The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-03-20
FOR BETTER ROADS.
Good Roads Mean Larger Sales and
More Remunerative Prices for
all Products of the Soil.
DSpn IVY

Which, YOU VIII any o0O vi PS"P'S'
lfthey have no roads they are savages; for
the roads is the creation of man, and the
type of civilized society,"
Enough has neen collected and
printed upon the science Of ROAD
making that any we'll read engineer
Of to. day can make good road ou'
of stone, provided that somehndA
will furnish the money. The great
problem 10 he solved Ivy aud for th'
people of the state of New York Is,
How to make the he-t road out OF
the material that is. practically, upon
the spot. and how to maintain 1t atie'
it is made" That something should
be done is apparent to all. Tue
Governor of New York opened thi,
question in his last message, as dId
also the Governors OF the states OF
PENNSYLVANIA, New Jersey, Ken,
lucky, Massachusetts. Ohio and Ten
pespe. Since that time diff rrnI
legislatures have heen discussing this
question. A hill was inirodu"ed h\
Senator Richardson of Orang
county, in the New York Legislature
r Gently hooking To the appropriation
nf nub, ic money for the construction
of roads, and heiiFvp it To he con-
,rvativp, jI~t, and frr the hest
interests of the State of New York.
aud particularly. for the farmers "f
the state. This bill, as amended,
gives the people the right to petition
the commissioners to change the
route, when it would he more ad-
vantageous to the country. There
was. also, aunt her bill introduced in
the legislature last winter, which did
not become Il law. but followed the
hill of Richardson. II was known
~ the Burns bill. Assemblyman
Burns introduced it. 1t was not,
particularly, unlike the Richardson
bill. She substance OF the Ri'hArd-
son bill was, that the state OF New
| York was TO expend i'll the course 0f
| five wears or more, ten milton dot
l?rs. to he raised by tax 'tion, aud
taken from the general fund of the
state for such purposes, The roads
were to be first class Macadam. pui
dow n in the most approved ma,.ntr
now known to engineers. thoroughly
throughout the state, and running
generally from cOunty.seat to county
seat of the state. Without stopping
IT, think of this, one might say
"Why, we do not want 1t made
from county-spat to county seat
That is not the way to have the roads
made" But with little reflection
I think you will see that the county
seats were built upon the main roads
and that the main roads were no
built because they went lat the time
they were Ia,d out) from county-Srat
to county seat. and if you had before
YOU A map of Ricnard-0n's plan.
hardly think there is an engineer II
the state that can change it mater
tally to any advantage.
Without going into details. l All
in favor of bpth of these bills. ant
! will give you my reasons Why. l
. must be self-eyident to ever.
one that the w-aIth of tn
country is accumulating in the cite
and villages. As sL0n As IA man ha
wealth enough to leave his farm. "
to rent it, he does it, and if he h1
. any money which he has accumu
lated he taxes it with him, and g0e
: to the village or city. Such hein
the fact. and it Is a fact, incontr"V
| ertibie, we tind upon actual lnve-tl
: CATION nd I have been since tn
: first of April making this investiSS
I tion) ttat the assessed valuation
i the c,,ip5 In the state of New York
> S3 O47 95S. .52S and by writing To til
village autnoriti' s and town clerk
f we have secceeded in getting the n
n se4spd valuation of. practically, ever
1 village il the state, the asst s5pd VA
p uation Of which is $239 go 9o2. Tt
v whole valuation of lne Stale, aLcOr'
ing to the Cumptroller'~ report Il
! January. 1891. i So 567 ,429 $40, shoV
/ ing that the cilirs aud villages a
t assessed more than 81 per cent. Of tt
entire valuation OF the entire stat
o Therefore, it is self-evident.to expei
r ten millinns of dollars upon the roa'
n of the state, outside of the corpora
y limits OF "A village or city, over 92 y
e cent. of the money expended W"u
d bp paid by the villages anu cltlt
< and less than eight per cent. by Il
farming community.
To Can it Ee that there is one land
10 proprietor in the stale of New Yur
of who, " hen he knows the facts. al
r. the proportion, pro rata. which
~ would pay upon n thousand dolla
or upon the valuation Of his far
per thousand dollars, would hesit.
for one moment AS not being favor