Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-06-26
Wasteful Ashland.

Did you know that Ashland annu-
ally wastes thousands of dollars
worth of valuable commodities?
Americans are said to be the most
wasteful people in the world. Ash
land Americans furnish a good ex-
ample of wasterfulness.
Take water, for example. City
water is so scarce and high that
irrigators are charged So per acre
for its use, yet some people waste
this water by allowing their sprink-
lers to run constantly; day and
night, in the same place. Lots of
people water their lawns every day,
although once or twice a week is
amply sufficient. We pay a special
policeman SO a day during the sum
mer months to keep people from
wasting water Eventually we shall
probably be forced to install costly
meters, simply because people are
bound to make hogs of themselves
and are willing to see their neigh
boris crops die for lack of water
which they waste.
How many Ashland people have
had all the apples they wanted to
eat and cook during the past year?
Probably not half of them. And
yet, how many apples do you sup
pose went to waste in orchards with
in the city limits? In one place
there were 200 boxes, in another
place 500 boxes. These apples were
of the best variety grown and were
kept in good condition until this
spring. These are merely two in
stances which happened to come un-
der the writer's observation and are
given merely as examples of the vast
quantities of good fruit which are
allowed to go to waste within sight
OF hundreds of people who are apple
hungry. Last winter in giving ap-
pies to people who could not afford
to buy them the writer was sur
prised to find how many people there
were right here in Ashland, especial
ly children, who had scarcely any
fruit to eat, yet whose eager appe-
tite for same appeared capable of
consuming unlimited quantities.
Isn't this strange condition of af-
fairs? People famishing for fruit
and carloads of it going to waste
right in the same town.
Last fall wagonloads of Ashland
peaches rotted under the trees, yet
the poor people here could have made
good use of every bit of fruit that
went to waste. Who is to blame for
this wanton waste? The fruitgrower
who has all he can do to take care
of his marketable fruit and who re-
ce'ves such low price that he does
not feel like going to- the expense of
distributing the unstable surplus,
can hardly be blamed. The Sun
shine Society has done some good
work along this line, but is unable
to take care of all of it. The mu-
nicipal authorities are the proper
ones to attend to all matters affect
ing the public welfare, and this is
certainly one of them.
Visitors to Ashland during the
past few weeks were amazed at the
vast quantities of roses blooming in
all parts of the city. Roses of every
hue and color blossomjng in endless
profusion here and there and every
where, apparently. Surely roses
never grew to greater perfection and
loveliness than these floral beauties
of Ashland. Moreover, it seemed
equally certain that. every person in
this favored city must have had all
the flowers they wanted. But did
they? Go to the hospital, the ho-
tells, the lodging houses, sick rooms,
homes of the poor and aged. and
now many flowers will you find? In
some places there are more rose
bushes than the owners can take care
or, while around vacant houses
countless thousands of beautiful
blossoms are born to blush unseen
and waste their sweetness on the
desert air." Perhaps in the next