INK SLINGS.
~ —>Be sure to vote “Yes” on amend-
ment No. 2. No’s 6 and 13 are also
‘meritorious proposals.
——Anything is socialistic that
hits monopoly according to the no-
tions of Mr. Hoover and his managers.
—The Hon. Holmes’ chickens are
coming home to roost. Little did he
think, when he said that the soldiers
‘had gotten enough that they might
decide that he has had enough. He
wasn‘t thinking of running for a third
‘term then.
—If you think Mr. Holmes de-
serves a third term in the Legisla-
ture vote for him. If you think it
would be better to continue the quest
for someone who will give Centre
county outstanding character and
force in the halls of the House of
Representatives why not vote for An-
drew Curtin Thompson. He might
prove to be a great Representative,
something more than a mere cog in
the political machinery of his party.
—If former Governor Pinchot real-
ly wants to do some stumping why
doesn’t he go out and tell the public
‘ the good things he knows about Al
Smith. The Governor offered to
stump for Hoover, but they wouldn't
let him do it because he reserved the
right to tell the whole truth if he
were heckled into it. And in his case
the whole truth means that he thinks
Smith is right on more of the big is-
sues in the campaign than Hoover is.
—The purchase of extra boxes to
hold the ballots that will be cast on
November 6, is not necessary. The
law department of the State has rul-
ed that while a box that has been fill-
ed with ballots may not be opened
before the polls have closed and time
for tabulating has arrived any kind
of a sealed container may be used in
which to deposit ballots after the
regular box has been filled. It might
be well for election hoards to pre-
pare for just such an emergency.
—Just to prove how uncertain and
up-in-the-air everyone seems to be
about the outcome of the election we
heard two predictions early in the
week that, ordinarily, would sound
so ridiculous as to be repeated on-
ly as a joke. One was that Hoover
will carry Centre Hall borough and
probably every precinct of Potter
township. The other was to the ef-
fect that Smith will carry Bellefonte
borough. Such political revolutions
would certainly be startling, but we
should worry. The morning of No-
vember ninth we’ll tell you all about
them, if they materialize.
—We urge all of our readers who
vote in Pennsylvania to mark an
“X” opposite the word “Yes” on the
«13th. proposed amendment. It is the
one favoring voting machines. It
doesn’t compel a county to buy or
use machines. It merely makes their
purchase and use legal by such coun-
ties as might want to use them. While
we question the economy of their use
in a county like Centre we do believe
that machines would effect a saving
in the larger centers of population.
Aside from that phase of it the sa:-
isfaction of feeling that machines
are honest, in these days when so
many humans are not, would be worth
quite as much as they cost.
—As late as January 18, 1919, the
late Senator Penrose said on the floor
of the United States Senate “I do
object to having a non-resident of the
United States, who may never return
to this country again, made trustee
of this fund.” He was speaking of
Herbert Hoover who he said “has
been living in England all his life and
has a palatial establishment there.”
At the same time the late Senator
Lodge, of Massachusettes, said Hoov-
er was “entirely lawless here.” If
you think Penrose and Lodge were
good Republicans laugh that off. What
they said about Hoover in 1919, and
they knew him a darned sight better
than we or any of our readers do, is
true of him today.
—Probably Governor Fisher pred-
icated his prediction that Hoover will
carry Pennsylvania by a million on
the hope that that three per cent. as-
sessment on all State employees
would buy a great many votes. It’s
a fine spectacle, isn’t it? Macing
even the scrub women in the capital
building and other offices of three per
eent. of their paltry wages. Don't
tell us it isn’t true. We know it is
because we have talked to several
State employees who sent checks for
what they thought they could afford
to give to the Republican slush fund.
In neither case was the remittance
equal to three per cent. of the salaries
paid them and in both cases the
checks were returned with a notation
to that effect.
—-Since the revelation that Dr.
Hubert Work, chairman of the Re-
publican National campaign commit-
tee and Secretary of the Interior in
President Coolidge’s Cabinet, signed
the renewal of the fraudulent lease
of the Salt Creek oil reserves
to Harry Sinclar, the campaign for
President takes on another and more
serious phase. Are governmental af-
fairs so rotten in Washington that the
Democrats must be prevented from
getting into control? The desperate
means being resorted to to accomplish
the defeat of Al Smith seem to indi-
cate it. Secretary Fall was made the
goat and the public thought the
scandals over when he was driven
from office, but now it appears that
Dr. Work, for some unknown reason,
renewed the fraudulent lease Fall had
made. Surely, its time for a change.
_VOL. 73.
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE, PA.. OCTOBER 26. 1928.
Coolidge Economy Myth Punctured. |
With his caustic speech at Sedalia,
Missouri, the other day, Governor
Smith “got a rise” from Uncle Andy
Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury and
financial wizzard of the Republican
machine. The Governor had punctur-
ed the economy myth of the Coolidge
administration rather severely and
the Secretary interpreted his remarks
as “challenging his good faith” and
accusing him of “presenting a false
picture to the nation.” What Gover-
nor Smith said was that the claim
made by Mr. Hoover and Mr. Mellon
that by economies practiced Mr.
, Coolidge had saved $2,000,000 a year
since the close of the war was not on-
ly absurd but actually false and he
proved the proposition by quoting the
records.
As a matter of fact it is of record
that following the close of the war |-
and the disbandment of an army of
nearly 4,000,000 men military and
other materials no longer needed by
the government were sold for $2,600,-
000,000 in cash. Since that more
than a billion dollars have been paid
into the treasury on loans extended
to foreign countries associated with
us in the war. It is equally certain
that the difference in the cost of gov-
ehnment on a war basis with an army
of 4,000,000 to feed, clothe and equip,
and one ona peace basis with
an army of less that 100,000 was sav-
ed which amounted to billions of dol-
lars. But the actual expenditures of
the Government have increased rather
than diminished during the period
covered by the Coolidge administra-
tion.
There have been economies under
the Coolidge administration and Gov-
ernor Smith frankly acknowledged the
fact in his Sedalia speech. Pins, pa-
per clips and pieces of pencils, have
been salvaged in some of the depart-
ments of the government and the or-
namental strifes on towels and mail
bags have been eliminated. A lot of
spoiled seal meat was sold recently
for use as bait by crab fishermen
for twenty dollars and the electric
light bill for the government build-
ings reduced a trifle. But notwith-
standing: these economies the expens-
es of e government increased
$2,000,000 in 1927 over those of 1926,
and all the savings would hardly pay
the expense of maintaining a body
guard for young Mr. Coolidge.
———Vice President Dawes, in his
New York speech the other evening,
simply echoed the over-worked state-
ment that Republican policies made
prosperity. The only thing he ever
originated was the “underhung pipe.”
Pinchot’s Offer to Speak Declined.
It is not altogether surprising that
the Republican National committee
has declined the offer of Gifford Pin-
chot to appear on the “stump” for
Hoover. The former Governor of
Pennsylvania is not what might be
called an impressive orator, though
in his homely way he presents im-
portant facts on a good many inter-
esting subjects. But heis not always
obedient to orders and if he takes the
notion will blurt out things that are
not helpful to the cause. His party
prejudices are deep seated, however,
and it may be taken for granted that
in addressing an audience he would do
the best he could. But suppose some
fellow in the audience would ask
him about Hoover's attitude on water
power ?
Governor Pinchot is earnest enough
at times but not quite sincere. He
did some fine things as Governor but
signally failed in emergencies. He
might easily have procured legisla-
tion that would have averted the
scandals of the 1926 primary and
general elections. But he fooled his
opportunities away in a selfish effort
to build up a personal machine with
Vare as one of the principal cogs, and
in the end lost out on that enterprise.
If he had taken up ballot reform and
electrical and water power control in
his first session of the Legislature
he would have won out on both prop-
ositions. If he had fulfilled his pre-
election pledges in the beginning of
his administration he would have had
the gang “eating out of his hand” at
the close.
He imagines that he is a reformer
but lacks the qualities of a crusader,
which is essential to success in a real
reform adventure. The Republican
managers understood him better than
he understands himself They know
that he despises Hoover and that he
knows that Hoover's pretenses on
prohibition and tariff are false and
fraudulent. They know what is likely
to happen when a bull gets into a
china shop and were afraid to let him
appear as a campaign speaker for the
party. They were taking some risk
in declining his services but felt there
might be greater harm in “letting him
loose” before an audience that might
provoke him to “tell the truth and
the whole truth.” ;
Our Position on the Amendments.
