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About The Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 19??-1984 | View Entire Issue (April 28, 1917)
THE STATE NEWS IN BRIEF. HERALD, FOOD CONTROL ASKED 30.000,000 EGGS HELD Supervision of Distribution Desired- Investigator Suggests Government In quiry Would Cause Break — No Administration Would Operate Evidence of Trust Found. Factories in Emergency. The present food preparedness cam paign in Medford has resulted in the Washington, D. C. — The govern formation of a $25,000 corporation de- voted to the increase of food products ment’s program for food control dur ing the war was put before congress in the Rogue River valley. Saturday by Secretary Houston in a Guards on duty at the St. Johns communication to the senate asking woolen mills shot twice at a man who power for the department of Agricul was seen climbing the fence early in ture to take direct supervision of food the morning. The man fled up the production and distribution in the railroad tracks toward Portland and United States and requesting a $25,- escaped. 000,000 appropriation for putting the Passengers were severely shaken and plan into operation. Authority was asked for the Council the car filled with smoke when a Port of National Defence, in an emergency, land-St. Johns car ran over what is thought to have been a dynamite cap. to buy and sell foodstuffs and to fix maximum or minimum prices. Responsibility for the explosion has As outlined to the senate the gov not been fixed. ernment’s plan is first to make a com Governor Withycombe has declared plete survey of the country’s food sup himself in favor of voluntary military ply to determine its ownership and service, if it can be accomplished suc distribution, if necessary to license cessfully, with compulsory service to and control the operations of all con be used only in event that the former cerns engaged in the manufacture of food or feeds, agricultural implements system proves a failure. and all materials required for agricul Seventeen North Bend youths have tural purposes. gone to Vancouver Barracks to enter Authority is sought for the Agricul the army service, most of them going tural department to take over and to the aviation school and field at San operate the concerns if that course is Diego. A thousand people congre demanded by the public interest. gated at the depot to bid them fare Giving the government power to well. deal directly in foodstuffs probably would make its application unneces A huge flock of large pure white sary, Secretary Houston declared, as swans, numbering approximately 200, its very existence would tend to keep descended noisily upon Wapato lake, conditions normal. He proposed that near Gaston, a few days ago on their the government should have full dis way north for the summer, and have cretion, saying it night be wise if an attracted much attention and admira emergency arose to fix prices on a tion. single commodity. Market grades and After a race all the way from Cor classes for farm products, Secretary bett in the automobile of her father, Houston said, form one of the chief David Butler, little Glennie Butler, needs of the country to insure condi aged 9 years, was operated on at the tions in producing and marketing farm Good Samaritan hospital in Portland products. Authority also was asked for the de for acute appendicitis. • At a late hour partment to require of transportation the child was reported doing well. companies preference for the move War conditions at the University of ment of farm machinery, seeds, fertil Oregon, Eugene, have resulted in the izers and materials that enter into the postponement of the Oregon historical processes of food production. pageant. This big all-Oregon affair Enlargement of the market news was to have been a feature of com service of the department ' was recom mencement week, and would have mended as a means of insuring equit called for a cast of players exceeding able distribution to prevent undue food 400 in number. shortage in any consuming center and to provide against wastes, due to tem Marine insurance showed for 1916, porary over-supplies of food in some risks written amounting to $47,953,- communities. The department wishes 300, as compared to $42,059,960 for to allow the market service division to 1915 in Oregon, according to figures assist in obtaining re-routing of food- given out by Insurance Commissioner stuffs to relieve congestion on trans Wells. The losses paid for 1916 portation lines. amounted to $252,978, as compared In its plan for an investigation of with $72,666 for 1915. the present food supply, the Agricul If other sections of the United tural department has arranged for the States had proportionately as many en help of the Federal Trade commission, listments as Coos county has given, which, with the department, was di Uncle Sam’s navy would be filled and rected by President Wilson early in there would be an army of 1,250,000 in the year to make an inquiry to ascer training. If other counties had met tain the amount of food stocks and to the call for soldiers in numbers propor determine if the anti-trust laws have tionate to the answer there, the army been violated in food production, stor would be twice over-enlisted while the age and distribution. That inquiry government is considering conscription. has been halted for lack of an appro priation. The present congress, how For the purpose of determining the ever, has voted money for conducting trend of education in the high schools it—the house the $400,000 asked and of Oregon, J. A. Churchill, superin the senate $250,000. tendent of public instruction, sent a Some believe the Trade commission request to each standard high school in has enough power to make unnecessary the state for the schedule of subjects the use of extreme legislation in regu of each pupil. Out of the 175 schools, lating the control of food, although ad 165 complied with the request, and the ditional powers should be given for an information has just been tabulated. emergency. The schedules of 19,857 students give Officials of all departments and di the following distribution of subjects : visions of the government realize that English, 17,076; mathematics, 13,603; the facts of the situation existing science, 8661; history, 8631; Latin, must be learned before remedies can 3190; German, 2888; manual training, be planned. Now, no one knows how 2438; domestic science and art, 3802; much food there is in the country and stenography and typewriting, 2538; how it is distributed. Of certain foods agriculture, 4414; teachers’ training, that government has exact knowledge, 860; Spanish, 654, and French, 175. but of others it has virtually none. With shipments of strawberries starting, Spence Wortman, deputy sealer of weights and measures, has sent out letters to all of the district sealers in the state urging that vigor ous prosecutions follow any violation of the berry-box laws. He declares that the department has exhausted ■every effort to acquaint the merchants and growers with the law, and that any violations in the future will mean prosecution. HERMISTON Steel Ships Needed Too. Washington, D. C. — Government plans to increase the output of the steel merchant ships reached the point Monday where it appeared probable that the builders of this class of ves sels will be asked to come here next week to confer with members of the Shipping board and the Council of Na tional Defense. The administration takes the view that while it is desir able to build as many wooden ships as “A disease commonly known as the possible, it also is necessary to keep hip and leg ulcer is playing havoc up the construction of steel ships to among the hogs and sheep of various provide for the future. sections of the state,” says N. S. Uhlans Stop Deserters. Robb, county agricultural agent at Amsterdam—More than 500 German Eugene. “The disease confines itself to these two classes of livestock and is fusiliers, sailors and landsturmers, on especially bad in sheep. It spreads Monday tried to cross the Dutch-Bel much more rapidly in sheep than in gian frontier from the environs of hogs and unless its appearance in the Knocke to near Cadzand, Holland, says flock is checked by the isolation of the the Handelsblad, but the attempted de sertion was frustrated after the party victims the results are bad. had been pursued and attacked by Uh No flags can be purchased in Albany. lans. The deserters were fired on by So great has been the demand that the the Uhlans with machine guns and in a supply there was entirely exhausted. fight which lasted half an hour 38 of The director of the United States the deserters were wounded. Geological Survey has obtained from British Gain in Palestine. Secretary of State Olcott a list of all London — The general officer com automobile owners in Oregon, to pro vide them with data relative to the manding the British force in Egypt re topographic maps of the state. These ports in an official statement to the are maps, the director says, in which war office that on April 17 the British every automobile owner is interested, advanced north of the Wadi