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About The Ontario Argus. (Ontario, Or.) 1???-1947 | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1915)
En in itj W8 ec to ha tai at ed TWO THE ONTARIO ARGUS PUBLllVH) EVEKY THUKSDAY E-tered in the .cmt..flice at Ontario, )rei?on, for transmission through the mails second-class matter. ' "i - 5 W. C. MARSH Cheap Power A groat boon to irrigation in this country is expected in the promised reduction of the cost of electricity as pow er for irrigation purposes. The recent sale of the Idaho Oregon Light it Tower Company to the Bondholders Com mittee, has taken that concern out of the hands of a Court lieceiver, and the new company, goaded by danger of com petition in this territory by another company, said to be long to the power trust, is doing everything possible to re move any excuse for competition, and thereby keep their field to themselves" The action of the company is very favorablo to the residents of this section. First, the reduction in the price of electricity is a great and direct benefit to all the people of the community, in an immediate saving in operating or runninir cxnetise. Second the keeninir out of dunlieiite lines and plants will be probably a greater saving in the long run, for competition of this kind is said to be impos sible of long endurance, and one company will eventually be compelled to sell out to the other. And when the con solidation comes, the remaining company will have evalu ation of t ice what it should be, thus compelling the users ot electric energy to pay interest, maintainance ami profits on a double capitalization. This section of the country is, practically speaking, an irrigated country. Without irrigation the land is little bet ter than a sagebrush waste. With irrigation, however, the land becomes the most fettle and productive of any section in the west. We have a world of watercountless small streams besides the whole of the Snake river. Conse tjuently the only remaining factor is to get the water on the land. And it is here that electric energy plays a great part. Already there is a large amount of electric power util ized for ptimpiQf irrigation water. The present electric rate is high, and many farmers and irrigation com panies have laid plans for or have installed, other kinds of power for uutnninff purposes. Hut with electric nower re duced to a reasonable figure, there will be little other pow er used. And much more power will be used than at pres ent. The Idaho-Oregon Light A Power company owns one of the finest power sites in the west. The Ox Bow Tunnel and Power site, when completed, will produce a vast a inoiin t of power, and by the right kind of co-operation be tween the company and the power users, it can be utilized, and at the aame time the country will greatly profit by having eloctric power for irrigation purposes at a figure mat win allow its unlimited use. THE QNTTAKTO ARGUS, THURSDAY, MARCH 11. tflin. with his customers. Their business dealings RlUtl b on a friendly bMia, and each must assist the other in every mau w.r iHwcilJ,. Witlmiit ImiwKtv this cannot be done It is as necessary that the consumer be honest with the mer chant, as it is that the merchant should be honest with the consumer. Ontario merchants are working along this line of co operation. They realize that their own best interests are also the best interests of their customers. They realize they must purchase their stocks in large quantities in or der to get the minimum price. And in order to be able to handle large stocks, they must have many customers, and do a heavy business. The principle of the new scheme is correct. It only remains to work out the details. For A Clean City Nothing make a better impression at the first contact than good looks, be it the good looks of a plant, a field, a person or a city. Therefore it behooves us, as the citizens of Ontario, that we immediately take steps to improve the complexion, form and action of our city, in order that the many summer visitors may fall in love at first sight with it. Beauty is the best advertisement for a city, but on the other hand unsigbtlyness is the worst. While our city iu not to be classed as unsightly, yet it would require an unusual strain on the imagination to class it as beautiful. There is plenty of room for improvement anil the opportunities are so many and good to make a beautiful city that we need not be discouraged. The task is not too big only it needs prompt, systematic effort. No only should we plan for one year, but we should plan for future years. Many large cities have deplored the fact that they did not plan on these things sooner and so secure them cheaper and better. We are at the right stage of the game to plan on making our city a beautiful and pleasing nluce to live in and so attract visitors now, and also provide for future improve ment. The first step in this movement is cleanliness. This should be first, and essentially along sanitary lines. The fly season has started and filth is the home of the fly. Prevention is better than cure and if the breeding places of flies are destroyed it would be worth more than all the fly traps ever invonted. With our sys tem of soA'ers, draining our swamps and carrying off our tilth, m ought to be able to solve this problem if we would exercise the proper methods. Then cleanliness for the sake ei' beauty ibooM bt our uext aim. (lean streets, free from papers, ash piles tic., may be more monotenous, but they look better. A well dc lined curb, with grass parking and good sidewalks make an niiiuctive street and one of which the town is proud. Also the dwellers along that street will do their share in the work ac i pretty lawns and well built, well painted bouses will be the result. No bodv likes to fir up a nice residence ou a dirty and ui. sightly