. INK SLINGS: - —A desire for thrills is becoming a too frequent excuse for crime. © —Aviation is still taking its usur- ious toll. Commander McComb, of the navy, is its latest victim. —We are not prepared to say just what answer we would make were we asked: “Do you believe in capital pun- ishment?” Since it is the law of the State of New York we see no reason why sex should differentiate its victims. If Judd Gray goes to the chair and Ruth Snyder is saved it will be a case of mawkish senti- ment making a travesty of justice. Gray probably did the actual killing of the Snyder woman’s husband, but he would never had such an incentive had she been a faithful wife. —The: first thing he knows Dean Wendt of the school of chemistry and physics at the Pennsylvania State College, is going to have such a horde of light corporations on his tail that it will be sorer than that of an anti- equestrian at the end of an enforced ten-mile horseback ride. The learned gentleman, in ‘elaborating on the hun- dred per cent. efficiency in lighting of the humble firefly, might be encour- aging the establishment of “lightnin’ bug” farms. Then we can foresee dessicated “lightnin’ bug” tails in tab- loid form and the end of electricity as an illuminant. And, gosh, what a babel there would also be from the ladies who had just bought new bridge lamps. - —Law is a tricky thing. Often the lay mind is convinced that black has been made white by devious legal verbiage, so we approach with uncer- tainty the desire to express admira- tion of our Honorable Court lest it might be construed as contempt. Judge Furst is presiding in Philadel- phia this week.. On Tuesday he sat on the Boulden acid-throwing case. Relevant testimony was the exhibit of Mrs. Stanistreet’s knees and we note in the report of the trial that the Judge left the bench to personally examine the exhibit. Judges have to do a lot of unpleasant things in line of duty that might be regarded as naughty were some of the rest of us, who never miss a chance to get an eye-full, to undertake them. —There is a possibility of Centre county’s having a judicial contest. While the petition of Mr. Walker to have the ballots of two wards in Phil- ipsburg recounted doesn’t necessarily. mean a contest, such an appeal would | necessarily follow should any irregu-: larities be revealed by the recount. Contests have not been popular po- litical manoeuvers in Centre county. However, corruption of the electorate “4d juggling of the returns have be- come so common elsewhere in the State that .a move of this sort seems justified. Even should. it reveal that Mr. Walker was. credited with ‘all the votes he received in "the questioned precincts the public gratification at knowing that Centre has not been tainted with the putrid politics of some other counties would be worth all it costs in time and money. —The last person in the world we would have expected to do it guessed us out before 10 o’clock last Friday morning. You will recall that we of- fered a year’s subscription to the first five persons who would give us the | gist of a mental flash .we had for a January paragraph while writing the column last week. William A. Shope - VOL. 72. Disappointing Harmony Feast. If the comments of the newspapers throughout the State are accepted as an expression of public opinion the recent Belshazzar’s feast tendered to Colonel Eric Fisher Wood was a flat failure. The real purpose of the feast was to create substantial and endur- ing harmony among the potential leaders of the party in the interest of Senator Dave Reed’s aspiration for re-election. The Mellons are deeply interested in this project. Their varied interests require a capable and re- sourceful attorney on the floor of the Senate and Mr. Reed has proved his fitness for the job. And when the function was turned into a vehicle for the laudation of Vare Colonel Wood expressed his resentment by resign- ing his office as chairman of the ex- ecutive committee. . This change in the purpose of the feast was not made without the knowledge and consent of State chair- man Mellon and Senator Reed. On the contrary it is widely believed that the plan is the product of the Mellon mind with the expectation that it would establish an alliance between the Vare and Mellon machines that would guarantee not only the nom- is agreed among all concerned that Vare’s support is essential to Reed’s nomination, and in order to obtain Vare’s support Reed must manifest a supreme interest in Vare’s political ambitions, It was for this reason that Reed declared in his speech at the feast that the paramount ques- tion for present consideration is the verification of Vare’s bogus claim to a seat in the Senate. But “the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agle.” A consider- able number of the subscribers to the expense fund of the feast are not in sympathy with the conspiracy to rat- ify the frauds perpetrated at the primary and general elections of 1926, or willing to establish a prece- dent