, 1892-11-02
IN sELF-DEFENSE.

The interests of the farming community
of Thurston county and the growth of the
city of Olympia are so closely related that
the one cannot prosper without the other.
Every thousand Inhabitants added to
Olympia increases the value of every acre
of farm land in the county. And what
ever Injuries or retards this city's growth
lessons the value of every peck of potatoes,
every pound of vegetables and butter, ev-
cry bushel of oats, every load of wood or
bark and every ton of hay produced in
Thurston. county.
The farmers need this market and they
have right to expect that every merchant
in this city, and especially every one deal
ing in grain, hay or feed, shall buy of
them. In fact, the merchant of Olympia
owes it to himself and his city to buy from
our own farmers. If they expect the farm
er to purchase his goods and wares here,
they must treat him Justly. Their inter-
ests are mutual. What helps the one as
sists the other. Wrong Olympia and you
injure the farmer
Every dollar expended in improving our
harbor adds to our commercial Importance,
and thus increases our population and hence
our home markets. This Seattle canal, if
it secures the appropriation demanded,
must take a portion of the money which
should be used to deepen and widen
Olympia's harbor. The dredging of our
harbor is purely public improvement,
made solely for the benefit Of the public
e. large. 1t is entitled to just so much
money in the general appropriation bil for
the improvement of rivers and harbors
of this state, and any project that takes
away any portion of this, Injuries Olympia
and Thurston county.
But the Seattle ring, not satisfied with
the reasonable amount to which she and
her harbor Is entitled, demands that we
shall give up a large portion of the
amount to which Olympia is entitled, to
the end that a million a year may be ex-
pended in King county to dig a ditch
through the bowels of the earth, back to
the townsite Of Kirkland; not for the
benefit of commerce or for the use of the
public, but that on to the public may be
unloaded batch of worthless townlots by
the Hunt McGraw syndicate of real estate
spectators.
There is no politics or sentiment in this
question. The cold facts and figures stare
us in the face. If our personal safety was
endangered as this canal proposition at
tacks our property and the prosperity and
growth of this city and county, no citizen
would hesitate to resist the assault, in self
defense.
Every farmer in Thurston county should
vote against the canal plank, and John H.
McGraw has told you that if you wish to
vote against the canal you should do so by
voting against him for governor, because
he is the head of the ditch and he caused
it to be put in the republican platform.
Many are inclined to treat the matter
lightly, others honestly believe that it will
not be to Olympia's detriment. A number
owning more property and having larger in
terests of various kinds in Seattle than
here, try to laugh down the opposition and
say that it will help this city, while
larger percent of the people here realize
that its success means that Olympia shall
'stand still, " not only while the ditch is be-
ing dug, but for years thereafter.
THE TRIBUNE is in no way narrow or
egotistlcal. The various clerks, ETC., who
reside here temporarily or to those whose
interests are centered in Seattle, THE TR1B-
UNE has no quarrel, and for them no censure.
We have little respect for one who does not
stand up for his home and its interests.
You should be, and no doubt are, for the
canal For those whose interests are here
and who honestly differ from THE TRIBUNE,
we entertain nothing but the highest re-
gard. 1t is their privilege, as it is ours,
yet we consciensciously believe that if the
ring succeeds they will see their mistake
only when it is too late.
But for those who pretend to be for
Thurston county and Olympia, but who
are always for King county and King
county men as against Thurston;
whose intellects are not sufficiently keen
to hide their treachery and hypocricy to
and for their alleged home, THE TRIBUNE
has the utmost contempt. Let Thurston
county once stand up for her rights and
make an open, manly fight against this
ditch jobbery and King itself will respect
her for it.