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| Captain William Saxton. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Saturday, March 28, 1903.
WAR REMINISCENCES.
By Captain Saxton of the 157th Regiment, N. Y. Vols.
MOVING ON TOWARD THE FRONT.
Ferried Over the Hudson at Albany—The Ride Down the River— Experiences in New York—Pleasant Recollections of Philadelphia—Arms Issued at Baltimore—Poor Food at Washington—Across Long Bridge into the Sacred Soil of the Old Dominion—In Camp on Arlington Heights.
CHAPTER 11.
To the Editor of The Standard:
Sir—September 25. Up at 4. a. m.; breakfast at 6. Jumped into a lumber wagon and started for Canastota at 8; stopped for dinner at Peterborough, the home of Hon. Garret Smith, the noted abolitionist. Tables were spread picnic fashion. Garret Smith made a speech and at its close placed $500 in the hands of the colonel to be expended for stationery for the regiment, and many times during the three years we were reminded of this generous gift by a package of letter paper and envelopes being given us.
My father and mother had accompanied us to this point, but here bade me good bye and returned home.
Arrived at Canastota at 5 p. m. The citizens had arranged a bountiful basket supper and not only pressed us to eat more, but filled our haversacks for future use. Boarded the cars at 8 and started for Albany, the capital of the state. It may seem strange to the young people of today, but this was the first time I had ever ridden in the railroad cars.
Ferried Across the Hudson.
September 26. Arrived at Albany at 7 a. m. and breakfasted at the Delevan House. Crossed the Hudson on a ferry and took the Hudson river R. R. for New York City at 10. Oh, what a magnificent ride this was down the Hudson that day! What magnificent scenery! He who goes abroad to see the wonderful scenery of the old world should take this trip after he comes back and thus be able to better appreciate the beauties of our own country.
Arrived in New York at sun down, stopped in the suburbs and were drawn through the city by horses attached to the cars for about two miles and unloaded at city hall barracks. The One Hundred and Sixty-ninth New York was already there, and we were so crowded that Orson Strobeck and I slept outside on some gun boxes.
September 27. We used to complain of our food at Hamilton but the stuff they gave us here in New York city was worse than that by several degrees. LeRoy Cole and I ran the guard and overcame that difficulty, and then bought us a good rubber blanket from a Broadway store. We met M. E. Smith and John Osgood, neighbors from our town. M. E. Smith, now deceased, was subsequently the head of the great wholesale dry goods house of Omaha.
Marched Down Broadway.
At 2 p. m. we marched down Broadway to the wharf. The sidewalks on either side of Broadway were crowded with citizens, who cheered us lustily as we marched past. We remained there till midnight waiting for a boat to take us somewhere. Sometime during the afternoon I noticed quite a crowd collected in one corner and, upon investigating, I found they had broken open some boxes of fresh crackers and cheese, and as it was a grab game I succeeded in filling my haversack. I have often wondered if that country merchant, to whom they were consigned, had to lose them or where the loss was finally placed.
September 28. A 2 a. m. the steamer, John Collier, started with us down the harbor for Port Monmouth, N. J. Some of the boys while in New York had filled up pretty well on whiskey and brought along a good supply for future use in their canteens. While lying down on the deck as we were going down the harbor, I quietly unloosed the stopper of the canteen next to me and let its contents assimilate with the waters of the harbor.
Landed at 11 a. m. and took the Port Monmouth & Camden R. R., down through New Jersey and arrived at Camden, opposite Philadelphia at 5 p. m. Crossed the river on a ferry into Philadelphia and bad supper at the "Soldiers Retreat," where so many Union soldiers were fed during the war. Everything was very nice and plenty of it.
In the Quaker City.
Marched two miles through the city to the Baltimore depot. The streets were lined with ladies, all wishing to shake hands, saying "good bye and God bless you." Oftentimes afterwards, when we were suffering the privation and hardships of the soldier life, we were cheered by the remembrance of generous, loyal Philadelphia.
We were loaded into freight cars and arrived in Baltimore a little before daylight.
Arms are Issued.
September 29. Marched through the streets for a mile and a half to the soldiers' eating house—this was worse than New York—then marched up a side street, a guard was placed on either end, and our guns were issued to us.
