Bewarif Wald, INK SLINGS. . ———The making of a Republican ticket ought to be called a trading post transaction. ——To say that Mr. Hoover's first year as President was a failure would be a charitable criticism, — The friends of Governor Fish- er are invited to eat crow but they are not obliged to relish the feast. — Speaking of contrasts the rec- ords of Sedgwick Kistler and Joseph R. Grundy, both manufacturers, is striking. ——The meeting of the Democrat- ic Executive committee last week was largely attended and wisely con- ducted. The weather has looked threat- ening enough since last Friday, but up to this moment there have been no lumber or plumbing showers. A correspondent in San Diego, California, has a new name for the Watchman. She calls it her “weekly astonisher” and we are at a loss to know whether she is damning or praising it. —We always thought that Alex- ander P. Moore was a pretty decent fellow. Perhaps he was, but when a man leaves one hundred thousand dollars to the Queen of Spain and doesn’t give his step-daughter portrait of her own mother there is reasonable ground for doubt. W. Meyers, of Boalsburg, that we can elect the next gent if we nominate Wilson and geep dissension out of our political organization. We are inclined to agree with our eighty year old proph- et friend. We can elect the next President, but will we? That's the nub. We Democrats are always blow- ing bubbles and then sticking pins in- to them ourselves. When we get over that habit we'll elect a President and not before. — Two weeks ago the grand in- quisition into the house keeping of Centre county revealed that cob- webs are festooning the chandeliers | in the Court House, that every- thing is unkempt, so dirty about the Temple of Justice that the only thing that can save the Judicial Er- mine from trailing in the mife is the employment of a woman assist- ant to the janitor. What a commentary on the men janitors and what a compliment to woman. We've never measured the Court House but it can’t be more than sixty by one-hundred feet. Relying only on our conception of the interi- or there are ten rooms and the corridor on the ground floor and six rooms, two corridors and the audi- torium on the second floor. In addi- tion to these there are about six vaults. To keep this interior clean men were employed at a cost to the county of $1115.96 last year. The average good woman in Cen- tre county keeps a house of from three to fourteen rooms at least so clean that a catty neighbor, dropping in for a call, doesn’t detect cobwebs on the ceiling or filigreed about the chandeliers. In addition to doing that she cooks, mends and darns for the old man and his get and finds time on the side to do a little church work, help the children along with their lessons, remodel her last spring’s dress and hat, cultivate a few posies and a garden, have an afternoon or so off for bridge and an evening for the movies. Tripping lightly under these trifling little house-hold pleasantries she greets the Lothario, who took her for bet- ter or worse, when he arrives home, as if he had actually created Uto- her, acts that way because the e good woman doesn’t know etter and God fend the day she gets wise. She doesn’t know how lightly her idol tosses the blue chips she has been saving for him into a pot so that he can draw to an inside straight. She doesn’t penetrate the cunning of the subterfuge he uses to assure her that the bills she has been worrying about are all paid, when they're not. She's just a pa- tient, loving, creature deceiving her- self into thinking that drudgery is a pleasure and that her lot, no matter how humble it may be, is to be en- vied. And what does she get for itall? Including board, lodging, clothes and pin money—if she gets any—we are right here to bet that the average good woman in Centre county doesn’t cost her partner oue-half as much as one of the janitors of the Court House cost Centre county. And we're right here to bet that one good woman would keep the Temple of Justice clean, In less than a week she’d have every man occupant init trained. One look would be notice that feet have to be wiped before en- tering its tiled portals, that ashes have to be knocked in the trays in- stead of on the floor and that waste baskets are for scraps. She’d not only do that, but she would have time to sit out on the Court House steps sunny afternoons and tell the world everything that goes on within. And here we have devoted nearly a column to a matter we intended to dispose of in a paragraph. But why should the grand jury worry about cleaning the Court House? The vot- ers will take care of that in 1931, the . ©. Grundy Demands the Nomination i of Lewis. Out of the confusion of the Re- publican party in Pennsylvania there , seems to be one thing certain. That is that Mr. Grundy will force the ac- ceptance of Mr, Samuel S. Lewis as the organization candidate for Gov- ernor. It will be a “bitter pill” to Governor Fisher and not an agree- ‘able dose for the Mellons. But itis absolutely essential to the plans of Mr. Grundy. He is not half as much interested in the Senatorship as heis in the executive control of the State. | His appointment as Senator came to | him as a surprise and without solici- tation. It was ‘a flattering unction . to his soul,” and may have given him . momentary pleasure and a tempo- ‘rary thrill. But it doesn’t “click” in his plans. Mr. Grundy has one purpose in ‘life. That is to make money for the | manufacturers of. Pennsylvania. He sees only two ways to accomplish | this result. One is through tariff | taxation and the other is exemption ‘ from other forms of taxes. He real- | izes that a seat in the Senate is not much help in the tariff project and | that control of the Governor is a | commanding factor in the scheme of | tax exemption. To secure this lev- | erage four years ago he procured the ' nomination and election of John S. Fisher. It cost him a large sum of | money, but he feels that it was worth | the price, ! only a willing but an ardent worker in his vineyard. He wants to continue ! his control in that line. Francis Shunk Brown is a ma- | chine politician but uncertain as to | his affiliations. James J. Davis has always been ready to serve the ma- | chine in emergencies but he carries | the credentials of a labor union and { might not follow the Grundy lines in labor or tax legislation. But Sam | Lewis is certain and dependable. He will be for anything that Grundy wants. On the gas tax question last year he stepped out, but Grundy had no objections to his course in that case. It put no burden on the manufacturers and added nothing to the cost of their operations. Support- ing him for Governor may alienate | some of Grundy’s friends and might | even prevent his election as Senator. But he will take the chance. ____After the tariff fight is ended the administration Senators are go- ing to “spruce up” and fight back. Just now they are afraid of their shadows. Collidge’s Cabinet Accused The lobby committee is not the only source of sensation in Wash- ington these days, though Senator Caraway continues to dig up startling surprises right along. Senator Couzins, who is investigating the operations of the Power trust, brought out the fact the other day, that three members of the last Coolidge cabinet were responsible for the deletion of important facts in a report made to Congress con- cerning the capital inflation of the Niagara Falls Power company. The officials so accused were Dwight W. Davis, Secretary of War; William M. Jardine, Secretary of Agricul- ture, and Hubert Work, Secretary of the Interior. They composed the Federal Power Commission at that time. The witness who revealed this scandal was O. C, Merrill, execu- tive secretary of the commission. In response to a resolution of Con- gress Mr. Merrill testified that he prepared a report which showed that the capital account of the Niagara Falls Power company had been padded to the extent of $32,- 000,000, and that other power and utility corporations had similarly padded their capitalization. He added that he submitted the report to the commission and that the members first asked him to suppress it, which he refused to do. Then they ordered him to cut out all reference to inflated capital accounts “after they had been approached by repre- sentatives of the Niagara Falls Power company.” That this betrayal of faith was not repugnant to the leaders and managers of the Republican party is shown by the subsequent treat- ment of the delinquent officials. Mr. Davis was continued in office until the expiration of his term and was then appointed to the important of- fice of Governor-General of the Philippines by President Hoover. | Mr. Jardine was offered a re-ap- | pointment as Secretary of Agricul- ture by Hocver and Hubert Work | was first made chairman of the Re- ' publican National committee and subsequently invited by Hoover to take his choice of the cabinet port- folios. It is believed that both Coolidge and Hoover knew what had happened to the Merril report. Mr. Fisher has been not ! STATE RIGHTS | Log-rolling in Full Force. The “log-rolling” on the tariff Js | now in full force in the Senate iat Washington. Those tariff-mon- gers who want high rates on shoes i are setting up a bargain counter !for trading votes with those who i want excessive rates on sugar, wool, ! oil and any other commodity men- tory tariff bill, Senator Blaine, of Wisconsin, in a speech on the subject, the other day, exposed the operations of the Senatorial