The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-06-15

THE TOPEKA DALI
iwheres 300 msn and woznensNi lrs. waif-
Ting with . brass band and flAgs to help
celebrate the Fifth and Sixth district
good roads moveMent.. Ni1tonve1o and
Riley and Manhattan had already con-
tributed their. brass bands. 30 music
became one Of tho regular features IN
the method Of welcoming the improved
highway promoters.
/ But returning to tho trip from MIL
tonvale. It was nearing the noon hour
and every mile clipped OF the distance.
meant that Davidson was nearer his
own -Glasco. So the president
Of the trail association seemed to cod
die and fondle his car as a driver
fond1es q East horse and the machine
sped over .he dirt roads to the trail
Intersection at rate that has perhaps
never been eQualed before.
The stop for the reception at the trail
intersection was short. Governor
Hodges talked five minutes under the
shade Of tall hedge fence and the 2o0
men and women stood in the road and
listened. Then the speed bugs and
most Of the men and women who made
| up the Meridian-Red Trail crossroads
reception started for Glasco.,
In Glasco. there was chicken din
ner waiting. There was also rest
of three and a half hours from siren
uous mornings driving. So the motor
lists made most Of 1t. Tho car was
speckled and spotted hat that was
guaranteed to fit his head and the
governor shook hands with more than
1000 men, women and children. the
Glasco meeting was concluded with
speeches at the city park. The Glasco
bysoe hon v,1o nd
classical music, the governor and Hugh
p. Farrelly and w. L. Brown talked to
the 1000 Cloud county people and mixed
politics with recipes for road building.
Them half hour late again-the 1000
people stood on the streets to bid the
motorists goodbye as they started for
Simpson. ten miles away.
''This is as far az co." said Da-
wilson, indicating the next town with
that the Glasco road promoter drove
will never be forgotten by the men
who rode in his car. It il ten miles
from Glasco. to Simpson. Davidson
! made the trip in something like II
minutes. taking some eight or ten
that ten mile run the speedometer
hung over the 50-mile mark. Some
times 1t Wavered and fa1tered as II
hunting q safe spot, but always 1t
wavered on the far end of 80. Some
times 1t was So. then so and up and
up to 81 and 55 miles an hour.
Out in the fields and along the
roads and highways men and women
| with whom Davidson had been ac-
| on their way or worked conscientious
ly In their fields. They stopped their
teams to watch the car fly by. The
daredevil Davidson saw all that was
happening and waved his hand in
friendly greeting to the men in the
fields. He had a wave or q nod for
| the man with the one-horse buggy
who was passed at express rate speed
and apparently tho Glasco man saw
| everything that transpired In front
and at both sides Of him. But always
he kept the best control Of his car
and when the cyclone speeder
dropped the party in Simpson. it was
with regret that the party said good
| bye.
Davidson had really planned to
"TRIP But ti1s rosds veef5 i{idddy wilssi
the trip started and the trail presi-
dent abandoned his original plan.
With a six cylinder car, Davidson
gleefully related, he could easily at
tain 70 or Is miles record on the
Cloud county speedway. No one men,
toned it while Davidson was present,
but down in their hearts. three good
roads boosters and q meek eyed re-
! porter thanked heaven for the heavy
roads that kept the six cylinder ma
chine in the garage.
Cloud county has presented some ma
terial for thought on the question Of
road building. Recently the county
| needed q new county highway. The
farmers-some Of them-objected to an
| increased road tax levy. So the farm
| ers donated 81 500 and the desired road
was built. Then again. The Cloud
county commissioners desired to expert
building. They took strip of IL miles
which was made into q veritable speed
| way. with concrete culverts and the
best possible grading. What do you
think 1t cost? That IL miles of road
completed, cost just exactly 81, 1885,
drasgine. grading. culverts and all. And
along it's route. Cloud county farmers
will This year haul their wheat to mar
ket at one half the expense and incon-
venience OF former years. 1t IL one Of
the best strips Of dirt road In Kansas.
| A party Of Beloit motorists took the
good roads boosters from Simpson to
Be1oit. At the Mitchell county seat, the
governor and his party were entertain
| ed at the Girls Industrial school by
Miss Frank Wilson, the superintendent
They were not only dinner guests at
the institution, but spent the night at
, the home and arose at o'clock Sunday
morning to catch an early train to
Norton. A hard rain in Beloit Saturday
night made impossible the proposed au-
4 tomobile trip to the site of the new
tuberculosis sanitarium.
Comparing the Red Line with other
nfr % hit awt~~