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Show BP ST I10w there h mora Important J qiicstiuu before the American public than I H the general Improvement of the highways to the standard of twentieth century to- I qulrenionts. The volumo of tralllc over 3 R the public highways Is equal to or ex 1 HI coeds that of ull the railways. The food I Lr Products of tho world pnss over these 1 k-&r roads to reach tho market. Had roads B 7j interfere with tho regular distribution f TfiMiirff or these products, resulting In nu erratic 3ffm and Inconstant supply for a fixed and nm regular demand. Had roads havo necessitated the practice prac-tice of rushing tho crops to market all In a heap; taking but two or three months Instead of spreading this delivery over six to ton months. Scientifically, Scien-tifically, farm products should bo moved from producer to consumer ns they are needed for consumption, but tho farmer will llnd the roads In tho winter nnd spring had and at times practically Impassable, and for this very reason ho hurries his grain to market as soon ns harvested. This causes congestion on the railroads and works havoc in business conditions. Tho "moving of tho crops" ' requires un enormous nmount of money, and a general up heaval In financial centers every full Is tho result of this sudden drain. The hurried disposition of tho year's crop has no- ccfcsltated tho building of largo storage houses In i Bruin centers to euro for It. In Chicago tho stor age chargo la nlno cents per bushel per year; tho carrying car-rying capacity of tho elevators of that city alone la about S5.000.000 biiBhols, representing a storago chargo of over $5,000,000 per year. The passing of tho food supply Into tho control of tho grain kings means a loss to tho farmer and an additional and unnecessary cost to tho consumer. The general Improvement of tho highways of tho country is vastly nioro important to tho people ns n whole than tho building of tho Panama cnnnl, the Itu-piovement Itu-piovement of the Inland waterways, or tho Irrigation of tho semi-mid lands of tho west. Those who havo truvoled know that tho roads throughout Europe aro good; tho samo Is true of Australia and Now Zealand, countries nowcr than our own, less populous, and with nothing llko our nggre-gato nggre-gato wealth. Tho fact that tho roBt of tho world has good roads while wo have had ones Is significant; It flhows that tho plan wo havo been pursuing has not been successful. In threo hundred years less than vlgli t per cent of tho highways of our country havo been permanently Improved and at tho rato we nro going go-ing It would require nearly four thousand years to complcto the Job. So as roadhuildora tho people of the United Slates have been n failure. This Is nil tho moro surprising when wo consldor that they aro conspicuously successful In ovory othor lino of human endeavor. Millions upon millions of dollars have been wasted In every stuto In tho union upon tho public roads by ill-timed or misdirected of-w of-w fort nnd with really very little to show for tho expenditure. ex-penditure. It Is only within tho last ten or fifteen years that any rcnl progress has been mado along the lino of permanently Improving tho conditions. The trouble Is wo havo been ondenvoiing to untangle un-tangle tho Biinrl by pulling tho wrong string. Without any reason for doing so, tho fnrmors of tho country, from Mnlno to California, from the very first assumed that the country loiidh belonged to them and It was their ' business to Improvo them, and HiIb mlsconcoptlon held swny for nearly 1100 years. J A few yeura ago a mnn In Now Jorsey mndo u ills- JL covory. It was Hint tho highways nro public proporty, H ) as much so us tho state house. This raised tho ques- J tlon; "Why, If tho hlghwnys ure public proporty, should T' not tho public tako euro of Its own; why should not tho .1 ? state and all proporty thoreln contrlbuto to building tho roads?" Everybody Is Interested In thorn, ovory-body ovory-body Is nfrocted 'through the mnrkota by tho road