Adams County Makes the News - Adams County Leader #42

Adams County Leader
Council, Adams County, Idaho
C. H. Wines, Lessee-Editor-Proprietor
Wm. Lemon, Owner

October 14, 1938
LEADER’S POLITICAL POSITION
Your editor and publisher of the Adams County Leader is taking time out long enough this week to try and make it clear as to his position and attitude toward publishing a newspaper in this county where there are patrons of different political party alignments and only the one newspaper in the county.  Plainly, and right off the bat, I think my duty to my patrons and the citizens of the county is to publish a strictly non-partisan newspaper.  I shall be frank to say that my personal political faith is democratic, but I am determined to keep the Leader out of politics in deference to the varied political faiths of my constituents.  The various county candidates are all my friends, and I regard each and every one of them as mighty fine citizens and, also, I feel that the voters of the county are entirely competent to judge as to the respective merits of the candidates without any advice or argument from me.  Therefore, I shall strive to let the candidates fight their own battles while I endeavor to give them a perfectly fair deal in the columns of the Leader.  I shall welcome signed articles on political subjects as long as they refrain from personalities and mud slinging.

April 1, 1938

The Mountaineers, Meadows Valley High School newspaper, Betty Bevans, editor.

Does a change of scenery once in a while make a person easier to live with?  The pessimist says "no" and the optimist says "yes."  As for my own personal opinion, I say yes.  When you see different faces and hear new ideas, you are awakening some dormant cells in your brain.  When enough of these cells are stimulated you feel vigorous again.  While you are allowing these cells to lie in a sleepy state, you are not interested and soon become bored with the world.  This is bound to upset those around you and make life even more difficult.

You think probably that you cannot afford a trip.  You really can't afford not to take a trip.  You may be spending more time at home making up for the trouble you are causing because of your befuddled frame of mind.  If a short visit out of town is taken, it will soon pay for itself by the things you learn while you are gone.  It may seem minute in importance at the present, but it will open up a new vein of thought of countless value.

Right now is an excellent time of the year to haul in your anchor, kiss your family goodbye, and set off down the road.  Your mind is full of the few important things that have happened during the winter, and you feel sluggish and old.  If you get away from it all for a while, you will find the summer a much brighter one than ever before.

January 14, 1938
The Mountaineers, Meadows Valley High School newspaper, Betty Bevans, editor.

While peacefully putting dog-ears on a weekly picture magazine, I chanced upon a group of pictures comprised of college students.  This large group was gathered about a small bonfire.  My interest was aroused by seeing: "Fire!"  I read the explanation under the picture.  The idea seemed to me that the college students were doing away with all of the silk and knickknacks which might have come from Japan.

To me this is a measure that seems to be carried to an extreme.  I think knickknacks may be burned, but why burn stockings and silk dresses and clothing?  I think the thing has gone far enough.  I, for one, being used to and proud of the silk things I possess would not, in any manner of the word, burn my things.  If we do burn all of our silk things that have any part of them from Japan, we would be back in the days of long woolen undies, homespun, of course—of horse-drawn carriages and plain old cotton things.  Of course, we have got rayon, but for all the silk that people buy for its beauty and durability, I would venture to say we would never have just the right imitation to take its place.

Perhaps we might be able to produce our own silk.  Maybe this would open new fields for our industries here.  Maybe this little incident may lead to destruction, or maybe it will open new gates.

January 21, 1938
BONNEVILLE POWER

The mails have been full the past week or two with stories and pamphlets and other propaganda about the great new power project on the Columbia River, the Bonneville project.  The administrator, L. D. Ross, has filled columns in the papers with the great expectations of cheap power, and the great benefit that will accrue to the people of the Pacific Northwest by the use of this power.  But in reading further, one must wonder what is to become of this power.  The administrator makes it known that they will sell to private companies where such private companies are already in the field.  Or if there are no private utilities there, the people may form a power district, or a co-operative, or municipalities may buy the power.

In observing the situation as it applies to this section of Idaho, it would appear to the layman that there is already about all the power that is needed.  True, there are many, many farms in isolated districts that have no electricity unless by individually owned power plants.  But in the better-populated districts and every town of any size, there is some provision already made by private companies to supply electricity. 

If these companies find that it is unprofitable to supply these outlying districts, what can the government hope to do about it?  Do they intend to build high priced transmission lines to these scattered farms?  In reading this high-pressure literature, one does not get the idea that the government will build the transmission lines, so it is left to the power districts or cooperatives.  For these organizations to build these lines and maintain them is going to be a mighty expensive business.

The private power companies, mostly, have all the power they need, and it does not seem as if there would be any great need for them to buy power from the project.  All in all, we wonder just what will become of this mighty reservoir of power that the government has built on the Columbia.  It is doubtful if any of it will get into southern Idaho, despite the administrator's glowing pictures of its great benefit here.

compiled by Eberle Umbach