The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-05-28
aGET OFF THE EARTH"

On Sunday last the Portland Ore
gonian lnewspaperl, indulged us witt
another of its grabbed dissertations, il
which it snarled at us for snarling, am
hammered US generally for our lack o.
Portland. patriotism, etc, etc, anC
wound up by saying:
"The distractions at Astoria have al
times been serious, or at least annoy
ing; but henceforward they will be less
so, for the people of the great Columbia
basin-PotIand included--will not stop
till they get rid Of the last Of these also,
Astoria herself win take on new life and
make new and mighty growth as soon
as she quits the tactics OF obstruction
ami kicks off the clogs of her ancient
fossilism. Towns get ahead as men do,
not BY trying to check others, but by
making opportunities for themselves and
using them"
1t will soon be in order to rename
this state and accentnate the Portland
idea by legally christening it Portland" /"
There is no Oregon, no separate com
munity existance now; it's all Portland,
Or nothing; no city nor town has any
existance that is admittedly distinct
from that of the metropolis; no am
bitions, programs, hopes, aspirations or
rights, that DO not trend toward the
one great city in the commonwealth.
We want to remind the great daily
that Portland herself has kickers and
knockers Of its own, and it is no great
period since the Oregonian tnewspaper),
was busy hammering group Of its old
citizens for some exhibition of self-asser-
tiveness that eontraried the program
that sheet had laid down for them; al
leging that "these men had kept the
State back for 20 years" (which was
true enough; it called them all the
nasty names it generally uses in such
behalf and did it up all right, just sit
does us, and all the other cities and
towns that dare to declare their own
existance once in a while. We believe
that Oregon Is the only State in the
Union that has the bug-bear Of single
large city; it is unique, in that it dem
onstrates just how damnably selfish one
city can get, and to what lengths Of
abuse and short-sightedness its domi-
nance can be carried.
Astoria is seeking to grow, fast, fur
iously fast, just to strike a balance in
this behalf and share the dominance In
such measure as to relieve her sister
cities a bit; of course, she has other
and far different aims in this idea Of
growing and expanding, but she is
mainly interested in forcing Portland to
acknowledge the split dominion and
cirtail some Of her arrogance, to the
general comfort Of the rest Of the state.
Incidentally, Astoria ,tJsnds to bel
THE seaport of Oregon ard the north
west, in pursuance of an honest and
logical destiny heretofore thwarted by
the wealth and influence Of the city up
the two rivers; she has everything
that God could give her in this relation,
except the goodwill of Portland, and
she is really going to get along without
that, an easy job, as she never had it to
start with. Astoria has been the tradi-
tional thorn in the Portland flesh, and
has never been permitted to be any
thing else; now, the mutations Of time
and the course of demonstrated expan-
sion, as indicated by James J. Hill, have
wrought for her the new AMI rational
hope of her career, she is going to meet
her righteous fate no matter what the
city that has starved and stifled her for
90 years, may say Or feel about it.
Astoria does not hate Portland, de-
spite the warrant she has for such a.
spirit; she is proud Of the metropolis
and contributes about $S,OOOOOO a year
to her markets by way Of testimonial