Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, March
16, 1894.
THE
ELECTRIC RAILROAD.
A
Statement from Mr. Gleason Concerning the McGrawville Franchise, etc.
CORTLAND, N. Y., March 18, 1894.
To the Editor of The Standard:
Sir—Believing that injustice has been done
by your reporter, not only to myself, but also to the trustees of the village
of McGrawville in your issue of last Saturday, I ask permission to use your
columns to correct the same. If the statements made by him are to be relied
upon, I am convicted of having deceived, or attempted to deceive the trustees
of the village of McGrawville in obtaining a franchise in their village for a
street railway; and the trustees are proved to have been totally incompetent to
take care of the interests of the village, and should be removed from office
without notice. Every one, however, who is at all acquainted with the trustees
of the village of McGrawville would be very loath to admit their incapacity; for,
I am compelled to say, that gentlemen more alive to their public trusts I have
never met, and that I believe they have been misreported.
It is true that I called upon the trustees
individually and asked them if they would favor a franchise for a street
railway and every one assented. I called a few days afterwards and met them as
a body; at this meeting I made the request for the franchise and asked that
they grant it.
What I said to the board of trustees not
contained and put into the franchise was, that I had drawn the franchise to the
Cortland and Homer Electric company, or their assigns, as there might be some
unforeseen legal objections to the Electric company building and operating the
road under their charter, which could be easily remedied by the organization of
a new company to whom the franchise could be assigned.
Now can any one who has read the franchise
published in your paper have any difficulty in saying for whom I was obtaining
that franchise? For the reporter to assume to say that the trustees thought
they were giving the franchise to any other company than the Cortland and Homer
Electric company is to convict five intelligent men of stupidity.
I desire to state that I have read to three
of the trustees of McGrawville the above communication to you, and they, in the
presence of witnesses assented to its accuracy.
It is true that I did not wish the matter published
until after we had secured our right of way, for there are always a number of
people in this community ready to put blocks in the way of a legitimate enterprise,
unless they can in some way put their hands on spoils; and the names of the
parties you mention in your paper as being identified with the opposition to
the Cortland and Homer Electric company are usually in it for revenue only.
Now, the proposition of the Cortland and
Homer Electric company to the board of trustees of the village of Cortland is,
that if the board will grant them a permission to build an electric street
railway in the village of Cortland, on the road leading to McGrawville, they
may limit the time in which said railway shall be constructed to such a
reasonable period as prompt action on the part of the Cortland and Homer
Electric company will enable them to accomplish the work.
Further, the Cortland and Homer Electric
company offer to take said franchise with not only the above provision, but
with the further provision written in it that if they should sell it, such sale
shall operate to cancel or annul the franchise.
Do not these propositions prove to any
thinking man that the Cortland and Homer
Electric company are in earnest and mean what they say, and want to build the
road? And does it not answer all the idle rumors that it is a scheme of the
Cortland and Homer Electric company to sell their plant?
If they can secure this franchise they do
not want to sell the electric light plant. The stockholders and owners of the
electric light plant are also the owners of the Hitchcock Mfg. Co., one of our
home industries, which for the last ten years has been paying on the average into
the hands of the people of Cortland, in round numbers, $100,000 annually;
making the grand total of $l,000,000 in ten years; and is it not just to them
at least that if the village of Cortland has any valuable franchises to give
away to any one that they give it to the people who have helped to build up her
prosperity.
Further, the Electric company will bind
themselves to build as fine a road as is running in Ithaca or Scranton, and if
the floating rumors are true would in reality build a much better road. Now, it
will not be the policy of the Electric company to inflate the stock of the
company and put up a bombshell that will explode some time hereafter to the
injury of the citizens of our town and of every one [sic] else who might be
interested in it; but to have the road capitalized at what it actually cost to
build it and bond it for what money is necessary to complete it, so that from
the very first it would be paying if it could be made to pay at all. In other
words, it would have no watered stock to give away to those who look for
revenue only.
Who are our opponents? And who ever heard of
their proposing to build an electric
road to McGrawville
until after the Cortland & Homer Electric company proposed to get a
franchise for the right of way?
