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| Chicago elevated electric railroad. |
Cortland
Evening Standard, Friday, December 17, 1897.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
Chicago's
Reign of Terror.
The Chicago newspapers no longer take the
trouble to deny that the outbreak of crime has reached such stupendous proportions
in the western metropolis that it is hardly safe for unprotected citizens to go
about at night, or even in broad daylight in certain sections of the city.
Robberies are of almost hourly occurrence, and the footpads have become so bold
that they attack their prey even in crowded streets. The frequency of the
"hold-ups" has led business men to request that they be allowed to
act as special officers and equip themselves with revolvers for the protection
of themselves and their fellow citizens.
All this is far from pleasant to the people
of Chicago, who are justly proud of their city. It places Chicago in a very
unfavorable light and to some extent injures its prospects. Yet it is the
penalty the city has had to pay for the rapidity with which it has grown great
and populous. It is the boast of all Chicagoans that they live in a ''live
town.'' There are of course advantages in this, but on the other hand, there
are decided disadvantages. Chicago, as a "live town," has attracted
enterprising and progressive people from all parts of the world; it has also
attracted criminals without number. The people of the city, having so much else
to attend to, have not properly provided for keeping these criminals in check,
and the result is the present reign of terror.
It is not the first time that Chicago has
gone through just such an experience, nor will it be the last unless there is a
decided change in police methods and in the attitude of the authorities toward
the criminal classes.
◘
William of Germany must be happy
over the consciousness that all the world is talking about him and his warships
just now. His marines and ironclads hold possession of the Chinese forts in
Kiao-Chau bay in the Yellow sea; another warship demands reparation from Haiti
for what William has cooked into an insult to a German citizen, a third German
war vessel has bombarded a miserable negro village on the island of New Guinea
because the natives did not like their German governor and dispatched him to
the next world. It will be observed, however, that William has a method in his
bullying and confines his bombarding strictly to countries that have no power
to bombard back.
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| Walter Wellman. |
A MILLION PENSIONERS.
Proposition to
Publish Their Names and Addresses.
GRAND ARMY FAVORS THE PLAN.
An Answer to the Charges of
Fraud—Expense of Publication the Chief Obstacle to the Scheme—Pension Officials
Do Not Favor it.
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 16.—(Special.)— ''It is not impossible that Uncle Sam will soon turn out
the biggest book of the century,'' said an official of the pension office. ''There
is a great demand for publication of the names of all the persons now drawing pensions
from the government. This demand comes very largely from the Grand Army of the
Republic. So many statements have been made to the effect that persons not
fairly entitled to pensions are drawing money from the government, and in some
quarters so much of a hue and cry has been set up over the matter, that the
veterans feel the best way to protect the army of pensioners from unjust
aspersions is to have all the facts made public. They think publication of the
names and addresses of all pensioners would be the proper way to go at it. One suggestion
has been made that congress print a list of all the pensioners with their
addresses in 100 or 200 of the most prominent papers throughout the country, so
that every one may have a chance to go over the names and pick out those which
he thinks are liable to criticism. It is not likely the persons making this
suggestion have given any thought to the magnitude of the task which they
propose.
"There
are in round numbers 1,000,000 pensioners on our books," continued the official.
"The name and address of each pensioner would take a line in a newspaper, as
it is apparent the name would be of no value unless the address were given, as
there are thousands upon thousands of duplicate names. Now, an average newspaper
column contains about 200 lines, and therefore if we were to order all the names
of pensioners printed in a newspaper we should need 5,000 columns, or more than
700 pages of a paper with seven columns to the page. At regular advertising
rates that would be [a nice] contract for the papers, though even in this day
of big things in the newspaper line it would puzzle some of them to turn out an
edition of more than 700 pages. Of course it is idle to talk about doing this
in any one issue. A newspaper might take a contract to publish the list in the
course of three or four months, giving up a big supplement to the purpose every
day. But the cost would make it impossible for the government to go into any
such scheme.
Cost of Newspaper Publication.
"How
much do you suppose the expense would be of publishing the pension list in one
first class metropolitan newspaper? Well, the lowest advertising rate in such a
paper is about 20 cents a line—that is, $40 a column. For the 5,000 columns
necessary to take in the whole pension list the cost would be $200,000. Admit
that there are plenty of papers willing to take it for half or even a quarter
of this sum, still the cost would be so great as to put it out of the question,
for it would never do to publish the list in one or two papers. It would have to go in a great many papers or there
would be a fine row on our hands.
"If
the government is going into the pension list publishing business,"
continued the official, "there is in my opinion only one sensible way to
do it. That is to select one paper in each state and to publish in it the list
of pensioners for that state. The paper should be selected on competitive bids
and the contract be given to the paper which would do it the cheapest,
circulation being taken into account, or perhaps it would be well to use two
papers in each state, one representing each political party, but both selected
by competitive bidding. There is no sense in advertising in an Iowa paper the
names of pensioners in Maine, or vice versa. But even if the scheme were
arranged in this way the cost to the government would be enormous.
