The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-08-30
SUCH SERVICE AS THIS
WOULD LOSE THE WAR

SUCH SERVICE AS THIS
WOULD LOSE THE WAR
Out in the. front end of the cap
ital of Bingham county, within the
city limits and where the travel is
the heaviest of any place in the
county, excepting perhaps, the CEN
trail part of the town, and just oppo-
site the cement block residence of
F. M. Taylor, is a species Of roadbed
that is probably doing more damage
to. wheels and tires than any other
spot of equal area in the county.
The editor of this little sheet
doesn't know whether it comes in
the Jurisdiction of the road overseer
who lives near there, or the street
commissioner of the town, where
live most of the members of the Gel
ebrated Bingham County Civic
league. 1t doesn't matter much
whose jurisdiction it is in, neither of
them has what people call initiative
the ability to take notice and to-
take notion and then to act on the
notion and remedy existing condi-
tons. Neither of them has the in
iatiative pronounce it in ish tiv)
to see and observe what is wrong
with the road and to fix it forthwith.
We need men with initiative to
serve as road overseers. We need
men with initiative to serve as county
commissioners, city officials, county
officials, managers of stores and
farms, newspapers, garages ETC., and
for helpers for the managers. Most
people are only imitators and serv-
ers. They do what the other fellow
is doing or they do (poorly) what
they are told to do. They are of lit
tie account-some of them of no &C
count, and large number of our
men having charge of the roads and
road work are of the latter kind.
At the particular place in the road
already mentioned. are three stumps
and rock, that stick up in the road
a few inches. They have been there
for years, and are gradually wearing
away by the blows and grind of
wheels passing over them. The
three stumps were posts once, and
when the road was widened, fence
that was built long time ago by
the old gentleman Bates was moved
back about twenty feet. Instead of
digging out the posts at the fence
corner, the workmen cut them off
and left them in the middle of the
road The travel of years has
pounded on them, and they are wear
ing down, but at high cost to the
people who bump them. Only few
weeks ago j. H. Early and wife
passed that way and he saw one
stump, but in lodging that he struck
another and Mrs. Early was nearly
thrown out Of the car. One casing
was bruised so badly it blew out, and
the accompanying tube lost the air.
He estimated the damage at $40.
Penny Wise, Pound Foolish
According to the traffic census
taken by the Idaho Republican last
November to determine the amount
Of travel past that corner, there are
10,500 buggies year passing that
way. There are 1880 wagons and
$500 cars, but we have no census
to show how many of them have suf-
fered bruises, blow-outs and other
jams from humping the stumps. But
whatever they are, they have been
unnecessary, for the posts could all
have been dug out in the first place
for SO cents. and the man in charge
of that part of the road could have
dug them out last spring or the
spring before or the spring before
that, for a dollar or two, and that
would have stopped the damage.
Getting Tired of Us
This paper has done great deal
of criticising of the city and county
government and has repeatedly said
that the services rendered by our Of
ficials was only ordinary. People
have become tired of our so-called
trades against these things, and the
Editor of this little sheet gets tired
of pointing to the ordinary things in
the service and the parts of the SER
vice that are worse than ordinary,
that produce so much loss and
trouble and discomfort that are un-
called for. When we speak of poor
service we mean things like these
stumps and the holes in the road, and
the bad bridges and culverts such as
we have pointed out in recent issues |
Of the paper as we'll as the grating |
and extravaganza and stealing of
public funds that we have exposed |
from time to time. We get just as !
tired of pointing them out as people |
do Of reading about them, but we |
have noticed that there is way to |
correct and improve poor service, and |
it seems to be the province of the |
press Of this county to do 1t or be |
content with undesirable conditions.
Not Cridcising for Fun
Some people get the idea that the |
Idaho Republican agitates for better
things by criticising what is and sug-
costing better ways, just to be dig
ging" somebody, but If somebody |
else will take the job of securing the |
improvements, we shall be very glad |
to leave 1t to them to do. One day |
a man said to the editor of the Re-
publican, II get tired of your agrees
sive policy and so do other people. |
get tired of seeing the weak things |
about our town and county adver-
tised so presistently in the paper. I
am always glad when you give those
things rest. Down in your heart |
you are the best booster in the coun-
ty, but you are not content to merely
point out the better way-you
sharpen the contrast by telling ex-