Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-05-23
THE sMARTEsT PEOPLE ON EARTH

A
~ people on earth. We get puff
Wv ed up, gorged, sated, inflated
until We are at the slop-over
point all the time. 1t is said that the
peacock, when strutting most proudly
with the loudest scraping Of wing feath-
ers and broadest spread and most bril-
liant display of irridescent tail plumes,
suddenly takes tumble to himself and
hauls in his display; when in the course
of his strutting he sees his feet. On
the theory that this may be beneficial
in the way of reducing the hydroceph.
alic condition of our heads collectively,
it may be we'll to take a look at our
pedestals, and note few Of our short
comings.
For a starter, we endorse capital pun
ishment, which is the worst kind Of
class legislation for no rich man is
ever hanged That is a proud distinc.
tiOn reserved for the poor A murderer
with money is always able to prove he
is insane and that all his folks on both
sides including his mother-in-law is in
sane, and so goes to the asylum, until
the doctors can show the governor or
pardoning board he has entirely recov-
cred his sanity, which his employing
them to gain his liberty for him proves.
We assess street improvements
against the adjoining property, and
then while the public owns the streets
add the cost of the improvement to the
property and make the owner pay taxes
on the money he has spent making an
improvement for the public benefit for
all time.
We send n highwayman to prison
sometimes--for holding up an individ-
ual, and permit spectators to hold up
the whole country by cornering prod
ucts and making the consumer come
through.
We raid some little wayside inn, or
city saloon, and hale its patrons before
some magistrate wise enough to prop
erly represent us, prosecute, fine and
sometimes jail them for playing ten.
cent ante, and ut the same time the big
newspapers are filled with gambling
transactions on the Chicago board Of
trade, or Wall street, in which the
stakes are millions, and which we CON
nive at and call business while 1t is
the worst, the most namnablo soul.de-
stroying gambling on earth,
We lift up our hands in holy horror,
and our voices in condemnation II a
man is bigamist and supports two
wives, but we permit him to support
one wife and a dozen "brevets" and
never bat an eye, or wipe him Off our
visiting list,
We, many Of Us at least, advocate
prohibition and condemn tho selling of
liquor, while as nation we lovy and
collect an internal revenue tax on all
spirituous liquors, and are virtually az q
people, partners in every distillery
brewery and saloon in the country, and
we play fair with our partners by mcrci
lcssly juggling any moonshiner or boot
logger, who lodges tho payment, ant
40 cheats us and intorferCs with oul
business.
We give street car lines railroads
gas, water and othcr companies fran
chises and rights Of way over or unde
our streets, and get nothing in return
not even an unlimited right to kick
giving them rights Of way with hun
drods Of thousands of dollars, that evcl
farmer would not grant them over hi
comparatively cheap lands
But why prolong the listi Isn't thi
enough just as sample to cause US Il
at least temporarily drop our tail feath
en.
-