rZ. t '.t:
THE OBEGON STArESMAN. SALEM, OREGON
TUESDAY MORNINdJAARY-1171927' 3
Ulessag
e of Walter M. Pierce
(Continued from page .9.) ' l
organized irrigation districts. The state is not obligated
to pay or assume, directly or indirectly, these but
standing irrigation district bonds.
1. HIGHWAYS
TnHE work of the state highway department during
Xihe. last four years can not be too highly com
mended. Oregon-owes a debt of thanks to the mem
bers of the highway commission and the others who
havelabored.so faithfully in that department in car
"Tyingout bur highway program. So far as I know there
werej-but two men in the state four years ago "who
believed that the oiling of the macadam roads would be
a success. I appointed one of these men highway com
missioner. The other, in charge of the eastern Oregon
'division of the highway work, was given a free hand,
and commenced experiments in real earnest to hold the
macadam roads in place with oil. These experiments
have been crowned with success far .beyond the most
sanguine expectations, and the oiled macadams of Ore
5 gori are today the best roads in the world.
; During the past four years the state highway
bonded indebtedness-has been reduced from $38,700,-
00Q to $36,066,750. During the same period the follow
ing highway work has been completed :
j Pavement - -- 59 miles
Sock surfacing - - - M "
Graded 1069 "
Oiled macadam : 1 575 "
Bridges over 20-foot span 100 "
, j During the coining four years, if the same plan is
. carried out, the state highway bonded indebtedness can
Jbej-educed to $28,966450, and the RooseveJLtighwayfc;
completed, as well as many roads in the interior. . , ,
t, irpuiring the next few years a huge slim of rnQneywill
breqired to retire the highway bonds as they mature,
pay interest, maintain the present highway system and
build liew roads. For these reasons I "do hot favor
reducing the amount of revenue now beingderived from
Automobile license fees and the gasoline taxi I do
i&vor;a readjustment of the automobile 'license fees
which will allow a reduction to old and used cars, and,
if necessary, raising the license fee on the new and
high-priced cars, I also recommend legislation making
It possible for the automobile and truck owners to pro
cure a quarter-year license. This would greatly benefit
;many citizen's, especially farmers, who do much of their
.hauling during the early part and latter part of the
year.
' ' STATE MARKET AGENT
i r . - '
fHE office of state market agent should be retained.
The law creating this department should be
amended and the powers of the agent increased. This
department should also include horticultural products.
The state market agent should be a real factor in
Cooperative marketing.
'-V 1 PENITENTIARY
FOUR years ago I asked the legislature to appro
priate f or the penitentiary the same sum of money
ttiat my predecessor had for the preceding biennium,
$420,000, with the provisions that $100,000 of this fund
should constitute a revolving fund, and with this
revolving fund I would attempt to put the prisoners to
. We did save this $100,000 during the first two
years and I used the money to start industries. I am
h"ow pleased to report that the state prison, which four
w yars ago had 409 inmates, practically all idle, is today
"X Busy workshop. I am turning over to my successor,
frt5tn the revolving fund entrusted to me, property
.'""worth?to the state of Oregon more than half a million
dollars. 'This consists of the most complete whipping,
retting and scutching flax plant in the United States
' for making long line fiber and spinners tow, upholster
ing tow and flaxseed meal. At the present time we have
135-tbns of spinners tow that can be sold to the new
linen mill now nearing completion in Salem. From
this- revolving fund there has been constructed a
modern up-to-date hydro-electric plant that-furni&hes
power at the penitentiary. This plant represents a sav
ing, to the taxpayers of at least $1,000 per month that
, the state would . be paying if the electriq' current was
purchased 'from the local power company.
v. i
In July the emergency board appropriated $100,000
of which we have used $73,770. I recommend that you
do' not appropriate, for the amount provided by the
emergency board, for these emergency warrants can all
.finally be paid by the sale of products that the linen
mill in Salem must have. I do recommend that you
increase the amount that the governor can borrow for
the revolving fund from $50,000 to $125,000. This will
enable him immediately to take up the outstanding
emergency warrants issued to purchase flax straw last
summer. The following statement shows the condition
of shable assets and liabilities of the penitentiary
revolving fund, and does not include the physical plant
"or equipment:
"ASSETS.
