Demorraic; atm EE SH a AMBRE, INK SLINGS. —The mild weather of the fore part of the week might have been the Jan- uary thaw. ——The winter wouldn’t seem half as hard if the price of coal were only half as high. ——The Legislator who sponsors a bill to increase the alcoholic content of beer may be described as a real optimist. —“That Royle Girl” is a very inter- esting study in Americanization. There is no doubt about that, but our reaction to it is that we had better put another rail on the immigration bars until the “melting pot” has done the work it is trying to do. — Beware of the person who advises you that housing facilities in Belle- fonte will gross you fifty dollars a month. Some of them will, but there are nine who want places that will cost from fifteen to thirty to every one who can afford to pay anything more. ——Don’t take chances on “pet days.” Tuesday was one of that kind. We took one and went foolin’ around without rubbers or overcoat, just be- cause it looked like spring and right now we have earache, sore throat and all the other penalties one pays for thinking its spring in January. —For more than a year govern- ment experts have been experiment- ing with the hope of developing an anti-knock gasoline. It would be a wonderful find, but not half so won- derful as an anti-knock serum that could be injected into those who crab about every step forward a community tries to take. —OQur advice to farmers is to sell their wheat if they can get a dollar eighty for it. It might go to two, but it might slip back to one-sixty. It is our opinion that any good times that may be ahead are already discounted by the boys who are wise enough to get out when they have drawn in enough others to hold the bag. —Pierre Van Paassen has given it as his opinion that what is really news is everything of interest gathered from the four points of the compass, the four points of the compass, N. E. W. S., spell news. Quite a sensible deduction, isn’t it? Very like that of U. S., the United States, meaning us. In reality both are in the nature of perfect acrostics. —Col. Geo. Nox McCain says that three years of Pinchot government has cost the State fifty-one miilion dol- lars more than Gov. Sproul spent in four years. If the Colonel is right in his calculations——and he must be, else he wouldn't dare make such a statement--it. might have been-cheaper for the tax payers if they had not hired a man to clean up the mess at Harrisburg. That is, cheaper in dol- lars and cents, but not so in moral satisfaction. —The Curfew ordinance was put in effect again in Bellefonte on Monday night. As was to be expected there has been a lot of criticism, but why? Argument that the home isn’t a better place for a boy or girl, after 8.30 at night, than the streets hasn’t a leg to stand on. And go deep enough into the motives of the person who criti- cises the Curfew and you’ll find that he or she has some ulterior reason for keeping the young folks on the streets at night. We haven’t an idea that its enforcement will be of long duration. With only two policemen it is a phy- sical impossibility to enforce it to the letter, so that it will eventually be laughed into general disrespect unless an occasional apprehension of a viola- tor is made. One or two caught in a month would prove as effective in en- forcement as the addition of a lot of officers to the force, for what youth could feel that he might not be the next to be grabbed. —In reporting the recent meeting of veteran athletes in Philadelphia, Ed Pollock, sports writer, seems to have been awed by the orderly manner in which friend Eugene C. Bonniwell, who presided, had the records in all branches of sports labeled and tucked away in his mental filing cabinet. That the Judge should be up on track-events is no wonder. Ever since we first heard of him he has been at the scratch ready to run in any political race to be started. The Judge is a very clever gentleman. Years ago, when we were in College, George “General” Hoskins came up to State to break the ice as a professional coach. He was then reputed as the “champion amateur wrestler of the Athletic club of the Schuylkill Navy.” The “General” was a very impressive personage in the eyes of the several hundred students State then boasted. He was king and the king could say or do no wrong. He knew everything and records rolled off his tongue like water from a duck’s back. He was a veritable encyclopoedia of sports facts and became the court of last ap- peal in every argument as well as the awesome admiration of every boy in college. Then came one George Lintz, from Tacony, who happened to be somewhat of an athlete himself. Lintz and the “General” got into a jam one day and the former dug out the New York World’s almanac and with it knocked our idol clear off the pedestal we had built for him. The “General,” because he knew we didn’t know any better, had been slick enough to make his own dates and records and got away with it until George Lintz be- came iconoclastic. Demacralic _VOL. 71. Secretary Mellon too Sensitive. It will strike most observant minds i that Secretary Mellon is over sensi- tive in the matter of his nephew’s activity in polities. given at Washington, on Saturday, Governor Pinchot stated “W. L. Mel- | lon, nephew of the Secretary of the Treasury, was interfering with his dry programme at Harrisburg, by in- fluencing Allegheny county Legislators against it.” prising degree. “W. L. Mellon,” he said, “is a private citizen engaged in | business in Pittsburgh. He is attend- ing to his business there and I am at- | tending to my public duties here. Just because he is the nephew of the Sec- retary of the Treasury is no reason for exploiting him in this connection.” Mr. W. L. Mellon may be attending it to his business in Pittsburgh but is certain that part of the business he is attending to is politics. Within the last three or four years every impor- tant political movement in Pittsburgh has been directed by him, and it is widely known that most of the legis- | lation enacted within the same period of time in Pennsylvania has been ap- proved by him or passed in spite of his opposition. It is well known that he exercises a large influence in se- lecting the candidates of his party in the State and exerts practical control in Pittsburgh and Allegheny county. Recently Congressman Vare traveled ‘| from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to enlist him in the opposition to Sena- tor Pepper and in the organization: of the special session, enly the other day, he compelled Chairman ' Baker to acquiesce in his choice for an impor- tant chairmanship. These facts are ‘notorious. They afford no perceptible reason for com- plaint against Mr. Mellon, however. He has an inherent right to pref- erences a§ between candidates and party policies and to express them. As a matter of fact it is rather credi- table to influential business men to take an interest in politics if the effect is for the public good. But any citizen ‘has gn. equal right to differ with business men as well as profes- sional politieians: and express their differences, It has been a commen mmor in Harrisburg and throughout the State that Mr. Mellon has been op- posing prohibition enforcement legis- lation. Governor Pinchot is greatly concerned in that sort of legislation and his public reference to a current impression can hardly be called a crime. Senator Capper says the farm- ers “dont want subsidies.” He might have added that if tariff tax discri- minations were abolished the farmer would be able to depend upon his own resources and prosper. A Suspicious Movement. If the purpose of the State in fixing the date of final adjournment of the special session as Thursday, February 18th, is to enforce industry and as- siduity to tasks before them it is com- mendable. If, on the other hand, it is to stifle legislation or prevent proper consideration of the measures before the Legislators, it is correspondingly reprehensible. Under the call of the Governor there are eight subjects of legislation for consideration. It might be possible to maturely consider and intelligently act upon all these sub- jects within that period of time. But it is quite possible to prevent the pas- sage of any of them within that time. It is clearly apparent that a consid- erable number of the Republican lead- ers of the State are ready and willing to adopt any course that will defeat the Governor’s purpose to procure re- form legislation that will guarantee fair elections and just returns of the votes cast. It is not improbable that the same leaders are anxious to de- feat legislation on most of the other subjects expressed in the Governor’s call. Even the question of tolls on the Delaware river bridge is developing opposition and it is certain that any legislation which would help the Gov- ernor to end the coal strike is dan- gerous to the machine. To openly op- pose such measures would be disas- trous but they might be stifled. It is desirable that the General As- sembly shall proceed as diligently as possible with the business before it and adjourn as soon as the work is finished. But‘ early adjournment is not sufficiently desirable to justify the defeat of pending legislation. The saving in expénse by curtailing the session a few days is comparatively trifling. The salaries of Senators and Representatives will be the same, whether the session lasts one month or six, and the wages of employees is not a great sum even if the time of service is prolonged another month. It is possible, of course, that the best intentions of the party leaders is ex- pressed in tying up to a brief session, but a Missourian might have doubts. In an interview! This statement is said to | have aroused the indignation of the Secretary of the Treasury to a sur- | STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA.. JANUARY 22. 