Demon faton. INK SLINGS. —Max Schmeling is the name of ‘the German heavyweight champion who has just landed on our shores. Max is probably Schmeling around for ‘some of those fat purses they hang up for heavyweight matches in this country. —Well, Memorial day is over. Next comes Fourth of July, then Labor day and Thanksgiving. Hustle up you fellows who haven't let your furnace fire go out. It will be time to fire up again before you get last .season’s clinkers cleaned out of the grates. —Gypsies held up and robbed a preacher and a layman, up in Blair county Monday, getting one hundred .and eighty dollars and forty cents by the operation. Don’t ask where the preacher got one hundred and eighty dollars because, true to type, he had only forty cents to contribute to the loot. —When a stone mason steps up to a white-collar job man to present his bill at a dollar and a quarter an hour and the white collared employer quails because he is earning only half that much himself, what’s the an- .swer? Start a movement to train more stone masons and fewer white «collared workers. —Many old hunters in this section are not in accord with the State Game Commission’s theory that Pennsyl- vania deer are dying for want of food. They insist that the does, especially, .are dying of old age, if anything, and, .do so in face of the long accepted be- lief that a deer never dies, that it al- “ways meets a tragic end from attacks «of its natural foes. —Thank the Lord the carriage rates on deciduous fruits are to be re- duced. Oranges, and not very choice ones at that, are selling here at sev- .enty cents the dozen and we are told | ‘that high freight rates make the «charge necessary. We don’t eat two oranges a year, but we have a lot of | sympathy for the fellows who need the juice of the deciduous fruits for disguising moonshine. = —Eighty per cent of the jokes cracked by the Kiwanians during their impromptu minstrel appearance at the State theatre, last Thursday night, had reference to the running gears of woman, Not ten per cent of those pulled by the Academy boys who followed them onto the stage had any suggestive reference whatever. We can explain this rather surprising fact only by the suggestion that the Kiwanians are getting old. —A Jewish student at the Univer- :sity of Michigan has been honored with the Kenneth Sterling Day award as having the best “essential Chris- tian worth of all the students in the University”. Gosh, what's the. world: coming to anyway? About all the Jews have left for we Gentiles was ‘the belief that we are still about one _jump ahead of them in the matter of Christianity and now they come beat- ing us out of that. —Now they are telling a story to ‘the effect that while Herbert Hoover was food commissioner during the ‘war that he bought up the entire Cu- ban and Porto Rican sugar crops at {ive and one-half cents a pound and left it lie in storage on those islands while we were paying twenty-eight .cents a pound for the commodity here. If Herbert did that, and the Ameri- ,can voters find it out, he’s one sweet .coated pill they won’t swallow. —We commend the action of the Democrats of North Carolina for hav- ing defeated the attempt of the Smith forces to capture the delegates of that State. Not for the reason that some of you might imagine, how- ever. Senator Simmons, aged and in bad health, has been the leader of the North Carolina Democracy for mary years. He has been an honrable and creditable leader. His leadership was in the balance and the voters ap- praised it as a matter of greater im- portance to them than the question of what aspirant for President should have their delegates. The North Car- _olinians are a loyal people and their refusal to strike down a man who has ‘grown old in their service was a mighty fine thing and that is what we commend them for. —On the way to our work, Monday morning, we saw a text out of which some preacher more gifted than we could make a mighty powerful ser- mon. As we rounded the corner of High and Spring streets we saw a gentleman who we know is eighty years old or better walking gallantly by the side of a matron who hasn’t seen half the anniversaries he has cel- ebrated. Her arms were ladened with the purchases of early morning shop- ping and in his were heavier parcels that we know she started home with and couldn’t manage. Just to be sure of our conjecture that the old boys have something the younger ones are missing we lingered at the corner long enough to see the lady reach her home. There the venerable and voluntary escort stopped too and after depositing the bundles on the porch " made a courtly bow and went on his way. The boy scouts are taught to - do their daily act of kindness and most of them do it, but what of their elders? How many of the slicked hair, wide panted variety who have steady jobs holding down the side- walks in front of the eat palaces of the town would step out and help a feeble old lady or man up High street “if opportunity presented? STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. v3. Veto of the Farm Relief Bill. In vetoing the Farmers’ Relief bill President Coolidge employs unusual and unnecessary epithets. He de- clares the measure is unconstitutional, highly objectionable, repugnant, vi- cious, fantastic and that it contains “ a formidable array of perils for agriculture which are all the more menacing because of their being ob- scured in a maze of ponderously fu- tile bureaucratic paraphernalia.” He Congress in enacting legislation to which he had previously expressed opposition. That is probably the par- amount reason for the veto. Sena- tor McNary is justified in his state- ment that the President revealed a “lack of sympathy and a lack of knowledge of the subject.” The President gives various reasons for his opposition to the measure but makes it plain that his principal ob- jection is to “the equalization fez,” which he characterizes as a tax. “This taxation or fee would not be for the purpose of revenue in the accepted sense,” he said, “but would yield a subsidy for the special benefit of par- ticular groups of producers and ex- porters.” But what else does tariff taxation do? It has been shown that for every dollar drawn from the con- sumers of tariff-taxed commodities that goes into the treasury five dol- lars go to the producers of like com- modities in this country, and if the “fee” is a price-fixing device the tar- iff tax is a profit-guaranteeing ini- quity. : It is probably true that the mea- sure in question was intended to pro- vide profits for the producers of farm crops, but it is equally certain that the guarantee profits to the producers of tariff-taxed products. Both projects are fundamentally wrong and equally subversive of sound economic prin- ciples. But why should President Coolidge favor one evil and condemn the other? The records show that whenever opportunity presented it- self he has increased tariff rates. Possibly the more generous contribu- tions to the Republican slush fund on the part of the benficiaries of tariff taxation is the influencing cause. In any event ‘the favor is obvious. could ot pe — ot ra —The weather prophet who came mighty riear converting us to the idea that a frost in the light of the moon never does any harm to fruit or vege- | tation ought to see a few of the bar- ley fields and several gardens we have seen since the two frosts of last week. Third Term Ghost Still Stalking. The late Mr. Banquo’s ghost has or done since the “I do not choose to run” came out of the Black Hills, last August, obliterates it from the men- tal view of his adorers or obscures it from the apprehensions of his politi- cal enemies. “The actuality is that though he has frequently said “I do not want it” he has never said ‘I will not take it,” writes the Washington correspondent of the New York World, and the attitude of his closest friends, who are the potential leaders of the party, indicate a firm belief that he is not only a trifle willing to run but somewhat anxious to get a chance to do so. The rather equivocal statement made by Secretary Mellon, at the Re- publican conference in Philadelphia several weeks ago, brought the ghost into plain view of friends and foes alike for a few days, but skillful blanketing prevented the breaking out of a flame. Conditions were not considered auspicious for an open dec- laration and the friends of Hoover were permitted to misinterpret the language as an endorsement of their candidate. But the veto of the Farm Relief bill has thrown the doors of the ghosthouse wide open and the spectre is now walking about, though as noiselessly as possible, in the polit- ical highways of the eastern States. The managers of the enterprise would have preferred seclusion for a few days longer if it had been possi- ble. The present exposure is based on the absurd impression that the ve- to was inspired by Hoover, that the Secretary of Commerce rather than the President is to blame, and that the corn belt, certain to reject Hoover, may accept Coolidge. This flimsy theory might have worked if there had been no time to analyze it. But in the time which will intervene be- fore the assembling of the convention its fallacy may be exposed. The men- tal operations of the mid-west farm- ers may not be rapid, but they are sure, and with a few. weeks to think it over they will get the facts. —~Colonel Stewart, of the Standard Oil company, of Indiana, is obliged to answer in court for contempt and that brings Tom Cunningham a few steps closer -to the District of Columbia jail. : shows resentment of the temerity of principal purpose of the tariff is to | ‘nothing on the third term spectre. : Nothing that Mr. Coolidge has said | Why Republicans Shy at Hoover. , The opposition to Herbert Hoover among the real leaders of the Repub- lican party is not based, as has been widely assumed, on his reputation as ‘an independent thinker and idealist. Such men as Andy Mellon, chairman Butler, Senator Watson and National committeeman Willis are neither de- i ceived nor alarmed by professions of ! morality. Their complete success in controlling the policies and directing the actions of President Coolidge has persuaded