SULTAN MUST PAY UP, MARQUIS ITO, GERMAN LETTERS, CORTLAND SCHOOLS, AND GAS WELL IN CINCINNATUS, N. Y.

 

Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, Oct. 31, 1901.
SULTAN MUST PAY UP.

French Mediterranean Squadron Starts For the Levant.

WILL SEIZE CUSTOMS OF PORTS

Unless Complete Satisfaction of French Claims Is Immediately Given Collection Will Be Made by Force. Troops Will Be Added to Naval Representation.

   PARIS, Oct. 31.—"The entire French Mediterranean squadron left yesterday afternoon," says the Toulon correspondent of The Figaro. "While one division put in at Salins-D'Hyeries, another composed of three battleships and two cruisers, under the command of Admiral Caillard, proceeded to the Levant.

   "Two thousand troops will be added to this force.

   "Admiral Caillard's orders are that if complete satisfaction is not immediately given by the Ottoman government to all the claims of France, he shall seize the custom house of the port nearest his squadron. It is believed his destination is the island of Mitylene of Salonika. The island commands the entrance to the Dardanelles and the gulf of Smyrna."

   Several morning papers confirm The Figaro's Toulon advices. Rumors to the same effect were current in Paris late last evening, but the foreign office professed to know nothing about the matter.

 

Ellen M. Stone.

Negotiations For Ransom Proceeding.

   CONSTANTINOPLE, Oct. 31.—The negotiations for the ransom of Miss Ellen M. Stone, the abducted American missionary, are progressing satisfactorily, it is understood; but beyond this, those having them in hand maintain absolute secrecy, as they are convinced that publicity would be detrimental to Miss Stone's interests and safety.

 

Denies That King Suffers From Cancer.

   COPENHAGEN, Oct. 31.—The Official Gazette publishes a denial of the statement that King Edward is suffering from cancer and declares untrue the report that specialists were in consultation regarding him during his recent visit to Denmark.

 

BROWNING RULING BROKEN.

Indian Children May Now Attend Any School or None at All.

   WASHINGTON, Oct. 31.—The secretary of the interior yesterday formally abrogated what is known as the Browning ruling which, in effect, holds that it is the duty of the service to fill the regular government schools before permitting drafts on the Indian children for sectarian school enrollment.

   This is the most important action taken for a long period in the matter of sectarian Indian schools. The issuance of the order followed assurances given early in the day by Secretary Hitchcock to Archbishops Ireland of St. Paul and Riordan of San Francisco, who called to urge action that a recent suspension of the ruling would be changed to a complete abrogation of the order. The effect of yesterday's abrogation, it is understood, is to leave Indian children generally free to go to any school or to attend none of them.

 

Ito Hirobumi.

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.

The Visit of Marquis Ito.

   Marquis Ito, who is now making a tour of the United States, is the best known and probably the ablest statesman of the Japanese empire. He has been recently premier of the Flowery Kingdom, and though he has temporarily retired from public life he is sure to re-enter it and equally sure to exert great influence upon the affairs of that kingdom. For this reason his present visit to our country is of deep significance. That it will result in the strengthening of the ties which already exist between America and Japan is not to be doubted.

   This is not the first visit of the marquis to western civilization, though it is his first to the United States. When a young man, he traveled to England in company with Count Inouye and there obtained the knowledge of European customs and political institutions which gave him a commanding position in the ranks of those who were responsible for the regeneration of Japan.

   As president of the house of peers in the first parliamentary government of Japan, later as president of the privy council and finally as premier he had both to shape the new governing system and to withstand the attacks upon it in the parliament itself. He is a progressive but not a radical leader, and to save his country from those who were not content with natural progress he had to fight many battles, and he won them.

   That Japan has been transformed in a generation from a primeval community to a world power is one of the marvels of history. That there has been so successive reaction against this progress is due very largely to the diplomacy and statesmanship of Marquis Ito.

 

GERMAN LETTERS.

Their Influence on Learning the Language in This Country.

   If you ask nine out of ten young Americans of German parentage whether they are able to read and write German, you will get the answer that, though they can speak German, they cannot read and write it. Only those who have attended a German course in school acquire a higher knowledge of that language, but their number is small compared with those who are taught by their parents only.

   The reason why so few children of German parents gain a better knowledge of that language is to be found in the fact that Germans stick to their alphabet, compelling every one to get familiar with about twenty-five small and twenty-five capital letters in the written alphabet and about the same amount in the printed alphabet—that is, the student of the German language must impress upon his brain almost a hundred characters before he can start. Many lacking the proper amount of perseverance have given up in despair and learned French instead of German, though the latter language and its literature would have been more to their liking.