We learned that the One Hundred and Fourteenth New York was encamped on Federal hill. Strobeck and I made an excuse to go into a house for a drink of water. We went on through the back door into an alley and went up and saw a number of our acquaintances. When we first enlisted we expected to go in this regiment, but regiments were raised so rapidly in those days that it was full before our company was ready. They were doing guard duty in Baltimore, and many a time when we were tramping in the sticky mud of Virginia, did Company C look back with lamentations that we did not get into that regiment. They were afterwards relieved from their "soft snap" and ordered to New Orleans; then went up Red river, on Banks' disastrous expedition; came back and were sent up the Shenandoah valley under Sheridan, participated in the battles of the Nineteenth corps, especially Winchester, and had a pretty hard time generally. Company C ceased to lament.
Strobeck and I got back to the regiment all right, and at dark we were loaded into cattle cars and started for Washington.
At Washington.
September 30. Arrived at Washington just at daylight, marched by the capitol to the soldiers' home eating quarters and had breakfast? Oh, what a breakfast! It was worse than Baltimore, regular swill. I couldn't eat it, hadn't been soldiering long enough yet. Fortunately my New York crackers and cheese hadn't run out. At 11 o'clock we marched past the capitol, not yet finished, down by the Washington monument, then about 50 feet high, in the midst of a government cattle yard, down Pennsylvania-ave., crossed over the Potomac on the Long Bridge and arrived at Camp Chase on Arlington Heights about 3 p. m, The night before we left Hamilton water had frozen into ice a quarter of an inch thick, but what a change. Here it was as hot as any July day we had had in New York. This five mile march had been through the dusty streets of Washington, across the Potomac bottoms, where thousands of feet had pulverized the soil into the finest dust, shoe top deep. It was no wonder the boys who had been on the journey for six days straggled a good deal.
On Virginia's Sacred Soil.
We were assigned to some "A" tents that bad been occupied by other troops. That night when I went to either some leaves and grass to lie on I was very careful to see that they did not conceal any snakes. We slept the sleep of the tired soldier. No snakes disturbed our slumbers. I never slept better in my mother's feather bed, than I did this first night on Virginia's sacred (uneven) soil."
October 1. Some of our acquaintances of the Tenth New York cavalry, who were encamped about a mile from us, called on us early, and when we would have returned the call, we began to find out that we were not free citizens any more, but United States soldiers; we did not go to their camp at this time—we failed to get permission.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.
Where There are No Strikes.
In an article in American Industries, John W. Converse, a son of the president of the Baldwin locomotive works in Philadelphia, tells how labor troubles are avoided in that establishment with the result that there has never been a strike there. He says that it is to the advantage of the employer to pay high wages for good work quickly and accurately done, rather than to pay low wages for slow and slovenly work. The laborer does better when he realizes that his work is appreciated, and that increased efforts and diligence meet with substantial recognition and reward. The workman is encouraged to exercise his brain, and is given extra pay or promoted for having done something or discovered something to the advantage of the employer.
At the Baldwin works all engines are classified, and in addition a complete record is kept of the labor, cost, and other facts regarding each separate locomotive. Parts of locomotives are made absolutely interchangeable. There is thus exactness in delivering each engine at the time promised the buyer. The men are classified with great care, and paid according to degrees of skill. For convenience in accounting piecework, wages are equated to a per hour rate. Pieceworkers earn from 18 to 50 cents an hour. The average wages of skilled labor is 30 cents an hour; unskilled, 16 cents. Men are fined for the slightest infraction of punctuality, and must pay for any damage to tools or product cause by carelessness. There rigid supervision and inspection and a contract system, according to which a sub-foreman is entrusted with the execution of portions of the work. While he cannot cut down the men's pay for his own profit, he expedites work, thus adding to the profits of himself and the men as well. Promotions are made from within the shop, and there are no hereditary rights to important positions. A successful apprenticeship system, graded and regulated like everything else at the works, has been in operation for two years.
Strikes are practically unknown at the Baldwin works. If a man has any grievance, he can submit it to the superintendent, and he knows that his complaint will receive careful consideration, and that he will be dealt with fairly. No one is questioned, when he enters the employ, whether he is affiliated with a trade union or not, but as a rule the employees are not organized.
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Takes Steps Toward Frequent Inspections of City Water.
The full working force of the board of health was present at the regular meeting of that board last night at the city clerk's office. City water, sanitary inspection and privy vaults were the subjects considered.
Mayor Brown, who is president of the board of health, introduced the discussion in regard to the city water by stating that in his judgment frequent tests of the water should be made. If such an epidemic as Ithaca has recently experienced should break out in Cortland the board of health would be held responsible in a measure, and he thought the board should keep well informed as to the condition of the water. He thought the board ought to have Prof. Booth analyze the water at stated intervals.
