The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1899-12-23
THE PORTAGE RAILWAY PLAN
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pugning his motives in advance. / am
competent % state. Furthermore. that
the company which Mr.. Mohr repre-
sented at that time never spent a dol
lar in any legislature or in any pri-
mary Of in any other political body
n with any individual politician
agent, lobbyist or intermediary for the
purpose Of either forss.alling legisla-
live action. or in advancing the inter-
ests Of his company In past years.
the moment Mr.. Mohr made any effort
TO put through the enterprise, the '6l-
lowing things happened:
The newspapers, inspired by the
railroads, appeared with long editor
falls on the certainty Of legislative ac-
ton in congrsss for the completion 4
the public work. that is TO say. II
canal and locks. a bca, railway or
some other device for opening the
Columbia river al The Dalles, and
advising farmers not TO assist Nj
Nohr's enterprise, if they should be
asked to do so, when IL was certain
that they would get all they prayed
for at the expense Of Uncle sam
alone.
Following this, the same irhu= noes
were active in the money markets of
the world showing any person who
was approached on the subject Of in
vestlng his money in the enterprise.
first, that he would lost his money, be-
cause the United States government
would become a competitor by build
ing a canal or boat railway which
would be operated free 10 the people.
and in rhe second place that they
would lose their money because the
railways would run any competitor
out cf the country by means Of a rate
war, and in the third place, by means
of newspaper reports ana stories Of
private verbal circulation. Mr.. M1hr
and his efforts were also discouraged
by the statements that he was either
working secretly in behalf Of the rail-
roads Or in behalf Of some cthar cor
poration, for the purpose Of controlling
the north bank 0f the Columbia river in
benalf Of the railroads. In fact, every
effort that has bean directed against Mr..
Nohr or the company he represented
had but one object in view, and that
was to create distruat, and by that
means to prevent the one thing they
feared, which was that MIR. Mohr's
company should receive the support Of
the farmers and shippers, because
they knew that whenever that hap
pened the portage railway would be
built and the country liberated from
the railway compa 1les' control Of the
tributary country, and in fact Of the
entire Pacific northwest
Everybody knows that the portage
railway has not been built, that the
control of transportation has not been
wrested from the railway companies,
and that everybody Is paying the high
est rates the traffic will bear Every
body who knows the facts knows that
Mr.. Mohr has spent every dollar that
he had in the enterprise that he has
kept 1t intact under heavy stress, and
little investigation will convince you
that he has carried it until he has
been able TO obtain the capital 10 com
plste It. Incidentally, the remark is
also pertinent that he carried it to a
point where II can be completed, but
at a sacrifice Of the reward which
should properly belong to him, but
which he had TO forego and turn over
to others in order to make the invest
ment attractive enough to his fnan-
cial friends
The only body that the project was
ever presented to, in order to obtain