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About St. Helens mist. (St. Helens, Or.) 1913-1933 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1914)
W ENTHUSIASTIC GOOD ROADS CAMPAIGN IS COMING TO A CLOSE DDOS Coatmued rrom rage a bora poked hla head through the floor and he said, "Betty, do you mean to aay (hat the Lord sent you the loaf r "Yea. my dear boy, the Lord tent It It the devU did (etch it" (Ap plause.) I want you Just remember thla little atory. I told my neighbor, what dif ference did It make to them If Mr. IIlll waa a railroad man or it he was the devil himself, aa long aa we got the roads through his Influence. (Ap plause.) Agitation Gets Boad. Through agitating and talking we got the County officials persuaded that they would furnish the material for a mile and a half of road which waa to be built along the liver going to Seattle, and Mr. Hill waa to furnish the man that would supervise the con structlon or that road, as ho thought at that time there was not a man in the whole State of Washington that waa able to construct a road of tlutt type. The result was we got started, and It was a costly piece of road. It was built at a cost or $20,000 a mile, and when you spoke to our farmers in our valley of roads costing $20,000 a mile they throw up their hands in horror. Why wouldn't they? They lived in the valley that was made by floods and freshets, just the same aa that land Is lying out on the banks of the Co ' luxubia river. In bad weather you know there -was no bottom to it. In , the winter time the soil was 100 foot deep, no tiner land ever on earth than it was. But when good prices pre vailed in the markets in the winter time we could not haul our crops out Therefore we had no coney to con struct roads. They were in an Impoverished con dition. They were not business men enough to know that it they had roads to market the produce that was rot ting on the ground, that they would have money to build roads and school houses and all the necessaries of life, that they need. The result was the road waa built and just after that road was built we had one of the greatest floods that we ever had in our country. Nine feet or water stood over the top o'f that road, and you can depend upon It that for nine days and nights I never slept. Boad Nine Days Submerged Still Good The neighbors would say, "Mr. Ter race, your $20,000 road has gone down the river." You can depend on it that if it had gone down the river I would have had to leave the country, and Brother Hill well, they would have hanged him if he bad gone there, But the result was, when the water fell the road was none the worse for being under water for nine days. The farmers are now going down our val ley and going into Seattle with pro duce in the winter time, and Instead of the steam flying off the horses and the tongue flying from side to side, when the horses come to that beauti ful piece of a mile and a half of road tbey climb up on the top of it and the driver puts the lines down and . takes his pipe out of his pocket and lights it, and the horses go along wag ging their tails and smiling. (Ap plause.) But how about when the horses would come to the other end and had to haul off of that beautiful road into the mud and slush. The horses would step from side to side the same as you farmers have seen your own horses do when they didnt want to take a swampy place. God bless my life, the horses had more tense than the men. Well, sir, as you know, a good piece of road is like a good restaurant, it always does its own advertising. That mile and one-half of road advertised its own work and the farmers were so well pleased with that mile and a half of road that they built three miles on to the end of it, ami then they built three more miles onto the end of it, and they built three miles on to the end of it again. They never asked the price. They wanted the best that money eould buy, and the result was when it got up into the White Eivc-r Valley where I live, the road forked an'i we were about equally di vided. About half of he farmers were on one side and half on the other side and there was only money enough for one road, and we fought among ourselves for two years as to who would got that road. Produce Marketed Easily. Now, Mr. Chairman, let us get down and see what benefits have been do- rived from the road. If we have no benefits from a road we better not build any roads. Now, one year I rained seventy tons of cabbage. I had to haul that cabbago into Seattle to the saner kraut factory, thirteen miles each way, twenty-six miles I had to travel. I bad large horses ranging from 1700 to 1800 each and you farmers know that means big horses, and 2"00 pounds was the best I eould do. You know cab bage eomes on in the fall when the roads are in bad shape, bad condition; and I would get home at night start ing, say, at 6 o'clock in the morning and getting home at 6 at night tired man and tired