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Show : - Hurting the State ' . ' d i i. i t i"ERTAirnull - and-vailcioui toult in Davis county have used the recent floods ! . to do irreparable Injury to the reputation of the state. When traffic on. the main highway was Mocked by the mud and debris washed .down by the floods, iobrists and travelers were.j ' compelled to detour In order to jet to Salt! Lake ind Ofden. ; Naturally some of these detours traversed private property end owners of the property ' used the existing distress as a means to fatten - their pocketbooks. Utah has been cussed east and west in the past week by tourists who were compelled to pay toll to Davis county - residents for permission to detour over their '; land. , In one Instance the owner who Insisted ' that every motorist who crossed his land pay tilm 50 cents narrowly escaped a beating at the hands of a group of Irate tourists. - Other tourists, however, were not so determined deter-mined and paid toll rather than suffer further delays. At another point it was necessary for motorists to have their cars towed through the mud, and a man and team , reaped a harvest . - - Drivers who thought they could make It to dry land on the power of their cars were charged double when they found themselves ' stuck in the mud. Of course, there is nothing to prevent a man for charging for his services and few tourists would expect a man with a team to help them without pay, but it would seem to us that the county officials or the - state 'officials could have prevented much of this - profiteering If .they, had given proper attention to the detours provided. In view of the fact that public officials were unusually slow In reopening the main road to travel, it would seem that they should have arranged to help tourists over the detours. de-tours. These things are not calculated to do the state any rood at a time when everything possible Is being done to get the tourist to come to Utah. They give the visitor a wrong impression which Is scattered broadcast as the travelers move east and west ' ., ' Tourists also have a legitimate complaint against the treatment they receive in Salt , Lake. At the municipal camp they are permitted per-mitted to drive In, but if they decide they do not lias the-accommodations, it costs them 50 cents to get out. They are told that they have a claim against the city and may get their money back by making formal application appli-cation to the city commission. Recently tourists tour-ists have been charged 50 cents for a mere Inspection of the camp grounds. The fees charged by the city are supposed to cover service and accommodations for twenty-four hours in the park. Certainly the city doesn't want to' charge them for something some-thing they do not get. The city officials should take Immediate steps to, remedy this condition. No charge should be imposed on those who do not use the grounds. Fifty cents Is too much to ask a tourist to pay for looking. j.Jjj |