From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 7, 1915:

• “Mr. Citizen, says Commissioner of Finance Holyfield, if you haven’t paid your road tax, sometimes called poll tax, you had better get busy, or I’ll have to set the officers on your trail. The road tax is $3 for every man over 21 years old in the city and the tax is due within three days after the voter is notified. Failure to pay may result in a fine of from $5 to $10 and imprisonment on failure to pay the fine. ‘I have been very lenient with all who have failed to pay so far,’ said Mr. Holyfield, ‘because I know that a lot of men are hard up and that it is trouble for them to raise $3 on short notice that they do not need for living expenses, but from now on I am going to have to notify the police to serve warrants on those who do not come and settle up when notified. I am responsible for the collection of the tax and it must be paid.'”
• “The total amount of money involved in the building of the new school houses, Country Club House, Oread Flats and residence in Lawrence, approximates $150,000. This money is being paid out to Lawrence laborers and in most cases to the merchants for material. It is furnishing work to a great number of men who have families to feed and support. The contractors are rapidly pushing this work to completion, but have been somewhat hindered during the past few weeks by bad weather.”
• “One of the most pleasing events of the fifth in Lawrence was the celebration upon the lawn of the home of Prof. W. A. Griffith, 1200 Louisiana street. Sixty or more neighbors, including children and the Griffin family, spent the day in games, social converse, and listening to music and some of the formal features of a regular celebration. Prof. W. H. Carruth read the Declaration of Independence, and Prof. F. J. Miller of the summer school of the University made an address especially appropriate to the day. Refreshments were served, and an elaborate dinner was spread. In the evening a collection of fireworks was fired for the benefit of the children especially.”
• “Local grain and crop insurance agents have been paying out some claims for crops damaged by the recent hail storms in some parts of the county. One agency paid a large claim for a wheat crop that was damaged in Leavenworth county near Linwood. In a strip of country through this section the hail beat all the wheat to the ground so that cutting will be impossible. In cases of this kind the lucky farmer is the one who holds crop insurance, and agents say that the number who insure the crops is growing larger every year.”
• “Topeka. – Between 1860 and 1907 the prohibition movement made no appreciable gains in concrete results. It lost more territory than it won. During this time the liquor industry centralized and solidified itself. It developed an intensive and efficient system of trade expansion. Consequently, the per capita consumption of alcoholic liquors increased 354 per cent.”