Demonic Walco —Judge Harry 8. McDevitt is evidently out to give “the mitten” to Mitten Management in Philadelphia. —Have you done any gardening yet? We haven't and, come to think of it, ours will probably be done by proxy this year. —King Alfonso of Spain is headed for the grave yard of used Mon- archs. Sunday's election over there certainly put his number up. —Altitude and speed records in aeroplanes are being broken so con- sistently that there would seem to be little glory in establishing one. —The greatest circus of them 2’! is to exhibit in Altoona in June. We have forgotten the day, but what- ever it may be, we will not be at home then. —Jack Dempsey says he still loves Estelle Taylor and is only get- ting a divorce because she wants him to. In other words, “the Man- assa Mauler” has slipped into the role of Henry Peck. —A comparison of the newspaper publicity given the deaths of Knute Rockne, a foot-ball coach, and Nicholas Longworth, who creditably filled the second highest office in the government of our country, causes us to wonder as to what fame really is. —The professional base-ball sea- son has opened and a few weeks will tell how grest the depression has been. There are fans, however, who would “hold out” on their baby's milk money to insure themselves a seat in the bleachers at a base-ball game. —Not half as many fishing li- censes as usual have been issued up {40 this time in Centre county, A license costs a doHar sixty. These times that sum is hard to get. How- ever that may be, it probably isn't any harder than getting a dollar- | ~-It is generally admitted that | Mr. Hoover will be re-nominated for President by his party. It is also admitted that he will be mildly to do the “Andy” stunt: When asked if he is wet he is to say: “Yes and no; mostly no.” Scientists who once thought the results of their research was proof that there is no God finally have dug down to. the am The Chicago Municipal Election. Under ordinary conditions the elec- in a city, even | Even reversal of the political complexion of the community it carries little other evening. In his perfidious outside of the immedi- campaign to defeat Senator Norris’ i i i { managers, influenced fidence, sometimes select unfit or un- the purposes and at the election by the resentful publican party. voters. But the recent election of Anton and bigotry. J. Cermak to the office of Mayor of is different. It is a matter | of nation-wide importance, both po- | litically and morally. For several National committee. years the tide of crime has been essary for Mr. Lucas to poll the running high in all the large of the country and extending its evil | tentacles into the less populous communities, Philadelphia, Pitts-| burgh, Detroit, Los Angeles and oth- er cities east and west have been in- fested with gangs, gunmen, racket- eers and other groups of criminals for murder and pillage, These marauders hold human life as of little value and commit murder with the same freedom and boldness that a respectful merchant offers the Committee ¢f Immigration will his wares to the public. |be a Tammany Democrat.” Why The city of Chicago, with a popu- that statement should stampede the lation of nearly three and a-half South is left to conjecture, millions, has come to be the center Tammany may be nearly as bad of these organizations. Notwith- as the Republican organization in standing its highly developed in| Chicago and approach in y dressed to the people of the South It is not nec- it's opinions. He is the fountain ‘advice they will be liberally reward- ed in the future. “In the event the Democratic party controls the next Co " he said, the chairman of dustrial life, its splendid commercial | the rotten Republican machine equipment, its extraordinary trans- Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but portation facilities and its advanced there is no logical reason why the progressive spirit, that city has be- the voters of the South should ab- come the symbol of vice, the center hor one evil and fondly cherish of crime, and it's now defeated another that is greater. As a mat- Mayor, William Hale Thompson, has ter of fact the southern voters been charged with being the patron haven't much reason for concern and protector of gangs, gunmen asd | about the municipal government of racketeers and strangely enough New York or Pittsburgh or Chicago. seems to have taken pride in this The people of Chicago have already sinister distinction. His office has applied the proper remedy for munic- been an asylum for criminals and ipal corruption and New York may is intimates, official do the same. But the voters of all During Thompson's administration a National party selects a prac- of the government of Chicago, and tically convicted criminal to shape under his protection, Scar-faced Al |its policies and declare its purposes, Capone has created and developed | STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION. IL 17, 1931. popular candidates and are rebuked Hoover administration and the Re- Governor feels able to have And he declares matters run his way. |the issue of 1932 will be fanaticism pick the candidates. 