The Cortland Democrat, Friday, July 27, 1900.
THE DEMOCRAT UP-TO-DATE.
It is with great pleasure that we announce the installation in the Democrat office of a Simplex typesetting machine, of which the above is an excellent illustration. Aside from being a labor saver, it will enable us to improve the Democrat in many ways, and our aim is to make and keep the best paper in the county. The Simplex is something brand new, having been on the market only one year and our machine is the 179th one built. It was ordered early last March, but they have met with such favor that the factory is way behind orders and was only enabled to deliver our machine very recently.
Our whole paper was set on it last week for the first and the new type must have been a great relief to our readers, after struggling with our old dress which had been in use since 1890.
The new machine is a marvel in its way, actually setting and automatically distributing, after use, all the thousands of little type that go to make up a whole paper, and all with great rapidity. The operator sits in the swing chair and the type comes into line as she plays the keyboard, similar to a typewriter. A two column description would be inadequate to tell exactly how the trick is done, but we invite all our subscribers and friends to call and see this little marvel.
We take considerable pride in the machine, for the Democrat is the first weekly in central New York to install one, and in fact but few weeklies use them, they being intended for daily papers which have large composition to be quickly handled.
Simplex will enable us to set much more type each week than in the past and thus it will be possible to dispense with much of the plate matter formerly used on the second, sixth and seventh pages. In its stead will be substituted live local which will be of much more interest.
We want and will have a correspondent from every post-office and hamlet in the county and we want them all to write every week. This will give two pages or more of correspondence. If there are no regular items from your place, kindly drop us a line suggesting some one we may get to write.
With the machine, we will be able to handle the late news before going to press in full and complete manner.
Since purchasing the Democrat, the results have more than met our fondest expectations, and to keep in line with the times is our wish. It has now by far the largest circulation of any weekly in the county, and we hope, with the improvements it will be able to make, to soon pass all competitors.
Cortland Opera House.
OUR LAZY REPORTER.
What He Has Observed While Wandering About the City.
The weather the past week has been too hot for me to put forth any great exertion in gathering news, but as I lay in my hammock I have observed a new fashion in Cortland, one which I fear will strike terror to the hearts of the many milliners of the city and corresponding elation on the part of those liege lords who have been obliged to foot the bills for head gear. Many, very many of the ladies have discarded hats when they appear on the street, going to the churches, to the Opera house, to stores on shopping intent, and in making calls, with nothing on their heads but the luxuriant tresses which nature has provided. It is a very pretty custom for warm weather, but I much doubt if its popularity will continue through the winter months.
Since Friday evening I am convinced that Cortland is something of a city in point of population, as I have known for some time that it has been a lively business place. At the Opera house nearly every seat was taken; the large pavilion was filled with people to hear Dr. Tracey; the trolley excursion carried three car loads; a party at the park was largely attended; the streets were as full of people as usual, and notwithstanding all this, hundreds of people were seated on their front porches, enjoying the cooler atmosphere.
Don't mistake Del. Sprague's new coal office on Elm-st. for a hotel. To be sure its proportions seem ample for a hostelry, but Del. says he wants an office large enough to accommodate all of his friends and he will have it, too.
About that ticket! The lazy reporter overheard two prominent Republicans comment upon the ticket put in nomination by the Democrats last Saturday somewhat as follows: "Say, but that is a strong ticket, anyway,'' says one. To this the other added a reluctant assent, but expressed the hope that it would not be elected. I am not much of a politician, but judging from the speech of the people the Democrats have more than an even chance of winning.
Sour Krout is destined to be cheap and plentiful next winter, as hundreds of tons of cabbage are being raised in and about Cortland.
It is perfectly proper and safe for Democratic aspirants for the postmastership of Cortland to begin a little preliminary work.
There are some young men who can rise in the world and have honors thrust upon them without acquiring the "big head," and Edwin Duffey is one of them.
With three young, marriageable ministers in town I assume many of our young ladies are laying plans for a vigorous campaign.
PASSED FORGED CHECKS.
A Stranger Secures the Cash on Two Cheeks with Forged Signatures.
A slick looking stranger about 22 years old with light hair, smooth face and wearing a suit of light colored clothes, secured nearly $30 from two of our business men the past week by the use of forged checks.
Saturday this stranger entered Hotel Brunswick and asked the bartender to cash a check for him, which the latter declined to do. He, however, waited for the proprietor, A. D. Wallace, from whom he secured $10.50 in exchange for a check on the Bank of Cincinnatus, purporting to have been signed by B. R. Corning, who is president of the bank.
Monday evening the same stranger entered the drug store of F. E. Brogden and approached T. Carl Brogden, from whom he asked the favor of cashing a check, and the latter did so. This check also bore the alleged signature of B. R. Corning, and was made payable to M. V. Davis. The amount was $17.75, and the number purported to be 78. Both checks proved to be worthless, as the signatures were forged, and the stranger is doubtless working the same game in other localities.
John Hay.
Washington Letter.
(From Our Regular Correspondent.)
Washington, July 23.—Is there a secret understanding between the administration and the government of China? The acceptance by Secretary Hay and other members of the cabinet of everything said to them by the Chinese minister as gospel truth, is regarded as suspicious. Although scoffed at by the entire diplomatic corps and doubted by the public, Mr. Hay has accepted the cablegram alleged to be from Minister Conger and saying that he and other foreign ministers in Pekin were all right on the 18th inst. but in need of help, as genuine and the other members of the cabinet have even gone so far as to throw bouquets at Mr. Hay by publicly saying that his getting that message was a great diplomatic triumph. Diplomatic fiddlestick.
That message, whether fake or genuine, was secured by the Chinese minister for purposes of his own, and if there was any triumph about it, the credit is his. It is whispered among European diplomats in Washington that the administration has undertaken the contract of keeping the present Chinese government in power, regardless of any decision of the powers which are assembling an army in China for allied action. It is difficult to believe that Mr. McKinley has made any such agreement. His own imperial schemes are quite enough to keep him busy without his tackling those of China.
Senator Wellington, who some time ago declared that he would not support McKinley for re-election, is still throwing nuts to the administration which it cannot or will not crack. The senator said, while in Washington, a day or two ago, "If the situation in the Philippines is as favorable as the administration would have us believe, there is no reason why twelve or fifteen thousand men could not be sent from there to service in China. I think that would be America's fair quota of the international force for the relief of Pekin, and beyond the protection of American life and property; this country has no business to interfere with the affairs of the Chinese empire. American soldiers should never form a part of an army for the conquest of China. The European powers have sowed the wind and are now reaping the whirlwind. They have been looking for trouble in China for a long time, and now they have it. The fire they have kindled is a hot one, and this government should look well to it that American troops are not used as a catspaw for the pulling out of European chestnuts."
Secretary Root now says that the administration hopes to hand Cuba over to the Cubans within the next eight or ten months, but there are still men who believe that the island will have a string to it when it is turned over to the Cubans, and that secret schemes for annexation are being worked and encouraged by the administration for the purpose of making it appear when the time is ripe, that the demand for annexation comes from the Cubans. Gen. Wood had very little to say about annexation when he was in Washington last week, and that little was not important, although he was cornered by one newspaper man and made to acknowledge that he believed a large majority of Cubans now favored an independent government, rather than annexation. The administration knows that its attitude towards Cuba is being closely watched by the people, and that any act which even seems to imply that good faith would not be kept with the Cubans, would make thousands of anti-McKinley votes. If there is to be any trickery, it will be carefully concealed until after election.
It seems to be a little early in the campaign for Boss Hanna's henchmen to be putting out fakes, but all the same they are doing it. Several men known to be close to Hanna have been filling up Washington newspaper men with stories about how worried the "old man" was because of the refusal of some of the heaviest contributors to his campaign fund four years ago to give a cent this year, and of his fear that the national committee would have to skimp its campaign plans for lack of money. The object of these stories is to create the impression among the Democrats that the Republicans are going to be short of campaign money this year. It is, of course, absolute tommyrot. Hanna spent $8,000,000 four years ago, and he expects to spend quite as much more this year, and he knows just where to go to get it. If his victims do not come down without squeezing, he knows exactly how hard to squeeze them to get what he wants. He must think the Democrats are easily gulled indeed, if he thinks it possible to make them believe that the favored trusts which have profited so largely by Hanna legislation, will allow the Hanna committee to lack money to buy another election.
The Seneca Lake Sea Monster.
The Rochester Union and Advertiser of last week contained a humorous editorial in reference to the alleged sea monster in Seneca lake which will be interesting reading to those subscribers to the Democrat residing in the locality of the lake:
A local morning contemporary has information to the extent of a column and a quarter, "by special wire," concerning the Seneca Lake sea serpent. The monster was rammed to death by the steamer Otetiana a few minutes before seven o'clock Saturday evening, but the ropes which were attached to the body were broken by the great weight and it sank in six hundred feet of water. It would appear from the statements of Prof. George R. Elwood, a Canadian geologist who was aboard of the steamer at the time, that this beast is not a serpent at all, but a saurian. Its body is so large that it was at first taken for an overturned boat, but its length is estimated at only twenty-five feet.
This sea monster differs in several respects from the sea monster in general. In the first place, it is dead. No sea serpent has ever been dead before. And then it is short. Sea serpents are usually very long. And it has no crest, nor did it "undulate" when in motion. Undulating is the strong point of the average sea serpent. It cannot be denied that the captain of the steamer did his duty as he understood it, but if he had had any interest in the cause of science he would have captured this creature alive instead of ramming it to death. A monster of the deep that will lie still to be run over by a steamboat cannot be very hard to catch. Some idea of the bulk of the beast may be had from the statement that when the steamer struck it the passengers were thrown off their feet. Only a very large sea monster could give a steamboat such a shaking up as that. Perhaps it should be mentioned here that the prohibition sentiment is very strong around Seneca lake and that the towns at both ends of the lake have licenses. A great deal of red liquor is sold in Geneva and Watkins, and we confidently look for news of more monsters in Seneca lake. The next one probably will be red.
ANCIENT PAPERS AND DOCUMENTS.
A Note Made in 1823—A Parody on Buying Calves—Various Old Newspapers.
Several ancient newspapers and documents have come into our possession recently, some of which are of a very interesting nature. A note for only seventy cents is one of the curiosities handed us by W. E. Powers. It is nearly eighty years old and reads as follows:
For Value Received I Promise to pay C. W. & I. Lyndes or bearer seventy cents by the first day of January next, with use. Value received.
Dated Cortland Village, Nov. 27, 1823.
his
JOHN X SIGNOR.
mark
Charles L. Pardee, witness.
Endorsed on the note in part payments is 1 paper tobacco, 1 almanac and one stick of twist.
Judge A. P. Smith.
During one of the late Judge A. P. Smith's famous canvasses for county judge, after a circuit through the county, it was announced that he was buying calves. This brought out a parody in poetry, which was heartily enjoyed by the judge and his friends, and which is given below:
HERE AND THERE.
Tea is advancing in price on account of the war in China, and sugar is going up on account of the trust.
The annual school meetings will be held on the evening of Tuesday, August 7. at 7:30 o'clock.
The death of Howard Mills, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Mills, occurred last Saturday. He was 25 years old and had been ill with consumption for a year or more.
The friends of Rev. Robert Clements gave him a surprise Thursday evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. P. Hollenbeck, the occasion being his birthday.
The New York State Hop Growers' association will hold its annual picnic at Sylvan Beach tomorrow. [Syracuse] Mayor McGuire has consented to give the address of the day.
Dr. William A. White, who was a prominent witness in the Truck murder trial in Cortland, has been appointed first assistant physician at the Binghamton state hospital, in place of Dr. Eastman, deceased.
The D., L. & W. railroad company has purchased the Bangor & Portland line, a fifty-mile railroad in the slate and cement regions of Northumberland county. Pa. The acquisition will serve as a freight feeder to the D., L. & W., between New York and Buffalo.
Probably the largest and handsomest cask ever shipped into Cortland is one consigned to Henry Corcoran, and which is set up in his bottling rooms. The cask is made of oak, handsomely varnished with massive hoops in bronze. It is 51/2 feet high, measures 12 feet in circumference and holds 300 gallons. Its weight, when filled with Parker's Rye as it is now, is 2.800 pounds.
According to the Tully Times the war in China means a serious loss to the Indians of the Onondaga reservations. For years they have done a lucrative business gathering ginseng and shipping it to China. The trade in ginseng has fallen off very greatly and the Indians are very despondent, as they know practically nothing about farming and have only their annuity from the state when unable to sell their ginseng. Not only the Indians on the reservations, but many in Tully and vicinity will be affected by the war. The cultivation of ginseng has assumed quite large proportions here.
Some few years ago a law was passed compelling seats for female clerks in stores, that they might sit when not busy waiting on customers. And now there is a law compelling seats for female tablewaiters, to be used when not busy. And yet we have the instructors at teachers' institute condemning teachers who sit down while hearing a class. They would have the teachers stand during the whole session of the school. Some boards of education and superintendents are so imbued with the wisdom of the state instructors that they make rules compelling teachers to stand during class recitations. Are the women school teachers less human than clerks in stores or table waiters? Why should not the state apply the same rule to sit down employees that it does to those of corporations, firms, and individuals?
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