The Coalgate Courier (Coalgate, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 10, 1923 Page: 3 of 8
eight pages : ill. ; page 20 x 13 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE COALGATE COURIER
A
promi
Flammarion Says Souls Survive Body
V
Q
' AJroz-
Bv JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN
STORIA Ore the oldest city of
the Pacific Northwest was
' founded In 1811 by John Jacob
7 ‘ Astor’s American Fur company
T" Last winter fire devastated 34
1 blocks the' entire business area
of the city with a loss of about
$11000000 Astoria Is deter-
mined to rebuild itself Legisla-
tion is now pending In congress
for the loan of $10(53000 to the
municipality for the purpose of
municipal rebuilding
Here’s a text on which a volume could be writ-
ten Astoria’s history from 1811 to 1923 Is a cross-
section of American life during the century In which
we marched across the continent Astoria brought
Into being the “Oregon Country” and the Oregon
Trail The "Oregon Country” was In part re-
sponsible for the Monroe Doctrine Through the
Astors we get a glimpse of the half century of the
rise and full of the American fur trade beginning
with the Lewis and Clark expedition also of
America as a land of promise for the evolution of
a family beginning with a German peasant Immi-
grant and now the largest lund owner In New
York city and holding a British title And flnnlly
the evolution of Astoria from n far-flung wilder-
ness trading post to a thriving little city of 10000
Is financially typical of nearly every frontier city
of the West since the Louisiana Purchase
When Astoria’s blockhouse and stockade were
built In 1811 the United States consisted of the
13 original states and Vermont Kentucky Ten-
nessee and Ohio The western boundary was the
Itoeky Mountains Texas and the Southwest were
Spanish The Pacific Northwest was Russian Brit-
ish and American — a No-Mnn’s Land
Here Is a chronology that Is helpful :
1579— Drake takes possession of coast In the name of
England
1728 — Discovery of Behring strait by Vitus Behring
' Russian explorer sent out by Peter the Great
1760— Russian fur traders begin extensive operations
In Aleutian Islands
1709— Settlement at San Diego by Spaniards first of
a series of colonies along the California coast
1778 — Cook confirms English title to "Oregon Terri-
tory” 1792 — Capt Robert Gray of Boston enters mouth of
Columbia and names river after his ship
1803— Louisiana purchase from France ' ‘
180a-— Lewis and Clark winter at mouth of Columbia
1811— Astoria founded hy Pacific Fur company
1812—VWar with Great Britain
1813 — Astoria sold to North West Fur company
British)
1821— Hudson Bay company (British) absorbs North
West Fur company
1818— Country left open by agreemertt between Unlfed
States and Great Britain to fur traders of both nations
1823 — Promulgation of Monroe Doctrine referring In
part to respective rights of Americans British and
Russians on northwest Pacific coast
1829— First agricultural settlement at Astoria
1834 — Methodist mission founded In Willamette valley
1836— Presbyterian mission founded by Marcus Whit-
man at Walllatpu
3840— Large immigration to Oregon over Oregon trail
1843 — Ft Brfdger first "rest house" for Oregon Im-
migrants 1843— American settlers form provisional government
1846— “Oregon question” settled by fixing International
border line on forty-ninth parallel from Rocky moun-
tains to Fuca strait
1848 — Oregon made a territory
1859 — Oregon admitted to Union
John Jacob Astor the first (1703-1848) trudged1
from Wuldorf to London with the trudltlonul
bundle and stick and arrived In New York In 1783
with a few musical Instruments He sold these
and enguged in the fur business lie made much
money and Invested It In New Y’ork real estute
He got out of the fur business in short order the
minute the discovery of the process of milking silk
lints spelled the doom of the ’'heaver" Here Is
the Astor succession: John Jacob Astor II (1788-
1834)! John Jucoh Astor III (1322-181)0) William
Wuldorf Astor (1848-1019) William Waldorf As-
tor (1879 — ) The first William WnMorf Ator
was born In New York was graduated from Colum-
bia and In 1890 succeeded his father ns the head
if the family with a persona! fortune of more
4hnn $100(8X1000 He served In the New York leg-
ihmirc 1871-81 lie was minister to Ituly 1882-0
In 1891 he went to England to live He be-
came a naturalized British subject In 1899 bought
several London newspapers and magazines pur-
