Graham guardian., 1903-12-18
FROM BLUE RIVER,
The Following From the East End
Shows a Decided Growth and
That People There Have Opinions,

american Farmer included as pei
your ad. This offer is most liberia
and does honor to the enterprise
of the editor of the GUARDIAN,
which ought to be encouraged by
liberal subscriptions, especially by
the farmers.
The Blue is rather coming to
the fore, with three schools run
ming, aggregating one hundred
pupils; lots of fat cattle and goats,
one shooting scrape and two elope-
ments to its credit, and now an
other post office, with third prob
ably to follow, mail connections
with Clifton, and, thanks to our
efficient road overseer, our county
road is in fine order. We are
coming to be quite in touch with
the civilizing influence of the Off
cial and commercial centers of the
county, especially as we may now
be able to receive our county news
papers before they are entirely an
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tiquated
Regarding our county road and
its present road overseer, we hear
however, that there are parties
who think we are not entitled to a
decent road, and that there is a
movement on foot to have Mr.
Martindale ousted, because he has
expended about one-ffth of the
district road fund on the 80 miles
of Blue River road leaving only
about four-lifths for the 20 to 25
miles about Clifton, while formerly
tenth for the former and nine
tenths for the latter, including the
Clifton street sprinkler, has been
the rule. Mr.. Martindale has been
called a dummy" and the road
up the Blue has been stated to be
of no benefit to the county and
especially "Harper's Road"
Now the people of the Blue
River country may not be consid
cred as of much account by the
would-be bosses of the county, ex-
cept to pay their taxes, vote as
they are told and "shut up" Still
they would like to be permitted to
ask few questions for their
enlightenment.
If Mr.. Martindale, well known
as a practical road builder, who
nearly always personally super
vises the road work, and even
does not think it beneath his
dignity to occasionally pull off his
coat and lend a hand, is a
dummy" what should be called
other overseers, who manage all
the road work, excepting perhaps
that in the vicinity of their bust
ness places and residences, from
their offices, work on paper and
personally serve only when it
comes to presenting the bills?
If this road is called 'only Har-
per's road" because Mr.. Harper's
interests happen temporarily to be
located here, why should the roads
and streets about Clifton and HIPS
addition not be called for similar
reasons "HilPs road only" And
why should the few miles of "Hill's
road" be entitled to nine-tenths of
the road fund, and the 80 miles of
"Harper's road" to merely one
tenth?
If "Harpers road" which furn-
ishes the only outlet and inlet to
and from the north for all the peo-
pie of the county, and is constant
ly travelled, not by settlers of the
Blue alone, but by hundreds of
immigrants and emlgrants, is of no
benefit to the county, where does
the benefit to the county in general
come in on "HilPs road?
Unless we are enlightened more
on this point, we are perverse
enough to believe, that Mr.. Mar
only defect is, from the
view point of his detractors, that
he is not "in with the ring;" that
he tries to do his duty impartially
to all alike, without regard to the
dictates Of special interests, and to
remove him would be direct slap
in the face of the Blue River and
Frisco people, which would be re-
sented.
However, this is only local in
stance of the lamentable past, that
any official, who tries to do his
duty as he sees it, who has an hon
est opinion of his own, and will not
demean himself to knuckle down
TO political rings, nor subordinate
his convictions Of what is right to
a selfish desire to consider what is
and likely to catch the
most votes, is generally abused
and mostly downed by political
rings, whose tool he refuses to be,
with the assistance of those Of the
voters, who are incapable of in
dependent investigation, and form
their opinions, according to the
plausible explanations and insinua-
lions Of these same rings. Wit
ness, for more generally import.
ant example, our present Board
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