The Georgia record. (Atlanta, GA.) 1899-19??, February 17, 1900, Image 1

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The Georgia Record. VOL. I. MR. MACRUM’S STATEMENT Former Consul to Pretoria flakes Sensational Charges In Address to the Public. HINTS AT AN ALLIANCE Says English Censor at Durban Opened and Inspected His Official Documents. A signed statement was given out at NV ashington Wednesday night by Charles E. Macrum, former United States consul to Pretoria. In part it was as follows: “The situation in Pretoria was such that, first, as an official I could not remain there while my government at home was apparently in the dark as to the exact condition in South Africa. “Second, as a man and citizen of the United States, I could not remain in Pretoria, sacrificing my own self respect and that of the people of Pre toria while the government at home continued to leave me in the position of a British consul and not an Ameri can consul. “I want to say right here that there was not one single request made of me through the department of state look ing to the care of British interests in Pretoria, which I did not fulfill and report upon according to my orders. On the other hand, American interests in South Africa were in that condition which demanded that ( he department of state should be cognizant of them. “I issued the statement received from the state department that Ameri cans must remain neutral. In the face of this, Americans were contin ually going to the front and taking up arms in the cause of the Boers. I could not help but know that many of these were citizens of the United States. I also know that many of them, in their utter despair at the ap parent attitude of our own govern ment, were taking the oath of allegi ance to the Transvaal republic. “When affairs had reached that state my vice consul, Mr. Van Amer iagen, closed up his business, took the oath of allegiance to the republic and went to the front as a burgher, I thought the time had come when I should make a report of these condi tions. “It was over four weeks from the time the war opened before I received a single dispatch from my government or a personal letter. “The mail for the Transvaal had all been stopped at Cape Town by order of the high commissioner. When this mail was finally forwarded to me after Colonel Stowe, the consul general at Cape Town, had secured its release, I had the humiliation as the repre sentative of the American government of sitting in my office in Pretoria and looking upon envelopes bearing the official seal of the American govern ment opened and officially sealed with a sticker, notifying me that the con tents had been read by the censor at Durban. “I looked up the law, but failed to find anywhere that one military power can use its own discretion as to for warding the official dispatches of a neutral government to its representa tive in a beseiged country. “The misrepresentation which had been going on before the war and as - ter it opened, were of such a serious nature and would require such de tailed explanation, that on the 6th of November I filed a cable to the de partment in code,stating that I wished a leave of absence in order to visit the states. “I set forth in this cable thal my vice consul had enlisted in the Boer army; that Mr. Atterbury, an Ameri can, whom I had known very favora bly for more than a year, could take charge of the office until my return. “On the 4th of December I received a reply from the department to a ca blegram of the 14th, which I had been informed two days previously had just been forwarded. It read as follows: “ ‘You may come home. Put Atter bury temporarily in charge. Depart ment will send man from here.’ This was signed by ‘Hay.’ Thereupon I ca bled the department as follows: “ ‘Sail 18th by Naples.’ ATLANTA, GA.. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1900. “I come home to find an attempt has been made to tear down my personal reputation. I wish to state right here that when I accepted my post as con sul, I know nothing of any secret alli ance between America and Great Bri tain, and that I had seen nothing in the regulations which made the consul of the American republic subject to the whims and caprice of an English military censor at Durban. I came to America with a motive of which I am not ashamed. “I appreciate the seriousness of the conditions in South Africa to the ex tent that on my way to Washington, believing that I was still the consul in Pretoria, I refused to make any state ment that would in any way involve the department or embarrass it. My one object was to