Cortland Evening Standard, Monday,
February 13, 1893.
HUNT'S
VERSION.
William D. Hunt, who gave Officer Jones such
a chase Thursday as recorded exclusively in the STANDARD, came into the
Standard office Saturday afternoon and stated that he wished to give his side
of the story in regard to being discharged and the cause of the warrant which
was sworn out for him. The reporter told him to "go ahead" and the
following story was given in substance:
"I worked beside Frank Jones on the second
floor in the weaving department of the New York Wire Fabric Co. In passing him
early Thursday morning I asked him if he was learning a new trade. He replied
in the affirmative and I told him that when he got it well learned he could by
hard work earn 75 cents per day. Jones asked me what I wanted, the earth? I
replied 'No, only what is in it.' At this Jones rushed down to the office and
told Superintendent Rumsey who immediately came up stairs, called me from
behind a loom and stated that if I wanted to work till Saturday night I had
better not meddle with his help. I replied that I had not meddled with them and
related the conversation which Jones and I had had. After listening to it he
told me that he did not care how quick I got out. I replied that I did not care
either. He then ordered me out, gave me my "walking papers" and went down
stairs. I threw a block at Jones and called him a "scab." Jones immediately
reported it at the office and in about ten minutes Rumsey came up stairs and
advised Jones to get out a warrant which he immediately did. When the boys
upstairs found out that I had quit all the weavers on the third floor with the
exception of George Robinson cut their pieces off the rolls. The company seeing
that another strike was imminent compromised with the men by agreeing to pay them
70 cents per hundred pounds of wire cloth instead of 60 cents per hundred as
previously and the boys returned to work, while I went out of the shop and had
the chase with Officer Jones as recorded in Friday's STANDARD."
A BRIEF
HISTORY OF THE JANUARY STRIKE.
The reporter then asked Mr. Hunt if he cared
to give a report of the strike in the Wire Fabric mills Jan. 21 and 23, which
had at the time been hushed up by the company and concerning which they would
not say a word when a STANDARD reporter tried to interview them. Mr. Hunt
stated that he had "just as soon," and it is now put in print for the
first time. Mr. Hunt's statement is as follows:
"Saturday afternoon, January 21, when
we boys quit work we found a new regulation under the head of "Notice"
stuck up at the entrance of the shop. The
wording as near as I remember is as follows: 'On and after January 23, the looms
will be operated by piece work at the rate of 6 cents per 10 pounds. Any workman
who has not reported when the whistle has stopped blowing will lose an hour of
time and the company will operate the looms at 17 cents per hour.' This seemed
unfair to the boys, as it has been clearly demonstrated that it is next to an
impossibility to make more than 15 cents an hour and the majority of the boys
do not average over 12 1/2 cents an hour. The men did not think it fair to pay
a green man, who could not earn over half what they did, more than they themselves
could earn in the same time and accordingly fourteen of the weavers held an
indignation meeting in front of the shop then and there. They decided to hold a
meeting the next afternoon to discuss the matter. They also decided that the
circumstances of four of their number would not allow them to remain long out
of work and advised them to return to work Monday morning, which they did. The
ten weavers then ''stuck together'' and held a meeting in the Tempest hose
rooms in the Union building the following afternoon.
At that meeting two committees were
appointed, one to see if any arrangements could be made with the Wickwire
Brothers, Cortland, for employing them and the other to wait on the company and
see if a compromise could be made. The men did not go to work Monday morning, but
held a meeting in the parlor of Dan Kernan's hotel between Cortland and Homer
for a report of the committees.
The committee which waited on the Wickwire
brothers at Cortland reported that the factory there had all the employees they
needed. The other committee stated that they had seen Mr. Skinner, who has
charge of the office work in the Wire Fabric company, who stated that he had
put up the sign to keep those at work who would lay off when there was no
necessity for it. He said that he had always had confidence in the boys and
hoped they would have confidence in him. He further stated that he wanted them
to return to work and in the meantime he would see what could be done in
raising their wages.
Under
those conditions the boys returned to work Monday noon and the result was that
after the boys again started to leave the shop last Thursday morning they received
the raise of from 60 cents per 100 pounds of wire cloth to 70 cents per hundred
pounds."
