The Railroad Says It Has a Dock in Seattle and No Way to Reach It

At the meeting of the trustees of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon the following letter from President Thomas F. Oakes, of the Northern Pacific railroad, was read:

"I am in receipt of yours of the 13th instant in regard to having the ships of the Northern Pacific Steamship Company, plying between Puget Sound and China, at your port. Let me say at the outset that this steamship company is 'Northern Pacific' only in name. Neither the railroad company nor any officer connected with it has any interest whatever in the steamship company. The stock of the steamship company is owned exclusively in Great Britain, and its management is in the hands of Mr. W. B. Dodwell, to whom your letter will be forwarded.

"We have a good dock at Seattle, which was purchased for the purpose of connecting it with our business along the water front, and thus place our company in as good a position for interchange of commerce as we are at Tacoma; but our efforts to put in the necessary tracks have been defeated in one way and another, so we are no better off in this respect to-day than we were at the time the wharf was purchased. I trust your people understand that we cannot do business without facilities, and so far as it may be practicable I hope they will co-operate with our people in securing track connection between the wharf and existing tracks under our control."

A letter had been sent a few days before to Goodall, Perkins & Co., asking that the Alaska steamers stop a little longer at Seattle in order to give the passengers a chance to view the city. The answer of Goodall, Perkins & Co. was rather curt. They began by saying: "We beg to say that the Alaska steamers' trips are arranged with the view of showing the tourists and passengers the beauties of Alaska; it being assumed that there is plenty of time and of opportunity for them to see such cities as Seattle before starting or on their return." The letter continued that there was no law to prevent passengers anxious to see Seattle from coming here and spending six hours, or even sixty, before the steamer started. If they wanted to look at Seattle they could get off here on their way back and take a boat to Tacoma. The Alaska trip was arranged in order to give passengers as much time as possible in the places difficult to get at, and so to spend time in cruising about the Sound was out of the question.

A letter from Congressman John L. Wilson announced that though he had not as yet succeeded in getting the salaries of local steamboat inspectors raised, he hoped to accomplish this purpose before the session closed.

Another interesting letter was from J. Perger, of Markdorf, Germany. He said that many honest and hard-working German farmers would come here if they only knew of the advantages offered by the Pacific Northwest. He suggested that some of the pamphlets be printed in German.

Secretary J. W. Dodge was given an indefinite leave of absence to devote himself to the work of establishing here a furniture factory and an iron furnace.