Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, March 30, 1923, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Peworvalic; atc,
INK SLINGS.
——It may be necessary to adopt
the German system of providing mon-
ey in order to strike a balance between
receipts and expenditures in Pennsyl-
vania.
—Today Pennsylvania is without li-
censed saloons. Any person may sell
near beer to children, as well as grown
ups and sell it at any hour of the day
or night.
—The Governor has sanctioned an
appropriation of $2,993,914 to State.
He will approve it, he says, if the Leg-
islature can find some source from
which to get the money.
—With sugar at ten cents a pound
it must be pretty hard for the new
woman voter to keep sweet on the par-
ty that put it there by placing a need-
less tariff on the commodity.
—Judge Quigley is landing on the
front pages of the Philadelphia pa-
pers so frequently of late that, if
there should happen to be a vacancy
on a bench higher up some of these
days, he’s getting the publicity that
will help a lot in landing him on that.
—Bernhart is dead. Those of
you who never saw the great French
tragedienne will never know what you
have missed. It is well, for after hav-
ing seen her Cleopatra we never ful-
ly appreciated such wonderful actress-
es as were Ellen Terry, Miss Gale and
Julia Marlowe.
—If every man, woman and child
in Bellefonte were to pay $37.08 into
the borough treasury during 1923
there would be no necessity for a tax
levy for borough purposes and the en-
tire borough debt would be wiped out.
Of course all the bachelor men and
women will say: Let’s do it, but the
heads of the big families say: Nay!
nay!
—If nothing" intervenes to prevent
it on the sixteenth day after this one
we opine that our salutation to the
first fellow we meet, after it gets light
enough to see any one, will be: Are
they doing anything? In other words
we're goin’ fishin’ and, because our
private boot-legger has completely
forsaken us, any old ossifer can search
and seizure us to his heart’s content.
—Using an expression so popular
and full of meaning in the pre-Vol-
stead days: “We don’t care what be
comes of us now.” The First Nation-
al bank has just presented us with
$50,000.00. The fact that it is Bol-
sheviki money and is actually worth
only two cents doesn’t make a particle
of difference to us. All we need do is
turn Bolshevik and then we’ll be cra-
zy enough to think it’s good.
—The bills that the Governor has
had introduced as supplementary to
the enforcement measure that is now
a law are, to say the least, anomolous.
What the purpose of licensing a brew-
ery to make near beer and not the re-
tailer of it could be we are at a loss
to understand. And we read into one
of the other measures introduced an
effort to make effective the principle of
the “search and seizure” clause that
was stricken out of the original bill.
—Princess Mary’s baby was christ-
ened on Sunday and he bawled during
the ceremony. The bawling probably
made the incident front page stuff |
for our metropolitan journals. We
can see no other reason for making
such a fuss over this English infant, |
when we’re christening a thousand of |
‘them every day right here at home
and few of them will ever get into a
personal colufnn, even, - until they
grow up and go to spend a week-end
with some one or become a successful
boot-legger.
—Just because it has happened a
few hundred miles away from home
we all feel licensed to talk about the
trouble J. Kearsley Mitchell, of Phila-
delphia, has gotten himself into
through his philanderin’ with a New
York model. And yet, if we were to
talk about the philanderin’ of a few
married men, right here at home, that
we know of, those who are rolling the |
Mitchell-Keenan affair around on their
tongues like a delectable tid-bit, would
think we ought to be ridden out of
town on a rail.
