 |
| James Creelman. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Friday,
October 11, 1895.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
The London Times.
James Creelman contributes to McClure's
Magazine the story of the greatest newspaper in the world. For 110 years the
Thunderer has been published. Creelman says: "It is the most arrogant, the most unbribable thing in
Europe, sober, serene, exasperatingly honest, not to be hurried and not to be
delayed, but going its own serious pace, more British than Queen Victoria, more
ubiquitous than the Vatican." It is a pity we have not a few more American
newspapers "sober, serene and exasperatingly honest."
In 1785 John Walter first established a
paper called The Daily Universal Register.
A year later he changed its name to The Times, and The Times it has been ever
since. In the very beginning, it was, says Mr. Creelman, "a pugnacious
little sheet." Its strength lies in its absolute honesty and its absolute
reliability as to news. Severe indeed would be the judgment meted out to the
reporter or correspondent who should smuggle into its columns a fake interview
or news story. Well it would be for American newspapers if they would study and
make their own the source of The Times' influence.
From the beginning this great paper has been
in the hands of one family, father, grandson and great-grandson. The first
three were John Walter first, John Walter second, and John Walter third. The
present head of the paper is Mr. Arthur Walter. His elder brother, also
John, would have been the head had he lived, thus making an unbroken line of
Johns.
It is agreeable to know there are some
things money cannot do. Mr. Creelman says that William Waldorf Astor tried to
buy the great newspaper. ''How much
money will it take to buy The Times?'' asked Mr. Astor.
''The money was never coined that can buy
The Times,'' replied Mr. Arthur Walter.
◘ The new line of freight transportation
which has been opened between Galveston and Great Britain will carry goods past
Liverpool, through the Manchester ship canal directly to Birmingham. The
Manchester Canal company itself is interested in the new venture. Texas cotton
will thus pass without reloading or breaking bulk straight through to the mills
of Birmingham.
◘ It is quite possible that the Defender
[America Cup victor] may be the means of bringing much money to Herreshoff, the
blind boat builder. A good beginning of getting large contracts has already
been made for him in the order from Secretary Herbert for two torpedo boats at
$144,000 each. It will not be at all surprising if, besides future orders from
the United States government, he should be requested by Japan and other foreign
nations to make them torpedo boats too.
◘ The right way to get good roads in this
country is to make the inmates of county jails and of the state penitentiaries
construct them.
◘ The bonded debt of every mile of completed
railway in this country averages $32,000 and it increases year by year. How
many of the roads will ever pay it?
 |
| Cortland-Homer Traction Co. baggage car 17 at the A. P. McGraw Corset factory in McGrawville. |
The
Elm-st. Franchise.
The application of the Traction company for
a franchise to lay and operate a track between Church-st. and Pendleton-st.
down Elm, has met with unexpected opposition and seems, unfortunately, to have
developed some unpleasant feeling. Any such feeling is totally unnecessary, as
the application is simply a business proposition which ought to be presented
and opposed, if opposed at all, in a fair, candid and considerate spirit, and
decided upon its merits and with due regard to justice to the company as well
as to the town and the village. After the original and the adjourned hearings,
the issue has been narrowed down to the right and desirability of the Traction
company's drawing freight to and from McGrawville.
While it has been alleged that this proposed
drawing of freight has been kept in the dark and is now sprung at a time
when the steam road is actually engaged in laying its track to
McGrawville—greatly to the detriment of the latter road—the truth is that the
promoters of the Traction company declined to acquire franchises or to agree to
build to McGrawville unless and until the freight business to and from that
place had been secured to them for a term of years. It was a matter of talk
about this village, to our personal knowledge, before the work on the
McGrawville line was begun that freight contracts had been made by business men
of that place with the Traction company, and several months since we talked
over the matter of the effect of these contracts on the proposed steam road
with one of the most prominent promoters of that road, and he expressed doubt
as to the Traction company's right to make such contracts or to carry freight,
and gave us the impression that he had much less fear of the freight than of
the passenger competition of the trolley line.
Mr. A. P. McGraw of McGrawville informs us
that there was no secrecy whatever about the making of these contracts, that
they were only made for a term of three years from their dates and that nearly
one year has already expired, and that they do not bind those who signed them
to give all of their freight to the Traction company. Mr. McGraw believes that
the McGrawville people want both the steam and trolley roads to haul freight, and
that competition will be a good thing for the public. We learn from ex-Village
President Tisdale also, that before he went out of office Superintendent
Dunston told him that the Traction company expected to haul freight in bulk
between Cortland and McGrawville, and he supposed it was generally understood
that this was the fact before work on the McGrawville branch was started and
that freight contracts had been made. All of which shows, that there was
nothing secret or unfair in the action of the Traction company in its
solicitation or arrangements for freight business.
Now as to the effect on the company's
freight business of the village board's granting the Elm-st. franchise:
Whatever rights the Traction company has
over its road as now built are fixed. If it has the right to haul freight, it
can do so if it sees fit. If no right to do a freight business is conferred
upon it by the law under which it is organized, no franchise given by the
village can create any such right, nor can any act of the village authorities
deprive the company of its legal rights. Consequently the village board has the
power to do only one of three things—it can grant the franchise on Elm-st.
precisely as it has granted the other franchises to the road, or it can refuse
to grant it, or can grant it conditionally.
As we understand the position of the
opponents of the franchise, or most of them, they are willing the franchise
should be granted if the condition is made that no freight shall be drawn over
the Elm-st. branch. If we are mistaken in this we stand open for correction.
What are the considerations of public
convenience, safety and welfare bearing on this question of a conditional or an
unconditional franchise?
We think that no one will deny that the
comfort, convenience and safety of passengers on the electric road would be
promoted and vexatious delays avoided by another crossing of the D., L. &
W. railroad besides the present one at the station. If the village board
refuses to grant the Elm-st. franchise as asked for, or if the company refuses
to accept a conditional franchise, the result will be that all the freight and
passenger traffic on the electric road will have to cross the tracks of the D.,
L. & W. as at present, and
danger and delays be continued—especially in carrying passengers to and from
the park. And should any serious accident or loss of life occur at this
crossing, there would be many who would be quick to condemn the refusal to
grant a franchise for a second crossing. If the Elm-st. franchise is granted
and accepted for passenger traffic only, then the freight traffic, though at
some inconvenience to the Traction company, will have to go through
Railroad-st., and part of the passengers go over this route and part over the
Elm-st.
It is now too late to inquire whether it
would not have been wiser when the original franchise was granted to the
Traction company to have inserted a clause prohibiting the hauling of freight.
The clause was not inserted, and, as stated above, the company therefore has
all the rights given by the law under which it was incorporated to any company
organizing thereunder. If these rights do not include the right to haul
freight, then certainly the granting of an unconditional franchise on Elm-st.
will not confer that right on that branch of the road any more than on the part
now built.
It does not seem to us that the interests of
the steam railroad to McGrawville will be promoted to any marked degree by
refusing the Traction company the privilege of hauling freight through Elm-st.
provided it now has the right to haul it over the line as built through
Railroad-st., especially as the Traction company's freight contracts hold for
only a little more than two years longer. If it were an original question—with
the possible building of the steam railroad in view—whether we should allow the
trolley road to haul McGrawville freight, and thus cut off to a certain extent
one of the inducements to building the steam road and curtail its profits if
built, we should say that it would be wise to refuse the Traction company this
privilege, even if thereby the project of an electric road to McGrawville had
to be abandoned, provided this refusal would assure the building of the steam
road.
But the situation at present is very
different from this. The electric road is built to McGrawville on an
unconditional franchise, with carrying of freight as one of the inducements to
its construction, and with freight contracts made before it was built. If the
company has the legal right to carry freight, therefore, all that our village board
can now do is to inconvenience the road somewhat in the exercise of this right,
while at the same time inconveniencing the public also. We have had intimations
that the promoters of the steam road propose to test the right of the trolley road to do a freight
business. If they do, and the Traction company is held not to have this right,
all its freight contracts go down and it is thenceforth simply a passenger
road. And even if it has the right, we doubt whether for freight business to
and from McGrawville it can long compete with the Erie & Central New York,
and whether after this road is built the McGrawville branch of the electric
road will be a profitable one.
The matter to be decided is not however,
whether our village board can now prevent the carrying of freight by the
electric road between McGrawville and Cortland. It the road could ever get this
right it has it now. The question is solely whether freight, if it goes at all
by trolley, shall go through Elm or Railroad-st., and whether the convenience
of both company and public shall be subserved—subject of course to the Traction
company's getting the consent of the necessary amount of property on Elm-st,
which seems to have been secured already.
Had the franchise through Elm-st. been asked
for when the original franchise was sought, no one will question that it would
have been granted. Why then should it be refused now, after the company has
bridged the Tioughnioga [river] at its own expense, when it had the right to cross the
Port Watson bridge, and after it has given to Cortland what it has long wanted
and would probably otherwise never have had—a beautiful public park, which has
been visited and enjoyed this year by thousands.
We have no desire or intention to differ
unpleasantly with those holding opposite
views, or to argue the case of the Traction company as against the interests of
the village, town or steam railroad, but we believe that the considerations
above suggested should have due weight, not only with our village board in
deciding this question, but with our citizens in forming public sentiment.
 |
| Charles E. Parker. |
And
Court of Oyer and Terminer, Justice Parker Presiding.
The case of William C. Keating vs. George
Fitts went to the jury last night who were out all night and came in at 9
o'clock this morning for instructions from the court. They again retired and at
10:45 reported a verdict for plaintiff of $1,841.67. At the bringing in of the
verdict defendants' attorney made a motion for a new trial on the minutes which
was denied and the defendant was given ninety days in which to make a case
and exceptions, and execution was stayed upon the judgment for that purpose. The
plaintiff was allowed a like time to prepare his amendments. The cross examination
of Mr. Fitts by John
Courtney, Jr., and the summing up of the case for the plaintiff by O. U. Kellogg
were special features of this term of court.