them that there is no rea- son to fear that Mr. Hoover will be less docile in emergencies. What they are afraid of is that when the light is turned on in full force Mr. Hoover will not measure up to the high mor- al standard he professes. It is true that Mr. Hoover is an ultra opinionated individual and tries to have his own way in everything. It will be recalled that when he first entered the cabinent of President Harding, in a comparatively subordi- nate position, he undertook to run the whole machine and came to realize his relations to his associates in the ad- ministration only after he had been sharply rebuked by several of them for meddling. Having thus been prop- erly disciplined, however, he meekly settled down to the administration of his own department and became “a fairly, but not conspicuously efficient ‘public servant. It is not likely that politicians as crafty and observant as ‘Mellon and Butler have overlooked { these facts. | When the Senate committee created to inquire into the expenditures of i candidates for President interrogated | Mr. Hoover he became highly indig- ‘nant because certain questions were put to him. All of the other candi- dates were asked similar questions and answered them frankly and in ‘kindly language. Mr. Hoover's petu- lance naturally aroused suspicion that he had something to conceal. He had been associated with Fall and Daugh- erty and Denby during the time nego- | tiations for the Teapot Dome lease | were in progress, and though compe- | tent lawyers were “combing the uni- | verse” for information on the subject ‘for years he remained silent. It is ‘such things that make really saga . cious leaders careful, ¥, 1 FR ‘farm relief are wrong, but if certain ‘industriés are to be pampered with a tariff why shouldn't that of agricul- ture have some sort of governmental succor? And what would be the mat- ter with giving a little relief to the editors of country weeklies. Gratifying Improvement in Service. The bureau of statistics of the ' State Department of Labor and In- dustry shows a gratifying decrease in ‘ the number of accidents in the indus- trial life of the Commonwealth during | the month of April. During the , month there were 139 fatal accidents, which is a decrease of 12.8 per cent as compared with March of this year and 18 per cent less than in April last year. In non-fatal accidents there were 10,928 in April this year, a decrease of 13 per cenf,_from the record of April last year. The report covers the transportation activities as well as operations in mining, building and other construction processes and miscellaneous enterprises. Whether this result is acribable en- tirely or in part to the official declara- tion of April as “safety month” is left to conjecture. The improvement seems to have begun with the begin- ning of the year. During the first four months of 1928 the total number of fatal accidents in the industrial processes of the State were 596, 13.1 per cent fewer than during the cor- responding period of last year, while the non-fatal accidents decreased up- ward of 100 per cent, The only shad- ows on the April record are shown in the steam railroads, which showed an increase in fatal accidents of six and in miscellaneous industries of two. In the haazrdous industry of mining the highest improvement is shown. But to whatever reasons the im- provement may be credited the result is most gratifying and shqws what may be achieved by proper and well directed effort. It is said that the Pennsylvania railroad has organized “Safety First” clubs at the various terminals between New York and Pittsburgh where systems of prevent- ing accidents are taught and first re- lief methods cultivated. This is a wise as well as humane endeavor and ought to be adopted in every indus- trial concern which employs a consid- erable number of men. It is especial- ly desirable in the railroad service where the big engines, long trains and increased rate of speed. vastly add to the hazard of service. ——— ——————— —The . Republicans needn’t = worry much over their platform. “The old flag and an appropriation” will ex- press the aspirations of the party. | | i 1 —In principle we believe that both i legislation for tariff purposes and BELLEFONTE. PA.. JUNE 1. 1928S. The Muscle Shoals Problem. After a battle extending over a per- iod of nearly ten years a bill provid- ing for government operation of the Muscle Shoals nitrate plant has final- ly passed both branches of Congress and is now in the hands of the Presi- dent. The measure provides for a government corporation with a limit- ed capital and the enterprise is erip- pled by a provision prohibiting the commercial manufacture and sale of fertilizers. Senator Norris introduced the bill soon after the end of the World war for the purpose .of sup- plying the farmers with fertilizers at moderate prices, and furnishing electrical current at fair rates to a considerable section of the country. : The plant was created during the war for the purpose of developing ni- trogen to manufacture explosives and it cost in the neighborhood of eighty million dollars. Just about the time it was completed the war ended and it became useless. Thereupon it oc- curred to some one that with slight and inexpensive changes it could. be converted into a plant for the manu- facture of fertilizer. This alarmed managers of the Fertilizer trust and they at once set about to prevent it by proposing to lease the plant. They were soon joined in the opposition by the Electric Power trust and support- el generally by corporate monopoly and big business, common enemies of industrial freedom. The principal argument advanced against the enterprise was that “it is putting the government into busi- ness competition with private power and fertilizer concerns.” If private power and fertilizer concerns would supply their products to consumers at fair prices there would be sound reason in the objection. But it is the duty of government to protect the in- terests of the people against purposes of predatory monopoly, and govern- ment operation of the Muscle Shoals plant affords a splendid opportunity to fulfill that obligation. President Coolidge may prevent this obviously fair solution of the problem for a time by vetoing the bill. —Severe earth shocks were report- ed in Washington the other day. Pos- drafted. Bias Shown by Senate Committee. The prejudices of the Senatorial committee investigating the charges of fraud in the Pennsylvania Sena- torial election of 1926 was clearly shown when former Governor Pinchot was testifying the other day. The question of admitting the report of the Committee of Seventy-six was under consideration. That body had been created by Mr. Pinchot for the purpose of investigating: frauds and recommending remedies. It was com- posed of prominent citizens, leaders of both parties, and its work was searching and thorough. It conveyed to the public the first authentic de- scription of the methods employed by the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh ma- chines to fraudulently poll and false- ly return the votes cast. The offer of this semi-official and absolutely reliable evidence was ob- jected to by Francis Shunk Brown, counsel for Mr. Vare, on the ground that “they were merely papers from Gifford Pinchot’s private archives.” As a matter of fact they are the pro- duct of a long continued and pains- taking investigation made by a strict- ly non-partisan committee composed of eminent and discerning men and women. But the chairman of the Senate sub-committee, Senator Wat- erman, of Colorado, ruled that “none of this documentary material is per- tinent to the conspiracy charged here under review. As long as I am chair- man of this committee it will be held to be inadmissible.” Big Tom Cun- ningham couldn’t have Served Vare’s purpose better. Under this ruling, without the con- fession of some of those who partici- pated in the crimes, it would be im- possible to procure a conviction. Mr. Brown, who is at present serving on a similar commission under appoint- ment of Governor Fisher, insisted on the former Governor citing some spe- cific case of fraud. Of course that is impossible, as Mr. Pinchot was not present when the frauds were com- mitted nor in the confidence of those concerned in them. But if Francis Shunk Brown were in a frame of mind to “turn States-evidence” he might find a way to reject his evi- dence. —The consideration shown to Vare, Cuningham and Max Leslie sort of negatives the professions of reform the Mellon machine has been trying to put across. —Maybe an altitude record is of great importance to the flying force of the navy but it is to be hoped it will be achieved without loss of life. incidentally i sibly it was the popular reaction to i rumor that Coolidge may be Filibuster May Defeat the Naval Bill. . From the Philadelphia Record. ington President Coolidge has start- jed “a vigorous fight” to prevent strangling of the naval building. bill, i which for two months has lain disre- garded in the Senate and is now in , danger of being lost by default. To i save it he will have to display more | than his customary energy, for while passage of the bill is assured if it comes to a vote its opponents threat- i en to resort to a filibuster to block ac- tion, and the legislative jam during the : few remaining days of" the session will ‘ give them every chance to carry out the reckless scheme. ; Defeat of this measure would be ' gravely insidious to the nation, since it provides for the minimum of con- struction necessary to keep the navy leven theoretically efficient. That { such a deplorable result is possible is due primarily te pacifist obstruction, but more to administrative and legis- lative muddling. : In his message to Congress last December the President outlined the navy’s needs with convincing empha- sis. He showed not only that the country required “a very substantial sea armament,” but that no limita- tion agreement made in the past or possible in the future would be “in- consistent with a considerable build- ing program on our part.” The plan drafted by the Navy Department called for 25 cruisers, 32 submarines, nine destroyer leaders and five air- craft carriers—71 ships, to be built during nine years at a total cost of $750,000,000. This program was ap- proved by the White House as mod- erate, noncompetitive and in line with budget economy. But by reason of mismanagement it soon lost headway. Some voluble Rear Admirals applauded it as a nec- essary preparation for war, and spe- cifically a challenge to Great Britain. The House committee, which had been ready to approve the bill, was thrown into confusion because of conflicting cost figures, some estimates running into billions. There was uncertainty whether construction should be pushed, or should be subject to delay in the event of another limitation con- ference. Secretary Kellogg further befogged the situation by suddenly announcing that the United States wants submarines outlawed, and that item was abandoned. Inevitably these contradictions and iy ig arouged Be of every ree, and they male a deter- mined. drive agai Alia Say a de- vice of “navalism” and a provocation to war. A stream of protests from churches and ‘peace societies poured in upon Congress, and in the end the House yielded to the propagandists and cut the program by three-fourths, making provision for only 15 cruisers and one aircraft carrier. Obviously this did not represent a rational com- promise, but was virtual repudiation of a program which the Administra- tion had urged for national security and peace. Yet the pacifists were not satisfied with having crippled the project; they organized to destroy it, and with the assistance of Senate radicals they have been able to hold up the measure in that body until it 1 death. Clamorous charges that the build- ing of 16 warships would be extrava- gant or competitive are baseless and dishonest. As a matter of fact the vessels would be largely for replace- ment, and their completion would leave the British, American and Jap- anese cruiser ratio, 5-2, 6-2, 6 in- stead of the 5-5-3 of the Washington treaty. It is to be hoped, therefore, that President Coolidge’s belated ef- forts will salvage at least this man- gled remnant of the program which he recommended as necessary to the national defense. emer pees The Joy of Earning a Living. From the Philadelphia Inquirer. There is a wealth of philosophy in the story of the young Russian count who, bereft of title and property, is now earning a living by working from morning until night in a great indus- trial plant in Pennsylvania. If he de- sired to do so he might have a string of names, but he prefers to be known as plain Mr. Davidoff. He was for- tunate enough to have a good educa- tion and later secured his degree in engineering from Harvard. After learning the business he expects to go abroad with the foreign sales force of the corporation with which he is now employed. But the moral of this tale is the manner in which it has affected the young man’s outlook on life. He in- sists that the transformation is the very best thing which could have hap- pened to him. “If the revolution had not occurred,” he says, “I shouid probably have gone into the army, taken up drinking in a serious way, and eventually have died in a gilt and satin bed. Circumstances have pleas- antly ruled to the contrary. I am in good health, I earn my own living in a congenial occupation, and I am de- pendent upon no one for anything I need or desire.” Wealth and position have their ad- vantages and charms, but it is a mis- take to assume that they are essen- tial to happiness. The best gift of all is the ability to take a philosoph- ical view of life. —————— ee ——————— 4 —The conviction of Mrs. Florence Knapp, at Albany, indicates equali- zation of sexes in .crime anyway, { According to reports from Wash-. has become possible to talk it to, SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONK —More than $600 was cleared at the poppy sale conducted at Lock Haven for disabled soldiers, by members of the aux- iliary to the William Marshall Crawford post, American Legion, on Saturday. —Financial worries are given as the cause of the suicide of. Mack Boyle, 70, oldest riverman in the central part of the State, who shot himself through the heart {as he sat in his son’s automobile in Cas- tanea township, evening. —After being hit on the head by a 10- pound brick with such force that six stitches had to be taken to close the wound, “Bill” Cleveland, a Negro, of Can- onsburg, merely smiled when he appeared fn court and admitted that he had a “slight headache.” —An old fashioned community well, which formerly supplied all the inhabi- tants of Uniontown with water when it was only a small village, was discovered recently during excavations for a new building. The well is lined with concrete to within a foot of the bottom and is in a good state of preservation. —David Collins, serving a 10-months’ sentence in the Lackawanna county prison for the theft of an automobile, has made application for parole en the grounds that floors of the jail are too hard. Collins states that he does considerable walking in the institution and that the floors have played havoc with his