massmeet.html

The Hood River News-Letter, Hood River, OR., November 17, 1906,page 1

MASS MEETING TO CREATE NEW COUNTY

There will be a mass meeting of the citizens of the valley and city held at the operahouse today that 2:30 p.m. Everyone interested either for or against the county division should attend this meeting and take part in the discussion of this subject. Statistics have been secured from the records at The Dalles, so that any information desired as regards the resources and liabilities of the new county may be had at this session.
There is no more opportune time to make this division, which is sure to come sooner or later, than now. Each year, with the rapid development of the country, the necessity of this action becomes more and more urgent. The expense of going to The Dalles for everything connected with county affairs is a dead expense which will be entirely eliminated. The expense of the government of what will be the new county will be kept at home instead of all going to The Dalles, and a greater portion of it used elsewhere than in Hood River and the valley.
The territory embraced in the new county is the most natural, by reason of the topographical conditions, and this inconvenience can never be eliminated while the county seat representing this section remains at The Dalles.
Our interests, our resources, our needs, or so entirely different from that of the other sections of Wasco county, we are so isolated from other sections and so separate in everything that goes to make up the political and commercial life of the new county that we can never hope to obtain a fair representation in the government, so long as this section remains a part of Wasco county. It would, then, seem the only wise thing for us to do, to make a separation on the best possible terms. Even if the expense of the new county should for a time be a heavier load to carry, which we do not believe, it would still be much better to have our government here at home, and representatives whose interests are wholly within our own territory to handle the affairs of the county.
These are a few of the many reasons why we are most highly in favor of county division, and for the division to be made at the very earliest possible moment. There are many others which might be named, and against the division we have heard but one argument, that of the expense. This objection is one that we can learn more about at the meeting today, and every public spirited citizen should be at the meeting to learn all that can be learned in regard to the matter, that he may be able to make up his mind intelligently. All personal feeling, too, should be placed aside and the greatest good for the greatest number should be the one controlling feeling of the meeting. Let us see if such a meeting cannot be held.