Bm le —————————— Bewori an INK SLINGS. . —The calendar to the contrary not- withstanding next Tuesday will be ‘the first day of fall for a lot of aspir- ants for public office. —Governor Fisher didn’t tarry as long in the county as he was expected to have done. Of course there was a reason, but what was it? —Everybody who can possibly get ‘there should go to the primary on ‘Tuesday. Candidates for all of the county, borough and township offices are to be named and it should be the -aim of both parties to name strong tickets. —AIll we can say about the situa- tion is that Fleming’s friends are cock-sure that he will carry off the Republican nomination for Judge on Tuesday and Judge Furst’s advocates are just as sure that he will land a winner. —Wreckage of “Old Glory,” the ‘trans-Atlantic air ship has been found at sea. A grim reminder of the fate of the three daring men who took their lives in their hands when they launched their attempt of a non-stop flight to Rome. —If you want to be convinced that Monday is no longer “wash day” in thousands of homes in Centre county go out to the aviation field next Mon- day and view the crowd that will as- semble to watch the Class B fliers, in the National air derby, check in. —If we were to believe all the stories that have been whispered to us during the last week we would almost have to believe that the Republicans in Centre county are as bad as those whom Elihu Root accused as “mas- querading as Republicans” in Phila- delphia. We don’t believe half of it. —The west coast of Mexico has ‘been devastated by hurricanes and ‘tidal waves, the island of Kiushiu, Japan, has been almost obliterated by ‘a typhoon and the former Kaiser of ‘Germany predicts another world war in 1937. Gosh, what a cloud to rise up on the horizon of these beautiful August days that we are enjoying in September. —The political dopesters have it that Holtzworth has the Republican momination for County Treasurer sewed up. They say that he will come over the mountain from Philipsburg and the Rushes so strong that the vote on this side, divided between can- didates Harnish, Hurley and Long, won’t leave any of them with strength enough to stop him. —Who do you suppose Judge Furst has reference to in the latest issuance of his campaign propaganda? He in- sinuates that somebody is “tearing down” the Republican party while he ‘is ‘building it-up.~ We should like very much to know just who this person is. We’d like to hold him up and grab his recipe. We've been trying for forty years te tear the darned thing down and we’ve never shown enough results to motivate any Republican “into paying for a half-page advertise- ment to warn his party against our nefarious endeavors. —Of course the Governor’s visit to “Centre county Wednesday wasn’t timed to get his finger in the judicial contest that has about reached white- “heat. He came up to visit the State- -aid institutions in the county. Gov- ernors seem to have a habit of bob- "bing up around here just about the time we are having a lot of fun. You will recall that Pinchot arrived “in the county just before his appointee was going to bat to try for a home run to the Bench. The Philipsburg ‘brewery raid was the grandstand play then and we are wondering what this visit is to develop by way of excite- ‘ment. —To say the least the attitude of "H. E. Holtzworth in the present cam- paign is a bit daring. He is an as- pirant for nomination on the Repub- “lican ticket for County Treasurer. * While all other candidates are giving an exhibition of sitting on the fence in the matter of judicial preference Howard has publicly declared his advocacy of Mr. Fleming’s candidacy. It is unusual and typical, but can be explained by the fact that Holtzworth is strong in most of the territory in which Fleming is strongest. This is not because of any combination they might have, but because much of Mr. Holtzworth’s business activities have been among the people of Philipsburg and Rush township. Tuesday will reveal how Judge Furst’s friends “have reacted to the outspoken attitude of ‘the aspirant for County Treasurer. —In June Frank Hess wrote us from Los Angeles that his son Harold, well known as a foot-ball star at "State some years ago, was about to stake a homestead ‘claim in the virgin forest of the Rogue fiver region east of Medford, Oregon. We imagined it was more for a fishing retreat for Pop. Hess than a fruit or grain ven- ture for Howard. Frank said he ex- pected to go up in July to remain until after Labor day and would write us of results upon his return. We have been looking for that letter be- cause we know that there was a time when two fishermen could catch a ‘wagon load of trout in a few hours up there. Years ago we partook of a trout breakfast at Eugene, Oregon, to which over three hundred people sat down and every trout served to that party—and there were plenty of them —had been caught on flies by two fishermen from sun-up that morning <until nine o’clock, the hour at which - the breakfast was scheduled. Demacrat VAVA © % STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 72. BELLEF False Pretense a Party Policy. : The managers of the Republican machine think and act alike every- where. A few days ago Secretary of the Treasury Mellon summoned the recently appointed director of prohi- bition enforcement to his office and rebuked him, according to current gossip, for criticising the methods of enforcement heretofore employed un- der Mr. Mellon’s direction. The sub- ordinate official had publicly stated that a large proportion of the enforce- ment agents were crooks, and that it would take fifty years to educate the country to accept prohibition unless the processes were greatly improved. Mr. Mellon interpreted this line of talk as reflecting on the administra- tion and appraised it as damaging to the party. In Philadelphia the Vare Republi- can machine refused a nomination to district attorney Fox for the reason that he ‘had been active in prosecut- ing violators of the Volstead law and election’ crooks. In Pittsburgh three of the sitting judges were refused nomination by the Mellon-Leslie Re- publican machine for the reason that they had pronounced severe penal- ties on bootleggers and saloon keep- ers. In Dauphin county the Beidle- man Republican machine nominated Robert T. Fox for re-election to the office of district attorney because he was lax in prosecution of liquor cases and election crooks. In Dela- ware, Lackawanna and Schuylkill counties the liquor interests are pro- tected by the local Republican ma- chines. Before the Eighteenth amendment was adopted and the Volstead law enacted the liquor league supplied the greater part of the slush fund for the Republican machine of Pensyl- vania and the bootleggers and saloon keepers contribute freely to it yet. The action of Secretary Mellon and the policy of the various local Re- publican machines are in part recipro- cal favors to the liquor interests. Yet the Republican party pretends to fa- vor the enforcement of the Volstead law and promises support of prohibi- tion measures in the future. Thus far they have succeeded in fooling the real friends.of that cause. How long the voters, especially the female vot- ers, will be deceived remains to be seen. King George made a great “hit” as a flower salesman in Scot- land the other day. If ever he loses out as king he will be sure of a job. Vare May Defeat Investigation. The conference Senate Slush Fund committee, mem- bers of the Senate committee on Privi- leges and Elections and the rival candidates for the Senate seat for Pennsylvania, participated, came to an agreement to impound all the bal- lot boxes used in the election of 1926. Mr. Wilson, the Democratic contest- ant, has agreed to pay the expenses incurred in the counties where fraud has been alleged and Mr. Vare en- gages to pay the costs. in all other counties. This will practically split the expenses even for the six coun- ties in which fraud is alleged have nearly as many voting districts as the sixty in which there is no suspicion of fraud. The process of carrying out the agreement has not been revealed and ! the success of the enterprise is con- jectural. Apparently the plan is for each of the claimants to the seat to petition the authorities of the coun- ties to which he is responsible for the expense. But the authorities are un- der no legal obligation to deliver the boxes and in the event of refusal it would be necessary to get a court order, and in the counties where fraud has been committed every available expedient to delay the operation un- til primary election day when the bal- lots may be destroyed, will be invok- ed. - There may be a way found to avert this danger but at this time it is not perceptible. Meantime it may be set down as a fact that Mr. Vare has no desire to have the boxes impounded in any elec- tion district in the State. His demand for boxes that are not even under sus- picion was to consume time sufficient to prevent the recount, under the auspices of the Slush Fund committee, of the votes where fraud is known to have been practiced. Vast frauds were perpetrated in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but probably not enough to overcome the bogus majority re- turned for Vare. But a recount in Delaware, Lackawanna, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties is more than like- ly to produce this result, and for this reason he has adopted obstructive measures in the hope of defeating the investigation. ——The Coolidge home-coming created little enthusiasm. The peo- ple in Washington don’t get excited over retiring statesmen. held in Chicago, | last week, in which members of the ; Hughes May be the Candidate. reveal, in part at least, the reasons why the political experts in that city interpreted the rather vague state- ment of Mr. Charles E. Hughes that he thinks “President Coolidge will be renominated and re-elected” as indi- cating his own willingness to accept the nomination. It is now reported that Secretary of the Treasury An- drew W. Mellon, favors the nomina- tion