35 . Along about July they'll all start burning up the gas and much of it will not be of the no-knocks variety, either. —On Sunday we saw a young wo- man on the streets whose skirts reached to her shoe tops, and she looked like the devil. We mention it merely because it seems only a few years ago that we saw the first girl in our neighborhood who was showing her knees to all who had the dust out of their eyes. Then we thought she looked like the devil. —Those Republican women who are in Washington staging a demon- stration for repeal of the Eighteefith amendment might get a large fol- lowing if past experiences didn't jus- tify the belief that when the next onal election in their Dis- tricts comes around most of them party's nominee, whether he be wet or dry. It is ou: belief that nearly all such movements get under way merely because there are so many people in the world who love to parade. —Judge McDevitt's order creating a trusteeship for the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co., was an unusual proceeding, especially since the cor- poration is admittedly solvent. There is general belief, however, that it McDevitt's ruling should sometimes does, to tempting an appetite tell our correspondent that there is no breakfast that we have ever sat down to that looks quite as good and is as good as a properly broiled salt mackerel, hashed brown potatoes pot of black coffee. The mackerel should be soaked twenty four hours before broiling, done toa chestnut brown then spread with butter and served on a dish garnish- ed with water-cress. Gosh, what a breakfast! A properly mixed dry martini, ten minutes before sitting down to it, doesn't detract a bit from its delectabllity, in that city the most complete or- | ganization of criminals in the his- tory of the world. He has been (able to defy the courts and nullify the laws of city, State and nation. | After accumulating millions of dol- lars by processes of murder, racket- leering and unlawful trading, Mr. had taken up his residence and assumed the life of a prince in | Florida. He was under the ban of |the law in Chicago but promptly | responded to a call to return and | organize the criminal element to support Thompson. There was no concealment about it. The service was openly declared by Capone and gratefully accepted by Thompson, The overwhelming defeat of Wil- liam Hale Thompson is therefore a moral as’ well as a partisan victory With full knowledge of his iniquities and after an intense and prolonged campaign, the Republican party nominated him as its standard bear- er and adopted him as its repre- sentative. Many men and women who have been affiliated with the party voted against him and thus contributed to his defeat. But the ——Former Governor Fisher re- cently announced his appointment of persons who will constitute the per- sonnel of the Pennsylvania Federa- tion of Historical Societies for 1831 and 1932, There is one member from Centre county. W.F, Dunaway, of State College, who is chairman of the committee on Historical Manu- committee on Needs of Pennsylvania. ——If the administration at Har- risburg will consent to eliminate the centralization feature of the elec- tion code there would be little oppo- sition to its passage. ——1It is desirable to put teeth in the election laws of the State but hardly necessary to locate them in Harrisburg. —The greatly increased number of Jefferson Day anniversaries may be regarded as a hopeful sign of the times. * but and a type of courage’ that amount- ! | ———Senator Borah wants to make (oil a public utility under govern- ment regulation. Public utilities are already making a good deal of | trouble. | | Death of Speaker Longworth. | The death of Speaker Nicholas Longworth has removed from the | official life the most potential figure in the reactionary forces of the |country. If it had occurred a year | earlier the legislation of the last ses- |sion of Congress would have been (vastly different. By the partisan |interpretation and ruthless enforce- 'ment of the powers of his office he not only made possible the passage ‘of the atrocious Grundy tariff law i prevented the enactment of |legislation which would have afforded speedier relief from ' economic dis- tress and hastened the restoration of industrial prosperity. It is universally agreed that Mr. Longworth was an exceedingly lik- able individual and of unimpeachable personal integrity. His great suc- cess as a political and parliamentary manager is largely ascribed to his popularity among his associates in Congress. But it was also due in considerable measure to his ability | | the means” and applied that phil- osophy regardless of consequences. That he got away with it may be attributed to his personal populari- | ty. Certainly it was sometimes surprising to the country. At the close of the last session the caucus of his party unanimous- ly nominated him for Speaker of the next Congress and his popularity might, probably would, have secured his election. But his death may al- ter conditions and enable the Demo- crats to acquire control of the or- tion, His district is close and in the present confusion in politics is more than likely to elect a Demo- crat to fill the vacancy. If that should happen Everett Kent, con- testant for the seat for the 30th district of Pennsylvania, might get justice and an award of the certifi- cate. ——American authors are accused of “dumping” literature on Denmark. There is no other way of getting rid of some of our output. ——Some of the States in Cen- tral Europe seem to be hunting trouble. on Perfidious Lucas Advises the Senate. Confusion in the Senatorial Situation. | The real purpose of the proposed Present indications point to an in- investigation of the government of teresting contest for the New York city was revealed in a nomination for United State Senator matter of limited or local radio speech made by Robert H. at the September primary this year, Republican events publican National committee, the Puddler Jim Davis would be the un- lems for the candidate of the party this year by over-con- tional organization and expresses ernor Pinchot is not inclined to con- policies of the cede that favor to him, and the Committee. These are the surviv- amounting to $108,669.65 sent to the State such With Mr. Davis’ popularity in The speech in question was ad- labor and fraternity circles it was no small job to get a candidate to the Governor emergency, was equal to that Major General Smedley trouble with his tongue that he is of wisdom and he tells all others eager to find a place in which he what to say and think. As the can wag it to his heart's content _ 0 spokesman of the administration he and have perfect immunity. from .. admonishes the South to stay away penalty. The Senate is just such & | sional Committee, says it Is DOL 81 | sieked eos: Mert Graton ian from Tammany and practically place. Under liberal rules of established custom for his promises that if they follow his that body the marine hero might ' nominate for the tell Secretary of the Navy Adams where toget off and even thumb his nose at Mussolini or any other for- eign prince or dictator. In that e of mind he was an easy vic- of Pinchot's lure. He readily run, situation is somewhat dis- a suprising rumor that y has aspirations to again Senatorial toga. In his he never had as much en- as during the brief period treaded the aisles of the Sen- ber and setting the vet- Moses, Watson, Bingham, Hale, Reed, Smoot and even Fess aside assumed command of the ma- chine. His heart the rumor has it, for a return of the “halcyon and vociferous” experience and Pin- chot doesn't dare stand in his A Without the reinforcement of Grundy Eodit ggs 5 : & et ‘Pinchot's legislative plans would i ei i a " and if supports Butler that would be the result. ——Former Governor Fisher is in- clined to resent aspersions recently cast upon him by Governor Pinchot, and that may make a differece. Public Service Investigation Finished. The Senate committee which has been investigating Governor Pin-| during his campaign. chot's charges against the Public Service Commission has submitted its report, though it was not unani- mously agreed upon. It recommends the dismissal of all members of the present board and the appointment by the Superior court of their suc- cessors. Necessary legislation to accomplish these purposes will be in- per troduced and supported by a ma- jority of the committee. If such legislation is defeated the friends of the Governor will be responsible. He expected much political advantage from the naming and control of these important officials. The campaign promise of an elec- tive body to control the utilities of the State was plainly a subterfuge to deceive the voters. This fact was revealed when, at the instance of one of his publicly paid personal agents, the elective provision of his fair rate bill was stricken out anda provision vesting the power of ap- pointment in the Governor inserted. The proposition to lodge this power in the Superior court is, therefore, ‘a disappointment to the Governor. !But it will remove the commission (from the atmosphere of politics, promote the purposes for which it was created and ought to be entire- ly satisfactory to the people. The Senate committee has per- formed valuable service in the inves- tigation which is completed with the submission of its report. It un- covered all the iniquities of a parti- san board created by the Republican machine and functioning in the in- terest of that machine. Largely upon the evidence brought out by the committe Judge McDevitt, of Philadeiphia, was able break up a criminal conspiracy which had been plundering that city for years, and if this service is supplemented by the needed improvement in the Pub- lic Service Commission it will have earned the gratitude of the people of Pennsylvania, —Prince and Princess Taka- matsu are having the time of their lives in New York and Washington, these days. Jt has been discovered that Switzerland had a navy in 1792 but it probably got lost climbing moun- tains, . of Mr. Longworth last week remov- He wants to il ! nounced that groundhogs | tected by State laws and at any time by land owners licensed huaters. Bach spring, the commission said they receive a number of reitive to the law on these animals. i —Earl Knepp, 24, of Loganton, | been sentenced to serve four | the Lycoming county jail and | of $100 for alleged vi laws. Knepp was arrested on by the Montgomery police, who say | Soke a ten-gallon jug of liquor in his car, 3 | Orguzisation-of the House by: tin caused by deaths nominal control, party caucus preceding |the next session of Congress. The most difficult of these will be the —An award of $5,980.64 to Mrs. Alfred selection of the Speaker. The death Pedace, widow of the man shot and kill- {ed by Louis DeMario at Brockway more {than a year ago, has been approved by | the new Workmen's Compensation Board. eading Eastern aspirants Chairman Arthur C. Dale handed down Se Jeuding are 3 S021 opinion validating the compensation Tilson, of Connecticut, now the Re. award. publican floor leader, and Represen- —Benjamin G. Eynon, Commissioner of tative Snell, chairman of the Rules Motor Vehicles, has announced that checks : | Hof o vacancies not upset their will several ed the one man who held the will of all factions. bers of the Longworth-Til- Revenue Department in payment for triumvirate which has ruled motor licenses and other fees incidental the House with an iron hand for to the operations of the Department several sessions For that Iason | Have beck Filintq By hol Su Yhikh they are in disfavor with the West- | they were drawn, chiefly because there ern Insurgents, who will be in as was not sufficient funds. much of a dictatorial position in the Lawrence Madden, 3, was seriously {ing mem and given as the official voice of the oppose him for the nomination but next Congress as the Senate Insur- injured at the Bast mine of the Philadel- | gents have been in the past Rep- phia and Reading Coal and Iron com- | resentative Beck, of ' pany at Ashland, when he plunged head- cities committee to get an expression of Darlington Butler has had so much has also been mentioned wn the long 155 feet down a timber chute. He ‘was taken to the Ashland State hospital where it was found he was suffering Representative Wood, of Indiana, from a fractured skull, internal injuries tary of the caucus and chairman and a possible fracture of the back. Republican National | speakership, but his prospects are | uncertain. not an gyiacked three North Braddock policemen Y 20 | when they attempted to remove the body {of an unidentified man killed by a Penn- preceding floor leader. This seems .yjvania passenger train. The dog was |to imply that there will be much ac- | gjtting beside the mangled body when ‘tive opposition to Mr, Tilson, who is (pe officers arrived. Donning gloves, | probably the strongest Eastern can- in, police finally caught the dog and | didate. Mr. Wood himself has been | {40k the man's body to the morgue. mentioned as a possible ves Licenses of 563 motor vehicle oper- 1 aon are ‘tors were revoked last month, Benjamin | candidate. Western mentioned for the |G. Eynon, Registrar of Motor Vehicles, |Mr. Hawley, of Oregon, chairman of = , onday |the caucus and of the Ways and on * wuD M4. number i . | 148 were revoked for driving while in- Means Committee; Mr. Hoch, of Kan- |, cated and permitting intoxicated per- ‘sas, and Mr. Ramseyer, of i dri | The November election gave thes 10U8 10 arive uaa 2 Tor ‘like to wu Republicans 218 total of 707 revocations were reported Democrats 216. for the first three mnoths of the year. fication of the House rules. ,—— | Is Pinchot in Roosevelt's Fringe” ? | From the Los Angeles Times. Gov. Pinchot of Pennsylvania has |at last made public the details of his plan for the regulation of public utilities, about whic ne talked much The scheme calls for creation of a “fair-rate board” of seven members, to be elected from seven districts into which the State is divided. The board will have jurisdiction over uillity rates aul valuations and must ure for treasury half of all net utility in excess Jot} Der cant and all iu excess of 3 cen “Lunatic | | | to re- charge unfair rates; but in practice it would remove also their incentive for operating or caprial economies. Under it they would have no motive to improve the service or make it elicient, 2° as it was good earn cent, Further, a et at of utilities is a board so elected bamboozled utilities or tically controlled, or ow that the com- fully protected 2 gk when commissions set that are confiscatory would have no protection Pinchot plan is about the worst form of organtzation for the public utilities that ——The State Highway is now advertising for bids for rebuilding suddenly struck ashes. They summoned the foreman and continued driving cau- tiously. Suddenly they broke through a shell of rock and there found a raging fire. —Litigation in the courts of Northamp- ton county, delayed for 43 years, ended on Monday when Judge William M. Mc- Keen signed an order directing the sale of the real estate of the late Philip | Labar, of Bangor. It consists of the old | Washington Hotel property in that town, (and it is valued at about $20,000. That | morning when names of all beneficiaries | were called in court none answered to | object to the sale. ~The State Supreme court has dis- ‘missed the petition of Everett Kent for | a mandamus to compel Judge William G. | Thomas, of Carbon county, to file with | the prothonctary of his court the returns |of the election for Congress in the | thirtieth district, as computed in the re- cent recount. Kent was the Democratic candidate for Congress in the district, including, Carbon, Monroe and North ampton counties, in the election of last November against William R. Coyle, Republican. —In two of the big producing wells in the Tioga county field, coal has been discovered by the drillers. In the Farr well at 200 feet a two-foot vein and in the Farr weu No. 1 a six-foot vein. | Tested out it burns well and is of semi- | bituminous quality. People of Tioga ‘county who made early leases of land for oil or gas, at a small figure, have illustrated how to do it. The county farm of 400 acres just outside the bor- ough limits of Farrington has been leased on competitive bid to Harry A. Erwin, appeal to the of Corning, N. Y., for a bonus of $3210, rates | 300,000 feet of gas free and the excess ) while the con- at prevailing wholesale within thirty days. lA second well, if No. 1 is not a pro- | ducer, must be started or a penalty of | $300 quarterly is to be exacted. In case is found ap. additional bonus of $1,- the vicinity of Indiantown and Manada Gaps in Dauphin county. The Mount Gretna site comprises approximately 2,-
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers