i
INK SLINGS.
.——Possibly Mr. Coolidge has
measured the value of his services
more accurately than the party lead-
ers who want him re-elected.
——The government collected $170,-
000,000 taxes on tobacco last year.
The women cigarette smokers must
have heen very busy.
——The Canners’ Association pre-
dict a large surplus this year. But
if prices are reasonable the demand
may equal the supply.
——Philadelphia is preparing for
an elaborate reception of German
aviators. That city has always been
strong on high-fliers.
It may be safely said that Vice
President Dawes didn’t increase his
popularity in official Washngton by
his “bridge” speech.
——The railroads are breaking
traffic records this year according to
reports of the Bureau of Railway
Economies, but like all other lines of
prosperity it is somewhere else.
The surplus estimates are de-
creasing as information of necessary
expenditures are coming in. The
director of the budget now says it
will amount to only $214,000,000.
—We note that one of the abandon-
ed lime kilns along the highway north
of town is to be utilized as a public
garbage incinerator. We need such a
contraption, but the location is ques-
tionable. Tourists entering Bellefonte
by that route might get the notion
that this isn’t the sweet scented place
it is advertised to be.
—Almost we are persuaded to run
for Congress. There is only one
incentive to our momentary ambition.
We would like to be the father of a
law that would compel the President
to have his face “lifted” before he has
another photograph taken. We are
tired seeing him portrayed as if he
sniffed nothing but unpleasant smells.
—The League of Women Voters in
‘Centre county is dead. Deader than
the proverbial door nail. Its presi-
dent and treasurer looked happier than
we have seen them for years when
they were holding matches to the eye-
lids and mirrors to the mouth of the
corpse to ascertain whether there was
a spark of life in it. Requiescat in
pace.
—George Godfrey, of Leiperville,
“known in fistiana circles as the ebony
elephant, showed them, on Monday
night, that he is something more than
the joke he was thought to be. It took
“him just a minute and a half to knock
Jim Maloney, the Boston strong boy,
so far out of the way to a chance at
the heavy weight title that he will
probably never have a look in again.
Godfrey might be an elephant, but
Maloney certainly must think he has
the hind legs of a mule.
—Time was when the down town
merchants thought their business
was going to the demnition bow-wows
because there were eight country rigs
- anchored to the hitching post on Alle-
gheny street and only two to those
on west High. Now they rail be-
cause there are so many motors park-
ed in front of their places of business
that their own trucks can’t back in
to get the merchandise they have sold
for delivery. There’d be nothing to
life if there wasn’t a “kick” in it.
—Judge Gary, chairman of the
board of the United States Steel Co.
died and there was scarcely a tremor
‘in the fluctuation of the price of the
stock of the company the value of
which had increased more than a bil-
lion dollars under his management.
Thirty years ago the death of such a
captain of industry would have pre-
cipitated a near panic on the stock
market. There could have been no
more real cause for it then than there
is now. Today, however, the public
is not so gullible. It knows that in-
trinsic values, not the expectancies of
humans, are what sound business is
built upon.
—Are you one of those unfortun-
ates who has one good eye and one
‘bum one? If you are you wear
glasses ard you know that one lens
costs fifty cents and the other, any
old sum the occulist wants to charge
for it. You also know that every
time the glasses elude your nose, fall
on a concrete pavement and wreck it
“is the expensive lens that cracks up.
"If it hadn’t been that some years ago
we were forced, by a flattened pocket-
book, to immolate an imagined
aesthetic look on the altar of neces-
sity and swap the eye glasses for
good old “specs,” that hook behind
‘the ears, we might have been in a
worse financial muddle than we are
‘today. For every time our glasses
broke it was the seven dollar lens
that had to be replaced. Its been
vears since we felt that shudder when
they started to slip and groped hope-
fully to retrieve them and we thought
of those days and laughed out loud
when we read the proceedings of our
town’s last councilmanic meeting.
