Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, April 04, 1924, Image 1

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    a en a FE
Bona in.
INK SLINGS.
—“Serve Centre’s Sick.”
—Fall has gone. Denby has gone.
Daugherty has gone. Who will be
next?
—The hospital will be satisfied with
$100,000, but it could use $150,000
very handily.
The weather man seems to have
put it all over everybody on April
fool’s day this year.
Possibly Jake Hamon used one
of Sinclair's pipe lines to send that
bank roll to Penrose.
That Columbus crowd in Wash-
ington during the Harding adminis-
tration was a bad bunch.
Ned McLean must feel lonely
now that his “easy access to the
White House” is temporarily impair-
ed.
— Daugherty accepts the dump-
ing philosophically. It was the most
popular act of the Coolidge adminis-
tration.
It cannot be said that Rocker-
{eller is a popular idol but he had
more sense than some of the other oil
millionaires.
No matter what happens Will
Hays “gets his.” Hamon and Sinclair
money looks alike to the moving pic-
ture magnate.
—Take it from us Tuesday’s was
the onion snow. The robin snow is
vet to come and we’ll have it or lose
the “brown derby.”
The adage “better late than
never” may be substantially true, but
it must be admitted that Coolidge
waited a trifle long in the Daugherty
case.
The average wage earner
should keep in mind the fact that Mel-
lon’s tax bill cut the income tax rate
one per cent, on small and fifty on
big incomes.
—April 1st was about as bad a day
for moving as any one could imagine.
With snow falling all day long it cer-
tainly was unpropitious, but April 1st,
1923, was fourteen degrees colder.
—You had no immediate satisfac-
tion out of Tuesday’s freak of nature.
But, oh boy! forty years from now,
how you'll be harping over and over
about shoveling a foot of snow on
April 1st, 1924.
—Harlan Fiske Stone, formerly
dean of the Columbia University law
school succeeds Harry Daugherty as
Attorney General of the United
States. He has a great reputation as
a lawyer and he has a great opportu-
nity to show whether it is merited.
—Just naturally we are wondering
what Gif or Cordelia did to brother
McQuown, of the Clearfield Rafts-
man’s Journal. In its issue of March
26th it says: “There will be many
persons hunting for Pinchot’s name
on the primary ballot, not because
they want to mark it, but to be sure
they do not mark it.”
—The police records prove that Al.
Jennings was a d good train rob-
ber. St. Peter’s book may reveal that
he has been a whale of an evangelist
since he got out of prison for train
robbin’, but his testimony in Wash-
ington on the oil scandal convinces us
that he is a d——d poor sport. We
have no use for any man who seeks
to get into the lime light by violating
the confidences of friends.
—What old man Coolidge did on
the seventy-ninth anniversary of his
birth has a lot to do with what will
become of this country during the
next two years, hasn’t it? The piffle
that Republican papers drag in to
make atmosphere for their candidates
ought to disgust everybody with any-
thing more than bone above their Ad-
am’s apple. John is a nice old gentle-
man, but his son Cal. is the accidental
President of the United States and
Cal. is the fellow the people are look-
ing to to do something. Up to this
time, however, he is still traveling on
his reputation for having settled the
police strike in Boston.
—By way of making an offer to
Capt. Emerick we will wager a mess
of trout for his family against bus
No. 28, or any bus that he doesn’t
need, that the Snow Shoe district will
be over the top in the hospital drive
before Bellefonte. We have a lot of
respect for Bill’s ability to do, but we
remember that it was Snow Shoe that
was the first district in Centre county
and in Pennsylvania to go over the
top in one of those Liberty loan drives
and we're leanin’ heavy on Larry, and
Oscar and Dave when we make such a
proposition to a fellow like Bill Em-
erick, who has only $50,000.00 to raise
in his Bellefonte district. If he ac-
cepts this wager we'll need Willis
Shuey and Patsy Bathurst to help us
make good, should we lose.
