The west shore., December 14, 1889, Page 418, Image 2

418
WEST SHORE.
PUIlltHIO IVMV SATURDAY.
L SAMUEL, Pub., 171-3-0 Second St., PORTLAND, OR.
Knltrti In Ik Pol Offlc In Portland, Orrgonjor tranmlaitm throw
IK main at f ootid eltu rait,
luaSCRIPTION RATIt Strlotlr in Advnnoo.
OnfYoir, .... fc.oo Thru Moniht, i 5
III Monthi, .... 1.13I Bingliloplti, to
(W Coplti will in no com bi unl lo iuburlbari beyond th term
paid for,
The Wiit Shori offert the Beit Medium (or Advertis
ers of any publication on the Pacific Coast.
Portland. Ohkoon, Satihdav, DkckmhiiR 14, 1889.
THE young state of Washington is already inaugu
rating measures to inHure the purity of the bal
lot box. A bill Iuih been introduced into the
legislature providing for the registration of voters
throughout tho state, and it will undoubtedly become
a law. It provides for the division of each county
into election districts to le designated by number, no
county to have more than twenty such districts. Each
district may have as many polling places as may be
deemed convenient, but no voting precinct shall be
created between tho first day for registration and the
next succeeding election. Each district shall be under
the BUNrvision of a registry agent, chosen biennially
by the county commissioners, whose duty it shall be
to receive and register tho names of all qualified voters
for a certain specified jM-riod preceding each general
election. Every erson applying for registration shall
suhscrilw to an outh in which are included tho cssen
tial qualification for an elector. Heavy penalties for
fraud aro imposed by this bill, which prescribes with
great minuteness just how tho law shall be carried out.
It is a meritorious measure. Tho conditions in the
rapidly growing cities are such as to mako it impossi
ble to prevent fraudulent voting by the process of
challenging. It is but right that the law should im
pose uin the would-be elector some condition that
shall secure him in the privilege and duty ho exercises
in casting his ballot Singularly enough Oregon re
fused a few years ago to provide suffrage safeguard in
the way of registration. The result is that political
Uissism has uninterrupted sway in the larger cities.
It is gratifying to seo Washington taking a firm stand
on this matter.
The Wkst Siiohk is pleased that a conteniornry
has granted it permission to " express its mind freely "
on political topics, and will gladly avail itself of the
privilege. Its remarke will not be solely directed
against the democrats, as is intimated, but a careful
examination of its columns will disclose a disposition
to criticise shams, demagogies and absurdities of what
ever political party, social cast or religious .belief. It
believes in truth, equity and good, hard sense in all
the affairs of life.
Essays on climate are seldom read, and, when sci
entific in their nature, are more seldom understood,
and climate literature has become so associated in the
popular mind with land booms that about as little re
liance is placed upon it as upon a real estate agent's
glowing descriptions of the unrivaled advantages of
his ninety-ninth addition. Still, there are times when
a few remarks are seasonable, and one of these times
is the present. The Pacific coast, especially that por
tion lying west of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada
mountains, is now enjoying a season of copious rains
that guarantee a rich harvest for both the farmer and
the miner the coming year. The rains of the Wil
lamette valley are so steady and so ample in the win
ter season as to gain for this region the nickname of
" Webfoot" from other sections which, if blessed with
those same fertilizing showers, would annually add
several millions of dollars to the value of their pro
ducts. Oregon's winter season or, rather, rainy sea
Bon, for there is scarcely enough severe weather to jus
tify the title " winter "is a guaranty of abundant
and never-failing harvests, which the exemption from
rain in the summer season enables the farmer to gar
ner without fear of loss from the elements. Then let
it come, this blessed rain I Every Orcgonian welcomes
it, and every " easterner," who, dissatisfied with the
almost constant moisture, returns to his former home
to encounter the regulation winter of that region, hie
him back again to the land of Webfoot at the first op
portunity, and adds his voice to the general paw of
praise to the warm, gentle and fructifying rain. It i
now tho second week in December, and what has the
rain accomplished ? The rivers are running full and
on them ply boats that are bearing tho products of the
country to market, and will continue to do so all win
ter without fear of interruption from ice. At tho same
time snow is accumulating in the mountains that will
serve as a source of supply to keep the streams at
navigable stage until late next summer. The ground
has been softened and rendered cultivable, and plow
ing and seeding of winter wheat has been progressing
for weeks. Grass is growing with the luxuriant of
spring and everywhere the ground presents a brilliant
tint of emerald. Dairying finds now the same condi
tions existing in the spring, and green grass will b
available for cattlo the entire winter. Then1 has not
been a frost of sufficient strength to stiffen the surface