FRENCH SEIZE CUSTOMS AT SMYRNA, SPECIAL ELECTION TOMORROW, CEMETERY TRUSTEES, AND BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS

 

French Minister Theophile Delcasse.

Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1901.

THREAT CARRIED OUT.

Reported That French Have Seized Customs at Smyrna.

SULTAN TURNS TO GREAT BRITAIN.

Rakes Up a Treaty of 1878 by Which England Promised, For a Consideration, to Preserve Integrity of Asiatic Turkey and Asks Her to Halt France.

   LONDON, Nov. 5—The Paris correspondent of The Daily Mail says he understands that dispatches have been received at the French capital announcing that Admiral Caillard's division of the French Mediterranean squadron has arrived at Smyrna and seized the customs.

   PARIS, Nov. 5.—"The porte has asked Great Britain," says the Constantinople correspondent of The Echo de Paris, "to fulfill the terms of the convention of 1878 whereby in exchange for the Island of Cyprus Great Britain guarantees the integrity of the sultan's Asiatic possessions.

   "The porte claims under this convention that Great Britain should protect Asiatic Turkey against attack by France and suggests that Great Britain should send a squadron to the Levant for that purpose."

   According to the Athens correspondent of The Journal a French dispatch boat arrived yesterday at Syra, capital of the island of Syra, to get a number of dispatches that were waiting at the telegraph office.

 

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE TAKEN.

French Chamber of Deputies Approves Action of M. Deleasse.

   PARIS, Nov. 5,—In the chamber of deputies yesterday M. Delcasse, minister of foreign affairs, said that the appearance of French cruisers off the Turkish coasts had several times proved that France had not forgotten the protection she owed to Christians and the latter understood this. It was true that the reforms promised the Armenians had not been executed, that the Armenians had too often been the victims of unpunished outrages and that oppression also reigned in Macedonia and in old Servia. The French government had put forth every effort to restore justice and tranquility, but France was not alone bound by the treaty of Berlin. The chamber could rest assured that the government would never forget its duties towards humanity. But it must first of all remember its duties towards France.

   The foreign minister's statement was greeted with applause.

   M. Sembat was not satisfied with M. Delcasse's statement, and moved that the chamber, convinced that France would fail in her duty if she did not protect the Armenians in an effectual manner, resolves that the government facilitate this protest by an agreement between the powers.

   The premier, M. Waldeck-Rousseau, then rose and said that M. Delcasse's declarations showed that the government's task was heavy and complex. As the government desired to secure respect for the interests of its fellow citizens, so it intended to defend the patrimony of moral interests devolving upon France. It needed the confidence of the chamber in order to accomplish its task. A vote of confidence in the government was then taken, resulting affirmatively, 305 to 77.

 

Vice-Admiral Leonce A. Caillard.

THE FRENCH FLEET

Has Seized Three Ports in Mytilene in Turkish Waters.

   PARIS, NOV. 5.—The French squadron, under Admiral Caillard, which was sent to make a demonstration in Turkish waters, has seized the three principal ports of the Island of Mytilene in the Grecian archipelago.

 

Box for the Armenians.

   A box will soon be sent to the Armenian family who left this place [Cortland] about a year ago to live in California. If any one wishes to contribute anything, it will be very thankfully received. Any little article may be left at the Fair store in Homer, or at Sager's drug store in Cortland, or it may be given to Mrs. Nixon or Mrs. Wooster. They [Armenians] are having a hard struggle to maintain themselves, and there is not much prospect of the father ever being able to do anything for them. MRS. M. WOOSTER.

 

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIALS.

Trust Subsidies and Competition.

   The Pittsburg Post publishes the statement that the United States Steel corporation has decided to discontinue the subsidies which some of its constituent companies have been paying to manufacturers of machinery on condition that they would make no machinery for competing firms. The subsidiary companies mentioned as having pursued this harmful method of preventing competition are the American Tin Plate company and the American Sheet steel company. Each of these companies, it is explained, at the time of its organization entered into agreements with the manufacturers of the machinery it used, guaranteeing them more business than they had hitherto done, provided they would make no machinery for independent concerns.

   Such agreements are clearly against public policy and doubtless would not have been enforced in the courts had either party complained, but inasmuch as both parties thought them advantageous their legality was not brought into question.

   The aggregate amount paid in subsidies to the machinery manufacturers is stated to have been "somewhere near $1,500,000" annually, and the amount was steadily increasing because new firms went into the business of making machinery for the independent tin plate and sheet steel companies, and these new firms had to be subsidized in order to limit their operations. "This," says The Post, "was the state of affairs that was found to exist when the United States Steel corporation was formed and took hold of the management of the individual corporations." Its officials decided to discontinue the policy of paying subsidies as soon as present contracts expire and to permit the machinery manufacturers thereafter to get business where they can. Unfortunately the contracts have still from two to three and a half years to run, but thereafter, according to The Post, the United States Steel corporation expects to keep its business by superior methods of production, without paying subsidies to exclude small competitors from the field.

   The fact that such subsidies have been paid is a matter of common knowledge, but their extent has not hitherto been generally known. The payment of subsidies and granting of rebates to prevent legitimate competition constitute one of the most harmful of the methods by which combinations have aroused popular hostility, and legislation which would make contracts to make such payments perilous to both parties would command well nigh universal support.

   ◘ There seems to be no falling off either in number or novelty of instances of unbounded faith in the efficacy of queer treatment of diseases. A man who claims that he was a martyr to the most agonizing form of chronic dyspepsia says he was completely cured by the practice of taking small quantities of fine sand into his stomach every day. Another asserts that by going about constantly bareheaded he has relieved himself of chronic catarrh of the worst type, while a third declares that by eating no solid food for forty days he has conquered entirely the besetting rheumatism which had tormented him for a dozen years. These are interesting cases. How would it do for some adventurous experimenter to try all three systems of treatment on himself at once—to go bareheaded all the time, to swallow sand every twenty-four hours and to fast from other food for forty days? The autopsy would probably reveal a constitutional disability to tell the truth.

 

Cortland Central School on Railroad Street.

SPECIAL ELECTION TOMORROW.

Think of the Children and Vote to Give Them School Facilities.

   The special election on the [Cortland] school appropriation occurs tomorrow. The polls will be open from 9 A. M. to 4 P. M. at the same places where the general election is held today. Probably before this time every one has made up his mind how he intends to vote. The main thing for those who favor the appropriation to do is to get to the polls and cast their ballots. They may be assured that all those opposed to the appropriation will be there. As they vote they should think of the children studying by electric light in [rented] Collins' hall and think of those other children packed together in the end of a corridor in the Central school.

   The parents of these children will vote for the appropriation without doubt. They recognize the need for it. The ones who will vote against it will be the ones who have not sufficiently interested themselves in the matter to visit the schools and see for themselves the exact condition of affairs, but who have imagined that things are not as they are represented or who do not want to pay their share of the tax for the appropriation. They are also composed of those who would prefer some other plan for more schools than that proposed by the board of education.

   If the schools were to be delayed till every taxpayer was satisfied with the plan, we should never have schools. It would be impossible to get all the voters to agree on a plan. But nine capable and trustworthy business men have looked the situation all over and have viewed it from all sides and have decided upon a plan which they consider the most advantageous for pupils and public, the cheapest for the city in the long run and the best from every point of view, and now the voters are called upon to accept or reject that plan. If rejected, there is no reason to suppose that the board of education would submit any other plan when they again ask for the appropriation. They are confident that they are right and if the appropriation is voted down the reasons urged for its rejection are so varied that no one could say it was defeated on account of any single reason, certainly on account of objections to the location of the school. The best thing to do is to accept the decision of the board of education and keep the children in school. Give them every advantage they can have. The years of their school life are short enough any way. Let them be prepared to do the most work and the best work possible in the shortest time, due heed always being given to health and physical development.

 

What It Costs.

   If any one is in doubt as to how he should vote on the school appropriation tomorrow and if he is hesitating on account of the cost let him bear in mind the fact that if he is assessed $1,000 his tax will be 30 cents a year for thirty years for interest on the bonds that would be issued and $3 for principal in the whole course of the thirty years. This would be $9 for the interest and $3 for the principal, a total of $12 in thirty years, an average of 40 cents a year. Can he not afford this for the benefit of the children? Before the thirty years will have elapsed the small boys now in the grades will themselves be assisting in the payment of this and will be thankful for the advantages they have received and will be glad to help pay for them.

 

Cemetery Trustees Elected.

   The annual meeting of the Cortland Cemetery association was held last night at the office of Judge J. E. Eggleston, the president of the association. A. W. Edgcomb and H. L. deClercq were the tellers. A. D. Blodgett and C. P. Walrad were re-elected trustees to succeed themselves. T. H. Wickwire was elected trustee for a full term to succeed A. L. Cole, deceased. G. J. Mager was elected trustee to complete the unexpired term of S. E. Welch, deceased. H. R. Rouse and James A. Nixon were appointed a committee to examine all the accounts and vouchers and to report to the treasurer. The trustees adjourned to meet again on Saturday to elect officers for the coming year.

 

A MAN WITH A HOBBY.

Major Sager Addresses the Science Club on Inhabitants of the Sea.

   Charles Lamb once said that "every man should have a hobby, if it were nothing better than collecting strings." If it be true that a woman is no older than she looks, it is equally true that a man is no older than be feels.

   Now, hobbies often serve to keep a man young. They interest him and draw his mind away from cares that he might otherwise brood over too much. For example, a man's hobby may be the observation and study of the natural history of his own locality. He tramps the woods and fields and shores in pursuit of his hobby. His eyes are ever open to the marvelous beauties of nature and his ears are trained to catch the music that is in all things. It's his hobby. Now we hold that this is better than the hasty bolting of a Sunday breakfast in the feverish desire to get to the postoffice for a mail that will probably contain enough business trouble to make one miserable for the rest of the day, and which might just as well wait till Monday morning anyhow. The man whose hobby is the collecting together of nature's marvelous forms, is a man who is living close to nature's heart, and is keeping his own heart young in consequence.

   On Saturday evening the Science club gathered to listen to a man who has a hobby. Major Aaron Sager's hobby is sea shells and marine forms of life; and his collection is such as is rarely seen outside the walls of a museum of natural history.

   The major took as his subject "The Sea and Some of Its Inhabitants," and to judge by the number and variety of the specimens that were used to illustrate the paper, the old adage to the effect that "there are more fish in the sea than ever were caught" has been reversed. Some of these forms possessed all the delicate beauty of a bit of real lace. Some were as graceful as the ostrich plume they so closely resembled, while others, notably the coral form, commonly called "Venus' Flower Basket," appeared as fragile as the fabric of a dream. The grotesque was not wanting, however, for there were sea urchins looking like a tangle of barbed fence wire; corals with more branches than a genealogical tree; marine algae as long and narrow as a Pharisee's prayer, and horseshoe crabs as short and as broad as a revised creed. The hermit crab also was on exhibition, snug in his borrowed home in a mollusc's shell. And right here, In connection with the hermit crab, we would say that if you have never read Henry Drummond on "Semi-Parasitism," in his "Natural Law on the Spiritual World," now would be a good time to do so.

   A number of ladies were present at the meeting and, inasmuch as they all occupied front seats, proved to be not the least interesting feature of the evening.

 

CHANGE AT THE FAIR STORE.

T. K. Norris Buys a Half Interest—Firm to be Yager & Norris.

   Mr. T. K. Norris of this city has purchased a half interest in the Fair store of the former sole proprietor, Mr. Geo. P. Yager, and an inventory of the stock of goods was begun this morning. As soon as this is concluded the partnership will be perfected and the firm will be known as Yager & Norris.

   Since Mr. Yager's misfortune in getting caught under an elevator in the canning factory last summer, he has not been able to give personal attention to the business, and although he is much improved in health, he is not able as yet to be about the store and supervise it. Consequently he has taken for a partner a young man who will relieve him of the cares of the business.

   The partnership will probably tend to increase the business that Mr. Yager has seen grow through the past nine years. Mr. Yager is well known throughout the city and vicinity, while his partner, Mr. Norris, has a host of friends who will be anxious to see him do well in the business adventure.

   There will be no change in the employees in the store as a result of the partnership. Mr. Charles Scudder of Homer, who had charge of the settlement of the business of Briggs & Knapp, has been added to the force of clerks, and he will be glad to greet all of his Homer friends in his new location.

   The inventory will probably last all of this week and it may be that it will take longer on account of the character of the goods that have to be listed. When it is completed the Fair store will then be under the direction of Yager & Norris.

 

BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS

Does Considerable Business at a Regular Meeting Monday Night.

   The Cortland board of public works held its regular meeting last evening with all members present. Mr. J. A. Jayne came before the board and asked that he be given permission to move the old Lackawanna [railroad] stations from their present locations to his lot at 107 and 109 Railroad-st. He said that Mr. L. J. Fitzgerald had given him permission to move the buildings across the vacant lot owned by the Cortland Wagon Co., therefore it would not be necessary to use the streets, except in crossing Railroad-st. in moving the freight house. He brought with him a bond as required by the board, which was approved by City Attorney N. L. Miller. The sureties given were Messrs. J. J. Glann and W. F. Clark.

   Mr. William Estey asked that he be given a rebate on a cement walk which he had built on Arthur-ave. He explained that he had the walk built by out-of-town parties and that they gave it too smooth a finish to comply with the board's regulations in that respect. Mr. Becker said the walk was finished with a surface partially between a trowel finish, which the regulations call for, and a smooth finish. He thought the walk was well built. The board authorized the rebate.

   A letter from W. K. McFarlin, chief engineer of the Lackawanna railroad, was read. In this he stated that the culverts to carry water under the tracks on Railroad-st. would not be built this fall, and recommended that the tracks should be raised six inches, as was stated recently by the STANDARD. As to paving around the new stations, he wrote that this would not be started till spring on account of frosts.

   Superintendent Becker reported the following persons whose sidewalks need repairing: A. P. Hill, north side Clinton-ave.; Mr. and Mrs. Frank Johnson, north side Clinton-ave.; Arthur Graham, south side Clinton-ave.; Mrs Alex Lansing, south side Railroad-st.; Patrick Madden, west side Hubbbard-st.; Charles Kinley, north side Elm–st.; L. J. Watrous, north side Port Watson-st.; Joshua Carpenter, north side Maple-ave.; Pamela Howland, west side Pearne-ave.

   The board authorized notices to be served on these parties to repair their walks within five days.

   Allen & Farrington, civil engineers, who have been regarding all the streets of the city, presented a map showing the new grades, which was accepted.

   Messrs. F. H. Cobb and C. W. Collins, a committee in the matter of accepting Cleveland-st., reported that the Cronin estate had agreed to sell their interest in the land occupied by the street for $200, provided that they would not be assessed with the other property holders of the street to make up that amount. They were of the opinion that the other residents of the street would make up the amount by a shake purse, and thus save condemnation proceedings.

   The following bills were allowed and ordered paid:

 

BREVITIES.

   —Election returns will be received at the Tioughnioga club rooms this evening.

   —The Women's Auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A. will clear about $265 as their share of the proceeds of "Egypta."

   —New display advertisements today are —W. J. Perkins, Kidney remedy, page 7; F. Daehler, Neckwear, page 7; Glann & Clark, Shoes, page 7; Opera House, "A Runway Match" page 5.

   —Mr. John H. Ryan, proprietor of the Madison-st. rose gardens, has recently sent two consignments of shade trees, rose and shrubs to far distant points. One of them went to Fort Worth, Texas, and another to Silver City, N. M.

   —The annual meeting of the stockholders of the H. M. Whitney Wagon company was adjourned from 10 o'clock this morning till 10 o'clock tomorrow morning for the purpose of securing a larger attendance upon the meeting than was present this morning.