Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-03-24
Letter From Washington, Pa.

| 49, 49, -N''N S>f ~s,A
ance. tie town appears as it did then
but marvellous change has come oy
er the spirit of the dream of the peo
pie of the place within the past hal
year. Then it was almost saints
rest for Presbyterian preachers, j
was the stronghold OF educated Pres
byterianism, surprising Princeton
for Princeton, has in ono sense, be
come more cosmopolitan than in for
mer days and less intensely Presby'
terrain The pressure of the wealth
of New York and other great cite:
along the Atlantic seaboard is tine
turing the Presbyterianism of Prince
ton. The hills and valleys around
Washington are peopled by race
who for several generations fed then
focks with an honest persistency
characteristic of Abranamic methods,
and no county in the United States
stood further in advance in the pro-
duction of the flock and finest fleece.
The life of its people was plain and
patient after the fashion OF their
Presbyterian ancestors, the Covenan-
ters, who lived to battle against the
Pope, the Devil, and the Kings pc
rogative. The Presbyterian college
had thrown its educational influence
over all the community. How chang
ed. The college is still there. The
old families are still there, bat new
set OF people have rushed into and
around the place and surrounded
it with different influences and
given to nearly ali of its people
new impulses. The quiet, slow,
plodding way Of living for a liv
ing has given place for the craze
to grow suddenly rich. If the
oil of Alnddin's lamp changed base
material into gold, the finding of coal
oil has changed the quiet contented
life of Washington people to a craze
to be rich in g month or year. Hap
piness destroying craze. 1t is true,
not a great deal of property has
changed hands. Most of the trans.
action are upon leases. but such prop
erty as has been sold, has been
sold at an enormous advance. Every
department OF business feels the thrill
of the new life and struggle for rich
es. The quiet educational current of
the place has been struck by a coun
ter current. There is a demand for
the establishment of the saloon, and
candidate for the president Judge
ship is being inquired for quietly by
people who desire a judge on the
bench who Will not rule against the
granting Of license. The sober pecu-
liar cheer of the college student and
his semi hilarious song on special oc
casions is to be filed in between times
by the carousals at night by people
who follow in the wake of the oil
food. The church sociable, college
and seminary commencements and
contests that gave public entertain
ment to the people do not ill the en-
tertsinment desires of the new peo-
pie There is q demand for the thea
ter troupe, the walking match, the
horse race, and other kindred amuse
ments different from what Washing
ton has been used to, and speculative
bulletin boards may be found in pub
lie places that announce the ominous
words, observation-disclosures
-Closed-Puts-Calls. The oil
scout is an adjunct of this new life,
and he seems to be an indispensable
factor for the manipulating of the
market by the wire pullers. Who he
scouts for, find out if you can, and
when Won think you have cornered
him he slips your hold as easily as
if he is the real personihcation OF
slippery oil in human form. There
are some old politicians in the town
who confess that for wire pulling,
politics, is child's play compared
to the wire pulling of the oil men.
The oil men are not strikers. they
ara OF an entirely different quality OF
men, adventurers, they beat each
other with the cruel polite calmness
of the gambler In the evening Of
this day report YRS brought to town
that oil had just been struck in a well
about two miles from the city, and by
night-fall nearly every oil man of the
town was on his way to the new we'll
Last week The Manifold we'll struck
oil. Il WAS reported as gusher of
500 TO 1900 barrels day, suddenly
dealers were dazed 10y the report that
it had fallen off in its gush to $50
barrels day, then came the report
that the well had been plugged so as
to only yield $50 barrels day SO as
to guage the market. Amidst the
bable of reports only they who have
ground floor standing know which is
which. Without virtus there can be
no vice, and without a genuine coin
there can be no counterfeit and so
with oil, because it has a ready mar
ketable value, and is an article of
nightly and daily consumption, it is
in ready demand and can be specu-
lated upon every hour. Large guam
titles of oil have been obtained and
large sums OF money realized but
not nearly SO large as the sums of
expended. The latest wells have
found oil at depth of about 400
feet, the depth of sea level. The mum
Der of men employed in the honest
part of the business is large, they get
good wages, but the nearness to pop
ulous centres prevents a scarcity of
the commodities that enter into the
securement of the oil The students
feel the pressure that an approach
ing examination season entails on
them, reviews in some of the classes
take place tomorrow and examina.
ton next week Juniata county is
represented in College bv j. Greer
Long in the Junior class, and John
F. Schweier in Sophomore. Wash.
ington is paradise lost.