Evening star., 1933-11-17
BY RALPH w. PAGE


PORTLAND. Greg, November IT.
Half the people in Oregon are clustered
around Portland and the mouth of the
Columbia River. This port, the largest
lumber export market In the world and
the second largest wool market, is the
outlet for the endless wheat fields OF
the Northwest Their accumulated
wealth has stood the slump better than
most places. The call for Unemployment
was answered better than anywhere else
In the Union
Edgar Freed of Portland, general OF
the N. r. A, says it has put $500 men
to work in Multnomah County. The
county welfare load has been eaSed
considerably and is now about two
thirds of the count last March. If in
crease Of employment is good index.
Portland and Oregon are on the up
grade.
Port Business Sluggish.
Even so, the progress is slow. Al
though the Chamber of Commerce re-
ports it has oug up lot Of old vessels
and put them into service, and that a
shipload of pears, the first in history,
loaded recently for New York. the husi-
ness at the port is not responding TO
the revival as much as expected.
w. j. Burns, for many years in the
banking and export trade here, says the
greatest blow to the entire Northwest Is
the loss of trade with Great Britain.
Originally a great proportion OF lumber,
wheat, apples and live stock was not
only bought but financed by Europe.
Where the program seems to be hit
ting on all eight cylinders is in the
factories and canning plants. One large
ir,e rnn0rfS orders
to tax its utmost capacity. The fabricat-
ed metal industries are flourishing. Fred
King, president of King Brothers, says
There is q distinct Improvement.
Our principal volume of business OF late
has been reconditioning work for other
industrial plants; although we are COM
mencing to receive calls for quotations
on new installation and construction. T"
Mills Show Betterment.
Others who admit progress and profits
are Myron Franks, who owns the
cilc Coast, and who not only observes
and works for the N. r. A. but prospers
Hereunder; the paper mills and the
wooden mills Ben Osborne. secretary
of the State Federation Of Labor, says
this must also apply to printing shops
and the culinary and dress goods estab-
lishments because that is where men
are finding work
But Osborne is mostly concerned be-
cause the mill men and the logging
fraternity fail to grasp the full signifi-
canoe of section IA Rightly viewed.
this leads all good lumbermen into the
A. r. Of l.. Viewed by the mill owners,
it means the old happy family with
no union at all. or one invented by
themselves, with the clarion name of
Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumber
men. Out of 10000 workmen in this
industry, the federation has corralled
about 10 per cent to date.
How fares the farmer, that other bull
wark of Oregons prosperity In one
respect he has reached home base, the
1926 haven. He grows half the hops
in the United States, something like
100000 pounds. The price has jumped
into the sky, and If the hop masters
hadn't contracted the majority of their
yield they could meet the old mortgage
One hears less concentrated anguish
from the Oregon farmers than usual.
The reason apparently is that the Great
Willamette Valley Is not devoted to a
single crop. Everything indigenous to
the climate hourishes there.
Revolt Quickly QueIled.
At Medford. In the pear kingdom,
Llewellyn Banks, radical newspaper
man. at the peak of the foreclosure era,
gathered together a formidable band
OF indignant pear paupers, and with
the hills picketed by armed men, seemed
ready to stage revolt He overdid
the act by shooting the sheriff. The
refinancing and conciliation measures
adopted to save the orchards appeased