, 1877-10-13

L
shat the number entering tue river !.
rnnNnlly uecrrusing, and that in irs
1cNTs this important inda,trt Will lr
destroyed unless measure. nrr adopted
to limit the quantity which mty annual
~ he taken. These views nre probably
correct, and step, shouIj he taken Will
out delay to preserve aud protect nn en- "a
triprlsc ~ which II very large capital Vi 8
invested. This cNn only hv uccompliE
Od by concurrent legislation on the "
OF the State Ot Oregon ond this TrTiF
One or the other must initiate this lcgls
lHton, and, us the interests oi Oregon and
Washington arc mutual, there can bc no
improperly in our cnacling the necessary
laws. Any legislation 10y this Territory 4
on this subject should take effect only
when the snnc is rc enacted hy the Stale
OF Oregon.
Coas aud lumber constitute the piinci.
pnI articles OF rXporl from Puget Sound.
The quantity Oi iunbcr manufactured
during the past year h,s been about the
same us IN loImeI yrars--two nundrcd
and fifty million Icet valued at two milf
ion live hundred thousand dnIllr.. The
lumber business l., at present, laboring
under slight depression, but it is hoped
that 1t is only temporary,
The recent construction OF Railroads
IRON tide water 10 the coal fields of
King and Pierce counties, will stimulate
production and transportation Of coal,
and the time is near ut hand when the
development Of this element oi our re
sources will reach u magnitude equal to
any other OF our productive Industries,
The shipments ol coal during the first
seven months OF the present year have
amounted to more than eighty thousand
tons, of which seyen-eighths were iron.
the mines in King county.
BoAhD OP EisCAllSAIION
On two former occasions, | directed
the attention Of the Legislative Assembly
to the advisabiiity of providing by N4s
for Territorial Board OF Equnizlton,
which should hc empowered tn revise.
equaliHe and correct the assessment lists
of the several counties in the Territory.
The cause which then induced the reG,m,
mendation still exist. The assessment 4
| property in many counties il Tar belo#
in others, probably ut nearly its 8
value Lands in one county are ass&
ut thirty per cent less than lands ~
same value in another county. sen
counties return smaller assessment the,
present year than was returned the last
The entire aggregate value Of taxable
lands in one county which has been or
yanized fourteen years, is returned ut
two hundred dollars. One county adopt
ed an assessment in which the Territorial
tax was levied and collected, and then to
increase the county revenue, the county
adopted higher assessment ior county
purposes. The mere statement OF these
facts alone shows that taxation for Terri
torial purposes does NOT rest equally
upon the several counties in proportion to
the actual value OF the property therein,
and that the creation Of u body to supeA
wise and control the action of county au-
thorities is imperatively demanded by
every principle of equality and justice.
The only Objection that am aware that
has been urged against the organization
of such u board is the expense that
would be incurred. This objection
should have no weight If it is true, that
the burden of taxation rests unequally,
that the taxpayer of one county pays
more than his proportion Of the taxes
and another, less, remedy should be
provided regardless OF The question OF
expense. But ii We look at the matter
from the stand point OF economy, only, it
will be apparent that the additional rev
enue which will be derived from tnir and
Just assessments will far exceed the
reasonable expenses of properly con
stituted board.
TERRITORIAL LIBRARY.
The Territorial Library is in very UNI
satisfactory condition. A large number
of books have been lost or are IN the pHs
session of persons who have failed to re-.