e si 1
. . 60
THlHsfMl JUNE 2, 1921
O .
I,A OHkhutj jsvSNINCS OBSe-KVK
0 o - a. 11
George B.; Mars'den
Gives Keynote Address
Cicorffe B. Warsdcn, of Seneca, Or-f-(fon,
u .cattleman who nut only pro
duce the rial stuff for the market,
hut who knows every phase of the
livestock industry of today, (fave one
of tiie most interesting addresses of
the convention recently at Prairie
City of the Oregon Horse and Cattle
Kaisers' association. His address fol
lows: lt.. II- :.i..i. M,.miuva 4kn
R (.'atlle and Morse Raisers' Association
of Oregon; Ladies and lientlemen:
I, Mle Satunlay night I arrived home
from a nine day trip delivering cat
tle at a distant railroad point, phy
sically weary and mentally fagged.
In glancing over my mail before re
tiring I discovered the following let
ter from our esteemed Herrotnry:
! " 'You will appear on our program
to lead a discussion in the forenoon
of the first iliy, viz: May 24th. The
subject is to he selected by you and
should be such as you deem of inter
est to the livestock growers.'
I "To say that I was completely dis
mayed would be altogether too mild.
1 am only a common rancher with
limited experience, a dearth of ideas
.ltd no bent toward oratory and :u
such u short time there was no cliar.ee
to cill in assistance, especially be
cause I had to spend most of it in
'working roads to get here. However,
I was fortunate in being confined to
no narrow field to pick my subject for
itheie has never been a time when
there have heen so many ipicsuons 01
' vital importance confronting the live
I slock industry. There is the question
of marketing in all the different phns
, es; restricted demand through cur-
tailment of export Trade; Imported
meats and the tariff; decreased con
! sumption at home; increased railroad
1 rates; higher taxes, and above all,
! credit, the one issue in which we are
all most concerned and it is to the
1 present finnnclol condition of the in-
duslry that I will confine this dis
1 cussion.
Rverey Sheep ftolden Fleered.
"For a little over two years the
livestock industry passed through a
1 period of frenzied finance which we
! should hope will never be chronicled in
1 Its history. Kvery sheep hnd a gold
I en -fleece, beef reached the highest
figures ever recorded, and the lowly
1 hog was responsible for many a plush
lined limousine. Any man with n
1 wide beaver hat and a pair of high
heeled boots had n credit running
high in the thousnnds. Lawyers, doc
j tors, real estate brokers, butchers,
bakers, and candlestick makers bought
I fine farms at fancy figures nnd stock
' id them with hundred dollar steers
1 and twenty dollar ewe. The credit
J limit was the sky a"!;' technical ex
1 porienee and business ability were nn
J necessary factors. Livestock loan
companies sprang up in everv nuar
J ter nnd sent their representatives
1 scampering over the highways and by
i,ways in a mad search for patrons.
I A ,11, nttin tLilh ti f fiin.mt rrrer-irv tn
buy something from somebody at
some price was welcomed to their
fold with open .arms The majority of
ou" larger b'.uil:- were encoeraging
their patron to herrow nunc and
more find were wine" with e:ii'h other
Nifor increased business with higher
credit as the templing bait. Country
banks were loaning far beyond their
limits in order o rediscount the po
ller to their correspondents and Ihe
Federal ltos.rv Hanks. A train and
again we were told th'it the only per
quisite for maU'ng money was ere lit
and the government continuously urg
ed increased U'Tdnct ion. Few, in
deed, were h. stoeknen with suf
ficient wisdom to view things in thior
real perspective and .?vr:d the pit
fall. Spending wen h in' in hard
with eredit-niid the. old come e 's? e
easy spirit of the enrlv mining days
returned to life. To further acgra
.vate this top-hia-.y condition both
f 1 ed and labor were staree and high.
supplies,har.lwai'j and machinery had
doujilcd in Jir'c; anj la;-s fciiot sky
ward. : i vj
j Alrjn It. 1 11 1: in 1!'20.
I Early fn the "piiiifr of !9?n 'he
alarm rang annoPKir.t; tne corl irray
dawn of 'h? niomiii,? aftei. 'line,
many of us overslept for a time, but
(we are now fully awake,' rick and
; shuddering from the effect of our
f.nancial spree Wool came down witn
Ja crash, beef an J hog.i descended
more leisurely lull Just as suiely nnd
wheat joineo the procession, In lime
the bottom fell out of the lumber
murket and i!w mines of the wen
closed. Our h".'i ers discovered thai
they were loei:d np t. eiguiy per
cent of their deposits and much of the
cash that should have been available
in their vaults had goa east for au
tomobiles, tire, machinery, clolhing
and so forth.. Tne trad.? channels tha:
i would normally bring it back were
'closed and there were few investors
:who were willing to buy western se
curitiis. The producers were all in
need of funds to conduct their enter
prises rind none were available. An
emergency appeal was made to :he
Federal Keserv! Board but !hnt
august body turned a deat ear. Thy
' investors who had hojght livestock
loan paper grew uneasy about their
security and promptly called for their
money as the not.'S Ml due. This
icompelled these companies to force
thousands of stock on the nvirkot,
crowding the values lower and to in
crease the interest rates to hotel a
few of the bolder investors. Their
losses were enormous and hundreds of
their patrons were shoved to the wall.
.Many Itorrowers Not (. K.
, "A perusal of the st,.ten:;nts of the
stockmen held by the banks showed
that there were many borrowers that
were not worth fifty cents on the dol
lar after the shrinkage in valuations,
fo force these men out meant disris
jter for the bonks and the only alter
native was to bear down hard on the
men who were in much better shape
j in order that these first fellows might
be carried along that they might in
lime brijig the banks clear. The re
built is that the more conservative
men have been made to suffer along
iwitli the plungers and all are now on
ari equal footing.
"Our industry is at its ebb tide and
we must face the conditions squarely
anil not delude ourselves with a false
optimism. Keonomy and thrift must
be our daily watchwords. We must
curb our desire for luxuries and
I spend more time with the hoe nnd
less behind the steering wheel. We
iniust strive in every way to keep tax
'es down and make it our duty to see
that our county and stite business is
jconducted with as much respect for
economy as our own. We must dis
courage profiteering by refusing to
ideal with merchants who are unwill
jing to give us our supplies at a rea
sonable profit.
Kmergency Tariff Awaited.
II U fn,v t,l,.UfU nf irht
,are beginning to show upon the east
ern horizon, giving promise of the ap
proach of a brighter diy. Congress
will, in time, pass the emergency tar
iff. At the request of President
! Hauling Ihe Federal Reserve Hoard
has altered its attitude toward the
'stockmen nnd has apportioned forty
linillion dollars to our industry. Al
though this is but a drop in the buck
it, it is a stop in the right direction.
The Supreme Court has terminated
three years of litigation in deciding
the net was valid creating the Fed
' thI Farm 1.nnd Ranks and. though
they have had some trouble in sell
ing their bonds these have increased
in value In the last few weeks from
!2 to 111! and it looks as though some
money should be forthcoming from
that source soon. However, the farm
loan and mortgage companies are
making & stubborn fight again'
these hnnks and Senator Rmnot has
The Outbursts of Everett True
'recently inn educed a bill in congress I
to repeal the act creating these insti
,tulions. itjr Association should go
on record protesting this bill and ev-
ry member should write his repre- j
imitative in congress asking them to j
'take a firm stand in favor of these 1
Institutions, dace they are firmly es- I
tablished every stockman and farmer
who in carrying indebtedness on hie j
ireal estate should make application .
for a loan through them. Their in- !
tercst rate is only -seven per ceni
one per cent of this amount is applied
on Ihe principal each yer. In that !
m'inner the loan is paid off ut the end
of forty years. This is, by faf, the
most sensible plan for financing the
producer that has ever been worked
out anil, from the present outlook, is
the one and only method that can save
him from disaster. It is vitally es
sential that we put forth every effort
to have our industry properly financ
ed in the future but we must never
'again permit the haphazard methods
Ithat prevailed during the late war
ilinie, to be revived. Every stockman ;
'is entitled to a reasonable amount uf '
credit in proportion to his holdings j
nnd ability at a fair rate of interest
'and for a proper period of time. No
mm i justified in buying a herd of I
jcattle or band of sheep on six months
money without ubsolute assurance of
'renewal for it does not give him lime
to get the benefit of either the in- :
'crease or growth and places him en
tirely at the mercy of his creditors.
I We must employ clear methods of ac
counting, work on a budget system
and be in a position to convince the
capitalists that our business is basic
ally sound, that we are hard, honest
Jworkers anil not wildcatters, and that
jwe are just as much entitled to a fair
credit as the merchant, manufacturer
or railroader.
I Concerted Effort Necessary.
"There is but one way in which we
can bring these things about and th.it
'is by concerted effort through our or
ganizations. Hut John II. Kendrick
sized the situation up well when he
said that so far the cattlemen have
association without organization.
1 We are nearly all members of the
'Association after a fashion. We pay
our dues and once a year, if it does
not require too much effort, we
attend the convention. Hut, my
friends, the time has come when we
'must be better members than this.
I We must devote far more thought to
the questions affecting our industry;
,we must keep abreast of the times
and must be ever ready to stand
squarely behind our officers and as
sist them in every way possible. We
imust shake off the mental apathy
that has enveloped us' and be better
prepared to express ourselves on any
matter that may affect us. Surely
jwe are ns smart as the dairymen and
orchardists and can do just as much
for our industry through organization
as they have done for theirs,
j "The general public must be educat
ed in many ways to the needs of the
producers nnd we can all assist in this
work by n(ver overlooking an oppor
tunity to discuss the facts pertaining
to our industry. There is a crying
meed for the spreading of healthy pro
ipaganda and need for better legisla
tion. We can and must all assist in
these matters, 't ,-- r..r. enough for
us to meet here once a year to dis
cuss a few matt'.vn;, pass a few re oiu
tions and then fall b 'ck into a state
of inaction until another convention
comes lllong. Through energetic, in
dividual effort we can combine our
separate forces ami, through the able
direction of our officers, we can
make out's an u.::oitti'.l r:,! f-uveful
organization whose power will be felt
throughout the entire land.
' A bitter struggle is ahead of us
but we must heir up and avoid the
quagmires of apathy and the sloughs
of despondency. We must remember
that the same old sun is shining ov
erhead, it is spring, the buds are
bursting with promise of new life, 'he
grass, is finer than it has been for
years anil Ihe birds sing as sweetly as
ever. So let us "carry on" with en
ergy atod cheerfulness our weapons
!aml "organized effort our guiding
star. Miv a bttle lost has been wen
at the ebVenth
LAXATIVE
Aged
Beoplei
1 . . .
mUF TlANF. of old ae Is constipation. I ne dow-
els Mspmc weak sftd unable to perform their
functions without ad. For this purpose only
the mildest aSd gen tlest laxative should be used.
The use of harsVcathartils aggravates the trouble
and makes the constipation worse. Chamberlain's
Tablets are a favoriwiti people of middle age
and older on account cf-tfieir gentle L:tion. ,
This monument, erected to the memory of Joseph
Bradford Curr, in Oakwood Cemetery, New York, is a
combination of classic and modern ideas in monument
work.
$H CcirrZ? e 'lave mae a Profound
tileinorial. Jroi y monum!nt twnamir,
and an order placed in our
hands is sure to receive faith
ful, intelligent execution.
We Will Gladly
Furnish Estimates
Blue Mountain
1 Marble & Granite
ompany.
302 S Ave.. La Grande, Or.
UK)
CLOSING OUTl
ENTIRE STOCK OF NEW AND USED
PIANOS, PHONOGRAPHS and SMALL MUSI
CAL INSTRUMENTS, SHEET MUSIC AM)
RECORDS TO BE SOLD BEFORE JUNE 1st,
REGARDLESS OF COST
I fit r- !
-- Uti r
AvT- j . "I
li M! j
V " i
K
l : .
-' .,t I
- - - ft n
"T3S 1
IKsINS ASJU Ct.ll
. "Hfev-V"
, '.
l.ightnilg Bry.." the best West- ;
em serial cleB maib starts at .Sherrys f
Thursday aid: KridaV 5-.ll :f
' TERMS IF DESIRED
Eastern Oregon
Music Go
LA GRANDE, ORK(;0.t
IUHWKWM AOS H ITS
I !
Tall the lin tlrafcle I Employment
Office for yonr help. 1 Afway.i at your
sei-viee. I'lione HlaA fcOI.
4-19-tf
Thirteenth Annual Exhibit
of the
UNION LIVE STOCK SHOW ASSOCIATION
June8, 9 and 10, 1921
Fine Slock Exhibit Wild West Shows, Horse Racing, and Special
Almisemt'snts of Varioie; Kinds.
Ijirjfer premiums aid mose
special prizes. than ever before. Three
bands will furnish the mhsic. Bajid ConcevU, Street Carnival and dans-
ii.jr at night. j "&rm
Ample hotel accomnnilalionsliH Uniofl's net f ll'i.OOO hotel the
finest in fsatern Oregon.
Stu Vnu'n 'should nrra
Wlo, tdiB uf th fcirst BtaeM
tll' I'tiio'i bw. . ; ,
. , Makr'Tm i.lhT jfatTrrfnt fof "Jurg H, 9.'uy 10, and come to'the
Ull-nim rly. mge W. L. Car-,
in Amrir.' tlj.judgp live'stoct tit
I I'
'I''
iff
V
! f
; i
fc'iiion T.v Mk
. l'nr n twrh4 lViilr,
) e
.W. B. Davis, Seer
e
Uijjon, Ortri
. v ,."i. . - r s - -j