street, but everyone has a liking for the beautiful. So let us have CLEAN UP DAY again, soon. Let us bv a committee appointed by the Commercial Club or the city couu cil to plan this work for this year and for years to come. It will take some funds but yet not so very much. And when have the people of Ontario refused to support a laudable undertaking? Let us each and everyone boost this work and carrv it th-.. to the highest perfection ONTARIO, THE BEAUTIFUL CITY. There is something radically wrong with the farmer who it opposed to good roads. See The New Spring Hats AT Tllli The Millinery & Art Store $6oitk. You can select your New Spring Hats here and be absolutely sure that you are getting style that is up-to-the-minute. The styles we are showing are the ones that will be worn in the fashion cen ters of the world this season. Our Motto is "Quick Sales and Small Profits" ONTARIO, Hull & Harrell OPPOSITK POSTOFFICE OREGON .'oppcrfield) nnl I unhesitatingly sa. I I wanted to hue; her in the street dint they are nil overlooking ninny on i for her shrewd common Sonne Hirtunitics of expansion in wealth ant" I couM (rive you the names of bott H'piil.iliini. tin- tmrtii'U If I rhuun lint 1 li.liM r .- , .. - . , . . ,:, It us take this city in which v.v the store-keeper has learned his It Ain.l ourselves. You huve here one if aon. The farmer did not know any- the best and richest Commercial clubs bo'y thought tlmea were hard until In the Stat. It has a large member-1 he wu told so, hut you may be ran ship roll, its treasury has funds unjjthat r told all his neighbors withli can gi (,oo(i mien tor tne erection ot ,l" ,m" i ". umwn ui mm factories and the encot. ; iiremcnt of In pockets, and of course they have dm venters in In ini emu !.' iiwlnui in , so The members help th retnry to do all in his power to get : I various at' traction- if the locall liefore the people wi hWJ ii '. een pi I fair countiv. All tin of course right ami prop i oik f jr club to do. But are y u r it? Dj you believe the p i i accurate? If -o i i ;i . cmart ns you Ionic by ' deal, What you have done i to nllow a handful of hard-workin . DiUriotlc. Times are never hard unless yoa make them so. Time are hard in delirium, but thank God no devastat ing Army hns marched over this fair land. Times are not hnnl nnd there ii at scarcity of money either. A bumper wheal crop was harvested last year, and sold at n price far above tat nveragc. The imr nrtntions from An t i-.i i.-i have ceused. The export! of U. S. have been greater aince tk war broke out than ever before in th l w .. .. hr ri.u a - H a - At mii.-mu i mi injj men wnn an.' K'Uing .-.- ... their backs sore trying to hold up an nation' history. How then can timet ever increasing load. aire;:. I v too heavy bc hard? I.et ua examine for a few moment ever increasing load, alro;;.!y too heavy f..- U...M 1. !.. . ., ivi mem, Ri-ri oil llllll'K, wnilU 11)0 "" " reat of you are willing to sit back with th cxport in tho,e products on ciicara in your mouths and your heels which thi ""rt of ihc aie ' I""0"1" ciirara in your mouths and your heels on your deska, and tell them to go to it. You have no buildhi r, no club house, no funds invested, no nothing except an unfortunate half-time aecre iarly dependent. Corn haa increased from $:!.ti,903 in 1913 to $1,759,100 in 1914. Wheat haa Increased from 47!),2M tary, who ia working a jolly sight in ,9,:l to $2219,570 in 1914 Without good roads, there can be uo developmeut that will be permaueut and enduring. Busineaa Co-operation A lasting demonstration of the value of co-operation was made in Ontario Saturday, the occasion being "Ten Per Cent Day." This was a demonstration of co-operation between merchants and consumers, and was an unqualified success. It was not expected that the event would prove profitable to the Merchants, and it did not, as several es tablishment lost money in carrying out their advertised offer of ten par aaill off OO every article purchased, but success came in the large crowd that visited Ontario that day, thus giving the merchants and consumers an op portunity to get acquainted, to get together, and thereby open the way for friendly co-operation something that will prove profitable to the consumer as well as the mer chant. The fundamental basis of every mercantile establish ment in the world is profit. Without profit no business OOttld long endure. And then is not a fair-minded con sumer anvwheii luit want- the merchant to make his profit. Hut at the same time the consumer will buy where he can buy the cheapest Quality being equal, it then becomes a question of whoean sell for the Ml money. It is upon this principle that the mail order houses have built up their business, but the mail order houes have betrayed the confidence of their customers have taken advantage of the leeway allowed in that the money is collected before the article goes out of stock, thus giving an opportunity to sup ply an inferior grade of goods But the merchant the merchant who makes money, and whose business becomes solid and substantial, is the one who is shrewd enough, and financially able, to supply his customers with the best quality of merchandise at a ininimum cost. This can only be done by co-operation Bad road keep children away from school and Imnsl. th efficiency of church work in a community. The elementary principals involved in improved highways are social and domestic happiness and business economics. No oitizen realizes the value of good roadaas does the farm er. And there is nothing a town or community can .lo t..t -m make friends of the farmers quicker, than to boost and in i curing good roads. harder now than he ever worked before. It would appear then that the first leaaon you have to learn in the taak of building up your town ia to learn to get into and behind your Commerc ial Club. The merchant who aits back amiling and aaya let the other fellow do it, ia trying to get something for nothing. He ia like the man who Flour has increased from $5,714,571 in 1913 to $7327,773 in 1914. OaU haa Increased from $8,150 It 1913 to $3,900,174 in 1914. Beef haa increased from $864 ,M in 1913 to $3,032,334 in 1914. Or the exports in your products haa increased from $9,872,678 to 3,- 388,961 in one year. Don't vou suo- pose that you will get your share of that money? Don't you know that the wave of went into the cafe and ordered pork and beans, and when he was served 1L J A k -' 1 . ... .-. al iiiriu (urmiuninriy and men . '7 " " "" asked if he might change them for ' unPrBlelled prosperity which is now ! i, ... rollinv avap tit um.i ...in m .ma yn. n was uiu ne might and did so. When he waa leaving the cafe he walked out without paying, so the proprietor called to him for his monev. Highly indignant the man asked for rolling over the west will reach voa before long? Ever the tide of goal fortune nows west. They have it It the east now and they have had it is the east for ....t.i.. i i j- .... ;. "7 iiiuijjimni me man assert for' --... , u un what he had to pay. "For the pie of wty out her now- Perhapa It ha II. J .... -tli tloVA al..J.. J J- J - --"- ..W.J uiivuuy mm you no not know it. A community can safely hi judged by the kind of highways it inaintaii)8. The greatest chasm between the producer and the consumer is the mud hole. Production must cease when the transportation costs eat ui, the profits. fHl (JKOWTH Ol TIIK COUNTRY TOWN (Contributed.) A few days ugo 1 met one of the .' o-t BfOtnialaf "U'li in the country. 1 M met niuny such, and he u-sked nic sfkgj I thought of the state. 1 re plied that it wu.-. the nuKst thickly in habited undeveloped eountry 1 haii ! seen. Highly indijjnant he pointed Ml Hie railruad coiustiiution and the various tltetVaf and other public util ity li.velopnient.- with which the coun try has been benefitted. Yes he was right, but away down M Uie John Day river there is going to waste cheaper and greater power, 6righter and cheaper light, cleaner and cheaper heat than any in the State and it is only one of many instance. What 1 meant to convey was that the developments already accomplished are not as great us those waiting to be utilized. I did not wish him to think that 1 thought no developing had been one, but that so far only the fat had ueen skimmed off the water und Die meat and Done leinaineii. the other day 1 heard a dear old ady sighing over the undeveloped Uite of India. Why Oregon will not be M u. II developed as India in 100 years unless you start right now. Within fhaj minutes walk of the city hall of i.aCrande, ami the same is true of ul most every other town in this nn - me Stute, there begins a valley oi 7,000 acres of rich and fertile soi' almost in its native state. And yet yoi think India undeveloped. Why that ralley in India would support t tiillion people. There is no undevelop ad agricultural land in India. I have been in every town of any im portance in eastern Oregon (except course," replied the irate nronrietnr "Pie ? Why I gave my pork and beans for the pie." That is the exact attitude of the man who hopes to get benefits from th club without supporting it. It is un businesslike, unmanly, uncitiien-like and surely un-American. Now before you have a citv vou must have people, and before you have m. ,. v you must have industries; before you start industries you must have faith in their ultimate success. That means faith in your country. If you have not, who will? In all my life I have never heard so mueh tl of hard times as I have heard during ine last rew weeks. What is the mat ter With VOU? Do von Kiir,r-o ...... are. going to gain anything by that " Do people migrate to hard times -Kvery time you cry hard times you take dollars out of your pockets. I was standing outside a store the other day talking to the owner when a men and his wife drew up in th.- It paya to be optimistic. Don't yea know what a pessimist is? I did net know until I attended a banau.t is Walla Walla given by the member of the club. Col. Miller told ub that an optimist was a man who went out on a dark night and imagined hi saw a faint light on the horison. wl.ick was perhaps only the light of hope. A ji.s.iimist is a son -of a -gun who come along and just out of pure cussedneai mows the light out. Now you know whut it ia you musl do as well as help your club. Yon must be optimists. The third thing to do is to fight for your own town. This is most im portant and your not having done so before this has cost Kastern Oregon one million dollars a year. Portland has been built up at the expense of Eastern Oregon. In the past whenever a man made his stake ne rented or sold his ranch and went car Tho ,o j i .' I soui ms rain i and weni car. the man ordered a f ve callon tn Pnia,i u. ,. ... . can of oil and whilst th ,wi, . ..!..;. ! .u. " .' l" "ve" ne IH'nl u"'re eel it i,.in...i i V ,l,0l,ey m" tarned ,1(?re- That is ob get it we joined in a general con versation. From lack of mnisti,.-., nnd lack of snow, the talk drifted ' lack of money and everything els? except their own lack of brains. When the man returned with a five gallon can of oil the wife spoke for the first time. "What H ., ,. with five gallons of oil? That will laat ua for a year. One gallon will do ua now and we will take the other four when things look up a little." viously unfair to the countrv ami is asking it to bear a double burden. It has to support Portland and the coun try town as well. Were it not for its wonderful fertility and responsive ness to treatment your towns would have been wiped off the map long ago. That thought alone ought to give you heart. Now who ia blame ? The retiring man, or the city of Portland? Neither. You are te (Continued on page 3. )