Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1908-02-25
KING DRAG CLUBS,
How to Organize Them and Start
Neighbors Dragging.
VALUE OF CONCERTED ACTION
Importance of Using Drass at the
Right Time Proved by Statement of
a Township Supervisor-Features of
Neishborhood Organization.

After the public spirited leaders in
the movement for better roads have
Convinced the community the King sys-
tenn is all it is claimed to be there will
arise the question of how to get every
mile of road dragged, for the less pro-
gressive- men will allow stretches of
rough road between the smooth pieces
Now, in times past used to shy at
organization. | was more afraid of
the word than the average farmers
family horse is Of an automobile. The
worst fool over an auto on my farm
today Is the twenty-year-old standby
who has helped to raise the children;
not that was foolish about it, but be-
cause knew the ease with which good
people will elect president and Sec
retary, adopt a constitution and quit.
/ am still opposed to organizing first.
Before such an attempt is even sug-
gested a lively demand for it should be
created. When the people are convinc-
ed by object lessons, then the time is
ripe for organization.
A paper record and the formal cleo
! ton of officers is not an absolute ne
| cessity, for when the community has
reached the proper frame Of mind the
desired end may be reached by q sort
Of common consent, just as villages
gradually get rid Of the front fences
and take better care of the lawns with
out the passage of a special ordinance.
In thousands Of instances long stretch
| es-twenty miles in some cases-are
kept in order by an unspoken under
standing. But formal organization will
do no harm and often will succeed
where the spontaneous kind has failed
to develop.
I am acquainted with four styles Of
neighborhood organization, three of
them developed by unselfsh individu-
ais having in view the good of the
community solely. The differences in
the plans are due partially to local en-
vironments and partially to the busi-
ness occupations of the persons who
formulated them.
The organization of the residents
along suburban roads was first ae-
complished by Mr.. Clarence D. Skin
ner Of Topeka, Kan. Mr.. Skinner in
terested the people along his own
street and used the drag to make a
boulevard which became the talk of
the city. His success was SO great
that he was made assistant secretary
of the Kansas Good Roads association,
in which capacity he aided Secretary
I. d. Graham to spread the club idea
throughout the state, the newspapers
project.
Postmaster Filson Of Cameron, Mo-,
| was the author of a scheme for divid-
ing each rural route in two parts with
a captain for each part He called
mass meeting of all the patrons Of all
the rural routes and after explaining
to them he divided the audience into
groups by routes and had captains
| chosen. 1t was the business of one
captain to manage the outgoing half
of the route which passed his house.
and it was the business Of the other
captain to attend to the incoming end.
About two years ago Thomas w.
Larkin, secretary of the Dennison
(Tex.) Commercial club, made and
tested King drag. He was converted.
The roads were very, very bad about
Dennison. One Of them, known as
Carpenters Bluffs road seemed much
the worst The Commercial club do
mated sum of money to put this road
in order, but stipulated that the farm
ers must pledge a like amount in
money or labor, and also must promise
to drag the road carefully after it was
repaired. Mr.. Larkin called meetings
at schoolhouse or two out near the
Af fho tod vrNrncf-
ton and organized the farmers. To-
day the Bluffs road is known by repu-
tation throughout Texas, and its ex-
cellence is the standard by which
other good roads are measured.
The fourth form Of organization can
be used only in localities where the
road officers join the movement and
take the management in charge. I can
outline the workings of this plan most
quickly and clearly by repeating a
statement made by township super
visor from Clayton county at the Iowa
state road convention, Des Moines, in
January, 1905. The value Of the King
drag and the Importance Of concerted
action in its use were under discussion,
and the supervisor said that on a GER
tain afternoon, naming a day several
weeks past, the roads had thawed and
were little sloppy. The wind got
into the north and it was evident a
freeze was coming. 'So," said he, 81
stepped to the phone and ordered out
every drag in the township. The
weather turned very cold that night;
the ground froze hard and remains
frozan fill now Tho i,ndra poad roads
were so sharp and rough the next
morning they were well nigh impassa-
BILE, but the dragged roads were as
smooth as a floor and as hard as cast
iron and have been so every since"
1t seems to me this statement con-
tains in nutshell proof of the value