VOL. XIII. NO 35 <524,000 $44,000 O J v Which Do You Prefer • > C The average man earns about si, 100 a year. He/' ✓ works 40 years and earns a total of $44, 00 in a life V \ time. The average clay laborer gets $2,000 a day or 112 J S6OO for a year of }oo days. He earns $24,000 in a j \life time. The difference between s44,oooand $24- r* JOOO is $20,000. This is the minimum value of a > education in dollars and cents The in- <L self-respect cannot be measured in money. J \ Why not stop plugging a way at a small salary when ? ✓ the International Correspondence Schools, of Scran- V \ ton, Pa., can give you an education that will make / V high salaried man of you ? No matter what line of \ J work you care to follow, this great educational 'n-Q x stitution can prepare you in your spare time and at A r a small cost to secure a good-paying position. Our 112 \ local Representative will show you how you can V / triple your earning capacity. Look him up today, r ✓ He is \ ? C. IF 1 . IBIRyIEISTINr A IN". > O. I. S. Representative. TOWANDA, PA. COLE > " HARDWARE No Place Like this Place For Reliable STOVES and RANGES, COAL OB WOOB HEATERS;I ONE OP WINTER'S GREAT DELIGHTS. House Furnishiug Goods, Tools 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 fne Jewel Base ! Burner to a low priced but satisfactory cook stove. Hot Air, Steam and Hot Wator Heating and General Repairing, Roofing and Spouting. Samuef The Shopbell Dry Good Co., ) 313 Pine Street, WILLIAMSPORT, PA. January Clearance 3ale of Ladies' sSaits and Coats. Profits have lieen entirely clipped oH in this January Sale—cost in no way figures in the selling prices. Ladies stylish ('oat Suits, in plain anil black colors, good aseotlment to choc.-c from. .Suits that were formerly sls to $25 are now reduced to ; $9,115 #2B to t<32 are now reduced to $1 I.'JS s3:£so to f3B. are now* reduced to #19.75 $38.50 to $42.50 are now reduced to $22.50 Made of plain and fancy cloth ar» being closed out at just one-hall' the regular price- £lO to $35 values, now marked at $5 to $17.50 Two other lots of Ladies' Long Cloth Coats have heen marked $3.00 and $5.00 Which are Jess than hall the former price. Children and Misses Winter Coats One lot children's cloth and Hear Skin Mioses'plain and fancy cloth ("'oats. !•> Coats, 2to 0> years si7.es, navy, cardinal to 14 year sizes, $5,00 to" SIO.OO values green, gray, brown and white, were $3.00 for to $4.00, now * -y c/\ ci en 3>«*.SU * ('tie lot of Misses' chinchilla cloth One lot of chi'dren's plain and tancy Coats in navy, red, gray and brow n, were cloth Coats. $4.25 to $5.00 values, for ' $12.50 to 14.00, now $2.95 7.00 Change of Prices on Furs. Furs will take a drop in prices to be in keeping with the Coat Sale. Here will be the chance of the season to select Furs that you will be proud to own. Subscribe for the News Item Republican News Item. LAPORTE, SULLIVAN COUNTY PA. THURSDAY JANUARY 21, 1909. Dcalh of Henry Hvflmaster. Henry (j. HufTmiistfr of I)uslior< <li< >1 Sunday morning of pneumonia, at the age of 70 • years, * two month.- and one day. Ilenry G. Iluff'mastei was a son of Henry Hufl'master, a native of Germany who came to America with his lather, Fredric Huffmaster, in 18:51. Mr.lluff'master was by trade a carpenter, lie serv ed one term as County Commission er and held several township oflioes, being an able end efficient otlteer. Me is survived by two eons, 1-Mvvard W. and llush of Cherry. Funeral services JJwill he held Thursday, meeting at the house at lOo'cloek a. m. New Pension Bill. Washington, 1). C., Jan. 18.— Many thousands of pensioners throughout the country are interest ed in a Hill introduced in the Senate by Senator Penrose. It is entitled a bill "For the better payment of pensions." It provides that ail pen sioners with permanent (Usabilities and the widows of soldiers and siii ors who are receiving pensions for life shall be paid their pensions monthly and by checks mailed on tiie last day of the month covering the amount of pensions due them for that month with restrictions no more onerous than are made by the Treasury department in paying in terest cm government bonds, I'nder this system it would only be neces sary for the pensioner to file with the pension agent an affidavit sta't ng his residence and post ofHce ad- Iless, t'nder the present .system hey ire paid every three months md it each payment the pensioners oust make an affidavit before a lotary. t nder the plan proposed by Senator Penrose the pensioners in •luded in the provisions of the bill vill save the notary's fee as well as eceive their penson at more frc juent intervals. Liquor License Notices. Notice is hereby