The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-08-04

VOL. Xxx. .....'... =.
ing these roads. Your. children and
gEandclltldron will enjoy tho benefits
OF these Eoeds, and their property will
be made valuable BY their co, ,stfuc-
tton' Your state is practically out Of
debt and your public credit 10 excel
lent. You Can borrow money ut 8 per
cent. on public credit and pay for it iu
twenty ytarst Il you like or one
twentieth OF It each year until the
amount 10 paid. In the larger States
the farmers portion of this burden
will be exceedingly light. ). In the state
of New York CAREFUL estimate from
statistics collected in oil the counties
shows that the farmers would be re-
quired to pay only about Z yer cent. Of
the entire cost, and that the. other 90
per cent. would be paid by the incor-
porated cities and towns. Don't he
frightened by every alarmist who
screams ''high taxes. Look we'll to
your local tax and the State assess.
ment will never give you trouble. You
are paying less taxes than any other
farmer IN the world, and your oppor-
tnnities are the grandest. Gtvo yo6r.
self chance to prosper and your tax
es will become thin ali. Y on have,
sstekee realty known what -it ii to.b
TAXED. In 1870, when the best men off of
lsha a1and WeTe urging the adontion Of
better road laws and the:ssbritdip9 of;
better roads in that country, Sidney
Smith wrote this sentence: "Th-
school boy whips his taxed top; the
leRrdless youth manages his taxed
horse with taxed bridl6.; ION \ taxed
road; aud the dying Englislman.
pouring his medicine. which has paid Z
per cent, into spoon that has paid Is
per cent. filings himself back upon his
chintz he'd which has paid % per cent.
and expires III the arms Of an apothe.
cary who has paid a license Of a. s1OO
for the privilege of putting him to
death. England built her roads
nevertheless. Think OF that, and never
again Rr6ap about taxes. -.
.Ithtnk you will agree! 9Th me that
your wagon fnads Should be much bet
ter than they afe, and the 'mafn diff
Guilty that troubles you, i believe, l can
understand. You are vi nderinR how
you are TO- get better r0ads which will
give you the same advantages that are
given to the farmers Of England, France
Italy and all other European countries.
The answer is not difficult. You are
simply 10 insist that the main rOsds in
your country shall be reconstructed
and keptsin repair at the expense OF
the State ut large instead of by q tax
directed against the farmers alone,
and then you are to send:a man to the
l4egislbture=who believes in the same
doctrine and will stand up for it. Don't
start again ut the prospect Of more
taxes; you are not to pay more, but
less. Did you ever take the trouble to
find out what ridictfieusly small por-
tion of the State taxes you paY2 1t
will do you no harm to look it up.
Send u postal card to- your Secretary rf
State, At your State Capitol, and ask
him to send yop a copyof the last re-
port, showing the State taxes collected
in your State. Examine this book anu
compare it with your last tax receipt,
and you will be amazed to dnd that
the farmer cuts comparatively small
figure in making up these taxes. lfyou
are good 1T figures, t4ke;Out from the
report which you zeceiys the value Of
taxable pFDpekty in. the State. Then
assume that, say $10N0OSxO wereF to
be raised for tile purpos6sof highway
Improvement; TINT tins money shotht
be raised BY State loan payable in sew
entt.en years; compute how much this
would bs for each year; divide the
amount to be raised each year by The
total value Of all the taxable property
in the State; this will give you the
amount of tax on each dollar OF prop
rrty. Then take the assessed value IT
your farm and you can easily decide
what your proportion will be Of that
yearly tax. If you find that it costs
you more than ten cents per acre of
your entire farm, 1 shall be wonder
fully In error. Now compare the
amount of that tax with the time that
you spend each year with your team
''working out" your highway tax un-
der the present system, and tell me
which you think is the cheaper.
Consider the loss of time and energy
and the expenses of repairs and labor
which the old road puts upon you. How
much has your farm increased in value
in the last ten years2 Not one dollar
Think of this, and, il you can't do
do better, coax your neighbors into
the desperate experiment of putting
down half mile Of good solid smooth
road, just to satisfy yourselves by y
homemade object lesson.
Experience will convince you one
way or the other, and if you fnd that
after all good roads are splendid in
vestment, nail your convictions into
the platform Of your political party
and fight hard for that policy which
best tends to develop and enrich the
country keep thinking. ''Second
thoughts are adopted children Of ex-
perience.
ITO be continuej.)
PAUPER POPULATION.
The Secretary of the board of cor
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