INK SLINGS. ——If the friends of Sacco and Vanzetti had had more sense and less force they might have accomplished more. ——The DuPonts are courageous as ‘well as plutocratic. They are threaten- ing to go up against Henry Ford in building automobiles. The Denver mint is scheduled to coin $15,000,000 worth of twenty dollar gold pieces this year. That ought to help Santa Claus some. Lloyds, usually willing to take a chance on anything, refuse to cover aviators in flights over the seas. But aviators will fly over the seas just the same, ’ ——Clemenceau’s statement that he “knows only one party, France,” may indicate an intensive patriotism, but it also shows a narrow mind and lim- ited vision. —Now isn’t a grave yard the last place you would expect to become a popular tryst for “necking parties” yet we are told that the Union ceme- tery is anything but a city of the dead most every night that the weather is propitious. We understand that the police are planning a raid on it some night. Gosh, what an expose there will be if they happen to stage it on the right night. And all the “softies” won’t be young ones, either. —We’re for Congressman Albert Johnson, chairman of the Immigra- tion and Naturalization committee of ‘Congress. He is of the opinion that aliens domiciled in this country who don’t like the way we do things and show their displeasure by agitating strikes, bombings and other destruc- tive manifestations, should be deport- ed. His statement voices his reaction to the outbreaks in consequence of the intended Sacco—Vanzetti execution in Charlestown prison, Boston, on Wed- nesday night. Both of the con- demned men are aliens, avowed anarchists and enemies of our government. Their ambition in life is to overthrow everything that safe-guards the law abiding people in this country so that those who sympathize with them must be of the same ilk and the sooner they are de- ported the safer it will be for those ‘who are really Americans. —Withdrawing for the moment a resolution, made some months ago, to ‘drop the Hon. Holmes out of the lime light we proceed to tell you that he has his ear to the ground to hear what Centre county may have to say about a third term. The Hon. is watching Roy Wilkinson's essay at bucking the precedent with more interest than he is conscious of revealing. He prob- ably reasons thusly: If Roy can do it what not I? Former county chairman L. Frank Mayes is said to be think- ing that he has enough handles after his name and that one such as Hon. would look very fine in front of it; so he has ambition to have it conferred on him by being sworn in as the next Representative from Centre county. Both the Holmes hope and the Mayes ‘desire are between the upper and nether millstones that are grinding out a Republican candidate for Judge of the Courts of Centre county. The Hon. Holmes owes his political renaissance to Senator Scott and po- litical gratitude—if there be such a thing—would seem to leave him no other course than to be for Fleming in the judicial race, but is he? If he is, he is certainly not there with the bells on, for he is fearful that the Furst crowd might hear them and then it wouldn’t make any difference whether Roy Wilkinson succeeds in doing what Bill Brown couldn’t, or not. —For weeks we have been hearing of probable changes at the Bellefonte Lumber Co. They have taken place, but it was not to record that fact that we started this paragraph. We had in mind the local history that is wrapped up in the site on which the industry is located. It is the property of which Bellefonte’s greatest treas- ure—the Big Spring—was once a part. The court records and the annals of the town reveal to all just when and how the spring was segre- gated from the rest of the property .and came into the possession of the borough, but few of our present resi- -dents can visualize the meadow before the wheels of industry started turning ‘on a placid cow pasture and public common. It was then known as “the Mound,” because at the west side of the center of it was a bit of a hill or mound on which stood three or four noble old trees. “The mound,” tradi- tion has it, was an Indian burying ground and youngsters in Bellefonte, sixty years ago, were told that if one stuck a cane into the ground there it would come up reeking with the blood of red-skins. The meadow surround- ‘ing “the Mound” was used as a ground for wagon shows, the old Bellefonte Fencibles drilled there and there were long benches scattered about for lovers. We say long benches because long benches were the kind lovers courted on in those days. In this year of our Lord, 1927, the top of a tomato can would be too roomy for most any twosing party—no matter what their breadth of beam might be. "The demolition of the hill was begun when the Bellefonte, Nittany and Lemont railroad was built in 1882 and we think the eastern end of it was dug away when lumber piles needed a resting place quite as much as Indian ‘bones. ¢ 7? VOL. 72. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE, PA.. AUGUST 12. 1927. NO. 31. Coolidge’s Surprising Announcement. | In his cryptic statement handed to press correspondents at Rapid City, South Dakota, last week, that he | does not choose to run for President in 1928, President Coolidge surprised the country quite as completely as if : he had appeared at the White House | dinner in cowboy toggery. He had been assured by most of the leaders of | his party that he could have the nomi- | nation “for the asking” and had plainly manifested a desire for a re- newal of his lease of the office and the power. The people had therefore come to the belief that he would be renominated without opposition and a good many of them to the impression that he might be elected and thus shatter the time-honored tradition concerning the third term. To those who accepted it literally it was a shock. i Of course the brief statement, “I do not choose to run for President in 1928,” is not to be interpreted as a declaration that he will not be a can- didate next year. As Senator Smoot said, “if the Republican convention wants Mr. Coolidge he will run,” and as the Republican convention will be made up largely of office holders it is practically certain to want him. In fact his statement might easily be construed as a hint to his friends to get busy along that line while condi- tions are favorable. His sojourn in the Black Hills and the absurd stunts he has been indulging in may have been amusing to the cowboys but have failed to create the atmosphere de- sired and expected and his dramatic gesture might be simply an expres- sion of disappointment. Then there is a possibility that the purpose of the statement was to en- tice some of the other Republicans who would choose to run for Presi- dent in 1928 to come out in the open and declare their ambitions. It is proverbial that there is danger in too much harmony in politics. It creates the impression that it is a coerced sentiment and like most of Mr. Cool- idge’s speeches has the metalic flavor of cannon soup. A nomination ac- quired from a convention as the re- sult of good tempered competition would make a much stronger appeal to the public mind, Mr. Coolidge feels that he would be perfectly safe in such an adventure. And in the event of his nomination with or without a contest, he will need a strong appeal to overcome the opposition to a third term. ——The death of General Leonard Wood will give the President an op- portunity to adopt Carmi Thompson's advice to substitute a civilian for the military government of the Philippine Islands. Failure of the Geneva Conference. The failure of the Geneva arms | conference to arrive at an agreement to proportionately decrease the naval strength of the United States, Great Britain and Japan is not a matter of such importance as some of our es- teemed contemporaries profess to believe. It might have been worth- while to commit the three great pow- ers in question to a smaller naval force in ships and personnel. But be- cause such an agreement was not ef- fected is no reason why either of the participants in the conference should plunge into extravagant and reckless ship building. The government of the United States worried along, and fairly prospered, for many years with practically no way at all. No sane man or woman in this country imagines that either Great Britain or Japan will engage in war ship building for the purpose of fight- ing or even intimidating this country. The British delegates in the Geneva | Helping Vare at High Cost. On July 11, according to a brief submitted to the Attorney General by attorney William A. Carr, counsel for A. H. Ladner Jr., of Philadelphia, Governor Fisher issued commissions to Mr. Ladner and three other Re- publicans to serve on a board of Reg- istration Commissioners for that city under an Act of Assembly which for- bids the appointment of more than three persons of the same political party. A week later the Governor's attention was called to the fact that he had violated the law and he re- ; Another Absurd Plea for Ladner. © In a brief submitted to the At- torney General at Harrisburg, the ‘other day, counsel for A. H. Ladner Jr, in the proceeding to oust him ‘from the office of Registration Com- missioner for Philadelphia, set up the ‘plea that the appointment is valid because other members of the board | were appointed later. The law de- :clares that “not more than three { members of the commission shall be- long to the same political party” and { the proceeding is not to oust Mr. Ladner but to oust the whole board. Law Must Keep Within Law. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The dangers of auto traffic are such that public sertiment rightly has been supporting to the utmost reguia- tion of the use of the highways. This : support must and will continue. The i great majority of the traffic officers use their authority in a manner en- titling them to commendation. Never- theless the zeal of some arresting ; officers and the cupidity of certain | justices of peace have led to extremes ; that have virtually denied to a num- | ber of autoists their constitutional rights. Pennsylvania has had its share of experience with speed traps plied that he was told or understood . No one questions the right of the 354 fining squires; with conviction of that Mr. Ladner, one of the Republi- can appointees, was an “old line Democrat.” Substantial evidence was promptly submitted that Mr. Ladner had been registering as a Republican for several years. A full month has elapsed since the! | violation of the law was perpetrated and three weeks since the official rec- ord showing that Mr. Ladner has been registering as a Republican for years, was laid before the Governor. The pro- vision of the law forbidding the ap- pointment of more than three per- sons of the same political party is specific and mandatory. It declares that not more than three “shall belong | to the same political party.” Yet Governor Fisher has taken no step to correct his fault or comply with the provisions of the law and the Attor- ney General seems inclined to delay a judicial investigation of the ques- tion as long as possibie. Such actions do not make for honest elections. If Governor Fisher received his in- formation as to Mr. Ladner’s political affiliation from William S. Vare, as is widely believed, he is as culpable as if he had wilfully and deliberately violated the law. Mr. Vare is trying to force his way to a seat in the Unit- ed States Senate on forced and fraud- ulent title and it is important to this vicious project that he has the sup- port of his party in the State and the people of Philadelphia. A packed registration board in Philadelphia will materially help him to accomplish this result, and appearances indicate that the Governor is willing to violate a law he is sworn to execute in order. to promote Mr. Vare’s preposterous ambition. nro fp fp ema S——— ——LEven if it be true that Ameri- can women’s hair dressing costs four times as much as war ships an ex- travagant ship building programme would not be justified. Another Trick in Process. The Senate committee on Privileges and Elections has begun the process but the “ballots, tally sheets, voters’ | Governor to appoint Ladner. He might have legally appointed Bill | Vare and Tom Cunningham to serve : with Ladner. But he had no right to ! appoint four Republicans as he did. The brief in question declares that the commissions of all the Commis- sioners are dated July 11, while two were appointed July 13, one July 14 and the other two July 18. If that be true all of the Commissioners were commissioneed before they were ap- pointed, which is to say the least unusual, but probably not vital. Lad- ner was appointed on July 14 and ! Judge Renshaw and Mr. Brennan on {July 18. The presumption is, there- i fore, that Mr. Walsh, Mrs. McNeil and Ladner were named as Repub- licans and Renshaw and Brennan as Democrats. But Mr. Brennan is not a Democrat. He was once and so was Ladner, and Bren- nan left the party long before Ladner was enticed into the “Band of Broth- ers.” The contention of Mr. Daugherty, proponent in the case, is that in ap- pointing four Republicans when the law forbids the appointment of more than three, the Governor violated the law. In an oral statement before the Attorney General the same lawyer as- serted that no act of the Governor is subject to review by the courts. That of court” by public opinion and the equally preposterous proposition al- leged in the brief deserves and ought to receive the same summary treat- ment. Obviously Mr. Ladner’s at- sorney has mistaken his vocation in life. With a few terms in some well conducted correspondence school he might be made a first class hod car- rier, A Ug 1 Five candidates for council are now in the open in the South ward. Councilman Harry Badger is natur- ally out for relection. John W. Gar- vear term on the Republican ticket i and John Mignot has taken out papers ‘as a candidate on the Democratic ticket. Robert Kline and Albert lof impounding, not the ballot boxes; Knisely, both Republicans, are ecir- culating petition for the vacancy a Democrat : absurdity was literally “laughed out | brick will be a candidate for the two | i motorists on the mere informal word , of knowing the nature of the charges against them. Happily through the ‘vigor of motor clubs that practice has been slowed up; several of the fining squires have been sent to jail, But {there still is need of action to keep | the administration of the law in this respéet within the bounds prescribed by the Constitution and statutes, and a | further important victory for motor- (ists has just been recorded in a deci- I sion handed down in Quarter Sessions Court in Philadelphia by Judge Sam- uel E. Shull. | A Philadelphian was arrested by a | traffic officer, given a hearing by a | justice of the peace and held under i bond without a formal charge against him. Judge Shull discharged him, saying: “Until there has been filed an affidavit setting forth in detail the , offense complained of, there is noth- ing before a mayor, burgess, magis- trate, alderman or justice of the peace before whom one arrested on sight may be taken. which would give such officer the right to hold to bail, either for an appearance at a hearing or for an appearance in court.” If such affidavit is not made the motorist taken into custody is to be discharged. 1 The law itself must keep within the aw. RE Crooked Politics. Froin the Philadelphia Public Ledger. A full investigation is promised by the Registration Commission of the charges of forgery and impersonation in the petitions for the appointment of minority registrars in one of the divisions of the Forty-fourth Ward, in West Philadelphia. On the face of the case as it’ is presented by: the Committee of Seventy, here is a flagrant instance of wholly needless crookedness. The law requires the appointment of members of the minority on each division registration board, yet in this case the names of applicants registered as Requblicans are brought forward by the Republi- can divisions cannot be found and are assumed to be phantoms. It is a fair inference that this was an attempt to foist upon the commis- sion for appointment as registrars men who under oath have declared themselves to be Republicans, and to bolster up this scheme with imaginary | petitioners and bogus affidavits. The | effect would be to deny to the Demo- lists, registration lists, and all docu- | Which will be caused by the decision | cratic minority the right of represen- mentary paraphernalia with said election.” and Mr. Wilson consented to this procedure and it is safe to say that it will do no harm, though there is little basis for the hope it will do any good. Senator Watson, of Indiana, is acting chairman of the committee that will have custody of the property and he is about as tricky a politician as can be found between the two oceans. But the Democratic Senators are alert and there is not likely to be any tampering with the ballots. The hope of those who conceived this plan of investigating the vote of Pennsylvania is to shift the labor from the Slush Fund committee, upon which there are two Democrats, two | Republicans and an Independent, Sen- ator LaFollette, to the standing com- mittee in which theve is a substantial Republican majority. This majority of the standing committee might make a preliminary report at the opening of the session, admitting Vare to the disputed seat, pending the Both Mr. Vare | of his present term. In the North ward , {John S. Walker will again be a can- i didate and John P. Eckel will also run in the West ward. ——————— ——The Watchman is in receipt of | the annual premium list of the Clear- field county fair, which will be held September 13th to 16th inclusive. It is a book of 140 pages and a credit not only to the fair association but the printers. Mitchell I. Gardner, a native of Centre county and for many years a resident of Bellefonte, is secretary of the association and has been very successful in its manage- ment. This year $3,900 will be paid in purses alone for the racing events, I not counting the money to be paid out {in premiuns. GE ——Thirty-five counties in the State are now under full or partial quarantine for the European corn i borer. Centre is among them and the | Federal and State Departments of conference insisted on a considerable | investigatioon, thus giving the Repub- | Agriculture are co-operating to the increase in the smaller type of war |licans power to organize the new Sen- end that no corn, broom corn, ships, but it is likely that they were | ate. But unless the signs are decep- | Sorghums or Sudan grass go out of influenced more by a desire to create | tive such an act would yield them any of the effected areas. Stations snug and attractive berths for friends | little help. It will require a majority | have been established all along the and families than a desire for con- | quest. If the governing agents of | Great Britin feel like improverishing | of the Senate to adopt the report and that is not probable. There is danger also that the stand- “quarantine line, where inspectors will {be on the alert to catch violators of ! the quarantine. The stations nearest the people by foolish ship building let | ing committee will decide to simply Aus are Milroy and Water Street. them enjoy themselves. The people of the United States are not built that way. They will not consent to an absurd ship building contest. Besides it is not certain that an agreement made by the Geneva con- ference would have been of much (recount the votes as returned after i the close of the polls last year. This would be a shamelessly inadequate ' effort to secure Col. Charles A. Lind- { method of dealing with the subject. bergh as an attraction at their Labor In Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, for of votes were fraudulently cast, and Altoona people are making an | day auto races, and inasmuch as they _example, thousands upon thousands have no adequate flying field at that , city, they are considering having him value. The Washington conference of though a recount of the ballots as fly the Spirit of St. Louis to Belle- five or six years ago resulted in an agreement to destroy a few hundred million dollars worth of American ships without any sacrifices on the | part of the other signatories. It also resulted in a scramble for pre- ponderance in air and submerged craft that kept expenses up to the top notch. As a matter of fact the only way to approach the question of de- creased armaments is through the League of Nations, and if the United States had taken its proper place in | ' they are in the boxes might show a majority for Vare a weeding out of the fraudulent ballots, as the Slush Fund committee proposed to do, would show a majority of the legal votes for Mr. Wilson and give him a | valid title to the seat. However, the fonte, land on the aviation field here ‘and after an informal reception take him to Altoona by automobile. Of | course, there is nothing definite, as | vet, in the proposal. ——————————— ——Of course Vice President Dawes connected | of Harry Flack to retire with the end ‘tation on the registration board, al- though at the 1926 election 2139 Democratic ballots were cast in that 'ward. This makes impossible the pre- tense that there are no minority voters available in the ward or the division. Questionable political methods have | become so much of a habit in cer- i tain Organization circles that it would appear to be impossible to eradicate ent even when no need exists for : them. i From the Philadelphia Inquirer. | Dropping into Washington Senator | Rebinson, all the way from Arkansas, | announces that he has prepared a bill i for flood control. Doubtless others have given way to a similar inclina- tion. Herein lies danger. Too many i cooks, we are told, spoil the broth. Likewise too many Senators working at cross purposes may snarl up the problem of restraining the waters of the Mississippi. However, it does not appear that Mr. Robinson has gone into details, . except to propose $100,000,000 an- ‘nually for repair and construction work. He suggests an organization analogous to the War Finance Cor- poration to be headed by Herbert Hoover. This may be harmless enough, probably is, but what has Secretary Hoover to say? Perhaps he has a different view. | As a matter of fact, the question is ‘one that belongs to the engineering experts. When their report is in, Congress will have something sub- stantial to consider. Until it is, the less interference there is by Senators and Representatives, the better. Matter for Engineering Experts. | ——Farmer Harry Rockey, of Spring township, is having unusually hard luck with his young chickens. He had a flock of five hundred Rhode Island reds, about half grown when : the chicks began to die and up to last Saturday he had lost over two hundred out of his flock. And up to question as to which committee will | “spilled the beans” at the opening of that time he had been unable to deter- have charge of the work has not been | the bridge at Buffalo. He is the pro- mine the nature of the disease that decided. ——Mr. Vare will probably decide which of his servile tools is to be i verbial “bull in the china shop.” bts ns fp ff rns ———— | ———1If the President really means he will not be a candidate next year that organization the problem would Mayor of Philadelphia, within a few it won't matter much what kind of have been solved long ago. days. bait he “chooses” in future. { was causing such havoc. The first “indication of anything wrong was noticeable when the legs become al- most white. Then the heads would turn white and in less than a day the ¢hicken would die. SPAWLS FROM THE KEYTSONE. —Mrs. Roy A. Weaver, 37, of York, Pa, died on Monday as tbe result of a chicken bone lodged in her throat since Wednes= day of last week. —The oven withholds no scent from Mrs. Rebecca Sidler, of Danville. She baked 16,000 pies during the year ending August 1st, and baked 24,000 cakes within the last two years. —Three armed bandits held up John Cleary, superintendent and paymaster of the James Ferry Construction company, at Easton, while he was paying men employ- ed on sewer construction in that city, and, securing nearly $3,000, escaped in an au- tomobile. —Cells for a new five-story addition to Sing Sing prison are to be built at Ber- wek, Pa., by the American Car and Foun- dry company. The order will make 28 carloads, with a possibility that it may be increased. The cells will be construct- ed there and then knocked down for ship- ment. —0. C. Skinner, works manager of the Standard steel works, ar Lewistown, denies any knowledge of the reputed purchase of the plant by General Motors corporation. Rumors to this effect have been current for the past several days. Manager Skin- ner says Philadelphia officials of the com- pany have no information concerning the rumored sale. —~Several hundred young men, recruited mostly from schools and colleges near Harrisburg, are =n route to the harvest fields of western Canada. In addition to sight-seeing and experience they will earn from $5 to $6 a day as harvest hands in the wheat fields of Alberta. Many are expected to stay for the three month's harvesting season which runs from August to November. { —With nearly $6,000 in his pockets, the body of John T. Alsworth, 69, farmer and oil well driller, was found in his cabin 20 miles north of Butler, on Monday. It is believed he had been dead for several days. In his pockets was $5,669.50 in cur- rency, part of his life savings. Alsworth had lived alone for years. Two sons, Homer, of Clarion, and Frank, of Greene county, and a daughter, Blanche, of Cres- son, survive. v —Judge Aaron B. Hassler, associate judge of the Lancaster county courts, died in the General hospital at Lancaster on Monday night. Death followed a peculiar accident which he suffered several weeks ago while at work in the library of his home. He dropped the cork of an ink bottle and while stooping to pick it up, his right thigh bone snapped. Judge Hassler was 68 years old and has been on the local bench for 25 years. —William C. Williams, Negro, born a slave aand probably Harrisburg’'s best known Negro, died on Saturday at the age of 89. He served as a policeman thirty vears ago, being the city’s first Negro member of the force. He was six feet one inch tall and weighed 350 pounds. Clarence, “Waxey” Williams, a son, played baseball with the Cuban Giants and the Philadelphia Giants in the 90's and on several occasions was seen on Bellefonte ball fields. —Three persons lost their lives in a $30,000 fire at Avoca, Scranton, early on Monday when William Owens, 40, promi- nent hotel man and sportsman, failed in an attempt to rescue his two sons, Wil- liam, Jr., and Allen, 6. Their bodies were found by firemen against a door on the second floor of the Owens dwelling, Two structures, one of them a dance hall and the other a combination hotel and dwell- ing, were destroyed by the fire, the origin of which has not been determined. —What is believed to be the largest gas well ever brought in in Washington coun- ty is producing at the rate of 12,000,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The well, on the Wherry farm near Scenery Hill, is the property of the Stewart Oil & Gas Co., of Connellsvills,. When first drilled Thurs- day the well yielded a million feet a day; drilled deeper on Friday it gave 3,000,000 and by Saturday had reached the 12,000,000 point. Arrangements are being made to pipe the flow into the lines of the Peoples Gas Co. —Refusing hospital attention despite a broken neck and internal injuries, John Zerby, 80, is at his home on a farm in Armstrong Valley, four miles from Eliza- bethville, Dauphin county. Zerby was in- jured on Sunday when a section of a rot- ten floor at his barn collapsed while he was gathering eggs. When the aged man was found on the lower floor an unbroken egg was clutched in each hand. A third egg, also unbroken, was found in his hat nearby. Zerby, a stonemason, has been living alone since the death of his wife several years ago. —Disappearance of Mrs. Lloyd Shearer, of Harrisburg, from her cottage at Perdix, a summer colony near the State capital two weeks ago was solved when she was found on Sunday in a weakened condition in a box used for storage of ice. She was taken to a hospital and physicians say she will recover. After Mrs. Shearer had disappeared State highway patrolmen dragged the Susquehanna river, believing she might have drowned, while a search for her was conducted in the vicinity of Per- dix. She had been sugerng from melan- cholia when she disappeared, her family said. —Buildings that cost more than $500,000 when erected for the Sesqui-Centennial were sold at auction in Philadelphia on Monday, for approximately $26,000. The huge $500,000 auditorium that was the scene of many conventions went under the hammer for $4,800. The palace of educa- tion was another costly building to be disposed of, going at $10,750. These structures were among 81 buildings sold. The famous Alpine Haus, where Mayor Kendrick was host to notables during the exposition, brought $1,800. No one seemed to want the block house reproduction of Fort Pitt, but it was knocked down finally for $10. —Last Thursday morning, William Mec- Intosh built a fire in the furnace in his home at Canton, Pa., as the house seemed chilly. His two and one-half year old son William, fell on the register and was painfully, though not dangerously burned. The following day, while Mr. McIntosh was working on the painting of a local business block, a workman threw a pulley around on the scaffold, and the iron part struck him in the shoulder. Although he was badly bruised, he retained his balance, and did not fall off the scaffold. That evening, Mr. McIntosh and family went out for an automobile ride, and when get- ting out of the car, Mrs. McIntosh sprained her ankle, and then the family began to wonder what would happen hext.