Bemorwic Watdpom
INK SLINGS.
—Already the fairs are being an-
nounced and all too soon we will not
be in the good, old summer time.
—Tuesday’s rain was the only gen-
tle one this community has had since
spring. All of the few others that
have fallen were torrential down-
pours.
— The indictment of W. H. Ander-
son, of the New York Anti-Saloon
League, for violation of the corrupt
practices law may develop that polit-
ical organizations are equally amen-
able to the law. And that will be
worth while.
—Half a million dollars were given
up by pugilistic fans to see Leonard
and Tendler fight for the light weight
championship in New York Monday
night and for less than an hour’s work
each of the contenders took down far
more than the President of the United
States gets for being mauled around
for an entire year.
— Statistics have just been compiled
and analyzed showing that at present
the farmer’s dollar, measured in oth-
er than his own products is worth only
59.5 cents. Since 1893, thirty years
ago, there have been only two years of
Republican administration during
which it was worth one hundred cents
on the dollar. They were 1909 and
1912. During the thirty year period
the Republicans have been in power
eighteen. In eighteen years they
were able only twice to enact laws that
gave the farmer one hundred cents for
the dollar he produced. During the thir-
ty year period Democratic policies pre-
vailed in twelve and six years out of
the twelve the farmer’s dollar was
worth more than one hundred cents on
the dollar.
—Evidences are multiplying to
prove that the dear old departed gink
who said “the best governed country
is the least governed country,” didn’t
have any idea at all of what he was
talking about.
Tuesday evening some one rattled
at the door of this office and as is often
the case, we came in for the evening
grind without slipping the “dead
latch.” When we went to let the
hoped for customer—but proved to be
nuisance— in we noticed the ugly slot
cut in a perfectly good door panel
some time last April or May. It was
put there at a cost of two dollars and
thirty-eight cents because a new order
had just been promulgated by
this fellow New, who happens to be
Postmaster General, to the effect that
to keep down the cost of Postmaster
Generalin every body had to have a
slot cut in the door of their business
place or they’d get no mail. Knowing
that there is enough trouble in the
Republican family we didn’t try to
compound it by inquiring of Mr.
New what he’d do with our mail if
we didn’t put a slot in the door. We
knew his stuff was all bull. Because
when the other fellow puts two cents
on a letter and directs it to us Uncle
Sam’s work’s cut out for him and all
the News that Harding said “eine,
mene, mine, mo” to get can’t change
our idea of it. Anyway, we put the
slot in and Tuesday night the thought
flashed through our mind that from
the day the carpenter cut the hole and
we paid the hardware man for the
handsomely embellished plate that
covers it to this, not a letter or paper
has slid through it. Every other bus-
iness place in Bellefonte, and possibly
in the country, has probably the same
experience to report.
Now the big idea is this: We
spent two dollars and thirty-eight
cents to help along. Possibly thous-
ands and hundreds of thousands of oth-
ers did the same thing. In all
probability enough money was wast-
ed to comply with this order to
have paid a goodly portion of
our war debt, and why? Simply
damnphoolishness! Some one, all
ivory from the collar button up,
thought he was doing something and
put that order across with the result
that millions of dollars were wasted,
not a cent saved for the Postoffice De-
partment or the delivery of mails fa-
cilitated a moment.
You wonder . why this ramble
about a trifle. We will tell you.
It is this damphoolishness in gov-
ernment that is bringing the coun-
try to the condition of unrest
and rebellion that it’s in. It’s the in-
spector of this, the investigators of
that, the snipers and snoopers from
Washington and Harrisburg who pif-
fle and peck at our business and pri-
vate affairs as if none of us were in-
terested in the welfare of our fellows
or trying to do anything constructive
for society and government.
We're tired. Plumb tired of making
reports, showing license cards and pay-
ing taxes to support a horde of offi-
cials who carry their inquisitions even
down to the point of telling us how
we may build an out-house.
