Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1881-11-03

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ineutai' And I say to. you. with the
utmost frsnkness, that I do not think
The city is A. fully prepared As it ought
to be. In the first place l find amongst |
you = certain petty spirit in looking At
tho effect which the construction Of J
this or that line may have upon par.
ticular branches OF business here--up-
on the methods Of doing business upon
this Pacific coast. / iind narrow
apprehension among soms Of
you that il would BE- better. At least in
certain directions, to continue the
present isolation Of Portland. Now,
/ take the high and broad ground, that
any transportation line, whether d.
rectly conn citing Portlaud with any
other portion Of the country, or doing
it merely indirectly. which will result
in the development Of the material re-
sources Of this state and the adjoining
territory, cannot Be anythiog but :
great boon to you all. Some Of you
have told me that it would be better
for Portland not to have . direct rail.
road connection with Puget Sound.
Othars have told mo that it would
hurt Portland TO have q direct commu.
nication with San Francisco. Now, /
say this is very narrow view to take
Ycu have here the accumulated exper-
fence, knowledge Of the country, and
capital gained during the th,rty years
Of your existance ~ town. You have
an enormous advantage over every
other locality, on Puget Sound or any
where else. And it seems to me that
it would DO the easiest thing in the
world to maintain your commercial su-
premacy hereafter a. you have main
tanned it heretofore, Notwithstanding
The construction Of sny line that may
open access to other towns within this
state or the adjoing territory. have
heen max ng some addresses TO differ
ent Puget Sound towns. Perhaps you
have read some of them. l took the
ground in them that it was our duty
as transportation companies in the
irst place to seek all the paying busi-
ness we could find; and, IN the second
place, TO put each locality as far as
practicable on the same footing AZ re-
CARDS transportation rates and facili-
ties. As far as my observations has
gone l cannot see any reason Why any
Portland merchant should object to
wheat being shipped from any port on
Puget Sound instead Of being shipped
down the Columbia. fit is true, as
is it is claimed, that wheat can be
shipped cheaper from Puget Sound
than down tho Columbia it is so much
more money in the pocket Of the mer,
chant who ships it. Now, as l told
the people of the Puget Sound towns
they are not prepared to engage in the
wheat shipping business. They have
no warehouses, neither have they stor
age facilities Of any description; no,
have they capital to move the wheat
You have all these advantages, and
you can create them in the Puget
Sound towns. l do not see why large
shipping houses here should not en-
gage in the wheat shipping business b,
way of Paret Sound. That would b
the proper way Of averting what ! con
. slider an imaginary danger to Portland
but what some of you consider rea
| one.
r Take the possession Of Puget Scum
, towns, or such Of them as are bes
, adapted to shipping grain or other pre-
( ducts Of the country. Do your rhipE
, ing at Puget Sound when it is difficul
, to get tonnage down the river, ~ a
present. There has been no discrim
! nation heretofore in favor OF Portlan
as against Puget Sound, and I can .,
cure you that none need he expeete
in the future. We must carry tn
! products of the country out Of th
. country. It is our interest as tram
por,ation companies to do SO, and it
D the greatest benefit that we can poss
] bly, confer upon this whole region, tha
h We should facilitate in every possibl
' way the shipment Of its products.
a wheat cannot be taken down the Co
}. un'bia, let it 60 to Puget Sound, thu
: keeping money in circulation, and ].
. those who are entitled to the proceed
"a of their labor receive them as quickl
s as possible. That is the ground I TAX
/ Applause. / am satisfied that it
Z within your power as shipping me
: chants to take possession of the graf
4 trade at Puget Sound. And / fe,
sure that after VIC complete our raj
>, road connections with the Sound, I
d We propose to do during the next yet
! by putting in the link between Por
a. land and Kalama, and you see thu
q grain can be carried from the william
>. ette valley and from the whole regic
! east of the mountains to Puget Sour
a withou. breaking bulk. yon will avs
!. yourselves of the new facilities thus q
:. forded. l do not see the difference b
, tween loading ships at Portland and
! Puget Sound as far as the particul
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