Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1906-01-05
A MOVEMENT FOR
LOWER FREIGHT RATES
W. b. Sherman Makes a Report of
What Is Being Done by the
Development League.

or drafting bill governing freight
rates in the state of Oregon for the
initiative and referendum. There was
appointed on that committee, I. X.
Campbell, of Cottage Grove; Judge
S. A. Lowell, of Pendleton; John
Workman, If McMinnville ]. G. Gra.
ham, of Salem, aud W. B. Sherman,
Of Grants Pass. Soon after the ap-
poi ltment Of this committee there
was meeting called at Salem and |
was urged to attend the meeting
and later ON there was a meeting
called at the Imperial hotel IN Port.
land.
Believing these n eetinRs we're prin-
cipally for the purpose of organizing
force to work for some particular
aspirant for high ofs.ce, aud not Law.
ing any time to work in politics,
sent my regrets. On the lltb Of this
month there was meeting called
in Salem aud l was invited and urged
to attend tlis meeting. In Il e II can
time | had investigate d the mater
more thoroughly and found that there
was some real work being done, and
decided to, and did attend the meet
ing, which was held in my rooms in
the Willamette hotel.
When l arrived in Salem | found a
great deal of work had been done and
great deal yet to do. found that
this committee, through the support
of the Board of Trade of Portland
and the Willamette Development
League, had put the willamette Val
ley at peace with the railroad con-
pany, the freight payers having Sc
cured all the cuts in freight rates they
had asked for, and the company had
promised to build branches to Coos
Bay and other parts of that locality.
No doubt, the fact of the visit of Jim
Hill to Portland through invitation of
the Portland Board of Trade had
much to do with the changing of the
Hartman policy. l learned that at
the time OF HaIriman's visit to Fort
land there was committee of bust
ness men appointed by the Board of
Trade to wait On him. This commit
tee stated that his road had been built
through the state OF Oregon for 81
years and not mile of branch lines
had been built and that they thought
it was not the kind of progress that
Oregon required st this time and
wanted TO know what he proposed to
do for Oregon in the near future in
the way of more branch lines. 1t is
said that Mr.. Hartman gave them no
encouragement.
A similar committee waiting on
Mr.. Hill at the time of his visit there
asked him what he would do in re-
gard to opening NJ Oregon and got
more favorable answers And it is
said that this banquet was quite un.
like that of Mr. Harriman's, as the
Hill banquet was a grand success.
And nee that time Mr. Hartman
has appeared to change his policy and
is giving as before stated all the con.
cessions asked for by the Willamette
Valley freight payers.
We understand that similar COM
mittee appointed from some organ "a
tion in the state of Illinois had sue.
ceeded a few days before our last
meeting la getting cut on the entire
freight rates OF the state of Illinois, Of
90 per cent, which means over 5000
600 annually to the freight Jayers Of
the state.
The Hartman people seemed to
have great many men ready to ad-
wise our committee, and all the advice
we seem to receive is to the effect
that the Hartman system is and
has been doing more for the state Of
Oregon than any other road in similar
mountain country and that Il freights
in Southern Oregon were cheaper
than any other mountainous country
in the United States. The main point
at issue seemed t. be Southern Ore.
gon. All of the many Letters that
were received by our committeeman
dwell particularly on Southern Ore
gon and the kind treatme mt We were
getting here at the hands Of the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company,
and really would seem to be quite
convincing If a man were not other.
wise informed.
There was pressure brought to bear
TO have our committee abar don III
work, and il got 10 a place where
had to express myself quite forcibly
in the matter. stated that Southern
aud Eastern Oregon had assisted IN
bringing about the desired change ia
freight rates in the Willamette Valley
aud asked II il would be- the fan
thing for the Willamette V Hey, aftel
getting the ce-sions thtoulh th,
assistance Of Southern and Eastern
Oregon. to drop us and have Us fgh
our own battles, as they wanted u
TO do. They stated plainly that thel
had secure all concessions that thel
had asked for and advised us to organ
ize q similar league in Southern ore
gon and take the matter up with th
railroad company aud fight our owl
battle. After hearing from thes
representatives from the Willamett
Development League and the Railioa
Company, asked the committee il i
: was its pleasure to act on these sug
, gestions, or would the committee sta
, with the fight in Southern Oregon
and they stated that they would sta