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| Walter Wellman, journalist and explorer. |
Cortland
Evening Standard, Tuesday, May 19, 1896.
THE NATIONAL
SENATE.
Prospects of Reform In Its Election.
BY
DIRECT VOTE OF THE PEOPLE.
Senator Palmer's Story—Prospects of
Adjournment of Congress—President Cleveland Wants It "Off His
Hands"—A Slander on Gomes.
WASHINGTON,
May 19.—[Special.]—Before the session comes to an end Senator Mitchell of
Oregon, chairman of the committee on privileges and elections, hopes to secure a vote on the
proposed constitutional amendment providing for election of United States
senators by direct vote of the people. This reform has been gaining strength in
the senate year after year and is likely to pass—if not at this session, then
at the next. The haste for adjournment may prevent a test vote at this time. That
this change in our constitution will be effected within a few years many of the
ablest men in public life believe. In conversation on this score a few days ago
Vice President Stevenson said he felt sure congress would ere long submit the
question to the states, and he was equally sure that the necessary number of
states, or two-thirds, would indorse it.
Power of
Small States.
The vice
president, while not submitting to an interview, thought it also possible the
people would, ere many years have passed, insist upon electing their president
by direct vote of the people too. This is not regarded as being so desirable a
change as that in the manner of choosing senators. One of the fundamental ideas
of the framers of our government was to give the states equal power in the
senate and an approximation to equal power in the electoral college. At that
time no one was able to foresee that we were to have states with 7,000,000 of
population and other states with less than 60,000 population. Probably such a
thing was not dreamed of by the wise men who framed our constitution, but it
has come to pass. Nevada, for instance, with less than 60,000 population, has
equal voice with Now York in the senate and one-twelfth New York's strength in
the electoral college, though its population is only about one
one-hundredth-and twenty-fifth part that of New York's. A proposition to elect
presidents by plurality vote of all the people would doubtless be resisted by
all the smaller states, for it would deprive them of much of the political importance
which they now enjoy. The smaller states, like Rhode Island, Nevada, Delaware,
Idaho, Utah, Montana and others, are numerous enough to defeat the adoption of
any such constitutional amendment should it be proposed.
Senator
Palmer's Story.
Senator
Palmer of Illinois is the story teller of the upper branch of congress. The
aged senator, who is now rounding out his half century of public service,
rarely makes a speech without telling at least one story. In his address on the
financial question a few days ago he combated the idea that this is the first
time we have had low prices for farm products in this country. He admitted
prices were lower than they should be, but asked the senate to pardon him while
he related a personal experience.
"Many
years ago," said the white haired veteran, "while, as a young man, I
was practicing law at Springfield, in my state, a man owed me a bill of $34 for
legal services rendered. Times were hard and money scarce, and he asked me if he
might not pay the debt in corn, which was then selling at 10 cents a bushel. I
told him he might. He asked me where he should put the corn, for he wished to
deliver it that day, and I pointed to a little crib in the back part of my lot
and told him to put it in there. Then I went away to court. On my return home
in the evening my wife told me to go out and see what a nice lot of corn we had
in our crib. I went out, but I could not find the crib. It was not only full of
corn, but had been completely buried in corn until it was out of sight, and
till that moment I had not realized how much corn you can buy with $34 when the
price is only 10 cents a bushel."
Prospects
of Adjournment.
Though
next Monday is the day which was set in the house resolution for the
adjournment of congress till next fall, it is clear the adjournment will not
take place on that day. The senate is dragging along, and no one is able to say
just how many more days it will want to sit, for some disquieting rumors have
been in circulation. It is known that the silver Republicans from the
far west and the Populistic senators would like to keep congress here till after
the St. Louis convention shall have met and made its platform. These senators want
a chance to discuss that platform. In other words, they fear the currency plank
to be adopted at St. Louis is not going to be satisfactory to them, and they
wish a chance to debate it before the country, to raise a disturbance, and
perhaps promote the split which the more extreme of them threaten to make in
the Republican ranks.
One idea
they have is that such a debate will exert great influence upon the Democratic convention
to meet at Chicago three weeks later, where the silver men will make their last
rally. It is not as yet probable that this scheme to delay adjournment will
succeed, because it is understood the leading men of the two old parties in the
senate are agreed that the last day of the session shall be not later than two
weeks hence. But surprises may be in store for them. In a body like the senate,
which runs along practically without rules and in which there is no power to
limit debate, almost anything is possible.
