INK SLINGS. —Remember to swat the first fly ‘you see. For with its demise a mil- lion less flies there’ll be. —When a confirmed bachelor starts to make a three-story apartment out of a six room love nest something is ‘bound to happen. The projector of the case in mind is in the hospital taking the rest cure for shattered nerves. —Heverly is slated to get the Re- publican nomination for the Legisla- ture. The drys are rallying under ‘the Ham banner and the Hon. Holmes is dying of political indigestion in ‘the attempt to eat words thoughtless- ly uttered. Incidentally, if the drys are flocking to Ham does that mean that Heverly is wet? —It is altogether likely that Mr. Ralph Beaver Strassburger failed to get his name on the ticket for del- egate-at-large to the Republican na- tional convention because the powers that be said thumbs down on Ralph. If he had been wanted the little mat- ter of momentary inability to sign his own nomination petition would never have been used to nip his ambition. —Our idea of laying up treasures in Heaven is to be pleasant when we are called on the telephone to take down a notice of a festival, a card party or a bake sale—“and run “it three weeks”—by a lady who ““wouldn’t think of reading the Watch- man” or letting it print the cards and tickets “for anything she had -anything to do with.” —=St. John Ervine, noted English dramatist says: “My generation cre- sated a splendid theatre. This one has ‘made a rotten one.” We don’t know what generation St. John claims as ‘his, so we’re not in position to ques- ‘tion his claim of having created a splendid theatre. We heartily agree with his assertion that the present theatre is a “rotten one.” When sal- acious themes, bath tub and bed room scenes and nude women become re- quisites to success of stage plays we go farther than St. John and say that “rotten” is too mild a word for it. —With seven candidates for Pres- ident and with a preferential primary Jaw that they put on the statute books themselves in order to secure the op- portunity of expressing a preference, :it must seem strange to Pennsylvania Republicans that they are to have no «chance to vote for any one of their .seven candidates. All they have to .do at the primary is sign the proxy that Mellon has transformed their ‘ballot into and look pleasant. Now, ‘Democrats wouldnt do that. Of course they wouldn’t, but the Repub- ilicans do—and get the offices. —Few of our readers knew him but ‘because he was one of the idols of our childhood days we drop a line of tribute to the memory of Simon No- lan, who died in Woodland, within the week. As the man of all work on ‘the little farm in Halfmoon valley “where we spent many happy days Si- mon was so considerate, and always seemed to know just what a little "boy wanted most, that memory of his “kindliness is very dear to us and “though we haven’t scen him for years we know he couldnt have been less fine at the close of life than we knew “him to be in its earlier stretches. —Philadelphia is endeavoring to put a stop to all night parking on “the streets of the city. Bellefonte “tried that, too, some time ago and -was charged with being a “hick town” “when it was undertaken. By the way, “it would be interesting to hear from the various gentlemen who reported “that this, that and the other motorist, who was given a card to appear be- fore the burgess, had declared they “would never come back to the town .again. We wonder how many of the would-be bluffers made good their threat. Not one, we'll bet, unless he “happened to have no further business opportunity here. —Some of the Democratic women «of Centre county should attend the meeting of the Pennsylvania Federa- ‘tion to be held in Williamsport, “March 29 and 30. It matters not that “there is no woman’s organization in “the party in this county. All are to “have the privilege of the floor and it will be a grand chance to tell the “men politicians what. you think of “them. By nativity Centre county will “have one prominent representative “there. Mrs. Florence Long Dornblaz- ver, of Penfield, Upper Darby, Phila- .delphia, is treasurer of the organi- zation. She is also a daughter of the .late John B. Long, that stalwart Democrat and outstanding citizen of Rush township. —In less than a month you might need it. It won’t cost any more now than then so why not get your fish- ing license at once. Don’t do like we .did four years ago. After having admonished all our fellow fishermen lest they forget to legally qualify for the sport we found ourselves on a trout stream eighteen miles from the source of issuance without a license card. We could probably have had a very happy day and did up to the time a joy killer came along and told us that he believed the fellow who was fishing the riffle below was a warden. After that we spent the rest of the day in camp calling ourselves names ‘that we wouldn’t take from anyone else and conjuring up haunting pic- tures of the catches that those who had taken our advice were making « everything but. EO VOL. 73. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. Bill Vare in a Bad Fix. Boss Vare has returned from his vacation in Florida to enter the cru- cial contest of his life. Having been previously eliminated from the su-| preme council of the State organiza- tion he came home to face what ap- peared to be the beginning of a fight for control of the local organiza- tion, with odds only slightly in his favor and a certainty of complete ob- livion, in the event of his defeat. And no living soul outside of his own fam- ily will sincerely regret his misfor- tune. He was the most selfish boss that ever inflicted himself upon a com- munity. He bestowed no favor upon any one except for a consideration of greater value. He coveted office as a miser covets gold and apportioned the. choicest to himself or members of his family. In his preposterous campaign for United States Senator in 1926, Vare enticed Congressman John M. Morin to antagonize the Mellon family in its stronghold and then abandoned him to the vengeance of his enemies. He induced Justice Kephart to serve as pawn in his game to force the Mel- lons to underwrite his ambitious pro- jects and when he imagined he had accomplished his purpose he betrayed the jurist. Rather than let another in for a party favor he ran for Con- gress and the State Senate at the same election and juggled the offices so that he could hold both in the fam- ily indefinitely. The history of Amer- ican politics reveals no parallel in prostitution of power to selfish and sordid ambition. Present indications are that this selfish boss is nearing the end of his perfidious operations. The State or- ganization of his party has pitched him overboard and revolts in the Philadelphia machine threaten to take from him his control of that sinister conspiracy. Mr. J. Hampton Moore and John R. K. Scott, both able and skillful politicians, organized a force to fight his control of the Philadelphia organization, but by some means Vare has been able to draw Scott off. Moore, however, was not so easily seduced and insists that even if he has to do it alone he is going to fight to the finish to arouse the better element of the Republican par- ty in Philadelphia to consciousness of the fact that Vare is a liability to the party in the State. —However little the Democratic representation in Congress might be able to accomplish in other directions it must be admitted that it succeeds wonderfully well in keeping the Re- publican organization in hot water. rere fees. Mr. Mellon’s Confession. Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, in his statement concerning the Sin- clair loot given to the Republican National committee, levies a high tax on public credulity, infinitely higher than the peak revenue tax on in- comes of six and seven figures. He admits that Will Hays sent him $50,- 000 worth of the bonds and asked him to remit to the National committee his check for that considerable amount. But he declined to receive the bonds or at least returned them to Mr. Hays and sent his check for the $50,000 as a free will offering. Why he refused the bonds is left to conjecture. If it was because they were tainted with Teapot Dome oil, his action was a much too mild re- buke. Mr. Hays has testified twice in ref- erence to those bonds. The first time he said Sinclair had contributed $75,- 000 in Liberty bonds and the second time he fixed the amount at $260,000, quite a discrepancy. In both cases he showed a reluctance to exposing | the source of the contribution. At his second examination he described in part his method of exchanging the tainted bonds for money and named several of the men who performed this service for him. There were Patten and Upham, of Chicago, Pratt, of New York, and DuPont, of Dela- ware, but no mention of Mellon, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treas- ury, or Butler, chairman of the Re- publican National committee. These names were studiously ‘concealed. In the search for details of this sinister transaction some memoranda in the office of Mr. Pratt contained a list of names including “Andy.” Sus- picion, always alert and sometimes accurate, jumped to the conclusion that this might mean the Secretary of the Treasury and the investigators turned in that direction. Then Mr. Mellon came forward with his “plea of confession and avoidance,” prob- ably with the view of halting the pro- ceedings. Whether it will have that effect remains to be seen but all ob- serving minds will note that until the moment that exposure became inevi- even startling information on the sub- ject. table he was “as quiet as a mouse,” though possessed of important and Strassburger Off Again. In denying the motion for a man- damus to accept the nomination pe- tition of Ralph Beaver Strassburger as delegate-at-large to the Republican | national convention, most persons will agree that the Dauphin county court correctly interpreted the law. It may be true that power of attorney con- veys the right to subscribe