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About The Coos Bay times. (Marshfield, Or.) 1906-1957 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1909)
h jj'jfwmwu PAGE ONE. TO VOTERS! The Commercial bodies of Coos Bay have decided to send out a few copies of the Port Bill so that the entire pro posed district may have an opportunity of becoming familiar with its provisions. The creation of a Port of Coos Bay meets with so much general approval that it is hardly neces sary to make any campaign argument in its favor. Most of the residents of the proposed district are personally familiar with the great benefits that arise from such measures and are anxious that the port be created in order that Coos Bay and its tributary water ways may be placed on a business footing to secure substantial and continuous improvements. When the Port is created its management will be in the hands of five commissioners who must be legal voters of the district. Practically speaking they will bear the same relation to the port that County Commissioners do to the county. Their power and authority is limited by the provi sions in the bill. There has been an attempt by some par ties to create a bugaboo feeling against the Port and the extravagant abuse that is liable to follow its adoption. The hypotheses upon which such remarks are based do not merit the consideration of progressive and patriotic citizens; they are animated by sordid and selfish motives or prompted by paid hirelings. The history of port commissions shows that they have been managed judiciously and conservatively and it is not unreasonable to assume that there will be found capable and trustworthy citizens in the proposed Port District of Coos Bay to give honorable treatment in the administration of port affairs. The bill as a whole is good: the spirit and just ntent wil' be carried out and the results will be what the peo'ple of Coos Bay and adjaceht territory desire. The United States Government makes no provision for looking after our inlets and inland water ways which are among the greatest assets of this district. North Inlet, Haynes Inlet, Kentuck Inlet, Coos River, Catching Inlet, Isth mus Inlet, South Inlet, and Ten Mile all need special atten tion for the accommodation of the resources along their shores and one of the important duties of the Port Commis sion will be to make such improvements in" these channels as the Port can afford and traffic justifies. There is no doubt that Coos Bay and its tributary streams afford natural advantages for splendid improve ments and when they are fully developed this district will possess unrivalled accommodations for water transporta tion. THE POUT OF COOS BAY. THE SPECIAL VALUE OF every foot of ground, whether it is used ' for agricultural or commercial purposes, in the proposed Port of Coos Bay, 1b due to the existence of a harbor for the world's shipping in close proximity. Destroy the harbor and the values will all disappear. It follows that unless the harbor is preserved and Improved, men who now pay the taxes will, unless they have large means to enable them to hold unsaleable property for a long time, lose all they have. The farmer or merchant who permits his house to fall into decay, because it will take money to repair it and save it, would not be considered wise. In fact, ho would be considered foolish. In the same way, people who base their expectations of prosperity on the presence of a good harbor close by would be regarded as foolish if they allowed It to deteriorate or be filled up. What Coos Bay needs is a3 follows: 1. To prevent the filling up of the harbor. 2. To prevent unnecessary obstructions to navigation. 3. To prevent the tidal area from being diminished. . . 4. To dredge, deepen and widen the channel to the sea. 5. To provide a dry dock for repairing ships. 6. To enter into contracts with the United. States so as to obtain ap propriations for the extension of the jetties at the mouth of the bay. 7. To provide rules-for the regulation of shipping. 8, To improve the inlets or sloughs entering the harbor. In order to get these things she must organize so that there will bo one body which can have jurisdiction over the whole Bay, subject to the veto which the constitution gives the people. By organizing as one body, Coos Bay may become an important port and the largo landed Interests may be required to contribute their Just proportion of the expense, in stead of compelling the smaller Interests to bear It all. Port organizations have been exceedingly successful In all parts of America . The city of Portland Is a notable example. Her port organ isation has enabled her to make a harbor 110 miles from the sea where she only had 12 feet of water to start with. She has. through her Port Organization, obtained from Congress many millions for tho mouth of the Columbia river. The people of CooS Bay will have no right to com plain hereafter, should they fall to organize tho Port, If all the ipproprla- 'lons go to the Port of Portland and none to tho scattered communities aroirad this bay. The people at the mouth of the Sluslaw are about to organize a Port and the question Is now before them with an absolute certainty that It will carry. It Is more than probable that they will receive a consider able appropriation from Congress In the next Rivers and Harbors' bill. It Is desired to obtain an appropriation In tho next Rivers and Har bors' bill of $1,800,000 for Coos Bay. To get It the Port must be or ganized and a commission appblnted which can contract with tho gov ernment. To get It the Port must do exactly as Portland does. To get It the Port must show that the people are ready to do their part. Con gress will never appropriate money to Improve the Inner bay, and she will never consider Coos Bay materially until she Is shown that the Inner har bor Is Improved to meet and make useful the work at the harbor mouth. The voters should realize that if '.hey decide to create this district at this election they can make their own laws In the district so created hereafter. In other words no bond Issue, no ordinance, no Important move can be made without their consent. They may even change the gen eral !uw under which the port Is created so far as It applies to tho port. So says the Oregon Constitution. A vote no. means that values will diminish, the bay will be injured by neglect, small land holders will lose out, big land holders will get tax titles, and paralysis will destroy the Importance of this Port. THE PORT LAW ARTICLE I. By Francis. H. Clarke. ITROPOSE IN A few short articles to explain the Port Bill which is now being discussed by the people of Coos Bay, In view of 'the ex pected organization of the Port of Coos Bay. This bill was enacted into organization of this Port of Coos Bay. This bill was enacted into a law alawatthelast session of the Legislative Assembly. It was so enacted at tho Instance of the Oregon-Idaho Development League, Governor Cham berlain, the people of Coos Bay, of the Sluslaw towns and other coast cities. It is not my intention in explaining this law to answer any per sonalities or to dlscusB the quest'on as to how this law was prepared and what was done with the money which was paid me as a fee for my legal work in connection with it. Suffice It to say that the business men of Marshfield paid me a fee and $50 as expenses for my ser vices in the matter. This was my 'charge and I did not'consldor It much of a fee, especially as I paid out all of It In expenses. It would not have been possible for me to make the many trip necessary, to stop at the hotels where I could meet the people who had the information I wanted and to pay the expenses I necessarily Incurred in getting the law before the people who control without it unless I paid the expenses out of my own pocket. I did not feel called upon to do that, but my charge is my business and the people who paid It are men who, if the harbor of Coos Bay amounts to anything, can see where they are to be benefitted In Improved values. It Is now evident enough that the people who live on Coos Bay are to experience a great slump in values unless they do something. If the Port is not organized and" the bay Is neglected the average farmer and every lot owner will see his land values cut fifty per 'cent. This will not affect the big corporations as much as the small owners. The es tates can flourish for ten years until there is another boom. But un less Congress appropriates money for tho mouth of the harbor, there will be a continued destruction of tho jetty and a further accumulation of sand on the bar. Congress willnot appropriate money to improve the mouth if the people can't take care of tho stomach. In other wordB there will be no appropriation for the bar if the commerce which goes over it can't reach the harbo r. Let us be plain. ' Coos Bay Is a very poor present harbor and a very great future one. Every ship which enters the bay gets stuck In tho channel. Yet the prosperity of every man here and his ability to pay his taxes at all depends on the number of ships which enter the harbor. No ships no values. Few ships small values. More ships greater values. That is an epitome of the Coos Bay proposition. Coos Bay people must do something for themselves. They must make a good harbor or they will get disgusted with the conditions and their property will not be worth paying taxes on. But the only way to succeed In getting a good harbor Is to proceed just as Portland did. A certain writer who has conceived a contempt for tho proposed Port law, probably because he didn't write it and knows of his own knowl edge that nothing is good except what he does, has complained of the excessive power which the Port Commission is given by this law. The powers which he complains of are given to the Port and the commis sioners are to exercise them only subject to the Initiative and Referen dum and the Recall. Now that gentleman may know of a way to create a port without giving It any powers. I don't. But In defining these powers given to tho port, that Is the peoplo of the port, the commission accepted the language word for word of the Port of Portland law. They are tho same powers which the Port of Portland has exercised. They are the same provisions which tho Oregon Supreme Court has taken occasion to construe. They are the same powers tl-at the Port of Tillamook, of Astoria, of Seattle, of New York City, of Boston and all others exercise, and If this port Is to be a port, I do not see why the people of this port are not just as capable of exercising port pow ers as are those of any other port. I think Coos Bay people will meas ure up to a standard of Intelligence and honor as high as that of any other place. Now, I shall take up In other articles several phazes of tho law It self. With these preliminary remarks I will ask you to consider with me merely one phase now, I call your attention to tho question of boundaries. You will see from sections one and two that the peoplo themselves can form a district by petition. These sections only pro vide the details of tho proceeding by which the district is formed and the election called. But In section 2 ,the following language is used: "When a petition Is filed for the Incorporation of a port under the provisions of this Act, the territorial limits of which do not Include such county as a whole, the limits pro-posed by such petition shall not ox tend beyond the natural watershed of any drainage basin whose waters flow into another bay, estuary or river navigable from the sea situated within such county." This provision was Inserted because It was necessary to satisfy cer tain objectors who did not want Ihelr districts encroached on. Let me Illustrate. It would be absurd to tie up the Coqullle Basin to the Cooo Bay Basin. Both would be parallzed by the demands each would make on tho resources of the district . So the Coqullle river members of the legislature thought that when Coos Bay organized Its port It should not take In any navigable bay or river unless such bay or rlvor was a part of Its system. Now, when tho committee of tho several Chambers of Commerce of tho Bay traced tho boundaries they discover ed that Sunset Bay and Big Creek constituted a separate drainage basin and that they were, by tho language of the law, s-peclflcally ex cluded from the Port of Coos Bay. They also found that tho taxable values In the excluded district were slight. But a certain pin pointed disturber claims that this exclusion of Sunset Bay is a favor to Simp son, because, altho thousands of dollars worth of his property Is Includ ed In the Port, this strip has beenleft out. I think It was right to leave it out under the circumstances. In all respects the boundaries) aro traced as the law requires and as nature dictates. I will ask tho voter If this is not a fair and frank statement and can ho find any fault with it. In my next article, I will consider tho 3rd, 4th 5th and 6th Sections of tho Port Law. Then, I will consider the 7th Section which deals with the powers of the Port. Tho articles succeeding that, will deal with the Commission and Its powers. TnE PORT LAW ARTICLE II. I By Francis II. Clarke. N ARTICLE I OF THIS Beries I undertook to explain sections 1 and 2 of the Port law, more particularly in the matter of boundaries. I will now call attention briefly to sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the oamo law. Section 3 is a mero matter of detail, prescribing the Torn! of bal lot, the manner of holding tho election and the form of decree and proclamation by which tho district becomes an organic body. Of course, nobody objects to these as they merely follow the forms In voguo and which tho courts and people are familiar with. Section 5 provides that the expenses of the election shall be paid by the county. Section 6 provides that, from and after the date of the proclama tion there shall bo "a separate district lo be known as tho Port whoso name Is specified." "The inhabitants thereof shall bo a corporation," etc. Such corporation shall have perpetual succession and by tho said name shall exercise and carry out the objects and corporate powers. It shall make contracts, hold, rccoive and dispose of real and personal property and do all other acts and things which may be requisite, necessary or convenient to carry out the objects of the act. It may sue ' and bo sued, plead and be Impleaded In tho courts. The provisions of Section 6 are the usual ones, but I want .to point out that the- Inhabitants of the District constitute tho Corporation under the corporate name. I understand that somo have contended that the Commissioners are the corporation and have a right to exorcise tho powers of the corporation without taking tho inhabitants Into considera tion. In Oregon the wisdom of the peoplo has placed on the statute books two very Important constitutional enactments They are the fundamental law of tho state. They are not merely a part of the Port-, law but tho very foundation of It. I refer to tho Initiative and Re ferendum provision of tho Constitution and tho Recall which was re cencently enacted by the people. Tho particular reason why this Port law makes the "Inhabitants" the corporation Instead of making the Commission tho corporation Is, that in Oregon, under tho Constitu tion, the people rulo and tho Commission could not be allowed powers which the Inhabitants .could not regulate, limit or suppress. The In habitants of the district thus created can, under tho Constitution and. under th3 law, amend the law Itsolf. so far as it applies to the dis trict after the district is onpo organized. In order to make this feature plain, let mo quote the Constitution and again remind tho .reader that every word of tho law must bo read with this constitutional provision In mind. Section 1 A of Article IV of tho Constitution of Oregon contains tho following: "Tho Referen dum may bo demanded by the peoplo against one or more Items, sec tions, or parts of any act of tho legislative assembly In the same man ner In which such power may be exorcised against a complete act Tho Initiative and Referendum powers reserved to tho people by this Constitution are hereby further reserved to the legal voters of every municipality and district as to all local, special and municipal legislation, of every character, In or for their respective municipalities and districts." Note specially that all local, special and municipal legislation may bo brought to popular vote by the peoplo of tho district. In order that no question may be made about this, let me clto the case of Dalzell vs. The. Port of Portland In which the Supremo Court of Oregon, In an opinion filed November 24, 1908, decided that tho Port of Portland was a Municipal Corporation and that the Inhabitants of that Port had a right to Invoke the Initiative and Referendum to change and amend tho law under which it was organized. Thoro 1b not the remotest ques tion that tho Port of Coos Bay will have tho same right. Now, I have called attontlon to this Constitutional provision so that those who doubt tkat tho peoplo have tho final say on ororythlrig mny dispel the doubt. If tho Commissioners enact an ordlnanco, pass a res olution, mako a regulation which eight per cent of tho people of tho district Insist by petition, shall bo submitted to the peoplo to vote on, It will havo to be done. For Instance, thero are somo 1,300 acres of mud flaTT In the Bay. I have heard It said that this "Port Bill" Is a scheme of tho present owners of tho fiats to havo tho Port Issue bonds and pay them a largo price for that property. Nothing can bo farther from tho truth. Suppose such a scheme were started. Suppose the Commissioners voted to lbsuo bonds and to buy those flats and pay one hundred dollars an acre for them. It Is not at all probable, but suppose It for argument's sake. Now, the owners, I am informed paid $2.50 per aero about four years ago for tho title. To compel tho Inha bitants of the Port to pay $100 an acre, or $50 an ncre, or even $25 an acre would be an imposition. Tho flats aro not worth any more to day than they wero when they wore purchased and If the Commission ers should do such a thing as I have suggested eight per cent of tho peoplo would briig tho right to Issue thoso bonds into question by compelling tho submlslon of It to tho people. Who can doubt that a proposition to purchase such property at an exorbitant price would bo voted down. Thus, I have shown you how this law Is, so far as tho granting of powers to tho Port Is concerned, Is as bafo and effective as any law that was ovor enacted. And let mo say further that-tho men who are most earnest la tho support of this law, Including myself; will be the first to Invoke tho Initiative and Referendum If any such meas ures as tho one suggested, are attempted. But they will not be attempted.