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About The Athena press. (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942 | View Entire Issue (April 30, 1926)
Entered at the Post Office at Athena. Oregon, as Second-Class Mall Matter VOLUME 47. ATHENA, UMATILLA COUNTY, OREGON, FRIDAY MORNING, APRIL 30, 1926 NUMBER 18 FRANCE MUST REVISE NEW DEBT PROPOSAL Commission Believes Initia Payments of $25,000,000 Not Enough. Washington, D. C. France must re vise Its new offer for settlement of its war debt to this country. - This decision was reached at the second meeting of the American com mission to , study the proposal, put forward last week by French, Ambass ador Berenger. Secretary Mellon will i confer with the ambassador before negotiations are resumed. Although France will be asked to modify Its offer, It was emphasized by the American commission that the latest discussions have not been terminated. One of the principal hitches is now how much France shall pay at the out set. Berenger proposes initial payment of $25,000,000 annuaMy but the com mission is understood to desire high er payments. : It was generally understood that the total of the French offer was in the proximity of 17,000,000,000, including interest payments orer the 62-year period. This is almost $1,000,000, 000 higher than the Caillaux proposal, One of the problems worrying the negotiators is believed to be an in- clination of the French to insert some kind of a clause which would come to the aid of France in case the Ger mans defaulted In reparations. There has been no Inclination on the part of the American commissioners even to consider such a proviso, which is held to be flatly against the policy of this government. HOUSE MAY AMEND FARM RELIEF BILL Washington, D. C. The house agriculture committee voted to amend the Haughen farm relief bill by de ferring for two years the imposition of an equalization fee on basic agricul tural commodities to be used to stabil ize prices. Chairman Haughen announced that it also had been agreed to increase a revolving fund proposed in his bill from $250,000,000 to $350,000,000. Under the measure as amended, agricultural prices would be maintain ed at the world market quotations plus the import tariff on each pro duct. This would be accomplished the first two years by the revolving fund, which would come out of the treasury. At the end of two years the equaliza tion fee would be levied automatically on the first sales of wheat, cotton, corn, cattle and swine. The Haugen bill is one of three measures the committee has ordered reported. The others are the Curtlss Aswell commodity marketing bill and the Tincher bill, supported by Secre tary Jardine, which would afford gov ernment credits to co-operatives. S ! LEASE MUSCLE SHOALS ? Joint Congressional Committee Urges . Operation by Power Companies, ' Washington, D. C Lease of Muscle Shoals for 50 years to the Alabama and 12 associated southern power com, panies was recommended by a, major Jty of the joint congressional commit, tee appointed to negotiate lot the operation of the government') property by private interests. A bill to authorize a lease to the power companies was filed in the sen ate and house with the accompanying reports. No discussion was provoked in the house, but Chairman Norrie of the senate agriculture committee advocate of government operation of Muscle Shoals, made an effort to have the bill referred to his committee. , He was blocked by Senator Heflln, who sought to have it placed on the senate calendar so it could be called up for consideration at any time, Vice President Dawes ruled in favor of Senator Heflln. Lift Religious Ban on Y. W. Members. Milwaukee. Wis. Women of all religious faiths now may become mem bers Of the Y. W." C. A., following the passage of a membership clause to this effect at the ninth biennial con vention cf the organization here. If was the third voting on the propose and it passed easily 1174 to 9p. ' The present constitution, restricts mem bership to women of protectant belief. BADLY FRACTURED LEG MERRITT IS IN HOSPITAL Elmer Merritt of this city Is lying at St Mary's hospital, Walla Walla, with a badly fractured leg. An X ray examination revealed the fract ure to be a most serious one, and located in the thigh. It is probable that reduction will have to be ac complished with the , insertion of plate. Merritt was engaged in assist ing the Falconer forces in driving a band of sheep over in the valley, last Saturday, when a motorist drove pell mell into the sheep, crippling several. The" car also struck Merritt with considerable