Page Four
Heppner
Gazette Times
Heppner Gazette Times, Heppner, Oregon
Thursday, October 23, 1941
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
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
One Year $2.00
Three Years 6.00
Six Months 1.00
Three Months 75
Single Copies 05
Official Paper for Morrow County
To the Front, Again
IN the years since it first donned
swaddling clothes, Eastern Oregon
Wheat league has grown tremend
ously in proportions, both in record
of accomplishments and in member
ship, and in choosing Heppner for
its convention city this year it issues
a ringing challenge to this little city
to provide adequate facilities for its
entertainment.
There have been expressions to
the effect that the smaller towns of
eastern Oregon's wheat belt are no
longer adequate to entertain the
large number of attendants at recent
league meetings. Civic leaders of
Heppner, however, denied this when
they accepted the bid to entertain
the 1941 conference when it was
made at Pendleton last year. They
said Heppner did it before, and can
do it again. They were re-echoing
the whole-hearted support given the
sponsoring committee when the ses
sions were last held here.
Now the dates for the conference
have been set, and Tuesday evening
local committee leaders were named
to look after details at this end.
These men will serve efficiently,
as past record proves. But they can
not do it all. Every last man, wo
man and child, imbued with the wel
fare of the city, which gains a large
proportion of its support from the
wheat industry, must do everything
m his power to help. There will be
no call for merchants to make large
cash contributions. They should wel
come the opportunity to show their
interest by attractive and appropriate
window displays, however. There
will also be need for every available
sleeping facility in the city, and the
early response by everyone to hous
ing headquarters will be a great
help.
Heppner has taken a leading in
terest always in the affairs of the
league, It welcomes the opportun
ity to view the league's work first
hand, and it will maintain its good
reputation in league circles as a good
nost. Now, with time drawing near,
it' all hands to the front.
Atop the Waves
"THE navy took us over, and they
1 brought us back." This tribute
of the American soldier at the close
of the last World war is but one of
the many glowing tributes which the
navy's high service in the preserva
tion of the United States has receiv
ed in the history of its glowing at
tainments. Always the first line of defense,
the navy has been faithful and suc
cessful in its purpose. And today,
those greyhounds of the high seas
stand more important than ever in
protecting American principles of
democracy and in succoring its
friends overseas.
Thus, with the approach of Navy
day next Tuesday, in honor of The
odore Roosevelt's, its originator's
birthday, all America, more than at
any previous time will wish to pay
homage to the boys aship, and to
renew its determination that Amer
ica's great new two-ocean navy will
be properly manned and again write
success across history's broad hori
zon in perpetuating the principle of
freedom of the seas and the protec
tion of free men everywhere.
The American sailor is the best
fed, best clothed and best paid sail
or on the face of the globe. He re
ceives training superior to that
given in any other navy and equal
to any to be obtained anywhere,
training that not only equips him
to perform well for his country but
which stands him in good stead
when his navy service is over. This,
with better machines at his com-
12,000 Miles Thru Russia
By MARVIN KLEMME
(Editor's Note This is the first
installment of an article written spe
cially for newspapers of this section
by a former chief grazier of the re
gional Taylor grazing district. A man j
known to many Morrow county peo
ple, Klemme made the tour of Rus
sia he tells about just before out
break of hostilties in the present
European conflict.)
For the last several years Russia
has been talked about a great deal
but now that the country has be
come involved in the second Euro
pean war she is spoken of more than
ever. At no time in the history of
Russia was it easy for a foreigner
to travel about through the country,
but since the Bolsheviks gained
more or less control in 1918 it has
become almost impossible for an out
sider to get anywhere outside of two
or three of the larger cities.
To most of the outside world Rus- j
sia has been a great mystery. Most
of the information leaving that coun
try was confined to rumors and was
likely to be either extremely favor
able or extremely critical. I must
say that I found neither of the ex
tremes to be correct. I saw some de
plorable conditions and I also found
some bright spots.
I first entered Russia through Si
beria by way of the Japanese con
trolled state of Manchukuo, and sub
sequently traveled some 12,000 miles
throughout a large part of the Sov
iet Union. In addition to these trav
els through Russia proper, I covered
another three or four thousand miles
through the former Russian territory
of Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Lat
via, Poland, and the province of
Bessarabia.
My first impressions of the coun
try as a whole, as seems to be the
case of almost everyone, were very
unfavorable. In passing through Si
beria and much of northern Russia
proper, I found the people literally
sewed up in rags. I was informed
that the railroad employees, miners
and other industrial workers delib
erately smeared oil or grease on
their clothing so that they would
wear longer. Later on in traveling
through central and western Russia,
and especially down through the
Ukraine, I found the people much
better dressed. Even at that, though,
clothing was scarce. This was due
largely to the fact that so many
cattle, horses and sheep had been
slaughtered during the several
years' period following the revolu
tion when armies were marching
back and forth through the country.
The country's livestock population
is supposed to have been reduced by
from 50 to 80 percent and is still 35
percent or so below pre-revolution
figures. The sheep are mostly rather
scrubby breeds of Asiatic strain,
many of which belong to the various
fat tail breeds. These sheep will not
shear out more than three or four
pounds of wool, which is actually
more hair than wool. The country
was, however, making a desperate
effort to improve the quantity and
quality of its livestock. I was shown
importations that had been made
from the United States, Australia,
Denmark, Holland and Switzerland.
Horse meat is a common food
throughout most of Russia as it
is in several of the other European
nations. With tractors and other
mechanically propelled vehicles tak
ing the place of horses, this has re
sulted in great reduction in the num
ber of these animals. The vast step
pes or prairies lying east of the Don
river used to be the great horse
country of Russia. This is the home
of the .Don Cossacks, where most of
the country's crack cavalry regi
ments came from. To my amazement
I found them plowing up thousands
of acres of this horse range with
tractors with the idea of raising en-
mand, is the reason why America's
new navy will succeed in its purpose.
The great new greyhounds of the
two-ocean navy are just so much
iron, turrets and guns, however,
without the brains and brawn to
make them go, says Secretary of the
Navy Knox in appealing for double
the number of navy recruits that
had been set up a few months be
fore. This is the keynote of Navy
day this year, and Morrow county
along with Oregon, will maintain its
record of top place whenever a call
to service has been sounded,
ough grain to feed most of Europe.
However, due to the rather limited
amount of rainfall which that coun
try customarily receives they are,
in my opinion, in grave danger of
creating a great "dust bowl."
Practically all of the Ukraine is
rolling prairie country similar to our
Prairie states. Anyone who has seen
the Dakotas, Western Kansas, Neb
raska and Oklahoma has seen a good
reproduction of the Russian Ukraine.
There is some pine timber in the
sand hill section northwest of Kiev
and the government is planting strips
of trees, which we call "Shelter
belts" all through the country. The
Ukraine suffers heavy winds, dust
storms, hall storms, and the north
ern section customarily receives con
siderable snow, which drifts badly.
To prevent this is one of the prin
cipal reasons for planting the "shel
terbelt" strips throughout the coun
try.
Recently our newspapers, maga
zines and radio commentators have
been referring to the "rainy season"
in the Ukraine as they would refer
to Burma or the delta of the Ama
zon. Actually there isn't any such
thing as a rainy season in the Uk
raine. Just as in Kansas and Neb
raska they may have an unusually
wet fall or an unusually dry fall;
it may rain in either September,
October or November or. in all of
these months, however, when it does
rain the roads become almost im
passable. Even after a light shower
during the summer time your car
is apt to turn around and head back
in the opposite direction.
The , roads throughout most of
Russia are just about what ours were
throughout the middle west forty or
fifty years ago. They are narrow
dirt roads, usually without even a
grade thrown up. They do, however,
have two or three cobblestone roads
leading out of Moscow, and others
in the Caucasus and down around
the Black sea.
One of the things that is giving the
Germans a great deal of trouble in
conquering the country is the Rus
sian railway system. When the Rus
sians started out to build railroads
through their country a few genera
tions ago, they cleverly hit upon the
idea of using a wider track than is
being used throughout the other
European countries. This prevents
the rolling equipment of other coun
tries from being used on their tracks
and since it is fairly easy to move
all this rolling stock on ahead of
their retreating armies, it creates
grave transportation problems for
the invader. The Germans and their
allies are now faced with the prob
lem of relaying all railway tracks
as they advance in order to get sup
plies to their fighting forces.
I found food, such as it was, ra
ther plentiful in Russia. Russia's
food problem is largely one of dis
tribution rather than of production.
I was in Russia during the latter
part of August just a few days be
fore war broke out and was proud
ly advised that they now had better
than a crop and a half of wheat on
hand. Russia was increasing her
production of pork rapidly and thou
sands of acres of sunflowers were
being raised, from the seeds of which
much of the country's supply of
cooking oil comes. Certain foods,
however, that we are accustomed to
here in the United States were
scarce, or unobtainable. Milk was
very scarce, meat was not plentiful,
and such things as sugar, rice, butter
and spices were very difficult to get.
The vegetables raised in Russia, I
thought, were rather scrubby as
compared with ours here in this
country. Over much of the country
there seemed to be little fruit raised,
although a large acreage of grapes
are grown along the Black sea. One
of the most interesting things that
I saw in the country was an apple
tree that had been bred up by the
Russian scientists to grow along on
the ground like a watermelon vine.
This tree was "bred up with the idea
of growing fruit far north of the
Arctic Circle. The limbs are prop
ped up during the summer months
when they are bearing fruit and are
allowed to lie flat on the ground
during the winter months so that
they will be covered with snow be
fore the real cold weather comes
and thus not winter kill.
The best medium for selling or
trading is a G-T want ad.
STAFF MAN CALLED EAST
Oregon State College Dr. E. A.
Yunker, associate professor of phy
sics, has been called to Boston by
the government to take a short
course in certain phases of radio
work preparatory to his teaching of
some special radio courses for de
fense purposes upon his return here.
Professor Yunker has specialized in
radio technique and was a graduate
assistant at Stanford university when
several major radio advances were
developed there.
RESOUTIONS OF RESPECT
Whereas it has pleased our Heav
enly Father to summon to her Eter-
nal home our beloved sister, Melissa
Marlatt, who was a faithful member
for many years of Ruth Chapter No.
32, Order of Eastern Star;
Be it resolved that we bow in
humble submission to the will of the
Omnipotent, and extend to the be
reaved family of the deceased our
heartfelt sympathy. That we drape
our Charter in mourning in memory
of our departed sister; that a copy
of these resolutions be spread upon
the minutes of the Chapter, a copy
sent to the family, and one to the
press for publication.
Virginia Turner, Florence Hu
ghes, J. J. Wightman, Committee.
SHIP
BY TRUCK
The Dalles Freight Line, Inc.
SERVICE BETWEEN
PORTLAND : THE DALLES : HEPPNER
AND WAY POINTS
Arrive Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Warehouse: KANE'S GARAGE Carl D. Spickerman, Agent
Wanted TURKEYS
Dressing Plant Starts November 1st
Will Dress For Anyone - Write or Call
for Dates and Prices
WILL BE BUYING AFTER NOVEMBER 1st
-:- Phone 681 Anytime -:-
G. G. SMITH
STAN FIELD, OREGON
i ...HM.m,m,mnnm,n,,nnM,r,,
inmmtnwiitinwi,q
MJOHflDN
At the MRS. FRANK EDMONDSON
Place in Heppner
SAT., NOV. 11
Beginning at 1 :30 o'clock P. M.
2 Bay Horses, 4 years old
1 Sorrel Horse, 4 years old
2 Bay Mares, 4 years old
3 Sorrel Colts, 2 years old
3 Black Colts, 1 & 2 years old
2 Colts, 10 months old
1 CASE TRACTOR
Other Farm Machinery
People who have Frank Edmondson
property please bring it home.
Others having articles for sale are re
qested to bring them to this sale
Terms of Sale: CASH
FRANK EDMONDSON ESTATE
Owner
V. R. Rnnnion, E. H. Miller,
Auctioneer Clerk