RICHARD HARDING DAVIS ON CUBA

Richard Harding Davis.

Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, February 4, 1897.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

Richard Harding Davis on Cuba.

   Richard Harding Davis, writing to the Boston Globe from Cienfuegos, Cuba, describes the condition of the pacificos who have been collected in the cities and towns by Weyler's guerrillas. In every town visited by Mr. Davis and Frederick Remington it was found that the old men, women and children gathered by Weyler's orders from the fields were in the most deplorable condition. Accustomed to wide fields, the poor people are herded in confined spaces in the midst of filth and with insufficient food. Judging from Mr. Davis' description the situation of the prisoners at Andersonville was better than that of the country people herded together by Weyler to starve in the towns.

   So far from weakening the fighting forces of the enemy, Weyler's order has driven all of the able-bodied men into the patriot ranks, while the cities and towns are obliged to support the unwilling captives who ought to be tilling the fields. Richard Harding Davis is a thoroughly reliable man and his opinion of the dangers that threaten because of Weyler's cruel policy can be taken as well within the facts. The following brief extracts from his long and interesting letter will indicate the situation:

   It is easy to imagine what happened when hundreds of people, in some towns thousands, were herded together on the bare ground with no food, with no drainage or condition of sanitation, with no covering for their heads but palm leaves, with no privacy for the women and young girls, with no thought but as to how they could get food on the morrow…. I saw the survivors of the Johnstown flood when the horror of that disaster was plainly written in their eyes, but destitute as they were of home and food and clothing, they were in better plight than those fever-stricken, starving pacificos, who have sinned in no way, who have given no aid to the rebels, but whose only crime is that they lived in the country instead of the town, and who are to suffer because General Weyler, finding he cannot hold the country as he can the towns, lays it waste, and treats those who lived there with lees consideration than the sultan of Morocco shows to the murderers in his jail at Tangier.

   A planter, who had at one time employed a large number of these people, and who was moving about among them, said that 500 had died in Cardenas since the order to leave the fields had been issued. Another gentleman told me that in the huts at the back of the town there had been twenty-five cases of smallpox in one week, of which seventeen had resulted in death.

   Mr. Davis says of the dangers which threaten in the spring, when the rainy season sets in:

   Whatever may be the international difficulties of this matter now, this is what is likely to happen later, and it should have some weight in helping to decide the question with those whose proper business it is to determine it.

   Thousands of human beings are now herded together around the seaport towns in Cuba who cannot be fed, who have no knowledge of cleanliness or sanitation, who have no doctors to care for them and who cannot care for themselves.

   Many of them are dying of sickness and some of starvation and this is the healthy season.

   In March and April the rains will come and the fever will thrive and spread, and cholera, yellow fever and smallpox will turn Cuba into one huge plague spot, and the farmers' sons whom Spain has sent over here to be soldiers, and who are dying by the dozens before they have learned to pull the comb off a bunch of cartridges, are going to die by the hundreds, and women and children who are innocent of any offense will die too, and there will be a quarantine against Cuba and no vessel can come into her ports or leave them.

   The Globe correspondent says further that President Cleveland has a better knowledge of the facts than any man who has studied the question in the United States. He must have complete knowledge unless our consuls have failed in their duty. Still matters are allowed to drift and our Southern seaports to be exposed to infection from the island where Weyler has defied humanity, justice and all sanitary laws to subdue a brave people who deserve liberty.

DAUNTLESS WENT OUT.

Feared That She Would Not Return.

THREE FRIENDS TO BE SEIZED.

Dauntless Granted Permission to Go Out With an Officer on Board—Collector of Customs Not Satisfied With Affidavits Furnished.

   JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Feb. 4.—The steam tug Dauntless went down to the bar with an officer from the [revenue] cutter Boutwell on board, speaking the Newark after crossing the bar. It was given permission to speak a schooner to the north of the Newark and after doing so headed for one to the south.

   Shrill blasts from the Newark signaled the Dauntless to stop, but it continued toward the schooner at a fast rate of speed.

   Considerable excitement was visible on board the cruiser, but no decisive action was taken, and the Dauntless soon returned.

   The captain of the Newark refused to let the tug go to the south on a wrecking trip even though an officer from the Boutwell was on board. The Dauntless returned to this port and permission was received from Washington to allow it to go on a wrecking trip, taking an officer from the Boutwell along.

   A telegram has been received by the collector of customs from Washington expressing dissatisfaction at the affidavits made by the captain of the Dauntless and Three Friends that the neutrality and navigation laws will not be violated. The Three Friends will be seized and libeled for piracy upon its return to this port.

CUBAN FILIBUSTERS.

Additional Charges Made Against Roloff and Dr. Luis.

   BALTIMORE, Feb. 4.—The United States grand jury found another indictment against Carlos Roloff and Dr. Joseph J. Luis of the Cuban junta. The indictment was not open to inspection, but it was stated by an officer of the court that it was to make the case against Cubans more certain.

