Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, August 05, 1927, Image 1
Bench INK SLINGS. —A reverse or so isn’t as hard on the fellow who has started to climb from the ground up as it is on the one who is catapulted to the top and can’t stick there. —The juvenile King of Rumania is old for his years. He said “I don’t drink wine in the morning,” when a priest offered him the Communion cup on Tuesday. —Gosh, wouldn’t Hoover, Lowden, Dawes and a raft of others, who have their lightning rods up, just love to know how the President interprets that word “choose”. —Commander Byrd is planning to fly to the South Pole. There seems to be no limit to the daring of this young aviator. He'll take wing once too often. They all do. —Edsel Ford is to back Byrd's flight to the South Pole. Edsel, they say, is a very canny young man. It is just possible that he expects to find a market down there for that snow plow that Bellefonte didn’t buy last winter, —The picnic season is at its height and the hot dog stands and ice-cream cone venders are not getting all of the money. The printers have come into their own because there are so many candidates and picnics are reg- ular tape-worms on the candidate’s «cards, which the printer sells. —New York is frothing at the mouth because Tex Rickard is going to stage the Tunney-Dempsey champion- ship fight in Chicago. While we don’t care where the fight is pulled off it would seem that Tex is only doing what any other person like him would ‘do. Only foolish young women drive their pigs to a poor market. —Be sure to be on Allegheny street tomorrow evening at seven-thirty. Often we have urged you to swat the genus musca domestica. We want to urge you now to be there to swat the genus musca homo.—Swat him with five or ten “smackers” or a nickel, if that’s all you can get your hands on when he starts flying up the outside of the tallest building on the street. —If the world could only under- stand the magnanimity of newspapers the deleter on the most miserable sheet published would be accorded greater honors than were bestowed on Lindy. On Monday we learned that a ‘bottle of more than one-half of one per cent was pilfered from the cellar of a gentleman whose meat and drink ‘is accusing the Watchman of being wet. .—A little bird told us that there ‘is the devil to pay in Philipsburg-— ‘politically. The town’s agog over a rumor to the effect that the Governor called up Dr. Jones, on the long dis- ‘tance telephone, and told him that he "had dreamed that much published in- terview in which he, the Governor, was quoted as loving both boys so much that he was sorry he didn’t have a judicial ermine for each of “them. —The death of the venerable Jerry Roan, at the age of eighty-seven, awakens the old memory cells and we live over -again the exciting moments when his farm team ran away on High street and in their uncontroll- ~able frenzy raced astride of the truss that once rose in the centre of the bridge over Spring creek. As the team dashed up High the tongue of the wagon hit the sloping support of the truss and slid clear to its top with ‘the result that ‘the neck-yoke and col- lars were astride the top and both horses hung as in a gibbet. —The President’s statement to the - ¢ffect that “I do not choose to run for President in 1928,” leaves much to conjecture. Had he said: I will not run for President in 1928, then the country would have understood it to mean a final decision not to attempt “to succeed himself. His use of the word “choose” leaves the door wide open. We think Calvin Coolidge is tired of his job and that he would really prefer to get back to a position where he doesn’t have to fish bait, wear cow-boy hats and have his pic- ture taken. But he is a Republican, first, last and all the time, and if he ‘appears to be the only hope of keep- ing the faithful in food at the public expense when 1928 dawns then Cal can say that he never declined to run! He “choose” —d not to, but his party ‘ “choose” —d otherwise. —If memory serves us aright the last time we talked of having seen the new moon over our right shoulder was just before we took a‘tumble on the ice and landéd on some spot on the old cranium that has the faeilty of revealing all and more stars than there are in the firmament. In re- porting that unhappy experience we think we canned sight of the new moon over the right shoulder as an omen of good luck. If we did, a new can opener was handed us on Monday and we've got a lot of faith in the moon again. Just after we ‘had glimpsed old Luna over the right shoulder we sat down-at the desk and opened an invitation to occupy a friend’s camp in Canada for a week. Camps are so common nowadays that you might say that wasn’t of much more importance than spavin on one of the legs of a centipede, but listen: Enclosed in the ' invitation was a “Wine List” and the assurance that a liveried chaffeur and a ‘Cadillac sedan would be at our disposal from the in- stant of arrival until the moment “we < don’t care what becomes of us now.” Demcra HR If VOL. 72. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA.. AUGUST 5. 1927. Setting Up a Czar. In the proceeding before Attorney General Baldridge, at Harrisburg, on a petition brought by Henry V. Daugherty, a Democratic voter of Philadelphia, to have the law officer of the Commonwealth institute quo warranto proceedings to oust Regis- tration Commissioners recently ap- pointed by the Governor for the city of Philadelphia, the Vare machine re- vealed a surprising line of defense. It is that any act of the Governor is beyond the power of judicial review. In other words, the proposition is that the Governor may violate any act of the General Assembly with impunity and that there is no redress except by impeachment. This is so palpably absurd that it is surprising any law- yer would assert it. Section 3 of the Act of 1919, specif- ically declares that of the Commonwealth shall within ten days after the passage hereof, and in every fourth year thereafter, appoint a Registration Commission for each city to which this act applies, consisting of five duly qualified elect- ors thereof, not more than three of whom shall belong to the same polit- ical party.” In pursuance of this au- thority Govrnor Fisher appointed three electors registered as Republi- cans and Judge Renshaw and Albert H. Ladner as Democrats. The peti- tioner proved by the official records that Mr. Ladner registered as a Re- publican in 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1926, and that he has been voting with that party during all those years. When Governor Fisher’s attention was called to this fact, which clearly implied a violation of the law by ap- pointing four Republicans, he said that he had been informed that Lad- ner is “an old line Democrat.” But when the evidence to the contrary was presented to him he neglected or re- fused to correct his blunder. He had ample time before the commissions were issued to withdraw the name of Ladner or one of the other Repub- licans but didn’t and the outraged Democrats of the city are compelled to appeal to the courts for justice. And the reply of the corrupt machine is that the courts have no power to review an: aet of the “Governor. This is certainly setting up a Czar in Har- risburg. ———The Institute of Politics in ses- sion at Williamstown, Massachusetts, has been warned of an impending bit- ter conflict between the Modernists and the Fundamentalists in religion. That will probably be a “high-brow” affair over which most of us will have little concern. Prostituting the Courts. The machine purpose to take con- trol of the courts of the State appears to be moving forward. In Pittsburgh the Mellon end of the partnership has slated nine candidates for the bench in Allegheny county and in Philadel- phia Mr. Vare has picked a full list of servile followers to fill the vacan- cies in the courts of that county. The Mellons have also chosen a candidate for district attorney who is probably under pledge of obedience to orders. Mr. Vare has not been able to accom- plish that result as yet but expects to do so in time. He is confident that the candidate he names for that office will be “accepted and adhered to by the voters.” It has not been the practice of the machine heretofore to lay its foul hands on the courts. For a long time there has been maintained a sort of “gentleman’s agreement” that the platform included a plank demanding | selection of judges in the cities and ballot reform, that I was elected by ' throughout the State should be left ' an overwhelming majority, and that! to the people. But since the forma- ciation. The Pennsylvania elections ciation, recently organized, seems to have gained the complete approval of the press of the State and the full confidence of the people. It remains | to be seen whether or not its appeal { will be sufficient to secure the moral rand material support that will be necessary to make it an efficient in- 'strument to accomplish the results "aimed at. The ballot crooks are or- ganized and have abundance of money. To successfully meet them in battle it will be necessary to be equal- ly equipped. In other words the or- ganization must be supported as , generously as possible with funds and an enthusiasm and willingness ito work that will match the differ- { . : . ence in resources. “the Governor | The original proposition was that a fund of $50,000 be pledged as a pre- i liminary step to the organization. | Presumably that condition has been | fulfilled. But that sum will not be | sufficient to meet the expenses of | organization, to say nothing of the i other legitimate expenses of conduct- "ing a State-wide political campaign. . To provide the additional funds need- ~ed all citizens who favor honest elec- | tions are invited to join the associa- (tion and pay an initiation fee of two { dollars. There ought to be enough "men and women in Pennsylvania to create a force of sufficient strength, under those conditions, to achieve the result. It will be not only a safe but an actually profitable investment. The organization is non-partisan, and is sponsored by men and women