1926. | Secretary i Conspiracy of Curious Elements. interesting friend, Colonel George Nox ! McCain, has discovered another mare’s nest. "mination, analysis or whatever other methods the professional sleuths em- ploy, he has arrived at the monstrous "conclusion that Gifford Pinchot, ! Joseph Grundy and Bill Vare have en- | tered into a criminal conspiracy to prevent the re-election of George Wharton Pepper to the office of Sena- tor in Congress. Obviously it was a painful subject for his consideration. The very idea of opposing George | Wharton is sinful, and deliberately organizing to defeat him is atrocious beyond measure in the estimation of Colonel George Nox. | The head and front of this con- spiracy is malice. Mr. Grundy, for some unexplained reason, has a per- sonal enmity against Senator.Pepper. | Congressman Vare, for reasons which may be conjectured, has organized in his mind an intense hatred of Senator | Pepper. Governor Pinchot may have neither enmity nor hatred toward Pep- per, but he has a large-sized ambition to wear the toga which now adorns the Pepper shoulders, and that is sub- | stantially as bad. It is true that Vare "doesn’t like Pinchot and Grundy is of them is partial to the other. But opposition to Pepper is a common sen- timent which might bring them to- gether and thus compass the defeat of the Senator. Outside of the eranium of Colonel George Nox McCain and the sanctum sanctorum of the esteemed Philadel- phia Public Ledger there is not a great deal of interest in the political ambitions or public service of Mr. George Wharton Pepper. He doesn’t seem to represent anybody in the State except the corporations and they are pretty well taken care of in Con- gress. Soon after he was appointed to the office of Senator he made an effort to gain the affections of the organiztion in Philadelphia. He of- fered to “spit in the eye of a bull dog” and do other stunts that would com- mend him to the rough-necks. But his efforts miscarried and if he fails of re-election there will belittle popu. lar grief. ——= Senator Stites, of Montgomery county, was a strong Pinchot sup- porter during the last two sessions. He has joined the opposition. Mont- gomery is a machine controlled coun- ty. Mr. Stites aspires to re-election. A plain case of “cause and effect.” Abolish the Commission. If the present disgraceful squabble in or concerning the Public Service Commission should result in the abol- ishment of that body the result might compensate for the shame it has caused. From the beginning the Pub- lic Service Commission has been a cruel instrument in the service of corporate greed to loot the public. For a time, in the person of the late John S. Rilling, the people had a champion on the board. But though he was vigilant and courageous in his efforts he was helpless for the reason that- he was alone. All the other members of the board seem to have been under the influence of the cor- porations. As Governor Pinchot declared in his criticism of the action of the board last summer, when it gave the Philadelphia Rapid Transit company authority to increase rates while the question was under investigation, the Public Service Commission was creat- ed to protect the interest of the pub- lic against the predatory purposes of corporations. As a matter of fact it has never even attempted to fulfill that obligation. No matter how pre- posterous a corporate injustice might be the decision of the board has been given in its favor. So far as our in- formation goes not a single complaint of the public against corporate greed has been allowed. It is barely possible that the Gov- ernor has blundered in his treatment of the present trouble. The Supreme court has nullified one of his acts in the matter and that tribunal has the last word in such disputes. But when we recall the late Senator Quay’s statement of the processes of select» ing Supreme court judges there is excuse for a doubt. But there can be no doubt of the subserviency of the Public Service Commission to corpor- ate power. It has been revealed a hundred times within twenty years in decisions in which just complaints have been turned down and corporate greed not only sanctioned but en- couraged. rrr Sm — ——The meager opposition to the World Court may keep the United States out for a few weeks but not much longer. By the same token the bitter-enders may keep this country out of the League of Nations for a Our highly esteemed and invariably Commerce in the Coolidge administra- | i tion and a good deal of a Poo Bah in | By processes of deduction, eli- not enamored of Vare and that neither ! , the owners of our industrial plants as ‘ bonuses. few years but not much longer. Hoover Making Trouble. Mr. Herbert Hoover, Secretary of the government at Washington, is likely to talk himself out of a good job. subject of foreign trade he is alleged to have said that “our industries have the ability to maintain their export trade in competition with other coun- tries.” This is rank heresy from the Coolidge standpoint. If our indus- tries are able to maintain their export trade what reason under heaven is there for taxing our people to the verge of poverty in order to enable