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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1891)
WEST SHORE. 55 Senator Dolph's bill to appropriate lump gam sufficient to complete the work at the month of the Columbia and at the cascades has passed the senate. The bill calls (or $1,973,000 for the former and (1,815,000 for the latter. The rub is now to get it through the house. It is altogether too sensible and businesslike a measure to stand much show in the circus branch of the government, and its future is o'ercast with gloom. The proposition to abolish the state board of horticulture is an extremely unwise one. Fruit, under proper conditions, is destined to become the chief product of the state, and the plainest dictates of prudence demand that every precaution possible be taken to protect the industry and foster its growth. The work of such a board is a most important one, and its contin ued existence is one of the Industrial needs of the state. Spasms of econ omy seize upon all legislatures, and while suffering from their throes their victims often do a great deal of harm ignorantly. It is a false step to abol ish the horticultural board or restrict its actions. On the contrary, It should be clothed with more power and better equipped for the great work it is doing. The Australian ballot bill ha now been started on its journey through the legislature, and the general sentiment seems to be favorable to it, though there will doubtless be considerable discussion of a number of its provis ions. The greatest danger is that some ill-advised amendment may rob the bill of Its effectiveness. Every provision contained in it Is essential to its perfect working, and amendments should be strongly opposed. Supple mental to this is the movement for the amendment of the constitution so that a registry law may be enacted, the supreme court having decided that the constitution stands in the way. The resolution passed at the last ses sion, and if it passes again, the amendment will be voted upon at the next election. The element of danger to this measure is the opposition of resi dents of the country who can not be made to see any necessity for it. They look upon it as making the casting of a ballot more difficult, and hence as calling for needless bother and effort. It certainly does make the casting of an illegal ballot more difficult, and to secure this good end legal voters ought to be willing to submit to a little inconvenience. If the elective fran chise be valuable, its possessor ought to be anxious to protect it in every way possible. The lack of a registration law Is responsible for the great frauds perpetrated in Portland, and is one ol the means by which the cor rupt bosses control elections. Fraud in Portland effects the whole state, and if this were as fully realized as it should be, a registration amendment would be voted for almost unanimously. The address of the Washington World's Fair Association a body simi lar to that WiitT Shore so strongly urged the citizens of Oregon to organize, and which ought to have been done as made to the members of the legis lature so depicts the proper aspect of the case that the following extract is reproduced for the benefit of Oregon's law makers: " What specific sum will meet the requirements of this vast undertaking, providing for all neces sary expenses and guarding against too lavish and extravagant display must be left to the prudent judgment of the legislature. Some states will appro priate at least (1,000,000 for their displays, and while a sum so large might be wisely and judiciously expended in an exhibit by the state of Washing ton, due regard must be had to the ability of the people to meet their obli gations to the state treasury. However, It must be borne in mind that this exhibit is not to be a display of the wealth and resources of the Washington of today, but of the Washington of 1893, not of 350,000 people and (300, 000,000 of taxable property, but of 600,000 people and at least (500,000,000 of taxable wealth. What might be a creditable exposition of the Washing ton of 1891 would not be a creditable exposition of the Washington of 1893. Items of expense can not be well calculated at the present time, but it is appreciated that the cost in some directions can not help but be large, because of the bulky nature of the exhibits in lumber, timber and minerals. Beyond this an attractive building should be erected, and to be representa tive in character it must be wholly constructed of products of the state, involving a considerable outlay for their transfer alone, while the prepara tion and distribution of descriptive printed matter will constitute another very large and necessary item of expense." Every few years the fiat money craze breaks oat In a new spot, and great masses of thoughtless people clamor for more money until the sober sense of the majority asserts Itself and the rag baby is laid away for another brief nap. Again the infant is bowling for attention, but his case this time is something more than a simple colic. Formerly the nurses of the rag baby were contented with the general principle that a piece of paper stamped by the government as a dollar was just as good a dollar as a piece of gold, but left the government unhampered as to the method by which these mar velous pieces of paper were to become the property of individuals. Not so, ' however, with the present demands of our friends of the alliance. Not only do they demand that the government shall create money, but, with naive i modesty, present themselves as the special and exclusive beneficiaries of the act They insist, not only that the government shall make money in limitless quantities, but shall place it in the bands of the farmers as a dis tinct class of citizens. Just why the government should supply the farmers with money, and not mechanics, railroad engineers and merchants, is not made quite clear. In fact, no attempt has been made to explain it, the alliance, with charming ingenuousness, admitting that they put it that way because they think themselves powerful enough to secure it, The proposition that the government shall lend money upon one-half the value of real estate, the money to be created for the purpose, is loaded with a heavier charge than its supporters realize. They, with surprising generosity, have not specified that only farming property shall be eligible. As city property exceeds in value the farms, and as it is chiefly owned by those capitalists whose rapacity they are seeking to escape, they are opening the door through which these dreaded beings can secure the greater portion of the money such as it Is the government is to manufacture. That this is an oversight, and not an act of unselfish generosity, everything else con nected with the movement demonstrates. It is a fatal weakness in the scheme and should be remedied. But there is another branch of the scheme that the farmers propose to hold for their exclusive enjoyment. Not only is the government to lend money at two per cent, on real estate, but it Is to advance eighty per cent, of the market value of all storable farm products that may be offered it. Here is a chattel mortgage business proposed for Uncle Sam in every county in America. The government is not only to open pawn shops everywhere, but is restricted in the class of security It will accept. It might, and prob ably would, say it preferred pig Iron or steel rails as security, but the alli ance says that non-perishable farm products if any one knows what that means, unless it be a mortgage can alone be accepted. The farmers over produce wheat and corn, and the government must come to their relief. The woolen mills over produce blankets, the cotton mills make too much calico and the rolling mills make too many rails, but the government is not permitted to relieve them, and the mills are compelled to shut down and hundreds of thousands of people are compelled to live in abject poverty in consequence. If the government can create money by simply running a printing press, it is a crime to permit such misery to exist when money enough for all could be made. Indeed, there is no good reason why any body should work or suffer want when such magic power of creating wealth is possessed by the gov ernment. To be sure, the man who runs the printing press for making the money would have to work, but we could " spell " bim and give him an occasional rest. Money for everybody 1 What a millennial condition I Every farmer could stack it up in his back yard like hay. It would be safer than bay, because it would not be worth so much and the cattle could not eat it. Walking out and surveying his " stacks of wealth," the farmer would say to himself: " All this is mine, and yet I would give it all for a . pair of cowhide boots with which to kick myself." Some years ago the boys in a certain Illinois town secured possession of thousands of blank checks on some different banks and began speculating with them. Horse racing was a great sport, and the fattest runners sold themselves as horses, and their owners paid fabulous sums for them and bet recklessly on the races. Many a boy sold for a billion dollars, and the whole purchase price would be traded off for a chew of gum if the owner of the gum was a real generous fellow. Let the government go Into the money making business on the principles of the farmers' alliance, and in a few years the farmers will all be rolling in wealth, as were these school boys, but will have to do without gum. LOSOlNd. O, over on yonder foot hill ' The poppy bums for thee, And up from the mesa's level The lark's sweet ecstacy Comes over the fields of clover, Like summer rain in June; And the longing heart of the lover Re-echoes his ringing tune " I love thee, I love, I love thee, My little love, alone." And the lover: " I love thee, dearie, Love ever thee, my own." And the bird on the mesa singing, Re-doubles his golden trill; But tlie lover is ever sighing, Sighing and waiting, still. Ciiaki.sk F, Sloans.