30.
TIIE 3IQIIXIXC OTTEGO-JTr AN, TTEDXESD AT, NOVEMBER 1, 1922
Around C)r6ffon?s Losf roviiic6s??
In his pamphlet entitled "What Californians Want," Mr. Wallace
M. Alexander, President of the San Francisco Chamber of Com
merce, reminds his readers that the offices of the Southern Pa
cific Company are at San Francisco. Some 76 San Francisco busi
ness men proceed by special train to Klamath Falls and are greeted
with these lines in The Evening Herald, published at Klamath
Falls, October', 1922: '
"OREGON'S 'LOST PROVINCE' GREETS HER RELATIONS BY
MARRIAGE. Klamath County, one of Oregon's 'lost provinces,' bound to
Oregon through the misfortune of birth and affiliated to California by
marriage, today welcomes the San Francisco -chamber of commerce trade
excursion." ,
On October 23, 1922, the same paper has this to say:
"STATE LINE IS ERASED BY BAY CITY' VISITORS' 'ANNEXA
TION' OF KLAMATH TO CALIFORNIA FOLLOWS MEET WITH SAN
FRANCISCANS. Bent, broken and finally obliterated, the California
Oregon state line no longer exists in Klamath County. In its stead the 76
members of the San Francisco chamber of commerce trade expansion ex
cursion established bonds of friendship binding Klamath County together
with Northern California."
Does anyone think San Francisco is making this effort for the
benefit of Oregon or of Portland? They tell you, however, that the
Southern Pacific will complete the Natron cut-off and then Port
land will have the business. Some weeks ago the Southern Pacific
Company filed a petition before the Interstate Commerce Commis
sion, concluding with this prayer:
"WHEREFORE, applicant prays that the Interstate Commerce Com
mission make an order authorizing the Southern Pacific Company to ac- -quire
control of the Central Pacific Railway Company to the following ex
tent and by the following means: (a) by lease until December 31, 1984,
subject to termination by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission if
and when found by said Commission to interfere with the final plan of con
solidation, when promulgated, under Section 5 of the Interstate Commerce
Act as amended, and (b) by owneship of all the oustanding capital stock
of the Central Pacific Railway Company during the continuance of such
lease, and for such further order or orders as the Commission may find to
be just and equitable and in the public interest."
The San Francisco people have intervened in this proceeding to
assist the Southern Pacific Company in its effort to obtain from
the Interstate Commerce Commission the order praye,d for. Is San
Francisco's effort made for the benefit of Oregon or of .Portland?
Why isn't Portland's Chamber equally busy in Oregon's interest?
Read the following observation' from, The Eugene Daily Guard,
and then express yourself to the Portland Chamber of Commerce:
Proposed Central Pacific Lease
The Southern Pacific Company, after spending enough money to make
a good start on construction of the Natron cut-off in propaganda against
the supreme court unmerger decree, has at last laid its cards on the table.
It desires only to lease the Central Pacific lines until such a time as the ,
Interstate Commerce Commission develops an indefinite plan of grouping
all the great railroads of the country into a number of systems, based on
efficiency of service and competition, as suggested in Esch-Cummins rail
road act might be advisable, although no authority is vested in the com
mission for enforcing such consolidations.
The Southern Pacific Company will use all the endorsements of its ab
solute and despotic control of Western Oregon and California by news-
papers, individuals and Chambers of Commerce, it has gathered together
regardless of expensfe, to induce the Commission to disregard the decision
of the Supreme Court and allow it to continue to operate the Central Pa
cific lines under lease. The scheduled hearings on the unmerger we were
told would be held in Portland and elsewhere on the coast this fall will not
take place there evidently was no foundation for such statements.
The situation then, if the Commission listens to the plea of the Southern
Pacific, backed by the endorsements it has bought and paid for, is that the
company will have an excellent reason for not building the Natron cut-off,
Springfield shops or anything else, probably for years to come. As lessees
N only of the Central Pacific lines, it will be argued, it would be the height of
folly to spend millions in permanent improvements upon these projects.
Meanwhile the Interstate Commerce Commission will proceed, perhaps for
years, to investigate and hold hearings upon the feasibility of consolidating -the
railroads of the country into a few big systems, a scheme that may
never materialize.
The only conclusion to be drawn is that the Southern Pacific Company
in setting aside the decision of the court, if its campaign to that end suc
ceeds, will have bottled up Western Oregon tighter than in the past, dissi
pating every hope of railroad development that our people have ever cher-
ished. Can you beat it?
Some weeks ago a committee of the Portland Chamber of Com
merce comprised of the following representative men: H. B. Van
Duzer, Chairman, Manager Inman-Poulsen Company; C. D. Bruun,
President Blake-McFall Company; Emery Olmstead, President
Northwestern National Bank; L: A. Lewis, President Allen &'
Lewis; Nathan Strauss, member of firm of Fleischner, Mayer &
Company; George Lawrence Jr., Secretary and Treasurer The
George Lawrence Company; Ira F. Powers, President Ira F. Pow
ers Furniture Company, and F. A. Nitchy, Manager of Crane
Company, returned a unanimous report recommending
"1. That the influence of the Portland Chamber of Commerce be ex
erted to maintain the independence of the Central Pacific in the grouping
to be made by the Interstate Commerce Commission or the lower court,
whichever is to have the jurisdiction, as we believe that such an independ
ent line will be for the best interests of the state of Oregon. We feel that
with such an independent and competing line entering the state, traffic
arrangements can be had that will insure the completion of the Ontario
Crane line of the Union Pacific as well as connect up the Klamath and
Southeastern portions of the state, including an extension south from Bend,
in such a manner as to aid materially in their long retarded development.
With the northern lines operating the Oregon Electric service to Eugene
at the present time, and independent Central Pacific from Ogden to Eugene,
there are opened up possibilities of future development and competition in
both eastern Oregon and the Willamette Valley.
"2. That the influence of the Chamber of Commerce also be exerted
to the end that the main line of the Southern Pacific north and south, i. e.,
San Francisco to Portland, should be continued as a unit and such disposi
tion of those properties of the Central Pacific in northern California be had
. ' as to insure this condition."
Are these recommendations to be carried out in the interest of
the state and in disregard "of every other consideration?
Why do the directors of our Chamber hesitate to adopt this re
port and work as strongly for Oregon as the San Francisco Cham
ber has for California?
C. F. SWIGERT,
' A. H, AVERILL,
Ex-Presidents, Portland
Chamber of Commerce.
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