team. Bigger Loads Lighter Teams. Allowing myself 3.00 a day for my team and Pvsclf, which was little VOTE rOP enough. It therefore made It that It took S3.00 to land that SoOO pounds of eabbugo into the market. Now, with our improved roads, we have just as even a road as any eity lu the land has got io their streets, and I can start out front home now and put 3,0iK pouuds on, double what I put on be fore, and I only have a H'H poumi team against 1700 and H00 before. leave home at 8 o'clock in the morn ing and I can trot along over those roads with 5,000 potlnda and return homo without turning a hair of the tram, it is a pleasure to drive over it, You are farmers and business men enough to see what that saved mo io 70 ton of cabbage. I am a dairvman also, and before we had those improved roads we would pay the railroad company 1 cent a gallon to take our milk in to the city of So attle and that meant to fetch the milk cans back and leave them at the sta tion. Now wo have three lines of auto mobile trucks running into our valley running on schedule time just the same as vour railroads are running out lu re. Those automobile trucks now take the milk right from our farms and fetch the empty cans back and they charge us of a cent a gallon ng.iinst 1 cent a gallon that the railroad charged and we had to hitch up every morning nnd drivo our teams on an average of two mil.'s from the farms to the railroads to take the milk and fetch the empty cans back; we spent two or three hours time which we are now saving and we were paying ceut a gallon more for hauling the milk. That alone, gentle- mcn, with 323,000 people in th city of Seattle to be fed with milk, that alone would pay the cost of that road every year. (Applause.) It has been my cxwrience that it not the man that pays the heavy taxes that kicks the most against building these modern roads. I well remember our own county that wo met before the county commissioners when they were trying to raise 140,000 to put a certain road through. There was a man there that was sort of used to kicking nnd knocking for all that was in him. II had been kicking and knocking all morning, and when we adjourned at noon tho county commissioner said to his clerk: "Just you go and find out what thi fellow pays for taxes and Bee what his proportion will be of that Ici.oOO. " We met again at 2 o'clock and he started everlastingly knocking nnd kicking like he had been knocking all morning, and the county commissioner says to bun, "Collins, you have been objecting all morning and now you arc at it again, do you know how much your proportion will be of that $10, 000 f " lie had to admit that he didn't know, and the County Commissioner says, "I know, it is just 3.1 cents." (Applause.) Knockers Pay Little Taxes. Mr. Chairman, you can depend on it. I don't know anybody in this county, but I think if you will inouiro into the standing of the men in this county that lo the greatest knocking, it is the men that aro paying very little taxes. You have a good deal of standing timber in this county, you have rail roads, you have sawmills, and I think he same rule will apply in this county that applies in the county and the Btate that I come from of every four dollars that goes into the building of these modern roads, the railroads an.! the men that hold the timber and the sawmills and public works, they pay three dollars where the farmers pay one: and you will find that It is not these men who are paying the bills that are howling about paying these taxes, because they are all business men, and they know very well that by the spending of that money returns will come back in a direct way; and the farmers that are going to get the most benefit are the men that arc doing the kicking; that has been my experience. But, as I told you before, you only need to start, and when you get started It will take care of itself. We didn't go into this thing with a rush; we went Into this thing gradii ally, as I told you. We built a mile and a half of road and we have grad ually increased until we have beautiful roads running the length and breadth of the county, east, west, north and south, and we haven't stopped at that They are so well pleased with our roads and know that it Is a good busi ness proposition, and they have bonded themselves again for three million dollars, which we have to spend, and $1,730,000 additional out of tho general road and bridge fund, that makes very nearly five million dollars to spend now, notwithstanding tho roads we have already. We did not go into this without knowing what we were doing; we know It la a good business invest ment and wo know we will get returns and you will be the same way when once you get started. Roads First Step to Progress. I want to tell you men and women of Oregon here, probably you don't know what you have got here. You have got three states here, Washington on the north and California on tho south, with Oregon In tho center three of tho finest states, a strip of the finest land that ever laid out of doors. If you had a wall built an high that you could keep everybody out, and allow nothing to get In, we would enjoy more luxuries than any peoplo on tho face ul Ood a green earth. We never get failures; we may sot a little more some years than from others, but we never have fall urea. We have our Immense fisheries here, our immense forests, our hoat fields, our fruit, our copper and our gold; In fact, we have everything that man needs. Now, here, you men and women, don't you see the great strides they are making to tha north, also tho great strides they aro making lu California In this road building, put ting the finishing touch on theaj great stutes that God Almighty has given ua. Why don't you put tho finishing touch on by building roads through your country? And after you have built roads, telephones, electric lights and heating will follow. We have Just grunted a franchise for o:ir county to lay pipe to our farms for power on our farms and In our houses. This would hnve been Imposslhlo without the roads. You havo imtnonso wuter f:ills In your states, tho samo aa we have. Why not utilize them and got the benefit, for God Almighty put It there so you could get It at your very door. Now, we think It Is a groat under taking. It does look like a great un dertaking, but after you once get started, your only trouble will be that you may run wild on the building of good roads. That Is our trouble to day. We have hard work to hold them back; everyhtnly want the best that money can buy In roads, and we have got to be careful that we don't run wild on the building of roads, and that will be the history of your state, once you get started. You must not be discouraged, because after you do get started It Ib no trouble; It will take care of Itself; hut It Is a hard matter to get started. I have Just rode over one of your beautiful roads here (applause), and It very nearly shook me to death. They told mo it was only eight miles long, hit I thought it was forty four. (Appl-uisc.i Samuel HillLadles and Gentlemen: It la now a quarter past three and 1 will not make any lengthy talk this afternoon, but 1 wish to show you some pictures. I want you to see rirother Tarry just for a moment so you can see the kind of men up there In Washington. I would like to ask him to step up here an I let you look at him. He will speak to you some i:ne this evening. I only know four ways of getting good roiids. Tho first is by having the roads given to you, as In the case of Mr. S. Benson, who gave the m.itu y for the shell rock road ($10,no0); sec ond, by direct taxation, levying taxes md spending the money to build roads; ' third method Is by deferred payment, deferred taxation la the way of Issuance of lionds, and fourth by utilizing convict labor, that product which our civilization makes, for which you and I each in turn are re sponsible no great enterprise suo- eed s that does not utilize all of the by-products and our civilization makes a by-product called convicts, for which you and I are in part responsible; nnd m, 13 years ngo I conceived tho Idea of utilizing that convict labor on the roads. At first It was laughed at; we persisted year after year, and two years ago when Brother Terrace and 1 were at New York at tho annual meeting of our great Itoad Builders' Association, we were particularly pleased to have that entire body adopt that policy for all of tho I'nitrd States. Here in your own State of Oregon, Governor West Is doing groat work with the convicts. Work of Convicts on Roads. When I first proposed that in Wash ington, they said to me, "Mr. Hill, do you projiose to turn out ail of tho con victs In the State?" I said, "No, I propose to do this, to offer all these men you have kept In prison six months of the year of out-door free dom so we built the first convict road in the history of the State, and now it has been udopted as a National policy throughout all of the United States, in Philadelphia I called to gether over four thousand delegates to tho American Iload Builders' con vention, and one of the main speak ers when that convention was called to order was the Chairman of the Committee on Roads of our National Congress at Washington. They were all very much afraid of him. I went over to Washington and sent my card In to lilm nnd ho came out and I asked him to come to Philadelphia and talk to that convention. He said they would n'ot let him talk. "Who won't let you talk? You will talk If I nm there to keep order, won't ynu? And I shall be there and keep order." I told him to talk just as long as ho pleased, and be came there and made the usual talk about living In Missouri 33,000 peoplo In the district and could only afford mud roudrf, and so on, and did not care to build auto mobile roads for the Idle rich. We were In tho great opera house In Phila delphia and tho Mayor Introduced me and before I made my talk I showed the pictures, and then I stepped down In the audience and I answered the talk of the previous speaker In such way as to gain tho confidence and BONDS I ! 300 I X command the respect, and ha camtj over and said. "Mr. Hill. I don t un derstand this thing at till; you are all ri;ht, you are trying Ui do the best for the people." I said, "Yea, every body." He said, "Hereafter. Mr. Hill, all you have to do Is to send me word, for I am sure the peoplo will gel what they want in tho road way." Tho next (lay the door opened and three men came In. "How can I serve you. gentlemen?" "I am President o' the Automobile Association," said una. "Thla Is the Vice-President, and this is the Treasurer." "Gentlemen be1 seated. What do you want to talk to mo about?" "We want to know if the time has not come to get all of the road nssoeia turns in tho I'niti'd State into one body." "What can you bring to that organization? "What run we bring I Why, we represent one hum! red thou sand member, who pay eight dollars a year; right hundred thousand dolars. " "We havo no money and nu member ship like that, our total organization is only 4,000 and you have 100,000; our money is only a handful nnd you have eight hundred thousand dollars; why o you c-.ime to see me; why do you como from New York tit Philadelphia to no mef" He said, "Mr. Hill, wo come to see you because you havo got the American people with you, because they listen when you talk; you go to congress and a man comes oHt nnd lis tens; ami wo cool our heels outside the lour ami nobody listens to us." "Ion'l you know whyf Isn't it very patent why? Isn t It becnuso you aro fork ing for yourselves, isn't It because the people always know down in their own hearts whether you are working for them or yourselves f I could not join your organization, my work does not lie in that line. My work lie in trying to help those women out there on the Western Coast. 1 see them standing in the door and looking out over a sea of mil I. or of ull.nli dust in the summer, in their loneliness ami isolation. My God! nnd perhaps itn'anity nt the end no way out; my work lies there. I could not join your association. I would not feel at home when I go back to my oirn people. " Pretty soon tho door ocmo.J again nnd in mine a man. He said, "Mr llillf" "Yes, sir, but I do not know you." "My namo is Pat Crowe, of ttninha." "Pat Crowe, the limn who kidnapped the Cudahy boyf "Ye sir.-' "Why do you come to see mef"! "I wnnt to see the one man in Amor I ic. who knows how to handle the con viet question, the one man who lias done j something for those unfortunate of whom I am one; putting thorn out in tho open air. I have your picture in my pocket, Mr. Hill; do you know that throughout the United State every three years the penitentiaries empty, nnd where ' ever you go through nit tho United State. always,! In every audience tbut you apeak tj, wherever you are. you will find In your work men who have heard you talk In thi penitentiary." Was not that a contrast? One door opens and tho president of a great organization, nnd again the door opens and In comes a convict So I say, the real work Is not for one body of men or for one special class, but for all, for every body. That Is your work hero, every man In this room. You can Just make up your minds that the men I brought here to talk to you are sincere; they bear the earmarks of sincerity. I believe they are honest and tell the truth; they have no ax to grind, noth ing to sell, they did not come here for some special pull, some Inside af fall of sumo kind; they Just came here to tell about this question as they hnve found It to bo. I didn't mean to talk at all, but Just to show the pictures. I have In my collection picture that I have taken of the roads and tho scenery In Eu rope. France, Gerninny, Italy, nnd I will show some of them to you along with pictures of our own country and our own locality. (One of tho slides shown by Mr. Hill showed tho land grants that had bm set aside rr the purpose of promoting tho building of roads, and in this connection Mr. Hill stated that he did not wonder the pco pie of Oregon sometimes felt they had been ImiMwed upon.) Yon havo now In Oregon a body of men willing to go ahead and build theso roads honestly, men I know who know how to build roads, and who are honest and ui right. (Interspersed between tho tde. turcs Mr. Hill explained methods of building, the advantages of good roads, etc. Tho pictures themselves carried tho greatest nrgument, and Ia1nty demonstrated that with Improved. highways thn scenes of the Columbia would attract the tourlats of tho world.! many of whom, coming to see. would '""re In the rough. That la what good be Impelled to Invest nnd become citljroada does. tens.) I There la a part of my farm there O. B. Bennett, Chairman: Ladles and gentlemen, we believe in starting off on time. It la now 8 o'clock and these gentlemen have come here for