Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-10-28
Mr. Wizards Address,

Lie eAtIdcI we puDliSu from Tue
speech OF Mr.. Willard before the Port
land Board of Trade, Saturday, will
be read with great interest. 1t sets
forth more fully the purposes of the
great aggregation of capital he re-
presents, than any utterances he has
previously made. His views are
certainly very impartial, so far as
they affect the interests of rival sec
tons, and are SO comprehensive in
scope as to elicit the admiration Of
those who can grasp the full extent
of policy which embraces a control
of the transportation business of the
whole northwestern portion of the
continent.
The assurance to the people Of
Seattle that the railroad will be ex-
tended to their city from point
south of Tacoma, will still further
enlarge their already exalted hopes
OF prosperity, while the prediction
that Portland will remain 1.-The CEN
ter, the focus, of an immense rail-
way system" causes her citizens to
toss their hats, although there is a
great deal of hidden meaning in the
succeeding sentence which declares
that her present growth cannot be
undone by any human power, which
of course leaves the converse of the
proposition tenable, that super
human means may accomplish this
result. The stress which is placed
upon the necessity for adopting
measures to remove distractions to
navigation Mt many points on the
Willamette and Columbia rivers,
and the suggestion that the Sound
may, necessarily, be employed as
the outlet for the immense exports
of the wide scope of country drained
by these arteries of transportation,
seems to afford hint of the thought
uppermost in his mind when this
saving clause was added to the
augury of futurs greatness for the
"Focus."
The people of Tacoma, like our
own citizens, cannot zee much in the
address to encourage them, except
they take an enlarged view of the
subject, and feel content with the
effects which observation has shown
has always flowed FROM enterprises
which make the whole country tribu-
tary to the grand result-an increase
of business and consequent pros
perity from secondary impulse to
trade. But our people should not
repine. The results, like those of a
mining excitement, arc greatly over
rated. Not ono in q thousand will
be able to amass fortune from the
speculative value given to real estate,
or tho large volume of business thus
created, while the course of the cur
rent will be marked by wrecks with
out number. 1t is better far to re-
main in the eddy with fair pros
pect of reaching the coveted haven
of rest, than to plunge into the swift
running food with bare chance of
escaping the vortex which brings
certain destruction. Contertment
is happiness, and experience proves
that neither the scramble for wealth
nor its actual possession brings with
it that sense of repose which under
lies true happiness.
Mr.. Willard assures the Board of
Trade that the Northern Pacific will
be pushed forward with the utmost
energy during the coming year.
The gap between the Eastern and
Western sections has already been
reduced to 800 miles, and this will
be lessened fully 600 miles within
twelve months from the beginning
OF the new year. The remainder
will be much more difficult to build,
requiring two very large and diff
cult tunnels, but lie feels confident
that the entire work will he COM
pleted in 1883.