The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1915-08-12
OCEAN To OCEAN HIGHWAY
NEE TING At SUMMIT HOUSE
Good Roads Boosters Big Event Near
UniontOWn. Pa.

Thursday at Summit House, near Union
town, Pa, written by the staff repre-
sentative of the Times, Mr.. Gibson T.
Porter, and on account of the general
excellence of the article, as well as the
local interest attached thereto, we
herewith reproduce the same verbatim
in the columns Of The Republican,
As briefly stated in YESTERDAY 5 Times
in despatch from staff correspond
ent, the good roads meeting at the
Summit House near Uniontown, Pa,
was a most enthusiastic affair 1t was
a representative meeting of that sec
ton of Pennsylvania, of Alleganv and
Garrett counties, Maryland, and sec
tons of West Virginia along the
National. or Cumberland Road, as far
as Wheeling 1t was the largest good
roads gathering ever held IN either of
the states named. The meeting was
held under the auspices of the Wash
lngton, Pa, Automobile Club and the
Uniontown, Pa, Automobile Club. its
object being primarily the Improvement
of the National Road in Pennsylvania
and ultimately to make it part of the
proposed Ocean to- Ocean" Highway,
bill for which is now pending in Con-
gress, through the cooperation and in
iuence of the members Of Congress
from Pennsylvania, Maryland and West
Virginia, through which the road runs,
beginning at Cumberland and ending
at Wheeling. Hence the large attend
ance of automobile owners from Cum
berland Frostburg, GrantsYlle and
other sections of Maryland along the
pike and from Wheeling and intermedi-
ate towns in West Virginia. There
were over a hundred automobiles park
ed in the grounds of the beautiful and
commodious Summit House, in which
came upwards of four hundred good
roads boosters, among them many
ladies, who seemed to take as much
interest in the proceedings as their
male friends.
The meeting was held IN the large
assembly hall in the basement of the
hotel. The program was carried out
with the exception that Mr. Thomas G.
Pownall, of Cumberland, was subst-
tuted for Mr.. Philip Blake, secretary
of the Cumberland Chamber of Com
merce, as one of the speakers, the lat
ter being unable to attend.
This was one of the most pleasant
features Of the entire meeting because
of the enthusiasm Mr.. Pownah aroused
IN the meeting in his ten minute talk
He said, among other things, that the
government had built some 600 miles of
national road which cost but $4,000
per mile to build What we want to
DO, - said Mr.. Pownal, is not only to
build our roads well and upon economi-
cal lines, but see that every dollar is
put into the construction and less of it
in the salaries of officers. II the Gov
eminent could build roads through the
wild and unbrcken mountains with the
poor facilities at hand in those way
back days, we ought to be able to build
as good, if not better, at the same
amount per mile, or even less, through
open and cleared country with our
modern methods.
Mr. Pownall interspersed his re-
marks with humorous side references
which had the effect of putting the
meeting in excellent feeling. His read
ing of the following verses appropriate
J to the occasion put everybody in a
receptive mood for the speeches that
followed. The poem was:
THE OLD NATIONAL ROAD.
The old National Road What a play
of romance,
Is brought up by the name! As the
shadows advance.
From their corners obscure from the
back of the stage,
And evolve into shapes-into scenes
of an age,
Whose sweet graces too quaint and
homeIy to last,
And are gone with the roses and rue
of the past.
; Let the bard to the strains of his Tyre
frame an ode
To the Highway of Hope-the old Ma
tional Road.
From the sweet smelling Maryland
meadows it crawled
Through the forests primeval, DER
hills granite walled;
On and up, up and on, until it con-
quered the crest
Of the mountain-then wound away to
the West.
Twas the Highway of Hope; and the
pilgrims who trod
1t were Lords of the Woodland, and
the Sons of the Sod;
And the hope in their hearts was to
win an abode
! AT the end-the far end, of the Ma
t tional Road.
The old National Road! 1t goes on
ever on,