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About Vernonia eagle. (Vernonia, Or.) 1922-1974 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1942)
4 Thursday, April 16, 1942, Vernonia Eagle. Vernonia, Oregon Comments thfe Week THE POCKETBOOK of KNOWLEDGE- THEY’RE WAR BONDS NOW All of us are familiar with Defense Savings Stamps and Bonds anil the puriwse to which those stamps and bonds are de voted. Within the next few weeks, though, should you purchase a stamp or bond you will find the name changed to War Savings Stamp or War Savings Bond but it will be the same article as before. The name was unofficially changed last week and that change seems a desirable one indeed. The word “defense” is hardly one to bring about the idea of winning. Instead, it brings the thought of protection and that must not be the purpose of the money that is devoted to those stamps and bonds. That money must go to make possible those preparations which are necessary for an offense, for only by taking the offensive when this nation is prepared, can the war be won. Yes, the name “War Stamps” and “War Bonds” is much more appropriate. VICTORY BOOK DAY We’ve heard much on the collection of Victory Books for men in the armed forces and now a day has been set aside as Victory Book Day by President Roosevelt. Although there are many days set aside for this or that purpose, Victory Book Day merits some special mention for those books will be valuable as a builder of morale of fighting men. For a soldier or sailor to have accessible good books is to give him the courage and the knowledge to fight. It would be difficult for the average soldier to obtain good reading matter without the public at home taking steps to provide that reading matter. The day can be furthered by local services such as stores, milk companies, etc., who have delivery men that contact the public and who offer to carry books to the library, which is the center if collection here. Undoubtedly many homes in Vernonia have books that would be suitable for soldiers’ reading, those books being of no further use in the homes. But that reading material would be of much value to the fighting men. If you have such material be sure to turn it over to someone who will see that it reaches the proper collection point, The Vernonia library. Out of the Woods __________________________________________ btevens Y ou May Remember County News St. Helens FURNITURE DEALER SUED FOR $40,000 George G. Paterson, Vernonia furniture dealer, was named defend ant in a $40,000 damage suit filed last week with the county clerk by Claude W. Swanger, Vernonia man who had been employed by Pater son. In addition to the $40,000 gen eral damages, which Swanger seeks as the result of an accident alleged to have occurred when he was em ployed by Paterson, the Vernonia man is asking $1,200 in wages de clared to have been lost because of the mishap and $750 in doctor, nurse and hospital bills. According to the complaint filed by Swanger, the accident occurred when some merchandise was being transported by truck between the warehouse and Paterson’s furniture store. As a result of this injury, the Vernonia man declares in his com plaint, he has suffered headaches, dizziness and injury to his brain tissues. A logger by occupation and accustomed to earning $6 a day in this work, Swanger says he lost $1.- 200 in wages because of his injury. to the county now that the Red Cross has withdrawn its financial support and is employing a part- time executive secretary. Judge Tar bell said he believed it would cost the county at least $200 a month to employ a nurse, considering sal ary, office supplies and traveling expense. During the years that Miss Alley was here the Red Cross provided a car, paid for office supplies and took care of a portion of her saiary. If the county hires a nurse, it will not purchase a car for her, the judge indicateli, but will pay mileage. Clatskanie STATE APPROVES PUD PURCHASE The Oregon State Hydroelectric cc mmission last Saturday approved the contract for the sale of the West Coast Power company electric properties in the Clatskanie section to the Clatskanie peoples’ utility district. The price fixed for the sale was $150,000. The law provides that the hydro electric commission must approve the sale of all electric company equipment to peoples’ utility dis tricts. lO’s-LB. SALMON CAUGHT BY DALTON CARSON TO SPEAK Biggest fish to be hauled out of MONDAY EVENING the itiver this season and, so far, the undisputed leader in competition for grand prize in the derby spon sored by the St. Helens Rod and Gun club was a 40 V4 pound salmon which Frank Dalton weighed in Thursday morning. Dalton, who fought the big fish for half an hour before he was able to gaff it, hooked this “granddad dy of ’em all” near the paper mill dock in Willamette slough. COURT MAY NOT HIRE NEW NURSE Nio action has been taken yet by the county court to hire a nurse to replace Miss Nettie Alley, who left last Monday for Washington. D. C . and Judge Ray Tarbell said he was uncertain whether the court would fill the \acancy. The judge added that as far as he knew there was no legal requirement that the county hire a nurse. At least a part of the court’s in decision on the matter of replacing Miss Alley is caused by the in creased cost of the nunse’s office The Vernonia Eagle MARVIN KAMHOLZ Editor and Publisher Entered as second class mail matter. August 4. 1922. at the post office in Vernonia. Oregon, under the act of March 3, 1879. Official newspaper of Vern mia. Ore 0 R f ctoO LW S f » P ublishers 4- s ¿ s q £ i a tio h The toughest fire of my exper ience started from a _spark in the fern of a new cutover, during an April drought. For ten weeks after the surface burn the fire craWled under the duff, flared out now and then from snags, and finally blew up, destroying a sawmill and acres of lumoer, a dozen homes and a hundred and fifty jobs. There’s no need to state names and places here. You will peg the fire if your time in the West Coast timber goes back twenty years and if you were thereabouts. The blow up was on the Fouuth of July. Does that help? The fire didn’t get much of a play in the news. It was no Tillamook catastrophe—except to those who had built themselves new shack homes in the sawmill camp. That was my case. For six weeks I’d put in eight hours a day on the green chain, and then worked into the night and through all daylight every Sunday, putting up a snug three-room home. The company fur nished the lumber free. It was a rough job when done, but my own, a home made by my own hands. A week after the family moved in we were moving out—burned out. And it started from a spark. Fern, Duff and Snag* . . . When April comes in the Douglas fir forest and the fern fires begin to smoke the bright sky, I remember. Traveling the highways and the back roads, every farmhouse with fern fields and stands of young se- cond-gnowth near it makes a pretty grim sight to me. Any woods-wise man knows what can happen. A live match or cigarette tossed to the roadside by some lawless lug or cifreless conk-head will have exactly the effect of an incendiary bomb—which is no more thu.i a giant spark that feeds on itself un til it finds fuel. That’s what hap pens with the live match and cig- The U. S. Army engineers and all ex-seOvice men employed on the Clatskanie project were guests of Louis Larsen Post of the American Legion at a stag meeting in the Oild Fellow hall last Monday even ing. Captain Joe K. Carson, Jr., now of the engineers corps of the army nnd department commander of the American Legion, and former mayor of Portland, was the principal speak uled. The dogs are booked to open er. their fiO-day racing meet next June 1, and. in turn, this means around $100,000 for the fairs, which will be their percentage from the pari mutuels. These shows could not ANO have been staged this year if dog racing had been tabooed because they are dependent upon the pot of gold received from that source in order to successfully operate. Mili tary authorities had been somewhat reluctant about letting large crowds gather in this area, but upon in vestigation they decided that with additional safeguards, such as extra guards and sufficient air raid pre cantons, it would be O. K. to let dogs run. So the puppies will gal lop this year as usual. VitfíáN WILLIAMS a a a Plans are already being made in Portland. Ore., April 15—Her the national capital for the post man Chindgren, president of the war period although the United Oregon County Fair association, States is not yet fairly in the war wore a broad smile this week when nor will be until 1943. However, word came through that Major the planners are looking ahead and General Kenyon A. Joyce, co.ps figuring on what the returned sol commander of this area, had given diers may do as well as the civilians the green light to dog racing. This who lose their jobs in the munitions means the state fair. International plants. There is a backlog of public Livestock show, numerous county works being accumulated wnich fairs and others will be able to President Roosevelt proposes initiat stage their annual events as sched- ing with the coming of peace, and OREGDNNEWS COMMENTS arette again and again in the aver age Ap.il. The records show April to be the worst forest-fire month, with August excepted. And most fires start within a hundred feet of traveled roads, beginning with a spark that feeds on dried-out ground cover and on second-growth. That’s the first burn—-the sur face fire. Maybe there’s a shower that puts out all signs of flame and smoke. But if there’s a mat of duff under the burned fern, and windfalls and standing snags