—The slender margin of seven votes
by which the Governor’s prohibition
bill got through the House, on Tues-
day morning, was something of a sur-
prise.
sult is that prohibition is not as strong
in Pennsylvania as it was supposed to
be and the Governor has less strength
with the Legislature than his assump-
tions have proclaimed. It is very ap- |
parent that had the “search and seiz-
ure” clause not had the teeth amend-
ed out of it the enforcement biil would
have failed of passage. The outstand-
ing significance of the vote, however,
is that the Governor’s pet measure,
the one on which he had counted as
being a call to the Union to rally be-
hind him as the Moses of the Volstead
act and a potential candidate for Pres-
ident was passed, not because of his
power, but because most of the 107
votes cast for it were influenced by
sentiment “back home.” It is plain
that the Governor cannot dictate leg-
islation. If, with all the power of the
prohibition sentiment in the State
back of him, he could get only a mar-
gin of seven for an emasculated en-
forcement bill, what may he expect
for the governmental reform meas-
urés he has fathered? They might
get through, but we are making no
predictions because, as we have said
before, the Governor has a lot of good
idcas but seems to know nothing
about how to get them over.
The only conclusion that the
unbiased mind can make from the re- |
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 68.
Pinchot’s Great Victory.
the House of Representatives on
Tuesday afternoon by a narrow mar-
gin. There being 209 members of the
body 105 votes are necessary to car-
ry a measure and it received 107.
The majority was small but sufficient.
It was acquired at a high cost, how-
ever. Every possible expedient was
invoked to cajole or coerce the mem-
bership. It will be said, and probably
with reason, that official patronage
was used to persuade members of the
House to vote in the affirmative. It is
certain that no effort was spared to
accomplish the result. Whether it is
worth the price remains to be seen.
There are other crimes in the cata-
logue quite as henious as taking a
drink.
and women, will be glad if the osten-
sible purpose of the legislation will be
achieved. Saloons had not only de-
generated into a nuisance but had ac-
tually become a menace. If the en-
actment of this measure will abolish
saloons in Pennsylvania the people
will have cause to rejoice. But if the
effect of the legislation is to change a
limited number of regulated saloons
into an unlimited number of unregu-
lated drinking booths, it will work
harm rather than good. A great
many people are apprehensive that
such will be the result. Pool rooms,
cigar stores, restaurants, booths of
various sorts may dispense beverages
as the saloons have been doing, and
more harmfully.
lated saloons ceased in Pennsyl-
vania with the executive approval of
the bill. Possibly “the end may jus-
tify the means” employed to secure
that result. But it was hardly neces-
sary to employ the “bunk” used by
some of the speakers in advocating the
passage. Men who opposed the bill
may have been quite as earnestly in
favor of sober and clean lives as those
who favored it, and the speaker who
‘introduced Lincoln’s name into the
| discussion paid no compliment to the
i memory of the great martyr. If the
Pinchot bill had been in operation
when Lincoln ‘was “riding the circuit”
ihe would have been liable to arrest
every trip he made.
The suggestion of the road-
builders in conference in Harrisburg,
i last week, that politics be eliminated
from the Highway Department is not
‘likely to be followed generally. In
| this State, at least, the Highway De-
{ partment has been the fountain of pol-
itics in the past.
i
Court of Industrial Relations.
i
The proposition of Representative
| Parkinson, of Greene county, to cre-
ate in this State a court of industrial
| relations similar to that in Kansas is
not likely to meet with popular favor
however strongly it may appeal to the
Pinchot administration, the machine
politicians or the General Assembly.
In Kansas it has never accomplished a
great deal of good but has provoked
considerable confusion and worked
!some injustice to labor. Moreover
when Editor Allen, of Emporia, Kan-
sas, openly flouted one of the salient
provisions of the measure creating the
court, Governor Allen spluttered
somewhat and then subsided, leaving
the law and the court “in the air” ob-
jects of popular contempt.
No doubt Rpresentative Parkinson
has the best motives in mind in pro-
posing such legislation and because it
would make provision for some new
| and lucrative offices it is equally cer-
tain that it would please the politi-
cians immensely. But the absurdity
of it is revealed in the section of the
bill which requires that employees
“shall receive at all times a fair wage
and have healthful and moral sur-
roundings,” and “that capital invest-
ed therein shall receive at all times a
fair return to the owners thereof.” In
the event that existing industrial con-
ditions made it impossible to thus
| recompense capital and labor some-
body, presumably the State, would
have to chip in to balance the books.
There are a whole lot of “good in-
tentions” expressed in' the proposed
legislation, but it is said that the
streets are paved with good intentions
in a certain otherwise undesirable lo-
cality, and it would be almost as dif-
ficult to get good results out of the
proposed court of industrial relations
as to maintain a stock of ice in the lo-
cality paved with good intentions.
There are plenty of courts now in ex-
istence in Pennsylvania and they are
endowed with powers that cover al-
most any complaint or contingency.
Besides the safest and surest way to
reconcile differences between labor
and capital is to adopt the golden rule
in dealings between employer and em-
ployee.
|
{
——Mr. Pinchot seems to imagine
that his election as Governor of Penn-
sylvania invested him with authority
to govern New York.
The Pinchot enforcement bill passed
The Anthracite Coal Tax.
It appears that the vote of the
House of Representatives at Harris-
burg for the repeal of the anthracite
coal tax was an expression of resent-
ment against Governor Pinchot rather
than a deference to popular senti-
ment. The Governor is making Sen-
ators and Representatives very tired.
He not only wants to dominate the
legislation but aspires to control every
other agency of the government.
There was a good deal of indignation
over the publication of a list of per-
sons pledged to support the Pinchot
program, and it was considerably in-
tensified by the exposure of the fact
that Mrs. Pinchot was responsible for
that incident. As a matter of fact
there is an increasing feeling of too
r much Pinchot in Harrisburg.
Most citizens of Pennsylvania, men
Immediately following the inaugu-
ration the Governor announced that
he intended to abolish the Department
of Internal Affairs, created by
the constitution, and substitute some-
thing of his own creation for it.
Next he declared that the constitu-
tional method of dispensing charity
by the State must be abolished and a
plan of his own conception put in its
place. When opposition developed to
these schemes Mrs. Pinchot under-
took to organize the women to either
entice or coerce the Legislature into
obedience. Finally he brought his
Uncle Eno to the capital to instruct
the people of Pennsylvania how to
build highways and operate traffic.
His “sisters and his cousins and his
' aunts” are yet to be heard from.
Be that as it may, however, regu- :
But it is impolite to “look a gift
horse in the mouth” and we prefer to
believe that the vote for the repeal of
the anthracite tax by the House of
Representatives was influenced by a
benevolent purpose to equalize the
burdens of government and relieve
those least able to pay of an unjust
and unfair levy. Governor Pinchot is
opposed to the repeal, and employed
all the influence and force he could
command to prevent the action taken
by the House. He feels. that the
State needs money and is not partic-
ular as to the means necessary to ac-
quire it. But the Representatives in
the Legislature were not influenced
either by spite, envy or résentment in
their vote on the bill. They are above
such things.
The Legislature is making slow
progress, but that is no cause of com-
plaint. If most of the pending meas-
ures are scrapped in the end the peo-
ple will “make profit out of slothful-
ness.”
Work for Women Politicians.
The women of Pennsylvania, wheth-
er in politics or out, may find food for
reflection in the market price of
sugar. Those in politics have had a
good deal to do with that important
element in the existing political con-
ditions, if it be true as alleged, that
in 1920 a vast majority of the women
of the State voted the Republican
ticket. The success of that ticket in
that election is largely responsible for
the present price of sugar, which an
esteemed contemporary pronounces
“outrageous.” The Fordney tariff
bill made it possible for the Sugar
trust to run the price up to the high
level it now occupies and in all prob-
ability will work further increases as
ihe “canning season” approaches.
Of course women are no more con-
cerned directly with the price of
commodities used in the household
than the men, for as a rule the men
have to provide the money to meet
the household expenses and the wom-
en are simply disbursing agents. But
in spite of that fact we naturally as-
sociate women with problems in do-
mestic economy. They use the sugar
in cooking, baking and preserving and
if the price is low they have the
greater per centage of the family al-
lowance for personal use or adorn-
ment. In voting for tariff taxation
they simply vote license for the par-
ty in power to levy all the tax the
traffic will bear, and the tax must be
paid if the subject of taxation is used.
Of course Secretary of Commerce
Hoover is indignant because of the
high price of sugar. Secretary Hoover
is always indignant after the event
but never intervenes in advance to
prevent the evil. He is so obsessed
with ambition to hold office and exer-
cise power that he never knows what
to do. While Senator Smoot was ne-
gotiating through the diplomatic
agencies of the government to limit
the sugar crop of Cuba so as to cre-
ate a shortage in this country Mr.
Hoover might have interfered with
the scheme. But he failed to do so
and the proposition to increase the
tax on beet sugar offered an equally
good chance for intervention. But he
remained quiet until the damage was
done. .
——The , worst thing about the
“speed fiends” is that they are mak-
ing it harder for rational car owners
and drivers.
BELLEFONTE, PA., MARCH 30. 1923.
NO. 13.
Pennsylvania Threatens Opposition.
The movement for the re-nomina-
tion of President Harding is likely to
run against the first serious opposition
in Pe vania. It has not found
favor in the minds of the Republican
le , according to Washington
correspondents, and indications point
to an uninstructed delegation to the
next Republican national convention
from this State prepared to traffic with
the opponents of the President.
Neither Senator Pepper nor Senator
Reed is in favor of the renomination
of Harding, the story goes, for the
reason that he has not given them
proper consideration in the distribu-
tion of patronage. The appointment
of Alex. Moore, as Ambassador to
Spain, is the “straw that broke the
{ camel’s back.”
| If can hardly be said that Pennsyl-
‘vania has been slighted in the matter
of patronage, though it is possible
that the Senators have been ignored.
Of the ten members of the President’s
cabinet two are Pennsylvanians, Mr.
Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury,
and Mr. Davis, Secretary of Labor.
Of the Ambassadors three, Mr.
Fletcher, Mr. Woods and Mr. Moore
are Pennsylvanians, and we recall no
time when the State had a greater
number. It is true that Senators Pep-
per and Reed had no voice in the se-
lection of the cabinet members. They
were private citizens then and Mr.
Fletcher’s appointment was in the na-
ture of a promotion and made before
the Senators were inducted into office.
There is some cause for complaint
against the appointment of Alex.
Moore, to be Ambassador to Spain, hi
however. Persons not well informed
on the subject might think that the
Senators were responsible and that
would militate against their reputa-
tion for intelligence. But we hardly
think that Mr. Pepper would take such
a matter so seriously. Of course he
was disappointed that so important an
office should come to the State with-
out his knowledge or consent. Buthe to
can easily be reconciled. He wants
patronage and if the President will
favor him generously during the year
which will intervene before the dele-
IT fade away.
SRise ave chosen the, threatened oppo-
——Henry Ford may have a shady
understanding of the past, but he
shows a bright view of the future when
he predicts a minimum wage of $10 a
day a few years hence.
Senator Capper’s Gloomy Report.
i Senator Capper, of Kansas, in a
signed editorial in his newspaper,
‘“Capper’s Weekly,” says “another
twenty-five per cent. will be added to
the cost of living during 1923. This
is the point to which prices are climb- |
ing. So reports the economist Fisher.
It is disturbing news. If this comes
to pass it means the consumer will
have to pay seventy-five per cent.
higher for what he buys than the same
necessities cost him in 1914, the first
year of the war.” And the Kansas
Senator is justly alarmed. “It looks
as if we were in for another goose-
killing,” he adds, “unless the purchas-
ing power of the consumer is increas-
ed twenty-five per cent.,” which is not
at all likely to occur.
About four and a half years ago the
fighting forces in France and Flan-
ders agreed to an armistice on terms
proposed by Woodrow Wilson, Presi-
dent of the United States.
quently the peace conference, sitting
at Versailles, adopted a plan to se-
cure permanent peace on lines laid by
President Wilson and his American
colleagues. At that moment the gov-
ernment of the United States was the
greatest moral and physical force on
earth. When its voice was raised the
whole civilized world listened. The
covenant of the League of Nations ex-
pressed its aspirations for permanent
peace and its guarantee of prompt re-
adjustment and certain prosperity.
But partisan malice, envy and unchar-
itableness intervened and prevented
consummation of the purpose.
Then we had the largest merchant
marine, both in number of ships and
tonnage, of any nation in the world.
We had more available capital and
greater resources than all the rest of
the world. We had an" urgent invita-
tion from all the world to lead in the
activities of life and point the path
to achievement. The markets of the
world beckoned us to offer our wares.
But the malignity of politics and the
perversity of envious men have rob-
bed us of all these advantages, be-
cause as Senator Capper says, “we
have only a home market for Ameri-
can products,” and no nation cares a
snap what we think or do on any sub-
ject. Senator Capper was.in the Sen-
ate during this period and contributed
to the destruction.
——The justice of the French inva-
sion of the Ruhr valley is generally
admitted but the wisdom of it be-
comes increasingly uncertain as time
passes.
Subse-
The Sugar Duty.
: From the Philadelphia Record.
Whaiever else there may be behind
the advance in sugar prices, the in-
creased duty is undoubtedly there.
Secretary Hoover denies that there is
a shortage. There is said to be spec-
ulation, and that, of course, is facili-
tated by the increased duty, which has
a tendency to keep out Cuban sugar
and necessarily enhances the price.
Chairman Hull, of the Demboeratic
National committee, appeals to the
President to exercise his diseretion
under the flexibility provision of the
tariff law to cut the duty 50 per cent.
The appeal is perfectly reasonable;
the duty is needless, and the increased
price is burdensome. But, of course,
a Republican President will take no
notice of the representations of a
Democratic chairman. To do what
Mr. Hull asks would be to admit that
the duty increases the price, and,
while there is no other reason for im-
posing protective duties, the Republi-
cans do not like to admit the truth to
the consumer. :
The sugar duty is mainly a revenue
duty, but it would yield the most rev-
enue if the duty were low and impor-
tation encouraged. The duty is con-
siderably above the revenue t to
accomplish the very thing that has
happened, an increase of price by
speculation. The cane sugar interests
in this country are very small. The
sugar planters of Louisiana complain
that even with a high duty the busi-
ness is not profitable, and they are
gradually going into fruits and early
vegetables as substitutes.
The beet sugar interest is a large
one, but it needs no protection. Wher-
ever soil and climate conditions are
favorable sugar beets are a very prof-
itable crop, and this is shown by the
gh prices such lands command.
When the Beet Sugar trust was sell-
ing stock many years ago it assured
investors that it could make money
without any protection, and there is
no doubt that this is true, But the con-
sumption of sugar is very great and
it is a legitimate subject for revenue
taxation, and whatever incidental pro-
tection is afforded by a revenue duty
the domestic producers are welcome
Beyond that they are not entitled to
anything. The beet interests have a
virtual monopoly of the sugar busi-
ness in the interior of the country, as
Hawaii has of the Pacific coas
Eas States get the greater
re Sai gh ei
their sugar from
2
tification for. In spite of representa-
tions from refiners, from consumers
and from American owners of Cuban
plantations, Senator Smoot’s commit-
, tee insisted on a high duty, which
should increase the price and limit the
supply, and thus facilitate the extor-
tionate speculative increase of price
from which the community is now suf-
fering.
The Republicans imposed this bur-
den on the people, and they will not
relax it lest they betray the secrets of
protection. ]
I —— tt fp sn —————
How Government Payrolls Were Cut.
From the New York World.
With great pride the Harding ad-
ministration calls attention to the re-
duction of the number of government
employees from 606,794 to 504,778 in
the last two years. The figures are
vouched for at the White House. On
their face, without further comment,
they look impressive. Here is very
real economy. Here is substantial
benefit to the harassed taxpayer. Only
stop to consider what has been accom-
‘ plished in the short period of 24
months.
But where was this large reduction
in government employees effected?
, That is another matter. To begin
with, the War Department shows a
cut of 45,020, because of the reduc-
tion by Congress in the size of the ar-
my, in the face of the opposition of
Secretary Weeks and the Administra-
tion. It was a memorable fight, in
| which the White House was beaten.
Next comes the Navy Department
with a cut of 43,037, because of the re-
duction made by Congress in the per-
sonnel of the navy, against the per-
sistent protests of Secretary Denby
and the President. Once more the ad-
ministration was on the losing side.
Secretary Mellon also parted with 19,-
' 154 workers in the Treasury Depart-
ment. Thus 107,211 employees were
dropped from the government payroll
| in these three departments.
For the rest there were increases in
other directions that more than offset
other reductions. Over 9100 em-
ployees were added to the Postoffice
Department, in keeping with the rapid
growth of its work. The forces of the
Department of Agriculture were in-
creased by 1197. The force of the
Veterans’ Bureau was raised to 32,325,
an increase of 6693 in two years, and
is still a target for numberless com-
plaints. J
After all, if Congress had every-
where cut as close to the bone as it
did with the army and navy, the Ad-
ministration would have been able to
take still more credit to itself for the
rigorous economy imposed upon it.
i
——1It is said that an Englishman
| laughed himself to death at a joke,
but it may be safely predicted that
it will never happen again.
| —Beauty isn’t a thing of the face
and the form. It is the heart, the
mind and the will. *
y af .
enue duty is all that there is any jus-
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Wallace Dorward, 28, a boarder, and
Beatrice Smith, 5, grand-daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Edwin Reber, lost their lives
when the Reber home at Slatedale was
badly damaged by fire Sunday morning.
—Oscar Kline, of Allentown, while paint-
ing the roof of an outhouse at his home on
Saturday afternoon, was blown off a lad-
der and in falling broke his neck. He was
dead when his wife, attracted by the noise
of the falling ladder, reached his side.
—Steps have been taken to induce the
commission in charge of erecting a me-
morial to the memory of President James
Buchanan to consider Buchanan Park,
Lancaster, as a site. The money for the
memorial was left by the late Dulon F.
Buhmiller.
—At a meeting of the congregation of St.
Peter's cathedral, at Scranton, on Sunday,
it was decided to present Rev. A. J. Bren-
nan 8. T. D, with a purse of $25,000 as a
testimonial of appreciation on the eocea-
sion of his elevation to the bishopric in
that city on April 25th.
—One hundred and twenty dollars, with
which he intended to pay a doctor’s bill,
were burned by fire which Saturday de-
stroyed the home of David E. Burkholder,
Chambersburg. The money was drawn
fram a bank several days ago and placed
under a pillow in a bedroom.
—Miss Beatrice Brady, an eighteen year
old Shamokin girl, went to bed Saturday
night more quickly than she had expect-
ed. The young woman went to the garret,
the joists of which were not floored, to
hunt some covers. Slipping she fell on the
unprotected plaster and in a second was
lying in bed in the sleeping-room below,
having gone through the ceiling.
—Walking into the “best” room at his
home in Nanticoke while his wife and four
children were entertaining a visitor in the
kitchen, Anthony Mosculo, 22 years old,
shot himself in the head with a 45-caliber
automatic pistol. Authorities said that
despondency over ill health and his ina-
bility to support his wife prompted the act.
Mrs. Mosculo stated that he had threat-
ened to kill himself several times.
—The great Conowingo dam, to be built
by the Susquehanna Power Co., of New
York, will be located 18 miles south of
Holtwood dam at McCall's Ferry, will be
of the same type as the latter, will cost up-
wards of $20,000,000 and will furnish about
65,000 horse power to Lancaster and about
45,000 to Harrisburg. Its location is near-
ly half a mile above the Conowingo bridge,
and 60 feet is the intended height.
—Mrs. Charles Vaughn, 43 years old, of
Pittston, died early Saturday morning of
injuries received when she slid from the
second to the first floor of a fire engine
house in that town Thursday night on a
brass pole used by firemen. The stunt was
the result of a dare by one of a number at-
tending a dance in the hose house. Land-
ing on the ground floor, Mrs. Vaughn’s legs
were broken and she was injured inter-
nally.
—The coolness of Iva Moss, eleven years
old, of Almedia, Columbia county, on Sat-
urday saved the lives of her six younger
brothers and sisters and prevented the
house from burning down. Iva discovered
the baby’s carriage had caught fire from
the kitchen range. Grabbing the infant in
her arms she smothered the flames in his
clothing while she pushed the carriage out
‘af doors. Then she summoned help and
Teighbors put out the fire raging in the
kitehen,
—The Rev. Z. A. Colestock, the oldest
United Brethren minister in the United
States, on Monday celebrated his 99th
birthday anniversary at the Colestock
home for aged people, at Quincy, Franklin
county, which he founded a number of
years ago. The aged clergyman was born
in York county. He was licensed to
preach seventy-nine years ago and was an
active minister for fifty-six years. The
home which he founded was established at
his own home in Mechanicsburg but later
was moved to Quincy. :
-—Pottsville women are joining with the
women of St. Clair, who have organized a
movement to cut down home consumption
of sugar 25 per cent. The women say they
have received assurances that if this is
carried out generally there will soon be a
big drop in prices. Business men, how-
ever, doubt if the consumption can be:
much reduced in that district, due to the
great increase in the use of ice cream and
sweet drinks since the advent of prohibi-
tion. St. Clair women say they are re-
ceiving assurances of co-operation all over
the State in the movement to organize a
buyers’ strike against sugar.
—A calf born on the Willoughby Daub
farm, about a mile northwest of FKreder-
icksburg, Lebanon county, is attracting:
unusual attention because of the fact that
it has two tails. The remarkable feature
of the phenomenal growth is that it is lo-
cated between the shoulders of the animal.
It is a real, live, and perfectly healthy or-
nament, and has already acquired the same’
length and size and tassel as the regula-
tion fily-chasing appendage. Many persons
refused to believe that such a phenomenon
was possible until they had personally
visited the farm and had made an inspec-
tion of the calf for themselves.
—The John Magner will case, in McKean
county, involving approximately $100,000,
has been settled out of court, according to
an announcement made at Kane, last week.
Magner, a recluse farmer, died in the Me-
Kean county home. He left his entire for-
tune to Rev. P. J. Donahue, pastor of the
Roman Catholic church at Smethport. . The
priest helped care for him in his declining
days. Mrs. Hannah Boyle, Mrs. Patricia
Boyle and William Driscoll, relatives,
brought court action to break the will, al-
leging that Magner was of unsound mind
when he placed his signature on it. Under
the settlement Father Donahue withdrew
his claim as a beneficiary under the will,
but the heirs agreed he should receive
$12,000.
—For the second time, a verdict of $17,-
000 awarded Mrs. Daisy Shankweiler, of
Shamokin, was upheld by the Northumber-
land county court. Her husband was kill-
ed when he took hold of a lighting switch
in his butcher shop, which, it is alleged,
was alive with electricity due to a defec-
tive transformer. The Pennsylvania Light-
ing company, the defendant, denied this,
and alleged contributory negligence. Pres-
ident Judge Frank H. Strouss, in denying
the petition for a new trial and a judg-
ment notwithstanding the verdict, points
out that the testimony showed that a help-
er whe went to Shankweiler’'s aid was also
knocked down, and that this would indi-
cate there was no reason for the wire to
be so charged as to contain a death shock.
ron