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About Ashland tidings. (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 1912)
TACT. TWO Ashland Tidings SDII-WEEKLY. ESTABLISHED 1876. Issncd Mondays and Thursdays Brrt IL Gn-rr, II. W. Talcott, . Editor and Owner ... City Editor INITIATIVE AXI REFERENDUM. ASTTLAVD TIDIXCS PROGRESSIVE PARTY PLATFORM The Home Circle a Thoughts from the Editorial Ten jj The editor has been again wading through the Oregon political pam phlet in an attempt to form an intel ligent Judgment oh the forty-eight proposed initiative bills. He finds it absolutely impossible to do bo. It is our opinion that not one per cent of the voters at the polls in Oregon in November will be able to cast an in telligent ballot. Standing in the vot ing booth with a general ticket as big as a newspaper, containing the names of all the candidates, from presidential elector to dog catcher, of six or seven separate political or ganizations, and another, as big as a blanket, containing the forty-eight , measures proposed, he is bound to be loHt in the endless mazes. If he at tempts to vote on all candidates and all measures it will take him two hours to do it, and if he wants to - exercise an intelligent vote on each AHhland, Ore., Monday, Sept. .10, l.j nQt dQ ,t jn a year All 01 wnicn jeaus us io auvucaie short ballot" and wonder how firnscRHTiox rates. One Year 12. 00 BIx Months 1 Three Months 50 Payable in Advance. TELEPHONE 39 (First Installment.) Monday. September 3Q. 1912. Ill 1 1 HIM Mill t MM in i ihiuhm; Advertising rates on application. First-class Job printing facilities. Equipments second to none in the Interior. Entered at the Ashland, Oregon, Postoffice as second-class mail matter. I . THE INITIATIVE MILLAGE BILL. !he ' The initiative millage tax bill, pro Tiding for a six-tenths of a mill tax, four-sevenths for the use of the agri cultural college, and three-sevenths for the use of the university, and providing ako for a single board of regents, was prepared by a joint committee from the governor's spec ial commission appointed to solve Oregon's higher educational prob- in the name of common sense the people of Oregon could so misunder stand the proper uses of the initia tive and referendum to the extent of becoming so hopelessly entangled in such mazes of initiated legislation. The Initiative and referendum does not supply an intelligent work- ling system for legislation as a sub Jstitute for the representative sys tem. To attempt to so use it is but A Home Snuggery. There should always be one spot in the home sacred to the best inter ests of the family. A room full of comfort, where the sofa is made to lounge on, and the chairs to tilt back, and the carpet to dig the toes in; where bills and bickerings are alike forbidden, and the straight- laced propriety of the dining room or parlor can be abandoned for romps and story telling; where the dust doesn't show and nothing is too fine to use, and at whose door all the burdens drop off as they will some time at the gate of heaven a room whose speech is silver and whose silence is golden where the tran quility of a summer Sabbath is brok en only by sweet murmurs of love and confidence where a happy cat curls herself to repoEe in blissful af- Ifinity with the peaceful house dog; a place where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. A sort of moral lean-to which ad joins the house beautiful. Here Jacob's ladder is planted, and angels ascending and descending bring with them endless measures of peace. Every home should have this one place of retreat. It is no impossible place. Love is the architect; content its atmos phere. We find it in our friends' homes, often where least expected, and are surprised because it is n-ver a show place. It is simply a golden room in a wooden house. lem. and from the boards of regents jtQ dlgcredIt it. Oregon has gone wild of the two institutions working in i tf)e initlative. It ha8 forgotten conjunction with the governor and that there i(J a gtate legisiature with the presidents of the two insti-1 whoge function is t0 make jaw. tutions, and is offered as a substitute i Th inlUative and referendum as t for all the present legislative bills for support and government of the two Institutions. This bill does not Increase the average rate of taxation for the sup port of the two Institutions as shown during the last ten years. The state of Washington is at pres ent paying for the same purposes serenteen-hundredths of a mill more than the Oregon bill calls for: name ly, forty-flve-hundredths of a mill for the university and thirty-two-bundredths of a mill for the agricul tural college. The growth of the two Institutions will certainly keep pace with the Krowth of wealth In the sttae, as has "been shown by the experience of all other states using the millage basis of support. This bill expressly repeals the $500,000 appropriations of the legis lative session of two years ago, now submitted to the voters under the referendum (official numbers on tho ballot, 372, 373, 374, 375) for their approval or rejection. The present standing appropria tions to be continued for one year are most urgently needed to give the Institutions a start in buildings and to carry them through the period while the mill tax Is being collected. - The passage of this bill will take the university and agricultural col lege out of politics. The efficiency and dignity of the institutions de mand permanency of support and YrfieuOn from political entangle ments. ,7 Jhjrough the unified control of the Blngle board, hearty co-operation of tho two institutions will be insured. The advantages of a combined insti tution will be secured, and the ad vantages which come from segrega tion will not be sacrificed. Since the millage bill Involves the question of taxation, It should be taken directly to the peope. It Is therefore not an abuse but a proper use of the initiative law, and the bill should be voted upon its merits. In the United States behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an Invisible government, owing no al legiance and acknowledging no re- Hponslliility to the people. That in visible power working through both the old parties for in democratic communities that power is democ ratic and in republican communities it Is republican is In full control of the government. Its method lias been the control of parties through the party boss and the control of government through parties. Kqual opportunity has been, displaced by special privilege and industrial Jus tce by legal commercial favors. Un der Hiich circumstances a republic cannot long endure, for equal oppor tunity and Industrial Justice is the (foundation of republican government. .To destroy 111 Ih Invisible govern ment, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and cor rupt politics, is the duty of every American citizen. Nor can It be ac complished without changing the system. It Ih absolutely foolhardy to attempt it through the old parties, for they are the main spokes in the system, fashioned and moulded by the invisible power, which now con trols the government. tools to force really representative government are wholesome and will prove effective measures, but as law making instruments supplanting leg islative function they will prove un trustworthy and cumbersome. The great good In the initiative is not in its law-making power, to be always substituted for the represen tative system, but rather because of its force in bringing the legislature into a more responsive relation to popular will. In Its proper use It should only be exercised after the legislature has failed to respond to the popular de mand for legislation in the interest of the whole. So used it becomes at once a restraint on misrepresenta tion and a fit weapon in the hands of the people when their representatives fail to respond to a popular demand. As a substitute for the representa tive system it will prove a failure, and no better Illustration could be devised than will be afforded the electorate in the November election when it comes to wrestling with the practical side of the question In the voting booth. It will prove altogether a danger ous expedient to vote yes on meas ures that are not understood, and the goneral tendency will be and should be to vote no when In doubt. When the legislative body becomes thoroughly responsive to the popu lar will more wholesome legislation can be enacted in one session than Jlie initiative can produce in ten years. Let the Initiative, referen dum and recall be exercised in such manner as to force the legislature to properly respond to the public needs. That Is the proper function of these measures and when appliey only to these uses they will prove salutary and effective. While the initiative Is too cumber some to be practical as a medium for the enactment of general legislation, as is apparent in the number of meas ures before the people this year, it tuny be made highly useful In amend ing the constitution so as to open the way for needed legislation, and un der particular circumstances, as when the legislature fails to enact measures for which there is a popu lar need or attempts to pass a bill against public interest. Fashion. Fashion kills more women than toil and sorrow. Obedience to fash ion is a greater transgression of the laws of woman's nature, a greater injury to her physical and mental condition, than poverty and neglect. The slave woman at her task will live and grow old and see two or three generations of her mistresses fade and pass away. The washer woman, with scarce a ray of hope to cheer her in her toil, will live to see her fashionable sisters die all around her. The kitchen maid is hearty and strong when her lady has to be nursed like a sick baby. It is the sad truth that fashion-pampered women are almost worthless for all the ends of human life; they have but little force of character; they have still less power of moral will, and quite as little physical energy. They live for no great purpose in life, they accomplish no worthy ends. They are only doll forms in the hands of milliners and servants, to be dressed and fed to order. They write no books, they set no virtuous examples of rich and womanly life. If they rear children, nurses and servants do all save give them birth, and when reared, what are they? What do they ever amount to but weak scions of the old stock? . Who ever heard of a fashionable woman's child exhibiting any virtue of power of mind for which it becomes emi nent? Read the biographies of great and good men and women. Not one of them had a fashionable mother. They nearly all sprung from strong minded women, who had about as lit tle to do with fashions as the chang ing clouds. The trite saying, "A man may say too much, even on the best of subjects," will answer here. We are again reminded that some times It is a grand thing to be an editor. Not to be a good editor, nor yet a bad one, but Just to be an ed itbr. During the fruit seuson, in as grand place as tho Rogue River val ley, It is especially so, for at such seasons friends always remember the poor editor, as we .have just been remembered by H. II. Uachtell of Talent in bringing us a full basket of as fine peaches as ever a tooth bore down on. Where in all the land is to be found such peaches as the granite soil produces? What equals the size, color and delicious flavor? Where so many- kind friends to be stow such luscious gifts? School Teaching. At' a teachers' examination they were asked by the superintendent, "Why do you teach school?" Near ly all of them taught from a desire to do good, and one or two were hon est enough to confess they wanted the money. To teach for the sake of doing good is noble, and there is no harm in working for money, provid ing yon do your very best to earn youf money. Whoever expects to teach school on "flowery beds of ease" might as well abandon the field at the outset. There is no need for a teacher to be eternally grumbling about small salaries, school direct ors and superintendents, and unnec essary work. A teacher must make up her mind to work hard and to be found fault with. She must noj be over-sensitive. Let her conscien tiously strive to do her work and let a worrying, trying-to-please-every- body spirit depart. Above all things, don't be forever grumbling. Accept the situation and extract all the sun shine and sweetness out of it you can. We believe there is much en joyment in plain, prosaic school teaching. Fathers and mothers are apt to express their opinion in a way that you will hear of it, if you bap pen to cross John or Mary, but that is only the bitter with the sweet. There are parents who appreciate your earnest work; you are sowing seed that will ripen into grand men and women if you are doing the best you can, working cheerfully, and not continually grumbling about your salary, the lack of appreciation, and your social standing. Dignify your labor, be gentle and patient, and, above all, be earnest in your work. The conscience of the people, in a time of grave national problems, has called into being a new party, born of the nation's awakened sense of Justice. We of the progressive party i here dedicate ourselves to i the ful fillment of the duty laid upon us by our fathers to maintain that govern ment of the people, by the people and for the people whose founda tions they laid. We hold with Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln that the peo ple are the masters of their consti' tutlon, to fulfill its purposes and to safeguard it from those who, by per version of its intent, would convert it into an instrument of injustice. In accordance with the needs of each generation the people must use their sovereign powers to establish and maintain equal opportunity and In dustrial jubtice, to secure which this government was founded and with out which no republic can endure. This country belongs to the peo ple who inhabit it. Its resources, its business, its institutions and its laws should be utilized, maintained or al tered in whatever manner will best promote the general interest. It Is time to set the public welfare in the first place. The Old Parties. Political parties exist to secure re sponsible government and to execute the will of the people. Krom these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. In stead of instruments to promote the general -welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the osten sible government sits enthroned an invisible government, owing no alle giance and acknowledging no respon sibility to the people. To destroy this invisible govern ment, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and cor rupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. The deliberate betrayal of its trust by the republican party, and the fa tal incapacity of the democratic par ty to deal with the new issues of the new time, have compelled the people to forge a new instrument of govern ment through which to give effect to their will in laws and institutions. Unhampered by tradition, uncor- rupted by power, undismayed by the magnitude of the task, the new party offers itself as the instrument of the people to sweep away old abuses, to build a new and nobler common wealth. A Covenant With the People. This declaration is our covenant with the people, and we hereby bind the party and its candidates in state and nation to tue pledges made here The Rule of the People." The progressive party, committed to the principle of government by a self-controled democracy expressing its will through representatives of the people, pledges itself to secure such alterations in the fundamental law of the several states and of the United States as shall insure the rep resentative character of the govern ment. In particular, the party declares for direct primaries for the nomina tion of Btate and national officers, for nation-wide preferential prima ries for candidates for the presi dency, for the direct election of United States senators by the people; and we urge on the states the policy of the short ballot, with responsi- FureMoMtainWatcrlcc Reduced Prices on Ice FOR SEASON OF 1912 Save money by purchasing coupon, books. Issued for 500, 1,000, 2,000 up to 5,000 pounds. This is the cheapest way to buy your ice. Delivery every day except Sundays. ASHLAND ICE AND STORAGE CO. TELEPHONE OS i tt'l-li I 1 114' bility to the people secured by the initiative, referendum and recal. Amendment of Constitution. The progressive party, believing that a free people should have the power from time to time to amend their fundamental law so as to adapt it progressively to the changing needs of the people, pledges itself to provide a more easy and expedi tious method of amending the fed eral constitution. Nation and State. Up to the limit of the constitution, and later by amendment of the con stitution, ir found necessary, we ad vocate bringing under effective na tional jurisdiction thoae problems The prohibition of night work for women and the establishment of an eight-hour day for women and young persons. One day's rest In seven for all wage-workers. The eight-hour day in continuous 24-hour industries. The abolition of the convict con tract labor system; substituting a system of prison production for gov ernmental consumption only; and the application of prisoners' earnings to the support of their dependent fam ilies. Publicity as to wages, hours and conditions of labor; full reports upon industrial accidents and diseases, and !the opening to public inspection of which have expanded beyond reach I all tallies, weights, measures and of the individual states. check systems on labor products. It is as grotesque as it is lntoler- Standards of compensation for able that the several states should death by industrial accident and in by unequal laws in matters of com-1 jury and trade diseases which will inon concern become competing com-1 transfer the burden of lost earnings mercial agencies, barter the lives or from the families of working people their children, the heaith of their j to the industry, and thus to the coin women and the safety and well-being munity. of their working people for the profit I The protection of home life against of their financial interests The extreme insistence on states' rights by the democratic party in the Baltimore platform demonstrates anew its inability to understand the world into which it has survived or to administer the affairs of a union of states which have in all essential respects become one people. Social and Industrial Justice. The supreme duty of the nation is the conservation of human resources through an enlightened measure of social and industrial justice. We pledge ourselves to work unceasingly in state and nation for: Effective legislation looking to the prevention of industrial accidents, occupational diseases, overwork, in voluntary unemployment, and other injurious effects incident to modern industry. The fixing of minimum safety and health standards for the various oc cupations, and the exercise of the public authority of state and nation, including the lederal control over in terstate commerce and the taxing power, to maintain such standards. The prohibition of child labor. Minimum wage standards for working women, to provide a living scale in all industrial occupations. the hazards of sickness1, irregular em ployment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insur ance adapted to American use. The development of the creative labor power of America by lifting the last load of illiteracy from Amer ican youth and establishing continu ation schools for industrial education under public control and encourag ing agricultural education and dem onstration in rural schools. The establishment of industrial research laboratories to put the methods and discoveries of science at the service of American produc- ers. We favor the organization of the workers, men and women, as a means of protecting their interests, and of promoting their progress. To be continued. SUNSET MAGAZINE and Ashland Tidings one year $2.75 to old or new subscribers. Regular price of Sunset Magazine is 1.50 per year. Independence will install a steel bell tower and new hose house. Gresham is to have a soda and ice plant. 1 (B FOR There, will be 30 per cent more apples than last year, but owing to the higher costs of the orchardists' rubber tires, apples will have to go up too. Move to loH'n Willamette River, Salem and Albany are interested In the movement on foot to have the government deepen tho cnannel in the Willamette river from Portland to Eugene. The commercial bodies will bring the matter to the attention of congress and it is hoped to In crease the depth of the channel six feet bv nroner management of the water by building wing damtj and dredging. Don't you see a good many pale girls in your stores, girls with blood less, half-baked sort of faces, whose walk, whose voice, whose whole ex pression is void of spirit and force? Those girls are In the green state. Send them out In the country; let them throw away their parasols and live out in the sunshine for three months, and we would give more for one of them in any . work requiring spirit than for a dozen of the pale things who live in the shade. The only girls with red cheeks and sweet breaths, the only girls who become fully ripe and sweet, are those who baptize themselves fully in the sunshine. Remember that the Tidings want ads bring results. A woman's influence is very great for good or evil. A kind word from a wife or a mother may stay a man from untold evil, and one sharp, bit ter, thoughtless word may drive him to desperation. Men, Womee and CliMree In this important sale are a splendid quality and a big va riety ot sweaters in every size lor men, women and chil dren. Styles are high and low neck; colors blue, red, gray, black and white. Every person should take advan tage oi the prices at which we are oiiering these sweaters. Sec window display of sweaters and prices. Blankets aed Comfwte Now is the time you will need heavier bed coverings. Just now we are showing an immense line in cotton and wool blankets, colors gray, tan and white. Prices of cotton are 75c up to $3.50. Wool blankets $4.00 up to $10.00. Comforts for full size beds, silkoline covered, in hand some patterns, at $1.50 up to $3.25. Comforts, sateen covered, and others silk in beautiful patterns, at $3.50 up to $7.50. The Store with a Rest Room VAUPEL'S The Store with a Rest Room The Tidings for artistic printing. a I