INK SLINGS. Demoreaic Hts — Senator Salus sponsoring re- | form legislation sounds like “Satan reproving sin.” —Men will be chivalrous. Down in Lousiana the official hangman | took Mrs. Ada Bonner Lebouef to the gallows before he slipped the noose around the neck of her paramour. | “Ladies and children first.” —Frank Rorth died in Detroit from idiopathis aplastic anemia. Frank ought to be happy that he is | rid of that disease. Think of the trouble he would have had telling his friends what was wrong with him had he survived. —In New York, on Saturday, Matthew Cantwell was held on sus- picion of having been implicated in the $350,000 Maufoussin jewel rob- ‘bery. Matthew became highly indig- nant—upon his arrest. He said he ‘was “a law abiding liquor salesman” and couldn’t understand why the po- lice wouldn’t let him go in the face of such indisputable evidence of re- .spectability. —Drunkenness in Atlanta, Ga., has increased three hundred per cent. since 1919. But that doesn’t prove that Prohibition is a failure. It only means that so far as the liquor ques- tion is concerned the South is the most hypocritical part of the coun- try. They went dry down there long before Mr. Volstead suggested that all the States follow suit. It was «class legislation on their part then and its class legislation now. —The borough of Duncannon is thinking of selling its municipal lighting plant to a corporation that has offered a very handsome st m for the plant and the franchise. At present they have cheap light there and, besides, the plant makes enough money to keep the streets of the town in repair. Our advice to Dun- cannonites is to hold onto their light. ing service until they are sure that the corporation that wants to buy them out will be supplying cheap light twenty years from now and contributing a little toward the main- tenance of the streets. —After reading Will Truckenmil- ler’s contribution to the Watchman’s “hexing” stories, which appears on page four of this issue, we have come to the conclusion “that there are a few holes in this “hex” stuff after all. According to his story Fanny was so perfectly “hexed” that she had “sleepless nights.” We would have believed every word of Will's ‘wierd tale had we not picked it up. just after we had read the proof of a kidney remedy advertisement now running in the Watchman. It says that everybody is liable to have “sleepless nights” and when you get them the only remedy to take is Lithiated Buchu. Lithiated Buchu sounds as mysterious to us as “hex” but maybe if Fanny had taken that her “sleepless nights” would have been ended before her “pap” bored the hole in the front step. —The worm has turned at last. Up in Boston, on Sunday, a gentle- man tipped the police off to the fact that his wife was sitting in at a pok- er party at a neighbor's house and the place was raided. Remembering well wives who nagged and bedevil- «ed their husbands because they took an occasional night out in the pre- Volstead days and helped bring about a condition in which there is no place for the male of the species to goat night but home, we think a monu- ment ought to be erected to this brother. Women do as they please. It is not so with men any more, be- cause the women saw to it that the thing that a lot of men pleased most to do was taken away from them. ‘We're for an amendment to the Con- stitution that would reduce gossip at bridge-luncheons, afternoon teas and sewing circles to less than one half of one per cent. of the conversation indulged in thereat. —Bellefonte is in a delemma. In a h——of a dilemma, we should say. Every property owner and every tax payer has some fat in this fire. The town is built on hills and hills are hard to navigate in slippery weather. Try as one will his or her sidewalks can’t always be free of ice or snow and, yet, if someone falls and injures him or herself on a sidewalk in town the property, under certain condi- tions, is liable for the physical dam- ages suffered by the faller. What are we going to do about it? Well—we can’t dig down the hills and make the pavements level, thereby reducing the hazard. We can’t stop water from seeping out of somewhere and congealing over night. We can't change nature so that rain won't freeze as it falls sometimes. In fact it is utterly impossible to keep side- walks here or anywhere else in such a condition that those who pass over them are safe from falling.. A ban- ana peel, a gob of spit, a bit of oil are just as much of a menace, some- times, as ice; and what property owner can prevent the thoughtless pedestrian from depositing either on his sidewalk. Really, it is a serious matter and if property is to be held liable for damages everytime some- one falls on it we had better have council pass an ordinance making it unlawful to walk on the sidewalks of ‘Bellefonte. STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. An