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The Clinton News-Record, 1898-02-17, Page 4TATE CLINTON NEWS -RECORD. The Huron News-Re3ora -.THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 17th, 1898. ONB' THING AND A NOTHICR. It is time for a change. ** Presuming that the Seaforth Exposi- tor was a pretty fair sort of ry paper, we requested that it publish the list of changes of sobool books made by the Liberal Government, but it is quite evident that we have expected too much. The het has not appeared, doubtless because Bro. McLean is too much of a politician to voluntarily or on request furnish evidence to sub- stantiate the arguments of his oppon- ents. A select few publishers, who have had a monopoly, have systemati- cally robbed the people of Ontario for many years and right down in the bottoin of his heart the Liberal candi- date in the South Riding knows it. ** An amusing feature of the South Riding campaign is the part played by the Toronto Globi., which regularly once a week publishes a glowing eulogy of Mr. M. Y. McLean, which the Ex- positor religiously copies in its next issue. Those tid-hits of self -praise are all right in their place, they are the watered milk of human kindness let us suppose, and the Toronto Globe may know vastly wore about the late mem- ber for South Huron that) the con- stituency itself, hut by all that is in- comprehensible the latter is unable to discover any valuable service he has rendered it. Assuming that the Lord's'. Day Alli- ance people were easily bamboozled the Hardy Government seemingly complied with their petitions and in- troduced a Bi11 along the line of their request. This was late'iu the session but still there was ample time for the measure to have gone through had the Government been honest about the matter, but the Bill was all of a sudden thrown overboard. Mr. Garrow, who supported the Government as usual, it is not on record that he ever did any- hing else, apologizes for Hardy by ing there was not sufficient time to are a proper measure. If not, ot? If the time for preparation 0o short to draft a proper Bill, introduce a defective one arm( weaken the Alliance cause throughout the country. Had the Bill been one for the extension of patronage it may be taken for granted that it would have been carefully worded before the Leg- islature had an opportunity of scan- ning it. ** Sir Richard Cartwright, too, is foist- ing his sons upon the public service and thus assuring them an easy time of it so long as life lasts. Sir Richard should be one of the last men to prec- ise this sort of thing as he has his thousands and tens of thousands and is amply able to support his own off- spring. The mania for possessing office is in the air and it looks as if we were to have a second Family Com- pact, Ottawa the fountain head of ono and Toronto the spring of the other. The more the Yukon railway deal is investigated the greater appears its iniquity and there is bound to be a series of lively scenes at Ottawa before the Government succeeds in forcing the measure through. In the interests of public morality the Opposition should fight against the steal to the last ditch. If this country must be ruled by railway kings and railway promoters Iet us delay that evil hour so long as possible. ** The railway will not be an "All Cana- dian Route," as the Liberals have claim- ed by any means. In order to reach the starting point of the line American territory must he passed through and there is not' the slightest guarantee that the Yankees will not at some future time impose vexatious and ir, may be almost restrictive regulations. You never scan ;tell what the Congress at Washington may do when the Jingoes get on the rampage. They have harassed us before and are just as certain to do it again when time offers Opportunities. Then where would this "All Canadian Route" be for which the Government stands pre- pared to squander 3,700,000 acres of the richest mineral lands that ever sun shone upon. * Then this Yukon *Railway which is to cost the country 25,000 acres per mile, together with a monopoly worth twice as much more, is to be nothing more than a narrowguage steam tram- way. The rails are to be light and second hand while the rolling stock is equally ancient, having been purchas- ed from a company which has widened its track to the standard guage. It will be a flimsy "thrown together" road, an additional reason why Parlia- ment should reject the contract and insist upon public competition for so immensely valuable a franchise. It is only human nature for the country to object to the promoters and the poll- trcians gobbling up millions which, to say the least, should be more equitably divided. * * Sir Richard Cartwright, who can be cynically. candid at times, characterizes the whole affair as a "Huge Gamble." He ought to know, but Parliament hats a perfect right to demand that if Can- ada must gamble away her resources that elm be given a fair shake and not have to contend with loaded dice. Since.' the Senator r juto the 06 into type, used a Bill Senate to amend the coating laws so as to re- strict, or entirely prevent, the trans- hipment at Fort Wrangle of goods intended for the Canadian Yukon via the Stickeen River and the proposed MacKenzie & Mann railroad. The Do- minion Cabinet is much put out by this move and Sir Richard Cartwright has been sent to Washington to eat humble pie. If the Senator's measure becomes law the line of the "All Cana- dian Route" may have to be altered. *r* Col. Leys, who carries the Liberal banner in London, goes into the fight with half it million dollars, at least his friends couple the mention of the fact with their hope that be will win and in the one breath, which cannot but give the impression that his winning depends upon his possession of wealth together with an inclination to use it for the propogation of Liberalism. This Col. Leys was once a bosom friend of Sir Oliver Mowat, but broke with the little Knight because the latter, at all events he has so claimed, played him false. The Col. is also at loggerheads with Hon. G. W. Ross and it was partly to prevent hint taking the field against the Minister of Education that he was given the nomination in London. He would probably have been more certain of a seat had he gone into Middlesex. *** • Ogilvie's hook on the Yukon is out and the over -eager public may secure copies at the low price of a half dollar each. It is hoped the sale will be immense so that the publishing firm, good Grits all of them, may make a splendid thing out of it and not be bunting for another snap before twelve months at any rate have elaps- ed. If we must pay "the boys" for what they have done for the party, let us do it promptly and thus he rid et them, that is if now in their hour of triumph they can be shaken off, We would rather, if allowed any choice in the matter, pay off those fellows so that they may not be indi- rectly but everlastingly taxing us. ** Our Liberal friends never Weary of proclaiming the honesty and economy of the Hardy Government, but with rare discretion refrain from commit- ting themselves to figures. Let ussup- pose that in inany of them it arises from want of having anythingauthen- tic at hand, though there may be a number, quite a number, forsooth, who having been convinced upon hearsay inconsiderately forget that others require something more tang- ible. In the absence of hard facts, put into cold dry figures, let us give just a few taken from the Public Accounts of Ontario and therefore, it will be conceded, indisputable. They have reference to colonization roads expenditure in the backwords of the New Ontario and are only samples of what has occurred year in and year out :—In the building of Commanda creek bridge, the overseer, a Mr. Wickett, drew $3.50 per day for 34 days or $119 in all, while the pay roll of the whole gang which he bossed only amounted"to 8123.84. Ms self- same, Mr. Wickett was paid at the same rate per day and a total of $196 for overseeing the const) uction. of East River bridge, while the workmen only drew $183.79, and for Stevenson town line. bridge he was paid $238 and the entire working party $137.39. It will be taken for granted that Mr. Wickett has been and is a useful friend and though he is being reward- ed at the public expense the matter would be overlooked were it not that the Algomas swarm with Wick- etts and not a bridge, culvert, ditch or roadway contract but is milked by them. The whole region has for two decades been the hunting ground for party heelers and we are safe from contradiction in saying that there are more played out -ward politi- cians to the square mile in Algoma than in any other pert of Ontario. *** If the Hardy Government does not succeed this time it will he because in- direct bribery is not so effective as it once was. It's a Reformatory in Ox- ford, a Normal School in London, a Reformatory in the north and public institutions at two or three points in the east. These are all contingent upon the several constituencies elect- ing supporters of Hardy and not be- cause the public demands the heavy expenditure the. erection of these places roust entail for present and fu- ture needs. It's time for a change, surely. * The Hardy Government is in the position of the young man who on reaching his majority inherited the old homestead and a bank account, but not being able to pay expenses from the farm he managed only to make ends meet by drawing first upon his cash capital and that gone little- by little the family acres went under the hammer. By and by the farm goes and he must needs get down to bard work. The Provincial Government long since dissipated the big surplus left by the John Sandfield Macdonald's Government and though it has sold the most valuable portion by far of the timber lands of the province still it has incurred a heavy debt for annuities and debentures. At the rate it has been going direct taxation will have to be resorted to in a measurably short time. It's time for it change and the change cannot come too soon. *�* The public accounts of the province have not been audited for twenty-six years. It's time for a change and an audit. * * The following items appear in the public accounts of Ontario for I806, page 76. When Mr. Garrow has explain + ed why corkscrews so outnumber teata- J meats, and what the corkscrews were used for anyway, he will be asked the meaning of items of a like nature which are to be found from beginning to end of the accounts. 53 packs of playing cards $23 70 309 corkscrews 92 17 4 Testam ents 1 70 * The success or failure of the Yukon railway deal will depend very much upon the Ontario elections. If the Liberals win the steal will go through, but if Hardy is defeated Laurier will hesitate before forcing upon the coun- try a measure against which the chief province has pronounced judgment. To vote for McLean, Garrow or Ilis- Iip is to porspect the most corrupt measure ever introduced into the House of Commons and further in- crease the power of monopoly in the Dominion. * The Board of Registration which sat in Goder•ich added 220 names to the voters' list and rolled up an expense of between $150 and $200, which the tax- payers of the town roust pay and they are accordingly indignant. This does not, of course, include any exp¢nse in- curred by the Liberals and Conserve tives, so that the cost per voter will easily run over one dollar each. This seems rather steep, especially as the benefits are scarcely discernable. The old method, with slight alterations, would have answered quite as well, but not the satire number of officials would have been required rind the army of placemen must be in- creased somehow. And mark you this has all been done at the expense of the municipal rate- payer, who must perforce meet bills the politicians have incurred. It's titne for a change. • *.* The minor municipalities have also accounts to settle after pro- vincial elections as they are com- pelled to pay for polling booths, deputies, clerks and constables, an expense which should prop- erly- fall upon the provincial govern- ment, which has been more and more centralizing the appointments and forc- ing upon the people the direct payment of the patronage it bestows upon its use- ful supporters. It is time for a change. *** Is nobody but a lawyer fit to repre- sent West Huron ? Mooney's supporters are daily in. creasing in number in the East. Riding. * Eilber, Beck and Mooney are the men for the Hurons. The Whitney boors is increasing in strength. - Whitney Will Win. 1lfR., HARDY VISITS CLINTON. Some days previous to Mr. Hardy's visit to Clinton a couple of over -zealous party men tried to inveigle the town council into presenting him with an official address of welcome. Such a thing was without precedent in the midst of a campaign and was, of course, intended for what political capital might be made out of it. The request was in itself rather nervy and its originators must have had an exag- gerated value of their own plausibility to think for a moment that Conserva- tives would entertain it. Mr. Hardy's arrival was rather tardy and disarranged somewhat the plans which had been made for his reception. According to the published pro- gramme he was to have reached here by the one p. m. train from Stratford and a group of sym- pathisers, headed by the brass band, had gathered at the depot to ex- tend the glad hand. As the train drew into the depot the' band struck up one of its most bewitching airs and the workers cleared their throats that they might the better hurrah! But Mr. Hardy came not. The disappoint- ment was naturally great and not at all lessened by the explanation given by one of the passengers :—"Hardy stopped off at the Humber Piggery to inspect the hogs and will not be up until seven o'clock." The meeting in the town hall was largely attended and from that point of view a success, but scarcely any one will venture to claim that it was en- thusiastic,or such an one as has in times past been brought about by the pres- ence of a Premier and party leader. The Laurier Quartette is a good draw- ing card and renders party songs spiritedly and well. Mr. Hardy's speech was devoted as much to a criticism of his opponents as to an ac- count of his stewardship. He waxed quite eloquent in defence of his Hum - her Piggery and worked in some very funny stories of domestic felicity in support of his contention that changes were not wholesome. The Laurier Quartette and Mr. Hardy and inseparable this campaign and where one goes there goes the other also. The time was when a Premier of Ontario was himself suffi- ciently magnetic and popular to draw the crowd, but Mr, Hardy seems to find necessary the assistance of a sing- ing band. In furtherance of this idea Hon. G. W. Russ is understood to be organizing a troupe of acrobats and Hon. Mr. Dryden a band of monkeys. le Hon. Mr, Gibson could be persuaded to add a lime -tight view of the twenty- nine Gibsons for whom he has provided public offlees and Hon. Mr. Harcourt into turning a search light on his mythical surplus, we would bo assured of at least an amusing aggregation of Cabinet artists, 1 MR. ONFARTo : Then) th ere posts have been in for over twenty-six year, and they've got kinder dozey an' rotten. Guess tstec to put noo ones in, A DISSATISFIED LIBERAL, THE SCHOOL BOOK ROBBERY. Dr. Lang, of Owen Soend, an old- time Liberal, addressed a public meet- ing in Meaford the other night. He was there, he said, as a Lilairal, hut WAS not satisfied with the present Gov- ernment. He was present as a matte/ - of business. When an elector -in this province wrote to a depaetment of the Government several dines upon busi- ness, as he had to the Department of Crown Lands, and received no I eply, it was time to express his opinion. • He bad been prospecting on the north shore last summer, and made applica- tions to the department for different properties. Nine out of ten enquiries had been unanswered until the present day. "1 wrote Honorable J. M. Gibson," said he, "placing my rights to a disputed claim before hini fairly and squarely, and asked bins to give Me the result of his decision at an early date. That was while the house was in session. Up to the present day I have not• had a reply. Before the House adjourned, being anxious to get machinery into the mines while the lakes were frozen, I made application to him again, asking for an immediate reply. Was Mr. Gibson honorable or honest enough to answer my com- munication ? No. say such a man is not lit to occupy the position. 1 aro here as a Reformer, and I have not changed toy politics ; hut the Govern- ment are the servants of the people, and are there to ;Answer any corres- pondence, even from the humblest in- dividual." In the muse of his re- mark's Dr. Lang charged the depart- ment with deception in having pre- tended that certain deeds were not is- sued when he declnred that they were, and having been influenced by friend- ship in awarding deeds. SHE KNEW. A little girl near Annapolis, daugh- ter of a prominent man in the ranks of the Liberal party, had been taught to pray for everybody, and recently startled her mother one evening by her devout prayer, as follovvs; "Now, oh God, take care of yourself; tor if we lose you vire shall only have Mr. Laur- ier left to take care of Us, and he is not doing as well as papa expected he would do."— Surnrnersido Journal. THE CABINET MINISTERS DON'T KNOW. The Minister of Railways does not know the probable cost of the Yukon Railway ; he does not know if the Gov- ernment's engineers were ever asked for an estimate ; he does not know any- thing about the value per acre of the land the government is giving away ; he does not know how far it is to Tag- lish Lake (neither do we); he does know whether there will be any cliff: culty with lithe United States Customs about niaking connections between his now railway and the Pacific Ocean; he does not know anything about the rights of Canada at Fort Wrangle ; he does not know the position of the United States Government with regard to fillowing Can- ada to tranship at Fort Wrangle. But for all that, we notice that the Yukon Railway contract is made lee tween Her Majesty the Ql10(.11, repre- sented by the Honorable A. G. Blair, Minister of Railways and Canals, and the Honorable Clifford Sifton, Minister of Interior, of the one part, and Messrs. McKenzie & Mann of the other part, What a lot Mr. Sifter) must know to make up for the coloesal ignorance of Mr. Blair. The provisions of the Civil Service Act ought to he be extended to the Cabinet Ministers. Surely there would he no harm in a Minister knowing as mueh it third- class clerk, or in having half as much gumption. Some hard thinga are being, said about this deal. but if all the Ministers are as deplorably ignor. ant of the subject as the Minister of Railways corifessea hitnaelf lo be, the crime, if any, seerns to belong to the same category as blowing out the gas. —Montreal Star (Independent.) There are some charges made against the Hardy Government that are look. ed ou by the public as of a general character. Such questions as whether ther 0 is a surplus or not aud the size of that sur plus are matters that clo not come home to the ordinary ratepayer except in a general way.. Bet. there axe other questions that are (Imre mat- ter of fact and of which the ordinary ratepayer has some experimental knowledge and that come holm, to him in a way there is no escaping from. The School book question is one of these. The Minister of Education claims that school books are Very cheap and that there are few changes in them. This is a question on which the ordinary citizens can form a fairly in- telligent opinion find we venture to say that that opinion is if) direct vari- ance to the claims of the Min'ster. Take the price of the readers. Part I of the first reader costs 5 cents awl is sold for 10 cents; part II costing 0 cents is sold for 15e; the second buok costs 11 cents is eold foe 25 cents; the third book costiug 14 cente is sold for 30 cents and the fourth hook cost ing 19 cents is sold for 40 cents. Why should there be. such a profit; to the publishers of these hooks? Why should t he govern went take a bonus from the manufacturers of school books of ten or twelve thous- and a year? t is a direct tax levied on the school population and is paid by who huy these. text books. one of the gt ea test farces that (Wel` was enact- ed was tho Commission that recently "inVestigated" the price of school books. ft summoned 0 number of nosier manufacturers, school book pub- lishei s and book binders before it and asked each of them if he (or the firm he represented) was making too large a profit ou the part of the work he did. We all know ivhat the answer would be. Of course they weren't imd the Commissioners reported with all ser- iousness to the Minister that schools books were not too dear I Let any man who has left school for a few years, compare the list. of hooks he required with the list his child or younger bro- ther or sister is using, and see if 00 changes are taking place. Not only school books hut ncte books, se, ibblers, etc. are constantly chenging and are found to be a heavy tax on the man with the ordinary income. We have said nothing of the drawing book and copy book extortions which ere the greatest lilot on the system. Books of blank paper that costs 2 or 3 cents itre sold for 5, 7, or 10 cents. No wonder school book publishers become wealthy in a few years and can afford to build sanitariums or swimming baths. Any electoes who consults his own interest or the interest of the general public will vote on March 1st to place not only the Educational but the entire political affairs of the country in the hands of men who will see that they are run in the interest of the public rather than in the interest of the pub- lishers and contractors, who in turn must be bled in the intereSts of the government. It is time for a change. —Bruce Herald, In ist Upon having just wha you call for when you go to buy Ilood'a Sarsaparilla. There is no subetitute far flood's. It Is an In- sult to your intelligence to try to sell you something else. Remember that 9/1 efforts to induce you to buy an article you do not want, aro based simply on the desire to secure more profit. '1,h• dealer Or clerk who does this MVOS noth- ing for your welfare. lie simply wants your 'money. DO not permit yourself to be deceived. Insist upon having Sarsaparilla Ami only Hood's. Ip MI Ono tono Blood Purt1Sor, Hoodts piii_ easy to buy, easy ta tate, LW enacts °aerate. AI, The People Must Pay. Ottawa, Feb. 10.— The Auditor -Gen- eral's report, which came down to- night, makes some interesting revela- tions as to the first yeaCs expenditure under Liberal rule. The legal expenses, which the GoVernment promised to do away with, cost $101,409; of t his Pre- mier Peters, of Prince Edward Island, got $4,250; Mr. Fitzpatrick's trip to Rome cost $650. The Liberal news- papers have profited hy the fact that their friends arn in power. The Toron- to Globe got $1,704, and sold 10,000 copies of its jubilee munher to the Government. 