The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-11-01
TALKED ABOUT
GOOD ROADS
Informal Meeting Of Enthusi'
aSts Held This Afternoon.
PRESIDENT HILL GIVES HIS VIEWS
Several Members of the State Road
Association Were in Walla
Walla Today.
PRESIDENT HILL GIVES HIS VIEWS

The executive committee of the
Washington Good Roads association is
holding an informal meeting today.
Every member of the committee is here
in person or by proxy. Samuel Hill OF
Seattle is president of the association
and he arrived on the w. & c. r. train
this noon accompanied by ]. w. Abb
bolt. of the government road depart
ment, and p. L. Kline. county commits
sioner of WhatcOm county.
When the good roads convention adj
journed recently in Bellingham it left
the place of the next meeting in the
hands of the executive committee. 1t
is probable that this convention will
be held in Walla Walla sometime about
a year from now.
O. r. Cornwell is the Walla Walla
member of the committee and A. J.
ellis and John H. Mcdonald have been
good workers in the cause of roads in
Walla Nalla county.
Mr.. Hill Talks.
The aims of the association are two
fold said Mr.. Hill. First, we wish to
enlist government aid in the cause of
good roads and its support of them in
the same way as it supports canals and
harbors Second. we want to enlist
the interest of the people Of the state
to accomplish a like result. The gov
eminent is doing a great deal for
Washington in building these sample
roads. This is the only state in the
west where sample roads are now be-
ing built"
MI Hill thinks the new road law will
be a great thing for the cause of good
roads and has not mucu patience with
some of the criticism of it. He said:
There has been a great deal of critic
| ism concerning the present road law
| by the politicians on the sound but it
should be observed that the recent
commended the principles embodied in
! the present law. The new law is bus
| mess like; the old one was a rule of
| thumb affair"
! Mr.. Hill was much pleased with
what Whatcom county has done. He
| said that there were 149 miles of gravel
road in that county alone, a record
not equalled by any coast county north
Of San Francisco.
Kline Is Enthusiastic.
! P. L. Kline, one of the county COM
missioners of Whatcom county came
over with Mr.. Hill and Mr.. Abbott to
see what was being done in the road
! building line He was very enthusiast
tic over the workings Of the new road
law. When asked by Statesman re-
porter this afternoon about his exper-
fence with the law in his county he
said: Under the old law our county
had So road supervisors and they had
/ SIS different methods of building roads.
Under the present law We have four
supervisors who meet with the board
Of county commissioners once a month
and all road work is laid out at the
meeting of that board and done under
one plan. Now the cost of supervision
alone or road work under the old law
for one year amounted to $4,000 and
the taxes they had to work out
amounted to $4,000. This year the
supervision or our road work amounted
to $500 only, a saving sufficient 10
build several miles Of good road. This
system is the one we want to perpet-
uate if we can. If there are any de-
fects in the present law we want to
remedy them, but we do not want to