The record-union., 1899-04-19

| liUl uSHl IN the fepuDucdn TALKS, diiu
no fight at all in the Democratic camp.
SO some hundreds; of Democrats quietly
voted the Republican ticket either to
help out their friends on that side or
to help to nominate the easiest man
for their side to beat. OF course the
man who will do a thing of that sort
is a political scoundrel and deserves
to be in a penitentiary, and the prl-
mary law will not be effective until
some means is devised for either put
ting the men who SO violate the law
into the penitentiary yor disfranchising
them for ever more. How can either
of these remedies be applied? That is
the question.
RAIN. QUESTION
! Fresno Republican: We do not know
when we are well off in California. We
thought we had a drought before the
recent rain In Australia they are hav-
ing drought las is'' a drought. In
New South Wales a million sheep and
hundreds of thousands of horses and
cattle are dead from the drought, and
settlers are on the verge of bank
ruptcy. We would be better off than
that in California if it never rained.
THE RAILROAD RATE LITIGA-
| TION.
| Amador Republican: The light of rea-
son seems to be rising on the Railroad
Commission. The old board demanded
an ) per cent. reduction on grain rates
which, whether perfectly just or not,
would probably have been obeyed, had
they not saddled upon it their so-called
25 per cent. reduction resolution, which
n
to Cerberus, of no value as law, utter
ly unreasonable, imperative and void,
and serving no other purpose but to
goad the railroad company into active
measures of self defense, and the re-
suit was that the legal advisors of the
southern Pacific Company recollected
that there was a process by which un-
reasonable and dangerous people could
be restrained from committing waste
and damage. and at once applied it.
and our doughty Railroad Commission
ers We're thenceforth compelled to re-
main inactive and sit like their grand
sdres, cut in alabaster' during the rest
of their official lives. The present Com
missioners are to be commended for
resembling the resolution of the old
board passed in 1895, as it was sure to
become obsolete long before it could
become operative even in the most ia
vorable event, and having done this,
and thereby freed their hands let them
proceed to do business in a business
like and legal way; remove abuses, if
any they find, correct mistakes, adopt
reasonable, just and well-considered
regulations, and act always within their
legitimate authority, mindful of the
limitations imposed by the Constitution
and laws of State and nation, and then
if litigation should arise the cause will
not be clouded with either injustice or
stupidity
THE WHEAT PLANT.
Modesto Herald: The wheat plant has
been cultivated so long that botanists
are unable to trace it's origin as accu-
rately as that of some other plants. but
by the aid of the various scattered illu-
sions to it found among writer's of an
tiquity, together with the botanical evil
dence that has gradually accumulated,
the common wheat has been traced
from country to country to it's native
home in the great plateau of Armenia
1t is believed to have sprung from
grass that still grows wild on the slopes
of the Ararat range, the seeds Of
which, though very small, produce a
meal that has all the constituent ele-
ments of flour.
CONSCIENCE MONEY.
Oakland Tribune: The receipt by Sec
retary Gage of a letter containing thres
$1,000 bills and a brief communication
stating that it was conscience money
and belonged to. the United States
Treasury, will probably cause the as
tute head of the department to do some
hard thinking. The point to be consid-
cred is that there must be a leakage or
opportunity for fraud somewhere, or
else the defalcation could not have hap
pened undiscovered.
THAT MARRIAGE.
San Bernardino Times-Index: The
papers are filling whole columns with
the marriage Of the beardless W. K.
Vanderbilt, Jr. aged 20, and Miss Fair,
aged nearly 80. Well, what Of it? Van
derbHt has money. He did not earn it.
He inherited it, Why should his mar
riage be of any more Importance than
the marriage of young fellow who is
not millionaire?
THE FUTURE OF CUBA.
Portland Oregonian: The Cuban AS
sembly has dissolved, and the army has
been disbanded. This was to be ex-
pected- This so-calaed Assembly did
not represent any efficient governing
public opinion. 1t was trusted by no.
body. 1t was merely an umbra NOM
inis- Everybody who owned any prop
erty in Cuba, orr who desired to do bust
ness and have his business protected,
knew that the Cuban Assembly stood
for voice and nothing else; they know
that the only security for life, liberty
and property in Cuba for the future
rests upon American political justice,
backed by American bayonets. The Gu
ban Assembly stood for the mere for
NAL ghost of a Government, with no
real power behind it to execute its de-
crees or enforce its enacted whims 1t
died of political inanition. Everybody
who has any real stake in Cuba knows
that for some years to come at least the
United States Government is the only
assurance that Cuba has-of law, order.
equal political liberty and security of
property. The Cuban Assembly for
some months has been nothing but a
mere corpse stalking around to save
funeral expenses
On the other hand the benefcent in
fiuence of the United States is every
where manifest. Local city government
has been successfully organized From
Havana to Santiago the Cuban cities
are cleaner and better governed than
they ever were before Relief to those
in want has taken the form of organ
lied charity. Agriculture has begun to
revive, and increasing revenue receipts
show that trade is improving. What do
these things mean2 They rnaan that