Laplanders Interested
In Recreation, Despite
Snow, Cold Weather
(Editor's note: Thii it the i here Norwegians, Finns and Gyp-
last in a series of articles
written for the Mail Tribune
by Walter Mallila, Portland
newspaperman, while on tour
of the Scandinavian countries.)
By WALTER MATTILA
Mail Tribune Special Writer
Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland
(By Air Mail) There is a sur
prising interest in recreation
here above the Arctic circle, de
spite heavy snow, low temper
atures and ice-covered roads.
Some 100 miles northeast from
In Hie Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
I'd like to talk today about an
oldiew town down in southern
Arizona Casa Grande. It is old
In the sense that it has been sit
ting out there in the hot desert
sunshine for goodness knows
how long. It is new in that it
has been hit by a new indus
try the growing of cotton in
the Southwest.
Casa Grande is in Pinal coun
ty. Pinal is one of America's
two largest cotton-growing coun
ties. The other is Kern county,
in California. I wonder what our
Southern ancestors would have
thought and perhaps said if
someone had told them a cen
tury and a quarter ago that the
center of the cotton industry
would some day move into what
was then an unknown region.
I imagine they would have
ootfed at the suggestion.
fASA GRANDE is a flourish
ing little city of some 5,000
permanent residents. At the
height of the cotton-picking sea
son, which in the past has ended
along in the latter part of Feb
ruary, the population has been
bout 15,000.
The extra 10,000 has been
made up largely of workers in
the cotton fields and the gins
and the seed - crushing plants.
During this period, Casa Grande
has been a beehive of industry,
with everybody in the town
working at top speed to keep up
with business.
1HOPE you'll note that I've
spoken here in the past tense.
Something new has been added
to the cotton industry of Pinal
county. The new ingredient is
the MECHANICAL COTTON
PICKER. The machines moved
in in a big way for the first lime
last fall. As a result, the cotton
crop was pretty well stowed
away by the first of January.
The cotton-picking crew has
been nowhere near as large this
winter as in the past. The
tradespeople have noticed the
difference in their business.
UKR m long as I can remem
ber, the mechanical cotton
nicker has been talked about.
The prospect of it has given the
towns in the cotton states the
shivers for many decades.
Well, it's here. We'll see what
we'll see.
"PERSONALLY, I doubt if cot
ton picking machines will
wreck the economy of the cot
ton belt. I don't know, of course.
But ever since the beginning of
the mechanical revolution in
Britain the power loom was
the first startling innovation
short-sighted persons have been
saying that the machine will ruin
everybody by TAKING AWAY
JOBS.
It hasn't. There are fantasti
eally more jobs now than before
the advent of the machine. The
end result of the machine has
been to cheapen production and
thus make it possible for every
body to have MORE THINGS.
I think it will work out that
way in Pinal county.
I'D LIKE to mention another
thing here. The short-staple
cotton industry in Pinal -county
has been made possible by WA
TER. Presently, the water is
pumped up from the under
ground water reservoirs. There
is PRESENTLY enough of it.
But it looks very much like
water is being taken out of the
ground faster than nature is re
newing the supply by the process
of rainfall. What will happen if
the underground reservoirs be
gin to SHRINK?
One thing that will happen is
that southern Arizona will go
HARDER after a larger share of
the waters of the Colorado river
sies have just completed a full
day of horse racing on an oval
track made by a logging camp
bulldozer on the ice of the Kemi
river, which drains most of Fin
nish Lapland.
Several thousand people wit
nessed the races and repeatedly
skied from the track to the
bookies who held forth in a
shack.
Women Drivers
Late in the day women driv
ers handled the steaming racers
with remarkable skill. Excellent
driving also featured a handi
cap race in which 30 sulkies
were entered.
Just after they made peace
with the Russians, the Finns held
two days of horse racing on
Kemi ice at this site at Pelkosn-
jemi. Appearance of more cars
in Lapland has aroused interest
in car racing at the expense of
reindeer, horse and motorcycle
competition on ice.
Everyone here from two years
of age is on skiis. Skiing spec
tacles include cross country and
jump events at Rovaniemi, the
provincial capital, and the log
ging center of Kemijarvi. Among
entries at these events this
spring have been Olympic cham
pions. Three Jumps
Rovaneimi has three jumps,
one for children. Among its
jumpers is Aauno Luiro, who at
the age of 18 in 1952 establish
ed at Biersdorf, Germany, the
present world's record for dis
tance 462 feet. He is now at
a sanitarium for consumption
and also suffers from diabetes.
His 1.6-year-old brother ranked
fifth among Norwegian, Swed
ish and Finnish entries at the
latest Rovaniemi contests.
In the spring Lapland snow
is the skier's delight. It is firm
but not crusty and makes for
fast skiing until the. thaw every
afternoon. ' Special trains and
buses bring skiers from south
ern Finland and northern Swe
den to ski events at Rovaniemi.
School children have cross
country contests and groups of
skiers go on long distance jaunts
to remote parts of Lapland, liv
ing with the native Lapps. One
Helsinki expedition builds ig
loos of ice for shelter and has
come down rivers on floating
ice when surprised by an early
thaw.
Largs Hotels
Large and attractive hotels
have been built at Rovaniemi
and Kemijarvi for the needs of
expanding industry and tourist
trade. These have the class of a
Lapp costume. Uniformed door
men are on duty at both hotels
in all weathers and the cuisine
and wine cellar measures up
handsomely to continental stan
dards
Lapland is showing its grow
ing prosperity by having a good
time in its grand spring sun
over an empire of white and
snow-hooded forests
7,000 Candy Eggs
Easter Hunt Plan
A total of 7,000 candy eggs,
each in a cellophane sack, will
be distributed in the annual
meaiora luwanu aster egg
hunt.
