The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-06-12
FROM OTHER PENS
FOLK ON DEMOCRACY.

Former Governor Folk, OF Missouri,
was partly on the right road when he
said in a recent address that the Dem
ocratic party had too many issues and
that we have been shooting in the air
in the hope of striking something.
That Democracy has been SO divid
ed as to lack force to make 1t effec-
tive is unquestionably the fact. 1t is
not so much that the party has too
many issues, but that it is composed
of SO many elements. each with an Is
sue of its own which Is not Endorsed
by the others. which in a large meas
ure renders it impotent to attract re-
cruits It is not that Democracy has
too many real issues, but that it has
and always has had too many false
issues which the logic of events has
wrecked as time passed. 1t is eontin-
ually appealing to the people with the
apology on it's lips II was wrong the
last time, I know, but this remedy is
all right" The political doctor with
a graveyard record of mistakes does
not inspire confidence and an apology
for always having been wrong does
not attract the following of thought
full men.-Omaha Bee.
NEW CLOTHES IN CONGRESS,
Once upon time, the seasoned
gossips of Washington say, you could
spot United States senator at sight
But now, they declare, it is hard to
tell a Scion of the upper house from
stock broker. It is all in the matter
of clothes. The long frock coat, the
expansive shirt front and the big. soft
black hat of old have yielded to
modern business attire.
We mention these things because a
Washington dispatch stating that 55
members of the house appeared on
Monday in wholly new raiment sug-
gests a general thought of the clothes
of Congress.
A British NJ. p. who visited this
country a few years ago remarked
that our national legislators did not
know how to dress. To which trav-
eler from home rejoined promptly
that they were lucky If they did not
know how to dress like members Of
the house of commons. Be that as 1t
may, what meager particulars we have
of the new suits of various represen-
tatives indicate that the increased
salaries of congress have fallen amid
opponents of sartoria1 progress and
good taste. It is likely that all SIS
| of the freshly clad would pass muster
on brightest Fifth avenue.-New York
World.
o.
THE REFERENDUM.
A good illustration of the referendum
| in excelsis is furnished by the coming
election in Portland, Ore, when no less
than 35 proposals are to be on the bal
prevail Some of them are for municipa
enterprises, involving large expendi-
| lures or radical changes in policy; 9TH
ers are for the regulation Of petty
matters of administration, chiefly at
fecting individuals. In the first class
| are projects to build three bridges
across Willamette river. to establish
the commission form of city govern
ment, to add women's auxiliary te
the police department, and to adopt
the Gothenburg method of regulating
| the liquor traffic. OF the trivial sort
lis question. about giving municipa
| judges an additional clerk, at 500 a
month" and whether the city audi
tor is to act as clerk of viewers OF
streets Even in a city of exceptional
enlightenment and knowledge of pub
| lie affairs, as Portland undoubtedly is
| 1t is hard to believe that any great
| number of persons will be able to vote
Understandings on a tenth of the mat
| tiers referred to them. Moreover, the
| Oregonian makes the serious point that
| if all the measures involving appro-
priations should be approved. 1t would
carry the city's debt above the statu-
tory limit.-New York Evening Post.