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| William Howard Taft. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, Feb. 21, 1902.
GOOD THING FOR FILIP1NOS.
But Governor Taft Says American Occupation Is of Doubtful Benefit to This Country.
Washington, Feb. 21.—Replying to a series of questions Governor Taft said the intervention of the United States in the Philippines was the best thing that could happen for the Filipinos, but that it would have been better for our country if we had not gone there. He added:
"If the result in the end proves to be in the interest of the general welfare then we have taken only our share of the burden of civilization in bringing out an uncivilized people."
Continuing the general discussion of the condition in the Philippines he expressed the opinion that trade with the United States would increase and that ultimately the islands would be self-supporting to the extent of paying the expenses of the United States army there.
Governor Taft was excused at the conclusion of the sitting and the committee adjourned until next week Tuesday with the understanding that General Hughes will be the next witness.
Cuban Reciprocity.
Washington, Feb. 21.—The republican members of the ways and means committee were in private conference for three hours on the subject of Cuban reciprocity, and although the conference went over without action, the members found themselves for the first time in possession of a proposition commanding considerable strength and understood to represent the attitude of the administration. The proposition authorized the president, when Cuba was prepared to grant 40 per cent reduction in duties on United States exports to the island, to grant to Cuba a similar reduction of 40 per cent on all the products of the island coming to the United States,
Count Tolstoi Recovering.
London. Feb. 21.—According to the St. Petersburg correspondent of The Daily Mail, Count Tolstoi, who has recently been gravely ill, is now out of danger.
Prefer Village Government.
New York, Feb. 21.—The citizens of Peekskill have voted and defeated a proposition to change from village to city government. The vote stood 582 against incorporation to 538 for the proposition.
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| Elihu Root. |
SOLDIERS NOT CRUEL.
Secretary Root Says He Has Investigated All Charges.
HUMANITY NEVER SURPASSED.
Secretary Root Says That In Nearly Every Case the Report Has Been Found to Be Exaggerated—General Funston Denies Story—Barbarous Cruelty of Filipinos.
Washington, Feb. 20.—Respondiug to an inquiry from Senator Lodge the secretary of war has sent to him a large number of papers hearing upon the charge that cruelty is practiced by the American troops on the natives of the Philippines. Among the documents forwarded are the record of 13 investigations of such charges and the secretary says that "every report or charge of this description which has at any time been brought to the notice of the war department has been made the subject of prompt investigation." He adds that in substantially every case inquired into the report has proved to be either unfounded or grossly exaggerated. He also says the department is now engaged in conducting an investigation into the charge made in the senate last week that the "water cure" is the favorite torture of the American and especially of the Macabebe scouts to force the natives to give information and that a soldier who was with General Funston had stated that he had helped to administer the "water cure" to 160 natives all but 20 of whom died. He encloses a copy of a letter received from General Funston, dated Feb. 2, 1902, in which he declares the statement to be an "atrocious lie without the slightest foundation of fact," and also a letter from Lieutenant Batson, the commander of the Macabebe scouts, to the same effect.
Presenting the other side of the picture, Secretary Root says: "The war on the part of the Filipinos has been conducted with the barbarous cruelty common among uncivilized races, and with general disregard to the rules of civilized warfare. They deliberately adopted the policy of killing all natives, however peaceful, who were friendly to our government and in literally thousands of instances these poor creatures, dependent upon our soldiers for protection, have been assassinated. The Filipino troops have frequently fired upon our men from under flags of truce, tortured to death American prisoners who have fallen into their hands, buried alive both Americans and friendly natives and horribly mutilated the bodies of the American dead. That soldiers fighting against such an enemy and with their own eyes witnessing such deeds should occasionally be regardless of their orders and retaliate by unjustifiable severities is not incredible. Such things happen in every war, ever between two civilized nations.
"That such occurrences have been sanctioned or permitted is not true. A constant and effective pressure of prohibition, precept and discipline has been maintained against them. That there has been any such practice is not true. The cases have been few and far between, scattered infrequently over a great area of country along the course of three years of active conflict through thousands of engagements and among many thousands of troops.
"The war in the Philippines has been conducted by the American army with scrupulous regard for the rules of civilized warfare, with careful and genuine consideration for the prisoners and the non-combatants with self-restraint and with humanity, never surpassed if ever equaled in any conflict, worthy only of praise and reflecting credit upon the American people."
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| William H. Clark, owner-editor of the Cortland Standard. |
SALUBRIOUS E. & C. N. Y. R. R.
NOT RAPID, BUT WELL VENTILATED AND FREE FROM MICROBES.
The East Freetown Station—Famous for Deep Cuts, Tall and Solid Snowdrifts, Ripping Gales, Pure Water and More Buckwheats.
The Erie and Central New York train which blew into—or was blown into— Cortland at 5 o'clock yesterday morning left Cincinnatus for good about 1 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. It first started out of the Oil City a little later than the usual hour in the morning, with a passenger and baggage car combined, three passengers and a milk car, ran about a mile, went through one deep cut with flying snow and flying colors, and then the train officials inventoried the stock of coal in the tender, decided there wasn't enough to go through to Cortland, and went back to Oildom to buy more. Having squeezed the nearby coal bins as dry as possible, and sent the three passengers back to "Gus" Bennett's hotel, the train then made what is called in the army "a reconnaissance in force" for about 5 miles, and discovered the hostile snow drifts in such numbers that a second return was made to Oil City, a gang of shovelers [shipped], the three passengers again put on board, and a third start taken for Cortland or Frederick-town. Ex-Supervisor Oliver Griswold took the bearings of [things] just before the train first started out in the morning, and decided that the prospect was too hairy either for fun or profit, gave up his trip and returned to his fireside—which showed his level head. Before the train left in the afternoon, Postmaster Wheeler also inspected things and concluded to risk the mailbags in the rush and whirl, though he eyed the three passengers in a way which indicated serious doubts as to their sanity.
WHO WERE ON THE TRAIN.
Roll call before the train started showed the following passengers:
H. L. Hartwell of the Champion Milk Cooler Co., Cortland.
K. J. Lemon of Ogdensburg, N. Y., representing the Good Roads Machine Co. of Kennett Square, Pa.
Wm. H. Clark, unfortunately representing The Cortland STANDARD.
The train crew and railroad employees including the shovelers, were as follow: Chas. Ford, conductor; Jonas Miller, engineer; F. B. Newkirk, fireman; Wm. Hattler, baggage master; Ernest Gee, brakeman; Henry Martin, Irving B. Fuller, Albert R. Sutliff, Hiram Shaw, Frank Standish, Joseph B. Randall, Ed Ladd, employees, all of Cincinnatus.
EAST FREETOWN REACHED.
Everything went swimmingly, however, till within a few rods of East Freetown station when, after pushing some distance into the first cut, the panting locomotive came to a standstill and the evil one was to pay. Meanwhile the gale had grown steadily stiffer and the snow was blowing in sheets. The shovelers turned out and tackled the drift with the wind in their faces and after enjoying the fun of seeing two shovelfuls of snow blow back against them for everyone thrown out, till their wind and muscle and vital warmth where about gone, they threw up the sponge, and threw down the shovels and sought the seclusion and stoves of the passenger car. The three passengers, meanwhile, had several sources of occupation and amusement. Lemon had the catalogue of the firm he travels for. Hartwell had a signed contract which he had just closed for nearly $3,000 worth of machinery, etc., to be furnished by the Champion Milk Cooler Co. to the new Cincinnatus Co-operative Creamery Co., which he took out and read over whenever he felt particularly bad, and remarked that he has that anyway. The editor of The STANDARD had a copy of The Sunday Sun, which was soon shared with his fellow unfortunates. Hartwell was specially impressed with the following gem which he dug up, and of which he kindly gave his companions the benefit.
Archbishop Ryan's friends tell this story of his grace: The archbishop was about to take a train for Baltimore at the Broad-st. station when a young man accosted him, saying: "Your face is familiar. Where in hell have I seen you?"
"I really don't know," said the archbishop blandly. "What part of hell do you come from?"
It was unanimously voted that the archbishop was ahead of the game.
Hartwell was also much interested, as were the others likewise, in a column long snake story, which told of the diseases of the reptiles, and how snakes were subject to consumption, which started in their tails, and how they were treated and cured. These were only two, however, out of many things wise, witty and interesting, which shone out in The Sun's columns, and which the passengers read, pondered and digested.
THINGS GROW INTERESTING.
Things now grew more interesting than ever. The storm threatened to tear everything loose that was not well nailed down, and blew and howled and tossed the snow till it seemed as if the witches of seven counties were riding the air. Darkness was settling down also, and with it came the certainty that train, gang and passengers were stuck for the night; and with this certainty came also a gnawing hunger at the pit of every one's stomach. One of the train gang, Ed Ladd, started back for Cincinnatus, which he managed to reach alive, returning next morning, but the rest of the innocents stood their ground. Their first object of attack was the house attached to the East Freetown milk station, where live Mr. J. B. Nash, the manager, his wife and two sons. Mr. Nash regarded them with a look in which were apparently mixed pity for their folly in getting into such a box and compassion for their empty commissary department.
TAKEN IN AND CARED FOR.
The net outcome was that he assured the visitors that whatever the establishment held was at their disposal, and though he didn't promise much, his fulfillment was generous. The crowd sat down to a meal that was more than bountiful, and in which everything was first class. Appetites were almost as big as the provision made them, and before the meal was finished host and hostess must have thought that wood choppers' hunger was not to be mentioned in the same day with that of this storm stayed company.
HOW THE NIGHT WAS PASSED.
But while Mr. Nash's larder seemed equal to any demands upon it, his sleeping accommodations were limited. These were generously surrendered to the one who seemed most in need of a quiet night, afew others went to the Dillenbeck house near by, and the balance of the company decided to camp out in the passenger and baggage car combined, which was well warmed by two stoves and had plenty of seats for the accommodation of all. Mrs. Nash kindly furnished blankets for all who wanted them and the crowd started out to make a night of it.
FREDERICK'S MINSTRELS.
And a night it was. Superintendent Frederick has no idea what an amount of talent is corked up in that train crew and gang of shovelers. If he should black their faces and start them out as a minstrel troupe they would score a bigger success than the Cincinnatus fair. The leaders resolved, first of all, apparently, that there should be a hot time in the old car that night, and that every one should get a share of the heat. From the time they returned to the car till 2 o'clock A. M. there was a continuous vaudeville and minstrel show, with fun of the most uproarious kind. Obert [sic] R. Sutliff furnished the orchestral music on a month organ, ably assisted in the closing efforts of the evening, or morning, by F. B. Newkirk, who executed all the known drum beats, and many never heard of before, on the bottom of a tin dinner pail, to the destruction of the pail and the deafening of the hearers. Sutliff also boasts of a tenor voice which is nothing if not strong, and Hiram Shaw drove double with him in the musical team and kept his end of the evener up without any apparent effort. The rest of the company joined in the choruses, and invented original stunts and varieties which contributed to make things lively. Stories which never lacked point, however open to criticism they might be in other respects, bits of personal history, camp-meeting melodies, revival hymns, barroom ballads; songs comic, sentimental and serious, split the air and the ear, while the noise kept on growing in volume. F. B. Newkirk, the fireman, has a pair of sole-leather lungs. and contributed to the variety of the evening by roaring out the names of the large cities along the line of the E. & C. N. Y. in tones which were powerful enough to have made the inhabitants of the nearest grave yards push their heads up through the frozen ground and the deep drifts, to see if Gabriel was not blowing his final tramp. Newkirk killed all the sleep that was strong enough to stand the other performances, and brought the one determined sleeper of the party up standing with a jerk. Why the road needs any steam whistle on an engine when Newkirk rides in the cab is a conundrum. He could also be used as a wireless telegraph and shout messages from one end of the line to the other.
AFTER THE BAWL WAS OVER.
By 2 o'clock, however, the performers were fairly whipped out. Then "silence, like a poultice came, to heal the blows of sound," and the crowd had a fair rest for the few hours remaining before daylight. Twice during the night some of the men had to turn out and run ice from the milk station icehouse into the tank on the locomotives tender—where it was melted by steam from the boiler—in order to furnish enough water to keep the thing "alive," and the same operation was kept up during Wednesday, and also gone through with for the benefit of the engine sent from Cortland to help pull out the train.
Outside the car Tuesday night was even wilder than inside. Burns' Tam O'Shanter gale wasn't a circumstance. The few who slept at the Dillenbeck house reported next morning that the building shook as if it was about to be blown away, and they got even less sleep than the minstrel performance allowed to the occupants of the car.
WEDNESDAY AND BUCKWHEATS.
Everybody woke up with a keen appetite, and rallied on Mr. Nash's breakfast table. Although there was a liberal supply of all the substantials in tempting shape, nearly everything was neglected for Mrs. Nash's buckwheat cakes. She had sized up the capacity of the company the previous evening, and had mixed up enough of the batter to meet any demands. The cakes kept coming, and went as fast as they came, and each cake seemed better than the last—if that were possible. After everyone had filled every available vacancy inside, there came a general declaration that no one's mother, wife, sister, cousin, aunt or remote ancestor had ever mixed or baked better buckwheats than Mrs. Nash. Dinner and supper were equally satisfactory.
RELIEF COMES.
Keeping the engine alive was about all that was done on Wednesday till the latter part of the afternoon, when the wind had died down and the snow stopped falling. News had come that an engine witb another gang of shovelers had been started out from Cortland, and about 5 o'clock the smoke from the stack appeared In the distance. The two gangs of shovelers were soon working briskly towards each other, cleaning out the long drifts in the cuts which separated them, and which were almost as solid as old cheese. About 9 P. M. the Cortland shovelers were fed at Mr. Wavle's farmhouse near by, and at 11 o'clock the two gangs had worked through the drifts and met. The locomotive from Cortland was then given a supply of ice water and hitched to the train, which was drawn up to the East Freetown station, milk waiting for shipment loaded on, and a start made for Cortland. More heavy shoveling had to be done before long, however, and with the necessary stops along the way, to take on milk, etc., the train did not reach Cortland until 5 o'clock A. M., having been nearly two days, including two whole nights, in going 19 miles. The travelers had become pretty well acquainted by this time, and parted with all the friendliness of old comrades, but without wishing each other any "pleasant returns" of the same experience, notwithstanding all the "mitigating circumstances."
SOME FREE ADVICE.
As every one fancies be can run a newspaper or tell how a newspaper ought to be run better than the editors, it may not be out of place for an editor to suggest occasionally how other people might run their business to the general advantage. The E. & C. N. Y. has not been blessed with a big surplus of funds, which probably accounts for whatever shortcomings it has been guilty of, but as the road is soon to be sold, we may be pardoned for suggesting to the coming purchasers that a coal pocket and a water tank at East Freetown, and a snow plow and other apparatus for keeping the track open in winter, will be not only very desirable but very economical additions to the equipment of the road, to say nothing about some first class motive power. Had it not been for coal bought at Cincinnatus and of Mr. Nash at East Freetown and the big supply brought on the second engine, it is doubtful whether the engine which left Cincinnatus Tuesday afternoon would even now have reached Cortland. Melting ice to furnish water for a locomotive boiler is neither amusing nor profitable and even the ice cannot always be had.
CHAMPION MILK COOLER CO.
Pushed Hard to Keep Up With. Orders for Equipping Creameries.
The Champion Milk Cooler company is doing a bustling business at its factory on Squires-st., trying to keep up with its orders. The factory is running to the height of its capacity. They have one order from the Pennsylvania Creamery company for $3,500 worth of goods, including seven large vats, each of 700 gallons capacity.
BREVITIES.
—Monday is the last day to pay city taxes without additional fees.
—Tomorrow will be Washington's birthday and a legal holiday. The banks will be closed.
—The first robin of the season was reported yesterday by Francis N. Dickinson, Jr., who lives near East River.
—New display advertisements today are—M. A. Case, Dry goods, page 6; Smith & Beaudry, Wallpaper, page 6.
—The Y. M. C. A. basket ball team started on the 1:03 Lackawanna train today for Waverly, N. Y., where tonight it will play the Waverly team.
—William Pendel was sentenced to ten days in jail this morning in city court for creating a disturbance at his boarding place, Allen's second-hand furniture establishment, 130 Main-st.
—The postoffice will be open tomorrow, Washington's birthday, only from t to 10 A. M. and from 7 to 8 P. M. There will be one complete delivery by carriers. The money order office will be closed all day.
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