The daily sentinel., 1912-06-07
WILL HAVE HALF
MILLION To
SPEND
State Highway Commission Expects
That Bill Initiated to Appor-
ton Funds Will Carry.

| Denver, June THE state high
way commission is not in the least
disturbed over the action of the gov
ernor in not ordering an extra ses-
| sion of the legislature to pass a bill
to transfer the moneys of the inter
| nal improvement fund to the use OF
the public road work of the state,
because assurance comes daily to the
| office of the commission from over
the state of the rapid progress in
securing names to the petitions to
initiate a good-roads bill.
President c. p. Allen of the COM
mission said today that from eight
to ten petitions were reaching him
daily from different counties, contain
ing from 100 to 200 signatures each.
He is confident that more than 75,-
600 names can be secured: but 1t is
only necessary to have about 1926
signatures to the petition, which
must be certified to by the secretary
of state not later than July 6.
Information already in the hands
of the commission indicates that
practically every county commission
er is working hard to circulate the
petitions, although an erroneous
statement has been sent out from
Denver from some unknown source
to the county commissioners and the
officers of the different automobile
clubs in the different counties to the
effect that an initiated measure
would be Illegal, and that the funds
of the internal Improvement fund
would be indefinitely tied up and
would not be available for use on
road improvements in Colorado for
from one to three years. President
Allen has sent out an explanatory
letter to all county commissioners,
giving the gist of Governor Shat
roth's Interpretation of the case, to
the effect that an initiated bill
would not be unconstitutional, and
that 1t would not be in conflict with
the enabling act, which the oppo-
nents to initiating a bill claim would
invalidate the bill; that is, provision
is made by which the money must be
distributed through legislative en-
actment and not through state
highway commission. President AL
len believes that this explanation
will have a tendency to allay any
apprehension that may have been
caused by the anonymous communi-
cation that has been sent out broad
cast over the state by some designing
party or parties for the purpose of
injuring the chances of securing
state aid for road work.
By the time the initiated bill be-
comes operative there will be at the
disposition of the highway commits
sion total sum of approximately
S560,000. Each subsequent year win
give to the commission about $780,
600 to $250,000 for use on the i'm
provement of the thoroughfares of
the state, or double this amount for
the period. There is to be a provis-
ion in the new bond issue, which has
been declared legal by the state su-
preme court, of some $4,000 for the
highway commission.
President Allen is sanguine that
after the present difficulties have
been overcome, it will be smooth
sailing for the commission to prose-
cute its work of improving the state
roads, and that within a very few
years Colorado can boast of the best
public thoroughfares to be found in
any state in the west. The commits
sion is to have the hearty co-opera-
tion of the county commissioners and
the officials of the different automo-
bile associations in the state in its
effort to build first-class roads all