Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1915-05-21
COUNTY OFFICIAL PAPER.
CITY OFFICIAL PAPER.
THE NEXT GOOD ROADS DAY.

Many men there doubtless were. business and
professional men of the city as we'll as farmers of
the county, who for one reason or another hest
tated to get out with their picks and shovels and
join in the good roads work last Saturday. Prob.
ably the principal reason was that they thought
1t would not amount to anything, that there would
be lot of hurrah and racket perhaps, and little
stage play by the official party, but that that
would be all there would be to it. Fortunately
there were enough men in the city and country
both who believed in the good roads gospel suf-
ciently to get out and get into its practical work.
and by their example, by the work they did last
Saturday, they have shown those who held back
that they were wrong in tagging
IMUre fortunately, those others have been quick
TO learn the lesson They saw the good that was
done-chuckholes they had bumped over for
many day were filed up, stones raked off the
road, brush cut away at bad curves-and agree
ably surprised they have come to realize what in
.dividual effort scattered along long road can
do for the improvement of that road in even few
hours work. That realization naturally, will
tend to give greater impetus to next year s Good
Roads day celebration, for in those sections of
this county where all joined heartily in this years
work, the results satisfactory that the Cos
pei will be spread into all parts.
In one of his talks the other day Governor
nc tod nc<o NJ Lo hoJ
mot in this county, of course) of farmer who
had gone to the county commissioners and
'hOllered" for some minor improvements in the
road in front of his place, improvements which, as
the governor saw it, that farmer himself could
have made in shorter time than it took him to
put in his "holler" and could also have saved the
tax money it cost the county to make the repairs
In this same talk and the others during the official
trip the governor and Senator Jones emphasized
not only the need but the value Of volunteer efforts
on the roads in the way of keeping them in repair,
and urged upon those who heard them the making
Of such improvements, voluntarily and individ-
ually, a. they are needed, giving in that way a
service for which neither the state nor the county
could pay in dollars and cents and at the same
time developing the good roads gospel to the
point where it would become practical gospel,
practiced every day in the year.
Our road problem is not only serious and ever
present one, but also very costly, and the chief
difficulty with our roads is not so much that they
are not built right in the first instance but that
they are not maintained and repaired properly
Certainly much of the necessary maintenance
could easily and quickly be done by those who
live along the roads and them, if it were done
when the need arose. The celebration of Good
Roads day, in the practical fashion we celebrated
it here last Saturday, will undoubtedly tend to
spread SO widely the value Of such volunteer
efforts that the time is not long distant when every
citizen, seeing the opportunity, will be prompt to
respond without specific urging, and as more
immediate effect, will bring out larger crowd to
join in the Good Roads day celebration next year