“one that will give Demons adn _ INK SLINGS. —Anyway, we have this much to say for Mr. Hoover. He’s the first man the Republican party ever put up for President who isn’t sure that he has been a citizen of the United States and a member of the Repub- lican party all his life. —Next week will mark the middle of the year 1928, so far as issues of the Watchman are concerned. My, how time flies. It seems that our Christmas week holiday was only yes- terday and here our Fourth of July cessation from work is but two weeks «off. —Tax payers will be interested in knowing that another way of spend- ing their money has been devised. The standard milk ordinance of the State provides for a paid milk inspec- ‘tor in each municipality. We tip off those who haven’t yet gotten onto the public payroll that here is a possible aid, . —We note that it was at the sug- :gestion of the District Attorney that ‘a county detective at a salary of fif- teen hundred dollars a year has been appointed. This could be construed as a cry for help from Mr. Love. Whether it is or isn’t we leave to the determination of those who know more about what Centre county needs than we do. —Mellon is a financier, Vare is a politician and that perfectly explains why the Philadelphia boss was able to steal all the thunder from the Secre- of the Treasury at Kansas City. It is illuminative of the power of the prac- tical politician that a man whom the Senate of the United States wouldn’t admit to a seat was able to precipi- tate the nomination of the standard bearer of a great political party. —It seems to us that Mrs. Worth- ington Scranton did not say a thing that a self-respecting person would be overly proud of when she ':re- marked, at Kansas City, that “We of the Keystone State will vote as An- drew W. Mellon tells us.” Since the venturing of Mrs. Scranton into the moil of Republican politics in Penn- sylvania we have regarded her as a woman of more or less force, but since her Kansas City utterance we are forced to revise that opinion. —It is said that the State admin- istration is opposed to all but one of the proposed amendments to the con- stitution of Pennsylvania. When we heard of this state of affairs we ‘thought that for once we were in ac- «ord with the powers that be in Har- risburg for we favor only one of ‘them. They prove to be different ones, however. Harrisburg wants the :amendment to permit the State to id ‘its own printing passed. We want the. ran > State College eight million dollars passed. . —President Coolidge refused to :sign the Muscle Shoals bill because it might bring the government into competition with private business en- terprise. The development of those :great natural reseurces by the gov- ernment might have given farmers ‘fertilizer a little cheaper and users of electric current a slightly lower rate, but that seems undesirable in the President’s mind. If it is against pub- lic policy to bring the government in- to competition with Big Business by what manner of reasoning can Mr. «Coolidge justify the government's competition with the little business cf the country in printing envelopes. —At State College, on Monday, we ‘talked with a northern Republican who has lived in Louisiana for nearly thirty years and remains immune to Democracy. That, in itself, is an in- teresting revealment, for most Re- publicans who remain in the South for a long time either become Democratic -or soft-pedal on their political affilia- tion. This friend of long years stand- ing travels over Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi so we asked him what his impressions are as to what the Democrats of those States will do in the event of the nomination of Al Smith, for President. Before replying he swept us with a glance that just as much as said you poor fish. Then he .said. “There are a few, of course, who won’t vote for Smith, but the rank -and file of the Democrats down there .are going to vote for him, if he is nominated, and so far as I have been .able to observe there is nothing to :substantiate the bunk that Senator Heflin is flooding Congress and north- ern papers with. —We have long been of the opin- ion that there are times when the truth serves the purpose of lying bet ter than a lie itself. Since our con- fession last week that up to that time we hadn’t caught a trout large enough to keep we are confirmed in the con- viction. No less than eight of our readers have actually accused us of lying, since they don’t believe it pos- sible that we have had such poor luck this season. We didn’t care whether anybody believed the confession or not. The matter whether we catch or fail to catch trout is not an im- portant one. What we are trying to get across, however, is that often, if you want people to disbelieve sonie- thing tell them the truth. Human na- ture is so suspicious that there are circumstances under which it won't believe the truth. Especially is this so when someone pumps you for in- formation that they have every