The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-06-04
Two New Passenger and Freight
Steamers 10 Ply Between pjrt.
land and San Francisco.
MAY CAUSE RATE WAR.
Smaller Graft who Have Been
Proflting by tile Overflow
May Start Gut In
Rates.

One. and possibly two. fast passen-
ger and freight steamers for the As
] toria and San Francisco route. to as
sist the Columbia and the Elder. are
among the contemplated improvements
70 the Hartman water service along
the Pacific coast. offlciai announce
ment OF this important addition to
Astoria's coastwise shipping facilities
Ia expected a. soon as General Man
ager Schwerin returns from the east.
II In announced that the owners Of
the smaller steamers. who have been
pronting by the overflow from the
o. Il. 4 N. steamers. expect the OFF,
ciai announcement OF the addition al
an early date II IL also believed that
the advent OF the new steamers viii
lead 10 a rate war that win be gigantic
In Its proportions
Thus far but few OF the smaller
coasting steamers have made much
OF an attempt to cut In on the passen-
ger business. the Alliance. which
touches at way ports being about the
only one that does much in this line.
and the most Of her passenger travel
comes from the way ports. Travel by
sea In spite OF the dlscomfOrts In still
very popular with a certain percentage
OF the travelling public. and Is lncreas-
ing. II IN expected that the tourist
travel next year will be much greater
than ever. and many OF the visitors to
the Lewis and Clark fair, who come
out from the east. win take advantage
Of the OCCASION. either coming or go-
Ing. To enjoy the ocean trip between
Portland and San Francisco. With
a fast boat and good accommodations
this could be made very popular trip.
and while the Hartman steamship line
would to certain extent be running
opposition to the Hartman railroad
the business and development OF tho
country has reached stage where a
service OF this kind is demanded.
As considerable portion OF the
freight that was handled by the steam
ers came into Portland over the Har-
rlman lines, II would have been a COM
paratively easy matter for the o. r.
& N. Co. to route II through to San
Francisco by its own steamers had they
not been running full to the hatches
all the time. Not all OF the freight that
originates in this territory can be con-
trolled by the o. r. g. N. Co., no mat
ter how many boats II places on the
route. but II good fast steamer is
added to the present service. II would
undoubtedly cause the retirement OF
some OF the mosquito fleet now plying
on the route.
Just at present all OF the steamers
on the Pacific coast are probably EN-
ployed. but periodical dull seasons come
and in the past the Portland-San Fran
cisco route has always offered the best
opening for steamers that have been
crowded out OF other fields. It is un-
doubtedly to forestall opposition OF this
nature that the o. r. q N. is arrang-
ing to take care OF all the business
that II can secure here. AS the need
Of the boat or boats Is very urgent. Il
is thought that ready-built craft
viii be purchased In preference to walt
ing until new one could be constructs
ed. Shipping business on the Atlantic
is not SO good as on the Pacific. and
there Is nearly always an opportunity
to buy a good steamer at reasonable
figure; in fact, Portland ship brokers
offered them within the past few days,
none OF which. however. were large
enough or fast enough to meet the re-
duirements OF the o. r. s. N. service
on the San Francisco route.