Some unwitting soul is building a
house up on Half-moon Hill. Half
of it is in the borough and half in
Spring township. In the borough the
taxes are 54 mills. In the town-
ship the taxes are mills. When
that misguided home builder dis-
covers what the one-half of his nest
is going to cost him, as compared
with the other, not even “specs” will
solve his problem.
oye
\
CIT
De VAN
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
VOL. 72.
Vare’s Expensive Victory. |
William S. Vare, of Philadelphia, !
present Congressman and claimant
of a bought or stolen seat in the
United States Senate, has attained to |
the highest pinnacle of political boss- :
ism. If the candidates he has chosen
for the several municipal and county
cffices to be filled at the ensuing elec-
tion are elected, he will have absolute
control of the administrative, legisla-
tive and judicial departments of the .
government of Philadelphia as well as
the district attorney’s office. No othex
political boss in that or any other city
in the United States has ever before |
acquired such complete mastery of
the destinies of the people. And he
has attained this control “not as a
leader who reflects the opinions of
his associates, but as one who dicated
his will.” i
Commenting upon this wonderful
achievement in bossism Thomas F.
Healey, a widely known and expert
political analyst inquires: “What will
Mr. Vare’s victory and his control
cost him? It is unnecessary to in-
dulge in philosophical discussion to
find the answer. Philosophy and
common sense are akin. Men whose
political shrewdness is based on a
common sense view of affairs and the
wisdom born of expedience in politi- |
cal life give the answer in the col-
loquial phrase, ‘Vare has bit off more
than he can chew.” ’ Another observer |
says, “Vare does not realize that the |
present unity and strength is its’
greatest weakness. It is a bread and |
butter brigade. His strength is|
founded on the necessities of the job
holders, the division leaders, the ward
leaders.”
These opinions are not expressed
by Mr. Vare’s political foes. Each of
the practical politicians quoted will
do his utmost to bring in the largest
possible majority for the Vare candi-
dates. But their work will not be
cordially performed. Their services
will not be cheerfully rendered. They
feel that the arrogant bossism will be
resented sooner or later and feel that
the end is approaching. Because the
present district attorney proved faith- |
ful to his sworn obligation and sent to |
prison #weore or more ballot theives |
Mr. Vare refused him the nomination |
for the office he has adorned, and |
though the people have quietly sub- |
mitted to such political immorality in |
the past, they will not continue to do |
so forever. Besides, the Senate will |
not favor a reward for such work. |
er——————— eee
A good many fairly well in-
formed people think Vice President
Dawes’ bridge speech put him in the
lead for the Republican nomination if
Coolidge really meant what he said. i
Senator Reed’s plan to smoke |
screen the frauds perpetrated in the |
Senatorial election in this State, last |
year, is making poor progress. Of |
the fifty-three judges who were asked !
Senator Reed’s Smoke Screen Fails.
by the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Sen- |
ate to impound the ballots, twenty- |
three have “demanded a formal peti- |
tion, questioned the authority of the |
Senate committee or expressed down- |
right defiance,” according to press
dispatches from Washington. The |
others have made no responses at all |
or else their replies have not been
made public. Senator Keyes, chair-
man of the Committee on Contingent :
Expenses, has paid no attention to a |
request that he approve the expendi-
ture of funds necessary to carry out
the scheme.
There was about as much sense in
this enterprise as there was in Sena-
tor Dave Reed’s filibuster to prevent
the completion of the slush fund in-
vestigation at the close of the last
session of the Sixty-ninth Congress.
That malicious spragging of the
wheels of Congress delayed the in-
quiry, as it defeated much useful and
important legislation, but it did not
reconcile the defrauded voters of
Pennsylvania to the crimes committed
in the interest of William S. Vare or
enlist the sympathy of honest Repub-
lican Senators for the beneficiary of
the crimes. The investigation will be
resumed on the reassembling of the
Senate and at its conclusion Mr. Vare
will be denied the seat.