lay the information before the department as to the true state of affairs in South Africa. If the department thought these facts were of a value sufficient to warrant the expense of the trip I had taken. I expected to be remunerated and to re turn to Pretoria, leaving the depart ment to act as it saw fit upon the facts which I laid before it. SECRET ALLIANCE HINTED. “Instead of this, I find that Secre retary Hay, whether acting upon the reports in the newspapers, or upon advice from the British government, or some other motive, I do not know, has seen fit to wait until I could pre sent my reasons in person, and has been a silent or conniving partner to discrediting reports of my official acts.” ACROSS BOER FRONTIER. Britons Succeed In Entering Or ange Free State Under General French. Advices from London state that the British army, for the first time since the war began, is inside the Boer fron tier. Lord Roberts, with at least 40,000 infantry, 7,000 cavalry and 150 guns, bas'turned the Magerfontein lines be fore which the British forces have been encamped for * ten weeks, and with half of his corps, he is already operating on Free State territory. Large tactical advantages have been gained. The relief of Kimberly is within measurable reach, and the way to Bloomfonteiu is appreciably easier. The dispatches of Lord Roberts sketch three days’ work. The forward movement began on Sunday, Feb. 11th, when Colonel Hanuay set out with a brigade of mounted infantry for Ra mah, on the Riet, eight miles from Jacobsdal, one of the Boer supply bases. On Monday, February 12, General French, with the cavalry division, seized the crossing of the Riet river, at Dekil’s drift, south of Jacobsdal and eighteen miles east of Honey Nest kloof. He skirmished with the Boers and cleared the way for twenty thous and infantry, who followed across. On Tuesday, with his three cavalry brigades and horse artillery, General French rode to the Modder river, a distance of twenty-five miles and took three fords, with high ground beyond the ri 'er and five Boer camps. He had a few casualties in brushes with the Boer horse. General French has now fixed himself on General Cronje’s main line of communication with Bloemfontein, and 20,000 in fantry with seventy-two guns are be ing pushed up to support him there. TEST VOTE TAKEN. Senate Debate* on Financial Measure Were Spirited. Throughout its session Wednesday the senate had the financial bill under discussion. At times the debate became spirited and interesting. Late in the after noon a test vote, indicating approxi mately the majority on the passage of the bill, was taken. Mr. Chandler, of New Hampshire, offered an amendment to authorize the president to appoint commissioners to any international bimetallic confer ence that might be called and it was defeated by a vote of 45 to 25. A VIGOROUS PLATFORM Adopted By the Anti -Trust League At Conference Held In Chicago. * After a heated debate Thursday night the resolution committee of the anti-trust conference, in session at Chicago, decided to report in favor of government ownership of railroads and for their seizure on payment of actual value without payment for “watered stock or other fictitious values.” The committee also unanimously favored direct popular legislation as a means of obtaining the result. President Lockwood, of the anti trust league, said tha he regretted that William J. Bryan’s name was mentioned in the discussions and de clared it was his intention to keep politics out of the conference. The platform unanimously adopted by the committee declares for govern ment ownership of all public utilities and natural monopolies, government money, the referendum and direct leg islation and the withdrawal of all pro tective" tariffs from all articles con trolled by a trust. Among other things, after urging the organization to de prive trusts of their po-v r, it says: We make no assault pon business combination, for dimil i king produc tive cost or augmenting oductive effi ciency.. What we do as is combina tions for coercing proc eers and les sening production. It i such combi nations that constitute lhe trust evil and they we would ah sh, root and branch. When oppressive ti u ts are exam ined they are found :o be combina tions not for augm- n o g wealth, but for hampering its _pr. |ct’m; not for making things plenties and cheap, but for making them ear- j and dear. Their strength lies in a more intense concentration of monopoly privileges. The platform part cularly attacks the Standard Oil trust :o which it says monopoly engendering laws have com mitted the regulation of tl e peoples’ needs and rights in one department of industry. “Their needs aud rights in another have been by similar laws committed to the beef trust.” A num ber of set speeches were heard at the morning and afternoon sessions of the conference. The night session was in the form of a mass meeting, which was held in the > Auditorium and brought out some of the strongest speakers among the del egates, including John P. Altgeld, F. S. Monnett, Samuel M. Jones, John S. Crosby, George Fred Williams and Tom L. Johnson. Resolutions introduced by Judge Fleming, of Kentucky, were adopted : by a rising vote, strongly condemning the currency bill before congress. A committee to prepare a memorial to the United States senate against the bill was provided for and the people of the country urged to gather at court houses, school houses and other pub lic places to protest against the meas ure. SOUTHERN' PROGRESS. Liat of New Industries Established Dur- ‘ 1 US' the Past Week. Among the new industries reported the past week, the more important are an acetylene gas company and an au tomobile manufactory in Virginia; brick works iu Tennessee; bridge works in Alabama; n canning factory in North Carolina; coal mines in Arkansas aud West Virginia; a cotton gin manufac tory in Texas; cotton mills in Arkan sas, Georgia, Kentucky, North Caro lina, South Carolina, Tennessee; a Cotton seed oil mill in North Carolina; two electric light plants in Texas; an electrics! supply company in Tenues see; an electric switching device manu factory in Kentucky; engine works in I Virginia; flouring mills in Georgia and South Carolina; foundry and machine shop in Texas; two furniture factories in North Carolina; ice factories in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas; and irrigation company in Texas; lumber mills in Florida, Geor gia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas; Virginia; a natural gas aud oil com pany in West Virginia; phosphate mines in Tennessee; a planing mill in Mississippi; a shipbuilding and dry dock company in Virginia; stave fac tory in Georgia and Tennessee; tele phone compauies in North Carolina and Tennessee; a veneering factory in Alabama; zinc mines in Virginia.— j Tradesman (Chattanooga, Tenn). SENATE PASSES I FINANCIAL BILL Goes Through On Straight Party Lines By Vote of 46 to 29. INTERNATIONAL BIMETALLISM Provides For National Banks of $25,000 Capital In Towns of Not More Than 4,000. A Washington special says: The senate substitute for the house cur , rency bill was passed by the senate | Thursday by the decisive majority of '46 to 29. Prior to the final passage of the bill amendments wire considered | under the ten minute rule. Only two 1 of these amendments were adopted. ! One offered by the .finance cominit ! tee keeping the door open to interna -1 tional bimetallism and one by Mr. 1 Nelson, of Minnesota, providing for : national banks with 325,000 capital in I towns of not more than 4,000 iuhabit ' ants. The votes taken on the various ‘ amendments offered were practically along party lines. Mr. Chandler, Re l publican, of New Hampshire, voted } for the bimetallic amendment, but against the bill. Mr. Caffery, Demo ; crat, of Louisiana, and Mr. Lindsay, ■ Democrat, of Kentucky, voted ngaiust ■ the committee amendment, but for the i ■ bill. Mr. Kyle, of South Dakota, was the 1 only senator who did not vote and was not paired. The free silver substitute 1 offered by Mr. Jones, the leader of the | Democratic side, was defeated by a I majority of 19, the vote being 47 to 28. The bill as passed consists of ten ■ sections. It provides that the dollar , of 25 8-10 grains of gold, 9-10 fine, 1 shall be the standard unit of value and that all forms of United States money shall be maintained at a parity with it; that the treasury notes aud greenbacks shall bo redeemable in gold. The secretary of the treasury is to set apart a fund of 85,000,000 in gold for the redemption of these notes and to maintain this fund at a figure not below 8100,000,000 he is empowered to sell bonds of the United States bearing interest at not exceeding three per cent. THE PARITY PROVISIONS. It shall also be the duty of the sec retary of the treasury as fast as stand ard silver dollars are coined to retire equal amounts of treasury notes and to issue silver certificates against the silver coined. Under certain provis ions, too, gold certificates shall be is sued against the gold held in the treasury. No United States notes or treasury notes shall be issued in de nominations of less than $lO and.no silver certificates in denominations of more than $lO. The secretary of the treasury is also authorized to refund the bonded debt of the United States in bonds bearing 2 per cent, the princi pal and interest of these to be paid in gold. The 2 per cent bonds shall be issued at not less than par. Any na tional bank, by depositing with the United States bonds of this country, shall be permitted to issue circulating notes to the face value of the bonds deposited, no bank being allowed to issue circulating notes iu excess of the amount of paid-in capital stock of the bank. GREED FOR PENSION'S The Subject of Sensational Speech By Sims, of Tennessee. The feature of Wednesday in con gress was a sensational pension speech by Representative Sims, of Tennessee, in which he charged the existence of a vitiated and debauched public senti ment in the north with regard to pen sions. The most sensational feature of his address was a comparison of pension legislation from the war with Spain from the two lections, and the proof by statistics that upon an average there are five times as many applica tions for pensions from the northern and eastern states as from the south for like numbers and similar services. NO. 34. FAMILY IS MURDERED Aged Mother, Her Son and Daugh ter, the Victims. HORRIBLE TRAGEDY IN FLORIDA Ax Was Deadly Instrument Used—No Clew to Perpetrators of Dastardly Deed Has Been Discovered. One of the most horrible crimes ever perpetrated in Florida was dis covered Tuesday afternoon about seven miles west of Jacksonville, when the bodies of Mrs. Rosanna Roberts, a widow, aged seventy-six; her son, G. T. Roberts, a bachelor, aged fifty three, and Miss Jennie Roberts, a daughter, also unmarried, aged fifty one years, were found murdered at their home. The body of the old lady was dis covered in her bed, her head split open with an ax. The body of the son was found half out of the bed, as if he had attempted to rise, and a shotgun broken half in two by the side of the bed, showed that he had attempted to defend himself. The body of the daughter was found under the house, where she had run from her assailants in the house. Evi dences showed that she had been fol lowed and struck two heavy blows with the ax, which killed her. The three composed the entire fami ly, which has been wiped out of ex istence, and were well-to-do and high ly respected people. The. nearest house was one mile and a quarter from their home. The bodies were discovered by a neighbor who stopped to get a drink of water, and seeing no life about, made an investi gation with the result of discovering the horrible crime. Trunks and drawers were ransacked, but what was taken has not been dis covered, as money and other valuables were found where the robbers and murderers had worked. There is n“ trace to the perpetrators of the crime. BRYAN AT RALEIGH. Two Addresses Delivered to Tarjre Crowds In Tarheel Capital. Bryan arrived ih Raleigh, N. C., at 5 o’clock Tuesday afternoon over the Seaboard Air-Line from Richmond. He was met by a crowd of 10,000 people, headed by the local military organizations and cadets and was im mediately driven to a large tent erect ed for the speaking. He was introduced by State Chair man Simmons and spoke for and hour and a half mostly on familiar lines. He devoted rather more time than usual to a dis cussion of taxation, declaring that an income tax would be a leading feature in the campaign this fall. He discussed trusts, free silver and im perialism at some length on the usual lines. At night Mr. Bryan spoke in the Academy of Music. Hundreds were turned away, being unable to gain ad mittance to the building. He devoted much more of his time to imperialism than in his afternoon speech. Wednesday at noon Mr. Bryan lec tured at the state university on '‘Pend ing Problems.” MAY RETURN TO FRANKFORT. Democrats Consider Resolution To Meet At State Capital. A Louisville dispatch says: The first sign of a break in the Democratic lines was noticed Tuesday. It came in the shape of a resolution offered by Senator Triplett providing that upon adjournment Thursday the legislature name Frankfort*as its next meeting place. While no action upon the resolution was taken during the session, it was believed to foreshadow a return of the Democratic legislators to the state capitol soon. UNFAVORABLE TO EWART. Sub-Committee On Judiciary Decides Aeainst North Corolina Man. A Washington dispatch says: The sub-committee on judiciary which has been considering the nomination of Judge Ewart, of North Carolina, to oe United States district judge in that state, has made a report to the full committee adverse to Judge Ewart.