4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL September 7, 2016
O PINION
Offbeat Oregon History
Did Oregon’s political supervillain save the
world from Nazi nukes?
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
work. But in the meantime, Interior
Secretary Harold Ickes – who was in
charge of all the projects – learned
what was afoot. Ickes was a passionate
opponent of the Bonneville Dam proj-
ect from the start. It’s not clear why;
Martin felt it was personal animosity
toward himself, but Martin had a deep
and ugly streak of paranoia when it
came to things like that. It may have
been because of appreciation of the
scenic beauty of the Columbia Gorge,
some of which would be disappearing
beneath a lake if the dam were built.
Or it might have been simply a sense
of fi nancial responsibility; a green
light for Bonneville, after all, meant a
red light for some other project. $3.3
billion was a lot of money, but it’s not
an unlimited amount. And he surely
was also aware of Oregon’s private
electric utilities’ agenda; he may have
thought a dam at Bonneville would
simply be a gift to those wealthy pri-
vate interests.
But the reason Ickes gave for op-
posing the project was very reason-
able: With two dams on the river, there
would be far more power coming out
than the Pacifi c Northwest could pos-
sibly use. Much of it would be simply
wasted. Why spend a bunch of money
to build a second dam when the fi rst
one would slake the area’s power
needs and then some?
So while the two lawmakers were
bustling about getting things ready,
Ickes was smoothly and effectively
walking the President back from the
commitment he’d made.
Months went by, and Martin grew
suspicious. Back in Washington,
he learned what was up; but he also
learned, through a fellow offi cer, that
the Army Corps of Engineers had just
fi nished a survey on the site, and was
recommending a $31 million facility
there. Martin got a copy of this report,
but kept it to himself.
A few weeks later, he learned that
the President had allocated $250,000
to investigate the feasibility of a dam
at Bonneville. Instantly he knew that
the 250 grand was kiss-off money – a
little economic something attached to
an empty promise to buy a little time
so that Roosevelt and Ickes could
move on with a minimum of drama.
Calling home to Oregon, he told
McNary the showdown was nigh and
asked him to return to Washington.
Martin knew that he, a mere House
member, had little pull in the White
House; but McNary, as one of the 96
Senators who voted on Cabinet confi r-
mations, would have a lot more clout.
Reluctantly, McNary came, and the
two of them essentially staged a sit-
in in the White House until Roosevelt
agreed to see them.
When, as predicted, Roosevelt
C
harles Henry “Iron Pants”
Martin was probably the most
scurrilous and unlovable character in
Oregon political history. As an Army
offi cer during the Boxer Rebellion,
he looted Chinese palaces; as Or-
egon governor during the 1930s, he
expressed support for fascism; and,
worst of all, as an Army general af-
ter the First World War, he was in
charge of “breaking” America’s Afri-
can American war veterans at a sort
of post-service humiliation-and-deg-
radation camp so that they would not
get “uppity” after returning to civilian
life.
So it’s a little odd to think that Or-
egon, and the rest of the world, may
actually owe him a debt of gratitude
for saving it from a nuclear holocaust
at the hands of the Nazis.
Here’s the story:
In 1933, when newly elected Presi-
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt set about
showering the country with borrowed
money in an attempt to stimulate the
economy out of the Great Depression,
one of the projects on his list was put-
ting a hydroelectric dam on the Co-
lumbia River.
The government quickly green-
lighted one. But to the dismay of Or-
egonians, it was set to go at Grand
Coulee, up in Washington. It would
do nothing for the navigability of
the lower Columbia, where boats
were still having to portage around
the Cascade Rapids or use the locks
there. It would do nothing for fl ood
control, either. And – probably most
importantly, for the political elites of
both parties in Oregon – it would not
provide Oregon’s well-connected pri-
vate electric utilities with a pipeline to
super-cheap hydroelectric power that
they could buy cheap and make a kill-
ing selling at their standard residential
service rates.
So Oregon’s Congressional del-
egation swung into action. And that’s
where Charles Henry Martin comes
into the story.
At that time, Martin, a Democrat,
was serving in the U.S. House of
Representatives. Martin joined with
Oregon Sen. Charles McNary, a Re-
publican, to urge the President to
spend some of the $3.3 billion appro-
priation on a second dam project on
the Columbia – what would turn into
Bonneville. McNary, who had been
pushing for a dam since the Hoover
Administration, sent a letter to the
President; so did Martin; and a couple
months later they followed it up with
a personal visit. The President was
convinced and told the two lawmakers
that if they could fi nd a suitable place
to put a dam, he’d put it on the list.
Elated, Martin and McNary went to
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 5A
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Email: http://jmerkley.senate.gov/
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Type 2 diabetes is easily reversible with superior nutrition
O
ver 20 million people in
the United States (about
eight percent of the population)
have Type 2 Diabetes, and dia-
betes accounted for 6.8 percent
of global deaths in adults (age
20-79) in 2010.
Excess weight interferes with
insulin and is the primary risk
factor for
develop-
ing Type 2
Diabetes.
Therefore
the
most
effective
treatment
for Type 2
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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Diabetes is signifi cant weight
loss. However, the primary
mode of treatment by physi-
cians today is glucose-lowering
medication. These medications
give a false sense of security,
providing implicit permission
to continue the same disease-
causing diet and lifestyle that
allowed diabetes to develop in
the fi rst place. Many of these
medications promote weight
gain – making the patient more
diabetic; most importantly,
these medications do not pre-
vent diabetes from progressing
and causing complications.
Type 2 Diabetes is associated
with serious health consequenc-
es. Diabetes is the seventh-lead-
ing cause of death in the United
States, and 84 percent of those
deaths are due to heart attack
and stroke. Diabetes doubles
the risk of these cardiovascular
events. In addition, diabetes is
the leading cause of kidney fail-
ure and blindness in adults, and
a frequent cause of nerve dam-
age. Diabetes even increases
the risk of cancer, especially
colorectal cancers.
The good news is that diabe-
tes can be reversed and its tragic
complications can be avoided.
The key to diabetes reversal
is superior nutrition and exer-
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effort, but avoiding the devastat-
ing complications of diabetes
and a premature death is well
worth it. My diabetes-reversal
diet is vegetable-based with a
high nutrient-to-calorie ratio,
containing lots of greens and
beans, other non-starchy veg-
etables, (such as mushrooms,
eggplant, tomatoes and onions),
raw nuts and seeds, and limited
fresh fruit with no sweeteners
or white fl our products. When
diabetics eat in this style, they
lose their excess weight – the
cause of their diabetes – quickly
and easily, reducing or eliminat-
ing their need for medications.
They simultaneously fl ood the
body with disease-protective
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Hundreds of diabetic indi-
viduals who have followed my
dietary recommendations are no
longer diabetic! Here are just a
few examples: Charlotte, who
lost half her body weight (133
pounds) and Calogero, who lost
100 pounds in just seven months,
both reversed their diabetes.
Richard had been on insulin for
25 years and was able to stop
taking it after just a few weeks
of following a high-nutrient diet.
Most of these individuals, who
have completely reversed their
diabetes, have never seen me
as a patient. They merely read
my book, Eat To Live, and then
received further encouragement
and information as members of
DrFuhrman.com.
The most lifespan enhanc-
ing diet-style is also the most
effective treatment of diabetes.
Diabetics have the right to know
this so they can make fully in-
formed decisions that control
their health destiny.
If you have Type 2 Diabetes,
here are some steps you can take
to begin to treat it naturally:
1-
Visit DrFuhrman.com
to learn more about a high-
nutrient diet, and read about
the successes of others who
have reversed their diabetes at
drfuhrman.com/success.
2-
Read my book Eat to
Live: follow the dietary guide-
lines and advice for diabetic pa-
tients, and try the delicious reci-
pes. Or consider the “Eat to Live
Starter Pack,” which includes a
“Secrets to Healthy Cooking
DVD.”
Dr. Fuhrman is a New York
Times best-selling author and
board certifi ed family physi-
cian specializing in lifestyle
and nutritional medicine. Vis-
it his informative website at
DrFuhrman.com.
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