k — INK SLINGS. —Valentino is done as a sheik. Who ever heard of a desert idol being minus an appendix? Rudolph had his cut out on Monday. ——Senator Borah, of Idaho, de- nouncing the slush money in the Penn- sylvania p-imary, declared “expendi- tures of money in elections is a fear- ful national evil.” ——The President announces that he is perfectly willing to meet Mr. Flaherty, of the Knights of Columbus, and confirm whatever Secretary of State Kellog has said in a previous meeting. —Anyway Fanny Hurst was not re- ferring to us when she said that the ‘resentment of France, against Amer- icans, is not so much because of the debt settlement as because of the up- pishness of our visitors to that coun- try. —“Sheriff” Shearer said that Hen. Kline sweat so much, while pa- rading with his pet fire company, the Undines, in the Tyrone parade, that the sewers of the city were all choked “up and there was a small flood in the Juniata. —Evidently the Street committee of council didn’t know what it was letting itself into when it fixed up the alley leading to one of its member’s busi- ness place so magnificently. Now, everybody wants his or her alley macadamized. —Mr. Vare has returned from Europe and announced that he is going to let “Mr. Mellon make the platform on which he will run for the Senate. In other words, he knows he is going to get the wet vote, so he will keep quiet on that and let Mellon corral what drys he can for him. —No, dear, there is nothing signif- icant in the fact that Doc. Ritenour was the sweepstakes winner in the “second annual flower shower at State College. He is the College physician, but the mortality rate there is sub- normal. Now if the winner had been one of the undertakers of the village, ‘why that would have been something else again.” —Gosh! The county fairs have be- gun. And that reminds us that it is only fifty days until we’ll have to light the furnace and start the grind "of stoking coal and carrying ashes again. The Lord, only, knows what has become of the summer. We don’t Last week was the only period that was hot enough to lead us to believe “that we have had any at all. —At the recent P. O. S. of A. con- vention at Altoona a resolution was “passed that puts the Order on record as being squarely against “expendi- ture of money to corrupt voters.” ‘Such a stand is quite in line with the principles of the P. O. S. of A., but we are wondering how many of its mem- bers will be guided by this resolution when they go to the polls next No- vember and see the names of Fisher and Vare on the ballot they. are given to mark. - Millions were spent to “cor- rupt the voters” and win nominations for those two candidates. —Since nobody else seems to be able to make the State dry why don’t we hiss Dr. Watts and this fellow ‘Hibshman up at State College on it? We note that they are taking the nicotine out of Lancaster county to- bacco. If they can do that why can’t they take the “kick” out of apples, dandelions, grapes, elderberries, rheu- barb, corn and rye. It would be the economic sensation of the age. Mil- lions would be saved in the cost of maintaining an army of snooping offi- cials and our Alma Mater would go down in history as the institution that waved a wand and the Desert of Sahara encompassed the earth. —The case of Max Carey, “Babe” Adams and Carson Bigbee, star play- ers on the Pittsburgh base-ball club interests us. They were given their release, without a hearing, supposed- ly because they had conspired to break down the morale of the team. While we have always maintained that an employer ought to have the right to let an employee go, whenever he feels that it is to his interest to do so, the contract of a base-ball player is a very different obligation from that entered into by the employee in any other business. When the player signs he is no longer a “free agent.” He puts his service on the block and his manager is the auc- tioneer. He is a slave on the market and as such has a right to know why he is sold “down the river” or chucked out in mid-season without a hearing. —The death of the widow of “Coal 0il Johnny” Steele, in Omaha, recent- ly, recalls the spendthrift days of the poor Venango county farm boy who became rich over night and squander- ed the fortune of nearly a million within three years. It had come so easy that he thought there was more where it came from and threw it away like water until he wound up as bag- gage master at a little station near Oil City. That was in the 60s. There was only one “Coal Oil Johnny” then and his extravagant doings were the talk of the country. Today there are millions of “Coal Oil Johnnies.” Boys who are taking down four times as much as their daddies did at their age and not one of them with a bank balance, a bit of life insurance or an investment to come to their rescue when physical infir- mity or age puts a crimp in their earning power. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 71. How the West Views If. Under the caption, “The Shame of Pennsylvania,” the Locomotive En- gineers Journal, published in Des Moines, Iowa, says: “Eight years ago the nation was scandalized because Truman H. Newberry, of Michigan, spent $195,000 to buy his seat in the Senate. The Republican machine in Pennsylvania spent from fifteen to twenty-five times as much, and then resorted to the fraudulent counting of ballots in order to debauch the will of the electorate. The men responsible for this shameless corruption, such as Secretary of the Treasury Mellon and Senator David Reed, actually have the audacity to condemn the direct pri- mary as the guilty offender, since, forsooth, it would not have required so much money to corrupt an old- fashioned party convention.” We quote this high-standing class journal because it is published in the heart of the corn belt and for the rea- son that it ably and faithfully repre- sents an important element in the in- dustrial life of the country. The Lo- comotive Engineers Journal has no politics in a partisan sense. But it has a keen interest in the prosperity of the country and a sensitive re- sponse to whatever is good or evil for the people as a whole. Though pub- lished in the middle west it circulates in every section enriched by railroads, and its voice is the honest expression of the industrial element of the coun- try. What the Engineers Journal ‘says is what the thoughtful railroad employees think, not only in Iowa but in Pennsylvania. The shame of Pennsylvania may be turned to useful purpose if the people of the State will follow the lines point- ed out by the Locomotive Engineers Journal. “If the people of Pennsylva- nia have any sense of decency or shame’ let them show it “by defeat- ing Boss Vare, the corrupt Philadel- phia gang leader for the Senate, and Fisher, the tool for the big manufac- turers for Governorship. The only way these men can be defeated is by voting for their Democratic oppo- nents. © One of these is William B. Wilson, former Secretary of the Unit- | ed Mine Workers and the first Secre- tary of Labor in President Wilson’s cabinet.”” With equal accuracy it might have recommended the support of Eugene C. Bonniwell for Governor. They represent the hope of escape from the machine. The Republican State head- quarters have been removed to the Pennsylvania building, 15th and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia, but the Baker building will be held for emer- gency work, and to please Baker. Governor Pinchot’s Attitude. Governor Pinchot is a curious per- son. He has been a fairly good Gov- ernor and it may safely be said that in most of his administrative acts he has been influenced by lofty ideals. He has an abnormally developed am- bition that has at intervals led him into blunders, and he has a self-confi- dence that is frequently misleading. Barring these weaknesses he is an ad- mirable guide and reasonably safe philosopher. Because of them he is likely to break out at any time and spoil a lot of the good work he has achieved himself as well as that of others. In fact he is threatening such a break at this point. During his visit to the National Guard camp, some one asked him whether he intends to be an independ- ent candidate for Senator. Such questions afford him great delight. They indicate that he is in the public eye and that there is an urge for him in the public mind. It appeals to his self esteem and flatters his vanity, al- ready over-developed. His reply was precisely what might have been ex- pected. He said he was considering the subject and would take the public into his confidence in a couple of weeks. He ought to have said he not only would not be an independent can- didate but that he will put all the moral and material force he can com- mand to elect William B. Wilson. Governor Pinchot has contributed largely to the beneficent work of mak- ing Vare and Vareism odious. From the beginning of his activity in Penn- sylvania politics he has fought Vare- ism. Whether in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, and whether Vare or Les- lie or substitutes, the Governor has been ready to attack. It would be a pity to destroy this admirable record now that its purpose is about to be achieved, and we do not believe Gov- ernor Pinchot has such a purpose in mind. We believe that in the heat of the campaign Pinchot will be found among the supporters of the Demo- cratic ticket for Senator and Gover- nor. ——Mussolini would better look out. Gabriele D’Annunzio is about to pay him a visit. BELLEFONTE, PA.. . Several Reasons Against Fisher. The nomination of John S. Fisher, for the office of Governor of Pennsyl- vania, cost the Manufacturers’ asso- ciation and the Mellon banks consid- ' erably more than a million