A BIG JOB, BUT ITS JDEAD EASY
It would be a big job to tell one hundred people any
thin? that would interest them in your goods, but its
dead easy if done the right way. This paper will tell
several hundred at once at nominal cost. -
NOT ONE DAY CAN BE FOUND
in the week but that you do not need stationery of
Borne sort p'r other. We furnish neat, clean printing
at the very lowest rates. Fast presses, modern types,
modern work, prompt delivery.
Entered at the Post Office at Athena, Oregon, aa Second-Class Mail Matter
VOLUME 44
ATHENA, UMATILLA COUNTY, OREGON, JULY 31, 1931
NUMBER 31
GOUNTYTAX LEAGUE
READY FOR
II
Wields of Fifty
Bushels Common
Athena Report
Favor Revision of Budgets
to Secure 20 Per Cent
Slice in Tax.
One of the largest gatherings of
tax payers that ever attended a tax
payer's meeting in Umatilla county,
convened at Pendleton Saturday .; at
the call of the county committee of
the state Tax Conservation League.
The result of the Pendleton meeting
was the organization of the Umatil
la County Tax Conservation and
Equalization League with Mac Hoke
of Pendleton, as its president; M. L.
Watts of Athena, vice-president, and
B. B. " Richards of Athena, as secretary-treasurer.
A general cut of 20 per cent in
taxes is the reduction for which the
league will bend its efforts to secure
and that it believes in trimming
where it finds trimming to be neces
sary, is seen in its request that where
budgets and levies have already been
agreed upon (mostly in school dis
tricts) that such budgets be recon
sidered and levies reduced. '
Work of changing grades and
curves on existing roads should be
suspended, in the leagues opinion,
and only new work absolutely neces
sary should be . undertaken at this
time.
In the matter of salaries the league
points out that the dollar of today
has a purchasing - power equal to
$1.42 five years ago and it urges that
salaries generally be adjusted to con
form with basic prices.
The league has an executive com-
..1.1.-- -e n-i t : i v..
the president and representing five
districts. Athena, Adams, Helix and
Weston with contiguous territory id
given six members.
The resolutions adopted are as fol
lows: -" - .
Be it Resolved, That officials of tax
spending bodies charged with the ex
penditure of tax moneys shall adhere
strictly to the proposed expenditures
as set out in their budgets or esti
mate of costs and in na case shall
expenditures for the budget year ex
ceed the total of such budget or of
any individual item thereof.
Resolved, That all tax levying
bodies of Umatilla County which have
already submitted their budgets for
the .ensuing year be requested to
withdraw such budget and reconsid
er the same eliminating all possible
items and postponing, at least for
the present, any anticipated expan
sion or betterment program, in line
with recommendation and resolution
calling for at least a 20 per cent re
duction under the budget for the pre
. ceding year.
Resolved, That all of the tax levy
ing bodies of Umatilla County be re
quested to cut their budgets, now be
ing or shortly to be considered, 20
ner cent in furtherance of tax con
servation program adopted by the
State Committee at Salem.
Be it Resolved, That no further ex
penditures be made for the present,
at least, for the purpose of changing
grades and curves on existing roads
and limiting new , construction to
roads absolutely necessary for ade
quate communication between . the
various centers.
Be it Resolved, The County Court
is requested not to approve the for
mation of new special road districts.
Whereas, The purchasing power of
the dollar today is equal to $1.42 five
years ago. We request that salaries
generally be adjusted to conform with
the basic prices of the products of
our farms and stock industries and
industrial activities generally at the
present time.
Be it Resolved by the Umatilla
County Taxpayers Equalization and
Conservation League we commend
Gov. Julius L. Meier, Governor of the
State of Oregon-, for his earnest ef
fort in his endeavor' to reduce the
taxes in the State of Oregon and the
municipalities within the state.
The Hoosier Picnic
" The Hoosier picnic as announced in
The Press last week, will take place
at Milton Sunday. The dinner is
scheduled foM o'clock and all Hoos
iers and their families are asked to
bring well-filled baskets and a big
table will be set family style. A pro
gram will be arranged and sports will
be a feature of the afternoon.
