Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-03-10
FROM THE WEST
An Oregon Lumberman Talks
Of His Western Home.,
AC0UNTRy FULL OF BIG TIMBER
His State VIII support Aissr - . Pres
idental candidase-b Blaine Wss
Their First cheies.

@ gorge ". Brewer Of Portland, Ore.
arrived At the Morton yesterday after
noon. Mr.. Brewer V . heavy lumber
man on the coast. and was formerly .
resident OF Mt. Pleasant, this state. Mr..
Brewer didn't make any attempt 70
conceal his enthusiasm for the slope
and never blushed during the time he
was eulogizing il. "Portland's . great
lin fact . wonderful city" he re-
marked. ats going to Be the great
metropolis Of the northwest. and divide
the trade Of the Pacific slope With San
Francisco. Its growth during the past
year has been neutrality-suspicious.,
you might say. Business on the coast
has been the deadest ever known for
years. The other cities that made such
gigagtic strides during the past two
years were comparatively lifeless. They
weren't even 1T = etandstiil IN fact, but
were going backwards al the lime.
Nevertheless during this came time
Portland continued to grow ~ never
before. II wasn't any boom growth
either; for il would have been inspos-
slble to institute q boom under Abe
commercial conditions 1t Was . good,
healthy development.
"The principal reason for this il prob
ably due TO the commercial features that
Portland possesses. 1t Is the terminus of
the great trunk lines OF the northwest,
and the amount OF shipping done there
ls immense. This is increasing every
year, aud insures permanent Develop
ment to the city. So long as there is .
western carrying trade 30 long must
Portland be active. Its harbor IL un-
surpassed and that 10 where il has tho
advantage of Seattle. Tacoma, Spokane
Falls, and other commercial riyals.
"The lumber bsRtsness at Portland 10
good, too. That il what drew me out
there. The timber is . kind Of noun
tain fir. Ii 10 not so heavy and pitcby
as our Norway pine. and grows much
larger. As an example, during the two
years l have operatei there We aver
aged To cut about - .0o0, 900 year,
and the logs in that 24,000, 900
averaged 1858 feet apiece. You
can form an idea of What that means
when you CONSIDER that the average
pine cut in Michigan today won't aver
age 200 feet to the log, and some of il
won't average anything except shovel
full Of saw dust. / have sold out my
lumber interests there. although 1
wasn't at all anxious to do 90; but .
man came along aud asked ME what
would take for the outfit. told him,
having no idea that he would accept;
but he did 90 and had to let itgo.
politics out our way? Well, ! should
say we did have politics. Next to the
best country in the whole continent.
We congratulate Ourselves on the quail
ity aud quantity of the politics We
keep on tap. We want Alger for presi-
dcnt-Ruseell A. Alger Of the state of
Michigan-ane every republican on the
slope will throw up his hat when he
reads hat the general has announced
himself to be . candidate. Blaine was
probably the slopes first choice for
president, but now that he is out of the
race Alger is its candidate. OF course,
the Pacific states haven't any antlpathy
toward President Harrison. They ap-
preciate his services to the country:
bnt for some reason or other he doesn't
exactly appeal to them. there seems
to be no warm political sympathy be.
tween his policy and their interests"