Leo Adler

Tanzer: Leo, do you remember your grandparents?
ADLER: No.

Tanzer: Do you remember their names?
ADLER: Well, Hirsch was my mother’s name before she was married. Of course my father’s name was Carl Adler.

Tanzer: And where did your mother’s parents come from?
ADLER: Salem, and he was the ambassador to Turkey. U. S. Ambassador, Mr. Hirsch.

Tanzer: This was Sol Hirsch? This was her Father?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: I see.
ADLER: He was the ambassador to Turkey.

Tanzer: Did they live in Portland?
ADLER: No, they lived in Salem and my father came around the Horn (I’m talking about my father) and he settled in Astoria. It took him six weeks to come around the Horn as he used to tell me and the Port of Astoria was too small for this big steamship to land. There was a town called Flavel [he spells it] and then he started a jewelry store there and one weekend the Chamber of Commerce or the merchants had a junket to Salem and that’s how I’m here. He met Laura Hirsch; that was her name.

Tanzer: And was she a member of a large family?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: How many sisters and brothers did she have?
ADLER: Well, one of her sisters lived in Baker – Mrs. … that’s Elizabeth’s Mother. And then there was another sister. And my father had a sister in Eugene, Mrs. Sam Friendly, who was a very prominent family in Eugene. In fact they named Friendly Hall on the campus [of University of Oregon] after Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Friendly. There were three daughters, all passed away and one of them married to a wealthy Jewish diamond cutter in New York and their son was Fred Friendly who later joined CBS. I imagine you have heard of him.

Tanzer: Yes, oh yes I have. I have read some of his books.
ADLER: Anyway, another daughter was Mrs. Seth Hays who lived in Eugene, and another daughter was Mrs. Harris who lived in Los Angeles. Mrs. Wauckemimer, Theresa [Wauckemimer], she was my godmother and I sat on her knee in this very house.

Tanzer: How long did your parents live in Astoria?
ADLER: Well, my father, as I said, came around the Horn from Suttgart, Germany; I don’t know how long he lived there. The reason they moved to Baker was that the house on the corner, just like this, that’s where Elizabeth Baer lived. Elizabeth Baer’s mother was a sister of my mother, of the Hirsch family, and she persuaded my father to move to Baker because her sister was here.

Tanzer: So you lived just next door to one another?
ADLER: Well, she was on the corner.

Tanzer: I see, but the two houses were on the same block.
ADLER: You take a look around; their house was just like this.

Tanzer: What year was that, that your parents came to Baker?
ADLER: My father advertised his store here. He had a jewelry, book and music store established in 1877, so I believe that’s the year.

Tanzer: Do you know when this house was built?
ADLER: That place card says 1880 or 1890.

Tanzer: We can check that out later. And both you, your brother and your sister were born in this house?
ADLER: No, we were born in a house quite a ways from here, in Baker though.

Tanzer: Now tell me about your own family. You are the youngest?
ADLER: Yes, and a bachelor.

Tanzer: And then your brother?
ALDER: Yes, and then my sister was next.

Tanzer: Would you tell us their ages and their names?
ADLER: Well, my brother Sanford is 85 and of course, my sister has been dead… oh, about 15 years, Theresa. And then I had another brother who died when he was four or five, buried in Portland. And that’s the family.

Tanzer: Now, your Father set up a business here. Will you tell me about it?
ADLER: A jewelry, book, and a music store. And he died here.

Tanzer: What was the name of the store?
ADLER: Adler’s Crystal Palace; as I say, I can remember now his trademark, established 1877.

Tanzer: How long did the family have that store?
ADLER: Well, they had it until he died and then my brother ran it for a few years, but my brother was not a jeweler. My brother ran the store for about five years after my father passed away. Then my brother was appointed postmaster by Congressman Walter Pierce and he held the office longer than any postmaster in Baker, Oregon. He was over 26 or 27 years and he had to retire on account of his age.

Tanzer: What happened to the store when he left to become a Postmaster?
ADLER: We sold it out. We had a sale.

Tanzer: Is the store still in existence?
ADLER: No. No ma’am.

Tanzer: From the time he sold it out, did it ever continue or did you sell out?
ADLER: We sold out. It never continued.

Tanzer: Leo, tell me about things you did when you were young, with your parents.
ADLER: Well, as I say, I started the Saturday Evening Post in 1905. Then I delivered the Oregonian, the Journal and then you had a paper called the Telegram; delivered the Spokesman Review of Spokane, the Boise, Idaho Statesman. I was a Western Union boy. That was my young days. I graduated from high school in 1915 and then I started in my business, which now covers seven states.

Tanzer: I’m very interested in that and I want to get the details on that. Before you started delivering the Saturday Evening Post, how old were you then in 1905?
ADLER: I was 10 years of age.

Tanzer: What do you remember before that in terms of the families being together and of the activities that you did with them?
ADLER: Well, at that time I would say we had 15 or 20 Jewish families in Baker, with us children. We used to get together on a Sunday night and we met in some lodge hall; everybody brought some food and they would have beer and we did that for years and years. But now we are down in Baker to about five Jewish families.

Tanzer: To what do you attribute to the people who left?
ADLER: They passed away, mostly. Carl Dilsheimer, Mr. Max Weil, Mr. Greenbaum, Mr. Somers, Max Somers. I don’t know of a family that moved away that are alive, you know what I mean?

Tanzer: And their children decided not to stay in Baker?
ADLER: Yes. There was another family, Bamberger, Carlton Bamberger. He moved to San Francisco, but he passed away about a year ago. Now the Heilners, did you interview them?

Tanzer: I talked to them.
ADLER: Well, they told you about their children.

Tanzer: Yes, I know about their children.
ADLER: Well, then you’ve got all that. Elizabeth Baer is like me, she never got married. Our family seemed to be a family of not believing in getting married. My sister never got married; my cousin in San Francisco, Theresa Eisenberg, never got married. My cousin in Berkeley never got married, but my brother did. Miss Baer and myself never got married.

Tanzer: Why do you suppose that as young people you decided not to get married?
ADLER: Well, I really can’t answer that.

Tanzer: Well, perhaps I should ask you this. Do you suppose there was a lack of eligible young Jewish people for you?
ADLER: I really don’t think that was the reason. It is kind of selfish for me to say. I never went to college. I was already in business when I finished high school. I had my business started, and I was just too busy, which is a selfish way to put it.

Tanzer: Well, it’s an honest way to put it. That really isn’t selfish. But I’ve noticed this to be true that a good many people of your generation did not get married.
ADLER: A lot of people ask me the same question.

Tanzer: And I wonder why as you look at it historically, you wonder if there were not young Jewish people living in Baker?
ADLER: No, I don’t think so. But to put it just plain frank, I just wasn’t interested.

Tanzer: At that time, I understand. I am very much interested in the Jewish community because with over 20 families, did they ever discuss building a synagogue or bringing a teacher in?
ADLER: No, what we used to do, we use to have services. And once in a while a Rabbi would come from Boise. Now they don’t even have that, a regular Rabbi, a city of 100,000. My brother and I, we observed the two holidays and my brother would read, but the last two years they have done away with that and usually Miss Baer, my brother… my brother’s wife, although she is not Jewish, we would go down to his house and read the services.

Tanzer: Was this for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?
ADLER: Yes, that’s right.

Tanzer: Do you remember how your parents observed this?
ADLER: No, I don’t. But years ago, now the Neuberger’s – there are three Neuberger boys here, I don’t know whether you got to interview them or not – they all came over as refugees and they have two furniture stores here. Then there is a Sam Emerich. I imagine that Sanford is going to see that you see him. They all used to attend the services. [There is also] Sam Heilner, there is a Gerson and Burt Neuberger who passed away. That’s where the store Neuberger and Heilner came from, they were in partners with Sanford Heilner. But that’s about the history of the Jewish people in Baker. We never had more than twenty families. Now we are down, let’s see… Hootstein is one, Somers is two, you have to count Sanford, Elizabeth and myself. I don’t know whether you want to count us as a family. And then there are the two Neuberger boys that never got married and there’s Herman David who never got married, and that’s the Jewish population.

Tanzer: Of Baker today?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: Did you go into Portland ever for the holidays?
ADLER: Maybe a dozen times in my life, yes. We went over to Boise maybe 15 or 20 times.

Tanzer: I see. Was it a long, hard trip to Portland in the early days?
ADLER: Oh yes, the train took about 18 hours and if you would drive you would have to stay at Pendleton or Meacham or some place. You couldn’t make it in one day.

Tanzer: Do you remember going with the family to Portland?
ADLER: Oh yes.

Tanzer: Did you go to visit family there?
ADLER: No, we stayed at the Imperial.

Tanzer: But you did have family in Portland?
ADLER: Oh, yes. We had Mrs. Sichel and Herbert; we are just distant relatives. And of course Carolyn, and some of the Hirsch’s in Portland. There were three Hirsch girls. None of them ever got married. We had Sam Herman and the firm is still going, the Holman Furniture Company. He was the one that started that. They were cousins of ours, but we didn’t really have any aunts or uncles. They were all just cousins.

Tanzer: But your parents decided to remain here and you decided to remain.
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: Tell me, why did you decide to remain in Baker?
ADLER: Well, like I said, I never went to college. I was already started in business.

Tanzer: I am very much interested in this. Now, I want you to detail for me your business experience. When you were ten years old, you said you started delivering the Saturday Evening Post.
ADLER: And then I had four or five newspapers routes and I was a Western Union boy.

Tanzer: And you did this all by yourself?
ADLER: Oh yes. And by the time I was out of high school at 15, I was supplying… there were very few magazines then – Literary Digest, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, a few others, and I supplied the dealers in Baker. Then I branched out in Haines, La Grande and gradually branched out to Idaho and those other towns. By the time I was eighteen, I was already established in business.

Tanzer: How many people did you have working for you?
ADLER: Well at first, I only had two. Now I have thirty.

Tanzer: When did you have two at first, what year was that?
ADLER: About 1918.

Tanzer: How did you get started in delivering the Saturday Evening Post?
ADLER: Well, very easily. You’ll run into people all over the United States. They used to advertise, “fill this coupon and we will send you ten free Saturday Evening Posts,” and that’s when it sold for a nickel; we got to keep that money. And they gave prizes. I won a Shetland pony, bicycle; I gradually worked up a big route, delivering to customers every week. Now the Saturday Evening Post is quarterly and $1.50 and I handled it when it was a nickel.

Tanzer: How often was it published?
ADLER: Weekly.

Tanzer: Every week, and then you were still delivering the Saturday Evening Post when you got your newspaper route?
ADLER: That’s right.

Tanzer: You were very busy.
ADLER: By the time I got out of high school I had the Saturday Evening Post and two or three newspaper routes and that’s why I didn’t go to college.

Tanzer: Did you have time to go to school and do all that?
ADLER: Oh yes.

Tanzer: Did you have help?
ADLER: I had to get up at five in the morning as the Oregonian would get here on the second morning on the 5:30am train and I would get them delivered before 8:30am to get to school.

Tanzer: Then you went to school and then you delivered —
ADLER: Then after school, once a week I would sell my Saturday Evening Post or Ladies Home Journal. But I very seldom, as they say, played hooky from school, if ever.

Tanzer: Then by the time you were in school you were earning a nice amount of money for a young boy.
ADLER: Yes. In fact I bought my first suit, knickerbocker pants and coat.

Tanzer: How old were you then?
ADLER: Let’s see, twelve to fifteen.

Tanzer: Now, did your mother encourage you in all of this?
ADLER: And my father, yes.

Tanzer: Did your mother ever work?
ADLER: No, she never worked.

Tanzer: What were her interests?
ADLER: Oh, she loved to cook. She would take care of the three of us (my sister, brother and myself). She never worried about us at all; we never caused any trouble. My father, as I say, had this store. She would go down there and just sit around, maybe two or three times a week, for a couple of hours.

Tanzer: Did she help him in the store?
ADLER: No, no.

Tanzer: Did your sister or brother help you with your newspaper deliveries?
ADLER: No. My brother, when he graduated, he went to the University of Oregon. He graduated and he went into the store. As I say, he went and he was a great friend of Congressman Walter Pierce and years later he was appointed Postmaster.

Tanzer: And your sister?
ADLER: She taught school. In fact, there is a picture over there that I’ll show you.

Tanzer: Of her school?
ADLER: And her class.

Tanzer: And she continued to live in Baker, all those years?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: So did she teach grade school?
ADLER: Grade school out in the country.

Tanzer: Where?
ADLER: Wayneville and Unity. Towns you never heard of.

Tanzer: How far are they from here?
ADLER: Ten to thirty miles. She would come back every night. People would bring her back. That was the horse and buggy days.

Tanzer: Did your parents have their own horse and buggy?
ADLER: No. In fact, my parents never owned an automobile.

Tanzer: Well, I suppose you could walk to most places there.
ADLER: Sure, my office is just three blocks from here. My father’s store was two or three blocks.

Tanzer: When did you establish your first office?
ADLER: Oh, let’s see… 1905 I started. When I got out of school. Let’s say 1918.

Tanzer: And then you had two people working for you?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: And it has grown to thirty?
ADLER: Thirty now. I re-ship out of here to five states.

Tanzer: How many magazines do you carry?
ADLER: Every magazine that’s sold on the newsstands.

Tanzer: And what about books?
ADLER: Yes, of course. Books just came into their own about fifteen years ago. Paperback. I don’t have hardbacks.

Tanzer: You ship these to the Western states too?
ADLER: Yes, that’s right. This is just getting to be big.

Tanzer: What would you say your size is in proportion to other dealers on the West Coast?
ADLER: Well, I only have towns where there is not a wholesaler. Now, outside of Portland there is a wholesaler in Hood River, Pendleton, The Dalles, La Grande, and I have Baker. Then you go east, there is Boise, Twin Falls, Pocatello. Any town over 5,000 there is a local wholesaler. So all of my business is made up of small towns.

Tanzer: I see, and you deal with all these wholesalers?
ADLER: No, dealers.

Tanzer: Do you see your business as expanding?
ADLER: Well, the last few years, it’s just about at a standstill.

Tanzer: Do you see that the small towns’ populations growing?
ADLER: Going down.

Tanzer: Decreasing?
ADLER: Yes, and the small merchants are going out of business.

Tanzer: What is taking their place?
ADLER: Well, people drive to Baker, Pendleton and La Grande [to] trade at the supermarkets.

Tanzer: I see. What are some of the small towns that you handle in this vicinity?
ADLER: Oh, there’s Haines, North Powder, Unity, Sumpter, Durkee. That’s just a few of them around in Oregon.

Tanzer: Leo, let’s go back to talking about you. Did you ever have any Jewish education?
ADLER: No.

Tanzer: Do you remember attending any classes at all?
ADLER: No.

