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| Clara Barton. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, November 4, 1898.
NO RED CROSS RELIEF.
Serious Charge Made Against Miss Clara Barton.
AN ARMY SURGEON'S STATEMENT.
She Refused to Supply Our Soldiers With Actual Necessities Claiming Her Supply Was For the Cuban Reconcentrados—Instead of Aid a Society Tract Was Given.
NEW YORK, Nov. 4.—Following is an extract from the report of Major A. H. Appell, surgeon United States army, in charge of the hospital ship Olivette, to the surgeon general United States army at Washington:
"While the relief associations did excellent work during the latter part of the war in the emergency of the campaign at Santiago, the medical department of the army was our sole reliance, and it requires all the training and experience of the regular medical officers, with the Fifth corps, few enough in number, to meet the emergency.
"There was no lack whatever of necessary medical and surgical supplies. But after the battle of Guasinas when we brought the wounded down the hill at Siboney, [Cuba], they were woefully lacking in change of raiment, having landed with but the clothes they had on their backs, which were torn into rags, covered with mud, saturated in many instances with the blood from their wounds.
"The steamer State of Texas, chartered and loaded with supplies of all kinds by the Red Cross association, with Miss Clara Barton on board, about this time came to anchor at Siboney. Accompanied by my executive officer, Lieutenant D. C. Howard, I called upon Miss Barton, explained to her the situation and asked her whether she could supply these men with clean underwear or pajamas. The [president] of the National Red Cross society received me most cordially, showed me the cargo manifest of the state of Texas wherein there was listed numerous boxes of clothing, but stated that the supplies were not for the soldiers; it was the government's business to look after them, not the business of the Red Cross and that all would be held until it was possible to deliver them to these people.
"There were at that time a number of surgeons on board the State of Texas, and four trained nurses, but although we were working night and day taking care of the sick and wounded, no assistance was given by them until some days afterward, when our own men were ready to drop from fatigue.
"My mission so far as the Red Cross ship was concerned was a failure. The net result was a society tract, which Miss Barton kindly presented to me. As I was leaving the ship I was requested to accept a few bottles of malted milk. About a month later I received a communication from the accountant of the association requesting a receipt for the same as a basis upon which to make claim upon the government for reimbursements."
INEFFICIENT OFFICERS.
Cause of Much of the Sickness of Soldiers.
TESTIMONY OF AN ARMY SURGEON.
Officers of Regiments and General Officers Failed to Correct Abuses When Their Attention Was Called to Them—Surgeons Have Not the Power to Enforce Orders.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4.—Continuing his testimony before the war investigation commission, Dr. A. Hartsuff said that many of his recommendations had not been acted upon, and in response to a question from Colonel Denby said a medical officer could not execute, but could only recommend. He attributed the failure to adopt his recommendations to the confusion incident to preparing a great army for the field.
Asked if the volunteer army surgeons under him were competent, Dr. Hartsuff replied that some were while others were not. The great difficulty had been to secure men of administrative ability to conduct the hospitals. He thought there had been suffering because of this ignorance and instanced one case in which he had found a big hospital practically out of food because none of the surgeons connected with it knew how to make a ration return.
Summing up, Dr. Hartsuff said: "In my opinion the sickness at Camp Thomas was due largely to the inexperience in many cases, the inefficiency of the medical officers who did not furnish the support they should have furnished to the medical department. The execution of any plan of operation rests largely with the line officers, the duties of the surgeons being limited to recommendation. They are therefore unable to correct abuses themselves and must depend upon others to do it. This applies to officers of regiments as well as to general officers."
Dr. Hartsuff holds the rank of colonel in the regular army and is now chief surgeon of the department of the lakes with headquarters at Chicago.
Colored Troops Quiet Down.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 4.—There has been no further trouble among the colored soldiers. Anticipating another outbreak on the part of the Sixth Virginia regiment, which mutinied on account of appointment of white officers, the commandant at Camp Poland kept three regiments under arms all night. The Sixth Virginia, however, drilled under its new officers.
