The west shore., January 01, 1887, Page 50, Image 40

THE WEST SHORE.
the growth of the country. The lumber
trade with California is rapidly increas
ing, and the foreign demand is large.
The eastern trade is just being opened,
and with promise of a rapid increase.
To nwt this demand, railroads are build
ing into the timber, to haul logs to the
Bound, where they are put into rafts and
towed to the mills. The Tacoma cham
ber of commerce is encouraging the bus
iness of deep sea fishing for cod and
halibut, which abound in our northern
seas. Every variety of fish is found in
great abundance, and it is only a ques
tion of time when the fisheries of Puget
sound must prove a very great source of
wealth. During the past year, eleven
vessels have been employed in the cod
fishing business, and the success that
has attended the enterprise must lead to
its enlargement In the vicinity of Port
Townsend, considerable iron is manu
factured, and the coal business is slowly
increasing. There is no doubt that the
Canadian Pacific railroad will soon bring
a largo new business to the sound, both
foreign and domestic.
The agitation of the labor question
during the past year, has resulted in
much more good than harm. The hours
of labor, in the great companies, have
lxcn reducM from twelve to ten. There
is far less of that harsh disposition that
makes men of independent feelings re
belhous against the social order, and the
chances for intelligent and aspiring la
or are multiplying. As the different
enterpnses of the country advance, and
new ones are created, the contending
forc-.s of more varied interests will de
velop a freer and healthier life in the
communities that have been more or less
stifled by the control of single interests
and these new influences will make it'
socially and politically, a better country!
I have no doubt that what I heard
Carleton Coffin say, several years be
fore his recent visit to this region, i8
true, based, as his predictions were, up
on the Btudy of physical geography, that
" From that wonderful series of bays and
inlets, known as Puget sound, will sail
the future marine of the Northern Pa
cific," and that " To these harbors will
flow the great commercial tides of the
Pacific, from China, Japan, Australia
and the South Pacific." And I have
equal confidence .that the ethnic forces
underneath our government, the forces
that have moulded the Germanic and
Anglo-Saxon'races, so liberty-loving that
eyen Rome, in all the power of its impe
rialism, never could wholly bring the
people beyond the Alps into subjection,
and make them a component part of the
empire, will determine the character of
the civilization of this section. I be
lieve it is the destiny of this magnificent
region to be widely apportioned, with
all its opportunities, among men who
will observe the principle of order, as
well as the principle of progress, in es
tablishing a society in which mutual in
terests will be regarded and mutual ob
ligations receive full recognition.
S. B. Pettexoill.