given that tin' follow ng applicant ions lor liquor license have ii-on tiled in my oltiee ami the fame will te presented to die i ,'ourt ot (Quarter Ses ions ot tlie I'ence ol Sullivan County on MONDAY, the Mhdayol FEBIU'A It Y I'lOtf. at 2 o'clock p. in, CHEERY r\VP. Cherry M ills: loh ti K. <>rosH. tavern license, I inshore. Leonard Hilbert, wholesale license. Mildred. Klla Murphy, restaurant license, i'rai.k I'. Seliaad. distillers liceise, lohn C. Schaad. tavern license, lames .1. Connor, tavern license, Joseph A llelsinan, lavem license, lolm Haley, tavern license, .Mildred, I oil u Nestor, tavern license. Michael I . Donovan, whole-ale license. Murray. William llalev, tavern license, Satterfield. Patrick McGee, restaurant license, COLLEY T WP. C. F. Ilmisinger, tavern license, Colley DUSfIOHE BOROUGH. Thomas •!. Krogan. wholesale license, .lohn D. bane, tavern license, Elizabeth < arniody, restaurant license, Margaret Connor, restaurant license. Robert Mcliee, restaurant license, Philip E.Grace. tavern license, P. .1. Fiiian, tavern license, B. E. Saxer. restaurant license. DAVIDSON TYVP: Sonestown. Daniel 11. Lorah, tavern license, Harry Baelcv, tavern license. Miincy Valley. William L. Parmetcr and i Brady Ilonseknecht )' tavern license Dennis Palmatier, tavern license, •I. William Morati, restaurant license. Emmons. Michael •!. Devanney. tavern license, I.opezs ® .lames P. McGee, restaurant license. •Steve Halabuk, tavern license. George < Hsziewski, tavern license. Joseph llruhenak, restaurant license, Abe Goodman, wholesale license, Anthony House, tavern license. Theodore Shiniansky. restaurant license. Maxim Musiala, bottlers' license. EAGLES ME HE BOROCGH. Win. H. \ anl uakirk, tavern license, 111 LLSGRt IVE TWP. ,1 acob ('aseman,tavern license. 11 illsgrove. L.VPi iHTE BOROUGH, Theresa Gallagher, tavern license. .lohn Ifassen, dr., tavern license. LAPORTE T v\ p. lieo. M. Fiester. tavern license. Nordniout Sll b'EWSBt RY TOWNSHIP. Smith Bondman. restaurant license. Norman E. Stackhouse, tavern license. ALBERT E. HE ESS, Clerk. Clerk's office,Laporte, Pa., Jan. IS, 1909. Educate Your linive'.s With Ciucaretk. Cindy Catlianic, euro constipation forever. If C. C C. fai*. druggistsrefund aiou&v HISTORY OF THE W. & N. B RAILROAD. Williamsporl Svn Prints Interesting Story ol This Important Short Line. In connection with the published reports that the Willianisport and North Branch rail road may enter Williamsport directly within the coining year, The Hun of that city prints the following interesting his tory of the road: Some time in the late forties ol the century there came to the north eastern part of Lycoming [county, that portion which was afterwards set off to form the country of Sul livan, a man named Michael Meylert. He had considerabit money of his own and represented vast land interests. He acquired for himself and others tens of thous ands of acres of the wilderness, wa> instrumental getting the new country erected, laid out the town of Laporte, erected and presented to the new county its Hrst Country house and entered upon a scheme of development with an energy that proved Iflm to he at least fifty years ahead of his gene-ation. lit early learned of the vast coal de posits in the mountains of Sullivan county, and in the fall of 1851 en gaged with prominent Towanda capitalists and business men in a scheme to construct a lailroad for the purpose tapping the black dia mond treasury. The scheme was an unbitious one no less than to build a railroad from Towanda on the north through the Sullivan county ■oal'flelds, and reaching Catawissa :>n tht. south. At that time the Read ing railroad was constructed as far north as the Catawissa and the Le high Valley had not yet been con ceived, of. so that Michael Meylert's scheme was really an extension of the Reading railroad. The title of this proposed road was to be the Towanda and Catawissa railroad. In November he caused a survey to be made by William a Mason and by Major Klias McNeil, and during the session of the legislature of IK">2, i)f which he was a member, he se cured a passage of an act authoriz ing the building of the Towanda and Catawissa railroad, anil the company was empowered to "make such connections with other roads and have a> full authority over any part as though they had completed the whole road." This subsequent ly became the basis of other legis lation, by which the State line and Sullivan Railroad company and the Muncy Creek company were charter ed. The peculiar wording of the en abling act, which phraseology was afterwards engrafted into the charter, is virtually authority to the old Muncy Creek railroad to build rail road wherever they may happen to want to for all time to come. Compe tent legal authority has declared that not even the Pennsylvania railroad charter confers upt.n the road such unbounded authority as is possessed by this little Muncy Creek its heirs and assigns. In this the fine hand of Mieliat I Meylert was made evi dent. Interesting} Philadelphia capi talists, be obtained from them a promise of sufficient money to build the road if the if the coal veins wen all to be claimed for them. A ge ologist by the name of Shaffer was engaged to examine the field, but he failed to find the coal that Meylert knew was there, and reported ad versely. In 18.">9 the rich vein of near what is now the thrilling min ing town of Bernice was aeeidently uncovered, and it was clearly demon strated that there was coal enough to pay for the road. Before arrange ments could be made to build, the Civil War came 011 and paralyz ed business all over the county, but as soon as the war was over the plans were again laid to construct the long talked of railroad through the Sul livan coal fields. In 18<>7 work was begun at Monroeton, four miles south and east of Towanda, on the State line and Sullivan road and by 1871 this was completed as far 4s the present town of Bernice, and coal mining began. Meanwhile Meylert was beset with financial dilliculties, and his end of the road did not prosper as it should. The Muncy Creek railroad had been chartered wfth Michael Meylert, H. It. Mehrling, Robert Taylor, George Bodine and A. L. Detrick named as incorporators, and the expressed intension of building from Muncy up the creek to La porte, and thence to a connection with the Htate line and Sullivan at Bernice. Meylert was president of the company, Joshua Bow was treasurer and B. M. Ellis, secre tary and 11. 11. Mehrllng superin tendent. Muncy offered little en couragement to the scheme and tin southern terminus was changed to Halls. Work was begun in 18(1(5, and in 1807 nine miles of road were built northward from Halls, to a point three miles beyond Ilughes ville. So far the work had been easy and comparatively, inexpen sive, but when the foothills of North Mountain had been reached the mon ey ;was all gone and the Phila delphia capitalists would not fur nish another cent. In 1872 the Cata wissa extension of the Reading was built up to Williamsport, and a con nection made at Halls with the am bitious little road that was headed for the mountains. It is not sur prising that this little strip of road was a financial white elephant and in 1881 it was sold by the bondhold ers under foreclosure proceedings and the company was then reorganized under the title of the Williamsport and North Branch railroad and Ben jamin Welch became the general manager. Work was resumed in 188(>, and a dash made for the heart of the mountains, and the long wish ed for coal fields. The road was carried as far north at that time as Noidmont. There was no Nord mont when the Railroad stopped at the gorge of Muncy Creek because there was no money with which to build a bridge, and the little ham let sprang up around the blunt end of the railroad and was given the Scandanavian name that signifies North Mountain. ' Thus things rested until 1893, when another reorganisation was effected, this time with Buffalo par ties holding a controlling interest in the stock. John Saterfield and Henry Taylor undertook the financ ing of the road, and the company was organized with 11. C. McCorm ic, of Williamsport president; John Satterfield of Buffalo, vice president, and J. Henry Cochran and Seth T. McCormic secretary and treasurer. Work was resumed and in the fall of 18!);) the road finally reached a junction with its northern twin, tin- State line and Sullivan, at a point that used v to be called Dohijj's Sum mit, but waa changed to Satterfield in compliment to the man who was furnishing the money. Meylert had long since died, and what ever ambitious project was on foot with the little North Branch at that time w as defeated by the sudden death of Satterfield and the refusal of his heirs to continue in the scheme. The Lehigh Va'ley had required the State Line and Sul livan In 1885. and about the time of there-organization ol'the William sport and North Branch, the Read ing railroad had effected a lease of the Lehigh Valley, whereby they became absolute masters of the road, and it was freely said at the time that the completion of the North Branch was but the completion of a connecting Spur between two great branches of the Reading and that it was to form a part of a grand trunk road from Philadelphia to Buffalo, and that the Reading would run through trains iu the competition for western traffic. About the time the road was completed to Satterfield the Reading defaulted in its pay i. dnta on.he Lehigh Valley lease and the two roads became separated and their interests diverged. The renewed activity of the Wil liamsport and North Branch affairs would indicate that large moneyed interests have again seen the possi bilities of the road, aud that it may yet take its place in the great rail road systems of rhe state. «tm*t Tobacco Spit and Sii vke lour rift' in,,. 7*l quit tobacco easily and forever, be run" Übtic. lull ol life, nerve and take No 'Lo Sot, tile wotuier-worKer, Uittl onuses uoalt me: strong. «li drncfcists, SOc or Jl. Cure guarur te«a. Booklet and ramplo free. Address Keroody Co . Clitcagc <. * Yorit 75C PL R YEAP Friday, February Il\ 190!), will he the one-hundreth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. r J'he day should Hi) fittingly observed in evcy school room in the county. Prepara tions should be made for these ex ercises, which to be effective must be based on a larger and more ap preciative knowledge of the great President. Hon. O. T. Corson, who was with us in one of onr Institutes has col lected a valuable fund of material for such exercises and will forward the same to any address for 10 cents. This barely covers the cost of pub lication and postage. Address Ohio Educational Monthly, Columbus, O. A picture of Lincoln should be found upon the wall of every school room. Hen. J. P. McKasky of Lan caster will wend a picture 2lx.'iO for 50 cents or four for SI.OO. The t; offers are generous OIK S ami and are made by men whose whole desire is to place within your rea< h the material you need to make the Lincoln Exercise a profitable one. We can think of no excuse which any teacher could advance that would justify her in failing to ob serve this anniversary. The oppor tunity which the occasion presents for the inculcation of patriotism and all the virtues which this noble man's life exemplified should not be permitted to pass unembraced. Perhaps it would be well to say that this occasion presents an excel lent test of your teachers progressi ve il ess. "This centennial celebration will be an excellent test of the teachers enterprise and resourcclulness. If there is a lilting exercise in other schools and none in ours our patrons will wonder why, and they may reach the conclusion that the teacher had to do with the omission" We will appreciate it as a courtesy to receive from all teachers who cele brate this anniversary a copy of the program with a report of the in terest and attendance. Hoping that every school will celebrate and that much good will be accomplished. J. E. lteesc lvillgore, Co., Supt. The sheets of paper on which bills and bonds are printed are delivered daily by the loans and currency division of the secretary's office to the bureau on requisition. From the time the blank sheets are de livered by careful count until ;J0 d«ys later, when the printed bills are sent to the treasury to have the seal printed thereon, the bureau must account for every sheet in its hands. It is counted when wet, when print ed on one side, when dried, when wet again, when printed again, when dried a second lime, when ex amined fori nperfection, when num bered—in short counted some 50 times before it finally escapes from the bureau. It has become accustom ed to he counted before it starts out into the world as monoy, and then continues to be counted until it is returned, ragged,dirty and worn out, counted to death—only to be again ounted and destroyed. Would Pennsylvania with its bulging treasury and her face set to ward the works of love and charity; Pennsylvania with her hand stretch ed out to stop disease, poverty and death, —would Pennsylvania tax her poor by levying a tax on every ton of coal the poor man's family needs for warmth and household exigen cies? This is a question now under serious consideration, the out growth of a proposition to place a small tax of perhaps one cent a ton on anthracite and bituminous coal in order to provide more revenue to meet heavier appropriations for schools, good roads and so forth. Undoubtedly the statu will need a greater revenue and ways must be provided to get it through new tax ation. The demands upon the Slate treasury grow greater each year and it is to the credit of the common wealth that her charity and benefi cence is expended with lavish hand. Hut coal should not be taxed. No necessity of life should be taxed. Pennsylvania has laid no burden of taxation upon the homes and fire sides of her people ,nd let us hope she never will.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers