The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-01-12

oeSireu ahl necessary common road pasSable
or In proper condition for the trale anu
travel OF the country?
1t seems to me- that it is plain to the ap
prehension of any person that such case i
not only possible but probable. coul,
readily supposeinstances. but their probable
not to say actual existence. must be palpabl
to any man. Let me refer to, one item il
our legislation, however, which affords dem
onstration on this subject. We had swan,
or overffowed lands in this State before, a
well as after, the passage of this section, ant
before as well as after the donation of thcs,
lands by Congress to the several States.
Roads had to be constructed over these land.
for the purpose Of ordinary travel, as we'll as
over other portions Of the State. Now flour
ordinary highways did not and do not In fac,
require an extraordinary expenditure under
any circumstances, and if the revenue and
labor devoted to road purposes are suaicien,
for putting any and all of them in prope,
con'ftion, why should the Legislature, by
express enactment, devote a large portion OF
the proceeds ofthese oyerfowcd lands to the
openi ,g of the roads over such lands, and a,
the same time, give the roads their equal
portion Of the ordinary revenue and work ,
I repeat, therefore. that this arrangement
proves too much, and is not sustained by the
actull position and condition of our highways
either before, at the time. or subsequent tc
the adoption of the Code.
But It IS said that the word ''anv'' extends
to an indefinite number of roads. This NAV
be true, and the inquiry would still remain,
does it extend to any indefinite number in
Sint2 BY no mans. But take the whole
language, "any road or bridge sohich naay
call for an ertraordiaary expenditure" !" and
parsing it what's its msaningg Manifestiy,
the word "any' refers to such as NAV re-
quire the expenditure named, and we still
have to ascertain to s4hat roneis SUCH expendi-
ture may be applied. Not only so, but s,any, .
as here used, refers to the roa3. road, any
instance. case or OCCASION, in any part of tire
State where the expenditure is regarded as
But | am told that sss 567-s-9 of the Code
provides an ample fund for ordinary road
purposes, AMI that this may be increased to
any extent by a vote ofthe people. In most
casss it may be true, that the revenue pro-
vided for in thess sections is sufficient. We
have already seen, however, that this is not
true to the extent claimed But it is said
the amount may be increased by a vote oi
the people. BY snhat authority and in achat
manner, ask. TIE daseer is, bp this per1
section IA, maich zoe are constituting. And
thus when it is said that the fund NAV be
increased, by such a vote. what becomes OF
the argument that such an expenditure was
not contemplated as applying to ou' ordinary
highways.
Having thus noticed, perhaps at greater
length than necessary, the arguments urged
against the construction for which contend
proceed to state the grounds which think
are conclusive in it's favor.
AMI first, the Cole itself has given def
milton of the word "road' which, in nv
opinion, places the question beyond contro-
versy. BY s 26, we have rule for the con-
struction Of the statutes of this State, and
by the 9th clause it is provided that "The
aoords highway and road, include public
bridges, and mry be held equioolent to the
,oorts, county eay,' county road, common
road, ana 'ssate.roa5, In the light of this
language what becomes of the argument
that the word "road' means railroad Ii
80 traissb as stated in the case referred to
~ Green s~Qra, that the great object in
the construction>fa statute is to discover
the true intention S the Legislaturs-ana
giving us the meaning oS. the word road. !,
the Legislature has given tis,n irfallible kew
to discover the Intention in the spresent in
stance.
Then again the same case states that Stb
words of the sta1seA are to have their naturs
and ordinary EsAso or meaning. Granted
and what is proved Just this, that tn
word "road' according to Webster, apple
generally to higA,aau. strest and lane. NJ
only so, but at the time of the passage of th
Code we h,a not a mile Of railroad in tt
state and none commenced.
Then again even now in this State, whe
we have several lines ofrailway constructed
no person understands the ordinary mcanin
of the word to include railroad. Wha
charter incorporating company for tn
purpose Of constructing arailway, ever spok
OF it as road companyg What articles o
incorporation ever called or styled the com
pany thus? What act Of the Legislator r,
giving lands, comforting privileges, or imp,
sing duties upon such Q company can b
found which designates it as road con.pd
N.Y. Ianswer none. The truth is, ever
person, everywhere and under all circumstay
ces when designing tospeak with any degre
ofacouracy. in this State at least, If the
refer to suoa roaf, they use The pref
rail. In those States where the most usu,
mode ofconveyance and travel is by railwa,
in or linary conversation they may be spoke
of as roads, bat not so even in such Stat.
when anything like legal accuracy,
the legal sense, is aimed at. But
this State it is not true that the wo,
road is understood railraaa, either in ord
nary conversation, or whe 1sed in Il
statute, for whatever purpose framed. An
particularly was this the case 4 the tiine
the adoption of the Code.