Ghuz, in and he desires to get them into the Southern Palestine, and captured the Turkish advanced positions along a hands of all such ear owners. front of 61 miles. Reports from Baker say that the The attack, the British, statement long, cold winter, together with the says, was assisted by the fire of scarcity of feed, has left the stock in warships and the position gained was consolidated. poor condition. G. G. Brown, clerk of the State U. 8. Paper Dollar Declines. Land Board, says that May 22 has been Havana—The exportation from Cuba set as the date for opening bids on the of gold and silver money of Cuban or next issue of rural credits bonds. The American coinage is prohibited by a next issue will be for $500,000. presidential decree issued Monday. A The gathering of cascara bark is large quantity of these coins has been getting to be an industry of some im exported, especially to Spain, since the portance in the Willamina community. declaration by the United States of a Friday A. R. Ford, merchant of that city and state of war with Germany. Butler, shipped out 40,000 pounds of the American paper dollar was quoted it this week and received $3500 for it here at a discount of 3 per cent. Chicago — According to Herbert A. Emerson, who has been to the Pacific Coast investigating food conditions for John J. Dillon, commissioner of the state of New York, there are between 30,000,000 and 36,000,000 eggs on the tracks in Chicago, held by speculators to keep up high prices. Mr. Emerson said that the Pacific Coast states this year, instead of im porting eggs as they have generally done, will have a surplus of 75,000 to 100,000 cases to sell. Mr. Emerson said he had no evidence of an “egg trust,” but said he is sure there is a “mighty close understand ing” between the big dealers and was confident an investigation would cause a break in prices. “The butter situation is a parallel,” he said. "The Pacific Coast this year will be able to ship East a surplus of 150 cars of butter, 24,000 pounds to the car. Four years ago the Coast imported 200 cars.” Wheat Has Good Stand. Walla Walla—Walla Walla county’s wheat is in the condition it should have been in the first week in April. Warm weather from now on will en able it to make up this lateness to a certain extent. The stand is good all over the county, however, though the crop will not be normal. Winter wheat is about at the s age that spring sown usually is at this time of the year, while the spring sown on the majority of ranches is just coming out of the ground. The cool rainy weather is giving the grain a chance to stool well. Hot weather would cause it to grow rapidly without stooling, farmers say. The farmers are anxious for the warmer days, however, to increase pasturage. Hay is high and almost unobtainable and the animals have been subsisting on the slim pasturage, except work animals. Apple Growers Protest Higher Freight Wenatchee, Wash. — Believing that the apple industry in the Columbia valley is seriously threatened by the increase of 15 per cent in freight rates proposed by the railroad companies, the Wenatchee Valley Traffic associa tion and the Wenatchee Commercial club at a largely attended joint meet ing here decided to file a protest against the advance in rates with the carriers and the Interstate Commerce commission. Figures quoted show that the pro posed advance will add $315,000 to the cost of getting the present year’s ap ple crop of the valley, estimated at not less that 7000 cars, to market. All this will come from the growers and will be a heavy load in connection with the increased cost of boxes, paper and labor. ________________ Dried’Fruits Now Rising. Tacoma, Wash. — The latest food staple to be affected by the general upward movement in prices is the dried fruit, the bulk of prices of which advanced an average of 1 cent a pound in the Tacoma market. Dried apples, apricots, pears, peaches, prunes and other varieties were all affected. Dealers say that the rising price of the more important staples has caused a great increase in the demand for dried fruits, which, though higher than last year, have not advanced un duly of late. NORTHWESTMARKET REPORT Portland — Cattle — Steers, prime, $9.75 @10.50; good, $9.50 @9.75; medium, $9.00 @9.50; cows, choice, $8.50@9.00; medium to good, $7.95@ 8.25; ordinary to fair, $7.00@7.50; heifers, $6.50 @ 9.00; bulls, $5.50 @ 8.00; calves, $8.00@10. 