At the time I was in McGrawville I did not
even know the name of the moving spirit of the electric road to Homer; even
your article throws but little more light by saying Mr. P. S. Page, of
Scranton, Penn., is the man.
Who is Mr. Page? If you will look in
Bradstreet's commercial records you will not find him reported at Scranton, or
at Ithaca. But in all your explanation and advice to "property
holders" not to give their permissions to the Cortland & Homer Electric
company, you do not name a single company, syndicate, or body of men that he
represents, or that stands behind him in this enterprise. I understand he wants
to get the stock taken in Cortland and a few have agreed to take what he will
give them; yet, in truth, let any man say how it is possible for Mr. Page to
raise money in Cortland, or outside, that the Cortland & Homer Electric
company could not accomplish as well.
Mr. P. S. Page is an outsider: Are we not
for "Home Protection" in this matter as well as in other things?
You imply that unless Mr. Page can have the
right for a road to McGrawville, he will not take the Homer & Cortland
Horse Railway; and that they must secure this or it will not go through. You
certainly do not approve of this, that the Homer & Cortland Horse Railway company
shall get something for nothing and sell it for a good round sum; for you
condemn this in the Cortland & Homer Electric company. And, let me tell
you, that what is wicked in the Cortland & Homer Electric company, is
just as wicked in the Homer & Cortland Horse Railway company; the
old adage applies that "What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the
gander."
But when we agree not to sell this right of
way without using it, and that if we shall sell, it shall revert to the
original grantors, it must of necessity put an end to all that moral
philosophy. It is not for me or our company to question the good faith of Mr.
Page in the purchase of the stock of the Homer and Cortland
Horse Railway Co., but it dropped out in your telephone interview that Mr. Page
had secured options on only 2/3 of the stock. This is the controlling interest
and he does not need the other 1/3; the 2/3 can increase its capital stock to
$150,000, bond the road for as much more, and after a time allow the bonds to
be foreclosed, thus closing out the 1/3 of the old stock-holders, and every
other stockholder who has not had the foresight to sell his paid or watered
stock.
I am not prepared to say, or believe, that
Mr. Page, or the parties he may represent, would do this, but it would
certainly have looked fairer if every stockholder had been invited to share in
the options. (Mr. Page offers to buy every share of stock of the horse railroad
company at par. ED.)
We have been very careful not to approach any
of the incoming officers, as we desire them to be elected unpledged to their
positions and be able to give us a fair hearing; and if, after that, we cannot succeed
in securing this franchise we would be willing to surrender every right we now
have to the successful party without a farthing's compensation.
The reason we did not want to be interviewed
by your reporter was that we did not desire to, and will not engage in a
newspaper controversy and that at the time your reporter called we were advised
that you were taking sides and we did not want you to give an unfair or prejudiced
interview; and that too at the suggestion of our opponents.
We could give many points in our favor that
would go to show that with the machinery we have we could build this road at
less expense than any other company; nor can we believe that when you have read
our fair statement and proposition, that you or any other fair man will turn
his back upon our home industries, clamoring for the privileges our village can
give, and give them to others who have not added a penny to the prosperity of
our town.
Yours Respectfully,
Cortland & Homer Electric Co.,
per H. L. GLEASON, Sec.
We publish the above in order to do justice
to all parties in the Electric railroad controversy, notwithstanding the
unwarranted insinuations and implications which the communication contains. The
fact that we make this publication, and that we sent a reporter to Mr. Gleason
and Mr. Hitchcock before any statement was prepared as to the McGrawville
episode and before we had investigated it, offering to publish anything they
had to say, and that we now publish word for word Mr. Gleason's type-written
statement—only omitting a personal assault on a gentleman residing in this
village and interested for the Scranton company—will be a sufficient answer to
Mr. Gleason's allegation that the reason he did not wish to be interviewed was
that he "did not want the STANDARD to give an unfair or prejudiced
interview." Had Mr. Gleason written out at the time he was called on
anything which he had to say, it would have been published just as willingly as
it is to-day, and the insinuation that Mr. Blodgett of The STANDARD, who called
on Mr. Gleason for information, would have given an unfair report of it is one
which needs no answer.
