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| Li Hung Chang. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, December 7, 1900.
PEACE IS IMPOSSIBLE.
That Impression Grows Among Foreigners at Pekin.
PARTITION THE ONLY SOLUTION.
Negotiations for Settlement Have Not Yet Been Opened, and It Is Said a Resumption of Hostilities in the Spring Is Inevitable.
LONDON, Dec. 7.—"Negotiations for the peace settlement have not yet been opened," says the Pekin correspondent of the Morning Post, wiring yesterday. "The French, German and Japanese ministers are awaiting instructions and Prince Ching and Li Hung Chang are awaiting a more satisfactory edict.
"The impression is growing among men of all nationalities that peace is impossible, that a resumption of the campaign in the spring is inevitable, and that partition will be the only solution. Two American missionaries complain that the Germans at Cho Chau loot converts equally with other Chinese."
Andrew Dickson White.
White Repudiates Interview.
BERLIN, Dec. 7.—The papers here print an interview with the United States ambassador, Andrew D. White, regarding the relations between the United States and Germany in the China negotiations. Mr. White gave the press correspondent a formal repudiation of the interview, saying Germany and the United States had been working harmoniously together and also that nothing more divides them since it has been found that the conditions formulated by the Pekin diplomats are subject to amendment, to meet any decided change in Chinese affairs.
Russian Troops to Remain.
LONDON, Dec. 7.—The Daily News publishes the following from Nagasaki, dated Dec. 4:
"The order to send 5,000 Russian troops back to Odessa has been countermanded. They will remain in the Far East until further orders."
STATE PRISON REFORMS.
Separate Building Wanted For Prisoners Under Sentence of Death.
ALBANY, Dec. 7.—Superintendent of State Prisons C. V. Collins, the state commissioner of prisons and the friends of prison reform will make another earnest effort this winter to secure the passage of an appropriation bill by the next legislature for the erection of a separate prison for criminals under sentence of death. The estimated cost of such a building is placed at between $30,000 and $40,000.
Superintendent Collins earnestly recommended the necessity of such a prison in his annual report, and President Lispenard Stewart of the state prison commission also recommends the erection of such a building in his report made to the board upon his inspection of Sing Sing prison.
The prison officials are unanimous in the opinion that a separate prison should be built for the purpose. At Sing Sing and Auburn prisons every cell in the buildings devoted to this use have been filled at various times, and at Sing Sing last year temporary additional cells were required. By the erection of such a prison the expenses of guarding, maintaining and executing condemned men can be greatly reduced, as under the present system three buildings have to be maintained, heated and lighted; three sets of guards required; and three electric plants must be kept up.
The bill will designate Matteawan as the place for the proposed prison.
It is expected that a bill to centralize the state prisons, possibly at Albany, will also be introduced. Both Sing Sing and Auburn prisons are old buildings and antiquated as far as modern improvements are concerned, and Sing Sing is generally overcrowded the year round, which necessitates the convicts doubling up in their cells. Another reason for the centralization scheme is that it would tend to simplify the industrial enterprises at these prisons and materially reduce the cost of shipping.
In the event of the passage of such a bill Clinton prison, which is practically a new structure, will be utilized for the reception of insane and consumptive criminals.
Superintendent of Coast Survey.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7.—The senate yesterday confirmed Otto H. Tittmann of Missouri to be superintendent of the coast and geodetic survey.
TELEPHONE CONSOLIDATION.
A Great Organization Forming, But Will Not Fight other Companies.
BALTIMORE, Md., Dec. 7—It is said on good authority that plans for the combination of the independent telephone companies of the United States and rapidly nearing completion and details will be announced shortly. An agreement has been practically reached. Alexander Brown of this city is a leader in the movement.
The proposition is to combine the Maryland Telephone & Telegraph company of Baltimore, the Pittsburg and Allegheny Telephone & Telegraph company of Pittsburg, the Home Telephone company of Pennsylvania, the Allegheny County Telephone company of Pennsylvania; the Delmarvia Telephone Co. of Wilmington, Del.; the Erie Telegraph & Telephone Co. of Boston, which controls the Cleveland Telephone Co.; the Northwestern Telephone Exchange Co., the Southwestern Telegraph & Telephone Co., the Michigan Telephone Co., and the Wisconsin Telephone Co. The Telephone and Cable Co. of America, the largest of its kind in the United States, will be included. The Erie Telephone and affiliated lines operate one-sixth of all the telephones in the country.
Several influential capitalists are connected with the concern. The capitalization will be about $50,000,000. The new company will not institute a war with the Bell Telephone Co., but is determined to assert its rights.
Guglielmo Marconi.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIALS.
The Prophecy of Marconi.
Rapid and startling as has been the progress of science in the past 25 years, it has remained for Signor Marconi to make an announcement beside which the erstwhile scientific phenomena pale into insignificance. According to the signor, justly famed for his achievements in the domain of telegraphy, England and America will be in wireless telegraphic communication by Christmas of another year. One of his assistants says:
"According to reasonable calculations we shall have America and Great Britain upon speaking terms before the first Christmas of the new century."
It is one thing to make a statement and another to prove it. Judging from Marconi's triumphs in the past, however, and from the very fact that science is daily performing what would once have been styled miracles, it is not by any means an improbability that the signor can make good his boast, and if he does one will have to admit that he has affected the most, astonishing feat in the most astonishing of centuries.
The statement above alluded to does not in any way make known Signor Marconi's triumph. The obstacle that seemed to stand in the way of the discoverer's success has been the necessity of using masts in the transmission of messages without wires. It is now asserted that this necessity has been obviated by a discovery of means of controlling the air waves.
It is asserted that Signor Marconi's infinite capacity for taking pains has enabled him to construct apparatus whereby he can lengthen the air waves to an almost unlimited extent. Furthermore, by the same ingenious device sound will be made to travel close to the surface of the ocean over the whole distance, thus circumventing the dreaded difficulty presented by the curvature of the earth. Hence the masts erected at Southampton and on Long Island need not, it is now contended, be higher than the roof of a New York skyscraper.
Should the signor's assertions prove well founded the discovery will be of the greatest commercial interest. It would mean the superseding of submarine cables and that at an infinitesimal part of the cost of the present means of transoceanic communication.
TIME TO CALL A HALT.
SOME FACTS TO BE CONSIDERED IN THE POLICE CONTROVERSY.
A Serious State of Affairs—Some Provisions of the Penal Code Which Have a Bearing Upon the Police Muddle.
The police controversy is assuming a serious aspect. The matter was at first looked upon as a sort of joke. But when two sets of men are continued upon the streets day after day and both assume to be doing police duty and claiming to have authority for their action it is time to call a halt and find out what is the true state of affairs. Reference was made yesterday to some provisions of the city charter regarding the question of a quorum in the common council when certain action affecting the police force was taken and to-day the following sections from the Penal Code are submitted as having a direct and pertinent bearing upon the questions at issue.
Section 565 of the Penal Code says:
"A person who falsely impersonates a public officer, civil or military, or a policeman, or who assumes, without authority, any uniform or badge by which such an officer is lawfully distinguished, and in such assumed character does an act, purporting to be official, whereby another is injured or defrauded is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Section 119 provides as follows:
Any person or persons who shall in this state without due authority, exercise, or attempt to exercise the functions of, or hold himself out to any one as a deputy sheriff, marshal or policeman, constable or peace officer, or any public officer, or person pretending to be a public officer who, unlawfully, under the pretense or color of any process, arrests any person or detains him against his will is guilty of a misdemeanor.
If either of these two sets of policemen have put themselves in a position to be brought within the provisions of the Penal Code just quoted, and if they have been led to assume the uniform and authority of policemen illegally, through the instigation and suggestion of others, it would seem from Section 682 of the Penal Code as though those other parties who assume to give them that authority or lead them to believe that they are legally constituted policemen may be equally liable. Section 682 says:
When an act or omission is declared by statute to be a misdemeanor, and no punishment for aiding or abetting in the doing thereof is expressly prescribed, every person who aids, or abets, another in such act or omission is also guilty of a misdemeanor.
Fortunately no occasion has yet arisen which is likely to bring to an issue the questions suggested in the forgoing section, but the situation is such that serious difficulties are at any time liable to arise and legal complications may result which would bring the parties involved within provisions of Section 46 which says:
A person who attempts by means of any threat or violence to deter or prevent an executive officer from performing any duty imposed upon such officer by law, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
To be charged with a misdemeanor is no idle matter.
Section 15 provides:
A person convicted of a crime declared to be a misdemeanor, for which no other punishment is specially prescribed by this code, or by any other statutory provision in force at the time of the conviction and sentence, is punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary or county jail, for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than $500 or by both.
To show the serious nature of the present situation it is only necessary to suggest that any citizen of Cortland who feels disposed probably could enter a complaint and set in operation the machinery of the law which might lead to the prosecution of any policeman on the two forces except Patrolman Baker who is conceded by both sides to be legally in office and James A. Smith who is conceded by both sides to be legally on the force, but whose status on the force, whether as chief or as patrolman, is a matter of dispute.
In the light of the foregoing provisions and the serious character of the situation is it not time that the two contending factions in the common council lay aside all personal feeling and get together on some common ground. If they cannot, agree among themselves, would it not be wise to leave it directly to the courts and to take no farther action till the courts have decided? The welfare of this city demands an immediate settlement of the difficulty. The police force is not effective in its present condition. The safety of every citizen and his property is to a certain extent in jeopardy, for every policeman whose position is in dispute might well hesitate under these provisions of the Penal Code before performing the duties of his office and making any arrests.
SUFFERED A STROKE.
S. E. Welch Is Still Unconscious With Little Hope of Recovery.
Mr. S. E. Welch, who lives at 28 Groton-ave., suffered a paralytic stroke Wednesday afternoon from which he has not rallied, but lies in an unconscious condition with little hopes entertained of his recovery.
Mr. Welch was out on the walk shoveling snow Wednesday afternoon when he was seen by neighbors to fall to the ground. He was picked up and carried into the house and was conscious for about an hour, although he could not speak. Dr. Higgins was called and found that his left side was completely paralyzed. In about an hour he seemed to sink into unconsciousness and has remained thus ever since.
About a year and a half ago Mr. Welch had a slight stroke. He is 81 years old. Mr. C. E. Thompson of New York, a nephew of Mr. Welch's, arrived in Cortland this morning and is assisting in taking care of his uncle.
Died of Heart Trouble.
Mr. Eli B. Dickinson died at his home 3 miles northwest of Cortland on the Gulf road at 5 o'clock of heart trouble. The funeral arrangements have not been made. He was 68 years, 5 months and 6 days old.
GONE TO MORAVIA.
Charles S. Mead to Engage In Produce Business with Charles H. Springer.
Mr. Charles S. Mead, who for nearly eleven years has been an employee of The National bank of Cortland and who began at the bottom and has reached the position of head bookkeeper, has resigned his place and has gone to Moravia, where he will engage in the produce business. Mr. Charles H. Springer had built up a flourishing business in that line during the past eleven years and had found that it had grown beyond the point where he could carry it on alone to the best advantage. For some months he has been looking about for the right man for a partner. He finally fixed his mind upon Mr. Mead and offered him a partnership in the concern if he would go in with him. Mr. Mead went to Moravia and looked the ground over carefully and became satisfied that the opening was a good one and accordingly accepted it. He left Cortland last night for his new home and business.
Mr. Mead is one of the choice young men of Cortland. He has grown up here from a boy and is well known to a great many people, all of whom esteem him highly and have the most undoubted confidence in his integrity, his uprightness, his excellent principles and sound character, while he is also popular in a social way. All will be glad for him at the fine business opening which has come to him though they will be sorry to lose him from Cortland. He has many friends in Moravia and there are some compensations for him in the change of residence, aside from the business point of view, as it will not be like going among strangers for him to go to Moravia. Mr. Springer has surely made no mistake in the choice of a partner and Moravia will gain a good citizen.
Mr. Mead's resignation at the bank leads to two promotions. Mr. Clayton E. Mudge succeeds him as head bookkeeper, while Mr. James A. Corwin will take charge of the general ledgers, succeeding Mr. Mudge. Both these promotions have been well earned and are gratifying to the friends of the two young men. Mr. Hiram L. Bostwick has been engaged to succeed Mr. Corwin to take charge of the collection of drafts and checks. Mr. Bostwick is a graduate of the Albany Business college and a young man of ability and he will no doubt become efficient in his new place.
BREVITIES.
—New display advertisements to-day are—A. S. Burgess, Bath robes and smoking jackets, page 7.
—The telephone pole at the D., L. & W. station that was broken in two places in the storm of last Tuesday night is being replaced by a new pole to-day.
—This is the season of the year that the city pedestrian readily notices the relative pride that the property owners or occupants have by the condition of the walks in front of their residences.
—There will be a meeting of the members of Victor Hay Loft in the wigwam in the Wells block next Monday night. An election of officers will be held and other important business will come before the meeting.
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