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| Vice Admiral L. Albert Caillard. |
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| Sultan Abdul Hamid II. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, Nov. 1, 1901.
HAS SULTAN YIELDED?
French Squadron Returns to Toulon On Orders.
HELD READY TO START AGAIN.
Some Say News Was Received From Constantinople—Others Say Rations Were Not Sufficient—Other Powers Will Not Interfere If France Uses Force.
PARIS, Nov. 1.—Late last night the following dispatch was received from Toulon:
"The complete Mediterranean squadron returned to Toulon this evening and anchored in the Roadstead."
This would include Admiral Caillard's squadron, whose departure has thus far been either countermanded or postponed. If the dispatch be correct, it would imply that the government has received news from Constantinople since morning which has not yet been divulged and which has induced a change of plan.
It was reported that Admiral Caillard had been ordered to cruise within reach of a dispatch boat for possible further instructions, and it is significant that the torpedo boat destroyer Hallebard left Toulon at full speed during yesterday to rejoin the squadron.
A dispatch from Toulon to The Figaro confirms the report of the return of the entire squadron and adds that Admiral Caillard's division is still held in readiness to sail at a moment's notice.
Editorially The Figaro and other morning papers express surprise at this perplexing and unexplained move after the dispatch of Admiral Caillard to the Levant had been officially announced.
The Marseilles correspondent of The Matin says the return was due to the fact that the squadron was supplied with only two days' rations.
ATTACK ON AMERICANS.
Scouting Party Has Battle With Insurgents In Samar.
DOZEN MEN ROUTED FORCE OF 140.
Sergeant In Command Recommended For Medal of Honor—Entire Insurgent Force In Cebu Island Surrenders—Operations Will Be Forced In Bohol.
MANILA, Nov. 1.—Advices just received here from Catbalogan, island of Samar, say that 12 men of Company G of the Ninth infantry, under command of Sergeant Wilford, who had been sent from Basay to San Antonio to investigate and report in regard to the number of bolomen in the vicinity, were viciously attacked by 140 insurgents, who rushed on them with great violence, killing two of the soldiers and wounding two others.
Wilford remained cool and collected during the attack and the survivors say he acted splendidly. Fourteen of the insurgents were killed.
Captain Bookmiller of Company G recommends Wilford for a medal of honor and Privates Swanton and Vero for certificates of merit.
SURRENDER IN CEBU.
Entire Insurgent Force Lays Down Arms to General Hughes.
MANILA, Nov. 1.—General Hughes reports the complete surrender of the insurgents in the island of Cebu, consisting of 450 men and 60 officers, with 150 rifles and eight brass field pieces.
The pouring of troops into the island of Samar is believed to have had a good effect on the Cebu insurgents who had been wavering for some time. The malcontents kept up the conflict by saying that a majority of the American troops had left the Philippines.
Major General Adna Chaffee.
Chaffee's Official Report.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1.—An important cablegram was received at the war department yesterday afternoon from General Chaffee. It follows in part:
"Manila, Oct. 31.
"Adjutant General, Washington.
"The following from Brigadier General Hughes:
" 'Insurrecto forces Cebu island have come in, laid down arms in good faith in obedience to demand of people for peace; 150 rifles, eight brass pieces, 60 officers, 470 men. Affairs not yet satisfactory Bohol island; may move additional troops there to force settlement.'
"This settles, for present at least, disturbance hereto existing in Cebu. Future disorder in that island will be made by deliberate action of inhabitants, as peace may be easily preserved if the people are disposed to do so. Shall advise Hughes to waste no time, but move on Bohol immediately.
"CHAFFEE."
DANISH WEST INDIES.
Another Report That United States May Purchase Them.
LONDON, Nov. 1.—According to a telegram received here from an official quarter, the matter of the sale of the Danish West Indies has been discussed afresh in Denmark, since the accession of President Roosevelt. The American proposition for the purchase of the islands, says the telegram, is now enroute to Copenhagen.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIALS.
Fate of the Indians.
The Lake Mohonk Indian conference, which was lately held, favors a policy in relation to the nation's wards which shall as speedily as possible place them beyond the need of national guardianship and put them on a common footing with other citizens. It would allot Indian lands in severalty and abolish Indian schools as such. The children, according to this plan, will be educated in schools with white children. The superfluous lands of the tribes will be sold to white people, who will be mixed up with the Indians on what were once their reservations. This policy, steadily pursued, it is argued, will abolish the Indian question by abolishing the Indians as a distinct people.
It is probable that this is the true and scientific solution of the problem, but the Indians themselves can hardly be blamed for having a sentimental opposition to it. The Indian tribes of New York state, for instance, have been able to maintain a separate existence, preserving in some cases tongues and traditions of which they are proud during 200 years of residence near the whites. They are aware that tribal separation from other people has enabled them to do this, and they are loath to give it up. But the tendency of the time is against them, and experience has shown that their development depends largely upon the assumption of individual responsibilities. It is certain that such of the Indians in New- York state—the Oneidas, for instance—as hold their farms and property in severalty, on the individual basis, are much more advanced and industrious than those who, like the Onondaga of Syracuse and the Seneca of Cattaraugus, adhere to the communistic tribal system.
Already the blood of the Indian tribes has become mixed, and it is rapidly becoming more so. Within a few years the aboriginal rill will be lost in the great river of the American composite nationality.
◘ It is now asserted that Miss Stone was captured not by Bulgarian brigands, but by a detachment of Turkish cavalry at the instigation of the sultan. Possibly Abdul Hamid is trying to get even for the $100,000 missionary claims this country [USA] some time ago compelled him to pay. The figures in the Stone ransom and the Armenian indemnity are about the same.
WHAT DEFEAT MEANS.
CITY CHARTER WILL BE AMENDED AS TO VOTERS ON APPROPRIATIONS.
Over 1,700 Voters Disqualified, While Only about 808 Can Vote on Appropriations.
Taxpayers, who from purely selfish considerations propose to vote against the school appropriation, should consider before doing so whether the defeat of the appropriation would not be the most costly piece of economy of which they could well be guilty.
Our city charter provides as to the property qualifications of an elector to entitle him to vote on appropriation to raise money by tax or bonds, that "he or his wife must be the owner of property in the city assessed upon the last preceding assessment roll thereof."
This same charter, Section 166, provides as follows:
The said district shall be deemed and is hereby declared to be a union free school district under the laws of this state relating to public instruction. All provisions of law, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, applicable to school districts whose limits correspond with any incorporated city, and the board of education therein, and the corporate authority of such cities, are made applicable to the school district hereby established, and to the board of education thereof, and to the corporate authorities of the city of Cortland.
Article II, Section 8, of the "Consolidated School Law" of this state reads as follows:
Every person of full age, residing in any union free school district, and who has resided therein for a period of thirty days next preceding any annual or special meeting held therein, and a citizen of the United States, who owns, or hires, or is in the possession under a contract of purchase, of real property in such school district liable to taxation for school purposes; and every such resident of such district who is a citizen of the United States of 21 years of age, and is the parent of a child or children of school age, some one or more of whom shall have attended the district school in said district for a period of a t least eight weeks within one year preceding such school meeting; and every such person not being the parent, who shall have permanently residing with him or her a child or children of school age, some one or more of whom shall have attended the district school in said district for a period of at least eight weeks within one year preceding such school meeting; and every such resident and citizen as aforesaid, who owns any personal property assessed on the last preceding assessment roll of the town, exceeding fifty dollars in value exclusive of such as is exempt from execution, and no other, shall be entitled to vote at any school meeting held in said district, under and pursuant to the provisions of this title.
Article II, Section 1, of the constitution of this state provides as follows:
Every male citizen of the age of 21 years, who shall have been a citizen for ninety days, and an inhabitant of this state one year next preceding an election, and for the last four months a resident of the county, and for the last thirty days a resident of the election district in which he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote at such election in the election district of which he shall at the time be a resident, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people, and upon all questions which may be submitted to the vote of the people.
It clearly appears from the above:
First. That the charter of the city of Cortland requires qualifications in voters for school appropriations which are in conflict with both the letter and spirit of the general school law, from the provisions of which, in this respect, this city is, by a kind of special legislation in its charter excepted.
The policy of the general school law is the result of years of experience and is founded on reason and sound sense. That the rich or well-to-do, often childless themselves, should say whether the children of the poor should be educated or not, is a proposition so monstrous that few men in this free country would dare to stand up and advocate it. The stat, in its general school law as quoted above, steps in and says that this shall not be so, where this law controls—and it ought to control everywhere. Capital is nothing but accumulated labor, and the men who contribute most to the wealth of a community are not the few employers, but the hundreds of wage-earners, many of them with large families, who are doing their best to bring up their children to be respectable and intelligent citizens. The man who rents a house pays taxes indirectly, while the owner pays them directly.
A gentleman who has made an estimate, and on whose judgment we rely, advises us that nearly three-fourths of the school children of this city are the children of non-taxpayers. If this school appropriation is defeated, who would have the hardihood to stand up in the faces of the votes of the fathers of three-fourths of our school children and fight the demand which these parents would make, and ought to make, that the charter be amended at the earliest possible moment, so as to conform to the general school law and so that these parents, who are rearing and supporting the boys who are to become our future voters, shall have something to say as to whether or not their children shall be educated at the expense of the community, to whose wealth the labor of these parents is steadily contributing. And if the fact were placed before a legislative committee that the children of this city were refused educational facilities by the taxpayers, and a request were made that the charter be amended so as to conform to the general school laws of the state, we are inclined to think that a bill to this end would be very speedily reported, and would be very likely to receive the endorsement of the department of public instruction, of the legislature and of the governor.
Second, The above quotation from the constitution of the state suggests a very grave doubt as to whether this provision in our city charter is not in violation of the fundamental law of the state, enacted by the people themselves, by the grace of God free and independent, and we are informed that a case is now before the court of appeals in which this very question is involved. If this court upholds the claim that a voter who is good enough to vote for judges of our highest court and for legislators and state officers is good enough to vote that the community in which he lives shall educate his children, our charter, so far as it limits the right of franchise, will be knocked higher than Gilderoy's kite.
Third. However this constitutional question may be decided, unless over- economical taxpayers want all restrictions on voting appropriations for city purposes speedily removed, they will be wise in season in providing every needed school facility.
GRADE TO BE RAISED
Of Lackawanna Tracks in the Vicinity of the New Stations.
Engineer Riegel of the Lackawanna railroad was in Cortland yesterday looking up the matter of the sluiceways at the Railroad-st. crossing. It was decided not to build these till next spring, and to open the old gutters leading over to Venette-st. for use until the sluiceways should be constructed,
The matter of raising the main track of the Lackawanna at Railroad-st., six inches was practically decided upon. The tracks will also be raised as far north as Elm and Clinton-st., which will make the grade on three of these streets very much better than it now is.
Death of Mrs. Wilcox.
Flora A., wife of Henry C. Wilcox, 95 Elm-st., died yesterday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock from tuberculosis, aged 25 years. The funeral will be held from the house tomorrow at 10:30 o'clock A. M. Burial in Cortland.
Mrs. Wilson was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Decker of this city. Five years ago she married Mr. Wilcox. Aside from the husband and parents she leaves a son Kenneth, 3 years of age, and two sisters, Mrs. E. J. Baldwin of Groton and Miss Mary Decker of Cortland.
BREVITIES.
—McDermott's orchestra of six pieces plays in Groton this evening.
—Burt Lamb, who has often appeared in city court, was fined $10 for public intoxication by Judge Davis this morning.
—The Cortland Praying band will hold a cottage prayer meeting at the home of Mr. E. Nye, 8 Excelsior-st., this evening.
—There were a large number of Halloween gatherings at different places in the city last night and the usual Halloween games were played.
—New display advertisements today are—A. S. Burgess, Clothing, page 8; Warren, Tanner & Co., Umbrellas, page 4; Mitch's Market, Meats, etc., page 5; M. A. Case, Dry Goods, page 6.
—All Saints day was observed at St. Mary's church at 9 o'clock this morning and the services were largely attended. The junior choir of seventy-five voices under the direction of Mr. F. W. Lanigan sang Cremer's mass in C in a very creditable manner.
—Superintendent of Public Works Decker is improving the fine weather by hastening the repairs on the Railroad-st. pavement. The headers at the Church-st. corner are nearly all set, and many of the bad places in the pavement have been newly bricked.
—Extra men were put at work on the new Lackawanna, passenger station this morning, and the work of laying the brick is being crowded along toward completion. The walls of rock-trimmed brick on the blue stone foundation give a very pleasing effect and an idea of stability.
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