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| Eugene V. Debs. |
Cortland
Evening Standard, Wednesday, September 1, 1897.
COIN FOR THE
MINERS.
St.
Louis Convention Did Not End the Strike.
ADDRESSED
BY SOCIALIST DEBS.
His
Style of Roasting the American Government Brought the Audience to Its Feet and
They Wildly Cheered the Speaker.
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 1.—The conference of labor
leaders of the country, which has been in session here two days, has finished
its work.
The meeting was productive of several
sensational speeches and many resolutions, yet no decisive action was taken in
the principal matter for which the gathering was summoned—the abolishment of
government by injunction. The convention which had been announced as the last
one of its kind to be held, while adjourning sine die has merely postponed
action on the matters before it for three weeks, as a call for a similar
conference to be held in Chicago, Monday, Sept. 27, was issued.
True, the convention ordered its chairman,
Mr. Pomeroy of the International Typographical union, to request President
McKinley, in the name of the convention, to call a special session of congress
for the purpose of defining the authority of judges in the matter of
injunctions, but as the president will hardly receive the communication in time
to convene congress in three weeks, even should he consider the matter
favorably, the Chicago gathering may take action which would render this movement
void and decide to act in another manner.
Mr. Debs and Social Democracy dominated the
convention, and the famous labor leader carried the gathering off its feet in
one of his characteristic speeches. A resolution introduced by Mr. Mahon of Detroit
calling upon all miners now at work to desert their posts, and terming them enemies
of human liberty so long as they remained on duty, was adopted.
Debs spoke, in part, as follows:
"Never in my life have I been more hopeful
than now. I am not gifted with great visionary powers, but I can see the
beginning of the end. (Cheers.) This meeting is an inspiration. It will lead to
great results. This movement has attained tremendous impetus and will go ahead
with a rush. When the people are ready, and that day is not far off my friends,
there will be a spontaneous outrising. The supreme courts will be abolished, congress
dispersed and the sacred rights of American citizens and American freedmen will
be enthroned. (Great applause.)
"I plead guilty to the charge of being radical.
I only wish you would allow me to be more radical still. Support us, gentlemen of
the convention, and I promise you we will support the attempt to abolish government
by injunction and the judges who issue them."
As Mr. Dobs finished the delegates rose to
their feet, threw their hats in the air and crowded forward to greet the
speaker. Chairman Pomeroy pounded vigorously for order, but it was fully five
minutes before the convention recovered from the spell which Mr. Debs' oratory
had cast about them.
LARGE
SUM FOR STRIKERS.
Ratchford
Refuses to Talk of the Alleged Settlement.
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 1.—When shown the dispatch
from Columbus, O., stating that the coal strike was considered there as
settled, President Ratchford of the United Mine Workers of America acknowledged
that he had received a proposition to have the miners resume work at 64 cents
pending arbitration. He added:
"Our executive council meets at
Columbus tonight and the proposition of Mr. Young, who represents a large
number of operators, will be considered with other matters. I must decline to
discuss the proposition until after it is submitted to the council. It would
not be right for me to do so.
"This convention has given us very
material aid already. The money that will be collected under the resolution
passed will amount to between $4,000,000 and $5,000,000 and it will keep us
alive a long time. It allows us to go on with the strike without fear of
starvation."
SHOW
TRAIN WRECKED.
Forepaugh
& Sells Brothers' Circus in a Smash up.
Forepaugh and Sells Brothers' circus which
exhibits in Cortland on Wednesday, Sept. 8, was wrecked near Ellenburg, Clinton
county, N. Y., just after leaving Moore's Junction yesterday. Several cars
loaded with wagons and other paraphernalia were badly wrecked. Two cars loaded
with elephants were overturned and smashed in at one end. The cars were smashed
open to allow the animals to get out. They were then herded in a nearby
pasture. This will not interfere in any way with the full and complete
exhibition in Cortland next week.
THE
CORTLAND COMMITTEE MEETING.
To the Editor of the STANDARD:
SIR—A very short report without details of
the meeting of the Republican
county
committee held Monday afternoon was published in The STANDARD of that date,
which went to press a few minutes after the meeting closed so that details could
not be given. I think the facts of that meeting are important enough to appear
in your columns in full.
A preliminary meeting or caucus of the
members of the Brown faction was held, to which such members of the committee
as were in accord with that faction were invited, and a plan of action was
adopted by which all of them should vote under the leadership of N. L. Miller,
who was to be in the committee as a substitute for Mr. McVean of Willet. In the
meeting of the committee Mr. T. E. Courtney made a full and plain statement of
facts showing that in the Cortland caucus frauds were open and prevailing; that
the caucus was held near to two or three liquor selling places, which were
annexes of the primary and the headquarters of the prevailing factions and the
drunkenness that ensued was a disgrace to the village and a nuisance in the
neighborhood; that it was freely charged and hardly disputed that Democrats
voted and also non-residents, some of the voters being from other towns and even
from outside of the county; that in Solon and Lapeer and other towns similar
illegal voting was charged and the vote in caucus was swelled beyond the
Republican vote of the towns at the last election; that to prevent frauds he
and others had called at the office of the county committee for the last
canvass books containing the names of all voters with their party affiliations,
it being the official party record of those matters; that it was then learned
that the chairman of the committee had taken the canvass books away.
On communicating with him he stated that he
had sent the canvass books to Congressman Payne, leaving it to be inferred that
Mr. Payne still had them. Mr. Payne was communicated with and stated by
telephone and by letter that he had returned the canvass books to Chairman A.
S. Brown sometime before. The chairman was confronted with this information,
and then stated that the books had been given out to some of the workers in the
town caucuses, presumably those in sympathy with fraud and in favor of
suppressing the evidence of it. That so far the books had not been unearthed
and no inspection of them could be had, and it was very evident that the books
were kept out of the way to prevent and hinder the investigations that should
be made, and these official party records which should be open to the use of
all Republicans alike were kept from them.
Mr. Courtney then moved that the canvass
books should be ordered returned to the secretary's office or to Mr. Miller's
office or to some convenient place where they could be examined by all
Republicans.
Mr. A. P. McGraw supported the motion and
said that a full investigation should be had and the books produced so they
could be used in aid of it. Mr. Crombie also supported the motion and corroborated
Mr. Courtney's statement as to the books being taken and the statement of the
chairman that they had been put in Mr. Payne's hands, and produced Mr. Payne's
letter stating that he had returned them to the chairman some time before.
Mr. House of Lapeer stated that in the
caucus in that town Democrats, Populists, Free Silverites and all sorts voted,
without regard to residence or right to vote, and very likely canvass books
would not show their names. Mr. Miller opposed the motion, saying there were no
frauds, or if so no more on one side than the other, and passing the resolution
would be a reflection on the chairman.
Mr. Walker said that there was no doubt that
illegal votes were cast in Solon, and that was reason enough why the books
should not be returned. Mr. Price of Virgil thought that the chairman would
take care of the books. The motion was defeated by a vote of 14 to 9, under the
lead of Miller, thus refusing an inspection of the books.
Next Monday, Sept. 6, was fixed as the date
of the convention by a like vote, the others asking for Sept. 10, so as to give
a better notice and more time for preparation.
A motion was then made in accordance with
the usual custom that the committee meet on the day of the convention at 12:30
to perform its last duty of deciding upon a chairman for the convention, but
this was met by an amendment on the part of Miller that the committee delegate
its duty of deciding on a chairman for the convention to A. S. Brown, and that
he name the chairman. This amendment was carried by a vote of 13 to 10, and the
committee adjourned sine die. Of course the committee cannot delegate its
duties and powers as a representative body to any man in or out of the
committee. A meeting of the committee should be called for the morning of
convention day to perform its duty.
Yours truly, FAIR PLAY.
The above will be read with surprise and
profound regret by every Republican in the county who is a friend to fair and
decent politics, and we can not believe that those members of the committee who
voted to deprive their fellow members of all opportunity to inspect the
official records of the committee realized the full significance of the step
they were taking, or how it would strike every impartial mind. Much action,
which would be remarkable at any time, becomes still more so when fraud at caucuses in
four towns in the county is proven by the vote being in excess of the
Republican vote of last fall; when it is not denied that many fraudulent votes
were cast at the Republican caucus in this village, the only question being how
many; when the names of the voters at the Cortland caucus have been published,
and when five out of the six members of the county committee from this town
asked access to the committee's canvass books, which the chairman—who is the
sixth committeeman from this town— and who possess "the
organization," had passed over into the hands of unknown and unauthorized
parties and refused to produce. Since the caucus was held in this village,
members of the county committee from this town have been trying to obtain an
inspection of these canvass books, with a view to comparison with the list of
voters at the caucus, and the establishing of just how great the frauds there
committed were. Chairman Brown, as stated in the above communication, claimed
that Congressman Payne had these books, and not until information was obtained
direct from Mr. Payne himself that the books had been returned some time
previous did Mr. Brown admit the fact, and then he stated that they were in the
hands of his own factional friends, and both he and they refused to return to
the county committee the property which belongs to it.
The pretense of Substitute N. L. Miller, at
the meeting of the committee, that the resolution calling for the return of
these books was a discourtesy to the chairman, was as thin and false as the
refusal to allow persons offering to vote at the caucus to be asked how they
voted last fall, on the ground that it was a "violation of the secrecy of
the ballot." It was the chairman who had shown discourtesy and insult to
his fellow members by taking records of which the secretary was the proper
custodian, and turning them over to others, to be used for factional purposes,
and refusing to produce them when called for by those who had a right to
inspect them. And Mr. Miller, by inducing those who voted against the return of
the canvass books to do what they did, as a courtesy to Mr. Brown, has placed
them in the attitude of at least appearing to sanction and protect fraud and
cover up and withhold the evidence which would establish it. He has done them a
wrong which they will the more fully appreciate the more they come to think it
over.
