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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1914)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION Home and Farm Magazine Section Editorial Page Suggestions From Our Associate Editors, Allowing for an Interchange of Views, Written by Men of Experience on Topics With Which They Are Fully Acquainted Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought. FACTS FOB FARMERS. THE farmer needs a market. Otherwise & will farm at a loss. Every consumer is a market-maker. The silo is the farmer's best friend. In the country you' keep your cheek close to the breast of nature. , A cultivator under the shed is : north two loft out in open weather. Let farming become an abandoned profession and everything would stop. , Holp to organize ' rural life and mako the country a better place to live in. Good cultivation not only helps growing crops but permanently im proves the soil. The proper preparation of ground works wonders in lessened cost of cultivation. Wo can best serve our interests by giving all possible attention to marketing. Production without thought to marketing is like building elabor ately on foundation premises that are not true. ' The man that owns the soil on which he" lives is the only man whose feet do not rest on shifting Eandi. As the season advances, the plow is' the farmer's best friend, but when the season closes the silo comes in handy. The "commonly accepted theory that wo are short on production is wrong. We are short on markoting information. Mauy wealthy corporations and individuals have been telling the farmer how to plow, when they Blibuld have been telling him whero and when to markot. The problem of marketing is the biggest business proposition of any age or nation, and one that will de mand the coinbinod efforts of all tha agencies of civilization to solve. ' BEAUTY VERSUS USE. NERO could enjoy the spec tacle of Rome burning. Chil dren and fools naively would delight in a conflagration that would consume for spectacular pur poses a million tons of coal a week. We let the equivalent waste in horsepower go on at Niagara and hear it called saving beauty for the people. $ . Jfjjg ELECTRICITY. "" 07T here in the Northwest we are setting an example to civiliza , tion. Farms anywhere within easy reach of a city or town now can be lighted, and usually are lighted, by electricity. On many farms the hum of the electric motor is heard. Sewing machines are d iven by electricity. BiloB aro filled; water pumped, feed cut up. It has one hundred and on nses. Electricity is so easily controlled either by the push of a button or by automatic apparatus especially de signed for that purpose, that on oftentimes loses tight of th com plexity of th distribution system and control mechanism between jh lamp and the source of supply. Indeed, there are aa many as a thousand points between the electrlt light station and th lamp where 'the most trivial fault will result la failure to reoeiv light Trouble in the electric light sta tion itself U never permitted to in ,terfere with th service to eus itomert; it is the trouble In the line ind house circuits which causes th ghting company most concern. Ia the great majority of case Jher Is only a mi nut or two of work between no electricity at all ind perfect satisfaction. The blow lg of a fuse will place a house ia ntir darkness, yet a new fust caa b installed la a fraction of a mln te. Eleotrie light eompanlot through Mi th country make It a point t remedy these faults as speedily aa possible, and in order that the elec tric light men may reach tha seat of trouble as rapidly as possible, th companies provide motor cycles for repair men. The fact that one of these men is able to make an average trip and : arrive at the home of a customer within a few minutes of the time ' when the call is telephoned to th city or town office give electric light companies an advantage and prestige. It is usual to have the motorcycle repair corps on tap at any tim oi day or night This courser involve hesvy ex pense, but the lighting companies are or than compensated ia satis fied customers. t -H?s;. A HINT FOB Ua R HAVE just visited Canada Vf Western Canada. And we ar still quit eos tent to make our home ia the North west. Jnst the sam w found a few ideas of special interest One ia particular seemed worth while. It gives aa idea to oar own rail roads. The Canadian Pacific Railroad has recently added to it staff a "scout," a man unknown except to a low officials, whose duty it it U travel over the system and dis cover those employes who axe es pecially worthy of advancement. Incidentally he will report those found wanting;,but it is significant that his function primarily is not to make complaints but to make doubly sure that (tie deserving are recog nized. Undoubtedly this is a step in tha right direction. There is a feeling among rail road men that advancement is slow and that merit is not recognized. Very likely if men can be brought to. realize that the display of initia tive will be appreciated and re warded their attitude toward their work will be decidedly changed. If the scout idea will bring home to the employes of the Canadian Pacific that their interest in th road will be apreciated and reward ed, it will help much in raising th line's efficiency. Incidentally, when we see th courtesy and consideration Simms, our depot master, uses to everyone; when we see him wrestle with heavy trunks and bulky express packages, in between times rushing to the tel egraph ticker or .the telephone; making up voluminous reports, soil ing tickets and doing the scores of duties the railroad requires him to do cheerfully and well, we hope a "spotter" will come along and send in a report on Simms that will give him well-deserved promotion. FARM LOAN EXAMPLE. n3 STATE in the Union ha been the subject of more discussion as to its financial standing and prospects than Oklahoma. Opened to settlement oly 25 years, it has become one of the wonders of the nation, but through th pro cess of development has been com pelled to utilize a great deal of out side capital. Most of th people who went to the state as farmers were poor. They have built cities and improved farms and made all th develop ment of a prosperous commonwealth and are today standing with a splen did showing of their accomplish ments. The farm loan field of that statu has seen its ups and downs. It has gone through a period of depression when there came a period of low prices for real estate and an overwhelming debt Then it has com to the sucoee ful point of today. Oklahoma in all its central sec tion is capable of almost universal cultivation. Farms cover th land and the eliiuato is such a U bring . excellent crop production. Cotton and eora, wheat and oats, alike are praised, and the Btock interests ar among the foremost in the West The success of this field has mani fested itself in the history of in vestments made through a period of years. On insurance company has over 47,000,000 in Oklahoma farm loans and is increasing its in vestments in that state. There ar many large loan companies that handle millions in far loans and their record is phenomenal for th slight losses. Yet interest rates ar strong and th demand for money is active. Two elements go into th Okla homa loan field that make for strength. On is th character of th people. They ar among the most energeti of th West' population. They hav the ability to get tha most oat of the soil. The other is th elimati and soil conditions that bring good crop and in almost every year giv th farmers a profit Labor is cheap, many negroes Do ing available for help. Th warm winters make th expense of fuel and Clothing lighter than up North and the long seasons giv a chance to diversify crops. Land values hav steadily risen all through the state, until they ar today standing at a figure that ia likely to remain. Yet there ia no boom value. That has long ago been squeezed out and the land is on an income basis. In the eastern half of the state is what was, until five years ago, the Indian Territory. Here th In dian rights are to be considered, but they are rapidly becoming available for the owner, and the whites are taking the place of the redskin. Fine towns are growing up and schools and churches are being built The loan companies are. making loans here less extensively than in the central section, but they will eventually make this one of their loading fields. The Oklahoma farm loan is well established among careful investors and is gaining prominence as the state comes to a fuller prosperity. The present season promises to be one of the best in the state's his tory, and with a good wheat erop, it will have a marvelously prosper ous year. There is all the time an increasing population. CASINO FOB ANIMALS. A3 A PEOPLE we are somewhat short-sighted. There has just been a capital example of this. John D. Rockefeller has given an other million dollars for the study of diseases in animals. Now, we don 't particularly admire Mr. Rockefeller as a man but that is no causa for the flippant and even bitter comment his action ha aroused. Critics profess to see more reason for the million in other quarters. They say that human diseases should be eliminated before the ills of the lower creatures are taken into consideration. Anything that Mr. Rockefeller does is, of course, a fair mark for those who are not enamored of him or impressed with his munificence. - Our inalienable right to kick at all times is granted without argu ment " But it would seem that In the son sideration of this particular dona tion a certain amount of intelli gence might be manifested. Many people incorrectly assume that lavish governmental and.stat appropriations for th prevention of disease among animals ar based oa pity for the animals. Of course, the practical farmer knows this Is rubbish. By being caroful over our animal w ar acting purely solfishly. Mr. Roekof ellor is not bowed with grief over the sufferings of th hog with cholera, Nor are our agricultural college, Their anxiety is to preserve aa i many hogs as possible for the con sumption of humanity. The reelings ox the hog are not considered. Anthrax, cholera, pleuro-pneu; . monia, glanders, tick, fever an tuberculosis among our food and working animals play a decided part in the cost of living. When hog cholera ia conquered we may look confidently for a drop ia the price of pork because th farmer will b ablt to sell hogs at leas money and mak more money. Protecting th health of animals upon which w are dependent is -one of the certain methods of benay fitting humanity, and the Bockefel . ler 'gift will be certainly justifies: i even if its benefit sever become generally known. jfi PHILOSOPHY FBOM A JAILER. JOHN L. Whitman, jailer of th Cook county jail, Chicago, re cently made a speech to his guards and keepers. "Although jailer, I can accom plish little without the united as sistance of all my guards; they are just aa necessary to th success of my ideas In the management of this jail aa my own acta. ... "Always keep in mind that kind ness is th key to all human hearts, and sympathy th password to good fellowship. Men imprisoned her ' arc human, and ar entitled to ery consideration they can consist ently receive at our hands.. Never strike a blow, never abuse an in mate. Rather give a kind word, little sympathy, and the necessity for harsh treatment will soon van ish. Get the men to believe that you are their friends and not their natural enemies, and that you ar here merely to do a plain duty aa kindly as it can be don. When you will hav done this yon will have done everything." Strikes us some of Whitman's ideas might work handling farm hands, store help and employes generally. That about kindness would b worth trying at home. t J PUT IN A SEPTIC TANK. HO FARM where the use of a septio tank is possible should be without one," sayex Prof essor O. L. Waller, vice-president of the Washington State College at Pull man. Farm sanitation is an important subject. What is worth mora to you than health t A septic tank is a simple and ei fective sanitary device. Put one in. Any of the agricultural colleges in the Pacific Northwest will tell you how. ' j 4 ' " A LOT of farmer boys go to the city looking for trouble and when they find it they do not know; what to do with it . , . , - - THB farmer who takes erop rats ing on faith gets many a hart jolt For Uniform Bond Laws, Throngh th eo onexatloa of tat American Bar Association and tkj American Highway Association tbf work of revising the road laws in Arfl. ferent states has been undertaken witjj th object of codifying and liaplifjS ing them on a uniform basis. Many el th road laws are a eenttrrv old. bun! oa colonial legislation and followta fingusn precedent ana ar entirely on of use in modern traffic and condition Because of these obsolete laws it impossible to giv th nation net work of improved hiffhwsnra. so a ehs.no must be made. The committee win urge upon the governors of tha virions tij the necessity for letrislatlve a. Allan shnv prorfde nlaa im inch prkdiir , ,
