Conservative. 11
Former United
ALLKN ON ,
States senator and
. ,
FIN A KG ic.
present district
judge , Honorable William V. Allen , has
quite recently , with a blunt brevity of
less than seven columns , pronmlgatod
his present political faith and personal
prejudices.
This statesman boasts of a largo li
brary and diligent study. And ivpon
the question of metallic money ho holds
that :
"It is the fixed legal ratio enacted be
tween the coins which governs the rela
tive value of the metals in bullion ! "
But loss industrious and , no doubt ,
more superficial investigators declare
that :
"It is the relative value of the metals
in bullion which governs the relative
value of the coins. "
In other words , Allen , Bryan , and all
other advocates of the free coinage of
silver in unlimited quantities at the
ratio of sixteen to one claim that open
ing the mints of the United States to
such coinage would raise the bullion
value of silver all over the globe to a
dollar and twenty-nine cents an ounce
while it now languishes at about sixty
cents.
In case of disastrous drouth the same
statesmanship will favor legislation
making two peeks a bushel and thus
advance and exalt the corn crop of the
Northwest. It will also fix a legal ratio
between shoulders and hams regardless
of the kind of porkers out of which
they are manufactured.
FOKESTKY IN CALIFORNIA.
Addressing the American Forestry
Convention in Los Angeles , last night ,
Gifford Pinchot remarked that Cali
fornia takes more interest in its forests
than any other state in the Union ex
cept New York , and ho added that Cali
fornia can and should formulate a
forestry policy. Very true. There are
reasons why California should bo more
interested in forestry than is even New
York , because our forests are more ex
tensive and bear a more direct relation
to the general welfare , inasmuch as the
preservation of the summer flow of our
streams is requisite to the prosperity of
the agricultural interests and is depend
ent upon the mountain forests.
It is estimated that the United States ,
exclusive of Alaska , contains 500,000,000
acres of forest , of which seven-tenths lie
on the Atlantic slope , one-tenth on the
Pacific slope , one-tenth on the Rocky
Mountains , and one-tenth in the Mississ
ippi valley. This is the estimate of the
Department of Agriculture. But it is
deceptive , since the forestry area on the
Atlantic coast , though very large , con
tains only a limited amount of good
timber. The Pacific Coast , which is
credited with only one-tenth of the total
forest area of the country , has perhaps
one-third or even one-half of all" the
, iA i.j
first-class timber still remaining in the
United States.
A splendid start has boon made to
ward preserving the forests of the West
by the establishment of the forestry
reservations , a work which lias all been
done since the memorable act of 1891
was passed. Of the 551 forest reserva
tions , 8 are in California , 51 in Oregon , $
in Washington , 1 in Alaska , 2 in Ari
zona , 5 in Colorado , one divided between
[ daho and Montana , one between Idaho
and Washington , 2 in Montana , one in
Now Mexico , one in South Dakota , one
in Utah and ! J in Wyoming. These
forestry reservations combined contain
an area of more than 40,000,000 acres , of
which about 9,000,000 acres are in Cali
fornia. So it may be seen that Cali
fornia is easily first among the states in
forest interests. The great Sierra forest
reservation contains over four million
acres , while the Pine Mountain and Zaca
Lake reservation contains over a million
and a half acres.
But in setting aside this vast forest
territory , thereby saving it from de
struction by the lumberman , merely a
beginning has been made in developing
a forestry policy. It depends upon the
work of educated specialists to carry the
policy forward , but in it they need to be
supported by an intelligent public senti
ment , such as is fast being awakened in
California. Oakland Enquirer.
EASTHAMPTON , MASSACHUSETTS.
Three ravenous needed."A
after the postoffice in Easthamptou ,
Massachusetts , which is an educational
and commercial center of one of the
western counties and noted for large
republican majorities. The strife was
warm , exciting , exasperating and
strictly within the McKiuley party.
But The Now York Post says :
"A democrat appointed by Mr. Clove-
laud had served so satisfactorily that his
reappointmeut for another term was
asked for in a very strong petition , rep
resenting a large majority of the voters ,
and nearly all the business interests , in
cluding all of the manufactories , Willis-
ton Seminary , the banks , and almost all
of the merchants. But after the bars
wore taken down in the classified ser
vice by the president's order , the profes
sional' politicians in the republican party
insisted that no democrat should stay in
any place from which he could be
ousted. Mr. Gillet , the republican con
gressman from the district proposed
that the question should bo submitted
to a vote of the republicans of the town ,
the democrats not being recognized as
having any rights in the matter. Such
a vote was taken last week. There
were three republican candidates , but
the strongest of them fell far short of
the democratic incumbent , who came
near having a majority over all of his
opponents , and his reappoiutment is
now assured. "
Comment is not needed.
"A Southern journal , quoting The
World's statement that 'Spain could not
convoy to us any rights in the Philip
pines which she did not possess , ' asks :
"Will the esteemed World toll the
American people who did possess the
rights' it speaks of if Spain did not
possess them ?
"The answer is very easy : The native
inhabitants possessed the right to govern
themselves , or to give their consent to
being governed , which is included in
; he natural and inalienable right of all
men to life , liberty and pursuit of happi
ness.
"Our authority for this opinion will bo
found in the Declaration of Indepen
dence of the United Colonies of North
America , proclaimed on July 4 , 177G.
It is sustained and clinched in the joint
resolutions of congress , adopted on April
18 , 1898 , declaring war against Spain.
The very first of those resolutions pro
claimed that
" 'The people of the island of Cuba
are , and of right ought to be , free and
independent. '
"Did the 'rights' of Spain in the
Philippines rest on any different basis
than her 'rights' in Cuba ? Had she
oppressed and robbed the Cubans ? She
had done the same to the Filipinos.
Was her 'possession' of Cuba limited to
the coast cities and to a few fortified
and garrisoned towns ? Her occupation
of the Philippines was oven more lim
ited and precarious.
"The cases are exactly parallel , on the
basic question of rights. Beyond this it
is undeniably true that the Filipino
army rendered our forces more service
in the capture of Manila than the Cubans
did in the capture of Santiago , and that
the Filipinos are , in the opinion of
Admiral Dewey and other capable
judges , better fitted for self-government
than are the natives of Cuba.
"Whatever rights Spain had forfeited
in Cuba she had lost likewise in the
Philippines. Whatever rights the people
ple of Cuba had were possessed also by
the inhabitants of the remoter islands. "
The above is unmitigated ro t. Neither
the Cubans nor Filipinos have any rights
whatsoever unless mighty enough to af
firm and maintain them. The Declara
tion of Independence would not have
had an iota of value and would have been
historically forgotten had not the fathers
had the might to make their declaration
good in independence. The degenera
tion of their sons is of far more interest
than the question of rights in other pee
ple. The Americans who have forfeited
their rights to machine politics.
F. S. BILLINGS.
While the weak may be pitied all
weakness is to be condemned.
Intelligent self-love is conservative ;
unintelligent is. destructive.
