The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., June 01, 1925, Page 39, Image 39

THE UNITED AMERICAN
JUNE 1925
Page Thirty-nine
Citizenship Qualities and Natural Resources and Climate in
Oregon as Factors in Building the Empire of the West
By HERBERT CUTHBERT, Publicity Manager, Chamber of Commerce, Portland, Oregon
(Special for The United American)
'T' HE FIRST essential in the upbuilding of a city is
1
citizenship. Portland, Oregon owes its healthy and
continuous growth and development not so much to its
location, its picturesque setting, its natural resources
and advantages, as to the excellent quality of its
citizenship and the united determination of its people to
make the most of her assets and advantages.
This quality in citizenship has been exemplified in
the Portland Chamber of Commerce and the activities
of that body. There has always been an effective and
efficient Chamber of Commerce in Portland which has
taken the lead in a Conservative development policy and
which has been largely responsible for the enviable
position the city occupies today among the cities of thé
Pacific Coast.
Portland has won renown as a residential city—■
a city of homes, of gardens, of flowers, of parks and
playgrounds. To this alone is attributed the great
charm the city has for all visitors. That this is true
is evident whenever a party from the east and middle
west is being escorted over its scenic highways and
boulevards and through the residential portions of the
city when such expressions as these are frequent:
“What a beautiful city you have,” “we wish we
could make our home here,” “if I can
clean up at home, I am coming to live
here,” “this city appeals to
_ . „ - /■
me and when I get my pension I am coming
to live here.”
Forty percent of the people in Portland own their
own homes. Of course Portland could not be the
residential city it is were it not for the fact that there
is something behind it.
There are eight hundred and sixty individual in­
dustrial enterprises and manufacturing concerns in
Portland with no less than forty thousand employees.
Space will not allow enumeration of Portland’s in­
dustrial plants but a few could be mentioned, such as
the Willamette Iron and Steel Works, one of the
largest manufacturers of logging machinery, in the
country, manufacturing from a seventy five ton loco­
motive down to the smallest detail, and other steel and
machinery plants.
Portland has sixteen lumber mills manufacturing
per year nearly one billion feet of lumber, the largest
amount of lumber manufactured in any city in the
world. There are forty furniture and wood-working
plants, outside of the lumber mills themselves.
One of the principal industries not only in Portland
but in Oreogn is producing woolens. The virgin wool is
taken from the sheep on the Oregon plains and manu-
factured into overcoats, suits, garments, blankets,
bathing-suits and other items of wearing ap­
parel and household articles. Some
of the most nationally
A view of Portland, Oregon, looking east from the western heights of the city, with Mt. Hood towering in the distance.