INK SLINGS. —Yes, last Friday’s snow was the saplin bender. We know, because we saw some that were bent. —Inasmuch as profane language doesn’t appear to us as compatible with the dignity of a J udge of any court we’re for firing George W. English, the East St. Louis jurist, who is trying to convince Congress that he doesn’t deserve impeachment. - —Senator William I. Betts is an aspirant to succeed himself in the upper branch of the General Assem- bly and having given a very good account of himself during his first term in the Senate we are of the opin- ion that the voters of the District are going to give him another. —We haven't heard of much Beidleman strength in Centre coun- ty. There’ll be some, of course, but as yet it has shown no signs of organization. At this distance from May 18th Centre county looks like Fisher for Governor and doubt as to which party the Republicans will pre- fer in the senatorial race. _—It was to be expected that his managers would try to capture the dry vote for Senator Pepper, but if the dry vote is smart it will stick to Pinchot, since he has the best chance of defeating Vare. And, besides, Sen- ator Pepper isn’t as dry as the ex- igencies of the campaign will paint him, nor is he so dry as to expect nothing from the wets. —Talking about counting noses, it is some job to do it in Republican circles in Centre county these days. Leaders, lieutenants and rank and file. are all alike. Very few of them will stand still long enough to be tagged with either the Pinchot, Pepper or Vare label. They're all between the devil and the deep sea. They want to be on the winning side and there is no one to tell them which one that will be. —TIt ill becomes Republicans to look with holy horror on the Vare candi- dacy for United States Senator. Vare is no wetter, either personally or offi- cially, than most of the other leaders of their party always were and, be- sides, his present traducers yell their heads off in partisan exultation every- time his Philadelphia machine stuffs enough fraudulent votes into the bal- lot boxes to count one of their party's zandidates in. —Uncle Sam is getting to be so nuch of a tight-wad that patrons of ‘he Bellefonte post-office have every fust reason for registering complaint. When it comes to the point that this lewspaper, which is delivered to the fice before six usday ng afternoon it is time for a shake-up ome where or the employment of nough people in the office to give the ublic adequate service. —Democrats should exercise their wn judgment in voting for nominees or Governor and ‘Senator.’ Because hairman Bigelow and Vance McCor- lick point the finger of preference ) certain aspirants there is no ob- gation on the part of any Democrat » take his or her cue therefrom. he very fundamental of Democracy the expression of the untrammeled ill of the electorate and every action ibversive of that principle works to © destruction, rather than the up- iilding of the party. —The stock market has been in a ump for some weeks and is likely to main there until the middle or end June when it will gather itself to- ther for a rather appreciable rise July. How do we know this? For irty consecutive years we have ent the greater part of the month July in a fishing camp where we ve had little to do but chop wood, ok, wash dishes, catch and clean out and figure out ways of beating 1e big market” game. In all those ars we recall only one when few shares of standard stocks 1ght when we started to camp and d when we came home would not ve yielded enough profit to have d the expenses of the expedition. —We are of the opinion that the gislature of New York is about to a very wise thing. It is apparent- getting ready to take the Prohibi- 1 question out of politics by calling a State-wide referendum. By such rocedure every Assembly and Sen- rial district can vote directly on question and go of record for the dance of those chosen to repre- t it in legislative halls. Then any cessful candidate of any party, ther he be personally wet or dry, id know for a certainty the senti- it of a majority of his constituents vote on prohibition legislation 1 their wishes in view. Were such *ferendum to be held in Pennsyl- ia Centre county would undoubt- " vote dry. That would be notice wmyone seeking legislative honors 1 the county that he would not erly represent his constituents ss he voted dry on any Prohibi- legislation originating at Harris- It would end the tendency to . mediocre men merely because are known to be or have declar- hemselves to be dry. It would the Prohibition question out of ics and stop the inconsistencies lot of dry famatics who shout for enforcement from the back seats ir automobiles while their four- year old boys are sitting’ behind vheel on the front. VOL. 71. Senate Democrats in Agreement. Both wings of the Democratic party | in the United States Senate appear to be “flapping together” in the consid- eration of the Italian debt settlement. On Monday Senator Robinson, of Arkansas, Democratic leader, and Senator Reed, of Missouri, head of the insurgents, spoke on the subject and the only difference in the sentiment expressed was in the language em- ployed. Senator Robinson declared the agreement made by the adminis- tration with Italy was a “cancellation and repudiation, not a settlement,” and Senator Reed characterized it as “giving away the money of the Amer- ican people to our European debtors.” There are a few Democrats in the Senate who for one reason or another favor this palpable deal for the Ital- ian vote in the coming Congressional election. But happily there are more Republicans, not in accord with the administration, who will resist this scheme to trade American interests for Italian votes. Senator Reed called attention to the fact that the adminis- tration promised that “no debtor na- tion would be treated better than Great Britain,” whereas Italy has been favored “at the ratio of eighty- six to twenty-three.” The Italian vote and that of Great Britain in this coun- try is in about the same ratio. The reasons given for the generous terms to Italy are that Italy has been impoverished by the world war and cannot pay more than the meagre sum agreed upon. But as a matter of fact the impoverishment ‘of Italy is not ascribable to the world war. It is due to the militaryism that has taken pos- session of the ‘dominant power in Italy. Senator Robinson declares that the purpose of this element in the life of the people is to provoke and wage BELLEFONTE, PA.. APRIL 2. 192 wars of ‘aggression and: conquest for and John A. Bell, of the now defunct the aggrandizement of Italy. Mus- solini maintains a standing army far beyond the needs of a peaceful pur- pose, and if she can do that she can pay debts. —1It’s lucky that the public mem- ory is short. The evidence brought STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. EARS Mr. Fisher and His Platform. Former Banking Commissioner John 'S. Fisher, of Indiana, the Mellon- i Grundy candidate for the Republican i nomination for Governor, announced his platform at a largely attended public meeting in his home town on Monday evening. After pleading un- qualified support to President Cool- idge he rather fulsomely praised Sec- retary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon, whom he appraises as “a financial leader and genius who had been years in silent preparation for just such a supreme national erisis as the financial aftermath of the world war.” This ought to recompense Mr. Mellon for the favor bestowed on Fisher in hitching him up with Pepper and attaching Grundy to the fortunes of the combination. But the real platform is expressed in a promise to continue the budget system organized by Governor Pin- chot; to “faithfully observe and en- force the provisions of the Eighteenth amendment and all the laws growing out of it; check the rising tide of crime; foster public education, the welfare of the farmers and protect the free use and fair count of the bal- lot.” Finally, he declares, that he “will not bring any undue pressure to influence the freedom of action of the legislative body or the fiscal officers,” which might be construed as an as- persion both on the former Governor | Sproul and the present Governor Pin- chot. It will be remembered that in the closing hours of the session of 1921 there were some “high Jinks” along that line, - These are “fair promises” and prob- ably well meant. But it will likely be remembered that it was during the period in which he exercised control over the banking department of the State that State Treasurer Kephart Carnegie Trust company, juggled the finances of the State. Of course Mr. Fisher was not inculpated in the scandal but he certainly revealed an ‘absence of that vigilance necessary out in the Teapot Dome investigation will be forgotten before that of tho Tariff “Commissisn” SS EONTD Bly Tio Governor Pinchot’s Platform. Governor Pinchot’s platform as can- didate for United. States Senator is brief and to the point. Whether it will appeal to the Republicans of “to check the rising tide of crime.” However the interests that are behind his ambitions measure money by mil- lions and pay little, if any, attention “to trifies of ‘that sort. Having "$861 ohosen, Mr. Vare is boastingly wet, isfied General Atterbury that he “is “safe,” nothing else matters. Pennsylvania is a question. His first : pledge is to “carry out the principles ’ laid down in the Republican national ; platform and President Coolidge’s inaugural address.” This opens up a wide field of conjecture. It goes further than the President himself has gone and promises more than the Re- publicans in Congress have done. Bui in the circumstances it was a neces- sary figure of speech. There will be little objection to his promise to ——Italy has stood for Mussolini for seven years. But Italians are proverbially partial to monkeys and hand organs. ee ——— Senator Reed’s Surprising Claim. When Senator David A. Reed, of Pittsburgh, claimed deduction from his income tax of the amount he had contributed during the tax period to the slush fund of his party consider- able surprise was expressed through- out the State. The income tax law provides for deduction of such sums “strengthen law enforcement and resist every attempt to weaken the existing liquor laws.” His next pledge is to “drive the gang out of control in the Republican party of Pennsylvania.” That is an herculean undertaking. The gang is strongly entrenched. He will find it equally difficult to “secure a national law to punish ballot-box frauds in elections for federal office,” so long as his party controls Congress. He will recommend no one for federal office whom he knows to be unfit, will “stand by the people against the monopolists and gangsters” and will “do his level best to give the people a Roosevelt square deal.” The rest of his platform is made up of “glitter- ing generalities” about justice to farmers, world peace and “conserva- tion of natural resources.” These neatly rounded phrases and briefly paragraphed pledges sound well and possibly are a sincere ex- pression of a fine purpose. But the Governor is not always dependable. When he was a candidate for Govern- or he promised to “clean up the mess” at Harrisburg, but after election set about to form combinations with the crooks in office for his personal ad- vantage. After it was too late to accomplish results he did the best he could to redeem his pledges by calling an extra session of the Legislature but the result was failure. If he had demanded ballot reform legislation during the session of 1923 the ballot thieves of Philadelphia and Pitts- burgh would be less a menace now. ~——-It will be noticed that the big bankers attach no importance to a slump in values amounting to billions during a Republican administration. ——All the parties have candidates for all the offices and it is now up to the voters to pick the fittest for the service. —————————— ——Your enemy never gives short measure in making trouble. as are contributed to churches, chari- ties and educational institutions but makes no mention of contributions to party organizations. = Senator. Reed, being a lawyer, was supposed to be able to accurately interpret = this rather ambiguous Act of Congress ‘and when he set up a claim for ex- emption on account of a fairly liberal donation to the Requblican State and county committees a good many others imagined that they had missed something, In Philadelphia, some years ago, the Republican organization set up a variety of “schools” in which the phantom and other bogus voters were taught how to evade restriction in the election laws and control the results - of elections by fraud. At first it was conjectured that Senator Reed had construed this provision of the in- come tax law as covering such “schools.” But he promptly and frankly disavowed that purpose and openly declared that his claim for ex- emption on his campaign contribu- tions was based on an entirely differ- ent and much more substantial foun- dation. He claimed the exemption on the ground that it was a necessary or reasonable item of expense incurred in his business. The income tax law provides for certain deductions on account of busi- ness expenses. For example, interest on capital employed, rents, deprecia- tion in values, repairs of automobiles and other vehicles used in the ‘opera- tion of the business, clerk hire and wages of labor employed. Senator Reed, being counsel for various in- dustrial trusts and concerned in the prosperity of several manufacturing plants, in and about Pittsburgh, rea- sons that the continued control of the Republican machine is essential to the prosperity of his business and his con- tribution to the slush fund of that party is a legitimate part of the ex- penses of his business. It was a bold step but Reed is a daring person. elec ——Now that April is here we are entitled to expectations of more spring-like weather, Obviously some of the leading pro- hibition advocates are influenced more by party prejudice than moral prin- “ciples in their attitude on the pending contest between Senator Pepper and Governor Pinchot with respect to the , enforcement of ' prohibition laws, . fundamental and statutory. For ex- ample, the Rev. Dr. Watchorn, chair- jman of the Temperance committee ‘and others of the Methodist confer- "ence, accept Mr. Pepper’s perfunctory | statement that “I am under a con- stitutional duty imposed upon me in | the name of all the people to doall I [can to effectuate the prohibitory poli- 'ey,” as a perfect balance for Governor | Pinchot’s militant service of a life (time in the interest of prohibition ! principles