Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, October 05, 1923, Image 1
INK SLINGS. Sinie H. Hoy will make a splen- | did Recorder. : —Being too poor to war on any one else the Germans are trying to start one at home. —Let’s get the gang out of the court house before it gets itself so firmly entrenched that it will own the county. —There are a lot of reasons, of course, why Bill Brown should not be elected sheriff, but the only one that really counts is because he has had enough. —Outside of a few little things that we are going to try to keep from tell- ing Bill Brown would be all right if it were not for the fact that he is run- ning to the well with his pitcher once too often. —Rarely has a combination of such men of sterling character and ability been presented on any ticket as are those whom the Democrats of Centre county have called to run for office this fall. —Oklahoma has voted a mandate to its Legislature to consider im- peachment proceedings against Gov- ernor Walton. All of which looks like the K. K. K. is stronger there than the Governor reckoned. —Bellefonte Republicans grabbed off six of the most valuable places on their party ticket. All the rest of the thousands of Republicans in Centre county are expected to do is step up to the polls and vote for them. —The Bellefonte Republican’s ef- forts to stir up factional trouble in the Democratic ranks is old stuff, not even revamped since its first appear- ance four years ago. Come on, Char- ley, put that stuff back in pickle. It’s too green for use again this soon. —You farmers will please note that not a man of the soil was given a place on the Republican ticket. The Democrats gave four farmers the op- portunity to represent you and two of them, Swabb and Spearly, in the very office in which you are most interest- ed. —During the war Centre county gave $6,956,013.67 for various Liber- ty loan, Red Cross and United war work drives. That was four years ago. Will it give enough votes now to elect one of the most valiant of the boys it was so proud of four years ago? —Everywhere one goes the voters are talking Spearly and Swabb. Pub- lic sentiment seems to favor a change in the control of the county business and the sterling qualities of the Dem- ocratic nominees assure the voters that a change would place the Com- missioner’s office in exceedingly capa- ble hands. —Look Claude Herr over when he comes to see you. Size him up from every angle and you will agree with us that there is the type of clean-cut christian citizenship that should be se- lected for official position in Centre county. He is a candidate for Pro- thonotary and merits the vote of every one. —On Tuesday Governor Pinchot served notice on the thirteen hundred saloon keepers in Philadelphia to take down the swinging doors, remove the bar fixtures and get out of business at once or stand the consequences. It is quite’ possible that all but twelve hundred and ninety-nine of them did exactly as the Governor’s agents told them. —Let us help Dick Taylor! He is a good citizen and soldier, but a poor campaigner. Dick faced the Germans and, if his commanding officer, whose statement is published elsewhere in this issue, is right, had as much to do as any one with preventing the Ger: mans from reaching Paris. It was far easier for him to stand at the can- non’s mouth in France than to walk up and ask you to vote for him. Sim- ply because he is a serious, earnest fellow whose diffidence and modesty make it impossible for him to be the glib, pat-you-on-the-shoulder politi- cian. As Col. Thompson says: Let’s make the sun rise for Dick. Let’s help him into the sheriff’s office. —The fight between Love and Dale for District Attorney is as we predict- ed last week, destined to be one of the prettiest in the county campaign th& fall. Both are Republicans and both of them were in the contest to be named on our ticket, there being no regular party aspirant for the honor. Mr. Love won on his own ticket and Mr. Dale on ours. As a sequence there can be no partisan politics in this particular contest. There is, however, likely to be a “wet” and “dry” issue. We know nothing of the positions of either candidate on this question and don’t propose to inter- rogate them, but we do note that elsewhere in this paper the Civic Righteousness Association has resolv- ed in favor of Mr. Dale and that starts the ball a rolling. Mr. Dale is the “dry” candidate and all the “drys” are expected to vote for him. If they do he'll be elected; for Centre county never voted anything else than dry on a clean cut “wet” and “dry” issue. But, as we said last week, we haven’t the greatest confidence in the consist- ency of the “drys,” when it comes to an election of county or district offi- cers, so it remains to be seen how con- sistent they'll be when they get be- hind the curtain on November 6th and find the names of John Love and Ar- thur Dale staring them in the face and demanding that they stand up and be counted for “the grand old party,” or the principle that they resolve so much on and vote so little for. VOL. 68. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA., OCTOBER 5. 1923. A New Bond Issue for Roads. One of the amendments to the state constitution which will be voted on in November is to authorize another $50,000,000 bond issue for road build- ing in the State. The first issue of $50,000,000 was authorized in 1918, by a majority of i 262,000. It will be recalled that this same amendment was overwhelming- | ly rejected at a prior election but that was before the automobile had come into such general use and so many persons realized the advantage, eco- nomic and physical, of good roads.’ The “Watchman” was the only paper in Centre county that advocated the adoption of the Amendment and often we have thought of what the rejection : of it at that time cost the taxpayers of the State. Then roads were being built at a cost of from $3,000 to $14,- 000 per mile. When the voters finally came around to the support of the | proposition, the second time it was: presented, prices had advanced nearly three hundred per cent. and the result was that the State got only about one- third as much road construction for the $50,000,000 as it would have had the voters acted favorably when we urged them so to do. It is strange what a taste for more a little bit gives. Today the automo- bile licenses alome amount very nearly to the aggregate of one of these bond issues. In 1916 the public was told that $50,000,000 would give it good highways everywhere, forever, but one good highway creates a demand for another and millions and millions are being spent each year in satiating the demand. Where or when it will end no one can tell. There is one au- tomobile for every eight persons in the United States today and as every automobile makes new advocates for good roads it is probable that the stu- pendous expenditure will continue as long as the public can scrape up the money to buy motors, gas and tires and pay the interest on bonds that furnish the money to keep up the | roads they run over. Should the new issue of $50,000,- 000 be authorized; the State Highway Department’ will + match $10,000,000 with the various counties on a fifty- fifty basis for construction and recon- struction where justified. Thus roads of secondary importance will be im- proved to the extent of some $20,- 000,000. Pennsylvania took the lead among all the States of the Nation in road construction immediately following approval of the first $50,000,000 road bond issue in 1918. There are 10,325 miles of road in the State highway system, of which 5277 have been im- proved. There are 5048 miles of un- improved highway. —It’s not legislation. It’s a market the farmers need. Income Tax Rate an Issue. As the time for the assembling of Congress approaches the receivers of big incomes are getting busy laying plans for another decrease in the rate of taxation which affects them. The basis of their argument is that a low tax on big incomes yields a greater amount of revenue and that the treas- ury gained by the decrease in taxes made by the last Congress on excess profits from seventy-three per cent. to fifty-eight per cent. Possibly fig- ures may be manipulated to show such a result. It is certain that the revenue derived from income taxation was greater last year than the year before, but it is not certain that the improvement is ascribable tc the de- crease of the tax on excess profits. On the contrary, it is known that during the year 1921 the industrial life of the country was prostrate al- most throughout the year. The slump began immediately after the election of President Harding and the army of willing to work but unemployed men was greater than during any other year in the history of the country. Very few wage earners were able to return incomes at all, and the excess profits tax and the big income tax were correspondingly diminished. In the spring of 1922 every effort was made by natural and fictitious stimu- lation to increase business so as to carry the Republican party through the Congressional elections last year and that, rather than the change in rates, caused the revenue increase. Secretary of the Treasury Mellon and other multi-millionaires are now working the old gag that unless the income tax is reduced on excess prof- its and big incomes the rich men will invest their money in non-interest bearing securities and thus cripple commerce and industry. It would be hard to imagine a sillier proposition. If they should do so the money invest- ed in such securities by the less wealthy would go into the industries, thus increasing their own profits and supplying the funds necessary to keep industrial life active and healthy. There is nothing im the millionaire threat to paralyze industry by with- { t L holling capital. Small investors are now crowded out of such investments. Western Farmers Elect Democrats. The unmistakable trend of public sentiment in the direction of the Dein- ocratic party is again revealed by the election of a Democrat to Congress in the State of Washington. Last year a Republican was elected by a great majority, though the Republican can- didate for United States Senator was defeated and Democratic gains were shown in most parts of the State. But in that