DAILY EVENING REPORTER.
VOL. II.
M c M innville . O regon , F riday , F ebruary
NO. 29
The 0 alty Reporter.
INTER STATE
COMMERCE.
At the risk of being a little behind
Entered in the Postoffice at MoMinnville for
time, but with a view of letting people
Transmission Through the Mails aa Sec­
hear about this topic from high of­
ond Class Matter.
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D. C. IRELAND.
E. L. E. WHITE.
D. C. IRELAND & Co.,
PIBLKHEBN.
T hb D ailx R kpobteb is issued every day
in the week except Sundays, and ia delivered
m the oity at 10 oents per week. By mail. 40
•ents per month in advanoe. Batea for ad­
vertising same aa for T hb W mili K mfobtbb .
A ¿efcPrùrtiMff.
We beg leave to announoe to the public
that we have just added a large stock of new
novelties to our business, and make a special­
ty of Letter Heads. Bill Heads, Note Heads,
statements, Business Cards, Ladies' Calling
Cards, Ball Invitations (new designs) Pro­
grammes, Posters, and all descriptions of
work. Terms favorable. Call and be con­
vinced.
D. C. IRELAND A CO.
DOCTORS
LITTLEFIELD & CALBREATH,
Offioe over Braly's Bank.
-
McMinnville.
-
-
». W. OOUCHBB.
Oregon.
B. B. OOUCHBB.
Goucher & Goucher.
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS
M c M innville
....
O regon .
Office and residence, corner of Third and
D. streets, next to the postoffioe
las. m ’ oain .
h . huh ley .
McCain &. Hurley.
ATTOKNEVS.AT.1.AW
AND NOTARIES PI BLIC,
Lafayette, Oregon,
Espeoial attention paid to abstracts of title
and settlement of estates in probate
Offioe—Jail buiding, up stairs.
Mrs. M. Shadden.
FasihioinaiMe Dressmaker«
l-^TThe Taylor System of Cutting and Fit
ting employed.
Third street. Next to Bishop A Kay’s store
McMinnville, Or.
DR. I C. TAYLOR.
■
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Late of New Orleans, La.,
Pile* and FiMnla a Spe­
ciality. Consultation
Tree. No Cure
No Pay.
l-JT Offioe with H. V. V. Johnson, M D^
MoMinnville, Oregon.
-
McMinnville Batte. -
Hair Catting. Nhaving aad Nbana*
poolng Parlor.
15c SHAVING 15c.
C. H. FLEMING, Proprietor.
(Hnooeasor to A. C. Wyndham.)
Ladies and children’s work a specialty.
MT*I have just added to my parlor the
largest and finest stock of < igara ever in this
•ity. Try them.
ficial sources, we publish the follow­
ing letter from Hon. J. H Mitchell to
the secretary of the Dalles board of
trade, B. S. Huntington, Fsq., under
date of January 21st:
Mr. Mitchell says, as you have been
informed by telegraph, the senate has
concurred in the report of the confer­
ence committee on the interstate com­
merce bill, and the bill as agreed on
in conference has passed the senate
without amendment, and in all proba­
bility will be agreed to by the house,
and become a law.
I hope sincerely the bill will have
the effect of meeting the expectations
of shippers and remedying the grave
difficulties, and prohibiting the gross
discriminations upon the part of
transportation companies of exacting
greater charges for the transportation
of persons and property over shorter
than longer hauls; and to some of
which unjust exactions my attention
was recently attracted by a communi­
cation from a committee of your board.
That it will have this effect, however,
at least on points of shipment in east­
ern Oregon and Washington territory
east of Umatilla junction, or on points
in middle and southern Oregon, I
have very serious doubts ; and whether
it will meet the question of long and
short haul on points on the river be­
tween Portland and Umatilla junc­
tion, in Oregon and Washington terri­
tory, may admit of the most serious
question.
The bill, under the rules, could not
be amended in the senate. The only
way in which any amendment could
be reached was by recommitting the
report of the conference committee
with suggestions. I submitted certain
amendments, and with a view of plac­
ing the bill in a position where they
could be considered and adopted, voted
to recommit to the conference com­
mittee, thereby hoping to secure such
amendments as would make the bill
certain and effective in absolutely
prohibiting greater charges fora short
haul than a long haul; but failing to
secure any amendment, 1 voted for
the bill on its final passage, trusting,
as I have said, although with Serious
apprehension, that it may afford some
relief, at least, from the unjust dis­
criminations growing out of charges
by common carriers, as is done in
many instances of more, and some­
times more than double, and even
treble, for transporting persons and
property over a shorter than a longer
distance. Besides there are, I believe,
some other provisions in the bill that
will prove of much value to the pro­
ducer, shipper and consumer.
A few of the evils, and what are be­
lieved by the people of Oregon and
Washington territory to be unjust
discriminations in this matter of trans­
4
i887
portation, and which are apparent to
all, may be briefly stated thus; and
some of which were only indicated in
the communication to me from vour
board hereinbefore referred to :
It is well known that the tariff on
all classes of freight from Portland to
the interior over the lines of the ORN
and OCR are infinitely higher to
points beyond the first few stations
out on the various lines from Port­
land than they are by any of the
transcontinental lines from Chicago or
St. Louis to Portland ; as, for instance,
coffee, sugar, bacon, hams, water-pipe,
pig-iron, and like articles are from $12
to $14 per ton from Chicago or St.
Louis to Portland, while from Port­
land to Pendleton, these same articles
are $19 per ton ; and from Portland to
Eugene city, Springfield, Roseburgh,
Riddles, Grants pass, Central point,
Medford and Ashland from $b to the
former, to $18.60 per ton to the latter,
while the frieght charge on many ar­
ticles of frieght are as much as $30
per ton over the same distance.
♦
But again, referring to the way­
points along the line of the ORN, in
Oregon and Washington territory .and
to the matter of transportation be­
tween these various points and east­
ern cities, it will be Been that a car
load of merchandise to any of these
way points from Chicago or Omaha,
or St. Louis, is delivered at such point
without going through to Portland,
and the freight charges thereon con­
sist of a full through rate to Portland,
plus the local rate on merchandise
from Portland to the way point. This
local rate between Portland and these
way-points bears relation to the
through rates to Portland aa follows :
From Portland to the Dalles, as 75
to 100 ; while from Portland to Walla
Walla. La Grande, Union, Baker city,
and Huntington, as 100 to 200; that
is to say, the freight, charges for trans
portation between these latter named
points and Portland are on an average
double the rates of transportation be­
tween St Paul or Chicago and Port
land ; yet the actual haul in each of
the cases between Portland and the
way-points above named is on an aver
age only about one-tenth the distance
from these eastern cities to Portland.
As a consequence, a person desiring
to ship a ton of freight from St. Paul
to Umatilla, or from Chicago to Ba­
ker city, the former being nearly 200
miles nearer to St. Paul than Portland,
and the latter over 300 nearer Chica­
go than Portland, is compelled to pay
just about double the amount a ship­
per pays on a ton from St. Paul to
Portland, or from Chicago via the
UPR and ORN to Portland.
The people, as I understand, are
complaining, not of the through rates,
but of these excessive charges to non­
competing points. What the people,
therefore, away from competing points
in eastern Oregon and Washington
territory, and in middle and southern
price two cents .
Oregon as well, desire ; at least what
they believe to lx* to their interest; is
an absolutely effective provision that
will in each and every case absolutely
prohibit transportation companies, un­
der severe penalties, for charging
more for transporting passengers or
freight over a shorter than over a
longer distance on the same line.
Anil while it is a matter of very seri­
ous doubt with me whether such a
provision of law will have the desired
effect, and will absolutely reduce the
freight to and from way-points, or
whether,on the contrary,the effect may
not be to increase the through rates
on the long hauls, and thus maintain
the local rates at high rates on the
short hauls, I am decidedly in favor
of giving it a trial. But to give it an
entirely fair, honest, and complete
test, it is all-important that the pro­
hibitory clause intended to meet the
evil above suggested should be clear,
unambiguous, direct, plain, poaitive,
and certain, and not couched in such
language, or coupled with such con­
ditions, as to render it ineffective or
absolutely nugatory.
It was my fear that the provision in
the bill just passed was of the nature
last described that led me to make an
effort t<> secure its amendment.
To lx Continued.
All the eastern wires are
down. There is a light snow
and cold weather throughout
eastern Oregon. The NPR ex­
press was eighteen hours late
yesterday, and the OHL is three
hours late.
It was the railroad bridge at
Salem, and not the county
bridge, which was reported dam­
aged yesterday. The Statesman
says : This is the same bridge
which gave away under the
morning passenger train two or
three years ago. To 0. I’. Ran­
di II, the section boss, is due the
credit of having discoverd that
the bent had been washed away.
Had it not been for the vigilance
of Mr. Kandell a serious acci­
dent might have occurred.
The Oregonian rebuked the
assembly for tardy work, to
which the Albany Bulletin reads
the Oregonian a splendid lecture
stating the well known fact that
the delay in legislative work has
been solely caused by the Orego­
nian persistently circulating an
infamous scandal, anil loudly
clamoring from day to day for
an investigation. But for this
piece of rascally business, w’hich
has confused the assembly, leg­
islation would have been greatly
advanced from where it is.