The new age. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1896-1905, 1906-06-02
EDITORIAL
HARTMAN AND HILL.

HOrGlaQu, anu lHuo6u ali OIcSOAS arc
greatly to be congratulated on the COM
ing to this city of the North Bank rail-
road, work on which is being pushed as
rapidly as possible. Mr.. James j.
Hill is the worlds greatest railroad
builder and country developer, and his
construction of this line is literally
worth millions of dollars to this city,
and this fact ought to be appreciated
by all it's people.
Portland and the rest of Oregon are
especially to be congratulated on this
very important event because of the
way the state has been held back and
MIXED and imposed on for these many
years by the Hartman system. Harri-
man has been veritable dog in the
manger here in Oregon. While max
ing millions out of Oregon traffic he
has always done just as little as posi-
BILE for Oregon, and he would permit
nobody else to do anything. He had
Oregon bottled up, and treated its peo-
pie with supreme contempt, as If they
were lot of yahoos fit only to be plum
dered. 1t was only when Mr.. Hill
broke loose from the division-of-terri-
tory understanding and began in dead
earnest to build down the Columbia
and invade Hartman territory" that
the latter got busy and began TO do a
little railroad building that ought to
have been done ten or twenty years
ago. He has tried to impede and ha-
rass Mr.. Hill in his work of building
into Portland in every possible way and
30 has deservedly earned the i'll will of
all the people of this city, and as soon
as the new line is completed into Port
land it ought to be patrouized whenever
possible, to the exclusion of the Harri-
man lines. The Hartman policy has
been ali incalculable injury to Oregon.
Washington has nearly twice as many
people and as much wealth as Oregon,
and is growing much more rapidly
principally because of the difference in
policy between Hill and Hartman.
While the latter was an incubus on
Oregon, Mr.. Hill was developing Wash
ington and other portions of the north
ern tier Of states, encouraging produc-
tion and creating a great volume of
trade and commerce. Owing largely to
Mr.. Hills progressive and liberal pol
icy Seattle has increased much faster
than Portland, and has at last about
overtaken this city, while Tacoma and
Spokane have grown to cities nearly
half Portland's size. If we had had a
Hill instead of a Hartman in Portland
and Oregon during the past 20 years,
Portland would have been a city of
$50, 900 inhabitants, instead of being
one of not over 100000.
The small caliber of the Hartman
management was illustrated recently
where its agent here declined to do
business in the customary way with
The New Age, because it had ventured
on few occasions mildly to criticise
that system and compliment its rival,
and these editorial utterances of this
paper were brought forth as a reason
for declining to furnish the manager of
this paper with the usual transporta-
tion for value received. We care moth
ing about this, and can pay our fare if
Obliged to travel on the Hartman
lines, but if the management of that
road supposes that it can control the
editorial utterances % The New Age, or
cause it to suppress criticism that
ought to be made, on account of few
paltry dollars worth of transportation
for advertising, it has entirely mistaken
us. 1t would be a pretty state of
affairs if the papers of the country were
to be subsidized in any such a manner,
and their columns closed to any deserv-
ed criticisms because of little patron
age. This is not that sort of paper,
and cannot be thus cheaply bought or
influenced.
By the way, since this railroad sys-
tenn has always been an enemy of this
state and city negatively at least, why
should it be permitted to use Fourth
street perpetually without paying any
thing for the privilege? The franchise
granting the old Oregon road right Of
way along that street ought to be re-
voked, and if the company is allowed
to use the street at all it should be
only on the payment of a very substap-
tial franchise tax. Portland nor Ore
gon owes this railroad system no favors,
and for this big privilege that it enjoys