States Senator
in Delaware. What an improvement
on the DuPonts?
——Mrs. Pinchot is also a liberal
contributor but her generosity doesn’t
run in the direction of educational in-
stitutions.
——Residents of State College are
planning for an old home week July
1st to 4th, inclusive, to celebrate the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the town’s
incorporation into a borough.
was increased to $8000.00 a year. Un- |
| Germany and the Bankers.
From the Philadelphia Record.
| Germany is in the position of an in-
solvent debtor who is not making the
instalment payments that were agreed
on at Versailles. The creditors in-
, sist that the terms of the settlement
"be met or they will appoint receivers
| to take over the business. Of course,
| this is very galling to German pride,
; but half a century ago Germany show-
ed no regard for French pride or
‘needs. It named an indemnity which
i may look small compared with the in-
| demnity now imposed upon Germany,
‘but at the time it was believed to. be
more than France could pay, and Ger-
man troops were to stay in France un-
til it was paid in full. That France
‘raised the money and paid Germany
off in about two years has always
been one of the financial wonders of
the world.
The present indemnity is much
larger than the one imposed on
France, but it is a small part of what
the war cost France, while half a cen-
tury ago Germany made a big profit
in fighting France. A large amount
of time is also allowed to Germany.
The principal demands of the Repa-
rations Commission were that Germa-
ny should increase its taxes 66 billion
paper marks, balance the budget and
at least begin the process of stopping
inflation, and allow the committee on
guarantees to reside in Berlin and su-
pervise the German Treasury and the
Reichsbank. Germany declared these
terms inadmissible and impossible,
Lbut the bankers have indicated that
they will float a loan of a billion dol-
lars in gold, or more, for Germany if
it will accept the conditions, and that
they will do nothing if it refuses.
A refusal would mean a military
movament by France, probably alone,
the effect of which would imperil the
peace of Europe. It would be a ser-
ious matter for the German Govern-
ment also. On the other hand, a ered-
it of a billion dollars or more would
afford Germany tremendous relief.
A part of this program of financial
reform is absolutely necessary to Ger-
many, quite independently of the de-
mands of the Reparations: Commis-
sion. There is no possible justifica-
tion for the incredible dilution of the
German currency. The country has
no navy and very little army to sup-
port, and if it cannot collect by taxa-
tion enough to meet the expenses of
the government it should be able to
meet the difference by loans.
The paper money issued already ex-
ceeds 150 billion marks, and its value
is nearly nothing. Germany must do
something for its currency, or busi-
ness will cease and the country will
dissolve. It may not be necessary to
impose as much new taxation as the
Reparations Commission called for,
and SO much money will not be neces-
sary if any real value can be imparted
to th2 currency. A billion of gold
would quiet France and reassure the
world’s peace. It would make some
measure of currency reform possible.
It might meet the pressing demands
of the railways and industrial estab-
lishments. Germany’s mismanage-
ment of its finances since the armis-
tice makes it necessary that a com-
mittee of creditors should be present
all the time to supervise the financial
administration of the government.
—— enema.
Too Close.
From the DuBois Express.
The Daugherty-Felder-Morse scan-
dal which follows fast after the Fall-
Denby-Sinclair Naval Oil scandal,
while the odor of the Nat Goldstein
scandal is still strong in the public’s
nostrils, has resulted in a suggestion
that Attorney General Daugherty re-
sign from the Cabinet, and a demand
from another quarter that Congress
make a searching and impartial in-
vestigation of the charges against the
Attorney General
While Harry M. Daugherty’s con-
nection with the Morse case has long
been a matter of history and newspa-
per comment, the documentary evi-
dence of the details of this connection
together with the successful efforts to
release Morse from the penitentiary
are made public for the first time by
publications in the Washington (D.
C.) News and by their insertion in
the Congressional Record by Senator
Caraway, of Arkansas.
This expose is given unusual im-
portance by the charge that Thomas
B. Felder, who, according to his own
letters, associated Mr. Daugherty
with himself in the Morse case, and
now alleged to be the attorney for
the Bosch-Magneto company, has at-
ten.pted to hire the government’s in-
vestigator and chief witness in the
Bosch Magneto case pending before
the Department of Justice, at the sug-
gestion of Attorney General Daugh-
erty. It is upon this charge made by
Captain H. L. Scaffe, the investigat-
or, and Representative Roy L. Wood-
ruff, (Representative, of Michigan),
that Senator Caraway bases his sug-
gestions that the Attorney General
resign and upon which demands for
an investigation are made in the
press.
To what extent the administration
will uphold or defend Attorney Gen-
eral Daugherty is, at this writing, a
matter of conjecture. Mr. Daugher-
ty, as is well known, was the political
sponsor of Mr. Harding upon his ad-
vent into politics. It was Mr. Daugh-
erty who managed Mr. Harding’s pre-
convention campaign and predicted
his nomination by a group of blear-
eyed men in a smoke filled room a
two a. m, Au
- -—. -h as
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Two copperhead snakes measuring two
and a half and three feet were killed in the
basement of the Yeagertown High school.
School has been over for the past ten days
and it is thought the snakes crawled into
the building from the nearby ridge.
—When Sergeant Anthony Leonard, of
Mahanoy City, Pa., a former marine who
lost a part of his nose and had his cheeks
heavily indented from the effect of a shell
bursting, walked out of “a hospital with a
new face, grafted with skin from other
parts of his body, his friends did not rec-
ognize him.
—Dickinson College students have sub-
scribed more than $30,000 toward the col-
lege endowment campaign being staged
for $125,000. Ninety-six per cent. of the
Junior class have made pledges to the
campaign and 100 per cent. of the Junior
women have subscribed. The campaign
closes July 3.
—The Lewistown school board has put
its stamp of disapproval on married wom-
en teaching in the schools. It was decided
that women who have homes and children
don’t have time to teach school. All mar-
ried women were rejected. Walter Fisher
was elected principal to succeed C. D.
Booher at a salary of $1800 a year.
—The State Workmen's Compensation
Board in a recent decision upheld an award
giving $1800 to Raymond Yescavage, of
Mahanoy City, for loss of an ear. The Le-
high Valley Coal company has appealed
the ease, holding the accident was not un-
usual and that, if the man allowed his hair
to grow, the disfigurement will not be S0
apparent.
—Hundreds of coal cars are being moved
daily to McClellan, the Pennsylvania Rail-
road’s coal storage station, below Millers-
burg, where more than 1,000,000 tons of
hard coal are stored. Much of this coal is
being shipped north, and affords what Ilit-
tle business the Sunbury division has in
addition to the perishable freights and
foodstuffs.
—The Juniata Classis of the Reformed
church, including Blair, Huntingdon and
Bedford counties, fixed $1400 and parson-
age as the minimum salary for a pastor
as soon as industrial conditions warrant.
The Classis also voted to insure all eligi-
ble ministers in the sustenation fund,
which will enable them to retire at 70
years of age on $500 a year.
—Recovering a stolen hive of bees with
the bees intact is one of thc most novel
jobs that state policemen have ever been
called upon to do. Peter Sawathka, of
Drake Station, Lawrence county, report-
ed to the state police that some one had
stolen his bees and honey valued at $300.
Private Clarence J. Wolfkill arrested two
men and got back the hive and the bees,
but the honey was gone.
—In the same fleld in which his daugh-
ter had her hands cut off in a mowing ma-
chine two years ago, G. Harry Beck, one
of Columbia county’s best known farmers,
was killed Wednesday afternoon when he
fell from a sulky plow and was dragged
nearly a quarter of a mile by his team.
His body was caught between the plow
and the wheels of the sulky and the team
walked to the barn with him in that posi-
tion, the wheels crushing him against the
plow and causing his death.
—“Spooners will not be disturbed in
Sanbury Park,” declared Police Chief
Smith after persons whom he terms “old
maids’ complained of having seen couples
sitting too closely together on benches in
Susquehanna and Cameron parks. “They
wanted the seats removed from spots un- .
der trees to those in the glare of electric
lights, and demanded a policeman for a
guard,” Smith said. ‘Instead spooners
may spoon. The city needs more mar-
riages, anyhow,” he declared.
—A cache containing a large quantity of
stolen clothing, jewelry, silverware and
shoes was discovered last Thursday when
a ball batted by a boy, Edward Farley,
rolled under the Baltimore and Ohio rail-
road’s station platform at Chester. The
police, after a check, said the loot had
been stolen from the residence of Mrs. J.
C. Culbert and from other residences and
stores in the northeastern section of that
city, in the last week. A maid formerly
employed by Mrs. Culbert, Archie Thomas
and Benjamin Temple, are under arrest.
—Three burglars were foiled early Fri-
day morning in an attempt to loot the
general store of William J. Beaver, of Nu-
midia, Columbia county, of $1000 worth of
merchandise, which they had taken outside
the store ready to be loaded in an auto-
mobile. Neighbors joined in exchanging
shots with the burglars when they were
discovered, more than a dozen shots being
fired. No one was injured. Several shots
struck the automobile. The light from a
flashlight used by one of the men was seen
by Mrs. Beaver, living across the street
from the store. She called neighbors by
telephone.
—Open warfare on Dr. A. G. Schissler,
burgess of Shamokin, has been declared
by the berough council. That body fired
a stenographer from the borough payroll,
took away the burgess’ right to hire men
for street work, canceled his buying pow-
er for the borough on sums more than
$100, snatched a highway repair job out of
his hands by ordering it stopped. The
burgess declares he will call a public
meeting and fight for power. Trouble
started when council began a spending
“spree,” raising wages and spending
thousands of dollars for a fire truck and
other things.
—Two 15,000 gallon tanks of gasoline
went up in great black clouds of smoke
and lurid flames, at Sayre, on Friday,
when fire wiped out the Pure Oil company
substation on North Lehigh avenue, and
menaced the northeastern section of that
borough. A delivery truck was also de-
stroyed. The loss is estimated at $25,000.
The company said the fire was due to stat-
ic electricity. H. R. Church, a truck driv-
er, started to draw oil from one tank; but
instead of oil, a flame shot from the out-
let, and before he could grab a fire ex-
tinguisher, the tank was blazing. Church
fled. A moment later the tank blew up.
—In trying to save others from death,
Philip Mpyerick, 21 years of age, of Ed-
wardsville, Luzerne county, met sudden
but heroic death by electrocution las Wed-
nesday night. Mpyerick was standing on
the sidewalk in the town when all lights
were suddenly extinguished. He noticed a
wire that sputtered fire dangling from a
pole and reaching to the ground. He also
saw an automobile approaching. To save
those in the car he took his handkerchief
and tried to draw the wire to the curb.
His hand happened to touch the wire. The
lights flashed from the contact he had
formed. They went out and Myerick was
dead.
Soo sn Me Sl