La Grande evening observer., August 03, 1919, Image 9

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A LOYAL PAPER
FOIl
, LOYAL PEOPLE
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THE SUNDAY MORNING
INDEPENDENT O
ON
ALL QUESTIONS
Section Two- 0
ICEMBEJt 07 TSI ASIOGZATID Pllt
o I . 9
Automobifes, Features, o
volume xvrn
SIX PAGES LA ( 1 R A N DE, O H E( i ON, SUNDAY, AUOUST . Wi) SIX' PAGES
NUMBER 2i2
Mi
Observer
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Great Waste In .The ,
Production Of Spruce
inadequate supply o( .Aircraft stock
for th plants manufacturing machines
to beat the Germans. The cost, to the
Ujited States air service officials
asserted, never reached anything like
$650 per thousand feet.
The riving process which involved
the splitting of fogs by means of
wedges was adopted only because the
mills on the west coast did not have
facilities for cutting out the straight
grained stock required for aircraft,
spruce officials declared. Just as sopnj
as means were provided for sawuig
tbe logs riving was discontinued, it
was said. '
Aircraft spruce was confined whol'
ly to straight-grain stock. No part of
the log that had spiral grain or crosvi
grain could be used because the planes
made from it were likely to collapse
at critical moments, they explained.
Consequently, it is true, according to
the officials, that in any event only
a small per cent of a felled log could
be ured for aircraft. One mill nt
times recovered about 20 per cent, but
in most instances it was considerably
under 10 per cent, they said..
A g'e?t deal of trouble was caused
by I. W. W. agitators on the Pacific
coast, it was further explained, anil
this greatly increased the ; cost of
spiuce lumber. It became necessary
fina'ly to put uniformed troops into
the forests and sawmills. Ultimately
26,000 lumbermen and operators
agreed without reservation to givn
Colonel Disque power to decide all
labor questions.
Spruce officials said it is true that
railroads were built or partinlly built
and never used, that some plank log
ging -roads were laid and not used.
This was due either to sudden cessa
tion of hostilities or in some instances
because the riving process was aban
doned after mills began to saw air
plane stock in sufficient quantities
they said.
Cast of $650 a Thousand Charged.
While only a small per cent of thit
trees went into aircraft, the remainder,
commonly known as the side cut, war
department folks explain, was disposed
of for construction work of all kinds
they held back six months probably it and for other uses,
would have cost much less, but mean-1 "Practical lumbermen as well as
while there would have heen a wholly railroad men," the Republican commit-'
A recent Washington repart saps
that affidavits purporting to show
criminal abuse of the '"cost plus'' sys
tem- ox letting contracts lor spruce
productip on the Pacific coast have
been filed with the. aircraft sufc-com-mittce
of the Commissary War Inves
tigation committee. The information
maae puuiic ey tne Kepublican na
tional committee, relates to alleged
padding of payrolls and expense ac
counts, employment o:: inefficien'
workmen and gross waste of supplies,
resulting in a loss to the government
of thou&nds of dollars.' The evidence
the committee states was turned over
to the Providence Journal.
Huge Waste Alleged.
The foreman of one job, according
to one of the statements, said he could
have signed requisitions for hundreds
of dollars worth of material he did
not need if he acquiesced to requests,
of the Official of the company. Affi
davits by others assert that camps
wore started, that hundreds of work-1
men and soldiers were transported to
the localities and shacks built, roads
constructed and other expenses .in
curred, after which orders came to
abandon camp. He said no effort wai
made to salvage the material.
One man states that construction
companies required their workmen to
sign vouchers in blank.
Correspondence sent out by Colonel
. Brice Disque, head of the spruce pro
duction division, was turned over to
the committee. It relates to letting
contracts for construction of railroach
and production of spruce.
When the charges were called to th
attention of officials of the air service
they indicated that similar statements
had come to their attention hereofore
and showed no signs of concern. On
the contrary they expressed . the hope
that the house investigating commit
tee would sift these and all other
charges to the bottom and make thi
true facts known.
It was frankly admitted that it cost
the government much more to get out
spruce aircraft lumber in the early
stages thnh later on when the ma
chinery was runnintr smoothly. Had
tee announced, 'are authority for the
statement that the cost-plus system
adopted by Disque for the construe-
tion of railroads into the forests and
the production of spro-'c sent te price
of the lugiber to such a pout that in
the aggrega?e the government paid
practically $050 per thousand feet for
the spruce it procured, while private
interests were getting out the samu
character of logs at a cost of fom
$130 to $178 a thousand feet. One of
the biggest lumbermen on the coast
asserts this to be a fact."
, Colonel Disque Blamed.
"The process of riving and splitting
the logs into quarters by means of
wedges was inaugurated by Disque,
ana although he succeeded for a time
in getting out the material, the waste
was terrific, according to the letter of
OREGON ELKS
. TO
IETS00
CONVENTION AT KIiAMATll
fr.1I.iLS AlftltST 14-16.
Cieat Outdo.r Frolic to Ijutt Three
Days Special Do lino Train
and ItedUced ltates.
Elks from every city and county
of Oregon are muklng plans to leave
within a few days for Klamath Falls.
llimKuKmnn n.hAon mill ........ ..1 1 .. t.. '
iU. niHw HUM lUMaVILT IB wkAra tha onnnA. II
10,000 feet day, and who was one of,of the 0rt,on 8ta. Elk.
the first to adopt the riving process.
Out of 3,000,000 of No. 1 spruce he
succeeded in getting only 200,000 feet,
or about 7 per cent.1
will be held. The meeting of the
untie red herd of this state will differ
from Its former meetings or similar
affairs held iu the past for numor-
The correspondence written from ous treasons.
the office of Colonel Disque to thef Iu tho first .place, the Elks ore
committee shows that when he took first of all, a patriotic order, and
charge he was not in favor of the gov
ernment building railroads into the
forests, but reversed his decision after
a few months, and finally awarded a
cost-plus contract for a railroad into
8) tract said to have some billions of
feet of standing spruce.
Waste, On Logging Iload Charged.
A company that had surveyed and
procured the right of wny offered to
build the road with its own capital,
purchase the standing timber and de-
duriiig the war took a prominent port
In win time activities. Thousands of
Elks answered the call to arms and
tho honor roll of thoso who made tho
supremo sacriflco includes many of
the order's membership.
Therefore, tho annm.l meeting will
be In tho form of a Victory celebra
tion and (plans for the assistance oi'
wounded ex-service men promises
to be ono of the foremost topics of
the business sessions. .
Tho entertainment of the largo
l.ver it to the government at the sam(! l,0rd of Elks and their families,
fist price of $451 and $30 a thousand many of whom will make the Journoy
for the two grades of spruce, provid
ed it be given a contract for 14,000,000
feet of spruce a month for a period of
1R months. This offer was rejected
according to Colonel's. Disque's .cor
respondence. " A few months later Colonel Disque
to Klamath Palls in shape of a vaca
tion Jaunt, Is likely to outshine, any
entertainment evor planned for a
body of men and women.
The usual entertainment accorded
to delegates and members - who at-
Uond conventions in large cities will
reversed his decision, and according ;D missing, u is uue, mu mo naiurui
to the formal statements submitted i bV'ty "( " clln'r, "ou,h-
. fh Mmn,ilK,e nwr,l,,l th con-, 3"sla-a 'eK',n wlU bn Ull"ZCd '" 8
tract for building of a railroad and for
producing the spruce to another cor
poration which had no survey, no right
of way, no locations of any kind.
"There is documentary evidence that
a United States army officer spent
$20,000 in making certain clevatiom
in Oregon on which to build a logging
road and af ter he had completed his
work all he had to show for his labor
was n number of bench murks on tho
(Continued on Page 21
big outdoor frolic. An Elk barbe
cue will bo otnged on Thursday, Aug.
15th at Hnrrlman Lodge, on tho
shoios. of White Pelican Bay, and
following the big feed, a mudcvllle
entertainment will bo stagod In a
natural umpltheatre, discovorod by
tho Klamath Kills coninilttoo sonic
months ngo. Tho acts for this entor-1-ainmont
will bo furnished by each
lodge of the, otnto, In the form of
nunprlse r.cts, which will bo both
novel and ontortuiiilng.
Trips Into the Wonilor spots of
snmobilc Trucks
Bo
V . .-
T " ' . PIUCE $1675.00
Complete With Body an Toy, as-shown.
.. 1 . . . . . '
lluiU yii: would winU it built and by a nrtr'ny tluitknows how. The highest value in
Irilcks t o the nwikt-t. Aia.M t -arly c"'i busings or farmers' use.
0 . . o . 3 . .
-' wkiKK ounitfts iir J:.ix.sTi.nft.$. . . .
(3
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W. flf. BOHNENKAWP. COMPANY
ViOODYEAliTllAs
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TIKEKEPAI:LNiffi 0
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the Klamath county, street dances
and tho old fashion'! carnival will
be staged In Klamath .l-'nll, iUUi
every moment of tho three iluV ses
sion proinl8s to boMMcd with .fun
and folic. ,
A special doluxo train will bo
operated fioni Portland to Kluijiaih
Falls, leaving I'ortlaud at 11 a. in.
on August 13th. Many of the lodges
thoroughout the state, wilt take ad
vantage of this special train with
Its reduced rates, while, many othera
are planning' on molorlrg to thy
convention. Reservations on the
snoclrl tiuiln cnu bo made by coni
iHiinlcntlng with William J. McGinn,
ci. airman- of the tn .r.sportation com
mittee of the state Association, Elks
Club, Poitland, Oregou.
RELIEF FOR ORPHANS
IN ALASKA
FAtUDANKS, Alaska, Juno 25--(Hy
Mall) Mm. Thomaa Rices wlfo
of Rnvornnr ItlKKS Of Alnnkn n..,l
othor women of Juneau hva begun
a movement to rnl? $5,001 to assist
In providing for the welfare of na- '
tivo children on Seward Peninsula
left qjphiaia by the ravages of the
Influenza onidomla of Imit u-l.,i..r-
The movement contomplntes erection
or a homo for tho orphans on a alto
at a hot opiinga about fifty miles
from Nomo. Tho women' propose to
turn over the udminlxtoring of th
fund to Bishop Crimont.
A WlUT 1 T1 .
. - " nil wjii ud IK
111 VI F hl PAS I CUAcc (1
NEW FALL SHOES
SEV10UAL NEW NUMIiKKS IN FALL SHOES AUE II Eli K.
New Field Nmw, liuis Heel, a heau
til'ul shoe. I I
New JMilitary IfVcl, Jl ilack Kid Shoes,
in two dinViVut Styles.
New Military ITtU hirown Kid Shoes.
New Military IIo!rwii Calf Shoes.
We can still fit you in several styles iu
Pumps and Oxfords.
L. J. French Shoe Co.
ELECTRIC WASHINgW(hINE makes
this DossBley
La (irande ladies who have seen this machine demonstrated
are delighted with it. Those who have not seen it arc invited
to conic. . ,v,, ii.saiiffiiitttfaaasiffl
Get your orders in early as they arc going fast.
Fred Spaeth
Plumbing & Heating
e
0. P
e
We are the "Battery Doctors"
We are on your battery's trail
And we'll get it sooner or later
For "WE FIX WHERE OTHERS FAIL"
Let us be your "Battery Doctor"
WF
Repair, Recharge, Rebuild all make? '.j
of Storage RaUema;
We Work With Matter Hands-
) hgkjMon Weeding & Metdim.filmJfc& j
Wellington Arente SK. W9 LCIGHT0 D La Grgndo, Oregon id
8 proprietor.
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'trVli Observer &T&$sata wm bring r&uita.
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