00. Hogs — Light and heavy packing, $15.00@15.80; rough heavies, $14.00 @14.50; pigs and skips, $13.50@14.00; stock hogs, $12.00013.25. Sheep — Wethers, $9.75 @ 12.00; ewes, $9.00@10.75; lambs, $10.25@ 13.50. Wheat—Bluestem, $2.35; fortyfold, $2.29; club, $2.30; red Russian, $2.27. Oats—No. 1 white feed, $50.50. Barley—No. 1 white feed, $54.50. Flour— Patents, $11.20; straights, $10.00@10.40; valley, $10.20; whole wheat, $11.40; graham, $11.20. Millfeed—Spot prices: Bran, $37 per ton; shorts, $41 per ton; rolled barley, $53.00. Corn—Whole, $68 per ton ; cracked, $69. Hay—Producers’ prices: Timothy, Eastern Oregon, $24026 per ton; al falfa, $18020; grain hay, $16018. Butter— Cubes, extras, 38c; prime firsts, 373c. Jobbing prices: Prints, extras, 41ic; cartons, 1c extra ; butter fat, No. 1, 42c; No. 2, 40c. Eggs — Oregon ranch, current re ceipts, 32 @ 33c per dozen ; Oregon ranch, selects, 34c. Poultry—Hens, 21@23c per pound; broilers, 30040c; turkeys, 22023c; ducks, 22024c; geese, 12@14c. Veal—Fancy, 14@15c per pound. Pork—Fancy, 19c per pound. Vegetables — Tomatoes, $3.75 per crate ; cabbage, 5 @ 7c per pound ; eggplant, 25c; lettuce, $2.2502.75 per box; encumbers, $1.25 @1.75 per dozen; celery, $1@ 1.28 per dozen, $6 @7 per crate; cauliflower, $2; peppers, 45050c per pound; rhubarb, 2@3e; peas, 9 a 10c; asparagus, 8 @ 12c; spinach, 8109; sprouts, 123c. Potatoes — Oregon buying prices, $4.0004.10 per hundred. HERMISTON,. OREGON. BABIES STARVE IN THE STREETS *------------------------ GIRL NOW BOARDING OFFICER ON COAST Neutral Traveler Paints Harrow ing Picture of Pitiful Con ditions in Vienna. ONLY THi: WEALTHY GET FOOD Men, Women and Children Succumb to Hunger and Want—Gloom and Depression Weigh Heavily on People. London.—From a neutral who has spent prolonged periods In Austria- Hungary several times since the war a Berne correspondent learns that never has the Austrian capital been In such a plight as now. Men, women and even children lately have suc cumbed to hunger and want, and he is assured that children have been lit erally dying in the streets. Nowhere Is there enough to eat, he says, except among the wealthy classes and the well-to-do farmers. The organization for the distribution of provisions is wretched, despite the fact that a “Peo ple’s Food Office" has existed in Vien na since December 1 last. According to the organ of the Whole sale Purchasing Association of Aus trian Consumers’ associations, prices have risen, taking Austria as a whole, by 104.67 per cent since the war be gan, but in Vienna proportionately far more. It is not merely that all neces sities have become so exceedingly ex pensive, but that they are not procur able. The few who have money still contrive to purchase enough, but thé great majority who have not money either go constantly hungry or depend on public kitchens, which since their creation have supplied the poorer Classes in Vienna alone with 38,253,815 meals, at a total cost of about $2,- 165,000. 474,300 Dependents. At the end of 1916 there were also, In Vienna alone, 474,300 persons in receipt of government relief—grants of assistance—in other words, about one in four of the entire population of the Austrian capital. These govern ment grants since the start of the war until the end of last year had reached the sum of $50,000,000, besides which there is a large number of destitute refugees In Vienna who have cost the state since the war began $11,625,000. And yet the burgermelster of Vienna has just been warning the public that they must be prepared for worse times Still to come In the next two months. The clothing question, especially the problem of how to provide any kind of boots or shoes, is almost as difficult of solution as the food question. Ac tresses and others, who before the war went about in elegant fanciful shoes, now are glad to wear any cast- off footgear, or even clothing, they can get, as also are many girls and women earning their living in offices. Even more acute is the fuel question In Austria-Hungary. The gloom and depression of Vien na, in short, with its restricted tram service, restricted electric lighting— even in private houses—limited gas consumption and, worst of all, restrict- ed heating, with a degree of cold sel- dom experienced, Is so distressing that the neutral who tells this story said if he had not been able to leave he would have lost his reason. The hospitals, public and private, are all overfilled, and death Is reaping proportionately as great a harvest among the civilian population as among the soldiers at the front. In Vienna, and. indeed, in all the larger Austrian cities, there are now large numbers of houses and business premises to let. Moreover, as little removing as possible Is done, because this has become so costly owing to the shortage of labor, of vans and of horses. In muny cuses young married women have returned to live with their parents, or several women friends have clubbed together to take a flat or house. It is not dwellings alone, however, which are everywhere to let, but rows of business premises, shops, etc., also are standing empty. The fifth Austrian war loan, which was to have closed on January 10 lust, and which before that date was an nounced as so brilliant a financial suc cess, has not yet been closed, and the banks in Switzerland are being inun dated with circulars, some of them marked “confidential,” and issued by the Vienna Banking association, offer ing all manners of Inducements to the Swiss fly to walk into the Austrian spider’s parlor. There Is not a single Swiss managed bank In Switzerland which has been tempted by these re iterated offers of Austrian war loan stock. Austria, as a mutter of fact, is already bankrupt. Her government does not allow any money to leave the country, even to pay for goods pur chased In Switzerland since the war. : 2 San Francisco.—Women have % 22 long served Uncle Sam in the 22 many branches of his affairs In 2 this city, but now a new field has; ! i 1 ; ; been invaded. Miss Elizabeth 2 Clark, young and pretty, has es- | % tablished herself as the pioneer 2 2 woman boarding officer of the 22 immigration service. Here are 2 ′ some of the things she has to % ! : ; i ; | ; do Board incoming foreign ves- 2 | : sels In every kind of weather, : % from sunrise to sunset, arising % at 3 a. oa. during the summer % 1 ! ! months. ; : ; ! ; Scale the Jacob’s ladder to get % % aboard ships during rough % :′ weather. : , Leap from the wharf to a roll- 2 Ing customs tug and from the ■ ' 2 tug. bobbing in the choppy seas ; I :: of the Bay of San Francisco, to 2 | g the side ladders of steamers. ! ; | iesssscssoesososesoeccascecccceScccSNd : RUSSIA BUYS AMERICAN BOAT Lake Steamer Nevada Will Wend Its Way Eastward When Naviga- gation Opens. Manitowoc, Wls. — The Goodrich steamer Nevada, soon after the open ing of navigation, will wend Its way eastward, down through the St, Law rence to the Atlantic seaboard, there to take on cargo for a Russian port. M. Seekleshoff of Petrograd, repre senting the Russian government, pur chased the Nevada from the Goodrich company, the price Is said to have been approximately $750,000. The Nevada was built here In 1915, Is entirely of steel, 212 feet long, and can attain a speed of 18 knots an hour. The craft cost the Goodrich company $275,000, although it could not be du plicated today for that figure. BATTLE STOPPED BY LITTLE BABY *-------------------------------------------- — is any longer thinking of the en Mysteriously Appears Crawling one emy or the war, or of danger. All eyes Between Lines Where Fierce are on the tall soldier and the child which he is approaching. As he picks Fight Is Raging. up that little frightened, helpless bit IS RESCUED BY A GERMAN Soldiers Forget They Are Enemies and Cease Slaughtering Each Other While Prussian Carries In fant to Safety. New York.— Edgar von Schmidt- Paull. a Prussian cavalry officer, who Is on the western front, has written for the German newspapers the fol lowing remarkable incident which he and his men witnessed recently : “Donnerwetter — what a hellish noise! About me shells are bursting and all around me is the rat-tat-tat of machine guns. “It is just before dawn, and the fog is so thick that one can scarcely see a yard ahead. All we know is that our troops during the night stormed and captured the French village over yon der. I want to see how our left wing Is situated, and therefore ride to the village where the enemy's bullets are PRINCESSES OF THE BLOOD falling as thick as hailstones during a heavy thunderstorm. The fog contin ues thick, but it Is not cold. “I find a shelter where other cavalry men are taking n little rest and at once proceed to get some needed sleep my self, ordering the lieutenant to rouse me In case of necessity. "Suddenly I am awakened by a pe culiar, uncomfortable stillness—as Is the case often where n sleeper is awak ened either by a sudden noise or the cessation of noise. Baby in Battlefield. “As I emerge from the dugout the lieutenant winks at me somewhat mis chievously and points directly In front of him. Carefully I raise my head over the top of the trench to get a view of things. “The sun had risen and the fog had disappeared. In front of us is a meadow, and there, midway between our trenches’and those of the enemy, is—God, It is imposible; It must he a delusion!—a Futa Morgana; hut no— there In the middle of the field, crawl ing on hands and knees, is a little child, a baby. It appears perfectly | happy and contented, and seems to be enjoying itself. Not a sound Is to be heard, not n shot Is fired. Every man has become dumb from amazement. I “ ‘A child has fallen from heaven " ' cries a soldier near me. "Well, that is about the case, for | where else could that child have come (r >m ? | “Before my weary brain can summon up any convincing reasons how that Not so long ago the ancestors of | child got out then-—whether some poor these two real American women were | mother lost It In the panic due to lords of great sections of New Eng the battle of the night before—a Ger land that the white man wrested from man soldier jumps out of the trench them. They are the Indian princesses, | and runs to where the child Is crawl- Woontoonekanuske and Teeweelema, | Ing about. Absolute stillness prevails otherwise known as Charlotte and Me I in the trenches, and only to our right, linda Mitchell, and are direct de | from which this extraordinary sight is scendants of the great Indian chief, | hidden by a clump of trees, is the sound Massasoit. Just now the two ladies I of gunfire heard. are more or less In the public eye for Like Peaceful Island. belated appreciation of the goodness "And this spot, which all through the of the ancient chieftain to the Ply mouth settlers Is being considered In night had been a veritable inferno of the legislature through a bill to pen shot and shell, is now like some peace sion these, the last of his descendants. ful island or a cool, friendly oasis In The princesses are now living near a burning desert. “Over there in the enemy’s trenches Middleboro, Mass. They are respec tively seventy-one and eighty-one years we can see the helmets of the French- men as they peer over the edges. No old. of humanity and fondly takes It In his arms, a laugh, a low, friendly laugh, passes along our entire column. The laugh Is Infectious, nnd we can feel how it is going along the ranks over yonder. And suddenly—what, are they going to shoot!—no, on the contrary, a great wave of applause with shouts of 'Bravo!' from thousands of French throats break the stillness. Then, ns the soldier jumps back Into our trench with the child safely In his arms, our ranks, too, burst into a triumphant shout which passes all along the line. "Even.for some time nfter not a shot Is fired. It Is as If we felt ahamed of ourselves, nnd no one touched n gun while that child was In our midst. "When the firing did start again It was rnther desultory nnd indifferent, and there was nothing dangerous about It. That little child had worked a wonderful change in the hearts of both friend and foe that morning." PROUD OF 19-CENT TUBERS Pennsylvania Farmer Who Minimized Potato Cost, Produces Some Real Whoppers. Doylestown, Pa.—Farmer Edward! Chittick of Plumstead township, who raised 269 bushels of potatoes on an acre of ground nt 19 cents a bushel, brought some real “taters" to the coun ty seat of Bucks, exhibiting "Mur phys” that averaged a pound each, to show what kind he raised—and they were whoppers. Thirty-one potatoes filled a half- bushel basket heaping full. One nfter another n dozen were measured, and they were fairly uniform in length. Most of them measured six inches across. They weighed about a pound apiece, and Mr. Chittick says he had some that tipped the seules at one and three-quarters pounds. Mr. Chittick ndmits that he mny have been a little low in some of his expense items; but It was very little. He did nearly all the work himself, and consequently the cost was less thnn If he had to hire the kind of la bor most farmers must. The United States survey figures, he says, show that he was not much too low on his labor cost. As for cutting potatoes, he says he can cut ten bushels with a knife in half a day; but he keeps right down to business. BLOW RESTORES MAN’S VOICE Silent for Years He Recovers His Speech While Boxing With Hie Cousin. New Castle, Pa.—Miko Liskas has every reason to be grateful to his cousin, John Liskas, and all on ac count of a terrific blow administered on his chin by the latter while box- Ing. Mike had been unable to speak for a year and had spent several hun dred dollars attempting to regain his voice. The blow on the chin brought blood to the mouth of Mike and John, the cousin, fearing that he had seriously injured Mike, was In the act of going for a doctor, when for the first time In a year, Mike spoke, saying: “You have not hurt me. You have helped me regain my voice."