|) 1885 Hel alice: LOTT 1931 The that P. Gray Meek edited and published for fifty-seven years and now published by his Estate at the Watchman Printing House, Bellefonte, Pa. Editors. GEORGE R. MEEK CHARLES L. GATES MARY GRAY MEEK ROR, ,———— Published weekly, every Friday morn- Te 0 communications A Entered at the postoffice, Belle- blished accompanied by the real og. Pa. as second class matter. Pume of the writer. ~Until In ordering thange of address always give the old as wel as the new address. is important that the publisher be notified when a subscriber “wishes the paper discontinued. In all such cases A sample the subscription must be paid up to be sent without cost date of cancellation, ee a SEPTEMBER 25, 1931. : $1.50 «- 1.7% - 2.00 BRAIN STORM. A few months ago Governor Pinchot gave unmistakable evi- dence of intention to call an extra session of the General Assembly. | He was smarting under the defeat of his fantastic proposal to have what he was pleased to call a “Fair Rate Board” substituted for the | Public Service Commission. For a while the Governor had some backing for the project, but as it became generally understood that such a change mean't nothing more in substance than placing in his hands the sole-right to “hire and fire” at will the public lost interest in the matter. It wasa crazy! notion in the first place, because merely changing the name of a commission could accomplish no change in its character. If the Governor had been given the right to “hire and fire” at will he could have seen to it that his “Fair Rate Board,” or what ever new name the Public Service Commission might have been given, would be 1 the diabolical intentions stuffed with members ready to carry out a he had of harassing the public utilities of the Commonwealth. Even granting his intentions were good it would have been a dangerous enactment, for the same power placed in Pinchot’s hands last fall might have been passed to a Governor elected by the public utilities three years hence. There always was a suspicion in the minds of the well inform- ed that the Governor's purpose in calling an extra session was not so much for the public weal as it was to further his own ambition | to control the Republican delegates from Pennsylvania to the next | national convention. « The matter of spending a quarte a General Assembly together to do in the fall what it had refused to do in the spring probably never occurred to him to be a waste of public money. It wouldn't to a man with a mentality that doesn’t click to the ridiculousness of begging alms for stricken (7?) Penn-/ sylvania from the Federal government one week and raising the sal- | ary of his wife's secretary from $3600.00 to $4200.00 the next. He is so self centered that he failed to realize that his anti-pub- lic utility platform was dying on his hands. Declining stock values, reductions in and passing of dividends awoke the public, however, to realize that industry is staggering un- der a load that it cannot carry if it is to be continually harrassed by laws made for the exploitation of political opportunists. While Gov- ernor Pinchot did not bring this condition about certainly his bally- hoo was aiding and abetting it. When he discovered that he became strangely silent about the “Fair Rate Board” panacea and immediately set about to find anoth- er excuse for calling an extra session. He just has to keep his name on the front pages. At the recent American Legion relief-plan conference in At- Jantic City the Governor's Adjutant General let it be known that an extra session. of the General Assembly will be called—not for the purpose of bedeviling public utilities, but to provide jobs for the jobless. ; “Jobs for the Jobless” should not be banked on by people who last fall heard the Governor offer automobile licenses at cut-rates. He now proposes to justify his quarter of a million sxpondivare in calling an extra session and mortgaging our children for a ten million dollar bond issue in order to furnish jobs for us. Ten million dollars would only be a drop in the bucket by way of relief in Pennsylvania. When we have forty-million surplus in the treasury now why burden posterity with payments of bonds | that there is no necessity for floating? And what if posterity were called upon to pay such bonds just at a time when it might be in| the same depressed condition we are today ? An extra session of the General Assembly could serve no other purpose than that of keeping Pinchot in the public eye. A bond issue, however, would not be legal in Pennsylvania, un- less approved by a vote of the electorate. By whatever juggling of the laws of the State the Governor might resort to to accomplish such | a purpose there would be no money in sight for relief before next spring. By that time, if fundamental economic conditions have not righted themselves, the big interests back of President Hoover will have created a fictitious demand for labor and the unemployment situation will cease to be a smoke screen for political charlatans. When the public discovered that the cost of electricity in the average American home is no more per day than the cost of a good cigar or a dish of ice cream it realized that Pinchot was making a mountain out of a mole hill. When it understands that voting money out of the public treasury to make jobs for the unemployed is a step toward the dangerous policy of paternalism it will grow | just as cold to his latest proposal as it did to the subterfuge he re- | sorted to to make himself the overlord of the public utility corpora-| tions. We do not minimize the serious condition of the country. is on the verge of panic, but we have brought it on ourselves and eleventh hour panaceas are not going to cure it. The trouble has | been cumulative for years. Our manner of living has been raised | to a higher plane, but before raising it we forgot to lay a proper foundation on which it might durably stand. Legislatures can’t bol- | ster up such a mushroom growth. It is a problem for the in-| dividual and the only legislation that might contribute help by way | of permanently solving it lies in a reduction of the cost of govern- | ment. | Instead of that, Governor Pinchot now proposes to calimg an extra session that can do nothing. And ali prates about the woes of the taxpayers of Pennsylvania announce | ments are coming out of Harrisburg daily to the effect that he has! raised the salary of this that or the other of his already well paid | sycophants, It cost Centre county $74,466.78 less to conduct her affairs in| 1927 than it did in 1930. A jump of such an amount in three years can scarcely be accounted for in any other way than mismanage- | ment. What have the taxpayers received for the extra price they | have had to pay? | -_— r of a million dollars in calling | It add to it by | the while he! | | i The thing that Centre county needs more than anything else is a new Board of Commissioners. A Board with the courage to stand up against the raids on the treasury that are being made the imposition of new offices, be eliminated if there were less thought of of what the taxpayers are able to bear. | | partisan politics and more ‘press the executive mind. On the ly through | county for the liberal su and costs that for the most part could Nd me, 1 pport they Watson Opposes Tax Increase. Senator Watson, of Indiana, floor leader of the Republican party, is very much opposed to an increase of taxes, not because it would be inimical to public interest but for the reason that it “would lead to the enactment of a dole, unemploy- | ment legislation and other radical | or why one result would follow the other or in what way the tax fav- ored by Senator Reed, of Pennsyl- vania, is more objectionable than the tariff system of larceny which he favors in common with Reed and Smoot. A sales tax is an in- direct method of robbing the con | sumer but a tariff tax accomplishes the same purpose in precisely the | same manner. It is “a distinction without a difference. i As President Green, of the Amer- i jcan Federation of Labor, states, a of sales tax “is unfair and unjust” be- cause it discriminates against the r and in fa or of the rich. “The cost of government should rest more heavily upon those who re- ceive the greatest benefits,” he adds, which is not only logical but true. But the tariff tax works precisely the same injustice and is equally secretive in its processes. Nobody knows how much tax is levied up- on a suit of clothes but everybody realizes that it is considerable and that most of it goes to the dealer instead of the treasury. But the mention of a sales’ tax makes Sen- ator Watson's heart bleed while a | tariff tax floods him with saticfac- tion. Senator Watson had just emerged from the President's sanctum when he gave out his views on the sub- ject, but unlike Senator Fess, on another occasion but under similar circumstances, he didn't claim to ex- i contrary he declared the President's mind is “open” on the subject. “Ido pot think any revision will be nec- essary,” he said, “as long as the Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Mellon, is on the job and can sell short-term securities.” As long as it is possible to borrow there is no necessity to pay and the late Mr. Micawber couldn't have express- ed the philosophy in plainer terms. — A ————— —Monday was the first day of fall and it was ninety in the shade. Since we haven't the wherewithal to flit to the Riviera the Bermudas, Florida or California we wouldn't hold it against the weather man if the twenty-first day of December were to be just as hot. It isn't buying coal that irritates is so much. It is shoveling it and car- rying out the ashes. —“Fatty” Arbuckle was arrested in Holloywood on Sunday. While we are sorry that “Fatty” has got- ten into the toils of the law again we were glad to hear that he still among the living. There man who worked years to build a career and let “wine women and song” bust in in one night. — Commissioner McGovern, the Pinchot leader in Allegheny county, is scared stiff lest he might be counted out of his primary victory of last week. If counting Pinchot ‘in last fall was sauce for the gan- |g whole took no further action in der counting McGovern out this year ought to be the same for the goose. | —Why a recount of the votes in Pittsburgh? Everything seems to be so rotten out there that no more faith would be had in the accuracy of a recount than there seems to be in that of the original tally. ——— CP ——————— THANKS. J. M. Keichline hereby casts a vote of thanks to the Democrats and Republcans of the South and West wards of Bellefonte for having voted to make him the nominee of | th parties for the office of Justice of the Peace. J. M. KEICHLINE i I desire to express my apprecia- tion to the ple of Centre county for their delightful treatment to me during my campaigning, and the | very liberal support they gave me. Considering that I ran my cam- paign absolutely alone, without any [J tion back of me, I shall never forget the pleasant greetings I had from so many, as they met met at their doors. With very kindest VRE oer The campaign for the nomination for sheriff was a spirited but friend- contest, and I enjoyed every mo- ment of it because I formed many new acquaintances whose friendship I treasure as the most precious els in my urn of remembrance. I said nothing unkind about any of my opponents; and, in turn, I hold nothing against them I would ask them to retract. This leads me to the conclusion that there is as much honor in politics as there is in any other game, if properly con- | ducted. I have learned much of the ts and wishes of the people of | Centre county, and I hereby pledge | ! | myself, if elected, to perform the | functions of the high office of Sheriff | to the best of my ability. Let us| | continue to the end the willing spirit | of give and take, and earnestly strive to preserve our honor, which | is a more lasting satisfaction than | anything within our reach. i Thanking the people of Centre remain confidingly, Your friend, HARRY V. KEELER » | He doesn't indicate how 4p | be marked differences of opinion on FIFTY YEARS AGO IN CENTRE COUNTY Items taken from the Watchman issue White House Censorship; No! From the Philadelphia Record. The newspapers of America will pot submit to such a censorship 88 of September 30, 1881. President Hoover proposes, in his — usual roundabout way in such mat- | — John Mullen, a clerk in Wolfe's | store at Centre Hall, came pretty near going up the spout on Sunday. 'He had a sudden and severe pain in ‘the region of the breadbasket. A friend suggested that laudanum was {goon 208 such whereupon ‘John, instead of taking a few drops, swallowed a great gulp from a bot- tle at hand. He became stupefied ‘almost at once. Dr. Alexander was called and werked with him all And the American people would not wish to have them do so. The President is annoyed—because told the people about the ers urged him to ex- tend the war-debt moratorium. Also, about his possible readiness when Congress reconvenes to let it be known to the legislators that he would not kill an act legalizing 4 ‘day and men took relays in walking Annoyed, because the papers have him pack and forth between Centre performed their function of promot- Hall and Old Fort. By keeping ing government of the people for him moving they kept him awake the people. ‘and at about ten o'clock at night he The bankers urged Mr. Hoover to began to regain consciousness of his extend the moratorium. We have surroundings. r word for it—the word of men . unchallengeable | —The Centre County Sabbath integrity—that | he not only discussed such exten- School Association will meet in the sion, but finally favored it. If the White House had way, one of its secretaries would have handed the newspa declaration that the moratorium was not discussed. The White House juggles with news. It has even at times doctor- ed the news, as when it issued an advance summary of the findings of the Wickersham Commission on pro- hibition, in which those find were represented as dry, whereas in fact they were anti-Eighteenth amendment. Responsible newsgathering is one of the most vital functions of pub- lic life today. Swift dissemination of news thus gathered is a public service of supreme importance. The public welfare depends on it. Busi- ness depends on it for successful operation in these times of keen competition. News of Government activities and of policies under consideration should not be suppressed but spread through the land for the Govern- ment’'s own good as well as the good of the people. There must be some regulation of the output. A Government feeling its way must not be represented as committed to a policy which it may or may not actually adopt. And that is where responsibility in journalism comes in. Reporters and editors are always willing to co-operate with Government, to withhold publication until the right time. But that readiness does not and never will, as long as America re- tains its devotion to free speech, become readiness to accept censor- ship. thei | Tuesday, October 11. Mrs. Blair, wife of Gen. Wm. H. Blair, of this place, died very sud- denly about noon last Tuesday. A heart affection is said to have been the cause. —Wheat is going up. $1.35 per bushel. —Lawrence Cooney had the mid- dle finger of one of his hands badly mashed, while working on the foun- dation for the new Centre County bank building. He got it caught between two very heavy stones that he was helping set into the wall. —The colored men of Bellefonte who are Masons have revived old Norman Lodge, No. 23. They will use the upper room in the colored school building, on High street for their meeting place. The newly chosen officers are: M. S. Graham, George Simms, George Skinner, william Mills, John Palmer, John Moros, Thomas Stokes and Charles reen. —Al Garman returned from his Hip bo the State of Maine, on Sat. urday. —Miss Jennie Martin, the hand- some and intelligent daughter of Dr. G. Martin, of Houtzdcle, is vis- iting her friend, Miss Alice Scanlon at Boiling Springs. —After declaring a 209 dividend for last year the d Eagle Valley P. R. R. Co.,, has found that it is ‘able to put a few new planks in the steps that surround the station here. D. G. Bush has erected wooden awn- ings in front of the McClain block on High street that completely cov- ers the pavement. Mr. Bush had intended to put plate glass windows in the store fronts, but compromised by putting up something compared with which a sheep shed might be considered a thing of beauty. —A slight fire in thc Peter Mc- Mahon house on Reservoir hill, Wed- nesday afternoon, caused a lot of excitement for a few moments. It was soon extinguished and little or no damage was done. —On Monday afternoon the audi- torium of the court house was crowded for the exercises in mem- ory of President Garfield. Every business place in the town was clos- ed. The speakers were: Gen. Bea- ver, Hon. S.H. Yocum, J.L. Spang- 'ler Esq, John G. Love Esq, the Rev. Father Patrick McArdle, and It is now The Bar Association in Favor of Repeal From the Philadelphia Inquirer, Not the least interesting action of the meeting of the American Bar Association at Atlantic City was the announcement of the results of a poll which showed that a great majority of the members—more than two to one—had gone on rec- of the lawyers alike. It is significant of the feeling in the pro- fession. It must be admitted that these men are in a position to un- judg derstand the workings = She lgube Governor Andrew G. Curtin. law r than those other w = of life. Moreover, most of them are The county fair will be held next week. Arrangements have been ‘made that insure large exhibits and extra good horse racing. —Last Friday evening fire was discovered in the house of Andrew Bell, across the dam from the car works. It was occupied by W. A. Taylor, the meat man. The fire engines were gotten out but they could do no good for there are no plugs in that locality. The main building was saved by a bucket brigade of car works men, but the kitchen annex was entirely destroy- inclined to be conservatives, and that fact gives their views an add- ed value. It is true that the organization as the matter other than to order the results of the poll spread upon the records. But it will be noted that when the president of the associa- tion denounced the law in his open- ing address his sentiments were loudly cheered by the delegates. In the course of his remarks he called attention to a newly discovered let- ter written by George Washington ed. to John Hancock, in which Wash- —A new song “He Sends His ington cited the ‘benefits arising Love to You," tten asa memorial for President Garfield by Mattie E. Furey, of Altoona, has just been published and is on sale at Bunnell and Aikens music store. The mu- sic was composed by Prof. Hayden, ‘of this place. A AP — DISTRICT EDUCATORS TO MEET AT LOCK HAVEN The central district of the Penn. the liquor question until the e nd of sylvania State Educational Associa- time: but Sues is obviously a rising | to8 will meet at Lock Haven op tide of sentiment the October 1 and 2. Amendment and the Voistead act; General guidance, with civic, edu- and there is sure to be some defi- cational, moral and vocational as- nite movement toward the repeal of pects, will be the general theme to the one or the amendment of the be discussed by noted guest educa- other. ‘tors and the delegates from the fif- {teen counties composing the dis- trict. As Centre county is part of the | district Supt. F. Glenn Rogers will The Four Marx Brothers, hilari- be in attendance and will appear on ous lunatics of stage and screen the program of one of the depart- who made you laugh in “Cocoanuts” | mentas meetings. He will address and “Animal Crackers,” come to the the rural school teachers on “Possi- Cathaum theatre screen on Monday bilities in a Rural Guidance Pro- and Tuesday of next week in their gram.” latest and best picture, “Monkey Among the educators of national Business.” Chico, Zeppo, Harpo and eminence who will be there will be Groucho start out to sea as scow- Dr. Alfred L. Hillquest, New York aways and end up in the captain's ‘city; Dr. Chester M. Sanford, Chi- quarters, after plastering the ship cago; pr. Josephine Corliss Preston, with laughs. | Washington, D. C.; Dr. D. Montford “Monkey Business” is the one big | Melchoir, of Girard College, Philadel- laugh that the whole world needs | phia.; and Dr. James N. Rule, Supt. and you will completely forget all of Public Instruction for Pennsyl- your troubles laughing at those diz- | vania daffy demons of comedy. There The sessions will be held in the will be daily matinee showings, State Teachers’ College and will starting at 1:30, with the last after- open Thursday morning and close noon program beginning at three with Dr. Rule's address on Friday o'clock. Evening showings will evening. start at 6:00 and 7:45. DS ——Two passenger planes, east- pound, were held in Bellefonte, from the moderate use of strong liquors.” Indeed, the Commander-in- Chief of the Continental Army urg- ed the erection of public distilleries for the benefit of the soldiers. It will be rising if the publicity given to this letter from the Fath- er of His Country does not raise a storm of controversy; but it has all of the ear-marks of authenticity. It is quite probable that there will THE FOUR MARX BROS. AT CATHAUM NEXT WEEK. ——A novelty of the membership roll call in the Methodist church, | Sunday morning, will be that each | conditions east, the passengers be- member will respond by letter in- ing brought from the airport by stead of name. Other fealures bus to the railroad station and sen will prove of general interest toall.|east by train. Reformed church at Jacksonville on Monday evening, owing to weather | | fires | t| | had to be started last year. A HODGE—PODGE OF NEWSY INCIDENTS. Running for the nomination for & county office is no picnic, by any | means, and if you think differently | ask Harry Jones, who won the Re- publican nomination for County Treasurer. During his primary cam canvas he drove his car a total of 13,842 miles, which is equivalent to covering every mile of ‘road in the county about eight times. Conceding that he averaged twenty miles on a gallon of gas he burned up approximately 700 gal- !lons of gasoline, not counting his oil. Every automobilist will be able to figure out for himself about what it cost Mr. Jones for traveling i to convince the voters that ‘he was the right man to nominate for the office and he still has his campaign for election ahead of him. At a bridge party, a few evenings ago, in lieu of nothing better to talk about, the women resorted toa discussion of their husbands—their virtues and their shortcomings. When the various men had been pretty well torn apart and put to- gether again a young matron from Linn street stated that so far she had no real cause of complaint. Her husband doesn't drink, lie or swear, she said, and is not an inveterate smoker. “In fact,” she said, “his smoking is confined to a fine cigar after a good meal,” and she added, «and that's only about once a month.” And the little lady failed to under- stand why the other women smiled 80 knowingly. A brief item in the Watchman last week told about the eels clogg- ‘ing the new turbine water wheel at the Gamble mill pumping station so that it was unable to operate the pump to anything near it's capacity, but it didn't tell that all the trouble was caused by five eels. The eels had been literally woven into the gates of the wheel in such a coms- pact way that the flow of water through it was reduced fully fifty per cent. When the pump was stopped and the water drawn off the race water superintendent J. D. Sei- bert removed the eels. They were dead, of course, and showed evi- dence of hard usage, but at that they were in the neighborhood of | forty inches in length and as thick as & man's arm, and fishermen who examined them aver that they must have been close to four feet long before they became tangled up in the turbine wheel. All of which goes to prove that Spring creek has big eels in it as’ well as big trout. A winter of unemployment has no terrors looming ahead for many housewives in Centre county, be- cause they have canned more stuff this year than ever before. Infact they canned every dealer in Belle- fonte completely out of glass jars and for almost a week fruit and vegetables went to waste because no jars could be obtained to take care of them. When the jar sup- ply began to run low one or two dealers, it is said, advanced the price but this was the exception rather than the rule. Most every dealer now has a supply of jars on hand and the old prices prevail S of canning, a number of families in Bellefonte put up five and six bushels of peaches while one woman canned sixteen bushels. Moving is cheaper than paying rent, but it is hard on the landlord, as one Bellefonte property owner learned to his sorrow. During the past week three of his tenants mov- ‘ed out during one night and 8c quietly did they go that the land- lord knew nothing about it until he saw the empty houses in the morn- ing. | Last Friday evening a young busi. ‘ness man of Bellefonte, on his wa) ‘home to supper, was accosted by 8 | well-dressed stranger, on the corne: at the Methodist church, and askec for some money to buy something tc ‘eat. The business man had nc ‘loose change in his pockets and was | compelled to say no. That night ‘the stranger slept on the concrete {pavement at the corner of the | Presbyterian church and on Satur day morning a charitably-inclinec woman, of Spring street, gave him haif a dollar with which to bu) food. For three hours, on Sunda) ‘afternoon, a man again sought re pose on the pavement at the Pres | byterian church but whether he was the same man who slept there Fri ‘day night is not definitely known. | | | ——— A ———— | TROOP L. TO SPONSOR NIGHT HORSE SHOW | Troop L., 103rd Cavalry has abou! | completed arrangements for a nigh! horse show that will bring the ex | pert riders of seven Central Penn | sylvania Cavalry troops to Belle | fonte for Thursday night, Octobe) | 8. | The rodeo will be held atthe pos |on east Bishop street and a delight | ful feature of it will be the presence of the 103rd Cavalry band frox | Sunbury. | Troops will be here from Boals- | burg, Lock Haven, Lewistown, Al | toona, Tyrone and Clearfield. Capt. Smith will have the detail |ed program completed for announce: ment next week. ————————————_ A——————————— At this time in 1929 furnace in Bellefonte homes wer< practically all lighted. October 1 ‘was the date on which most of them i |
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers