St. Johns review. (Saint Johns, Or.) 1904-current, 1908-10-30
How About Your Ballot :?


son of a pessimist, but there is solid
food for reflection in the following
from the front page of Goodwin s
Weekly of October "a. The ques-
ton that should come to every vot-
er is: "Will my vote better matters
anyl' Our ballots and every ac-
ton of Our lives should go to ele-
vate, not to drag down. Vote for
the man and party who stands for
enforcement of the law. If the law
is evil amend or appeal it. If we
were ever so much in favor of a
party or a party movementwe could
not support it when it placed law
breaker al its head and gloried i'll
his deeds The timely clipping
from Goodwin weekly reads;
"The election is drawing near and
a great many people are waiting inn
patiently for the result. There are
others who feel that no matter who
may be elected, there is not enough
in the platform of either party to
inspire great hopes, and there are
thousands and tens of thousands OF
earnest men who are anxious for
the future of the county. Not 800
years ago the Spaniards dethroned
the Astec king and subdued his
country, and the Inca's possessions
were treated the same way. There
were no brayer men than Cortez
and Pizarro and their followers.
Never before was such spoil found
by conquerors but the mass OF the
people in those countries now are
far inferior to the races their ances-
tors destroyed. There is so much
hope for Our country, but-there Is
much going that is disquieting. Sc
lected students from all the states
recently went TO West Point aud
Annapolis to submit TO eXamina-
tions as TO their fitness to receive a
military training. More than half
failed the conclusion cannot but be
that the schools OF the country are
so defective that a revolution is
needed in them. that their whole
plan as now pursued should be
changed
But the showing makes clear
that parents are as neglectful as
thoss who have charge of the
schools. The showing carries with
II mighty indication of national
degeneration. Because of tropic.
nj climate and the easy gathering OF
wealth, we find that the first race
OF brave men who from spain peo-
pied the New World have IN nine
generations dcgcneratcd into race
which but cumber the earth, When
Dias took charge IN Mexico he
promised bountics TO energetic for
cigncrs who would come TO his
country aud help To restore It, adj
mit,ing frankly that the element OF
advancement had been lcashcd out
of his own people Have we any
guarantee that the end OF Our re-
public will be bcttcr'
There are three things that can
hold up our race. One Is cduca'
tion-not skimming OF a few
books, but thorough grounding;
national belief in the dignity and
necessity of honest labor, and third,
obedience TO the laws, We have
seen IN the last year that the gov
ernor and all the force lac can sum.
mon cannot maintain peace and
give security 10 life and property in
Kentucky The news, this week,
is still more startling from Tennes-
see. Ii was almost as bad in ILL
nois three months ago-that dispo-
sitiou 10 throw oil all restraints OF
the laws, when evil passions are
aroused And the fault in every
case originated in the homes of the
men who commit the violence now,
There is no honest discipline, no
respect for authority but rather a
false pride that when any man
thought himself wronged or I'M
posed upon he must seek revenge
through violence.
Then the ignorant, the vicious
and the lawlcss elements are being
reinforced annually by the humid
reds OF thousands of Nretchcs from
Russia and Southern Europe, who
come only with the thought that free
dom means license, There is no
thing in the coming election that
promises any improvement on these
conditions, The most cheering
thing before us today is the order
and discipline of our fleet in foreign
waters They show men devoted
to duty and the discipline needed