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| Walter Wellman. |
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| Sir Julian Pauncefote and family. |
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| John Sherman. |
Cortland
Evening Standard, Saturday, December 4, 1897.
ARBITRATION
TREATY.
Not
Popular Among Senators.
JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE'S
HOPES.
Character
of the Treaty Drawn Up by Two Aged Diplomatists—A Fine Old
Englishman—Neglect
of Famous American Women.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4.—(Special.)—Congressmen,
as a rule, do not take very kindly to the suggestion that a new general
arbitration treaty with Great Britain be ratified at this session. For some
reason or other the idea of closing a compact with England is not popular here.
A great many of the senators who will vote to ratify the treaty which has been
negotiated by Secretary Sherman and Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British
ambassador, are not enthusiastic about it and would be quite as well satisfied
if the matter were dropped. From sources which admit of no question as to their
reliability I learn that the true inwardness of the arbitration treaty scheme
is as follows:
Aged
Diplomatists.
Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British ambassador
here, is nearing that age at which British diplomatists are usually retired. Sir
Julian expects in a very short time to be placed upon the retired list. It is
customary in England to give to those diplomatists who have specially
distinguished themselves in the service upon their retirement a place in the
peerage. It is this that Sir Julian is striving for. Up to this time his career
here, while one of usefulness and dignity, has not been marked by any special
success. The Venezuelan affair, of which he knew next to nothing before the
thing was sprung upon Lord Salisbury, certainly could not be counted among Sir Julian's
triumphs. Nothing else that has fallen under his hand during his long sojourn
here has given him the éclat which would entitle him to a place among the peers.
It is obvious that if the ambassador is to
secure the coveted honor he must stir himself about and do something in order
to earn it. Now, it happens that in England, as here, a large class of the
people, the church attendants, the business men, the peace lovers and the
conservative folk generally, are anxious to have a general treaty of
arbitration with the United States. They believe it would be the harbinger of
eternal peace between the two great English speaking nations. Nor does it
matter much to them what kind of a treaty it is. It may not be worth the paper
it is written on as an actual preventive of serious disputes. It is all the
same to most of them. If it is a treaty of arbitration, that is enough.
Therefore they would be quite well satisfied with the thin and ineffective
treaty which has been drawn up by the two aged diplomatists, Secretary Sherman
and Sir Julian Pauncefote, and if Mr. Pauncefote can get this little treaty
through he will have earned his peerage, and will doubtless be the happiest man
in the realm.
A Fine
Old Man.
As long as the United States has nothing to
lose by the making of such a treaty every one in Washington that knows Sir
Julian is hoping he will have his heart's wish. There never was a more lovable
old man. In appearance he is a typical Englishman of mature years. He looks hearty
and bluff and as if he could be savage on occasion. As a matter of fact, he is
as soft and peaceful as a cooing dove. He is popular with all classes. His servants
love him quite as much as his secretaries and his daughters. The ladies all
vote him "the sweetest old man in the world." He is without doubt the
best liked member of the diplomatic corps, of which he is the dean and leader.
Sir Julian's popularity here is something
like that which our late ambassador to London, Mr. Bayard, enjoyed over there. While
I was in London last summer they told me the average Britisher looked upon Mr.
Bayard as quite the greatest man that ever came out of America. The secret of
his popularity was not hard to find. He had fine, winning manners, to start
with. He was benevolent of aspect and of speech, but this was not his strong
card. His piece de resistance was his ability to make a public address upon any
and every occasion without notice and without preparation. In England public
speaking is almost a lost art—that is, after dinner talking. Of course the
political and parliamentary orators are somewhat like their brethren on this
side the water, but the man who can get up and rattle off a good talk on a
moment's notice is a rarity in London and a jewel of great price.
Charmed
With Bayard.
This Mr. Bayard was able to do to the
queen's taste and also to that of all her subjects. The words would roll out of
his mouth in long, beautiful sentences. He could say such sweet things and such
witty things without apparent effort. The English were simply charmed with him.
He shone all the more brilliantly by contrast, for the average Englishman who
essays an after dinner speech hems and haws and says "don't you know"
and falls over himself and coughs while he is trying to think of what to say
next, and his whole performance is one of pain for himself and also for his
auditors. Next to Mr. Bayard the English think Chauncey Depew the greatest man
the United States ever produced.
Some one has made a most unpleasant discovery
concerning the great library of congress—the national library, as it is
commonly called. This is that no woman has been honored by a place upon its
walls or ceilings. All the famous man of all nations and times—the writers,
inventors, artists, sculptors, teachers, thinkers, warriors, philosophers—have
had their names written where the people of America who throng these beautiful
halls and corridors may see them and pay homage. But not one woman, so it is
said, has her name in this high place. What the women of America will do about
it when they realize how they have been neglected, what sort of a storm they
will cause to blow about the heads of congress or some one, remains to be seen,
but it is obvious that there is trouble ahead and plenty of it.
TO
ENLARGE THE CAPITOL.
Plan for
a Legislative Bill This Winter—Needs of the Case.
ALBANY, Dec. 4. (Special).—Already the
capitol large as it is, and incomplete as it still is, is not large enough for
all the needs of the state government. The expansion of the last few years, the
increase in commissions and departments and the large additions made to records
have made the demands so great that the entire building must be turned over for
the use of the state departments proper.
The state library has grown so rapidly of
late that it requires much more room than is now accorded to it, whereas the tendency
of the legislature has been to cut down its accommodation. For the last two
years there has been considerable talk of acquiring the land in this city,
covering the square block to the west of the capitol, running from the
extremity of the state grounds westward to Swan-st. and between Washington-ave.
and State-st. It is now openly projected to pass a bill through the coming
legislature allowing the state to acquire this property, remove the present
structures and build on the site a state library building which will also
provide accommodations for the state museum, regents and department of public
instruction. The outcome of this would be to leave the entire third floor of
the capitol solely for the use of the legislature except the rooms kept by the
court of appeals.
Melvil Dewey, secretary of the regents,
advocated a separate building for the use of the library in his report in 1895.
Chancellor Upson also urged the project at the convocation in July last. It is
assumed that the new building including site will cost from one to two million
dollars.
RAILROAD REMINISCENCES.
DAYS OF
THE OPENING OF THE S. & B. R. R. IN 1854.
Former
Resident of Solon Writes from Minnesota as He Reads of the New E. & C. N. Y. R. R. Being
Built Through His Native Town.
To the Editor of the STANDARD:
SIR—As a reader of your interesting paper,
so full of news items, covering the old familiar haunts of the writer's boyhood
days, he has naturally taken a great interest in the building of the new E. & C. N. Y. R. R. from
Cortland east through McGrawville and Solon to Cincinnatus. He has noted its
progress, particularly since its present promoters have taken hold of it, and
who finally, after more than twenty years of expectancy and delay since the
first survey and grading was done, have succeeded in perfecting the grade and
laying the rails to McGrawville and now have regular trains running to his old
native town of Solon, and which in a few weeks will reach the valley of the
Otselic, where is nestled between the hills the quiet yet interesting villages
of Upper and Lower Cincinnatus, where he spent eight years of early manhood.
The citizens of this district will hail with delight the startling whistle of
the panting steed of civilization.
The building of this road recalls to the
writer's mind a prophecy made by his father some fifty-five years ago when he
said the day will come when railroad trains will speed on their way through
this valley. The father lived to see the original grading done, and entertained
a lively hope of seeing his prophecy fulfilled, but, alas, many years of delay
intervened and most of the early pioneers have fulfilled their time and passed
onto their future rest.
Along these lines the mind of your
correspondent is carried back to the days before Cortland county had a railroad
or heard the screech of the locomotive within her borders, being located midway
between the great trunk lines of the Central and Erie. The people had to bide
their time. The march of progress finally brought the Syracuse & Binghamton
R. R. in the earlier fifties. The writer was a resident of Marathon when the
road was ironed in 1854, and enjoyed the pleasure of the opening excursion on
Oct. 18 and 19 of that year. The excursion train consisted of some nineteen
coaches with a few flat cars decorated with evergreens used as observation cars
drawn by two engines. The first day the train ran from Syracuse to Binghamton,
returning on the 19th. We boarded the train for Syracuse. At Cortland and Homer
great crowds were assembled at the depots and the train was crowded to its
utmost capacity and all along the line as the train sped on through town and
country, the people were out waving handkerchiefs, etc., rejoicing at the final
completion of the long desired railroad connecting the great Central & Erie
routes. Before the arrival in Syracuse, it was announced that dinner would be
served at the St. Charles hotel, wither the great crowd surged. But we young
fellows concluded that our pocketbooks were not plethoric enough for the St.
