March 18, 1922 continued

NATATORIUM BUYS BIG RADIO PHONE

An order has been placed by F. E. Merrick for the installation of a radio receiving station. It will consist of an elaborate equipment capable of picking up any wave length and sensitive enough from high power telegraph stations all over the world and from telephone broadcasting stations over a radius of 2,000 to 3,000 miles in the United States. It will be installed at the Natatorium and provided with amplifier and loud speaking devices.

GOING TO EXTREMES

Americans always go to extremes. It is inevitable in a nation or individual of high vitality.

Just as we went to extremes in inflating taxes so we promise to go to extremes in deflating them. The plan to reduce salaries of all public officials is a case in point.

Everyone wants efficiency in public office. The cry for the same efficiency in public business that is common in private business, has been sounded for many years, and will continue to be sounded.

And yet further reduction in salaries for public service, will render the problem of increasing efficiency in public office that much more difficult.

How can we expect to get competent men in public life when we pay nothing for their services, and give them nothing but abuse and criticism for their efforts? Unless there is a change in the public attitude, the time is not far distant, when no self-respecting man will consider entering public life, on any consideration.

Moreover, putting cheap men in public office is the poorest sort of economy. A capable man, at a good salary, will save ten times his salary the first month. The increase in taxes is not due so much to the amount of money spent, as the amount of money wasted.

The sensible thing to do toward retrenchment is not to cut salaries of public officials, but eliminate about half of the needless departments and eliminate about 25 percent of the needless officials, then concentrate upon a few capable officials, pay them what they are worth and back them up regardless of politics, partisan or personal.

LOCAL AND PERSONAL

The public market of this forenoon was a fair one with a big demand for early seed potatoes, which could not be filled although a considerable quantity was on sale. There seems to be a scarcity, at least at this time of early seed spuds.

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The debating teams of the Grants Pass and Ashland high schools will contest with the winning team of the South Willamette valley district. Medford high was eliminated last week from the state debating contest by Ashland high’s victory over her team.

— Alissa Corman; acorman@rosebudmedia.com