The record-union., 1897-10-06
VOICE OF THE PRESS
EXTRACTS FROM EDITORIAL
EXPRESSION.
State and Coast Opinions on Sub
jects of Living News
Interest.


ed not with the theory, but with
most perplexing condition, and one
which indeed viii tax all the resources
of Republican ingenuity. Protection
ism may have q roseate aspect from
the theoretical standpoint, but when
il terminates in an alarming deficit 1t
is not SO admirable. From the very
beginning of its operation the Dingley
bill promised a deficit This deficit has
now become a reality which threatens
national finances. In fact, the first
month of the Dingley bill found the
expenditures of the Government to ex-
ceed its revenues, and the income has
not equalled the outgo in any month.
THE MOB's PROTECTION"
Los Angeles Times: According to the
dispatches, the leader of the mob which
lynched Bushrod, the negro rape fiend,
at Hawesville, KY, pointed to the
corpse and said: Here is the protec-
ton we offer our wives and daughters
A casual glance at the history of lynch
law in Kentucky ought to convince
even the leader of the mob on the oc-
casion referred to that the protection
afforded by the practice of lynching,
tuckians, is of a very imperfect char
acter In spite of the repeated lynch
ings, the women of the Blue Grass
State are no safer from the attacks of
lustful brutes than they were before
the methods OF backwoods justice were
resorted to. In point of fact, the as
saults upon women appear to Increase
in frequency, Notwithstanding the pro
lection" of mob law In view of this
fact, how would it do for Kentucky and
some of the other States where lynch
law is so deplorably prevalent, to try
the effect of few judicial hangings?
The '"Times" makes this suggestion
somewhat timidly, having in remem-
brance the fierce and whitening denun-
citation which it has incurred from cer-
tain Southern and other statesmen with
oblique and malign optics, on former
occasions, because of the expression of
similar views. But it would seem that
the inefficiency of lynch law having
been apparently demonstrated, the aid
of statutory law should be invoked as
an experiment, if for no other reason.
1t would not be a difficult matter,
probably, to secure in each of the
States where assaults upon women are
prevalent, the enactment of laws pre-
scribing the death penalty for the crime
of rape, and providing for the quick
trial of persons accused of that crime.
and for their prompt execution if found
guilty A legal execution is far more
impressive than hanging by a mob.
SHOULD BE KNOCKED OUT.
Alameda Encinal: There is a maxim
to the effect that the law will not
interfere to save people from the con-
sequences of their own neglect, yet the
hotel beat law is in contradiction Of it.
A San Francisco host had a lawyer ar
rested ON Monday for a debt of $1O6 80
for board. This movement is an at
tempt to have the law save the hotel
keeper from the consequences of his
own folly in permitting a guest to get
into his debt. This Act will probably
be tested now as lawyer is the victim
and there is good grounds for believ-
ing that it will be declared void
Stockton Mail.
And the law should be knocked out.
There is no equality in protecting
hotelkeeper in the manner by the aid
of the criminal law noted. and letting
every other business man look out for
himself under the civil law.
SPREAD OF TUBERCULOSIS.
Eureka Californian: 1t has been but
a few years since Southern California,
in a delirium of enterprise and accum-
ulation, invited everybody to share the
beneficence of it's heavenly climate, not
omitting the sick, the lame, the halt
and the blind. Pretty soon that portion
of the State was overrun, the summer
hotel inundated with consumptives,
who expectorated everywhere and
drove away from the hostelries other
guests far more desirable. So numer-
Gus did this class of people become,
indeed, that the inhabitants of South
ern California came to be der1sively
referred to by the press of San Fran
cisco as the one-lung contingent. Now
the south would eliminate her troop of
tuberculous tenderfeet, if she could. She
has discovered that they not only keep
other and more desirable people away,
but that they scatter the seeds of the
terrible scourge wherever they go. That
the unusual number of Californians
who every year succumb to it's ravages
catch the disease from these strangers,
thre is not the slightest doubt.
LATTER DAY LEGISLATURES.
AIarysville Democrat: 1t would be
good thing If the California Legislature
should meet not oftener than once in
five years. Possibly more desirable
still would be one session In ten years.
Any unexpected and imperative de-
mand for legislation that might arise
could be met by extraordinary session.
The world, it has been said, is gov
erned too much and the chances are,
perhaps. several to one that it will con-
tinue TO be misgoverned as long as the
State Legislatures are elected every
year or every second year, and per-
mitted to furnish an excuse for their
existence in the shape of a batch of
laws, conspicuous for their unwisdom,
which were better unenacted.-Th Cal
ifornian-
This is a radical view of the case,
and it goes TO the extreme in dealing
with question of government. There
are instances which will justify the
conclusion that sessions of legislative
bodies met too often. The most con-
spicuous examples are the California
Legislature of 1895 and 1897, for which
ten-year periods would be often
enough. But the sessions of all State
Legislatures should convene once in
four years, which we believe would be
often enough to perform all general leg
islation. It may be claimed that eoun-
ties would require the enactment of
new laws, or amendments to the stat
utes to meet certain local changes.
oftener than once in four years. Boards
Of Supervisors are the local legislative
bodies TO which the citizens should look
for relief in such cases. If the power
t..,,.aa tl,c.,, OF is