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| 1894 panoramic map of Cortland. |
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
What the
Figures Show.
Last year the vote on village president was
as follows:
Total
vote, 1655
W. D. Tisdale, (Rep.), 842
Albert Allen, (Dem.), 696
C. W. Collins, (Pro.), 117
This year it stands as follows:
Total vote, 1948
F. W. Higgins, (Cit.), 874
I. H.
Palmer, (Dem.), 539
W. D. Tisdale, (Rep.), 535
[Total: 1948]
[Total: 1948]
The
Village Election.
There is no doubt as to how the village
election has gone. There is no doubt as to what the result means. The
Republican organization of the village can now pull itself together, wipe off
the blood and dirt, catch its breath, study out what struck it and why it was
struck so hard, and, better yet, mark out a course of action which, in the
language of the street, will avoid "getting it in the neck again."
The terrible drubbing which the regular
ticket received yesterday might easily have been avoided, but poorly considered
and unwise action on the part of Republicans precipitated the Citizens'
movement, and then the display in certain quarters of a spirit of intolerance,
proscription and persecution made the breath of popular dissatisfaction a
political whirlwind.
The seed of the citizens' movement was
planted when the committee of Republican citizens—some of them members of the
Republican league—called upon that organization at one of its meetings and
asked the passage of the following resolution:
Resolved, That we, as a league, will at the ensuing municipal election of this
village, advocate and work for the nomination of men for the office of
president and trustees of this village who are in favor of enforcing and will
pledge themselves to enforce to the best [of] their ability the excise law as it
shall exist during their term of office.
We think the committee was in error in
treating the league as the Republican organization of the village, or as
entitled to speak for the Republican party in the village, for its membership
comprises only a small portion of the members of the party in Cortland. But the
spirit shown in the remarks on the resolution was not at all satisfactory to
the committee, and the resolution was by an almost unanimous vote laid on the
table. Technically, perhaps, the action of the league was justified by Article
22 of its constitution, which says:
No candidate for any public office shall be
endorsed by this league unless the proposition for such endorsement shall have
been offered by resolution at a meeting prior to the one at which action shall
be taken thereon, and notice of the proposed endorsement shall he given to the
members by the secretary before the meeting whereat such proposition shall be
acted on.
The pledge which members take on joining the
league, however, includes the following: "That you will attend Republican
caucuses and primaries and use your influence and work for the nomination and
election of candidates who are worthy, efficient and capable to fill a position
of public trust if elected thereto." It would have been easy for those
members of the league who were present at this meeting to have amended the
resolution offered so as to make it express cordial sympathy on the part of the
organization—if such sympathy existed—with the enforcement of law, and to
pledge anew its members to exert their individual influence to secure the nomination
of officers pledged to such enforcement. By laying the resolution on the table
and dismissing the committee empty-handed it was made easy for the inference to
be drawn that the league [called the Silk Stocking Club by the Cortland Democrat—CC editor] and the element in the party which it represented
sympathized with the violators of law, and this was the most deadly ammunition
which was used against the Republican ticket during the entire campaign.
Next came the adoption of the following
resolution in Republican ward caucuses and the rejection of the votes of
several life-long Republicans under it:
Resolved, That no
person be entitled to vote at this caucus or primary who does not intend to
support the nominations of the next ensuing regular Republican village
convention, and that no person who has given or proposes to give his aid or
support to any independent or so-called citizens' party, which now has or may
hereafter place in nomination any ticket to be voted for at the next village or
charter election, shall be eligible either to vote hereat or to be voted for as
a delegate to said regular Republican convention.
The prime object of this resolution, of
course, was to shut out those who had already taken part in the Citizens'
convention, but its terms were so sweeping that it became a gag law under which
every Republican offering to vote at a caucus could have been compelled to swear,
if so required, that he intended to support the regular nominees of the village
convention, no matter who they might be, or whether their nominations were
obtained fraudulently or fairly.
The resolution was widely interpreted as an effort
on the part of the law-defying element in the party to compel Republicans to do
its bidding or read them out of the party, and it raised a fierce spirit of
rebellion in many quarters. While the right of a caucus under the caucus law to
pass such a resolution is unquestionable, we have never known of another instance
where such a test of the right to vote was prescribed, or where any other test
save loyalty to the presidential and gubernatorial nominees of the party was
laid down. If the Republican party in local elections cannot command support
for its nominees on their personal merits or the issues they are supposed to
represent, it certainly cannot command it by trying to enforce an iron-clad
caucus test. Republicans never have stood the whip very well and never will,
and we have never known a case where the attempt to apply it was not disastrous.
The Republicans of New York City called upon
Democrats at the late municipal election to ignore their party nominations and
aid in purifying the city government by electing a reform ticket. The doctrine
was taught that loyalty to a party on national issues did not require the
maintenance of party lines on local issues—that a Democrat was no less a
Democrat if he voted independently at local elections. For Cortland Republicans
to attempt to make a vote at local elections a test of party standing is to
give the lie to the Republicans of New York City, and to insure constant
rebellion at home.
All of these things helped to work defeat,
and the Republican candidates were made the scapegoats to bear every one's
offenses. They had not sought the nominations given them, but that made no
difference, and the fact that they were not nominated on an out-and-out
platform in favor of enforcement of law, was the most disastrous fact of all.
Any other candidates under the same circumstances would have fared just the same.
The result was not a condemnation of the Republican nominees personally. They
were simply out of doors when the storm came.
As an overwhelming expression in favor of
the enforcement of law in this community the result has a positive value apart
from partisan considerations. We only
hope that all the good expected from it will be realized. Gambling hells [sic] and
disorderly houses, as well as illegal liquor selling, call for suppression. The
task assumed by the majority of the new village board is no boy's play, and
calls for firmness, discretion, ability and courage. Whatever the STANDARD can
do in aiding the good work it holds itself ready at all times to perform.
The figures of the election call attention
to one thing which ought not to be overlooked. Had the Republicans who voted
the citizens' ticket turned out at their own caucuses, before engaging in the
citizens' movement, as enthusiastically and unanimously as they did at the
polls on Thursday, they could have carried every caucus in the village and
nominated a ticket to suit themselves. It is easy to condemn a ticket as a
"saloon ticket" and berate "the liquor element," the
"loafers," the "strikers" and the "dead beats"
who are held responsible for it, but such condemnation bears witness that the
men who are called these hard names are doing their duty as citizens far better
than the church officers and members and the solid and respectable business men
who are too busy or too indifferent to attend the primaries and do that
political work which ought to be one of the foremost interests of every good
citizen. And after such neglect, it is also an easy way of helping to quiet
conscience to call on a party newspaper to bolt nominations regularly and
fairly made, and help undo any evil which may have resulted from the failure of
"the better element" of the party to do its plain duty.
The increase in the vote for inspectors in
1895 over 1894 is 282. The vote on Democratic inspectors falls off 58. The vote
on Republican inspectors falls off 354, and
the Prohibition vote is swallowed up in the Citizens'. These figures show
pretty conclusively where the Citizens' ticket got its votes, and how
comparatively few Democrats gave it any support.
Dr. Higgins for village president runs 45
ahead of the inspectors on the Citizen's ticket, Mr. Palmer runs 4 ahead of the
Democratic inspectors, and Mr. Tisdale runs 47 behind the Republican
inspectors, showing that on split as well as straight tickets it was Republican
strength that went to the Citizens' ticket. The increase in vote this year also
came, in all probability, almost entirely from Republican stay-at-homes of last
year. And yet when the Republican party, with the help of about a hundred
Prohibitionists and less than a hundred Democrats, can elect a Citizens'
anti-saloon ticket by over 300 plurality and at the same time give to its own
nominee for village president within five as many votes as the Democratic
candidate receives, there are Republicans who complain of the "saloon
element" running its caucuses and making its nominations! When all
Republicans begin to do their duty at caucuses as well as the "saloon element"
are doing theirs, there will be no occasion for Citizens' tickets and
independent movements with the bitterness and party divisions which they are
apt to engender. But it always has been and always will be easier to kick and
to bolt than to get out and work.
Simple
Justice.
The only attack made during the entire
village election campaign upon Mr. Tisdale's
management of the business affairs of the corporation was at the Opera House
meeting last Monday evening. The charge was made too late to be refuted, and
undoubtedly influenced many votes. If made in bad faith, it was discreditable
to the last degree, and in any event it should have been thoroughly
investigated before it was made. It was to the effect that Mr. Tisdale had
neglected to require of the Cortland &
Homer Traction Co. the filing of the bond, specified in the franchise granted
by the village to the company, to secure the performance by the company of all
the requirements contained in the franchise.
