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Show I JNAN OBSER VA TION I PLANE K TT is disappointing to hear rumors B' that the Democratic state admin- B istration is being influenced by poll- B' tics in the matter of road construe- flu tion. It is reported as an actual fact B. that Democratic politicians all over B1 the state are trying to use the road B fund as a means of promoting their B political fortunes and of securing B'. party advantage. Bi For the first time in its history the jj state has millions of dollars for good B'j roads. And now, as the work is about B to begin, selfish interests are at work Bf to fritter away the millions on tem- H porary roads. When the people unan- iimously supported tho appropriation of millions, to which the federal government gov-ernment was to add other millions, f they had just one object, or rather oue alluring vision in mind a system of permanont roads along the main highways high-ways of tho state. They had a vision g of hard-surfaced roads which should B serve the thickly settled portions of Bi the state and open up domains of K wealth in the thinly populated dis- B tricts, that is to say in regions which K need only good roads to develop B their resources. They believed that a B co ordinated system would link the B state together in such fashion as to B bring remote points and market towns B in touch with one another by rapid B means of communication and trans- B port. B Those who have appropriations in B their control should not forget the B character of the funds. They are ob- B tained by means of bonds. This is a B highly significant fact because it in- B dicates an obvious duty. We are un- B , der obligations to provide roads for B those who must pay off the bonds at B maturity: otherwise we shall be mak- B ing our children pay for something B they have not. If the road commis- B sioners set before themselves a high B ideal they will utterly disregard the BI demands of selfish interests and pro- B! vide concrete or equally good hard- BE surfaced roads for the present and Bl necessarily for the future. If they Bi squander the funds on dirt roads they B will satisfy only the selfish few. B Moreover, if the funds are expended Mg on temporary roads it will be a long i time before the state again will be M able to provide funds for perma- m nent roads. The result will be that H B Utah will be far behind the other states east and west. Temporary roads whether of dirt or of some shallow macadam simply pile up future expense. It has been said and probably with a fair degree of accuracy that temporary roads will cost four times as much as permanent per-manent roads to keep in repair. The difference in initial costs is not so great as many imagine. Take, for example, the two roads that were built some years ago on the Ogden highway. The Utah Power and Light constructed construct-ed a macadam road from the Warm Springs to the Davis county line. The state constructed a concrete road north from the line. The macadam road cost $8,500 a mile and had to be repaired the first year. The concrete road cost $10,000 a mile. It is true that state labor was used on the concrete con-crete road, but even if free labor had been employed the cost per mile would have been increased by only $2,000 or $3,000, for it was necessary to feed the state labor well. The cost per man per day was not less than a dnllnr. Some repairs, of course, have been necessary on the concrete road, but it bids fair to last for many more years, whereas the other road, which was almost al-most impassable for a long time, has been replaced by a splendid hard-sur-faced road. It is our duty to build for the future as well as for the present. We owe a duty not only to ourselves but to those who must sacrifice to liquidate the loan we have fastened upon them. np HE proposal of advanced refortri- ers in Lynn, Mass., to establish free street car service has attracted much comment. A philosophical supporter sup-porter argues that a street car lino is nothing more or less than a road or walk. Some of them we havo ridden on are not as good as a walk, but that is another story. He concludes that there is no more reason to charge for street car riding than there is for sidewalk walking. The purpose of both operations Is to get from here to there. The intrinsic value of "there" is not a bit more intrinsic than the value of "here." But perhaps per-haps I am missing his line of thought somewhat. He is trying to prove that rides on street cars should bo as free as the air we breathe, if not as eijoyable. A true philosopher would ask, "Why is air free" when street car rides must be paid for at the rate of five-going-on-ten-cents per ride? Air is free because there Is so much of it, and because it does not have to be conveyed from here to there by street cais. If it were necessary to cart the air to our lungs on steel rails it might easily be worth five cents for a short breath and seven cents for a deep inhalation. We know by experience experi-ence that Salt Lake air is rather costly. cost-ly. On several occasions last winter a breath of fresh air could not be obtained ob-tained downtown and one had to take a six-cents street car ride to regions re-gions where the ozone was pure and undefiled. Tne day may come, of course, when riding will be as free as walking, walk-ing, but when that elysian epoch arrives ar-rives we probably shall bo getting our water, gas and electricity free. And then, what will the advanced reformers demand? Perhaps free automobiles. A CORRESPONDENT writes to in- quire the significance of the word "it" in the following sentence appearing on a Victory loan poster: "If America at this juncture should fail the world, what would become of it?" Does the "it" refer to world or America, he asks to know. To neither. It refers to the juncture. junc-ture. The genius who prepared the poster evidently was concerned more about the juncture than about either America or the world and, therefore, he asked all America and the world to tell him what would become of tho juncture. Our own opinion is that if America failed the world there " n wouldn't bo any junqture. 1 " ' The ex-crown prince of Germany is broke and is offering to sell for $40,-000 $40,-000 the fur coat tho czar gave him. . This must be a Hun plot to raise the price of second-hand goods. T There is a movement to embody daylight saving in the League of Nations Na-tions treaty. oNt much daylight has been wasted on it thus far. The Shorrt brothers plan to fly from Ireland to New Foundland without with-out falling short. Going from Archangel to Petrograd is like going from heaven to Hoboken and oven beyond. j. t Tho Germans are building and concealing con-cealing armored cars, it is reported. That's the safest way. The Italians love peace, but they love certain sections of Jugo Slavia more. Tho Hungarian Reds are a little yellow. Some day the world will be so peaceful that we shall be able to hear the fall of a Spanish cabinetagain. Peace work is too slow and costs too much. |