101
WKST SHORE.
nntc fur ur that Kngland has war vessels stationed in
very quarter of the glolie, and that they render, will
ingly, courteously and bravely, the services to Ameri
ranR that our own navy should terform ; hut we ought
to huHten the time when the richest nation on the fiice
of the glolie ean not only protect her own citizens
nhroad, hut offer that generous protection to others
that she Iimh now so long received.
chonen to perforin. Montana has a good constitution,
and she needs good laws, and many of them, to carry
it into effect. Let us hope that the legislature, when
senators have been elected, will drop polities and at
tend strictly to the business of providing for the wel
fare of the new state.
Again lias attention lieen called to the defenseless
condition of the northwest by two of the most able
generals in the I'nitcd States army. In an article on
the subji-ct in the Jnurnnl of thr Milittirij Srrrirr liml'h
lulinn for September, (ieneral (iiblsm reviews the vari
ous Niintn of defense on I'uget sound, and shows that
with that body of water unprotected the whole Pacific
coast is in jeopardy. (Seneral Miles, also, has made a
serial tour of insection and has incorNratcd his
ideas in his official report to the war department. Itoth
of these gentlemen agree that millions of dollars of
protcrty in the Columbia river and I'uget sound re
gions lie wholly at the mercy of any nwer Mssessing
a first-class war vessel. Our country can not afford to
let such a state of affairs continue. I'rojNT defenses
should lie established on the sound and at the mouth
of the Columbia, ntid the promised naval station and
ship yard should at once Is- founded.
Montana bids fair to become the champion doubt
ful state of the union. For m arly a week after the
late election the general result was in doubt, and even at
this date there is n suspicion that the official count mav
clmnge the crsoine ()f the legislature, if not the en
tire Niitical complexion of that Isxly. As now under
stood, the republicans have the national representative
and the democrats the remainder of the ticket, which,
of course, curries with it the choice of I'nitcd States
senators. All this sliticnl ambiguity cmld be Imrnc
with comparative e.iianimity if it were not for the as
tounding fart following in its wake that over MMl
of Im Is on the general result Hre hung up in the hands
of stakeholders in Helena, ith a fair pn.sp.vt of the
Uts king declared off. This is truly heartrending.
Sin h uncertainties ought never to he s-rinitted What
art elections for, anvhow ?
The legislature of Montana is mi evenly divided U
tween the two great parties that unless the lucmls-r
I governed by a jmtriotie sense of duty, but little go,
may In lio, to result from their 'coining session.
The -l.t.rsl canvNM Mid conflict at the polls was so
hct.d wild earnest, that, it is to I f,.Mvd. jt (,
carried into the legislature and the memUm w ill n,
their energie to a struggle for H.liti, 1 advantage, to
the sad neglect of theiniH.rttit duties they ,avv U,.
The ReHsion of the Columbia Waterway Association
just held in Portland, emphasized again the necessity
of taking some independent action to open the Colum
bia river to continuous navigation. In time, of course,
this can all lie secured through the general govern
ment, but meanwhile the producers of the country are
ls'ing taxed millions of dollars for transportation, and
the growth and development in wealth, population,
commerce ami industry of city and country alike are
being stunted. The states of Oregon and Washington
should take this matter into their own hands, and fur
nish the means for at least a temporary opening of
the river, permitting the government to make the per
manent improvements in its own leisurely and ue
lessly extravagant manner.
Rev. Irwin seems to think that the Indian training
school at Chemawa is an institution for the promotion
of MethiHlism, but his action in discharging old, trust
ed and competent assistants to make room for "breth
ren" of his particular theological stripe seems rather
to Ih a movement for the promotion of Methodists. It
is time the entire Indian service of the government
were completely divorced from any ecclesiastical con
nection whatever. This parcelling out of schools and
agencies among the different creeds ought to cense. If
half as much effort were made to transform the ab
origine into a self-sustainiiiiJ citizen as is now put
forward to make him Catholic, Methodist or Presby
terian, more practical results would Is? obtained.
A law school for woman has been opened in New
York by Madame Kmily Kempin, graduate of the I'ni
versity of Zurich, who has also taken a full course in
law in this country. So many obstacles are encoun
tered by women who seek to secure a legal education
in the law schools and colleges, that this effort to make
a spin ial school for them must meet with the annrovil
; of every (s rson who thinks that the higher education
of women, and a U tter general knowledge on their
; part of law, business and the principles of government,
i should precede the general extension to them of thr
1 elective franchise.
Kaiser Wilhelm has entertained the czar with
; m ar view of his army, and wo may soon exrt the
Herman emperor to go t Russia and take a t
the Muscovite- warriors. It would be a good iU t