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About Vernonia eagle. (Vernonia, Or.) 1922-1974 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1947)
B THURSDAY, MAWCH 13, 1947 THE EAGLE, VERNONIA. ORE. OUT ¿í. Book Writin’ Being a man who is never at a loss for a cliche, I am often heard to remark, ‘‘Of the making of books there is no end.” I just now said it to myself, after a gander around the boom-pond shack in which I read, meditate, play record albums, and some times yard out pieces with a typewriter. Books new and old surround me, each a forest product, and none that I can think of without trees and things of wood being given frequent attention in its pages. This is true of the most ancient book I have—the Bible. It is true, I know, of the newest book at hand, a novel, The Trees Went Forth, by Walter O’Meara. There’s the magnificient novel, The Left Hand Is the Dreamer,— yonder under the snoosebox—by the Northwest’s own Nancy Wil son Ross. There’s the Wells Autobiography, and Maughanr*s Summing Up. Both are must reading for any writer of today, but I’ve been only dipping in them for years—and now I’d sort of hate to finish them and put them by. There are the favorite $ Holbrook books, on the other hand read again and again, like the Nigger of the Narcissus and Huckleberry Finn. Paper Shortage I can sit here and point around the boom-pond shack at 40 books with marks that mean “unfinish ed reading.” And yet I am writ ing more books of my own. Why? Books and books and books! For What? Just to provide a market for the pulp and paper industry? Hardly. Even after publication nowa days the books have to get in and fight each other for paper. Most book publishers allocate un limited paper to sure-fire best sellers, doling out the remainder of their supply in quotas to the titles that are usually the best books in terms of sense and decency. Obviously there is more profit for the publisher in the mass production of a single book that sells like bets at a racetrack than in a number of small ed itions of a long list of books. Book publishers do have to think of their profit margin in these times. Alford Knopf, publisher of my orginal Paul Bunyan, is SAVE ([J on costly repair bills by getting Standard chassis lubrication and material for your car or truck. ROSE AVENUE GARAGE H. H. Sturdevant getting out a new edition. Pro duction is costing him 70 per cent more, he says, than it did in 1924. The old. Paul Bunyan had to fight for a new place on the Knopf list against an army of fresh manuscripts. I’ve turned out two new book manuscripts myself in the past year, and have parts done on three others. And I’m fooling with a start on a novel. What do I expect to gain from all this? Nothing much, aside from pleasure to vanity from see ing my name on a book. The chances are about 2000 to 1 against the making of a money killing from a book. The paper shortage makes the odds steadily worse. But I have more than my share of vanity. Pleasing it doesn’t harm anybody that I know of, not even me particularly. So I write books. have The book authored ia a modest regional It job entitled More Timber. was written and rewritten seven times by E. H. MacDaniels, a forester who has stood at the peak of his profession for many years, and a word-slinger who always knows his target and pre cisely how to sling the right word to hit it. Re had to satisfy a committee of forestry and ed itorial experts, to boot. This book by a really mighty writer tells how the Pacific North west forest industry sees the fu ture. It is a book to make every reader of the region look to the hills whence comes the strength of the region’s life. This strength is fed by industrial use of the trees on the hills. Author Mc Daniels shows that things are in good shape on the hills for keep ing up such industrial use for ever. A lot of work has to be done, many holes have to be fill- ed, and on these needs good starts have been made. MacDaniel's book is so powerfully heartening because every outlook he gives the reader is in the focus of plain, demonstrable forest facts. I’d give nigh on anything to be able to write a book like this one, thinks I, picking up More Timber from the rest in my boom-pond shack. But I’d need to be a practicing forester for about 40 years before I could start. So I’ll have to stick to Paul Bunyan. • The First National Baker, Ore., owilk a gold nugget weighing 89 ounces and valued at $3,000. • A secret voice-ray telephone, using infra-red light and immune to enemy interception, was de veloped during the war by the Navy. For correct information contact your nearest Veterani Administration office. Your Telephone . . is the answer to modern grocery shopping if you are the busy housewife. Call your orders to us. We’ll carefully select each item and deliver it to your kitchen, saving you all the effort and time of a shopping trip downtown. \ Take advantage of our quick, reliable service. G1ROIFS FOOR STORE FREE DELIVERY FISH 444 ft PHONE 761 FISH Vary your menu from the usual meat items by selecting from our displays of sea foods. Your family will enjoy the change and you will enjoy the selection you will find at our market. if. MERRA9S MARKET Pleasant Evenings INCREASE IN FREIGHT RATES 985 MILLION Sicks © Select SICKS* SUTTLE BREWING I MALTING CO. W Sin« ISTI INCREASE IN WAGES '1 BILLION 565 MILLION NEW PAY ROLL TAXES ‘90 MILLION Announcement We wish to announce to patrons of the Palace Cafe that this restaurant has been under new management as of Monday, March 10. In the future we extend an invitation to every- one to make the Palace your meal headquarters. Don and Mildred Bayley, New Owner» f INCREASE IN MATERIALS COSTS '683 MILLION | Why freight rates are going up Since 1939, railroad employes have had ttsree general pay raises totaling &2*/io%, and the prices of fuel, ma terials and supplies have risen 618/io %. But when the war ended in 1945, the railroads were still hauling freight at rates no higher, and in some cases loner. than when the war began. Without increased revenues, railroads could not meet these costs and also provide improvements in equipment and facilities—improvements that are essential for the low-coet freight and passenger services which are necessary to America’s high standard of living. Under these circumstances—and al most a year after the last major wage increase —the Interstate Commerce Commission recently approved an average increase in freight rates of nyio%. Of all the price increases in America today, few have been so little and so late as that in the price of railroad transportation. Hou; important are healthy rail roads to a prosperous country? Only when the railroads are finan cially healthy can they provide the new equipment, improved road beds, and better terminal facilities needed for still better service to you. The defense of the nation depends upon the continuance of the efficient transportation which served the na tion so well in the last war. The railroads are among the largest employers of labor. They buy over 4 western A 100,000 different products. They pay big taxes — taxes which are spent not only for public schools, public health, and police and fire protection, but even for highways, airways, airports and inland waterways. Railroads are America’s lifeline keeping goods flowing among the 48 states day and night in all weather. They can continue to do this only if there is a reasonable balance between income and outgo. Like yourself, the railroads must make ends meet! • We are publishing this and other ad«- vertisements to talk with you at first hand about matters which are impor tant to everybody. 4 RAILROADS 3» 4.
