The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-02-28

nearby appfoNal OF the cltlgenS OF the
c ity. The company attempted to
create scarcity or an oil famine. nut
drew in their horns when local dealers
and outside Independent companies be.
gansto supply the trade with oil at a
less price than the Standard Oil Co. had
been charging, "
A fire insurance agent at Portland
receives letter from party at Beau.
mont. Tex. in which he SAYS. Each
fire was caused thru the careless hand
ling of lamps and lantrens, Men
here areIurprsed when tell them that
Portland has allowed storage tanks in
the heart of the city. They consider Il
storage tank rs hazardous, if not more
so than powder magazine, it is des.
truetive to life and property, when it
catches on fire. The city Of New Or
leans has passed very stringent laws
governing the oil question. If any Of
your councilmen had ever seen an oil
fire, such as we had, can assure you
no one.would have been able to place a
storage tank inside of your city limits.
From the New York Press, referring
to suit pending in the courts, that the
railway agents said the business was
too dangerous, the dripping oil might
catch fire in the terminals and burn up
railroad sheds, trains of freight and
whole terminals, there was no telling
what damage might not happen to
property and lives. | have letter
from a business house in Portland in
which it says; "We had fire last
July in the Union Oil Co. tanks located
on the river just above st. Johns. One
of the tanks exploded and resulted in
disastrous contlagration. 1t came
near burning our new fire boat; it was
badly scorched and lost over 2, 600 feet
of hose they had to abandon every
thing to save themselves. When the
oil strikes the water il floats around in
very and all directions. If they cane
get anyone in your town to sign petit
tion those people certainly know not
what they are doing. consider it
more dangerous in your city than al
most any other on the coast, for the
reason that the great majority Of your
business houses are built on piling and
in the event of an oil fire, wherein the
oil would run down underneath it would
cause almost certain destruction to
your whole water front.
There are also. letters signed by the
agents of the following insurance com
panies. addressed to various business
firms in Portland in which they say
that the insurance rates would be raised
materially unless the fire tanks were
regulated: Underwriters Bureau,
New York, to the representative of
the board of Fire Underwriters at Port
land, to the agents of the North-Brit-
ish and Mercantile Co., the Atlas, the |
Aetna, the Sun, Phoenix, Home, Fire
and Marine, Alliance, Manchester,
Aachen, Munich. Royal insurance
companies and others.
| also had a conversation recently
with Mayor Wallace at Albany, Or,
who told me that the council had per-
mitted the erection of medium sized
oil tank at the railroad depot, hut that
he was sorry now, since he heard of
the oil tank explosion at Junction, near
Eugene, and let US remember that the
depot at Albany is considerable dis
tance removed from the business Sec
ton, that the depot and surrounding
country is upon earth and much less
dangerous than business section built
upon piling. In view Of all the facts
herein enumerated | submit that we
should at least provide a substitute,
however poor, for the old ordinance
before we repeal it entirely. Some of |
you have probably been subjected to
the same criticism, the same indirect
insults and the same threats as | have
been worried with recently, but he who
expects the honors of a public office,
must bear his share of the worries and
responsibilities of the post. The loss
of selfish friends or of unreasonable
customers, IS to me preferable to the
loss of the peoples confidence.
Should, God forbid, an explosion or
running oil fire destroy even portion
of the peoples property, we would
Justly merit and receive the condemna-
tion of trusting constituency. Let
me, therefore respectfully and earnestly