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| Gen. Nelson A. Miles. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday, February 1, 1899.
BEEF FIGHT TAKEN UP.
General Miles Makes Another Public Statement.
STANDS BY HIS FORMER ONE.
He Claims to Have Overwhelming Evidence That the Embalmed Beef Was Treated With Chemicals In Order to Preserve It—His Answer to the Packers' Challenge.
NEW YORK, Feb. 1.—General Nelson A. Miles gave out a statement after having several published interviews attributed to him. He prefaced his statement by saying: "I have been most freely quoted without authority from me, or without any utterance on my part. It has been a source of great annoyance to me."
His statement is as follows:
"On the 20th of last September I issued an order to regimental commanders ordering them to report to me concerning the beef which had been issued to their men. At the time I went before the war investigating commission I had only received reports from 14 of the commanders. Now I have 30 reports. They all tell the same story. The evidence proving the truth of the statements which I made is abundant and overwhelming. In addition to the reports of the regimental commanders I have a great mass of evidence consisting of communications, affidavits, etc., from officers, soldiers and civilians. Every part of the country has contributed to the mass of correspondence which I have received in reference to the beef served to our soldiers and the evidence is all corroborative of what I have said. The great publicity which the press has given to the matter has brought all the correspondence of which I speak upon me.
"I have overwhelming evidence that the embalmed beef was treated with chemicals in order to preserve it. I have affidavits from men who saw the beef undergoing the treatment of embalming process.
"Now, as to the canned roast beef that was different from the embalmed beef: The canned roast beef was the beef after the extract has been boiled out of it. You have seen the advertisements 'beef extract, one pound contains the substance of from four to five pounds of prime beef.' Well, this is the beef after the extract has been taken from it. They put this beef pulp up in cans and label it 'canned roast beef.' The soldiers report that the canned beef was nauseating. If swallowed it could not be kept on the stomach."
It was pointed out to General Miles that he had been quoted as having said that if the men who supplied the beef would deposit a thousand dollars in such a way that it could be made to pay the cost of the proceedings he would furnish absolute proof of his assertion. He was asked what tribunal he had in mind or to whom he would furnish this proof, and in reply he said:
"I made that statement in response to the offer of the beef men to pay a hundred thousand dollars for evidence of the truth of my allegations against their product. I looked on their offer as a bluff and took that way in answering it. I have no particular tribunal in mind. I have the greatest abundance of evidence to support the charges I made and do not think that any part of the thousand dollars need be spent in more investigation."
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| George Gray. |
SENATOR GRAY'S VIEW.
Argument In Favor of Ratification of the Treaty.
WHY HE CHANGED HIS MIND.
He Was at First Opposed to the Acquisition of the Philippine Islands but Finally Yielded to Prevent Further Hostilities —What Was Done In the Senate.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1.—Senators Money and Gray occupied the entire executive session of the senate in speeches on the peace treaty, Senator Gray favoring ratification and Senator Money opposing it. Senator Gray was the third of the Paris commissioners to speak, and while he gave some attention to the published matter bearing on the treaty, he did not go into this in such detail as did Senators Frye and Davis. He admitted that in the beginning of the negotiations he had been opposed to the acquisition of the Philippine archipelago, and said that he had freely and frankly advised the president and his fellow commissioners of his belief that it would be unwise to attempt to shape its destiny. He had used his best endeavors to bring them to accept his views, but had utterly failed. He at last reached the conclusion that he would either have to join with the majority or see the treaty fail and the war continue. In the meantime he had been largely won over by the arguments of his colleagues and by the logic of the situation and he had at last concluded to sign the convention.
Having taken this position he was here now to defend the treaty as a wise conclusion of a most delicate diplomatic undertaking. Many complications had beset the commissioners in their work and while he would not retract what he had heretofore said as to the undesirability of acquiring distant territory, as a matter of principal, still there were times when a nation as an individual might have to choose between evils. There was danger of many complications of an international character in case the United States should elect to pursue a different policy. He reiterated that the ultimate conclusion to take the entire Philippine group was that of the commissioners rather than of the president, and also went into the difficulties of getting the Spanish commissioners to come to a conclusion.
Senator Gray did not advocate permanent occupation of the Eastern islands, but said that the duration of our exercise of sovereignty there should be settled in the future. In reply to a question by Senator Mason he said that he would not attempt to fix a time—that this only could be done after we had an opportunity to study the situation, to know the people and learn their capacity. He had every confidence in the American people, and he believed that they would not only give the natives their freedom when they had shown a capacity for taking care of themselves as a nation of the world, but that they would manage the affairs of the islands wisely and well while they controlled them. They would give the islanders a fair start in civilization before turning them loose to shift for themselves.
Senator Money attacked the acquisition of the islands as contrary to the spirit of American institutions, and as unconstitutional. He said the government of the United States could not afford to put itself in the attitude of a Don Quixote in a vain effort to care for and advance the interests of every people in every land that appeared according to our standards of civilization, to need our help. He had been an advocate of intervention in the case of Cuba, but from this fact it did not follow that he was willing to transfer the Philippines from Spanish vassalage to a dependence of the United States. He did not consider that we were especially concerned as to the future of the Filipinos, and so far as he was concerned he should leave them to work out their own salvation. This would be far preferable to assuming responsibility for them and making them citizens of the United States, as they would inevitably come to be if the treaty should be ratified. We had made allies of them in the Spanish wars by the acts of our own agents and in the interest of fair dealing should let them accomplish their independence if they could do so.
Senator Teller, in a brief rejoinder, converted this position, saying that an act of congress would be necessary to fix their status toward the body politic.
HORSELESS TRUCKS.
THEY WILL SOON BE DOING CARTING OF BIG CITIES.
Autotrucks Are to Be Put to Work Right Away in New York, London and Paris—To Be Moved by Compressed Air.
The street ear horse is already an unaccustomed sight. The truck horse is soon to be eliminated. New York will soon have hundreds of autotrucks moving swiftly and silently about its business streets as the motor cabs now glide about in the residential portion of the metropolis. A syndicate of capitalists is about to introduce these horseless trucks not only in New York, but in London and Paris as well. In time they will be seen in every American city.
The autotruck will be a distinctly novel feature of urban life. It will make a radical change in the character at the street panorama. It will bring with it economy of space and time.
Street blockades will presently be things of the past. Being only six or eight feet long, the autotrucks will take up about one-third as much room as the horsepower trucks of today. As their carrying capacity will be much greater than the old trucks, there will be fewer of them. When backed up to the curb, they will not occupy half the street as at present.
That picturesque and profane individual, the truck driver of today, will lose many of his characteristics. Shorn of his whip and lines, he will perch on a lofty seat and grip a double motor wheel. Doubtless he will prove a terror to pedestrians, as of old, but there will be fewer opportunities for him to come into collision with his brother truck drivers. As a result he will lose something of his powers of repartee. Having nothing animate to swear at, his morals may be improved.
James H. Hoadley, president of the Compressed Air company, is quoted as saying in regard to the objects and prospects of the autotruck company:
"The company is to be purely an operating one. The trucks and compressors will be manufactured by the American Wheelock Engine company at Worcester, Mass., and by the International Air Power company, which is being incorporated in New Jersey and of which Joseph Leiter of Chicago is to be president. An existing plant has been bought by him for $3,000,000, and the plant will be in operation within 60 days. The International Air Power company represents $7,000,000.
"Mr. Leiter has interested the Rothschilds and other European capitalists in the introduction of autotrucks, and they will be first operated in London, to be followed in Berlin and Paris. All foreign shipments will be made by him. Edwin J. Cramp, the Philadelphia shipbuilder, is president of the Wheelock company."
The Autotruck company will enter the field of general trucking, but trucks will first be operated in the hauling of coal. Then it proposes to take up other large trucking industries and work down to the handling of general traffic.
The trucks are to be introduced immediately after the organization is completed. The machinery for the central station for the generating of the compressed air power is ready for shipment, and there are ready enough trucks to make a beginning.
Platform trucks for carrying heavy machinery and trucks with high boxes for coal, ice or other commodities will be used. Motormen who operate these trucks will have a high seat forward, with a double wheel similar to the arrangement on a cable car.
Although these trucks will have a carrying capacity of eight tons and can be run on smooth pavements as fast as eight miles an hour, it is asserted that they can be stopped in their own length.
The promoters of the autotruck enterprise claim that their vehicles can haul a load of eight tons 25 miles without the compressed air being replenished and that one truck will move a three horse load with great ease over wet and slippery asphalt, the particular bane of the truck horse, without the slightest difficulty.
From a sanitary standpoint and in the matter of cleanliness it would make a great difference to a city if from 150,000 to 160,000 horses in its streets were done away with.
Electricity cannot be used for trucks designed to carry heavy loads owing to the weight of the storage batteries that would be required. It does very well for cabs and light delivery wagons, but trucking is another matter.
An attempt is to be made to absorb the principal trucking interests of New York city and to gradually replace horse drays with autotrucks without antagonizing the present owners. The plan proposed is similar to that followed in organizing trusts. Separate interests are to be purchased, and truck drivers are to become motormen. If this plan does not work, there will be a fight between the old methods and the new. MARK NORRIS.
VILLAGE TRUSTEES.
BUSINESS TRANSACTED AT TUESDAY NIGHT'S SESSION.
Bonds Ordered Issued for Balance of Local Paving Assessment, of Which $20,541.98 Has Already Been Paid—Traction Company Does Not Pay Its Assessment—Action to be Begun—No Settlement Yet With the Warren-Scharf Company.
One of the distinguishing features of meetings of the board of village trustees for the last few months was conspicuously absent at last night's meeting, and that was the presentation of a claim for damages against the village. After passing the order of business, entitled complaints, requests and petitions, and no claim had been presented, the village solons each drew a sigh of relief, and settled down to business.
There was not a vacant aldermanic chair when President Stilson called the meeting to order at six minutes before 9 o'clock, and the wheels of village legislation were set in motion as Clerk Crombie read the journal of three previous meetings which seemed to be satisfactory and was approved.
The auditing of current bills revealed the following:
Street Commissioner's payroll, $94.55
D.. L. & W. mileage book, 10.00
Allen & Chubb, 1.25
Cortland Standard Printing Co., 30.00
Jas. F. Costello, salary, 25.00
W. C. Crombie, salary and postage, 35.41
Police force, 126.00
C. Deremer, labor, 75
Buck & Lane, supplies, 30
H. C. Allen, special services, 144.00
The bill of C. F. Brown, $9.98, for medicines, etc., furnished Dr. W. J. Moore during his affliction with the smallpox, and which has been on the table a long time, was ordered paid, Corporation Counsel O. H. Kellogg having advised its payment.
The bill of Health Officer E. A. Didama, which included a charge of $10 for disinfecting [smallpox] Dr. Moore's residence, was also ordered paid. The claim presented by Dr. Moore himself, some time ago, of $190 was then taken up. Trustee Nodecker said that he did not believe the village ought to pay for the destroying or burying of the furniture. He thought Dr. Moore should have his pay, but "let those pay who burned the furniture," said the Third ward representative. Trustee Sprague moved that the bill be again referred to the board of health for further itemizing in the matter of stating the particular pieces of furniture destroyed. The motion was seconded by Trustee White, and the ayes and nays were called for by Trustee Nodecker. The motion was carried, Trustee Nodecker alone voting in the negative. The board also voted to pay Superintendent of Fire Alarm James F. Costello $15 for ten days' vacation last summer.
Paving bonds, series B, in amount $22,209.14 were ordered issued. This is the amount of the local Main-st. assessment yet unpaid, and which must be paid in ten equal annual installments with interest at 4 per cent.
The total local assessment was $42,751.12, and of this, $20,541.98 has been paid to Village Treasurer H. R. Maine, yesterday being the last day for cash payments.
The name of the persons who paid their local assessments, and the amounts paid are as follows:
C. F. and T. H. Wickwire, 235.38
Wickwire Bros., 1,318.73
Village of Cortland, 127.00
Total, $20,541 98.
The Cortland & Homer Traction company has not paid its assessment of $14,451.76, and the board instructed Village Attorneys Kellogg & Van Hoesen to collect the same by action if necessary.
The Traction company will refuse to pay, and of course an action will be brought.
Mr. George C. Warren of the Warren-Scharf Asphalt Paving company was present expecting to close up finally the paving contract and turn the pavement over to the village. He submitted the maintenance bond of the company in the sum of $18,000 for keeping in repair the pavement for ten years. The trustees desired that the whole matter be examined by Corporation Counsel O. U. Kellogg, and took no action of any kind in the matter. Mr. Kellogg was unable to attend to the matter last night as he was engaged in the trial of the Conway case in supreme court. An adjournment was taken until next Monday night.
NEW GENERAL MANAGER.
H. B. Westcott of New York for the Traction Co.
The resignation of Mr. F. P. Mooney as general superintendent of the Cortland & Homer Traction Co. and the Cortand & Homer Electric Co. took effect this morning and his successor is Mr. H. B. Westcott of New York City, who is already in town to assume charge of the affairs of the companies. Mr. Westcott arrived this morning, and is registered at the Cortland House, where he will be for a time. Mr. Westcott has become financially interested in the business and will be its general manager. This business will not be new to him for he successfully conducted the Zanesville, O., system of street railroads for two years prior to June, 1898. Since that time he has been located in New York, and doing contract work in railroad construction. He has made a special study of mechanical and electrical engineering, and is in every way fitted for the position. Mr. Westcott is a young man of pleasing address, and will doubtless form many warm friendships in Cortland. Mrs. Westcott is expected in town to-morrow.
THE STATE LEAGUE.
J. H. FARRELL RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY.
His Election Was Unanimous—Salary Limit Not Raised—Umpires' Salaries Fixed—Season Opens May 12 and Closes Sept. 9—Circuit Not Yet Decided Upon.
Of the annual meeting of the State League yesterday the Syracuse Post-Standard says:
The annual meeting of the New York State league magnates opened at the Yates at 4:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon and adjourned after 10 o'clock last night, after electing officers, awarding a franchise to Rome and arranging matters preliminary to the opening of the season, which will occur May 12.
President John H. Farrell of Auburn was re-elected president by a unanimous vote and at an increased salary of $200. The opposition to his re-election, which was based principally upon a "kick" fostered by Utica and to the effect that he was interested financially in the Auburn team, made itself apparent throughout the afternoon when the magnates gathered in groups about the corridor and talked over the advisability of engaging some disinterested party to succeed Farrell.
The latter, however, was equal to the occasion, and when the announcement was made that the Auburn team would be controlled by a stock company during the season it fell like a bomb in the midst of the few magnates who were zealous in their scheme to oust him.
The men named in opposition to Farrell were A. P. Beatty of the Utica Observer and Howard Cobb of Ithaca, who managed the Corning team last year. The friends of both had been urging their candidacy among the magnates and the chances of either appeared good until the surprising announcement in regard to the Prison City team was made.
The amount of weight which this announcement carried was demonstrated when it came to the election of officers, Farrell being chosen unanimously upon motion of W. P. Rayland of Rome, who also offered the motion increasing his salary. Both went through without a dissenting voice. Mr. Rayland was elected treasurer of the organization and will furnish bonds in the sum of $2,000 for the proper fulfillment of his duties.
Rome was readmitted to the league and applications were received from Binghamton, Amsterdam, Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Hamilton and London, the latter cities having representatives at the meeting. They were informed that it would be needless to press their suit for membership, inasmuch as it had previously been determined that the admission of the Canadian cities could but eventually result in the financial embarrassment of the league.
D. O. Peters of Amsterdam voiced the sentiments of the people of his town in a communication starting that they were enthusiastic for baseball and that the street car company of that city would individually construct a park at a cost of $5,000.
James D. Maloney of Troy sent a similar communication, and Howard Earl, who held the proxy for Albany, stated that that city would prove one of the best, from a financial standpoint, in the league. The matter was argued at considerable length and a committee was appointed to visit each city with instructions to admit the two most feasible to membership, their action to be subject to ratification by the president.
The salary limit for the season was fixed at $800, or the same as last year. The league advanced itself from Class C to Class B upon motion of Magnate Sayer of Oswego. The farming rule was abolished and the guarantee placed a $40. The salary of umpires for the season was fixed at $6 per day for regular games: $3 in case of rain and $12 for holidays. The season will open on May 12 and continue until Sept. 9. Following the election of two other cities for membership the work of arranging a schedule for the season will commence.
The magnates in attendance at the meeting were as follows: President J. H. Farrell, representing Auburn; J. A. Sayer of Oswego, A. R. Brown and Howard Earl of Utica, William Rayland of Rome, Stillman and Parsons of Cortland, Al Lawson of Schenectady and Chap Collins for London and Hamilton. Howard Earl held a proxy for Albany. President Farrell held a proxy for Binghamton. Henry Ramsey of Canandaigua, George H. Geer of this city [sic.]
BREVITIES.
—Charter election occurs March 14.
—New display advertisements to-day are—Model Clothing Co., The Blunt Truth, page 7.
—The annual meeting of the Cortland Union Beekeepers' association will be held at Good Templars' hall, Saturday, Feb. 11.
—The terms of School Commissioners G. J. Mager, G. L. Warren and A. W. Edgcomb expire this spring, and their successors are to be chosen at the charter election to be held March 14.
—Mrs. Catharine C. Wheeler died last night at the home of Miss Carrie Jagger, 17 Reynolds-ave., at the age of 87 years, 10 months and 16 days. The funeral will be held at 8 o'clock to-morrow morning, and will be conducted by Rev. J. H. Pearce, D. D. and the remains will be taken on the D. L. & W. train to her former home at Katonah for burial.
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