rea- son to believe you won’t divulge. Their amazement at candor is so great that they at once conclude that you are lying to them. gi 21 A EXN ee 3 Demoeral EO STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. VOL. 73. NO. 24. Mr. Coolidge’s Curious Reasoning. On the same day that President Coolidge vetoed the farm relief bill he approved a measure providing for a substantial subsidy for ship build- ers. In his message vetoing the farm relief bill he said it was a device to benefit one group at the expense of other groups. In the same message he urged farmers to rely on tariff taxation on agricultural products for relief. He was opposed to the Mus- cle Shoals bill and allowed it to die in his hands because it would put the government into competition with pri- vate enterprise. Yet the shipping bill, which he approved, does pre- cisely the same thing in exactly the same way. It creates a corporation and provides it with capital to ope- rate. These are some of the peculiar things which make President Cool- idge’s motives inexplicable. He made no objection to the price-fixing of ag- ricultural products during the war, and all the leaders of his party, especially Herbert Hoover, endorsed that procedure. But the price-fixing then was not for the benefit of the farmers. It was intended to and did restrain the farmers from charging exorbitant prices to the purchasing agents of foreign governments who were not only compelled but eager to buy at any price. The armies on bat- tle lines and in trenches had to be fed, and this country was the only source of supply. In the absence of a fixed price the farmers might have pyramided profits. The President’s mind seems to run invariably in favor of corporations and against the farmer. He suggests tariff taxation on agricultural pro- ducts as a panacea for farmer’s trou- bles. If he knows anything about economics he must know that tariff taxation can’t help the farmers for the reason that very few agricultural products are imported, and tariff ben- efits only accrue to those in compe- tition with imported commodities. Be- sides a tariff tax on farm products would be promptly followed by in- creased tariff schedules on manufac- tured goods and the only effect would be to increase ‘the price of both to without material advan- Fconsaers tage to the producers of ‘either. —Senator Borah has modified his demands for prohibition in the party platform. He finally decided that any- thing the compromisers offered is good enough for him. The Party Boss in Full Flower. The striking feature of the Repub- lican primary campaign for President, in Pennsylvania, now happily or un- happily ended, was the development of the party boss in full flower. The late Judge Black once said that Dem- ocrats will not tolerate a boss but the Republican party could not exist without one. The records of parties in this State fully justify this state- ment. No Democratic boss has ever prospered while the Republican party has never conducted a campaign with- out a boss. After Cameron came Quay and after Quay, Penrose. These bosses were not altogether alike in methods but exactly similar in pur- pose. Cameron was “easy,” Quay subtle and Penrose dominating. Each of these bosses had his trou- bles and there were sporadic erup- tions now and then and here and there, to challenge their titles. But the present boss, Andrew W. Mellon, enjoys undisputed control, not only of the actions but the thoughts of every individual and element of the party. Congressional caucuses have assem- bled and in more or less positive fig- ures of speech declared independent purpose. Sub-bosses like Vare and Grundy have voiced preference for candidates, and newspapers like the ‘Philadelphia Inquirer and Ledger have indulged in mild gestures of freedom of speech. But with a sim- ple wave of the hand Boss Mellon has brought them cringing to his feet. Ten years ago Mr. Mellon was a money grubber in Pittsburgh with no knowledge of practical politics. He probably had never attended a con- vention, National, State or county, in his life. He was a Republican be- cause he had acquired millions through the operation of tariff taxa- tion and may have contributed a trifle to the campaign funds at intervals. In 1921 Harding made him Secretary of the Treasury and he became in- fatuated with the job. He had the requisite qualifications both for the service and the environment. He un- derstands “addition, division and si- lence” and these virtues or vices ap- pealed to the “Ohio crowd.” But his title as boss is ascribable to his big bank balance. —If Boss McClure, of Delaware county, selects the successor to the late Congressman Butler it is a safe bet that prohibition will get the worst of it. ee meee Wy President Coolidge Serves Monopoly. There is no great surprise in the information that President Coolidge has allowed the Muscle Shoals bill to die in his hands. By this course he has kept faith with the Electric Pow- er trust. That organization Spent hundreds of millions of dollars to pre- vent the passage of the measure and as an obedient servant of monopoly Mr. Coolidge could do nothing’ less than make its investment good. In do- ing so he has betrayed the farmers and sacrificed the consumers of electric i power throughout the country. ' But i that is a matter of little concern to (him. His obligations, official, political rand social, are to Big Business, and i the killing of the Muscle Shoals bill was the acid test of his fidelity. The government spent in the neigh- borhood of $80,000,000 in the ¢on- struction of the plant for the manu- facture of explosives for use in the World war. With the end of the war the need for the plant ceased. But it was found that at small expense it could be converted into an enterprise to manufacture fertilizers and create | expenditures. electric forces at much lower cost than the trusts charged to consumers. The Muscle Shoals bill provided for a | corporation under government control . to make such uses of the plant. It! meant competition with the trusts for | fertilizers and electric power and the saving of millions of dollars annual- ly to the users of those commodities. President Coolidge “chose” to serve monopoly. Senator Norris, of Nebraska, has raised the point that the action of the President validates rather than de- feats the measure. The constitution declares that “if any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days, Sundays excepted, after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed'it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevents its re- turn, in which case it shall not be a law.” Senator Norris contends that Congress is at present in recess and not adjourned. But the chances are that the opposite opinion on the sub- ject will be adopted. The high priced lawyers of the trusts would hardly aligw the agent _of their clients 48 go. he. : —~Mayor Mackey, having returned from Europe, says his job is in Phil- adelphia, and it may be assumed that nothing short of an invitation to speak in London would take him away. Hoover's Keen Business Sense. The successful operation of the no- torious steam roller at Kansas City confirms Mr. Herbert Hoover's repu- tation as a keen business man. He invested a good deal of money in the enterprise, considerably more than all the other candidates of both parties ventured, but he placed it wisely. There is rocm for doubt as to the ex- pediency of his more or less expen- sive campaigns against “favorite sons” in Ohio, Indiana and West Vir- ginia for the reason that even if he had won the victory would have been at the expense of dangerous hazards in the future. But the bulk of his slush fund was sent to the South where delegates to a Republican con- The proceedings of the preliminary committee on credentials of the Kan- sas City convention completely justi- fies Mr. Hoover’s discrimination in placing his money. It might be un- just to others to bestow all the credit for wisdom in this matter on Mr. Hoover. Rush Holland, a protege of Harry Daugherty, and Bascom Slemp, of Virginia, experts in commercial politics, were at his elbow at every turn in the tide, and they may have influenced the course of the golden flow. But in any event the fact that Mr. Hoover gained sixty votes and lost only two in the contests for Southern seats is substantial evidence that the “boodle” was properly placed to bring home the bacon. Of course there was some danger in the operations of the steam roller. It involved a general recognition of the “lily white” organization in the South, which is a meagre force at the general election. All or nearly all the delegates thrown out are negroes and represented the dominant Repub- lican element of that section. Slemp and Holiand may have reasoned that their party has no possible chance of carrying either of the States con- cerned. But a carefully organized and efficiently managed revolt of the col- ored voters of the South might cause a considerable disturbance in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Dela- ware, where the colored vote cuts a big figure. —Of course it would have been em- barrassing to the President to tell the world that he objects to the Muscle Shoals bill because the Power trust is vention are marketable commodities. ! against it, so he just let it die. New Jersey Posts a Wholesome Sign. Former Governor Edward C. Stokes, of New Jersey, was an inter- esting witness before the Senate Slush Fund committee the other day. He was a candidate for the Republi- can nomination for United States Senator in that State, at the recent primary, and was defeated by Hamil- ton F. Kean. In a subsequent state- ment Mr. Stokes ascribed his defeat to the excessive use of money by his opponents. The Senate committee thereupon summoned all the candi- dates to present a statement of their Mr. Kean testified that he had spent $49,000; another candi- date, Joseph H. Frelinghuysen, spent $48,000 and Mr. Stokes spent $14,- 609.44. The other two candidates have not given figures as yet. Mr. Stokes made no direct charge of fraud in his testimony but declared there were excessive votes in some districts and what might be termed zero returns in others; that Mr. Kean has been running for the office for four years and “he did not.think men would do for nothing what they had been doing in Kean’s behalf during that time.” In other words he held inferentially that the expense of maintaining an organization for four years should be added to the sum ac- knowledged to have been spent during the brief period of active campaign- ing immediately before the vote which would probably raise the aggregate to a figure that might reasonably be called excessive. But the interesting feature of Mr. Stokes’ testimony was his description of the methods practiced in Republi- can primary campaigns in New Jer- sey. He said “it had reached the point in New Jersey when he entered the race the first question was, ‘is the old man going’ to shell out?’ Public sentiment,” he added, “is demoralized with politicians following the man c® wealth; the machine controlling the voters and money controlling the ma- chine.” That is precisely the fact in Pennsylvania, Illinois and every other State in which the Republican party has complete control. But when Re- publican leaders openly admit that “a poor man cannot run”. for office it may be taken as a wholesome sign. —It is plain that Coolidge was the first choice of a large majority of del- egates in the Kansas City convention, so that whoever gets the nomination will be a “second choice.” League of Women Voters Will Picnic Today. The League of Women Voters will hold a picnic at the home of Mrs. W. A. Ferree, Oak Hall, today (Friday). Those who have in the past attended one of these gatherings and enjoyed the hospitality of Mrs. Ferree and her family will wish to again be pres- ent. Miss Lucille Buchanan, one of the State organizers, will speak on “When will women be politically wise?” and Mrs. Arthur Cowles, of State College, will tell of the plans for a county library. Sandwiches, biscuits, cake and fruit are all that will be needed besides the bountiful supply Mrs. Ferree will give. Take only a small portion of one of the above. All women whether members of the League or not, are cordially invited. For further particulars inquire of Mrs. Robert Mills Beach, Bellefonte. Telephone 158. —Since being sworn into office, the first Monday of January, Judge Flem- ing has increased the salary of the judge’s private secretary $300 a year; the salary of the juvenile court of- ficer $120 a year; appointed a pro- bation and parole officer at $2500 a year and expenses, and now a county detective at $1500 a year, which makes a yearly overhead of almost $5000. And up to the present time Mr. Wilkinson, the probation and parole officer, has collected and turned over to the County Commis- sioners a little over fifteen hundred dollars, but a good part of the above sum would probably have been paid in anyway. —Bill Vare insists on “issuing a statement” on some subject on every occasion. Somebody ought to tell him that his opinions are of no value on any subject. —OQur esteemed friends, the Ath- letics, have been slipping lately. Con- nie would better get a grip on himself because those Yankees are heartless. —Will Hays didn’t attend the Kan- sas City convention but he'll probably have a conspicuous place on the Slush Fund committee. —Uncle Andy is not as hard-boiled as some people think. He allows Bill Vare full freedom in everything ex- cept voting, Soa haar Will Disregard the Supreme Court’s Decision. { From the Philadelphia Record. It is gratifying to learn that, de- spite the fact that the United States | Supreme Court recently gave the stamp of its approval to wire-tap- ‘ping by Government agents as a ' means of obtaining evidence in crim- inal cases arising under the Volstead act, the telephone companies will not give their sanction to any such inva- sion of private rights. President J. S. McCulloh, of the New York Tele- phone company, is quoted as saying that that corporation “will not know- ingly permit tapping or other inter- ference with its telephone wires. Whenever it comes to our notice that attempts to do so are made we will take such steps as may be necessary to remove such interferences and to protect the privacy of our subscribers in their use of our telephone service.” A similar statement has been issued by the Chesapeake & Potomac Tele- phone company, which serves Mary- land, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Coumbia. Presumably this will be the attitude of other telephone companies through- out the country, and Federal snoop- ers will find no encouragement from them in their attempts to violate the liberty of the citizen guaranteed by the Constitution. This decision of the Supreme Court was one of those un- fortunate 5-to-4 pronouncements that carry no moral weight whatever, and that are of dubious legality. Of course, so long as they stand they must be respected as being the law of the land, but everybody knows that a change in the membership of the Court may bring .in a Justice who may side with the dissenting four, and that if the matter is again brought before the tribunal the pre- vious minority may be converted into a male and the decision be re- versed. e question, therefore, re- mains in abeyance, as it were, liable to conflicting interpretations and con- firming ‘the average person in his be- lief that a decision contingent upon a single vote, and reflecting no well- settled conviction of the Court as a whole, may be disregarded because of the doubt in which it is involved. This, at least, seems to be the view of the telephone companies, and their position will strengthen the current impression that the Supreme Court pretext for withdrawir from a position: that is obnoxious to the American people as a whole. Pro- hibition Commissioner Lowman says self of the Court ruling, except in ex- treme cases of necessity, He may, indeed, never attempt to take advan- tage of a decision so manifestly mis- chievous. Their Own Medicine. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Southern railroads, which cut rates for the coal industry of their section to nullify an Interstate Com- merce decision giving a 45-cent dif- ferential to Northern coal operators in the Lake cargo case, are now rais- ing a cry of alarm. They fear a “ruinous rate war.” The Northern railroads also went into the rate- cut- ting business. They did for the coal operators of the North what the Southern roads did for those of their fields. The great difference is that, while the action of the Southern roads would have defeated an Interstate Commerce decision, the differential set by the latter is being upheld by the Northern roads. The Louisville and Nashville, speaking for the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Norfolk and Western as well as for itself, says that any greater differential than 25 cents a ton against the Southern fields would divert most of the Lake cargo trade to Pennsylvania. Precisely—because the market naturally belongs to Wes- tern Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. The 25-cent differential, by which coal was hauled in some cases hun- dreds of miles for nothing from the Southern fields, caused a heavy loss to this section by diverting trade to the South. That is simply what this whole Lake cargo fight is about. The South has been attempting, by freight rates upon an artificial basis, to cap- ture and hold trade that belongs to Pennsylvania and Ohio operators. This section is fighting to recover and hold its own. The “heavy loss” that the Southern railroads and coal operators fear would, in the opinion of the North- erners, simply be a return of what was taken unjustly. In fact, the rates discriminating in favor of the South- ern coal fields are viewed by many as the main factor in upsetting the whole bituminous industry. They stimulated the opening of mines that were not needed and operated as a subsidy in other cases for economic ventures. They kept up mines that paid poor wages and forced the clos- ing of a number that were paying high wages. —What the agricultural plank in the Kansas City platform really means is “the farmers be damned.” —The Republican idea of relieving agriculture is to put a prohibitive tar- iff on rutabagas. ——The Watchman gives all the news while it is news. erred in its decision and would do well to find a : awing he has no intention of availing him- | SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONR —The cornerstone of the new Lock Hav- en High school was laid Friday afternoon with fitting ceremonies. Names of the graduating class of '28 were placed in the stone as well as the names of the school board. —Hazel Gloss Weaverling, accomplice and common-law wife of Charles Lovell, of Huntingdon, who is under sentence of death in the electric chair for the murder of John Paul Drake, in Mount Union, on April 6, was on' Monday, sentenced by Judge Thomas F. Bailey to the Glen Mills school, girls department, as an incorri- gible. —James J. Hand, of Burnham, an in- spector for the State Highway Depart- ment, engaged on the Freedom avenue project and living at the Y. M. C. A, re- ceived a bronze medal and an award of $500 in cash from the Carnegie Hero Fund, for saving from drowning Jacob M. Kint-" zel, at Paradise, Lancaster county, August 3, 1926. —One of Penn State’s extension poultry- men has been selected to assist at the Cornell University poultry judging school, June 25 to 30. He is John Vandervort, a graduate of Cornell and formerly exten- sion poultryman in Illinois. The judging school gives an intensive course in culling and selection of hens and roosters for egg’ production, —William H. Shaffer, 30, of Northum- berland county, was killed instantly last Thursday when a circular steel saw on which he was cutting wood, burst and cut him almost in haif. Shaffer, who is mar- ried and the father of one child, had been cutting firewood at the saw mill at Chap- man, about twelve mniiles south of Sun- bury, when the accident happened. —With the death of Jesse Sterner, a re- tired farmer of Codofus township, York county, it has been discovered that he is survived by 194 direct descendants. The man died in his 94th year. Seven chil- dren, forty-seven grandchildren, 120 great- grandchildren and twenty great-great- grandchildren survive. He was the father of one set of twins, grandfather of two sets, and great-grandfather of three seis. —Learning of plans to remove her to a sanitarium near Pottsville following a nervous breakdown, Miss Amelia Lauer, 75 years old, leaped to her death from the fifth-floor window of her apartment in the Wayne hotel, on the Lincoln highway, Wayne, shortly before noon last Friday. She occupied an aaprtment in the hotel with her nephew, George Gugert, an artist, who was not at home when Miss Lauer ended her life. Miss Lauer was a member of a wealthy Pottsville family. —Justus Beach, 60, a wealthy resident of Sabinsville, a small village about four miles from Westfield, Tioga county, shot and killed his wife with a rifle at their home on Sunday and then turned the gun on himself, inflicting a wound which proved fatal. The tragedy was discovered by a boy who went. to the house to de- liver milk. The body of Mrs. Beach was found lying across the bed with a shot through her heart and Beach was found lying on the floor with a shot through his groin. —Tourists’ maps showing the latest highway routes of the Commonwealth have been receievd from the printers by the Highway Department, but will not be dis- tributed to the public until the State hign- ways ares marked “with ‘their mew route numbers. A great number of the hign- ways of the State have been renumbered, but as yet have not received their new markings. As the map is marked with the new numbers, it cannot be distributed until they correspond with those along the roads. —Edward Murray, aged 40, a patient, was killed and superintendent Dennis A. Mackin, of Retreat insane asylum, in Lu- zerne county, was seriously wounded, on Monday, when Vincent Gaughan, aged 50, another patient, ran amuck. Superin- tendent Mackin attempted to save Mur- ray’'s life when Gaughan started firing a revolver which other patients said he had kept hidden in his cot for several weeks. Two bullets passed into Murray’s brain and he died instantly. Another bullet struck the superintendent in the abdomen. .—Prepared’ to celebrate the Fourth of July, 12-year-old Robert Sload, of Colum- bia, with a dozen giant torpedoes in his hip pocket, fell with such force that the torpedoes were exploded, tearing a hole nine inches in diameter in the flesh and shattering all the muscles. At the hos- pital surgeons removed the burned flesh and hundreds of small pebbles, after which they administered antitoxin to guard against tetanus. The lad’s condi- tion was reported serious, and should he recover he will be crippled for life, it is said. —Stepping too close to the whirling pro- pellor of an airplance from which he had just alighted, Daniel Murphy 23, was ta- tally injured at a flying fieid at Mt. Pleas- ant, on Sunday. The accident was wit- nessed by 4,000 spectators gathered to wit- ness a parachute jumping performance. The exhibition was called off. Murphy bad just completed a 15-minute flight as a passenger. As he left the plane, Pilot A. Reginsky tried to warn him of the pro- pellor. Noise of the motor, however, drowned his shouts. Murphy's skull was crushed and his body mangled. --Fifty young men are expected to at- tend the short course for cow testers at the Pennsylvania State College, June 18 to 23, according to C. R. Gearhart, super- visor of cow testing in the State. They will get an intensive training to fit them for positions now available in associations of the State. There now are 78 groups at work, an increase of 13 since January 1. Fayette and Blair counties started new associations June 1, and organizations have since been started in Berks and Dauphin counties. The latter is a reorganization of the only group to discontinue work dur- ing the past two years. .—Harding J. Conway, of Woodland, who was taken into custody at the Clearfield postoffice on April 25th, when he attempt- ed to pass a stolen money order blank, was sentenced to spend two years in At- lanta penitentiary after pleading guilty in Federal court at Pittsburgh last week. He was taken to Atlanta on Tuesday. Conway stole a number of money order blanks and a letter containing a check for $500 from the postoffice at Bigler on March 28th. After failing to get the check cashed in Tyrone he remailed it to the payee and went to Clearfield in an attempt to cash one of the stolen money orders which he had filled out. He was apprehended there by the astuteness of Ward Shaffer, a clerk in the postoffice and was taken to Pitts- burgh for trial. Aan