NYS LEGISLATURE'S SESSION CLOSED

Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, April 30, 1896.

THE SESSION CLOSED.

Both Houses Today Adjourned Sine Die.

PARTING SCENES AT ALBANY.

Handsome and Costly Presents Exchanged by the Departing Solons—Leaders Give Their Opinions of the Work of the Session Just Ended.

   ALBANY, April 30.—The legislature, shortly after the noon hour today, adjourned sine die.

   Two usual ceremonies of closing a session were observed, the usual good feeling was observable, and an usual the heat and bitterness of party legislation disappeared at the hour of parting, old scores were rubbed off the slate unsettled, old wounds were healed, past differences forgotten and all was good fellowship ["honor among thieves"--CC editor], with never a trace of party lines to vex the departing lawmakers.

   The custom of making presents was more than ever observed, Speaker Fish, Lieutenant Governor Saxton and the minority leaders in both houses being the recipients of various handsome mementoes of the occasion, while the clerks, those patient and forbearing toilers, were not forgotten in the festivities of the hour and each received some handsome present.

   The presentation of those little tokens of esteem was the occasion of some very neat speeches, in which mutual expressions of kindly feeling found vent. Hand-shakings were indulged in to an astonishing degree, and an hour later nearly all the members were speeding homeward to refit from their labors.

   Notwithstanding the bustle and hurry attendant upon the closing of the session, most of the leaders found time to express their views of the work accomplished.

   Lieutenant Governor Saxton's opinion:

   "The record of the legislature that has just drawn to a close is a fair one upon the whole. There has been a great deal of criticism upon the Raines excise measure and nearly everybody will say that it should be changed in one way or another, but its main features are generally approved by the people. Of course, final judgment has not yet been passed upon it. I am of the opinion, however, that such judgment will be favorable, provided it shall be administered fairly and honestly.

   "The Greater New York bill is the other great measure of the session. My opinion upon that question has been expressed frequently. I do not care to talk about a matter that has become an accomplished fact, but I wish to say this: It has become evident within the past few days that the organization did not care a brass farthing about the bill itself. The bill was intended merely as a prologue to the play. The purpose was to lay the foundation upon which to erect supplementary legislation which was to give power and patronage into the hands of the machine. The failure of the scheme is chiefly due to the good sense and patriotic spirit of Governor Morton.

   "Leaving those two measures out of account the legislature has made a very good record, although its achievements have not come up to the expectations of those who realized the high average character and ability of its individual members."

   Leader O'Grady said:

   "We will give to the people of the state the lowest tax rate that they have enjoyed for years, so low, indeed, that when we deduct the amount to be raised for the care of the pauper insane assumed by the state during the last few years as an extra charge, it will be seen that the appropriation made for the support of the general government have been made with the most rigid economy consistent with the proper efficiency of the public service in the several departments of the state. The enactment of the liquor tax law will no doubt be conceded as the most important work of the present legislature. It is a long step in advance in the matter of reform n the excise system of the state.

   "There awaits executive approval the bill creating the Greater New York. We have complied with the desire of the people, expressed at the polls in 1894.

   "Another evidence of the careful watch of the legislature over the interests of the people was the passage of the anti-coal trust bills, one of which is now a law, while the other is in the hands of the governor,"

   Senator Cantor said:

   "The record has been most infamous. Its whole career has been marked by an exultant and arbitrary effort to successfully disregard the will of the people in various localities and to acquire patronage. From the opening of the session to the close Republican leadership in both houses has repeatedly violated every principle of parliamentary law and trampled upon the rules and violated legislative decency.

   "I have never known a session in which these matters have been so marked as this one. Believing it was so thoroughly entrenched in power by reason of its being a Republican year, the Republicans have snapped their fingers at the people, have ignored their plain mandates and have thrust upon the cities in spite of protests, measures which were repudiated by local authorities. There is not an instance throughout the session in which the refusal of the local authorities to accept a bill has been respected by the majority.

   "By passage of the Raines bill, the Republican party has not only robbed the cities and villages of the moneys to which they were entitled, but has plunged the whole liquor traffic into the worst sort of party politics, by the appointment of political agents and commissioners, named by political bosses and not appointed in pursuance of the civil service law or rules. It will be remembered by the people that in order to force this measure through the legislature it became necessary for leading Republicans of the assembly to violate the criminal law by locking the doors and refusing to permit members chosen by the people to represent them to perform their duties as assemblymen,

   "The Republican majority in its thirst for power has even invaded the hospitals and asylums of the state, and have made them a tender to the political machine by legislating out of office all the managers. They vainly endeavored to capture the Niagara reservation to place the water supply needed for the cities of this state under the control of private corporations;

in fact there is not an inch of state territory or a state institution that could be utilized either for the purpose of private corporations or for party purposes that has escaped the attention of the Republican leaders.

