The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-11-22

Inc oauit 0te Marie canal connects Lake
Superior with the lower lakes. 1t is high
way little talked of except in the regions
Immediately about it, yet last year there
passed through 1t five and a half million tons
Of freight; and this is nearly as much as
passed through the great Suez canal, the
highway over which great nations bicker
and the opening Of which was justly hailed
as boon to the human race. No other
nation under the sun enjoys the benefits Of
SO great an internal commerce.
The calamitous defeat of the woman SUI
frage bill In the Vermont legislature last
week seems to have been due to several
causes, the most important of which was the
very one that defeated the measure in the
last Maine Legislature,--the opposition Of
the women themselves. The Vermont bill
was intended to give only limited suffrage,
while the Maine bill aimed at complete en-
franchsement. Both seeem to bave met the
opposition OF large number of influential
women. year ago bill giving to women
who hold property in their own names and
pay taxes, a right to vote on municipal
affairs, passed the lower branch of the Yer
mont legislature by large majority. Il
might have passed the Senate but for the
crusade MADE in its support by some outside
reformers, who took the ground that they
wanted municipal suffrage simply as step
towards general extension of the suffrage
to women. This year similar bill has
failed in the House by an adverse vote Of
nearly five to one. The alliance of the
woman suffragists with the Third party is
said to have contributed somewhat to this
defeat, but the Burlington Free Press says
that the main cause Of defeat was sthe infiu-
ence OF the Vermont women, who feel that
they have burdens enough without assuming
new Ones" The Free Press then goes on to
say that when "the good, true, wise and
womanly women of Vermont desire munich
pal suffrage they will haveit. Their position
as was said when the subject was first agi-
tated in Vermont, is one Of practical suprem-
acy. and no measure which will conduce to
their happiness or welfare will be denied by
the stronger half Of our community"
The Portland & Rochester Extension
viii it be for the interest Of Portland to
permit the Portland & Rochester railroad to
be extended along the line proposedp This
is the question which the Board Of Mayor
and Aldermen will be called upon tonight to
answer. And this is the only question that
will properly be before them. Whether the
location proposed will convenience the Port
land d Rochester railroad better than any
other. or whether its rejection will embar-
rass some of the projects which that road has
on foot, is no concern of the Aldermen. The
road has President and Board OF Directors
who are amply able to look out for its inter-
ests. The Board of Aldermen's business Is
to look out for the city. That's what they
were elected for.
The Portland & Rochester's plan has been
before the people Of Portland long enough
for everybody TO understand it, long enough
for its friends to say all there was to be said
In favor it. The objections to it have been
fully presented, and the road has been asked
to present any advantages which might tend
to neutralize these objections. All that has
been offered. and presumably all that can
be, is that the proposed route will enable the
Portland & Rochester to transfer its passen-
gers and freight a little more expeditiously
than it can by the Woodford's Corner route.
Indirectly this may be slight benefit to
Portland. But is the benefit big enough to
justify. in order to obtain 1t, practical destruc-
ton. so far as value is concerned, of a val
liable lot now owned by the city, and
serious injury to public park
and several much travelled streets?
We have pretty thoroughly canvassed the
city for opinions on this point, and we have
yet to find man not directly interested In
the Rochester scheme, that hesitates for a
moment to pronounce the consideration for
this destruction and damage absurdly in
sufficient. The remarkable remonstrance
published elsewhere, signed as it is by hun
dreds of the best known and most influential
citizens of Portland, clearly shows the condi-
tlon Of public sentiment upon this matter.
United States and Dominion Politics.
Our Tory friends across the border have
grown very melancholy of late from the con-
temptation of American politics. The
screeds in their journals on our political
methods read as il they were the outpour-
ings Of our own pessimistic Mugwumps In
their most gloomy moods. Whether their
feelings are as deep and sincere as they look,
orwhether the evils Of our politics are pur-
posely exaggerated in the hope of chilling
the growing annexation sentiment among
their constituents, we do not undertake to
say The fact remains that we are being
painted in very dark colors by our Tory
neighbors. According to the Halifax Her-
aid we are suffering from the CALLING despo-
tism of machine politics." The Herald
points out that we have departed from the
doctrine of the fathers, and that In these
degenerate days the Presidential elector
has become a mere registering machine, in
stead Of what he was once, a very CONSEQUENT
tial person upon whom was devolved the
grave responsibility of selecting for the people
their ruler. This may seem a marked de-
cline tc the Dominion Tories who have their
governors-general selected for them by
august gentlemen three thousand miles
away, and are bound TO be duly thankful for
whatever Is youchsafed them, but to the
people of the United States who prefer to
choose their own rulers rather than entrust
the selection to few people, however august,
instead Of retrogression this change Of prac-
tice concerning the electors appears to be
very distinct progress. The Herald need
shed no tears of sympathy on our account:
we like this way Of doing things. We prefer
TO select our own rulers over here, and the
more complete control we have of that mat
ter the better we are suited. Doubtless our
politics are not perfect, but we think they
will easily hold their own alongside those of
the Dominion. Ii one should rely upon the
Halifax press during an election contest he
could not but come to the conclusion that the
politics of Nova Scotia drew their inspira-
ton from the penitentiary and their candi-
date from among men who ought to be in
that institution. Nowhere In the civilized
world are election contests SO bitter and ma
lignant, so utterly destitute of fairness as In
this same Nova Scotia whose journals are
now revillng the politics of the United