of Mr. Hughes, and if that be true “it goes without saying” nol only that Mr. Coolidge is out of the race but that Mr. Hughes is in it “with both feet.” Mr. Mellon and Mr. Hughes were ship-mates on the re- turn trip from Europe, and it is prac- tically certain that they came to an understanding on the way. In referring to this subject, a week ago, the Watchman expressed the opinion that next to Coolidge the cor- porate interests of the country would prefer Mr. Hughes in the White House. As putative head of the Alum- inum trust, largely interested in the Steel trust and deeply concerned in several other trusts Mr. Mellon is more competent to express the wishes of the big corporations of the coun- try than any other individual. It is equally certain that he is most likely to know the innermost thoughts of Calvin Coolidge on the subject. If Coolidge desired to continue in the of- fice for another term the Secretary of the Treasury would be for him with- out mental or moral reservation. In view of this newspaper rumor, therefore, we are constrained to re- verse our opinion of a week ago that Mr. Hughes construed the “do not choose” statement of Mr. Coolidge as an “electioneering gesture,” that he takes it literally and that his rather equivocal comment was really in the nature of a “feeler” of the public pulse on the question of his own candidacy. It is remembered that twelve years ago he made rather a sorry spectacle of his campaign for President and naturally feels timid about making another effort in that direction. He has no doubt of the at- titude of the corporations. But he has grave doubts of the attitude of some Republicans -and ‘most of "thé people. There is a good deal of mental speculation as to the future of the ' Anti-Saloon league, now that Wayne Wheeler “has gone the way of all flesh.” There is a suspicion that Wheeler's policies were not always approved by the league. A Time Worn Political Trick. The Mellons of Pittsburgh, Andy 1 and Bill, came into the political game {late in life, but they are playing it hard. Not long ago chairman Mellon butted into the primary fight in Phila- delphia and was so sharply rebuked by Hampy Moore, candidate for May- or, that he was forced to apologize. Since then his manner of dictating the policies and candidates in Alle- gheny county so aroused popular in- dignation that several judges of the courts were constrained to protest in public speeches. The latest adven- ture, in which both uncle and nephew appear to be interested, is a movement to give them absolute control of the Pennsylvania delegation in the com- ing Republican National convention. The plan is to present the Secretary of the Treasury as a candidate for the nomination for President. Mr. Mellon protests that he is not a candidate, and every Republican in the country knows that he could not be nominated if he were. But the machine is set- ting him up as a “stalking horse” for trading purposes. That has long been a favorite sport of the Republican {machine in this State. Hartranft | was the first victim of this false pre- tense and Brumbaugh and Sproul were made more or less ridiculous in turn. But it is believed that Mellon ‘can “turn the trick” and the party ! publicity agents are warning all other candidates for the favor to keep out of Pennsylvania. | With the eighty delegates securely fastened to Mr. Mellon, and the corporate interests of the country manifesting a friendly feeling toward him, all other aspirants in the conven- tion would realize that he must be reckoned with. A trading post with such a capital is too formidable to ignore, and the Mellons reason the nominee, whoever he may be, will not only be willing but anxious to make any promise in the way of patronage that may be demanded. Mr. Mellon got his first and only political office by making a generous contribution to the slush fund in 1920, and probably imagines that handing over the nom- ination, plus an equally generous con- Pibution, would be highly appreciat- ed. Mr. Vare imagines that his dilatory tactics will win a seat in the Senate but he doesn’t know what Jim Reed of Missouri has “up his sleeve.” Recent reports from Washington | ONTE. PA.. SEPTEMBER 16. 1927. "More Work for the Committee. | i { On the second and last registration «days in Philadelphia thousands of voters were disfranchised by what seems the willful neglect of public of- ficials to perform their duties. The assessors had neglected to enroll them and when they applied for registra- tion were informed that because they had not been assessed they could not register. Under the law it was the duty of the assessors to sit at the day and assess any otherwise qualified voters whose names had not been previously entered on the assessment roll. But in most of the districts there were no assessors on duty and the voters were therefore unable to qualify for the election. It is said that this is one of the favorite methods of the Vare machine to keep its majorities up by keeping the number : of independent voters down. penalty for. this neglect of duty but heretofore it has not been enforced. The servile officials have felt that the indifference perfectly safe for them to pursue this method of fraud, and as a matter of fact, the previous experiments justi- fied their confidence. But this year a different policy will be adopted by the wronged voters. It is announced that they will prosecute the delin- quent officials and punish them to the full extent of the law. Voters other than Democrats are concerned. Another rather startling announce- ment comes from Philadelphia in re- lation to the approaching primary. In a speech delivered recently Magis- trate Carney, who though a Repub- lican is aspiring to the Democratic nomination for Mayor, declared that the Vare machine has arranged to have 15,000 Republicans registered as Democrats in order to secure the nomination of a perfidious Democrat for one office and prevent the nomina- tion of a true and worthy Democrat | for another, The Philadelphia Record, after an investigation, verifies this scandalous statement and appeals to honest Democrats to qualify in force Eo be wise to give the facts to ¢ Slush Fund committee.” ~~ ~~ ——It has been some years since | Centre county has had such an inter- | esting primary contest as the one now | drawing to a close. Naturally the judicial fight has taken prominence over all the other contests, but every county office is of so much importance to the taxpayers that just as much care and judgment should be exercis- ed in the selection of candidates to fill them as in the nomination of a man to put upon the bench. For this reason every good citizen, man and next Tuesday and vote their prefer- ence for every office to be filled. Only by so doing can the will of the people prevail. ——A story comes from lower Bald Eagle valley regarding the leasing of hundreds of acres of land in Curtin and Liberty townships for the purpose of prospecting for oil and gas. Up to this time the names of the parties back of the movement have not been revealed but according to the report driling operations are liable to be started most any time. ——O0ne Governor of Indiana, hav- ing just been released from the peni- tentiary, proceedings have been start- ed to send his successor to prison. The “Hoosier” State is paying the penalty of crooked politics. ——The Vare candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia boasts that he has the cordial support of the Vare ma- chine behind him, which should guar- antee the earnest opposition ef all honest voters in that city. ——About fifty per cent of the corn fields in Centre county are now mak- ing a fair showing, and if the frost holds off long enough for the corn to mature there will be a part of a crop in the county. ——It may be all right to erect a monument to the late Jesse James in Missouri. We have some surpris- ing monuments in Pennsylvania. ——Harry Mackey confidently as- sures the world that Bill Vare and “Big Bill” Cunningham are satisfied that he is a genuine reformer. —— ——The Pullman porters want “tipping” abolished, and it is a safe bet that most of the Pullman patrons are of the same mind. —————————— ——Book censorship has taken such strange courses in recent years that some religious folk are becoming un- easy about the Bible. —Another one-time celebrity who hasn’t been heard of for some time is Col. E. M. House. several polling places on registration ! The law provides a heavy | of voters has made it | to prevent it. This is good advice and i womiaz, should go to the primaries | The Spotlight on Pharitol [ras the Philadeiphia’ Record. "id The issuance. by the * Philadelphia Registration Commission L special J warning to the proprieto tenants and employees of hofels and lodging houses, and to officers and i employees of clubs, notifying them of | their responsibilities in connection with the registration of voters, is still another gratifying assurance of the {good faith and energy with which | that body has undertaken its import- | ant duties. The warning in question is in the shape of a four-page circular, ‘mailed to all whom it concerns, and typographically prepared with a view to impressing its recipients. Such | striking red-ink captions as “Spotlight ion Phantom Resorts,” “Heavy Pen- "alties for Law Vialotions,” and “Two { Years Jail—$500 Fine,” dominate the | pages of the circular and are calculat- ed to arouse the curiosity and invite the interest of the most blase accom- | plices of the gentry who lave been {in the habit of padding the enrollment lists with the names of large numbers | of nonexistant or nonresident hotel and lodging house guests and club | members. ; ry A law that is consistently and per- sistently violated, as “The Record” discovered when it canvassed certain ! questionable divisions - after the late | Senatorial election, is that which pro- , vides that “in every public lodging i house a register shall be kept in which | shall be entered the name and address | of each and every Iodger, together | with the. time of his arrival and de- parture, and such register shall at all times be open to inspection.” The phantoms. who are registered and voted from Philadelphia’s hotels (of ja certain type) and lodging houses ; are not entered in such registers, and, in fact, in many of them no such reg- isters are kept. It is the habit of the registration crooks to assign as { many phantoms as they please to the | lodging houses in their divisions, and {to supply . the proprietors of such places with lists of the nonexistant ; guests in order that they may be abie | to lie plausibly if subsequently inter- rogated. Of course, -the phantom guasts, when sought by investigators, have “just left town.” i It is encouraging to find that the {new Registration Commission is not | going to confine its activities to the i removal of fraudulent names from the , lessees, lists, but is making energeti efforts to. prevent phantoms Peo ant en- | tered in the first place. Honest voters i should and will appreciate this ser- vice. Vare and Wilson to Pay. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This time a year ago the whole country was supposed to be ringing with demand for investigation of the Vare-Wilson senatorial vote in Penn- sylvania. The foundations of the na- tion were still presumed to be shaking from the scandal of the Republican senatorial primary in this State, with expenditures put at millions and Vare’s nomination listed at $800,000. No expense was to be spared “to get to the bottom of the whole iniquity.” In Chicago Wednesday Vare and Wilson representatives, in conference with the Senate committee on privi- leges and elections and the Reed in- vestigating committee, had themselves to assume financial obligations to prevent the burning of the evidence. The ballot boxes are needed for the primaries on the 20th. By law the ballots of last fall ordinarily would be burned. But they contain the Wil- son-Vare votes that the Senate was to re-count in the contest started by Wilson. Only the ballot boxes of Phil- adelphia and Allegheny counties were taken to Washington last year. These two counties have had to provide new boxes. Authorities of practically all the other counties declined to give up the ballots on the mere appeal of the Senate. Now it has been agreed by the contestants to permit the contents of the boxes to be transferred, under proper guardianship, to sacks to be taken to Washington. Wilson is in- | terested chiefly in six counties—Phila- delphia, Allegheny, Lackawanna, Del- aware, Luzerne and Schuylkill—in which he charges gross frauds. But Vare finally took the position that the entire senatorial vote of the State should be counted. He made no charges of fraud, but declared that errors might have been made against him as well as against Wilson. Whereupon this arrangement was Jade for securing custody of the bal- ots: Mr. Wilson is to assume the burden of all costs and expenditures in the four counties he named, in addition to Philadelphia and Allegheny counties. Mr. Vare is to assume the similar costs in the sixty-one other counties. Both, of course, expect to be reim- bursed. m————— en ————— Hetzel and State College. From the Harrisburg Telegraph. This writer read with delighted in- terest the other day that Dr. Hetzel, the new head of State College, on as- suming charge had swept into discard a bulky bunch of documents when told that the contents thereof related to the “policy” of the institution. He let it be understood that he proposed to work out his own program. Dr. Hetzel is no copy-cat. He has ideas of his own and should be given a free hand. Governor Fisher and the Leg- islature have provided necessary ' funds. | ation. resorts. fo corporal SPAWLS FROM THE KEYTSONE. + —Thomas F. Hopkins, formerly teller at the Safe Deposit bank at Pottsville, was ‘sentenced by court to two years in the county prison after pleading guilty to embezzling $7,500 from the bank. He was te have been sentenced several months ago but ill health deferred the sentence. —The deep experimental well being drilled at LaMont, near Kane . by the United Natural Gas company, is now more than 6,300 feet in depth. A new cable is being installed which will permit the drill to sink 8,000 feet. A few days ago the drill penetrated a vein of salt 80 feet thick. —Pittsburgh has a champion mad dog killer in the person of motorcycle patrol- man Arthur Jennings. Since an epidemic of rabies struck that city six months ago, Jennings has been kept busy shooting dogs. On Friday he registered his 100dth killing. Jennings was selected for the task because he is an expert with a pistol. —TFourteen-year-old Mary Richardson, of Pittsburgh, bled to death within 15 min- utes last Thursday after she severed an artery in her shoulder when her arm went through a glass door panel in West View Junior High school. The girl had just finished her lunch and was hurrying to the playgrounds when the accident occur- red. —A dynamite blast, set off on a hill at the north end of Tyrone, hurled sleeping residents out of their beds and shattered hundreds of windows at 3 o'clock Satur- day morning. The Tyrone plant of the West Virginia Pulp and Paper company was also damaged. Police are investigat- ing the explosion. Damage was estimated at $2,000. —Harold E. Monheimer, Chicago travel- ing salesman, is in jail at Greensburg, having confessed to setting small fires in a dozen western Pennsylvania hotels with- in the last few weeks. Charges of arson have been placed against Monheimer but no date for a hearing was set, pending arrival here of his parents. Monheimer was arrested at Pittsburgh Saturday after state police had trailed him for several weeks. —A two-headed black snake attracted much attention at the American Legion bazaar in Philipsburg. last week. ° The reptile was captured in Clearfield county several weeks ago and aside from its dual head is the same as any other snake. The bazaar committee was faced with a serious problem of feeding the animal. It can eat with either mouth and from the quantity of food it consumed it has been hinted that the reptile might be blessed with two stomachs. —John Ayers, 66, of Claysburg, Blair county, is the confessed slayer of a lite- long friend, Albert Mock, 68, because of non-settlement of a $2 debt. Mock was found dead on the porch of Ayers' home on Sunday. Ayers was in bed. A blood- stained axe was found nearby, but Ayers said he had beaten Mock, but had not used the axe, District Attorney Marion. D. Patterson announced. The attorney said Ayers told him he beat his friend when le failed to settic the debt. —A wife who lies in bed in the morn- ing until she has had her “beauty sleep,” refusing to get her husband’s breakfast and fill his lunch box, has no claims for support, even if her husband in exasper- J punishment, Judge Erwin Cummins decided in the Washington county court last Thursday. Mrs. Lilly Stephenson, of Roscoe, left her husband, Robert Stephenson, and had him arrested for desertion and nonsupport. Be- fore Judge Cummins she endeavored to argue after admitting her dereliction re- garding the preparation of meals. Judge Cummins refused a support order. —The body of W. H. Barton, ployed by the department of internal revenue, was found on Monday on the bank of Darby creek, north of West Ches- ter pike, near Manoa. Two policemen of Haverford township, who had been search- ing for Barton since his wife reported him missing on Sunday, found the body, hatless and coatless, a few feet from. the creek. There was no evidence of violence and nothing to indicate suicide. Barton left home at 11 a. m. Monday and left a note, in which he said he was going to swim in the creek. Police said that death probably occurred a short time afterwards. 60, em- —Believed to be runaways, Grace Baum- garten, 17, Lewistown, Pa., and Mary Dudick, 17, Bighth street, Burnham, Pa., found sleeping in a truck in the rear of a garage in Yunkers street, McKees Rocks, last Thursday are being held in the Al- legheny county jail. The girls were found by a McKees Rocks patrolman, who ar- rested them. At a hearing before Justice of the Peace James J. Westwood, they were fined $10 with the option of serving 30 days in jail. They said they went to Pittsburgh in search of a cousin, Minnie Carr, who, they claimed, operates a road- house in that district. They said they left home August 30. Police never had heard of the Carr woman. —A $50,000 damage suit with Lehigh county as the defendant was filed last week by attorneys in behalf of the widow of Gransville Holben, Weisenbery town- ship farmer, who was shot to death a year ago after he had slain Sheriff Mark Sen- senbach and Deputy Sheriff Harry Sieg- fried. The shooting of the sheriff and deputy came when they went to Holben’s farm to arrest him when he ignored a court summons in a case which involved the payment of a $2 fine for failure to send his children to school. Holben had re- fused to pay the fine as “a matter of prin- ciple.” After the shooting of the two of- ficers Holben took refuge in his home which was later burned and he was fa- tally wounded as he ran from the blazing | structure. —A piece of steel that Frank Saleme, of Park place, Juniata, has carried in his right arm since 1891, has emerged near the base of his thumb, Mr. Saleme, who is now engaged in business in Altoona, was a young man when a spawl of steel penetrated his arm near the elbow as he worked at the anvil in the Juniata black- smith shop 36 years ago. The wound at the time gave him but little trouble and the bit of metal could not be located by .the probe of a physician, the X-ray being then unknown. As the years passed Mr. Salemé was occasionally bothered by what seemer to be rheumatic pains but had no idea that he was carrying about an ounce of steel until the angular fragment had worked its way down his arm a dis- tance of about 12 inches. Early last week he discovered a sharp point projecting from a silght swelling on his hand and a bit of simple surgery revealed the scrap of Pennsylvania railroad property. The hand is now healing nicely.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers