The record-union., 1899-05-11
VOICE OF The PRESS.
EXTRACTS FROM EDITORIAL
EXPRESSIONS.
State ana Coast Opinions on Sub
iects Of Living News
Interest.

beef court of inquiry refuses to sus-
tain the charges of General Miles, is
not conclusive evidence that the alle-
cations of the commanding officer are
false--Marysvill Appeal.
Not by any means, for in this case
the evidence demonstrated beyond the
shadow of doubt that General Miles
charges are true. The committee COW
! cred itself all over with glory in the
estimation of the trusts and Alger, but
the feeling the people have for 1t IS
very little short of contempt.
DON'T BE SILLY.
Dixon Tribune: A number of our ed
itorial friends are making themselves
appear positively silly in their OBJ
servance of the signature law. The
law applies only to articles which may
be construed as libelous, and the editor
who follows up every item in the col
umns of his publication with his full
name would give his readers to inter
! that his edition was given over to hbel-
GUS and defamatory news. The editor
| is one of the individuals in the COM
munity who is usually given credit with
possessing a limited amount of common
sense, but when he SO nlisconstrues the
laws of his land, as are some of the
| quilldrivers of California at present, 1T
is quite time that he be. placed under
the surveillance of a guardian lest he
harm himself
THE MOREHOUSE LAW.
Los Angeles Times: The Times" has
no word Of defense or apology for ''yel-
low journalism, brutal journalism and
BLACKBOARD journalism" and would Of
! fer no particular objection to the doing
| of something drastic to put addi-
tional checks upon those varieties of
journalism, if such a thing. were legiti-
mately possible. But the Morehouse
law does nothing of the kind 1t places
no additional safeguards between the
| public and libelous publications. 1t
does not increase the responsibility of
| publishers, for they are held to strict
accounta biIity for what they publish
under the existing law The writer Of
| a hbelous article, under the law as it
existed before the Morehouse bill was
passed, was held jointly responsible
with the publisher for the hbelous pub
LEGATION. 1t is never very difficult i'll
case Of prosecution, to ascertain the
name of the writer of an article COM
planned of. The only effect of the
Morehouse- law, if it We're generally
obeyed, would be to fix the identity Of
the writer in a suit for libel. The pub
| Usher will still be held responsible, as
! before and the writer will be held re-
| SponSible to the same extent that he
was before, and no more. The worst
| feature of the law is that it permits
any person outside of those. directly
! interested to bring suit against the
publisher, and awards him one-half CT
the sum recovered from the publisher
| by such action. This provision of the
Act, in conjunction with that requir-
ing articles to be signed, is designed
to restrain the liberty of the press, and
is therefore clearly unconstitutional.
THE DREYFUS CASE.
| Alameda Argus: There is no news so
battling as that which deals with the
Dreyfus case. You see a big heading
on the front page that almost means
something; then you follow along down
and there is a lot about the Generals
and high military people with strange
names, who always seem to be giving
testimony that contradicts other testi-
mony that was given some other time
and the purport of which is never plain
Then there are numerous references to
1
reader this far away never learns what
these things are or what the references
! really mean, and finally it is declared
| that the Court of Cessation is divided
but will render decision next month
the decision however, not going to the
point at all, but to some hazy incident
of the main question whose import
ance is not at all apparent The ques-
| finn Of wi
innocent. or whether he will secure a
rehearing, seems no nearer solution
! than it was six months ago.
CRAZE ON WHEELS.
Marysville Democrat: There is a
craze on the wheel question, and it
grows with the rising of the sun each
day in the year. 1t is said that Will
lam Jennings Bryan is an enthusiastic
wheelman, as well as a Nebraska VOL
unteer. He recently issued a circular
letter in which he extolled his model
of 1896, not patented. This is known
| all over the country as the "Uncle Sam
Cart Wheel" chainless and dura BILE.
The catalogue price is only 81, yet this
is considered enough to charge for it.
as the real cost of production is not
more than 90 cents. A limited num-
Der OF these wheels are on sale in New
York, Perry Belmont, resident agent.
Mr.. Bryan will devote his time and
energy during the coming campaign
10 enacting a law that will compel
every citizen to purchase one or more
Oh these model wheels, pattern 1896.
HE IS NOT ALL.
Santa Rosa Republican, About the
only thing the Government and people
OF the United States will not concede IN
the Philippine troubles is that Agui-
naldo is all there is in that country
| Whatever the people there desire when
such conditions are established as will
enable them to express an untrammeled
opinion, they will receive This is the
purpose of the American people and will
be the course pursued by our Govern
ment. But the affairs of the islands
VIII not be turned over to the dictator
ship of Aguinaldo.
ENGLISH FEARS.
San. Diego Union: According to
cable letter from London, the
British public is becoming seriously ex-
ercised over Americas growing compe-
tition' with England in the industrial
world. In view of the facts of the case
the term growing competition" is GER
tainly very mild The truth is that
purchasers Of machinery and manu-
featured iron and steel pass by Ger
many and Great Britain and come to
the United States to place their orders.
The United States has practically re-
versed its position in the importation
and expectation of manufactures of iron