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Franklin Repository: August 25, 1869 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Would Additional Railroads Benefit Our Farmers?
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper complains about the weak support among farmers for construction of railroads. The article suggests that Franklin County's reticence in the matter is responsible for its slow economic growth compared to other areas of the state. Railroads and the development of natural resources, the author argues, would help the farmer and industrialist alike.

Full Text of Article:

The impression is general that the agricultural element of our country, the largest in number, and much the wealthiest, is less anxious for its further development by means of railroads than any other. This conclusion would seem to be satisfactorily reached from the fact that our farmers never lead, and reluctantly follow, all such enterprises, though there are a number of other reasons perhaps more specific, which would satisfactorily account for their apparent lack of enterprise. Whatever the true reason may be, it is not that farmers are wanting in energy and perseverence to accomplish a work which their judgment tells them must result vastly more in their material prosperity than that of any other class of our citizens; or, that they have not the means at their command to secure what to them would be a source of incalculable benefit.

It may be fairly assumed that our farmers do not fully appreciate the vast benefits which would flow to them from the construction of such railroads as have lately been agitated in several sections of the county. Perhaps the smallest benefit they would receive from these railroads, if they became through lines to the great markets of the country, would be the increased advantages of getting to market, and the reduction of the prices of transportation by means of competition. We do not wonder at their inertness on the subject if they see no more substantial benefit than this. Their true advantage is to be found in this, that it would transport the market for their productions from the seaboard cities to their midst. In other words, it would plant the manufacturer by the side of the farmer. Franklin county is exclusively agricultural, and enjoys already all the advantages of any other agricultural community, except an immediate market. But it is not necessarily only agricultural. Independent of that it is blessed in mineral wealth even far beyond many counties we now recall, which, with only mineral resources, have outstripped us in wealth and population. The single item of iron ore, without a fertile soil, has built railroads and furnaces, villages and towns, and given employment and comfortable homes and subsistence to thousands in some sections of the State. In other sections the presence of coal alone, in the mountains, has in a few years built up a population surrounded by wealth and teaming with busy manufactoring industry, to which our county far more highly favored, and settled a hundred years, is a perfect stranger.

Franklin county has hitherto relied solely on her agriculture for her wealth and prosperity, but even in this branch of industry she has not secured half as much as she might have done, nor can she ever until she brings the consumers of her raw materials into her midst. Nature has bountifully provided for this in storing inexhaustible supplies of iron ore in all her hills and mountains, and in diversifying her valleys with streams of water which will abundantly supply water power for manufactures. Railroads would develope the one and employ the other. They would make ours a manufacturing people as well as agricultural, and would thereby greatly increase the value of land and the profits of farming. With a remote market farmers are restricted to the cultivation of wheat, corn and oats, a few great staples, which steadily impoverish their soil by draining it of the important elements which enter into the constituents of these crops. A new market would enable them to diversify their products by cultivating fruits and vegetables, and thus maintain the fertility and even increase the productive capacity of the soil. This near market can only be secured by building up manufactures in our midst, and that can never be done without constructing railroads to connect us with the iron ore of our own county, and the coal fields adjoining us.

Of one thing farmers may be assured, and that is, if they rely solely on the cultivation of wheat, corn, oats and rye, and on shipping the best elements of their soil away, year after year, the time is not far distant when they will no longer be able to raise these crops in paying quantities. The average yield of wheat has fallen in the recollection of some who are still active farmers, from twenty-five bushels to less than ten, and if the husbandry were not more skillful than it was at first, the yield would be still less than it is.

Asa Packer
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper asserts that the Democrats made an especially weak nomination in choosing Asa Packer as their candidate for governor. The author charges that Packer is completely devoid of political principle, ands won the honor solely because of his vast wealth.

Full Text of Article:

Packer has now been before the people as the Democratic candidate for Governor for a period of six weeks, and just so long have we looked, and looked in vain, to find a valid reason for his nomination. There are some things, they may be called principles, to which the Democracy of Pennsylvania have strictly adhered in the past, in the selection of their candidates for office, and which had come to be regarded by the mass of the party as essentials. Their candidates for high offices were always chosen from the number of those who had distinguished themselves in public life, for earnest ability either as legislators, or as jurists, or as successful leading politicians; and if from the class of purely politicians, they must be opposed to monopolies of all kinds, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, in order to be able to secure the sympathy of that largest class of voters, so fitly expressed by the term, "poor man."

