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Bonneville… the dam with a future.
Bonneville Dam
Today, man has set his hand to the greatest single project ever undertaken in Oregon in the development of a natural resource. This is the damming of the Columbia river 42 miles east of Portland at Bonneville. Work is well under way on a $31,000,000 federal project to harness the power of the Columbia that has thundered idly on its way to the sea down through the Cascade mountains century on century. The job is scheduled for completion in 1937. When it is completed, two power units will turn out 86,000 kilowatts or 115,000 h. p. It is expected to be the cheapest large block power available in all America, for industry will be able to use it right at the dynamos. By rail and sea raw products can be brought right to the docks at the dam and turned into finished articles ready for loading to any part of the nation and to the far flung ports of the world. Deepwater navigation will be available right to the dam with what amounts to a moderate amount of dredging and channel work.
Electro-chemical and electro-metallurgical industries are expected to find Bonneville power particularly attractive. Although only two power units are in the scheme for immediate completion, the dam project is designed for eight additional units, which means that approximately 600,000 horsepower will be available when ultimately needed.
The great dam also will provide slackwater navigation for steamboat and barge as far as The Dalles, 90 miles east of Portland. Bulk products of the interior will be able to move to tidewater at lowest possible rates.
The building of the Bonneville dam and power project is under the direction of the United States Army Engineers corps.
Dollar Dues
by Jack Smith
Since our last issue, many letters have been received regarding our proposal of dollar dues. Some favor this plan; others oppose it. It is the purpose of this article to reveal the utter fallacy of the argument against the amendment.
The loudest wail of opposition is that unemployed members are having a hard enough time in their struggle to meet fifty cent dues, and, should the dollar dues amendment pass, the additional tax of four cents a month would be too much for them.
Any thinking person, in analyzing this situation, would arrive at the conclusion that the loss of such a member would not have such a disastrous effect upon the association. An unemployed member does not, nor is not expected to, give time and thought to written expression, and certainly any desire to publish would be curtailed under the existing conditions. The loss of such a member would not be detrimental; rather, it would give active members that many more papers, which they so profoundly deserve.
Another advantage of dollar dues would be its tendency to check the influx of inactive new members, who do little more than to absorb papers which should go to active members. A regrettable laxity has made it possible for any person at all, without a thought of a credential, to become as full-fledged a member as the most consistent publisher by merely sending in fifty cents. A dollar would keep out one who was not genuinely interested in amateur journalism, but those who affiliate thru curiosity would think twice before they spent a dollar on something which had merely attracted them. The a. j. proverb, “Better a United of 100 loyal members than 500 unloyal ones,” can easily be changed to meet this situation by substituting the word ‘active’ for ‘loyal.’
Dollar dues will give active members more papers, and make possible monthly mailings and a larger, finer official organ. It will be a boon to publishing activity, since publishers would no longer have to wait until the quarterly mailing dates to issue their papers so as to have the contents still timely when they reached their readers.
In July, vote “Dollar Dues X Yes.”
Oregon – The Land of Opportunity
by Bob Sturges
Oregon, the land of Empire Builders – the land of the Golden West. A land of magnificent scenery, colorful and fascinating. A land in which sport lovers revel. A land where history is still in the making.
One of the most delightful features of a vacation spent in Oregon is the trip by rail. The tourist or convention delegate has the choice of several routes, going and returning, and is on the train long enough to form pleasant companionships, to enjoy a complete change and rest with the modern conveniences that are provided by the improved sleeping-cars, the elegant observation and club cars, with first-class meals in the dining cars, similar to those served in any first class hotel. To these creature comforts and personal pleasures must be added the delight of passing thru some of the choicest and most varied scenery in America – the prairies with waving golden grain, the foothills and cattle ranges of the pioneer western ranches, the snow-capped mountains, mighty canyons, the flowing rivers, and leaping cascades, and, on the western slope of the mountains, the fruit laden orchards, the mighty forests, and the green pastures.
