INK SLINGS. . ——After the primaries are over baseball will get more attention. ° —Talking about the eternal fitness of things how about its being a Byrd that was first to fly over the North pole. —Up to this writing we know from our observation that the frosts have not damaged either the plums or cherries in some parts of Centre coun- ty. —By way of explaining the large amount of political advertising in this jssue we merely pause to say that they pay us the money and you take your choice. —The only reason we’d like to see Vare nominated next Tuesday is that then there might be a chance for Pennsylvania to send a real Senator to Washington in the person of Wil- liam B. Wilson. —Mrs. Pinchot toured Centre coun- ty on Wednesday. A very pleasing woman is the Governor's lady and Gif will be doing her an injustice if, after he hears the returns of the primaries he gets it into his head that he sent a boy to do a man’s work up here. Four years have made a great change In Centre’s estimate of Pinchot. —The coming of Mr. Secretary Mellon to the hustings of Pennsylva- nia proves our statement of last week that the Pepper--Fisher ticket doesn’t have everything its own way, as its sponsors would have the public be- lieve. It must be a very real extrem- ity that has scared Andy MeHon into making a campaign speech. He never .did such a thing before. — Should brother Dorworth deliver Centre county as unanimously into the Pepper--Fisher camp as his last week’s Pittsburgh interview indicates he intends doing we want to tell you right here that a new Republican boss will have appeared on the scene. Ap-. plications for jobs in Washington and Harrisburg won't amount to much then unless they have “0. K.” C. E. D. scribbled on them somewhere. —How are the Prohibition folks of Centre county, who are rushing in to the Pepper-Fisher-Smith camp, in order to beat Vare, who is already beaten, going to square it with their own consciences? Colonel Smith, edi- tor of a Democratic paper in Wilkes- Barre, and Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, because it was thought he could help Pepper and Fisher by being on their ticket, ad- mitted by letter to Governor Pinchot, under date of July 11, 1923, that he hadn’t then convinced himself that he > e water Colonel's ‘admission was ‘the ho thing to do. But what we are trying to get at is this: Prohibitionists are being deceived. The real fight ‘among the Republicans of Pennsylvania isn’t one of enforcement of the Volstead act or its modification, or support of “The Grand Old Flag” and President ‘Coolidge. Its for political supremacy in the State. There’s not a candidate to be nominated next Tuesday whose election would make the country any drier or wetter than it is right now. —The Republican mind has always been an enigma to us. It seems to have such a pitiful estimate of grey matter that happens to be stored away in any other cranium than one begotten of Republicanism. Here they are in Pennsylvania, washing their dirty linen, calling one another every- thing but honest gentlemen, exposing their party corruption and proving beyond question its present unfitness to represent Pennsylvania in any way. And, after next Tuesday, if we should happen to refer to any of these little exposures, our Republican friends will look us squarely in the eyes and say: “Where’d you get that idea?” “You must be dreaming.” They know we're not, however. They’ll all turn in to elect whoever is nominated on their ticket and look on us as a half-wit when we quote their own language to show that their candidates are unfit for office. No God, don’t turn Repub- licans into Democrats, but please {urn enough Republicans into men and women big and broad enough to see that the welfare of a great State amounts to more than a struggle over who is to boss it and scatter the poli- tical manna around. —Nine years ago we sat in the Bellevue-Stratford, in Philadelphia, and listened to George Wharton Pep- per Esq., eminent lawyer and church- man, extol President Wilson. He talked with tears as big as horse chestnuts in his voice and so holy like that we looked for vestments and acolytes. Then this man, who had impressed us as being some-one more than ordinary, was appointed to repre- sent Pennsylvania in the Senate of the United States. Almost the first thing he did there was to vote against the unseating of Truman H. Newberry. ‘The next was to curry favor with his present opponent’s gang by assuring them that he was so much of their ilk that he wasn’t “afraid to spit in the eye of a bull dog.” Then he joined forces with those in the Senate to prevent the consummation of the very things that he had extolled President Wilson for attempting. We are not urging Republicans to vote for Pinchot or Vare. We are only telling those of them who happen to read this paragraph that Senator Pepper is in our mind—if he was sincere as we thought him to be in 1917—one willing to sacrifice principles for polit- ical expediency. wagon. The Innovation in Political Life For the first time in the history of the government the administration at Washington is committed to activity in primary politics. Other Presidents and other “leading” Cabinet members have written and occasionally spoken in campaigns for the general elec- tions. But “taking the stump” by the President or Cabinet officials in a contest between members of their own party nomination is an innovation, the good or evil of which remains to be seen. In such contests the rule has been for the high party officials to ap- pear neutral. There may have been preferences but they were so care- fully concealed as to be inoffensive. But this year it is different. This fact may be ascribed to unusual party conditions or attributed to tempera- mentally different officials. In any event it has been announced that President Coolidge will take part in the contest for Senator in Congress for Massachusetts in behalf of his friend, Senator Butler, chairman of the Republican National committee, and that Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon will make the first political speech of his life in the in- terest of Pepper and Fisher, candi- dates for Senator and Governor on the Mellon ticket, in this State. This event will be staged at Pittsburgh this (Friday) evening and he will put the moral as well as material support of the administration behind the so- called Mellon ticket. There is no written law against this procedure and custom cuts no figure when the matter of self- pre- servation is concerned. But the inno- vation suggests a frenzied state of mind both in Washington and in the localities to be affected. If the ad- ministration were certain of its place in public confidence it would hardly resort to the unusual methods about to be adopted, and if President Cool- idge were not obsessed with an ambi- tion to succeed himself he would hard- ly shatter the traditions of American politics as he proposes to do. Be- sides, “the game may not be worth the candle.” Butler may be nominated and the Mellon ticket succeed at the primary and«be beaten at the general election. Vicious Proposition Blocked. ° The Democratic Senators in Con- gress recently blocked the most im- pudent as well as the most dangerous movement in the direction of central- ization that has ever been attempted. For many years it has been a custom in Congress to group the several bills appropriating funds for public build- ings and approved by the proper coin- mittee in a “blanket” measure. This year the idea was conceived to ignore the recommendations of Senators and Representatives in the matter of pub- lic buildings and make an appropria- tion of a couple of hundred million dollars to be placed in the hands of Secretary of the Treasury Mellon to be spent at his discretion. The Dem- ocratic Senators opposed and defeat- ed the scheme. . The public building bills and river and harbor measures, appropriately named “the pork barrel,” have always been a source of graft out of which has grown many foul-smelling scan- dals. By log-rolling methods vast sums have been drawn from the treas- ury on appropriations to build struc- tures that were not needed and im- prove streams that were of no use for any purpose other than supplying campaign funds for the Senator or Representative who sponsored them. But bad as that system is the proposi- tion to vestinan individual the power to erect buildings at any cost wherever his fancy led him to bestow the favor is infinitely worse. That is precise- 3 what the attempt had in contempla- ion. Mr. Secretary Mellon has certainly and suddenly come into popular favor among the Republican politicians. One of the candidates of the party for Governor asks for support on the ground that “the Mellon leadership” depends upon his nomination. A ean- didate for Senator in Congress pro- tests that his nomination is essential “to preserve the leadership of Mr. Mellon.” Newspaper writers have come to the habit of referring to “the Mellon party” as an entity in polities. These gestures are harmless, however. They mean little or nothing. But placing a couple of hundred million dollars in the control of Mr. Mellon to do with as he liked would mean a whole lot. It would make him the Czar rather than leader. retest fp fen. seem We hate to disturb the pleasant expectations of anybody but Pepper and Vare will be sadly disappointed in their expectations of getting a con- siderable part of the miners’ votes. ——Mr. Mellon will probably be rudely shocked when he finds that many of the purchasable voters re- fuse to “stay bought.” STATE RIGHTS AN Campaign Talk “Through the Hat.” In Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago, Charles H. Kline, Mayor of that city, addressed a group of municipal employees in a public meeting, called to promote the interests of a faction, in which he said, according to press reports, “let me tell you, it doesn’t require any intelligence to cheat. But the only unfortunate part of it will be that it will take me only to May 19 to find out who did cheat, and if then I find out a man who cheated— notwithstanding we have civil service in Pittsburgh—I would not keep him five minutes after I have discovered it.” This was clearly a violation of the civil service law of the State as well as the primary election law. Governor Pinchot promptly called the attention of the Attorney General to the misdemeanor and it is said that the Mayor will be arrested. The State committee, who is an un-oppos- ed candidate for the Legislature in Cameron county, declares that he will inaugurate proceedings to impeach Mayor Kline immediately after the opening of the session of 1927. But the offending Mayor is not the least bit worried. He feels that this is campaign talk which will be forgotten after the election and knows that if this expectation is disappointed a Pittsburgh jury will not convict him in the courts and a Republican Senate will not impeach him. Besides his friends allege that Gov- ernor Pinchot has been employing the same methods and for that reason neither the Attorney General nor the Pinchot-for-Governor chairman will be eager to agitate the matter after election. It is true that the charges against the Governor are not so spe- cific. They allege that he has written letters to State employees demanding “loyalty,” and that a certain clerk in the State Department was dismissed because he refused to work for Pin- chot. But none of the letters have been printed and a statement has been made that the discharged employe was inefficient. Still the accusations persist and serve as a buffer against the counter charges, . ; EE : i . ———— Ap ns, ——Hundreds of people lined south r Shab % 4 looking at the big trout in Spring creek and viewing the surroundings of the town’s big spring. Just now the big trout are upstream in large num- bers and are a great attraction for motoring parties going through Belle- fonte. The Great Strike in England The labor strike in England may civil war. The latest information indicates a strengthening of the purpose as well as an expansion of the numbers of the strikers. Be- ginning with a force of 3,000,000, which has since increased to probably 5,000,000, it has caused an army of unemployed of 1,000,000 to increase to 10,000,000. Appeals to sympathy are increasing the striking force con- stantly and adding to the unemployed in the same ratio. There have been meetings and marches throughout the city of London but thus far little vio- lence has been reported and up until Monday only one arrest made. Fortunately there is little inclina- tion shown among the labor organi- zations of this country to interfere in the trouble. President Green, of the American Federation of Labor, promptly expressed sympathy with the purpose of the strikers but with- held any promise of material help. That, he intimated, is a matter for the separate lodges to determine. But he clearly expressed an absence of sym- pathy with “sympathetic strikes.” That form assumes the nature of op- position to the government and Mr. Green adds “public opinion in Great Britain might support the workers in their demand for the redress of just grievances, whereas it would solidly support the government in its effort to maintain control.” From the meagre information ob- tainable it would seem that the coal miners of Great Britain have just cause of complaint against the at- tempt to reduce wages. Their work 1s not only hazardous but onerous and there has been no decrease in the cost of living to justify a cut in the rate of wages. But no patriotic people will sacrifice their government in order to secure even just demands for a group, however considerable in size it may be. If the strikers resort to violence they will fail while, if they press their claims by peaceful methods, they will likely succeed. In that case there if be generous help from this coun- ry. tm —If the world ever finds out what was accomplished by that lonig drawn out hearing on the wet and dry issue there will be much rejoic- ing. chairman of the Pinchot-for-Governor | D FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE. PA.. MAY 14. 