100 years ago in Spokane: Daily road condition reports for mud-phobic drivers

Motorists in the area would soon have a new service – a daily report on highway conditions in the north-west.

This was the idea of ​​EM Keyser, the meteorologist who is responsible for the Spokane office of the Federal Weather Service.

“There’s no reason this road service shouldn’t be set up at the Spokane Weather Bureau,” Keyser said. “… The (head) of the Good Roads Bureau heartily endorsed it, telling me that the spring and autumn months are the time when the service is most needed.”

In 1921, mud competed with snow and ice as a barrier to motorists.

Keyser stated that road conditions information was collected daily via telegraph, telephone, and “special mail”. Then his office compiled the information and sent it to every city on office territory, stretching from Walla Walla to the Canadian border and from the Cascades to the Rocky Mountains.

From the tax bill: The Spokane The editorial page of the Daily Chronicle has spoken out strongly against a new state election tax.

This controversial tax levied US $ 5 for every citizen between the ages of 21 and 50 who (in the words of the Chronicle editorial) “is not crazy, poor, or idiotic”.

The Chronicle said the law was passed as an “emergency” measure, which meant that the public was deprived of any opportunity to vote on the matter. It was against the will of the people, said the editors. It also affects “those who already bear too much of the burden”.

The chronicle carefully pointed out that opponents of the tax should pay it immediately. However, you should also start immediately to abolish the tax in the next legislative term.