VOL. XI. NO 48. C To Buy Your Jewelry \ C Nothing in Town to Compare YVithX ( the Quality that We are Giving / ) You for the Low Price Asked. \ C Quality anmoderate prices makes a. force that X 3 irresistibly draws into our store the best patronage r C ofthis section. Many years here inbusiness, a ways J X with a full line of goods above suspicion; chosen C 5 with a care and judgment commensurate with its ! \ desirability and adaptability to refine taste, makes 1 112 our store a safe place to invest. C r Repair work done on short notice and guaran-Q ! \ teed, by skilled workmen. Your orders appreciated. : s RETTENBURY, >! <, DL'SHORE, PA. The | " OL No Place Like this Place For Reliable STOVES and RANGES, COAL OE WOOD HEATERS ONE OP WINTER'S GREAT DELIGHTS. H ousts* i "Uiiiishiug Goodi, • Toois of Every 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. riot Air, Steam and Hot Water Heating and General Repairing, Roofing and Spouting. fS 'jfjses! sol«^«sfiore,fa. The Shopbell Dry Good Co., 313 Pine Street, WILLIAM SPORT, PA. A DEEP CUT PRICE Tor Ladies' Spring 3oits | selli":;'d.i> s re slipping awav. I his has been an un i u;v.backward s•; s >n which compells us to dispost 112 .• i.llui"»* r o! Lidiesst> lish suits and gowns at a price— Tli v . o:n- in Navy, Black, Brown and in the new lancy I mix ure s : .r!ped . nd ch ■ ked materials that are so popular' t i> seas u \\Y , lili-r tii. i>. an i i i»| .t ional ii[i|>orltmilv to procure :i t lioronjrlilv well made aiiil I new 11j• •l.tif tilnt'cil suit, or drci-sy gown nl a remarkable reduction Iroin the fibular111 •• • . :111.1 i 1 a »ea.-ori when then are-till month* of weal ing time ahead, j Tii.' -.. nr. II'.IHII' A 1111I 11 1 I'.'ilon pony or cutaway roan lined t liniiiidtoiii with silk <>■-;. ill- :< 11 <-n I .vet'tiie very latest models. At the |irioef» we have marl:* ■ tn.-i!,F - it E. oM.tuv I«J Imy one if OIIJJ to wear till hot weather ie i'i*. C, me lie e Ibi the be t values in ladies suits that you ha >e-.-ii <J r many a dav. These are all This Sea on Styles at an Honest Mark Down. Subscribe for the News Item Republican News Item. LAPORTE, SULLIVAN COUNTY PA. THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1907. Will Likely Institute Legal Proceedings. Harrisburg, April 20—Civil suits to j compel the Pennsylvania Construct ion company, of which Congressman 11. Burd Cassal was treasurer, and John 11. Sanderson & Co., to return at least 83,000.000 of their profits on their capital contracts, are in pros pect. Counsel for the capitol investi gation commission says that basis for such suits was established by the admission of former State Treasurer Harris that the law of 185)">, creating the board of public grounds and buildings, had been violated in awarding these contracts. This admission, counsel declare-, invalidates fullys2,ooo 000 of the fur nishing and decorating contracts for the £l:t,000,000 building, and fully $ 1,0()0,ooo can be recovered on the : Cassel firms $2,000,000 metallic fur -1 niture contract and*> 2,000,000 on the ! "trimming" contracts of Sanderson. ! The low of 189.5, which Mr. Harris | admitted was violated by the board s | of which lit* was a member, provides | that all contracts let by the board of j public grounds and buildings shall specify "the quantities needed for | the year and that the quantities given ■ in the lists of schedule shall be the I estimated maximum quantity that lis likely to be required during the 'year." It also provides that the board"shftll distliow any payment in excess of fair cash prices." In Mr. Harris' testimony these two admissions on which counsel proposes basing the prospective suits stand out: Virtually at the furnish ing contracts awarded by # the hoard of which Mr. Harris was a member violated the act of 1895 in that the quantities required were not speci fic! and that thejarticles contracted for were not for use in the current year, but for a building not yet con structed. None of the '•) ,000 per cent, profit" charges of Sanderson and none of the charges by Cassel's firm were reduced to "fair cash prices" by the board. Counterfoil pennies by the hund red are being circulated throughout this city and street and steam rail way conductor* are experiencing no end of trouble. The coppers are of uniform and regular but are not stamped: in some instances, designs bearing strongly on 11 r• standard pennies have been found. Conductor John Met/,, on one of the I Mingy I van in accomodation trains, Mated that tie lias been re ceiving the counterfeits from foreign ers at a wholesale rate and like many jot hers is of the opinion that they are being made in tins vicinity. A pile of three hundred of the imitations were tound lying along the Pennsylvania tracks above town yesterday, evidently having been dropped by one # of the counterfeiter*. Several lead nick les were found near by and from all appearances a count erfeiting den i* going full blast some where near town. It will be remembered that several weeks ngi., half and quarter dollars, of poor imitation were unearthed in I different parts of town but it is j though! Ili.it owing to their flimsy | make up and chance for detection, j the counterfeiters ceased eircula -1 tion.- Shamokin Dispatch. The majority of the troopers of j Company M. Pennsylvania State | Constabulary, are now patroling the I trout streams in Luzerne, Sullivan, I Wayne, Lackawanna and Columbia (counties. Troopers adopt various i tactics in guarding the undersized speckled beauties from being hook jed. Some of them guard the streams j in full uniform, with carbine in hand, while others dress as tramps and prowl around unknown to the fish ermen, watching all the fish that are lauded. Captain I'age and Sergeant Wilhelni are l ishing for trout in sev j oral of the counties in plain clothes i for the purpose of guarding the ! fingerling*. Harry (iottshall, aged lit years, w hose home Is near Hughesville, is in the Williamsport hospital as the result of having been injure.! m a runaway Sunday afternoon. His skull is fractured and two pieces of bone were removed in an operation performed Monday. He was thrown out of a vehicle and his head struck I a stone. j The people of the United States are | the greatest sugar consumers in the worlo and they are largely dependent upon foreign producers for their sup plies, but if Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson is clear in his views as to the future of beet sugar, the sugar producers of this country will soon be able to sell sugar for a price against which the foreign sugar makers will find competition utterly hopeless. This achievement is foreshadowed by prospective reductions in the cost of production. The cost of planting and thinning the crop has heretofore been heavy, because of the fact that the normal seeds of the sugar beet contain from one to five germs. The seeds must be planted by hand, and when they have germinated the grower must go over the field and laboriously thin out the surplus plants. To remedy this, the department of agriculture has been patiently de veloping by the process of selecting a one germ seed that will produce a single stalk, and now has a seed that will do this fifty times out of a hund red. When after further cultivation, the single seed germ, is brought to perfection, Secretary Wilson says the cost of production will be de creased 2-> per cent, because the plant ing and the cultivation can all be •lone by machinery. The secretary predicts that with this and other important economic changes the United States will be able to produce sugar for two cents a pound. This thing of going fishing on the first day of the trout season has be came a fad with a large number oi anglers. Thecal! of the stream is ir resistable, and regardless of the state of the weather the trouter hikes to the wilds with as pleasant anticipa tions as are felt by the woman with a new bonnet on the eve of Raster morn. What the premature trouter says to himself when he stands on the banks of the stream and finds two-inch ice on the water and a cold wind blowing through his whiskers would not sound well if repeated by phonograph at a social gather ing. —Williamsport News. The bill now before the state sen ate providing for the levying of a tax upon all soap clubs or organiza tions of people doing business with firms outside of the state. If exact statistics were made public, the amount of business done by associa tions of people with firms from other states would be seen to be surpris ing. There are numerous clubs that are called soap clubs, which trade not only on soap, but in many other branches of the grocery trade. While the amount of business transacted by any one club is not large, if a tax were to be levied ii|>on it equal to the regular state mercantile tax tin payment of the same would undoubt edly prove burdensome and destroy the profits, According to the state rating all mercantile establishments must pay an annual tax at the rate of $1 foi business not exceeding $1,00(1; s."> for a business not exceeding #.">,000, and so on in the denominations of fives. These clubs would Ijkely all be rated under the minumum class, which would mean a tax ol «l per year,but with the additional tax of $2 for every mercantile establishment do ing business and their members would be compelled to come back to to the local trade with their business. Harrisburg, April 18. For the first time since they came together the members of the House held three sessions yesterday, inaugurating a series of evening sessions preparatory to adjournment May 16. Despite the fact that they had put in a hard day's work, the lawmakers were in good spirits, and made mer ry la*t night, when passing on second reading the bill increasing the sala ries of Representatives and Senators to $ 1,500 a ye.tr. They are now get - ting Every institution which exists for the purpose of taking in and reliev ing the suffering and the afflicted, making no discriminations for any reasons whatever and asking no remuneration from the poor and the unfortunate, deserves the assistance tif the State, but no other. The newspapers of Williamsport , have agreed unanimously that here after they will not print free of charge any cards of thanks or other notice of a similar character which have heretofore been published gratis. This is a step which has been long contemplated and a rigid adherence to the rule adopted dy the publishers will relieve the columns of the news, papers of a large amount of matter of no especial interest to the public. Cards of thanks in the event of the death of a person have gone out of date. People who extend to bereaved relatives such assistance as lies in their power during sickness and after the death of one of the family do not perform thin friendly act for the pur pose of having public thanks extend ed to them. The card of thanks is unnecessary and Is in bad taste, and if people shall insist upon having these cards printed they ,-hould be willing to pay for them. The fact is that the newspapers have been imposed upon by the puhlii in a manner which would not be submitted to by a merchant or manufacturer. A newspaper is the means by which its owners strive to make a living, just as a merchant depends upon the goods in his store to bring him profit enough to sustain him and his family. It is just as fair to ask the merchant to give some of his goods free to the people as to ask the newspapers to occupy part of their space w itli free notices and advertisments. Harrisburg, April 22—Representa tive Edgar K.Kiess, of Lycoming, is looming up as a candidate for the Re publican nomination for state treasur er He is popular in the house and has been acting as chairman of the rail-road committee since Thomas V. Cooper, of Deleware, abandoned that position. Mr. Kiess belongs to the younger element in the legislature that is practically in control of the lowe branch. This element also includes Representatives Beidleman, of Dauphin; Mayer, of Lebanon, and Dur.smore of Tioga. Practically no bill gets through that they oppose. There is a tremendous truth in this gospel of laughter if more of us only knew it. A laugh will do for the health what bottles of medicine never can do. For, atter all, cheer fulness is just as contagious as dis ease. Try growling once into a sun ny face, and yon simply cannot do it. You cannot discourage a woman who, every time she opens a door, greets you with a pleasant face and expects something pleasant to turn up. He as furiously mad as you please, or as glum or morose as you like, but let a baby smile at you,anil can you help smiling back? Cigarette dealers and smokers will be interested in a bill which has been reported to the house providing for the infliction of severe penalties upon the person who in any way aids the youths of the state to bring on dry rot of the brain and suspension of the body's growth by smoking cigarettes. The introduction of this tnearure in the legislature proves that the people of the state are arous ed to the danger of cigarette smok ing by boys. If this bill should become a law it would effectually put a stop to the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and cigarette papers and tobacco for cigarettes, |and prevent the giving away of cigarette papers and tobacco for the making of cigarettes by boys who have not reached the age of discretion. This law is demanded in the iuterests of the boys, whose health, mental and physical, is en dangered by |the use of cigarettes and to bring about a lessening of the number of youths who find their way to (insane asylums, almshouses am! prisons. The bird of peace is singing pretty loudly in this country at the present moment Let us hope its dulcet note will soon win the allegiance of kings and emperors and other rulers across the great waters. There are 28 prisoners in the Ly coming county jail and Sheriff Rid del! states that this number is not , unusally large for this time of the , year. Last week there were .11 pris oners. 75C PER YEAP BERNICE ITEMS. John JMcLaughlin who has been visiting .Sera 11 ton friends returned home Monday. The following Say re visitors was attending the entertainment on Wednesday; Mr. and Mr*. J. Craw ley, Mr. and Mrs. William Fitzhar ris, John Fit/.harris. Frank Crowley and his brother of Pittston are spending a few days with their parents on Sugar Hilt. Mr. and Mrs. Jones of Scranton are visiting the latters parents Mr. and Mrs. John Harney of Mildred. Mr. Harry Jackson is visiting his brother C. K. .Jackson of this place. Sidney Osier of this place is a Car boudale visitor. The people of Mildred, Lope/., l>u shore and vicinity witnessed one of the best plays that has ever been produced in this county on Monday and Wednesday. The play was en titled Sunshine and Shadows it was held under the auspices of St. Frances church. Rev. J. A. Knright is to be congratulated upon his ability as a dramatist. A few friends of H. F. McLaugh lin met with him on Saturday even ing and gave him a surprise. The evening was spent with games of all kinds after which refreshments were served and the party departed each for their own home all reporting an excellent time. The Mildred Athletic Base Ball Nine will have a dance in the K. of L. Hall April, 30 also at the same time and place the young ladies of the Bernice high school will give a boxjsocial. Don't forget the time and place. James Ramsay has bought out the stock of boots and shoes of John Siek's store and has taken possession of his store where he will conduct the busi ness as Mr. Sick has in years gone by. Rev. J. A. Enright is visiting friends at Alleghany, X. Y. Mr. Michael Murray of Duumore and Miss Mary Cummisky of Mild red, were married at Biughamton, X. Y. last week. Squire Lowery of Mildred was call ing 011 Lopez friend* Sunday ami Monday. Mr. John Regan of Mildred won the baby prize at the fair Wednes day night. We are glad to state that James J. , Connor of Mildred has recovered from 1 an attack of chills, but they seem to be contagious as ('. E. Jackson and , H. I'. McLaughlin is under the I>IM-- . tors care at the present writing for * the same trouble. The new postal law went into effect March Ist whereby it is per missible to send souvenir postal cards through the mails, containing writ ing on either side. Hitherto it has been permissible to send cards with writing 011 the reverse side only, many of the handsome cards are manufactured in Germany. The law there permit writing on the left hand half of the front of the card, with the right half reserved for the ad dress. These cards are often very hand some, and the reverse side is entire ly occupied by the lithograph. To vrite on the reverse side of these cards is difficult because of the glaz ing of the surface, and also because, it mars the beauty of the cards. By the new law people will be permitt ed to write 011 the front of the cards, in the space reserved for that pur pose, as is permitted in foreign countries where they are made. Hitherto extra postrge has been charged in cases where people have written on the front of there souven ir post cards. They are now forward ed at the price of one cent each. The new law does not refer to the ordinary one cent postals issued by the Government, which are without ornamentation of any kind. These cards, of course, have an entirely blank rcv«rse side, for the sole pur pose of the communication. No writing will be permitted 011 the address side of these cards. They bear the words,"This Side For the ad Iress only," as they have hither to.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers