The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1916-11-02
From the Correspondents
Items Of Interest Concerning Our Neighbors Hereabous

this. .... .... IL ~
There will always be different ideas
as to how the roads shall be built, but
under township organization the vot-
ers determine the road policy at their
town meetings., Now the policy is
determined by one man with utter
disregard for the voters. 1t was but
few months ago that mass meetings
were held thruout District No. and
Commissioner Clements was asked by
the Richland Commercial Club, the
Kennewick Commercial Club, the
Highlands club, the Valley club, the
Finley Grange and by tax payers in
Vulnerable to keep the road levy to
$4,000. The taxpayers of the dis
trict were practically unanimous in
their wishes, but he ignored everyone
and placed the levy at about $4,000.
This is election year and road funds
properly distributed make great cam
paign literature. Assuredly there
were "725 ideas on building roads"
that differed from: the one idea of the
commissioner, but the one idea pre-
vailed. That is what we intend to
stop, and that is how we take the
roads out of politics. When the farm
ers are voting their own taxes and de-
termining how the money shall be
spent, it won't be used to further any
mans political ambitions.
We cannot follow the editors logic
in admitting that in old-settled coun-
ties Township Organization is sue
cess but won't be in new counties
where more road work is to be done.
1t is a success in old-settled counties
because roads are built and maintain
ed when and where needed at much
less cost than under the county unit
system, and will be a success in this
county for the same reasons. The
county could be divided so as to hand
leap the working of the law, but
there is no reason for so dividing it.
There is absolutely nothing to him
der its being divided equitably into
"a or 25 townships so that every town
would share justly in the division of
the railroad taxes, and no town need
suffer on account of sparcely settled
districts. Under our present system
whole townships have not received
any work for years, others have re-
ceived back less than $50 of the mon
ey thay have paid in for the past
eight years. A very few favored To-
calities- have received it all-that is,
all that has actually gone into the
roads, which has been a shamefully
small percent.
The editor of the CIR. anticipates
a patchwork, hit and miss system
of building roads," Could anything
be worse than what we have? The
County Good Roads association hopes
to bring order out of our present
chaotic lack of road system, but we
want to warn them that as long as
the road funds can be used for cam
paign literature, they will fail, but
that when they are taken out of pol
itics, they stand some show of eff
fecting coordination by working hand
in hand with the farmers themselves
whose interest in the matter is good
roads NOT politics.
We will describe the workings of
the township more in detail after fin
ishing with the initiative and refer
endum measures on the ballot.
The state grange has taken stand
against both initiative bills, all seven
referendum measures and the consti-
tutional amendment and they favor
township organization, their advice
being "Vote against every measure
except township organization" Lest
some who have not studied the meas
ure think this advice savors of mark
ing the grangers' ballots, we will re-
view each measure briefly.
Referendum No. 3-Initiative and
referendum.-There has been an un-
deniable tendency to load the ballot
with freak initiative measures, some
needless, some foolish, and some vi
cious. States where the initiative
has been in use the longest have suf-
fered the most until some, notably
Oregon and California, have ballots
as big as newspapers with IS to S5
measures on them. So easy has it
en- that anyone with a long purse
could get any measure on the ballot
regardless of its merits, and the only
safe way to combat this misuse of the
initiative has been for the newspapers
the different civic and farmers or
CARNATIONS to start the cry, "Vote
MOI" for with such an array of meas
ures it is impossible for the average
voter to investigate the merits of each
and to vote intelligently on them. The
result has been that almost all initia-
tive measures are defeated, for the
cry of "Vote No" has made it well
nigh impossible to secure much needed
legislation thru the initiative and its
free use has made it practically a
failure in some states.
Washington safeguarded its initia-
tive somewhat by providing against
paid petition hawkers, but that pro-
vision was easily evaded, and while
the initiative has doubtless been abus-
ed but little, some further restriction
which would provided definitely that
none but legal voters be permitted to
sign petitions was not entirely out
of place, for the purpose of the initia-
tive and referendum is primarily to
serve in cases of emergency as goad
or check upon perverse legislature
and the pratice of political fanatics
who use it to promote their pet ideas
should be checked.
But the last legislature undoubted-