   These charges have reference to the same act, but the instrument is drawn more broadly in order to allow more latitude of proof. The Cubans are accused of having fitted out from Baltimore a filibustering expedition against a friendly power, Spain. It is charged that the crime was committed July 9, 1895.

   The indictments heretofore found charge of conspiracy as well as preparing a military expedition against a friendly power.

Proposed Cuban Reforms.

   MADRID, Feb. 4.—The cabinet has finally agreed upon a scheme for Cuban reforms which will be submitted to the queen regent for signature. The text will probably be gazetted Saturday. The council of state will examine the program for reforms after publication. The date upon which the reforms will be carried into effect will depend upon the progress of the military operations in Cuba.

TO HELP THE FARMERS.

A General Increase in Tariffs on Agricultural Products.

   NEW YORK, Feb. 4.—A Washington special to the Herald says: The Republican leaders propose to fulfill their campaign pledges to the farmers of the country by a general increase in the tariff rates on all agricultural products. While the Republican members of  the ways and means committee have not yet formally drafted the agricultural schedule of their new tariff bill, they have practically agreed upon most of the items. With the exception of cattle nearly every farm product in the schedule will be returned to practically the McKinley rates. The duty on cattle which is 20 per cent ad valorem under the present law, and which was $10 per head on cattle and $2 per head on cattle one year old or under in the McKinley act will be somewhat less than under the McKinley act, but will be high enough to keep out most of the Mexican cattle which under the present law are brought into the United States to be fattened in Kansas and neighboring states before being sent to market.

   While the cattle raisers of Texas are to be given only a part of the protection they enjoyed under the McKinley law the growers of barley, hay, hops, bean and other products, with which similar products in Canada come into competition are to have a return to the old McKinley rates on most articles. The hens along the border are also to have a return to the McKinley protection of five cents per dozen on the eggs laid by the hens of Canada.  Butter and cheese makers of New York are also to have the duties on those products increased from four cents per pound to six cents, and the raisers of vegetables, whose principal competition comes from the early vegetables grown in the Bermuda Islands, are to have a substantial return to McKinley protection.

THE NEW LAW.

Solon and Virgil In Trouble Over Election—Pointer for Town Clerks.

   The election law was revised last year by the legislature and some very material changes were made in certain lines. Two towns in this county are in trouble over the coming town meeting and there are other little kinks about the law respecting town meetings which town clerks who are not familiar with the changes will do well to look up.

   The new law provides that party nominations which are required to be filed with a town or village clerk must be filed at least fifteen and not more than twenty days in advance of a regular election. In the town of Solon neither Republicans nor Democrats have yet had their caucuses. The Democratic caucus is called for Friday night, Feb. 5, and the Republican caucus for Saturday night, Feb. 6. Town meeting occurs on Tuesday, Feb. 16. So there is not time enough for either party to file their nominations according to law. Both town committees waked up to that fact yesterday and found themselves in a peck of trouble. They conferred with each other and found no consolation. To-day they came to Cortland to consult with Judge Eggleston and Deputy County Clerk Bushnell.

   Judge Eggleston called attention to the fact that the same difficulty had arisen in Tully, Onondaga county, and that the Syracuse Journal of last night said regarding the matter:

   The law requires that certificates of nominations of candidates for office shall be filed at least fifteen days before election. The recent caucuses in some of the towns were held within the prescribed fifteen days and it has been claimed that on that account the certificates are invalid. However, there is not likely to be any trouble over the matter as no objections have been filed and both parties held caucuses after the prescribed time.

   Judge Eggleston and Mr. Bushnell advised that, under the circumstances the two parties go on and hold their caucuses as arranged and then hold the town meeting on time. They thought that inasmuch as both parties are in the same boat no one in town could file any objections to the election and its legality would probably never be questioned. In case it should be declared invalid there is no officer to be voted for that could not be appointed afterward by the town board. This is not a very important election any way so far as candidates are concerned, for supervisor, town clerk and commissioner of highways hold over till next year. But the main point in favor of holding the town meeting now in the regular way is that the excise [tax] question can be voted upon, and as there is no preliminary step such as filing any legal paper or list of nominations to be taken in this matter the vote upon that question will be perfectly legal in any case, whether or not the vote upon candidates is legal.

   The same difficulty exactly has arisen in Virgil, for neither party in that town has yet held its caucus, but it is understood that the voters of Virgil purpose to get out of the box by filing the nominations with the town clerk as independent nominations. The law provides that independent nominations required to be filed with the town clerk must be filed at least ten and not more than twenty days in advance of the election. More than ten days yet remain before town meeting, so there is time to file the lists of nominations. But just here Virgil has an advantage over Solon in that it is a large town, while Solon is a small one. The law requires that for term officers independent nominations can be made by 100 citizens and voters signing a certificate of nomination, each one of whom must write his name and residence on the certificate and make affidavit to the fact that he is an elector and has truly stated his residence. The town committee of each party could in Virgil secure the one hundred signers by taking a trip through the town accompanied by a notary public and calling upon one hundred voters of each party and securing their signatures and taking their affidavits. In Virgil each party could find a hundred voters, for the vote upon supervisor in 1896 stood Republican 152, Democratic 155. But in Solon this would be impossible for the vote in 1896 stood Republican 111, Democratic 47. In any case it will be lots of trouble.

   But there is another change in the law which every town clerk in the county should note well, and that is in regard to the endorsement upon the back of the ballot. Mr. Bushnell, who is always to The STANDARD the court of last resort in matters relating to election and to ballots, has called our attention to it. Last year the law required that only one word should appear upon the back of town meeting ballots and that word was "Town," or "Excise," as the case might be. This year there is a change in the law and the paragraph relating to the endorsement reads as follows:

   On the back of the ballot, below the stub, and immediately at the left of the center of the ballot, shall be printed in threat primer Roman condensed capitals the words: "Official ballot for," and after the word "for" shall follow the designation of the polling place for which the ballot is prepared, the date of the election, and a facsimile of the signature of the officer who has caused the ballots to be printed. Ballots for town meetings not held at the same time with a general election shall be endorsed "Town" and for village elections "Village." On the back of the stub, and immediately above the center of the indorsement upon the back of the ballot, shall be printed the consecutive number of the ballot beginning with "No. 1," and increasing in regular numerical order.

   Town clerks must see to it that in placing their order for printing the copy is properly prepared and that the printer understands the matter of this endorsement. Each town clerk too must have a facsimile of his signature made to be…[illegible newsprint].

   It takes a little time to secure the facsimile unless the clerk has it already on hand. Those who are interested should bear this in mind. It will be a good thing for each town clerk any way to study the law regarding town meeting so that no errors may occur which will in anyway invalidate the election.

DANCED FOR CHARITY.

Party Given in Empire Hall Last Night for Benefit of Charles Kelly.

   Readers will remember that last fall, Mr. Charles Kelly, a young man employed at the large plant of Wickwire Brothers, was caught in a shafting and so badly injured as to necessitate the removal of his left arm at the shoulder. Mr. Kelly resides at 35 Railway-ave. and for some time his friends have been planning a benefit dance for him. The party was given in Empire hall last night and was a successful affair from every point of view.   McDermott's orchestra furnished music for the occasion. About ninety couples were in attendance. Refreshments were served in the diningroom of the hall, and the party broke up at 8 o'clock.

   The committee having the affair in charge was chosen from the employees of Wickwire Brothers and from the Lehigh Valley car shops, and was as follows: Misses Anna Davern, Mary Buckley, Mary Hartnett, Mary Ryan, William Shields, John Quick, Frank Deitz, Thomas McAuliffe and John Lavelle. The floor managers were William Shields, John Quick and John Lavelle. It is not known yet what the receipts of the party will be as the returns from the advance sale of tickets are not yet all in, but they will be large.

BREVITIES.

   —About twenty students at Joiners' business school enjoyed a sleighride to McLean last night.

   —One tramp found lodging at the police station last night. He gave his name as James Keenan of Oswego.

   —The Loyal Circle of King's Daughters will meet with Mrs. Roe A. Smith, 120 Groton-ave., corner of Woodruff-st., Friday, Feb. 5, at 2:30 P. M.

   —The first annual ball of the Cortland Athletic association will be given in the large hall of the association to-morrow evening. No pains will be spared to make the affair a pleasant one for all in attendance.

   —Francis Murphy says that more than 7,000 persons have signed the temperance pledge since he began his crusade in Boston four weeks ago. Persuasion still seems to be more effective than prohibition.

   —New advertisements to-day are—Glann & Clark, Bargain Counter No. 1, page 6; Case & Ruggles, Hosiery Sale, page 6; Vito, Great Healing Power, page 8; New York Sun, page 6; G. J. Mager & Co., Fire Sale, page 4; Chase & Fox, Say, Anna, page 6.

   —The board of directors of the Tioughnioga club last night elected F. H. Cobb, H. A. Dickinson and C. E. Ingalls as house committee for the month of February. A communication of thanks was read from the King's Daughters for a cash donation of $33.74.

   —A telegram received by The STANDARD this morning from Supervisor H. Z. Turtle, who is attending the state grange Patrons of Husbandry at Rochester, says that Mrs. Laura Byram of Cortland, who is also attending the convention fell last night and broke her ankle. She is, however, doing well.

Cutting ice on Little York Lake.

THE ICE HARVEST.

Little York Ice Company Has Its Season's Product Nearly Harvested.

   One of the busiest places in Cortland county for the past two weeks has been the harvest of ice at the Little York lakes by the Little York Ice company. About one hundred men are employed at this season of the year. The ice is of the finest quality, one foot in thickness, and clear as a crystal. Fifteen thousand tons of the product is stored in the large icehouses at the lake, and more in houses at Cortland and Binghamton, making a total storage capacity of twenty thousand tons. The company finds market for its ice at the milk stations and beefhouses along the line of the D, L. & W. R. R. between Oswego and Binghamton, besides the large trade that is supplied daily in the summer season to customers in Cortland and Binghamton.