352
THE WEST SHORE.
It may lo economical, but hnrdly consistent, for the
Government to buy its mail Hacks in n foreign country
Ixcatmo tljfv enn bo had chcaocr tlmn tho home nroduct
, , i-- i 1
111 view of tlm fuel (lint by liij'li tnriff Inws it prevents the
eoplo individually from doing tlm mime thing. If to
buy home products (it a high price in the proper wiper
for Tom, Dick mid Hurry severally, it ought to bo bo for
mo mime gentlemen jointly-the Government.
Wnn the compliments of T. If. Crawford. f!i(
SiiH.riiiU-iidciit, we have received tho neatly printed
iwciiui Aiinuiil Jlcjx.rt or the Public Schools of Port
Jmid. Tho work in from tho press of Messrs. Swojie k
Taylor, mid shows that it in unnecessary to Bend out of
Portland to s-uro good pamphlet nml lxHk work. In
mw 01 hum luci it m U Ixt regretted tlmt the rejx.rt con
tuiii twti cut of the Itiuh Selux.l pxccuteil in Din l'liul
one of them fair and tho other miserab'lo-when better
work or that kind ib done in thin city by parties whoso
tuea contribute to the publication of the report.
Xkvaha long ago suffered from tho prohibitory
freight tariff of the Central Pacific, which waB so high
that the agricultural productB of which tho State in cpa-
'" ni mini market. Tliere are thousands of
acr, of laud ill Nevada which will produeo largo yiohhi
of grain, hay ami the finoHt quality of jiotatoes, but the
want of a market Iihh provonted farmers cultivating it to
lU full capacity, whilo the greater K,rtim ha not Imm
brought under cultivation t all. Now that the rate to
San l'ranciNoo hiut Ih-oii rcdmvd to four dollars per ton,
the amount of farm nroducU tlmt u lll ;., . f. ....... i. '
thipiMsl from Nvd will Hurprixe tl.oHo who have .up.
" poui'I uinvo in that State but sace
brush and jack rabbit.
Abtosinihx.j statistic f tho nUnk induBtry in tho
H,W ru prehenuHi i.y the Hocrehiry of the
National Cattle and Horse Grower1 Association, which
iei.ibl.s in it Becond nuuual session iu St Louis ,,
the ' .M ,,f NovemlK.r. It apx.ar that the association
baa membra, f whom KSS were in attendance on
the convention, m tmt it represent -t.VXKt.OOO cattlo,
lO.tNIO.UK) horse and a cnpiUl of W.OOO.OOO.OOO. This
u tlm m,t jH.werful ami wealthy organization of iu kind
in the world, and when rival awmeiatioiiH ro alworbod
a they no doubt to.,., will it Win oouatituto aggro!
gatiou of capital nml uuiou of interest that will bo able
U exert a u.,t powerful influence in what over direction
it mny dc,,nv Pn,,H.ry managed, 8llt., Blt
will !, of groat lH,efit to the pastoral industry of the
. ",,,sl hXnU" l"" i danger of .uch gigau-
tie organ.t,ou. developing iulo an equally monstrous
ft II
UrdB f trado of 1, nilU, Axtoria. (loldeinlalu, Van
rmver, .1U Walla, !,., .,, W.iUuri, for
y convmtiou, to taM.nil.1. .t The Dalle, on the 2J of
December. Every locality interested in the opening of
the Columbia is urged to send delegates, not to exceed
twonty in number. No plnce has as great an interest in
pouring chenp trnnpportntion from tho interior as La
this city, notwithstanding by a stupid blunder the Board
of Trade has succeeded in conveying the impression that
the business men of this city were hostile to the move
mout for opening the river. No man of thought does not
recognize the fact that the opening of the Columbia is of
vital importance to the future growth of Portland, and
the loast we can do as a community is to send to The
Dalles twenty able, earnest men, who will convince the
loople of other sections that the business men .of Port
land are with them in this matter.
Two HUNDHi'.i) and eighty-two years ago Champlain
entered the mouth of the St Lawrence in his search for
a waterway across America, of whose great breadth not
the faintest conception was had at that time. He pro.
ceoded up the stream, confident that he had found a route
to la Chine (China), until he encountered the great
rapids where now stands the city of Montreal. Hera his
progress was stayed, and the obstruction bis vessel en-
countered has ever since been known as "Lachine
Rapids. ' Under the control of skillful pilots steamers
descend the rapids (see page 398) from the river above,
but the current is too strong to be stemmed on the return
trip. A canal ten miles in lencth loads around them mid
is the artory of communication between the, lower and
upper river. Uoautiful at all times, these rapids are
especially grand during Winter's icy months, when snow
and ico combine with the turbulent wator tn mnun a
scene of unique and wonderful beauty.
Two years ago President Villard of the Northern
Pacific mado his triumphal journey across the continent
with a swarm of invited guests from America and Eu
roe, and amid the nonuinff of eh
effervescence of stump orators the driving of the golden
"i"-" "mL" novor urivon was colobratod. A few
weeks later the "blind pool" was flooded with light,
tillard fell from bin Jiiird nuu i.:..
display was ridiculed from one end of the land to the
other. How different the scone in Eagle Pass on the 7th
of November, when Vice-President Van Home and a few
on cmis urove tho last plain iron spike of a railway 3,000
mil in length, one that had cost the people of Canada
1 10 000,0001 Happily for this country the Northern
I acifio, whoso completion was thus so extravagantly cele
brated, has become one of tlm
world, it is to bo hojod that the great storm through
which it paHsed will novnr Iu mv.ii.,i.,.n.i i... i.. ..l
now so niodiBtly oompIetetL
COMMIRHIOXES SPABKS has adminiKrA,! (I.a nffuim of
the Land Office in a manner contrasting favorably with
that of his predetynBors. In every act he has shown an
earneat tUire to preaorve the rights of the Government,
rotwt the public domain from the nefarious scheme of