Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday,
October 24, 1895.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
Where the Blame Rests.
In connection with England's insolent and
bullying attitude towards Venezuela, the Boston Journal quotes the following
from a speech of United States Senator Henry Cabot Lodge delivered more than
six months ago. It reads like prophecy, and places the responsibility for
England's encroachments on American soil both then and now where it justly
belongs—on the
weak, nerveless and unpatriotic Cleveland administration. Senator Lodge said:
"In Venezuela the case is far more
serious than anywhere else. There the Monroe
doctrine has been actually violated, and it is owing to our neglect that the
situation has arisen. For a long period England has been pushing forward under
one pretext or another, the boundary of Guiana, and absorbing Venezuela
territory, which the Venezuelan government was too weak to prevent. This
seizure of territory has been mere aggression on the part of Great Britain,
while the well defined purpose of getting control of the mouths of the Orinoco
[river], a matter of great importance like all other great waterways, to the
extension of British commerce of which England never loses sight. This continuous
and increasing seizure of territory is an infringement of the declaration by
Mr. Adams of the Monroe doctrine of the worst kind, for it is establishing
European authority over American territory not lawfully in the possession of England
at the time of the Monroe doctrine. Vigorous steps should be taken to stop this
seizure of territory at once.
"The right and proper policy of the
administration in regard to all these matters is perfectly simple. Our
ambassador to England should be instructed to say to the British government in
the plainest and firmest manner, that the United States regards any infraction
of the Monroe doctrine as an act of hostility, and will resist any such
infraction to the utmost. If the administration should take this ground, which
is clearly right and in accordance with every tradition of American policy, these
questions would soon be settled. There
is no danger in the situation at all, except from weakness or hesitation on the
part of our government. If we are perfectly firm, the whole matter will be
settled rightly and peaceably, but by paltering with the American policy and
the Monroe doctrine, may not only involve us in the most serious dangers, but
may cause losses to our commercial prosperity and injuries to our rights and
our honor as a nation which can never be repaired."
This "paltering with the American
policy and the Monroe doctrine" has gone steadily on, until a condition of
extreme gravity confronts us. Great Britain is said to have sent an ultimatum
to Venezuela and is preparing to fortify the disputed territory. This is the
first step toward war, toward a conflict which before it is ended may involve
the United States, for our national honor imperatively forbids another
humiliating incident like that at Corinto—the forcible spoliation of a weak
American Republic that had been taught to look to us for protection.
When the British Admiral Stephenson landed
last spring at Corinto and took possession of the town, he declared publicly,
as the British Minister had before him, that "the Monroe doctrine was a myth
which the United States would not and could not enforce," and that the
occupation of Corinto was "simply intended as a test to definitely dispose
of that question." The apparent success of the scheme and the utter
failure of our government to say a word in protest, has emboldened the British
to try the same game again in an even more elaborate and offensive form in
Venezuela. There was some dispute as to whether the Monroe doctrine applied to
the Nicacaguan affair, though there was no real room for doubt that it did, but
in the Venezuelan affair there is not the faintest shadow of an excuse for such
a denial. If this ancient principle of American statesmanship means anything at
all, it means that no European power shall be permitted to seize territory
which belongs to an independent American nation.
That is precisely what Great Britain is
trying to do along the Orinoco river. Forty years ago the authorities of
British Guiana made not the slightest pretensions to a foot hold on that mighty
stream. Step by step the British outposts, however, have been pushed forward
until now there is a British fortified station at the mouth of the Orinoco and
the British foreign office lays claim to a region more than twice the size of
New York state.
The same adroit, insinuating methods have
been employed which had worked so successfully in India, Africa and Egypt.
Venezuela has vainly appealed to our country for intervention. Our suggestion
that England submit her claims to arbitration has been contemptuously ignored.
The seeming indifference or feebleness of the United States government has
caused the British officials in Venezuela to push their aggressions of [late]
with extraordinary activity until the foreign office has decided that it is
full time to throw off the mask and to demand the formal surrender of the
disputed territory, with war as the grim alternative.
There the case now rests. Though neither
rich nor numerous, the Venezuelans are a brave and spirited people. They will
not tamely yield to English arrogance. Unless the ultimatum is withdrawn or
modified, war must be regarded as inevitable. The first shot from the Maxim
guns which Joseph Chamberlain
has ordered to be forwarded to the British Guiana frontier may do something more
than merely disturb the peace of that wild and distant region. It may perhaps
shatter the friendly relations of England and the United States. For that shot,
nominally aimed at Venezuela, would be really directed at the greater republic
to the northward. It would be the Corinto episode over again, with even more of
insult and exasperation. The men who are now in power in England do not love
America any more than the men who were in power there during our Civil war. But
they never would have struck the blow which they are now meditating if our own
scandalous weakness had not invited it. There was no talk of an
"ultimatum" while President Harrison was in the White House and James
G. Blaine in the state department.
If we are involved in a serious difficulty
with Great Britain over Venezuela—a difficulty which now seems very
probable—the responsibility for it all will rest on Grover Cleveland's
shoulders, It will be the direct logical fruit of his "policy of
infamy"—-of that "paltering" of the results of which last March
Senator Lodge warned the country with the prophetic words of a statesman and
patriot.
 |
| Thomas Edison working on kinetoscope. |
Edison
and the "Smartest Man on Earth."
While in Berlin he received an invitation to
visit William the Warrior in his palace, and on the appointed day a state
carriage, gorgeous in golden ornaments, drawn by six horses and with outriders,
called for him. This display abashed the modest-minded inventor, and he said
that he would reach the imperial palace in his own way. He walked.
When he reached the designated place, the
flunkies in charge declined to take his card to the royal presence, his humble
appearance making it seem impossible to them that he was to have an audience
with their master.
Edison, nowise disappointed, returned to his
hotel, where shortly he was waited upon by a court official conveying William's
regrets for the mistake and a request that he would visit the palace next day
and bring with him one of his phonographs.
He did so. The emperor took him into his
private cabinet, no one else being present, carefully closed all the doors and
then besought him to take the marvelous invention apart and explain to him all
its workings. This was done, and the inventor was invited to attend a court
reception next day and to bring the phonograph with him.
Upon this occasion the great American found
the emperor surrounded with a brilliant throng of nobles, each one decorated
with the insignia of his rank—Edison, I think, calls them "dog collars.''
When he produced his mysterious invention, the emperor took it in hand, eyed it
critically as though he had never seen it before, then took it apart and
explained to the amazed courtiers exactly how it performed its wonders. He
never said a word about his instruction of the day before.—Philadelphia Times.
Construction
of Gunboats at Detroit.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24. —The Detroit Drydock
company, which the naval bureau chiefs recommended be awarded the contract for
building two of the six new gunboats, now wishes to withdraw that part of its
proposition which looked to the assembling of the parts for the ships at
Seattle, on the Pacific coast. Mr. Kirby, one of the leading partners in the
firm, is in Washington and indicates that the company, if it secures the
contract, will build the complete vessels at Detroit.
 |
| Judge Walter Lloyd Smith. |
One Case
Tried at Ithaca, Others Put Over the Term.
A special train arrived in Cortland from
Ithaca at about 2 o'clock this afternoon having on board Superintendent Albert
Allen, General Passenger Agent C. W. Williams, Auditor M. A. Smith, Attorneys
O. U. Kellogg and D. W. Van Hoesen and C. E. Rowley, formerly a conductor on
the old Utica, Ithaca & Elmira R. R. which is now the E., C. & N.
On the calendar of the supreme court at
Ithaca, Judge Walter Lloyd Smith presiding, were forty-four cases, all alike in
character—suits for damages against the E., C. & N. R. R. for excessive
mileage charges. One case was tried, that of Joseph Parker vs. the E., C. & N. R. R.—and the others went over the term. In this case a
jury was waived and the case was tried before the judge. Evidence was submitted
and the attorneys on each side were given thirty days in which to submit
briefs. The case was over the charging of four cents per mile for fare upon
certain short distances, as the original charter of the road permitted. The
question at issue was whether the general railroad law of 1890 wiped out of
existence the rights of the road under the old charter. Wing Parker of Moravia
and S. D. Halliday of Ithaca appeared for the plaintiff. Kellogg & Van
Hoesen for the defendants.
Kellogg & Van Hoesen also had another case in court there,
that of
Margaret
Teeter vs. The United States Casualty Insurance Co. They appeared for the
plaintiff and secured a verdict of $2,175. Attorney Wilbur of New York and S.
D. Halliday of Ithaca appeared for the defendant.
CHANGE
OF LOCATION.
Glann & Clark Move—Bingham &
Miller Enlarge.
The first of November will witness a slight
change in the location of two of the leading business firms on Main-st. Glann
& Clark have rented the store next south of their present location and
north of C. F. Brown's drug store. Bingham & Miller will occupy the
store vacated by Glann & Clark
and will also occupy the one in which they are at present located. The
partition between these two stores will be arched, thus making one large double
department store. The south part will be devoted exclusively to clothing and
this stock will be much increased, especially in the children's department.
They expect to add a large and complete assortment
of trunks and travelling bags. This line of goods together with the lines of
gentlemen's furnishing goods will be displayed in the north part. When the
change is made the store of Bingham &
Miller will be one of the best appointed stores in this part of the
state.
 |
| Little York Lake, Mt. Toppin in background. |
Thou lofty
background of our home,
Thou
living wall beside the plain,
That
pillarest up the heaven's dome
Where 'eer
may stretch the mountain chain;
Thou
western curtain of the night,
Thou first
to catch the morning sun
And
downward throw the golden light
While yet
the day has scarce begun.
Thou hast
no name in history's page,
No fabled
muse doth haunt thy shades,
No peaks,
all hoary, speak thine age.
No monster
dread thy groves invade,
But leafy
trees o'er tree tops rise
Far up thy
rough and ragged sides,
And with
their banners pierce the skies
Where high
the glorious day king rides.
Beside thy
rock ribbed emerald crest
The summer
cloud, a barge of light
All
freshly flown from breezy west,
Hath moved
awhile to silent flight
And floats
along that lofty shore
Of depths
of unknown blue, so far,
So
boundless as the evermore—
The home
of sun and evening star.
Thy leafy
verdure is a smile,
Nor ice
bound rocks, nor caps of snow
Soar up
with dizzy pile on pile
To far
outfrown thy green below.
And I have
loved to sit and gaze
Where seem
to climb the birds of flight,
That up
and up still seek the blaze
Of sinking
sun ere comes the night.
But when
the storm cloud settles low
And like a
veil obscures thy face,
And the
rampant lightnings' red'ning glow
With ruddy
anger wreathes thy place,
And thy
summit then doth seem the throne
Of thunders
belching o'er the plain,
And the
rocking pines all tempest blown
Bend down
beneath the roaring rain.
And o'er
Tioughnioga's vale
The
mantling storm goes spreading wide,
And from
thy steeps the surging gale
Goes
lashing out with furious stride,
Then do I
gaze with awe the while,
O Toppin!
on thy frowning height,
For thou
has seemed to loose thy smile,
Thy look
of joy in morning light.
But now
October, crisp and chill,
With frosty
wand has touched the wood,
Has kissed
the lea and kissed the hill
And tinged
the maple leaves with blood.
Autumnal
splendors crown thee now,
O, wall
with living colors blent!
The
glorious radiance of thy brow
Is
stretched along the firmament.
The sun's
pale beam, with kindling glow,
Illuminates
thy swelling form,
As if it
did an iris throw
To light
with hope the fleeing storm.
And thou,
when autumn's moaning blast
Thy
gorgeous robe has cast aside,
And winter's
cheerless night has past,
Shalt be
again a springtime bride.
Preble, Oct. 21, 1895. H. H.
"The
Midnight Special."
The attraction that will appear at the Opera
House on Tuesday, Oct. 29, is the very latest melodramatic success, "The Midnight
Special," a high class play in four acts, produced with a carload of magnificent
scenery and mechanical effects. A rounder in a stock broker's office, a
railroad scene with puffing locomotives, the interior of a wine distillery in
full operation, still another railroad scene with a miraculous escape, and
hotel parlor showing a passenger elevator, perfect reproduction were some of
the scenes used to develop
the plot of "The Midnight Special." This
was acted, says the New York World, at Niblo's recently before a very large and
enthusiastic audience. The acting was vigorous and telling, and the mechanical effects
excellent.
—A special meeting of the Y. M. C. A.
trustees will be held to-morrow evening at 8 o'clock.
—The Central school football team play the
Dryden academy team at Dryden Saturday, Nov. 3.
—Mr. Fred Ingersoll entertained a few of his
friends at his home on Greenbush-st. last night. It was his eighteenth birthday.
—The ninth annual convention of the Young
Woman's Christian associations of the state of New York will be held in
Syracuse October 31 to Nov. 3.
—James Slattery, aged 69 years, a resident
of Syracuse, for more than twenty years toothless, is now cutting a third set
of teeth—a very rare occurrence.
—Twenty-five couples were in attendance at
the dancing party given by the Manhattan club last evening in Empire hall. Excellent
music was furnished by McDermott's orchestra and a good time was had.
—The
enterprise of safe agents is proverbial. The burglary of the post office was
discovered at 6:30 Tuesday morning, and at 4:30 Tuesday afternoon an agent had
sold the postmaster a new safe.—Marathon Independent.
—The Presbyterian choir, assisted by Mr. A.
E. Darby, will give a praise service next Sunday night, Oct. 27, instead of the
regular service. These services have proved very enjoyable in the past and have
attracted large congregations.
—Every column in a newspaper contains from
ten to twenty-two thousand distinct pieces of metal, the displacement of one of
which would cause a blunder or a typographical error. And yet some people think
it strange when they can find an error in the newspaper.—Exchange.
—A regular meeting of the W. C. T. U. will
be held on Saturday, Oct. 26. Consecration
service will be held at 2:30 o'clock. It is not certain whether the delegate to
the National convention will be home and be ready to make her report. If not,
the program will be "paste day" and reading.
—The case of W. G. Hollenbeck against E.
Dorr Clark was tried before Justice Dowd and a jury this morning. This was an
action to recover from Clark as a sub-contractor in Hitchcock's shops for
labor. The amount claimed was $16.13. The jury rendered a verdict, no cause for
action.
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