The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1899-01-22


that tho farmers are now paid al the
common point stations the same for
wheat whether Il be- shipped TO Tacoma
or 10 Portland. I believe that Is true.
But. II 40, Il must be due 20 a Conn
bine' between the transportation com
panles and tho wheat buyers.
But my main proposition t that an
open railway 10 Astoria would give
us San Francisco wheat values. approx
mately. Let US inquire why II would do
70. Portland, with tho same water level
grade as Astoria. and 100 miles nearer
this wheat fields than Tacoma, is made
"A common point with that port 1t Is
plain. though. thSs freigbts TO Portland
should BE- al least fourth less because
Of better grade and shorter distance.
Besides. Portland IL 80 miles nearer LAy-
erpOOl and only 10 miles from the ocean.
as against Tacoma's lA miles Yet wheat
at Portland Il worth less than at Tacoma.
And a stnl more striking fact Is that the
Portland road tout OF i's surplus wheat
frelghuD pays all lOwage and Ilghterage
e1pensss of grain Ehips-perhaps some
70 cents or more per tomas bonus or
brlbe, 70 get them 20 come 70 that in
land river port.
NOW what Is the cause Of THE greater
valus Of wheat AZ Tacoma? Il Is because
OCEAN CHARTERS are CHEAPER al
that place. owing ~ 70 cheaper rates
on vast inland seas than on shallow In
land rivers, and l21 10 heavy ship ton
mage possible at Tacoma and impossible
at Portland. There Is no other way 10
account for the higher wheat values al
Tacoma. II II sound and satisfactory
explanation. too. The reason why San
Francisco wheat valSss are so much
greater than those at Tacoma Is found In
PROXIMITY TO THE OCEAN. causing
STILL CHEAPER CHARTERS on ships
or the HEAVIEST TONNAGE that can
equally reach each Of those ports and As
torla az well.
Now. Astoria being only ten miles
from ths high seas. with harbor su-
perior to that Of Caiifornia's great port.
can not only have the benefit OF the
HEAVIEST SHIP TONNAGE like Ia
coma but Il has also PROXIMITY
To THE OCEAN and hence no ex-
pensIye Inland water navigation. Her
freedom from this great item would
cheaper Astoria's deep ship char
tcrs equally with those with San Fran
CISCO. and thus make Astoria wheat val
ues approximate those Of that great
port and as much greater than at Ia
comA II IS true San Francisco Is GO
miles nearer the wheat market than AS
toT-ia but that Is fully offset by AS
| toria's fresh water harbOr, which. by
cleaning ships OF barnacles, adds ten per
cent To their speed The commerce OF
the Columbian basin naturally tributary
to the Columbian port Is now very nearly
as great as that tributary TO San Fran
cisco with an "open railway" ALL
THE EXPORTS would because OF in
creased value) 80 out from Astoria,
greatly Increasing that commerce.
Equally with San Francisco. the great
est ships OF commerce can come to AS
toria. So far as inbound cargoes are
concerned. there is but little apprecla-
bic difference as TO grain ships. One
claim is that large coal imports cheaper
grain charters to San Francisco But,
IN fact, only about two per cent of her
grain ships have coal cargoes. The
Golden Gate city gets most of her coal
from coasting vessels from Coos Bay.
Nahaimo and Seattle.
The o. r. & \. Co.'S steamers haul
wheat at S2.50 per ton to San Francisco
for foreign shipment. This Is plain proof
that IL would be worth that much more
at Astoria than at Portland. But some
assert this difference in vtlue is owing
to the higher grade OF California wheat
and that our Oregon wheat is palmed of
as that wheat. In fact. oregon wheat
is OF a higher grade than that of Cali
fornia. was Informed last fall by Judge
Wallace. of San Francisco. that the Col.
umhian wheat was so rated in Liver
pool because OF the moisture of our ell
mate. He said that was pivotal ques.
ton In a great lawsuit wherein it was
50 proved.
There is no reason. then why. even
UNDER PRESENT CONDITIONS, an
open railway" to Astoria should moi
make wheat al thar port worth as much
approximately, to Columbian producers
as At San Francisco.
Not only so. but the resulting concen,
tration of all American railroads on thi.
grand central, Columbian port would di
vert all the traffic of the orient to thi.
unequaled worlds highway and soor
make this basin the very head center Of
the West as Nature hath designed. Thi.
would quickly make such a growth II
population and trade as would bring
double as many Unbound cargoes as a
San Francisco, with still greater cheap
ening Of our charters and increase II
our export values. This would alst
greatly increase our wheat production
and wealth, our trade, our urban ant
farm values, beyond any other conceiv,
able agency.
Argument is not needed to show thai
most of this annual increase of wealth
would be in the regions east of Port
land and tributary TO II, to the benefit
chiefly of that city. Surely these annua
millions cf new wealth put into the chan
nels of trade would not pass Portland
to come to Astoria simply because ii wa.
the seaport! Nay verify Astoras mis-
sion, God-given and grand. is to increase
all the values Of the Columbian basir
for the common weal--through an "oper
railway" Yet 1t is strangely true that
Portland Is bitterly hostile to that ''opeI
railway" In face of the folly of trying
to hold seaport supremacy on 22-foot
channel for the great ships of the world
ranging from &c to 50 feet draft, she aid:
the o. r, & N. Company in its own sui
cidal efforts to prevent that grand re.
suit. She insists the question at ISSUE
is the relative cost of getting wheat K
the ocean by water or rail from Port.
land. She ignores the difference against
Portland Of 30 per cent In ocean charter:
for Astoria's sure heavy ocean tonnage
Instead OF uniting with Astoria, as hel
plain interest dictates, Portland fight:
the open railway" 1t must needs be
then. that the producers and traders o.
this basin should act in concert II the!
would force the chief basin railway t
do its duty to them and to itself. L
| h. Nha nj