AN OLD SEA CAPTAIN'S VIEW

Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, May 12, 1898.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

An Old Sea Captain's View.

   Captain John W. Merritt of San Francisco, who has traded with the Philippines for more than forty years, describes their advantages in an interview with The Sun:

   If the United States will hold on to Manila or take possession of the entire

Philippine group they will confer unbounded benefit upon the American merchants engaged in the Pacific trade, and add considerable to the revenues of our country. Besides, the cost of the war could soon be repaid into our treasury from the tax on imports and exports imposed at Manila alone. I don't pretend to discuss the vast advantage that port offers as a coaling station and general governmental depot in the far East, which is a subject for the consideration of statesmen, but I argue from the point and experience of an old trader with an eye to business. There is no calculating the wealth of the islands. Most of the products brought to this country are coffee, indigo, sugar cane, tobacco (a government monopoly), spices, pepper, pina linen made from the pineapple fiber, hats and cordage. But locked up in the many mountains of the islands are millions of tons of iron, copper, coal and sulphur. As for the timber, there is nothing to equal its quality and quantity. The Spanish have never been able to develop the islands, and the Chinese had not sufficient means to put their full productiveness to the test. There is some gold to be found in the sands of the hundreds of rivers, but the Philippines are not exactly a Klondike. With American methods, improvements and good Yankee business sagacity, I venture to assert that the islands could be made to yield ten times as much as they do at present.

   Captain Merritt has spoken well. There is no disposition to give the islands back to Spain or haul down the American flag. Blount hauled down the flag once at Honolulu, and he has disappeared.

SPAIN WILL ATTACK DEWEY.

Forty Thousand Men to Be Sent to the Philippines.

THE RESERVES CALLED OUT.

Formidable Expedition to Be Dispatched at Once.

   LONDON, May 12.—Special dispatches from Madrid say it is officially declared that the government of Spain has no intention of allowing Rear Admiral Dewey to rest upon his laurels. About 40,000 men of the reserves of the Spanish army have been ordered to rejoin the colors, and it is added that a formidable expedition is being organized for dispatch to the Philippine islands. The same dispatches say that Admiral Bermejo, minister of marine, denies that the Cape Verde squadron has returned to Cadiz. He affirms that the fleet at the present moment is where it ought to be, according to the instructions given it.

AGGRESSIVE MOVEMENT.

War Operations on a Big Scale Has Begun.

TROOPS BEGINNING TO MOVE.

Some Going to Cuba and Others Going to the Philippines.

   WASHINGTON, May 12.—The army movement on Cuba is now fairly launched and a concerted effort is being made all along the line to begin aggressive operations on a big scale for the ejectment of the Spanish troops and government from the Pearl of the Antilles. An order given by the war department for the purchase of 5,000,000 rations is an earnest of the scale on which preparations are making for invasion of Spain's territory. Of this vast quantity, one-fourth is to go to the Philippines by way of San Francisco and the balance to Cuba.

   The department has made a great many changes in the original program laid down for the concentration of troops, and many bodies of volunteers that were originally slated for one of the great concentration camps have found themselves under orders to proceed direct to southern points, so that volunteers from the East and middle West will soon be moving swiftly to Florida and the Gulf, while from the West the cars will be carrying troops to San Francisco.

INSURGENTS' SUPPLIES.

Another Expedition About Ready to Sail For Cuba.

   TAMPA, Fla., May 12.—There is good reason to believe that inside of 24 hours another expedition with the same purpose and destination as that of the Gussie, which left here loaded with arms and ammunition and supplies for the Cuban insurgents, will slip from Port Tampa. The Florida, one of the Plant line boats chartered by the government for use as a transport, has taken on a large cargo of Springfield rifles and ammunition and the stalls for horses and mules have been completed. The boat is lying at the dock with full steam up and no one is allowed on board.

   General Wade went out to the port and held a long conference with Superintendent Fitzgerald of the Plant line of steamers and it is believed that orders were given to have the boat ready for sailing at a moment's notice.

Admiral William T. Sampson.

PORTO RICO PROGRAM.

It All Awaits Some Definite News From Admiral Sampson.

   WASHINGTON, May 12.—Until news comes from Admiral Sampson of his doings in and around Porto Rico it cannot be said definitely what program shall be decided on in regard to that island. It has been suggested that some of the troops now being hurried so rapidly to the Gulf coast may be intended to co-operate with Admiral Sampson in the reduction of the fortifications at San Juan de Porto Rico and the occupation of the island.

   It is felt that the admiral will be in a rather disagreeable plight for lack of troops supposing even that he managed to reduce the forts with his fleet, if he were obliged to remain there in occupation of the place, when he might otherwise be urgently needed either on the Cuban coast or somewhere in the Atlantic to meet the Spanish fleet.

   An evidence of the wisdom of having the troops transports near at hand in such cases is shown by the predicament Admiral Dewey is believed to be in at Manila, where for lack of troops he is unable to occupy the town and to prevent atrocities which the insurgents are capable of inflicting upon their helpless Spanish foes.

Messenger House was located at corner of South Main and Port Watson Streets, Cortland, N. Y.

Horses at Auction.

   F. P. Saunders will sell at public auction at the Messenger House stables in

Cortland on Saturday afternoon, May 14, at 1 o'clock a carload of Ohio horses weighing from 1,050 to 1,800 pounds. These are a choice lot of young horses, well broken, true and kind in all harness. Matched pairs and single drivers and farm chunks. Parties wishing to purchase horses will do well to attend this sale, as those horses will positively be sold without reserve. No postponement on account of bad weather. A credit of three months will be given on good approved notes payable at any bank to suit purchaser, with two per cent off for cash. Barney Kelley, auctioneer.

To Hear The Bostonians.

   The following party from Cortland went to Ithaca this morning to hear The Bostonians, this afternoon at the Lyceum theatre matinee, present Victor Herbert's new comic opera "The Serenade:" Mrs. George L. Warren, Mrs. Mark Brownell, Mrs. Delos Bauder, Mrs. S. W. Sherwood, Mrs. F. B. Nourse, Mrs. A. M. Jewett, Mrs. C. H. V. Elliot, Miss Fannie Van Buren, Miss Lillie E. Dunn and Miss Anna Meara of Tully.

Orris Hose Rooms.

   In anticipation of the annual convention of the Central New York Firemen's association which is to be held in Cortland this summer, Orris Hose Co. have been making some improvements in their rooms which add materially to their attractiveness. New paper, fresh paint, the addition of a toilet room and cupboards for storing materials belonging to the company together with handsome new silk draperies for the windows make the room one of the pleasantest and most convenient of its kind to be found anywhere. The paper is a rich terra cotta of Empire pattern ordered expressly for these rooms and was furnished by Messrs. Smith & Beaudry. The committee who has had charge of refitting the room consists of Messrs. H. P. Davis, W. A. Wallace and A. W. Stevens.

ELLIS OMNIBUS CO.

Some Fine Work Turned Out—Coaches For a Pennsylvania Town.

   The Ellis Omnibus Co. has now on the cars ready for shipment a handsome new omnibus for Mr. J. Buckley, proprietor of the Central hotel at Boonville, N. Y. A large coach was shipped last week to Warren Bros. of Athens, O. In addition to these an eighteen passenger omnibus is nearly completed for Jackson & Groff of Ilion, N. Y. To-morrow the company expects to ship a coach to Cambridge Springs, Pa., for the Hotel DeVita. It has already sent to the same place a coach for the New Cambridge hotel and one to W. D. Rider, proprietor of Hotel Rider. These three orders from the same town speak well for the excellent quality of the work turned out by this company.

BREVITIES.

   —The contribution to the Sheldon Memorial from the Normal school amounted to about $12.

   —The Loyal circle of King's Daughters will meet with Mrs. A. M. Johnson, 70 Maple-ave. on Friday, May 13, at 2:30 o'clock.

   —New display advertisements to-day are—A. H. Watkins, Special Sale, page 6; S. N. Holden, Shingles, page 7; A. S. Burgess, Enterprise, page 7.

   —Mrs. A. M. Johnson, superintendent of the employment agency in connection with the Loyal circle of King's Daughters, is now located at 70 Maple-ave.

   —The members of Grace church choir are particularly urged to be at practice to-night, in order to practice for service to be held to-morrow afternoon at 2 o'clock.

   —Five men were arraigned before the recorder in Binghamton yesterday on the charge of riding their bicycles with their hands off the handlebars and were fined $1 each.

   —A clergyman not 100 miles from Delhi says after preaching to many empty pews, he went to the depot and there found about sixty men waiting for Sunday newspapers.

   —Attorney John O'Donnell this morning sold at mortgage foreclosure three-quarters of an acre of land in Truxton at the south door of the courthouse. The property was bid off for $80 by the mortgagee, Albert Curtiss.

   —The case of Mary E. Squires vs. H. J. Fredericks, which has been several times adjourned, was again called in Justice Kelly's court this morning. Neither party appeared and the case was held open until the afternoon.

   —Karl E. Rogers, son of Mr. and Mrs. Z. Rogers, died about 6 o'clock last evening at the home of his parents, corner of Squires and Duane-sts., aged 1 year and 27 days. The funeral will be held at the house Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock.

   —There is some prospect that the Normal [School] will be dismissed for most of the afternoon session on Friday afternoon for the field day held at the fair grounds. The boys are training daily, and it is expected that some fine work in athletics will be shown.

   —John D. Shaft of Moravia has received a handsome gold medal from the

Central New York Fireman's association for performing the greatest act of bravery for the year 1897 in carrying an exploding lamp out of Joseph Parker's house in that village, March 22 of that year, thus saving the lives of the children who were alone in the house at that time.—Groton Journal.