Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, February 06, 1925, Image 1
- INK SLINGS. —What good is the Governor's budget going to be if the Legislature won't budge. ' — The full measure of futility is expressed in an attempt to repeal a tax law. As usual Senator Borah got on the band wagon in the vote for the confirmation of Justice Stone. - —The Legislature is said to have more grist in its mill already than ever before at such an early date. ‘Will it grind it? The only encouraging promise that can be made concerning the pres- ent session of the Legislature is that it will be short. ——The girl who offers to “marry any man who will give her $5000 as a wedding present” sets her price too high. A nickel would be a fair val- uation. The child lab r constitutional amendment is as dead as a lame-duck politician and by the same token the time for freak amendments to the organic law has “gone where the woodbine twineth.” — Judge Gary, of the Steel trust, is enamored of Pittsburgh “as a man- ufacturing base, as a business loca- tion, as an educational centre and as a desirable place in which to live.” Pittsburgh hands him a million or so in unearned profits every year. " —Dempsey is to stage his last fight by taking on either Gibbons or Wills, or both, for a little bout, ere he weds Estelle Taylor, the screen star. Jack may think it’s his last one, but we're from Missouri. Some moons after the wedding will be time enough to tell just when the champ had his last scrap. —Gaston B. Means, once trusted employee of the U. S. secret service and either a liar extraordinary or a man so truthful that none believe him, has been sentenced to two years in the federal prison at Leavenworth and to pay a fine of ten thousand dollars. There Gaston will have time to reflect on the advantage of moderation. —The slender, shapely feminine an- kle is said to be passing because of the continuous wearing of low shoes. We hadn’t noticed it, but since Mr. Malloy, of Boston, has called attention to the matter the need of being well informed on all subjects reminds us that it is our duty to get first-hand in- formation by beginning personal ob- servations at once. —A bill to be introduced in the Leg- islature is designed to upset our cal- endar again. -As-a boy we came to re- -...gard April first as our real New Year's day. en came a Legislator who moved it up to April fifteenth. Now comes another who wants to push it on to May first. Possibly, if we can stick around long enough, we’ll be leg- islated out of an opening day for troui fishing entirely. —The entire country is thrilled with the daring and endurance of Leonard Sepalla, Shannon, Jim Kalland and those other Alaskan mushers who drove their dog teams over the six hundred and fifty miles of arctic wastes to get diphtheria serum into scourged Nome. In a temperature av- eraging sixty degrees below zero they made the run at the rate of five miles an hour, going night and day. Such things men do, one for another, out where men are men, where nature builds strong bodies, warm hearts and great souls. —The speedy verdict that an Ad- ams county jury arrived at in the con- viction of Hartman, the young bank robber who shot and killed a state po- liceman who stood between him and liberty; the salty sentences that Judge Dale gave three Clarence moonshiners, on last Thursday, are the law’s best defense against lawlessness. The country doesn’t need more laws. It doesn’t need more police officers. There are more than enough of both. What it does need is jurymen who will convict and judges who will sen- tence drastically enough to make the criminally inclined really fearful of consequences. —Disappointment is a state of mind in consequence of failure to realize things hoped for. Nearly always it is transient, swept away by something compensatory that follows. Last week we announced that we wouldn’t win the cross-word puzzle prize. truth of the statement, but hope held on until Sunday when we discovered that we hadn’t come within fifty miles of even honorable mention. The near- est we came to contact with a winner was Williamsport, where some one was mentioned as an also ran, and We felt the _ VOL. 70. BE STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. LLEFONTE, PA.. Pinchot Presented Tough Problem. Those who expected Governor Pin- chot’s “budget” to reveal a policy of cheese-paring economies were not only surprised but actually dumb- | founded by the text of that insthu- ment submitted to the Legislature last week. The correspondent of an esteemed Philadelphia comtemporary declares it “the most comprehensive programme of land acquisition and permanent construction ever outlined for the Commonwealth.” In pro- viding for the expenditure of $136,- 122,950 within a period of ter rears on “health, education and land ac- question” alone, with $50,060,000 for road construction and maintenance within two years and one millien for prohibition enforcement in a year, it is no piker’s proposition. The Governor proposes to be es- pecially generous in educational sub- sidies, according to the budget. He asks the Legislature to appropriate $6,544,000 to the University of Peun- sylvania, an admirable institution over which the State has absolutely no control. He would give $4,401,950 to the University of Pittsburgh, and half a million to Temple University, of Philadelphia, also institutions of great merit and entirely free from State control. The $15,000,000 he asks for the Normal schools is not too much if they were really State insti- tutions, and no one will complain of the $42,041,469 for the public schools. Education is the solution of most of the vexed problems of life, and educa- tion costs money. In the matter of public hezlth and welfare the Governor would be equal- ly munificent so far as the State in- stitutions are concerned. His proposi- tion to make the Commissioner of Welfare the sole administrator of the fund is likely to encounter opposition. The State constitution provides that all such appropriations “shall be made by separate bills, each embrac- ing but one subject.” But as the late Tim Campbell said to the late Grover Cleveland: ‘“What’s the constitution between friends?” Outside of the ‘Eighteenth amendment to the Fed- eral constitution Mr. Pinchot doesn’t pay: ~aitention .‘to- fundamental laws. In pi however, the bud- get will be a tough problem for the Legislature to solve. | Group Six of the Pennsylvania bankers’ association will have its an- nual meeting in Altoona on Lincoln’s birthday anniversary, February 12. The meeting will be held at the Penn- Alto and will be addressed by P. B. Detwiler, of Philadelphia; F. P. Wea- ver, of Cornell University, and Robert Willis, of New York city. Science or Signs. The timing of the recent eclipse of the sun to within four seconds of its actual occurrence was merely a mat- ter of astronomical calculation. A simple problem for the scientist. It should impress the lay mind, however, with the incalculable value of science. Who invented the instruments, who worked out the formulas by which the magnitudes, motions, distances, con- stitutions of the heavenly bodies have been charted so that, though millions of miles away from them, the record was made years ago that on Satur- day, January 24, 1925, moon would pass between earth and sun, causing a total eclipse. i They are of the group of men we too often class as “batty.” They are the workers buried in research for the mysterious in every phase of our existence. They are the men who spend their lives doggedly proving or disproving every clue that presents itself as a possible lead to their goal. Think of it! It was one of them who, upon learning that sheep did not thrive in a certain section of Michi- gan, after a salt well they had been ‘drinking from had been plugged, got Williamsport is over fifty miles away. : We had intended spending that five hundred on a trip to Florida, just to see if there really is the easy living down there that the recent migration of so many Centre countians indicates. | Besides, the last snow having been too heavy for the boys to handle, proved the straw that almost broke the old man’s back. The itch for Florida was exceedingly aggravated by scratching in the snow most of Thursday night. ‘When we found all hope gone, we sloshed around in the slough of “it might have been” until Monday. Then came the compensation. It was ground-hog day and he didn’t see his shadow. Spring is here. what we laymen might have called a damphool notion that somehow it had | @ connection with the cause of human goitre on which he had been working and today the world is ready to be- lieve that the increase of goitre is due largely to the refining of all the iodine out of the salt we use. The human system needs iodine. Salt in its natural crystal is reddish with the stain of iodine. It didn’t look well on the table so the refiners made it white and goitre has been on the increase ever since. Those who have a certain sign to ‘tramp down their onions or won’t lay There'll be | no more snows to shovel and even if ' we had won the thousand we would not know how to spend it, since there is no use in going to Florida when there ain’t goin’ to be any more win- ter here to flee from. chestnut shingles in the “up sign of the moon” may stick to their super- stitutions. We're pinning our faith to the men of hundreds of years ago and their torch bearers of today who told us within four seconds the time the sun would go into eclipse. ig fib ine ——The deep snow in the woods is hard on all kinds of wild life, and es- pecially pheasants and wild turkeys, but a little feed put out for them at this time will tide them over until warmer weather melts the snow. will pursue its Changed Attitude of Coolidge. Official Washington is amazed, ac- . cording to press dispatches from the national capital, at the changed at- titude of President Coolidge since the election. Before the vote in Novem- ' ber he was as silent as a sphinx, as cautious as a fox and as “cool as a cucumber.” Since that he has be- come loquacious, domineering and self-assertive. He talks freely upon any subject and declares his favor or opposition to men or measures now almost as adroitly as he concealed them then. It is no longer “Silent Cal” or “Calculating Coolidge” that per- vades the White House. It is a domi- nant figure in fighting mood with a big stick held in a steel fist. It is said that the politicians are fairly bluffed. This change in the method and manner of President Coolidge is most clearly revealed in his recent appointments to high office. By the exercise of even ordinary caution he might easily have avoided the fric- tion that has developed in the Senate against the confirmation of his nomi- ! nation of Mr. Stone, for Justice of the Supreme court, Mr. Kellogg, for Secretary of State, and Mr. Warren, for Attorney General. real, personal objection to either of these gentlemen. They are entirely satisfactory to Wall Street and big | business generally, and that is the present Senatorial measurement of | fitness for important public office. | But Coolidge didn’t ask the Senate about it. He just appointed. ; The average Senator in Congress | imagines that he is a man of consid- | erable consequence. Under the con- | stitution he has a voice in the ratifi- cation of appointments and feels more or less “cocky” about it. If, Coolidge had gone to the leaders in | advance of the appointment and said ! Wall Street wants these particular men in these particular offices, there wouldn’t have been a whisper of op- position on the Republican side. But | in his newly developed character of master of the machine he didn’t sav a word about his purpose and the result is a lot of talk about rejecting the nominations. But that is all it will amount to. Wall, Street will issue. orders in due tim will follow, | | There is no | i ——Judge Reeder, of Beaver coun-' ty, will sit on all the criminal cases at the regular session of Centre county | court, which will convene on Monday, ; February 23rd. Judge Reeder is noted ' as one of the driest judges in the State. Judge Miles I. Potter, of the Union—Snyder judieal district, will hear the civil list at the same term of court. | Legislative League Moving. | es i The Legislative League, the official title of a group of country Represen- tatives in the Legislature, organized to guard the interests of the rural sections, has set for itself an import- ant public service. That is, it propos- es to make inquiry and ascertain if possible the cause of the considerable difference in the estimates of the revenues of the State for the next i biennium as made respectively by the ! Auditor General and the Governor, ! There is a discrepancy of something like twenty million dollars between these estimates and as it is almost vital that the law makers should know as nearly as possible the exact. figures, it is to be hoped the League rpose. ! It has been, since time out of mind, the custom of the Legislature to ac- cept the estimate of the Auditor Gen- eral as the basis for making appro- priations. We recall no exception to this rule and see no reason why there should be. The Legislature has not always or even often limited the ap- | propriations to the estimate of reven- ues thus given. But by the exercise of the veto power the Governor has cut the appropriations to the measure of the estimates or relied on “deficien- cy bills” to bring the figures togeth- er. This year, however, the Governor refused to accept the Auditor Gen- eral’s figures and made an estimate of his own. He presents a vastly different result, but fails to show how he gets it. ; The Auditor General has not been entirely frank on the subject, either. He declares the revenues will be so much and invites any one to examine the books in his office. Of course everybody can’t do that. The Gov- ernor, with equal eriphasis, proclaims that the revenues will be some twen- w millions greater than the Auditor eneral estimates but refuses to divulge the source of his information. Because of these facts the Legisla- tive League is making preparations to find out, and has already invited the Governor and the Auditor Gen- eral to supply such information—if they can. It is to be hoped they will succeed, not-for the reason that it will prove somebody wrong, but be- | cause the information is needed. ——Now that assurances have been received that France will pay there is little left to worry about except when. | ——LEven if the groundhog failed to see his shadow he didn’t miss much. t FR peoples, unattached to ' the League of Nations and disinter- | of Nations and its among the! most influential of its members. {It it not likely, therefore, that and confirmations . increase in the rates of postage which ! adversely affects ‘gress to prevent the passage of such | President. FEBRUARY 6. 1925. Lord Thompson Flatters Philadelphia. Lord Christopher Birdwood Thomp- son, who lives somewhere in England, ' addressed the Philadelphia Foreign Policy association, the other evening, | and flattered his audience by declar- | ing the future affords “opportunity form a great organization of Eng- { ested in the internal affairs of Eu- rope,” which will wield more influ- ence than the League. Besides the! United States the only nations un-! attached to the League of Nations are Germany, Turkey and Mexico, and they are not English-speaking peo- ples. So that reduced to the last an- alysis Lord Thompson has in mind a combination of the United States and ' Great Britain against the whole world. i It is only fair to say that Lord Thompson, who was Secretary of State for air during the brief tenure of | a: large majority and consequently is not authorized to speak for the Brit- ish public. Great Britain was among the first to affiliate with the League | a’ private subject of the King of England speaks by authority when he says that “the League of Nations is a mere child and cannot be expected io shoulder a man’s work.” It has cer- tainly made a bold and brave effort to accomplish the “work cut out for a giant.” It has at least made pro- gress. The League of Nations has achiev- ed more in the direction of outlawing war than any or all other agencies created by man within the history of the world. It has operated as a crip- ple from the beginning, for in the malice of the Republican machine the United States, the most powerful na- tion of civilization, has thus far re- fused to co-operate in its efforts for | permanent peace. But the League has moved forward, undismayed by appointment and unabashed by jal failure, to the heneficent work ae he Jones abundant hope of ultimate success. It is not an alliance of two or three rich and dominant nations that is wanted to complete the task, but the co-opera- tion of Christian civilization. ——President Coolidge on Monday signed the Kelly bill providing for the carrying of air mails by commercial enterprises. One mail route already contemplated is from New York to Bellefonte, thence to Pittsburgh and from there south west to New Orleans. Postal Increase Bill Doomed. The Senate in Washington passed the bill to increase the wages of post- al employees by a very strong ma- jority, but that doesn’t mean any- thing to the proposed beneficiaries. The House will refuse to concur if it gives the measure any consideration at all, and thus the contract with the Republican machine to econo- mize at the expense of small sal- aried officials will be fulfilled. It is universally admitted that employees of the Postal Department are under- paid. A bill increasing their wages passed both houses just before the close of the last session by practi- cally unanimous votes. But it was vetoed by President Coolidge. After much maneuvering the veto was sus- tained a week ago. : To guarantee the ultimate defeat of the proposition a new bill was in- troduced containing additional mat- ter. The new matter consisted of an the publishers of periodical literature. These publish- ers have sufficient influence with Con- lagislation as they had to prevent the signing of the original bill by the The Senate passed the bill not because the members of that body favored it but for the reason that it might pass for a gesture in favor of labor that would deceive | those concerned in it. It is an old! trick of political false pretenders and it is surprising that labor falls for it. | It is a well known fact that em- | ployees of the Postoffice Department are not sufficiently paid to support their families. A New York jurist,’ only a few days ago, dismissed a case against a couple of postal employees who had been convicted of violation the law because their wages are inadequate to support their fam- ilies. = They have to steal or starve, the judge declared sub- stantially, and every Senator and Representative in Congress as well as the President knows he told the truth. Yet the justice of fair recompense is denied them. Wall Street and the Republican machine are in agreement on that point and the suffering of ordinary and uninfluential working men is of no interest to them. ——It may be noted that the Gov- ernor’s budget makes liberal provis- ion for departments under his control and offers scant support to others. —The “Watchman” gives the news whila it i3 newa, NO. 6. France Will Pay. From the Philadelphia Record. Ambassador Daeschner’s address on being presented to the President leaves no doubt that his government recognizes the absolute necessity of acknowledging its pecuniary obliga- tions to the United States. Such speeches as that of Louis Marin are good for home consumption, but men responsible for the French govern- ment understand perfectly that inter- national relations cannot be conducted on any such basis. To balance French blood against American dollars may do for constituents, but it has no place outside the field of oratory. We spent some blood ourselves, and the French ! soldiers died fighting for their own | home land; almost anybody will die for his own country. The Ambassador’s reference to debts of gratitude which have been discharged on both sides, and to the common desire of both countries to effect the settlement of pecuniary ob- ligations, derives unusual significance from the fact that speeches on the ' Premier MacDonald’s administration, | presentation of Ambassadors are cus- | was recently retired to private life by | tomarily mere expressions of mutual esteem and compliment. That this reference to France’s war debt was in- serted in the new Ambassador's ad- dress indicates the anxiety of the French government to put a stop at once to talk at home and abroad of re- pudiation; and the recent speech of Marin and the applause of the Cham- ber and the disorder when the govern- ment refused to accept Marin’s speech as an expression of its own sentiments explain why so unusual a thing was done as to include in the presentation speech a significant reference to a subject of negotiation between the two countries. Very possibly France will suggest some scaling down of the debt; very probably it will ask further time be- fore it begins to pay, and very cer- tainly it will wish to extend the pay- ments over a long series of years. But the French government has done what it could to stop the talk of repudiation at home and in this country, and to as- sure us and Great Britain and the world that France does not repudiate and that it pays as it has the means of paying. The Price of Peace. From the Harrisburg Telegraph. United States eleven billion dollaxs. By cancellation of this debt William Jennings Bryan believes this country could purchase world peace. If Mr. Bryan were right the price would be cheap and America would be more than willing to pay. To abolish war would assure hu- manity of such prosperity and hap- piness as this blood-stained old world | has never known. But to free Europe in its present | state of mind, from the necessity of paying America the eleven billions owing, would be merely to give the governments of the continent eleven billion dollars with which to create new armies and to prepare for the next war. Instead of abolishing war, it would but speed the day of the next great conflict, and American taxpayers would contribute the money. No, the price of peace does not con- sist in relieving Europeans of being compelled to pay for their folly, but in making war so burdensome that Europe will not want another, at least within this generation or the next. Mr. Forbes’ Conviction. From the Philadelphia Public Ledger. Colonel Charles R. Forbes, former director of the United States Veter- ans’ Bureau, has been found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the government in contracts for soldiers’ hospitals. He is said to have been very much sur- prised at the verdict. John W. Thomp- son, St. Louis and Chicago contractor, charged with having paid $5000 to Forbes, was only found guilty of con- | spiracy. He also is reported to have been astonished. Their astonishment seems to have something in common ! with that of Gaston B. Means, sen- tenced to two years in Federal prison, also on a charge of conspiracy. Was it actually that they believed them- selves innocent or a conviction that a charge of conspiracy such as was brought against them could not be sustained in American courts? This latter conviction seems to be rather widespread. In these two cases the courts have shown that they are ef- fective instruments in handling cases involving suspicion of graft and crookedness in dealing with the gov- ernment. There should be no surprise at this fact. That is what the courts are for, and these convictions should have a salutary effect. ——Notwithstanding last Thurs- day’s snow fall was deeper than or- dinarily occurs in this section the State Highway Department had most of the main roads open for travel by noon on Friday and all of them by evening of that day. The work would probably - have been accomplished sooner had it not been for a break- down. of one of their big tractors out in the vicinity of Pleasant Gap, which put one of the heaviest plows out of commission until the tractor could be repaired. , : ——Auditor General Lewis will probably let tl:e code alone from now on. 'SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Every boy named after David H. Lane, for many years Republican leader of Phil- adelphia, who died last week, will receive a legacy of $5600 under his will, which was admitted to probate on Friday. —Marlin © Kasseman, 22, former chief ‘clerk at the Shamokin State hospital, has i pleaded guilty in the Northumberland | county court to the embezzlement of more than $4,000 of the institution’s funds. —Stricken ill while he stood in the court .room at Sunbury, on Tuesday, Thomas Danlan, 55 years of age, a former deputy prothonotary of Northumberland county, ! and a Democrat, died of paralysis. He was ! serving as a court tipstaff. . ——Miss Pauline Rossler, 23 years old, of Williamsport, is under guard at the Williamsport hospital pending the results of the investigation into the death of her + four-day-old child which was found, badly burned in a furnace in a home in the northern part of that city. —Stricken by heart trouble as he stood watching his home being burned to the ground at Hummel’'s Wharf, Northumber- land county, on Tuesday, Hiram Gamby, 61, dropped dead. The property represent- ed a loss of $6000 and the savings of a life- time. It was only partially insured. —The road-house conducted by Nicho- las Alexander at Pond Creek, north of Hazleton, was badly damaged on Tues- day when two sticks of dynamite were ex- ploded under it. One stick at the rear of the building tore off a porch. Another un- der the bar-room section of the building ripped up the floor. —Max Jones, 55 years old, of Sunbury, i was convicted in Philadelphia on Thurs- , day on charges of false pretenses and mak- ing a false financial statement, with intent | to defraud Daniel Lang, of that city, in { 1922, by obtaining a loan of $15,000 from | Lang through false representation as to , his financial standing. Jones was released | under $10,000 bail, pending disposition of his case. —The Union National bank of Mt. Wolf, York county, has made final settlement with those depositors who had lost money through a $55,000 robbery several years i ago. On December 21, 1921, thieves enter- led the bank and robbed safety deposit boxes. There was not sufficient insurance to cover the loss and the stockholders agreed to pay the victims of the robbery out of the bank’s earnings. —Samuel H. Etter, 60 years old, of Guil- ford Springs, Franklin county, fell over dead on Friday, while shoveling snow on the campus at Wilson College, Chambers- burg, where he had been employed as a laborer for six years. He was found by a fellow employee. Although he had accu- mulated a small fortune in his life time and could have retired from active life in comfort, Etter continued regularly at work. ——Charges in the Northumberland county court against John D. Kalinoski, Williamsport, Villa Nova college prepara- tory student, were droppeed on Tuesday when his parents agreed to pay relatives of Mrs. Miles D. Stratton, Wilkes-Barre, , $600 and all record costs of the case. | Kalinoskie’'s automobile ran down the Stratton car on a state road near there August 28, last, and Mrs. Stratton was killed. —Falling from a step ladder Saturday , afternoon at his home in Ore Hill, near | Roaring Spring, Blair county, John C. i Ickes suffered a broken neck and died almost instantly. Members of his family : found his body lying headfirst in a snow bank a short while after the accident. Ickes | was trimming trees in front of his home. | Whether he was seized with an attack of heart trouble or just tumbled off the lad- der is not known. He was 70 years old. —Having been missing for 21 years, Archie Shoemaker, formerly of Upper Gwynedd, Montgomery county, on Satur- day was declared legally dead by Judge Solly in Orphans’ court, and Register of Wills Miller was authorized to grant let ters of administration in the estate, which amounts to $3347. Shoemaker disappeared in 1903. He was of a roving disposition and started for DuBois, but never reached there, Two brothers are living, Walter I. Shoemaker, of Collegeville, and Mervyn C. Shoemaker, of Landsdale. —The troubled conscience of a once up- on a time robber has enriched the pocket- book of 3. P. Kreider, of Driftwood, with a brand new fifty-dollar bill. Mr. Kreider received a letter postmarked DuBois and the typewritten contents stated that the ' writer was enclosing $50 to defray the loss incurred when merchandise was stolen i from the Kreider store in Driftwood sev- . eral years ago. Mr. Kreider remembers " the incident of the robbery well, but states that to his knowledge only about fifteen or twenty dollars worth of goods were taken at the time. x —The number of divided checks of the Westinghouse Airbrake company, stolen from the Pittsburgh postoffice “will not , exceed five hundred,” 8S. C. McConahay, . treasurer, of the company, declared in a statement issued late on Wednesday. The ! number, the statement added, affects “only ia small proportion of our stockholders.” | Hederal officers are searching for a man who registered at a local hotel as Allen | Stone. of Philadelphia, in connection with | the theft. Information which authorities declared may lead to the arrest of the robber was provided by William Mustin, a ; messenger boy. —A bomb contained in a package mailed i last Wednesday in the South Fork post+ ! office by a man who said he was Giuseppe { Siourella exploded a few seconds after it i had been placed in a mail bag and wreck- "ed the rear end of the postoffice building. ! No one was hurt. Siourella handed the i package to James Cooney, postoffice clerk, { who dropped it into the bag. He had tak- . en but a few steps when the explosion oc- curred. Cooney caught Siourella, who de- clared the package had been given to him by a man at the Pennsylvania railroad sta- tion. John Macalla, of Beswell, Pa, was arrested and identified by Siourella as the man who gaye him the package, —John M. Egan, former warden of ihe | western penitentiary at Pittsburgh, is under consideration for appointment as superintendent of Federal prisons to suc- ceed Herbert Votaw, who has resigned, effective March 1. Mr. Votaw, a brother: in-law to the late President Harding, will have served four years when he retires on account of ill health. Mr. Egan, who has the indorsement of Senator David A. Reed and Representative Guy E. Campbell, was in Washington early in the week and { had interviews with Attorney General Harlan F. Stone and Mrs. Mabel Wille- brandt, assistant attorney general. When an appointment will be announced is not stated.