hither and yon, watch out for another dry spell. Fire can lurk and crawl under ground and then suddenly flare out, like the Japs in the Malayan jungles. There’s a record of a snag that nursed fire invisibly throuugh a whole winter—for six months, in fact—and then turned into a giant torch that threw brands for hun dreds of feet in a strong dry wind. But who am I to tell you? I just mean to remind you. One-Man Armies Wanted . . . There mpst be at least thirty thousand men in Western Oregon and Washington who have deep for est-fire scars in their experience in the woods and mills, and who know from that experience what human misery may ride on a forest fire that starts just from a spark. Farm homes, camp homes, village homes, jobs, crops, cars, and other parcels of hard-earned property— all are in danger this year as never before. You know why, probably much more than I do. Every family man of the forest can be and ought to be a one-man army in the face of this danger, preparing for it as MacArthur prepared against attack in Luzon. Every forest fire this year .s a Japanese fire. Forest-fire prevention and suppression in 1942 will be real soldiering, vital support of our Ar my. We’re helping heat the Japs with timber. Lets take pains not to help them beat us with fire. these represent everything from bridges, highways and schoolhouses to reclamation projects with power dams. It is estimated that between 20,000,000 and 25,000,000 people after the war will be shifted from war work to peacetime pursuits. There are great areas of forest land in the Pacific northwest whicn will require rehabilitation and will furnsh jobs for thousands of men for several years. By the time the war is over many of the fire trails will have a growth of new timber and will require slashing; there are expensive plans for reforestation. The forest service is looking for ward to the work to be done in the northwest when the boys come back. Forest service has furnished con gressmen of the region with a leng thy report on the cut and valuation of timber, the grazing permits, etc. Last year the cut in the region was 870.678 M. feet with a value of $2,207,626. The region made 1,870 sales, 650 of them to residents. In one 10-dav pericd in 1941 lightning started 1.014 fifes, an average of 100 fires a day. or about four fires every hour. The area burned was 49.714 acres in Washington and 9,- 281 in Oregon. North Pacific region issued per mits for grazing iast year for 587,- 536 sheep; 93,177 cattle and horses This was a slight decrease but in line with the department of agri culture policy calling for increased marketing and better management rather than building up the number of stock. This policy, with selective butchering, is expected to increase the amount of meat produced and improve the quality of the flocks and herds. a a a What is to be done with the nen from 45 to 65 years who are cal led to register on April 27 is food for speculation. This class are be yond the combat stage. One theory is that the men will be classified as to skills and that before the wat ,s over they will be assigned to speci fic work for which they are capable. This raises the question as to whether, assigned tasks by the gov ernment, they must first pay an ini tiation fee to some union. One school of thought in the national capital is that if the 45-65 regis trants are ordered to shipyards (air plane factories have a maximum deadline of 35 years) they must join the union or buy a "work per mit” from the union. Because of the increasing disap pearance of means of transportation, local beards are advised to make everything as convenient as pos sible for the registaants, particular ly in rural districts. Hours to reg ister are from 7 A. M. to 9 P. M., but the boands will not be hardboil- cd and, if circumstances warrant, the registration office will be open ed a few days ahead of April 27 and again on April 28. ♦ ♦ ♦ Realizing what a forest fire means, people on tjie west coast poured in so many letters and tele grams that the senate appropriations committee approved a sum of mon ey. The pleas came from Aberdeen, Spokane, Seattle, Hoquiam, New port, Wash., Portland, Salem, Eu gene, Ore., and several California communities. Owners of timber, saw-mill's, plywood plants united in stressing the urgency for forest fire protection in wires to Senator Hol man, member of the committee. These were backed up by Senators Bone and Wallgren of Washington, Senator McNary of Oregon, and Senator Thomas of Idaho, and a long list of official's from the forest service and from the timber division of the interior department. gram includes six points: 1. Establish a Manpower Mobiliza tion Board. 2. Require employers to hire nc workers except those certified by the U. S. Employment Service. 3. Organize mobile labor units, which the Board could dispatch any where in the country wherever la bor bottlenecks appeared. 4. Compel employers to train workers for jobs. 5. Register all men whose em ployment quail, ications are not known as a resul of draft question naires. 6. Place women in industry throughout the country. Reports received here from the nation's production front indie te that considerable progrè s is being made in speeding up the output of war materials. According to infor mation from the War Production Board, conve ision of the automobile industry is continuing at a rapid clip. Sixteen hundred machines that had been standing idle in Michigan auto factories have been put on war work in the last month. 11 many instances plants are turning out equipment ahead of schedule and the rate is constantly picking up. The same is true in shipbuilding. Ship deliveries, now at the rate of one a day, should be double that figure by May and should re-ch three a day before the end ot the year. The way the situation shapes up now it’s possible that 9,000,000 tons of merchant shipping may be- comp'eted this year—and that’s 1,- 000,000 tons ahead of the goal that the President set for the industry. DROPS COMEDY FOR DRAMA-- In sharp contrast to the light comedy pa its he has played in the past, Charlie Ruggles emerges as a top-'.lignt dramatic actor in “The Parson of Panamint,” Paramount’s thrilling outdoor action melodrama Cast in the role of Chuckawalla Bill, bewhiskered frontier Mayor of a goldrush town, his performance re calls the memorable role he played in “Ruggles of Red Gap” in which he portrayed the same sort of kind ly humor and shrewdness that marks his work in “The Parson of Pana mint.” Lodges Vernonia Lodge No. 246 I.O.O.F. Meets Every Tuesday 8 P. M. Harry George, N. G. Behind the scenes here many of Dwight Strong, Secretary the social reform dreamer boys are hitching their wagons to the war, which has taken the place of the depression as a cover-all excuse for rushing into action with controver sial theories about social reforms. You don’t read much about these boys in the papers right now, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not on deck. Many of them are carry overs fnem the old WPA days, and to a large extent they are still thinking in terms of conditions that prevailed at that time. At the present some of these men wield priority powers that are need ed to speed war production. Through the use of these powers they are able to put whole products out of business. In certain instances such action is necessary to the nation’s victory effort, and, when that is the case, even the manufacturers and the employees who are liqui dated can see the point. However, a checkup on the re form boys reveals that many of them have a feeling of responsibili ty that they should effectuate so cial reforms through priority power, achieving results in the post-war period. In addition to that, many of them have a theory that government bu reaus should have the power to is sue orders that, in effect, are laws. They call this "cutting red tape,” and justify their actions by pointing out that their reforms are oadly needed. Even when such reforms are nec essary, the feeling among observers here is that ordinarily they should not be decreed at the whim of a government agency that may or may rot understand all the facts of the situation. Far from aiding the war effort, such actions only hinder it hy creating confusion and uncertain ty. 4-42 Vernonia F. O. E. (Fraternal Order of Eagles) Hall l.O.O.F. Vernonia 2nd and 4th Friday Nights 8 o'clock Arthur Kirk, W. P. Willis Johnson, W. Sec'y. 7-41 Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 116 Vernonia, Oregon Meetings:—I. O. O. F. Hall, Second and Fourth Mondays Each Month. Pythian Sisters Vernonia Temple No. 61 Vernonia, Oregon Meeting*:— 1. O. O. F. Hall and Fourth Each Month Second Wednesdays 2-41 Order of Eastern Star 153, O. E. S. Regular Communi cation first and third Wednesdays of each month, at Masonic Temple. All visiting sisters and brothers wel come. Verla Porterfield, Worthy Matron Mona Gordon, Secretary 1-42 Nehalem Chapter A. F. & A. M. Vernonia Lodge No. 184 A. F. & A. M. meets at Masonic Temple. Stat ed Communication First Thursday of each month. Special called meetings other Thursday nights, 7:30 Visitors most cordially wel- Sperial meeting* Friday night*. Elmore Knight, W. M. Glenn F. Hawkins, Sec. The drive to mobilize the nanon's VERNONIA man and woman power for most ef POST 119 fective use in the war program Is AMERICAN gaining momentum here. Officials LEGION sav that most of the controls that will be neeessarv can be carried out Meet* First Wed. without legislation—another use to and Third Mon. of Each Month. which “priority power" may be put AUXILIARY in the near future. Fir*t and Third Monday* At the present time the labor pro 1-4* 1-41
