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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 16, 1941)
FAGS FOUH reflou "No THE Member of The Associated Prjjss j The Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the tee for publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited In this newspaper. 1 : i ; L Progress Suspicion that Oregon has been making "apology where none is warranted, expressed in connection with highway matters in this col umn the other day, extends now to the matter of industry. The apology and the tones of dis content were heard the other day when a second aluminum plant went to Washington, and were echoed in the legislature to bolster the plea for a sales tax. Industrial progress is distorted out of its nat ural shape by defense production which reflects an unhealthy swelling rather than natural growth. The recently-publicized Census of Manufacturers figures are based upon 1939 con ditions which afford a more reliable criterion even though that statement may suggest that depression conditions have become the only nor mal conditions. In a comparison of 1939 with 1937, these fig ures show Oregon as the one state bordering on the Pacific which made a gain in total manu factures. Oregon gained a modest 1 per cent; California dropped ZVz per cent and Washing ton went backward 6 per cent. In the present century Washington manu factures have ranged about twice those of Ore gon, sometimes more and sometimes a little less. In very recent years Oregon's manufac tures have mounted to 57 per cent of Washing ton's, its total number of industrial wage earn ers to more than 70 per cent, its total manufac turing payroll to 65 per cent. Oregon really is gaining on .Washington. Why? If you had been in Lebanon Saturday after noon we were too busy to attend, but we heard about itr-one of the answers would have been visible. There "open house" was held at the new Evans Products company plywood mill, built on a seven-acre site. At present it is turn ing out five carloads of plywood daily, and is employing 350 men. But definite arrangements are under way for virtually doubling the plant and its capacity. Lebanon is thriving and grow ing rapidly, hardly keeping ahead of an expand ed housing need. No apologies for Oregon's lack of progress there Plywood is a peacetime commodity though it will have important defense uses; peace or war, it is an expanding industry as new uses are de veloped and recognition of already-known uses becomes more widespread. But the significant thing is that the plywood industry and others which depend upon saw timber for then supply, are looking toward Ore gon and moving into Oregon. Here is where the undepleted supply of that resource is. The movement puts Oregon under greater obliga tion to see that it is not depleted, but present operations are merely the harvesting of a ripe crop. That problem is not yet acute. And in the meantime, Oregon is beginnig to cash in on its resources. Here again, we have nothing for which to make apology. Bus The bus has gone around the block and stopped again. This time,' perhaps, England will really make it. At any rate, British armies, which left the continent of Europe at Dunkerque during the last tragic week of May in 1940 have again set foot on its soil. This time they are at Saloniki and four other ports of Greece on the Aegean. This time they will meet again the grey-clad hosts of Germany. This time, too, they will, in all probability, decide for the last time wheth er Brittania is to provide forever, "too little, and too late' There are, reports say, 100,000 British troops, fresh from their triumphs in Libya, waiting in Greece for. the onslaught of 500,000 Germans from the north. That there will be heavy fight ing, hard fighting, decisive fighting can hardly be doubled. The plains of Macedonia, which have seen the bloodshed of mankind since the very dawn of western civilization may well see again the last spasmodic effort of a dying cul ture, or the blood -cast birth of a newer and bet ter ordering of the world and of men's ambitions than has ever yet been seen.. Wa veil's men of th Army, of the Nile an army which won laurels in Egypt no less green tfian those of Nelson at Aboukir have a great task to do, but also great prospect of doing it. Without question they have great inspiration for their campaign. They have their own san soucient victory over the breast-beating fas cists in Africa; they have before them the thrill ing spirit of the modern Greek evzones, who have recreated more of the fire and valor of their ancestors in the Periclean age than any man living had thought possible. Moreover, they haye the material and moral support of their