Thursday, October 29, 1936
THE HERMISTON HERALD, HERMISTON, OREGON.
Washington
OREGON STATE NEWS
OF GENERAL INTEREST
Brief Resume of Happenings
of the Week Collected for
Our Readers
National Topics Interpreted
By WILLIAM BRUCKART
NATIONAL PRESS BLDG.
WASHINGTON D C
Washington — During the recent
bitter campaigning, both national po-
A ,
liticai parties en-
- ne Coal
gaged in a good
Industry
deal of palaver
about the coal in
dustry. As usual, the politicians
were patting the miners on the back,
telling them what wonderful assets
to the nation they are, and carrying
their demagoguery further by crit
icism of the mine owners every now
and then because it was popular with
labor to attack employers. Altogeth
er, it was a rather sorry spectacle
and, I think, did not do credit to
either side to any extent.
But in this report, I want to
stress a very much less obvious
phase of the problem than was made
apparent in any of the electioneer
ing. With all of the verbiage cast
aside, with all of the political hood
winking forgotten, there is a very
deep and difficult problem in the
coal industry. I think it can be sum
marized in one question: What is
the future of coal, the coal industry,
and the thousands of men who know
no other source of livelihood than
that which they eke out in the
bowels of the earth?
This question, if proper analysis
is made, encompasses more than
the usual factors that operate in
economics. It does that because of
policies of the federal government,
among states and among municipal
ities. Because of the attempts to
influence votes, the whole question
has got into politics and that of itself
is ruinous, an obstacle to a scienti
fic solution.
Not so many years ago coal mine
owners and coal labor units had
what amounted to a monopoly on
our fuel supply. Then came oil, oil
with all of the scientific development
that followed in its wake. Despite
this, operators and labor leaders
continued to take their toll from the
hapless user of coal for fuel, be that
user a great factory or an individual
consumer in furnace or round oak
stove. But that was not all. Electric
ity came along with its constantly
increasing automatic control. First,
of course, in the larger communities
and later it came to villages and
farm homes. Still, the mine owners
and the coal labor leaders followed
an unwise course, still, they con
tinued to take their toll and before
they fully realized what the circum
stance was, they had succeeded by
their acts in building up a desire on
the part of millions of people to
use some other sort of fuel. The end
is not yet, and that is why the
subject is most important at this
stage of our history.
• « •
During the Roosevelt administra
tion we have seen an impetus given
to public owner-
Public
ship of power
Ownership
plants never
equalled. 11 h i n k I
much of this development has gone
on in a hit-and-n.iss fashion and
that eventually the public will pay
for the shiftless methods employed
in development, but that is beside
the point. The present question is
whether our nation is going to con
tinue to expand public ownership in
such a way as to ruin an industry
that is as much a part of our basic
economic structure as any other
unit of our natural life. I think some
times it goes beyond that for the
reason that, unless people awaken to
the fact that they are being hood
winked to a considerable extent by
public ownership propaganda, it is
likely to spread and public owner
ship will become a frankenstein, a
parasite on our body public.
When I referred to the destruction
of a great industry, I had in mind
the thought that the consequences
will run in two directions. Yet, para
doxically as it may seem, they
constitute a cycle. It works out like
this: As the demand for coal de
clines, it is quite natural that pro
duction costs go up. When production
costs go up, they eventually reach
the point where a further diminu
tion occurs in demand. When that
decline in demand occurs, there is
only one answer: Labor is thrown
out of work because you cannot
produce and have those products
piled high in storage. It takes money
to keep labor and machinery occu
pied. The coal itself, after being
removed from the mines, represents
money and it is subject as well to
deterioration. So, the ultimate to
be expected on this side of the pic
ture is an industry dying of dry rot.
On the other side of the problem is
an equally important factor at work.
It takes an immense amount of cap
ital, massed in corporate form, to
maintain a going concern whether
that concern be coal mining, rail
roading or any other of our great
industries. These industries operate
largely on funds obtained through
the sale of stocks and bonds of the
corporation. But it has always been
true, and human nature shows no
signs of changing, that capital is
not attracted to, it does not seek
investment in, a declining industry.
There you have a possibility at least
of insufficient funds to carry through
for the coal mining industry until it
can readjust itself to the new place
it must occupy in our economic
structure. It will occupy a new place
because it will readjust itself, but
it has not done so yet and the con
sequence of this condition is, in my
opinion, coal mine labor is due
for some very hard sledding in the
next decade, notwithstanding the
honeyed words of the politicians.
• • •
Now, to turn to the part that gov
ernment plays in bringing about
present conditions
Blame
I have attempted
Demagogues to show how greed
on the part of both
capital and labor was responsible in
a measure for building up what
amounts to ill-will among many
coal consumers. But the industry it
self is not wholly responsible. In
deed, I rather hold the opinion that
government is as much responsible
for conditions as the industry itself,
and when I say government, I must
limit my reference to political dem
agogues. They always have been
shortsighted and they are still short-
sighted. They have been and they
are now willing to sacrifice great
masses of men and money for per
sonal political gain of an entirely
transitory character.
I have said before in these col
umns that the country is being sadly
kidded—it is almost tragic—by the
wonders of such parasitic organiza
tions as TVA. The public ownership
crowd have had a willing leader in
President Roosevelt and his
hangers-on have promoted his poli
cies of public ownership without be
ing honest as to the ultimate goal,
or the eventual effect.
It is not alone that there have
been millions wasted in the develop
ment of the Tennessee valley electri
cal mirage. It is not so much that
taxpayers throughout the country
will be paying a bill and paying it
over and over again, that causes me
to complain. It is not so much that
the Tennessee Valley Authority will
never be economically operated or
become self-sustaining that brings
this outburst. It is the fact that
when a government, national, state
or local, leads the way in this direc
tion, it wields an influence upon a
certain percentage of our popula
tion. Since public ownership advo
cates, in many instances, plain so
cialism, where in control of these
agencies such as TVA, it is per
fectly natural that they present to
the taxpayers only the most rosy
side of the story. They do not dis
close to the taxpayers the adverse,
the costly side, of the situation. Na
turally then, hundreds of thousands
of people believe that government
can do this sort of thing better
than private enterprise. They be
come convinced that private initia
tive has been turned into a spigot
through which individual pocket-
books are drained. They do not real-
ize that their pocketbooks are being
drained much more heavily through
public ownership by means of the
taxes they take from you and me
and everyone else. That is the sad
story, made worse by the fact that
through nearly four years the Wash
ington government has been encour
aging people to believe public own
ership propaganda and distrust and
destroy private investment.
• • •
Recent Treasury figures show that
the Resettlement Administration has
,
paid approximate-
Expensive
ly $27,750,000 of
Dream
its total appropri
ation of $134,518,-
000 for administrative expenses.
That is, the organization which is
the pride and joy of Professor Rex
ford Guy Tugwell has paid that
amount of money to job holders in
trying to carry out the professor’s
impossible dream.
While the sum shown as used for
administrative expenses by Profes
sor Tugwell is small, compared to
the billions of total waste in the
Roosevelt administration, the prop
er way to consider this circum
stance is on a percentage basis. If
you take your pencil you can cal
culate that about 20 per cent or one
fifth of all the funds appropriated to
Professor Tugwell for resettlement,
has been used in management of
his plan. It may be a fraction under
20 per cent, but it is so close that
even the fastidious Mr. Tugwell
would not quarrel about the dif
ference.
One-fifth of an appropriation that
is designed theoretically at least to
serve for relief purposes is entirely
too much. It is not as great per
haps as has happened with one or
two other relief appropriations, but
it has always been claimed that the
Tugwell scheme was planned to re-
establish those who have been re
settled on a permanent basis. That
is to say, it was planned that the
bulk of the money should be used
in providing those people with a
fresh start in life, but I cannot see
where they are getting the full meas
ure of help intended if a lot of job 1
holders sit around in Washington
offices or in offices in various states
using up one-fifth of the total lay-
out of cash.
• Western Newspaper Union.
Bandon—The Bank of Bandon, al
though missing some of its records,
opened for business only three weeks
after the fire.
Bend—The Bend Bulletin has ap
plied for a permit to operate a radio
broadcast station to serve the Central
Oregon country.
Eugene—Flax plants at Eugene,
Springfield, and Mt. Angel will have
Increased storage capacity due to ap
proval of more than $20,000 of PWA
funds to each plant.
Albany—A parcel of land 18 by
1312 feet is being condemned by the
state highway commission for an esti
mated value of five dollars. It is on
the Sweet Horne-Halsey highway.
Junction City—Paving of the Eu-
gene-Junction City cutoff was started
recently. The work will progress two
miles at a time. The entire 12 mile
project is expected to be completed by
spring.
Oregon City—The lives of dogs
here are severely menaced by poison.
“Buster," pet dog of Mrs. William
Gold was the twentieth to succumb
to its effects within the past few
months.
Forest Grove—Building In Forest
Grove has already greatly surpassed
that of the entire year of 1935. A
$10,000 theatre project is the great
est single piece of construction so
far this year.
Monmouth—For the first time In
the history of the school, there is a
man’s domitory on the campus of
the state normal. West house was
recently remodeled into a dormitory,
accomodating 20 men.
Salem—State police are eyeing
windshields carrying stickers other
than those provided for by law. Num
erous complaints have been received
calling Superintendent of Police
Pray’s attention to the violations.
Salem—A crime detection labora
tory is to be installed In the pathol
ogy department of the University of
Oregon medical school In Portland.
The laboratory will employ the lat
est scientific equipment and methods.
Portland—"Old Man Oregon” is a
lucky landlord according to recent
reports. Vacancy of state owned prop
erty is only two per cent., only 11
properties out of 661 owned by the
state only the World War Veteran’s
state aid commission being unoccu
pied.
Pendleton — The ancient art of
spinning yarn from a spinning wheel
has been revived by Mrs. Phil Hirl
of Heppner. She brought the spin
ning wheel from Ireland years ago
and Is using wool from Angora goats.
She will use the yarn to make a
sweater for her husband.
Salem—Work on the actual con
struction of Oregon’s new capitol
building will start about December
1 with bids being opened November
20, according to C. C. Hockley, PWA
administrator for Oregon. It is hoped
that blds will be low enough to al
low white marble to be used.
Salem—The state board of control
has accepted the recently completed
$190,000 addition to the state hospi
tal for the insane. The new addition
will accomodate 160 patients. This
still leaves the institution crowded,
however, as there is an overflow at
this time of 216 from a total popula
tion of 2400.
Eugene—County courts so rarely
receive praise for its works that it
was considered to the “man bites
dog” idea, in other words "news,”
when some farmers presented the
county officials with a box if cigars
in appreciation for the graveling of
a half mile of road relieving five
families of traversing the distance on
foot in mud during the rainy season.
DEER TURNS TABLES
Baker—A buck deer opened his
own season recently and with a well
directed blow of his antlers brought
down a man at Ironside. The animal,
a pet, was chasing school children
when the man, to protect the chil-
dreh, interfered, driving the animal
away. Later the animal attacked him.
NEW RADIO STATION
LaGrande— The state Is building a
short wave radio station here for
use by the police and state highway
department and at the same time
comes word that a party has applied
to the federal communications com
mittee for permission to construct a
broadcast station with unlimited
hours of operation and with power of
100 watts at night and 250 during
the day.
Hood River—More than 4000 tons
of Bartlett pears have been canned
this season at the Apple Growers
association cannery here, giving em
ployment to nearly 500 who are now
giving their attention to the canning
of apples.
Portland—The state highway com
mission has decided that all road
signs, including elub insignia, must
be removed as they have been erected
without the permission of the high
way group and are not in accordance
with its beautification program.
SrirbsGb”
S
A Trio of Trim Togs
about :
Campaign's Home Stretch.
everly hills , calif .
—Here the campaign is prac
tically on its last legs, when it
isn’t standing on its head and
spinning around—but yet not a
peep out of the three fairest-
haired young hopes of the New
Deal.
They’re still putting on an act—
what’s known in vaudeville as a
dumb act—entitled “The Bollo Boys
in a Sub-Cellar.”
Horrid tales abound. ’Tis rumored
that the gurgling sound coming
from the White
House dungeon is
caused by Tugwell
trying to get the
gag out of his mouth
with both hands tied
behind his back.
And a note believed
to have been written
by Harry Hopkins
has been slipped
through the bars
begging somebody
to smuggle in a file Irvin S. Cobb
in a loaf of bread.
Richberg, once the merriest of the
administration’s songsters, doesn’t
chirp any more, having been in
duced to take on the role of the man
in the iron mask.
B
Remote-Control Patriotism.
T)ID you ever notice that these
— impassioned European states
men, who so boldly defy tyrants in
the homeland, generally put two or
three national boundaries between
themselves and the objects of their
hate before cutting loose? One fiery
anti-fascist waited until he got to
Hoboken to tell Mussolini right to
his face—the face being only 5,000
miles distant — exactly what he
thought of him.
Not that I’d blame any patriot for
playing safety first, dictators being
so sensitive to criticism. In fact, I
like the idea so much, I’m think
ing of taking a correspondence
course in lion-taming, myself.
• « *
Debunking Politics.
AN nothing be done to stop the
destructive utterances of this
man, Al Smith? Think of him, as he
did in that Philadelphia speech of
his, urging the voters to sift the
bunk out of the campaign and study
the facts. Does he want to deflate
the whole system of American poli
tics? Would you hire a cook who
squeezed all the meat out of the
sausage and fried the sausage skin
for breakfast?
Even so, maybe a little debunk
ing would be gratifying to quite a
lot of us who wish to start concen
trating on football as soon as possi
ble. I’m especially interested in
how Yale comes out on its clever
little idea of selling to a commer
cial broadcast the radio rights for
all games played on the home
grounds. But the fellow who gets
the empty-bottles concession is the
one who’ll really clean up.
• • •
"Lead Dollar’s” Immortality.
OW some old friends do hang
on!
Twenty-five years ago or there
abouts, it appeared as a short story
in Everybody’s magazine under the
title, “The Lead Dollar.”
Twenty years ago, believing I
was using an actual occurrence
which never before had been fic-
tionized, I wrote it, too, and called
it “Heart of Lead,” and, barely in
time, was saved by Bob Davis and
Charlie Van Loan from the unin
tentional but nonetheless serious lit
erary crime of plagiarism.
Fifteen years ago, Octavus Roy
Cohen and I just did head off a
young girl writer who already had
sold the same tale to a pleased edi
tor. I forget now what she called
her version.
Today, practically complete in all
its sequences—poker game, bogus
money, practical jokes, good Sa
maritan, homeless girl, skeptical
hotel clerk, pitiable suicide and all
—I find this dear old familiar stand-
by in the current issue of a popular
monthly with yet another author
sponsoring it.
• • •
Jack Garner's Activities.
onth after month. Uncle Jack
Garner never said anything
but “Ouch!” and then not for pub
lication. It seemed that, if defeat
ed, he would go back from the com
parative obscurity of Washington to
the blazing prominence of Uvalde
county, Texas, as the most finished
specimen of sound-proof nominee
American politics ever produced.
But he's no longer a perfect exam
ple to all innocent bystanders—he’s
just a candidate.
Having read his first speech. I'm
reminded of the English gentlewom
an who fell on hard times but did
have a few layin’ hens left and was
driven by necessity to peddle their
product in the open street.
So she picked out a back alley
for her debut into vulgar trade, and,
as she crept stealthily along, whis
pered in a stricken undertone:
“Fresh eggs, tuppence. I hope
no one sees me. Fresh eggs, tup-
pence. I hope no one hears me.”
IRVIN S. COBB.
©— WNU Service.
C
H
1950
1891
1812.
This trio of trim togs offers an
appealing variety to the woman
who sews at home. There is style
and economy in every design.
Pattern No. 1950, the tunic, is
one of the season’s smartest, fea
turing a modish stand-up collar
and just the right amount of flare
or “swing.” A grand ensemble
for any youthful figure. Simply
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clever pattern is designed for
sizes: 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20; 30, 32,
34, 36, 38 and 40. Size 14 requires
three and one-eighth yards for the
tunic in 39 inch material and two
yards for the skirt. Five-eighths
yard ribbon required for the bow.
Pattern No. 1891 is a perfect
fitting princess wrap around or a
coat frock with a reversible clos
ing. It has everything demanded
of a morning or utility frock—
style, slimming lines, slashed set-
in sleeves, one or two patch
pockets, simplicity of design, and
a double breasted closing which
is smart and compelling. Avail
able in a wide range of sizes, 14
to 20; and from 32 to 48, this
versatile frock will win a favorite
spot in your clothes closet in short
order. Size 16 requires four and
three-eighths yards of 35 inch
material.
For tiny tots, pattern No. 1812
has all the adorable qualities you
like to associate with darling
cherubs. The pattern includes a
waist and pantie combination, as
well as the frock and will serve
for party or playtime wear with
equal facility. Utterly simple in
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of never ending delight to your
style conscious daughter. Avail
able in sizes: 2, 3, 4, and 5 years
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lar and sleeve band.
Send for the Barbara Bell Fall
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Calif. Patterns 15 cents each.
© Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
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