The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1873-02-28
FnOar AN AsTORIAN.

noticed q communication IN ths
Portland Herald of the 18th inst cop
led from your paper, written by Phliil
Low; also, q response from an ex
porter (Trigo,1 in the next issue of TIE
Herald, in which he charges Mr..
Low with utter ignorance of the ex-
portation business, and makes out by
his figuring that the exporter, paying
as cents per bushel for wheat at Al
hany, and shipping it to Liverpool,
after paying commissions and charges
at that port, and interest, suffers a
very considerable loss" He closes
thus: Farmers clubs will ere long
see that it is to their interest, instead
of crying out about wheat rings, which
only exist in Imagination, to bend
their energies toward the establishment
of q produce exchange here, where
they can offer their wheat for sale by
samples, and instead of storing where
they cannot reap any advantage when
the market is high, they should do SO
where they can at any time command
the highest market value" this is to
say, in Portland. l do not know, Mr..
Editor, that Mr.. Low processes to be
very wise respecting the exporting
business, but he evidently exhibits
more good common sense in his article
than does "Trigo" in his response; il
proves clearly that there is = wheat
~ I II . faf "a
form their ring, and as the farmer is at
the bottom-the foundation upon
which all other business rests-if they
are rightly combined and guided they
will control, so far as the sale of their
products are concerned. ! think il will
he difficult job for ''Trigo' TO con-
vince them that if their wheat is stored
at Astoria it will be out of the world,
or out of the road 10 market, where it
can't be found.
Let US look at some of sTrigo's" fig
uring. He makes the freight on 3, 3,eO0,-
600 bushels of wheat from Albany to
Portland, S42o,000; from Portland to
Astoria, sl50,Oo0 (in this, suppose lie
means what comes in Iightersl,
amounting in all 10 $4,000. Now,
Ir. Low thinks, and the farmers will,
if they do not now, that they can have
their wheat freighted to Astoria, with
out having it hauled over ten or twelve
times, with a heavy wastage at every
handling, for 12i cents per bushel. IF
h1f In ha 70 1r
5000, coo bushels will be S315, 600, taken
from 500, eco, leaving sI95, 600, which
viii give to the farmer Is cts on the
bushel. One-haIf of the saving (s97,-
O00) will build sufficient wharves and
storehouses at Astoria to contain all
their wheat, ready to go into the ship,
either in bulk or in sacks, the day the
vessel enters the harbor, or is ready TO
receive it. Now let 'Trigo'' prove,
it he can, that the wheat is worth less
for being in store in good condition at
Astoria, without having been handled
and charges cxacted at Portland
I suppose you could not convince
''Trigo" but that Portland viii ever be
the center of all commerce, and the
Queen of the Columbia Valley. He
reminds me of the Chinaman, looking
1T the map OF the world, who declared
it all wrong because China was not in
the center. There is much sophistry
in s'Trigo's" reasoning. and but little
practical sense. If he should fail to
faa e..
was worth less when stored at Astoria
instead of Portland, I think it will not
be hard matter to satisfy him that it is
worth more. He says it will never do
to ship wheat in bulk. 1t is very easy
to see why he thinks so. If shipped
in hulk it must be put on board by eIe-
vators, and in that case they could
only put in six or seven hundred tons,
unless their elevators reached a long
way down the river.
Now, Mr.. Editor, it will never 90 for
Oregon to pursue the narrow policy
she has been pursuing for years gone
by. We must seek trade and traffic
from all countries direct. The ships of
all nations can enter our harbor, bring
ing their products and manufactured
goods and receive ours in RETURN
When this becomes the case, the great
resources of Oregon will be rapidly
developed. Two things only are now
needed, since the completion of the
Locks, to make the Willamette Valley
the garden of the Pacific Coast. One
thing is railroad, direct as it can be
made, from our State Capitol to the
harbor of Astoria; not q boomerang"
road, by WY of Portland. Such a
road if made to-day, and in running
order, would pay. The other thing
is thorough overhauIing of
the present system of towing and
plotting on the bar The State should
take the matter in hand and either
make the parties now engaged in tow
ing and plotting fulfil their contract,
or else place good and sufficient tug
in the hands of those who will do the
business as it is done at other seaports.
The manner of receiving and send
ing goods to foreign countries during
the past year hes convinced lockers
on, willing to be convinced, that the
haroor of Astoria is the only proper
place for the exchange of the ocean |
and inland commerce. When that is
the case, and not before, will Oregon |
show her full strength and greatness.
and stand side by side and equal in ad-
yantages with her sister, who has SO
long robbed her of half her profits.
Astoria, Feb. IS. 1875. PIONEER. |