It was also suggested by other members of the board that the reservoirs and tank of the company should be inspected, and it was voted that the president of the board should appoint a committee of three to examine the water situation and report at the next meeting of the board. Commissioners Santee, Stockwell and VerNooy were appointed as such committee.
Commissioners Santee and Ryan of the Second and Third wards, respectively, reported that they had already started their inspectors on a house to house sanitary canvass. The reports of the inspectors showed some premises to be in a very unsanitary condition, and Health Officer Didama was instructed to take steps at once toward getting these places cleaned up and placed in a satisfactory condition.
In reference to privy vaults the board decided to enforce rigidly section two of the sanitary regulations of the board.
The following bills were allowed:
H. M. Dickerson, sanitary inspection in second ward, $6.30
E. A. Didama, salary and disbursements $54.06
Daniel Hurlehey, labor, $10.50
DR. HENDRICK ON "METEOROLOGY."
Paper Presented at the Last Meeting of the Science Club.
At the last meeting of the Cortland Science club Dr. H. C. Hendrick presented an interesting paper on "Meteorology," of which the following is a brief abstract:
Meteorology is the science which treats of the atmosphere and its phenomena particularly as relating to light and heat. The doctor said that in the earlier stages of civilization mankind was poorly clad and housed, and hence there was great need for forecasting of the weather which they did quite successfully by signs and in other ways. The invention of the thermometer, the barometer and the hygrometer has made it possible to bring the study of the atmosphere within the realm of science.
Columbus availed himself of the benefits of the trade winds, but the theory of their causes was not given to the world until three centuries later. Humboldt gave his treatise of Isothermal lines in 1817.
The United States government has surpassed all other governments in developing this science and in its weather forecasts. Other nations are studying our methods and adopting them.
The air is composed of gases: oxygen by volume 20.95, nitrogen 79.02, carbonic acid .03 parts in 100. The air also contains a variable amount of aqueous vapor which in torrid regions amounts to 1-20 or more parts. These gases do not form a chemical union, but a mechanical mixture.
The doctor said: The gases are not of the same weight and if placed at rest they would separate into layers with the heavier gas at the bottom. The motion of the atmosphere prevents this. The air grows colder by rarefication, warmer by condensation. Dry air in ascending rarefies and cools at the rate of one degree for every 100 meters, but the condensation changes this ratio. The motion of the atmosphere is caused by the difference of temperature caused by the unequal distribution of the sun's rays.
Water currents are caused in the same way as air currents. The ocean currents are the great equalizers of the ocean's temperature, which is to the great advantage of mankind.
The difference of the mean annual temperature between the sea and the land is very great. This difference in the Atlantic ocean between Iceland and Norway and the land of Eastern Siberia of the same latitude is 75 degrees.
There is much less rainfall on the sea than on the land. The mountain ranges have much to do in the distribution of moisture. The clouds coming in contact with the cool atmosphere of the mountains cause the rain to fall. In turn, as the air passes over the mountains deprived of its moisture and cooled by the elevations, it produces just the opposite results to the slopes of the mountains beyond.
There are a great variety of winds, as the monsoons of the Indian ocean, simoons of Arabia, the sirocco of the Mediterranean, the typhoon of the China sea, and the pampero of South America. We have the cyclone and hurricane. Cyclone is used in the sense of a great general storm, while the hurricane is generally the center of the cyclone. They gyrate from right to left in the Northern hemisphere and just the opposite in the Southern hemisphere. Tornadoes differ from cyclones mostly in their extent. The tornadoes moving power has been estimated as high as 300 pounds to the square foot. A hailstorm is a tornado in which the ascending currents reach so high that the rain drops are carried up to the freezing point before descending to the earth.
Dr. Hendrick read an interesting account of an aeronaut among the clouds in such a storm in proof of his theory.
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| Historic Cortland Hospital, North Main Street, Cortland, N. Y. |
THE CORTLAND HOSPITAL.
List of those Who Gave It Financial Aid a Year Ago.