'Bre Tomtits) Star bag- ged $864. The Floral' to n Tr in es Ca m e in for $762, and the London Advertiser for $406. The Tariff Commission cost $0,219, of which $813 went to pay the expenses of Mr. Fielding, $175 for Sir Oliver Mowatt, $324 for Sir Richard Cartwright, 8130 for Mr. Border], and $200 for Mr. Paterson. The luxury of a special train from London to Pe- trolea cost $100. OUP Baking FEBRUARY UA Y 17, 1898 A Liberal Senator Denounces the 4* The Yukon Steal. Ottawa, Feb. 10.—Senator Boulton, the free trade champion of the Upper House, and a heretofore strong sup- porter of the Laurier government, spoke on the address in the Senate yeeter day. 1 -le had supported the govern- ment on its trade policy, believing it would result in the introduction of free trade. But the House might judge of his disappointment at the fact that in- stead of free trade, or anything ap- proaching it, the Government of Sir Wilfred Laurier has given the country a tariff directed by a Toronto manu- facturer, and retaining all theelements of protection. Senator Boulton was outspoken in his condemnation of the Yukon Railway. He considered i' out- rageous that the government should give away four millions of acres in the gold country for a hundred -and fifty -toile tramway. In tunes past he bad condemned the ex- travagance of the Tory gov- ernment, but no contract they had ever entered into could compare in ex- travagapce and recklessness with this. Suppose the contractors should sell out to an American syndicate, the result would be that there would be the his- tory of the purchase of Alaska rep eat - ed again. The Contractors Will Clear %Unions. • In a speech delivered in the House of U0110110118 in referring to the Yukon railway deal, Mr. E. 13. Osier, one of the Toron to members said :—As to the proposed Yukon deal, he objected ab- solutely and utterly to the terms of the contract. "We have placed ourselves," said Mr. Osier, "in a humiliating posi- tion, in a position which ruight be tak- en by a South African Republic. We have placed ourselves lower than China. That country has sought for a loan and the powers of Europe have asked China to give special powers in that counts y for a certain length of time, but, ehaken as she is, China has apparentlserefused the offer with scorn. leyou are going into any enterprise, the cheapest way to accomplish that enterprise is by paying cash for it. The man who has not the cash to pay always pays more. I ma.ite the state- ment here, and I defy contradiction, that if I went to London to -day with the contract which has been offered to these gentlemen—of the pick of 3,750,- 000 acres of the best lands in 1,he Yukon egion—I could sell that land to-mor- rossz for mom money than the 25,000,000 acres of land granted to the C.P.R. would ever have been sold foe. I do not believe that any member of the Government realizes what has been done under this contract. You have made a slave of every prospector who gees into ihe country for the next five years. Every man who goes in there with an outfit on his back will find one of McKenzie and Mann's ag,•ents look- ing after him, and if he makes a find they will stake it out, and will get all the claim except what the prospector may have registered. Of course he C811 rterister his own claim, hut who will lialy get to the office first, the con- tractor with his complete outfit, or the prospector ivho is obliged to trudge on foot to the place of registry? I can see 00 reason fur sanctioning. this con- tract, and unless better reasons are given t han we have yet heard, I can- not understand bow bets of the Government can swallow the contfact. But if t hey do so, I for one will here- after nevet refuse to believe the story_ either that Jonah swallowed the whale or the whale swallowed Jonah." Is pure, carefully mix° I and only first-class•ingredients used. Makes more biscuits than any other Baking Powder onilthe market. It's worth is acknowledged by the hundreds who now use it. It is always fresh and the take is only 25e per und. A sample for the asking. J. H. C MBE Physician's .4upplies. Chemist and Druggist. A Shoe Talk. Every person who does no have to pay storage on bit money familar with the difli 1000010 answer the requirements of these adeanced times. Foot- wear is one of the unfailing necessities, and it costs good deal in the course of a year—if you get the wrong kind. We don't keep the wrong kind, Not Unit we are more honest than the other dealers, but our long experience has taught us how to avoid being "stuck" on poor goods. This knowledge is necessar- tly of benefit to our ctistomers, beeause, the Meaner a shoe firm ean buy the cheaper it can afford to sell. "Cheap" doesn't mean poor quality, however, for if it did, mu' shoes would not be "cheap." We keep no poor quality goods, no matter what the grade. The celebrated makers of JACKSON & JACKSON, The Noted Shoe Dealers,