George Ludwigs Passes
George Ludwigs, who has been in
the jewelry business at Walla Walla
since 1880, died at 5:30 p. m., Satur
day, following an illness of two
weeks. Although he had been in ill
health for years, he worked in Lud
wigs' jewelry store up to two weeks
ago. .
He Takes Car Thieves
Bert Nation, deputy sheriff at Her
miston is a terror , to automobile
thieves. In the past ten days he has
Fifty bushel per acre yields are com
mon reports in Athena as harvest
operations in this district progress
toward the end of a perfect season's
run. In which not one hour has been
lost on account of weather. While
everyone else fought shy of warm
weather the harvest outfits welcomed
high temperature for the reason that
hot days served to make the grain
thresh well. ' .;,
No larore fire loss in erain fields of
the county has been experienced this
season, which is in contrast with condi
tions in this resDect in Walla Walla
and Whitman counties, where an ex
cessive amount of smut has been the
cause of hundreds of acres of stand
ing grain being burned.
A constant stream of trucks load
ed with bulk grain have been making
their -wav this week to the scales of
the Preston-Shaffer , Milling company
and the Farmers Grain Elevator com
pany. At the latter place, stated
Manager Wilson, an average of 305
truck loads of wheat have been hand
led daily. -i
No sales are beinz reported at the
prices offered for the new crop wheat.
In Chicago Tuesday the market tum
bled down to 50 1-4 cents, equaling
the all-time low price record for fu
ture delivery. '
Harvest Potes
A field of 170 acres on the Lila Kirk
ranch averaged a little better than 50
bushels per acre. :
Marion HanselPs home place north
nf town, alwavs a good producer, net
ted him 55 bushels per acre from a
field of 300 acres.
Arnold Wood. farming the Dell 80
west of town, reports a yield of 50
bushels.
filpnn Dudlev had a eood crop south
of town.. The folks down at the ele
vator tell The Press that he cropped
55 bushels, but Glenn did not confirm
it. ' ' '
Dean Dudley's field west .of town
averaged 44 bushels per acre." .
Amiel Schubert is said to be satis
fied with a 50 bushel yield.
George Sheard reports to ine rress
that he took a 48 bushel yield from
260 acres. George perf ercted a daddo
contraption with which he operated
the elevation of his header in con
nection with his other duties as sepa
rator tender. All George had to do
na usual was to null a little lever
and the combine engine did the work.
John Walker's 75-acre hem just
south of the city limits, turned out
50 bushels to the acre.
n TT ReeHer was in town Wednes
day from his farm west of Adams.
He renorte'd a Kood yield with har
vesting ending this week.
McBride Bros., big narvest ouim
completed threshing 400 acres of
grain on the Mrs. Lumsden ranch on
Dry Creek, after a run oi xu aays,
cutting 40 acres per day. The crop
amounted to approximately 8,000
bushels.
Seed Company Installs
Unique Cooling System
Th 40 women and eirls employed
in the pea cleaning and grading plant
of the Washington-Idaho Seed com
West Main street, are work
ing in quarters considerably cooler be
cause of the recent installation oi a
unique cooling and ventilating sys
tem. ." ', ' .
The air is taken fresh from outdoors
and by two electric fans is foced in
to the operating room through a
series of cool, watersoaked wicks.
The result is that temperature in
the room is reduced several degrees
by a cool, moist air circulation. How
ever, even with the installation of the
cooling system, the 40 electric ngnt
hulba over the machines still leaves
the big room plenty warm on days
such as these. ;
' May Raise Money
The law enacted at the 1931 legis
lative session which . requires that
estates and relatives of persons com
mitted to the state hospitals for the
insane and state home for the feeble
minded shall contribute to the Sup
port of such charges will return to
the state approximately $300,000 dur
ing the biennium, according to figures
prepared.
Burglars Given Terms
Arthur C. Smith and Ray Parr,
transients, were sentenced to serve
three and two years, respectively in
the state penitentiary after they had
pleaded guilty of burglary, not in a
dwelling, before Judge Sweek Wed
nesday. The pair confessed they had
broken into a Union Pacific tool house
at Hermiston.
To Help Water Users
Coming to the rescue of farmers
west of Freewater, who are in dire
straits for irrigating water due to the
drought, Milton water users are re
stricting themselves to eight hours
per day, from 5 to $ a. m., and from
5 to 9 p. m. The saving will material
ly aid in irrigation on farm if.
Nearly Ready to Be Christened by Mrs. Hoover
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Mro. lUrlJcrt Uoover has consented to' christen the new navy dirigible Akron at Akron, QUIo, on August 8. The
airship, biggest in the world, Is nearing completion at the plant of the Goodyenr-Zeppellu corporation. The photo
graph shows It as the giant fins were being attached.
Pendleton Blankets to
Deck Olympic Cabins
Portland. Four thousand Pendleton
blankets have been ordered by the Los
Angeles Olympic Village of three
room cabins being erected for the ac
commodation of participants in the
1932 games. Announcement of. the
order was made by C. C. Wintermute,
general sales manager for the Pendle
ton Woolen Mills.
The blankets will be standard Pen
dleton material, and similar in de
sign to those supplied to Yellowstone
National park hotels. They will be of
single-bed size, white with colored
borders.
Many woolen manufacturers com
peted for the order, owing to the ad
vertising value that would come from
having their label attached to the
blankets, and the Pendleton mill was
awarded the contract because the
quality and colors were considered
superior to those of other manufac
turers, Mr. Wintermute said.
It was understood by Pendleton of
ficials that the Olympic organization
will allow participants in the games
to purchase the blankets at cost when
the games are concluded.
Samples of the blankets will be dis
played at the members' forum of the
Portland Chamber of Commerce next
Monday, Mr. Wintermute announced.
State School Questions
Up at Annual Conference
Salem. Countv suDerintendents of
schools will hold their annual confer
ence with the state department of
education here the first three days of
next week, C. A. Howard, state su
perintendent of schools, announced
this week. The meetine will be a
joint session of the . state association
with - the Henartment. at which the
year's educational program will be
outlined. .
School finances will be one of the
maior subjects discussed, in view of
the recent move for tax reduction,
Howard said. Other subjects up lor
consideration before the 36 county of
ficials include care of district owned
textbooks, as the result of the free
textbook provision of the state law;
county school organization, discussed
by Representative Hector MacPher
son; plans in lieu of eighth grade ex
aminations, junior Red Cross insti
tute themes, teacher rating cards, su
pervisory reports and new elementary
courses of study.
Governor Meier will speak Monday
morning followed by C. A. Howard.
" . Moved From Hospital
E. A. Dudley, recovering from a
long illness and a surgical operation
at Good Samaritan hospital in Port
land, was able this week to be re
moved from the hospital to an apart
ment taken by Mrs. Dudley at 699
Johnson street, two blocks away. Mr.
Dudley continues to improve in health
satisfactorily, it is reported.
Setting Out Fall Lettuce
The gardeners of the Blalock tracts
and College Place district have been
busy clearing their land of the onion
crop, so the fall lettuce can be plant
ed next week.
Visiting From Idaho
Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Wandling are
here from Wallace, Idaho, visiting at
the Arthur Jenkins home. Mrs. Jen
kins' M a sister of Mr. Wandling,
Four Heat Victims Are :
Found on Lonely Sonora
Mexico, Desert Highway
A newspaper dispatch from Nogal
cs, Sonora, Mexico, gives an account
of four persons who died from the
heat on the Sonora desert about five
days ago in a futile effort to reach
civilization after , a stage they were
traveling on was disabled 250 miles
west of there.
Numbered among the dead was 16-year-old
Rufina M. de Ojeda of No
gales, and her 45-day-old baby, Con
suela. Mrs. Ojeda's body was almost
nude. The child was pressed to her
breast in a death hold. ,
Two brothers,. Jesus and Ramon
Orantes of Nogales, were the other
victims. They were found several
miles from where Mrs. Ojeda's body
was discovered. .
Augestin Pinto of Mexicali, who
found the bodies, buried the dead in
unmarked graves along the lonely
desert road. Continuing his journey
to Sonoita, Sonora, from Mexicali,
Pinto came upon three men the sur
vivors of six passengers and a driver
who left by stage for Mexicali, July
20.
The three, Vicente Gutierrez of No-
gales, driver of the stage; his son,
Vicente, Jr., and Juan Ojeda, husband
of the dead woman and father of the
child, were taken to Sonoita hospital
in a critical condition. v
The short, tragic story of the aes-
ert drama a fight against certain
death was related to Rafael Montes,
Sonoita Mexican immigration officer,
and Pinto by the survivors. '
The stage was disabled 150 miles
west of Sonoita. Efforts to repair it
were vain, and the seven, without
food or water, started the trek over
the desert to Sonoita.
They had walked, it was believed,
about four Jays when death overtook
the mother and : her baby. Several
miles further, the two brothers drop
ped beside the road.
Oregon Schedules Way
From Home Gridirons
Playing seven to pine scheduled
games away from home, University
of Oregon with a 13,000 mile itinerary
arranged, will be one of the travel
ing football aggregations this season.
Two trips to Los Angeles to meet
the Southern California Trojans and
the southern branch of the University
of California and jaunts to New York
City, Portland, Seattle, Grand Forks,
N. D., and San Francisco are on the
schedule.
November 7 remains the only open
date between September 26 and No
vember 26.
Heat Sears California,
Imperial Valley Dead, 40
July is setting an all-time heat
record, the California weather bureau
repeals. Forty years ago, a long hot
spell pushed the average mean tem
perature for the month to 72 de
grees. This month the protracted
heat wave has added six degrees to
the average normal temperature.
In the west, 78 deaths have mark
ed the rise in the mercury and weath
er forecasters saw little immediate
relief in sight. Forty of the heat
deaths occurred in Imperial valley,
where the population was in exodus
and reduced to those few who must
remain in the fertile, sub-sea level
area.
The 25-day temperature average in
Imperial valley had been 108 degrees.
In Phoenix, Ariz., Needles and Taft,
Cal., and Las Vegas, N. M., there
were 17 deaths from the heat. The
others were widely scattered. Utah
had one death.
In the northwest it has been cooler,
virtually the only region afforded re
lief. The heat wave rolled across the
Rocky mountains on to the plains, but
Kansas City's forecast gave hopes of
cessation of its progress in that area,
Dave Lavender Dead,"
Funeral Held at Weston
Dave Lavender, well konwn former
resident of Weston and city marshal
there, died Saturday night at his
home in Salem, after an illness pf
several months due to heart disease.
Funeral services were held at Weston
Tuesday. He was born in Louisville,
Ky., in 1865, and came west in 1886.
In 1894 ho was married at Weston,
to Miss Eila Price and for many
years the family lived there. In
1919, Mr. Lavender became a deputy
in the sheriff's office at Pendleton,' and
In 1924 went to Salem where he was
employed as guard in the state peni
tentiary. Surviving relatives are his
widow, Mrs. Ella Lavender, two
daughters, Mrs. Josephine Brockman
of Portland, Mrs. Anna Ramqulst of
Vashon Island, Wash., and one son,
Frank Lavender of Salem.
Milwaukee Slashes Rates
To aid drought stricken regions in
Montana, the Chicago Milwaukee St.
Paul & Pacific railway has established
reduced emergency rates on livestock
feeds, hay and straw from South Da
kota and tributary points to all coun
ties of Montana east of Harlow town.
Meadow Creek Fire
A small fire was reported Wednes
day in the Umatilla national forest
in the Meadow Creek -district. Eight
men were sent to combat the fire. '
Fre;water Couple to. Wed
A marriage license has been issued
to Russel W. Grosegebaur and Edith
Uruntton ttoth tff FreWBtr, .
Army Worms on March
Grasshopper hordes are swarming
in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Iowa,
and farmers battling the scourge in
northern Minnesota met still another
foe in the invasion of army worms
near Fossin and Hibbing. The grass
hopper plague also broke out in Mus
kegon country, Michigan, where tha
state department of conservation has
undertaken a campaign of extermina
tion. .
Only Two Arc Left
With the passing recently of Wil
liam Hlakeley, only two pioneers who
fought the Indiana at Willow Springs,
remain alive. The two . arc T. D.
(Doc) Ferguson and Andrew Sullivan,
both of Pendleton. Until recent years
Mr. Sullivan conducted a stock ranch
and was postmaster at Starkey
Prairie.
Drunken Driving Charged
. Marsh Courtney of Echo, who plead
ed not guilty on a charge of drunken
driving when he appeared before a
justice of the epace, was placed in the
county jail Wednesday morning. City
Marshal Crossage of Stanfield, who
made the arrest,' took him into cus
tody following an suttrmtbile wreck.
Charles Potter
in Collapse of
Grain Elevator
Charles Potter, 56, who for several
years has been conducting a small
farm north of Athena, met death by
suffocation Friday before noon, when
an elevator building at Waterman
Station collapsed and buried him and
another man underneath timbers and
wheat. f
Mr. Potter was on the outside of
the building sacking hog feed in com
pany with an employe of Alex Mcln
tyre, when without warning the wood
en grain elevator collapsed, burying
the two men. Mr. Potter was under
neath timbers and grain at the bot
tom when found by willing workers
summoned from harvest . fields near
by, and when removed was dead. The
elevator workman, while completely
covered by grain, managed to extri
cate himself uninjured.
While men were at work removing
the timbers and grain, Dr. McKinncy
was summoned and arrived at Water
man about the time the body was re
covered. The remains were brought
to Dr. McKinney's office in Athena
and in the afternoon were taken to
Walla Walla, where funeral services
were held Monday afternoon.
Mr. Potter was the son of Charlie
Potter, noted 6tagedriver, who drove
between Walla Walla and Pendleton
before the coming of the railroad. He
was born in Walla Walla, October 22,
1874, moving to Athena five years
ago. Besides his widow, Ellen F.
Potter, he is survived by two sisters,
Mrs. Harry Riffle of Walla Walla and
Mrs. Harry Brown of Auburn, Wash.,
He was a member of the Walla Wal
la lodge, Loyal Order of Moose.
Fires Under Control
All forest fires in the Medford sec
tion are reported to be under control.
Forty men still patrol the Applegate
district where fire burned over about
200 acres of fine timber.
Wheat Crop Poor
Reports coming from Wyoming,
Montana and Idaho agree that the
wheat crops in those states are poor
and far below the average yield of
last year.
J. A. Murray Goes Up to
Post of General Manager
For the period of 28 years with the
Pacific Telephone & Telegraph com
pany, 14 years of which he has been
manager of the Pendleton district,
J. A. Murray has been made manager
for the Eastern Oregon district. Mr.
Murray will continue to make Pen
dleton his headquarters.
The district is a new one and in
cludes the Baker, Pendleton, Bend
and The Dalles area. The appoint
ment comes with much pleasure to
the many friends of Mr. Murray, who
during his long years of service with
the company, have held him in high
esteem and respect.
Aside from giving patrons of his
company eminent satisfaction, Mr.
Murray has won lasting friendship
of many high school boys of this sec
tion through his interest in their
athletic endeavors. A number through
his personal influence have gone on to
University of Oregon and made good.
Activities of the company until re
cently centered in Portland. The new
system is being inaugurated to bet
ter the . company's service from a
business standpoint and to improve its
relations with customers and the public.
Killed Elk; Acquitted
Jasper Hovgaard, Seaside farmer,
will escape the legal penalties ' the
states sought to impose on him for
killing an elk that invaded his fields.
A jury in justice court took but five
minutes to acquit Hovgaard on a
charge of wanton waste of a game
animal. Hovgaard killed the animal
after .repeated protests about elks
damaging his crops had brought no
relief from game authorities. ,
. Farmer Burns Up Oata
Edward Herbert Illinois farmer, set
fire to 75 acres of oats on his farm
After harvesting about five acres he
found he could get only 11 cents a
bushel for grain which he said cost
him 40 cents to raise. So the rest went
up in smoke to avoid adding 4 cents
more a bushel for harvesting and
threshing.
Cheap Corn on Cob
One cent was the price of a dozen
ears of sweet corn at Kauuass Cily,
Wednesday. The hot dry weather has
matured the "roasting ears" rapidly,
making an abundance of corn avail
able for market. One merchant
bought an entire field so. cheaply he
was enabled to retail his wares at the
record low price.
LEGISLATORS
NOT FAVOR SESSION
Poll of Lawmakers Finds
Majority in Opposition
at This Time.
Robert C. Notson, writing for tho
Morning Oregonian, says neither a
special session of the legislature to
consider tax matters nor the Indiana
plan for the control of local budgets
and levies are in favor with the mem
bers of the Oregon legislature. This
was indicated definitely as the final
returns were received in the pojl con
ducted by The Oregonian.
Tho adverse trend noted in the
early replies received has been main
tained through the later expression
received from the legislators, whom
Governor Meier indicated he would
consult with reference to the callint;
of a session and the program to be
considered, Expressions of approval
of the efforts of the chief executive
and of the Oregon Taxpayers' Equali
zation league in urging the idea of re
trenchment and reduction in taxes
were numerous, but the opinion was
strong that this might better be ac
complished by the force of public
opinion than by statute.
The final tabulation of the ballots
revealed the following aggregate
views, as expressed by 63 members of
the senate and house:
Special session: For, 4; against, 28;
conditionally for, 10; conditionally
against, 16; prefer to leave decision
to the governor, 5.
Indiana plan: For, 4; against, 20;
conditionally for. 8: conditionally
against, 18; undecided, 13.
Limiting session to tax matters
only: For, 12; against, 21; for a limit
but not an absolute one, 30. ,
The questions asked the members
were:
1. Do you favor a special session?
2. Do you favor enactment of the
Indiana plan ?
3. Do you favor confining the work
of the session, if one is called, to tax
legislation?
Slow Wheat Delivery
Delays River Shipment
The Dalles. Slow delivery of wheat
from fields on ranches of Balfour
Guthrie & Company in Gilliam coun
ty is delaying the steamer (Umatil!a
in coming here from Portland for the
grain cargo. The Columbia & Wil
lamette Towing company, which lias
negotiated for the river transporta
tion of tonnage from the Balfour
Guthrie company ranch, has con
structed a large plank platform on
the river side here, and the wheat is
stacked there awaiting arrival of the
steamer.
Only three trucks are being oper-,
ated to the Gilliam county ranches,
about 75 miles from here. Indepen
dent ranchers here declare they can
not take advantage of river transpor
tation inducements because of in
ability to obtain warehouse accom
modations m Portland.
. ' Forest Fire Bad
The Metolius river forest fire con
tinued to hold a definite threat af
ter breaking its bounds on the Warm
Springs Indian reservation, and rac-j
ing down titream to within five miles
of ths rtfAValfoiiUj area OA MeWlitfs.
Corn Up 10 Cents
Drouth, grasshoppers and heat con
spired with a shortage of grain to
cause a sudden jump of 10 cents a
bushel in the price of July corn on
the Chicago Board of Trade Wednes
day. Word came from Northwestern
Iowa and parts of other gram states
that corn had started to fire and that
the crop was in peril. Other places
reported corn was in good condition.
July corn touched 68 cents at the
highest and closed at 67.
New Home Plan Urgd
Consolidation of the State univer
sity at Eugene with the Oregon State
college at Corvallis, and the sale of
the university property to the govern
ment at a low price for use as a na
tional soldiers' home, was suggested
at Salem by a prominent southern
Oregon man, as a means of solving
the controversy involving the location
of the' federal institution.
Signing Tax Pact
More than 200 farmers of Walla
Walla county, including the heaviest
taxpayers, have signed an agreement
to pay no taxes for two years unless
taxes are reduced at least 25 per cent
or the price of farm products in-
crcaaes at least 50 per cent.
Big Cougar Killed
A cougar seven feet from tip to tip
that had been killing many goats
along the Lorane highway was killed
Sunday eight miles out of Eugene.
The cougar had been committing de.
predations for two months.
River Lower Than Ever
Lower by one foot than it was a
year ago, the Columbia river at The
Dalits stood at the 9J5-foot mark. Last
year a record low stage was reached,
and sandbars were revealed that never
bVfoYd veY fetttftt.