Important Question. The Supreme court of the United States will, in the near future, ac- cording to information from Wash- ington, decide a question which has long been in doubt and recently has become one of considerable import- ance. Section 7 of Article 1 of the constitution provides that all bills passed by both branches shall be presented to the President for ap- proval and adds: “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, prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.” The problem is the interpretation of the dissolution of the first session of a Congress. The life of a Congress is two years and it is divided into two or more ses- sions. The Seventieth Congress, for example, began on the 4th of March. 1927, and will end on the 4th of March this year. The first session convened on the first Monday in De- cembher, 1927, and dissolved in June, 1928. The second session began on the first Monday in December, 1928, and will end, by limitation, on the 4th of March next. The custom has been to regard the close of the first session as an adjournment and treat bills remaining in the hands of the President as dead. But bills on the calendar at the end of the first ses- sion have been held to be alive and permitted to hold their places at the opening of the second or subsequent sessions of the same Congress. The promised decision of the Su- preme court acquires significance be- cause of the effect it will have on the Muscles Shoals bill enacted and pre- sented to the President shortly be- fore the end of the first session of the present Congress and held with- out approval or veto until after the adjournment. Senator Norris, author of the bill, contends that the dissolu- tion in June was simply a recess and that the adjournment contemplated by the provision of the constitution is:that which eccurs at the end of the term. This view is concurred in by the Judiciary committee of the House of Representatives, and if the Su- preme court affirms it the apparent victory of the power trust in the Muscles Shoals affair will wither like dead sea fruit. It would be a splen- did consummation. — Poison gas has victories in peace as well as war, according to the Army Chemical Warfare Service. mmm ee — Paper Ships Not Wanted. Senator Pat Harrison, of Missis- sippi, may not have been very “wide of the mark” when he declared, dur- ing an argument in the Senate the other day, that the real influence be- hind the pending cruiser bill is the steel corporations of the . country. “This provision,” he said, referring to the section requiring the building of fifteen ships within a period of three years, “will help the Bethlehem Steel corporation and other steel companies. It will require more steel and add to their profits.” He might have added that the Republican party owes a good deal to the steel cor- porations, and the custom of the leaders of that party is to discharge such obligations by enacting legisla- | tion of that sort. The President and the President- elect are openly opposed to such a re- quirement and the religious organiza- tions, which have contributed largely to Republican victories in recent years are actively in opposition to it. President Coolidge may be influenced in his attitude on the subject by an ambition to vest larger powers in the executive department of the govern- ment. He is inordinately fond of authority and it is suspected that Mr. Hoover is of the same mind. But religious bodies and the pacifists gen- erally are moved by higher impulses. They sincerely believe that the pro- posed increase of naval strength im- plies preparation for war with some- body and is necessarily provocative of war. But Senator Harrison is not 0 closely in touch with public senti- ment in his statement “that the con- struction programme should be plac- ed in the hands of the incoming Pres- ident ‘as a weapon of diplomacy’ to force other nations with respect to further disarmament.” That would be equivalent to assuming the attitude of a national bully, which is anything but an attractive figure in diplomatic activities. A vast majority of the people of the United States are op- posed to war and in favor of perma- nent peace, but they are not impressed with the efficiency of a navy compos- ed of paper ships, worthless for all purposes except as scare-crows as used by farmers in the corn field. They want the real thing or nothing. Hoover's Plan of Abolishing Poverty. According to current gossip in Washington President-elect Hoover will ask Congress, to be assembled in extra session in April, “to lay the foundation for the $3,000,000,000 re- serve credit to be available for relief of unemployment in times of indus- trial depression.” The method of ac- cumulating this considerable sum of money is left to conjecture, but Gov- ernor Brewster, of Maine, who is sponsor for the enterprise assures the public that it will not be hoarded up in the federal treasury to be drawn upon at the discretion of the Presi- dent. Neither is it to be accomplish- ed entirely by the federal govern- ment nor committed to the President “to be expended whenever and how- ever he may choose.” On the contrary the fund is to con- sist, not of money, but to assume the form of a “reserve credit,” whatever that may be. Both Mr. Hoover and Governor Brewster realize that “ty- ing up the finances of the country during a period of business activity” would be “economically unsound,” that operating exclusively through the federal government would make for ‘centralization of au- thority at Washington” and that committing the administration of the fund to the President might result in “an arbitrary exercise of power,” which could be used and abused “for political ends,” an idea intolerable to the Governor of a State in which a combination of cunning and thrift in- vented and marketed wooden nut- megs. | The purpose of the enterprise is admirable. It is to provide employ- ment for men out of work by erect- ing public buildings and constructing other public works wherever and whenever “there is an unemployment | crisis in sight.” We used to joyfully | sing “Uncle Sam is rich enough to buy us all a farm,” and it is certain i that his credit is ample to build as | many houses as he wants. But cred- . it will not endure forever unless there 'is money available to meet obliga- tions as they become due and the $3, 000,000,000 “reserve credit” would . necesarily, sooner or later, require an equivalent in hard cash to be drawn from the taxpayers of the country in the form of levies of one kind or an- other. resem pene emee. ——Joe Grundy is no longer satis- fied with running the Pennsylvania Legislature. But in undertaking to : control Congress he may be ‘taking iin too much territory.” meester ener sarees. Pinchot Arraigns the Power Trust. Former Governor Pinchot makes a strong case against the Power trust in a pamphlet he has recently issued, entitled “The Power Monopoly, Its | Makeup and Its Menace.” He states | that out of 4362 power corporations .in the United States on June 30, 1927, {only eighty-five were entirely inde- , pendent. Of the 4196 operating pow- er companies at the time, 3108 “were | controlled by forty-one great holding companies” which controlled more i than eighty-two per cent. of all the i electrical power generated in the ! United States,” and “nearly eighty- | three per cent. of all our people de- { pended upon them for electrical en- ergy.” This is certainly a very near | approach to complete monopoly. But the ties that bind these inter- {ests to a common purpose is more ‘ obvious than those figures would im- | ply, according to Mr. Pinchot’s pam- phlet. “Eight of the forty-one pow- er giants,” he says, “are under con- trol of the General Electric interests | seven under control of the Insull in- , terests, four under Morgan, two un- der Mellon, one under Byllesby and ,one under Doherty control.” Thus, !he continues, “twenty-three of the | forty-one are power giants. But that is not all. Twelve more are under | the joint control of two or more of | the six interests. That leaves only six of the forty-one power giants | which are not yet known to be con- trolled by the six great power com- | binations. “The history of frenzied j finance reveals no more complete tig- \ up.” ” But what right has Gifford Pin- ! chot to come forward with a belated ‘indictment of what he inferentially denounces as a “gang of thieves?” Does he expect to be able to retain a reputation for civic righteousness by . helping to build up a criminal con- spiracy and then condemning it? . That has been his practice for years {and has “gone over.” It has fooled ,a good many people a good many | times but it won't work forever. In supporting Herbert Hoover for Presi- i dent last fall he was not only giving important but essential aid to the ‘Power trust but “was sinning in the light of knowledge.’ He was helping to put Muscle Shoals and the Bould- ier dam in the hands of the trust, - which will be its greatest acquisition. Curious Facts on Prohibition. The refusal of the House of Rep- resentatives in Washington to concur in the Senate amendment of the De- ficiency Supply bill appropriating $24,000,000, to be used by the incom- ing President, at his discretion, for dry enforcement, is more a victory for Secretary Mellon than for either the wets or drys in and out of Con: gress. Mr. Mellon is opposed to any new or drastic measures along that line for reasons which he has not re- vealed. His anxiety to end his serv- ice as Secretary of the Treasury in the Coolidge administration with a creditable balance of accounts mady be the influencing cause of his atti- tude. But a good many people be- lieve that he is not in sympathy with prohibition at all. Some weeks ago the head of