Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1905)
Vol. XLH. Corvaixis,- Benton County, Oregon, Tuesday, September 5, 1905. NO. 73 FOOD FOR THOUGHT. A Circular Letter to Oregon Hop-Growers. We are in receipt of a circular letter dated Portland, August 26, and signed "An Eastern Brewer." The letter is reproduced for the benefit of those who will read "between the lines and see how the wind is. Following is the circular: The hop, growers of the Pacific Coast have received so many cir culars during the past season from various sources that they are no doubt disgusted with any further advices or suggestions or reminders through the mail. However, as growers and dealers have all had a "shot" at this method of reaching the farmers, I take the liberty of addressing some of the growers, as a sort of farewell, from the brewers' point of view. During the past month I have been quietly and privately so journing in Portland, a visitor at your fair, and during this time I have been watching closely the fight going on in the newspapers and otherwise between the so called "bulls" and "bears." Fpr . ten months previous I have also kept in close - touch with the "circular" fight, that has been kept warm by the big "bull'? leaders, such as Krebs, Pincus, Durst, Smith and the California cop Company. These circulars were obtained through a Chicago firm, who received everv one of them through their Coast ' repre sentatives. I want every grower who re ceived these circulars to get down his "bunch" received from the above mentioned "friends" (?) of the hop gro wers and see if thev made therein a smele state ment or prediction that events nave proven to De correct. 1 ney told you " - "Everyone admits that there are not enough hops in the U. S. to last until October 1905." "Heavy buying will surely take pjace during January, or February, or March, or April, etc." "The shorts are getting desper ate; the brewers are out of hops - "When the warm weather sets in there will be a wild scramble 1 1 ior your nops. "The consumption of hops is 224,000 to 240,000 bales, while the available supply is much less. Where are the brewers to get their hops to last until the next crop comes in?" And lately - I noticed in the papers: "The growing crop is going to tne oaa last," "i am - compelled to again reduce my estimates for the.U.S. to 200,000 to 190,000." "The bears are '. S. 20,000 bales and,' as far as know, all the brewers in this country are still running at their usual capacity and can probably' hold out for a few weeks longer. he growing, crop is going to the ad daily, accordiug to the Ore- gonian and its correspondent, yet the largest and most repntable houses in the U. S. continue Offering us 1905 hops at 15 cents delivered east in our breweries. What does the brewer care whether the growers are asking 5c - for - their coming crop or whether the fake dealers on the coast temporarily boost I farmers with false crop news beyond all reason, when we know by the action of the eastern dealers that we can buy hops from good firms at low prices, which proves to our minds conclusively that these firms must be getting.' crop re ports different than' certain news papers get, otherwise they would be asking higher prices. Very few brewers need any Pacific Coast hops in their breweries be fore January or February, as they can supply their immediate wants with New York State hops. The bulls" write in the newspapers: 'There are secret orders from a arge short seller now in the snax-t ket for 1000 bales, etc." Have the representatives of this "short" been after your hops lately? Have you seen any buy ers sneaking around with large orders? . Have you not heard of sales of IQ04 hops in, Washing ton and California within ; the 15CJ getting desperate again." "1904 hops will be -worth more than 1905 hops." There are secret orders here for 1000 bales by heavy short sellers," etc., etc. Now let us take the foregoin predictions and statements and analyze them and compare them with what has actually happened and is happening, and is likely to happen. , Did the expected wild scramble to buy occur in January, did it occur in February or March; or April., or., has it oc curred yet? And why were- the brewers not compelled to buy as predicted by the "bulls?" Simply because tne snort sellers you heard so much about did mot exist. The brewers did not need your hops badly enough to be come panic-stricken and buy at any price asked, but the brewers on the contrary were well-stocked with hops as shown by events regardless 01 . what "boosters' say in their circulars. The warm weather has come and will soon . begone. Yet the heavy antici pated buying did not take place and prices continued to fall. ! Your were told there were not enough hops in the U. S. to last until the new crop came in, but - the new crop is coming in and there are still left of the last crop in the hands of growers of the past week at from 10c to Do you not know that the growers in all sections are" frying vainly to sell but are finding it almost impossible to get offers? As soon as the growers of Oregon discover that they cannot get an offer, and that the actual market is far under what they seem to think they dan get, and to their regret that they have been fooled and buncoed by the "bulls" and their instruments, certain news papers, worse than any class of men were ever deceived, there may be a crash that will carry down with it in financial and social ruin the very men who were the instigators of the huge bunco game that has been work ed and is still being worked on the hop growers. Let us analyze a few possible motives 1 of the . Krebs-Pmcns-Smith-Durst combination of phil anthropists. Krebs pleads love for the hop grower and the vin dication of his sound judgment, but incidentally he is carrying nearly 2000 bales of 1904 hops and'is growing some 700 acres of the' coming crop and the latter still " remains to be picked. Pin cus & Sons, un til these . people turned "bears," were directing their guns at the" short seller, but they it might be remarked, were carrying looo bales of 1904 hops and were boosting for 1905s, and it is now rumored that this firm has been heavy, sellers' of the crop ts be harvested and are consequently the worst "bears" in the business. M. H. Durst, the philosopher. writer . and dear friend of the down-trodden farmer, has been carrying, and continues to carry 1600 bales ot his last growt,h and he has under cultivation- now about koo acres in California, very few of which are sold. The California Hop Co., when run down, was found to be a non existent company , as ,there has never been such a company in Cali fornia. The circulars mailed un der the guise of. this mythical firm were undoubtedly mailed by some of the Krebs-Durst-Pincus-Smith combination. ' Another man who has lately been filling the columns of the papers with bad crop reports is " one E. J. Smith. Smith managed to get hold of about jooo bales of 15c to 20c contracts last year, y?hen the 1 904 market was booming. Of course Smith is not thinking of his own high priced contracts but is putting his stuff in the papers out of his love for his dear friend, the hop grower. Reference to voluntary advise of hop dealers, I would like to say that whenever you see a hop dealer going out of his way ask ing you to hold your hops or sell your hpps, and when this man spends his money freely by cir culars and otherwise trying to impress upon you the wisdom ct his words, just repeat to yourself the" old adage: "Has that man an ax to grind?" As soon as this letter is seen by some of the - "combination" referred to above they will say, "Whv, some bear or short seller wrote that letter: can't you see through it?" : But I ask again, isn't it time that you pay no fur ther attention to ..what these boosters tell you? Ponder on the thing that I have placed be fore you: reflect on the fact that in the past three vears buyers bothered you to death trying to buy your hops in the bale and trying to make contracts for the growing crop, while at the pre sent time you see scarcely a buyer around and you must go and look for one if vou want to try and get an offer. Weigh well the things that have happened. and, drifting back in your mem ory, compare the things that happened to the things that were predicted. And now a final word of ad vice to the hop, grower of the Pacific Coast. Give no further consideration to the Krebs, Pin cus, Smiths or Dursts of the hop businecs, but sell your 1904 hops before your 1905 crop is harvest ed because the moment that your new nops are in tne bale, your 1904 hops become "olds" " and you know that buyers will make oners accordingly. Do not get stubborn and hold two crops. As to the new crop; pick, dry ana oaie tms as careiuily as pos sible and then give legitimate buyers samples and sell your hops at whatever the market may be and make a firm resolve that, you ! will never get in vour present condition again, but will sell every year during the months of September, October or Novem ber whether hops are high or low at that time. , In the hop business it is an old and true axiom as to the selling of hops that, "The early bird catches the ANOTHER FIRE. House Vacant at the Time of Conflagration. worm. Working on 'Sewer. Early last week workmen were set at the task of 'repairing the Jefferson street sewer. This is no small undertaking. . Dur ing last winter the high water in the Willamette river formed a sort of eddy at the mouth of the sewer and - certain large rocks which had been placed there.as a sort of bulwark, or protection, were displaced. The -displacement ot this stone was made pos sible by loose earth washing from beneath and around the stone. , For about a week . the work of clearing away at the mouth of the sewer has been in progress and a large excavation is the result. From the displacement of the stone a large cave-in resulted and the sewer pipe was displaced and crushed for many feet back from the outlet. A great deal of work yet remains to be done. Prof. Skelton, of OAC, is superintend ing the work. A few minutes after ? o'clock Saturday morning the fire bell gave warning ' that something was warming up about town. Many drowsy citizens tumbled out of bed post haste and hurried to the scene of the conflagration. From town it was apparent that a house in the neighborhood of the Mechanical Hall-at OAC was ablaze. The building proved to be what is generally known as the Berlin house. The building was a one-story structure, and while quite old was really a good, com modious house. On account of its proximity to college it was a very desirable place for people residing here for the advantages of school during the college year. A great many citizens gather ed around the burning house. but it being so far from town by the the time people arrived the flames were so advanced that there was no possibility of doing any thing to save the building and those on the ground were com pelled to stand by idly and watch it burn. The building had no tenants. The house was built some fifteen or twenty years ago by E. Berlin, well known in Corvallis at that time. Several years ago the house and a few acres of land became the property of 0. Liebe. Mr. Liebe resides at Summit. Whether or not he will rebuild is not known. ; The fact that the house was not tenanted, also the hour at which the fire occurred, leads to the conviction that some party applied a match. Hard as is such a state of affairs, j there is little doubt but Corvallis is harboring a fire fiend. Some damnable creature who delights in deeds of darkness is in our midst, but unlike a leper, his outward appearance does not provide a sign indicative of his mental depravity. What there is about so contemptible a deed as firing in darkness the property of one who never did the "fire bug" injury is a question the solution of which is beyond us. The house boasted a fireplace that stood on a wooden foundation some six feet from . the ground. The house burned down around the chimney and there was much speculation as to whether or not the chimney would remain up right after the fire was outT The chimney fell finally, after all other portions of the house had collapsed. , It is said Mr. Liebe, the owner,. was on the point of selling the property to John Gottmacher, a .1 being on the verge of con summation. The last party to occupy the dwelling vacated the premises a couple of weeks or more ago. The fire was discover ed by Prof. T.-H. Crawford. Ten Dollars Reward Will be given by the Undersigned for the arrest and conviction of any party killing China Pheasants out of season in Benton County. I Corvallis Social and Athletic Cluh 1 v. . 1 j' . ttOmOUTH STATE NQRFilAL Begins its 24th year September 26. THREE COURSES CF STUDY Preparing for -County and State certificates. Higher courses recognized in Washington and other States. DEMAND FOR NORMAL TRAINED TEACHERS. Longer terms, higher wages and better opportunities for promotion award the Normal graduate for his enterprise. School directors appreciate the superior ability of Monmouth graduates and the demand far exceeds the supply. Special attention given to methods work in graded and ungraded schools.. Catalogues Containing Full information will be sent on application. Correspond ence invited, address E. D. RESSLER, President. If your watch shows any irregu larity or gives other evidence that something is wrong with it, better have it examined by a competent watchmaker. You won't find any more skillful or more pvneripnppd anywhere than right here. We clean and repair all sorts of watches thoroughly and quickly and guarantee all our work as well as our prices to be right. If your watch chain is beginning to show signs of wear, or if you'd like a new chain for any rea son, we are prepared to supply you with the best gold-filled one made, at a moderate price. We carry the Simmons make, the best known and most strongly guaranteed chains ever sold. E. W. S. PRATT, Jeweler and Optician. ALEXANDER & BROWN, ' . BAifERS. Fresh Bread, Cakes and Pies. ndpt. Phone Ice Cream, Confectionery and indpt. Phone 25?- Nuts, Cigars, Pipes and Tobac- 257. co, Fine Soda Water, all flavors. Gorvaliis, - - Oregon. Don't forget that we are head Quarters for Graphophooes and Records. We have iuet received a new lot of Columbia Disc and Cy linder Records. Also a lot of the American Blue Records the best made. Graham & Wells. 70tf Cheap Sunday Rates Between : Portland and Willamette Valley Points. Take The Gazette for all the local news. job Printing. Have it done at the Gazette office Come and have a talk with us or call us to you by telephone. Our work helps you to realize that all the good printers are not outside the limits of Corvallis. Our printing is the up-to-date kind BREAK THE MEWS TO . - - -. ' - - '-..--. .- i . ' - MOTH Low round trip rates have been placet' n effect between Portland and Willam ette. Valley points, in either direction. Tickets will be sold . SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS, and limited to return on or before the following Monday. , Ratb to ob Feom Corvallis, $3.00. Call on Southern Pacific Co's Agents ior particulars. ; and all your friends who are interested in Furniture and House Furnishings. Our large store room is full of well selected stock of goods, and more coming on every freight. Do you need a Couch? 20 different styles to select from. New line of Linoleums just received, prices 60c to 80c per square yard. Come in and see our new Side-boards and Parlor Si its. After this date "you will find our Stoves, Ranges, and Shelf Goods all in the new store where you are always we'-come. v - . The House-Furnishero.