one Congressional district the old lines were maintained. Re- cently a vacancy occurred and at a special election held last week Judge Samuel B. Hill was chosen by a good majority. This result makes it prac- tically certain that the State of Wash- ington will be safely in the Democrat- ic column next year. The issue in the campaign which re- sulted in the election of Judge Hill was the broken promises of the Re- publican party. In 1920 the Republi- cans promised such legislation . as would rescue the farmers from the distress into which they had been plunged by tariff taxes on everything they had to buy under the provisions of the emergency tariff bill enacted by the Congress of 1919. The only remedial measure offered in the Con- gress of 1921 was a tax of thirty cents a bushel on wheat and the promise that it would give the far- mers a share of the plunder which tariff taxation provided. But instead of raising the price of wheat it cut it down to the bone and increased the price on commodities used by farmers. Whether the farmers of the West are endowed with a keener intelli- gence than those in Pennsylvania is a matter for conjecture, but it is cer- tain that the westerners have more correctly analyzed the effect of the present tariff law on their industry. Here the average farmer pays the ex- orbitant price for everything he uses which the excessive tariff law exacts, and votes to continue the party in power which has thus sacrificed him to the avarice of the manufacturing barons, while out there they vote against their betrayers and send men to Congress who will conserve their interests and give them equal oppor: tunity with other industries to benefit themselves. ——Governor Pinchot has discov- ered that it is much easier to induce miners to accept an increase in wages than it is to prevail on coal operators to decrease prices. As Mr. Vander- bilt remarked, “The public be d—d.” Work for a Real Builder. A writer in a recent issue of the Philadelphia. Record, admitting and lamenting the delinquencies of the Democratic party organization in that city, declares that “he stands ready to be one of one thousand Democrats to contribute twenty-five dollars a year for the next four years to build up a real party organization.” That is an admirable suggestion. The Re- publican organization has abundant and easily available sources of reve- nue. Forced contributions from office holders will yield all the funds need- ed for legitimate and illegitimate ex- penses of maintaining organization and conducting campaigns. But the Democrats are dependent entirely on voluntary contributions, which are ir- regular and uncertain. The first response to the sugges- tion came from Judge Eugene C. Bon- niwell, who sent a check for the first year’s installment with his accept- ance, and the author of the plan promptly followed with a similar of- fering. As there are plenty of Dem- ocrats in that city blessed with abund- ance we have no doubt the enter- prise will be successfully launched, and for the first year carried out lit- erally. And it is safe to predict it will fulfill expectations. Twenty-five thousand dollars honestly and wisely disbursed will accomplish much in the way of organization. It will be a small sum compared with the slush fund forced from the job-holders by the Republican machine but it will count, dollar for dollar, for much more. We suggest, therefore, that the plan be expanded, with the county as the unit, so as to spread all over the State. It will not be necessary to get a thousand pledges in the smaller counties or so large a sum from the contributor. But it must be admitted that in most of the counties the Dem- ocratic organization suffers from the same malady the Philadelphian com- plains of, and the same remedy will be effective. A contribution of a dol- lar a year from every Democrat in Centre county who may easily spare that amount will be ample to create and maintain an organization which will be invincible this year and every other year in the future. Who will take the initiative in the movement? ——Lloyd Geerge announces that he will not lecture during his visit in this country. That’s just our ill luck. The only Englishman who has come in recent years worth hearing will not talk. Pinchot’s Classification Plan. In the presence of about three thousand job holders in the corridor of the capitol at Harrisburg, on Mon- day, Governor. Pinchot revealed his plan of “classifying” the employees of the State for the purpose of fixing salaries. At the outset the Governor truthfully told the interested job holders that “the State service has been honey-combed with that cheap brand of politics which demands that the interests of the State and its peo- ple shall be sacrificed to the interests of some small group,” and “as a 1e- but the employees also.” It is grati- fying to learn that in so far as the employees are concerned, the fault is to be rectified. According to the statement of the Governor and the facts in the case . salaries of employees of the State have been fixed by favoritism rather than by service or merit. Messengers’ , Wages run from $600 to $1400 a year, ' stenographers’ from $840 to $2000 and typists from $780 to $1500. The salaries of filing clerks range from $780 to $2400 a year, and there are n greater discrepancies in the x. of other clerks. The ostensible purpose of the classification is to equalize salaries in similar employ- ment and‘ the public will cordially agree in the justice as well as the wisdom of the undertaking. It may be noticed, however, that the aggre- gate pay roll will not be decreased. There is not likely to be the same unanimity of approval of the second purpose in the Governor's mind is expressed in his speech to the job holders on Monday. “I believe in pro- moting from the ranks,” he said, “in- stead of selecting outsiders for high- ly paid positions.” Promoting from the ranks is admirable if properly regulated, and keeping outsiders out- side is good politics if it has no other merit. But it would be hard to imag- ine a greater evil than that of creat- ing an aristocracy of office holders, and that would be the inevitable result of “promoting from the ranks instead of selecting outsiders.” Cameron, Muay. and Penrose believed in that policy and practiced it to the limit. —Our friend Tom Harter, having taken unto himself the credit for hav- ing nominated Mr. Heverly for Coun- ty Treasurer—and we believe that be- tween him and Pinchot the trick was pulled—it is only natural to suppose that the Harter-Pinchot machine will elect him if the friends of Ed. Gehret, Ira Burket and Lyman Smith don’t have too much to say at the polls in November. Pinchot’s Speaking Tour. Governor Pinchot has started on his “speaking tour” of the State, and de- livered his first speech at Reading. He will make two speeches in Erie next week and promises to visit every county in the State for at least one speech, It is announced by his friends that this tour has no relation to his ambition to be the Republican nominee for President next year, and his speeches will treat of State affairs only. He will speak of all the good he has accomplished since his inau- guration as Governor and forget his deals with Vare, of Philadelphia, and Baker, of Harrisburg, which enabled him to achieve it. Giff is a striking example of the ostrich but he may overwork the stunt. Of course the Governor's speaking tour is not directly an appeal to the country to nominate him for Presi- dent. If that were his purpose he would be wasting time and labor. But it is intended to corral the Pennsylva- ni delegates to the nominating con- vention so as to give the Governor a trading asset in the convention. The obvious purpose of the Senators in Congress for Pennsylvania to assume control of the votes for their own use, and the equally certain intention of Secretary of the Treasury Mellon te control the delegation in favor of Coolidge, have admonished the Gov- ernor of the necessity of taking care of himself. With a force equal to the Pennsylvania delegation at his com- mand he will be in position to demand consideration. During his tour through the State the Governor will not likely discuss national politics at all. But he will endeavor to show the people of Penn- sylvania that he has accomplished wonderful things for them. He will boast that he has driven licensed sa- loons from the State and that he has saved millions of dollars in various economies. As a matter of fact he has achieved nothing in these re- spects. There are nearly as many sa- loons in the State now as there were previous to his election, though they are not licensed, and he has approved appropriations in greater amount than were voted under any previous Gov- ernor. But as the late Mr. Barnum said, the people like to be fooled. i ——Secretary Mellon predicts good times in the future but all times are good to a multimillionaire. sult not only the State has suffered - NO. 39. Hour of Reckoning for Politicians. From the Pittsburgh Post. The farmer, of course, is not alone in trying to have his troubles settled by more legislation. The first thought with most of us when things go wrong with our business is to rush to Washington or our State capital to de- mand statutes of a remedial charac- ter. Nor is the average farmer any more prone than others to trust poli- ticians. Also not all politicians are tricksters. Many of them simply make mistakes like the rest of us. Nevertheless, after recognizing that there were some farmers all along who know better than to expect a legislative cure-all, it looks as if the | hour of reckoning were at hand for , the politicians who led a large num- "ber of the agriculturalists to put faith in the Fordney-McCumber tariff and other Old Guard Republican. potions as the cure for what was wrong with their business when the prices of their products started to fall after the war. The tariff, apparently, has operated entirely against the farmer. It did not, as promised, stop the.fall in the price of what he has to sell, but it did advance the cost of practically every- thing he has to buy. Now the truth, already learned thoroughly by many from experience, is to be broken to the tillers of the soil who still put trust in the tariff legislation. Aec- cording to advices from Washington, they are to be informed that legisla- tion is not for their case at all; that what they are suffering from is over- production, and that their recovery will have to be brought about wholly under economic laws.” For instance, with more wheat produced than is needed at home and with the foreign market for it reduced, they will sim- ply have to cut down the acreage de- voted to that crop. It is but common sense that if Eu- rope had been stabilized, it would have bought more heavily of our wheat lately, but at the same time it is to be recognized that agriculture is recovering in the lands that were hardest hit by the war and has a wheat crop now vastly in excess of that of last year. We could scarcely expect to keep on selling wheat to them in the same volume as in the war days when so many of their work- ers were withdrawn from the farms. The point is that, as usu the way to prosperity is tha application of common busin ligence along the sound lines proved by experience. We must use vision, study the market conditions; and all the while must work. While the far- mer has his difficulties, the city dwell- ers have theirs. There is general complaint against the Fordney-Mec- Cuniber tariff law as being unscien- tific. It may not be pleasing for the veo- ple to hear that they have been chas- ing rainbows while looking more and more to legislation for the solution of their problems. But the truth, even though it may hurt at first, ever proves to be the best medicine in the end. Prosperity has to have a sound foundation. Politics of the mere vote-seeking kind is not likely to help the farmer or any one else, in the end not even the players of the game, for there al- ways is a day of reckoning for them. If the Republican Old Guard poli- ticians have sold the farmers another gold brick, the obvious course for the victims is to cease dealing with such salesmen. A Franco-German Merger? From the Oil City Derrick. It would be an odd outcome of the war if it should result in a Franco- German industrial combination. Yet that seems the trend of the rumored adjustment in the Ruhr. French steel makers were disappointed that the peace divided the great German steel district so that France secured the iron ores of Lorraine but not the coke of the Ruhr Valley. Much of the un- der-ground diplomacy since has been in negotiations between the French and German industrialists. The Ger- mans appear to have been too insist- ent on getting their terms and the French likewise. The occupation of the Ruhr gave the French an advan- tage which now seems to be about to bear fruit, if, as reported, German in- dustry is to be mortgaged as security for reparations to Paris. This will pave the way for joint French and German eperation of German coal and coke workings and French ores. E——— ——————N] Premature Candidacy. From the Philadelphia Record. We do not hold the President re- sponsible for all this talk about his nomination next year, and possibly he could not prevent it if he wished to, but he ought to try. He has been brought out too early for his own good. President Harding’s funeral was hardly over before we began to hear that President Coolidge was his own logical successor. Opinions favorable to his nomination have been sought, and we have heard that local candi- dates were to be repressed. The few appointments that have been made have been closely scanned for indica- tions of the President’s purpose, and the impression has been given— whether well-founded or not we do not venture te say—that there is an extensive organization already in ex- istence for procuring the President’s nomination. ——A man of strong imagination may still find use for hip pockets in trousers. SPAWL FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Shot: from the darkness outside a Fairbanks hall, where a big wedding cele- bration was in full swing, John Dankey died in the Uniontown hospital. —Governor Pinchot has granted a res- pite in the case of John P. Rush, Alleghe- * ny county, convicted of murder, staying execution from the week beginning Mon- day, October 8, to the week beginning Monday, November 12. Rush is seeking a pardon. R . —Impecunious students and Pittsburgh morticians have formed a close attachment and mow work together for mutual profit. This is the word that came from Pitt Uni- versity recently when it was admitted several students “frequently were hired by Pittsburgh funeral directors as pallbear- . ers.” —James W. Hoover, 17 year old son of Eugene Hoover, of Hoover's island, in the : Susquehanna river, opposite Selinsgrove, was killed on Saturday evening while op- erating a plow with a tractor when the share became caught. He was turning it over when the device fell over on his chest, the weight killing him instantly. —Two individuals have applied to the Public Service Commission for authority to act as public service concerns. One is a woman, Mary Jane Anstead, who desires to furnish water to the public in Cone-~ maugh township, Cambria county. LeRoy E. Yeager desires to furnish electric cur- rent to Hartleton and vicinity. He owns a dam and a mill. —Burglars early on