Show GOOD ROADS If It a business man handled his hrs vate ate business in the way we have been een running our road business ss he would go broke inside of a year It Itis Itis Its is s lucky for us that we cant can't break the he tax-paying tax public for no matter how low tax we are the money continues how low lax we are the money continues to o cornea nd the taxpayers continue to o pay Is It not our serious and bounden duty to spend this money money wisely and in a scientific and businesslike busi- busi busl 1 I manner In my county we spent 00 on our roads and bridges brIdge through our highway commissioners and nd as yet I have been unable to find out ut what It actually costs each township township town- town I ship hip a year to maintain Its wooden bridges and culverts and Its steel bridges or what it costs coots per mile per perear year ear to grade roads or to drag roads road One township did know what It cost costo to o drag roads viz which however however howver how- how ever ever ver represented the total for tor the the year ear spent agent for dragging yet even there here I could not r reduce It to mile mile- I ago go unit cost basis Ii li liThe The hardest Job I have is to persuade per- per suade some of or our towI township officials 1 o 0 t beep an adequate set Bet of books 1 I Ilave ILave lave ave even been told lold b by cne a commie commie- I stoner loner that tha his to O I d I no not t D ae 4 3 AA J l lJ J 17 Ld to keep books because everybody was wa honest in that particular township I would pity this particular commis if fC somebody accused him o ot of being dishonest and ho had ho-had had no r records record to fall back bacle on to prove his hie honesty This latter case actually happened In to another township where a thoroughly thor thor- honest man a commissioner was s accused of paying out money t to somebody for something that w was waa not done and he had no record o or receipt at all from the man I 1 1 would like particularly to call cal your our attention to the fact tact that I said sale t to keep an adequate set of books Statistics and figures are all right but If the they are not the right kind o or of statistics and figures they are no not worth the paper they are written upon For instance I 1 find that mos most of pf the books simply show that John Joh Jones or Bill Smith had so man many hours to their credit for hand labor labo or team labor That tells us nothing noth ing What the people want to know knowIs Is what John Jones did with hi his team how long it took him to do 1 It and what It cost to do that Jar ar kind of ot work This is what w we call distribution of accounts an and unit costs If you follow this kind of book book- J keeping you will soon find where th the leaks are Take one example Suppose Sup pose we knew that we were spending spend ing lag a year patching up a lot o of wheezy decrepit old wooden culverts culverts cul cul- verts and bridges and that when w we wa were through sweating and patching and spending our we still ho hoe hod nothing and that we were still sun lying lym awoke awake nights w worrying that s. s same som me twenty-horsepower twenty engine was going to break through one of these so so- called bridges and fall on top ou our neighbor and kill him Five hundred dollars Is 6 5 per pcr cent interest on Would It not be good economy economy econ omy and wise business to borrow and replace a num number er o of these old culverts and bridges with modern concrete structures that would safely carry cury the loads toads im m posed upon them and give us something something some some- thing for tor our money rather than pay the interest on that amount patching around and getting nothing Con Concrete Concrete crete bridges cost money but I hav hauld yet t to have have- anyone prove to me that tha U they y arc are not an m economical invest invest- l nt You will at once say that all this sounds very well vell and that you OU agree agre with me but get et net ho money our income is limited and tho the people will va voto to down any bond issue muo that tha we ring up for these things I cannot agree with you on this latter lat ter point My own experience In m mown my mt myown own county shows that the taxpayer is a wise business man man and If it he I is shown that the money is ia being handled wisely and md that he Is getting somewhere near value alue received fo for tor what he pays he will vote right A. A 0 0 O. THOMAS of Illinois t I |