   A poem by Goethe or Heine, a description of nature by Humboldt, are just as sweet and inspiring whether printed in German or in Roman letters. It seems incomprehensible that countless thousands should have been deprived of the treasures contained in German literature but for the obstinacy of some ruling Germans sticking to their obsolete alphabet.

   The Dutchmen and Scandinavians, who formerly employed the German letters, have discarded them long ago. Not so our German cousins. They uphold their peculiar alphabet as if their national existence depended upon it. Many a time have I put the question to my German countrymen why the Roman alphabet should not be substituted for theirs. One will say, "The German letters give the language its character." Another will say, "Such a question must be left to men like Bismarck, who never accepted a book unless printed with German letters." Who dares to oppose the opinion of Bismarck, even if he is ten years in the grave? Goethe's words refer appropriately to this matter:

Es erben sich gesetz' und rechte

Wie eine ewige krankheit fort.

   "Eine ewige krankheit!" a disease without end—that is, in my opinion, the German alphabet.

   Of incalculable value would have been the Roman alphabet for the Germans in the United States. One alphabet for both languages. That would make it easy for German parents to teach their children. It would not tax their patience, as it is now the case, to learn the foreign letters. Children would be tempted and induced to read the paper that the father reads, provided it is printed with the same kind of letters as the English paper. All the time wasted in public and other schools with the crooked letters could be employed to better advantage. The child would notice immediately the easy way of spelling German words, far easier than the English, as every German knows. There is no prejudice against the German language in this country. Wherever the Germans are numerous enough and applied to a board of education for German instruction their wish has been gratified. Where the results have not met the expectation, where children learned only to spell their names with German letters, that fault was with the German alphabet.—H. Fiske in New York Times.

 

PUBLIC AND SCHOOLS.

CHANGE IN SENTIMENT TOWARDS THE APPROPRIATION.

How It Came About—The Convincing Force of Facts—No Contract Exists Compelling the State to do Anything Further for Cortland as to School Accommodations.

   Public sentiment on the school question has undergone so marked a change During the past fortnight that the present drift must be apparent to every one. This change has been due to the facts which have been published, showing beyond the possibility of successful denial the urgent need of further school facilities, and the wisdom of the plan proposed by the board of education for supplying them. Every indication now goes to show that the appropriation asked for by the board will be carried.

   There are still some who use fallacious arguments against the appropriation, simply because it means additional taxation, without regard to the public needs which more than justify the expenditure. But most of the opposition which remains, strange to say, comes from those who do not seem capable of being convinced that it is worse than useless to ask the state to educate the children of Cortland because the village bonded itself for $92,800 to erect the Normal school building. The immense benefits which Cortland has derived from this school, the nearly $1,000,000 paid thus far by the state for its maintenance and the $28,000 to $30,000 which are now being paid out of state moneys yearly for this purpose, do not seem to these objectors a sufficient return for the original investment by the then village of Cortland of less than $100,000. In addition to this, they would ask the state to build new buildings, hire additional teachers and do a work for this city which a community like ours ought to be ready and willing to do for itself.

   "But," they say, "the state is bound by contract to do this." The state is not bound by contract, or in any other way, to do anything of the kind. That this statement is strictly true is known to our board of education and the local board of managers of the Normal school, and to various other residents of our city. It has already been stated indirectly in the STANDARD. Did we see fit to go on and give in detail the facts as they are known, which would prove absolutely what is stated above, they would not only convince every doubter, but they would at the same time do an injury to our city which would justly bring upon us the condemnation of every one for making them public. The city of Cortland will rue the day when it tries to force the state into making any further contribution to the education of our children. Every one of our citizens will share in the unpleasant results, and it will be no satisfaction to the STANDARD to point to these warnings and say, "We told you so."

   The man has yet to be found who likes to pay taxes. It is the last way in which any one chooses to squander his money, no matter how much he may have or how eager he may be to "blow it in." But there is such a thing as public conscience, and it has been the observation and the remark of candid observers of this country, that when the American people are fully educated and awakened on any subject of public interest, they are usually found on the right side. The student of our history can look back and see crisis after crisis when this common conscience and common sense of the people have come to the rescue. What is true of the country in general, is true of the city as well. And after the thorough discussion which this school question has had, and remembering that no appropriation for schools or schoolhouses has ever been voted down in the village or city of Cortland, we cannot believe—even though the right of voting on appropriations of this kind is mistakenly confined by the charter to taxpayers—that this appropriation is to be defeated.

 

LOCAL PERSONAL.

   Dr. and Mrs. J. L. Robertson who have been spending several days in Cortland at the home of Mr. and Mrs. B. L. Webb, returned to their home in Yonkers this morning.

   Mr. James White and Mr. Charles H. White started this afternoon for Buffalo expecting to be on the Pan-American grounds when the lights are turned off for the last time on Saturday night.

   Mrs. Elmina Baker of St. Peter, Minn., and Mrs. Eugene Baker of Minneapolis are visiting Mr. D. B. Baker and Miss Ella Baker. The former is the aunt and the latter the cousin of Mr. and Miss Baker.\

   Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hoover arrived in the city this morning direct from Tien Tsin, China, and are visiting their aunt Mrs. G. J. Mager. Mr. Hoover is a member of the firm Bewick, Moreing & Co., whose principal office is in London and who are owners of large mining interests in China, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt and British Columbia. Mr. and Mrs. Hoover are now en route to Australia, where Mr. Hoover will look after the company's business.

 

Photo credit: Cincinnatus Area Heritage Society.

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GAS AT CINCINNATUS.

A SMALL POCKET TAPPED WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

But It Was of Little Importance and of no Significance as to What Might be Below  It—Work of Lowering the Well Going on Rapidly Each Day and Night with Two Relays of Men.

   Considerable excitement was caused in Cortland today by the announcement that a large flow of gas had been secured on the Seward Beckwith farm near Cincinnatus, N. Y., where a well is being drilled with the hopes of striking oil or gas. The facts in the case, however, do not bear out the high hopes that were aroused, as only a small pocket of gas was tapped. This blazed up with a great deal of gnato for a short time, but soon burned out. The pocket was struck yesterday afternoon at a depth of little less than 500 feet.

   Mr. Lewis Nusbaum of Bradford, Pa., who is sinking the well, was seen today in reference to the matter. He said that only a small pocket of gas had been struck, and that it was nothing more than was expected, as these are generally found at the depth at which they were boring. He also said that the finding of the pocket of shale gas did not necessarily show that there was any gas or oil farther down. "We can only tell what is below us," said he, "by drilling down to a depth at which these things are generally found."

   The drilling is being done for Mr. Nusbaum by contractor Francis Hane of Bradford, Pa., and the work is in charge of Messrs. Bole, Trouter, Sherman and Bell, all of Bradford, Pa., and all of whom are experienced men in the business. The work of drilling is being carried on day and night with two sets of workmen, one going on at noon, and the other at midnight. The farm on which the derrick is built and the boring is being conducted, is about one mile from Cincinnatus on the road to German Corners.

   The work of drilling has thus far progressed finely, and nothing has happened to delay the men in their work. The actual work of drilling was begun Oct. 22, and the well has been lowered from 20 to 70 feet each day, according to the material which has been penetrated.

   Mr. Nusbaum stated that the well will be drilled to a depth of at least 1,800 feet, and if there is nothing found at that depth that it may be carried on down to a depth of 2,500 feet.

   Everything about the derrick and equipment used in drilling shows that the work is in the hands of expert men. There is scarcely a motion made around the whole plant that does not count for something in making the deep puncture in the ground deeper. A new 21/2 inch cable was fastened to the drill yesterday and is now doing service. The drill is 40 feet in length, and the point, which is screwed tightly on the drill, is about 4 feet long.

   The well is cased for 70 feet with heavy iron piping, which in any case can never be taken up. This is done for the purpose of shutting off quicksand. Inside of this is a casing which has been put down to a depth of 275 feet. This casing is 6 1/4 inches in diameter and can be removed.

   At a depth of 350 feet a quantity of salt water was struck, but not of sufficient strength or quantity to warrant the belief that a salt bed had been struck.

   The novelty of the work in this section has called many witnesses to the well to watch the progress of the drillers, which is explained by them in every detail. Next Sunday the drilling will be carried on in order that the working men in and about Cincinnatus may have a chance to see the work carried on.

   Nothing has yet materialized that furnishes a clue to what may be found in the depths of the earth under which the men are now at work in Cincinnatus, but the public may rest assured that if there is anything to be found that Mr. Nusbaum will be sure to strike it. He has certainly showed perseverance in getting together the money, of which he himself has contributed largely with which to put down the well, and if he uses the same amount sticktoitiveness in drilling that he did in soliciting, there will be at least a good test made.

 

BREVITIES.

   —Halloween parties will be in order tonight.

   —New display advertisements today are—Opera House, Great Southern Stock Co., page 5; E. M. Mansur, Ripe Olives, page 7; Baker & Angell, Shoes, page 8.

   —William Bell has been engaged as superintendent of the Randall farm and will leave his farm near East River next week to move into the Randall farm house south of the city.