The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-04-27

vict labor, either State or County, on
suchsroads, is due to treachery on sthe
part of the so called Oregon Good
Roads Association or of certain parties
wrongfulIy claiming the right to rep
resent that body. Every one of these
four bills passed by the Legislature,
could have stood alone and did not
depend upon the provisions of any
other bill. They were all slain in the
house of their friends. Their blood is
upon the hands of the Oregon Good
Roads Association. You can not wash
out the stain All the perfumes of
Araby cannot sweeten them" could
quote many similar public expressions
from many members of the Oregon
Good Roads Association who are
sincere in obtaining better highways
and who wanted our Good Road Bills
to become a law, especially the County
Bonding Act. The authors of this
booklet accuses us farmers of not
understanding the five Good Road Bills
which the Portland ''Dog-in-the-
Manger' fellows wanted. That we
were full Of fear, prejudice and sus-
picion. The fact is, we were fearless,
unprejudiced and fully understood their
scheme and were so we'll posted on
Good Road Legislation, that we were
given credit Of being factor in
securing the four bills vetoed by the
Governor.
If there is any truthfulness in the
write up in this booklet, on the Good
Roads Legislation, | presume it is in
the list Of those who voted aye and
nay. However | can not vouch for the
accuracy Of this, for | have not the
records of the Senate and House with
which to make comparisons. The
accusation that we were Grange lobby
lists perhaps is true, but we were even
more than that, we were the watch
dogs of the farmers interests, and
Judging from the rumpus we made we
surely did our duty well. An answer
to the personal attack in this booklet
made upon myself is not of much in
terest to the public, but suffice to
say that their statements are eXagger-
ated, misleading and untrue. A per-
sonal attack is the last argument of a
coward.
| fully realize that | was not their
ideal of man for fought against some
treacherOus measures of their friends.
The authors Of this booklet were too
closely connected with those who were
playing road politics to give fair and
truthful statement of the work Be-
hind The Scenes" at Salem during the
last Legislature.
Had gone to Salem, ''said nothing,
done nothing and been nothing per-
hapS | would have caused them less
trouble. For my acts | have no
apology to offer. | did my duty in
performing the work entrusted to me.
If it does not please those Good Roads
people who are ~ it for ulterior pur-
poses | care not.
| desire at this time, to set the
public right upon one misrepresenta-
tion IN the public press. The Oregon
State Grange and Farmers Union
legislative committees who were at
Salem during the entire legislature
watching the making of laws that
effects the farmers, were at no time
opposed to Good Road Legislation.
The public press has branded us as
Anti's, Obstructionists. etc, but we
were simply opposing some well laid
Good Road political schemes that we
thought deserved defeat and we accom-
plished our desire. And for doing this
the "Dog-in-the-Manger' fellows of
Portland asked the Governor to veto
the Good Road bills that the Legisla-
ture passed and then they say we are
to blame for no Good Roads Legisla-
tion. Consistency, Oh! thou are a
jewel"
We farmers made no fight on three