VOL. XXIV.
GRANTS PASS. JOSEPHINB COUNTY, OREGON, FRIDAY. JANUARY 8, 190').
NO. 41
COMMERCIAL CLUB
EXHIBIT BUILDING
Needs Help of Merchants,
Miners and Farmers.
AN IMPORTANT ENTERPRISE
-The Crisis is at Hand and Every
body Must be Will
ing to Help
There Is one crying need In Grants
Pass at this time which should re
ceive attention without delay ar.d
that. 1b that the buslnes and profes
sional men should get together and
stand together to build up the city
nd county. It is an easy matter to
forget that we owe something to the
place In which we make a livelihood.
No man has a right to neglect a
public duty and It Is at this point
so many of us fall. To give all an
opportunity to contribute to the pub
lic weal is the reason for organizing
Chambers of Commerce, Boards of
Trade or Commercial Clubs.
Every man who does bus
ness with the public falls short ot
Us duty If he falls to connect him
self with an organization of this
kind if one exists in the town in
which he does business. Here in
Grants Pass we have what Is known
as the Commercial Club, a popular
organization which has done good
service In representing aright the in
terests of the city. Us good work ex
tends In all directions and from first
to last It has been a credit to the
municipality and its business Inter
ests. There Is only one thing lack
ing and that Is funds to carry out the
great work it finds to do.
First the Commercial Club should
have a home of its own so as to be
able to make an extensive display of
Josephine County's fruits, vegetables
grains and minerals. This display
should be made near the depot and
for this purpose a building should be
erected on the railroad grounds. In
such a structure the Commercial
Club could have Its home and thus
save rent. The question of how to
get the money necessary for the con
struction of such a building will
quite naturally present Itself to the
mind of the reader. The answer If
easy. Appoint a live committee to
visit every mining man, farmer, fruit
grower, business and professional
man in the county and get from these
the ready money needed to put up
the building. For once let all
classes stand shoulder to shoulder In
the work of building up our county
and its Capital city. - This move
should, and we firmly believe, will
appeal to all who are Interested in
the prosperity of this geographical
division of the Rogue River Valley.
if It were a church that one of the
popular denominations wanted to
build and It should require $15,000
or $20,000, the money very properly
v ilrt be forthcomng. We would
and feel proud that we
1
(Jhe New Year comes it's
up to us to start it right;
The leaf is turned and here's a
page that's clean and bright,
Let's blot out every old mis
take and vain regret,
And make our nineteen hun
dred nine the best year yet
R. H. O'Neill
The Housefurnisher
9
0
19
t
had the opportunity. Then why not
all join to provide the means for a
building that will be Instrumental in
bringing men and women to help
keep up the churches. It must be
admitted that without the new blood
our churches would have languished
md finally failed for the want of sup
port. It is clearly a duty that every
man and woman owes at this crisis
to help provide this home for the
Commercial Club which will barely
cost more than $2500.
WATER RIGHTS ARE
UPSET BY COURTS
Impossible for Persons or Corpora
tion to Hold Right
for Speculation
One of the most Important decis
ions that has been handed down by
the Oregon Supreme court in many
years was placed on record Tuesday,
when the court held that the Con
gressional act of March 3, 1887, re
lating to settlement on public lands,
limits all reparian rights subse
quently acquired except to the ex
tent of the use of water for domes
tic purposes. This decision, there
fore limits the rights of such ripar
ian owners to the rights they have
acquired as approprlators, except as
to domestic uses, which are too un
important to be worth consideration.
Under this decision it Is impossi
ble for any person or corporation to
acquire and hold a power or Irriga
tion right for speculative purposes.
Those persons, therefore who have
filed on water powers on the Rogue
the Deschutes and other rivers must
put the water to beneficial use or
forfeit their right to the first person
who does apply it to such use. The
opinion is of the greater Importance
coming Just at this time, for the rea
son that the subject of water law Is
to be taken up by the Legislature.
This court Is the first one in the
ynited States to construe' the act of
Congress of March 3, 1877, in thi
particular.'" It in no way affects the
rights of persons who acquired
rights prior t'"- 1877, or who :ic
quired riparian lard' Bince that tii:
and put the water to a beneficial use.
The man or corporation who has
held riparian land without making
use of the water is the one affected
by the decision.
The government cannot by legisla
tion, determine for any state, after
Its admission, what Its legislation
relative to riparian or other water
rights shall be, but may dispose of
Its public land and all rights Inci
dent thereto in such manner as it
may deem best, and either at the
same time or by separate acts, make
such reservations therefrom, by
grant, dedication or otherwise, as It
may see fit.
The water flowing over the public
domain Is a part thereof and the
Nitloral Government may grant or
otherwise dispose of Its riparian in
terest separate from the rest of the
estate.
Any one acquiring title to any
part of the public domain subse
quent to the date of the act of Con
gress of March 3,1877, accepted It
I with title thereto with full,knowl
! ledge oi the law In force at the time
and subject to the full Import thereof.
"CLEANER ANB
BETTER FRUIT"
Grave Danger Threatens
Apple Orchards.
YIGILENCE IS CALLED FOR
Apple Crop of the Country for a Ser
ies of Years by the Agri
cultural Department.
The apple is without doubt the
King ot all Fruits and it there are
any who have been hesitating about
planting an orchard for fear the
price will fall below a profit, they
should read the following article
taken from the January 2 number
of the Saturday Evening Post.
The introduction of this article has
reference to the Apple Show which
recently took place at Spokane and
we omit It as not material. The
article itself is a wonderful showing
of the apple prospects generally and
the conclusions are so clearly drawn
that he who takes the trouble will be
able to see that the man who plants
an apple orchard and protects It
from the pests will have the best
paying Investment known among the
Industries. Quoting from the arti
cle In question we have:
"The National Apple Show Idea
was projected by the Spokane County
Horticultural Society and was
heartily supported by the business
men of Spokane. ' Their motto was:
'Cleaner and better fruit and more
of It.' To accomplish this, how
ever, as the most intelligent sup
porters of the apple Industry per
ceive, it will be necessary to bring
about radical changes In the man
ner of cultivating apples on this con
tinent. There must be general
betterment of conditions In the com
mercial orchards. If this Is not
done the United States and Canada,
within a few years, will probably be
forced to Import apples Instead of
exporting them. In support ot
the belief that the domestic sup
supply Is Insufficient is the fa-.-t
that, if It bad not been for the enor
mous crops In the Pacific and North
western States and Provinces last
year an apple famine would have re
sulted. In many of the Middle-
Western and Eastern States the
yields were small last season, due to
the failures In numerous Instances,
but generally because of peBts. Or
chards had been neglected and, In
scores of places, the tees hae been
permitted to die through lack of
even ordinary attention, while, again
in others the growers did not know
how to combat Insects and diseases.
It was to Improve these conditions,
by making Investigations and sug
gesting remedies to bring about more
satisfactory results that the growers
were invited to come to Spokane.
"In 1896, the total product of the
apple crop of the country was 69,
OiO.OOO barrels, or 172,675,000
bushels. Since then hundreds ot
thousands of acres have been ad
ded, and methods ot fruit growing
have Improved, yet the government
reports show that the aggregate
crop In all the states In the Union
was not more than 25,000,000 bar
rels, or 62,500,00-0 bushels In 1908.
"To understand the decreases in
the production of apples in the
Union In the last 12 years refer
ence should be made to the statis
tics compiled by the Federal Depart
ment of Agriculture. Growers pro
duced 60,540,000 barrels of apples
in 1895, and 69,070,000 barrels in
1896, The banner year In the history
of the country. There was a de
crease of nearly 28,000,000 barrels,
or more than the entire crop of
1908, In 1897, when the yield
amounted to 41,536,000. Another
decrease followed In 1898, the yle.4
being placed at 28,570,000 ba:rc!.
but in 1899 and 1900 there were
substantial increases, the yle'.l be
ing 37,560,000 and 47,760,000 bar
rels respectively. There was a drop
of 20,890,000barrels In 1901, while
1902 showed an Increase of 20,655,
000 barrrels, the crop that year be
ing estimated at 47,125.000 barrels.
Forty-tiTt Bllllo barrel t fruit
were produced in 1903, and in 1904
the yield was 300,000 barrels great
er. Tnen In 1905, It dropped to 23
500,000 barrels, and in 1906 It in
creased to 36,130,000 barrels. The
crop ot 1907 fell off to 25,000,000
barrels.
"The apple growing Industry Is a
substantial one; In fact, few enter
prises offer surer or more attractive
profits or more healthful and pleas
ant occupation. A small invest
ment will secure a beginning, and
trustworthy literature can be had
readily from the Department pf Ag
riculture and the numerous horti
cultural and farm Journals.. There
never will be an overproduction of
first-class stock. It Is, in fact, im
possible at the present time to pro
duce the enormous quantity of good
apples requisite to meet the demand.
This is evidenced by the fact that
England, Germany, France, Den
mark, Australia and the Orient are
already drawing upon the orchards
In Washington, Idaho, Oregon and
British Columbia. When this ex
port trade is firmly established, as It
will be In a few years, the demands
upon the growers will be largely in
creased. This means more new or
chards and better care of the older
ones.
"That apple-growing in the North
west has passed the experimental
stage and Is already a factor may be
gathered from official statements.
