.WEST SHORE. 101 school buildings, one of which cost $40,000, supply superior facilities for the education of the large number of school children, of whom there are about 2,500. The schools are well graded and splendidly managed. There are also a number of private and denominational schools. The Willam ette University is the oldest as well as the leading educational Institution in the state. It has a large and well equipped structure and ample grounds. The Orphans' Home is another institution of the city that is doing good work. There are ten churches, one of them being brick structure that cost (60,000. There are also two hotels, a fine opera house and more than half a mile frontage of substantial brick business blocks. Salem is pulsing with life and energy. The rich blood of enterprise and prosperity is flowing in the arteries of trade and industry. New enter prises are on foot that will aid materially in promoting the growth of the city. The leading street car line, extending from beyond the depot through the city and to the fair grounds, will soon be converted into an electric '' line, making the second electric motor line in the city. Engineers are now making the permanent location of the line between Salem and Silverton, and the indications are that this most valuable feeder to Salem's business will be finished and in operation by the end of 'the year. New and desira ble suburban tracts will be prepared for residence purposes and transporta tion facilities provided. The legislature will be In session next winter, and the thousands drawn to the capital biennially by this cause will have an opportunity to see what remarkable progress it has made during the paBt two years, and will return home prouder than ever of the Capital City. FREE BRIDGE AT PORTLAND. The question of a free bridge over the Willamette river at Portland is one which has been discussed for years, and that such a struc ture ifl a necessity Is conceded by everyone. All over the east ern states turnpikes, or toll roads, were at one time owned by corporations, and maintained for the revenue to be derived from them. These roads proved to be a heavy tax upon the resi dents of the rural sections, in asmuch as they were compelled to use them whenever they mar keted their products, and were unable to get a corresponding increase in the price of what they had to sell. The discus sion of the question finally re sulted in many of .the counties buying the franchises and im provements of the road and levying a general tax upon the entire taxable property of the counties to defray the expense of their purchase and maintenance as free highways. As a consequence, sections which for any reason failed to do away with the burden imposed by these roads soon found their business slipping away to the live and enterprising communities which bad grasped the situation. Of the same nature is the situation confronting the citiiens of Portland and East Portland to-day. Because Portland is at present the principal market of the northwest is by no means an assurance that she will always remain yr ft: 1. .at1HMeBni 1 M ll . i Pi ;-v SflMifciSJ'St, - ill V ;v - k: ? f:. . ' m ; N: ' AURICULTURAL WORKS AND ELECTRIC LIMIT PLANT, SALEM r.' . A I-? . I'l" ,,rY,' h'-.i , I (''!! (I 5 ' SALEM WOOLEN MILLS. such. Burdens will have to be removed and Inducements superior to those offered by other places will have to be held out or the trade will gradually seek other points. An incident bearing on this point was presented last week In a band of 1,200 sheep which was being driven to the Portland market from Eastern Oregon. At the rates charged by the bridge and ferry companies the toll on this band would have amounted to $.10. The owner of these sheep could, of course, get no more per pound for his stock than if he had not had to submit to the tax. By taking advantage of the enter prise of our neighbor on the south, however, this item of expense was avoided. Clackamas county has a free bridge over the Willamette at Oregon City which la maintained at the expense of the county, and stockmen and others com ing to Portland from east of the mountains find it convenient to make a slight detour in that direction to avail themselves of its advantage. Seven years ago the Columbia river furnished the only outlet for the products of Eastern Oregon and Wash ington and the Willamette val ley, and Portland was the point of meeting and transfer from river to ocean craft. Heavy tolls were exacted from this traffic in the form of freight charges on the upper and lower rivers and towage and pilotage to the sea. Repeated demands for a reduction of these charges were ignored, and as the Income derived from the traffic was enormous other companies began the construction of rail lines across the mountains to other harbors, and at the earliest possible moment the producers of the inland empire took advantage of the competition thus provided, and the business which had been provided as belonging to this city was largely diverted to other ports. The railroad along the river now takes the place of these boats, but it Jitters from them In that where the boats then secured all the traffic the railroad now gets only a part. The failure of Portland to grasp the lituation presented in the free bridge problem may possibly not result as did her foimer failure to grasp the shipping situation, but it tends strongly In that direction. -!'4 n i Reports from the Soloman Islands show that the slave trade is flourishing there under the French and English flags. During the past few years 10,000 men have been carried Into industrial captivity on the plantations of the New Hebredes, Fiji islands, New Calldonla and Queensland, Sneers at Nevada because of her lost of population must be expected, and yet the agri cultural possibilities of that state are enormous, and some day Nevada will have a large and prosperous population. -V" V CAI'ITAL rLOl'RIKQ HILLS, SALEM. Flee from the wrath to come, but do not neglect to keep a sharp lookout for the wrath that is here already,