The Mena weekly star., 1919-05-22
FROM KNOCkER
 ID ROAD BOOSTER
Jse Lewis, Long Leader of the Anti Highway Element in Polk County, Goes Visiting, and Seeing Is Be-
 lieving"-The Story.
To the People of Polk County:

Martins letter on the 14th, the one which was printed in last weeks Star, have been doing some serious thinking.
 The judge indicated in this letter that the pros north of Mena and south of Cove intended to form special dis tricts and leave Hatfield out of the game. And the fact that the people in those two districts might do such thing brought the issue to a forked focus. It was easy to see that Hat feld-I mean the antis, not the busi- ness men, for they have always been boosters-must either get the other towns along the road to line up strong as she was doing, or else submit to de- feat. For what good would it do to gain suit that did not carry ma jority approval?
 But, inasmuch as some of us had fought it so hard and waded in so deep financially, 1t seemed as tho it was hard to stop for several reasons. Getting even" is a strong passion with us farmers. This is wrong of course. But nevertheless human na- ture is human nature, and "beans is beans"
 l have been feeling uneasy over our stand for sometime. 1 saw others in the same fix, and on this account thought Judge Martins letter above referred to, hit the mark, and that if others read it as l did it would kill all strong anti sentiment. But was mistaken. The meeting we held in Hatfield last Saturday afternoon proved it. On account of school cleo tion there were not many out, but those present were about as warm bunch as you ever met.
 "Go on with it, why certainly" they all said. And we raised $400 to take it to the Supreme court. But, mind you, I had become cold-footed and the rest saw it. One of the bunch, a new recruit in the anti camp, suggested that if I was cold to step out My! but I wanted to take him up. But it was not so easy to do as fellow might think. You see I have been one among a bunch that has baen-f fighting this thing for over three years. Several hundred dol lars have been entrusted to my care, and for me to quit all at once was ini- possible. All men who have ever clanned together over some proposi- tion know how this is; all kinds of strings get a hold on you. But new ertheless, as the business men of Hatfield were so hot after us, l saw something must be done and done in a hurry, for all necessary expenses had been raised and eur lawyer notified by letter on Sunday to go on immedi ately with the transcripts and briefs. So on Monday morning l called up Sam Powell, another anti, stronger than myself, and suggested that we go to the south end of the county and see how the farmers stood and if they wanted to line up with us. MT. Pow ell came to town We talked it over, but he declined to go. l invited sew eral other farmers to go, but they, toe, refused to go. and objected to my go- ing. So L. H. Johnson, cashier of the Bank of Hatfield, came in on the scene and volunteered to take three of us in his ear. Again they declined the invitation. So about 10 o'clock MT. Johnson and I. in his big Overland, hit the trail south. It was funny combination--one strong pro and one strong anti riding side by side. But we stuck it out. We even went so far as to eat our meals together.
 Now it looks as tho it would be easy to find out where people stood and where the majority leans on a case like this. But it is the most diff icult thing in the world to do. We began taking copious notes as to how each man stood and as to how he thought others stood.
 When we met strong pro he would exclaim: "759o of the people are for itl" and if it was an anti, he was equally as sure that there was that many against it. So there we were.
 When we got to the lower end of the county we found that each side claimed majority. Then we were up a tree. So Mir. Johnson insisted, and in fact, had been insisting ever since we left Vandervoort, that we go on thru to DeQueen and get some data where they had roads. l reluc- tantly consented, and now that the trip has been made don't regret 1t. What we found would make every man in Polk county highway boost CT. If any man doubts this, l will raise enough money any day that he may go and see for himself. Seeing is believing, and what those Sevier county people have got, the things they are doing, actually makes felr low sick.
 From the very start, after we reached the highway at Mineral, we began seeing nice homes, good fences, fine orchards, vineyards, strawberry patches and nice school and church buildings. What we were now seeing and what we had been seeing was such contrast that I never felt so ashani- ed of thing in my life as did of my self and my county.
 I would have given 5000 if every anti in Polk county had been with us. Boosting is in the very air in Sevier county. Boosters, they are every where, and the funny part about 1t IS that the farmers are the biggest
 fco,t;nuad on Page Five.1