which will make Senatorial elec- tions in Pennsylvania a matter of “bargain and sale,” and before the i dishes were washed sounds of protest | were heard in all directions. Since then the volume of sounds has in- creased to a mighty roar. Mr. Mel- lon has been busy trying to abate the hostile feeling and has even ap- pealed to Mr. Beidleman, of Harris- burg, for -help, but without success, and there is even talk of an alliance . between Beidleman and Joe Grundy. | i —If Harry Sinclair persists in vio- { lating law he may finally find his way iinto prison. | Coolidge Will Be Nominated. The Washington correspondent of the New York World writes that the opinion of President Coolidge’s po- i litical associates is “rapidly getting i back to where it was when the crypt ination but the election of Reed. If. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION, “BELLEFONTE. PA.. DECEMBERE | The city of Philadelphia is literally “humping itself” to secure the Repub- rary, The Record, in a commendable co-operative spirit says, “we can pro- vide ample and satisfactory hotel ac- commodations. We have an equable summer climate as compared with other eastern cities. We have ade- quate housing for the convention it- self and convenient means of trans- portation to the proposed site. And we have a special claim upon the con- ‘sideration of the National committee in that Philadelphia is neutral ground.” These are appealing reasons and when supplemented by an assur- ance of an abundant expense fund ought to “bring home the bacon.” But is it exactly true that “Phila- : delphia is neutral ground” in the com- { petition for this substantial party fa- { vor? Pennsylvania is owned and con- | trolled by the Mellon and Vare po- litical machines and the hotbed of the third term propaganda. The first suggestion that President Coolidge might be “drafted” as the candidate, notwithstanding his ambiguous state- ment that he does not “choose” to run, was made by Governor Fisher while a guest at the Black Hills sum- mer capital, and the Republican news- papers of the State have been sing- ing the chorus ever since. In the light of these facts it would be more reasonable to classify Philadelphia as a partisan of the third term enter- prise. ' i “the right hand” of the Coolidge ad- ministration and the “head and front” of the Pennsylvania Republican ma- chine, He likes his job and is anxious to remain in control of the finances of the Nation. Mr. Vare means nothing in the equation. He is for anybody whom Mellon wants and willing to change over night, as he did on the booze question after his nomination for Senator last Spring. But under the influence of Mellon the Republicans of Philadelphia and Penn- sylvania are practically unanimous in favor of the renomination of Mr. step in the achievement of ‘that re- sult. —Soviet. Russia, will participate in : some of the activities of the League of Nations at Geneva this month. That is a welcome sign of progress. i | | Prosperity Propaganda Refuted. The boasts of national prosperity | issued by President Coolidge and oth- ers at regular intervals, are complete- ly refuted by statistics of the gov- | ernment covering railroad, banks and _ internal revenue receipts for the pres- "ent period. Reports of three of the leading railroads of the country show large decreases in revenue for 1927 as of the Shope Lumber Co., called and : announcement came out of Rapid City, | compared with 1926, while Irving 165i ‘us ‘We had the old ’ fishin’ itch and such people as Senate majority ; Fisher, professor of economics in Yale and were thinking of the opening of the trout fishing sesaon. William was dead right, so he gets the Watchman a year for knowing our weakness so well. - Former sheriff Whart. Cronis- ter, who wrote from Altoona to say - that we were thinking thusly: “W. Harrison Walker, Esq., was sworn in as Judge of the Courts of Centre county last Monday morning,” gets the brown derby. He was too far away to get a place on even the sec- ond team of Watchman All-American guessers. —If we were in Congress today do "you know what we would be doing? Instead of fooling around with such footless matters as deficiency bills, Mississippi flood control and Boulder Dam projects we’d be introducing a bill declaring Friday, December 2, a national holiday. Why? you ask. Because this is the day that Lizzie Ford is to convince the world that she is really Miss Columbia. —Hidden away down in the bowels of the earth—otherwise for the pres- ent purpose on page two, three, five or six of this edition—is an article on luck by Dr. Joseph Jastrow, pro- fessor of psychology at the Universi- ty of Wisconsin. When we got half- way through with the foregoing para- graph on the advent of the new Ford we suddenly became a convert to Dr. Jastrow’s theory that most people get rich because of luck. Some years ago, in the Duquesne club in Pittsburgh, for the two hundred dollars we had won that day because State had ac- tually beaten Pitt, we were offered the chance to delve into a satchel that was under the table and grab as much as we could. You will be skep- tical, of course, but it is the fact, nevertheless, when we tell you that the satchel was full of original Ford stock. That’s luck for you, maybe. But what if we had grabbed out a few certificates. When it ran up ten or twenty points we'd have sold and thought ourselves just as lucky. leader Curtis and national chairman ! Butler voiced the idea that it merely | | presented the President's i personal preference and should not be read as necessarily eliminating him from the race.” The Washington correspondent of the New York Times reinforces this estimate with a statement that “with the arrival of Senators and Representatives in Washington the impression has been created that [Igsdeny Coolidge will be renominat- This is precisely the opinion which any thoughtful analyst of Mr. Cool- run” declaration must come to. It was not made for the purpose of eliminating him from the race. On the contrary its real purpose was to make his entrance into the contest certain. With his views on the third term on record and available he could not be a candidate of his own choice, however much he desired to secure another term. But he could and did extend an invitation to his political friends and business beneficiaries to force him into the running. The plan number of candidates, a dead-locked convention and a carefully-staged stampede. Without any underground wires to the White House or confidential re- lations with the Republican managers it may safely be predicted that Cal- vin Coolidge will be the next Re- publican candidate for President. He wants the job as eagerly as any child ever wanted an attractive toy, and the party leaders and the corporation in- terests want him to have it for the reason that the nomination of any one else would split the party and elect the Democratic candidate, who would serve the people rather than the corporations. The “I-do-not- choose-to-run” declaration was a sub- terfuge issued to deceive the public and it fooled comparatively few. Those who knew the President well interpreted it correctly. idge’s perplexing “I-do-not-choose-to- was simple and easy of execution. A i University, estimates that the aver- age income of 93,000,000 people of the United States out of a total of 117,- 000,000, in 1926, was “about $500.” At the present prices of the neces- saries of life such an average income affords little cause for apprehension of national decadence because of ex- cessive prosperity. The purpose of the President and those who are aiding him in his en- terprige is to deceive the people into the belief that Republican. adminis- tration of the government guarantees and that the present administration in particular has afforded conspicuous service in that direction. Of course the people of each community realize that business is poor and economic conditions bad so far as their ob- servation goes. But “just around the corner” things must be different and the prosperity there may spread all over in a short time. But as a mat- ter of fact there is no prosperity any- where except in the minds and possi- bly in the hopes of those dispensing false figures. With a tariff tax system which col- lects $4,000,000,000 a year from the earnings of the people in order to pay unearned bounties to political favor- ites; and State, county and municipal taxes at the highest peak in the his- tory of the country, the average in- come of $500 a year is considerably impaired before the cost of living is taken into account at all, and when these unavoidable charges are summed up and paid the average family has little left to “lay up for a rainy day,” or any other purpose. The truth is that so far from the country being exceptionally prosperous at this time it is in the worst condition, econom- ically speaking, that it has ever been. “Turn the rascals out.” —If the Republican National con- vention is held in Philadelphia next year the hoodlums of Vareville will have the time of their lives. Philadelphia and the Convention. ! Just Reward for Crimi lican National convention next year. Our esteemed Democratic contempo-' Secretary of the Treasury Mellon is | Coolidge, and. holding the. convention in Philadelphia will be an important ‘he helped his eriminal employers lit- industrial and: economic prosperity, Service. The information from Washington that Harry F. Sinclair and William J. Burns have been cited, with other less conspicuous offenders, “to appear be- fore Justice Siddons, of the District of Columbia Supreme court, to show cause why they should not be pun- ished for their part in the surveilance of the Fall-Sinclair Teapot Dome jury,” in the trial recently ended by mistrial in that court. Sinclair and ; Burns are particularly rank offenders . against the just and orderly adminis- tration of law in this country. Sin- ‘clair is already under conviction for contempt of the Senate and by %he liberal use of his money has escaped "just punishment. Burns is a frequent ‘and flagrant offender. : Speaking of Burns the New York “Nation says: “He was in charge of ; the United States secret service when . the ‘Sinclairs and Dohenys were loot- ing the nation’s oil and when Daugh- erty was selling favors at the Depart- ment of Justice. ' Indeed he was Daugherty’s man; he boasted of their forty-five years’ friendship.” While the investigation of Daugherty’s in- iquities, under the direction of Sen- ator Wheeler, of Montana, was in progress, Burns sent three United States agents to Montana under in- structions to “get something on Wheeler,” and they combed the State in a fruitless search for anything that might be interpreted as damag- ing to his character. He has been equally bold and lawless in other cases. When the Fall-Sinclair conspiracy. trial began in Washington the arch- eriminals felt the lines of justice tightening about them. The Supreme court had just previously pronounced their operations in the Teapot Dome lease fraudulent and they realized that the best they could hope for was de- lay through a “hung” jury or mis- i trial. Then Burns was called in to { execute the- plans for such a result. He had the jurors trailed and traced to discover a way to reach a weak point through which to coerce one or ! more of them and “hang the jury,” | ‘procure a mistrial in the manner pmplished that result.” But itle and now faces a prison sentence as his reward. : ——Pennsylvania State College stu- { dents have never had the privilege of - seeing their mail leave State College ‘on Sundays, and are now preparing to i petition the federal postal authorities | to provide at least one outgoing mail | on Sundays. Matter mailed after 5.45 , on Saturday now does not leave town until Monday morning. The student , council, emphasizing the fact that the j local post office has had first class post office rating for many years due to the large volume of business han- dled, will present the petition. —Sheriff-elect Harry E. Dunla has so far not been bothered with applicants for appointment as deputy sheriff, and he is well satisfied, as he does not intend appointing any when he is sworn into office. He is going to do the work himself for a while, at least. D. R. Foreman, who has been sheriff Taylor’s office assistant, will become deputy prothonotary un- der C. Claude Herr. —Among the several reasons we had for not going deer hunting yes- terday one appears to us to be rather creditable. It would have been sheer waste had we gone out and killed a buck. The weather is ‘so warm that it would have spoiled before we could have eaten it all up. —The controversy over the selec- tion of Bellefonte High as the west- ern conference football champions waxes warm. We should worry! We're the champions and we're con- ducting ourselves with becoming dig- nity. ——p rr ———— —It would be a wonderfully happy Christmas in this office if every pa- per we hope to mail on January 6, 1928, should bear a label indicating that it is paid up, at least to that time. — “Politics makes strange bed-fel- lows,” but an alliance between Grun- dy and Beidleman would be a start- ling combination. —No section of the globe is ex- empt from floods this year. A recent deluge in Morocco has taken a heavy toll in life and property. —The recent conference between Chairman Mellon, Governor Fisher and Mr. Beidleman must have been a spectacle, ——Half a dozen prisoners were brought in from Pittsburgh, on Tues- day, and taken to Rockview peniten- tiary to complete their sentences. 1927. a ie NO. 47. Real Business Job Confronts Congress. From the Philadelphia Ledger. ; | * The Seventieth Congress, 8s, which will | ‘ convene next Monday, will have its work “cut out’ for more distinc- tively than in the case of any prede- cessor in recent years. This is not only because of the numerous new and pressing measures that will be pre- sented but also by reason of the large amount of unfinished ' business left over from the last session that must be taken up afresh. The Senate filibuster in its closing hours killed ' important essential | measures that must now be revised . and enacted, such as the alien prop- erty, the general deficieney and the public buildings bill. With. these dis- posed of, Congress can le tax re- duction, naval expansion, farm relief, ; Mississippi flood prevention, electric- power development and eontrol and other subjects of vital import. This is .a formidable program the more so because every item on it, thoughso easily labeled with a phrase, is ex- ceedingly difficult to define in ‘terms of agreement. i : i The issues raised by these various ' questions are so sharply controversial that unless the spirit of reasonable compromise governs the eoming ses- | sion, little can be looked for in the way of constructive legislation. For- tunately, there have been evidences of this spirit among some of the lead- ers preparatory to the meeting of Congress. The Ways and Means Com- mittee, after listening to the good advice of Secretary Mellon regarding tax reduction, promises a conserva- tive recommendation to the House on which its Republican and Democratic members should be able to agree, The tax-reduction measure of last year deserved its nonpartisan label, and there are gratifying indications that its successor will embody the same spirit. a iS 4 of Concerning = the Mississippi flood problem, Congress should guided’ largely by the illuminating and im- partial report of the army engineer- ing experts. As to farm relief, there is no insu le obstacle to some practical legislation if those who have been holding Wo by their extrava- gant demands will get together on a lan that will not burden the ma- ority for the sole benefit of a single lass. ‘But the; have to c t they wil and feel vo re. vision at the" a One of the “big” questions that Congress cannot ignore will be the regulation of the huge superpower or- ganizations. In view of the unwise agitation for the entrance of the Gov- ernment into this field of activity on its own account, it will be its duty: to lay down a definite policy. In ad-' | dition to the private enterprises, the i mere mention of Muscle Shoals, Boulder Dam and the St. Lawrence River suggests the magnitude of this problem. The other water power pro- jects, all demanding Federal atten-' tion in some form or other, are legion, | and they extend from Maine to Flori- da and westward to California. Con- | gress cannot longer evade its duty in: this matter. With such a program of imperative ! business before it, the temptation to : Congress to play politics and loaf on! its real job will be particularly pow- ! erful. The “coming event” that fills the congressional mind, the presiden- tial campaign and the one which will spell re-election or defeat for so many members of both houses will cast its shadow before. There is a familiar saying that little need be expected from a Congress that meets on the eve of a presidential campaign. The responsibility of the Seventieth Con- gress will be doubly great. And the best polities it can play will be to give the country legislation that will help to solve some of its gravest problems. : Luck and Success. From the Philadelphia Record. Dr. Joseph Jastrow, professor of psychology at the University of Wis- consin, has just made a public state- ment which should be immensely pop- ular—except with the fortunate few. “Success,” says the learned doctor, “is generally due to a combination of lucky circumstances and outside in- fluence.” He adds that “many have achieved success without any undue display of mentality.” This will not be denied by those of us who are com- pelled, day after day, to observe (with envy) many of our neighbors who are either more prominent or more wealthy than we feel they should be —or, what is more to the point, more prominent or more wealthy than we are. We can agree perfectly with Dr. Jastrow that these successful ones had “only brains enough to keep from standing in the way of success.” Yet there is something more to be said. ' In many cases the fortunate ones must be credited with the wis- dom, or wit, of being on the job when Opportunity knocked. There is the fable, for instance, of the man who, when the wolf appeared at his’ door, suddenly opened the portal, seized and killed the creature and with its pelt set himself up in what subse- quently became an extensive fur busi- ness. —Prince Carroll, of Rumania,® is waiting for an invitation. President Coolidge will be satisfied with nothing less than a draft. Yet both act like the late Mr. Barkus. Bign toads D8 5 § 3 em—m—— Sani the death’ of Charles H Datt, of Gibsénia, member of the contracting firm of Nicholl & Datt. He was working on a wall when he lost his balance and fel and fractured his skill LIOR AOD CI00 —William Banks, aged 23, of Wind- burne, is being held in Clearfield county without bail chargéd with manslaughter following the death of Mrs. George Mason, of Woodland, who was instantly killed when hit by an automobile near her home. Banks is said to have admitted being the driver. Margaret Mason, 12 years old, wa badly injured in the accident. . —Appointment of H. M. James, a Har- risburg newspaperman, who was the press agent of the Beidelman gubernatorial cam- paign committee last year, as personnel director of the State Treasury Depart- ment, was announced on Saturday by Treasurer Lewis. The appointment is re- garded as a slap at Governor Fisher, who is reported authoritatively to have pro- tested the naming of the former Beidle- man publicity man. A —Police are searching for C.'E. Hugus, of New York. who is alleged to have dis- appeared from Pittsburgh last Thursday, with several thousand dollars wagered by Pitt students on the result of the Pitt-Penn State game. According to the | complaint, Hugus claimed he represented “C. L. Darnell & Co., of New York,” which had a large amount of cash to wager on the outcome of the game. Pitt undergrad- uates rushed to cover the bets and put ‘up several thousands of dollars, it was reported. Hugus then disappeared. —Pleading guilty to using the mails to defraud in a matrimonial scheme, Mrs. Frank Hazlett, of Oil City, was fined $100 and paroled for two years in federal Court at Pittsburgh, on Friday. Postal inspectors testified that Mrs. Hazlett, un- der the name of Hattie Pernatt, obtained money from numerous suitors for trans- portation and other expenses incident to a wedding. Then. it was testified, “Bes- sie Gormer” would take up the corre- spondence, writing the suitor that Hat- tie was sick, later sending notice of her death. ; ] . —The practice of pulling down the rear curtain of a closed automobile when driv- ing at night will be illegal after January 1, when the new motor code becomes ef- fective, Benjamin G. Eynon announced on Saturday. He placed this practice, along with that of using posters and placards on the windshield, side wings or side or rear windows of a car which the code forbids. “The practice is dangerous. as well as illegal,” he said. “A motorist should be able to adjust his mirror so that it will not reflect in his eyes and: annoy him while driving.” ; "—On a tip from ‘a truck driver soon after midnight, Friday night, police’ searched for some large bundles reported lying in a road in the lower section of" Allentown. After diligent looking in a | dense fog, they saw an expensive auto- mobile apparently abandoned. It con- tained four bales of silk, worth $2,500, that had been stolen from a Lehigh Val- ley Railroad freight car, several rifles and much ammunition. The silk consigned to firms in’ Allentown and Pottsville, was restored. The automobile and guns are | awaiting: owners at-eity hall, ~~ —After pleading guilty to ‘charges of circulating counterfeit bills, five men were sentenced in Federal court at Pittsburgh, on Saturday. to the penitentiary at At- lanta, Ga. They were charged with having flooded that region with $5 notes raised to $20. I. H. Robinson, leader of the gang. was sentenced to three years: Clarence Bates, Eugene Roxby and John W. Rox- by, the latter two of Wheeling, W. Va, drew two years each, and William Roxby, also of Wheeling, was given one year. Robinson will start his sentence after serving seven years for counterfeiting in Alabama, the Court holding he violated a parole. ] —Quentin R. Ehrhart, 13, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Ehrhart, was found dead, hanging from a half-inch rope in an out building near his home in York, Pa., on Monday. He was found by his mother, who, in passing down the yard, saw his body as the wind blew open the door of the building. The lad is believed to have hanged himself some time after 3:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon, when he was last seen by members of his family, A motive for his suicide, police believe, is found in the fact that the boy and two others were apprehended last Saturday after snatching a purse from the hands of a woman. ; ~—After Harry Geltmacher and Emma Mec¢Gaughren, of Drytown, York county, had been married by Justice of the Peace Stevenson the bridegroom discovered the ring he intended placing on the bride's finger still reposed in one of his pockets. He doubted the strength of the union without the use of the ring. Just to set Geltmacher’s mind at ease the justice remarried the couple with the use of the ring and told them that if the double knot ever slipped they should return and he would refund their money. The new- lyweds left the office happy in the belief that the ring ceremony had bound them more securely. —Somebody broke into the New York Central passenger station, at Jersey Shore, on Saturday night and made away with a pay station telephone and its contents, a lot of small change. The telephone was torn out of its booth and carried away. Efforts were made to get at the coins in the weighing machine but the thieves were unsuccessful in this attempt. Several bank books were taken and'a traveling bag. The bank books were found along the railroad tracks some distance from the station. The traveling bag was also found, one of its sides cut out with a knife. The miscreants broke out a sash in the front of the station to gain ad- mittance. —The Carlisle Indian school, after being given up for a decade by the Govern- ment, stands a good chance of restoration in somewhat improved form, if plans now being laid by a number of prominent In- diang are carried out. The former school, operating on industrial lines, may be suc- ceeded by an outstanding college for high- er education, which Indians all over the country are hoping.to endow and estab- lish, Representatives of the aboriginal races want to see Indian youths offered educational facilities of the highest or- der in an eastern environment under the control “of the Indians ‘themselves. Al- ready substantial funds have been pledged to the furtherance of the plan. SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. BE a TE LL Le eB Te
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers