St. Johns review. (Saint Johns, Or.) 1904-current, 1915-03-26

9uuaCTlptioN PRICE DlsUO per year.
An old doctor of venerable ap-
pearance and hair that has not
known the barber's shears for
a number of years, held forth
in a homemade "jitney" at the
Peninsula Bank corner Saturday
evening. This venerable doctor
gave excellent reasons why st.
Johns should stay out of Portland,
so it seemed to the Ants.
He plainly brought out the fact
that merging would be good
for Portland. but couldn't show
how st. Johns would be benefit
ed. He seemed to impress the
people with the idea that Monta.
villa, with its 7S0 inhabitants
and without any local govern
ment whatever, did get Bull Run
water after a while. and that
nothing was gained in the
way of Industrial plants. IL is
said the old gentleman took oc-
casion to state that the Review
would go out of business if
merger took place. Now this is
most distressing news. We had
figured that the Review would
continue to do business in spite
of annexation, that if the glow
ing promises Of great activity
after merging would come true
that we would just coin money.
that the new factories which Mr..
Lewis talks so much about would
need printing, and that we would
even get a chance on the city
printing of Portland. And now
TO have il announced publicly
that we shall have to 20 out of
the printing business here in case
of merger just naturally makes
us feel heartbroken. The city
printing for the past four months
totalled the sum of Sl89. 40, part
of which was for job printing
and part for advertising. De-
ducting the price of stock. cost
of setting the advertising, time
of measuring up ,and making
aifadavits ian affidavit having
TO be made out for every item
of advertising) this office cleared
on the city printing in the past
four months the muniiicent sum
of SIS per month. Now wouldn't
we have TO be hanging on by
our toe nails il the loss of SIS
per month would throw us out
of business? As a matter of
fact the printing from one man.
ufacturing plant in st. Johns
which this Office turned out dur
ing the same time totalled a num-
ber of simoleons more than the
city printing amounted 10. So
If Mr.. Lewis trots in the other
factories he says will come here
after merging, what has the Re
view TO fear? Perhaps il would
be "A kindness TO this old chirop-
idist If the Review would discon-
tinue If merger takes place, but
somehow we have decided not toI
do so. Again. perhaps the yener.
able gentleman has in mind that
the city Of Portland may be will
confscate the Review printing
plant as we'll as the water works.
One could be done as legally as
the other. The only thing that
could drive the Review out of
business would be for conditions
TO become so depressed that no
other business man could succeed
in business in st. Johns. and
this is what we fear would hap
pen in case of merging, and is
why we fight il. lt is true that !
we would be sorry 10 lose the |
city printing. because we like TO |
get all the work we can. but we
realize il must continue to get
less every year; that ordinances |
most every contingen-
cy have already been passed and
that the streets have been pretty |
well improved, SO that we could |
not figure much over fifteen |
dollars per month profit from |
this source henceforth. and that |
doesn't go very far in paying our
$500 per month expenses. Tol
be very frank, il is true |
that the city printing in the |
past has been quite an import
ant factor with this Office. and |
has helped over many rough |
places. but since the business |
has gotten firmly established and |
the excellence of our printing |
has attracted business even from
Portland, il is not so essential
now to its existence, and we
can note its dwindling with
more complacency. Perhaps the
good old doctor might explain
how the paper at Lents and the
one at Sellwood and the one in
Montavilla continue to exist
and prosper in spite of these
places losing themselves i'm the
city of Portland? If any one is
imbued with the idea that merg-
ing with Portland is going to put
the Review out of business, he
has another guess coming.