La Grande evening observer., December 28, 1916, Image 4

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1916.
PAGE FOUR
LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER
THE OBSERVER
An Independent Newspaper.
Published Daily and Weekly nt La
Grande, Oragon, by the
LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER
PUBLISHING CO.
J. D. MEYERS, President, H. B.
LEITER, Vice President, CLARKE
LEITER, Editor and Publisher.
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natter.
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OBSERVER. 1710 Sixth Street.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1916.
THRIFT
A dime a day saved at 5 per cent
interest would amount in 20 years to
$1200.
Here is a little table that tells the
story:
End of. Intp' ;
at 5 '
1st year $
2nd year
3rd year .
4th v. .
10.08
12.41
14.85
17.42
20.12
22.95
25.92
29.04
32.32
35.70
39.38
43.17
47.15
51.31
65.73
60.21
..D7.16
348.61
402.43
it ye--
i& ,enr 469.05
-xth year 618.60
12th year 580.92
13th year 646.40
14th year 715.28
16th year 787.54
lth year 863.42
17th year 943.09
18th year 1,026.74
19th year 1,114.58
20th year 1,206.81
21st year 1,305.65
And the place to put savings is in
the bank.
If everybody saved a little, how
much better off the world would be.
If the money were safely kept you
would not read of homes robbed for
hoarded wealth or people losing their
money buried in tin cans.
EDITORIAL COMMENT
Road Work.
Two general plans of doing road
ork have been familiar to Wallowa
county. The first is the old system of
road supervisors, one of whom is ap-
Dointed for each district. Thn din- ,
trict's share of the county road
money, as determined bv its nronor- I
lion of taxes paid for this
supposed to use to build and main
tain roads in the territory. The sec-1
Happy New Year
To you and your's, we wish you a happy
New Year's Day a day whose joys
may abide with you through many,
many days to couic. We wish that it
finds you a better and richer man or
woman, .than last year. If not, why
not ? Now, today, open an account with
us. Make a resolution that the close of
the new year will see you better off
than you now are.
What is Your Decision?
a (jrande National gank
ond is the system of appointing one
"jncrvisor for the entire county, who
hir subordinates for the differ-
ent divisions, and lay out and direct Oregon is that we are too nap-nazara
their work I about it. We do not plan far enough
It is not too much to say that neith- 'ahead. We do a little work here and a
r system has been satisfactory. The little there. We contrive to spend a
r system nn u. . . ' fh ereat deal of money and in the course
first plan gives wide latitude to the Kreat , considerablo
district supervisors, who .may and may ?m Vovement. The roads of Lane co
not be qualified for the technical work u fQr instance are much better
A road building. They hold office re- rnan they were 10 yei,rg ag0( but the
gardless of merit once they are ap- ' improvement is not accomplished in
pointed. There is a tendency for the J sc a way 8S to bring about the
men they employ to take their work ' m0st good.
too lightly, putting in few hours of . The Register has long contented
labor a day and not overexerting that in Lane county we ought de
.u... t. i,.. Th termine upon a system of market
needful sense of direct responsibility
of worker to employer is lacking.
The other system in theory is ex
cellent. With a man possessed or
technical knowledge and experience,
.i fair and impartial mind, and plenty
of backbone, it would seem that the
county could get full value for its road
money. But the job is so large, the
territory is so great, that a man
lardly can get over it often enough
to keep it going, without subordinates
of great skill and industry. With its
defects, this system probably pro
duces better results than the plan it
displaced.
Still a third system has been sug
gested, of dividing the county into
perhaps three districts with a paid
supervisor over each. These super
visors could be hired, and not ap
pointed. That is to say they would
be employes, to be retained as long
as their services were satisfactory,
and not officers who could be removed
enly after the red tape of formal
charges and an investigation.
Along with these questions which
will come before the new county court
is another, that of distribution of the
Money and work. A law has been on
the statute books requiring that each
road district receive 70 per cent of the
road money it paid in taxes. There
are districts the wealthiest in the
county which never have received a
cent of road money, and for a consid
erable time have had none of it ex
pended near their borders. The the
ory has be-cn that other districts need
ed it more. Hut common justice de
mands that the man who pays a tax
should get some benefit from it; else
j how justify the tax? If the tax mon
ey you pay is not to be expended for
! your if' i fit, you ought at the very
j 1- ' ve some say as to where
xpended.
i . . Sout The Dalles?
- : s clean?
..i -..iriotism will doubtless din-
nearly every citizen to reply
that it is. But a little reflection mi?
i cause doubt. And before the questior
run be intelligently answered, it ir
necessary to have a definite idea a'
IU Wtint tUIIOItUkD lllUlllLipui wvu.-i-
linesB. How are we to know if Th
Dalles is as clean as it ought to be
Utah furnishes a standard. Th
Utah state board of health has work
ed out a system by which any com
munity may be judged. There are 1.'
items to be considered. Every one
of them has its given number o'
credit points, totaling 100.
First comes sewer disposal. V,
that is perfect, the city gets a credi-
mnrk of fifteen.
Perfectly clean stables, cleanl;
disposal of manure, etc. give anothci
fifteen points.
lVsiw rrn ym era tntu rt arill linnAflftl
the perfect mark is ten, Likewise with
the water supply. These four items
represent the things of supreme im
portance, although ten points are al
lowed also for the condition of the
streets, alleys and parks.
The remaining eight items are giv
en five points each. They are san
itation of schoolhouses, sanitary
marketing of food, presence of flies.
! sanitation of th home, general ap
pearance of homes and barns, lawns
I and flower gardens, vacant lots and
fences.
Needless to say. no town got a
mark of 100 in the board of health
survey. Richfield, a town of about
3000 people, led the list with 73.5,
which considering the present imper-
feet state of municipal life is ex-
trcmely creditable. Salt Lake City
followed closely with 72.5 and Ogden
ZJKI
usually "cleancities'
fourths clean.
Considering the
Utah standnrd,
how would you rate The Dalles ?
I
J
"I
Road Building in Oregon
The trouble with road building in
roads that will best serve the entire
county's needs and then proceed to
concentrate our efforts as much as
possible on these roads. They ought
to be taken out from under the super
visor system and placed in the coun
ty's hands so that local efforts could
be expended wholly on improvement
of side roads leading into these main
markets roads. Then, when the sys
tem was finally complete, the entire
county would be wi;hm reach of
market centers.
These market roads ought to be well
graded, well drained anJ as w.iil sur
face! is the money at hand will per
mit, but above all they ought tc be so
maintained that the work done on
them each year will not be lost. , The
only offoctivo way to do his is by
adoption of the patrol system. Eu
gene Register. '
Hog Raising Profitable.
We learn incidentally that one Sa
lem firm has during the year just
passed done a business of more than
$80,000 in the purchasing of hogs in
the valley. With the acclimating of
corn and the assurance of it being a
crop that can be relied on, the raising
of hogs will become one of the lead
ing farm industries. The farmer who
turns his crop into pork or beef is to
that extent a manufacturer, und
makes besides the farm profit the
manufacturer's profit also. Hog prod
ucts will never again be cheap in this
country and the field -is the most
promising one from a financial view
point now available to the farmer.
A story is told of an Irishman in the
old country who was asked by a vis
itor why he did not turn the pig out
of the cabin and who replied: "Turn
him out, is it? Sure he is the gentle
man who pays the rint." .He,, was
right too, for he will not onl" pay
the rent but will start an account at
the bank and make it grow Salem
Capital Journel. ' !
The Mounting Price of Paper.
The federal governmant. is continu-
ing its hearings upon the problum of
Hie 1111,1 KMOlUg jIIVC llnoiliv.
i stock and the majority of the news
papers of the country are represented
either by counsel or by a representa
tive of state organizations. The prob
lem is becoming serious even for the
rich and powerful metropolitan pa
pers and the doubling o subscription
for all pnpers and periodicals is immi
nent. There seems at present no oth
er way out of the difficulty. An ef
fort is being made to reach a measure
of relief by readjusting the methods
of distribution and that perhaps may
stave off the inevitable for a season,
out Ugher prices must soon affect
the general public.
At the hearing now in progress in
Washington before the Federal Trade
Commission, more than ten thousand
pnpers are protesting and asking for
relief. The evidence shows that the
price of newspaper, that used by the
average daily and weekly publications,
has increased $80 per ton and that
either the price of news stock must
be reduced or an increased price must
be paid by the subscribers. Tho prof
its of the publishers are being almost
wholly wiped away. Some of the
Southern representatives at the hear
ing are asking that the Department
of Justice shall begin prosecution of
the paper combine under the anti
trust laws. Pendleton Tribune.
Land Opening in January.
Boardman, Dec. 28 (Special) The
second opening of lande under West
Extension of the Umatilla Project will
take place some -time near the last
week of the coming January. All the
laterals of tho distributing system for
supplying water for the new landi
have been completed nnd the govern
ment is now busy mapping out the
farm units. Those units will average
in size about 40 acres. Larger tracts
of private binds up to 160 acres may
be secured. About 5000 acres will be
included in tho opening.
Between 30 and 40 good homesteads
tracts will be thrown open for settle-
1 1 ment.
These are good level tracts and
the soil is first clnss for alfalfa and
diversified products.
These Winter Evenings
A recent issue of the La Grande
Observer drew a fairy pen picture of
the winter evenings of yesterday.
How old and young enjoyed those
evenings with the log fire, books, ap
I ' pics, conversations, etc. But to apply
J; those evenings to the life of today!
i , How can that be when father must i
Jgo to lodge or to the card party or
the latest social function; son to his
J, great business of courting; school boy
J.or girl to practice for some school
I doing; all the family to the movies;
J not to mention church services, nicgh
I , borly call and parties and all th-
day. Sweet dreams of the home life
of the past. Thou nrt good to think
of and to wish for in our busy life of
todny. Wallowa Sun.
Moral Effect of the War.
La Grande, Dec. 28. (To the Edi
tor of The Observer) The following
extract from a letter received, from
an old school master of mine, describ
ing' the moral effect of the war on
the English people, will be of inter
est to many of your readers.
"This old country is a very changed
land, what loomed so large two and
a half years ago, on our horizon of
life, is assuming its proper propor
tions, and we are well aware of our
frivolities and their hollowness and
unreality. We are seeing things from
a different standpoint, and are think
ing much of how the coming genera
tion of our young ones are going to
meet the problems, which they will
have to face.
Well, I am sure of this, that noth
ing but the war would have awakened
us, and that owing to the war, the
country is finding its very soul, and
learning that; there is a vast reserve
of spiritual power which at present
we have made no use of."
'"The great Realities of Life have
forced themselves upon us, and we
have found out that we have got to
'wrestle until the thigh is out of joint.'
I trust the young generation may be
'brought up in such a way that they
will find new power given them. God
grant it may be so.
"I am an old crock now, but I of
ten long that I had my old school
mastering days over again, and I
would see if I couldn't turn them to
better account.
"I have a terrible long list of dear
boys, who have made the great sac
rifice 82 already in my Bible: not
Most". No, I never use that word.
They have given their all for us, and
they are working with us now, still
with us. They ministering on one
s:de of the veil, and we on the other,
in the presence of the same Christ,
'the ministry of the Great Unseen,."
There is one question which sug
fested itself to my mind on reading
the above, which is : "Will it be
necessary for us to go through this
awful ordeal in order to find our
souls?" Unless' we repent, no powei
on earth can save us from it. Th
parable of Dives and Lazarus, is being
enucted over here, as it was in Eu
rope, before the war. That parable
has been usually interpreted to teach
that Dives by his selfishness an.4
pleasure loving life lost his soul ir
retrievably, like Esau, too late, he
found no place for repentance, though
he sought it carefully and with tea's
But a closer study of the parahb
lends itself to the idea, that Dive,
was finding his soul through torment
in Hades. This ordeal was so seven
that he wished to save his brethre
rom it. So Europe now, being ii
torments, wishes to save us from he
fate. This calamity has fallen upn
her, because she had neglected th
things which concerned her true peac
The prophetic strains of Kipling's Re
cessional, may well voice our suppl!
cations, as we look out towards th
dawn of the coming year:
"If drunk with sight of power, wi
loose
Wild tongues that have not The(
in awe
Such boasting as the Gentiles us-)
,
eI
"For heathen heart that puts
trust
In reeking tube and iron shard
All valiant dust that builds on du'.t,
And guarding calls not Thee to
guard
For frantic boast and foolish word
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!
Amen."
UPTON H. GIBBS.
The Lotus Baby.
A lotus blossom bloomed one day
; In sunshine and in shower;
jit changed a garden far away
Into a fairy bower;
The iris smiled to see it there,
j The lilies swayed to meet it,
j And butterflies, all rainbow-hued,
j Came softly out to greet it.
The temple bells rang far away,
A distant silver calling;
And from the fragrant cherry trees
A rosy snow was falling.
And oh, the lotus blossom laughed
To see a world so glowing,
And folded back its petals till
Its golden heart was showing.
A lotus blossom bloomed one day;
The sky was blue above it;
And Fujiyama, snowy-crowned,
Seemed bending down to love it;
An old world charm was in the air,
Of sandalwood and singing;
And oh, the lotus blossom laughed
And as its laughter, ringing,
Rose up to God, he smiled and said
That such a winsome flower.
Should give its sweetness to the earth
For longer than an hour.
And when the night came softly down,
And all tho world lay sleeping,
His angels left their home above.
And, through the garden creeping,
They come to where the lotus bloomed,
And touched its heart so gleaming.
They kissed it gently with a prayer,
And left as daylight, beaming,
Swept through the misty veil of night.
And as the sun came creeping.
Where there had been a lotus bloom
I saw a baby sleeping!
Margaret E. Sangster, Jr., in The
Christian Herald.
An aggregate of $2,164,851,210 was
paid out by the railroads in 1913 for
expenses, equivalent to $2.1.50 for
svrry man, woman nnd child in the
United States.
r a rf,V7 witnout tne law- (other twjce M bjg which ghe the free diBtribution of these b,.er
Lord God of Hosts, be with us ye, , hods in readiness for any emergency ages; aided the government feel the
Lest we forget lest we forget! . w h the war cause she sent s,.i,iiers at the front, furnished lajor-
The Weekly Observer and Star will give as a
Premium to All Subscribers paying Their Subscrip
tions One Year in Advance a copy of "Disease of
Domestic Animals and Poultry Their Cause, Symp
toms and Treatment". A Valuable Work--Price
$2.00. By Drs. C.J. Korinek, Vs. and A. W.
Korinek, Vs. and B. V. Sc., Published by The Kori-
nek Remedy Company, Kenton Station, Portland,
:
Oregon-
.' :M !' :
Send in your Subscription and Get Your Copy of
This Valuable Work. I
OF Mill PEOPLE OF
RISE
RUSSIA GREAT EVENT OEM
While No Great Victories Have Been Won on Sea, or Land
a Reorganization Making the Government More
Democratic and Industry More Efficient Has
Been Forced By the National Peril
Munitions Output Quadrupled
Mr. Simms spent most of the year
in Russia. This review, written after
his return to Paris, is based upon
bis study of conditions while in Rua-
sia. and upon information from his
Russian news sources subsequent to
his departure.
EDITOR.
BY. WM. PHILIP SIMMS
Unted Press Staff Correspondent.
Paris. Dec. 14. (By Mail.) What
ever Russia may do in the future,
1911) will be set down as one of the partly of landowners, this board wouil
greatest years in her history. No per- r;rrespond to the Russian Zemi-
iod in all her national development b.ard which is charged with road
has been more significant, not even biuJding, schools and hospitals 'it it
the 'Sixties which marked the libera- district. It is easy to see the influent
t:on of the Serfs. I 'f a Zemstvo board on the;rural popu-
During 1916 the Russian people, the Ktion.
common people, seem to have found The Municipality Union is doi-ig in:
themselves and their place in the 'e cities what the Union of all tbe
Empire. Their position may not yet Zemstvos is doing in the country.
be very clearly defined but the future,
l.ussihn students believe, will look af
ter that.
Russia, in the last year, has accom
plished much. She recovered from the
blow Germany dealt her in East Prus
sia, Poland, and Galicia. She com
pleted building a brand new army in
the field. She called to the colors an-
may
j troops to France and to Salonika, via
'Siberia and Vladivostock and another
army she sent to help Roumania when
that country joined up with the Allies.
In the meantime she resumed the
offensive in Galicia and completely
disrupted the Austrian armies there,
taking well over half million prison-
ers. And in Asia Minor she waged a
powerful campaign against the Turks
beyond the Caucausis.
These are tremendous accomplish
ments when one remembers what Rus
sia was up against in 1915, when she
h&d, during her great retreat, but one
shell a day, per battery, to fire
against the advancing Germans.