No frauds were charged or even
suspected in any of the counties of
the State except Philadelphia, Ches-
ter, Lackawanna, Luzerne and Schuyl-
kill. The ballot boxes used in Phila-
delphia and Pittsburgh had already
been impounded and placed in the
custody of the State. The expense
of this procedure was comparatively
little and had already been provided
for. The Senator then conceived
the idea that the cost of impounding
all the ballots would be so great as
to spread alarm and defeat the pur-
pose, thus hampering justice under
the false pretense of promoting a
comprehensive inquiry. It may have
seemed a hopeful plan but it will dis-
appoint its author.
|
“ted the crime, but he.
Sacco and Vanzetti Respited.
Sacco and Vanzetti, confessed an-
' archists and convicted murderers, who
, were to have been
electrocuted on
Thursday morning last, at Charles-
town, Mass., have again been respited
by Governor Fuller, of Massachusetts,
until midnight of Monday, August 22.
In the circumstances this was proba-
bly a wise as well as a just action. As
the Governor said, “the courts of the
Commonwealth are actively engaged
in the work of considering and decid-
ing the various motions and petitions
filed by the counsel in these cases,”
(and it might seem harsh to execute
the penalty of their crimes until these
i judicial investigations are completed.
Any other course would be fairly open
' to criticism. And unfortunately there
are plenty ready to criticise, not with
| reason but with malice.
The murders of which these men
are accused were perpetrated seven
years ago and they were peculiarly
brutal and atrocious. The evidence
against them was mainly circumstan-
tial but complete. If the lawful pen-
alty had been imposed within a rea-
sonable time there might have been
little complaint and the matter would
have soon passed out of the public
mind. But delays ensued and some
time after the conviction another con-
victed murderer alleged that it was
not Sacco and Vanzetti who commit-
Following this
a motion for a new trial was refused
which led to widespread public pro-
test under the leadership of anarch-
| ists, radicals and other fomenters of
discontent. Other expedients to pre-
vent or delay the execution were in-
voked and kept up ever since.
As a result of these processes and
propaganda a world-wide movement
has been organized to persuade or
intimidate the authorities of Massa-
chusetts into granting another trial of
| the accused. The anarchists and so-
cialists in Italy, France, England,
Spain and various other countries
have made demonstrations and threat-
ened violence unless tte demands of
the attorneys for the accused are
complied with. When the Governor
refused to interfere within a few days
of the time fixed for the execution.
bombs were used and property de-
stroyed in New York, Philadelphia,
and American consulates and embas-
ies in foreign countries threatened.
The only danger from the last respite
is that it may encourage lawlessness
and excite contempt for law.
——The National Association of
Manufacturers is preparing platforms |
for both parties next year and it may
be predicted that it will supply a large
part of the slush fund for the Repub-
lican party.
Important Litigation Happily Ended.
By tending his resignation of the |
office of Registration Commissioner |
for Philadelphia Mr. A. H. Ladner J 7,
has brought to a happy conclusion
the acid test of the Governor of Penn-
| sylvania to violate both the letter |
and spirit of an Act of Assembly.
Governor Fisher had appointed Mr.
Ladner and three other registered
Republicans to a service in which the
law specifically declared “not more
than three of the same political
party” could be appointed. The Gov-
ernor’s attention was promptly called
to the violation of the law but he took
no steps to correct the fault. The At-
torney General was then asked to join
in a writ of quo warranto and when
the law officer assented Mr. Ladner |
resigned.
There is an old legend of pioneer
days in Kentucky to the effect that
when Davy Crocket pointed his gun
at a raccoon it said “don’t shoot, I'll
come down.” It might be said that
| Mr. Ladner was influenced by the
same safety first impulse. But ac-
cording to evidence of his friends he
wanted to resign as soon as objection
was made to his appointment. The
Vare managers, however, prevailed on |
him to hold on and he did so in the
hope that the Governor would recall
the appointment. This expectation
was disappointed and the legal pro-
ceedings begun. Being a lawyer he
accurately sensed the ultimate result
of the impending litigation and imi-
tated the action of the Kentucky
coon.
