Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 2, 1942)
Heppner Gazette Times, July 2, 19423 V-AT ftTHE - Washington, D. C, July 2. After being in committee for almost half a year, a bill has been reported which, if it becomes law, will be a blessing to the taxing bodies of half a dozen or more counties in Oregon. The measure, introduced by Sena tor Charles L. McNary, would per mit counties and states to levy taxes on land acquired by the military es tablishment. It would apply, for in stance, to Jackson, Benton, Umatilla, Tillamook counties where there are cantonments, ammunition dumps and shore stations; it would include counties where bomb testing ranges have been acquired and counties (or cities) whsre the government has air fields. Where an air field is mu nicipally owned it would not come under the presumptive law. Corval lis cantonment consists of 34,000 ac res and the Medford cantonment is equally large. There are 14 sections of land used by the Hermiston mu nitions depot. Total aggregate has not been compiled. Oregon department of geology in a bulletin states that production of Coos bay coal is between 10 and 20 tons a day. The two army canton ments will require 140,000 tons a year. Whether the Coos bay coal fields are sufficiently extensive to meet this demand will not be known until a personal inspection is made by an army engineer who will visit them this month. The comment of army engineers is that there are no rail facilities and no machinery to increase the output. Furthermore, there is a greater lack of miners in the northwest than in any other part of the country; for the north west a shortage of 22.8 percent, for the nation 7.4 percent. Washington coal fields, declares an army officer, are capable of providing the coal tonnage if they can obtain labor, If it is possible, the army always obtains its coal from the nearest mines, but the chances are that Washington coal will supply the Oregon cantonments. Only seven other field offices of WPB are doing as much business as the regional office at Portland. Oth ers are Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Detroit. It has surprised the field operations divi sion, the activity of Portland, which they frankly expected to be way down the list. As soon as the of fice force can be enlarged repre sentatives will visit Eugene, Bend, eastern Oregon anywhere in - the state necessary instead of compell ing people from these communities to travel to Portland to discuss war orders. Inside tip is that the Columbia Power Authority bill, sponsored by Senator Homer T. Bone of Washing ton, will not pass this year; may not pass next year unless it is thor oughly revamped and modified. There has been a tremendous wave of opposition to the measure from city councils, service clubs, chambers of commerce, newspaper editors and others, all of whom insist that this is no time to raise a controversial question and that if there should be need for a Columbia Power Au thority of some sort it can wait un til the war is won. Rep. Walter M. Pierce of Oregon, although a public ownership advocate, doesn't like the bill; Rep. Homer Angell is a mem ber of the joint committee which held hearings and has not commit ted himself one way or the other. When none of the Oregon congress men were present Rep. Martin Smith, co-sponsor with Bone, as sured the joint committee that the Oregon delegation was solidly for the bill. Shelling the sand dunes of Clatsop county by a Japanese submarine may cause the office of civilian de fense to rearrange its plans for the 4H Clubs Enlist to "Keep Oregon Green" Heads of the girls' and boys' councils at the recent 4-H club summer session at Oregon State' college are here shown receiving their "Green Guard" shields arter the entire group of more than 1900 clubbers had taken the pledge as Green Guards In the 1942 Keep Oregon Green campaign. Shown in the picture from left are N. S. Rogers, state forester; Lorraine Ringer, Astoria, president of the girls' council; Donald Hagg, Reedville, president of the boys' council, and Dick Kuehner, state director of kthe KOG program: west coast and provide for fire fighting equipment for Astoria and other coastal communities. With one exception, the coast towns were to have been left to their own de vices by OCD. The appearance of the enemy U-boats has demonstra ted that communities on the fringe of the ocean are entitled to all the protection they can receive from the federal government, and this means every place from Brookings to Sea side. , Wheat farmers will receive a break. Russian ships are entering the Columbia river and Puget sound to carry away cargoes of wheat and Hour. A half dozen cargoes will move out of the Columbia river by the middle of July. Flour from As toria, Portland, the inland mills in large quantities will be exported to Siberia. It will be the first substan tial foreign market wheat growers of the Inland empire have had in several years. Canada is taking care of the wheat needed by the Brit ish, but the Pacific northwest will have the Russian business under the lend-lease act. A dozen Russian ships already have carried northwest flour and wheat out of Tacoma and Seattle. The food does not cost the Russians a nickel but is provided by the United States government and will have to be paid for by Citizen John Doe. OSC Faculty Man at Camouflage School Oregon State College Henry Hartman, newly appointed head of the department of horticulture here, is now at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, taking a special intensive course in camouflage procedure in prepaja tion for giving such a course of instruction at the college after he returns. Professor Hartman was selected by William A. Schoenfeld, dean and director of agriculture, at the re quest of army officials who are interested in preparing personnel in case a national policy of camouflage for important defense plants and in stallations is adopted. The nursery and seed industries of Oregon are collaborating with the war depart ment in supplying or designating materials suitable for camouflage work, according to Dean Schoenfeld. G. A. Sanders underwent a major operation Tuesday at St. Anthony's hospital at Pendleton, His condi tion was reported as good. Mrs. Sanders went to see Mr. Sanders Wednesday evening, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Jack Stoars. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are proprietors of Heppner bakery. - Grandson in Australia Writes to C. A. Minor C. A. Minor, pioneer Morrow res ident, now residing at Mt. Vernon in Grant county, is in receipt of a recent letter from his grandson, Sgt. Arthur E. Minor, now with the U. S. army in Australia. Written June 11, 1942, passed by censor, and sent via air mail, the letter as reprinted in last week's Blue Mountain Eagle, Canyon City, follows: Dear Grandfather: I am quite well and in Australia now. This continent is as large as the U. S. though only seven million people inhabit the country. There is much waste land due to the lack of water. Here they do not call the land a ranch, it is known as a-station. Most stations consist of a good many thousand acres, averag ing around seventy thousand but going into the hundreds of thou sands some times. The sheep and cattle are not in bands with a her der. All are just turned loose and rounded up when necessary. The climate is hot all year, though the nights in the winter (winter being this time of year) are very cool and a breeze continually blows during the day. The winter is dry and the grass becomes almost extinct, it be ing quite the opposite during the summer when there is much rain and very hot weather. Grass is thick and as tall as our heads so, at this time of year when all is dry there is much danger from grass fires. From a distnce there seems to be a dense forest or almost a jungle but when looking about you the trees are sparse and nearly impossible to find any shade. Trees" look some thing like young oak trees though they are evergreen. No pine or fir in this part of the land. There are no hills here, making it impossible ever to see very much about one's self. I do not like the country at all in this respect. It is very disgusting when lost so you can't tell which is up or down, where the ocean would be or in which direction a creek could be found and if you find a creek it is hard to tell which way the water is suppoed to be run ning as the creeks are mainly water holes. There are mangroves along some of the creeks. Mangroves are practically impossible to go through. They are small trees that shoot straight for the sky with never a limb from the roots until at the very top. These trees are set so near each other that it is impossible to go between them. There are water buffalo, kangar oos, wallabies and dingoes. Ducks and geese are plentiful. Many kinds of strange colored birds it seems that all the birds are colored with white, red or green. Reptiles are plentiful and of enormous size. Wa ter holos are dangerous, many pla ces, due to crocodiles. The Australians are very good natured. Their standards of living or education is not so high as in the United States. An "Aussie's" langu age is more nearly ours than an Englishman's, yet we have quite a time catching their meaning because they talk so terribly fast. And, of course, their slang is humorous to us as it is so different and odd. To them, our language is easily under stood, probably because for one thing practically all the movies they see come from Hollywood. The food situation is O. K. now in the fact that there is enough each meal to fill to full capacity. Natur ally it is not food such as we have been used to or that we especially like but it keeps us healthy. There is nothing in the line of recreation as there are no stores, theaters, or women here. We do take walks on time off and some times go in for a swim. But none of this is worse than we expected and not nearly so bad at the present