Beri
INK SLINGS.
* —Anyway the frequency of fire
alarms in Bellefonte is training the
fire-boys to get to the scene and back
at the best their motor apparatus will
do without killing themselves or oth-
ers who are on the streets.
—The race for judicial honors is on.
Mr. Walker, Mr. Spangler and Mr.
Johnston have formally announced
and the others are likely to follow suit
very soon. The voters are going to
get an earfull between now and Sep-
tember.
—It took Wilhelm ninety minutes
to express his joy at the result of the
election in Germany. About eigthy-
nine of them were doubtless devoted
to assuring his friends that hereafter
it will be “me und Hindenburg” in-
stead of “me und Got” as he once de-
clared it to be.
—Von Hindenburg, having been
elected President of Germany, will
doubtless set himself to the work of
making one of the Hohenzollerns his
permanent successor. Monarchy is
not quite in the German saddle yet
but Sunday’s election put one of its
feet in the stirrups.
—To those of our friends who
shared our own suspicion that we had
lost our piscatorial cunning with the
desertion of our “private bootlegger”
let us unbombastically announce that
we caught the limit last Friday. As
for us, the trout season of 1925 is al-
ready regarded as entirely satisfac-
tory. :
—Notwithstanding the conclusive
proof obtained by late experiments of
metropolitan papers that the masses
want details of the ugly things laid
bare in their news purveyors the
“Watchman” will continue its attempt
to be clean. If you want the yellow
stuff don’t look for it in these col-
umns.
—And now it has come to light that
William Jennings Bryan is a million-
aire. It would appear that the job of
being walking delegate for the Demo-
cratic party has been profitable to the
great Commoner. It was ever thus.
Always the fellow who sets out: to
fight the battles of the poor succeeds
in making himself rich.
—The story of “So Big,” that the
“Watchman” is now running serially,
has ‘just been awarded the Pulitzer
prize of a thousand dollars as being
the best one written within a year in
America. We mention this because it
is another clincher to our oft repeated
assertion that only. worth while read-
ing is found in the columns of this
are without even a titular head and
the Pinchots are going to have some
well murited trouble in finding a man
fit to be Superintendent of Public In-
struction for Pennsylvania who needs
the money bad: enough to accept the |
have |:
position with the strings they
tied to it. = :
—Senator Moses, of New Hamp-
shire, is the first member of the up-
per house of Congress to resent the:
upstart animadversions of “hell ’n
Maria” Dawes on the rules of the Sen-
ate. Being the first time Moses ever
said or did anything that met with
our approval we hasten to admit it.
We're for the Moses view. We ex-
pressed it on this page last week when
we stated that the records won’t re-
veal that unlimited debate in the Sen-
ate ever killed a meritorious measure.
—The Governor has approved the
Buckman bill which effects many
changes in the motor laws of
Pennsylvania. We shall publish a di-
gest of it next week. So far as we
have been able to interpret it the
measure is a very good one in every
respect but one and in that it is rot-
ten. We refer to the addition of six
inches that is made permissible in the
maximum width of ‘a’ motor vehicle.
Get behind an eight foot wide van or
truck on almost any road in the Com-
monwealth and youre going to stay
there.until a cross-road comes to your
rescue, for it will monopolize the en-
tire road while its driver is excusing
his hoggishness under the pretext that |
his machine “makes so much noise
that I couldn’t hear your horn.” In-
stead of making the maximum per-
missible width ninety-six inches they
ought to have reduced it to eighty-
four inches.
—This is May day. In our child-
hood days always we had a picnic in
“Alexander’s woods” to celebrate its
advent. We carried our own food,
usually some cakes and a bucket of
lemonade, we put up a rope swing,
crowned one of the girls “Queen of
the May,” then sneaked down into
Reasner’s meadow for a swim in Buf-
falo run and when that was over we
climbed back up the hill, gathered up
the baskets and toted them home, a
tired and happy lot. What would the
youth of today do if you suggested
such an outing for them? The boys
wouldn’t go unless they were hauled
in a closed car. The girls wouldn’t
think of anything necessary to take
but vanity boxes and when they all ar-
rived they would lgok around helpless-
ly and ask: What's the big idea?
