The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1903-07-28

The 20 aIeysls ordInanss.

The signing of the ueWlyenacted bi-
cycle ordinance by Mayor Bishop
brings that document squarely before
the public on is merits Il can no
longer be modified misconstued or
misunderstood. and a thorough discus
sion Of lis merits. or lack Of merit. is
now properly in order At least the
critics are now sure Of what they are
talking about, for, II Il is not repealed
before It goes into effect. its meaning
can no longer be quibbled over
One councilman who voted for II.
nov says that a few moments after its
passage he realized that he had made
mistake. He referred particularly to
that phase Of the new ordinance which
entities ANY oficer" who makes ar.
rests to half the fines collected under
the provision OF the ordinance. Il Is
a fact that the present administration
stood above all things against the fee
system, and now to enact a law which.
provides for extra officers with fees.
and also gives fees TO all existing DO.
lice officers. seems TO be in direct VIC.
lation OF the one principle most con.
tended for. This Is not only wrong In
principle. and directly against the
adopted policy OF the council. but It
opens the doors for all manner Of fee.
grating in the future.
This one feature of the new ordi.
nance, which is admitted by all to be
wrong. Is not the only weakness II
contains. All will have to admit that.
while Il Is desirable to prevent wheel.
men from leaning their bicycles
against store fronts Unfortunately.
or setting them In public Railways. Il
must prove difficult TO prevent a man
from so placing his own wheel against
his own property. or property ON
which he pays rent, II the ordinance
had contained the except by permis.
sion" clause this feature would not
have been so bad.
All agree that the bicycle should
not be removed from the sidewalks
until some other place Is provided for
them. To throw them all on at one
time win involve heavy expense for
paths. and, As the city expense-budget
for the year has been made up. there
are no funds available for such work.
without exhanstins the funds already
apportioned and to do that viii jeop,
ardiIe the members Of the council. as
they can be removed from ofiee or
fined for such Al oaense.
There Il q feature IN the ordinance
that every newspaper publisher and
subscriber Is FitAlly Interested in. and
that Is the fact thai In salem there are
about 80 carrier boys. who deliver daily
papers 70 their patrons on their
wheels and 10 drive these boys on the
sidewalks win eosi every one Of them
from half an hour 20 an hour and a
hall every day, 10 say nothing OF how
much Il viii delay the delivery OF pa.
pers 20 the readers. Many news.
paper reader viii have long walt for
his news as result Of this new ordi.
nance and the ruling Of the newsboys
on the walks viii certainly accommo
date nobody
There Is all manner OF talk as 10
the uneonstituuonality OF the new or
dinance, but il Is dimcult TO forecast
What legal procedure viii lead 20. ana
Tor this reason the testing out OF the
new law as 10 its legality viii be the
last resort of the friends Of the wheel
However, these gentlemen make NO
bones Of saying that such proceedings
WIN be resortsd 10 and even that
would involve the city IN unavoidable
expense, all OF which had better be
used for the consfrt,offo. - -.