—Frank Gross, of Axe Mann, |
dropped in for a ‘“call” on Saturday
morning. If you don't know Frank |
we shall clarify what is to follow by
admitting that he is one of the most
expert carpenters we have ever
known and that is a pretty broad
statement, for we have employed
many of them in our varous build-
ing and repair undertakings. He
came in to “call’ us for a paragraph
that appeared in this column last
week in which it was shown that at
the price of fifty cents per bushel for
wheat a farmer who needs a carpen-
ter whose wage scale is eighty cents
an hour would have to give up two
hundred bushels of wheat to pay the
the carpenter for twelve and one-
half days of work.
Berides being a carpenter Frank is
somewhat of a philosopher and while
he was very sincere in his admission
that at present prices for farm stuff
farmers are not being adequately
paid for the products of their labor
he was not willing to admit that
carpenters are receiving too much
for their's.
That is the nub of the thought we
tried to express in the paragraph
that he came in to discuss. Car-
penters, masons, bricklayers, plaster-
ers and other skilled mechanics are
certainly not getting more than we
hope they can get and it is only
human nature for everyone to strive
to get all he or she can. But some-
thing has always seemed wrong with
an economic system that works out
so that men or women of equal intel.
ligence and equal aptitude for the
vocation they follow should receive
such widely varying returns for the
products of their toil.
Some will say that the law of
supply and demand governs such
things, and possibly it does in most
cases, but we contend that in the
present situation it doesn’t. For
the carpenter, the mason the brick-
layer, the plasterer, et. al, must have
the products of the farmer on which
to live, while the farmer could defer
the need he might have for the
craftsmanship of any of them.
suming that this contention will be
granted we swing around the circle
and admit that the only reason the
farmer is getting such little return
for his labor is that he is producing
#0 much that the carpenter, the
mason, the bricklayer, the plasterer,
can’t consume it all and, consequent-
ly, buys it at his own price, because
it is a drug on the market.
So we have scribbled through four
PAaragra) and gotten nowhere.
Our house of cards appears to be
Hig up ca th on thoughts
as these: What if fifty per cent. of
the farmers of the country should
suddenly decide to become carpen-
ters, masons, bricklayers, plasterers
and other mechanics? Certainly
that percentage is, mone too high in
estimating the number of farmers
who have the ability to go into oth-
er vocations. Then there would be
too many artisans and too few
farmers and the shoe would be on
the other foot, and the mechanic
would be thinking the same of the
farmer today as the farmer is think-
ing of the mechanic.
And what if the farmer should
decide this fall—and we think he
ought to do it—to sow only half as
much wheat as he has ever sowed,
eat up half of his cattle, hogs and
chickens and, next spring, seed only
half of the ground usually devoted
to corn, oats and potatoes? He could
live just as he has always lived,
frugally, but the carpenter's eighty
cents an hour, the bricklayers, the
mason’s and the plasterer’s dollar and
a quarter wouldn't amount to more
than thirty cents when they came to
buy bread, vegetables, beef, pork,
chickéns, eggs and milk. Everyone
has to have them, while the farmer
can stave off the need for most
everything others produce except
clothing, sugar, coffee, a few spices
fw
i
2
c
o
ce very
§
Thus we have worked down to the
point where we uncover the Frank
Gross philosophy. He thinks they
ought to organize. We do too, but
farmers, because they are so isolated
something for themselves.
What the farmer needs is what
Frank Gross suggested: Organization.
Sense enough to understand that he
and his co-tillers of the soil hold in
their hands something as deadly as
poison gas—the decision as to wheth-
er the carpenter, the mason, the
plasterer or any of the rest of us
shall live or die.
Incidentally, Frank asked us why
we never wrote a “Column.” Since
18904 we have been under the de-
lusion that we had been writing one.
i
As-
. | several
TC
|
ry
According to press correspondents
in Washington President Hoover is
disappointed over the failure of the
bargain between “Scarface Al" Ca-
pone and the Department of Justice.
Capone had been indicted on five or
six hundred counts of violating the
income tax law and the prohibition
enforcement act. Much time and
great pains had been expended in
securing evidence against him and
finally an agreement was made that
he plead guilty to some of the
charges and accept a nominal im-
prisonment sentence as full punish-
ment. The matter was hailed asa
great achievement of administrative
force and legal ingenuity. Capone
had been able to defy the law and
the courts for many years.
The Republican leaders promptly
set about to capitalize the incident
for campaign purposes. Columns of
newspaper space were filled with
the details of the long pursuit and
successful accumulation of evidence,
and the close relation the adminis-
| tration had to these activities. It
was the abundant fruit of a plan
formed in the engineering mind of
the President and not only proved
| his ability as an administrator but
established his fidelity to duty, his
{courage and determination. Other
efforts to bring Capone to justice
{had failed but when Hoover set
‘himself to the task the defense col-
lapsed. Like Davy Crockett's coon
| this master criminal “bowed to the
| inevitable.”
| But when the time came to put
the agreement in force Federal Judge
| Wilkerson balked. “There can be
‘no bargaining with a Federal court,”
‘he said. The district attorney who
| negotiated the deal protested that
the agreement had the sanc
the Department of Justice in
ington and inferentially the approval
But the Judge
was obdurate. A criminal who de.
serves a sentence of thirty or forty
years could not escape with a two
or three year imprisonment with
his consent and he called the bar-
gain off. It may result lao thees-
a on of the integrity of
the courts, and it knocks the props
from under a fine piece of propa-
ganda.
——China is preparing to present
Colonel and Mrs. Lindbergh with a
special medal on their arrival there.
But the entire population of this
country will give them their hearts
on their arrival home.
One Fool Project Disposed Of.
After two years study of the sub-
ject the War Department engineers
have completed a report that the
proposed Nicaragua canal would be
expedient but of little value. That
terprise that it would be liable to
destruction by an earthquake any
day is refuted, and though it might
be of some service as a defensive
expedient it would contribute in
very small measure to the commer-
cial interests of the country. A
saving of a few days in the passage
from one coast to the other would
hardly be worth the cost of con-
struction, which is estimated at
$750,000,000.
It may be assumed that this re-
port will not only dispose of the
project for a considerable period of
time will stifle the alibi by
d American marines
have been quartered in Nicaragua
for several years. The real purpose
of the marines there has been to
protect investments made by Ameri-
can adventurers and the pretense
that they were to guard laborers em-
ployed in digging a ship way from
the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans to
accommodate an imaginary increase
in commerce is false and fraudulent.
The Panama canal and the existing
railway facilities are ample to serve
this purpose for many years to
come.
Some jingoes and a few contrac-
tors may still cherish the absurd
idea that such a water way is need-
ed now, or may be needed in the fu-
ture, to protect the country from
hostile enemies. But if we are sin-
cere in our various movements in
the interest of world-wide and all-
time peace there will be no danger
from that source. The Paris pact,
which President Hoover has extolled
as “the greatest diplomatic achieve-
ment in history,” and the London
conference of last year and the
Geneva conference to be held next
year for decrease in armaments,
ought to relieve all of our minds of
fear of hostile invasion.
———Senator Capper, of Kansas,
had a great birthday party, the
other day. There were 15,000 peo-
ple present but none of the members
of the Farm Board were among
them.
is to say, the objection to the en-|
STATE RIGHTS AN
There is an ominous note in the
speech delivered by Governor Pin-
chot to the officers of the National
Guard, at Mt. Gretna, the other
evening. According to the Asso.
ciated Press report of the event the
Governor said “he would not hesi-
tate to call out the Guard if threat-
ened trouble from unemployment,
strikes and disorder in the western
part of the State materializes.”
Whether he intended to admonish
the starving miners in the bitumi-
nous coal regions to behave or toen-
courage the mine owners to adhere
to their present policies is left to
conjecture. It is clearly susceptible
of either interpretation.
Congressional investigations and
other agencies of
| distressful conditions in the soft coal
producing sections of Pennsylvania
inquiry into the
D FEDERAL UNION.
PA., AUGUST 7, 1931.
I ———_——
The Folly of Tariff Tax
| In an address delivered at the
opening of the Institute of Politics
|at Williamstown, the other day,
| Newton D. Baker sounded a true note
‘when he said: “It is fair to say
that barrier tariffs have been erect-
ed on every new frontier and many
‘of them are provocative, some of
them frankly hostile and all of them
an encumbrance upon that field of
freedom in which progress and peace
can best function. The spirt in
which many of these tariffs have
been enacted has been the war
| spirit.” These expressions of ani-
mosity among nations not only im-
| pair industrial prosperity but ulti-
mately lead up to physical conten-
tion.
in this country than in any other.
| Since the big war the trend of in-
This form of folly is more obvious |
NO. 31.
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN CENTKE COUNTY
Items taken from the Watchman issue
of August 12, 1881.
|
|
|
tion, held in the court house, last
Taesday, was the largest and most
harmonious gathering of its sort we
‘have ever known. The
| capable and respectable gentlemen
!were chosen as the party's candi-
| dates for the county offices to be
filled in November: Associate Judges,
John K. Runkle, J. Gibson Larimer;
sheriff, Thomas J. Dunkle; treasurer,
D. C. Keller; prothonotary, J. C.
Harper; register, James A. McClain;
recorder, Frank E. Bible, commis-
sioners, A. J. Griest, John Wolf;
| auditors, John S. Proudfoot, F. P.
| Musser.
—H. G. Cronister, well known
farmer near Martha Furnace, died
|of heart disease on July 6th, last.
He was 64 years, 5 months and 5
have invariably placed the blame on dustrial development has been inthe gays old.
the mine owners. Governor Pin-
direction of mass
operation. Im-
chot, in his campaign propaganda, proved machinery and intense effort james A. McCalmont,
—Elizabeth McCalmont, relict of
late of Ma-
‘gave endorsement to this idea and by individuals like Henry Ford and rion township, died on the Sth inst,
abolished the coal and iron police as
| proof of his
But his voluntary offer of military
protection to the system thus anath- medium of absorption is the foreign |
ematized is perplexing, to say the
least. It implies a reversal of his
| attitude on the subject and a com-
plete surrender to the force of cor- that is falsely christened over-pro-
porate cupidity and capitalistic tyr-
anny.
The Governor said in his speech to
| the guardsmen that “there are ru-
corporations like General Motors
‘home consumption, and the only
market. But the Grundy tariff law
(has practically closed that market
and caused accumulation of stocks
|duction. The logical consequence
{is the closing of mills and factories
|and the increase of unemployment.
| The administration at Washington
| after a protracted illness. She was
belief in the theory. have produced vastly in excess of 76 years old and the mother of Mrs.
| William Shortlidge, of this place.
—Dr. Brown, the corn and bunion
extractor, is stopping at the Brock-
| erhoff house, where you can have
| yours removed—if you have any.
—On Sunday last W. E. Hoster-
man died at his home in Hublers-
| burg, leaving a widow and a
| family of children About a week
previous he suffered a slight wound
|on his nose, erysipelas set in and his
i
‘mors flying on the possibility of and the Republican party profess to death followed. He was 39 years old.
disorder during the coming win
| Something more than rumors have
‘already been heard and disorder has
| resulted in death in Washington
| county and damage in other coun-
ties in that section of the State. It
'is also probable that during the com-
| government has taken any steps to
| improve conditions or ameliorate the
| suffering which provokes disorder.
But Governor Pinchot might have!
|found some other form of express-
|ing his purposes in the matter. ;
i
——One thing may be
as a settled fact. ‘That is’
ocrats are not going to allow the
Republican National committee to
select our candidate next year.
Politics in Philadelphia.
The first skirmish of the conflict
between the Republican factions in
Philadelphia resulted in a substantial
victory for the Vare gang. That is,
the candidate for Mayor of the Hall-
Cunningham contingent was scared
out of the fight by a barrage of
charges that he represented a bunch
of contractors. That left the candi-
date of the Vare-Salus combination,
formerly the favorite contractors,
without opposition. Having figured
that a four-year term at $18,000 a
| year is better than a two-year term
lat $10,000, the Vare candidate, to
employ his own language, ‘threw
his hat into the ring,” under pre-
tense of serving the public.
The office of Mayor of Philadelphia
is about like that of King in Italy.
It carries plenty of dignity, reason-
ably generous compensation, plenty
of first-page pictures and abundance
of opportunities for oratory. But
the Mayor has little to do with the
government of the city. That service
is performed by the city council in
conjunction with the county com-
missioners and other county officials.
Therefore if the Vare organization
is able to sscure control of council
and the county offices, it will have
little reason to care whether the
Mayor is for or against its adminis-
trative or political plans and pur-
poses.
Present indications are that the
Vare candidate for Mayor is entirely
indifferent as to the character or af-
filiations of his associates on the
ticket. If Mr. Vare chooses for the
important service of governing the
city the political pirates who have
been looting the treasury for years,
it will be all right with the candi-
date for Mayor. As was revealed
in hig wise choice between the office
of Mayor and that of Congress,
“Hampy’ “can always take care of
himself.” What happens to the
people of Philadelphia is unimport-
ant so long as he enjoys the salary,
privileges and perquisites of Mayor.
——The infirmity of Thomas A.
Edison gave the whole country a
shock, the other day, and the entire
world will hope for his speedy re-
covery.
——New York cops are instructed
by Mayor Walker to shoot gangsters
on sight. That may be a good pol-
icy if only gangsters are fired at.
——There are so many flyers in
the air, heading in one direction or
another, that it is almost impossible
to keep track of them.
be striving for world-wide and en-
|during peace while it is pursuing
| policies that make for war. When
we adopt measures that destroy the
industrial progress of large groups
(of people in France, or Italy, or Eng-
land we are not moving in the di-
tion of ing winter distress will increase, rection of peace. On the comtrary,
Wash. for neither the Federal nor the State we are creating enmities that soon-
er or later culminate in hostile con-
And the folly of it is that
us.
press the “dog in the manger” meth-
od of spreading mischief.
was the Hon. J. Banks Kurtz, of Al.
and member of Congress from
twenty-first district for five
Kurtz assured us
at the Watchman
tics he didn't say
to Centre coun-
leads us to believe that
J. Banks was “ "us a bit
when he let go the idea that his vis-
it to Centre county was merely cas-
ual. The new apportionment of Penn-
sylvania has upset a lot of Congres-
sional apple-carts. Centre, Clearfield
and Blair now constitute the new
23rd district. J. Mitchell Chase, of
Clearfield, and Mr. Kurtz, of Blair,
if both desire to continue their con-
men can’t occupy one seat in Con-
gress. Mr. Kurtz knows that and we
that's what Centre county has
for his visit on Monday.
in
E
§
not intend to
Congress. However, it is said
=
g
SEE
S3EE
Es
is
§2%
1
:
i
——Wickersham wants more mo-
ney to continue the crime investiga-
tion, but would like some one else
to do the work.
———Maybe Governor Pinchot is
dodging politicians rather than con-
serving his health by his frequent
vacation trips.
~————Calvin Coolidge in the race
for President next year would be
surprising, but stranger things have
happened.
—The Sons of Italy of Pennsyl-
vania have decided to erect a monu-
ment to George Washington. at Rome.
gressional careers, find themselves
confronted with the fact that two
rumor here to the effect
—Charley Nelson, a 16 year old
Philipsburg boy was playing with a
toy pistol recently. It ed
unexpectedly and the missile pene-
trated his chest just above the heart.
Although seriously hurt itis thought
he will recover.
—Wheat is $1.10, corn 50cts., oats
30cts., eggs 12% cts, butter 20cts.,
and ham 18cts.
—William Lyon, of Howard, who
was a candidate for nomination for
commissioner, is not only a good
Democrat, but a good loser, as well,
as was attested by the following
little pleasantry he got off when he
ua Jack Griest and Joiimny
the two successful contestan
id: “Mr. oh ! to
to run with a Lyon, but
u'll have to be content with
i vi
going
it seems
—The Misses Mary and Jennie
Ayres, daughters of Bucher Ayres
Esq., of Philadelphia, and formerly
of Pennsylvania Furnace, are in
town for a visit with the Stewart
Lyon family on Curtin street.
—Benjamin Gentzel met with a
very serious accident on Wednesday.
The colt he was driving frightened
ran away and upset the buggy;
throwing Ben out head first. A
Jie) Salk waa Ot 2 bia dead and
he to be carried to the office of
Dr. Hibler for treatment.
—J. Gibson Larimer, of Pleasant
Gap, who had just been nominated
by the Democrats for associate judge,
is the gentleman whom Col. Seeley,
a former editor of the Watchman,
always called “Pleasant Gib.”
~Editor's Note—These items are
abbreviated this week for the very
good reason that there is little but
county convention news in the edi-
tion from which they have been
taken. Almost the entir¢ papor is
devoted to a récord of the balloting
for the various offides. old
county conventions of délegates to
select party tickets were great
events in those days. In fact we
note that on Tuesday the Garman
house, alone, had one hundred and
forty guests for dinner. Incidental-
ly, we have long been convinced that
the direct primaries have not work-
ed out as it was thought would
when the Act was passed. e be-
lieve that the old system of delegate
elections and county conventions in-
sured a more carefully selected lot
of candidates for local offices than
the present method does.
-
“Hampy” Moore the Best Bet.
From the Clearfield Republican
Philadelphia's fight between the
blican factions, the former close
tical bunch known as the “Band
of Brothers,” is likely to be settled
by compromise. For a time the
prospects were good for one crowd
getting all the offices and dic
who and why. Later events u
the plans and there was another ap-
parent element about to take con-
trol and eliminate those they did
not wont or were antagonistic to,
for the moment. Now look
different again. Neither crowd
wants to Republican factional
fights in elphia cost big. mon-
ey. The great trouble A to the
man or men or aggregation willing
to “carry the and furnish the
necessary wherewith.” Former May-
or J. Hampton Moore looks today as
the most probable man for the
Mayoralty nomination. Who will
Goeuny places on the same ticket
with him is the next important ques-
tion. Sure it is thera will be con-
cessions, plenty of them, for the here-
Josue cngaty who ae not want
oore | placated, if they
to accept him and go along Yor all
they are worth.
| Caledonia
| Heistand, a Columbia youth, who weighs
| almost 300 pounds,
and wore out a new pair of shoes before
‘he found his way back to the
{ froma where he started his walk.
following |
|SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE
—Columbia county prisoners who ride
{to jail in their own cars to begin sen-
| tences must pay fines and costs before
| they can expect release.
| —Miss Martha Butler, former chief
{clerk in the car department of the Le-
| high valley railroad at Hazleton, on Tues-
| day became a call boy, the first of her
| sex to hold that position.
—Losing his way and
eleven hours through the
in Franklin
tramping for
mountains near
county, Edward
lost fifteen pounds
cottage
—A 365 pound ox roasted by Machael
Probst, of Lockport and his cousin,
Harry Probst, of Castanea, was a fea-
ture of the first annual outing of the
Clinton county Voters League, which
| was held at the Legion Park, near Mill
—The Democratic county conven-|
Hall, Friday. The principal speaker
was John A. McSparran, State Secretary
of Agriculture, who discussed ‘'‘Reduc-
tion of Taxes."
—The safe in the office of District At-
torney John L. Butt, at Gettysburg, waa
robbed of silverware valued at $1500 dur-
ing the noon hour Tuesday. When Miss
Hazel Bream, stenographer, returned from
lunch she saw a tall, thin man wearing
a panama hat leaving the front door of
the building. She discovered papers
from the safe scattered about the floor
and the silverware missing.
—The motive for the suicide of Lucy
Pityoniak, 17, Westport, on Monday,
honor student at Renovo high school In
June, remains undetermined while cor-
| oner’s attaches announce no inquest ls
| planned. The girl left the supper table
at her home and went to her room.
| Shortly afterward, others of the family
heard a shot. They found Lucy dying,
a .32 calibre bullet wound in her heart,
| authorities reported. She had just re-
| turned from a visit to Philadelphia and
| was apparently in excellent health.
—A motor transport service for freight
and merchandise between Lock Haven
and Philadelphia by two different routes
| with a number of other branch lines was
| proposed in an application filed by the
| Follmer Trucking company, of Milton.
| One route would operate by way of Wil-
| liamsport, Sunbury, Harrisburg, and Lan-
caster, and the other would go by the
way of Sunbury, Pottsville, Allentown,
and Reading. Branch lines would be
from Lancaster to Ephrata, Northumber-
land to Berwick, and Montandon to Mif-
flinburg.
| —Reports of the work during the past
| year, recommendations for the ensuing
| six months period, and serious consid-
| eration of finances, featured the annual
| meeting of the directors of the Central
| Pennsylvania Odd Fellows Orphanage at
the home, near Sunbury, last Thursday.
| That there was an operating deficit dur-
ling the past year is contained in the
report of the finance committee. Expen-
ditures for the year totaled $73,971.74,
and the deficit was the largest in some
time. The home has been operating at
a loss for the last ten years, it was
pointed out.
—In a report to sheriff C. R. Wenker,
of Clinton county, Frank Hedge, a bar-
ber, of Lock Haven. slieges 8.
Probst endeavored to ‘‘frame him" by
placing liquor in his car. Hedge also
i
a little Wolf,” Mr. L; is a tall alleges Webb hit him over the shoulder
gentleman and Mr, olf a very with a club without cause. He sald the
short man. reason he was being ‘“‘framed’ is because
he is a Federal witness in a wet case.
Hedge turned a gallon of whisky he says
was put in his car over to the sheriff.
Webb was indicted May last in Federal
court on a conspiracy charge and is out
on $3000 bail and still on the police
force, <€
—Three members of Lock Heaven's city
police force were taken to the Clinton
county jail on Tuesday, on warrants
sworn out by two agents of the United
States Department of Justice. The three
officers, along with another policeman and
five other city residents, are now under
bail on charges of conspiracy to violate
the prohibition laws. They are to be
tried by the Federal court at Willlams-
port in October. The three policemen
arrested Tuesday were motorcycle patrol-
man William T. Devling, taken inta
custody while on duty; patrolman George
R. Webb and motorcycle patrolman Mar-
tin J. Peters.
—Philip Magno, 61, of Hazleton, died
Saturday, was buried on Monday in &
$15,000 casket weighing 1350 pounds which
h& bought two years ago and kept If
storage for his funeral. He also had
contracted with an undertaker and spec-
ified the pallbearers were to receive $5
each. He directed that thé automobile
following the hearse be unoccupied, but
this part of the arrangements was not
carried out. Such a great crowd turned
out that an officer rode in the car be-
hind the hearse so as to reach the church
ahead of the jam. Thousands watched
the burial in the parish Mag-
no for years was a janitor and elevator
[I ey
—Five men, armed with pistols and
three sawed off shot guns, lined forty-
two men against the walls of a cigar
store and poolroom at Bristol, Pa., early
last Friday morning, and robbed them of
money and jewelry, estimated to be
worth between four and five thousand
dollars. The robbers spent more than
fifteen minutes searching their victims
thoroughly to see that no articles of
value were overlooked. The gunmen,
police sald, were so sure of themselves
that they shut off the motor of their pow-
erful sedan and left no lookout while
they were committing the holdup. After
tossing the loot into two canvas bags,
the robbers jumped into their car and
drove toward Philadelphia.
—When a bolt of lightning struck the
home of Mrs. Rebecca J. Goss, at New-
town, near Osceola Mills, during the
thunder storm Wednesday afternoon,
July 29, it ripped away half of the
chimney, and sent an electrical charge
through the building that knocked the
enamel off the zinc kitchen sink, and
tore open a number of water pipes, The
stove pipes, also broken by the shock
which rocked the house, spread smoke
and soot through all the rooms. None
of the occupants of the house received any
physical injury. Mrs. Goss, who had
been washing dishes at the sink, went
out of the kitchen a few minutes before
the lightning struck the house. An es-
timate of the damage to the house has
not been fixed. There was no insuranec
to cover the loss.
el