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.