a. signa- ture but taking an oath is different and in the nature of things it is im- possible to legally delegate authority to perform that function to another. Mr. Strassburger attempted to do that and the Secretary of the Com- monwealth, under instructions from the Attorney General’s office, refused. The court sustained him. From a legal point, however, the question is of very little importance. It is not likely to arise again within the period of a generation. Most men who aspire to important party ! favors are within reach when wanted either to sign oaths or checks. In the case in point it may be assumed that the very rich aspirant depended upon the power of the machine to pull him through, and that under or- dinary circumstances his expectations would have been fulfilled. But con- ditions have changed within a short time. Mr. Strassburger was sched- uled for the place at the demand of Mr. Vare and Mr. Vare is no longer in high favor of the party organiza- tion and the State administration at Harrisburg. ot When notified by cable that his pe- tition had been rejected Mr. Strass- burger fastened responsibility for the fact on chairman Mellon who had been playing fast and loose with the Vare contingent. In the slate mak- ing processes Strassburger had been put on, then off and finally “on again.” But the last placement came too late for the candidate to get home from Paris to qualify and the result is a judicial decision that bestows the hon- or, highly coveted by many, upon a prime favorite of the machine. It was a rather skillful manipulation of a vexed party problem, the more sur-' prising because chairman Mellon is not noted for finesse. It will leave Vare as helpless as he will be lone- some at the convention. _ eee lene eet ee —Maybe, after all, the refusal to register Mr. Strassburger as candi- date for delegate-at-large was a thrust at Mr. Vare. The Philadelphia boss doesn’t stand high with the ad- ministration at Harrisburg. Possibly a Menace to Senator Reed. It may be a playful pin prick in the cuticle of chairman Mellon, and on the other hand the entry of the Rev. Dr. W. O. Harpster as a candidate for the Republican nomination for United States Senator may have considerable significance. Dr. Harper is a colored clergyman of high standing and pop- | ularity among the voters of his race. He is an outspoken and militant pro- | hibitionist. In a statement issued in support of his candidacy he says: “I believe that we need better represen- tation in the United States Senate— a representative whose feelings are touched by the infirmities of the com- mon people.” He declares that he will remain in the contest until the pri- maries. There are a good many people in Pennsylvania in sympathy with the views expressed by Dr. Harper on the subject of representation in the Sen- ate. For more than a quarter of a century the corporate interests of the State have chosen the Senators and the Steel trust, the Standard Oil com- pany and the Pennsylvania Railroad company have had attorneys on the floor in the person of the Senator. But the common people have had no representative in the chamber. The present incumbent of the office, David A. Reed, one of Dr. Harper's compet- itors for the nomination, makes no concealment of his relationship to the corporations. He is a Senator, not for the people but for the Mellon cor- porations. Dr. Harper is an earnest and ener- getic prohibitionist. There are a great many voters in Pennsylvania who hold that the enforcement of the Volstead law is the paramount ques- tion of the day. During all his serv- "ice in the Senate David A. Reed has never raised his voice in the interest of prohibition law enforcement. If the prohibition voters in the Repub- lican party should determine to “vote | as they pray” Dr. Harper will be tri- umphantly nominated over Mr. Reed. | There is another aspirant for the nomination in the person of W. S. Adams, of Harrisburg, but as he is an avowed enemy of the Eighteenth amendment he will probably do no more than divide the wet vote with Reed. —Senator Borah would be a distinct force if he would only stay put. But after a few explosions he is ready to eat out of the hand of the party bosses. BELLEFONTE. PA.. MARCH 16. 1928. | Woman’s Part and Reward in Politics. | Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, finance | chairman of the women’s activities of the New York Democratic State com- mittee, complains that women are un- justly discriminated against in the political game. “From local to na- tional committees, she writes, “the women who are active in politics, find themselves against a ‘blank wall.” Gen- erally they are not notified of import- ‘ ant meetings, and when they are, they ' find that all vital matters and the se- lection of candidates have been set- tled at secret confabs of the men long beforehand. They are never consulted about any grave affairs; their own candidates are generally re- jected; the “plums” are distributed to ~men and such as are occasionally put ‘up for office are ‘yes women’ selected because they are easy tools of party leaders.” There is a good deal of reason for, and some force in, this complaint. In the Republican party in this State, for example, a few women, wives of ‘rich men, have been given subordinate places on committees but few if any of them have been favored with nom- inations for important or lucrative ‘offices. Since the enfranchisement of women the Democrats of Pennsylva- nia have had few valuable favors to bestow so it is a matter of conjecture {as to what course the ‘leaders of our | party would adopt if their preferences had any substantial value. But there {is mo doubt as to the attitude of the | Republican party on the subject. No { woman has been nominated for any ! office, either in Philadelphia or Pitts- | burgh, and those favored in other com- munities have been essentially “yes women.” - Mrs. Roosevelt, whose distinguished | husband served as Assistant Secre- tary of the Navy during the Woodrow Wilson administration, and the Dem- ocratic nominee for Vice President in 1920, offers a cure for what seems to her a grave civic evil. She would create a female political “boss” in districts, counties and States,” not to shape the policies and direct the des- finies of a women’s party, but to com- pel the men leaders of the other par- ties to fully recognize and amply re- ward the women workers in their sev- eral party organizations. party workers “must learn to talk the language of men,” she declared, and adds, “against the men bosses there must be women bosses who can talk as equals with the backing of a coherent organization of women vot- ers behind them.” —The lame ducks will continue to squawk in Washington, the bill to abandon the short session of Con- gress having been defeated in the House. 3 Pennsylvania Federation of Demo- cratic Women to Meet in Williamsport. The first annual convention of the Federation of Democratic Women will be held at the Lycoming hotel, Wil- liamsport, March 29 and 30. It is hoped that a large delegation of wom- en from Centre county will be in at- tendance. There will be a dinner on the even- ing of March 29 at which Zetta Jew- ell Miller, of Schenectady, N. Y., and Mrs. Emily Newell Blair, vice chair- man of the National Democratic com- mittee, will be the speakers. Mrs. Edith Aleen, of Williamsport, will be the toast mistress. Mrs. Woodrow Wilson was invited to be the guest of the Federation, but found it impossible to be there at this time. i i There will be all day sessions on | Wednesday and Thursday with lunch- eons at the Williamsport Women’s | club house and at the Elk’s club. A number of women distinguished in the i State and Nation will have part in the program so that a very interesting ‘and illuminating time is assured those who attend. —The Rodney Wanamaker funeral procession would have been an impos- ing spectacle if only the honorary i pall bearers had been present. —By diligent effort some curiosity ‘might be aroused as to what Will ! Hays did with the tainted bonds re- | turned to him by Mr. Mellon. reeset eee | | menting with a device that will elim- {inate mules from the army equipment. ! Here’s a chance to kick. ——————— ees e— —Public Service Commissioner Ainey will be a more agreeable col- league as well as more complacent to the Mellons, anyway. —————————— aaa —It looks as if most of the Re- publican leaders will be hating each other before the Kansas City con- vention assembles. —Subscribe for the Watchman. ai Women —The War Department is experi- | NO. 11. { World-Wide Difficulties of the Farmers. ! From the Philadelphia Record. When things are not going well it is cold comfort to be assured that others are suffering also. But if you belong to a craft or class that is pass- ing through an economic crisis there may be some help in solving problems in knowing the difficulties of those of the same craft or class in other coun- tries, how they arese, and what they are doing to surmount them. When the World Economic Confer- ence mat in Geneva nearly a year ago the universal character of the depres- sion in agriculture was revealed. British, French, Germans, Danes, Can- adians and Australians, as well as Ar- gentines, reported that conditions on farms had not been so bad for a whole generation. The stimulus to produec- tion during the war had led to over- production when the war was fin- ished; and this overproduction persist- ed because bad economic conditions had reduced the purchasing power of the industrial population throughout Europe. This caused a fall in the in- ternal and international prices of farm products. Some crops it did not pay to raise for distant markets. At the same time prices of manufac- tured articles, which a farmer had to buy, went up. The conclusion of the congress was similar to that of American bankers and business men given in a mani- festo to Europe the year before. Tar- iffs must be lowered, and the new tar- iffs, put on since the war, should, in the case of territories formerly in a common customs union, be abolished. Excess population should emigrate. The Economic Conference found that the increase of population in the world had been such that, if there was the per capita consumption of farm products that prevailed before the world war, we could not correctly speak of overproduction. There was no overprouction from the point of view of supplying the world’s actual needs. But the world, not having the purchasing power per capita of the antebellum period, could not buy as much. The demand had weakened. The remedy for this condition of affairs is difficult to find, simply be- cause the output of agriculture is too vast and toc individual to be con- trolled. Farmers aim to feed them- selves with what they raise, first of all, and then to buy manufactured ar- ticles with the proceeds of the sur- plus farm products that they have left over to sell. We are speaking of small farmers, of course, as they ex- ist in innumerable quantities in all countries. If prices are low and they do not get much cash for sales they ‘cannot buy. As they are the most numerous class in the community i their ability to buy quickly affects the urban population that lives from manufactures and commerce. Lower ‘the profits of the city man, and he | simply lowers his food and clothing ‘and household furnishing bills. On | both sides high prices influence con- | suming capacity: there follow lower wages, inability to buy, economic cris- es in industry and commerce as well ag in agriculture. It is a vicious cir- cle. Morally speaking, the farmer may seem to get the worst of it. He al- ways thinks he does. There are lots of things he has to do without. His material well-being is lowered in a certain way. On the other hand, he has his home and he has food for him- self and his family. He is the last to feel the pinch in the fundamental ne- cessities of life. The industrial work- er, the small business man or com- mercial employee, get a worse deal than the farmer in hard times. This was demonstrated during the war in countries like France, where manpow- er was suddenly withdrawn from its normal activities, and in Germany, where there was a blockade. Those who lived on the land and tilled it were the last to feel the pinch—if they ever felt it at all! : Primaries and Bosses. From the Carlisle Sentinel. There are five avowed candidates for the Republican nomination for President but not one of them has taken advantage of the preferential provision of the Pennsylvania pri- mary law. They had the privilege of going on the primary ballot and sub- mitting their names to the voters. In doing so they merely would have been carrying out the intention of the law. But for some reason, probably be- cause of the strangle-hold the Mellon- Vare combination has on the party in the State, not one candidate dared op- pose the organization’s decision for an uninstructed delegation. There are preferential primaries in many other States, but in those States, too, the candidates have failed to put their names on the ballots. If the preferential primary system is worth anything at all it ought to be used. If not used it ought to be abolished. What good does it do to give the voters of a party the right to pass judgment upon candidates for President when the candidates, influ- enced by the political machines, re- fuse to submit their names? The whole thing is a farce, at least as we have it this year. In fact, we think that the whole primary system, not only the preferential feature, is pret- ty much a failure. The political ma- chines are just as powerful and the voters just as impotent and as little interested now as they ever were un- der the convention system. SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. —Mrs. June Fisher, 24, of Arden, had her husband arrested, alleging that he twice used a paddle on her. The hus- band’s side of the case is that she refused to explain when he found cigar and cigar- et stubs of brands he never used on an ash tray in their home. —Twenty-two cars for the Paulista rail- road, of Brazil, were shipped from the Berwick plant of the American Car and Foundry company on a special train over the Pennsylvania to Wilmington, Del, where they will be swung aboard a steam=- er for transportation to Brazil. —Forty years ago Mrs. Wilson Wagner, of Catawissa township, Columbia county, ran a needle in her foot. It gave her no particular trouble and she did not have it removed. A few days ago she felt a pain in her hip and a red spot appeared. From it, she says, she extracted the needle. Mrs. Wagner is now 76 years of age. —When an attendant at the Southern Tire and Supply company, in Pittsburgh, refused him admittance, on Saturday night, a bandit kicked in a plate glass door, scooped $45 from the cash register, and then held more than 200 persons ut- tracted by the breaking glass, at bay while he escaped in an automobile with two women companions. —N. R. Buller, state commissioner of fisheries, broke ground for the new trout hatchery at Reynoldsville, Bedford county, Wednesday of last week. The hatchery has been made possible by the increase in fishermen’s license from $1 to $1.50 and it will cost $300,000. The propagation of trout will be the essential work of the hatchery but other species will also be raised. —George Douglas, a Wilkes-Barre ‘“hot- dog” champion, met defeat Saturday night when he attempted to consume one that carried with it a $100 prize. A local caf- eteria had prepared a hot dog of huge proportions, which contained nine pounds of meat and twelve pounds of bread. It was T4 inches long. Douglas kept at the task six hours, during which time he ate twelve pounds of it. —Benjamin F. Swartzwelder, Seward justice of the peace, and Frank Opelia, of Curtisville, were held for court at Pittsburgh, on charges of fraudulently obtaining nearly $10,000 through an al- leged swindle involving the estate of Colonel Jacob Baker, of Philadelphia. They were given hearings before justice of the peace James A. Hernon, of Sharps- burg. Complaint against the pair was made by George Hereto, Sharpsburg res- taurant owner. —The largest bridge project in Clinton county is that spanning the west branch of the Susquehanna river, near Renovo, on the Lock Haven-Renovo State highway now under construction. The bridge is about one-fourth completed and will have five spans of 160 feet each and two spans 85 feet each, a total length of 1130 feet. The roadway will be 20 feet wide and will be bordered by a walk for pedestrians which will be four feet in width. The contract price is $229,531.95. —Accused of representing himself as an attorney and thereby practicing law with- out first being admitted to the bar, Frank Croop, of Briar Creek, Cslumbia county, has been arraigned before justice-of-the- peace Harry, of Berwick, and released un- der $500 bail. Information had been filed at the instigation of the Columbia county bar association by its secretary, Harold G. Teel, of Bloomsburg. The proceeding is an unusual one and it is said that a conviction carries a maximum fine of $500 or one year in jail or both. —A school teacher, Miss Nellie Ward, became a heroine when fire destroyed a general store, two residences and the building housing the electric light plant at Bentley Springs near Towanda, Pa. Miss Ward, who resided with Mr. and Mrs. James Devoe,” an aged couple, awoke to find the walls and curtains of her room in flames. She rushed to the room occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Devoe and as- sisted them from the house, which was entirely enveloped in flames by the' time the three gained the street. —Mike Yarsavage, 19, sentenced on Mon- day in Indiana eounty court to six months to two years on robbery charges, stopped in Pittsburgh on his way to the peni- tentiary to identify the body of his father, Mike Yarsavage, of Nant-y-Glo, beaten to death at Rural Ridge, Allegheny coun- ty, last Monday. A number of men and youths have been arrested in connection with Yarsavage's death. Confessions which detectives said they obtained were to the effect that the man was fatally beaten when mistaken for a non-union worker. ! —William Rimokiatio and wife, resi- dents of Mount, Carmel, brought suit against George,K Antoniotis for $10,000 for injuries received when guests in the lat- ter’s Jewett sedan. Rimokiatio claims that Antoniotis invited them to take a drive with him in his car and then drove like a “maniac” against their will, with the result of a collision in which he suffered injuries to his wrists, hands, arms, legs, knees, back, spine, spinal cord, spinal colmun, face, nose, lips, eyes, head, ears, heart, lungs, liver, stomach, nerves, mus- cles, ete. —It became necessary for a funeral di- rector and a physician to remove an eighty-pound tumor from the body of George C. Althouse, following his death, at Red Lion, York county, before his body could be placed in a casket for burial. The deceased was formerly superintend- ent of the Interboro Gas and Fuel com- pany. He was afflicted for several years with tumorous growths. In 1925 he un- derwent an operation in Philadelphia and had a growth removed. His condition im- proved but there was a recurrence. The last tumor was so large that Mr. Althouse was unable to walk for about a year. Pushed from the door of his home sat Newton, Fayette county, a Brownsville suburb, when he attempted to strike his wife following a controversy over a taxi- cab bill, Stephan Berrish, 39 years old, died a short time later from a fractured skull. The conditions surrounding the man’s death were such that the woman, mother of six children, was not arrested. Berrish had been. sent to Brownsville for groceries. His wife says he spent the money for booze and was so intoxicated that he couldn't walk home. He hired a taxicab and insisted that his wife give him money to pay the driver. She re- fused and when he stooped to pick up a weapon from the floor she gave him a push and he staggered out the front door, walking backwards and fell on the sidewalk.