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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1891)
184 THE VVEf THE WEST SHORE, Illustrated, Published Kveky Saturday, ay the Cohnp.ii up Columbia anu Watek Streets, PORTLAND, OKKGON. New Yokk Oppice, No. 48 Twbune Building. Subscription Price, Four Dollars fir Year. Single Copy, Ten Cents. AOOMM AU OMMMUCATIONO MO MM! AU RlMlTTWKKI PATAU! TO THE WEST SHORE PUBLISHING COMPANY, PORTLAND, OREGON. MTIMO AT Tnf POOT OTTWI AT POWHAAO, OOfOOM TO TfUASMtMMM THMUOM TM HAIIJ AT MOMO OUM SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1891. It would seem as though the Italians of San Francisco were in undue haste to avow their sympathy with the New' Orleans assassins who were so summarily disposed of. If they were half as eager to proclaim their abhor ranee of assassination and to convince the people that they do not approve the bloody work of the Mafia, they would stand better in the estimation of honor able citizens. Even such a slight incident as the Mafia affair in New Orleans must 0en the eyes of those who agree with the sockless philosopher of Kansas that the army and navy should be abolished. Suppose Italy should be a little contrary in this matter, and persist in seeing in it an insult to the Italian nation, which must be atoned for by an abject apology and the payment ol damages, and should send a Heel of her splendid war vessels to convince us of the strength, if not the justice, of her cause ? The grasshopper statesman could, of couise, retire to the wilds of Kansas, and be safe, but there are millions of people and billions of dollars' worth of property that can not thus easily " Are from the wrath to come." It is questionable whether a genuine war scare, one that would literally make us tremble in our boots, would not be a blessing to the c ountry. It would retire into obscurity those hayseed statesmen of interior states who assert that we must have perpetual peace, even it we sacrifice the property of the seacoast states to get it, as well as those spreiuhtagle declaimeri who think the great Yankee nation can whip all creation without anything with which to do the job. Doth demagogy and buiKomb vi mild disnpK ar like shadows before the sun, were a few war vessels to pay ut a visit with hostile intent. Keen and brilliant as Secretary Maine undoubtedly is, he is gradually becoming worstrd in his diplomatic correspondence with the British premier, Indeed, little else couM be exiectcd. Hlaine's position is untenable, and snphrstries and rhetorical pyrotechnics can not sustain it when tested by the cold, pulseless standard of international law. It is obvious that the United Stairs can hot mainiain its claim to exclusive jurisdiction in Hchring sea, even lor the simple puiie of protecting fur seals, and the sooner Mr. Blaine admits this fact, which he must know he will be comellcd to admit in the end, and seels (r some means for joint protection of this valuable animal by the I' lilted Slatrs, England, Germany, Russia and any other nation interested, tlie better it will be for the sealing industry, which, beyond question, is suffer ing seriously from the present method of capturing seals in the open sea. Such an agreement should be entered into temporarily, to contiuue during the time of the pending arbitration. But three months will elapse before the slaughter in llrhring sea will begin, and if the work this season shall show the same disastrous c fleet claimed for that of last, and as the sealing fleet is largrr than ever it doubtless will, it is of the utmost importance that some adequate protective measures should be taken. This can only be done by mutual agreement lift wren the governments interested, and the longer Mr. Maine lrniHiriirs the greater will become the evil he is ostensibly seeking to correct. In the great citrus fair now in progress in Los Angrlrs and the one re cently held in Marysville the people of California trach thrir northern breth ren a uselul lesson in the art of promoting the interests of the fruit industry. What our fruit needs most is reputation, and this it can only get through the self assertion of its producers. Oregon and Washington nomologists must change from a jussive to an aggressive policy 1 they must proclaim aloud with ceaseless voice the superior merits of their product, When this has been r SHORE. done a sufficient length of time Oregon fruit will not sneak into the back door of the eastern market, to be sold as California fruit and add to the reputation of that state, but will boldly enter in its own name and claim what is justly due it. At every county and state fair and city exhibition there are a few plates of apples and pears, a score or two of bunches of grapes hanging from a string and some boxes of dried prunes. This is by courtesy denominated a choice display of fruit. How utterly insignificant it is, and how powerless to create the proper impression of the fruit industry, can only be realized by one who has seen or investigated one of these wonderful citrus displays made in California, where thousands of oranges, lemons and other fruits are used in constructing the most beautiful and elaborate designs. Portland will have another great exposition this fall, and in no direction could it expand beyond its former somewhat contracted limits to better advantage than to arrange for a grand pomological display. Besides adding a new and interesting feature to the exposition it would attract such attention to fruit culture here as would give it an impulse never before known. The recent election in Canada, while it proved that the feeling of loyalty to the interests and desires of the mother country is still strong enough to carry the dominion in a popular election, still serves to emphasize the fact that Canada has arrived at a state of development where this feeling is simply a septiment, and one of steadily decreasing vitality. Such a country, an empire in extent and possessing vast and varied resources, must, as it develops, ac quire interests and desires antagonistic to those of another country from which it is separated by an ocean of space and an infinity of varied conditions and necessities. Equally true, if not more so, is this the case with the Australian provinces, still further removed by time, distance and interests from the moth er country. It is inevitable that both these, the farthest advanced politically and intellectually of the dependencies of Great Brittain, must sever the bond that now unites them to the mother country and confines them within a lim ited sphere of action. Unlike the case of our own country, this cutting loose will doubtless be done peaceably and with the quiet submission of the home government to what it must consider inevitable. With dependencies scat tered over the face of the earth Great Britain has a difficult task keeping them in the leading strings, and can only do it where the dependency is insignifi cant, as in Bermuda, Gibraltar, Malta, etc., or where bayonets are the crutch es upon which the royal authority leans, as in India. John Bull, as a goose herd, endeavoring to keep his flock within bounds with his crook, finds his work grows in difficulty as his fowls grow in strength and understanding, and the time is rapidly approaching when the crook will be woefully insufficient to the task. It is unreasonable to expect that foreigners, both within and without the United States, and especially Italians, will view the New Orleans incident with the same eyes as Americans. To us it was only a popular protest against the existence in their midst of a society of assassins so powerful as to be able to defy the law and corrupt those charged with its administration. Such a condition of affairs can not be permitted in any community, and the people of New Orleans took the only course open to them. In this there is no race prejudice, any further than the natural prejudice that must grow out of the fact that this murder society was composed of men of one nationality. Had the Mafia been an Irish, German or even American organization, the result would have been the same. Nearly all the ills, social, political and industrial, from which this country suffers, have come to it in the emigrant ship, and they will continue to increase and intensify so long as unrestricted immigration be permitted. The incident contains a sermon on the subject ol immigration that should carry conviction to every careless mind in the country; but it is to be feared that the sermons from life are forgotten almost as quick ly as those of the pulpit. We often say that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," but we woefully neglect to apply it. The American people are far from vigilant in the preservation of thrir liberties and institutions. They submit patiently to misgovernment, political corruption and miscarriage of jus tice until a crisis is reached, and then they rise in their might and put it down, only to relapse into the same state of seeming indifference. It will take some thing more than surgical operations of the New Orleans kind to cure the body politic of its ills. The country needs a course of hygienic treatment, one of the first principles of which should embrace a radical change ol the substances taken into its system through Castle garden. No nation can take into its sys tem the material constantly entering ours and not degenerate in its political, nior.d and social status. , It you want traa trip to tha Yallowttona Park, road thaeondl- Attention la called to "Pualewlta" and "Poet, of th p.ifia tlonaonPagalWtJ, Coatt" 8e Page, too and 197. ,r