The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-11-05
SANDER.

Ohffhv0hHhs
An ugly word heads this article. Let us
see what it means. The dictionary says,
ISLANDER literally, scandal, false or ma
icious report; defamation by words; calum-
NY" Then let us look out scandal Here
is the reply. ''Scandal-iterally trap
spring, snare laid ior an enemy I; something
said which is false and injurious to reputa-
tion..
Now for an illustration. This new
for town is found. Suppose one is located
and as usual store is opened. But it is far
from a city, roads are bad, haulage costly;
therefore the goods are not of first quality
and the goods very dear The storekeeper, Mr.
Oreanden let uscall him mprospersbecausefol folks
must have flour and bacon and beans and
coffee, ribbons for the ladies and tobacco for
the men. But the farmers poor and
keep poor, and dim sort of idea gains
ground that the town is large enough and
the country enough settled up to have a
second store, that competition may improve
the quality and lower the prices of goods.
Naturally the storekeeper objects. But
he has been obliged to lest some
of the merchants know the truth to
keep his own credit up, and get his goods;
and he is compelled to keep on sending on
his orders, but he tells the merchants all
the time that his customers all love h1n, and
| will never spend cent at a new store and
he tells the merchants, if any questions are
asked of you mind you frighten every man
away that presumes to think of setting up
in my territory, and this he does though
hitherto he had been praising up everything
to the merchants as No. l. So matters go
on for a year or two, and the storekeepers
wooden building gives way to fine brick,
and he buys land all round the town, and
| gets hold of all the stock in the bridge that
leads to the town, and he gets charter,
and he nominates the town council and ap-
points the mayor, and runs the fire depart
ment, and his goods are no better and his
prices rise.
But the country settles up, and wheat
and wool come in and people begin to talk,
and at last they make up their minds, that
this thing is too thin, and if the truth were
but known about the trade of the place
more stores must be built and competition
must bring prices down.
I So some of the outsiders, who have not
borrowed any money of Mr.. Oreanden, and
owe him no more than they can well pay
get together and find out how many farmers
trade with the place, and what wheat and
wool come in, and how much flour and
bacon and sugar has been handled the last
year and all the rest of it. And they sign
their names to the paper which shows the
| figures and after some trouble they get it
into the newspapers. After a little a man
| with a head on his shoulders sees this pa
per, and thinks, why this Oreanden must
be coming money at this rate If things
are SO surely there can't be any difficulty in
getting the merchants in the big CITY to
supply goods fon a new store, or even two.
So he enquiries for himself and finds that
the people that signed the paper are honest
men and have told the truth Whereupon
he prepares nice plain circular which
mentions the position of the town ; and how
many people there are, and what they need,
and tells of the facts the folk have got to-
gether about it, and how they signed the
paper that appeared in the newspaper. And
then he goes to the great city and sees all
the merchants and sends out some copies of
his circular. Soon Mr. Oreanden. the fat
storekeeper, hears of this, and he bites his
| nails and scratches his head, but no good
comes of this, for at last he realizes that the
town is not his, that the inhabitants are not
his slaves, they can trade where they please
so long as the don't owe him any money,
and that as sure as the sun rises they will
leave his store for the new one if it sells
better and far cheaper goods. And he thinks
the merchants will supply the goods too if
| they believe this circular
| is it too late to stopit? Says he to him
self. Perhaps l can make out these people
that signed the paper a pack of liars, and
this new trader a fraud; and then the mer-
chants won't supply the goods and the new
store can't be opened, and my bonanza goes
on again. Can / do it myself? says he.
That won't do, for in the first place every
one will see my game, and in the next l
have been telling those merchants all the
time what good thing have got. have
it. There is the Mayor, he will say what l
tell him; never mind that he knows no
more of storekeeping than sheep does of
the ten commandments, and besides sup
| ! liCo iiC Wioii DuteCI. IASSS men III UIlS
city don't know that. and he is fine fell
low to lock at and so responsible too, and
then how well he manages that town coun-
Gil; SO civil be is to that poor fellow from
up South and holds his party together. Yes,
that is the way out of it. Did it answer ?
say You. Well. that remains to be SEEN
What did the town people say about it ?
/ Did the merchants finid it out ? The sequel
will show.
| Now go back to the heading of this ar
ticle and its first few sentences, and read
this from the San Francisco Morning Call
of Oct. Doth:
stPAcIFIc COAST TELEGRAMs. s.-OREGoN' s
BAD LEGIsLATURE.-Port Oct. 10
In the State Senate last evening the pros
pectus of the Oregon Pacific Railway Com
pany, of which Col T. Egenton Hogg Is
President, was read In a speech by one of
the Senators, who denounced it in bitter
terms, characterizing it as false in its state
ments, dnd fraud in it's face. The bill
under consideration, which was bill to
provide for interchange of traffic by com
mon carriers, was indefinitely postponed. !"
Do you see it?