—The older we grow the more we
become convinced that the most jobs
one has to do are far harder to start
than they are to finish.
——Statistics reveal that mora
than three men commit suicide to
one woman, but there is no hint as
to the cause of the discrepancy.
—And we told you last week that
the beans and tomatoes were safe.
‘Either you must admit that we know
something about the weather or that
‘we're a darned good guesser.
—MTr. Tunney’s wife’s illness and
Col. Lindbergh's bride’s trous-
Seau are matters that the average
reader is far more interested in than
‘what is going on in Congress. That
is the reason the two ladies get as
much front page space in the metro-
politan papers as the statesmen who
are sweltering in Washington in an ef-
fort to discover a governmental get-
rich-quick scheme for everybody.
—When Nature is thinking about
something to do we can’t understand
why it can’t think of anything else
but rain. Habit is an awful thing,
however. Time was when every
breakfast was a surprise to us. Now
we know that if the good Lord spares
us to totter down the stairs in the
morning of May thirty-first, nineteen
forty-nine, we're going to see bacon
and eggs staring us in the face.
—The erection of a prisoner’s. cage
in the Centre county court house is
epochal. The date should be recorded
in the archives. Because in this day
and generation, when some of us, at
least, believe the world is getting
better and there are ten law enforce-
ment officers to where there used to
be one, future generations might
want to know when and why a bull-
pen had to be built in the Centre-
county temple of justice.
—From what we get out of the
stories of those Fort Worth fliers
who stayed in the air continuously for
one hundred and seventy-two hours
the greatest hardship they endured
was the growing of a week’s beard.
Times and customs certainly have
changed. When we were the age of
those birds we would have regarded
a month in the air as the greatest joy
ride ever if we could have grown side
burns long enough for anybody to see
across the table on which we prob-
1bly would have been playing casino
1S soon as we got down.
——We understand that some resi-
lents of the northern section of the
own are not overly enthusiastic for
he proposed stadium on the High
ichool grounds. Already they prob-
\bly fancy their afternoon siesta
listurbed by the rousing cheers
f excited rooters at the ‘var-
ed athletic contests that would be
eld there. It would be annoying at
imes, but we are wondering what
hese good citizens would be saying
f the proposed stadium were to have
een planned for the Bishop street
chool grounds. We think we do
hem no great injustice when we
urmise that they would be saying:
Vhy, that’s a fine idea, let’s built it
t once.
—The boom for Justice Kephart, of
he Supreme court, for Governor is
eing injected with fresh wind late-
7. He was a much talked of possi-
ility last fall, but it died out so sud-
enly that it seemed like a mere flash
1 the pan. The recent revival is
robably more political strategy than
anything else, for it is not likely that
1¢ Republican organization will se-
ct two successive gubernatorial
indidates from the section west of
1e Allegheny mountains. The Kep-
art brothers have ‘been lucky,
ough, and there is no telling what
ight happen. If we had a political
yhtning rod up anywhere near one
ith a Kephart tag on it we'd cer-
inly move ours a bit. Because we
member how the bosses laughed
hen the Justice announced that he
as a candidate for the Superior
wurt bench. He came out of obscur-
y and fooled them then. And he’s
rtainly sitting much prettier now.
—A bumper wheat crop is predict-
. for the southwest. If the predic-
mn comes true mark our words:
spublican papers all over the coun-
y will be trying to make the world
lieve that that was really what Mr.
yover had in mind when he promis-
to help the farmers out of their
le. Between us, this thing of any
litical party claiming it can legis-
.e prosperity for a country lke
rs is the veriest rot. Wheat is
der a dollar a bushel now and
1y: Just because there is more
1eat in the world than it can con-
me. What price are we to expect
xt spring if bumper crops should
harvested this season? More
eat simply means cheaper wheat
d the inexorable law of supply and
mand fixes the price—not the
esident, the Senators and Con-
3ssmen in Washington. They
ght do it, of course, by favoritism
legislation such as is shown cer-
n tariff pampered industries, but
o wrongs don’t make a right so
are not for any imagined farm
icf legislation. None of it is eco-
mically sound and the sooner man-
ctures, agriculture, high school
1 college graduates are brought to
lerstand that eventually they must
nd on their own initiative and ap-
ation the quicker this country
1 get down to bedrock and start
ding right.
macril
y
a
=) ¢
» ES
’
ately,
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
BELLEFONTE. PA.. MAY 31. 1929.
NO. 22.