chased Cliveden from the Duke of Westminster
struggled hard to get Into high-up British society
and contributed so enormously to charitable en-
' terprlses that" George V created him Buron Astor
In 1918 and later Viscount He did not live long
to enjoy his title The present Viscount Astor
married In 1900 Nannie Langhorne Shaw a widow
who was bora In Virginia she Is the Lady Astor
who visited us not long ago to scold us for not
Joining the League of Nations There are other
Astors In America The family holdings in New
York leal estate total hundreds of millions
The history of the North American fur trude of
course begins with the Hudson Bay company — the
old saying was that the “H B C” on Its blood-
red banner stood for “Here Before Christ” and
that the company’s motto “pro pelle cutein’’
meant “a ‘skin’ for a skin" Anyway Clinrles II
in 1070 grunted a royal churter “To our deur and
entirely beloved cousin I’rlnce Rupert Count Pala-
tine of the Rhine Duke of Huvurla etc
constituting the Governor und Company of Ad-
venturers trading Into Hudson's Bay” The Mer-
ry" Monarch turned over to the compuny practically
all of North America north of the Great Lakes
with power of life anil dehth over ull present and
future Inhabitants Inasmuch as Canudu wus
then admittedly French there was wur to the
knife until the Treaty of Utrecht In 1713 con-
flrnled to the company as a part of the shore of
Hudson Buy The Treatyof Paris In 1703 of course
wholly confirmed the charter of the company since
all Canada thereby became British territory
In the meantime the Hudson Bay Company had
been sitting tight working In secrecy keeping
missionaries school tencliers agriculturists und
all strangers out of the country extending Its
chain of trading posts mnklng the Indian bring
the furs to the posts reaping enormous profits and
building up the biggest und best-niunaged monopoly
In the world’s history In 1784 was organized at
Montreal the Northwest Company which entered
Into a mighty struggle with Its older rival In
1821 the younger company was merged In the Hud-
son Bay Company In 1870 the British govern-
ment forced the company to surrender Its churter
Now the Hudson Buy Company probubly richer
than ever Is engaged In selling off the 10000(KX)
acres left to It out of 8 000 (XX) square miles anil
running a chain of mall order houses and depart-
ment stores
The Louisiana Purchuse of the lund between -the
Mississippi and the Rockies was confirmed’ In
the spring of 1804 Thereupon the Lewis and Clurk
expedition started from St Louis to see what we
had bought for $15000000 It went up the Mis-
souri and spent the first winter on the site of Bis-
marck N D The second winter wus spent on
the site of Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia
It returned to St Louis In the fall of 1800 after
having been given up for lost
The Lewis and Clark expedition reported unlim-
ited niimbers of beaver Thnt was the'benver age
Cunudu und the West lived off the beaver Trap-
pers swarmed on every frontier Beuver skins were
the medium of exchange
Astor wns quick to see the chance for fur opera-
tions on a big scale He had already got control
of the Mncklnaw Fur Compuny nnd bud practically
cornered the fur trade of the Great Lakes region
He planned n chain of trading posts nernss the
' continent from St LouIb to the I’uclflc He plunned '
to ship n part of his furs to China then as now a
good market for fine skins lie planned return
cargoes of silk and tea to New York and Boston
Ho tried In vain to buy out the tenders of the Mis
sourl Fur Company Just beginning extensive op
eration from St Louis under the leadership of tht
famous Manuel Lisa So he organized In 1809 tht
Amerlcuo Fur Company under the laws of New
York a holding corporation He established a sub
sldlary company the Pacific Fur Company foi
the Astorln project He furnished the capital
$400000 and assumed all financial risks He took
In ten partners who contributed time and labor
His partners were mostly experienced traders lured
from the ranks of the Northwest Company Scotch
men and British subjects 1 1
Astor rhnde ready two parties for the mouth ot
the Columbia one to go by sen and the other tc
travel overland to pick out the best sites for posts
In September 1810 the Tonquln under Cnpt
Jonathan Thorn sailed from Neyv York with 3f
passengers including four partners : Alexander Mc-
Kay Duncan McDougul nnd David nnd Roherl
Stuart The Tonquln lost eight men In getting
across the Columbia bar and arrived May 25 1811
A site wns selected tools nnd part of the supplies
were landed June 1 the Tonquln sailed on a trad-
ing expedition to Nootka Sound The Indlnns cap-
tured the vessel nnd billed the captain McKay
and all but five of the crew The survivors then
blew up the ship The shore party under Mc-
Dougnl mnde slow progress but flnnlly got under
shelter nnd begnn trading operations
In the meantime the overland expedition which
had started from Montrenl July 0 1810 under Wil-
son Price Hunt had been In despernte straits at
several points on the long journey hv way of the
Missouri nnd the Grand Teton the Snnke nnd the
Columbia It did not reach Astorln until January
10 1812 The arrival of the supply ship Beaver
May 12 1812 relieved the situation Trading op-
erutlons were undertaken on an extensive scale
Two partners of the Northwest Company brought
the news of the declaration of wnr In Deremhpr
1812 The Pnciflc Fur Cotnpnny partners In
Hunt's absence terminated their partnership with
Astor and sold out to the Northwest Company at
an absurdly low price Astor wns unsuccessful In
efforts to recover his property after the war
Astorln wns therefore a failure ns a trading
post so far as Astor wns concerned hut it was the
beginning of a northwestward movement of the
American people over the Oregon Trail that gave
us two states of the Union Oregon nnd Washing-
ton nnd ultimately Alaska
Modern Astoria Is financially tvplcnl of hundreds
nnd thousands of ambitious little cities of the coun-
try ns Is shown hy the statements admitted toi con-
gress In connection with the proposed lonn The
city however hnd a construction problem irecullnr-
lv Its own It Is located 12 miles up stream from
the mouth of the Columbia on what was originally
a thlnl flat submerged to a depth of SO feet at
high tide The city was first built on piling from
the nnrbor front to the font of the hills Then
In order to estnhllsh a modem sewage system the
city built a bulkhead nlong the water front nnd
filled In The street grnde was flxpd at nine feet
above the fill nnd buildings were raised to that
level The streets were constructed on brhlgework
with asphalt paving and concrete sidewalks on the
pin iking
The destruction of the burned urea wns there-
fore practically complete Before It can be rebuilt
It will be necessary to reconstruct the sewage und
water systems build substantial retaining walls
uround each of the 34 burned blocks fill In the
streets with material dredged from the river nnd
pave und Iny sidewalks — all of which will cost
about $10(13000 the amount of the lonn asked
front congress Until these things nre done Record-
ing to the ofilclnl statement no capital can he ob-
tained to enable the property owners to rebuild
The city of Astorln lins Issued bonds nnd In-
curred bonded obligations amounting to $5553-
89532 for schools iminlclpnl Improvements port of
Astorln docks and county ronds The assessed
valuation of ull property prior to the lire wns $11-
358409 the bonded liability wns therefore 49 per
cent of the assessed vuluntlon Bemuse of the
conditions following the fire the bonded Indebted-
ness Is so nenrly equal to the value of nil the prop-
erty that the city Is deprived of the ability to sell
further bonds for reconstruction purposes through
the ordinary Investment channels
Here Is a new portrait of Camille
Flammarion the noted French astron-
omer and scientist who has Just
brought out a book “After Death” in
which he asserts that he has definite
proof thnt the soul survives after
death According to his own state-
ment from Paris he “proves a future
life exists that the soul survives the
decomposition of the body”
Flammarion cites a hundred cases
of the Intervention by dead persons
In human affairs In his work and he
professes with absolute certainty thnt
these phenomena are due exclusively
to the influence of those who have
passed beyond
' The great astronomer Is not how-
ever sure of the Immortality of the
soul He only knows that It survives
a certain time Also his investiga-
tions have led him to the conclusion
that It Is the souls of the more ma-terlnlly-mlnded
which cling persist-
ently to earthly affnlrs after death This for him explains the commonplace
character of most of the alleged messages from beyond the yell The more
highly developed souls apparently' rise Immediately to a higher plane far
removed from human preoccupations
Among the proofs offered by Flnmmarton are cases of dead persons ful-
filling promises giving notice of their own demise and giving warnings of
events which afterward materialized even such as the execution of ven-
geance for wrongs through mediums previously unaware of the wrongs done
He says he has applied to his investigations the strict rules of scien-
tific research
Comptroller General vs Navy Secretary
J R McCarl of Nebraska (portrait
herewith) who two years ago became
comptroller general of the United
States has laid down the law to Sec-
retary Denby In ‘Insisting that even
cabinet officers must bow before the
authority of his office In fiscal affairs
At the same time Secretary Denby
prepared to take to the attorney gen-
eral for an opinion the question of
how far the authority of the comp-
troller general legally extends Into the
administrative workings of the Navy
department
Mr McCarl’s action constituting
a warning that he Intends to force
strict compliance with the law In the
expenditure of public money became
known through a letter he addressed
to the navy secretary In the letter
he asserted that so long as ne ruled
on matters within Ids Jurisdiction his
authority under the law could be ques-
tioned by no official of the executive
branch of the government Provisions of the budget act In which the office of
comptroller general was created say specifically that he as head of the general
accounting office may exercise his powers “without direction from any other
officer”
Stinnes: “Germany Must Do More Work”
Hugo Stinnes Germany's greatest
Industrial magnate is a man of domi-
nant personality He has bis own
Ideas about Germany's needs today
At a recent meeting of the German
economic council held at a time when
the reparations commission was sitting
In Berlin Stinnes made a speech on
the stabilization of the German mark
He approaches the problem from the
standpoint of a man of business and
snys what he would do If he were
In charge of Germany as a business
proposition lie does not hesitate to
say that under-production Is what Is
wrong with Germany and that the
eight-hour ‘day must be abandoned by
German labor If the country is ever
to recover Snys Stinnes:
“The question of the work we
must do Is not a labor question but
a problem of productivity I do not
consider the eight-hour dny a question
which we should discuss we ennnot
discuss It with profit But now that all the Instruments of our national econ-
omy are not tuned to the eight-hour day as It Is Interpreted todny despite our
despernte situation It Is a question of life or death for us so to utilize these In-
struments that they produce edough for us to live on It is of the utmost Im-
portance that all of us accept the consequences of the war and work two hours
more dully so thnt we may live decently and address ourselves to works of
progress otherwise we shall have nothing to eat and be doomed to perish
mlspriihly"
Lewis cn the “Chester Concessions”
Fear that American built railroads
and steamship lines would be seized by
an enemy and used to transport sol-
diers and munitions 1b the secret be-
hind official protests from France and
Turkey against American concessions
In Turkey snys J Hamilton Lewis
former senator from Illinois Mr
Lewis hns Just returned from the Turk-
ish fields of conquest where he acted
as counsel for American Interests In
the concessions
These “Chester concessions” have
been ratified by the Turkish congress
—or Angora assembly — but official pro-
tests have been filed In Washington
The American-Turklsh treaty now be-
ing prepared will settle the misun-
derstandings to the satisfaction of all
concerned Mr Lewis believes '
“At the Genoa and Lausanne-con-
ferences as well as at The Hague and
at the Parts meeting the governments
of Turkey and Frnnce protested
against ths decision which granted the concessions In favor of the Interests for
which we American lawyers wee speaking' sAld Mr Lewis
"The protest Is no against Americans because they are tho victors In the
decision uor against Americans developing the oil wells and transporting the
oil It turns on the fact that In the concessions Is the privilege of building
railroads and using docks and steamship lines along borders between countries
In conflict with each other each of these lands being backed by one of the
Europeau countries”
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Coalgate Courier (Coalgate, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 10, 1923, newspaper, May 10, 1923; Coalgate, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1762687/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.