The record-union., 1899-08-12

will be opened. These saloons will be
something new for Chicago. There
will be nothing of the charitable quail
ity about them, and there will be no
suggestion of ministerial oversight to
their management. Coffee, tea, lemon
ade and soft drinks can be had. There
win be tables, drinking-rooms in the
rear, and the crowning feature of all
good free lunch--as good as any sa-
loon-keeper of the ordinary kind pro-
vides for the men who buy his beer.
Everything will go in the resorts ex-
cept drunkenness and profanity. In
cold weather the places will be open
all night SO that the homeless men can
have protection in them in just the
same way they often find in cheap sa-
looms.
THE HOFF DECISION.
Oakland Tribune: The bubble has
been pricked that was going to secure
another trial for Mrs. Botkin and other
notorious criminals because the SUI
preme Court has reversed the proceed.
ings in the case of murderer HOff on a
certain irregularity in the charge OF
the trial Judge Everybody jumped at
conclusions because. in synopsis Of
the decision, the reporters made it ap,
pear that the Supreme Court declared
the error existed in the Judges com,
menting on the motive of the defendant
"a proceeding that it was well known
had been followed in the cases of Nc
Nulty, Durrant and many others wins
have paid the penalties Of their crimes
during the past few years.
Now, however, it appears that the
Supreme Court said something altogeth-
er different, whereat the hopes of those
who thought the prison doors were
about to be thrown open entirely van
ish, and those who have been attacking
the highest tribunal in the State feel
ashamed of themselves for going off at
half-cock. The point made by the APP
pellate Court, and the reason for the
reversal, was because. in it's opinion.
Judge Cook went too far in his in
structions as regards the effect of cir
cumstantial evidence. and not because
of what he said about the motive for
the crime.
This presents matters in an entirely
different light. Courts of final jurisdic-
ton have always been extremely care
full about circumstantia1 evidence, as
indeed they have good reason to be, in
view of the frightfu1 plumbers that
have been committed in that regard in
the past. Not only do they draw strict
and narrow lines as to judicial instruc.-
lions on such testimony, but every ruiz
ing upon it is always subjected to the
closest scrutiny. to make certain that
the rights Of the defendant have not
been impaired thereby
Stockton Record: While the press is
discussing the very dubious question as
to whether there is really on foot an
alliance of South American republics
against the United States, it is not hard
to conceive that such condition could
be brought about. Notwithstanding the
former treatment of the now-Spanish-
American republics by\ Spain, there is
not the least doubt that during the late
war the sympathies Of majority of the
South American people were with
Iberia. Men who lived in those coun
tries have no hesitancy in declaring
that the people of those so-called re-
publics do not feel grateful to the Unit
ed States for the promulgtion and en-
forcement of the Monroe doctrine. The
American to-day is an unwelcome visi-
tor in their midst. His great advance
ment is a source of jealousy rather than
of admiration. The howl of the Demo-
cratic press about the imperialism
may very plausibly have led these
Spanish Americans to believe that the
United States has started ON secret
policy of expansion that will not stop
until World-empire has been reach
ed. Again there is no doubt that the
nations of the earth, other than En-
glish-speaking, are visibly perturbed
over the talk Of an Anglo-American al
lance. 1t has long been the boast Of
the hardy Anglo-Saxon that he rules
the world, and other nations very seri-
ously fear that he may have ultimate
designs to make that boast a reality
AUTOMOBILE TROUBLES.
Alameda Argus: The automobile
whose formal start from New York to
cross the continent was celebrated by a
blare of truhpets, has proved a failure.
would have walked. This automobile
was made expressly for the trip, which
would seem to argue that the machine
is far from perfected. The man who
has it in charge wrote, on reaching
Buffalo, that he had travelled the worst
of the roads for the whole journey and
would now come right along. If he
doesn't know any more about running
an automobile than he does about the
road differentiation, no wonder a valve
is always giving way or a nut coming
/ off And what a slap the old State Of
New York gets as to it's road--they are
the worst of any between New York
and San Francisco. The automobile
fiend ought to take a new start as a
wheel barrow fiend if he wants to shine
as a perambulating freak.
YELLOW PRESS POLICY.
Fresno Republican The policy of the
yellow newspaper press to lambast ev-
cry public man that happens to incur
the dispIeasure of either the proprietors
or employees of the papers. and to print
hideous caricatures of the President
of the United States and other officials
cannot be too severely condemned
I Liberty of the press does not mean
| unbridled license to lie about, vilify
and caricature either public or private
citizens. The law is supposed to give
redress to whoever invokes it, but the
President of the United States would
find little satisfaction in making use
of the law to punish every yellow jour-
nal that lbels him. The only punish
ment that can be made effective is a
decent and enlightened public senti
ment that will denounce and destroy
the journal that follows such practices.
Changed It's Tune.