Governor John S. Fisher's Spending ' Senator LaFollette Defies the Machine Congressman Beck’s Effective Speech
Proclivities.
The late Mr. Barnum believed that
the public likes to be humbugged
and in obedience to that opinion he
painted elephants and imposed other
frauds upon credulous people to their
delight and his advantage. Gover-
nor Fisher seems to have adopted the
idea that the people of Pennsylvania
like to be taxed. At least the rec-
ords indicate that he has set out to
make his administration of the State
government the most expensive in
the history of the Commonwealth,
and in order to realize this curious
ambition he forced an increase
of the gasoline taxand in so
far as he was able prevented the
decrease of taxes along other lines
which might have been achieved
without impairment of public inter-
ests. :
There is more or less glory in
magnificence, and men have acquir-
ed distinction by leading in the di-
rection of splendor. All of Napol-
eon’s fame does not rest on his mili-
tary triumphs. His raising the city
of Paris to the highest standard of
construction in buildings and high-
ways contributed materially to his
renown. Justly or otherwise eulogies
have been pronounced and monu-
ments erected to the late Boss Shep-
herd, of Washington, who plunged
the community in debt to make the
National capital a city of exceptional
beauty. Possibly Governor Fisher
imagines that by spending money
profligately in Harrisburg and gen-
erously in the construction of high-
ways he will achieve a distinction
impossible to attain otherwise.
According to published statements
the Governor has planned to inaugu-
rate a building programme for the
last period of his
which will make all previous
disbursements along that line look
like “petty cash.” The cost of the
new capitol was considerable, but
the estimates for the proposed edu-
cational building, the farm show
building and other constructural en-
terpris 'n and about Harrisburg
‘will € ed that total. "The high-
way construction programme is
equally liberal and comprehensive.
But the policy may be wiser than it
seems. It will give employment to
a large number of men and women
and may mark an otherwise unim-
portant figure as a “Magnificent
Magistrate.”
Denial That Was Unnecessary.
There was no occasion for Secre-
tary Mellon to deny a rumor that
he intended to resign unless his pur-
pose was to prove his erudition in a |
quotation from Ben Franklin. Uncle
Andy likes his job too well to relin-
quish it voluntarily. It givés him
immense power in the financial world
and affords extraordinary opportun-
ity to multiply his vast fortune. The
labor in the office is not onerous nor
the duties exacting. No “time clock”
is set against him when he comes to
work or leaves his desk. In his com-
fortable and splendidly equipped of-
fice he is “monarch of all he surveys”
and practically responsible to nobody,
for neither the President nor Con-
gress ventures to interfere with a
near billionaire.
Uncle Andy’s comparatively un-
eventful life previous to his appoint-
ment to head the Treasury Depart-
ment was devoted to money-making,
and he gave to the work such assi-
duity that it became to him botha
pleasure and a passion. He rarely
took a vacation and never wasted a
chance to make profit. But in all
his years of constant application as
“laborer in the vineyard” of com-
merce he never succeeded in ‘gar-
nering” the shekels as fully as since
that eventful turn in his activities.
He saved a million dollars by a
change in the income tax schedule
which he never could have procured
as a private citizen. But as Secre-
tary of the Treasury he had little-
trouble in bending Congress to his
purpose.
Then the title and occupancy of
the office opened up other opportun-
ities for him to add to his financial
resources. He was able to get a tax
refund of several hundred thousand
dollars to the Gulf Oil company,
ninety per cent. of which percolated
into his family fund, and by similar
process an almost equal amount was
saved by the Pressed Steel Car com-
pany, sixty per cent. of which stock
is owned by himself and his family.
These sums mount high in the scale
of profit-taking and exercise a pow-
erful influence in attaching Uncle
Andy to the office which made them
possible. For these reasons there
was no necessity for him to deny any
intention to resign. While his pear-
ty is in power you couldn't lift him
out with a derrick.
—Read the Watchman for the news
administration |
|
|
Attachment.
Young Bob LaFollette, Senator in
Congress for Wisconsin, is really and
truly “a chip off the old block.”
Ever since the confirmation of the
appointment of Lameduck Lenroot to
the office of judge of the court of
customs appeals there has been a
veil of mystery hanging over the af-
fair. Contrary to custom the vote
was taken in secret and under the
rules Senators are obliged to main-
tain the secrecy after the event. In
some way the correspondent of one
of the press associations obtained a
record of the vote and published it,
whereupon the Senate adopted a
resolution to exclude all press cor-
respondents from the chamber and
subpoenaed the offending scribe to
reveal the source of his information,
which he may have to do.
For one consideration or another
a considerable majority of the Sen-
ators voted for the confirmation
though all of them must have known
that he is no more fit for the office
than Al Capone, the Chicago rack-
eteer, is fit for an archangel. Since
his defeat for re-election to the Sen-
ate as a penalty for defiantly betray-
ing his constituents, he has been serv-
ing the power trust as a lobbyist and
importuning every one in authority
to get him an appointment of some
kind. Mr. Coolidge, who seems to
have had a weakness for weak men,
finally nominated him to the court
of customs appeals but the Senate of
the last Congress failed to confirm
him. President Hoover renominated
him and after a long delay he was
secretly confirmed.
Either because the Senators are
ashamed of their action or for some
other reason the ban of secrecy
was laid on the vote and a threat is-
sued that any Senator who revealed
the secret would be expelled. That
aroused the LaFollette ire and young
Bob declared “if the Senate decided
to enforce its rule of expulsion on
him he will welcome the issue and
go to the people of Wisconsin on it.”
That is the right spirit. The obliga-
tion of Senators is to the ~ people
they represent, and any attempt to
prevent them from accounting to
their constituents for their steward-
ship is tyrannous. As a matter of
fact the only excuse for secrecy is
that injury might come to the coun-
try by exposure and there was no
such menace in the case in point.
eM sissies.
——Those Texas flyers have solved
the problem of Question Mark and
set a new standard for ambitious
aviators to strive for.
Sr ——————— sis
Dawes “Running True to Form.”
Entering upon his duties as Am-
bassador to the Court of St. James,
the most distinguished post in the
diplomatic service. General Charles
G. Dawes is “running true to form.”
The other day, while he was receiv-
ing instructions from the President
and Secretary of State, a group of
newspaper correspondents took ad-
vantage of the opportunity to fire
questions at him, some pertinent and
some otherwise. One of the questions
submitted related to the silk knick-
erbockers supposed to be worn by dip-
lomats at royal functions. The new-
ly appointed Ambassador’s reply was:
“You can go plumb to hell, that's my
business.” Though it may seem a
rude answer it was strangly appro-
priate.
General Dawes may be unconven-
tional and a trifle careless in the use
of language but “his heart is in the
right place” and the mild cuss words
he occasionally blurts out are more
expressive of emotion than profane.
For example, when a meddling fault-
finding Congressional committee, some
time ago, tried to force him into a
condemnation of President Wilson's
conduct of the great war he disgust-
ingly said “Hell ‘an Maria,” and add-
ed a few well chosen sentences de-
nouncing the sinister purposes of the
inquiry. The newspaper correspond-
ents are some times too inquisitive
and occasionally too fresh, and Gen-
eral Dawes’ reply in the case in point
was a fairly just rebuke to imperti-
nence.
“When in Rome do as the Romans
do,” is a reasonable rule of action in
all places and on most occasions. If
the universal custom is to wear silk
nickers at royal functions it is io
impairment of American dignity for
the American Ambassador to follow
the example. Some years ago a dis-
tinguished Senator in Congress pro-
tested against the customary costum-
er at receptions of the President. But
he failed to force an abandonment of
the custom and got himself laughed
at for his absurdity. If the Amer-
ican Ambassador at the Court of St.
James were to commit a similar faux
pas, it would probably have the same
effect on the royal custom and the too
enterprising adventurer. ;
| ~ James M. Beck, who represents Biil
Vare and the Philadelphia “Neck” in
Congress, threw a monkey wrench into
his party’s Congressional machine,
the other day. He made a notable
speech against the provision in the
pending tariff bill which gives the
President power to change the tariff
rates. It was an unexpected blow
from an inexplicable source and caus-
ed a panic among the leaders. Rep-
' resenting Mr. Vare and the Philadel-
| phia “Neck” it was reasonably as-
| sumed that Mr. Beck would stand
{for anything which promised advan-
tage to the organization. Probably
‘his party managers didn’t know that
| he was formerly a Democrat and that
| some of the virus as well as virtues
of his early training remains in his
system. :
Mr. Beck said “the provision would
produce a momentous and utterly
indefensible change in the character
of our government.” It would work
an abdication by Congress of its con-
stitutional power and a usurpation
by the executive department, in" vio-
lation of the constitution, of the pow-
ers of Congress. To the present lead-
ers of the Republican party in Con-
gress such a revolution may not mean
much. But to men of conscience and
character it not only means a viola-
tion of their oaths to “preserve, pro-
tect and defend the constitution,”
which may be to them a personal
matter, but a subversion of the prin-
ciples upon which the government is
based, which concerns all the people
of the United States.
The United Press correspondent
writes that “the speech was highly
effective, judging from the demon-
stration and comment afterward from
Republican leaders and members in
the lobbies. So effective, in fact,” he
continued, “that it was indicated this
one speech probably would swing
enough of his own party against the
provision to defeat it in the House.”
If it accomplishes that result, Mr.
tial service for the country. Under
the stress of monopoly, big business
and “éorporate cupidity the Republi-
can majority in Congress has been
for years insidiously striving to nulli-
fy the fundamental law and license
adventurers to plunder the public to
“their heart’s content.”
——— nts
——The times are certainly out of
joint, There are rumors of soup
kitchens in P®nnsylvania coal regions
in the beginning of a Republican ad-
ministration.
—————————— A ————————
Cunningham Heading Toward Jail.
Sheriff Tom Cunningham, of Phila-
delphia, “must tell where he got the
$50,000 contributed to the Vare Sen-
atorial campaign fund in 1926 or
go to jail,” according to one of the
press correspondent’s interpretation
of the Supreme court’s decision on
the subject. Cunningham, at the
time clerk of courts of Philadelphia,
earning $8000 a ‘year, made two
contributions to the Vare corruption
fund of $25,000 each. Obviously the
money was obtained from outside
sources. Popular suspicion ascribed
it to levies upon
holders and criminals depending on
official favors for personal liberty.
Contributions from such ‘sources, di-
rectly or indirectly, are forbidden by
law.
The Slush Fund committee of the
Senate asked Mr. Cunningham for
an accounting and he refused to an-
swer. The committee appealed to
the Supreme court of the District of
Columbia, which affirmed the author-
ity of the Senate. From this decls-
ion Cunningham appealed to the
Court of Appeals which, by a divided
vote, reversed the lower court and
set the defendant free. An appeal
to the Supreme court of the United
States followed and, on Monday, this
tribunal of last resort handed down
its decision which requires Cunning-
ham to answer the relevant ques-
tions put to him or go to jail.
rumored that K he . will answer the
questions, but it. may well be doubted
that he will reveal the source of the
funds.
Sheriff Cunningham represents the
worst element in politics. For years
he has been a willing instrument of
the Vare machine in the work of
debauching the ballot and corrupting
elections. His reward for this sinis-
ter service is retention in lucrative
offices. After several years in the
office of clerk of the courts he was
promoted, a year or two ago, to the
several months has been serving, on
the side, in the capacity of trustee
of Mr. Vare’s political estate. If he
tells the truth when he again - ap-
pears before the Senate he will write
finis, not only to his own, but to
Vare's political career. But he
might swear that he got the $50,000
from Sunday schools.
municipal - job |
It is |
office of sheriff, and during the last |
Mr. Hoover Seeks to Place Farm
- Relief in Good Hands.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Mr. Hoover is reported to be anx-
ious to appoint as chairman of the
proposed Farm Board former Gov-
ernor Frank O. Lowden, of Illinois.
Should he succeed in persuading
Mr. Lowden to accept this most im-
portant office he will win the approv-
al, not of the farming community
alone, but of the entire country.
In the first place Mr. Lowden
knows the needs of the farming in-
dustry as do few, if any, others. He
is also a practical economist with
long experience in business. And,
what is not less important, he is a
proved organizer.
The farmers of this country know
him and trust him. They know that
he places the establishment of agri-
culture on a prosperous basis as the
first need of this country. They know
that he has refused offices which men
of equal prominence would have been
glad to occupy, because the duties en-
‘tailed would have not afforded him
an opportunity to be of aid to the
farmer. He has, for instance, turn-
ed down tne nomination for the Unit-
ed States Senate, a second term as
Governor of Illinois, the Secretary-
ship of the Navy in the Harding Cab-
inet, the Ambassadorship to the Court
of St. James, offered by President
Coolidge, and in 1924 the Vice Pres-
idency of the United States. After
refusing to accept this last honor he
immediately started on a tour of the
country in the interest of agriculture,
advocating co-operative group mar-
keting of farm produce.
| The organization of the Farm
Board, as proposed, will be an im-
'mense and complicated task. = Under
inefficient management it might eas-
ily become just another refuge of the
job-hunters, a bureaucratic warren.