To the Editor of The Standard:
Sir—Nearly one year ago the ladies of the hospital board at one of our meetings, after talking over the future of our hospital and the means we had of paying our running expenses, decided that we could not or would not accumulate debts that we could see no way of paying. Far better close our doors than do that. A resolution was passed that a statement of the facts be printed in the Cortland Standard and ą committee of ladies be appointed to solicit aid. The Standard kindly wrote and printed for us a complete statement of facts, and as soon as the ladies asked for help the people quickly and generously came to our aid. With this help we have been able to keep out of debt and put on some needed repairs. It seems to us now that Cortland has come to realize that a hospital is one of the necessities of our city. This has been the best year in our work and we hope that the same generous and kindly feeling that has been shown us in the past may be extended to us the coming year.
At the last meeting of the board March 2, it was voted that the names of those who came so kindly to our aid be printed, feeling that many more would have done so if they had been solicited. They are as follows:
Wickwire Bros., $336; Cortland Wagon Co., $100; Cortland Forging Co., $100; Cortland Carriage Goods Co., $100; W. G. Hibbard, Chicago, $100; Hon. D. S. Lamont, New York City, $50; Hon. C. H. Duell, New York City, $50; Cooper Bros., $25; Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Keese, $25; Mrs. Julia E. Hyatt, $25; Hon. Nathan L. Miller, $25; Gillette Skirt Co., $25; W. H. Newton. $25; Garry E. Chambers, $25; Alfred H. Wolcott, $25; Judge E. B. Thomas, New York City, $25; Franklin Pierce, New York City, $25; C. D. Backus, New York City, $25: Dr. F. J. Cheney, $20; E. M. Hulbert, $20; Hon. O. U. Kellogg, $15; John Courtney, $15; F. H. Cobb & Co., $15; Homer & Cortland Gas Light Co., $15; Dr. C. D. Ver Nooy, $10; S. M. Ballard, New York City, $10; Lieut. Col. D. L. Brainard, New York City, $10; F. L. Pomeroy, New York City, $10; J. L. Greatsinger, New York City, $10; B. L. Smith, $10; Cortland Steam Laundry, $10; Warren, Tanner & Co., $10; E. & C. N. Y. R. R., $10; F. Daehler, $10; Delos Bauder, $10; G. J. Mager, $10; McKinney & Doubleday, $10; C. P. Walrad, $10; S. N. Holden, $10; C. F. Brown, $10; B. F. Taylor, $10; Harrison Wells, $10; D. F. Wallace, $10; Hon. D. W. Van Hoesen, $10; Mrs. Nellie Smith, $10; H. M. Whitney, $10; H. F. Benton,$10; F. B. Nourse, $10; Hon. A. A. Carley, $10; W. J. Greenman, $10; F. J. Peck, $10; Judge S. S. Knox, $10; A. S. Burgess, $10; Cortland Co. Traction Co., $10; D. W. Carr, $10; Dickinson & Duffey, $10; Mrs. A. Brong, $6; J. C. Seager, $5.25; Maxson & Starin, $5.25; M. A. Case, $5; Fred Hatch, $5; F. D. Smith, $5; Dr. P. M. Neary, $5; Judge J. E. Eggleston, $5; Dr. George H. Smith, $5; A. S. Brown, $5; Mrs. Maxson, Homer, $10; S. W. Sherwood, $5; O. A. Kinney, $5; Rev. Robt. Clements, $5; E. E. Ellis, $5; E. M. Mansur, $5; H. B. Hubbard, $5; Mrs. Daniel Smith, $5; Rev. J. J. McLoghlin, $5; B. L. Webb, $5; W. J. Perkins, $2.50; W. R. Cole, $2; Baker & Angell, $2; L. H. Gallagher, $1; Cortland band, $105.65.
Elizabeth Doubleday, Treasurer, C. H. A.
BREVITIES.
—Judge Gerrit A. Forbes of Canastota teaches a Bible class of twenty men.
—The quartet of the Amherst college glee club which gives a concert at the Opera House tonight will sing at the Presbyterian church on Sunday morning.
—The Ithaca band is able to play the "William Tell" overture through from beginning to end with perfect precision without a note being placed before any member. Every player knows the whole overture.
—The Ithaca church bells which have been silent since early in the period of the typhoid fever epidemic are expected to ring again tomorrow for the first time. That is pretty good evidence that the ill are getting well.
—The primary teachers of the Presbyterian Sunday school held their monthly thimble bee yesterday at the home of Mrs. W. R. Cole, 16 Main-st. Pleasure and business are united on these occasions with much profit to the school.
—The new display advertisements today are— Angell & Thomas, Spring footwear, page 6; J. W. Cudsworth, "Medical Talks,'' page 5; Opera House, J. M. Donovan in Vaudeville, etc., page 5.
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