tho purpose of giving you the bent fit of their experience and their knowl edge In the matter of building roads; building good roads; they have bad experience and that la what they will tell you. We have Mr. Hill, and Mr. Griswold who la tho Assistant State Highway Engineer, and tha three gen tlemen that we had on tha bills, are with you tonight. I have selected those from tha audience whom I eon sldured tha moat handsoma to coma up In front It may ba that I have overlooked some one that you might wish lo hear from to start thla meet Ing off. (Calls from tha audience for Benson). Mr. Benson will pleuse come forward; he needs no Introduc tion to tha people of ClaUkanla. (Ap plause.) A. 8. Benson: I think this la tak Ing an unfair advantage of ma to ask me to make talk when I don't know how to do It. I don t think Colum bia County could do anything that will do It so much good aa to put thla road through. I have studied tha matter quite a little and I do not think thera Is any doubt about It. That la all will attempt to say, gentlemen, thank you very much. (Applause.) Chairman Bennett: Allow mo to Introduce to you Mr. Tarry, from King's County, Washington, a man who ha had eitierlence In Bond roads J m m..,ilk,. tt tha vMnrs mt thftt nl nr m (Applause.) Henry A. Parry: Mr. Chairman, ludles and gentlemen, I am not ac customed to standing before an aud It nro and making a talk, I can talk with people right at homo, right around our own fireside, and In meet ings of clubs and good roads, etc. am quite at home with them, but whoa I am amongst strangers I am a Utile bit shy; but this good roads question has gone very close to my heart. Be- Ipg born and raised very close to the old Human road, built before the birth of Christ I have always enjoyed that road; there were other roads leading to It that were In bad shape, but the moment ynu got on that road there was a thrill, both through the people riding In the vehicle, and through the horse you were driving. Difficulties In Early Day. I want to say something about the good roads In King County, -Washing ton. I live about thirteen mllos north of Seattle and muko It a point of ral Ing strawberries for the Seattle mar ket. and In former 'days I used to have to get up at 1 o'clock In the morning and start aa near aa I could to that hour so as to be down on West ern avenue at C o'clock with the straw berries, aa undoubtedly many of you here have grown them and know they are very tender, and If you chafe them or bruise them, they shrink down In the box and get bruised and discolored and don't fetch aa big prlco. Now I can sleep until 4 o'clock and start from home at half-past four and be on Western avenue at 0 o'clock Why? Because we have roads. I had the pleasure, or displeasure, rather, I might say. of driving from a neigh boring town here to this city thlr morning, or this noon, and I just poln. lo that road and wonder how In th world you farmers can stand It. Havo you ever thought how much it takes out of ynu and how much It takes out of your team and your vehicle and your harness and the pro- duco or whatever you have to market? I don't so how you ladles can man age to ahlp eggs to town If all of the roads are similar to that and they tell ma somo of tho roads are even won than that. I pity you If you have tc drivo many miles over them. But tho question Is this, are yon sufficiently Interested In Improving tho roads nnd building good roads un der tho present Conditions? You have an election coming on. I understand pretty soon, in regard to bonding your county for roads. I might say thai In King County, that I camo from, we bonded tho county for throo million dollars In addition to what good roads we had before. Brother Terrace here told you about that thla afternoon and will probably refer to It again thlr evening, and tho benefit of that mile and a half of road to tha farmers of the valley and the whole of King County. Oood Boad Help Property. Now aa to tho benefits derived, two mlloa east of me there was a large tract of land that had been logged off somo years before. Thirteen years ago I could have bought any of that land for $15, $20 or $25 an acre, but six or aeven years ago an Inlenirban line went through and the land raised. And raised, and raised all of tho while, and four years ago we surveyed the North Trunk Highway through thore also, and the lands again wnnt up, up, up, until today you may ba sur prised at the price that I toll you they are asking and getting for that land, almply because of the easy meane of transportation In and out of th cl,y: cannot touch an acre for lesa than $fiC0 up to $1,000 an last spring, In March, sometime, I hap- poncd to be out In the field doing something or other and here came some gentlemen and a couple of la dloa with them and they were look ing all around, looking at tha road and the land, and at last they called me up to the fence nnd asked me what land waa worth, and so