The hunt will be conducted at
9 a.m., Saturday, April 9, at
Hawthorne park.
Residents of the Medford
vicinity are invited to bring
their youngsters, who will hunt
in three age groups, 1 to 3," 4 to
6 and 7 to 9 years. Three prizes
for boys and three for girls in
each age group, 18 prizes in all,
are planned for finding lucky
eggs. There will be one grand
prize.
Committeemen serving with
Chairman L. C. McLaughin are
Dr. Bill Bracker, Vern Thorpe,
Dell Wright, Cliff Lacy, Bob
Church, Bill Singler, Bill Ruff-
ner and Jennings Pierce. Pierce
will be master-of-ceremonies.
Kiwanians will package the
eggs Friday night at the Bracker
home in the Griffin Creek dis
trict.
I'LL CLOSE this piece by harp
ing on an old string. AS OF
NOW, southern Oregon and far
northern California have enough
water for all their needs. We
have water enough for irriga
tion, for power, for industry
and for recreation.
But if we LOSE any consider
able portion of our water by ex
portation, we WON'T have
enough. Without ENOUGH WA
TER, our future will be dark
and uncertain.
And
Nothing is more certain than
that, as the years pass, the pres
sure for importation of water to
meet the needs of the almost
waterless Southwest will grow
stronger and the prices that will
be bid for imported water will
go HIGHER AND HIGHER.
SAVINGS
Invested By
April II
Earn Dividends
from
APRIL I
Current Rate
3 Per Annum
Avmes
fc LOAM
AUOCtATIOM
126 E. Main Medford
"Where You Are Paid
To Save"
EN ROUTE HOME Mrs. Adele Austin Rickett (right) is
whisked to waiting auto by friend Arthur Link (center
warding off reporters), a university of California profes
sor, after she stepped from ship which brought her to San
Francisco from Hongkong and Red China imprisonment.
Japanese Atom Bomb Victims Due in States
New York U.R) Twenty
Japanese girls, so disfigured by
the Hiroshima atom blast that
they have lived as virtual re
cluses, will arrive here within
the month for plastic surgery
and medical treatment which
may return them to normal life,
it was announced here today.
The girls, now 19 and 24 years
old, were trapped in a public
school by the first atomic attack
Aug. 6, 1945.
They will be flown here to
gether by the U.S. Air Force and
will receive free care from two
doctors and a hospital through
the interest of Norman Cousins,
editor of the Saturday Review.
Legislative Heads i
Look To April 16
For Adjournment
Salem (U.R) Senate Presi
dent Elmo E. Smith (R-John
Day) and House Speaker Ed
ward A. Geary (R-Klamath
Falls) have set April 16 as the
target date for winding up the
1955 session of the Oregon Leg
lislature. They said it was an elastic
date and they wanted no major
legislation to be cut off before
full consideration of both
chambers.
Whether the target date for
the sine die adjournment can
be reached is dependent largely
on the fate of the House-passed
tax bills now being studied by
the Senate Assessment and Tax
ation Committee headed by Sen.
Rudie Wilhelm (R- Portland.)
Tax Meeting Set
Sen. Wilhelm has called a
meeting tonight at which time
his committee will discuss the
tax program prepared by the
House Tax Committee headed by
Rep. Loran Stewart (R-Cottage
Grove).
Tax committee members and
others in the legislature are
concerned over the probability
that the three-cents a pack tax
on cigarettes and the inciease
in state personal income taxes,
major points of the House tax
program, will be referred to the
voters if passed by the Senate.
Because of this concern, a
special election may be pro
vided to give the voters a chance
Tuesday, April 5, 1955
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUlfR SEYllt
to decide upon the issues. Just
how many measures would be
submitted at such a special elec
tion has not been determined.
Detroit (U.R) A Wayne coun
ty road patrolman investigated a
report that someone scattered
roofing nails in front of a real
estate office. He arrived on foot.
He reported his patrol car had
a blowout when a nail pierced
a tire.
Do you know you can talk to several cities at once by long distance? Here's
how it works: Suppose you want to talk to four relatives in different cities. Well, your long
distance operator can set up a single circuit connecting all five telephones at once. Each
of you can talk back and forth to the rest as if you were all in the same room. And the cost
is surprisingly low. Why not try a conference call tonight? It's another way we've found
to make your telephone still more useful... at low cost to you. Pacific Telephone work
to make your telephone a bigger value every day.
2
BO
wist
The West's
most powerful premium
Quite frankly, we created Royal 76 as much for a quality
of driver as a quality of car.
This is the champagne of premium gasolines, refined especially
for people who have the habit of always enjoying the finest.
And any way you gauge gasoline performance, new Royal 76
is the finest. It is the West's most powerful premium. It meets the
highest octane demands of the newest high compression cars.
It gives any car a margin of extra power never before possible.
New Royal 76 one of two powerful new gasolines
now at your Union Oil Minute Man Station,
Drive a tankful and feel the difference.
The West's
most powerful regular
7600 Regular has more of the one thing that counts most
In gasoline power. Instant power for starting. Smoother power
for idling. Flashing power for get-away. Safer power for passing.'
Proof? 7600 Regular has so much higher octane than ordinary '
regulars it meets the demands of 8 out of 10 of all cars.f
Drive a tankful feel your car perform like its maker
meant it to. 7600 Regular one of two powerful new gasolines
at your Union Oil Minute Man Station now,
ml nh tksolinss
- SSm " g"'::x
IfiTlTffi m mi lliwfjffilii.i.i hi ft
UNION OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA
The West's Oldest and Largest Independent OH Company