The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1890-12-27
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
THE ROAD QUESTION.

MeSsrS. Editors The season is near at hand
when complaints as to the condition of our roads
discussion of the subject pro and con. send you
herewith copy of the San Francisco ArgonGut
call your attention. Though written with special
reference to California there is much said there |
that will apply with equal force to our county.
better known by the opening of the Philadel-
phia Division of the b. & o. r. r. 1t is section |
of great natural beauty and of proverbal health
fulness, and the time is not far distant when it
will attract the attention of city people in search
roads would do much towards Fastening that day
AS our worthy Commissioner, Mr.. Magruder, is
about to visit or has already visited New Jersey
it might be the extract from the New York
Times, in the article to which call your atten-
n All. or y0HF
to call your attention to the article in question
in the hope that it may throw some light upon
q subject which is sure to claim the attention of
0"i po0f''' ~ ~ s - '''' j. W. LARMoUR
Following is the article above referred to:
The subject of the improvement of country
roads is receiving an unusual amount OF atten-
ton just at present in the Eastern States. This
is the result of an agitation originally set on
foot, it is believed, by the national organization
of wheelmen, and afterwards taken up, with
promising degree of Zest, by the country press,
the various county boards, and, in several m
stances, by the legislature of the states In
mission has been appointed by the governor
and legislature with a membership OF expert
enced men from all sections of the State. This
body recently came together and began on the
work assigned to it, by the issuing of genefal
pronunciamento to the effect that the roads of
that State were bad, that better roads were ar
gently needed, and that they might be secured
by more systematic and careful use of the
amount of money that is now annually eS-
pended 1t will be the duty of this comnlAc
Simifnr aIr-- or
ganiZed in other states where the agitation is
in progress-to investigate the subject of roads
in this and other countries. and to advise the
legislature as to the proper steps to bringabout
a better state of things. 1t is fact worhy OF
notice that such an agitation as this should
have received its first impetus from the wheel
men, whose use of the roads is for the most
part dedicated to sport and not profit. ltwould
seem that the individual most likely to send up
a cry for relief would be the farmer, to whom
the condition of the thoroughfares leading out
of his lonely Kingdom must be matter OF
nSderableimportance. tits likely however,
soon to be shown that if the highways of the
country are to be substantially improved, 1t
will be through the efforts of people who wish
to use them for other purposes tlan that of
taking produce to market. 1t is not possible to
calculate what the farmers of the country lose
through the bad condition of the roads over
which they are compelled to travd-the horse
flesh ruined, the wagons battered 70 pieces, the
Time wasted, anu the
seasons of the year to get to market at all. 1t
is safe to say that these causes must cut no
small figure in the farmers general lack of
prosperity. He has, however, through all his
experience, been accustomed tC roads more or
less bad, and would rather spend half day in
digging his wagon out of a hole, and lame his
best horse on an impossible grade, than put in
the same amount of time and expense IN
making permanent improvements. Such ap-
pears to be the status of the road question in
most parts of the Union, and California offers
no exception There are certain sections of the
East where the farming country, being thlckly
interspersed with villas, presents many OF the
features of q suburban district, and where the
highways have been brought to something like
the perfection attained on the continent OF
Europe This improvement has largely re-
suited from the fact that such roads are more
needed for purposes of pleasure than are the
average country thoroughfares. Two years ago,
law was passed in New Jersey permitting the
various counties in the State to issue bonds for
the improvement of the county roads. 1t viii
be interesting to read something of the results,
as shown in the annexed extract from the New
York Times:
There is no county in New Jersey in which
the law has been given fairer trial than in
Union County. Bonds have been issued in that
county to the amount of three hundred thous-
and dollars, and the money obtained by this
issue will be sufficient to put in line condition
some thirty miles of country roads, extending
in one direction from Elizabeth to Plaintield,
and in another direction from Railway to Sum-
nit. The original estimate ofexpense for these
Improvements was ten thousand dollars per
mile, and to the credit of those who have had
the improvements in charge, this sum has
proved sufficient for them. The roads are now
nearly finished, and, for the first time in the
history of Union County, they are in condition
for all sorts of travel in every season of the
year. 1t is alleged that in bad weather one
horse can draw load which required the
strength of four horses before the improve
ments were made. Chauncey B. Ripley, who
Of tic 1eCtUIS of the IOdu law. says
that it is the opinion of property-owners in
Union County that the issue of bonds for this
improvement will really never be felt by the
taxpayers The taxes levied to pay the inter-
est on these bonds are now lighter than were
the expenses to keep the roads in repair under
the old system. Since the law went into opera
ton, moreover, real-estate values in Union
County have advanced nearly one million five
hundred thousand dollars, exclusive OF prop
erty advances in Elizabeth of nearly seven
hundred thousand dollars more. While this
increase is not claimed as all due to the inn
proved roads, it is felt that this improvement
may reasonably be credited with having already
appreciated county values to the full extent of
the cost of the roads, while general taxes areno
higher than before the roads were laid. Mr..
Ripley quotes Warren Alderman, who is prob
ably the largest real-estate owner in Union
County, to the effect that the improvements can
not cost the present tax-paye dollar, because
by the time the bonds shall mature the increase
of population and the appreciation of values
will have been sufficient to pay for their re-
demption. AS Mr.. Alderman expresses it, the
bonds will be redeemed by taxes on valuations
that do not now exist and on persons who are
not now residents of the county. Sheriff Glas-
by, who is also very much interested in the
work, has expressed to Mr. Ripley opinions
identical with those of Mr.. Alderman. He
says that two years ago people were leaving
Elizabeth because of the bad roads, but that the
population is now increasing and that the city
is being attractive to people who like to drive
and who are now enabled by the condition of
the roads to enjoy the pastime. In Massachu-
sets chair has been recently endowed at the
the Chair of Public Roads. Mr.. Ripley says
that there is hardly an Eastern or Middle State
that has not taken on new zeal in the matter of
tho in1Drovament Of roads -