The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-05-19
STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION.

BE it resolved by the business men
OF Walla Walla that we take an active
part in the work of the National Riv-
ers and Harbors congress and help that
rgarization in it's efforts to enlighten
and educate the people of the whole
country to such an appreciation of wa
ter transportation as will cause con-
stituents of all members of congress
TO support such measures as will lead
to the immediate expenditure of not
less than $5O,00O,O0O annually for river
and harbor Improvement until all of our
worthy rivers shall have been rendered
serviccable for navigation and our har-
bors deepened to meet the demands of
commerce"
The Walla Walla Commercial club is
to be congratulated upon adopting the
above resolution, for any move that
tends toward the opening of the Column
bia and Snake rivers to navigation is
certainly a step in the right direction.
1t is impossible to estimate the value
of this great river system for naviga-
ton, power and irrigation purposes.
We can but worry our imagination in
vain attempts to even contemplate it.
We, as Walla Wallans need have no
fear as to the results that will follow.
The thing for Every one and all of us,
is to busy ourselves in helping the
work along and putting ourselves in a
position to gather up all the good
things that come our way when it is
finished. Or in other words, Walla
Walla must get busy and hitch her
self up to the Columbia river. Do we
fully realize that here, but a few miles
away, is the second largest stream in
the entire United States, and in fact
one of the greatest rivers in the world;
that its drainage area is approximately
245,000 square miles and extends to
British Columbia on the north and to
the Rocky mountains on the east; that
our own city is one of the leading cities
in this vast Inland Empire and that we
have an enormous territory all our own,
if we but annex it? Do we realize this?
The argument that Walla Walla's
future depends in great measure upon
its growth as a jobbing center is in
deed well taken but the premises will
not bear out the deduction that an open
river will hamper that growth. To be
sure, Walla Walla wishes to build up
manufactures and a wholesale trade,
hl1t M An inc h
fears honest and open competition and
can stand only when subsidized by its
isolation is not the industry we should
choose protect and foster. plea. for
such protection is but the plaintive wall
of the primitive, fleeing before the ad-
vance of civilization. Such was the
jargon pleadings of the Indian when
surprised in his wilderness by the white
man; such the muttered curses of the
stage driver stranded by the advent of
the railroad; or the fears of the horse
breeder at the appearance of the auto !
mobile. When we think, really think, !
we know that a navigable Columbia
will put an irresistible impetus behind
the progress of the entire Inland En-
pire. And the more we think the more !
we appreciate the fact that Walla |
Walla will be one of the great benef- !
ciar.es of this great waterway move
ment.
Our battle has been the battle of any
inland city-a fight for fair and equit- |
able freight rates, that we might be |
able to meet our more favored Compel |
itors on an equal footing.
From the very beginning, Columbia !
river transportation has proven very !
important factor in the reduction of
freight rates and the progress of the !
work can be read, step by step in the
tariff tables of the rail lines. The COM
pletion of the Cascade locks caused a
reduction in all up river tariffs of more
than 800 per cent and would be greater
still were it not for a combination be-
tween rail and water to maintain rates.
The rates from Portland to Umatilla
are higher by from 100 to 500 per cent
than they are to The Dalles. 1t costs
50 to carry ton of sugar from Port
land to The Dalles. IS miles, but to
carry it the next 100 miles it costs $500.
Before the river was opened it cost
$500 to transport the same amount of
sugar the same distance now carried
for 50. and which should be carried for
less. That is what an open river means
And that is why every public spirited
citizen in the great Inland Empire
should be aroused to enthusiasm and
a determination to have the Columbia
river opened from its mouth to the
head waters of the Snake. That is
why. every citizen of Walla Walla
should get busy behind a movement to
cinch the trade of the Columbia river
basin.
SLAM AT BASEBALL.