The new age., 1906-05-05
EDITORIAL.
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PETTY POLITICS IN THE GOVERN
OR'S OFFICE.

The good people Of Oregon have a
keen eye on the official conduct Of
Governor Geo. E. Chamberlain. They
watched with noteworthy degree Of
approval the beginning of his course
as chief executive of the state. He
was then apparently untrammeled by
political entanglements. He was free
to act independently Of the bosses.
His ante-election promises were yet
fresh in his mind; and he seemed
honorably disposed to respect them.
But gradually change came DER his
official dream 1t was disturbed not
infrequently by a political nightmare
too strong to repel by wave of the
executive hand. 1t obstructed the
peaceful progress of his wellbegun
career at times, occasionally prompt
ing his friends in all parties to ques-
tion the motive of his apparent change
of heart in the matter Of directing the
progress OF important affairs of state.
However, nothing has occurred in
the official career Of Governor Cham
berlain to distract the people of the
state so seriously as the paltriness of
his excuse for refusing to call a spe-
cial session Of the legislature for the
purpose Of appropriating money for
the relief Of that great mass of suf-
fering humanity huddled together in
the storm and fire and smoke about
the ruined and quaking walls of San
Francisco, dying Of starvation and ex-
posure and calling piteously to the
world for help and protection. Thou
sands of Oregon people and their rel
atives were among the suffering and
dying; and yet the much-lauded gov
ernor Of this great commonwealth sat
placidly in his easy chair at Salem,
dat tc 1he outcries for help and mer-
cy from mangled and homeless men,
women and children alike. Individ-
uals were delving deep into their pock-
cts for means of relief for those in
such dire distress; but not a reassur-
ing word from the state; not a move
ment by the governor to intimate that
he was ready and willing to help Off
cially to assist them. The state of
Oregon was never in all It's history,
SO shamelessly discredited by lack of
official intercesson; its people were
never SO shocked by such display
Of caloused indifference on the part
of its executive officer Will they for
get it in the noise and uproar of
political campaign? We shall see!
Senators Charles a. Fulton and
John M. Gearin telegraphed to Gov
ernor Chamberlain from Washington,
urgently requesting him to call spe-
cial session of the Oregon legislature
for the purpose of helping to relieve
the distressed and ruined people of
our sister state; but, demagogue that
/ he is, Chamberlain refused to do so
on the petty ground that the legisla
ture is Republican and it might take
advantage of the situation to elect
successor to Senator Gearin. whom he
had appointed on the death Of Senator
John H. Mitchell
Do the people of Oregon want bet
ter evidence than that Of the dema-
gogic character Of Governor Cham
berlain? Does not that circumstance
alone show that our chief executives
office at Salem is at this time con-
trolled and directed absolutely by pet
ty politics?
If nothing else could disturb him, the
great Carifornia calamity should have
awakened Chamberlain from his politi-
cal nightmare and caused him to help
officially in the work of sending aid to
the thousands of sufferers in our
neighbor state But he sat there like
a sphinx. insensible to his duty and
deaf to the appeals for help, because.
forsooth. the Republican legislature
might avail itself of the opportunity
to elect a successor to a Democratic
senator from this state!
There was no danger that the leg
islature would have done anything Of