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| Boer General Christiaan De Wit. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, April 15, 1902.
TERMS OF PEACE.
Outline of Proposals the Boers Will Be Willing to Accept.
The Hague, April 15.—From those close in touch with the Boer leaders here it appears that the latest secret dispatches from South Africa outline the peace proposals now under discussion at Pretoria. They closely follow the summary given on Saturday last by the Evening News of Edinburgh, with the following additional details:
The Boers accept a British lord commissioner with a Boer executive, both to be resident at Pretoria.
The country to be divided into districts with British district officers and a Boer committee chosen by polling by the burghers; the veto right to be reserved to the British government. The majority of the British officers must be conversant with the Dutch language.
Johannesburg to be retroceded to the British with a complete British civil organization.
A war indemnity of at least £10,000,000 to be distributed by mixed committees.
Disarmament to occur when the first batch of Boer prisoners is sent back to South Africa.
No war tax to be levied.
Both languages to be recognized in the schools and courts and in official documents.
The expense of the garrisons in South Africa to be borne by Great Britain.
The present Boer leaders to be retained in office so far as possible.
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| Joseph Chamberlain. |
ENGLAND'S WAR TAX.
Deficiency to Be Made Up by New Forms of Taxation.
IMPORTS ON GRAIN AND MEAT.
Income Tax to Be Increased a Penny In the Pound—Import Duty of 3 Pence Per 100 on Wheat and 5 Pence on Flour and Meat—Loan of £32,000,000 to Be Placed.
London, April 15.—Not for many years had Great Britain's fiscal program been awaited with such interest as that given this year's announcement and there is no doubt that all the proposals contained in it will be adopted. It is equally certain that none of these proposals will meet with the unanimous approval of either side of the house.
More important, perhaps, than the curious forms of the new taxation is the statement made by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the chancellor of the exchequer, that the government had acceded to the Boer demand concerning the restocking of the farms.
At a late hour the Associated Press learned upon excellent authority that the principal provision of the budget, namely, the treasury loan of £32,000,000, upon which Sir Michael Hicks Beach was remarkably reticent, has a serious bearing upon the peace question. There appears to be a very strong belief in the cabinet that, owing to the expected early termination of the war, these £32,000,000 will never be needed. When that section of the budget gets to the committee stage the peace negotiations will probably have reached such shape that Sir Michael Hicks-Beach will be able to announce a diminution of the estimate. In any case, this loan will probably be called up only in small installments.
The failure to explain this important point is taken in the house of commons to indicate that the government has strong hopes of a speedy issue of the negotiations now progressing at Pretoria between the Boer leaders, although it wishes to impress the world in general, and the Boers in particular, with its ability and determination to push the war to a finish should the British terms of peace be refused.
To Restock Boers' Farms.
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach is seldom dramatic; but when he referred to the government's intention to restock the Boer as well as the colonial farms, his voice rose to an eloquent pitch. His gesture, as he spoke in praise of the valor of the Boers and expressed his hope for subsequent friendship between Briton and Boer, took the house with him and the cheers, especially from the opposition, prevented the speaker from continuing his speech for several moments. During this pause the chancellor of the exchequer turned towards Mr. Chamberlain, the colonial secretary, who sat pale and motionless, and palpably none too pleased at this official recantation of his "unconditional surrender" formula.
The opinions gathered by the Associated Press in interviews with members of the house of commons indicate the existence of a considerable divergence of ideas with regard to the new taxation which, although comparatively unimportant in the revenue it will yield, affects important economic principles which have hitherto been held rather sacred by certain schools of English politicians.
Sir Charles Dilke voiced the opinion of many of these when he said:
"The budget is a reversion to protectionist principles, and although only trivially so I shall oppose it on those grounds."
John Redmond said "I can only speak from the Irish point of view. We regard the whole thing as a war tax and Ireland has never approved of the war. We shall naturally fight it for that reason. The protection of Irish agriculture has been a good thing but this duty on flour and corn is too small to do us any good. Indeed, it will merely raise the price of cheap meals imported from America and largely used by the Irish peasantry, besides making bread dearer. I think it quite likely that these duties may affect the American millers, as the difference between the new duties on raw and manufactured corn may perhaps give the English miller a chance to grind himself, whereas heretofore he has imported American flour."
John Burns was particularly vehement in speaking of the budget to a representative of the Associated Press. "It is a cowardly budget," he declared, "for a bully's war. It devolves upon the very poor the cost of aggrandizing the adventurous rich. It taxes the industrious producer at home for the prodigal speculator abroad."
Asked if he thought that American flour would be affected by the new taxes, Mr. Burns said he was inclined to believe that Minneapolis and other large milling centers would find it much harder to get trade in England. "But that does not matter," said Mr. Burns, "you deserved to be chastised for the Philippines."
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.
The Greatness of the Nation.
There is some pretty good material for Fourth of July orations in census bulletin No. 149, just issued, which is devoted to the discussion of the area and population of this great country. According to this bulletin, the area of the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Guam and Samoa, is 3,690,822 square miles, or about one-fourteenth of the land surface of the earth.
The total population of the United States, including the possessions named, on June 1, 1900, was calculated at 84,233,069, with a margin of ą million for possible error, owing mainly to uncertainty as to the number of people in the Philippines.
Only three political systems in the world have a greater population than the United States. These are the British empire, the Chinese empire and the Russian empire. The British empire, however, is largely a name, and its practically independent colonies like the Australian confederation and the Dominion of Canada, ought not to be taken into the count. They deserve to be considered by themselves as nations. Anyway, for a young nation, we are doing very well in the matter of size and can afford to toot our horn pretty loudly when we pause to contemplate our marvelous development in little more than a century.
THE TRACTION COMPANY
Files its Quarterly Report at Albany—Interesting Statistics.
Albany, April 15.—The Cortland County Traction company has filed its report with the railroad commissioners for the quarter ending Dec. 31 last, as follows:
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| Cortland Park near bottom of Salisbury Hill, entrance Elm Street trolley bridge, Cortland, N. Y. |
SHORT LINE TO PARK.
New Line to be Laid at Once East Through Elm-st.
IF FRANCHISE CAN BE OBTAINED.
Greatly Facilitate Transportation and Enable Company to Handle the Crowds—Shorten Time Both to Park and to McGraw—Better Crossing of Lackawanna Railroad Than at Station.
The Cortland County Traction company has within a few days revived the project discussed a few years ago of shortening its line to McGraw and to the park by continuing its tracks down Elm-st. from Clinton-ave. to the corner of Elm and Pendleton-sts., where the tracks come again into Elm-st. A franchise will be asked for at the meeting of the common council tonight, and if this is granted work will be begun as soon as possible to build the line.
This change would be a great benefit, not only to the company in the way of facilitating traffic, but to the public as well who have occasion to patronize the road. The tracks now go around three sides of two squares, where by the change they would go along the inside.
The whole track would be in plain view from Church-st. to the Elm-st. switch so that there would be no unexpected meeting of cars around corners as has sometimes been true in the past, necessitating the backing up of one car or the other to reach a switch.
It will be much easier to cross the Lackawanna tracks at Elm-st. than on Railroad-st. at the station, as there are fewer tracks and they are closer together. There is less likelihood of a car being held up and stopped by a train standing still at Elm-st. than at the station. Cars have often been hindered in making schedule time by a train, and one car held up by a train throws out all of the other cars waiting at passing points.
This change will shorten the running time between the city and the park and the city and McGraw about seven minutes and enable the company to arrange a fifteen minute service to the park and will insure the hour service to McGraw with cars on time. Indeed, it is probable that if this short line is laid the McGraw cars will run clear through to the Lehigh Valley station at every trip instead of stopping at the Messenger House.
Now is a good time to make the change as it will save some alterations on Railroad-st. near the new passenger station. The grade there is to be changed and quite a section of the pavement will have the brick re-laid. The switch to the old station will be of no service when the new station begins to be used, and a new switch would have been required. The company has no idea of abandoning its line to the station. That will be needed for train cars, but a single track will be laid without a switch coming up to an end near the station. From every point of view this will be a very desirable change, and it is to be hoped that the company can proceed without delay. It is understood that the consent has been obtained of all property holders on Elm-st. to the laying of the new tracks.
PROHIBITION ALLIANCE.
Officers Elected for Next Term—Enjoyable Program Given.
A very interesting meeting of the Prohibition alliance was held last evening. It being the regular meeting for election of officers the following were elected to serve the next term:
President—U. S. Milburn.
Vice-President—Harold Gillette.
Secretary—C. W. Collins.
Chaplain—Albert Dilthy.
Treasurer—L. M. Loope.
Marshal—J. A. Smith.
A solo was rendered by Harold Gillette. Two recitations were given by Miss Ida C. Beaudry. A male quartet furnished two songs and Philo Meade gave a reading. These exercises were much enjoyed by the audience. The congressman from North Dakota has recently introduced a bill to appropriate a million dollars to provide places of entertainment, such as reading rooms, music, etc., as a substitute for the canteen in the army. The alliance by a rising vote endorsed the movement and also by vote requested the pastors to bring the matter before their congregations at some convenient time.
After the meeting, the company present were treated to cakes and ice cream.
PROF. REYNOLDS
Secures Some Good Subjects and Delights the Audience.
Prof. John Reynolds, the mesmerist, was at the Opera House last night and gave one of his old time exhibitions. There was a large crowd in the audience\ and after the fun began they laughed till they were tired. He was successful in securing five good subjects, and they saw things and did things just as he willed it. They played football, skated on roller skates, both as learners and as champions. Orange seeds grew and came to full fruit time and the boys picked and ate it. Some of the boys saw pictures and others tried to be of assistance to sufferers in the audience. It was lots of fun and the audience simply roared.
The show goes on every night this week except Friday, and the price of admission is reduced to 25 and 15 cents.
MORE TELEPHONES.
McGraw Soon to be Added to the Local Exchange.
FREE SERVICE TO BE AFFORDED.
The Two Villages of Homer and McGraw Connected With the City of Cortland—Farmers' Lines Stretching Out in Every Direction—A Thousand Telephones in Sight and No Doubt More Coming.
The board of directors of the Home Telephone company held a meeting last evening and votes to build and equip an exchange in McGraw, provided a sufficient number of subscribers can be secured to insure the success of the enterprise. A large number of subscribers have already been promised. If the exchange is secured for McGraw, that town will be on the same basis as is Homer and free service will be given between Cortland, Homer and McGraw. A franchise has been obtained from the village of McGraw for placing the system there.
The new 100-drop board that was added to the Cortland outfit recently is now more than two-thirds full, and another like it has been ordered. Additional equipment for the Homer exchange has also been ordered, and when these are installed the capacity of the exchanges will be 1,000 subscribers. Besides these there are numerous farmers' lines operated by the company, the number of which is rapidly increasing, and these lines are being put in as rapidly as the company can get to them. From every direction about the city urgent requests are coming to the company from farmers to extend the lines so that their residences may be connected with the exchange.
The system has been out of the contractors' hands and operated by the company since last April, and in that time it has had a phenomenal growth, and one which has exceeded the company's expectations. The switchboards were put in to accommodate 800 subscribers, and it was thought by the company that this number would be sufficient for a number of years.
In many places, too, the cables for wiring particular streets have proven inadequate, and new cables have had to be ordered to supply the growing demand for telephones.
BREVITIES.
—The fishing season begins tomorrow; likewise the fish stories.
—The Wide Awake Literary club will meet with Mrs. B. F. Sampson, Wheeler-ave., this evening.
—New display advertisements today are—J. W. Cudworth, Optical talks, page 7: M. A. Case, Drygoods, page 6: C F. Brown. Barn paints, page 6; Smith & Beaudry, Wallpaper, page 6; Syracuse Musical Festival, page 8.
—The Fortnightly club will meet tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 o'clock with Miss Celia Hinman, 55 Tompkins-st. The subject will be "Children in Art." All members having pictures that will illustrate this theme are requested to bring them to the meeting.
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