The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-11-09
SHOULD BE ENDORSED.
What 3: F. Jones Says Of the
Wagon Road Project.

| Ed. GAZETTE:--G our efforts in the inter
est of getting an appropriation at the COM
/ ing legislature, to construct wagon road
connecting Eastern Oregon with the Oregon
Pacific railroad, are indeed coamendable,
; and should be indorsed by almost all the
eastern counties well as those in the
middle western portion of the state, and
by reasonable and unselfsh people all over
the state.
A matter in which half the people of the
great state of Oregon is interested, ia not a
"local' one. We claim tnat the building
Of this wagon road will not only benefit the
people living in the sections mentioned, but
the new industries that will spring into life
and the homes that it will open up. will
cause many to come into state that
would not reach us through any other me-
dium. The increase in the taxable property
alone, resulting from the building of this
road, would more than repay the state the
amount asked for in less than two years
after the road is opened for freight and
travel. If an Oregon legislature never
makes greater mistake than lending to her
pCOpIe Guo pditry SuHl VI pZO,OoO W Heip
open up her wonderful resources that kind
previden ence has so richly scattered over and
under her evergreen hills and fertile valleys,
the state will be extremely fortunate. We
say lending" the money, for we claim that
the state of Oregon will get both the prin-
cipal and interest back into her treasury
before the hand of time marks the Goth
century. The wool and wheat from our
inland empire, the millions of feet of low
tim ber in the Cascade mountains, will aid
in swelling the commerce that must find its
way into the markets of the world, through
the coming harbor of the Pacific coast.
We have often wondered why our sister
states, Washington and California, gathered
and located within their boundaries, nine
tenths of all the immigration that comes
west of the Rocky Mountains, and we have
noticed by close observation that there is
more people, after they arrive at Portland,
who locate in Washington than who remain
in our own great state. person landing
in Portland, while he secs a rich and grow
ing city, cannot comprehend the great VII
its soil OF agricultural resources than he
could were he in the old home in Kansas or
Nebraska, amid the grasshoppers and cy-
clones, but as a matter Of fact, were the
O. 2. r. r. connected with an eastern line,
the emigrant would be landed in the very
if he went to Portland he would have TO
travel through one of the richest valleys in
the United States, and If he went south, he
will only see broader valleys that have
done service for years, responding to the
farmers touch. though he as q rule, never
gives his land a test.
Yes, give us the road that will land peo
pie in the hea1t Of the old Willamette and
we are satisfied that the results will be felt
more than locally We will wager Nc
Kinley hat that we expct to win New
York, that Hon. john d. Daily will never
be sorry that he pledged himself to work
for an appropriation that will teud to unite
the east with the west. Give us the road,
and the north and the south viii also come
to us. We are glad to see this proposition
discussed through the newspapers. This is
a measure which every democrat should
support, who believes in free trade, and
every republican who believes in protection
must support it, for it protects the farmer
and wool-grower and gives him lower freight
rates and higher prices for his products. All
populists will vote for it, for they advocate
appropriations for good roads, and the mug
wumps always 20 with the crowd. Some
people are great sticklers for the constitu-
tion and any measure that does not come in
touch with their ideas is declared uucon&ti
rational. Governor Pennoyor in 1891
vetoed poor little wagon road appropria-
ton that would have let many poor
rancher out of the hills It is true that
this wagon road bill was of local charac-
ter, but we could call to mind many extor-
tionate bills which were allowed to become
laws even at our last legislature, that were
both local, and might say, unconstitution-
al. Every parent owes it to his children
and good society that they are given good
education and taught the Importance of our
own great country. The state of Oregon
o"Ss ~ ~ iiSt tCoplO IhaO U''0y o'i'eio -
assisted financially to open up and develop
now portions of the state. 1t is not good
doctrine for farmer living in the William
cite valley to say that because an Oregon
legislature never appropriated any money to
build roads for him, there should never be
any aid given to other portions of the state.
Circumstances are vastly different now to
what they were when the Willamette valley |
was first settled. There was no tax resour- |
ces, and but httlo to ship, and again it is
quite different from building a road IN the |
valley over q level plain, and building one
through the mountains. But whether it be |
constitutional or not to lend money to the |
people fer building wagon roads, we are not |
prepared to ssy, but we do know that to
build up and develop any country is to |