A RTS ma Deora tc A ER A RSIS INK SLINGS. —Gosh, how perturbed and unhappy we are. We just abhor fights. ——Senator Borah is a strict con- structionist. That is he construes his contract with the people as binding. —This lovely March weather is merely setting the stage for the tragedy of frozen peach blossoms in April. —Pity poor Jim Furst. Think of all the good fishing he is going to miss while he’s keeping the courts going and hustling around for votes. — Also, pity poor Arthur Dale. Jim Furst has his Dorworth, Ward Flem- ing has his Scott, but Arthur: Both his political god-father and god-moth- er are gone. —In a very short time you will know whether Governor John Fisher is the man you, who voted for him, thought him to be or whether he is the one Mellon and Grundy knew him to be. —Here’s hoping that “General” Rosalie Jones, militant and suffragist leadar and multi-millionairess, who has just embarked on the matrimonial seas with the Senator from Washing- ton won’t find herself in a Dill-pickle. —The conviction of Harry F. Sin- clair, millionaire oil magnate, of con- tempt of the United States Senate, isn’t any too reassuring to “Big” Tom «Cunningham, the Philadelphia ward leadar, who is charged with the same offense. —Why put a tax of three cents a gallon on gasoline? If the State needs the money why don’t we do away with the Legislature. It can’t ...do anything without the approval of W. L. Mellon, anyway, so why the use of paying a lot of rubber stamps for sitting in Harrisburg. —Justice Seeger, of New York, has ‘our approval of his finding in the Browning—Heenan separation suit. “Peaches” married “Bunny” for his money—nothing else. She made her bed. Let her lie in it. If there were more Justice Seegers there would be fewer “gold diggers.” —Like Banquo’s ghost old John Barley-corn keeps rising and rising in the halls of the Legislature at Harris- burg. A few years ago he was down- ed for the count every time he came up. Now he seems to get on his feet ‘before the count of ten every time he is knocked down. It is beginning to look as if Gifford took the “brass knuckles” with him when he moved out of that Front street house in Har- risburg. —If we. thought that any of yon wear ~ flannels “anymore we would suggest that you stick to them long after they stick to you. But flannels have gone the way of the strip of eel skin around your wrist and the string of red yarn around your neck to pre- vent nose-bleed. Woolens are passe. If you don’t believe it tell us why American Wool pfd, a seven per cent. stock was down to fifty-nine on Tues- day. —A few days ago a five year old lad who lives on Water street, Belle- fonte, swallowed a nickel. When his mother learned of her son’s gastro- nomical performance she was worried. Worried lest there might be some dire- ful consequence. Sensing her concern the little fellow tried to reassure her cand said: “Oh, mommie, it was only -one of them with a lady and stars on it. If it had been one of them with -a buffalo it might have kicked the :stuffin’ out of me.” —That Leopold boy is on the front pages again. The pampered, college ‘youth who murdered little Bobbie Franks for a thrill, only two years ago, is said to have planned and fin- anced recent escapes of fellow convicts from the Joliet, Ill, penitentiary. If Leopold has the super-mind that he was credited with having at the time «of his trial in Chicago it seems to us ‘that there are a lot of dumb-bells in .charge of the Joliet prison if they per- mitted him to “worm”: his way into a position where he engineered a general delivery of all of its inmates. —We’ve never had the futility of un- dertaking to cross the bridge before :coming to it brorght home as over- whelmingly tousasit was last week. ‘We had worried for several days, spent one sleepless night and fell off a bit con our feed, all because we thought we would have to be the goat and start the fight that seemed inevitable between the Dorworth and Scott fac- tions in Centre county. Lord, how we suffered and shrank from it. Almost, we had decided to follow Tom Harter’s policy of pouring oil on the troubled waters when a copy of Mr. Secretary Dorworth’s ‘Republican was handed us and we read the startling announce- ment that if there are any chips on Senator Scott’s shoulder Mr. Secre- tary Dorworth is going to knock them off himself. He has brought about the appointment of James C. Furst Esq., to be president judge of the courts of Centre county, announced his in- tention to fight for Mr. Furst’s nom- ination and election and stated that all friends of the Fisher administra- tion will be expected to stand loyally back of him in the massacre of Sen- ator Scott and his friend Mr. Ward Fleming, who has the nerve to aspire to judicial honors in defiance of the ‘wishes ‘of the new Secretary of For- ‘ests and Waters. So you see, the ‘fight’s started and all our worry about “pimpin” it was for nothing. Ae =) » Ee y z FRO Cc yy YR = VOL. 72. Fair Count. In writing to the chairman of the Slush Fund committee, Senator Reed, of Missouri, said that “I expect upon the convening of Congress next De- cember to make a request for a prompt and complete recount of the vote of the entire State by the Com- mittee on Privileges and Elections.” Mr. Vare was appealing to public credulity. He knows as well as Tom Cunningham and Senator Dave Reed know that a recount of the vote of Pennsylvania for Senator would show that he was defeated by a very con- siderable majority. Mr. Vare imagines that political exigencies might influ- ence the Senate Committe on Privi- leges and Elections to falsify the re- count as it did in the Newberry case a few years ago. But the Committee on Privileges and Elections will not have an oppor- tunity to count the Senatorial vote of Pennsylvania for 1926 for the reason that that work, in-so-far as it seems necessary, will be performed by the special committe of the Senate, creat- ed for that purpose and still in ex- istence. Under the resolution of Sen- ator Robinson that committee was created to perform a certain service. It worked diligently during the period since it was created but the close of the session found its work incomplete, But as the Senate is a continuing body and must make and keep a record of its activities, the special cormnmittee will continue to function until its re- port is submitted. The pretense of Mr. Vare that he is willing to have the vote recounted comes with poor grace in view of the strenuous efforts made by himself and his friends to stifle the investigation at the close of the recent session of Congress. It cannot be claimed that the special committee of the Senate was partisan or unfair. It is made vp of two Republicans, two Democrats and one Independent, elected as a Re- publican, and it was unanimous in all its actions. Not a single compiaiat was made against its decisions during the long period it functioned in var- ious sections of the country. Yet Wil-- liam S. Vare casts a reflection upon it by his preference for the Committee on Privileges and Elections. mer ——Earthquakes have been unusual- ly active and destructive this year and nobody has ever been able to find any good reason for them. ———————— i ————— Trying to Protect Fraud. Senator Keys, of New Hampshire, chairman of the Senate Committee on Accounts, has refused to issue a war- rant for funds to pay the expenses of impounding the ballot boxes of Lacka- wanna, Luzerne and Schuylkill coun- ties in this State. The order to im- pound the boxes was given by Senator “Jim Reed, of Missouri, at the ‘request of William B. Wilson who is contest- ing with William S. Vare for the seat in the Senate Some time ago 1t was agreed between the disputants that either might impound boxes in any county or zection in which he helieved fraud had bean committed. In pur- suance of this agreement the Chair- man of the Slush Fund committee of the Senate ordered impounding in the counties named. 4 Several hundred ballot boxes of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are al- ready in the custody of the sergeant- at-arms of the Senate, obtained under orders of the Slush Fund committee for the ostensible purpose of recount- ing the ballots. Senator Keys, of New Hampshire, has refused to provide funds to carry out this purpose. It is not denied that the purpose is legiti- mate and right. But the Republicans in control of the Senate have deter- mined to prevent a canvass of the votes in order to prevent exposure of the frauds perpetrated in the interest of the Republican candidate. It cost several thousand dollars to impound the boxes and convey them to Wash- ington, but completing the work would expose fraud. But the people are not being fooled by this silly expedient. Rvery think- ing man and woman in Pennsylvania knows that fraud has been committed in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Many of them probably imagined that the frauds were not sufficiently extensive to overcome the Vare majority. But they are rapidly coming to a different frame of mind, They reason wisely that if an examination of the ballots would not alter the result, Dave Reed, of Pittsburgh, and Senator Keys, of New Hampshire, would gladly give all possible assistance to the work of recounting the’ votes. The stupid policy of the Republican leaders in and out of Congress is moulding public opinion for William B. Wilson. ———————— re ——————— ——When the accounts are summed up it will be discovered that the fil- ibuster was bad medicine for the Vare malady. : BEL Vare Falsely Pretends He Wants a) STATE RIGHTS AN D FEDERAL UNION. LEFONTE, PA.. MARCH 18, 1927. NO. 11. Gasoline Tax on Hard Lines. vania wants good roads and is willing to pay a fair price for them. sentiment is the result of experience. We have had all kinds of roads from the worst possible to the best attain- able and find that good roads are not only profitable to all classes but afford pleasure and comfort besides. Good roads place every farmer within reach of markets for his products and enables every business man to practi- cally double the volume of trade by expediting his operations. Thousands of doilars which under the old system were wasted in repair to vehicles are saved and in numerous other ways good comes to thousands through the medium of good roads. But these facts afford no reason why there should be discrimination in the levy of the expenses of good roads. For some unaccountable reason the owners and users of motor vehicles in Pennsylvania have been “held up” by the Legislature for the alleged purpose of improving the highways. They are very properly made to pay licenses for their machine and the right to operate them and a few years ago were justly taxed a cent a gallon on gasoline con- sumed. If it had stopped there there would be no cause of complaint. But a session later the tax was doubled, as an emergency. The next session the double tax was continued as an emer- gency levy and now it is proposed to make it three cents and permanent. This proposition put forth as an administration measure is without ex- cuse other than that ancient one “we need the money.” The new adminis- tration, following the example of the Coolidge government at Washington, estimating the gasoline consumers as easy marks thought it safe to put one over on them by raising the gaso- line tax to three cents a gallon and making it a permanent levy. If only the pleasure seeking drivers of high powered cars were concerned the plan might have worked, But the truck drivers and merchants who employ de- livery wagons entered protest and it will require all the coercive force of the Mellon machine to put it across. The gasoline tax is on hard lines. ——Congressman-elect J. M. Hazlet shows the real Vareville spirit. As Congressman he is drawing $10,000 a year and as Recorder of Deeds he gets $10,000 but he refuses to relinquish either job. reece peg Important Fight Probable. | Unless the reports from Harrisburg | are misleading there is likely to be a fine shindy between the Governor and the Republican organization. The Governor has given complete approval to four measures of legislation for the impovement of our ballot system. They are not really ideal measures but would correct some of the worst faults of the system and might lead ultimate- ly to greater improvements. But the other evening state chairman W. L. Mellon, having been called from Flor- ida, arrived in Harrisburg and an- nounced that the four ballot reform bills introduced by Senator Weingart- ner are merely skeletons to be built up by amendments to the proportions the machine desires. Upon receiving information of the attitude of chairman Mellon the Gov- ernor declared that he will insist on the adoption of his bills without amendment or alteration. If he ad- heres to that declaration and Mr. Mel lon holds to his view that certain amendments are essential the dispute will necessarily develop a scrap in the Legislature which will indicate the source of patronage. If Mr. Mellon controls, as many people believe, not only the ballot bills but all other leg- islation will be shaped by Colonel Eric Fisher Wood. On the other hand if the Governor controls the Senators and Representatives in the General Assembly will promptly respond to his service. Mr. Mellon who has gone into poli- tics for the same reason that another man might go into bootlegging, is anx- ious to please Mr. Vare and those who manage his organization in Philadel- phia. It may be that anxiety to se- cure the renomination and re-election of Senator Dave Reed is the moving cause in the case. Every one knows that if the Pinchot committee bills had gone through the extra session Vare would not have been nominated. In view of recent events Senator Dave Reed occupies a place in public esti- mation very similar to that of Vare before his election and it looks as if Mellon is trying to hitch them up to- gether for the inevitable battle of next year. ——Ramsay McDonald, labor leader and formerly Prime Minister of Eng- land, will visit this country next month. His purpose on the visit has not been armounced. Every man and woman in Pennsyl- | This | | Controlling Power in the Legislature. The other day, in the news cclumns of the daily papers, under a Harris- burg date, a statement that “substan- tial increases in benefits under the State Workmen’s Compensation act of {1915 to injured industrial workers 'and dependents of workers killed | while at work are provided in amend- iments to the act introduced in the i Senate and House.” This represents { legislation that has been urged upon the General Assembly for at least ten years. the act of 1915 is inadequate and the processes of applying the relief too slow. The Republican organization has stood in the way of improvement from the beginning and it has been known that Joseph R. Grundy