In the selection of Packer the party has cut loose from all these considerations, and the question is asked, what has it gained in lieu of them? These inquiries are not our own; we hear them spoken of every day among the people at large, and the people find but one reply.

The positions which Packer has held before the public are respectively those of County Judge, Member of the Legislature and of the House of Representatives in Congress. As County Judge he could have no opportunity of doing anything to become known. As Legislator and Member of Congress he could and did have. Yet, though only a few years have elapsed, but for the members who served with him, and the records, it would be difficult for him to prove that he was either. In both positions he was manifestly without ability and without influence. He doubtless occupied his seat both in the State and National Legislatures, and voted with his party as it favored or opposed such measures as was brought before them.

But if he ever originated a measure, either in Congress or the Legislature, if he ever formed a bill, or an amendment to a bill, if his voice was ever heard for or against any measure his party has failed or neglected to make it known. If his usefulness or his influence was ever felt, in committee or out of it, if the attention of the people was ever drawn to him by anything he said or did in his public life, it has entirely escaped the knowledge of his party friends, as well as those who are politically opposed to him. Even in the matter of the fearful struggle for the life of the Nation, though he had been a member of Congress, he is wholly and absolutley without a record. The only circumstance which his party has been able to produce on this point is that when Gen. Lee invaded the State at the head of a powerful army, and threatened to desolate it, he offered to support the families of such of his employess as went to the front and imperilled their lives to protect his property.

His chief wealth consisted of railroad stocks and coal mines. If Lee had succeeded in his attempt to overrun the State, both of these would have been rendered valueless, and it was to protect these that he did the only act and made the only speech which his friends have dared to produce to prove his sympathy with the Government during the war. That is all.

Now then, in the choice of this man, who has been both legislator and member of Congress, and was never heard from in either, what has the party gained?

It has gained a candidate worth twenty millions of dollars, and you are asked to make him Governor. It has gained money, and sacrificed principle. It has gained a leader with loaded pockets and empty head. It has gained a grasping, money accumulating, money hoarding monopolist, who has made his collossal fortune by controlling and manipulating the price of a necessary commodity. Our whole population has contributed to make up his enormous wealth. Even the poor man, whose help the Democracy always invokes, has been made to add his mite in the extortionate prices his is forced to pay for coal.

Well, the almighty dollar elevated this man into the Legislature, but it could not give him legislative ability. It carried him into Congress, but it failed to give him respectable standing or even notoriety while there. It has never failed to do his bidding yet. Will it be able, burdened with his imbecility, his lack of learning, his want of statesmanship, to carry him into the gubernatorial chair? If it can do this it can steal away the judgement and prudence and the integrity of Pennsylvania voters.

Republican
(Column 02)

Summary: The paper condemns Democrats for resorting to crude, bawdy political attacks.

Full Text of Article:

From res publica--a public thing--a political prostitute. A double-gendered, doubly-polluted hermaphrodite that has grown rich by sinning. Like that of all fabled monstrostities, the circumstances attending to the birth of this bisexual creature are sublimely awful; but accounts differ. The most plausible is that he, or she, or both, is the result of an illegitimate intercourse of Mr. Disunion with Miss Abolitionism. History is undecided whether this connection was a forced one, or whether both parties were "willing." It is said that the travail of the mother was painful in the extreme; and when the infant monster saw the light of day, the earth shook with the roar of artillery (not "heaven's own" but earth's), and brother smote brother, as if afflicted with some sudden madness. We have the authority of one of its fathers (there were quite a number of "fingers in the pie") for the statement that the embryo was nineteen years in course of incubation. ("I have been trying for nineteen years to break up this government"--Philips) But notwithstanding this prolonged state of impregnation on the part of its mother, the thing is very short-lived. Its death is predicted on the 2d Tuesday of October, and beyond all peradventure of a doubt it will so come to pass, as all the "signs" of the times lie towards such an event.--Last week's Spirit.