With such methods Mr. Lowden has
proved he has no sympathy. While
Governor of Illinois he reorganized
the entire administration. He inaug-
urated the budget system. He found
a network of 125 bureaus entangled
jin red tape. He cut the red tape,
disentangled the mass, and divided
ithe work between nine departments
| The result was a tremendous sav-
Beck will have performed a subsfan- in
The one obstacle to the appoint-
ment. is the attitude. taken by Mr.
Lowden ‘at the Republican convention
of last year. He withdrew his name
as a'candidate because he could not
approve of the farm relief plank in
the party platform. He disagreed
with Mr. Hoover's views during the
‘campaign, but did not actively oppose
him. His opinion of the present bill
is not known, as he has been out of
the country until recently. But he
has been a leading advocate of the
equalization fee principle which has
been discarded.
| The appointment of the head of the
Farm Board is perhaps the most im-
‘portant that Mr. Hoover will be call-
ied upon to make in the earlier
months of his term, should the bill
now before the Senate be passed. The
success of the measure will largely
depend on the ability of the man who
is called on to put its provisions
into effect. It is a matter of such
national importance that it tran-
scends party questions.
And Mr. Lowden is the man for the
job. If he can be persuaded to accept
the responsibility there can be no
doubt that whatever good there may
be in the proposed plans for the re-
lief of the farmers will be developed
to the utmost.
| Anent the Voting Machines.
From the Harrisburg Telegraph.
Inquiries are beginning to be re-
!ceived at the Capitol concerning the
! mode of procedure necessary to place
| the’ question of voting machines up
ito the voters next November. The
law. is not mandatory. The county
i commissioners, as in Allegheny coun-
' ty, may decide to submit the question
on their own motion. Or the com-
missioners shall do so upon the re-
reipt of a request from the council
of any city or borough or from "the
commissioners or supervisors of any
township. In the third place the coun-
i ty commissioners are required, under
the new law, to put the question to
the voters upon receipt of a petition
i signed by at least one per cent. of
i the qualified voters of a county, city,
{ borough or township who participated
{in the last preceding election.
| These petitions must be filed with
{the county commissioners at least
i sixty days before the November elec-
ition. In some counties such as Alle-
| gheny, where the county lines include
one second-class city, third-class cit-
ies and boroughs and townships, the
county-wide vote will be supplement-
ed by separate referenda in individual
| units of the county, so that if the
| county-wide referendum fails there
twill still be the opportunity to win.
| Tt does not seem likely at this time
that there will be voting machine
| elections outside of Allegheny, Phila-
{delphia, Luzerne and Lackawanna
counties this year. There seems to be
{no great demand for voting machines
iin the smaller units, although the
| country members in the Legislature
are responsible for putting the vot-
ing machine law on the books. The
| smaller counties are becoming fright-
| ened by the costs and if the voters
"desire to have the question come up
, they will have to take the initiativ
i for the commissioners wont. .
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE
—The resumption of operations by the
General Refractories brick plant at Mt.
Union last week has placed the ganister
rock quarries in the southern part of
Mifflin county in operation. Their re-
sumption creates employment for a large
number of men who had been out of em-
ployment for some time.
—Emily Frock is a success as a sheriff
in Union county. She has so ruled her
domain that the jail at Lewisburg was
recently empty for the first time in two
| years. The jail has contained as high as
20 persons at a time, heretofore. She
was appointed sheriff by Governor Fisher
to fill a vacancy caused by her husband’s
death.
—While Mrs. Andrew Evancho, of Crys-
tal Ridge, a small mining vilage west of
Hazleton, was saying her prayers, Mon-
day morning, the kitchen stove became
overheated, and the double house occupied
by Evancho and Andrew Chestlock fam-
lilies was destroyed. Chestlock dragged
the woman from her devotions. Only a
couch and two chairs were saved.
—Where race horses neighed in the
past, the peep of baby chicks is now
heard. James Harding, Brookville, has
remodeled a barn, formerly used for
race horses, into a poultry house. He
plans to raise 600 baby chicks and to buy
100 more White Leghorn pullets. When
the barn is completely remodeled it will
have a capacity of 1500 laying hens.
—Mrs. Galen Shreffler, of Treverton,
Pa., recently underwent her thirty-sev-
enth operation within three years. She
is suffering with an internal growth and
each operation has resulted in the removal
of a quantity of water from the growth.
