Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 152, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1917 — Newton County Now the Goat [ARTICLE]

Newton County Now the Goat

Newton county, according to the । Brook Reporter, is the recipient of a rather doubtful honor. The Reporter has the following comment in regard to the havoc that is' being wrought to the roads of that county by the automobile tourists who are now taking that route between Indianapolis 1 and Chicago. “Newton county has at last been placed on the automobile map. This is a position not to be desired as the big touring cars have ruined the roads of Jasper county and will tear our own all to pieces. This year the route south from Chicago by the way of Morocco, Brook and Goodland has been placed in the Blue Book and a constant stream of big cars is passing through Brook daily. “If these cars kept within the state speed limits the roads would not be destroyed so quickly, but they can scarcely restrain their speed limit within the town limits and when they are in the country they strike a gait of from forty and fifty miles an hour, and the road begins to move over into the adjoining corn fields. “The only way to pay the extra expense or save the roads would be to hire a couple of men with motorcycles to arrest all violators of the speed laws, and the fines would pay for the road repairs. “The cost of the men would amount to little compared with the gain from fines, as they would average fifty arrests a day at $lO each and costs, the found would bring in at least SSOO a day. “A few local men might be caught in the net, but breaking the law is too common in this county anyhow.”