dollars. If there were no other reason against his election that fact ought to com- pass his defeat. It makes the ques- tion of public service a matter of purchase and sale rather than a ques- i tion of merit. { spend much more in the interest of : Fisher. The election of Fisher is worth more than ten times that ' amount to the interests represented by Grundy, and it was assumed by | those concerned in the purchase that the nomination was equivalent to an ! election. There is another substantial reason i why John S. Fisher should be defeat- ied. In his nomination he has violat- ed the Corrupt Practices act. That act forbids the payment of money, the giving of" promise of money “or any valuable thing” for votes. By Grundy’s statement before the Sen- ate slush committee .fund John S Fish- er had entered into an agreement with Grundy to oppose legislation im- posing a tax on manufacturing cor- poration capital. This legitimate sub- ject of taxation has escaped for years necessary to encourage productive in- dustry. This fallacy was exploded long ago but Grundy has kept it alive by coercing Legislators. There is another strong reason why John S. Fisher should be defeated at the polls next November. His nomi- nation was bought with money of tainted type. In pledging action val- uable to Grundy he violated the Cor- rupt Practices act and disqualified himself for service. These indict- ments ought to be enough to condemn him to overwhelming defeat. But as a matter of fact he was nominated by | fraudulent juggling of the votes in certain sections of Pittsburgh. When the polls closed on the evening of May 18th, John S. Fisher was defeated by several thousand majority. But the Grundy and Mellon “dump cart” ran in sufficient boodle to change the fig- ures and Fisher is said to have gotten a nomination by fraud. Secretary of the Treasury Mel- lon arrived in Geneva, last week, but 1 his presence had no influence on the deliberations of the League of Na- tions. Grundy is Hunting Trouble. The new leaders of the Republican party in Pennsylvania may be able to buy or browbeat the voters in the future as they have done in the re- cent past but they will encounter trouble here and there. For example, an attempt recently made by Mr. Grundy to control the federal patron- age in the Berks-Lehigh Congression- al district has stirred up a protest that will be difficult to appease. Mr. Grundy has named one of his own faithful followers for the office of postmaster of Reading and county chairman Thomas C. Seidel has fixed upon that comfortable post for him- self when he is forcibly retired from the office as workmen’s compensation referee. Having opposed Fisher he is slated for retirement. In the Elk, Forest, Mercer, Venan- go and Warren Congressional district there is a good deal of bad feeling as a result of the defeat of Congressman Bixler for renomination. The friends of Mr. Bixler openly declare that he was counted out in Elk county and that friends of Mr. Grundy perpetrat- ed the fraud. In view of this senti- ment the announcement that Mr. Grundy would assume control of the federal patronage for the district is sharply resented. In fact it has cre- ated a movement to enter Bixler as an independent candidate for Con- gress. Mr. Bixler has not consented whether he runs or not the regular nominee in the district will have a hard road to travel. The Mellon method in politics is precisely the same as the Mellon method in the stock exchange or the fish market, and Grundy is in com- plete accord with it. It is to buy what they want at any price and de- pend on future adjustments to make the transaction profitable. Mellons are behind Grundy in this encroachment in the two Congressional districts in which the sitting member was not re- nominated. He may win out as he did in the primary election by dumping vast sums of money into the campaign. But he will not have an easy time of it or win an enduring victory. Mr. Seidel is a formidable figure in Berks county and Harris J. Bixler is a vigor- ous fighter. ——1It is a safe bet that Vare will not be expelled from the Senate. He will never get into the Senate. It has been said that | Grundy was ready and willing to under the false pretense that it was ' as yet to this form of reprisal but | + i a i E i Last Week. The “Watchman” was up against it last week and narrowly escaped miss- {ing the mails with the bulk of its edi- tion. As it was, a small portion of the papers got into the postoffice too late for Thursday night's outgoing mail, but it was not our fault. The paper was put to press early enough Thursday afternoon to be put out on i time but when about one-third of the edition had been printed the electric current snapped and did not come on again until after six o’clock, and then it took fast work to get as many of the papers as possible in the office for the night train. It later developed that the break in the current occurred on the Penn Cen- | tral’s major lines over in Mifflin coun- i ty, the result of a terrific storm that | swept down through the Juniata val- ley. As soon as the break occurred the Keystone Power company put ‘men to work fixing up the emergency i plant at Milesburg but it was six | o’clock before they could get up a suf- | ficient head of steam to operate. In , the meantime John McCoy’s plant was i kept in operation but it was not suf- {ficient to furnish enough juice to supplement the broken current on the | Penn Central. | In the meantime lightning struck , one of the power company’s poles on | Halfmoon hill which burned out a | transformer and workmen cut around it temperarily. Over in Pennsvalley a stray wire fell across two live wires and caused a short circuit that put out all of the lower end of Pennsval- ley. After the plant at Milesburg was put in operation one of ‘the big compressors went bad and it was nec- essary to shut down the plant but for- tunately a few minutes later the juice came in over the Penn Central lines and full service was again established. But the Keystone Power company’s troubles were not yet over for on Sat- urday morning trouble developed be- low Milesburg that put out the serv- ice down Bald Eagle valley. All of which shows that the electric company has plenty of troubles of its own. " ——The fact that borough council i had two propositions on Monday night from manufacturers of traffic signs and signals would indicate that Belle- fonte’s trouble in regulating automo- bile traffic has seeped into the outside : world.” With five large traffic signs and a number of silent policemen now {on the streets, and “no parking” | signs stuck up along the curb at nu- merous places in the town it would | seem as if the borough council is do- ing its share toward regulating traf- : fic without investing in any more con- .traptions. In these days every motor- {ist should have knowledge of the or- , dinary traffic laws and any one who ‘persists in disregarding them should be given a wholesome lesson by ar- | rest and fine, and that will have more effect in solving the traffic problem than a dozen signs and signals. The new mail service has been iin operation in Bellefonte almost two weeks and while it may be advanta- i geous to the employees in the post-of- | fice, the banks and some of the busi- i ness places, it has not been coming i through with enough regularity to en- : able patrons of the post office to tell whether the mail comes in in the morning by bus, on the morning trains or in the afternoon. Possibly it will i adjust itself in due time but at present it does not appeal to everybody. ——William 8. Leib, former politic- al boss in Schuylkill county and after- ward for some time a prisoner in the ment, ——The election of Fisher and Vare would be interpreted as popular ap- proval of slush fund nominations and the disposal of public office by auc- tion, ——The rainy weather of this week and there’s plenty of it in that condi- tion on the farms of Centre county. —1If it is a crime to spend $600,- 000 for a nomination for Senator what would you call spending $1,800,000 for a nomination for Governor? ————— el reese — ——If Judge Lewis is correct, and nobody disputes him, the Volstead law might be enforced if the politicians kept out of the cases. ——The Governor is not always wise in politics but he knows that the only way to defeat Vare is to support William B. Wilson. ——Evidently chairman Mellon is not: particular as to the character of those in confidential relations with the campaign, UGUST 20. 1926. Electric Current Badly Demoralized eastern penitentiary, is to be restored . to leadership by the Mellon manage- ; will be hard on the oats still in shock, ' More Procrastination for Spring Township School Building. A first-class murder trial would not have drawn a much larger crowd to i the court house than that on Wednes- day to hear the injunction case . against the Spring township school board, contesting their right to erect ; the new school building on the site se- "lected. S. D. Gettig and J. Kennedy John- ston Esgs., represented the petitioners in the injunction proceedings while the school board’s attorneys were John G. Love and Orvis, Zerby & Dale. The school board was represented by the secretary, John H. Barnhart, and the first step in the proceedings was a request of Mr. Gettig to see the minutes of the board. An examina- tion of the records disclosed the fact that the secretary had failed to record just how each member of the board voted at the various sessions in which action was taken relative to the erec- tion of the new school building. Some half dozen or more witnesses were heard in the interest of the peti- tioners but no evidence was produced to show any collusion on the part of the board or that the members had exceeded their authority in selecting the sight they did. In fact the school code gives them arbitrary authority to select the site if it meets with the approval of the State board of educa- | tion, which it did. ; After hearing the evidence submit- ted in behalf of the petitioners Judge Keller stated that they had not pro- duced any evidence showing that the | school board had exceeded its author- ity, but granted the request of the petitioners to amend their bill on the | technicality that the board failed to make a correct record on its minutes , of how each and every member voted at the various meetings held. In the meantime the temporary injunction is still in force and will so continue until another hearing is held at a date thirty days hence. | Work on the Port Matilda—State College Route Has Been Started. | men has been put to work on the sec- ondary highway from Port Matilda to State College. It is only the begin- ! ning, of course, but means the early completion of that route. The road runs from Port, over the mountain to the Quaker church, thence down the Buffalo Run highway to Waddle and from there directly across the Barrens to Pine Hall and down to State College. It will prove a decided short cut to State College for travelers from the Philipsburg and Clearfield regions and give the Halfmoon valley folks an im- proved road to a market that many of them visit. Philipsburg business men have started an agitation for the perma- nent improvement of the road over the mountain to Port Matilda. While this stretch of road, which has been included in the secondary highway system and is due for improvement some time in the future, is kept in as good condition as possible to keep 2 dirt road, it is traveled so much as a short cut on the Lakes-to-sea high- way that it requires almost constant attention to keep it in shape; especial- ly during a season of severe rain storms or wet weather. It is the most direct route between Philipsburg and Bellefonte, the county seat, as well as Bald Eagle and Halfmoon valleys and , the entire southern portion of the county. It is the one stretch of much traveled road in Centre ccunty that has not been given improvement of a permanent character. ——The people of Blair county had { a thrill, last Friday evening, when it i was reported that an army ship carry- ing two aviators had fallen in the mountains near Dysart and no trace could be found of either ship or men. The ship left Washington, D. C., that morning bound for Oak Field, N. Y., and enroute came down at Middle- town, Pa. Late the same afternoon an army ship circled quite low over Bellefonte then took a western course and it is quite likely it was the same ship. But it did not fall in the moun- tains of Blair county. It was merely circling at a low altitude for the prob- able reason that the pilot had lost his bearings. Be that as it may, how- ever; the ship and aviators finally reached their destination on Saturday. SE ir ae ——The new fence around the graveyard of debris out at the Phoe- nix pumping station has been erected, and when the gates have been swung in place and the fence painted a bat- tleship grey it will make a very de- | cided improvement in the looks of that locality. “ ——The estimated number of trac- tors in use on the farms in Centre county last December 1, was 262. During the * week ~a small cféw" of SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Marion D. Long, manager of the New Castle Paper Products company, died of sleeping sickness Monday night in the Shenango Valley hospital. "—Mrs. Belle Arthur, of I'orwardstown, Somerset county, was burned to death, last Thursday, while attempting to save some furniture from her home, which had been set on fire by lightning. —Midas, at whose touch everything turned to gold, died no more miserably than Isaac Abrams, of Philadelphia, who starv- ed himself to death at the age of 80 years, although possessed of $100,000. Abrams’ will filed for probate showed he owned 26 houses besides considerable cash. —Jesse Wheeler, employee of the Pitt Construction company, contractors for the new Huntingdon reservoir, near Hunting- don, was struck and slightly burned by lightning on Saturday morning. Mr. Wheeler was operating a mixing machine when the bolt struck the handle, knocking him unconscious. He was rushed to the Blair Memorial hospital where it was found that he was not seriously burned. Several nearby workmen were dazed by the flash. —Fishing for chickens is the latest and Ralph Serfass, of Foxtown Hill, near Stroudsburg, the originator of the scheme, is in the Monroe county jail in default of $100 bail, while Louis G. Tyreman, a poul- try breeder, is happy in the solution of the loss of thirty fowls. He had been missing chickens with regularity and set a watch only to see one of his flock skid across the chicken yard. Investigation showed Serfass baited hooks with worms or corn, threw them into the chicken yard and when the fowls became hooked simply dragged them away. —Two dogs owned by Steuben Thomas, of Maple Lake, near Moscow, Lackawanna county, were badly wounded and clawed on Saturday, in a fight with a large ani- mal believed to be the wild Indian leep- ard that escaped from Red Bank, N. J, some days ago. Thomas, who fired a charge from his shot-gun at the animal, said he saw the beast not far from his home and that it was about six feet in length, had a striped body and a long tail. Moscow is in the farming country, and the news of the appearance of a leopard cre- ated intense excitement. —That rum runners ‘toting” guns should be shown no mercy was the opin- ion expressed to the constables of Wash- ington county by Judge Erwin Cummins, in criminal court at Washington, Pa. While not encouraging the use of weap- ons by officers where liquor violators car- ry guns, Judge Cummins intimated that rum runners with weapons could only blame themselves if they became targets for bullets. “Self preservation is the first law of nature,” said Judge Cummins, “and a rum runner cornered can be considered a potential gunman if he has a weapon. And a gunman’s life is not worth that of any good officer.” - —High tribute was paid Mrs. Mary L. Kirby, telegraph block operator at Port Allegheny, Pa., on the Buffalo Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, when on Au- gust 1 she had the honor of being the first woman employee of the Buffalo division to be retired on a pension. Mrs. Kirby has worked under seven superintendents dur- ing her forty years’ service on the road, commencing her railroad career at South Wales on October 6, 1887. Later she work- ed at Keating Summit, being transferred in 1903 to Port Allegheny. She learned telegraphy during her spare momeuts while teaching school in Wentworth coun- ty, and Edmonton, Michigan. —Miss Jessie Mix, a seventeen-year-old Smethport girl, has been recommended to the Carnegie Hero Award Commission for recognition as the result of the rescue of a five-year-old child from drowning. Miss Mix saw the child slip from a rock, fall into a deep pool and although unable te swim she plunged into the stream and seized the child. Then unable to remain above the surface, she stood on the creek bed and held the child above her head, be- ing completely submerged herself. A man passing hurried to the scene and recov- ered the child without at first realizing the rescuer was under the water. He then pulled ‘Miss Mix to the shore in an uncon- scious condition. —When she failed to buy back her twelve-year-old daughter, from whom she had been separated for six years, Mrs. Kd- ward Cooks, of near Connellsville, on Sat- urday filed habeas corpus proceedings to get the child. It is contended by Mrs. Cooks that Anna Elizabeth Chain, her daughter, has been forced to peddle moon- shine for Mr. and Mrs. John Yousko, of Upper Tyrone township. Mrs. Cooks al- leges that Yousko was arrested on a charge of violating the liquor laws, and that the child was forced to sell liquor. It appears in the petition that a deal was made for Anna Elizabeth, but when the money was forthcoming the price was increased until the mother refused to meet the demand. —Mrs. William Seiple Sr. of Easton, aged 60 years, en route to Clearfield to vis- it her son William, in charge of the Dodge agency at that place, was almost instantly killed, and her daughter, Mrs. Walter Headley and her eleven-year-old son were painfully injured at 2:15 o'clock last Thursday afternoon, when the sedan in which they were riding skidded on the wet pavement of the William Penn highway one mile west of Mill Creek and turned over three times. Mrs. Headley was driv- ing the car when one of the wheels drop- ped into a shallow gutter along the road. When she attempted to steer the machine back onto the highway, it skidded and rolled to the edge of a wheat field. Mrs. Seiple was thrown clear of the wreckage, but her skull was crushed and her body cut and bruised. —Ray Hammond, seventeen years of age, and Louis McGovern, eighteen, erstwhile society youths of Johnstown, Pa., were saved from a year’s sentence in the Atlan- ta penitentiary by the timely appearance of McGovern's father, Joseph W. McGov- ern, civil engineer for the Bethlehem Steel company of Johnstown and known as a designer of golf courses, at Norfolk, Va. The youths, who admitted robbing the treasury box in a Catholic church on the Fort Monroe military reservation, were pa- roled in the custody of the elder McGov- ern, who took them to Johnstown Sunday night. The boys said they committed the robbery because they were hungry. The elder McGovern told court officials the youths had left home several weeks ago and since that time he had knewn nothing of their whereabouts.