The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1883-12-23

the expense of bringing the ship TO the
| wheat" would be, say:
Towage up and down 500 90
| PilOtage up and down. n.......... ll5 90
| Lighterage, $50 tons at 81 2J..... j62 20
Balance against Astoria and in ia
voT OF Portland-....--.-.-- ll92 W
/
In other words. a saving to the farmer
of about 2A cents per bushel, which on
| the total shipments Of good crop wear
of 100000 bushels would amount TO
! S135, 600 which the producer would lose
| by taking The AsTORIAS's advice-load-
ing ships at Astoria and ignoring the
axiom with which commence this letter.
From the attention now being given to
river improvement, IL l. certain that
when the time is ripe the easily removed
obstacles between this city and Astoria
will be removed, so that vessels of the Ice
King class can load here entirely at all
times; and this will increase the saving to
the ships by nearly the amount allowed
for hghterage in the above statement,
thus showing on such ship a balance
against Astoria. in favor of Portland and
! the farmer, of about $l7j0.
That salmon should be shipped from
/ Astoria no one will question; but when
! The AsToRIAN talks of loading wheat, the
staple of this country. at its wharves,
ii manifestly ignores the rules of nature,
commerce and common sense, in order TO
boom the healthful little town by the sea.
Respectfully,
EXPORTER,
THE Historian makes no statements
that are not susceptible of direct proof.
The charterer of the lee King, and the
master of that vessel are both here. and
to them we are willing to refer the mat
| ter. Ii is a well known fact that a yes
sol can come 70 Astoria, load and depart,
at far less expense and proportional
profit to her owners than 10y going to
Portland. To deny this argues ignor-
ance on the part of Exporter"
Following is the item 10 which ''EK-
porter refers:
The Ice King cleared from this port
yesterday with a valuable cargo for Lon
| don. She was chartered by A. w. Berry,
/ of this place. Her disbursements proper
do not aggregate above $1,000. Had she
gone to Portland the probability is, argu-
| ing from past experience. the vessels dis
bursements would have been at least
| $1,000. This illustrates the superiority
of Astoria over interior points as a
port for ships 10 load and sail from, as
in the case of the WdllGcetOtUH and other
vessels that have loaded here, the great
difference IN favor of Astoria.
In that We underestimated rath-
e- than exaggerated the facts, know
ing that those statements are peculiarly
unpalatable TO our friends in the interior,
and that if it were possible to contro-
vert them some clever Portland reader of
The AsToRIAS would do 50.
The party signing himself Exporter"
is either an exporter or he is not. If he
is, he knows that his suppOsitional fig
ures are false, If he il not, lac seeks to
create false impression by his sigma
ture. He raises the question himself
about loading wheat at Astoria, and
having done so proceeds to charge The
AsToRIAN with ignoring the rules of mat
ure, commerce and common sense" Let
US examine Exporters figures:
In the first place the lee King, as she
lies here ready for sea, draws 21 feet s
inches. To mention such draught as that
in connection with Portland prOyokes a
smile, but this is Exporters" own illus
tration. he figures 100 tons ighterage
at S1.25. Exporter must be a recent
importation or he would know that the
Astoria Transportation company offers
to transport 10000 tons of wheat from
Portland to Astoria for G2H cents per
ton. 1t would have taken 1000 tons at
that figure when il owned barge No. /,
but Exporter and his confreres didn't
want to see that enterprise succeed, and
withheld their trade, all in the interest
of the producer, ''thus affording a saving
to the farmer" about whose welfare ''Ex-
, porter is SO solicitous. He knows that
wheat can be brought from Portland here
at profit for fifty cents ton, and that
the fact that the o. r. & n. Co. charges
S1.25 ton is no criterion il making
, statements TO stand the test of investiga-
: ton. The next item is a palpable error.
2 If Exporter knows anything, be is
aware that that Sl44.50 has no business
there: that il is creation of his fancy.
He must know that the rate of insurance
is governed by the class-rating of the
} vessel.
/. ''Now, suppose" he goes blunderingly
e on, ''that she had come to Portland" !"
I Now We have estimates in place of exag
r gerated statements. The tonnage and
/ pilotage items are so little out of the way
: that it is not necessary TO notice them
2 But ''Lighterage, 45O tons at S1.25." Tn,
. Imperial is a vessel of the same builC
2 and tonnage. The captain of that vessel
= stated 10 US that his bills for ighterag,
were over $1,000. The captain is gone tC
! sea, but the bills in the o. K. d n. Coz
T Office will prove the assertion. Now, an
q alogy suggests that if the Imperial paiC
= over 81 900 for lighterage, vessel of tn
J. same build and tonnage would pay tn
n same.
So that all through Exporters" articl
4 we find deliberate misstatements, exhib
f iting either falsehood or ignorance. Tn
s only part of it that sayors of knowledg
!, of the subject is where he comedies tha
), the Zee King saved money by loading a
|. Astoria, which is good deal-for him
2 He caps the mendacity by calling his far
rago of absurdity, "a true comparison
between the two ports"