The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-02-20
AsroRIA's REAL NEED,

Abundance OF effort has been made |
by the owners of real estate in Astoria
10 secure its railroad connection with
Portland and the East and their dona- |
mons in this behalf have been exceed
sno-lv liheral and deserving Of the high /
est praise. II is to be borne in mind, !
however. that railroad communication I,
alone or the enhancement OF the value I
of real estate alone. expeetant upon
the completion Of the railroad construc-
ton. constitute but a limited factor In
aiding the city's real advance and
prosperity: for the railroad Is but one
means of communication. and will have
the power TO add TO or greatly dimin-
ksh the business OF the city. Expert
ence has shown that the owners OF
large bodies OF real estate are frequent
ly ininical TO the interests of producers,
manufacturers and merchants, and the
complaint has often been made that
the monopoly Of real estate holdings
has constituted the greatest drawback
10 the development of a town or eoun-
try
What Astoria needs. to be perma-
nently prosperous, is that it shall make
itself the depot or emporium for trade
for its surrounding country. so that II
may be able to supply, at reasonable
cost. the merchandise and other neces-
stiles required by outlying towns, vii
lagos and the adjacent population; and
the cost and quality Of such supplies
should be 50 regulated that 1t would
not be TO the advantage of consumers
TO deal elsewhere. At the bottom OF
this mercantile prosperity lies the mat
ter of transportation for the customer,
whereby he may reach his market and
carry away his purchases. without hay-
ing to add to the cost of his purchases
the amount necessary to his transpor-
tation backward and forward, and thus
make IL to his advantage to go TO
or send to Portland or San Francisco
once or twice or more a year, as many
hundreds of settlers in this section
OF Oregon are doing now. Get the
customer here. even at the cost Of his
transportation. should be the motto OF
Astoria merchants, and every other
reasonable inducement should be Of
fered to bring the population OF the
surrounding country TO Astoria to deal.
Let US take a common sense view Of
the situation. The merchants of As
toria subscribe each year for a regatta,
which brings to the city a great num-
Der of visitors. They come from Ilwaco,
Cathlamet, SkamOkawa, Brookfield
Clifton, Olney. Gray's River, the Lewis
and Clark, WestpoIt, Knappa, Knapp
ton and numerous other industrial
points and settlements All these To-
calfties have small stores, supplying the
retail trade of their people, but II
transportation were cheap there can
be no doubt that these people would
prefer to come to Astoria to buy their
goods. The trade OF these places natu-
rally belongs here; why not reach out
and get it. without waiting for it to
drift in? The contributions Of Astoria
merchants to the annual regatta, last
ing only four or FIVE days at the far
thest amounts to sum Of thirty-five
hundred or four thousand dollars. What
more practical mode TO increase their
business could be adopted than for
them to subscribe an equal sum-a
yearly subscr4ption-to be collected in
monthly installments, say of five dol
lars each. TO be devoted. under suitable
safeguards, to the purpose Of bringing
customers to Astoria to trade? Such
a sum could be most proftably expend-
ed In furnishing transportation at re-
duced rates to the people Of the sur
rounding country who might thus be
induced to come here with their trade.
There can be no doubt that this
money would be amply repaid by the
increase of business in all lines Of trade,
and such a plan would tend TO estab-
lish and maintain Astoria as the depot
of supplies for this whole section Of
the state. 1t is to be hoped that our
merchants win consider this sugges-
tion. and that a movement may be
started to put ii into practical opera
tion at as early a date as is possible.