r— the Governor to do but swng the ax. - much less the kind the Klan was ready Bemorrali: acim INK SLINGS. —With his administration growing to a close there really isn’t much for —The two big baskets of roses that adorned the bench when Judge Kel- ler took the oath of office on Monday suggested the thought that some poli- ticians were trying to “say it with flowers.” —If the Rev. Dr. McCurdy, of Phil- adelphia, brings all his Baptists into the Democratic fold then we will have trouble. How will we ever convince the country that we're dry if we get the Baptist tag on us? —It might have been Irving Ber- lin’s songs that won Ellin MacKay and it might have been Ellin who in- spired the songs, but we venture the prediction that it won’t be more than two years until Ellin gives Irving inspiration for a swan song. —When you start to Florida to get rich quick be sure to leave some one behind who will keep the home fires burning. If you make your stake you can easy wire back to have them doused. If you fail, the’ll look mighty good when you stagger over the last hill top on the long trek home. —Of course an oath is an oath and he’s in office, just the same, but why did our new Judge and Jury Commis- sioners have to swear so much harder than the District Attorney before they could qualify? We have heard no campaign aftermath that might arouse suspicion as to the methods they employed in getting themselves elected. —Almost, when we walked into the court room, last Monday noon, to see the new Judge inaugurated, were we persuaded that Pinchot had been ad- vertised as the speaker of the occa- sion. Not since he was here last time has there been such a gathering in the stately old hall of justice All of which is exceedingly compliment- ary to His Honor, Judge Keller. —We presume the Philadelphia Baptist minister who, on Sunday, ad- vised his congregation to join the Democratic party, will be excommuni- cated. Preachers, as a rule, think the Democratic party is something only to be prayed for, so when one bobs up who advocates going so far as to vote for it there is an immediate need of the gathering of the Synods, Confer- ences, Classis, Conventions, Etc., to stage a joint heresy trial. —The New Haven, Connecticut, chapter of the K. K. K. has given up its charter because of the “corruption and demoralization of the Klan.” Arthur Mann, secretary of the Chap- ter declares the Klan+to be American and anti-American.” Mr. Mann has evidently been reading papers that tell the truth. The whole Klan idea has been to make a lot of temperamental and guileless people furnish fat jobs for these smart enough to exploit them. We discover- ed that when a Pittsburgh plate maker would have succeeded in getting the Klan to pay him a salary of twenty thousand dollars a year for twenty years had it not been that the State Banking Department discovered that he was a faker and knew nothing about editing any kind of a paper, to believe he could produce. —We can see where our new bor- ough potentate is going to be as busy as a hen with one chicken if he really carries out the ambitious and very commendable program he has pre- pared. Old tires, Christmas trees, tin cans and what not are to be faded out of the picture so far as the limpid waters of Spring creek are concerned. Kids under sixteen are to be anathema on our streets dfter nine o’clock at night count on a bachelor or spinster to tell us daddies how to raise em Gouty, rheumatic and otherwise low geared pedestrians are to be protected from juggernautic Gasoline Guses and Bellefonte is going to be kept right up on her toes, ready to race with any municipality when it comes to a question of Civic pride. We're for the new burgess. He'll probably run into a helluva lot of trouble, but well say this for him: If its our toes he tramps on it will be only because he has the gimp to say what he thinks and the courage to do what he feels is right. —Our Republican friends from over the county had a pow-vow here, Mon- day afternoon, principally to settle the question the Watchman raised for them several weeks ago when it in- quired as to how the Hon. Harry Scott is going to capture the senatorial nom- ination and M. Ward Fleming Esq., the congressional nomination, both for the same county. We are not inform- ed as to the outcome of the confer- ence, but in fulfillment of our promise to solve the problem for them we would suggest that Mr. Scott run for Congress and that Mr. Fleming re- strict his present ambitions to be- coming a great lawyer. There is more of profit, more of honor and more of eventual opportunity for a great law- yer than there is for a dozen county politicians. And Mr. Scott could be elected to Congress from this District a great deal more handily than he can to the Senate in the coming cam- paign. Senator Betts has made a splendid representative, has lost none of his popularity of four years ago and has the District precedent of giv- ing two terms to a worthy representa- STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION, VOL. 71. BELLEFONTE, PA.. JANUARY 8S. 1926. Important Work for Democrats. Viewed from this distance from the date of the primary election it is neither important nor desirable to urge this eligible or that to become a candidate for the Democratic nomina- tion for Governor. There are a con- siderable number of Democrats in Pennsylvania who would adorn the office and probably several who would be willing to accept the nimination and make a fight for the election. But this is not a time for suggesting factional favorites. The political con- ditions in the State are peculiarly auspicious. The Republican organiza- tion is demoralized and its leaders confused. It is not wise to distract their attention from the business of killing each other. Let them go on with the good work. : There is plenty of work for the earnest and active Democratic men and women of the State to do, and this is the time to do it. The records show that little more than fifty per cent of the Democratic voters of the State take the trouble to go to the polls. The excuse of most of the delinquents is that it is no use to vote for the reason that the fraudu- lent votes cast for the Republican candidates in Philadelphia and Pitts- burgh overcome the honest votes of the country districts. But if the extra session of the Legislature produces the legislation which is expected of it the evil of currupt voting will be absent next fall, and there is better than a fighting chance for the elec- tion of Democrats. Beginning now every active Demo- crat should direct his efforts toward organization of the party for the next election. Canvass every neighbor- hood, appeal to every voter to join in the work and secure a full vote. It will cost a little time and may require a small expenditure of money but a Democratic victory in Pennsylvania will be worth all it costs and more. It will not only guarantee honest and efficient administration at once but will compel the Republicans to nomi- nate a better class of candidates in the future. This will be a splendid achievement as well as a vast saving ‘“an-{ of money: to the taxpayers. Besides it will inspire confidence in govern- ment and contentment among the people. rh — a Ee — After a few more Philadelphia juries acquit palpably guilty ballot thieves it may occur to somebody in authority that a change of venue might help some. Machine Managers Disappointed. As the time fixed for the extra session approaches the anxiety of the machine leaders increases. For some time it was hoped that propaganda might in- fluence in the public mind a feeling of opposition to the enterprise. The ex- pense was held up before the mental view of the people as a needless burden until it was discovered that the demand for contemplated legisla- tion is more potent than the price, though greatly exaggerated. More recently the appeal has been to the selfishness of the Legislators. It is pointed out that absence from home during the period in which the ses- sion will sit will endanger the polit- ical hopes of those Senators and Rep- resentatives who expect re-election. Considerable energy was expended in an effort to prove that Governor Pinchot’s popularity with the people had dwindled since his recent tour of the State. It was plain that his pur- pose of visiting the State institutions was more in the interest of his ambi- tions than the welfare of the public, and that fact was “played up” to the limit by the machine newspapers and politicians. But expectations from that line of opposition have been dis- appointed. The average man and woman reasons that if good comes from a crusade against palpable evil the crusader is entitled to whatever legitimate gains ensue. Measured by any available standard the Governor’s fight against the machine promises betterment. We are still persuaded that too many subjects were included in the call for the extra session, but not- withstanding that blunder effective ballot reform legislation will be en- acted during the session. Orders from “the neck” in Philadelphia and “the strip” in Pittsburgh may hold the delegations from those cities in op- position to improvement. It may be that Luzerne, Lackawanna and Dau- phin county Legislators will join in the sinister oppositon to some extent. But the State is bigger than these cen- ters of political iniquity and the people will demand of their Senators and Representatives in the General As- sembly legislation that will give hope of honest elections in future. A — A ————————— It having been finally decided that Doheny bribed Mr. Fall the machinery of the criminal court ought to be tive in his favor. started somewhere. | Causes of Republican Party Confusion Good Wishes With a String to Them. ' Challenge to Senate’s Dignity. | All sorts of reasons are given by | those concerned for the present de- J movalized conditions of the Republi- can machine. Some of them are plausible, some probable and some | imply absurd. The most plausible is i that the blundering frauds perpetrat- (ed in Philadelphia, under the sanction, | if not at the instance, of Congressman Vare, has so outraged the moral sense of the electorate that decent men and women will leave the party. The theory that Governor Pinchot’s ex- posure of the villainies of his party has alienated many voters is at least probable. The most absurd excuse thus far advanced is that State chair- man W. Harry Baker has been too much a leader and too little a boss. On Sunday last the Rev. Dr. Wil- liam D. McCurdy, of Philadelphia, in a sermon preached from the pulpit of Grace Baptist Temple in that city, de- clared that “all true Christian men and women of the city and State should register as Democrats for the next election and vote as Democrats until the majority party in city and State comes to a proper realization of its duty toward the people.” Dr. McCurdy may have been influenced to his present frame of mind by purely local conditions, also he may have taken into consideration the various charges of the Governor. In any event his words made a deep impression upon the minds of his congregation for signs of concurrence were freely given. The idea that the organization has suffered because chairman Baker ‘fis too much leader and too little a boss” is manifestly absurd for the reason that no intelligent voters will prefer a boss to a leader. It is true that the Republicans of Pennsylvania have be- come so inured to a boss that they don’t understand the duties or prac- tices of a leader. Since the time of the elder Cameron there have been successive bosses in control. Quay followed Cameron and Penrose fol- lowed Quay. At the death of Penrose Mr. Baker assumed control by com- mon consent and substituted leader- ship for bossism, but it is no stretch- say that heHag than either of the others. Possibly Congressman Vare could do better then Pepper in getting favors from the administration, and he is willing to try. Senator Reed’s Sob-Complaint. Most of the sympathy and all of the selfishness of Pennsylvania is aroused by the sob-complaint recently issued by Senator David A. Reed in behalf of himself and his colleague, Senator George Wharton Pepper. “The people of Pennsylvania do not understand the degree to which they have been excluded from a voice in the government of their nation,” the Sen- ator declares. “They furnish a tenth of the man power and of the taxes of this country and their industries pro- duce nearly a fifth of the products. Yet the selfish demands of political expediency have displaced Pennsyl- vania from any representation in the executive groups that determine our welfare.” The cause of this sad explosion was the disappointment of Senator Reed in a matter of patronage. Mr. Irvin Laughlin, of a Pittsburgh Steel manu- facturing family, who is at present Minister Plenipotentiary to Greece, aspired to the more important and lucrative diplomatic post of Ambassa- dor to Spain and was supported in his laudable aspiration by Senators Reed and Pepper. There were abund- ant reasons for expecting a favorable response to the request. The retir- ing Ambassador was a Pittsburgh man and the aspirant’s family had been contributing freely to the cam- paign fund for half a century. But the President turned a deaf ear to the petition and appointed a man from New Jersey. If Senator Reed were a philosopher as well as a corporation lobbyist he would not take his disappointment so hard. There are various reasons why the petition of the Pennsylvania Sena- tors might have failed to influence the mind of the dispenser of diplomatic favors. But it is not necessary to enumerate all of them. Two are suf- ficent. Pennsylvania is so safely an- chored in the Republican fold that it is not necessary to pamper it with patronage, and the party in the State is so deficient in leadership that it is absolutely without influence in the wider councils. The Republicans of Pennsylvania must have a boss who can not only control the organization but command attention from outside. ——There is Grundy, for instance. He has had wonderful success as a collector. ——1It must be admitted that the first quarter of the century wasn’t bad. ! y 3 | We have been deeply moved by the many, many cards and letters express- | ing the good wishes and felicitation of ‘readers in all parts of the country for the continued success of the Watchman. During the holiday sea- son hundreds of them poured into this office. and all freighted with some sin- @apev expression of appreciation of the effort the Watchman has made to be a clean, reliable purveyor of home news. From men and women in the eight- ies, from those young enough to he their grand-children, from Florida to Oregon, from Republicans, Democrats and Prohibitionists we have received messages such as we are sure are not often received in the office of a coun- try newspaper. what