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| New York World, Feb. 27, 1895. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday,
February 6, 1895.
TROLLEY
TROUBLES.
JUDGE GAYNOR TELLS THE CAUSE OF THE STRIKE.
In a
Letter to the Board of Mediation and Arbitration He Goes into the Matter at
Some Length—Says It Was the Result of Stock Manipulation and Not a Question of
Wages—More Rioting In Brooklyn.
NEW YORK, Feb. 6.—Supreme Court Judge William J. Gaynor sent the following letter to the board of mediation and
arbitration at Albany, explaining the situation of the trolley lines:
BROOKLYN, Feb 4.
To the Board of Mediation and Arbitration:
I regret that other duties prevented me from
responding at once to your request that I state to you in writing what I deem
the cause of the existing contention between two street railroad companies in
Brooklyn and their men.
I read the testimony taken before you and
was not surprised that no two witnesses, whether railroad officials or
employes, agreed fully in respect of what the cause is. The real cause does not
lie in anything stated before you. It lies in a state of disquiet and moral
protest, not confined to the employes of the companies, but pervading this
intelligent community and which was caused by recent speculative uses and
manipulations which these companies have been subjected to by certain
individuals who have come into control of them.
Take the case of the Brooklyn City Railroad
company. Up to about three years ago it was a healthy enterprise and was paying
large dividends. No one was jealous or uneasy over the prosperity of its
stockholders, for they were fairly entitled to it, though the stock and bonds
may, in the just opinion of many, have grown larger than the outlay warranted.
Its bonded indebtedness had enlarged to $3,000,000 and its paper shares to $3,000,000,
making a burden of $6,000,000.
But it is what followed that I desire to
state to you. The bonded indebtedness increased to $6,000,000 and the paper
capital to $12,000,000. Thus at a few strokes the company's burden was raised
to $18,000,000.
Coincident with this, it was true that a
change was made from horse to electricity. Whether the fair cost of the change
was equal to this great increase in paper stock and in bonds I leave to those
who know what the legitimate cost a mile, for such a change, or even for the
building and equipping new of a new electric street railroad is.
But the case does not stop here. The next
two steps are what aroused the public conscience. Those in control took this
great company and in 1893 leased it for 999 years to a little street railroad
company called the Brooklyn Heights Railroad company, which they had got
control of. This little company had a paper capital of $200,000 and a mile or
less of track, running down to Wall street ferry. One might well think that instead
of the great Brooklyn City Railroad company being turned over to this miniature
company the reverse would have happened, but it did not, for that would not
have served the purposes in view.
By the terms of the lease this little
company agreed to pay the interest on the $6,000,000 in bonds and also 10 per
cent on the $12,000,000 in stock of the Brooklyn City company. All the overplus
it was to keep. That was to go to its stockholders. Thus, this little company
was made the absorber of all the earnings of the Brooklyn City company over and
above what would have to be taken to pay, as above stated, the interest on the
bonds and 10 per cent on the stock of the latter company.
But this did not satisfy those who had gone that
far. They must go further. To evade the incorporation tax of this state, they
went down to the state of West Virginia, and there in March, 1893, formed a
corporation called the Long Island Traction company, with the enormous paper
capital of $30,000,000.
I need hardly say that this huge paper
company had not a day's work or a dollar back of it. It did not own a steel
rail, a stick of wood, or anything in the world. All that there was of it was
on paper. It was not a railroad company, but a business company, its very name being
a falsehood.
It was brought up to Brooklyn, and those who
created it and also owned and controlled the little Brooklyn Heights company,
turned over to it the certificates of the stock ($200,000) of the latter
company.
And thus, connected by these two links to the
Brooklyn City company, this West Virginia company, with its paper capital of
$30,000,000, became the absorber, through the little Brooklyn Heights company,
of all the earnings of the Brooklyn City company over the interest on bonds and
the 10 per cent on stock, already specified.
In giving you this history concerning the
Brooklyn City company, I have given you the history of the Atlantic Avenue
company, which is subject to the same process of inflation and absorption by
another so-called traction company.
Thus with this just apprehension on the part
of the employes, and the impulse on the other hand to cut every expense down,
it was natural that even a small dispute should cause a serious rupture.
Nothing else could be reasonably expected from such feverish and unhealthy
conditions.
But it is said that all these transactions
were strictly lawful. I admit it. They were in strictest accordance with
statute laws, as any court would have to decide. But what of that? Is the law
always right in what it permits? If that were so we would never need to change.
Jesus was tried in an August court and
convicted according to law, and in our own day and generation the poor fugitive
slave, Dred Scott, was taken and remanded back into human slavery by the
supreme court of the United States in strictest conformity to law.
The one occurrence did not retard the moral growth
of the human race, nor did the other postpone the coming liberation of the
slave. The human race is moving forward
and does so chiefly by making laws and conditions better.
To say that a thing is done according to
law, or that there is no law forbidding it, does not always relieve it from
moral odium. The transactions which I have called your attention to are
not singular to Brooklyn. Their like are to be found in nearly every locality
in our country. They have come to be the order of the day. In place of being
[sheathed] by laws they are often fostered by laws. If this condition were to
continue what the end would be no one who has studied over cause and effects in
history can fail to perceive with clear vision.
There is no jealousy against wealth in this
country. On the contrary those who accumulate wealth in any legitimate calling,
professional, mechanical, mercantile, agricultural or other, are subjects of
emulation and honor. It is wealth got by this means and that, by trick and
device, but all the while by law, which is under the … of the splendid
intelligence and moral sense of the people of this country.
In the immediate dispute which led to the
conflict between the companies and the men I see nothing worthy of serious
attention.
The dispute was too small not to have been
settled easily, except for the inflamed condition, which I have described to
you, brought on by the attempt to create vast inflated wealth on the one side,
being met by justly aroused uneasiness and apprehension on the other.
Under healthy conditions, the dispute would
not have lasted an hour, if it arose at all. I remind you that in the case of
the other two large companies here, the same dispute was settled at once.
Until the cause is removed it is idle to try
to prevent the effects. I submit this in the hope that it may promote thought
and do some good.
WILLIAM J. GAYNOR.
RIOTING
IN BROOKLYN.
Cars
Stoned and a Policeman Badly Beaten by the Mob.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 6.—When car 1923 of the
Flushing avenue line reached Driggs avenue and Leonard street on its way down
town a crowd of about 50 strikers suddenly appeared and, notwithstanding that
the car was full of passengers, began hurling stones and other missiles at it.
A huge piece of iron went crashing through one of the windows, followed by a
shower of rocks.
Special Policeman Theodore Bender, who was
acting as guard to the car, was set upon by the rioters and beaten almost into
insensibility. Several policemen went to
the rescue and Officer Behlens drew his revolver and fired three shots point
blank as the strikers.
A number of arrests were made and it was
ascertained that several people had been severely bruised in the encounter,
although none of them seriously.
Where
Our Navy Is.
The United States will have for the rest of
the winter seven warships in the gulf south of us. This is the strongest fleet
that has ever been sent out at one time from the reconstructed navy. The famous
white squadron, called also the squadron of evolution, that went to Europe as
the herald of the new American navy contained only four large cruisers. There
are not so many United States ships of war in the Asiatic waters, even with the
Japanese-Chinese war on, as there will be in a few weeks in the gulf of Mexico.
The flagship of the squadron is the New York, commanded by President
Cleveland's friend, Captain Robley D. Evans, famed both for his fighting qualities
and the exquisite needlework embroidery he privately amuses himself with in
silent hours on shipboard. The other vessels are the Cincinnati, Raleigh, Columbia
and Minneapolis. The Atlanta is already on the Central American coast. The
Montgomery is in the gulf waters. The New York is the largest of the ships and
is an armored cruiser of 8,200 tons. From this the ships range in size down to
the Montgomery, 2,094 ton cruiser. The Columbia and Minneapolis are the
swiftest of the fleet, having a trial trip record of 23 knots. The New York has
a record of 21 knots.
Besides these vessels there are three of our
ships in Asiatic waters by this time. Another is on its way to Honolulu, while
the stanch little Castine is traveling as fast as steam can carry her by way of
the Cape of Good Hope to Mozambique to look out for American interests in
Madagascar. The gulf fleet will cruise about the gulf waters till warm weather,
then will come north for the summer. The ships will practice evolutions and
maneuvers in company, such as are so famous among the warships of Europe and
such as resulted in the frightful disaster with the British Camperdown a few
years ago in the Mediterranean. It is to be hoped we shall have no Camperdown
accidents with our gulf fleet. The commander of the gulf squadron is Admiral Meade.
The ships will be at Bluefields by the middle of February. They will be a fine
sight, with their fresh paint, glistening guns and gallant crews.
The Chicago and the San Francisco are at
Algiers and constitute the chief dependence of the European squadron. The
Baltimore is at Valparaiso and the Concord off Shanghai.
 |
| Cortland Hospital on North Main Street. |
CORTLAND HOSPITAL.
REPORT
OF THE SECRETARY, MRS. CHENEY.
Read at
Annual Meeting—An Encouraging Year's Work—Some Interesting Statistics.
To the President and Members of The Cortland
Hospital Association and Citizens
of Cortland:
The hospital presents to you a record of its
work for the year ending Feb. 1, 1895. During the year the board of managers has
held regular monthly meetings with special meetings from time to time as
circumstances required.
Two changes have occurred in the membership
of the board. Mrs. A. L. Cole and
Mrs. A. H. Watkins have resigned and Mrs. H. L. Gleason and Mrs. N. J. Peck were elected to fill the vacancies
thus caused.
The whole number of cases treated in the
hospital since it was opened April 1, 1891, is 104. The number during the past year is 39—19
males and 20 females. Of this number 19
were medical and 20 surgical cases; 26 have been discharged, cured or improved;
1 unimproved; 7 have died, and 5 are in the hospital at the present time. The
whole number of days' occupancy has been 1,338. Of the patients treated, 27
were from the town of Cortlandville, 5 from Homer, 1 each from Scott, Solon,
Truxton, Marathon, Preble, McLean and Scranton, Pa. The number of patients
paying from $1 to $10 per week have been 25. County patients 5, and the number
for whose care nothing has been received 9.
The physicians in attendance have been Drs.
Angel, Dana, Higgins, Johnson, Reese, Bantee and White of Cortland, and Drs.
Halleck and Miller of Syracuse.
In November Miss Roberts resigned her position
as matron and head nurse and Miss Georgiana Maynard, a graduate of Long Island
College hospital, Brooklyn, was engaged to fill the place.
April 1, the first step toward the establishment
of a training school for nurses was taken by the admission of a student, and
three young women are at present receiving instruction. The course of medical
lectures, which was interrupted by the serious illness of one of the nurses,
will be resumed at an early day.
Aside from the calls for town nurses registered
at the hospital there have been 11 calls for our own nurses, eight of which we
have been able to respond.
During the year the sum of $826.90 has been
received for board and nurses' services. Aside from these sources of income,
the maintenance of the hospital has had to depend upon the generosity and
patronage of the public and the unremitting efforts of the officers and members
of the board of managers.
At the annual reception held in April the
sum of $40.75 was realized; from the banquet furnished the Alumni association
of the Normal school, $76.75; festival given by the Y. P. C. U., Universalist
church, $12.46; organ concert $4.75; benefit given by the Players' club not yet
announced.
The observance of Hospital day in the public
schools resulted in a substantial donation of table and household supplies, and
$20.50 in money. It is gratifying to report that in the number of voluntary
contributions, so important to the success of our work, there is no falling off.
Acknowledgement has been made from month to month of money receipts,
provisions, clothing, fruit, flowers, literature, etc., through the local
papers. If mistakes have occurred in these lists, we trust that they will be overlooked
by the donors.
To the local press special thanks are due
for the supply of daily and weekly papers, and for the cheerful response to calls
for space in their columns without charge; to the Cortland Water Works Co. for
the yearly supply of water; to Messrs. Lewis Bouton and Henry A. Dickinson for
legal services and County Clerks Jones and Palmer for gratuitous services in
filing and recording papers; and to all friends who have in any way assisted
the hospital since the date of organization, we would repeat our thanks.
It is with pleasure, that the board of
managers are able to report as the crowning event of the year's work, the purchase
of a hospital property, favorably located, commodious, and in every way
admirably adapted to the purpose. For this property the sum of $6,000 has been paid.
For the cost of repairs and heating, we must again turn to the public, trusting
that our appeals will not fail on the needed and essential response.
By the wills of Mrs. John McFarlan and Mrs.
O. A. Baker, the hospital is to receive the sums of $1,000 and $100
respectively. It is expected that a Mr. and Mrs. John McFarlan memorial room will
be established. The sum of $1,000 has been secured to the association by Mr. and
Mrs. E. C. Beach, with provision for the furnishing of a room to the memory of
their son, Henry Merrick Beach.
The year that has gone has been a repetition
of the kind feeling and harmonious co-operation that has always existed in the
management.
What has been accomplished in these four
years, vindicates the purpose of its founders, and entitles the Cortland
hospital to an unquestioned and honorable place among the best of our
village charities. With increased facilities for usefulness and efficiency
through our new accommodations, may the institution reflect credit upon its
friends and benefactors through its share in the relief of human suffering.
Respectfully submitted,
LYDIA H. CHENEY,
Secretary Hospital association,
February 4, 1895.
The announcement of Messrs, Maher Bros. in
another column that they are to close out their stock of goods in Cortland and
move to Watertown, where they have recently purchased a large clothing
business, will be read with regret by everyone who has known or had dealings
with the firm and its energetic, capable and always honorable, genial and
courteous Cortland manager, Mr. Jas. P. Maher. The firm has always done a large
and prosperous business here and enjoyed an excellent reputation, but the
opening in Watertown, with its larger field and more promising business possibilities,
has proven an inducement strong enough to draw them away.
Few business men, who have lived in Cortland
the same length of time with Mr. Maher,
have gained a wider circle of personal friends, and while these many friends
will deeply regret his departure they will send with him their most cordial and
sincere wishes for his health, happiness and prosperity. Watertown will find in
him a valuable addition to her citizens and business men.
ADJUDGED
INSANE.
Allen
Rose Was Sure That his House Was on Fire.
Late yesterday afternoon Allen Rose, a
painter, who lives at 77 Clinton-ave., began making a disturbance at his home claiming
that his house was on fire. He tried to secure the key to an alarm box to ring
in an alarm, but as it was evident that he was not of sound mind and that his
house was all right no key was given him. Complaint was then made to Chief
Sager who went down and got the man and took him to the lockup at Fireman's
hall, where he spent the night.
This morning Dr. Philip M. Neary and Dr. W.
J. Moore made an examination as to the man's sanity. He has long been subject
to epileptic fits and is frequently depressed and at times violent. This
morning he seemed stupid and dazed and it was difficult to get him to make any
statement. He is thirty-three years of age and the present attack, which began
Feb. 1, is his third.
He was committed to the Binghamton hospital
for insane on March 19, 1891, and
again on Aug. 10, 1893, but it is not known whether he was discharged as
recovered or for some other reason. The examining physicians this morning
decided that he was insane and directed him to be sent a third time to
Binghamton.
VILLAGE
TRUSTEES.
Petition Offered for Appropriation to Enforce
the Laws.
The board of trustees transacted quite a
large amount of business at their February meeting. The annual report and statement
was made out.
Prof J. E. Banta and Mr. H. T. Bushnell came
before the board as a committee representing the temperance sentiment of the
village, and presented a petition asking that the board insert in the budget of
appropriations for the ensuing year the sum of $2,500 to secure the enforcement
of law, especially that in reference to the sale of intoxicating liquors. The
petition was read and placed on file.
Mr. E. M. Eastman, secretary of the Cortland
fire department, presented a report of the election of officers of the several
companies, all of which have been previously published in The STANDARD. The
officers have been approved by the board of engineers and the board of trustees
passed a resolution ratifying and confirming the officers elected.
President Tisdale and Trustee Doubleday were
appointed a committee to settle with the village collector and the village treasurer.
The following bills were audited:
Street commissioners pay roll, $59.85
Doe, Nicholson & Deloyea, sewer
contractors, 9.84
Fred Hatch, salary, 50.00
William J. Moore, salary, 10.35
Board of Health, 70.00
Police Force, 98.00
James E. Sager, meals for prisoners for the
month of January, 2.40
F. A. Bickford, salary, 85.00
Frank E. Williams' labor, 2.10
Charles W. Collins, firemen's supplies, 14.80
Theodore Stevenson, insurance, 3.00
Emerald and Hitchcock Hose Companies for the
1894 bunker's appropriation, 100.00
D. F. Waters, labor on truck, 3.00
Cortland & Homer Electric Co., 317.80
The assessment of $3.80 against the village
for the sand bank property was rejected.
The meeting was then adjourned till February
11.
BREVITIES.
—The Normal [school] opened to-day for the spring
term. There were eighty-eight applications for admission by new students.
—The funeral of Leslie Russell, who died at 9
P. M. Monday of pneumonia, aged 2 years and 2 months, was held at 2 o'clock
this afternoon.
—Mrs. J. A. Jayne entertained a company of
her lady friends at an elaborate luncheon at 12:30 o'clock to-day at her home
on Madison-st.
—The electric cars will cease running at 9
o'clock on Friday night to permit the contractor to place some heating coils in
the chimney flue at the power house.
— The funeral of Mrs. Adeline
Allyn will be held from the residence of Capt.
J. W. Strowbridge to-morrow afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. Dr. H. A. Cordo
will officiate.
—Fire broke out again at about 6 o'clock
this morning in the Bates building on Groton-ave., which was partially consumed
Monday night, and an alarm was rung. The companies all responded promptly, but
it was only necessary for one company to
lay hose and the Hitchcock boys soon had the fire out.
—The Cortland Camera club will meet to-night
in the Y. M. C. A. parlors at 3
o'clock. The president will address the club upon the subject of "A Camera
Trip to Europe." He will have his bicycle suit and bicycle with him and
will show how he carried his camera. Every body interested in photography is
invited to be present.
—Two mice
found themselves in a pan of milk. One was about to give up all hopes of
jumping out and said to the other: "Goodby, I sink, I die." Said the
other: "Brace up! Keep a jumpin' and see what turns up." So they kept
on jumping till the milk turned to butter, and then hopped out and ran away.
This fable may be applied to business. If you want more business, "keep a
jumpin'." The man who is continually looking for bad times may not survive
to see good times.
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