AURORA OBSERVER, AURORA, OREGON
Morgan Asks
Inquiry
(Continued from page one)
acreage allotments will be set by
county committees for individual
farms.
Tax Bill Battle Starts
D OBERT L. DOUGHTON of North
Carolina, chairman of the ways
and means committee, submitted to
the house the revenue bill formulat­
ed by a m ajority of
the committee, and
thé struggle over
this measure began
at once. The admin­
istration l e a d e r s
¡¡ i §
claim the act will
-
stimulate trade and
■
remove
hardships
on both big and lit­
tle business without
lowering the aggre­
gate federal income.
R . L. Doughton
Mr. Doughton knew
he had a fight on his hands, but pre­
dicted the speedy passage of the
measure substantially as reported.
The most vulnerable provision ad­
mittedly was a proposed penalty
tax on closely held corporations.
McCormack of Massachusetts and
Lamneck of Ohio filed a separate
report attacking this feature.
Republican members of the com­
mittee united in a report which
blamed New Deal taxes for the
“ Franklin D. Roosevelt depression”
and which charged that the tax on
closely held corporations is a polit­
ical weapon to be used to purge the
nation’ s business structure of cor­
porations controlled by New Deal
foes.
Chairman Pat Harrison, Demo­
crat, Mississippi, of the senate fi­
nance committee, said his group
would begin hearings soon on the
measure. A m ajority of his com­
mittee is reported to be opposed to
several provisions of the house bill,
including the retention of the prin­
ciples of the undistributed profits
tax.
|§|11
J
Disaster in California
C O U T H E R N C ALIFO R N IA, espe-
^ cially the region about Los An­
geles, was swept by a - destructive
flood following extraordinary rains.
N early 50 persons were drowned
or killed in landslides and thousands
fled from their ^hoiries.
It was
! thought the property damage might
I reach $30,000,000. For a time Los
Angeles was cut off from all com­
munications except by short wave
radio.
British Air Program
'T 'H E
British government an-
nounced the greatest air force
estimates in the nation’ s history and
disclosed that a Corps of scientists
had been mobilized to aid in secret
air defense plans. For the fiscal
year beginning April 1 the air force
estimates total $367,500,000.
N ext
was announced a 23 per cent in­
crease in army appropriations for
the coming year.
Gets Out of China
,T 'H E Fifteenth United States in-
-*■ fantry left Tientsin after a quar­
ter century of service in North
China, during which, its officers
boast, it has not fired a shot in an­
ger. The regiment, stationed there
under the Boxer protocol, is being
withdrawn permanently, to be re­
placed by a marine detachment.
Soviet Chiefs Face Death
ITH IN a short time we may
W
expect to read of the execu­
tion of 21 prominent citizens of So­
viet Russia, latest victims of Dicta­
tor Stalin’ s blood
purge. They were
put on trial before a
m ilitary
tribunal,
and there was little
doubt as to their
fate. Among the ac­
cusations
against
them were conspir­
ing
with
foreign
powers to dismem­
ber the Soviet Union,
plotting to assassi­
nate Lenin and Stal­ Alexis Rykov
in, inspiring the assassination of
Sergei Kiroff, and putting to death
the writer M axim Gorky and two
others previously supposed to have
died of natural causes.
Most prominent of the men put
on trial were Form er Prem ier Alex­
is I. Rykov, who succeeded Lenin
and held office for nearly two yea rs;
and Nikolai Bukharin, chronicler of
the red revolution and editor of the
government newspaper Izvestia be­
fore March, 1937.
A ll of the accused men admitted
their guilt, but Krestinsky, former
ambassador to Berlin, tried to re­
pudiate his confession. The others
one after another told in court of
their alleged conspiracies and trea­
sons.
Three Taken as Spies
O VE R N M E N T agents and New
”
York police broke up a ring of
spies engaged in selling secrets of
the American army and navy to a
European nation described as , a
world power but otherwise not
named. Three alleged members of
the ring were under arrest and held
in heavy baiL Two of them, a for­
m er sergeant in the United States
army and a private in the army,
were said to have confessed. The
third was a German girl, hairdresser
on the German liner Europa. The
G-men were diligently searching for
other members of the band.
Guenther Gustav Rumrich, the
ex-sergeant, who is a deserter, said
he was engaged in obtaining secrets
and information concerning m ilitary
operations of the United States
army
and was forwarding it
through confidential channels to va­
rious addresses in Europe.
Erich Glaser, the private, had
been stationed at Mitchel Field,
New York, the largest army air
base on the East coast and key to
the air fortifications of the metropol­
itan area. He supplied certain air
corps codes to Rumrich.
Johanna Hof man, the woman ar­
rested, admitted she was the “ liason
officer and paymaster” between the
ring and its employers. Secret code
keys and considerable quantities of
money were found on her person.
Senate to Probe Reds
C E NATO R COPELAND of New
^ York successfully put through
his resolution for a special investi­
gation of subversive activities of
Communists in the merchant ma­
rine. It will be conducted by a
committee named by Gamer. About
the same time Harry Bridges, C. I.
O. leader on the west coast, arrived
in Washington to resist being de­
ported as an undesirable alien.
Bridges also demanded a hearing
before the senate committees on
commerce and labor.
P ortland
Thursday, March 10, 1938
Deaih of D'Annunzio
("J A B R IE L E D’ANNUNZIO, poet,
playwright, soldier and Italian
patriot, died at his villa in Gardone
R iviera of a cerebral hemorrhage.
He would have been seventy-five
years old in a few days. The demise
of this really great man saddened
the whole Italian nation for he had
made himself the idol of the people
especially by his bold seizure of
Fiume after the World war and his
aerial exploits in that conflict. The
world of letters also mourned him
deeply.
W PA Rolls Increased
/"'ONGRESS having sent the quar-
ter billion dollar emergency re­
lief appropriation to the White
House, the W P A officials immedi­
ately authorized the state adminis­
trations to hire 500,000 more relief
workers this month.
Aubrey Williams, acting W PA ad­
ministrator during the convales­
G en kral
E l e c t r ic
cence of Harry Hopkins, estimated
that the March increases would pull
up local enrollments from 15 to 25
per cent, depending on state needs.
Williams said he expected large
industrial centers to furnish heavi­
est demands for a slice of the new
relief money, but added: “ There is
no part of the country that is not
affected in some real degree.”
Humble Pie
To eat humble pie is an expression
applied to those who suffer a set­
back or submit to humiliation. It
probably comes from the word “ um-
ble,” applied to the heart, liver and
entrails of the deer. In olden times
these were the perquisites of the
huntsman, and they would be made
into a pie, which would be served
to the huntsmen, humble retainers,
and their poor dependants, while the
lord and his guests ate venison joints
and pasties. Thus to eat humble pie
was to take a back seat at the feast.
C o m pan y
E lectr ic B uilding
P o r tla n d . O regon
FRANKLIN T. GRIFFITH
PRESIDENT
Uarch 9, 1938
TO THE VOTERS OF THE HtOPOSED NORTHWEST BONNEVILLE
PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT:
In accordance with the law and at the request o f the sponsors of the pro­
posed d is t r i c t , the Hydro E le c tric Commission o f Oregon has oa lled a special election
to he held F riday, A p ril 8th, 1938, to enable the voters o f portions of Clackamas,
Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln, Polk, Vfoshington and Yamhill counties to determine whether
or not they sh a ll enter upon a pu blic ownership experiment through the formation o f
the proposed publio u t ilit y d is t r ic t having fo r it s p rin c ip a l purpose the d istrib u tio n
o f e le c tric energy presumably to be purchased from the Federal development at Bonneville*
|
The d is t r i c t , i f formed, w i l l be governed by fiv e directors none of vfoom is
required to have had any previous experience in public service*
Without a vote of the people, the d irectors would have power to incur o b lig a ­
tions and to borrow money - "not exceeding the ordinary annual income and revenue of the
d is t r ic t " * The Hydro E lectric Commission estimated the annual revenue and income of the
d is t r ic t at not less than $2,000,000* The d irectors would have power, without vote of
the people, to levy taxes "fo r the purpose o f carrying on the operations and paying the
obligation s of the d is t r ic t " * In addition to the powers that may be exercised without
a, vote o f the people, the directors would have the power to c a ll elections fo r the
purpose o f voting bonds not exceeding in amount 10$ of the assessed valuation of a l l
property within the d is t ric t and would have the power to purchase, condemn or otherwise
acquire the property of existing u t i l i t i e s in that d is t r ic t or to construct and operate
a d istrib u tio n system in competition with e x istin g u t i l i t i e s .
The d irectors would have power to f i x and e stab lish ra te s at which e le c tric
energy would be so ld , but there is no assurance that the rates so fix ed by the directors
would be lower than existin g rates*
The Hydro E lectric Commission in it s report on the proposed d is t r ic t found
th at, i f the proposed d is t ric t could purchase Bonneville energy and operate without
competition, i t could not expect fo r many years to reduce the present ra te s or to make
up the lo s s in taxes re su ltin g from the elim ination o f 1the present u t i l i t i e s . Taxes
now paid by the ex istin g u t i li t i e s on th eir property within the proposed d is t r ic t amount
to more than $500,000 per year which would be en tirely lo st i f the u t i li t y companies
discontinued operation*
Remember that more than h a lf o f the u t i l i t y taxes are devoted to schools of
the proposed d i s t r i c t .
The portion of the proposed d is t ric t now served by this company enjoys one
o f the lowest ra te s for sim ilar service now in e ffec t anywhere in the Nation and th is
company has p u b licly declared that any savings i t may derive from the purchase of
Bonneville energy w i l l be passed on to it s consumers.
You have low rates now. A l l urban residents and 86$ of a l l ru ra l residents
in the te rrito ry served by us now have e le c tric service a v a ila b le . This has been the
re su lt o f many years of progressive service and ra te reductions. I f and when further
savings may be made, by purchase of Bonneville energy or otherwise, the policy of
further reducing rates w i l l be followed and your tax ob ligation w i l l be lessened by
the taxes contributed by the e x istin g u t i l i t i e s .
With no assurance of reduction in rates - with the certainty of loss of
u t i l i t y taxes - and in the face of the fa ilu r e of the State Ifydro E le ctric Commission
to recommend the creation of the d is t r ic t , why substitute uncertainty as to rates and
service and certainty as to. increased taxes fo r the r e l i a b l e , progressive, tax paying
service you now have with the added assurance that as costs decline your rates must and
w ill a ls o decline?
We are keenly interested in the w elfare and up building of the area embraced
in the proposed d is t r ic t and b e liev e your best in terests would be served by voting
NO at the sp ecial election on A p ril 8th.
In ny le t t e r next week I sh a ll outline the manner in which we believe the
Bonneville development can resu lt in the greatest p racticab le benefit to our customers.
Very tru ly yours,