The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1879-02-07
FROM THE CAPITAL.
SALEM, Feb. 26, 1879.

ton OF country, and a correspondent
has no more than time to- spit on his
hands for new hold after his letter
Is finished, than he is compelled to
make active preparations for another
epistle. The week under review has
beer devoid of single piece of local
intelligence worthy of notice. It has
been dreadfully quiet week, and all
in this section of country have been
obliged to content themselves with a
nice quiet little business, and hope On
hope ever that times will improve.
Merchants and clerks alike jump from
their seats around the stoves on the
entrance at the front door of their
store, and visions of liberal profits
dance before their eyes. SmiIingly
they step forward and with their
pleasantest urbanity ask, What can
1 do for your The customer in
qnires the price of golden syrup,
cube sugar, sterine candles, bacon,
flour and beans, causing the face Of
the merchant to fairly beam with
golden anticipations. The customer
expresses a desire to purchase the
goods at wholesale, and talks glibly
of the enormity OF family expenses.
They consult prices and quibble over
the difference, and the whole transac-
tion ends in the customer ordering
two bits worth Of washing compound,
which he desires to have charged,
and delivered at his door with much
more promptness than he pays his
bill and We urbane merchant retires
to his scat beside the stove vaguely
wondering at the frailty of human
expectations, and the customer passes
on mentally calculating the difference
between the price of white beans at
four cents a pound and potatoes at
seventy-fve cents a bushel, and won
ders which will be the cheapest in the
long ran.
| Some way or other the past year
has been disastrous one to Salem
merchants and among those who have
been driven to the wall, we might
mention Thomas Cunningham & Co.,
E. +. Thompson, stationer, John Gray
furniture dealer, and yesterday his
creditors closed ap J. G. Holbert'S
confectionery establishment. The
latter, however, has been closed sew
eral times heretofore and some way
or other has managed to stem the
tide and start in again. His affairs
we learn this time, however; are in a
much worse condition, and it is sup
posed by many that Holbert is tinan-
ciallv a wreck. After all, however,
in each case Of failure there has been
other and sufficient cause rather than
a dearth of business, and the misfor.
: tune may in each instance be attrib-
uted to some unfortunate habit in
the Ii. es of those who had charge of
the same Cunningham's failure was
one of the most disgraceful affairs
that ever occurred in Oregon bust
ness circles their course throughout
being such as to bring upon them the
well-merIted rebuke and censure of
all honorable minded business men,
dragging down with them, as they
did, many of our most industrious
and conscientious citizens.
The Supreme Court has been grind
ing away all week and several i'm
portant cases have been heard.
Among those, on which decisions
have been rendered, was the appeal
from Multnomah county in the John
son and Brown murder cases, wherein
the judgment Of the lower court was
affirmed and on your publication day
friday they will have to swing for
their crime. Petitions are being
circulated praying the Governor to
commute their sentence to imprison.
ment for life. This, however, does
not meet with much support Inasmuch
as that too often means an executive
pardon within few years. Were
our laws so changed as to take the
pardoning power out of the hands
of the Governor, in cases where
prisoners had been convicted of mur-
der in either the first or second de-
gree, methinks capital punishment
might be abolished with more sencr-
al satisfaction. We can recollect
how, few years ago, when Gerard
was lying in the Marion county Jail
awaiting execution, the press of the
entire State revolted against it and
so strong was the pressure brought to
1 bear on Gov. Grover that he inter-
posed executive clemency and the
sentence was commuted. The aspect
of things has changed, however.
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