—At last our Congressman has
spoken. The Hon. William I. Swoope
has broken the seal that has been on
his lips ever since he went to Wash-
ington. On Monday, March 17th, the
wind moved, the lungs expanded and
the organs of articulation functioned,
but there was no mellifulous flow of
wordy gems molded into well round-
ed phrases, no thunderous peroration
of oratory. Nothing that we had ex-
pected in the maiden effort of our pet
orator. The Hon. William I. spoke on
House bill No. 7303, introduced by
Representative Fuller, and gracefully
and earnestly urged its passage to
the effect that the pensions of all the
surviving Civil war veterans be in-
creased to seventy-two dollars a
month. As oratory our Congress-
man’s speech was far below what we
had expected. As earnest pleading
for a meritorious measure it was far
above.
Qi
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 69.
SERVE
BELLEFONTE, PA., APRIL 4. 1924.
CENTRE’S
NO. 14.
SICK!
Promise or Threat, Which?
The Pinchots, Gifford and Cordelia,
have recently developed a deep-seated
concern for the safety of Secretary
of the Treasury Mellon as a candidate
for delegate-at-large to the Cleve-
land convention. For several months
all their speeches have expressed hos-
tility to the Secretary, and by innu-
endo have accused him of fostering
opposition to the enforcement of the
Volstead law. The obvious purpose
of this line of action was to enlist the
ultra prohibition element of the party
against Mr. Mellon and thus reduce
the level of his vote at the primary to
a plane below that of the Governor's.
It seemed to be admitted that one of
the slated candidates would fail of
election and Mellon or Pinchot must
suffer.
The weak points in the Pinchot
prospects are Pittsburgh and Phila-
delphia. In Philadelphia register of
wills Campbell, coronor Knight, city
chairman emeritus Dave Lane, magis-
trate O’Connor and many other de-
voted friends of Secretary Mellon are
openly and vigorously fighting the
Governor’s aspirations. In Pittsburgh
Senator Max Leslie and his contin-
gent, equally warm supporters of Mel-
lon, are pursuing the same policy. It
is firmly believed that the danger sig-
nal recently raised by the Pinchots is
a tender of mutual help if the Phila-
delphia and Pittsburgh recalcitrants
are willing to deal or an abomination
of destructive war in the event that
they refuse to accept the olive branch
so freely offered.
The Pinchots are marvelously ex-
pert traders. Gif. can discern an op-
portunity for a political bargain to
his advantage at as long a distance as
Cordelia can see a bargain in an Eas-
ter bonnet. In the impending contest
for party favor they are “up against”
a hard proposition. - Failure means
more than political oblivion. It in-
volves popular and permanent con-
tempt. This tender of sympathy and
offer of help to the friends of Mellon
contains a threat of reprisals in the
event that it is rejected, and the re-
sult will be watched with interest by
thoughtful men and women in both
parties, for it makes inevitable a
“fight to the knife and the knife to the
hilt” between a couple of multi-mil-
lionaires.
Work of the Committee Unfinished.
If the Senate committee charged
with the investigation of the Depart-
ment of Justice at Washington were
to abandon its work now the plunder-
ers in Washington would be left in the
enjoyment of a substantial victory.
Its work is not half done. Mr. Daugh-
erty has been forced to resign and a
good deal of corruption has been re-
vealed. But the rotten mess has not
been cleaned up. Those concerned in
it and the perfidious officials who prof-
ited by it have not even given signs
of penitence. They are ready and
willing to engage in another orgie of
crime. They are anxious to organize
another conspiracy to loot and plun-
der. The serpent has. been merely
scotched. :
What happens to former Attorney
General Daugherty is of little or no
consequence. An obscure lawyer, he
was appointed to an office he was unfit
to fill as a reward for sinister service
in a crime against the country. Suf-
ficiently learned in the law to evade
the penalty of infraction he gathered
about him, almost at the moment of
his induction into the office, a gang of
pirates skilled in looting operations.
The work of the committee will not be
complete until all or most of these
criminals are apprehended and pun-
ished. This result can and will be
achieved if the purpose of the com-
mittee is pursued to a logical conclu-
sion. The abandonment of the work
before that is accomplished will be a
miscarriage of justice.