own great empire, and of the United States as well. If the (Army of the Nile, reconstituted intor the Army of the Aegean, meets and holds the German hordes, and by the grace of benevolent fate and ! the strength of their own battalions, carries" tie, war for the first time onto Ger , man-held land in Bulgaria, General Wavell will have caused the first column of the Nazi reich to totter. If nothing else, he will have gained a foothold for British armies on the Continent, an advantage which is always subject to ex ploitation so long as Britain has an army and ships to carry it in. : It is a good omen that Churchill, the descendant of the victor of Mal plaquet and Blenheim, should be prime minister at a time when another British army sets .foot on the continent of Europe. . "Ul: . The bus, of which Chamberlain talked so con- -f idently a year ago, and which the British so miserably missed in Norway, - is at the stojy again. If the British' make it,' if their armies strike savagery and successfully, together with those of Greece, at -the tender Balkan flank of the reich, the .whole complexion of the world conflict on land and sea will decisively change. But if Sir Archibald's men prove unequal to the burden set before them, or, as might more Favor Sways Us; No Fear From First Statesman, March 23, STATESMAN PUBLISHING CO. CHARLES A. SPRAGUE, Pres dent readily happen, U i-mm Jl - A. can stem the the straits, land when Suez falls. For relieving Dividing Our the basketball we finally have ence between suit one of the vote to send the have to keep on So far as shirts are been so bored r-y ty i ft '-ttA ill, r m IVY 'Sm I i vt f I if I $28,000,000,000.1 eight hours a where the other What stirred degree. way in Britain: I i i tfe M"- ru MallM I 100, note circulation! Let it not dismay you , to note injj your daily news or conversations increasing number of nutty notions. During world excitement siich ideas as "a concentration caiihp for Senator heeler," or institution of a general government wiretapping system for citizens aire bound to come up, prob ably with increasing frequency from iiow on. Yet ' there is no indication) that the great bulk of dom inant government officials , are being: swayed in the slightest by ber of hotheads. . As for wiretapping J Mr. Roosevelt has already : said he, with the late Justiqe Holmes, considers ; it a dirty and undemocratic, business! and would tolerate its use by the! government only in legiti mate cases of espionage, sabotage,' kidnaping and extortion. J. Edgar Hbover said about the same thing. Against their judgment, the mysterious force' which is propagandizing for th Hobbs bill (tapping by all government departments tot aII suspected felonies) - is likely to gain more atten- xtion than headway. j I . ; As for concentration! camps, not e en Interior Secretary Ickes has yei mentioned thm and pos sibly he joins with ever r other official in consider ing the idea prepostero is. ; ' The wonder of most officials is no that bitter hatreds have gained rtxjt, but that thi great bulk of the people, the 99 pr cent, have so well kept ' their heads and feet after 'months of Jtot .pressure. ' Thm Shall Awe" I 1851 1 1 they lack the support in planes, J 1 M . . .( '. . aiiis oiiu ipaieruu xrom nome wiuiout which they can db nothing, not even American aid German conauest of the Balkans. of all the middle least. And Britain will not belfar behind. . f the Oregon citizenry of another 18 -months quarrel over the merits of a sales tax, thanks are Jdue to 23 members of fthe Oregon senate. But. you cigarette smokers! better buv a couple of bartons before the last minute rush. ! time between the legislature and tournament these last few davs. discovered the essential differ- them. When things don't so to basketball factions! they can't ball back to comm ttee. They struggling with it. An early Conclusion to the ASCAp-BMI feud is forecast. For more than one reason 'The End of a Perfect Dav" is coine to soilnd stran- Benito the Buneler and his black. concerned, never before have so many by so few. 1 A little Icluder, Mr. Perry. Your lqing-distance basketball prognosticating sounds father faint in this corner of the room. I 1 I News Behind The News j By PAUjL MALLON j (Distributed Wy King Features Snydicatl, Inc., re production inj whole or in part strictly prohibited.) WASHINGTON, March 16 A, weUfplaced gov ernment official of exceptional financial judgment ligures this $7,000,000,000 as only the! first 25 per cent advance on aid to Britain. His reasoning: Br j tain is like- I ly to win but will rfequire about I four years. The sT7.CtOO.000.000 figure was a roughf estimate to cover the first year pi new Brit ish orders. Probabily nowhere near that amount call be actual ly spent the next j 12 months, uui uik.i casixJK piiMULUVC t pacity will enable lirger expen- ditures next year and there- after, so the average is apt to ally? This figure would make the plausibly expected I expenditure Our own contemplate three-year defense program has already reached $32,000, 000,000. The two together could thus approximate S60,000,00O,000-4-twice the total of all j government appropriations n the last war yearsj of '17, '18, and '19. ! 