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| Daniel S. Lamont. |
Looking For Larger Contracts.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4.—Ex-Secretary of War Lamont, vice president of the Northern Pacific railroad and another official of that road, were in the city in connection with Northern Pacific affairs. The main business was the securing of greater concessions from the postoffice department in the way of enlarged postal service on that line, including contracts for larger cars in part of the service. The propositions to this end were discussed with Postmaster General Emory Smith and Assistant Postmaster General Shallenberger and their feasibility will be inquired into.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
Ridiculous.
The claim of the Independent Citizens' Literary Bureau that the regular Republican organization in this county is going to trade, or injure in any way, the state ticket in order to help Mr. Sands, is too ridiculous to be considered. The regular county organization exhorts every Republican to vote the straight Republican ticket, Mr. Sands included. What earthly inducement could there be to lead them to do otherwise? Vote the Straight Republican ticket front top to bottom. This is The STANDARD'S advice to every Republican voter, and in this it expresses the earnest wish and appeal of the Republican county committee.
Why Not Mr. Sands?
Can any Cortland county Republican whose first and chief desire is the welfare of his party and his country. give any reason worthy the name why he ought not to vote for George S. Sands for member of assembly? If any such reason can be given, we have not yet heard it and have no expectation of hearing it.
Politically Mr. Sands is a true and tried Republican. He has served acceptably as chairman of the Republican county committee. He has always been regarded as a moderate, conservative, judicious party man, never an extremist or a factionist, never foolishly blind to party blunders and always earnestly in favor of whatever seemed to promise fairer or better political methods. Mr. Sands has not hesitated to criticize sharply where criticism was proper but has never been known as a sorehead or a kicker.
He did not seek the nomination which has been given him. On the contrary, he at first positively refused to consider it and when, against his protest, it was given him, he accepted it with great reluctance and only under extreme pressure because he felt it to be a duty and in the hope of harmonizing and uniting the party. From the day when he accepted this nomination his offer has stood open, to retire at any time and in favor of any man upon whom the party could unite better than upon himself. No candidate in the history of Cortland county ever accepted a nomination under circumstances more creditable to himself, or showed more plainly that he held the success of his party in higher estimation than his own ambition or advantage. Mr. Sands is to-day the regular Republican nominee by the unanimous vote of the regular Republican county convention, without his own procurement or encouragement, and against his personal wishes. Did ever a candidate have a cleaner bill of political health?
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| Robert R. Taylor. |
TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE.
Fine Addresses by Prof. Robert W. Taylor—Singing by the Quartet.
Upon two occasions in the past Prof. Robert R. Taylor of the chair of mathematics and first assistant to President Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Normal Institute, Tuskegee, Ala., has visited Cortland and has spoken in several of the churches upon the work done at that institution in the education of colored young people for citizenship and for usefulness. His addresses have been remarkable and have been well remembered for the amount of solid information which he has crowded into a five minutes' talk. He has also made many friends here who are glad to welcome him as often as he may be able to return.
The announcement, therefore, that he was to speak at the Presbyterian prayer-meeting last night and that he would be accompanied by a quartet of young men from the institute who would sing some of the southern negro melodies was sufficient to crowd the room to its utmost capacity. Every inch of space on the first floor was occupied, every seat in the gallery was used and every chair that could be found anywhere about the church, and still many had to stand. There were between 500 and 600 people in the audience.
The quartet which consists of Messrs. John Thweat, first tenor, Solomon Conoway, second tenor, John Taylor, first bass, and W. G. Hurley, second bass, all students of the institution, sang a number of selections at the opening and during the course of the service.
After Scripture reading and prayer by the pastor Rev. John T. Stone, Prof. Taylor was introduced and spoke for twenty minutes upon the work done at Tuskegee.
His address was interesting, instructive and inspiring. Prof. Taylor is a fine speaker. His language is polished, his delivery forcible and his manner magnetic. He is full to overflowing with his subject, and he never hesitates for a word. His illustrations are apt and timely and altogether he carries his audience right along with him so that every one is eager for more and regretful when he stops.
He spoke of the beginnings of Tuskegee in 1881 when Mr. Washington was the only teacher and there were but thirty students assembled in a little shanty and compared it with the present when they have over 1,000 students and eighty-six teachers and forty-four buildings, nearly all of which were erected entirely by the students themselves. They have a farm of 700 acres thereupon which the students work and from the sale of the products of which in connection with their manufactures they realized last year over $7,000. He spoke of the need of education in the South. The solution of the negro question is going to be in the education of the colored race and not only teaching them to be good, but to be good for something.
Tuskegee is in the heart of the "Black Belt" of the South. In Alabama they have over 700,000 colored people. In the ''Black Belt" the colored people outnumber the blacks six to one. Within a radius of 50 miles of Tuskegee there are 250,000 colored people. The 4,000,000 negroes who were freed from slavery at the close of the Rebellion are now increased to 9,000,000, and the idea may well be abandoned that they are ever going to leave home and be deported to Africa or any other country. They must be educated to be citizens right here in this country. Alabama spends an average of 81 cents a year for the education of each white child and an average of 76 cents a year for the education of each colored child. New York spends $19. The average school year in Alabama is three months in twelve and each child goes to school an average of two and one-half years. There is not a public library in the state of Alabama except two or three that are only partly public and which are conducted by the Y. M. C. A.
At Tuskegee they do not give a college education. They give them a good English training and they teach them the use of their hands. They teach twenty-six different industries there. The boys are taught to be farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, cabinetmakers, harnessmakers, shoemakers, etc., and the girls are taught to be laundresses, nurses, dressmakers, housekeepers, and above all good cooks. Last spring we graduated a class of seventy-five, and each girl wore a dress which she herself had made, and each boy had learned a trade by which he could earn a living.
There is a great opportunity for the colored people to advance in the South if they will and if they can be taught the arts, for the white people have a traditional dislike for labor and the colored people do 90 per cent of the labor of that section, skilled and otherwise. But the colored people as a class are empty-handed and almost empty-headed.
At Tuskegee we give the boys and girls an opportunity to help themselves. We charge them $8 per month for tuition, board and everything. But we give them a chance to work out from $4 to $5 per month of this and pay the rest in cash. Many of the students work all day and attend the night schools. One student came forty-seven miles on foot to attend the school and all he brought to pay his expenses with was a sack containing some chickens and eggs. They are taught among other things at Tuskegee to mind their own business, so they never asked this student where he got those chickens and eggs.
Prof. Taylor referred to the picture on one of the Omaha exposition postage stamps of farming in the great West and compared the farming in the South with that illustrated on the stamp.
The education which they give them at Tuskegee is to help them to do some one thing well. Education is a complete development, it is not information only; it is information applied. They aim to so teach the students that they can make the world better and to uplift mankind.
But though the great part of the training is devoted to teach the young people how to live, the spiritual side of their training is not neglected. In seventeen years only seventeen students have been graduated who were not professing Christians.
When they get through they do not go out educated loafers to drift into the big cities, but go out with skill to work among their own people. Prof. Taylor gave instances of the work accomplished by the graduates in stimulating the ambition of the ignorant blacks and in uplifting them. He referred to the good work done in the late war by the colored troops. He said that twenty-seven had enlisted from Tuskegee, seven of whom had been in the Tenth cavalry which supported the Rough Riders in the charge of San Juan hill. They did good service for [most][ black won't run.
At the close of Prof. Taylor's address and after the benediction had been pronounced and the service was at an end the young men consented to sing some of the southern plantation songs which they did in fine style and were warmly applauded. Prof. Taylor himself sang the solo in one case with the quartet accompaniment for an old camp-meeting tune. The professor stated that it was the aim of Tuskegee to preserve these old plantation songs, and whenever any student arrived at the institution with a new song from any locality he was encouraged to sing it, and if it proved a good one it was learned by them all and put in shape to preserve. Too often he said education made the colored people feel above those old plantation melodies and they didn't like to sing them and the fear was that they would be lost. At the end all joined in singing "America."
At the close of the social season an opportunity was afforded for any who cared to do so to make an offering to help in carrying on the work at Tuskegee, but no collection was taken. Over $38 were received last night and more came in this morning.
At 8:45 o'clock this morning by invitation Prof. Taylor and the young men were present at chapel exercises at the Normal [School]. In the absence of Dr. Cheney who was away at an institute Prof. Banta was acting as principal. Rev. John T. Stone, by invitation of Prof. Banta, conducted the devotional exercises, reading the first twelve verses of the first chapter of the Epistle of James and offering prayer. The quartet then sang a selection and Prof. Taylor made one of his five minute speeches in which the students probably gained as much information and heard as many facts as they ever did in any five minutes in their lives before. It was an appreciative audience and the speaker seemed to feel it. It was warmly applauded at the close. Then the quartet sang several more times, greatly to the enjoyment of the hearers.
After the classes had passed Prof. T. J. McEvoy, principal of the intermediate department, asked Prof. Taylor if he would not speak for a few minutes to the students of his department and the quartet sing, as he was anxious that the younger ones should learn something of what was being done for the education of their colored brothers in the South. Prof. Taylor consented and the intermediates were quickly assembled from their classes into the chapel. Prof. Taylor then gave another one of his fine little addresses.
The great power of adaptation which the man possesses was admirably brought out in the course of the three addresses made in Cortland. Each one was a model in itself, each was different from the other, though many of the same facts were used in all. The students old and young were delighted with him, and all have a new idea of the work going on among the colored race in some of the training and industrial schools like Tuskegee and Hampton, and others.
After the visitors had spoken and sung the department, led by Miss Alger, teacher of music, sang "America" and gave the salute to the flag and then wound up with "Onward Christian Soldier." Their singing was highly complimented by the young men from Tuskegee.
To-night Prof. Taylor speaks and the quartet sings at the Congregational church in Homer and no one who can do so should miss the opportunity of hearing them. It will probably be eighteen months before they appear in this vicinity again. To-morrow morning they go to Syracuse where they will spend Sunday. They have just completed a tour of the New England states, their object being to arouse interest in the work and secure funds to assist in carrying it on.
DEATH OF THEODORE PERKINS.
Formerly a Business Man of Cortland—Heart Failure the Cause.
Mr. F. D. Smith this morning received a telegram announcing the death from heart failure of his sister's husband, Theodore Perkins, at his home in Canandaigua at 9 o'clock last night. No particulars were given. Mr. Perkins had suffered from heart difficulty for some time and about two weeks ago was quite seriously ill. Less than a month ago with Mrs. Perkins he was for several days a guest of Mr. and Mrs. Smith in Cortland. His age was 62 years. Mrs. Smith left this afternoon for Canandaigua and Mr. Smith will go to-morrow morning. The funeral will be at sometime Monday.
Mr. Perkins came to Cortland In 1865 and engaged in the hardware business in the firm of Perkins, Jarvis & Co. In 1870 Mr. F. D. Smith came to Cortland and became associated with Mr. Perkins in the hardware business of which he is now the sole proprietor under the firm name of Theodore Perkins & Co. In January, 1871, Mr. Perkins sold out to Mr. Smith and moved to East Bloomfield, N. Y. Four or five years later he moved to Canandaigua which has since been his home. He has there been engaged in the hardware business and was president of the Lisk Mfg. Co., manufacturer of anti-rust tin. He was a man of genial presence and generally liked.
BREVITIES.
—The regular meeting of the Y. W. C. T. U. will be held in the W. C. T. U. rooms Saturday afternoon at 4 o'clock. All members are requested to be present.
—New display advertisements to-day are—F. Daehler, Red Neckwear, page 7; Opera House, "Tom Edson, the Electrician," page 5; Baker & Angell, Jenness Miller Shoes, page 7.
—The Cazenovia Republican has changed its form from the old blanket sheet of four pages to an eight page six column paper of convenient size. It has also put on a complete new dress of self-spacing type with new fonts of head letter like that found in The STANDARD. The Republican is now a thing of beauty and it is to be hoped will prove a joy forever to Brother Loyster.
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