most skillful veterinarians in the state are summoned. A caesarian operation is decided upon. The mother is stunned and later killed, but the calf is taken from her and lives, and another gold medal family is added to Oregon's already splendid list.
Over in eastern Oregon thousands of acres of waving wheat produce but a fraction of what they might but for the presence of stinking smut, which for years has taken heart-breaking toll of the crop. An experiment station wheat proves resistant in the test-plots, though rolled black with smut before sowing. It sprouts and grows and comes clean—literally millions of dollars will be saved through its general use. Down in southwestern Oregon other thousands of acres are non-productive or only half productive because of the tides, but the skill of the extension service, through dike and tile and open ditch, drains them and puts them at work. Over in Tillamook a cow-testing association doubles its membership through a plan of selling record calves outside of the county—all over the northwest—at a price which means a profit instead of dead loss to dairymen. In Hood River county a cherry branch, artificially pollenized, bends double with fruit, while on the same tree other branches, not pollenized, are barren. In Jackson county a farm bureau exchange remolds the marketing ideals of a community. In Douglas county one flock of turkeys contains 1400 birds, is herded on horseback, and goes into a pool that brings its contributors the highest price of any in the United States. The list can be continued indefinitely. All over the state, regardless of the kind of farming practiced, thousands of such stories are awaiting only the observing eye and the sympathetic ear. It may be only a crude labor-saving device, or it may be a six-legged lamb, but every farmer will be found to have something interesting about the place, and I believe it would pay the country press of this state to find it.
INQUIRY ASKED INTO PAPER INDUSTRY
RESOLUTIONS passed by the Oregon Newspaper Conference at its recent session at the University of Oregon School of Journalism call for an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into conditions in the print-paper industry. This action was taken after discussion in which several speakers accused the paper trade of making exorbitant profits.
Difficulties in the way of profitable use of imported paper were pointed out by Arthur M. Geary, of Portland, counsel for the Oregon publishers' syndicate formed to deal with the paper question. "There is always a risk in importing news print from overseas," said Mr. Geary. "Buying from overseas you have got to take a chance with the mill you buy from and the responsibility of its agents here. There is no inspection of the paper in Europe as of lumber in this country."
He suggested that an inspection service be worked up in charge of responsible men. "Reliable men in those ports," he said, "could inspect the product and see that it is what the buyers want."
"The small publisher is really helpless," said George Putnam, head of the publishers' syndicate. The paper companies, he pointed out, would not contract with a publisher using less than 250 tons. Prices on American paper and on foreign paper run about equal, he said. With 4½-cent paper costing but 2 cents to produce, he said, the profits in paper are the biggest known in any commodity. "I don't know what the little fellow can do," concluded Mr. Putnam. "He can save a little on foreign news but he must take the chance of strikes, loss of ships, and stand a delay of three or four months in delivery."
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