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| Engine 940, New York Central & Hudson River R. R. |
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| Empire Express, New York Central & Hudson River R. R. |
The Cortland Democrat, Friday, September
5, 1890.
The Public and the Strike.
In the
newspaper comments on the Central-Hudson railroad strike it is interesting to
notice how many esteemed observers contemplate a new point of view. There is
less than the usual amount of pointless speculation as to whether the road had crowded
the men or the men had made unreasonable demands of the roads, and then very
much more than the usual amount of inquiry as to what the public had done that
it should be deprived of its usual conveyances for travel and the shipment of
freight.
The poor,
patient public, which has never thought of railroad strikes as being else than
an unavoidable inconvenience, begins to regard them as impudently unjust. "What
have we to do," they say," with these squabbles between master and
servant? We are the State. We charter railroads for our convenience. They are
our servants, and, more than that, their servants are our servants. Suppose our
soldiers mutiny, our sworn policemen refuse to do their duty; what happens? We
lock them up to be sure! And can't we do the same with these obstructive
railroad men? We think we can. We have a legislature that can make laws, and law
officers to carry them out, and jails where misdemeanants can be kept, and presently
we will see whether it cannot be made undesirable to attempt to deprive us of
the use of the conveniences that we have chartered, and on which we rely for
the comforts of life. It is tiresome here between the millstone; let us get
outside and take a turn at the grinding."
When
Demos once gets his mind on a subject he makes rapid progress. When once he
gets thoroughly tired of the railroad strike nonsense, he will pass laws at Albany which will so regulate the conditions under
which men hire out to railroads, and railroads employ their men, that sudden
strikes will be punishable; it may be broken up by the power of the state. It
is proper enough in a free country that differences should obtain between
employers and the employed; but that railroad trains should stop because of
such differences is absurd.—Life.
The Combination of Capital.
Albany Argus, Aug. 29, 1890.
A great
deal has been said about combinations of capital as an excuse for the combinations
of labor; but, as a matter of fact, the combinations of capital have only just
begun. The annoyances and losses brought about by strikes have not until recently
been of sufficient importance to drive the employers into a league for self-defense on a large scale; but this is an era of syndicates and trusts, and such
leagues are as sure to be formed as the sun is to shine. The business of the
country will not allow of such losses, as are said by the strikers themselves
to have been entailed by the interruption of work upon the Central-Hudson
railroad and in the stock yards at Chicago. When perishable freight, like
dressed beef, for instance, is spoiled by the hundred carloads, the situation
becomes alarming; and there can be no doubt that if there is any way to prevent
the repetition of such disasters it will be sought out and adopted.
The
tie-up by the brick manufacturers is an illustration of what will be done. Because
a boycott has been placed upon the brick made in certain yards where nonunion men
are employed, the manufacturers combine to sell no more brick to anybody till
that boycott is raised. This will throw out of employment about 60,000 union
men, stagnate a great industry and bring to bear upon the building trades a pressure
that can not be resisted. The same thing is now threatened at Chicago where one
strike has followed another in the stock yards, doing an immense amount of
injury to business.
The
general manager of the Alton road declares that every railroad in the United
States will be tied up before the demands of the striking switchmen are
granted. He says the railroads are united for the first time in their history,
and will fight to the verge of bankruptcy, and beyond it. The point has been
raised that such a threat in this state would be grounds for moving to annul
the charter of the road whose officers should utter it; but what could the
courts do against the combined strength of all the railroads in the country?
The truth
of the matter is that the railroad corporations are a gigantic power, and in
the aggregate are such a force that nothing less than the whole people can prevail
against them. Revolution may come some day, but it will not be till the long
suffering public have been goaded to a pitch beyond endurance. We do not think
that point has yet been reached.
Popular
sympathy is divided, and so long as there is anything like an equal division, revolution
is virtually impossible. The Knights alone, the workingmen alone are not enough
of themselves, and they are the ones who will have to stand in the front of
battle; other men may lose money, but they will want bread. The funds in the treasuries
of the organizations may be large, but think of the demand that will be made
upon them! and the wider the tie-ups, the more men that are out of work, the
fewer there will be to contribute. Moral support is all very well; sympathetic resolutions
are all very comforting, but they do not pay rent, and they do not buy coal,
nor bread, not clothing.
The
strength that exists in the combination of capital has not yet been tested; but
thoughtful men know that it is more enormous and further reaching in its
effects than any phase of the labor problem that has yet developed.
The States must Regulate Railway Strikes.
The New
York Investigator says a railway is not the property of a private corporation, but
a public highway under the control of the state that charters it, and the Legislature
of every state ought to pass a law punishing by fine and imprisonment any
interruption through a labor strike of the traffic of a railway that has not
been preceded by adequate notice to the public. To this we must come, and the
sooner the better. The strike on the New York Central Railway without previous
notice, leaving hundreds of men, women and children unable to reach their
destinations was a cruel and indefensible assault upon the public by the
Knights of Labor. The refusal of Third Vice-President Webb to listen to or
discuss the matters complained of by their representative was wrong in
principle, arbitrary and unnecessarily placed the company in an unwise and
untenable position; but neither that mistake, nor anything else, justified the
reckless way in which the strike was ordered by the Knights.
A Fight With a Catamount.
SCRANTON,
Aug. 22.—A yearling heifer belonging to Alonzo H. Tipple of Lehigh township
strayed away last week, and Tipple went in search of her along the wilds of
Choke Creek. He cut a hickory gad on the way, and about half a mile below the
head of the stream and several rods to the east of the creek he heard an animal
moaning in a rank growth of goldenrod, which covers hundreds of acres of the
ridge between the Lehigh River and Bear Creek. Hastening to the spot, Tipple found
a large catamount tearing away at the throat of his heifer, that lay on her side
in the last agonies of death, and without giving a thought to the risk he was taking
he rushed at the beast and began to whip it over the head with a gad.
With a
cry of rage the catamount sprang at Tipple. He avoided the beast's claws by jumping behind a hemlock stub, from which the
catamount had evidently pounced upon the heifer, giving it a cut with the gad
as it flew past him. The screaming animal turned, and Tipple moved to the
opposite side of the stub, and was ready to beat it over the head but he didn’t
get a chance, for the catamount climbed to the top of the stub, beyond the
reach of his whip, where it crouched and glared at him. Thinking that the
catamount would surely pounce upon him if he moved far enough from the stub for
it to make a spring, Tipple hugged the tree and tried to think of some way to
kill the beast.
He had no
weapon except a jackknife, but he spied a stone about as big as his two fists
lying within easy reach. He picked it up slowly, and with all the force he
could put into his arm hurled it at the catamount's head, twenty feet above
him. It struck the animal square on the nose, and the
catamount fell stunned in a mass of goldenrod, four or five yards from the stub.
Before it had a chance to come to, Tipple cut its throat with his pocketknife.
The catamount weighed thirty-three pounds.
NEIGHBORING COUNTIES.
CHENANGO.—William Brown of Pharsalia has a broken rib from a kicking
horse.
The Chenango Fish and Game Association offer
a reward of $25 to any person furnishing evidence that will convict any one of
violating the fish and game laws of this State.
Mr. J. D. Read, of Norwich, claims to have
the second best hop yard in the State. The yard
contains sixty acres, and in an interview with a Telegraph reporter Mr. Read says
that this year's crop will more than pay the purchase price of the land. He has
forty-five thousand hills of hops, and estimates that he will have 75,000 pounds
of hops. A nice income at 30 cents a pound.
Last Thursday at about 6 P. M. a cyclone or
whirlwind swept diagonally across the town of Lincklaen in a northeasterly
direction. Its width varied from a few rods in the west to a quarter of a mile
in the east part of the town. There is scarcely a thing left standing in its path.
Forest trees of a century's growth were torn up and carried along for several
rods from where they grew. Fences are carried off and in some instances the
material with which they were built cannot be found. Hundreds of apple trees
were uprooted and many pieces of grain ruined. The large cow barn of T. M.
Gilford was unroofed and several smaller buildings wrecked. In one place the
wind picked up a stone boat [a flat-bottomed sled used to transport stone—CC
editor] and carried it through a window into a man's house. This was probably
the end of the cyclone which struck Cortland forty minutes earlier.
MADISON.—Hops are still free of vermin and
as bright as a Bland dollar.
Charles H. Lewis, proprietor of the Wirth House
in Canastota, left town last Monday. He bought a ticket for Chicago. He took
about $500 and left a number of debts here. Mr. Lewis had been leading a fast
life of late and had become quite reckless. It is reported that he gambled. He
is about twenty-eight years old. He worked in the New York Central freight house
at one time and was proprietor of the drug store now occupied by Willis
Thompson & Company. It is reported that his wife has begun proceedings for
a divorce.
TOMPKINS.—Republican County Convention
Saturday, Sept. 19th.
The Freeville Brass Band has purchased new
uniforms.
A very productive field of mangolds can be
seen on the University farm.
Cornell University examinations begin September
24th and instruction will begin October 2d.
The State Convention of the superintendents
of the poor will be held in Ithaca next year, convening the second Tuesday in
August.
It is now pretty generally understood that
Prof. Fiske intends to present to Cornell University the Fiske-McGraw mansion
that it may be turned into an art gallery.
Prefixes
"Mac" and "O."
Rehoboth Sunday Herald.
The prefix "Mc" or
"Mac," in Irish or Scotch family names, signifies "son of."
The family names Mackay, Mackey, McKay and Magee are from the Ulster Clan McAodda,
signifying "sons of fire." McPhaddin, the origin of McFadden,
signifies "son of little Patrick." Connor was originally written
"Connohobhair," signifying "war
hound of help," and Gallagher, Galichobhair, "helping stranger."
The prefix "O" was originally used in the Gaelic to designate a male
descendant, and the name of the famous Grace O'Malley was written in her own
tongue Gra Ni Mhalle, the prefix "Ni" meaning "daughter of."
The prefix "O" is now used indiscriminately.
HERE AND
THERE.
The Howe stove company will exhibit a full
line of their stoves at the Elmira fair.
Several wheelmen from this place attended
the meeting held in Syracuse this week.
E. A. Brown, a teamster of this place, has
left town. Many creditors mourn his departure.
Mr. Ellery York has sold his photograph gallery
to Messrs. Niles & Hyatt, of Cazenovia, who are in possession.
The new Franklin reader has been adopted by
the School Board, and will hereafter be used in the Union Schools of this
place.
N. W. Fuller, formerly proprietor of Arlington
House, has purchased the stock and fixtures in D. F. Dunsmoor's restaurant on
Port Watson St., and took possession last week.
The opening day of the Normal fall term, Wednesday,
witnessed as large an enrollment of pupils as upon any term opening for some years
past. The foreign attendance is very large, with daily additions.
At the Horse Breeders meeting held in
Syracuse last week, Walter G., owned by Hon. O. U. Kellogg, of this village,
won the second, third and fourth heats and race in one contest.
The managers of Auburn, Ithaca, Cortland and
Groton base ball clubs have notified the Secretary of the Genoa Agricultural Society
that they will be present and compete for their purse of $75 to be given to the
winner of the games during the fair.—Exchange.
A large crowd of Cortland people went to
Elmira yesterday over the E. C. & N. road to attend the Inter-State Fair
now being held in that place. The Hitchcock Manufacturing Company gave a parade
on the race track and manufactured a wagon while on parade.
The last Legislature passed a registry law which applies to the whole
State. In order to vote in country or village, an elector must have been
registered. Registration days will occur on Saturday, October 18th and 25th,
and on Friday, October 31st. The importance of registry is too apparent to need
any argument from us.
Be sure and purchase your
ticket for the Cortland Wagon Company's 99 cent excursion to Elmira to-day.
Mr. T. H. Wickwire has
purchased Mrs. L. D. Hewitt's house and lot, No. 21 Argyle Place.
Consideration, $3,500.
Bear in mind the grand concert
to be given on the corner of Main and Court streets by the Homer Cornet Band,
this evening.
Saturday will be a genuine
gala day for factory employes [sic]. The Cortland Top & Rail Company and the
Excelsior Top Company will close their works that their men may attend the C.
W. Co. excursion to Elmira.
The Union Schools opened on
Wednesday, with an attendance of 675 pupils. Some changes had to be made which called out the usual amount of objections
from pupils and parents. There was no serious difficulty however.
Some little excitement was
occasioned Saturday by a reported attempt at suicide in the Hotel Brunswick.
Investigation shows that a lady visitor by mistake took an overdose of morphine
pills. Dr. Edson was promptly called, and administered an emetic, and the
poison was speedily removed and all was over.
The marriage of Miss Marion
Hitchcock, daughter of Dwight M. Hitchcock, to James I. Peck, of Seneca Castle, will take place at the Congregational
church in this village, Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 9th, at 1 o'clock. A reception
at the residence of the bride's parents will follow the wedding.—Homer
Republican.
Last Saturday night, between
11 and 12 o'clock, police officer Jackson requested two men to make less noise
on the corner of Main and Clinton streets. They refused to comply, and
continuing, were told they would have to "go down" or remain quiet.
At this point one attracted the attention of the officer and the other knocked him
down. Jackson was up in an instant and collared No. 1, while the second was making
good use of his legs. In police court, Wednesday, James Keefe, a molder, paid $9.75
for his part in the transaction. The other is absent from town.
I. O. O. F.
John L. Lewis Lodge No. 587.
For the past two weeks
carpenters, plumbers and painters have been at work on Schermerhorn Hall,
getting it in readiness for Lewis Lodge No. 587, I. O. O. F., which will be
instituted on the 11th of this month. The members have shown the same push
since the charter was granted on the 20th of August, which they displayed while
working for the charter. When this hall is completed it will be one of the most
convenient in the State.
There will be a parade in the
afternoon of the eleventh, participated in by the president and trustees of the
village of Cortland and Grand Lodge officers in carriages, the 45th Separate
Co.; the Cortland Fire Department and a number of visiting Cantons, Encampments
and subordinate lodges, and the charter members and candidates of Lewis Lodge.
The line will form on Court
street, the right resting on Main. The line of march will he down South Main to
Tompkins, to Reynolds ave., to Union, to South Main, to Port Watson, to Church,
to Grant, to North Main, to the Messenger House and countermarch on Main when
the line will disband. Immediately after the parade the lodge will be
instituted by the Grand Masters assisted by the members of the Grand Lodge of
the State of New York.
Citizens on the line of march
are invited to decorate their residences in honor of the event.
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