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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1913)
lO - TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, NOVEMBER 9, 1913. J ' . . PRUNE CROP IN POLK COIINTY NF.YT IN IMPORTANCE tO HOPS AND GRAIN Much Land, Particularly Hill Tops, Not Adapted to Other Classes of Agriculture, Becomes Productive in Or- chards Latest Yield Record Breaker. !1 : - "vh, . - 1 ; j "1 forffryWH , i) JM ONMOUTH. Or.. Oct. 8. (Special.) 9 Hanking third in importance among Polk County crops are the prunes... Only two other industries hop and grain-raising bring more money tothe county than prunes. The movement to try out prunes In this district began several years ago, w-hen inhabitants of the hill regions wanted to find a. crop that would thrive in the hill soil and at the same time be profitable. Several different varie ties were planted, and in a few years the fruit obtained from the young trees proved to be of a marketable quality. The soil of the hills was thin, and not much was gained by clearing away the timber and planting the fields to grain crops. Therefore the success of a very few men In Polk County led others to set out orchards. The red soil proved to be ideal for prune-growing, and the acreage in prunes was doubled each year for sev eral years. Small private driers were at first established, and where one grower could not erect a drier inde pendently, he co-operated with his neighbor growers in building one. Most of these first driers are still in use, but many larger ones have been since added. Proving that prunes wero the most profitable crop for the red Boil, the growers encouraged the setting out of prune trees by farmers in other sec tions, in order that all might co-operate in buying necessary articles, and Jn hiring pickers for the harvest sea son. Several farmers who had only a few acres in prunes were getting good returns, but not much was said of their success at the time. Prices from the beginning were good. Outside of the harvest expense there was practically nothing above cultiva tion that required either the time or money of the growers. The Western slpe of the hills between Monmouth and Dallas was the first place for the Industry to get started, and other dis tricts that were similar in soil condi tions followed. Tho first orchards set out are yielding heavier each year, and when the trees are old there is less difficulty in keeping them in the proper condition. The country surrounding Kalis City was soon dotted with prune orchards, and it Is said that outside of the Dundee Hills in Yamhill County the Polk County acreage in this crop is the largest in the Willamette Val ley. In order to prohibit the monopolizing of prune sales, and to cut down dry ing expenses, private driers are yet maintained. Short Crop Predicted. Early in the season the usual pre dictions were prevalent that the prune yield would, be far below the average, and that frosty weuiher in the Spring wouia cause a decrease. However, as soon as the development of the fruit commenced, it was evident that the prunes would be numerous on the trees, and the growers were not worried, but encouraged, over the prevailing condi tions. The growers applied the proper spray, and many orchards, especially younger ones, were white-washed. In white washing lime and sulphur mixture Is put on the trunks and larger limbs of the tres by rough brushes. Destructive pests do not take to trees such as prunes, and there is little, if any dif ficulty in getting the trees through the season without damage. The fruit, which began to develop early, indicated that the crop would be of good quality this Fall. Although somewhat smaller this year than usual, the prunes were much more numerous on the trees. In August, when the crop was yet green, trees began to split as a result of the heavy loading. Growers In all the districts reported indications favorable for an unusually heavy yield. The frequent rains dur ing the latter part of August and the first part of September proved to be harmless. Polk County schools did not open un til September 29, and the students had a chance to pick prunes and help get the crop under roof before the regu lar Fall rains set in. After hop pick ing and clover-hulling had finished, the hands went to the prune orchards to work. Squaw 8 Years Old Pick. Among those engaged in picking was Grace Wheeler, a squaw more than 98 years old. from the Grande Rondo In dian Reservation. She says she enjoys work. Her relatives came with her and camped throughout the picking to the thickness and apparent ease of the Indians in their work, growers are glad to hire them. Pickers received from 7 to 9 cents a bushel. The driers had a. steady run for more than a month this year, and the crop Is now entirely dried. The yield is estimated from 20 to 30 per cent heavier this Fall than ever before in tho Dallas, Falls City and Monmouth districts, and this is given as one reason for the large increase in the dried quantities. From a seven-acre orchard west of Monmouth. George Niggli picked 350 bushels. This is considered a remark able record, as his trees are young. The yields in the Chapman, S,mith, Hayter and other orchards were much larger. The first shipment? of Polk County prunes were made to London and Stockholm, one car to each place. The shipments consisted of 1500 25-pound boxes to each car. Another shipment was made to France. Other consign ments, containing some of the best grades of fruit obtainable, went to St. Petersburg, Russia. The plant of the Monmouth Evap orating & Canning Company has not yet sold its output, but is awaiting greater market activity. Most of the county's output is not takn, and those who are holding' for higher prices are confident the. price will go up. Many young prune orchards w"ere set out last year, and many more are to be planted this year. Mount Pisgah, a big hill between Monmouth and Dallas, too barren to successfully grow any kind of a grain crop, is now capped with a prune orchard. The tendency Is to clear away the stumps on the hill land, cut down any trees that may in terfere, and set out prune trees. The success of the first men has caused this to be done, and prune-growing has season. Other Indians came lator ' -?..!:, aided In harvesting the crop. Owing Jlng Industries. HIGH COST IS LAID TO GREAT SELLING WASTE Madison C. Peters Estimates That ojf $13,000,000,000 Paid for Product of Farms. Less Than Half Reaches Producer. L BY MADISON' C. PBTEBS. AST year the farmers of this coun- try marketed products which brought them a return of S8.000.- POO.0O0 for which the consumer paid $13,000,000,000. It costs $7,000,000,000 to get the commodities from the farms to the families. In what way was this enormous sum spent? When the farmer is told the high figure at which his produce sella and realizes that he gets less than half the final retailing price, in his innocence he believes that the freight - charges for carrying the food stuffs consume the greater part of the sum mentioned. The total earnings of the railroads for carrying farm froight for the year, including the transportation of animals, was less than 4 per cent of the $13,000,000,000 paid by the public for the products of the farm. Where did the remainder go-? -It went to non-producers who grow fat at the producers' and con sumers' expense. First comes the buyer who pur chases from the farmer. He has to bring the commodities to the cities and towns and pay the railroad. He has to make, his profit when he sells to the dealer. The latter in turn sells to the retailer and has to make his profit. Finally, the retailer has to pay storage, rent and the salary of help and has to make his profit. The consumer has to foot all the bills and pay the profits of these middlemen, hence the high prices. Jfcw York's Waste Great. JTew York, the largest concentrate! market of the country, strikingly typl- i:es the enormous waste In our mar Ketmg methods. The annual total cost of the food supply at the city termi nals, that is. with all freight charges paid, is estimated at $350,000,000. The consumers pay S5CO.000.000. the in crease of $150,000,000 beinar swallowod up in tne handling. At least SS0.000 uuu could be saved yearly by New York aione if a scientific ' method of mar noting was adopted, almost one-fifth or tho total amount the producer re celve3 for his produce. " i-ew xotk. is to De taken as an "erase tnis means that about 12 pe- tcm. ui ine local amount the con Burners pay throughout the county is paid to make up for waste in market ing methods. This would account for $1,560,000,000 out of the $13,000,000,000. or more than $1,500,000,000 thrown away in a single year. J-t us now roughly reckon up the ways in which the total amount is spent: The farmers receive s 0.00O.O0O.OO0 the railroads receive 4!.r mK),000 Legitimate selling expenses. . . 1.2iH,0OO.(H)O Waste in selling 1.600,000.000 Profits of dealers and retailers 3,745,000,0m) Total $13,000,000,000 Great Savins Possible. Out of this the sum of $5,305,000,000 could be saved, that is the waste in marketing and the dealers' ar.d re tailers' profits, if a common-Eerjse method of marketing was adopted. For eggs tne people of New York City paid las; year 5s,V30,ooo, and farmers re ceived $17,238,000: for cabbages the people paid $9,125,000, and the farmers received $1,825,000; for milk the people paid ?4S. 880,000, and the farmers re ceived $22,912,000; while for the pota toes for which the people of New York City paid $60,000,000 the farmers received $8,437,000. The farmers must waken up to their own interest and take up the task of reducing the cost of selling, which is the chief factor in the highx cost of living. When they realize ' that on their soil the non-producers are makinc high profits, they will make an effort to get these profits for themselves and so by eliminating the middlemen and doing away with the waste they will reduce the cost to the constlmer and greatly benefit themselves. In many places direct marketing has been tried in which the producer has Deen Drought in contact with the con sumer, with much advantage to both. The day is coming when the system of neighborhood faTmers markets will spread over the United States by which me products or the farm will be handled with the same methods as the products of the factory. None Would Tie Hurt. The new system will not Interfere with the genuine and legitimate com mission business of the country. Com mission merchants are an established commercial organization and may be necessary always. Their agencies can be utilized to better advantage than other distributing factors. It is only against the illegitimate and unneces sary operators that action will be di rected and it must be made impossi ble for any individual to stand be tween the producer and the consumer, and reap enormous profits at the ex pense of each. Wherever direct marketing has been tried the results hve been satisfac tory. In California a few years ago the powers of citrus fruits combined to market their own crops of oranges and lemons and in a short time they were deriving comfortable incomes from the fruit when before thev could barely make a living. The apple grow ers or Oregon rollowed their example and succeeded beyond their expecta tions. The truck farmers of the South west have also organized and are "now getting the larger share of what the consumer pays, while the latter are in every way satisfied because they get fresher supplies and at a cheaper rate tnan rormerlv. Enropc Sets Kxnmple. Europe has shown America a solen- did example in co-operation. Little Denmark blazed the way. From a poverty-stricken nation of 30 years ago, it has emerged into a thriving com monwealth by the co-operative sys tem. Co-operation has become the key note of all agricultural effors in that country. There are co-operative creameries, breeding associations, butter-selling associations, egg export as sociations, farmers' insurance nsnnH!!. tions. packinsr associations nnd mar. keting associations of all sorts and from a money-making point of view all have been successful. In the United Kingdom at the urn. ent time about $600,000,0,00 are em ployed In co-operative merchandising. In Germany it has been tried also with excellent effect. It would be well for this count if the Agricultural Department of the Federal Government would take a hand in improving the selling methods of the farm and in formulatine- a Na tional market bureau to co-orjerate in marketing the products of the farm. Already this department has ssrxtnr over $100,000,000 in teaching scientific farming and how the productivity of the soil can be Increased. It would be accomplishing a great work and one conductive to the future prosperity of the country If it would now spend a few more millions in helping the farm ers to dispose of their produce to the best advantage, enabling them to do away with the non-producers" profits. Modern Life Criticised. It would be a scandalous thini tn say that the support of good-for-noth ing women constitutes the heaviest burden of modern life, but the scandal of the fact is so much greater than the scandal of confessing it, that I will risk crtlcism for the st.iipmr.nt of fact the domestic life of this coun try is in an appalling condition. M.inv a man has given up all high ambition for study, for self-denying service of nis leiiowmen, stiyed the voice of his conscience when it demanded sacrifice and devoted himself to the one nhiit of gaining the wherewithal to vn sunshine in his house by the unlimited nauigence- or a f aehlon-Damoered wo man's fancies. Look at our married men. rarlnc f Ar riches, taking 10 minutes for lunch. seldom off on a vacation and for what? For vulgar display great houses so many houses that they have no home sumptuous furnishings, costly equi pages these are the things that seem to constitute for the mass of American women a perfect Paradise in prospect only; for when the Eden is gained the hot breath of a simoon has withered the verdure and the flowers, dried up the fountain and slain the singing birds and there is little or no domestic hap piness or life. Old Theories Changed. Many a woman would be willing to sacrifice for the sake of becoming a man's wife, but most men who do not marry on