Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-07-21
Washin9tpn Standard
OLYMPIA, WASH.
FElDAi EVENING, JULY q. 1899.
Visit of the Railroad Men

with this city as terminal point for
transcontinental connection. The
party consisted OF Second Vice Presi-
dent David W. Craig, Treasurer Frank
H. Carlisle, Traffic Manager Geo. ..
Fogg and Geo. B. Hibbard, Il railroad
contractor and builder.
In the absence of President Faux
ner, Col. Owings called the chamber
to order and was selected as chairman
of it's deliberations. He stated the
object of the meeting to be to listen to
the gentlemen having the railroad en-
terprise in charge and consider such
suggestions they might have to submit
regarding cooperation for mutual
benefit. He said that our people were
DESTROYS OF extending all the aid posi-
bic in the way OF securing for the COM
pany terminal facilities, and so far he
could promise the most cordial sup
port. He thought that the gentlemen
representing the enterprise would
probably look at the proposition from
purely business point of view, and
that there would, therefore, be neces-
sary IN exchange of views to arrive at
an equitable and fair understanding of
the matter.
He then introduced Mr.. Craig, who
said that he knew more of the desira-
bility OF the enterprise than he did of
railroad building. He paid glowing
tribute to our country and the people
he had met during his sojourn in the
State, and contrasted its climate and
resources, and the temper and habits
of the people. with what he had been
accustomed to all his life in the far
East. He was particularly impressed
with the climate. The mildness of
temperature, in midsummer, was a
verification of reports that had been
heard, but not believed, from those
who had visited the Far West. The
salubrity of the climate was manifest
in its invigorating effects upon the
party with which he was associated.
Then the equability of temperature
was a surprise to those accustomed to
different conditions. The range of
from 18 to 20 degrees was phenomenal
to those who had witnessed and felt at
times fall of twenty degrees in thirty
minutes in the New England States.
Then again he found that nothing but
the simple truth had been told of the
magnitude and quality of our forest
resources, and he would be able to yer.
ify statements that had only excited
the derision of those who were not to
blame for being unable to grasp or
comprehend such abnormal conditions.
Our fruits were the subject of special
eulogy, and a comparison was drawn
between the yield of field crops, from
the virgin soil of the west and those
coaxed by fertilizers from the sterile
and WORKOUT soils of the older States.
The ehortness of season in the East
was likewise noted, where winter
reigns four or FIVE months in the year,
freezing the ground to the depth OF
several feet, which must thaw before
blowing begins, involving necessity
for extreme haste in seeding to dodge
the black frosts OF Autumn. Mr.. C.
likewise alluded to the evidences OF
thrift and comfort observed among
our people. Everybody seemed to be
content with his lot in life and anx-
ious to aid others. In the East it was
far different. There business is con-
Quoted on lines of the closest competi.
ton, and q constant struggle ensues
to maintain . place in the ranks,
without much hope of rising. Stats
tics showed that but one in q hundred
scored a success in business; that
when one man secures a bare compe.
tence as reward for q lifetime of
close endeavor, ninety-nine are strand.
ed. He had not met mendicant in
this State, while in the East it is i'm
possible to walk the street without meet
ing with incessant appeals for aims,
and hundreds of starving men, wo.
men and children daily rummage the
slop.barrels in the rear of restaurants
and saloons to obtain scanty means
OF subsistence. There everybody who
enters any trade is Immediately looked
upon as an interloper by those in the
same line of business. If one of them
is approached for information he at
once attempts to discourage possible
rival; here everybody is cordially well
coined to any field of industry, and he
Is given pointers on the best means of
making it success. If the farmers
and small traders OF the East could be
transferred to Washington, they would
imagine they had entered a veritable
paradise on earth.
Mr.. Atkinson followed in q brief
outline of the rise and progress of the
enterprise in which he and his asso-
ciates are engaged, with the main de-
tails of which our readers are already
familiar. He said that the Port An
gelss Eastern was designed to connect
the transcontinental traffic with a sea-
port nearest the Orient on the west.
and that was Port Angeles. In locat-
inc this route, two courses were open.
One OF these was to connect at Olym-
pia by line somewhat longer than
one farther west, on account of ma