   "Compared with the record of recent Democratic legislatures, this session will be found to have been one of wastefulness and extravagance.

   "In fact this session has been dominated by a prominent law firm closely allied to the Republican leader of the state who sought by exercise of political power to enrich himself.

   "The session was controlled by the Republican boss of the state in the most atrocious and tyrannical way.

   "Bills were not passed upon the deliberate judgment of senators and assemblymen, but upon orders from headquarters, and the people might have been spared the expense of the session if he had simply conferred upon him as a public official the extraordinary power he exercised in private life.

   "There has never been such a boss-ridden legislature."

Stormy Scene in the Assembly.

   ALBANY, April 30.—The last full day session of the assembly was marked by a scene that paralleled if it did not outdo the row over the passage of the excise bill.

   The resolution to keep the subcommittee of the cities committee in power to look out for Greater New York was passed—yeas, 80; nays, 56—but before it did so there was enacted one of the wildest scenes ever witnessed in the chamber.

   The two leaders, O'Grady and Stanchfield, stood in the center aisle yelling themselves hoarse in defying each other; the men of both parties were down in a mass in the well, gesticulating, calling names, yelling for recognition by the speaker and defying each other; the speaker's gavel kept up a tatto and the speaker himself, hoarse with the attempt to keep order, was trying to get the sergeant-at-arms to stop the chaos.

   Mr. Kempner was finally called before the bar of the house and charged with contempt, but was later excused and the vote was taken on the measure.

CAPTURE OF THE COMPETITOR.

Filibustering  Schooner With Many Americans on Board.

   KEY WEST, April 30.—The schooner Competitor, Captain Laborde, which left here about two weeks ago with an expedition for Cuba, was captured and towed into Havana.

   Between 25 and 30 persons were captured and brought in by a gunboat, amongst whom was a woman and a child and 16 Americans. These were all in irons and were conveyed ashore in small boats and confined in Morro castle.

   When the Mascotte was leaving the harbor, the Competitor was being towed in by the gunboat. Those captured will be court-martialed and shot. The schooner carried a large lot of arms and ammunition.

   It is believed that the whole of the party was not captured, but that the schooner was discovered by a warship when about to land men and that an engagement ensued before the vessel was captured and some of the party escaped ashore.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

What Everybody Ought to Know.

   The frequent loss of life, accidents and destructive fires that are occasioned by the crossing or entangling of electric wires show that every person ought to know the simple means whereby to escape such dangers and losses. In one of the latest tragic incidents of this kind the telephone wire which passed over the roof of a man's house became crossed with a trolley wire and began to emit sparks. The owner of the house feared a fire would break out and burn his home. He ran quickly to the roof, and without thinking of the danger seized hold of the wires. Of course he received into his body the whole force of the trolley current. He was held fast in it by a power that he could not extricate himself from. His son ran to his assistance, but the son, too, was heedless of the danger, and while not killed was horribly shocked and burned. The father was stone dead when released from the grip of the current.

   The right way for the man would have been to put on rubber shoes and gloves before going to the roof. The gloves would have insulated his hands, the shoes would have protected him from the current leaping down into the tin roof or any metal with which his feet might come in contact. Then with a pair of strong pinchers he could have cut the wires at his leisure.

   Next, if the son had put on rubber shoes and gloves also he could have protected himself from the current and saved his father, even though the father had neglected to insulate himself. With the pinchers held in his rubber gloved hands the young man could have cut the wires and his father would then have dropped to the roof free from the deadly current.

   There is a bit of wire known as a "shunt" in use among electricians. It is a short wire of a yard or more in length, thoroughly coated with gutta percha. It has an iron hook at each end.

   If the son had had such an instrument, he could have hooked one end of it upon the crossing wire at one side of his father, then carried it across his father's back and hooked the other end on to the telephone wire at the old man's other side [?]. This would have drawn the current away from the father's body and sent it through the shunt, and the man would have been released.

   People over whose house electric wires pass ought in all cases to have a set of rubber gloves and shoes, a pair of pinchers to cut the crossing wires and the short piece of insulated wire called the shunt handy in the house. They should also keep clearly in mind the danger of fooling with electricity.

IN RECEIVER'S HANDS.

The Official Organ of the Patrons of Husbandry.

   MALONE, N. Y., April 30.—E. N. W. Robbins has been appointed temporary receiver of the Farmers' Advocate, a weekly paper printed in Malone and the official organ of the Patrons of Husbandry of the U. S. Mr. Robbins owned the plant and printed the paper under contract. The stock was owned by farmers throughout the country, who will probably lose all they have put into it. Mr. Robbins will continue the publication, but as an independent paper.

Cortland Opera House on Groton Avenue was located next to the Cortland House.

"Tar and Tartar" To-night.

   The comic opera "Tar and Tartar" will be sung at the Opera House to-night.

The same company was in Binghamton yesterday and the Republican of this morning says:

   "Tar and Tartar" was sung at stone opera house yesterday afternoon at a matinee and evening performance. As a comic opera it possesses considerable merit. The score by Adam Itzel contains some exceedingly pleasing numbers, the libretto by H. B. Smith is bright and it is elegantly staged.

   The plot is laid in the Orient. This affords an opportunity for picturesque of effects in scenes and costuming. The production is termed a comic opera but in general arrangement it borders so near the field of extravaganza that it is difficult at times to draw the line and tell where the one begins and the other ends. The music is of a very light order and the lines are humorous. There are marches and dances and there is to the entire opera a pleasing air of frivolity.

   The fun of the piece depends not a little upon the work of Fred Frear who has the part of Muley Hassan, the shipwrecked sailor. He turns Sultan and his exploits in the land of bloomers are amusing.

   Mr. Waldo acted with great spirit as Cardaman, the Arab Chief, and looked the part perfectly. In the second act he interpolated the Bedouin "Love Song."

Miss Salinger, the Farina, was beard to advantage in the second act, in  Streletzki's "Love Sorrow." Miss Mirella was a lively Taffeta, and Miss Hattie Arnold enacted the character of the Tartar wife and the dignified rendering of her "Aria" in the second act was admirable. Ben Lodge as the court physician, and Montjoy Walker as Khartoom, were full of fun. The ensemble at the close of the second act was encored. The "All Nation's Transcriptions" in the middle of the third act was highly effective.

A Narrow Escape.

   Mr. L. E. Burnham, the photographer, had just returned from McGrawville yesterday afternoon and was taking his camera from the carriage in front of his place on Clinton-ave., when the horse became frightened at an electric car and ran away. Mr. Burnham was at the time standing between the wheels and the wagon box. As the horse started Mr. Burnham was crowded to the rear axle in which position he remained until after the horse had turned completely around and had started toward Church-st. on a dead run when Mr. Burnham by a great effort jumped out over the wheel and saved himself from probable serious injury. Beyond a bad shaking up he was not injured. The horse ran down Church-st. and when opposite the residence of Theodore Stevenson the wagon struck an electric light pole and was almost completely demolished. The horse went to Port Watson-st. and from there started toward South Cortland and was captured about three miles west of here uninjured.

BREVITIES.

   —The teachers' institute at Homer begins next Monday.

   —The Little York Ice Co. will to-morrow begin delivering ice to season customers.

   —The Alpha C. L. S C. will meet with Mrs. G. H. Squires, 7 Homer-ave.,

Monday evening, May 4, at 7:30 o'clock.

   —The "Tar and Tartar" company arrived in town at 10 o'clock this morning and are registered at the Cortland House.

   —About thirty went on the C. A. A. club run to Little York last night. They found the roads rather dusty, but enjoyed the run nevertheless.

   —The board of education of Union Free school Dist. No. 1 at a meeting

Monday night re-elected the present corps of teachers in the village for the coming year.

   —Additional applications for liquor tax receipts which have been filed with

County Treasurer Foster since the list reported Tuesday are noted in the Homer letter to-day.

   —New advertisements to-day are—Bingham Bros. & Miller, a true word needs no oath, page 4; F. E. Brogden, ice cream soda, page 7; I. Whiteson, clothing, page 5.

   —A meeting of the alumni of the Central school will be held in the school building to-morrow night at 7:30 o'clock sharp. All members are urgently requested to be present.

   —The Normal baseball team will meet the Truxton team on the fair grounds Saturday. A good game is looked for. On Saturday, May 9, the team goes to Ithaca to play the Ithaca High school team.

   —The fifteenth annual report of the state board of health has just been issued in two volumes. Cortland is represented in the report by a map of the sewer system and by an elaborate report by Engineer Landreth.