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- ^•'^■" ' ^1. -V- •'' ' '■♦' ' v, - : '•• ' : ••*Ci|ß' kj. v ?.î f w^-. §£> ; < ;. t'"•-•• A 1 »* ..- ' '• " ; §§£11: V-; :%s& 'î- *3 „ i es# Ï •■ *r & ^Î4Î, ps 19 <Äk mrarar *srro- •'' r n « iV xi' ii -'rä'i «► mm «jmsm >v .-;. ... VOL 18. OALDWELL, IDAHO, SATURDAY, No MAY 1900. ABUNDANCE OF PRECEDENTS. Porto Rican Legislation follows lines Laid Down by Fathers of the Republic. What occasion is there for all this howl against President Mc Kinley as "czar," "dictator," "Caesar," etc.? The Government of Porto Rico, _ as provided in the bill just passed by Congress, is practicälly the same as that provid ed for our other territories, similar in general substance with that of Arizona and New Mexico. Not only this, but the very strongest kind of precedent is furnished by the acts of the very framers of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, Thomas Jefferson, and others to whom the Democrats like to look for inspiration. Under the proyisions of the Porto Rican bill, the natives elect a lower house or assembly of their own, while there is an upper house or executive council appointed by the President, in addition to the gov ernor, judges and other appointive officers. In a general way this conforms to the government of these territories which are commonly supposed to be cast for future state hood, but it is not so much this to which comparison may be made as to earlier precedents in the history of this country. The first precedent to which at tention may be called is that known as the ordinance of 1787, a law enacted by Congress in that year for the government of the North west territory, framed and enacted by men who helped make the Dec laration of Independence and who two years later helped to frame the Constitution of the United States, about which the present-day kick so love to prate. It is interesting to note that, under this law, all the executive officers of the vast North west territory were appointed by the Federal Government precisely as they are under the provisions of the Porto Rican act. When Presi dent McKinley appoints the officials for the government of Porto Rico, he will be doing only what George Washington did over a hundred years ago for a large tract of terri tory beyond the Ohio river. Another precedent is found in the course of Thomas Jefferson in con nection with the Louisiana tract in 1803. At his behest he was em powered by Congress in that year to appoint all the civil, military and judicial officers of the new ter ritory and to support them with the army and navy of the United States. A year later another and more comprehensive act authorized President Jefferson to appoint the Governor of Louisiana, the secre tary and a legislative council of thirteen members. These fifteen officials—every one of them ap pointed by .the President—were to he the territorial legislature, and their acts were to be subject to Federal veto. This legislation, it will be noted, is less broad than that accorded to the Porto Ricans. In Louisiana the entire Legislature was appoint ed by the President, while the Por. to Ricans have the privilege of choosing their own lower house, and of the executive council at least five must be native Porto Ricans. Still another precedent is found >n the government authorized for the territory of Missouri in 1812, which plan bears quite a close re semblance to the Porto Rican bill. In this the territory was given a legislative council and a house of representatives, but the house alone was elected by the people. This 110 use could nominate eighteen per dus for the legislative council, and out °f these the nine members who were to make up the council or up per branch of the legislature were ^ected by the President. As for the cry of "taxation with out representation," it is absolutely without foundation. The Porto Ricans can in no wise be likened to the American colonists who pro tested against taxation without rep resentation in the eighteenth cen tury. In that instance they were taxed, but received no return what ever for their taxes. They were governed from England without the slightest word in the'ir govern ment, without even their lower branch or assembly, and the taxes were absorbed by the mother coun try. In the first place, civilization has broadened since then and goy ernment is broader, even in a mon archy, and England could not do today what George III did in the days of yore. But, aside from that, the Porto Ricans will have some thing to say about their govern ment, the executive power of the President being but to provide against unwise legislation. ' Then, so far as regards the taxation, whatever is collected as a result of the tariff duties assessed by the bill just passed by Congress is devoted exclusively to the gcvernment and improvement of Porto Rico, and not one cent is diverted to the Unit ed States.