Tanzer: I am surprised that the Jewish families never brought anyone into the town.
ADLER: No. Baker, I’ll tell you. Baker always has been, and still is, a hard town. Now, I got to collect for the United Jewish Appeal and to try to sell Israel Bonds, even the people who can afford it, the Jewish people, never have been too lenient on things like that.

Tanzer: To what do you attribute that?
ADLER: Well, they feel that they don’t get much benefit, especially the United Jewish Appeal, or Anti-Defamation League. Of course, Israel Bonds to me is a good investment. You don’t donate on that, because I know what I’ve bought on bonds, I’ve got my interest and glad that I bought it.

Tanzer: Was there ever a B’nai B’rith chapter here?
ADLER: No. There was a Mr. Falk in Boise, made several trips up here and tried to organize us but he couldn’t do it. As I say, the city of Boise doesn’t even have a Rabbi now. There’s a CPA, a Mr. Hammersley. When there is a funeral, for instance (I went to Weiser, Idaho when Mr. Emerich died over there) and they had to get a CPA from Boise to hold the services. He holds the services like we do, or used to, in Baker, twice a year. They got a Temple there, but they don’t use it. Just lack of interest.

Tanzer: But here there didn’t seem to be a lack of interest, because the Jewish families always stayed pretty much together.
ADLER: Oh, I don’t know. They didn’t get together as often as they should, I don’t think.

Tanzer: Well, I know the A.D.L. used to come here because my husband used to do A.D.L. work. Was that because there was some antisemitic things happening?
ADLER: No, they just came here because … I was very much interested in it. In fact, I went to Washington, D.C. once, when President Johnson had a conference there, in the Blue Room of the White House. Hubert Humphrey was vice-president. He spoke and you have heard, maybe, your husband spoke of Mr. Epstein. He is still active. He is an attorney in New York. You mention his name. Who’s the man who died, about two or three years ago in Seattle?

Tanzer: Seymour Kaplan.
ADLER: Yes, he came here a couple of times a year, but there never was any trouble. But he tried to drum up interest here, and he was a smart man, but he just couldn’t do it.

Tanzer: Perhaps because the Jews of Baker feel so isolated.
ADLER: Well, that could be one reason, yes. To me, it’s unfortunate.

Tanzer: Well, also, Jews so many times have had to provide for themselves, that if they feel isolated and they provide for themselves, they feel they don’t want an outside group, like someone from Portland.
ADLER: I hope you have time while you are here to come to the office. I was honored by the Anti-Defamation League in New York one year and they presented me with a plaque and I have it on the wall in my office, for what I have done in the West for the Anti-Defamation League.

Tanzer: Well you’ve done a tremendous amount. I know you are considered “Mr. Baker.” As a matter of fact, I get confused. I sometimes call you Leo Baker from Adler!
ADLER: I was always interested. As I say, I met a wonderful man in New York and Washington. Your husband, he knew Mr. Epstein. He will tell you how wonderful he was. At his age he is still very active. Then there’s a Mr. Foster and they spoke at this meeting at the White House (and I got a bulletin the other day). And then there is a Seymour Kaplan – that’s the one that died isn’t it? He did lots up here, though.

Tanzer: And then there was David Robinson in Portland. He preceded Seymour. Did you know David Robinson?
ADLER: Preceded him?

Tanzer: Yes.
ADLER: The name’s familiar.

Tanzer: He was an attorney in Portland.
ADLER: Oh, sure. He did a lot of work too.

Tanzer: He did a lot of work for fair employment practices.
ADLER: And then there’s a lawyer by the name of Samuels in Portland?

Tanzer: Yes, Hy Samuels.
ADLER: Hy Samuels, is he still interested?

Tanzer: Yes.
ADLER: I worked with him several years.

Tanzer: But you still have maintained a great interest in Jewish things.
ADLER: I have, yes.

Tanzer: And in the State of Israel?
ADLER: Yes, but I have a hard time. Every time I go around getting funds. They just seem to… I don’t know.

Tanzer: Well, those people who survived in Germany certainly should understand and there are a number of people here who have.
ADLER: Yes, four of them.

Tanzer: But it’s difficult to make people, who haven’t needed something, to realize what the Federation in Portland is.
ADLER: I imagine you have the same problem in Portland with some people.

Tanzer: Oh yes, I think this is a national problem, but it is especially acute in small cities and towns, where there isn’t a center of Jewish culture. And Jewish History should be very appealing. You should be able to go around and get some funds of interest, if not funds for Jewish history, because Baker is a very historical place. Tell me about some of your other honors.
ADLER: Well, the Curtis Publishing Company has honored me because I am one of their oldest distributors in the United States.

Tanzer: That was 50 years.?
ADLER: When they presented that. That was 1955, so I have been with them 22 more years.

Tanzer: And you have been honored by the Pope?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: What was the occasion of that?
ADLER: Well, for what I… we have the Leo Adler Field and my brother takes it back to and tell them to pass the field. I built that for the Catholics and they got my picture there. We had a Catholic school here at that time but we don’t now. I contributed to building that field and that’s why the Bishop had the Pope presented to me. It’s only one block off the highway and my picture is on there and they call it the Leo Adler Field.

