The record-union., 1898-12-20
VOICE OF THE PRESS.
EXTRACTS FROM EDITORIAL
EXPRESSIONS.
State and Coast Opinions on Sub
iects Of Living News
Interest.

HSlO ana WHY HSHIer, IL Call pidS
possum' while its secret agents, who
often hold educational offices, do its
work, and when that work is done ef-
fectively it can be as much alive as
ever and reap the benefits. The book
ring always becomes active just before
the meeting of the Legislature, and
its newspaper agents are making their
regular biennial appearance.
HAWAII AND OUR NAVIGATION
LAWS.
Marysville Appeal: If Congress de-
sireS to save the Government many
thousands of dollars in revenue, they
had better rush that bill extending our
customs and navigation laws to Ha-
Waii. A nice little scheme, Matched
by the shreWdest class Of men in the
world, the importers and exporters of
America and Europe, has just been
discovered. They plan to import vast
quantities Of merchandise into the Ha-
waiian Islands at the low tariff that
now prevails there and at their leisure
dump the goods into the United States
with a clear gain of 40 per cent. ad
valorem. Such business acumen would
be worthy of admiration if directed
against the revenues of some other
Government.
do WE FLUNk?'
Los Angeles Times: Under the above
headline, the New York Tribune" dis
cusses the proposition that the United
States has been guilty of inexcusable
aggression in taking the Philippine ISL
ands." AS the Tribune" says, there
is neither honesty nor common sense
in that proposition. The destruction
of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay
was a necessity of the war. Having
destroyed the Spanish fleet, and placed
the islands virtually at our mercy, we
became responsible in a certain sense
for their future The responsibility
was in effect thrust upon us, and We
could not escape it. One of the best
answers to the complaints of anti-eX-
pansionists is the question, What
should we do with the Philippines"
Not one Of the opponents Of annexa-
ton has as yet been able to give
satisfactory answer to this question,
which has been an open one since the
guns Of Admiral Dewey sounded the
death.lnell of Spanish sovereignty in
the islands. In the present situation,
we are confronted by a condition, not
a theory. We must act, and we cannot
DEMAND WILL FALL FLAT.
Willows Journal: France may make
demands on the United States for pay
ment of the Spanish debt secured by
mortgage on Cuba" Let them make
the demand; any Administration that
would consent to pay a cent Of that
debt would be politically damned for
ever. Spain's claim on Cuba never
was valid, and there was no legal
right to enslave a nation of people to
pay the debts of another The de-
mand will fall fiat, and there will be
no further trouble; neither the United
States nor Cuba will pay that $780,
100000.
TRAIFF AND PARTY.
Fresno Republican: 1t is curious to
note how entirely separated the tariff
question has become from party poll
tics. At the citizens meeting the 9TH
er night We're present Democrats, Re
pubicans, Populists, Prohibitionists
and persons of no politics, united in
protest against a free trade act of a
Republican President and not sug-
gestion was made that indicated a
shade Of difference in opinion on the
tariff question. Every one regarded
protection as an axiom almost beyond
the need of proof, and assumed that
the President regarded it in the same
light, though he might be misinformed
as to the facts in regard to the par
ticular item in question. The truth is
that new issues have already obliter-
ated the old, and that the protective
system, always the Enthusiastically
American one, has been accepted by
all parties. This has long been a con-
summation devoutly to be wished The
Inconsistencies and irregularities in our
tariff laws have been due more than
anything else to the controversies over
the general principle of protection,
which have precluded intelligent and
unbiased consideration of particular
items. The protective system being
now established, the way is open for
more intelligent and permanent ap-
plication of it than has ever been pos
sible before.
WELLS-FARGO WAR TAX
Stockton Mail: Wells, Fargo & Co.'S
reply to the suit against it to compel it
to pay the war tax on packages in
stead Of saddling it on its customers is
amusing. The company pleads that
decision compelling it to bear the cost
OF a stamp for each and every package
forwarded would mean "a dead loss to
the company Of S510 a day or 100000
year" It would be no dead loss. The
money would go toward paying the ex-
penses of war by which the company
gained as much as the rest of the coun-
try. Everybody is contributing more
or less. That the company has to con-
tribute 100000 a year shows how well
it can afford to pay it. Could the pa
irons Of the company plead that they
ought not to pay any of its charges for
carrying letters or parcels, because
such charges represented a dead loss
to them.
THE RETURNING SOLDIERS
Stockton Mail: Referring to the fact
that the men of the First California
Regiment will soon return from Manila,
the San Francisco Bulletin" says: I'VE
won't do a thing to them." We sup
pose San Francisco will cheer them,
and mob them and give them a feed and
fill with beer such of them as may be
willing to be. filled, and make a great
fuss over them, in one way or another,
perhaps for as long as a week. But
what it ought to do to them, or for
them, is to see that no returned volun-
teer wants for the means of earning
a good living and that such as may not
be able to re-enter upon the situation
he left when his country called him,
gets a better one. To see to that is
what San Francisco should organize
for now. That will not only be justice
to the soldier boys, but the best way to
insure the services of more soldier boys,