President
Cleveland is exceedingly anxious for an early adjournment. He wants to get
"congress off his hands" as soon as possible. The general expectation
in well informed circles is that the president intends taking some more radical
stop concerning the Cuban question, but that he first wants to get congress out
of the way.
A cruel
story to the effect that General Maximo Gomez, the general in chief of the
Cuban armies, had turned traitor and sold himself out to Spain was put in
circulation a short time ago. Of course it was false. The story [fake news?]
proves on investigation to have been sent out from this city by a newspaper
correspondent who obtained his alleged information at the Spanish legation in
this city. Senor Dupuy de Lome, tho Spanish minister here, has shown himself to
be an adept in working
the American press, though so far as is known only one correspondent was
imposed upon by his transparent slander upon the good name of the patriot Gomez,
who at last accounts was bravely fighting against the invaders.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
The Competitor Case.
The plain facts in the beginning of this case
were as follows: A Spanish gunboat's captain saw men trying to land on the
Cuban shore from the American schooner Competitor. The gunboat fired on the
schooner, killing two men. Two others were attempting to reach the shore in a
small boat. These were captured, as were three other men on board the
Competitor. Upon the schooner were found documents indicating that the vessel
was on a filibustering expedition. There were also found 38,000 cartridges,
some cases of rifles, with packages of dynamite. Many men who were on the
Competitor sprang into the water and swam ashore. Among the five men captured
were two American citizens. All were tried by court martial and sentenced to be
shot. The Americans were named Charles Barnett and William Leavitt.
The moment the news was received at the
state department President Cleveland entered a vigorous protest against the
execution of the sentence. Spain yielded to the protest and agreed not to execute
the Americans.
The main question is whether Spain had any
right to sentence the men to death. If the sentence had been executed, whether
Spain had any right to kill them or not, there would have been war between her
and the United States in less than a week. That much is beyond doubt. But
careful investigation into the treaties between the United States and Spain,
made respectively in 1795 and 1877, shows that under these treaties even
American filibusters have the right to be tried by civil authorities.
The treaty of 1877, as interpreted by Caleb
Cushing and allowed by Spain, declares that American citizens arrested in
Spanish possessions for any crime or for treason against the Spanish government
must be tried by civil courts unless they are actually captured with arms in
their hands to fight against the government. Even then they shall have the
right to choose witnesses, to plead their cause before the military tribunal,
as well as to be furnished with a copy of the accusation against them and be
brought face to face with the witnesses against them. The two Americans had no
arms in their hands when they were taken. They were merely on board a vessel
that was endeavoring to land Cuban revolutionists.
NEWS FROM THE BERMUDA.
TEN
BOATS WERE LEFT OFF THE COAST OF CUBA.
The
Steamer Had to Flee From Two Spanish Gunboats—Spanish Cruiser Now Lying in Wait
for Her.
NEW YORK, May 19.—A dispatch to The Sun from
New Orleans says: The steamer Breakwater arrived here to-day from Puerto
Cortez, at which port she was anchored immediately next to the filibustering steamer
Bermuda. The officers of the Breakwater talked a t length with those of the
Bermuda and they bring home a very different story from any yet heard about the
landing of the last filibustering expedition.
The officers of the Bermuda deny, at least
in part, the story from Puerto Cortez by the Spanish consul there. Some of the
filibusters, it is true, landed on the Central American coasts, but half the
party left the Bermuda when she was off the coast of Cuba, and what their fate
was cannot be determined.
The Bermuda made a successful trip to Cuba
and reached the northern coast of that island near Cardenas on a dark night
suitable for landing the expedition. Being unable to put in nearer, ten boats
were got ready for the men to land in, six of the boats had been manned with
twelve men each and as much ammunition as they could safely carry, when two
lights showed the approach of as many Spanish cruisers. They came forward so
rapidly that the Bermuda found it necessary to take to flight at once and all
the ten boats were left, the six of them filled with men and ammunition making
for the shore. The Bermuda had a narrow escape of it, the Spanish cruiser
firing at her, but her superior speed enabled her to escape.
The men worked with energy to get out of
reach of the enemy. What was the fate of these seventy-two men in the boats,
the officers of the Bermuda could not say, but they take a rather gloomy view
and fear five boats were sunk by the cruisers or the men captured. The night
was dark and it is considered somewhat unfavorable that the distance from there
to the shore was such that the men could not row fast enough to escape the
swift cruisers pursuing them. The
Bermuda heard some guns fired by the cruisers and not at their own vessel and
for that reason fear that the filibusters were lost.
After the steamer herself escaped she made
for the Central American coast, and on that coast near Truxillo put off the
rest of the expedition seventy-five in number and then made for Puerto Cortez.
Outside the harbor of Puerto Cortez a Spanish cruiser is lying at anchor for
the Bermuda to come out and officers of the Breakwater were of the opinion that
the cruiser would blow the filibuster to pieces the moment she put to sea. The
Bermuda claims to be loading at Puerto Cortez with bananas for New York.
Transfer
of Insane Patients.
ALBANY, May 19.—The state commission in
lunacy will endeavor during this week to relieve, to a great extent, the Long
Island and Manhattan state hospitals, which are overcrowded with patients.
Forty patients in the Willard hospital, who are residents of the western part
of the state, were transferred to the Buffalo hospital, and on Saturday 155
inmates of the state hospital at Binghamton will be transferred to the Willard
hospital. This will make 200 vacancies at the Binghamton hospital, which will
be filled as soon as possible by some of the patients in the Long Island and
Manhattan hospitals, which have no proper accommodations.
 |
| (New) Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. |
Contract
for Niagara's New Bridge.
HARRISBUBG, May 19.—The Pennsylvania Steel
company has closed a contract with the Niagara Falls Suspension and Niagara
Falls International Bridge companies for the erection of a steel arched bridge
to supplant the present structure. The bridge was built in 1855. The arch of
the new bridge is to measure 550 feet, and the center will be 260 feet above
water level. It will cost about $500,000 and must be completed within one year.
BLACK
DIAMOND'S RECORD.
New York
to Buffalo, 448 Miles in 9 Hours, 8 Minutes Running Time.
BUFFALO, May 19.—The Lehigh Valley's new
limited train, the "Black Diamond Express," which left Jersey City at
12:14 yesterday afternoon, rolled into the Buffalo depot at 10 o'clock last
night, having made the distance 448 miles in nine hours and eight minutes,
actual time, thirty-eight minutes being deducted for stops. The train will run
on a regular ten hour schedule. The steep Allegheny mountains were climbed at a
sixty mile an hour clip, while on the level as high as seventy miles an hour
was made, Laceyville to Sayre, a distance of fifty-six miles, was covered in
forty-nine minutes.
The Lehigh officials were elated over the
success of the initial trip and declared that they will run the "Black
Diamond" against the best time for the distance.
THE VILLAGE TRUSTEES.
A
PETITION FOR PAVING RAILROAD STREET IS FILED.
S. N.
Gooding Appointed Policeman. Engineer Landreth's Report as to Center of
Groton-ave. Bills Audited.
There was a full attendance at the meeting
of the village board of trustees last night and some important subjects were
brought to their attention. Engineer W. B. Landreth, who was asked at the last
meeting to locate the center of Groton-ave., submitted his report which said
data for getting the exact center of the street were very meager, but that from
the best possible information found in old deeds and from careful measurements
it was either 34 or 35 feet north of the wall built by J. M. Samson.
The following bills were audited:
Street commission, pay roll, $270.30
Maxson & Starin, coal, $15.78
Sager& Jennings, supplies, $24.43
L. R. Lewis, labor, $5.42
W. C. Little & Co., copies of paving
law, $6.50
F. A. Bickford, salary, $25.00
W. B. Landreth, services, $21.00
Police force, $101.50
Orris Hose Co., $25.00
The first petition for paving was read. It
was from property holders on Railroad-st. from Main-st. to the west line of the
D., L. & W. R. R. There are 3,401.8 feet frontage and the petition was
signed by property owners representing 1,988 feet, or 287 feet more that the half
the frontage which is necessary for a petition. The board deferred action on
the matter until the next meeting, June 1, which is a regular meeting.
The board ordered two copies of the new
directory which is being prepared by Samuel Parsons.
It was voted to elect by ballot one
additional policeman. The informal ballot resulted in two votes each for E. N.
Sherwood and S. N. Gooding. A formal ballot was taken with the same result when
the deciding vote was cast by the president in favor of Mr. Gooding, who was
declared elected and who will begin his duties to-night. Melvin S. Wright was
appointed special police for May 21, the day of Washburn's circus and for June
5, the day of Franklin Bros.' circus. On motion, Officer James Smith was
appointed to the night force.
A large number of sidewalks were ordered
repaired and rebuilt.
Trustees Glann and Wallace were appointed a
committee to investigate the subject of uniforms for the police and report at
the next meeting as to the advisability of the village continuing to furnish
the uniforms or any part of them.
The board then adjourned to June 1.
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