we often refer to as the unusual bond that exists between the Watch- man and its readers. Certainly it is a unique relationship in the annals of journalism when so many have come to regard the weekly visit of a home paper as “a personal letter from a friend.” We have referred to letters from Republican readers. This would doubtless be a surprise to many who are so partisan-blind that they shun the Watchman as they would a cop- perhead snake. It might be a revela- tion to them to know that this paper has almost as many Republicans as Democrats on its list and that almost every Republican of any consequence in moulding the thought of his party in Centre county is and has been a ‘ reader of the Watchman. They read it, not only to keep informed as to what our side is doing, but for the accuracy and completeness of its local news and because they occasionally enjoy the diversion of getting so darned mad that they throw the old sheet down, stamp on it and then pick it up and read it clear through. It takes all kinds of people to make the world and ot “There are books in the running brooks And sermons in the stones. There’s something good in everything If one will only see it.” Before us lies a letter from a friend we have never seen. He is in a home for .incurables, with a body broken 0 but 4 Soul that shown more real skill in leadership | sees nothing but sunshine in its phys- |ical prison. Think of the spirit of i such an one who can write “I am very well, feel fine and have had a most wonderful Christmas”——the latter all because a few friends did not fail to let him know they were thinking of him at Christmas time. He writes us: “I take a deep inter- est in your welfare and wish you to come out on top in everything except politics.” And there it is. The good wish with a string to it. The Watchman has hordes of Republican friends whom it will probably never be able to convert, but will keep everlast- ingly after them with the hope that some day the one fly in the ointment of perfect accord will be chased away. —Lock Haven has a city planning commission. It made its first report during the week by suggesting that streets in outlying sections be laid out wide enough “for the city to expand comfortably.” That idea of expanding comfortably is a good one. We know what it means, because we have just had to have a waist-coat let out an i inch in order to meet just such a con- tingency. —Senator David Reed has hay on his horns. He wants to know why Pennsylvania isn’t getting more by way of plums from the federal gov- ernment. It isn’t up to us to answer his’ questions, but we can’t keep our nose out of it. So we advise the Hon. David to look into his miror for the answer. ——While we are settling with foreign debtors on a sixty year install- ment plan why should we make our own tax payers settle on a thirty-year plan? ——That Rumanian princeling wasn’t so wild after all. Monarchies are declining in popularity rapidly and in a short time he might be kicked out. ——Possibly Governor Smith, of New York, may be able to settle the coal strike. The mine owners have neither grudge against nor fear of him. ——Speaking of spoils, if Senator Pepper can’t get anything for the boys why should they favor him at the polls? ——Thus far Henry Ford has not made an offer to buy the capitol at Washington. -——It is suspected that Governor Pinchot is trying to rival Coolidge in reticence. They bring proof of ! From the Pittsburg Post. There have been times when sen- | atorial pride of opinion and dignity | have impressed the country as carri- red to the extreme, but it looks as if | there has been a real challenge to the {integrity and dignity of the body in i the persistency with which the De- partment of Justice has kept up what ; the whole country has for long view- "ed as a discredited attack upon Sen- "ator Wheeler of Montana. Of course tif the Department feels that it has | evidence that Wheeler has used his i senatorial influence in the private | practice of law it is its right and its | duty to press its charges. But the i point is that jury and court and sen- atorial investigators who have heard the testimony and arguments of the Department have never been able to see anything in them against the de- dendant, this, of course, giving color to the contention of Wheeler from the outset that the whole case orginally was a “frame-up” designed to dis- credit him while he was leading in the Senatorial investigation of the ad- ministration of Harry M. Daugherty as Atltorney General. In connection with the questions raised as to wheth- er the Department of Justice will con- tinue its efforts to prosecute Wheeler after his vindication by a jury in Mon- tana, the quashing of an indictment against him by Supreme Court of the District of Columbia and the exonera- tion of him by a Senate investigating committee and the Senate itself, a movement is reported under way in the Senate to try to get light from the Department of Justice on why the case was originated, who participat- ed in it, how much money was ex- pended and who furnished it. When it is said that the Depart- ment of Justice must not be intimi- dated, it simply brings the retort that neither must the Senate. If the De- partment was misused in an effort to get back at Wheeler on mere personal lines on account of his investigation of Attorney General Daugherty, it would have constituted a most ser- ious perversion of public authority. It would be well to bring out all the facts in the case. Here is a situation in which the Senate would find public support in its fighting not: alone for its dignity, but also to prevent mis- use of public authority, “Could Arbitration-Dé Worst" * | Irom the Philadelphia Record. i Througout all the negotiations, both before the strike began and since the renewal of conferences, the leaders of the anthracite miners have stubbornly refused to accept any plan based upon settlement by arbitration. Their opposition they base on three main contentions. First, they say that acceptance of arbitration would mean that negotiation would always be excluded—in other words, that the right of collective bargaining would in effect be surrendered. Second, they deny that any small group should have power to determine for the miner his economic and social position—*“the character of the house in which he shall live, the kind of food he shall eat, the degree of education he shall receive, and his standard and status as a citizen.” Third, they doubt the competence and impartiality of out- side investigators. These objections, though not with- out abstract force, do not have as much weight as is attributed to them by the union leaders. But even if they were unanswerable in logic they Would be of doubtful validity in prac- ce. During the four months of the strike the miners have lost upwards of $120,000,000 in wages. Could any conceivable decision by a board of in. quiry lay upon them a burden so heavy, condemn them to hardships so severe as those they have endured ? Arbitration would have to be a prin- ciple far more defective than the un- ion leaders assert before it could cost the workers as heavily as does their reliance on the method of force through the strike. Western View of Women’s Rights. From the Los Angeles Times. Under the recent action of the Leg- islature there must be separate bar- ber shops for men and women in Con- necticut. At least it is forbidden that a barber should serve lady customers in the same room as his male patrons. Possibly it is thought that the Police Gazette is still kept on file for the shavers, but this no longer embar- rasses the dames. The women were supposed to have won their full equal- ity with men before the law. They can vote, sit on a jury and smoke cigarettes, but if they may not sit in the same barber shop with the men of what use are the privileges they have? If a maiden wants her bean bobbed she must find some place where men are not having their whisk- ers singed. She must hunt up a joint of her own kind. This is a distinct slump toward the archaic. A Scranton Hope. From the Scranton Times. Let us hope that some arrangement will be made in a very short time to end the calamitous conditions that prevail in the coal regions. The com- mittee of mayors and burgesses are doing their best. Let us hope that they may succeed. m————— en —r—— —The best county paper published tlié ground for a SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Burns suffered December 29th when her clothes ignited while she was dressing before an open grate in her home at Crafton resulted in the death of Miss Josephine Farrar, 50 years old, on Monday night. —More than a score of workmen narrows ly escaped being trapped by 400 tons of molten glass when- the bottom fell from a tank in the Breckenridge plant of the Atlantic Bottle company at Pittsburg late Friday night. The damage was es- timated at $100,000. —Ernest Welker and Irvin Maines, both of Bradford township, Clearfield county, were killed last Thursday morning when a truck loaded with hay on which they were riding was struck by a train on the Pennsylvania railroad just east of Clear- field. Both men fell in front of the loco- motive. —Instead of the ringing of wedding bells a funeral was held for R. O. Shultz, 25, Sunbury, who died from heart failure last Thursday while seated in his auto. He was to have been wedded on New Year's day to Miss Emma Snyder, Sun- bury, and they had much of their furni- ture bought. —The Pennsylvania Railroad has pur- chased the idle plant of the National Steel Construction company, near Bellwood, it was announced last week. The property consists of fifty-five acres of ground, a machine shop, storehouse and other struct- ures. What use will be made of the prop- erty was not stated. — A verdict of accidental death was rendered last Thursday by a jury sitting in an inquest conducted by Coroner James M. Harkins into the death of Mrs. Emily Stockley, 37 years old, of Ligonier, who was found dead in a bath tub in the Roll- ing Rock Country club apartment which she and her husband occupied, the might of December 29. Mrs. Stockley was ac- cidentally electrocuted by a small electric heater. —Rev. George W. Lutz, pastor of the Reformed churches at Pennsburg, Sas- samansville and Niantic last Thursday re- ceived his appointment as rural carrier of the Pennsburg postoffice. Mr. Lutz re. signed as a member of the faculty of the Pennsburg High school on New Year's day. It is possible he will resign from his pastoral duties. He has been in failing health and sought the mail job, believing outdoor life would benefit him. —M. D. Greiner, well-known resident of Shamekin Dam, escaped with painful bruises and shock in an 18-foot plunge from the roof of a rear porch at his home on Saturday night. The unique accident occurred when Greiner walked in his sleep during a frightful dream. He dreamed he was being pursued by an enemy and, suit. ing the physical action to his mental state, he leaped from his bed and made his exit through a rear window on the porch roof and then stepped into space, crashing to the ground. —In an attempt to rob the Toby Mining company Store at the village of Five Points, Elk county, the other night, one man aws shot in the leg when the watch- man fired in the direction of the three men who were fleeing from the scene after being discovered. The men left three sacks well filled with articles which they had intended to steal. Blood was found on considerable distance after the burglar was hit, Then the trail was lost. Deputy Sheriff Joseph May is investigating. —Held in contempt of court for failure to promptly take Fred Fenzie, of Punxsu- tawney, steward at the Elks’ clubhouse there, to the Allegheny county jail to serve a year for violation of the Volstead act, Sheriff C. F. Evans, of Jefferson county, was fined $50 and costs by Judge Charles Corbet. The court said Evans was order- ed to take Fenzie to jail to begin serving his sentence on December 10, 1925, but did not do so until December 30 following is- suance of the contempt rule, Sheriff Evans pleaded a rush of work. —Highly successful rice cultivation in the land of wheat and corn has been ac- complished by Bert Edwards, who man. ages a farm in Mifflin county, near Lewis- town. He has just harvested a crop on a 135 acre patch with the bumper yield of 65 bushels to the acre. This is the first time that rice has ever been grown com- mercially this far north, Lewistown be. ing in the northern half of the State. Cul. tivation of rice as an experiment was starte ed two years ago. The result has been so successful that it is planned to grad- ually extend rice growing until there are 1,500 acres in cultivation. —A rigid investigation of the books of the Washington county controller's office will be made soon. District Attorney Hughes has announced. This is the after- math of the arrest of R. Clyde Segner, clerk in the controller’s office, in New York city, November 27, last, on charge of em- bezzlement, forgery and fraudulent con- version of funds, amounting to more than $25,000. Scott Boschert & Company, expert accountants of Pittsburgh, state that the books are in such a condition that com- plete examination will be necessary be- fore the exact amount Segner is alleged ‘to have embezzled can be determined. —Authorities are investigating the death of Levi Gable, 69, whose body was found Saturday night in an alley adjoining the Brooklyn hotel, in York, Pa. There was a deep gash on the forehead. A postmor- tem examination revealed that his skull was also fractured. It is not known whether the man fell from a small balcony at the rear of his room, or was waylaid and killed in the alley. He used the alley to reach a stairway leading to his room. His divorced wife, Mrs. Lillie Gable, visited the man in his room earlier in the evening, and they both left about 8 o'clock, No one saw him return to the place. By his death. a daughter, Mrs. Mabel Belle Grove, comes into a trust fund of about $40,000. —A baby was killed and four other per. sons were injured last Friday when a sec- tion of a fly wheel, which had ripped apart in a North Side Carnegie Steel company mill at Pittsburg, crashed through the walls of four nearby residences. The wheel, weighing 2500 pounds, was shat- tered by a broken belt. A large section shot through the roof of the mill, travel- ed 1200 feet and smashed into the houses. Daniel Jones, Jr, 4, asleep in his crib, was killed. Four other occupants of the houses were bruised and cut. The wheel, fourteen feet in diameter, was shattered when the engine to which it was attach- ed picked up speed because of the brok- en belt. The section which caused the damage passed through two houses, knock- ed another from its foundation and finally buried itself in a fourth. The damage is the “Democratic Watchman. was estimated at $11,000.