Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, March 19, 1926, Image 1
von < Gere: Jl :=———1It looks as if it is to be “an INK SLINGS. everybody for himself” campaign from start to finish. _ ——1TIt seldom happens that one misses a fortune because he has been too assiduous in pursuing it. — There are other offices to fill besides that of Senator, this year, but nobody seems to care much who fills "—Pinchot, Pepper and Vare are all rich men. The boys ought to get theirs before the senatorial squabble is over. Tf you've got it—and nearly everybody has—don’t add to the gen- eral misery by calling it “the la grippe.” ——With Beidleman as the Repub- lican candidate for Governor it would be reasonable to expect a “checking” campaign. —Now that the Mellons have de- clared unequivocally for Pepper there’s sure to be “millions in it” for the boys. : The Republican Senatorial fight will be hot enough to burn up millions of dollars unless the signs are misleading. “Keeping the Home Fires Burn- ing” is a beautiful sentiment, but tak- ing a punch at the ballot thieves is practical politics. ——1It didn’t take much urging to get Pinchot to announce. One little letter from the smallest county in the State turned the trick. ——0One of the various reasons why Spring is welcome lies in the fact that it inspires the hope that goloshes will disappear from the streets. ——If somebody would prevail on President Coolidge to express a pref- erence as between the three Coolidge candidates for Senator he would make some “mighty interesting reading.” It may be true that Pinchot is insincere in. professing loyalty to President Coolidge but who will ven- ture to vouch for the sincerity of Sen- ator Pepper in making the same pre- tense. —News from the Florida training camps of the ball teams almost per- suades us that there are to be no such things as second division teams next season. They all look like winners in Florida, you know. —“T-am a Republican, a supporter : dent Collidge and an enemy of the 7,” says Pinchot: “He fol- lowed se plow, he milked the cow” ays Vare’s publicity department. ] 5 Va Ss nt ‘afraid to spit in the eye of r,” says Pepper. Wonderful from. —*“Toppy” Klinger told us on Tues- day that it’s going to be a late spring. We're not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, so if your ideas run to the contrary you'll have to talk it over with “Toppy.” Really, we'd like to see him pushed up against the wall and made explain just why the time he put his tomato plants in the hot frame last year has anything to do with the advent of spring this year. —We pay tribute to “Tim” Fenlon in another column of this page. It isn’t laying flowers on his bier, after he reached the bourne where such things are drab in the vision his soul now has. We told him all we have said, many times, when his mortal self needed a little bucking up. All we have tried to do is let the world know a bit of how little it stops to think of what real friendship and real men mean. —At last the Governor's hat’s in the ring. Evidently he is not afraid of any “jinx,” for he selected the 13th as the day on which to announce that he will be a candidate for the United States Senate. The three cornered fight is now on. Pepper represents the organization, Vare represents the * Philadelphia gang and Pinchot hopes to represent all the elements in the Republican party that are not ailign- ed with either of the others. —Put this in your pipe and smoke it. The Republican organization will be busy until May 18, reading Pinchot out of its party, but if he then should win its nomination for Senator it will be folding him to its bosom and de- claring that any one who votes against him will be striking at the grand old flag and silent Cal. If the Democrats are smart they’ll nominate some one for Senator who will appeal to the Pinchot element in the event of its disappointment. His crowd will vote for the right kind of a Democrat, but an organization Republican won't vote for any kind of a Democrat, —This is the middle of March and we haven’t heard the Odd Fellows band practicing since last fall. Some. thing will have to be done soon or we’ll have to start in to gratify the one consuming desire of our life— and that has been to be the absolute boss of an eighteen piece band. Give us ten real brass artists, four reeds and two for drums and—remembering what we admitted when we started the discussion about Paul Whiteman and his jazz and the admission that we knew not one note from the other, we'll give this community a better band than it has ever heard. We'd love to strut at the head of a regular band but no one need apply who isn’t willing to admit that we know more about what a regular band should be than he does. “three platforms are built VOL. 71. Friend Fenlon. Harry Fenlon, a very dear and a very real friend, has gone. If senses benumbed by so many ties broken within the last few years can be shocked then we are so, overwhelm- ingly so. The few things we have to say are, of necessity, but an expres- sion of our personal feelings, yet we feel that his relationship to the entire community was such that in putting of record our estimate of this man we speak for all who knew him. His niche will never be filled in the heart that responded to the warmth and genuineness of the friendship that he proffered. Though only an adopted son his devotion and loyalty to the interests of Bellefonte and Cen- tre county should live to inspire every native born. His contribution to the business life of the town is a memory | of dignity, courtesy and fair dealing. As long as the Centre County hospital stands to administer to stricken hu- manity the unselfish, unrequited serv- ice he rendered it for years will be liv- ing proof of his love for his fellows; for Harry Fenlon gave to that insti- tution, when it needed it most, some- thing that isn’t expressible in dollars. An outstanding type of good citi- zenship has faded from the picture we treasure of old Bellefonte. Another veil has fallen to obscure the vision of things as they were twenty years ago, but, thank God, memory bright- ens as vision dims and the spirit of our friend will linger with us until! the curtain falls for us. ——Another Newspaper has been launched on the journalistic seas in Centre county. Last Friday “The Mountain Times” was issued from the Bee Hive printery in Howard in an inaugural form of eight pages and its publishers, Rev. Sheetz and son, promise to increase it in size as news and advertising require. We wish the Times great success; all the joys we get out of our work and a minimum of the trouble, Pinchot Tardy but in Time. Upon the principle of “better late than never” wg aze fomced to express pleasure that Governor Pinchot has announced himself as a candidate for the Republican nomination for Senator in Congress. It must be admitted that the Governor has a moral as well as a legal right to entertain such aspira- tions. He has been a Republican all his life and for a great many years has held official relations with the party and exercised a leadership. He served under Roosevelt in the forestry service of the federal government and under Governor Sproul in the State forestry service. For four years he has been Governor of Pennsylvania and was chosen to that office as a Re- publican by the Republican voters. His title to a ranking position in the Republican party thus estabiished there is no harm in acknowledging that at various times and in sundry ways he has had differences with other leaders of his party, but they have not seemed to impair his stand- ing in the organization or his claims to party favors. He declares that he is “an enemy of the gang” for the rea- son that “it is not on the level with the people”and because “it is for every- thing that is bad in Pennsylvania poli- tics.” No honest man can sincerely hate him for that. He says the gang “has thrown its whole strength against clean elections, against taking proper care of the school children, against protection of depositors in banks,” and a lot of other things which are wicked and wanton. It would be unjust to the Republi- can voters of Pennsylvania to oppose a candidate for high office because of such an attitude on public questions. The average Republican voter is not in sympathy with such iniquities. The machine managers who influenced the General Assembly to vote against needed ballot reform legislation did not represent the honest men and women of the party. They represented the crooks and criminals who profit by fraudulent votes and false returns of elections, and Governor Pinchot’s candidacy is a protest against their crimes. If the Republican voters are in favor of honest elections they will nominate Gifford Pinchot for Senator in Congress. ri ib icertit The distribution of trout for stocking the streams of the State has been resumed from the Bellefonte hatchery. The stock on hand for distribution last fall aggregated al- most a million trout, averaging in size from three to six inches. Ordi- narily all the trout available are put out in the fall and early winter but last fall the small streams froze up before distribution could be complet- ed. Now that the streams have been freed of ice an effort will be made to get all the trout distributed in time to enable them to take care of them- selves before the opening of the trout fishing season. BE STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. LLEFONTE. PA.. MARCH 19. 1926. NO. 12. Optimism Fine but Not Final. The esteemed Philadelphia Record, commenting upon the deliberations of the Democratic State committee in that city, on Saturday, noted the spirit of optimism revealed in the expres- sions of those in attendance. “There was not a man or woman present,” our contemporary observes, “who did not discern in the discord that has entered into the ranks of the opposi- tion, a promising augury.” This was gratifying, naturally, for optimism | inspires effort. But the Record wisely | interpreted it as a signal of danger. “Battles are not won solely by reason of the disorganization of the enemy. * * * Victory is attainable only by , superiority in numbers, discipline, ‘equipment, enduramce, strategy or ' spirit,” it adds. | This admonition is as timely as the ! subject of it was encouraging. The : Republican party is literally “shot to | pieces.” But that faet does not guar- i antee a victory for the Democrats in | the impending campaign. To secure ! victory, in the coming election, the { Democratic party must deserve vie- | tory, and to deserve victory it musi nominate candidates who will not only command the full vote of the Demo- cratic men and women of the State but the help of all right-minded voters who deprecate the iniquities of the Republican machine. There are tens of thousands of Republicans who are disgusted with recent actions of their party leaders, but we must offer them something better in order to wean them away from their party. To achieve this result the Demo- crats must nominate as candidates for Governor, Senator in Congress, Lieu- tenant Governor and Secretary of In- ternal Affairs men of the highest standing for integrity, ability and courage. Political hacks will not serve this purpose. Perennial office seekers will not achieve the result. We must select from the abundant supply of will serve the people unselfishly and may be recognized as worthy of the honor bestowed upon them. If we nominate such a ticket and support it with the optimism expressed at the the energy it deserves, our success wiil not only be certain but the victory enduring. ——When you are talking about the cold weather of this March don’t for- get that on March 16th, 1911, the thermometer stood at zero praetical- ly all day. tt Odds Largely in Favor of Vare. The official announcement that Rep- resentive William S. Vare is a candi- date for the Republican nomination for Senator in Congress not only makes certain a triangular contest for the party favor but practically settles the question as to which of the candi- dates will be successful, Each of them professes allegiance to President Cool- idge but only Mr. Vare shows a con- sistent record of fidelity to him. Sena- tor Pepper opposed his policy of ad- herence to the World Court for a con- siderable period of time and Governor Pinchot cast aspersinos against the administration with reference to pro- hibition enforcement, but blindly fol- lowed the Coolidge lead, right or wrong, from the beginning. This record on what each of the aspirants seems to appraise as the paramount issue estops the President from expressing preference for either of the candidates. It is true that Secretary Mellon openly favors the nomination of Pepper, and that in the nature of things other forces affiliated with the administration prefer his nomination. But in the face of the unqualified declaration of Governor Pinchot that he “is a Republican, a supporter of President Coolidge,” and stands “upon the national Republican platform and the principles laid down in President Coolidge’s inaugural ad- dress,” and the unbroken record of blind servility of Vare, it is not easy to see how the President can favor one against the other. But Vare has a leverage in the vote that sets him away ahead of his com- petitors. The Republican vote in Phil- adelphia is almost, if not entirely, equal to the party vote in all other counties in the State, and under the guarantee of immunity the Philadel- phia vote can and probably will be cast almost unamimously for Vare. If the ballot reform legislation recommended by the Governor had been enacted dur. ing the special session of the Legisla- ture there might have been a chance of a comparatively fair vote as be- tween Republican candidates for party favor. But Varc prevented that re- sult and the friends of Pepper who might have secured an honest election are destined to suffer. ——Wilbur J. Woodring has been re-appointed postmaster at Port Ma- tilda. material big, broad-minded men who | committee meeting on Saturday, and, Confusion Concerning the Governor- : ship. i i 3 { It seems to be settled that there will | be three, and probably four, candidates i for the Republican nomination for | Senator in Congress for Pennsylvania, but there are no signs of clearing the i confusion with respect to the nomi- nation for Governor. As Senator will be a “hot” one. Vare and Pinchot are millionaires and Pepper has the corporate interests behind him. It may not be literally true that Vare is the candidate of the “brewery interests” and Pinchot that of the “lunatic fringe.” But it is certain that the wet vote will be practically unanimous for Vare and the ultra dry element for the Governor. It remains to be seen what lies “between these elements. There are plenty of aspirants for the nomination for Governor though only.one has filed the necessary peti- an avowed candidate for several months but been engaged in a person- al canvass for several weeks. The other candidates named as likely to be in the running are Mr. Fisher, of Indi- ana county; Auditor General Martin, of Washington county; Congressman Philips, of Butler county; State Treas. urer Lewis, of York county; Secretary of Labor Davis, of Illinois, and former Lieutenant Governor Beidleman, of Harrisburg. Neither of the candidates for Senator is willing to tie up with either of the candidates for Governor but the friends of Vare are willing to support Beidleman in return for Chairman Baker’s support of Vare. As the situation now stands Beidle- man ought to be a favorite in the bet- ting, If the hoped for deal with Baker is consummated it will give the Harrisburg candidate a practically unanimous vote in Philadelphia. This strength supplemented by the Baker influence over the machine voters throughout the State will put him well in advance of the other candidates. combination among the supporters of record may compel such a movement in order to avert the scandalous cam- paigh certain to follow his: nomina- tion. In that event it would be a wise policy for the speculative politician to take chances on Auditor General Mar- tin. mee pees. On the first page of its sports section, on Sunday, the Philadelphia Inquirer published a four column picture of the Bellefonte High school girl’s basket ball team. Vital Issue of the Campaign. The Democratic State committee, which assembled in Philadelphia on Saturday, wisely refrained from ex- pressing preference for candidates for the several offices to be filled at the coming election. There was a free in- terchange of opinion and frank discus- sion of plans and policies. But no at- tempt was made to commit the party to any particular candidate or form “slates” or combinations in favor of factions or groups. This fact expresses a wholesome sign of sincerity of pur- pose on the part of the leaders as well as indicating unity and harmony in the rank and file. With this spirit of earnest purpose revealed in the be- ginning the campaign will open under most favorable auspices. The political campaign in Pennsyl- vania this year must be conducted mainly on local issues. It is well enough, and probably advisable, that the fundamental principles of the party as expressed by Jefferson be kept in view. The tendency of the federal government to encroach upon the prerogatives of the State and local authorities is an increasing menace and should be resisted and resented. Centralization is a present and cumu- lating menace to the perpetuity of the government. These facts should be impressed upon the minds of voters at all times. But there is a greater dan- ger confronting us at this time. It lies in the protection and practice of fraud in the casting and counting of the votes. The Republican party is committed to electoral frauds. By the action of the Republican organization during the special session of the General As- sembly an issue was created between honest and currupt elections, and that issue must be followed to a finish be- fore any other questions are taken into consideration. The Republicans have made this issue and they should be kept to it. They may quarrel among themselves as to the distribution of party favors, but they have the peo- ple of Pennsylvania to recken with on this vital question. There can be no honest government while officials are placed in control of it by fraud, and the time to check this para- mount evil is now. Ap———— —Read the “Watchman” and get the cream of the news. personal solicitation. the other candidates and Beidleman’s | 1081. , | policies the insurance becomes { 5 ET 2 “necessity “of “meeting pe: erie Ng . mium payments stimulates many to Veteran’s Insurance. Frem The Pittsburgh Post. For the preteetion of the depend- ents of the soldiers, sailors and ma- rines who served in the World War, the United States Government went into the life insurance business, issu- ing at low cost term policies up to $10,000 to the men. After the war the peiiod during which the policies | Pepper states, the contest for Senator could be carried was extended and provision also made for converting them inte permanent forms, such as Z20-payment life, 20-year endowment or endowment at the age of 62. The time now draws near when term pol- icies will expire. Unless the veterans convert them before July 1 next they will no longer be eligible for the ben- efits of government insurance. A campaign is accordingly under way to persuade the former service men to convert their term policies, or in case they have allowed them to lapse, to reinstate and convert them. Officers of some of the large commer- : ; cial insurance companies have been tion.: John K. Tener has not only been enlisted in the campaign. They are appealing to the former service men , through addresses at meetings of the ‘ veteran’s organizations, through radio, through published statements, through Sometimes in- surance solicitors make themselves a little obnoxious by the zeal with which they pursue “prospects”; but no one can fairly entertain any other feeling | than respect for those who are seek- , ing to persuade the veterans to hold | their insurance, for they have so sel- ; fish motive to serve but are aiming at nothing but the futherance of the | service men’s own interests. It is to be borne in mind that the Government is not using the insurance bureau as a money-making enterprise. It is not run for profit. That is why the cost of the insurance is low as compared with the rates charged by some of the commercial companies. The Government insurance bonds are the world’s premier securities. Of the benefits of insurance there can be no question. The Government policies not only protect the policy- holder’s dependents in case of death but the policyholder himself in case of complete disability. A Government Of course there is always a chance of | insurance policy is an asset that may | be used as collateral in negotiating 2 In the case of the endowment maturity. able to the policyholder at Insurance is a form of | save who would not do so otherwise. It is exceedingly doubtful if any sol- dier who has retained or converted his Government insurance has regret- ted it. Those who have not done so yet have opportunity to rectify their mistake. a German Obstruction. From the Philadelphia Record. All accounts from Geneva agree that the astonishing quarrel among the member States of the League of Nations is immeasurably more violent than the issues would justify. Upon the relatively simple question of en- larging the council the nations have divided into hostile camps, and the on- ly result of weeks of negotiation has been to intensify the discord and tighten the deadlock. According to one group, the direct cause of the conflict was France's ef- fort to have a seat allotted to Poland, in order to preserve the balance upon admission of Germany. But enlarge- ment of the council has been discussed for years, and there is little merit in Germany’s peremptory demand that she alone must receive membership at this time. Sweden, however, sol- emnly declared that she would veto the admission of any other State than Germany, upon which the Latin na- tions threatened in reprisal to exclude Germany in the same way. Then the situation was hopelessly complicated by ultimatums from Spain and Brazil that they must be recognized as great Powers by receiving permanent seats, although they had held temporary places continuously since the begin- ning. In other words, the entire contest is due to a general revival of egotis- tic nationalism and a determination on the part of each Government to ad- vance its own interests and its own prestige. The situation is in effect a fantastic enlargement of such a squabble as might arise among a lot of punectilious diplomats over a ques- tion of precedence and official dignity. Perhaps the worst offender is Ger- many, for, besides presumptuously de- manding exclusive consideration, she arrogantly rejected compromises to which the other claimants had agreed. It had- been arranged that Poland should be content with a temporary seat, and that Spain and Brazil should await the report of a commission up- on their advancement to permanent places. Even Sweden was pacified. But Berlin would not tolerate any settlement but her own. While the London press berates Foreign Secretary Chamberlain as the cause of the wrangle, the record shows that the dictatorial attitude of Germany has been the chief obstacle to a rational adjustment. Dogs have nearly doubled in number in Pennsylvania within the past five years. In Centre county there were 2737 licensed in 1921, while 3598. 3 rt ea se rt et + a ——————— a 1. tn #2 Lu | SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Blood poisoning, due to a scratch frem a rusty nail, proved fatal to Lewis Haag, of Greenwood Hill, Pottsville. —A school will be. established in the Berks county jail for the instruction of prisoners in the rudiments of elementary education. Eugene D. Whitman was ap- pointed instructor. 3 —State troopers are guarding State cat- tle inspectors in the vieinity of New Lon- don, Chester county, as a result of threats to shoot by farmers opposed to tuberculin testing of their cattle. —Twenty-six watches valued at $1,632 and sixteen revolvers worth over $100 were taken from the jewelry and sporting goods store of Alexander Kagen, of Reading, by robbers who broke into the store last Thursday. —Pleading guilty to stealing money from boxes at Mary’s and Sacred Heart Catholic churches, Richard Derredinger, aged 18, of Lancaster, was sent to the Huntingdon Reformatory by Judge Hassle on Saturday. —Samuel Hardnock, a miner of Miners- ville, died on Friday as he predicted a month ago, when he said at the resump- tion of operations on February 12 that he would work a month and get killed. He died Friday when he was hit by a fall of rock. —-With fifty cases of typhoid fever re- ported at New Milford, which has a pop- ulation of 600, health authorities assumed charge of the situation, calling upon neighboring physicians for help and re- cruiting nurses from the National Red Cross. Entering pleas of nolle contender on charges of embezzling funds of two Car- negie building and loan associations, Wil- liam F. Sossong was last Friday fined $1000 and sentenced to a term of three years in the Alleghney county jail, while his son, Leo F., was given a six-year jail sentence with a similar fine. —Dorothy Pegran, of New Castle for the first time in nearly two months, is free to go where she might choose, follow- ing the finding of a verdict of not guilty last Friday by a jury which had listened since Monday to testimony in the trial of the girl, charged with the slaying of Sergt. Philip Tulley on January 20th. —Services at the Church of the Brethren in Gettysburg were called off on Sunday when it was discovered that a family of poleeats had made their home under the edifice. A supply pastor, living near York cats bad made their home under the edifice A supply pastor, living near York Springs, Springs, was notified not to come as the congregation had fled. —~George Markovitz, 41, of Erie, con- vieted in 1922, on a charge of second de- gree murder, following the fatal stabbing of Mrs. Walter Juniewicz, committed sui cide last Friday in the western Peniten- tiary at Pittsburgh by jumping from the third tier of cells to the floor, a distance of about forty feet. He was the second prisoner suicide within a week. —Charged with having stolen $21,000 from his employers during the last two and one-half years, Joseph H. Levan, for ten years a trusted employe of the Jack- son Manufacturing company, of Harris- burg was arrested on Saturday. Levan, I police said, admitted taking the money. 2 Levan was employed as bookképper and” said he took from $200 to $250 weekly by padding payrolls and juggling the books. —“Kamerad,” shouted a man on a Wilkes-Barre & Hazleton Railway coach at Albert station to Lee Mace, of St. Johns, a railroader, and Mace, recognized a Ger- man soldier whom he had taken prisoner in France in the world war. He had turn- ed the captive over to troops back of the first lines and had forgotten all about the incident, but the ' German narrated the circumstances so clearly that Mace pieced together the whole occurrence. —A piece of brick leaning against a rail caused the wreck of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Cumberland-Altoona passenger train at Kladder Station, south of Hollidays- burg, on March 3, in which engineer J. Il. Lowe and Maxwell Nash, waiting at the station to board the train, were killed, ac- cording to the verdict of the coroner's jury last Friday. It issupposed the brick was in a carload of sereenings unloaded at Kladder the day of the wreck. —A 12 year-old schoolboy, Alexander Andy, of Herminie, Westmoreland county, shot and instantly killed Joseph King, aged 50, also of Herminie, at 8:30 o'clock Sunday night. Members of the Andy fam- ily have been annoyed by prowlers lately and young Andy went to the bedroom when he heard a noise in the front yard. After a short search he found a revolver. He took the weapon, went to the front door, opened it quickly and fired, and King fell dead with a bullet in his brain. —Three men arrested in connection with the $25,000 robbery of Mrs. Minnie Mus- ser's home, Patterson Heights, Beaver Falls last December, were arraigned before Justice of the Peace A. T. Bush, of June- tion Park, Saturday night. Wade Hickey, of Beaver Falls, was held without bond, Carl Brunner was permitted bond of $2,000, and George Nye was discharged for lack of evidence. Hickey is charged with breaking and entering and burglary and Brunner with receiving stolen goods. The Musser home was looted while Mrs, Mus- ser was in Florida. —John W. Reed, former judge of Jef- ferson county and former Public Service Commissioner of the Commonwealth, who died at Clearfield two weeks ago, left an estate of more than $300,000. His only child, Mrs. Stewart F. Lever, of Clearfield, is bequeathed about four-fifths of the es- tate and is made executrix, Minor be- quests are made to relatives, ete. St. Andrew's Protestant Ipiscopal church of Clearfield, of which the former judge was a member, was left $12,000 in trust, half the income to be used toward the rector’s sal- ary and half toward diocesan and other assessments against the parish. —Prof. Walter D. Reynolds, supervising principal of the Gettysburg public schools, and a teacher there for the past fourteen years, has been offered the position of principal of the Sunbury High cchool. He admitted having received “a very good offer,” but stated he had not yet reached a decision in the matter. According to in- formation from Sunbury Professor Rey- nolds, as principal of the High school there would not be compelled to teach, his duties being only those of a supervisor. last year the registers accounted for The High school is said to number between 500 and 600 pupils. The salary is also much better than that at Gettysburg.