and legislation. | Senator Pepper is a fine lawyer, a i ripe scholar and an intelligent public | official. In many respects he may be | better equipped for the service in | Which he hopes to continue than the Governor. But in allegiance to the cause of prohibition, in effort and | achievement in preaching and practic- ing total abstinence, he is not in, or any way near, the same class. During the three years of Governor Pinchot’s | administration Senator Pepper has not uttered a word or emitted a sound that directly or indirectly promoted the purpose of “driving the saloons out cf Pennsylvania,” to which the Governor has dedicated his mental and physical energies constantly. The temperance leaders have a right to preference but false pretense is “bad form.” We admit that prohibition is a poor standard upon which to measure the fitness of candidates for Senator in Congress. Total abstinence is a virtue of much value but not a com- plete qualification for Senatorial ser- vice. There have been distinguished and efficient Senators who indulged, and some time too frequently, in the if that standard is to be accepted or adopted in the selection of a Repub- lican candidate for Senator in P be no. question Fram Pepper complacently moist and Pin- chot an energetic crusader, a veritable “hot spur” in the cause of prohibi- tion. ’ re —— i ————— ——A recent issue of the Morgan- town W. Va., Post carriers an inter- esting story of the blowing away of an entire mountain top near the plant of the Greer Limestone Co., at Greer, in that State. It was an experimental blast ip that it was made by tunnels into the side of the mountain, rather than from a series of drill holes from the surface. 6,375 pounds of dyna- mite and black powder constituted the charge and when it was set off the mountain top just seemed to heave up and then settled back into place, a pulverized mass of rock ready to be handily removed by the steam shovels used in the operation. This is the plant of which David J. Kelly, form- erly of Bellefonte, is making so much of a success of as manager. tet comme pees ——A mail robbery of three years’ standing was cleared up last Thurs- day with the arrest in Mansfield, Ohio, of Daniel 8. Hoover, reported to be the son of a minister. On March 27th, 1923, the sum of $12,000 was stolen from a mail pouch while in transit from Colver, Cambria coun- ty, to Ebensburg. The robbery oc- curred on a gasoline car in use on the Cambria and Indiana railroad on which Hoover was a demonstrator, and although he was suspected it took federal agents three years to gather i sufficient evidence to warrant his ar- j rest. Over $2,900 of the stolen cash | has been recovered. elmer —Ten counties produced over [half of Pennsylvania’s 1925 wheat crop and Centre county was not | among them. They were all south- : eastern counties and they averaged from 28.2 bushels per acre in Lancas- ter county, down to 19.2 bushels per acre in Berks, | ——ge —DMore people might be in sympa- thy with “modification” if they were convinced that that’s all the modifi- cationists are after. Se — i e———— ——The Governor of New Jersey ; wisely believes that forty-five years 18 too. long a period between a crime and the punishment. Ee — i ——— It may now be said that the pretense of the Duke of Orleans to a throne in France was not only false but futile. Ee ————— x ——That Cornelia would be’ brought (into the Senatorial contest was in- i evitable. Cornelia can’t stay out of anything. i { 6. Pepper, Pinchot and Prohibition. | exhilaration of the “flowing cup.” But | red engsylvania this. year there can | ‘guestion a to which of the many committees, cities. in the same State; experience. three complete laws, hicles where there rural roads 35 miles. being reserved Af OF far main—first, to procure “uriformity i through their enactment by all States i and municipalities, and second, their without which’ e in safety, As tly said, there persistent co- operation by the entire public if there 13 to be a reduction in the highway “the criminally reckless, the negligent and the incom- strict enforcement, must be intelligent, hazards caused by petent.,” eral, tion. ness. with the public. retired. Department or partisan hate, of course, posed purposes. tice against Wheeler. few over six hundred, Uniform Traffic Laws. From The Philadelphia Record. If complete records could be ub- lished daily of the persons killed injured in traffic accidents in the U' 1 ed States they would look like the casualty lists of the great war. For that reason every community, and in- deed, every citizen, is deeply concern- ed in the program for reducing these dreadful losses which has been form- ulated by the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety. This body, with its 1000 delegates repre- senting the Governments of 46 States, scores of municipalities and many civic organizations and transporta- tion interests, has just held its second annual meeting in Washington, the sessions covering three ‘days. plan, the result of two years’ work by embodies a model traffic code which will be recommend- ed for adoption by all the States and As Secretary Hoover told the con- ference, there is obvious formity of traffic laws States and as among municipalities h and it is equally manifest that the regulations should apply the principles learned by the He declared that in States which have adopted scientific measures of control the ratio of acei- dents is lower by 25 per cent. than in those with backward laws. The code recommended: ¢ drafted by ex- perts, the first covering the registra- tion of vehicles and titles, the second the licensing of operators and chauf- feurs, the third the operation of wve- on the highways. After ¢on- siderable debate the conference fixe 16 years as the minimum age drivers of automobiles. States the limit is now 15 six States it is 14, and twelye States’ have no age restriction. would make the maximum business districts 20 ‘miles an where there is traffic contr is mo control, - Te I By a close vote it was recommended that on cars sold henceforth the tail lights be ye for the w. “stop” lights. The conference ui strict regulation of pedestrain tr with fines for violators, “i The drafting of these laws vey pre- sents a work of high value. Yet: greater . need for uni- as among the | cians. | dors of the hospital. there can be no advane Secretary Hoover jus reall ————— Information the Public Should Have. From The Pittsburgh Post. The call upon the Department of Justice by the Senate, by a vote of sixty-one to thirteen, for an account- ing of the money spent in the cution of Senator Wheeler, of Mon- tana, deals with a subject upon which the public should have light. recalls the unhappy administration of Harry M. Daugherty as attorney gen- Wheeler: headed the Senate committee that inquired into charges against the Daugherty administra- While that investigation was at its height the Department of Jus- ice obtained an indictment of Wheeler in Montana on charges of misusing his cfficial influence in private busi- At the time Wheeler flatly de- clared the prosecution a designed to discredit his tion of the attorney gener: tigators were declared to ha sent into Montana to “get Wheeler.” Accordingly the case never sat well Fears were raised that the Department of Justice was being used to vent a private grudge or serve a mean partisan purpose. This impression was deepened when body after body that inquired into Wheeler’s record exonerated him. The United States Senate cleared him so far as it was concerned, and finally, when the case was put on trial in Montana, the Senator was acquitted. Still the Department of Justice pur- sued him, and even after Daugherty It would be a frightful thing if the supposed to ost dignified which is serve justice in the m and most impartial manner should fall in any instance to such a mean use as that of a weapon for private At the same time, the pubic money is sup- to be used strictly for public The public has the right to know how much of its money went into the undignified and futile pro- ceedings of the Department of Jus- — pA ——Maybe if the Republican ma- chine were less opposed to Governor Pinchot those Philadelphia clergymen would estimate the relative merits of the Governor and the Senator as Pro- hibitionists differently, ° i min i ——Fishermen evidently have not started the rush to procure their li- censes. Up to Wednesday county SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. ~—There- now -are. 74 cases of typhoid fever in New Milford, which has a pop- ulation of 660. —Sixty locomotives, involving an ex- penditure of $2,000,000, will be built by the Pennsylvania Railroad at its Altoona shops. $ —DMorrison Firth, 17, of Chester, was held up and beaten by two highwaymen as he was returning home, and robbed of $15, a watch and valuables. He was found unconscious by John Sloan, a neighbor. —Awakened by a noise in his bed-room, Daniel McKinney, a Chester patrolman, found a burglar ransacking his house. Rushing to grab his gun, the patrolman found that the burglar, who escaped, also had the weapon. —An alleged attempt of a mother to kill herself and four other members of the family is now being investigated by the Reading police as the result of the finding of the family of five near asphyxiation at their home there. —Jewelry and clothing, including two shotguns, a revolver and a diamond neck- lace, valued at $1500, were taken from the home of Dr. G. Cherry, of Ambler, by thieves who gained entrance through a rear cellar door. Pleading guilty to shooting and killing Floyd Craft, 23, several weeks ago, Louis Chambrone, of Carbondale, was sentenced to serve from ten to twenty years in the Eastern Penitentiary, after the court fixed the degree at second degree