The Portland daily press., 1889-11-05

In witness whereof, l have hereuntO set my
hand and caused the seal of the United States 10
be affixed.
Done at the city Of Washington this first day Of
november, In the year OF our Lord 1885, and
OF the independence Of the United States the
Hath
BENJAMIN HARRISON.
BY the President.l
JAMES G. BLAINE,
Secretary OF State.
We learn from Boston paper that on the
eve of the electoral crisis the Prohibitionists
"are calm" They evidently understand
that their vote will not be of exciting pro-
portions.
That crow bounty bill, which was passed
by the last legislature on the superstition
that the farmers wanted it, has neither hurt
the crows nor helped the farmers. 1t is
every bit as foolish and useless law as its
critics prophesied that it would be when Ii
was passed. The experience of the farmers
OF this Ssat-lhhs been for some time that the
crow is wiser than his pursuers. When the
State was young, in 1880, when the crows
were thicker, and when the Maine farmer
was much more In need Of dollar than he
Is now, the legislature offered bounty of
eight cents a head for every crow shot Then
the bounty did some effective work. Up
wards OF thirty thousand crows were killed
each year; and there is no doubt that the
cornfelds were less moles ted by crows on
account of the slaughter. Whether worms
and other pests consumed by the crows did
not become remarkably troublesome we do
not know. But today, with the State so well
settled, the crows do not, except in few
places, constitute serious trouble to agri-
culture II Is an open question whether or
n they do not do more good than harm
1t was pointed out when suspicion fell up.
on the Clan ma Gael In connection with DR..
Cronin's murder that the very best service
Irishmen in America could render the Irish
cause in Ireland would be to assist, by their
influence aud their money II need be, to fer
ret out the scoundrels who had Matched the
horrible conspiracy which the blood stained
body In the catch-basin revealed; and the
very worst, to appear to shield in the slight
est degree the authors of that conspiracy.
A half a dozen conspirators inside the Clan
na-Gael do not necessarily involve the whole
society. But they put the society In posi-
tion in which they cannot remain without in
evitably becoming in the public eye particeps
criminis. They cast an odium on the society
which will cling to it unless active measures
are taken to remove it. The mere assertion on
the part of the members that they are not
knowing to the conspiracy, that the "tri-
angle" was acting independently of the
society and on its own account will net be
sufficient The society must purge itself Of
the triangle" and help bring the members
of 1t to justice. The Chicago Irishmen who
published an appeal to the country yesterday
took the correct view Of it. Mere washing
their hands Of the whole business will not be
effective. Nothing short Of jealous work to
bring the guilty men to justice Will answer.
The campaign just closed in Massacha-
sets has been, in one respect, unlike any
other that has occurred in that State for
many years. AS was announced by Hon.
Henry III. Sprague at the rally of the Young
Mems Republican Club in Boston last Fri
day, no Republican candidate in Boston was
called upon to pay political assessment. 1t
has been the practice in all parties, In Mas
sachusetts and elsewhere, to call upon can
didates for money to pay for the expense of
printing ballots, etc. Sometimes the sums
thus collected have been very large, SO large
as to become serious burdens upon the can
didates and to make almost certain the sus-
piclon that the money would not all be used
legittmately. But under the ballot law
which goes into effect in Massachusetts to
day, the State pays for the ballots; and the
need OF an assessment on the candidates is
wholly, or In greater part, removed 1t has
cost money, of course. to carry on the cam
Daign. but the Republican candidates in
Boston have not contributed differently from
other patriotic Republicans to the expenses.
No one of them can feel that he has bought
his office. Aud this is great gain in behalf
OF uhtrammelled government by the people
and for the people, for it gives the poor man
the same chance as the rich in candidacy for
office. The Boston Journa saws that in
6oston, under the old system, no man could
De candidate for any considerable office un
less either he or his personal or party friends
could furnish the money to print ballots and
provide party distributors at every voting
place Now the State prints the ballots. and
the distribution of them also is regulated and
Pun" ioi Aioh tuo pubic treasury. This
places the cost where 1t should be, upon the
shoulders of the whole people. Nor can that
cost be an excessive public burden, since the
machinery when once in operation is not
much more complicated than at present used.
TWO inspectors and two deputies being the
only additional officers required at the poll
ing place. In other directions there will be
great savings. Few more ballots than are
needed will be printed. and every cent ex.
pended will be accounted for, vouched tor
and audited,-quite a contrast to the old
method, where large sums might stick in the
hands Of the disbursing agents without any
one being the wiser. These are some adj
vantages already accruing In Massachusetts
from the adoption of ballot reform. The
practical test of election day workings will
come today. What the result of that will be
cannot of course be foretold with certainty.
They will have to be something more than
mildly unfayorable, however, to counterbal-
ance the great advantage of the abolition of
assessment of candidates for ballots and
ticket distributors.