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Show I In An Observation Plane H TT ,1b pleasanter to talk of kings than H of cobblestones because cobble- t stones are commonplace while kings Hj are getting rarer. And yet cobble- M stones are sometimes more important M than kings. Certainly, at this time, m good roads are more important to H Utah than all the royal and imperial, or late royal and imperial, crowned i heads of Europe, not forgetting the h King of Hejaz and the Maharajah of B Kapurthala. H' Many are as unwilling to talk of Hj good roads as tho small boy is to stay Hl after school and study the missed geo- H graphy lesson. But the people of Salt H Lake county must take up tho subject H of good roads at once and give it ex- H , haustive consideration. It is not sim- H ply a question of the county's pros- H perity, although that must be the HIj main consideration. It is a question Hg also of the county's contentment and Hj enjoyment, its well being in general. Hi With one of the fairest valleys and Hh mountain zones in the world to show H the traveler and homeseeker we must H leave much to their imaginations when Hj we paint the varied glories of our H scenery. We have no grand loop ! boulevard along which we can conduct 1 them prpudly bo that they may see tho entire panorama of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake spread out before be-fore .them .in all Its thrilling irridos-cent irridos-cent splendors, HJ fl , All of us will admit that such a B - highway would All us with pride and B i that we would traverse it in rich con- H tentment of spirit, pointing out to the duly edified visitor the wonders of our realm. But tho boulevard would bo 1 more than a mere aesthetic treat, a pathway to the beautiful and the sub lime. It would be a practical asset of incalculable value. I .have adverted first of all to the proposed "Alpine Scenic Highway" because be-cause it appeals to the imagination, because it is one of those grandiose conceptions which make us ruffle up our feathers of pride and strut about , like Chantecler flouting tho morning Isun. But 'that grandiose conception Is about to be realized as the part of a project which our country commissioners commis-sioners practical business men have outlined and for which funds are to be asked of the taxpayers of the county. The commissioners have called a iiond election for Thursday, February 13, at which time the voters will de- clde whether or not $1,500,000 shall be obtained for good roads. If they vote against the bond issue Salt Lake county folk will lag behind the rest of the country. Everywhere the country is getting ready, to build good roads and many districts which will vote liberal bond issues will have much less reason for their action than has Salt Lake county. In 1916 the county expended $200,-000 $200,-000 on roads out of its regular revenues. rev-enues. In 1917 it had only $153,000 to spend for that purpose and in 1918 it could spare only $12Q,000. It was compelled com-pelled to redeem big obligations and to devote its revenues to other neces sities, among which may be mentioned men-tioned sixteen concrete bridges over one canal to replace decaying and collapsing col-lapsing wooden bridges. The county 1ms barely enough money mon-ey for the proper maintenance of Its roads and yet it is constantly called upon to build new roads. Naturally permanent, hard-surfaced roads are desired, de-sired, but the revenues are sufficient to provide only good dirt roads. We believe that the taxpayers of the county realize that now is the accepted accept-ed time for road improvements. During Dur-ing the war it was argued justly and convincingly that we should do nothing noth-ing to hamper the government in its war work, that we should devote our energy and our cash to the winning of a struggle which meant so much to humanity. Everywhere improvements were held in abeyance until our military mili-tary objects should be attained, until we should bo able to take a clear view of the future. The country lias come out of the war with a big debt, it Is true; but Americans can felicitate themselves that not another country has come out of it so fortunately or with such cheering cheer-ing prospects of prosperity. The commissioners have not yet told us just what kind of bonds they want, but we may be sure that the obligations obliga-tions will be long-term and that they can be met comfortably without any undue hardship from year to year. If we" are as optimistic as we should be we will feel confident that long before the final obligations must be met the roads will have paid for themselves many times over in the prosperity they have brought to all the people of the county. The county will not bo called upon to bear all of the expenses. The state and the city will share in tho improvements. improve-ments. The city, we believe, is about to bridge a gap in the Wasatch boulevard boule-vard which will connect the splendid north bench roadway with the Fort Douglas system of roads. The plan wa Bproposed by Mr. B. F. Redman as a( means of providing jobs for some o fthe soldiers. The city ommjssion ers, I understand have already set about the work. ,, Tho state authorities, also, are obligated ob-ligated to assist. They have agreed to continue the State street road from its present southern terminus south to the county line. They have also prom.' ised to take care of Twenty-first South street and also Thirty-third South and some of the other roads which naturally natur-ally come within their province. Other permanent roads proposed are the Redwood road, the Bingham highway, high-way, Highland Drive and a road running run-ning through Magna and Garfield toward to-ward Tooele. These roads are practically prac-tically all within the great loop highway high-way of which the "Alpine Scenic Highway" High-way" in the mountains will be a link. The great loop, beginning at the state capitol and extending thence to Ensign peak will run southeastward along the Wasatch boulevard to Emigration Emi-gration canyon, eastward in the canyon can-yon to Little Mountain and PInecrest Inn, across Little Mountain to Parley's canyon, out of Parley's canyon by way of Lamb's canyon, following the highest high-est ground always until it roaches Brighton. Thence it turns westward in Big Cottonwood canyon until it rejoins re-joins the Wasatch-Bonneville boulevard boule-vard at the mouth of the canyon. From there it follows the boulevard southward south-ward until it strikes the county road running westward through Draper, Riverton and Herriman.. At Lark the road will be made to curve around to the south and west so as to enter Bingham on high ground and thus give a complete view of the Utah Copper workings. Out of Bingham the Bingham Bing-ham highway will be traversed to the valley section of the Wasatch-Bonne vllle boulevard, which will lead north to the state road to Tooele, thence through Magna and Garfield to the Great Salt Lake and back to town by the Saltalr speedway. The commissioners plan to name a consulting body of experts which shall go over all of the plans, decide on the best routes, the kind of roads required and, in fact, all details which should properly be passed upon by those having hav-ing technical knowledge. Once the great project is under way there should be no surplus of labor in Salt Lake county, no matter how many of the returned soldiers are with us. And we should not lose sight of the fact that the soldiers will thus be provided pro-vided with an avenue for employment. em-ployment. Inasmuch as we aro anxious, an-xious, all of us, to see to it that our heroes back from the war, shall have the amplest opportunity for work, the good roads project should meet with additional favor for that very reason. 1 MATERNITY hospitals, public and private, have always been a source of scandal to tho communities in which they are granted a more or less free hand. A maternity hospital, conceivably, .can be a benefit to the community, but ' rarely is. Usually its management shares the taint of a secret traffic. Just as there is something in madhouses mad-houses that tends to make keepers cruel, so there is something about maternity ma-ternity hospitals that shadows the minds and souls of those in charge so , that they look at life through the glasses of moral obliquity. Conducting a maternity hospital is not like conducting a church or a so- ciety for ethical culture, although it k would be better for the community if similar high-mindedness could be introduced in-troduced into these dubious institutions institu-tions where unfortunate mothers and their offspring are supposed to be shel- tered from the scorpions of curiosity and gossip. At best the shadow of 1 shame hangs in low clouds about such ! an Institution. Decent people turn away with a shudder and leave the in- stitution to its dangerous secrecy. It ' is only when scandal shouts through j the megaphone of the public press that J the public utters a few virtuous words '" of horror and relapses into forgetful- ness. Salt Lake seems to have discovered a new form of white slavery which has a maternity hospital for its home. ' Time was in this community when ? prostitution was segregated into slave ., pens and women were held for debts contracted with keepers who had back f of them the political and police power of the city. Now babies are held for , the debts of their unhappy mothers and are sold for debt and, it would . appear, also for profit. Most of us, if we are honest, will ad- J mit frankly that Ave do not know much T 1 about these things. If we were called upon to suggest remedies we would be at a loss. These scandals come to the surface only once in a while and find us unprepared. We talk about f them in tin aggrieved fashion for a ", while and demand that the authorities t take steps to rectify what is wrong, J but few of us know just what is wrong and fewer know what should be done. ' If we should probe deeply into these affairs the scalpel, as usual, would strike deep into human nature. The ' j Initiates would offer many reasons j why society should keep its rosy- tipped hands off, why it should not besmirch its skirts with the affairs of these grimy institutions. ' We are of those, however, who be- j lieve that investigations, even though .,, they do not lead to immediately sue- j cessful results, may ultimately do some good. Why not a legislative in- ? vestigatlon? We trust that a commit- -; tee of the house, for example, could be found to investigate these Instltu- tlons without feeling degraded. Wo y could pick one or two members who it ought not to be named on such a com- " . mittee, but at the same time wo could $ pick some who could do Salt Lake and & 'y other cities of the state good by being selected as members. , We do not even pretend to know what forms of regulation, if any, have l' been adopted regarding maternity hos- pltals, but whatever the forms they ap- r- pear to b,e failures and substitutes 'A seem to bo demanded. |