Page:The Pacific Monthly vol. 14.djvu/125

 worth.

By WILLIAM BITTLE WELLS

'The Political Situation in Oregon

The political situation in Oregon presents a peculiar anomaly. The state is normally Eepublican by a majority of from ten to twenty thousand votes. Portland, the leading city, is the center of Republican influence, and the stronghold of the party. Yet, to-day, Oregon has a Democratic Governor; the Sheriff of Multnomah County, the lead- ing county in the state, and in which Portland is situated, is a Democratic Sheriff; the District Attorney for the section in which Portland is situated is a Democrat, and now Portland has elected a Democratic Mayor. The Eepublican nominee. Judge Williams, was a Republican of National repute, and has taken a conspicuous part in the counsels of the Nation, especially during Grant's administration. While, therefore, it may appear on the surface that Democracy has triumphed, and that the Republican party has been defeated, such, as a matter of fact, is far from being the case. Oregon to-day is a Republican state, and Portland is a Republican city, but the people of Oregon have demonstrated conclusively that on occasion they can rise superior to parties and politics and will register their convictions as men and not as subservient tools of a party ma- chine. The election of the four Democrats was, if we may hazard the statement, not so much an indorsement of the Democratic nominees as it wag a protest against methods which have prevailed to a large extent in the Republican party of Oregon. Two bitter factions in the party have been striving for the mastery of the state. This con- tributed to the election of Governor Chamberlain and to the Democratic District Attor- ney. Unfortunately, however, the same thing can not be said regarding the eleclion of the Democratic Sheriff and the Democratic Mayor. Mr. Word was put into office as the crying protest of an indignant and outraged public at a time when the city was pledged by its officials for unrighteousness and municipal rottenness. Dr. Lane goes into office as a further protest against such conditions. There could not, therefore, be a healthier sign of public morality and responsibility than is to be found in the fact that a Republican state and a Republican city have thrown off the shackles of party politics and asserted that manhood which must be the controlling factor in preserving our National life from disintegration and ruin. The shoals which have heretofore wrecked the greatest nations in history will, if unheeded, result in the downfall of this Republic. No man, no set of men, no nation, therefore, can stand for unrighteousness with impunity. This fact is clearly branded on every page of history. That we can rise superior to party and politics; that we are willing to assert our manhood; that we, as American citizens, are loyal to our best and highest traditions is encouraging and strengthening. It means that a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people shall endure and not perish from the earth.

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TAe Moral oi tke Russian Defeat

The sweeping victory of the Japanese over the Russian navy in the Sea of Japan is simply a further demonstration of the startling incapacity, unpreparedness and general inefficiency which has characterized the Russian army and navy and the entire manage- ment of the war from its inception. It would be difficult to conjure up a more pathetic spectacle than that which is presented in the helplessness of the Rojestvensky squadron