The record-union., 1897-07-30
VOICE OF The PRESS.
EXTRACTS FROM EDITORIAL
EXPRESSION.
State and Coast Opinions on Sub
jects of Living News
Interest.

Woodland Democrat: He is not a
good citizen who will not help and aid
other citizens in benefiting a town
which is as much his as it is theirs.
He may, it is true, be benefited all the
same whether he forbears, but he
stands in the attitude of one who
profits by a mean trick at the expense
of others.
ANOTHER WITNESS.
Stockton Mail: The esteemed Los
Angeles Herald the other day re-
buked the Mail" for asserting that
Southern Alaska would yet be a great
agricultural country. The Herald"
declared that the Mail" spoke thus out
of pure cussedness, and that it was the
only paper in the State to set forth such
view. So much the worse for the
Mails" contemporaries They should
follow its rule of never talking of things
of which it knows nothing.
Yesterday We produced some evidence
to support our contention. Here is more
testimony. No man knows Alaska bet
ter than A. P. Swineford. He has lived
there for years. He was for five years
Governor of the Territory. He is now
United States Inspector of Surveyor
Generals and District Land Offices. He
says:
In Alaska the luXullance and VlrllIty
of the verdure is due to the fact that
the ground never thaws below depth
of six to ten feet. No matter how hot
it is, the hotter the better, the frozen
ground continually gives up to the
roots of the grasses and growing grains
a life giving moisture. The Yukon VAL
ley is like the Valley of the Red River
of the North in Minnesota, and some
day il will be the finest Wheat-groWing
district in the world. That time will
not come, however, until railroads are
built into the heart of Alaska, although
there are now located along the Yukon
many fine farms, their owners dispos-
ing of their crops to the hundreds Of
adventurous miners that have gone to
the Yukon Valley to dig fortunes in
gold from the richer placer mines that
stretch along the tributaries of that
mighty stream"
The esteemed Herald is a vigorous
and able newspaper. It's knowledge of
Alaska's soil, climate and agricultural
UNITE FOR PROTECTION.
San Jose Mercury: The fruit grow
ers of Visalia have formed a union for
the purpose of protecting themselves
against such schemes as the one now
on foot by certain commission houses
for the purpose of beating down the
price of prunes, and the raisin- growers
of Fresno are organizing to defeat a
similar attempt in their particular
field The scheme to bear the market
is not a new one by any means. 1T
is,' as the Times of Tulare says, "the
same old plan that has been successful
ly worked ON the grower every year.
The commission house that can offer
goods at the lowest price gets the busi-
ness. The result is that all such firms
are interested in bearing the market.
The goods are sold before they are ripe,
before crop conditions are known, or if
known and unfavorable, in spite of
them, with the confidence born of sue
cess, that the grower viii accept the
price, FIJI the orders and sacrifice his
goods
All that the Fresno Republican"
says concerning raisins will apply with
equal force to prunes: IF this sort of
thing is allowed to continue" that pa
per remarks, for any length of time
the market will be thoroughly demor-
allied from the start. 1t is of vital i'm
portance that a scheme SO utterly un-
warranted and ruinouS so far as the in
terests of the growers are concerned
should be nipped in the bud. To ac-
complish this the grower must be unit
ed. at least to the extent of a full un-
derstanding that they will not transfer
possession of their product in any man
ner that viii permit their sale at such
prices The Mercury" several days
ago quoted from letter to a firm in
this city exposing the attempt of GER
tain Eastern houses to set the price for
dried prunes at a figure far below that
which should be received and which,
unless the conditions seriously err, they
will receive. If the growers permit
themselves to be defrauded by these
men they will do it with their eyes
open.
USE OF LUMBER.
Tulare Register: The real difficulty
about the depression in the lumber
trade is that lumber is not used SO
much as formerly. In the construction
of the big houses in all the cities lum-
Der plays a most insignificant part,
steel and terra Gotta, marble slabs and
mosaics taking the place of lumber,
which goes to the smaller dwellings
and farm buildings. This decrease in
! demand has made a great deal of diff
| ference with the lumber men and con-
| struction of buildings is likely to go
farther in the same direction, although
there is one unknown quantity to give
uncertainty to the enterprise and that
is how long the steel frame work of
| buildings will be able to resist corro-
sion. A century hence more will be
| known on that score. However, the
new tariff will probably give domestic
lumber a lift.
THE DOG IN THE MANGER.
Santa Rosa Republican: The ''Tri-
bune" of Winnipeg, Manitoba, pours
forth its little wall:
THE fact that all the miners from
Clondyke made for an American port
| the moment that they reached civiliza
ton indicates that they are not Cana
dams but foreigners. 1t seems too bad
that the moment that a bonanza like
the Clondyke is struck it should be
pounced upon by greedy Americans
who succeed in making fortunes in a
very brief time
of hn mil oh ic