FAIR A SUCCESS

 

Hometown baseball.

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, February 17, 1899.

FAIR A SUCCESS.

Base Ball Association Now Have A Bank Account.

   When it is taken into consideration that the base ball fair of last week was gotten up in a week and was all over in two weeks, the fact that a net balance of $983.56 is left in the treasury, shows conclusively that Cortland people are going to support the game in the old and substantial style during the coming season. The two last nights were record breakers in attendance, on Saturday standing room being taxed to its utmost. The contests, which had been very exciting during the last of the voting, were decided as follows:

   The $50 parlor suite, the season ticket prize, went to the thirteenth ticket drawn from the box which was number 305 and was held by W. A. Stockwell.

   Misses Josie Sullivan and Helen Gray were in the contest for the ladies' bicycle and the large sum of money turned in proved that both had worked hard. Miss Sullivan had $127.85 and Miss Gray had $91, the wheel going to Miss Sullivan.

   The watch contest was conducted by Misses Lena Waters and Daisy Watkins, the former having procured $102.89 and the later $94.54. As Miss Waters was already the possessor of a watch, she was therefore presented by the association with a wheel of equal value and the watch was given to Miss Watkins.

   The firemen's contest for the Turkish lounge was very exciting and was won by the Emeralds, the final vote standing: Emeralds 707; Orris, 601; Excelsiors, 337; Water Witch, 296; Hitchcock, 136; Tioughnioga, Homer, 165; Orient, Homer, 16. The young ladies who worked so faithfully in this contest were presented with season tickets to the games.

   The kitchen range was won by Earl Barry, whose guess on the number of beans in the bottle was 2,874, the exact number being 2,866.

   The other prizes were awarded as follows: Graphophone to A. K. Weatherwax; [kitchen] range to H. L. Hartwell; Fancy cake to L. Holmes; quart bottle of perfumery to Frank Brady.

   At the close of the contests the goods remaining were sold at auction, Prof. Hugenine acting as auctioneer. Every thing was disposed of and at the stroke of midnight the fair closed, leaving after all bills were paid the sum of $983.56 in the treasury. In addition to this, the cash subscriptions already promised will bring the amount of backing for our team up to a point where we will be enabled to keep up the fast pace the larger cities of the state league will set.

 

HOW TO VOTE ON EXCISE.

   In voting on the excise question four propositions will be submitted, viz: License for saloons, license for store keepers, license for drug stores, license for hotels. To vote on either, place your mark (a cross) in the square marked Yes or No. If you vote on only one proposition the balance do not count. You must mark in the squares before each proposition how you desire to vote on it or it does not count. No mark no vote.

   If you want the liquor business continued in the well regulated manner of the past two years, put your cross in the "yes" square opposite the propositions marked number 3 and number 4.

 

McGrawville.

(From Our Regular Correspondent.)

   In the Cortland Standard of the 18th inst. the Standard says: "McGraw claims the record for cold weather." Will the Standard please state to which one of the McGraws they have reference as there are several here and several at Cortland?

   Some things the people of McGrawville would like to know:

   How much pay do the proprietors of the Standard receive for calling McGrawville McGraw? In the Standard of the 11th inst. the Standard says, "Hon. George S. Sands has introduced a bill in the assembly amending the charter of the village of McGraw." Will the proprietors of the Standard please tell us where the village of McGraw is and when was it incorporated?

   The McGrawville Baptist and the McGrawville Methodist societies would like to have the proprietors of the Standard explain by what authority they change the name of their respective societies without consulting them as they think they should have something to say in the matter.

 

State Elections in 1899.

   This fall's election in the State of New York will be, so far as state politics is concerned, of the "off-year" variety. No State officers are to be chosen; no State senators. Only members of the Assembly will be chosen, and the contest for their election will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the important municipal elections in the cities of the second class. Rochester, Albany, Syracuse, and Troy, whose new mayors, to be chosen this year, will be the first to exercise the powers conferred by the second-class cities charter, a circumstance in itself sufficient to attract statewide interest.

 

Cold and Storm.

   It was evident, when the DEMOCRAT went to press last week that the old bear had seen his shadow on Candlemas day, but no one looked for the severe cold and storms which tied up the whole country and caused incalculable damage on land and sea. Railroads everywhere were troubled and thousands upon thousands of miles of track were completely useless owing to the snow. No New York mail reached Cortland between Monday afternoon and nearly noon Wednesday. This branch of the D., L. & W. was kept partially open, trains running between Syracuse and Binghamton, although very much behind time. The E. & C. N. Y. and Lehigh Valley also kept their lines open to a certain extent. Many roads abandoned trains entirely.

   The extreme cold caused untold suffering and records for cold weather were made which had not been equalled since the '60s or '70s. From last week Thursday morning to Tuesday noon the mercury hardly got up to zero and when it did it was only for a few hours. Usually it was down from 5 to 24 below. Public and private charity has relieved much suffering, especially in the cities, but many fatalities have been recorded.

 

Plumbers Harvest.

   It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and as nearly all have found that they suffered by the storm and continued cold, the plumbers have reaped a harvest. Many of them worked from Thursday morning till Wednesday of this week, including Sunday, with only a few hours for sleep and meals.

   Friday night a frozen water pipe in the Masonic rooms burst and the water did considerable damage to the rooms below. In the store of Warren, Tanner & Co. a considerable amount of cloth was water soaked and but for the timely discovery of the break, the amount of damage would have run into the thousands of dollars.

 

FROM EVERYWHERE.

   Utica will purchase 38 voting machines at a cost of $500 each.

   Syracuse ice dealers have organized a trust with a capital of $600,000.

   During the last four years 9,000 acres of hop land have gone out of cultivation in England.

   Eleven Hornellsville young men lost their lives during the recent war and citizens are planning a monument to their memory.

   The American Collector of Customs at Havana, Cuba, advises that no passports will be required by citizens of the United States in the future.

   A resident of Conklin, Broome county, makes several hundred dollars each year extracting skunk's oil. He sells it to people afflicted with rheumatism and to baseball pitchers, the latter of whom pay him $10 a gallon.

   Mason Mitchell, the actor and rough rider who campaigned with Roosevelt in Cuba and who now wants to be appointed appraiser of the port of New York, is a former Hamilton boy, and also has relatives in the vicinity of DeRuyter.

 

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIALS.

Give us License.

   By the provisions of the Raines law the excise question may be brought up every two years and this year it is due. A class of Republicans who became prominent in a so-called Good Government tirade four years ago, are again at the helm or this hypocritical movement. The gentle reader may think we put it too strong to call them hypocrites, but please look at both sides of the question. These people have every year had an opportunity to vote for genuine temperance candidates in the persons of the Prohibition nominees who are fighting for principle and not theory. Have any of the good government people made a cross under the fountain? It is not too much to say that probably not one has done so, but instead they have continually voted a straight Republican ticket and will do so next Tuesday. Of the present list of Republican nominees there are only three who do not indulge to a greater or less extent in the cup that, when used to excess, intoxicates. Would these men be apt to curb their own appetite and enforce laws which would deprive them of a coveted drink? No, but the so-called temperance people will vote for this aggregation of nominees in a body instead of voting the only real temperance ticket, the Prohibition.

   These men come under Webster's definition of a hypocrite, fully, and they are the ones who cry "no license" in the churches, on the street corners and will in the opera house Monday night. A nice lot of leaders.

   Now to pass from theory to facts. The Good Government movement is founded on the theory that you can legislate temperance, whereas the facts show that it cannot be done. Instead of there being less liquor sold and less intoxication without license there is really more as shown by the police court records. 1894 and 1895 were the last two no license years and the total number of arrests for public intoxication during those years was 325. Compare this with the two years just passed when we had license and there were only 262 arrests, we find a balance of 63 in favor of law and order under the license regime.

   Some will hold that this could or would not be so under the present Raines law but with Cortland dry, Homer generally goes wet and the traffic is neither restricted or regulated.

   To the conscientious Prohibitionist we have nothing to say, he actually votes as his principles dictate, but to many others there is a little matter which is dearer to him than all else—their pocket book—and to them and all who do not vote for genuine temperance candidates, we would refer a few figures.

   In 1895 Cortlandville was dry and the tax rate in the town according to the supervisor's journal was .02046. Since then we have had license and the rate has gradually decreased, being .0170 in 1896; .006092 in 1897 and .00766 in 1898. We have not at hand figures showing the exact share of the Raines law money in the town in 1898, but both the Cortland Standard and Homer Republican last fall printed figures for the year ending April 1, 1898, which give the saving to this town for the year by the excise revenue of $7,765.27. Now had you rather make up this sum out of your own pockets, or take it from the liquor men in pay for licenses?

   If the standard of morals in the town had been lowered during the past two years there would be no question but that it would be preferable to collect the extra $7,765.27 out of the taxpayers at large but when this sum is saved to them, with at the same time a betterment in the morals, less drunkenness, as shown by the police court records, there can be but one conclusion for the sane, thinking man—give us license.

 

CORTLAND OPERA HOUSE.

Fanny Rice is at the French Ball Thursday Next Evening.

   Fanny Rice is unquestionably the funniest woman on the American stage. Her humor is spontaneous, her laughter infectious, and she is intensely magnetic. These qualifications are primarily responsible for her great popularity, although it may be partially due to her pretty face and her trim shapely figure. She is indeed "A thing of beauty and a joy forever." Her voice is not the least of her attractions although its quality is silvery and whether in song or speech its resonance and sweetness permeates every corner of the theatre.

   "At The French Ball," in which she appears at the opera house next Thursday is one of those frothy, effervescent comedies that makes the average person beat time to its rhythmic movements. It is an adaption from the German and while possessing the marked elements of Teutonic humor, it is Americanized and brought thoroughly up to date. With a mediocre cast it would be acceptable, but with an excellent cast its rare comedy points are accentuated, but when that cast is headed by the Queen of Comedy, Fanny Rice, the acme of comedy interpretation is achieved.

 

HERE AND THERE.

   News reached us yesterday of the death at Jones Point, on the Hudson river near New York, of Charles A. Lounsbury. He formerly conducted a bakery in Cortland and two years ago moved to Syracuse. He was in the employ of the Onondaga Construction company and had charge of their asphalt refining plant at Jones Point. The cause of death is not known nor the funeral arrangements but the remains will probably be taken to New Woodstock for burial, that having been his home before coming to Cortland.

   The Loyal Circle of Kings Daughters will meet with Mrs. J. E. Hyatt, 182 North Main-st., this afternoon at 3 o'clock.

   The Cortland Political Equality club will meet with Mrs. Parsons, 88 Tompkins-st., Monday, Feb. 20, at 3 P. M. All are welcome.

   On account of increasing business Dr. P. Howland has added to his Proprietary Medicine department a new Smith Premier typewriter and cabinet, bought of Smith Premier Typewriter Co. of Syracuse.