The Mena weekly star., 1917-08-09

| a idllHtf Woulu WHO Wiontu bo btdIb out and make living and live with i in his income while he was doing 1t. For this is the time Co live within the limits of our incomes and not on the outside: as the government will be forced to do the latter. i'll order fO get money to carry on the war. I And at the present time no man knows to what extent the govern ment will go in the matter of taxa tiOn. An official of the K c. s. By. Co, in a recent letter to a Hatfield citizen aptly sums up the good roads increment in these words, Now is the time in which it behOoves all thoughtful citizens to approach all problems of local improvement in d ! conservative spirit. Now many people know this, but they will not own it. The railroad company did not say this before the war broke out, mind you. But instead they wrote to several business men at Mena encouraging it. But now in ! the above letter referred to, they say they would not volunteer more than 10 per cent of the expenses in the construction of the road. con- sidering the way times are. Now ! if this, connected with the fact that we already have good roads, is not sufficient evidence to make us let l up pushing the good roads move nothing is, and we might as sell go ahead and run the limit and all get our feet wet together.
 ] Now some people have gotten the mistaken notion that the only way tG be considered progressive and the only way to bring about prosperity is to begin working for good road. The fact is, tho, that there arc hun- dreds of people in favor of good I roads that are a century behind the times. progressiveness is a thing of the mind and not of the roads. ' Abe Lincoln was progressive man and he never saw macadamlzed road in his life If Lincoln was liy- ing today he would be for good roads of course, but not at the pres ent time. No, indeed, for We need other things much worse.
 As to progressiveness, we have got many ways to show it without build l ing roads. The fact is we are going at things right backwards. What we need to do, myself included, IS 1 to get interested in good stock, tame pastures. better farming and aid in working up truck growers organi- zations, etc. We are not even taking i advantage Of our present opportun- lilies, let alone paying out big lot 1 of money to buy others. We arc 1 trying to buy prosperity instead of working for it. Let us never hesi- i tate to improve our every phase Of agriculture life as we find if now, and if we do this the good roads will i come about naturally and as surely as the good home and it's many con- venienees comes to the farmers who Continually stays on his job. It takes i time to do things and we need about ] ten years to prepare for this good road we are trying so hard to get. l As to being considered backwards ' and non-progressive. to the thunder with such talk Pay no attention to ! it. II is up Co us, and not others, to sa what we should do Outsiders don't know anything about our out look, conditions and limitations.
 Joe Lewis.
 Hatfield. Ark.
 Joe Lewis. the irrepressible op- lponent of the Jefferson Highway in Polk county, IS given lot of space to explain his position in The Star this week Joe is worried hecause he thinks certain class has set about to get the road, and don't want to be defeated and Joe is just bound they shall be. if he can dc it. Therefore it looks like a case of an irresistible force bucking an i'm movable body.
 But don't worry, Joe, On the side of the highway you will find prae- tieally every successful business I man Polk county. as well as the doctors, lawyers, preachers and teachers, These are backed up by ! the government of the United States
 the government of Arkansas and even the Kansas City Southern rail- road, whose highest officials tell of 1 the great good it will do the people of our county. especially the farm CTS. as you found in a recent letter but failed to mention. And il was
 too bad wasn't it, Joe. that the olllcials of the railroad would not oblige you by telling you what they would or would not pay toward 1 building the road, when they, as well as you, know that question is in
 the hands of the assessors, not the
 taxpayers. Wonder if the assessor ever asked you how much tax you
 would ''volunteerr to pay for
 schools, for instance?
 Il The star does not know what Lincoln would have done about this road and won't argue that point with you.
 | Replying to he last parasraph in
 Soar article. will assert that ihe lpeople of Polk county have had a
 mighty hard lime in working up