More than 16,000,000 growing trees
were reported by horticultural In
spectors In Washington, Oregon and
Idaho, at the close of the season of
1908, and of these 6,744,161 bore
fruit that year. The total crop
reached an estimated value of from
$19,000,000 to $20,000,000. Wash
ington, with 2,935,824 producing
trees, was seveuteenth in the list in
number of trees and second In pro
ductiveness. Oregon had 2.825.988
bearing trees and Idaho reported
982,349 trees In fruit. When the
other trees now growing come In
to bearing In 1912 It is estimated
the yield will be about 64,000,000
bushels, or 1,500,000 bushels moro
than the total crop of the United
States In 1908, equal also to the
wheat yield of the three States that
year. Washington had 5,332,097
apple trees at the beginning ot the
season, during which 2,500,000 were
set out, with more than 3,000,000
contracted for to be planted in 1909.
Oregon had 5,500,000 and set out 2,-
000,000 more, while Idaho reported
2,500,000.
"The apple Is the national fruit of
America. This can hardly be ques
tioned In face ot the fact that In ho
tels, restaurants, resorts, trains,
steamers and homes the fruit Is ser
ved throughout the year. But
while there are apples everywhere,
apparently, the supply Is not suffi
cient to go around, and, as a result,
there muBt be many places where
an apple Is regarded as more of a
luxury than It should be.
"Ambitious apple-growers In the
Northwest and elsewhere saw more
attractions in the National Apple
Show than the premiums offered by
the management. They believe It
will prove Its greatest success from
an educational viewpoint."
Webb Jury Disagrees.
The trial of Louis R. Webb of
Deerlng, who was arrested some
months ago on the charge of setting
forest fires in Del Norte County,
California, was held In San Fran
Isco last week, and on the night of
Dec. 30th the Jury was discharged,
they having been unable to agree on
a verdict. Webb, will be given a
second trial on the same iharge
some time during February.
If you want the best all-round
fence made and for the least possible
cost, get AMERICAN WOVEN WIRE
sold by Hair-Riddle Hdwe. Co. 1-8-2
Big cut In the prices ot some of
our heaters. Halr-Rlddle Hdwe.
Co. l-8-n
Notice to Stockholder.
Notice to the stockholders of the Ap
plegate-Wllllams Creamery Co:
The annual meeting of the stock
holders of the above company will
be held at the Creamery building at
2 o'clock P. M. Friday, January 15,
1909.
By order of the board.
V. H. KENT,, Secretary,
Mrs. Mary Saples of Lentz.Ore.,
arrived last week and will spend a
eouple of weeks here and among
other .Vugs disposing of her Inter
ests la llatzaa'.'.a Hclssti.
MEDFORD TRIBUNE
FAKE INTERVIEW
Q.. . i.u i e
utionable Methods of
Our Near Neighbor.
SCURRILOUS TRANSACTION
Attempt to Injure Grants Puss in
Order to Help Out the
Saloon Interests.
The Medford Tribune of January
7th has a purported Interview with
Ex-Mayor Smith of Grants Pass and
also one with Sheriff Russell and
still another with the proprietor of
the Palace hotel. The persons
named are made to take part In the
local option campaign which Is go
ing on In Medford. It Is believed
that the Interviews are fakes, at
leas as far as the eex-mayor Is con
cerned as he could hardly be so
shortsighted as to be made a cats-
paw of, by the Baloon element of a
neighboring city. It Is well under
stood that the sole object of the so-
called Interviews used, was to help
out the whiskey cause as above
stated. Sheriff Russell Is used to
preach a temperance sermon.
Everybody will be glad to know
that the sheriff has turned his at
tention to saving our young men
from the evils of intemperance, but
Just how he Is going to protece the
young men and the salon at the
same time Is a matter hard to fig
ure out. What Is said about the
Palace hotel Is undoubtedly true.
The proprietor of that hostlery
claimed that his business hod been
cut in wo by local' option. That
s one of Joe's Jokes, for be It un
derstood that a good half ot his
business was In the saloon connect
ed with the Palace and when local
option went Into effect It certainly
should have cut the business In two.
Below we print the Tribune's ef
fort to help the Medford saloon bus
iness by tearing down Its neighbor,
Grants Pass.
Previous to the city of Grants
Pass voting for and putting Into ef
fect local option the tax rate was 6
mills and the business done here was
fully equal to that now done In Med
ford. Our tax rate Is now 8 mills
.1U uiuio than whut Is legally al
lowed. In addition to that, we have
had to Increase our valuation 60 per
cent, which makes our rate now real-
mills, and our business has
fallen off and we have decided that
we cannot do any paving."
That was the statement made yes
terday by Mayor J.C.Smith of Grants
Pass, who is not only one of the lead-
i limits but has also been
d recently to the state leglsla
ture.
To show how certain people are
trying to mislead the citizens of Med
ford, it may be stated that according
to the Mall the tax rate of Grants
Pass was much lower than that of
Medford, and that the former place
was also paving Its streets. Now
there Is not only the positive state'
ment of Mayor Smith that the real
rate now is only 1 mill less than that
of Medford, but that city voted
against municipal ownership of the
waterworks and also decided not to
undertake any paving. These are
facts which cannot be disputed.
Nor is this all, for almost any bus
I ness man In Grants Pass will state
that business has fallen off since lo
cal option went Into effect to a con
siderable extent.
"How does your business compare
now with what It was before you got
local option?" was the question
asked ot the proprietor ot the Palace
hotel.
"It Is more than cut in two," was
his reply, "and we now have less
than one-balf we had before.
This statement was amply verified
when the writer had dinner there
yesterday, for there were only two
others In the dining room besides
himself. This In spite of the fact
that the charge was only 60 cents for
as good a meal as can be got any
where for double tve price. In spite
at the Ja?t that til pUce wax ill roost
deserted all day. i ne management
Is good and the hotel Is first- class
In every particular.
1 As to the liquor business. It Is the
' same at Grants Pass as everywhere
else where local option has been
tried. From the car ot the train
from Medford reaching there yester-
day noon no less than 12 quart hot-
Hei ot whl8key were takenqoir at tne
depot. Three drunken men wore
seen on the streets inside ot one
hour, being more than the writer
has seen in Medford during the
Christmas holidays. Like other lo
cal option places, there Is no deny
ing the fact that the citizens of
Grants Pass can get all the liquor
they want, but It has driven nearly
all the outside trade from the city.
The trade Is now going to Jackson
ville, Gold Hill and Medford.
A lot of liquor Is being shipped
in hore from Portland," said Sher
rlff Russell, of Josephine county, as
he pointed out a young man ataggor-
lug down the street. "The great
trouble Is," he continued, "they send
their money for It to Portland, and
even If the houses there did care.
tney have no means of knowing If
the people who sond In the orders
are under age or not. I never knew
of young men being drunk here be
fore, but now the sight is a common
one."
"This Is how we stand," said one
.10 leading business men of the
Ity. "In one way we would like to
i Medford go dry because it would
i i.v iome of our trade now going
ve to remain at home, where It
roperly belongs. The trouble la.
lowever, that many who now eo
there would go to Jacksonville and
there Is no chance In the world Hint
making any change In these places."
would you olatUH Medford for
cnntluulng the present system?" he
was asked.
"Why, certainly not." he replied,
'You people would be greater fools
than I take you to be If you ever fol
low our exaniule. in xMitinn
morx than doubling our taxes.
have lost from 25 to 50 per cent
of our business, had to do away with
a chance to 6wn our water system
and are now forced to give up any
idea or paving our streets. You peo
ple have already obligated yourselves
for these and have interest to pay,
and yet your tax rate Is, In reality,
only 1 mill more than ours. And
you are getting the cream of bus
iness of the valley. Why? Because
you have a better city than ourr?
No, sir; because our loss has been
your gain.
,"The trouble Is that It Is not our
fault, but that of ie state "aw.
Our people here In the ilty r,f C,ruiis
Pass gave over 200 majority !n la
vor of continuing the .ni system.
Why Bhould we !i t hnve whut ho
know we wanted7 WW? Uia,iie
we were downed liy t!ii iic,i:' of
the county ouUtd ol ;rau'. IW.
another vote would show double
the majority here i:i :h) .liy :n it
vor of the llcen y im. The peo
ple outside of lh oit hat kill-.!
our city but what do they care? It
Is not a cent out ot tno'r icUU."
"Well, so yo.i penpM want l-j iet
the people outstJe of you.- city run
your affairs the ra.iio tlisy h,re
ours here?
"All I can say U th.u If you dc v
you will richly dewfi u!i that you
get."
8nce receiving the Tribune of the
7th, the Courier has tailed with
quite a number of the leading busl
nesHS men of this city and shown
them a copy ot the paper. The
first on the list Is Mayor H. C. Kin
ney, one of the oldest and most
prominent business men In this
city. His knowledge as to the con
ditions which prevail In Grants Pass
at the present time cannot be ques
tioned. First let us say that . Mr.
Kinney Is the senior member of the
large dry goods and grocery firm of
Kinney & Truax. He is the man
who, at the late election defeated
Dr. J. C. Smith for the office of
mayor. He Is alto connected with
the First National Bunk of Southern
Oregon, and Is known far and wide
as a leading citizen of the Rogue
River Valley. When interviewed
Mr. Kinney said: "Our mercantile
business shows a large Increase for
the last six months and our cash
sales during that time were doubled.
I think It fair to say that nearly all
of the mercantile establishments of
this city have been exceedingly pros
perous durlne the lst six norths.
(Continued oa rr Tits).