The Republican party organization
is culpable in all these nefarious op-
erations. Every crime committed by
the Attorney General, the Secretary
of the Interior, the Secretary of the
Navy and other department heads, or
with their sanction, was in pursuance
of the conspiracy formed at the Chi-
cago convention of 1920 when the of-
fice of President and the resources of
the country were sold to the oil spec-
ulators. A considerable part of the
plans of these traders has been expos-
ed but there is much still in conceal-
ment. The investigation of the De-
partment of Justice and the other in-
vestigations now in progress will not
be finished until all the facts are laid
open for public inspection and popu-
lar reprobation. This will be accom-
plished in time.
GENERATIONS ARE MARCHING—OLD NAMES ARE PASS-
ING—BUT MEMORY STILL CLINGS.
Reminiscences of the Old Days in Bellefonte and Centre County
Brought out by a Paper of 1858, a Few Letters from Friends
and a Casual Talk with a Convalescent.
Before us on the desk lies a copy of “The Democratic Whig.” It
is dated Wednesday, May 12th, 1858. We have scanned its four pages
curiously with the hope of finding one person mentioned in this paper
of sixty-six years ago who is living in Bellefonte today, but we have
found none. :
Often the “Watchman” talks of the passing of old Bellefonte.
The men who gave it its preeminent place in business and political
circles in Pennsylvania have all gone and an entirely new generation,
one with only here and there a lineal connection with the leaders of
yester years—is carrying on in their places. The great names of half
a century ago are not forgotten, but no longer is Bellefonte known
throughout the State as the home of Governors, Jurists and others
prominent in affairs beyond its own confines. Today those names are
only cherished memories in the minds of the few, while the great
trout in Spring creek are giving the town the publicity that great men
once gave it.
In December, 1856, Andrew Gregg Curtin and Edmund Blanch-
ard, had just formed a co-partnership for the practice of law. Drs.
George A. Fairlamb and James H. Dobbins were practicing medicine
together opposite the Temperance hotel on Bishop street. Drs. George
L. Potter and J. B. Mitchell were practicing on Spring street. The
Deposit bank of Humes, McAllister, Hale and Co., was paying 5 per
cent. interest on time deposits. Samuel Linn, William P. Wilson,
James H. Rankin, Ira C. Mitchell, D. G. Bush were the leaders of the
bar. Green and McMeen were operating the drug store they had pur-
chased from George I. Miles in 1856. William L. Raphile, the bass
horn soloist, of the famous Bellefonte band, was following his occu-
pation as a painter and paper hanger. William S. Tripple was a mer-
chant tailor with shop on the corner of the Diamond where Hever-
ly’s new building now stands. The old hardware firm of Harris, Shoft
& Co., had just been dissolved and continued business under the name
of J. D. Harris & Co. William McClelland was producing sartorial
investiture for men in “The Brockerhoff Row.” Charles McBride had
opened a new general store at the corner of Allegheny and Bishop
streets. Thomas Burnside was advertising “hide, leather, boots and
shoes.” John and Joseph Harris were in the drug business. J. E.
Thomas was principal of the old Pine Grove Academy and Seminary
and Rev. D. Moser was his German teacher and using his own lan-
guage of last Sunday Capt. W. H. Fry was “hostlin” for Rev. Moser.
J. Montgomery and Son were tailors and also handled ready-made
clothes. In 1858 bids were being received by J. M. McMinn, chief en-
gineer, of the Tyrone and Lock Haven railroad (the Bald Eagle valley)
for the grading and masonry of the eastern division of that line and
bidders were offered only stock in the new company for their work.
Little did they know then that forty years later that stock brought
par in cash and three shares of Pennsylvania for every share of it.
The Union Regiment commanded by Col. R. H. Strohecker was or-
dered for review on the 18th of May. The Centre Guards, The Centre
Dragoons, The Philipsburg Guards, The Warriorsmark Cavalry, The
Pennsylvania Cadets constituted the regiment and their captains were
respectively Noah Weaver, R. D. Cummings, James A. Ganoe, John
Fugate and George M. Kepler.
Of all this long list of professional men who were leaders in 1858
not one survives and only three of their names are perpetuated in bus-
iness here today: The Montgomery and Co. store, the Blanchard law
office and Charles McClelland, tailor.
In that year building of The Pennsylvania State College was
begun. A committee from the Agricultural Society of Berks county
had just visited the site of the proposed Farm School and reported that
“there is perhaps no other spot in the Commonwealth so appropriate
as this” for such an institution. : :
Among other items of interest that arrested our attention in the
old Whig were the frequent notices of Temperance meetings in the
county. One was held at Harrisonville, in Spring township, where Rob-
ert V. Miller presided and L. D. Read and T. N. Boyle were the speak-
ers. Another was held at Pine Grove Mills, the same evening, and
the “Free Liquor Law” passed by the preceding Legislature, was flay-
ed by Ira C. Mitchell Esq. J. H. Mitchell, William E. Meek and W. E.
Burchfield were appointed to form a glee club and ninety persons
signed the pledge—We wonder how many of them kept it when liquor
was “free.”
The Bellefonte town council held a meeting on Saturday, May 8th,
1858, and fixed the wages of workers for the borough at 873% cents per
day during the summer. Adam Hoy was then chief burgess and he
was advised by council to “enforce the hog law.” Pigs were chased off
the streets then, but the cows continued to roam at will thirty years
longer. The borough had published no financial statement since 1854
when it was $1111.00 in debt. In May, 1855, four years later, it had
decreased this indebtedness to $466.48, but from August 8th, 1854, to
January 1st, 1858, it had spent only $4,170.72 for all maintenance pur-
poses.
This reminiscent review has been by way of introduction to an
interesting article received some weeks ago from the “Watchman’s”
only living “Pioneer Reader,” George W. Rumberger, of Unionville.
It follows. bia
“THE PASSING OF GENERATIONS.”
When a person is born into this life he at once joins with the gen-
eration that is born on that day, in his march to the tomb; while the
generation that was born thirty-three years before, passes over the
great beyond and in a few years is forgotten, as an average generation
is said to live thirty-three years.
This passing of the generations has been going on steadily for
thousands of years and it was never more forcibly impressed on my
mind than when I recently came into possession of three old copies of
the “Democratic Watchman” dated respectively August 14th, 21st and
28th, 1868, almost fifty-six years old. They were preserved by Mrs.
John C. Rumberger, who was a daughter of the late Samuel Brugger,
who kept that paper on file from the first issue, and are said to still
remain in the old homestead here. You may rest assured that I pe-
rused the pages of the “Old Reliable” with eagerness and deepest in-
terest and when I glanced over the advertisements and saw more than
a half hundred names of those whom I was familiar with in life I dis-
covered that every one of the advertisers, except two, have passed
(Continued on page 4, Cols. 4 and 5.)
-—
Hot Dog.
My father is a butcher,
My mother cuts the meat;
I'm the little weenie
who runs around the street.
The Enemies He Has Made.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Harry M. Daugherty retires from
office with an earnest plea to the Pres-
ident and the public to love him for
the enemies he has made—“the pow-
erful individuals and organizations
who resent my successful action, in
conformity with my sworn duty, to
save this country from violence and
anarchy during an industrial erisis
far more serious than the general
public has ever known; second, from
the equally powerful individuals and
organizations guilty of graft upon the
government during the world war.”
This effort to draw a red herring
across the trail won’t work. The at-
tack upon the recent Attorney Gener-
al began with the exposure of the
leasing of the naval reserve oil lands,
and it was clearly the duty of the At-
torney General, as the law adviser of
the government, to prevent A. B. Fall
from sacrificing the public interests.
Other matters that are minor or inci-
dental have come up in connection
with the oil investigation.
Mr. Daugherty’s service to the com-
munity in the railroad shopmen’s
strike is of much less value than he
would have the country suppose. He
did secure an injunction against the
strikers, but his part in the injunction
proceedings has been severely eriti-
cized on professional grounds by emi-
nent lawyers, and it came at a time
when it was of little or no value, be-
cause the settlement of the strike was
then far advanced. It is doubtful if
Mr. Daugherty’s intervention accom-
plished anything except to excite the
enmity of the labor unions and make
the settlement of the strike more dif-
ficult. ; :
Mr. Daugherty is even less happy in
his reference to the profiteers. A
large special fund was appropriated
by Congress to enable him to prose-
cute them, and after three years in of-
fice it would be interesting to know
what he accomplished. In January
the members of the War Industries
Board were vindicated by the Supreme
court of the District of Columbia from
the accusations set forth in his bill.
Certain persons were held for trial,
but others, including the members of
the War Industries Board, were dis-
charged with remarks from the court
on the insufficiency, not only of the
evidence, but even of the allegations,
which reflected very seriously on the
professional competence of the then
Attorney General.
In two other notable cases the gov-
ernment, represented by the Attorney
General, was defeated, and the re-
marks of the courts on the nature of
the charges and the lack of evidence
convicted Mr. Daugherty of being pro-
fessionally incompetent. One of these
was against the Sugar and Coffee Ex-
change, in New York, and the other
was the suit against the Chemical
Foundation to set aside the sale of
German chemical patents by the Cus-
todian of Alien Property. In these
three notable cases the government
was defeated, and the decisions of the
courts stamped Mr. Daugherty with
being a very poor lawyer.
Germany’s Wild Man.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
It was about time for a John the
Baptist to proclaim himself in Ger-
many. Just as the vaunt of a super-
state made Germany want to become
one, so all the blather about a super-
man has made poor, crazed Louis
Haeusser believe that he can do what
the egocentric Wilhelm failed to ac-
complish. He will be that “leader,
dictator and saviour” for which the
plagued and distracted Reich is clam-
oring. He will settle all problems,
from the depreciated marks to the
emaciated bodies. Leave it to his ad-
dled pate and his flaming gutturals;
he will guide the bedraggled caravan
out of the wilderness to the smiling
meads of plenty.
Profiteers, coining the very blood of
the people into “valuta,” are too cun-
ning to heed the ranting incendiary;
but, of course, his large, vague prom-
ises count heavily among the credu-
lous people of the villages and win
them over by the deluded thousands.
The pity of it is, in any land, that
such demagogues are able to gain the
public ear when sober.counsel and
constructive statesmanship appeal in
vain.
Republican contemporaries are
constantly iterating that Coolidge is
the popular choice of the party, while
they know that if the support of the
office holders were withdrawn he
wouldn’t have a ghost of a chance.
It isn’t a question of fitness
that is considered in the selection of
an Attorney General. What the
President wants is a man who will
help him get the nomination and
election.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Sneak thieves, operating during the ab-
sence of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Shoener
from their home in Shamokin, ransacked
the premises and made their escape with
cash and jewelry valued at $300.
—Carl Sager and Thomas Walizer, of
Mackeyville, were moving a truck load of
hogs last Saturday when engine trouble
caused the truck to back over a bank, up-
setting the hogs which had to be driven a
mile before they could be reloaded.
—A coal mine owned by John Hollen-
back, of Philipsburg, located near the
Centre and Clearfield county line, was
wrecked by dynamite, last Friday, causing
a loss of about $3,000. As there is no la-
bor trouble at the mine, the owner is at a
loss to know why the place was dyna-
mited.
—When George Walker, of Sewickley,
makes up his mind, he sticks to his con-
victions. Because he had neither horse
nor automobile, he refused to pay a road
tax. “I'll go to jail and stay there for-
ever first,” he told deputy tax collector
Buffum. Buffum took Walker to the jail
“to think it over.”
—From his death bed in the Shamokin
State hospital on Monday John Detz, 19
year old Atlas youth, related a complicated
and much-doubted story of how he had
been attacked by two Italians near the At-
las brewery, on the outskirts of that
town. He died at 3:30 o’clock Monday
afternoon without having shed any clues
as to the identity of his assailants.
—A sentence of four years in the feder-
al penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga., for robbing
the United States mails was given Edward
Howard, alias Samuel H. Schwartz, the
man arrested at York, Pa., a few weeks
ago when he tried to cash a raised check
for $280 at the Guardian Trust company.
He was sentenced to the United States
court for the Eastern District of Penn-
sylvania, at Philadelphia, by Judge Mc-
Keehan.
—Just as he was starting on his day's
work at the West Virginia Pulp and Pa-
per mill at Tyrone on Monday morning,
Harry Biddle, aged 35 years, had his hand
caught in a clay mixing machine, and be-
fore he could be released the flesh and
bones of his hand and wrist were badly
crushed and mangled. After being given
first aid at the mill offices he was taken
to the Altoona hospital where the arm was
amputated near the elbow.
—Miss Anna Engle, of Detroit, Mich., 23
years old, was awarded a $5000 verdict in
a breach of promise suit against Raymond
May, of Shamokin, by a jury in the Nor-
thumberland county court. According to
her testimony, she met May eight years
ago and, after four years of courting, he
propesed marriage and she accepted. His
love grew cold, however, she said, after all
plans for the wedding were made and the
date set. She never gave him any reason,
she said.
—Michael McDade, 70 years of age, a
wealthy farmer living at Crosby, McKean
county, has been made defendant in a
breach of promise suit filed by Mrs. Nellie
Haley, a widow, 45 years old, late of St.
Johns, New Brunswick, at present resid-
ing in Smethport. Mrs. Haley avers that
McDade persuaded her to leave her Ca-
nadian home upon promise of marriage,
and when she arrived in Crosby he refus-
ed to fulfill the contract. Mrs. Haley asks
$30,000 heart balm.
—Mrs. Nazarene Maldino, of Steel City,
Lehigh county, proved a heroine Saturday
night. Absolom Bloss, it is alleged, point-
ed a revolver at her husband, who con-
ducts a store, and commanded him to put
up his hands. Maldino complied with the
request. Then his wife sneaked behind
Bloss and sank her teeth into the bandits
hand, with the result that he dropped the
gun and took to his heels. The Maldinos
turned the gun over to the local police
and had a warrant issued for Bloss’ arrest.
—James Ray, 21 years old, of near Punx-
sutawney, met death at an early hour on
Monday morning when he fell from an ex-
cursion train a half mile east of Port Roy-
al on the Middle division. His headless
body was found at 1:45 a. m. by a track
walker. Ray had been on the excursion
to Baltimore and Washington, the train
carrying many people from the vicinity of
Punxsutawney. It is believed that Ray,
when he fell from the train while passing
between the cars, was struck by a train
on the adjoining track.
—A small mantel clock that suddenly
stopped over thirteen years ago on the day
and almost on the minute that its owner,
Jonas Brown, of Allentown, died, and
which refused to run, although members
of the family had sent it to the repair
shop many times, on Sunday suddenly re-
sumed its task of ticking off the seconds,
minutes and hours of the day, and at
present maintenance of the schedule it
promises to keep good time. Members of
the household say that no effort had been
made for many months to induce the clock
to run and that it started of its own voli-
tion.
—Equipment and supplies for the pro-
posed nursery at the Rockview penitentia-
ry has been ordered according to Dr. El-
len C. Potter, Secretary of Welfare. The
work on the project will be started as soon
as the weather becomes favorable. The
estimated cost of establishing this new
feature at this institution is estimated at
$15,000. According to the plans of the
Welfare Department the nursery will give
employment to additional prisoners on the
penitentiary farm. Trees raised from
seedlings will be sold to the Department
of Forests and Waters and also to munic-
ipalities. .
—Without warning, Joseph Houghton,
of Sunbury, a painter, fired twice with a
revolver at the Rev. LeRloy F. Derr, pas-
, tor of St. Luke's Lutheran church, as he
was going to preach in that town on Sun-
day. Both shots missed their mark, and
Houghton fled into his home. Later he
gave himself up. He told the police he
was laboring under . the belief that the
preacher wanted to take his four children
from him. Friends say illness caused
Houghton to lose his mind, and a com-
mission has been appointed to inquire into
his sanity, which will decide whteher he
goes to jail or an asylum.
—~Several interested Curwensville and
Clearfield people are contemplating =a
movement looking to the erection of a
marker for the late Brooks Hyde Pear-
son, the government air mail pilot who lost
his life on the Porter farm between Cur-
wensville and Lumber City when his ma-
chine was forced down into the woods in
the recent March blizzard. It is the
thought of some of those interested that
the marker should be located on the
Lakes-to-Sea Highway, near Stronach for
the purpose of acquainting the traveler
with the fact that the intrepid airman met
his death two miles south of that spot.