The record-union., 1898-02-25
VOICE OF The PRESS.
EXTRACTS FROM EDITORIAL
EXPRESSION.
State and Coast Opinions on Sub
jects OF Living News
Interest.

| President Mckinley and members of his
Cabinet have to play at time like
this is a difficult one, and it is not very
patriotic tc try to make it more diff
cult by farming popular excitement or
| by representing that they. are not ic-
ing ali which they ought to do t. MAIN
| tain the national honor. The En.Ilir-
err" for one, believes that the honor
of the nation is safe in the keeping uf
the men at the head of lhe Govern
ment and that the interference Of
demagogues like Senator Mason Of lii
nois, and of mischief makers. like the
publishers of some of the New York
newspapers, is uncalled for and danger
Gus.
ABOUT THE QUAIL.
Petaluma Argus: The newspapers
are discussing the advantage and dis
advantage of having quail on the farm,
| and the weight Of testimony is on the
side of the quail. One bird was found
| to have 101 potato bugs in its crop, and
Professor Bruner of the Lincoln tNe-
braska) Experiment Station says 10
other bird that frequents the farm pays
higher price for the grain it cuts than
the quail. Living about the hedge rows
groves and ravines, where insect enc
mics gather and lurk during the greater
part OF the year, the quail not only
seizes large numbers of these enemies
daily during the summer months, when
they are abroad in the land but all
through the winter, it scratches among
the leaves and other rubbish for hibef-
mating insects of various kinds. Being q
| timid creature, the quail seldom leaves
cover to feed in open fields, and, there
fore, does little harm in the way Of
destroying grain. In fact only the
stray kernels that would otherwise be
lost, are taken. 1T is one of the few
birds" says Professor Bruner, that
will olt largely of that unsavory in
sect, the cinch bug, and the great num-
Der that fall a prey to it - 1storish-
| ing"
UPHILL OPPOSITION.
Ukiah Republican Press: The able
politicians of the Democratic party
who put their heads together in Wash
ington the other day and determined
to make that Congressional campaign
of 1898 upon the Chicago platform of
1896 vill scarcely expect to be as sue
cessful in capturing the farm vote this
year as they were two years ago. They
insisted then that prosperity could not
come to the farmer without the -ree
and unlimited. coinage Of silver, yet the
statistics of the Treasury Department
show that the farmer received for his
breadstuffs sent out Of the country in
| 1897 just twice as much money as he
received in 1894 or 1895, and nearly 30
per cent. more than he received in
| 1896 The value of breadstuffs export
ed from the United States in 1S94 was
! S121, ,123, ,377; in 1895, S121 81 .533: III
1896, SIT, ,27S, ,405; in 1897, Sa42, 121, :,
| 10S In nearly all other articles Of farm
produce the expectations for 1897 were
/ far beyond those OF preceding years in
| value. ard when the farmers compare
their cordition in 1898 with that Of
| 1896 and with the assertions of the
supporters of the Chicago platform in
| that year, they will take Ii le stock
! in the song which those gentlemen pro-
pose to sing to them in the approach
| ing Congressional campaign.
A DIFFERENT STORY.
! Riverside Press: Mr.. Tow9e says
| that a large part Of the Republican
party have found it impossible to re-
main in line with the party organiza-
| ton with it's present platform. The
! election returns of 1896 would seem
| to tell very different story.
BAD NEWSPAPERING.
Los Angeles Express: The reckless
ness and irresponsibility Of yellow jour-
nalism is emphasized by the methods
! of papers like the New York Journal
and the San Francisco Examiner III
covering the news of the existing in
/ ternational crisis. At time when
! judgment should be reserved, when the
| greatest conservatism is essential and
when The reliability of news is its most
/ important element, yellow journalism
! goes to the other extreme, and. regard
| less OF the truth, careless of the ma
| tional welfare, Indifferent as to the ef-
/ feet of lying, inficts sensational and
/ lying statements upon q people already
under q great strain, apd all to sell a
| few paDersI
! The truth in crises like the present
one, is Cften small target, to be shot
at with a rife: but yellow journalism
| pins the mark to barn door and
! blaZes away with a shotgun. II fires
| q whole volley Of lies IN the hope that
one stray shot may by chance hit the
mark, that it may by good luck tell
| the truth cnce in dozen trials. II t
| is &C fortunate as to do this. a howl of
triumph goes up and the 'azen lies are
/ forgotten in the exploitation f one fact
| i PAPER of this kind IS like the naf.
whose counterpart. exists in every com
m nifty. who is kno xn as a Picturesque
ard otter interesting liar. but WHO is
! ivrn
m snts cannot be depended urcn in arg
emergency.
TIE MAINE DISASTER.
Oakland Tribune: Although the
grumblers and the rabid jingoes are
muttacinG for war and insisting that it
| should be at once proclaimed, the
masses Of the people are taking the
situation quietly and are looking at it
| from very sensible standpoint The
course pursued by Spain since the dis
aster is certainly the very opposite OF
what might be expected had our war
ship been blown up by them deliber-
ately or by their connivance. Although
! it is possible that. as detailed in the
press dispatches, the native residents
/ of Havana, who swarmed the wharf
directly the explosion occurred, spoke
exultantly of what had happened, at
| the same time in every branch of
Spanish official life the most genuine
sympathy appears to have been ex-
| pressed. The funerals held over the
remains Of those whose bodies have
come TO shore have been accorded full
military civil and ecclesiastical hon
ors. the lying IN state in the Town
Hall having been followed by funeral
services imposing in their grandeur
THE FoTIy or TT