Tanzer: And then you’ve done a lot for the city of Baker.
ADLER: Well, I’ve given the city three different ambulances (first aid cars), and they cover the whole county.

Tanzer: Have you ever been active in politics?
ADLER: No. Several years ago I was asked to run for Mayor, Councilman, but I didn’t. And I was also asked in the Elks and Masonic Lodge to go through the chairs, but I had an attorney and I went to him for advice and he says: either make up your mind to stay in business, because if you get in politics, you’ll ruin your business and if you go through the chairs in any lodge, it will take a lot of your time. I was presented in Al Kadar in Portland, this year, 50 years a Shriner.

Tanzer: And you have done some work for the Shriners’ Hospital, haven’t you?
ADLER: Well, we have the East-West Shrine Football game every year and we raise quite a little money for that. I am very much interested in that because that’s one of the best Homes in the United States for children. It’s got that reputation. The work they do, the doctors there.

Tanzer: Well, you certainly have made a success in your business and you have been a success in your community involvement. I often wonder if you have ever thought about attributing it to either your parents or your education?

Tanzer: Leo, I asked you whether the influence of your parents was great enough to inspire you towards community service.
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: In what way?
ADLER: Well, they always were interested in what I was doing. They told me they were glad I was doing it and to continue doing it.

Tanzer: Were they involved in community service?
ADLER: My father was. Yes, he was very much involved.

Tanzer: What organizations was he involved in?
ADLER: Well, at that time we had what we called the Commercial Club and he wrote the charter for the City of Baker. He was one of the original councilmen to write the charter for the city of Baker, and now a lot of times they refer to things that he suggested.

Tanzer: Did he belong to any fraternal organizations?
ADLER: Well to the Knights of Pythias. I believe that’s all.

Tanzer: What organizations do you belong to?
ADLER: I belong to the Knights of Pythias. I have belonged 65 years. I belong to the Elks, 62 years; and I have received from the Masonic Order for the Blue Lodge my 50th year pin; from the Scottish Rite, my 50 year pin; and this year from Al Kadar Shrine Temple in Portland, I received my 50th year Shriner’s pin.

Tanzer: That’s over 200 years of public service. What other organizations do you belong to?
ADLER: I belong to the Baker County Chamber of Commerce, to the Kiwanis Club, to the Optimist Club and I am an honorary member of the Lions Club.

Tanzer: And in Portland, are you a member of any organizations there?
ADLER: Well, I attend the meetings of the Oregon Heart Association in Portland and for the Oregon Lung Association I am a Director. I am a past Director of the Oregon Historical Society and Oregon Heart Association, all headquartered in Portland.

Tanzer: And you belong to Temple Beth Israel?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: How long have you belonged to Temple Beth Israel?
ADLER: I have to guess, but 25 to 35 years.

Tanzer: Were your parents members of the Temple?
ADLER: Yes. My father and mother are buried there, and my sister and brother.

Tanzer: Are other members of your family buried there as well? Cousins, etc.
ADLER: Well, Elizabeth Baer’s brother, father and mother are buried there.

Tanzer: Tell me about your offices. You are in a rather interesting old building.
ADLER: Well, that building was originally the Knights of Pythias. My uncle and my father were charter members; when I was of the eligible age, they had me join and that’s the lodge that I have belonged to longer than any others. And for years I was that one of the most active lodges in Baker. Now, by coincidence, about twenty years ago, my office was upstairs and we had the worst business fire that Baker ever had and I had to move out. It just happened that the forestry service had moved to the Federal Building and the fire was still burning at 8:00 the next morning and my office was operating at nine o’clock, because there were desks in there and the lights had been disconnected and by five o’clock we had telephones connected.

Tanzer: Now, when you talk about the worst business fire, was that a fire in the business district?
ADLER: Yes, just two blocks away from the office. It burned up the Levinger Drug Company, where you are going tomorrow night. It burned a furniture company, an insurance office, three and four doctors and lawyers’ offices and burned my office, where I was upstairs.

Tanzer: How did the community rally around to help those businessmen who had lost their businesses?
ADLER: Well, the Levinger Drug Company… Mr. Levinger was on the phone from nine o’clock until midnight talking to the wholesale drug firms in Portland. He had a location the next day and they had drugs up there the next day, prescription drugs and everybody was wonderful.  We had to send for the La Grande Fire Department, which was 50 miles away. And the Union, Oregon Fire Department. The next day I got calls from all over the Northwest, because this got on the Associated Press and everybody in Baker was wonderful. At that time I only had about ten employees and those girls came down the next morning in work clothes and helped sweep out while I was moving.

Tanzer: What year was the fire?
ADLER: I’ve got to guess, fifteen years ago.

Tanzer: And that’s when you moved into the new building?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: Or the new-old building.
ADLER: That’s right.

Tanzer: The building is of very interesting stone. Where is that stone from?
ADLER: That stone came from a quarry, eight or nine miles out of Baker and we have, maybe 20 buildings in Baker, using that stone: the courthouse, the city hall, the St. Francis Cathedral, the St. Francis Nursing Home. Across from my office is of that stone too, The California-Pacific Utilities, and many other buildings.

Tanzer: Does that stone have a name?
ADLER: Not that I know of.

Tanzer: Just the Baker Stone.
ADLER: Well, as far as I know, I have never heard of a name, but we were lucky that we had a stone quarry out of Baker. That doesn’t function anymore, because nowadays they build buildings with more brick and different materials.

Tanzer: I know that Baker had a great many mines close by. Do you remember the mines and the miners?
ADLER: Oh, yes. I remember the names of a lot of them. Elkhorn, Virtue Mine. I would say that we had 20 big mines out of here. We had the Cornucopia Gold Mines 50 miles from Baker, which, at the time, when they were operating, was the largest gold producing gold mine in the Northwest. And now that they are prospecting a lot of mines, Johns Manville, a big corporation, have taken patents out in the last six months on 15 mines.

Tanzer: In this area?
ADLER: Yes, and if they find something, naturally it’s going to be a big thing for Baker. But they are exploring all these sites and there are about ten other mines that big corporations are exploring, but there are only one or two producing a little gold. But they say, the old saying of the miners, I can remember when I was selling papers, “There is still gold in them thar hills.”

Tanzer: And apparently there is. What changes did the closure of the mines bring to Baker?
ADLER: Well, we had a town called Sumpter (my father had a store there, a branch from Baker) with a population of 5,000. That town was about 20 miles from about 10 mines, but Baker is lucky. We have always been a cattle and farming community, and then lumber came into being, so lumber took the place of the mines.

Tanzer: Did any of this effect your business, the changes?
ADLER: Well, most of this was before my time in business.

Tanzer: Did the miners buy newspapers?
ADLER: Well, not too many. But now we don’t have hardly any miners living in Baker. Lumber is our big industry.

Tanzer: And do you find that you sell a lot of papers and paperbacks in Baker?
ADLER: Oh, yes. And they like Westerns. Western books.

Tanzer: Would you say, Leo, that people today are perhaps more or less literate? They read more or less?
ADLER: Oh, they read more, and they read the best. People want the best. National Geographic, as you told me a few minutes ago, you used the library, and the reason we have such a nice library here is because the people want to read. Our rating on the library, according to population, is the best in the state – the ratio of books taken out according to population. It shows that we have very well educated people here.

Tanzer: That is interesting. Do you think that there are hopes for a boom in the mines?
ADLER: Well, real miners say so, but I am not in that field. But if just two or three of them pan out it will be a big thing for us.

Tanzer: What other kinds of mines were there besides gold?
ADLER: Oh, we had everything. Copper. And just 30 days ago the Oregon Portland Cement Co. announced that they were putting a $38,000,000 lime plant 20 miles from Baker. I read that. It has been in the Oregonian and Journal, so it shows that we have all kinds of minerals in Baker County.

Tanzer: So you think there will be a growth?
ADLER: Oh, yes.

Tanzer: How about the population now?
ADLER: Well, we haven’t changed a thousand in fifteen years, one way or the other. We are close to 10,000 now, but Baker is growing. It’s hard to either rent or buy a home and we’ve got one new motel in the last few years and next year we are going to have two new motels, so the prospects are [good]. And lumber is very good. As you know, there is a lot of building and that means they need lumber. Everyone says, “Well, we had a couple of empty buildings on Main Street.” Well three years ago we had ten (business locations).

Tanzer: What are the lumber mills here?
ADLER: Pine.

Tanzer: Who owns them?
ADLER: Ellingsen.

Tanzer: Owns all of them?
ADLER: Yes. They have three lumber mills. They are an old Oregon corporation. They started in Klamath Falls and they have two or three other little mills in Baker County, but now all of their facilities are here.

Tanzer: How many people do they employ?
ADLER: Close to 500.

Tanzer: And then farming is the second big industry?
ADLER: Cattle and farming. Yes.

Tanzer: I see. Were there any Jewish farmers or ranchers that you can recall?
ADLER: I don’t think there was one that I can recall.

Tanzer: What about Jews in the lumber business?
ADLER: No.

Tanzer: So for the main part their businesses were what?
ADLER: Mercantile stores. We have four or five and now we have three Jewish furniture stores.

Tanzer: What are those three stores?
ADLER: Furniture.

Tanzer: Yes, but what are their names?
ADLER: One is Emmerich, one is Burt Neuberger, and the other is Baker Furniture Company.

Tanzer: When did the other Neuberger’s come to Baker?
ADLER: 20 to 25 years ago.

Tanzer: Where did they come from?
ADLER: From Germany.

Tanzer: And they came as a result of the Nazis?
ADLER: Yes, and Herman David also came.

Tanzer: What about the Emmerichs?
ADLER: No, his folks are from over there, some country, but Emmerich originally came from Portland.

Tanzer: And the Sommers?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: From where did they come?
ADLER: Sommers came from Portland too.

Tanzer: There was a Sommers family in Union.
ADLER: Yes and also in Weiser.

Tanzer: I have read about the Boskowitz-Sommers.
ADLER: You know one of the Sommers girls. That’s not her name now. She lived in the same apartment house that Lloyd Dilsheimer and his wife lived. Elizabeth Baer can tell you her name. She married, I think a Nussbaum, but he’s dead. I’m pretty sure she is still active in Portland. Frieda Sommers, do you remember?

Tanzer: Oh, yes. They were the Sommers from…?
ADLER: They came from Weiser.

Tanzer: Oh, from Weiser? What about the people from Union? Are any of those Sommers?
ADLER: No, they were Levys. Levys and Levan. They are all passed away or moved from there, but Gertrude Levy is in a Portland nursing home. She is about 90. And there are two Levy boys, one in Pendleton and he has one of the largest cattle ranches around there. And then the other Levy boy is in Oakland and he has some weekly trade journal.

Tanzer: Are you related to those?
ADLER: No.

Tanzer: What ever happened to the Jewish community in Union? Is there no longer any of them there?
ADLER: No, nobody there at all.

Tanzer: And so where is the closest Jewish community?
ADLER: Oh, Boise, Idaho, I would have to say. La Grande has very few Jewish people, if any, and Pendleton only has two or three. Elizabeth’s Uncle, Max Baer, had a big department store in Pendleton, but he passed away 20 years ago. There could be three or four Jewish families in Pendleton, but that would be all.

Tanzer: Do you know any of the Jews in Pendleton?
ADLER: No, no I don’t. There used to be a Mayor Garfinkle, but he’s passed away. I would say, without knowing the names, there could be three to five families. And there could be one or two in La Grande, but I won’t say for sure.

Tanzer: Well, I would ask you, why do you suppose these families have left these areas?
ADLER: Well, most of them have passed away, but the boys, well, the Levy boy still has a ranch out of Pendleton. As I say, the other boy is running a newspaper very successfully in Oakland. Then there was the Levan brothers, three of them in Union. They were related to the Levys and they all moved to California and the last I heard, two of them were running a drug store on Sutter Street. But that’s years ago and whether they are still running it or not, I don’t know.

Tanzer: And that was Levan?
ADLER: Yes, ma’am.

Tanzer: So the Jewish community of Eastern Oregon has really shrunk?
ADLER: That’s right.

Tanzer: Do you think that it will grow at all?
ADLER: No, I don’t think there’s a chance. Of course, there’s no family coming up. A family that has two children or children going to college, 20 or 21, is Ed Rootstein who manages the Emmerich Furniture Company. He married Sommers’ daughter and he came here from San Francisco. His mother is in the rest home where Sanford’s wife is in Baker.

Tanzer: How long have they lived here?
ADLER: 15 to 20 years. She was a schoolteacher at one time, then she moved to San Francisco and got married. Her name, of course, is Rootstein; her husband is dead and she has been out at the home about a year.

Tanzer: How important was religion to you when you were a child?
ADLER: Well, I regret that being that Baker was a small place, I had no chance to learn about the Jewish religion. My folks used to regret that I couldn’t learn some of the Jewish words. I knew a little about it by reading the services over the holidays and going, once in a while, into Boise when I was there when they had services.

Tanzer: Did being Jewish make you feel different from any of the other children?
ADLER: No, not a bit and we always were accepted in schools, and as I said, in lodges. I belong to all of the lodges, the Chamber of Commerce. We never had what you would call religious strife here.

Tanzer: How important is religion to you now?
ADLER: Well, I am interested in the Anti-Defamation League and Israel Bonds, the United Jewish Appeal. I go out and raise all the money I can around Baker for those organizations because I think it is necessary.

Tanzer: Do you derive a source of comfort from your religious beliefs?
ADLER: Yes, I do.

Tanzer: Have your views changed at all from the time you were young until the present time?
ADLER: Well, I changed when it looked like we were going to get into wars two or three times, and it worried me very much. And that Yom Kippur war, was that it? – that worried me very much when it happened. I was in New York when that happened and I had a lot of relatives in New York and oh, they were worried sick and that made me feel the same way. I was in New York when that happened.

Tanzer: So do you feel a kinship with the State of Israel?
ADLER: Oh, yes.

Tanzer: Well, I feel here you are in Baker, Oregon and it certainly is very remote from centers of Jewish learning and centers of Jewish information and I would like to know how and why you feel close to the State of Israel?
ADLER: Well, I sold Israel Bonds and I am happy to say that I own a pretty good bunch of those Bonds. I get reports from the different Jewish organizations that I belong to and I know people who have been over to Israel. I regret that I never been there and I hope that before I pass on that I’ll go there. But especially friends that don’t belong to the Jewish religion … I imagine from Baker there have been 50 people in the last ten years go there and tell me how beautiful it is and how well they are spending the money. They are not throwing it away. Whatever they are building is substantial, so it makes me feel good.

