Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1917-02-09
DRAINAGE Isl PROBLEM.
ALFALFA WOULD MAKE POLK
BANNER DAIRY COUNTY.
From the Outside Looking In and
From the Inside Out Dus-
cussed at Club Feed.

dairy county of Oregon if a system of
underground drainage was worked
out, which would overcome the handi-
cap to the growing of alfalfa that
now exists here, according to D. NJ.
Lowe, of Ashland, who spoke on
From the Outside Looking In'' at
the Commercial club banquet, We'd
nesday night.
/ The other side of the question was
treated by Fred D. Merritt, of the
Commerce and Extension departments
of the University of Oregon, whose
theme was sect acquainted with your
neighbor-you might like him. By
neighbor, Mr.. Merritt meant mainly
the farmer. He said: eff the bus
iness men of Dallas as individuals
and as Commercial club will take
real interest in the farmers of the
surrounding districts, and make the
farmers problems their problems,
they will go a long way toward
strengthening Polk county and doing
away with mail order catalogues. I"
"The knocker, the man who al
ways raises objections to new and
modern community ideas, is what
hurts the commercial club" contin-
ued Mr.. Merritt. can ounce of 10y
atty is worth a pound of cleverness
in developing a community" Mr..
Merritt praised Plutarch's sentiment
when he said: ''I live in a small
town because if left there would be
one less in that town" Mr.. Mer-
ritt urged the business men of Dal-
las to really get acquainted with the
farmer, to cooperate with him, make
prices fair, make him say: 81 was
a stranger and he took me i'm
Mr.. Lowe expressed the same ideas
from a different angle when he said.
"The farmer has been the goat but
be won't be when the men frcm the
inside look out and get the right
kind of men on the farm and back
them up" One of the basic prob
lens confronting Polk county, ac-
cording to Mr.. Lowe, is to cut up the
large holdings, such as the hop
yards, that are becoming a detriment
to the soil-get the man who will
raise dairy cattle and the chen that
scratches"
at would pay Polk county to pay
an expert $4,000 year for five years
to investigate the drainage situation
and thus make way for an extensive
growing of alfalfa" said Mr.. Lowe.
"Polk county needs silos, too. There
should be 100 silos between here and
Independence instead Of one; if there
was, there would be at least 10000
people between here and fndepen-
dence and each man would be worth
SOUU 10 I0t DucluCso hCh Va D"iA-''
"Polk county should investigate
the sugar beet industry" continued
Mr.. Lowe. If the farmer does not
feel able to try it, there is splendid
chance for the business men to club
themselves together and try an acre
or two Of sugar beets in different
parts of the county on different kinds
of soil. Sugar beets pay and pay
big where there is enough moisture
in the soil, and there is plenty In
Polk county"
Mrs. Walter Tooze sang "Shoogy
Shoe" and responded to the vigorous
encore with "Mighty Like a Rose"
in the intermission between Mr.
Lowe's and Mr.. Merritt's talks. Her
pretty soprano voice made a decid-
ed hit with the banqueters. Miss
Dorothy Bennett accompanied Mrs.
Tooze. i,
Viee-president R. U. Steelquist oil
the Commercial club presided over
the BANQUET table, around which were
seated about 20 people. The banquet
- .o-,,o5 of the Hotel Gail.