1 A magazine, the American Investor, has fig ured a new way of trying to tell people how much a billion dollars! is. Their system: If n unusually alert and industrious young man of 15 started counting one djollar bills at the rale of 100 a minute, he woujd be able to count aj billion dol- diy, five days a week) A profound internal disturbance hasebeen caused here by the arrival of the last London economist showing Britain "fc financial predicament. The fed eral reserve boird survey of periodicals is de voting extraordinary space to the ecdhomist arti cle and financia officials are handing it around. The gap between British revenue $nd spending will reach $1,200,000,000 a month (n the basis of a $4 pound) mis coming fiscal year, beginning April, the article says. Only - half can be raised by means now visible. The other hall must come from inflation, compulsory savings or additional taxes (the limit jof taxation already having been approximate!). Inference is inflation may have to come. I I British national income for the doming year Is estimated at $36,000,000,000; government ex penditures at morp than half that, $2,000,000,000. Automatic new Revenue increases hpve already been provided in excess profits taxis and pur chase taxes. (Government levy on cpsmetics for instance is 35 pe cent.) The deficit! in spite of all this is estimated at $13,000,000,000 or the year. Savings, foreign loldings, and sterling balances will be tapped for half this, but not one knows Half can be found. ouii financial officials o much was the possibility that the British predicament is a foretaste of what we .will have to ffice in some Note: A considerable inflation is a-eady under Using the pre-war year 1935 as has already increased to 153. the fu ry of an infinitesimal num OSEGOTf STATESMAN, Sedans. O! Sole Mio!-Oh, Me Oh My Oh! And a Couple Bits for Breakfast By R. J. HENDRICKS Reprinting some 3-16-41 matter from old files of this column reaching back over eleven years: m m S (Continuing from yesterday:) "But by that time Rev. Gary had disposed of all the Methodist mission property in the Oregon Country; so they were not OC CUPIED as mission stations. "The colony (under the pro visional government) that be came a territory was kept for two years in a state of suspense about the titles of its people in their lands, when their rights were revived under the donation act. V S "The law provided for a sur vey of public lands. It granted to every white settler or occu pant of the public lands, Ameri can half-breeds included, over 18 years of age, United States citi zen or having declared his in tention to become such, 640 acres to a married man, naif of which was to belong to his wife' in her own right, and 320 acres to a single man, or if he should become married before Decern - if 1 JjjQ I (101121 Comments From Other Papers LEGISLATORS' PAY Many people do not agree with the views of Richard Neu berger, Portland writer who went to the legislature this ses sion, but there are a couple of comments he makes about the legislature with which Oregon ians ought to agree, even if they do not. One is that the 40-day limit on length of our legislative ses sions is too short, the other that legislators are tempted to petty chiseling by the lack of adequate remuneration the people permit them. The fact that the present leg islature failed by many days of completing its work within 40 days shows plainly that the stat utory time limit is too short. The present session did not have an abnormally large amount of work to complete, yet its "length is far over the 40 -day limit as has been the case in all re cent sessions. Legislators of ex perience all say that 40 days is too short a time and since their pay stops at 40 days there is no incentive for them to attempt to lengthen the session under pres ent conditions. Any reasonable person ought to be willing to admit that $3 a day for only 40 days is far too little recompense to induce com petent men to represent their counties in the legislature. Neu bergers suggestion of $15 or $20 a ! day may be high, but something less would be satis factory to the legislators. After all,' they are the men who make our state laws and their Job is as important as any in the state. But we limit them to less pay than an ordinary hand laborer gets and expect them to do md intelligent, farsighted job of leg islating. We cannot blame them too much if some legislators go to the session, , with .private axes to' grind and if there is a good deal of petty chiseling in putting , relatives on the payroll and oth erwise wangling money to sup plement the $3-a-day , pittance. , The legislator automatically gets a grudge against the public when he thinks how little money he gets, and it tends to weaken his scruples to the public detri roent '' - ' w.----.'-- --.,..,..-,.,. Orocjon, Sonday Morning. March 18. 1941 ber 1, 1850, 320 more to his wife; no patents to issue till four years' residence. "Legal heirs under the provi sional government land laws were made heirs under the do nation law. Before that time lines did not run east and west and north and south, and some donation claims taken up under the provisional government had as many as 55 corners, but all claims after December 1, 1850, had to conform to the surveys and according to the points of the compass. V "There were many questions to "be decided by the surveyor general and the general land of fice, involving the naturalization laws and the status of the courts of the provisional government and how they meshed into those of the territory when it was cre ated, but oi the whole as a gen eral rule, with the exceptions noted, matters worked out smoothly. "There was another set of pro visions in the donation law, tak ing care of white male United States citizens or persons who had declared their intention to become such, above 21 years age and coming into the country aft er December 1, 1850, and before December 1, 1853, and all such who should be already here and should become 21 years of age in the territory between the dates just named; all these were each entitled, if single, to take 160 acres, and if married another 160 to his wife in her right; or if becoming married within a year after his arrival in the ter ritory, or one year after becom ing 21, the same. "These provisions added to the urge, as stated In a recent former issue, of early marri ages, especially of young girls, and, with the interpretation of naturalization laws, to the dif ficulties of the officers of the general land office and the courts. "The famous Dr. McLoughlin case concerning the townsite of Oregon City is an instance his heirs finally getting partial jus tice after his death. ;on ;- .. n w f f t 1 If. I U M .':- . -7:,. r .'? Bus drivers Wtta strike placards - When this picture was taken In New York City, bus drivers' were ncHrlng placards they planned to w fa the strike called by Uta Yransport Workers union after rejection of union demands for n 25 per cent wage increase, a uniform eight-hour day and Improved - ; working conditions. of Heils "In 1864 Congress amended the donation law of September 27, 1850, so as to protect settlers who had failed to provide the required notice of their land claims, and allowing them to make up their deficiencies in former grants, and a large am ount of land was taken up under the new provisions.. "In the same manner the state was indemnified for the school lands settled upon previous to , the passage of the act donating the 16th and 36th sections for the support of schools. "Finally, in 1876, Congress passed an act for the relief of those persons whose donation claims had been taken without compensation for military res ervations, which reservations were afterward abandoned as useless; the settlers who had continued to reside on such lands being granted patents the same as if no interruption to their ti tles had occurred. "Such, in brief, is the history of the famous donation land laws. They carried out the im plied promise of the early lead ers like United States Senators Benton and Linn of Missouri, and the Applegates and Nes miths (leading immigrants), of a mile square of land to the men who brought, the covered wagon trains across the plains and were the propagandists and pioneers of the epochal movement that sent 350,000 people over the Old Oregon Trail from 1834 to 1869, not counting the 20,000 to 30, 000 whose bodies occupied un marked graves; were killed by the Indians, lost their lives from decimating diseases, or suffered death by starvation and the oth er perils of the plains, rivers, mountains and deserts. s "It is no wonder that our fa thers and mothers, and their fa thers and mothers and great grandfathers and grondmothers, thought they had reached next door to Paradise when they had come into the beautiful Willam ette valley after their terrible journeys 'with their covered wagons." v (Continued on Tuesday.) AY ' - - SpHnig SSioiverc Dn She Lowlands By J. WALLACE GRAHAM Yes, sir; spring is here, or nearly. Down, by the swing of the river In' : the , lowlands you can see it; but mostly you can feel it what with the smell of damp earth and the wind mov ing in the wiliws. , . . there's song in the south wind. We followed. a path by the pasture, ' along a rail : fence grown with vine. Even here you can see it if yoju will, or feel it; tender young briars shooting- up to the sun. It's j shameless-like to be sure, and thje dark little gar ter snake, harmless creature, gliding away , in the tangle.. . Off in the peach orchard we hear sound, voices floating the breeze; the farmer spraying, no doubt. It made us think of sum mer peaches to! come, all golden in the sun and hanging loosely. Of boys, the blck buccaneers, - raiding in. band; plying" through that cut of woods yonder, with the booty, and back again to the : swimming beach. "Who'll follow me to the. island and maybe to , hunt some mussels?" We'd alwaysj " wondered ; about spring and how Jhe robins came at the right time. And the geese, those great grjay fell o w s of flight, winging in the soundless dark; soundless save for the call- . ing geese. For I geese are-restless birds, and distance lies far their eye; when they choose they .rise to their . leader and are gone. "Miam potagan." Winging from lake to lake in the wildness. Whirr-rr! comes a mallard nos ing down in jthe wind. There's song in the south wind. . A halfish hop and we stubbed our toe on aj lowland slough. -Even in its brown drabness of mud and leaf ijnould, you can see spring crouching,- and beyond in the brackish depths carp moving slowly. On the far bank spread a dump, and someway it secerned to be grinning. There were tins rusting ". away J in the mud, a' scramble of phicken wire, and the pungent sweetness of rotting apples. And search as you may. you aren't likely to find alumin um or a bit of tarnished brass, for the stooped, quick-stepping men with gujnny sack on back won't let it lie. "What is copper now. Mister,1 j and light brass?" That is how it is with the carp moving as shadows and the sky blue in the trees. The way led on toward the river. Presently we came to a " skunk den under a root. Truly skunk are friendly folk if given . a chance, and though now and then His-Highness may stray to a henhouse, you can be sure he's painted much' blacker than he is.,Usually he is one to take care of ' his own business, and that's more than' may be said of every one. We knocked at his door, as it were, arid inquired: "How Wota&Ti's Wed By FRAKC1S GERARD Chapter 31 tiaaed The proprietress of the boarding-house herself appeared in. the hall and he viewed her with con cealed disliKe; The false front was in place, the false teeth clicked and glittered as usual and the pince-nez with its long, sparkling chain " attached to her too ample bosom griped him. Igor Levinlsky, or Colonel Wei mar, though hard of the Father land yes the erstwhile Col. Wei mer was thinking hard as he went on upstairs. On the second . landing, the; door on his. right opened and a stranger appeared. Levinsky gaye him a swift com prehensive scrutiny lest the man should be a detective. The stockily-built fellow; seem ed to be hi the early thirties, with a shock of fair- hair tum bling untidily into one eye. He wore an almost threadbare tweed jacket; his gray trousers merited the description "bags." The two nixen eyed one another non-committally, then the. stran ger spoke. "I wonder if you-have such a thing as a spare match? I rang for j some, but the bell, ' sure, must be put of order." Leyinsky 'handed a small box of matches jto the other with a polite, " 7bu can keep them." "Many thanks, sir, many thanks!" he ejaculated as his pipe began belching smoke, and, grin ning broadly, he returned to his room. J ... The nazi agent walked thought fully to his (own room and, clos ing the door, stood in frowning thought of an Irishman one who took pains to correct his Hiber nian idiom but the brogue crept through in spiteof-every thing. Levinsky j threw his hat onto the bed and dropped his copy of - the Evening Standard on the ta ble. There was a knock at his door. Almost immediately the Irish-, man appeared. He grinned in gratiatinglyf His eyes went to the table. "Will it be troubling ya if I take' a look at your paper, sir?":. - -V'sV;Ax----fK t. "Do, by all means,' said Levin- sky indicating ; the . v e n 1 n g Standard, r )"- '- ; "I am beholden to-ya," replied the Irishman, stepping into the room and idlowing the door to close behind him.. - Ivinsky Watched his uninvited guest curiously. He seemed Jumpy and! suddenly the Irish man did jump when' someone knocked at th