Beworali an EE ———————— INK SLINGS. —Centre county was not among the five leaders in production of any of the regular farm crops during 1923. —You'll have to give it to us. We gave you a column last week without mentioning the names of Coolidge, Pinchot or Daugherty. —Spring is here. Notwithstanding the parade of straw hats that the girls have been making for the past month the real thing didn’t arrive until to- day. —Centre county has given millions to take care of the rest of the world. The hospital drive is now on and we are wondering whether she is going to give a tenth of one of these millions to take care of herself. —For goodness sake, don’t embar- Tass the President by asking why he hasn’t issued a proclamation urging a clean-up week. In the language of Epic Peters this is the time when Cal. wants to do everything in the way of clean up—including his own nomina- tion—but Daugherty. —There are three stages of success. The first is attained by those who rec- ognize and take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself; the second, by those who see the opportu- nity only occasionally and the third by those who never see it until after some one else has grabbed it up. —The thing that Mr. Common Pee- pul will probably hope for in vain is a denial from their Secretary of State, Charles Evans Hughes, that he wit- nessed a showing of the films of the Dempsey-Carpentier fight when he knew that the law had been violated when they were transported to Wash- ington. —Since the price of anthracite has forced Bellefonte -into being what might be called a soft coal town build- ers would be well advised if they were to have a greater care in the construc- tion of flues, use slate or metal in preference to shingles for roofing and use coal that makes a dusty, granular soot rather than the flaky, greasy stuff that holds fire so long when the chimney burns out. —When all is said and done the un- prejudiced mind can not fail to ask: “What does Coolidge owe Daugh- erty?” The fact that he remains in the cabinet, notwithstanding the pro- test of Republican Senators and or- thodox Republican papers all over the country, gives rise to the inference that the President is afraid to call for ‘his resignation and such an inference isn’t inspirational, to say the least. —The House has passed the sol- dier’s bonus bill. The Senate will likely change it some, then pass it on to the President. What will the Pres- ident do in the circumstances? In This first message to Congress he de- clared his opposition to any kind of bonus legislation, so that he must either reverse himself by signing it or say that a country that owes its sol- diers so much owes them nothing, by vetoing it. —General Daugherty may or may not be personally involved in the oil scandals. However that may be there is scarcely any explanation he can make that will account for Jess Smith, a private citizen, having had a desk in the Department of Justice and for Ned McLean’s, a Washington news- paper publisher, having been in pos- session of the Government’s secret code. They are two violations of trust that cannot be excused or ex- plained away. —A French scientist declares he has found an effective cure for habit- ual drunkenness in the simple method of injecting the patient’s own blood under the skin of the nose. Not only will the patient immediately shun al- cohol, but the lurid proboscis will pale into its pristine color. If the: cure should prove efficacious the fellow who likes to “get it up his snoot” every once in a while had better be careful that he gets a prescription and not an injection when he asks his doctor to help out a little. —Governor Pinchot’s open letter to the public was released yesterday. After fourteen months in office he de- clares that the three important pledg- es he made to the people are either carried to completion or so well along that fulfillment is certain. He refers, of course, to his promise to drive the saloons out, to put the State on a pay- as-you-go basis and reorganization of the government. We won't detract a bit from the Governor’s glory, so we leave it to each one of you to appraise his service. As for our opinion: We are still so warped over the way he settled the coal strike that we are not competent to pass on the results of these latter achievements he claims. —In talking with a friend a few days ago, about the $100,000 hospital drive we expressed the thought that it ought to be easy for Centre county to go over the top in a movement that means so much, possibly, to every man, woman or child in the communi- ty. We stated that the sum was tri- fling when compared with the millions we gave in the Liberty loan drives. “Oh,” said he, “that wasn’t giving. That was an investment.” “Was it,” we inquired. “Are we not now pay- ing taxes to pay ourselves back when the bonds mature?” That is exactly what we are doing. When we have paid enough into the treasury to lift our bonds Uncle Sam will pay us back with our own money—and all we will really have left of our original sub- scriptions is the trifling interest the bonds may have earned in the mean- while. An investment of $100,000 in the hospital will pay a far greater in- terest than the Liberties. Demorral ¢ = y , VOL. 69. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA., MARCH 21. The fight against Governor Pin- chot’s election to the honorary office of delegate-at-large to the Republi- can National convention has been greatly strengthened within the past week by the exposure of the present condition of the State charitable and penal institutions. With the purpose of creating a reputation for economic- al administration and incidentally im- proving his prospects of advancing to the Presidency, the Governor cut the appropriations for charity and benev- olence to the bone. He inherited from the profligate administration which preceded him a large treasury deficit could be wiped out within the period of his tenure of office his political fu- ture would be assured. It was a pure- ly selfish idea. When Mr. Pinchot was inaugurated as Governor there were 116 tubercu- losis dispensaries in operation admin- istering free service to poor victims of the deadly “white plague.” As an esteemed contemporary states, “they were manned by experts in the treat- ment of tuberculosis and sent nurses through the various communities giv- ing treatment or sending the patients to sanitariums for scientific treat- ment.” In pursuance of his policy of economizing the Governor decided that these institutions were a need- less burden and cut out the appropri- ation for their maintenance. Promi- nent physicians familiar with the sub- ject declared this act “the worst crime ever committed against the public.” But it served .Pinchot’s scheme to pose as an “economic ad- ministrator.” Continuing its criticism of the Gov- ernor’s policy the newspaper already quoted adds: “The Mount Alto San- itarium is a shining example of the havoc that has been wrought to hos- pitals and a variety of other institu- tions since Mr. Pinchot decided it would be good political capital to wipe out a $29,000,000 State deficit in two vears instead of spreading it over a longer period.” That great institu- tion, a model of its kind has been practically closed. The Soldiers’ Or- phan school at Scotland, Franklin county, which has been the pride of every patriotic:heart in Pennsylvania has also been crippled almost hope- lessly by the policy. ment. their evil consequences have been en- forced against all the charitable and penal institutions, it is noted that enforcement of laws in which Gover- nor Pinchot has set his heart and bas- ed his ambitions. The pay roll for February 1924 is nearly $4000 a day higher than that of February last year. Neither have taxes been reduc- ed for the records reveal the fact that more than $15,000,000 of new taxes were created by the Legislature of last year which was under the com- plete domination of the Governor. These facts are being assembled and exposed now as reasons why Gifford Pinchot should not be further hon- ored. * a If Coolidge throws Daugherty out of the cabinet he will have to withdraw that endorsement of the At- torney General as delegate-at-large to the Cleveland convention. rn —— Ae see msn Hunting for Oil in Clinton County. Clinton county has no teapot dome but a syndicate of Pittsburgh capital- ists have faith to believe that there is oil to be found beneath its stone en- crusted surface. As evidence of this faith they have taken leases on sev- enty-nine different farms and tracts of land lying between Plum creek and Kettle creek, totaling ten thousand acres. Rental payments range from twelve to eighteen dollars a year with contracts for one-eighth royalty in the event of oil or gas being tapped. Op- erations in sinking wells must be started on each tract within a year. ——If Harding hadn’t been elected there would be no oil scandal so it may: be charged that the Republican party is responsible for the investiga- tion. ———— A ————— ——An esteemed contemporary asks “who started the oil lease investiga- tion and why? Senator LaFollette started it and the testimony shows why. ——The Democrats of Missouri ap- pear to have shown Senator Reed something he didn’t want to see. If Ford fails to get Mussel Shoals he will never forgive himself for his recent boost of Coolidge. ———The friends of Hiram Johnson has been lost. and conceived the notion that if it Orders issued ; will be punished. from Harrisburg to “reduce expenses | $1000 a month” has left the wards of the State victims of under-nourish- | But while these economies with | | | | there has not been even an attempt to economize in the executive office at | Harrisburg or decrease the cost of | was that Mayor Kendrick did not vol- | 1 1 | he is paying the penalty by ostracism. are beginning to think that his boom lican machine to select their candidate . believed that he would allow the law- Fight Against Pinchot Strengthened. | Daugherty Adopts Wrong Course. Attorney General Daughtery is disingenuous in his statements con- cerning the evidence of witnesses be- fore the Senate committee investigat- ing his administration of his office. ! He imputes to them all sorts of evil | Reason for Retaining Daugherty. During a discussion of the investi- gation of the Attorney General the other day Senator Caraway, of Ar- kansas, said: “Every one knows there {would be a quick change of Attorney Generals if Coolidge were not a can- purposes and accuses them of all kinds _didate for re-election. I am not crit- of immoral practices. Yet he admits 'icising the President in this connec- that they were until recently his ' tion,” he added, “but it is certain he friends and associates. character do not employ criminals or ply and associate with dissolute women. Miss ! sons.” Roxie Stinson was once the wife of | Arkansan is accurate in his conjec- his closest friend and an intimate of ; ture. Men of high ! doesn’t dare to let Daugherty go sim- only because of political rea- | No doubt the keen visioned Many Republican leaders have Mr. Daugherty. Gaston B. Means | an exaggerated opinion of Daugher- was a confidential investigator of the ty’s power as a political manipulator. department of justice and others They believe he procured the nomina- whom he denounces were help him. Miss Stinson told a straight story, intimates. | tion of Harding in the face of impos- To call them criminals now doesn’t sibilities and can achieve wonders at will. As a matter of fact Mr. Daugherty of the relations of her former hus- | had very little part in the nomination band with Daugherty and of certain of Harding. The chief operator in transactions between her late husband | that affair was Senator Penrose and and the producers and distributors of | Daugherty wasn’t even one of the in- certain films forbidden by law. Her struments Senator Watson, of Indiana, and Mr. statement was corroborated almost completely by the evidence of Means and further supported by the testi- mony of Fred C. Quimby, producer of the films. Mr. Daugherty protests that the evidence of Miss Stinson would not be admitted in a court of law. Probably that is true for the reason that rules of court are exact- ing on those points and Mr. Daugher- ty is lawyer enough to guard against evidence that would be admitted in court. Neither he nor Smith ever al- lowed witnesses to their transactions or conversations. The case of the people of the Unit- ed States and Harry Daugherty is not being tried in a court of law. It is before the greater tribunal, the court of public opinion. The niceities which courts of law require in taking testi- mony are not considered in this great- er court, but justice is much more certain. The people are not all fools. They interpret both law and facts and because the rules of evidence are less exacting in the court of public opinion the verdict is more certain and just. Mr. Daugherty will not help his case by maligning the wit- nesses. That is the method of petty- foggers in courts of law but fails of employed in the work. Grundy, of Montgomery county, were his confidants and they would proba- bly have failed if the oil interests had not intervened through Senator Fall, of New Mexico, subsequently Secre- tary of the Interior and directly re- sponsible for the sacrifice of the navy oil reserves at Teapot Dome and in California to Sinclair and Doheny. But it suited Harding and the others concerned to ascribe the result to Daugherty who was a rather remote Ohio lawyer. It may be and probably is trie, however, that Coolidge retains Mr. Daugherty in his cabinet “for polit- ical reasons.” When Senators Lodge and Pepper asked Coolidge to dismiss Daugherty the Attorney General re- sponded with a threat which com- pletely silenced the whole bunch. “If I am forced out of the cabinet,” he de- clared substantially, “I will go to the public.” In other words if President Coolidge would consult his own wish- es and dismiss Daugherty that gen- tleman would reveal secrets that might wipe the Republican party out of existence and send scores of its ent leaders to prisons. That may 1924. NO. 12. Need of a Clean Sweep. From the Philadelphia Record. We need not wait to have all the testimony adduced at Washington sifted and verified in order to reach the most important conclusion, and the one of the widest public interest. Perhaps nobody will be convicted of crime. The prison population may not | be increased by the disclosures. But “the imperative need of a clean sweep ' politically has been demonstrated. So long as Congress and the Ad- ministration are Republican we can- not be sure that the bottom has been reached in any of the several direc- tions where borings are going on. Of course, the Republicans have made every possible effort to cover up mat- ters and carry their wounded off the field. Unless a Democratic Adminis- tration shall be elected this year, we cannot be at all sure of getting at the | whole truth of the scandals that have been flourishing rankly since Mr. Wil- son went out of office. But the clean sweep is needed not merely, or chiefly, to secure the pun- ishment of the crooks; it is needed to prevent further crookedness by men “who have not been exposed yet; who "may perhaps have done no wrong yet because the chance had not come to them. If the Republican party shall , remain in power these men, who are only waiting for an opportunity, or | longing for temptation to assail them, ; will be kept where they will encounter their temptation and promptly suc- cumb. . | Consider the class of men who have been brought into public life by the | calamity of the 1920 election. Some ' are better and some are worse. But | a large number among them have been open to corrupt proposals of one sort and another. One member of the Harding Cabinet got what he was after and resigned during Mr. Hard- ing’s life. A second resigned under compulsion recently. A third ought to have resigned a long time ago; he ought never to have been appointed; he is sufficiently thick-skinned to hold on to his office, in spite of the storm that is raging about him, merely be- : cause the President does not demand that he get out. A fourth member of { the Cabinet has been reflected on by ' some of the testimony. Was there ever such another Cabi- net ? net discredits the President. He took over the whole Harding Cahinet be- cause he thought it would facilitate And the discredit of the Cabi- | SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. — Her dress catching fire fram an elec- tric curler, Mrs. Frederick Haas Sr., of Sunbury, was badly burned before she plunged into a bathtub and extinguished the flames. — Within 504 feet of the discovery well that opened the gusher field, near Tidi- oute, one year ago, Charles Cranahan has drilled in a well that is producing 100 bar- rels per day. The oil was struck at a depth of 1100 feet. —William Bradford, who for some time past has been manager of the Wil'iams- port office of the Bell Telephone company of Pennsylvania, has been transferred to Altoona as district manager. The terri- tory over which Mr. Bradford will have supervision contains offices in Altoona, Bellefonte, Clearfield, Huntingdon and Ridgway. —Carbon monoxide was the cause of the death of Malcolm W. McIntire, of Wil- liamsport, who was found dead in his clos- ed garage by a neighbor who was attract- ed to the building by the sound of McIn- tires running motor several hours after he had been seen driving into the garage. He was 27 years old and had been married only a few months. —A charge of dynamite set off near the Weatherly reservoir during Sunday night was taken by people of that town as a warning from the Ku Klux Klan to a “marked” man to reform or stand the chance of being tarred and feathered. The Klan is quite strong in that section of the State, and its members, clad in white robes and hoods, have held parades, burn- ed fiery crosses on the outskirts and visit- ed churches. —A husband who slept with a revolver under his pillow and who frequently “whetted” his razor against her face and throat proved too much for her, Mrs. Ma- rianna Foti, an Italian bride of 17, told Judges Landis and Hassler at Lancaster on Saturday, in her suit against her hus- band, Carmelio, for non-support. Foti tes- tifying in his own behalf, admitted his wife's allegations, but asserted that he merely tried to frighten her. —A large plate glass display front at the motorcycle garage, in Lewistown, was de- molished, Saturday when an automobile tire and rim came off the ear of Carbon Louder, of Miflintown, as the car was ap- proaching the garage. The car wheel of its own momentum rolled over the street about 100 feet and did not stop until it | crashed through the large window and de- molished a radio set, three hydrometers and three batteries on display in the win- dow and garage. —Harry P. Albright, of Altoona, who last week entered a plea of murder in the second degree, in the Blair county court, was sentenced on Monday by Judge Thom- as J. Baldridge to serve from nine to eighteen years in the penitentiary. He killed his wife in a quarrel January 22nd. Dominick Nagnison, convicted of involun- tary manslaughter, in stabbing Benedette | Lapore, in Altoona, January 14th; was sen- tenced to serve from six to twelve years in the penitentiary. | —Mrs. Alice I. Weaver Longacre would "rather be a milliner than live the life of a farmer's wife, and her husband has just been granted a divorce by the Chester county court because she refused to live ‘on his farm. She now is in Harrisburg ' conducting a millinery establishment. She was married to Samuel W. Longacre, of “be the reason why Daugherty remains his nomination if he had the whole , Coatesville, in 1888, and lived for a time at effect in the higher court. Mr. Daugh- erty may not be sent to prison but A ly Ap rn, ——It makes a vast difference whose ox is gored. Four years ago the Republicans in Congress wanted | gan to investigate everything and now they are convinced that all investiga- tions are “political bunk.” ne nt messes A ——————_ Mayor Kendrick is Penalized. Two weeks have elapsed since May- or Kendrick, of Philadelphia, who had been slated by the machine managers as one of the seven delegates-at-large in the Cleveland convention, announc- ed his declination of that highly es- teemed honor, yet the real reason has not been given. It was said at the time that some provision of the Phil- adelphia charter made him ineligible but a scrutiny of that rather ponder- ous and somewhat ambiguous instru- ment refuted that pretense. Then it was suggested that such a party serv- ice would work an impairment of the dignity of the office of Mayor. Inthe face of the fact that Governors of States and members of the President’s cabinet aspire to the office that ex- cuse is fishy. : Our first conjecture on this subject untarily relinquish his practically as- sured seat in the National convention of his party but was shoved off. The reform operations of General Butler, who was imported by Kendrick to serve as head of the Department of Public Safety, have so incensed the ward bosses of the city that the par- ty managers are alarmed for the safe- ty of the organization, and Kendrick was given the choice of dismissing Butler or disappointing a frankly de- clared ambition to sit in the conven- tion as a delegate-at-large. It was impossible to dismiss Butler. Even “corrupt and contented” Philadelphia would have resented that action on the part of the Mayor. The Republican machine of Phila- delphia is so completely dominated by the criminal element that any move- ment toward improvement in methods and morals is impossible. Mr. Ken- drick was chosen for the office of Mayor of Philadelphia because it was less element absolute freedom in their operations. He was respectably con- nected and generously affiliated. He had never uttered a protest against abuses and seemed entirely content with conditions. But when he signi- fied a purpose to keep faith with the better element he invited the opposi- tion of those who had bestowed upon him the official favors he enjoys. Now In any event the Democrats of | the country will not allow the Repub- for President. in the cabinet and it is certainly po- Harding contingent with him. His | Berwyn, later at Coatesville and then at litical, ar]f it is true that the Literary Digest is spending a million dollars of its own money conducting its propa- be the fool that soon parted with his money. Not a Thorough House Cleaning. Upon his arrival in Washington, presumably within a few days, Curtis D. Wilbur, of California, will become Secretary of the Navy. His predeces- sor in office retired on the 10th instant and the department has been without a head since. fairly well during the interval. The retiring official wasn’t much of a sec- retary at best. As a resident of De- troit he was probably familiar with lake crafts and could tell a mud scow from a naptha launch with one eye closed. He retired “under a cloud” but not under charges of venality. The worst that has been said against him was that he was abnormally stupid. The other “best minds” about the. ad- ministration “played him for a sucker.” Judge Wilbur ought to be a great improvement over Denby as Secre- tary of the Navy. He is a graduate of the Naval Academy, at Annapolis, and is probably familiar with the technique of the service. He is a law- yer by profession and his elevation to the chief seat in the highest court in his State would indicate an alert mind. It is said that he has not been very active in politics but it is altogether likely that whatever he has done in that line has not been in the interest of Senator Hiram Johnson. His se- lection was probably influenced by the expectation that Coolidge rather than Johnson will be helped in the impend- ing primary in that State where lines are being sharply drawn between those two. “Taking one consideration with another” the change in the Navy De- partment will meet with widespread popular approval. But it doesn’t ful- fil the public expectation of a thor- ough house cleaning. If there were any real culpability in the department it wasn’t Denby. Assistant Secretary Roosevelt is said to have been ap- pointed at the request of Harry Sin- clair. While negotiations for the lease of Teapot Dome were pending Mr. Roosevelt had his brother ap- pointed to a lucrative job by Sinclair, and both Roosevelt and his wife own- ed shares in the Sinclair oil proper- ties. Denby may have been a boob but nobody accuses Roosevelt with being a dummy. A real house clean- ing would have dumped the bunch. : If the income tax continues to increase one of Secretary Mellon's reasons for opposing the bonus will | be futile. But it has gotten along | | purpose was ing’s second first. He made a calamitous mistake, and there is no reason why he should | escape punishment for it. The country will have no assurance unless the Republican party shall be . deposed and the Democratic party in- . stalled in power. The Republican par- | | ty. has been convicted, and it should be put out, even if a Republican Ad- ministration and a Republican Con- gress save a lot of individuals from their deserts. Cleaning Up Politics. From the Hartford Times. It is depressing to those of us who still have hope in Democracy to find that so few people really care whether their country is looted and cheated or not. They read the headlines and call the exposure of sin and corruption “just politics.” It is disagreeable and disturbing. But investigations aren’t half so disturbing as the conditions which make them periodically neces- sary. * * * Men like Mr. Fall get into public life and so nauseous is the consequent stench that even the par- ty in power cannot ignore it. There , has to be a liberal sprinkling of chlo- ride of lime. When such a cleanup be- comes necessary, why cannot all per- sons who believe in good and honest government read what has happened to their country and resolve to insist for the future in higher standards for public office instead of sneering at the efforts of the committee and talking about “investigation fever” and “the réturn to muck-raking ?”’ Wheeler Outclassed. From the Johnstown Democrat. - Wayne B. Wheeler after all is something of a piker in comparison with our old friend Harry Sinclair. Wayne, with all his charming arts, has never been able to get the White House to call out the marines to en- force his demands on an unwilling and perverse public. 3 And How to Get There. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Do not go west without money,” a Californian warns easterners. Will he please go ahead and tell us just where a person who has no money should go? mr ——— fp ————————— — Spring begins today, according to the calendar, and while we are sure to have plenty of cool days and nights before the weather settles let us all hope that winter will not linger long in the lap of spring. Taken as a whole is has been as mild a winter for this climate as anyone could wish for. While we had a few days of extreme- ly cold weather there were only two snows of any great depth and neither one lay any great length of time. This fact enabled game birds to get . through the winter without suffering for want of feed and should result in an abundance ef game next fall. to succeed to Mr. Hard- | term as well as to his, Wallingford, but tired of married life in 1920, and is alleged to have left him. The ‘ couple have several children. ! —Eleven pallbearers were required last { Thursday to carry the casket containing , the body of Albert R. Walker, of Chester, da for the Mellon tax bill it must of a thorough political housecleaning who weighed 525 pounds at the time of his | death. His funeral was held that after- ‘noon from an undertaking parlor, as the casket was too large for the parlor of | Walker's home on Victoria place. The casket was six feet six inches long, thirty- five inches wide and twenty-nine inches deep. ‘In addition to its extra size, the ‘casket was reinforced with metal. Inter- | ment was made in the Chester Rural cem- ~etery. { —Fines totaling $1417.50 were paid by i five residents of Jersey Shore and one . Brookside resident on Saturday, after they | admitted ownership of a number of grouse, woodcock and portions of deer which were seized by State agents, who found it in storage in the Jersey Shore creamery. The men fined are Dr. W. H. Handle, B. J. Grasso, George I. Nevins, S. W. Neff and E. S. Mohn, all prominent Jersey Shore men, and Charles Gulliname, of Brookside. In addition to the game thirty-seven trout were seized and turned over to the State Fish Commission for action. — Fire, which broke out in the business section of Carlisle early on Monday, com- pletely destroyed several stores and a number of dwelling apartments with a loss estimated at $250,000. Fire companies from Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg ans- wered the four Carlisle companies’ calls for aid. The fire was discovered in the rear of the Colonial apartments in the center of town shortly after midnight and is believed to have spread through the building by sweeping up an unused dumb waiter to the roof. Fanned by a high gale, the fire threatened to destroy the entire business section. —Two armed bandits on Friday held up the Saucon Trust company, at Hellertown, and escaped in a green automobile with more than $19,000. The bandits, each about 25 years old, walked into the bank fifteen minutes before closing time, El- mer Funk, cashier, and Thomas Peffer, as- sistant secretary, were the only persons in the bank at the time. After covering the two employees with pistols and backing them into a rear room the bandits ran in- to the big iron vault, where they snatched up bundles of $5, $10 and $20 bills. Warn- ed that they would be instantly killed if they raised an outcry, the two officials were thrown to the floor and tightly bound with rope, where they lay while the rob- bers escaped. —Irwin W. Rohrbach, employed in the blast furnaces of the Bethlehem Steel com- pany plant at Bethlehem, met a tragic death on Monday when he was overcome by gas fumes when trying vainly to close a door. The young man, who was only 18 years of age, was employed as a stove tender less than a month. According to a report of the accident, he was instructed not to open a door, but simply pull a plug on the furnace. In pulling the plug, it is believed, a key was released and the door opened, permitting the gas to escape. He reported the facts to his foreman and was instructed to stay. away; that the door would be closed with the aid of gas masks. The young man failed to heed these in- structions and returned. His body found only six feet from the door. was