-Cash and bills receivable ....
j3S tons long line fiber.......... .
25 tons npnaUtermy tow ..
;135 tons spinners tow .
,.r4,t.51. tons paper stock .
svQl tons flaxseed . - -
, 7 -l,tons flaxseed meal
15,483.41
19,000.00
-. 1 "2,000.00
..... 27,000.00
- .... 2,000.K
'. ... ...; .......' i$,o6oloo
1,000.00
(l.-''-'' 82,485.it
'Raw products on hand will yield: I:-V'r'
.'- 225 tons long line fiber ,.$112,500.00 '
2Q0 tons spinner 'tow. 52,000.00 ; ;
"f20a ton flaxseed .-J 20,900 00 " -
' -looSons upholstering tow .... :. 12,000.00 17,400.00
. ' ...
- t f rfi co
' T3orrowe4 by governor. (anthorit3r, ;
grren by met of legisUture). f..;$ ,MKKKWH(W
v Amount" mid of ' Emergency Board "V '.vmf
' ; Interest; estimated .:L..;J
,$279,8S3.4t
3,000.00 ! 126,770.00
ictuat cash. balance when all pro3ucts are sold ". -
' -and all del?Uid.'?. ' ' " . 1534l5.41
During the spring and summer months the material
on hand can be; turned into cash and the proceeds
returned to the state treasury to pay back the money
borrowed. With the authority to borrow $125,000 next
. summer the governor can purchase all of the flax straw
raised by the farmers in the vicinity of Salem. There
need be no further ; appropriation for the revolving
fund. Within four years this fund should grow to over
one million dollars. The state should continue to pay
-the inmates a small wage, a minimum of 50 cents per
day, a maximum of $1-25, for work jn the flax plant.
The waste now consumed in the furnace should be con
verted into paper pulp,
The shoe and clothing factory should be, enlarged,
and a hew building should be constructed within the
prison walls to house these industries. This requires no
appropriation, as the work can be done with prison
labor.
The present penitentiary is a fire-trap. Should a
fire break out in the central building, called the chapel,
as happened in the Walla Walla penitentiary, there
would be no way in which to release the men in the
cells. Many lives would be lost. I warn you that this
demands immediate attention. Oregon does not need a
new penitentiary. Aft appropriation of $50,000, for the
purchase of cement, steel, and other necessary material,
i3 all that is required. Under the supervision of the
superintendent of industries all this construction work
can be performed by prison labor, and all of the wood
removed from the penitentiary, thereby' making it
absolutely fireproof: I earnestly recommend this
appropriation.
About a year ago I moved the state lime plant from
Gold; fclill to the penitentiary. The limerock is being
shipped to the penitentiary from Marble Mountain, in
Josephine county, and agricultural lime is now being
sold to the farmers of the Willamette valley at $5.50
per ton. -yhe freight rate of $2j05 per ton on this Jime
rofek" is outrageously high. I have filed suit with the
Public Service Commission asking for a reduction in
rates. Two hearings have been held. It is my hope and
. belief that the Public Service Commission will reduce
these .rates at least one-half. This saving should be
given, to the farmer. Agricultural lime then can be
sold atrthe penitentiary for $4.00 per ton in bulk or
$4.50 per ton sacked. ,
Two years ago the legislature appropriated $33.00
per capita per month to care for the prisoners. I have
used $27.00, and have recommended $25.00 per capita
per month for my successor. It will be found more
than ample. Two years from now that appropriation
can be still further reduced, and under the proper
management four years from today the governor will
be able to announce that the penitentiary thenceforth
will be self-sustaining and will require no contribution
from the taxpayers of the state. However, my exper
ience teaches me that this department is as delicate as
a Swiss watch and may be wrecked overnight.
INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT COMMISSION
I EARNESTLY recommend that you oppose any
changes in the industrial accident law. Eighty per
cent of . the industries of the state are operating under
it. A fund of more than $5,000,000 has been created
for the payment of losses and compensation allowed kto
injured ones and their dependents. It is my belief that
the law should be compulsory in alL gainful occupations.
However, the enemies of the, law are too active at this
time for any attempt to be made to strengthen it. '
The law provides tliat one-half of the operating
expense be contributed by the state to the industrial
accident fund. Upon my recommendation this contribu
tion has been suspended for the past four years. I
recommend that it be suspended for two years' more.
STATE HOSPITAL
AN appropriation should be mad'e for the state hos
pital at Salem to provide for an industrial build
ing. By so doing the cost of that institution can be
reduced. An appropriation should also be made for the
installation of an electric generator so that the hospital
may; take the power out of the steam used for heating
the building, generating the electric energy for power
and light. It would effect a material saving. I alsa
recommend that a nurses' cottage beprovided for the
state hospital at Salem. This would increase the capac
ity of the Salem hospital sufficiently to care for the
increase in the number of inmates during the coming
biennium.
I recommend that no further additions be made to
the Eastern Oregon hospital at this time.
SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
THE School for the Deaf, under the efficient manage
ment of the present superintendent, has shown
marked improvement. The increased efficiency has
warranted the increase in expenses.
SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
THE School for the Blind, in Salem, is one of the best
in the United States. Another fireproof building
should be provided for housing the girls.
The Employment Institution for the Blind, at Port
land, fills an urgent need. I recommend that the
activities of that institution be increased so that tho
blind may learn more trades and thus become self
supporting. " v j
' -TRAINING SCHOOL
THE old training school for boys, near Salem, should
be converted into a reformatory, where should be
confined the younger and unhardened criminals sent to
the penitentiary, and also the older boys who are now
being sent to the training school.
To that end! ' I recommend the construction of at
least, two; new. buildings at Woodburn. The cottage
plan 'is undoubtedly the best plan for caring for these
boys in the state training school , - -
' , TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL
SREGON now has one of the finest tuberculosis hos-
XJ pitals in the United States and, it is most effi
ciently managed.;"' A new hospital Nvas' provided by tho
people and has been located at The Dalies." Liberal
appropriations should be made for these institutional
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
THE Industrial School for Girls has been under most
able management.' I earnestly recommend the full
amount aproved bytfte budget commission be appro
priated for this institution. .
INSTITUTION FOR FEEBLE-MINDED
THE Institution for Feeble-Minded has been under
its present official management for several years.
The sterilization law passed at a previous session has
been in full operation. When once committed to this
institution the patients are not discharged or allowed
furloughs until they have been sterilized. In a few
years this will result in a marked decrease in the num
ber of those unfortunate sub-normals.
SELF-SUSTAINING COMMISSIONS
FROM time to time' commissions have been created
by legislative act and authority given to these com
missions to collect fees and licenses and to spend the
money so collected. I repeat my former recommenda
tions that all feei,collected by these so-called self-sustaining
commissions be turned into the general fund of
the state treasury, and that the commissions be obliged
to present their budgets to the ways and means com
mittee and receive from that committee their appro
priations for the coming biennium. It is not good
business or good government, to allow a commission to
collect fees, often aggregating many thousands of dol
lars, and then vest in that commission authority to
spend the fees as it sees fit, without audit or supervi
sion by elected state officials.
NEW STATE OFFICE BUILDING
I RECOMMEND that a new state office building be
erected in Salem. The necessary money can be bor
rowed from the funds belonging to the State Industrial
Accident Commission. Interest should be paid on the
money so borrowed. .0 , . , ,
The building should be of modern, class A construc
tion, and at least six stories high. One floor each
should be given to the state library, the highway com
mission, the bonus commission, the accident commis
sion and the motor vehicle department. State records
are now scattered through many different offices in
buildings that are not fireproof. It would be a serious
disaster to have the records of any one of these depart
ments destroyed. A fireproof state building is abso
lutely necessary to insure the safety of state records.
FAIRS AND EXPOSITIONS
I ASK you to continue the appropriations for the
Pacific International Livestock Exposition, the state .
fair and the various county and district fairs. The
annual visit to these various fairs in the fall is the only
bright spot in the isolated, lonely lives of many men
and women who are engaged in the production of food
and clothing for the world. It is also a source, of
inspiration to hundreds of boys and girls in the state to
have held before them constantly throughout the year
the possibility of earning a free trip to these fairs. I
ask you to make these appropriations as they mean so
much to so many people in the humble walks of life.
OLD AGE PENSIONS
AN old age pension should be adopted by the state.
There are today many men and women in the
state who have reached their declining years and are
unable . to support themselves. Their unfortunate
plight is due partly to economic conditions and partly
to their inability to do the things worth while at which
they can earn a livelihood. Many of them, in early life,
held prominent places in the business and social world.
It would be far more 'dignified and better for society to
provide for pensioning these dependent ones than to
" have them spend their last days in a poorhouse. This
is one of the prices we must pay for living in a complex
civilization.
IRREDUCIBLE SCHOOL FUND
I AGAIN cair attention, to the fact, as I did two years
ago, that there is a serious impairment in the irre
ducible school fund. The loss in this fund may reach
a total of $500,000. This resulted from loaning more
money than should have been loaned in certain coun-
ties in- the state, and the organization of irrigation
districts, which included lands mortgaged to the school
fund.
I recommend that the legislature, by joint memorial
to Congress, ask that body to pass legislation now
pending so that title to school lands will be confirmed
to the state ; and that the federal government relinquish
its reserve claim for the minerals that may be found in
said school lands. It is not right or just for the federal
government to give to the school fund of Oregon, as it
did, sections 16 and 36 of each township, and then
reserve to itself all mineral rights, coming back years
afterward and claiming said mineral rights and dis
turbing titles long standing in private individuals.
WORLD WAR VETERANS' STATE AID
COMMISSION
IT is probable that many loans made by the World
War Veterans' State Aid Commission will be found
to be over-loans. A number have already abandoned
their farms and homes and have turned their property
over to the state. The total loaned to date is about
$21,000,000, and when all applicationsi are "acted on
this amount will probably reach $30,000,000.: The
impairment in this fund may amount to 10 per cent,
or $3,000,000. The loaning percentage of 75 per cent
of the appraised value is decidedly too high, and it is
certain that this will result in serious losses to the
state.! -J v : .
On account of the cash bonus paid, there is a deficit
in this fund of $1,499,088. The state is collecting one
half mill on ail assessed property in Oregon for this
fund. It will require three years collection to take up
the present deficit. It is my judgment that $500,000
must be contributed yearly from the general fund to the
World War Veterans' State Aid Commission for eight
years in order to take up the deficit now existing and
the further; losses that will surely accrue in the future.
' -K , : PUBLIC; SERVICE COMMISSION
"CJX reason of various court decisions I know full well
toa the Public Service Commission is severely
limited in its power to grant relief to the icoplc from
excessive, charges and terms exacted by public utili
ties,- However seriously handicapped the commission
may be, it is nevertheless my belief that it should either
show a . disposition to help curb and correct the arbi
trary practices of the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph
Company and other utilities or the commission shoulf
be abolished, v r - t '
Arbitrarily and unreasonably, with all the pn r
of an autocrat, the telephone company compels, U
patrbrts; to pay for the use of the telephone before f : '
installed; rales are collected in advance; the patt.
money is used without . interest. Our Public Se ice
rvmmisinn has not matlp anv pffort to redrss vesa
and at least tar
no justice, equl-j
wrongs but sits idly by, condones,
approves such practices. There is
right in allowing the local telephone company to pay
four and one-half per cent of its gross earnings to the
, American Telephone & Telegraph Company, under the
guise of "supervision," and then compel the local com
panies to buy all of their costly equipment and supplies
at an unknown profit from the Western Electric Com
pany. The Public Service Commission of this state has
. failed to regulate except in the interests of the utilities
and against the people. !
I know the excuse is made that the courts would set
aside the decisions of the commission, but it would be
a relief to have the Public Service Commission evidence
a' desire to try to help. I called the attention of the
legislature to this matter two years ago.
I now recommend that you appropriate sufficient
' money to enable the governor to conduct a hearing
before the Public Service Commission and in the courts,
giving authority to summon witnesses, employ experts
and engineers, and compel the production of books and
records, that a full and complete hearing may be had
on the doings of the telephone-companies in the state
of Oregon. ;
J To th end that responsibility may be fixed, I recom
mend that the elective Public Service Commission be
abolished, and that the members of the commission be
appointed by the governor. j
Particularly interested in this telephone matter
must be the large delegation from! Multnomah county
in this j legislature, for in the city of Portland the
franchise of the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Com
pany expires in a short time, and the city council of
Portland should have the assistance of this legislative
body, so that the new franchise granted by Portland to
the telephone company will properly and adequately
protect the people from excessive rates and arbitrary
practices. The city council of Portland can refuse to
grant the franchise unless the "supervision" charge of
the American Telephone & Telegraph Company is
omitted. This is a matter affecting the pocketbooks of
many people,. and should you fail to act the people will
have the right to believe that you iave forgotten your
duty and the interests of the common man in your
desire to serve the special interests.
, 15ome years ago many of the public utilities and cor
porations which depend largely for their existence upon
the good will of the people, began selling their shares
of stock, using "high-power" salejsmen and effecting
their sales chiefly among the most influential citizr-O
of the community. One hundred dollars in stock, pay
ing 7 per cent interest, often influences several votes
on election day when the utilities desire to nominate or
elect a friend on an important commission or to a high
office. In this, distribution of stock it is noticeable
that the control never passes from the hands of a select
few, and the wider the distribution of stock the easier
the control. If the American people can be duped by
this scattering of stock throughout the country, then
by the utilities and
the administration of government
for the utilities will be perfected.
CONSOLIDATION OF STATE ACTIVITIES
IT seems to be utterly impossible jfo bring about con
solidation of state commissions! in Oregon. I now
recommend that you make a start by consolidating all
agricultural activities under one head. This will demon
strate the effectiveness and the economoy of such a
system. i;- " ' " ''."'' ':-'.
'f " STREAM POLLUTION
WHOLE j hearted support and assistance should be
given to our state board of health and to other
agencies and organizations that are devoting their
etiorts toward - the prevention of stream pollution.
This is vital to the health of every commuity.
OREGON NATIONAL GUARD .
ALL Oregon should be proud of our National Guard.
The Oregon National, Guard ! is the finest in the
United States. , The federal government expends more
than a million dollars a year in Oregon to help train
and equip theselnen. We arje not a war-loving nation ;
we do not believe in militarism, but simple precaution
dictates that we at all times be prepared to defend our
country and our institutions of government, whether it
oe from foes within or from the. enemy without.
! EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
E j should never forget . that; the most : important
business in the state of Oregon is the training and
education of our children. Soon j we older men and
. women must pass from the stage of action. Those who
take our places should have all the training that school,
. church and home can provide. The perpetuity of
. American institutions and of civilization itself depends
largely upon our schools. Free institutions of govern
,ment rest entirely upon the intelligence of the masses:
The centuries that have rolled by bear testimony to the
; immutable, law that education is the one great bulyvfck
of democracy - that mankind has progressed in prStf
uon lo tne degree mat education has been disseminated '
among: the people; that civilization has stagnated and
4,'ohe backward when the least among the citizenry have
been denied the right to knowledge.
; ; Next to! the homes of. the nation, public sehoote
exert the greatest influences on the character of our
citizenship j They are the foundation upon which our
inteUectualJdevelopment is built; they aid in rounding
v "but th'er physical wdl-bemg of the! youth of the land;
i ; they call out the best that is in the minds of the young
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