Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-06


hereafter read as follows:
Article 443I. The commissioners court
shall have full power and authority to
cause all necessary roads and bridges 10
be built and kept in repair in their re-
spective counties, and to make appropri-
ations of money of the county therefor
when necessary, and for this purpose
they are authorized to issue bonds of the
county, not exceeding ? per cent. of the
taxable property in said county; bonds
to run not less than twenty years
from date of issuance, and to
bear not more than per
cent. interest per annum; said
bonds to be sold at not less than their par
value; interest upon all ponds to be pay
able semi-annualIy, and whenever any
county bonds have been or may hereafter
be issued, they shall be denominated sc
per cent. road bonds Of the county issu-
ing them, and it shall be lawful for, and
the duty of the commissioners courts of
the said counties to assess and collect an
nually a tax sufficient to pay said interest
and create n sinking fund with which to
pay the principal at maturity; all of
which shall be done under such rules and
regulations as the commissioners court
Of said county may prescribe. -
BOND SYSTEM DISCUSSED.
In order to get the matter properly be-
fore the convention, Colonel j. B. Simp-
son offered the following resolution:
Resolved, that it is the sense of this
convention that the counties in the black
land district of Texas bond themselves,
For the purpose of road construction to a
limited extent; provided, the majority of
voters in said counties vote therefor.
Nj Symes of Williamson offered as
substitute the following:
Resolved, that it is the sense of this
meeting that the present public road law
should De so amended as to place our
public roads in good condition, but not
by bonding the counties.
Discussion was opened by Colonel
Simpson in support of his resolution. He
spoke of the condition of the roads
through the black land district of Texas,
and the total inability of the road tax to
maintain or improve them. He dwelt
deliberately on the necessity of good
roads, and took the ground that the only
feasible way of constructing them perma-
neutly was by the issue of bonds; that
the present road tax would pay 6 per
cent. interest on bonds i'll the amount of
. per cent. of the total taxable values of
each county and provide sinking fund
of per cent. for the final redemption of
the bonds. He showed conclusively th5
economy of such roads by sucL means,
and that besides the benefits of good
roads, the people of each co.tnty adopting
the system would profit both directly and
Indirectly by the circulation of such
in the county. In other words,
-ilizepeople would have the benefit of per-
o- ,ent roads, the money expended for
- and would not be taxed higher
~ 10 1T present, 10 cents on the Sl00,
ther DO roads; also that such thorough
G term ;ould greatly enhance the yalua-
,,,,,.o property to such an extent he be-
!" rs would in the course of a few
III otht reduce taxation.
7 UsIr. Symes of Williamson, opposed the
pJond system manly upon the ground
that the people could not when they so
desired throw off the tax. He favored
local option so that the people i'll
each precinct could spend the
money they paid as road tax in
their own localities. He favored a
constitutional amendment raising the
limit from 10 cents to 80 cents, and then
permit each precinct to state what its
road tax should be.
Colonel Henry EXall spoke next, and
warmly advocated the bond measure.
Like Colonel Simpson, he enumerated the
benefits that would accrue from the eX-
penditure of the money, and showed the
unequal conditions of the present law.
He took the ground that each county
which so desired to bond itself should be
permitted to do SO.
Then Colonel Brown of Sherman made
the chief opposition speech of the day
He said that bonded indebtedness was al
orr in bn Of
but that he did not believe there was any
progress in bonds. 1.-the municipal bond
curse, - he said, sis the greatest curse
of this country. - Beyond that Colonel
Brown avowed his Jack of faith in any i'm
provement upon black land roads in rainy
weather. In good weather they were
faultless, and in bad weather they could
not be made passabie. Again, admitting
that macadam would do ali that it is
claimed for it, from the best information
he could obtain, ne did not believe that
roads could be constructed for less than
$40 200 mile, and at such cost, if the
bond system were adopted rich county
like that of Dallas could only have fifty
miles of good reads, not enough to jus
tify the outlay of money. After the
roads are macadamized it would require
as much i'll his opinion TO keep
them in repair as the present
road tax amounts to. He was unaltera-
bly, opposed to bonding the people.
Colonel EXall took issue with Colonel
Brown rs to the cost of construction. He
cited the fact that Fort Worth had forty
miles of macadamized streets, which had
cost less than $500 a mile
Mr.. Ruby of Milan said that there
were macadamized roads III Milan county
which had cost only $500 per mile, and
that they had been tested for several
years and were as good to-day as ever.
Colonel Hughes of Dallas made a
sound argument for the bond system
and opposed any constitutional amend
ment which provided for higher
road tax limit than that of the present
He thought the bills as
proposed by Senator Jarvis and the Dali
las convention committee afforded the
only relief 10 be obtained
Mr.. Stevenson of Parker thought that
there was no harm in leaving it to each
county rs to whether it should issue bonds
or not If Dallas or Tarraut county
wanted TO construct roads that way, he
thought Il county opposed to the system
should not stand i'll the way.
Mr.. Sheriff. of Hunt opposed bonds,
IecaIISe he thought the alpOnurS DrOvidsd