The facts in the case are that the company
presented to the board of trustees a bond in the sum of $2,000. This sum was
not considered by the board as sufficient, and they demanded of the company a
bond in the penal sum of $10,000. To this, we learn from Mr. Tisdale, the
attorney of the company objected, on the ground that there was no necessity for
so large a penalty, but he was informed that this was the decision of the
board, and finally said that as soon as he could get the parties who were to
sign the new bond together it would be executed. One of these parties is in
Europe, but will be home before May 1st, and on his return the matter will be
attended to.
Mr. Tisdale therefore retained the $2,000
bond till the new one could be executed. The traction company has done
everything required of it by the trustees, including all grading on Homer-ave.,
paying $200 for widening bridges and half of the expense of removing snow from
the streets—paying into the village treasury $660.95—and there is no reason to
question their executing the required bond as soon as it can be done. If any
officer, however vigilant, could have done more than Mr. Tisdale in reference
to the bond, under the circumstances, we are unable to see how. It is not too
much to say in Mr. Tisdale's praise that this village has never had a president
who has devoted more time or labor to its interests or done his work in a more
judicious and business-like manner, and at the end of a term made unusually
arduous by the construction of sewers and the electric road, to attack his
business record is in the last degree unkind and unfair.
Brands
from the Burning.
Messrs. F. D. Smith and LaFloyd Stillman,
Republican nominees for commissioners of Union Free School district No. 1, are
the only Republican candidates elected, save some inspectors of elections.
Their election is specially gratifying as they are both exceptionally well
fitted for the places they are to fill.
THE PRICE OF PEACE.
Terms of
the Treaty Between Japan and China.
JAPS
INFLICT A SEVERE PENALTY.
Besides
Various Concessions In Regard to Territorial Rights, China Pays a Cash Indemnity
of Two Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars.
WASHINGTON, March 13.—As a result of the
negotiations between Minister Dun in Japan and Minister Denby in China the
terms of the peace about to be concluded between China and Japan are now known
with little short of exactness.
As understood in high official circles they
are as follows:
First—The treaty between Japan and China has
ceased to exist by reason of the war, but on the renewal of peace the new
treaty will grant Japan extra territorial jurisdiction over China, but the
latter country will surrender the extra territorial jurisdiction she formerly
held in Japan.
Second—There will be no extension of
Japanese territory on the mainland of Asia, but the island of Formosa, a
Chinese possession lying off the coast, will be permanently ceded to Japan.
Third—The Japanese will, by treaty, be
granted the right to continue the occupation of Port Arthur and Wei Hai Wei,
the two great naval stations leading to the gulf of Pe Chi Li for a term of
years.
Fourth—The claims of China that Corea is a
dependency of hers shall be forever relinquished and Corea shall henceforth be
independent.
Fifth—The cash indemnity to be paid by China
will not exceed $250,000,000 in gold.
The foregoing terms give a number of new
features which the cable information from Pekin and Tokio has not thus far disclosed.
The purpose not to extend Japanese territory
on the mainland, but to confine it to the outlying island of Formosa, assures the
conclusion of a peace without European intervention.
The maintenance of Japan's extra territorial
jurisdiction in China, while the country surrenders a similar jurisdiction,
leaves China as the only Oriental country submitting to this outer
jurisdiction.
Until recently all civilized nations have conceded
that the courts were so primitive and punishment so barbarous, in both China
and Japan, that consular courts should protect foreigners residing in these countries.
Japan has recently negotiated a new set of
treaties with the United States, Great Britain and other foreign countries, in which
her modern court procedure is recognized and consular courts abandoned.
In conformity with this new system, Japan
now terminates China's consular courts in Japan, although Japan's consular courts
in China are to be continued.
This presents the singular spectacle of China's
conceding the advance of Japan into modern methods, while at the same time
conceding that she is still in the benighted condition requiring extra-territorial
jurisdiction to protect foreigners in China.
Probably the most important concession is
Japan's occupation of Port Arthur and Wei Hai Wei for a term of years. This
will assure a continuance of the peace for many years, as China will be in no
condition to renew hostilities so long as the gateway to Pekin and to China's commerce
is guarded on either side by the great fortresses which China grants to Japan
for a term of years.
The permanent annexation of Formosa to Japan
will add a rich and fertile country to the Japanese group.
The tea production of the island is very extensive.
Moreover, there are extensive tracts of arable land well suited to Japanese coolie
labor should it be desired to withdraw the Japanese from Hawaii.
A
TELEPHONE BILL
Which
Will Regulate Charges According to Population.
The Binghamton Republican of March 12 publishes a summary of a bill now before the
legislature to regulate telephone charges. As the matter is of so much
importance and interest to Cortland telephone users we publish it in part.
There is much curiosity to know what has
become of the telephone bill and what its effects would be if the measure was
passed. The Gerst bill has been the subject of vigorous criticism, both
favorable and the reverse and that the bill represents a fair solution of the
telephone question between the towns and cities of New York state is an
assertion which is assailed and defended in the most cordial terms by enemies
and friends of the measure.
The Gerst bill, or one similar to it, has been
under discussion at Albany during several sessions of the legislature, but politics
and the lobby have always killed it. This year the universal protest against
unjust charges for telephone service has been so well voiced and so well backed
up by representative commercial bodies that decided action of some sort cannot
be avoided.
The "Telephone bill" as it is
known, figures as senate bill No. 18, introduced by Mr. Persons on Jan. 2, and
assembly bill No. 241, introduced by Mr. Gerst on Jan. 18. Its title is:
"An act to regulate telephone charges in
the state of New York and to empower certain state officers to revise and regulate
the same."
Section 1 provides that at the expiration of
six months after the passage of the act the maximum annual charges for day and
night telephone service shall be as follows:
In cities of 1,000,000 inhabitants and over,
$78. This is the proposed rate [per year] for New York City.
In cities of 500,000 inhabitants and less
than 1,000,000, $66. This is the rate for Brooklyn.
In
cities of 100,000 and less than 500,000, $48. This is the rate for Buffalo and
other big cities of the state.
Cities whose population is between 20,000
and 100,000 are to pay $36, and cities and places with a population between 8,000
and 20,000 are to enjoy an annual rate of $30. In places of less than 8,000
inhabitants the rate is to be $27. The section closes with this paragraph which
telephone companies find anything but satisfactory:
"When the rates have been fixed under the
provisions of this act they shall not be thereafter increased by reason of an
increase in population in any city or place in this state."
"The charge at public and pay stations
in any of said cities or places," says Sec. 2 of the bill, "for local
messages or conversations, shall not exceed ten cents for the first five
minutes after connection is made, and if the conversation be continued beyond
five minutes five cents for each five minutes or part of five minutes
thereafter.
"No yearly or monthly patron or
subscriber having and paying for a telephone at his own place, office or
residence, shall be charged for the use of a telephone at any public pay
station when used by him or his employees for the purpose of communicating with
his own place, office or residence, and all such patrons, subscribers and
customers shall be furnished with cards or certificates showing their telephone
number or numbers, and entitling them to such free use of public or pay
stations."
It will be observed that Cortland being of
that class of cities having a population of between 8,000 and 20,000 would
secure the benefits of that provision of the bill which makes the telephone rate
$30 per year.
BREVITIES.
—A party of young men, many of whom were
Normal students, who labored for the election of the citizens' ticket, were out
celebrating last night. They serenaded several of the successful candidates,
who responded with speeches.
—The Y. M. C. A. mechanical drawing class
meets to-night at 8 o'clock.
—The adjourned annual meeting of the
Cortland County Agricultural society will be held at 2 P. M. Saturday at
Fireman's hall.
— Hon. A. A. Carley, Reuben Rood and Howard
J. Reed were yesterday elected trustees of the First M. E. church for the term
of three years.
—The Ladies' Literary club celebrates its
fifteenth anniversary to-night by a special program of exercises to be presented
at the home of Mrs. Welland Hendrick, 32 Lincoln-ave.
—We now have on hand for sale at the STANDARD
office quite a number of the woman's papers which have been returned to be sold
again by parties who originally took more than they cared for and who returned
them in response to the call sent out for them. If anyone cares for more
copies, they can now be obtained at this office.
—A very delicate operation for double hernia
was performed at 8 o'clock last evening upon the person of Mr. E. E. Ellis by
Dr. Robert Morse of New York, assisted by Dr. E. B. Nash of Cortland and Dr.
Rood of Etna. The operation has every appearance of being successful and it is
expected that Mr. Ellis will be able to be about again in a few weeks.
—Miss Lillian Lewis in "Cleopatra"
drew a fair-sized audience to the Opera House last night. The show for one of
its class was in many respects a very good one. It was well staged, the scenery
was excellent. The part of Charles B, Hanford as Antony was particularly strong
and well acted. The dancing of Mile Adele Camis was skillful and was well
received. The singing by Miss Fannie B. Sprague and by Miss Rena Roy was much
enjoyed.
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