Page Four
Heppner Gazette Times, Heppner, Oregon
Thursday, January 13, 1938
Heppner
Gazette Times
THE HEPPNER GAZETTE,
.. Established March 30, 1883;
THE HEPPNER TIMES.
Established November 18, 1897;
CONSOLIDATED FEBRUARY 15. 1912
Published every Thursday morning by
CBAWFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY
and entered at the Post Office at Hepp
ner, Oregon, as second-class matter.
JASPER V. CRAWFORD, Editor
SPENCER CRAWFORD, Manager
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
One Year .'. $2.00
Three Years 5.00
Six Months 1.00
Three Months 75
Single Copies , .05
Official Paper for Morrow County
To Mill or Not to Mill
A QUESTION of no little magni
tude to Morrow county has
arisen because of the proposed saw
mill establishment here. Local folk,
for the moment, are stalled in their
rejoicing that Heppner is to have a
payroll industry, by announcement
that such an operation does not con
form to the forest service policy of
administering the timberlands, which
policy, it is averred by F. F. Weh
meyer, will give the greatest ulti
mate benefit.
The question now confronting our
people is: Shall an operation be en
couraged here which can last no
longer than 15 years at the most, or
shall all influence be thrown in fa
vor of an operation at Kinzua that
is being set up for perpetual opera
tion through encouragement of the
forest service under its policy of
placing timber cutting on a sus
tained yield basis?
We do not pretend to be smart
enough to give the right answer,
though the argument of the conser
vationists is strongly appealing as
probably being in the public inter
est. The sustained yield plan, we do
know, is rapidly coming to the fore
front, being recognized as inevitable
of adoption if the lumber industry
as we know it today is to be perpet
uated. On the other hand we do not know
that perpetuation of the lumber in
dustry as we know it today is neces
sary for the future welfare. Build
ing substitutes far superior in many
ways to lumber have already ap
peared, and more will appear. Wood
as fuel is not so essential as it once
was, with coal, gas, oil and electric
ity forcing it into the background.
We do know that a large body of
timber adjacent to Heppner is ripe
and ready for cutting. We know that
private interests have paid taxes on
timberlands for many years into the
public exchequer with the hope" that
some day the timber would return
enough to compensate for holding
on to it. We do know that whoever
cuts the timber expects to make a
profit from it, and that the present
owners, so long as it be in their
power, will sell to their own best
advantage. There is no preference so
far as we can see in who makes the
profit, or who risks their capital in
an attempt to realize a profit.
As for the future, we are not so
greatly alarmed. There are compen
satory forces at work in Nature over
which man has no control, an dwhile
influencing his destiny, they will
continue whether the lumber is made
at Kinzua or Heppner. For one thing,
God made animal life to exude car
bon monoxide while consuming oxy
gen, while on the other hand he
made vegetable life to consume car
bon monoxide while exuding oxy
gen. Are we to believe that man has
the power to throw this wonderful
structure out of balance? Scientists
have learned long since that energy
is never destroyed. It is merely trans
formed, to evidence itself in a dif
ferent manner. So we cannot help
but believe that so long as Old Sol,
the main source of the earth's en
ergy, continues to shine, there will
still be maintained a balance in life
on earth, and those who follow will
find sustenance, even though it be
not western yellow pine turned out
through the mills at Kinzua.
Fate and Fortune -
WE HAVE a couple of great un
cles who couldn't stand the
press of civilization. They pioneered
new territory in several instances,
and each time as the country be
gan to be settled about them, they
up and pulled stakes, selling out for
a farthing, and moving on. They fi
nally located on the Imnaha river
which dumps into the Snake way
back in Wallowa county, then one
of the most inaccessible regions of
the West.
Apparently these great uncles
pioneered for the zest of pioneering,
caring little for ultimate security
or the realization of wealth.
Such a spirit may also have mo
tivated the father of Lee Scrivner,
Democrat gulch wheatraiser, whom
Mr. Scrivner cites as having once
traded 160 ocres of Umatilla county's
now most valuable wheat land for
a rifle, pony, and a hundred dollars
in cash, though the cash was never
received. The land is now valued at
$300 an acre, and Mr. Scrivner has
the gun as a souvenir.
Down on the coast a few years
ago we met an old Alaska sourdough,
running a little coast resort hotel.
He told of his father pioneering at
Portland. Sensing the city's large
future, thet. father invested in con
siderable real estate. He thought the
major growth would be in the Al
bina district, and his investments
were made there. His judgment
proved wrong as the city went the
other way and he never realized on
his investment.
And so fate has played a hand in
building America, mere chance to a
large degree taking fortunes from
the hands of one and placing them
in the hands of another.
Many fortunes in this country
were made in the early days from
the natural increase in value of
primitive lands to be had for the
claiming, the demand for which in
creased as settlement became gen
eral. It is because that avenue of ob
taining wealth has been largely
closed in America, along with whole
sale ravaging of natural resources,
that easy fortunes are no longer pos
sible. The former era, however, proba
bly encouraged the gambling "in
stinct" among American people,
which ultimately resulted in the 1929
stock market debacle. That catastro
phe was not manufactured by the
republican party. It was instigated
by a trait of the whole people, re
publicans and democrats alike, who
sought quick wealth through the
creation of false values. It wasn't the
wealth of "ninety families" that
caused the crash, or the manipula
tion of that wealth. Laborers, farm
ers, professional and business peo
ple alike were "playing the market"
in a way never before or since heard
of.
A republican president whose
hands were tied by a democratic
congress was nailed to the cross be
cause he was powerless to stem the
inevitable tidal wave of depressed
values and shrunken incomes which
affected the rich and would-be rich
alike. Had Mr. Hoover been presi
dent in the post-depression recon
struction era, the humanitarian at
tributes displayed in attempting to
keep the people from becoming un
necessarily panicky when the de
pression came, and the same attrib
utes displayed in feeding sufferers
of war-torn Europe and of adminis
tering flood relief in America would
be appreciated by more people. But
he is another with whom fate dealt
unkindly.
Fate preferred another to sit in the
lap of the gods, another great hu
manitarian, it is not to be denied.
But in a democracy it is the spirit
of the whole people that determines
the course of destiny. When America
went off the gold standard, there
was no immediate response in ris
ing prices as administrators expect
ed, because the people continued to
accept a dollar as a dollar. That at
titude, the acceptance of true moral
as well as economic values by all the
people, is the foundation of Ameri
ca a foundation of stone, fortunate
ly, that is not easily shaken by oc
casional torrential storms and alarm
ing tides of defeatism, whoever, for
the moment, fate has chosen to favor.
MASONS MEET SATURDAY
SL A regular communication of
W Heppner Lodge No. 69, A. F. &
A. M., will be held at Masonic hall
next Saturday evening. It is expect
ed there will be work in the M. M.
degree, and all members are urged
by Vawter Parker, W. M , to attend.
Read G. T. Want Ads. You way
find a bargain in something needed.
PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT ANNOUNCING
INFANTILE PARALYSIS FOUNDATION
I have been very much concerned
over the epidemics of infantile par
alysis which have been prevalent in
many cities in different parts of the
country. I have had reports from
many areas in which this disease is
again spreading its destruction. And
once again there is brought forcibly
to my mind the constantly increas
ing accumulation of ruined lives
which must continue unless this dis
ease can be brought under control
and its after-effects properly treat
ed. My own personal experience in the
work that we have been doing at the
Georgia Warm Springs Foundation
for over ten years, leads me to the
very definite conclusion that the best
results in attempting to eradicate
this disease cannot be secured by
approaching the problem through
any single one of its aspects, whether
that be preventive studies in the lab
oratory, emergency work during epi
demics, or after treatment. For over
ten years at the Foundation at Warm
Springs, Georgia, we have devoted
our efforts almost entirely to the
study of improved treatment of the
after-effects of the illness. During
these years other agencies, which
have from time to time assisted, have
devoted their energies to other pha
ses of the fight. I firmly believe that
the time has now arrived when the
whole attack on this plague should
be led and directed, though not con
trolled, by one national body. And
it is for this purpose that a new na
tional Foundation for Infantile Par
alysis is being created.
As I have said, the general purpose
of the new Foundation will be to
lead, direct, and unify the fight on
every phase of this sickness. It will
make every effort to ensure that
every responsible research agency
in this country is adequately fi
nanced to carry on investigations
into the cause of infantile paralysis
and the methods by which it may
be prevented. It will endeavor to
eliminate much' of the needless after-effects
of this disease wreck
age caused by the failure to make
early and accurate diagnosis of its
presence. We all know that improper
care during the acute stage of the
disease, and the use of antiquated
treatment, or downright neglect of
any treatment, are the cause of
thousands of crippled, twisted, pow
erless bodies now. Much can be done
along these lines right now. The new
Foundation will carry on a broad
gauged educational campaign, pre
pared under expert medical super
vision, and this will be placed within
the reach of doctors and the hospitals
of the country. The practicing physi
cian is in reality the front line fight
er of the sickness, and there is much
existing valuable knowledge that
should be disseminated to him.
And then there is also the tremen
dous problem as to what is to be
done with those hundreds of thous
ands already ruined by the after
effects of this affliction. To investi
gate, to study, to develop every med
ical possibility of enabling those so
afflicted to become economically in
dependent in their local communi
ties will be one of the chief aims of
the new Foundation.
Those who today are fortunate in
being in full possession of their mus
cular power naturally do not under
stand what it means to a human be
ing paralyzed by this disease to
have that powerlessness lifted even
to a small degree. It means that dif
ference between a human being de
pendent on others, and an individual
who can be wholly independent. The
public has little conception of the
patience and time and expense nec
essary to accomplish such results.
But the results are of the utmost
importance to the individual.
The work of the new organization
must start immediately. It cannot be
delayed. Its activities will include
among many others those of the
Georgia Warm Springs Foundation,
of which I have been president since
its inception. I shall continue as
president of that Foundation. But in
fairness to my official responsibil
ities, I cannot at this time take a
very active part in the much broader
work that will be carried out by the
new Foundation, and I therefore do
not feel that I should now hold any
official position in it. However, be
cause I am wholeheartedly in this
cause, I have enlisted the sincere
interest of several representative
and outstanding individuals who are
willing to initiate and carry on the
work of the new Foundation. Its
personnel will be announced as soon
as it is completed.
Morrow County
JOIN
Elks Hall Heppner
Saturday, January 29
ELMER STEELE
and His Swing Band
7
$I.OO the couple
Extra ladies 25c