The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-05-03

city, town or village, exceeds TWEEN
Ity-five miles an hour, for a distance
of one.fourth mile, such speed shall
be prima facie evidence that the
tperson is exceeding the limit. Go.
/ ing around curve or corner, at
more than six miles per hour is also
against the law"
| Mr.. Wilson said that the auto
mobile has come to stay, and that
we must cultivate the safe and
sane method" Negligence of auto
owners is one of the greatest OBJ.
stacles.
| Its use is unlimited They are
cheaper than horses and as it now
/ looks, all the fire departments in
the large cities are becoming mo-
torized, for the horses are no longer
used there. In this respect Mankato
! is behind the times. The automo-
bile as fire apparatus is more
satisfactory and more economical.
We have good men on the city as
city officials and the time will come
when they must change to motors
and improve the conditions at the
fire department.
"If they don't, of course we have
the recall" he finished. smilingly.
Autos and Good Roads.
Before George M. Palmer spoke
on 1.-THE Mankato Automobile Club
and Good Roads," Mr.. Hohmann in
troduced Mr. Palmer as the apostle
of good roads. Mr.. Palmer spoke
briskly on the subject and held his
audience with the greatest interest.
He said that every man owning an
automobile is interested in good
roads, for when the roads are bad,
the automobile is confined to the
garage or the city streets.
The automobiles in this city rep
resent an investment of about one
quarter of a million dollars, and the
use of this investment depended al
most entirely on the condition OF
the roads. One of the first things
that the owner of machine must
consider is, can we use 1t? There
is not very much pleasure in own
ing a car in travelling about the
streets continually. Touring is one
Of the finest of sports. He also
spoke of the scenery around Man
kato, and said that it behooved the
club to take definite action to get
the benefit of this scenery by i'm
proving the roads.
1.-THE machines of today" he said,
"are as good as we can want them
Several years ago, they caused
man much wrath with their trouble
and noise, but today they have been
reduced down to model in shape
and beauty and an acme of useful
ness. If the elements of poor roads
and tire troubles could be elimi.
mated, there would be nothing but
enjoyment to the driver.
Too little money is spent by the
club for the purpose of improving
the roads. When so much depends
on the use of the machine, and its
big investment, it must be admitted
that too little is spent on roads which
are one of the prime factors in
making use of the investment.
Original Good Roads City.
"Mankato has been advertised
throughout the entire state as the
original city in which the good
roads movement was started with
real force, and it now behooves
us to make good our claims. 1t has
had the benefit of good trade on
its good roads, as Mr.. Schultz stat
ed, btu we are losing it and will
continue to lose it the minute we
start on the backward move. When
the farmers cease to bring their
products here and instead sell them
in other towns, we certainly are not
benefited, but if they trade in Man.
kato, every business man is direct
ly or indirectly benefited by such
trade.
"The money we invest in good
roads is the best investment that
a business man could make. be-
lieve it is we'll within our power
to raise $4,000 a year for five years,
but seven months have now passed
and we have done little. One-fourth
of this money was raised by pop,l-
lar subscription the first time
brought it up before the CONNER
cial club, and since then little has
been added The committee has
had uphill work in soliciting Tor
the other three-fourths."
DepIored Lack of Public Spirit.
Mr.. Palmer deplored the lack OF
public spirit of some of the people
of this city. 1t was this very fac
tor which held it back The mere
fact that a business man was not
an automobile owner was a very
poor excuse for his refusing to help
in promoting good roads. He en-
phasized the need of cooperation in
the community. Too much was ex-
pected from the committee, and too
little was done by the individual
members of the club.
GAS soon as the business men
drop the agitation for good roads,
this progress will cease and we
will go back to the old system.
Too much should not be depended
upon the county authorities" he be-
gan in answer to Mr.. RadichePs re-
Ueor MO do that we Will