Is it any wonder the country is rest-
less? Is it any wonder the individ-
ual, each day, looks less seriously at
his duty as a citizen? Is it any won-
der that the I. W. W’s are marching
in hordes all over the country to find
the spots where the soil is already
fertile for the seed of Sovietism?
The great wonder is that there has
not been an upheaval already. The
yoke of government is chafing the
necks of the people until most of us
are gradually becoming “hard boiled”
even though such a condition is fur-
thest from our desires. It’s true.
“The best governed country is the
least governed country” and because
that is true ours is fast becoming the
worst governed country because it is
the most governed country.
\
Go
Cr go
=
VOL. 68.
STATE RIGHTS AN
Harding’s Nomination in Doubt.
Since the overwhelming defeat of
the Republican candidate for Senator
in Congress, in Minnesota last week,
the sealed and signed guarantee of
Mr. Harding’s nomination for re-elec-
tion has been tentatively withdrawn.
It is as certain as ever it was that the
President can be renominated if he
insists upon it. He has the horde of
office holders in hand much better
than Taft held them in 1912, and the
office holders will easily control the
nominating convention, for the oppo-
sition has no such forceful figure as
Roosevelt to inspire and guide it. But
it is now a question whether Harding
will want the nomination this year.
It means defeat of his party and ob-
livion for him.
The trend of public sentiment has
been against the Republican party
ever since the passage of the emergen-
cy tariff soon after the inauguration of
Harding. The result of the elections
last fall indicated that plainly. An
overwhelming majority in both
branches of Congress was reduced by
that vote to a meagre measure in each
house. But the admonition implied
had no effect on the stupid manage-
ment of the party or the titular lead-
er in the White House. The Fordney-
McCumber tariff bill, an exaggeration
of the evils of the emergency measure
was forced into the statute books to
the prejudice of all business interests
and the practical destruction ui agri-
cultural enterprise.
Every high tariff since the Civil
war has cost the Republican party
dearly. In some cases, as for exam-
ple, the emergency bill only reduced
Congressional majority but the Ding-
ley bill and the Payne-Aldrich meas-
large majorities were wiped out, and
after the Payne-Aldrich bill the entire
government was changed from Re-
publican to Democratic. It is now
certain that the Fordney-McCumber
bill will have the same effect. The
“tub to the agricultural whale,” ex-
pressed in the thirty cent duty on
wheat, was so transparent a trick to
deceive that it simply caused resent-
ment, the first gesture of which was
the complete destruction of the party
in Minnesota. ons :
ishes his party friends in York against
“slating” candidates for office. “Let
the people do the picking of candi-
dates,” he advises, and that is good
advice in other sections as well as in
all parties. _
mm——p fr rss
“Charlie” Snyder’s Purpose.
The purpose which State Treasurer
Snyder had in mind when he held up
the pay warrants of employees in sev-
eral departments of the State govern-
ment about the middle of the month
has been revealed. He wanted to
force the administration into litiga-
tion to determine the constitutionality
of the reorganization code. In other
words, he expected that the adminis-
tration would appeal to the courts for
a mandamus to compel him to comply
with the law as expressed in the code.
His defense would be that the code is
unconstitutional and because of that
fact he is not obliged to obey it. It
remains to be seen whether the Gover-
nor will accept the challenge.
The code is certainly a problem. It
takes from the Department of Inter-
nal Affairs important functions and
vests them in other departments, the
heads of which are appointees of the
Governor. It nullifies the law fixing
salaries and vests the power in the
hands of a commission appointed by
the Governor. In various other ways
it centres power in the hands of the
Governor, giving him authority hith-
erto undreamed of by any public offi-
cial in this or any other State or any
foreign government. It may be that
a court will declare it valid but the
State Treasurer proposes to put it to
the test if the administration will
open the way by proceeding against
him.
It is unfortunate that a better way
could not have been discovered to set-
tle the question in dispute. According
to information received from Harris-
burg the refusal to issue the pay war-
rants due to the employees for their
mid-July pay worked hardships to
many of those who draw small sala-
ries and run close to their resources
from pay day to pay day. But if there
is no other way no fault can be found.
