The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1866-03-14

OIL.
We had written brief article referring to
the apparent reluctance Of both our over.the-
river contemporaries t. admit that there is pc.
troleum in their county and in western Wis
consin generally. The recent change in the
course Of the Courier and the editorial of the
Union since editor BRowN's return from the
east, induces US to withhold most Of what We
had written. We have been little provoked,
rs have others, at the readiness of most Wis.
consin papers to blow about indications in
Muskegon and Detroit, Mich. at Davenport,
Iowa, in Canada, in southern ILL.,, and in Ken.
lucky. and their prudence in looking "half. sus-
piciously" at the lands underneath them; their
opinions ebbing or flowing IS the current Of
rumor happens to run. ia company, amply
able, should commence at McGrcgor to explore
for lead or for oil, we would not obstruct the
work on the mere suspicion of those who had
too little interest to investigate the sohy of the
enterprise. Our paper does not publish false
hoods on anyssubject ItS columns or its opin-
ions are not for sale-everybody knows this
but when public enterprise is begun, based
on probabilities not excelled outside the dem
onstrated regions Of Pa, Va and Ohio, we
think that good taste, judgment and propriety
would cause US to go very slow in impugning
the motives or questioning the sense Of those
who are at least equal in honor and judgment
to ourselves. The gentlemen interested in
the oil companies of western Wisconsin, and
Immediately across the river at Harper's in Al
amakee county, are among the best business
men Of the west, whether capacity or integri
ty is the standard Most Of them---we believe
all the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES on.the grounds
sclcstcd and are seeisicd. Their names are =
guarantee Of good faith in any business circle
Of the northwest Is it probable that these
men would pretend to believe fslsehood and
cxpend a large amount Of money organizing
and developing, merely to lose their reputa
tons by swiadling the public7 We hold thai
an editor ought to interest himself in the local
advance ment Of his own region at least, ant
that he has no right 10 tribe with the business
Of his ncighbors. The general management
of all public and private concerns by the i'm
perial eve" of the press. and tie assumption
that truth can only be found sat the bottom o
our well" are immoiesties which editors wo't
do we'll to quit. We desire to treat our con
temporaries with genuine courtesy, but justice
requires an occasional mention of tho impro
priety of attacking the business of others upor
mere rumor. The article of Mr.. Brown, dis
claiming responsibility for the course Of the
Union while he was east, We give essential,
below; his political slap at the Courier and hi
reference to lawyer who will not pay adver
Using fees, have not much to do with the sub
ject, and we omit those portions:
PErkoLEux.-We are much astonishcd on
| our arrival home to be met with charges Of
skepticism in relation to the existence of oil in
Crawford County, and Of standing in the way Of
the development of the material wealth and
prosperity Of this region. sg
The charges against US as the responsible
editor OF this journal for being one, or doing
| the other, are utterly false aid groundless.
We were among tho earliest visitors at the
springs on Copper Creek; we declared through
the press our belief ia the existence of oil
there, also that we believed that country rich
in mineral wealth, and we have never said to
the contrary nor intimated it. Our columns
have been open to every man aud every com
pany who could enlightcn the public in regard
to this great interest. We have conversed
freely with oil men. have solicited communica
tons from5 such men as Thomas, Kent, and
Others. There is where VIC stood personally
aud where the "Union' has always stood.
We made no special provision for this de-
partment of news DUNG our absence. That
our Office boys, who have written for US during
| the same. may have been skeptical is no ones
| business but their own, and they have never
said, as the Courier's correspondent states,
there was no oil on Copper Greek, nor that oil
had not been struck in boring.
Now let US say, we shall not, knowingly,
publish tissues Of falsehoods in relation to this
matter. We have too good an opinion of the
| oil companies organized here to believe that
| they require it, for they are generally made up
of our soundest and best business men, and
they do not believe that their material inter.
ests are to be promoted by persistent lying.
We are in frequent correspondence with
different sections OF the country ia relation to
this question, and we have always reported oil
here. Our paper is sought for far and wide as
| q medium Of oil intelligence, and We shall
make il rs truthful "A nOsS:blc