Between operations she is able to do her
own housework and talk about the many
times she has submitted to the knife.
—Miss Gladys McCauley, assistant prin-
cipal of the Lewistown High school, has
accumulated a stack of building bricks
at her desk. Professor Charles Coxe, sup-
erintendent of the schools, asked the
children to each ‘buy a brick’ in the ex-
tension campaign to raise $100,000 to pay
iebts and build a wing to the Lewistown
hospital. Those without a dime are tak-
ing a brick instead of the money.
—Philip Aluch, 23 years old, and
Charles McCormick, 23, both of Elizabeth,
N. J., were identified on Sunday by
Eugene Jacobs and Miss Hazel Green,
of Danville, as the two men who held
them up last Sunday and forced them at
the point of a gun, to drive about 100
miles from Muncy to Wellsboro. The men
were arrested at Coudersport by State po-
lice Engle on charges of felonious entry.
—A fortune worth $75,000 awaits Reuben
Williams, 55, a hunchback cripple who
was last seen selling shoestrings in
Wilkes-Barre last fall. The peddler has
been willed $50,000 by a brother who was
financially interested in a large ce-
ment company in New Jersey, and
there is another $25,000 available through
the will of his mother. Relatives of the
cripple have not heard from him in four
or five years.
—The United States district attorney
at Scranton has received word that Ir-
ving M. Miller, a former merchant of
Lewisburg, Pa., sought by federal autho-
rities since October, 1927, on charge of
violating the bankruptcy laws, is under
arrest at Houston, Tex. Miller, under
indictment on charges of secreting as-
sets of his store at Lewistown, will be
brought back as soon as the necessary
papers can be prepared.
—Coming into contact with a high vol-
tage wire while at work in the Rochester
and Pittsburgh mine at Helvetia, on Sat-
urday, Tony Meleski, a well known miner
residing at No. 2 shaft, was instantly
killed. Working with Meleski at the
time was Charles Orr who witnessed the
tragedy. While waiting for their drill
to cool Meleski accidentally touched the
high powered line with his right elbow,
his left hand grounding the circuit. He
died instantly.
—High Constable H. J. Limes, of Lew-
istown, is seeking clews to two visitors
to his home recently who informed him
they were federal radio inspectors and
had to inspect his machine to see if it
complied with government rules. The
constable permitted them to look over the
apparatus, and they left with profuse
thanks. When Mr. Limes tried to tune in
on the radio later it failed to register,
and experts informed him the tubes had
been taken out and useless ones substitut-
ed.
—In handing down a decision refusing
a divorce to Esther Frances Allen, of
Swoyerville, from Charles Henry Allen,
of Forty Fort, Judge C. D. Coughlin, of
Luzerne county, decided that a kick ad-
ministered to the wife as she was passing
her husband in the sitting room of their
home where respondent was sitting and
the throwing of a lead pencil at the libel-
lant, so that she was struck in the eye
and slightly injured, ‘‘do.not justfy the
assertion of cruel and barbarous treat-
ment.”
--The third attempt of Wilson Hyde,
38, to end his life was successful on Mon-
day. On Sunday he gashed his throat
with a penknife, but inflicted only a su-
perficial wound. Soon after he eluded
watchers, went to an outbuilding, tore
the stitches out of the wound in his
throat and enlarged it with his fingers.
He was taken to the Berwick hospital
and a guard remained at his bedside.
Hyde was apparently quiet on Monday,
but suddenly forced the nurse out of the
room, moved his bed and other furnish-
ings against the door to block it. Break-
ing an electric light bulb, he used the
sharp edges to slash his neck and wrists.
Loss of blood proved fatal two hours
later. Hyde ahd been in a nervous state
for some time.
—A broad interpretation of the work-
men's compensation laws by a
compensation referee, the compensa-
tion board and the Columbia coun-
ty court has been affirmed by the
State Supreme court. Stesia Broch, of
Centralia, sought compensation from the
Lehigh Valley Railroad company for the
death of her husband from pneumonia. It
was claimed an accident had made it im-
possible for him to leave the mine in which
he worked at the usual time, and as a
result he suffered a chill and contracted
the fatal attack of pneumonia. The claim
was upheld by the referee and compensa-
tion board, which awarded $7020. Judge
Evans, in Columbia county court, upheld
the verdict and the Supreme Court has
affirmed his decision.