The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1918-02-21


why Oregon got ship contracts. But
Oregon has not got as many contracts
as its yards can handle; not by jug
full. There's a reason.
And spruce. Yes, the government
is buying spruce In Oregon, millions
Of feet of it. because 1t can't get it
anywhere else, except in Washington.
Oregon and Washington have all the
spruce there is. The East can't fur
nish 1t; the South can't furnish it; it
doesn't grow in the middle West. So
Oregon is now selling spruce to the
government for aeroplanes.
Other States Get Rewards.
But while Oregon is selling the
spruce, Oregon is not manufacturing
that spruce into aeroplanes. The.
are building aeroplanes in Washing
ton; building them in California, in
Michigan, Illinois, New York and
Connecticut-building them of Ore
gon spruce.
Why don't Oregon manufacturers,
with all that spruce right at hand,
have chance to build aeroplanes?
Why dOesn't Oregon labor have a
chance to turn out the finished prod
uct instead of the raw material only?
Why don't some of the vast sums
paid out to labor in aeroplane factor
les go to Oregon workmen?
But lets see how Oregon has Jared
in other lines Of war activity. Last
Spring. when the draft bill passed. in
fluential Senators got busy at the
War Department and when the 80
Army cantonments, costing $1,000
900 to $8,000,000 apiece. were loca-
ted, they went to states whose SEN
ators had been most persistent in
their demands on Secretary Baker.
No cantonment was built in Ore
gon. They went, some of them. on
wind-swept sand dunes; into river
bottoms; one of them in the South
went into a bog. Washington got
one and should have had it. Amer
lean Lake today is one of the finest
cantonments. But Oregon did not
get one.
Oregon's Wants Ignored.
The people of Oregon wanted
they petitioned their
delegation for it; the telegraphed and
wrote for it. But "Old Man Oregon"
as personified in Congress, did not
raise his feeble voice, and the canton
ments went to states whose senators
were not backward about coming for
ward. Therefore, If it was not un-
patriotic nor selfish for other Sena
tors to ask then it was not unpatriot-
ic or selfish for Oregon to expect to
in the distribution Of the
war pie.
How many soldiers lives that have
been snuffed out in improperly loca-
ted cantonments by pneumonia and
spinal meningitis might have been
saved had even one OF these canton
ments been built in Oregon, where
conditions are healthful; where the
Winter has been mild; where epidem-
les are unknown?
Not only Oregon. but the Army It,
self has been the sufferer because
Oregon did not get fair recognition
in this matter.
Portland Practically Ignored.
And where and how Is the Army
buying its supplies? Is there a gen.
eral purchasing depot at Portland?
No only branch Office that buys
mainly for Vancouver Barracks. Sc
attle has a general depot; San Fran
cisco has a general depot; Portland
has a dinky little subordinate pur-
Office. Yet the Army Quar-
termaster today is one Of the busiest
buyers in the American market, his
purchases run into the millions mon
thly, and he buys according to his
rank and importance of his office.
Oregon today hasn't got single
Army post within Its borders, unless
you want to class antiquated and ne
elected Fort Steven, as post
When Senator Warren was chairman
Of the military affairs committee he
got appropriations year after year,
until he had built up Cheyenne the
biggest and most thoroughly equip
ped post in all the United States,
Fort d. A. Russell.
Oregon has no Fort Russell; 1t has
only Fort Stevens, a seacoast "defen-
se' so notoriously behind the times
that a hostile fleet headed for Port
land would with a single broadside
blow it sky high and steam on up the
Columbia without even hesitating.
Its normal garrison Is about 200 men.
What defense have we, anyway, at
the mouth of the Columbia River?
The Army War College, our highest
authority, says the Columbia
River is the natural gateway to our
Western interior. l came to Wash
ington two years ago to get an appro-
priation for a naval base on the Col
umbia. The necessity for naval de-
tense of our river was apparent; the
need has since been testified to by the