as we expect later, and then we know it won't last for long. Then we know that all our folks at home are work ing and giving and doing without so as to help us receive equipment and necessities. And we know they are doing it all for the same reason we are. We here, can see how much it is taking and going to take from all you folks at home and are cer tainly proud that we have such peo ple and such a country to fight for. We can take anything when there is such a good reason to take it. I do hope that you are feeling as "purk" as you deserve which will be very good. Often I think of those meals you cook and I certainly want you cooking some good ones when I get back. Write and tell me all the news' of Mt. Vernon. It takes the mail a long time to get here, but it comes. Your grandson, ARTHUR E. MINOR. UNION MISSION SOCIETY MEETS The Union Missionary society meeting was held in the Methodist church on Friday afternoon. The devotional leader was Mrs. L. E. Dick. Prayer was offered by Mrs. Loa Taylor, and two numbers were sung by a trio, Kathryn Parker, Marie and Lucille Barlow. Subject for study was Mexico, and Leta Humphreys and Rose Leibbrand showed moving pictures taken by them on their trip to Mexico a few years ago, and gave a very interest ing talk. Feeding Cattle on Harney Crops Found Practical Feeding calves and yearling steers on roughage and concentrates grown entirely in southeastern Oregon proved a profitable venture at the Harney branch station near Burns, which is now an integral part of the Squaw Butte-Harney range and livestock station A detailed report on the first feeding operations there was made at the recent first annual feeders' day held on the Burns sta tion, and attended by cattlemen from a wide area. Under the new plan of operation the combined station is under the joint management of the Oregon agricultural experiment station and the grazing service of the U. S. de partment of the interior. The for mer branch station at Burns has be come the home ranch or "commen surate" property for the Squaw Butte range station, thereby pro viding for continuous year-round research operations. Kenneth C. Ikeler, superintendent of the combined station, gave the detailed feeding results and com pared the different lots of cattle after Obil Shattuck, assistant su perintendent, reported on feed pro duction costs on the station. Among others who took part in the pro gram, Ralph Besse. assistant direc tor of the exeriment station, ex plained the joint management set up and outlined objectives of the station. The feeding record showed that the calves in various lots ranged in weight from 401 to 448 pounds when they went on feed last fall. They made what was considered a remarkable average daily gain of from 2.14 to 2.16 pounds. All three of the steer lots were fed hammered alfalfa, mixed with 20 percent straw and either straight, coarsely ground barley or a mixture of barley and ground rye. The steers ranged in- weight from 777 to 822 pounds at the end of the feeding period, and topped the mar ket in Portland at around $13.50 per cwt. Cost of feed per hundred-pound gain ranged from $6.(53 to $7.10, with the lowest cost for the lot receiving hammered first cutting alfalfa mix ed with 20 percent straw plus a grain mixture of 80 percent barley and 20 percent rye. Civil Service Seeks Men for Panama Zone Recruiting began this week on new quotas for skilled workmen to serve in the Panama Canal zone, it was announced today by James P. Cooley, manager, 11th U. S. civil service district, in Seattle. The new quotas are not large but because of the high degree of skill required, according to Cooley, they may be difficult to fill. Applicants must have had four years of apprentice ship or experience which must have included some marine work. Age limits are 55 years and more. Sal aries, including overtime rates and other allowances are high. Needed are boatbuilders, boiler makers, coppersmiths, machinists both marine and general, shipfitters, shipwrights, and riveters. Applica tion may be made at any first or second class post office or at 405 post office building in Seattle. Ap plicants living in this area may make applicaton through Eugene Brame, civil service representative, with the Base Quartermaster, Pen dleton Air Base, Pendleton. Weigand Member Mexico Confab Party Oregon State College E. H. Wie gand, head of the department of food industries, has been named a consulting delegate to the second Inter-American Conference of Agri culture to be held in Mexico City July 6-16. He was invited by James T. Jardine, chief of the office of experiment stations, to join the Uni ted States party attending the con ference and to deliver a paper on "The Place of Fruit and Vegetable Preservation in the Emergency Sit uation and in the Future." The 10-day conference will be di vided into 13 sections covering as many different branches of agricul ture. Professor Wiegand will speak before the section on chemistry and technology.