Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-05

GeSSeS.
louisiana, who plundered the state to the
extent Of several hundred thousand
dollars, may have managed to hold on
to enough cash that did not belong to him
to be relieved from the fear of want for
the remainder of his days, but if so, it is
at the sacrifice of name, honor and OPPOSITION.
He must fly to some country with which
the United states has no extraditlon treaty,
and will be an outcast. If Justice has its
due, he would be in prison, where he could
mediate upon his wrecked life and his
crimes, and serve as warning to others,
but if he escapes this punishment he will
always bear with him the disgrace he
brought upon himself, and will learn very
painfully that the way of the transgressor
is hard
THE overthrow of the Brazilian empire
meets with amazing success, whether the
new republic will or not; and the clrcum-
stances clearly indicate that the event has
been long prepared and was not hasty or
reckless procedure The fact that the aged
Dom Pedro and al; his family have actually
left their country, with their future hand
somely provided for and under government
escort; the other fact that every one of the
10 provinces of the empire have accepted
the changed and recognized the new flag
of the United States of Brazil, all ready
to hoist in every province when the word
was given,-and with these the peaceful
accomplishment of the overturn at the
capital of the country, all give encourage
ment to believe that the movement is pro-
found and genuine.
In an address before the Carriage Build
ers' National Association at Syracuse 3
short time since, Col Albert A. Pope sug
gested the establishment of Highway
Bureau of the United States Government
to be under the supervision Of the Agricul
tural Department. Suitable appropriation:
should be made, he said, for the prosecu
ton of general supervising work, a corps
of engineers should be employed, maps
prepared showing in detail the condition
of the roads Of the country, and the States
divided into highway districts with al
overseer III charge responsible for all ex
penditures tc the head of the National De
partment. Col. Pope failed to explain
whether the money necessary to carry thu
great work forward should be paid out o
the surplus or not but the trend of his ar
gument is all In that direction. There cal
be no question that more interest in high
ways should be taken by every State in the
Union, but the work should be done anC
paid for by the States themselves, not b!
the United States. Operated in the man
ner proposed by Col. Pope such bureau
would become national scandal great
rat hole for the peoples money. Even as
it is more stealing is done from the public
by those who would build the streets anC
roads than by any other class OF public ser
wants. The amount is not so great in any
one case, but 1t Is enormous IN the aggre
gate. Exactly how much it amounts to IL
the course of year will never be known
This is one kind of robbery very difficult Of
detection for a variety of reasons. With
the movement in favor of general system
of public roads, however, we are heartily in
sympathy. So much attention has of late
i I IL
where have been neglected, though one is
feeder to the other and supplements it.
1.-The road, > as an eminent writer is quot
ed as saying, lis that physical sign or sym.
Dol by which you will best understand any
age or people. If they have no roads,
they are savages, for the road is the ere
alton of man and the type of civilized so
ciety"