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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1929)
PAGEHrtt The New OREGON STATESMAN, Salem, Oregon, Tuesday ZXornia?, April 23, 1929 L 1 3!: tEfyi: (Oregon tategman "AT Fa t or Sicays Us; No Fear Shall Awe" From Firtt Statesman, March 28, 1S51 THE STATESMAN PUBLISHING CO. Chables A. Sfragite, Sheldon F. Sackett, Publisher Charles A. Sprague ... Editor-Manager Sheldon F. Sackett - - Managing Editor Member of the Associated Press The Associated Press-is exclusively entitled to the use for publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper- Entered at the Postof.fieo at Salem, Oregon, at Second-Clas Matter. Published even t- morning except Monday. Businest office 2V.i S. Commercial Street. msac1 r mil..; ii lam maco Pacific Coast Advertising Representatives : Arthur W. Stypes, Inc., Portland, Security Bldg. San J 'rai.cisco, Sharon Bldg.; Los Angeles, W. Pac Bldg. Eastern Advertising Representatives: Ford-Parsons-Stecher, Inc., New York, 271 Madison Ave.; Chicago, 300 Ni Michigan Ave. State Road Bonds SHOULE' Le state highway commission issue more bonds for hijffc v-ay construction ? Recen'.ly The Statesman said "No" in objection to the urging of tihi Oregon City Enterprise, among others, for the issuance of. : million in bonds a year. The Enterprise rejoins with the ft.itention that unless bonds are sold sufficient funds will tt be available for new construction; and that we do not tr've proper consideration to those sections of the state which have contributed to the building of the fine roads in Marion-Mid Clackamas counties. The roads which the En terprise say are specially in need of completion are the Bend-Bun" section, the Mitchell-Dayville connection, the Roosevelt lVghway from Yaquina bay to the mouth of the Umpqua, ,vd the Klamath Falls-Lakeview-Bend road. The highway cunmission in its last reports makes particular ref erence to ths needs of the first three of these roads. The Enterprise refers us to page 53 of the commission's report to ij'aow the dearth of road funds from ordinary sources di-'ing- the biennium. But this report on the same page, in a paragraph which the Enterprise does not quote, gives 6,0OO,OOO as the probable gr;oss total amount that will be av&ttable during the biennium for additional new con struction" and betterment projects." To t'Vs may be added the carry-over allowance for con tracts not yet completed, which amounts to $1,071,244.80. This giver a total appropriated or available of over $7,000, ' 000. Of wrse there may be a carry-over at the end of the biennium V be subtracted, but that connot be computed now. Well, during the last biennium during which no bonds were issued the atate spent a total of $6,677,130.72 for new con struction iwd betterment, which was quite a sizeable sum. As 'o probable revenues the commission's estimates were macf on the basis of the old laws. The new law will give some rxtra revenue this biennium because of two col lections of license fees, in January, 1930, for a half-year and in July, HU0, for a full year. Now kow much money is required for the three pro jects whvA the Enterprise and the highway commission re gard as jtwst needy. The rough estimate furnished us by Highway Engineer Klein is: Bend to Burns, $500,000; Mitchell t9 Dayville $600,000; Newport to Gardiner $4,250, 000. This totals $5,350,000. It is not likely that these pro jects coiflfc or should absorb so large a proportion of the available rvenues during the biennium, but it is not unrea sonable t expect the completion of the first two during this period ?3 the expenditure of at least as much on the , Roosevelt highway as was spent the past biennium, namely : $2,230,033.53, about one-third. The same amount the fol lowing btonium would see the completion of the Roosevelt highway, The road, while important, is essentially a tour ist Wghfnjr, certainly not of the vital importance to the state as whole that many other trunk highways are. - Our imposition to the issuance of bonds is not because we take a- provincial point of view, as the Enterprise inti mates. On the contrary we favor road building in all parts of the state. We are looking primarily at the economic sit uation tiu state is in. Oregon ranks second in per capita bonded debt. It is not enovh to say that the raod bonds are not property ob K gat ionj w They are debts which we must pay out of one kind of taxaia or another. Then the chill that came with last year's n? jposals to tamper with road revenues, which would have rfJted in making the road bonds property debts, gives a hint that some day a freak law might be passed, after the bonds were issued and the highways built, which would crip ple the revenues now available. The road bonds outstanding the firii of this year were $32,716,750. In 1931, 1932 and 1933 tlj maximum load of interest and principal retirement on this ebt will be reached, $8,343,314.70. After that the diminishing requirements of the debt service, together with the nof&al increase in revenues will give increasing sums for roa construction, sums which will surely be adequate to take: care of reasonable needs. At the present time it is quite out of the question to is sue bonds in view of the high cost of money. Many bond is sues hire gone begging because credit was too high-priced for lov-rate coupon issues. sell its oad bonds all right, it is not advisable to issue long term bends at high interest rates. In ur opinion the state of Washington has done well to build . highways out of revenues with no bond issues. The question was fought out years ago and Governor Lister, gain it powerful opposition, held the state in line for the "pay-z-you-go" policy. Now it has ample funds for road construction, all of which goes' into roads, none into bond payments. We , do not criticise; the Oregon commission for pastjd- issues, for they did result in giving-the state high ways jiooner than Washington. But? it is sound public econ omy fc complete the roads out of current funds- rather than to go farther in debt. . . Looking ahead a year or two longer may seem a long time. Looking back we may see that we have crowded into the stjurt space of 12 years the construction of 3,723.7 miles of state highway, 85 of the system, with-only 644.6 miles yet ta be completed. Sooner than we realize these unfin ished gaps will be completed. Funds will then be available for other work, including: such permanent improvements as paving; and bridges. The time his arrived for Oregon's high way board definitely to adopt a "pay-as-you-go" plan. Rules and Schools SECRETARY of STATE HAL HOSS has decreed that pref erence shall be given, to unmarried women so far as posi tion in his office are concerned. The test is to be whether a person is supporting herself and others, in contrast to those who have other support themselves That ia a good rule, Jobject to certain exceptions in cases of particular ef ficient cite same rule might well be applied in the teaching pro f estiSi For instance how many married women are teach injna&.e Salem schools, on the regular staff, who have hus batjeIe to support them? The school board might well consiSextsome such rule as Mr. Hoss has put into effect. What attempt is being made to lift Salem out of the low salary schedule' group this year? Albany and Cdrvailis have adopted new and increased scales of pay for their teach ers. Salem has been an offender on tlx aide of Iovr wages. We hope the teachers will get some consideration this spring when the hiring and firing board meetings start. Santiam water or Marian lake water; it makes little difference but th supply would be cool, pure and adequate Eventually; i surelyj now perhaps. : ,? T While the state could probably f with THAT TOL3GH ,111 if y l I' n the hoosel -mvs. ; . V rgSn P ysf fiiri ! ::nnsi:t:u:K::i::iEn:a:t:n::i:nsr.:;::S::::t:::::::s;i:::::.:: ni:::::::::.-nt:rr;::rtrt3ra :::::s:::i;::::nn:::::u;c::::s:::;;i::n:;LVj:n;::r:::rr.::::;::i::::::::;: " Ete for Ereakf a1t By R. J. HENDRICKS Still water ia Willamette. V V , It ia now In sight, if two things can be assured. 'm U U What are the two things? They are, iirst, a constant supply ox government money, and a con stant flow of water in the river In the summer season. 1. "W S With these two Clows assured. In the volume of the present year, the United States engineers In charge of the work will get and maintain a still water channel in the Willamette, between Salem and the point near Champoeg be low which there Is always- at least a six toot depth regardless of any or much work the depth of the channel above Champoeg to bo from two and a half to three and a half feet; according to the pres ent program then a reasonable summer boating stage on up as far as Harrisburg. . mm S E. B. Thompson, in direct charge of the upper river Improve ment, has been on the job for about '19 years, as he told the Sa lem chamber of commerce lunch eon crowd at the noon hour yes terday. He has never had enough money to spend, but he- has ac quired In the 19 years a know ledge of the river that Is invalu able. Every river is different from every other river, and every im provement project has its peculiar problems; even each section of such project is sui generis; a pro position that has its individual vagaries and attributes. W Mr. Thompson has learned these peculiarities of the Willamette channel. He knows bis river. As Captain Edmund H. Levy of the corps of engineers, U. Sk govern- ment, one of the speakers at the luncheon of yesterday, told the Bits man, the Willamette channel is a gravel proposition, while the improvement of the Columbia's ehannel is a sand proposition. Stop the flow of the water in the Willamette's channel at any point, and? the stream drops and con stantly plies up gravel. And there is plenty of water in the flood sea son in the Willamette; it runs to 400,000 cubic second feet, while at the summer stage it drops to 3S00 cubic second feet. So the problem Is to conserve in a per manent channel the 3500 second feet, and to keep the 400,000 cu bic feet at flood time from play ing havoc with the permanent im provements that are made in low water time. Splinters: MARION county does not send the public. a statement that taxes are due. It expects each citizen who owns property to know that he must pay taxes onr lt and to make inquiry of the sher iff's office as to the exact amount to be paid. Sheriff Bower explains that this custom saves much waste time- In making out statements to property owners, only to rind that the ownership has changed dur ing the year which elapses from the- time the assesment is made until taxes are due. AH the taxpayer ieed to do- is to inquire tor his taxes on certain pieces of property which he holds and this information win be im. mediately forthcoming. But it will ha an thai specific property the citizen ows not on tha listing as shown on the tax rolls; - The Mexican revolution appears to be another false alarm now that two of the rebel generals. Velleral and Madero hav sought th praUotiott oltha- United States in- Texaav What & horrible waste- of front saga- spacefr Newspapermen 3r of battles about ta start, mack Getting Hard To Manage The engineers intimated or said yesterday that they have some $75,000 to spend this year, against about half that sum an nually in recent years. With the 175,000 they can by dredging keep the channel open the coming summer season. They can do more. They can buUd some wing- dams, of improved construction, the util ity of which they have learned by experience; by knowing their riv er. These- wing dams will do no good in getting m- better channel this year; the dredging will do that. But they will help next year. Every year more permanent work can be done, if the flow of money and water shall continue; In a few yearsk the project can be made "permanent." Not that it will not need watching and nursing, and annual work. For nothing in or of this world is actually permanent; not even matter. m So we are now on the way to still water in the Willamette. What wiU this mean? It will mean water borne transportation to ev ery deep seaport in the world, by boats and barges, with only a cheap channel transfer to ocean going vessels in the port of Port land. It will mean the Willamette river lined with wharves and ware houses, on both sides. It is the big gest thing in sight for Salem and other valley points. Robert Mc Bride, manager of the Salem Nav igation company, said at the luncheon yesterday that Astoria, with $3,000,000 water terminal improvements, has less general cargo tonnage than Salem now has; and Longvlew with $1,000. 00 worth of terminals has less than Salem has. And he said $100,000 in a river terminal for boats and barger and. railroad cars and trucks would be in position to draw business to Salem for. 40 miles in every direction. This would certainly pay, as a munici pal or a district bonding proposi tion. H We may reasonably depend on the Almight to send the snows of winter to provide our 3500 second feet of water in the summer time; and on the government to keep up the present flow of money And we must depend upon cfur own people to do the rest; to pro vide the termfnal facilities, and to increase them with the growth of business here, which will be sure to come. And as the. business of this valley grows-, the govern ment will do more; to the extent of making more "permanent" riv er Improvements, including dams and locks if found necessary. Gathered Here and There from the News of This Week. more so the public. Years ago a mandatory control over Mexico was proposed by a group in the democratic party. One bright ar guer stated that Villa had' been chased by the American army for three months and could not be' caught and if that were the case, how much more difficult would it have been to undertake, success fully, to handle the entire Mexican problem? Time alone will solve it, which is an easy, way of stating that the "problem'' cannot be met and disposed of by one feU swoop when Illiteracy, heredity, religion, physical condition of the country and kindred difficulties are to be faced. Mexico is bound for occa sional front page space for gen erations to- ooms. 'These are not popular days for business executives who run coun ter to- the- government and what the public deems right. Mr. Stew. art of the-Standard Oil of Indiana found that out: Mr. Sinclair bids fair also to tako a Jolt. His chairH manshlp of the Sinclair Consoli dated Oil company seems- doomed now that Arthur Cutten and the Fisher Bros, have acquired control of the stock. Cutten and the- Fish ers make a habit of purchasing corporations which are not doing as well as they might and by In stalling shrewd management, bringing the corporations to a sound basis. Resulting profits have Increased stock values tremen. donsly. Cutten came to New York City from Chicago while the Fish er Bros, made their original mo ney in Detroit, "retired" from manufacturing to that more in. teresting field of corporation man agement and investment. Plana for the new state office building in Salem having been ac cepted, and it is now certain that early in June work on this half million dollar project will be- un der way. This is a most satisfac tory outlook for this city which needa that building work to round oat the program for 1929 which to date has not reached the mark set In 1927 or 1928. Financing of the new building Is on a shrewd basis. Instead of having the state continue to pay rentals to private lessors, the state itself is to rent office space to its own departments and from these the Interest and retirement charg es tor the new building are to be met. All money coming to pay- for the building, from the state indus trial accident fund is in the nature of a loan and all is to be paid back to the state. In an ordinary business such internal financing might wefl be considered too much inter-mar. riage of capital but for the state, with large reserves set up in the accident fund demanding invest ment, the deal is sound and prac ticable. A water system for Salem which will tap a large supply available in the mountains in the eastern part of the Willamette valley may be a necessity some day. Just now the cost of the pipe line and the maintenance charges would create a heavy burden in increased water rates. But the city is grow Ing and tomorrow's population may be adequate to make such development feasible. Just now the water company can do nothing which will ingratiate itself better with the community than to rush the completion of the new filtra tlon system from a new source of supply no- the river. The old in take, is too clogged by sediment and the method? of pumping the water out of the river into a pond and then draining the water through' the accumulated matter of years Is not conducive to good tasting water, no matter how pure it may be. A new filter and intake. placed up the river and not under an artificial pond in an island will do - much- to stop present com plaints. 1ED TO TELL HIS STORY SACRAMENTO. Cal.. April 22. (AP) Strong light is expected to- be thrown on the impeachment charges against Superior Judge Carlos S. Hardy when he takes the witness- stand on his own be half Tuesday. Rex Hardy, son of the accused jurist and one of his defense coun sel., announced Saturday that plans are to place the defendant on the- witness stand when the-case- is resumed Tuesday morning. So, from the judge's Hps the senate Is to hear his version of the many angles introduced into the records by prosecution and de fenss witnesses Including nisi own version' of' Mrsi Lorraine- Wiseman Sielaff's story of howl she and Judge Hardy planned to produce the mysterious "Miss X" ee so- to bear out Kenneth Ormls-I ton's affidavit concerning theH identity ot his Carmel companion. The defense would Ufeto know what the- state is going: to do with, the evangelist. It she is definite ly released the- defense- may sub poena her to testify for Judge Hardy. 11 SH Editoro THE TONGUE POINT BASE Senator Steiwer in a recent message hints that if the Astoria bridge bill is put through and the bridge erected that the navy department will abandon the Tongue point naval base. To the casual observer who has pene trated the thickets that now cov er the Tongue point site; who has noted the rotting and unused piers; and who has been inform ed of the filling In of the en trance channel; it would appear that the navy department ""aban donment" of the Tongue point site occurred some years ago. It is an insight into the costs of government, when it is con sidered that the United States threw some $400,000 into the construction work there; left It unfinished and unused for almost a decade; and now, through an indirect source, hints that because of a bridge, which if constructed along proposed plans, would not interfere with the passage of the biggest battleship, let alone sub marines and destroyers, for which the base was designed; plans to throw up the sponge altogether. And in considering the waste do not forget that $100,000 that Clatsop county, with tacit con sent of the government, dug from pockets of the taxpayers and used to purchase the land so that it could be given to the government for naval base purposes. The "raw" deal this community received- from the government in relation to the Tongue point base has not been forgotten and the people of this district do not like to be "kidded" about the matter even through such a distinguished personage as a United States sen ator. Morning Astoria n. SAWDUST AND TALKIES With the advent of the talkie, humanity realized that it had much to be thankful for. Filming the voices of actors, with their ac tions, does add greatly to the real ism of the screened production, and consequently to its Interest; it is possible to bring to audiences far off the beaten circuits the best in vaudeville, in opera. More than ever does it lessen the difference between the advantages enjoyed by the city dweller and the indi vidual in the small or medium sized town. At that humanity had no really comprehensive idea of how much It had to be thankful for. It could not have until now. But at last the great significance of the talk ies is made known. Billy Sunday is to be multiplied. The news is given out today. Already he and his voice have been filmed for the preservation to posterity of his presence and his pronouncements. This is im port ant. But vastly more so is the annuoncement that within a few weeks the evangelist will head for the Los Angeles studios to put on a regular revival. That is to say, the Reverend Billy and his assistants will "act" a revival Musicians, choir, sawdust, atmos phere oh, lots of, atmosphere perhaps even a flock of extras hot footing it down the sawduBt trail in simulated penitence. Once that is done it will be . os sible for every town to have a Billy Sunday revival providing only that it has a talkie outfit An acted revival, of course, but still of the same sincerity, the same spontaneity, the same inspi ration, which would be on top were the Reverend Billy present In the flesh. Whether the royalty plan o f charging for these pseudo appear ances of the evangelist will be used is not stated in the news, but then, that is a point on which a becoming reticence is custom arily observed. The important thing is that through the talkies, Billy Sunday is providing for a wide diffusion of his personality, for the carry ing on of his influence even after death. He is taking no chance that the benefits which he is so pecu liarly fitted to confer may cease merely because he ceases his earthly existence. Plainly Billy Sunday ia averse to hiding his light under a bushel. Bend Bulletin. MAKING MEN "Bigger and better men." Is the slogan of Dr. Oscar Riddle, of the Carnegie Institute, who says tfiat science has already accom plished experiments with the 'hor mone of the pitutiary gland" which indicate that within a short time that some three feet In height together with other comparable physical attributes, may be added to the- race of men. Super-intel lects may also be produced Dr. Riddle says, and man's mentality so Influenced that he wll cease to be irritated by obstacles and misfortunes, for his new mental and physical equipment will obvi ate sueh contingencies. Dr. Rid dle may be right or wrong in his prophecies but strangely enough, his picture of a race of ajiper-gi-anta existing in lazy and god-like ease, has for us. onlv a sllrht ant peal. Man has reached his heights' only in time of adversity and his greatest depths in period of idle ness. Let us hope- that Dr. Riddle and his- fellows do not make life too easy. Morning Astorian, BEATING THE DEVIL Beating the devil around the stump has become an idea de vised to secure public money at a time- when a huge deficit Is star ing the state in the face. Two years ago. under legislative en actment, the surplus ot the- indus trial accident commission fund. was touched for $00,000 to fi nance an office building at SaJem. upon the- presuaaptlon- that the money advanced would be- restor ed, from rentals to state depart ments; Oregon has-so many boards and commissions' that the- new building, was needed te house- the ever-growing army or state em prayesf and it wa not possible? to levy a- tax to- cover the construe tion costs. Two years later when the state fair wanted a new grandstand seme one. hit upon the happy exri pedient of adding $100,000- to the deficit, with the understanding that the fair board would borrow 150,009 more- and that the money woaidr b repaid to the state from profits of the fair. As the state fair d )s no? ordin arily operate at a pipfit. another legislature will probaly bo solic ited to approve tome weird scheme for refinamlng tie so called loan, but in the end the taxpayers will proba Yjr be called upon to pay the bill. The fair affords L cuting for thousands of people arouai Mar ion county, but it is, after all. of doubtful benefit. Horse races, brass bands and col rful decora tions are attractive, but they do not build up the ec atomic pros perity of the state, rbich has a total tax bill this y tr ia excess of $50,000,000. The new $150,00( grandstand at Salem will soon b tome a cost ly monument to Ioos ness and ex travagance In the overnmental affairs of Oregon. Oregon City Enterprise. A MIGHTY I8SU IXX)MS The application otf the North west Powr company for a hydro electric 1 velopment on Marion lake and its environs puts square ly before the people of this com munity an issue of far reaching importance. The question is whether they welcone the de velopment of their latent power resources or whether they desire to lock them up in thi primeval and virgin state to bl cntouehed by the hand of main. Recent federal and statu legis lation safeguards the nubile against the speculative ambitions of power-site grabber. In this respect public policy "let lianged tremendously. It is sv a pos sible for power intent l grab sites without developl iteilsm, for failure to develop meiasCt they will revert to the natfia r to the state, as the case ma la. Ia the Northwest Power cot9&7 appli cation, therefore, thei2a fo dan ger that the public wi J ftsv jeopar dizing its right ot owiati with out obtaining value re We think that mucked tha op position to the Power eoinpany's application comes out 64 a fear that development of Lm Marion Lake region will mar one or na ture's finest beauty sects. We are certain that this k the posi tion of the Santiam Fish and Game Protective and Propagating association. We think, too, that it explains the recent action ot the Albany city councl protesting against the application. It must be borne in nUid, how ever, that the power site lies with in the national forest and, there fore, will not be sutfect to the spoliation that might M expected HUMOR straight from the HEART SOMETIMES Uncle Bob puts away cob pipe? and gives Annie a bit of hi j kindly philosophy. We all should know and listen to. old Uncle Bob in this ente. teining new Comic Gt the Heart L TurnfeaBags 8 - Ycul3H 5lby this picture s&iy every da tfesreaftpr in if It were on property owbed by private individuals. We think, that development of a power site is possible without undue damage to the scenery around it. We must not forget that Al bany, in common with other points in the Willamette valley, net-i development of the very sort that the utilization of its wonderful hydro-electric resources to the east will make possible. In fact Western Oregon's place in the sun is going to be determined very largely by the use ft makes of these very resources. On the west ern slopes of the Cascade moun tains are power sites capable of a development that will turn the wheels of all the mills that can find room on the western coast. The question is raised now defin itely for the first time, whether this area will grow and prosper by taking advantage of its opportun. ities; or, whether it will remain in its present stationary status by refusing to utilize them. We are not, at the present time, a special pleader for the company that is now raising the issue. v are not familiar enough with its plans or purposes to be able to form an adequate opinion regard ing it But we are calling atten tion to the fact that the issue is a fundamental one and that this community must decide for itself whether It is going to welcome development or whether it is con tent to stand still. At any rate, the issue is one that commands our utmost consid eration and respect and is not one that should be treated lightly or intolerantly. Albany Democrat-Herald. OUTLOOK IS GOOD If Governor C. C. Young, of California, knows what he's talk ing about and he usually does that state as a whole will make as much money out of deciduous fruits this year as it did last, la spite of the fact that the crop will be only half as large. And that, unless our arithmetic is sadly out of whack, means that Southern Oregon, which will har vest a full crop, will make twice as much money as last year. Bartlett prices are already nearly 100 per cent higher than pre-season contract offers of cash buyers last year in thjs district. -Medford News. CLOCKS MOVED FORWARD PARIS. April 22. ( AP) France tonight went on summer time, at 11 p. m.. the clocks were set forward to midnight. his old corn 2 rjfeBfeta axf ' I A