Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1905-08-29
ssoREs PORTLAND.
Says She Should Cease Her
Whining.

many ways. Regarding Port
land and her railroad affairs, J.
A. Douthet, of The Dalles, has
given the public the following
letter:
"What has become of Port
lands enterprise, pluck and In
dependence?" is question being
asked in The Dalles these days.
The question is provoked by the
accounts in the daily press of the
metropolis of the complaints
made by Portlanders against the
Hartman system of transporta-
ton lines for not extending bet
| ter transportation facilities to
Portland aud the State Of Ore
gon, and the almost pitiable ac-
knoWledgment of some of Port
lands leading business men that
the city is at the mercy of a
lsingle railroad management.
Those he1e who are asking the
above question would refer Port
land to a like condit1on%that exist
Eed ii The Dalles some IS years
ago, and point to the way it was
overcome, and how a mighty
transcontinental railroad was
brought to terms. Fifteen years
|ago The Dalles was a little city
of less than $500 inhabitants.
although it was small, it was
lp1ucky and its cisizens were loyal.
It felt that it was being discrimi-
mated against by the railroad
company as to freight rates, and
its citizens busted themselves to
right the wrong. The state had
ljust completed a small portage
road around the distractions to
navigation at Cascade Locks on
the Columbia. The Dalles ap-
pea1ed to Portland and Astoria to
Join with it in the construction
and operation of a line of boats
between this city and Portland,
but the appeal was unheeded (a1-
though Portland did subscribe
$1,000 to the capital stock Of the
proposed boat line.) Failing to
interest Portland in the project,
the people of The Dalles took
the matter in their own hands,
and inside of six months from
the time the boat line was sug-
Igested they had two boats plying
ltEe river, one above and one be-
low the portage. The conse-
t qusnce was that freight rates
from The Dalles to Port and were
: imm S,ilately reduced one half,
Il and arg still maintained at thai
5 figure. Not. only the rate to
! Portland was cut. down to hall
1.-The former charge, but the rates
ion wool from here 10 the Atlantic
.ICoast were also reduced so pei
= cent, and all the wooigrowerS
: within reach of this city got
! their wool to Eastern markets a
: half what they had formerly
2 paid.
> Today Portland is cornplains
e Iof being Disseminated against II
rates to the Orient. It complains
= that it is not getting a square
deal. Why should it complain
! when it is within its province L
q remedy the ills Of which it m i<s-
sicomplaint? Why should a cit,
nEof $50, 900 Inhabitants, tina
oiboasts of more wealth accordin,
q 10 population than any other Cit
elm the Uuited States, be sub
Z Iservient to foreign transportatio,
: lines? Why should it not lik
eIThe Dalles, take tie matter i
e its own hands and build steam
t ship line to the Orient? True
). the capitalists of Portland al
e not shipbuilders nor incline
le generally to engage in transpol
q ltation; neither were the peop1
s lot The Dalies IS years age
they telt that they WEI
g Disseminated against. But the
a realized that they were MT r
ceiying fair treatment at Il
IN hands of the railroad comp,n,
: and they proceeded to put then
$ selves in position that they c5u
30 and did dictate terms. Portlal
is can do the same. 1t can IL
only build and operate steau
ship lines to the Orient or al
he other part of the world. but
can build and operate railroa