Charles' spread, therefore wended our way to a fine oyster house in the basement
of the Wieting opera house, where we found the inviting bivalves to fully
satisfy our sharpened appetites. We boarded a train in the evening and arrived
home without accident.
Cortland and Homer business men had long
felt the necessity of being connected with the outside world by a railroad, and
they were jubilant over the consummation of that great enterprise. Cortland has
since become quite a railroad center by the building of the Elmira, Cortland
& Northern and now the E. & C. N. Y. R. R. east and ere long it will be
extended farther east connecting with some trunk line.
Little Cortland, as she is sometimes called,
has always had a faculty of pushing to the front. Very few towns or cities of
her population have shown the push for business and progress that her business
men have exhibited. May she still grow and prosper and in the near future be
able to put on the garb of the full fledged city.
C. G. M.
Winona, Minn., Dec. 1, 1897.
FOUR
TRAVELERS.
They
Were of the Tramp Variety—The Usual Story.
The occupants within the inclosure behind
the rail in the police courtroom this morning were four representatives of
mankind of the genus tramp. Number one
said he was Frank Kemler, his home was nowhere in particular and up to a month
ago had been employed in a cigar factory in Binghamton. He had worked at the
business twenty-four years, had earned a large amount of money in that time,
but now his worldly possessions consisted of one solitary 25 cent piece.
Number two said he was William LaPorte of
"Ogsdenburg," meaning Ogdensburg. He has a wife in the northern town,
which he left a year ago for want of work, and went to Baltimore, where he
spent the year at different jobs. He claimed to be on his way home and to have
the usual longing for work.
Number three was the largest of the quartet,
tall, broad shouldered and well proportioned. He said he had been in the United
States army, and left that to go into business for himself in Philadelphia, but
reverses came and he took to tramping. His home was all over. He told a pitiful
story of how he was arrested in Rochester in the spring while quietly walking
through the city on a railroad track minding his own business, and kept in a
jail all summer. He thought it pretty tough to be shut up all summer. Would not
object so much to being confined during the winter months.
George Williams was another homeless
wanderer looking for work. Police Justice Mellon gave them some wholesome advice
and discharged them with the admonition that they leave town within an hour.
BREVITIES.
—Judge Eggleston goes to Syracuse next week
to hold court.
—Photographer G. E. Butler went to McLean
yesterday where he took a picture of the McLean public school.
—The regular meeting of the hospital board,
which was to have occurred on Monday next,
has been postponed one week.
—Mrs. Norman Kingman of 15 Washington-st.
celebrated her ninety-second birthday yesterday and a number of her friends
called upon her and a social tea party was held.
—A few of the near friends and relatives of
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Howe spent last evening at their home, 14 Maple-ave., in
honor of the forty-sixth anniversary of their marriage.
—New display advertisements to-day are—A. S.
Burgess, Smoking Jackets, page 8; McKinney & Doubleday, Christmas Opening,
page 6; C. F. Brown, Christmas
Presents, page 7.
—Quarterly meeting services at the Free
Methodist church on Schermerhorn-st. will begin this evening at 7:30 o'clock.
Services to-morrow at 2:30 and 7 P.
M. The Rev. T. Whiffen will have charge.
—The Cortland STANDARD is used as the textbook
in the spelling class recently organized at the Normal. The first column of the
first page has been assigned already, and Prof. Bardwell gives no hope that
even advertisements will be omitted.
—Oneonta officers have arrested a gang of
thieves and burglars who have been carrying on their operations for several
years. Several drayloads of goods were taken from three houses in town and
identified as those stolen from stores and houses in Oneonta and neighboring
towns during several years past. It is an important capture.
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