On November 6th the voters of Pennsylvania will have opportun-
ity of registering their approval of fourteen amendments that have
been proposed to be made to the constitution, which is the foundation
of all laws so far passed and all that may be passed in the future.
Inasmuch as changing the fundamental law of any organization of
society is a very serious thing and should never be done except after
careful study and mature deliberation the Commonwealth has gone to
great expense in advertising the proposed amendments so that all
might have time to read them and come to some definite conclusion as
to the merit of each. Notwithstanding the fact that they have been
published in some of the newspapers in every county of the State dur-
ing the last eleven weeks it is a moot question as to whether five per
cent. of the people who will go to the polls to vote on them in Novem-
ber have read one of them. a
Without comment on such possible indifference to the very essence
of the laws that shall govern us, or the haphazzard manner in which
most of us meet our civic duties we want to call your attention to the
fact that a majority of the votes cast at an election for an amendment
passes it.
In other words, if only one hundred voters in Pennsylvania mark
“yes” opposite all the amendments that are proposed they will carry
if only ninety-nine vote “No.” Thus it will be seen that it is possible
for a mere handful of people to put something into organic law of the
State or Nation that the vast majority might waken up after it is too
late to discover that it didn’t want at all.
There are many who think that the Eighteenth Amendment would
never have been written into the Constitution of the United States had
the electorate been awake to the effect that it would have. However
that may be we refer to the matter because friends and foes of it are
of one mind as to the futility of thought that it will ever be repealed.
When we make a mistake in the conduct of our personal affairs we suf-
fer the consequences alone and revise our procedure without the assent
of anyone else. But in governmental affairs millions of people are to
be dealt with and it is not so easy to remedy something that indifference
has given free rein.
As a matter of fact, every amendment on the cumbersome ballot that
will be handed voters in Pennsylvania next month is of more vital im-
portance to them than the squares in which they will be eager to mark
their preferences for county and State officers—aye, even more impor-
tant than the square in which they will have their chance to vote for a
President. 4
Political parties and their chosen apostles come and go but the
organic law goes on forever.
Inasmuch as the question of passing or defeating the proposed
amendments is not m partisan one we feel that no one can challenge
the sincerity of the position we take with regard to them because we
happen to be a Democratic newspaper,
We are opposed to all but one of the proposed amendments that
would authorize the issuance of bonds by the State. We recognize the
need of more adequate facilities for the unfortunates in our penal and
charitable institutions. We don’t underestimate the value of reforesta-
tion. This paper became very unpopular when it took its stand among
the very few in Pennsylvania. theta i
of and advocate the authorization of ‘the first fifty million dollars that
was proposed for good roads in Pennsylvania. We have always been
on the side of progress, even though it sometimes imposes a burden so
wearisome to carry that we get no joy out of bearing it.
For everyone of the amendments for which interest bearing bonds
are to follow we believe there is no need. No need, because we believe
the annual income of the State is ample to provide for all of the uses
to which they are to be put. The State of Pennsylvania has millions,
annually, to devote to its welfare work, its armories and parade
grounds, its reclamation of waste lands, good roads, its one institution
of higher education and every other cause for which these money rais-
Ing proposals are made, but an orgy of spending is on us and no one
seems to think of the day of reckoning.
Don’t be deceived by the idea that because you pay no direct tax
to the State that what you get from it costs you nothing. Every time
you drive up to a filling station you pay three cents tax on every gal-
lon of gas that goes into the tank. Every time you buy a ton of coal
or a bushel of lime you pay a few cents to the producing companies to
compensate them for the tax that is levied on them as corporations.
Every time you pay the premium on your insurance policy you pay
something to Pennsylvania for permitting your insurance companies to
do business within its confines. All this notion that we pay no State
tax is hokum—the very worst kind of deception. Everything costs
money and the aggregate value of these bonds at $138,000,000 will
cost you $238,000,000 before we get them paid off. Besides, who can
assure: us that every one of their beneficiaries won’t be back, two years
from now beseeching that we do it again.
In principle we have said that we are opposed to every one of the
money raising amendment proposals. We stand by that position.
But because Amendment No. 2 suggesting that $8,000,000 be raised
for the Pennsylvania State College bears a peculiar relation to the rest
of them we except it and advocate its passage. We believe, with
State Treasurer Lewis, that Pennsylvania has ample funds to take
proper care of the College but we think he will agree with us that
there is no chance of State College getting what she needs so long as
the Universities of Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh are leeching at the
funds the State has for distribution among the educational institutions
she has pledged her faith to support.
If the members of the House and the Senators from Philadelphia
and Allegheny counties would stop preying on what properly belongs
to The Pennsylvania State College then we would believe with Mr.
Lewis that there could be no need for the passing of Amendment No.
2, but since he can’t guarantee that we think he ought to come over to
our side and urge all of the Pennsylvania electorate to vote for it.
We are unqualifiedly for Amendment No. 18 which authorizes the
purchase of voting machines. We are for that because it has an op-
tional provision. It is so worded that a county is not-compelled to buy
and use machines unless it wants to. It merely makes legal the use of
machines in counties that are honest enough and frugal enough to in-
stall them. .
We are opposed to the proposal to tax Centre county for the main-
tenance of a circulating library. Unless we have been misinformed
the whole scheme is fathered by an association of book publishers. All
over the county today are scattered in the High schools fairly good
reference libraries and the inauguration of a supplementary book ped-
dling proposition means only more jobs for a lot of people who ought
to be producers instead of parasites. This amendment would prove
only the beginning of another means of fastening a bunch of political
“hacks” ‘on the tax payers of the county.
Amendment No. 6 is a meritorious one and should be supported,
but that ends the list of those we advocate.
Summing it all up we are in favor of Amendments 2, 6 and 13.
No’s 7, 8 and 14 only remotely affect the people of Centre county so
that they should be left for the determination of the voters of Phila-
delphia, Allegheny and other counties that they might directly affect.
All the rest we think are inimical to the best interests of the tax pay-
ers and for that reason we urge yon to vote “No” on them. Don’t pass
them up if you are opposed to them. They will be carried if those
who are opposed don’t take the trouble to vote their opposition.
We will vote “Yes” on Amendments 2, 6 and 13.
We will not vote on Amendments 7, 8 and 14.
We will vote “No” on Amendments 1,3,4,5,9,10 and 12, as well
as on that to levy an extra mill tax in Centre county to provide for
a traveling library.
We think you would be very well advised to do the same thing.
d the fore sight to see the value"
Chairman Work and the Fall-Sinclair ¥
Deal.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Cancellation of the Fall-Sinclair oil
contract, which he had renewed as
Secretary of the Interior, jolted from
| Chairman, the acrid reply: “I have no
| comment to make. Those things are
| past.
i about these oil leases.”
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
+ —Miss Luella Buarcus, 53, former school
| teacher of Irwin, was found asphyxiated
in her bedroom at Greensburg, on Mo: -
day. Two open gas jets were found, but
whether accidental or intentional could not
be determined.
—Twenty trainmen were overcome by
chlorine gas at the East Altoona round-
house of the Pennsylvania railroad on
Saturday. Four were removed to a hos-
pital for treatment. The men were pre-
paring trains for the day’s run when a
drum containing the gas burst. Emerg-
ency calls brought doctors and nurses to
! the roundhouse. Gas masks were donned
to enter the building. y
—*“A little vacation up in the mountains
may help her,” commented Judge Mae-
Dade, of Media, in passing sentence upon
Mrs. Vivian McDowell Page, who was
“Miss Mobile” in the 1926 Atlantic City
beauty pageant. Judge MacDade sentenced
her to the State Industrial Home for Wo-
i trial.
| Dr. Work, the Republican National |
People are tired of bearing |
men, at Muncy, Pa., after refusing a new
She was convicted ten days ago of
stealing a watch and cigar lighter, which
: were returned to the owner, William RE.
Turner, of Chester.
—Mrs. Frank Hoyt, of near Waterton
| Whatever may be said for his ideas ! on the road between Jonestown and Hunt-
‘of official rectitude and his abilities
. as a politician, the good doctor is not
{a sound diagnostician of p blic taste
.in this department of literature. We
{know of no record in recent political
, history that has been studied more at-
tentively, or with keener appreciation
of its significance, than that oleagin-
ous serial which opened with the
Tale of Teapot Dome and has just
Poss Swrisied with the Sequel of Salt
reek.
no small degree to those episodes
' contributed by Mr. Hoover’s campaign
manager himself. His procedure was
vital in the development of the plot—
; using that word in its literary sense.
He was called upon last January to
renew for an additional five years a
contract under which the Government
had been selling a vast output of oil
from its Salt Creek field below the
market price. He did so, upon being
' advised by the solicitor of the Depart-
ment that the buyer’s option was in-
vulnerable. :
Now, under ordinary circumstances
that might be excused as 4 mere act
of routine, having adequate legal en-
dorsement. But the fact is that the
conditions were abnormal! and Dr.
Work’s decision, far from being a
matter of casual routine, was taken
in the face of vehement protests that
it would continue an illegal diversion
of public funds.
He knew that the contract was con-
ferred by Albert B. Fall upon a com-
pany controlled by Harry F. Sinclair
and Robert W. Stewart—three of the
outstanding figures in the oil lease
scandals.
{ He knew that the renewal option
was an advantageous provision not
| offered to other bidders.
{He was aware that those excluded
| bidders were clamoring for a chance
| to buy the Governments oil at higher
| prices.
Jie Yay warmed tha jhe deal Soul
‘not stand a leg: § pass
Horny Gen-
“scrutiny of an honest A
; eral.
{ Yet while the persons involved and
the facts disclosed and the whole noi-
some record of oil lease corruption
made this a case that cried aloud for
+ vigilance, he refused to take counsel
with the Department of Justice, over-
‘rode all objections, and turned over
reore millions to the exploiters.
Now the Attorney General, forced
to act after more than seven months
. of delay, has ruled that the contract
was illegal from its inception, and
1
| that his fellow Cabinet officer promot-
ed a deal which was palpably invalid.
| Dr. Work deceives himself. Even
if the people had found topics more
entrancing than the old oil lease
cases, he has revived their flagging
interest even more effectually than
; he renewed the Fall-Sinclair contract.
| Good Business.
From the Harrisburg Telegraph.
State College is nothing if not prac-
tical. For years previous to the gen-
erous treatment accorded it by the
present administration it struggled
along under a heavy handicap, but
doing good work nevertheless.
For example, it originated and de-
veloped what is now known over the
world as “Pennsylvania 44 wheat.” |
The farmers who used this seed last
year received for their crop a sum of
$2,000,000 in excess of what they
would have received had they planted
the ordinary varieties.
| This is greater than the annual
State appropriation to the college for
all its work.
i And yet argriculture is only one
branch of the college’s activities.
| What might it not do to add to
' wealth and improved living conditions
in Pennsylvania if it had the vast
sums that many another State insti-
: tution of the kind receives as a mat-
. ter of course?
| Abolishing Fee System.
| From the Reading Times.
{ There's a ray—just a mere ray—
{of hope for the abolition of the
| iniquitous fee systen: showing on the
horizon.
| The State Salary Board will recom-
{ mend to the next Legislature that lo-
i cal governments be given the power
i to fix the salaries of their own offi-
i cials and employees.
i Unless there are strings tied to
this recommendation of which we
have not heard, and it is intended
i to cover county as well as city, that
: means that the commissioners of
| Berks could at one fell swoop put all
| the aldermen, justices of the peace
and constables on a salary and elim-
; inate forever the present practice of
' provoking and prolonging litigation
| for the sake of fees.
|
|
| ——The State employees were
| “maced” for $360,000 for the Repub-
lican campaign fund and the Governor
| practically “held the bag.”
———— ep en ms a——
——Governor Smith may not carry
Pennsylvania but it’s costing the Re-
publicans a lot of money to prevent
that result.
Moreover, its importance is due in |
‘ ington Mills, Columbia county, was in the
: garden of her home picking some toma-
toes when she heard a growl behind her
but paid no attention to it. A moment
or two later she heard both a growl and
a sniff and looked up to see a big black
bear in the garden and only a few feet .
from her. The bear remained a short time
and went across several fields towards
Jonestown mountain.
—Another industry has been added to
Lewistown. It is the sheet metal plant of
J. I. Thomas. The main building is 50
by 172 with three storage houses, all
concrete and steel construction. The shop
is known as an “all daylight shop” and
comprises 2500 square feet of wire-glass
and 16,000 feet of floor space. The plant
will be operated by electric power and
will. manufacture all kinds of sheet-
iron, brass and copper. The plant will
employ thirty-eight to forty men.
—Bears in the McKean county section
are becoming pestiferous. The latest
complaint comes from John Smatt, on
guard at the Kinzua forest fire tower near
Kane. 'Smatt is’ puzzling out a way to
catch the bears which nightly steal up
the tower stairs and rob his water bags.
The steel tower is more than sixty feet
high, but the bears climb almost to its
top via a spiral stairway. Carl Benson,
of Mt. Jewett, - game protector, is kept
busy settling claims of farmers in the
county whose sheep and bee hives are raid-
‘ed by bears.
—One hundred and two years of age,
and still in the best of health, able to
enjoy life, joke with visitors and even do
some housework—that is the case of Mrs.
Hannah Finnefrock, of near Clarion. Mrs.
Finnefrock goes up and down stairs with-
out assistance. She reads large print with-
out glasses. She is troubled a little with
her hearing, but aside from that she gets
about very much as persons who are only
65 or 70. Mrs. Finnefrock knows by actual
first-hand experience about spinning flax
and wool, and all those home tasks that
are less familiar nowadays.
~—A blow. at. the practice of young men
going hatless was aimed by district No.
9 of the United Mine Workers, at Miners-
ville, last Friday, but the miners shied
away from a commitment on girls’ short
skirts. Delegates attending the biennial
convention adopted a resolution favoring
the wearing of hats by young and old,
to build up what was called “a badly
bent” hat-making industry. Then a dele-
gate asked the convention's stand on the
short skirt, alleging that its abbreviated
length had put a crimp in the normal out-
put of the nation’s mills. No action was
taken.
—Federal authorities have been asked
to assist in rounding up a gang of coun-
terfeiters who passed at least a dozen $20
bad bills in Uniontown. One theatre got
three another one and bowling alleys,
poolrooms and large stores the others.
The bills were a poor imitation of Unit-
ed States currency. The paper was infer-
ior in weight and color and the silk
threads were lacking. They were accept-
ed in the rush hours of shopping and not
discovered until a general warning had
been issued. . Several of the victims re-
member a large well-dressed man who
presented the counterfeits. .
—Poising as an officer of the United States
States Treasury Department, Joseph Kor h
prominent Coal township, Northumberland
county, resident, has been securing hun-
dreds of dollars from dealers in illicit
merchandise during the past twelve
months, according to a charge made by
the government and an indictment found
against him in federal court at Scranton
by the grand jury. TU. S. Marshal John
H. Glass, Shamokin, served the warrant
for Korbicz’'s arrest after receiving com-
plaints. He will be taken before the
Northumberland county court for trial
during the October session.
—No clues to the identity of the robber
or robbers who cracked the safe in the
office of the City flourishing mills, at
Muncy, heave been obtained, according to
county detective Robert B. Burns, who is
working on the case with State police
officers. Safe-blowers gained entrance into
the building by cutting a window in the
boiler room. They made their way into
the combination, inserted the explosive
and thus forced the door. On the ground
were found coupling pins, files, and
an ax, taken from the Reading railroad
station. The robbers obtained about $60.
They left untouched checks and notes to
the total of about $1500 and between $12,-
000 and $16,000 in securities.
—President Judge Thomas F. Bailey,
of the Mifflin county courts, has taken the
papers, following argument, for a deci-
sion later in the case of Mrs. Helen Me-
Cartney, Mrs. Thomas O. Williamson and
Albert Thompson, the latler 15 years old,
and represented by the Harrisburg Trust
company as guardian. The Trust com-
pany has refused to enter into partner-
ship and operate the hoisery mills of the
late Andrew Thompson who died Novem-
ber 27, 1927, which have been idle since
his death. Thompson willed his real es-
tate, machinery and good will of the mills
to the three providing they would enter
a partnership and operate under the old
firm name within a year after his death.
It would be necessary that the five heirs
under the trust fund lend $30,000 to the
mills in order to operate and the boy is
the only one interested in both funds. The
guardian holds the partnership would not
| be for their ward's best interest.