The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-24
VOICE OF THE PRESS.
EXTRACTS FROM EDIToR1A1
ExPREssIors;
State and Uoast Opinions on SUBJ
jeets of Living News
Interest.

Reporter favors an army of one hun
dred thousand. The demands for gar
rlson duty in the United States will
TAKE about twenty-five thousand. Be-
tween Cuba and Porto Rico there is a
necessity for about fifty thousand We
certainly need twenty-five thousand in
the philippines, and there you are. It
| IS probable that this number will be
insufficient in view of present condi-
lions and future possibilities. It is, we
peheve, a wiser policy to have few
extra thousand of trained and well
drilled troops than it is to wait for an
emergency which demands new levies
An army of one hundred thousand is
| none too large.
WIDE TIRE LAW.
San Jose Mercury: 1t is to be hoped
into effect next year, will not be re-
pealed. That it can be judiciously
amended is undoubtedly true, but
further than that the Legislature should
not go. Heavier loads can be drawn
on wagons with wide tires, and the
wear on the roads is far less than with
the narrow tires now in use. There is
economy all around in wide tires.
The ROAD QUESTION.
Stockton Mail: The road question
when reduced to it's simplest terms is
this: In order to have pleasant and eco
| nomical highways to drive over they
must be constructed properly and of
the right material in the first place
and then they must be looked after and
mended with unceasing care. To build
a good road and then neglect it is worse
than never to have built any road at ALL
for 1t is q wrong lesson to teach the
people and has tendency which it pre-
sents of the futility of such efforts the
whole scheme of better highways.
This is all there is to the reads ques
ton i'll California or anywhere else.
The first thing is how to build the best
and most durable road, and the next
thing is how to take care of it after it
is built. Instruction of the people on
these two points is the best return the
State Highways Commission can make
for the expense the maintenance of the
commission entails upon the taxpayers.
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.
Alameda Encinal: The proposition
to revive imprisonment for debt is re-
ceiving the unanimous condemnation
of the press all over the State. While
there is no class of business men who
suffer so much from trusting people
who can but who will not pay their
bills, yet the newspaper men recognize
the fact that Imprisonment for debt
would be a revival of barbaris1n, and
that this State cannot afford to put
itself on record as taking such step
backward. The proposition to confine
bQ Low 10
classes of tradesmen and no others does
not appear to commend itself to the
public, and is probably not constitu-
tional. But there does not appear to be
any reason to believe that the Legis-
lature will pass any such law. The ex-
pressions of opinion SO far heard from
legislators are distinctly against it.
THE BOOM QUESTION.
Red Bluff Peoples Cause: The Fresno
Republican predicts that there is a
boom coming to California There is
no lack of indications. ITO produce a
boom, three factors are needed: re-
sources to be developed, capital to de-
velop them, and an enthusiastic con-
fidence on the part of capitalists in the
development of these particular re-
sources California has the resources,
capital was never SO plenty, and every
where there is confidence. If California
can resist the gambling propensity, the
boom when it comes will lead, as the
Republican" says, to enduring pros
perity.
THE DEBT Law.
Stockton Independent: The bill prac-
tically restoring Imprisonment for debt
is not likely to pass the Legislature,
although it is put forward by the Retail
Butchers and Grocers Associations,
which are numerous and influential
bodies. The bill is to imprison only
those who can but will not pay, and is
said by the promoters to be directed at
the two thousand habitual dead beats
whose habitat is San Francisco; but
the general opinion is being expressed
by the newspapers of the State that
such law could easily be turned into
an engine of very grave oppression, as
it probably would be, and that the
grocers and butchers, should be able to
discriminate, so as to save themselves
from bad debtors; and so they could
so far as the dead beats are concerned,
and it is those they say they are after.
By maintaining a black list and keep
ing faith with one another, they could
soon deal effectually with. the dead
beats. If they will not live up to their
black list, it is hardly fair for them to
require the State to make up the con-
sequence of their trade rivalry by pass
ing a dangerous law.
AN OBJECT LESSON.
7 Fresno Republican,: The theorists
who dream of establishing some form
Of self government in the Philippines
should turn their attention to the little
republic of Liberia, on the coast of
Africa, to get some idea of the difficult
ties of such a government, even under
the most favorable conditions. The Ii
berians are a homogeneous people, in
dustrious and law-abiding; their do
nestle problems are few and simple,
and not beyond their power to solve.
at least well enough for endurance;
their home government Is slipshod and
dishonest, but not so bad as to be
hopeless; their status as an independent
people was established long enough be-
fore the recent revival of the inter-
national grabbing mania to be re-
spected. theoretically, by all nations.
If any such people can exist as an in
dependent self-governing nation, Li-
IBERIA can. Yet the Liberians are eager
for annexation to the United States,
and seem incapable of preserving their
independence except under the infor-
NAL joint guarantee of Great Britain
and the United States which has been
recently announced
FIGHT WITH A WHALE.