The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-12-23
DEMOCRATS SCORED
BY EARL CRAWFORD
AT LIBERTY MEETING
fspecial 10 de Palladium

LIBERTY, Ind. Dec. 23.-Members
of the Democratic party of Indiana
were scored by Earl Crawford. Demo
cratic member of the state highway
commission. in a speech before farm
er audience, Friday night, for allowing
their zeal TO exceed the accuracy in
reporting, during the election cam
paign, conditions under the state Re
publican administration. Mr.. Craw
ford spoke before the last session of
the farmers institute and roundup.
1T has become common practice"
said Mr. Crawford for politicians to
twist facts and misrepresent the true
conditions during an election campaign I
in order to win the election. | am
sorry TO say that some members of my F
own party were guilty of this last fall.
Election speakers contrasted the
IS 1000 900 spent by the highway COM
mission for salaries and expenses
with the 100000 spent for new con-
struction, as evidence of an excessive |
and unwarrantably high overhead. /
They concealed the fact that large
part of that $5,000,000 expenditure was
for maintenance and for materials
bought for repairs to the roads, all of
which was placed under the expenses
account to make easier bookkeeping.
heavy due to the fact that before the
state roads We're taken over, they had
suffered from four years of neglect,
which had to be remedied in one year
Widening roads, leveling grades and
Strengthening curves also come under
this account.
Our overhead or supervisory costs
really amounted to only u percent of
expenses the first year, was 3.16 per
cent in 1921 and 3.55 in 1922, record
OF which we are proud.
Practices Abandoned.
-Four bridges erected in four con-
secutive years in the same spot, super
vision of road work by engineers un-
able to read blue prints, inspection of
work by men who could not tell what
the specifications were that they were
supposed to enforce, We're some of the
former practices that have been elm
mated by the commission Mr. Craw-
ford stated
Our engineers used to provide for
road drainage" he said, "by making a
sweet potato ridge down the middle.
Whenever a heavy dew fell, wagons
would slide off into the ditch
Many failures last winter were due
to poor drainage. Road contractors
and enthusiastic citizens living on
those roads came to us and tried to
argue that the remedy for hundred
yard mudhole was to build 10-mile
hard surfaced road.
Farm Bureau Results.
Our trouble before this has been
that we have tried to build roads with
politics and water. Neither was good
paving material. When we found the
water bothering the traffic. instead of
III w fri RI I,tr
dumping gravel in the road"
Mr. Crawford concluded his talk with
a reference to the legislative and mar
lleting accomplishments of the farm
bureau. Profits of $4,000 are avail
able in the treasury of the cooperative
livestock firm, he stated. The firm was
started nine months ago with a $4,000
loan from county farm bureaus.
Award of prizes for BOYS and girls
club work was made by County Agent
Foster Campbell during the evening.
In the girls sewing club, for ffrsc
year work, Genevieve Pinkerton won
first, Anna Marie Buckley second and
Helen Corey third; second year, LEILA
Marie Cruise. first, Elizabeth Sawyer,
second; third year, Katherine Kitch-
i. ell, first, Neva Huspeth, second, Eva
Huspeth, third. The sewing work was
who inspected it with Prof Christie
and stated that it was among the besr
Ia the state
Shrsder Prize Winner.
Aaron Shrader, of Kitchell, was
named as prize winning one acre club
hoy. Roy Johnson was second and
Hubert Jones third. In the poultry
club, Thelma Parks was first, Burnet
John. second; Martin Snyder third
and Neil Rutherford, fourth. Others
who placed were, in order, Mary Mo
ret, Esther Winters, Stanley Morton
and Esther Richardson.
In the boys 10 ear yellow corn class
placings were, Arnold Doty, Roy John
son Lester Parks, Aaron Shrader
Paul Dunlap, Ralph Winters and for
10 ears white corn, Hubert Jones.
For the mems 10 ear class, Oran
Parks won first and others were
James Boyle, (second and third, and