The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, March 21, 1915, SECTION FIVE, Image 72

The Sunday Oregonian., March 21, 1915, SECTION FIVE, Page 12, Image 72

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Newspaper Page Text12 THE ST73sDAY OREGONIAS, PORTLAITO, TJfATJCTT 21, 1913. ARRIVAL OF LINER MAKES REALITY OF SOUTHERN INVASION ' Great Northern and Northern Pacific Declared to Mean Increa se in Transportation Facilities for Freight and Passenger Traffic. " ' - . . . . 2 M T SSBnsnSU t, f r iV pi AtW "J lWeW -'lu ""Or '1 " A I roSk Ji ll - - : 0iM-'O$&F' r y I il j vi-wiJh .SOW k'ilcra-,J - ----- - - Lm. v y jszx-.jfjK. . r ik III'' MM I ' -- ! A liTHOUGH the arrival of steamship Great Northern Flavel last Tuesday was an event of unusual importance to Portland, As toria and other Columbia River cities, it Is probable that the occasion was of more importance to San Francisco and Northern California than It was to the communities of Northern and Western Oregon. . But San Francisco seems to be too much Interested just now in her world's fair to give due attention to the inaug uration of service by two new transcon tlnental railroads. -" That's precisely what the presence on the Pacific Coast of the Great 'North era means a direct invasion of Cali lornla by the Great Northern and' the Northern Pacific railways. These two transcontinental carriers - are the sole owners and proprietors of the Great Northern Pacific Steamship Company, which has placed the steamship. Great Northern in commission and which, within a few weeks, is to supplement this service by the introduction on the San Franclsco-Flavelrun of the steam, hip Northern Pacific,' the duplicate of the Great Northern. These two vessels will maintain reg ular service between the mouth of the Columbia and the Golden Gate." Sail ings will be scheduled every alternate day from each port. While - the-great exposition at San Francisco is in progress this year the passenger business will be ah import ant factor in the business of these two new vessels. But as a permanent ele ment of trade, the freight traffic will fee the controlling influence. j The Great Northern and Northern Pa cific railroads now expect to be in po- sltion to compete . directly with the Santa Fe, the Southern Pacific and the Western Pacific for the freight traffic moving from the Eas and the Middle West to San Francisco., They are pre pared to meet the rates of their Call fornia competitors and declare that they will meet them also in the class of service that they can offer. - They can beat the time of the southern roads from Chicago and Eastern points into San Francisco, they say. They are prepared to offer special freight service from St. Paul to take care of their California business if necessary. All this traffic will be handled between Spokane, Portland, Astoria and Flavel over the North Bank road, which, too, is owned by the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Jointly. This fact serves to point out that As toria now, for the first time, is placed on the through route 01 a iransconu nental railroad. Heretofore Astoria has been the terminus of the Columbia River line of the North Bank system operating out of Portland, or a way point on the line between Portland and the Clatsop beaches. Now, however, Astoria is an import ant point on the through lino of both the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific between St. Paul and San Francisco. The people- of Astoria duly appreciate this fact and manifested their apprecia tion by turning out in large numbers last Tuesday to see the Great Northern land at Flavel on her -initial voyage from San Francisco. The Astorians had complete charge of the programme. They arranged the ceremonies at the dock and had . general supervision of the celebration of the day. They invited Portland and the other Columbia River ports to join them and their invitation was more generally ac- new leviathan to better advantage. She presented a majestic appearance as she neared her dock. She cut through the waters gracefully and en tered her berth with extreme ease. Through the remainder of the after noon she was an object of much inter est and curiosity to the thousands of visitors. Following are some statistics regarding the vessel: Length, 624 feet; beam, 63 feet: depth. 50 feet 8 inches; draft, fully loaded, 21 feet; registered tonnage, gross, 12.0: dead weight . carrying capacity, 2185 presented - to the Great Northern a to the orators and rushed to convenient tons oi - about J8; handsome and valuable m.Hnp- clock, nlar-a nMtsid whr thev could Bee the cargo capacity, 200;000cudic reet, ap cepted than they had anticipated. Port land turned 2000 of her most earnest and most enthusiastic citizens. They sent two brass bands, the Elks and the RosaTian . bands. The territory at the river's mouth produced a band ' of Its own from Fort Stevens. These three musical organizations kept - folks in good cheer all day long. As a further testimonial of tneir in terest in the event the Astoria people The. formal presentation was to have been attended with some ceremony, but just as the principal orators were get ting warmed up .the ship turned the corner of the lane in the Pacific Ocean and entered the mouth of the river. As the people saw the big smokestacks belching forth smoke and the prow of the vessel shoving the waves aside In her. haste to get to Flavel, they left the platform assigned proximately: refrigerated cargo capac ity. 500 tons. Accommodations for B50 first-class passengers, 108 tourist, 198 third-class and for crew of 200. . Total, 1056. . Cost $2,600,000. Speed, 24 knots. Time between Flavel and San Fran cisco, 26 hours. Officers or Great Northern: Captain A. Ahman, Chief Engineer G. W. Spen cer, Chief Officer A. T. Hunter, Purser j. s. Ford; surgeon. Dr. Charles Duffy; chief steward, L. M. Bruce. C Gllman. president of the North Bank and affiliated railroads, also is president of the Great Northern Tacifla Steamship Company. W. I). Skinner, traffic manager of the North Hank, is traffic manager for the stoamshlp com pany, in charge of the business at tho northern end, while Cal E. Stone l general traffic manager in charge o business nt San Francisco. -J. M. Hannaford. president of th Northern Pacific; George T. Blade, vice, president, and other officials repre sented that road at tho Flavel celebra tion Tuesday. The Great Northern ws represented by Walter F. Hill, son of James J. Hill, and a passenger on th vessel. USE OF BIG LOGGED-OFF AREA IN FARMS URGED Expense of Removing Stumps Blamed for Retarding Development of About 200,000,000 Acres, of Which About 75 Per Cent Is Good. ET HARRY THOMPSON, Aslculturiat. United States Department of AKrtcuItura. - THE approximate area of the orig inal forest land of the -United States of 900.000,000 acres has been reduced steadily by the demand for forest products and for aericultural land. Nearly 300,000,000 acres of too present Improved farm land have been cluared of the original forest growth. Of the remaining forested area more than 200,000.000 acres now are classed as logged-off land. The most of this area has been cut over by tho lumber man. The rest is second and inferior growth that has not. and probably never will be of any aiue commercially. This land is found in 30 states. It is estimated that from 0 to 75 per cent of the present logged eft land is suitable - for agricultural purposes. In addition to this large amount of logged-off land, there are millions of acres of pasture and cul tivated land that still contain stumps. This condition is found in the sections where the crops grown and the rooting systems of the timber will permit. Up-to-date machinery cannot be used or diversified farming practiced upon land from which the stomps have not been removed. Expense Retards Development. The development of this land has been retarded for several reasons. The prin cipal one has been tho expense of re moving the stumps. Prairie land, irri gated and dry-farming land often could be bought cheaper than stump land could be made into farm land, and what was more desirable, such land was ready to begin producing, while stump land required several years to clear and bring to a proper state of cultivation before it would produce good yields. While it is true that a large propor tion of our improved land has been cleared of stumps, most of, this cleared portion lies within the hardwood belt and crops were grown between the stumps until they decayed to such an extent that their removal could be done easily and cheaply. Most of the pine land that has been cleared was cleared when all were pioneers together and when other and better paying indus tries did not attract the labor from the farm. Floaeer Condition Are No More. In those early days when all were pioneers, the farm machinery in use was crude, most of the crops were used npon the farm and only the live stock marketed. In no section of tho country do the pioneer conditions prevail today. The settler upon stump land is brought into direct competition, by means of im proved . transportation facilities, with the farmer using up-to-date machinery upon land free from stumps. Until the settler upon stump land has cleared his land from stumps and roots he need not expect to produce crops as cheaply as the farmer working under mora fa vorable conditions. In many sections inflated prices are asked for this land if it is at all dealr- able, the worthless tracts of swamp- or rocky hills being held at a very low price to attract the homeseeker. . Settlers Often Discouraged. The settlers attracted to these lands have been few and they are generally poorly equipped for the task before them, and consequently make little progress toward clearing their land. They often give up the attempt and move away when there is no longer a demand for. labor in the near-by mills and camps. Many neighborhoods and small towns have been depopulated since the timber was logged off. The problem now before these com munities in the different states is that of converting these lands into fertile farms. The census figures for the last 30 years show that the clearing of these lands has not kept pace with the rural population, and that the population of the near-by cities and town are import ing from other sections dairy and farm products that could be produced upon land near at hand if it were cleared ready for the plow. So far only two states having large tracts of logged-off land have made any attempt at legislation intending to aid the settler in clearing land. Neither of these states has put these laws into operation, so that their merits will not be discussed at this time.- Need of Flu Is Conceded. It is generally conceded by men who have given this subject their attention that some plan must be put into opera tion whereby a settler can go npon a tract of land large enough to eventually be made into a profitable farm. A por tion of this tract should be cleared ready for the plow, and this, por tion should be large enough to provide employment for the settler and his team throughout the greater part of the growing season. He can devote the re mainder of his time to clearing the bal ance of the farm. By disposing of the second growth, down logs, and snags, and seedins to the sroper grasses for hi3 section, he will increase his pasture and hay land and will be employing the best preparatory means of reducing the cost of stumping later. If a plan were put into operation and financed so that the settler could pay tor the land in 20 or 30 small annual ayments, it would be found an easy matter to attract desirable settlers to the logged-off lands. Until some such oolicy is adopted, it is unlikely that there will be any greater development of the lotrered-off lands in the next 1U ears than there has been in the past decade. Should these plans be carried out and nn..hiir nf fhA nresent loesred-off land settled upon by industrious farmers, it would seem that the revenue irom tne increased valuation of these lands would more than compensate the county and state for any expense that they may have made. COMPANIES BAR DRINKING Officials of Mines Must Shun Lilquor On or Off Duty. SCRANTON, ' Pa., March 14. The Pennsylvania Coal Company and Hill side Coal & Iron Company issued or ders from its offices in Dunmore re cently, fixing dismissal aa the penalty for violation of the rule of the com pany forbidding officials of its mines and offices to drink intoxicants on or off duty. The purpose, it was ex plained, is to make better men of the officials. The order is one of the most drastic Issued by any corporation hereabouts. The experience has been, it was said at the offices, that drinking detracts from the efficiency of employes and the com pany hopes to stop the habit. The order follows the efforts of the Erie Railroad Company in license court to have licenses for five saloons near its shops and roundhouse refused, . PORTLAND BOY RISES TO HIGH WIRELESS POSITION Leonard F. Fuller, Son of F. L Fuller, Vice-President of Portland Railway, Light & Power Company, Chief Engineer of Big Company. FROM a backyard amateur In wire less, experimenting in sending the ether waves with a plant of Mb own manufacture, to the position of chief electrical engineer of the Federal Telegraph Company, one of the leading nrtralaca mt Till f Htliring COnCemS - ih America, is the jump that has been made by a Portland boy. Leonard . rnii,r uin of F. L Fuller, vice-presi dent of the Portland Railway, Light & Power Company. , . Mr. Fuller has just supervised the inataiiarinn nf n. nart of the apparatus at the new Government wireless plant at Tuckerton, N. J., wnlcn, witn us fnnt mast And loner antennae. Is the lnnirest sending- station In the world. vm- hin romnanv Mr. Fuller has ,-r,ro of the manufacture of equip ment for the Government wireless sta tion at Panama, which, when complete, will have the longest radius of any station in the world, even exceeding that of the new Tuckerton station. . it wn frnm Tuckerton that the ma- phlnprv nf the Panama-Paclnc Exposi tion was set in motion Dy a wuc. Maori nrrriM the continent. President Wilson pressed a telegraph key in the White House that conveyed an electric impulse to Tuckerton over an ordinary telegraph wire. There the pressure on the Presidents Bey seni a spark that was picked up on the an tennae of the receiving station at the i-..naHiMi lfarhtinz millions of lamps and starting the machinery of the big Mr. Fuller was a siuaeni jn tuo ro-, ;; A fJ-r : ;: : vs -:: I'A'-.-I-Wri.S. ...rw ::A.... l,t., I Snlftld I i t station in the yard of the Fuller home on Portland Heights. He practiced sending and receiving and frequently was in touch with stations as far away as Cordova, Alaska, and Mare Island, Cal Following his graduation In Port land he became a student at Cornell University. During his last year he was an instructor on the subject of wireless at that institution. With the .T.ntlnn of a short time In the service of another wlrelexs company, Mr. Fuller has been with the Federal Telegraph Company, a competitor of tho Marconi concern, using different patents, ever since. Leonard V. Fuller, loans; Port land Man Mho Has Attained Fame In Wireless Work. land schools, and during his spare mo ments he built an amateur wireless CITY HAS ITS VANCOUVER Louisville Couples Hook o Indiana Town to Be Married. JEFFERSON VILLE, Ind, March 8. The marriage business in Jcfferson ville for Louisville couples lias grown to such proportions that It ha struck Louisville jeweler as worth wlilko catering for. and accordingly on tho side of a building In Broadway, which he occupies, there appear these lines: A pretty girl, a diamond ring: A trip to Jeff is Just the thing. The Louisville justices are said to be worked up over the way in which the Jeffersonvllle "marrying squires" are cutting into their business and a fight may be started in that city against the business. An editorial in a louisviiio paper on the "Industry," undir the cap tion. "Made in Jeffersonvllle," re marks: "There used to bu a tradition, or a supposition or maybo It was a super stition that marriages were made In Heaven. That was before the era of the marriage parlors in Jeffersonvllle and it's a long, long way to Heaven from JelfersonviUo."- .