—Springfield Union. about B onding. Some farmers in the Pioneer Irri gation District are uneasy about the prospect of bonding. They argue that bonding the district amounts to the same thing as putting a mortgage on their homes, and they hesitate about that. It is proper that people should be careful about those things and give them due consideration, but in doing so they must look the facts of the situation square in the face. The question is, What is the present condition? Let us take for illustration an indi vidual case arid every farmer in tb district can look upon himself as that individual. A few years ago John' Smith acquired 160 acres of sagebrush land in this valley. Hé proceeded to build a house on it and prepared 50 acres for seeding. After putting in his crop he discov ered that it would not mature with out water, this showed him that his laud was utterly worthless unless he could secure the water, but would be very valuable and pro ductive with water. The conclu sion forced upon him was that he must either have the water, aban don the farm or starve. He natur ally began to figure in about this way: This 160 acres of land with out water is not worth a red cent but with water it would be worth $20 an acre or $3200 for the whole. The water must be had. In the same locality are Water Lord and company. They see that same 160 acres of land, and say to themselves, that fellow's farm is not worth a nickel without water, so we will build a ditch across the top of his land and run a nice stream of water into it, then we will sit in our office until Mr. Smith comes along beg ging for water. He has got to come, and when he does come he has got to pay for building that ditch, and he has got to pay us a round sum for managing it, and he has got to pay a fancy speculative profit 011 the whole thing. We will not sell him the ditch or any part of it, but will furnish him wa ter from year to year upon our own terms. And when he gets his farm well developed and is making a good living and a bit of money out of it, we can squeeze a little more out of him from time to time. In fact we have got a perpetual, abso lute mortgage on that farm, and we have, got that farmer tied up so that he, his heirs and assigns will have to work for us and our pos terity forever. Now, farmers, there is the situation exactly. You are just as completely mortgaged now as you ever can be, The canal ■ -11 ï "* ' companies have got you on the hip for all time; they propose to make you pay for those canals, not only once or twice but over and over and over again. As this »section grows and develops the water lord will put the screws down harder and harder. He has not made much for himself yet, but his harvest is coming, and the day is near at hand when you will find him in his luxuriously fitted office, his wife in her carriage and his daughters and sons in European Universities. You, farmers, will have all that to pay for, all that style and elegance to perpetually*, maintain, and be sides you will have to pay off the mortgage bonds of the canal and you will have to pay the stockhold ers'dividends.- Figure it out, up one side and down the other, and then determine whether or not jt wouldn't be better to buy the ca nals outright and be done with i£, even if you do have to pay a big price. LAMENTATIONS OF THE FUSIONERS. The Democratic fusioners got a dose of their own medicine in Sho shone county on the 19th that is filling them with woe and appre hension. . For months they have been piping the fusion song, and glorifying the beatitudes of a union of Pops, Silver Republicans and Democrats. Fusion to the Demo cratic mind has all the time been a consummation devoutly to be wished for, and of such vital im portance as to justify the capture of the Bingham county Silver Repub lican committee meeting and by voting Democratic substitutes pre vent Silver Republican disband ment. The union of the reform forces has been the Democratic dream of a political elysium- But at Wallace they got more union than they were looking for; that is to say, the Steunenberg fusioners got too much. The anti-Stèunen berg reformers captured the fusion convention and purged it. The Steunenberg fusioners had to go off and hold a rump convention by themselves, and now their organs are grinding out the most tearful lamentations. The Boise States man is distracted and distraught with grief aud alarm. In its dis tress it appeals to Republicans to come to the relief and support of Steunenberg, and cries aloud for them to fuse with the Democrats of Shoshone county in order that the legislative ticket may be saved to its idol. Hear its cry: "In Shoshone county the Demor crats and Republicans should lay aside their partisanship in so far as county affairs are concerned. They cannot afford to run separate tickets and leave a loophole for the dyna mite element to slip through. Thé Populists took control of the Demo-, cratic county convention. > Now the straight Democrats and the Repub licans should resolve to get together in the nomination of a county tickët; They have had an exemplification of' dynamiter methods that should not be lost on them." • „ v Oh, certainly; good, sweet Re publicans, let us conjure you to' fuse with Steunenberg Democrats. By all means, help them or they perish. Would you, . Republicans of Shoshone county, be so utterly heartless and selfish as to stick to your own principles, and maintain your own integrity while the fu sioners are flopping around wound ed in one wing? To the rescué, we say. Will you ignore the Boise Statesman's pious admonition? Will you turn cotton filled-ears to thé wailings of distress? What if the fusioners denounce you as tyranni cal imperialists, seeking to : forge links of rugged steel with which to bind in perpetual slavery à' weak and struggling people? What if they hail you as the tools and min ions of capitalistic greed? What if they charge on your President the infamous crime of subjecting your country to the dominion of the inili- • tary and making 'himself an''"abso lute dictator? What if they charge on your pa'rty felonious designs on the National Constitution? What if they hate ànd traduce you with every breath? Should little things like that prevent you from embrac ing and supporting them wheù the Boise Statesman commands? Let us beseech yotf to take no thought on these things. And, ^moreover, we pray you shut tight your eyes to the fact that in consequence of this 'A. ' * II ' * J » 1 rupture in the "union" you can carry Shoshone county for the Re publican party. Do not perceive this selfish prospect, but rather pray to be blinded to it, because it is unclean to look upon. Dammit, boys, fill up on fool magnanimity and turn the county over to Steunie and Bartie. That's the stuff. That's the .gush to fill the States man with joy, the fusioners with rejoicings and the United .States Senate with Idaho reformers. ' FILIPINO COMPETENCY. It has been stated by partie^ as suming to know, that the Filipinos are a highly educated and civil ized people; that not exceeding five per cent of them are illiterate; that they were capable of organiz ing and maintaining independent government based on the same plans as the government of the United States. Statements of this character have been made by men who were in the volunteer service, and because they have been in the Philippines their statements are en titled to consideration. The first question that arises in one's mind is, What would be a soldier's op portunities for observation and in vestigation. It would seem that the Idaho volunteers, for instance, were during their operations in the Philippines confined almost exclu sively to the island of Luzon, and that they were never more than forty or fifty miles from Manila. The men were under strict military discipline as, being in the enemy's country it was necessary" they should be. Therefore, under the most favorable conditions, it is not possible that the volunteers had any opportunity to study the Fili pinos except those located within a few miles of a large commercial city, the capital of the Spanish gov ernment for several centuries. One would probably get âs good an idea of the Filipinos from observing those near Manila; as one would get of the Africans by observing the colored residents of New Or leans and its suburbs. The Philip pine archipelago'extends north and south a distance of 1000 miles: The maps indicate one thousand seven hundred and-twenty-five is lands, big and little. Some 60 of these islands are over 20 miles square. Now that is the geograph ical condition of the Philippines. Scattered over these multitudinous islands are some eight millions of people, consisting of 84 different tribes, having no less than four dis tinct racial origins. These people speak some 60 different languages and in most cases the different tribes- afe unable to understand each other at all. In intelligence and civilization they range from the Negritos, in the lowest conditions of savagery and barbarism, to the Christianized Malays of ; Luzon. Now, with these few facts before us, it does seem that a volunteer in the United States army, who has liever been out of sight of Manila, would hardiy' be qualifiéd to express an intelligent opinion on the compe tènéy of the Filipinos for self-gov efnment. We once heard of an Irishman who, after Kving in'New York Gity a year; wrote home a de scription of this country, "saying: "America is an odd country. Div -vil -a cow or a pig do they raise here that isn't full grown, skinned and" froze stiff befpre it's born.' v He was on the ground and drew his conclusions from actual obser vations. The trouble was that his observations were somewhat limit ed, but no more so perhaps than the volunteer's in the Philippines. FUSION FIGHT. < J. /; i ■ Thé capture of the Wallace con vention by the anti-Steûnénberg Democrats forebodes a red hot fight in the Lewiston Democratic con vention of June 5th. The question will be, which delegation shall be seated. , If the rump delegation is seated, there is liable to be a split •in the State convention, and if it is ousted apd the ànti-Steunenbergs seated, the Governor may as well suspend his musical instrument on the wall, for there is no more hope for him. We believe the Steunen berg delegation will be seated, and that will mark the beginning of the disruption of the union of reform forces. The Heitfeld plank in the Sioux Falls platform will be en dorsed by all the Idaho fusion Pop ulists and all the anti-Steunenberg Democrats. It will also receive the approval of practically all the Silver Republicans because it helps to lay Steunenberg on the shelf and advance the interests of Dubois. Thus it would appear that the Pop ulists and Silver Republicans will array themselves against the Steun enberg Democrats. But thé Silver Republicans are so few that they will cut very little figure, and tha contest will finally simmer down to a fight between Steunenberg Demo crats and fusion Populists. In this fight the influence of the National party will be against Steunenberg as the leaders are determined to get him out of the way if possible. ' In the event of success, they will nat urally uphdld the fusion ropùlistsr because in them lies the only hope of carrying the State. It really be gins % look as though the outcome of the affair will be the turning down of Steunenberg and Dubois and putting at the head of the re form forces Senator Heitfeld. This will be turning the tables with a vengeance. If the Populists shall succeed at last in downing both Democrats and Silver Republicans, it will demonstrate that they have not had experience in vain. SMOOTH POLITICS. Commenting on "Idahos Stand ing," the Boise Statesman says: If Idaho is to maintain this en viable reputation, we must elect a State govèrnment this fall that will decline positively to compromise with the elements that caused all the trouble in the Cœur d'Alenes; we must'have a Governor who will enforce the law «ànd protect the peo ple in their rights. This is not a political question but one of plain business and good faith. That simply confirms" the report that Governor Steunenberg means to stand for re-election, and operate his Senatorial scheme from the gu bernatorial chair. That is allright, and eminently smooth politics. We compliment the Statesman on its adroitness. 'Under the guise of a general and paternal admonition, it manages to boom Governor Steunenberg and artfully attack the Republican party, ^tripped of cunning subterfuge, the Statesman says: Governor Steunenberg has won for Idaho a splendid reputa tion; he alone has proved equal to the task; he alone is safe and com petent; he alone is trustworthy. On the other hand, the Republican party 'is apt to put up some man who will be in sympathy with law lessnesis, in whose hands life and property will be Unsafe and under whose administration the good rep utation of the State will be destroy ed. The result of which will be the stopping of immigration into Idaho, the withholding of capital and another period of rioting, arson and murder. This is all said in the smoothest possible way. It is done up in a capsule of patriotic admo nition, so that Republican voters will swallow it without gagging. With admirable naivete, the States man says: "This is not a political question." Certainly not. It is purely a theological question, a sort of Christian Science affair. All you have to do is believe it is not politics and it "aint." But why admonish the Republican party. - Has it ever been the champion of lawlessness? Has it ever been very susceptible to the blandishments of rioters and dynamiters? Is it the particular friend of incendiaries and assassins? ' We apprehend that no Republican will mistake the Statesman's sinister stab for a fra ternal warning. ELDER AND CANDIDATE. Ex-Governor Robert E. Pattison of Pennsylvania is a candidate for running mate with W. J. Bryan, also a pious Methodist with an evangelical turn. At the Method ist General Conference in Chicago, Elder Pattison spoke and thus ex pressed himself: "A church cannot be otherwise than an expansionist. A Method ist must be an expansionist. John Wesley, when he declared the world his parish, voiced this senti ment. Not only has territory been opened on ou-r own shores, but America is ready to go into the Orient and help those people to a better living. I am sure in the twentieth century the island of Cu ba will be assimilated, and I look,to the school teacher, the spelling-book and the Bible to do it. We could pot stop this advance and expansion of the people the world over if we would., Truth and the lifting up of the race is the expansive force of the world everywhere." Now, we await with breathless interest the views of Candidate Pattison on expansion. How will Candidate Pattison be able to re concile himself to the imperialistic fulminations of Elder Pattison? ELEGANT OPPORTUNITY. After a careful examination of all the Democratic promises put into _ National platforms since 1856, we observe that one of them has been honestly kept according to its terms. Again conditions are such as to in,- ,i vite the Democrats to repeat that promise and keep it. It will be re membered that some years ago; they discovered that the amount of money in thé United States treas ury had become very large. The extravagant policy of the Republi can party had filled all thé vaults to overflowing; the bonded debt - was being paid off before it became 1 < due, and, in fact, money was so., plentiful that it became something •-= of an annoyance. This was the Democratic . opportunity. They said, let us run the government a while and that unhealthy swelling in the treasury will be reduced. ; The government was turned over to them, and, lord bless you, in less than six months the treasury vaults looked like empty bladders. That is the only promise the Democrats* ever made good. Again there is a large surplus in the treasury and, speaking for the Democrats, we say in all sincerity that if the govern ment is turned over to them they will reduce the surplus promptly. For the G. A. R. encampment at Weiser Idaho, June 6-9, 1900 a rate one and one fifth fare certificate plan is authorized. Caldwell to Weiser and return. Mr. N. F. Kimball will sign certificates. » J. Decker, Agent Another large invoice of bed room suits just received at H. H. Jones' Furniture store.