Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Ashland tidings. (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919 | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1912)
PA OF TWO ASHLAND TIDIXGS Monday, June 17, 191?, Ashland Tidings SEMI-WEEKLY. ESTABLISHED 1HT0. Issued Mondays and Thursdays liert II. Greer, - Editor and Owner V. H. Gillis, . - City Elitor V. E. Karnes, - Business Manager, SUBSCRIPTION' RATES. One Year $2.00 Six Months ... 1.00 Three Months 50 Payable in Advance. TELEPHONE 39 Entered at the Ashland. Oregon, Postofflce as second-class mail mat ter. Advertising rates on application. First-class job printing facilities. Equipments second to none in the interior. Ashland, Ore, Monday, June 17, '12 "THE OIKSTIOX BEFORE THE HOISK." When a prohibitionist at Asbury Tark asked Senator La Follette if he were a prohibitnonist, the questioner probably did not mean to be disor derly, but he was. Senator La Fol lette had just closed an address on the fighting issues of the pending presidential campaign, of which pro hibition is not one nor likely to be. Prohibition was therefore on that oc casion not germane to what parlia mentarians call "the question before the house." It was a disorderly in terruption. But Senator La Follette answered it straight from the shoul der, as is customary with him. Not being a prohibitionist, he said so in one word of one syllable. But he added several words of well-merited rebuke. He said to his clerical ques tioner: "I don't think that was fair of you; that question as not entered into the discussions of the campaign, and is not an issue; but as you ask it and have my answer, I suggest that you put the question also to Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Taft when they j come here." The advice was probably not tak en. Theee out-of-order questions are almost always put to candidates who are already as far forward in the progressive fight us public opinion will tolerate; and it is not an unfair Inference that as a rule the questions are put in the Interest of reactionary candidates who give less candid an swers than may be expected from progressives, or whose answers can not so well be made to count to their prejudice. Prohibitionists, however, are not especially addicted to this kind of disorderly conduct. They are probably freer from it than many others. K was done on the largest scale four years ago, when equal suf fragists insisted upon making the suffrage question a rider on the shoulders of presidential candidates in a campaign that was utterly de void of equal suffrage possibilities. Mr. Bryan refused to answer one way or the other, on the ground that the question was not involved in the campaign, and republicans made the most of it; Mr. Taft made a deceptive answer, and fepublicans made the most of that, using, it both ways. What Mr. Taft himself made of it after his election well, his anti-suffrage speech at the suffrage meeting In Washington, is It forgotten? This raising of questions "not before the house," to the prejudice of questions that are "before the house," has enough other angles to furnish ma terial for a book. But any one whose bump of orderliness is reason ably developed will need no book to teach him the difference between the importance of any given subject con sidered regnrdless of temporary cir cumstances, and its importance con sidered with immediate reference to such circumstances. USES OK WATER. We are the most conservative peo ple on earth. Bismarck, man of iron and support of monarchy that he was, stood thirty years ago many years ahead of where our most ad vanced statesmen stand today. He declared that German industry could not prosper while a few men held a monopoly of transportation. Hence he insisted on public ownership of railways and the canalizing of all the rivers. Gradually the manufactur ing towns grew up on the water fronts so that nearly all the heavy freight of Germany Ib moved by wa ter at one-tenth the cost of railroad transportation, while the average cost of all transportation, rail and water combined, is about one-third that of the United States. However, the Americans have not wholly neglected their water resources they have poured ten billions of wa ter into their railroad stocks and bonds, about half of the whole. PARTY OIW A M ZATIOX. We have before us what is termed a "weekly news letter" from the Employers' Association of Oregon." This organization, as indicated by this letter, has the rabies on ques tions of labor as well as of politics. One S. F. Argonaut in discussing political questions has the following bit of undigested intelligence: "Ruie of the peoflle, in the tense that it is proposed by the progressives, is prac tically an impossibility. There must be, in politics, as in other things, or ganization, discipline, co-operation in other words, some species of par ty organization and action. It has been so everywhere since the over throw of centralized and arbitrary authority in public offices. It will be so until the world in course of political degeneracy or evolution shall come round again to dictator ship, kingship, or by whatever name you may style the all-powerful mun." AVhen "the all-powerful man" of which he speaks was a dictator he was so only because the people had fallen into the habit of granting to him the individual power . tion. As soon as they discovered that he was using that power arbitrarily against the interests of the many ue was shorn of it. The institution of absolute monarchy was changed or modified. , ' They mistakenly delegate the power inherent in themselves to this individual und suffered by it. When they saw their mistake they quit. Ever since then people have dele gated the power inherent in the whole body to what we call political organizations and those organiza ionst have administered that power in the interest of the classes instead of all, just as the monarch arbitrarily used it. When the people were divorced frc'in fhe idea of the monarch they refused longer to delegate that power to him and kept it to themselves. As soon as the American people are divorced from the idea of political organization they will refuse to dele gate power to' an organization which they can more equitably exert them selves. " If. under our system, all power is inherent in the people, why is It ab solutely necessnry to create an in strument through which that power may be expressed instead of exercis ing it directly, especially so when it finds that the instrument fails to exercise it in conformity with the will of the conferee? Just this has brought about the direct primary. It supplies the ma chinery through which the Individual can exercise Inherent power without delegating it to any other individual or organization. The primary system is a political party destroyer. No organization can be maintained under it, because the way is made for the individual to exercise directly the power hereto fore delegated to the party organiza tion. Therefore, under the primary sys tem there Is no more need for party organization than there Is for seven wheels on a lumber wagon. If it is to be a government by the people for the people, who has a bet ter right to determine e kind of government than the individual? If the exercise of power is to be in the Interest of all, equitable and just, why necessary to create any thing to stand between the individual and the government. I The primary system will make of ficials responsible to the whole in stead of to party; there will be no longer any spoils system. Man has been always inclined to worship his creator. It is as true in politics as in religion. Officials cre ated by the people will serve them; when created by a party they have served it. 1 Party service instead of public ser vice has all but destroyed the Ameri can system. The system is being changed now and brought Into con formity with modern demands. There will be no further use for par ty organization. But it will take some time yet for institutional wor shipers to become aware of it. It takes time to educate people away from old customs. They are slow to adopt new methods for old ones even long after the old have proven inefficacious. The councilmanic system is entire ly inadequate in this age of public utility relations to municipal govern ment. It was never built to meet such, because when it was devised such had never yet entered into con sideration. The commission form was created to meet these new condi tions and is capable of so doing ad mirably when relieved of all the In cumbrances of councilmanic govern ment. The trouble is that the people are fearful of laying entirely down old forms and constructing the new especially to meet modem demands without regard to the old. That alone Is responsible for badly con structed new commission systems. They have too much of the old lug gage to carry. How cautiously the people have ap proached the primary system. It i was a new thing and was about to take the place of an old and sacred institution, the convention. Poli ticians and many well-meaning per sons 6huddered at the thought. But In action it is getting the desired re sults. True, it is absolutely destroy ing party organizations, but that is what is needed. After while the peo ple will see the absurdity of holding party primaries, because the parties will be no more. Then they will adopt what should have been in the first instance, a general primary. As long as conventions adopted platforms and nominated candidates party organization was necessary to elect them, but since, under the pri mary system, every man must stand on his own merits and announce the policies of government he proposes to administer, submitting his case to the individuals of society only, and standing responsible only to the ma jority will as expressed at the poll!--, there is small need for party organ ization. Party organization is forceful in establishing an issue against the will of the majority, but it is useless as an Instrument through which the majority will may be expressed. The great break In the republican party today comes from the party organization attempting to force a stand-pat issue In spite of an over whelming progressive sentiment in the party. Party organization is not necessary to maintain administration in line i with popular will. In fact, it is a: menace to popular government. After while the people will come! to see that. There should be an official plat made of the land in the Rogue river valley showing depth of soil, adapta bility of specific tracts to profitable crops, what land is adapted to fruit culture and what is not. This plat should be an official document and be made of record at the county court houses, so that strangers coming into the communities may be protected against land grafters. No commun ity can be made to permanently pros per by planting orchards on hard pan and selling them to the unso phisticated stranger as good land and orchard values. The sooner such practices are made impossible the sooner will the valley begin and con tinue to prosper. No community can afford to allow land grafters to rou people coming here in good faith j with money to invest. The Rogue I river valley is one of the best or chard districts in America. There is good land and bad land in it; fruit land and land not at all adapted to fruit culture. Nothing is added to the wealth of the community . by planting orchards on land not adapt ed to it, raising the trees to two or three years old and unloading them on people not familiar with this lo cality, enly to sour-sap and die before they bear. Such land should settle back to the uses for which it is adapted and the prices should be forced back to what its production will justify. When that is done the valley will develop faster and the development will be permanent and profitable. People living here should force this issue. It is the big issue in ' this valley. An absolute ban should be put upon land grafting in the interest of all. There has been a great deal said about the danger of government ownership on account of the horde of office-holders It will create, thus making It possible for the ins to i keep themselves in ad infinitum, j Under our theory of government an official is a public servant rather I than a ruler. If every public servant j became automatically disfranchised 1 as soon as he took the oath of office, I and his citizenship was re-established I when his official tenure expired, that danger would be eliminated. The outs, then, would do the voting and the government would be adminis tered in their interest instead of that of the office-holder. Is there any good reason why that doctrine should not be Incorporated into law? Th world owes you nothing. You owe the world the honest measure of a man's service. That, and nothing more. Do your part honestly and fervently. Look not to the conse quences, nor to the opinions of men. The work will tell for itself. See that your course Is directed along right lines. And Vemember, always, the world is filled with men of many minds. The work of others is hot your work. Think right, act right", and proceed without fear. It is not yours to please, but to do. Linens Air. inn una me coionei make up pretty soon, we shall have I to serve their meals In their own! rooms when they come to visit us, as we can't have the peace of the! dining room broken this way. I ROOSTING ROME. Just thiuk, Rome, ancient and famous Rome, has decided that she must do something to attract capital, industries and population. Like any ordinary town on a new railroad in the west, they will doubtless have the Roman chamber of commerce yes, and the Roman boosters. The trouble with Rome is that neither good nor other building ma terials are found in its neighbor hood. Result, high cost of living, stagnation and hard times for its 530,000 people. The only real good asset is the tourist, and just when he is most needed he doesn't come. What's to be done? Why, Rome is to be made seaport. Deep water is seventeen miles away, and the Tiber is no good except for poets. There is to be a big canal, and then gigantic basins and docks. This means cheap foodstuffs and building materials, to be followed by Indus tries and commerce. The generation that does it will rank with the generations that built the Coliseum and St. Peter's. Keep you eye on Rome. LOADING UP THE FUTURE. London wasn't much of a town in the time of Henry YIII, back in the sixteenth century. When the king gave his courier, Richard Page, a slice of land he had taken from one of the abbeys, nobody thought it much of a gift. It made a nice little cow pasture, but that was about all it was good for. Even as late as 1825 it was valued at only $25,000. King Henry has long since turned to dust, likewise Richard Page.' But millions have been born. They swarm daily over that old cow pas ture. They have reared great build ings on it. Street railways converge there. The air resounds to the roar of traffic and now the old pasture is valued at $150,000,000. Never mind about Richard Page's gift from the king. But did you ever stop to think of the enormous real estate values that yet remain to be created by the unborn millions of the future?. Did you ever stop to think that someone must pay rent, interest and profit on all these values to be? Quite a load for the future! 1 THE HOBBLE STREET CAR. Women don't vote in New York, but they rule just the same. New street cars have steps only three inches from the ground. Either the women had to discard hobble skirts or the street cars had to be recon structed for their benefit. The cars surrendered, while the hobble skirt waves triumphant, so to speak. The optimist doesn"t always make good, but he will make good oftener than the pessimist. 9 II P 11 You will save 25 to 35 cents on these Gowns and Skirts if you buy this week. We've placed on sale about a hundred of these garments. They are made up of fine cambric muslin, some trimmed with em broidery, others lace, high and low necks. The usual prices of these night gowns and skirts are $1.25 and $1.35. This week at $1.00. Ladies' Black Embroidered Stockings 50c and 75c values at 33c An unusual offer. Fine black lisle silk embroidered Stockings, worked up in different designs and colors, sizes 8, 9, 9 and 10. These stockings formerly retailed at 50c and 75c. Choice this week 39c. Boys' Wash Suits 75c up to $2.00 .These suits are made up of stripe madras in various colors and styles, neatly trimmed, in sizes 2 to 10 years. ' Suit Cases and Valises We have in stock in all styles and' at all prices. Before leaving on a trip call and in spect our stock. The Store with a Rest Room PureMoHiafainWaterScc Reduced Prices on Ice f FOR SEASON OF 1912 Save money by purchasing coupon books. Issued for 500, 1 ,000, 2,000 up to 5,000 pounds. This is the cheapest way to buy your ice. Delivery every day except Sundays. AC! Ill AIMn irv AATTi OTPATirin ru THE SCHOOL MA'AM. The school ma'am is a conscien tious individual, who teaches tne young idea how to shoot. Once in a while 6he gets hold of a pupil whose eyesight is so defective that she can't shoot anything but moist paper wads, which describe a graceful parabola, and spread out on teacher's collar like a bow-legged man in an upper berth. The teacher is supposed to take the mind of youth while it is in a raw state and break it to drive single or double. The hardest task a teacher has to perforin is to pro vide mental pabulum for scholars whose parents forget to endow them with anything in the intellectual line outside of ears and feet. The rural school ma'ams put in longer hours for less pay than anybody in the uni verse who never strayed into the newspaper profession, with a drum cylinder press and soul full of hope. It is encouraging to reflect that most of our presidents sat under some rural school ma'am with a hard rub ber ruler and a pious leaning toward corporal punishment, at one time or another, and had their characters formed along with a number of brisk and has relief welts. Very few school ma'ams nowadays punctuate their re marks with anything but the power of love, which has about as much ef fect upon a case-hardened pupil as spraying talcum powder on the mumps. There is plenty of room in this country for the old-fashioned school ma'am, with an arm like a premium ham, who used to reach over into the third row of seats and land the school bully on a hardwood floor with a jolt that caused him to see the nebular hypothesis for a week. People whose children never pluck any prizes to speak of, have a very low idea of school ma'ams in general, but if it were not for our school ma'ams most of us couldn't tell a cube root from any other veg etable. Judge Colvig, president of the Medford Commercial Club, is touring the state to secure signatures to the good roads home rule measure. '.'Everybody's doin' it." Send your social news to Miss Hawley. Phone 3-9. a complete assortment of in h mi Skirts VAUPEL'S i ' TELEPHONE 108 f Granite City Express A. F. Abbott, Prop. Handles Freight, Household Goods and Generul Dray Work Office with Rose Bros., Ashland, Ore. Office phone 213R. Res. phone 252R V. V. IIAVVLEY Contractor and Builder Remodeling and repairing, etc. 25 years' experience. Address P. O. Box 174 or TELEPHOXE 39. Phone 129 2j Main St. C. II. GILLETTE Real Estate, Loans, Rentals, Conveyancing SEE ME BEFORE BUYIXG. HOUSE OK COMFORT Manx Tow ell Street at O'Farrell SAX FRANCISCO Best located and most popular hotel in the city. Headquarters for Oregonians; commodious lob by; running ice water in each room; metropolitan service. Bus at train. A la carte service. Ideal stopping place for Jadies traveling alone. Management, CHESTER W. KELLEY. "Meet Me at the Manx." Celebrate the Fourth in Ashland. Suit Cases and Valises 1 The Store with a Rest Room Mote!