Foran
INK SLINGS.
—The Loeb and the Leopold boys
bungled “the perfect crime,” but jus-
tice shouldn’t bungle its punishment.
~ ——A New York judge has decided
that when a girl breaks an engage-
ment she must give back the ring.
But a girl who breaks an engagement
is not likely to respect moral obliga-
tions and replevin processes are ex-
pensive.
—The many attempts at automo-
bile theft in Bellefonte during the fore
“part of the week were attributed, by
‘some, to escaped prisoners from Rock-
view. They were not the guilty ones.
No prisoners making a get away from
the pen would fool around in Belle-
fonte as long as those fellows stayed
here. Every indication points to per-
sons having a knowledge of the town
and location of cars as being the per-
petrators.
—Talk about doings! We'll say
Wednesday’s was some night in Belle-
fonte. The Penn-Pat orchestra was
playing on the terrace of the Y. M. C.
A., the band was playing on the Coun-
ty Plaza, Louie Geist, of Johnstown,
was singing, and some grand Kleagle
or other was talking to a great crowd
of Kluxers in the court house, all at
the same time. If that wasn’t some-
thing to prick up ears, pop out eyes
and hang mouths open a bit then we
don’t know what is.
—The more of this moral and social
uplift stuff that Dr. Ellie Potter in-
jects into the conduct of prisons the
more those who are subjected to it try
‘to escape. They are walking off so
fast up at Rockview that it won’t be
long until Dr. Ellie’s prison problem
will solve itself—there won’t be any
prisoners to be coddled. They’ll all be
Toamin’ this good old U. S. A., with
detectives and police every where in-
structed to do nothing harsher in re-
capturing them than a slap on the
wrist or a kick on the ankle.
—We saw the makins’ of a lot of
fun this fail, on Monday night. The
entire west end of the third floor of
the Arcade was lighted up. What
for? A meeting of Republican sooth-
sayers. The headquarters of the par-
ty that has emptied the dinner pail,
stolen the springs off the cots of
wounded veterans and denied the post-
men wages equal to those of an or-
dinary mechanic, have been establish-
ed there. The idea of thirty-six hun-
dred square feet of floor space for
such a purpose. Why Bro. Fleming?
You should have rented that stand be-
tween the Elks and the Benner prop-
erty, for Thursday afternoons. There
you might have had some justification
for announcement that “there was a
crowded meeting.” : ;
—To the anonymous correspondent
who wrote castigating us for our crit-
jcism of last week's band concert per-
mit us to say that we have been and
are the best newspaper friend the Odd
Fellows band has. We have given it
more publicity than all the other
newspapers of the county combined,
we happen to have been the means of
dropping as large a sum of money in-
to its treasury as it ever received and
we have forgotten more about band
music, as it should be selected and ren-
dered, than our correspondent will
know. if he lives to be a centenarian.
In fact, since we have started blowin’
a horn of our own, we believe we have
sat through more concerts, by big
bands and little, than any fifty people
that can be mustered in Centre coun-
ty. We know music really by ear.
‘We have a slight mechanical acquaint-
ance with it through position. But
when it comes to bands—selections,
style and effect—well: “Play No. 36
in the old Book,” or we'll tell all we
know.
—It won’t be long until the cam-
paign in Centre county opens up in
earnest. Before it does there is one
little matter that ought to be cleared
up, so we start off with some fairly
definite idea of where We're going to
be at when the smoke of battle has
cleared away on the morning of No-
vember 5th. Our friend, John Laird
Holmes, started out to run for the
Legislature on a platform that prac-
tically said: I’ll make no promises or
pledges to any one. If my name and
reputation in this community are not
sufficient guarantees that I can be
trusted to do the right thing, then I
have nothing more to offer. It was a
mighty creditable platform at that.