The office of Registration Commis-
sioner for Philadelphia is an attrae-
tive piece of political patronage. Its
duties consume only a part of the oc-
cupant’s time and the salary is $4000
a year. Mr. Ladner did not ask for it
but the vare machine did with assur-
ance, probably, that the perfidious
local Democratic organization would
make no protest. The purpose of the
appointment was to aid the Vare ma-
chine in corrupting the ballot in the
future as it has done in the past and
the person responsible for it is Gov-
ernor Fisher. He knows the value of
stolen votes and feels the Mellon end
of the “partnership” will need all kinds
of help in campaign plans for next
year.
BELLEFONTE, PA.. AUGUST 19. 1927.
Running According to Schedule.
That interesting if not actually
thrilling comedy of the Black Hills
is unfolding to public view precisely
according to plans and specifications
as expressed in the blue print. Prev-
ious to the issue of the now famous
“I do not choose to run” declaration
life in the South Dakota hunter’s
|iodge was dull and dreary. The peri-
“‘odical circus stunt may have afforded
fun to the cow boys weakly imitated
by a timid and inefficient understudy.
But to the mental optics of a New
Englander who had felt the thrills of
of metropolitan society, they were
drab and unsatisfying. But the
laconic message to the press reporters
changed conditions completely.
That Mr. Coolidge earnestly and
anxiously cherished the hope of a re-
election to the Presidency was firmly
believed by millions of his country-
men. His silence on the subject, his
extreme caution in speech and his
artful dodging of all questions of an
irritable nature fully justified - this
impression. But he was deathly
afraid of the future. His declared
attitude on the third term when Theo-
dore Roosevelt aspired to that distine-
tion arose before him like an accus-
ing ghost. He felt supreme confi-
dence in his power to command the
nomination. But a nomination is of
no value in the face of an overwhelm-
ingly adverse public sentiment and
the “do not choose to run” statement
was issued as an experiment with the
expectation that it would smooth the
road to the fulfillment of his ambi-
tion.
And he seems to have made an ac-
curate measurement of the matter.
Since his statement conditions have
completely changed in his mountain
retreat. There is no loneliness at the
hunters’ lodge now. Every day wit-
nesses the arrival of groups of de-
pendent office holders, expectant
politicians and selfish partisans who
assure him that it is not his desire
but a patriotic duty to accept a third
term, and after listening with a mani-
festly pleased smile he answers “there
are several men who would make
good Presidents.” So there are but
probably none who would serve the
corporate interests with the fidelity
he has shown. And the finale may be
written, “swearing he’d ne’r consent,
consented.”
'
Over Twelve Hundred Petitions Filed
with County Commissioners.
Over twelve hundred
petitions have heen filed with the
| county commissioners, according to
‘the estimate of chiet clerk Herr.
: Tuesday was the last day for filing
petitions and no surprises were
sprung so far as county aspirants for
office is concerned, the only new can-
didate being Mac Hall, of Milesburg,
| who is after the nomination for Re-
corder on the Republican ticket, but
whose candidacy had become known a
week ago.
In Bellefonte borough the candidates
for council are confined to John S.
Walker, in the North ward; John Mig-
not, Democrat, Harry Badger, Robert
Kline and Albert Knisely, Republi-
cans, in the South ward, and John P.
Eckel in the West ward.
Candidates for school director in-
clude Charles F. Cook, George Hazel
and Walter Cohen.
David Bartlet is a candidate to suc-
| ceed himself as borough auditor and
{has no opposition.
S. Kline Woodring is a candidate to
; succeed himself as justice of the peace
tin the North ward.
