WAIT FOR THE STATE CONVENTION

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, July 17, 1896.

WAIT FOR THE STATE CONVENTION.

From the Albany Argus.

   In midsummer, when the weather is hot, people are apt to be cross and irritable, and on the impulse of the moment to say and do things which, at a cooler time, their judgment would not approve.  For any man to sever his relations with the party to which he has been attached for years and transfer his fealty to the party to which he has been long opposed, is a serious step which should be pre-considered with the most careful deliberation, and should never be taken hastily or on sudden impulse. We, therefore, regret to see it announced that, here and there, certain individuals and newspapers hitherto of the Democratic persuasion have allowed their indignation at the proceedings of the Chicago convention to impel them to desert the old Democratic standard and declare their intention to vote for the Republican candidates.

   We appeal especially to our readers in the State of New York. There need be no hurry. The November election is more than three months away, and there is abundant time for reflection, which may bring them to a different and more judicious frame of mind. Let them follow the example of our delegation at Chicago, who, while voting as a unit against the new platform adopted and refusing to vote for any candidates to be placed upon that platform, abstained from bolting, and preserved under the strictest ruling the "regularity" of the present party organization, thus giving it indisputable control over the party emblem which, under the new ballot system, must beyond all hazard be kept out of the hands of any new organization that may aspire to usurp its place in this State.

   The Democratic State committee will soon call the State convention to nominate presidential electors; to nominate candidates for the offices of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals; to elect a new State committee and to transact such other business as may properly come before the convention. The delegates to that convention will have before them the report of the delegation to the National convention; they will be fresh from the people in every county of the State, well-advised of their views, their hopes and their wishes and better prepared than any persons or newspapers now can be, to determine what course should be taken by the New York Democracy. The Argus proposes to wait for that decision and to govern its course in accord with it. We appeal to all Democrats in the State to do the same, and whatever they may have been provoked to say in haste, we cannot doubt that "sober second thought" will ultimately prevail.

   The great duty of the hour is to maintain the State Democratic organization intact. However we may think that representatives of other States have erred, whatever may be our differences of opinion as to the matters involved in the presidential election, we must not forget that a State election of the highest importance is at hand—that we are not only to vote for a President of the United States but also for a Governor and a Lieutenant-Governor, for representatives in Congress and for members of a Legislature which is to choose a United States Senator. Let us not throw away everything important to the State because we have not been able to have Federal politics managed as we desire.

   We proudly call New York the Empire State. In population, in wealth, in enterprise, in diversified industries, in education and intelligence, it is an empire in itself, and the greatest of all the States embraced in the indissoluble Union. The Democracy of New York is a great party in itself, always happy to accord with its bretheren in other States in maintaining the principles upon which the national Democratic party was founded a hundred years ago. The Chicago convention has attempted to incorporate in the time-honored creed of the party new doctrines to which many of our people cannot assent. But this is the hasty and intemperate action resulting from a temporary excitement. The work of the Chicago assemblage may not endure; but true Democracy is for all time.

   The coming State convention should nominate a Democratic electoral ticket, composed of the ablest and most faithful Democrats to be selected in their various districts—men of the highest character for intelligence and integrity, competent to elect a President and Vice-President, and if the State convention is not prepared or cannot agree to designate the Chicago candidates, or any others—then leave it entirely to the Democratic presidential electors of New York to vote for whom they shall judge best when the time arrives. This will be the wisest way to hold the party together in this State, if the State convention cannot agree to endorse the Chicago presidential ticket. Each Congressional district, through its delegates in the convention can, as usual, name the elector whom it prefers, and the two electors at large can be chosen by the majority of the whole convention, without dictating the candidates for whom these electors are to vote.

   Leaving it thus to the electors to vote, if elected, for what candidates they may severally deem best, will be a wholesome departure from the unconstitutional practice under which the presidential electors have become mere automatons, and will restore to the electoral college the functions which it was originally designed to possess.

   "From an enlightened view of all the difficulties that attend the subject," says Chancellor Kent, "the Constitution has not thought it safe or prudent to refer the election of a President directly and immediately to the people; but it has confided the power to a small body of electors, appointed in each State, under the direction of the Legislature; and to close the opportunity as much as possible against negotiation, intrigue and corruption, it has declared that Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall vote, and that the day of election shall be the same in every State. The mode of electing the President appears to be well calculated to secure a discreet choice, and to avoid all those evils which the partisans of monarchy have described, and the experience of other nations and past ages have too clearly shown to be the consequence of popular elections. The Constitution has avoided all objections, by confiding the power of election to a small number of select individuals in each State, chosen only a few days before the election, and solely for that purpose. This would seem to be as wise a provision as the wisdom of man could have devised.

   We venture to make the suggestion because it seems the most practicable means of preserving the Democratic organization in the State intact, while the question of presidential candidate is left open to the latest possible date. But whatever may be the determination of the State convention, it should be sustained by every Democrat in the State. Be of good courage, and remember that "all's well that ends well."

RAVAGES OF THE ARMY WORM.

State Entomologist Suggests Methods For Its Destruction.

   ALBANY, July 14—State Agricultural Commissioner Charles A. Wieting has received numerous letters from various sections of the state complaining of the ravages of the army worm, and asking what measures can be taken to fight the pest. Commissioner Wieting has obtained the following instructions to the farmers of the state from State Entomologist Lintner outlining the best method to destroy the worm:

   The injuries that the army worm is causing and the alarm that they are exciting, is evidenced by the telegrams that are being received at this office asking for help and that the best remedies be wired at once.

   In several of the instances so far, the caterpillars have come out of rye to invade corn fields adjoining. It is probably now too late to confine them to the rye field, as their work there has largely been done and they have taken to other food plants. A deep ditch or furrow along the field with a perpendicular wall on the other side would have caught most of them, and holes made a foot or two deep at fifteen or twenty feet apart would in a short time be filled with them, where they could easily be crushed or killed with kerosene. A broad band of tar also makes a good barrier if renewed as it becomes filled with its captives.

   When marching over a comparatively smooth piece of ground a heavy roller can be used to crush them. When already entered into a cornfield, they may be kept from proceeding farther by ditching as above indicating. A few rows in advance of the progressing army should also be sprayed with Paris green in water or dusted while the dew is on with Paris green or slacked lime.

   These are the most approved remedies, but it is now pretty late for their use. A large part of the injuries have already been done. Many of the caterpillars have matured and have entered the ground for their change to the moth. In from three to four weeks after hatching from the egg they reach their full growth. During the last three or four days they consume more than in all the rest of their lives. The greater proportion are now nearly full grown, but there are still a few which are about one-third grown, and these may feed for nearly three weeks longer.

   It is not quite certain that this is the true army worm, leucania unipunota. Some of its operations indicate that it may prove to be what is known as the "wheat head army worm," leucania albolinea. Caterpillars of the two are so much alike that I cannot determine this point until some of the moths have been reared.

   The "army worm" when abundant is usually attacked by parasite fly which lays a number of its eggs on the forepart of its body near the head. None of these are to be seen on the caterpillars now with us, nor has any other parasite been observed preying upon it.

   The Democratic National convention held in Chicago last week was called to assemble by the Democratic National Committee, a majority of the members of that committee being in favor of the gold standard. A large majority of the delegates regularly elected to that convention by the several states in the Union, were in favor of silver and they controlled the convention, nominated the ticket and adopted the platform. There are some planks in that platform that are distasteful to eastern Democrats. If the gold standard people had been in the majority, doubtless there would have been some planks in the platform that would have been equally distasteful to those who favor silver, but the gold advocates would have insisted that the action of the convention was binding and that the silver people must support the ticket and they would have been right in this contention.

   Are not the advocates of the gold standard in duty bound to support the ticket nominated by the silver men? We think they are. Any other course would disrupt the grand old party and it would be many years before it would again become solidified. The DEMOCRAT has always favored a gold standard but it believes that the majority should rule. No reasonable Democrat can find fault with the candidates. They are both lifelong Democrats and men of high character and exceptionable ability.

Arthur Sewall.

William J. Bryan.

Washington Letter.

(From our Regular Correspondent.]

   WASHINGTON, July 13, 1896.— Hon. William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska, the democratic candidate for President, needs no introduction to the democrats of the United States, although he is only 36 years old—the youngest man ever honored with the Presidential nomination—his two terms in Congress did that thoroughly. He was a member of the House in the fifty-second and fifty-third Congresses and would probably still be a member if the republicans had not gerrymandered the first district of Nebraska, which he so ably represented.

   In each of the Congresses in which he sat he had the honor, although he was one of the youngest members, of making the speech which was most widely circulated. The first of those speeches was delivered March 16th, 1892, and was against the McKinley tariff law. That speech made his fame and may be considered as having been one of the direct causes of his having been nominated for President by the Chicago convention, and was more widely distributed as a campaign document by the Democratic Congressional Campaign committee than any other speech on the subject, and he became in a day one of the most talked about men in Congress. The other speech was made at the extra session of Congress, called to repeal the purchasing clause of the Sherman silver law, and was against repeal. That speech was at the time and is still regarded as one of the ablest arguments ever made in either branch of Congress for the free coinage of silver, and millions of copies have been sent out by the silver men, and it will probably be even more widely circulated during the coming campaign.

   Mr. Bryan is thoroughly democratic in his manner and ways of living, is easily approached, affable, but never "gaggy." He is a member of the Presbyterian church and when in Washington he always attended with his wife, the New York Ave. Presbyterian church. His wife is, like himself, a lawyer, but she didn't study law with the intention of practicing, but merely took the diploma in order to make herself more companionable to her husband. Mr. Bryan is poor and he never makes any attempt to appear otherwise. When in Washington, he and his family—wife and three children—occupied apartments in the home of a resident of the unfashionable section in the immediate vicinity of  the Capitol building, and with the exception of an occasional lecture before the Y. M. C. A., in which he takes a deep interest, his time is devoted to his Congressional duties and to study.

   After he made his first speech and became a congressional lion, Washington society tried to entice him and Mrs. Bryan within its silken coil, but it was time wasted. He felt that he had something more important to do than to exhibit himself at fashionable social entertainments.

   Mr. Bryan was thus described a few months ago when no one had any idea that he would be the candidate, this year at any rate: "Bryan is a collegiate scholar, and has stored away in his capacious cranium much of the golden grain of wisdom and little of the husks, and it is all there for use, either as argument or embellishment. Some men are so ugly and so ungainly that it is a positive disadvantage to them as public speakers. Some men are so handsome and graceful that they are on good terms with the audience before they open their lips. Of the latter class Bryan is a shining example. His appearance is a passport to the affections of his fellow men."

   Hon. Arthur Sewall of Maine, who has been nominated for Vice President, gives the ticket a geographical balance which will unquestionably add strength to it. He has had wide experience in politics, having been prominently identified as a member of the National Committee with the management of every democratic national campaign of recent years. Mr. Sewall is a successful shipbuilder and business man.

   It is generally believed in Washington that the populist and silver conventions which are to meet at St. Louis next week will endorse Bryan and Sewall and the democratic platform.

   There is much talk in Washington of the probability of President Cleveland and the members of his cabinet joining with the sound money democrats in a movement for the nomination of an independent democratic ticket on a gold platform, but it is based more upon conjecture than upon fact. It is, of course, certain that a considerable number of men who have been democratic leaders will refuse to support Bryan and Sewall and the Chicago platform—that was indicated by the refusal of the most of the gold men to take any further part in the convention after they were defeated on the platform. But will they carry any considerable number of democratic voters with them? That is the important question.

   Senator Call of Florida, now in Washington, was asked if he thought the gold democrats would bolt. He replied: "Many of the leaders will but the masses will not. The trouble is that the leaders are not in touch with the masses and do not know how they feel. The banks and the big newspapers will oppose Bryan and Sewall but that will help elect them."

Squedunk Squibs.

   Little Eddie Kelly has been visiting his friend Peter Grump the attorney this week. There will be a big doins at the town hall next Wednesday evening, July 22.

   Mary Marshal will speak that beautiful story called "A Tramp's Daughter," or "Who Stole the Garden Hose." Jim Brandon the tramp, who came in contact with Julius Hilderbrandt's right hand, is rapidly recovering and will soon be too strong to work. Dell Bosworth will shove the screans at the doins at the town hall July 22. Several of the toopers were practicing their capers on the village green last night. Bridget Malone, Mrs. Hilderbrandt's cook, has been busy all week putting decorations on the platform in the town hall for the doins July 22. Bridget was arrested last week for throwing the cook stove at Charlie Sumner, she pled guilty to arson and was granted a divorce.

 

HERE AND THERE.

   "A Tramp's Daughter" one night only, July 22, [playing at the Cortland Opera House].

   The sale of seats for "A Tramp's Daughter' opens today at the Candy Kitchen.

   The Cortlands beat the Oxfords on the fair grounds last Wednesday afternoon by a score of 13 to 2.

   The Deposit [baseball] club beat the Cortlands on the fair grounds Wednesday afternoon by a score of 5 to 3. It was a strong game.

   The ten cent supper of the Ladies' Aid society of the Universalist church Wednesday netted over $13.

   Master Ned Butler, who had a bullet pass through his head on the Fourth, is so far recovered as to be up and around.

   It is proposed by the St. Vitas Dancing club to hold informal parties at the park every second Friday evening for the rest of the summer.

   The Cortland base ball team play the Shamrocks of Syracuse to-morrow and the Marcellus team next Wednesday. Both games are in Cortland.

   The contest for the bicycle at St. Mary's picnic last Saturday netted $320 to the church. The wheel was awarded to Miss Agnes Dowd, she having 720 votes.

   The cycle parade, which was to have taken place last Tuesday evening, was postponed to this evening on account of the muddy condition of the streets.

   The picnic held in the park last Saturday by St. Mary's church was a grand success in every way. Nearly $500 was netted for the benefit of the organ fund.

   The employes of the Wickwire shops will run an excursion to Long Branch on Onondaga lake, Saturday, August 1st. Fare for round trip, $1, children, half price.

   Regular meeting of the W. C. T. U. on Saturday, July 18, at 3 P. M. Devotionals conducted by Mrs. Snyder. Business meeting followed by a short program of interest.

   The four children of Mr. G. F. Beaudry took part in the bicycle carnival at Syracuse last Friday. Leon and Fred attracted much attention by fancy riding on their small tandem.

   The stock of dry goods in the store of Messrs. Case, Ruggles & Bristol was considerably damaged by water in the fire that occurred in the rooms over the store last week. They are selling off these goods at very low prices and intend to close them out as quick at possible. Read their advertisement in another column.