The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1899-06-17
PUGET SOUND VS., PORTLAND.

The oregonian seeks to discrea.i the
statistics published by the AsioriAn g.
la;ing to the decliae Of Columbia river
commerce by vi!ify.ng th.s paper aud
misrepresenting its motives, It IS charged
by the oregonian that the people OF A.
,orIa are slandering the Columbia rivsr
and seeking to injure Portland because
they are jealous OF her trade. Nothing
could be further from the truth. As
tor,a. OK course. resents the conspiracy
which exists between Portland, Puget
sound and the railroads OF the North
w@s, 10 keep her out Of competition for
ocean commerce. because the advantages
OF her location and her nearness 10 the
sea and rhe markets Of the world would
diminish the importance Of al other
North Pacific ports, and in very brief
time concentrate nearly all the sxpor.
and import trade Of the Columbian ba-
sin at the mouth Of the Columbia, where
nature intended i, should 90. The His
boro Independent and other papers no"
interested in tie question can plainly
see. however, that he Astoria PROPOSE
ton is not a local issue, but mat 1t in'
wolves the welfare Of every produce.
in the grel; Northwest. and tends TO de-
vslop even the remo;est sections Of the
Willamette and Columbia valleys as l.
other possible public movement could
II i, no: 100 much to say that the recog-
milton and utilization Of the seaport Of
Astoria as the outlet and inlet Of all
this vast region would at once add many
dollars TO the value Of every farm and
every town lot throughout the entire
north hAlf of oregon, all Of hastern
Washington, and a considerable portion
Of both Idaho and Montana. It is, there
fore in no sense a local question. ou
concerns a who,e empire Of thrifty and
progressive people. t. show that the
warnings published from time 70 time
in the As,orian concerning the .oss Of
seaport prestige and business al Portland
are not inspired by hostility to that
town. but are borne out by facts and
statistics accessible to every newspaper
and inquiring reader W call the at
,entlon Of the interior press to the fol-
Loving editorial published in the Ia.
c-ma Ledger Of June A. If thes- hg-
ures are not correct, why doesn't ne
oregonian attack them and print tho
true statistics with which they may be
refuted? The Ledger says;
The Puget sound customs distrl.. well
.,.-t...1 i,. 1o,aars1-i- IN iporor.e a nd
exports OF merchandise during the month
o, April last. the value Of the Imports
being officially stated at 1896 "a, and the
exports at S,l75.35O. During the same
mon.h the Portland customs district i'm
ported merchandise valued az s66.4m. and
its total exports were s2l169. Puget
sounds excess Of business over Portland,
$1.6S4,53i
For the ten months ending April 1899,
the Puget sound district imported mer.
chandise valued at s6,7O2s79, and the
value OF its exports was sl2,452555. The
Portland customs districts imports FOR
the same period were valued at 81 205,072.
and its exports at SS2S1743. Excess OF
Puget sounds imports over Portland. $5,-
4S7.sO1. and of the formers exports, 81
17O,S12 Total excess Of Puget sound over
that Of Portland for the ten months end-
ing April 20, 1899. .s,esSs1s.
During the year 1884 Portland's i'm
ports were valued at ss57155, against I'm.
ports at Puget sound Of s1S7971. Port.
lands experts In 1884 were $4Sss 4sS: Puget
sounds exports 1884, s1s545S1 The total
customs business OF the two ports in the
year 1888 was: Portland, Sl5,327,S7S; Pu-
get sound, s22,s76esS. Portland's business