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