Thus ended what might possibly have resulted
in a large strike and everything at present is as quiet as could be desired in
the shop.
Mr. Powderly's Prediction.
W. C. T.
U. Convention.
The semi-annual convention of the Woman's
Christian Temperance union of Cortland county will be held in the Presbyterian
church in Cortland the first week in March. Mrs. Mary Hunt of Boston, world's
superintendent of the department of scientific instruction, is expected to
deliver the evening address. This is a treat which the white ribboners have
anticipated for a long time and to which they extend a cordial invitation to be
present to all who are interested in the cause of education and temperance.
Saloon
or No Saloon.
The committee in charge invite everyone to
come to the Baptist church this evening and learn how to master this giant
evil. The people of Cortland can do what others have done under far more
difficult circumstances. You will learn how 122 saloons were closed and kept
closed for seven successive years in Cambridge, Mass. You will learn some
startling facts about your own village and the necessity of prompt and
efficient effort in redeeming it from the grip of the destroyer. This
illustrated temperance address will be given by Rev. R. T. Jones of Ithaca. An
offering will be thankfully received after the lecture.
Baptist
Church.
The congregations were very large, both
morning and evening, filling and even crowding the spacious edifice. The pastor
preached at the morning service from Hebrews xiii:8— "Jesus Christ, the
same yesterday, and to-day and forever."
This is the great Christian confession of
faith. Christ is master in Christendom. He is the leader of the race. He is the
rock amid the din and clashing of jarring opinions. He is great by reason of
his personal character. Amid the diversities of creeds Christianity is the one
permanent final creed. Christ is the one and only true revealer of God. He is
the great remedy for all speculative doubt. He fully answers the yearnings and
the ideals of the soul. Abide in, trust him who is the unchangeable Christ.
At the close of the sermon, Dr. Cordo called
attention to the importance of the approaching election for excise
commissioner, and in a brief address earnestly urged all voters to come to the
front and elect a no-license man, and thus remove from Cortland its greatest
curse and iniquity, the saloon.
The Sunday-school had an interesting session
and a large attendance. The report of the county Sunday-school convention recently
held at Homer was given by Mrs. C. W. Stoker and Mrs. F. D. Reese.
The Young People's meeting was held at 6
o'clock. Topic—"How to pray, Nehemiah's example." Leader, Mr. Geo. L.
Sweetland.
At the evening service there was a special
program in observance of "Union Defender's Day." [Birth of Lincoln
Commemoration Day—CC editor.] The James H. Kellogg camp, No. 48, Sons of Veterans,
U. S. A., Grover Post No. 98, G. A. R. and Grover Relief corps, No. 96, and H.
C. Hendricks camp, No. 30 of McGrawville were present and occupied reserved
seats. The program as printed in Saturday's STANDARD was followed out. The
platform was handsomely decorated with the national colors and with pictures of
Washington and Lincoln.
The committee on revision of the church
membership roll will meet in the church parlor on Saturday evening, Feb. 18, at
7:30. All the members are requested to be present.
A regular meeting of the Ladies' Aid and
Home Mission society will be held in the church parlor Wednesday afternoon. A
ten-cent tea will be served at 6 o'clock. All are invited. The members of the society
are earnestly requested to be present in the afternoon, as there is a large
amount of work on hand to be finished.
The young gentlemen of this church and
congregation will give an entertainment Wednesday evening, Feb. 22. Maple sugar
will be served and an interesting program presented. Admission, twenty-five
cents.
 |
| Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, Feb. 13, 1893. |
BREVITIES.
—The town meeting will be held in Wells'
hall this year.
—Remember the Valentine social at the W. C.
T. U. rooms this evening.
—The Clover club have a sleighride party and
dance at Higginsville tonight.
—Don't forget the Y. M. C. A. sociable
to-night at John L. Lewis lodge rooms.
—A. D. White was fined three dollars for
public intoxication this morning by Judge Bull.
—Special meeting of the board of engineers
in the Orris Hose parlors at 8 o'clock sharp to-night.
—There will be a meeting at the Gulf school
house next Sunday evening, led by Mr. Thomas Crozier.
—Harrington's orchestra furnishes the music
at the dance at Dan Kernan' Half Way House to-night.
