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About The Plaindealer. (Roseburg, Or.) 1870-190? | View Entire Issue (July 9, 1903)
THE Roseburg Plaindealer PuDlUbed Monday auil Thursdays. PLAINDEALER PUBLISHING CO. H. H. BROOKES, Editor and Publisher Entered at the Post Office in Roseburg, rtrb.. as second class mail matter. Advertising Rates on Application. JULY 9. 1903. CRIMINAL LIBEL. Baker City was the scene last week and the week before of two exciting trials in which the sheriff was tried first tor stealing $10,000of the coun ty funds, and the jury disagreed; and last week his deputy was tried and was acouitted. There was a shortage of 810,000 and the Baker City Herald caught en to the fact and published the nev.-s of the shortage. A grand jury, consisting of a lot of grand investigated the county finances and found a shortage of $10,000 and then returned indictments against the sheriff and his chief deputy for em bezzling county funds. The trials were held with the result as before stated. But that grand jury not con tent with finding the shortage and two indictments against officials but that august body went to work and found two indictments for criminal libel against the Editor and Manager of the Baker City Herald for saying a shortage of county funds existed. The plain facts are the citizens of Baker county have been robbed and robbed by a set of thieves and the Herald when it exposed the steal was exposing the corruption of an aggre gation of thieves and their supporters. The exposure of the rottenness of the Baker county affairs caused public sentiment to demand the indictment and trial of officials; but another set of officials had the county by the throat and by packing juries, justice was defeated and the criminal law court was turned into a white wash ing machine for favorites and to wreak a most damnable injustice up on the Editor and Manager of the Herald. The quicker the people of Baker county arise in their might and wipe out the corruption and base methods of that county the better it will be for all concerned. Now we do not know or care what is the politi cal complection of Baker county, but we know enough of human nature to know that whenever a corrupt gang gets entire control of any county, community or state, that the people suffer: and as we said last week the trouble with Oregon is its muzzled press. Previous to locating in Rose burg we had seven other papers un der consideration for purchase and every one of them was owned or con trolled by a gang of politicians, and the various papers to be a success or thinking that standing in with the gang could only pay expenses were not representatives of the people but politicians and sculduggers. Our ex perience and knowledge of politicians convince us that every dishonest official wants the press muzzled and outside of these the only persons having a kick against the press and desire to muz zle it is men of impure lives who in fact are moral lepers, or in political circles men whose only hope is to con trol affairs by chicanery and corrup tion and Baker City in politicial af fairs and in the enforcement of good government it is a charnel house. The people of Baker City had bet ter stand in with the newspaper ex posing corruption than in bolstering corruption. Instead of jailing the Edi tor who said that the county funds were short, they had far better jail the thieves whoever they are re publican, pop or democrat, who stole the money. APPROACHING WAR IN THE ORI ENT. 1 The British government and, the kingdom of Japan have issued a joint note to China informing that country that Russia must at once withdraw troops now stationed in the province of Manchuria. In other words: Rus sia must evacuate the position now occupied by her forces in the Chinese empire or fight the combined forces of England and Japan; and Japan is about equal to a very small but plucky bantam to a powerful game fighting cock, relatively as to arma ment and forces, compared to Russia. As regards England that country is far superior to Russia in war ships, but would not be able to make any progress with her army. So far as China is concerned it is not known by mortal man what that government will do in case of war be tween the powers named. From ap pearances it seems that her mite in the contest will be thrown with the victor. The object sought to be attained by Russia is to establish a great naval station and seaport on the Pa cific ocean. Russia's present naval j station is at Vladivostok but it is so j cold there and the port is blocked for ! so many months in the year as to be j practically worthless for naval pur ! poses: and to offset the difficulty the ' Russian government has built a line ( of railroad from Vladivostok on the I sea of Japan to Port Arthur on the Yellow sea, thus commanding the ivery heart and integrity of China, jlf ever Russia becomes thoroughly established at Port Arthur the power ' of the little kingdom of Japan will be crushed and Corea, Manchuria, Mon golia, Pe-chi-li, Shan Si and Kan Su will become Russianized and made part of that Empire. It is with Japan a question of fear for the future and with England a determination to stop the onward movement of Russia that has prompted sending to China the joint note protesting against the oc cupation of Chinese territory by Rus sia. What the future will bring forth at present no man can even guess. If our readers will look at a map of Europe and Asia they will find that in Europe, Russia has recently acquired entire control of Lapland and Finland and is now encroaching on the borders of Norway and Swe den and it will only be a few years unless checked before seaports will be established on the Atlantic coast. On the Black sea Russia has built up naval ports and has a very strong fleet and step by step has the gradual armament been made until today Constantinople could be seized at any time. In Central Asia Russia has ad vanced her forces until today they knock at the gate commanding the mountain pass from Afghanistan to India and in the Orient Russia bids fair to rule the seas. In the history of the World the central part of western Asia and the extreme eastern part of Europe, has produced the mighty, propulsive move ment of immigrating hordes that has j overthrown the more advanced civil lizations. These movements have i always been from the north to the ! southwest or west. Today the Gog and Magog of the dawn of history and their descendents, the Huns and Goths and Visigoths and the nations springing from the latter are not rest ing easily because they fear the power of Russia, and it is only a question of time before every nation of Europe will unite to protect a common cause against Russia. In the Orient the United States has a great interest. We. must have a market for our goods in China, and open ports must be kept at any cost, and it does seem to the Editor that this government with the Philippine question to be satisfactorily settled will not want to see Russia build up her mighty empire in the Orient, and if the moral support of this government is given to England and Japan in the coming war and a war there will be at no remote period, then Russia will abandon from the present position in the Orient or suf fer defeat. If on the other hand Turkey continues to mass her army on the Bulgarian frontier, then the scene of impending war may be changed from the Orient to the Bos porus. If the United States says hands off, then the great campaign will take place on the north shore of the Yellow Sea. AN EXCELLENT IMMIGRATION PAA1PHLET. The passenger departments of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Com pany and the Southern Pacific rail road lines in Oregon have united in issuing an eighty-eight page pam phlet, with a most excellent map and cover under the title page of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and their Re sources. The subject matter is well prepared and the illustrations are ex cellent. The description of the country is true to life and it reflects great credit upon the progressive passenger departments circulating it. We advise everybody who wants in formation or who wants friends in the states to receive information to send four cents in stamps to A. L. Craig, General Passenger Agent the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, or W. E. Coman, General Freight and Passenger Agent, South ern Pacific Company, Portland, Ore. Railroad From Drain to Coos Bay. It is reported on good authority to the Plaindealer that a surveying party consisting of eighteen men left Drain last Thursday, surveying a railroad line down Elk creek to Scottsburg and from Scottsburg to Coos Bay and that on Monday morn ing thirty extra men commenced to cut brush and fell trees for the sur veying corps. It is said that the work is being done for the Harriman lines and that is the best route known from the Southern Pacific railroad to Coos Bay. If the above report is true it means that the Southern Pacific system has determined to supply the Coos Bay country with railroad facilities and instead of making there a large sea port it will simply be a trading place for Portland. What is needed is East and West transcontinental con nections and such railroad connec tions would make a town of Coos Bay of vast proportions. Plaindealer. THE UHPQUA RIVER FRANCHISE. The Plaindealer learns that the Commissioners' Court has practically decided to grant tbe franchise, but upon entirely different conditions from the conditions proposed by the Ore gon Boom and Timber Company. Provided the franchise is granted the company will give bond to expend so much money in improving the river and also to erect a sawmill of a large capacity at or near Winchester. We learn that every man's interest will be protected and before the fran chise is fully granted that a vast sum of money will have to be expended. Attorney General Crawford is looking after the legal aspect of the case and will pass upon the bond. With prop er restrictions and a definite under standing of what is to be done and the performance of the provisions of the amended or new contract, there can be no opposition to the franchise. A POLITICAL POINT. It seems that the Oregon Peniten tiary is going democratic. Salem Statesman. The State Penitentiary has always been democratic by a vast majority. In the interest of health'and clean liless an effort should be made to put Roseburg in a thorough sanitary con dition, and every citizen should will ingly respond to and back up the county health officers in their effort to have every village in the entire county put in the same condition. These officials are not working for a ' money consideration but only from a . . i v nru I sense of patriotism and for the good j of the entire community; and thelr ' effort to prevent sickness and death by preventive as well as protective measures should be backed up by every citizen of the county. The chief prophet at the Lick ob-; has recent a comet with two tails. 1o see tne comet throught a 12 inch glass a man must get up at 2:30 o'lock in the morning and look due south 53 de-. grees above the horizon, but we were aware there were more tails in the sky than was necessary bv the amount j i t n of cat a wauling done by Tommy on our back vard fence and so laid abed till sunrise. General News. President Roosevelt sent the first telegraphic message around the world. The Pacific cable was successfully spliced, connecting Manila with Wash- ington, on July -J. j drowned. List Saturday at New York in an j Count Caaaiti tie Itassian ambas eleven mile beat to Windward, ' sador to this government left New Shamrock III beat Shamrock I. Torrid heat in the eastern states, a blizzard in Colorado and rains on the j meats of in world are very hard to Pacific slope is the record for July 4. 'solve in their international bearings It is said that Congress will be ami aU to P01 to Mre evT called in extraordinary session on where "P1 5n tlw United Stal- November 9, to take up the Cuban question. Policeman pay only $125 to secure their position in Washington. There is not much of a graft in that sum. It is straight forward boodling. The Hon. Binger Hermann deliver ed the Fourth of July oration at Forest Grove, and when he got through there was no need for fire works. Last Friday, the Pope was taken ill with an attack of pneumonia and it was reported that he was very low, but he has surprised everybody by HrinfT tVirnnfTh snmim: s!rt-snAlU ihtt i. v ' i , .., Ex-Deputy Sheriff Whitney, of Baker City, who was indicted charged with getting away with $10,000 coun ty funds was acquitted on trial on Saturday. Nobody knows who got the money, the sheriff or deputy, but the money is lost to the county. A few days before the sheriff was tried and the jury failed to agree stand ing 11 to 1 for conviction. Full reports from firework acci dents on the glorious Fourth of July ! show the death list to number nearly sixty, while the injured number over two thousand. Even in Roseburg we had one victim; "nuf ced" Lawson was touching off a bomb and it exploded too quick or he did not get his hand away in time, and as a consequence he is carrying it in a sling in a very inflamed condition. Speaking at Oyster Bay, last Sat urday, President Roosevelt said: "We only need a small regular Army, but we need a first-class Navy; a nan adequate to the position we have in the world: and it is absolutely neces sary that we should keep on with the building up of that Nation, that we should keep the Navy that we have at the highest point of efficiency in ships, in guns, the men in them and behind them. Then we shall all go steadily on along the course we have mapped out for ourselves as a people." It is announced that Mark Hauua has severed himself from all business pur suits, and will devote his entire time to run the republican campaign. If there were speedy trails of all felony cases, less packing of juries, firm judges and lawyers, not shysters, to prosecute or defend tho accused, and tho best cilisens forced to serve as jurors, there would be no need of lynch law in this country. Portland which recently underwent the throes of vibrating culture is now enjoying lectures by a free love apoatless who is advising tho married women, o Portland, that marriage is a failure, and giving joy to old maids by promising them that a good time is coining. Umatilla collected and bent to nm find and ti10so sixty oJd IolIaM ure "lotji stravol thoso sixty or stolen" and if that in tho lamentable condition ol.that donation is it not pot ible that other donation ara in the tame fix? Grants Paes can always be counted on to furnibh something to go the round. - "J," Th(J ,,a,vy JiarenU are lrue republicanj anJ ,. iul t0 jl(3p nong President Kou.-- x't'fl anti-race uicide campaign and tbo niggers doivu touth would r -V ve "gou dun dun it." Miss Marie Ware and Horjoe McKin- ley who were bound over to appear be- fore the Federal Graml jury at Portland, have taken a trip to Denver, Colorado, to attend the convention of Christian Eudeavor. It may be that they will eudiMVor not to return to Portland. It M-eros that McKinley cannot be coiiTicted rxcept on Miis Ware's testimony, nor can the except upon his. What a pood chance there is (or them to double up if Horace has no other alliui.ee. At Oakford, Puan., on Sunday, a f dam broke and 25 persons were York, yorteniar, for St. Petersburg. The polities of the various govern- George Wayman fifty days ag e ft San Francisco on a raoWr cycle fur New York City. He reached tnat place on Tuesday without any mi- ip, riding through the states of Calif : nia, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebras ka, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana. Pennyl vania and New York. This is the first trip ever made across the con tinent on a moter cycle. The Columbians have violated the agreement regarding the canal and want more money and other consider ations in order to sign the necessary documents. That government like all other crasser does S not know the meaninjr of the words honor or justice; and Uncle Sam would do well to force them to the oriirinal ! terms and take the expense for the enforcement of the agreement out of the sum total to be paid for the con cession. Agitation regarding the currant monopoly is daily growing more seri ous in Western Peloponnesus, or Morea, south of the Isthmus of Co rinth. The peasants in the neighbor hood near Pyrgos are practically in revolt. They have destroyed the railway at several points, because they were prevented by troops from securing trains on which they wished to go to Athens and present their views to the king in favor of granting a monopoly. By the confession of Robert Olin, 19 years old, who has been arrested, the jwlice believe that several hun dred bicycles stolen in the last year will be recovered. According to" the police the boy has admitted that he stole bicycles in New York, Sl Louis. Buffalo and St. Joseph, Mo., and that an accomplice disposed of nearly all of the wheels. The prisoners whose home is in Chicago, is said to be of a wealthy family, but according to the police, they refuse to have anything to do with him. The boy i an an expert stenographer and is also an artist. Piano Buyers. You will notice that we do not have to be continually strking out for a new mate of Pianos. The Needham has been our lender" for H years and is todav a leader among the high grade pianos of the world. Some cheap pianos are made high grade simply by getting a boost in the Oregoninn or some other leading paper, through those big dealers who think they can, and do make tho major ity of people believe it simply because they say so. It doesn't take ink, boost or high commissions to make a good piano, but instead tho very best mechanics, and tho very best material Huchaa nro always used in Needham pianos. ,M( T. K. UiaiAKDso.v, Roseburg and Cottage Grove, Oregon.