The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1898-09-28

by rail 10 ga miles Tho distance from
waliula to Portland by ron Is si, miles
or g miles In favor 30 Portland nut this
Is not ALL The former is a high noun
talnous route tho latter va,cr.lcvel
grade Nevertheless, IN the application
of the common point" principle ,herc
has bern Discrimination agolnst the 90
lumbia or OREGON lines, Tho roads to the
} noNh ot rs have made the same rates
to their terminals that have been made
to Portland, though our route Is C miles
shorter aud free from mountain grades
Neither Portland nor the pr,duccrs or
tho interior therefore havc yet received
the tul benefits ot their natural advan.
tagcs
The quick and ready way TO bung about
the dosird rcsul, IS to build railroad
TO Astoria This will shltt the common
point" Tor the Columbia or orcgOn route
down to the sea, 1, does not mean that
the river between Astoria and Portland
would no more be used by ships but II
would mean that the railways runnlug
dlreC, into Portland aud On to Astoria
frOm tho interior could rid themselves q,
the dlssdvantaSc under which they lsbOr
through eelng held down by the "cam.
mon point dcctrlnc to condition that
permits them to receive no advantages
from their shorter distances and easy
grades.
From Portland to Astoria by railway 1
survey TIE distance IS IS mites. rhis |
would make the entire distance frOm
wailula to Astoria by rain ns miles, With 1
water level or Hgh,ly descending grade
an the way. and only y miles further
than from Pasoo to Tacoma, With very
long and heavy grades. and enormous ex.
pcnse to overcome them In such A CON.
Rar.son the further distance OF $ miles
Is not to be taken into account, and. %
& vcre, st Is Tar more than ovcrDalsneei
by the yrater distance that ships must
san n song into ana returning
.rom Puse, soand Vessels bound nom
Puget Sound ports almost al sau up past I
the Columbia river. and the excess Of dis
,ance soins aaa returning. IS no, i,ss
than 90 miles, and ,he ums both ways
from twelve TO twenty Gays
wi,A the opealng OF a railway route TO
Astoria tho common poin, doctrine may
ov made to work IN our favor. r,r taca
'ur common po.nt viii 5e at ,ac sca-
,oard and rates viii b, calculated for 1t.
ind with deep channel from Portland G,
ne sea, Portland will have a footing to
leaand such lower rate Tor herself as
'er position and her enterprise may var.
ant In this way We shah get ior port
and. FOR Astoria, for the only water level
cute through the great mountains. the
.un advantages that nature has onersd
Is. The expenditure OF enormous sums
y money during the few years past has =
urntd away frOm US part OF the COM
nerce that formerly came through this
iaturAl gateway. But that money. so ex-
,ended, can earn no return. Now again
We fan back upon conditions in which
natural advantages will play as OF old a
part. But these natural ad-
ran,ages mus; st.n b. supplemented by
,ur own intelligence and energy We
must contend FOR the full use and beneat
4 all the opportunities that nature has
,iyen US We have this Incompatible
xater level route No other portion OF
he country has or can hate anything ike
L. But We never shall get the full ocn-
mt Of Il. nor viii the producers OF the
country. until We settle the common point
It our seabOard town. and thereby make
conditions under which Portland may
contend with success FOR the further ad-
gantages that her position viii entue
her to claim Nature made this a site
for a city. and nature makes no mistakes
Portland's natural advantages remain as
significant and potential as they were tn
the beginning They are a plus quantity
to all the efforts OF our enterprise But
enterprise must not be suffered 20 Tag
or slacken because these advantages ex-
ist We have many things yet to DO 10