Republican News Item. VOL. VII. NO. 33. }Better Than Kverlh S lam better prepared S ) than ever to supply your { > wants in r >HOLIDAY GOODS\ C AND STAPLE JEWELERY, S j I invite your inspection v S at your earliest S V convenience. a S RETTENBURY, ) £ DUSHORE, PA. The Jeweler. S v HARDWARE. ? No w tlkSlhte Place For Reliable STOVES and RANGES, COAL OB WOOD. i HEATERS; j ONE OF WINTER'S GREAT DELIGHTS. I House Furnishiug Goods, Tools of Every j Description, Guns and Ammunition. > Bargains that bring the buyer back. < Come and test the truth of our talk. A lot of second hand stoves and ranges for sale cheap. ' We can sell you in stoves anything from a fine Jewel Base Burner to a low priced but satisfactory cook stove. ! Hot Air, Steam and Hot Water Heating and 1 General Repairing, Roofing and Spouting. ; Samuet The Shopbell Dry Good Co., v 313 Pine Street, WILLIAMSPORT, PA. THE CHRISTMAS SELLING BEGINS and it begins right 1 Begins with every section fully for tified to meet the demands of the gift givers—and who is not a gift giver at Christmas? To tell you about our stock is the object of this ad. Can't tell you about all of it by any means. Can only suggest to you some of its most prominent features; a hint here and there to guide you in your buying. You will find the Christmas spirit pervad ing every nook and corner of the Store. The Sale of Handkerchiefs. Kid Glove Stock. We have provided for the wants of Several reliable brands have good rep- Handkerchief Buyers as never b fore resentation. Choose either Suede or Glace done everything toward making choosing an j we wi u g j ve you the make that trial easv. 50 dozeri Ladies ITnlaundried Pure a(ler trial has proved to be good. Not Irish JLinen Handkerchiefs, with Hand much to pay for a pair and they're lots of Drawn Corners, at the low price ot 15c, nttiafaction and good wear, or two for 25c. Another lot of finer quality with Hand Embroidered Corners, The Ribbon Rumor of neat designs. These are extra good ... , , for 25c. Children's Initial Handkerchiefs We heard a lady say the other day that put up three in a neat box. at 25c a box. we ' ,ac * t J!? e prettiest Jine of Ribbons in Umbrellas. £" n: Tl Co ™f, and investigate for your The prices run from 60c up to $5 The T,^°T fan 7 quantity and variety are greater than ev- rf-d- o. Z use°or'to giveaway" youTsave'mone? S0 ' Ta^ talt ' bb ° n 112 ' 15c y« d ' a, \ c ° l . by getting it here. Close Rollers, Para- «n b °" at 25 gon Frames, Steel Rods, Fashionable . ' ( . „... , Handles. The better qualities have Silk * " e » <» » 9 fanc - v Rlbbon > tbat Cases and Tassels. We have just outlin- for P ,llow9 ' at 25c a y ßrd - Ask 10 ed the Umbrella Stock, but ask you to come in and see them. Ladies' Neckwear. All Sortß Of Leather Goods. We are showing the newest ideas in Chatelaine Bags, Wrist Bags, Pocket Stocks, Ties, etc. These are made ot BooksJ Coin Purses, Card Cases, Cigar Taffeta and Crepe de Chine. iSome plain. Cases—All make useful and apOreciated other embroidered, presents. The Shopbell Dry Good Co. Snbscrihefor the News Item LAPORTErSULLIVAN COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, ISO 2. I COUNTY NEWS | Happenings of ESSST* Interest to Readers **** TowM - T BEBNICE. > While mining coal in No. 6 drift last Thursday, two Polanders were hurt, one seriously and the other fa tally by a fall of top rock weighing several tons. One of the men had several ribs broken, and was sent to the Sayre Hospital, the other had his back broken and cannot recover. Drs. Randall and Campbell attended their injuries. An Italian working on the coal chute at the breaker, fell a distance oi twenty feet striking on the rail road track and serious'v 'touring himself on Friday afternot Miss Florence Holienbeck of To wanda, is visiting Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Walburn of 26 West Main St. Several of our young people took advantage of the fine sleighing Fri day evening and went to Dushore to take in the entertainment by home talent at that place. All rep- t a good time. The State Line A Sullivan R. R. Co. on Saturday removed*a large boiler from its foundation at the puuip station and took it to No. 6 drift to pump the water supply at the new barn and to ;the Power House on the old turnpike. H. H. Bentley managed the job. DVSHORE. Chas. Messersmith has resigned bis position with C. E. Molyneux to iccept one at;Waverly, N. Y. Chas. las many warm friends who wish lim unbounded success in his new ?lace. Win. Kraus'has moved_hia'fam ily rom Cherry Mills to his own house n bis meat^mar iet. Miss;lda. Heverly has moved her n the Utz Block. The jßeformed Church | Sunday Jchool will hold its Christmas ser iricesion Christmas Eve. ThejK. 0., T. M. entertainment ast Friday evening netted the As sociation about $125. Mrs. Belle Lynch |who has been ipending a few days here with her mother, left for her home in Ohio, >n Buturday_last. She* was accom panied by her brother "Holly" Kentner. Tony Rouse has purchased the furniture, stock etc.Jof Charles Bab 2ock, of the Carroll Hotel, and will take possession March 15t,.1903. "Mr. Ilouse 4 is proprietor of the Exchange Hotel, and evidently believes in ex pansion. —< LOPEZ. 16 below zero Sunday evening at nine o'clock. James Deininger of Harrisburg was a caller here last week. Quite a number of our young peo ple attended the show at Dushore, last Friday night. An Austrian, who has been work, ing for Jennings Bros., had his foot badly smashed on Friday, Arthur Orimes, who a short time ago returned from the Sayre Hos pital, had the misfortune |to break his arm in the same place where it was broken before. Under the management of the leader Mr. Saddler of New Albany, the Lopez band is becoming one ol the best in the county. A new arrival at Win. Johnson'i Jr. A big boy. T. J. Messersmith of Wyalusing, was here on business last week. "The Lone Orphan" does'nt seem to be very lonely as he is doing a rushing business. Miss Gertrude Cooper of Philadel phia, who has been here for the past six months returned to Philadelphia last Saturday. Mrs. O. J. Young of Fredonia, N. Y. is visiting her mother, Mrs. So lon Heverly. Geo. Kaufman of Wilmot, tran sacted business here OH Monday. Saylor Lawrence of Duahore w»t in town on Sunday. The clothespin factory which has been shut down for the past two months is running on full time again. Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Finch of Bel la Sylva, were in town Monday. J! D. Stnrdevant who has been on the sick lint is looking after his work again. Thou. Kunes of Bella Sylva, who has been nick for some time, left on Monday for Sayre Hospital for treat ment. Mm, F. L. Campbell, who has been visiting at Buffalo for the past two weeks, returned on Tuesday. SHVNK. Mrs. Royal Sargent, who had been sick for some time died on Saturday Dec. 6th, aged 52 yean. Naught but good can be said of this Christ ian lady, as she was a kind, loving wife, a good neighbor and a friend to 1 friends. Her 4 death was a shock to a great many and for those upon 1 whom th' affliction is visited the comma' ty has the deepest sympa thy. The funeral which was held on Tuesday was largely attended, 1 and the remains taken to Ellenton for burial. i R. S. Fanning is visiting friends « and relatives at Elmira, N. Y. i Mr. and Mrs. Orlanda Dickerson < are rejoicing over the arrival of a son i on Saturday Dec. 6' < Mr. Harry Green of Hillsgrove i has been engaged to teach our school < and entered upon his duties last < Monday morning. i Miss Smith of Towanda is visiting < her sister, Mrs. J. W. Raub. i The infant son of Mr. and Mrs. : Frank Porter, nee Lulu Wescott, formerly of this place but now of i Fall Brook, Pa., died last week and i was brought to Ellenton for burial, i W. H. Fanning and son Harold : are on a businss trip to Elmira this week. ESTELLA. » We are having fine sleighing and bark and log hauling, pleasure riding and coasting occupies the older and younger people's time at present. Born, December the 6, at the home of Delbert Brown, a daughter. Moth er and child are doing nicely, but tire hear Dell is recovering slightly from over joyousness. Mrs. J. 8. Bhoemaker, of Leroy, who has been visiting her daughter, Mrs. D. Brown, at the Falls, has re turned to her home. Mrs. W. T. More and Mrs. S. 8. Vroman have returned home from their visit to their brother, A. L. Shoemaker at Beech Creek, and rel atives At Jefctey ShoVe. There will be a Christmas tree at Estella chui*ch oh Christmas eve. feltery 6rown is in Benton visti ing his sister Mrs. Chet Campbell, also his sister Mrs. Dennis Boudman at Unityville. E. Jennings, one of Estella's en terprising merchants, is moving the old blacksmith shop to the rear of his town lot and will convert it into a barn. Lewis Rosback has the contract. The schools are progressing finely. Mrs. Hattie Smith is visiting her sister Mrs. M. M. Webster at Jakerv ville. Mr. L. S. Brown still continues in very poor health. Says Turkey Tom to Turkey Hen, Now what's the use of living; We'll have to die at Christmas time If we did escape, Thanksgiving. Christmas Entertainment at Estella Church. The exercises will consist of chor uses, solos, duetts, instrumental mu sic, recitations, essays and addresses. All are invited to attend and bring their presents.. Exercises begins at 7:30 p. m. By order of Committee. {Government Ownership of Dail-1 i rOQQS. By BEWJ.6.WELCIL j Responding to the invitation of The Item that its readers would con sider this question and let The Item have their views the writer has to say that fifteen years ago in the ear lier days of railroad combination he expressed the opinion that the pro (e-s would goon until the whole system in the United States would be practically controlled by an asso ciation of strong men of very limited numbers. It was pointed out that many of the State constitutions for bid the control of competing lines being acquired by any competitor, and to this the response was made that it would be perfectly easy to organize a Trust Company that should own a controlling interest in as many lines as desired. In fact there seemed to be no reason why one such company should not have centralized in its office, either direct ly or indirectly, the ultimate control of the whole system. The Northern Securities Company is one step in that direction. A Southern Securities Company is a logical sequence. Then a Northeast ern, a Central and so on ad libitum. Naturally there follows a view of United States Trust Corporation a la United States Steel Corporation, and there you are. If the ownership or control were all it would be a comparatively simple matter as the only thing nec essary would be for the national gov ernment to buy out that last Trust Company that had absorbed all the others. Peihaps something of the nature of confiscation might be in order if that ultimate Trust is only owned by a few plutocrats as it is the fashion to designate them. The debating school of The Item could make short work of such an organi zation, but If the men who direct are wise enough to spread the ownership of its stock all over the country and among all classes, there will come the rub. The engineers of the con solidated schemes are generally wise, .ilbeit sometimes they do foolish things as they did in the initation of the coal strike. Suppose the miners had kept it up for a few weeks longer where would the country have been? Who is there that believes they could not just as well have kept it up most of the winter with the assistance they were getting from all over the world and with their experience in living on the most meagre fare ? When the magnates want to lon trol anything they simply take measures to discredit it in any pos sible way without regard to the thousands or the hundreds of thous ands that suffer. When they start at this course they also start the machinery in Wall Street to buy it up while the whole country is alarm ed. Sometimes they play this trick on each other, witness the late ex periences with Northern Pacific and the Louisville & Nashville railroads. The change in both was made in almost one day but it is to be re membered that with the property the purchaser took over also a capa ble management, i.l>lo to operate either property, and while a new set of owners took posession one morn ing neither you or I traveling on either road or doing freight business could have told from anything we saw or did that any such change had taken place. With all of it however it seems that every such question, whether it be railroads, steel manu factories, meat packing establish ments, steamship lines or anything else, they find their way to the same office in Wall Street for the final a<ljustment. How would it do for the govern -1 men to absorb that Wall Street con cern into its cabinet and set it to work ? Continued in next issue. Notice ! To the tax-payers of La • porte township: All taxes not paid ' by the 15th of January, 5 per cent will be added. I will try and call on you about that time, please be prepared. George Karge, Collector. YEAR. I COMMUNICATION. EDITOR NEWS ITEM: AS you are giving every body an opportunity to air their vie vs on government own ership of c al mines and railroads I desire to make a brief statement in reply to Editor Newell's flimsy veil of Irrational reasoning in his last issue. He says:"In the postal system the government enjoys a com plete monopoly, and yet fails to make it pay. Would the govern ment make the railroads and coal mines pay? We do not believe it. And if they did not, where would the money come from to make up the difference ?" Let us study why the postal sys tem does not pay—so to speak. But it does pay, pays the public hand somely. Does Mr. Newell not rea lise the benefits he derives and the advantages he gives to every one of his subscribers by not having to pay one cent postage on all the papers he sends out in Sullivan county and only one cent a pound on mail out of the county. This gives the pablic a much cheaper news service which they would not enjoy if J. P. Mor gan was at the head of the system. The so called deficit for this year is 12,937,949.81, almost a million leas than last year. We will figure the deficit at $3,000,000. The govern ment extends to publishers through out the whole United States, a free circulation within their respective counties. Postmasters weigh all these many tons of papers sent out daily and reports it to the depart ment. It is here found that these papers, at regular rates of postage, would pay the department $12,000,- 000. Why not place the deficit over against this amount and say that the people enjoy a profit of $9,000,000 annually, which they keep in their pockets. This surely is not an un reasonable way of looking at the matter. Then comes the usual extortion of the railroad combines. In the Post master Advocate of December issue is found some statistics of Professor Frank Parsons, who has been at work for a number of years on a book of railroad questions. His data rela tive to what American railroads re ceive for carrying the mails in com parison to what is paid in foreign countries for like service is so radical that it offers food for thought. The United States pays the rail roads, for carrying the mails, about $34,000,000 per annum. This enor mous sum is further increased to $37,000,000 when rental of mail cars is included. In France the railroads, in return for their grants of right of way, carry the mails free. In Swit zerland the same. In Germany the railroads carry one mail car free, when more are required the govern ment pays moderately for it. Italy pays nothing to the railroads for carrying the mails, as it is provided in the concessions made for right of way that the mails must be carried free. Belgium's laws are the same. In England where the House of Com mons is filled with railroad directors and holders of railroad shares the comparative expenditures by the government is only about one-ninth of the expenditure by the United States for like service. In this free country the railroads receive one third of the money expended to run the postal department. It has been conservatively figured that it would cost our government less to convey a ton of mail from New York to Chi cago by hiring aman and team and paying the expenses at the best hotels, than what is now charged by the railroad combine. Were the railroads to receive the same rate for hauling postal cars that are charged for freight cars, as near as I can cal culate, the government would save over $21,000,000 annually. Add this to the $12,000,000 of free service it gives to the people and you have a credit balance of $33,000,000 to offset the $3,000,000 deficit These words and figures are not juggled without regard to fitness or reason, and a view of the matter which the writer believes is one that i has a little common sense and a great deal of fairness about it. Very plain, isn't it Mr. Newell. ▲ FOURTH CLASS POSTMASTER.
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