express- ed the purposes of the partv. In view of these facts it was sur- prising to learn by the language of the same dispatch that “the hill, according to Col. Eric Fisher Wood, chairman of the Republican State Ixecutive committee, who has conducted the ne- gotiations between representatives of capital and organized labor, has not only the approval of these two, but of vernor Fisher, the Republican or- ganization and Joseph R. Grundy, ‘head of the Pennsyivania Manufactur- ers’ Association.” In another Harris- i burg dispatch of the same day infor- mation was given that chairman Mel- lon’s absence from the scene had caused delay in the consideration of ; ballot reform legislation. Apparently i the new bosses’ approval is required on all political legislation. For the first time in the history of the Commonwealth the Legislature of Senators and Representatives elected organization in the persons of chair- man W, L. Mellon and Eric Fisher ment concerning the proposed amend- ments to the compensation act and that in reference to the ballot reform legislation, indicate the purpose of the party machine to control all legisla- tion during the session. Mr. Mellon and Col. Eric Fisher Wood are not official- Ty” connected with the Légistature but- they exercise controlling power while responsible to no one other than the self-created machine, ——The State Supreme court, on Monday, handed down a decision in the case of Charles H. Watson vs. M. D. Kelley and H. P. Kelley, trading as the Kelley Bros. Coal Co., in which they affirmed the decree of the court | of common pleas of Centre county ex- cept as to the item of interest. The | record was ordered remitted to the | lower court to adjust the interest in | accordance with the rule laid down by the Supreme court. Mr. Watson ob- tained a verdict in the Centre county court and the case was appealed by the Kelley Bros. S————— ees etn ees. —General Chang, who is leading one of the many armies that are tilt- ing at wind mills in China, wants the people of Shanghai to pay him five million dollars tp go outside the city to meet the advancing forces of Ho- Ying-Yin. The poor heathen. He's no sport at all. He ought to come over here and absorb a bit of the spirit of Mr. Secretary Dorworth. He's ready to fight anywhere. No matter whose or where the dung-hill is. —The Associated Glee clubs of America are offering a prize of five hundred dollars for the best composi- tion of a four-part male chorus. Why the extravagance when no glee cluh that we have ever heard has been able to get all the possible harmony out of “Genevieve” or “Bring the Wagon Home, John.” ——If the administration fails to organize a three-power arms limita- tion conference, it will still have a chance for a one-power affair. Mean- time the League of Nations will at- tend to the arms limitation. ——The Governor threatens to ex- tend the session if his programme is not fulfilled within the time limit. That means an extra session or else. —“Fatty” Arbuckle is going to Ger- many to make pictures. That will help to make life easier for Grover Cleveland Bergdoll over there. ——City Treasurer Mackey’s “His- tory of the Election of Vare,” is the very latest thing in fiction and by far the most absurd. ——We’ll soon know who is who in official Harrisburg. It is said that Mellon is whetting his hunting knife. ~——Possibly a good stiff verdict for the plaintiff would teach Henry Ford better manners. RS fA —————— —Subscribe for the “Watchman.” The compensation provided by ! this year was organized, not by the by the people, but by the Republican ! Wood, his handy man. The state-: James C. Furst Wins Appointment for Judge of Centre County. As predicted in this paper last week James C. Furst has won the appoint- ment for president judge of Centre county. The Watchman was so in- formed on Monday night although his nomination was not sent to the Sern cate for confirmation until Tuesday, : when it wus promptly acted upon. Mr. Furst will succeed the late Judge Har- . ry Keller, who passed away quite sud- , denly on March 2nd. Mr. Furst is a son of the late Aus- tin O. and Caroline Chamberlin Furst. His father served as president judge of Centre county from 1885 to 1895. James was educated at the Bellefonte Academy and Princeton University. He read law under his father and sue- cessfully passing the Supreme court examination was admitted to practice at the Centre county bar on April 6th, 1906. He at once became associated . with his father and following his death fell heir to the lucrative prac- tice of the firm. In the fall of 1915 he was elected district attorney and re-elected in 1919, serving until the first Monday of January, 1924. Dur- ing his eight years in that office he successfully tried a number of grave Commonwealth cases and had a cred- itable record during his eight years of service. Mr. Furst has practiced before the Public Service Commission since its creation in 1913 and also before the Interstate Commerce Commission, in i Washington. He has represented the ‘ Centre county bar at State bar asso- ciation meetings and is a director, secretary and attorney for the First National bank of Bellefonte. A mem- “be of the Presbyterian church, he | served . nine years on the board of trustees. He is a Mason in high stand- ing, a member of the Bellefonte lodge of Elks and the Nittany Country club. He has always been actively interest- ed in politics and has served as sec- retary of the Republican county com- ; mittee at various times. In 1913 he married Miss Mary | Adele Harrar, of Williamsport, and | they have two sons, Austin. Q- Furst land Ellwood. a | Mr. Furst’s appointment will be i good only until the first Monday in | January, 1928, but he has already an- ! nounced that he will be a candidate ‘at the primaries next September for | the Republican nomination for a full { term on the bench. | If Mr. Furst’s commission arrives he will be sworn into office at 10 o'clock this (Friday) morning by , Recorder Lloyd A. Stover, and will be the third Judge Mr. Stover will have sworn in during his four year’s term; Judge Dale following the death of Judge Quigley; Judge Harry Keller and now Judge Furst, a record never | before equalled in Centre county. E——— A m———————— ——Elisha Lee, vice president of State College, on Friday, and made ian address to the eleven hundred stu- { dents in the school of engineering. He told them to “forswear allegiance to the white collar and avoid the prac- tices of the lounge lizard” if they hop- ed to make a success of railroad work or any other important, profession. Mr. Lee came to Bellefonte from Pittsburgh and was met here by Dean Sackett and taken to the College by automobile. When the train which brought him here pulled into Belle- fonte the Dean had his eyes set for the vice president’s private car, but there wasn’t any. Mr. Lee climbed off the rear end of a day coach in which he had ridden from Pittsburgh. SE H— | p——————— A Check for Election Frauds, From the Pittsburgh Post. Among the election measures pro- posed as a check on fraudulent prac- tices is one providing for the opening of a percentage of the ballot boxes, selected by lot, before noon of the day following each election, and a recount- ing of ballots. The more thought that is given to this the better the proposi- tion appears to be liked by those seek- ing election reform. The natural ef- fect of it should be to put all the elec- tion officers on guard against error or fraud, since no one would know which boxes would be likely to be it. As now before the Legislature the bill would require that the president judge of the common pleas court of each county order three per cent. of the ballot boxes used to be brought in and the ballots re-counted, the boxes affected, as referred to, to be determined by lot. This proposition, heard increasingly in the past few years, is among the recommendations made by the Alle- gheny county grand jury which inves- tigated the returns from some of the distriets in the election of last fall. The generally favorable comment heard on it from those interested in strengthening the election laws should impress the Assembly. The knowl- edge that such a. check-up would be made could not but have an effect for the reduction of error and fraud in the returns. This bill should be pass- ed along with the others in the pro- gram. : ‘| alleged heldup. The the Pennsylvania railroad, was at: SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. + —A. C. Bressler, of Greenburr, Clinton county, sustained a fracture of the arm when he turned, in the State highway, to catch an apple a friend was throwing him, and stepped backward into a snowbank. —An unidentified highwayman was shot and killed by Howard Granklin, a Dela- ware and Hudson railroad patrolman, at Carbondale, late Sunday night during an two accomplices of the dead man made their escape. —~Cashier William Richards, of the Elys- burg National bank, has identified John Mayeros, of Cleveland, as the man who handcuffed him to the assistant cashier during the bank hold-up several months ago. Several other suspects have been ar- rested. —As a result of a sting from a wasp, while on duty at the General Refractories plant at Mount Union, where he was em- ployed, R. M. QGutshall developed blood poison and has been in a serious condi- tion. Mr. Gutshall had continued at his work for several days. -—Angered at his wife because she bobbed her hair in defiance of his wishes, Thomas Belock, 44, of South Scranton, severely scalded the woman when a kettle of hot water was spilled in a scuffle. Belock walked into police headquarters and sur- rendered. He said that his wife held the kettle in her hand when he grappled with her. —- James Cox 24, of Claysburg, Blair county, preferred the icy waters of the Juniata river at Hollidaysburg to the Blair county jail. Arrested on a minor charge, he was escorted