THE COLUMBIAN. BLOOMSBURG, PA. THE COLUMBIAN. ESTAm.ISHEI) 1866. THE COLUMBIA DEMOCRAT, Established 1837. Consoudatkd 1869. ruw.iRHKD Evkry Thursday Morning, At Woomsliurg, the County Sent of Columbia County, I'cnnsylvania. GEO. E. ELWELL, EnrroR 1). J. TASKER, Local Editor. GEO. C. KOAN, Foreman. Terms : Inside the county fit. 00 a year in advance; $1.50 if not paid in alvance. Outside the county, ft. 25 a year, strictly in dvnnce. All communications should le addressed I Bloomsburg, I'a. THURSDAY, MARCH 15, loooT" Democratic Candidates. FOR REPRESENTATIVE, R. G. F. KSHINKA, (North Side) of Bnarcreek Twp. FOR REPRESENTATIVE, FRED. IKELER, (North Side) of Bloomsburg. FOR REPRESENTATIVE, A. P. YOUNG, of Greenwood Twp. FOR REPRESENTATIVE, WILLIAM T. CREASY, (South Side) of Catawissa Twp. FOR REPRESENTATIVE, (North Side) GEORGE W. STERNER, of Hemlock Twp. FOR REPRESENTATIVE, (South Side) C. Z. SCHLICHER, of Beaver Twp. FOR SHERIFF, DANIEL KNORR, of Locust Twp. Democratic Standing Committee Call . A meeting of the standing com mittee - will be held in the Court House, at Bloomsburg, Pa., Satur day, March 17th, 1900, at eleven o'clock a. m., for the purpose of elect ng five delegates to the State Convention, and for the transaction of any other business that may properly come before the committee C. A. Small, Chairman R. G.F. Ksiiinka.) s , W. A. Evert, j-oecs. William Hummel has been found guilty of murder in the first degree at Wilhamsport, and sentenced to be hung. The jury was quick to arrive at a verdict. The State Superior Court has affirmed a ruling made recently by judge Gordon, of Clearfield county that it is illegal for persons holding auctions or a public sale to hav c . 1 . inenas Did up tne property to pre vent a sacrifice. Such bidding wuile a common custom, n held to be fraudulent and will vitiate th sale. The full scope ot Mr. Quay' scheme has just leaked out. If he can persuade a majority of the Sen aiors 10 vote 10 admit mru on Stone's appointment, he can easily iic minKs, manage to Keep a grip on tne otnee indefinitely, with the precedent once estaoiisned Me can expect the Senate to seat him again on btone's appointment when he ties up the legislature again. He has picked out Elkin to succeed Stone as governor and he will be as obedient as Stone. With his own chattel governor and a pliable sen ate, what is to prevent Mr. Quay from misrepresenting this state at Washington indefinitely? All he needs is a handfull of retainers in the legislature, who will vote for nobody but him and will refuse to be bound by a caucus because the Insurgents so refused. Will the senate place Pennsylvania in thi pitiable predicament? Ex. Republican papers are now ex plaining why the President has changed his position in regard to free trade with Puerto Rico which ne recommended in a message to congress as follows: "Our plain duty is to abolish all customs tariffs be tween the Unitetl States and Puerto Rico, and give her products free ac cess to our markets." But the Re publican congress disagreed with him, and presto chance, he is now in favor of a tariff, but to let himself down easy he recommends that the proceeds of the tariff be used for the benefit of the island. Iti other word he would levy a tax on the people oi ruerto Kico and then give it bick 10 tnein, less the cost of collection We don t see much charity 111 this way of doing business, for the people win te worse oft, the cost of collec tion, than if no tariff was levied. But as Puerto Rico is now under the jurisdiction of the United States by what authority is a tariff levied any way? As well might we levy a tariff on our trade with Arizona and New Mexico which are terri tories under the jurisdiction of the Uuited States. Ex. The infamous Loud bill has made its appeal ance again in Congress. This time it is more adroitly drawn than on former occasions but it con tains all the venom of its predeces sors in a more condensed and some what more disguised form. The ostensible object and purpose of the bill is to prevent the abuse of the United States mails as a distributing agency for free advertising publica tions and other matter that does not strictly come under the heading of second-class mail matter. The real obj ect of the bill, however, is to pre pare tne way for the most insidious, dangerous and accursed of all trusts, namely, a trust in public intelli gence. It is designed to enable the rich and powerful to throttle public intelligence by making it impossible for men of average means to estab lish newspapers and build them up upon their own merits. If the Loud bill should become the law of the laud newspapers in the future could only be established by the rich who would be able to pay high rates for circulating them, and for advertis ing them in other publications, and as the price of all newspapeis under such circumstances would greatly increase, this great avenue of public intelligence would be permanently cut off from the millions of homes who depend for news upon weekly publications. Under such a law the great city dailies that are con trolled by the money kings and monopolies would become the only open avenue of public intelligence. Ex. BOW 18 THIS? In one of the weeklv periodicals, which I am receiving, and in which I have always placed full confi dence, I find the following : " As one result of American oc cupancy of Manila, says the Wine and Spirit News, the liquor business has reached enterprising propor tions tnd is now considered as one of the leading, as well as one of the respectable kinds of business. Says one correspondent : On the Escolta, the principal street, only a quarter of a mile long, there were but two places where intoxicating liquors were sold, when we entered the city, wnereas, now mere are eighteen." It really seems to me that we are rushing American civilization into our new possessions with a ven geance. We are told by those who favor the expansion movement that God is in it and overruling it all. Well, if He is, I can only account for it on the theory that I have often heard quoted, " God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform." But it really looks to me as if that other old chap, about whom our preachers are won't to indulge in some very uncompli mentary remarks, has been getting in some ot his fine work. If he has not, I think he may safely leave his interest in that part of his dio cese in the hands of McKinley & Co. It is a question in my mind whether he could improve any on their work. The same paper, from which I quoted above, states further that there are three hundred licensed places 111 the city where liquors may be obtained, licenses costinsr $3.00 per year. The question arises, who grants those licenses? Evi dently, the power that Grants them. uas no idea of crippling the traffic by means of high license. Perhaps, the old chap, before leaving the field to our military authorities, sug gested the idea that it were better to get the business in good work ing order before attempting to draw large revenue lrom it. He has not yet lost his cunning, and will, no doubt, keep an eye on the work ing of our military establishment. The above mentioned paper says, This monstrous evil should be checked at once. If the President has not the requisite authority, Congress should see to it that the authority is speedily placed in his hands. If the President has the power to establish a military government in those islands, he, through his subor dinates, has the power to grant or revoke license. If the granting of those licenses is a monstrous evil, the President is responsible for it ; and we may as well place the blame wliere it properly belongs. If those iMlippinos are to derive no other benefit from the presence of our troops than to be abundantly supplied with intoxicating drinks, I should say Congress had better call a halt on our military operations and give them an opportunity to try their hand at self government. From my observations, I have no doubt that they are quite as capable of managing their own affairs now as they will be when they become saturated with American beer and whiskey. A Layman. Tor Kant, Proctor Inn, well furnished, from Feb. ist 1000. Rent cheap. Apply to G. E. Elwell or A. L. Fritz, Blooms burg, Pa. tf Tatiff Recommendations for Puerto Rico rillLIP C. HANNA, FORMER UNITED STATES CONSUL AT SAN JUAN. I am thoroughly convinced that the tariff question is the all-import ant question in Puerto Rico. It can never become prosperous until she can buy bread for her people without paying enormous revenue duties for the privilege of bringing that bread into the island, it seems reasonable to me, as an American, that the newly-adopted country should be allowed to purchase the products of the United ' States and land them on their own shores with out paying tribute to any govern ment whatever. I believe the island should have absolute free trade with all parts of the Uuited States. I believe in making Puerto Rico as thoroughly American as possible from the very start, and we cannot make it so unless we treat Puerto Ricans as we do other Americans. They should be allowed to buy Minnesota flour and Dakota wheat and every product which the farmer of the great northwest has to sell, and lay it down in their own coun try on the same terms that the man in New York receives the same products. The people in the island are strongly in sympathy with the peo ple of the United States. They aie enthusiastic over the fact ot their becoming Americans. They long for the introduction of our institu tions, of our school system, of our factory system and our agricultural system. There is evidently a great longing among the laboring class of the island for an opportunity to rise to the rank of an American laborer. They realize that toil and honest work in the United States are hon orable ; that the man who tods in any part of the United States is looked upon with respect ; that the laborer ot the United States has an ambition to become better situated, fn Kt till mv!1fr nf Viiu num to educate his children, and to properly provide tor old age. They are aware that many people of the Uuited States who were once labor ers have become wealthy, and al readv the ambition of the lahnrino- class ot the island is being stimulat ed ; they are becoming encouraged . - ... .7 . . . . . o by the prospects of tt.e future ; they believe that the dawn of a new day tor them is at Hand, and our govern ment lias it within its power to con tiuue to inspire this people with the laudable ambition to make some thing of themselves, and I believe that the whole quastion concerning the laboring man of Puerto Rico very largely depends upon free trade between the island and the Uuited States, I have received several thousand letters from all classes ot business meu in all parts of the Uuited States concerning this island, very many of them asking me when the proper time will arrive for them to invest capital in Puerto Rico, Several of them have said : "We propose to establish factories in this densely populated island, and teach the peo ple there, who have been accustom ed to labor at very low wages, to labor in the factories that we shall estaonsn. we nope to be in posi tion," most of them say, "to pay them better wages than they ever received in the past. We under stand that they are not a class of people acquainted with strikes, and by giving them better wages thau they have had heretofore, and mak ing labor respectable among them, we believe our factories can be suc cessfully conducted in Puerto Rico." Such is the tenor ot hundreds of the letters I have rsceived, but with the present high rates of duty upon all building material, machinery and all kinds of goods coming from the United States to Puerto Rico it would be impossible for these men to establish their factories here for the benefit of the Puerto Rican laborer. There are nearly a million people in this group of islands. It is said to be the most densely populated portion of the globe. The greater part of the people are poor, but I believe they are more inclined to work and earn an honest living than fie people of any Latin-American country that I was ever in. When the duties are entirely taken off of American products, so that Ameri can manufacturers can have branch factories in Puerto Rico, thousands of these people will be educated in the factory. They will be inspired with the desire not only to make their living but to become home owners, as many of our workmen are in the United States. Puerto Ricans are not bad people. Remove from them the terrible temptation produced by enforced hunger and nakedness; give to these people an opportunity to earn an honest living; teach them that tofl is honorable; build for them fac tories instead of forts; teach them to handle tools instead of bayonets, and we shall produce upon them a moral effect which the Spaniards failed to produce, and make of them a people whom we shall not be 5 (star Sweet, $2.00 STAR ttvtxx. mlw WK1I V If WXM K )l Kll ashamed to recognize as fellow-citizens of our grand republic. In other words, free trade be tween the United States and Puerto Rico is a moral question. It is practical religion, and our people can never supply the missing link in the moral education and religious training of this people, without giving them an opportunity to earn a living and without treating them as we treat other Americans. I can see no more justice in compellin Puerto Ricans to pay for the privil ege of landing American bread on Puerto Rican shores than I do in compelling the people of Massa chusetts to pay for bringing Iowa wheat or Iowa pork into the State of Massachusetts. The only differ ence is that the people of Massa chusetts are more capable of paying such duties at the present time than are the poor people of Puerto Rico, Over 80,000,000 of people have complained of the unjust burdens placed by Spain upon her subjects in these islands during all the years of the past, and now is the oppor t unity of our people to prove that Americans are better than Span iards and to give them a sort of kindergarten object lesson by giv ing them cheap bread and cheap clothing to wear, by placing before them an opportunity to earn a liv ing and encouraging every enter prise calculated to maki them a better people. I find that there is only about one-tenth of the land of this group of islands under actual cultivation at the present time. The heavy taxes which Spain has placed upon the people of her colonies have rrushed the once prosperous farmer, and the heavy additional war taxes which Spain has placed upon this island during the past year have sent into bankruptcy a very large number of the men of the island. All through Puerto Rico to-day stand the ruins of once valuable sugar estates. The great sugar fac tories have fallen down, the machin ery has been eaten by rust, and the land has passed into the hands of those who held the mortgages. If our people in the United States would take an unselfish interest in dealing with these people in accord ance with the Golden Rule ; and receive in exchange for pur products which we have to sell to this island the products of Puerto Rico on the very same terms that one State re ceives the products of another State without charging duty for admission this fertile land would again bloom and blossom and prosper as it never before prospered, and the whole civilized world would observe the success of our glorious American institutions in lifting up a down trodden people and bettering their moral and financial condition. This island being small, its pro ducts which may be shipped to the United States will not be of suf ficient amount to materially affect the rich producers of our great country. We should not look upon the Puertp Rican producers of sugar, tobacco and coffee as our competi tors. We should regard them as our newly adopted brothers, who have been imprisoned for four hun dred and six years, in whom we all have a common interest. We should show to the world that we delight in their uplifting, in their prosper ity, in their becoming respectable laborers, and in their becoming intelligent Americans. We should insist upon their enjoying the same blessings and advantages that the people in every part of our great country enjoy. HOOD'S PILLS cure Liver Ilia, Bil iousness, Indigestion, Headache. Easy to take, easy to operate. 25c. TWWNSJEND'S SLOTHING HOUSE will offer for a few days Bargains in t Clothing.- Orr's Celebrated Trousers. Worsted Trousers now AT THE CLOTHING F. P. PURSEL. Making Dependable Statements. Fortunate is the store that has the reputation for dependa bility. Fortunate is the public that patronizes such a store. Mutual confidence between a store and its buying public mean growth. This store grows on just these lines. No ambi tion higher than preserving your confidence inspire, other things are bound to come. Wool is wool here, cotton is cotton here. Every price is a just price. We want every trade transaction to be satisfactory. Now we will tell you about the new spring merchandise. Interesting News About Gown Stuffs. At this season of the year there's no news more interest ing to women. Many of you are ready to buy and are only waiting for just such news as we are apt to give you. The camel's hair effect in all the new shades, 38 in. wide, at 50c. Camel's hair goods, 58 ins. wide, $1.19. Cheviot, in all the new shades, 38 ins. wide, at 50c, another quality at 60c, and one 55 in. wide at 95c. Tailored-5uit Activity. You'll want the new Tailored Suits for Easter. You'll get a handsomer, bigger stock to pick from right now than you'll get later. Many have already cho sen with much satisfaction to themselves. Glad to have you look the stock through. Your special attention to two lots: The $12.00 suit, made of Ve netian cloth and cheviots, jack, ets lined with silk, skirts lined with percaline, and bound with S. II. & M. binding and trimmed with buttons. R P. TWO WEEKS' Special Sale! Now is Your time to Save Honey. In spite of prices continually rising we will sell you Ladies' Tailor-Made Suits, Capes, Coats, Collarettes and Waist Silks At the lowest prices ever offered. If you intend buying anything in this line it will pay you to get our prices. This is our last cut. Bloomsburg Store Co., Limited. Corner Main and Centre. ALFREDMcIIENRY, Manage $1.48 HOUSE. $12.50 suits, made of double faced cloth, no lining. Eaton jacket, skirt made with water pleat in back. W ill be stylish this season. Furniture. We've got a better, bigger equipment now than we have ever shown. We handle exclusively the bed-room furniture and side boards from our home factory. Mark the word exclusively, for nowhere else in town can this line of goods be purchased. We need only to tell you that we can save you money, because buying as we do, we have no freight, hauling or incidentals to pay. We pay for the goods in merchandise, through our store, so you can see at a glance that we can sell them cheaper than our neighbors. Hattresses, Springs. Our source of supply is through one of the most reput able houses in the country. Nothing but the best material used, and we will meet any reli able price. We show white enameled beds from $5.50 to $16.00, and springs go with them. Couches, from $7.50 to $22.00. Pursel
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