The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1899-05-06
THE oREGoN1AN EXPOSED,

IN its desire to aliay local uneasiness
over the decline OF Columbia river com
merce ana to create false Impression
abroad that Portland Is the leading port
on the Pacific coast, the oregonian has
adopted a policy OF studiously suppress
ing. or rather garbHng and juggling,
the statistics relating to Pacific coast
shipping. i, takes out Of the tables and
publishes in distinctive form the figures
covering whea, and Hour, and parades
them in contrast with like shipments
from San Francisco and the Sound thus
making it appear TO shallow minds
among its own people and readers at a
distance that Portland is great sea-
port. The Astorian has repeatedly called
attention TO this fraud and pointed out
not only the reason why so many empty
bottoms seek Portland for wheat. but
that. in spite OF the powerful Efforts
Of the railroad and wheat combine 10
force wheat that way, Portland has ac,u-
ally lost one-ihird OF her natural Inland
Empire wheat shipments. as compared
with the proportion she used to ship
some years ago. The Astorian's object.
OF course. in these exposures Is 10
arouse public attention In Portland and
throughout the Columbian basin 70 the
alarming losses to this basin resulting
from the folly Of holding the seaport al
Portland instead OF allowing 1t to come
10 the mouth of the river. where it nat
urally belongs. AS an example of the
oregonians ready habit Of suppressing
the truth or distoriing the facts in every
thing said in its controversy with the
Astorian concerning the shipping s;a;is-
ties Of the coast, attention IS called to
its comment on an item printed in the
Astor!an las, Wednesday The item was
as follows;
Official confirmation OF the importance
OF Portland as seaport IS furnished in
the report Of Harbormaster Jones Of ina;
port" for April. The Oregonian has led
some Of the people Of Portland who have
never been away from home and who
never read a printed line unless It IS pub
llshed in the papers Of that city. 20 be-
lleve that Portland fairly rivals san
Francisco and Seattle n It's volume Of
outgoing and Incoming tonnage. Har-
bormaster Jones shows that there were
two arrivals during the entire month .
April. one OF them being the ballast
ship Iverna. and the other the tramp
steamer Lenox, picked up by the o. R.
e. n. Co. to carry on the joke Of its "Ori- |
entail line. More deep sea vessels ac;u-
ally arrived and departed from the port /
OF Tilamook during the same period, and !
the srr!<als and departures from Astoria
Exceeded the total for the month in Port
land on several single days.
Now, the oregonlan need not have no.
ticed this little item, or, If deemed worthy
of notice, It might have been dismissed
with few general observations tending
to impeach the correctness Of the figures .
given or explaining away the official
Of the Portland functionary
quoted. But, no; the oregonian had other
use Of the item. 1t starts out first to
m! represent the Astorian and does so
by cutting off the connection which
r uced i,s publication. and then proceeds
to put the garbled portion appropriated
10 the base use Of an indirect but PRE-
AND DISHONEST AT
rBMPr TO IMPOSE UPON ITS READ
ERs BY MAKING 1T APPEAR THAT
is TRULY THE MOST
IMPORTANT SEAPORT ON THE pa
,rTc COAST. 1t heads the portion Of