Heppner Gazette Times, Thursday, December 8, 1949
Page 3
CHURCHES
CHUHCH Episcopal
Holy communion, 8 a. m.
Church school, 9:45 a. m.
Morning prayer and sermon, 11.
Junior Y. P. F.p 6:30 p, m.
Week day services: Holy com
munion Wednesday at 10: Friday
at 7:30.
ALL SAINTS MEMORIAL
Choir practices: Girls choir,
Wednesday at 4 p. m. Adult choir,
Thursday at 8 p. m.
Boy Scouts, Wednesday evening
from 7:30 to 9. b
Archery classes on Saturday.
BOV Scouts. 9: fjirl Krviiifo in. r..w
Scouts, 11.
METHODIST CHURCH
Palmer Sorlien, Minister
Morning worship and sermon
at 11. Special music by the choir,
Paul McCoy, director
Sunday churcn school at 9:45,
Oliver Creswick, superintendent.
Youth Fellowship class, Adult Bi
ble class and a class for every
age.
The young people of the church
will attend a youth rally at the
First Methodist church at Pendle
ton Sunday afternoon. We will
leave the church here at 1:30 p.
m.
Wednesday, mid-week prayer
service at 7:30 p. m.
Thursday, choir practice at 7:30
p. m.
The Woman's Society of Chris
tian Service meets first Wednes
day of each month. Suzanna Wes
ley circle of the W.S.C.S. meets
third Wednesday of each month.
LEXINGTON LUTHERAN
There will be no Lutheran ser
vice in Lexington Sunday, Dec.
11. Next Lutheran service will be
at 3 p. m. Sunday, Dec. 18.
Rev. A. Rietz.
LEXINGTON CHURCH Your
Community Church
Z. Franklin Cantrell, Minister
Christians are photographs of
Christ, and in the dark room of
sorrow and affliction, God Is de
veloping some of His loveliest
characters.
Church school 10 a. m. Worship
and preaching 11 a. m. Singing
and preaching 7:30 p. m.
HEPPNER CHURCH OF CHRIST
Glenn Warner, Minister
9:45 a. m. Bible school, C. W.
Barlow, superintendent.
11 a. m. Morning worship and
communion service. Special music
by the choir. Sermon theme, "The
Continued on paga six
9
'Vf- -
P9
12050 up
It's time to doll up the din
ing room. You will find it
an easy matter to make
your selection from our ex
tensive stock.
I LANE .
CEDAR CHESTS
Fully-lined with
inch aromatic, red ce.
dar moths are kept
out! Beautifully grain
ed veneers take high
polish.
Telephone
Desk-Chair
What a nice surprise for Her
on Christmas moral
The whole family will be
proud to own a new refrig
erator especially at this
price.
17
95
49
0
199
95
There's nothing like
tables to give a room
that extra touch!
V I;
You will find the "new
look" in one of our mirrors.
An excellent gift
50 up
$8.95 up
, , . and whether you choose
the handy walnut-finished
end tables, the drum table,
the attractive magazine ta
ble, or any of the others In
our wide selection, you will
be choosing a gift sure to
delight any homemakerl
It I ia " JL i i. , art:!
fa, 1 ...i,?. ....io,r,
Divans
Sofa Beds
50 up
Comfort and cheer for the entire family ... If
you have been putting off getting that new liv
ing room suite, do so no longer . . . We have just
the furnishings to convert a house into a home.
We are proud of our line
3f dishes. A housewife al
ways finds a new set acceptable.
95 up
How about a dinette set
in the popular chrome tu
bular style?
13
i9
ill teta'iHoI
A handy piece of furniture
for any household)
From
44
Lamps make appropriate
and acceptable gifts
50
up
From
15
75
An acceptable gift for the home ... A nice
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From 2 9 30
r.rgiawnr
51 rra OiSrllswif '
Case Furniture Company
Rep, French Outlines Plan For Reapportioning
Membership of State Senate in Speech Before
Oregon Wheat League Convention in Heppner
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rep. Giles L.
