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| John Hay. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, May 23, 1901.
GIVE CHINA A CHANCE.
United States' Disposition on the Indemnity Question.
FAVORS TAKING CHINA'S BONDS.
President Thinks Powers Should Take China's Paper at 3 Per Cent and Has Instructed Rockhill to Urge This View on the Ministers at Pekin.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 23.—President McKinley and Secretary of State Hay have been in constant communication with Washington during all their journey West. Dispatches from foreign embassies have been continually arriving and the Chinese situation has received special attention. The president has been anxious lest the difficulties thrown in the way of an arrangement by the demands of some of the powers might lead to indefinite delay and a consequent increase of the indemnity to be exacted. The points to be settled are, first, the total amount of the indemnity and the share of each power; second, the method of payment.
In regard to the first point the president has constantly endeavored to moderate the demands of the powers to an amount which China might pay without financial ruin or territorial dismemberment. He has thought that $200,000,000 was the maximum amount indicated by the best authorities consulted, and he has proved the willingness of this government to make every sacrifice in the interest of the integrity of China and the restoration of normal relations, by cutting down our already moderate claim one-half, if other powers would make proportionate reduction. These propositions have not been accepted by the other governments, though Great Britain has shown a disposition to a considerate treatment of the matter.
As to the method of payment it is understood that there are various propositions before the conference of ministers in Pekin. One is a loan to be contracted by China, guaranteed by the powers, which it is thought might be floated at 4 per cent with a commission of 5 or 6 per cent, another is a loan, not guaranteed, which would probably require an enormous commission and a heavy rate of interest, some 7 per cent.
Neither of these propositions were acceptable to the president. Two weeks ago he proposed that each of the powers should accept for its share of the indemnity the bonds of China at par and with interest at 3 per cent, provision for meeting the interest and for eventual payment being taken from the Likin, the salt duties and increased import taxes. Mr. Rockhill has now been instructed to urge these views anew upon the attention of his colleagues.
The attitude of the British government, as set forth in the recent speeches of its representatives in parliament, indicate that Great Britain, though not willing to go so far as this country in moderating the demands of the powers, is inclined to accept measures which, if adopted, may bring the negotiations to a conclusion.
AGAINST PLATT AMENDMENT.
Senor Gomez Delivers Speech at Cuban Convention Session.
HAVANA, May 23.—No vote was taken at yesterday's session of the Cuban constitutional convention on the Platt amendment. Senor Juan Gualberto Gomez spoke for nearly three hours against the amendment. He argued that it would be useless to accept it as the Cuban people would always be divided on this issue and he thought the majority of them would always be opposed to it.
"What assurance have we." asked Senor Gomez, "that this will be the final amendment the United States will impose? First came the joint resolution, then the treaty of Paris, and now this Platt amendment. What will the next congress have? Let the United States government have what it wants against our will, hut let us never consent to this imposition."
William McKinley.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.
The President's Tour.
Up to the time Mrs. McKinley was taken dangerously ill in San Francisco there had been no untoward incident to mar President McKinley's transcontinental tour, which was in many respects one of the most remarkable journeys ever taken by the chief executive of the nation, though brought unexpectedly to an end ere it was half completed.
From the time of the departure from the national capital until the tour was brought to an untimely ending in the metropolis of the Pacific coast the president had been welcomed with unfailing courtesy and unbounded hospitality. Immense throngs have everywhere greeted and cheered him, not as an individual or as the representative of any particular set of political principles, but as the chosen head of a sovereign people. In all the thousands of miles of travel and in the greetings of all the millions of people no word of insult has been spoken and not the slightest vestige of ill feeling exhibited. In the early stages of the trip the president's route lay through communities once bitterly hostile to the ideas he represents and still mainly opposed to him in essential matters of public policy, but the welcome he received could not have been more cordial or sincere. He has made a series of happy, tactful speeches, which have everywhere been well received and, though he has occasionally touched upon political matters, his utterances have been accepted even by those differing with him with characteristic American good humor. He has mingled with the people and been treated as one of them.
Viewed in comparison with the "tours" that have been made by the rulers of European countries the trip of President McKinley across this vast continent might be regarded as something quite miraculous. But we do not need to measure it by European standards. The American executive has gone on his way through the country absolutely without physical protection, and indeed there was no reason why he should be "hedged about by the minions of the law." That the president should be wholly free from insult or physical harm from the people who met to greet him was no more than might reasonably be expected in such a government as ours, but the trip has given the nation and the world another concrete demonstration of the deep, underlying popular respect for the office of the president of the United States, an office greater in honor than that of the most exalted hereditary ruler in the world and equal in prestige to it. It likewise demonstrates that we have the faculty, lacking in all other peoples, of forgetting our differences and burying our rancors without surrendering our convictions and honoring our chief executive regardless of the divergency of opinion as to the line of political policy he represents. It is not unprofitable that the lesson of national unity and strength taught by the president's tour should now and then be impressed upon us.
◘ Minister Conger says that Minister Wu deserves the gratitude of the American people. If we can get even with Mr. Wu with a card of thanks, we will be getting off cheap. Considering the acumen he has shown, it would not be surprising if he should present a bill for all the expert advice that he has been furnishing us from time to time.
Palisades.
NOBLE CLIFFS SAVED.
HUDSON'S HISTORIC PALISADES TO BE AN INTERSTATE PARK.
Beautiful Scenery of "the American Rhine" Preserved For Future Generations—Blasting Operations Stopped In Time.
After much talk and the using up of much newspaper ink the famous Palisades of the Hudson river are to be preserved. For many years the threatened destruction of these magnificent heights that run for 20 miles along the west bank of the Hudson has been a national disgrace. Stone contractors have long been using the Palisades as a quarry and have irrevocably ruined some of the most picturesque bits. At last the vandalism is to cease, for the legislatures of New Jersey and New York have appropriated money for the purchase of the Palisades. They are to be formed into an interstate park.
With the appropriation of the New York legislature, amounting to $400,000, added to that of New Jersey, $50,000, the interstate commission is preparing to purchase the property for park purposes. Title to some of the lands has already been taken, and the remainder will soon follow. As there are more than 300 separate parcels to be bought and the same number of titles to be examined it will be some time before the land comprised in the park is fully owned by the states. But they will all be taken over before Dec. 1 of this year. Some of the land is to be given to the commission free by the property owners, but most of it is to be bought.
Public opinion in both New York and New Jersey has been so greatly in favor of measures looking to the preservation of the Palisades that the legislation in regard to the matter has established a new record. The fact that the whole plan was approved by the legislatures of two states in one legislative year is almost incredible, as the enactment of the necessary laws in matters of this kind where only one state has been involved has often taken several years.
The commissioners in charge of the Palisades matter comprise some of the best known residents of New York and New Jersey. Among them are George W. Perkins, Abram S. Hewitt, Abram De Ronde and Nathan F. Barrett. It is said that the moving spirit of the commission is George W. Perkins and that to him more than to any other one man are due the progress and success of the present plan for saving the Palisades. Mr. Perkins is a financier of New York city, a vice president of the New York Life Insurance company and a partner of J. Pierpont Morgan.
To any one who has ever sailed on the Hudson, "the American Rhine," description or praise of the Palisades is entirely superfluous. It is true that opinions vary and that landscape painters affect to have a great contempt for the straight 20 miles or so of trap rock that rise sheer from the river bank. In winter the bare rocks present little that is attractive, but when they arc clad in the verdure of spring or summer or exhibit the varied tints of autumn to the ordinary eye the Palisades are a beautiful sight. It is not denied, at any rate, that they are a distinctive and historic part of the scenery of the Hudson and as such alone deserve protection from the quarrymen. From their top may be obtained splendid views.
The Palisades are part of a basaltic ridge of mountains that begins in Staten Island below the surface and extends far to the north to Rockland county, N. Y. The average height of the Palisades is 300 feet, but they rise in places to about 1,000 feet. They are in the form of vertical cliffs that have been left in relief by the erosion of the softer material at their bases. If the Palisades were unmolested by man, they would last practically forever, for the only natural agent of destruction that would have any effect upon them is the Hudson. The river is cutting away the base of the cliffs, but only at a very slow rate owing to the protection afforded by the talus, or fragments of rock lying at their base.
TO BORE FOR OIL.
OPERATIONS TO BE STARTED IN CINCINNATUS, N. Y.
Lewis Nusbaum of Bradford, Pa., on Hand With His Machinery—Options Secured on 4,000 Acres of Land—Company to be Organized and Stock Sold—Cincinnatus Aroused.
Cincinnatus is at present having its share of the general excitement over oil. The people are not particular whether they secure oil or gas, but they want something, and they are going to work to see what they can find beneath the surface of the earth. Lewis Nusbaum of Bradford, Pa., is the active promoter of the scheme and he has retained Attorny J. H. Murray of Cincinnatus to assist him in the legal part of the business.
Two years ago Mr. Nusbaum was in Cincinnatus as the representative of the Interstate Oil Co., and secured options on four thousand acres of land in the Otselic valley. This territory extends from the Willet line on the south as far north as the upper bridge and for two miles up the Brackel. It occupies the entire width of the valley and extends a little way up the valley of the Gee brook. It includes the great farms of the Crittendens, the Harringtons and of David White along with the other smaller farms. The Interstate Oil Co. never did anything with these options, but they have now all been assigned to Mr. Nusbaum. He is getting up a company with a capital stock of $4,000 to bore for oil or gas or to see what they can find. Lewis Emory, the oil magnate of Bradford, Pa., is back of Mr. Nusbaum in this matter. It is expected that a number of Cincinnatus people will take some of the stock.
The derricks and apparatus are ready to be shipped to Cincinnatus over the E. & C. N. Y. R. R., and work will be begun at once. The plan is to sink the first well somewhere near the eastern edge of the valley near the mouth of the Bracket creek, on the farm of Floyd Totman or Mrs. John Fish or Seward Beckwith or James Root. The exact location has not yet been decided upon. It is expected that the well will be bored to a depth of from 1,800 to 2,500 feet until Trenton rock is struck. Just what the outcome of this will be cannot be forecasted, but at all events an investigation of the interior of the earth is to be made to see what can be found.
HEAVY FAILURE AT ITHACA.
Proprietors of Ithaca Hotel File Petition in Bankruptcy.
Keller & Myers, proprietors of the new Ithaca hotel, have filed a petition in bankruptcy. The total liabilities are stated in the petition to be $21,921.03 and the total assets are $18,645.61. But in the assets the furniture and fixtures are estimated at $15,000 and upon this there is a chattel mortgage of $10,000. The validity of this mortgage may possibly be questioned on the grounds of preference of creditors. Ithaca people are among the creditors to the amount of $5,000. The proprietors claim that they have been conducting too good a hotel for the place and that the rent, $6,000, was one of the causes of failure.
TWO DEATHS AT MCLEAN.
The people Will Be Missed in the Universalist Church.
McLean, N. Y., May 22.—The Universalist church of McLean loses two of its staunch friends and members in the recent death of Mr. Edwin Fish, aged 62 years, and Mrs. Emeline Boynton, aged 88 years and 8 months.
Mr. Fish was a deacon of the church and one of its ardent supporters. With his keen intellect and fine spiritual nature the ''larger hope" always appealed forcibly to his mind and heart. To him God was the Father of all, and he saw in every man his brother. He was no more afraid to die than to live, as no man should be. To the last he took an ardent interest in all progressive and modern religious thought. To his pastor he said shortly before his death, "I have grown to be a much broader man in my thoughts within the last few years, and that knowledge is a comfort to me now." His religious thought cheered and sustained him to the very last and grew stronger as the body grew weaker. He was strong in his convictions upon any question in which he was interested, and he was interested in many; but he always admired and respected an honest opponent; he did not respect a man with no convictions.
Mrs. Boynton, while being denied the privilege of attending church for years, because of her physical frailty, nevertheless took a keen interest in all it was doing to the last, her intellect remaining unimpaired. She has always been generous in its support. She inherited her liberal faith and liberal disposition from her father, and proved herself worthy of inheritance. In her will Mrs. Boynton ("Aunt Emeline" we all love to call her) leaves $500 to the Old Ladies' Home of Ithaca, and $1,000 outright, besides the property where she lived, at the death of her only daughter Mrs. Melissa Mix, to the McLean Universalists church. She was true to it in life and remembered it in death.
The funeral of Mr. Fish was held at his late home May 2, under the auspices of the G. A. R., the tattered old battle flag under which he fought draping his coffin; and Mrs. Boynton's funeral was held the next day, their pastor Rev. U. S. Milburn officiating at both. They were laid to rest in the McLean cemetery.
The Cayuga association of Universalists will convene in the Universalist church at McLean Wednesday and Thursday, June 5 and 6. The program promises to be of an exceptionably high order. Outwardly the church is putting on a new coat of paint in anticipation of the event.
Next Sunday evening, May 26, Rev. U. S. Milburn will preach a sermon appropriate to Memorial Day, his theme being "Our Citizen Soldiers." ***
FUNERAL OF MRS. HILL.
Many Friends Gathered in the Rain at the Cemetery.
The remains of Mrs. Robert B. Hill, who died Monday morning at her late summer home iu Ridgewood, N. J., arrived in Cortland yesterday afternoon on the 4:43 train for burial. Many friends were gathered there and the procession of carriages that wended its way to the cemetery was a long one. Still other friends were there assembled to pay the last tribute of respect and love to the departed one. The spring rain was softly falling as the casket was withdrawn from the hearse and placed upon the rests. The cover was removed and the glass slid back and an umbrella was held above the exposed portion as the friends moved forward to take the last look upon the face so familiar and so natural. Going, as she did, without illness there were no marks of suffering. There was almost the flush of life upon the countenance, and it seemed as though she were but sleeping and must awake.
A quartet composed of Messrs. George Oscar Bowen, F. Daehler, L. L. Wellman and J. G. Osgood sang, "Abide with Me." Rev. Mr. Lyman, pastor of the South Congregational church of Brooklyn, of which the deceased had long been a member, conducted the services. Brooklyn is the winter home of the family; Ridgewood being their residence for only the summer months. Mr. Lyman spoke briefly of Mrs. Hill's efficient work in that church. She was one always to be relied upon. She was always ready to respond to a call to help any one in need. She had time at her disposal and she was constantly devoting it to the service of her Master. She was invaluable in the church. She was a favorite with old and young. For years it had been her part to train the children for all their musical duties in the church and Sunday-school. She had been the constant assistant of the pastor in many ways. And all of these things she did from the high motive of service. In concluding, Mr. Lyman paid a high tribute to pure womanhood, which found its embodiment in the deceased. He then read from the revised version the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians beginning at the 4th verse.
As the casket was lowered into the grave the quartet sang "Come Unto Me When Shadows Darkly Gather." The bearers were Messrs. H. F. Benton, J. A. Nixon, A. D. Blodgett, G. L. Warren, T. H. Wickwire and A. W. Edgcomb.
The services were concluded by an earnest prayer and the benediction.
The floral offerings were remarkably beautiful. Many of them were not brought to Cortland at all because of their size. Among them was a piece composed of Bermuda lilies and orchids that stood 5 feet high. This came from six young men who had belonged to a class in the Sunday-school that Mrs. Hill had taught. She had taken them as boys and they had grown up with her. Five of them had married and she had attended all their weddings. She had made herself to a certain extent a part of their life and they were wonderfully fond of her. This offering was the choicest thing they could secure. A few of the lilies and a few of the orchids had been taken from it and brought along. The Ladies' Benevolent society of the church sent a great mass of American Beauty roses, and the officers and teachers of the Sunday-school were represented by choice flowers. And in addition there was a profusion of loose flowers from individual friends.
The graves of all the deceased relatives in the Pomeroy and Goodrich lots which adjoin in the cemetery had been covered with flowers before the arrival of the funeral party.
Those who were present from out of town were Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Pomeroy and son Fred of Ridgewood, Mr. Myron Mills and two daughters, Mrs. Tracey Fuller and Miss Ada Mills of Binghamton, Mr. Horton Mills of Washington, D. C., Mr. and Mrs. Barrett of Lenox, Mass., Mrs. A. V. D. Mills of McLean, Mr. Byron Pomeroy of Otisco, Mr. Edward Pomeroy of Savannah, Mr. Lewis B. Pomeroy of Phoenix and Mr. and Mrs. H. D. Pomeroy of Canastota.
BREVITIES.
—Mr. Chas. D. Sanders has placed a new double-decked cigar case in his cigar store.
—The Loyal circle of King's Daughters will meet with Mrs. F. M. Ingersoll, 82 Railroad-st,, to-morrow afternoon at 3 o'clock.
—Cortland Commandery, No. 50, K. T., will meet Friday evening at their annual conclave when officers will be elected and installed for the coming year.
—New display advertisements today are—Boy Phenomenon, Magnetism, page 4; C. F. Thompson, Coffee, page 5; Mitch's Market, Meat, page 5; Baker & Angell, Shoes, page 6; F. Daehler, Belts, page 6.
—Mrs. H. M. Kellogg is resting quietly this afternoon with little change in her condition. Her physician thinks that within the last forty-eight hours there have been some symptoms of typhoid fever in addition to the pleurisy.
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