feet. —Buried beneath a pile of cinders, Rob- ert W. Grove, 52, of Greenwood, Blair county, was suffocated Monday before workmen reached him. Grove was help- ing to unload a car of cinders when he fell into a bin where tlie cinders were be- ing dumped. He was covered up before his plight was discovered. Coroner C. C. Rothrock said he would investigate. Clinton county, Sunday —Mrs. Edith Flanagan, of Pittsburgh, appointed as social secretary to the Governor in 1923, by the former Governor Pinchot and continued by the present administration, has tendered her resig- nation effective June 1. Mrs. Flanagan has given up her position to take a motor trip through England and France this summer. She will sail for Europe on the Adriatic on June 9. —Citizens at Wilkes-Barre can tolerate the usual city noises, but they balk when they have to listen to frogs sing. A num- ber of residents on North Franklin and Jackson streets recently complained that a colony of frogs in a puddle opposite the court house. were keeping them awake. County commissioners met the complaint promptly and ordered the frogs removed and the hole filled up. —Orville Mix, uncle of Tom Mix, pop- ular movie star, is employed as an dssist- ant at the State Forest Tree Nursery lo- cated near Clearfield. Medix run, rising in northern Clearfield county, a tributary of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, and the town of Medix Run were named for the Mix family, pioneers of this mountain section. It was there that Tom Mix grew up with that ardent love of out-door ad-. venture in which he stars today. —Little Jane Hubbell, 7-year-old daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert S. Hubbell, is under guard at her home in Lancaster, following a threat that she would be kid- napped unless her father paid $2600. Mr. Hubbell said that he is confident the let-_ ter is the work of a erank. He added that he does not have $2600 to pay, and that if he did he would use the money to find the writer of the note, rather than pay for protection. Preparations have been made to guard the Hubbell home at night. —Partially destroying the J. L. Hyder business block, at Osceola Mills, and gut- i ting two other store houses, fire of un- | known origin early Monday morning |-caused loss estimated at $40,000. Tiremen unable to cope with the blaze, sent dis- tress calls and two Philipsburg and one Houtzdale companies answered and assist- ed. As the flames continued to rage, Ty- rone and Madera companies answered, but did not see service, the blaze finally being quelled after more than two hours of fighting. : ! —E. B. Zimmerman, Philadelphia, form- er secretary of the Democratic State com- mittee, was reappointed to that position, last Friday, by John R. Collins, Couders- port, the new Democratic State Commit- tee chairman. It was also announced that State headquarters will soon be opened in Harrisburg. For several years the party has had no State headquarters. The of- fice at 19-A North Fourth street, which was used by Warren Van Dyke as head- quarters for the Smith primary campaign. will soon be taken over by Mr. Zimmer- { man. —The State workmen's compensation board has held, that desertion by a hus- band is not sufficient reason why a widow should be denied compensation. The case was that of Mrs. Anna Butroy Wolfe, of Iselin, whose husband was an employee of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. He was fatally injured in an accident after he disap- peared with a $415 dowry of his wife. The referee disallowed compensation on the ground that the widow was not de- pendent upon her husband at the time of death and she appealed the case. The board allowed her $8 a week. —Leaking gasoline ignited by a mateh on Monday resulted in injury to John Miller, of Ironsville, near Tyrone, and a four year old daughter and partial de- struction of their homu. The condition of neither, both suffering burns, is consid- ered serious. Miller had gone to the third floor of the residence to find some articles he wanted. A leaking gasoline can caught fire from the lighted match he was carry- ing. Grabbing the can, he hurléd it through a window and it landed near his daughter in the yard below, igniting her clothing. A Tyrone fire company an- swered a call to the home and limited the damage to the house. —Members of the Pennsylvania railroad crew of the Shenandoah-Pottsville local rescued Joseph Sakawski, 22, of Shenan- doah, from death, when his automobile caught fire on the State highway, near Pottsville, last Saturday. The trainmen saw the automobile crash into another and turn over. In less than a minute the ma- chine was a blaze and Sakawski was pinned beneath it. The machine rolled over a six-foot embankment and Sakaw- ski was pinned so that he could not es- cape. Flames shot from the rear of the machine ' and the trainmen pulled him through the front of the car after break- ‘ing the windshield and frame. Two min- utes after they had rescued him from his perilous plight the machine was a mass of "flames. nd !
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers