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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1915)
13 TIIE SUNDAY. OKEGOXTAV PORTLAJfD, OCTOBER 10; 1C13. " PUPILS' INDUSTRIAL CLUBS ARE MOULDING THEIR LIFE PLANS Oregon Boys and Girls Study Out Scientific Methods to Successful Farming:, Stock and Poultry Raising and Domestic Achievements. :dr.i rfoi I U J li I ryr-idS l IMinir ' M 's J J corn canning-. sewing, pis dairy herd record of BT TlANDALTj HOWARD. N Oregon lad was debatine with himself and with his parents as to his lite's work. His father was a dairyman but the boy did not know. Then an incident occurred at school. A representative of the Oregon Boys' and Girls' Industrial Club formed a lo cal organization. The visitor ex plained the 10 different projects from wi.i.-n ine members might select faiowmg. potato growing, ".ooKing, poultry raisin Tccdlng. gardening. find muttti-ii ....... ........,, una. anese projects were in stato-wide eonmetition for an en ticing array of prizes. including a week s entertainment for two bovs Jrom each county at the Oregon .State air 10 free excursions to the Panama- nun. reposition and a long list cash and other valuable awards J ho lad. Oscar Snyder, was ambi tious s he enrolled In the dairy herd testing proje.-t. The months passed and incidentally, young Oscar won rtrst prize in his project for the entire t,tat.totI?reBon- including the Panama 1 acin.; Lxposition trip; But more vi tally important, young Oscar gained a new s.icntitiu viewpoint of the dairv ing business, a. viewpoint so different -".r "rt. nlng that his life planj l J. le3:, he resvl to continue in high school and college until he could tall himself a dairying expert. Illimtratlon 1m Typical. The above story is typically illustra- im.,t tl e.,ndU8trlal c,ub movement among the boys and girls of Oregon: . ,.,e reson movement is typical SSrt. jeJ"t7.eTent in many different parts of the United States. The Ore gon movement is Jointly supported by the United ;ilnlp ron.. . riculture. the Ktate department of edl 2 Clttf8 ct I ii IZl W r . J Prfv W3 ncation and the Oregon Agricultural ? , 1 St . IoI"e than ".000 boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 18 LCa,ra!,,,enrJle tor '"dustrial projects in 1911. and the 1915 results have been even more encouraging. This year about 500 boys and girls have carried ""r c.uo worK through to comple tion and have made exhibits at their local or county lairs, and at the Slate alr. At some of the booths at this years state Kair the industrial club exhibits were not so numerous or so large as last year, but all of the ci riorS aSrrC that 1llality far tmpe- ilrU Show Activity. Some of the girls in industrial club work during the past year have tanned as high as S00 jars of fruit and vegetables. Other girls have baked from 150 to 200 loaves of bread during the contest period. Many girls have done all their own sewing and mending, making party dresses and neiping their mothers with the family sewing. Results from the corn club vuin. ior ooys. are not yet fully com- piica, out at least two Oregon boys will have produced more than 100 bushels of coin to the acre, and at - tfregon poys will have nro cluced more than 75 bushels an acre The prize winner in the 1914 corn club vorn. Clause c-harley. of Jackson t.ouniy. was too old to compete again this year, but he "came back" just the iiie. growing ij acres of corn and tui-oMing at tne Agricultural College for special agricultural club work. The complete list of first-nrize win. tiers in the club contests at the State rair mis year follows: inland Charley, Brownsboro, Or., lot 3, corn growing. Gertrude Courtney. La Grande, lot 2. r.ari oiewart, Cottage Grove. Or., dl- iisjuii i. lot a, vegetable gardening. Homer Bursell. Monmouth. Or., divl sion 2. lot 3. vegetable gardening. Hazel Bursell. Monmouth. Or., divl eion 1. lot 4. poultry raising. t imora tooK. oncalIa. Or., division iot. 4. poultry raising. Carmen Jones. Pendleton. Or., div eion 3, lot 4. poultry raising. l'.Htlier Miller. Medford. Or., division t. ioi i, poultry raising. i Warren McUowen, Independence, Or division 1. lot 6. pig feedintr. Harold Reynolds. Independence. Or. division 2. lot 5. pig feeding. Karl Cooley. Route I. Salem. Or., lo: 6, lairy herd record-keeping. 1 M. Bowles, nallas. Or., division 1 lot i, seed grain selection and produc tion. iturtolph -Mullenhoff. Route 3. Borina. Or., division 2, lot 7, seed selection an-i production. redoy Fones, Carlton. Or., lot 8. fleid le prouuciion. Kxie Morgan. The ralles. Or., divi Bion S. lot S. fruitgrowing. 1' lorence Wharton, Roseburg, Or., lot iv. oaKing. Marion Lowe, Xyssa, Or., lot 11. car ning and nreserving. Mae McDonald. Dallas. Or., lot 1 sewing. Paul Jaeger, Sherwood. Or., lot 12.1, larm and nome nandicrart. Muriel Blume. Albany, Or., lot 1 farm and home handicraft. ( la us Charley. Brownsboro, Or.. Tot 13. the Agricultural Club. One of the new developments in the 191 industrial club work has been i connection with the pig club. The State Bankers Association encouraged the boys and girls by agreeing to accept so-called - pig paper." that is. notes of tile boys and girls, signed by their par ents. and given in exchange for brood sows, the notes to mature when the boys and girls dispose of their pigs. Also, the t.overnment has come along with additional encouragement, appro priating lunos to support a specialist In pig club work. It is now planned to organize pig clubs in those parts of the state best adapted to swine hus bandry and where the county suDer lntendents are especially interested in auch organizations.- for it has proved in almost invariable rule that Indus trial club work flourishes only in I plonship in buttermaking in 1913 that Oregon fncfziZrz'a 7 dub C?on-e-&. those communities where the teacher or the county superintendent has been interested. Mo"ement Is Broad. The industrial club movement is broad enough in scope to include both city and country children. In fact, the state-wide club contests are doing much to prove to the boys and girls that it doesn't really make so much difference where they . live, if they are seriously ambitions to "do things." The Oregon gardening contest in 1911 was an example. The winner. Perry Nathan Pickett, 13 years old, grew his prize garden on two city lots in balcm. the state capital and second lty in size in Oregon. The city lad was a winner, even though, in the middle of the gardening season, he fel at school and broke his arm. A smile came with the prompt thought that it was only his lett arm After all that was broken and he manipulated his hoe mostly with his right arm. His optimistic theory of one-armed hoeing did not prove out. however-, so Perry gardened largely on his hands and knees during the six weeKs while the arm was healing. Thus handicapped. Perry not only won the capital gardening prize for the state, but earned more than $80 in cash from his products. Girl la Clonent Competitor. Perry's closest competitor was a girl. Gertrude Courtney. 15 years, living at the other end of the state. She grew potatoes, corn, squash, cucumbers and like vegetables in her strip of land 12 by 200 feet, cultivating the garden four times. Before the Summer was over the fame of Gertrude's garden had spread to the county seat. La Grande. An editor went out to see. His report in the paper and her later winning of the county gardening contest impelled La Grande business men to make up a purse and send the girl and her ex hibit to the State Fair. Her garden was a near winner for first place and her coming to the State Fair, as a county champion in competition with boys, later resulted in the establish ment of a "girls' " Summer school at the Oregon Agricultural College. Proof Given Parents, Too. The Oregon industrial club movement is proving things to parents as well as to youngsters. Stories might be told of fathers and mother's who before the demonstration of practical results were extremely antagonistic to the move ment. Parents did not havB the meas ure of their own children. The storv of Roy Johnson will illustrate. He was only 13 years old and in the seventh grade when the principal came into his room and asked how many wished to enter the state corn-growing contest. To quote the boy's own lan guage: "I went home and asked papa if T might Join. ' He told me that he did not think that I stood a chance, as there were larger boys in the club and I had never cultivated any. I insist ed so hard that he finally consented and said he would show me how to culti vate my acre of corn." To summarize. Roy Johnson won the Malheur County corn-growing contest, including a cash prize and a trip to Salera. and his father paid him 75 cents a bushel for all the corn he raised. Another boy, Hans Bertelson. joined the dairy herd testing project and be-i gan to apply the science of the Bab cock tester to his father's dairy herd. The test proved that three of the seven family cows were really "board ers But this was only an incidental result, for the boy was inspired with a wonderful new interest in dairying. He began systematically to curry and brush the cows. He placed new win dows in the barn and began the revo lutionary practice of sweeping down all the cobwebs. Today the boy Is in partnership with his father. - Bread CbamplonKhip la 1 on. It may not have been directly due to the boys and girls industrial club work; nevertheless It happened that soon after Frances Hawley had won a separator as prize for the state Cham AJL -if - fc? : - y I pure-breds." He explained that hi I t.VV .inj. -ap tv Z . I year a raisings consisted of so KrA Yift? , .r- i-.T " - mongrels that "I de I FflaaiV-BBV-aa ty" her father. State Senator Hawley, or dered thiee fine Guernsey cows direct ly from the Isle of Guernsey. Likewise there may be no connection between this incident and the fact that the girl continued to prove her interest in in dustrial club work by winning the state, championship in 1914 in bread making, baking- and scoring 75 loaves in July and August. Innumerable fatories could be related to prove that the club work has stimu lated positive qua! ties of character. Merle M. Willetts. while growing an acre of corn under extreme weather discou ragemc nt.. wrote: "I do not expect to win a prize, but I am golnp: to carry my project through to the end just the same. I am well satisfied with my year's work, for I have learned a great deal. Next year I will k n jw how." The boy winner in corn-planting- in Wasco County last year saved his crop, following a late frost, by going over the entire acre with a pair of scissors and cutting oft the frosted parts. Jn the same county another boy se lected an orphan pig- for the pig growing contest. So interested was the boy in the growth of bis charge that often he would get up on cold nights to see that "piggy" was not Buf fering, and the result, in six months, was a "hoggy" weighing some 200 pounds. t-Irl, it. Canning Champion. Jessie Keyt was enly It years old when uhe won the state championship In canning, but she had been persist ently working toward this end for three years. The first year she received little encouragement. The second year she won a first pUe. but lost the coveted county championship. And last year stte won the big prize and was called on to give expert demon strations at the State Fair. Her glory, however, was not all in the prizes, for she now 3 doing all the canning of vegetables and fruit for a family of eight. Also she has placed 990 in the bank as part of the return from a prize Duroc pig won two years asm. The itory of Hazel Bursell alao Il lustrates the value of club work toward practical thrift. Three years ago ehe obtained a setting of eggs and entered the chicken-raising contest. She earned $34.38 net during the part of the first year, or $2.10 a week for spare time. Her next step was to pay $25 for a pure-blood White Wyandotte cockerel. She won the 1914 state poultry-raising contest, and has now developed a good business in selling eggs for setting. But she insists that dollars and blue ribbons are not her only compensation, sagely commenting she has made many friends, "as grown-ups seem to take more kindly to an industrious boy or girl." Clothespin Apron Wins Prize. Norma Calbreath tells about her part in the local sewing club that met at her house every month. First, she chose to make a clothespin apron, "be cause It is useful, simple and would teach me how to make button holes and put on binding." Then she made handkerchiefs, and finally she decided to make an apron for the county and state fair exhibit. "I had a hard time making it," she pays. But her handi work took fourth prize at the county fair, and went to the state fair "where my mother saw it." Lastly, the apron returned home and Norma concludes: "My little sister is now. wearing it." Another girl tells how she has en joyed her lessons tn darning, and com ments: "Darning Is a lost art, but per haps it will become a much used art before another school fair." Likewise, another little club member believes that "darning is an important subject to learn, for I think it would be foolish if a girl couldn't even darn a stocking and would have to wear them with holes, or throw them away." Another little girl says: "I will always remem ber the things I have learned in cook ing, if I ever have occasion to cook in after years as I suppose I shall." The practical utility of the club work is not less evident among the boys. The boy who raised 2 bushels of corn on his acre, writes: "I am now going to buy a pig from father and fatten and sell It, as I think this is a better way to use the corn than to sell It out of the field because onejearns more by feeding It this way." Henry Johnson, in Malheur County, attracted many neighbors who took lessons from him In his corn growing, while this lad of 14 was qualifying for membership in the "Top-Notch Farmers Club America" by raising 101.56 bushels of corn on a measured acre, losing the state championship to a boy from the same county who netted a greater profit per acre. Interest In Stock. Created. The club work has done much to create a new interest in domestic ani mals. Willard Brown, aged 11. is everywhere known because of his state championship award for bird houses, the prize houses being put to the practical test for bird homes on his father's farm. E. Vernon Rains, winner of the 1914 poultry contest, has chosen hia -working motto, "From mongrels to rided last t to allow such many adorn my yards. ungainly creatures to Out of my last sea- again son's flock of nearly 100, I had but five MANSFIELD'S SON TO FOLLOW SIRE'S STEPS Some Success on Stage Already Achieved and Name Changed to Richard. Role of Robin Hood Played in "Sherwood." W Jig .. f Tt T decent chicks." Kenneth Bursell. who won the 1914 state championship In pig raising, selected one from among a pen of eight and trained this pig to walk up a board onto a special platform. Of course tne other pigs could not reach the favored spot of showered good things to eat because they had not been taught how to walk the board. bclf expression is one of the oblects of the industrial club work though not necessarily the type of self-exDres- sion that Mildred Sprong tells about tn the story of her chickens. She relates now she set 30 eggs, and how she washed and dried her pet chickens and carefully boxed them and took them to the county fair, where they took a prize. "When they got back., she con cludes, "my rooster could crow." One girl who did the greater uart of the work in raising on one-fourth acre of ground 140 bushels of onions, which sola for 75 cents per bushel, described the session of the club In which she. in her turn, was called on to tell the other club members how to raise onions: "It was a fine meeting which I sure en joyed." she said. I.lfe Plana Are Moulded. The club work is moulding life plans. Mary McDonald, who won the 1014 state sewing project, has. as the result of her increasing interest in club work. chosen as her definite life goal a pro fessorship in domestic science and art- Gilbert Fones, who began his cham- pionsnip career at tne age or 13. by winning the 1913 dairy-testing project. has become a full partner with his father in an ambitious livestock busi ness. Gilbert first won a bull calf, which he sold, buying two Turoc sows. This beginning multiplied until soon lie has 36 registered Duroc pigs, four pure - Shopshire sheep, and 30 pure-blooded chickens his sales netting him J240 one year, not counting 78 in cash prizes at various fairs and 8 blue and red ribbons. "The most important Job associated with the boys' and girls' Industrial club movement." says F. L. Griffin. state agent in charge of Oregon Indus trial Club work, "is that of the local club leader." And beyond the Indi vidual club leaders, who are often teachers, the success of the local move ment usually depends on the enthusi asm c f the county school superintend ent. Industrial clubs have been organr ized In every county of Oregon. Doug las County last year had 50 active in dustrial clubs with a membership of more than 1000. which held ten local fairs. The county superintendent of Wasco County, in reference to the fact that the expenses of 18 boys and girls were paid to the State Fair, said: "I am sure that no investment could bring a greater return." In Yamhill County. 35 Industrial clubs were organized in 1914. and the county superintendent remarks that "these flourish best where there is a live rural school Improvement club." Polk County Haa Klve AVIauera. Polk County has the distinction of having supplied five of the ten state winners of projects in 1914 entitled to the capital prize of a trip to the Panama-Pacific Exposition. There was an industrial club In every school dis trict of Polk County, and every boy or girl who was in the 1914 club contest was also in the 1915 contest. This re markable showing of interest is as cribed in large part by County Superin tendent Seymour to the many active parent-teachers' organizations. He says. In fact, that "the parents are getting as much good from the Industrial club bulletins and the projects as the boys and girls." A 'ast ralated incident will indicate the sustained interest in Oregon in boys' and girls' industrial club work. One of the recent state prize winners, when he learned2 that he was too old to continue in the club work an other year, was so unmanly as to cry. But his tears set some persons to thinkings The result was the organ ization of a special state agricultural club for toys between the ages of 16 and 21 years, whose members will re ceive free correspondence instructions and a special short course from the Oregon Agricultural College. HE late Richard Mansfield's son has decided to follow his father's footsteps and become an actor. His name is Gibbs Mansfield, but something more than a year ago he assumed, the name his father made famous and became Richard Mans field II. Young Mansfield has already made some success in the role of Kobin Hood in the performance of Alfred Noyes' "Sherwood." given by the chil dren of Christora House, a dramatic club in New Yolk. $100,000 YEAR FOR CHURCH Tobacco Manufacturer Makes Gift to Methodist Cause. CHICAGO. Oct. 4. J. B. Duke, tna tobacco magnate, who maintains of fices in New York and manufactures smoking and chewing tobacco at Dur ham. S. C has promised to give tlOO,- 000 a year to the Methodist Episcopal Church South as long as he lives. Mr. Duke is still In his prime and the church authorities congratulated themselves on the prospects that the total donation will reach a large figure. Mr. Duke's promise was made to Bishop J. C. Kilgo, of Durham, who thought it was good enough news to send the information to the Rev. J. B. Hingeley. secretary of the board of conference claimants, located at 58 East Washingtotn street, who is rais ing a 110,000.000 fund for retired min isters. Ten thousand dollars annually of Mr. Duke's gift is to be devoted to the fund for the retired ministers, not withstanding the fact that the Metho dist Episcopal Church South at Its last general conference voted to debar the use of tobacco by ministers. "The church is the most permanent influence for good in this world," Mr. Duke said in making his donation, "'and 1 know of no way 1 can do so much good with my money as I can in be stowing it on the church." The various missionary and benevo lent boards will share In the $100,000 annual gift.