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About The Ontario Argus. (Ontario, Or.) 1???-1947 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1919)
A Zjascct.w vni& ,.,-.,.. -.. AMCiMm THE ONTARIO ARQUS, ONTARIO. OREGON, THURSDAY. OCTOBER 2, 1919 ' 'Z " 2 UJL. - Sty? (jjhttaiin Argua GEO. K. AIKEN, Editor and Publisher Published Thursdays at Ontario, Oregon, and entered at the Ontario post office for distribution as 2nd class matter. SUBSCRIPTIONS One Year $1.50 ONTARIO'S OPPORTUNITY. There is a reason for Ontario. Like wise there is duty for Ontario to perform. And as a wide awake purposeful' community Ontario is trying to justify the reason for its existence and to perform its duty. Starting with this bald statement of fact perhaps there is no need to go further and endeavor to prove the contention made, but it might be worth while to determine whether or not the community is really doing 100 ner cent justice to itself and to its neighbors. Aside from furnishing a place in which to trade, for the ranchers aboiit the city, it is the duty of a community to provide those means of entertainment which will help in making life worth living. As the old adage has it "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," so too a town that furnishes noth ing by commercialism as its advantages will soon become too dull for those who want, and have a right to expect leadership in other phases of life'e activities. Then? are many forms of amusement needed to round out a wholesome life for a community. One of these is sports of all kinds that appeal to men and women, and these, in Ontario are furnished in part by the programs at the Malheur County Fair. That these sports are enjoyed is growingly manifested in the attendance each year. But horse racing, baseball and that type of entertainment is not the only amuse ment the citizens of a community desire. They are entitled, too, to educational enter tainment such as keeps them in touch with the outside world, lectures and musical pro grams. These can not be supplied by the moving picture houses, for tho cost and risk is too great at this time; therefore these must come thru co-operative effort. It is here that the Chautauqua and Lyceum bureaus come forth to supply a community need. It is true they are rui. for financial gain, and that their contracts are, the lawyers say, unalateral but they di supply a need that can not otherwise be furnished, and the success they have achiev ed, especially the welknown bureaus clearly indicate their worth to any community. At the close of the Chautauqua last year moro than 100 Ontarians showed their ap preciation of the programs given then by signing a pledgo to take tickets for this year's program. There was no duubt in their minds that such a weok is worth while thero need bo none in the minds of anyone, for it is impossible to think that here in and about Ontario thero are not many people who posses esthetic taste and desire to have tho cultural life of the community given duo consideration. KEEPING PAGE WITH PROGRESS. Land values in Malheur county are go ing up. The demand for land is keeping pace with the cost of living, and it is reasonable to believe that the cost of living will qontinue to stay high along with land values, unless land is made to produce more than under present methods of cultivation and use. While it is of innnonso intorest to the rancher to havo prices for farm products remain high, for a timo at least, it is not to his intorest to havo prices go to a point whero it is impossible for his customer, the avorago consumer to live. To prevont this condition from result ing land must be brot to a higher productive stage. That will make possible the con tinuance of high valued land, and also main tain tho income return of the laud while per minting a reduction in prices that will ul timately be of benefit both to consumer and producer. That would, and maybe tho solution that will be reached in the present economic tangle. Thero are many states in tho Union that are striving to increase tho productivity of their soil, and to apply tho best of scientife management to oirriculturo on tho farm. ,'Thoyoro doing this by tho co-operation of State and .Kedcral departments ol Agricul ture, bv experimentation, by co-operation and by all of the means that progressive men in this basic industry can conceive. To deny that these men havo mado pro press is foolish. It is contrary to the re nnrdnd facts. Back in Illinois one county. sent to Oregon and took from this big state a man who had charge of the extension work of tho Agricultural college and offered him as much money that tins state pays its Governor. This county has a larger op propriation for the work of its County Agent's department than has that of all the counties in Oregon. The county agent is the connecting link between the great experiments going on in the bureaus of tho U. S. Department of Agriculture, in the laboratories of the Agricultural colleges, at Extension stations and every where that the problems of agri culture are studied, and tho individual ranchers. To have no county agent is to deny tho ranchers of this county of the benefits thus to be derived. The facts of the matter arc that the ranchers of Malheur county are contribut ing their shore in the cost' of the Federal Department of Agriculture; thru the state taxes they are contributing their share in the maintaining the state organization and arc entitled to receive back these two sources two-thirds at least of the cost of maintaining a county agricultural depart ment in Malheur county. All this they are throwing away thru the lack of a small ap propriation for the direction of the work here. Malheur county is one of the leading agricultural counties in Oregon, it is second to none in eastern Oregon, and yet it is the only important county in this section of the state that does not have a county agent. No matter what may be the view of pre vious efforts to maintain a department here it must bo admitted that there are many problems here for solution and with con ditions rapidly changing in agriculture- our ranchers are entitled to have the benefits of co-operation to keep abreast of the time. And this is a problem for the ranchers themselves to solve. If they want an agri cultural department in the county no doubt they can havo it. The business mon are willing to co-operate and do anything they can. Now is the time to act. cal order of things, Malheur, being the ter minus of three state highways will be last reached. Unsatisfactory as this may bV to the anxious enthusiast for action, there is no escaping it. The big thing for those who would cirt ieise the commission to remember is that the Colmnbia River Old Oregon Trail liigh way is or will be soon, completed as far as the top of the mountains between Pendle ton mid LaGrande; the John Day Highway is financed and contracts will be let soon to the Malheur comity line, and two contracts will be let soon within Malheur county on that road, beside the building of the Cairo- Nyssa section. In fact the John Day High way is third in the state toward completion. It must not bo overlooked that a mile of the Old Oregon Trail in Malheur county is to be paved in the spring and thus a start will be made within a year after the county voted its bonds, on two highways, and these with out the use of a dollar of the bonds thus authorized. This does not moan, however, that the citizens of the county should neglect to keep the needs of the county for good roads be fore the commission. We should keep .ever lastingly at it, all the time. PUTTING IT OVER. Nothing succeeds like success, says the old saw, and it is true. That is why the further completion of Ontario's building program is going to succeed, for the wo ret half of the fight has been successfully made. When Messrs. Taggart and Body se cured tho signatures of twenty-five of On tario's responsible citizens to the pledge to build homes in the near future, they did something worth while for the city. That was the most constructive day's work done for Ontario in years. That was not all Not only ha i a long step been taken toward the solving of the housing problem but thou J.tis been 'lorn n atrated a faith in the tutuvi of Ontn that speaks volumes for tho city. There is nothing now within reason that we can not at lain for Ontario, f'von of oo.irsc, tho same ii'.i of co-opora.ion and faith in tin u.ty I'hN homo building c.uunoign ai d the success s-o for attained opens vistas of pro- ijv. ss for tho city. Tt is not I'fird to pi-', in the rear futiiv, avenues tree lin-d .n 1 lawn f-iugeil, ba ': of wLwa v iho c.omfurtl nil'- Jmi-. es of pro ve.j.e ;ii. ! prosperous citizens. Such a prospect could not bo hoped for when half the merchants on the stivot were renters. It is not human nature to spend time and energy maintaining such things, when tho roof over one's head is the proper ty of another. There is lacking that sense of pride, and tho feeling of permanence to warrant the bestoyal of labor on rented land. Therefore from every view point the campaign to build homes in Ontario is tho best movement ever inaugurated in the city. To thoso who have not signed the roll it should be said thoro is no limit. Every one is welconio and urged to proceed to make the number 100, if possible, the more tho merrier. BE PATIENT BUT PRESISTENT. There has been a great deal of com mon, unt much of it pleasant, concernintr the delay of the Highway Commission in getting work started in Malheur county. The Argus, while as anxious as anyone else to son work started, and at times forced to uso restraint to prevent giving utterance to criticism, believes tno county win secure just treatment at the hands of tho commis iion and will get the roads if it is patient and presistent. Oregon is a big state. It takes time to build lYinds. nnd tho Ilicrhwav Commission :.aturally started on its program system- aueally to build out irom tno ooruors oi Multnomah county. Thoreforo in the log LARGEST SHOWING OF Women's New Fall Suits and Coats in Eaatern Oregon or Western Idaho. It is but stating a well-known fact when we say with the ar rivals just received in the past few days that in no other store will you see such a display of Ladies and Misses Suits and Coats. Rest assured the Seasons Smartest Models are here and at verv modest prices. Also late arrivals tliis week arc in Silks, Wool Dress gnotfs and the largest assortment of trimmings over shown by thin house freshly imported from France. , BOYER BROS. &CO. Department Store Ontario, i i t y Orefgon High School Students Attention! Don't forget that we ' can make over out-of -style suit's into waist seams or any other modern effect. Prices Reasonable ONTARIO Modern Pressary