‘There’s nothing doing here, let’s go
back to town where we can spend
some money and get a kick out of
something. It is well that May Day
has lately been Qesignaled as a prop-
er one to devete to child life, for child |
life needs some attention or we'll have
none of it in another decade. All the
kids will be born with teeth and thor-'
oughly dry behind the ears.
thinking.
‘has express
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
“VOL. 70.
~ Packing Official Bodies.
Packing a jury is a serious offence
against the law usually punished by a
jail sentence. But packing official
bodies by executive order seems to be
growing in favor. In Washington the
Tariff Commission has been made a
subject of that operation and in Har-
risburg it is being tried out on the
Public Service Commission. In Wash-
ington about a year ago the Tariff
Commission after a searching inves-
tigation recommended a decrease of a
cent a pound on the tariff tax on
sugar. The President returned the
recommendation with an implied sug-
gestion that it be revised. The sug-
gestion failing to “take” plans have
been made to change the personnel of
the Commission. In other words it
will be packed.
The Public Service Commission of
Pennsylvania, a quasi-judicial body,
recently made a decision that was
contrary to the wishes of the Gov-
ernor. By coincidence or otherwise
the terms of several members of the
Commission expired the other day,
just a short time before the date set
for a rehearing of the case in ques-
tion. The Governor summoned the
members and according to rumor
questioned them upon their present
attitude on the subject. At least two
of them ‘declined to reverse them-
selves and he refused ' to reappoint
them. He proposes to pack the Com-
mission so as to get a decision in ac-
cordance with his personal views.
With two new members he believes a
majority will come to his way of
This is a new development in Wash-
ington. No President in the past has
ever attempted to coerce judicial or
administrative bodies. But it is not
entirely new in Harrisburg. Two
years .ago - Dr. Finegan, head of the
Department of Education, declined to
adopt some absurd proposition of Mrs.
Pinchot and he was refused a reap-
pointment though the educational in-
terests of the State were practically
unanimously in favor of his reap-
pointment. Since that the Governor
TEV-0L Ene. 10
copious tears over the misfortunes of
the children of the Commonwealth.
But it was a bogus sympathy. The
Governor cares more for himself than
the schools. .
——Probably - Governor . Pinchot
threatened to veto the Sesquicenten-
nial appropriation with the idea of
scaring Vare out of the Senatorial
race. i eH
eases teenie.
Prostituting Public Service.
The verdict of the Federal court in
Montana, acquitting Senator Burton
K. Wheeler of charges trumped up
against him by the Republican admin-
istration and the Republican National
committee is not to be a final dispo-
sition of that case. It is announced
on semi-official authority that Mr.
Wheeler will be tried again in Wash-
ington where it is hoped that official
influence will be more potential. Sen-
ator Wheeler has gravely offended the
administration. = He persisted in ex-
posing the rottenness of the public
service under Harding and Coolidge
after having been warned against such
action. He must be taught and others
admonished through him that corrup-
‘tion must be protected. : ‘
The proseéution of Senator Wheele
was ‘devised by Harry M. Daugherty
and conducted by the Republican ‘Na-
tional ' Committee. - Secret service
agents of the government were sent
to Montana: to “get. something” on
Wheeler and after weeks of effort in-
volving perjury, subornation of per-
jury and various other crimes, pre-
sumably with the sanction of the
President und certainly with the help
of the government officials, he was
indicted on a charge of having acted
as attorney in one of the Departments
of the government. An investiga-
tion by a Senate Committee with a
Republican Chairman promptly exon-
erated him from blame and when it
seemed likely that he would be acquit-
ted in Montana he was indicted in
Washington,
This is easily the most disgraceful
episode in the judicial history of the
country. The government is main-
tained to protect the people from in-
justice and wrong. But in this case
the full power of the government was
employed in an effort to punish a dis-
tinguished and courageous citizen not
of a crime hut for exposing a crime
and forcing the criminal to justice.
If the agencies of the government are
thus to be prostituted to the uses of
criminals and the protection of crime
there is small hope for the future of
the country. {It is only a step from
this form of lawlessness to the more
dangerous agencies of revolution and |
ultimate anarghy.
—Half a loaf is better than no
bread and as the Sesquicentennial got
‘three-quartersiof its appropriation it '
ought to be ¢arrespondingly happy.
about the
lead
BELLEFONTE, PA.. MAY 1. 1925.
May Day--Child Day.
On this, the first day of May, dedicated to the study of child life,
we have found nothing more impressive for your reading than the fol-
lowing article by William Frederick Bigelow, editor of Good House-
keeping. For years, it seems, the great concern of the nation has been
the conservation of fish, forests, waters, natural resources and what
not. Little attention has been given to our greatest resource, the one
upon which the country of tomorrow will have to stand, and if it is to
stand as our forefathers built it the time is here when the child-life of
today must have more of our serious thought if the man of tomorrow
is to be the sturdy, sterling American we would have him.
A message has gone forth asking that on May Day the nation turn
aside for a little while from its every-day affairs to that first of all
concerns—its children. May Day marks the joyous celebration of a
new season. Fitly it has been chosen as a day to celebrate a new hope,
which shall carry on from season to season, from year to year, in a
steady chain of progress—the hope of insuring to all the children of
this country their birthday of health.
The shock and devastation of war welded the people of the United
States in a spontaneous, sympatheti¢ unity of effort for the protection
of the children of Europe, and the effects of that constructive, organ-
ized sympathy have been written into history, an unforgettable chap-
ter of the war. They reached in a great forward urge toward the pro-
tection of our own children. A torch was lighted within us which has
not died down—which, please God, never shall die down. That out-
pouring of effort during four years of war was an involuntary mobil-
ization: on May Day we ask for a voluntary mobilization—of all our
forces, for our own children. Not that they may be saved from hunger,
for few of them are hungry, but that they may be relieved from unnec-
cessary disease, and so safeguarded that they will start life at the
high level of normal health. : ;
From 1914 to 1924 great progress was made in reducing the phys-
ical handicaps and the disease hazards of children, in establishing,
through a large number of channels—the schools, health centers, play-
grounds—the hope and promise of. positive health. Science has .
made brilliant discoveries which, if applied, will sweep back
the enemies of life. The proof of the progress that is possible is
- evidenced in the saving of the lives of approximately twenty-three
more babies under one year: out of every thousand born in 1924 over
those saved in 1914.: In twenty years our infant mortality has been
reduced by half.
Thus a flame of hope has been flashed across the horizon of the
oncoming generation. But what has been accomplished has been
in irregular areas, the results have been unequally distributed, and
science has been unable to make its discoveries generally available.
We have, in short, had an aristocracy of health for children. In
other words, a few children have been given opportunity that all
_ should have. The facts of this inequality should be measured,
we nter upon a démocracy of health in: which each. child; no mat-
ter where born or how, may have a sound start in life and adequate
protection through the years of growth. In every great endeavor
there is a psychological moment for the erystalization of scattered
efforts on a national scale. May Day is the tocsin call for that na-
tional crystalization in the movement for child health. The day will
be one for stock-taking by communities in which they will reckon
the assets of protection for their children, and, examining into what
other communities have done for the children, will be spurred to de-
that best possible. -* - Lar ora bi
The impetus back of this movement has been growing and sweil-
mand the best for their own and set in motion the machinery to make
ing over a long period. The moment has come to give it concentrated -
national expression and direction. The American Child Health Asso-
ciation, headed by Mr, Herbert Hoover, has sent forth the call for
the celebration of the first day of May as ‘Child Health Day. That
Association serves in the celebration merely as a central station for
It sits at a
all the forces concerned with the interests of children. )
national switchboard and answers whatever calls come in, furnishes
plans, suggestions, literature, links up forces that desire linking; but
the call has been thrown out upon the air, and it may be adopted by
any one that hears it—by communities, organizations, schools, indi-
viduals, and translated into their own terms if they choose. The one
great need is that attention shall focus upon the rights of children to . .
health, and upon ways and means of securing those rights. May Day
is everybody’s day—a rallying day for the children of the nation,
rich and poor, big and little. SoU aE pe
A widespread mobilization is under way to make this day the most
significant one in history for all the children of the nation, Through
cooperation between the executive head of the American Child Health
Association and the public health organizations in each State, a chair-
man for the May Day celebration has been appointed for each State,
and this chairman will cooperate with designated representatives of: ::
the’ General: Federation of ‘Wonien’s Clubs and other organizations, =
so that as nearly as may be, all forces are linked up to develop May
Day plans which will be as effective as possible in the local communi- =
ties and will serve to stimulate health activities throughout the year,
for May Day will mean nothing if its message is not carried on and
carried out through all the year. ; IY wan
No one in this country who has at heart the good of children can
well be spared from sharing in this celebration. Each effort, no matter
how small, linked to other efforts, will help to make the chain stronger.
We have many national days, but usually they have been days of
backward looking, of memorializing what has been. May Day is a day
of looking forward, of memorializing what is to be. It is a defense
day to which no one in the land can object, the defense of the rights of
children, upon whom, sound of body and clear of vison, rests the fu-
ture. The tie between the child and all adult life is at once the
strongest and the gentlest element in human nature. Greater sacrifices
are made for children than for ourselves; greater happiness is derived
from these sacrifices than from all the triumphs that personal success
can bring. Our daily labors, whether in the home, or in the outside
world of competition for material things, or even in the search for cul-
ture and for spiritual advancement, derive largely from the conscious
or unconscious impulse to cherish the child and to hold the child’s
affection and respect. Let: us make May Day a day that shall be
memorable in accomplishments which will leave their stamp upon the
future, helping to push the race onward and upward.
——A plum tree has been discov-
ered in the’ East Indies the fruit of
which cures ‘leprosy. That must be
where the late Senator Quay got his
idea from. h
- ——1It doesn’t matter much where
the headquarters - of the Democratic
State committee are located if they |
are constantly and efficiently 'man- |
rai read. the, Watchman.” .. 1... be.
aged. .
~The Johnstown Tribune cordial-
ly endorses President Coolidge’s idea
that “a thorough system of self-gov-
‘ernment” is the real remedy for the |
restraints of government and the ed-
itor of the Johnstown Tribune is try-
‘ing to steal a seat in Congress to pro-
mote the proposition.
‘For: goed, reliable news always
NO. 18.
WHAT THEN?
When the workmen own thé workshops ;
And the railroad men the rails,
And the grocery clerk the groceries
And the mail clerks own the mails.
When the preachers own the pulpits,
And the pressmen own the shops,
And the drillers own the oil wells,
And the jails are owned by cops—
When the conductors own the street cars,
And each driver owns his bus;
Will you tell us common people
Whatinell’ll become of us?
(Contributor in the Ft. Wayne News-
Sentinel.)
| Senator Wheeler’s Acquittal.
From the Philadelphia Record.
i The triumphant acquittal of Sena-
tor Wheeler, of Montana, of the silly
charges brought against him brings
i to a fitting close temporarily at least,
i for an indictment still stands against
him in the District of Columbia—one
{ of the most contemptible and vindic-
| Live political persecutions ever known
in this country. The facts are too well
known to require any extensive re-
hearsing. It was just about a year
ago that the Senator was carrying on
his relentless investigation of the De-
partment of Justice, which has acecom-
plished so much good. On March 28
President Coolidge asked Harry M.
Daugherty to resign from the office
which he had disgraced as Attorney
General, and on April 2 Harlan F.
Stone ‘was named as his sliccessor.
Just as the American people were
congratulating themselves on ‘what |
seemed a good job in cleaning up a
dirty mess the surprising hews eame
from Montana on April 8 that Sena-
tor Wheeler, the leading figure in the
probe of the Department of Justice,
had been indicted there by a Federal
Grand Jury on serious charges affect-
ing his official eguiey, RCE OE
It was quickly developed that this
proceeding had been largely insti-
Sate by Datghisty MuAg tung)
tf employees of the Reput “Na-
tional committee 3 its of. the
Department of Just effort to
discredit the Senator and the investi-
gation which he was conducting with
such energy. In this the’ venomous
move was an absolute failure, A eom-
mittee of the Senate, headed a-
tor Borah, ai a careful ¢ va
tion of ~the-e
completely exonerated
Senator, and his findings have been
generally accepted by. fair-minded
persons. :
It will be recalled that a few
months ago Attorney General Stone
(now Justice Stone, of the Supreme
Court), apparently under the influ-
ence of the Daugherty element still
strong in the Department of Justice,
succeeded in having Senator Wheeler
reindicted in the District of Colum-
bia, seemingly on the same sort of
evidence that has been presented in
the Montana court. If one may judge
by the action taken at Great Falls,
the Senator, if ever tried on these ac-
cusations, will again be fully vindi-
cated. vide Ce ok :
Thus ends the first chapter of an
extraordinary conspiracy to thwart
justice, strike down investigation
and villify a man prominent in public
life. So far the collapse is complete.
The result will be welcomed by every
honest man and woman, regardless of
their personal opinion of Senator
Wheeler. That stormy petrel of pol-
itics certainly has his faults, but dis-
like of ‘him’ will not obscure the fact
that an effort has been ‘made to crush
him because he -was a Democrat in-
vestigating the Republican politicians.
The whole proceeding has been -out-
rageous and disgraceful. Thé speedy
5 clears the air of a good deal
of hypocrisy and crooked partisanship.
%
The Silver Tongue Now Turned ‘to
* bod GF Gold. 3 X 5
From the Kansas City Star. :
A friend of W. J. Bryan's returning
to Lincoln, Neb., from, Florida, brings
word that the Commoner has become
a millionaire. We ought to rejoice
over the news and congratulate Mr,
Bryan. But somehow we can’t. ‘We
had got to depending on the tribune
of the people to stand by the alpaca
coat and the black string tie; to em-
body: the simple virtues and tastes of
mankind. But will he if he has a mil-
lion? Or will Mrs. Bryan let him?
Somebody of distinction ought to
eschew riches just to keep the rest of
us in countenance and respectable.
Federal judges and college professors
have a useful function of that sort,
though we understand they occasion-
ally protest. But we never know when
their salaries may be increased and
they may be set on the road to for-
tune away from the common run of
mankind. ;
So we had pinned our faith on Mr.
Bryan to show the world ‘tis only no-
ble to be good, and kind hearts are
more than coronets or being short on
wheat in a bear market, and simple
faith than Norman blood or the own-
ership of Florida real estate.~ And
now he has failed us: Bryan a mil-
lionaire. Well, we might have expect-
ed it. Lincoln’s sen got to be head of
the Pullman company. .
——Mrs. Vare, the only woman Sen-
ator, says she had 3 delightful time in
‘Harrisburg. Holding office appears to:
‘be congenial to the family. pL
fF —Evidently this is not to be the
year for scientists to: throw the “old:
SeareAlignt the Barth cooling off
| SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Governor Pinchot has signed the
Burke bill making it unlawful in Pennsyl-
vania to manufacture gambling devices,
including punch boards, drawing cards,
and slot machines. Violation of the act is
punishable by $1,000 fine and imprison-
ment for one year.
—Receiving 45,000 volts of electricity on
Saturday, James Kahler, 20 years of age,
of Tyrone, lives to tell his experience. He
was working on a pole making repairs to a
transformer when he came in contact with
a live wire. His safety belt prevented him
from suffering burns of the right shoulder
and left leg. He is a patient in the Altoo-
na hospital. i
—The Rev. C. W, Karns, of Altoona, on
Friday decided to visit two men who had
rented his garage. The tenants were not
in, but the minister found many kegs of
whiskey in his garage. He reported the
case to the police and James O'Donnell
and Antonia Talamente, tenants, were ar-
rested and held for court, charged with
selling liquor.
—George Hice, 32 years of age, of Du-
Bois, accepted a ride into Harrisburg, on
Monday, with alacrity, because he was car-
rying heavy bundles. Arriving there he
was surprised to be turned over to the po-
lice. The motorist who gave him the lift
had seen him leave a vacant house with the
bundles and Hice was arrested for burgla-
ry on his testimony.
—John A. Beabler, 10 year old son of
Mrs. Minnie Beabler, and William Lauver,
aged 7 years, son of John Lauver, are both
dead from eating wild parsnips in mistake
for artichoke, at their home at Port Anna,
a remote Snyder county hamlet, on Mon-
day. Their bodies became badly swoolen,
and it was hours before a docter could gét
there. Three others are seriously ill. .
—When John Jordan, son of Daniel Jor-
dan, of Musser’s Valley, Northumberland
eounty, said to be demented, became en-
raged on Tuesday, he grabbed his father
and threw him on a chopping block in the
yard. While the man lay there dazed,
John secured an ax and raised it, he said,
to “chop pop’s head off.” Ammon Walter,
a neighbor, grabbed the ax and averted a
tragedy. dnt x:
—A room in the home of Dr. J. B. Law-
rence, a Harrisburg radio fan, was com-
pletely wrecked: on Monday night as the
result of too much static during a concert
he was giving to a- number of friends. Dr.
Lawrence said his radio set was not as
good as usual and he had put a power am-
plifier on the loud speaker, bringing in the
music in clear, loud tones when there was
a peal of static from the instrument. The
walls cracked and the ceiling fell in, he
said. No one was injured, but the damage
was more than $1,000.
—Entering the saloon of Thomas Cox,
at Shamokin, on Monday, two bandits or-
dered a drink and, waiting until the pro-
prietor turned to the cash register to make
change for a $10 bill that was offered him,
one of the men reached across the bar and
struck him twice with a blackjack. In-
stead ;of taking the count as the robbers
expected, Cox rushed to the end of the bar
for a revolver, and the bandits fled, with-
out the ceremony of asking for their
change. They succeeded in making their
escape in an automobile. 3
. —Five construction workmen were killed
in an explosion” at -the Humphrey mine of:
the Westmoreland Coal. company, near
West Newton, on Saturday night. Ona
man on the tipple when it was wrecked by
the force of the blast, was blown to bits
and the bodies of the four others were
found early on Sunday along the slope
about 600 feet inside the mine. The vie-
timis were Asher C. Dean, 40, Elkins, W.
Va.; Thomas Oskovettz, 45; James Poalo-
vish, Mike Sacrevitz and Pearl Rupert, 21,
the last named living at Punxsutawney.
The other three victims lived at the con-
struction camp.
—Heads of families in William H. Lu-
den’s big confectionery factory at Read-
ing, who will keep children over 14 years
of age in school instead of putting them to
work next term, will receive a bonus of
$250 for each child from Mr. Luden, it was
announced at the Luden offices last Thurs-
day. Many employees will get bonuses on
two or three children of 14 or over. It
was explained that Mr. Luden believes
most children stop school and go to work
because their parents need their earnings
and canpot afford to keep them at their
books. The bonus will represent an in-
come of $5 weekly for each child per year.
- —The Supreme court. on Thursday. hand-
ed down a decision ordering three men,
now serving sentences in the western pen-
itentiary, in Pittsburgh, for violations of
the prohibition law, to be taken from the
penitentiary and resentenced to the Mifflin
county jail. The prisoners are’ ‘Harold
Harber, Jesse Henry and Sherman Berry-
man. They were tried in the quarter ses-
sions court of Mifflin county and each or-
dered to pay a fine and serve from one year
to two years in the penitentiary. Attor-
neys appealed the sentence on the ground
that. violations of the liquer.laws are mis-
demeanors, not - felonies, and persons
pleading guilty to bootlegging charges
cannot be sentenced to a penitentiary.
- —Ralph Grubb, 16, son of Mr. and Mrs.
W. N. Grubb, of Newton, Perry county,
was found dead Saturday afternoon im
Shermans Valley. He was killed by a bul-
let from his own gun which was acciden-
tally discharged, an examination by Dr.
L. A. Carl, disclosed. The youth in com-
pany with Eugene Shoop, 17, went to the
valley for gun practice. - The boys became
separated and later Grubb’s dog came to
Shoop, who followed the animal which led
him to the body of the youth. It is believ-
ed he was trailing a snake into some bush-
es. When he stooped down to pick up the
snake the gun was discharged and the
bullet penetrated his heart. The gun used
was of the 22 short rifle type. The youth's
parents did not ask for an inquest.
—Confession that he had stolen more
than 200 crates of eggs, sent by parcel post
to Towanda from many towns in that vi-
cinity, and had reshipped them by express,
was made on Saturday to postiffice inspec-
tors by Harry Fenner, of Towanda. Fen-
ner has been mail messenger between the
Towanda postoffice and the Lehigh valley
station for several years. Fenner's con-
fession cleared up the robbery of clothing
and merchandise valued at $3000 from the
United States mail out of Towanda post-
office during the past year. He was held
under $1000 bail by Commissioner W. T.
Carey, at Sayre. At Fenner's home the
inspectors and a special agent of the
American Expréss company found consid-
erable clothing, auta accessories, ‘rope and
fishing tackle. Part of the loot was found
in the furnace, where it showed evidence
of having been ignited. It was packed too
tightly fo burn, hewever. sn