8 Heppner Gazette Times, February 7, 1946
Mrs. Clement Was
One of Early Pioneers
One of the early pioneers of Hep
pner, Mrs. Annie Farrens Clement,
passed away at Tacoma, Wash. Jan.
family plot at Wala Walla.
5, 1946 and was interred in the
Born at Salem, Oregon in 1866,
she was the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. John Francis M. Farrens who
came across the plains in the big
trek of 1852. The Farrens family
came to the Heppner district in the
'70s and made their home on Rhea
creek and at Hardman.
Here Mrs. Clemens grew up suf
fering with the rest of the pioneers,
the privations of that time. One of
her early recollections was the
fording of the Umatilla river near
the old Umatilla landing at its
mouth, when the covered wagon
was washed into deep water and
the family were extricated with
great difficulty.
She also, with all the women and
children of that vicinity, fled to
Heppner for protection when the
last Indian war flared up near
Heppner and the Indians made
their big raid out of the mountans
and down Butter creek.
She met and married William B.
Gilliam brother of the late Frank
Gilliam, and the couple settled on
a sheep ranch at Spring Hollow.
After her husband's death, she car
ried on alone, with the help of her
brother, the late Rufus Farrens.
In 1898 she married Mr. Clemens
and moved to Walla Walla and la
ter to Tacoma where she resided
for the past 37 years.
Survivors are one son, Lester E.
Gilliam of Tacoma; one daughter,
Mrs. C. E. Putnam of Bellingham;
three brothers, E. L. Farrens of
Yakima, Walter and G. A. Farrens
of Heppner; three grandchildren
and four great grandchildren.
Mrs. Richard Hayes and Mrs.
Tress McClintock and son Gale
went to Portland Wednesday morn
ing. Mrs. Hayes expects to go
through a clinic while in the city.
Hubert Gaily started work as a
clerk and book-keeper n the Pa
cific Power and Light company of
fices in Pendleton Monday.
Mrs. Leonard Schwarz has been
confined to her home this week
suffering with the flu.
Mir Inleadlaclhies for khe Farmeir
Once more the farmer is being asked to
break all food production records. To plow
more acres, feed more livestock and harvest
more crops than ever before. He is being asked
to do this so that America may continue to feed
and clothe the needy throughout the world, as
well as our own folks at home.
To carry out this job the farmer must have
tools of production. Most of those he owns have
taken a terrific beating. They can't be tied
together much onger with rusty fence wire.
In the teeth of this situation, the farmer ran
into a strike in the steel industry -a strike
which hit at the heart of food production.
When the steel plants shut down manufac
turers of farm machinery and equipment, farm
trucks and tractors cannot get steel for their
products.
This year the farmer won't receive as many
of the replacements he desperately needs. He'll
fight ahead with his old, broken machinery try
ing to crack another food production record,
but the cards are stacked against him.
Al this means more headaches for the far
mer loss of vital food production, and a bad
dent in his pocketbook.
Facts Too Frequently Omitted
The steel strike was called by the United
Steelworkers of America CIO, which insists
on a wage increase totaling $166,000,000. The
U. S. Steel Corporation has offered a wage rise
which if applied throughout the industry would
amount to $135,000,000.
Steel workers are already among the highest
paid wage-earners in America. Before the
strike their average earnings were approxi
mately $1.16 an hour, $9.26 a day and $46.32
a week - on a forty-hour week. The U. S. Steel
offer would have given them about $1.31 an
hour, $10.46 a day and $52.32 a week. But they
refused it, and accused the steel industry of
conspiring to ruin the union with an offered
wage increase of $25 a month, the highest in
crease in the industry's history.
The strike is a direct violation of the con
tract between the union and the steel compan
ies.The union wanted a long-term contract
and got it. The union agreed not to strike dur
ing the life of the contract. Yet, the union
struck on January 21 .
Fighting for a Way of Life
Farmers have a big stake in continuous steel
production. They have an opportunity to say
what they think about unchecked labor mono
polies which bring t 6a Stop; the nation's recov
ery efforts, through excessfve wage demands
which could only add to inflation and cause
sod ring prices.
Not until- enough of therri protest unfair, dic
tatorial actions and urge proper safeguards
against arrogant, heedless union leadership
and one-sided labor laws will the country get
back to sane, profitable production where ev
eryone works together toward a better stand
ard of living.
American Iron and Steel Institute
350 Fiifth Avenue, New York 1, N. Y.
95 PER CENT OF THE WORKERS IN THE STEEL INDUSTRY ARE EMPLOYED BY OUR COMPANY MEMBERS
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