The people of Pennsylvania have a
right to know how powers are acquir-
ed and used and if they are usurped
and misused. The Governor is him-
self a professed stickler for law ob-
servance and should not complain if
he is held to the rules he imposes on
others. -
——If Magnus Johnson measures
up to expectations Hi will have an hi-
larious time during the next session
of the Senate.
——Thus far the only politician
who has suffered from the Pinchot or-
ganization is Senator Max Leslie, of
' Pittsburgh.
ures created such a revulsion that
: — be meager.
——Auditor General Lewis admon- ;
Harding Heading Homeward.
President Harding has finished his
visit in Alaska and is now well on his
homeward way. He had a joyful time,
according to the press dispatches,
while there, and added considerably to
the gayety of the inhabitants of the
territory. But he preserved the same
secrecy as to the purpose of his trip
while among them as he did before
leaving Washington. Since his depar-
ture on his homeward journey, how-
ever, the facts are beginning to leak
out and unless the signs are mislead-
ing will develop a National scandal
quite as nauseating as that which
drove Ballinger out of the Taft Cabi-
net and converted the Republican par-
ty into a minority at the election of
1912.
During the Taft administration,
with Mr. Ballinger as Secretary of the
Interior, the then Morgan-Guggen-
heim syndicate undertook to exploit
the resources of the region for their
own benefit. Since that time Mr.
Pierpont Morgan has gone over to the
majority but the Guggenheim end of
the syndicate is still in Alaska and
quite as rapacious as ever. After the
election of Woodrow Wilson to the
| Presidency the attempt to gobble
| about everything that was valuable in
the territory was abandoned for the
' time being. Like the ship subsidy en-
terprise it fell in a deep sleep and re-
maind so until after the inauguration
of Harding. Then it was revived in a
' secret way and is now beginning to
reveal itself.
Harding’s visit to Alaska was for |
the purpose of revitalizing the Mor-
gan-Guggenheim schemes by author-
izing what will be called “develop-
ment” enterprises. It is believed that
millions and even billions of dollars
may be acquired by the exploitation
of the mineral, timber and other re-
sources of that great section or pos- ;
session of the United States of Amer-
ica, and it is Harding’s purpose to
give the official sanction to the opera-
| tions under the false pretense of ex-
operations of that sort. Since leav-
ing the territory the President has be-
gun talking of the immense public
wealth in prospect. But under
Guggenheinr plan the publie:shdre
——Yes, we have no bananas today,
but the impending war between State
Treasurer Snyder and Governor Pin-
chot is likely to afford plenty of
amusement during the next few
weeks.
Madden an Unwise Guide.
Representative Martin M. Madden,
of Illinois, declares that the next Re-
publican National convention “will de-
clare against the League of Nations,
which the American people don’t
want. Americans are sympathetic to
European woes and wish to promote
the well being of the human race,”
Mr. Madden continues, “but must
As Mr. Madden is a considerable fig-
ure in the Republican machine and a
statements with respect to party poli-
cy is entitled to grave consideration.
He says we have already given $21,-
000,000,000 to Europe, which is not
true, and are paying the heavy tax
burdens growing out of the war,
equally false.
Of the $21,000,000,000 given to Eu-
rope more than half was in the form
of war loans, the greater part of
which were to Great Britain, and
Great Britain has already made terms
satisfactory to the present adminis-
tration for repayment. The tax bur-
dens we are bearing as a result of the
war are for the expenses of our own
participation in the war and we could
hardly ask anybody else to pay them.
The purpose of the League of Nations
is not to mix up in European quarrels
but to prevent quarrels in Europe and
elsewhere that are likely to lead to
war. Taking Mr. Madden’s statement
at its face value, therefore, it reveals
a poverty of intellect and a careless-
ness of facts that are amazing.
No doubt it appears to such provin-
‘cial minds as Warren G. Harding’s
“and Martin B. Madden’s that the ma-
jority given to ‘the Republican candi-
date for President three years ago ex-
pressed the opposition of the Ameri-
can voters to the League of Nations.
But as a matter of fact it only ex-
pressed the purchased vote of the
venal, the prejudiced opinions of mis-
guided foreign voters and the credu-
lity of millions of citizens who were
deceived by Charles E. Hughes, Wil-
liam H. Taft, Herbert Hoover and
other conspicuous office seekers, who
declared that the election of Harding
was the surest way of getting into the
| League of Nations. The resentment
of those deceived voters has been
shown in every election since.
——Governor Pinchot on Monday
appointed William E. Sankey, of
Pittsburgh, as an additional member
of the board of inspectors of the west-
ern penitentiary, which completes the
personnel of the board. :
' tracting public benefits from private
stand aloof from European quarrels.” |
close friend of President Harding his
D FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA., JULY 27. 1923.
NO. 29.
Statesmen Traveling in Europe.
* The Washington correspondent of
an esteemed contemporary expresses
surprise .at the great number of Sen-
ators and Representatives in Congress
who have gone to Europe this year
for the ostensible purpose of investi-
gating the causes of discontent and
distress there. Of course they get
| such information as the press reports
i supply, just as the rest of us do, and
read the opinions of European states-
men, financiers and captains of indus-
try who have given much time and
earnest thought to the subject. But
each of those who go to Europe imag-
ines that he can solve a problem in a
: week’s observation which baffles other
. investigators for years, and they sail
away and return persuaded that they
have the right key.
Years ago, when the currency ques-
tion was the absorbing topic of dis-
cussion among the statesmen and near
statesmen of this country, the late
Senator for Illinois, John A. Logan,
informed his colleagues one day that
he would look the matter up in the
evening and tell them all about it next
day. He felt that it was a simple
problem to one mentally equipped as
he imagined he was. Senator Brook-
hart spent several weeks on the other
side and returned the other day con-
vinced that he had mastered the sub-
ject. Senator Hi. Johnson got back
on Monday with a solution that satis-
fies him, and all the others who have
gone and come or ave to come are
; equally persuaded that they can point
the way to safety.
Of course these men know very lit-
tle about the subject now that they
didn’t know before they went abroad.
But they have met a lot of people dur-
ing their sojourns abroad who had
tales of woe to spill and panaceas to
offer, just as they might have met
similar .tales and heard exactly the
same remedies if they had affiliated
with the dissatisfied and discontented
in the remote streets of any city in
the United States. The trouble in Eu-
rope is the natural and logical conse-
quence of the greatest war in history
and the failure to readjust conditions
after its close as might have been
hes done if malice, envy and prejudice had
will “Sot kept the United States out of the
League of Nations.
.——Of all the idiotic rulings pro-
mulgated from the national prohibi-
i tion enforcement office in Washington
that sent out last week relative to ci-
der is the limit. According to the rul-
ing farmers can make and sell sweet
j cider but if the purchaser perchance
| happens to permit his cider to fer-
of alco-
farmer is to be held lia-
‘ble for selling intoxicating bev-
| erage. Under this ruling not a
i farmer or fruit grower in the coun-
: try will be secure from arrest for us-
ing up his small and imperfect fruit
{in the only way possible, making ci-
; der. And why should he bother mak-
ing cider if he is not allowed to dis-
pose of it? And the purchaser of
same may have the best intentions in
the world. Even if the cider is want-
ed for vinegar it must go through a
stage of fermentation before it be-
comes vinegar. It is such rulings as
the above that injure the cause of pro-
| hibition more than anything else; rul-
ings so arbitrary and adverse to all
good intentions that even ardent
friends of prohibition are prone to de-
nounce them. ]
half of one per cent.
hol the
—Gradually the prospects of having
a full, clean and aggressive Demo-
cratic county ticket in the field this
fall brightens. The offices of Recor-
der: and Prothonotary have had no
avowed aspirants until recently. There
is a candidate in the field for the for-
mer now and we understand that be-
fore the last day for filing papers,
July 31st, has waned a candidate for
Prothonotary will be in the field. This
is as it should be. Time has come for
a change. The voters want it and
1923 is going to be a Democratic year
in Centre county.
——Owing to the death of the late
George Waite the festival which the
Albright Brotherhood of the Evangel-
ical church had planned to hold this
evening has been postponed until a
later date. :
meses
——1It has been noted by careful ob-
servers that Harding hasn’t had much
to say about the result of the Minne-
sota election.
I ——— A A —————
——General Wood has simply been
applying Roosevelt military methods
in conducting civil affairs in the Phil-
ippines.
——Any way itis a comfort to
think that Minnesota has elected a
Senator who will not join the golf
cabinet.
A ———— A —————
——One of the surprising things
about the low price of wheat is. that
it ‘has no effect on the high price of
bread.
{ ment until it contains more than one--
cided.. But if that great tity of
wheat is to be ass and ‘may’ be let
re ——————
Farmers Cornering Wheat.
From the Philadelphia Record.
With the French + wheat crop so
large that it is believed no imports
will be necessary, and the Canadian
crop so large that harvest labor is to
be imported from England, what is
Senator Brookhart going to do about
it? All he has proposed is that the
government shall help the farmers
market their wheat. But if the French
crop shall realize expectations there
will be no market for our grain in
that country.
We know very well what Senator-
elect Magnus Johnson would do about
it. He would have Congress fix a
price—probably $2.50 a bushel—and
take half a billion bushels off the mar-
ket by locking it up until it could be
sold for the statutory price. Some-
thing approaching this is promised by
the Farm Bureau Federation. It is
estimated by the bureau that $660,-
000,000 can be got through the inter-
mediate credit system for the relief
of the farmers, and less than a quarter
of this would suffice to lock up 200,-
000,000 bushels in the farmers’ grain
bins, which it is proposed shall be
designated bonded warehouses. If the
market value of wheat is $1 a bushel,
$150,000,000 would be advanced on the
quantity of wheat proposed to be tak-
en off the market.
This would be cornering the market
by the farmers themselves. It would
be the most interesting experiment in
economics ever tried. Its operation
would be watched with the keenest
and the most friendly interest. But
unqualified confidence could not be felt
in its ultimate success. And even its
immediate success would be less as-
ured than the Farm Bureau Federa-
tion assumes. The complaint now is
that the market price is below the cost
of production. Farmers would not get
above 75 per cent. of the market price
of their stored wheat. If they had
plenty of money they might take the
75 per cent., and wait for the market
to improve. But they are represent-
ed to be short of money and in need
of advances, apart from this project
of storing surplus wheat. In that
case 75 per cent. of the present low
market price, with an indefinite delay
in getting the rest, would not look so
alluring as it is supposed.
If 200,000,000 bushels of
could be paid for by some one—the
government, for example—and de-
stroyed, there is no doubt that the ef-
fect on the market price would be de-
out at any time, the immediate result
will be much smaller than is assumed,
and the ultimate effect may be very
disappointing, That 200,000,000 bush-
els of wheat will hang over the mar-
ket like a leaden cloud. The end of
the war found the British government
with a huge amount of wheat on hand,
rushed over in 1917-1918 with the idea
of stocking up the country so that the
shipping could be used in 1919 for
bringing over American troops. The
American troops were rushed over
faster than was supposed possible, the
war ended a year earlier than was ex-
pected, and:the British government
was “long” on wheat. It required the
utmost care on the part of the.food
authorities to get rid of that surplus
without breaking the market.
If surplus erops could be carried
over to make good the deficiencies of
bad years the benefit would be enor-
mous. But Canada and Argentine
have huge areas of new, cheap land.
Suppose crops should be large in 1924
—what would be the influence of that
200,000,000 bushels of warehoused
grain? .
Passing of Pancho Villa.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
There will be many a dry eye in the
United States because of the passing
of Pancho Villa. The attempt of John
Reed to make him out a cross between
Napoleon and Robin Hood was fore-
doomad to failure. He cost the Unit-
ed States many millions of dollars for
a long-drawn punitive expedition that
was not allowed to get the man it
went after because Mexico did not dis-
criminate between the pursuit of her
chief public nuisance and an act of
unfriendly invasion.
Drunk with sight of power, Villa
owed most of his hold on the peons to
the freedom with which he distributed
among his tatterdemalion following
what was not his to give away. He
went to lone regions where the con-
stabulary powers of the Mexican gov-
ernment were weakest, looted and rav-
aged to his heart’s content, made
death the penalty of non-conformity,
and terrorized rural communities into
complete subjection. His will was the
only law wherever he rampaged, and
to extol the ruffian as a real leader of
the people is to ignore the facts.
Robin Hood would turn in his syl-
van grave if he knew that anybody in
this century drew a parallel-between
his exploits and Villa’s bull-necked,
red-handed brutalities. The greatest
public service Villa performed was
when he died.
Not Like Old Times.
From the Minneapolis Journal.
The Flathead Indians of Montana are
raising such big crops this year they
could find no time for the usual war-
dance. In the Dakotas the white men
are staging a war-dance over the
price.
A Great Help to Europe.
From the Harrisburg Telegraph.
Americans with their pockets full of
cash are crowding the steamers bound
for Europe. Yet they say the United
States is not helping Europe.
wheat:
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—D. Blaine Williams, postmaster at An-
sonville, Clearfield county, was arrested
last week upon a federal warrant charging
embezzlement of $670.44 of postoffice funds
in September, 1920. He furnished bond
for_the next term of federal court.
—City Treasurer Henry Heckart, of Sun-
bury, on Monday began levying on the
property of persons who have failed to pay
their: school taxes up to the present year.
Before the end of the month it is expected
that arrests will be made of men and wom-
en, not property holders, who have failed
to pay their personal taxes. Heckart’'s at-
torney has advised him that women who
refuse to pay taxes may be put in jail un-
der the new law.
—Appointment of Guy C. Brosius, of
Rauchtown, as county superintendent of
public schools of Clinton county, succeed-
ing Ira N. McCloskey, who retired, was
announced last week by Dr. J. George
Becht, State Superintendent of Public In-
struction. Brosius is a gradute of Buck-
nell University and has been connected
with the faculties of the University of
Pittsburgh and Dickinson College. He is
a native of Clinton county.
—A shoe store in Allentown had: been
advertising a new $1 bill in every box. On
Sunday. in broad daylight, while a throng
was passing, a man was in the show win-
dows handling the boxes and the money
and tapping on the window apparently to
attract attention to the bargains. Among
those attracted was the janitor, who real-
ized something was wrong, but before he
could act the thief had escaped, taking
with him about 1500 new $1 bills.
—James T. Krape Jr., was instantly kill-
ed last Friday afternoon at Water Street,
Huntingdon county, while in performance
of his duty as head driller of the Water
Street Trap Rock company. With Michael
Susig he was drilling a hole for a blast
when another charge, supposed to have lost
its power, exploded and buried the men
under the rock. Susig is in the Blair Me-
morial hospital badly injured. Krape was
7 years old, and his skull was fractured
in a similar explosion two years ago in the
same quarry.
—The glitter of a diamond ring he saw
in his sister's room inspired Earl Meehan,
7 years old, of Lilly, Pa., to include the
trinket among the miscellany of “shiny”
things in his pockets. He was showing off
with the sparkler among a group of boys
at the Pennsylvania railroad station when
a well-dressed stranger asked the boy to
let him see it. The stranger offered Earl
a “whole dime” for the ring. Sold. The
stranger took the next train. ‘The ring
was valued at $400 and was the sister's en-
gagement ring.
—Before retiring last Thursday night,
Millette Craig, 15 year old daughter of
Samuel Craig, of Pittsburgh, combed her
long, chestunt tresses just as she had done
many nights before. Hours later her
mother was awakened by frightened
screams of Millette. Hurrying to her room
she found her daughter firmly bound to
her bed with strips of a night dress. Secat-
tered on the bed and floor were the long
strands of hair. A police investigation re-
vealed that the “clipper” had gained en-
trance to the Craig home through a win-
dow, the screen having been torn away.
—Failing in her efforts to beat off a col-
lie that attacked her tem year old son,
Mrs. Harry Snyder, of Hetlerville, Colum-
bia county, got a shotgun and killed the
animal us its teeth were still sunk in the
boy's flesh. The dog attacked the boy
when he and Mrs. Snyder were working in
the garden, ripping much of the flesh from
the child’s left leg and then biting him
about the face and head. She drove off
the dog with a garden hose, but as she
carried the boy to the house the dog again
attacked her and she could not drive the
animal away. Then Mrs. Snyder rushed
into the house and got the shotgun.
—A telegram received last Friday by
District Attorney Harold A. Scragg, of
Lackawanna county, from Canada told of
the arrest of Patsy Stallone, a merchant of
Old Forge, who shot and killed three men
in his store on November 6th last. As the
result of the three killings thirty-two
children were made orphans. Stallone was
followed through Canada by Canadian po-
lice and was arrested at South Porcupine
on the edge of the Hudson Bay company.
Chief county detective Con Morisini, of
Scranton, has identified the prisoner, who
is said to have made a confession and
waived extradition papers. He was taken
back to Scranton this week by two state
policemen. ' :
—Judge A. E. Reiber, of Butler county,
has refused the petition of A. L. Hepler,
alleged wrecker of the Ideal Squab compa-
ny and the Citizens’ Insurance Agency and
Mortgage company for a writ of habeas
corpus, and remanded him to jail to await
trial at the September term of court on
charges of conspiracy and embezzlement.
Hepler has been in jail at Butler since
May 14th, when he was brought back from
Phoenix, Arizona, as a fugitive from jus-
tice. He was first arrested in July, 1922,
and held in $10,000 bail for trial. He for-
feited his bail and disappeared mysterious-
ly in November, 1922. Hepler is alleged to
have swindled stockholders of the two
companies out of $500,000.
—Judge H. Walton Mitchell, of the Orph-
ans’ court of Allegheny county, has decid-
‘ed that although Mrs. May Munz contract-
ed a common law marriage with Martin
Burke, wealthy bootlegger, she is not en-
titled to a widow's share in the $500,000 es-
tate. The court declared that after Mrs.
Munz entered into the contract marriage
with Burke she continued to use the name
of May Munz. “Her story was not frank
and was full of prevarications,” Judge
Mitchell said. Mrs. Munz was ordered to
pay the costs of the case. Burke, who was
slain in a bootleggers’ war on the eve of
starting a penitentiary sentence for boot-
legging took Mrs. Munz to live with him
at his home in Pittsburgh, a few days after
her husband, Carl Munz, was shot in a
bootleggers’ war in Cleveland.
—The Pennsylvania Wire Glass com-
pany, of Dunbar, which some time ago
purchased a 30-acre factory site adjacent
to the Pennsylvania railroad tracks in
Lewistown, has completed plans for the
erection of an immense new plant at that
place, and will soon let the contract. This
plant is to be the largest of all glass
buildings ever erected in this country. It
is to engage in the production of wire
glass, corrugated wire glass and. actinic
glass, the latter products being new glass-
es never were manufactured. When in
full operation the company will ship two
or three carloads of these products per
day. The plans call for a siding from the
Pennsylvania railroad with three spurs;
a main building, 150x550; a box shop, 50x
100; a glass crushing department house,
30x50 and a polishing shep, 400x150. The
roofs will be of glass.