Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-02-27

or to pay penalty OF $500, which if
worked viii equal 600 days, or if paid |
will make a road fund of 5000. This |
we might conclude would be sufficient,
if judiciously managed, to keep the
roads of q six mile township in pretty
good condition, as bridges, culverts.
&c. are kept up from another fund
but it fails, and a resort is had to pro-
perty again. The real and personal
property Of our township is appraised
for taxation at about Sl,300,O00. Our
trustees in pursuance of law, if not of
prudence and economy, levies one-half
mill on the dollar for road purposes,
thereby adding an additional sum of
$500, making a grand total of $l,550
to be expended in repairing our roads.
We also pay out of another fund some
300 annually to our supervisors, to say
nothing OF the cost of making out road
abstracts, reports, &c. \ neat little
sum, amt it? About $1,000 expended
IannunIly, and yet our roads are terri
bic. Is this so in other localities, or
are We exceptions Do tell us. Shall
we lament over the taxpayers Of other
sections, and Of corruption in high and
low places, and have 40 compassion for
our neighbors or even for ourselves? {?
Who does not know that one-fourth
the sum that is annually THUS worse
than stolen from the people if judi
ciously engineered, win keep our roads
in good repair. But the question to be
solved is, how can we remedy the great
ou'rages; or where is the error? Is 1t
in the law, or in Us a6-'jnistration ?
AS the law now l., .uI'i.t * our citi-
Zens cannot r. UI5.- = Iu:sl their two
days, nor to pay the penalty imposed,
as the statutes eXempts their property
from execution; so it is lett to their
choice to work or not, and they gener-
ally decide to not. Others who the
law will reach, seeing the injustice and
partiality of the practice, will "put
lin" their two days with as little work
as possible. Then again in the tax
!; fund, much of it is bartered of by the
supervisors or "put in" by themselves
on such conditions as they may Z" dick
er" for, and charge the township whilt
doing, or pretending to do, said "iob.'
One gets a ''iob" TO grub outa stump
and leaves hole which is more in the
way than the stump was; another
,, takes a task" to repair a culvert tina
is stopped up, which he accomplishe
: by sticking" it full of rails; anOthel
, Che farmer) takes $4,39, four dOllar
; and thirty-nine cent task" of re
pairing a mudhole; so he takes hi
team some evening and having pill
of stones that troubles him some, anC
3 as he now has chance to be well paiC
/ FOR removing them, dumps them int
the mudhoIe, and the consequence i
, two nudholeS with a pile of stones be
+. tween them; quite An improvement
: lin mudhOles), but the stones don
5 trouble him now. AS this method O
working roads has proven q failure
would it not be wise to amend the law
: having reference TO working roads
Say tax of one dollar on each vote
: mot otherwise eXempt), making III
o payment a condition of citizenship
and disfranchising all who do not com
0 ply? l am aware of the unpopularit,,
+ of this position, or rather suggestion
v but it is equal and has no effect on Pre-
3 perty or capital, and especially becaus
it is right, L advocate the policy.
l. / am in favor of the present genera
j. tax law on capital, yet poll tax t
i apply to roads, and to qualify aliens t
q vote and hold Office, would in m
{ Judgment be an improvement to ou
. code. Such tax would be paid promp
l. ly, and in the hands of competent pei
= sons appointed by the trustees or elec
q ed by the people, will do more to re
y pair our roads than the sum now el
Il pended, though that is five hundre
II per cent greater. But am getting t,
II dious, and will close by soliciting alb
r counsel. Tom PHOX.