Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1908-01-30
NATIONAL WOOLGIsOwERs.
Wayside Notes by One who Attend
ed the MOntanu Meeting.
EDITOR GAZETTE:

| EDITOR uAZETTE.
On Sunday. the 18th day OF January,
the delegates from Oregon selected to
20 to the National Woolgrowers' Con-
vention at Helena, Montana, met Ut
Pendleton. and with streaming banners
attached to a special Pullman, special
agent and porter to accompany them.
with rousing cheers and waving OF hand
kerchiefs from the ladies of Pendleton,
started on their two days journev and
after pleasant and uneventful trip over
the o. r. q N. road to Spokane and
from there ov n the Great Northern. the
bunch arrived without the loss of one,
owing to the great care exercised by the
agent sent in charge. Iftne two COM
petinx roads had an object in view they
certainly deserve to obtain it (if consis-
tent) tor the roysl way they treated this
delegation in p oviding for its welfare
and comfort.
On arriving at Helena we helped 10
enlarge one OF the largest gatherings of
sheep men it has ever been my good for
tune to mix up with.
DR.. Wilson, of Wyoming. (the Doc.
we all know acted as president and
opened up with good speech. He in
troduced some arming statistics on
wool and mutton products, the value of
the same, and also the increased con-
sumption and the increa e in population
for tho last 40 years, a part OF which I
will endeavor to give In this letter.
Other speeches followed. Ooe by
Thomas j. Walsh, and one by Governor
Brooks OF Wyoming. which for oratory
and good language would be very hard
to beat. 1t went to show how antagonia-
nc the people of those states are to the
present policy uf the forest reserve.
This, however, is only to be expec ed as
the states of Montana and Wyoming are
only now passing through the same per-
iod that the eastern part of Oregon and
Washington passed through 25 years
dkut "hC'l VIC ld' lutt duu Sinai blDth
rancher invaded this country and broke
up to certain extent the reign of many
OF the nomadic bands OF cattle aud sheep
hat used 10 roam at large, and that
eventually must come, in a measure, to
the rest cf the Western states.
The majority Of stockmen of Oregon
are not opposed to the creation of forest
reserves for the protection of timber for
future posterity, but it is the rulings
laid down IN regard to the grazing OF
these forests and managed, or rather
mismanaged, by preconceived notions
of underpaid men who are partial to one
mans interests and prejudiced againgt
another that will eventually, if allowed
to continue, cripple aud destroy indus
tries that have tax lifetime of hard
work and strict .ention to business to
build up, which is just as essential to
future posteritv as the protection of
,rees for timber.
The first dav of the meeting was de-
voted to speech making and the rea.lng |
,f papers, and Wednesday afternoon the |
4. legates visited the MidWinter Sheep /
Show. which, by the way, exhibited
some excellent types of sheep. mostly |
,f the coarse or mutton breeds; and on
Thursday the real business began.
The delegates from Oregon selected
committee to draft set of resolutions
10 be handed in to the national commit.
ZEE on resolution and succeed ed in get
ing quite q few embodied in the nation
n resolutions. But some were discard
ed on account OF being too local a nature.
Dan P. Smvthe, OF Pendleton, was Sc
ected as one on the natl onal committee