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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1886)
S06 THE WEST SHORE. taste and desires of the better portion of the com inan ity? This scandal, which ia just as abominably obscene and Tulgar, just as depraved and pernicious in ita whole eharaoter, as anything in the Police Gazette, is not le gitimate news, andjs neither needed nor wanted. Is it any the less pernicious, abominable and harmful because it ! ILa kUUhiuiit iu ouuil of a hi of wiLtxwu who have for years been living in the foul social atmosphere of this London home, rather than the creations of the vile imaginations of those who fill up the columns of the "smut machines" on thia side of the Atlnntic? Is it not even more to be dreaded on this very account? Is the publication of this mess of filth conducive in any way to the welfare of any portion of this community? Does iU publication subserve a single genuine, honest intorent? lyertainly not; nor can it be justified on any tenable grounds whatever. The claim that this sort of literature teaches the horrors of guilt and immorality by describing things as they are, is the plea of the "mosquito" press, and is without anything real to sup port it Instead of this, is not just the opposite the ac tual truth? Does not the publication of such matters snggest to the mind, and familiarize it with, phases of life of which pure-mindedness should remain ignorant, and reveal vices of which innocence should never learn? Does not familiarity with such things deaden the sensi bilities, and lead directly to the spread of the very vices so graphically held up to the view of those who would otherwise not see them? It will not dn to say that hu man depravity will inevitably make excursions into this province; it may, but the growth will be much more rapid under such a tilling as oomes from the publication of these vile details. There is but one other possible excuse that the matter was paid for by contract, and must be used, but this is so purile and unminly that such journal as the Oregmum would, or should, dis dain to hold it up as a shield to ward off deserved criti cism. Id these days, when there ia so much of the vile in literature, there ia need of the exercise of every possi ble virtue to aid in its restriction. Whatever we limit we lessen. Thia ought to be the rule of conduct of a great journal with regard to these matters. It is to be IiojkhI that the Oregmuun will see the justice of these cUima in behalf of our children, so many of whom are among its daily readers, and purify ita columns of every, thing that is demoralising and vile. An elegant steel pUte New Year's card has lieen re ceived from the enterprising real estate firm of Eshel man, Llewellyn 4 Co., of Seattle, one of the most widely known and successful firms on the Tacifio coast There is not a real eatata dealer in thia city who exhibits the enterprise and business capacity displayed by this firm, and consequently none who enjoys the widespread repu tation they have earned. Tartiea desirous of learning about Seattle and surrounding country will do well to correspond with Eahelman, Llewellyn A On PHAGE) RIVER COUNTRY. The Calgary Tribune gives the following particulars relative to the Peace river country, furnished that jour nal by the Rev. J. W. Brick, a missionary of the Eng lish church, who recently arrived in Calgary from that far off country. Mr. Brick brought with him BauiiIoa of wheat and barley which he grew beside the mission, and which show that the country is not one of eternal frost and snow. The wheat was sown on the twelfth of May, the latest spring that Mr. Brick has known dur ing his five years' residence there. The wheat is of the red fyfe variety, and is hard, plump and good, with no indications of any frozen kernels. The yield was twenty-two bushels for every bushel sown, and the straw was five feet and six inches in length. In barley, Mr. Brick had two varieties, one a hulless kernel which grows in two rows and is bearded; the other is Russian barley, which is not marked with rows, but grows round some thing like wheat and is not bearded. The samples of both varieties were remarkably good, the kernels being much larger than the ordinary barley, and which yields about thirty-five to forty bushels to the acre. Dunvegan is nearly six hundred miles north of Cal gary, being about the fifty-seventh parallel of latitude and one hundred and fourteenth degree of west longi tude. Spring usually opens bo that cattle can find their own fodder from the 18th to the 25th of March, and seeding often begins about the 12th of April. Winter sets in about the 1st of December, but the country is visited by the warm Chinook winds and a great deal of warm weather is experienced throughout January and February. Horses graze out all winter and come out in good condition in the spring. The greatest degree of cold which Mr. Brick has experienced was a dip to sixty eight degrees below zero. This, however, lasted only for one night The usual temperature for winter is be tween twenty and thirty degrees below zero, with fre quent breaks, when the mercury rises to about the same number of degrees above zero. The valley in which Dunvegan is situated is about sixty-five miles in length, by eighteen to twenty-five miles in width, and Mr. Brick aays it is the finest land he has seen in the whole of the Northwest Potatoes and vegatables grow remarkably well The summer is warm and agreeable, with only an occasional summer frost Mr. Brick thinks that the Peace river country will yet be settled and become a profitable grain growing and stock raising oountry, and the snort of the iron horse will yet be heard echoing among the valleys. Be sides the Hudson's Bay Company's post in the neigh, borhood, there are traders from British Columbia who visit the district and deal with the Indians for skins and lura. A railroad route from Winnipeg to Peaoe river was described in the September West Shore. A Maw WOMDEK v.- l .i ""f- M wrn from t to 'S ud ouw.nl. .