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Show T THE CITIZEN 4 Is there one among you who for a moment believes that prohibition can ever be a success in this country when the foreigner is allowed to sit by your side and drink his wine and taunt you with liis jests? Does this country belong to the foreigners that they can dictate and have such exclusive privileges and must we humiliatingly acquiesce in their dictation? The thoughts of such injustice calls to mind a verse of Omar Khayyam: Why, be this juice the growth of God, who dare blaspheme the twisted tendril as a snare? A blessing, we should use it, should we not? And if a curse why, then, who set it there? Judge Frank L. Stevens of Cleveland, OKTo, rules that a person may have in his possession 200 gallons of wine for his own consumption, and if the officers bring in any citizen arrested for liquor possession, he will turn them loose if they have not sold any wine. The judge claims that he is backed by the Federal interpretation of the law and he is for it. Surely our prohibition law can be interpreted to suit almost any condition and locality. Yet the government is spending millions of dollars for enforcement and every city has its coterie of officials, but the people go on drinking just the same. Big headlines in our Scotnewspapers tell the story nearly every day. It is said that in land they cannot make whiskey and wine fast enough to send to this country. How does this liquor get in' and who gets it after it does . get in? s No, we never get any of it, but we do believe that wre are just as good as any foreigner that comes to our shores, and we also believe equality treatment for all. OUR HIGHWAYS. Prohibitive maintenance costs of our public highways in states and localities where road commissions have not yet learned the lesson that the best cement highway is the only road is creating no end of trouble in the many departments so affected. Wherever the traffic is over 500 vehicles per day, road costs are so enormous that repairs cannot be made, and the good dirt road made today, in one month nearly becomes impassable. We have built some good roads in Utah and we have built some bad ones and with this experience in road construction, what are we going to do in the future. To build gravel roads in places where there is much tourist travel is on a par with kindling the morning fire with currency. The people are burning up just that much good money and it is lost forever and millions of dollars have been foolishly spent on poor dirt roads. This has been done to a greater extent than necessary, mostly because the nation did not construct permanent roads until the advent of the automobile and we had no absolute cost prices. The east, the center of population, wTas the pioneer in road construction. Road builders had to take into consideration the cost of constructing a road; the maintenance of that road, and the cost of operating vehicles over the road. These demonstrations have resulted in road cost statistics which can be relied upon and are correct. It has been proven that any gravel road over which 500 vehicles travel, the yearly maintenance costs will run from $1,300 to $1,500 for upkeep and repairs; when the traffic exceeds 1,000 vehicles the cost is about $2,000 per mile for upkeep. Now we turn to the first class concrete highway and find that where 2,000 vehicles travel per day the largest cost amounted to only $183 and ranges down to only a few dollars per year. This number of vehicles on a gravel rioad would advance the cost to over $3,500 per mile for upkeep alone. Anyone can compare the figures and see the result. Many of our states which have laid hundreds of miles of gravel roads are now confronted with no funds in their treasuries for upkeep, have been bonded to the limit, and the future looks very gloomy. Where is the money going to come from? There is a limit to the taxpayer, and yet we must have good roads. Is it not better then to build a few miles each year of a good cement road which will last for many years? The problems which confronts this state is how to best raise the money for permanent road construction. A road tax would be the sane way of doing the thing, and that with the automobile tax and i gasoline tax would in a few years give us. a, highway to beT However, let us forget the costly gravel road which .. rupt any community that tries to keep the road in fit autnmnhilfi travel. POOR JUDGMENT. ie hoi The Social Welfare League and Sheriff Benjamin ito have gotten themselves in a pretty mess. Frank W. Bross. 3 up the pulpit to become a deputy sheriff and who with SI ries was going to show the people how to conduct a camp?1 would rid this city of all crime, have certainly made a rois1? ure. The sniff hounds have made several costly mistijjJojf tering homes in search of liquor where there never was oewn Had any of these deputies read the Constitution of the ' with understanding they would never have entered any lion8, first getting some evidence. No experienced man will evim word of some gossiper for evidence or rely upon his owiershi to locate a white mule still. However, this mistake was. F. I now the deputies are paying for their experience. The rn part of the entire proceeding, however, is the announcem1, forts will be made to pass a law to make the people pay fcrs any deputies might make. We dare say that if we had n h. upon our statute books it would not take long to break the 0. W. such a force of ardent sniffers. When government employes invaded a home of citizen some time ago and uncovered the nakedness of onectpp, ily, without finding a drop of liquor, the government with u J. C patch retired the officers concerned, together with the chi ington not only recognized the sanctity of the home but that no homes were to be invaded by government officials t lquj absolute proof of law violation. Thats just what the Constson vides for, but it appears that some of our zealous officialsrenB a stepped their bounds. When the government men overstep bounds, they were discharged, but in the case of the shefjjjjjj deputies the people who were humiliated by a forcible hca me could get no satisfaction and the sheriff continues in offend er&d same. Ufp-P0- l- $ $ THE OUTLOOK FOR 1925. - ti, U frat :ason Predictions for 1925 by government and industrial ei the to a prosperous and eventful year. There will be a laLlIng in business for manufacturing concerns, railroads, constn j panies, agricultural interests, and mining industries, and. p are for increased pay to workers. unn The farmers are promised aid by the government isPj nizes the important position of the land owners. Labor isi fully employed. With the opening of spring building and m tion work will be of increased proportions. ty e Surprising developments are forecasted in the scicntfj gineering fields. Radio vision is an assured thing. Thii enables one to see as well as talk to a person on the other al d globe. Aeroplanes are being designed to give increased Foi safety, and a type of automobile built entirely along nev, of ime make its appearance. lOStl d vi TAX PAYERS. U1 ijor yler iten Big Business is against tax publicity and Senatoi leading the opposition to kill the present law. Howcvren' Couzens, Republican, of Michigan, says that Treasurer Mfre for secrecy invites dishonesty. Mr. Couzons has paid a iK ,000,000 in one year to the government and he does no!11"1' knows it, because he believes it is public property and if anf to know, they should know. Personally he does not care TC Aid his friends pay in taxes. IN( Several papers in the east published tax returns FRA suited in a great deal of censure. Many of our richer Pjiiiiiiii paid little in taxes. No wonder there is a fight on pul lid - 1 |