on, around there. ' ! quoted them different prices according to thn Improved conditions of the land and the location and kow far It waa from the good roads, and to on. Welt, they aald. "We would Ilk to get a little home." One of ihnm waa an Alaska man and be said, "What will you take for the corner in here, aay two acres?" I told him didn't know aa I cared to sell h. "Well. I would like to get a home her very much, to live In. I like tlo-a. roads: they are so nice you can go In and out of the city whenever you like. Ret a price." I ow. I said "11200 an acre," and ha took me up. If I bad a bad road there my land would not have bcei worth more than any other, but ths facilities were belter to go In and out to the city, and It would be Just the same with you folk around hero. Wherever you have good roads you will aee good houses go up and you will see Improvementa go up and your land will go up In value. The taxes, you aay, are going up. You Improve the land and make good roads, and tha Improvementa of the land will more than bring In the taxes and oth ers will come In all of the while, and reduce your own taxea. Don't Forget Social Bid. I hope you wilt consider this mat- ter seriously and Just think what ben efit a road from your town or to your town from different places will bn In you and to your children. 1 would tike to go Into tha social sldo of It, but I think these other gentlemen will probably talk upon that point. I think you. (Applause.) Chairman Bennett; I am aimewhat discouraged In Introducing these speaker, aa the remarks of Mr. Parry leaves me In a very embarrassing bI tlon. When there are any strangers come to town and they happen to come to me and want to know where they can take a nice drive on a good road t alwaya aay, "Go to Mayger, It la the only good road we have." How I will not vouch for what these other speak ers are going to aay. I Just almply leave It to them. I want to Introduce Mr. Perrigo, also from King County, Wash ington. W. P. Perrigo: Gentlemen, I will not say that I am pleased to aee so many ladlea here, aa my Brother Parry has said. I will state that 1 am very sorry to see so few, and I will state further, and the ladlea will bear me out aftet thla la over, that the ladlea who arc not here tonight will be mlghtly sorry tomorrow when they hear your opinion of Mr. Hill's pictures; mlghtly sorry Indeed, that they were not here. We have a splendid audience, that Is all right, but It Is too bad those ladles should be home, too bad they could lot have kown of these pictures that "lave cost so much money and so much if one man's lime, one man who Is living bla life to the people, not only n Washington and Oregon, but in the United States and the world. Trom Logger to Banchsr. Now I am what you would call a logger the fellows have noticed that I am a little lame today and I told 4am and these fellows that It was rheumatism In the knee, but I will have to tell you the facta. TXd you ever havo skid roads In thla country? In Washington we had skid roads, tho skids were about eight feet apart and we walked fn thn skids and we would :et lame, and they alwaya knew us when we came Into Seattle, they knew hat we were loggera the minute wc ntered the city and they treated us ictordlngly you may bo sure. Now rom a logger I got to be a rancher went Into the wilds of Washington, tho beavers were plentiful did you vrr eat beaver-tall boys? It's great jtuff. makes me hungry when I think ibout It, the tall la something like a Ish that la what makea me so largo, hat kind of stuff that we ale, but I am still growing. 1 am quite young yet nd I expect to live until I grow older f I don't dlo, and If 1 do die 1 am -omlng back on a broom stick to see you all. I sometimes feel serious about this nnd roads proposition. There was nothing more than a trail Kast of Lake Washington when I came to thla conn- ry and I took the first horso In there and I took the first buggy across take Washington, mado the first wagon track that waa ever made there, and so on. I took goods across from l-ake Washington and paid from $3.00 to $5.00 a ton according to the season- now they have a rial road and every thing they want .down In that valley nnd they tell me, and I believe It la true, thnt 100 tona of milk a day goes down from Kedmond Valley In which I v. It la the beauty of the West, but wasn't worth anything to ua until Sam Hill I kind of hate to talk about Sam, I'm kind of afraid I'll stuff him so he won't be worth anything but Mr. Hill camo to Seattle and he talked to ua r-s he talked to you thla after noon ar.J we have good roads that cost ja.ooo to $30,000 or $40,000 a mile, and the automobile trucks are running through there and bringing our freight cheaper than the train; they tako It from tho store and land It at our door. What better could you want? Wa can haul on that road Just whatever a wagon can hold up. We 'didn't know but what a had good rouda until Sam Hill camo I YES