The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1917-04-05
WILL HELP TOPULL
OREGON OUT Of MUD
Morrow County Good Roads Associa-
tiOn Is Organized Mainly to Edu.
cate People to Merits Of the
$4,000, 900 Road
Bond Bill.

The Morrow County Good Roads
Association has been organized to do
its share in the task of pulling Ore
gon out Of the mud"
An enthusiastic meeting was held
in the city hall in this city Tuesday
evening. at which time. Roy w. -Rit-
ner of Pendleton, a member Of the
legislative committee who framed the
bonding bill and leading good roads
booster, addressed the citizens.
Mr.. Ritner went into considerable
detail, explaining the various road
legislation which was passed at the
recent legislature and defined clearly
how each measure will work when
put into operation.
The $6,00O.O0O bonding bill, If
passed by the people at the June
election, provides that this amount
shall be spent in hard surfacing roads
over the state of Oregon, covering a
period Of five years The state
Highway Commission, which Is thor
oughly competent and impartial, ac-
cording to Mr.. Ritner, will see to it
that each county will get its hard
surfacing just as soon as that coun-
ty has completed its preliminary
work of grading. All work done by
the county must be according to spe-
cifications laid down by the State en-
gineer under the instructions of the
State Highway Commission.
Mr.. Ritner estimates that the $6,-
000,0 900 will be sufficient to hard sur
face 500 miles of roadway
One important feature brought
out by the representative in his ad-
dress was the manner and method by
which the interest and principal on
the bonds will be met He put at
ease the mis-givings OF the taxpayers
when he said that none of the money
would necessarily come out OF their
pockets. According to the measure
the money will be raised through au-
tomobile license fees and the quarter
mill tax which already goes to the
state for road purposes. So there
will be no increase In taxes from this
source.
At the conclusion OF his address,
Mr.. Ritner announced that he would
be glad to answer any questions
bearing on the subject that might be
asked him, and as result, consider
able discussion was brought out.
R. w. Turner. speaking for the far
mers announced that he did not know
how the majority of the farmers
would vote on the bill. He said that
there were some who were opposed
to the measure and some who favored
it, but he thought in the main, most
of them were like himself, not tho
roughly familiar with the bill, but
wanted the opportunity of studying
and becoming educated. He stated
emphatically that he was for good
roads, the only question being, the
best method by which to get the
roads. He wanted to feel sure, If he
voted for the bill that Morrow county
would stand in line to get her share
Of the money voted.
Harry Cummings made warm
speech in favor of the bond issue and
stated that II we got no more than
10 miles of hard surfaced road, then
the "whole business would be worth
all it cost u.s." He believed that
some good trunk roads will be a
means of reducing freight rates.
s. Z. Notson brought out an excel
lent point in favor of the bond issue
when he quoted government statis-
tics showing that the state of Oregon
spent in 1915 on roads, more than
the entire sum involved in the bond
issue. OF that amount, only $4,000
900 went into permanent road work
while more than four million dollars
was spent in temporary roads. He
thought this might explain the
wrongs of the present system of road
building in the safe of Oregon.
San e. VanVactor said: II have
not given the bond measure much
study, so cannot speak of the merits
of the bill, but l do know that Ore
gon is falling far behind the other
states in the matter Of roads" From
what he had learned Of the bond
measure, he believed 1t was a good
thing and that this is the time in
which to start doing something
At the conclusion Of the discussion
chairman c. L. Sweek, put the mo-
ton before the house for the organf-
zation of the Morrow County Good
Roads Association and as a result
S. Il. Notson was UNANIMOUSLY elected
president and w. w. Smead was
elected secretary. Forty eight road
boosters became members of the new
organization on the spot and from
now on this county will have an ac-
tive body in the field disseminating
and putting forth publicity matter
pertaining to the road bonding meas
ure.
In few weeks it is likely that w.
L. Thompson, of Pendleton, a mem
ber Of the State Highway Commission
will meet with the local organization
and further enlighten them upon the
bonding subject. Senator Barrett of
Athena has notified Mr.. Notson that
he may come down to talk to the
people Of Morrow county.
A full house greeted Mr.. Ritner,
and pleasing feature Of the meeting
was the attendance by large num-
hor of women