After receiving Mr. Gleason's communication we
called up President Buchanan of McGrawville by telephone and he informed us
that Trustees Maricle, Johnson and Topping were the persons to whom Mr. Gleason
had read his statement. Mr. Buchanan then called these gentlemen in and we read
to them the portion of Mr. Gleason's communication which he said they had
assented to and asked in reference to it. They all said that Mr. Gleason had
asked them to sign this statement and they had refused to do so; that they had
also not authorized its publication and had said that they proposed to do
nothing in the matter in any way till they had looked into it further, and that
if Mr. Gleason regarded them as assenting to it there was a misunderstanding.
One of them stated that when he declined to sign the statement Mr. Gleason said
he would then have to put it in different shape and publish it himself.
It will be seen, however, by anyone who will
compare Mr. Gleason's statement with that in The STANDARD of last Friday as to
what he said to the McGrawville trustees, that his statement does not differ
materially, so far as it goes—which is not very far—from The STANDARD'S report,
and Mr. Gleason does not deny the truth of the STANDARD'S report of what the
trustees and president of McGrawville said further to our reporter. That report
was read to all these gentlemen, and they endorsed its accuracy and do so now.
There is no doubt, either, from the attitude which these gentlemen now take, that
they misunderstood Mr. Gleason if he sought to convey the idea which he claims
he intended to.
Whether there was any design on Mr. Gleason's
part to deceive, or whether, perceiving that the McGrawville people understood
that he represented the company which had the option on the horse railroad, he
took pains not to undeceive them, or whether he unintentionally failed to make
himself clear and supposed that he was understood as stating the case just as
he meant to, are questions which we do not undertake to decide. We simply lay before
the public the statements of the parties interested. Abler men than Mr. Gleason
or the McGrawville officials have misunderstood each other.
Only one company proposing to operate an
electric railroad had been mentioned in the papers and no name had been given
this company, and it would have been natural to suppose that Mr. Gleason represented
this company, even if he had not, intentionally or unintentionally, conveyed
such an idea.
To insinuate that the McGrawville officials
are "incompetent and should be removed from office" is no more
justifiable than to say that Mr. Gleason was guilty of obtaining property under
false pretences [sic] and deserves to be indicted.
The STANDARD has only two desires in this
matter—it wants an electric railroad in Cortland, built by the company which
promises to give the best service, and it wants to place all the facts
connected with the matter clearly and accurately before the public, so that a
wise decision may be reached. If the Cortland and Homer Electric Co. will give
the village boards of Cortland, Homer and McGrawville sufficient guaranty that
it will serve the people best, we are for it—though we are frank to say that
with an option on the Cortland and Homer Horse railroad owned by the Scranton
company, we do not believe that another right of way over the same route could
be obtained by any other electric company.
Neither the villages of Homer and Cortland
nor private individuals would give rights of way to two companies to fill up
the streets with their tracks. Should the Cortland and Homer Electric company
run a line to Homer it would have to be through some other street than Main-st.
in Cortland and then up the back road. Any electric company owning the present
street railroad line and franchise would have a great advantage over a
competitor. If the Cortland and Homer Electric Co. does not intend to run a
road save from Cortland to McGrawville, as Mr. Gleason seems to imply, we do
not believe that it is the company to which franchises should be given.
An electric railroad company which would
operate a line to McGrawville should also operate one to Homer. Two electric
railroad companies could not live, and of the two routes to one between Homer
and Cortland is far the more important. The Scranton company early announced
that it contemplated a road to McGrawville. No sound business man believes that
an electric road running only from Cortland to McGrawville could keep out of a
receiver's hands for any considerable length of time.
Is it not true, Mr. Gleason, that the
Scranton company originally had an option both on the Cortland & Homer
Electric company and on the horse railroad company, and decided that it did not
want the Electric company and so let that option expire?
And that after this the electric company
started in to get rights of way on its own account?
BROCKWAY'S
CASE.
Final
Summing Up In the Elmira Reformatory Investigation.
ALBANY, March 16.—The Elmira reformatory investigation
cases were summed up before the state board of charities.
C. T. Lewis, president of the State Prison
association, was granted a few moments to say a few words. He said that the
Elmira reformatory was the outgrowth of the association which he represented. He
said that the association had engaged the services of a man who was foremost in
this new science, that of turning criminals from criminality and making of them
good, true and honest citizens, to take charge of the new institution. This man
was Superintendent Brockway. Thousands of men who are now living virtuous,
loyal lives can trace their rescue to the genius of this man. He was unanimously
instructed by his association to say, in spite of any mistakes which have been
made, that the institution has been managed judiciously and for the best
interests of humanity—with one purpose in view, that of healing the unhealthy
will power.
Mr. White, a New York World reporter, opened the case for the prosecution. He delivered a
speech consuming over one hour. During the course of the same he said:
"Brockway's evidence is contradicted in the first place by more than a score
of his former convict pupils, who claim that they were kicked by him, some of
the kicks resulting in rupture; that their eyesight has been permanently
injured by the blows from the paddle; that they have been struck across the
back and the skin cut, causing blood to flow; that they have been knocked into
insensibility and carried to their cells in unconscious conditions."
He went on to describe the punishment
inflicted. He next showed the contradictory statements of many of the witnesses
examined, and closed with the declaration that all the charges instigated by The World had been proven.
The board then went into executive session
to hear the reading of the report of the special investigating committee. The board
will consider it today.
HOMER
DEPARTMENT.
The winter term at the academy closes to-day.
The Easter vacation which commences to-morrow will continue until Monday, March
26, 1894.
Mr. Nelson and Miss Bertha Wiegand who
attend the Homer academy left town this morning to spend their Easter vacation
at their home in Truxton.
A St. Patrick's ball will be given in Keator
opera house this evening and Daniels'
full orchestra will be present to furnish the music. Messrs. Robbins and
Sweeney have the arrangements in charge.
Mr. George P. Miller of East Homer received
a telegram yesterday announcing the death of his wife, which occurred at the
Binghamton insane asylum. Mrs. Miller, whose maiden name was Lucinda Baker, was
taken ill with grip about two months ago at her home in East Homer.
Complications set in and for some time her life was despaired of. She rallied
however and was improving when her mind became seriously unbalanced but as her
strength increased her mental condition become worse until, by the advise of
the best authority in the county, her husband decided to remove her to the
asylum in Binghamton. This was done on Friday, March 2, and until yesterday Mr.
Miller had heard nothing unfavorable concerning his wife's condition. The
deceased leaves three sons and two daughters, the oldest of whom is twenty-one
years old. The funeral will take place on Monday at Mr. Miller's residence in
East Homer. The interment will be made in Glenwood cemetery in this place.
Supervisor W. H. Crane, Mr. F. C. Atwater
and Mr. E. W. Hyatt attended the banquet of the Sons of St. Patrick given at
the Cortland House in that place last evening and report an excellent time.
The body of Mr. Cyren Jagger was, brought
here from Springfield, Mass., this morning and interred at Glenwood cemetery.
Mr. Jagger was at one time a resident of this county though the greater port of
his life was spent in the hotel business in the West. The remains were
accompanied by Mr. Lelora Hoag of Springfield and Mrs. Harriet Shepard. The
deceased was a brother of Mrs. Harriet Shepard and Mrs. Hiram Hooker both of
this village. He leaves three children, a son and two daughters, one of whom is
Mrs. Lelora Hoag of Springfield, Mass., with whom he has lived for the past
year.
A maple sugar festival will be held in the
main room in G. A. R. hall on Saturday evening, March 17, for the benefit of
the Woman's Relief corps. Sugar served from 7 to 9 o'clock. Price 12 cts.
Constant calls for aid during these hard times rapidly depletes the treasury and
as one "order" is strictly a benevolent one we hope that we shall
have liberal patronage.
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