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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 1910)
THE OBSERVER' Bruce Dennis, tilt' r and uwuer. rr tered at tbe postoffice at vinade .ecoDd-tUsa matter. I'ubllthed IaUj Except Sundaj. i i ii J Willi I 6UBSCKIPTI0N RATES I felly, single copy. J'fcily, per week., Ujj, per mouth.. 5c 16c This paper will not puollsn at. ar- Jcie appearing over a nom ae piuuo nlgned articles will be relaed ob ject to tte discretion of tte editor lease alga your article and' tlBappolntmeuw REGULATION GAIMNG EVERT DAY The earnest thought of a community like Union county always brings re sults, and the past few months there has been serious consideration of the local option law and the proposition to handle the liquor selling under a strict regulation. Apparently there la preponderance of sentiment la favor of regulation. This has been arrived a by comparison of what was claimed for the local option law and what actually has transpired. Its failure to make good the claims made .for It la so promllnent that none can overlook It, and all admit that ii tula was those In charge of the campaign had to offer in support of local option It would be well to try something else. There la disposition or Intent to open the American saloon of former days with it gambling, prostitution and debauchery, for If such were the case good men would not be behind the movement for regulation. But thera Is a firm desire to try severe restriction m a means of better handling the liq uor traffic. Substantial citizens, and there are many of them, bellve that a system of regulation that will place responsible, clandestine and undor coverlng selling of Intoxicants now In -vogue. They believe that It Is bet ter' to force things to the surface than It is to have them hidden under ground still possessing the same dan ' gewus effects, which Is a feature of Jofa option. For that very reason It will be found tbpt many voters In this valley will go to. the polls Tuesday and vota !ot regulation with the full expectation that regulation will follow. And It must follow, If tbe people of union ounty place their confidence In license! reg ulation and. restriction, they Bhall not pe deceived. OFFICIAL RECORD AND PROMISES To read the letters being Issued by B. F. Wilson, candidate for county Judge, one who was not familiar with this county might think extravagance was a part of the present administra tion, when as a matter of fact accord ing to records more has been accom plished during the administration of Judge Henry to place, this county on a business basis than ever occurred In the same length of time In the coun ty's history. Mr. Wilson says he will do many things If elected, but we Invite the taxpayer and voter to turn to the coun ty records under Wilson when he was holding the office of county Judge and Bee If he ever had the disposition when he had' am opportunity to do things. Note carefully, what condition tin county was in when this mail m.t i office of county Judge. Heavy Indeb edness, a paralyzed credit, poor hlg. ways, few bridges are monuments l Mr. Wilson aa an official. Yet he asK: the people to return him once more t this important position. Will the peo pie do it? Just watch the election re turns. There is absolutely no reason wh: any Republican should not vote foi Charles A. Barrett of Athena for Join senator from Union, Umatilla anr Morrow counties. He Is an honest, in dustrious citizen, a man who has hac experience In the legislature, Is care ful In his acta of lawmaking and with al is a safe, sane, experienced mar who has the Interests of Eastern Ore gon uppermost In bis heart Mr. Bar rett was nominated after a hard fight and he won the nomination fairly. Ht was opposed to the assembly and hac the courage to make a fight agains It. Every assembly man should vot for him because he la entitled to the support and will be a satisfactory legislator. Ye's, everything Is practically bus pended until after election and then the Grande Ronde rvalley will beglt doing business again with a vim that Is customary here. Here's hoping Oswald and George and all the boys will feel all right af t?r ti.e election an! bs """lis to st tend the inauguration of Governor Jay Bowerman. Oswald West seems to have goiter lost In the shuffle for governor. At least his own party leaders have ceas ed to use vigor in their work for him. WILSON'S RECORD. (Continued from page one) and that while the present warrants draw six per cent our great debt will only be drawing five per cent during the life of the bonds (present price 95c cash.) Those who are not in favor of bond ing,' claim instead of being a saving the county Is actually a loser, of the $179,000. $24,000 Is not not drawing Interest but will Immediately when taken up by the bonds. The Interest on $24,000 at five per cent for twenty years Is $24,000. Again the interest on the $17,000 Is payable semi-annually. Agajn not only does the interest hove to be paid In cash but a sinking fund mutt be created to pay off these bonds. The money cannot be applied on our Indebtedness until after the expiration of at least 10 years. Thus a large sum of money which must be collected, taken from circula tion and hoarded up. (This means a fund that a certain few can speculate with.) Had not the rate 'of interest been reduced the bonding proposition mlKht be advanced on economic (grounds, but within four years our present warrants will all be replaced with 6 per cent warrants, with no com pounding of Interest and as fast as the money can be received can be applied on our indebtedness. Another point la the issuance of these bonds will hot be permitted un til the authority of the county court has been substantiated. This no doubt means additional expense to the coun ty by way of litigation. A(?ain would hot it have been proper GBORGE PALMER, Pres. F. J. 1IOLMK8, TIce-Pres. W. L. BBENH0LT8, Asst. Cash. EARL ZUNDEL, ed Ass't Cash. F. L. METERS, Cashier. LA GRANDE NATIONAL BANK OF LA GRANDE, OREGON United States Depositor Capital, Surplus and Undivided Profits $200,000.00 DIRECTORS (3EOBVI PAuoa W. J. CHURCH F. J. HOLMES W. L. BBESBOLTS F. I. METERS W. M. PIERCE C C. PENISGTON 6. L. CLEAVER F. M. BTRKIT With ear ample meartes and facilities we can render yon efficient service aaC handle year buries to jour retire satlsfse Men. to hare made this bonding proposition f'Utlic Uli iliViUd ...vl' .iiSleiUJ ill M upiing possibly the only propositlo. p.-esented to the court. This bondlL, i.jeatlon bids fair to be quite an Issi... i d ore It Is finally completed. WIIES 3101! FORMED M I MOV. j Feople Felt Keenly the Way tlv I oar i Managed Matter . It Is hard to realize this year o 1910 that a mob once formed a', th county seat in Union counly for th purpose of protecting proper? righ but that Is what occurred accord nv to authentic history. Read what Tv Observer said of the matter at the .Ime and also note the court's final action In the important matter: (Extract from Editorial appearing Observer of August 30, 1901.) . Moid Is the Word. The county .offices and record rooms it Union were busy, If silent for weeks prior to the land sales. A Portland corporation had one of the men who had for years had access to the couk y records, either as official or trusted jonfldentlal of the officials, making om lists of the land to be sold. This list was made and sent to Portland, exam ined and from" which convenient carde were made with the description and amount charged on each. These cards were sent back to Union in ample time for the opening of the sale, and were used by the men who bid in tracts foi the Portland corporation. It Is Impossible to t'-fr itzi Thllc all this work was going on In the cour house and among the public record, the county officials were Ignorant ol what was going on. In fact It Is dif ficult to form any conclusion other than that our county officials were in the gigantic scheme to exploit the peo ple at least to the extent of keeping mum. And why keep mum when they knew land sharks were scheming and working before their eyes, and In the office the county provides for the offic ial to do business In for the people? Has the bad air of the court house rendered them totally oblivious to ev ery moral obligation they owe to the people who employ them and pay them good fat salares? A man must be a moral Idiot, wlth a clntllla of a conception of right, who would place the seal of silence on his Hps, when he knew that sharks were completing before his eyes, by the use of public records of which he was the trusted custodian, plans whereby they could possess themselves at a trivial cost of valuable property belonging to their employers who had no know ledge or means of knowing that their life earnings, their homes were In Jeopardy. Had It not suited the political ambi tion of the county officials to warn the people of their danger, and advise them how the tangled records repre sented thedr property and that It was about to be auctioned off, In the var ious newspapers of the county, a few dollars In postal cards.-at the county expense, filled with a statement from the record, would have saved many homes from being sold to sharks. Mum was the word about the court house, the sharks were fully informed and the people left In Ignorance until the sale had progressed several days, when an outraged public demanded and obtained a parley. The clandestine manner by which the sale was concocted brings to mind another secret transaction that but for the timely exposure would have bond ed Union County for about $175,000, whereby the taxpayers of Uni6n Coun tyw ould have been mulcted out of many thousands of dollarB. The air is bad about the court house. Its mus ty fumes fosters bacteria that fatten and thrive off the people. First they opened their voracious Jaws to bite off a good per cent on $175,000 and later they atempted to gulp down farms, brick blocks, city lots, a theatre and a church parsonage. (Editorial In Observer, August 30, 1901.) Was It a Blonder! Call, If you can Ignore many ugly facts to the contrary, the action of the county officials In proceeding upon, practically no notice to the real per sons to be effected thereby, t auction off the homes and landed property of the cttzens of Union county, a blun der It has thus far been a most ex pensive affair to our people. Not counting time or attempting to put a money value on the worry caused by the proceedings to our people, the act ual money spent in going to Union to prevent their homes and life earnings from passing from them Into the hands or land shr.rks will foot up into thous ands of dollars, ;:aid by c-ir people. The 3-It c: ih!8 great exp?nditur3 thus far ha resulted only r a parley" more specific . notice of its scope ay be given to the people. By waiving the thousands of dollars already spent by.our people the last ujon our people will In the future ixach Into a Bum startling In Its pro portion. There Is not a cottage home or cabin; not an acre of the 150,000 acres of tillable land owned or thought to be owned by the citizens of Union ccunty but has a cloud cast upon Its t tie. A cloud that will detract from ts market, if not from its assessed val ue. In the light of the present condi tions of our county records it seems that secret tax liens have been permit ted to hide, undlscoverable by record searchers and professional abstract ors for 18 years, all at once come to the surface with startling effect. Where records do not show the actual status of land titles, there can be no certainty of title, and where the rec ords have proven defective in one es sential a distrust is thrown over all, and a cloud is placed upon all land titles. Such seems to be the present condition of all titles in this county. The Observer has not examined crit ically, the records of Union county and does not believe they are as bad as It is claimed by some that they are, but from the present muddle finds reason to think, that there are some persons that can find things in the records that others cannot. However, this may be, the unfortunate condition re mains mat our public records are dis credited. This want of confidence can but effect the market value of every town lot or acre of land In Union county. All this anxiety, expense and wide spread lack of confidence In land titles could have been avoided by our county officials, all of . whom draw, salaries from the people, doing as officials In other counties have done, and giving the people full and complete notice of the county's Intention to sell the property and give to each timely warn ing of the predicament In which to se cure Hens and last legislature enact ments had placed their property. HighQuality Furnishings FOR LADIES TAX SALES SUSPENDED 60 DATS. County Conrt now does what It should have done at the first. Land hot sold may be redeemed. This action will, In all probabilities, result In justice being meted out to all, with possible exception of lands bid in by sharks who paid for it. (Appearing In Observer on Stp. 6, 1901.) In the matter of the sale of lands and parcels heretofore sold for delin quent taxes. It appearing to the court that In the construction of the law requiring the sale of lands and parcels heretofore sold for delinquent taxes that it would be equitable and Just and in accord ance with the splrlt of the law to per mit redemptions or purchase by the persons In possession of any tract or parcel as the owner thereof by paying the amount of the taxes and costs due thereon, and it also appearing to the court that during the progress of the sale now pending, the person In pos session as owner of a number of tracts were required by competitive bidding to bid in excess of the amount taxes and costs due, and, it also appearing to the court that there are a large number of tracts bid for during said sale in which the amount of the bid has not been paid the sheriff, and it (Ccntlrted on page .) :: The Up-Building $ I of This Bank I is due to the fact that we have ample capital and that we iave adhered to a policy whicn has been conservative, yet aloag progressive lines. We' offer to our customers modern facilities for the prompt and proper tran saction of their financial affairs; ample vault and safe room for storing and safe-guarding .of their money, notes, Insurance policies and other valuable pap ers and such liberality of treat ment as is consistent with pru dent banking. t YOUR account is cordially soli- X cited. i i . i ' ::The United States National Bank, W .-vis v Two High Grade lines have just added to our furnishing department for ladies Thek amous Keiser Neckwea Lace Collars, Stocks, Jabots and Stiff Collars, . . 25c to $1.50 The Dent Glove in addition to our Virginia and Chatham Ladies makes our glove line complete. BLACK AND COLORS, KID GLOVES $1.Q0 to $2.50 N. IC WES1 THE QUALITY STORE joe. - 4t .!, ( . . C A. BARRETT ATHENA, OREGON. 58 X C. A. BARRRETT Republican Direct Primary Nominee. Progres sive and Statement No. 1; Republican. For 4 years a member of the House of Representatives from Um atilla County, where he secured much good legisla tion for the People. They will make no mistake by electing him joint senator, for he stands for the in terests of the Common People as against Corporation and Boss Rule. V.A V vy r pr.