conditions; con-ditions; they aro benefited, by good roads and Injured by bad ones. Tho now thought spread throughout tho stato and finally New Jersey led tho way to bettor conditions con-ditions by passing a law by which tho stnto should contribute con-tribute ono-lhlrd tho money required to Improvo tho roads. Other states followed, increasing tho proportion propor-tion to one-half and in one case, Massachusetts, to three-fourths. In many cases of tho Now England states farm property Is only u very small portion of the total taxable proporty, In somo enses not ton per cent., and when tho cobI of load lnipiovonienl was distributed over all prop-v prop-v orty of tho stato, tho burden waa hardly felt, and yot j l Immense sums wore raised for road purposes. Host of all, the roads woro built under proper supervision, Instead of leaving It to tho Inexperienced hands of the local path master. Ten years ago Now York stato began In n small -way to nld and appropriated $50,000 to start tho work. The plan grow In favor so rapidly that within flvo years the Htto by an overwhelming vote passed a constitution constitu-tion amondmont providing for an Issue of $50,000,000 In bonds to help build tho highways. What a record! .B In five years from fifty thousand to fifty millions! The tn nncosHory to pay tho Intorest on this enormous 1 sum and then finally pay off tho bonds will hardly bo folt by tho proporty owners of tho Empire stnto owing to their Immenso list of taxable property. Ohio, after 40 years of building roads by tho old plan of local taxation and bond Issues, In which tho farmer had to pay practically tho wholo bill, has passed a state aid law which will enahlo it to build threo miles of Improved roads where It has been building build-ing one, without any Increaso whatever In taxation upon farm property. Virginia la the first southern stnto to Join tho stnto nld column for good roads. Kentucky Is allvo to tho situation and la tnklng steps to chnngo Its constitution consti-tution In order to bo In a position to spread tho road tax over all tho pioporty In tho Btato. In certain parts of tho country, notably In tho Mississippi Mis-sissippi valley, there Is an entire misconception as to what tho state aid plan of road building means. Somo imaglno the stnto would tnko control of tho highways, build oxpenslvo roads nnd tax tho peoplo to pay for thorn; others that It is n schema to forcu road building ngulnst tho wishes of tho fnrmors. Nothing could bo fnrthor from tho truth. Tho stnto does not in any manner, under a stnto aid law, Interfere with tho nb-soluto nb-soluto local control of tho highways. Tho votorB of every township decldo whether any roads shall bo Improved, Im-proved, what roads, to what extent, when It shall bo done, If nt all. Tho state has absolutely no volco In tho matter. If, howover, tho township, by a majority vote, decides to build a toad under tho stato uld plan, It makes application to tho stato for that purpose; the state engineer thereupon visits tho locality, goes over tho road proposed to bo Improved with tho local authorities, author-ities, and decides upon tho chnractor of the Improvo-nient Improvo-nient best suited to tho conditions. Mo then prepares plans and specifications nnd when theso nro approved by tho highway commissioners or other properly constituted consti-tuted local authorities, the contract Is let to tho lowest responsible blddor nnd tho work is then dono undor tho supervision of tho stnto engineer. This Insures proper construction nnd that moans durability and low cost to maintain tho road afterward. tinder a stato aid law not a rod of road could bo built unless the residents of a township decided to do bo. Not it dollar of stato money could bo expended unless tho farmers who live In tho rural township voted for Improvements. If It should bo alleged Hint stato aid was a plan to compel railroads, corporations, merchants and manufacturers manu-facturers to help build tho roads, It would not bo far from tho truth. Under stato nld tho fnrmors control tho sltuntlon; If