Tanzer: Have you perceived that the Jewish way of life throughout the world has changed?
ADLER: Well, I feel that there is not so much. There is plenty of antisemitism in this country, but I read considerably and have my TV on. I feel that we gained grounds instead of losing grounds in the last few years.

Tanzer: In what way?
ADLER: Well, there’s not so much antisemitism.

Tanzer: Do you think that the State of Israel has provided this?
ADLER: Yes, I think it’s helped a great deal.

Tanzer: In the vision of the Jews or just by the country’s existence?
ADLER: The vision and the country’s existence. And again, I am repeating what people told me that don’t belong to our religion – they have been over there and they are sold on what the Jewish people are doing over there, knowing that a lot of money is raised and most in the United States.

Tanzer: What do you think were the most difficult times for the Jews here in this country?
ADLER: Oh, I think when they executed all the Jews over there.

Tanzer: You mean during the Holocaust?
ADLER: Yes, most of the Jewish people in this country had relatives that were victims.

Tanzer: What happened in this particular community at that time?
ADLER: Oh, I had many people tell me that it was terrible what they were doing over there. When I say many, I mean many.

Tanzer: Would you say hundreds?
ADLER: Oh, easy.

Tanzer: And was the Jewish community active in any way in order to save these people?
ADLER: Well, they bought Israel bonds. And Mr. Sommers here in the furniture store, he had relatives there.

Tanzer: And were some people brought here at that time?
ADLER: I can’t answer that. The three Neuberger boys came over, as refugees, but whether that was the same time…I don’t think it was.

Tanzer: I know that Herman David came before that.
ADLER: Just about. All of them came within five years I would say.

Tanzer: How did your being Jewish effect your choice of career?
ADLER: I don’t think it had anything to do with it.

Tanzer: Your choice of career then was just something that happened?
ADLER: Just happened, yes.

Tanzer: Or that you built yourself?
ADLER: Well, I guess I built it myself. But starting with ten free Saturday Evening Posts I would say is why I am in this business now.

Tanzer: What do you perceive as being the contribution of Jewish people to this community?
ADLER: Well, they belong to all the different organizations. Whenever there is a drive on for the Salvation Army or Red Cross or anything like that, they do their share in contributing.

Tanzer: Have they continued that way?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: They always have contributed?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: Have they been active as a group politically or socially?
ADLER: No, not politically. Socially, they are well taken by other people.

Tanzer: So they are received in the community?
ADLER: Yes. Dance clubs and country clubs. We’ve never had any problems.

Tanzer: Has there been a lot of intermarriage?
ADLER: Well, my brother is the only one I know.

Tanzer: And Mr. Heilner.
ADLER: Yes, that’s right, yes.

Tanzer: So those two. What about the children of any Jewish family?
ADLER: Well, the Heilners have four children and all but one married into Jewish families.

Tanzer: So there really has not been a great deal of intermarriage?
ADLER: No.

Tanzer: In looking back over your life and your experiences, what difference has it made to you, that you’re Jewish?
ADLER: That’s kind of a hard question to answer.

Tanzer: I know, that’s why I asked it, because I want it to be a hard question. I want you to think about it.
ADLER: Well, there’s not much I can say. Shall I say, people have been wonderful to me. Never have I gotten any controversy around here, so I don’t think it’s made much difference.

Tanzer: But do you think your being Jewish has made you more sensitive, family oriented?
ADLER: No, it hasn’t made me more sensitive. That’s about the only way I can answer that.

Tanzer: Do you think that by being Jewish you are more sensitive to the needs of people?
ADLER: Well yes, I’ll answer that yes.

Tanzer: And do you think you are more family oriented?
ADLER: Yes.

Tanzer: To what extent do you feel that you have reached the goals that you set for yourself in life?
ADLER: Well, I worked up a large business. I have given a lot of time to civic activities and I have always been a booster for anything that would help the community.

Tanzer: Does this, your community activity, does it help bolster your own sense of well-being, Leo?
ADLER: Yes. Very much.

Tanzer: So you really feel you are accomplishing something with that. Do you feel that you are a success?
ADLER: Well, I don’t want to toot my own horn.

Tanzer: Well, please do!
ADLER: I feel that I have been successful in what I have been interested in.

Tanzer: How do you measure success?
ADLER: Well, I measure success [in] that I am employing 30 people. That I am supplying reading material to the small communities in which it would be hard for a lot of people to get the proper reading material, if small communities didn’t have it on the newsstand.

Tanzer: What do you perceive as some of the most important events in your life?
ADLER: Well, when I was honored in New York by the publisher’s division of the Anti-Defamation League for Human Rights; when I was presented through Bishop Leipzig for the Pope the great honor, the Sword of Christopher.

Tanzer: Sylvester?
ADLER: Sylvester, yes. And then I was President of the Chamber of Commerce for over 20 years here. I was President of the Kiwanis Club and then I was Lieutenant Governor of the Kiwanis for the Oregon and Washington districts and I have always felt that mixing with the people in these services clubs gave me a lot of confidence.

Tanzer: Leo, you are a notable, Jewish gentleman.
ADLER: Thank you.