davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Idaho scimitar. [volume] (Boise, Idaho) 1907-1908, 1908-01-25
Government Ownership.

The East Oregonian, published at Pendleton, Ore
gon takes up the important subject of corporation
intimidation saying:
A. L. Moh1er, vice president and general manager
of the Union Pacific Railroad, has just appeared in
new role in an Associated Press interview.
He declares that the spread of prohibition is going
to stop railroad building. He says that taking away
liquor licenses will increase taxes to such extent
that railroads will refuse to improve extend their
lines.
Very we'll Then we shall have government own
ership of railroads quicker than had been hoped
When such Mohler make such nonsenscal
and frivolous statements to the intelligent and pro-
gressve readers of newspapers, it is time that the
people were doing little thinking for themselves
1t is time to place the railroads and railroad man
ayers in a position where they cannot coerce the
public into doing the bidding of the trusts.
Every few weeks railroad manager declares
that railroad regulation by States and National Gov
eminent is going to stop railroad building. Another
saws that Just taxes and better assessment laws will
drive the railroad industry out of the country and
now comes Moher with the threat that railroads
will stop building if the people adopt prohibition.
And all the time the railroad surpluses accu-
mulating and the combinations for the monopoly OF
traffic growing stronger.
In face of these threats will not the people soon
decide that the only solution of the railroad question
is in Government ownership?
1t should be evident to the railroads that the people
have determined to have fair treatment at the hands
of the corporations. That is all they demand, but
so much they will have. The railroads had
gated to themselves the right to dominate in State and
municipal affairs, and their power in Congress was
nearly absolute. 1t crops out quite often yet that
these corporations do not understand the sentiment
behind the movement to regulate the common car
riers. There is not irresistible demand for Gov
eminent ownership, but one could be created easily
enough by the railroads themselves. The sooner
railroad magnates make up their minds to attend
+1,a;ro h,,cir md tta
regulation of domestic affairs to the different
t1nities the better it will be for the peace and pros
perity of all concerned The threat that shops and
depots and new lines will not be built if the people
do or refuse to do certain things which particular
railroad officer may think proper causes resentment
which does any good
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28

TT is announced from Oyster Bay
that President Roosevelt has con-
II tracted to sell his African output
to a prominent magazine at prices
which Mr.. Loeb does not quote. This
is a business mistake of the first mag
nitude Before going to Africa Pres1-
dent Roosevelt should establish q mag
azine and get all of the profit upon his
popularity.
President Roosevelt is today the best
advertised man in the world. No pub
LEGATION could hope to compete with a
magazine boasting Theodore Roosevelt
as it's editor-in-c chief, says the LOUIS
vile Courier-Journal.
What filter field for the activities OF
a man of President Roosevelt's varied
capabilities and naturally editorial
mind than the headship Of periodical
devoted to subjects with which he Is
conversant and upon which he de-
lights to write, such as, for instance,
politics, domestic science, finance, n.y.
giene, morality, sanitation, the divorce
question, travel, race suicide, big game
hunting. tanning the horse, the habits
of the cow-puncher, observing the
Sabbath, ORTHODOXY, the glacial period,
the United States senate, indoor ath-
letics, the rich malefactor, the army
and navy, architecture, forestry, moth
erhood, camping out, and one hundred
others. There is, in fact, almost no
subject save the tariff upon which
President Roosevelt is not ready to
speak or write entertainingly at mo-
ment's notice.
The trip to Africa would establish
the magazine, with its resultant How
of thrillers about overcoming the lion
in his den, boarding the rhinoceros IN
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28
WHY Does Not Mr.. Roosevelt
Found a Monthly Magazine ?