of both parties of a character to guar- antee sincerity and honesty in its efforts. But sincerity and integrity is not sufficient to carry elections un- less supported by energy and enthus- i iasm. It is up to the people of the | State to supply these essential ele- iments in political warfare. Beyond doubt they are available and will re- spond to a proper appeal to the con- science and patriotism of the voters. But the new organization must not make the mistake of endorsing the illegally created Registration Board Philadelphia Committee the other day. ———— fp e—————— ; -——The Taxpayers League, organ- ized in Philadelphia last week, has a worthy purpose in mind and a hard task to perform. The Federal inher- itance tax is not only an abomination but a rank injustice. of Seventy Governor and Ex-Governor Disagree. In the conference of Governors held ion Mackinac Island, Michigan, last week, former Governor Pinchot spoke one day and present Governor Fisher the next. Among other truths Mr. Pinchot declared that “under the pres- ent political master of Pennsylvania political corruption is steadily and rapidly increasing. It is spreading out of the ‘strip’ in Pittsburgh, the stronghold of the Mellon machine, into i those parts of the city which used to ; be clean. It is spreading out of the i Vare—controlled wards of Philadel- { phia which used to be independent. It iis spreading for one reason and only | one, there is money in it.” He might have added that it is spreading alarm- ingly in other cities of the State. The next day Governor Fisher spoke during a round-table discus- !'sion covering a review of the proceed- ings and said: “I just want to point! | out that my candidacy was announced jon my own responsibility, that my since that time there has been written The Pennsylvania Elections Asso- | {The Senate committee on Privileges asso- | and Elections has determined to im- ! pound all the ballot boxes used in the : Senatorial election in this State last for Philadelphia as.was done by the NO. 30. Senator Reed’s Smoke Screen. year, according to press dispatches from Washington. Last week the secretary of the committee notified the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate in Washington “to begin prepara- tions at once for taking over all Penn- sylvania boxes,” and as there will be nobody to object except the Pennsyl- vania tax-payers who will have to pay the expenses of the senseless opera- tion, the movement will begin at once. It will cost a lot of money and ac- complish no good except as a smoke screen to confuse the minds of voters who are interested in an effort to ex- pose fraud. The enterprise was conceived in the rather muddled mind of Senator Dave Reed, of Pittsburgh, who seems to imagine that it will help Mr. Vare to realize on the heavy investment of boot legger’s funds to buy a seat in the Senate. Mr. Reed hopes that the partisan majority of the committee on Privileges and Elections may be dragooned into a favorable report on the Vare credentials as it did in the Newberry case some years ago. As a matter of fact the action of that com- mittee will have nothing to do with the case. The case against Vare is based on his excessive expenditures in the campaign for his nomination and in pursuance of the Senate resolu- tion in the Newberry case, he is already condemned. The contest of William B. Wilson for the seat illegally acquired by Vare may be defeated by the process which seems to have the approval of the committee on Privileges and Elec- tions because that committee will probably refuse to inquire into the methods by which the Vare majority was obtained. As Mr. Wilson said in a statement issued a few days ago tens of thousands of Vare votes were cast by men “who have been fraudu- lently registered or never registered or never had existence, the juggling of tally sheets and returns and the number of other ways in which fraud was perpetrated in the election.” Simply recounting the votes as cast may give Vare a majority but will not give him a seat in the Senate. rn ———— fp —————— ——The Watchman has been re- quested by the health officer of the borough of Bellefonte to call attention of draymen, merchants and house- holders to the fact that garbage must not be deposited on the big dump on North Water St. Clean ashes, stones garbage is strictly forbidden, not only by borough officials but by the board of health. Some householders in Bellefonte dispose of their garbage by burying it in the ash pile and having it hauled away as ashes. This, also, is against the rules of the board of health. The borough pays for a dump for garbage out at the old Gatesburg ore mines, and all deleterious matter should be hauled there. There is a provision in the board of health rules providing for the prosecution of any- one disposing of garbage at a place or in a manner where it may prove a menace to the health of the commun- ity, and the health officer has deter- mined to enforce this rule. —The new banking enterprise for Bellefonte is not a revival of the old Centre County, but we understand that