Sunday cracked the safe in the Woolworth 5 and 10 cent store, at York, and made a get-away with about $1000 in small change, Saturday’s receipts They were surprised by manager A. Hoo- ver, who walked into the store from a rear entrance, to find himself in the midst of smoke caused by the explosion. Quickly covering him with their guns, the two es- caped. —With $260 in $10 and $20 notes, all said to be counterfeit, poorly executed, on his person, Sylvester DeRose, 27 years old, an Italian, was arrested at Reading on Sat- urday by police sergeant John Maloney. The man is said to have passed a number of the bills, three of them being recovered, and to have failed at several other places in attempts to cash them before he was arrested. —Thomas J. McDonnell, 60 years old, died at his home in Archbald borough, near Scranton, last Thursday, from inju- ries alleged to have been inflicted by a state trooper in an election day disturb- ance, two weeks ago. McDonnell, long re- garded as a political power in Lackawan- na county, was kicked in the stomach by a state trooper, according to charges made by the family. —Miss Lillian Rote, of Tyrone, aged fifteen years, has been notified that her aunt, Lillian Rote, of Arizona, had left her $28,000 in cash royalties on mineral lands in Arizona that will bring the young lady $30.00 a week, and some valued coal lands in Pennsylvania. It is said that the scn- ior Miss Lillian Rote left for the far west many years ago with several thousand dol- lars. She invested the same and the in- vestment brought rich returns. —Mrs. Tillie Prendergast, of Easton, holds the hard-luck record in that section of the State. Four accidents in as many “| weeks indicate thatwsome-jinx is-pursuing - her. Last Friday she stepped on a rusty nail, which nearly went through her foot. The week previous she slipped and fell down several steps and sprained her an- kle. Prior to that she was knocked un- conscious by a bolt of lightning and pre- vious to that occurrence she fell down a flight of stairs, suffering painful bruises. —Walter Johnson, of Harrisburg, was sentenced to serve thirty days in jail at Lewistown by justice of the peace R. W. Patton on Saturday and John Thomas, also of Harrisburg, held under $300 bail for court on the charge of owning the re- volver used to shoot up a boarding house at Lewistown Junction. Deputy sheriff James Keister arrested both men after the shot was fired. The bullet embedded it- self in the walls of the kitchen. A quan- tity of moonshine liquor was found in the possession of the two defendants. Both men are in jail. —George Houser, a Williamsport manu- facturer, last Thursday night shot A. R. Jacksom, an attorney, the bullet entering the victim’s left side and lodging in his back. Houser was held without bail for a further hearing. According to the story told police, Houser purchased a revolver with the intention of ending his life, ow- ing to worry over his recent arrest on a disorderly practice charge. He decided to shoot Jackson first, believing him re- sponsible for his arrest. He said he was overpowered in the lawyer's office by the latter’s clerk before he could turn the weapon on himself. —Walter Long, a wealthy land owner of Newmanstown, Lebanon county, was held in $4000 bail on Monday afternoon by Al- derman Ulrich, of Lebanon, on a charge of felonious shooting, with intent to kill. Long is accused of having ambushed N. C. Coldren, a prominent merchant, and Wilson Weik, both of Newmanstown, pep- pering them with buckshot. The wounded men are in a Lebanon hospital suffering from painful, but not serious wounds. The shooting is alleged to be the outcome of a quarrel arising over the taking by the Newmanstown Water cempany, under con- demnation proceedings, of land owned by Long. —Judge A. E. Reiber, of Butler county, on Saturday sentenced A. L. Hepler, for- mer vice president and manager of the Ideal Squab company. of Butler, to pay the costs, a fine of $1,000 and serve not less than two nor more than four years in the western penitentiary on a charge of fraud- ulent conversion. Hepler pleaded guilty to the charge. The costs amount to $1565, and include the expenses of bringing Hep- ler back to Butler county from Phoenix, Arizona, where he was arrested as a fugi- tive. All civil suits have been settled and the liquidating trustees will distribute the funds in their hands to the shareholders, who will receive about 12 per cent. on their investment. —Bernard Miller, 38 years of age, of York county, was arrested Saturday might by his own father, Jesse Miller, constable of New Freedom, after William Whitcraft, of Rock Chapel, Md., had identified him as the man who earlier in the evening had jumped on the running board of an auto- mobile, and, after stopping the engine, stabbed him in the breast with a penknife, and John Rehmayer, of Turnpike, in the leg and neck. Rehmayer is in a serious semi-conscious condition, owing to loss eof blood and may die. Walter Myers, who was also in the automobile, escaped. Jeal ousy of a gif 1s said to have been back ef the attack, which occured near the New Freedom Pemnsylvaaia Reilresd station.