French delivered the following
address before the state conven
tion of Oregon Association of
Counties, and was published in
The Oregon Voter. He address
ed the Oregon Wheat League
convention in Heppner Satur
day morning, using substan
tlally the same language thru
out. We publish the text by
courtesy of Mr. French.
I am here to talk about reap
portionment of the Oregon legis
lature. In this discussion there
are three methods to keep in
mind. The first is the present
method of apportionment estab
lished by the Oregon constitution
back in 1857. We now elect 30
senators from 24 districts and 60
representatives from 33 districts.
These districts are not equal In
either area or population. No gen
eral apportionment has been
made since 1911 except a partial
reapportionment in 1931 and ac
cording to the constitution this
must be done after each decen
nial census which means in 1951
in the next session of the legis
lature if not done previously by
initiative petition.
Second method to keep In mind
is the one proposed by the Oregon
American Federation of Labor at
its June convention in Eugene.
The AFofL has been joined by the
CIO and some young Republicans
and some young Democrats. The
Farmers Union and the Grange
are expected to follow because of
the strange alignment that has
made them bedfellows with labor.
This proposal would redistrict the
state by strict apportionment by
population and would give not
more than a third of senators and
representatives to one county.
This is a restriction of little value
for I doubt if Portland is now, or
will be, a third of Oregon. This
proposal gives more power to the
city and less to rural Oregon, the
producing area.
I hereby propose another plan.
A bill is now in process of being
written that will give to each
county a senator and apportion
the representatives on a popula
tion basis. This plan follows
closely that followed by the mak
ers of the American constitution
and is the American plan.
Benjamin Franklin's Wording
Back in 1789 when the constitu
tional convention met in Phila
delphia to draw up the document
we know as our American consti
tution there was a great struggle
over this very problem. They met
in May and it was late in that
month before all the delegates
had arrived. They argued all
through the month of June over
the problem of how the delegates
to the congress were to be appor.
tioned. First proposal made was
the Virginia plan, brought to the
convention by the delegates from
that state, then the largest in
America.
The Virginia plan would have
apportioned the congress accord
ing to population and given to
the large states much more pow
er than they now have. It would
have kept the power among the
planters of the south and prevent
ed smaller states and rural areas
from achieving the development
they later made.
This plan was opposed by the
smaller states, particularly by
New Jersey which had the sup
port of Delaware and Connecticut,
then a sizeable state itself. It was
not until July 8 that a compro
mise was reached. It was suggest
ed by Roger Sherman of Conr.ec
ticut, a man of humble birth who
had attained his position by
working up from the ranks. Ben
jamin Franklin, himself, wrote
the amendment which is incorpor
ated in our constitution. It gives
to each state two senators and ap
portions representatives accord
ing to population. George Wash
ington presided at those meetings,
meetings of perhaps the wisest
group of men ever brought to
gether in this country.
Mort Than One Basis
By that compromise these men
decided that in representative
government it was necessary to
elect delegates upon more than
one basis; that other things must
be taken into consideration than
mere population. That system of
electing delegates in democratic
nations has been used in nearly
every nation with a democratic
government since that time. It
has never been challenged. Those
nations that deviate from it are
those that have seen their democ
racy slip into some other form,
and a review of recent history
will prove that statement.
It is used in France to a great
extent and Switzerland has a de
mocracy almost identical with
that chosen by our patriotic fore
fathers in that great constitution
al convention. Every canton has
its senator.
Applied in Other States
There are many methods of ap
portioning legislatures used by
the states of the United States.
Twenty eight states give each
county at least one representative
and at least 10 give each county
a senator. Large numbers of coun
ties is the reason why It is not
louowed generally.
States that endeavor to amior-
tion their legislators according to
population have more inequities
in inem man do those that have
two methods of apportionment
one for the senate and one for the
house. Regardless of what the
laws and the constitutions sav,
the people do not permit too much
power to get into the hands of the
cities and in this the people are
wiser man those who wrote some
of the state constitutions.
What California Voters Did
In Oregon we have a very fine
example of this in the Oregon
senatorial district composed of
Lake, Klamath, Deschutes, Jeffer
son and Crook counties. It takes
72,000 persons to elect a senator
from that district and only 52,000
from Portland. This came about
some years ago when some fine
political finagling was done re
sulting in Josephine county, then
with some 10,000 persons, getting
a senator all by itself while five
counties have to share a senator.
That is typical of what happens
when the population method
alone is used. It happens every
place.
Much is being made oi the ex
ample of New York which has a
restriction of the number ol sena
tors so that no one county can
have more than a third of the
total. The rest of the story is that
in New York every county but
one, Hamilton, has a representa
tive. And in New York the pne
third is a real restriction.
In California, the city of Los
Angeles has but one state senator
and the city of San Francisco has
but one senator. That law rather
recently passed by the California
voters, too.
Problems of Areas, Production
In the Oregon legislature many
of the problems are not about
people at all, but about areas,
about production, about taxes.
The seriousness of a problem
cannot be always indicated by
the number of people involved. If
a proposal is fair, it is fair for a
hundred or ten thousand.
Two Choices of Highways
Recently I attended the formal
opening of the Warm Springs cut.
off which shortened the distance
from central Oregon to Portland.
It is a fine road, built at the soli
citation of residents of that rap
idly growing area. It may be re
called that a few years ago, when
Portland had an opportunity to
choose the location of a new road,
it was built to the coast so that
city dwellers could get to the sea.
That is a fine thing, for recreation
is necessary. But it is pertinent to
consider that when central Ore
gon had its choice of a road it
was built to Portland.
Rural Oregon Interested in
Portland
It cannot be successfully con
troverted that rural Oregon and
the legislators rural Oregon has
sent to Salem have done more for
the city of Portland that that city
has done for itself. Rural Oregon
is interested in the city, too.
Another thing that this one
senator from each county would
do is to help strengthen local gov
ernment. If each county had a
senator that man could speak for
a county with no divided loyalty
and thus county interest and
strength in state affairs would
be promoted.
Keep Government With People
We need stronger local govern
ments. We need to keep govern
ment close to the people. Propos
als to remove county seats to far
off places, if approved, would
weaken our democratic govern
ment. It is true we have better
roads and faster cars and that
people can get from here to there
more rapidly than before. That is
an advantage that local govern
ment should retain and use, not
throw away in an effort to keep
government as far from the peo
ple as it was in grandfather's
day.
Counties Are Real Units
Our counties are political units
established by the legislature or
by vote of the people. They are
recognized as economic and po
litical entities and many are geo
graphical entities as well. The
comment is made that they are
not sovereign as are the states.
They are not, but centralization
is taking away the sovereignty of
the states which now pay only
about 60r of their bills, leaving
the remainder to the federal gov
ernment. This plan would stren
gthen counties and we need
something to strengthen states,
too.
Economy Close to Home
There is cost to be considered
in speaking of strong local gov
ernments. A dollar paid in county
taxes is a pretty good Investment.
The taxpayer probably receives 90
cents of it back in services. A dol
lar sent to the state perhaps re
turns 60 to 70 cents in value.
3ut a dollar sent to the federal
government is a thin and weary
dime before it returns to the tax.
payer. Local government is the
most economical government.
We do not have small counties
in Oregon although some are
smaller than others. Lavin coun.
ty, Texas has 2S5 citizens and Al
pine county, California has 323.
The average population of coun
ties in the United States is around
1500 people. We are fortunate in
that we have so few counties. Not
all are represented. Harney and
Lake counties are each larger
than either of the states of Mass
achusetts, Connecticut, Delaware
and New Jersey. Yet, neither has
any direct representation in Ore
gon's house or senate. The men
who lepresent them are consci
entious and able, but they do not
live among the people of Harney
or Lake. Jefferson county, the
fastest growing county in Oregon,
a county that is rapidly changing
from range and wheat to irrigated
fields, has no direct representa
tion in either house and Its prob
lems certainly entitle Jefferson
county to have some one dlrectlly
represent her and speak for her
problems,
i t'onUnmd on p !