Image provided by: Crook County Historical Society/Bowman Museum; Prineville, OR
About Crook County journal. (Prineville, Or.) 189?-1921 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1914)
ft ij uJ?ene Or Crook County. Journal COUNTY OFFICIAL PAPER FOR CROOK COUNTY VOL.XVHI-J1.S0 YEAR PRINEVILLE, CROOK COUNTY, OREGON, THURSDAY, OCT. 8, 1914. A Law That Would Paralyze Agriculture Another Vicious Measure Consign It to Oblivion A universal eight-hour league of some kind is asking the voter of this state to forbid farmers requir ing their employes, whethr man, woman or child, to work more than 48 hours in any one calendar week. At the election of November 3, those K"ing to tho polls will decldo. II an affirmative vote ia given, reaping Oregon feropa will be made largely Impractical. If, like the Chinese, each farmer would cut his land into a few square rods, making that square support a fumily, and making a family do all tho work re quired on that ground, there would be no need of hired help during the harvest. But while the farm is the size common to America, help must be had or the harvest will fail. That help must work more than eight houra or it cannot accomplish much. Working two shifts in the rush of harvest season, with doubled costs and overtaxed demands upon farm resources, ia out of the question, for even one shift is nearly impossible to secure. No other industry of the state or country can afford to spare sufficient harvest hands for two shifts in the harvest season, and the result is that seasonal unemploy ment ia considerable under existing conditions and would become an in tolerable burden if twt shift of workmen could bo secured for the farm harvest season. There is no argument in tho whole range of reason that can be adduced showing that the firm would stand this burden. No one is trying to defend the issue. A group of men and women concluded that the state was ripe for an eight-hour day among employes. Without study ing tho fundamental conditions or requirements of Oregon farms, they included agriculture in the list that must immediately adopt the eight hour day. No farmers were con sulted as to the measures. No opinion was secured from the men and women who make the land of the state produce sustenance for the people therein. Members of the Universal Eight-Hour League, made up of some combination of socialists and dreamers, residing snugly in the city, have launched the move ment which would drive most of Oregon's agriculture from the state. Think for a moment on the logic of this procedure. In the olden days when legislatures essayed to enact laws, they would not dare to press a measure affecting the whole agricultural industry of Oregon without holding conference with the farmers of the state, who have de veloped and sustained that agricul ture. That principle was what we supposed was legislation with repre sentation. It was recognition of the fact thut no legislative body can furnish laws or regulations for an industry without fully advising with the people who have made that in dustry. But under this new order of things it seems that the people who initiate legislation confer with no one but themselves. They con clude that they want their neigh bors to do something. Exercising the sovereign right of the initiative, they proceed to put a measure on the ballot compellin these neigh bors to do as thnv wish, and by adroit language, rafty title and Continued ou Fifth Page. Anything which looks like getting something for nothink is usually at tractive to the "voter, and unless the people of this state study the pro posed 11500 taxationjamendment the measure will carry at the polls in November and the burden of taxa tion will be shifted from the large cities to the farms. Such an amend ment would remove from the tax rolls millions of dollars'Jworth of taxable property and increase the rate of taxation lupon all taxable property within the state. In round figuresjthe amendment would exempt 150.000.000 worth of property, and not Jone acre of land would be included'within this exemption. The average home in any city in the state will not assess over,ll500. It must, therefore, be concluded that the greater proportion of all city property is to be exempted. The farmer and landowner will receive similar exemptions, but what will such exemptions amount to if they are not to be compelled to bear the burden of taxation alone, excepting such assistance as they will receive from railroads and larger property owners in the cities. Such an amendment places a pen alty upon thrift and false economic doctrine. Why should the man or woman who through industry has accumulated property in excess of the amount covered by the exemp tion pay for the expenses of educat ing the children of the man who lives next door and may have a good home, with a horse and buggv and piano thrown in, all of which the assessor holds to be worth but 1200. Such a poposal is manifestly un fair to a very large per centage of the people of Oregon, and if carried would threaten to retard the devel opment of the state because lands in the face of an unjust proportion of taxation would become less at tractive to the investor and home builder whom commercial organiza tions are seeking to induce to come west The argument that the proposed amendment will enable the poor to own their own homes is overdrawn. There is no logical reason why after a man acquires property worth 11500 he should not pay his small portion of the burden of taxation. Ex. For County Surveyor I hereby announce my candi dacy for Surveyor on the Non Partisian ticket; favoring good roads. I solicit the votes of all parties regardless of political affili ations. FbedA. Rice. The Government Drill Crew Now at Work Up the Ochoco The drill crew of Uncle Sam's reclamation service has moved from Crooked river to the narrow gorge just this side of Uncle Dave Elliott's place up the Ochoco. There are 12 men in the crew under the direc tion of James Dobson. These men are the government scouts, so to speak, for spying out the land for favorable irrigation projects. They pick out the best location for a dam and send down drills to learn something of the underlying formations. While this is going on other members of the crew are studying the topography of the country, the nature of the soil, the number of acres that could be placed under irrigation, the probable cost per acre and a thousand and one other things that have to be turned in to the depart ment so that an estimate can be made as to the feasibility of the project. The Meld men have no say in the final judgment All they do I is to furnish the data upon which the final decision rests. Tuesday afternoon the Journal man with a number of others from Prineville visited the camp to see what was doing. Mr. Dobson, the gentleman in charge, took every pains to explain the workings of the crew. Two drills were being sunk at different places to determ ine the underlying formations Four holes in all will be put down if the underlying strata is not com plicated. So far nothing but clay formation has been struck in the narrow gorge. The site, Mr. Dob son says, would make a good fill dam. No masonry would be needed to any great extent The earth dams are much cheaper than stone or concrete structures. "Now, the Crooked river dam would have to be built of stone, but notwithstanding the site up there is a good one. In fact the waters of Continued on Page Eight GROCERIES GROCERIES Always Fresh! Low Prices! E. STEWART & CO.