1926. "Mr. Bailey Still Has a Chance. The refusal of the House committee on elections to grant Warren Worth Bailey’s request to open all the ballot boxes of the election of 1924 and re- count the vote does not entirely de- stroy hopes of justice in the determi- nation of the contest. The question of discrepancies in the returns in the districts of which the boxes were opened and the votes recounted is yet to be determined, and if the result re- vealed by the recount is approved the seat must be awarded to Mr. Bailey. The official returns gave Mr. Walters a small majority. The recount re- versed this result but the courts, for partisan reasons, decided that the re- count was illegal. The recount having shown that Mr. Bailey had a majority of the votes legally cast it is not easy to imagine how the judges arrived at the opinion that his opponent was legally elected. But that is precisely what happened, for the certificate of election was given to Mr. Walters and he has been occupying the seat and exercising the functions of an honestly elected Con- gressman, including the drawing of i the salary, ever since. But if the ; committee recounts the ballots in the ! disputed districts, as the chairman de- clares it is the purpose to do, the election of Mr. Bailey will be shown unless the contents of the boxes have Water street, on Sunday afternoon, develope into a cruel and devastating | : been tampered with since. | Taking one consideration with an- ! other, however, it is a matter of no | great importance what the committee ' dees. An adverse decision will be an | outrage against justice, will rob Mr. Bailey of his just emolument as a | member of Congress and give official ! sanction to a most villainous violation of the election laws. But it will make Mr. Bailey's election to the next Con- gress and every future Congress so long as he lives and has a desire to remain a member of the House abso- lutely certain. He has been renomi- ‘nated by the Democrats of the district | and a vast majority of the voters will : show their resentment against the | wrong perpetrated by putting his ma- , Jority far out of reach of partisan { Da - { ——A Washington correspondent has made the statement that Secre- ‘tary Hoover declined to express an ‘opinion on pending legislation be- cause it concerned another depart- ment. That is the surprise of the - period. i i 1 1 ——Some of the prohibition leaders are unable to see any difference be- tween Pinchot and Pepper, and it is not impossible that the Mellon mil- | lions have thrown gold dust in their eyes. a ema gis ——Thermometers in Bellefonte on Tuesday morning were down to within two degrees of the frost line, while a few of the colder sections of the county reported a very decided frost, om ————— A ———————— ——Every Democrat in Centre | county ought to vote for the candi- dates of his or her choice next Tues- day. A full vote shows the right spirit. : 4 mr ———y el tree ——1It is estimated that the labor strike in England will cost this coun- try $27,750,000 a week. That is a high price to pay for other people’s folly. Win or lose Senator Pepper may amuse himself after the primary figuring out whether Max Leslie or Bishop Berry rendered the better ser- vice. ecm em e— ——1It may be predicted that after next Tuesday the interesting corres- pondence between “Dear George* and “Dear Gifford” will be discontinued. ——With Congress split between the McNary-Haugen bill and the Tincher measure the agricultural in- terests may get no help at all. ——-Looking back fifty years recalls the fact that when the centennial ex- position opened on the 10th of May, it was an unfinished plant. ——Probably the Senate favors the Tincher bill because the President has expressed a preference for the McNary-Haugen bill. ——The achievement of Mr. Byrd has not diverted Amundson from his purpose. He is going on with his trip over the pole. ——Tener appears to be the’ only candidate: who' is getting real enjoy- ment out of the campaign. ; ——There is no exaggeration in saying. that Richard E. B is “a bird iii Fd Nhs NO. 20. The Loss of Paper Profits. From the Philadelphia Record. Congressman Jacobstein, who does not hail from the corn belt, but from Rochester, N. Y., evoked the applause of his colleagues by his discussion of the farm relief bills from an econo-. mic standpoint. We regret that so. little of his speech got into the news~ papers, but in due time we shall get But one statement of his does get in- to the news of the day. It is that the farmers have lost $13,000,000,600 in the last five years. . This is evidently based upon the contraction of the values of erops and farm land in the past five years. If Mr. Jacobstein had gome back six or seven years he might have figured the losses even greater. The war boom of farming reached its height probably in 1918 or 1919, and could hardly have been later than 1920. The shrinkage of price and the decline in farm values since that date have been very marked. .But this shrinkage is simply a part of the restoration of the world from the chaos and confu- sion of the great war to. peace and ap- proximately normal conditions. The farms produce as much és they did in 1920, but their paper value has declined radically, because the peo- ple of Europe have stopped fighting and resumed farming, and it is not necessary to feed them . from this country. Mr. Haugen thinks peace is a calamity to the farmers, and he is trying to provide a substitute, which he admits will raise the cost of living to a very large proportion of the urban population, which is not nearly so well off as the farmers. The value of farm lands in the en- tire United States, exclusive of build- ings, implements and livestock, was a little over 18 billions in 1900, and a good deal over 28 billions in 1910, This takes no note of the increased value of farm buildings, equipment and livestock. In 1920 the value of the land alone was nearly 56 billions. The increase in the value of farm lands in the decade durihg which the war occurred was $26,354,000,000, That increase is more than double the value of all farm lands in 1900. That is a good deal of an increase. If we include the value of buildings, imple- ments and livestock the egate farm property increased fi over 20 billions in 1900 to very nearly 41 000,000,000 -in. 1920. This -epormous increase in the last decade is clearly due to the war, which was on the whole and to the world a calamity, but a perfect windfall to the Ameri- can farmer. He could not expect the war to go on indefinitely, and he has no equitable claim to the main- tenance of war conditions. : Take that conspicuous item in the corn belt, the State of Iowa. The acre- age of farms from 1900 on has varied little. The number of farms has de- creased slightly, indicating a little increase in the size of the average farm. Some of the farmers have bought out their neighbors. The value of farm lands in 1920, without buildings, implements or ' livestock, was $6,679,020,577. The value had very much more than doubled since 1910, when it was only $2,801,978,- 729. The increased value of farm lands in 10 years was $3,877,047,000, There may be better businesses than farming, but these figures do not suggest it. The valué of farm lands in 1900 was only $1,256,751,980. In each of the last two decades the value has considerably more than doubled. In 1920 it was a great deal more than double what it was 10 years before, and well over five times as great as it was 20 years before. The trouble with the corn belt is sim- ply that the war is over, and that the values created by the war have been shrinking. Is the entire urban population to be heavily tvxed in or- der to keep war profits of agriculture up to the world war level ? ———— iene Status of the Polar Air Expeditions. From the Philadelphia Inquirer. ; The relentless opposition of the elements in the Arctic and the factor of luck which seems so essential to any success in exploration there are evidenced by the situation as the dir- igible Norge arrived at King’s Bay, Spitzbergen, and made fast to the mooring mast erected for it. Wilkins, who “had the jump” ap- parently on all his competitors a few weeks ago and * was preparing to take off by airplane from a base at Point Barrow, Alaska, on the shore of the Beaufort Sea, is smashed. One plane; the Alaskan, with which he had made the round trip of more than 1050 miles between Fairbanks and Point Barrow several times, has been damaged in a landing accident. A second has been unable to get over the Alaskan Mountains. Also Wil- kins has to contend with a broken arm and - apparently a partly jettisoned store of supplies which were being sent to Point Barrow. Commander Byrd, heading the American airplane expedition based on Spitzbergen, has had a test flight with one plane and is ready for the first fair weather to “hop” to North Greenland. - Amundsen and Ellsworth have little choicé apparently but to take advantage of the first “fair breeze” and make their dash over the polar area in the dirigible Norge, Weather conditions in Spitzbergen are not particularly favorable to the continued presence of a large dirigible moored to a mast. : SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —The banks of Berwick and Nescopeck have decided to close Wednesdays through the summer at noon. : —John Stauffer, aged 67, of Lititz, died in the hospital at Lebanon from a frac- ture Sustained when his car was ditched. —The West Hazleton School Board has awarded to Buecher Brothers the contract to erect a five room and auditorium annex to the high school for $67,000. —Rev. Thomas Philips, of the First Baptist church will preach the baccalaure- ate sermon to the 92 graduates of the Lewistown High schools, June 6. —Vietor: Sehernek, aged 20, of Erie coun- ty, was killed late Wednesday when a tractor which he was operating on his father’s farm near there, turned over, pin- ning him beneath it. Young Schernek’s neck and back were broken. —A: new fish hatchery is to be built by the State about 25 miles north of Bedford. R. N. Buller, sectreary of fisheries, with Chief Engineer J. S. Ross of the fisheries department, has started a survey of the site- at Sprimg Meadow, which will be pur- chased for $15,000. all of it in The Congressional Record. T —Johm Beal, 35 years old, employed at the Spase Slate Grinding company at Delta, Pa., was instantly killed on Satur- day aftermoon when a poker, with which he was attempting to clean the flue of a steam shovel, came in contact with an overhead high tension wire. He was dead when fellow workmen reached him. ‘—Someone stole 75 hens from the coop. of Mrs. Emma Brown in Hickernell, Crawford county. Her husband died recently and she has six young children to care for. Neighbors have donated 60 hens to, replen- ish her loss. A short time ago a large number of chickens were stolen from the Crawford County Old Ladies’ and Chil- drens’ Home. —Nick Delbianco, 23 years eld, of Blair county, married on May first was admit- ted to a hospital in Altoona last Satur- day suffering from self-inflicted knife wounds in the breast. During the bride's absence that morning he is said to have placed the knife against his chest and used a rolling pin, to drive it in. His con- dition is serious, —On the eve of the day he was to aps pear in court at Norristown as a defend- ant in a damage suit, Howard C. Cress- man, of Perkasie, lost his life in the ma- chinery of a tractor he was operating on his farm there. He was hurrying te com- plete his work. The suit against Cressman was the result of an automobile e¢ollision and was brought by Katie D. Greer. —“The Delaware whipping post should be established in Westmoreland county for men who run off with other men's wives,” Judge William T. Dom observed in criminal court Saturday when George Menzi of Unity township, was arraigned before him. Menzi admiited he ran off with a neighbor's wife and lived with her for several weeks, He was fined $100 and costs, —Three oil tanks and four oil wells were completely destroyed Sunday night in a forest fire that burned over more than a score of acres on the J. J. Sheasley lease, [between Bully Hill and Ajax, four miles south of Franklin. Lease men, Boy scouts and State fire wardens battled for four hours to coptrel the blaze, bui were nu. able to save the power house, The loss will exceed $20,000, A verdict of $8,585.50 against the York Railways company was returned by a jury on Saturday in favor of Emma G. Ness, of Mt. Wolf ; Elwood R. Ness and Florence R. Ness, her son and daughter-in-law, The suit was the result of an accident which occurred July 4, 1923, in Brookside park, where A. H. Ness, husband of Emma G. Ness, was killed, and Emma and Florence Ness were injured. —Miss Gertrude Deibler, a teacher in the public schools of Shamokin, is round- ing out her fiftieth year on the staff of teachers. With the ending of the present term, May 28, Miss Deibler will have comni- pleted a half century of service in the Shamokin school district. Miss Deibler started in the fall term of the year 1878 {aching the primary grades and at pres- ent is teaching the junior high, or seventh and eighth grades in the Grant school on North Shamokin street, ~ —Although April 30 was the date set when the gates of the enclosure which heid in captivity a big bull elk at the John Campbell farm, near Sandy Run, Pa., were opened, the animal declines to leave the premises. He arrived in February, 1925, and the State furnished the wire fencing to protect him thorugh the game and the blizzard seasons. As was the case last spring and summer, the elk is drawing auto parties from several States, and he likes the apples, potatoes and other food the visitors bring. —Mrs. Lillie Reed, of Milroy, Pa., has been released from the Mifflin county jail by order of president judge Thomas F. Bailey under a writ of habeas corpus on the grounds that the manner of arrest and centents of the commitment lacked essen- tial legal requirements to imprison a wo- man for taxes. Walter Reed, tax collec- tor of Armaugh township, was the prose- cutor. Mrs. Reed owed taxes for three years, county tax 84 cents, school tax $15, and road tax $1.08, with the 5 per cent. added, 85 cents, made a total of $17.77. —An appeal was allowed by the court of Columbia county last Saturday to C. A. Raseley, proprietor of West Side Park, at Berwick, from a fine of $50 imposed by Burgess Kitchen, for violation of the borough ordinance imposing a license fed of $10 on dances and ordering them to close at midnight. Rageley kept the Wed- nesday night dance going until 1 a. m. and appealed from the fine. Judge Evans granted a rule to show cause why the or- dinance should not be modified. Raseley alleges the borough to be without power to regulate the closing time of dances. —Two Somerset county men who tried to move a stubborn yearling heifer by building a fire under the animal are now charged by the State Forestry Department for the costs of a forest fire extinction. According to reports H. P, Hay and Sher- man Berkley were leading a yearling heifer along a road. The creature either got tired or stubborn and refused to go any farther. They coaxed and used every means of persuasion to get her to move, but without avail. They concluded to build a fire near her and compel her to move. The fire not only moved the heifer, but spread to adjoining forest land. Hay and Berkley will pay the bill for cost of extinction.