IppJUIlB B. HAIIEORD III "THE UMM Of THE SHREW" M
H TO APPEAR AT STEWARD'S OPERA HOUSE THIS EVENING 111 A GREAT DOUBLE BILL "THE OLD GUARD"
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Mr. Charles
r
It i at a frank and uncompromising
humorist that Shakespeare presents him
self in "The Taming of the Shrew."' Yet
behind the rollicking fun there is a vein of
serious suggestion, and the poet asserts
himself at the close most gracefully in
his tribute to true martial devotion. Al
though the play is farce of the most un
compromising type, it requires an actor
of fine artistic comprehension to play the
role Petruchio acceptably. ' Petruchio is,
despite his blustering masquerade, a gen
tleman and an actor who conveyed no
other impression than that of the boister
ous ruffian he assumed to be would be
but a faint and unsatisfactory one of the
big-hearted, whole souled suitor of a cap
tious lady's hand. And the captious lady
herself is a combination of opposed traits.
Though a shrew, she must be winsome
and capable when won of as much wom
anly devotion as she was at first of in
subordination. Charles B. Hanford is one
of the few actors to make Petruchio a
character as strong in its humorous appeal
as it is in its artistic aspect Miss Marie
Drofnah who,' assumed the role of Kath
erine has been fortunate in winning ap
proval for her performance of it to an ex
tent that assures a complete and harmon
ious interpretation.
Mr. Hanford wilf appaar at Steward's
opera house on Saturday Feb. 3, in this
v
"Hi
MISS MARIE DROFNAH, in "The Taming of the Shrew"
merry play.
DOUBLE BILL
The curtain will ring up promptly at
eight thirty and a delightful curtain raiser
will be presented in which both Mr. Han
ford and Miss Drofnah will appear. The
curtain raiser is used in order that those
who by reason of their occupation will oe
unable to come to the theatre at that
early hour may come late and still not be
compelled to miss any of the "Taming of
the Shrew." Tho title of the first piece
is "The Old Ouard." This Is taken from
an episode of the battle of Waterloo which
Victor Hugo has so splendidly described.
Mr. Hanford is always ready and willing
to give his patrons a full measure for
their money and realizing that his appear
ance here falls upon a Saturday evening,
he has consented to give this double bill
in order that all may be able to hear all
of the "Taming of the Shrew." - .
i BRAMWELL OB MAR BEET CULTURE
1 THE STATE Of (AllRI
La Grande, Ore., Feb. 2. 1906.
Editor Observer:
While jt has been my pleasure to travel
in nearly every state in the Union, not
uutil now have I. visited California. 1
""Vmade the present trip in search of infor
- s"2fetion, more particularly as to the cul
ture of sugar beets, but at the same time
in a general way, to ui up the great
state mentioned. As I made close observ
ations it may be of interest to your many
readers to give a few notes, which I do
purely with a view of betterment.
The state of California has suffered
very much from rain, so much, that the
wheat planted last fall has rotted. No
moisture whatever, having fallen for
many months. During my travels there
a heavy rain or flood covered the county
in general. It is estimated that several
million dollars of damage was done by
reason of washouts and so much grain
CSng destroyed. We saw many hundred
(Ijousands of acres, of grain inundate d
from one inch to several feet. I am of
the opinion that the grain crop in that
state will be light this year. The orange
crop is especially short and of an inferior
quality. I am told that this is caused by
reason of the continued cold weather. It
is claimed that this state is experiencing
. the coldest wiather known for fifteen
yy1ar. This accounts for the extremely
-sour oranges now on the market
While in southern California there is
plenty of sunshine and a happy place to
spend the winter months, to my mind it
is no place for poor working people. The
cities are filled with people seeking health
and who generally have plenty of money
for board and the like is generally high.
While the larger cities are well cared for
. the smaller ones to my mind indicate less
VJhrift than we have manifest here at
Tnome.
