Seattle Mail and Herald, v. 8, no. 48, Nov. 11, 1905

              ESTABLISHED*!^ m
Ed garX. Hampton,
EDITOR, and  MANAGER..
VOL. VIII. NO. 48.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 11,
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The Seattle Mail and Herald
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matter.
Political Tlie New York city election possessed
j   i i great interest for the American peo-
independence ple aU oyer tQe country.   first) per.
A Virtue haps, because    of    the    independent
stand taken by Attorney Jerome, both as to his candidacy, and his work as an officer; and second, because
of the fight made for municipal ownership by WM. R.
Hearst and the friends of municipal ownership of public
utilities. Both Tamany and the Republican machine
were forced to place upon their tickets good men for
the head of their tickets. The reports of the ballot
being counted as this is being written, show that the
friends of municipal ownership were a strong element
in the fight. But the storm center and the local point
of interest was in the fight being made by Mr. Jerome
for political independence. It is at this time conceded
that Mr. Jerome is elected, and the result is that the
people have expressed themselves in the largest and
most machine ridden city in the United States, that
they are awakening from the sleep potion of the political spellbinder to harken to their own needs in public
affairs. This is but the beginning of this crusade in
favor of honest, competent, independent men for public
is men who are wanted now; men of individuality,
strength and intregity, who are not only not afraid to do
their duties as officers, but are not afraid to stand on
their records so made and ask for a public endorsement
at the polls.
Shall
The Mills
Be Closed?
mill owners.
Shutting down the shingle mills of
the Sound district for the purpose of
forcing up the price of shingles, will
undoubtedly prove of benefit to the
but to the employees, and the consumers
generally it will not be so desirable. The argument
of the manufacturers of shingles is something like this:
There is only so much material in this state from which
to make shingles and when that is gone we are done.
Why sell our product for a small profit when by combination we can just as well sell it for a more advantageous price?
From the consumers standpoint the matter is quite
different. This is a new country. To open it up and
make the necessary improvements in which to do the
work of development of this country, requires large
quantities of materials. If these materials are high
priced, either the developments must be slower or the
work abandoned until the prices of materials are again
reduced.
The workingman's view point is still a different one.
He does not have to wait until the mills resume work
unless he wants to. Shingle-weavers work, while requiring some skill, is more like farm labor, and may
be changed at any time for something more congenial
to the worker.
Does the citizen of the state have any interest in this
matter, and if he does, what is it? The citizen has an
interest in the development of every material element of
the resources of the state in which he lives. These elements are a part of the assets upon which he banks on the
future of the country that he has chosen for his home.
He has an interest in these things and ho has the right
to ;i certain extent, to say how and when these things
shall he prepared and disposed of. The forests of Western Washington are one of the great assets upon which
all citizens of the state have a right to count for a part
of their maternal prosperity. They have a right to influence its out-put so that their interests shall not be
jeopardized. To this extent they have an interest in
this closing down of the shingle mills; that they may not
be handicapped in the development of their farms and
warehouses and schoolhouses and churches and homes
and store buildings by the efforts of a few who are
making a special profit out of the direct manufacture of
shingles, to amass large fortunes by interference with
the legitimate run of the markets for these materials,
and in this way retard the legitimate development
and progress of the country generally.
The
Good Time
Coming
Political purity and the seperation of
the municipal interests from the management of state and national politics,
is fast becoming a dominant
issue. All over the country wherever there are being
held city elections this question is up for consideration
in some form. It may not be settled at this time in any
of the cities now making the effort but the question
will not down until it is finally settled in the interests
of good government and the interests of the people.
The right to have their municipal matters managed
upon a sound business basis rather than upon the interests of partisanship and the political place-hunters, is
claimed and demanded by all right thinking citizens at
this time. The question has been raised and its disposal can only be accomplished by its settlement in
favor of the people.
There is no reason why the people should give up any
interest or any right to the cause of partisan politics.
Even the utitlity of political parties is questioned at
this time. They have long since served their purpose.
They have been the means of leading the people in the
consideration of great interests in times past. But the
men who are now at the helm of these organizations
have mostly prostituted their positions of leadership
to the attainment of personal ends, and those ends are
for the most part, antagonistic to the interests of the
people.
