WEST SHORE.
170
If thaw democratic silver orators who cry oat lustily for tree coinage of
silver will explain how it is that when the price of silver can not be main
tained when the government Is compelled to purchase $54,000,000 per year,
they expect it to rise under free coinage, when the government will not be
compelled to purchase an onnce, those who can not see so far into a mill
stone as they will be compelled to admit that there is something besides
pure demagogy in their arraignment of the republican party for Its failure
to pass a free coinage bill.
Commissioner Morgan reports great progress in the right direction on
the Indian question, which is equivalent to saying that we are getting the
reservation lands away from the noble red man at a rapid rate. Daring the
past year 13,000,000 acres have been ceded and arrangements nearly per
fected tor 4,500,000 acres more ; bat as this will still leave nearly 100,000,000
acres in the possession of the aborigine, the good work must go on. Other
commissioners mast be appointed, other treaties made, other chiefs bribed,
other specious promises made, nntll the Indian is reduced to the same
pitiable condition as that of the ordinary American cltiien, who owns no
land that he has not bought, inherited or worked for. There is but one set
tlement of the Indian question, and that is to make him a responsible human
being, amenable to the law and protected by the law the same as any ordin
ary white man. Gradually the problem Is being solved In this direction,
and when it is thus settled, the Indian will survive or perish as his ability
to compete with the common, every day citiien of the United States in the
ordinary battle of life shall develop.
Here is " a pretty howdy do I " Citiiens of the United States threaten
ing to pat their vessels under the British flag upon the theory that they can
secure the privilege of destroying seals in Behring sea that is denied them
while sailing beneath the ensign of their own country. It is not true that
the British flag covers more privileges in that region than the stars and
stripes. Neither of them ought to protect the brutal and wanton destruc
tion of seals that was witnessed there the past season, and, happily, the in
dications are that another year they will not. The shooting of female seals
in the water, either when they axe about to give birth to their young or
when, having left their young on shore, they are searching for food, is not
only cruel in the extreme, but, as not one in six of those shot is csptored,
is wontonly destructive. It is no wonder there has been such a remarkable
diminution in their numbers this year. Two or three more such seasons
wonld practically exterminate them. Whether or not England, Russia and
the United States unite upon a Joint measure for protection, it can not be
admitted that any citiien of the United States can gain any legal privilege
in Behring sea under the British flag that is denied him as au American.
One of the village customs of Portland is that of permitting horses to
stand in the street unsecured. Every few days Is heard the rattle of a run
away horse or team, the shouts of excited or frightened people, the crash of
collision, and expressions of sympathy for some maimed animal or injured
human being. It is utterly absurd that this thing should be permitted to
continue. Other cities, those that really make good their claim to be such,
do not endure it on the flimsy plea tint it is too much bother to tie a horse,
and that an ordinance requiring it could not be enforced because the city is
" too large." The larger it grows the more will be the necessity of stop
ping this careless custom. Rings in the sidewalks to which horses can be
secured, and weights carried in the vehicle, are ready means to overcome
the objections of the laiy man. If the police would drive every horse to
the police station that they see standing unsecured, and it cost the owner
5.00 to redeem his animal, it would not take long to break up the custom.
Let the council pass an ordinance to that effect and a few days will settle
the question. There may be nothing in it, which, probably, is one of the
reasons why it is neglected, but it is one of her village habits that Portland
mast put behind her.
From all that can be learned there has been a disastrous failure to
properly operate the Clackamas hatchery this season, evidently growing out
of the failure of the state commissioner and the United States fish commis
sion representative who has charge of the work to properly co-operate. The
state commissioner lays the blame npon the government commission be
cause repairs that should have been made in May were postponed until
July, as there were no funds available. This sounds well; but when it is
learned that these repairs amounted to but $200 in all and could have been
made in a few days, and that the money could have been raised by private
subscription had the commissioner undertaken to do so, and been prompted
by a patriotic desire to actually accomplish something for the good of the
state, it does not sound so " all killin " well after all. There are other reve
lations of friction In the management that emphasis the well known
adage that " too many cooks spoil tin broth." The result is that instead of
the ten or twelve million fish that ought to have been batched, only about
one-third that number have been produced. The state of Oregon should
maintain the hatchery itself, and not only this one but others farther in
land, and it should appropriate enough money so that when the commis
sioner has drawn his salary there will be Just a little left to do the work
with.
There is a little order beginning to be evolved from the chaos ot the
World's Fair question. The press of the state, almost unanimously, has
expressed the opinion that Oregon must do more and better than was ever
before attempted in her behalf. The indications point to the substitution
of the scene depicted on the last page for the one given a few weeks ago.
The world's fair train, laden with the unrivaled products of Oregon, drawn
by the locomotive " Progress," and with a full head of steam supplied by
an adequate appropriation, will clear the track of all obstructions and make
a triumphal journey to Chicago in 1893. The people are becoming aroused
on this subject, and they demand that the state shall be properly represent
ed at Chicago, and that her Interests shall be placed in the hands of compe
tent persons representing the enterprise and energy of every section. Neith
er politics nor sectionalism should find a place for the sole of its foot in this
matter.
Two movements looking toward practical accomplishment have been
set on foot, and it it to be hoped that something will result from them. Mr.
T. F. Osborn, president ot both the Portland Chamber ot Commerce and
the Oregon Board ot Commerce, has appointed a committee of the latter
body to consider the question and devise some means of securing the ob
ject sought. This committee will meet on the eleventh of November. On
the same day a committee of fifteen of the most active members ot the Ore
gon Frees association, who have been appointed by the president and who
represent every section of the state, will assemble in Portland to consider
the attitude the press should assume and what measures it should take to
further the project of securing a proper representation of the state at Chi
cago. From the deliberations of two such bodies, one representing the
press ot the state and one the business ot its chief cities, something practical
ought to result. Both of these are but preliminary gatherings, and the gen
tlemen composing them fully realize that whatever is done in the form of a
permanent organization must be dons by the people of every section of the
state. It is to secure this kind of action that these committees are taking
initiatory steps.
Too much stress can not be laid upon the necessity of an organised ef
fort and an outlined plan ot operations before the legislature meets. One
who gives the least thought to the subject, or who has had the least ex
perience In legislative ways, most recognlis the fact that no large appropri
ation can be secured unless both the necessity for it and the plan of its ex
penditure are laid before the senate and house in a comprehensible and
convincing way. A large sum of money can not be secured unless the legis
lators know what is to be done with it and have full confidence in the
persons who are to expend It. This confidence can bs secured best by an
organisation of men of all shades of political opinion and representing all
sections of the state, and, as nearly as possible, all forms ot Industry. It
an organisation ot that kind can be formed, and can present to the legisla
ture a general outline of operations that la both sensible and comprehensive,
it can secure all the money necessary to carry it out ; but with no plan diges
ted, and with the spem'ing of the money left to the uncertain agencies to be
selected by legislative election or gubernatorial appointment, with all the
possibilities and probabilities of political manipulation that accompany such
methods of selection, very little can be hoped for. Politics should bs rigidly
excluded from tills movement, and the only way to do so is to organise a
purely unpolitical and representative association before It is taken Into the
political maelstrom at Salem.
TO IRENE.
You say, Irene, that we must wait apart ;
That patiently, besot with doubts and fears,
I must toll on for many weary years
And long to clasp thee to my aching heart,
And yearn to feel your tender, loving kiss,
Or harken to your voice the voice that cheers
My soul ; that I must watch through blinding tears
For one tar day one golden day of bliss.
Until that time how dark the world to msl
On ebon wings the rushing midnight blast
O'er nnforgotten graves will shriek and moan,
While I, afloat on Life's wild, raging sea,
A storm-tossed man, will hops, ah I hops at last
To cry with Joy, " Irene, my love, my own I "
Hkshkht IUniirosn.