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| James Blaine |
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| James Belden |
The
Cortland Democrat, Friday,
October 28, 1887.
[Editorials—Page
Two.]
Dr. Jerome
Angel is a clean, reliable citizen and possesses marked ability. Good men of
all parties should vote for him for Member of Assembly.
Mr. Blaine believes that his
official record is forgotten—but it isn't. He thinks that he can come home from
Europe and "whoop her up"' in 1888—but he can't. And he is very
certain that if he runs for the White House in the next campaign he will get
there—but he won't.— N. Y. Herald.
The Syracuse papers are loud in their praise of Jim Belden as a business
man. The truth is, Belden has been too good a business man for the interests
of the tax payers of the State. We call to mind one of his contracts whereby he
agreed to do certain work for $86,584, and by means of unbalanced bids he
obtained $222,610 for the work. Many a hard earned dollar of the farmers of
Cortland county went to pay the amount thus taken from the State. Yes, Jim
Belden has been an excellent business man—for Jim Belden. Do the farmers of this
county desire to place him where the opportunities would be still greater?
Is there one on the Republican
ticket that employ so many men as Frederick Cook or Lawrence J. Fitzgerald? Not
the five candidates together, upon the Republican ticket, employ one tenth of
the number of men these two Democratic candidates have had in their employ for
years. Mr. Cook has directly under his employ, in Rochester, over 600 wage
earners. Mr. Fitzgerald has nearly 500 employees in his works at Cortland.
Neither Mr. Cook nor Mr. Fitzgerald became employers from what they made out of
politics. This the Republicans cannot charge. They were never actively engaged
in State politics until two years ago. They have been employers for a dozen years
or more, and their joint pay roll, every month, averages between $75,000 and $100,000.
Every year these two men pay to the wage earners of the State over one million
dollars.—Kingston Argus.
The office of School Commissioner is a very responsible one. The best
men to be found in the community should be selected no matter what their
political opinions are. There is no political significance attached to the
office and it is proper that there should be none. It would be hard to find a
better man for the office in District No. 1, than James R. Schermerhorn, the
democratic candidate. He has been liberally educated and is an honest,
straightforward business man of most excellent habits and the highest
respectability. He has time to attend to the duties of the office and would
take pride in discharging those duties with fidelity to the people.
Dr. Herman D. Hunt, the
candidate for School Commissioner
in District No. 2, has been a successful teacher and is a successful physician.
Would it not be much bother to place him in charge of the common schools, than
to take the chances with his opponent, who has yet to prove that he has been
successful in any walk in life?
It is often said that "he
who appropriates a large amount of property belonging to others is a business
man, but he who gets away with a small amount of goods belonging to others is a
thief." So that according to some people’s views, the size of the pile abstracted,
constitutes the measure of guilt. As a rule, however, both parties take all they
can get, and if the thief had had the opportunity presented, he would undoubtedly
have taken sufficient to have become a business man. Would it not be better
then, and more in accordance with justice, to make opportunity the basis to
determine the degree of guilt in all cases of larceny? If the defendant can
prove on trial, that he took all the property of value he could lay hands on,
he ought not to be punished for taking a few hundred dollars when another took
thousands and is esteemed a business man, simply because he had better
opportunities. The intent to take all is the same in both eases. We are aware
of the fact that the law makes very little distinction in these cases and that
it prescribes the same punishment to the thief who steals a hundred dollars as
it does to the business man who appropriates a million, but the law as at present
administered has little to do with administering justice to the large operator.
We suggest that the rule of law be made applicable to the present practice.
Possibly some one of the candidates for legislative honors, if elected, may see
something of interest in the suggestion.
Is there any reason why every
honest voter in Cortland County should not vote for Major Alexander H. Davis,
the gallant soldier and scholar for representative in Congress, in preference
to voting for the chief of the old "canal ring," James J. Belden?
Every raid that has been made
upon the State Treasury within the last two years has been defeated by Lawrence
J. Fitzgerald, the present Treasurer. Not a dollar of the people’s money has
been paid out during his official term that the State did not honestly owe. Can
any state official show a better record? The people of Cortland county should
be proud of such an excellent record and show their appreciation by giving him
a rousing vote on the 8th day of November.
Brown, the republican candidate
for County Treasurer, is charged with making deals with all the candidates for
School Commissioner before the convention. Of course he could keep faith with
only one in each district and now all the others are wondering what sort of man
Brown is. Chas. S. Bull, the democratic candidate, has made no pledges or
promises and therefore cannot be charged with double-dealing. No more reliable
man can be found in the county and he is going to be elected.
Last August, Hon. L. J.
Fitzgerald attended the Firemen's State Convention held in Troy, and through
his influence the next State Convention will be held in this place. It will be
a great day for Cortland and the firemen. Every fireman in the State should
stand by Mr. Fitzgerald, the Democratic candidate for State Treasurer. Let them
show their appreciation of his efforts by giving him a rousing vote on election
day. Mr. Fitzgerald is a fireman and the boys usually stand by one another. We
predict that in this case there will be no exception to the general rule.
The Syracuse papers tell us
that Belden is charitable and that he gives liberally to the poor. Tweed was
his superior in this respect. Besides all his other gifts to the needy, in the
winter of 1874 or 1875, Tweed bought $50,000 worth of coal and distributed it
among the poor people of New York city as a free gift. He was commended for his
charity and the poor felt grateful to him for his kindness. He taxed the people
of the city heavily, and turned a little of the money he stole from the
treasury, after the taxes were paid, over to the poor. Charitable, Mr. Tweed?
But somehow the people of this State had an idea that he wasn't just the man to
represent them in the halls of legislation. Has Belden ever given as much to
the poor as Tweed did?
Is James J. Belden of Syracuse,
a better man to-day than he was in 1876, when he was charged with robbing the State
of large sums of money on canal contracts? Has he shown any signs of
reformation? If he has, no one has yet heard of it. Jake Sharp swears that he
paid him $65,000 only two years since for services (?) in connection with the
Broadway surface railroad swindle. Is there a man in this county that would
dare to vote for Jake Sharp or one of the "boodle" aldermen who have
been sent to Sing Sing, for selling their votes on the Broadway franchise? Is
Jim Belden any better than either of these men? Jaehne, and his associates are
only charged with receiving $20,000 each for their part in the rascally
business. Jake Sharp swears that he paid James J. Belden $65,000 for what he
done in connection with the swindle. Republicans of Cortland county, think
before you vote.
The Democratic Judicial
Convention held in Binghamton, last week, unanimously nominated Hon. Francis R.
Gilbert for Justice of the Supreme Court in this district. Judge Gilbert
resides in Stamford, Delaware county, and was appointed last summer by Gov.
Hill, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge William Murray. His term
expires Dec. 31st next. There are to be two Judges elected in this district.
One to fill the place of Judge Gilbert, and one to fill the place of Judge
Boardman, of Ithaca, whose term expires Dec. 31st. also. The Republicans have
nominated Gerrit A. Forbes, of Canastota, and Charles E. Parker, of Owego, to
fill the vacancies. The Democratic Convention, believing that the judiciary
should be nonpartisan, reconvened on Wednesday of this week and endorsed the nomination
of Hon. Charles E. Parker. Fair-minded Republicans are asked to support Judge
Gilbert, who has proved himself to be a model judge. Wherever he has held
court, since his appointment, he has won the respect and confidence of the bar
and the people by his uniform fairness and ability. As a lawyer he has few, if
any equals, and probably no superior in the district. It would be much better,
in our estimation to hold on to a good man who has been tried and found to be
all that is required, than to take the chances of finding as good a judge from
untried and comparatively unknown material. The Democratic ticket will contain the
names of Francis R. Gilbert and Charles E. Parker.
Dr.
Herman Hunt.
Dr. H. D. Hunt,
candidate for School Commissioner in the second District, was born in Moravia,
Cayuga County, N. Y., September 4th, 1846.
In 1855 his father removed to Preble. Two years after the father became
an invalid and never regained his health, and being a man of limited means, the
Dr., the only child and a lad 11 years of age, was brought face to face with the
stern necessity and filial duty of providing for himself the necessaries of
life and assisting his mother to care and provide for the invalid father and
husband, which he continued to do for fifteen years. He attended the district
school such time as could be spared for that purpose.
When 17 years of age he taught his first term of school and from that
time on, as circumstances would permit, he alternately taught in the district
schools, and attended the Cortland Academy at Homer, and worked as farm laborer
during vacation until he began the practice of his profession in the village of
Spafford, Onondaga County. During the first year of his professional life he
taught a 20 weeks term in the village school at Spafford, and attended to his
professional duties in the evening.
He removed to Preble in 1879.
His interest in the district schools has never fagged as is shown in the fact
that he is now serving his third term as sole school trustee in Preble village,
which is proof that the school monies are profitably, and economically expended
under his guidance of school affairs.
He studied medicine under the
tutelage of Dr. D. W. Burdick, and graduated from the medical department of the
Syracuse University in February 1874.
That he stands in the front
rank of the medical profession in this county is shown by the fact that he is
now president of Cortland County Medical Society also president of the
Therapeutic Society. The extensive practice be now enjoys shows that he is held
in high esteem as a medical man by his personal acquaintances.
His long experience as teacher,
his indomitable will to surmount all difficulties, his untiring energy and zeal
in every work that comes to his hands, cannot but recommend him to every
thinking person as being most admirably fitted for the discharge of the duties
of the office for which he has been nominated.
Every voter in the second
district, regardless of party affiliation, for this should not be regarded as a
political office, may rest assured that he will do himself honor and benefit [in]
the district schools by voting for and electing Dr. H. D. Hunt, School Commissioner
in the second district.
Recommended:
James
G. Blaine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Blaine
James J. Belden: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Belden
Editor's note:
The Cortland Contrarian welcomes Karl and Kimberly, and we give a belated welcome and thank you to our original followers, who have faithfully stayed with us from the start.
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