Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, May 31, 1929, Image 1
—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.