The Minister of War judged res
ponsible for the bulk of the Army's
.misfortunes, M. Soukoomlinoff was
arrested in the spring of 1916 and
placed in the Peter and Paul prison on
an island in the Neva.
Test Year Of No Vodka.
This was the test year on "No
Vodka." The Imperial decree abolish
ing Vodka came, it is true, in the fall
of 1914, but 1915 was not a true trial.
Russia, that year was getting over
her jag, so to speak, and it was only
in iyib that a steady, sober Russia
got a chance to show what she could
do.
Savings banks accounts went up by
leaps and bounds. Peasants consti
tuting 80 per cent of the country's
population of 170,000,000, were never
so well off in their lives. They were
oeuer led, better clothed, put in on an
average double the number of work-
ing hours a day, and sickness was re-
ouced to an incredible degree. One I
hospital, one correspondent know3 of,
nuu iow Deas. .trior to 1915 it was
overflowing all the time having some
2000 patients to care for as best it
could. Now 1000 beds hnve been sent
to a military hospital because there
are never more than 400 patients to
care for.
This year saw the fnrmniinn f
Central Committee to CO-nrdinnfA iha
work of all-Russinn Zemstvo Union and
me Aii-Kussian Municipality Union,
two organizations composed of Rus
sian plain people banded together
to help the Empire run the war.
Through this committee everv mnn
woman and child wns brought more or
less directly into touch with K
-. K. ,t , none more to m.iKe
tl.e war a "popular" war than any oth-
tr movement. The Zemstvo Union,
i.Love all, is a peoples' concern and
the Zemstvos have instructed the
peasants and common people gener-
ally throughout Russia as to what the
war means to them and the1 importj-
ance or carrying it on to a successrr.
finish.
Communities At Work '
Each state in ths United Statu is
divided up into counties. If each cjui
ty had a board composed parti;: of
armers, partly of village merchants.
1 ot other property holderB there a.id
1 f ese two peoples associations dur-
r.g 1916 have made millions of gar
ments for soldiers, enlisting the ser
vices of women all over the land' fed
tens' of thousands of refugees from
the invaded districts, equiped an 1 op
erated nundreds of hospitals, furnish
ing 're necessary supplies thems -.'v.?;
c-ta'.iishcd tea and coffee rooms tit
era in many instances to dig tren-iies,
ruild bridges, pontoons, etc.; in a gen
eral way, they have solidified 'le
Russian Empire by having the pe ip:e-w-.rk
with the soldiers for the coim-ion
causb '
Inis work was begun early in the fl
war. In 1916 it made such he id sv ay
that no one can disput its magnet ide
today nor its probable influence on th
Rus&ia of the future. Similar to th
Zemstvo and Muncipality Unions iifc
that it is an organization growing out
of public spirit, is the Committed
which during 1916 mobilized the
small industries of Russia to help the
army with munitions. There are sev
eral large munitions factories in Rus
sia which deal direct with the War
department, but there are hundreds of
little founderies, machine shops, mills
ar.d works of all sorts too small to
do business of this sort alone. The
Committee grouped all these, put
specialists in charge of district groups,.
and had them fill orders for the gov
ernment. The little industries were
thus grouped into one big industry
by a Committee of patriotic men who
receive no pay for their service,
though, of course, the little shops are
paid for whatever they supply the
army.
Output Of Munitions Quadrupled.
Russia's own output of munitions
niore than quadrupled during 1918
through these and other expedients.
The little concerns could not make
great siege guns, of course, 'but they
could and do make trench mortars,
"and grenades, caissons cannon wheels
hatchets, spades, the smaller Bhells
and what not
Furthermore they have built tan
neries for taking enre of enormous
ouantities of Russian hides; built or
enlarged factories for making the nec
essary tanning chemicals; built new
boot and shoe factories and enlarged
the old ones to make footwear for the
troops; established enormous repairing;
plants to redeem leaky and worn army
boots. They employ scores of thou
sands of noor peonle, mostly women,
thus giving material aid in time of
need. Schoolq for mei-hnnics, chauf
feurs and other specialists are main
tained to sunnlv the army with ex
perts and automobile rennir shnns are
nnnnU , .iu.. n -i
the rront. '
- - , ,,-
(Continued on Page Eight)