the pretext of economy arc persons who could marry if they were willing to sacrifice some of their lux urious habits and were content to begin life with simple, honest, wholesome comfort, to be increased as life went on. But no, they must start whete MOLALLA FULFILLS AGED CHIEF'S PROPHECY OF "SKOOKUM VILLAGE" Population of Newest of Cities Reaches 450 Already, While building of Homes and Business Places Goes on Apace Railroad's Chiefs Visit Town ar.d Express Satisfaction With Growth. Jrr 'J sassaz - ; It J """"" ' m8E2Zr ZS. 1', 'iS. x f?t.;L ';-v r i J&7s77i. AX I ? A j" 'JtaJ sffyr 3 - 93" '-rl sir. r' '""J's ' vw-cll mat Lr v V-s r - . f - ,vt - i i i-w"' " "TnrnwMUM mm 0r M OLALLA, Or., Nov. 8. (Special.) Since September 19, when six or seven thousand people welcomed the first train over the Portland, Eugene & Eastern Railway, Mo'.alla has made good on the promises held out to the builders of the new road and the prediction of Chief Yelkis, the recently deceased last chief of the JIolu.Ha tribe, by striding forward in the building of a substantial city in the eastern part of Clackamas County. A large tonnage of grain shipments Is being furnished the railroad, while Incoming trains are loaded with build ing materials. New residences and business houses are going up all around the four corners which represented the "cross roads" location of a year ago, and it is believed that a canvass of the -population today would give Molalla .fuly 450 people. Every build ing seems to be occupied as fast as completed, and most of the money being expended in construction belongs here. It is being put up by the farmers of the district. . Molalla has recently been inspected by Julius Kruttschnitt, traffic director of the Southern Pacific. President Sproule, General Manager Calvin, and other officials of the Southern Pacific Comuanv. all of whom th -t r -l- i.t .1 what is being done. It is developing into a town almost as quickly as did the mining camps of Alaska," commented Mr. Kruttschnitt, "but has the advantage of a perma nent district behind it." Since the death of Chief Yelkis, which occurred a few days after the railroad opening ceremony, in which the chief appeared in war regalia, it has been recalled that the old Indian predicted a "skookum village" at this place. After tho trains had pulled out that . day Chief Yelkis rode his pony onto the rails, and for many minutes seemed to be thinking deeply. Finally he said: "Me see um big village. Heap house. lots people, children at big school iois or auromoDiies coming on all roads. Just like moving picture show." Already has Molalla outgrown her first Postoffico building and it is ex pected that the Commercial Club will immediately take up the idea of se curing a Sovernmental appropriation for a suitable building. A site will probably be donated. their parents left off, they must cut a dash, they love their pleasure too much to sacrifice any portion of it for do mestic bliss. The sentiment has be come prevalent that a man must make his fortune before he marries, that his wife must have no sympathy or share with him in the pursuit of it, in- which most of the pleasure truly consists., This is very unfortunate; It fills the country with bachelors who are wait ing to make their fortunes, endanger ing virtue and promoting vice; it de stroys the true economy and design of the domestic Institution, encourages Inefficiency among women, who are ex pecting to be taken up by fortune and passively sustained without any con cern on their part. Just as it is a man s duty to provide for his family, so it Is the woman's duty to adorn It with all the excel lences and graces of good taste, and either by her own industry or the well directed Industry of those who serve her, to fill it with healthful Influences of cleanliness, good order and neat ness, so that everything may minister to the comfort and enjoyment' of those she loves. Schooling? Is Criticised. The state of life Into which it has pleased God to call our daughters Is plainly, for the most part, that which entails the duties of the housekeeper and the home-maker, and for those duties the learning acquired In the schools often does much to unfit them. The result of this unfaithfulness in the foundation education is seen In the extravagant habits of our modern housekeeping, the ignorant waste where the young woman finds herself unable to teach and direct her serv ants, In cases where she Is not required to do the actual work herself, and, wearying of her attempts to. be queen of her own household, she allows her little kingdom to live without a head. Her husband finds that the expense of married life is far greater than he had anticipated and the comfort less. As the expenditures increase, he sees that his hard work on one side is only to supply the means of wastefulness on the other side, and that his chil dren are growing up with notions of life which nothing but Increasing riches can satisfy. We need not wonder that great dis content prevails among many men. It is this laziness, extravagance and in competence among women that in some degree accounts for the 8,000,000 un married men in America. Eighty-seven per cent of the girls in the high schools of the republic are today studj-ing the dead languages and only 3 per cent domestic science. IMr Preferred to Poetry. Today much of the education is so managed as to unfit women for prac tical life. I would make all the im provements of education and, the ac complishments of manners subordinate to the duties of the home the means to make the home happy. God speed the day when French will yield to fritters, poetry to pies; when the most studious will excel in stews and the professors of music will play upon Pots, pans and the female President will rule the roast and students are taught to be women rathen than "la dies." But the man who prizes woman chiefly because she is capable of per forming tasks of7 this kind does not deserve to have a good wife. He should employ a housekeeper and pay her good wages, and the woman whose idea of duty stops here and whose highest and sole ambition is to keep house well has very low conceptions of her proper dignity. The fault lies with the parents; un less they can give their daughter a fortune when she marries, they per petrate a fraud upon tho young man, if by her lack of domestic training they make her unfit for the position of wife in the home of the young man who has to make his way in the world. regarded as more or less of a luxury there would bo a great deal more of it consumed, for it has a number of health-giving qualities which recom mend it to all am and conditions. Youthful, Beautiful Skin Easy to Have Wheat-Bran for Health. London Chronicle. A well known authority of dietetics has recently taken to urging his pa tients to indulge in quantities of wheat bran, which, he says, is one of the best regulators and builders in the whole list of foods. It is a mistake for parsons to turn up their noseb at bran as an nrticle of food because it is cheap. If it were put up in fancy boxes and marked up in price to a point where it would be From the Clubwoman. You may be as healthy as a bird in the air and still have a poor com plexion. Changing seasons and tem peratures, winds, dust and dirt, are apt ' injure any KKin, even tnough the generul health be good. AVnen these external influences spoil the com plexion, the natural thing is to remove the spoil by external means. Ordinary mercolized wax will do this. It will actually absorb the weather-beaten tilm-skin, a little each day. In a week or two you'll have a brand new com plexion, a new skin. The exquisitely beautiful and youthful complexion thus acquired, comes so easily, without harm or discomfort, there's no reason why any woman should not adopt" this simple treatment. Get an ounce of mercolized wax at any drugstore, apply nightly like cold cream, washing it off mornings. This will not fail in any case. To quickly remove wrinkles, signs of care and age, batho the face oc casionally in a solution of powdered saxolite, 1 oz., dissolved In y pt. witch hazel. The results will surnrisn vo Adv. ;niMniHinHHwnur;iuMinHHii!iniiiiiitinHtiiiitiniiHiniMiiiHHMiiiiHi: Bosit ILook Old Before "Your Time WOMAN'S delicate system requires more than ordinary care and at tention more care and attention than it is given by the average woman. Neglect it and ilia soon creep in, and the look of old age, sometimes quickly, uuicuujc grauuauy IOIIOWS. That backache, so common amon tr wnmn Krino-. with i headache; tired muscles, crow s-f eet, and soon the youthful body is no more youth- - ful in appearance and all because of lack of attention. I There is no reason why you should be so unfortunate, when you have at vour disposal a remedy such as Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription recommended for over 40 years as a remedy for ailments peculiar to women. We have thou- ujvumiimi iuinoniHis on me tne accumulation of 40 years testifying to its effect iveness. Neither n.ircotics nor alcohol are to be found in this famous prescription. Reirulates irretrularitiei,. Corrects displacements. Overcomes painful periods. Tones up nerves. Bring about perfect health. Sold by dealers in medicines, in liquid or tablet form. Dr. Piercm" Medical Adviser, newly r viaed up-to-date edilinn. anetverm ftoim of delicate oueetlanm about which every woman,inate or married ought to know. Br. Pierce's Favorite Prescription A a2i311llllIlill!ltIillUilHilillUIIIUIUIiai(!llUUIitU!llUIUUIUUlllUlUUIlUiUlllU!lI
