104
WEST SHORE.
Illustrated. Published Every Saturday at Portland, Oregon.
Portland Offiu,
IpokiM Fill! Offict,
Now York Offlci,
171 Second Strut.
99 Eait Mil Strut.
4I TribUM Building.
fiulieripfioti Price, f4 00 per Year, in Advance. Single Copy, 10 CenU.
Aditrtu all communication!, and main all rtmittanea payable, to
THE WE8T BHOBE PUMJ8HIHQ 00MPAH7, PO&TLAJD, OREGON.
JMmd for traiumluUm lrow IJU Mill at ttemd clam raid.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1801.
The bread of labor law passed at Salem provea upon examination to
be a atone.
If the presidential boom keepi growing, Pennoyer will be "a bigger
man tlian old Grant " before long.
Guatemala and Honduras are not satisfied with their drubbing by San
Salvador and are preparing for another.
From the appearance presented by the swarming thousands landing at
the New York Immigration office, congreai can not pass a restriction law
any too soon for the good of the country.
Sunday a blluard swept across the bleak plains of Dakota, the ther
mometer registering twenty degrees below sero, and on the same day the
cltliens of Portland enjoyed the warm sunshine In the city park.
At last winter has put in enough of an appearance to save a complete
default. About ball an Inch of snow lay on the streets of Portland lor
fully three hours Monday morning. By that time It was gone and the com
ing footsteps of spring again saluted the ear.
The story of Captain Morris ol his three years' confinement In the tun
nels of a Siberian coal mine la one to make every heart In Christendom
shudder, and to make every American ask himself If such horrors can be
Inflicted upon his countrymen without a protest from the nation.
The people of Oregon are to be congratulated upon the fact that the
cause of election reform was not sacrificed to the furthering ol the personal
Interests of a political boas. With tills law the electors have a good oppor
tunity to secure honest elections, and it will be their own fault U they do
not have them.
Kour senators for Idaho are a little more than the quota she Is entitled
to. Political trickery of this character, and of the kind Olymple showed
us a few weeks ago, is Just what we need ; for It will the sooner bring about
the election of senators by tlis people direct, which is one of the political
reforms tlis people will soon demand with a united voice.
The people ol I'matilla county are to be congratulated that the circum
locution office has been passed by Uie Umatilla reservation, and the lands
will be offered for sale about the first of April. There are 1211,339 acres of
land in the very heart,'of tlis great wheat growing region at the western base
of the lUue mountains that will be added to the productive area of Uma
tilla oounty. Here Is still another emphasis placed upon the demand for
an open river,
A Frenchman has suggested for the world's fair a tower 1,000 feet above
' ,. , T Z ton of which a projectile-shaped car containing pass
the lske, from the momllamdtUl
enger. can lTir Yorken!
The Waterway convention at Walla Walla has demonstrated that there
i, .n abundant and active public sentiment in both Oregon and Washing.
L to favo of the construction of portage railway, at the cashes and the
Lt. Oregon has taken the initiative by a bill fa -IflMOO for a road at
2 d HOO.00O for another from below the dalle, to jbovej Cehlo
SIU of which have psed the senate and will doubtlee, become
aw. Z Washington now offer her assistance and the beet measure of re
lief that can be had until the greater work, by the general government are
completed, will have been accomplished.
This ii no time for the Chicago directory to inaugurate a contest with
the labor unions. It is for the protection of Chicago, as well a. the union.,
that the mad rush ol unskilled and Indigent labor to that city be discour
aged by the positive announcement that there i. no work except for .killed
mechanic of standing. On the other band, the labor union, everywhere
should discourage any effort to take arbitrary advantage of the .ituation, to
demand more than is font, let them not disgrace themeelve. nor their
country by taking any .ucb step, as the New York Central strike revealed
that Powderly had In contemplation for the Knights of Labor in 1893. Pa
triotism should be neither a matter of dollars and cents nor condition in life.
The gold brick gams is again abroad In the land. When a man permits
bis cupidity to destroy his reason or honor he is not a fit candidate for sym
pathy when he learns that be has been neatly swindled.
It is humiliating to know that the fate of the consolidation bill still
hangs trembling In the balance simply because two political bosses are
fighting each other for the beat chance to control the police and fire de
partments under Its provisions, but such Is the fact.
Again has a man met hi. death In a "friendly scientific contest for
points," this time in Seattle. To be sure, It was in a low variety theater
dive and not in a regularly organiied "athletic club," but that fact alter,
the situation but little. It make, little difference where the scene of one of
these brutal encounters Is laid, for in their chief characteristic they are the
same. A year ago San Francisco suffered a brief reformatory spasm, and
all pugilistic contests were prohibited. By a connivance with the. authori
ties the managers got up a mock contest, had the principal, arrested and
proved upon trial that they were not fighting. This was claimed to be a
judicial decision that alt contests before regularly organiied club, were le
gal, and now the prize fighting disease has broken out in that city more vio
lently than before. Three championship contests have been arranged for
during the next three months. This is a travesty upon law and justice, and
the respectable and peace loving cltliens of San Francisco should put a
stop to it, or their city will again become a stench in the nostril, of the
nation.
Why a resident of Astoria, which city hopes to become the great sea
port of Oregon, should strive to increase the expenses of vessels visiting the
Columbia river, is something difficult to comprehend; and yet the senti
ment in that city is slmost unanimous in that direction, and finds forcible
expression both In the press and in the legislature. For years the press and
people of that city fought to make the pilot charges as high as possible
and to maintain and strengthen the infamous blood-money traffic of the sail
or boarding houses. The result of this was that they earned for the Columbia
river the reputation among ship owners of being the most expensive and
most troublesome port In the world, in consequence of which an embargo
to the extent of several shillings per ton In excess of charters In San Fran
cisco and Puget sound was laid upon It. Two years ago the legislature
passed laws that, to a large degree, changed the situation. The Union Pa
cific, (or lis own protection, engaged in the piloting and towing business at
rates less than one-half those previously charged, and the sailor boarding
house business was seriously Interfered with. All this has been accom
plished against the active efforts of the people of Astoria; and now that the
good name of the Columbia has been restored, that discrimination in rates
against it has been done away with, a desperate effort is being made to pass
a bill through the legislature that will restore the old condition of things.
The people of Oregon can not afford to do this. Their interests all lie in the
other direction. They are now In the very act of appropriating 4(S0,000 to
render the Columbia a highway to the sea for the wheat of the inland em
pire, and it would be the height of folly to throw away with one hand the
fruits gathered with the other. The legislature can be trusted to act justly
and wisely in this matter when the subject is properly laid before it, and
it is the duty of every person who believes that the Columbia should be
the great highway of traffic of this region, and as such should have as few
burdens as possible to impose noon the freight It bear., to work earnestly
to defeat this effort to put the old pilot ring In power again.
"THI WIST MORI PAY! ALL IXPINSE3." The Wist Shom Word Contest closed January 31. As there It
(trite Announcement of Particulars of Yellowstone Park Contest tuoh large number of lists to be examined, It will be Impossible
en page 1 14 ol this laaue. to announce the namea of the prlie winners before next week.