The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-10-27
THE PRESS.

THE PRESS.
MONDAY MORNING. OCT. 27.
We 40 not read anonymous letters and commu.
nlcations The name and address of the writer
are all cases Indispensable, not necessarily for
publication but as guarantee OF good faith,
We cannot undertake to return or preserve
communications that are not used.
The Vermont legislature is taking steps IN
re-enact the prohibitory law of that State
The Maine Solons elect must be putting on
their thinking caps in this matter also.
we uont know as the action of Governor
Campbell OF Ohio relative to the Cincinnati,
BOARD VIII commend him to the Democratic
party OF that state. We rather think IL will,
nor out It will raise him several notches in
The estimation If honest men.
Inc Lewiston journal has inquired of a
considerable number of legislators-elect as
70 the questions they deem it most important
ior the coming, legislature to deal with.
Most prominent in the minds of the great
majority are taxation and the Australian
system of voting.
The Idea of a commission to take charge
of our public works has much to commend
1t. 1t would undoubtedly ensure more sys
tematic work than is obtained by the present
arrangement, and in the long run it would
prove more economical. This is predicated
upon the assumption that the commission is
composed of men who have both theoretical
and practical knowledge of the matters they
are 10 have charge of, with sufficient back
bone to resist Influence" A commission
without those qualities would be useless ex-
cept to draw money from the treasury.
In the survey Of the field of sports for the
year Maine has prominent part. None Of
her brawny sons have surpassed Queckbe-
mer, who at Washington the other day beat
the world, by putting the 56-pound weight
80 feet and 10 inches. Copeland, by making
running broad jump of % feet and over,
and Cary of Princeton College, who has
dashed hundred yards in 81 seconds, have
NSPS bNheSA shoh ahJ Audn VI UUy III maine
has been known to do yet But when we
leave human flesh and come to horse flesh,
then Maine looks up. TO be sure no Maine
horse has been able to rival Salvador, the
grand horse which has broken the record of
~ years by running mile In one minute
and thirty-fiye and one-half seconds. Nor
has any breachy Maine horse bothered the
farmer by being able to clear top seven
feet and fiye-eighths of an inch high; as have
the high jumping horses Roseberry, Moore
house and Pepper this year. But running
aud jumping are coltish performances after
all. 1t Is the trotting track that demands q
horse-and there you find Maine. At Ban.
gor, September 6, Nelson broke Jay Eve
Sees fastest record on a half-mile track
and later at Terre Haute reduced Axtelps
record OF IL to 2.114. And still later at
Cambridge City, Indiana, the WONDERFUL
Maine horse put the record down to 2.10a,
the fastest mile for the stations of the
world. and close down to the time of Maud
S. This is glory enough for Maine In enc
years sports. 1t was won by a horse and not
s'man; but all the better for that. The men
of Maine take to work instead of sports; and
In the field Of work Maine has been break
Ing some records, too, in the last year.
The recount Of the city of Waterville,
made by the police force shows a total popu-
I tion Of 1854 or 542 more names than the
government count disclosed in June. The
Wateryille Sentinel says that the special
enumerators had "a difficult Job" since 'their
count was taken when good many people,
especially of the French Canadian portion of
the city happened to be away from their
homes on excursions to Canada and In the
lumber camps of the State" From this we
are to infer that the special local enume,a-
tors counted not only those inhabitants who
were found, hut also those who ought to
have been found had they been at home.
Now so far as simply getting at the inhabi-
tants of Watervllle is concerned, this may
be legitimate method of counting, and II 1t
was carefully, impartially and judicially
done, the result is very likely correct. But
no one will contend that therefore 1t casts
discredit upon the government census. The
government census counted only those who
were found In the place and l. is clear that
this was the only correct way of
doing if accurate results were to be obtained
for the whole State and nation. Therefore
the government count and the local police
count must differ, provided both were made
impartially. As to the impartiality any YER
dict must be matter of opinion. The gov
eminent enumerators had every inducement
to count all the people there and no more.
The local police had every inducement to
make their decisions favorable to the larges,
numbers; and the counting Of miscellaneous
Frenchmen who had been in Waterville, fol
longer or shorter periods, but were at ths
time Of the police count, somewhere else In
logging camps or In Canada, gave wide
field for partial decisions.
The Tory disaster in the Eccles election