trading post completely. He showed that the lobbyists for a tariff tax on oil | had been negotiating with Senators | who favored high duties on the sev- eral other commodities and in furthering their purpose had been hobnobbing with the President. Senator Blaine based his accusa- tions on statements made br Wirt Franklin, president of the Ameri- tion. Mr. Franklin was free and frank in his testimony. He that a group of 225 men interesfed the enterprise of selling their scheme to the Senate; that ten or | more of them held a conference with the President and he, more eon at the White House. He had also had a conference with Rep- resentative Tilson, Republican floor leader of the House, who had agreed to help him if he would guarantee that certain Senators But their The oil tax was peared on final passage. efforts were futile. defeated. Mr. Franklin told the lobby com- mittee that $50,000 had been raiseé traveled in a special train, gave dinners to Senators and Congress- men and played golf with those in- clined to indulge in that sport. But they didn’t offer bribes other than agreements to help those who help- ed them. That being a well known and long established custom in it was all right. Mrs. Mabel Walker Willebrandt be employed “because she is a friend of the President and influential in Washington,” for probably her price, $5000 or $10,000, was a trifle too high, The regular Republicans in the Senate are misnamed conservatives. aries. Pinchot Points a Way. Whether Gifford Pinchot is a candidate for Governor or not is a subject of conjecture. But he has a theory concerning the regulation of corporations and public utilities which appeals to reason and may find a friendly contact with popular opinion. In a speech delivered in Philadelphia, the other evening, he proposed that the people of Pennsyl- vania “abolish the Public Service Commission and all the present commissioners.” To accomplish that result he asks all voters “to re- fuse to support any candidate for the State Senate or State House of Representatives who will not pledge to replace the commission with an- othr body that will give the people a square deal.” has certain exercised an evil in- fluence in the affairs of the people of Pennsylvania. It was created for the purpose of conserving the rights and interests of the people against corporate greed, and for a brief period of time it seemed to serve the purpose. Then the corpo- rations seem to have ‘got under” the commissioners and of late years the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission appears to have degen- erated into an agency to legalize the robbery of the people by utility cor- porations. As Mr. Pinchot stated, “the Public Service Commission au- thorizes such charges Wecause the utilities and not the people are its boss.” Every section of the State has suffered from it. Mr. Pinchot presents a live issue for the people of Pennsylvania to ponder but not a new one. The Watchman has been sounding the alarm for years and the Democratic platforms, National, State and local, have been protesting against these evils from the moment that the Commission was perverted into a political machine. In the coming campaign it will certainly be a leading issue. In making Senator Grundy the undisputed leader of the Republican party this result is in- evitable. He believes in the control of wealth and the servitude of la- bor, and in the event of the success of his ticket will enforce that pol- icy upon the people. It remains to be seen what Mr. Pinchot will do. AND FEDERAL UNION. BELLEFONTE. PA.. MARCH 7. 1930. can Independent Petroleum associa- ' said | in the oil industry were engaged in favored than the others, had lunch- would vote for the bill when it ap- in Oklahoma and that the lobbyists tariff-making they probably thought A suggestion that | was not acted upon some reason unexplained but The right name for them is reaction- The Public Service Commission Blame Properly Placed * In a speech delivered in the Sen- ate on Monday Senator Wagner properly charged that President Hoover is largely responsible for the present industrial distress and un- i employment. More than a year ago the New York Senator introduced a | bill to create a commission to ascer- tioned in the pending and preda- | tain the extent and, as nearly as | possible, the cause of unemployment. | But no action has been taken on the | measure for the reason that the re- | ports of prosperity “just around the | corner,” emanating from the White | i House and other agencies of the | government have deceived Congress | and the country into the belief that | such legislation is unnecessary. This ' charge is literally true. | Immediately following the Wall ‘street debacle of last fall President Hoover called to Washington a ' group of so-called “Captains of In- dustry” who under the influence of his optimism promised industrial activities which would guarantee the restoration of prosperity. Subse- quently, at intervals, the Secretary ' of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor, presumably under instruc- tions, published glowing accounts of improvements in industrial con- ditions and assurances of future prosperity. But these promises have not been fulfilled and as conditions pass from bad to worse the President goes fishing while millions of willing workers travel the streets in search of employment. The truth is that the industrial distress throughout the country at this time is greater than it hxas been | within a quarter of a century and the tax upon the benevolence of the peo- ple is proportionately heavier. There ‘are not as many soup houses in ope- ration or bread lines in existence as there were in some other periods, but when soup houses and bread lines were the available sources of relief there were no charity organi- : zations collecting and dispensing mil- lions of dollars for the relief of dis- | tress. An honest and searching sur- vey of the charitable activities of the country would show that more mon- ey has been spent for relief this year than in any previous year within the “quatter century. ——Mr, Grundy has declared that | “he wouldn't sit at a table with a , man carrying a labor union card.” If ‘all voters carrying such cards would vote against Grundy it would be too bad for Joe. Again in the Shadow of Scandal. | President Hoover's name has fagain been brought within the , shadow of scandal by evidence brought out by the Lobby investiga- | ting committee the other day. No- body wants to put an aspersion on ithe character of the President of {the United States and the Senate : committee wisely as well as courte- i ously “shies” away from the subject | when his name is mentioned. But it is unfortunate that he has chosen | for his confidential relations men {who are directly or indirectly con- ‘nected with sinister enterprises. i First it was his secretary mixing in | the sugar lobby activities and now the chairman of the Republican National committee, chosen by Mr. Hoover, is involved in the Muscle Shoals scandal. The witness who ‘spilled the beans,” in the last instance was E. O. O'Neal, of the Alabama Farm Bureau Federation, which had un- dertaken, for a price, to defeat Senator Norris’ resolution for gov- ernment operation of the Muscle Shoals plant in the interest of a private power company. In one of his reports Mr. O'Neal wrote that he had sent a letter to the White House to obtain a conference with the President for the purpose of discussing with him “the text of the Muscle Shoals paragraph in his message and whatever else I have an opportunity to present.” In an- other letter Mr. O'Neal gives assur- ance that chairman Claudius Huston, “is okey and is doing all that he | dares to do in the position he oc- cupies.” The purpose of the activity of Mr. O'Neal and his associates was to turn the Muscle Shoals plant, which had cost the government ap- proximately $120,000,000, over to the Cyanimid company, a power CcOrpo- ration, “for a song.” The conspira- tors behind this project had in- fluenced President Coolidge to kill the Norris measure by a ‘pocket veto” and seemed to have acquired more than an even chance of hook- ing up Hoover in their toils. With this purpose in mind they had en- listed the services of chairman Huston, but it may be hoped that the exposure made. by the lobby committee will work the defeat of the enterprise. Meantime Mr. Hoov- er ought to develop better judgment in the selection of his confidants. NO. 10. Centre County Courts Stifled With Petty Cases | aid i Every man and woman who at- ; tended the various court : last week, was no doubt impressed | with the number of trivial cases called up for trial, cases that should never have passed out of the office of the justice of the peace before , whom they were originally brought. It is such cases that clog the wheels i i of justice and at the same time | pile up costs to be paid for out of | the taxpayer's pocket. { On the quarter sessions docket i for the February term, 1930, were a total of 162 entries. That doesn’t mean that each entry was a case for trial, as such was not the case. Every appearance or action of any kind in the quarter sessions court is entered as a separate case on the docket. But fifty per cent or more of them were cases for a hearing before the court. In a number of the cases defendants went into court and entered pleas of guilty, a number were heard and disposed of without jury trials, while five cases were ignored by the grand jury. Out of the entire list of cases there were 49 in which the costs, totaling $1046.93, were put upon the county, a larger sum than the county will receive in the number and amount of fines imposed. These cases included fifteen viola- tions of the vehicle code in which the costs saddled onto the county were $350.52. All of the above were minor violations that should have been settled without being brought into court. In one or two cases the bills were ignored by the grand jury, but the county had to pay the costs. In several cases the defend- ant was either discharged or ac- quitted while in others the defend- ant went to jail for five or ten days in preference to paying the costs, but the county has to settle. There were four violations of the game laws, and in each case the costs were put upon the county, a total of $42.45. One juvenile case added $27.28 to the county’s bill of costs. { “There: were 28 cases of a mis- ' cellaneous character, such as assault and battery, neglect, malicious mis- | chief and various minor misdemean- | ors, in which the county was mulct- | ed for a total of $604.63 in costs. There were two violations of the liquor laws, one of which added 1 $21.95 to the county's bill and in i the other case the costs, amounting to $50.75 were ordered paid by the | justice returning the case, but so far they haven't been paid. | The costs in dollars and cents | tacked onto a case doesn’t cover the entire cost by any means. While a nominal charge of $4.00 as a jury fee is entered against every case that comes before a jury that sum does not cover the actual cost by any means, as the entire panel of forty-eight jurymen are sitting idle while twelve others are yawning over the triviality of the case they have been chosen to sit on. Zealousness in any official is to be commended, no matter who he is, but there ought to be a line of demarkation in the character of the cases brought into court for trial. The same rule should apply to jus- tices of the peace, some of whom may be inspired to return cases because by so doing they draw down a larger fee than they are entitled to if the case is disposed of by themselves. Abolishing “Hell Week.” From the Harrisburg Telegraph. State College's Inter-Fraternity Council is to be commended for its movement to abolish what is known to the students of the insti- tution as “Hell Week.” During this period the “pledges” of the various fraternities are initiated with all sorts of rough play and high jinks. That the Council already has the volunteer backing of fourteen of these groups indicates the temper of the students themselves. Many of the initiations are ac- companied by stunts designed mere- ly to display the courage and re- sourcefulness of the candidates, but others are dangerous and approach cruelty. Of course these are fol- lowed by the real ceremonies of the “frats,” most of them highly dig- nified and some of them beautiful of exercise and ritual, The proposal of the State Col- lege Council that the initiations hereafter be designed entirely along these latter lines, teaching the spirit of the college and the high ideals for which the fraternities ‘stand, no doubt will be followed by concrete action on the part of the several units that have not already abandoned the old pra-tice. State is leading in a really important re- form. — Anyway Vare keeps them all guessing and to his mind that may be worthwhile. sessions, | ————————. | SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE —Francis Winters, of Kingston, a la- borer in Nottingham colliery at Ply- mouth, Luzerne county, found a gold nugget the size of a large marble. Win- ters’ find caused other mine workers in the Plymouth section to be on the look- out for similar bits of gold. —Stripping store racks of 300 suits of clothing, thieves early on Monday es- caped with wearing apparel valued at more than $7000 from the store of Abe Baron, at Plymouth, near Wilkes- Barre. Loot also included overcoats, shoes and other articles. No arrests were made. —A strike of natural gas estimated at 4,000,000 cubic feet daily and the largest *in the area was brought in, on Saturday on the C. W. Cox farm in Nicholson township, Fayette county. Local operators dispose of their product to the Victor Pipe Line company, which turns it over to the Monongahela West Penn com- | pany. —When Andrew Ziteli drove his automobile into his garage at Pittsburgh last Wednesday night, he was met bya reception committee consisting of two bandits. The men took Ziteli's car, rob- bed him of $75 and a ring valued at $350, and made their escape. The car was found later abandoned in Home- wood. —Rev. Dr. U. Henry Heilman, a re- tired Reformed minister, on Sunday celebrated his ninety-second birthday by preaching the sermon at the observance of old folks’ day in Tabor Reformed church at Lebanon. In the congrega- tion were four members who have pass- ed the 90-year mark and a score more than 80 years old. —State troopers on Sunday were searching for two bandits who held up and robbed Robert G. Fenstermacher, , of Scranton, collector for a chain store, of $2500, after he finished collecting for the day on Saturday evening. He was forced into an auto in South Scranton and after being robbed was dumped out of the car on East Mountain. —What is believed to have been a stone Indian battle axe was found recently by Henry Bossinger while dredging sand from the bed of the Juniata river a few | miles west of Lewistown. The stone im- plement weighs nearly eight pounds, and has a handle nine inches long and three inches wide with a fan shaped blade measuring eleven inches along the edge. —Twenty-five leg fractures in sixteen years is the curious record held by John Martinovich, 18-year old high school student, at Tarentum, who is recovering from the latest injury, received when a spectator at a basketball game. Jonn was only 18 months old when he suf- fered the first fracture, and he has been getting the ‘breaks’ ever since—but they have all been against him. Twenty- two of the fractures were of the right leg. f —Bess, a highly prized cow on the farm of Norman E. Hershey, near Marietta, is alive today and Nina, police dog and pet of the Hershey family, has taken a place among canine heroes. Hershey, perplexed by Nina, who paced the floor and barked vigorously, donned his coat and followed the dog to the barn, where he found Bess strangling to death with her head eaught in a hay- rack. He ripped loose the bars and lib- erated the cow. —Diamond, a registered Percheron, said to be the largest horse in the world, will be offered for sale at Willow Brook farm, Lancaster county, on March 12. Diamond was purcahsed by late Colonel J. W. Fuller, of Catasau- qua, on his western trip which ended in his death at San Francico, Calif, Breed- ing of Percherons will be discontinued at Willow Brook farm. The horse is of enormous size, weighing almost 3000 pounds. He has been at Willow Brook farm, near Catasauqua, for a year. —Planning an early start, inspectors of the State Health Department expect to complete inspection of sanitary condi- tions at wayside stands, lunch counters attached to tourist camps and tourist lodging houses where meals are served. Inspections of 7000 such places are to be finished before the heavy tourist travel starts at beginning of the vacation sea- son. The investigation will start as soon as tourist stands open in the spring. During the winter the inspectors have checked upon sanitary conditions of restaurants in cities and towns. —Robert Drake, 8 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Drake, who reside in Allenport, a suburb of Mount Union, was admitted to the J. C. Blair Memorial hos- pital, at Huntingdon, last week, suffering from the effects of a rifle shot in his left | side. The little fellow was playing back of his home in Allenport while a number of men in the vicinity of the town were shooting mark and it is believed he was struck by a stray bullet. At the hospital it was found that the bullet had not pene- trated the abdomen but had lodged back of the lower spine. The child is not thought to be critically injured although he has suffered much pain. —The venerable Josiah V. Thompson, of Uniontown, man of immense financial ups and downs, has been granted fur- ther time to make good on trust fund deficits. The romantic old coal land manipulator and one-time banker, who is attempting to stage a comeback from the crash that reduced him from a Mi- das to a person of poverty, is not yet at the end of his long financial rope. The court on Monday granted him an ex- tension of parole until July 7 from his jail’ sentence, in order that he may pro- duce the money he owes to the Princess of Thurn and Taxis and to the Emma Messmore estate. The claim of the Princess is for $131,000. —Work on the construction of the Safe Harbor Water Power corporation's $30,000,000 dam and hydro-electric power generating plant in Manor township, Lancaster county, and Chanceford town- | ship, York county, cannot be started un- i til the necessary endorsement is given | by the Federal Power Commission and { Public Service Commission, according to ' George S. Beal, chief of the bureau of | dams and encroachment of the Depart- | ment of Forests and Waters. Firms and | individuals from Lancaster and York are | protesting against the construction ota dam, asking the Public Service Com- mission to withhold its approval until the power corporation agrees to build a road across the breast of the dam. The Public Service Commission indicated it will not act until further hearing.