force. Besides his fractured leg, Merritt ' was consider ably bruised. Henry Barrett was in Walla Wal la Sunday, and went to see Mr. Mer ritt, who was resting as well as could be expected under the circum stances. An attorney has been employed to look after Merritt's interests, as a damage suit is in prospect. The driv er of the car is said to have been wholly to blame in the master. JUDGE WALLACE M'CAMANT QUITS FEDERAL JUDGESHIP Judge Wallace McCamant has re signed from the United States cir cuit court of appeals and resignation has been accepted, effective May 3, Judge McCamant was appointed to the bench by President Coolidge, whom he placed in nomination for vice-president at the Republican na tional convention in Chicago. Confirmation of McCamant's nom ination was opposed by Senator Hir am Johnson, of California, , who charged that McCamant, as a dele gate to the national convention, had disregarded instructions of the vot ers of Oregon to support Johnson for the Republican nomination for the presidency. PICTURE PROGRAM For tomorrow night and Sunday the Standard is offering excep tionally entertaining programs at regular - admission prices. Petite Colleen Moore will be seen tomorrow night in "Sally" one of the best photoplays of her career, and Sun aay night Paramount- shows a Wal lat production, "Rugged Water." with Lois Wilson and Warner Bax ter in the leading roles. The Wed nesday night Western play, "The Deadwood Coach." featuring Tom Mix and Tony is a clean-cut bill of entertainment for old and young alike. Good comedies, news reels, etc. FARMER'S RIGHTS Co-operative marketing offers no permanent solution for the troubles of the farmers, declared A. R. Shum way, candidate for the republican nomination for senator, who spoke at a Pendleton meeting. Farmers are eo.ually as justified in seeking government assistance as are other industries, he declared, and until the president is given some western education along this line little help can be looked for. GOOSE CHASING FUTILE The proverbial "goose chase" has beeome a reality on Blalock wheat ranches. The geese are wild and the chasers are the farmers. Thus far they Jiave been unable to keep the big birds off their fields. The birds fly out low from the nearby islands, seeminglyaware of th'd protection af forded them by the state. Estimates of damage vary from half the yield down to none. PREACHED AT HELIX Evangelist Hutton, who is holding series of meetings at the Christian church in Athena, accompanied by singer Fairbanks . and a number of Athena people, drove out to Helix Monday evening, and preached to a congregation there. Mr. Hutton tnd Mr. Fairbanks may hold a meeting at Helix, at the conclusion of their work in Athena. WITH WILKINS PARTY The newspaper correspondent, Fred Earp, with the Wilkins party in the Arctic north, spent his boyhood at Weston, a son of D. D. Earp. Young Earp began his newspaper ca reer with the Walla Walla Union and of late years has been on the Seat tle Times staff. WARM WEATHER A change from cool weather, with frosts last week, to warmer tempera ture is noted generally over' the Northwest this week. Wednesday, thermometers registered 96 in Athena. FARM RELIEF BILLS MAY GET THE RIGHT OF Consideration by congress of farm relief legislation is expected to begin early next week. - The agricultural committee repre senting three bills requested that they be given right of way as soon as possible and were told by Repre sentative Tilson, . the Republican leader, they probably could be called up luesaay. four days general de bate in prospect. . Carrying out the program jt .adopt ed 10 days ago, the committee re ported the Haugen bill to stabilize prices with a revolving fund of $375 000,000 and collection and equaliza tion fee on basic commodities after two years. The Tincher proposal to carry out Secretary Jardine's plan with an appropriation of $100,000,000 for loans to farmers' cooperative as sociations and the Curtis-Aswell measure to form national commodity marketing associations, financed by the farmers. None of the bills commanded a majority in the committee, which defeated, 15 to 5, a motion to have them reported separately, with a re cord vote on each. The vote to re present the three concurrently was unanimous. Coming after more than two months of hearings, the procedure represents the committee's final move on farm relief this season, ex cept for passing for action on the floor. It calls for the Haugen bill to be brought up under a special rule making the other two measures in order as substitutes, thus giving the house an opportunity ' to vote on all three. SQUIRRELS EAT ONIONS The pestiferous ground squirrel is the fly in the ointment of prospect that is just now worrying Tom Nor man, with his two-acre onion patch. The rodents come scurryinjr out of the city park, dig up an onion here and there, eat the center out and scamper away, only to return on their ruinous rampage. Norman hopes to deciminata the park colony of rodents with shotgun bombard ment and poisoned food, UNEARNED CRITICISM Urn?- ) Francis H. Sisson KANGAROO RATS Considered as unusually rare foi this section of the continent, three specimens of dipodomys ordii, Col umbianus, more speakably known as the Columbian Kangaroo rat, were captured near Attalia, in Walla Wal la county, last week by Dr. Leo K. Couch of the United States biological research office. BLUE MOUNTAIN LEAGUE The Pendleton Bucks defeated the Indians in Sunday's Blue Mountain league game by a score of 9 to 4, while Walla Walla was trimming Pasco 7 to 4. Neither Pendleton or Walla Walla has been defeated this season, and these two teams meet Sunday, while Pasco and the Indians come together for the first time. By FRANCIS H. SISSON Chairman, Public Relations Commis sion American Bankers Association There has been some disposition to Criticize the - administration of the country's banking system for the sud den collapse of prices and curtail ment of credits in 1920 and 1921, and the subsequent finan cial difficulties , of the farmers. As a matter of fact, what fiver blame may at tach to bankers must be for the too gen erous financing, in many cases, of spec ulative Investment in farm property during the period of inflation. If any Just criticism could be directed at the manner In which the Federal Reserve System functioned In this situation In the opinion of many It would be that the Reserve banks delayed too long In raising tha rediscount rates. An ear Hex effort might have stayed the proc ess of inflation. The collapse of 1920 was by no means confined to agriculture, and was the inevitable sequel to the inflation period. All branches of business suf fered in this period of reaction and perhaps none more than banking against which this criticism has been levelled. The financial situation of the farmers was greatly aggravated by the fact that the high land values and high prices of agricultural products had led many farmers to incur obligations based on the Inflated values. If the farmer was victimized at all, Indeed, he was the victim of too much rather than too little consideration. The real progress which has been achieved in agricultural finance In recent years lies more In the Intelligent distribution of farm credit than in volume. With agencies now functioning for the provision of ample credits for the American farmer, his enduring success depends upon the wisdom and fore sight with which he meets the prob lems of production and marketing More than ever before, his activities must be regulated with reference to world conditions, and his profits, like those of the manufacturer or mer chant, will reflect the measure of bis success In adjusting his activities to these conditions. J THE HAUGEN MEASURE CHANGES WERE UPHELD Application of the most debated feature of pending farm relief legis lation, the equalization fee on agri cultural; commodities, would be with held for two years under an amend ment to -the Haugen bill, has been adopted by the house agriculture committee. At the end of that per iod, the fee would be levied automa tically on wheat, cotton, corn, cattle and swine. . i .. Meanwhile, the measure would re quire the proposed federal . farm board to maintain the price of each basic prodir.t r.t the world market quotation plus the . import tariff, During the two years,, any losses in volved would be borne by the federal treasury and to assure an adequate evolving fund, Chairman . Haugen said he would move to. raise the ap propriation from $250,000,000 to $350,000,000. Members indicated there would be no opposition to this The amendment was accepted by the middle-western farm organiza tions supporting the corn belt plan, the main features of which were em bodied in the Haugen bill. In a statement sent to the committee their representatives explained they had not sought the change, but if the committee considered it desirable, they would not oppose it. STANFIELD ASKS THAT TAXES BE REPLACED BUILDING AN ELEVATOR Alex Mclntyre is building a grain elevator at Waterman Station, on the Northern Pacific, north of Athena. The new elevator will have capacity to store 37,000 bushels of bulk grain. In addition to elevator facilities, Mr. Mclntyre. will install equipment for rolling and steaming barley. He owns considerable acreage of farm land tributary to Waterman , Station. The new elevator will be completed in time to take care of this season's grain crop. Turk3 Arm fer Clash With Italy, London. Turkey's new levy ef army ccn3cr!?ts is causing general, speculation aud. I3 regarded in various luarters as giving substance to recent :-umor3 of coiiiampiatcd Italian or ftalo-Greek crb'r:a.-,ion at Turkey's expense. LANP GRANT CASH An advance of $5,000,000 by the federal government to certain coun ties in Oregon as tbeir share from the sale of public land grants in that state was urjred before the house public lands committee by Representative Hawley, republican Oregon, daily. So far reports of Athena angle who have fished the Umatilla, spell poor luck. For some reason or oth er, the 60,000 trout liberated from the hatchery ponds, do not take kind ly to bait or fly. WALLA WALLA FAIR The dates of September 9. 10 and 11 were tentatively selected for the Walla Walla County fair this fall at a meeting of the fair board, when officers of the board were named and other matters relative to the project were considered. Dr. H. A. Trippeer was elected general chair man of the board, to be assisted by C. B. Auker, as vice-chairman. Char les Baker was selected as secretary of the body, KILLED UNDER TRACTOR F. .L. Kelly of Hermiston, operat ing a tractor in highway surfacing work on the Old Oregon highway lost control of the tractor he was driving at Emigrant hill Tuesday morning, backed over an embank ment and was crushed beneath the machine suffering injuries from which he died while he was bein;? rushed to St. Anthony's hospital at Pendleton. BOARDMAN BERRIES The first ripe strawberries of the season are reported at Boardman. The Queen of May The senate public lands commit tee has opened a hearing on a bill introduced by Senator Stanfield, Ore gon, to appropriate $5,000,000 to eight counties in western Oregon and one in Washington to take the place of taxes the counties would have received during the last ten years on land reinvested in the gov ernment from grants to Oregon and California railroads. " Two million four hundred thousand acres of land with a taxable valua tion of $22,500,000 is involved, the land was granted to the railroads in 1860 with the understanding that the railroads were to sell the land to set tlers at $2.50 an acre. This was not done, and under the Chamberlain Feriss. bill passed in 1916, the gov ernment bought it back at $2.50 an acre according to the original contract. SNIDER WEEDER PATENTED UNITED STATES AND CANADA J. F. Snider, inventor and manu facturer of the Snider weeder, has received his patents on the machine for both ti;9 United States and .Can ada says the Weston Leader. The Snider weeder meets immedi ate favor from the farmers wherev er introduced, and much activity in its manufacture and sale will, follow the issuance of the patents, which clear up any doubt as to the legal standing of the Weston invention. It will be extensively introduced in the big Alberta farming region, and J. F. Hanson and company of Fre mont, Nebraska, are making and selling many of the machines in the Middle West. The output of Mr. Snider for the present season from his small fac tory in Weston will, be upwards of 200 weeders. The demand indicates that he would have sale for many more.. He conducted a demonstra tion near Walla Walla Tuesday and the. farmers present were much tak en with the device. COMMITTEE FINISHES PROHIBITION HEARING Both Sides Confident That They Had the Better of Argument Over the Volstead Act. Washington, D. C Amid bursts of, applause from partisans and sighs of relief from senators, the final curtain fell on the colorful prohibition drama which has been staged for three weeks before a senate judiciary sub-committee. The senators, several of whom fre quently assumed leading roles, retire now to the wings to discuss alike the fate of the proposals of the wets to modify .the Volstead act - and the propositions of the drys to put more teeth into that law. The wets never entertained any hope of Immediate victory in con gress, but assert they have accom plished their purpose of giving tha facts about prohibition to the country. The drys believe they have had the better of the argument and will get enacted most of the bills they sponsor. The prohibitionists ended their case with the declaration by Director An drews that he did not favor loosening the liquor laws to allow light beer. Andrews' statement was adduced by the drys to rebutt the declaration drawn from him last week that he believed light beers for home consump tion would aid law enforcement. FAVOR NORMAL According to Roy Ritner, republi can candidate for joint representat ive, people of the east end of the county are in favor of a normal school for Eastern Oregon. Ritner attended a joint meeting of the Mil-ton-Freewatcr chambers of com merce at which action was taken in the appointment of a committee from the two towns, consisting of Bruce Shangle, R. E. Bean and Vic tor Chastain. PASCO-ELKO MAIL Air mail service between Pasco and Elko will be resumed well in ad vance of the limit set by the postof fice department. The planes will be flown over the route daily for a week or more in tests in order that there be no further dclavs. Contractor Varney received a 60-day postpone ment of service when the first day's operations developed motor trouble. WHEAT HEADING OUT Reports come from ranches south of Athena to the effect that wheat is heading out. Nearly all Federation growth is at the boot stage. Early fall sown Federation on Mrs. Mort on's place, farmed by Til Beckner is heading and also a field of E. A. Dudley's wheat is at this advanced stage of maturity. An early harvest is anticipated. FROST NfPS PLANTS Tender plants were nipped by frost in the Walla Walla valley last Fri day night, but little if any damage resulted to fruit trees. Early gard en plants, strawberries and other small - fruits were damaged by the frost in the Spokane district. In Athena and vicinity, low places were visited by frost, but no material damage resulted. A FINE CAR Of the new models placed on the market this year, none present hotter appearance in finish and style, or give more satisfactory road perfor mance than the Studebaker product One of the models, the brougham, an especially fine car, was recently de livered here U Marlon Hanscll. CONGRESS HOPES TO QUITBY MAY 15 Washington, D. C. Senate and house leaders emerged from a break fast conference at the White House with two things in mind folding down appropriations and adjourning. ,, House leaders .even saw prospects of ! quitting for - the summer by May 15, and some of the senators thought It would be possible to fininh up the legislative program early in May and then consider the impeachment of Fed eral Judge English of Illinois. The guests got the very definite Im pression that the president thought ap propriations had gone about far enough for this session, and Repre sentative Tilson, the republican floor loader, expressed the opinion that it would be best tor congress to adjourn and go home, Inasmuch as "we have no money to spend." It was gathered from expressions of the leaders that farm relief leg islation which would place an imme diate tax on the treasury would have a rocky road to travel, but none would say definitely whether the pending measures came in this class. Another bill which some of them ex pect to be vetoed is the measure to increase the pensions of disabled Spanish war veterans. The president now has this measure and is seek ing the opinion of Director Lord of the budget as to how it will affect gov ernment finances. ROOSEVELT URGES REPEAL on Prohibition Blamed for Crime "Gigantic Scale." New York. Theodore Roosevelt, son of the late president, urged the re peal or modification of the Volstead act and the substitution of local op tion In various states. Speaking before the bureau of ad vertising of tho American Newspaper Publishers' association, Roosevelt as sorted that the prohibition ouforca ment act "has brought about law vio lation on a more commercialized and gigantic scale than our country him ever known before." When Mr. Roosevelt was a candi date for governor of New York In 1925 he wp.8 Indorsed by the statu Anti-Saloon league. Roosevelt said that he Is opposed to the return of the saloon. "I am oonvlnced," he said, "that tho repeal or modification of the Volstead law does not predicate the return of tho saloon, That can be prevented by enactment." A SECOND QUAKE A second slight earth quake, fol lowing that of Saturday, April ,1, was felt here shortly after 5:30 FrU tiny morning. Three distinct shocks caused windows to rattle. Tho quuke lasted for about five second;, and seemed to be from east to west in movement, . Riff Conference Ends In Failure. Camp H-rtreaux, Morocco. Tlia armistice conference broke up after a seven hours' sitting with the French, Spanish un Kltflan debates in com plete disagreement The opening of the ofriciitl conference at Oudjda, wherehy It was hoped to terminate the Moroccan strife and bring peace to the land, has been postponed, with out dato.