Show DUTY SAM BUILDING OF GOOD ROADS PROS PROD LEM FOR FEDERAL government WOULD HARDLY FEEL TAX general welfare clause of constitution gives congress contreas Con greas power to built roada federal aid would give mighty impetus to road building BY HOWARD H GROSS about once a year tho the post ofner department part ment sends out word to tho the various postmasters throughout the tha coun try abero tho the roads wro are bad threat ening to suspend rural mall mail delivery unless the roads are put in acceptable condition this Is right and proper it la Is an outrage to expect the mall mail carrier to wade through a sea cea of bf mud to carry the mall mail to tire the farm home it ought not to be necessary for him to do so at times the toads roads get so bad that the mall mail wagon must be abandoned and the trip Is then made on an horseback carrying only the letters sometimes the delivery has to to te abandoned for days daya at a time on account of road conditions why tho the roads roada should be so bad tie coun country try over when nearly everybody wants good roads Is a strange anomaly and this unfortunate situa alon will probably continue until tho the people approach the good roads problem from the right angle it to la a tremendous undertaking to gravel and macadamize the principal highways of the country it means the building of or miles of roads and would cost between a billion and a halt half to to billion dollars or from 15 to 2 20 10 for every man woman and child in the land this seems seem like a colossal outlay and it Is but the money could not all be spent at once it would take probably twenty years to do it so BO it would be at the rate of perhaps one dollar per year per capita the department of agriculture estimates that the actual saving to the people by good roads would be at lease per person per year if this estimate Is anywhere nearly correct anait and it probably to la approximately ro then the saving to the people alone by good roads would pay for or them la in five years time there Is no tact fact bettor better demonstrated la in economics than that the building of good roads adds to property values many times the cost and brings social educational and economic benefits that mako make tho the building of roads the best paying investment that any community or maate can make the question Is how ought this matter to be handled in the writers opinion the first duty Is to the federal government it Is high time for it to get busy on this problem the money uncle sam raises to la by indirect taxation and this tax the people scarcely arcely Bc feel and there Is very little complaint about it it t hurts us more moio to pay par one dollar as a tax through tho the tax collectors office than it does to pay ova five times the amount by indirect taxation under the general welfare clause of the constitution congress has the power to build roads it also has specific authority to do so eo for those roads used tor for rural delivery and these comprise nearly all the main highways of the tha country suppose then we estimate art an expenditure pend iture of to be mado made upon highways jointly by the nation the state and the township or county letting the federal government contribute one third the amount and prorating the money between tho states on a joint basis of population and road mileage this would give a state elate like illinois between and the funds to be ba provided tor for from time to tinie time by longtime low interest bonds the tax per capita to carry these bonds at three per cent when all are issued would be about 15 cents per year three car fares then lot let the pay one third from a general tax levy or better still by a bond issue and one third paid locally by the township it to Is common practice tor for the tha state to contribute to road building under what la Is popularly known as an the state aid plan the townships have been doing the little that has been done and doing it without help tor for many years beirs the new feature of the proposition Is the federal contribution for which there Is ample authority and for which there Is a precedent and a paramount need within the last few years thero there lias has been a great hue anil and cry throughout the land for waterway improvement conventions conventions have been held and the demand made that the federal gov eminent contribute M that end at the rate ot of a year for ten years the point the writer desires to make Is that where it la in possible for or one ton of freight or produce to be carried by water there would bo be thousands of tons moved by wagon over the tha publia highways and that it if the amount ot of money demanded for fop waterway improvement pro were applied to highways it would be hundreds hundred of times more beneficial and the benefi tit would reach all of the people als government Is using about miles of public roads roada tor for rural mall mail delivery and cheso to aro ara post roads roada within the meaning of the con on bogress Co grea gress ban baa express power to build and main maintain tan post roads roade and if it con can build and maintain them it certainly could help belp to do it |