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| Theodore Roosevelt. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, March 2, 1903.
THE COLOR QUESTION.
President's Letter to Editor of Atlanta Constitution.
AS TO SOUTHERN APPOINTMENTS
President Says He Has Considered the Feelings of the People of Each Section—Cannot Treat Color as a Bar to Office Nor Yet as a Qualification. Two Colored Nominees.
Atlanta, Ga., March 2.—Following are extracts from a letter from President Roosevelt to Clark Howell, editor of the Constitution, in reply to a request for an exposition concerning a recent letter from Harry Stillwell Edwards of Macon, with reference to the matter of federal appointments in the south:
"In making appointments I have sought to consider the feelings of the people of each territory, so far as I could consistently do so without sacrificing principle. The prime tests I have applied have been those of character, fitness and ability and when I have been dissatisfied with what has been offered me in my own party lines I have without hesitation gone to the opposite party—and you are of course aware that I have repeatedly done this in your own state of Georgia.
"I certainly cannot treat mere color as a bar to holding office any more than I could so treat creed or birthplace—always providing that in other aspects the applicant or incumbent is a worthy and well behaved American citizen.
".lust as little will I treat it as conferring a right to hold office. I ask you to judge not by what I say, but by what during the last 17 months I have actually done.
"In South Carolina I have appointed a white postmaster to succeed a colored postmaster. Again in South Carolina I have nominated a colored man to fill a vacancy in the position of collector of the port of Charleston, just as in Georgia I have reappointed the colored man who is now serving as collector of the port of Savannah. Both are fit men."
"Why the appointment of one should cause any more excitement than the appointment of the other I am wholly at a loss to imagine.
"As I am writing to a man of keen and trained intelligence I need hardly say that to connect either of these appointments or any or all of my actions in upholding the law at Indianola with such questions as 'social equality' and 'negro domination' is as absurd as to connect them with the nebular hypothesis or the theory of atoms.
"This is true of your own state; and by applying to Mr. Thomas Nelson Page of Virginia, to General Basil Duke of Kentucky, to Mr. George Crawford of Tennessee, you will find that what I have done in Georgia stands not as the exception but as the rule for what I have done throughout the South. I may add that the proportion of colored men among the new appointees is only about one in a hundred.
"In view of all these facts I have been surprised and somewhat pained at what seems to me the incomprehensible outcry in the South about by actions—an outcry apparently started in New York for reasons wholly unconnected with the question nominally at issue. I am concerned at the attitude thus taken by so many of the Southern people; but I am not in the least angry; and still less will this attitude have the effect of making me swerve one hair's breadth to one side or the other from the course I have marked out—the course I have consistently followed in the past and shall consistently follow in the future."
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP.
Indications That Ithaca's Vote Will Be in Favor of Buying Water Works.
Ithaca, N. Y., March 2.—One death occurred from typhoid fever Sunday, that of Harry Norton, a resident of Ithaca. The general conditions of the epidemic continue to improve.
Chairman Clarke of the local board of health announced in justification of the board that it is carrying out all the directions of State Health Commissioner Lewis made by that officer when he was in Ithaca last week with the exception that no action has been taken in the case of property along the water sheds from which filth might come.
A municipal election is to be held today and the indications are that the vote will be overwhelmingly in favor of municipal ownership.
There is a division of opinion among the citizens as to whether pure water shall be secured by filtration of the present supply or by the establishment of a new system.
HIGH WATER AT ALBANY.
No Trains on D. & H. and West Shore Roads—Wharves Submerged.
Albany, March 2—As a result of an ice gorge at North Coeymans, 12 miles south of Albany, the entire southern section of this city lying along the river front is under water and residents are being conveyed to and from their homes in rowboats. No trains on the Delaware & Hudson or West Shore railroads have been able to run into this city since yesterday, the tracks being covered with four feet of water and passengers are landed just outside of the city and conveyed to its center by the [street] cars of the United Traction company.
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| Guest editorials. |
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.
Our Strongholds in the Antilles.
