New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-18
BETTER ROADS AND THE TAX REFUND

BETTER ROADS AND THE TAX REFUND
One of the members Of the Board of super
visions of Cayuga County A. n recent meeting OF
that body presented the following resolution:
Resolved Tha; this Board pect.ully rc1uest tho
Senator and the Member. Of Assembly from this county
to favor TIE passage Of law providing for a nbcTal
opproprian by tho state from year 70 year. for the
benefit Of the common roads Of the state under The
system proposed In the act known the Richardson
bill rs lndorsed By tn Senate at it. last session
This resolution was fortified by weighty
preamble setting forth, among other things, that
tho great volume of internal trade in this state
is the comm0n-rold trade exceeding by count
les, thousands the entire freight tonnage OF all
the railroads combined and this commerce Is
carried on largely by the farmers on roads
inadequatcy constructed az an enormous disad-
vantage and to the consequent lcSScnlnS OF the
proft of his labor and the aSsc&sahlc value oi
his farm" The introduction OF this resolution
is a part OF a movement which Is 10 be observed
in many counties OF the state, a.;cStlng that the
people of the interior aS a whole are waking
up to the necessity OF providing Their section
Of this great Commonwealth with better roads.
That tho coming Legislature Will be asked and
asked earnestly, to pass some measure OF gen
era nature in the interest OF this much needed
reform may be thcn for granted. Consequent
", considering the importance OF the subject the
committees TO which the Road bills are referred is
likely TO take rank with the most important
ones of the session. Certainly new Nom
bcr ambitious to rise by the performance OF
work comforting great good TO a great number
of his fcllow-citzens, could hardly ask for =
better opening than that which will be afforded
him in shaping legislation calculated to solve the
road problem.
Ii will be observed that the resolution in qucs
rion calls for liberal appropriations in aid OF the
common roads, and since tho drect-tax fund IS
still to be disposed Of, the suggestion is sue
to be renewed at Albany-why not turn Ibis tax
into a road fund? 1t is suggestion which, a.
our readers know, has many hearty supporters.
"Thc Albany Argus" recently called attention
70 the fact tnlt "unlcSS some particular purpose
shall receive the benefit of the fund, it will Of
necessity be applied to the reduction Of the tax
levy Of the year-a very worthy object, to be
sure, but not permanent object The Argus"
adds the pertinent remark that at best the fund
is windfall which a great State like Ncwlork
that can afford to pay its bills as it goes along
ought TO devote to Some permanent object"
OF course if our State was handicapped by debt
tho proposition to use the tax refund to reduce
the tax levy would hardly be opposed in any
quarter. But New York has no debt to speak of
her circumstances are so unoOmmony easy that
the tax-rate for 1891 was the lowest for thirty
six years. In the circumstances, therefore, it
would seem the part of wisdom 10 devote this
special fund to some high special Use. a legacy
to the State from War for the preservation Of
the Union, the fund is associated with patriot
ism and public spirit, and so it seems pity not
10 Use it noby now that it has come back to
It's. Can it be put to any purpose which will
do more to conserve the property of Ncw-York
than this purpose of improved roads? If so,
what is the purpose? The Controller in his
annual report, which was presented to the Legs
lature last week, recommends that the surplus
So, 900, 00O-now in the Treasury be used to
State. Included in this surplus is the direct tax
refund now amounting with accrued interest to
S2,2l3 900. 4 recommendation Of a Demo
cratic Controller is likely TO be respected by
Democratic Legislature, provided there is "pol-
tics' in it, But there is no politics in this mat
ter a good many people Of both parties all
over the state favor either the devotion of the
tax refund to some notable specific purpose or
its distribution among the counties.
Better country roads for New-York are bound
10 come sooner or later. The sooner they come