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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1931)
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES. HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1931. PAGE THREE BLESSED ARE THE ASKERS When I was younger I used to look at the Giant Corporations of the country with awe. I thought: "How wonderful to be president of such a world-wide business. Millions of capital and surplus in the treasury; great plants which are turning out a stream of products; the highest priced experts in every line to do the work! All the president has to do is to sit in a nice big office and watch the wheels go round." When I came closer to those Giant Corporations I promptly re vised my ideas. For instance; I happened to be in the office of the chairman of the board of one of the biggest businesses of its kind. The telephone rang. On the other end of the wire was the president of a railroad. Said the railroad man to his friend the manufacturer: "You have a subsidiary company in our territory. Its total freight bill is only a few thousands of dollars a year, but we want that business. Can we have It?" A few days later I called on a manufacturer of building materials. The president's secretary Bald: "The boss wants to see you, but he had to go out suddenly. He has just heard that So and So (naming a banker) is going to build a new house, so he jumped in his car and went down to see if he could get the order. I called at my bank. The president was not in his office. His assistant reported that he had gone out to solicit a new account A friend of mine who is in a tough business has had a very good year in spite of the depression. A competitor asked him :"How in the world do you get so many orders?" To which my friend replied simply: "By going out and asking for them." Whether a business be big or small, local or International, makes little difference. If it is to keep going it must have orders. And there isn't any president or chair man of the board so famous or so rich that he Isn't after orders every single day! Conditions have been subnormal now for a long time, not only here but all over the world. Many pre dictions have been uttered: many remedies proposed. My own suggestion for improving things is very simple: Let's all quit talking about how bad times are. Let's go out and ask for orders. Blessed are the askers! McKELVIE LETTER EXPLAINS SURPLUS (Continued from First Page.) I STPCKBR1ME 1 PARACHUTES The tragic death of Knute Rock ne, the world's most famous foot ball coach, in an airplane accident, brings sharply to the front the ques tion of the safety of passengers in commercial air navigation. The Federal laws requiring every passenger-carrying ship or boat to provide life preservers for every passenger are rigidly enforced. There is just as sound reason for compulsory legislation requiring a parachute for every passenger on an interstate airplane. Doubtless the transportation companies will protest at the suggestion of carry ing more weight Commercial en terprises are prone to put profits ahead of human lives. But if they kill a few more Rocknes, whose lives could have been saved by par achutes, as seems to be true in this case, they will have neither passen gers nor profits. MICHELSON "My last great experiment" is what Prof. Albert A. Michelson called his latest effort at accurate mmsnrmenr of the speed of light, when he left his laboratory, 111, at the age of 79. The worm's greatest experimental scientist was past 70 when he devised the method of set ting up revolving mirrors on top of two California mountains, 22 miles m.ri nnrt hv means of very deli cate electrical devices measured the time that it took a beam of lignt to travel from one mirror to tne otner Th flirnrfi which he arrived at, 186,' 213 miles a second, has been accept ed by men of science everywnere. Pi-.ntirnilv all that has been learned of the physical properties of matter in the past tnirty years Vina hppn th result of Michelson's research and that of men who got thoir purlv trainlne under him. A thousand years from now Michel son's name will be one of the two or three names of men of this era which will be remembered. PROFITS The Fnrd Motor Company's prof its for 1930 were $55,000,000, and the company has $300,000,000 In cash resources. The General Motors tlnn earned a profit of $176, 922,650 in 1930 and has cash re sources of $364,000,UUU. The General Motors Corporation paid $9,538,660 In dividends to stockholders, and over $10,000,000 to Its employees In bonuses and spec ial otnnU dividends. Ford Paid a higher average scale of wages and no bonuses. All tne siock in me America is owned by the Ford family. Mr. Ford bought out all the others so he would not have to consult a board of directors when he wants to make an experiment costing millions of dollars. He was the pioneer in the indus trial policy of steadily reducing the price of the product as the marker broadened, and the success of Gen eral Motors has been largely based upon following the path first mark ed out by Henry Ford. He was the first to establish the eight hour day and the five day week in industry, and Is now working on a plan for a ten month year for Industrial work ers, at the same annual rate of pay that they now earn In twelve months. RADIO Nearly thirty years ago I was with Marconi when he first success fully pqtnhllshed wireless communi cation across the Atlantic. At that time, the only wave length used was 3,000 meters. Ton venrs aeo Marconi began to experiment with waves as Bhort as 25 meters and found that they wore remarkably free from Interference, fading" and static, and could be directed almost as accurately as a beam of light He predicted to me in 1927 that the great future devel opment of radio communications would be with short waves. Now the International Telegraph and Telephone Company announces that, with a transmitter which one can hold in his hand, they have es tablished communication over long distances, with a wave length of only seven meters, which is entirely free from fading and static disturb ances. This may prove to be the long heralded achievement which will make radio communication as accurate and reliable as communi cation by wire. SMELL Scientific research- has developed the mechanical eye, the mechanical ear and the mechanical sensitive ness to touch. There are electrical and chemical devices which can dis criminate between the tastes of dif ferent substances. The only one of the five senses which hasn't been re produced in the laboratories is the sense of smell. Nobody has yet in vented a mechanical nose. Smelling involves a very delicate chemical operation. The nose de tects minute traces of chemical substances whose presence cannot be discovered by any other means. There is no odor which cannot be reproduced chemically, but so far science has been baffled in every ef fort to detect odors by means of any kind of machine or chemical process. That is not to say that the me chanical nose is an impossibility. As yet, there is no apparent neces sity for such a device. Once let the necessity arise, and it is better than an even chance that some chemist or electrical engineer will find a way to do the job. They are particularly exposed to competition of Australian wheat in Europe and the Orient and of low grade Canadian wheat in the Ori ent. Growers there stand to gain, however, through any improvement in world prices that may be brought about by reduction of our export surplus in the country at large, and in the export surplus of that area, with its special types of wheat in particular. So long as they produce a considerable export surplus in that territory, they cannot expect to enjoy much benefit from tariff protection on wheat, even if the rest of the country should get onto a domestic basis. Their problem is the more difficult because extensive diversion of wheat lands to other uses does not seem to afford ade quate relief. The so-called "claim that our sur plus wheat cannot be sold abroad at world prices" may mean one of three things. In the past our sur plus wheat has been sold abroad at world prices; it can no doubt be thus sold in future. The Farm Board has pointed out, however, that the prospects are that during the next few years our substantial surplus of wheat cannot be expect ed to sell abroad at prices satisfac tory to farmers. The editor, how ever, evidently wishes to argue that the surplus wheat can be sold at world prices and the growers as sured a higher price on the wheat consumed at home, with the result that the average price received would be satisfactory to growers. This argument raises several questions. One is the probable re action of foreign governments to such a policy on our part It is true that Great Britain, Holland, Belgium, and China admit wheat duty free, and that Japan gives a drawback on flour exports com pensating for the duty on wheat imported. It is also true that none of these countries would be certain to impose anti-bounty or anti dumping duties on wheat. What their reaction to a policy of differ ential prices on export bounty can not safely be predicted. With cheap wheat in prospect, with abundant supplies available in other export ing countries, the possibility of dis criminatory action would be much greater than if wheat were scarce and dear. In the case of Great Britain, it is less difficult to con ceive of adverse measures because Canada and Australia are large ex porters of wheat and would con sider their interests hurt by a dumping policy on the part of the United States, and because Argen tina, an important market for Brit ish goods, would feel the same, to dia might also feel hurt Apart from embargoes or discriminatory duties against our wheat exports, other means (such as an import quota system, already much dis cussed in England) could be em ployed to defeat a dumping policy on our part No country with a huge surplus of wheat such as ours has ever adopted an export-bounty or export-dumping system. In ex tent, if not in kind, the policy would be new. If the United States as a whole were on a domestic basis as to wheat, and the country outside the Pacific Northwest a net-importing region, the case of the Pacific Northwest would be closely analog ous to that of eastern Germany, where an import certificate or ex port debenture system was devised to meet such a situation. As it Is, the cases are not parallel, for the United States is a net-exporting area outside the Pacific Northwset The import certificate plan was devised in Europe to apply to com modities of which the country was a net importer on the whole. The theory was that the exports would be more than offset by imports, and that the cost to the treasury would be nil, because whatever wheat was exported would be replaced by wheat imports. In Germany, how ever, rye became a net-export crop while the system was in operation, and the system yielded a real ex port bounty on rye. In Poland this year there is a surplus of wheat as well as rye, and the system virtu ally gives an export bounty on both. Hungary last July adopted an ex port bounty device. Whether Foland ana Hungary will find the system effective for their farmers and tolerable for their treasuries, it is too early to say. But it is significant that Ger many, during the past year of ex t r e m e agricultural depression, found it necessary to suspend her import certificate system. It was proving too heavy a burden on the treasury; and in the case of rye, of which she had an export sur plus, it was resulting not in raising domestic prices, but in depressing rye prices in her export markets. The price of domestic wheat has been held up in Germany this year, not by the application of this sys tem, but by a combination of an extremely high tariff, $1.62 a bushel since October 28, 1930, milling regu lations requiring a high minimum percentage of domestic wheat and other regulations. Even so, prices of domestic wheat have been far below duty-paid prices of foreign wheat. Germany's wheat export re gions have gained less than her def icit regions under this year's system. The suggestion that the Federal Farm Board buy domestic wheat at prices above the world level, sell the export surplus for what It would bring, and sell the balance at home for enough profit to offset the loss on export sales, is not new. Whether it is a straightforward, affirmative policy that would work to the advantage of wheat growers, could probably not be conclusively answered until it was tried. Some reasons for believing that it would work badly can be stated. It would involve a government monopoly of the grain business, do mestic and export and very sub stantial restrictions on the buying operations of our own millers. It would necessitate fixing prices and j price differentials in all sections for all types and grades of wheat It would mean buying at government risk. It is hardly conceivable that the task could be executed with sat isfaction to wheat growers, many of whom believe they wer dealt with unfairly when the wheat price dur ing the war was fixed at $2.25 a bushel Chicago. It would be impos sible, without considerable tariff in crease, to maintain prices 42 cents a bushel above Winnipeg or Van couver prices, since Canadian wheat is worth more to millers than the great bulk of our wheats. With an export surplus of 200 million bush els (a conservative figure with our present production since feed use would presumably be curtailed and production expanded), it would re quire a profit of 12 cents a bushel on 500 million bushels, to cover ex port losses of 30 cents a bushel on wheat exported. Moreover, the pol icy would almost certainly tend to increase our export surplus, for there are important areas in which an assured advance of anything like 32 cents a bushel over an export ba sis would be stimulating to expan sion of acreage. Such expansion would tend to hold world prices down or to force world prices still lower. Wheat farmers everywhere are taking disastrously low prices and the situation is getting worse in stead of better. The world visible supply of wheat on March 1, this year, was 630 million bushels. This is 29 million bushels higher than on February 1, this year; 79 million bushels higher than on March 1, last year, and the largest on record for all time. Both the United States and Australian visibles are at new record levels. It would be stretching the imagi nation a good deal to assume that other countries are less jealous of the welfare of their farmers than we are of ours. We will not permit dumping of agricultural products into this country, and I cannot see how other countries could be ex pected to permit dumping of our surpluses against the interests of their farmers. Even though em bargoes may not exist at the pres ent time in the countries you men tion, it does not take long to erect such barriers when the occasion arises. Speaking of fair play, it seems to me that should be the spirit of our relations with other countries in the disposition of ex- The Kilowatt Kiddles Bring HOT WATER ELECTRICALLY Jack and Jill went up the hill To fetch a pail of water BUT The Kilowatt Kiddies have not even hills to climb to bring you Hot Water ELEC TRICALLY. Invisible as they are, Charlie and Clara Kilowatt keep your tank brimf ull of abundant hot water. It's always just the right temperature for the Monday morning wash ing, the morning shave the hundred-and-one household jobs that are made easy with a de pendably constant Hot Water supply. The Kilowatt Kiddies invisible symbols of service they stay on guard to give you hot wa ter the instant you touch the tap. Charlie and Clara Kilowatt never sleep . . . they are yours to command every minute, day or night, with never-varying precision. The Kilowatt Kiddies would like to serve YOU with ELECTRIC Hot Water. Learn all about its economy, dependability and conven ience from their sponsors, the Pacific Power 6- Light Company "Always at Your Service)" MMHUD) MELEAIMILIITY portable surpluses, like wheat If that is to be the spirit there cer tainly is no excuse on our part for dumping. In the light of these facts and many others that may be educed, It seems to us a serious mistake to lead farmers to believe that they can continue to produce the present exportable surplus or anything like it without suffering the baneful ef fects of taking world prices. Hence our justification for urging farmers to reduce their acreage of wheat THE FORD TUDOR SEDAN lp Long9 hard use shows the value of good materials and simplicity of design EVERYWHERE you go you hear reports of the good performance and reliability of the. Ford. One owner writes "The Ford Tudor Sedan I am driving has covered 59,300 miles through all kinds of weather. It is still giving perfect satisfaction.' Another owner describes a trip of 3217 miles in 95 hours over bad roads and through heavy raitt and sleet in the mountains. "Throughout the en tire trip," he writes, "the Ford performed ex cellently and no mechanical trouble of any kind was experienced. The shatter-proof glass un doubtedly saved us from serious injury when 8 prairie chicken struck the windshield while we were traveling at 65 miles an hour." See the nearest dealer and have him give you a demonstration ride in the Ford. Then, from your own personal experience, you will know that it brings you everything you want or need in a motor car at an unusually low price. L O W F O II II PRICES 43 to G3 (F. o. b. Detroit, plus freight and delivery. Bumpers and spare tire extra at lout coil. You may purchase a Ford car or truck for a small down payment, on convenient, economical terms through your Ford dealer.) (X OF THE CRUCIBLE OFTEARS' PSE comes lhit.r . J YEAR GUARANTEE r4 thrifty hornet throughout the country, you'll find overwhelming proof of the expense-free perform ance of General Electric Refrigerators. Now with price reductioni General Electric announcei a 3-Year Guarantee. Every new General Electric Refrigerator it warranted free from service expense for three long years. The simple mechanism is sealed in the gleaming Monitor Top, permanently oiled safe from air, moisture and dirt Cabinets are all steel porcelain-lined easy to clean broom-room beneath. Accessible temperature control i r ,..1,1 mAAM. "$ I mstant tesponse to every need. ? I At new low prices enjoy General Electric convenience and econo my now. Join mi in tbl Ctnirat Bit BUctric Program, broadcast ttery Saturday tvtning, en 0 nation-wtdt N. B. C mttwerk Down payments art as low as no (14 months to pay) GENERAL ELECTRIC ALL-STEEL REFRIGERATOR Commercial Refrigerator! Electric Water Coolers Electric Milk Coolers PACIFIC POWER & LIGHT COMPANY "Always at Your Service!" Eat more froah fruits arid vegetables NOW I They are donbly essential In tne Spring of tne year. Tliey tone np your appetite mane yon xeex more eneriretic. more alive. You will find the neatest variety of these fancy Spring fruits and vegetables abundantly displayed in our stands. ana priced lower man tney nave been lor years, guauty ana economy have made our stores "famous for fruits and vegetables." Saturday & Monday Specials MILK Darigold Brand, a Western product. PER TALL TIN 8c SHORTENING White and Fluffy note the saving 4 lbs 49c mm a fresh stock- 0Q0 CuFEE Only 3 more days left of the Big Coffee Sale. We actually sold 301 pounds of bulk coffee in Heppner alone last Satur day, eclipsing all former records. We announce that we take pride in selling goods of such superior quality as our bulk coffees. FRIDAY, SATURDAY, MONDAY, ON'LY. MacMarr Coffee, 3 lbs. .85cmCy31bs. 55c L PAR HAS NO RIVAL Is absolutely 9 LiTe the finest and best soaD Dowder & on tne market. P"kgs. 85c I MACARONI I I PANCAKE FLOUR I Fresh stock, just arrived. The wonderful MacMarr. Note the saving. 5 ft Q s Large Pkg 19c LBS 4 tJC No. 10 Sack 59c t ancy siae, wen streaKeci Swift's bacon. Per Lb. 27c CHEESE Fancy full cream Oregon loaf. B-LB. LOAF $1.15 VEGETABLES Everything you need in fresh fruits nd vegetables yon will nnd here. Every, thing fresh and the price right. BEANS Mexican Reds. Note the price. 10 LBS. 44c PHONE 1082 Orders of $3.00 of over delivered FBEB. HOTEL HEPPNER BLDO.