its plans are to offer the credit- ‘ors of the defunct institution the op- i portunity to subscribe for stock should i the initial capitalization be increased, which will probably be the case. As the foremost banker of the town said, in this paper, some time ago: “Bank- tion of the Mellon-Vare partnership 'into the statutes most of the reforms | ing is not ‘a get-rich-quick’ business,” a new policy has been adopted. Its central idea is to grab everything that | advocated in my campaign.” The people of Pennsylvania are not all but it is certainly a wonderful invest- | ment opportunity for the long pull money can buy and impress every !stupid. Most of them are capable of and it is our belief that creditors of agency into the service of machine | reasoning and a vast majority of them | politics. The slating of candidates for the bench in the two big cities is the beginning of this scheme to sub- | jugate the people. If it succeeds it will become the rule throughout the State later, There can be only one reason for this deliberate attempt to prostitute the courts. It is to establish and per- petuate a partnership between politics and crime, Without the co-operation of the courts it is difficult to protect the criminals who serve the machine from punishment, and to make that certain the judges as well as the dis- trict attorneys must be acquiescent. In Pittsburgh this “unholy alliance” | has been effected and perpetrators of election frauds are as immune from punishment as if they had performed signal public service. But Mr. Vare has not been quite as successful. He has not been able thus far to fasten his brand on the district attorney. r————————— ——The Canadians are expressing loyalty to the crown in unmistakable manner. Their reception to the Prince of Wales left nothing to be desired. ! are honest. They have these conflict- ing statements to compare and ap- | Praise and they have eyes to see con- ditions as they exist in Pennsylvania , to-day. | It is a curious coincidence, how- | ever, that on the day and probably at { the time Governor Fisher was speak- ing in Michigan leading citizens of Philadelphia were in Harrisburg urg- ing the Attorney General to join in a purpose to make ballot corruption more difficult, though not impossible, by correcting a blunder made by Gov- ernor Fisher in the appointment of Registration Commissioners in that city. It is significant, moreover, that the law officer of the Governor’s cabi- net showed decided reluctance to do ! what he might do to prevent ballot pollution in the future and freely rendered assistance to the opponents of the movement by allowing the de- lays they asked for. ———————— nr ——— ——The frequnt quarrels aviator Levine has with his associates lead to the impression that he is “hard to get along with.” the Centre County who can and will . go into the new institution—if oppor- | tunity affords—will have recouped all { of their losses inside of ten years. ——All members of Bellefonte’s two military units, the head-quarters "troop and Troop B, have been ordered i to report at the armory at 7.45 o’clock ‘this (Friday) evening to make prep- , arations for leaving tonight for their | Mt. Gretna encampment. ! Massachusetts doctors believe they have discovered a certain cure i for cancer and if they prove the claim | they will deserve full praise. | Prince Carol is hankering after {the Rumanian crown but is somewhat i afraid to assert his claim in a prac- ot way. AM AI A Se, i The delegates in the naval con- | ference at Geneva are having a hard i time in saving the Coolidge face. | pe o———— A ————— ——Governor Fisher still seems to think that laws ar not binding on Governors. and clay may be hauled there but | Comments on the Conference. . From the Philadelphia Record. English comment on the Geneva conference very generally holds the United States responsible for the failure to reach an agreement because this country insisted upon naval equality with Great Britain. But if this explanation is true then it is necessarily implied that Great Britain has been trying to secure primacy upon the seas. This all the British papers and officials stoutly denied. But if England has not been trying to secure primacy upon the seas, then how can our insistence upon naval equality have defeated an agreement? The English can’t have it both ways. If our insistence upon equality has prevented an agreement, then the English have. been demanding a greater sea force than ours. The Eng- lish officials and the English news- papers have explained at great length that the distribution of the British Empire all over the earth, and the dependence of Great Britain upon foreign commerce, and particularly upon foriegn food, justify it in de- manding a greater sea force than ours. Our impression is that the explana- tion of the obvious inconsistency in the British position is about as fol- lows: England wants an increased number of the smaller cruisers; there- fore, it wishes the limitation put high. But it knows that we shall not build up to a high limit, so that fixing such a limit will result practically in giv- ing England a substantial ascendancy in cruisers, while the ratio agreed on is the same for both countries. Thus England will have a larger navy than ours, which is what it desires, but the limit for the two countries will be the same. Of course, it is just as well to have no limit at all and let the convention fail as to have a limit much above what we regard as necessary and are at all likely to construct. Of all the comments on the confer- ence the most inexcusably imbecile is that of Italian newspapers, which de- nounce it as imperialism for three nations to get togther to limit their naval forces. It is inconceivable that imperialism should be manifested in limiting either armies or navies. The limitation applies to no country that does not participate in the conference, and if three nations, having the largest naval forces, slasgld agree to limit them the other ‘countries would be unaffected, or they would be favor- ably affected. Italy was a party to the Washing- ton conference, Its allotment of bat- tleships was very low. It declined to take part in the present conference, but if three of the five nations that limited battleships in Washington should agrze to limit cruisers also we can imagine nothing less imperial- istic, less dictatorial and less deserv- ing of Italian animadversions. Byrd’s Proposed Trip to South Pole. Irom the Pittsburgh Post. . Commander Richard E. Byrd's plans for his expedition to the South Pole, as outlined in a statement to the Associated Press, make it plain that this will be the most hazardous of his amazing adventures; and it can only be hoped that the good fortune which attended him on hig flight to the North Pole, and which continued to attend him, though not in such marked degree,, on his trans-Atlantic flight, will not forsake him. Whereas the trip to the North Pole was made from a base only 800 miles distant, the permanent supply base for the Antarctic expedition will be at least 1,000 miles from the objective. Five other camps at intervals of a hundred miles will also be established and stores of food cached at them. One of the great difficulties with which Byrd may have to contend is the terrific windstorms of the Antarec- tic region. But if the hazards are greater the rewards in sight are also greater. There is a great continent in the Ant- arctic region. The South Pole itself is on a mountain or plateau two miles above sea level. It is believed that there are areas in the An- arctic continent that may be free of snow and ice during the brief period when the sun shines twenty-four hours a day, and Byrd thinks there may be animals and vegetable life in these tracts. Intresting geological and mineralogical discoveries are also among the possibilities. He is accord- ingly taking ten “ologists” along with him to explore the regions to the right and left of the camps as the ex- pedition moves toward the Pole. The South = Pole, discovered by Amundsen, was also reached by Scott, who perished, however, before he could get back to his ship. Shackle- ton came close to the Pole. But their expeditions failed to reveal all that is to be learned concerning the Ant- arctic continent. There is much of importance yet. to be ascertained and there is little doubt that Byrd and his associates will make valuable con- tributions to geography and other sciences. ———The United States editors trav- eling abroad are having nearly as good a time as Mark Twain’s “Inno- cents” enjoyed about half a century ago. ——China is moving forward along the line of civilization. The rickshaw coolies in Hankow are on a strike. ' SPAWLS FROM THE KEYTSONE. —State, city and hospital authorities are probing the typhoid fever epidemic among nurses at the Altoona hospital, Mrs. Helen Louise Morgan, 23, student nurse, dying today. Five other nurses are ill with ty- phoid, one seriously. —In a daylight robbery, two youthful highwaymen held up a driver of a Colonial ice cream truck on Friday on Chemical road between Ridge and Germantown pikes, three miles east of Norristown, and fled in an auto after taking more than $200 from the driver. —Attacking her husband with a stove poker, which she’s alleged to have used with telling effect, Mrs. Margaret Ceachman, of York, Pa., is in the York county jail awaiting a hearing before Justice of the Peeace Albert H. Shettel, on charges of assault and battery. The charges were preferred by the husband. —Entering the bedroom of 15-year-old Clara Borchick, at Shenandoah, on Sunday Peter Gulick, 35, fired a bullet from a pis- tol into her left breast as she slept and then turned the weapon on himself, dying almost instantly. The girl is in a critical condition and it is feared she will not re- cover. Clara’s younger sister was in bed with her at the time, but was uninjured. —While frying an egg at his home in Orviston, last Friday, Corman Dietz, 10 years old, undertook to hurry up the fire with kerosene when the flames leaped up into his face and ignited his clothing. His brother, John, in attempting a rescue, suf- fered a blistered face and hands. Neigh- bors beat out the flames, but Corman died Friday night in the Lock Haven hospital. —An order declaring John T. Reinzel, of Clarion, in contempt of court for ignoring a court order, was issued on Tuesday by Federal Judge F. P. Schoonmaker. The court order had ordered Reinzel to make complete distribution of the estate of M. C. Shannon, of Clarion. Reinzel had been appointed receiver of the estate after bankruptcy proceedings. A warrant for his arrest was ordered issued. —Hopewell township, York county, in which there has been trouble for several weeks over the testing of cattle for tuber- culosis, necessitating the aid of state police to maintain order, has been put under a general quarantine by the bureau of ani- mal industry of the State Department of Agriculture. No cattle will be permitted to enter the township except under certain conditions. All cattle in the township for dairy purposes must be tuberculin tested. —A healthy steer, weighing 1,000 pounds, dressed slaughtered in the abattoir of Clarence G. Rhoads, New Berlinville, dis- closed to the butchers a most unusual col- lection of junk. When the butchers ex- amined the stomach of the steer, they were surprised by its size and weight. It con- tained the following articles: Eighteen nails, three pieces of wire, a steel wash- er, 18 pebble-stones, one screw, one nut, one piece of shrapnel and two 45-caliber bullets, never discharged. —William W. Milliken, of Lewistown, is the next candidate for the Carnegie hero mdal. Milliken in company with his wife and children were sitting along Jacks creek near the “swimmin’” hole eating their supper last Thursday. He noticed a young woman struggling in fifteen feet of water. He jumped in and after a hard struggle brought her to shore, more dead than alive. After being resuscitated the young woman entered an automobile and motored away without giving her name, { —Henry Laird, of Monessen, arrested on a disorderly conduct charge, happened to remember after he had been placed in a cell that a motion picture was being shown that he wanted to see. He reached through the bars, tested the lock and found that it had not been fastened. Then he walked out of jail and went to the show. His absence discovered, the police began a search throughout the city for him. After seeing the picture Laird returned to his cell and was there when the desk ser- geant made a visit to the lockup. —A boarder in an Allentown hotel on Monday night spread several blankets on the floor of his room and lay down after fastening one end of a cord to the trigger of a shotgun and the other end to his big toe. With a convulsive kick he pulled the trigger—and ducked. The charge from the gun passd harmlessly by his head and lodged in the wall, and the indignant landlord summoned the police. Now the would-be suicide is a lodger at police headquarters, pending disposition of his case. His name is John Risedreteit. He is 52 years old. Ill health is blamed for his attempt. —When John Keedash, a street sweeper 69 years old, was admitted to Allentown hospital on Saturday, for treatment for heat prostration, there was astonishment when the usual search revealed $3250 in cash in his clothes. Keedash is a German who came to America when 16 years old and as a street sweeper ‘has been a land- mark. He lives alone in a two-room shack and nobody judged he had wealth. In a pocket was a small bundle tied with thread and tangled string which contained the money in $5, $10 and $20 bills and one $20 gold piece, Judging by the condition and the dates on some of the bills, it was evi- dent that the man had been saving the money for a number of years. —When a big truck owned by an Allen- town contracting firm ran away on Sat- urday and hit one of the grand old cherry trees at Cherrytree, the eight men aboard received more than a bump. The collision, which demolished the tree, aroused a monster swarm of bees that made their home in the hollow trunk. They seemed a million in number and they angrily made for their disturbers on business bent. Some of the men made surprising records as sprinters, but all were stung. Two Cherrytree girls taking a stroll shrieked that men were about to attack them, only to find out what really was doing when the bees came along. Some passing motorists also were victims. —Officials in the Department of State at Harrisburg have announced receipt of a number of inquiries relative to the incor- poration of air transportation companies and landing fields. The majority of the proposed companies stated that they de- sire to engage in both mercantile and pas- senger business. Department officials said that air transportation companies would be required to have the approval of the Public Service Commission the same as other similar companies. They also will be requested to have the approval of the new State Aeronautics commission, created under legislative enactment of 1927. The commission which is to regulate aeronautics in Pennsylvania was named last month by Governor Fisher but prob- ably will not organize until next month.