The office of overseer of the poor
i has brought out the most. candidates.
{ Alexander Morrison, whose term will
expire, has filed nomination papers
in both parties, while others who
would like to have the office are
| Thomas Howley, Democrat; Augustus
| Emel, Thomas Fleming and Elwood
| Johnson, Republicans.
rere cere A Apes.
i ——Tomorrow the Baileyville pic-
i nic will be held. It is the big out-of-
| door gathering of the season for the
| people of the western end of the
county. Few know, hovever, that the
| Baileyville gathering is something
| more than a mere picnic Itis in the
| nature of a memorial and a reunion of
that band of valiant men who were
mustered from Penns valley in Oc-
tober, 1861, and went to war as Co.E,
45th P. V. Before they left they had
a picnic at Baileyville and on their
return their first and every subse-
quent reunion was held there. Now
only one remains, Capt. W. H. Fry,
and he reunes with those to whom
the civic strife of the sixties is only
an historical incident.
——-Aviators appear to be a cour-
teous bunch. All of them who visit
Paris pay compliments to Mme. Nun-
gesser.
——Miss Doran, the girl aviator, is
lost somewhere in the Pacific.
vast power and enjoyed the pleasures ;
candidates |
NO. 32.
The Farmer’s Burdens.
Trom the Philadelphia Record.
Commenting upon a recent editorial
discussion in “The Record” of “Our
Own Abandoned Farms,” our esteem-
ed contemporary The Johnstown
Democrat takes isswe with the state-
ment that “farm labor is about the
hardest, most uncertain and most un-
profitable labor that there is,” and
says that “we know of no other labor
which is as productive as that of the
farmer.” The Democrat is inclined
to explain the decline in farming on
the ground of the excessive tax bur-
dens to which the farmer is subject,
‘including, of course, the tariff burden,
which he bears without deriving any
of its supposed benerits.
“The Record” recognizes the fact
that the farmer is hampered in his
| business by artificial legislative de-
| vices. But it stands pat on the dec-
{laration which has become The
Johnstown Democrat’s text.
In what employment are the hours
of labor as long and «s arduous as in
! the cultivation of the soil?
| What business is subject to so many
| natural vicissitudes? In what busi-
iness is the greatest foresight, the
steadiest application, the utmost prep-
aration for unforeseen contingencies,
so likely to be set at naught by agen-
cies absolutely beyond human con-
trol ?
Farming is not only a continuous
battle with insect enemies and plant
diseases, but inherently a gamble on
the weather When scientific busi-
ness methods are applied to it, and
victory is achieved over destructive
enemies, the ‘elements themselves
still may, and frequently do ruin the
farmer. Wind, hail, excessive mois-
ture and drought are contingencies
against which the most industrious
and skilled agriculturist cannot pro-
vide. And if he is lucky, and makes
his crops, he finds too often that so
many others have simultaneously been
lucky that his markets are glut-
ted and he cannot make the fruit of
his labors pay the cost of planting,
cultivating and harvesting it.
The farmer is- decreasing in num-
bers, more people bred to the soil are
abandoning it, because the profits are
too uncertain and the labor too hard
—and doubtless, too, as our contem-
porary argues, because too many arti-
ficial burdens are piled upon the
natural ones. The farmer is going
lar and more certain wel :
where he shares in tariff gains of the
manufacturer instead of merely pay-
ing them. Farming will continue to
decline until its yields become propor-
tionate to its risks, its labors and its
burdens. And then we shall all pay
more for food.
Fake Bi-Partisanship Hit.
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
| The resignation of Albert H. Lad-
‘rer, Jr., from the Philadelphia regis-
| 2zatton commigsion, following consent
{given by Attorney General Baldridge
| for the use of his name in quo war-
| ranto proceedings to test the makeup
of the body, draws attention to a bi-
partisan abuse that demands correc-
tion. The registration law applying
to Philadelphia designates that the
Governor shall appoint a commission
of five members, not more than three
of whom shall belong to the same
political party. In practice in the
Quaker City this has meant three
Republican members and two Demo-
cratic. Ladner was appointed as one
of the Democrats and accepted as
such. Immediately it was charged by
Democrats that he had been regis-
tered as a Republican from 1922 to
1926, inclusive, and so voted at the
past general election. His resignation
now bears out the contention that his
appointment was contrary to the law.
To the bi-partisan politicians of
Philadelphia it may have meant little;
it has been a practice there of the
Republican machine to put so-called
Democrats, who work with it, in these
minority positions. But the deception
of the Governor into making an ap-
pointment contrary to law is a most
serious matter. So is the violation
of the spirit of the registration meas-
ure which calls for nonpartisanship.
Obviously Mr. Ladner should not have
sought or accepted such a post as a
Democrat. The Republican advisers
of the Governor, undoubtedly familiar
with the facts, should not have recom-
mended his appointment.
The promptness with which the At-
torney General lent his name to the
quo warranto proceedings indicates
the readiness of Governor Fisher to
correct his error. Evidently he wel-
comed the opportunity to rebuke those
who misled him. The result will be
wholesome. Where bi-partisanship is
perverted to enable the dominant or-
ganization to control minority as well
as majority positions, there is a rem-
edy. The minority, whether Repub-
lican, Democratic or of whatever
party, serves the public interest in
combating the practice.
——The latest entry into the po-
litical arena of Centre county is Mac
H. Hall, of Milesburg, who has filed
papers as a candidate for Recorder on
the Republican ticket in opposition to
Lloyd A. Stover. Mr. Hall is at pres-
ent manager of the Western Union
telegraph office in Bellefonte, and is a
most courteous and accommodating
gentleman. He is also well qualified
to fill any position to which he may
aspire.
—Subseribe for the Watchman.
into employment assurin more regu-
1 Syeand-
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYTSONE.
—Burglars robbed the safe in the rooms
of the Berwick Lodge of Elks of $600 on
Monday. Members found the safe door
had been chiselled off when they entered
the rooms.
—William Richards, a fire boss at the
William Penn colliery, residing at Frack-
ville, was caught in a gas explosion, hurled
some distance and terribly burned, cut
and bruised. He is in a serious condi-
tion in Locust Mountain hospital.
—At a special meeting of the Lock
Haven board of education plans were
chosen for the new $300,000 High school
building. They provide for a large audi-
torium and gymnasium on the first floor,
with the vocational school at the rear.
The new building will be two stories and
built so that a third story may be added.
—William Lacey, of Stroudsburg, es-
caped with minor cuts and bruises on
Friday after being caught in a concrete
mixer, partly filled with cement, and
whirled about. A stone which caught in
the mechanism stopped the rotating tub _
and probably saved the man’s life. Lacey
crawled into the huge mixing compart-
ment without notifying fellow-employees.
A mixer attendant started the machine.
—Deeply affected by the death of his
friend, H. C. Gress, a blacksmith, who
dropped dead at his anvil in his shop at
York, last Thursday, Charles Gise, a re-
tired contractor, committed suicide by
hanging himself from a rafter in the cel-
lar of his home. He had been in poor
health. When he heard of his friend's
death, he became morose and when his
wife returned home in the evening she
discovered his dead body.
—A two-point buck caused an accident
on the William Penn highway near Belle-
ville, on Saturday, when it ran into a car
driven by Joseph Zannino, of Lewistown,
forcing the machine into the path of an-
other car approaching from the opposite
direction. Both cars were damaged but
none injured. The deer, confused in a
fog while being chased by dogs, dashed
out of a thicket along the highway and
was killed when it struck the car.
—Three members of the family of Ells-
worth Singer, of Mifflintown, have been
admitted to Lewistown hospital and oper-
ated upon for the removal of veriform
appendix during the last three weeks.
Singer himself was first to submit to the
knife. He is now able to walk about.
His son, Carl Singer, followed Wednesday
of last week and a daughter-in-law, Mrs.
Jay Singer, was close on their heels.
Charles Toner, a brother-in-law is also in
the hospital for treatment.
—Major William White, prominent
consulting engineer, is dead at his home
at Butler, following an attack of acute
indigestion. During the World war Major
White was in an advisory capacity with
the United States army ordnance depart-
ment. At various times during his career
he was connected with the Carnegie Steel
conpany, Pittsburgh; the Vulcan Steel
company. St. Louis, and the Charles
Cramp company, Philadelphia. He was
widely known in England and France and
other foriegn countries.
Warrants for the arrest of twenty
western Pennsylvania physicians, who
were charged with selling prescriptins for
liquor for beverage purposes, were sworn
out at Pittsburgh, on Monday, by Prohi-
bition Administrator John D. Pennington.
The administrator laid the information be-
fore a United States Commissioner and
the warrants were placed in the hands of
the Federal marshal for service. Physi-
cians named are residents of Erie, New
Castle, Johnstown, Brownsville, Franklin,
Monessen and Uniontown.
72,
— Seized with a desire to go swimming,
three young men from Unity township,
Westmoreland county, stopped their car at
the Mountain View hotel at 4 o'clock Sun-
day morning, vaulted over the guard rails,
forced the lock and plunged into the
swimming pool. A few minutes later at-
taches of the hotel were aroused by Alex
Hoyle and Joseph Pry, who said their
companion, Joseph Franks, 23, had dis-
appeared. Dragging of the pool brought
the body of the drowned youth to light.
Coroner James M. Harkins will hold an
inquest Friday.
__The state Game Commission hears that
John Rudy, of Coleraine, has been bitten
by a groundhog while hunting. It is sus-
pected that John must have been poking
his hand into the groundhog’s home, for
the groundhog is a very timid animal anad
ordinarily does not permit a stranger to
come close enough to receive a bite. In-
deed, there are those who have some diffi-
culty getting into rifle range. Occasion-
ally a baby groundhog will allow itself to
be caught, put digging is about the only
method of getting an adult alive, and that
is usually a bigger job than most folks
care to tackle.
_ Motorists indignantly landed in Lew-
istown on Monday night to tell stories of
state police searching their cars for
liquors at the Mifflin-Centre county line
on the Seven mountain ridge. “They
halted our car,” said one driver, “and
asked us if we were carrying any ‘corn.’
I'm not a drinking mau and I feel insult-
ed.” Many of the ruffled drivers came in
for a great dealing of teasing when it was
discovered that the officers on the county
line were members on the quarantine
squad which is scarching for shipments of
bona-fide corn to check the activities of
the ‘corn borer.’
—The government has halted a flood of
begging letters alleged to have been sent
through the mails by Benjamin Miller, of
Lansdale, and which were said to have
netted him a comfortable income for
many years. Miller, a partially paralyzed
former coal miner, with his wife and 21
vear old son, lived in a cosy, two story
detached stucco house in Oak Park, on the
outskirts of Lansdale. When the post
office department ended his operations by
issuing a fraud order against him, Miller
was reported to have been buying $200
worth of stamped envelopes monthly to
send out his appeals for money.
—Although hurled thirty feet by a
Pennsylvania railroad express locomotive
Sunday afternoon, Morris R. Prizer, 65,
of Pottstown, may live to tell about the
most exciting experience in his life.
Prizer, who is hard of hearing, was taking
a walk. At the grade crossing of the
Pennsylvania at Water and Washington
streets he failed to hear the express or the
cries of persons as they shouted a warn-
ing. His body was thrown into the air
and landed thirty feet away, but clear of
the wheels. He was hurried to the Home-
opathic hospital, where an examination re-
vealed he suffered a fractured right arm
and lacerations, but principally from
shock.