door gently. Before Levinsky realized what had happened, the Irishman dropped the paper, sprang round the table, to face the door, and do you do, Mr. Narrow Stripe, and how is the family? There was no answer to be had, so we went on. . r " Rounding turn we met two ' dogs hunting, by themselves. It was comical the manner they jumped when' they saw us, and you knew by their expressions : they ; didn't expect anyone in the mile. Stiff -legged as colts, and when they found 'their voi ces gave us a tongue lashing we shan't soon forget. But dogs, bless them, are wary when away from " home, and bark as they might we knew our faintest mo tion would send them flying. " "Come, come, now, old boy, that's no way to do." Bow-ooo-00! Bow-ooo-oo! And the one rolling over the sloughs. .'' j ' To . the river swinging big in the lowlands; by gravel bar and steep bank; past slow-eyed . cat tle, dreaming in the sun. Have you ever watched 1 a cow- chew ing her cud? Really, ; we mean? tows. loo. must xravei 10 . a iana of their own, else how can be explained that soft, sad ' look in their eyes. Cows working the nasture to the river, wide and swiftly flowing - between silted 1 banks; cows 1 wandering I home in the dusk, where willow 1 wind is singing. . ." , There's ' song in the south wind. I 1 , Came to where a mink had eaten a . musseL - Have you ever tried following a mink's track in the bottoms, down to the driftwood hung on the point? Yes, sir, we mean when spring is here, or nearly, and mink are T answering a call. Then Wily- 1 tail is very full of business, and in every hollow log or tree1 root lies adventure. Each little track a pattern snooping in the river sand, and you begin to wonder if a mink's not the most nosy ! nsMrm tw i 4Ka wnrM lUtnlr tea a 9Vfsa ua uic w vi avausm a - like that come spring of the ! year, and the white clouds brushing the sky. The sun slipped away then, . quiet like, 'and there was change of a kind. We looked up with astonishment to the daring rain heads moving swiftly in. Where have you gone, light clouds of the blue? There was change in the air; darker and darker drew -the day. Silence, and the first . whisper of rain like breath. Soon" the woods are dripping in down pour; and off 1 on the horizon there is thuhder commencing to roll and the cattle bawling deep from the lowlands. Every bush a shower, we turned slogging steps homeward. We had no coat, and remembering,- couldn't help but -reflect: -Yes sir, spring is here, or nearly, and that is how it is. j. . . There's rain in the south wind. vinsky called to the knocker to enter. 1 The door opened, the maid-of-all-work appearing. The Irish man relaxed. He pulled his coat down once more over his hip pocket and pretended' nothing odd had happened. - He stooped and picked up the paper. "Good ev'nin', Mister Levin sky," said Rose. "I want Mister Smith. He's been ringin' his bell." She turned to the man called Smith and asked, "Did you wan somethin'?" "No," replied the Irishman. "I was wanting some matches, but this gentleman was kind enough to let me have a box." Rose disappeared. Chapter 32 ' "- "You seem a trifle nervous, my friend," observed Levinsky. "Would you like a, drink?" "Faith an I would . V "It is," interrupted Levinsky cheerfully , as he headed .for the cupboard in the corner of the room. He had to pass -behind his companion to reach It. . In a flash, Levinsky, in passing,-jerked up the back of the Celt's coat and removed v the long, flat automatic protruding from the Hibernian's hip pocket. "May the divil himself 1" ex claimed irate "Mr. Smith," his brogue suddenly pronounced in his excitement. But Levinsky covered him calmly' with" the au tomatic. "Now, please explain," the disguised Nazi Colonel said grimly. . The Celt glared. "Bad cess to ye! he began. "I'm supposin yere a spy of a policeman?" "Sit down," commanded Le vinsky. "And let me have a look at that newspaper you're hiding behind your back." 1 "Mr. Smith" sat down in a convenient chair and glowered. "The paper! V pressed Levin sky, and when the Irishman sul lenly threw it to him, the Nasi Colonel pulled it towards him with his shoe, never taking his eyes or the automatic's muzzle from. the other. f The German, stooped and Picked up the Standard. Across its front, was the heading: "This Man Is Wanted Below, in smaller type, he read, "Escape of Prominent !. R. A. Leader." Beneath this 'was "Bomb -Outrage on Chelmsford By-Pass." To one side of the two-column news report was the reproduc tion of a photograph which bore the caption: . "The only known photograph of Ion 0Byme, 1 I. R. A. leader, who escaped from the police last night near Chelmsford." hi iumd,fashecLto his hip. ,Le-. ,-KTo be continued) 1
