The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-04-11
THE GREAT WEST.
A St Paul Paper Gives an Interview
of Interest to Coast People.

OF 1nUeTeSU W COStSt L eOlht
Robert S. Doubleday was at the Com
merial club tihis morning, and referring
to the recent interview in the Dispatch,
said:
''It WAS with some surprise THAT l
read in the Dispatch a day or two since
an interview credited to- "a st. Paul bus
mess man in which the LATTER is repre-
sented to have spoken most disparag-
ingly of tho great western coast coun-
try, and indeed ito have painted it as
anything else than what it really is.
''With utmost respect to the gentle
man and his opinions, it seems to me
to be the worst possible taste to at
Tempt Ito fly ones kite by pulling an
others down. 1T lis not necessary. To
admit THE truth concerning the newer
country of the West does not neceS-
sarily reflect upon Minnesota any more
than ito acknowledge Minnesota to be a
remarkable state in many respects re-
fleets upon New York.
During the past year I spent many
months traveling throughout the va
rious sections of the Pacific coast coun-
try from Mexico to British Columbia
for Eastern publications. Ut was my
pleasure as well as my duty to care
fully observe conditions, and antici-
pate to some extent the probabilities
based upon resources and natural ad-
vantages, for the country mentioned
and the people 1T contains. The fact is,
THAT the coast section is so vast and SO
varied in its resources, its conditions
and Its possibilities, that 1T is easy
enough Ito find certain localities in ii
THAT will answer almost any discrip-
Ac xxnhoIo IF is q
| truly marvellous country, teeming will
untouched wealth., wearing at all times
| the verdant Splendor of marvellous fer
! Utility, while indeed many sections are
veritable garden spots, elySiums witl
which there are none other to compare
in the United States found there 10
calities of which may be said thai
which cannot he stated tr1thfully o.
amy other section in America. TIL.
people were absolutely content and tht
| grumbler was not to be heard.
sit is TRUE that certain of the large,
coast cities are not growing SO rapid.
as they did; THAT, indeed, there is n.
great activity in them That was in
evftable, and tthe cause lis obvious
enough. Ninety per cent of the peopl
who have gone to the coast countT,
since the ''boom days. of Kansas, Ne
braska and THE Northwest were over
were bent upon being corner lot boom
ers, land sharks, reality speculators
and Sitting in comfortable offices o
hotel paHlorts, anakng fortunes b!
quick processes catching one ancthe
in reality DEALS and depriving each new
conner of whatever ready capital h
might have. AS boosting the price
of corner lots, mere locations value
| HfsAG mob to onu (
bubble soon expo led. Had the peo
pie who emigratai coastward devote
themselves ITO the development of th
country, they might all be comfortable
cfrcumstanced, and their cities woul
have taken care of themselves, as the,
always will.
''The chief g,rtInlblerS, I may say tn
only Ones fo the Pacific coast, ar
those who a few years ago We're "mak
ing" a thousand dollars a week in rea
estate transactions, but having kiIle
the goose THAT laid the golden egg af
now obliged to live ON the interest o
their suddenly acquired wealth.
wealtli which, by THE way, they hav
secured without giving amy tangible re
turn 50 far as I can see-and they pre-
ceed to loudly bewail their fate
"Of my personal knowledge there ar
scores of people who have gone ther
with commerdable purposes, som
judgment, and very limited capital
and are prospering exceedingly. In
deed, contrary instances are compare
lively rare. The poorer people posi-
lively are not suffering there as the
are Farther East and the future of th
Pacific coast will make one of tn
grandest pages in the history of Amer
l ifsar ftys