"For
instance, in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania there are about 100,000
pensioners to each state and in a number of other states from 50,000 to 90,000.
To print the Ohio list, for instance, in two Ohio newspapers would take 500
columns, and the cost would be perhaps $20,000 for the state. On this plan the
cost of publishing the lists would range from $20,000 per state down to a few
hundred or even a few score of dollars in some of the southern states and the
territories, and the aggregate would be something like $250,000. Under this
plan the thing is feasible, and I do not see that it is in any other way.
Would Make a Big Book.
"It
has been suggested that the government should get out a book containing the
names of all the pensioners, and that this book should have a very wide
circulation. But I do not like the book project. In the first place, the cost
would be tremendous. To set up the names and addresses of the pensioners alone
would cost about $25,000 for typesetting and proofreading. The book containing
the list would be a great, bulky affair which would weigh 10 or 12 pounds and
contain 3,000 or 4,000 pages. Every copy of it printed would cost the
government perhaps $5. To mail it or send it out in sufficient numbers to reach
the people would cost another vast sum, and at best it would never give the
publicity which publication in the newspapers would give, and publicity is the
thing desired. If the plan has any merit at all, it lies in giving a very great
number of citizens an opportunity to go over the lists in their neighborhood and
ascertain who is drawing pensions. The best way to reach the people is through
the great newspaper press.
"Possibly some scheme of county or congressional district
subdivision of the list could be prepared, so that in every neighborhood the
names would be made public. In this way publication could be made in a large
number of papers, the home papers of the country which, after all, are the ones
which the great masses read carefully.
''But I
violate no confidence in saying that pension officials do not believe there is
any great need for such publications, as the number of fraudulent pensions is
very small, and advertisement might give too much opportunity for spite work
and malice to make trouble. Still, congress may order the publication, and if it
does I want to see the lists printed in the newspapers.''
X-RAYS KILL A MAN.
So Swore Dr. Pitkin Regarding
the Cause of Punzo's Death.
ELMIRA. N.
Y., Dec. 17.—In the trial of George A. C. Orme for murder in the first degree
here, Dr. John F. Pitkin of Buffalo testified that in his opinion the unskilled
use of the X-ray had caused the death of James Punzo, the man whom Orme is
alleged to have murdered July 31, three weeks after the shooting, and after the
wound in the back of Punzo's head had healed. An unsuccessful attempt was made
to locate the bullet in his brain by an X-ray photograph. Punzo, who had been
able to be about the hospital, failed thereafter and died in a week. The
Crookes tube was held close to the patient for 40 minutes. There were no
surface indications.
Arms Company Incorporates.
ALBANY,
Dec. 17.—The Savage Arms company of Utica was incorporated with the secretary
of state with a capital stock of $200,000.
Odd Fellows' Election.
The
semi-annual election of officers of Cortland encampment, No. 127, I. O. O. F.,
was held last night and the following were chosen:
C. P.—Dr.
E. M. Santee.
H. P.—F. M.
Ingersol.
S. W.—Duke
Borthwick.
S.—N. P.
Meager.
T.—R. E.
Caldwell.
F. S.—D. E.
Stanford.
J. W.—W. G.
Spencer.
Trustee—E.
E. Spaulding.
The
installation of officers will be held on Thursday night, Jan. 6, at which time
a banquet will be served. The following committee was last night appointed to
make arrangements for it: Messrs. D. E. Stanford, N. P. Meager and F. M.
Ingersol.
Rev. James Andrew Robinson.
The
community was shocked yesterday afternoon at the report that Rev. James Andrew
Robinson, a former rector of Grace Episcopal church, was dangerously ill at his
home, 9 Reynolds-ave., and was not expected to live. The end came at 9:30
o'clock last night, when Mr. Robinson passed quietly away. His illness had been
so short and its termination was so sudden and, until almost the last, so
altogether unexpected that it seemed hard to realize the fact of his decease.
Mr.
Robinson left home last Saturday afternoon in usual health and in good spirits
to preach on Sunday at Slaterville Springs. He returned Monday afternoon, having
contracted a very hard cold. On Tuesday morning Dr. E. A. Didama, the family physician,
was called and pronounced it a severe attack of the grip. Despite all that
medical skill could do he grew rapidly worse. On Wednesday afternoon a new
phase of the difficulty appeared when it seemed that a clot of blood had formed
in the heart, he lost consciousness at that time and remained in a comatose
state till the end came on Thursday evening.
Mr.
Robinson was born in Oxford, Chenango county, N. Y., March 26, 1827. He received his preparatory training in the public
schools of Oxford and was graduated from Hamilton college in the class of '49.
He at once began his work in the ministry in Brooklyn, N. Y., as assistant to
Rev. Dr. Haskins in St. Mark's Episcopal church. For a few months he was
stationed at Penn Yan and then went to Hornellsville, where he organized the Episcopal
church and society and was the rector of the church for six years. Other
rectorships were at Amsterdam, eight years; Bainbridge, eight years; Jamestown,
four years. In August, 1875, he came to Cortland as rector of Grace Episcopal
church and continued in that capacity for ten years, resigning in 1885 and also
at that time retiring from regular active ministry as a rector. His home has
continuously been in Cortland since he came here twenty-two years ago. He did
not altogether cease his preaching with his resignation in 1885, but was for
about two years in charge of Calvary Episcopal church at Homer, and for a like
period in charge of the Episcopal church at Whitney Point, and has also
preached from time to time whenever he might be called as a supply.
Mr.
Robinson will be greatly missed by a very large circle of friends outside of
the Episcopal church as well as among its membership. During his residence in
Cortland he has entered heartily into all good works and was interested in all matters
of public welfare. He has been a member of the advisory board of the Cortland
hospital since its institution, and was a member of the local board of visitors
of the state board of charities. He was possessed of a certain dry humor which,
coupled with his kindly disposition, made him a very genial companion. He was
always happy in his remarks upon public occasions. Since his resignation from
the rectorship of Grace church he has watched the growth and prosperity of the
church with great satisfaction, and has continued to be a regular attendant
upon all of its services whenever at home.
Mr.
Robinson was chaplain of the Thirty-second New York regiment and served in that
capacity at the front during the entire war.
In May,
1856, Mr. Robinson was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Hale, daughter of Hon.
John K. Hale of Hornellsville, who survives him. No children were born to them,
and the strong affection which parents lavish upon their children was in this
case borne each for the other. They were lovers from first to last, and the blow
which has now fallen upon Mrs. Robinson is of crushing weight. For a long
period their constant companion in their homo and the stay of their declining
years has been a niece, Miss Jennie Guild.
Mr.
Robinson is also survived by one sister, Mrs. George Stratton of South Oxford,
N. Y., who was present at the time of his death, and one brother, Mr. Charles
Robinson of Louisville, Miss.
The funeral
will be held at Grace Episcopal church on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock and
will be conducted by the rector, Rev. Amos Watkins. The evening service at the
church will be omitted. The remains will be taken Monday morning to
Hornellsville for burial.
W. C T. U. CONVENTION
Of Cortland County at Blodgett
Mills on Wednesday, December 8.
The
Cortland county W. C. T. U. met in convention at Blodgett Mills on Dee. 8. About
thirty-six delegates from the various unions were present. The convention was opened
with singing of the Doxology and the Lord's prayer, and devotionals were
conducted by Mrs. Anna Warren of Blodgett Mills. A memorial service in
remembrance of the late Neal Dow, also of Miss Sophia Watson of Truxton was one
of the features of the morning session, and Mrs. Ballou of Virgil offered the noontide
prayer and conducted a short Bible reading.
At the
executive meeting Miss Robertson was appointed as superintendent of franchise
to take the place of Mrs. Patterson, who resigned; also Mrs. Richard Dart of
Freetown appointed superintendent of mothers' meetings to take the place of
Mrs. Burgess.
The
afternoon devotionals were led by Miss Sara Hare. A symposium upon ''The Opium Curse" was opened by a paper by
Mrs. Tanner, who was followed by Mrs. Squires and Miss Robertson, who read
articles upon the subject. Mrs. Rayfield of Freetown favored the convention
with a solo, and Edna Stowell very pleasingly recited, ''I Drink Water.''
The
question box was opened by Miss Libbie Robertson, who very aptly answered the
nine inquiries proffered. Miss Brown of Cortland gave an account of the organization
of the Cortland "Y's," and Miss Park of Cortland gave a recitation
"Thanksgiving."
The evening
session was largely attended, and the devotionals were led by Mrs. Squires of
Cortland. "Reasons Why We Should Sign the Temperance Pledge," were
given by several members. The remainder of the evening was taken up by the
reports of the delegates to the world and national conventions, and excellent
music was furnished by the church choir.
DELLA E.
HlGGlNS,
County
Recording Secretary,
Cincinnatus,
Dec. 15, 1897.
BREVITIES.
—The annual
election of officers of Hitchcock hose company will be held to- night.
—The annual
election of officers of Cortlandville lodge, F. & A. M. will be held next
Tuesday night.
—The pool
and billiard tables in the Tioughnioga clubrooms are being recovered and
thoroughly overhauled.
—Arrangements
are now being made at Auburn prison for the manufacture of school furniture to
supply the demand from the country school districts throughout the state.
—New
display advertisements to-day are—W. J. Perkins, Christmas Presents, page6;
Bingham Bros. & Miller, Holiday Sales, page 7; Beard & Peck, Select
Your Presents Early, page 6.
—A steamer
in Syracuse yesterday, in running to a fire, was upset by street car rails in
rounding a corner and was badly smashed. The driver who was strapped to his seat
was seriously bruised.
—The
regular meeting of the Y. W. C. T. U. will he held to-morrow, Saturday evening
at 7:30 o'clock in the W. C. T. U. rooms, West Court-st. An interesting program
has been prepared, and there is also important business to be transacted, so a
full attendance is particularly desired.
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