The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-07-04
VOICE !0F The PRESS.
EXTRACTS FROM EDIToR1AL
EXPRESSIONS
State and Coast Opinions on SUBJ
jects Of Living News
Interest.

OeLlOCrdtlC organs SO req not d year
ago to devour Spain and all it's coun-
try, are now trying to make out that
Spain never owned the Philippines, and
in short time will say the. same OF
| Cuba and Porto Rico. They will then
probably contend that Spain does not
even hold Spain, the Canaries or any
other section recognized heretofore as
| Spanish territory.
| PORT CHARGES AT SAN FRAN
CISCO.
| Stockton Mail: The pilot and ton.
mage charges at San Francisco are out
| rageously high, as the result. of a COM
bination. All shipping men, save those
| who have shares in the combine, COM
plain of this, but no newspaper ever
| says a word about it. The dockage
charges are not higher than the aver
| age at other, ports, and they have
never driven any shipping away nor
prevented any from coming. except in
possible isolated instances, where a
vessel preferring charter to another
| port was replaced by another vessel
| willing to take the cargo. Ships go
| where freight calls them or sends
/ them.
| 1t is, therefore, absurd and almost
! silly to say that the tonnage charges
drive commerce from port like San
Francisco, which has practically no
competition on the whole coast save
Puget Sound, at the ports Of which the
charges are much in excess of those at
| San Francisco.
OPTIMIST AND PESsIMIsT..
| Riverside Enterprise: Pessimism is
restlessness. 1t has in it hope which
| is the essential of true optimism. The
pessimist knows that the world is dark
because he is able to compare it with
bright things. The People of this age
| are bad because they could be better.
The pessimist has in mind Il state OF
affairs where men are inspired by gen
erosity and love and fraternity. He
| turns to the world and sees that the
ruling passion is greed and that cruel
competition takes the place of mutual
helpfulness. Then he says that We are
not what we should be. ,
And so we have the ortiInist and
pessimist set side by side, the ona seq
/ ing a dark picture in rosy tints and
the other seeing 1t as it is And, be-
cause the optimist by Il blind accept.
ance of things as they are, would keep
US from growing and rising to the
highest, we say that III truth he is a
pessimist and the pessinlist, the intol
cradle grumbler, is made an optimist by
| his love of higher concentrations
CRITICISM OF THE ADMINISTRA,
TON
| Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Aguin,
aldo has lost his brass band of eighty
two pieces. The capture was made bs
the Washington regiment and was a
body blow to the insurgent chief Sincs
his campaign consists chiefly CT noise
| the loss of his brass band will leava
him crippled indAad.--Kepublicaa
In the opinion Of most people it Is
about time such talk vas discontinued,
both by the Administration and by the
Administration press. Aguinaldo's cam.
paign does not consist chiefly OF
noise" by any means, and everybody
knows it in spite of the censored and
falsified kilograms :: iven out by the
War Department General Otis has Put
in six months doing very little else but
capturing brass bands and chasing
half-naked savages out of the bamboo
villages 1t is time he and the Admin
istration back of him were getting
down to business.
OUR NEW COLONIES.
Los Angeles Express: \ press dis
patch from Washington says a new ey-
ecutive branch of the Government will,
the title of Department of Colonial
Affairs and Foreign Commerce." or
something similar to it, is deemed by
the Administration absolutely neces-
sary to meet new conditions which con,
front the United States as :, result OF
the war with Spain. Tt is further stat.
ed that the word colonial is repug-
nant for political reasons to some mem
bers of the Cabinet. because it slnacks
of imperialism" for which reason it is
probable that some other title will be
adopted, but the meaning will be the
same.
1t is great pity that the great
American people cannot be honest
with themselves once in awhile and
drop that veneer of cant and hypocrisy
at least in dealing with questions which
concern only ourselves Conditions
have changed vastly in the past twelve
months even, and we are confronted
with problems which We're never
dreamed of when our constitution was
framed, and for which no provision was
made when that document vas drafted.
Certain amendments were rendered
necessary by the changes wrought by
the civil war; and these were promptly
adopted to cover the questions raised.
No harm resulted. They were accepted
by the people in the proper spirit, and
everything moved along smoothly.
And now another change is made
necessary, and we must provide for it.
We have had certain colonial pos
sessions thrust upon us by the for
tunes of war, for the proper govern
fore the world. We have accepted the
responsibility. and we cannot go back
ward without FORGETTING our selfre-
spect as a nation. This being the case,
why not come out openly and above
board and promptly make such changes
as are necessary to meet the emergency
without beating about the bush?
There is no question but that we are
in actual possession of Cuba, and are
likely to be for some years to come. We
are fighting to establish and maintain
our supremacy in the Philippines. As
to Porto Rico and the Hawaiian Islands
there is no question as to our sover-
eighty. These are all now settled
facts, and beyond the range of spec
ulation.
These possessions must be governed
in some sort of shape, and the only
question is as to the best form. II
!, seems that. this branch of our Govern
ment is sufficiently important to have
special department devoted to it, on
the same lines as our. Interior Depart
ment, and the sooner it is provided the