We once heard the editor of the Spirit say that he didn't allow Brick Pomeroy's paper to come into his office, and we thought--we were verdant then--that he condemned it on account of its obscenity. There are no words to express the disgust we feel at our stupidity. It was the contempt of a master for the miserable abortions of a bungler who had the presumption to invade his own domain, and not horror at the blasphemy and impiety which filled its pages. We feel that we wronged the Spirit and displayed great ignorance. Now let ignorance plead in mitigation of the offence. We bow with unreserved respect to this king of beasts. Pomeroy is a pigmy, Pomeroy is a dwarf. The Spirit alone is great. When the lion roareth let Pomeroy hide his diminished head. Why sing the praises of Pomeroy, when greater than Pomeroy is in our very midst. Pomeroy's soul is but a shallow pool of blasphemy and corruption, and its resources are limited; but here is boundless wealth, here is an inexhaustible mine of nastiness.

Let us congratulate the Democracy of Franklin county. The Spirit of evil is theirs. A great law is illustrated. Nature never creates a want but she sets about supplying it. Here is the Democratic party, its organization is unique, and its wants are peculiar. It must have filth; it must have corruption; it hungers and thirsts for obscene literature; it languishes for bawdy suggestions and illustrations. These are its meat and its drink, the atmosphere it breathes. Without these it cannot exist. How shall its wants be supplied? We shall see. Nature has come to the rescue. The Spirit is brought up to the measure of the demand. The universality of law is true. Nature never creates a want but she supplies it.

But why circumscribe it to the limits of Franklin county? The Democracy is the same everywhere. Why not extend the spirit of the Spirit? Are there not little children, girls and youths, beyond our county, with minds and consciences to be corrupted and debased by such literature? Surely there are, and it is the surest way to make Democrats of them. The tender mind is susceptible. If good seed be sown then it will be able to resist the seductions of wicked and impure literature, and this would be detrimental to the cause of Democracy. To escape this we urge upon Democratic parents to place the Spirit in the hands of their children, to put it away under their eyes, to lay it upon their tables. Why should they grow up to be pure and innocent men and women, when to do so would be fatal to Democracy?

[No Title]
(Column 03)

Summary: The paper triumphantly quotes a Democratic newspaper from New York that criticizes iron and coal "monopolists" who take money from the people's pockets through the means of high tariff duties. Asa Packer, the Democratic candidate for governor, made his fortune in coal and iron.

[No Title]
(Column 03)

Summary: The paper highlights General Grant's loyalty to strong Republican unionists by calling attention to his refusal to appoint his brother-in-law, Judge Dent of Mississippi, to any position in the administration. Dent favors extremely leniant treatment of white southerners, and members of the Democratic Party were pushing for his appointment.

Court Proceedings
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper prints an account of court proceedings for the week, including a long explanation of a contested will.
(Names in announcement: John Harmony, Frank Spitel, John Bitner, Samuel Bitner, Christian Bitner, Joseph Bitner, Jacob Bitner, George W. Brewer, Henry Bitner, Kimmell, Stenger, Sharpe, George W. Brewer, W. U. Brewer, Robert Mahon, John Valentine, Alex Martin, Thomas M'Laughlin, John H. Snider, Peter Cook, John D. Speer, Ezra Hambright, Eli Fuss, Barnet B. Picking, William Hayman, George Taylor, Jacob S. Brand, Sol Huber, John Huber, F. M. Kimmell)

Full Text of Article:

Second Week.--In the case of the Com. vs. John Harmony, for the murder of Frank Spitel, (which was on trial as we went to press last week,) the defendant was found guilty of murder in the second degree. A motion was at once made for a new trial, which was granted by the court. The defendant then plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to undergo an imprisonment of one year in the Eastern Penitentiary.

On Tuesday afternoon, the trial of the civil causes was commenced. The first case, and one that occupied the remainder of the week, was that of John Bitner, Samuel Bitner and Christian Bitner, Ex'rs of Christian Bitner, dec'd, vs. Joseph Bitner, Jacob Bitner and Geo. W. Brewer, guardian of the minor children of Henry Bitner, dec'd. Feigned issue. Kimmell and Stenger for plffs; Sharpe, Geo. W. Brewer and W. U. Brewer for defts. The issue was made up for the purpose of testing the validity of a will made by Christian Bitner, dec'd. The parties desiring to break it and give to all the heirs what seemed to be an equal portion of the property, alleged that a want of mental capacity existed in the testator, and that his peculiar dislike to some of his children rendered him a monomaniac, and thereby incapacitated him for doing justice to all those who were interested in the disposition of his estate. Mr. Bitner died September 17th, 1868.

The following are the names of the jurors in the case: Robert Mahon, John Valentine, Alex Martin, Thomas M'Laughlin, John H. Snider, Peter Cook, John D. Speer, Ezra Hambright, Eli Fuss, Barnet B. Picking, William Hayman, George Taylor.

The will was made on the 14th of June, 1865. The testator bequethed his estate to his sons, John, Samuel and Christian, in trust, and also constituted them his Executors, and also desired it understood that the three sons above named should be the heirs and devisors of all his real and personal estate of which he died seized and possessed, except so much as was bestowed to others; and he further desired them to carry on the farming business as it had been conducted in the past, and he did not want them to file inventories and appraisements of his property. He did not wish them to sell and dispose of ther respective interests, in either the real or personal estate during their lives, but desired them to continue on the land and farm and enjoy it as heretofore, during their lifetimes, and at their death to dispose of the same according to their pleasure. As his son Christian was the best qualified, he desired that he should be the business man. Should either of his said sons marry, he desired that the one so marrying should take one of the houses on the farm, except the mansion house, or if there was no convenient house on the premises, one should be built; but should Christian marry, he was to occupy the mansion house. Whilst they remained single they were to continue as one family. To his son Joseph, at present residing in the State of Maryland, for reasons not necessary to state, he gave five dollars, payable on demand. To his son Jacob and wife, and their children, not of an age to support themselves, a home on the farms, either in the house occupied by them, or in such other as his said Executors and Trustees might erect for the purpose, and in the event of his son Jacob, his wife and their youthful children laboring on the farms, for is sons, as in his lifetime they labored for him, his Executors were to furnish the family with everything necessary to their well being suited to their condition in life. This provision was to extend to the father, to the wife also, if she survived the husband, and remained unmarried, and to the children until they would attain such an age as they might be able to support themselves, his object being to give this family a home on the condition mentioned, so long as the parents lived and the children were for any reason unable by honest labor to support and maintain themselves. If the children of Jacob proved to be honest and good members of society, he recommended his Executors to aid them, but left it optional with them whether they would do so or not, and their judgment was to be to final in the premises. As he had provided for his son Henry into his life time, he had nothing more to give his children. He gave to his daughters Susan and Catharine, a living on the farms so long as they remained unmarried, but in case of Susan's marriage she was to receive $500 from his Executors, and should Catharine marry she was to receive $250, and the Executors were further recommended to keep these daughters liberally supplied with pocket money, but in case of marriage their husbands were to support them without any further claims on the estate, except the above specified legacies. The will was signed in the presence of Jacob S. Brand, Sol. Huber, John Huber and F. M. Kimmell.

The Bitner trial was continued during the third week of court. The Jurors for this week have been discharged. Fifteen witnesses have been examined on the part of the plaintiff and fifty on the side of the defence. The case is still on trial as we go to press, and the probabilities are that the testimony will not be closed before this evening.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The Franklin County Horticultural Society met on August 17th. President Suesserott presided. John Jeffries and Julius Gibbs were admitted to membership. A committee was appointed to prepare a list of fruits well-suited to cultivation in Franklin County. A delegation was chosen to attend a meeting of the American Pomological Convnetion in Philadelphia, and $20 were appropriated to help defray their expenses.
(Names in announcement: Pres. Suesserott, John Jeffries, Julia Gibbs, Jenkins, Guthrie, Elder, Hazelet, Boyle, Stouffer, Ephaim Burkholder, Michael Hege, George Flack, H. M. Engle, R. P. Hazelet, T. B. Jenkins, J. S. Nixon)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper reports that business in Chambersburg has been dull, and asserts that the trade the town enjoyed before the fire has not yet been recovered. The editors urge merchants to advertize liberally in the paper to help drum up business.

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: The paper breaks down the races for Democratic nominations and raises the prospect of infighting between ambitious members of the party.
(Names in announcement: Capt. G. W. Skinner, Col. B. F. Winger, John DeGolley, Capt. T. D. French, H. M. White, Benjamin M. Powell, L. Leidy, William Reber, Vincent M'Coy, B. A. Cormany, Lt. M. D. Reymer, H. T. Snyder, J. Cook, George W. Welsh)

Full Text of Article:

On Tuesday next the Democracy of Franklin county will meet in Convention to form a county ticket. There is not that harmony in the party at present that is needed to make their coming campaign a success. For several years past their "rings" have opposed one another fiercely, and the party beaten in Convention has given a lukewarm support to their nominees. It will require considerable "gerrymandering" to give satisfaction to all their ambitious office-seekers. Capt. G. W. Skinner, present County Treasurer, appears to have the inside track for the Legislature. Col. B. F. Winger, spoken of sometime since, in this connection, seems to be laid on the shelf for the present, and unless John DeGolley, Esq., a recent convert who not only changes his name but also his politics as the fit takes him, should develop greater strength than he now possesses, the Captain will have no difficulty in making his point. The only objection urged against him is, that he was a soldier. Capt. T. D. French, H. M. White, Benj. M. Powell, L. Leidy and Wm. Reber would all like to be County Treasurers. Their patriotism is really to be admired. Reber ought to be the man, for this is his third if not his fourth attempt to serve his fellow-citizens in this capacity. For Clerk of the Courts, Vincent M'Coy, B. A. Cormany and Lieut. M. D. Reymer are mentioned, and have paid the Spirit for advertising their cards. There is the same objection to Reymer, as to Skinner, he was a soldier, and in addition to that, has been in the party a very short time. There are but two men named for Register and Recorder, H. T. Snyder and J. Cook. Knowing Democrats bet on Snider two to one. Geo. W. Welsh has no competitor for Prothonotary, and if hard work for a partisan organization deserves recognition, George should be nominated unanimously.

Horse Thief Captured
(Column 02)

Summary: Charles H. Bush alerted officer Houser to the presence of a man named G. A. Carton who had a horse matching the description of one stolen from John R. Hodson. Houser arrested Carton.

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: A man named Messer passed a number of counterfeit $20 bills to some Chambersburg merchants. Police went in pursuit of the man but could not locate him.
(Names in announcement: Messer, Dechert, Dieter, Hutton, Hiteshew, Dorwart, Hollowell)

A Returned Missionary
(Column 02)

Summary: The Rev. Andrew P. Happer, a long-time missionary in China, will preach in the Court House on Sunday. "The Doctor is a man of large experience, mature judgement and throughly devoted to his work, and expects to return to his former field of labor in a month or two from this time. His only object in visiting us is to throw light upon the past history, present condition and future prospects of that great nation, which is now absorbing so large a share of public attention." He will also address the Sabbath Schools of Fayetteville and the surrounding area.

[No Title]
(Column 03)

Summary: A $100 award is offered for the return of a horse stolen from Henry Pensinger, and $25 is offered for capture of the thief.
(Names in announcement: Henry Pensinger)

[No Title]
(Column 03)

Summary: Samuel Garber announces that all accounts with Garber, Wingert, and Co. must be settled by September 15th with notes or cash.
(Names in announcement: Samuel Garber)

[No Title]
(Column 03)

Summary: Rev. C. W. M'Keehan and O. C. Bowers were hired as teachers for the next year at the Chambersburg Academy. The paper praises their abilities.
(Names in announcement: Rev. C. W. M'Keehan, O. C. Bowers)

[No Title]
(Column 03)

Summary: Services for the innauguration of Thomas G. Apple, president of Mercersburg College, will be held at the Reformed Church in Mercersburg on September 2nd.
(Names in announcement: Thomas G. Apple)

[No Title]
(Column 03)

Summary: Charles H. Taylor resigned as teller of the National Bank of Chambersburg. He is moving to the South to take up a business. He will leave behind many friends who wish him well.
(Names in announcement: Charles H. Taylor)

[No Title]
(Column 03)

Summary: The 77th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers are holding a reunion in Pittsburgh on Spetember 9th.

Married
(Column 04)

Summary: Adam Brown and Miss Annie M. Kadel, both of Fayetteville, were married on August 18th by the Rev. L. A. Gotwald.
(Names in announcement: Adam Brown, Annie M. Kadel, Rev. L. A. Gotwald)

Married
(Column 04)

Summary: John S. Walter and Miss Libbie Haulman, both of Franklin, were married at St. Thomas on August 24th by the Rev. J. H. S. Clarke.
(Names in announcement: John S. Walter, Libbie Haulman, Rev. J. H. S. Clarke)

Died
(Column 04)

Summary: Mrs. Elizabeth Diller died near Scotland on August 1st after suffering a short illness. She was 75 years old.
(Names in announcement: Elizabeth Diller)