But it was not long until John Laird
received a visit from a committee of
inquisition that demanded something
more specific. It wanted to -put its
high sign on ether things besides his
good name and reputation. It wanted
to know whether he would support any
old legislation Governor Pinchot
might advocate. We don’t know what
the gentleman promised, but the com-
mittee caused to be published in the
county papers a notice to the effect
that Mr. Holmes was acceptable to it
as a candidate. From that notice
only one inference could be drawn:
Either the garrulous burgess of State
College had abandoned his first plat-
form and promised to roll over and
jump through for Pinchot or had un-
dertaken the dangerous political trick
of carrying water on both shoulders.
Just this week there are reports on
the street here that he has made no
promises to any one. In the light of
this most recent announcement we are
concerned, because we know that Mr.
Holmes doesn’t want to go to Harris-
burg on Pinchot votes without doing
what Gif. tells him to do nor does he
want to go on organization votes
without giving Gif. h It’s a sit-
uation that can’t be straddled and it
ought to be cleared up before the con-
test opens.
Rs LB
SNORE HR TY
Nes
oh
VOL. 69.
Davis Accepts the Nomination.
The speech of John W. Davis, de-
livered at Clarksburg, West Virginia,
on Monday evening, accepting the
nomination of the Democratic party
for President, fulfills the highest ex-
pectation of his friends and admirers.
It was comparatively brief but so con-
cise and forceful that every topic
which may properly be considered as
relevant to the campaign was com-
pletely covered. It not only defined
the paramount issues of the campaign
but expressed the traditional Demo-
cratic policy on each subject and
pledges maintenance of the faith. It
was a really masterful oration and
will hearten every voter of whatever
political faith who reads it and feels
the sincerity of purpose behind it.
Chairman Butler, of the Republican
National committee, said recently that |
the oil and other scandals of the
Harding and Coolidge administrations
will be forgotten before election time.
Mr. Davis disappoints that expecta-
tion or rather hope.
preme need of the hour,” he said, “to
bring back to the people confidence in
their government,” and that may only |
be achieved by obliterating the crimes
and fitly punishing the criminals.
This is one of the obligations to which
the Democratic party has committed
itself and the people will not be per-
mitted to forget until the result is ac-
complished, as it will certainly be, if
Mr. Davis is elected President, as he
will be.
Next to the purification of govern-
ment the most important question to
be determined by the election is that
of taxation. Upon that subject Mr.
Davis is particularly clear and abso-
lutely right. He will urge further de-
crease in the income tax but the in-
come tax is not the citadel of iniqui-
ty in our tax system. The tax that
robs and blisters the poor of the coun-
try is the tariff tax. “For every dol-
lar that this statute has drawn into
the treasury,” he said, “it has divert-
ed five from the pockets. of the con-
sumers into the pockets of the favor-
ed few.” - This is the monster that
must be stricken down before genu-
ine prosperity can be secured. It is
impossible to. reduce the cost of living
while the price of commodities are in-
creased by needless taxation.
In the expectation that every voter
will read the speech in full it is use- |
less to attempt an epitome in the brief
space at our command. The weakness
of the Coolidge administration is
touched upon lightly in its relation to
Congress and the = imbecile foreign
policy is justly held up to ridicule.
“We must face the humiliating fact,”
he said, “that we have a government
that does not dare to speak its mind
beyond the three mile limit.” Only
four years ago the voice of America
was the most potent force in the
world and now it is impotent. It will
be the purpose of the Democratic par-
ty through the instrumentality of
John W. Davis to correct this condi-
tion.
Senator Shields Fitly Punished.
The defeat of Senator John K.
Shields, of Tennessee, for renomina-
tion by the Democrats will give pleas-
ure to all the sincere Democrats of the
country. During the malignant fight
conducted against Woodrow Wilson by
Henry Cabot Lodge, Senator Shields
was conspicuous among the perfidious
Democrats. In his contest for renom-
ination in 1918 he promised to support
the policies of the party as expressed
by Woodrow Wilson in the future and
he was renominated. Afterward he
violated his pledge and impudently |
claimed that his renomination and re-
election was a vindication. of his
course in opposing the ratification of
the League of Nations.
Nobody has ever been able to find
out why Senator Shields, of Tennes-
see, joined with the Republican bitter-
enders in the fight against Woodrow
Wilson. The people of the State were
strongly in favor of the policies which
he fought and his colleague in the
Senate, Mr. McKellar, stood in the
fore front of the supporters of the
President. But Shields invariably
joined with the opposition and after
voting for every reservation offered
finally voted against the ratification
of the covenant as amended. It has
been intimated that a promise of a
seat on the Supreme court bench was
dawdled before his eyes at regular in-
tervals during the contest in the Sen-
ate.
In any event Senator Shields has
now been relegated to obscurity by
his defeat for renomination and it
may be predicted that his retirement
is for all time. He is said to be a fine
lawyer and as Justice of the Supreme
court of Tennessee beforé his election
to the Senate he made a good recoxd. !
His retirement will leave only one of
the four or five Democratic Senators
who betrayed the party and the coun-
try at that time. Senator Reed, of
Missouri, was re-elected with the ac-
tive and open help of Republicans a
year ago, but brilliant as he is in in-
tellect and effective in debate, he is
without influence either in his own
party or the opposition.
“It is the su-!
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
‘La Follette and Organized Labor.
It may be true that Mr. La Follette
has some claim upon the friendship
of organized labor. He has always
been more or less actively engaged in
real or imaginary warfare against
such wealth as is represented as em-
ployer of labor. It may be true, also,
that in his prolonged experience as
Senator or Representative in Congress
he has favored legislation intended to
promote the interests of organized la-
bor. A great many other Senators
and Representatives in Congress have
made similar honorable records and
no doubt the representatives of organ-
ized labor feel grateful for the good
| intentions thus expressed. But a
' careful scrutiny of his record fails to
! show any service for labor orginated
by La Follette.
On the other hand there are many
substantial proofs of real service in
the interest of organized labor per-
i formed by Mr. John W. Davis, the
; Democratic candidate for President.
{ During the period of several years
' when mine owners and mine workers
were in desperate warfare in West
Virginia Mr. Davis represented the
! mine workers’ labor organization in
| both the criminal and equity courts,
| and rendered such valuable service to
' organized labor as to secure the lib-
| erty of the miners. Later he success-
! fully defended the eight hour day in
the Supreme court of the United
States and defeated the Harvester
trust and the Standard Oil Co. in liti-
gation of the gravest importance to
organized labor.
Intention is not a safe standard for
the measurement of service. Achieve-
| ment is the only true test and so far
as the records show Mr. La Follette
has accomplished nothing beyond lip
service to the cause of organized la-
bor. But we are not surprised that
Mr. Gompers has undertaken to de-
liver the labor vote of the country to
Mr. La Follette. He has always been
‘rather free in the payment of claims
: in such currency and it is not improb-
able that the interests of labor have
suffered frequently because of such
‘misappropriation of resources. For-
‘ mer Secretary of Labor, W. B. Wilson,
thinks more clearly on such questions
"and Mr. Gompers would better have
| adopted his suggestion to wait for ev-
idence.
|
| ——The national defense enterprise
seems to promise only disappointment.
It was expected to arouse popular en-
. thusiasm but has excited only gener-
. al apprehension.
ATR
' An Unusual Tribute to an Unusual
i Man.
| A man’s home community is almost)
always an infallible indicator of his
worth. The reactions of the home
{ town to the failures or successes of
‘one of its sons always are in direct
proportion to the esteem in which the
| individual has been held by his neigh-
bors. When eighty thousand people
| gathered in Clarksburg, W. Va., Mon-
| day evening and stood two hours in a
drenching rain to hear their fellow
citizen accept the Democratic nomi-
nation for President there was a spec-
| tacle such as has rarely, if ever, been
witnessed in this country.
Ready with joyful confidence to as-
sume the leadership offered him, John
W. Davis stood before those cheering
thousands in the face of a driving rain
which swept over Goff Plaza and ac-
cepted the nomination for President
of the United States on the Democrat-
ic ticket.
Had there been only the program as
originally planned this notification
| event would have been more memo-
rable than anything of the kind in the
history of the nation, but when thous-
“ands of admirers of Mr. Davis stood
or sat for almost two hours while rain
| fell and drenched them to the skin,
. here was a spectacle probably without
parallel in the history of politics. Here
it was that for the first time a nomi-
nation for the Presidency was being
tendered a West Virginian; here were
all the modern devices of radio and
telephony carrying to the millions
throughout the nation, as well as those
who saw him there upon the platform,
the message which he spoke; here as
the elements raged was an impressive
demonstration of loyalty. How that
immense crowd stood fast, almost un-
| mindful of the downpour, as Mr. Da-
vis outlined what he feels are the
| problems of the hour, this was a thing
in the life of man to marvel at.
A few of the epigrams of his speech
' of acceptance were:
“If I become President of the Unit-
_ ed States, America will sit as an equal
Snong equals whenever she sits at
all”
“There is abroad in the land a feel-
ing too general to be ignored, too
deep-seated for any trifling, that men
in office can no longer We trusted to
! keep faith with those who sent them,
{ and that the powers of government
are being exercised in the pursuit of
| gain instead of the common service.”
| “To bring the government back to
the people is and always has been the
doctrine of the Democracy.”
¥ Absurd Republican Claims.
The absurd claims of the Republi-
can machine managers are revealed in
a recent statement made by George S.
Graham, of Philadelphia, Pennsylva-
nia member of the Republican Con-
gressional committee, in which he de-
clares the party will elect every Con-
gressman this year. Mr. Graham,
who lives in New York and knows lit-
tle if anything about Pennsylvania, is
influenced to his opinion by an earlier
prediction made by State chairman W.
Harry Baker who jokingly made a
similar prediction. As a matter of
fact it is practically conceded by
every well-informed observer that the
Democrats will elect each one of the
six members now in commission and
have more than an even chance of
gaining six seats in the delegation.
In the 10th district William H.
Griest has already felt the necessity
of ealling upon President Coolidge to
rescue him from disaster and it is es-
timated that Cal’s response will cost
the national ticket fifteen thousand
votes. In the 11th district Represen-
tative Watres is conducting a hope-
less fight for re-election while the Re-
publican machine in the 13th district,
Schuylkill county, is “shot to pieces”
and already lost in dispair. In the
18th, the “shoe string” district, Mere-
dith Meyers is making a valiant and
more than hopeful fight. In the 20th
district Warren Worth Bailey, the ca-
pable and popular candidate of the
Democrats, is certain to win and Ed-
win M. Benson is well in the lead in
this the 23rd district. The 21st dis-
trict is clearly in doubt.
In claiming the defeat of Represen-
tative Frank C. Stites, Democrat in
the 19th district, Mr. Graham casts an
aspersion on the voters of Cumber-
land, Dauphin and Lebanon counties.
It implies a charge of ingratitude they
are likely to resent. Through his in-
terest in and endeavor for a Congres-
sional appropriation to fight the most
recent and destructive pest Congress-
man Sites has saved the farmers of
Pennsylvania millions of dollars. Gov-
ernor Pinchot vetoed or cut down the
State appropriation for the purpose
and. left the State agricultural inter-
ests’. open to attack. Congressman
Sites, discerning the danger, persuad-
ed Congress to interpose. It is not
likely the voters will penalize him for
that service.
—— Writing from Harrisburg Wil-
lis Reed Bierly, a native of Brush val-
ley and now editor of various legal
publications at Harrisburg says:
“Since my accident at Philadelphia I
have not been as agile nor active as
heretofore. Am, following Senator
Jim Reed’s (the Missouri Jim) cure—
ham, country cured, and eggs. This is
no dream. Baby food and baby clin-
ics are all right for the kind they are
adapted for, but the real thing is
needed for old war horses if they
would continue their stride.”
—Mrs. Mabel Irene Woodward Duff
died in Norwich, Conn., the other day,
from the effects of an operation to re-
move a piece of steel which had been
lodged near her appendix for twenty
years. Poor Mrs. Duff. She might
have lived twenty years longer if she
had only let well enough alone.
——The price of wheat is declining
again. It was impossible for the pol-
iticians to keep up the fiction until
election day. They began too soon.
——TIt is suspected about Harris-
burg that Mr. Pinchot is hiding from
himself. He has never been known to
remain quiet so long a time.
——Coolidge may run ahead of La-
Follette but present indications point
to a repetition of the 1912 vote with
Cal in the place of Taft.
——1It may be said that Mr. Gomp-
ers is more concerned about his own
tenure of office than he is about La-
Follette’s election.
——Probably there has never been
anything more disappointing than a
labor leader’s promise to deliver the
solid vote.
——Every Republican newspaper
now writes it “Defense day,” but it
was originally designated “Mobiliza-
tion day.”
——Clarksburg is not only on the
map, but on Monday it was the real
center of civic activity.
—————————ete—
——John W. Davis looks like a
President, acts like a President and
talks like a President.
——Those foreigners are likely to
make Secretary Hughes think he is of
some consequence.
———Hell-an-Maria! Mr. Dawes
threatens to conduct his campaign by
telephone.
nn ————— A ——————
——OQur expectation that Mr. Davis
would accept the nomination has been
fulfilled, ”
BELLEFONTE, PA.. AUGUST 15. 1924.
NO. 32.
Honesty as an Issue.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Indulging in sneering comment up-
on the fact that “John W. Davis, in a
speech at Poughkeepsie, declared hon-
esty in government is to be the over-
shadowing feature of the campaign.”
The Inquirer observes that Mr. Davis
“ought to be manly enough to admit
that in this respect the Republican
President is standing on solid ground.
The personal and political integrity of
Calvin Coolidge is unassailable.”
As a matter of fact the Republican
President is not standing on solid
ground, but on a quicksand into which
he has already sunk up to his knees.
His unchallenged personal and polit-
ical integrity is entirely irrelevant.
But since The Inquirer attempts to in-
troduce it into the testimony, let it
stand on the record. The late Presi-
dent Harding’s personal and political
integrity was also unassailable. Did
that fact save the country from the
shocking spectacle of Cabinet de-
bauchery, the wounded veterans from
shameless plundering, or the navy
from the pillage of its means of de-
fense ? :
Honesty in government is to be the
overshadowing feature of the cam-
paign because flagrant dishonesty in
| government on a scale unprecedented
in this generation followed the nation- |
al folly of turning a credulous ear to
Republican pledges in 1920. In that
.year the Republican party leaders
were no less prolific in promises of
administrative rectitude than they are
today. The voters accepted their fair
words at face value because they
trusted the candidate. He was as
honest as is Mr. Coolidge; yet under
his nose the government was robbed
right and left and its property turned
over to private interests to the extent
of hundreds of millions in value,
Instead of sneering at demands for
the punishment of the party that can-
not escape responsibility for scandal-
ous abuse of power. The Inquirer
ought to be repenting in sackcloth and
ashes. Instead of boasting’ of Mr.
Coolidge’s “passion for decency and
honesty,” it ought to be indulging in
mournful reflections upon the fact
that no Judge upon the bench ever
viewed more dispassionately the com-
mission of monumental crimes, or
took a more disinterested part in their
punishment. x
“Passion,” forsooth! Does The In-
quirer forget that the exposures of
official Republican turpitude =~ wére
brought about by Democratic and in-
surgent Legislators, in the face of al-
most insuperable obstacles placed in
their way by some of the Executive
departments of the government?
That the President of the United
States never lifted a finger to uncov-
er and punish the rascals until forced
to do so by the overwhelming pres-
sure of public opinion? That for)
months he permitted the Attorney
General deliberately to obstruct and
hamper the course of the investiga-
tions, and to cover up the pollution of
justice at its source? That the pow-
er of the government was used to
blackmail the accusers? That it is
due only to the zeal and energy of,
tions, Henry T. Ruscher, of Syracuse, N.
Y., on Monday filed suit in federal court at
Pittsburgh, asking $75,000 damages from
Miles B. Kitts, of Erie, Pa., former mayor
of that city. The papers were served upon
Kitts while attending a convention in the
Smoky city.
—Fred Derr, a Benton, Columbia county,
farmer, last week solved the mystery of
the disappearance of his young turkeys
when he killed a blacksnake that measured
eight feet, two inches in length, the larg-
est killed in that section in years. Cutting
open the reptile’s body with an axe he
found the snake had swallowed three good
sized young turkeys. ‘
—Judge Frank E. Reader, of Beaver
county, has ruled in the case of an auto-
mobile seized in an arrest for transporta-
tion of liquor, that the automobile should
be condemned by the State and sold, but
that enough of the proceeds of the sale,
after payment of costs, should be paid by
the sheriff to satisfy the claim of an auto-
mobile finance company.
—The attorney of Jacob Sanders, aged
84, a Civil war veteran, of Reading, who
died a few days ago at a hospital, last
Thursday afternoon visited the aged man’s
squalid house and looked for hidden treas-
ure according to his death bed directions.
In a tin box were found government bonds
worth $30,000, in addition to $6,500 in cash
and other investments, his total wealth
aggregating $50,000.
—For many months Charles Washing-
ton, of Chester, has been working hard and
saving his money. He would not trust the
cash to a bank, but stored it in a trunk.
Thursday he counted his savings and
found that he had accumulated $848. On
Saturday when he went to his room and
opened the trunk to deposit part of his
week’s wages the money was gone. A man
who lived in the neighborhood also was
missing.
—On the hottest day of the summer the
boys of Murray, Sullivan county, a soft
coal town, enjoyed a snowball battle. In
removing a culm bank which had piled up
during mining operations last winter,
workmen unearthed a mass of snow which
had been protected by the refuse. As soon
as the discovery was known, scores of
boys gathered at the scene and dividing
into groups engaged in a summer SnOw-
ball fight.
—Leo J. Colin, of Kane, is completing
arrangements for starting a silver fox
farm in the McKean county mountains
next month. He was a former resident of
Charlotte Town, Prince Edward Island,
where silver fox farming is common, and
he is confident that the foxes with the val-
uable pelts can be successfully raised in
this climate. Capital assembled in his
home community will be used to finance
the stocking of the farm.
—One hundred and ten delegates, repre-
senting miners, railroaders, machinists,
printers and other labor organizations and
granges in the twenty-third congressional
district, assembled at Clearfield on Satur-
day afternoon and formed a congressional
district conference for progressive politic-
al action, and indorsed the La Follette-
Wheeler ticket. John Brophy, of the Unit-
ed Mine Workers, who is a member of the
Pennsylvania State committee of the La-
Follette organization, presided.
—Men, women and children who sell ar-
ticles of food at church bazaars and fes-
tivals, including soft drinks, must all have
health certificates, the State Board of
Health ruled last week. Because of a
doubt in the matter and the far-reaching
character of the issue, the Pottsville board
of health asked for the decision, and health
officer Kleckner has been ordered to strict-
ly enforce the ruling. This means that
workers at church sales must have the
same qualifications as restaurant waiters.
-Arresting Clarence Peters, 31 years
old, of Ellwood City, Washington county,
and Sylvester Reed, aged 27 years, of
Pittsburgh, as suspects in connection with
a killing, near Wheeling Sunday afternoon,
police found several hundred dollars’ worth
oi cocaine in the clothes of the two men.
political opponents of the present ad-i p.ters and Reed were stopped as they at-
ministration that belated steps at last
were taken to punish the thieves and
recover the stolen property?
The indubitable personal probity of
President Coolidge will not suffice to
cover up the sins of his party or to
‘enable it to escape a responsibility |
which it must justly bear. His can-
didacy unquestionably would be in
better case today had he in truth ex-
hibited that “passion for decency and
honesty” of which The Inquirer
prates, and led in person such a vig-
orous and purposeful charge against
the grafters as would have been head-
ed with enthusiasm by a Roosevelt;
but we doubt if even then the people
would have been willing to condone
so gross a betrayal of their confidence.
Honesty indeed will be the overshad-
owing issue of the campaign, and The
Inquirer is destined to hear more of
i hetors the arrival of the November
rosts.
They Agreed to Agree.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Summaries of the Anglo-Russian
treaties confirm the impression that
no real agreement upon vital issues
has been reached by the two govern-
ments and no basis found upon which
the differences that have cut Russia
off from the rest of the world can be
reconciled. Debt repudiation by the
Soviet government stands, and only
“py way of exception” will Moscow
consider trying to satisfy British
bondholders. - As for confiscation of
British property in Russia, the-Bol-
shevists will “negotiate” directly with
those they hawe robbed. All this is
rather vague. No actual amounts to
be paid by Moscow are set, but it is.
unmistakably intimated that there
will be turned over not a single pen-
ny more than is absolutely necessary
to worm out of the British govern-
ment a guarantee for a loan. As the
Labor government is playing frenzied |
politics with Moscow, the British cit-
izens that lost through the revolution
are not likely to get rich from the
present transaction. Few other coun-
tries will jump at the chance to shake
hands with bolshevism on these terms.
Not Quite Wild Enough.
From the Baltimore Sun.
Mr. La Follette doesn’t seem wild
enough to scare one crowd or wild
enough to please she other.
——1It’s all in the “Watchman” and
it’s all true.
| t mpted to drive through Washington, Pa.,
in a high-powered motor car. Reed con-
! fossed that he was a dope-runner and that
Wheeling was the center of .a vast drug
ring.
—Misses Dorothy Howell and Nan Price,
"of Lewistown, who are now in Sacramen-
to, following a transcontinental hiking trip
to the Pacific coast, are about to leave
San Francisco for China on a world tour,
The two girls, each 21 years old, left Lew-
istown on May 8th and uniform courtesy:
of automobilists permitted them to reach
Los Angeles in three weeks. There they
obtained positions, and information to
their parents is that they have clerical po-
sitions aboard a big liner bound for
China,
—Ephriam F. Slough, a veteran member
of the Montgomery county bar, believes in
protecting rather than killing blacksnakes.
He claims they destroy many farm pests.
On his farm, located near Trooper, there
are a number of blacksnakes, which he
prizes highly. He says they are of inesti-
mable value as they rid his place of mice
and other pests. He does not allow hunt-
ers on his farm unless they promise not to
molest his blacksnakes. Attorney Slough
states he has been within a few feet of
many of the larger ones, and that they
never attempt to strike or hit at him, but”
scurrie off in another direction.
—Some improvement in the condition of
Raymond King, 21 year old newspaper
worker, of Franklin, Pa., has been report-
ed this week, but he was still to weak to
permit removal of the 44 caliber bullet
lodged in the spine which has kept him
paralyzed since the shooting Saturday.
The mystery of the daylight attack is still
unsolved, though more than a score of wit-
nesses have been questioned. Who fired
the shot may never be known. Local po-
lice fear that he was deliberately fired up-
on and the bullet was not a “spent” one is
generally conceded. Evén the two young
women with him in the car did not see the
shot fired. & .
—A star at various branches of athlet«
ics, Edgar R. Hecker, aged 17 years, of
Canton, lost his life because he had failed
to learn to swim. He was a four-letter
man in the Canton High school, the lead-
ing pitcher in the Susquehanna Valley In-
terscholastic league and captain-elect of
the 1924 football team. In company with
three classmates, he went to Lake Nepah-
win on Friday evening to attend a dance.
While waiting for the dance to begin, the
party went paddling on the lake in a ca-
noe. When the canoe upset the other three
swam toward shore, net knowing that
Hecker could not swim. When they heard
his cries for help, it was too late to rescue
im, .