Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-05-22
SUBSCRIBER TELLS
Of UNION MILLS
ti.~O DISCUSSES REASON FOR Pc.
TETION FOR COUNTY
ROAD.


subscriber of The Washington Stan.
dard, contributes the following let.
ter:
Editor of Washington Standard
Dear Sir:
In recent issue of your paper
see that my petition for the Union
Mills road was reported unfavorable
However, | am glad to see that Nir.
leager recommends a right-of-va;
following the old road. As this pc
,jtion was started mostly for the
benefit of the school children, it mat
ters not where the road goes so long
rs it will be in the direction of the
schoolhouse.
Il am, however, surprised that the
county engineer and the county COM
missoners turn down the petition
for it is really not unreasonable.
am not one of the 'kickers' and no.
one OF those that was in favor of re
call. believe that the county officers
are just as liable to make mistakes az
any one else in the county. 1t ap
| pears to me, however, that in ~
past years the county commissioner
must have had a grudge against tn
Union Lumber company.
offered $1,000 For Road.
Some years ago l know that IL
| Union Lumber company offered
pay to the state $1,000 on condt.0
that the state aid road be run 70
| Union Mills where it would hs5
been useful to the whole commute
In place Of doing that, they put i
away up on the prairie where it Is no
benefit to any one. l also believe
there have been other effort.G ado
from the Union Lumber company t.
get road out but in vain.
Il will not mention the big taxes
that the Union Lumber company pays
which in itself ought to count some
hing in the company's favor. There
ire other things which speak very
good for the Union Lumber company.
1t has a payroll of several thousand
dollars month and in the past eight
years l have been working for it, it
has never closed down except for
building and repairing. In the panic
Of 1907 when all camps and mills
closed this company kept running full
blast all winter. This last winter,
| when starvation stared thousands III
the face, this company kept running
nearly at full time. When thousands
of dollars have been spent in the
county and state for charity and
when city and county officers have
strained their brains to aid the un-
employed, the employees at Union
Mills have at least not been in want
of daily bread, and believe me, if the
Union Lumber company had been sc
mean and so cheap as many like tC
make it out, it could have had all the
help it wanted for less money than il
payed us.
Worthy of Consideration.
II think this ought to show that q
company of this kind should be wor-
thy of some consideration and little
money spent on roads SO that the far.
mers could come in and buy lumber
and would not lose money. Besides
that, there is postoffice here and o
general stop for passenger trains and
freights. Do you think. Mr.. Editor
that we ask too much when we ask
for public road? / hope that the
lcounty engineer and the county COM
lmissioners will not forget to estab
lish the road they have recommended
and at least extend it to the starting
point mentioned in my petition
Then we will be we'll satisfied.
| Hoping these lines will find e
lspace in your valued paper, beg to
remain, Your respectfully
"AIBIN HOLMES.
up. s. Not a stakeholder but a
working man.
Editors note: The road recon-
mended by County Engineer Yeagei
will follow generally the present pri-
vate road from Union Mills to the
Pacific Highway, and the county en-
gineer suggests that the residents of
the district prepare a petition in con-
formity with his recommendation and
present it to the commissioners. II
such a course is followed, it is be-
lieved the road will be built.)