Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1912-10-18

constructing buildings on some other
rop5rty?
Whether you take the Cariyon prop
ositioa, the Higgins offer or the city
park. more buildings designed par
/ ticulaTly for fair use will have to be
constructed. That money, the Car
/ lyon supporters will tell You, cannot
be expended from the county funds
NOT could it for that matter as far as
the C&rlyon tract itself is concerned
In oJher words, nc matter which pro-
position is chosen, money will have to
he raised in the city and county for the
construction of the necessary build
! ings. aside from any money the county
would have. to spend for the purchase
of the Carlyon tract or any other prop
erty.
! Why. then, is it not good business
| for the county to take advantage of
/ something il as county can get for
nothing and let those whose money
/ would have to be spent on the Carlyon
tract spend it somewhere else:
! The fact has become more or less
/ beclouded that the expenditure of 500,
! 600 for the Carlyon tract is merely for
| the purchase OF a site for the county
| fair When the county can get site
/ for nothing, why waste the 100000?
Whether it is paid in taxes or by
direct contributions. the people of the
i city and county will have to bear it,
and if the Carlycn tract is purchased
! they .will have to pay for ii not only
| in taxes but donations as we'll.
| Mr.. Higgins offers his grounds and
race track at Lacey for five years, free
of charge, says he Will give the county
| $4,000 for the poor farm for which
| Mr. Carlyon offers $4,000, and adds
that he will sell his own property. in
Guiding everything. for 100000. This
too. after the county has had five years
! in which to determine the success of a
county fair and the ACCESSIBILITY of con-
! tinuing it.
Immediately we hear clamor from
the Carlyon supporters that the Lacey
property is more inaccessible. 1t is
TO the extent of about ten minutes.
probably How far would you go to
save 100000? Would ten minutes
make any appreciate difference?
Then there is the other alternative
that the city lease to the county 40 or
| so of the $50 acres now lying almost
! idle in Priest Point park, for use as
county fair grounds. To the STANDARD
this appears to be the most advisable
of any of the propositions, for several
reasons.
Just at present Priest Point park,
| from the tax return standpoint, is
dead" land so is the county poor farm
! located a short distance away from the
Carlyon tract. and so would be the
Carlyon tract, if it were purchased by
the county. Is it good policy for the
county to carry so much dead" land
when it is not necessary?
The poor farm admittedly has better
soil than the Carlyon tract. 1t nat
urally follows that it would make a
better demonstration farm. The Car
lyon supporters propose to have the
poor farm residents conduct the DEM
onstration farm. Is it necessary.
then, to move the poor farm half a
mile or a mile or two miles, just to
do that?
The CarlyOn tract would be used one
week year for the county fair. Aside
from that it would be nothing more
than the poor farm would be If the
latter were conducted as demOnstra-
ton farm. Some one says that the
county will sell the poor farm when
it buys the Carlyon tract. Certainly,
but in doing that the county releases
itself from $4,000 or $4,000 obliga-
tion and assumes a $4,000 obligation,
/ just for one week a year.
If the city were generous enough
to lease 40 or so acres of Priest Point
park to the county, the latter would
not assume a greater obligation, but
would have it's original investment in
the county poor farm. The same
holds true regarding the Higgins pro-
perty at Lacey. In other words,
though the county has two ways of
availing itself of site for county
| lair at no initial cost, there are those
who want it to assume a far greater
obligation, just to obtain site. Is 1t
| good business?
There comes the statement, then,
from the Carlyon supporters that no
race track could be constructed in
Priest Point park. There are those
who say 1t can be. All that there is
at present in the Carlyon tract Is q
race track; the rest Of it is as densely
wooded as either the city park or the
county poor farm and would probably