I think however, that I saw no more dead
fills on the sidewalks than .we have-
not quite so many but in many ways
less system then we have. One thing is
sjre that I met and saw more unemploy
ed men the few days I spent in this state
F. S. BRAMWELL
than I have seen for many years in the
state of Oregon. I made mention of this
fact to old timers and I was informed
that they flocked there to winter, but to
look at some of them, thoy look as though
they had been some place to winter for a
long time. 1 felt thankful for our winters
at home if that keeps away this class of
things. Tne farm homee there are much
less expensive than ours. I think I am
safe in saying that our farm homes wil1
average four times the value of those in
the western state, and as to general com
fort many, many times better. This
speaks very loud to me as to the prosppr
ity of the eruntry here as against the one
in question. I may say right here that I
have seen no valley; no people who are to
well provided for as in this country, our
own Grande Ronde Valley. Good homee
and plenty in them for the comfort of all.
Surely we should try and appreciate this
fact.
I made a trip to Oxnard where the larg
est beet sugar factory in the world is
operated. The plant there has a capacity
of 1800 tone per day. Last year they
made 150,000 tons of beets into sugar,
making an extraction of upwards of U
as against 10 at our factory here. The
Oxnard Sugar Co. has a contracted acre
age for 1906 for 17000 acres as against
about 2,000 here . The people there take
to beet culture and accordingly the thing
is a grand success. I made a special in
vestigation of the cultivation of the ' soil
and find in the first place that this Com
pauy cultivates much poor alkali land. - I
was driven on some tracts where plowing
was going on and not ' a epear
of vegetation was to be seen, and the top
greasey so we could hardly keep our foot
ing. This land was being plowed with a
14 inch plow drawn by ten horses or
mules and plowed to a depth of 16 inches.
The land, when thrown to the top, shone
almost like the sun In a looking glass. I
remarked to my companion the field boss
of the company that they seemingly had
a great quantity of alkali to contend with
and asked him how they managed to get
a stand of beett.To this he said that they
plowed the land thus very deep and the
ram washed the alkali from the immediate
top so the beet seed managed to get
started but that the stand in many cases
was by no means good, but that to seed
immediately after plowing would mean
that nothing could grow. This opens up
an important subject for this valley ae we
have thousands of acres with alkali in,
that hitherto has brought but little results
to the tiller; while in California this same
land brings from 6 to 20 tons of beets
per acre. It may be said that they have
more moisture than we do. To this I may
say that last year no artificial irrigation
was employed at all and that for 170
daye no rain fell and if I remember right
but 7 inches fell during the year, I was
told that the moisture of the alkali made
the beet crop, and that without the alkali
the crop was much less profitable. The
average tonnage in the entire district was
a little upwards of 1 4 tons per acre. 1
have always contended that we plow our
lands too shallow and to this I may say
all here havecontended against my theory.
In Oxnard they cannot make a good crop
by plowing less than 1 6 inches and in one
field I found them using a French Imade
plow which has a double mouldboard one
making a depth of about H inches and at
the end of the field the plow is turned up
side down and goes directly back in the
sarne furrow to a depth of 22 inches.
This is no guess work for we measured
the depth and know whereof we speak.
I waa told that the deeper the plowing the
better the crop. I do not think that to
plow so deeply here the first year would
be of benefit but to gradually go down
will bring better results than we have so
far enjoyed. I think this Item will prove
of great value to the beet growers of this
section. The facts are we have hoped for
a long SO inch beet; while we have plowed
but about f rom 6 to 1 0 inches in depth.
If we can subject the now almost worth
iest land and make it produce like that
now in question, thie Valley is the best and
richest in the United States of its size.
I see no reason why we cannot bring Into
play the land lying in the center of this
valley and make it among the best This
case to which we now site is by no means
the only one of which we have knowledge.
In and about Lehl, Utah, where land was
worth about five to ten doliare per acre,
the culture of sugar beete has brought
that same land on the market at from
$100 to $300 per acre. We have found
here to that where some alkali is in the
land the tonnage has been good. I call
attention to the farm known as the Child
ers place about three miles south and
and east from this city. In 1904 we sold
the beets off this place 122 acres for
$7,2 1 0. 1 4. We charged for all labor per
formed on this place at regular prices
even though done by our own teams and
the actual cost of producing this crop was
$4,080.14 making a net gain of exactly
$3,040, or nearly half the cost of the
land. This farm was considered very
poor and when we bought it many gave
us "the horse laugh", All who are acquaint
ed with the conditions of the operation of
this farm know that very little water was
used except in the winter time. These
figures can be seen at our office. I sim
ply give them to better indicate what
can be done on this line by close applica
tion. I have already made mention of the
coet of plowing land at Oxnard, That
ten horsee or mules are used on one 14
inch plow. Here our land is much easier
to work, costing less than half what this
must have cost when plowed ae above
set out This le also true of the plow
used to pull the beete in the fall. Here
we use a forked plow drawn often by two
horses and never more than three, while
at Oxnard they have to use a solid up
right plow which is drawn by twelve
horees. The ground gets so hard that the
plow we use will not do the work there.
This ts also strong evidence in favor of us
making crops without water. Surely our
land cannot get harder or drier than to
take twelve horses to plow or pull beete.
While our plows pull the beete, at Oxnard
the beete cannot be pulled, hence the plow
must go under them, done at great cost
Even with all these odds against the beet ','
growers they are loyal to the enterprise, '
and it is prosperous, exceedingly so. 1
In conclusion 1 beg to say. Hitherto '
the eugar factory here has lost vast sums
of money. Only one season since it has 1
been operated has it paid its way. Thie
because of insufficient beete, eo very few 2
taking interest in this kind of culture.
Much talk has been made that the fact- '
ory would be taken away, perhaps so "
much said that it has been taken as a
bluff. In this matter I desire to eay that -we
have bought large tracts of land and
propose to grow as many beets as possi- -ble
but candidly I am of the opinion that.,
unless we make a much better showing
this year than at any time in the past the
factory will be removed and perhape then
and perhaps not till then, will we appre
ciate what it hae done for this country. '
We propose . to handle the business as
hitherto on business lines, pay for all we
get and try our level best to make the
thing tnrive, but unless we get better sup
port than in the past the factory will cer
tainly be a thing of the past. It is claim
ed by some that if we raieed the price of
beete that mora would be grown. We are
willing for you to examine our books and
you will readily see that we have paid
more for beete than we could afford to do'
so few being grown. To my mind the
better way to get the price advanced or
increased is to make the thing prosperous
and then ask the company to divide pro
fits. I am sure they are willing to divide
so far, It is claimed by eorne that thie
company pays less for beets than is paid
elsewhere. This is absolutely untrue
when the quality is considered. At Ox
nard they extracted upwards of 14
while here we get exactly 10,, nearly
one third less out of the beete than they,
while we pay a flat rata of $4.60 per ton '
while the pay from $3.25 to $6.25, an
average of about the same as we pay,
possibly a little more. We are willing to
advance money to help people embark in
the beet business. We contemplate dig
ging a well on one of our farms near this -city
and install a gasoline pump ae a test
and we think that the many little stream
which now run to waste can be brought
to the eervice in this way and made to
pay the operator very handsomely indeed.
W ar interested in the development of the
entire country, w are willing to do our
share at all times and in any legitimates
way, for the general welfare of the peo
ple here. We hope to have better support
so that our business may be of greater
benefit It has alrendy don much and
may be made do much more.
I am thankful for my home in thi
country. The land i good, the peopl
generally broad minded, "and It shall b
my pleasare to aid in any reasonable way
to dewelope the country and make it in- .
viting for thote who may visit us, so that
they may Join us in making this the very
best country in the United States if not In.
th world.
F. S. Bramvxll.