our industries to maintain the home market? If we can compete where carrying costs are added why not at home? Mr. Hoover is a very versatile gen- tleman and exceedingly fond of talk- ing. He has shown a perfect willing- ness to give advice to all his col- leagues in the Cabinet on any-subject. Why, therefore, should he withhold from the administration as well as the - public his theory that our industries are able to meet competition abroad and not at home if he entertains such a theory, while the government is permitted to take from the consumers of the country four or five billions of dollars annually to be handed over to The President declared in his message to Congress at the open- ing of the session that taxation for other than revenue is larceny. Everybody knows that tariff taka tion is not for the purpose of produc- ing revenue. The proponents of pro- tective tariff legislation claim that it: protects labor, a vicious fiction that has deceived thousands of men and women in the past. Recent experience in New England, where the highest protected industries have paid the lowest wages, have refuted this claim so completely that no one is now de- ceived. The only effect of it is to in- crease the profits of the employers of labor, and that is the purpose for which it is maintained. Such state- ments as that attributed to Mr. Sec- retary Hoover are likely to expose the wid upon the public more fully and serious irouble- to. ‘Mr. Coolidge. ——There is an old Pennsylvania German saw that if the fifteenth of January finds no ice it will make it, and if it finds ice it will break it, which is equivalent to meaning that the backbone of the winter will be broken and an early spring will fol- low. Everybody will recall that last Friday morning was cold and crisp and ice abounded everywhere. During the day it warmed up and the ice be- gan to melt. During the week prac- tically all the ice and snow have gone from the fields and mountains and the ice has even gone out of the streams. Whether this is the break- ing of the backbone of the winter we cannot say, but it is at least a respite from zero weather. Of course we will have more snow and more cold weather, but we are nearing the first of February and it is almost a certain- ty that the most of the winter is be- hind us. meanest =e seems. ——Last Saturday night a Burns detective passed through here with F. P. Michaels in his custody. He was on his way to Lock Haven where Mich- aels was wanted for skipping three bail bonds aggregating $10,000. Wil- liam Weber, . of Howard, was the bondsman who stood to lose the en- tire sum had not Michaels been picked up in Pittsburgh by the detective. He was under indictment in Clinton coun- ty for false pretense and fraudulent conversion. Michaels is well known in Centre county. He lived at the Bush house for a long time while sell- ing bonds and stock here. rn fe ——The January thaw came along on Monday when the temperature rose to above fifty and considerable rain fell. Most of the snow fall of two weeks ago was taken away and the ice went out of the Bald Eagle creek on Monday night. Spring creek car- ried an eighteen inch flood, but not enough of water to do any damage anywhere. Of course we are sure to have more snow and cold weather, but even a few days respite were welcome. BE ——If Monday night’s proceedings in the General Assembly are to be taken as “a sample,” the machine leaders have a queer notion of cour- tesy. setae Ap eee eens ——-As between Benn and Scatter- tergood the Governor backs Scatter- goad. Of course it is a matter of choice between Philadelphians, sn pn Mp i ni ——Senators Blease and Borah may convert a majority of their colleagues to the views of the Vice President on the rules question. In a recent comment upon the | pejlefonte to see a revolving beacon i at Philadelphia. ~_NO.4 Lighthouses of the Air. From the Pittsburg Post. Thanks to the remarkable clearness of the air one night recently, a pilot of the United States air mail service was able at all times throughout his flight from Hadley Field, N. J., to His report of the i matter naturally attracted attention; but it is suspected that the time is rapidly approaching when it will be no uncommon thing for aviators to per- ceive lights for an even greater dis- tance. Indeed some beacons have al- ready been set up in various parts of the world that can be observed from points hundreds of miles away. The French have erected, for ex- ample, a lighthouse for aviators on a hilltop near Dijon, 2,000 feet above sea level, which it is reported can be espied from the air, under the most favorable atmospheric condi- tions, at points as far south as Mar- seilles and as far north as Brussels. It is a lamp ef one billion candle pow- er and is the largest in the world. Some conception of its power can, per- haps, be formed when it is known that a 5,000,000 candle power lamp sheds an effulgence almost sufficient to al- low a baseball game to be played at night on a field on which it has been set up. Our