With the naval stations which we expect to secure through the pending treaty arrangement with the Cuban government, the United States will be reasonably strong in the West Indies, even without the Danish islands which, however, will ultimately come to us, possibly within a year and perhaps not within twenty years. These stations will literally form a circle of the Antilles, beginning at Key West, which is already a first class naval station of the utmost strategic importance, and proceeding to Bahia Honda (deep bay), forty-five miles west of Havana. Thence it swings around through the Yucatan channel and the Caribbean sea to Colon, which by the terms of the Panama canal treaty will be at least available for American occupancy in an emergency, enveloping Guantanamo, on the southeast coast of Cuba, one of the best spots for a naval station in the world. From Colon it goes to Culebra, east of Porto Rico, which was the base of the late naval maneuvers, and thence back via San Juan to the starting point.
Though marred and invaded by the British possessions in the Bahamas and Jamaica, this chain of naval stations when adequately fortified will provide the United States with so strong a defensive hold upon the West Indies that no foreign power, unless it were Great Britain, could ever think of menacing it.
The circle will include six points at least of great strategic importance, outside of the domain which was ours in 1898, which we shall have the right to fortify—namely. Bahia Honda, consolidating the command of the Yucatan passage, looking toward Havana and enabling us to maintain the foothold necessary to carry out our promise to protect Cuba against foreign foes and domestic disturbers; Guantanamo, already a stronghold, which directly commands the western part of the Caribbean sea and indirectly the Windward passage and overlooks the eastern end of Cuba; Colon, which defends the Panama canal and will form our outpost toward South America; Culebra, which in default of St. Thomas is the door that may close the Virgin passage to the Caribbean and the isthmus, and San Juan in the north and Ponce in the south of Porto Rico, commanding the Mona passage and the eastern half of the Caribbean.
It is needless to say that this chain of future fortresses will give the United States a position in the western hemisphere of which enthusiasts only could have dreamed prior to the events of 1898. These possessions have not been acquired for purposes of aggression, but are a gauge of the peace and security of the western world.
ICE JAM AT MESSENGERVILLE, N. Y.
Dynamite Sought to Blow it Up—Other Means Used.
There was an ice jam at Messengerville last Saturday morning and the water rose so rapidly that it promised very speedily to overflow the Lackawanna railroad tracks. The agent at that station thought that dynamite could be used with good effect to blow it up and so notified the Syracuse office. The railroad officials, however, did not care to take the chances of taking 50 pounds of dynamite to Messengerville on its vestibule passenger train going through here at 1:03 p. m. and tried to get it in Cortland and then have the train run slowly and carefully from here to Messengerville. A man experienced in the use of dynamite was found here, but no dynamite could be secured. Some other means were then used to start off part of the ice jam, and the change in the weather soon lowered the water.
SATURDAY'S BIG WIND
Blew a Gale for a Short Time—Trees Down, Traffic Hindered.
Just before 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon the wind which had been pretty stiff since noon increased to the violence of a gale and for a half hour it made things jingle in a very lively manner.
The Traction company had to stop operations for a little till it could clear its tracks. A big tree near the corner of North Main-st. and Maple-ave. was blown down and some of the branches fell upon the trolley wire so that the cars could not get by. A big limb off a tree on Church-st. near the corner of Clinton-ave. fell upon the track, and a tree on the McGrawville road near the Conable farm fell across the track. The company got out its ax-men and sent them out to clear the road, so that traffic was soon resumed.
One of the cars coming from Homer was brought to a full stop in the shelter of the gas house and remained there for five minutes during the fiercest part of the wind. The conductor and motorman fully thought the car would be blown from the track and upset.
Among the passengers was Mr. Michael Murphey of Cortland. It appeared to him that he would be safer outside the car than in it, but no sooner had he set foot upon the ground than the wind caught his hat and sent it skimming over the fields at break-neck speed till it finally landed in the river. Mr. Murphey got back into the car and came on to Cortland. At Maple-ave. the car was stopped by the tree across the track and there Mr. Murphey gave some money to a man and hired him to come down to a clothing store and buy a hat for him and deliver it at the car. The passengers on that trip to Cortland will long remember it.
A man in a sleigh coming over the hill on Locust-ave. from Homer to Cortland had his horse blown out of the road down toward the fence and his sleigh was nearly upset by the force of the wind.
Half of the roof on the brick house now owned by E. C. Rindge on the Schuyler Rose farm on the road leading from the county house south behind the park was blown off and a large share of the roof of a barn that adjoined the house on this same farm.
Not Safe for Students.
The faculty of the medical college of Cornell university say very frankly I that they do not yet consider it safe or wise for students to return to Cornell university. There is constant danger that boarding house keepers will be careless or negligent in failing to boil water.
Funeral of Mrs. Williams.
The funeral of Mrs. Jennie S. Williams, widow of the late J. W. Williams, a former treasurer of Cornell university, was held at her home, 923 East State-st., Ithaca, Saturday morning at 10 o'clock. The Rev. R. T. Jones, D. D., officiated. The large number of bouquets of cut flowers were very effectively arranged about the casket. The remains were taken to Binghamton and laid to rest at the side of her husband. Professors L. A. Wait, W. W. Rowlee, James Law and I. P. Roberts acted as pall bearers.
The deceased was the mother of Mrs. F. E. Thompson of Cortland.
Death of Mrs. Lyon.
Mrs.. Susan Benham Lyon, wife of Edgar J. Lyon of Atwater, N. Y., died this morning at the home of her father, A. B. Benham, 88 North Main-st. She was 57 years of age.
Mrs. Lyon came to Cortland from her home in Atwater about four weeks ago to visit her father and while here she was taken very ill. She was the oldest daughter of Mr. Benham. Aside from her husband and father she is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Paul Faba of Ithaca, and one brother, Dr. George A. Benham of Washington.
The funeral arrangements have not yet been made.
TO AVOID TYPHOID FEVER.
Rules Posted in Ithaca and Fully Applicable Everywhere.
The following rules concerning typhoid fever have been issued by the Ithaca board of health. They are applicable everywhere and though Cortland has not an epidemic of typhoid fever as has its sister city, still one may be prevented by observing the rules in full. They are as follows:
Typhoid fever is the filth disease.
It is caused by the water or milk you drink, or the food you eat, getting poisoned with the discharges from the person of a previous case of the disease—and in no other way.
Water and milk are the two articles most frequently poisoned by typhoid. Heat kills the typhoid poison. Therefore boil all drinking water for twenty-five or thirty minutes. Pasteurize all milk and cream, especially for the young. If you don't know how to pasteurize ask your druggist, to the nearest dispensary, or your family doctor, or go to the health department. Five minutes' instruction will teach you and its costs nothing to speak of.
Dirty hands may also carry the typhoid poison. Therefore wash your hands carefully before handling any article of food or drink.
Damp and unclean basements and yards and unclean premises and surroundings weaken the health so that typhoid is more readily contracted and is more severe. Therefore clean up. Get rid of all refuse and filth. Open up drains and make sewer connections tight. Fresh burned lime will dry damp basements and yards. It should be freely used in such places.
Cleanliness is not only next to godliness, but it is the only safeguard against typhoid fever. Cleanliness of the person; cleanliness in every detail of housekeeping: cleanliness of everything to be eaten and drunk; cleanliness in the care of those sick with the disease. Typhoid fever is the result of lack of cleanliness. It is, above all others, the filth disease.
The point is made that if proper precautions were taken at sickrooms there could be no more cases of this disease, and all are urged to make free use of blue vitrol where typhoid exists.
BREVITIES.
—The W. R. C. will hold a meeting tomorrow at 2:30 p. m.
—The Canastota Glass Co. is to increase its capital stock from $10,000 to $15,000.
—A regular convocation of Victor Hayloft, No. 357 1/2 of Haymakers, will be held this evening at 8 o'clock.
—Bishop F. D. Huntington will visit the Episcopal church of Cortland and Homer on Wednesday, April 15.
—Cortlandville lodge, No 470, F. & A. M., will confer the first degree in full form at its regular communication Tuesday evening at 7:30 o'clock.
—Twelve new electric lights are to be placed on the outside of the passenger station at Canastota which is occupied both by the New York Central and the Lehigh Valley railroads.
—The Binghamton and Southern Railroad Co. has been incorporated with a capital stock of $180,000, to build and operate a steam route from Binghamton to Vestal on the Pennsylvania state line, a distance of 18 miles.
—New display advertisements today are—Opera House, "Cinderella up-to-Date," page 5; Opera House, "The Liberty Bells," page 5; Angel & Thomas, Shoe sale, page 8; M. A. Case, Muslin underwear sale, page 6; G. H. Wiltsie, Dress goods, Rugs, etc., page 6; C. F. Brown, Paints, page 6.