murder. —Mrs. Violet Clayberger, Fisher's Ferry, near Sunbury, was last week awarded $3563.50 by the State Compensation Board for the death of her husband, who con- tracted tuberculosis while at work in the Cameron anthracite mines at Shamokin. —Two months after the office of the Norristown Machine Works was broken into and ransacked, George Scott, negro, of Bridgeport, was arrested and confessed to police that he stole $250 from a desk of C. W. Gardner, superintendent of the plant. —Just as he had finished singing “Near- er My. God to Thee” in Lenten services at St. Mary’s Church in Erie last Friday night, Prof. Alexander Senger, soloist and vocal instructor, dropped dead. A sud- den attack of heart disease was the cause of death. —Mrs. Mary D. Camwell, a former clerk inthe Midland Savings and Trust com- pany bank, at” Beaver, Pa, was convicted by a jury last Thursday on embezzlement ‘| and forgery charges involving $5,200 of. funds of the institution. The indictment against Mrs. Camwell contained 218 counts. The jury was ‘composed of seven women and five men. : —Salvatore Vereria of Girardville, Pa., is Hving with a bullet in his heart. He is at the Fountain Springs hospital, where an X-ray on Friday showed that the bul- let is being constantly whirled about his heart as it beats. Vereria was shot Feb- ruary 12. He apparently has recovered | from the effects of the shooting, but is be- ing detained for observation by physi He is able to be about the corri-. —Stating in a will probated at Doyles- town, on Saturday, that his wife tried to, ; gotaon him: twenty-three “years ago, and Becatise she {hire years #g0 cooked ‘the méals for his family without salt, result- ing in sickness he claims to be the cause of death of one of his children, George Kasparitis, who died ‘at his home in Ben- salem township, Bucks county, on March 7, has put off his wife from a share in the estate, valued at $21,500. The will, dated February 10, 1926, lists the personal prop- erty at $6500 and real estate, a farm, at $15,000. Three daughters shure the estate. They are Anna, Elsie, and Mary Kaspari- tis. —Charles Baranowski, aged 11, of Scran- ton, was awarded a verdict of $20,000 in Common Pleas court last Saturday against the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley rail- road for loss of an arm and burns about the body. The boy tripped and fell on the heavily charged third rail of the Laurel Line railroad, owned by the Lack- awanna company, and was later run down by a passenger train near the Virginia station in June, 1923. The third rail Sys- tem operates between that city and Wilkes-Barre. The boy’s father, John Baranowski, was given a verdict of $5000. Former Governor William C. Sproul is president of the Laurel line. —Northumberland county commissioners appealed to the Supreme court on Monday from an order of Judge Whitehead, of Lycoming county, especially presiding, that it join with Union county in building a $600,000 bridge across the Susquehanna river, between Watsontown and White Deer. The allegation of Northumberland county, is that the structure would not be used by 200 persons a week, that the county which it would serve is sparsely settled, and that the building of such a structure would impoverish Union county for many years te come. It'is also de- clared that it is not necessary as a good bridge exists four miles on either side. —*I love you—but I am going to take my life as well as the baby’s” Mrs. Helen Geressy, 19 years old, of Florida street, Farrell, wrote the above brief message on Monday morning to her husband, Steve Geressy, and leaving it where he would find it when he returned from work, dressed her 10-day-old son and went to Sharon. Two hours later with the child nestling in her arms, she climbed the rail and poising momentairly plunged to death in the cold waters of the Shenango river below Budd street bridge in the latter city. Policemen and firemen found her body a half hour later near the bridge, but efforts to revive her were futile. An hour later the body of the infant was found two miles down-stream. —Mystery attends the disappearance of Mrs. Florence Wrigley, 32 years old and mother of six children, who has been miss- ing from her home in Clearfield since Tuesday March 16. Police have searched Tyrone, Altoona and Willamsport. They say they have discovered that the woman participated in a party with two strange men and a woman, on the night of her disappearance, and have traced her to Woodland, ten miles away. Men who ad- mitted they were in her company, told the police she had refused to leave; their automobile when they attempted to take her home, but after coaxing her at length, she asked to be taken to a store to make 2 purchase before going home. This was done and from the point where she léft treasurer Heverly had issued only a the "antomobile, police have lost all trace of her.