they decide to Improvo tho roads tho other peoplo nro obliged to help pny tho bill. In order to build ronds cheaply they should bo built extensively. It costs n grcnt denl moro propor-tlonatoly propor-tlonatoly to build n half mllo of road than It docs to build ton half miles. No contractor cares for a small Job but for a largo one competition la keen. It tnkea Just u a much time nnd bother to get ready to build half a mllo of road aa It doca to build ten miles, lly building build-ing in tho larger quantities from 20 to 25 per cent. In cost of construction can bo aaved. As ronds properly built will Inst for n great many years they should bo built ns school houses and court houses nro built, viz: by n bond Issuo; thus a township under stnto nld could build 10, 15 or 20 miles of ronds In ono yenr, have tho roads to use, and spread tho payment pay-ment of tho samo over say 10 or 20 years. If this Is dono and tho stnto nld plan prevails, thoro will bo very little, If any, Increase In taxation. Fow peoplo hnvo nny Idea to what oxtont bad ronds Intcrforo with truvol and how they affect tho business of tho merchant In tho country town. Tho Illinois highway commission has gathered some vory valuable data upon the effect of road and weather conditions upon hlghwny tralllc. Observations woro mado at 72 well distributed points In tho stato and an actual count was mado by tho vehicles passing upon different days throughout each month of the year, covering all kinds of weather nnd rand conditions. Tho report shows that tralllc ovor stono or grnvol roads was fairly uniform throughout tho year, whllo upon tho earth roads It wus subject to tho widest variations. varia-tions. The following figures nro slgnlllcant aud toll b The following table compiled from figure, gathered by the agricultural department In 1904 shows 8 X the percentage of Improved roadways In each state: O P Alabama 3.43 Iowa 1.62 Nevada Ml South Dakota 25 X Q Arliona 3.02 Kansas 1.28 Now Hampshire 8.55 Tennesseo 871 H Q Arkansas 64 Kentucky 18.00 Now jersey 16.32 Tn "' 1 1 8 O California 18.87 Iiulslunu 13 Now Mexico 01 !,,u H, Q Q Colorado M Mulno 8.10 Now York 7.M v "., "V ,1.1 P X Connecticut 10.73 Maryland 0.33 North Carollnu 2.52 ... , 1 P 0 Delaware 2.20 Massachusetts 45.S9 North Dakota 35 vlr'lnlu 3-0 W Q District of Columbia... C8.5S Michigan 10.13 Ohio 33 78 Washington 0.17 X P Florida 6.09 Minnesota 7.87 Oklahoma 0. w"Bt Virginia 97 Q Q (loorgla 2.f5 Mississippi is Oregon 7.55 Wisconsin i. .10.72 Q X Idaho 1.10 Missouri 2.52 Pennsylvania 2.10 Wyoming 1.40 Q Q Illinois 8.41 Montana 28 Rhode Island 43.20 p Indiana 34.91 Nebraska 02 South Carolina 4.4S Tho United States .. J.H Q more forcibly how great Is tho burden of bad roads than anything else can possibly do. Tho Clear Lako earth road leading Into Springfield, Illinois, showed an average tralllc for four days in March, 1000 of G5, vehicles per day. Ovor tho samo road in June mid July tho average was USD vehicles! On tho same days In Peorln, CO miles away, undor tho same weather conditions but over n hard road, tho tralllc for Match was ICG, and tho average for Juno nnd Observations at Champaign over an earth road showed tho average for Jununry, Kebrunty nnd March to bo 03, as against 200 for September nnd Octobor. The count nt Dccotur over a gravel road was March and April, 210; July nnd August, 278. Over nu earth road leading into Sullivan, the count for January, February and .March wus CI; August and September, 31G. While delivering un address upon good ronds, tho IH writer wns once Interrupted nnd nsked If ho would favor tnxing tho widow's cottage to help build tho roads. He answered that ho certainly would, ns tho nnnunl tnx would probably not exceed 10 or 15 cents, nnd ho gnvo tho following Illustration or how bad roads burden tho people: A woman goes Into n grocery store for a dozen eggs and a pound of butter. When told tho prices, sho protests. Tho grocer In defense, says: "Well, you see, madam, tho ronds nro so bnd now, very fow farmers nro coming to town, so buttor and eggs nro Bcnrco." Sho pays threo centa moro for tho eggs and four cents moro for tho buttor, nnd this seven cents represents her bad road tnx pnld that evening. This is repented from tlmo to tlmo through out the yenr, not only In her enso but In hundreds of others In that town nnd In thousands of towns through-out through-out tho length nnd breadth of tho land. tThcro Is no doubt that tho woman In question would benefit through good londs by nt-least ten times tho nmount of tho tax X on her cottngc. It would be Interesting to tnko a concroto oxnmplo of stato aid, apply It to a typical farm In ono of tho central western stales and see exactly whnt stato aid means so far ns taxes upon that farm nro concerned. Tor the purposo or Illustration, let us tnko an nvcrago farm or 1G0 acres In tho corn belt or Illinois, nnd sco whnt tho effect upon the Inxcs on that farm would bo U tho stnto should undortnko a very vigorous campaign of road building undor state aid, ono that contemplates an expenditure of tho enormous sum of $50,000,000 In ten years enough money to improve nil tho main highways or tho stato, connect overy community with the market town and county seat and glvo a com-plcte com-plcte network of good roads from Qnlcna to Cairo; tho plan being that tho stnto should pay one-half tho ox-penso ox-penso nnd the townships or rond districts tho other ir $50,000,000 woro expended in ten years, the stato would bo required to ralso $25,000,000 or It. Thoro Is In tho state property to tho totnl nsscsscd valuation or $1,250,000,000. To ralso $2,500,000 a year, or $25,. 000,000 In ten years, would requlro n two mill tnx up- on this property; so a two-mill tnx applied to nil the property or tho stnto or Illinois at tho present ussossod valuation (nnd not tnklng Into account tho posslblo in creaso in vnluo thereof) would produco tho sum re- quired. Tho records show that tho taxing value or an average 1C0 ncro farm In tho corn belt or Illinois Is a little less thnn $2,000, tho actual vnluo being appioxl- H mntely $10,000. A two-mill stnto, tax on this rnrm as- H sessed on tho vnluo or $2,000 would bo exactly $4 a yenr nnd no more, nnd In ten yenrs tho stnto tnx H would bo $40, which would bo tho rnrm'B proportion ot S the $25,000,000 totnl. Where this rnrm would pay $40. H ono slnglo corporation In tho city or Chicago would H havo to pay $570,000, nnothor $190,000, nnd tho rail- H ways or tho stato ovor two millions or dollars. Thus wo B seo by a stato lovy or two mills ror ton yoars, ono-hnir fflf or tho $50,000,000 is provided for. Tho othor hair must K$ bo raised by local tnxatlon or by a bond Ibsuo. w Lot ua aaaumo that tho township In which tho rarm fifr In question Is located votes bonds to tho full constltu- M tlonnl limit, that Is, goes into dobt Just as rar as it $I can go and pnys tho highest Interest that the law poi- ' Kft mlts It to pay. Tho limit or tho bond Issuo Is flvo per va cent, of tho assessed valuation, so tho amount or bonds " resting upon tho rami would bo flvo per cont. of $2,000, or exnetly $100, payablo ono-tenth each yenr, with In- 'interest 'in-terest at flvo per cent. Tho total Intorest on this bond ' r.' Issuo, so far ns this farm Is concerned, for tho ten ; l years would bo $27.50. Thus, ir wo add tho bonds $100,00 r'j Intorest on bonds 27.50 $ And tho stnto tax or 40.00 Wo havo a total tax on tho farm of....$lC7.C0 fcf which Is exactly tho amount of tho tax that would be ; lovled and collected upon this farm ror both stato aid W nnd to pay oft the road bonds nnd intercut. This amount Si Is about 10& conts per aero por yoar end tho totai churgo against tho rnrm for the wholo ton years would 'M bo $1.05 por aero. This amount or monoy paid by tho rnrm under tho stnto aid plnn would enable tho stato II to expend $50,000,000 upon Its highways, and tho ox- II pondlturo ot that sum would add to tho value of farm l proporty at least five and probably ton tlmos as much ns tho respective farms would be tnxod In order to our the bill, (Copnubt,iwM)jr wiii!hM."vroh) n |