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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 1890)
WEST SHORE. PUilUHIO IRY SATURDAY. L. SAMUEL, Publisher, Seoond 4 Yamhill gtl., PORTLAND, OREOON, Main a Stavena Stl., SPOKANI FALLS, WASH. Cneri In tin Pott op in Portland, Ofoon, or IraiwmMtm (ftrounA ( mailt at $etmd clou rattt. SUBSCRIPTION RATISStrlotljr In Adanoa. Oh Year, til Moolha l4.oa I Three Monthe, 1.15 I 8litle Copiei, H.'l IVCoplee will la 00 cete be eent la eubecrlbere beyond the termpald for. Re jected manuicrlpt will not be returned unleu etampe have been eent to piy poitige. The Wist 8hori offers the Best Medium for Advertisers of any publication on the Pacific Coast. HATKKDA Y, AUOUHT 16, 1NII0. With tliiH number Wkst Siioiik celebrates its first anniver sary as an illustrated weekly by enlarging the size of ita page ami adding a new department for "Hoys and Girls, conducted by Miss Kmily A. Kellogg, a writer of national reputoon juve nile topics. The larger page gives tho artist nioro scope and adds much to tho attractiveness of tho paper. Other new features will bo added from time to time. IT would ho impossible to find any subject upon which has been expressed a greater diversity of opinion than that of electric execution. The first application of the subtle forco to the legal extinction of life was, to say tho least, not a complete success. The range of discussion is a wide one, and tho opinions, such as are not dictated by self interest or prejudice, seemed to be gov erned by tlio ideas of tho writers on tho subject of capital punish ment. If the question be divested of. dross and the object aimed at be kept clearly in view, it ought not to be difficult to como to a satisfactory conclusion. Clearly, tho object to bo gained in adopting some less barbarous method than hanging for the legal killing of murderers is not so much to save tho victim himself from a few moments of pain as to lessen tho brutalizing effect such a custom has umii the people using it. A nation that still commits such barbarity as the hanging of condemned criminals can not be said to have yet reached a high plane of civilization, 110 matter how wealthy it may Ik1, how advanced in the arts and sciences or how much progress it has made in the paths of litera ture. If it were not for legal hangings thero would bo no illegal ones when a new generation shall have risen purged of tho debas ing iulluent'i' of the custom. That electric execution is a step in advance for us as a people, ami not a more painless way to dio, is its nvotumcudation, and if it also possess the latter attri bute, so much the lietter. There is a growing sentiment against hanging, and it is one of the evidences of our progress towards higher and tatter things. Yearly it becomes more difficult to mvure a conviction before a jury where the penalty is death upon the scaffold, and courts of apical are showing a decided leaning towards the side of mercy. The natural result of this is public clamor against the method in which justice is being administered, resulting in threats of lynching and even in actual execution of the threats. A people whose minds were not dulled in their sen nihilities by such a brutal custom would never resort to it ille gally under such circumstances. It is also true that more crim inals would ta convicted and punished were somo less repulsive form of punishment adopted, The cry that the murderer deserves banging Uvauso of the agony he has caused his victim is the growl of the brute side of our natures. Xo man can give voice to such a sentiment without turning from that which is the high wt and noblest in his nature, without casting his eyes down from that which is above him and towards which he should climb and letting his baser and more brutal insticts secure a firmer hold upon him. The time is coming when our children, of, possibly, not more than the second generation, will look with as much horror upon our custom of hanging as we do upon the wheel and the rack. Electric execution is but a step in our evolution towards a higher, more intellectual, more sensitive and more philanthropic civilization, and because it is a step it will undoubtedly be taken. The spectacle of the two great political parties in congress frittering away the time and money of the people in an all-summer session, which is nothing but a political tournament to see which party will win the most prizes or inflict the most damage upon the other, is not one of which a citizen of this great republic can boast. Xo matter how much he may favor the one side or the other, he can hardly hold up his head and say, " See what my party is doing in congress; I am proud of it." It is the hope and expectation of thousands of true Americans to have a party in the halls of congress of whose conduct they can speak with pride. As it is now, both the democratic and republican parties are but machine organizations, existing chiefly for the glory and financial advantage of their managers, from the man in the pres idential chair down to the lowest ward politician. Behind them are tho votes of hundreds of thousands of men that are cast more from habit than from principle. The mere names 11 repub lican" and "democratic," without reference to the principles advocated or opposed, aro potent to hold the votes of men who, were they divorced from inherited or acquired prejudices, could not be induced to support cither of the two parties bearing them. The predicament of a man compelled to choose between these two for the first time is well illustrated by the artist on the last page, lie represents tho new states of Idaho and Wyoming as in a quandary as to which of two dilapidated inns they will give their patronage. Doth of the inns aio simply kept from falling into ruins by props representing fie source' from which the parties reccivo their support, while they are patched here and there by unsightly and unsavory r cords. In the distance a fine American hotel is being erected. Undoubtedly the time is com ing, and that rapidly, when lodg 8 will abandon both the repub lican and democratic inns and put up at the new American. Tho American aentiinent is -..reading rapidly, under the impulse of such incidents as tVo school contests in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The motto is not the old know nothing ono of "America for Americans," but the broader and more lib eral ono of "America for American principles." To this any loyal and intelligent foreign born citizen can subscribe heartily, and it is ono of the best indications for success of the movement that it is participated m by many citizens who were not born on American soil. The American party in California has nominated an entire stato and congressional ticket, composed of men of ability, personal and political purity and known loyalty to the fundamental principles of our government, and only the blind worship of a party name stands between them and success. The sentiment is strong everywhere, and were a party organization made in every state, around which it could crystalize, it would not lie long Wore it would become a political power. Portland has honored herself this week by entertaining the Oregon I'ress Association. The editors of Oregon when thus gathered together proved to bo a body of very ablo and pleasant gentlemen. Xo doubt this pleasant intercourse will unito both city and country in closer bonds of friendship. If the Ahm (W.iifm,. had sullicient forethought to pro vide itself with a hole, it could now, with good grace, retire into it and pull the string. A small hole will do.