Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-05-01
rwo CLASSES eE ENEMIES,

TO her material prosperity, aud it is
a question fr@m ~as,S SAe suffers
the uaoSs. Tqley axe Sssarly the eS-
tremeS IS sessssS sAesC attitude to-
wara the eoaasgy ss9 Is poSsibiluy,
One class = e'assrsSs& - those who
enaeavor 10 Sel property regardless
Of its Possibilities and regardless of
truth. The other class, and il
is more numerous and equally
pestilential. is those who always
have their hammers out; who cannot
say a good word for the valley or
for anybody in il. Both classes are
hurting the valley and each lays all
the hard times and dullness in real
estate TO the other. As matter of
fact both are to blame and neither
correctly represents the country or
its possibilities
The boosters have. held out the
idea that all a man has to do to be-
come independently rich Is to buy a
few acres of Rogue River Valley soil
and sit down and take his ease.
The knockers, on the other hand,
declare no one can make living on
the soil or otherwise.
AS a matter of fact neither is cor
rect. The Lord has been very kind
to this section, and were life as sim
pie thing as it was hundred years
ago the Rogue River Valley would
be paradise. But it is not, and the
farmer cannot and will not live en-
tirely upon the things he can raise.
The problem then becomes that of
raising something for the market,
either local or outside the valley.
Then the fruit-raising industry took
a firm hold on the speculative in
vestor and the results were a boost
ing of prices and the planting of
large 'acreages here and elsewhere
Last year there was a big crop the
country over and apples were "a drug
on the market. The results were dis
astrous to some who had bought
heavily on credit and they have
Joined the chronic knockers in decry-
ing the country and it's possibilities.
AS matter of fact, in the Rogue
River Valley, as elsewhere, success
attends him who works and works
intelligently, The man who buys a
ranch he can pay for and goes to
work with a determination to win,
and with fair knowledge of the
business he engages in, will succeed.
| But to expect to invest a few thou
sand dollars in fruit ranch and
make money without giving it intel
ligent thought and honest work is as
foolish as to expect to invest it in
any other business and have it sue.
ceed under like circumstances and
methods. The Rogue River VALLEY
will give good returns in produce fol
labor expended. AS to the value o.
that produce, it will depend upon the
conditions peculiar to that year, ant
to market possibilities.
Year in and year out. the man who
does not carry all his eggs in on,
basket and who puts his heart ant
soul into his work will succeed, bu
that does not mean everyone wht
tries in a half-hearted way.
The results of over-booming ant
misrepresentation have been keenl!
felt in the valley, but the misrepre
sentation has not been all on on,
side by any means. There has beer
just as much Misrepresentation OF
the part of the knockers as on the
part of the boomers, and it is ever
more ineXcusable than the other
The man who misrepresents to make
a sale has at least the excuse thai
1t is in the interests of his business
but the knocker who misrepresents
has not even that excuse. JUS
what property owner in the Rogue
River Valley hopes to add to the
value of his holdings by knocking /:
hard to see, but many OF them are
doing it, They are deterring incom.
ing settlers from buying. Even il
they feel that they were stung wher
they were made to believe that dol
lars were as easily picked off the
trees as apples, it does not help them
any to knock now. If they believe
the country better adapted to grain
than alfalfa, then let them talk
grain, but not knock the valley. II
will not help them and hurts every.
one else.
Knocking and boosting is largely
a matter of psychology. In good
times Tin other words, in eras oi
speculation) the booster has the pub
lie ear and goes to extremes. Ther
the knocker goes unheard. Wher
hard times come (eras OF retrench
ment and reaction) then the knockel
gets in his work. The booster Is IL
no mood tO hoost and tho kpocLa