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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.