—The museum will be one of the attractions at
the railroad social in the John L. Lewis lodge rooms this evening.
—The town board hold a meeting in the town
clerk's office at 10 A. M. tomorrow to settle accounts with the town officers.
—Do not forget the little folks and their
pie at the Homer-ave. church early this evening. An interesting little program
and a large piece of pie will be given for five cents.
—There were nearly one hundred young men and
women on examination before Commissioner Stillman in Normal hall last Saturday,
trying for second and third grade teachers' certificates,
—The Earnest Workers of the Congregational
church will hold a Valentine social at the home of Mrs. S. N. Holden, 5
Union-st., Tuesday evening, Feb. 14. Everybody come and get your valentine.
—While Mr. Eugene Baldwin was standing on a
pile of lumber in the Cortland Harness and Carriage Goods Co's. factory this
morning he slipped and fell a distance of eight or ten feet, spraining his
ankle.
—The Presbyterian church of Ithaca had on
Saturday secured pledges to the amount of $42,232 for a new church edifice.
When $50,000 have been secured contracts will be let and the work of building
will be begun. It is expected that this sum will be reached in a few days.
—The West Presbyterian church of Binghamton
yesterday celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the pastorate of the Rev.
Samuel Dunham. Appropriate services were held and the last two decades were
passed in review at the morning service. The church shows great vitality and a
remarkable growth.
—The stenographers of Cortland met at the
rooms of Miss A. Brown in the Standard building last Saturday night to discuss
some matters of interest to themselves. It was determined to have a meeting at
this place each Tuesday night at 7 o'clock, beginning to-morrow evening, for
dictation practice. All stenographers are invited to be present.
 |
| Terence Powderly. |
Three millions celebrated in 1792,
63,000,000 in 1893, and 300,000,000 will in 1993 celebrate the landing of Columbus.
They will be educated and refined, for the arts and sciences will be taught in
the public schools. Not only will the mind of the pupil be trained, but the
hand as well, and each child will be instructed in the manual of tools; they
will be instructed in the functions of every part of the human system;
"man, know thyself" will have a meaning in 1993. The economic and
social questions of the day will also be taught in the schools; there will be
no uneducated persons to act as drags on the car of progress.
The form of government will be simpler; the
initiative and referendum will prevail, and lawmakers will not be the autocrats
they now are, for they will truly register the will of the people; they will
not dictate to them as at present. The commonwealth will be organized on
industrial lines; labor organizations will have disappeared, for there will be
no longer a necessity for their existence. An ideal democracy will stand upon
the foundations we of 1893 are erecting.
Railroads, water courses, telegraphs,
telephones, pneumatic tubes and all other methods of transporting passengers,
freight and intelligence will be owned and operated by the government. The
earnings of these agencies will swell the public treasury. Homes will flourish,
for they will no longer be taxed. Instead of devoting so much time and money to
the erecting of great public structures, as at present, the erection and
adornment of the home will receive first consideration.
Each home will be regarded as a contribution
to the wealth and beauty of the nation; the earnings of public concerns will
defray the cost of maintaining streets, sewers, waterworks and light and heat
giving establishments. Cremation will take the place of the present system of
burying the dead; the living will be healthier, for the earth will not be
poisoned through interment of infection. The contents of sewers will not flow
into river and stream to send deadly vapors through the air, but will be
utilized to enrich the harvest yielding earth.
The progress of the lower grades of animal
life has been skillfully guided and hastened until we may now assert that
cattle and fowl are approaching perfection. In 1993 the same attention will be
bestowed on the human race, and, instead of rushing blindly forward, increasing
and multiplying at haphazard, humanity will knowingly and intelligently advance
to higher altitudes. There will be no very rich or very poor, for long before
1993 dawns upon the world the industrialists will have learned that the raising
of large families is but another way to create slaves to perform the drudgery
of the wealthy, and the family will be restricted to the capacity of the
parents to maintain and educate.
Under such conditions prisons and poorhouses
will decline, and divorces will not be considered necessary. The system which
makes criminals of men and women and at the same time makes millionaires of
others will have disappeared. As a consequence the confinement and punishment
of criminals will occupy but little of the thought or time of the men of 1993.
[We copy
articles as they were printed, past rules of grammar included—CC editor.]
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