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| Frances Willard. |
WHITE RIBBONERS MEET.
Many
Temperance Advocates In Washington.
MONSTER
POLYGLOT PETITION.
Women's
Christian Temperance Union Will Present to Congress the Largest
Petition
Ever Produced—Said to Contain Over Three Million Names—President Willard's
Address Delivered by Proxy—Text
of the Petition.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16.—The Metropolitan
Methodist Episcopal church was becomingly decorated in honor of the convocation
of White Ribboners.
A good attendance greeted the opening
session, which began with the singing of hymns, followed by an address of
welcome by Mrs. M. E. Griffith, president of the district Women's Christian Temperance Union, to which Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman, recording secretary of the
national union, responded. Then came a prayer and consecration meeting
conducted by Mrs. Catherine Lente Stevenson of Chicago, and participated in by
other prominent workers in the cause of temperance.
Miss Frances Willard and Lady Henry Somerset
were unable to be present, having been detained in Boston, but are expected to
arrive during the day.
The principal object of the gathering is to
call to the attention of congress and the president as strongly as possible the
immense polyglot petition which has arrived in Washington after a journey round
the world, and now, it is asserted, bears the signatures of more than 3,000,000
people of a 11 nationalities.
Miss Anna Gordon read Miss Frances Willard's
address, the latter not being present. The address was as follows:
"Home protection is the keyword of
woman's work. Manufacturers seek the tariff for the purpose of protection to
industries, adult and infant; trades unions are founded to protect the wage
earners from the aggressions of capital, and corporations and monopolies to
protect from the encroachment of competition; but 10,000 groups of
loyal-hearted mothers and wives, sisters and daughters have formed for the
purpose of acting in an organized capacity as protectors of their home, the
tempted youth and the little child. For this cause, there are 'bands of ribbon
white around the world' and this polyglot petition is but our prayer that
'tells out' a purpose of our hearts and heads wrought into a plea before the
nations of the world.
"We expect to present this petition to
representatives of every civilized government. This cannot be done in the usual
form, because, when once received, this Magna Charta of the home would become
the property of the various legislatures and parliaments and our law requires
that it be conveyed from one to another. We are also aware that in a legal and
technical sense no government accepts the signature of those outside its own
barriers.
"We have, therefore, preferred to make
our petition a great popular testimonial. We expect that its presentation will
give an added impetus to legislation against the liquor traffic, the opium
trade, the gambling den, the house of shame.
"The Women's Christian Temperance union
has circulated many petitions. The number of signatures and attestations
secured throughout the world to our different petitions in the last 20 years
aggregates not fewer than 15,000,000 names—probably 20,000,000.
"We prize the polyglot petition work,
because it has afforded a nucleus around which women may rally. Because we are
patriots who have come to the capital of our native land to present this
petition first of all in the country in which it originated and which has sent
out all the white ribbon missionaries who have secured its circulation in
foreign countries. We present it to members of the United States senate and
house of representatives and we expect to secure a hearing with the petition
for its basis before committees of those two bodies.
"We have sent a copy of the petition to
every officer connected with our national legislature and, as a matter of
courtesy, to every member of the United States government. It is fitting that
as this petition has been from first to last the work of the World's Women's
Christian Temperance union, the president and vice president should speak at
this first of the great meetings to be held in connection with its presentation
to the various governments.
"Our English leader, Lady Henry
Somerset, will speak on behalf of the cause in her own land and throughout the
world. The greatest number of names, indorsements and attestations have been
secured in our country, and next to ours, in Great Britain. Miss Gwellian
Morgan of Wales has superintended this work in the mother country.
"Mrs. Mary Clement Leavitt of Boston
was the first who went forth with the petition in 1884. She was absent nine
years, visiting practically every nation of the world, without money, except as
we collected $3,000 in small sums from our members.
"So far as we know, the largest
petition ever presented, except our Polyglot, was that of the British Chartists
in 1841, asking for the repeal of the Corn Laws. This had 1,000,000 names, and
it carried its point."
The petition was then read and the work of
securing the signatures explained. It is as follows:
FOR GOD
AND HOME AND EVERY LAND.
POLYGLOT
PETITION OF THE WORLD'S WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.
To the
Governments of the World:
HONORED
RULERS, REPRESENTATIVES AND BROTHERS—We, your petitioners, although belonging
to the physically weaker sex, are strong of heart to leave our homes, our
native land, and the world's family of nations.
We know that clear brains and pure hearts make
honest lives and happy homes, and that by these the nations prosper, and the time
is brought nearer when the world shall be at peace.
We know that indulgence in alcohol and opium
and in other vices, which disgrace our social life, makes misery for all the
world, and most of all, for us and for our children.
We know that stimulants and opiates are sold
under legal guarantees, which makes the governments partners in the traffic by
accepting as revenue a portion of the profits, and we know with shame that they
are often forced by treaty upon populations, either ignorant or unwillingly.
We know that law might do much, now left undone,
to raise the moral tone of society and render vice difficult.
We have no power to prevent these great iniquities
beneath which the whole world groans, but you have power to redeem the honor of
the nations from an indefensible complicity.
We therefore come to you with the united voices
of representative women of every land, beseeching you to raise the standard of
the laws to that of Christian morals, to strip away the safeguards and
sanctions of the state from the drink traffic and the opium trade, and to protect
our homes by the total prohibition of these curses of civilization throughout
all the territory which your government extends.
BROOKLYN
TROLLEY STRIKE.
The
Legislative Committee Commences Its Investigation.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 16.—The legislative committee
appointed to investigate the trolley system of Brooklyn and the causes which
led to the recent strike, began its labors in the common council chamber of the
city hall.
The committee consists of Assemblyman
William H. Friday, chairman; Assemblymen Tuttle of Genesee county, Smith of
Herkimer, Stanchfield of Chemung and Donnelly of New York.
When Assemblyman Friday had called the
meeting to order, Lawyer William M. Ivins, who is conducting the examination,
called as the first witness, Martin J. Connelly, chairman of the executive
board, District Assembly 75, who gave his side of the controversy.
Daniel F. Lewis, president of the Brooklyn
Heights Railroad company, was also a witness,
In 1887 the men agreed, he declared, to work
12 hours a day. The 10-hour law came into effect in 1889, and the men then
agreed to work for 10 hours a day. not including meal time. The same terms were
asked in the 1895 proposal. He said that when the men talked about counting the
"standing time" in a day's work he told them it would cause trouble.
Labor
Delegates in Brooklyn Decide to Stick it Out.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 15.—Three delegates from each
of the 25 assembly districts met last night to discuss the trolley strike
situation. They remained in executive session from 9:30 until 1:30 o'clock this
morning. Master Workman Connelly presided. After the meeting adjourned he was
asked if he had any statement to give out. He replied: We have discussed the
situation in all of its bearings. And have decided to stick it out. We will not
declare the strike off; that's all.
The
License Question.
It would be hard to find a man or woman who
would claim that any community is benefited by having liquor sold in it. Even
those engaged in the business could not honestly, and we believe would not,
make such claim. A Cortland liquor dealer is quoted as saying: "If you
think selling whiskey is a pleasant business you had better try it."
But there is in almost every community a
demand for intoxicants, and this demand will get its supply somewhere. Under
the present laws, all that a town can do is to compel those who are determined
to buy liquor to buy it out of town, except to remove temptation from others,
and especially from minors. Even thus much cannot be done without constant
vigilance and great energy in prosecuting offenders and a large outlay of
money. The liquor laws now practically make little or no provision for
prosecuting violators, at the public expense, and while they may make it the
duty of certain officers of the law to take measures to stop the unlawful
selling of liquor, yet if those officers lack the disposition or the public
money necessary for a legal campaign, there is no fear of punishment for
failure in duty.
When the no-license campaign in this town
was begun some years since, The
STANDARD called attention to the situation and urged upon every one who favored
no-license the supreme importance of seeing to it that if Cortland were made a
no-license town the law should be enforced. We believed then, as we believe
now, that a no-license town with whiskey practically free and the law defied
and made a dead letter is worse than a town with a license law rigidly enforced.
But Cortlandville became a no-license town because the license laws were not
enforced. Almost every one who wanted a license got it, and if any liquor
dealer couldn't get one he sold just the same, and most, if not all, of those
who had license paid no more regard to the restrictions upon selling to minors
or on Sunday than if there were no such provisions on the statute book. The
condition of affairs was a public scandal and disgrace.
Then came no-license, and whatever may be
said of the state of affairs under it, this has certainly been no worse than in
license days, if as bad, and there has at least been an honest effort to
enforce the law at private expense, which there never was, at either public or
private expense, under the license system.
The argument now being made in favor of a
return to the license system presupposes that with license the laws governing
it will be enforced. The last experience of the town under license is just to
the contrary, and there is no guaranty that the next trial of it will be any
more satisfactory. The argument that there is free whiskey under no-license,
and that therefore we should change to license, is not valid unless there is
some assurance that the law will be better enforced then than now, and no such assurance
exists.
Whether a town be under license or
no-license, the laws should be enforced. The spectacle of law ignored, defied,
outraged, is always demoralizing unless the law is one that is itself
demoralizing, and ought to be defied, like the old fugitive slave law. It is
not strange that a man should beat his horse on a public street till the animal
dies, and then be allowed to go unwhipped of justice in a village where, with
license or without it, whiskey is sold just about as the seller pleases?
The attempt to enforce the liquor laws,
never made at all in recent years under license, or if made turning out a
farce, has not been given up by the friends of no-license. In fact it looks as
if the present great cry about no-license meaning free whiskey were largely due
to the effort which is being put forth to secure a public appropriation to put
an end to this curse, which license men profess to deplore as much as the
friends of no-license.
The no-license voters have nominated Prof.
J. E. Banta for excise commissioner, a man who commands the respect of the
entire community. He favors the enforcement of law and will take active
measures to see that the law is enforced. For the last year, it is true,
no-license has not restricted the sale of liquor. Neither did license the year
before no-license was enacted. The question for those to decide who believe in
the enforcement of law when they come to vote is, where is there the best
prospect that the majesty of the law will be upheld—with license, which has
failed, or with no-license which still holds out the promise of effort in this
direction.
The liquor sellers of Cortland generally
admitted that license was abolished because its restrictions were utterly
disregarded by all save a few. If we have had free whiskey during the past
year, it means that those who defied restriction law while they held licenses
have still more flagrantly defied prohibitory law when they held no licenses.
What ground is there for thinking that a return to license will bring obedience
to law?
What this community most needs is an active
revival of the law-abiding spirit. When the advocates of license join in
prosecuting those who violate the prohibitory law, they will show that they
have this spirit and can be trusted to enforce the restrictions of license,
should the voters of the town see fit to return to that system.
◘ Japan
has a public school system modeled on ours, and it is as good. In America
many people of the old hunks order cannot understand that they owe anything to
the community in which they made their wealth or that it is right to tax them
to educate other people's children when they have none of their own. But in
Japan the Mikado promulgated an order establishing free schools for all the
children. Of their own accord rich Japs contributed most generously gifts to
set the schools going. The poor lavished their little hoards on the same noble
undertaking, gave of their own accord and did not grudge a cent of the school
tax. What a people! No wonder they have whipped the Chinese, who are ten times
their number.
◘ Certain
labor unions want a law forbidding in factories the employment of married women
if they have husbands who can support them. It won't do. Such a law would be
against the United States constitution. It would abridge a person's right to
make a living in his own way. Besides that, who would be the proper judge of
whether a husband can support his wife or not? Nobody is better able to judge
of that than the wife herself.
Careless
Driving.
Mr. L. J. Parker, who lives at 56
Madison-st., was the victim of an accident to-day which should be a warning to
careless drivers. Mr. Parker is an employee of the Wagon Co. and while going to
his dinner was run over near the D., L, & W. depot by a man driving one horse
hitched to a cutter, who came up behind him at a rapid pace and before Mr.
Parker realized his danger he was run over and injured about the head, two deep
gashes being cut, besides spraining his hip very badly and bruising his arm. He
was picked up and carried to Dr. Angel's office, where his wounds were dressed
and this afternoon he is feeling quite comfortable and says he would like to
know who the man was who caused the accident as he kept right on, not even
looking back to see what he had done.
BREVITIES.
—The cooler had three occupants last night.
—Voting booths are to-day being set up in
Taylor hall for town meeting next Tuesday.
—It is thought in Geneva by the residents that
incendiaries are trying to destroy the village.
—Oneonta is considering the matter of
heating the whole of the business part of the town by steam from a single plant.
—Dr. O. O. Fletcher of Ithaca will preach in
Memorial chapel on Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock. All are cordially invited.
—The Cortland Athletic association will hold
their second annual athletic entertainment on Wednesday evening, April 17.
—Mrs. C. H. Stickney is having all her rooms
thoroughly renovated in the Van Bergen
block. Her store will be especially fine.
—Prof. D. L. Bardwell will preach at the
First M. E. church Sunday evening. Mrs. Chas. S. Hulbert will sing at the
morning service.
—On account of the temperance massmeeting in
the Opera House Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock, there will be no meetings in the
Y. M. C. A. rooms.
—There will be a non-partisan massmeeting in
the Opera House Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock in the interest of the no-license
movement. Good speakers will be in attendance.
—There will be a meeting at the Rescue Mission
in the W. C. T. U. rooms, 12 1/2 W. Court-st. at 7:30 o'clock this evening. Mr.
J. W. Orr will speak.
—At the store of G. F. Beaudry there will be
placed on exhibition to-night a fine line of wheels consisting of fine Crescents
from the Western Wheel works, three wheels from the Buffalo Cycle Co. and a
Model Stearns received this morning,
—Mr. S. Smith of Freetown has a hen which
has tried hard to break the record on size of eggs. Mr. Smith has exhibited to
us an egg which weighs four ounces and which measures eight inches in
circumference one way and four inches the other way.
—The
Washington Post of yesterday morning
said William H. Foster of Homer, N.
Y. left his pocketbook, containing $56 and a ticket to Syracuse in one of the
retiring rooms at the National hotel yesterday and when he looked for it a
moment later it was gone.
—One of the coldest spots imaginable is on
the front end of an electric car going at a high rate of speed against a cold
wind. In Ithaca one day last week a thermometer was placed on the front platform
of a car going on an early trip to the lake. The mercury fell to 33 degrees below
zero in a short time.—Binghamton Republican.
—Those who voted last year upon the question
of buying a Meyers ballot machine for the town of Cortlandville will be
interested in knowing that there was a trial of the Meyers ballot machine at the
capitol in Hartford, Conn., Thursday. One man, who tested it, claimed that he
succeeded in voting twice while in the booth, by working the bar connected with
one of the doors. He admitted that this could not be done without a booth
tender noticing it, but he claimed that the tender might be in collusion with
the voter.
—Any man can take a newspaper. It is the
cheapest thing he can buy. Every time a hen clucks and has laid an egg his
paper is paid for that week. It costs less than a postage stamp, less than to send
or receive a letter. What good does it do you? Instructs you and your wife and
teaches your children. It comes to you every week rain or shine, calm or storm,
bringing you the best news of the neighborhood.—Exchange.
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