East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1907-09-17

OF Ill advertisements, lle peTSoildi
letter. Prizes are offered in various
towns to the school boy or girl who
writes the best personal letter east to
another. telling about the Chances out
here in oregon. Then there is this
$4,000 contest of the Portland Com
mercial club for the best articles pub
lished in papers anywhere except in
Washington and oregon. This mon
ey is guaranteed by the leading men
of Portland, and is absolutely free.
The only requirements are as fol-
lows:
ARTICLES must appear in a regular
edition OF some newspaper or other
cember 81. 1907, printed outside of
the states of Oregon and Washing
ton, said publication (complete) to be
in the hands of the judges no later
than February 1, 1908. Articles must
be sealed and addressed to the Prize
Contest, care Portland Commercial
club, Portland. ore.,' They will be
opened by the judges. Prizes will be
strictly on the merits of the articles.
Contestants can treat any phase of the
subject that appeals to them
natural resources, scenery, irrigation,
agriculture and horticulture, timber,
dairying, history. educational and re-
ligious advantages. Climatic, social
conditions, etc, or in more COM
prehenslve vein. The judges will be
absolutely untrammeled in making
their decisions.
Most Opportune Time.
Now here is one thing 1 want to
call particular attention to. These
colonists rates may never be granted
again, because of the laws about rates
recently passed. These rates apply
to all parts of the west. That means
that the state that does the best ad-
vertising right now gets the best re-
turns. oregon must fight practically
all the other western states for colo
nists, to, say nothing of Canada. So
the best rustler among the states gets
the lions share of the people coming
this way. The state that works the
hardest right now and for the next
few weeks gets the best.
This is not homeseekers' rate,
nor granted by any one railroad.
Tickets under the old scheme were
sold only from certain points to cer-
tain other points on certain trains
and days of the week. This rate is
over all the lines in America, good
on all ordinary trains, and on sale
every day while It lasts.
"Of the various towns and cities
Corvallis got the best results, 5000
answers all told. Astoria is spending
the most money, not even excepting
Portland. Portland is receiving
about $50 replies day right now, all
new ones, too. The country papers
all over the state deserve the great
est credit, perhaps, outside the COM
mercial bodies themselves, for many
of them keep the table of rates run
ming at the head of their editorial
columns, or on the front page of
every issue, and that costs money"
Many Are Coming This Year.
At the Chamber of Commerce it
was learned that hundreds of new
colonists are arriving in Portland
daily. How many are reaching the
other points in the state direct cam
not now be calculated with any sense
of surety. but the indications are that
the months of September and Octo-
Der will far exceed the months of
March and April in the settlers at
tracted to Oregon.
The railroads coming into Portland
report that more people are arriving
daily in this city than during the ex-
position. The baggage rooms are
jammed full, and surplus baggage has
to be piled up outside under the shed
till there Is room for 1t inside. Four
boxcars Of baggage stand in the sta
ton yet unloaded.
The people arriving are, by the
tickets collected by the o. r. & N.
for the week ending September 8, as
follows; Reached Huntington this
year, 1850; last year, 6S7. or these
1850 newcomers 245 went to Port
land; 345 to Puget Sound points; 1876
to Spokane; 457 to points north OF
Portland; and the rest were distrib-
uted to Baker City, Walla Walla
Pendleton, Hood River, The Dalles
and other points in the state.