The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-08-18
PORTLAND
AND MEARS
Coast Man Talks Up
Better Trade
Relations.

II am firmly of the opinion that the
acquaintanceship 1 have made in Ho-
noluIu will result not only to our ad-
vantage but to yours
Concluding an address on Portland's
desire to enter into closer business re-
Iations with Honolulu and the islands
in general. w. a. Mears. special repre-
sentative of the Portland Chamber
of Commerce, emphasized the above
remark His address was made al a
joint meeting of the Chamber of Com
merce and the Merchants Association
held in the rooms of the latter at 3
D. m. Yesterday The attendance was
small but President G. w. Smith said
this was accounted for by the arrival
of heavy mail on the Alameda.
Mr.. Mears was introduced by Mr..
Smith as the accredited representative
of Portland's business community, and
that the purpose of his address was
to lay before the business men OF Ho-
nolulu the advantage of opening up
business relations with Portland.
The gentleman from Portland said he
wanted to show what Portland was
capable of doing for Honolulu in
business way. He said: THE Cham
Der of Commerce of Portland has sent
me here to do my best to re-establish
trade relations between the Islands and
Portland. Sixty years ago when Port
land was first founded she received
freight, passengers and mail via Homo
lulu. Twenty years ago all of our SUI
gar came from here by sailing vessels.
Steamships have driven sailers from
the sea and so our relations temporari-|
ly ceased. Now the time has come
when they should be renewed. It is
my mission to strive and interest you
in the matter-to strive and show you
that a competitive market from which
to buy and to which to sell is what you
should desire as much as we. / am of
the opinion that we know far more
about the Islands and about Honolulu
than you do about Portland. I have in
my possession a pamphlet issued by
the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce,
the Honolulu Merchants Association
and the Territory of Hawaii jointly,
which contains a map of the Islands
and North and South America. 1t
shows plainly the cities of San Diego,
Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle
but Portland is not on the map. Per-
haps the chartist never heard of Port
land. 1t is. my duty to tell you some |
thing of it. Do not fear 1 shall weary
you with statistics. or that 1 shall take
up too much of your time. or
with an orators golden hue for 1 am
no orator. no artist. no painter, simply |
4 plain business man, unaccustomed to |
Ii, /
plain business proposition in a plain |
business way
Portland, then, is a city approach
ng the 100000 inhabitant limit. 1t is a |
beautiful city filed with lovely homes.
is streets lined with trees. which to-l
gether with its parks and yards are
green all the year round. 1t is a city |
IF manufacturers and jobbers. 1t is |
located in a most fertile country of |
vast extent. We manufacture many |
things used in your Islands. We have
about 1900 manufactures. We are the |
point of production of thousand of tons |
Of material you use in every walk of |
life. Our jobbers and manufacturers
sell these goods as far east as Denver, |
1900 miles; as far south as Los Angeles, |
1900 miles; as far'north as Nome, Alas
ka. 1900 miles. We export to the far
thest PORTS in the world. Our trade |
with Europe, South Africa. Australia, |
China and Japan is immense, but / am
sorry to say with Honolulu and these
Islands direct trade is practically nil.
This is due largely to the lack of |
here. AS far as the |
products of these. Islands are concerned |
[ suppose we have used everything you |
raise. I have used Kona coffee on my
table for years. have made a con-
tract with your sugar refinery for a |
stated quantity of their output to be |
sent to Portland. We have handled |
your bananas and pineapples and al
most all of your products for years.
by way of San Francisco
and you have handled hundreds of
thousands of tons of our products, sec
ond-hand, through San Francisco. We |