Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-10-11
LOCAL COMMENT

l
visors to appoint twelve superintend-
| ents to supervise the dragging and re-
| pairing Of the county road system by
divisions Is the biggest step forward in
the matter Of road improvement taken
since the new road law went into eff
| feet. It Is the desire of the board to
| enlist the services of the biggest men
| in the county, men who are willing 10
| give OF their time and ability for the
public service, just such men as would
| be selected to serve on the board of SUI
| pervisors itself. While a nominal fee
| Of 500 per annum for the larger di-
visions is to be paid it is expected that
the patriotism and public spirit of eaci,
| appointee will cause him to render
many times that amount of public SER
| vice. He will be expected to make con-
tracts for dragging, to order dragging
done, to see that it is done right. to
audit the bills for the work, to inspect
his road often, to employ men to keep
all culvert, bridge and railroad cross
ing approaches in perfectly smooth
| condition. to have ruts filled, weeds cut
! and to report to the county engineer
when any large work is needed on his
road. This is what the board expects
each of these twelve stalwart patriots
| lict If he stops there. He should go
farther and arouse q public sentiment
| along his road which will lead to a
public uprising of men and teams to
! cooperate with some more county aid
and merchants bonuses for the cutting
/ Of hills to grade and the crawling OF
| roads. To do his full duty each APP
| pointee should take upon himself the
mission of a promoter Of all that Is
| good for the roads Of his district. Let
| him get aid from the boosters in town,
! from the neighbors along the road and /
advance upon the county road funds to
see who can get the most work done
on his road. We will have some mag
| nificent roads under this system If we
can get big men to serve.
Mr. Turner's suggestion that tnele
should be some uniformity about tree
planting on the streets OF the CITY mas
met with quite general commentator.
Mr. T. 8. Ketchum would have wal
nut and hickory nut trees used because |
there are no more beautiful trees
grown, they grow quickly. are native 20
this climate and soil and when grown
would furnish a crop each year ana
would be valuable as lumber when n
nally cut down. Mr.. Ketchum is right
when ne says that the pioneers MADE
mistake that they did not get nara
! wood nut trees from their native WOODS
for their tree planting instead OF I'M
porting the soft wood seeds many years
ago. If our soft naples. box elders ana
cottonwood trees today were stately
wa]nuts and pretty hickories we would
have something instead Of decayed
stumps. We might even go farther
with Mr.. Turner's suggestion and have
! Mr.. Rubee, Of the cemetery association
prepare blue print Of the entire CITY
setting forth his recommendation as u
landscape planting to beutify our CITY
and then ask property owners to piane
to this plat. With a general plan pre-
pared by an artist we could make Mar
shalltown the most beautiful CITY IN
Iowa as we have aluready made our
cemetery the most beautiful cemetery
west Of Chicago and so recognized by
! landscape engineers thruout the coun-
| try.
| And in line with this suggestion Tor
the promotion Of civic beauty comes
the opportunity that Is before the
country club. Marshalltown has no
1
1 this, but her people want an outing re-
sort just the same. They want place
where families can build pretty sum-
mer homes, cottages or shaclSs and en-
| Joy pleasure and health. Such spot
must have woods and be high and Dry
where the cool breezes will blow an0
| no mosquitoes can grow. II the coun-
| try club will now come forward anu
plan on broad lines the damp river
bottom subject to overflow and mos
! quitoes will be abandoned and hill
! site found for tMarshalltown's perma-
| nent summer resort. In Des Moines
| and Cedar Rapids the people who build
the finest residences are plating
| beautiful residential parks out in just
such sites as we ought to select for our
country club summer resort.
And then there Is the boulevard
| about the court house square which Is
going to be an object Of civic beauty.
too. All but two property owners on
First avenue have signed up for new
paving and those two have promised
to do so. A committee Of three COM
posed Of e. B. Zines. chairman Of the
board of supervisors, w. E. Nicholson.
in charge of streets and alleys for the
| Guy cOuHCll, duu JuuSe 1ulIiMiEsS .,
representing the property owners, will
advertise for bids and let a contract
at the best figure obtainab!e for the
work. The bid Of $1.45 per yard for
concrete Is considered too high.
| &
The police. councilmen an! people
| generally are somewhat discouraged
that the mayor is not acting with more
severity in filming violators Of tn, speed
laws. Mayor Willard. remembering the
enemies that his predecessor made by
his ability to fine law violators, is try
ing to pursue at patient course Of fore-
bearance and send first offenders away
with lecture and warning ana this
discourages the police in making ar
rests. The public generally wants the
! speed laws enforced, particularly as
regards the motorcycle mania IS who
seem to be the most dangerous. Every
body now knows the speed limit. There
has been fuss enough made abo 1t 1t to
| give every man his warning. What IS
needed is general roundup of vioiat-
ors and q few stiff fines. After that
the trouble would all be over and the