The condition into which our politics is
getting is something which is of far greater moment than the interests of any
faction or individual, and which ought to be considered independently of both.
With the vote at the caucuses in four towns larger than the presidential vote
of last fall, and with the undisputed disgraceful facts as to the Cortland
caucus, we shall soon reach—if we have not already reached—a point where
self-respecting men will refuse to be candidates for any office, and when
Republican county nominations will cease to have any significance as to what the
majority of Republicans wish, and will cease to command party support. The
results at the polls which followed the famous [1882] "spring-bottom-hat
caucus" are liable to be repeated, and if indications count for anything the
danger is nearer and greater than many suppose.
And all this corruption, bad blood and
danger is because Republicans who profess to be opposed to fraud refuse to take
the very simple means needed to prevent it—requiring Republicans to register in
district associations and allowing no one not registered to vote at a
Republican caucus.
Our correspondent claims to us to speak from
personal knowledge. In case any of his statements are incorrect, our columns
are open to a correction from any responsible person. The STANDARD is a
Republican, not a factional newspaper, and we believe that the Republican party
in this county will be injured more by fraud and trickery on the part of those
who train in its ranks than by any attacks of an open enemy. It is for this
reason that we feel it our duty to speak plainly at this juncture.
Willet Joins
the Procession.
The town of Willet, at its caucus on Monday
evening, joined the procession of towns casting more votes at the Republican
caucus than McKinley received last fall. McKinley's vote in Willet was 108, and
the caucus vote was 111. The two caucus tickets received respectively 59 and 52
votes. No one believes, and it would not be claimed, that every Republican voter
in the town was out, and the margin of majority was so narrow that a change of
4 votes, or 8 votes less in the total number cast for the successful ticket,
would have changed the result. The Willet, Solon, Lapeer and Cuyler caucuses
emphasize a condition of affairs which, if not corrected, means disorganization
and destruction to the party in the county.
 |
| Wieting Opera House, Syracuse, N. Y. |
—A regular meeting of Grover post, No. 98,
G. A. R., occurs to-night.
—The next dancing party of the St. Vitus
club occurs Friday evening at the park.
—The seating capacity of the new Wieting opera
house in Syracuse which is to be opened Sept. 15 is 2,128.
—There will be free dancing at the park
pavilion to-night and McDermott's orchestra will furnish the music.
—The case of Mrs. Sophia White against F. A.
Brainard is on trial before Justice of the Peace John H. Kelley and a jury.
—The annual reunion of the Allen family is to
be held at Richford at the home of William Allen on Saturday of this week.
—The Ellis Omnibus & Cab Co. this
morning shipped to Dansville a beautiful omnibus to be used on the transfer
line from the D., L. & W. station to the city.
—New display advertisements to-day are—Kellogg
& Curtis, Special Sale, page 5; F. Daehler, Custom-made Suits, page 8;
National Stamp association, Trading Stamps, page 4.
—There will be a district quarterly meeting at the Free Methodist
church, beginning to-morrow evening at 7:30 o'clock. Rev. W. H. Clark of Norwich will preach
to-morrow evening.
—Let all take notice of the flower show at
Homer which will be held on
Thursday
evening and on Friday afternoon and evening, a note of which is found in our
Homer letter to-day.
—Postmaster Milton H. Northrup of Syracuse
yesterday completed his term of office
and passed the office over to his successor, Gen. Dwight H. Bruce. There are
114 employees in that postoffice.
—Flowers, fruit and delicacies for the sick
[at the hospital] for the King's Daughters from the Fourth ward may be left
with Mrs. H. Relyea, 11 Blodgett-st., or Miss Hale, 92 Pendleton-st., on
Thursday, Sept. 2.
—Prof. Isaac B. Poucher, for 28 years
professor of mathematics in the Oswego Normal school has been unanimously chosen
by the local board of that school to succeed the late Dr. Edward A. Sheldon as
principal of the school.
—A meeting of the committee appointed to
organize the board of managers of the Woman's Riverside Home will be held at
the Home, 240 Port Watson-st., on Tuesday, Sept. 7, at 2:30 o'clock sharp. All
the committee are requested to be present.
—A tennis tournament for both singles and
doubles will begin on Friday morning of this week at 9 o'clock at the court at
the residence of Mr. T. H. Wickwire. The singles will be played first and will
begin at 9 o'clock that morning. All wishing to enter the tournament should
hand their names to Mr. Harry Wickwire before Friday morning.
—Word has been received in Cortland of the
death at her home in Waverly yesterday of Mrs. John A. Budd, at one time a
resident of Cortland. Her husband's family used to be well known in this vicinity,
and Mr. Budd in buried in the Cortland Rural cemetery, having died a number of
years ago. The remains of Mrs. Budd will be brought to Cortland on the 9:41 train
on the Lehigh Valley R. R. Thursday morning for burial. She was an aunt of Miss
Winifred Rogers, who more than a year ago was the soprano in the choir of the
Presbyterian church in Cortland.
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