WANTS MCKINLEY TIN OR TARIFF

Cortland Evening Standard,Tuesday, June 30, 1896.

WANTS M'KINLEY TIN.

THOUGHTS OF A WORKINGMAN DURING IDLE HOURS.

Lesson of the Empty Dinner Pail Laid Upon the Kitchen Shelf— "Cheap" Goods Cannot Be Bought by "Cheaper" Labor. Why the Masses Are For McKinley.

   In public discussions as to the fitness of the several aspirants for the Republican nomination to the presidency it seems to me that a very few important essentials are entirely overlooked. Newspaper writers who do not appreciate or who are not in touch with the sentiment of the masses of the people fail to reach a true understanding of their desires. Moreover, they overlook all future possibilities, as a rule. There are very few newspaper writers who look far into the future or who really think. They are content with the business of the day, with the events of the day, caring little for the morrow or taking heed what a day may bring forth.

   But there is more real earnestness in the minds and considerations of the masses of the people than we would be led to imagine, judging by the tenor and tone of our daily press. And the events of the past few years have developed this earnestness of thought. Men have been brought face to face with the affairs of the morrow. They have been compelled to take heed what a day may bring forth. "A condition, not a theory, has confronted them.''

   Dwell for a moment upon the position of a man who, year in and year out, has been able to sell his labor for good wages. He has lived well; he has given his family far better education than he was himself enabled to secure; he is procuring a home for them; he is giving them comforts and little luxuries, the ability to do which cheers him at his work and adds zest to his homecoming. Let such a man, through no fault of his own, be brought face to face with the fact that on the morrow there will be no demand for his labor, that he cannot sell his finished product—the strength of his arm and the mechanical skill of his brain—in the great markets of the United States.

   It has taken many men a long time to realize fully the true depth of what this means: At work day after day, wages earned week after week, year in and year out. "But tomorrow I cannot sell my labor. My boss has no use for it. What does it mean?" Imagine a steady, hard working man suddenly confronted with such a condition. Imagine him, if you can, going home to his wife, to his children, telling them that he is an idler, that he cannot earn for them their next day's bread and meat. There is no demand for his strength or skill. Nobody needs him. He feels his arm, his muscle. It is good and strong as ever. The paralysis is not there. But the country is paralyzed—paralyzed with the cheap labor products of foreign mills, sent here from foreign countries, admitted into our markets by the Democratic party that promised him higher wages, more work, cheaper goods and a period of prosperity and revelry such as he had never dreamed of.

   And where are his higher wages? He has no work. Where is that period of prosperity and revelry? Alas, he has the time to enjoy it, his time is all his own! But he sees no prosperity, no revelry. Even happiness, the true happiness of industry, has fled from his home. And the "cheaper" goods, the product of "cheap" foreign labor that has supplanted his own labor, that has made him an idler, how can he buy these "cheaper" goods when he lacks the money to buy such food as he had been accustomed to provide for his family and which they must now do without?

   Of what use to him are these "cheap" goods? They have "cheapened" his labor and stand far more costly to him today because of his inability to earn the money that will buy for him the veriest trash that was ever made in a foreign factory or in a European prison. Such are the "cheap" goods that he was promised. They are offered to him, it is true. But he has not got them, because they have made his labor still "cheaper," so "cheap" that there is no demand for it at any price.

   Has not this man been thinking? Has he not been talking with his fellow workers in their hours of compulsory idleness of the reason for this "change?" Don't they know that they have run their heads up against a "condition?" How long does it take these hardheaded thinkers to fathom out the facts, to reach bedrock, to get down to the root of their evil? They know that every case of foreign goods sold here represents, say, $50 to foreign labor and that it represents $100 taken away from American labor. It doesn't take long to think that out.

   And the empty dinner pail still stands upon the kitchen shelf, that dinner pail which was such a "tax" to them in 1892. There is time now to polish it up and smooth out the kinks that it incurred through daily use. Battered in the honest service of honest soil! Rusting in idleness! Oh, for the chance to buy another McKinley "taxed" dinner pail! Oh, for the chance to brand the Democratic free trade lie with the infamy it deserves!

   The chance is coming; the opportunity will soon be here. Hold on bravely for a few months longer, you honest American wage earners, and you shall have the chance, you shall have the opportunity to vote to fill those dinner pails to the full again and to keep them filled even though the Democratic liar tells you they are "taxed." There is no "tax" so heavy as the "tax" of idleness.

   McKinley protection gave you your dinner pails and filled them for you.

Democratic damnation has emptied them. And this is the reason why the masses of the people—the millions—demand the nomination of William McKinley for president of the United States.

   A WORKINGMAN.

OFF FOR GRAY GABLES.

Special Mail Bag to and From the White House Each Day.

   WASHINGTON, June 30.—President Cleveland left Washington at an early hour this morning to spend the summer with his family at Gray Gables. With him went Private Secretary Thurber.

   At Jersey City the president and Mr. Thurber will board the yacht Oneida and will proceed in it to Grey Cables, where they are due to arrive Wednesday morning.

   During the president's absence from Washington official business will be conducted in the same manner as if he were in the White House. Official communications will be received and entered on the records there and a special mail bag will go every day to Buzzards Bay. All official news will be given out as usual from the White House.

More Arms For Cubans.

   GALVESTON, June 30.—Mr. Perres, the local Cuban representative, has received the following self-explanatory telegram signed by J. D. Peyo, Cuban agent at Key West, Fla.: "Richard [Trejuilio], with 18 men, 400 Winchesters, 50,000 cartridges, medicines and explosives, has landed in Cuba from Florida."

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

Cornell's Great Victories.

   The Troy Times, of which Mr. Charles S. Francis—son of Hon. John M. Francis, and a Cornell graduate himself—is now the manager, is jubilant over Cornell's great victories on the Hudson, as it has a right to be. It says:

   In one week Cornell university has added to its unparalleled record in aquatics two great victories. Its freshman crew has defeated the freshman crews of Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, and its varsity crew has led the varsity crews of those institutions across the finishing line in a four-mile race. More than that, it has broken the four-mile record made by Yale at New London June 20, 1888. For eight years 20:10 has stood as the best time for this distance; now 19:29 takes first place. By one effort Cornell has reduced the record forty-one seconds. Allowing three and one-half seconds to a boat length (sixty feet) this shows a lead of nearly twelve lengths, or about one-eighth of a mile. That is to say, if Yale had been in the race yesterday and had made only its record time, Cornell would have crossed the finish line twelve lengths, or not far from one-eighth of a mile in the lead.

   The victory is all the more noteworthy from the fact that the Yale crew of 1888 was probably the best the university ever has sent out, not counting this year, in which the crew has not yet proved its mettle. Cornell's varsity crew now holds the record for eights both for three miles and four miles. The three-mile record of 14:27 1/2 was made at New London June 25, 1891.

   The friends of Cornell have every reason for pride in its boating record. For twelve consecutive years it was not defeated, and in that time it made several world's records. During that time it was coached exclusively by Charles E. Courtney and rowed the distinctive Courtney stroke. Last year its two varsity crews failed to be first at the finish. An attempt was made to produce a freshman crew and two varsity crews. One of the latter was sent to Henley and the other was entered in the home event. It was attempting too much, for the available material in any university is not sufficient for the making of two winning crews. Both did their best but were defeated. The defeat of one was due largely to the effects of an enervating climate, against which Cornell was compelled to fight for five weeks on the banks of the malarial Thames. The other crew was left in this country without the benefit of Courtney's coaching, and a style of rowing totally unfitted for a four-mile race was adopted. The result under any circumstances could not have been otherwise than disastrous. This year effort was concentrated, and a glorious triumph has resulted.

   The events of last week prove that Cornell is without a peer in aquatics. It leads them all, and on its merits. It has met and defeated the best crews in the United States except Yale, and has put far in the shade the best showing of the representatives of that institution. Cornell and Courtney form a combination that is invincible.

Railroad Street, Cortland, looking east from Main Street.

TO PAVE WITH BRICK.

The heavy Tracking on Railroad-st. Decided the Matter.

   The board of trustees of Cortland held a meeting last night and decided the matter of paving Railroad-st. A representative of asphalt was present and pressed the claims of his material, but the trustees decided upon brick. There is no question though but that asphalt stock rose decidedly during the course of the discussion, and it is altogether probable if Railroad-st. had been a residence street pure and simple and not one of the heaviest tracking streets in town they would have decided for asphalt. They believed, however, that brick would stand the heavy wear better than asphalt.

   There are several other reasons for the decision. Brick will cost $5,000 less than asphalt for the street in question. Asphalt will require more expense for keeping the street clean than brick. The guaranty on the part of the asphalt people calls for the fact that the village will keep the streets thoroughly swept and clean. There would be considerable expense in this. Though brick should be kept clean it will not require the constant sweeping needed by asphalt.

   The brick people will guarantee their pavement for five years. One objection urged against brick is that some of the brick will of necessity be softer than others and they cannot be picked out by inspection but only by usage. The brick people say they can always tell those by the second year and if any brick become softened they will be removed and hard ones put in at the expense of the contractor. In less than five years of the guaranty all the soft brick—if any creep in—will have been removed and then the pavement will be good for twenty years.

   Mr. Landreth was appointed village engineer to make grades and inspect the work for the village.

   Sealed bids for the work may be left with the village clerk up to 7:30 P. M. on Monday, July 30.

   In addition to the decision of the matter of pavement the trustees appointed C. H. Benson and E. N. Sherwood special and extra policemen for July 4, and ordered three new hydrants put in—two on Railroad-st. [Central Avenue] and one at the corner of Greenbush and Port Watson-sts.

MAGNIFICENT FIREWORKS.

To be Sent Up From Court-st. Saturday Evening.

   Through an oversight on the part of the committee who prepared the copy for the small handbills regarding the attractions upon July 4 all mention of the fireworks Saturday evening was omitted. This is indeed a great omission since extensive preparations have been made for making these about the best fireworks ever exhibited in Cortland. A large number of fine set pieces have been procured and the display will be an excellent one. The fireworks will be set off on West Court-st.

   The fusiliers will be well worth coming some distance to see. The committees have arranged for a grand exhibition. More details will be given later.

   The Wesson-Nivison company have arranged to mount seventy-five men on Loyal wheels to ride in the bicycle parade. They will all be dressed alike.

Another Boat on Cayuga.

   Attention is called to an advertisement in another column of the Cayuga Lake Transportation Co., which has just added the steamer Ithaca to its already efficient service. Another pleasant feature of the matter is that season tickets good upon both boats and between all places on the lake can now be purchased for $3.