The following cases are over the term:
William Connors vs. Cyrus Worlook. J. & T. E. Courtney for plaintiff.
Kellogg & Van Hoesen
for defendant.
William A. Howard vs. Harrison Wells.
Dougherty & Miller for plaintiff. H. L. Gleason for defendant.
William Howe and others vs. William H.
Clark, Frank W. Collins, and James M. Milne. Smith & Dickinson for plaintiff. B. T. Wright for
defendants.
Charles Rowe vs. Byron Maxon et al. Dougherty
& Miller for
plaintiff. Kellogg & Van Hoesen for defendant.
William Howe, Hezekiah Howe and Sophia A.
Howe vs. Frank W. Collins, William H. Clark and James M. Milne. Smith & Dickinson for
plaintiffs. B. T. Wright for defendants.
Howard R. Meacham vs. Cortland STANDARD
Printing Co. [Alleged libel.] N. L. Miller for plaintiff. W. J. Mantanye for
defendant.
The grand jury reported indictments against
W. H. Olmstead and John Andrews for keeping and permitting a gambling room at
the Central House.
David Finn was indicted for assault in the
second degree upon the person of John
Murphy, Jr., near the E., C. & N. roundhouse [Owego Street].
No indictment was found against John McDonald,
charged with the murder of Patrick Quinlan.
No indictment was found against George Scott
charged with burglary at Little York.
Court then adjourned sine die.
Death of
Mrs. Laura Cooper.
Mrs. Laura Cooper, widow of the late Gilbert
Cooper, died at 8:30 o'clock this morning at the residence of her son, Mr.
Lester Cooper, 36 River-st., after an illness of nearly two years from dropsy. She
was formerly Miss Laura Yale and was born at Guilford, Chenango Co., April 3,
1820, and her early life was spent in Guilford. On Nov. 11, 1841, she was
married to Mr. Gilbert Cooper and they lived in Smithville, Chenango Co., for
sixteen years when they removed to Cortland, where the remainder of their life
was spent. Mr. Cooper's death occurred Oct. 29, 1894.
Mrs. Cooper was one of the largest hearted,
most generous of women, and was a remarkably kind neighbor. She was always
eager to be of assistance to someone. She was fond of children and had a way of
making the children fond of her. Her friends and neighbors old and young have
sustained a severe loss in her death,
Mrs. Cooper leaves two sons, Messrs. Lester
and George Cooper of Cortland, two sisters, Mrs. William Cooley and Miss Lorana
Yale of Binghamton, and two brothers, Ransom Yale of Upper Lisle and Albert
Yale of the state of Wyoming.
Funeral services will be held from her late
residence at 2 o'clock P. M. Monday, interment in Cortland Rural cemetery.
BREVITIES.
—F. M. Quick is using a cane to-day as a
result of a sprain of his right knee while at work in his store yesterday.
—The chairman of the new Prohibition county
committee is E. M. Van Hoesen and the secretary Adolph Frost, Jr.
—Chief of Police Linderman found a bicycle
on North Main-st. last night which is in his possession awaiting its owner.
—The dancing school at McGrawville will open
at the town hall Tuesday evening. All members of the class will meet at 7:30
o'clock for first rehearsal.
—Eighty-three tickets were sold yesterday for
the trolley excursion from Homer to
McGrawville and return for the benefit of the Old Ladies' Home at Homer.
—At the regular meeting of Canton Cortland,
No. 27, I. O. O. F., held last night, the degrees were conferred upon three Odd
Fellows from Marathon. An invitation was received and accepted from Marathon
Lodge, No. 147, to attend the dedication of their new hall next Wednesday
afternoon and evening. The Grand Master of the state will have charge of the
ceremony.
—An Oneida man was put off a New York
Central train recently because his ticket was three days old, though it had never
been used, and he refused to pay his fare again. The amount in question was
only twelve cents. He declares he will bring an action against the road to test
their new ruling that a ticket can be used only on the date of issue. He claims
that a first-class, unlimited ticket is good until used, that the railroad has no
right to make such a ruling. The outcome will be watched for with interest by
all.
GRAND UNION
TEA STORE.
Repaired
and Renovated—Concert To-morrow Night.
At 32 Main-st. is located one of the branch
stores of the Grand Union Tea Co. This store is in charge of Mr. F. M. Quick
and under his able management a large trade has been built up at this place.
The store has recently undergone a thorough renovation and re-arrangement which
makes it one of the neatest business places in town. On entering the store one
sees at the right three large pyramidal display stands on which are most
tastily arranged lamps, decorated and Japanese china ware. On the wall at the
right are two large panel pictures of Japanese scenery which add very much to
the beauty and attractiveness of the place.
People on entering are met and waited upon
either by Mr. Quick himself in his most polite manner, or by one of the two
obliging clerks, Miss Lottie Hardy or Mr. W. D. Taylor.
To-morrow occurs the grand fall opening at
this store and in the evening Daniel's orchestra will be present and furnish
music.
No comments:
Post a Comment