his lair, bringing down the elephant
in his tracks, choking the crocodile
barehanded, hunting the hippopotamus
in a John boat, catching the malaria
single-handed, letting the giraffe have
it in the neck and shooting antelope,
gazelles and "such small deer" for light
exercise between tall tussles with the
king of beasts and the grand dukes or
the Jungle Upon his return from the
dark continent the former president
might easily assign himself as war
correspondent to some theater of mill
tary movements, large or small. De-
string a Short rest at home he could
tackle any one of the numerous sub
formed may write without leg work.
There would always be the undiscov-
cred north pole at which to dash and
our ancestor, the anthropoid ape. to
study in his native wilds, and the
Andes and the Alps and the noun
tains of the moon to climb and to write
from. The mine of material is mex
haustible to the pen of a writer whose
name is one with which to conjure
subscribers and advertisers.
For President Roosevelt to barter
the product of his pen for a paltry
dollar a word when he could almost
without an effort build UP a millionaire
magazine, is reckless thriftlessness,
Possibly 1t is too late for him to avail
himself of the incalculable profits that
might arise from the adoption of this
welI-meant and perfectly sound ad-
vice. If so it Is regrettable that the
man of all men who Is equipped to
establish an immensely successful
magazine should content himself with
being a mere contributor.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28
DANCE HALLS

hANCE halls in a city which makes
any pretense to a cultivation of
a the moral, the pure, the aesthetic
aspects of life, are so ridiculously un-
fitting, and to coin, via the French, a
word which we certainly should nave
in English, are SO ''malappropriate'
that continuance of the halls and the
conditions they create will undouoted-
" counterfeit much OF the work OF re-
form and refinement which is carried
on In Los Angeles with great persever-
ance by churches and religious or
ganizations. But before we ask the
churches to unite in an effort to sup
press the dance hall evil--and why
should they wait to be asked?-let US
INQUIRE what the board Of education
intends to do in this matter? Perhaps
the board thinks this is none of its
business. Very we'll Then whose
business is it? The dance halls are
recruited from the schools. Many OF
the girls and young men who frequent
them were attending the public schools,
perhaps no further back than last ses-
BIOn. w nat 10 the hGNhAO ~ SA%S ~~-S- -
training at our public schools, anyway?
We are not asking in a spirit of crtti-
cism but because we believe our read
ers would like to know.
What specific instruction is given
boys and girls in the upper grades
which will make them shun such dan
gerous pastimes as Bowery dancing
hug-me- tight waltzing and other
forms of diversion which lead to scam
dal and may bring disgrace on fami-
lies unsophisticated enough to allow
daughters to attend innocent dances?'
Society owes it as a duty to the rising
generation to remove unnecessary
temptations. There is temptation
enough in the world without creating
new forms of seductive enticement
which can result only in sin and mis-
cry. During many evolutionary years
society has created conditions which at
least partially protect it, and give
at least a partial guarantee of that
purity which must be maintained in
order to save the nation from degen-
+, .cy and extinction. Apart altogether
from moral considerations, dance halls
and all places where the very founda-
tions Of society are threatened, from
an economical point of view are bad
and baneful.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28
DISPLACEMENT OF WoMAN,s
ABILITY IS A SUPERSTITION

LOS ANGELES, July 26.-LEditor
Herald: If superstition (Which L. K.
G.. says would be well-nigh dead today
but for the women) is something which
Is not true but which has been accept
ed by the. intelligent many because
certain reputed "intelleetuals" have
laid it upon them as truth, then l
want to say that this very claim that
women are essentially inferior to men
is a superstition of the rankest kind.
There is nothing in the basic physio-
logical or biological facts to warrant
the drawing of any such line between
the male and the female human. A
woman administers the smaller mat
ters-the only ones she is permitted to
handle-with efficiency, and these
things call for exercise of the same
mental processes as the mans larger"
functions; they are indeed but a mi
crocosm of mans larger world; and to
say that a woman could not, with use,
bridge the gap successfully is like al
lowing that a certain man is an eff
cient bookkeeper up to thousands in
transactions in units of dollars, but
that he is utterly impossible as an ac-
countant of millions In transactions of
ousands.
Anyway, suppose that instead OF
specializing so much as to whether Wo-
man would use her rights wisely If
she had them, suppose we try honesty
in this matter and grant her those
rights simply BECAUSE THEY ARE
HERS-because by the mere fact of
being a live human being a woman has
a right to some say in the ordering
of her own life and the lives of her
children--which she best understands.
"a SCHOOL MARIN"
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28

IN HE EXAMINER, alar1. I'd and in
famed by the dwindling of its
Il circulation, caused by the
speeches of Francis ]. Heney, has sud
denly "discovered'-what has been
published at least twenty times In 9TH
er papers--that Heney. received from
the Contra Costa Water company
fee of $4,000 for his services as attor-
ney in the lengthy litigation between
that company and the city of Oakland.
The Examiner demands an "explana-
ton" of that fee, and complains with
amusing indignation that Heney kicked
'1n the rear one of the editors of that
paper who had obtained entrance to
Mr.. Heney's house as "a gentleman
from Chicago" and who refused to
leave when Mr.. Heney ordered him
out.
In the course of its researches. how
ever, the Examiner has not discovered,
although the record shows the fact,
that its own attorney, Carrot McEner-
ney, received from the same company,
fcr similar services In the same litiga-
ton, the sum of 100000, and that At
torney McCutchen received $4,000 and
A. A. Moore $4,000, from the same
company. Yet the report of j. H. Dock
weller, which the Examiner quotes, re-
cites the fees paid to MeEnerney, Nc
Cutchen and Moore. When the Ex-
aminer, therefore, asserts that Heney's
fee was so extraordinarily large that
it calls for an explanation" the Ex-
aminer merely lies, says the San Fran
cisco Bulletin.
Has the Examiner demanded an ex-
PLANTATION from McEnerney, fcCutchen
or Moore? Does not the Examiner
deem it necessary for its attorney, Mr..
McEnerney, to tell the Examiner and
the public what he did with the money?
Can't it be said of Mr.. McEnerney, as
the Examiner says of Mr.. Heney, that
his affairs with the water company,
If free from any blame should be cas-
lily explained?" And If an Examiner
editor, representing himself as a "gen-
tleman from Chicago" were to get into
Er. McEnerney's house and ask an
impudent and insulting question, for
a malicious purpose, with an intent to
distort the answer, and should refuse to
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28
UP LONG ISLAND SOUND

Warehouse and wharf sea-weathered, smoke
and the 'longshore CRIME,
Twilight on two great cities whose rugged
skylines climb
Horizons, to the gray glimmer OF the nrst
faint star-sprinkle,
With lights in thousand windows that In
the soft tides twinkle
And swaying and smashing and sliding In
rhythm up the gray river
Into the twilight, over the waters. sweeping
forever
Rocked in rhythm, the inland steamer rip
Piles the tide
And we glide away from the roaring worid'
to the hills we glide.
10, now meadows of fading green. and far
gray highlands
Twinhling with lights. and sweet little hiily
droves of green islands
Close at side. and sudden hung iar'
loosed from their ties.
Boundless horizons-Earth's enns'-ana
enormous skieEl
Deep Is the breath of the autumn breeze
that we drink while the tender
Twilight thickens in black. and the far
spaced starry splendor
Travels forever above US; while lost on the
Lights wheel. laying across our hearts
tumuits OF glory!
Great Is the swell of the open country, huge
with starred skies
Soothing the rhythm and roll of the boat as
1t foamingly files
But even with morning as our strayu Ieet
the new cities enter.
we shall yearn for the roar. the stir. the
cyclone the great 5torm-Centerl
james Oppenheim in the Broaoway Mag
azine.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28
FUNNY MR.. HEARST

EARST announces his convention
will be history making. He also
acknowledges modestly that rep
resentatives of the older parties are
groveling about his feet, suing for his
support. These he is scorning, and
spurning, like the BARRIERS brother, in
the Arabian Nights Entertain
ments'; the day-dreamy fellow who
broke the crockery. We do not believe
there is the slightest warrant in fact
for the Hearst assertions that Demo-
cratic leaders repeatedly made propo-
sitions to him which were repeatedly
rejected. We do not believe Hitchcock
and other Republican politicians are III
Chicago for the purpose of licking
Hearst's boots. Hearst will be licked;
not his boots. And he will be licked
out Of them. Hearst says the politi-
clans of the older parties are panic
stricken. We have no reason to believe
Hearst or any of his mercenaries or
myrmidons can strike panic into any
body. The Doodle Dees are not built
that way. There is nothing terrifying
or even awe inspiring about them.
When they sit up straight and wrinkle
their wee brows and talk about the
greater political parties being panic
stricken, they are like little children
playing a grown-up play-like the old
time children's performance of the Gill
bert-Sullivan operas, at which tiny
mite arrayed in the miniature of des-
perate looking suit, would pipe up, II
am a pirate king Har! Har" And
the chorus responded, He is pirate
king. HAIR. HA-A-AR." And no.
body on the stage or in the audience
believed a word of it. Poor little
doodle dees! Their clothes don't fit
them; and they are tiny kindergarten
kids, essaying adult parts in great
national drama. Therefore, don't let
us make fun of them. Let us appreci-
cate their spirit, their intention, their
pluck, and then let US speculate as to
the amount and weight of the shekels
remaining at the bottom of the Hearst
maternal barrel And let Hearst hoist
the black flag of the independence
party and ego to It." It's all fun. It's
only play. Why worry? For Hearst
rs a pirate king,
He is a pirate king
in his mind. In reality, he is only the
boss of the doodle dees.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28
PLEDGE THEM

IN HERE is only one method by which
citizens can become assured that
II legislators viii take action with
regard to several reform matters de-
manded by progress, and more closely
connected with the MATERIAL as.wen
as the moral advancement of the COM
munfty than merely superficial stu
dents of ethics may realize. We assert
that in city like Los Angeles there
certainly will be a material result
if various reforms which are being
advocated are put into execution.
Even as it will be greatly to the finan-
eial and commercial advantage of this
city and Southern California if the
good roads bonds should carry, so 1t
will be greatly to the material advan-
tage of city and state if legislation
prohibiting race-track gambling is
adopted. Every candidate for the legis-
lature should be pledged to his attitude
on this matter. Let him declare him
self. If candidates do not voluntarily
declare themselves, up, voters, and
ASK them! 1t is your privilege and
your right. They are your stewards.
The greatest weakness of our popu-
lar representative system of govern
ment is in the easy indifference with
which we allow our stewards to adj
minister our affairs. When one OF
them is requested to give an account
Of his stewardship on any point It be-
comes a nine days wonder, and news
papers announce the gentleman's rec
ord is to be investigated" and fire.
quently jump at the conclusion there
is some discreditab1e reason for in
vestigationl Why free people should
have allowed governmental customs to
drift until they cannot investigate
representatives. record without causing
commotion we are at loss to under
stand. Who does understand It? 1t is
one of the social-politico eccentricities
that nobody understands. But since
we are so bashfuI that we disclaim all
responsibility for our legislator as soon
as we have put him into Office to make
laws for us, let US at any rate make
sure we won't elect men who will not
make laws for US, but will forget us
and perhaps-we merely make the sug-
gestion-go to work for corporation
instead. Pledge your candidate as to
his attitude on the question of race
track gambling. Pledge him also as to
his attitude with regard to the enforce
ment of your laws nov on your statute
books, against rebating, which laws
have been treated as if you had
no more right to prescribe rules and
regulations for your state of California
than for Grim Taftary or the High
Barbaree. Moreover, let your candi-
date know he must be ready to enact
whatever legislation may be necessary
to prohibit and PUNISH the practice
Of rebating This is your state. The
candidate is your candidate. Assert
your rights. You are 1.-THE boss" If
every citizen would remember this the
big political boss. the man who steals
your title and your candidate and your
time and your system of lawmaking,
would soon become as extinct as the
do-do, that unprepossessing fowl which
long ago became the don't-dont.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28
SHOWS GREAT ADVANTAGE OF
IMPROVED COUNTY ROADS

WHITTIER, July 26.-[Editor Her
add: In 1904 our federal government
published a very instructive pamphlet
on improved country roads throughout
all the United States, wherein Is to be
found an immense collection of Yalua-
able statistics.
Among other things it shows there
is an important relation existing be-
tween improved country roads and the
value of farm lands.
A few illustrations taken from this
pamphlet will bring out with sufficient
clearness the nature and degree of this
relationship.
In Mississippi, where one-half of l
per cent of the roads was improved,
the average value of farm lands was
$15.94 per acre; in Indiana, where 35 per
cent of the roads was improved, such
average value was $54.96 per acre.
In Arkansas, where seven-tenths of
1 per cent of the roads was improved,
the value of farm lands was $16.67 per
acre; in Ohio, where "a per cent of the
roads was improved, these lands were
worth $57.73 per acre.
In Texas, where IA per cent of these
roads was improved, land was worth
$11.S3 per acre, while here in Caiifor-
mia, with 1S per cent Of her roads inn
proved, the value of her farm lands
was 9zo,l5 per acre.
What, then, must be the effect upon
the value of farm lands here in Los
Angeles county along the three hum
dred and seven miles of country roads
to be affected, where every mile. or
100 per cent of their whole length, is to
be so thoroughly improved? That the
enhanced value of our farms, taken in
the aggregate, will be many times the
total cost of the improvement seems
clear beyond all question.
Among the causes which, in the very
nature of things, contribute, toward
such increase In value as a result of
such Improvements are the following:
l. Improved roads add much to the
beauty and attractiveness of the Sec
lions of country blessed with them.
2. They make travel and traffic over
them not only more easy and comfort
able, but also less expensive.
8. They make the regions wherein
they abound more inviting to tourists,
home seekers and capitalists looking
for profitable investments.
Hence we find philosophy, so to
speak, joining hands with the statis-
tics above quoted to prove that even
from cold monetary point of view
alone the advantage to accrue from the
proposed improvement of our county
roads will be worth many times what
it will cost. J. T. MORIARTY.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28
GRosscUP: MARTYR

Ut is ANNOUNCED the authorities
are about to take action to punish
4 persons who are sending letters to
Judge Grosscup demonstrating with
him for the decision setting aside the
s29. O00, 900 fine imposed by Judge Lam
dis on the Standard Oil company of
Indiana. The mails, it is said, are
loaded down with letters addressed to
Judge Grosscup from all parts of the
country, and it would appear large
number of citizens of the United States
are determined to free their minds, al
though, strictly speaking, their action
is censurable. The letters are all Bit
ter. and some Of them use language
which might be construed to be threat
ening. Never has there been such an
unpopular decision, and never has there
been such freedom of expression on the
subject of a judicial decision. This is
a law-abiding nation. 1t has a deep
respect for courts and seldom quarrels
with a final ruling on any question
subiected to judicial scrutiny. But the
Main American citizen for some reason
has made up his mind that he has
been the victim of unfair judiciary
treatment and has been deprived Of his
dues. Every good citizen wished to
see the precedent definitely established
that no corporation, however rich and
however powerful, is above the law,
and he was beginning to congratulate
himself that here was the precedent
which might prevent trouble in the
United states and might do away with
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-28

the growing discomfort caused by the
suspicion that a man without money
has not as good q chance for a square
deal as a man OF corporation with mil
lions. But. from his point of view,
everything has been spoiled and the
administration of justice has been ex-
posed to unfavorable comment, ridi-
cule or contempt by the action of
Grosscup. Whatever may be thought
of Grosscup, he is certainly most
courageous man. While the country
was saying of the Standard OIL mag
mates, Served them right" Grosscup
came along to vindicate them. Cross
cup is more or less of a martyr, for
he has evidently given up all hopes of
promotion, and has even ventured to
forfeit the esteem of large number of
his fellow citizens by his decision.