Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1896-10-30
PORTLAND LETTER.
Changes That Have Been wrought
Within the Year In the Thriv-
ing MetropoIis.
Special Correspondence.

weather as Portland has been having
all during the Exposition. is simply
delightful. Never warm, at any time.
have not at any time felt the
need Of an overcoat. The nights have
been clear, and the moon beautiful.
With such weather, ii has been pleas
ant to wander about the city of nights,
and look in the windows Of the big
stores. many of which are lighted even
when closed to business.
Since You were here Portland has
four elegantly paved streets. Morri-
son street and Third and Washington
have fine, smooth. asphalt pavements,
and Fourth street from below the new
city hall, up to Union depot nearly, is
paved with wooden blocks which are
on a concrete and sand foundations.
The wood pavement is an experiment.
The blocks are Of soft fr. The
chinks between the blocks are filed
with tar It makes smooth and
'givey" roadway. II II shall prove to
wear well it will be the pavement for
this section as long as our FIR forests
exist
Ben Tillman, the Sonth Carolina
senator, spoke here last week for Bryan.
.and Ben Butterworth. ex.member Of
congress from Ohio, followed the next
night for Mckinley. The former is a
rugged, quick, vigorous, dashing cam
paigner; the latter is as smooth.
genial. cosy and persuasive in manner
as what Msrish says used to be. It
takes all manner Of men to make a
world. From the gallant South we
find in Oregon q man as rough as a
miner in earlier days, whilst from the
middle west, Ohio. Oregonians are
listening to Chesterfield in manners,
and one who evidently thinks a soft
answer tuIneth away wrath. Both
had large and enthusiastic audiences.
Tillman had an open air meeting, and
fully 5000 people heard him; Butter.
worth spoke indoors to packed house
with 1900 seating capacity, but hun
dreds were turned away unable to get
standing room.
The exposition closed Saturday night
the 18th inst. without any particularly
special feature unless it be the small
ness Of the crowd. The campaign and
hard times were rather disastrous
financially. Whereas, last year the
guarantee fund was returned to sub
soribers, and surplus OF 81, 900 left
over, this year there is deficit Of
about $4,000. Yet the entertainment
provided for visitors this year quite
equalled last There were eight big
special nights for the various secret
orders this year as against three last
year; yet the excitement Of the cam
paign, the counter attractions Of elo-
quent speeches TO be heard free, coupled
with the stringency of the times. COM
bined to make the gate receipts too
small, "by several" to cover the ex-
penses However. Portland is a plucky
town, and no doubt next years exposi-
tion will be success such as was last
years.
This 10 truly great campaign Of
education. On many corners right in
the heart of the city there are gathered
crowds Of men, from ten to even 100,
listening to disputes on the money
question. The listeners ''put in"
every now and then, and the debate
growing general often becomes warm,
but never boisterous. Nor are these
gatherings composed of only idle men
Of the poorer people; by no means. As
rule the crowds are made up Of
rather well-dressed men, and not in
frequently men Of position and means
take turn at solving a sticker, or of
proposing crusher. The corwds most
always seem to be in good humor, and
the Americans love of fair play is
never more conspicuous than when the
opponents in these street corner gather.
ings get to humping one another with
what each considers knock-down argu.
ments.
Competition is the life Of trade, we
are told. Portland now has two tele.
phone companies, and one has to have
two phones to reach the people who
would all patronize one company were
there only one. The rival company
brought down rates, but when one pays
both companies he finds that that kind
of competition has cost him more than
he bargained for. Il 10 such facts as
these that give rise to the agitation for
municipal ownership Of telephones,
gas, street cars, etc.; but on the merits
Of that express no opinion, as the
editorial columns Of your paper are ex-
ciusively for expressing opinions A
correspondent should at least let the
editor do his own editing.
Almost as many women here ride
the bicycle as men; and my belief Is
that about each of one-twentieth of the
population has bicycle. The folks
with money, keep up the style" in
bicycles. Their '96 wheel is turned
right over to the dealer for some small
sum, probably one-quater Of the orr
ginal retail cost, and that amount de-
Quoted from the '97 model. This
makes secondhand machines of last
year, almost as good as new, sell for
about half price. You see, 1t would
not do for one Of these tony riders to be
seen next spring astride '96 model;
that would exclude him or her from
his or her '07 model set. Well. after