Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1910-11-04

have to get any part of that $27?
What Polk County merchant will ever
/ get cent of it for groceries or shoes
supplied to laboring mans family?
1t is gone-and gone for good. If any
man can tell how that $27 in the Sa-
lem saloon keepers cash drawer Will
ever find it's way into the pocket Of
any Polk County laboring man, the
Observer will then confess that 1t
4 knows nothing about even ordinary
business affairs and will never again
have a word to offer on the prohibi-
tion question.
And we must bear in mind that
what this Dallas man happened to
see, in the few minutes he was in the
Salem saloon, is happening not only
every week of the month, but every
day of the week. 1t has been going on
for the last two years, and the busi-
ness of Polk County has suffered, no
matter what claims may be made to
the contrary.
OF course, the merchants of the
Polk County towns go ahead and do
business. Polk County fields will re-
main fertile and Polk County orchards
will continue fruitful, whether Polk
County votes wet or dry. And there is
the lumber industry, too, to be con-
sidered Did you ever stop to think
that the lumber industry is one of
greatest wealth producers in the I'm
tied States today-that 1t brings in
more new money, and brings it in
faster, than any other industry? Did
you ever think of the countless thous-
ands of dollars that the sawmills have
brought into Polk County in the last
five years? Do you believe that Polk
County has kept as much of this new
wealth at home as it ought to have
kept? Do the merchants of Black
Rock and Dallas and Falls City get as
much of this money as they ought to
get? Every one of us knows that they
do not Dallas does not see one dol
lar of loggers money now, where 1t
used to see hundreds of dollars every
month-and conditions in Black Rock
and Falls City are little better. The
money is simply no longer spent in
Polk County, and that is all there is to
/
it.
No, Polk County will not go broke.
1t will go on and do business after a
fashion, no matter how hard the blows
struck at it's business life. But just stop
! and think what the business of the
merchants might be--what the growth
and development of the towns would
be--if all of this money were kept at
home where it rightfrlly belongs. The
| fact of the business is the wealth-pro-
ducing capacity of Polk County is so
great that its merchants~co continue in
business in spite of the thousands of
dollars that are sent into Marion and
other wet counties every month.
Two months ago, the writer was
talking to a leading business man in
salem-a man who speculstes in land,
very closely. Looking around at the
countless blocks of magnificent hard
paved streets, the handsome new bank
and hotel buildings, and the other
evidences of rapid and substantial de-
velopment on every hand, the writer
volunteered the remark that Salem
had grown more in the last two years
than in any five years before. More
than in five years." the Salem men ex-
claimed, Salem has made more real
development in the last two years than
1t has made in any twenty years be-
fore" Somehow, the Observer man
didn't feel like pursuing the subject.
He was feeling too sick to say much,
for he was looking at those beautiful
streets and thinking of Marion Coun-
tys total 12-mill tax levy, and he was
also thinking of the gravel and mac
adam streets in Dallas, Falls City and
Independence, and of Polk Countys
total 22-mill tax levy. He was also
thinking of how Dallas had to issue 6
per cent bonds to pay for the rock
crusher and road roller, not one cent
of which has yet been paid And he
was thinking of how Dallas was as
justly entitled to as good streets as
Salem-of how the people of Dallas
and Falls City had made personal sac
rifices of time and money in securing
sawmllls and other wealth-producing
Industries, only to see a large portion
of the benefits go to town in another
county 1t is hardly necessary to add
that when the Observer man boarded |
the train to return home, his feelings
were not improved by looking at boxes
and barrels of wet goods in the ex-
press car and the suit-cases of booze
piled up in the smoking compart-
ment. If that is the way to build up
Polk County, the Observer man has
never learned his business lesson.
Stop it by voting Oregon dry? What
matters II to Polk County whether
her dollars are spent In Salem or in
Vancouver, Washington. The only
feature in favor of spending 1t in Sa-
lem is that II would at least be spent
in Oregon. And as between the two
towns. the Observer would rather see
Il spent In Salem. For, be II known,
this newspaper has no III win against
our neighbors of the Capitol City. In
everything it has ever said, urging the
people OF Polk County TO spend their
money at home, 1t has had none but the
best of feelings for Salem. The obser-
stands for Polk County and for the
people of Polk County against all of
the world. Let who will vote to build
up some other county or some other
state. This newspaper will stand for
Dallas-not only for Dallas, but for
every foot OF territory within the bor-
ders OF Polk County. We want Salem
to grow and prosper. but not at our
expense. That city is entitled to all
the good things that the energy and
enterprise Of its citizens can bring to
II. aud no more There is no reason
why Polk County should cripple its
own business men and weaken its own
strength in helping TO build up a lar
ger and stronger city that does not
need such assistance. let who viii
cast his vote for some other state OF
some other county. The Observer will
vote for Oregon. and Polk County.
and It's own home town OF Dallas. and
Il believes there are enough men In
Polk County who feel the same way to
put an end 20 existing undesirable