to the jail by two officers, but eluded the police on the doorstep and fled toward the river, escaping the officers when he waded the waters. He is still at large. —A verdict of guilty was brought in against three young men of Nuremburg, who were on trial in the Schuylkill county court for smearing tar on Mrs. George David and her son-in-law, George Repko, of Nuremburg, and then, after compelling them to roll in sand, setting them free on the mountain and compelling them to walk home. —Frank Madeffer, of Pottsville, under sentence of death in the electric chair for the murder of James Laroz, has been in- dicted by the grand jury of Schuylkill county for keeping a disorderly house at Ringtown. Madeffer smiled when a copy of the charge was shown him. “I have been veparing to enter another world but that Lrings me back to earth again,” he said with a smile. —Bloomsburg’s worst fire in three dec- ades on Saturday destroyed the Victoria Theater, the Reimard building, housing a department store and eight apartments, and damaged several other buildings in the business section with a loss estimated at $150,000. Firemen from Danville, Berwick and Catawissa helped fight the blaze, which was prevented from spreading to am entire block along Main street. —In an opinion handed down Saturday morning by Judge Stock, of York county, the award of $2400 made by the Work- men's Compensation Board to Mrs. Flor- ence S. Saylor, whose husband, Harry Say- lor, was drowned at a picnic of Gehly ear- pet store employees on July 24, 1924, was affirmed, It was held that Saylor was ac: business of his employer. —Released from the Elkton, Md., jail on Saturday, after serving a short term for a minor offense, Jacob Dill, 50, colored, on Sunday hopped a freight train to return to Peach Bottom, Lancaster county, in an effort to obtain employment with a con- struction company. As the train sped past the station, Dill leaped from a car. He | landed against an embankment, but fell backward underneath the train and was ground to death, —The nineteenth child was born to Mg. | and Mrs. Gray Rivula, at Tyrone, last Wed- nesday. Rivulo, who is janitor at the Ly- rone passenger station, is quite proud of his family and states that he and Theodore Roosevelt believe in large families. Five of the nineteen children are dead, amd: the family is well taken care of and educated by their parents. Mr. Rivulo is a nafural- ized citizen and his family attend the Co- lumbia Avenue Methodist church regularly. —A Wheling, W. Va., man, who refuszd to give his name, exhausted his supply of gasoline in the country, near Washington, Pa., late last Saturday night, and tried to flag down a big truck going toward Wheel- ing. The truck swerved and slowed up as the stalled motorist waved his flashlight, but did not step. As it passed, soinething struck the motorist in the face. Tt was a sealed envelope containing a $100 bill, That he was mistaken for an officer by the driver of a liquor-ranning . truck, whe thought to bribe him, was the .xplanution ef the police. -—A little thing like swallowing a plate of false teeth during a violent coughing spell did not prevent Graham J. Dague, milk dealer, from continuing his rounds until he had served his entire route in Coatesville. Then he consulted a physician who took him to a local hospital where can X-ray picture showed the teeth lodged near the entrance to the stomach. He was removed to the University of Pennsylvania hospital, at Philadelphia, where the teeth were removed by Dr. Gabriel Tucker, as- sistant to Dr. Chevalier Jackson, inventor of the bronchoscope. —The mystery of a series of burglaries at Barnesboro, extending over a period of a year, was cleared up on Monday when Cambria county officers arrested nine boys, a girl and the father of two of the youngs- ters. A large part of the loot was also re- covered. The minors are being held for juvenile court and the man, Frank Bakn, is in the county jail im default of bail. Some of the youngsters are also lodged in jail. The theft of a salesman’s sample case from his automobile Saturday night led to the arrest of the gang, which had looted stores and railroad cars. —A girl was burned to death and thre2 other members of the family were injured when fire, believed to have been started by bootleggers, destroyed the home of George Wilson, justice of the peace, an: five other buildings in the mining village of Wilpen, near Ligonier, on Monday. The loss is estimated at $100,000. Investi- gation showed that the blaze was started under the porch of the Wilson home. Coun- ty and State officers aré investigating. Eva Jane Wilson, 13 years old, was burned to death. . Her mother and a brother, Arthur, were rescued - with: difficulty. They were # burned and otherwise injured, and were removed to a hospital. Wilson, active in enforcing the prohibition laws, was not at home when the fire was discovered. tually engaged in the furtherance of the =~