largest lamps are half-billion candle power affairs. We have five of them on the division landing field of the air mail service -at Chicago, Iowa City, Omaha, North Platte and Cheynne. Between them, at 25-mile intervals, are 5,000,000 candle power beacons, marking emergency landing fields, and between them, at ree mile intervals, are small lights pointing out the route to the nocturnal flyers. East of Chis the course of the flyer is indicated y beacons of the Western emergence landing field type, set from twelve to seventeen miles apart. It: of these that the aviator had : during his flight from New Jersey to Bellefonte. At one time he saw tw of them. On hills and ridges, tween the beacons, are lamp emit broad, constant Se ‘at shorter intervals are the small ‘blink- ing lights. Fs _ In view of the progress that to guide aviators and sailors @ will become obsolete in a few The history of the advance rat ms been made in illumination is epitom- ized in the story of the lighthouse at Cape Henry, at the mouth of" Chesa- peake Bay, which was set up in 1792 and was the first to be erected bythe United States as an independent gov- ernment. At the outset it burned fish oil; in 1810 sperm whale oil was sub- stituted; then came rapeseed or colza oil; then lard oil; then kerosene; then in 1910, vaporized kerosene, with an incandescent mantle and finally, in 1922, an electric incandescent lamp. In the more or less remote future we shall probably have cold light, much more econmical than the kind we have now because all of the energy in the lamp will go into light and none into the production of heat. We can imagine our great-grand- children sailing about in their flying machines at night as nonchalantly as the youths of today drive their motor cars. Lamps of varying degrees of power, and with light of different colors to signify different things, will lie spread out before them for many miles, They will plot their course from the lighthouses of the air more readily than sailors can navigate by stars. Couzens Deals With High Figures. From the Cleveland a Plaindealer. Two years’ work by the Couzens Senate Committee brings a mass of charges against the Bureau of Inter- nal Revenue which spokesmen for that branch of the Government should hasten to explain. On their face they indicate, to say the least, a looseness of administration which must shock such an advocate of economy as President Coolidge. That Couzens is a Senator unfriendly to the head of the Treasury will not be accepted as a sufficient answer to the charges. Favoritism in‘ the execution of the revenue law, incompetency, “leaks” mounting high into the millions— these are accusations not to be dis- missed offhand. The public which pays the taxes has a right to know that this important bureau is admin- istered efficiently and honestly. The answer to the Couzens report, what- ever the answer is, should not be de- layed. Congress Friendly to the Farmers. From the Chicago Tribune. The farmers at Washington can't decide on what they want. Congress is in a mood to give them about any- thing they ask for; yet they can’t get together on a program. The public of the cities was never more friendly to the farmers than it is today. If agriculture can agree on a program and select leaders and spokesmen who are not altogether discredited, the prospect for thorough- going measures of relief is bright. rm ———— A ————— ——It will be hard to believe that President Coolidge sincerely desires economy so long as he favors spend- ing six or eight million dollars for a dirigible air ship. ol SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —When Thomas J. Dunlap, 68, of Lig- onier, stepped from the cab of the Lig- onier Express recently he completed a period of 46 years’ service in the employ of the Ligonier Valley Railroad company. —John Skovronsky, convicted of attempt- to rob a Millville (Pa.) bank, was sen- tenced at Bloomsburg, on Monday, to four and a half to nine year in the eastern peni- tentiary after he withdrew his motion for a new trial. —Albert L. Sayers, aged 30, driver of a truck of the Lock Haven Chair corporation, sustained a broken neck on Monday when he was jammed between the truck and the company’s building. His body was found several hours later. —Seventeen members of TUniontown’s police force have signed the pledge tc ab- stain from the use of intoxicating liquors. Three did not sign. Each officer yho signed was made an honorary member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. —The plant of the Dilltown Smokeless Coal Company, at Dilltown, Indiana coun- ty, consisting of a mine, equipment and 1,378 acres of high grade coal, has been sold to the Cosgrove-Meehan Coal cor- poration, of Johnstown, the price being about $575,000. —Dr. W. B. D. Ainey, chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission, is in Johns Hopkins hospital, at Balti- more, Md., for treatment for an illness, the nature of which the hospital author- ities declined to discuss. Dr. Ainey en- tered Johns Hopkin’s hospital January 14. —Another big gas strike has been made in Greene county, the Natural Gas company of West Virginia bringing in a five million foot producer on the H. M. Stewart farm, near Oak Forest. It is the first strike to be made in the Oak Forest district in re- cent years and will cause a revival of oper- ations in that section. —~Sergeant Philip L. Tulley, recruiting officer at New Castle for the United States marine corps, was fatally wounded while in bed in a rooming house. A woman, giving the name of Dora Tucker, 33, fired a bullet into her breast after shooting Talley. The sergeant died shortly after reaching a hospital —As A. D. Cozad sat reading the Sunday paper in his- home at Mercer, on Sunday, he heard music coming from the kitchen stove. It was part of a program .broad- cast from a Pittsburgh radio station, He called in his neighbors and radio fans, who said the smoke from the stove had acted apparently as a conductor of the radio waves. . —The Slatington post office sought shot. ter in a pool room last Friday, driven out of its building by a fire. A blaze started in® the meeting ‘rooms of the Klu Klux Klan: ‘on’ the third floor and burned ‘through to offices on the second floor. The fifeen poured water into the building to save the mails. They were carried to the nearby available place. The loss amount- = | ed to $40,000, fully covered insurance. —General Charles Miller, 83 years old, of Franklin, one time head of the Pennsyl- vania National Guard and noted through- out the country as a wealthy oil man, will fight the charges of his wife, Emma Miller, who seeks a divorce and alimony on the ground of alleged. infidelity. In her libel in divorce filed in Franklin, Nov. 30, Mrs. Miller, charged one specific act of unfaith- fulness; last May in New: “Fork city, nam- ing one Alice McCormack as co- respondent. —Constable Marvin C. Burkholder, of Juniata, after ten jurymen had been selected to try him, pleaded guilty to sec- ond degree murder in Blair county court last Thursday, and was sentenced hy Judge Thomas J. Baldridge to serve from six and one half to thirteen years in the penitentiary. He admitted he shot and killed Bernard Gephart, 18, of Juniata, on October 27, when Gephart failed to stop his automobile in response to a signal from Burkholder. —Mrs. Mollie LaRue,36 years old, was held for court Thursday night by Justice of Peace Edward R. Patterson, of Waynes- burg, on the charge of felonious shooting with intent to kill. Her husband, Homer LaRue, is in the Waynesburg hospital with four bullet wounds in his legs. Mrs. La- Rue had been separated from her husband and decided to go back and live with him. LaRue objected. The shooting followed. Mrs. LaRue is in the Greene county jail awaiting the action of the March grand jury. ) —Denying that she gave her husband a steady diet of kidney beans and potatoes, Mrs. Olive S. Gearing, defending herself against divorce, told a jury in common pleas court at Philadelphia, on Monday that she fed her husband on English mut- ton chops, porterhouse steak, artichokes, to say nothing of allegator pears in Janu- ary and strawberries in February. Her husband, Lieut. Commander Henry C. Gearing, Jr., stationed at the Philadelphia navy yard, charges his wife with barbar- ous and cruel treatment. —Earl G. Caldwell, Negro, former em- ploye of the Exchange National Bank, of Pittsburg, hasn't had much luck. He tried to rob a church back in St. Louis, and served time for that. Then while he was a mail truck driver he tried robbing the mails, and went to Atlanta for that. He was sentenced to serve four years in Atlan- ta prison en Friday for robbing the Ex- change bank. Sentence was pronounced by Judge F. P. Schoonmaker in Federal court. Caldwell was convicted last Nov- ember of stealing a little more than $6,600 from a small safe in the Exchange National Bank, of which he was watchman. A large part of the money was in $1 bills. —Charles P. Lukens, defaulfling assistant cashier of the Parkesburg, Pa., National bank, was sentenced to 18 months in the Federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga. and fined $1,000 by United States district Judge Thompson in thg eastern district federal court on Monday. Last week Lu- kens appeared as the government's chief witness against Alexander H. McAdams, New York broker, with whom he and Albert C. Hamill, were indicted for the misapplication of about $125,000 of the bank’s funds. Lukens’ sentence was post- poned to enable him to appear against McAdams. The jury in the latter’s trial, unable to agree, were discharged and he will go on trial again March 1. Both Lu- kens and Hamill pleaded guilty last April. Hamill served less than 10 months of a 16 months sentence at Atlanta, and was pa- roled last October. The Parkesburg bank closed its doors in: September, 1924, and an investigation by National bank examiners and others revealed, it was. testified, a shortage of between $125,000 and $150,000.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers