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About The Oregon scout. (Union, Union County, Or.) 188?-1918 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 1891)
EniTon. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2G, 1891. MHTOIUAI. SOTKS. A hill granting .1 pension of $100 a month to Mrs. Gen. Ouster has pasted congress. Chaules Fosteii, of Ohio, has been appointed secretary of the treasury, vice William Window, deceased. Ip quickly getting rid of alargetur plus in the treasury entitles a party to public confidence, the republicans will have a sure thing in 1802. The "practical" men who think they can deal with mon as though they were thinas, and with communities as though they wore herds of cattle, soon er or later reveals tho fact that they arc the most impracticable men of all Tin: second session of tho fifty-first congress is notconspicuously successful in carrying out the high-horso pro gramme framed by Mr. Heed and adop ted by Hoar and Edmunds. Tho No vember elections seem to have hail a paralyzing effect upon tho lino enthus iasm of a year ago. Wii aro in receipt of tho initial num ber of tho Elgin Itccorder, tho new pa per started at that placo last week by Swinohart it Tuttlo, they having pur chased tho plant and subscription list of tho Stimmcrvillo Proas and moved it to Elgin. Tho Recorder presents a very good appearance and shows cvi denco of future prosperity. Wo wish it success. A town without a newspaper would bo a dead place and yet there are busi ness mon in every town who refuso to support their local paper beyond usub- Bcription and perhaps a few locals oc casionally, and yet they oxpect a papor to work for their intorcst and aro quick to find fault if it docs not como up to their required standard. If a town de sires a first-class, progressive, live- jour nal that will rellcct credit on tho place, it must do its duty toward supporting that journal. A liberal, progressive policy pays in every enterprise Stin giness is fogyism in a very aggravated .form. An important point of law, which will bo of interest to counties contem plating tho building of county bridges was decided by Judge Dcady in tho caso of tho 1'acilic Bridge Company ngainst Clackamas county. The court hold that tho montion ol tho "board of county commissioners" in section 1ML of tho compilation of 1887, relating to tho contracts for the building of coun ty bridges, is null und void, bceauso there is no such tribunal known to tho constitution or laws of Oregoiuis board of county commissioners, and tho leg islature might as we'll huvo said tho "board of missions." It is now understood that tho repub licans appreciate tho fact that tho only chunco they have of winning in 1802 is to make 11 sentimental campaign, and with this ond in view it is said thoy will nominate RobortT. Lincoln for no other reason than that ho happons to bo tho son of his father; but ho will not bo elected. Tho country has grown tired of sentiment and tho people will not cast their votes for a man whoso only claim to their support is tho fact that ho was "papa's little boy." Thoy now huvo at tho whito houso a-man who is tho grandson of his grandfather nnd thoy do not want any more of tho Bontimcntal rnolcot. Ono doso is moro than enough. TilK now organization of tho farm ers' allianuo brings tho discussion of questions connocted with our agricul tural life to tho front. Row E. P, Pow ell, who is a regular contributor to Farm and Gurdon, and a practical and enthusiastic farmer, as well as student, journalist, and preacher, reviows tho year 1800, and expresses in his incisivo fashion a deep distrust of most of tho methods and motives underlying tho present agitation on this question. It is our bad and wasteful system of pop ular education, ho thinks, which lies at tho bottom of tho trouble, unfitting tho farmers' eons for both a lovo nnd understanding of farm life, its neces sities and its advantages. Tho Ger mans and tho Swedes outdo the Amer icans in skillful and fruitful cultivation of tho soil, legislation and polities will not help it man to raise good crops, or to find 11 speedy market for thoin. Wo have como to a crisis in American arming, my Mr. Powoll, and shall havo a revolution without doubt; und ho deplores tho fatal liklihood that years will bo wasted in "trying lo com pal prosperity by a HOtof stututen." B. Chakcev, WHY DON'T TIIEV KXVltAlX. Two weeks ago wo published a letter from "Citizen" in which ho asked a few plain questions in regard to cer tain matters transacted through our municipal government, and kindly asked that some member of tho coun cil explain them, and space was prof fered them in Tin: Scout to do so, but it Fcems they have no