the prohibition organization testified be- fore a Congressional committee that it would require $400,00,000 annually for some years to make enforcement effective. In pursuance of that es- timate and information Senator Bruce, of Maryland, offered an amendment to a then pending bill ap- propriating $300,000,000 in addition to the sums previously appropriated which caused consternation among the organized Prohibitionists and promptly brought them into alliance, with Mr. Mellon in opposition. Sub- sequently the Prohibitionists divided on the question and on motion of Sehn- ator Harris, of Georgia, the $24,000,- 000 proposition was submitted, which now seems likely to fail. In eight years since the Volstead law has been on the statute book $250,000,000 has been spent in trying to enforce it, 483,474 arrests have been made, 269,584 persons have been jailed, 38,087 automobiles have been seized, 135 offenders and fifty-four officers have been killed and accord- ing to Secretary Mellon ‘there are now 21,000 liquor cases pending in the federal courts and causing con- gestion, with no relief in sight.” This record is substantial proof that the existing system is not successful and Ie arhinde. of Mr. Mellon and the ac- on the Harris amendment indicate an unwillingness to try another system which the appropriation would have made possible. | ——1If Mr. Pinchot had issued his pamphlet on the menace of the Pow- er trust before the election it would have done more good for the coun- try and reflected greater credit om Hine St ———— Groundhog Saw Shadow, Weather Becomes Colder. | Luther Rider, of Gatesburg, was in Bellefonte on Saturday morning, and scouted the idea that the groundhog has anything to do with the weath- er, but if he has or if he hasn't, he had a chance to see his shadow if he came out ‘at the right time of day, on Saturday, and within forty-eight hours, or to be exact, on Monday morning, zero weather prevailed. i Mr. Rider, who is a young farmer, avers that the groundhog has no set date for emerging from his bur- | row in the earth and gave as proof { the fact that after the fall of snow | two weeks ago he saw the tracks of one of the animals where it had been , meandering back and forth as if in , search of food. And he knows they wera the tracks of a groundhog be- { cause in January, 1928, he trailed a : similar track through a deep snow to ia hole in the ground. And curious to find out just what kind of an ani- mal it was that made the tracks he worked half a day digging it out and i found a groundhog. It was nice and | fat and made a splendid roast. ——The big dividend of the Stand- ard Oil company of Indiana suggests the idea that Colonel Stewart pur- poses to pay his campaign expenses with other people’s money. ——Public audits are expensive at about half a million dollars a piece, but Governor Fisher they are worth the price. sr ——Auditor General Martin admits there are a good many gas tax de- linquents but he is not willing to re- veal their names. ee ——The “new line-up” of Philadel- phia politicians may be a tough bunch but it couldn’t be as bad as the Vare bandits. Sie anf tian ——When Commissioner Holmes, of Philadelphia, meets Sheriff Cun- ningham in rivalry, “then comes the tug of war.” ——The vote on the cruiser bill clearly shows that Congress expects to get Coolidge off its hand in the near future. oft of the: House: of Representatives BELLEFONTE. PA.. FEBRUARY S. 1929. | NO. 6. A Political Dry Raid Fails. From the Philadelphia Record. With one mighty kick the House of Representatives hoisted the $24,000,- 000 prohibition enforcement appro- priation out of the game. It was time. Ever since the appro- priation was moved the proposal has been a political football at which ev- eryone had a kick. All the rules were forgotten. Fanatical drys lined up with the most devout wets and jumped on the prostrate form of F. Scott McBride, head of the Anti-Saloon League, who backed the appropriation. Men who keep the pictures of Coolidge and Mellon at their bedsides told their heroes where they could go when it was announced that the Administra- tion opposed the appropriation. It was a wonderful melee in which the bitterest enemies were found fight- ing side by side, only pausing in the battle long enough to take occasional swipes at each other. The proposal was ridiculous in the first place. Adding $24,000,000 to the $13,000,000 already voted for enforce- ment would only be pouring that much more down the rathole. Com- missioner Doran, who if anyone should know, states that $300,000,000 is needed for complete enforcement anda the best engineer in the world cannot build a $300,000,000 dam with $37,000,000. The proposal now goes to confer- ence with the House managers in- structed to vote against it. It should be promptly killed there. Revival of the unseemly and discreditable scheme would be a national scandal. mete pel eet. Fourth Offenders. From the Pittsburgh Press. Legislation suggested by the Penn- sylvania Crimes Commission bears the stamp of common sense. En- tirely suited to the end sought, yet lacking any tinge of repressive sen- sationalism, is the proposal for deal- ing with habitual offenders against the law. In New York and Michigan, to cite two instances, the fourth conviction of a felony makes the imposition of life sentence mandatory = upon the courts. This denial of judicial dis- cretion in some instances has result- ed in actual injustice. » The gunman, the thug, the crimi- nal who uses forte in his operations, is a menace to society who must be dealt with summarily and sufficient- ly. Yet it is impossible to draw a straight line and say flatly that all who cross it four times shall spend the remainder of their lives in prison. The proposed Pennsylvania law furnishes the courts and prosecuting officers ample means of dealing with crime. If the record of the offender warrants, he may be permanently in- carcerated upon a fourth conviction. If there are mitigating circum- stances, if his offense is not held in sufficient social condemnation, the punishment may be less. That is fair, both to society and the criminal class. remnant An “Old Fogy” at 25. From the American Magazine. | Business statistics show that the average American man is an “old fogy” at 25 years of age. By that . .age he has acquired the little stock .enough to make him a living. Hence- is persuaded of ideas and practices which are forth. he becomes: purely a creature of habit, his mind ‘closed tight against new ideas. These facts:are brought forward as pointing out the importance of keeping the finer parts of the brain active through regular exercise, and of jarring oneself forcibly out of ruts by systematic and violent disturbance of routine. Professor William James, the psychologist, is quoted as advis- ing: “Once in every so often we ought to clean out our desks—and what a useless accumulation of things we find when we do it—turn the desk at an angle of 180 degrees and look at a different wall or out of a dif- ferent window, and get a new light on our daily affairs. If it is ous-custom to go to bed every night at 9 o'clock, then we should stay up occasionally all night and see the city, and our fellow men, under the stars and the arc lamps. If we lunch every day at the same place, and with the same group, let us make it a rule atleast once a week to lunch elsewhere and talk with and listen to different peo- ple.” e——————— fy —————— Attorney General a Busy Man. From the Harrisburg Telegraph. Cyrus BE. Woods has dropped into the business of the Attorney Gener- al’'s Department as easily as though he had been there the past few years. Judge Baldridge never did care very much for the duties of the depart- ment, but Mr. Woods is eating them up like a freight engine eats up coal on the up grade. And incidentally he already has quite a string of cars to his train. His coming to the Cap- itol has added to the Governor's ad- visers not only a keen legal mind, but a man who knows his way about be- hind the political screens as few do. This makes him a very valuable addi- tion to the Executive staff in the midst of such a legislative session as is now in progress and quite a lot of knotty little problems are finding thiols way to the department for solu- ion. SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE. | ~The Milton branch of the American i Car and Foundry company has received | orders for 700 oil tank cars of standard i railroad size. It is the largest order re- ! ceived in five vears, and will mean an all- . winter's work. | : , —Practically every small moveable ar- | ticle was stolen from the home of J. W. i Applegate, of Bradford, last Wednesday { night or early Thursday morning. The i thieves entered through a rear door and took away the radio, silverware, lamps, ; bed clothing, personal attire and canned ! fruit. The Applegate family is spending the winter in Florida. | —Police Captain Albert C. Miller, of | Allentown, head of the Fraternal Order of | Police of the United States of America, was sued for $25,000 for breach of prom- ise by Miss Marie Schleicher. Miller, who is six feet tall and weighs 300 pounds, the fair plaintiff alleges, ‘‘cried like a baby on her shoulder,” married another woman, owes her money and wrote 200 love letters. —A live lizard reported to have been found encased in a large rock by a work- man digging a grave in a cemetery is to be sent to State College for examination by naturalists. The worker split the rock with his pick, liberating the lizard, which at first was dormant but later showed signs of life. The man said there was no crack or crevice in the stone through which the lizard might have crawled into the rock. —Miss Inez Cole, 30, of Macedonia, near Towanda, was found on Saturday night in