The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-10-05
.oREGON's BIG !. CITY.
A GOSsIPY LETTER FROM THE
:, ,AEyRQP0idS.
How Portland Business Men Jumped
from the. Frying Pan into ;
-.s';E.the Fire..

Portland, Oct. 1.-The man WHO 1g4S
lieves it is the unexpected thatsh3&z
pens will have to record an exception
to his rule. John w. Mimic has been
appointed. chief of police of Portland,
and great many people have been
pleased thereby. BY this | mean
great many republicans. Minto's up
hill fight for sheriff, his defeat by a
campaign of false pretense by a rem
egade republican and the manly way
in which he took his medicine and
abused nobody, raised him high in the
esteem of these republicans, who knew
of these things, and for this reason
they are glad that his deserts have
been recognized. He is in full per-
sonal and political harmony with the
other city authorities and the leaders
of the republican party, and being a
man possessing peculiar fitness for
the position, there can be no question
of the wisdom of the appointment. A
few criticise the removal of Chief
Hunt, on the ground that he has
made an excellent chief, but sufti-
cient answer to this is that under our
new charter the mayor is made re-
sponsible for the city government IN
every department., and should be
given the unquestioned right to select
officials for whose acts he is to be
responsible, and then be held to strict
responsibility for the result.
Some of our merchants have jumped
out of the frying pan into the fire.
When the general license ordinance
was passed they made such fuss
about the injury it would do the city
that the mayor finally vetoed it, with
the understanding that our legislative
delegation would endeavor to have
amendments made to the charter pro-
viding for more revenue. Now, comes
the county equalizing board and
raises the assessment on stocks of
merchandise from 10 to 10 per cent.
ON the perfectly proper ground that
the assessment was ridiculously low.
They are now in dilemma. They
cannot oppose this on the same ground
as the ordinance, for it is a benefit
rather than an injury to have prop
erty assessed more eQuitably. What
the board has done is but q begin
ming, for the assessment roll is honey
cOmbed with errors and inequalities,
hundreds having been already cor
rected. Yet complete remOdeling of
the list cannot be made until the new
assessment, when it is to be hoped an
assessment de novo will be made.
This is the week when the editors
of, Oregon, assemble in Pendleton for
the annual meeting of the Oregon
Press association. The exigencies of
the profession of course prevent
great many active newspaper work
ers from attending, especially those
employed upon daily papers. The
economy and small working force
in nr1ar fn tiln
over the hard times also interferes
with the attendance of many pub
fishers of weekly papers. Nevertheless
a large number of newspaper men
from all over the state will enjoy the
hospitalities of the generous people
of PendletOn.
The first annual meeting of the
Mazamas was held Monday night i'll
the lecture room of the First Baptist
church Changes were made I'D the
constitution admitting of a more eX-
tended organization than the merely
local one at first contemplated.
For the next two months football
will be the absorbing topic of interest
in athletic circles. Teams have been
organized in Portland, Tacoma, Seat
tie and other towns, and series OF
contests for the championship VI tle
Pacific Northwest is being arranged.
The various colleges of the state have
also formed teams and will play for
the college championship of Oregon.
The lovers of this rough but exciting
and manly sport are numbered by the
thousands. No games of any kind
played ON Multnomah field draw out
as large crowds and elicit such con-
tinuous yelIs of enthusiasm as foot
ball. This week there is an eighteen
hour bicycle contest in the exposition
building. under the auspices Of the
Zig Tag Cycle club and managed by
Prince the worlds long distance
champion. The finest indoor track in
the United States has been construct
ed, only seven laps to a mile, and the
partitions in the building have been
removed, so that thousands of spec
tators can view the whole track.
p p r.