desire to make known their modo of transacting busi ness for tho city, and that no ono should question their acts as evidenced by tho following which appeared in tho last issue of their organ : Tho two or three selfish, narrow and prejudiced citizens and disgruntled, "would-be politicians" that aro endeav oring to exert a silent and traitorous influence to check tho growth and progress of tho town that is so unfortu nate as to bo the abiding place of their mossbackism. merit only the scorn of those true citizens who aro laboring for tho miblic weal. The game of tho cow ard is being played among those who ought to set a bettor example, wny these client, condemning interrogations regarding every effort of public enter prise? Silent? Tso, not always silent, Oft' they drift into public note througl their favorite organ. YIiat is tnei motive? Does anyone daro to suggest that it is for tho good of tlio eityr w arc pleased to Know mat 111c nuinuer of croakers aro few and that their influ enco is fast fading away before tho honest efforts of our people to advauco tho city of Union. Tim Scout, truo lo its motto, is al ways open for discussion ol matters ot public interest, and wo think theso aro questions that should rcceivo attention It surely would do no harm for some member of tho council to answer tho (lucstions asked by "Citizen." If the council is justified by law in these pro ceedings in question, wo seo no reason why thoy should remain silent. It 18 true Judge banders attempts to an swor tho questions, but ho is not member of tho council, and only says that the 100 appropriated by tho conn cil for tho purposo of sending a repre sentativo to Salem to piwh tho charter bill through, was not used and tho oi der will ho cancelled, but ho fails to say anything about tho other matters in question, and wo presumo ho knows nothing about them, but tho members of tho council do and it is their duty to explain them. So far as Judge Sander's acts aro con coined, no ono is blaming nun lor go ing to Salem to look aftor tho peoplo's interests, and Tun Scout appreciates his kindness, but tho question was, has tho city council tho power to appropri ato inonoy out of tho city treasury for tho purposo of defraying tho expenses of a man to go to Salem to lobby for a measuro of this kind? If they havo tho power, why not lot it bo known to tho pcoplo? Thk Scout docs not, nor does "Citi zen," accuse th council of doing any thing wrong, but tho narrow-minded idiot, of tho Republican, scorns to think if any ono differs from his opinion but wo doubt if ho has ono of his own ho is a "inossback, opposed to tho progress of tho town," etc., and that is all the argument ho can produce. Tun Scout is and always has been in lavor ol public improvements, and tho upbuilding of tho town, and has done 111010 in this direction than the Republican will over do. Tho pcoplo, except a few, always look to Tin: Scout for redress in matters of this kind, and thoy generally get it, but the editor of tho Republican, poor follow, is under it 11 1 t 1 1 it 1110 uiuiuu aim is manipulated iu;o a jumping-jack, by a half dozen would bo leaders, who can seo nothing right and good except in somo sohoino con cocted by thorn, and who think it is something terrible if thoir aots aro questioned. Tin; stanpoui sciii:.ni:. Tho overwhelming objection, presen ting itself at tho very outset to all such measures as tho Stanford bill, is that thoy would completely destroy tho sta bility of tho currency, and make mon ey purely speculative. That is tho principal objection to a national bank circulation arranged to expand ami contract. It makes tho yardstick or tho bushel moasuro elastic. Money should bo nothing moro than tho yard stick or tho bushel measure Ht ought to measuro values and not dotormino thom. To ohango tho dollar is tho sumo sort of n fraud as measuring with tho yardstick long or short to suit a particular case. It has beou done in tho last twenty years porsistently, but it was thoft then, it is theft now, and it will bo thpft in those who follow such precodoi.ts on ono side or tho other. What this country needs is plontyof goods and a fair yardstick to measuro them a yardstick that cannot bo shortened or lengthened. That is, it needs unrctrieted competition in tho necessaries of life and a ourrenoy that will bo naturally controlled by tho it lily of gold and silver. Whutovor this natural supply is at any timo it is fur belter to biuo our paper greenback cur rency on it than it is to leave tho con trol of it to demagogue politicians and financial sharpers. Another overwhelming objection to any currency issued on land as secur ity is that it would make the federal government a usury office and put the lands of tho states in pawn. It is easy enough to get your property into a pawn shop at tho legal rate, and the legal rate may bo low enough lo make you think at tho time it will be easy to pay out, but paying out is another matter. After tho principal is spent, paying back principal and interest is in many cases, if not in most, a sheer impossibility. Under the Stanford scheme we would have a purely specu lative currency, causing at first a wild inflation and soon resulting in a de pression in which not only land values but land titles. would be involved. Tho eepcrate existence of the states or else tho stability of tho Union would bo put at hazard. At its very best the sys tem would make tho citizens of tho states dependent debtors of the federal government, whoso only cscapo from dependence would bo in becoming fraudulent debtors and cheating the government out of immense sums principal and interest. On ono side and the other our system of individual independence and local self-government would bo sacrificed for paper tokens which would soon lose all value as standards of exchango and would in evitably become nothing moro than discredited certificates o! private in debtcdness to a paternal government which coi.ld not again accredit them without becoming despotic to the last degree. There are people enough who would like to borrow papor money from tlio government at two per cent, on their farms and city lots. How many of them aro there who would hko to have the government foreclose on them as it would havo to do to give real cs late or a iarm product currency any permanent value or standing whatever? Thero aro many other objections to the idea of tho Stanford bill, such as tho immonso advantage it would give political combinations and syndicates of fraudulent speculators in leaguo with official rings. Rut thoso who would not be convinced by tho two objections abovo presented are not likely to be convinced by anything short of tho calamity which comes as' a penalty for folly. St. Louis Republic. THE LEGISLATURE. A Nowsy Lgttor From Salora Both Houacs Adjourn Voto Power. Salem, February 22. Special cor respondenco to The Scout. At 10 : -15 o'clock p. m. Friday tho nresidont of tho senate and tho speakcrof tho house closed their rospectivo farewell addres ses, and declared tlio sixtoonth bien nial session of tho Oregon legislature adjourned sino die. Tho number of laws passed was onor inous, m tact quite sulliciont to last tho state for many years, and succeed- ng legislatures for somo timo will on ly bo required to appeal oxisting stat utes, and tho courts will be kept busy passing upon tho constitutionality of many of the enactments. Uoth houses spent tho short session Friday in sign ing bills, and all such which had been acted on by both branches of tho leg islature received tho signatures of the officers. SSo legislature 111 tho history of tho stato has nttompted so much as this ono, though many havo boon divided on this score, and accomplished so lit tle. Only a vory fow laws havo been passed affecting the stato in general, nnd many of thoso aro worse than uso less. Tho only ones which really af fect the masses of tho pcoplo aro tho port of Portland bill, tho Portland con solidation bill, tho Australian ballot bill, tho $(50,000 portago railway bill, and ono known as tho labor bill. AH oxcopt tho first and last nanicd havo been discussed in theso columns here tofore and need no further mention. Tho port of Portland bill provides for tho issuing of bonds to tho extent of $000,000 by tho city of Portland for tho purposo of creating 11 channel from that placo to tho sea, of n mean dopth of twenty-ilvo feet. Tho bill is purely ocul in its nature, but general in its results; theroforo wo include it in tho tho abovo list. Tho labor bill passed tho house Thursday night, having passed the sonato somo timo previous. The bill is a direct and fatal stab at organized labor, and in spite of all tho intluonco which could bo brought lo bear, it passed both houses. It pro- ides that any person who t-hall by lorco attempt to prevent any perspn from working or accepting work, or b f . ' . . inimus 01 iinntou or written nrntinr. whether concerned us an olllear, agent or mtnnbor of any association, or to m- uco othors to neithor buy nor toll to anothor, or to compel him to dieohargo or employ anothor, or to inoroaso tfuir wages or tho number employed, shall ' be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. In other words, all strikes, boycots, regulating tho prico of labor or in any wise advancing the cause of labor is a misdemeanor under tho provisions of this act. Tho bill was introduced by Senator Willis, of Multnomah county. Hardly one-half of tho members knew tho literal meaning of the act, and when it camo up for final passage, it was too late to work against it effectu ally. Labor organizations of tho stato generally overlooked the bill, and had but very few representatives to work against it. The only hope now for tho defeat of tho law is tho governor's veto, and as near as can bo learned ho will allow it to pass. Why ho should do this cannot oven bo conjectured, as heretofore ho has posed as tho friend of tho laborer and poor man, and on this question entirely rests his political success. The number of foolish, if not detri mental, laws passed at the recent ses sion is tho leading topic of conversation at tho capital, and tho doings as a wholo arc almost univessally con demned. There is no doubt but that tho fight for supremacy between tho Simon and Lotan factions has had much iufiuonco in leading to legislation of this kind. The prediction that tho assessment nnd taxation bill would not pass has been vorified, much to the disgust of tho friends of better laws in that direc tion. The senate firmly planted both feet on it after it went on the table. That body mado itself most conspicu ous, however, in tho matter of a world's fair appropriation. During tho last twenty-four hours of the session, tho friends of the bill labored hard to call it up in tho senate, but to no purposo, and attention will thereforo bo attract ed to our incomparable stato and its mossbacks as being the only ono in this glorious union that failed to make such an appropriation. Tho wagon road bills met the late predicted in store for them at tho hands of tho governor. When tho veto was announced tho wagon road men held a caucus and drafted another bill em bodying tho whole family of bills, ap propriating tho money out of the 5 per cent sale of stato lands. This went the way of its predecessors, and all road legislation has been killed for two years. Tho objections of the governor to tho first bill was that it was an injustice and unconstitutional to divert money from tho general fund for this purpose. His objection to tho second was that tho fund from which tho money was appropriated belonged to tho school fund, and could not theroforo bo used. The contest .over the seat to tho rep resentatives from Union county died still born as did also tho meager effort to attach Pino Valley to Raker county. Representative Dames, of Wallowa, could not get tho proper lines and pe titions from his constituents for annex ing tho northern panhandlo of Union to Wallowa, and thereforo tho present ungainly lines of Union countv will still adorn the map of Oregon A sigh of intense rehof arises from tho averago citizen over tho adjourn wuui ui uio legislative uoay. its un 4 f . I - 1 1 . . popularity arises cntiroly from the quality of the work done, and not from tho quantity, which has most certainh been very creditable. Just boforo adjournment, Rcpresen tative Moore, of Denton county, arose and thanked Speaker Geer for tho ablo, ofhcient and fair manner in which ho has conducted tho deliberations of tho ower house, and m closing, on behalf of tho members presontod him with an elegant gold watch. Mr. Geor was com pletely overwhelmed, and when suflic- ii-ii. . . . . lonuy auio to control Jus emotions, re turned his thanks to tho members, col- octively and individually, in appro priate words. The majority is greatly censured by almost cvory domoorat for not allow ing them to name tho democratic niom bors of tho railroad, fish and pilot com missions, which were nominated in tho republican caucus. On the call of tho iuii, utuij uuiuuurat voted blank, as statod by Sonator Veatch, refusing to n ......... .1 ..... tnuuu uiu uuso prepared for thorn by a republican caucus. McAhstor, of Union, will remain in town a fow days yot as a member of tho houso committee to oversee tho preparing of tho journal. Tho other meinbors havo all returned homo, and tho capital city has once moro assume! its ovory-day appearance. 1 110 total amount Of lilOilflV nnnrn. priated for all purposes, not including wagon roads and a fow othor nrivutn and local bills, amounts, in round num bora to $ 1,2 13,000. The special bills will run tho amount to noarlv n mil. lion and a half, should thov be signed by tho governor. This is by fur the larg est uxpunditure of money over mado by tho state, and the oxtravagunco of homo of the items has called much re mark. Tho root of tho legislation is now with tho governor who will un doubtedly put hia Mump of disapproval on nmiiy aots of tho recent factional flght. The voto liowor U now ut work. fund Hive.- itromUtf of doinir mtuili tmml to the general interest of tho btato! Ia ., Q VWV