The Old Oregon Trail is by far the best automobile route to Oregon and connects with paved highways to Vancouver in the north and San Diego in the south. All highway systems can make easy connections with the Old Oregon Trail, which really starts on the Atlantic seaboard. It is not only a splendid highway, with the least difficulties, but in the west it has the best roadbed and is the historic highway following the route of the “Covered Wagon.” It is the route of the pioneer who left his home in the East for the Oregon Country, for the “land of opportunity and heart’s desire.” It is the route made famous by President Harding only a month before his tragic death when “atop the Blue Mountains” he dedicated to the nation the Old Oregon Trail as a national highway. The Columbia River Highway is the most famous, the most scenic of all highways in America and is part of this national highway.
In Oregon we have also the John Day Highway, the Dalles-California Highway, the Pacific Highway, the longest paved highway in the world, 1665 miles long, the Roosevelt Highway and the Redwood Highway the latter being an alternative route to California. Every one of these highways is either paved or macadamed, graveled and oiled, and they pass through such magnificent scenery as is not found outside the state of Oregon.
Within the borders of the state of Oregon, lies one of the greatest scenic wonders that man has ever viewed. It is the famous Crater Lake.
Existence of Crater Lake was made possible by building of a mountain, in the elevated summit of which there could be formed a wide and deep cavity having no outlet, except by seepage, and no inlet. The conditions required for accumulation of a body of water with the peculiar beauty of this lake are furnished. The crater was produced by the combination of those tremendous forces in the power and heat of a volcano. By all means be sure to view this wonder of wonders when visiting Oregon in 1936.
It is estimated that 25,000 square miles or 16,000,000 acres, of the mountain and coast lands of Oregon are covered with valuable timber-trees, chief of which are: the Douglas fir, yellow fir, black spruce, hemlock, white pine, Oregon cedar, arbor vitae, yellow cypress, oak, broad-leafed maple, dogwood, arbutus aspen, and cotton-wood. Oregon exports more lumber than any other state in the Union.
Portland is noted for its charm. Beauty and rest invite peace for the business man and the worker. Miles of shaded streets, lined with hedges of the world’s finest roses, make Portland’s residential districts the most beautiful in the world. But Oregon’s scenery is not its main feature. It is the combination of industry, trade, and finance that has made Oregon the land of opportunity.
Left: One of Oregon’s many lumber mills. Lumbering comprises more than one third of all Oregon’s wealth. Center: Scene along the Roosevelt Highway showing the Pacific Ocean. Right: Magnificent Multnomah Falls, plunging 608 feet into the beautiful Columbia Gorge.
Oregon invites the convention delegates of the United Amateur Press Association to make Portland their headquarters in 1936. Full information on routes available from Portland Chamber of Commerce.
On Back Page, Left: Yachting on the Columbia River. Above: Portland’s municipal airport on Swan Island.
Bureau of Printing
by Bob Sturges
For a considerable length of time, it has been most evident to the members of the U. A. P. A. A. that a Bureau of Printing is not only desirable but necessary. In the creation of this office, there would be a tendency to draw the publishers together into a mutual understanding and closer contact. A desire to talk shop with the various members throughout the country has long been our desire, and we are quite sure that the same idea has lodged in the minds of other amateur publishers too. The new office would give this opportunity.
We all have seen many amateur journals come out with some hideous mistakes and repeat these same mistakes time after time. The publisher does not have the opportunity to know his readers’ feeling until the report of the Bureau of Criticism comes out in the United Amateur months later. Thru the Bureau of Printing this typographical error would soon be corrected.
For this and many other well substantiated reasons, VOTE for the erection of a Bureau of Printing in July.
On to Oregon
We of The Spotlight have dedicated this issue to our dear state of Oregon. We have done this for the express purpose of acquainting U. A. P. A. A. members with the wondrous scenic beauty of Oregon. Here in Oregon you will find a veritable paradise for the fisherman, hunter, hiker, camper, and motorist. Oregon’s mighty forests are the finest in the United States and her highways are unexcelled in the world. She has a coastline of several hundreds of miles on the Pacific Ocean, with many splendid bathing beaches. In her thousands of fishing streams, you will find every variety of fish from the mighty Chinook salmon to the fighting trout.
But all of Oregon is not forest and stream. Oregon’s climate encourages and fosters every type of agricultural enterprise. Oregon is one of the localities where linen flax may be grown. Her wheat, fruits, and vegetables are recognized as standards for evaluating and grading similar produces of other districts. Oregon is the scene of that great hydroelectric project, the Bonneville Dam. We might also take this opportunity to inform you that Crater Lake, the most beautiful lake in America, is in Oregon – not in our sister state to the South. So, with the assurance that you will have the time of your life in Oregon, we invite you to spend your vacation with us this year and we welcome you to Portland for the 1936 U. A. P. A. A. Convention. – T. R.
Rumblings
by Jack Smith
Heigh-ho, everybody… and The Spotlight is off with a thud… Clear off, as some of our readers would have us believe… Almost missed the March bundle… Something’ll have to be done… Credit for this issue goes to none other than that printer of printers, Robert M. Sturges, who did the work while Yours Truly (not to be confused with “Fraternally Yours”) was having a bout with scarlet fever… Yes, Mr. Bilgewater, I was in quarantine for 5 weeks… That’s why my reply to your letter was a month and a half late… (If this stuff sounds fishy, it’s because Sturges monkeyed with it after I wrote it)… My favorite vehicles of the ether: Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Walter O’Keefe, Fred Allen, Rudy Vallee, Ben Bernie, and the Gibson Family. Glen Gray and Richard Himber are tied for first place in the best orchestra race… Sturges finally broke down and threw his Christmas tree away last week… Last year he hung on to it until a couple of robins built a nest in it… Deah, deah (it’s the Ben Bernie in me, folks)… And I couldn’t lay my little head to rest without clearing up an irksome matter… The “B. S.” at the end of an editorial does not constitute the editors’ opinion of it, but merely signifies that said item is the work of Bob (Typelice) Sturges… And as the Voice of Experiments would say, “another session has raced by…” So, until we meet again, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
News Notes
by Doc Noel
The platform of the Loyalty Party we hear, is, briefly:
1st Careful management of U. A. P. A. finances. Our fifty cent dues must do a lot of work.
2nd At least six bundles per year.
3rd Full coverage for papers if possible.
4th Retain Democracy in membership, voting, and holding office. No Autocracy.
5th Retain officers who are making the U. A. P. A. a success.
We oppose all amendments at this time. A constitutional convention is expected to be called in 1936. Let’s have rest this year!
For free bundles to prospects – For prices on United gold pins – set with real pearls if you wish. United cuts, stationary. Advertise the United all you can. Write a card to Secretary Noel for details.
News for Printers
We have located quite a number of printing presses and can offer them to you at very reasonable prices. At the present time, we have two 7 x 11 Pearls, one 7 x 11 Model, one Chandler & Price 8 x 12, one Chandler & Price 14 x 22, one Gordon 8 x 12, and one Peerless – Gordon 10 x 15. Also an unlimited number of hand presses. Drop the editors a line for information.
The Spotlight Spots ‘Em
The following are the four outstanding publications of the UAPAA issued since November, 1934 as selected by the editors:
Typography
Amateur Giggles – Karl Williams – Portsmouth, Ohio.
Literary Merit
The Mannettism – C. W. Walton – Monroe, N. C.
Interesting Content
The Crusader – George Henry Kay – Little Falls, Minn.
Best All-Round
The Americana Monthly – Russell L. Paxton – Roanoke, Va.
Passing the Buck…
… The only reason this issue does not contain more pages is because of lack of copy.
Come on you would-be writers and show us what can be done in an emergency!
The Spotlight
Devoted to Amateur Journalism
An amateur magazine published at Portland, Oregon in the interests of amateur journalism by
Jack Smith
and
Bob Sturges
Timely articles on a.j. solicited.
Member United Amateur Press Association of America