Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-12-04
STATE SECURES WITHOUT CON.
TEST LARGER PART OF CAP
lToL EXTENSION TRACT.
TWO VALUABLE PROPERTIES
MUST BE CONDEMNED
Jury of Apprasemcnt to Be Selected
by Chief Justice of Supreme Court
Foot and Mouth Disease Prevents
Stock Sales, Colt Shows and Short
Courses-State House News.


ecutive council has now expended for
the purchase Of ground in the capitol
extension tract abou; ss0o,0oo. The
work OF pickering with property owners
is practically finished.
Yesterday there was placed in the
hands OF the sheriff the formal re-
quest for jury OF condemnation on
twelve properties. all that remains to
be bought OF The tract Will now be ac-
CURED. This leaves out block and
a half which, as it win be recalled was
stated right az the first would not be
bought al once, also it leaves out resi-
dence near the historical building.
The estimated value OF the properties
against which condemnation proceed
ings have been commenced is about
$4,000. This includes the fine flats on
Capitol avenue, short distance east
Of the state house. and The Woods drug
store corner These two make up the
major part of the property to be Sc
cured on appraisement by a jury. This
jury viii be selected by the chief JUS
5ice OF the supreme court.
~. n.
real estate end of the deal. mas mad 70
deal with about 200 separate property
owners He says ne mas come into
contact with every kind of people that
ever was made and persons OF a score
OF different nationalities. He has in
all cases dealt directly with property
owners and they have come directly
into contact with the state officials
no ~ ,la
In fact there has not been a piece of
member of the executive council has
personally Inspected.
II is probable that as TO several of
the properties against which condem
nation has been commenced the CON
tracts OF sale will be signed up before
any expense has been incurred.
One serious result Of the foot and
mouth quarantine established by the
! federal government over a part of Iowa
will be to interfere with public sales,
/ the colt shows and the short course
work. In the counties under quaran-
I tine no gatherings where livestock is
/ to be exhibited VIII be permitted. All
public sales which include livestock
will he under the ban for some. There
will be no livestock exhibits at the in
stitutes and short course work.
In future years when a bridge or a
culvert goes down or demands repairs
and an effort is made to fix responsible
ity there will be record Of the con-
truction of the bridge or culvert that
Will be of material assistance. For the
first time there is being collected COM
plete and invaluable data as to every
bit of road and bridge construction
work done in Iowa. 1t will be kept on
file with the highway commission in its
office. Summary of information taken
from these reports will be included in
| the report.
The statistical information on file in
cludes a special report on every single
bit of construction in the state. If at
any time taxpayer wants to know how
much a certain bridge cost. what ma
terials were used, who the contractor
was, what plans were adopted or any
other essential fact, he knows where he
can secure the facts. But the great
value of it all will be as basis for in
formation that will be invaluable as to
plans and cost and materials 1t is one
step toward unification of the whole
road making business of the state. No
other state of the union has ever at
tempted to so well lay the foundation
for good roads by a complete system of
reports on what is being done to pro-
vide permanent bridges.
No step has as yet been taken by the
i railroad commission definitely looking
j to compelling the Milwaukee railroad
to widen it's lone narrow guage branch
in Iowa-the Cascade line. 1t can not
be done before the first of the year.
i The company was invited to prepare
and submit plans with estimate of cost
for the conversion of the line into
standard guage, and did so some time
ago. The compliments seeking to COM
pei the widening were asked to have
) these plans checked over and to offer
objections. if any, and thus 10 Join
tissues. This is being done now, lawyers
having been retained for the work
The company submitted three sets OF
estimates, one of which included the
making of an entire new line of rail-
road on new surveys and disposing OF
the material on the Cd line This, it is
stated, would really be the cheapest and
safest thing to do, and in fact it is de-
clared to be the only feasible thing. But
there is question whether the railroad
commission, or the Legislature, could
compel the construction of an entire
new line of railroad for the accommo-
dation Of any community of the state.
When the issues are made I'D the
commission will hear arguments on the
legal phases of the case