SECRETARY SMITH'S RESIGNATION AND GEORGE A. HULBERT LETTER

Hoke Smith.

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, August 24, 1896.

SECRETARY SMITH'S RESIGNATION.

The Action Causing Much Speculation at Washington.

   WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 —The news that Secretary Hoke Smith had resigned and that his resignation had been accepted by the President created a considerable stir in political circles here, although the probability of Mr. Smith's retirement had been, in a measure, anticipated ever since his paper, the Atlanta Journal, declared that it would support Bryan and Sewall. Mr. Smith still declined to discuss the subject, but it is known that the personal relations between the president and Mr. Smith have in no wise been disturbed.

   Mr. Smith's resignation, his friends say, grew out of his differences with his chief on the question of party policy and his delicate desire not to embarrass the president at such a time. Beyond the idea of his conception of party loyalty in acquiescing in the will of the majority Mr. Smith, during his campaign for the gold standard in Georgia against ex-speaker Crisp, had given a personal pledge that he would, if defeated, support the nominees of the convention.

   As an honorable man, his friends say he felt it his duty to redeem that pledge. He informed the president of his position and intentions and to avoid embarrassment placed his resignation at his disposal.

   It is said that Mr. Cleveland remonstrated. The correspondence on the subject, if published, would no doubt be very interesting, but it is doubtful whether it will ever be given out. It can be stated, however, with great positiveness that the step which Secretary Smith felt himself compelled to take has not in way affected the warm regard the president and Mr. Smith entertain for each other.

   There has been a good deal of gossip about Mr. Smith's successor. It seems altogether unlikely that John M. Reynolds, the assistant secretary, will be promoted. It is regarded as much more probable that a new man will be selected, probably from the Middle West, Indiana, Illinois or Missouri.

   The names of ex-Governor Francis of Missouri, ex-Representative Bynum of Indiana and ex-Representative Ben Cable of Illinois are those around which gossip most persistently clings. All are pronounced gold Democrats.

Political Life.

   To the Editor of the Standard:

   SIR—The following paragraph is taken from the New York Sun.

   Representative Shell of South Carolina has announced to the people of his state that he will not be a candidate for the governorship or accept another nomination for congress. The announcement in itself is not startling, but the reasons assigned for his declaration are unique. What makes his present attitude all the more strange is the fact that he was the originator, or was supposed to be, of the Tillman movement in South Carolina which resulted in the overthrow of Gen. Wade Hampton and the old line Democracy in the Palmetto state. Capt. Shell was elected to the present Congress as a Tillman Democrat, and was re-elected to the Fifty-third congress. He is a plain, straightforward man with a conscience which appears to be somewhat different from that of the average member of congress. He has been mentioned as the probable successor of Gov. Tillman if the latter is successful in defeating Senator Butler for the Senate. After serving through the next congress, Capt. Shell says he proposes to retire permanently from politics. He is disappointed with national politics and politicians. During his brief experience in congress he has made an effort to study men and measures from a purely political standpoint, and the result is not flattering to the lawmakers of the country. He promised the people he represents that he would endeavor to secure for them such legislation as they desired. He says he finds that it is almost impossible for him to redeem the promises he has made because of the peculiar rules which prevail in congress. He is thoroughly disenchanted by his experience in national legislation, and he proposes to return to his plantation and endeavor to keep clear of politics in the future.

   The above extract in part represents political life—so many to please with their personal pet hobbies and schemes and so difficult to please, with obstacles in the way of their gratification and consummation. It is a career of aggravation and annoyance, almost without cessation. This political disease will increase with the rapid expansion and augmented wealth of the country, which will add to the tenacity of its vitality.

   Office-seekers are numerous, but will multiply with the progress made by improvements and population; so that, as the expression goes, the woods will be full of them, and their disappointments and griefs will lead to a terrible howling, attended with financial reverses and an occasional suicide. To gratify and indulge this unholy ambition—inclined to be inbred and nourished in the cradle—nominations are bought and frequently the most unscrupulous means being resorted to to obtain them and then comes the strife for an election, with all of its attendant evils and corruption. Piles of money are now made available to secure the coveted prize and even nominations are known to have been purchased and promised long in advance. The innocent voters look on with the credulity imparted by ignorance of these achievements of leaders, deposit their little white ballots, and quietly retire to their several homes, trades and occupations, and the government moves on serenely and all things are lovely among the rulers and chiefs of the victorious army.

   The fungus of all this parade and turmoil is the politician. He is the fellow who is so interested for the welfare of everybody, and is fearful that his country will degenerate to its ruin unless prevented by his exertions. He nourishes an incessant worriment of mind from an apprehension that his efforts will not be appreciated, and is indisposed to sleep nights, so distant is the office from him—nearly in the grasp of the rival aspirant. He is the curse of the whole political management.

   He adopts politics as a profession, spends his whole time and activity at "the altar of his country," learns all the arts and chicanery of the demagogue, is everything, even to opposites, to all men, extends his hand for a hearty shake everywhere, is dreadful glad to see you and invites you to walk into his parlor, as the spider said to the fly. He is for gold, or silver, or even greenbacks as a circulating medium, and plenty of them if he may only reach them for himself. He is everywhere persistent in good works, and volunteers to make himself useful, requiring leisure, to the neglect of his regular business—if he has any, aside from that of gentleman—or his usual profession (for politicians are mostly lawyers), and feels that he must devote his energies exclusively to this patriotic, if not lucrative, life. He necessarily needs money to carry out his program and have this leisure to enjoy the happy (selfish) society of every person he meets, to talk and laugh heartily with his fellows, and rejoice at their mutual success, and to support his dependent family while so industrious in his country's service and for his neighbor's welfare. If lacking in the purse, he must previously sell himself privately, soul and body, to wealthy interests to supply his exchequer with the required funds.

   His constituents will come in for a share of the spoils before he attains the dizzy heights of fame, pleading for alms in behalf of various public enterprises, and so afford the harassed and embarrassed candidate In his reduced circumstances a plausible excuse for insisting upon a return of the compliment, when inducted into office, from any worthy or worthless project or revised system of plunder. The people must recollect that they are eventually the dear victims who have to suffer the consequences of all of this duplicity and their own verdancy.

   The rules of all legislative bodies have been so adroitly studied and technically constructed as to obstruct rather than promote the enactment of useful measures, and they enable a few experienced members to control nearly all important acts, or large appropriations; and a new or green representative is virtually no more than a mere spectator, and must obey the commands of his superiors in caucus assembled, as organized by the politicians of his party, and must willingly fall into line and meekly conform to their directions, or his political destruction is sealed. Perhaps through their lackeys and toadies in the various local centres, by the secret exercise of their combined influences, they may materially injure if not utterly prostrate his legitimate standing and profitable business at home, with the cold shoulder turned to him on every corner for his adherence to principle and integrity and for his obstinacy in the right, to have it prevail in this wicked, treacherous world. Thus left out he finally succumbs to inevitable fate, and quietly seeks new climes to commence life anew in a more congenial atmosphere.

   O, the fretful and hardening torment of official life! Like the exposure to imminent danger, how tempting and alluring to the pride and emulation of the human race! As they emerge to the surface and float from a disastrous defeat with blasted hopes, others are ever ready to leap into the gay and giddy whirlpool.

   Success is generally, though not invariably, accomplished by an expert acquaintance with human nature, and knowing how to humor it, with a crafty application of hypocrisy and deceit.

   To win, they assert that the candidate must descend to recognizing the whims and notions—be they right or wrong—of weak and ignorant mortality, acquire the good will of the people, and secure by any mode the votes of the multitude, always remembering that every one counts, and that the majority or plurality rule. The actor on the political stage must jump on and ride any hobby that is popular, and sail with the favorite current, it is so easy and graceful. Some, by tact and practice, educate themselves to become very captivating, resulting in a protracted career of honor and renown. Others learn the art to comparative perfection, but after sacrificing all traits of manhood sink down out of sight, never to rise again, a complete failure in public estimation. The earth is covered with wrecks of varied descriptions.

   All of this anxiety and vexation is to gain the admiration and adulation of friends, neighbors and strangers, while temporarily sojourning here below, and to entitle a person by courtesy and usage to enjoy the prefix of "honorable" to his name when puncturing the inscription on his tombstone.

   Man is thus a vain creature—omitting any allusion to the better sex.

   GEORGE A. HULBERT, Marathon, N. Y., Aug. 20, 1896.

William McKinley.

NO CHEAP MONEY—NO CHEAP LABOR.

William McKinley on Those Who Array Labor Against Capital.

   We want, in the United States, neither cheap money nor cheap labor, and we must not forget that nothing is cheap to the American people which comes from abroad when it entails idleness upon our own laborers.

   We are opposed to any policy which decreases the number of employees in the United States even if it does give us cheaper foreign products, and we are opposed to any policy which degrades American manhood that we may have cheaper products made either at home or aboard.

   Having reduced the pay of labor, it is now proposed to reduce the value of the money with which labor is paid.

   This money question strikes me in this homely fashion: If free coinage of silver means a 53 cent dollar or any fraction of the 100 cent dollar then it is not an honest dollar. If free coinage means a 100 cent dollar, equal to a gold dollar, as some of its advocates assert, then it will not be a cheap dollar, but just like those we now have and just as hard to get. It will not help the debtor or make it easier for him to pay his debts. My countrymen, the most un-American of all appeals observable in this campaign is the one which seeks to array labor against capital, employer against employee. It is most unpatriotic and fraught with the greatest peril to all concerned.

   We are all politically equal—equal in privilege and opportunity, dependent upon each other—and the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the other.

   It is as Mr. Lincoln said to a committee from the Workingmen's association of New York in the campaign of 1864. He said: "Property is the fruit of labor. Property is desirable, is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let no man who is homeless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself thus, by example, assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when it is built."—Major McKinley at Canton, O., Aug. 18.

Sound-Money Democratic Caucus.

   All Democrats residing in the county of Cortland, who are opposed to the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, without the consent or assistance of any other nation, and to the Populistic doctrines contained in the platform of the Chicago convention and who also are opposed to the election of the nominees of that convention, upon the platform adopted thereby, and who favor the nomination of other Democratic candidates in accordance with these views, for the offices of president and vice-president of the United States, are hereby notified and requested to meet at a party primary to be held at the office of Irving H. Palmer in the village and county of Cortland on the 29th day of August, 1896, at 2 o'clock P. M., to elect three delegates to the state convention of the Democratic Reform organization known as the "Ship Democracy," to be held in the city of Syracuse, N. Y., on the 31st day of August, 1896; also to perfect said organization in said county by the choice of a county committee and the transaction of such other and further business as may be brought before such primary.

   Dated, Cortland, N. Y., Aug. 24, 1896.

   IRVING H. PALMER, Committee.

MISS TANNER ENTERTAINED.

A Party of Young People at Her Home Saturday Evening.

   Miss K. Louise Tanner very pleasantly entertained twenty-five invited guests at her home, 17 Lincoln-ave. Saturday evening. The party was termed a "Woman's Rights" party and the customs as they may be expected to exist in 1906 when man is in complete submission to woman were exemplified. Very nice refreshments were served.

   Mr. Fred I. Graham was voted by the committee of young ladies as a model type of the new man. He won a very useful prize for sewing on twelve buttons in the most approved form. Mr. A. B. Freeman produced the best trimmed hat, and Mr. Rufus E. Corlew was given a prize for the best recipe for coffee. Mr. Willis H. McGraw also won a prize for cutting the best sleeve pattern. The evening was a very enjoyable one for all present.

Died in the Street.

   An eighteen-year-old horse belonging to M. E. Watrous of 56 Elm-st., which had been afflicted with the heaves and had been especially troubled with that disease for the past week, dropped down upon the crosswalk between the Standard and Squires buildings at about 9 o'clock this morning and within a few minutes yielded up the ghost. The horse was at the time hitched in a team and attached to a lumber wagon partly loaded with plank. In unharnessing the fallen animal and separating it from the wagon Mr. Watrous got his thumb caught and nearly cut off. In the course of an hour the horse was drawn away

MATINEE RACES.

Chamberlain and Weatherwax Won Two Races Each.

   The C. A. A. matinee bicycle races at the driving park Saturday afternoon were pronounced by all to be the best ever seen in Cortland. They were remarkable for the close finishes, and for the exceedingly good time that was made. There was no loafing. Each rider went into the races to win.

   The races were open to Cortland county riders only. The first race was the one-mile open, in which there were eight starters and in which the best time of the day was made. George Chamberlain won in 2:13, Brownell Bulkley second and B. C. Hollister third.

   Leslie H. Tucker rode an exhibition half-mile in 59 3-5 seconds.

   One of the best exhibitions ever seen in Cortland came next on the program. It was the appearance of the famous Stearns sextuplet, which beat the Empire State Express. It was indeed a pretty sight, with six riders clad in yellow, the same color as the wheel. An exhibition mile was ridden in 2:08. The machine is geared to 124, weighs 140 pounds and is so long that the turning of the sharp corners was difficult to make at a very rapid rate.

   The half-mile race was won by Chamberlain in l:06 1/4, Bulkley second and A. K. Weatherwax third.

   The two Beaudry brothers, Fred and Leon, aged 6 and 4 years respectively, rode an exhibition half-mile standing start on their miniature tandem in 2:37.

   A hot race was the one-mile Cortland county championship, which was won by A. K. Weatherwax in 2:19, Chamberlain second.

   Brownell Bulkley rode an exhibition half-mile in 1:03 2-5.

   The exhibition of trick and fancy riding by Masters Harry Hitchcock and Fred Beaudry was loudly applauded. The boys have learned several new manoeuvres since their last public appearance. The two boys on a tandem, with a handicap of 280 yards, won over Harry Henry and Ray Harrington on a tandem, scratch, one-half mile in 1:04 4-5.

   The last race of the day was the two-mile handicap with nine starters.

Weatherwax, 150 yards, won. Chamberlain, scratch second. T. E. Byrnes, 70 yards, third. Time 4:45 1-5.

   The attendance was large and every one was well pleased with the day's races.

BREVITIES.

   —In police court this morning three tramps were discharged and one was sent to jail for five days.

   —Every Democrat should read Mr. Bryan's statements as to his attitude toward the Democratic party, as published in our editorial columns.

   —New advertisements to-day are—A. S. Burgess, still cutting clothing prices, page 8; Case, Ruggles & Bristol, new fall dress goods, page 7; Chas. F. Brown, page 6.

   —The fifth reunion of the Hutchings family will be held at the home of Westley Hutchings on Gee Hill, Sept. 3, 1896. All relatives of the family are cordially invited.

   —The Ladies' Aid society of the East Side Congregational mission will hold their regular monthly tea at the mission rooms, corner of Elm and Pomeroy-sts., Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 o'clock. All are cordially invited.

   —Mrs. Sarah E. Huffman, wife of Albert Huffman, died at her residence, 95 Homer-ave., yesterday afternoon, aged 50 years, 1 month and 25 days. The funeral will be held from the house Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock.