Page Six DEVELOPMENT OF WATERWAYS MEANS BOOST TO OTH ER TRANSPORT LI N ES (Editor's Note This is the fourth in a series of articles on development of rivers for transportation, written by a former Heppnerite who is now connected with a program of such development in the southwest with headquarters at Dallas, Texas.) By GARFIELD CRAWFORD Pioneer railroad development fol lowed the traffic lanes established by the waterways. The first rail roads were as local as the turnpikes and only where there was already a profitable traffic, was it profitable to project a railroad. First came the waterways. Small craft carried merchandise far into the hinterlands to maintain and support outposts of civilization. Streams, today long forgotten, were once bearers of commerce. Railroads came and built on their banks and soon the rivers were passe. But Old Man River has just kept right on running and today he is coming back to become the "beast of burden" he once was. We have people, even members of our national congress, who would pass our waterways over to the railroads. This is the ultimate con sequence of the pending transporta tion bills (H.R. 4862 and S. 2009). Should they become law then it would simply be giving the lamb to the wolf. The waterways have never had a breath of scandal attached to them. On the other hand the his tory of our railroads reek with scan dalous acts. It is true that many of the rail roads have suffered materially in recent years. But these sufferings have been because of their own acts and not the fault of the waterways. Shortsighted financial control which has manifested itself in stock bonus es, underwriting commissions and over-capitalization, have been an unwarranted drain upon the rail road operating revenues. In Holy writ we find these words: "For I, the Lord thy God, am a jeal ous God, and visit the sins of thy fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations." And Old Euripides, the Greek philosoph er, said something about the Gods visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children, too. So in both Christian and pagan warning the story of the American railroads has been tersely told. Granted that railroad management today is fair and perhaps as busi nesslike as humanly possible, yet the railroads cannot come into court with clean hands. Their fathers have visited sins upon them, there fore the children must pay the pen alty until atonement has been com pleted. We are told that it is not fair to use government money to improve waterways to compete with rail roads. Was it fair to use govern ment funds to build highways? Do not the highways compete with both the railroads and waterways? They certainly do. But government mon ey has always been available to railroads. No industry in the history of the nation has been so favored as has railroading. Twenty railroads, out side of Texas, received free grants of land to the amount of 305,114 square miles. This is equivalent to all the area east of the Mississippi river and north of the Potomac and the Ohio rivers excepting the states of Wisconsin and Michigan. On top of the donations by the Federal government many states made grants running into millions of ac res, among them being Texas, Mich igan, Florida and Minnesota. In ad dition the federal government has loaned its credit time after time to railroads. Pioneer residents of Oregon and Washington can tell about railroad land. Many farms in these states were first the property of railroads. Thousands of acres of the best tim ber land in the mountains were once owned by railroads and railroad script claimed large tracts of fertile valleys. In looking over the record we find that the Central Pacific (Southern Pacific) received a grant of 9,379,140 acres; Southern Pacific in its own name took down 14,351, 587 acres; the Union Pacific re ceived a grant of 19,144,394 acres and the Northern Pacific annexed the mere trifle of 43,893,728 acres, as bonuses for building their lines into the most fertile wildernesses the world has ever known. Long before a railroad reached the shores of the Pacific boats and inland waterways had established settlements along the main water routes. And these lands have made millions upon millions of dollars for the railroads and individuals. The Southern Pacific, the records show, as far back as 1914 held timber and oil lands valued from $100,000,000 to $700,000,000 with a book value upon the records of the Interstate Com merce commission of slightly more than $40,000,000. But aside from all this the fact remains that the railroads making the most money today, as it has al ways been, are those roads racing down navigable river banks in com petition with water traffic. On eith er side of the Columbia river are railroads. These lines are the road's most valuable property, yet they are in direct competition with the boats and barges plying the river's crest, Your county tax rolls will prove this assertion. Tax renditions show the route along the Columbia car ries a much greater taxable value than does the line coming up the creek from Heppner Junction. Coming up in the next regular session of the national congress will be a bill, perhaps the composite of H.R. 4862 and S. 2009, battened down by the 76th Congress to be lifted at the incoming .session, which will seek to place inland waterways un der the management of the Inter state Commerce commission. This commission is railroad minded. It was conceived and born into the railroad world and at all times has had an antagonistic attitude toward the waterways. Should this bill be come a law then the American peo ple will lose the freedom of their waterways, because the rivers and harbors will be buttoned up in a sack along with the railroads and in the interest of the railroads. The railroads are lobbying for the passage of this bill. They have been knifing at the waterways these last 50 years. They have bought up wa terway transportation lines and junked them. They have pitched their widest curves at river im provement, and yet, the railroads' very life depends upon the mainten ance of , waterway transportation which will care for the heavier and slower traffic. Barge lines can and do move wheat, coal, oil, sand and gravel and many other commodities at a rate which makes it possible for the industries to stay in business. There are commodities which cost more to- carry by rail than their production. In recent years, during this depression or repression, it cost 25 cents a bushel to carry wheat by rail from Salina, Kans., to Chicago. On December 15, 1932, the records show, the average price of wheat on the farm was 31 cents a bushel. It cost the farmer 40 cents a bushel to produce that 31-cent wheat and to got it to market in Chicago meant another quarter, making a net charge against the bushel of wheat of 65 cents or a loss to the grower of 34 cents for every bushel he marketed. Naturally what a farmer cannot grow at a profit he will cease to grow a rule that holds good for everything else that comes from the farm, mine or factory. But the bulk of the freight now moving by water is non-transferable to the railroads. So if pouring the revenues of the water-borne traffic into the treasury of the rail roads would bring about their re habilitation, there would still be a great demand for the cheap water service. Many commodities are being mov ed by water transportation that can not stand a higher tariff. This be ing true then the business must cease or values boosted out of rea son. All that can be accomplished then by rate boosting would be the shutting down of the coal mines, the return of grain areas to pasture, and the crippling of factories. Then, and remember this, such a move will create vast new unemployment and add to the already overburdened charity rolls. The waterways of the nation stand Heppner Gazette Times, Heppner, today a powerful fortress against the rape of farm, factory, mine and oil field all demanding a low-cost transportation the railroads cannot supply. Develop our waterways and the highways, airways and railways will continue to grow and prosper. BOARDMAN NEWS Board man Squad Leaves for Valley Mr. and Mrs. Everett Westland of Portland spent the holidays with her mother, Mrs. Wm. Nickerson, Part of the time was spent in The Dalles with another daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Louis Kobow are visiting Louis' mother, Mrs. Maude Kobow. Louis attended high school here two years ago and is also see ing old school mates. Mrs. Robert Berger is pleased to have her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Brown of Madras to spend Christ mas with the Berger family. Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Nickerson spent the holidays in Pendleton with Bob Nickerson and family. Coach Mallery left with his bas ketball squad this morning for his home town, McMinnville. They are to play three games while on this trip. The boys going are R. Skoubo, D. Russell, N. Bleakney, R. DeMau ro, H. Tyler, R. Miles, J. Olson and B. Smith. Roy Partlow was unable to go on account of illness. Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Goodwin ar rived at the home of Mrs. Eva War ner to spend a week. They drove up in a car. Mr. and Mrs. I. L. Stout were Christmas dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Souders. Mr. and Mrs. Neal Bleakney's home was the scene of a family re union at dinner Christmas. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. Lou Mor gan and son Bobby of Cascade Locks, H. H. Weston and the Neal Bleakney family. Kenneth Ransier and Doris Hood left Saturday for Husum, Wash., to spend the holidays with Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Tubbs. Miss Hood and Mrs. Tubbs are sisters. Vernon Root spent Christmas with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. V. Root. They also entertained Mr. and Mrs. Ed Barlow and Carma at dinner. Lynn Gillespie, young son of Mr. and Mrs. Z. J. Gillespie, had the misfortune to fall out of his swing and break the right arm just above the elbow on Tuesday of last week. At this writing he -is getting along quite well. Teddy Wilson and La Verne Baker of the E. O. N. are home for the hol idays. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Herman, nee Wilma Myers, were at the Claud Myers home over Christmas day. Birthday Dances Set for January 30 Although the holiday season is still in swing, already thoughts are turning toward January 30, the president's birthday and the date of the annual celebrations for the rais ing ot iunds to combat mlantile paralysis. County chairmen are al ready making preparations for var ious events, according to Dr. E. T. Hedlund, Portland postmaster and state chairman. The 1940 campaign will be concen trated on two main features, the cel ebrations and the "March of Dimes." The celebrations will include enter tainments of all kinds. These will range from' huge dances and recep tions in the larger centers to church socials and school affairs in smaller communities. All will come to a cli max on the president's birthday. The "March of Dimes" is expected to enlist more millions of people this year than ever before.. Many will mail birthday cards containing dim es directly to the president at the White House. These cards are now available to all state, county and local chairmen. Others will contri bute by buying "March of Dimes" buttons, which this year will be of decorative design, or will deposit their donations in "March of Dimes" coin collectors to be placed in var ious stores and public gathering places. Dr. A. D. McMurdo has been nam ed chairman in Morrow county. He will name his assistants early in January, at which time the pro gram for this section will be announced. Oregon Grand Coulee Water Adds Forage Problem A distinct forage problem for the Pacific northwest, with the devel opment of the Grand Coulee project, is foreseen by G. R. Hyslop, head of the division of plant industries at Oregon State college. Hyslop points out that approximately 1, 200,000 acres of new land will be subject to irrigation with the ulti mate development of the project. "Past experience shows that a minimum of 60 percent of newly opened irrigated land is used for the growth of forage," Professor Hyslop pointed out "Such a sud den large increase in forage produc tion will necessitate the creation of a means of utilizing it here in the northwest, due to the cost involved in shipping hay any great distances." One possible increased outlet for alfalfa hay production may be in connection with the current empha sis on feeding more northwest wheat for fattening livestock in this re gion. Experiments have shown that alfalfa hay is probably the best roughage to feed along with wheat in fattening operations. Thus, any material increase in livestock feed ing with wheat as the grain concen trate would automatically increase the demand for alfalfa hay. The forage situation in the north west is in good state of balance at present, Hyslop added. The tendency is always to increase the number of livestock where there is an excess of forage. FARM PRICE LEVEL DOWN The general level of farm prices in Oregon at mid-November stood at 72 percent of the 1926-1930 aver age, according to a review of the farm price situation prepared by the OSC extension service. Compared with a month previous the Oregon farm price index was down a point, but it was seven points higher than in November, 1938. Professional n rectory ISiSS' Phe!ps Funeral Home Ambulance Service Trained Lady Assistant Phone 133 Heppner, Ore. NEW AUTO POLICY Bodily Injury & Property Damage Class A $11.25 Class B $12.90 See us before financing your next automobile. F. W. TURNER & CO. Heppner City Council Mrrts Firs Mnnrlnv FnMi 1T Citizens having matters for dis- cussion, please bring before the Council. G. A. BLEAKMAN, Mayor. Heppner Blacksmith & Machine Shop Expert Welding and Repairing L. H. HARLOW, Mgr. GLENN Y. WELLS ATTORNEY AT LAW ATwater 4884 635 MEAD BUILDING 5th at Washington PORTLAND, OREGON A. D. McMurdo, M. D. PHYSICIAN & SURGEON Trained Nurse Assistant Office In Masonic Building Heppner, Oregon Morrow County Abstract & Title Co. INC. ABSTRACTS OF TITLE TITLE INSURANCE Office in New Peters Building Thursday, Dec 28, 1939 J. O. Turner ATTORNXY AT LAW Phone 171 Hotel Heppner Building HEPPNER. ORE. Dr. Raymond Rice PHYSICIAN & SURGEON Office First National Bank Building Office Phone 523 House Phone I Heppner Abstract Co. J. LOGIE RICHARDSON, Mgr. BATES REASONABLE Roberta Building Heppner, Ore. P. W. Mahoney ATTORNEY AT LAW GENERAL INSURANCE Heppner Hotel Building Willow St. Entrance J. O. Peterson Latest Jewelry and Gift Goods Watches - Clocks . Diamonds Expert Watch and Jewelry Repairing Heppner, Oregon Vawter Parker ATTORNEY-AT-LAW First National Bank Building Dr. Richard C. Lawrence DENTIST X-Ray and Extraction by Gas First National Bank Bldg. Phone 562 Heppner, Oregon Dr. L. D. Tibbies OSTEOPATHIC Physician & Surgeon FIRST NATIONAL BANK BLDG. Roc. Phone 1162 Office Phone 492 HEPPNER, OREGON Jos. J. Nys ATTORNEY AT LAW Peters Building, Willow Street Heppner, Oregon V. R. R is 21 n ion AUCTIONEER Farm Sales and Livestock a Speolalty 405 Jones Street, Heppner, Ore. Plione 452 MAKE DATES AT MY EXPENSE Frank C. Alfred ATTORNEY AT LAW Telephone 442 Rooms 3-4 First National Bank Building HEPPNER, OREGON Peterson & Peterson ATTORNEYS AT LAW U. S. National Bank Building PENDLETON, OREGON Practice In State and Federal Courts Real Estate General Line of Insurance and Bonds W. M. EUBANKS Notary Fublio Phone 62 lone. Ore. Laurence Case Mortuary "Just the service wanted when you want It most"