Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1909-12-09

granting rights to maintain and oper-
| ate electric and motor railways;
build all necessary switches; run all
kinds of poles and wires and lay and
maintain all kinds of pipes, mains
and conduits, in fact giving all rights
the county owns in it's highways, ex-
cept the right to travel them and
pay for keeping them up.
The concessions made by Boss Abel
consists of limiting the life of the
| franchise to so years ct will be
observed here that a perpetual fran
chise would have been unconstitu-
tiOnal, hence invalid) to begin the
| building of a road between Aberdeen
and MOntesanc within one year and
complete within two years, (but no
| forfeiture is provided in case of fail
ure. so this provision is simply d
waste of the paper it is written upon}
and to haul gravel for the county at
reasonable" price.
Thus was the county's birthright
swaped for a mess of pottage-cold
| pottage. too. The franchise covers
every road in the county beginning
at the eastern end {
at the eastern line above Oakville.
and running west to Elma, embrace
ing the roads on both sides of the
Chehalis river, and on to Montesano,
backing up to Summit. From thence
if there is a piece of road east of the
Pacific ocean at Moclips it does not
touch, it is not decernible, with the
solitary exception of that between
South Aberdeen and Westport, which
is only now being laid out, or it
would doubtless have been included.
Does all this mean the building of
electrict railways? BY no means 1t
it did, there would be some consOla
tion, but on the contrary, it means
the delay of such transportation, as
it gives the grantees of this fran
chise a "hold-up" against every le-
gitimate concern that might wish
to build a road. Nothing else. Does
the most credulouS readers-if not
in the scheme-imagine for a mom-
ent that the promoter of this ini-
quity has any idea of building road
up Bear Gulch? Does he think he
would like to have stock in a concern
that promised to build a railroad to
Quiniault Lake, or parallel the Nor
thern Pacific to Moclips? OF course
cent of compensation, to this syn
dicate rights to those roads? The
answer is but one, it can't be print
ed in type-it's too crooked.
Note what the franchise gives
those promotors-many of whom
ought to be in better business. 1t
gives then the right to use any por-
ton of the county roads between Gate
City and Moclips.
Right to build any portion at any
time.
Right to sell or assign the fran
chiSe, or part or 1t.
Right to build either third rail
or trolley system. z
Right to begin and finish it at
any time within so years
The action Of the board, Monday,
in hearing this matter indicated an
Abel frame-up. The executive ses-
sion to hear the names of the hackers
of project that would require at
least $20,000,000 was most ridi-
culous farce. That County Attorney
Campbell pointed out the apparent
fact that it's passage would retard
instead of encouraging what we all
desire in the way of trolley lines,
the farce is gone through with just
as though Commissioner Arland and
Davis were for the first time being
made acquainted with particulars Of
the deal.
The Remedy
Never in the history Of Chehalis
county, or any other community was
a more "horrible example" Of the
necessity of a recall law shown. But,
in the absence of such law, the peo-
pie should not sit supinely and per-
nit this act of aggression. The Her.
aid suggests an immediate organiza-
tion in, not only the towns and cities,
but in every road district for the pur-
pose of defeating this scheme. The
proper custodian of those roads-the
county commissioners--hav prov
ed recreant, the people must take
hold. Suppose that in each voting
precinct in the county an organiza-
ton was made; likewise in the cities
and towns. and a fund created to
fight this scheme-conceived in ini-
uuity and brought forth in "execu-
tive session''-tight it legally, the
Herald has small doubt that it could
be defeated.
To begin with, suppose we were
fighting it. great percentage of the
county roads covered by this fran
ob;ca bova haap donated tO the conn