The fact that in the immediate past the tendency
and the practice has been to make the manipulation
of city politics assist in the larger affairs pertaining
to the politics of the state, has been found by the taxpayers to have been to their disadvantage. The financial
interests of the cities and towns are largely made subservient to the political interests of the individual manipulators of state politics as means of rewarding the
humble but useful striker and healer, and the vigorous
but unpopular gentlemen who help run things but cannot get elected to an office themselves at the hands o{
the voters. There is a good time coming in which these
things will all be regulated as they ought to be, and
that is when the citizens each and all turn out and take
hold of the management of these matters for themselves.
* The situation in Russia is most re-
^.    j   r i markable.    The people of that eoun-
Wonderrul try are being literally deluged with
Achievement political   rights;   in   fact,   they  have
been granted privileges by almost one stroke of the
czar's pen, that it took the English people more than
five hundred years of political strife to gain. The fact,
that has been but little known outside that country,
that the educational work among the people, preparing
them both for exercise and liberty, and the determination to achieve it makes the probabilties much more
favorable for the success of the new regime.
There is nothing in history to equal this most wonderful revolution. No other ruler ever gave up so much in
so short a time; and no other people ever gained so
signal and bloodless a victory or attained to such dizzy
political heights at a single bound. There may have
been many influences at work that those living so far
away have not been able to get any knowledge of, but
even then, with all the most powerful influences at work
that could be conceived of, the results are away beyond
the wildest hopes of the friends of human liberty in
(1)18 benighted and isolated land. There never was anything like it in the world before.
Grover
The  doctors  all  seem  to be  on the
side  of Mr.  Zook in this breach of
vs
-Z'   . promise  matter  now  before  the   su-
^■°°K- perior   court  of  this  county.    They
one and all testify that consumption is incurable; and
that nothing but the direst of results could possibly
have attended a marriage between Mr. Zook and Miss
Grover. We are not informed that Miss Grover is afflicted with this dread disease; perhaps it was only
found to have existed in the Grover family, and like
medical examiner for an insurance company, Mr. Zook
is taking the precaution of rejecting the applicant for
his affections on the grounds of her family history.
But are the doctors right on this question of the non-
curability of tuberculosis? This is a question upon
which these learned gentlemen disagree. It is quite
remarkable that the defendant was only able to find
for his case doctors who were prepared to state upon
oath that the disease is incurable. There are doctors
in this city now successfully treating cases of tuberculosis of the lungs. Would it not be interesting to have
one or two of these examined in this case?
Evidently these learned medical experts do not know
that their professional brethren in New York are run
ning an institution now, and have been running it for
many years in which all kinds of cases of consumption
have been treated and cured. But it is easy to say that
there must have been an error in the diagnosis of the
<ase. and it was not consumption if the patient lived,
but it was if the patient died. So much for professional ignorance and prejudice.
Ample
Compensation
This seems to be a time of large fees
to some people.    In winding up the
receivership of the Pacific Packing &
Navigation Company, Judge Hanford
allowed the Washington receivers $52,000 each, and their
attorney, who is a law partner of one of the receivers,
$36,000.    This was for three years service.
It is said that millions of dollars have been dissipated
in this unfortunate venture. This can be easily comprehended if the other transactions involving these
millions have been dealt with as lavishly as did the
court in allowing these compensations for the receivers
and their attorney. Of course there can be no limit to
the earning power of the man. provided always that there
is a paymaster equal to the occasion. $140,000 as compensation for the services of three men for three years
is much better than finding a gold mine in Alaska, for
the labor has not been so arduous, nor the hardships'
so grievious to be borne. The matter is very simple
when one can get the hold on the necessary collateral
from which to force the pay.
No
Exclusive
Franchise
We wish to reaffirm the position
taken by this journal sometime ago
when the Westlake Boulevard franchise was before the city council for
consideration, that this city cannot afford to give any
company or corporation the exclusive use of any one
of its streets for any period of time. The city has no
right to bargain away the future in this way, no matter what the present inducements may be. A street
car franchise on Second Avenue is a very valuable
thing. It is worth striving for by the company that
wants it. as well as the people who want to preserve
their rights and protect their future interests in these
rights. But for all this value there is no reason why any
street car company should need to secure its exclusive
use in order to be protected so far as the value of their
property is concerned, nor the future of the profits that
may accrue from the use thereof.
It would be a poor business proposition for the city
to give to any company such an exclusive right on
Second Avenue or upon any other avenue or street
in the city for the life term of such a franchise. The
day of proffering great inducements to capital to engage in the street car business in this city is past.
Just recently capital has been knocking at the door
and asking privileges of a franchise for this purpose,
and was refused.   With such a demand for opportunity