The Topeka state journal., 1916-10-14
Thirty-Eig Cars, 1877 Passen-
gers, Guests Here.
SPEAK AT COMMERCIAL CLUB
Kansas Roads i'm Excellent Con-
ditiOn, Visitors Say.
Last Ten Miles of Road Into
Topeka Best of the Trip.

One hundred and twenty-seven gog-
gle-eyed good roads boosters repre-
senting rho Kansas City Motor Deal
ers' association passed thru Topeka
today in the last lap of a weeks tour
thru Kansas ano stopped here long
enough to have luncheon at the Com
mercial club and to tell the people
of Topeka what Kansas is doing to
make here thorofares fit for automo-
bile traffic.
The party, in thirty-eight cars of
thirty-eight different makes. was es-
corted to Topeka by J. VIII Kelley,
secretary of the Commercial club, and
arrived shortly after II o'clock. The
cars lined up on Kansas avenue be-
tween Sixth avenue and Seventh street
and the boosters Immediately went to
the Commercial club rooms where
they washed thed ust out of their eyes
and had lur cheon.
Putney Welcomes Boosters.
H. S. Putney, president of the To-
peka Automobile club and chairman
of the good roads committee of the
Commercial club, welcomed the guests
to Topeka and told in n brief talk of
the work the Topeka Automobile club
is doing ard of the efforts it is max
ing to have ap ornament hard surface
road constructed from Topeka to Kan
sas City.
E. E. Peck, secretary of the Kansas
City Motor Car Dealers association,
in charge of the party. responded to
the welcome of Mr. Putney and pro-
Nfusely praised the entertainment and
hospitality extended to the party here
and thruout Kansas.
He said
"Altho they are all dirt we have
| found most of the roads in Kansas
| in excellent shape, and the best way
1 can tell you of their condition is to
| say that since the first day out when
we lost ten minutes on account of mud
we have never been behind our sched-
| ule and have usually been little
ahead of it in spite of the fact that
we have made eleven additional stops
Shawnee Roads Good.
Il believe the last ten miles of road
| coming into Topeka was as good if not
| better than any we passed over,' Mr.
| Peck continued, "altho, in most every
section we found the people wide
awake to the advantages to be de-
rived from improved highways In all
we have covered, or will have covered
when we get back to Kansas City al
$50 this afternoon. $50 miles have
made forty-one stops and passed thru
1881 towns We stopped in every place
where there was enough interest to
bring out a crowd large enough to
| block the streets. but our most enthu-
siastic receptions were in Hiawatha
Mankato, Herington. Council Grove
| Clay Center and, of course, Topeka"
Mr.. Peck explained that the triI
was made for the dual purpose o,
boosting for better roads and demon
| strating the automobiles handled by
| the Kansas City dealers. However,
he said, "the trip is mainly for thu
purpose of road boosting and we dt
about 75 per cent of road talking tt
| about 25 per cent of auto talking"
| J. Will Kelley, of Topeka, Joined tn.
party at Abilene. and assited Mr.. Peel
in preaching the gospel of the autois
into Topeka. The party left Kansa.
City last Monday morning at 1880 ant
expects to get back this afternoon a
$50. The only stops on the schedul,
after leaving Topeka were Lawrence
| and Oskaloosa.