a ravine into which she had strayed when she kecame lost last Thursday night, after a visit to friends living on Tip Top moun- tain. One foot was frozen and physicians believe, it may have to be amputated, while the woman is also threatened with pneu- monia. She was found when persons pas- sing near the ravine were attracted by her screams. —Hiram Swank’s Sons, Inc., of Johns- town, have filed a complaint with the Public Service Commission against four railroads, alleging that an unjust, un- reasonable and discriminatory rate is charged for the transportation of fire brick to eastern Pennsylvania points. The railroads named in the complaint are the Pennsylvania, Reading, New York Central and Cherry Tree and Dixonville Railroad company. : —Because John S. McQuinn, masseur, thought it was sheer waste to use alcohol on his patients, he is in the Lancaster county jail serving fifteen days for intoxi- cation. McQuinn was on the job at St. Joseph’s hospital for a week. The second day, hospital attendants told police, Mec- Quinn became intoxicated. He stayed - that way all the rest of the week. Hospi-- tal officials investigated and found that patients were being rubbed with cold wat- er while McQuinn was using the alcohol himself. . —F. E. Bush, 96, reputed to be the old- est postmaster in’ the United States, died Friday at his home at Standing Stone, Bradford county. He had been postmas- ter there since 1875 and a year ago was commended by Postmaster General New as the oldest postmaster in the Nation. He. settled in Standing Stone in 1863 when p0 years old and opened a general store. He was the first station master in his community and rode -on the first train run between Wilkes-Barre and Waverly, N. Y., over the Lehigh Valley Railroad. —John M. Hoffman and Frank Hoffman, of Tyrone, have purchased the D. P. Min- ick ice cream factory, at Lancaster, and the Twin Spring creamery at Milnor, near there, together with all real estate of the two business concerns. The business will be incorporated, the present factory re- modeled and a retail milk and dairy pro- ducts department established. The Hoff- mans are sons of William E. Hoffman, Tyrone, one of the pioneers in the ice cream business, who established his busi- ness in Tyrone in 1891, which, under the name of W. E. Hoffman Company, has es- tablished factories in Tyrone, Philipsburg, Barnesboro, Altoona and Indiana. The Hoffman business is now part of the National Dairy Products Corporation. —A summons in a damage suit for $2,- 000 against William C. Frutiger, cigar manufacturer, of Red Lion, York county. has been forwarded to sheriff J. H. Menges for service by the Philadelphia common pleas court. The suit is based on a supposedly trick cigar. The pros- ecutor is Samuel Tuftes, of Philadelphia, who alleges ‘that on December 31, he " smoked 4 cigar manufactured by the Red Lion man. The cigar contained a large nail and other substances that he had no . knowledge of and which the manufactur- er should have known were in the pro- duct. While smoking the cigar it ex- ploded, resulting in burns to Juftes' lips, nose, mouth and other parts of his face. He claims that he suffered a nervous shock for which he claims the damages —Following a three months’ silence, from the time they struck and fatally injured Theodore Foley, an Osceola Mills resident, on the night of October 27th., while walking along the Houtzdale-Osceo- la highway, Irvin Kephart, 23, and Clar- ence Kephart, 15, cousins, both residents , of Ashley, Clearfleld county, confessed full responsibility for the fatality, last week, when confronted with evidence gathered by members of the state high- way patrol. The youths were placed in the Clearfield county jail, where they will be held to face a charge of involuntary manslaughter. The two Kepharts, on learning of Foley's death, agreed to main- tain a close silence in regard to their own part in the fatality and maintained that pact until the time evidence was presented which led to their arrest. —Neighbors and friends who had long given Mrs. Sarah Brey, 71, of Pennsburg. potatoes and other necessities of life, were surprised when Horace H. Smith, jusitce of the peace, opened her small safe last week, after her death and found $8,- 354 in currency and $209 in gold in an old tobacco pouch. Old pocketbooks contained currency that had become mouldy with age. One bundle of $20 bills, totaling $2500, bore the Farmers’ National bank brand dated 1914. She had obtained the money from the bank as part of the in- hertiance from the estate of her hus- band, Milton Brey, who at the time of his death ‘held the Pennsylvania State marksmanship championship. Several $500 notes were found. There were four $100 bills and the balance was in $50 bills. Timé had blotted out the signature of bank officials on some of the paper money. pars. Brey's will was: also found in the : safe, |