Friday, July 3, 2015

THE NEW TRUSTEES OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL



Cortland Normal School.
The Cortland Democrat, Friday, May 30, 1890.

The New Trustees.
   Last week Superintendent of Public Instruction Andrew S. Draper appointed Messrs. Theodore H. Wickwire and John W. Suggett to be trustees of the State Normal school in this village, to fill the vacancies caused by the death of Messrs. J. C. Carmichael and N. Chamberlain. It was generally understood that other names had been urged for the places by "Boss" Clark of the Standard, and the appointment of the above named gentlemen was something of a surprise to all but those who are in the confidence of his majesty. It seems that it had been made to appear to politician Draper, that the appointment of any person supposed to be particularly in the interest of boss Clark, would not be tolerated by the people of this village who have the best interests of the school at heart, and consequently the programme had to be changed much to our neighbor's disappointment and chagrin.
   While the appointments are entirely satisfactory to the citizens of this place, the action of Superintendent Draper is deservedly criticised. The first trustees of the school were appointed by Superintendent Weaver, a Democrat, and the board was made up of five Democrats and four Republicans. This was considered a fair apportionment and so long as the Democrats were in power this apportionment was continued. It was expected that when the Republicans came into power they would make the board stand five to four in their favor, at the first opportunity and these expectations were soon realized. It was not believed, however, that Superintendent Draper could be prevailed on to attempt to steal the entire board. No one doubted for a moment that boss Clark would take all that lay within his reach, but our people had a right to expect something better of his superior. What this gang of small politicians expect to gain by this last exhibition of their grasping proclivities we are unable to learn, but that they think they have some very clever scheme on foot there can be no doubt. The board now stands, Republicans 6, Democrats 3.
   Laying aside any questions of a political nature, the appointments are most commendable. Mr. Wickwire is a member of the firm of Wickwire Brothers, engaged in the manufacture of wire goods, and is a first-class business man, an enterprising and highly respected citizen who, it is confidently believed, will act entirely upon his own judgment in all matters connected with the management of the school. He is a pretty strong Republican but is not the kind of man likely to introduce politics into business or school management.
   Mr. Suggett is one of our ablest young lawyers, possesses mature judgment, and while he is a Republican in politics, he won't act as such in the board. He is well fitted in all respects for the place and will make a valuable trustee and his appointment as well as that of Mr. Wickwire gives the very best satisfaction to the people.
   The Syracuse Standard has published several articles since the appointments were made calculated to create an erroneous impression as to the situation here. One would think to read the Standard that a large portion of our people were opposed to Dr. Hoose, the principal of the school. We do not understand this to be the case.
   Some years since there was a big fight here growing out of the attempt of one Gilmour, then Superintendent of Public Instruction, to remove Dr. Hoose. The latter very properly refused to go and the Court of Appeals decided that he could remain. Of course both sides had adherents and the fight waxed warm until the decision was made, soon after which the excitement died out and there is very little of it left. With the exception of the editor of the Cortland Standard and a half dozen followers, the people are perfectly satisfied with Dr. House's management of the school and do not ask for, nor would they tolerate a change. While the two new appointees were never supporters of Dr. Hoose, and one of them we believe has not been on intimate terms with him for some years, both of them will do what they can to advance the interests of the school and will avoid any unpleasantness that the chief malcontent in the board may endeavor to bring about. Had the latter been allowed to dictate the appointments as he hoped, neither Mr. Wickwire or Mr. Suggett would have been members and there would have been a repetition of the disturbance of a few years since.
   The appointments are very satisfactory, but no thanks are due the editor of the Standard or Superintendent Draper. They would have done differently had they dared.

PAGE FOUR/EDITORIALS.
   Congressman Flood, of Elmira, has introduced a bill in Congress asking for an appropriation of $100,000 for a public building in Ithaca. While all the principal towns in the surrounding counties are asking for appropriations for public buildings, the citizens of Cortland are either too modest or too lazy to ask for anything. Will some one start a petition to be presented to Representative Belden, asking Congress to appropriate $100,000 for a public building in Cortland?
  
   In 1888 the Cortland Standard, the Rochester Democrat, the Troy Times and the New York Tribune, republican papers, and each and every of them insisted that potatoes were "bulbous roots" and that as the Mills bill admitted the latter free of duty, the tariff was thereby taken off potatoes, and if the bill was passed foreign potatoes would be brought here as ballast and be sold in the markets at a much lower figure than they could be raised by American farmers. The McKinley bill, which passed the House last week, puts "bulbous roots" on the free list. Isn't it about time these same papers commenced to howl about it? Those Cortland county farmers who were deceived by these journals in 1888, ought to call for an explanation from the Cortland Standard.

[CC editor’s note: With few exceptions we copy exactly the style of printing found in a newspaper. Reducing a very long paragraph into two or more paragraphs and eliminating a coma or two, are the most employed modifications. Note also that the rules for capitalization were different in 1890.]

Chicago Physicians Called Down.
   CHICAGO, May 26.—The doctors in here are indignant because the health officer has refused to accept "heart failure" as a cause of death.
   "The expression 'heart failure' is a delusion," said Dr. Tomlinson, registrar of vital statistics. "We won’t accept it any longer on a death certificate. I think we have already sent back over 150 such certificates since Commissioner Wickersham and Dr. Rauch of the State Board of Health, came to the conclusion that the term indicated that the physician sending it in as a cause of death either did not know what the malady really was or wished to cover up the true cause. A doctor might as well certify that a man died from want of breath as to say he died from heart failure. The number of illiterate and ignorant physicians practicing in Chicago is astonishing."

Austin Corbin.
THE E. C. & N. TO BE EXTENDED.
President Austin Corbin’s Recent Visit to Elmira.
(From the Elmira Advertiser, May 22, 1890.)
   Austin Corbin, president of the Philadelphia, Reading, Elmira, Cortland & Northern and several other railroads, arrived in this city on Tuesday evening in his private car via the Lehigh Valley railroad and went north by special train on the Elmira, Cortland & Northern yesterday morning, en route for Watertown, where he has arranged to meet and confer with prominent citizens in relation to extending the E. C. & N. road from Camden to Ogdensburg via Watertown and Clayton.
   If the Watertown people take hold of the matter and give proper encouragement, and everything indicates that they will, the road will certainly be built. The Philadelphia & Reading and the Erie railroads are also jointly interested in the line to be built from Williamsport to a point on the Tioga railroad, which will give the Philadelphia & Reading an independent line into Elmira. Surveys have been completed and construction is expected to be commenced at an early date. This line with the northern outlet from Camden to Ogdensburg will give the Philadelphia & Reading an independent line from Philadelphia to the St. Lawrence river—and as the Central Vermont and the Camden Pacific railroads are largely interested in this project and will give it all possible assistance, the Philadelphia & Reading will be able to place thousands of tons of its coal in northern New York, Vermont and Canada, at all points reached by its own line as well as those of the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain railroad, Central Vermont railroad and Canadian Pacific railway. It will also enable the Philadelphia & Reading to open up a through and quick line for passenger business from Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington and points south to the Thousand Islands and the popular summer resorts in Canada and northern Vermont. Mr. Corbin is thoroughly in earnest in the matter, and the prospects are very favorable that Elmira will have this trunk line in the near future.
THE E. C. & N. RAILROAD SCHEME.
   WATERTOWN, N. Y., May 28.—At a large meeting of citizens here last evening, $1,400 was subscribed in a few minutes for the purpose of paying one-half the expense of a survey of a railroad from Camden, Oneida county, to Watertown, Austin Corbin, of the Reading and the Elmira, Cortland and Northern (the latter road's northern terminus being at Camden) agreeing to pay the other half. The survey will be made during June and is covering several possible routes through the wilderness which lies between the city and Camden, a distance of about forty miles by an air line.
 

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