~~ INK SLINGS.
.—Friendship that is tainted with the
dollar mark isn’t worth thirty cents.
#—The Turks keep right on killing
folks as if they'd never promised to
be good.
—Harry Baker was the walking
delegate who settled the threatened
Miner strike.
—A lot of the fine stand of wheat
in Centre county is so flat on its back
that it can’t get up to be harvested.
—The grass is coming so fast that
hay-making will be on the farmers be-
fore they finish their corn working.
—If our delinquent readers knew
what even a dollar and a half means
to us now they would cut out next
Sunday’s trip in the flivver and send
‘us the gasoline saving.
There are signs that the union
miners are coming to their senses.
Unreasonable wage demands create no
popular sympathy and without public
support a strike never gets far.
After all the frosts and freezes
there geem to be quite a few cherries
am. The birds seem to be do-
ing more to destroy the crop than that
April cold snap is supposed to have
done.
_Of course fishermen are not al-
ways liars but we don’t know just
where to place the fellows who come
off Buffalo run with fine catches and
then look us straight in the eyes and
say they “got ’em up Spring creek.”
— The Pepper and Reed minds do
not run in the same groove as does
that of Pinchot. The latter is oppos-
ed to assessing office holders for cam-
paign purposes and the former, by in-
ference, at least, say why not? What
are office holders for when there are
no rich wives in the offing ?
Out in Iowa Col. Brookhart
beat the machine and had himself nom-
inated for U. S. Senator and it cost
him only four hundred and fifty-three
dollars. Maybe Iowa has the one
Charley Snyder had in mind when he
advised those who don’t like the way
things are run in Pennsylvania to
move to some other State.
—King George is wearing his trous-
ers creased at the side this week and
England is more excited than she is
over the Irish question or the Hague
conference. Of course the King has a
right to have his pants creased just
where he wants them, but because he
‘ects a silly notion of that sort is not
a good reason why others should do
the same thing.
\—They might not be bad but it cer-
inly doesn’t look good to see young
girls parading the streets of State
College at six o’clock Sunday morn-
ing, gowned in clothes that you have
to look under the table to see, and
smoking cigarettes. What they need
up there far more than father’s day is
a mother’s day every time her flapper
is permitted to visit State for a week-
end.
—The meeting of the Democratic
state committee, at Harrisburg, on
Monday, was all that the most san-
guine could have hoped it would be.
Mr. McSparran was permitted to
name his own campaign manager and
there wasn’t a cross word in a barrel
of it. In contrast was the action of
the Republican state committee in
completely ignoring the preference of
its standard bearer.
— Fifty-one of the five hundred and
forty-five graduates from State this
year took first honors. Waiving dis-
cussion of the anomaly in fifty-one per-
sons taking “first” honors we have to
give it to the brains of the class of
1922, for we recall the days of 1890
when there must have been a lot of
scratching of intellectual domes to
find one man meriting “first” honors
in the graduating class.
__Dr. Muttart, osteopath, says, if
you want to cure indigestion stand on
your head. Having a horrible case of
it we propose trying the Muttart rem-
edy so if you happen in at the
“Watchman” office any time and find
us upside down in a corner don’t run
for a squirrel or ask the judge for a
commission, steady our feet and wait
until we announce the discovery that
this Muttart fellow is a fake, just the
same as all the others who have tried
to relieve the uneasiness we always
get after a feast on dil pickles, bana-
nas and ice cream.
bt
— Last week we had occasion to use
the quotation “all men are liars,”
crediting it to “some philosopher at
some ancient period of time.” On
Monday we received the following:
«Read Psalms 116-11.” The brief
communication was signed “Rummy.”
To many, a fellow signing himself
“Rummy” would seem an unexpected
source from which to draw so quickly
a Bible reference, but “Rummy” hap-
pens to be our Harry Rumberger, of
Unionville, Philipsburg and now
Scranton. We own surprise at his fa-
miliarity with the good Book, for
while we always knew he wasn’t just
bad we never did know that he spent
much time at anything else than talk-
ing Democratic politics and selling
oil. It has just dawned on us now
how a connection with the Bible might
have been effected by him. Possibly
“Rummy,” like many others, heard in
his youth that “next to the Bible
stands the ‘Watchman’” and being
curious to learn what could be better
than this old sheet has always been he
went to poring over the big, gilt-edged
only family Book that we'll bet stood
on the centre table in the “settin’”
room of the home of his childhood.
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STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 67.
BELLEFONTE, PA., JUNE 16. 1922.
NO. 24.
The New Democratic Chairman.
The harmonious reorganization of
the Democratic State committee, at
Harrisburg on Monday, adds brillian-
cy to the already bright prospects of
the future of the party. Mr. Pinchot
had just been rebuked by the commit-
tee of his own party for exercising
the right to recommend a candidate
for chairman. That proved that his
purchased nomination has given him
no influence in the councils of his par-
ty. Mr. McSparran expressed a sim-
ilar preference with respect to the
chairman of his party and his friend
and neighbor was chosen, though one
of the most capable and worthy or-
ganizers of the State aspired to the
honor. By a parity of reasoning this
proves complete party confidence in
the Democratic candidate.
The election to the chairmanship of
Mr. Austin McCullough was no per-
sonal victory for him, and it was cer-
tainly not an expression of enmity or
personal opposition to Judge Bonni-
well, of Philadelphia. It was simply
a spontaneous and enthusiastic trib-
ute to John A. McSparran and a prac-
tical manifestation of the confidence
of the Democracy in his wisdom as a
party leader. In the absence of an ex- :
pression from him Judge Bonniwell
would probably have had little if any
opposition. In indicating a prefer-
ence Mr. McSparran was within his
right, according to the customs of the
party. We can recall only one in-
stance in which the preference of the evil element.
candidate was disregarded in the se- |
lection of the chairman, and the action |
then was influenced by perfidy rather
than patriotism.
Mr. McCullough is an earnest, act-
ive and capable young Democratic
leader of Lancaster, and though not
widely known in distant sections of
the State from his home, he is highly
respected alike as a citizen and party
worker there. He has had considera-
ble experience in party management,
moreover, and his record in political
work is a strong recommendation. As
one of the speakers in the committee
said, he organized and conducted the
only successful municipal campaign
which the city of York, where he for-
merly lived, has enjoyed in a quarter
of a century, and the people of Lan-
caster are indebted to his masterly
management for the only overwhelm-
ing defeat the Griest machine has sus-
tained in its history.
erem———— eer eee.
— President Harding had Senator
Newberry as a guest on his week-end
junket in the Presidential yacht last |
Sunday. That leaves to conjecture
the question as to whether he is fish-
ing for a future campaign contribu-
tion or trying to justify Senator Pep-
per’s first vote in the Senate.
P————
Pinchot’s Altruism Not Supported.
There are probably less than one
hundred men and women of the two
and a half million voters of Pennsyl-
vania who could pay $125,000.00 for a
nomination for Governor, and it is
reasonably safe to say that not one of
the hundred would do so without ex-
pectation of complete reimbursement.
The salary of the office for four years
amounts to $72,000.00. A candidate
who pays $125,000.00 for the nomina-
tion must, therefore, get upward of
$50,000.00 within the term to “split
even.” It is mot possible to do that
without prostituting the office to base |
uses. The late Richard Croker, of
New York, is said to have been able
to make political power amazingly
profitable. But his methods are not
popular among honest men.
Mr. Gifford Pinchot, who paid out
of his own and his wife’s purse the
enormous amount of $125,000.00 for
the Republican nomination for Gover-
nor of Pennsylvania, will solemnly say
that he made the sacrifice for the pub-
lic good. But his official record af-
fords no support of such a claim.
When he entered upon the duties of
the office of Commissioner of Forestry
he assumed a splendid opportunity to
serve the public at a salary which am-
ply covered his living expenses. But
the first thing he did was to ask the
Legislature to increase the compensa-
tion nearly double, and having accom-
plished that he entered into a conspir-
acy to evade the constitutional provis-
ion against the increase of salaries of
officials.
A man who will resort to such sin-
ister expedients to get money is not
likely to pay profligately to an enter-
prise which promises no profit. It is
far more reasonable to imagine that
he intends to use the office in a way
that will guarantee reimbursement of
the vast sums he expended. There are
ways to achieve this result. It is es-
timated that within the period of the
tenure of the next Governor more
than a hundred million dollars will be
disbursed by the State in building and
maintaining highways and a man who
can secure an increase of salary in
spite of the constitution in one office
will probably find a way to get sub-
stantial returns out of a much more
powerful and influential office.
Pinchot Insincere or Without Influence
i The election of Mr. W. Harry Ba-
ker, of Harrisburg, to the important
office of chairman of the Republican
State committee, proves either one or
| other two things. It shows that Gif-
Hod Pinchot was insincere in his ex-
| pression of preference or else that he
| has absolutely no influence in the
{ councils of his party. Mr. Pinchot
asked the committee to select General
Miner, of Wilkes-Barre, for the serv-
!ice but he asserted his sincerity with
i such frequency and vehemence as to
suggest a doubt. But the committee
disregarded his request and by an
overwhelming majority elected a gen-
tleman in every respect the opposite
in method and purposes to those he
professes.
| If we assume that Mr. Pinchot was
insincere in his preference for Gen-
| eral Miner, and his frequent iteration
i of the matter justifies a question, he
‘is a hypocrite and morally unfit for
| the office to which he aspires. His vi-
"olation of the constitution in order to
| grab an increase in salary indicated a
, mental weakness which might easily
‘lead to falsifying his desires on the
chairmanship of the committee. The
idealists in the party were bitterly op-
posed to the election of Baker and it
‘ was felt that unless Pinchot entered a
| protest against it that element in the
party would vote against him. But by
|
a false pretense of opposition he could
both fool the idealists and satisfy the
On the other hand, if Mr. Pinchot
was sincere in his opposition to Baker
Buncoing Agricultural Senators.
Those Republican Senators who
compose the “agricultural bloc” are
having great difficulty in justifying
their support of the Fordney tariff
bill. The measure provides for tariff
protection on agricultural products to
an estimated total of twenty-one and
a half per cent. But the market price
of most of these products is establish-
ed abroad and the offerings from the
farmers of this country are limited to
the surplus. Take wheat, for exam-
ple. The rate in the Fordney bill is in
the neighborhood of fifty cents a bush-
el, but as no wheat is ever imported
the farmers will derive no advantage
from this levy. On most of the other
items in the agricultural schedule the
same conditions exist.
But the tariff levy on agricultural
machinery, binding twine, wire and
tools which the farmers have to buy
runs as high as eighty per cent. and
averages about seventy-five. The
home market is the only source of
supply for these products and the tar-
iff tax is added to the normal value so
that the farmers are mulcted to the
extent of about fifty per cent. in the
operation. It is estimated that this
difference will cost the farmers of the
country about two hundred million
dollars a year, which is a considerable
price to pay for campaign contribu-
tions the manufacturers, corpora-
tions and bankers are expected to
make toward the expenses of re-elect-
ing the perfidious Senators who com-
pose the agricultural bloc.
At present the Senators who com-
| for chairman, the election of that gen-
| tleman by a vote of more than three
| to one shows that the power of the
- machine over the activities of the Re-
| publican party is unimpaired by the
| purchased nomination of Pinchot, and
! that his election would be a hollow
| mockery so far as reform in the State
| government is concerned. The ma-
| chine managers in and out of the Gen-
‘eral Assembly would overrule him in
| everything else, as they did in the se-
| lection of a committee chairman. In
| view of these facts it is.obwiouns that
| the only hope of reform lies if “the
| election of John A. McSparran for
! Governor.
—Robert T. Barry deplores the fact
| that foreign newspapers publish only
| the froth of America and give little
| or no space to the serious side of our
| social and political life. Mr. Barry is
| an eminent specialist in newspaper
| work, but he seems to have failed in
getting the proper perspective in the
matter he discussed at length on Mon-
day. Probably European newspapers
are like a good many of us here at
home. They look upon the present
administration as having shown no
signs of a serious side and, as for the
social side of our life while we do have
a wonderful amount of welfare work
it seems that most of it is expended in
keeping people fit for the frivolities
that have run rampant.
a———— eee.
Henry C. Niles for Judge.
By nominating Henry C. Niles, of
York, for Judge of the Superior court,
the Democratic State committee on
Monday fitly rounded out an admira-
ble ticket. Mr. Niles is not only an
eminent lawyer, among the foremost
| in the State, but he is a consistent and
capable champion of civic virtue and
decent government. For thirty years
{ he has been at the front in every
fight for better conditions in public
life and in all that time has never re-
vealed even the shadow of selfishness.
His election to the Superior court
bench would greatly enhance public
confidence in the court and vastly pro-
mote the interests of the people.
The great men who framed the fun-
damental laws of Pennsylvania and
made provision for the creation of that
appellant tribunal had in mind a non-
partisan judiciary. With that idea in
view they inserted a provision which
it was hoped would secure minority
representation on the bench of every
court of more than two judges. Ever
since the creation of the Superior
court this proper expectation has been
fulfilled until the recent resignation
of Judge Head, when Governor Sproul,
influenced by partisan bigotry, ap-
pointed a Republican to succeed him,
thus making that court unanimously
Republican and exceedingly partisan.
The voters of Pennsylvania are now,
by the nomination of Henry C. Niles,
given an opportunity, not only to re-
buke the bigotry of Governor Sproul
but to restore the Superior court to a
non-partisan basis and the judiciary
of the State to public confidence. The
State committee was wise in nominat-
ing Mr. Niles for that reason and the
voters of Pennsylvania ought to be
glad that they have the chance to
place so able a lawyer and worthy’ a
citizen on the bench. We hope the
voters of Centre county will do their
part in carrying out this righteous
purpose. Henry C. Niles will not only
ornament the bench. He will improve
it. a
pose the agricultural bloc are busy
denying that any agreement was en-
tered into under which they promised
support of a measure which robs the
farmers in consideration of a phan-
tom promise of protection of agricul-
tural products that need no protection.
Later they will have to meet the just
complaint of their deceived constitu-
ents for the palpable betrayal of their
interests. In view of these facts it is
| small wonder that Senator Gooding,
of Idaho, chairman of the agricultur-
_alébloc, “got hot under the collar,” the
other day; when Senator Simmons re-
ferred to the deal on the floor of the
‘Senate. But as Mr. Simmons said, “a
denial doesn’t prove anything.”
— If the price of a nomination for
Governor of Pennsylvania is to be
fixed at $125,000.00 there will be
mighty little chance for the majority
of the rising generation to reach the
executive mansion.
Prominent Men Invited to Conserva-
tion Meeting.
John A. MecSparran, Democratic
candidate for Governor; Gifford Pin-
chot, Republican candidate; Seth Gor-
don, State game commissioner, and N.
R. Buller, State fish commissioner,
have all been invited to attend the an-
nual meeting of the Centre County
Conservation Association to be held at
Boalsburg next Thursday, June 22nd,
a complete program of which is pub-
lished in another column of this pa-
per. While acceptances have not yet
been received from all the above the
officials of the association have the as-
surance of good speakers, as Dr. John
M. Thomas, president of State Col-
lege, and R. Y. Stewart, State forest-
ry commissioner, will be on hand. Of-
ficers of the association will also tell
of the work that has been accomplish-
ed during the past year and outline
the plans for the future. Every per-
son interested in the conservation of
the county’s natural resources should
attend the meeting, whether members
of the association or not.
—Mr. Pinchot protests against
assessing office holders for campaign
expense funds, and the office holders
know what will happen to them if they
fail to contribute freely without be-
ing assessed.
— The election of Mr. Baker to
the chairmanship of the Republican
State committee might be interpreted
as a suggestion that Forester Pinchot
will go to “the tall timbers” after the
election.
a———————————————————————
—— Senator Pepper may “spit in the
eye of a bull dog” with impunity but
the heroes of the world war will show
him that he can’t insult them and es-
cape their just resentment.
— Tt will be worth the price of ad-
mission to see Vare, Leslie and Eyre
when the report of Pinchot’s commis-
sion to regulate the finances of the
State reaches the Senate.
e————————— A ——————————
— The unwelcome information
comes from Russia that Lenine is im-
proving. But that refers only to his
physical condition, not his morals or
methods. !
——————— A ———————
—The Hon. Eugene C. seems to
want anything he can get, but the nice
part about him is that he doesn’t get
peeved when he doesn’t get it.
A Colleague on Pinchot.
From the Philadelphia Record.
In his speech before the Republican
State committee Saturday Major Reed,
Republican candidate for the Senate,
did not hesitate to criticise the Pin-
chot idea of financing political cam-
paigns. In describing the various
ways of raising campaign money, he
said that the first way was “through
the large contributions of those who
are most interested.” “Unfortunate-
ly,” was his caustic comment, “I can-
not be one of these, and I do not be-
lieve it should be limited to those who
can make very large contributions.”
So far as the official records go, that
is precisely the way the Pinchot cam-
paign in the Republican primaries was
made, several payments, aggregating
a lump sum of $124,000, being made
from one family money chest. Major
Reed was voicing the sentiment of the
average voter, man or woman, when
he objected to campaigns made by rich
men who finance themselves in furth-
erance of selfish ambition.
The second method of financing a
Republican campaign in Pennsylva-
nia, according to the Major's frank
statement to the committee, is “by
getting cotributions from a very few
rich men. I will not stand for that. I
don’t intend to go to Washington and
have some rich man in Philadelphia or
Pittsburgh tell me how to vote.”
And yet that is exactly what hap-
pened in the Pinchot campaign. The
money expended in his behalf in the
primaries, and which brought him a
Gubernatorial nomination by a narrow
margin, was “contributions from a
few rich men.” In addition to the Pin-
chot family expenditure of $124,000,
what rich men in Philadelphia or
Pittsburgh put up to help Pinchot
beat Alter is not yet known.
As Major Reed, associate of Mr.
Pinchot on the same ticket, says, “I
cannot stand that.” No, and the peo-
ple of Pennsylvania will not stand it
either, when they come to realize how
great has been the sum of Mr. Pin-
chot’s offending in putting a money
stigma on the Governorship in giving
“some rich man in Philadelphia or
Pittsburgh” the right, in event of his
election, to wield the invisible power
behind the scenes.
Making the Tariff Absurd,
From the Chicago Tribune.
The amendment to the Fordney-
McCumber tariff bill offered by Sena-
tor Harreld ,of Oklahoma, to provide
a duty of 35 cents a barrel on crude
petroleum and 25 cents a barrel on fu-
el oil appears absolutely indefensible.
If that is to be the type of improve-
ment suggested for the tariff bill the
whole measure will soon be in danger
of being thrown into the discard. *
Crude petroleum is a natural re-
source which has now reached a stage
of very definite limitation in this
country. Labor is a very minor point
in its cost. The protection of labor
can be left entirely out of considera-
tion in the discussion.
A duty would serve only one pur-
pose. That would be to allow Amer-
ican producers arbitrarily to charge a
higher price. It would tend to keep
out importations, thus accelerating
the exhaustion of our limited oil re-
sources. At the same time it would
tend to discourage American explora-
tion and development of oil resources
outside the United States, an activity
greatly to be desired to assure us sup-
plies of oil and gasoline against the
day when our supplies will be far be-
low our requirements.
No feature of the proposed tariff
seems more clearly designed to ad-
vance limited private interests at the
cost of the country as a whole and of
all consumers than does this proposal
for a duty on oil. Five minutes of de-
bate should be sufficient to assure the
killing of the amendment.
Steam-Rollered.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
The contractors’ combination, repu-
diated at the primary, Saturday, took
desperate measures to retain its hold
upon the machinery of the Republi-
can party in Pennsylvania by flouting
the expressed wishes of the head of
the State ticket and by forcing W.
Harry Baker into the chairmanship of
the State committee.
In taking a step so extreme in its
defiance of the majority principle the
Vare-Leslie-Eyre combination and
their followers have defined explicitly
the status of the State committee as
representing, not the Republicans of
Pennsylvania, but a defeated faction,
unwilling to face the consequences of
the primary verdict and determined to
hold on at the cost of honor and of the
welfare of the party they profess to
serve.
Mr. Pinchot already has given mo-
tice that if denied the time-honored
privilege of naming the campaign
manager he would conduct his own
fight as head of the ticket. What the
State committee will do about it re-
mains to be seen. Should it carry its
scheme of desperate defiance of the
will of the majority to the point of
disloyalty to the head of the ticket at
the polls in November, it will sign its
own death warrant and inflict an ir-
reparable injury to the Republican
party in its mightiest stronghold.
Dry Rot in Congress.
From the New York Herald.
The practice of the seniority rule
means dry rot everywhere and in
everything; the practice of the senior-
ity rule in Congress is dry rot.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
— While Mrs. Arthur McGregor, of
Smethport, was visiting in Pittsburgh last
month, a sealskin coat valued at $800 was
stolen from her home. Recently when her
maid opened the front door she saw a
large package leaning against it. It prev-
ed to be the pilfered garment unharmed.
—A jury in the Northumberland county
court last Thursday awarded Mrs. Carrie
V. Hile, of Sunbury, $15,000 damages
against the Pennsylvania Railroad compa-
ny for the loss of her husband, Harvey H.
Hile, killed in a grade-crossing accident
at Selinsgrove Junction last September.
Twenty thousand dollars were asked.
—Frank M. Dute, of New Castle, has
filed a suit for $10,000 damages for the
death of his son, Earl M. Dute, one year
ago in the municipal bathing pool on the
Neshannock creek. The boy was drowned
and the father charges that the city was
negligent in not having proper lifesaving
guards in service at the beach at that
time.
—Although severely injured when she
fell from a second story bay window while
reaching for a screen last Saturday, Mrs.
Clara Keim, of Pottstown, owes her escape
from probable death to her long hair. She
landed on her head on a cement walk, but
her hair was arranged as to form a cush-
ion, which broke the force of the contact.
She was unconscious when found and tak-
en to a hospital.
—Themas B. Foley, pioneer oil and gas
operator, who died at his home in Pitts-
burgh late last Friday was buried Monday
morning. Mr. Foley served three terms as
a member of the board of inspectors of
the western penitentiary, being appointed
by Governors Tener, Brumbaugh and
Sproul. He was instrumental in selecting
the site and also the building of the new
western penitentiary at Rockview, Centre
county.
—W. Grant Butterbaugh, of Windber, is
a mighty lucky man. Some few weeks ago
he was swindled out of $10,000 in a stock
deal and had given up hope of getting
back the collateral that he had traded for
some stock. Then there was an arrest
made in Pittsburgh and Butterbaugh, with
attorney RR. A. Henderson, visited that
city, encountered the swindler among
those arrested and succeeded in getting
back the collateral.
— Gordon M. Gray, aged 25 years, of
Parkersburg, West Virginia, was instantly
killed Friday afternoon on the new high-
way construction job just beyond Rey-
noldsville. According to the facts young
Gray was working around the grading
machine when a lever released, striking
him a severe blow, death being instanta-
neous. The accident happened at 1:30
o'clock in the afternoon. The young man
was a civil engineer.
—Gilbert W. Kelly, a 19 year old Swiss-
vale youth, convicted in connection with
the robbery and killing of a department
store bank messenger, was sentenced to
from 19 years and 11 months to 20 years
in the western penitentiary, at Pittsburgh,
on Saturday. Similar sentences were im-
posed some time ago on Rufus Costner
and Harry Brooks, members of the gang
which held up the messenger. Their lead-
er, Benjamin Stokes, escaped with the
money.
—A bequest of about $5000 has just come
to Samuel H. Thomas, proprietor of the
Hotel Lenox, of Allentown. About ten
weeks ago, on visiting his sister, Mary Em-
ma Coffrey, at Reading, he found her quite
feeble at 69. He convinced her she would
be more comfortable in Allentown, and she
died there May 28. When a lawyer she
had secretly visited produced and probated
her will it was found she had left the bulk
of her $6500 estate to her brother. Thom-
as never knew she had any money, he said.
—TFrederick Shoaf was fatally injured
and his brother Ralph was slightly hurt
when their airplane went into an air pock-
et at a height of 300 feet and crashed to
the ground near Jefferson, Greene county,
on Sunday afternoon. The brothers were
rushed to a hospital where Frederick died
fifteen minutes later. The brothers oper-
ated the Shoaf Aero company at Belle
Vernon until recently. The dead man was
employed in Pittsburgh at the time of his
death, while the other gave flying exhibi-
tions and conducted passenger flights.
—John F. Stone, lawyer-farmer, of Cou-
dersport, who has done much for sheep
husbandry in Potter county, is going out
of the sheep raising business. Mr. Stone
was one of those who asked for drastic
legislation against bears in Potter county
from the last Legislature, which legisla-
tion was passed, but vetoed by the Gover-
nor at the instance of the State Game Com-
mission, it is said. Last week Mr. Stone
had thirty of his choicest sheep and lambs
slaughtered by bears. He has decided to
retire from that branch of husbandry for
all time.
—Scottdale sports are now offering to
back IZmil Rocco, a shoemaker and world
war veteran, as a champion long-distance
eater. Rocco sauntered out of his place of
business one day last week and ate four-
teen plates of ice cream. That was merely
a climax, however. In the morning Rocco
undertook to eat combination sandwiches
and coffee as the result of a wager with
George Kromer. Rocco posted himself in
the window of a Scottdale restaurant and
made way with fourteen cups of coffee and
was on the ninth combination sandwich,
when he stopped and said the rich cream
in the coffee had made him sick.
—Collection of an inheritance tax on an
estate said to be valued at $500,000 forms
the basis of a legal contest between Penn-
sylvania and New York authorities over
the probating of the will of Mrs. L. E.
Wells, of Danville. The estate involved is
that of the late Stewart B. Wells. Mrs.
Wells died at Scarsdale, West Chester
county, N. Y., and the New York authori-
ties contend she was a resident of that
State at the time of her death. The Penn-
sylvania authorities hold that she was a
legal resident of Pennsylvania and that
the will cannot be probated in New York
State, and are preparing to contest.
—H. E. Gardner, aged 52 years, a Penn-
sy track foreman residing near Birming-
ham, didn’t get a drop of liquor on Friday,
but, nevertheless, a “shot” or two from the
cup that cheers was responsible for his
getting a nasty cut along the left side of
the head while at work three-fourths of a
mile east of Tyrone station. Gardner had
stepped out of the way to allow No. 26,
the Commercial express, to pass and was
struck on the side of the head by #n emp-
ty pint flask, thrown from the window of
one of the coaches, the flying bottle in-
flicting a nasty cut. An investigation was
later made by the Middle division police
department, but the person who threw the
bottle could not be located.