The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-01-24
TurnDikinp.

/ Tarnpiking.
MEssRs. EDs.-It is with reluctance
that l again obtrude myself upon
your indulgence for a moment, in Or
der to reply to "Farmer's" last ar
ticle on "Turnpiking," and to correct
some statements which he must know
to be erroneous. In my former ar
ticle ! did not mean to provoke a
discussion, or to induce any ill feel
ling on the subject, t,--but it seems
Farmer" took umbrage at what was
said and IN his excitement gives US
more of his arithmetic. He accuses
me of ignorance or of willfully mis-
representing the law. do not pre-.
tend to much legal knowledge, but i
can read little and used to know
how to do "sums in 'rithmetic" and
still profit little by that knowledge.
"Farmer" told us in his first ar
ticle that his road could be built for
81, 500 a mile, and that no other road
in the county could be built as cheap
ly. In his last he tells US again that
it can be built for that money, or as
he figures it, at about the rate Of one
dollar an acre on all the land within
two miles of the road. But strangly
Inconsistent with this statement, he
now says that it would probably not
cost half that amount to build the four
roads named. According to his
statement it would cost only about
fifty cts. per. acre to pike mile of road
il the four roads are taken, whereas
lit would cost 90 per acre if but
one be built.
"Farmer" accuses me Of making
erroneous statements. That is pos
sible, but il so, 1t is all owing to his
figuring, for they are all based on his
calculations. He says it will cost
$4,000 mile to pike the Bellefon-
taine road. That is probably correct.
Then will it make any difference in
the aggregate cost to apportion the
tax per acre acc ording to the ben
eft accruing, or to make it 81 90 an
acre irrespective Of the benefit. 1t
seems there cannot be any difference.
If there be none in reference to the
Bellefontaine road, then why should
there be any if the number be increas-
ed to two, three or four roads If
roads can be piked so much cheaper
by wholesale, then it would seem folly
for "Farmer" to try to pike his road
at such enormous expense. Why not
get up petition to pike all the roads
in the county at once, and save the i'm
mense and useless expense of taking
but one at a time-then consider the
benefits accruing from such improve
ments. Why Sirs, according to
"Farmers" figuring, the expense of
piking all these roads would be moth
ing compared with the benefits to be
derived therefrom.
/ will propose question to "Far-
mer" and should be pleased to have
him solve-it according to his arith-
metic. If it costs one dollar per acre
to pike one road, and only fifty cents
per acre to pike four roads, how
much will it cost per acre to pike all
the roads in the county at once?
"Fsrmer" asserts that there are but
four men who travel the Lima road
who are opposed to the Improvement
Of his road. / assume the RESPONSE
bility of telling him that his asser-
ton is far short of the truth. ThereI
are at least eighteen men, all within
two miles of the Bellefontaine road,
except, perhaps, three or four, who
are opposed to Farmers" plan Of
his road, and who travel
the Lima road exclusively in going to
r..-
Farmer 10 mistaken as to the
identity of Liberty" Heis NOT one
Of those four rich men, who have
bought all the land adjoining them,
then "branched out" and bought what
did not adjoin them "for speculation"
On the contrary he is quite an uupre-
and obscure individual, who
don't own all the land adjoining him,
nor does he favor such an idea. But
his notion Of things is about this he
is in favor of smal farms ioell man
aged, has strong faith in school h0us-
es and believes them to be great
and that there ought to be
more of them and that they should
be better patronized. He believes
in the temperance cause and that the
liquor business ought to be suppress
ed and he also holds that our roads
ought to be better than they are, and
unless we make them SO, it is not
likely that they will be much better
soon. But he likewise thinks that
the people interested in a certain
road. ought to be alloaoed to pike it at
their oson expense.
LIBERTY.
HOME.
'Home, thy joys are psssing lovely
Joys no stranger heart can tell"
What charm rests upon the en-
dearing name-my home J consecra-
ted by domestic love, that golden y