The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-11-25
BETTER ROADS NOW
State Highway Engineer Sees
Marked Improvement in
Ali Parts of State.
FAVORS COUNTY ENGINEERS
Where Highways Are Placed Under
One Mans Supervision Better
Results Are Obtained.

A marked improvement in Kansas
roads is noticeable in all parts OF
the state and especially in those
counties where the road work has
been placed under the direct super
vision of a county engineer.
County boards are beginning to
realize that their many other duties
make it impossible for them to give
proper attention to the county roads,"
said w. S. Gearhart, state highway
engineer. Where the county en-
gineer and county boards work Co
operatively much good work is done
and it is done more efficiently than
could possibly have been done by the
board alone. Under this system, now
being carried out in a number of the
counties, the county board determines
what road work shall be done and the
county engineer is made directly re-
sponsible for carrying out their plans.
Sentiment in favor of better roads
for Kansas is increasing rapidly be-
cause so many persons have had op-
portunity to observe what other
states are doing along this line. The
earth roads in this state are the best
in the country, but it is hard to keep
them in repair, especially in wet
seasons. The summer rains of 1915
caused the bottom to drop out of the
earth roads and they are just now
being brought back into their former
condition
Roads are being built with the
idea of permanency. In many COM
munities temporary makeshifts are
no longer tolerated. Cement culverts
replace dilapidated bridges and all
other road improvement is of a more
durable character than formerly"
X
A. n. T. to Meet at GaIena.-
AT least 1000 delegates are ex-
pected at Galena on November
20 at the four state conference
of the Anti-Horse Thief Association
They will come from Kansas, Okla
homa, Arkansas and Missouri The
conference will discuss conditions in
the four states and consider legisla-
ton needed.
The oldest voter in Cottonwood
Falls was George W. Jackson, 100
years old. He went to the polls early
in the morning and voted the straight
Republican ticket. 1t was the sew
enty-eighth year from the time he
cast his first ballot in 1871, when he
voted for William Henry Harrison for
President.
Paid Second Off.-Officers at the
military post here said a new record
was set today by Captain Fred ]. Her
man, quartermaeter, in paying off the
fifty-three officers and $50 men of the
Second infantry regiment, Kansas ma
tional guard. in two hours and six
minutes. The amount paid was $685.
500.
w. w. Cook, a well known railroad
and construction contractor, is dead
at his home in Junction City from
injuries received in an accident at
Concordia several weeks ago.
Has One Negro Citizen.-One-haIf
OF the negro population of Decatur
County died recently. Uncle Tom
Wells and his wife for years have
been the only negroes in the county,
and the death of ''Uncle Tom" from
heart disease leaves Mrs. Wells as
the only negro citizen of the county.
X x \
Library Associations Meet.-Mrs. A.
Banney Of Arkansas City was elected
president of the Kansas Library AS
sociation for the ensuing year at the
annual meeting OF the Oklahoma Lii
brary Association here toCay. The
1T nfficorS abnScn ho
association were Mrs. Hattie Osborn
OF Baldwin. first vice president; Mrs.
T. G. Randolph of Pittsburg, second
vice president; Mrs. Garnette Heaton
OF Junction City, third vice president;
Miss Mildred Berrier of Emporia,
member-at-large; julius Lucht of
Wichita, secretary. and Truman R.
Temple of Leavenworth, treasurer.
The Kansas Librarians will meet at
Emporia next year and the Oklahoma
librarians will meet at Tulsa or
Shawnee.
Charles Haines, one of the twenty
Kansas University students attacked
by typhoid fever month ago, was the
first to be discharged from the Uni
Versity hospital. Others are expected
to be released within few days
Haines, whose home is at Marshville,
Ore, was one of the best players on
the freshman football eleven before
his sickness.
x x x
Money in Oil Lease.-W. H. Linn
Of Auburn, Neb., has sold for $780,
600 an oil lease OF eighty acres OF
land west of EIdorado, Kas. Wichita
men are the buyers Linn got the
land in q trade few years ago, the
price being $4,000. He still retains
the land.
X X X
kansan Killed by q TraIn.-Frank
Mahan, 20 years old, of Louisburg,
was killed the other night by being
run over by freight train on the
st. Louis & San Francisco Railroad be-
tween Paola and Henson.
X X x
oil Lands Bring $4,000. L.