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' THE POLK COUNTY OBSERVER, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1915.
Some Things Harris Thinks
A. H. Harris, former state printer
and a newspaper man of no mean abil
ity, has been contributing a series of
articles to the Salem Statesman on
various sections of the Willamette
valley, the last of which refers to
Polk county. Among other things Mr.
Harris has the following, which pro
vides for thought along agricultural
lines, even if there is some deviation
from real facts in instances:
With the "high" land in Polk coun
ty the story of development is differ
ent. Much of the land is flat and
needs drainage before prosperity can
come to the men who cultivates it. The
large areas of "white land" are val
ueless until they can be drained and
the fertility or the sou reclaimed
fdie th people of this community.
Independence has had a creamery
for fifteen years. K. C. Eldridge es
tablished the enterprise and he lias
fought for business until he now
draws cream from a territory extend
ing as far south as California. Yet
in the face of tliis fact farmers near
Independence are not supplying as
muh milk today as they were supply
ing a year ago. An unusual demand
for dairv cows for shipment to east
ern Oregon last spring caused farm-
era to thin out their herds, wmle no
cows have been brought in to main
tain the number formerly kept.
The annual turnover of the Inde
pendence creamery is $250,000, about
half what it should be. With better
feeding conditions among dairy farm-
Near Independence two tracts of thisjers the output of butter could easily
waste land are to be found, and their
development would mean much to the
welfare of the town. The cost of rec
lamation might run as high as $40 per
acre.
Polk county land originally, was
(rich in productive elements, and all
ttie pioneer had to do was to tickle
the soil with a plow and the harvest
came. Year after year the soil was
impoverished and crops began to de
crease in volume. Finally the strug
gle of the farmer to get crops from
the land became discouraging, and a
new problem appeared in the commu
nity. Land conservation ar permanent
development had to be considered by
farmer and business man alike.
For a number of years methods of
farming have been changing in Polk
county, but the large tract has proved
hard to handle and much of the land
has run down. On many farms the
buildings have been allowed to go to
pieces and a general appearance of
adversity pervades the neighborhood.
This is the condition which must be
met and overcome.
Considerable of the lack of pros
perity can be attributed to the failure
of hop growers to organize to control
marketing. With the old cut-throat
methods of selling, growers often sold
their hops at a loss or at least at no
profit, and farmers with ideal hop
land would not plant it to the crop.
Meanwhile they would fuss along and
compete bitterly with their neighbors
Sti the sale of vegetables and fruits,
from which they had to gain their liv
ing. With poor marketing facilities
the upland larmer who quit grain
growing because his hind was worn out
had hard luck, very hard luck. No
wonder, then, that farms ran down
and that bank deposits failed to
climb.
Another handicap had to be con
tended with, bad roads. Despite ef
forts to keep thoroughfares passable,
farmers have found a peculiar isola
tion during the winter months and
they have tried and tried to get to the
cities and towns to live. Many of
them succeeded and more land neg
lect resulted. Highway improvement
is one of the important matters be-
be doubled,
The mail order blight has settled
pretty firmly in Polk county and bus
iness men are puzzling their brains
with pains to kill it ou.U Tons of
catalogues from eastern mail order
houses are distributed each season,
not alone to the people in the county,
but the houses in the towns are also
supplied. A large part of the parcel
post business comes from this source
and the express companies pront
largely, also. It is said that women
are the greatest buyers by mail, and
that cloak and suits are the favorite
items of purchase.
While business men are earnest in
their condemnation of the mail order
"industry" they are not spending
much money in advertising to attract
patronage and to tell of the gieat val
ues kept in their stores.
Women in Polk county need help
ful organizations and opportunity to
meet on common ground. In the towns
some effort has been made to meet
this need, but in the country the only
organization m which women may
find help is the grange. And as is
always the case the women who need
the grange most are those who live
beyond reach of its activities. The
farm women do their full share ot the
hard work necessary on the land and
have little opportunity for restful and
helpful social intercourse. With bad
roads a large part of the year, in the
past, women have not desired much
to go about. Now, with somewhat im
proved highways, the desire to go is
coming slowly but surely.
Long time loans at low rates of in
terest must come to Polk county farm
ers before they can develop their
lands as they should be developed.
Oregon land cannot be held up by in
terest charges and then be expected to
show annual profit to the worker on
it. A system of rural credits applied
in Polk county would aid in transfer
insr the farms into homes worth while
and the broken down farmers into bus
iness men. As it is now the struggle
by man and by women in the country
is discouraging to the workers and is
the cause of serious loss to the com
munitv and the state.
we have concluded to accede to your
demand, which we consider high tor
the service, and are herewith enclos
ing contract, which please sign and
return at your earliest convenience.'
This is only another evidence that
advertising in The Observer pays, and
that it is appreciated by those who
know the game from A to Z. The
company in question spends many
thousands of dollars annually in giv
ing publicity to their goods, from
which advertising the local dealer
reaps a profit.
MORE CRACKERS MORE SALES.
Advertising Cleans Tip Entire Stock
for the Vassall Company.
The Vassall grocery inserted an ad
vertisement in The Ubserver's Dar
gain page last Tuesday, in which Gra
ham crackers were onered at a re
duced price on Saturday only. On
Saturday alone the store sold 160
pounds of Graham crackers. The Vas
sall grocery realizes today, better
than it ever did, the value of The Ob
server's advertising space. If it costs
more than other space it is simply be
cause it is worth more, ana progres
sive merchants are as willing to pay
more for a good thing as the custom
ers who patronize them are willing
to pay a higher price tor a superior
brand of goods. Every day there is
an evidence of the appreciation of the
value of The Observer advertising;
every day there is some tangible re
sult made obvious to advertisers of
the direct- results obtained from tell
ing the buying public of stocks
through The Observer. .Newspaper
advertising is not so much a thing of
direct results as it is ot keeping a
firm name and standing in the public
attention, so that these constant indi
cations of direct results are as wel
come to the advertiser as they are to
the paper itself. hen a merchant
can spend a few cents for a small ad.
and sell 160 pounds of Graham crack
ers, who would question the power
of advertising? The only reason the
SVassall company did not sell dOO
pounds of crackers was because it
had no more to sell, ihe subscribers
to The Obseiver read every word of
every ad. in the paper just as they
read every word of the news to get
the sum total of the happenings of the
day in Polk county.
RAILROAD LANDS LIABLE.
FACTS AND FICTION.
Experiences of Dallas Citizens Are
Easily Proven to he Facts.
The most superficial investigation
will prove that the following state
ment from a resident of Dallas is
true. Read it and compare evidence
from Dallas people with testimony of
strangers living so far away you can
not investigate the facts of the case.
Many more citizens of Dallas endorse
Doan s Kidney Pills.
Mrs. George Stroud, Dallas, says:
"I was subject to attacks of kidney
trouble. I tried many medicines and
can say that I found Doan's Kidney
Pills the best of all. They regulated
the action of my kidneys and improv
ed my health."
Price 50c. at all dealers. Don't
simply ask for a kidney remedy get
Doan's Kidney Pills the same that
Mrs. Stroud had. Foater-Milburn Co.,
Props., Buffalo, N. Y.
According to The News, candidates
for councilmen are real bashful in
Falls City, from which we take it thai
no one is anxious to accept a most
thankless job.
R. W. BALLANTYNE
PIANO TUNER
Player Pianos Regulated and Repaired
Phone 1771
AT THE DEPOT STORE.
On account of overbuying: Sny
der's Catsup, fresh stock at 20 cents
per bottle. . Standard Golden Syrup,
large and small, at cost for short
time.
J. 0. RICKLI
H. LEE WILLIAMS
CIVIL ENGINEER & SURVEYOR
M'COY, OREGON
ATTORNEY AT LAW
OSCAR HATTER
Dallas City Bank Building.
Dalla Oren
SIBLEY & EAKIN
Attorneys and Abstractors.
The only reliable set of Abstracts In
Polk County, Office on Court street
Dallas, ... Oregon
West Side Marble
Works
0. L. HAWKINS, Proprietor.
MONUMENTS, HEADSTONES AND
CURBING.
Send It By Parcel Post
fiend us your laundry by parcel post
The ru.al carrier Is now authorised to
transact this business. It costs but a
few cents. We'll return It promptly.
DALLAS STEAM LAUNDHY.
DENTIST
B. F. BUTLER
Office over Fuller Pharmacy.
Office hours from to 11 a. m.; I
to S p. m.
Dallas Oreco.
Professional Cards
MAIL CARRIERS DEFY WIND.
The Bridge, The Wind, and The Mail
Conspire Against County.
New developments in the lnrer-
county bridge trouble are putting
many' ticklish phases on that awe in
spiring subject. Recently watchmen
have been stationed at each end of
the bridge and are c( mfortably hous
ed, from those twenty-live mile gales
that threaten the destruction of the
great ridge, by little shelters where
in blaze odoriferous oil stoves. These
wa'lclitnpii remilate the traffic over
the bridge when the winter winds
over the Willamette run out of lubri
cation and slow down to less than
twenty-five miles, so that the bridge
may stay open. Only one vehicle is
allowed on a span a'l a time. When
one wagon gets on the second span
the mail carrier: with his little two by
four cart is allowed to come onto the
first, and after the mailcarrier crosses
the first, span a six thousand pound
truck comes on. And so it goes while
the eaBt end of the waiting procession
is way up on Commercial street, where
the patient Polk county taxpayers
are sending their Polk county money
in Salem stores. But when the wind
needs up, the bars are put across the
bridge and the watchmen turn the
wick in the stove a hit higher, put
their feet upon ithe door handle and
their hands behind their head and
enjoy the beneficence of the county
treasury while they sleep.
last Monday the rural mail carriers
who work parts of lNilk county out
of the Salem office and must cross the
bridge to get io their routes, were held
up at the bridge because the wind was
puffing over-walously. The carriers
were in despair. Tbey appealed to all
known tribunals the mayor of Sa
lem, ithe commissioners of Majrion
county, and finally wound up in Judge
Bushey's office, where permission was
granted to cross the weak and deject
ed old structure at their own risk. The
carriers crossed and are due for a
Christmas present from the people
along their lines for getting the mail
out not more than three or four hours
late.
County Courts Meet.
The county court is in Salem today
conferring with the county court of
Marion county relative to the pro
posed inter-county bridge across the
Willamette river. The court was in
session yesterday, when a tentative
budget was in the course of preparation.
The Obeemr. a Twlce-a-Week pa
per, cost no more thaa a weekly.
OREGON HAS NEW INDUSTRY.
Factory for Manufacturing Quacks
Opens Auspiciously in Coos.
Down at Coquille, in Coos county, a
new anil important industry has just
sprung into existence, and .from pres
ent indications it promised to grow
and prosper, for birds of the air are
not averse to being humbugged after
the fashion of people. The industry
referred to is that of manufacturing
quacks. Not the ordinary quack whose
catch-penny show traverses the land
seeking new victims to devour, nor
the quack who presents tor your care
ful and esteemed consideration a won
derful cure-all, but quacks that really
and trulv quack-quack-quack, ihat
great moral educator and family jour
nal. The Coquille Herald, in chronic
ling the establishment of the industry
uefcrred to, says the quack plant is
nmnuf act uring instruments tor lur-
inff ducks to destruction in other
wonls, where duck-callers are made.
The plant is making them by the doz
ens, and where heretofore such fa
mous Nimrods as Fred Slagle, Leo. J.
Carev, H. M. Hartson. Bert Folsom,
and a score of others, had difficulty
in bagging the limit, there's nothing
to it now. Just like in the human
family there are loud quacks, medium
quacks and quacks whose quacks are
of less consequence, but all are cai
ciliated to entice the mallard or can
vassback to alight within gunshot,
and the pothunters do the rest. A lei-
low named Sickles, who operates a
garage at intervals, is the inventor of
the contrivance, and semi-occasional
lv lie cleans the spark plugs and ad
justs the carburator of his trusty
shotgun and ambles to the adjacent
marshes, there to give a practical
demonstration of the quack that has
never failed to make the grade.
APPRECIATES THE OBSERVER.
Eastern Firm Says Results Are Se
cured Through This Medium.
An eastern manufacturing concern,
whose goods have a national reputa
tion, has been negotiating with the
business end of The Observer during
the oast three months for the pur
chase of space, its first offer being
sue cents per inch, about hall regu
lar rates. This week a contract was
closed for a year's service at 15 cents
an inch, the original figure named by
the business office, and accompanying
the contract the advertiser, wbose
copy is forthcoming, is a letter in
which the company says:
"Having heretofore need the ad
vertising columns of The Observer
and found the investment profitable,
Delinquent Tax Certificates on Grant
Area to Be Issued.
A recent ruling of Attorney Gen
eral George M. Brown is to the effect
that the lands of the O. and C. grant
are liable now for delinquent taxes
and that the same course should be
followed with this as with other prop
erty, the limited States Supreme
court having decided that the land be
longs to 'the railroad. Back taxes on
the O. and C. grant in Polk are said
to amount to something like $28,000
and the lack of this money has some
what crippled the county financially.
This opens a golden opportunity for
speculation. Anyone with extra money
in bnying up delinquent tax certifi
cates of any certain piece of land,
mnst pay back taxes and penalties.
To secure clear title to ithe land, suit
mast be brought in court on foreclos
ure proceedings. And then if the
original owners do not appear and
tender back the money, together with
lo per cent interest, the Oliver ot the
certificates gets the lanL The United
States Supreme court has decided the
railroad owns the lands of the O. and
C. grant. It is up to congress now
whether or not these lands must be
sold at $2.50 an acre. If so, it is
pointed out that the railroads pos
sibly would not find it profitable to
pay back taxes and penalties and sell
at $2.50 an acre.
DENTIST
M. HAYTER
Dallas National Bank Buiulding
Dallas Oregoi
S. B. TAYLOR
Civil Engineer and Surveyor
Office, City Hall
Phone 791 or 642, Dallas, Oregon
SHERIDAN MEN ..ON TRIAL.
Alleged Conspirators to Defraud In
surance Company in Court.
Judge H. H. Belt will hear the
Booth murder trial when ithe circuit
court session is resumed at McMinn
ville on Monday, and at the conclusion
of that hearing four Sheridan men
will be hailed before the bar of jus
tice to answer to a charge of con
spiracy to defraud an insurance com
pany. The three Fuchs brothers,
well-known in Sheridan, and Mr.
Armstrong are the defendents in the
case. They are alleged to have burn
ed personal property in the fire that
recently destroyed the Fanning build
ing. The act was committed, accord
ing to the charge, for the express pur
pose of defrauding the protecting
company.
Courts of All Counties Meet
Judge Teal has received an invita
tion from Portland requesting him
and the commissioners to be present
at a meeting of the county courts of
the various counties at the metropolis
early next month. The object of the
meeting is similar to that of the meet
ings held each year at which the
courts gather to work on a uniform
system of county business. Judge
Teal probably will not attend the
meeting, but Commissioners Wells and
Beckett expect to answer the roll call.
Card of Thanks.
I desire to return my sincere th inks
to the man? kind friends who render
ed such valuable assistance during the
illness and after the death of my
brother, Edward Biddle, and especial
ly would I thank the Masons for their
attention and loving care.
U S. BIDDl.E.
Death of Mrs. Rica.
Mrs. Rice, mother of Mrs. R. H.
McCarter of Buena Vista, passed away
at the home of the latter on Wednes
day last, and the body was taken to
Seio, from whence the deceased eame
several weeks ago, for burial.
BROWN-SIBLEY ABSTRACT CO.
610 Mill street, Dallas,
Only up-to-date set of abstracts o'
Polk county. Posted every morning
from county records.
DR. A. McNICOL
.OSTEOPATHIC PHYSICIAN
Rooms 5 and 6 TJglnw Building
DALLAS, OREGON
Olive Smith-Blcknell
Teaeher of
PIANO and ORGAN
Studio 4M Court St.
DALLAS OREOON
ATTORNEY AT LAW
WALTER L. TOOZE, JR.
Dallas National Bank Building
Dallas Oregon
ERNEST HANSON
Carpenter and Contractor, Wall-pa
pering and Painting, Cement
and Brick Work.
612 Orchard Ave. Phone West Red 53
Genuine Sorghum
Molasses
MANUFACTURED FROM POLE
COUNTY CANE BY J. 0.
HUNNI0UTT
FOR SALE BY
HUGH G. BLACK
GROCER
CUT FLOWERS AND FLORAL DESIGNS
I HAVE ACCEPTED THE AGENCY FOR THE SWISS FLORAL
COMPANY OF PORTLAND AND AM PREPARED TO FURNISH
ALL KINDS OF FLORAL DESIGNS ON SHORT NOTICE.
FOR DESCRIPTION AND PRICES CALL AT THE DEPOT
STORE. CHOICE ROSES OR OTHER FLOWERS AND SHRUB
BERY FURNISHED. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED.
J. C. RICKLI
- Phone 744
iQRINTING...
THE KIND THAT SATISFIES
There's nothing too large, nor too small, for us to
tackle. Our facilities are unequalled In this sec
tion, while our workmen have that "touch" so nec
essary in the execution of "good work." . . .
THE POLK COUNTY OBSERVER
Second monthly Sales Day
SATURDAY, lEIEfl 27
Many People from the Country
side Will Visit Dallas on This
Day-Why Not You?
Bring whatever you wish to dispose
of, and if you can't "swap" it for
something you want we'll sell it at auc
tion for cash without charge to you
Articles Already Brought In:
3?
STEEL-TOOTH HARROW; ROL
LING CUTTER; RIDING BRIDLE;
GREY MARE, SEVEN YEARS OLD;
TOP BUGGY; SET SINGLE HAR
NESS; GARDEN SEEDER; DISC;
ROAD CART; CULTIVATOR; FEED
CUTTER; AN INCUBATOR; BE
SIDES MANY SMALLER AND
LESS IMPORTANT THINGS.
Have your articles at Burk & .Shepherd's Barn
at 10 a. m. Auction begins at 1:30 p. m.