The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-12-02
Trouble Over
Bond Roads
Continued from page one

AOutihu0u AiVAA Po6S WV
them froned out smooth instead of
drilling along in streaks and making
ruts. Mr.. Stone has been saying all
summer that the people here have
not been taught these methods of
road preservation, and that the best
roads in the world will go to pieces
very much faster If all the vehicles
tread in exactly the same streak. To-
ward the end of the season Stone and
the commissioners talked it over
some more, and the commissioners
suggested that somebody see Trego
and get him to put some
locals or readers in the paper
to call peoples attention to
these matters, and have the county
pay for the advertising. Trego wrote
the matter up in connection with one
of his road reports, and did not make
any charge for it. Stone said the ex-
PLANTATION was just what was needed,
only it would have to be repeated
in some form many times, to get peo-
pie all to see it and to impress them
with it. He again suggested to Trego
that he get up some kind of reading
notices and publish them many
times, and charge them to road con-
struction or to some county road ac-
count. Trego thought it over and
got one of his bull-headed notions
that that would not be the best way
to do it, He thought that people
would not read the locals much, and
that they would not be very much
impressed with what could be ex-
pressed on that subject in that way,
so he '1aid low fora while till he
reached conclusions about how to
handle it. Then he wrote display
advertisement adorned it with pic
lures of turkeys, wish bones and
pumpkin pies on the margins, and
put into it all the logic he could
think of to show people how and
why roads could be better preserved
by keeping out of the ruts and by
keeping loose stock off of the new
grades when the roads are muddy,
and by keeping all travel off Of them
in muddy times when wheels sink in
and disturb the layers rather than
packing the material. He thought 1t
would receive attention and be con-
vincing if it were published just at
Thanksgiving time, with all the rea
sons combined in one issue, so it
would be like hitting the subject
with bang. Then he showed the
advertisement with all the trimmings
to the men who had asked for such
publicity, and they approved it. It
was considered so effective that they
said it might be better to get the
same statements, turkeys and all,
into a paper in the south end of the
county and one in the mortimer and
would Trege attend to it? He would.
Engaging More Thunder
In order to make sure Of getting
the service at just the desired time
and with the desired ornaments on
the borders, Trego spent some of his
own money to telephone the Aber-
deem Times and the Shelley Pioneer
to engage the space in their papers,
and arranged to furnish the type
forms already cast and the Thanks
giving ornaments all in place, exactly
alike for the three papers.
Roaring About Thunder
When our paper came out, some of
our friends who never have been
known to use UP any gasoline or gray
matter studying road problems, fell
lows who do not believe in advertis-
ing nor publicity nor in taking the
people into their confidence in the
wide-open, friendly, frank statements
of facts so generally followed in The
Idaho Republican, fellows who say
they are not interested in good roads
but are interested in calling atten-
ton to bad roads, are suggesting that
perhaps the people will have t. toll
crate paying for the advertising Of
how to preserve the road investment
and they mention it as a joke COM
parable to train robbing in Wyoming.
More Talk of Injunction
1t is deuce of a bad mess, this
thing of having the county govern
ment buy and pay for display adver-
Using on the pretense of doing it to
preserve the new grades built at so
much expense. 1t might be better
to have no understanding of how to
preserve roadbeds and save the price
of the advertising. 1t might be bet
ter to spend much money dragging
the roads to fill up the ruts and re-
build the grades after they have been
damaged than to spend it for
printed warning in the hope of pre-
venting the losses. 1t might be that
people will not understand it any
way. 1t may be that they are not
sufficiently intelligent. Who ever
heard of advertising ruts! Who ever
heard of advertising people off of
a soft road or of advertising cattle
into by-road if the new grade was
soft and muddy! Do cattle read?