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About Oregon City enterprise. (Oregon City, Or.) 1891-194? | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1897)
Oregon City Enterprise. Published Every Friday. CHA8. ME8EKVE, PUBLISHER AND rftOI'RIKTOR. IUBDCHIPTION HATK8, One rear, JS Biz moulhn, 1 w Trial ulmorfptlon two month, k dinooui I ot Wwnts on all subscriptions lor ma year, ') cents lor six months, II raid lu drauee. Adrentntnf rates firm on application. 8iih.prler will Hud thr data ol txplia'lon atami ed on their pr lodowl- tlrnr name. If ihu 'ael- not ch. i within io ftrapmut. kindly ootlly u snd wo will look dlerlt. Catered at the Port Office In Oreiton City, Or., a second elau matter. FRIDAY, APRIL 16. 1897. AGENTS FOR THE ENTERPRISE. Bearer Creek, Oanby, Clarkanut, kltiwaukle, r Jon Mills. Meadow Brook, Kew Kra, v Uaonvtll, Pa-k Place, 6, aJ tone, afford, Multno, Caraa, y.olalla. Uarqium, Hr.tlvllle Aurora, OrwtUe, ale Creek, I'auiascus, Bndy, f-almon, Currinsville, Cherryville, Marniot, Pr. T. B. Thomas Geo.Kni2ht A. Nattier Oscar WlMlniter U J.Trullliiter Chat Holman W.S.Newberry Henrr Mllev F. L rtuwell T. M. CroM J. U. Once. C. T Howard R. SI. Cooper Annie tilubba. K. H. Hartrnan B Jeuulngt Heir A. -nyder - L.J Perdue H. W illiern J. C. Klliott F. GiKtsch Mrs. W.M. Mclntyre (ieo. J. Currin - Mrs. M. J. Hammer Ailolph AscbotI The way to bolld np Oregon rtty Is to flit Ore po City people yonr ntronar. THE OEEGON EOAD LAWS. The good roads moTcment I miking most gratifying progress in California and come very fine roads have ben built within toe last year or two in that state, though their road laws are far from being perfect or even equalling those or Oregon. The San Francisco Argonaut, which has been the leader of the good roads move ment in that stale, giving during the past few years many able and instructive edi torials on this important subject, in re cent number takes the EsTmraisi to task for asserting that Oregon has the best road laws of any state in the Union, and pro ceeds to pick oat alleged week spots in our road laws. , The leading objection which the Argo naut finds is that our laws do not provide for state highways. This assertion is true, bat we do i.ot here in Oregon consider it grave laali, for the state is not sufficiently developed to make inter-county roads a necessity. The great problem with our farmers at present is to get roads passable at all seasons ol the year to their nearest and best markets. When this is accom plished it will be in order to take up the building of stale roads, but it will be at least tan years yet before Oregon can under take the construction of trnnkline roads connecting the various sections of the slate. . Id speaking of the road laws we have, tbe Argonaut gets somewhat mixed, mak ing out that pur road work is carried on un der both, what is known As the Mel.iruni and Cross road laws. These laws are entire ly separate in their character. The Mel drum law, so-called becaoe its leading fea tures were dratted by Judge Meldrun) of this cooniy, provides for the collection of a county road tax in cash and the appoint ment by the county court of a county road engineer and district foremen and the ex clusive control of the roads and road work by the county court. The Cross law, so called because it was introduced and passed throngb the legislature by Senator Cioss of this county, provides for the improvement of main highways by levying an sssess nient upon the adjacent property as streets are improved in cities. This law baa not as yet been put in operation in this county, all roads being built out of the general fund. For the enlightenment of the Argonaut and the information of all others wbo may wuh to know of the practical workings of the Oregon road law, and of its local option feature, which is admired by the Estskpbisi and condemned by its able Kan Francisco exchange, tlie Enterprise will briefly out line the system as carried out in Clackamas county. In this county the county court appoints each year a road engineer who attends to the laying out of all roads and wbo supervises their improvement. The court's rules provide that all petitions for new roads or changes in old ones shall first be approved bv the engineer before be ing presented to the court and that all grades shall be less than 10 per cent, unless absolutely impossible and so reported by the engineer. In the improvement of roads already laid out no work is done until the route has;been examined by the engineer and if found defective the adjoining settlers are compelled to have it properly located before any money is spent upon it. The engineer is paid by the month and during the summer months gives bis entire time to road work. Having all road petitions subject to his approval prevents the county from being put to the expense of surveying routes which are found to be impractable, he, through bis knowledge of the topog rophy of the county, being able to judge as to whether the route is practical or not, without a regular survey being made. Of course, should he be Inclined to be arbitrary the court allows the petitioners to ask that they be given s hearing on the merits of Ibeir proposed road. In the work uf road building only the main highways are improved first, the plan being to begin at the market end and work out toward the interior. . The method of work is that carried out by the best road engineers of the East. Gravel, crushed rock and plank being used, with crushed rock given the preference for pro ducing a permanent road bed in this damp climate, where the ground is soft and yield ing for six mouths out of (be year. That the Oregon road laws are the bent of any slate In the I'nion, the Kiimrnisi will still maintain. The California system of which the Argonaut s-aka so favorably js weak In several points. The three most vital, being a stale road commission t a cost of 12,000 a year to the tax payers, making their system top heavy and ex pensive without a corresponding benelll be ing derived from the labors of this com mis lion, for the problem with the farmers of California Is, as in Oregon, to get to market. The other and greatest defect of all is the election by the people of the road supervis ors. That a good vote-getter la seldom a good engineer is plainly in evidence wher ever this system prevails, by the poor qual ity of Mad work done. The supervisors should be under the direct control of the Mad engineer and county court as here in Oregon. The failure to have county Mad engineers is another weakness In the Cali fornia laws, as well as In nearly every other state of the Union. Successful Mad build ing requires better engineering skill than that of railroad building, for in addition to grades, drainage and construction work, he has to contend against the jealously and obsiinacy of many of the settlers ilong bis Mad routes, as also the limited amount of money that he has his disosal, and wilb which he ia usually expected to do as much work as the railroad engineer with bia unlimited funds. Having the control of the Mads ot a county in the hands of an engineer insures uniformity of work and the opening of main highways thMiigli the county, that would be impossible as It was in this county when we had, under the old law, TO road supervisors, each working ac cording to his own ideas and plans. The Oregon road laws are all right and when put into eflect by progressive coun ties, will build up a syten) of highways the equal of any to be found in the older states of the Tnion. SENSIBLE POPULIST In another column Ike Estjkpmsi pub lishes a communication from Win. A. Starkweather, in which be gives his views in regard to the late Simon-C'Ren hold-up in the legislature. Mr. Starkweather is one of the prominent farmers of Clackamas county, and In politics he was a leader in the populist party while U'Ren was yet in the republican party and bail not been lured away by the chance of getting an of fice, which the growing strength of this party offered to men having an insatiable desire to serve the people and especially the taxpayers, as demonstrated by our late pop ulist patriots from this county. In review ing the eflect of the late bnld-up Mr. Stark weather takes the same view of it, as would Any republican, democrat or populist wbo had the welfare of his country at heart and who desired that our liberties and tree gov ernment should be maintained. As be well says the hold-up is the first step toward a people's political downfall .and financial ruin, for it destroys the intent and purpose of our state government and entails upon it unnecessary expenses which the tax payers can ill afford to meet. In voicing bis protest against the anar chistic tactics of the8imon-C'Ren combine, Mr. Starkweather is reflecting the senti ments of hundreds of populists all over the state, who have found out that populism is a myth when set up as the embodymetit of all that is honest and pure in politics and the next election will witness a desertion of these men who have been drawn into the populist party by the glittering promises of political reform and public economy. THE ROADS Or ILLINOIS. The good roads movement evidently has not yet made its appearance in Warren county, Illinois, judging by the following local which appeared in the Kirkwood Leader of April 7: "W. T. Unckles or Hale township had fifty-six fat bogs to deliver in Kirkwood last Wednesday. His neighbors were called on for belp, and the porkers were loaded into fourteen wagons four hogs to each wagon. At the Pape hill the teams stuck, some of the horses miring down in the clay to their bodies, and the wagons dropping down to tbe bubs. Three double teams were hitched to each wagon, and in this manner they succeeded in getting the fourteen wagons to the top of the hill in three hours. It was a tough job." While the unimproved roads of Clacka mas county have been pretty tongh the past winter, tber have at no time been so bad as to require six horses to haul a wagon and four hogs oyer them. Our farmers have been able to get to market at all times during tne winter months and to bring in an Illinois load with only two horses. Tbe Enterprise reiterates Its statement that Clackamas county is doing as much road work in proportion to its wealth and popu lation as any county in tbe United -States, a pretty broad assertion but nevertheless true, and wilb five years more work under the present system, and by the way no state in the Union haa a better, will place this county in the front rank for good roads. It is the cash system, a skilled road engi neer, a live county court and progressive people tbat is making Clackamas county tbe leader in the good roads movement for Oregon. U'Keh, the patriot, like many another good man, has found that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own bouse." Having failed to receive the endorsement in his own county that be expected, he is now holding meet ings in other parts of the state, going as far away as Southern Oregon, he having a meeting advertised for the 23d of this month at Jacksonville. Mr. U'Ren will find that the anarchists and hold-up sym pathizers are as scarce in the other coun ties of Oregon as tbey are in Clackamas and that his revolutionary tactics will be de nounced as hard as they were here. If Mr. U'Ren was a wise man, he would do as his partner Mr. Simon is doing, go home, keep quiet and wait for the storm to blow by and the people to forget his connection with the late boodle-yielding bold-np. that Is such would be Hie case were a com mon Individual to undertake these tour neys. It may be that he has had his pass renewed, or that that fSO he received from the boodle fund in Sulein Is nobly holding out until the end. Who knows? L . "The bank clearings throughout the United Slates, as given by "llradslreet's," were greater last mouth than during tin mouth of March in any of the three preced ing years ISM 0. Th shows that there is already more business doing under th advance agent of prosperity, despite Hie continuance of the democratic tartlT for dell icency and destruction. American Econo MR. STABKW KATHK'8 PROTEST. The enigma lo people not versed In the ways of Simon-populism is how U'Ren, who claims to be a poor man, can take long trips to distant parts of the state, each one calling for quite an expenditure of money, The very unusual proceedings of the late so called legislature induced me to oiler for publication an article kindly disapproving the course pursued by those engaged in the hold-up and urging early organisation, which was deemed inopportune and went to the basket. I now say, nothing seems more Incom patible with duty and good policy than for a representative-elect, lo the legislature, to refuse to take the office bs sought and enter upon the discharge of such duties. He Is the authorised agent and representative of the people lo discharge their will lu the most important of all matters pertaining to state citixenship and civil government. He is Hie supposed representative of the wishes, will and interest not only ol the local con stituency in local matters, but of the people of the entire state, embracing nearly a half million of people, in his more general duties. If be lails to act they are disfranchised and betrayed for a lime. A few men, a score or so, have destroyed one branch of tbe state government for the time being and inci dentally robbed the people of more than a half million of dollars and perhaps twice thai sum If present conditions continue two years. Some in the hold-up have said de liberately, that if similar conditions exist two or four years hence, they would or will repeat the action, and then through public convention, officially called, ask endorse ment. To pass to our own party name, popu lists, without any wish to censure persons, 1 ask, are we in any meritorious sense pop ulists when we get between the people and the legislature in a semi-official capacity (representatives-elect) and refuse to take the otlice, the oatli of ottlce, lo do any of the duties of the otlice and through crimi nal disobedience to the law of both stale and nation as well as disobedience to the mandates of the constitution, for winch dis obedience the hold ups and their house as sociates have already paid the penalty of $120 each plus milage T Are they populists who disfranchise the ople by breaking up the legislature and destroying state govern ment, while they double slate expeuaesT Their excuse condensed Is thai other parties behaved so bad that they thought best to tear loose from duty. Every provision of law relating to the duties of representatives in its moral and legal Import forbids bad faith on the part of a representative, Hie name itsell implies obedience to theconstit uency. The penalty for the disobedience alone is insufficient where temptation is strong and therefore tbe taxpayers are robbed. Now, as in lfVifl, people look longingly to the county, state and national treasury for aid. The taxpayers pocketbook ia the last resort of corriitionlsts whoever they may be and wherever found. Politics at 'alem are and were conglomerate during the late session. Four or more factions could (did) each caucus separately and definitely agree on one thing, plunder of the stale and the political aspirants lor senatorship. When 8imon-3cott-Lord-Corbett,the pops and others consort together look out for confusion In politics and watch the pie counter. We have been told tbat probably $70,000 or more of political Influence changed hands at Salem during the late bold-up and that then the result was about a stand-oir. This leaves out of the account tbe tax money left over, (which we are not privileged to know by reason of the hold up) and that to be paid in during the next two years, or the profits thereon. Remem ber, taxpayers, you foot the bills with inter est, and they are always highest in hard times. With all this plotting and visible corruption you are told still that you wil save money by tbe hold-up, and running the state on a credit of two years with a yet darker prosect before you, resulting from the political revenges being taken. This is but adding insult to injury, when tbe men most likely to profit by the use of your money say run the state on 8 r cent war rants payable 2, 4. or 6 years hence you will find it profitable. In 1WJ8 we had a little experience in this line. 'Twas panic limes then; there bad re cently been burned up several hundred million dollars of greenbacks, and we were bonded lo an equal amount upon which we had to pay interest. We were told then It would be profitable to us; tbat posterity would help us pay the debt, and now the grandchildren are helping pay. The older people remember that a committee was sent out by congress to see what was the matter with business, which reported a money famine. Then the Oregon legislature broke np without passing the appropriation bill and we run the state on tick awhile while your h b officials used the tax-money Mr. Canton, in a paper conributed to the Oregon City Herald, in January last, said this coat the taxpayers $100,000. I wil quote him from memory. He said (nearly enough) "These anarchists violated their oaths proved false to their trust betrayed their constituency broke up the legislature and mulcbed tbe state in the sum before stated" and many other things; "and that they finally slandered the populists and therefore the populists were Justifiable In doing the same thing " The state was but a baby then, or a ten year-old and our necessary expenses not perhaps more than one-fourth what they are now. It may cost you three or four times tbe amount named should the hold up continue two years. Make this matter private for a moment. Suppose you call on merchants to supply you on credit. Call on Smith the merchant. Say "Smith I want to run a bill with you.' "What fort" "The family." "How many have you In lh family?" "More than 1(100, so has the state." "For all Ihi'y neodt" "Yes, tood, clothing, doctor-bills, every thing they need lo buy." "When can you pay T" "I think In two years." "Can you certainly pa ihenT" "Sol quite certainly; mv debtor la per holly able and can pay at any lime but he Is capricious and has me entirely in his power." What do you think a bill of some six or tight thousand dollars worth of goods an nually, this being their cash value would cost you on such time under such circumstances? We are asked lo endorse Ihls bill and the acta that led to it Wlih all the animosities engendered In the late unhallowed senatorial contest, and likely to be aggravated and related two years hence, In full view, will yon en dorse? Will you put your ticket on the rack two and four years hence to acquit you of anarchism? lint who are the anar chisla, you will ask. Were you to ek me who were nut anarchists in and around that legislature it would be a far more dim cult question. Tbe mlslortiine to some Is that they carried a llambeaii In their hand, ami are the most visible aiiarcluats. Others sel the trap and doubtless will profit by the hold up. 1,00k out taxpayers for your own treasury. Nebraska has recently lost a half million dollars of lax-money and we may lose much more. 11 us not endorse, but rather steer clear of tbe Simon trap. This Is my advice and purpose. Wm. A. Stakkwkathrm. "My landlord w ill pay for that paper," said ft business man to Iloluian, the wall paper dealer. Holman said It was $ for the room. "It that all? Well, I will pay it myself," replied the luiim-M man. You will be surprised when you find how littlo it coata lo paper your room when you see Holman ami boo his up-to-date styles and price Tor Cttorffc ELT8 CRFAM BAI.M la a poalllveenre. Apply Into the nntirlla. ll la qnlrhly arwirbmt. 60 cu at imnrelstsor by msil ; Minpia lor. by mail. ELI BKOTUKlUi, M Kvni bu, New York City. FOR- absolutely; pore DRUGS oo to f. A. HARDING. NONK BUT COMPETENT PHARMACISTS EMPLOYIO Fine Pemmsiiei and Toilet Articles. Also a full stock of ZP-AIINTS- OILS ETC. H. W. JACKSON, Man AND n I Htamr Umbrellas, Guns, Sewing Machines, And all kinds of email ma chines put in good order. No work to difficult to undertake. Prices reasonable. Shop in Caufield building Near Court House. H ELLO I J 1800 miles of long dis tance telephone wire in Oregon and Washington now in operation by the Oregon Telephone and Tel egraph company. Portland, Seattle, Spo kane, Tacoma, Salem, Walla Walla, Pendleton, Albany and 96 other towns in the two states on the line. Quick, accurate, cheap. All the satisfaction of a Sirsonal communication, istance no eflect to a clear understanding. Spo kane as easily heard as Portland. Oregon City office at Huntley's Drug Store. J. H. THATCHER, MANAGER, M'KIITJMCICS SH0KS BHAT THK "WOULD When you buy Agents for Pure Prepared Paint ! A hoiiHo you muko mro t ho title in clear. When you paint it umo I'uro Prepared Paint as it makes all tho diiTi rence in tho world whether the paint is genuine or not. Color cardrt free. Special prices In quantity. CI I AltH AN & CO. CITY DRUGSTORE. .Tolophone No. Blooming Plants. We wish to stato that we will pliwo on sale, the fluent lot of plants at tho lowest prieo ever offered in Oregon City. Carnations, large plants in bloom, 12 varieties, 20 cents each. fliTttiiiuiiiH, largo plants in bloom, 10 cents each Iloees, two-year-old bushes, 2 cents each. Chrysanthemums, all priw winners, in eluding Kugene Diiilledouze, (Jeo. W. Childs, Mayflower, Mrs K, G, Hill, I'liiliulelphia, and twnty-flve others, 10 cents each, 7!) rents per dozen. A largo variety of other plants. Cut flowers in season. Greenhouse at Gladstone, on Electric Car Line. Visitors Welcomed. Hardy cabbage and other vegetable plants for sale. Wilkinson Bros. P. O Address, Box 238, Oregon City. Portland, Oregon, ' The Marketing Point OF CLACKAMAS COUNTY Tho factory towns of tho Kast aro noted for affording tho best market to tho neigh boring farmers and gardeners in proportion to tho population of any of tho towns in that section. Tho reason for this is that tho people of these towns havo a fixed in come upon which they can always depend, and, as a consequence, they aro liberal buy ers, paying cash for all their purchases. As the Great Manufacturing Center of the Pacific Coast OREGON CITY Is Coming to be One of the Best Marketing Towns In the State This is proven every day by the number of farmers, who are to bo soon on its streets selling their produce, who, until just tho last few years, sought tho markets of other towns. The system of macadamized roads that is being built into all parts of Clack amas county, will enablo all tho people of this county to share in the profitable mar ket that Oregon City affords. If, as it is sure to do, the demands of Oregon City in crease in the next five years as it has in tho past five years, this city will rank next to Portland as a market place for THE PRODUCE of the Farmer